A Treatise of Original Sin, Part 2 · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
Wherein the making Man after Gods Image did conſiſt.
SECT. I.
FIrſt, In the ſoul, as it is endowed with reaſon and underſtanding: For herein man did tranſcend all other viſible creatures, that God made him with a rational ſoul, inveſting him with reaſon and free-will, and in this reſpect the Image of God is not totally loſt; For though by it we have loſt all our power and underſtanding in holy things, yet we have not loſt our ſouls, and the natural faculties thereof; we are not made bruit beaſts, we are men ſtill; Hence it is that ſtill the reaſon holds, Why a man ſhould not kill another, Gen. 9. 6. For in the image of God made he man; If there were not yet the Image of God in ſome reſpect, the reaſon would not be ſo forcible; For what weight would it carry to ſay, Thou ſhalt not kill a man, becauſe once he had the Image of God, but now he hath loſt it? God ſpeaketh of what he will require of every man that hath ſlain another, and that becauſe in the Image of God he made him: Thus Jame. 3. 9. aggravateth the ſinne of curſing any man, becauſe man is made after the ſimilitude of God; To this we may appropriate that of the Poet, confirmed (Act. 17.) by the Apoſtle himſelf, We are his off ſpring: We will grant then, That the Image of God, ſo farre as it conſiſts in the ſoul, and the natural faculties, is not loſt, though in regard of the actings thereof even about natural things, they are made infirm and weak.
Secondly, The Image of God did conſiſt in that holineſſe and righteouſneſſ, which God did adorn the ſoul with: And this indeed is the moſt noble and principal part of Gods Image, to be made like God in righteouſneſſe and holineſſe; Therefore Col. 3. 10. Epheſ. 4, 24. we read the Image of God is ſaid to be in righteouſneſſe and true holineſſe: Inſomuch that many learned Divines do make this the onelyonly Image of God, though not ſo probably; This indeed is the principal and chief, the other is but remote and ſecundary, for the later abideth even in the Devils and the damned in hell; They have reaſon and underſtanding, yet they cannot do the leaſt good action, no not for a moment, although they have ſo much light in them. This holineſſe and righteouſneſſe then in the whole man, was the chiefeſt reſemblance of God, he being holy as God was holy, not by equality, but ſimilitude. But alas, who is able to apprehend aright of this? Who can now tell, being plunged into all evil and ſinne, what it is to be altogether holy, what it is to be without any blemiſh or ſpot? Yet in ſuch a glorious and admirable manner we were created.
Thirdly, The Image of God did not only comprehend this holineſſe actually dwelling in us, but a power and ſtrength alſo to perſevere in this holineſſe; for if God had been never ſo bountifull in one, yet if he had denied the other, he would have made us happy, that thereby we might become more miſerable. But this is not to be thought of that God, who ſhewed ſo much love and bounty in our firſt Creation; Adam therefore had the Law of God written in his heart, having ſtrength and ability from within to withſtand all temptations, and to perform any holy auty; ſo that we cannot inſtance in any holy action, which he had not power to perform Indeed to believe in Chriſt as a Saviour, to repent of ſinne, he could not actually do them, becauſe they do neceſſarily imply the ſubject ſinfull, and in a miſerable eſtate and condition, but eminently and tranſcendently theſe things were in his power; yea, this power of his did extend to keep all the Commandments of God, and that without any imperfection; Inſomuch that being under the Covenant of works, he might have obtained juſtification by them, though not meritoriouſty; This glory did God at firſt put upon us, who now have nothing but a curſed ſlavery unto ſinne, and an utter impotency to any thing that is holy: As for reſiſting any temptation, he had ſtrength and ability enough to gainſay it, though it had been in many degrees more violent, than that which … him: It is true, he was overcome by a temptation, and in that which might have eaſily been repulſed, as we would judge; but this was to ſhew, That although he was created holy, yet he was alſo mutable; Though he had power to perſevere, yet he had not that grace which did make him actually to perſevere, as the confirmed Angels have: So that what Hiſtorians ſay of the Marſi in Italy, and the … in Africa, That they had ſuch a temper of body, that no Serpents could hurt them, or poiſon them; Such an admitable temperament was Adams ſoul in, that the Serpent would not have deceived them had not they given conſent; For, if while we are in this corrupted eſtate, yet the Devil cannot force us to ſinne, be cannot make us ſinne, whether we will or no, but it is luſt within us, that betrayeth all to him: No wonder then, if in that ſtate of integrity, there was no … to ſinne, either from within or without.
Fourthly, This Image of God in the holineſſe of it, was not only in the mind and the will, with a clear knowledge of God, and love of him, but it did extend alſo to the affections, ſo that they were made with a regular ſubordination to the rule of holineſſe within a man. Theſe wild horſes (for our poſſions are no better) were then all tamed, and as much ſubject to mans will, as the winds and tempells were to Chriſts: Anger, grief, love and deſire, theſe did not riſe or continue in our ſoul any longer, or otherwiſe, but as they were conducted by the light of God ſhining in the mind: This muſt neceſſarily be comprehended in that expreſſion, Eccleſ. 7. when God is ſaid to make man right, rectitude is an univerſal harmony and congruity of all the parts of the ſoul unto the rule. Auſtin did once wonder at that diſobedience which now man finds in himſelf, Superat animu corperi &c. (Confeſ. lib. 8. cap. 9.) The ſoul commands the body, and preſently it obeyeth, but (ſaith he) Imperat ſibi ipſi, it commands it ſelf, and then there is rebellion, but it was not thus from the beginning: Therefore the Papiſts and Socinians they do blaſpheme in ſome ſenſe God our holy Maker, whale they affirm, That the repugnancy and rebellion of the ſenſitive appetite to the reaſon, ariſeth from the very internal conſtitution of a man; And therefore the Papiſts they make original righteouſneſs to be the bridle only to curb this appetite, or an antidore to prevent this infection. And as for the Socinian, he denieth, that Adam had any ſuch righteouſneſs at all, and therefore they ſay he ſinned, Becauſe his ſenſitive appetite did prevail againſt the rational: Thus they make man, even while he was in honour, and before his fall, to be like the beaſt that periſheth, and to have no underſtanding comparatively even in that place of Paradiſe; But this errour is ſo dangerous, that we are not to give place to it, no not for a moment. In that holy eſtate the ſoul commanded the body, and all the affections; They did goe, when he bade them goe, and ſtood ſtill, when they were commanded: Oh but now, in what a warre, in what a confuſion and diſtraction are we plunged? now we cannot be angry, but we ſinne; now we cannot grieve, or love, but we ſinne; Thou that denieſt original ſinne, let the exorbitancy of thy paſſions, the inordinacy of thy affections convince thee: Is thy heart in thy own power? Canſt thou have every thing ſtirre and move in thy ſoul, how, and when thou pleaſeſt? Canſt thou ſay in reſpect of thy heart, and all the ſtirrings of thy ſoul, as the Centurion did of his ſervants that were at his command? How is experience a miſtreſs of us fools in this particular? Wherein doth our weakneſs, our ſinfulneſs more appear than in our paſſions and affections? As Alexander when his flatterers exalted him as a God, he derided at it, when he ſaw blood come from his body. Thus when men cry up free-will, power to do what is good, deny original ſinne, and make us in our birth free from all evil, With what indignation mayeſt thou reject it, when thou ſeeſt the Chaos and confuſion that is in thy ſoul, when thou findeſt not any affection moving in thee, but it overfloweth it's banks preſently? Whereas original righteouſneſs gave Adam as much power over thoſe, as he had over all the beaſts of the field; but as the ground hath now thorns and thiſtles in ſtead of thoſe pleaſant herbs and plants it would have produced of its own ſelf; Thus alſo man now hath all his heart and affections grown wild and luxuriant, ſo that Solomons obſervation in other things in here made true, Servants ride on horſ-back, and Princes go on foot.
Fifthly, This Image of God was partly in reſpect of the glory, honour and immortality God created him in. Adam was made after the Image of God, not only in holineſs, but alſo in happineſs; he was not ſubject to any fears or tears, nothing from within, or from without could cauſe pain and grief to him; Hence death, by which is meant all kind of evil and miſery, was threatned unto him, as a reward of his diſobedience; but Adam did not beget Seth after this Image, we are now made duſt, and in a neceſſity of dying, which is the effect of our original ſin.
Laſtly, The Image of God doth conſiſt by way of conſequence in dominion and ſuperiority. The Socinians indeed, becauſe when it's ſaid, God made man after his own Image, Gen. 1. 26. it's added, And let him have dominion over the beaſts of the field▪ &c. make it the only thing wherein it doth conſiſt; But we are to believe the Apoſtle, Epheſ 4. Col. 3. expounding this Image of God more than they, who applieth it to righteouſneſs and true holineſs; yet it cannot be denied, but from this Image of God, did flow that Dominion and Sovereignty, which the woman alſo was created in; for though ſhe was made in ſubjection to her husband, and ſo is called, The Image of her husband, as the husband is the Image of God, yet in reſpect of the creatures, ſo ſhe had power over them, and they were ſubject to Eve as well as to Adam. Thus you ſee what this Image of God in a brief manner is, the next work is to amplifie our loſſe of it.