A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 39 (Question 10)
SERMON XXXIX.
QUESTION X.
HOW did GOD Create Man…s
ANSWER.
GOD Created Man, Male and Female, after His own Image, in Knowledge, Righteouſneſs, and Holineſs, with Dominion over the Creatures.
WE have in the former Head, obſerved how the lower World was furniſhed, with all things ſuitable to make it a fitting Place of Habitation, to entertain ſome more noble Being; who might receive Homage and Tribute from other Creatures, and actually return it unto the Glory of his and their Creator. In the next and laſt Place therefore follows the Creation of Men; who as to his Bodily and Senſible part, participates in the ſame Genus with his fellow Animals, being a living Creature with a Compound Life; but as to his better part is an Immortal Subſtance, and Akin to the Inhabitants of the other World And ſince there was a Counſel called at his making, it deſerves a ſpecial & particular Remark to be made on it. For a more full and diſtinct diſcovery of this Piece of God's Workmanſhip, theſe things may be conſidered.
1. The Thing Created.
(1) In its ſpecial Nature.
(2) In its Eſſential conſtituting Parts.
…. The Time and Order of his Creation.
3. The Different Sex in which Man was Created.
4. The A…unct Perfection.
5. His Prerogative.
6. His End.
1 THE Thing treated; in which there are Two things to be conſidered, both included in the Anſwer.
(1) ITS Special Nature; God Created Man, i. e. He made him a Man It points us unto the Species or Kind of Being; and this is that whereby God made him a Reaſonable Living Creature: In which Deſcription we may obſerve,
1. THE Author from whom he hath his Being viz GOD: He did not give Being unto himſelf; but the ſame hand that made all the other Creatures, made this laſt Creature too: he owes his Being unto the ſame Original, Job 35.10. God my Maker. Pſal 100.3. It is he that made us. Acts 17.26. He hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men.
2. THE Manner of his Making; and,
1. IN Reſpect to God that made him: It is otherwiſe introduced in the Hiſtory, than the Creation of any other Being: Concerning others it is only ſaid, Let them be, and it was ſo; but as to Man, God doth as it were conſult in himſelf about making of him: there is a Divine Deliberation how or in what manner to make him, Gen. 1.26. Let us make Man. It is ſpoken after the manner of Men, but it tells us, That there was ſomething peculiar in and about this Creature to be remarked.
2. IN Reſpect unto Man that was made, viz. his ſpecial Nature; He made him a Reaſonable living Creature. He is a Creature, and ſo he partakes with the common Kind with all Second Beings. He is a Living Creature and hereby he comes neareſt to things that have Life, and having in him a Principle of Vegetation. Motion, and Senſe; wherein God's Wiſdom & Goodneſs to the other Creatures appeared in providing a ſuitable Governour to ſet over them, and giving them a King of their own Kind: But then he is a Reaſonable Creature, & herein he differs from, and excels the Reſt, and doth more nearly reſemble the Life of God; for according to our manner of conceiving, God lives a Life of Reaſon: He therefore often calls himſelf a Man, in Scripture, becauſe He deals with Man in a Reaſonable way: And Angels are called Men, becauſe they have a Life of Reaſon. Now Man was made a Reaſonable Creature, 1. BECAUSE he had not been otherwiſe capable of the Image of God: For that ſhines forth only in Rational Beings: other Creatures have a Shadow of the Divine Perfection on them, by an Impreſſion on them, which they paſſively receive; and not the Image which they are Incapable of, which afterward appears. 2. BECAUSE otherwiſe he could not have been a ſuitable Ruler over his fellow Creatures Government requires Wiſdom & Diſcretion: Hereby it is that Man is capable of guiding them according to the Rules of right Reaſon: By this he is Wiſer than they are, Job 35.11. He maketh us wiſer than the Fowls of Heaven: Able to diſcern their Ends & Uſes, & accordingly improve them ſerviceably, to the Glory of God, and his own Comfort.
USE, 1. THIS calls for Homage & Submiſſion from Man unto God. The Rule of Creation demands his Obedience: Remember that any time you Commit any Sin, you riſe up againſt your Creator: Remember Man, thou didſt not make thy ſelf, and therefore that thou art not thine own Lord & Maſter: thy Tongue, Hands, & Heart are none of thine own, and therefore thou oughteſt not to live as thou liſteſt: Quicken thy dull Heart unto Duty by this; I receive my whole Being from God, and therefore why ſhould I not be wholly for Him?
USE, 2. SEE what an Excellent Being Man was as he came out of the Hands of his Creator. He muſt be a rare piece of Workmanſhip, about whoſe making God ſhould call a Counſel & enter into Deliberation: God made all things in wondrous Wiſdom; but here was a Reſult of all God's Creating Wiſdom gathered together in One: There were many Beams of His Wiſdom, Power and Goodneſs ſcattered among other Creatures; here they are all contracted in this little Model: Look into the Third Heaven, and you may ſee an Inhabitant of that Place dwelling in an Houſe of Clay: look into the lower World, and you may ſee the Four Flements comprized in his Bodily Frame; the Life of Plants in his Vegetative, Stars in his Motive Soul, Brutes in his Senſitive, …. See how curiouſly and wonderfully he is made: And have a care of ſpoiling the Frame that was ſo exquiſitely Compoſed, of undoing that Creature which God would not make without Conſultation.
(2.) HIS Eſſential constituting Parts of theſe things which g… into make and denominate him ſuch a Being; and they are his Body and his Soul. Theſe may be called his Conſiſtence, becauſe they did conſiſt, or ſtand together, in his Creation. Would we know how God made Man, the Anſwer is, Gen. 27. The Lord God formed Man of th… Duſt of the ground, and breathed into his Noſtrils the breath of Life, and Man became a living Soul. We may take a ſhort view of each.
[1.] THE Body is a conſtituting Part of Man, made of the Elements, and fitted with ſuitable Organs for the Operations of the Reaſonable Soul.
1. IT is a Conſtituting Part; it is Eſſential and Integral in him: The Soul doth not make the Man, without a Body joined unto it; but both theſe in Union conſtitute the Man: The Body, though not ſo noble a part, yet is as abſolutely neceſſary to his Being as the Soul.
2. IT was made of the Elements; and ſo agrees with the Bodies of other Creatures. Gen. 2.7. —Of the Duſt—. A Synechd…he. The Spirit of God uſeth the Phraſe, Duſt, to ſhew unto Man his mean Original; but the Four Humours in his Body, ſhew the Elemental Conſtitution of his Body.
3. IT was …ted will Organs ſuitable for the Operations of the Reaſonable Soul. It was therefore curiouſly contrived for this Purpoſe, Pſal. 139.14, 15. We have before taken notice of theſe Organs, as ſuited for Senſation; and therefore need not make a particular Account of them, only as they are the ſuitable Inſtruments of Reaſon, for which End they are adapted for the Functions of this moſt excellent Soul. Here then is the Head, the Chief and more Noble Part, being the Principal Seat of the Rational Soul; where alſo are placed the Inward Senſes, and accordingly the Brain is divided into ſo many Cells, or ſeveral Rooms, which are as it were ſo many Shops, in which the Inward Senſes do work: Here alſo are all the Organs of the External Senſes except Touching, which is all over the Body: This is the Work-houſe of the Underſtanding, and the Throne of Reaſon: Here is the Face which is full of Majeſty, and puts an awe upon other Creatures, a Principal diſtinguſher of Men, whereby one is known from another; and herein appears the curious Wiſdom of God, in giving every one a diſtinct Face, that among ſo many Millions there is not Two in all Points alike, but eaſily diſtinguiſhable: Here are the Eyes, the Soul's Looking-Glaſſes, to take in Viſible Objects, and to turn every way. Here are the Ears, by which we receive Diſcipline, taking the Word of God, and Means of Faith: Here is the Heart, which is the Seat of the Affections, and by which the Will doth exert its elicit Actions: Here are the Hands, Organs ſuited to perform the Devices of the Soul, wherewith many Works are wrought and Man is enabled to provide for his own Supply: And here are the Feet which carry the Body according to the Direction of the Soul; and there are but Two, becauſe Man was made to go upright, and move Heaven wards in all his Operations: And all theſe Organs were made to be at the Command and under the Government of the Nobler Part which follows,
[2.] THE Soul is another conſtituting Part in Man, being an Immortal Spirit of Life, endowed with the Faculties of Underſtanding & Will, by Vertue whereof, Man is a Cauſe by Counſel. Here obſerve,
1. IT is the other Conſtituting Part in Man. Man conſiſts of Soul and Body: where either is wanting, it is not an entire Man.
2. IT is a Spirit of Life. Job 32.8. There is a Spirit in Man, and the inſpiration of the Almighty, giveth him underſtanding. It hath leaſt Matter and moſt Form: It is Materiated, or elſe it would not ſtand ſeperated without a Miracle: There is no pure Act or Form ſtanding alone, that being a Property Incommunicable of the Firſt Being. It hath the Properties of a Spirit in it: It is moſt Active; it has a kind of Ubiquity; it is from one end of the Earth to another in a little T…me; it is never out of Action; it Sleeps not in or with the Body; that is at work when the Senſes are bound up; it is of wondrous Strength; Men can kill the Body, but not annihilate the Soul.
3. IT is an Immortal Spirit. Man by reaſon of it, is called a Living Soul, Gen. 2.7. i. e. Immortal. There was no pre-exiſting Matter of which it was made, being made immediately out of Nothing: There was no Time in which the Nature and Form ſtood ſeperable. It is void of contrary Qualities: The Mortality of the Creature ariſeth from the Mixture of its Matter, the contrary Elements maintaining a War in the Body, which tends to Diſſolution; there are no ſuch in the Soul. It hath therefore in it, a natural Apprehenſion of, and Deſire after Immortality: Brutes have no ſuch Thoughts, not do they ſee beyond Time; but Man graſps after Eternity: Hence ſome Souls gain apparent Strength under the ſenſible Dangers of the Body; 2 Cor. 4.16. Tho' our outward man periſh, yet the inner man is renewed day by day. And the Scripture gives us a clear Teſtimony for this, Exod. 3.15. compar'd with, Matth. 32.32. God is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living. 1 Pet. 3.19. The Spirits in Priſon. Eccl. 12.7. The Spirit ſhall return to God that gave it.
4. IT is endowed with the Faculties of Underſtanding and Will. It hath an Underſtanding, which Brutes have not, by vertue whereof it is able to Read the Book of the Creature, to ſee into the Nature of things, to diſcern the Beams of Divine Wiſdom ſhining in the Frame of the World, and treaſure up the Knowledge of it within it ſelf: By this alſo it can invent curious Works, having a framing as well as diſcerning Wiſdom. Exod, 31. begin. It can govern Inferiour Creatures with Diſcretion, Jam. 3.3, 4. It is able to reflect upon it ſelf, and read its own Knowledge. 1 Cor. 2.11. It can communicate that Knowledge it hath unto others: And that which is its beſt Advantage is, that it is capable of knowing God to Eternal Life. It hath alſo a Will, whereby it is able to chuſe or refuſe what it apprehends to be Good or Evil: This Faculty can ſet all the Powers of Soul and Body on work; it can determine concerning the Acts of them all at its Pleaſure: It hath the higheſt Object, viz. Goodneſs it ſelf, and the beſt Rule, viz. Divinity.
5. BY this Soul Man becomes a Cauſe by Counſel. Man can both propound to himſelf his own End, and make choice of the Means or Way leading unto it: He can deliberate with himſelf about theſe things, and take that which likes himſelf, and leave that which is not grateful unto hi…: None can either compel or hinder him in his Choice, but he can follow the Dictates of his own Underſtanding: From whence it follows, that all his humane Actions are Voluntary & Deliberate.
USE 1. FROM the Conſideration of our Bodies, in reſpect of their Original, we may gather matter of Self-Abaſement. This God laid as an humbling thought upon Adam, Gen. 3.19.—Duſt thou art, and unto Duſt ſhalt thou return. Think of this, and be Proud if thou canſt: When Bodily Excellencies are ready to puff you up, and you admire your ſelves for your Comely Features, exquiſite Proportion, Strength, &c. look down to the Ground, and remember from thence thou wort taken, and what hath Duſt and Aſhes to vaunt it ſelf of. Let it ſhow all ſuch their unaccountable Vanity, who lay out their Time, Pains and Coſt to Adorn and Gild over a Lump of Mudd and Clay, and to help to Cure us of this Folly.
USE 2. FROM the Contemplation of our Soul,
1. THINK not that you have Provided ſufficiently for Your-ſelves, or thoſe that Depend on you, when you have laid in only for the Outward Man. Remember there is a Soul, a more Noble and Excellent Part, which muſt alſo be cared for, and muſt alſo have a Supply laid in for it, or it will Periſh. Think of the ſolemn Caution given by our Saviour in that reſpect, Matth. 16.26. What is a Man profited, if he ſhall gain the whole world, and loſe his own Soul.
2. BE exhorted to carry it in your whole Deportment, as thoſe who have Immortal Souls. Bleſs God for them: Acknowledge his wondrous Favour in giving them to You; by Reaſon whereof you are more excellent Creatures than any elſe that were Formed out of the ſame Lump of Clay, being hereby capable of more Noble and Excellent Employments, and of a better State, even of Everlaſting Bleſſedneſs, of Communion with God Do nothing unbecoming your Souls; conſider their make, and let Noble Actions adorn ſuch a noble Nature, as you are made to participate in: Do not then neglect them, or take no Care of them but above all things lay in a ſuitable Supply for them: Take heed that they do not miſcarry at laſt; if they do, the Body a well as the Soul is undone for ever: Never then take up ſatisfied, or reſt contented, till you have ſecured your Souls under the Wings of CHRIST, and thereby laid in for them an Eternal Portion, fit for Immortal Souls to Live upon, when all the things of Time ſhall come unto an End.
[JANUARY 27. 1690.]