Be Mindful of Your Soul (1)

Our chief care must be over our souls. We must desire God to preserve our souls. Whatever becomes of the soul; our principal care must be that the soul be not blemished in the least kind. This body of ours, or whatsoever is dear in the world, will be stripped from us, and laid in the dust before long. But here is our comfort, though our body be dead, yet our soul will still be alive. Our body is but the case or tabernacle wherein our soul dwells. A man's self is his soul; keep that and you keep all. You get many compliments and questions in the world concerning your body, but how few will inquire about your soul? The body perhaps is well looked after, that it is clothed, and taken care that nothing be wanting to it, but the poor soul is ragged and wounded, and naked. Oh, that men were sensible of the miserable condition their poor souls are in.
Beloved, the soul is the better part of a man, and if that miscarries, all miscarries. If the soul be not well, the body will not continue long in a good state. Bernard of Clairvaux said sweetly, 'Oh, body, you have a noble guest dwelling in you, a soul of such inestimable worth that it makes you truly noble.' Whatever goodness and excellency are in the body is communicated from the soul; when the soul once departs, the body is an unlovely thing, without life or sense. What an incredible baseness it is therefore that so precious a thing as the soul should serve these vile bodies of ours! Let the body be done with its leisure; the time of the resurrection is the time of the body. In this life the body should be serviceable to our souls by suffering and doing whatever God calls us to. Let our bodies serve our souls now, and then body and soul will be happy forever after. However, if we, to gratify our bodies, do betray our souls, both are undone.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
The Saint's Hiding-Place in the Day of Evil, Works, vol. 1, pp. 408
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