foul but man's. Other creatures have apt and elegant organs; birds can modulate the air, and form it into sweet delicious notes, and charming founds; but no creature, except man, whose foul is of an heavenly nature and extraction, can articulate the found, and form it into words, by which the notions and fentiments of one foul 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 fpeech, without a principle of reafon to guide and govern it? It is fufficient to them that they difcern each others meaning by dumb figns, much after the manner that we traded at first with the Indians; but speech is proper only to a rational, or living foul, however, we render it a living, a rational, or a fpeaking foul, it diftinguishes the foul of man from all other fouls. (2.) We find here the best account that ever was given of the origin of the foul of man, or whence it came, and from whom it derives its being. O, what a duft and pother have the disputes and contefts of philofophers raised about this matter! which is cleared in a few words in this fcripture; * «God breathed into "his noftrils 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 a refult from matter; no, refults flow e finu materia, out of the bofom of matter; but this comes ex halitu divine, from the infpiration of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flefh; but this is a fpirit defcending from the Father of spirits. God formed it, but not out of any pre-exiftent matter, whether celestial or terreftrial; much lefs out of himself, as the + Stoicks fpeak; but out of nothing. An high-born creature it is, but no particle of the Deity. The indivifible and immutable effence of God is utterly repugnant to fuch notions; and therefore they speak not ftrictly and warily enough, that are bold to call it a ray or emanation from God. A fpirit it is, and flows by way of creation, immediately from the Father of fpirits; but yet it is a fpirit of another inferior rank and order. (3.) We have alfo the account of the way and manner of its infufion into the body, viz. by the fame breath of God which gave it He breathed the breath of life into man, to fhew that man's foul is from an external caufe by creation, and that at the fame time, in being created, it is infufed into the body. Pol. Synopf. on the place. The Stoicks, faith Simplicius, called the foul Mepos n μeños tВ Dex, i. e. a particle or member of the Deity; and Seneca calls it, God dwelling in the human body, which comes near to og ev σagui paregulus, i. e. God manifested in the flesh. its being. It is therefore a rational, fcriptural, and juftifiable expreffion of St Auguftine, Creands infunditur, et infundendo creatur; it is infused in creating, and created in infufing; though Dr Brown too flightingly calls it a mere rhetorical antimetathesis. Some of the fathers, as Juftin, Ireneus, and Tertullian, were of opinion, That the Son of God affumed a human shape at this time, in which afterwards he often appeared to the fathers, as a prelude to his true and real incarnation; and took duft 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, infufed the foul into it.. But I rather think it is an anthropopathia, or ufual figure in speech, by which the Spirit of God stoops to the imbecility of our understandings. “He breathed into his noftrils the breath of life ;" Hebrew, lifes. But this plural word notes rather the twofold life of man, in this world, and in that to come; or, "the feveral faculties and "powers belonging to one and the fame foul, viz. the intellective, "fenfitive, and vegetative offices thereof; than that there are "more fouls than one, effentially differing, in one and the fame man; for that, (as † Aquinas truly faith), is impoffible." 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, not by way of natural refultancy from the body, but by way of infpiration from the Lord; not from the warm bofom of matter, but from the breath of its Maker. 4. Laftly, 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's) noftrils. It is a most astonishing mystery to see heaven and earth married together in one perfon; the duft of the ground, and an immortal fpirit clafping each other with fuch dear embraces and tender love; fuch a noble and divine guest to take up its refidence within the mean walls of flesh and blood. Alas, how little affinity, and yet what dear affection is found betwixt them! Now, that which fo fweetly links these two different natures together, and holds them in union, is nothing else but the breath of our noftrils, as the text fpeaks: it came in with the breath; whilst breath stays with us, it cannot go from us; and as foon as the breath departs, it departs alfo. All the rich elixirs and cordials in the world cannot perfuade it to stay one minute after the breath is gone. One puff of breath will carry away the wifeft, holiest, and *Religio Medici, Se&. 36. † Impoffibile eft in uno bomine esse plures animas per effentiam differentes ; fed una tantum eft anima; qua vegetativa, et fenfitiva, et intellective officiis fungitur. Aquin. 12. Q. 26. art. 2. moft defirable foul that ever dwelt in flesh and blood. When our breath is corrupt, our days are extinct, Job xvii. 1. "Thou takeft "away their breath, they die, and return to their duft," Pfal. cxiv. 19. Out of the text thus opened, arife two doctrinal propofitions, which I fhall infift upon, viz. Doct. 1. That the foul of man is of a divine original, created and inSpired immediately by the Lord. Doct. 2. That the fouls and bodies of men are linked, or knit toge ther, by the feeble band of the breath of their noftrils. In the profecution of these two propofitions, many things will come to our hands, of great ufe in religion; which I fhall labour to lay as clearly and orderly to the reader's understanding, and prefs as warmly upon his heart as I can. And first, Doct. 1. That the foul of man is of a divine original, created and infpired immediately by the Lord. In this first propofition, two things are to be diftinctly pondered, viz. I. The nature 2. The original } of the foul. Or, what it is, and from whence it came. I. The first thing which arrefts our thoughts, and requires their attention and exercise, is the nature of the foul, or what kind of being it is. Thofe that are most curiously inquifitive into all other beings, and put nature upon the rack to make her confefs her fecrets, are in the mean time found fhamefully flight and negligent in the study of themselves. Few there are that can prevail with themselves to fit down and think close to fuch questions as thefe. What manner of being is this foul of mine? whence came it? why was it infufed into this body? and where must it abide, when death has diflodged it out of this frail tabernacle? There is a natural aversation in man to fuch exercifes of thought as thefe, although in the whole universe of beings in this lower world, a more noble creature is not to be found*. The foul is the most wonderful and astonishing piece of divine Therefore they who at any time have difputed concerning the foul, must be reckoned to have difputed not of a vain thing, that has nothing but a name, but about a very weighty fubject, of the greatest moment, than which nothing under heaven is more excellent. Zanch, on the foul. workmanship; 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 foul is of more value than all the bodies in the world. The nature of it is so spiritual and fublime, that it cannot be perfectly known by the most acute and penetrating understanding, affifted in the fearch by all the aids philofophy can contribute. It is not my defign in this difcourfe to treat of the feveral faculties and powers of the foul, or to give you the rife, natures, or numbers of its affections and paffions: but I fhall confine my difcourfe to its general nature and original. And feeing "none can "fo well discover the nature of it, as he who is the author of it," as Tertullian* fpeaks, I therefore juftly expect the best light from his words, though I will not neglect any other aid he is pleafed elsewhere to afford. + The foul is variously denominated from its several powers and offices, as the fea from the feveral fhores it washes. I will not spend time about the feveral names by which it is known to us in fcripture, but give you that defcription of it, with which my understanding is most fatisfied, which take thus : The foul of man is a vital, fpiritual, and immortal fubftance, endowed with an understanding, will, of the foul. The defcription and various affections; created with an inclination to the body, and infused thereinto by the Lord. In this defcription we have the two general parts into which I diftributed this difcourfe: viz. its general nature, and divine original. The nature of the foul is expreffed to us in these following terms. I. It is a fubftance. That is to fay, not a quality, nor an accident inhering in another being, or subject; as whitenefs doth in the fnow: but a being by itfelf. Qualities and accidents have no existence of their own, but require another being, or fubject to their existence; but the foul of man is a fubftantial being of itfelf, which will evidently appear upon the following grounds. (1.) Because it is, in a strict and proper fenfe, created by God. "He formeth, or createth the fpirit in man," Zech. xii. 1. To VOL. II. 3 R Si quid de anima certandum eft, ad Dei regulas dirigat: certe nullum alium potiorem animæ demonftrationem, quam Au&torem. Tertul. de anima, &c. † As it quickens the body, it is called anima, i. e. the life; as it exerts acts of the will, it is called animus, i. e. power of volition; as it is the fubject of knowledge, it is called the mind; when it recollects, it is called the memory; when it judges right, it is called reafon; as it produces breathing, it is called fpirit. Ifidor. Etym. v. 5. The foul is a being by itself, i. e. it does not exift in any object as a part or form of it, depending on it, as to its being. Colleg. Conimb. in lib. 11. him we are advised to "commit it, as to a faithful Creator," 1 Pet. iv. 19. The fubftantial nature of the foul is implied in the very notion of its creation; "for whatsoever is created, is a fubftance, an "ens par fe*. Accidents are not faid to be created, but con-crea"ted;" the crasis of humours and results of matter are not fubftances created, but things rifing in a, natural way from created fubftances. They flow from, and, as to their effence, depend upon pre-exiftent matter; but the foul was created out of nothing, and infused into the body after it was formed and organized; which evidenceth its fubftantial nature. (2.) This evidenceth the foul to be a fubftance; that it can, and doth exift, and fubfift by itself alone, when separated from the body by death, Luke xxiii. 43. " To day fhalt thou, (i. e. thy foul) "be with me in paradife ;" and Mat. x. 20. "Fear not them that "kill the body but cannot kill the foul" Were the foul but an accident, a quality, or a refult, he that kills the body must needs kill the foul too; as he that cafts a snowball into the fire, muft needs destroy the whitenefs with the fnow. Accidents fail and perifh with their fubjects: but feeing it is plain in thefe and many other fcriptures, the foul doth not fail with the body; nothing can be more plain and evident, than that it is of a fubstantial na ture. 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 foul and body of man to be nothing but breath and body: whereas indeed, they are two diftinct creatures, as vaftly different in their natures as the rider, and his horfe, or the bird and his cage. While the man is on horseback, he moves according to the motion of the horfe; and while the bird is incaged, he eats and drinks, and fleeps, and hops and fings in 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 itfelf as well, yea, better in the open fields and woods, than in the cage; neither depend, as to being, or action, on the horse or cage. (3.) Both fcripture and philosophy confent in this, that the foul 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. "All the fouls that came with Jacob into Egypt," i. e. all the perfons; as the Latins fay, tot capita, fo many heads or perfons. The apostle, in 2 Cor. v. 8. feems to exclude the body from the notion of perfonality, when he faith, We are willing rather to be abfent † Quicquid a Deo proprie creatum eft; accidentia enim non dicuntur creari, fed concreariPolani Synt. p. 319, |