Two discourses I. of the punishment of sin in hell, demonstrating the wrath of…

1. This Soul was by its first Creation a Spirit, and that in the substance or native kind thereof; and in that respect ⟨p. 306⟩(considered apart for its Union with the Body) is in a more special manner allied unto God, than all other Creatures (but Angels) are.

You have the Pedigree of Man, both in respect of Body and Soul, set out, Acts 17. The Extract of our Bodies, in v. 26. He hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men. So then on that side (as we say) in respect of our Bodies, there is a Consanguinity of all Men, being made of one Blood, between one another: But then in respect of our Souls, we are God's Off-spring, v. 28. and so on that side there is an Alliance (not of Consanguinity) unto God, upon the account of having been created immediately by him, and in the very substance of our Souls made like him, and in his Image; and yet we are not begotten of his Essence or Substance, which is only proper to his Great Son. And in a correspondency unto this, God is styled, Heb. 12. 9. The Father of our Spirits, in distinction from the Fathers of our Flesh or Bodies; (see the words:) Which Alliance or Fatherhood, take it as in common with all Mens Spirits, lieth in this, That he not only created our Souls immediately out of nothing, but in his own Image, as to the substance of them, ⟨p. 307⟩which Image or Likeness other Creatures did not bear, which yet were made out of nothing, as the Chaos was; both which appear, by putting two places together, Zech. 12. 1. He frameth their Spirits (speaking of the Souls of Men) and that, [altogether] saith the Psalmist, Psal. 33. 15. (so Ainsworth; and others read it) that is, both, each of those Spirits; and also wholly and totally, every whit of the substance of them: Creatio est productio totius entis; for Creation differs from Generation in this, that it is a raising up or producing the whole of a being out of mere nothing, that is to say, [altogether,] whereas Generation presupposeth pre-existent matter; as in the generation of our Bodies, which are not wholly and every whit of God immediately, but the Parents afford the matter, and the formative virtue besides, by which our Bodies are framed. So then, in respect of our first Creation, our Souls (apart considered) are thus allied to God, to which our Bodies are not; being Spirits in the very Being of them, that altogether do owe that their Being to him.