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SERM. degenerate and licentious practices, and IV. furnishes them with an excufe for their

wickedness, viz. the neceffary corruption and depravity of their nature. And finally, if this be a true picture of human nature, what muft we think of the great original from which it was copied ? muft not the giving fuch a character of . it be highly dishonourable to the fupreme, and immutable perfection of its glorious author? The confequence is plain and undeniable: For God created man in his own image, in the image of God created be bim. In difcourfing farther on these words, I fhall

I. Shew, wherein the image of the Deity, in man, confifts; and that not only the first parents of the human race, but all mankind fince, notwithstanding the corrupt and degenerate state of the world, were originally formed after the image of God. And,

II. Conclude with fome proper and ufeful inferences,

I. I am

I. I am to fhew wherein the image SERM. of the Deity, in man, confifts; and that IV. not only the first parents of the human race, but all mankind fince, notwithstanding the corrupt and degenerate state of the world, were originally formed after the image of God. Some commentators have imagined, that by the image of God, in which he created our firft parents, is meant a visible fplendor, a glory that constantly attended them, and resembled, in fome degree, the Shechinah, which was the glorious fymbol of the divine prefence: But this is matter of mere conjecture, and of very little confequence in itfelf. I fhall therefore infift no longer upon it, but proceed to mention fome things that are more plain and certain, and of general and evident importance.

Man is a being partly fenfitive, and partly rational. There can be no resemblance of his great Creator in the fensitive part of his frame, because HE is a pure and infinite fpirit: And therefore when bodily parts, and fuch paffions as frail men experience, are attributed to the

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SERM. the great God in Scripture, we muft un— IV. derstand fuch defcriptions, as used in condefcenfion to our weaknefs, and narrow imperfect conceptions of things; and interpret them in such a manner, as will make them confiftent with plain paffages that affert the fpirituality of the divine nature, and with the reafon and nature of things. It remains then, that man can bear the image of the Deity only in his intelligent nature. And,

ft. He resembles his Creator in his reafon, and understanding; whereby he is capable of making very confiderable improvements in knowledge, and of dif covering all thofe truths which are neceffary to the right management of his conduct, and to fecure his perfection and happiness: in that he is not impelled and determined by mere inftinct, but is capable of confidering and examining the nature and confequences of things, and of making a deliberate and wife choice: And this, very probably, is one of the principal things intended in the text. For God, having finished the inanimate and

animal creation, is defcrib'd, as proceed- SERM. ing to the making a being in his own IV. image, after his likeness, i. e. a reasonable creature, who muft, confequently, resemble him the fupreme and most perfect reafon; and the great privilege defigned to be conferred upon this being was a dominion over the inferior creatures, in order to which reafon was abfolutely neceffary. And because reason is the most eminent diftinction and glory of the human nature, by which man, as Lord of the lower world, is highly advanced above the other beings that inhabit it, 'tis not unlikely, that the historian represents the Deity as proceeding to this part of his creation with peculiar ceremony, to do honour thereby to this excellent nature, and give us a becoming fenfe of its importance and dignity. But,

2dly. The image of God, in man, has a respect, farther, to the moral rectitude in which he was created. The ration principle withih him ftrongly directed to all the duties of piety; to the practice of justice; and the exercise of benevolence,

SERM. lence, one of the brightest characters of IV. the Deity, in all its branches; to which laft virtue he was alfo excited by peculiar instincts, that it was impoffible for him entirely to suppress without losing humanity itself. And as to his paffions, they were all in a regular state, and subject to the government of reafon; which was capable of keeping them within their proper bounds, that they might not, at any time, be extravagant and disorderly. This was the first happy ftate of man. And in confequence of his understanding, the great compass of his rational powers, his moral rectitude, and particularly, the kind and benevolent affections of his nature, (in which confifted his more immediate resemblance of his Maker) he was appointed to exercise dominion over the inferior creatures; and so to be the reprefentative of the great author and governor of nature in this lower world, and dispense his authority. I have given this fhort and general account of the image of God in man, that I might have time to demonstrate, what is of the greatest

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