AN ARGUMENT Concerning the Human Souls separate Subsistance.  

The PREFACE.  
IN the Month of December, 1698. A Neighbour reputed a Quaeker, came to me, and brought in his Hand a small Pamphlet, whose Title was Spira Respirans, and delivering the same unto me, he told me that there were divers Arguments in it, for proving the Souls separate Subsistance, which he perceived I stood in doubt of. I liked his charitable Inclination for drawing Men out of Error, or the uneasiness of a doubting Condition, and upon perusal of his Treatise, did find that it meddled not with this Subject, until the very latter end of the Pamphlet, or the 48 page of it, from whence my Examination gins. And thereby I found that he produces three Arguments for the Souls separate Subsistance. The two first whereof I thought to be fanciful or enthusiastic, and therefore I have made very short Answers to them. But his Third Argument I found to be more sober and substantial, and drawn from two principal Topics. The first of them from the Resurrection; and the second from Gods creating of Souls for Men, and to each of them I have made a distinct Answer, and more at large then to both his former, and therein have satisfied my own Understanding; and yet I remain under a desire to hear the judgement of other Men upon this Subject, and force of the Arguments herein specified. I believe that the Precept delivered in Moses Law, of not seeing Sin or Error in our Brethren without reproving them for it, is in full practice at this Day. And as I have taken my share in doing, so I expect a share in suffering, according to the Tenor thereof. If I might choose the manner of being reproved, it should be done with Love, and in the Spirit of Meekness▪ but if that cannot be obtained, I will rather adventure the being lashed or spattered with the Dirt of Reproaches (as I have once before been) then to continue in Error, or such a state of doubting as I have long been under, concerning the nature of the Subject here put under Examination. And therefore I expose the present Pamphlet to the public View, with submission to the trial of other men's judgements thereupon. And shall say no more to my considerate Reader, then that I wish him hearty to Farewell.    

Spira Respirans, Lond. printed 1695. in 8vo.  
Pag. 48. THE Writer of that Pamphlet says, there are some few honest Hearts who persuade themselves, and would have others persuaded, that the Soul is mortal and dies with the Body.  
And in kindness to these honest Persons, he intends here to prove, that the Soul doth indeed live when separated from the Body, and that therefore it is immortal. In proving of which Assertion he supposes as granted, that there is in Man a Bodily being and a Spiritual being, so distinct one from another, as that they are beings of a different Nature, and devidable one of them from another, with a continuance of subsistence to them both. And his so doing, I say, is but begging, and not proving the point now in question between us For the honest Hearts to whom he writes, do deny that there is such a spiritual Being or Substance in Man, as is utterly immaterial, or that hath any such being of itself, as that it can subsist in a state of separation from the Body.  
His part in the dispute of this Question should have been, first to prove that there is such a spiritual being in Man as he hath before supposed. And because he hath not done so, nor made any Overtures or Offers towards it, and his Opponents will not accept of his Suppositions, that there is such a Spirit in Man as he hath surmised, all his Arguments founded upon that surmise, fall and fail of themselves for want of a real and true Foundation for the support of them, and need no farther Answer till he shall have better proved that there is such a Spirit in Man as he before but supposed.  
P. 50. He says, the Nature being or whatness of a Soul or Mind is thinking, and nothing else but thinking, and thinking is all it doth or hath: I answer, that his Words; the being or whatness of the Soul, do, I conceive intent its Essence, or even the very substance of it which suits better to his Words, the whatness of it, as if in Truth it had no other substance but thinking.  
If he shall prove that there is really such a spiritual substance in Man as he hath supposed, it will then be time to argue with him concerning this whatness of thinking, which he pretends to be the very essence and substance of it. But till such proof shall be made his substantial spiritual Soul, and the whatness of it shall be left, as the chimerical apprehensions of our present Writer. He discourses here further concerning what use the Soul makes of the Body, which I pass as impertinent until he prove there is in the Body such a sort of Soul as he surmises.  
P. 52. He says many of our Thoughts depend upon the Union of the Soul and Body and come by occasion of bodily things, but yet that all our thoughts do not do so. But I think the contrary, viz. that all our thoughts and power of thinking arise from, and depend upon the Union of the Soul and Body. David tells us, that let the intentions of a wicked Man be never so bad, yet when he dies, all his thoughts perish. And Job says, that in the Grave the weary are at rest, and Men are there freed from all sort of oppression; and I demand of our opponents one Historical Instance or Narrative of a separate Souls thinking, or doing any thing else, from the time of the World's Creation to this Day, believing they cannot produce such an instance, excepting Parables like those of Lazarus, and the Rapture or Revelation of St. John.  
P. 53. He says that it is Gods Will the Soul should continue to be immortal, and this he promises clearly to prove by his following Arguments which come now to be examined.  
He draws his first Argument from his own Experience, and says that in a Trance when he was not sensible whether he was alive or dead, he thought, unde stood, considered and willed, and more vigorously then ordinary; and because he did then do so, he argues why may not dead Men continue to do so? I answer, because there is a great deal of difference betwixt a Man in a Trance and one perfectly dead, and as much as between a living and dead Person; and I conceive one may as well argue, a living Man thinks, understands, considers and wills, and why may not a dead Man do so.  
P. 55. Secondly, he says it is my Duty to love God, and to love him still, and therefore my capacity of loving God shall never cease, to which I reply, Vltra esse non datur posse. He says further, Bodies do not think, cannot love, it is only Souls that can, to which I answer, that neither Bodies nor Souls in separation one from another can think, or love, or do any thing else whatsoever; and I desire to be informed of the contrary, by any that know of such things separately done; and without the conjunction of them both together.  
P. 56. He says God is not praised by Bodies but by Souls; I reply, not by Souls without Bodies, but by Men, he is praised during the Conjunction of their Souls and Bodies, but by the breaking of that Union, all human actions lose their Power and Performances, which by the Resurrection shall at last be restored with greater Capacities than before were enjoyed. He says he desires to love God perpetually, and for ever, I cannot blame him for it; for whilst he can do so, he shall have a perpetual security from the st●oke of Death, concerning which the Hymn of Hezekiah, when he was drawn out of the jaws of Death, doth sufficiently instruct us. He says he cannot desire any Good, but God wills it as much or more I reply, he may lawfully desire a good and large Estate, with design and intent to destribute liberally to the Poor, but neither I, nor he, do think God obliged to will as he wills in this point, or many other like occasions.  
P. 57 He demands, would God give Man a desire to a good thing, and not give him the good thing desired. I reply, God gives and allows to Men the desire of many good things, which he gives them not the power to attain unto. He quotes our Lord's direction to pray, and promises that whatsoever we pray for in his Name, he will give us. Whence he may as well warrant the good success of a Prayer, requesting him to give us Fortunatus' Purse, or something equivalent thereunto.  
P. 51. He says there are in the Scripture sufficient Evidences, if not self evident proof that the Soul is immortal. I reply, I have not yet been so fortunate as to meet with sufficient Evidence to that purpose in the Scripture, and much less with those self-evident proofs which he says may be found there. And I lay very much blame upon him for not producing such Evidences and Self-proving Arguments as he knows to be there, for the Conviction of those honest Hearts for whose sakes he hath invented all these Arguments of his own, and which have very little force or coercion in them.  
The third Argument, which he calls his last for proof of the Souls Immortality, he draws from the nature and manner of the Resurrection; and says that if the Soul die and perish with the Body, then at the resurrection, the Soul which rises cannot be the same with that which died, but one newly created for informing the rising Body, and which cannot be conscious of what was done in the person formerly dead, and so not deserving Reward or Punishment for works done by the Person now rising in his former Soul and Body. To this I reply, that nothing can have a real and true resurrection to Life, which was not really and truly dead before. And therefore if the Soul have a real and true Resurrection at the last day, it must have had a true and real Death perishing or extinguishment before that time. Whence if it be to have a true and future Resurrection, it must die and perish with the Body. whose amicable concomitant it always is both in the procreation, at the Birth, in the Life, at the Death, and in the Resurrection of the Person. And as to the sameness of that Soul with that that perished at the death; it shall be as much the same, as the Body rising shall be the same with that that died. And herein I do further conceive, that we cannot properly hold a discourse concerning the Resurrection of the Body or the Soul separately considered, there being nothing either in Reason or Scripture, upon which Men can ground their Apprehensions of a Resurrection of either of them separate from the other. But if we will speak properly and truly of the Resurrection, we must say with St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15. that it is the Resurrection of the Dead, not of the Body or Soul, but of the Person which comprehends them both as the two main and constituent parts thereof. He says there v. 32. If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink for too morrow we die. (And there is an end of us) than he demands, if the Dead be raised, with what Bodies do they come? without making any enquiry concerning the Soul, which I conceive he passed as a necessary principle which must give Life to the Body, and constitute the ra●sed Person. The Apostles Creed in our Language, delivers as an Article of Faith the Resurrection of the Body, but in so doing, it de arts from its originals, both of the Greek and Latin Languages in the express words of both which, it is called and termed the Resurrection of the Flesh. I find no sufficient reason why this variance from our Originals should be continued amongst us, and do therefore wish the Correction or Amendment of it, believing withal, that the best and most proper expression of our Faith in this point used in the Niceen-creed by the words I look for the Resurrection of the Dead, by which I conceive is intended the dead persons constituted of Souls and Bodies; the same, or after the same sort and manner as they formerly lived in this World, able to account for all they did whilst they before lived here, and to receive just Recompenses according to their Works done in this Life. Here, when Men die, they are commonly said to sleep with their Fathers, and the faithful especially are said to die in the Lord, and to rest from their Labours 1 Thess. 4. They are said to sleep in Christ, and Solomon directs to remember these days of darkness, for that they shall be many, and therefore we must remember them, that we may be prepared for them, by keeping our Lights and Lamps burning and shining, till death extinguish them and ourselves together, by casting all into that sound sleep which Death only can afford us, giving us thereby a perfect Rest from all Oppressions, Maladies, Temptations and Troubles. Of which Men have an Umbrage or Similitude when they see Men folded in a very profound and sound Sleep, out of which with pinching or beating they can with great difficulties be awaked. And yet we find that Men roused out of such a Sleep, after they have rubbed their Bees, and have been throughly awakened, can give a ready and reasonable account of the things which they have done before their falling asleep. And of a like Nature with the rousing from such a Sleep, I conceive the Resurrection of the Dead will be. And if any Man will still be so curious, as to puzzle himself and his opponent with the nice demands of how, and by what means such things shall be done, and would desire me to account de modo resurrectionis, and the means by which it shall be acted and performed; I shall only, giving the satisfaction of a deus providebit, referring for the rest to 1 Cor. 15. as the best and largest account which I know to be given concerning it, and as a parallel case thereunto I will point him to Jo 3. where our Lord discoursing with Nicodemus, tells him, the Wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but caused not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus replies, how can these things be? And so I think may every Man reasonably do, who will nicely consider the points really considerable in our great mystery of the Resurrection of the Dead. If Men could reasonably discover and account for the modes and manner of such a Resurrection, it would need no more to be accounted amongst the great mysteries of Christian Religion, as in all times it hath been esteemed. We have a Faith next unto Knowledge, that our Lords humane Person was procreated in a Virgin without the Knowledge or Assistance of a Man, and I may as reasonably inquire the modo hujus generationis, and after what manner the same was acted or came to pass. Again, my Writer and I, and all that I know are agreed, that the humane Person is acted and moved, either by a substantial intelligent Soul, or by a Superfine, ●et material and unintelligent Spirit, but neither of us, nor I think any Man else can tell any thing, de modo movendi, or after what manner, and by what means either of them doth or can act and move the wonderful Machine of the human Body. These Sciences are justly to be ranked inter arcana opificis. God hath not yet revealed unto Men the manner and means of such performances, and there seems to be a nimium in the researches of those Men, who may pretend to make strict and nice inquiries into the manner and nature of such mysteries, or de modo operationis thereof. It seems enough for Men to know, God hath declared and promised, that there shall be an universal Resurrection of the Dead, human Persons of all sorts, without making any such Declaration or Promise to any other sort of Creature whatsoever. And for this reason the Brutes are called the Beasts that perish utterly, which Doctrine may be, and elsewhere hath been proved by me from a clear current of Testimonies in the Old Testament, and by a potent and strong stream of Testimonies in the New.  
P. 59 He says that if the present human Soul die, or perish with the Body, than there must be a new Soul created for the rising Body, at the time of its Resurrection, which Soul cannot reasonably be accountable for acts done in the former Body, or by the person which now is to be raised. To this I reply. That this Argument is founded upon a Fallacy or Mistake of the Writer, whose consequence would be apparently fallacious, if he do not first pretend to believe that Adam had a Soul, as well, and as particularly created for him as his Body. And therefore this point shall be a little further examined; to which purpose shall be quoted, Gen. 2.7. God form Man of the Dust of the Ground, and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, and Man became a living Soul. As a Preliminary to this Examination, I pretend to have it granted me, that the words Man became a living Soul, do intent or signify the same thing as if it had been said that Man became a living Person. That the word Soul in Scripture doth commonly and even ordinarily signify the Person; I am able to prove by many hundred Instances, where the same cannot be intended to signify any other than an humane Person. Abraham going with his Wife into Egypt, directs her to say she was his Sister, for by that means, he says, his Soul shall live for her sake, (i. e.) they should save him alive for her sake, or he should still remain a living Person, Gen. 19.20. Lot intercedes son the preservation of Zoar, saying, this City is near to flee unto, and it is a little One, O let me escape thither, (is it not a little one) and my Soul shall live, (i. e.) I shall live, or still remain a living Person. So when Jacob went down into Egypt, he carried with him Seventy Souls And Joseph's two Sons which were born to him before that time, are called two Souls. So Acts 27.37. In St. Paul's dangerous Voyage, there were with him in the Ship, 276 Souls. I say, that in these places, and many hundred other places in the Scripture, the word Soul cannot intent or signify any other thing than Person, by one of t●e most ordinary Synecdoches in the World, viz. partis pro toto, where, by the most active and living part of the Person, the whole Person is intended and signified.  
I pretend then, that leaving the figurative expression of this Text, it may be thus read according to the true intent of it, God breathed into Adam the Breath of Life, and he became a living Person. And thereupon I observe, that there is express mention made here of the Creation of Man's Body, but that there is no mention at all of creating a Soul for him. But God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, and thereupon I conceive, that God who had then newly created and finished his Organical Body, had made his Blood and Humours pullulent, and ready to be tinded and raised into a flame, by the acting or fanning of such a moderate Breath as was intended to be breathed into him for that purpose; whence God breathed into him the Breath of Life, by whose fanning the Blood, and Humours than pullulent and ready for that operation were tinded and kindled into a flame or glowing, which from that time, continued and resided in the Blood and Humours of the Body, acting and moving Adam's whole Body and every part, Member, and Muscle of the same, the same flame of Life being fanned and revived every moment; by the gusts of the ambient Air drawn through the Lungs to fann and refresh the flame of Life residing about the Heart, and the other most eminent and vital parts and viscera of the Body. And this Breath continued to be absolutely necessary for these purposes during the time of Adam's whole Life; and when he begat a Sen in his own likeness, his Seed by commixtion, in loco Idoneo, became coagulated, and by the necessary fomentation thereof fermented, and in its due time became a vegitative and living Mass, which by degrees grew to an embryo, which daily received some degrees of growth and motion, and when by such vegitation and growth it had obtained its due perfection, it sought by instinct and found passage through its Mother to the open Air, which after it hath once received, it cannot live without it; for that upon failour of fanning by the ambient Air, after it hath once received the same, it fails and dies again, necessarily within the space or compass of some few Moment's. And of this our daily Experience fully assures us, by the sudden Death of those who pass out of this World, by Hanging or Struggling, which proves, the want of this Breath to be a sudden and sure cause of Death. Physicians have told us, that if after the Child's perfection, the Mother be ripped open, and the Child be taken from her in the Secondines, it may live some Hours after without assistance from this Breath of Life, but that after once it hath received this Breath, whereby the flame of Life and Glowing of the Blood hath been kindled in it, it can never after that, live many Moment's without such fanninig of the ambient Air, drawn in through the Lungs as hath before been described.  
An Umbrage or Similitude of this Operation, we may read in Ezekiel's Vision of the dry Bones of which there was a vast number, than there was a shaking, and the Bones came together, Bone to his Bone, than Flesh was super-induced over the Bones, with the Arteries, Sinews and Veins, and all the rest of the Visc●ra, to humane Bodies belonging, after which the Skin was drawn over them all, and yet they were still but dead Carcastes; because (as the Text says) there was no Breath in them. And therefore God directs the Pophet, saying, prophesy unto the Winds, and say, thus saith the Lord, come from the four Winds O Breath, and breath upon these slain that they may live; and upon the Prophets doing so as he was directed, the Breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their Feet an exceeding great Army; so as by the Winds breathing this Breath of Life, and fanning the stems of their pullulent Blood and Humours, the flame of Life was tinded and kindled in them, by the Virtue and Activity of which, they all a●ose, stood up upon their Feet, and became living Persons, in the very same manner as Adam before had done. And thus may be spared and saved that vast employment which Men have needlessly put upon God, of making or creating new Souls every day, for all the several procreations, in the World that bear the figure of a humane Shape, be the coitions never so unlawful or bestial. The sort of Soul last before described, suits well with Moses Text concerning Adam's Creation, and agrees punctually with the resurrection of Ezekiels dry Bones, and is a very probable and likely Specimen of that Resurrection, which Men expect at the last Day, and which we may look for with as great certainty, as that there will be a too Morrow after the day now passing. St. Paul thus testifying, 1 Cor. 15.13. If there be no Resurrection of the Dead, our Teaching is Vain, and your Faith is also Vain, ye are yet in your Sins, and all they that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. Whence it seems consequent, that the expectations of future Recompenses to Christians, is founded upon the resurrection of the Dead, and if that could or should possibly happen to fail us, it would make the whole Christian Religion an Oeconomy, to become a vain pretence, and of no benefit at all to them who profess it. And our Apostle proceeds further upon this point to vers. 29. and there, in further proof of the Resurrection he says, if in this Life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all Men most miserable, and the reason why Christians would be so, is because that in this Life they are obliged to deny themselves, and to mortify, and sometimes to crucify the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts, which Men do in expectation of great Rewards, and avoiding punishments promised and threatened in a future slate to come after this Life is ended, all which are here applied to prove a necessity and certainty of the Resurrection of the Dead. Then still the Apostle goes on to vers. 32. where he says, If I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the Dead rise not? Let us eat and drink for too morrow we die, plainly intending, that let Men suffer what they will for the Name and Faith of Christ, those sufferings shall profit them nothing, unless there be a Resurrection of the Dead. And then, the Apostle proceeds to say something concerning the manner of this Resurrection, and to give further proof of the same from other Topics. And the same Apostle, 1 Thess. 4. directs the Disciples not to sorrow very much for their dead Friends, because they shall have a Resurrection; those who sleep with Jesus, shall Christ bring with him at his second coming, after he hath raised them by the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, and then shall they be caught up into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, adding, comfort one another with these words. He doth not say, comfort yourselves or one another with the hopes or expectations of your dead Friends Souls being gone to Heaven; although if that were a Truth and known to him, I think he could not reasonably, or even possibly have omitted it in this place. 2 Tim. 1.16. The Lord give Mercy to the House of Onesiphorus, the Lord grant unto him, that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day chap. 4.7. I have fought a good fight, etc. and henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to 〈◊〉 them who love his appearing, which words plainly intent our Lords second coming. Whence that day must intent the last Judgement. 1 Pet. 4.13. Rejoice in as much as ye are made partakers of Christ's Suffering, that when his Glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding great Joy. cap. 5.4. He exhorts the Elders to be careful in their Offices, and when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away. 2 Pet. 3 The same Apostle exhorts seeing the earthly World and all that is in it shall be burnt up and dissolved, what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, which though it be terrible to others, shall to them be a great Recompense and Reward, without mentioning an intermediate State of departed Souls 1 John 2 28. He exhorts the Disciples to abide in Ch●ist, that when ye shall appear, ye may have Confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his Coming. cap. 3.2. Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, mentioning no expectations of future Recompenses till our Lords second Coming, and time of our own Resurrection when we shall see him as he is, and be made like unto him. Jam. 5.7. exhorts the Disciples, that under all their Afflictions they should be patiented unto the coming of the Lord, which he says draws nigh, without mentioning of any Reward after Death, until the Coming of the Lord. And thus I have quoted a cloud of knowing Witnesses, to prove that the hope of Recompenses future to this Life, is founded upon the firm Rock of the Resurrection, and Christ's coming to Judgement without mention of a separate state of Souls, or other in ermediate Recompenses between Death and Judgement; and to strengthen the Hope and Belief of those few honest Hearts, which our Writer has used his best endeavour to over throw and pervert. We read Gen. 6.17. God says to Noah, I do bring a flood of Waters upon the Earth to destroy all Flesh wherein is the Breath of Life, c 7.22. All in whose Nostrils was the Breath of Life, of all that was in the dry Land died. I conceive these Texts do very well explain what is meant or intended by the Words. God breathed into Adam's Nostrils the breath of Life, whereby he presently became a living Person. It seems such a Breath as tinded and kindled in his Blood and Humours, and the stems thereof that flame, or Spirit of Life which immediately acted his organical Body, and gave Life and Motion thereunto, and continued to perform that Office in him during the whole time of his Life, and in no other manner than it is known to do among the Beasts that perish. The breath of all their Nostrils was stopped by suffocation in that deluge, and thereby was fully verified what is said by Solomon, Eccles. 3.19. concerning Men and Beasts, as the one dyeth, so dyeth the other, yea, they have all one Breath. So that (herein) a Man hath no preeminence above a Beast, all are of the Dust, and all turn to Dust again, and who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth upward, or the Spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the Earth. By which it seems he did not know there was such a difference between the Spirits of Men and Beasts, yet that there was among the Men of his time an Opinion or Conjecture, that there was or might be such a difference between the Spirits of Men and Beasts, concerning which, he demands, who knows the truth of it? Which seems pregnant with this Negative, that no Man doth with any clearness, know whether there be such a difference between their Spirits or not; after which he says, chap. 12.7. That when Men die, The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it In his third chap. the matter is argued more at length, and with greater deliberation, whereas the latter seems but a sudden Expression, and without a serious debating upon the matter, but thereunto I have made a larger Answer in another Treatise.  
Psal. 104.29. David says to God, Thou hidest thy Face, they are troubled, thou takest away their Breath, they die, and return to their Dust, viz. The Children of Men do so. Isa. 2.22. Cease ye from Man whose Breath is in his Nestrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of? Dan. 5.23. Daniel says to Belshazzar, thou hast highly honoured thy puppet Gods, but the God in whose Hand is thy Breath thou hast not glorified. Acts 17.25. Paul tells the Athenians, that God needs not their Service, or any thing else that the World has in it, seeing he giveth to all Life, and Breath, and all things. Upon which I conceive, that the expressions of Life and Breath, if they be not consignificant, are of a similar Nature one to another, and may intent the Breath which gives Life. A Spirit of the same Nature with that which God breathed into Adam's Nostrils at the time of his Creation.  
By the Texts before quoted, I stand at the present convinced, that the Breath of Life which God breathed into Adam's Nostrils was not an immaterial intelligent substance; but was of a similar Nature to that before quoted. Gen. 7.22. where it is said, all in whose Nostrils was the Breath of Life died; and such as was prophetically called for by Ezekiel to come from the four Winds a Breath, to breath upon those slain Persons, (now ready for Life) that they might live. The Breath of Life which by God was breathed into Adam's Nostrils, I yet conceive, (as I have before delivered) to have been common Air breathed into him in such a moderate Proportion, as might kindle and inflame his Blood and Humours, and the stems of them ready and ripe for that operation and activity, which the Spirits of Blood so kindled might impart to them; and that it was not an extraneous substantial intelligent Spirit created by God at that time, and for that purpose. And I am ready and desirous to put the whole state of the Controversy upon the true and clear desiding of this Question, being ready to grant, that if God did create a new substantial intelligent Spirit for that purpose, and infused the same into Adam's Body for the informing thereof at his Creation, that then it is likely he may so continue to do, and create new Souls for all persons procreated in humane shapes all the World over, and in all ages of it from Adam's Creation to our present time. But if that Breath of Life which God breathed into Adam's Nostrils was only form of the common ambient Air, breathed into him with a fitting moderation for tinding and kindling the flame of Life in his Blood and Humours, and the stems thereof then ripe and ready for that Operation, than it is likely that God did neither form and make a substantial intelligent Spirit for the acting of Adam's Body, nor that he hath created such Spirits for Men in the Ages following, but that rather such substantial intelligent Spirits have drawn their Original from the apprehensions and Imaginations of Men, and because I think the same to be a mistake, I do willingly contribute my best endeavours for the rectification thereof, and to bring all disputes concerning the same to such a determination as shall be most agreeable to the tenor of Scripture, and the clearest rules and dictates of reason that Men are able to attain unto, for the more sudden attaining, of which end I have propounded to put the whole Controversy upon the determination of this single point, whether God did create for Adam a spiritual intelligent Soul or not? If my opponents be able to prove with intelligible clearness that he did so, than I am ready to give up unto them the Opinion which I maintain in this Controversy, and if they be not able to prove the Creation before mentioned, they may (if they please) forbear further to oppose the maintainers of my Opinion; concluding thereupon, that if they neither can perform one part of the demand, nor will submit to the other, we shall still be obliged to proceed on both sides to the further examination of the whole Controversy and those many points and arguments which thereupon have risen, and are likely to be referred to a further Examination and Determination.  
P. 59 He says he is well able to prove the essence of the Soul to be thinking by fundamental arguments, but refuses to do it now, because he says it is beside his present purpose. But I differ in Opinion, and think if he be able to do it, that proof will ever be to very good purpose, and therefore I request him to bestow his pains upon it, believing yet that he will never be able to make a good performance of it, viz. that there is either such a Soul in Man as he pretends, nor that thinking is the essence of it, allowing what he hath before spoken to be true, that of that which is not there can be neither effect nor essence.  
P. 60. He would have Men to bring their Minds to such an abstractedness, as to lay aside all thoughts of bodily things, and all thoughts that come by occasion of Body; and then to reflect upon what you find remaining, until your Mind hath a reflex and clear knowledge of itself. I conceive that this Advice tends to persuade Men to give over all thinking upon the things which they know, and to think altogether upon they know not what, and so to become distracted, as he professes he hath sometime been.  
The remaining Pages of this Pamphlet, speak only concerning himself and his own personal actings and sufferings, with which I have no design or inclination to meddle, and therefore my Observations upon this Pamphlet shall here be concluded and finished.   
FINIS.