Transcribed from the 1871 Rivingtons’ edition by DavidPrice.
A Sermon
Preached at St.Mark’s, Surbiton, Kingston-on-Thames
On Friday, March 31,1871
BYTHE
REV. B. G. JOHNS, M.A.
CHAPLAIN OFTHE BLIND SCHOOL, SOUTHWARK
London:
RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE
HIGHSTREET | TRINITY STREET
Oxford Cambridge
1871.
Price One Shilling.
Gen. ii. 7.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of theground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath oflife, and man became a living soul.”
Thus, my brethren, in noble andgrand words, noble in their strength and in their simplicity, weare told of the creation of man, as separate and distinct fromthat of all other creatures. Having formed his bodily frameout of the dust of the earth, the Almighty breathed into him thebreath of life, and man became a living soul, in the image of theliving God. How far, and with what divine beauty, theheavenly image was then reflected in its earthly type, thesplendour and perfection of God’s handiwork, we knownot. However noble the glory of man’s appearance,however godlike its outer form, in that day, since then he hasfallen from his high estate, and sin and death, which marred thepurity of his soul, have left traces of their deadly leaven inhis framework of flesh and blood. And yet not utterlydebased or ruined it. For, still, the face of many a littlechild bears stamped upon it the imperishable marks of God’shandiwork, and the beauty, and p. 4freshness, and innocence shine out,till we think of the faces of the Blessed before the Throne onhigh. While all that is fair in the face of woman, and allthat is noble and true in that of man, tells only of the samedivine source. In a word, the whole living man, the body inits strength, pride, and beauty; the mind, the keen reason, theswift intelligence, the glowing imagination; and the soul, theconscience, and the spirit answering within; lifting man out ofhimself to the Heaven above him, and enabling him on earth tohold commune as a spirit with the Father of allspirits—each and all witness to the same truth—thebreath that is in him, his framework, his whole being are fromthe breath of God, and therefore he is a living soul, immortal,and for a life beyond this.
And nothing is commoner, even among worldly people, mybrethren, than a sort of easy, vague acknowledgment that it isso; nothing easier than a kind of fluent talk about the soul, andthe importance, perhaps the necessity, of saving the soul; if notjust at present, certainly at the earliest possible opportunity;if not by a life of faith and purity to God, and of truth andgoodwill to man—at all events by holding fast to someparticular set of opinions, or of texts, some one favouritedoctrine, or pet form of outward service to God. And evenbelow this range of talkers, there are others who say, The soulimmortal?—Oh, yes, of course, man is to be in Heavenhereafter—if all be well—and