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ported with joy, by an elegant prosopopeia, the Pfalmist, in the 148th Pfalm, calls upon all creatures to praise God; wishing, in effect, that they had all of them understandings and tongues to declare how much kill and kindness he has shewn in their formation and establishment, Joy and praife are the Creator's due, and should be our constant temper and practice. (3.) He who is the maker, is also the absolute proprietor, Lord, and Sovereign of all things; and therefore hath the first and highest right to our reverence, fubmiffion, and obedience; in which he is infinitely able to support us in oppofition to all human power and authority. For all Power, not only his own inherent power, but also the Power of all created beings, belongs to God. From him it is originally derived, and the exercise of it depends entirely upon his will and pleasure; nor, in any instance, can it possibly act beyond the limits which he prescribes. Therefore, in the way of duty, relying upon his all-fufficiency, we need not fear what man can do unto us. (4.) In our present situation we are liable to many difficulties and distrefles, from which we are not able to guard or extricate ourselves; but the almighty Creator is infinitely able to deliver his fervants from any danger, and can clear a passage through all embarrafsments. He can make a way even in the fea, and a path in the mighty waters. (5.) He who from his own inexhaustible fulness hath brought forth all worlds and creatures, is our shepherd; he careth for us, and can fully fupply all our wants. (6.) He can fully accomplish all the great and - glorious things revealed in the Gofpel. He can raise us from the dead, change our vile bodies, and clothe us with immortal honour and glory, This should not seem to us incredible, because he hath already performed things as incredible, and we have constantly exposed to our view effects of his Power no less wonderful.

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HAP. V.

Of the CREATION of MAN.
Gen. i, 26, to the End.

OW we are come to the formation of Man. Here, observe, the language of the Creator is altered. Instead of, Let there be Men, God faid, (Ver. 26.) Let us make Man, or, we will make Man, in our image, after our likeness. Q. d. "Now we have formed and furnished

the earth, let us make Man, the nobiest of our works, to inhabit, " cultivate, and enjoy it." The superior excellency of the human nature is fignified by the diftinguished manner in which God is represented as addressing himself to the formation of Man.

The plural number is ufed [And God faid, let us make Man]; but according to the genius of the Hebrew language, this is only a magnificent way of expreffing the majefty of God; and amounts to no more than this, And God jaid, I will make Man. So Gen. xi. 7. Go to, let us go down, i. e.

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I will go down. Thus God is called our Makers, Job xxxv. 10. Pfal. cxlix. 2. Thy Creators, Eccl. xii. 1. Thy makers is thy husbands, Ifai. liv. 5. which are all to be understood, and are rendered in the fingular number. "Nouns appellative denoting dominion, according to the He" brew idiom, are put in the plural instead of the fingular." Should it be supposed, that the great God here speaks to some other being or beings befides himself, it must be to fome subordinate beings; for neither this, nor any other passage of scripture, can justly be explained inconfiftently with the unity, fimplicity, or singleness of the divine nature. X Ver. 26. Let us make Man in our own Image, [Heb. in the sketch or shadow of us after, or like, our Likeness. These words, with respect to God, are diminutive, and denote that the most perfect endowments of the human nature are but a sketch, a shadow, or something resembling the Likeness of God. And yet, with respect to other creatures on earth, it speaks high diftinction, and fuperiority. For this sketch of the Image of God in Man must include, 1. The noble faculties of his mind; understanding and will, or freedom of choice, for the government of all his actions and paffions, and his continual improvement in wisdom, purity, and happiness. 2. His dominion over the inferior creatures, expressly mentioned, ver. 26, 28. By which he is God's Representative, or Viceroy upon earth.

But divines have understood this Image of God, as confifting in righteousness and true holiness; which they affirm, were created with Adam. Meaning, not that Adam was created with such powers as rendered him capable of acquiring righteousness and holiness, but that he was made in this Image of God; it was concreated with him, or wrought into his nature, at the same time that it was created; and so belonged to it as a natural faculty or inftinct. This they call original righteousness, which they ground principally upon the two following passages. Col. iii. 9, 10. Lye not one to another, feeing that you have [by your Chriftian profession] put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him. Ephef. iv. 22, 23, 24. That ye put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. All this is supposed to relate to Adam's being originally created in the Image of God.

The old man, fay they, is a corrupt nature derived from Adam; and the new man, is fallen man restored to the primitive temper, or to that righteousness and holiness in which they suppose Adam was created. But this is wide of the Apostle's sense. It is not uncommon with him to compare the Chriftian church to a man, or the human body, of which Chrift is the head, and we are all of us members in particular. The new man was created, when God erected the Gospel Dispensation, and broke down the middle Wall of Partition between us Jews and Gentiles, (Ephef. ii. 13, 14, 15, 16.) for to make to himself, in the Gospel, of wain, or of the two parties, believing Jews and Gentiles, one new man, or the new conftitution and community, under the Gospel. To this new man, the old man is directly opposed; and therefore must signify the Gentile state or community, headed by Satan, to which, before their converfion,

version, they were joined. This is confirmed by the Apostle, Ephef. ii. 11. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time passed GENTILES in the flesh, &c. And chap. iv. 17, &c. This I say - that ye walk not as other GENTILES walk, &c. They formerly belonged to the old man, the body of impure, idolatrous heathen; but now they had, by their Christian profeffion, put off this old man, together with all his wicked deeds, Col. iii. 9, 10, and had put on the new man, or were joined to the Chriftian church, or community. And therefore, they were obliged to be renewed in the Spirit of their minds, and to live in knowledge [true wisdom], or in righteousness and true holiness. For God created the new man, or conftituted the Chriftian church, in wisdom and righteousness and holiness, after his own Image, or the rectitude of his nature, with this design, to promote the same rectitude among men. For (Ephef. ii. 10.) we, the new Man, or the whole body of Christians, are God's workmanship, created in Chrift Jesus unto good works, which God ordained, when he formed the Gospel Scheme, that we should walk in them.

But what hath this to do with Adam's being created in righteousness and true holiness? Which, in the nature of things, could not be created, or wrought into his nature at the same time he was made; because such a righteousness would have been produced in him without his knowledge and consent; and fo would have been no righteousness at all. For whatever is wrought in my nature without my knowledge and choice, cannot poffibly be either fin or virtue in me, because it is no act of mine; but must be a mere natural instinct, like the industry of the bee, or the fierceness of the lion. Righteousness is right action, directed by knowledge and judgment; but Adam could neither act, nor know, nor judge, before he and all his intellectual powers were created; and therefore he must exist and use his intellectual powers, before he could be righteous and holy.

We may further observe-That God made the first pair male and female, that they might multiply and inhabit the whole earth, and supply a perpetual fucceffion of men and women, pronouncing a blessing upon the regular propagation of the human species, ver. 28. And God bleffed them, &c. But this blessing, divines have supposed, was turned into a curse, by Adam's tranfgreffion; which so corrupted the human nature, that thereby and thenceforth we all come into the world under the wrath and curse of God. But that this also is a mistake, is most evident from Gen. ix. 1. where God repeats, and pronounces the very same original bleffing upon the increase or birth of mankind 1600 years, and upwards, after Adam's tranfgreffion, when the world was to be restored, and replenished from Noah and his fons. This proves, that mankind, in all fucceffive generations, have come, and will come into the world, under the very fame bleffing and favour of God, which was declared at the first creation of Man. It is of great importance to observe these remarks, not to produce any disgust or animofity towards those that espouse the contrary opinion, who ought to be treated with candour and forbearance, but to fettle our own judgments upon right principles.

Once more, the original grant of fuitenance to Man was confined to herbs, and the fruits of plants and trees, ver. 29, 30. which afterwards was enlarged, and included animal food, Gen. ix. 3.

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Now let us take a furvey of the nature which God has graciously bestowed upon us. The body confifts of a mean material, the dust of the ground; but the mind is of nobler extraction, for (chap. ii. 7.) God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living fout. Job xxxii. 8. The inspiration of the Almighty giveth us understanding; the noblest gift of our Maker. The force and excellence of which appears in a surprising variety of inventions and discoveries. It is this faculty which penetrates into the most secret recesses of Nature; judges of, and admires the beauty and contrivance of the vast fabric of the universe; and traceth the footsteps of the most astonishing wisdom and regularity in the various situations and motions of the heavenly bodies. By this we review generations and actions, characters and events, that existed long before we were born; and dart our reflections the other way, into futurity, even as far as to the final period of this world, with all its works. By this we conceive, though but negatively, Eternity itself; and apprehend the state and felicity of beings far fuperior to ourselves. By this we stretch our thoughts to the highest excellency, and contemplate the nature of the infinitely perfect Being.

Our fingular honour and advantage lies in our moral capacities. Whle instinct determines the pursuits of inferior creatures; whilst they are utterly unable to judge of causes and effects, to draw consequences, or to reason about the natures and tendencies of things, in order to avoid or embrace, and are rather acted upon than act; we deliberate, we choose our way, we feel and examine what is before us; this is good, and therefore to be chosen; this is evil, therefore to be avoided; this will improve and exalt our life, this leads to dishonour and misery. We can study and observe the precepts of Divine Wisdom; imitate the moral perfections of Deity; converfe with the supreme Father, and defire, and dispose ourselves for, the everlasting enjoyment of his favour. And agreeably to these distinguishing honours of our nature, God our Maker, whose delights are with the children of men, has expressed his high regards to us, by supplying us with all proper materials for the improvement of our understandings; not only the objects of nature; but also the writings of good and wife men, especially the holy Scriptures, a rich treasury of the most excellent knowledge; containing the most surprising discoveries, the most useful instructions, the most just and noble principles and motives, and whatever is proper to cultivate and refine our spirits. In particular, the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, That God should fend his well-beloved Son out of his bosom to dwell among us in our flesh, to reveal the high designs of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness, to give himself a facrifice and offering to God upon the cross, to make atonement for our fins, to raise us to the dignity of kings and priests to his God and Father, that we might reign for ever with him; this exalts the love of God to men infinitely beyond our highest thoughts and imaginations; this raises our nature to an amazing, to an inexpressible dignity and value.

These confiderations should dispose us to be pleased with our being, and thankful to our Maker for it. With pleasure we should reflect that we are men. Every perfon, how low foever in the world, hath that in poffefssion, which is more valuable than thousands of gold and filver; an immenfe immense treasure, to which the whole earth bears no proportion, himself, a reafonable Soul, an immortal Spirit; to which, in real excellence, the visible creation, the earth with all its material riches, the sky with all its fplendid furniture, is not to be compared. Let us not measure ourselves by worldly riches. The foul is the standard of the Man, and raises him vastly above all that is earthly. How foolish then, how shameful, how impious is it to prostitute ourselves to the trifies of the world; to be fond of earthly things, and to make our reason a drudge to sensual purfuits! God has made us Men, creatures of the finest powers and faculties; he hath used us as Men, by making the most ample provifion to enable us to honour his Grace and our own being. And shall we defert our Manhood? Shall we despise the rich bounty of Heaven? Shall we mingle with the dust that particle of fuperior life, which God hath breathed into us? Rather let us affert the dignity of our being, and make it our principal care to improve it by all the advantages God bath provided. The knowledge of God; conformity of heart and life to his will; the fruits of the fpirit, joy, peace, long-fuffering, gentlenefs, goodness, fidelity, meeknefs, temperance; converse with God; the high privileges of the fons of God; the profpects of eternal glory; these are the objects of our care: as we are enlightened by the Gospel, we are obliged to make these our study, and to form our spirits according to the fublime and excellent sentiments which these inspire, that thus we may be fitting ourselves for a much higher and more perfect degree of exiftence in a better world.

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Of the INSTITUTION of the SABBATH.

Gen. ii. Ver. 1, 2, 3.

S foon as God had created the world, and man in it, he blessed the Seventh Day, upon which he rested from creation, and fantlified it, 1. e. he aftinguished it from the other fix days by fetting it apart to the purposes of religion. Thus the fanctification of the Sabbath is the fust and oldest of God's inftitutions, and must have a real. foundation in the nature of Man, and an immediate connexion with our being, and the great and excellent ends of it. The Sabbath and Man were, in a manner, created together. This is an indication, that although the particular time is, as it must neceffarily be, of positive appointment, yet the thing itself is an article of natural religion, and stands upon the reason of things. The great end for which we are brought into life, is to attain the knowledge, and to be confirmed in the love and obedience of God; which includes all right action and virtue, all that is perfective of our nature, all that renders us happy in ourselves, and a bleffing

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