31st July 2018

How does one describe the invisible? Many artists have drained their creative juices in an attempt to paint the wind. Many scientists have devised clever experiments in their effort to describe light in its ultra and infra forms. Many lovers have poured their imaginations into proving the existence of things like affection and passion and forgiveness. There are so many wonderful things that are just not visible to the naked eye.

The soul is one of those things. What does it look like? With what words does one describe it? The old puritan Thomas Watson ventured this sentence as a description: ‘The soul is one of the richest pieces of embroidery that God ever made, the understanding bespangled with light, the will invested with liberty, the affections like musical instruments tuned with the finger of the Holy Ghost.’

Of course his words are arranged with poetic licence and vivid imagination, and his point is not to supply some definition of the soul that might qualify for inclusion in an academic book on psychology; but rather to impress upon us the importance of this thing that is stamped with value and eternity, and the tragedy of this thing being treated and traded so cheaply. And so he says: ‘What a sad sight is it to see precious souls as so many pearls and diamonds cast into the dead sea of hell!’ And so this conclusion, and assessment, and imperative: ‘What a precious thing is a soul!’

DM 31st July 2018