" There is (saith a learned * man) no greater mystery in nature, " than the union betwixt the soul and body ; that a mind and spi- " rit should be so tied and linked with a clod of clay, that while " that remains in a due temper, it cannot by any art or power free " itself. It can by an act of the will move an hand, or a foot, or " the whole body, but cannot move from it one inch. If it move " hither, or thither, or by a leap upward do ascend a little, the " body still follows it ; it cannot shake or throw it off. We can-
• Mr. How in a funeral Sermon, p. 9, 10.
542 A TEEATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
" not take ourselves out ; by any allowable means we cannot ; nor " by any at all (that are at least, within mere human power) as long " as the temperament lasts. While that remains, we cannot go ; " if that fail, we cannot stay ; though there be so many open " avenues, (could we suppose any material bounds to hem in, or " exclude a spirit) we cannot go out or in at pleasure. A wonder- " ful thing I and I wonder we no more wonder at our own make
" and frames in this respect. What, so much a-kin are a
" mind and a piece of earth, a clod and a thought, that they should " be thus affixed to one another ?"
My design here is to shew by what ligament, tie, or bond, it hath pleased the great and wise Creator, to affix and link these so different parts of man together : And this Moses in the text tells us, is no other but the breath of his nostrils.
The breath and soul of man are two distinct things. His breath is not his soul, nor his soul his breath, but the nexus or bond that couples and unites his soul and body in a personal union. The body hath no life in itself, but its life results from its union with the soul, James ii. 26. This union is maintained by the breath of our nostrils, which upon that account is here called the breath of life. Breath is an act of life, proceeding from the souls union with its body, and ending with the dissolution of it. Life is continued by its respiration, and ended by its expiration. Whilst we live, and whilst breath is in our bodies, are terms synonymous.
That little quantity of air, which we thus breathe in and out at our nostrils, is more to us, than all the three regions of air, which fill up the vast space between earth and heaven. It is, in a sense, our life.
For this use and office of respiration, the lungs were formed and placed where they are, not without the most wise counsel and di- rection of God. They are that organ in the ' * body, which, by the help of that artery called arteria trachea, leading to them as a channel, for the passage of air from the mouth and nostrils, the air is transmitted to, and ventilated by them for the refreshment of the *f- heart, and exhaling the fumes thereof.
The heart hath continual need of such a vent and refreshment; and therefore the lungs, like a pair of bellows, must be kept con- tinually going. No longer than breath is going, is the heart a dying ; that which stops the one, suffocates the other.
* The lungs are the instrument of breathing and respiration ; to the lungs there leads a pipe, which is called the wind-pipe, formed for two uses, &c.
f The heart is moved by a twofold motion, namely, that of its contraction, and dila- tation, wherebv its innate heat is mitigated and cooled by means of the air sucked in. Jhted Theol. Nat. p. 61 4.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 543
And here we may, with admiration, contemplate the wonders by which our lives are continued. These lungs are the most frail and tender part of the body, and kept in continual motion and agitation ; yet are made serviceable for seventy or eighty years together, which is the wonder of Providence. Were a piece of brass, or iron or steel kept in continual and incessant use, it would not endure half the time. In a word, the * heart, that noble part of the body, is the shop wherein the spirits are laboured and prepared, which therefore is in continual motion and heat ; and so needs continual cooling and refreshing. We can live no longer than it labours, it can labour no longer than it is refreshed and cooled by respiration.
God hath therefore prepared the lungs for this service ; which being of a thin, porous, and spungy substance, can easily be dilated and contracted. By dilating themselves, they attract and suck in the air into themselves ; first duly to prepare and temper it, and then communicate it to the heart for its refreshment ; which being quickly heated in the heart, is again breathed out by the lungs, by contracting themselves again. This double motion of inspiration and expiration, we call respiration ; and this respiration is the bond that holds our souls and bodies together.
And indeed, this is but a feeble bond, a very slender and weak thread, which holds our souls and bodies in union. What more volatile, evanid and uncertain than a puff of breath ? The nostrils are the outer door of the body, our breath is continually in our nostrils ; and how soon may that depart, which is day and night at the door, as if it were still taking leave of us ? Our breath is always going ; and what is still going, will be gone at last. How small a difference is there betwixt respiration and expiration, a breathing and a breathless lump of clay ? Breath cannot continue long, and life cannot stay a moment behind it, Psal. civ. 29. " Thou takest " away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." Life is breath given, and death is breath taken away. The breath of man is like a written sentence, in which there are divers commas, or
* Because the heart is the fountain of life, and the laborious forge where the animal spirits are framed ; so that being in the posture of a pendulum, it is agitated by a per- petual motion; by which means it is vehemently heated, even to so great a degree, that, unless that heat was moderated by respiration, of necessity it would happen, that both the natural heat and moisture would be destroyed by the excessive heat of the heart. The lungs are nothing else but a certain kind of natural bellows, which by being dilated, draw in the air and transmit it to the heart, so that the heart, though always hot, is. cooled by the air ; which air, after being warmed within the recesses of the heart, is again sent out from the heart into the lungs, which by contracting themselves, emit it again by expiration. Alcfcerm, Phys. p. 560-70.
514? A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF M AN.
short pauses, after which speedily follows a full stop, and there is an end of it.