III. To consider how the being of God may be evinced from the nature of the soul of man. He is said, Zech. xii. 1. _To have formed the spirit of man within him._ And hereby his power and wisdom, and consequently his being, is declared. For, 1. The nature of a spiritual substance is much less known than that of bodies; and therefore that which we cannot fully understand, we must admire. If the wisdom and power of God is visible in the structure of our bodies, it is much more so in the formation of our souls; and since we cannot fully describe what they are, and know little of them but by their effects, certainly we could not form them; and therefore there is a God, who is the _Father of spirits_. 2. The powers and capacities of the soul are various, and very extensive. (1.) It can frame ideas of things superior to its own nature, and can employ itself in contemplating and beholding the order, beauty, and connexion of all those things in the world, which are, as it were, a book, in which we may read the divine perfections, and improve them to the best purposes. (2.) It takes in the vast compass of things past, which it can reflect on and remember, with satisfaction, or regret: and it can look forward to things to come, which it can expect, and accordingly conceive pleasure or uneasiness in the forethoughts thereof. (3.) It can chuse or embrace what is good, or fly from and reject what is evil and hurtful to it. (4.) It is capable of moral government, of conducting itself according to the principles of reason, and certain rules enjoined it for the attaining the highest end. (5.) It is capable of religion, and so can argue that there is a God, and give him the glory that is due to his name, and be happy in the enjoyment of him. (6.) It is immortal, and therefore cannot be destroyed by any creature; for none but God has an absolute sovereignty over the spirits of men; _No man hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death_, Eccles. viii. 8. IV. From the nature and office of conscience, which is that whereby the soul takes a view of itself, and its own actions, as good or evil; and considers itself as under a law to a superior being, from whom it expects rewards or punishments; and this evidently proves a God. For,