The Chaldee renders it, a speaking soid. And indeed, it de- serves a remark, that the ability of speech is conferred on no other
* Prcssit 1W< Compressit, ct per Metalepsm, premendo et comprimendo formavii. f Imagine m mcnte divina conceptam, quasi manu format. Fagius.
492 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
soul but man's. Other creatures have apt and elegant organ.1? : birds can modulate the air, and form it into sweet delicious notes, and charming sounds ; but no creature, except man, whose soul is of an heavenly nature and extraction, can articulate the sound, and form it into words, by which the notions and sentiments of one soul are in a noble, apt, and expeditious manner conveyed to the understanding of another soul. And indeed, what should any other creature do with the faculty or power of speech, without a principle of reason to guide and govern it ? It is sufficient to them that they discern each others meaning by dumb signs, much after the manner that we traded at first with the Indians ; but speech is proper only to a rational, or living soul, however, we render it a living, a rational, or a speaking soul, it distinguishes the soul of man from all other souls.
(2.) We find here the best account that ever was given of the origin of the soul of man, or whence it came, and from whom it derives its being. O, what a dust and pother have the disputes and contests of philosophers raised about this matter ! which is cleared in M few words in this scripture ; * " God breathed into " his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul :" which plainly speaks it to be the immediate effect of God's creating power. Not a result from matter ; no, results flow e shin ma- teria?, out of the bosom of matter ; but this comes ex halitu divino, from the inspiration of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh ; but this is a spirit descending from the Father of spirits. God formed it, but not out of any pre-existent matter, whether celestial or terrestrial ; much less out of himself, as the f Stoicks speak ; but out of nothing. An high-born creature it is, but no particle of the Deity. The indivisible and immutable essence of God is utterly repugnant to such notions ; and therefore they speak not strictly and warily enough, that are bold to call it a ray or emanation from God.
A spirit it is, and flows by way of creation, immediately from the Father of spirits ; but yet 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 same breath of God which gave it
* He breathed the breath of life into man, to shew that man's soul is from an ex- ternal cause by creation, and that at the same time, in being created, it is infused into the body. Pol. Synops. on the place.
f The Stoicks, saith Simplicius, called the soul Migog v\ fukog m Qsa, I e. a particle or member of the Deity ; and Seneca calls it, God dwelling in the human body, which comes near to @£0> vt 6u%ni <pccvigufct$, J. e. God manifested in the flesh.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 493
its being. It is therefore a rational, scriptural, and justifiable ex- pression of St. Augustine, Creando infunditur, et infundendo crea- tor ; it is infused in creating, and created in infusing ; though Dr. Brown * too slightingly calls it a mere rhetorical ant) metathesis. Some of the fathers, as Justin, Ireneus, and Tertullian, were of opinion, That the Son of God assumed 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 dust or clay in his hands, out of which he formed the body of man, according to the pattern of that body in which he appeared : and that being done, he after- wards, by breathing, infused the soul into it. But I rather think it is an anthropopathia, 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, lifts. But this plural word ea^rr notes rather the twofold life of man, in this world, and in that to come ; or, " the several faculties and powers belonging " to one and the same soul, viz. the intellective, sensitive, and vege- " tative offices thereof; than that there are more souls than one, " essentially differing, in one and the same man ; for that, (as " -f Aquinas truly saith,) is impossible." We cannot trace the way of the Spirit, or tell in what manner it was united with this clod of earth. But it is enough, that he who formed it, did also unite, or marry it to the body. This is clear, not by way of natural resul- tancy from the body, but by way of inspiration from the Lord ; not from the warm bosom of 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's) 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 resi- dence 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 to- gether, 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
* Jteligio Medici, Sect. 56.
f Impossible est in uno hominc esse plures animos per essentinm differentes ; sed vna tantum est anivia ; quae vegetative?, et sensitive?, et intcllectivce officiis Jungitur. Aquin, 12. Q. 26. art. 2.
4<H A TREATISE ON THE SOUL OF MAN.
most desirable soul 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 return to their dust," Psal. cxiv. 19.
Out of the text thus opened, arise two doctrinal propositions, which I shall insist upon, viz.
Doct. 1. That the soul of man is of a divine original, created and inspired immediately by the Lord.
Doct. 2. That the souls and bodies of men are linked, 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 to 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 a divine original, created and inspired immediately by the Lord.