Eccles. xii. 7. Isai. Ivii. 16. Zech. xii. 1. certainly indicate that nobler origin of the soul implied in its being breathed from the mouth of God; but they no more prove that each soul is severally and immediately created by the Deity, than certain other texts, which might be quoted, prove that each individual body is formed in the womb by the immediate hand of God.* Job x. 8-10. thine hands have made me....hast thou not poured me out as milk?' Psal. xxxiii. 15. he fashioneth their hearts alike.' Job xxxi. 15. did not he that made me in the womb make him? Isai. xliv. 24. thus saith Jehovah.... he that formed thee from the womb.' Acts xvii. 26. 6 he hath made of one blood all nations of men.' We are not to infer from these passages, that natural causes do not contribute their ordinary efficacy for the propagation of the body; nor on the other hand that the soul is not received by traduction from the father, because at the time of death it again betakes itself to different elements than the body, in conformity with its own origin.

With regard to the passage, Heb. xii. 9. where the fathers of the flesh' are opposed to the Father of spirits,' I answer, that it is to be understood in a theological, not in a physical sense, as if the father of

novitatem, ut nulla propagatione ducuntur; et nobiscum quod inveneris fraterna dilectione communica.' Augustinus Ep. 157. (190. Edit. Benedict.) ad Optatum.

*Sunt quædam scripturæ loca, quæ id asserere videntur, ut Job xxxiii. 4. Eccles. xii. 9. Zach. xii. 4. Respondeo, ex eo quod Jobus ait, spiraculum Omnipotentis vitam sibi indidisse, non magis sequi id factum esse immediate a Deo, quam ex eo quod idem dicit, nonne sicut lac mulsisti me, &c. Job. x. 8. colligi legitime potest corpora nostra a parentibus non gigni, sed immediate a Deo ipso formari.' Curcell. Instit. III. 10. 9.

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the body were opposed to the father of the soul; for flesh is taken neither in this passage, nor probably any where else, for the body without the soul; nor 'the father of spirits' for the father of the soul, in respect of the work of generation; but the father of the flesh' here means nothing else than the earthly or natural father, whose offspring are begotten in sin; the father of spirits' is either the heavenly father, who in the beginning created all spirits, angels as well as the human race, or the spiritual father, who bestows a second birth on the faithful; according to John iii. 6. that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' The argument too, will proceed better, if the whole be understood as referring to edification and correction, not to generation; for the point in question is not, from what source each individual originated, or what part of him thence originated, but who had proved most successful in the employment of chastisement and instruction. By parity of reasoning, the apostle might exhort the converts to bear with his rebuke, on the ground that he was their spiritual father. God indeed is as truly the father of the flesh as of the spirits of flesh,' Numb. xvi. 22. but this is not the sense intended here, and all arguments are weak which are deduced from passages of Scripture originally relating to a different subject.

With regard to the soul of Christ, it will be sufficient to answer that its generation was supernatural, and therefore cannot be cited as an argument in the discussion of this controversy. Nevertheless, even he is called the seed of the woman,' the seed of

David according to the flesh;' that is, undoubtedly, according to his human nature.

There seems therefore no reason, why the soul of man should be made an exception to the general law of creation. For, as has been shown before, God breathed the breath of life into the other living beings, and blended it so intimately with matter, that the propagation and production of the human form were analogous to those of other forms, and the proper effect of that power which had been communicated to matter by the Deity.

Man being formed after the image of God, it followed as a necessary consequence that he should be endued with natural wisdom, holiness, and righteousness. Gen. i. 27, 31. ii. 25. Eccles. vii. 29. Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Certainly without extraordinary wisdom he could not have given names to the whole animal creation with such sudden intelligence, Gen. ii. 20.*

* In this illustration the chief stress is laid upon the suddenness with which Adam was enabled to give appropriate names to the brute creation, as it passed in review before him. Milton has two other allusions to this event, and the same circumstance is marked as the prominent feature of the case in both passages. There is nothing in the scriptural narration to suggest the particular idea, or the coincidence would have been less remarkable.

I nam'd them as they pass'd, and understood

Their nature, with such knowledge God endu'd

My sudden apprehension. Paradise Lost, VIII. 352.

But Adam, who had the wisdom given him to know all creatures, and to name them according to their properties, no doubt but had the gift to discern perfectly that which concerned him much more, and to apprehend at first sight the true fitness of that consort which God provided him.' Tetrachordon. Prose Works, II. 133.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, OR OF HIS GENERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE.

THE HE remaining species of God's external efficiency, is his government of the whole creation.

This government is either general or special.

His general government is that whereby God the Father regards, preserves, and governs the whole of creation with infinite wisdom and holiness according to the conditions of his decree.

God the Father. Neh. ix. 6. thou, even thou, art Jehovah alone. . . . thou hast made, and thou preservest them all.' To this truth Christ himself bears witness everywhere. Matt. v. 45. that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise and sendeth rain,'

&c. vi. 4. thy Father which seeth in secret.' v. 8. your Father knoweth.' v. 13. thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.' v. 26. your heavenly Father feedeth them.' v. 32. 'your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.' vii. 11. your Father which is in heaven shall give good things unto them that ask him.' x. 29. one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Fa

ther.' Acts i. 7. the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.' Eph. i. 11. according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.' James i. 17. every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.' Even as regards the Son himself. Acts iv. 27. against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed. . . . for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.' The preservation of the universe is attributed to the Son also, but in what sense, and on what grounds, may be seen in the fifth chapter, on the Son of God. Col. i. 17. by him all things consist,'-but both the preceding and following verses explain on what account; namely, because the Father, v. 13. hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,' and because, v. 19. it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.' Heb. i. 3. upholding all things by the word of his power,' namely, because, v. 2. the Father hath appointed him heir of all things.' Further, it will appear on an examination of the passage, that the original ought to be translated, not of his own power,* but of his, namely, the Father's, of whose person he was the

*In allusion to the versions of Beza and Tremellius, who translate the clause, sustineatque omnia verbo potentiæ suæ, or verbo illo suo potente, sustinet omnia virtute verbi sui. Mill reads auro, without noticing the other reading, nor have I remarked that Waterland, who often quotes and argues upon the passage, takes any notice of the variation. It is however mentioned by Doddridge; and Wetstein, who reads avrou, has the following note: aurou, ut ad Patrem referatur. Christus verbo potentiæ paternæ cuncta fert. Editio Erasmi, Colinæi.' To these two names Archbishop Newcome has added that of Bengelius, in the copy of Wetstein's New Testament which formerly belonged to that prelate, and which is enriched with several annotations in his hand-writing.