one man and one woman only are to be joined together at one time in lawful wedlock: these two, male and female, first created, were made after the same image; for the word man, includes both man and woman; and Adam was a name common to them both in their creation, and when said to be made after the image of God, Gen. i. 26, 27. and v. 1, 2. which image, as will hereafter be seen, lies much in righteousness and holiness. But they, Adam and Eve, sought out many inventions, sinful ones, and so lost their righteousness. Which leads on to consider,

IV. The image of God in which man was created; God said, Let us make man in our own image, and after our likeness, so God created man in his own image, Gen. i. 26. 27. Whether image and likeness are to be distinguished, as the one respecting the substantial form of man, his soul; the other certain accidents and qualities belonging to him; or whether they signify the same is not very material; the latter seems probable; since in Gen. i. 27. where image is mentioned, likeness is omitted; and, on the contrary, in Gen. v. 1. the word likeness is used, and image omitted. He is not in such sense the image of God, as Jesus Christ the son of God is who is the express image of his Father's Person. Though there was in him some lik: ness and resemblance of some of the perfec tions of God; which are called his imitable ones, and by some communicable; as holiness, righteousness, wisdom, &c. yet these perfections are not really in him, only some faint shadows of them; the renewed and spiritual image of God, in re-. generate persons, is called a partaking of the divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4. that is wrought in them, and impressed on them, which bears some resemblance to the divine nature. The seat of the image of God in man, is the whole man, both body and soul; wherefore God is said to create man in his image; not the soul only, nor the body only; but the whole man, Gen. i, 27. and v. 1. at the resurrection of the dead, the saints will most fully appear to bear the image of the heavenly One, 1 Thes, v. 23. 1. The first man was made in the image of God in his body in some respect; hence this is given as a reason why

the blood of a man's body is not to be shed, because, In the image of God made he man, Gen. ix. 6. There is something divine and majestic in the countenance of man, in comparison of brute creatures. And it may be observed, that the perfec tions of God, many of them, are represented by the members of the human body; as his all-seeing providence by eyes; his attention to the petitions of his people, by ears, open to their cries; and his power to deliver, by an arm and hand; and his pleasure and displeasure, by his face being towards good men, and against bad men. I see no difficulty in admitting that the body of Adam was formed according to the idea of the body of Christ in the divine mind, and which may be the reason, at least in part, of that expression: Behold, the man is, or ra ther was as one of us. 11. The principal seat of the image of God in man, is the soul. And this appears,-1. In the na ture of the soul, which is spiritual, immaterial, immortal, and invisible, as God is. Moreover, the soul carries some shadow of likeness to God in its powers and faculties. 2. The image of God in the soul of man, of the first man particularly, appeared in the qualities of it; especially in its wisdom, and understanding, and in its righteousness and holiness, Eccles, vii. 29. 3. The image of God in the whole man, soul and body, or in his person, lay in his immortality, natural to his soul, and conferred on his body; and also in his dominion over the creatures. 4. This image lay too in the blessedness of man, in his original state; for as God is God over all and blessed, and is the blessed and only Potentate; so man, in a lower sense, was blessed above all the creatures. Adam's knowledge was natural knowledge; his holiness and righteousness, natural holiness and righteousness; the covenant made with him, a natural covenant; the communion he had with God, was in a natural way; and all his benefits and blessings natural ones; but believers in Christ are blessed with all spiritual blessings in him, and have a spiritual image enstamped upon them, which can never be lost; and into which they are changed from glory to glory, till it becomes perfect.

OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

PROVIDENCE, of which we are now about to treat, must be considered as distinct from foresight, foreknowledge, and predestination; which all respect some act in the divine mind in eternity; this may be called eternal providence; but providence in time, which is what is now under consideration, and may be called actual providence, is the execution of whatsoever God has foreknown and determined; Who worketh all things after the counsel of his will, Eph. i. 11. The wise man says, There is a time to every purpose under the heaven; whatever is done under the heavens in time, there was a purpose for it in eternity, Eccles. iii. 1-11. Purpose and providence, exactly tally and answer to each other; the one is the fulfilment of the other; Surely, as I have thought, saith the Lord, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, Isai.

xvi. 24.

The providence of God is not only expressed in scripture, by his sustaining, upholding, and preserving all things; but by his looking down upon the earth, and the inhabitants of it, Psal. xiv. 2. It may be argued from the senses which he imparts to men. He has placed the eyes and the ears in the head of the human body, to look out after and listen to what may turn to the advantage or disadvantage of the members of the body; hence the Psalmist reasons, He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? be that formed the eye, shall he not see?

The words provide and providing, are sometimes used of men in general, and of masters of families in particular, who are to provide things honest in the sight of all men, both for themselves, and for all under their care; and, If any provide not for his own, he is worse than an infidel, Rom. xii. 17. 1 Tim. v. 8. which provision may give us an idea of the provi dence of God; in that branch of it particularly, which concerns. the provision which he, as the great master of his family, makes for it; The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season, &c. Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. even the

such mean and worthless creavery ravens and their young, tures, are provided for by him; Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God? Job xxxviii. 41. Providence, with the heathens was reckoned as a deity, is represented like a good housewife, or mistress of a family, administering to the whole universe, and was pictured like a grave elderly matron ; this is one of the titles of the goddess Minerva.

tures;

The providence of God is expressed by his care of his creaDoch God take care of oxen? 1 Cor. ix. 9. It is particu. larly said of the land of Canaan, that it was a land which the Lord careth for; from one end of the year to the other, Deut. , xi. 12. God's sustentation of the world, his government of it, the view and notice he takes of it, the provision he makes for all creatures in it, and his care of, and concern for them; this is providence.. I shall proceed,

1. To prove a divine providence, by which all things are upheld, governed, guided, and directed. 1. This appears from the light of nature. Hence the heathens held a providence ; all nations, even the most barbarous; all the sects of the philosophers owned it, but one, the Epicureans, and that from a foolish notion that it was unworthy of God, and affected his happiness. Pythagoras, Plato, the Stoics, Seneca, Menedemus, the philosopher, all were advocates for the doctrine of providence. Chrysippus and Cicero wrote on the same subject also. Paul, in a discourse of his before the philosophers at Athens, concerning God and his providence, produces a pas sage from Aratus, one of their own poets, in proof of the came; We are also his offspring, Acts xvii. 28. Divine providence may be concluded from the Being of Gol; the same arguments that prove the one, prove the other; if there is a God, there is a providence; and if there is a providence, there is a God; these mutually prove each other; wherefore, when the Psalmist had observed, that the fool said in his heart, there is no God, he immediately observes the providence of God; The Lord looked down from

II.

the heaven upon the children of men, Psal. xiv. 1, 2. Those who allow there is a God, must confess that he does some. thing, and something famous and excellent; and nothing is more excellent than the administration of the world. To me, says Lucilius, he that does nothing, seems entirely not to be, to have no being. The oracle of Apollo, at Miletus, calls providence the first-born of God: and it is easy to observe, that the Lord puts the idolatrous heathens upon proving the truth of the deities they worshipped, by acts of providence, see Isai. xli. 22, 23. III. The providence of God may be argued from the creation of the world; as the Being of God may be proved from thence, so the providence of God. God, the great builder of all things, does not act by them as an architect, that builds an house and has no farther concern with it, but leaves it to stand or fall of itself; or that builds a ship, and has nothing more to do with it; he takes the government of it, and steers and directs it; without his support and government of it, it could not long subsist: besides, there must be some ends for which it is created; which ends it cannot attain and answer of itself; but must be directed and influenced by the Creator of it. IV. The perfections of God, and the display of them, make a providence necessary, particularly his power, wisdom, and goodness: since God has created the world, had he not supported it, but left it to chance and fortune, it would have seemed as if he could not have supported it; since he made it with some views, and to answer some ends, had it not been guided by him, to answer these ends where had been his wisdom; and to make a world of creatures, and then neglect them, and take no care of them, where would have been his goodness? v. It may be concluded from the worship of God; which this is a powerful inducement to, and the ground of. Hence Cicero could say, "There are some philosophers, (meaning the Epicureans) who suppose that God takes no care of human affairs; but, says he, if this is true, what piety can there be? what sanctity? what religion?" They are the libertines of the age, who in any period deny the providence

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