7 "And the Lord God formed man out of the dust
( 114 ) 999999996 A TR E ATISE
OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
GEN. ii. 7. And 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 foul.
"T HREE things (faith * Athanafius) 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 foul, we may say, as the learned + Whitaker doth of thewayofits infection by originalfin, " it is easier fought than
" understood, and better understood than explicated:" And for its original, the most fagacious and renowned for wisdom amongst the ‡ ancient philosophers understood nothing of it.
It is said of || Democritus, that " there is nothing in the " whole workmanship of nature of which he did not write ;" and in a more lofty and swellinghyperbole, they stile theireagleey'd Ariftotle, "the rule, yea, and miracle of nature ; learning
64 itself, the very fun of knowledge:" yet both these are not only said, but proved by Lactantius to be learned ideots.
How have the schools of Epicurus, and Ariftotle, the Cartesians, and other sects of philosophers, abused and troubled the world with a kind of philosophical enthusiasm, and a great many ridiculous
* Triafunt quæ fecundum essentiam hominibusfunt αγνωσα, και αρισα, Deus, angelus, et anima hominis.
Ath. in Tract. de desin.
+Quæri facilius eft quam intelligitur, et melius intelligitur quam explicatur.
‡ Plato doubted. Aristotle denied, and Galen derided the doctrine of the world's creation.
||Nihil eft in toto opificio naturæ, de quo nonfcripfit Democritus.
And for Ariftotle, they stiled him, Regula natura, Naturæ miraeulum, ipfa eruditio, folfcientiarum, Antiftes literarumetfapien tie.
Lactantius, lib. iii, cap. 17, 18.
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fancies about the original of the soul of man! and when all is done, three words of God, by the pen of his inspiredMofes*, enlightens us more than all their fubtile notions of the acciden talconcretion of atoms, their materiafubtilis, and anima mundi, and the rest of their unintelligible fancies could ever do. f The accountMoses gives us in this context, of the origin of the world, and of man the epitome of it, is full offense, reason, congruity, and clearness; and such as renders all the essays of all the Heathen philosophers to be vain, in evident, self-repug nant, and inexplicable theories.
The inspired penman gives us, in this context, acompendious narrative of the world's creation, relating more generally the rude, inform, and indigested chaos; and then more particularly the specificating, and diversifying of the various beautiful beings, thenceeducedbythe motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the waters.
When the first matter was strictly created out of nothing, " the Spirit (as Moses excellently expresseth it, chap. i. 2.) †
" hovered, or moved over it as a bird over eggs, and, as it were, " by way of incubation,cherishing and influencing it," didtherebydraw forth all the creatures into their several forms, and distinct particular natures,wherein we now, with delight and admiration, behold them .
In this manner and order was the stately fabric of the world produced, and erected; but, as yet, it remained as a fair, and well furnished housewithoutan inhabitant. God had employed infinite wisdom and power about it, and engraven 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 name of the Almighty Creator,
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 fee, but confider the things he saw ; discourse, and rationally collect out of them the things he saw pot ; and both praise, and love the Maker for, and in them all.
P2 * Philosophy seeks or searches after truth, but theology finds it.
Jo. Picus Miran.
-Motus סחד מימחינס לע יתסהלמ םיתלא תורז+ , com motus, agitatusfuit ; non fimplicem motum denotat, fed ejufmodi quam Columba peragit, cum ovis ad excludendum pullos incubat.
Rab. Sol.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
The palaces of princes are not beautified and adorned, to the intent men should pay the 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 apology for the Christians, speaks. The world is a glorious and magnificent pile, raised designedly to exhibit the wisdom and power of its Creator 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, Plal. viii. 5.) Moles 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 foul."
Where we fnd, The original I. Of the body | II. Of the soul of man.
I. The original ofthebody of man: " Formed out of the dust " of the ground."
"Dust was its original matter : of dust was " it made, and into dust it must be resolved, Gen. iii. 19.
The "consideration is humbling, and serves to tame the pride of 66 man ||", who is apt to dote upon his own beauty.
Man's body was not made of heavenly matter, as the radiant fun, and sparkling stars : no, nor yet of the mostpreciousandorientearthly matter ; God did not meltdown the pure and splendid gold and silver, or powder the precious pearls, and sparkling diamonds ; but he formed it of the vile and despicable dust.
We find that the sprinkling of dust uponnewwriting prevents many a foul blot: I am sure, the sprinkling of our originaryduft upon our minds by serious consideration, is the way to prevent many a proud boast.
However, the baseness of the matter, and coarseness of the stuff, serves to set off the admirable skill of the most wife and ‡ This world is indeed most beautiful, yet it is not the world itself that is to be adored,but that great Artificer its Creator : even as your subjects, when applying to you for what they need,do not act fo foolish a part as to overlook you their lords and princes, omittingall thehonour due to you, and confining their regards to the magnificence of your palaces; but, on the contrary, viewing the fine structure of your palaces only by the by, they revere andhonour your selves before and above all things else.
At hen. Apol.
המדאה זמ רפ Pulveremtenuissimamaddomandamfupera biam.
Fagius, |
A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
* powerful Architect, who out of such mean,despicable materials, has fashioned so exact and elegant a piece.
" formed man out of the dust."
" The Lord God " The Lord God.] The name of God is here set down at full " †, to let forth the dignity of man," the subject matter wrought upon, as some conceive.
Formed.] Fashioned, or curiously moulded, and figured it †.
The Hebrew verb, primarily signifies " to press, compress, or " squeeze together ; and by a mitalepsis, by pressing and compressing, to mould or fashion, as the potter doth his clay."
The Pfalmist useth another word to express the artificial elegancyofthebody of man, Psal. cxxxix. 1516
קד 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, " it is
" all answerable to that excellent idea, or model || before " conceived in his mind and purpose."
All this care, and cost was bestowed upon the body of man, which, when all is done, is but the case in which that estimable 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, (2.) The descent, and original, (3.) The manner of infusion, (4.) The nexus, or bond that unites, } the soul of man.
(1.) The nature and property of it, a living foul. The word שפנ ,as also theChaldee Naphsba; and the Greek ψυχη, have one and the same etymology, all signifying to breathe, or refpire; not that the breath is the soul, butdenoting the manner of its in fusion by the breath of God, and the means of its continuation in the body, by the breath of our nostrils. God's breath infused it, and our breath continues its union with the body.
It signifies here the rational foul ; and the Hebrew word foul, hath a very near affinity with the word the heavens; and indeed there is a nearer affinity beםיחלא הוחי
Dominus Deus, Nomen Dei hicplenum eft, propter hominis dignitatem.
Nachm.
Prefit Compreffit,etperMetalepsin,premendo et comprimendoformavit.
+ ↑Imaginem mente divina concept am, quafi manuformat. Fagius.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. wixt the things, viz. foul and heaven, than there is betwixt the names.
היח The epithet which we translate living, the Arabic ren ders a rational foul and indeed, none but a rational, deserves the name of a living foul , for all other forms or fouls, which are of an earthly extract, do both depend on, and die with the matter out of which thy were educed; but this being of a no. ther nature, a spiritual and substantial being, is therefore right ly stiled,a living foul.
The Chaldee renders it, a speaking foul. And indeed, itde serves a remark, that the ability of speech is conferred on no other foul but man's.
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 found, and form it into words, by which the no tions and sentiments of one soul are in a noble, apt, and expeditious manner conveyed to the understanding of another foul.
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 dis cern 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 foul; however, we render it a living, a rational, or a speaking foul, it distinguishes the soul of man from all other fouls.
(2.) We find here the best account that was ever given of the origin of the soul of man, or whence it came, and from whom it derives its being O, what adust and pudder have the disputes and contests of philosophers raised about this matter ! which is cleared ina few words in this scripture ; * " God
"breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became " a living foul: which plainly speaks it to be the immediate effect of God's creating power. Not aresultfromthe matter; no, no, results flow efinu materiae, out of the bosom of matter ; but this comes exhalitu divino, from the inspiration of God.
That wich 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 pre-existent matter, whether celestial or terrestrial ;
T * He breathed the breath of life into man, to shew that man's foul is from an external cause by creation, and that at the fame time, in being created, it is infused into the body.. Pol. Synaps. on the place.
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much less out of himself, as the † Stoicks speak; but out of nothing. An high-born creature it is, but no particle of the Deity. The indivisible and immutable essenceofGodis utterly repugnant to such notions; and therefore theyspeaknot strictly and warily enough, that are bold to call itarayor emanation from God.
A spirit it is, and flows by way of creation, immediately from the Father of spirits; but yet it is a spirit of another inferior rank and order.
(3.) We have also the account of the way and manner of its in fusion into the body, viz. by the fame breath of God which gave it its being. It is therefore a rational, fcriptural, and justifiable expression of St. Auguftine, Creando infunditur, et infundendo creatur; it is infused in creating, and created in infusing ; though Dr. Brown $ too flightingly calls it a mere rhetorical antimetathesis. Some of the fathers,asJuslin, Ireneus, and Tertullian, were of opinion, That the Son of God assumed a human shape at this time, in which afterwards he oftenappearedtothefathers, 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 thatbody in which he appeared andthatbeingdone, he afterward, by breathing, infused thefoulintoit. But I rather think it isananthropopathy, or usual figure in speech, by which the Spirit of God stoops to the imbecility of our understandings. "He breathed into his
" nostrils the breath of life; " Hebrew, lifes.
But this plural word notes rather the twofold life of man, in this world, andinthatto come; or, "the several faculties and powers belongingtooneandthesamesoul, viz.the intellective,sensitive,
" and vegetative offices thereof; than that there are more fouls " thanone, essentially differing, in one and the fame man ; for " that, (as§ Aquinas truly faith), is impossible."
We cannot trace the way of the spirit, or tell in what manner it was united with this clodof earth.
But it is enough, that he who formed it, did also unite or marry it to the body.
This is clear, not †The Stoicks, faith Simplicius, call the soul Μερος η μέλος τοΘες, i. e. a particle or member of the Deity ; and Seneca calls it, God dwelling in the human body, which comes near to Θεος εν σαρκι Φατ νερωθεις, i. e. God manifested in the flesh,
ReligioMedici, Sect. 36.
Impoffibile est in uno homine effe plures animas per effentiam differentes;fed una tantum eft anima, quæ vegetative etfenfitive. etintellective, officiis fungitur. Aquin. 12, Q. 26. art. 2.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. by way of natural resultancy from the body, but byway 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, the tie or band by which it is united with the body of man, viz . The breath of his(i. e. of man) nostrils. It is a most astonishing mystery, 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 love; such a noble and divine guest to take up its residence within the mean 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 persuade it to stay one minute after the breath is gone. One puff of breath will carry away the wisest, holiest, and most desirable foul that ever dwelt in flesh and blood.
When our breath is corrupt, our days are extinct, Job xvii. 1. " Thou takest away their breath, they die, and re46 turn to their dust," Psal. cxiv. 19.
Out of the text thus opened, arise two doctrinal propositions, which I shall insist upon, viz.
Duct. 1. That the soul of man is of divine original, created and inspired immediately by the Lord.
Doct. 2. That the souls and bodies of men are link'd, 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 reader's understanding, and press as warmly upon his heart as I can. And first,
Doct. 1. That the soul of man is of divine original, created and infpi. ed immediately by the Lord.
In this first proposition, two things are to be distinctly pondered, viz.
1. The nature of the soul.
Or, what it is, and from whence it came.
The first thing which arrest our thoughts, and requires their attention and exercise, is the nature of the soul, or what kind
The nature of the soul. of being it is,
A Treatise of the soul of Man.
Those that are most curiouslyinquifitive intoallotherbeings, and put nature upon the rack to make her confess her secrets, are in the meantime found shamefully flight and negligent in the study of themselves. Few there are that can prevail with themselves to sitdownand think close to such questions as these.
What manner of being is thisfoulofmine? whence came it ? why was it infused into this body? and where must it abide, when death bath dislodged it out of this frailtabernacle? There is a natural aversation in man to such exercises of thought as these, although in the whole universe of beings in this lower world, a more noble creature is not to be found *.
The soul is the most wonderful and astonishing piece ofdivineworkmanship ; it is no hyperbole to call it the breath of
God, the beauty of men, 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 understand-ing, assisted in the search by all the aids philosophy can contributė.
It is not my design in this discourse to treat of the several faculties and powers of the soul, or to give you the rife, 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 of it, as he who is
" the author of it," as Tertullian † speaks, I therefore justly expect the best light from his words, though I will not neglect any other aid he is pleased elsewhere to afford.
The soul is variously denominated from its several powers *Therefore they who at any time have disputed concerning the soul, must be reckoned tohavedifputednot of a vain thing, that has nothing but a name, but about a very weighty subject, of the greatest moment, than which nothing under heaven is more excellent. Zanch. on the soul.
†Si quid de anima certandum est, ad Dei regulas dirigat : certe nullum alium potiorem anime demonstrationem, quam Auctorem.
Tertul. de anima, &c.
†As it quickensthebody, it is called anima, i. e. the life; as it exerts acts of the will, it is called animus, i. e. power ofvolition ; as it is the subject of knowledge, it is called the mind; when itre collects, it is called the memory; when it judges right, it is called reason; as it produces breathing, it is called spirit. Ifidor. Etym.
VOL. III.
A Treatise of the soul of Man. and offices, as the sea from the several shores it washes.
I will notspendtime about the several names by which it is known to us in scripture, but give you thatdefcription of it, with which my understanding is most satisfied, which take thus :
The foulofman is a vital, spiritual, and immortalfubftance, endowed with an under The description tan ding, will, and various affections; created of the soul.
T 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.
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 by* i self.
Qualities and accidents have noexiffence of their own, but require another being, or subject to their exif tence; but the soul of man isa substantialbeingofitfelf,which will evidently appear upon the following grounds.
(1.) Because it is, in a strict and proper sense, created by God. " He formeth, or createth the spirit in man," Zech. xii. 1.
To him we are adviledto " commit it, as toa faithful et Creator," 1 Pet. iv. 19.
The substantial nature of the soul is implied in the very notion of its creation; " for whatsoever
" is created, is afubstance, an ensperse t.
Accidents are not said to be created, but con-created;" the crafis ofhumours, andrefuits of matter, are not substances created, but things rising in a natural way from created substances. They flow from, and, as to their essence, depend upon pre-existent matter; but the soul was created outofnothing, 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 itself alone, when separated from the body by death, Luke xxiii. 43. " To day shalt thou, (i.c..
" thy soul) be with me in paradise;" und Mat. x. 20. " Fear " not them that kill the body but cannot kill the soul."
Were *The soul is a being by itself, i. e. it does not exist in any object, as apart or form of it, depending on it, as to its being.
Colleg Conimb..in lib.rr.
† Quicquid a Deo proprie creatum eft ; accident i a enim non di cuntur creari, fed concreari.
Polani Synt. p. 319.
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the soul but an accident, a quality, or a result, he that kills the body, must needs kill the soul too; as he that casts a snow. ball inte the fire, must needs destroy the whireness with the I now. Accidents fail and perish with their subjects : but seeing it is 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 ofa substantial nature.
When the Spaniards came first among the poor Indians, they thought the horse and his rider to be one creature; as many ignorantones think the soul and body of man to be nothing but breathandbody: whereas indeed they are two distinct creatures, as vastly different in their natures as the rider and his horse, or thebirdandhiscage. While the man is on horseback, he moves according to the motion of the horse; and whilst the bird is in caged, he eats and drinks, and sleeps, andhops and fingsin his cage.
But if the horse fail, and die 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, than in the cage: neither depend, as to being, or action, on thehorseorcage.
(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 xlvi. 26. " Allthefouls that came with Jacob intoEgypt, " i. e. all the persons; as the Latins say, tot capita, so many heads or persons. The apostie, in 2 Cor. v. 8.seems to exclude the body from the notionofperfonality, when he faith, 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 absene from itself: But we, that is, thefouls of believers, may be both absent from it, and present with Christ,
To this we may add, 2Cor. iv. 16. where the soul is called the man, and the innerman too, the bodybeingbut the exter nal face, or shadow of the man. And to this philosophers agree
The best philosophers are so far from thinking that the body is the substantial part of man, and the soul a thing dependens on it; that contrarily they affirm, that the body depends upon the soul; and that it is the soul that conferves and furtains it
Q2 !
The soul preserves and sustains the animated body, but when it leaves the body, the nature of an animated body fubfitts no more : the soul exists not in the body, as ina place, seeing it cannot be circum
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. and that the body is in the soul, ratherthanthefoul inthebody, and that which is seen not the man, but that is the man which is invisible, that the bodymightbe killed 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 ofa man, and from which therefore the whole is, and ought tobedenominateda man; if it be fo far from depending on the body, or being containedwithinthebody, that the body rather depends on it, and is in it, thensurelythe foul must be, what we describe it to be, a substantial being.
(4.) It is past all controversy, that the soul is afubstance, because it is the subject of properties, affections and habits ; which is the very strict and formal notion of a substance.
All the affectionsandpassions of hope,desire, love, delight, fear, sorrow, and the reft, are all rooted in it, and springing out of it; and for habits, arts and sciences *, it is the foul in which they are lodged and seated. Having once gotten apromptitude to act, either by some strong, or by some frequently repeated acting, they abide in the soul, even when the acts are intromitted, as in sleep a navigator, scribe or musician, are really artists, when they are neither failing, and 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.
Il. The soul is a vital substance, i. e.
A substance which hath an essential principle of life in itself: a living, active being. A living foul, faithMoses in the text; and hereby it is distinguished from, and opposed to matter or body. The soul moves itself and the body too; it hath a felfmoving virtue or power in itself; whereas the matter, or body is wholly passive, and is moved and acted, not by itself, but by this vital spirit. Jam. ii. 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 proofanddemonstration,
Take mere matter, and compoundordivide it, alter circumfcribedbyplace. The whole foul pervades the whole body; nor is there any part of it, in which it is not present: for it is not contained in the body, but rather itself contains the body; neither is it in the body, as in a vessel or bottle, but rather the body is in it.
Nyf. on the soul. b. 2. c. 1Ι . εκ ἕσιν Ανθρωπος το ορωμενον, i. e That which is seen, is not the Man,but every man's foul is himself.
* The soul is the subject and featof all the virtues and vices, arts and sciences. Buchan. loc.com. p. 86..
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it, and change it how you will,you can never make it see, feel, hear, or act vitally without a quickning and actuating foul :
Yet we must still remember, that this active principle, the soul, though it hath this vital power in itself, it hath it not from itself,
•but inaconstantreceptivedependance upon God, the first cause, both of its being and power.
III. It is aspiritualsubstance.
All substances are not gross material, visible and palpable substances; but there are spiritual, and immaterial, as well as corporeal substances, discernible by fight or touch.
To deny this were to turn a downright Sadducee, and to deny the existenceofangels and spirits, Acts xxiii. 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 sub stare 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 pirit; " Intothyhands I commit my spirit," Luke. xxiii.
46. " Lord Jesus receive my spirit," Acts vii. 59. and so frequentlyallover the scriptures.
And the spirituality ofitsnature appears, ( 1. ) By its descent, in a peculiar way,from the Father of spirits.
(2.) In that it rejoiceth in the essential properties ofa spirit.
(3.) That at death it returns to that great Spirit who was its efficient and former .
} (1.) It descends, ina peculiar way, from the father of spirits, as hath been shewnin the opening of this text : God stiles himself its Father, Heb. xii. 9. its former, Zech. xii. 1. 'Tis true, he giveth to all living things ζωην και πνοην, life and breath,
Acts xvii. 25. Other fouls are from him, as well as the rational foul; but in a far different way and manner. They flow not immediately from him by creation, as this doth.
It is said, Gen. i. 24, 27. " Let the earth bring forth the living creature " after its kind;" but " God created man in his own image :"
Which seems plainly to make a specified difference betwixt the reasonable, and all other fouls, (2.) It rejoiceth in the essential properties ofa spirit : For it is an incorporeal substance, as spirits are.
It hath not partes extrapartes, extension of parts; nor is it divisible, as the body. is.
It hath no dimensions, and figures as matter hath ; but is * A substance in this use of the word, is that which depends not, in respect of its being, upon any 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 itself,
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. amoltpure, invisible, and(as the acute and judicious Dr.More expresseth it) indifcernible substance.
It hath the principle of life, and motion in indelf, or rather, it is such a principle itielf, and is not moved as the dall, and Auggish matter is, per aliud, by another.
Its efficacyisgreat, thoughitbeunfeen, and not liable to the test of our touch, as no spiritual substances are.
" A spirit (faith Christ) hath notfleshandbones," Lukexxiv.
39. We both grant and feel, that the soul hath a love, and inclination to the body, (which indeed is no more than it isbeceffary it should have) yet can we no more infer its corporiety from thatlovetothe body, than we can infer the corporiety 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.
There is (laitha learned author*) no greater my. stery in nature, than the union betwixt foul and body : That a mindandspiritshould be so tied and linked to a clod of clay, that while that remains ina due temper, it cannot by any art or power free itself!... Whatfo much a kin are a mind and apieceofearth, aclodandathought, that they shall be thus affixedto one another?
Certainly, the heavenly pure bodies do not differ so much from adunghil, 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 confifis the being ofabody, and wherein thatofafoul, and thencomparethem, 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 abody + (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, the particular dimensions (that is, the figures) and the local motion do depend.
Again, for the being of our souls, if we reflect upon ourselves, we shall find that all our knowledge of them resolves into this, that we are beings conscious to ourselves ofseveralkinds 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 ourselves variously affected.
Let these two properties ofasoulandbodybe compared, and upon the first view ofa considering mind it will appear, that Mr. How's Fun. Serm. p. 9, 10, + Philosophical Essay, p. 3. § 2. p. 39.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
divisibility is not apprehension, or judgment, or desire, or difcourie: 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 fires, 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 ofa leg, or arm, or eye, that can maim the understanding, or the will, or cut off the affections. the Nay, it pervades the body it dwells in, and is whole in th whole, and in every part, which it couldneverdoifit were material.
Yea, itcomprehendsinits under Understand it negatively, that the soul is not in the parts of the body per partes, part in one part, and part in fstanding, the body or matter in which it is lodged; and more than that, it can, and doth from conceptionsofpure fpiritualand immaterial beings,which have no dimensions or figures; all which shews it to be no corporeal, butafpiritual, and immaterial substance.
W (3.) As it derives its being from the Father of Spirits, in apeculiarway, andrejoiceth in its spiritual properties : So at death another,seeing it is indivisible and hath no parts. it returns to that great Spirit from whence it came.
It is not annihilated, or resolved into soft air, or fucked up again by the elementoffire, orcatchedbackagain into the foul of the world, assomehavedreamed; but it returns to God who gave it, to giveanaccountofitselftohim,and receive itsjugmentfrom him.
"Then shall the dust return totheearthas it was,and the spirit " shall return toGodwhogave it," Eccl. xii. 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 itselfofmoral good and eyil, so when it hath finished its time in the body, it must ap . pearbefore theGodofthe spirits of all flesh, its arbiter and final judge.
3 .
Byallwhichwefee, that as it iselevatedtoohigh on the one hand,when it is made a particle of God himself; not only the creature, but a part of God, I as Plutarch, and|| PhiloJudeas,
IAnima autemmentisparticeps falta, nonfolum Dei opus eft, verum etiam pars ; neque ab eo,fedde eo et exfacia Plut. deQu.
Platon.
I Quomodo credibile videtur tam exiguam mentem human am mem-
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. and others have term'd it; (spirit it is,but of another and inferior kind:) So it is degraded too low, when it is affirmed to be matter, though the purest, finest, and most subtile in nature; which approacheth nearest to the nature of spirit. A spirit it is, as much as an angel is a spirit, though it be a spirit of another
Species. This is thenameitis known by throughout the scriptures.
In a word, it is void of mixture and composition ; there are no jarringqualities, compound element, or divisible parts in the soul, as there are in bodies; but it is pure, simple, invisible, and indivisiblesubstance, which proves its spirituality, and brings us to
the fourth particular, viz.
IV.
It is an 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 feeds 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, no contrary qualities are found in spirits, as there are in other creatures ofa mixed nature. Physicians, and Philosophers have disputed, and contended eagerly about the true causes of natural death ;
" * and whilst theyhavebeen 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
+ natural moisture, or radical balfam, as others call it, which is as the oil that maintains natural heat, or the bridle that restrains that flame of life from departing (as others express it;) this is the causeofnaturaldeath : Others | assign the unequal remembranula cerebri, aut corde, haud amplissraciis inclufam ; toà tam cæli mundique magnitudinem capere, nifi ill i us divinefælicif-
que animæparticula effet indivisibilis ? Philo.
* Litigamusde via, interim ad terminum rapimur .
†Δει γαρ λαβείν ότι το ζωον εσι φύσει υργον και θερμον, και τοζὴν τοις Το ὃληρας ψυχρον, και ξηρον και το τεθνηκός φαίνεται λαρ ότως. i. e. For we must understand, that the animal hath a natural moisture and heat; which makes it to live.
But old age drying up that moisture, and changing that heat into coldness, occasions death.
All this is very plain.
Aristotle, on longandshort life.
†Tum flammatet micat calidum nativum corporis nostri in humido primigenio, ejus humidi fubftantia consumitur, non aliter quam in lampade ileum a flamma exhauritur.
Heurnius.
Aphor. 1. Tamdiuduratvigorvitæ, quam diuflat caladium nativum, i i
A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
parationoftheparts of the body, as the cause of death .
But be it one or another, 'tis evident the soul, which consists neither of contrariant qualities, nor ofdiffimilar parts, must be above the reach and stroke of death.
For if the soul die, it must be either from some feeds, and principles of death, and corruption within itself, or by some destructive power without itself.
In itself you fee there is no feed, or principle of death; and if it be destroyed byapowerwithout itself, 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; the creatures power reaches no further thanthebody, Mat. x. 28. " They cannot kill the soul." And thơ' the almighty power of God, that created it out of nothing, can as easily reduce it to nothing ; yet he will never do fo. For besides the designation for eternity, which is discernible in its very nature (as before was observed) and which speaks the intentionofGod toperpetuatehisthreatnings of eternal wrath, and promises of everlasting 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 die ; as will be more fully evidenced in the following discourse.
Well then, I hope fo far our way is clear, in the search of thenatureofthefoul, that it is a substance, a spiritual substance, and being fo, 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,
It is a vital, spiritual, and immorta'substance, enduedwith 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 themeanestman above the best of brutes. 'Strangeandwonderzivum, donec ad mortem fuerit deventum.
Et quantum à calido etbumido receditur, tantus ad mortemfit acceffus.
J. Bapt. Mon tan. Ortus noftri primordio, caloris et humor is nativi habentfummum complementum, doc.
Fernelius liber de spir. et cal. Vergente at ate, inæqualis admodum fit reparatio, aliæ partes reparantur fatisfæliciter, fed aliæ ægre, et in pejus. Ut ab eo tempore cor porabumanafubiri incipiunt tormentum illud Mezentii, ut viva in amplex mortuorum immoriantur, Verulam. in additu Hift. vit,et mort. t :
VOL . III .
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. fulthings are performed by the natural instinct, and fagacityof beasts; but yet what is said of one, is true of then all, "God
"hath not imparted understanding to them," Job xxxix. 17.
This is a jewel which adorns none but rational creatures, men and angels.
What the underItisafacultyof the reasonable foul, by Nandingis. which am an apprehends, andjudgeth all intelligible things .
The object of it is every being, sofar as it is true in itself, and apprehensible by man.
It hath a two-fold use in the life of man, viz.
(1.) To distinguish truth from error and falshood. By this candle of the Lord, lighted up in the soul of man, he may discern betwixt duty and fin, good and evil: It is the eye of the soul, by which it feeth the way in which we should go, and the dangerous precipices that are on either side. It is the soul's taster, anddifcernswholsomfood frombaneful poison, Job xii.
11. " Doth not the ear (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, necessaryandindifferent, expedient, and inexpedient, that the foul may not be damnifiedby mistaking one for another. And this judgment of discretioneverymanmustbe allowed for himself.
Noman 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 byphilofophersrightly called το ηγεμονικον, the leading faculty because the will follows its practical dictates. It fits at the helm, and guides the course of the soul; not impelling, or rigorously enforcing its dictates upon the will ; for the will cannot be fo imposed upon; but by giving ita directive light, or pointing, as it were, with its finger, what it ought tochuse, and what to refuse.
To this faculty belong two other excellent, and wonderful powers of the foul, viz .
1. Thoughts.
2. Conscience.
1. The power or ability ofcogitation : " * Thoughts are pro- " perly the actings and agitations of the What a thought is. mind, or any actual operationoftheun- " derstanding."
They are the musings of "
* Διανοία, cogitatio eftmentis agitatio Pascor. vel actiomentis.
Zanch.
* A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
the mind, which are acted in the speculative part of the under. standing. " It isobfervable that the †Hebrew word ach *" which is used for meditation, or thinking signifies both to " think and to speak in the mind."
When the understanding, or mind resolves, and meditates the things that come into it, that very meditation is an inward speaking, or hidden word in the heart, Deut. xv. 9." Beware left there be a thought in thy
" wicked heart," as some render it : IntheHebrew it is דבל םעברי word in thy heart."
So Mat. ix. 3, 4. αυτοίς, " they spake within themselves," i. e. " they thought in ΠΟΥ ΕΡ " their hearts."
The objects presented to the mind are the companions with whom our hearts talkandconverse.
Thoughts are the figments and creatures of the mind: They are formed within it, in multitudes innumerable. The power ofcogitation is in the mind, yea, in the spirit of the mind.
" ‡The fancy indeed, whilst the soul is embodied, ordina- " rilyand for the most part presents the appearances and like- " neffes of things to the mind;" but yet it can form thoughts of things which the fancy can present no image of, as when the soul thinks of God, or of itself. This power ofcogitation 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 unboded state, as will be more fully opened in the process ofthisdifcourse.
2. The conscience belongs also to this faculty; for it being the judgment of am an upon himself, with respect, or relation to the judgment of What conscience is.
God, it must needs belong to the understanding part, or faculty.
Thoughts are formed in thespecu lative, but * conscience belongs to the practical underfiand. ing."
It is a very high and awful power ; it isfalo Deo mi nor, and rides (as Joseph did) in the second chariot ; the next
and immediate officer under God. He faithofconfcience, with R2 תוש + cum puncto finistro, locutus eftore, aut corde: et diaλογιζομαι eftfermocinari intrafe, (i. e.) apudfe in animisfuis. Mat. xxi. 25 .
†Phantasiamenti offertphantafmata.
Picol.
|| When we think of God, faith Max.Tyr. Diss. 1.we must think of nothing material, μητε μεγεθος, μητε χρωμα, μητε αλλο τι ύλης παθος, i. e. Neither magnitude norcolour,nor anyotherproperty of matter.
* Judicium appello confcientiam, utad intellectum eampertine re often dam.
Ames.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man . respect toeveryman, as he once said of Moses, with respect to Pharaoh, " See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh ,"
Exod. vii. 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 obierves, records, and bears witness of all our ac tions; and acquits and condemns, as in the name of God, for them.
Its confolations are most sweet, and its condemnations most terrible : so terrible, that some have chofendeath, which is the king of terrors, rather than to endure the scorching heat of their own consciences.
The greatest deference, and obedi ence is due to its command, and a man had better * endure any rack or torture in the world, than incur the torments of it.
It accompanies us as our shadow, wherever we go ; and when all others forsake us, (as at death they will) conscience is then with us, and is then never more active and vigorous than at that time. Nor doth it forsake us after death; but where the fout goes, it goes, and will be its companion in the otherworld 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 says, " It is both witness, judge,tormentor, and prison;" it accuseth, judgeth, punisheth, and condemneth.
And thus briefly of the understanding, which hath many of fices, and as many names from those offices,
It is sometimes called wit, reason, understanding, opinion, wif dom, judgment.
And why we bestow so many names uponove and the fame faculty, the learned author of that small, but excellent & tract de anima, gives this true and ingenious ac count.
The wit, the pupil of the soul's clear eye, And in man's world the onlyshiningstar.
Looks in the mirror of the fantasy, Where all the gatherings of the senses are And after by discourfing to andfro, Anticipating and comparing things, * What deaths would I not chuse ? Whatpunishmentwould I not undergo ? Yea, into what vault of hell would I not rather chuse to be thrown, than to witness against my conscience?
+ Ipsa judicat, ipfa imperat, ipfa obfervat, ipfa torter, ipfa carcer.
Bern. lib. de Confc. cap. 9.
Nofce teipfum, P. 48, 49.
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She doth alluniverfal natures know, And all effects into their caules brings .
When she rates things, and moves from ground to ground, The name of reason she obtains by this :
But when by reason sbe the truthhathfound, Andftandethfixed,she understanding is..
When her affentshe lightly doth incline To either part, she is opinion light :
But whenshedothbyprinciples define A certain truth, Jhe hath true judgment'sfight.
Andasfromfenfes, reason's work doth spring .
So many reajons understanding gain ; And many understandings knowledge bring, And by much knowledgewisdomwe obtain.
6. Enduedwith a will.
VI.God hath endued the soul of man not only with an understanding to dis. cern, and direct, but also a will to govern, moderate, and overrule the actions of life.
The will is a faculty of the rational foul, What the willis. whereby a man either chuseth, or refuseth the things which the understanding difcerns and knows.
This is a very high, and noble power of the soul.
The understanding seems to bear the fame relation to the will, as a grave counsellor doth to a great prince. It glories in two excellencies, viz.
1. Liberty.
2. Dominion.
1. It hath a freedom and liberty; 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 thewillactsspontaneously.
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 lessconducible thereunto.
The liberty of the willmutt be understood to be in things natural,which are within its own proper sphere, not in thingsfupernatural.
It can move, or not move the body, as it pleases, but it cannot move towards Christ, in the way of faith, asitpleaseth; it can open, or shut the hand,
* Ελεύθερα εξίσια αυτό πραγίας, i. e, It hath a free libertyofacfion. Zeno,
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. or eye, at its pleasure,but not the heart.
True indeed, it is not compelled, or forced to turn to God, bysupernaturalgrace,but, in away suitable to its nature, it is determined, and drawn to Christ, Psal. cx. 3. It is drawn bya mighty power, and yet runs freely; Cant. i. 4. " Draw me, and I will run after thee."
Efficacious grace, and victorious delight, is athing very different from compulsive force. " Pelagius (as a late ‡ author
" 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 re- " velation, to discourse, and put men in mind of their duty.
Being yet driven farther, he acknowledged the grace of par- " don; and before am an could do any thing acceptably, there
" was a necessity of the remission of fin, 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 understand- " ing, or moral persuasion, by probable arguments, to excite
" the will, and this not absolutely necessary, but only for fa " ciliation, as an horse to a journey, which otherwise a man
८८might go a foot.
Others grant the secret influences of God's grace, but make the will of man a co-ordinate cause with "God, namely, thatGoddoth propound the object, hold forth
" inducing considerations; give some remote power and assist "
" ance; 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 letmen sce the necessity of divine, efficatious influences upon the will, and the consistency thereofwithnatural liberty.
(2.) Itsdignityinits dominion, as well as in its liberty.
The will hath an empire, and scepter belonging to it; yea, a double empire, for it rules.
Imperium 1.Defpo1. Over the body, imperia defpotico, byway of ticum. absolute command.
2. Politi 52. Over the other powers and passions of the foul, imperiopolitico, bywayoffuafion, cum.
‡ Dr. Man ton in Psal. cxix. v. 36.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
(1.) The will, like an absolute sovereign*, reigns over the body(i.e.) its external members by way of absolute command.
It faith, as the centurion did, I am in authority, andGodhath putthemanymembers of the body in fubjectionto me ; i fay to one, move, and it moves ; to another, stop, and it stops; and toathirddothis, and it doth it.
The obsequious members of the body, likefo 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 will's mandates.
Let it but command to have the windows of the body open or shut, and it is done in a moment, in the twink of an eye; and fo for the rest of the external senses and members, they pay it most ready obedience.
YetwhenI say, the will hath a defpotical, and absolute sovereignty over the members, it must be understood with a double limitation.
First, They are only at its beck for use and service; itcanuse them whilst well and rightly disposed; but it cannot perpetuate them, or restore them when indisposed.
If the foul will the health, and life ofthebody never so intensely and vehemently, it cannot keep off death one moment the longer from it. And, Secondly, Its sovereignty no way intrenches upon, nor interferes with the dominion of providence over the members of the body, and the various motions of them. God hathreferved afovereign, negative voice to himself, whatever decrees the will pafsses.
Jeroboam 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 neverfo fain,he could not pull in his hand again to him, I Kings xiii. 4. The will commands the service of the tongue, and chargeth it to deliver faithfully such or such words, in which, it maybe, the ruinofgood men may be imported; and when it comes to do its office, the tongue falters; and contrary to the command of the will, drops some word that discovers and defeats the design of the will, according to that in Job xii. 20.
"He removeth away the speech of the trusty."
This is its defpoticaland sovereign power over the external members of the body.
*Man acts not by necessityofnature, but freely, namely in a ra. tionalway, that is by way of command; thiscommandrequires the finaldeterininationofthe practical understanding,and while the efficacy of the command stands, the will is moved freely.
Camel,de Volun. p. 50.
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(2.) It hath a political power over the faculties and passions of the soul, not byway of absolute command, but by way of fuafion and insinuation.
Thus itcanoft times persuade,the understanding, and thoughts to lay by this or that subject, and apply themselves 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. weakness and inability to govern the inner man appears in two
Its 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 weightuponthefoul. However, the thoughts may obsequioufly follow its beck at some times, yea, for the most part ; yet they are cases, and seasons, in which its authority, and perfuafions 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 man's evils in order before his eyes : These are terrible representations, and fainwould the carnal will disengage the thoughts from such sad subjects, and strives by all manner ofperfuafions, and diversions, so to do; but all to no purpose, Psal. li. 3 .
" My fin is ever before me."
The thoughts are fixed, and there is no removing of them.
It may give them a little interruption, but they return with the more impetuous violence.
And insteadofgaining 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 op. posed itself to the thoughts in the former case to no purpose ; so that the sanctified will opposes itselftothem in this case, ofttimes with as little effect or success, as he that opposeth his weak breath to the strong current of a mighty river.
Well were it, if the sanctified will were now the master of the fantasy, andcouldcontroul the thoughts of the heart; but, like a made horse, the fancy takes the bit in its teeth, and runs whither it pleaseth; the will cannot govern it.
Think quite another way, faith the will; turn thy thoughts to other things; but notwithstanding, the soul turneth a deaf ear to its counsels.
2. It cannot quiet and compose a ragingconfcience, 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 foul. 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,
A Treatise of the Soul of Man
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 fomany pale, sweating, affrightedconfciences on earth, and in hell, ifthewillhad any command or power over them.
Tam frigid a mens est Criminibus ; tacita fudant præcord i a culpa.
Itisanhorrible fight 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 itself.
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 barred out of the soul, and can have no favingunionwith it. The truth of grace is to be judged and difcernedby 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 indued with an understanding and will, but also with various affections and passions, which are of great use and service to it, and speak the excellency of its nature. They are originally designed, and appointed for the happiness of man, in the promoting and securing its chiefest good, to which purpose they have a natural aptitude: for thetruehap7. Furnished with various affections and pas. fions. piness and rest of the soul not being in itself, nor in any other creature, but in God, the soul must necessarily move out of itself, andbeyondallother created beings, to find and enjoy its true felicity in him.
The soul considered at a distance from God, its true restandhappiness, 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 frateofabfence from him. And seeing it is to meet with many obstacles, enemies, and difficulties, in its course, which hinder its motion, and hazard its fruitionofhim, God hath planted in it, fear, grief, indignation, jealousy, anger, &c. to grapple with, and break through those intercurrent difficulties and hazards t.
†Paffio animæ nihil aliud est quammotus appetive virtutis pre
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By these weapons in the hands of grace, it conflicts with that which opposes its passages to God,as the apostle expresseth that holy fretand passion of the Corinthians, and what a fume their souls were in by the gracious motion of the irrascible appetite;
2 Cor. vii. 11. " For behold this self-fame thing, that ye for- " rowed after a godly fort ; what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea,
" what fear, yea, what vehementdefire, yea, what zeal, yea, " what revenge ?" Much like the raging and struggling of waters, which are interrupted in their course by some dam or obftaclewhich they strive to bear down, and sweep away before them.
But the foul considered in full union with and fruition of God, its supreme happiness, is accordingly furnished with affections of love,delight, and joy; whereby it rests in him, and enjoys its properblessedness 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 it sway way to heaven.
In a word, The true uses, and most excellent ends for which these affections and passions are bestowed upon the foul of man, are to qualify it, and make it a fit subject to be wrought upon in a moral way ofperfuafions and allurements, in order to its union with Christ, (for by the affections, as Mr. Fenner rightly observes, the soul becomes marriageable, or capable of being etpoufed to him;) and being fo, then to assist it in the profecutionofits full enjoyment in heaven, as we heard but now.
But, alas, how are they corrupted and inverted by fin! The concupifcible appetite greedily fastens upon the creature, not upon God; and the irrascible appetite is turned against holiness, not fin.
But I must insist no farther on this subject here, it deserves an entire treatifeby itself.
VIII.The foulofmanhath, in the very frameandnatureofit, an inclination 8. And an inclination and love to the bady. tothebody. There is in ita certainpondusor inclination which naturally bends or sways it towards matter, or abody.
There are three different natures found in living creatures, viz.
1. The brutal.
2.The angelical. profecutione boni, velfuga mali. i.e. A passion of the soul is nothing else,but the motion of desire in seeking good, and shunning evil.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
3.The human.
(1.) The soul of abrute is wholly confined to, anddependentonthematter or body with which it is united.
It is dependent on it, both in effe et in operari, in its being and working ; i it is but a material form, which arises from, and perisheth with the body. " The soul of a brute, (faith a great person *) is no " other than a fluid bodily substance, the more lively, and resin- " edpart 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,
" move the whole frame and mass of the body; and receiving " only certain weak impressions from the senses, and of short
" continuance, hindered and obstructed of its work and moti- " on, vanishes into the soft air."
(2.)An angel is aspiritfree from abody, and created without an appetite or inclination to be embodied.
The Stoics call the angels ὅσιας ψυχικας, soulysubstances; and the Peripatetics,form as abstract as, abstract forms. They are spirits free from the fettersandclogs ofthebody.
" +An angel is a perfect soul, and an human foul is an im- " perfect angel."
Yet angels have no such rooted disaffection to, and abhorrence ofabody, but they have assumed, and can, in a ready, obedience to their Lord's 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 ofhumanbodies .
So we read, Gen. xviii. 2. threemen i. e angels in human shape and appearance, stood by Abraham, and talked with him ; and at
Christ'sfepulchre, Luke xxiv, " 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 cannotputon and off at pleasure as they do; but as we walk in our garments, which we can put offwithoutpain.
(3.) The human foul is neither wholly tied to the body, as the brutal foul is ; nor created without inclination to abody, 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 theirproperplace, be more fully spoS2
* Lord Chief Justice Hale, in his treatise de anima, p. 56.
+Angelus eft anima perfecta, et anima eft angelus imperfect us, Bell. de afcen. mentis.