O woeful Fall! depraved Nature! O miserable Men, that have so far departed from God, as to deny both themselves and God! or to question, Whether God be God, and Man be Man! Return to God, and thou wilt come to thy self; Forget not, Man, thy Noble Nature, thy chiefest Part: Think not that thou art only Shell, because thou seest not through the Shell. It is Souls that converse by the Bodies while they are in Flesh. It is thy Soul that I am speaking to, and thy Soul that understandeth me: When thy Soul is gone, I will speak to thee no more. It is thy Soul that is the Workmanship of God by an immediate or special way of Fabrication, Isa. 57. 16. The souls that I have made.] ⟨p. 9⟩Gen. 2. 7. He breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul.] It is thy Soul that is said to be made after God's Image; in that thou art ennobled with a capacious Understanding, and Free-will: And it is thy Soul that is the immediate subject of his Moral Image, even spiritual Wisdom, Righteousness, and Holiness: God hath not Hands, and Feet, and other Members, as thy Body hath. How noble a Nature is that which is capable of knowing not only all things in the World (in its measure) but God himself, and the things of the world that is to come; and capable of loving and enjoying God, and of seeking and serving him in order to that Enjoyment! Christ thought not basely▪ of a Soul, that redeemed Souls at such a price, when he made his soul an offering for sin, Isa. 53. 10. Were it not for our immortal Souls, would God ever honour us with such Relations to him, as to be his Children? (For he is first the Father of Spirits, Heb. 12. 9. and then the Father of Saints.) Should we be called the Spouse and the Members of Christ? Would he be at so much cost upon us? Should Angels attend us as ministering Spirits, if we had not Spirits fit to minister to God? Would the Spirit of God himself dwell in us, and quicken and beautify us with his Grace? Should a world of Creatures (whose Corporeal Substance seems as excellent as ours) attend and serve us, if we were but an ingenuous sort of Brutes, and had not rational immortal Souls? Should such store of Mercies be provided for us? Should Ministers be appointed to preach, and pray, and labour for us, if we had ⟨p. 10⟩not Souls to save or lose? They watch for your souls, as those that must give account, Heb. 13. 17.
O woful Fall! depraved Nature! O miserable Men, that have so far departed from God, as to deny both themselves and God! or to question, Whether God be God, and Man be Man! Return to God, and thou wilt come to thy self; Forget not, Man, thy Noble Nature, thy chiefest Part: Think not that thou art only Shell, because thou seest not through the Shell. It is Souls that converse by the Bodies while they are in Flesh. It is thy Soul that I am speaking to, and thy Soul that understandeth me: When thy Soul is gone, I will speak to thee no more. It is thy Soul that is the Workmanship of God by an immediate or special way of Fabrication, Isa. 57. 16. The souls that I have made.] ⟨p. 9⟩Gen. 2. 7. He breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul.] It is thy Soul that is said to be made after God's Image; in that thou art ennobled with a capacious Vnderstanding, and Free-will: And it is thy Soul that is the immediate subject of his Moral Image, even spiritual Wisdom, Righteousness, and Holiness: God hath not Hands, and Feet, and other Members, as thy Body hath. How noble a Nature is that which is capable of knowing not only all things in the World (in its measure) but God himself, and the things of the world that is to come; and capable of loving and enjoying God, and of seeking and serving him in order to that Enjoyment! Christ thought not basely▪ of a Soul, that redeemed Souls at such a price, when he made his soul an offering for sin, Isa. 53. 10. Were it not for our immortal Souls, would God ever honour us with such Relations to him, as to be his Children? (For he is first the Father of Spirits, Heb. 12. 9. and then the Father of Saints.) Should we be called the Spouse and the Members of Christ? Would he be at so much cost upon us? Should Angels attend us as ministring Spirits, if we had not Spirits fit to minister to God? Would the Spirit of God himself dwell in us, and quicken and beautifie us with his Grace? Should a world of Creatures (whose Corporeal Substance seems as excellent as ours) attend and serve us, if we were but an ingenuous sort of Brutes, and had not rational immortal Souls? Should such store of Mercies be provided for us? Should Ministers be appointed to preach, and pray, and labour for us, if we had ⟨p. 10⟩not Souls to save or lose? They watch for your souls, as those that must give account,
