immediatly going before it Secondly the creation it selfe Thirdly the consequents which followed upon it In the preparation wee may observe three distinct things First Gods counsell and resolution for mans well being Verse 18 Secondly Gods setting of the Man a worke to view the creatures and to exercise his reason and naturall wisedome in naming them Verse 19. Thirdly the inequality which Adam found in the creatures and the unfitnesse of them for his conversation Verse 20. First Moses brings in the Lord God consulting with himselfe and according to his eternall Counsell concluding that it was not good for Man to bee alone and resolving that hee will make an helpe meet for him For these words And God said are not to be understood of any sound of words uttered by God but of Gods eternall Counsell purpose and fore-knowledge now beginning to manifest it selfe by outward action and execution as a mans mind is manifested by his speech The things which God foreknew in his counsell and purposed are two First that it was not good for man to bee alone Secondly that hee would make an helpe meet for him Hence it may seeme strange which God saith that any thing which he had made should not be good For did not hee make man alone and single at the first And did not hee make every thing good especially man created in his owne image Was not the image of God in which hee created man fully and perfectly good To this doubt I answer that the Man was created good and perfect after the likenesse of God and there was no defect in his being and substance But yet as all other creatures though they were made good and there was no evill in them yet they were not so good as man so man though as hee was created in the image of God was good yea in goodnesse farre excelled other earthly creatures yet hee was not so good but that hee might bee made more good and created in an image of God more excellent then that wherein hee was first made even in the holy image of the heavenly Adam Christ which farre excels and is immutable Yea wee finde by experience that many things which are good in themselves are not good for all purposes fire is good in it selfe and for many uses but not to bee eaten and so many other creatures are good as the flesh of beasts for mans meat but not without bread and salt nor raw So man was created good and fit to rule all other living creatures even considered alone in himselfe but it was not good for the bringing of all Gods purposes to passe that man should bee alone it was farre better that a Woman should bee created meet for him for the procreation of mankind for the increase of Gods Church and for the incarnation of Christ and the bringing forth of him the blessed seed of the Woman in whom God reveales all his goodnesse and good pleasure Here then wee may learne two points of instruction First that as God from all eternity in his eternall councell immutably purposed so in the first creation of man hee shewed that hee intended all things which hee hath brought to passe in and by the incarnation of Christ and in the gathering together of his elect Church by Christ and that hee had in his purpose the exaltation of man to an higher and better estate then that in which hee first created him For it is most cleare and manifest that Adam being created in the image of God in all uprightnesse and perfection of nature and having all the visible World to view and to contemplate upon Gods wisedome and workmanship therein and all the creatures to rule over and all things necessary for worldly delight needed no more for naturall and earthly felicity But yet for all this God said it was not good that man should bee alone that is it was not good for that which God intended that is for the obtaining of eternall felicity in and by Christ and for the full manifestation of Gods goodnesse and glory in and upon mankind This is that truth which is so often testified by our Saviour and his Apostles where they tell us that God prepared a Kingdome for his elect from the beginning of the World and that as an elect number was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the World so Christs incarnation ' death satisfaction and mediation were ordained before all worlds as Matth. 25. 34. and Eph. 1. 4. First this sheweth against all Atheists Pagans and Hereticks that nothing comes to passe by chance nothing without the foresight and foreknowledge of God but hee saw before hee created the World what should befall every creature and without his will permitting no evill comes to passe without his wil ordaining and his hand working no good can come to any creature all things are according to his foreknowledge and there is no place for idle suppositions of vainemen Secondly as the wicked may here for their terrour take notice that all their evil deeds are foreseene and foreknowne of God and hee hath just vengance laid up in store for them So the godly may comfort themselves against all Calumnies Slanders and false witnesses all are knowne to God and hee will in the end make the truth knowne and bring their cause to light Thirdly wee are hereby stirred up to all diligence in Gods service and that betimes seeing God hath so long before hand ordained and prepared all good things for us All our time spent in praise and thanks before him is nothing to the time wherein hee hath shewed love to us in preparing good for us before and from the beginning of the World Secondly in that it is said of man created in Gods image in full perfection of nature that it was not good that hee should bee alone Hence wee learne that the image of God and the state wherein man was first created is not absolutely the best which man can have but that in Christ there is a better image and a more excellent state and condition provided for him which is best of all This is fully proved 1 Cor. 15. where the Apostle shewes that the image of the heavenly Adam is farre above the image of the earthly and that the Kingdome which is prepared in Christ for the elect is such as flesh and bloud that is naturall man cannot inherite This shewes that wee gaine more by Christ then wee lost in Adam and God by mans fall is become more bountifull to mankind And wee who in Christ have our hope have no cause to repine at Gods decreeing willing and suffering of mans fall nor to bee impatient under the afflictions which thereby come upon us seeing the end of all is glory and blisse and a crowne too high and precious for Adam in the state of innocency The second thing in Gods councell and purpose is that hee will make an helpe meet for man Here
his pleasure whensoever he will And hereby to be stirred up and encouraged to rejoyce mo 〈…〉 aboundantly in the Lord our Creatour to rest more confidently on him when we have committed our selves to his protection and he hath received us under the shadow of his wings and to hope for all blessings which he hath promised and for the performance of all his promises in due time and season without hinderance or resistance of any power As all created things were made for some end and whatsoever is not fit to serve for some speciall end is a meer vanity so the knowledge of things without the knowledge of the end and use of them is a vaine notion swimming in the braine and therefore the maine thing which we ought to drive at in seeking the profitable knowledge of things is to know and understand the speciall use of them Now Gods creating of the highest heavens and the host of them in glorious perfection by himselfe alone in the first act of creation in the beginning doth serve most properly naturally and necessarily to shew the infinite wisdome and omnipotencie of God the Creatour as is before proved that we seeing therein these divine attributes of God as in a glasse may rejoyce in him and rest securely on his promises knowing that he will performe and fulfill his word and none can resist him Wherefore let us study to make this right use that our knowledge may be sound and saving and may bring us on to salvation Secondly this may justly smite our hearts and make us ashamed of our owne dulnesse and negligence in this point in that we all or the most part of us have so often read heard remembred and understood in reading and hearing the Word of God this great worke of creating the heavens and heavenly host and have beleeved it and spoken of it and so have passed it over without seeing beholding and considering in it the wisdome power and glory of God Alas there be few amongst us who have taken care to look so farre into the end and use of these things of God and that is the cause that science abounds without conscience and much knowledge goeth alone without any sound or sincere practise O let us be throughly ashamed of our negligence in the times past which is too much indeed and let us labour to redeem the time hereafter by double diligence studying to see Gods glory in those great workes and seeing to admire his wisdome and to adore his heavenly Majesty Thirdly Gods truth in this doctrine beleeved and embraced is a strong Antidote against all Atheisticall thoughts which possesse the hearts of divers dull and carnall people who cannot conceive thoroughly nor fully beleeve but often doubt of Gods omnipotencie and ability to create in a moment out of meere nothing most perfect and glorious creatures such as are Angels and blessed spirits and the heaven of heavens Such doubts are the cause that they cannot beleeve in God rest on his power and be confident in him in cases of extremity when the whole world seems to be against them and all outward helps faile If they did but discerne the power of God by the first simple act of creation they might know and beleeve that hee out of nothing can raise more help then they can desire or stand in need of in their greatest extremities Secondly in that here in the first act of creation performed in the first beginning of all things and in the first moment of time God the Creatour is described by the name Elohim which signifies a plurality of persons in the unity of essence as I have before proved and this act is ascribed to all the three persons equally in one and the same word Hence we may gather a necessary doctrine concerning the consubstantiality equality and eternity of all the three persons in the sacred Trinity to wit That the three persons the Father the Son and the holy Ghost are all co-eternall and without beginning all equall among themselves and consubstantiall of the same undivided nature and substance three persons distinct in one infinite eternall Jehovah For plaine reason tells us that whatsoever had no being given to it in or after the first beginning of creatures but was and had a being already in the first beginning and before any thing was made yea was the authour and maker of the first worke of all that must needs be of absolute eternity every way eternall without any beginning or end at all Now such are all the three persons in the blessed Trinity they all by this word Elohim are shewed to be equall in the first act of creation and so to be before the first beginning of all things as the authour and cause before the worke and effect they all are declared to be one and the same singular God and undivided essence and therefore this Doctrine doth hence truly arise I need not here againe stand upon further proofe of it for that I have done aboundantly already in expounding the Doctrine of the Trinity Onely the consideration of this truth may serve first to convince all Heretickes of horrible errour and blasphemy who deny either the Creatour of the world to be the true God or the Son and the Spirit to be equall co-eternall and of the same substance with the Father as the Arians and others did Behold here the blasphemous fictions of these men cut off before they shoot forth and rooted up before they were sowne by this first act of creation as it is here described by the Spirit of God and therefore let us hate and abhorre all such dreames and fictions as most monstrous and unnaturall damned in Gods booke from the first words of the history of the first creation Secondly let us even from this furthest ground fetch the all-sufficiencie of our Mediatour and Redeemer Christ and the efficacie and perfection of his full satisfaction that we may rest on him confidently without scruple feare or doubting As also the infinite power of the Spirit that we may rest in his strength for perseverance If the Son Christ or the Spirit were inferiour Gods and of an inferiour nature not infinite nor co-eternall with the Father men might have some colour of diffidence and some cause to doubt of sufficient satisfaction redemption and stedfast perseverance But here we see the contrary that the Son if the Word by whom all things were made and the Son and Spirit one the same God and Creatour with the Father and the Spirit as he is in the regenerate is greater every way then he that is in the world 1 John 4. therefore let us comfort our selves in the all-sufficiencie of Christ for full redemption and of the Spirit for sanctification and perseverance Thirdly in that here the first act of creation even the creation of the highest heavens with the host of them and of the common matter of the visible world out of
nothing is said to be performed in the beginning that is in the first part or moment of time Hence some profitable Doctrines arise and here some questions offer themselves to be discussed First we here are taught That the whole world and all things therein even the highest and most durable heavens and the first matter of the visible world had a beginning and were not from all eternity as some Heathen Philosophers imagined This Doctrine as it is plainly affirmed in this Text which alone is proofe sufficient so other Scriptures doe aboundantly prove and confirme it John 17. 24. our Saviour saith that God the Father loved him before the foundation of the world Ephes. 1. 4. the Apostle saith that God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world And 1 Pet. 1. 20. it is said that Christ was ordained before the foundation of the world And Prov. 8. 23. the Wisdome of God saith I was set up from everlasting before the earth was or ever the heavens were prepared These and such other Scriptures which mention things before the first beginning and foundation of the world doe most evidently shew that neither the world nor any part thereof was from eternity but with time and in time began And if this be not sufficient to satisfie Atheists who refuse to beleeve God or his Word naturall reason it selfe is able to prove it against them by their owne Principles which they grant First they acknowledge that whatsoever is corruptible or mutable by nature must needs have a beginning and cannot be eternall Now it is manifest that the whole world and all things therein are by nature corruptible and changeable and whatsoever therein is constant unchangeable and incorruptible it is so not by any naturall power in it selfe but of the free grace of God in Christ. The Angels the most glorious creatures and the spirits and soules of men which are created of nothing they are changeable by nature as appeares by the fall of the Divell and mans fall and corruption and therefore it is said that hee charged his Angels with folly to wit them that did fall and to the rest which stand he added light even supernaturall light of his sanctifying Spirit Job 5. And although the wisest of the Heathen Philosophers did gather from the constant course of the visible heavens and the starres that the heavens were incorruptible and unchangeable yet experience hath taught the contrary and it is found by long observation of Astronomers that there are many fixed starres and strange comets or blazing starres generated in the heavens farre above the Moon which appeare for a time and after doe vanish away as the late blazing starre in Anno 1618. was found to be by certaine demonstration But for the inferiour Elements under heaven and the creatures therein every eye sees them to be in daily change and alteration and to have no constancie in them Therefore the world is not from all eternity Secondly that which is eternall hath no cause subsisting before it nor any superiour to over-rule order and dispose it but is absolute of it selfe And that which hath such a preceding and superiour cause authour and disposer must needs have and receive a beginning from another Now such is the world and all things therein the world and the whole course of it is over-ruled and disposed by God as every eye may see For whereas it is the nature of Summer to be hot when the Sunne which is the fountain and cause of light and heat is most present with us God at his pleasure for the sins of men doth turne our Summers heats into cold Winter stormes and doth drown our Harvests with immoderate raine in the midst of the dry scorching dog-daies as we have found of late yeares So hee makes fruitfull lands barren when they are best tilled and the barren wildernesse hee turnes into a fruitfull field and the desart into springs of water Also daily experience doth teach us that things which naturally serve for health are sometimes turned to poyson that which enricheth one doth impoverish another and that which hurteth one doth help another All which shew that God over-rules the world and that all things are under his hand and he is the supreme cause and disposer of all Yea if we observe all parts of the world we shall see that the earth and the sea are ruled much by the heavens and the heavens are moved by some superiour power Therefore the world is not eternall without cause or beginning These and such arguments and experiments convinced the Heathen Philosophers and Poets and forced them to confesse that the world was not eternall but made in the beginning of time as appeares in Hermes Trismegistos Pythagoras Plato Orpheus Sophocles Homer and others And even Aristotle himselfe though he affirmed stiffely the worlds eternity and did oppose the fictions of Plato and others concerning the making of the world of a matter which was before existing and without beginning yet at length he was forced to confesse and doth in divers of his bookes that God is the authour and preserver of the whole universall world as appeares lib. de mundo lib. 2. de gener corr This admonisheth us not to set our hearts on the world nor content our soules with such things as are therein but to looke up higher to a better portion if we desire full satisfaction and true contentment and felicity indeed He that builds on a foundation which of it selfe may faile and needs a supporter it selfe he can never dwell safely and securely but in continuall feare that his house will fall on his head neither can he sleep in peace till he hath laid a deeper and surer foundation under that Now here we see the world is a moveable foundation it was not from eternity but had a beginning and the being of it hangs on an higher cause even God And therefore let us not set our hearts on the world nor make it our portion but looke up to God and set our affections on him and seeke to him to be our portion for he onely can fill our soules and he is and hath been and shall be for ever the same and in him is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning Secondly this truth serves to arme us against all temptations of Sathan and all cunning sophistications of Atheists which tend to shake our faith in this point of the worlds beginning and to make us thinke that the world hath been from all eternity we have here a sure foundation from Gods infallible Word and strong reasons also to confirme our hearts in this doctrine and therefore let no cavills of opposers trouble our hearts Yea that we may more cleerly see and more firmly beleeve this truth without doubting I will briefly shew the weaknesse of the best arguments which are brought to the contrary and so will remove those clouds and mists out of the way
there is no helpe in them Psalme 146. 3. and that of the Prophet Ieremie Cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme Ier. 17. 5. Secondly though there happen many changes and great confusion in the World yet let us here take notice that they come not by chance and allwayes acknowledge that they are in the will and power of God and are ordered and disposed by his over-ruling wisedome If to the wicked enemies and persecutors of Gods Church changes come for worse to their confusion and overturning of their power let us see Gods hand therein and let us give him the praise for working our deliverance and avenging our cause on our enemies If changes come to our selves and our peace bee turned into trouble and danger let us humble our selves as under Gods hand If our adversity bee turned into prosperity let God have all the thankes If wee see just cause to feare great changes in Church or State let us flie to God for helpe strength courage and patience and betake our selves to his protection that wee may rest safely under the shadowes of his wings The third point of doctrine which wee may observe from the Spirit of God moving upon the waters cherishing and fitting the unformed masse to receive a perfect being and perfect formes of visible creatures doth shew the concord and perfect similitude which is between the worke of creation by which God formed all things by his word and Spirit and the worke of restauration and redemption of mankind by which he reformes them by Christ and by his Spirit and brings them to supernaturall perfection and blessednesse As in the creation God by his Spirit cherishing the rude masse did prepare and fit every part thereof to receive a perfect forme and naturall being so in the restoring of man kind being deprived of his image and deformed God doth by his Word and by his Spirit shed on us through Christ regenerate renue reforme and prepare us for the fruition of himselfe and doth fit and prepare us for supernaturall perfection and blessednesse As in Ezechiels vision the wind from God did move and shake the drie bones scattered upon the face of the earth and fitted them by flesh and skinne to receive life and to stand up living men in perfect strength and stature So by the word and Spirit of God men dead and rotten in sinnes and sinfull corruption are by the Spirit of God breathed through Christ renued after his image and fitted by the life of grace for the eternall life of glory Ezech. 37. The Spirit of God as our Saviour testifieth is like the wind which bloweth where it listeth it is hee which doth frame us after Gods image in our new birth Ioh. 3. 5 8. and fits us for the Kingdome of glory Wee are as farre from God and from Christ and as void of his image and of all Spirituall life as the rude masse was of all forme in the first creation untill the Spirit of God bee given to us in Christ to dwell in us and renue us as the Apostle sheweth Rom. 8. 9. 13. Ephes. 2. 18. 22. and Tit. 3. 5. 6. Wherefore as wee desire to be made like unto Christ in the image of glory and to see and enjoy God in his heavenly Kingdom where all fulnesse of perfection and blessednesse is to bee found So let us by the consideration of this Doctrine bee stirred up to thirst after the river of the water of life even the gifts and graces of the holy Ghost and never rest satisfied till wee feele within us the testimony of the Spirit of Christ witnessing with our Spirits that wee are the children of God and till wee feele our selves sanctified throughout both in soule and body and holinesse engraven upon our hearts without which none can see God Secondly seeing the Spirit of God is he who prepares men for supernaturall perfection and there is no communion to be had with Christ nor participation of his merits and saving benefits to salvation except men have the Spirit of God dwelling in them and of profane and carnall sons of Adam making them holy and spirituall sons of God Let us not count it any shame or reproach to us that profane mockers of these last times doe in mockery and derision call us spirituall men who ascribe all good motions which are in us to the Spirit of God dwelling in us directing us in all our wayes We doe not deny but that all Enthusiasts and other men of fanaticall Spirit doe most profanely and sacrilegiously Father their owne fansies and lustfull motions on the Spirit of God and therein deserve reproach and derision but let men take heed that they doe not by loathing their hypocrisie and arrogancy runne into Atheisme and blasphemous impiety by rejecting and denying the Spirits dwelling in all Gods regenerate children working in them all saving graces and moving them to walke in the holy wayes of God which lead unto supernaturall perfection and eternall blessednesse For most certaine it is that as the first rude matter of the visible World was sustained and cherished by the Spirit of God moving upon the face of it and was not otherwise able to subsist or to bee formed into divers creatures every one made perfect in their kind with naturall perfection so the perfect stabilitie of man in an happie unchangable estate yea the perfection of the visible World made for mans use is the work of the holy Ghost uniting man to to God in Christ and gathering and reconciling all things unto God in him who is the head over all Although man and all creatures as appeares in the last verse of this Chapter were created every one good and perfect in his kind with naturall perfection yet man the chiefe and the Lord of them all having not as yet the holy Ghost shed on him through Christ as all the regenerate and faithfull have was mutable and in that honourable estate of innocency hee did not stand and abide but did full from it very quickly after that the Woman was created and given to him as wee read Chap. 3. yea hee did not lodge one night therein Psalme 49. 12. and by Mans sinfull fall and corruption the whole frame of the visible World was made subject to vanity and groaneth under it as under an intolerable burden and with earnest longing waiteth for deliverance and restitution to an higher estate in the glorious libertie of the sons of God Rom. 8. 19. 20. And although the eternall Word the Son of God had undertaken for man in the eternall counsell of the blessed Trinitie and did step in to mediate for man and in the first promise made upon mans fall was proclaimed to bee the onely and all-sufficient Redeemer and was fully exhibited in the flesh and became a perfect Redeemer in his death and resurrection so that in him is plenteous redemption and matter sufficient to merit more then
15. In a word common sense and reason teach us that if the Woman be made in the image of the Man and the Man is made in Gods image then Women must needs beare Gods image and likenesse But the truth is God being still the same both in the creation of the Man and of the Woman and creating both by the same wisedome and power hee needed not to take Adam for his paterne whereby to make the Woman but made her in his owne image as hee did man and so in all things like to man the different sexe onely excepted This serves to admonish and stirre up women to bee carefull diligent and industrious so to beare themselves as they that are made after Gods image so to order their lives conversation as they who expect the glory of heaven and must by passing through the state of grace here and by conforming themselves to Christ both in his death by mortification and in his life by sanctification come to the fulnesse of glory in Heaven and bee made conformable and like to Christ in his glorious body and coheires of God with him Secondly it serves to reprove the wicked and profane men of the World whose wickednesse is transcendent and their profanenesse most horrible and impious in that base esteeme which they have of the female sexe and the vile account which they make of woman-kind who thinke and speake of women that they have no soules nor any part in Gods image and are utterly uncapable either of grace in this World or glory in the World to come Like and equall unto which in their profane impiety are common strumpets and whorish women the shame and staine of woman-kind who prostitute themselves to all filthinesse and so live as if they were made onely to serve the lusts of unreasonable men of bruitish lust I proceed to the more speciall things which are more distinctly laid downe concerning the creation of mankind where I will first insist upon the creation of the male and female and the matter of which they were made and of the manner and order in which God formed them Which that wee may distinctly understand wee must looke forward to the 7. Verse of the 2. Chapter where the creation of mankind is more particularly rehearsed in these words and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nosthrils the breath of life and man became a living soule In the Hebrew text the man is here called Adam not as by his proper name but as it is the common name of all mankind for so much the article which is prefixed before it doth shew and therefore as the Greeke so also our English Translators doe translate this word not Adam but Man God formed man of the dust For in the first creation the man comprehended in him all mankind even the Woman who then was a Rib in his side and afterward was taken out and formed into a Woman The matter of which God formed Adam is said to bee the dust of the ground and here he useth another word not used before in the creation of other things that is the word formed for hee doth not say that God made or created but formed man and true it is that whole man was not made of dust but onely the substance of his bodie and therefore it is said that God formed man to wit in respect of his body of the dust of the ground that is hee framed and fashioned it of dust as a potter formes a pot of clay and brought it into that forme and shape which all perfect bodies of mankind doe beare untill this day And this is the first beginning of the being both of the Man and also of the Woman who was created here a Rib at the first in Mans side and afterwards taken out and made into a Woman First in that Iehovah Elohim the Lord God is here said to forme man that is to frame his body of dust and to bring it into the forme and shape which it beares in all mankind Hereby wee are taught that God did neither consult with Angels about mans creation nor assume them or any other creatures into the fellowship of this worke but God himselfe alone who is Iehovah one God in essence and substance and yet Elohim that is more Persons even three Persons in that one undivided essence did forme the very body of man and brought it into that forme and temper that it might bee a fit subject of the soule which is a spirituall substance And this all other Scriptures confirme which attribute the creation of mankind to God alone as Deut. 4. 32. and Isa. 45. 12. with many other places where the creation of man upon earth is ascribed unto God onely and where holy and faithfull men speaking as they were moved by the holy Ghost confesse themselves the worke of Gods hands as Iob 10. 3. and God their maker and former Iob 36. 3. and Malac. 2. 10. and God the potter and themselves his formed worke Isa. 64. 8. This Doctrine well weighed is of excellent use First to make us ascribe all our excellency and all our well being to God that wee may give him the glory of them and that wee may beare our selves before God as before our creatour and may ever remember that whatsoever service wee are able to performe either with our soules or bodies it is wholy due to God and none other but onely in him and by commandement and warrant from his holy and infallible Word Seeing God alone hath created us and given us all our being even the forme and shape of our bodies wee must not thinke it enough to keepe our selves to God and to serve him in spirit onely but wee must serve and worship him with our bodies also and with all parts and members of our bodies Although God many times makes men instruments and meanes to convey health life being and well being to us as naturall Parents to bring us into being and life and to nourish and bring us up and as Kings and Rulers and wise Magistrates to bee Saviours of our bodily lives from death and other dangers and to procure safety peace and well being to us and in this respect and for these causes wee doe owe love honour and service to them in and under God yet in no case may wee in things which tend not to the honour but dishonour of God and are contrary to his Word and Will and offensive to his Majesty obey serve and honour them In such cases let us say as the Apostles did to the high-Priests and Rulers of the Iewes We ought to obey God rather then men and whether it be right and lawfull to obey you more then God judge yee Act. 4. 19. and 5. 29. All Potentates Kings and Rulers because they are men and have no power but from God must not looke that any should serve and obey them rather then God or
fit subject for it then instantly God infused it into the body and by it did give life and breath to the body Some thinke that the body was formed and the Soule in the same instant created together with it as Damascene lib. 2. de fide cap. 12. Aquinas and others And Cyrill thinks that Gods breathing into mans face the breath of life was the infusion of the holy Ghost into man and that man in the creation had the holy Spirit given to dwell in him and was sanctified and endowed with supernaturall grace and holinesse Some thinke that Gods breathing into mans nosthrils was his inspiring into man a reasonable Soule as a part of himselfe so Rabby Moses Maymonides But by breathing into mans face I doe not understand any materiall breathing or blast but that God in causing breath of life to breathe through mans nosthrils did withall create the Soule in the body and by meanes of this reasonable Soule created in the body and united to the body by vitall spirits and breath man became a living Soule that is a living reasonable creature living onely a perfect naturall not an holy spirituall life The Apostle expounds these words in this Sense 1 Cor. 15. and doth make this a maine difference betweene the first man Adam and Christ the second Adam that the first Adam was onely a naturall Man endowed with a naturall living Soule but to be a quickning Spirit that is to bee sanctified by the holy Ghost and endowed with spirituall life is proper to Christ in his creation for in him the Spirit dwelt from his first conception Hence wee learne That the image of God in which mans was created was onely naturall and did consist in naturall gifts which naturally flow from his reasonable Soule and not in any supernaturall gifts of the holy Ghost as true holinesse and the like The words of Saint Paul last before named doe fully prove this I will here onely adde one strong Reason and invincible argument to prove it fully And that is drawne from the mutability of man in the creation and from his fall by which Gods image was defaced in him For it is most certaine that hee who hath in him that image of God which consists in true holinesse and in spirituall and supernaturall gifts hee is not mutable nor subject to fall away because hee hath the holy Ghost dwelling in him who is greater then he that dwels in the World 1 Ioh. 4. that is then the Divell who worketh powerfully in the children of disobedience For all true holinesse and all spirituall graces are the proper worke of the holy Ghost dwelling in man as all the Scriptures testifie But Adam in innocency and honour lodged not therein one night Psalme 49. 12. The Divell at the first onset gave him the foile in his greatest strength of nature and best estate which Divell with all his temptations and all the powers of darknesse and spirituall wickednesses the little ones of Christs flocke doe overcome by the power of the holy Ghost and his graces which they have in their fraile earthen vessels Therefore the image of God in which man was created was naturall onely This discovers Gods goodnesse free grace and bounty beyond all measure and all conceipt and comprehension of humane reason in that it shewes how God by mans fall malice and corruption which made him a slave of Hell and Death did take occasion to bee more kind and bountifull to man and to shew more love and goodnesse to him by repairing the ruines of his fall and renuing him after a better image then that which hee gave him in the creation and making him better after his sin and fall then hee was before in the state of innocency when hee had of himselfe no inclination to any sin or evill and bringing him to grace spirituall in Christ and to an image which cannot bee defaced and to a state firme and unchangable when wee rightly consider these things wee have no cause to murmur at Gods voluntary suffering of man to fall from his estate which was perfect and pure naturall but rather to rejoyce in God and to blesse his name and to magnifie his goodnesse for turning his fall to our higher rising and exaltation and lifting us up by Christ from hell and misery to heavenly glory which never fadeth and to a state spirituall and supernaturall not subject to change and alteration Secondly this Doctrine overthrowes the foundation and false ground upon which Papists and Pelagians doe build and seeke to establish their false and erroneous opinion concerning the apostasie of the Saints regenerate and their falling from supernaturall grace and Iosing the Spirit of regeneration which errour they seeke to establish by this argument Because Adam in innocency had the holy Ghost shed on him and was endued with spirituall and supernaturall gifts of holinesse from which hee did fall by sin and transgression But here wee see there is no such matter Adams image was onely naturall uprightnesse not spirituall supernaturall and true holinesse Hee was but a perfect naturall Man and a living Soule Christ the second Adam onely is called the quickning Spirit because through him onely God sheds the holy Ghost on men and hence it is that though Adam did fall away from his estate which was onely naturall yet the Saints regenerate and called to the state of grace in Christ can never fall away totally nor finally into apostacy because they have the seed of God even the holy Ghost dwelling and abiding in them CHAP. XIII Of the womans creation in particular How without her all was not good Woman not made to be a servant Of giving names to the creatures No creature but woman a meet companion for man Vses Of the rib whereof woman was made Of Adams deepe sleepe Five Points thence collected Of Gods bringing Eve to Adam and two Points thence Of Adams accepting Eve for his wife and calling her bone c. w 〈…〉 h divers points thence Of their nakednesse demonstrating the perfection of the creation GEn. 2. 18 19 20 21. And the Lord said It is not good that the man should be alone I will make an helpe meet for him And every beast and every fowle God brought to Adam to see what hee would call them c. And Adam gave names to them all but for Adam there was not found an helpe meet for him And the Lord God caused a deepe sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he tooke one of his ribs and made it a Woman and brought her to the Man c. These words and the rest which follow in this Chapter containe a particular description of the creation of the Woman which before was touched generally and summarily Chap. 1. 27. in these words Male and female created hee them In this History of the Womans creation wee may observe three speciall things First the preparation to it or the antecedents
more subject of the froward to learne perversenesse then by the wife meeke and liberall consorts to be drawne from their folly fury and churlishnesse and therefore though in case when an hard lot befals Men or Women they must make the best they can of that which is too bad in hope that God will blesse their vertuous and godly endeavours yet the best rule which godly Christians can observe in the choice of wives iâ— to choose such as are like affected and vertuously disposed as they themselves are to regard chiefely the unity of Spirit and the similitude of nature and disposition which is a thing here taught by God in the creation and first marriage betweene Adam and Evah the first Father and Mother of all mankind Secondly we may gather from this doctrine that there can bee no hope or expectation of good from unequall marriages And when men for carnall worldly and politike respects yoke themselves with wives of a contrary disposition and religion daughters of a strange God and vassals of Antichrist there seldome or never followes a blessing For just it is with God that when men and women wall contrary to God and reject his right rule in their marriages and in laying the foundation of their families God should walke contrary to them in their whole course of life and should crosse them in their endeavours and bring their families to confusion The third and last consequent of the womans creation is that they were both naked â—he man and his wife and they were not ashamed ver 25. In which words wee are not in any case to understand by nakednesse either want of necessary apparell for in the state of innocency there was no need thereof and therefore no want of any nor any want of naturall abilities or vertues need full for beauty comlinesse and ornament or for naturall perfection All such nakednesse and want came in by sin and after their fall But here they are said to be naked because they neither had nor needed any cloathes or covering of their bodies which were in all parts most comely and beautifull Their skin was not rough over-growne with haire like beasts nor with feathers like birds nor with hard scales like fishes but their skin faire white and ruddie was comely in it selfe and beautifull to their owne eyes more then all ornaments of silke fine linnen and all jewels of gold and silver set with the most glorious and precious stones of most resplendent colour and brightnesse And their bodies were of that excellent temper and constitution that they neither felt nor feared any distemper of heat or cold The aire and all the elements were tempered according to the temper of their bodies and all things were pleasing wholesome and delightsome unto them and to all living creatures they appeared lovely and full of beauty and majestie It was the creatures delight to see them and to looke on them and it was their joy to see the creatures admiring them and rejoycing in their sight and presence And therefore there was no cause or occasion of any shame or of any feare to shew their simple naked bodies and to have every part and member openly seene no uncomlinesse which needed a covering but all parts and members were beautifull in themselves and composed together in a comely order and frame This is the true sense and meaning of the words Wherein we have this plaine doctrine That the worke of God in the creation of our first parents was perfect without errour the image of God appeared in their bodies and bodily for me and shape they were full of all naturall grace beauty and comlinesse in all parts and members from the crowne of their heads to the sole of their feete the glory and wisedome of Gods workmanship shined in them most clearely to their owne eyes and the eyes of all creatures The truth of this appeares most manifestly in the words for certainly if there had beene any least blemish or unseemely member in their naked bodies they would have beene ashamed to goe and appeare openly bare and naked without covering therefore I need not stand to prove it with many arguments this one is sufficient That all the forme beauty and comelinesse of the most goodly Men and fairest Women that ever were or are in the World gathered together and composed in the body of one Man or Woman the goodly personage of Ioseph or Adonijah the beauty of Absalom and Abishag and the glory and comlinesse of Solomon and all other formes and beauties named in histories are but the ruines reliques di 〈…〉 shadowes and defaced scraps of that beauty and comelinesse which was in the naked bodies of our first parents and in every part of them in the creation And therefore our reason and senses may judge what comlinesse was in them This point considered is of great force to provoke and stirre up men to acknowledge with all thankfulnesse Gods bounty to mankind in the first creation and how exceedingly they are bound to love and honour and serve God for the naturall gifts abilities with which God at the first did fully furnish man not onely for necessity and welbeing but also for glory beauty ornament and comelinesse in the eyes of all creatures And although our first parents forfeited these blessings by their disobedience and have defaced by sin this excellent beauty yet wee see Gods goodnesse abounding to us in this that hee imprints in many of us some stamps and foot-steps of the image in which wee were created that wee may by the ruines which remaine judge of the building of mans body and of the beautifull frame wherein God at the first created us Secondly wee may hence gather comfortable assurance that as God did create man in admirable beauty at the first in the creation and made him comely in the eyes of all creatures in all parts of his body so that it was no shame but a glory to walke naked without cloathes or covering So much more in the work of redemption and restauration by Christ God both can and will repaire our vile bodies and restore unto them their first beauty and glory with great advantage and make them like the glorious body of Christ and reforme them after his heavenly image of holinesse which so farre exceeds the first image as heavenly excels earthly spirituall and supernaturall excels naturall and incorruptible and immutable surpasseth that which is fading and vanishing For the worke of redemption and restauration is a worke of greater goodnesse to men then the worke of creation and as it excels so the effect of it must bee more excellent In this worke God stretcheth forth his omnipotent hand and all his goodnesse further then in the creation there hee created all things by his eternall Word the Son and by his Spirit working with him but here hee gave his Son to bee incarnate and the eternall Word to bee made flesh and
Prov. 12. 24. and makes their substance precious Verse 27. and their soules fat Prov. 13. 4. and causeth even women to bee praised in the gates Prov. 31. And that man is by nature active and cannot brooke idlenesse it appeares plainely by the stirring nature of children who are never quiet nor content unlesse they bee busied one way or other and by the restlessenesse which is in wicked men who devise mischiefe on their beds and have working heads and cannot cease from doing something rather evill exercises then bee idle Now this being a manifest truth may justly provoke and stirre us up to loath and abhorre idlenesse sloth and lazinesse as speciall marks and igominious brands of naughty persons miserably degenerated from humane nature and from the frame and disposition wherein they were at the first created by God It was not good for Adam in innocency to live idly and without exercise but hee must bee busied as in mind by contemplation on Gods works so in body by ruling the creatures dressing and keeping the garden when aboundance of all things flowed to him without toile or labour much more will it be hurtfull dangerous and pernicious to us who are a people corrupted and in our whole frame out of order perverse and froward If wee give way to sloth and idlenesse for if wee labour not wee cannot have what to eat but poverty will come upon us like an armed man If wee bee idle and negligent in honest and good labour our perverse rebellious and restlesse nature will lead us into evill exercises and wicked works As standing lakes of water grow corrupt stinking and unwholesome and ground not laboured stirred up and tilled will bring forth corrupt stinking weeds bryars thornes and thistles So our corrupt nature if it bee not exercised and busied about vertuous actions and profitable labours will grow more corrupt noysome and filthy and will carry us away into frowardnesse vanity and sinfull practises which will make us loathsome to God and men and will speedily plunge us into misery and eternall perdition Thirdly wee here see and are plainely taught that man in innocency had aboundance of all good things needfull for profit pleasure and full contentment and wanted nothing which could bee required for earthly happinesse to make him blessed in this World and fully content with his estate and condition First his reason and understanding could not conceive neither did hee know any good which hee wanted and did not possesse whereof hee was by nature capable all wordly goods hee had at will and of heavenly and spirituall good which was supernaturall hee had no knowledge nor understanding Secondly hee had all provocations to move him to serve God and all bonds to tye and knit his heart in love to God and to make him wholly obedient to God and dutifull and serviceable to him in his whole heart and soule body mind and strength Hee had food at will most sweet wholesome and delicate in all variety and aboundance without any care toile or labour the Earth brought it forth of her owne accord the wholesome and pure aire did cherish it and the Sun and Heavens by their warme influence did ripen perfect and prepare it to his hand Hee had a most pleasant dwelling a garden beautified with all earthly ornaments and a Paradise of pleasure and delight Hee was high in honour dignity and promotion above all living creatures both by Sea and Land and had rule and Dominion over them all His exercise was without toile labour or paine sweet and pleasant Hee had for the exercise of his minde all Gods works the contemplation whereof might fill his soule with delight and joy in God his Creatour and for the exercise of his bodily strength and activity hee had the dressing and keeping of the garden which was a worke of pleasure and delight not of paines and labour for it needed no digging planting culture or tillage his businesse also was without care and feare for there were no theeves to annoy him no evill beasts to hurt and spoile his garden and to trouble waste his habitation so that without further proofe this Doctrine is most cleare in and from the text The consideration whereof is of excellent use to confirme us in this assurance perswasion and beliefe that God in no respect any cause or Author of mans sin and fall neither did give him the least occasion of discontent with his present estate that by seeking to soare up higher hee should catch a fearefull downefall into sin and bring himselfe in bondage to death Hell and the Divell For wee see God gave him all occasions and aboundance of blessings as strong provocations to provoke him to love his heavenly Majesty and as firme bands to bind and tye him to obedience It was the Divell who first breathed pride into man to aspire and soare above his estate and suggested into his heart evill surmises and thoughts of God that God did seeke to keepe him from a better estate by restraining him from the tree of knowledge which by eating of the fruit thereof hee might obtaine and become like to God Wherefore let no man charge God with giving the least occasion of discontent to man to provoke him to sin but let us bee humbled with the sight of our owne mutability frailty and vanity who in our first Parents and best estate were so fragile and mutable and much more now being corrupted and made subject to vanity and slaves of corruption CHAP. XV. Of the image of God on man in innocency Sundry opinions of it What the word signifieth Zelem and Demuth Image of God naturall and supernaturall Differences betweene the image of the first and second Adam Images essentiall and accidentall Particulars of Gods image on Adam in soule and body Vses of all ANd God said Let us make man in our image after our likenesse Verse 27. So God created man in his owne image in the image of God created hee him Male and female created hee them The generall Doctrine of the creation of our first Parents in the image of God I have heretofore laid open out of these words It now remaines that I proceed to the Doctrine and Description of that image of God in the speciall and particular points thereof which I reserved to the last place because it is the maine thing which discovers to us the excellent state of man in innocency As for the blessing of fruitefulnesse for the increase of mankind and mans Dominion over the creatures plenty and variety of bodily food and a pleasant habitation the earthly Paradise they are but externabona outward benefits but the image of God containes in it internall blessings of the soule of the whole man as well as externall outward benefits therefore I have first dispatched them now come to that image of God in which did consist the highest pitch of mans naturall perfection felicity In