The Godly Mans Journey to Heaven, Treatise 1 · Meditation 3
3 Remember ô man how thou wast made to the Image of God, after deliberation as it were, and forget not what thy God would teach thee thereby.
HEarken, hearken▪ ô my soule, and beleeue me speaking vntounto thee from the mouth of thy God, who esteemeth of thee highly, out of that louelove wherewith he hath loued thee freely. Hadst thou, ô my soule, that hearing eare to hearken vntounto, and that vnderstanding heart to perceiue, that which thy blessed maker would leade thee vntounto, by that more then maiesticke, glorious, and comfortable Oracle, sounded out of his Maiesties glorious lips, while he is about to make man for himselfe, after that he had made the other creatures for man: Let vsus make man to our owne Image: Beleeue me, ô my soule, could this Oracle (neuer alas sufficiently considered by man) be rightly weighed by thee, thou wouldest begin to learne to thinke lesse of the other creatures (after the which so many dote, euen miserably, and by the which alas there is a very world grosly bewitched) yea thou wouldest begin to learne to account of none but of thy God, yea not to attempt to louelove thy selfe but for Gods cause, and in so farre as thou findest thy selfe like vntounto him. What, ô my soule, shalt thou be made to see and heare, if thou wilt compare the 26. verse of the first of Genesis, pointing at the creation of man, with the 3. 6. 9. 14. 20. and 24. verses of that same Chapter, leading vsus vntounto the creation of the other creatures? True it is, ô my soule, that all these other creatures were created by that same God by whom man was created: yet they and man are not brought foorth after one and the same manner by this God. For albeit our God being to create the light, the firmament, and so forth, be content to say: Let there be light, Let there be a firmament, &c. yet it contented not his wise, mercifull Maiestie, when he is to make man, barely to say, Let there be a man: but he must say, Let vsus make man to our owne Image; thus passing from the creation of the other creatures vntounto the creation of man, not without speciall aduice and deliberation as it were. And yet here thou must not thinke, ô my soule, that thy powerfull God, to whom all things are easie, brought foorth man with any greater difficultie then he brought forth the other creatures, or that he doubted any wayes about the making of man. But this is done by him, that hereby his wise Maiestie, one in substance, three in persons, Father, Sonne, and holy Ghost, might recommend to our consideration the excellencie and eminencie of man, beyond and aboue all other creatures, daining himselfe to take a speciall consultation onelyonly about the making of man, as about his most glorious and excellent worke. Shall these three sacred persons of that incomparable deitie, after mature deliberation concurre, as it were ioyntly and ioyfully to the making of man, and shouldest not thou, ô my soule, summoning all thy powers, with all the members of my bodie, after due aduice, charge them all to concurre, for the louing, for the seeking, and for the seruing of that blessed God againe? crying aloud, ô my mind, ô my heart, ô my will, ô my whole affections, and so ô my louelove, ô my hatred, ô my feare, ô my confidence, ô my ioy, ô my sorrow, ô my anger, ô my patience, concurre to seeke him, concurre to serue him, who concurred to make you. Yea, ô mine eyes, mine eares, my lips, my hands, my feete, and remanent members, see you all concurre with all your might and skill, to withstand sinne the onelyonly enemie of that God, who with ioy concurred to make you; and to prooue your selues alwayes to be his dutifull seruants, who hath proued so gracious a Lord to you. For thou must know, ô my soule, that God made man to his owne Image, to the end that man might be an habitation to his God for euer, as the world was made to be a soiourning place to man for a while.Ber ser. india. eccles. Out of the sense hereof Bernard could say, Non capit Deum nisi Imago sua, bonum proinde parat habitaculum Deo, cuius nec ratio decepta, nec voluntas peruersa, nec memoria inquinata est: Nothing can receiue or keepe our God beside his owne Image, and therefore that man dresseth a fit dwelling place for God, who hath neither his reason deceiued, nor his will peruerted, nor his memorie defiled.