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
use for comfort and confidence to all the elect and faithfull people of God in the midst of all troubles which befall them in this life and when dangers and worldly enemies beset them round about also for confirmation and strengthening of them against all the assaults and temptations of the Divell For if the glorious Angels which are ministering spirits for their good which also love them rejoyce at their conversion watch for their safety and are their fellow servants under one Lord Christ be such heavenly powerfull and active spirits even by creation so excellent in strength so lively quick and ready at hand to help in a moment when God gives the watch-word what need we feare or faint so long as wee cleave to God and sticke to his truth Hee is a tender and loving father and Christ our high Priest hath a feeling of our infirmities and doth pity us he will be ready to help and he hath mighty instruments and ministers even thousands and ten thousand thousands ready to save and deliver us from all enemies as he did Daniel from the Lyons and his three fellowes from the fiery furnace Or if hee doth not send them to deliver us out of the troubles of this life yet hee will at our death send his Angels to carry our soules with triumph to heaven as Eliah was carried up in a fiery Chariot and the soule of Lazarus is said to bee carried up by them into Abrahams bosome Wherefore let us not feare either multitude malice or might of enemies but carefully serve God and confidently rest on the Lord Christ our Redeemer and Saviour Secondly These Doctrines serve to discover divers errours concerning the nature and substance of Angels as that grosse opinion of Peter Lombard who held that the Angels are corporeall substances because the Divell and evill Angels shall suffer the torment and feele the paines of hell fire which hath no power but over bodily creatures Also that opinion of the Gentiles and Cardanus who held that the Angels were mortall and corruptible creatures both these are here discovered to be erroneous For the first is builded on a grosse conceipt that the fire of hell is elementall and corporcall fire which as it burneth and consumeth bodily substances over which it hath power so it in time wasteth it selfe and goeth out but indeed the fire of Hell is the fire of Gods wrath which burneth and tormenteth worse then elementarie fire but consumeth not neither shall ever be quenched as our Saviour testifieth The second opinion is also confuted by these doctrines which have proved Angels to be spirits or spirituall substances which though they may bee stained with sin yet they cannot bee dissolved as men are in death by the separation of soule and body not corrupted as mens bodies are in the grave but the evill Angells shall live in eternall torment and their substance shall never be corrupted and consumed and the holy and blessed Angels are immortall and shall live in glory for ever and there shall be no end of their blessednesse CHAP. V. Of the Creation of the Earth The names whereby it is called Properties of it All creatures have being of God with Vses The World is all mutable and appointed so to be Vses The creation and redemption of the World wherein they resemble one another Vses The holy Ghost is of one and the same nature with the Father and the Sonne THe Second thing created next after the highest heaven with the inhabitants thereof the Angels is the Earth as my text here faith in these wordes and the Earth But wee must not here understand by Earth this earth or drie land upon which men and beasts doe live and move and have their being and which is beautified and adorned with trees plants greene herbes and flowers and replenished with stones and metals of all sorts For that was created together with the waters of the Sea and brought into forme and replenished in the third day as appeares in the 9. 10. 11. verses of this Chapter But here by Earth wee are to understand a certaine rude matter and masse without forme and void out of which God made all the inferiour visible World and all things therein contained so the wordes following in the second verse plainely shew The earth was without forme and void and darknesse was upon the face of the deep Now that wee may know what creature this Earth was wee are to consider these 3 things First the severall names by which it is called Secondly the properties by which it is described Thirdly the meanes by which it was upheld in being and disposed to bee the common matter of all othervisible things created afterwards First the names by which it is called are three 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the earth 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the deep 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 waters First it is called the earth because of the grossenesse unmoveablenesse and impurity of it For the earth is of all elements most grosse heavy impure and confused not fit to move out of the place wherein it is most untractable and not ready to apply it selfe to any other thing and hard to bee turned into the forme of other things without labour and working of it This first rude and informed masse which God created out of nothing is here declared by this name Earth to have beene like the earth very impure and confused dull and unfit for motion resembling at the first the earth rather then any purer element Secondly it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the deep here also in the text which word signifies a great deep or devouring gulfe as it were of troubled waters also troubled and confounded with mixture of mud and myre which though in respect of the troubled mixture and confusion it hath a resemblance of earth yet it is bottomlesse there is no solidity in it no ground or stay to bee found at all Thus much the Hebrew word signifies according to the notation and common use of it Thirdly it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 waters also in this text because of the waterish fluxibility which was in it by meanes of which it was unstable and unsettled and also because it was an huge deep like the great waters of the Sea Now it may seeme strange that this one and the same rude masse should bee like earth and like a bottomlesse depth of myre or quick-sand and like waters all at once which are things different and unlike one to another especially the thinne flowing element of water and the grosse dull unmoveable earth And therefore the learned Expositors labour thus to qualifie the meaning of the words they say it was a confused masse even the matter of all the elements mingled together and because the earth and water are the most grosse and impure and did most of all appeare in it therefore it is called earth and water and the deep which is a
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
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
the handling of this point if I should rehearse the severall opinions of the ancients how they make a difference betweene the image likenesse of God how some make the image of God to be onely in the soule some in the whole man some holdthe reasonable soule as it is endowed with understanding will and memory to be the image and holinesse and righteousnesse to be the likenesse of God others hold that Gods image consists in mans Dominion Lordship over the creatures others that Gods image consists in mans immortality others in this that man is a spirituall substance in respect of his soule others that the image of God after which God formed man is God the Son as hee is the image and character of the Fathers Person and the similitude is the holy Ghost others that the image of God is the humane nature which the Son was ordained to assume and did in fulnesse of time take upon him If I should rehearse all these and lay them open and confute so much in them as in unsound I should spend time and weary my selfe to small purpose Likewise it would take up exercises of many houres if I should rehearse the divers opinions questions and disputations of the Schoolemen all which would trouble mens braines and leave them in a maze or labyrinth uncertaine what to hold or beleeve as also the many disputations absurdities and contradictions of the Iesuits by which they contradict one another and some of them themselves in many things which they teach and affirme concerning the image of God As for the grosse opinions of old Hereticks as of the Manichaans who utterly denyed the image of God in man and of the Audians and Anthropomorphites who held that the outward forme and shape of mans body was Gods imagc and of the Pelagians who held that the image of God in which man was created was no other but that in which every man is now borne they are not worthy to bee named it were losse of time to confute them and to discover the absurdities of them The maine ground which I will wholly build upon shall bee the word of God written in the sacred Scriptures and what I find in the Fathers and best moderne Writers agreeable to the Scriptures that I will commend unto you and where I find them differing from Gods word I will be bold to professe open dissert and shew my dislike that none may bee mislead by them or by any who build upon humane authority But that wee may understand this point plainely and fully I will first of all sift the words of the text and shew what is the image and likenesse of God and how we are to understand the phrase of making man in his owne image and after his likenesse And secondly I will shew the particulars wherein man was made like unto God and what is that image in which hee was made First the image of a person or thing is that which though it differs in nature and substance yet is formed by that person and according to that thing and in all things made like unto that whereof it is the image in so much that hee who knoweth the person or thing it selfe when hee seeth the image can discerne that it is the image of such a thing or person and that it is very like him and by seeing the true image hee knowes and discernes what a one the person or thing is whereofit is the image this is the first the most proper sense of the word image and thus it is used where statues of gold silver wood stone or other metall made in the shape of a man to represent him or in some other shape to represent a feined God are called images as Num. 33. 52. where God commands the Israelites to destroy the Idols of the Canaanites and cals them molten images and a King 11. 19. the Idols or statues made to represent Baal the God of the Zidonians are called the images of Baal And man being made a fit creature to represent God and to shew his glory is in this sense called the image and glory of God 1 Cor. 11. 7. Secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zelem image is used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is abusively to signifie a vaine shadow or bare forme and shape of a thing without a substance such as is the shadow of a man or other creature or a shape formed in the fansie having no being but in mans imagination as Psalme 39. 6. where every man is said to walke in a vaine shadow the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zelem image and Psalme 37. 20. the vaine fansie and dreame of the wicked that is the vaine felicity which they frame to themselves is called by the same name Zelem image Here in this text the word is used in the first sense for such a thing or such a creature as differing in nature and substance from God yet in that nature and substance is so like unto God and doth shew forth the glory wisedome power and other attributes of God that they may bee seene and represented in some good measure in the things and by the things which are proper to that creature And an image according to this sense hath in it two things to bee considered to wit the matter and the forme The matter is the nature and substance of the creature differing from the substance of the thing whereof that creature is the image and yet a very fit subject to receive such a forme and such qualities as may make it very like the thing whereof it is the image as for example gold silver wood and stone differ in nature and substance from man and yet they are fit to receive the whole outward shape of a mans body and to bee like unto it in all parts If things bee both of one kind and nature though the similitude bee never so great yet the one is not called the image of the other except it bee made by and according to it as for example One egge is not the image of another nor one apple nut or figge anothers image nor water nor wine of the same kind in severall cups though they bee very like because they are both of one nature and of the same kinde and one is not made and formed by another Secondly the forme of the image is the likenesse and similitude which is in all the parts properties of a thing by meanes whereof it resembles that whereof it is the image is like unto it so becomes the image of it as for example the forme shape resemblance which is in the image of gold silver or stone by which it resembleth and expresseth all parts of a mans body and the colour of it by which it resembles a mans haire face hands and cloathes that is the likenesse by which it becomes the image of a man even of this or that particular man and
is knowne and discerned to bee his image and in it his shape is plainely seene Both these are here to bee understood in this word image and Gods image containes in it both the similitude or resemblance by which man is said to bee like unto God in all his naturall properties gifts and endowments and also his nature and substance which though it differs from Gods nature and substance Yet is a fit subject of such properties gifts and endowments which resemble Gods attributes and properties Secondly the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demuth which is here translated likenesse is used in a twofold sense First it signifies the similitude and likenesse by which one thing resembles another in all the speciall properties of it thus it is used Psalme 58. 4. where the poison rancour and malice of the wicked is said to have the likenesse of the poison of aspes and Ezech. 1. 10. the likenesse of the faces of the foure living creatures in Ezechiels vision is said to bee like the face of a man and of a Lyon and of an Oxe and of an Eagle and Dan. 10. 16. one is said to touch Daniel who had the likenesse of the Sons of men Secondly it signifieth the same that the word image doth that is a thing which is made like to another and is the very patterne which resembleth it in all parts and properties as 2 King 16. 10. where the patterne of the Altar of Damascus which Ahaz sent to Vriah the Priest is called the image of it And 2 Chron. 4. 3. the images of Oxen which Solomon made under the brasen Sea are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demuth the likenesse of Oxen and Isa. 40. 18. an image made to represent God according to that conceipt of him which men frame in their mindes is thus called Here in this text the word is used in the latter sense and signifies the same that the word image doth in effect but in a diver and manner For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Image signifies first a creature and then the likenesse by which that creature so resembles God the Creatour in all the speciall properties of it that it becomes his image And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likenesse signifies first the similitude and then the creature that is such a similitude and resemblance of God stamped upon the nature and being of a creature as makes it the very image of God and so these two words Zelem Image and Demuth Likenesse are as the best learned and most judicious expositors of this text doe affirme the one the exposition of the other The word Image sheweth that the creature barely considered is not Gods image but by the naturall properties and gifts by which it resembles God And the word likenesse sheweth that the similitude alone is not the image but as it subsists in a fit subject and flowes from the nature and properties which God gave it in the creation Vpon these grounds wee may easily understand that the phrase of creating man in Gods owne image and likenesse signifies Gods creating man of such a nature and endowed with such naturall properties gifts and endowments that hee doth in them all resemble himselfe and is his lively image very like to him shewing forth his divine properties and attributes of goodnesse wisedome power knowledge and in all things conformable to his just will Thus much for the opening of the words The next thing to bee considered is the Image it selfe and the speciall things wherein it doth consist And here I hold it necessary first to distinguish the image of God and his likenesse into two kinds The first is naturall formed in the creation The second is supernaturall and spirituall formed in man by the holy Ghost dwelling in him This distinction though divers people lead by custome and humane authority more then the word of God doe reject as a meere device of mine owne yet I finde it plainely laid downe in the word of God For the holy Apostle Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15. 49. doth in expresse words affirme that as there is both a first Adam made of the Earth earthy who by Gods breathing into him the breath of life became a living soule in the first creation and also a second Adam made a quickening Spirit even the Lord Christ from Heaven heavenly So there is a twofold image of God in man the first The image of the earthy Adam in which hee was created which though hee forfeited and lost by the law of justice yet by Gods common and generall indulgence in Christ hee did so farre retaine and communicate it though grievously mangled defaced that we are said to have borne it who are Adams naturall progenie and were created upright in his loynes The other is the image of the heavenly Adam the Lord Christ who being in the forme of God equall with God did humble himselfe to descend from Heaven by taking our nature upon him and framing to himselfe out of the seed of the woman by the operation of the holy Ghost a most pure and holy manhood which did beare over and above the image of the first Adam deformed with many frailties and all our infirmities sin onely excepted Rom. 8. 3. Philip. 2. 7. an holy and heavenly image created and framed in his humane nature by the working of the holy Ghost which is given to him not by measure Ioh. 3. 34. even from his first conception Luk. 1. 35. And this image as the elect regenerate and faithfull doe beare in part in the state of grace while they are by the inward worke of the Spirit conformed to the image of Christ Rom. 8. 29. and Christ is formed in them Gal. 4. 19. So they shall fully and perfectly beare it in heaven after the last resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 49. And as the holy Apostle doth distinguish these two images and doth oppose the one to the other making the one the image of the first Adam who was of the Earth earthy the other proper to Christ the second Adam who is the Lord from Heaven heavenly so hee doth shew divers differences betweene them in his divine Epistles which are confirmed also by other Scriptures First the image of God in the first Adam was naturall it was that which was given him in the creation so my text here saith God created man in his owne image But the image of God in the second Adam was supernaturall and spirituall for hee was conceived and formed in the wombe by the holy Ghost Luk. 1. 35. and his image is communicated to men and they are changed into it by the Spirit of God 2 Cor. 3. 18. Secondly the image of God in the first Adam was mutable and Adam did forfeit it together with his life and naturall being by his sin and disobedience And although God out of his common favour and indulgence in Christ doth still continue it in some degree to Adams posterity yet
second Adam Christ in which hee was formed by the holy Ghost and into which all the elect are changed and renued when they are regenerate and made new creatures in him may serve for excellent use as I shall shew when I have described the image of God wherein our first Parents were created and have laid downe by way of Doctrine the particulars wherein it doth consist But before I can distinctly describe the Image of which my text here speakes I must yet a little more distinctly shew the severall sorts of images which are images of God and of other things There are images which are essentiall and perfect to wit every person begotten by another of his owne nature and images which are accidentall and imperfect An essentiall image is either absolute and most perfect or lesse perfect The essentiall image which is most perfect and absolute is one person begotten by another of the same undivided substance and being in all essentiall properties equall and alike distinct onely by personall properties and subsistence Thus the eternall Son of God is the image of the Father of whom he is begotten from all eternity of the same nature and individuall substance For the second person the Son considered according to his divinity simply as God before his assuming of our fraile nature is said to bee in the forme of God that is his person is of the same essence glory and majesty with the Father and hee thought it no robbery to bee equall with God that is to have all essentiall properties of God equall which the Father as the Apostle testifieth Philip. 2. 6. and in this respect hee is called the image of the invisible God Coloss. 1. 15. and the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his person Hebr. 1. 3. which words though they have respect to Christ as hee is the Word made flesh and God incarnate revealing God in his goodnesse wisedome justice mercy power and the like yet they must not bee limited to his incarnation but are extended to his deity as hee is the eternall Word the Son the second Person by whom the Father created all things and who with the Father doth uphold and sustaine all things as the words immediatly following doe shew For indeed the eternall Word the Son is in the forme of God one and the same God of the same substance glory and majesty with the Father and onely distinguished in personall properties relatiom and subsistence And therefore hee alone can truely bee called the image of God in this sense which is most perfect and absolute The essentiall or substantiall image which is lesse perfect then the other is either naturall or supernaturall A naturall essentiall image is one person begotten by another of the same nature and kind of substance and equall and alike in the same kind of naturall properties but not of the same singular substance and individuall properties thus every Son of man is the image of the Father which begets him for though hee hath a severall soule and body and severall properties which are of the same kind but not the same singular with those of his Father yet because his body and soule and all the faculties of it are of the same kind and in the outward forme resembles his Father and his Father may bee seene as it were in him therefore hee is his Fathers image and made in his likenesse A supernaturall essentiall image is a nature or person who is so begotten of God by the holy Ghost given to bee and abide in him as the immortall seed of God that hee is made partaker of the divine nature that is hath not onely supernaturall and spirituall gifts wrought in him by which hee is made fit to see and enjoy God but also is united to God and God becomes his portion for ever This image is either primary or secondary The primary image of this kind is onely Christ as hee is man or the humane nature of Christ which God formed and made in the womb of the virgin so pure and holy by the holy Ghost from the first conception in which the holy Ghost came upon her and the power of the Almighty over-shadowed her Luk. 1. that it was not onely most pure and holy and full of the holy Ghost from the first being of it but also was personally assumed and united to the eternall Son of God the second Person in the blessed Trinity and so became the first borne of every creature Coloss. 1. 15. and the first fruits which doe sanctifie the whole masse of the elect 1 Cor. 15. 23. and hee head from whom the Spirit is derived unto all the elect Ephes. 4. 15 so that they become a kind of first fruits of Gods creatures Iam. 1. 18. The secondary supernaturall image is every elect regenerate child of God begotten and borne of his Spirit shed on them through Christ Tit. 3. 6. and so created a new man after God in righteousnesse and holinesse of truth and made partakers of the divine nature one with God in Christ and by Christ Ioh. 17. 23. I call this a secondary image because the elect become this image not immediatly but after a secondary manner by deriving the Spirit from Christ and by union with God in him I call it a supernaturall image because it is above mans nature and belongs not to him in the creation nor consists in any naturall properties or resemblance And I call it an essentiall image because every regenerate man hath in him the holy Ghost dwelling as the soule of his soule quickning the whole man which Spirit is of the same essence with the Father and the Son And in respect of this Spirit and his gifts dwelling in his tabernacles their bodies and furnishing them throughout they are truely called and are indeed a new image of God and new creatures All these sorts of images are to bee excluded out of this text for our first parents are not here said to bee created after God essentially or supernaturally but onely in the accidentall and naturall image of God as I have in part shewed before and shall also hereafter more fully shew in all the particulars The accidentall or imperfect image of a thing or of a person is a thing or person so framed and made by another as by a paterne and after the likenesse of that paterne that it doth very much resemble it in likenesse and similitude but yet is not every way equall nor in all things fully alike nor of the same nature and substance with it In an image of this kind there are required two things necessarily First that the thing which is the image bee very like that whereof it is the image yea so like that it must resemble and represent either the nature and essentiall forme of it or the outward forme and figure or some speciall properties and proper qualities of it or all these together and yet in
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
it demonstrated in all the parts The Manner of Creation in foure things Angels had no hand in the Creation Foure uses of the Point THe first thing now to be stood upon is the creation in generall as it is described in the generall nature of it by the name the Author or causes and the time when it first began and when it was done and that chiefely in this first verse First Creation is here set forth by the name of it in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created Secondly by the Author or sole efficient cause of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Thirdly by the time when God began the creation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the beginning and wherein he perfected that worke in six dayes Fourthly by the forme and manner of it vers 3 God said and it was done First the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created if it bee rightly understood according to the true and proper signification of it in this place may give great light to the matter in hand I will therefore first distinguish it according to the severall significations in which it is used in the Scriptures and will shew in what sense it is here to be taken and then will come neere to the matter First it signifies properly that extraordinary miraculous worke of God by which he gives a substance and substantiall being to things which before were not and doth make them either of nothing or of some matter which hath in it selfe no naturall fitnesse or disposition to receive such a forme or to be turned into such a substance thus it is used Deut. 4. 32. in these words from the day that God created man And Psal. 148. 5. He commanded and they were created Secondly by a metaphore this word signifies the extraordinary works of God which are very like unto the creation because they are done by a supernaturall power and suddenly brought forth as it were out of nothing when there was no meanes or naturall disposition going before Thus the 〈◊〉 of regeneration in which the wicked corrupt heart of man 〈◊〉 by nature is unfit for any holinesse and most prone to wickednesse is changed in a moment by the Spirit of God and becomes a cleane creature and a new man is called creating Psal. 51. 12. Thus are all great and miraculous works of God called creating When hee raiseth up wonderfull strength out of weakenesse and by them who are as nothing doth overthrow mighty gyants and strong armies this is called creating Exod 34. 10. When God of a stubborne stiff-necked nation and of a people scattered despised and counted worse than nothing raiseth up and maketh a most holy people and glorious Church as he will doe in the last conversion of the Jewes this is called commonly in the Prophets by the name of Creation as Psal. 102. 18. and Isa. 43. 7. and 65. 18. And when the Lord in his just wrath doth raise up evill and destruction to the wicked out of good things which naturally turne to good this is called creating Isa. 45. 7. and 〈◊〉 â—â—ery raysing up of things without meanes as Psal. 104. 30â— When God suddenly beyond meanes or expectation by the supernaturâ—ll power of his Spirit reneweth the face of the earth it is called creating But in this place the word is to be taken in the proper sense for making thingâ— either of nothing or of matter made of nothing and of it selfe unfit and without naturall disposition for receiving any such forme as that which God doth give unto it The word thus expounded sheweth what creation is even a making of things out of nothing or of rude matter undisposed for such a forme and being as God in an instant frameth one of it And so it differs from all other kindes of making and producing things as from naturall generation of living crâ—atures and of clowds raine thunder and the rest which are made by an ordinary power out of matter fitted for the forme of things produced and from all artificall making of thingâ— as house and other things made by art of matter fitted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The second thing by which creat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the author and cause of it expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word is not here used metaphorically to signifie Angels false Gods and men who are ministers and vicegerents under God as it is sometimes used in Scripture but it is here taken in the sense which is most common and frequent in the originall that is for the true God and is one of his sacred Names And it is a word of the plurall number and in many places is joyned with verbes of the plurall number and that for this end to teach us that though God whose name this is bee but one in nature and essence yet in that unity of essence and in that one eternall Jehovah there is a pluralitie that is a Trinity of Persons This word therefore doth here plainely intimate unto us that Creation is an action of the whole Trinity and that it is the joint worke of all the three Persons even of God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost and this shewes that neither Angels nor false Gods but Jehovah the true God is the Author of the Creation as appeares Cap. 2. 7. The third thing by which the Creation is described is the time of it both the first time in which God began to create and did create the highest heaven and the rude masse the earth and also the progresse of time in which God created all visible things in order and finished the whole frame of the visible world This is expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the beginning and in other parts of the Chapter which mention the particular dayes in which every thing was made For this word though sometimes it signifies Eternity and intimates unto us the eternall being of the Son of God together with the Father from all eternity and before all worlds as Prov. 8. 22. where eternall Wisdome saith The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old and John 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word yet most commonly and frequently in the Scriptures being laid downe absolutely as in this place it signifies either the first moment and beginning of all time as in this verse or else the first six dayes of the creation or any one of them in which dayes God made finished the whole frame of heaven and earth and all the host of them as Isa. 46. 10. where God is said to declare and foretell the end of all things from the beginning that is from the six dayes of the creation in which God began to speake to man and foretell 〈◊〉 end and Joh. 8. 44. where the Divell is called a â—urtherer from the beginning that is from the last day of the CreatioÌ„ in which God made the Divell marred man and brought him