is not Orthodox nor agreeing with the Principles of Reason and Nature So that in these two Passages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differ in some respect but it is only in the Original Signification of the Words and in the Relation that the Spirit of Man hath to the Body and the Animal Faculties and Operations As it is a Spiritual Being separate from the Body and enjoys a Subsistence independent from this outward Tabernacle it is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of Man created by the immediate Hand of God at that moment that it is put to inform and enliven the Organized Body which takes its immediate Beginning from other Principles This Spirit at the Dissolution of the Body is immortal and returns to God that made it and cannot be destroyed by Death It enters into another State and hath the freedom of its Faculties and Operations as the Holy Angels above It is deliver'd from the Pains and Slavery of the Body and from its Concernment with this vile Part of Man It enters into a new Acquaintance and into a Conversation with Beings answerable to it self In this blessed State stiled in Holy Writ The Joy of our Lord The Paradise of God Fulness of Joy God's Presence c. the Soul or Spirit retains all its Perfections Graces and Abilities and being delivered or let loose from the Body that clogs it from the Members and Organs decay'd by Sickness or old Age it thereby arrives to a more excellent Activity than it was formerly capable of when confined to the Limits and Bondage of the Senses It is not so much straitned in its Operations as when it was One in Society with the weak and infirm Body but every Faculty hath the greater liberty to manifest that Improvement that hath been made in them by our former Diligence Industry and Labours But while this Spirit continues in Conjunction with the Body and operates by the Senses and Organs it is properly named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anima or the Soul and in the Hebrew Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he breathed because its present Being and Subsistence relates to the Animal Functions maintained and continued by our constant breathing But tho most part of the Actions of this Spiritual Being are produced in and by the Organs of the Body there are at present many Operations of the Soul that have no relation to the Senses especially in such as are sanctified by the Spirit of God and are designed for a better and higher State Therefore in the former Passage to the Thessalonians St. Paul prays that God would sanctify their Spirits from the Corruption convey'd to them by the vicious Inclinations of the Body and that this immortal Part might be preserved pure and undesiled from all Sin and Infection That the Soul likewise that is the same Spirit as it works and acts by the Animal Senses of the Body and in conjunction with this outward Part might be also free from Sin and Pollution And that the Body also with all its Members might be sanctified and preserved blameless unto the Appearance of Christ Likewise the Author to the Hebrews tells us that the Word of God is so sharp as to divide between the Spirit and the Soul that is that it is so exact in its Commands and Injunctions in relation to Piety and Holiness as to lay an Obligation to be circumspect upon the Spiritual Being of Man in the Actions that are produced in conjunction with the Body and in the Operations that are separate from the Senses and that it censures both the Spiritual and the Sensitive Part of Man But by this near Conjunction of the Soul and Body it happens that the Habits of the former are more or less perfect and the Actions more or less excellent according to the good or vicious Disposition of the latter So that an Impediment or a Weakness in the Organ may hinder the Soul from acting But such Impediments if they proceed not from a natural Deficiency in the principal Part may in some cases be removed by an assidual Labour a resolute Industry a long Usage and the Blessing of the God of Nature As in the Example of a famous Orator who wore away the stammering of his Tongue with Peble Stones and attained to a Facility of Speech and Memory by speaking often to the roaring Waves of the Sea Indeed we are the more indebted to our wise Maker when he gives an excellent Soul in a well-disposed and well-organized Body and that the Temper of the one assists the Operations of the other CHAP. II. Of Memory its Seat and Excellency ST Austin names Memory the Soul's Belly or Store-house or the Receptacle of the Mind because it is appointed to receive and lay up as in a Treasury those things that may be for our Benefit and Advantage Divers Names and Descriptions are given to it but all may be reduced to this one Definition That it is that Faculty of the Soul appointed by our wise Creator to receive retain and preserve the several Ideas convey'd into it by the Inlets of the Understanding whether intellectual or sensitive Two Vertues belong to it readily to receive and long to retain whatsoever is committed to its Custody by the Understanding For Perfection of Memory consists in these two Qualities quickly to receive the Impressions or Images of things and to keep them long from Oblivion that the Intellect might there find them to employ them for such Uses as Reason may require There are likewise three differing Acts of this Faculty tho some reckon but two 1 st That which we properly call Memory which is a Retention of the Ideas of things admitted into the Soul 2 dly Recordatio Remembrance or a calling to Mind or a refreshing those Ideas that are there closeted up 3 dly Reminiscentia which is a Recovery of the same Ideas which were formerly lost or a renewing of those Impressions in the Memory that were blotted out or defaced by Forgetfulness The first may be found in some measure in the Brutes and other Animals who have a kind of local Retention of the Objects that are either grateful or hurtful to their Natures so that the presence of those things cause them either to fly from or to run to them having had a former Sense of their good or evil Qualities This Animal Memory differs in this from that of Man in that it requires the presence of the Objects to mind the dumb Creatures of their past Experience but the Soul of Man having more perfect and excellent Assistances needs not the Representation of Things to remember the former Passages neither is his Memory so narrow so weak and infirm as that of the Brutes But the two latter Acts of Memory are not to be found in them because they depend on the reasoning of the Understanding and cannot be produced without that Ability which we cannot
and Wisdom that influences our Wills and Endeavours yet we are not to be sluggish and idle But as we come into the World with active Abilities we are in all reason obliged to employ them and make them instrumental in procuring our own Good Nay we are to seek and endeavour this Improvement and not wholly to depend on the favourable Will and Blessings of our Maker But of all Improvements those of the Spiritual part of Man are chiefly to be minded because our present and future Happiness will thereupon depend because such Improvements are not subject to the Casualties of the Body nor cannot easily be taken from us by Violence or Death but as this excellent Being is Immortal all the Ornaments and Perfections acquired to it do accompany it into another State and are not changeable without our Wills and contrary Endeavours How soon are the Excellencies of the Body destroyed and 〈◊〉 the Gifts of God and Nature humbled in the Dust together with all our Labours to imbellish and adorn this outward part of our Selves made the Sport and Food of the vilest Worms But the precious Souls of Men with the Graces and Vertues that enrich them are not so quickly spoiled they are to continue with that Heavenly Substance and to abide with it for ever Death the great Destroyer of God's Works can't separate those Perfections from the Souls with which God's Blessings and our Endeavours have enrich'd them For this Noble Part as well as the Body is capable of great Improvement The latter grows and encreases by degrees in the use of the ordinary Methods appointed by God in Nature Thus the Soul with every Faculty is to be enlarged increased and advanced to Perfection by the means prescribed to us by the Divine Wisdom The Understanding is to be enriched with an increase of Prudence Wisdom and Knowledg the Will of Man with the Habits of Moral and Christian Vertues Thus ought the other Faculty of the Soul called the Memory to be enlarged increased and imbellished To this purpose St. Bernard hath an excellent Saying Dilatari oportet animam ut fiat habitatio Dei Sup. Cant. Serm. 28. For that intent our wise Creator hath appointed in his Church the use of his Word and Ordinances hath ordered his inspired Prophets and Apostles to deliver to us the Sacred Mysteries of our Religion and the most Heavenly Directions that we may grow in Grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. And for the same purpose our good God hath opened to us the Books of Nature and Providence that we might continually read study and understand the Secrets of his Divine Wisdom and draw nearer to the Perfections of the Mind unto which we shall never attain till we are admitted to the Vision of God Now this precious Jewel is by the Philosophers defined Forma substantialis corporis viventis per quam vivimus sentimus nutrimur intelligimus loco movemur The substantial Form of our living Body by which we live are sensible nourished understand and move from place to place Aristotle tells us it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the living organized Body 'T is altogether Spiritual and proceeds from the immediate Agency of our wise God Creator and Preserver of all things who at the time of Conception and Formation of the Body when the Parts and Organs are duly prepared and fitted to receive this Heavenly Guest creates it without any Concurrence or Assistance of the Parents Witness the Words of the Ecclesiastes chap. 12. vers 7. That at the Dissolution the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it And it is observable in this Excellent and Spiritual Being here are divers Faculties which are either natural vital or animal by which the Soul in conjunction with the Body produces divers Functions and Actions of Life The Natural Faculty is that Power of the Soul by which the Body assisted by the natural Heat and Food is nourished grows and produces acts of Generation The Vital Faculty is that by which the Vital Spirits are engendered in the Heart and Life is preserved in the whole Body The Animal Faculty is likewise that Power of the Soul by which a Man is sensible moves and performs the principal Functions which are Imagination Reason and Memory which indeed are the chief Functions of the reasonable Soul We must here take notice of a considerable difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritus Indeed the Divine Oracles make use of both Words to express the same Spiritual Being as in Matth. 10. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell This same Soul is named the Spirit in the last Prayer of the Proto-Martyr Acts 7. 59. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Therefore the Soul and the Spirit in the Scripture-Language signifies that same Spiritual Being that enlivens moves and governs this dull Mass of the Body which cannot be destroyed by the Malice of Men and which at the Separation is received into an Estate of Bliss by our great Saviour and the Holy Angels his ministring Spirits Yet if we examine some other Passages of Holy Writ we shall meet with a Distinction not Essential but Accidental In 1 Thess 5. 23. St. Paul desires that their whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ And the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 4. v. 12. declares That the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit Interpreters differ something in the Exposition of these two Passages Mr. Calvin understands by the Soul the Will and its Affections and by the Spirit the Understanding and all its Gifts which Interpretation seems to be weak and not answering the Scope of the Words Others and amongst the Antient Fathers not a few tell us by the Soul is meant the Sensual and Animal Part of Man and by the Spirit the more refined and more sublime Part the Intellect and its Perfections This Interpretation in my Judgment draws nearest to the meaning of the Apostle but we must take heed of a gross Error contrary to all Reason and Philosophy of some of them who make Man to be composed of three Parts Body Soul and Spirit and multiply Beings without Necessity The Spirit given by God to enliven move and govern this Body is but one and hath all the Abilities granted to it which they ascribe to two distinct Substances it hath the Power to govern the Senses as it is united to the Body and as it withdraws it self from the Senses it performs all Spiritual Operations Therefore this Gloss which is designed by them to solve the difficult Question about the Descent of Christ into Hell in my Opinion
seeing he hath caused all Visible Beings to be designed for the Good Assistance Pleasure Recreation Happiness and Glory of Man Therefore at the first forming of Adam the Sacred Trinity proceed with Deliberation and act together with an extraordinary Care and Consultation Let us make Man after our own Image Man bears both in Body and Soul a lively Resemblance of the Unity and Trinity and the Relation that our Almighty God has to this great World For as this universal Spirit gives Life and Motion to every Member and Part and supports the whole Fabrick by an over-ruling Providence and a comprehensive Spirit thus the Soul is the first and only Principle that actuates governs and moves the Microcosm the Body and every Sense and Member being in the whole and entire in every Part. In the Godhead there is a Unity that admits of no Division an Omnipotent Spirit not subject to the Infirmities of Separation or Partition And is not the Soul or Spirit of Man in this Excellency the Representation of his Heavenly Maker It is a Unity not to be divided nor cut in parts it discovers it self in the whole Body and by its Operations in every Member produceth differing Acts according to the Diversity of the Organs In the Godhead we are informed by the Sacred Pen-men that there is a Trinity of Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Likewise in the Soul of Man we find three remarkable and distinct Faculties the Understanding the Will and the Memory which tho they be three Abilities or Powers are but one Soul or Spirit Of this Resemblance between God and the Soul Seneca seems to be sensible when he inquires Epist 32. Quid aliud voces Animum nisi Deum in humano corpore hospitem And St. Austin in his Treatise of the Trinity expresly confirms the Truth of this great Mystery by this Parallel with the Soul of Man Man therefore being the living Image of his Creator participates in some measure of the Excellency of that Eternal Being Who in all his Proceedings in relation to this Creature expresseth a high Esteem of him and of his Immortal Spirit For him he seems to have raised beautified and adorned this great Fabrick of the World putting all things in Subjection under his Feet and made him as it were a visible God to govern dispose of and command all the Creatures that inhabit the four Elements For him he hath kindled so many Glorious Lights in the Firmament above sending down from thence the continual Expressions of his Kindness and Goodness to Man For him the World is maintain'd and the Omnipotent Hand of Divine Providence supports and continues all things entire for the Completion of that appointed Number of Mankind design'd for Happiness from the Beginning by the Divine Wisdom And since Man hath wilfully forsaken his Maker and join'd himself in Rebellion with the Apostate Spirits God's Mercy hath not totally rejected him nor debarred him from a Return but on the contrary he invites him back to himself with the greatest and most endearing Expressions of Love Kindness and Esteem The Divine Mercy values the Souls of Men at so high a rate that it hath given an infinite Price to redeem them and employs the Agency of an Omnipotent Spirit to sanctify and prepare them for the noble Purposes for which they are design'd If the Souls of Men had not been full of Excellency and of a great Value would the Eternal Wisdom suffer the Son of God to forsake his Glory and stoop so low to fetch them out of the Depths of Everlasting Misery Would he have joined himself to this Being and took upon him our Human Nature Would he have thought no Pains nor Suffering too great to purchase them to himself Would he have opened for them the Treasuries of Immortality to enrich them and commission'd his Holy Spirit to polish and purify them from the Remains of Corruption Would the Glories of the Heavenly Mansions be preparing to receive these Souls and the Blessed Spirits Above attend to conduct us in our Passage thither were there nothing in us worthy of so great Love Care Expence and Labour It plainly appears therefore by the actings of Divine Wisdom and the proceedings of the Spiritual Beings who in reason ought to be well acquainted with the real value of the Spirit of Man that it is of a Divine Excellency and far more worth than the whole World seeing they have no such regard for any created Being besides as for this visible Governour of the Universe If therefore Man's Soul is a Jewel of such extraordinary Worth if God and the Superiour Beings have for it so great an Esteem certainly Man should have no less for this better part of himself However it is a Madness to prostitute the Interest of the noblest Part to the Lusts Follies and Corruption of the vilest and prefer the deceitful momentary and counterfeit Satisfactions of the Body to the real and everlasting Advantages of the Soul A Weakness not excusable in a Rational Being And if the Abuse of so Divine a Part of our selves be Criminal the Neglect is Hainous Remember O Man that this Rich and Spiritual Jewel is by the Divine Wisdom committed to thy Care and recommended to thy Endeavours to be polished and fitted for the adorning the Heavenly Sanctuary above As there are divers Imperfections that belong to it in the present State which render it incapable of so high an Advancement and which must of necessity be first removed by our Religious Practices so there are several Ornaments Excellencies and Improvements requisite before it can expect so great an Honour It is not possible to leap from our vile and mean Condition of Sin and Corruption to the Enjoyment of the Presence of a Holy God without a due Preparation or in a moment of Time We are to draw near by degrees and labour to attain to those Endowments of the Mind that may predispose and recommend our Souls for the Heavenly State There is nothing created in a condition of an absolute Perfection but in a possibility to be advanced higher to be encreased enlarged and enriched with greater Perfections Chiefly the Intelligent Beings who have Abilities and Faculties granted to them for that very purpose by our wise Creator it is certainly their duty to answer this end of their Creation to study the Improvement of their Natures and labour in this Life to draw nearer to Perfection which tho it be not attainable till we be admitted to the Vision of our God nevertheless it is both our Duty and Interest to approach as near as we can to that Blessed State and prepare the Abilities of our Souls for that Glorious End And tho all Gifts Graces and Improvements of our Nature proceed from God as the Apostle affirms that is from the Assistance of his Holy Spirit and Divine Bounty from the Concurrence of his over-ruling Providence and apparent Benediction from the secret Actings of his Grace