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النشر الإلكتروني

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I will go down. Thus God is called our Makers, Job xxxv. ro. 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 singular." Should it be supposed, that the great God here speaks to some other being or beings befides himself, it must be to some fubordinate beings; for neither this, nor any other passage of scripture, can justly be explained inconsistently with the unity, fimplicity, or singleness of the divine nature.

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 refembling the Likeness of God. And yet, with respect to other creatures on earth, it speaks high diftinction, and superiority. 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 al 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 fo 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 profeffion] 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 lufts : 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, say 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 Christian church to a man, or the human body, of which Christ 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 twain, or of the two parties, believing Jews and Gentiles, one new man, or the new constitution 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,

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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 Christian church, or community. And therefore, they were obliged to be renewed in the fpirit of their minds, and to live in knowledge, [true wisdom] or in righteoufness and true boliness. For God created the new man, or constituted 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 fame rectitude among men. For (Ephef. ii. 10.) we, the new Man, or the whole body of Christians, are God's workmanship, created in Chrift Jefus unto good works, which God ordained, when he formed the Gofpel 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 fuch a righteoufness would have been produced in him without his knowledge and consent; and so 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 meer 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 bleffing upon the regular propagation of the human species, ver. 28. And God bleffed them, &c. But this bleffing, divines have supposed, was turned into a curse, by Adam's transgression; 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 repetes, and pronounces the very same original blessing upon the increase or birth of mankind 1600 years, and upwards, after Adam's transgression, when the world was to be restored, and replenished from Noah and his fons. This proves, that mankind, in all fuccessive generations, have come, and will come into the world, under the very fame blessing and favor 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 animosity towards those that espouse the contrary opinion, who ought to be treated with candor and forbearance, but to fettle our own judgments upon right principles,

Once more; the original grant of sustenance 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 survey of the nature which God has gracioufly 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.) Gad breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living foul. Job xxxii. 8. The inspiration of the Almighty giveth us understanding; the nobleft 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 exifted 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 superior to ourselves. By this we stretch our thoughts to the highest excellency, and contemplate the nature of the infinitely perfect Being.

Our fingular honor and advantage lies in our moral capacities. While instinct determines the pursuits of inferior creatures; whilft 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; converse with the fupreme Father, and defire, and dispose ourselves for, the everlasting enjoyment of his favor. And agreeably to these diftinguishing honors 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 surprizing 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 revele the high defigns of the Divine Wisdom and Godness, to give himself a sacrifice 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.

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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 person, how low foever in the world, hath that in poffeffion, which is more valuable than thousands of gold and filver; an immenfe treasure, to which the whole earth bears no proportion, himself, a reasonable Soul, an immortal Spirit; to which, in real excellence, the visible creation, the earth with all its material riches, the sky with all its splendid 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 trifles of the world; to be fond of earthly things, and to make our reason a drudge to sensual pursuits! God has made us Men, creatures of the finest powers and faculties; he hath used us as Men, by making the most ample provision to enable us to honor 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 hath provided. The knowledge of God; conformity of heart and life to his will; the fruits of the spirit, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance; converse with God; the high privileges of the fons of God; the prospects of eternal glory; these are the objects of our care: as we are enlightened by the Gofpel, we are obliged to make these our study, and to form our fpirits according to the fublime and excellent sentiments which these inspire, that thus we may be fiting ourselves for a much higher and more perfect degree of existence in a better world.

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CHAP. VI.

Of the INSTITUTION of the SABBATH.

Gen. II. Ver. 1, 2, 3.

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S foon as God had created the world, and man in it, he blessed the Seventh Day, upon which he rested from creation, and fane

tified it, i. e. he distinguished it from the other fix days by seting it apart to the purposes of religion. Thus the fanctification of the Sabbath is the first and oldest of God's institutions, 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 necessarily 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 our selves, and a bleffing bleffing to others; and all that can qualify us for the enjoyment of God, and fit us for immortal honour and glory. We cannot keep a due and prevailing sense of these things upon our minds, without close and repeated application of thought; and therefore, as the affairs and neceffities of this present life make such constant and importunate demands upon us, that our hearts and thoughts would be unavoidably ingrossed by them, it is in the nature of things necessary, that some certain time should be publicly appropriated to the exercises of religion, inftruction, prayer and praise, to fortify our minds against temptations, and to feaIon them with piety and virtue. And doubtless, God alone hath wisdom and authority sufficient to affign that portion of time which is proper and generally competent for those good puposes.

The Sabbath is perfectly suited to our nature and circumstances, and therefore was very properly instituted at the creation. But fome of the learned pretend, that Mofes here speaks, by anticipation, of the Institution of the Sabbath a long time after this, when he was lawgiver in Ifrael. This is a fiction without any foundation in the text. The historian expressly relates, that God blessed and fanctified that day on which he rested, or ceased, from creation; which, in all fair construction, muft be understood of his sanctifying it, at the time when he refted from creation. That we find no other mention of the Sabbath in the summary and very comprehenfive history of Genesis, is no proof that the Patriarchs did not observe it; much less that the law thereof was not all that time in force. We find not the least mention, or intimation, of the Sabbath in all the book of Joshua, nor in Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, till we come to II Kings, iv. 23. a far more particular historie than the book of Genesis; and yet it is very certain that the law of the Sabbath was all that time in force, and without doubt was observed too. There are very clear intimations of regard to the Sabbath in the book of Genesis, chap. viii. 8-13. Thrice Noah sent the dove out of the ark, after he had every time waited seven days. Facob (Gen. xxix. 27, 28.) fulfilled Leah's week. This plainly shews the Patriarchs, long before Mofes was born, reckoned time by seven days, or qweeks; which can be referred to no other supposeable original but the institution of the Sabbath, at the creation.

The Ifraelites indeed, during their long continuance and servitude in Egypt, upwards of 200 years, seem to have lost their reckoning of the Sabbath, when they were constrained by perpetual and most servile labor to neglect the observance of it. However, it certainly was the appointment of God, that they should begin a new reckoning of the feventh day, and form a new epocha, namely, the falling of the manna, Exod. xvi. 5. And it shall come to pass on the fixth day, they shall prepare that manna which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And when the people had done so, the rulers of the congregation came, and told Moses; probably inquiring into the reason, why God had given such an order, ver. 23. And Mofes faid unto them, this is that which the Lord hath faid, or, this is the meaning of the Divine Command, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Ver. 25, 26. Ye Shall not then find it in the field; fix days shall ye gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there shall be none. And this course continued

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