The Soul of Man, Part 1

The Soul of Man · Part 1

p. 1GENESIS II. vers. vii. And the Lord formed Man out of the dust of the Ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life; and Man became a living Soul.

THree things (saith **Tri… sunt quae secundum essentiam hominibus sunt foreign, Deus, Ang…lus, & anima hominis. Athanas. in Tract. de de….Athanasius) are unknown to men according to their Essence, viz. God, Angels, and the Souls of men. Of the Nature of the Divine and high-born Soul, we may say as the learned ††Quari facilius est quam intelligi, & m…li…s intelligitur, qu…m explicatur.Whitaker doth of the way of its infection by Original sin; It is easier sought than understood, and better understood than explicated: And for its Original, the most fagacious and renowned for wisdom amongst the ancient **Plato doubted, Aristotle denyed, and Galen derided the Doctrine of the Worlds Creation.Philosophers, understood nothing of it. It is said of Democritu…, that there is ††Nihil est in toto opificio naturae, de quo non scripsit Democritus. And for Aristotle, they stiled him Regula Naturae, naturae Miratulam, ipsa eruditio, Sol scientiaerum, Antistes literar… & sapientiae. Lactantius, lib. 3. cap. 17, 18.nothing in the whole p. 2workmanship of Nature of which he did not write; and in a more lofty, and swelling Hyperbole, they stile their Eagle-eyed Aristotle, the Rule, yea and Miracle of Nature; Learning it self, the very Sun of knowledge: Yet both these are not only said, but proved by Lactantius to be learned Ideots. How have the Schools of Epicurus, and Aristotle, the Cartesians and other Sects of Philosophers, abused and troubled the world with a kind of Philosophical Enthusiasm, and a g… many ridiculous phancies about the Original of the Soul of Man? And when all is done, three words of God by the pen of his inspired Moses, Veritatem quaerit Philosophia, invenit Theologia. Jo. Pi…us Mirand.enlightens us more than all their subtil Notions of the accidental concretion of Atoms, their materia subtilis, and Anima Mundi, and the rest of their unintelligible phancies could ever do.

The account Moses gives us in this context of the Origin of the World, and of Man the Epitome of it, is full of Sense, Reason, Congruity, and Clearness; and such as renders all the Essays of all the Heathen Philosophers to be vain, inevident, self-repugnant, and inexplicable Theories.

The inspired Pen-man gives us in this context a Compendious Narrative of the Worlds Creation, relating more generally the rude, inform, and indigested Chaos; and then more particularly the specificating and diversifying of the various beautiful Beings thence educed, by the motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the Waters.

When the first Matter was (strictly) created out of Nothing,foreign Motus, commotus, agitatus fuit: no… s…mplicem motum denotat, sed ejusm…di quam Columba peragit, cum ovis ad … c…udendum pullos inc…bat. Rab. Sol. the Spirit (as Moses excellently expresses it, chap. 1. vers. 2.) hovered, or moved over it as a bird over her Eggs, and as it were by way of Incubation, cherishing and influencing it, did thereby draw forth all the creatures into their several forms, and distinct particular natures, wherein we now with delight and admiration behold them.

p. 3In this manner and order was the stately Fabrick of the World produced and erected, but as yet it remained as a fair and well furnished house without an Inhabitant. God had imployed infinite wisdom and power about it, and ingraven his name upon the meanest creature in it; but there was no creature yet made (except Angels, the inhabitants of another City) to read the name, and celebrate the praises of the Almighty Creatour.

He therefore thought the World imperfect till there was a Creature made that could contemplate, praise, and worship the Maker of it: for this very use and purpose was man created, that he might not only see, but consider the things he saw; discourse, and rationally collect out of them the things he saw not; and both praise and love the Maker for, and in them all.

The Palaces of Princes are not beautified and adorned to the intent men should pay their respects and honours to the Walls; but to shew the Grandeur and Magnificence of the King, to whose person their honour is due, as Athenagoras in his excellent **Est sanè palcherrimus hie mundus, non ipse tamen mundus, sed artificiosus ille condi…or adorandus est. ut nequ… vestro Imperio subditi, cum aliqua re indigent, ut assequantur; cum vos editrint; omissi… vobis Dominis, a… Principibus, nulloque affectis honore; ad Palatii ve…t…i magnifi…entia…se convenant▪ sed Aedificii regii tam elegantem structuram obitet pratereuntes, admirati vos ipsos ante, supraque omnia honorant. Athen. Apol.Apology for the Christians speaks. The World is a glorious and magnificent Pile, raised designedly to exhibit the wisdom and power of its Creatour, to the reasonable creature Man; that from him God might receive the glory of all his other works. Of this creature man, the Master-piece of all the visible world, (and therefore crowned King over it, the first moment he was made, Psal. 8.5.) Moses in the next place gives us the account, both of his Original whence he came, and of his Dignity what he is. The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the Ground, and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life, and man became a living Soul. Where we find

The Original I. Of the body of Man.

The Original II. Of the Soul of Man.

p. 4I. The Original of the body of Man: Formed out of the dust of the ground. Dust was its Original matter: of Dust it was made, and into Dust it must be resolved. Gen. 3.19. The consideration is humbling, and serves to tame the pride of Man,foreign Pulverem tenuissimam, ad domandam saperbiam. Fagius. who is apt to dote upon his own beauty. Mans body was not made of heavenly matter, as the radiant Sun, and sparkling Stars: No, nor yet of the most precious and Orient earthly matter; God did not melt down the pure and splendid Gold and Silver, or pouder the precious Pearls and sparkling Diamonds; but he formed it of the vile and despicable Dust.

We find that the sprinkling of dust upon new writing prevents many a foul blot: I am sure, the sprinkling of our Originary dust upon our minds by serious consideration, is the way to prevent many a proud boast.

However, the baseness of the matter, and courseness of the stuffe, serves to set off the admirable skill of the most wise and powerful Architect; who out of such mean and despicable materials, hath fashioned so exact and elegant a piece. The Lord God formed man out of the Dust.

The Lord God] The name of God is here set down at full,**foreign Dominus Deus. Nomen Dei hic plenum est, propter hominis dignitatem. Nachm. to set forth the dignity of man, the subject matter wrought upon, as some conceive.

Formed] Fashioned,Pressit foreign Compressit▪ & per Metalepsin, premendo & comprimendo …uxit, formavit. or curiously moulded, and figured it. The Hebrew verb primarily signifies to press, compress or squeeze together, and by a Metalepsis by pressing and compressing to mould or fashion, as th… …otter doth his Clay. The Psalmist useth another word to express the. artificial elegancy of the body of man, Psal. 139.15, 16. foreign acupictus. sum, I am embroidered, painted, or flourished as with a needle: We render it, curiously wrought. Whatsoever Beauty and comely proportion God hath bestowed by creation upon it,Imagine… mente divina conceptam, quasi manu format. Fagius. 'tis all …swerable to that excellent Idea, or model before conceived in his mind and purpose. All this care and cost was bestowed upon the p. 5body of man, which when all is done, is but the Case in which that inestimable Jewel, the Soul, was to be lodged. This therefore I must lay aside, and come to the more noble Subject,

II. The Soul of Man: About which, we have before us four things to ponder in this Text, viz.

(1.) The Nature and Property, the Soul of Man.

(2.) The Descent, and Original, the Soul of Man.

(3.) The manner of Infusion, the Soul of Man.

(4.) The Nexus or bond that unites the Soul of Man.

(1.) The Nature and Property of it, a living Soul. The word foreign, as also the Chaldee Naph-sha, and the Greek foreign have one and the same Etymology, all signifying to breathe, or respire. Not, that the breath is the Soul, but denoteing the manner of its Infusion by the breath of God, and the means of its continuation in the body, by the breath of our nostrils. Gods breath infused it, and our breath continues its union with the Body. It signifies here the rational soul, and the Hebrew word foreign a Soul, hath a very near affinity with the word foreign the heavens, and indeed there is a nearer affinity betwixt the things, viz. Soul, and Heaven, than there is betwixt the Names.

The Epithete foreign which we translate Living, the Arabick renders a rational Soul: and indeed none but a rational deserves the name of a living Soul. For all other forms or Souls▪ which are of an earthly extract, do both depend on, and dye with the matter out of which they were educed: But this being of another Nature, a spiritual and substantial Being, is therefore rightly stiled a living Soul.

The Chaldee renders it a Speaking Soul. And indeed it deserves a remarque, that the ability of Speech is conferred on no other Soul but mans. Other creatures have apt and excellent Organs; Birds can modulate the Air, and form it into sweet delicious notes, and charming sounds; but no creature except man, whose soul is of an heavenly nature and extraction, can articulate the sound, and form p. 6it into words, by which the notions and sentiments of one Soul, are in a noble, apt, and expeditious manner, conveyed to the understanding of another Soul. And indeed, what should any other creature do with the faculty or power of speech, without a principle of Reason to guide and govern it? It is sufficient to them that they discern each others meaning by dumb signs, much after the manner that we traded at first with the Indians: But speech is proper only to the rational or living Soul. However we render it a living, a rational, or a speaking Soul; it distingisheth the soul of man from all other Souls.

(2.) We find here the best account that ever was given of the Origin of the Soul of man, or whence it came, and from whom it derives its Being. O, what a dust and pudder have the disputes and contests of Philosophers raised about this matter! which is cleared in a few words in this Scripture. **Sufflavit, ad ostendendum animam hominis ab extri… se…o esse per c…tationem, simulqut creando corpori insulam. Poli Synops. in locum.God breathed into his Nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living Soul: which plainly speaks it to be the immediate effect of Gods creating power. Not a result from the matter; no, no, results flow è sinu materiae, out of the bosom of matter, but this comes ex halitu divino, from the inspiration of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh: But this is a spirit descending from the Father of spirits. God formed it, but not out of any praeexistent matter, whether Coelestial or Terrestrial; much less out of himself, as the **The Stoicks, saith Simplicius, call the Soul foreign ▪ pars v…l membrum Dil: and Seneca, Deum in bumano corpore hospitantem. Which comes near to foreign.Stoicks speak; but out of nothing. An high-born Creature it is, but no particle of the Deity. The indivisible and immutable Essence of God is utterly repugnant to such Notions: and therefore they speak not strictly and warily enough, that are bold to call it a Ray, or an Emanation from God.

A Spirit it is, and flows by way of Creation, immediately from the Father of Spirits; but yet 'tis a spirit of another, inferiour rank, and order.

p. 7(3.) We have also the account of the way and manner of its infusion into the body, viz. by the same breath of God which gave it its being. It is therefore a rational, scriptural, and justifiable expression of S. Augustine, creando infunditur, & infundendo creatur; It is infused in creating, and created in infusing. Though Dr. Brown **… Midi…. Se…t. … 6.too slightingly calls it a meer Rhetorical Antimetathesis. Some of the Fathers, as Iustine, Irenaens, and Tertullian were of opinion, That the Son of God assumed a humane shape at this time, in which afterward he often appeared to the Fathers, as a Prelude to his true and real incarnation; and took Dust or Clay in his hands, out of which he formed the body of man, according to the pattern of that body in which he appeared: And that being done, he afterwards by breathing, infused the …oul into it. But I, rather think, it's an Anthropopathy, or usual figure in speech, by which the spirit of God stoops to the imbecillity of our understanding's. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Heb. lifes. But this plural word foreign notes rather the twofold life of man, in this world, and in that to come; or the several faculties and powers belonging to one and the same soul, viz. the intellective, sensitive, and vegetative Offices thereof; than that there are more souls than one, essentially differing, in one and the same man; for that, as **Impassibile est in uno homine esse plures animas per essentiam differentes; sed una tantum est anima, quae vigitativae, & sensitivae, & intell…ctivae officiis s…ngitur. Aquin …a Q. 26. Art. 2.Aquinas truly saith, is impossible. We cannot trace the way of the spirit, or tell in what manner it was united with this clod of Earth. But it is enough, that he who formed it, did also unite or marry it to the body. This is clear, it came not by way of natural resultancy from the body, but by way of inspiration from the Lord. Not from the warm bosom of the Matter, but from the breath of its Maker.

(4.) Lastly, we have here the Nexus, Copula, tye or band, by which it is united with the body of man, viz. the breath of his (i.e. of mans) nostrils. It is a most astonishing mysterie to see heaven and earth married together in one person. The dust of the ground and an immortal spirit clasping each other with such dear embraces and tender p. 8love. Such a noble and divine guest, to take up its residence within the mudd-walls of flesh and blood. Alas, how little affinity, and yet what dear affection is found betwixt them!

Now that which so sweetly links these two different natures together, and holds them in union, is nothing else but the breath of our nostrils, as the Text speaks: It came in with the breath; whilst breath stays with us, it cannot go from us; and as soon as the breath departs, it departs also. All the rich Elixirs, and Cordials in the world, cannot perswade it to stay one minute after the breath is gone. One puff of breath will carry away the wisest, holiest, and most desirable soul that ever dwelt in flesh and blood. When our breath is corrupt, our days are extinct, Job 1….1. Thou takest away their breath, they dye, and return to their dust, Psal. 104.29.

Out of the Text thus opened arise two doctrinal Propositions, which I shall insist upon, viz.

Doct. I.

That the Soul of man is of Divine Original, created and inspired immediately by the Lord.

Doct. II.

That the souls and bodies of men are linkt or knit together by the feeble band of the breath of their nostrils.

In the prosecution of these two Propositions many things will come to our hands, of great use in Religion: which I shall labour to lay as clearly and orderly in the Readers understanding, and press as warmly upon his heart as I can. And first of the first.

Doct. III.

Doct. I.That the Soul of man is of Divine Original, created and inspired immediately by the Lord.

p. 9In this first Proposition two Things are to be distinctly pondered, viz.

I. The Nature of the Soul:

II. The Original of the Soul:

Or what it is, and from whence it came.

I. The First thing which arrests our thoughts and requires 1their immoration and exercise, is the Nature of the Soul, or what kind of Being it is.

Those that are most curiously inquisitive into all other Beings,11The Nature of the Soul. and put Nature upon the rack to make her confess her secrets, are in the mean time found shamefully slight and negligent in the study of themselves. Few there are that can prevail with themselves to sit down, and think close to such questions as these are, What manner of being is this Soul of mine? Whence came it? Why was it infused into this Body? And where must it abide, when Death hath dislodg'd it out of this frail Tabernacle? There is a natural aversation in Man to such exercises of thoughts as these, although in the whole Universe of Beings in this lower World, a more noble or desirable Creature is not to be found **Qui igitur de Anima unquam disputarunt, ii certè non de re inani, & quae nihil praeter nomen habeat, sed de re gravissima, maximique momenti, quâ nihil sub coelo praestantius, disputâsse judicandi sunt. Zanc… de Anima, lib. 2. page 555..

The Soul is the most wonderful and astonishing piece of Divine workmanship: 'Tis no Hyperbole to call it the Breath of God, the Beauty of Man, the Wonder of Angels, and the Envy of Devils. One Soul is of more value than all the Bodies in the World.

The Nature of it is so Spiritual and sublime, that it cannot be perfectly known by the most acute and penetrating understanding, assisted in the search by all the aids Philosophy can contribute.

It is not my design in this Discourse to treat of the several Faculties and Powers of the Soul, or to give you the Rise, Natures, or Numbers of its Affections and Passions: but I shall confine my Discourse to its general Nature and Original. And seeing none can so well discover the Nature p. 10of it, as he who is the Author of it, as **Si quid de Anima examinandum est, ad Dei regulas dirigat: certè nul…um alium potiorem animae Demonstratorem, quàm Auctorem, &c. Tertul. de Anima.Tertullian speaks, I therefore justly expect the best light from his Word, though I will not neglect any other aid he is pleased elsewhere to afford.

**Dum vivisicat Corpus, anima est; dum vult, animus; dumscit, mens; dum recolit, memoria; dum rectum judicat, ratio; dum spirat, Spiritus. Isidor. E…ym. v.The Soul is variously denominated from its several Powers and Offices, as the Sea from the several Shores it washes. I will not spend time about the several Names by which it is known to us in Scripture, but give you that description of it, with which my understanding is most satisfied, which take thus: The Description of the Soul.The Soul of Man is a vital, spiritual and immortal Substance, endowed with an Vnderstanding, Will, and various Affections; created with an Inclination to the Body, and infused thereinto by the Lord.

IN this Description we have the two general parts into which I distributed this Discourse; viz. its general Nature, and Divine Original. The Nature of the Soul is expressed to us in these following terms.

11A Substance.1. It is a Substance:

That is to say, not a quality, or an accident inhering in another Being, or subject; as whiteness doth in the Snow: but a Being **Anima est Ens per se, (i. e.) non est in aliquo per modum partis, aut forma, à quo in suo esse dependeat. Colleg. Conimbr. in lib. 11.by it self. Qualities and Accidents have no Existence of their own, but require another Being or subject to their Existence; but the Soul of Man is a Substantial Being of it self, which will evidently appear upon the following Grounds.

p. 11(1.) Because it is in a strict and proper sense created by God. He formeth or createth the Spirit in Man, Zech. 12.1. To him we are advised to commit it, as to a faithful Creator. 1 Pet. 4.19. The substantial Nature of the Soul is implyed in the very Notion of its Creation; for **Quicquid à Deo propriè C…eatum est. su… stantia est: accidentia enim no… dicuntur creari, sed concreari. Pol…ni Syntag. p. 319.whatsoever is created, is a Substance, an Ens per se. Accidents are not said to be created, but concreated; the Crasis of humours, and results of matter, are not substances created, but things rising in a natural way from created Substances. They flow from, and as to their very Essence, depend upon praeexistent matter; but the Soul was created out of nothing, and infused into the body after it was formed, and organized; which evidenceth its substantial Nature.

(2.) This evidenceth the Soul to be a Substance, that it can and doth exist and subsist by it self alone, when separated from the body by Death. Luk. 23.43. To day shalt thou (i. e. thy Soul) be with me in Paradise; and Matth. 10.28. Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the Soul. Were the Soul but an Accident, a Quality, a Result, he that kills the Body must needs kill the Soul too. As he that casts a Snow-ball into the fire, must needs destroy the whiteness with the Snow. Accidents fail and perish with their Subjects: but seeing it's plain in these and many other Scriptures, the Soul doth not fail with the body; nothing can be more plain and evident, than that it is of a substantial Nature.

When the Spaniards came first among the poor Indians, they thought the Horse and his Rider to be one Creature; as many ignorant ones think the Soul and Body of Man to be nothing but Breath and Body: whereas indeed they are two distinct Creatures, as vastly different in their Natures, as the Rider and his Horse, or the Bird and his Cage. While the Man is on Horseback, he moves according to the motion of the Horse; and whilst the Bird is incaged, he eats and drinks, and sleeps, and hops, and sings in his Cage. But if the Horse fail and dye under his Rider, or the Cage be broken, the Man can go on his own feet, and the Bird enjoy himself as well, yea better in the open Fields and Woods, p. 12than in the Cage: neither depend as to Being or action, on the Horse or Cage.

(3.) Both Scripture and Philosophy consent in this, that the Soul is the chief, most noble, and principal part of Man, from which the whole Man is, and ought to be denominated. So Gen. 46.26. All the Souls that came with Iacob into Aegypt (i. e.) all the persons, as the Latines say tot capita, so many Heads, or Persons. The Apostle in 2 Cor. 5.8. seems to exclude the body from the notion of personality, when he saith, We are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord: that We, a term of personality is there given to the Soul exclusively of the Body: for the Body cannot be absent from it self; but We, that is, the Souls of Believers, may be both absent from it, and present with Christ.

To this we may add 2 Cor. 4.16. where the Soul is called the Man, and the inner Man too, the body being but the external face or shadow of the Man. And to this Philosophy agrees. The best Philosophers are so far from thinking that the body is the substantial part of Man, and the Soul a thing dependent on it; that contrarily they affirm that the body depends upon the Soul, **Anima corpus animatum conservat, & sustentat; ub… autem illa reliquit corpus, perit animatum corpus, & animalis ratio. Anima non est in corpore, tanquam in loco, cùm à loco circu… sc…i…i nequeat; tota per totum meat corpus, & non et pars in qua non tota adsit: non enim à corpore tenetur, sed ipsa tenet Corpus. Neque est in corpore ut in vase, vel in utre, sed potius in ipsa est Corpus. Ny…en. de Anima lib. 2. cap. 11. foreign Anima cujusque est quisqus.and that it is the Soul that conserves and sustains it. And that the Body is in the Soul, rather than the Soul in the Body. And that which is seen is not the Man, but that is the Man which is invisible. That the body might be kill'd and the Man not hurt, meaning the Soul, which only deserves the name of Man. Now if it be the chief part of Man, and that which is only worthy the name of a Man, and from which therefore the whole is and ought to be denominated a Man: If it be so far from depending on the body, or being contained within the body, that the body rather depends on it, and is in it; then surely the Soul must be what we describe it to be, a substantial Being.

p. 13(4.) It is past all Controversie, that the Soul is a Substance, because it is the Subject of Properties, Affections and Habits; which is the very strict and formal notion of a Substance. All the affections and passions of Hope, Desire, Love, Delight, Fear, Sorrow and the rest, are all rooted in it, and spring out of it, and so for Habits, Arts, and Sciences **A … Subjectum … omnium vi… tum & vitiorum, S…enti… rum & Artium. Buchan. loc. Com. p. 86.; 'tis the Soul in which they are lodged and seated. Having once gotten a Promptitude to act, either by some strong, or by some frequently repeated actings, they abide in the Soul, even when the Acts are intermitted; as in sleep, a Navigator, Scribe, or Musician, are really Artists, when they are neither Sailing, Writing or Playing: Because the habits still remain in their minds, as is evident in this, that when they awake, they can perform their several works, without learning the rules of their Art anew.

22A Vital Substance.II. The Soul is a vital Substance.: i. e.

A Substance which hath an essential principle of Life in it self. A living active Being. A living Soul, saith Moses in the Text; and hereby it is distinguished from, and opposed to matter, or body. The Soul moves it self and the body too; it hath a self-moving Virtue or Power in it self, whereas the matter or body is wholly passive, and is moved, and acted not by it self, but by this vital Spirit. James 2.26. The body without the Spirit is dead. It acts not at all but as it is acted by this invisible spirit. This is so plain that it admits of sensible proof and demonstration. Take meer matter, and compound or divide it, alter it and change it how you will, you can never make it see, feel, hear, or act vitally without a quickning and actuating Soul: Yet we must still remember, that this active, vital principle, the Soul, though it hath this vital Power in it self, it hath it not from it self, but in a constant receptive dependance upon God, the first Cause both of its Being and Power.

p. 1433A Spiritual Substance.III. It is a Spiritual Substance.

All Substances are not gross, material, visible and palpable substances, but there are spiritual and immaterial, as well as corporeal substances discernable by Sight or Touch. To deny this were to turn a downright Sadducee, and to deny the existence of Angels and Spirits, Acts 23.8. The word Substance as it is applied to the Soul of Man, puzzles and confounds the dark understandings of some, that know not what to make of an immaterial Substance, whereas in this place it is no more than **A Substance in this use of the word, is that which depends not in respect of its Being upon any other fellow creature, as Accidents and Qualities do, whose Being is by having their in-being in another fellow creature as their subject; but this Being, The Soul, exists in it self.substare accidentibus, (i. e.) to be a subject in which, properties, affections and habits are seated and subjected. This is a spiritual Substance, and is frequently in Scripture called a Spirit; into thy hands I commit my spirit, Luke 23.46. Lord Iesus receive my spirit, Acts 7.59. and so frequently all over the Scriptures. And the spirituality of its nature appears (1.) by its Descent in a peculiar way from the Father of Spirits: (2.) in that it rejoyceth in the essential Properties of a Spirit: (3.) That at Death it returns to that great Spirit who was its Efficient and Former.

(1.) It descends in a peculiar way from the Father of Spirits, as hath been shewn in the opening of this Text: God stiles himself its Father, Heb. 12.9. its Former, Zech. 12.1. 'Tis true, he giveth to all living things foreign, life and breath, Acts 1….25. Other Souls are from him, as well as the rational Soul.; but in a far different way, and Manner. They flow not immediately from him by Creation,Gen. 1.24, 27.Gen 1:24Gen 1:27 as this doth. It is said, Let the Earth bring forth the living Creature after his kind, but God created Man in his own Image: Which seems plainly to make a specifical difference betwixt the reasonable and all other Souls.

p. 15(2.) It rejoyceth in the essential Properties of a Spirit: for it is an incorporeal Substance, as Spirits are. It hath not partes extra partes, extension of parts: nor is it divisible, as the body is: It hath not Dimensions and Figures as matter hath; but is a most pure invisible and (as the acute and judicious Dr. More expresseth it) an indiscerpible Substance. It hath the Principle of Life and Motion in it self, or rather, it is such a Principle it self, and is not moved as the dull and sluggish matter is per aliud, by another. Its efficacy is great, though it be unseen, and not liable to the Test of our touch, as no spiritual substances are. A Spirit (saith Christ) hath not Flesh and Bones, Luke 24.39. We both grant and feel that the Soul hath a love and inclination to the body, (which indeed is no more than it is necessary it should have;) yet can we no more inferr its Corporeity from that love to the body, than we can infer the Corporeity of Angels from their affection and benevolent love to men. It is a Spirit of a nature vastly different from the body in which it is immersed. Mr. Hows Funeral Serm. p. 9, 10.There is (saith a learned Author) no greater mystery in nature, than the union betwixt the Soul and Body. That a Mind and Spirit should be so ty'd and linkt to a clod of Clay, that while that remains in a due temper, it cannot by any art or power free it self! — What so much a-kin are a Mind and a piece of Earth, a Clod, and a Thought: that they should be thus affixed to one another?

Certainly, the heavenly pure Bodies do not differ so much from a dunghil, as the Soul and Body differ: they differ but as more pure and less pure matter; but these, as material and immaterial. If we consider wherein consists the Being of a Body, and wherein, that of a Soul, and then compare them, the matter will be clear.

We cannot come to an apprehension of their Beings, but by considering their primary passions and properties, whereby they make discovery of themselves. The first and primary affection of a body **Philosophical Essay, …. 2. §. 2. p. 39.(as is rightly observed) is that extension of parts whereof it is compounded, and a capacity of Division, upon which, as upon the fundamental mode, p. 16the particular Dimensions (that is, the figures) and the local motion do depend.

Again, for the Being of our Souls, if we reflect upon our selves we shall find, that all our knowledge of them resolves into this, that we are Beings conscious to our selves of several kinds of cogitations; that by our outward senses we apprehend bodily things present, and by our imagination we apprehend things absent. And that we oft recover into our apprehension things past and gone, and upon our perception of things, we find our selves variously affected.

Let these two properties of a Soul and Body be compared, and upon the first view of a considering mind it will appear, that Divisibility is not Apprehension, or Judgment, or Desire, or Discourse: That to cut a body into several parts, or put it into several shapes, or bring it to several motions, or mix it after several ways, will never bring it to apprehend, or desire. No man can think the combining of Fire, and Air, and Water, and Earth, should make the lump of it to know or comprehend what is done to it, or by it. We see manifestly, that upon the division of the body, the Soul remains entire, and undivided. It is not the loss of a Leg, or Arm, or Eye, that can maim the Understanding, or the Will, or cut off the affections.

Nay, it pervades the body it dwells in, and is whole in the whole, and whole in every **Understand i… negatively, that the Soul is not in the parts of the body per partes, part in one part. and part in another▪ seeing it is indivisible, and hath no parts.part, which it could never do, if it self were material. Yea, it comprehends in its understanding, the body or matter in which it is lodged; and more than that, it can and doth form conceptions of pure spiritual and immaterial Beings, which have no Dimensions or Figures; all which sh…ws it to be no corporeal, but a Spiritual and immaterial Substance.

(3.) As it derives its Being from the Father of Spirits in a peculiar way, and rejoyceth in its spiritual properties; so at death it returns to that great Spirit, from whence it came. It is not annihilated or resolved into soft Air, or suckt up again by the Element of Fire, or catcht back again into the soul of the World, as some have dreamed; p. 17but it returns to God who gave it, to give an account of it self to him, and receive its Judgment from him. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it, Eccles. 12.7. Each part of Man to its like, dust to dust, and spirit to spirit. Not that the Soul is resolved into God, as the Body is into Earth: but as God created it a rational Spirit, conscious to it self of moral good and evil; so when it hath finisht its time in the body, it must appear before the God of the Spirits of all flesh, its Arbiter and final Judge.

By all which we see that as it is elevated too high on the one hand, when it is made a particle of God himself; not only the Creature, but a part of God, as **Anima autem mentis particeps facta, non solum Dei opus est, verum etiam pars; neque ab …o, sed de eo & ex eo facta. Plut. de Qu. Platon.Plutarch, and ††Quomoda credibile vidatur tam axiguam mentem humanam membranulâ. etrebri, aut corde, …aud …mplis spaciis in…lusam; tantam Coeli mundique magnitudinem capere, nisi illius divinae f… licisque animae particula esset indivisibilis? Philo.Philo Iudaeus, and others have term'd it: (a Spirit it is, but of another and inferiour kind) So it is degraded too low, when it is affirmed to be matter, though the purest, finest and most subtle in nature; which approacheth nearest to the nature of a spirit. A Spirit it is, as much as an Angel is a Spirit, though it be a spirit of another species. This is the name it is known by throughout the Scriptures. In a word, it is void of mixture and composition, there are no jarring qualities, compounded Elements, or divisible parts in the Soul, as there are in bodies, but it is a pure, simple, invisible and indivisible Substance, which proves its spirituality, and brings us to the fourth particular, viz.

IV. It is an immortal Substance.44An immortal Substance.

The simplicity and spirituality of its nature of which I spake before, plainly shews us, that it is in its very nature designed for Immortality: for such a being or Substance as this, hath none of the seeds of Corruption and Death in its nature, as all material and compounded Beings have. It hath nothing within it tending to dissolution: No jarring Elements, p. 18no contrary qualities are found in Spirits, as there are in other Creatures of a mixed nature. Physicians and Philosophers have disputed and contended eagerly about the true causes of natural Death, **Litigamus de via, interim ad termiminum rapimar.and whilst they have been contending about the way, they have come to the end. The ingress of the Soul is obscure, and its egress not clear. But this seems to be the thing in which they generally centre, that the expence and destruction of the ††foreign. Arist. de lo…g. & brev. vit. Dum flammat & micat calidum nativum corporis nostri in humido primigenio, ej…s humidi substantia consumitur, non …liter quà… in lampade o…tum à flamma exhauritur. Heurnius Aphor 1. Tam diu durat vigor vitae. quam diu stat calidum nativum, donec ad morte… fuerit deventum. Et quantum à calido & humido receditur, tantus ad mortem fit acc…ssus. J. Bapt. Montanus. Ortus nostri primordia, caloris & humoris nativi habent summum complementum, &c. Fernelius, liber de spir. & cal.natural moisture, or radical balsam, as others call it, which is as the Oyl that maintains natural heat, or the Bridle that restrains that flame of life from departing (as others express it); this is the cause of natural Death. Others **Vergente aetate, inaequalis adm…dum sit reparatio; aliae partes reparantur satis faeliciter, sed aliae aegrè, & in pejus. u… ab eo tempore corpora humana subiri incipiunt tormentum illud McZen…ii, ut viva in am…lexu mo…t…orum immoriantur. Verulam in adita Hist. vitae & mortis.assign the unequal reparation of the parts of the body, as the cause of death. But be it one or other, 'tis evident, the Soul which consists neither of contrariant qualities, nor of dissimilar parts, must be above the reach and stroke of Death. For if the Soul dye, it must be either from some seeds and principles of Death and Corruption within it self, or by some destructive power without it self. In it self you see there is no seed or principle of death; and if it be destroyed by a power without it self, it must be either by the stroke of some Creature, or from the hand of God that first formed and created it: But the hand and power of no Creature can destroy it; creature power reaches no farther than the body, Matth. 10.28. they cannot kill the Soul. And though the Almighty power of God that created it out of nothing, can as easily reduce it to nothing; yet he will never do so. For besides the Designation for Eternity, which is discernible in its very nature, (as before was observed) and which speaks the intention of God to perpetuate it, the threatnings of Eternal Wrath, and promises of p. 19everlasting life respectively made to the souls of Men, as they shall be found in Christ, or out of Christ, puts it beyond all doubt, that they shall never dye: as will be more fully evidenced in the following Discourse.

Well then, I hope so far our way is clear in the search of the nature of the Soul, that it is a Substance, a Spiritual Substance, and being so, it is also an immortal Substance. No doubt remains with me as to either of these. Let us then proceed to the consideration of its faculties and powers, by which it may be yet more fully known, and we shall find, that,

V. It is a vital, 55Endued with Understanding.spiritual and immortal Substance, endued with an understanding.

This is the noble leading faculty of the Soul: we are not distinguished from Brutes by our senses, but by our understanding. As grace sets one man above another, so understanding sets the meanest man, above the best of Brutes. Strange and wonderful things are performed by the natural instinct and sagacity of Beasts; but yet, what is said of one is true of them all, God hath not imparted understanding to them, Job 39.17. This is a Jewel which adorns none, but rational Creatures, Men, and Angels.

It is a Faculty of the reasonable Soul, What the Understanding is.by which a man apprehends and judgeth all intelligible things.

The Object of it is every Being, so far as it is true in it self, and apprehensible by Man. It hath a twofold use in the life of man, viz.

(1.) To Distinguish truth from errour and falshood: by this candle of the Lord, lighted up in the Soul of man, he may discern betwixt duty and sin, good and evil: 'tis the eye of the Soul, by which it seeth the way in which we should go, and the dangerous precipices that are on either side. It is the souls Taster, and discerns wholesome food from baneful p. 20poyson, Iob 12, 11. D…th not the … (i.e. the understanding by the ear) try words, as the mouth tasteth meat? It brings all things as it were, in the lump before it, and then sorts them, and orderly ranks them into their proper Classes of lawful and unlawful, necessary and indifferent, expedient and inexpedient, that the Soul may not be damnified by mistaking one for another. And this judgement of Discretion every man must be allowed for himself. No man is obliged to shut the eyes of his own Understanding, and follow another man blindfold.

(2.) To direct and guide us in our practice. This faculty is by Philosophers rightly called foreign, the leading faculty, because the will follows its practical dictates. It sits at helm, and guides the course of the Soul: Not impelling or rigorously inforcing its dictates upon the will; for the Will cannot be so imposed upon; but by giving it a directive light, or pointing as it were with its finger, at what it ought to chuse, and what to refuse.

To this Faculty belong two other excellent and wonderful powers of the Soul, viz.

1. Thoughts.

2. Conscience.

**What a Thought is.1. The power or ability of Cogitation: Thoughts are properly the actings and agitations of the mind, or any actual operation of the understanding. They are the musings of the mind, which are acted in the speculative part of the understanding. It is observable that the …ro…a cogitatio est mentis agitatio, Pa…or. vel actio mentis, zanch. foreign cum puncto sinistro, locutus est o…e, aut corde: & foreign est sermocinari intra se, (i. e.) apud se, in a…imis suis.Hebrew word foreign suach which is used for meditation, or thinking, signifies both to think and to speak in the mind. When the understanding or mind revolves and meditates the things that come into it, that very Meditation is an inward speaking, or a hidden word in the heart. Deut. 15.9. Beware lest there be a thought in thy wicked heart, as some render it: In the Hebrew it is foreign a word in thy heart: so Matth. 9.3, 4. foreign, they spake within themselves, i. e. they thought in their hearts. Matth. 21.25.Matt 21:25The Objects presented to the mind are p. 21the Companions, with whom our hearts talk and converse.

Thoughts are the figments and Creatures of the mind. They are formed within it, in … innumerable. The power of cogitation is in the mind, yea, in the spirit of the mind. **Phantasia m…nti offert phantasmata, Picol.The fancy indeed whilst the Soul is embodied, ordinarily and for the most part presents the appearances and likenesses of things to the mind; but yet it can form thoughts of things which the fancy can present no Image of, as when ††When we think of God, saith …rx. Tyr. Diss. 1. we must think of nothing material, foreign.the Soul thinks of God or of itself. This power of cogitation goes with the Soul, and is rooted in it, when it is separated from the body; and by it we speak to God, and converse with Angels, and other spirits in the unbodied State, as will be more fully opened in the process of this Discourse.

2. The Conscience belongs also to this faculty,What Conscience is. for it being the judgement of a man upon himself, with respect or relation to the judgment of God; it must needs belong to the understanding part or faculty. Thoughts are formed in the speculative, but Conscience belongs to the practical understanding.Iudicium appello conscientiam, ut ad intellect…m eam … oste…am. Ames. It is a very high and awful power; it is solo Deo minor, and rides (as Ioseph did) in the second Chariot. The next and immediate Officer under God. He saith of Conscience with respect to every man, as he once said of Moses with respect to Pharaoh, See, I have made … a God to Pharoah, Exod. 7.1. The voice of Conscience is the voice of God, for it is his Vicegerent and Representative. What it binds on earth, is bound in heaven; and what it looseth on earth, is loosed in heaven. It observes, records, and bears witness to all our actions: and acquits or condemns as in the name of God for them. Its Consolations are most sweet, and its Condemnations most terrible, so terrible that some have chosen death, which is the King of terrours, rather than to endure the scorching heat of their own Consciences. The greatest Deference and Obedience is due to its Commands. And a man had better **Quas nos oportet mortes praeeligere, quod non supplicium potius ferre; immo i… quam profundam infe…ni Abyssum …o… intra…e, quàm co…tra conscientiam atte…tari? Zuing….indure any rack or torture in the world, than incur the torments of it. It accompanies us as our shadow, whereever we go; and when all others forsake us, (as at death they will) Conscience p. 22is then with us, and is never more active and vigorous than at that time. Nor doth it forsake us after death, but where the Soul goes, it goes; and will be its Companion in the other world for ever. How glad would the Damned be, if they might but have left their Consciences behind them, when they went hence, but as Bernard rightly, **Ipsa judicat, ipsa imperat, ipsa observat; ipsa judicat, ipsa to…to… ipsa carcer. Bern. lib. de Conse. cap. 9.It is both Witness, Judge, Tormentor and Prison, it accuseth, judgeth, punisheth and condemneth.

And thus briefly of the understanding, which hath many Offices, and as many names from those Offices.

It is sometimes called Wit, Reason, Vnderstanding, Opinion, Iudgment. And why we bestow so many names upon one and the same faculty, the learned Author of that small but excellent ††Nosce Teipsum, p. 48, 49.Tract de Anima, gives us this true and ingenious account.

THe Wit, the Pupil of the Souls clear eye,

And in mans world, the only shining Star,

Looks in the Mirroir of the Phantasie

Where all the gatherings of the Senses are.

And after by discoursing to and fro

Anticipating and Comparing things,

She doth all universal natures know,

And all Effects into their Causes brings.

When she rates things, and moves from ground to ground,

The name of Reason she obtains by this;

But when by reason she the truth hath found,

And standeth fixt, she Understanding is.

When her Assent she lightly doth incline,

To either part she is Opinion light;

But when she doth by principles define

A Certain truth, she hath true Judgements fight.

p. 23And as from Senses, Reasons work doth spring,

So many Reasons Vnderstanding gain;

And many Vnderstandings Knowledge bring,

And by much Knowledge Wisdom we obtain.

VI.66Endued with a Will. What the Will is. God hath endued the Soul of man not only with an Vnderstanding to discern and direct, but also with a Will to govern, moderate and over-rule the actions of Life.

The Will is a faculty of the rational Soul, whereby a man either chuseth, or refuseth the things which the understanding discerns, and knows.

This is a very high and noble power of the Soul. The understanding seems to bear the same relation to the Will, as a grave Counsellour doth to a great Prince. It glories in two excellencies, viz,

1. Liberty.

2. Dominion.

1. It hath Freedom and Liberty,foreign. Zeno. it cannot be compelled and forced: Coaction is repugnant to its very nature. In this it differs from the understanding, that the understanding is wrought upon necessarily, but the will acts spontaneously. This Liberty of the Will respects the choice or refusal of the means for attaining those ends it prosecutes, according as it finds them more or less conducible thereunto. The Liberty of the Will must be understood to be in things natural, which are within its own proper sphere, not in things supernatural. It can move or not move the Body as it pleases, but it cannot move towards Christ in the way of faith as it pleaseth: it can open or shut the hand or eye at its pleasure, but not the heart. True indeed, it is not compelled or forced to turn to God by supernatural grace, but in a way sutable to its nature, it is determined and drawn to Christ, Psal. 1.10.3. It is drawn by a mighty power, and yet runs freely, Cant. 1.4. Draw me, we will run after thee.

p. 24Efficacious grace, and victorious Delight, is a thing very different from compulsive force. Pelagiu… (as a late **Dr. Manton in Psal. 119. v. 36.Ps 119:36Author speaks) at first gave all to nature, acknowledged no necessity of divine grace; but when this proud Doctrine found little countenance, he called nature by the name of grace. And when that deceit was discovered, he acknowledged no other grace but outward instruction, or the benefit of external revelation, to discourse and put men in mind of their duty. Being yet driven farther, he acknowledged the grace of Pardon; and before a man could do any thing acceptably, there was a necessity of the remission of sin, and then he might obey God perfectly. But that not sufficing, he acknowledged another grace, viz. the example of Christ, which doth both secure our rule, and encourage our practice. And last of all, his followers owned some kind of internal grace, but they made that to consist in some illumination of the understanding, or moral perswasion, by probable arguments, to excite the will, and this not absolutely necessary, but only for facilitation, as an Horse to a journey, which otherwise a man might go a-foot. Others grant the secret influences of Gods grace, but make the Will of man a co-ordinate cause with God, namely, that God doth propound the Object, hold forth inducing considerations, give some remote power and assistance; but still there is an indifferency in the Will of man, to accept, or refuse, as liketh him best. Thus have they been forced to quit and change their ground, but still the pride of nature will not let men see the necessity of divine efficacious influences upon the Will, and the consistency thereof with natural Liberty.

Imperium 1. D…spotic…m. 2. Politicum.2. Its dignity consists in its Dominion as well as in its liberty. The Will hath an Empire and Scepter belonging to it; Yea, a double Empire, for it rules,

p. 251. Over the Body, imperio desp…tico, by way of absolute Command.

2. Over the other powers and passions of the Soul, imperio politico, by way of suasion.

(1.) The Will, like an absolute Soveraign, **Homo no… agit ex necessitate naturae, sed liberè, sc. modo rationali, hoc est modo imperii. Ad imperium requiritur dictamen ultimum intellectus pr… ctici, & stante effic…ci… imperii, voluntas liberè mov…tur. Cumel. de volun. p. 50.reigns over the body, (i.e.) its external members, by way of absolute command. It saith, as the Centurion did, I am in authority, and God hath put the many members of the body in subjection to me. I say to one, Move, and it moves; to another, Stop, and it stops; and to a third, Do this, and it doth it. The obsequious members like so many Servants have their eyes waiting on the imperial Commands of the Will, and it is admirable to behold, with what dispatch and speed they execute its Commands, as if their obedient motions were rather concomitant, than subsequent acts to the Wills mandates. Let it but command to have the windows of the body open, or shut, and its done in a moment, in the twink of an eye. And so for the rest of the external senses and members, they pay it most ready Obedience. Yet when I say, the Will hath a despotical and absolute Soveraignty over the members, it must be understood with a double limitation. First, They are only at its beck for use and service, it can use them whilst well, and rightly disposed; but it cannot perpetuate them, or restore them when indisposed. If the Soul will the health and life of the body never so intensely and vehemently, it cannot keep off Death one moment the longer from it. And, Secondly, Its Soveraignty no way intrenches upon, not interferes with the Dominion of Providence over the members of the body, and the various motions of them. God hath reserved a Soveraign negative voice to himself, whatever Decrees the Will passes. Ieroboam stretches out his hand against the man of God to smite him, but God puts a remora in the very instant to the loco-motive faculty, that though he would never so fain, he could not pull in his hand again to him; 1 Kings 13.4. The Will commands the service of the tongue, and chargeth it to deliver faithfully such or such words, in which, it may be, the ruine of good men may p. 26be imported, and when it comes to do its office, the tongue faulters, and contrary to the command of the Will, drops some word, that discovers and defeats the design of the Will, according to that in Iob 12.20. He removeth away the speech of the trusty. This is its Despotical and Soveraign power over the external members of the body.

(2.) It hath a political power over the faculties and passions of the Soul, not by way of absolute command, but by way of suasion, and insinuation. Thus it can oft times perswade the understanding and thoughts to lay by this or that subject, and apply themselves to to the study of another. It can bridle, and restrain the Affections and Passions, but yet it hath no absolute command over the inner, as it hath over the outward man: Its weakness and inability to govern the inner man, appears in two things more especially remarkable, viz. 1. It cannot with all its power and skill command and fetch off the thoughts from some subjects which are set on, at some times with extraordinary weight upon the Soul. However the thoughts may obsequiously follow its beck at some times, yea, for the most part; yet there are Cases and Seasons, in which its authority and perswasions cannot disengage one thought, as (1.) when God hath to do with the Soul in the work of Conversion. When he convinceth of sin and danger, and sets a mans evils in order before his eyes: These are terrible representations, and fain would the carnal will disengage the thoughts from such sad subjects, and strives by all manner of perswasions and diversions so to do; but all to no purpose. Psal. 51. v. 3. My sin is ever before me. The thoughts are fixt, and there is no removing of them. It may give them a little interruption, but they return with the more impetuous violence. And instead of gaining them off, they at last (or rather, God by them) gains over the Will also. (2.) When Satan hath to do with the Soul in the way of Temptation, and hellish Suggestion. Look as the Carnal will opposed it self to the thoughts in the former case to no purpose; so the sanctified Will opposes it self to them in this case, oft-times with as little effect or success, as he that opposeth his weak p. 27breath to the strong Current of a mighty River. Well were it, if the Sanctified Will were now the master of the Phantasie, and could controul the thoughts of the heart; but like a mad horse, the Phansie takes the Bit in its Teeth, and runs whither it pleaseth; the Will cannot govern it. Think quite anoth… way, saith the Will: turn thy thoughts to other things; but much the near, the Soul turneth a deaf ear to its Counsels. 2. It cannot quiet and compose a raging Conscience, and reduce it at its pleasure to Rest and Peace. This is the peculiar work of God. He only that stills the stormy Seas, can quiet the distressed and tempestuous Soul. The impotence of the will in this case is known to all that have been in those deeps of trouble. And this is the misery of the Devil and the damned, that though they would never so fain, yet they cannot get rid of those tormenting impressions made upon them by their own trembling and condemning Consciences. There would not be so many pale, sweating, affrighted Consciences on Earth, and in Hell, if the Will had any command or power over them.

Tam frigida mens est

Criminibus; tacitâ suda…t praecordia culpâ.

'Tis an horrible sight to see such a trembling upon all the members, such a cold Sweat upon the panting bosom of a self-condemned, and wrath-presaging Soul, in which it can by no means relieve or help it self. These things are exempt from the liberty and dominion of the Will of man, but notwithstanding these exemptions, it is a noble faculty, and hath a vastly extended Empire in the Soul of man: It is the door of the Soul, at which the spirit of God knocks for entrance. When this is won, the Soul is won to Christ; and if this stand out in rebellion against him, he is barr'd out of the Soul, and can have no saving union with it. The truth of grace is to be judged and discerned by its compliance with his call, and the measure of Grace to be estimated by the degree of its subjection to his Will.

VII. The Soul of man is not only endued with an Vnderstanding, 77Furnished with various Affections and Passions.and Will: but also with various Affections and Passions, which are of great use and service to it; and speak p. 28the excellency of its nature. They are originally designed and appointed for the happiness of man, in the promoting and securing his chiefest good; to which purpose they have a natural aptitude: For the true Happiness and Rest of the Soul not being in it self, nor in any other creature, but in God, the Soul must necessarily move out of it self, and beyond all other created Beings, to find and enjoy its true felicity in him. The Soul considered at a distance from God, its true Rest and happiness, is furnished and provided with desire and hope to carry it on, and quicken its motion towards him. These are the arms it is to stretch out towards him, in a state of absence from him. And seeing it is to meet with many obstacles, Enemies, and difficulties in its course, which hinder its motion, and hazzard its fruition of him,Passio animae nihil aliud est, quam motus ap…etitivae virtutis in prosecutione boni, vel fug… mali. God hath planted in it, Fear, Grief, Indignation, Iealousie, Anger, &c. to grapple with, and break through those intercurrent difficulties, and hazzards. By these weapons in the hand of grace, it conflicts with that which opposes its passage to God, as the Apostle expresseth that holy fret and passion of the Corinthians, and what a fume their souls were in, by the gracious motion of the irascible appetite, 2 Cor. 7.11. For behold this self same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort; what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of your selves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge? Much like the raging and strugling of Waters, which are interrupted in their course by some dam, or obstacle, which they strive to bear down, and sweep away before them.

But the Soul considered in full union with, and fruition of God its supream Happiness, is accordingly furnished with the affections of Love, Delight, and Ioy; whereby it rests in him, and enjoys its proper blessedness in his presence for ever. Yea, even in this life these affections are in an imperfect degree exercised upon God, according to the prelibations and enjoyments it hath of him by faith in its way to Heaven. In a word,

The true uses and most excellent ends for which these affections and passions are bestowed upon the Soul of man, are to qualifie it, and make it a fit subject to be wrought upon in a moral way of perswasions and allurements in order p. 29to its union with Christ, (for by the affections, (as Mr. Fenner rightly observes) the Soul becomes marriageable, or capable of being espoused to him) and being so, then to assist it in the prosecution of its full enjoyment in Heaven, as we heard but now.

But alas! how are they corrupted and inverted by sin. The concupiscible appetite greedily fastens upon the Creature, not upon God; and the irascible appetite is turned against holiness, not sin. But I must insist no farther on this subject here, it deserves an intire Treatise by it self.

VIII.88And an inclination and love to the Body. The Soul of man hath in the very frame and nature of it an inclination to the body. There is in it a certain Pondus or inclination which naturally bends or sways it towards matter, or a body. There are three different Natures found in living Creatures, viz.

1. The Brutal.

2. The Angelical.

3. The Humane.

(1.) The Soul of a Brute is wholly confined to, and dependent on the matter or body with which it is united. It is dependent on it both in esse, & in operari. In its being and working; it is but a material form, which rises from, and perisheth with the body. The Soul of a Brute, Lord Chief Justice Hale, in his Treatise de Anim…, p. 56.(saith a great Person) is no other than a fluid bodily Substance, the more lively, subtil, and refined part of the blood (called spirit) quick in motion, and from the Arteries by the branches of the Carotides carried to the Brain, and from thence conveyed to the Nerves and Muscles moves the whole frame and mass of the body, and receiving only certain weak impressions from the Senses, and of short continuance; hindred and obstructed of its work and motion, vanishes into the soft Air.

(2.) An Angel is a Spirit free from a body, and created without an appetite or inclination to be imbodied. The Stoicks call the Angels foreign, souly substances. And the Peripateticks, formas abstractas, abstract forms. They are Spirits free from the fetters and cloggs of the p. 30body. **Angelus est anima perfecta, & anima est Angelus imperfectus. Bell de Ascen. mentis.An Angel is a perfect Soul, and an Humane Soul an imperfect Angel. Yet Angels have no such rooted disaffection and abhorrence of a body, but that they have, and can in a ready obedience to their Lords commands, and delight to serve him, assume bodies for a time, to converse with men in them; (i.e.) Aerial Bodies in the figure and shape of humane bodies. So we read, Gen. 18.2. three men (i.e. Angels in humane shape and appearance) stood by Abraham, and talked with him; and at Christs Sepulchre, Luke 24. There appeared two men in shining garments. But they abide in these bodies, as we do in an Inn for a night, or short season, they dwell not in them as our souls in those houses of flesh, which we cannot put on and off at pleasure, as they do; but as we walk in our garments, which we can put off without pain.

(3.) The humane Soul is neither wholly tyed to the body as the brutal soul is, nor created without inclination to a body, as Angels are; but loves, and inclines to it, though it can both live and act without it, when it is parted from it at death. The proof of this Assertion, and the Reasons why God created it with such an inclination, will in their proper place be more fully spoken to in the following Discourse. All that I shall add is, that in this, as well as in some other respects, our souls are made a little lower than the Angels, but when they are uncloathed of the body, and have received it again in a new Edition, a Spiritual body; then they shall be foreign, equal unto Angels in the way and manner of life and action.

Thus I have as briefly as I can, dispatcht the first thing propounded, viz. The Nature of the Soul, in the explication of these seven particulars. It is a Substance, a Vital, Spiritual and immortal Substance, a Substance endued with Vnderstanding, Will, Affections, and an Inclination to the body. And now we are come to the

p. 31II. Branch, viz. Its Original and Infusion.22The Souls Original and Descent.

I. As to its Original, I have described it to be immediately from God, in the way of Creation. An honour done to no other living Creature except Angels. The world hath been troubled with a great many extravagant and wild notions, about the Original of the Soul of man: (a certain Mark and Argument of its Apostasie from God). **Solinus resert de quodam, quod accepto v…l…ere in occipitio, ad tantam devenit ignorantiam, ut nesciret se habuisse nomen. Augustodun. de Philosoph. Mundi, lib. 4. c. 24.Solinus writes of one who by a wound in the hinder part of his head, fell into such a degree of Ignorance and Oblivion, that he forgot his own name, and could not tell whether he had any name at all. But O! What a stunning blow did man receive by the Fall, that he should forget the very Author of his Being, and rather claim alliance, and derive the Being of his Soul from any thing, than God; though it bears the very Marks and Characters of its divine Author and Father, upon it! The principal errours about the Origin of the Soul (for that wild notion of Epicuru… hath been laid so flat by the pens of many learned men, that it is a vanity to strike one blow more at it) may be reduced to these three heads.

(1.) First, some affirm it to be by way of ††Datur agens Physicum quod aliud esse non potest quam parens; qui …i seminis animam è materiae sinu eliciat.Traduction, or natural generation from the Parents to the Child. This opinion is very ancient, Tertullian and divers of the Western Fathers closed with it, as judging it the best expedient to solve the difficulties of the souls taint and defilement with Original sin. But Antiquity is no pass-port for errours. The gray hairs of opinions (as one well notes) are then honourable, when they are found in the way of truth. Dr. Brown tells us he should rather incline to the Creation,Religio Medici, ….36. than the Traduction of the Soul, though either opinion (saith he) will consist well enough with Religion; did not one Objection haunt him, and this is a Conclusion from the equivocal and monstrous productions by unnatural Copulations: As of a Man and Beast; for if the Soul of man (saith he) be not transmitted and transfused in the Seed, why are not those productions meerly Beasts, but have also an impression and tincture of reason in as high a p. 32measure as it can evidence it self in those improper Organs?

Which way the Doctors judgment had inclined in this Controversie, had been of no great consideration, to the determination of it. Though it is pity we should lose his consent and company, for the sake of such a beastly Objection as this, which haunts his mind: for if there be any such creatures, that seem to have a tincture of reason, it is but a tincture, and a seeming, not a real tincture neither: which many other Brutes have.

The Dr. is too well acquainted with Philosophy, and a man of too much reason, to allow himself to think, that such a production, as he speaks of, hath two Natures and essential Forms in one body, as of a Man and a Horse. He knows that every entity hath but one specifical Essence, and can have no more, except he will place one and the same thing under diverse Species in the predicament of substance. And as there cannot be two distinct forms, so neither can there be a mixtion of them in the Centaure or monstrous Birth: For ex duobus entibus per se, non fit unum …ns per se. But he confesseth this Objection was bred among the Weeds and Tares of his own Brain, (a rank soil no doubt) and I am pretty confident, he had weeded it out in his latter years; for I find this notion of Centaures (that is half Horses, half Men) put into its proper place among his Vulgar Errours, Book 1. chap. 4. And so I suppose that rubb being out of the way, he returned again to us.

(2.) A Second opinion was, that they were procreated by Angels; and that which gave the ground (such as it is) to this Opinion, or Fancy, is the similitude or resemblance which is found betwixt Angels and the Souls of Men. **Perfectum est q…od aliud sibi si…ile producit, sed immat…iales substantiae …ulto perfectiores sunt quam corporatae: ergo cum …ic alias sibi secundum speciem similes eff…iant, potiori ratione poterunt Angeli substantiam aliquam incorpoream inferio is natarae procreare, id est, Animam humanam. D. Dionys. cap. 4. de divinis nominibus.But this fancy needs not any industry to overthrow it, for though it be certain there is a similitude and p. 33resemblance betwixt Angels and Souls, both being immaterial and spiritual Substances: yet Angels neither propagate by generation, nor is it in their power to create the least Fly or Worm in the world, much less the Soul of man, the highest, noblest and most excellent Being Great power they have, but no creating power, that is Gods incommunicable property; and procreate our souls they did not, for they are spirits, yet spirits of another species.

(3.) A Third sort there are who deny not that Souls are created Substances,The coëtaneous creation of Souls rejected. and proceeded from God; but affirm withal, that he created them simul, & semel, together and at once, as the Angels were, and that not one by one, as men are born into the world. Of this opinion was Plato who thought all **Plato in Tima…o finxit Deum omnes animas h…meras ante corpora simul …easse, & in co…paribus stellis co…stitnisse: tum eas coelestium rerum t… dio, & te…renarum am…re captas, ut tanti scel…ris panas lu…rt…t, in corpora tanq…m in carcerem conjectas.humane souls to be created together before their bodies, and placed in some glorious and suitable Mansions, as the Stars, till at last growing weary of Heavenly, and falling in love with Earthly things, for a punishment of that Crime, they were cast into Bodies, as into so many Prisons. Origen suckt in this Notion of the praeexistence of Souls. And upon this supposition it was that Porphyry tells us in the life of Plotinus, that he blushed as often as he thought of his being in a Body, as a man that had lived in reputation and honour, blushes when he is lodged in a Prison. The ground on which the Stoicks bottomed their Opinion was the great dignity and excellency of the Soul, which inclined them to think they had never been degraded and abased as they are by dwelling in such vile bodies, but for their faults. And that it was for some former sin of theirs, that they slid down into gross matter, and were caught into a vital union with it. Whereas, had they not sinned, they had lived in celestial and splendid habitations more suitable to their dignity.

But this is a pure creature of fancy; for, (1.) no Soul in the world is conscious to it self of such a praeexistence: nor can remember when it was owner of any other habitation than that it now dwells in. (2.) Nor doth the Scripture give us the least hint of any such thing. Some indeed would catch hold of that expression, Gen. 2. 2. God p. 34rested the seventh day from all the works which he had made: And it is true, he did so, the work of Creation was finished and sealed up, as to any new species or kind of creatures to be created, no other sort of souls will ever be created, than that which was at first; But yet God still creates individual Souls (My father worketh hitherto, and I work) of the same kind and nature with Adams Soul. And (3.) for their detrusion into these bodies as a punishment of their sins in the former state, if we speak of sin in Individuals or particular persons, the Scripture mentions none, either original or actual, defiling any Soul in any other way but by its union with the body. Praeexistence therefore is but a Dream.

But to me it's clear, that the Soul receives not its being by Traduction or Generation; for that which is generable is also corruptible: but the spiritual immortal Soul (as it hath been proved to be) is not subject to Corruption. Nor is it imaginable how a Soul should be produced out of matter, which is not endued with reason: Or how a bodily Substance can impart that to another, which it hath not in it self. If it be said, the Soul of the child proceeds from the Soul of the Parents: that cannot be; for spiritual Substances are impartible, and nothing can be discinded from them. Abs…rdum est aliunde esse animam … st…am, aliunde animam Adae; cum omnes sunt ejusdem speciti. Zanch.And it is absurd to think the Soul of Adam should spring from one Original, and the souls of all his off-spring from another, whilst both his and theirs are of one and the same Nature and species. To all which let me add, that as this Assertion of their Creation is most reasonable, so it is most scriptural. It is reasonable to think and say, ††Nalla virtus a…li…a agit ult…a s…m genus, s…d Anima … tellectiva excedit totum genus corporae natarae cum sit s…bstantia s…iritualis ▪ &c. Con…ub…that no active power can act beyond or above the proper Sphere of its activity and ability. But if the Soul be elicited out of the power of matter, here would be an effect produced abundantly more noble and excellent than his cause. And as it is most reasonable, so it is most Scriptural. To this purpose divers Testimonies of Scripture are cited and produced by our Divines, amongst which we may single out these four, which are of special remark and use, Heb. 12.9. Furthermore, we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to [the Father of Spirits] and live? Here God is p. 35called the Father of Spirits, or of Souls, and that in an emphatical Antithesis or contradistinction to our natural Fathers, who are called the Fathers of our Flesh, or Bodies only. The true scope and sense of this Text is with great judgment and clearness given us by that learned and judicious Divine Mr. **Pemb…e de Origine Animae p. 59. Nihil apertins & foreign ista Antithesi, Carnem corpusque à pare…tib…s, animas à Deo accipimus; Quod si vilioris partis Authores, & qui minus in nos juris habent, patienter ca…ligantes f…imus: quàm aequiore animo …remus e…m qui s…premum in nos jus obtinet, utpote partis, quae in nobis est praestanti…sima, unicus Dato…, Conditorqu…?Pemble, in these words: Nothing is more plain and emphatical than this Antithesis, We receive our flesh or body from our Parents, but our souls from God; if then we patiently bear the chastisements of our Parents who are Authors of the vilest part, and have the least right or power over us, with how much more equal a mind should we bear his chastisements, who hath the supream right to us, as he is the Father and only giver of that which is most excellent in us, viz. our souls or spirits. Here it seems evident, that our souls flow not to us in the material Chanel of fleshly generation or descent, as our bodies do, but immediately from God their proper Father, in the way of Creation. Yet he begets them not out of his own Essence or Substance, as Christ his natural Son is begotten, but foreign, out of nothing that had been before, as Theodoret well expresseth it. Agreeable hereunto is that place also in ††Testimonium satis clarum, quo doc…mur, pari pass… haectria ambulare; expansionem c…li, f…dationem te…rae, & …ormationem animae ratio…alis.Zech. 12.1. The Lord which stretcheth forth the Heavens, and layeth the foundations of the Earth; and formeth the spirit of man within him: Where the forming of the spirit or soul of Man is associated with those two other glorious effects of Gods creating power, namely, the expansion of the Heavens, and laying the foundations of the Earth, all three are here equally assumed by the Lord, as his remarkable and glorious works of Creation. He that created the one, did as much create the other.

Now the two former we …ind frequently instanced in Scripture, as the effects of his creating Power, or works implying the Almighty power of God, and therefore are presented as strong props to our Faith, when it is weak and staggering, for want of visible matter of incouragement. Isa. 40.22. and 42.5. Ierem. 10.12. Iob 9.8. Psal. 104.2. q. d. p. 36Are my people in Captivity, and their Faith nonplust and at a loss, because there's nothing in sight that hath a tendency to their deliverance, no prepared matter for their Salvation? why, let them consider who it was that created the Heavens, and the Earth, yea and their Souls also, which are so perplexed with doubts, out of nothing; the same God that did this, can also create Deliverance for his people, though there be no praeexistent matter to work it out of.

R…sol…it So…omon utramque …ominis partem in su… prima principia. Ut ergo corpus in terram, unde s…mptum est resolv…t; ita etiam si anima ex …abl…tia c…l…ti, vel ex anima (ut …lato ait) m…di esset facta, in eam resol…isset Solomon. … simp…icite… de ipsa dicit, ea… redit…ram ad De…m qui ded…t illam; docet eam è nihito in quod resolvi non poss…t, crea…am esse. Zanch.Add to this that excellent place of Solomon in Eccles 12. 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth, as it was; and the Spirit to God who gave it. Where he shews us what becomes of Man, and how each part, of which he consists, is bestowed and disposed of after his Dissolution, by Death. And thus he states it: These two constitutive parts of Man are a Soul, and a Body: These two parts have two distinct Originals: The Body as to its material cause is Dust; the Soul in its nature is a Spirit, and as to its Origin, it proceeded from the Father of Spirits: 'tis his own creature in an immediate way. He gave it; He gave it the being it hath by Creation, and gave it to us (i.e.) to our bodies by Inspiration. Now qualis Genesis, talis Analysis: When death dissolves the union which is betwixt them, each part returns to that from whence it came, dust to dust, and the Spirit to God that gave it. The Body is expressed by its material cause, dust, the Soul only by its efficient cause, as the gift of God, because it had no material cause at all, nor was made out of any praeexistent matter, as the Body was. And therefore Solomon here speaks of God, as if he had only to do with the Soul, leaving the Body to its material and instrumental causes, with whom he concurrs by a general influence. 'Tis God, not Man alone; or God by Man, that hath given us these bodies: but 'tis not Man but God alone, who hath given us these souls. He therefore passeth by the Body, and speaks of the Soul as the gift of God, because that part of Man, and that only flows immediately from God, and at death returns to him that gave it. All these expressions, The Father of Spirits, the former of the spirit in Man, the Giver of the Spirit, how agreeable p. 37are they to each other, and all of them to the point under hand, that the Soul flows from God by immediate Creation? You see it hath no principle out of which (according to the order of nature) it did arise, as the body had; and therefore it hath no principle into which (according to the order of nature) it can be returned, as the body hath: but returns to God its efficient cause, if reconciled, to a Father, not only by Creation but Adoption; if unreconciled, as a creature guilty of unnatural Rebellion against the God that formed it, to be judged.

II. God created and infused it into the body with an inherent inclination and affection to it.Anima, quae est corporis organici perfectio, corpus necessari… est; non est enim forma separata: (i e.) propriè forma est; itaque materiam requirit, usque ad…o, ut anima à corpore s…j… cta, foreign tamen & inclinationem retine …t suam, quam corporis resurrectio co…se…uitur. The nature of the Soul and Body are vastly different, there is no affinity or similitude betwixt them▪ but it is in this case, as in that of Marriage. Two persons of vastly different Educations, Constitutions and Inclinations, coming under Gods Ordinance, into the nearest relation to each other, find their affections knit and endeared by their relation to a degree beyond that which results from the union of blood: So it is here. Whence this affection rises, in what acts it is discovered, and for what reason implanted, will be at large discovered in a distinct branch of the following Discourse, to which it is assigned. Mean while I find my self concerned to vindicate what hath been here asserted from the Arguments which are urged against the immediate Creation and infusion of the Soul, and in defence of the opinion of its Traduction from the Parents. To conceal, or dissemble these Arguments and Objections,Cameronis praelect. in Matth. p. 121. would be but a betraying of the truth I have here asserted, and give occasion for some jealousie, that they are unanswerable. To come then to an issue, and first,

It is urged,Object. 1. that it is manifest in it self, and generally yielded, that the souls of all other creatures come by generation, and therefore its probable that humane souls flow in the same Chanel also.

There is a specifick difference betwixt rational souls,Sol. and the souls of all other creatures, and therefore no force at all in the consequence. A material form may rise out of matter; but a Spiritual rational Being (as the Soul of Man is) cannot so rise, being much more noble and excellent than Matter is.

p. 38What Animal is there in the world, out of whose Soul the acts of reason spring and flow, as they do out of humane Souls? Are they capable of inventing, or (which is much less) of learning the Arts and Sciences? Can they correct their senses, and demonstrate a Star to be far greater than the whole Earth, which to the eye seems no bigger than the rowel of a Spurr? Do they foreknow the Positions and Combinations of the Planets, and the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon many years before they suffer them? And if they cannot perform these acts of reason, as it is sure they cannot, how much less can they know, fear, love, or delight in God, and long for the enjoyment of him! These things do plainly evince humane Souls to be of another species, and therefore of an higher Original than the souls of Brutes. If all have one common nature and Original, why are they not all capable of performing the same rational and Religious Acts?

Object. 2.But though it should be granted that the Soul of the first Man was by immediate Creation and Inspiration from God, yet it follows not, that the souls of all his posterity must be so too. God might create him with a power of begeting other souls after his own Image. The first tree was created with its seed in it self to propagate its kind, and so might the first Man.

Sol. 1.Trees, Animals and such like, were not created immediately out of nothing, as the Soul of Man was; but the Earth was the praeexistent matter out of which they were produced, by the word of Gods blessing and power; but mans Soul was immediately breathed into him by God, and had no praeexistent matter at all. And besides, all humane souls being of one species, have therefore one and the same Original: The Soul of the poorest child is of equal Dignity with the Soul of Adam. And if we consult Iob 33.4. we shall find Elihu giving us there the same account, and almost in the same words, of the Original of his Soul, that Moses in my Text gives us of the Original of Adams Soul. The Spirit of God hath formed me, and the Breath of the Almighty hath given me Life.

p. 39But it is evident,Sol. 2. souls spring not from the Parent, as one Plant or Animal doth from another: For they have their seed in themselves, apt and proper to produce their kind; but the seed of souls is not to be found in man: It is not to be found in his Body; for then (as was said before) a spiritual and nobler Essence must be produced out of a material and baser matter, (i.e.) the matter must give to the Soul that which it hath not in it self. Nor is it to be found in his Soul, for the Soul being a pure, simple, and indivisible Being, can suffer nothing to be discinded from it towards the production of another Soul. A spirit, as the Soul is, is Substantia simplex & impartibilis; an uncompounded and indiscerpible or impartible Being. Nor can it spring partly from the Body, and partly from the Soul, as from con-causes; for then it should be partly corporeal, and partly incorporeal as its causes are. So that there is no Matter, Seed, or principle of Souls found in man; and to be sure (as Baronius strongly argues) **Pate… neque producit animam filii ex aliqua re prae…ilente; neque producit eam ex nulla … praeexistente; h…c enim…est creare: e…go nullo modo eam producit. Baronius dissert. secunda de Origine Animae, p. 120.he cannot produce a Soul without praeexistent matter; for that were to make him Omnipotent, and assign a creating power to a creature. Besides, that which is generable is also corruptible, as we see Trees, Animals, &c. which are produced that way, to be; but the Soul is not corruptible, as hath in part been already proved, and will more fully in the following Discourse. So that Adam's Soul and the Souls of his posterity spring not from each other, but all from God by Creation.

If the Soul be created and infused immediately by God,Object. 3. either it comes out of his hands pure, or impure; if pure, how comes it to be defiled and tainted with sin? If impure, how do we free God from being the Author of sin?

If the question be,Sol whether souls be pure or impure as soon as they are united with their bodies, the answer is, They are impure, and tainted as soon as united. For the union constitutes a child of Adam, and consequently a sinful impure creature. But if it respect the condition and state, in which God created them, I answer with Baronius, ††Ani… … strae à Deo creante … a…cipiunt puritatem, s…u justitiam; neque imparitatem & propensionem ad malum: Se… tant…m essentiam spiritualem, & proprie…ates ab essentia diman…tes. Baron. exerci…. p. 103.They are created neither morally pure, nor impure; they receive p. 40neither purity, nor impurity from him, but only their naked essence, and the natural powers and properties flowing therefrom. He inspires not any impurity into them, for he cannot be the Author of Sin, who is the Revenger of it. Nor doth he create them in their original purity and rectitude; for the sin of Adam lost that, and God justly withholds it from his posterity. Who wonders (saith one Ienkins on Jude, Vol. 1. p. 559.) to see the Children, the Palaces, and Gardens of Traitors to droop and decay, and the Arms of his House and badge of his nobility to be defaced and reversed? That which is abused by man to the dishonour of God, may justly be destroyed, (I add in this case) or withheld by God, to the detriment of man. Adam voluntarily and actually deprived himself, and meritoriously deprived all his posterity of that original righteousness and purity in which he was created. As an holy God, he cannot inspire any impurity, and as a just and righteous God, he may and doth withhold, or create them void and destitute of that holiness and righteousness, which was once their Happiness and Glory.

Object. 4.But how come they then to be defiled and tainted with original sin? It's confessed God did not impure them, and the body cannot, for it being matter, cannot act upon a spirit; yea, of it self, it's a dead lump, and cannot act at all.

Sol.What if this be one of those mysteries reserved for the world to come, about which we cannot in this state solve every difficulty that may be moved, Must we therefore deny its divine original? What if I cannot understand some mysteries,…an sin…e the … bein… …, understands no… him…e…, nor will … restored to himself in glory. … p. 33…. or answer some questions about the Hypostatical union of the two natures in the wonderful Person of our Emmanuel, must I therefore question whether he be foreign, God-Man? We must remain ignorant of some things about our own souls, till we come into the condition of the spirits of just men made perfect. Mean time I think it much more our concernment to study how we may get sin out of our souls, than to puzzle our brains to find how it came into them.

But that the Objector may not take this for an handsome slide, or go-by to this great Objection, I return to it in a few particulars:

p. 41(1.) That I think not original sin follows either part singly,The Soul (say some) in the moment of … creation and infusion by God being united with the Body by the plastick and formative vertue of the parental seed; the Parent may be truly said to generate the man, though he do not produce the form. Because proper generation consists in the union, and not the production of parts. So that Original sin is not propagated from Body to Body, no… yet from Soul to Soul, but from man to man. it comes in neither by the Soul alone, nor by the body alone, a part from the Soul; but upon the union and conjunction of both in one person. 'Tis the union of these two which constitutes a child of Adam, and as such only, we are capable of being infected with his sin.

(2.) And whereas it is so confidently asserted in the Objection, That sin cannot come into the Soul by or from the body, because it being matter, cannot act upon a Spirit: I say, this is gratis dictum, easily spoken, but difficultly proved. Cannot the Body act upon, or influence the Soul? Pray then how comes it to pass, that so many souls become foolish, forgetful, injudicious, &c. by their union with ill disposed Bodies? Nothing is more sensibly plain and evident than that …ere is a reciprocal Communication betwixt the Soul and Body. The Body doth as really (though we know not how) affect the Soul with its dispositions, as the Soul influences it with life and motion. The more excellent any form is, the more intimate is its union and conjunction with the matter. The Soul of man hath therefore a more intimate and perfect union with the Body, than light hath with the Air: Which is made by some, the best Emblem and Similitude to shadow forth this union. But the union betwixt them is too intimate to be conceived by the help of any such Similitudes. That this infection is by way of Physical agency, as a rusty Scabbard infects and defiles a bright Sword when sheathed therein; I will not confidently affirm, as some do. It may be by way of Natural Concomitancy, as Estius will have it; or to speak, as Dr. Reynolds (modestly, and as becomes men that are conscious of darkness and weakness) by way of ineffable resultancy and emanation.

p. 42(3.) In summ, Original Sin consists in two things, viz.

1. In the privation of that original rectitude which ought to be in us.

2. In that habitual Concupiscence which carrieth nature to inordinate motions.

This Privation and inordinate inclination make up that original corruption, the rise whereof we are searching for: and to bring us as near it as we can come, without a daring intrusion into unrevealed Secrets; our solid Divines proceed by these steps in answering this Objection.

(1.) If it be demanded, how it comes to pass that an Infant becomes guilty if Adam's sin? The answer is, because he is a child of Adam by natural generation.

(2.) But why is he deprived of that Original rectitude in which Adam was created? They answer, because Adam lost it by his sin, and therefore could not transmit what he had lost, to his posterity.

(3.) But how comes he to be inclined to that which is evil? Their answer is, because he wants that original rectitude: For whosoever wants original rectitude, naturally inclines to that which is evil. And so the propension of Nature to that which is evil, seems to be by way of Concomitancy, with the defect or want of original righteousness.

And thus I have given some account of the Nature and Original of the Soul of Man, though alas! My dim eyes see but little of its excellency and glory. Yet by what hath been said, it appears the Masterpiece of all God's works of Creation in this lower World.

But because I suspect the Description I have given of it will be obscure and cloudy to vulgar Readers of a plain and low capacity, by reason of divers Philosophical terms which I have been forced to make use of; and reckoning p. 43my self a debtor to the weak and unlearned, as well as others, I will endeavour to strip this Description of the Soul, for their sakes, out of those artificial terms which darken it to them, and present it once more in the most plain and intelligible Epitome I am capable to give it in; that so the weaker understanding may be able to form a true notion of the Nature and Original of the Soul in this manner.

This Soul of mine is a true and real Being:The Soul a Substance. Not a fancy, a conceit, a very nothing. It hath a proper and true Being in it self, whether I conceit it or not. Nor indeed can I conceive of it, but by it. It is not such a thing as whiteness is in Snow, a meer accident, which depends upon the Snow in which it is, for the Being it hath, and must perish as soon as the Snow is dissolved: my Soul doth not so depend upon my Body, or any other fellow creature for its Being; but is as truly a Substance as my Body is, though not of so gross and material a kind and nature. My Soul can and will subsist, and remain what it is, when my Body is separated from it; but my Body cannot subsist and remain what it now is, when my Soul is separated from it. So that I find my Soul to be the most substantial and noble part of me, it is not my Body, but my Soul which makes me a man. And if this depart, all the rest of me is but a dead log, a lump of inanimate Clay, a heap of vile dust and corruption. From this independent subsistence it hath in it self, and the dependence its properties and affections have upon it, I truly apprehend and call it a Substance.

But yet when I call it a Substance,but a Spiritual Substance. I must not conceive of it as a gross material palpable substance, such as my Body is, which I can see and feel: No there are spiritual substances as well as gross, visible, material Substances. An Angel is a Spiritual Substance, a real creature, and yet imperceptible by my sight or touch; such a substance is my Soul. Spiritual substances are as real, and much more excellent than bodily substances are. I can neither see, hear, nor feel it, but I both see, hear and feel by it.

My Soul is also a vital Substance.A Vita… Substan… It is a principle of life to my Body. It hath a life in it self, and quickens my body therewith. My Soul is the spring of all the actions and motions of life which I perform. It hath been an errour p. 44taken in from my childhood, That sense is performed in the outward Organs, or members of my Body, as Touching in the Hand, seeing in the Eye, Hearing in the Ear, &c. in them, I say, and not only by them. As if nothing were required to make Sense, but an Object and an Organ. No, no, it is not my Eye that seeth, nor my Ear that heareth, nor my Hand that toucheth, but my Soul in and by them performs all this. Let but an Apoplex hinder the operations of my Soul in the Brain, and of how little use are my Eyes, Ears, Hands or Feet to me? My life is originally in my Soul, and secondarily by way of Communication in my Body. So that I find my Soul to be a vital, as well as a spiritual Substance.

An Immortal SubstanceAnd Being both a vital and Spiritual Substance, I must needs conclude it to be an immortal Substance. For in such a pure spiritual nature, as my Soul is, there can be found no seeds or principles of Death. Where there is no composition, there will be no dissolution. My Body indeed having so many jarring humours, mixed elements, and contrary qualities in it, must needs fail and dye at last. But my Soul was formed for immortality, by the simplicity and spirituality of its nature. No sword can pierce it from without, nor opposition can destroy it from within. Man cannot, and God will not.

endued with Vnderstanding, Will, and Affections;And being an immortal Spirit, fitted and framed to live for ever, I find that God hath answerably endued and furnished it with an Vnderstanding, Will, and Affections, whereby it is capable of being wrought upon, by the spirit in the way of Grace and Sanctification in this world; in order to the enjoyment of God its chief happiness, in the world to come.

By this its Understanding, I am distinguished from, and advanced above all other creatures in this World. I can apprehend, distinguish, and judge of all other intelligible Beings. By my Understanding I discern truth from falsehood, good from evil. It shews me what is fit for me to chuse, and what to refuse.

To this faculty or power of Understanding, my thoughts and conscience do belong: The former, to my speculative, the latter to my practical Understanding. My thoughts are p. 45all formed in my mind or Understanding in innumerable multitudes and variety. By it I can think of things present, or absent; visible, or invisible; of God, or my self; of this, or the world to come.

To my Understanding also, belongs my Conscience, a noble, Divine, and awfull power. By which I summon and judge my self, as at a solemn Tribunal, bind and loose, condemn and acquit my self and actions, but still with an eye and respect to the judgment of God. Hence are my best comforts, and worst terrors.

This Understanding of mine is the director and guide of my Will: That is as the Counsellor; This, as the Prince. It freely chuseth and refuseth as my Understanding directs and suggests to it. The members of my Body, and passions of my Soul are under its Dominion. The former are under its absolute command, the latter under its suasions and insinuations, though not absolutely and always with effect and success.

And both my Understanding and Will, I find to have great influence upon my Affections.

These Passions and Affections of my Soul are of great use and dignity. I find them as manifold as there are considerations of good and evil. They are the strong and sensible motions of my Soul, according to my apprehensions of good and evil. By them my Soul is capable of union with the highest good. By love and delight I am capable of enjoying God, and resting in him as the Centre of my Soul. This noble Understanding, Thoughts, Conscience, Will, Passions and Affections, are the principal faculties, acts, and powers of this my high and heaven-born Soul. And being thus richly endowed and furnished,

I find it could never rise out of matter,created and infused with an inclination to the Body. or come into my Body by way of natural generation; the Souls of Brutes that rise that way, are destitute of Understanding, Reason, Conscience, and such other excellent faculties and powers, as I find in mine own Soul. They cannot know, or love, or delight in God, or set their affections on things spiritual, invisible and eternal, as my Soul is capable to do; it was therefore created and infused immediately into this body of mine by the Father of Spirits, p. 46and that with a strong inclination, and tender affection to my flesh, without which, it would be remiss and careless in performing its several Duties and Offices to it, during the time of its abode therein.

Fearfully and wonderfully therefore am I made, and designed for nobler ends and uses, than for a few daies to eat, and drink, and sleep, and talk, and dye. My Soul is of more value than ten thousand Worlds. What shall a man give in exchange for his Soul?