and after their likenesse to bee Lord over all other creatures the fishes of the Sea the fowles of the aire and all living things on earth In the creation of all other things God said onely Let them bee and so they were made but in the creation of mankind hee calls a councell as being now about a greater worke and saith Let us make Man which is a speciall point not lightly to bee passed over without due consideration First hee who thus enters into consultation is said to bee Elohim that is God the Creatour who is more persons then one or two even three Persons in one essence as the Hebrew word being plurall doth imply And hee who here saith Let us make man and in the next verse is said to create man in his owne image hee is the same God which created the heavens and the earth Verse 1. and the light and the firmament and all other things mentioned before in this Chapter They with whom hee conferres are not the Angels as some have vainely imagined nor the foure elements which God here calls together that hee may frame Mans body of them being compounded and tempered together as others have dreamed For the text shewes plainely divers strong reasons to the contrary First it is said that God created man not by the ministery of Angels or the elements but by his owne selfe as it followes in the next Verse and Chap. 2. 7. Secondly God created man in his owne image not in the image of Angels or elements and therefore it is most ridiculous to imagine that God spake to them or of making man in their image Thirdly it is shewed that man was made to rule over the earth and the fowles of the aire and the fishes of the Sea and therefore it is absurd to thinkethat the earth or any elements were fellow-makers of man together with God And lastly it is both foolish and impious to thinke that God who made heaven earth the heavenly host the Angels of nothing should call upon others to helpe him and to share with him in the honour of mans creation seeing hee doth so often in Scripture challenge this honour of creating all things to himselfe and professeth that hee will not give this glory to another Here therefore God the Creatour is brought in by Moses as it were consulting within himselfe even the eternall Father with the eternall Word the Son who is called the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his Person by whom hee made the World of which man is a part Hebr. 1. 2. and with the eternall Spirit And here hee brings in God consulting about mans creation to bee Lord over other creatures for 3. speciall reasons and to teach us three things which are reasons of consultations among men when they are about a worke The first is to shew not that God needed any advice or helpe but that the worke which hee was about was a speciall worke even the making of man the chiefest of all visible creatures one that should bee Lord over all the rest being made in Gods owne image indued with reason understanding wisedome and liberty of will The second to shew that man was to bee made a creature in whom God should have occasion given to shew himselfe a mighty and wise Creatour and Governour a just Iudge and revenger of wickednesse and sin which doe provoke him to wrath and revenge a mercifull Redeemer and Saviour of sinners seduced and an holy sanctifier of them by his Spirit If wee consider man as a creature which might fall and have Gods image defaced in him and by his many provoking sins might give God cause to repent that hee had made him as is said Gen. 6. then there appeares some reason why God should as it were consult whether hee should make him or no. Also if wee consider that man being fallen and brought under the bondage and slavery of death and the Divell and under eternall condemnation could not possibly bee redeemed but by the Son of God undertaking to become man and to suffer and satisfie in mans nature and that man cannot bee made partaker of Christs benefits for redemption without the holy Ghost the eternall spirit of God infused into man and descending to dwell in man as in an earthly tabernacle There will appeare to us great cause of consultation that God the Father should consult with the Son and the Spirit and this consulting about mans creation doth intimate all these things But in that this consultation is with a resolution all things considered to make man with a joynt consent this shewes that God foresaw how mans fall and corruption and all the evils which by it were to come into the World howsoever to our understanding and in our reason they may seeme just impediments to hinder God from creating mankind yet might by his wisedome bee turned to the greater advancement of his glory and might give him occasion to shew all his goodnesse wisedome power perfect purity and holinesse in hating sin his infinite justice in the destruction and damnation of wicked reprobates and in exacting a full satisfaction for the sins of them that are saved his infinite mercy love and free grace in giving his Son to redeeme and save his elect from sin death and hell and his unspeakeable bounty in giving his Spirit to sanctifie them to unite them to Christ and to conforme them to his image and so to bring them to the full fruition of himselfe in glory God in consulting within himselfe and thereupon resolving to create mankind and saying Let us make man and then immediatly creating him as the text sheweth did in the creation of man shew before-hand that in mankind hee would manifest and make knowne all his goodnesse more then in all other creatures The third reason of Gods consultation is to manifest more plainely in mans creation then in any other creature the mystery of the blessed Trinity that in the one infinite eternall God the Creatour there are more even three Persons of one and the same undivided nature and substance For such consultations and resolutions as are expressed in this forme of words Let us make man in our image and after our likenesse doe necessarily imply that there are more Persons then one consenting and concurring in the worke And that these three Persons are all but one and the same God it isâ—manifest by the words following which speake of these Persons as of one God for it is said that God created man in his owne image and not they created man in their image Thus much for the intent and meaning of the Spirit of God in these words Let us make man in our image and after our liknesse From which words thus expounded wee learne First that the creation of mankind was a speciall worke of God and that man is by nature the chiefest and most excellent of all creatures which God made in all the
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
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