life; yea, ia fome fenfe, they may die like beafts, a stupid death; but in this there will be found a vaft difference: Death kills both parts of the beafts, deftroys the matter and form; it toucheth only one part of man; it deftroyeth the body, and only diflodgeth the foul, but cannot destroy it. In fome things Solomon fhews the agreement betwixt our death and theirs, Ecclef. iii. 19, 20, 21. “That which befalleth the fons of men, befalleth the beafts; even one thing befalleth them: As the one dieth, fo dieth the other; all go *to one place; all are of the duft, and all turn to duft again." We breathe the fame common air they breath; we feel the fame pains of death they feel; our bodies are refolved into the fame earth theirs are. Oh! but in this is the difference, The Spirit of man goeth upward, and the fpirit of a beast goeth downward to the earth. Their fpirits go two ways at their diffolution; the one to the earth, and the other to God that gave it; as he fpeaks, chap. xii. 7. Though our refolution and expiration have fome agreement, yet great is the odds in the confequences of death to the one and the other. They have no pleafures nor pains befides those they enjoy or feel now; but fo have we, and thofe eternal, or unfpeakable too. The foul of man, like the bird in the fhell, is ftill growing or ripening in fin or grace, till at last the shell breaks by death, and the foul flies away to the place it is prepared for, and where it must abide for ever. The body, which is but its fhell, perisheth; but the foul lives when it is fallen away t. How doth this confideration expofe and aggravate the folly and madness of this fenfual world, who herd themselves with beafts, though they have fouls fo near a kin to angels! Te princes and nobles of the world abhor to affociate themselves with mechanics in their fhops, or to take a place among the fottifh rabble upon an ale-bench; they know and keep their di ftance and decorum, as still carrying with them a fense of honour, and abhorring to act beneath it: "But we equalize our high and noble fouls in the manner of life with the beafts that perish,, Our tables differ little from the crib at which they feed; or our houfes from the stalls and ftables in which they lie down to rest, in refpect of any divine worship, or heavenly communication that is to be heard there. Happy had it been for fuch men (if U 2 They grow up together, and are again feparated, and both return to whence they came; The earth downward, and the spirit upward. Epicha. fo they live and die) that their fouls had been of no higher extraction, or larger capacity, or longer duration than that of a beaft: For then, as their comforts, fo alfo their miferies had ended at death. And fuch they will one day wish they had been. A separate soul immediately capable of blessedness. Infer. 2. The foul of man being a substance, and not depending in its being on the body, or any other fellow creature, There can be no reason, on the foul's account, why its blessedness should be delayed till the refurrection of the body. It is a great mistake (and it is well it is fo) that the foul is capable only of focial glory, or a blessedness in partnership with the body; and that it can neither exert its own powers, nor enjoy its own happiness, in the absence of the body. The opinion of a fleeping interval took its rife from this error (as it is ufual for one mistake to beget another); they conceived the foul to be fo dependent on the body, at least in all its operations, that when death rends it from the body, it mufl needs be left in a fwoon, or fleep, unable to exert its proper powers, or enjoy that felicity which we afcribe to it in its state of fepara tion. But certainly its fubftantial nature being confidered, it will be found, that what perfection foever the body receives from the foul, and how neceffary foever its dependance upon it is the foul receives not its perfection from the body, nor doth it neceffarily depend on it, in its principal operations; but it can live and act out of a body as well as in it. Yca, I doubt not but it enjoys itself in a much more fweet, and perfect liberty than ever it did, or could, whilft it was clogged and fettered with a body of flesh. "Doubtlefs, (faith † Tertullian) when it t "is feparated, and as it were ftrained by death, it comes out "of darkness into its own pure, perfect light, and quickly finds "itself a fubftantial being, able to act freely in that light." Before the eyes of the dead body are closed, I doubt not, but the believing foul, with open eyes, beholdeth the face of Jesus *The rational foul receives no perfection from matter, which it could not receive without it. Conimbr. difp. 2. art. 3. + Procul dubio cum vi mortis exprimitur de concretione carnis. et ipfa expreffione colatur, certo de oppanfo corpore erumpit in apertum, ad meram et puram, et fuam lucem, ftatim femetipfam in xpeditione fubftantia recognofcit, ut de fomno emergens ab imagi mibus ad veritates Tertul. in lib, de Anima. Christ, Luke xxiii. 43. Philip. i. 23. But this will also be further ipoken to hereafter. Inter. 3. The fouls of men being created immediately out of nothing, and not feminally traduced; it follows, That all fouls by nature are of equal value and dignity; one foul is not more excellent, honourable, or precious than another; but all by nature equally precious. The foul of the pooreft beggar that cries at the door for a cruft, is, in its own nature, of equal dignity and value with the foul of the most glorious monarch that fits upon the throne. And this appears to be fo, 1. Because all fouls flow out of one and the fame fountain, viz. the creating power of God. They were not made of better or worse, finer or coarser matter, but ex μŋ ovtwv, out of nothing at all. The fame Almighty Power was put forth to the forming of one, as of another. All fouls are mine, faith he that created them, Ezek. xviii. 4. the foul of the child as well as of the father; the foul of the beggar as well as of the king; those that had no pre-exiftent matter, but received their beings from the fame efficient caufe, muft needs be equal in their original nature and value. The bodies of men, which are formed out of matter, do greatly differ from one another; fome are moulded (as we fay) e meliori luto, out of better and finer clay; fome are more exact, elegant, vigorous and beautiful than others; but fouls having no matter of which they confift, are not fo differenced. 2. All fouls are created with a capacity of enjoying the infinite and bleffed God. They need no other powers, faculties, or capacities than they are by nature endued with (if these be but fanctified and devoted to God) to make them equally happy and bleffed with them that are now before the throne of God in heaven, and with unfpeakable delight and joy behold his bleffed face. We pafs through the fields, and take up an egg which lies under a clod, and fee nothing in it but a little fqualid matter; yea, but in that egg is feminally and potentially contained fuch a melodious lark as it may be at the fame time we fee mounting heavenward, and finging delicious notes above. So 'tis here, those poor despised fouls, that are now lodged in crazy, defpicable bodies on the earth, have, in their natures, a capacity for the fame employments and enjoyments with thofe in heaven. They have no higher original than thefe have, and these have the fame capacity and ability with them. They are beings improvable by grace, to the highest perfections attainable by any creature. If thou be never fo mean, bafe, and defpicable a creature, in other refpects, yet haft thou a foul, which hath the fame alli ance to the Father of fpirits, the fame capacity to enjoy him in glory, that the moft excellent and renowned faints ever had. 3. All fouls are rated and valued in God's book, and account, at one and the fame price; and therefore, by nature are of equal worth and dignity. Under the law, the rich and the poor were to give the fame ranfom, Exod. xxx. 15. “The rich shall not give more, and the poor fhall not give less than half a shekel." The redemption of fouls, by the blood of Chrift, cofts one and the fame price. The pooreft and the moft defpised foul that believes in Jefus, is as much indebted to him for the ransom of his foul, as the greatest and most illuftrious perfon in the world. Mofes, Abraham, Paul, &c. did not coft Chrift any thing more than poor Lazarus, or the meanest among all the faints did. "The righteousness of Christ is unto all, and upon all that be"lieve, and there is no difference," Rom. iii. 22. 1 But yet we must not understand this parity of human fouls univerfally, or in all refpects. Tho' being of one Species or common nature, they are all equal, and those of them that are purchased by the blood of Chrift are all purchased at one rate; yet there are divers other refpects and confiderations, wherein there are remarkable differences betwixt foul, and foul. As, (1.) Some fouls are much better lodged and accommodated in their bodies than others are, though none dwell at perfect reft and cafe. God hath lodged fome fouls in ftrong, vigorous, comely bodies; others in feeeble, crazy, deformed, and uncomfortable ones. The hiftorian faith of Galba, Anima Galbae male habitat; the foul of Galba dwelt in an ill body. And a much better man than Galba was as ill accommodated. John wishes in behalf of his beloved Gaius, that his body might but profper as his foul did, epistle iii. ver. 2. Timothy had his often infirmities. Indeed the world is full of inftances and examples of this kind. If fome fouls had the advantages of fuch bodies as others have, who make little or very bad ufe of them; oh, what service would they do for God! (2.) There is a remarkable difference also betwixt foul, and foul, in refpect of natural gifts and abilities of mind. Some have great advantages above others in this respect. The natural fpirits and organs of the body being more brisk and apt, the foul is more vegete, vigorous, and able to exert itself in its functions and operations. How clear, Toftatus bishop of Abulum had fo ftrong and firm a conftitution to endure fevere ftudies, that he is faid anea inteftina habuiffe, to have had a body of brass. nimble, and firm, are the apprehenfions, fancies, and memories of fome fouls beyond others! What a prodigy of memory, fancy, and judgment, was father Paul the Venetian! and Suarez, of whom Strada faith, "Such was the strength of his parts, "that he had all St. Auguftine's works (the most copious and " various of all the fathers) as it were by heart, so that I have “seen him, faith he *, readily pointing with the finger to any place "or page he difputed of." Our Dr Reynolds excelled this way, to the astonishment of all that knew him, fo that he was a living library, a third univerfity. But above all, the character given by Vives of Budaeus is amazing, That there was nothing written in Greek or Latin which he had not turned over and examined; that both languages were alike to him, speaking either with more facility than he did the French, his mother tongue; and ail by the penetrating force of his own natural parts, without a tutor; “ fo "that France never brought forth a man of foarper wit, more piercing judgment, exact diligence, and greater learning, nor, "in his time, Italy itself." Foelix et foecundum ingenium, quod in fe uno invenit, et doctorem, et difcipulum! A happy and fruitful wit, which in itself found both a master and a scholar! And yet Pafquier relates what is much more admirable of a young man, who came to Paris in the 20th year of his age, and in the year 1445, which fhewed himself fo excellent and exact in all the arts, fciences, and languages, that if a man of an ordinary good wit, and found constitution, fhould live an hundred years, and during that time study inceffantly, without eating, drinking, fleeping, or any recreation, he could hardly attain to that perfection. (3.) And yet a far greater difference is made betwixt one foul and another, by the fanctifying work of the Spirit of God. This makes yet a greater difparity; for it alters and new-molds the frame and temper of the foul, and reftores the loft image of God to it; by reafon whereof the righteous is truly faid to be "more "excellent than his neighbour," Prov. xii. 26. This ennobles the foul, and stamps the highest dignity and glory upon it, that it is capable of in this world. It is true, it hath naturally an excellency and perpetuity in it above other beings; as cedar hath not only a beauty and fragrancy, but a foundness and durability far beyond other trees of the wood: but when it comes under the * Satim quo loco quaque pagina disseruerit, ea fuper re expedite detentem, ab digito commonftratem fæpe vidimus. Quo viro Gallia, acutiore ingenio, acriore judicio, exactiore diligentia, majore eruditione, nullam unquam produxit: hoc vero atate nec Italia quidem. Lud. Viv. in 17 cap, de Civ. Dei, |