In the first there is a majesty proposed. In the second there is a malady presented. In the third there is a remedy provided.
Once more let me put these grapes into the press.
1. The sovereignness of the expression: And the Lord God said. 2. The solitaryness of the condition: It is not good, &c. 3. The suitableness of the provision; I will make, &c.
In the first there is the worth of veracity. In the second, there is the want of society. In the third, there is the work of divinity. Of these in their order. And first of the first.
1. The sovereignness of the expression: And the Lord God said, &c.
Luke i. 70. “As he spoke by the mouths of his prophets.” In other scriptures he used their mouths, but in this instance he makes use of his own; they were the organs, and he the breath; they the streams, and he the fountain. How he spake, it is hard to determine: whether eternally, internally, or externally. We are not to inquire into the manner of speaking, but into the matter that is spoken; which leads me, like a directing star, from the suburbs to the city, from the porch to the palace, from the founder of the mine, to the treasure that is in it: It is not good, &c.
In which we have two things:—
1. The Subject. 2. The Predicate.
The subject, Man alone. The predicate, It is not good, &c. 1. The subject, Man alone. Take this in two branches.
1. As it is limited to one man.