child of Adam, and as fuch only we are capable of being infected wwith his fin.

(2.) * And whereas it is fo confidently afferted in the objection, that fin cannot come into the foul by, or from the body, because it being matter, cannot act upon a fpirit: I say, this is gratis diflum, easily fpoken, but difficultly proved. Cannot the body act upon, or influence the foul? Pray then how comes it to pass that fo many fouls become foolish, forgetful, injudicious, &c. by their union with ill-difpofed bodies? Nothing is more fenfible, plain and evident, than that there is a reciprocal communication betwixt the foul and body. The body doth as really (though we know not how) affect the foul with its dif pofitions, as the foul influences it with life and motion. The more excellent any form is, the more intimate is its union and conjunction with the matter. The foul of man hath therefore a more intimate and perfect union with the body, than light hath with the air; which is made, by fome, the best emblem, and fimilitude to fhadow forth this union. But the union betwixt them is too intimate to be conceived by the help of any fuch fimilitudes. That this infection is by way of phyfical agency, as a rufty fcabbard infects. and defiles a bright (word, when fheathed therein; I will not confidenly affirm as fome do. It may be by way of natural concomitancy, as Eftius will have it; or to speak, as Dr. Reynolds (modeftly, and as becomes men that are conscious of darkness and weakness) by way of ineffable refultancy and emanation.

(3) Upon the whole, original fin confifts in two things. viz..

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

2. In that habitual concupifcence which carrieth nature to inordinate motions,

This privation and inordinate inclination, make up that original corruption, the rife whereof we are fearching for And to bring us as near as we can come, without a daring intrufion

:

The foul (fay fome) in the moment of its creation and infufion by God, being united with the body by the plaftic and formative virtue of the parental feed: the parent may be truly faid to generate the man, though he do not produce the form: Because proper generation confifts in the union, and not in the production of parts. So that original fin is not propagated from body to body, nor yet from foul to foul, but from man to man.

into unrevealed fecrets, our folid divines proceed by thefe fteps, in anfwering this objection.

(1.) If it be demanded how it comes to pafs that an infant becomes guilty of Adam's fin; 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 anfwer, because Adam lost it by his fin, and therefore could not tranfmit what he had lost to his pofterity.

(3.) But how comes he to be inclined to that which is evil? Their antwer is, because he wants that original rectitude: For whofoever wants original rectitude, naturally inclines to that which is evil. And fo the propenfion of nature, to that which is evil, feems to be, by way of concomitancy, with the defect or want of original righteoufuefs.

And thus I have given fome account of the nature and original of the foul of man: though alas! my dim eyes fee but little of its excellency and glory. Yet, by what hath been faid, it appears the mafter-piece of all God's work of creation, in this lower world.

But beaufe I fufpect the description I have given of it will be obfcure and cloudy to vulgar readers, of a plain and low capacity, by reafon of divers philofophical terms which I have been forced to make ufe of; and reckoning myfelf, a debtor to the weak and unlearned, as well as others, I will endeavour to frip this defcription of the foul, for their fakes, out of thofe artificial terms which darken it to them, and prefent it once more in the most plain and intelligible epitome I am capable to give it in; that fo the weaker understanding may be able to form a true notion of the nature, and original of the foul, in this

inanner.

This foul of mine is a true and real being;

not a fancy, conceit, a very nothing. It The foula fubflance. hath a proper and true being in itself,

whether I conceit it or not. Nor indeed can I conceive of it, but by it. It is not fuch a thing as whitenefs is in fnow, a mere accident, which depends upon the frow in which it is, for the being it hath, and muft perifh as foon as the fnow is diffolved: My foul doth not fo much depend upon my body, or any other fellow-creature for its being; but is as truly a fubftance as my body is, though not of fo grofs and material a kind and nature. My foul can, and will fubfift and remain what it is, when my body is feparated from it; but my body cannot fubfift and remain what it now is, when my foul is feparated from it: So that

I find my foul to be the most substantial and noble part of me; it is not my body, but my foul 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 duft and corruption. From this independent fubfiftence it hath in itfelf, and the dependence its properties and affections have upon it, I truly apprehend and call it a fubftance.

But yet, when I call it a fubftance, I But a fpiritual fubftance. must not conceive of it as a grofs material, palpable fubftance, fuch as my body is, which I can fee and feel: No, there are spiritual subftances as well as grofs, vifible, material fubftances. An angel is a fpiritual substance, a real creature, and yet imperceptible by my fight or touch, such a substance is my foul. Spiritual fubftances are as real, and much more excellent than bodily fubftances are. I can neither fee, hear, nor feel it, but I both fee, hear, and feel by it.

A vital fubftance. My foul is also a vital fubftance. It is a principle of life to my body: It hath a life in itself, and quickens my body therewith. My foul is the fpring of all the actions and motions of life which I perform. It hath been an error taken in from my childhood, that fenfe is performed in the outward organ, or members of my body; as touching in the hand, seeing in the eye, hearing in the ear, &c. in them, I fay, and not only by them, as if nothing were required to make fenfe, but an object and an organ. No, no, it is not my eye that feeth, nor my ear that heareth, nor my hand that toucheth, but my foul, in and by them, performs all this. Let but an apoplex hinder the operations of my foul in the brain, and of how little use are my eyes, ears, hands or feet to me? My life is originally in my foul, and fecondarily by way of communication in my body. So that I find my fout to be a vital, as well as a fpiritual fubftance.

And being both a vital and spiritual An immortal fubftance. fubftance, I muft needs conclude it to be an immortal fubftance. For in fuch a pure, fpiritual nature, as my foul is, there can be found no feeds or principles of death. Where there is no composition, there will be no diffolution. My body indeed having fo many jarring humours, mixed elements, and contrary qualities in it, must needs fall and die at last: but my foul was formed for immortality, by the fimplicity and fpirituality of its nature. No fword can pierce it from without, nor oppofition can destroy it from within; man cannot, and God will not.

being wrought upon by the Spirit, in the way of grace and fanctification, in this world, in order to the enjoyment of God, its chief happiness, in the world to come.

By this its understanding, I am diftinguished from, and advanced above all other creatures in this world. I can apprehend, diftinguith, and judge of all other intelligible beings. By my understanding I difcera truth from falfhood, good from evil; it fhews me what is fit for me to chufe, and what to refufe.

To this faculty or power of understanding, my thoughts and confcience do belong; the former to my speculative, the latter to my practical understanding. My thoughts are all formed in my mind or understanding in innumerable multitudes and va riety. By it I can think of things prefent, or abfent; visible, or invisible; of God, or myself; of this world, or the world

to come.

To my understanding alfo belongs my confcience, a noble, divine, and awful power: By which I fummon and judge myfelf, as at a folemn tribunal; bind and loofe, condemn and ac quit myself and actions, but fill 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, as the counsellor; and my will is as the prince: It freely chuseth and refuseth, as my understanding directs and suggests to it. The members of my body, and the paffions of my foul, are under its dominion: The former are under its abfolute command, the latter under its fuafions and infinuations, though not abfolutely, yet always with effect and fuccefs.

And both my understanding and will, I find to have great in fluence upon my affections.

These paffions and affections of my foul are of great use and dignity. I find them as manifold, as there are confiderations of good and evil. They are the ftrong and fenfible motions of my foul, according to my apprehenfions of good and evil. By them my foul is capable of union with the higheft good. love and delight I am capable of enjoying God, and refling in him, as the centre of my foul. This noble understanding, VOL. III.

U

By

thoughts, confcience, will, paffions, and affections, are the prin cipal faculties, acts, and powers of this my high and heavenborn foul. And being thus richly endowed and furnished,

I find it could never rife out of matter,

Created and infufed or come into my body by way of generatiwith an inclination on; the fouls of brutes, that rife that to the body. way, are deftitute of understanding, reafon, confcience, and fuch other excellent faculties, and powers, as I find in my own foul. They cannot know, or love, or delight in God, or fet their affections on things fpiritual, invifible, and eternal, as my foul is capable to do; it was therefore created and infufed immediately into this body of mine by the Father of spirits, and that with a strong inclination, and tender affection to my flesh, without which it would be remifs and careless in performing its feveral duties and offices to it, during the time of its abode therein.

Fearfully and wonderfully, therefore, am I made, and defigned for nobler ends and ufes, than for a few days to eat, and drink, and fleep, and talk, and die. My foul is of more value than ten thousand worlds. What fball a man give in exchange for his foul?

US E.

From the feveral parts and branches of this defcription of the foul, we may gather the choice fruits which naturally grow upon them, in the following inferences and deductions of truth and duty. For we may fay of them all, what the hiftorian doth of Palestine, that there is nihil infructuofum, nihil fterile, no branch or fhrub is barren, or unfruitful. Let us then search it branch by branch: and,

1. The foul is a fubftantial being.

Infer. 1. From the substantial nature of the foul, which we have proved to be a being diftinct from the body, and fubfifting by itself, we are informed, That great is the difference betwixt the death of a man, and the death of all other creatures in the world. Their fouls depend on, and perish with their bodies; but ours neither refult from them, nor perish with them *. My body is not a body, when my foul hath forfaken it; but my foul will remain a foul, when this body is crumbled into duft. Men may live like beafts, a mere sensual

*So great a prerogative manifefly proves that the foul, which is the governing part, is not material and mortal, but of a superior and more excellent nature, greatly different from the condition of other fouls, Conimb. Difp. on feparate fouls, p. 584.