proceed from the Father of spirits; it is his own creature, in an immediate way. He gave it : he gave it the being it hath by cre- ation, and gave it to us, i. e. to our bodies by inspiration. Now tjualis Genesis, talis Analysis. When death dissolves the union which is betwixt them, each part returns to that from whence it came, dust to dust, and the spirit to God that gave it. The body is expressed by its material cause, dust; the soul only by its efficient cause, as the gift of God ; because it had no material cause at all, nor was made out of any pre-existcnt matter, as the body was. And therefore Solomon here speaks of God, as if he had only to do with the soul, leaving the body to its material and instrumental causes, with which he concurs by a general influence. It is God, not man alone, or God by man, that hath given us these bodies; but it is not man, but God alone, who hath given us these souls. He therefore passeth by the body, and speaks of the soul as the gift of God ; because that part of man, and that only, flows im- mediately from God, and at death, returns to him that gave it. All these expressions, The Father of spirits, the former of 'the spirit of man, the giver of' the spirit : how agreeable are they to each other, and all of them to the point under hand, that the soul flows from God by immediate creation ? You see it hath no principle out of which, according to the order of nature, it did arise, as the body had, and therefore it hath no principle into which, accord- ing to the order of nature, it can be returned, as the body hath ; but returns to God, its efficient cause : if reconciled, to a Father, not only by creation, but adoption ; if unreconciled, as a creature guilty of unnatural rebellion against the God that formed it, to be judged.
II. God created and infused it into the body, with an inherent inclination and affection to it. The * nature of the soul and body- is vastly different, there is no affinity or similitude betwixt them; but it is in this case as in that of marriage. Two persons of vastly different educations, constitutions, and inclinations, coming under God's ordinance, into the nearest relation to each other, find their affections knit and endeared by their relation to a degree beyond that which results from the union of blood : So it is here. Whence this affection arises, in what acts it is discovered, and for what reason implanted, will be at large discovered in a distinct branch of the following discourse, to which it is assigned. Mean while, I find myself concerned to vindicate what hath been here asserted
* The body is necessary to the soul, which is the perfection of the organical body, for it is not a separate form, i. e. a form properly so called, therefore it requires matter, in so much that the soul, when separate from the body, still retains its relation and in- clination to it, which is followed with the resurrection of the body. Ca/iuron prcelect. in Mat. p. 124. *
51 © A '1KEATISE 01< THE SO! L 01" MAX.
from the arguments which are urged against the immediate creation and infusion of the soul, and in the defence of the opinion of its traduction from the parents. To conceal, or dissemble these argu- ments and objections, would be but a betraying of the truth I have here asserted, and give occsasion for some jealousy, that they are unanswerable. To come then to an issue ; and first,
Objec. 1. It is urged, that it is manifest in itself, and generally yielded, that the souls of all other creatures come by generation, and therefore it is probable the human souls flow in the same channel also.
Solut. There is a specific difference betwixt rational souls, and the souls of all other creatures, and therefore no force at all in the consequence. A material form may rise out of matter ; but a spiritual, rational being (as the soul of man is) cannot so rise, being much more noble and excellent than matter is.
What animal is there in the world, out of whose soul the acts of reason spring and flow, as they do out of human souls ? Are they capable of inventing," (or which is much less) of learning the arts and sciences ? Can they correct their senses, and demonstrate a star to be far greater than the whole earth, which to the eye seems no bigger than the rowel of a spur ? Do they foreknow the positions and combination of the planets, and the eclipses of the sun and moon many years before they suffer them ? And if they cannot perform these acts of reason, as it is sure they cannot, how much less can they know, fear, love, or delight in God, and long for the enjoyments of him ! These things do plainly evince human souls to be of another species, and therefore of a higher original than the souls of brutes. If all have one common nature and original, why are they not all capable of performing the same rational and religious acts ?
Obj. 2. But though it should be granted, that the soul of the first man was by immediate creation and inspiration of God ; yet it follows not, that the souls of all his posterity must be so too. God might create him with a power of begetting other souls after his own image. The first tree was created with its seed in itself to pro- pagate its kind, and so might the first man.
Sol. 1. Trees, animals, and such-like, were not created im- mediately out of nothing, as the soul of man was ; but the earth was the pre-existent matter out of which they were produced by the word of God's blessing and power ; but man's soul was im- mediately breathed into him by God, and had no pre-existent matter at all : And besides, all human souls being of one species, have therefore one and the same original : The soul of the poorest child is of equal dignity with the soul of Adam. And if we con- sult Job xxxiii. 4. we shall find Elihu giving us there the same
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 519
account, and almost in the same words, of the original of his soul that Moses in my text gives us of the original of Adam's soul : " The Spirit of God hath formed me, and the breath of the Al- " mighty hath given me life.11