it is a fit subiect for a reasonable Soule and the principall parts of it fit instruments for the severall faculties of the Soule whereby to performe their many and severall workes and operations the wisedome power and goodnesse of God did shine forth of mans body more then in all visible creatures and the Image of God appeared in it Mans eyes sight and all outward senses did represent Gods omniscience and knowledge of all things his hands did shew and represent Gods power to do and worke whatsoever he will his armes did represent Gods strength and power to save his People and to destroy his enemies The beauty comelinesse naturall majesty which appeared in mans body upright stature by which he did overlooke all creatures as one most fit to rule them did shew forth and represent the glory and majestie of God and his Lordship dominion providence and power by which he governs all things In a word though mans body was mutable in the Creation and state of innocency and might fall from that state yet so long as man did continue in that state and did not sin he had that lively vigour perfect temper of body which did free him from death and all evills which tend to hurt and destruction which also was able to uphold him in life and strength for ever if sin had not entred and so in some sort he was immortall and impassible not subject to death or any passion and suffering of hurt and evill in his body and so there was in his body some likenesse of Gods immortalitie For proofe of this wee have good arguments in Scripture First God himself sheweth that murther and shedding of mans bloud is a defacing of his Image in which he created man and for that cause he threatens revenge of murther and of violence offered to Mans bloud Gen. 9. 5 6. Now murther and shedding of mans bloud â—s a defacing of mans body therefore the body also is a secondarie Image of God Secondly the Scriptures which set forth Gods attributes and workings by severall parts of mans body as his omniscience and providence by Eyes Psal. 33. 18. 2. Cron. 16. 9. his activity and working by Hands as Exod. 15. 16. Psal. 44. 3. Isa. 51. 9. his love and mercy by Bowells as Isa. 63. 15. Jer. 31. 20. his punishing and revenging Iustice by breath of mouth and nostrills Psal. 38. 15. and Isa. 11. 4. his secret thoughts counsells and purposes by Heart Psal. 33. 11. his utterance of his mind and will by Mouth Jer. 9. 12. these Metaphors do shew that the body of man and chiefe parts of it have some similitude of Gods attributes and workes and so mans body is secondarily the Image and likenesse of God Thirdly the Scriptures shew that death is the wages of Sin and all mortality and subjection to evills and passions which tend to hurt and corruption came in by mans disobedience and fall as appears Rom. 5. 12. and 6. 23. and by Gods commination Gen. 2. 19. But in the Creation and state of innocencie man had in him no Sin nor any inclination of himself to any evill or Sin therefore he was after a sort â—mmortall and incorruptible in his body and had even in it a similitude of Gods immortality Fourthly the body was in all things conformable to the Soule fit and ready in all things to follow the motions of the Soule to be directed and moved by the upright reason will and affections and to doe all workes unto which they move it and therefore as the Soule was made in the primary Image and likenesse so the body in the secondary Image and likenesse of God Lastly to conclude this doctrine of Gods Image in which man was created wee may not unfitly affirme and with good reason hold that though man in the state of innocency before the promise of Christ had no Supernaturall gifts nor any part of the Spirituall Image of the second Adam but was onely a perfect naturall man and not immediatly proximâ potentiâ capable of supernaturall grace nor of the Divine nature yet because his nature and whole frame was such as had a possibility or remote power to be made partaker of the Holy Ghost united to God in Christ and made pattaker of the Divine nature and a new creature or new man framed after God therefore he in this respect may be said to be Created in the Image of God that is in such a forme and of such a nature as had a possibility to become like unto Christ and a new creature made in the Spirituall Image of God Now this Doctrine of Gods Image briefly and compendiously proved in all parts is of excellent use First this discovers the infinite riches of the bounty of God passing all bounds and declares his goodnesse to be like a great deep which can never be sounded in that he hath overcome all our evill and malice towards him with his great goodnesse to us and and when wee had forfeited our being and his Image in which he created us good and perfect with all naturall perfections and did justly deserve to degenerate and be turned into the Image of the Divell and to become in the likenesse of his malice and and misery he out of his owne meere mercy and free grace and bounty did give his Sonne and the Sonne did freely undertake to humble himself to become a second Adam made in a better Image even an heavenly and spirituall that he might not onely suspend the execution of Gods just sentence upon mankind and procure to the first Adam and all his posterity the continuance of their naturall being for a time and of some reliques of the Image which they had wholly forfeited but also might renue a great number chosen out of mankind and restore them to a better even an heavenly Image by transforming and changing them into his spirituall and supernaturall Image and making them conformable to it and partakers of the Divine nature by the mysticail dwelling and powerfull operation of his spirit in them Here is that which may dazle the eyes of men and the sight of Angells when they looke into it and which may astonish all hearts of men and confound all humane reason when they thinke of it and heare it preached That God infinitely just and holy to hate and punish Sin should by our evill and Sin committed against him and his just will and Law take occasion to be more good and to shew greater goodnesse to us and when wee deserved to have no being but in Hell and eternall misery hath raised us up to the spirituall state of grace from which we cannot be hurled and cast downe by all the powers of darkenesse and by which wee shall ascend to the blessed state of Heavenly and Eternall glory Here is love surpassing all knowledge the depth whereof wee may admire and adore in silence but neither can our hearts conceive nor our tongues expresse the
man lost by sin even heavenly glory and immortality yet all this profits nothing without the work of the Spirit Christ with all his sufferings and obedience unto death and all his righteousnesse and fullfilling of the law are as a Fountaine sealed up and treasures hid and locked up in darknesse so that none can partake of him or them for redemption and salvation without communion of the holy Ghost which God in our regeneration doth shed on us aboundantly through Christ. This Spirit dwelling in Christ and the faithfull makes them one mysticall body with Christ sons and heires of God makes his satisfaction their ransome for actuall redemption and reconciliation and his righteousnes their righteousnes for justification This Spirit also doth renue them after the image of God and transformes them into the image of Christ in all holinesse that they may bee fit to see and enjoy God and thus hee brings them to the fruition of perfect blessednesse and to the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which never fadeth And Gods blessings are through Christs mediation poured out upon all creatures for their sakes And hereupon it is that all gifts and graces which tend to make men perfect and unchangably blessed are ascribed to the Spirit as wisedome knowledge faith hope love meekenesse patience courage strength prayer and in a word all holinesse and perfection and whensoever God is said to give any of these gifts to men in an effectuall and saving manner and measure hee is said to give them the Spirit of grace wisedome zeale and supplication as appeares Isa. 11. 2. Zach. 12. 10. Yea common illumination and all extraordinary supernaturall gifts which are given to unregenerate reprobates for the revealing of Christ as the gift of prophecie to Balaam and Saul and the change of heart in Saul from cowardly pusillanimity to fortitude and magnanimity the gift of miracles to Iudas also illumination tast of the heavenly gift joy in the holy Word of God given to backsliders Heb. 6. are the worke of the holy Ghost assisting them and inspiring them from without for the Churches good not inwardly dwelling and working in them for their owne salvation Wherefore let us count it no reproach that wee have no hope of being in an happy and blessed estate no assurance that wee are in the way to perfection till wee feele the Spirit of God dwelling and working in us moving our hearts and conforming us to the image of Christ and that wee rejoyce in this and this is our glorying that wee are not carnall but spirituall They who think it enough for the obtaining of perfection and salvation to know beleeve and professe that in Christ there is as sufficient matter of satisfaction for the redeeming of all mankind as there was in the rude masse without forme matter enough for the whole visible World and all creatures therein doe much deceive themselves for many who know and beleeve all this doe perish and none are saved or perfected by Christ but onely they who are by the Spirit dwelling in them united to Christ and regenerated and renued after his image This Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance and witnesseth to us our adoption hee makes us new creatures and a free willing people hee sanctifieth us to bee an holy Temple for himselfe to dwell in purgeth out sinfull corruption mortifieth the deeds of the flesh so that sin cannot reigne in our mortall bodies There is one thing more which I may not passe over here in silence to wit that this text doth prove plainely that the Spirit of God the third person in the Trinity is one and the same God with the Father and the Son of the same uncreated nature and substance the almighty Creatour and Preserver of all things in heaven and in earth visible and invisible To sustaine a rude matter without forme and void and to make it subsist is a worke of power farre above the power of any thing created and to compasse and comprehend the whole matter and masse of the visible World and to assist and cherish by present vertue every part thereof at once is a strong argument and plaine proofe of divine and infinite power and omnipotency proper to Iehovah the one onely true God and all this is here testified of the Spirit of God in these words and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters that is as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merachepheth and here used in the originall signifieth did sit upon and cherish that mightie masse as an Hen doth sit upon and cherish her egges that they may bee formed into chickens Therefore the Spirit of God is here proved to bee one and the same God with the Father and the Son and the almighty Creatour former and preserver of the whole World and all things therein To which purpose the Scriptures also speake fully in other places where the heavens and the host of them are said to bee made by the Word and Spirit of God as Psalme 33. 6. and that when God sends out his Spirit things are created as Psalme 104. 30. and that God by his Spirit garnished the heavens Iob 26. 13. and that hee is present by his preserving and sustaining power in all places Psalme 139. 7. which places prove the Spirit of God to bee Iehovah the Creatour and Former of all things and the true God in whom wee all live move and have our being This point which I have proved and confirmed by many other strong arguments already in my discourse of the Trinitie as it discovers the desperate malice impudency and Atheisme of the Remonstrants the Disciples of Socinus and Arminius who call into question the Deitie of the holy Ghost and his unitie with the Father and the Son and his right to bee prayed unto and worshipped with Divine worship so it is of singular comfort to the faithfull whose bodies are Temples of the holy Ghost in that it assures them that God is their portion and dwells in them and they are begotten of his seed in regeneration and are partakers of the Divine nature and heaven is their inheritance CHAP. VI. Of the first dayes worke What the light was What it is God said Let there be light How be called the light day and the darkenesse night Of a day naturall and civill That the night was before the day How a day was before the Sunne was Prerogatives of the first day VErs 3 4 5. And God said Let there be light and there was light And God saw the light that it was good And God divided the light from the darknesse And God called the light day and the darknesse hee called night and the evening and the morning were the first day After that darknesse had continued upon the face of the deep and the whole matter of this inferiour World had remained full of darknesse for the space of one night God by his powerfull Word created Light the first
to make him a perfect man but a Rib above the ordinary number which God created in Adam of purpose and yet Adam was no monster neither was it a superfluous part for as Adam was created the common stock and root of all mankind so it was requisite that hee should have one Rib extraordinary created in him above other Men whereof the Woman was to bee made and he neverthelesse remaine perfect and complete as any other man afterwards Thirdly Adams deep sleepe was not to take away sense of paine but a mystery of building the Church out of Christs death under which hee slept to the third day And it is said that God closed up the flesh in stead thereof or in the place thereof not that God left a scarre or hollow place or that God created flesh to fill up the place of the Rib but onely closed up the flesh in the place where hee tooke out the Rib so that no scar or print did there appeare but man appeared most perfect and without mayme or signe of any wound In the second place for the manner of the Womans creation it is said that God made this Rib a Woman or builded it up to bee a Woman as the words run in the Hebrew which word implies that as children are derived of their parents to build up their familie so the Woman was derived from Adam to build up his great family mankind of his owne nature and substance and that his posterity might spring wholly from him both in respect of himselfe and of his wife their common Mother which was taken out of him I omit needlesse questions and ridiculous collections which some have here made as that the Woman being made of a bone is hard hearted and such like The profitable points which I observe from hence are these following First wee are here taught by mans falling into a deep sleepe senselesse like death that the Woman might bee taken and formed out of him That God in the creation foreshewed that the spouse of the second Adam Christ even the true Church should be purchased by the death of Christ and the blood drawne out of his side and Christ by his sleepe in death should make way to raise and build up his Church That the first Adam and his Wife in her creation were the types and figures of Christ and his spouse the Church I need not stand to prove the Apostle hath done it sufficiently Ephes. 5. 25 26 32. This serves for much heavenly instruction as first to put us in minde of the unity which is betweene Christ and his Church and to make us as wee desire to bee a true and chaste spouse of Christ also to labour to be spiritually united to him never rest till wee feele and perceive that wee are borne of Gods immortall seed even of his Spirit Secondly to make us ascribe our being wholly to Christ as wee are the true holy and regenerate Church and people of God and of the heavenly family Thirdly to make us love Christ and to meditate on his death with all holy reverence and tender affection as the thing by which wee are purchased yea to make us ready to conforme our selves to Christ in his death by suffering for the good of his Church Fourthly to make us see that the creation was as it were a shadow of Gods restauration of the World by Christ and that the restauration is the substance by which the creation is perfected Secondly God made the Woman of a Rib which was a part of the mans body which teacheth us that Woman must by the course of nature yeeld to man the preheminence as being made out of him this the Apostle also teacheth 1 Cor. 11. 7 8. And this admonisheth Women to give due respect to their husbands as is meet in the Lord and not to usurpe rule and authority over men Thirdly God made Woman of Mans substance which teacheth that Woman is neare and ought to bee deare to Man as a part of himselfe which the Apostle confirmes Ephes. 5. And here all harsh and tyrannicall husbands are justly noted and their doings reproved Fourthly the making of the Woman of a bone a solid part teacheth us that shee is made to bee a solid helpe and stay to man and ought so to be in his family And hereby husbands are directed to esteeme their wives as the stay of their family And wives to strive to bee helps Fifthly in that God made the Woman not out of mans head nor feet but out of his side hereby hee hath taught us that women must not bee too high and proud as the head nor too low vassals as the feet but consorts and companions of their husbands in the whole course of their life partakers of the same grace and of the same honours and dignities yoke-fellowes in the same labours and cares in this World and coheires of the same glory in the World to come The wise-Man confirmes this fully by the description of a vertuous Woman which is reformed after the true image in which shee was created Prov. 31. For hee describes her to bee one who consorts with her husband in labour and provident care and drawes equally with him in the same yoke and partakes of the same honour and respect both in publike and private The holy Prophets also and Apostles shew that the Woman is made to bee Mans inseparable companion Mal. 2. 14. even the desire of his eye and the joy of his glory on whom especially hee sets his mind Ezech. 24 16. and that mans delight must bee to have her continually at his side and her delight must bee to present her selfe to his eyes as a looking-glasse in which hee may behold his owne glory even the image of God in which hee was formed first and shee after him 1 Cor. 7. 10 11. where the Apostle forbids the Wife to depart from her Husband and the Husband to put away his Wife and their defrauding one another of mutuall comfort by separating and living apart For as man is the image and glory of God so the Woman is the glory of the Man 1 Cor. 11. 7. in whom man may behold as in a glasse the image of God in which hee was created And therefore the holy Apostles who were married as Peter and the bretheren of the Lord in their travelling to preach the Gospell did lead about their wives as Saint Paul testifieth 1 Cor. 9. 5. Also Saint Peter speakes plainely to this purpose 1 Pet. 3. 7. where hee injoynes husbands to dwell with their Wives according to knowledge giving honour to the Wife as to the weaker vessell and as being coheires of the grace of life that is as a man is indued with more knowledge so it is his duty to dwell and converse with his Wife wisely as a man of knowledge and as wee tender those necessary vessells which are usefull for us and the more weake