3. The soul of man is an immortal spirit, endowed of God with excellent faculties; as the understanding, will, memory, and other powers and affections.
4. See that thou turn all these towards thy God, in order to behold him therein as in a mirror; and, by beholding him, to have his image gradually formed in thy soul. In this sense the apostle speaks of “the glory of the Lord,” which we behold “with an open face,” without vail and shadows. 2. Cor. 3:18.
5. As God is a truly good and holy Being; so also were the substance of the soul, and its true nature and essence, originally good and holy. And as in God there is nothing of evil; even so was the soul of man, in the beginning, free from all manner of evil. As in God there is nothing but what is right; so in the soul there was nothing at first but what was right also. For He is the rock, whose “work is perfect;” even “a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deut. 32:4; Ps. 92:15. As God is wise, so was also the human soul full of divine and spiritual knowledge, of heavenly and eternal wisdom. And as the divine wisdom ordered all things in number, weight, and measure, and knew the powers of all creatures, as well in heaven as in earth: so also was the mind of man possessed of the same light and knowledge.
6. And as it was with the understanding, so it was with the will: for as the one was the image and reflection of the divine understanding, so was the other of the divine will, in everything. It was holy as the pattern was holy, and conformed to the will of God. Hence, as God himself [pg 144] is, so was the human soul; righteous, loving, merciful, long-suffering, patient, meek, gentle, true, and pure. Exod. 34:6; Ps. 103:8; Joel 2:13. Yea, all the passions or affections, all the appetites, and motions of the heart, being made most perfectly conformable to the motions and affections of the divine mind, partook of this conformity of the will of man to that of God. As, therefore, God is love, so all the affections and motions of man, in his first state, breathed nothing but pure love. As God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are one in an unspeakable and eternal bond of love; so all the affections and desires of man, burned with a most perfect and ardent love, and he cleaved unto God fully with all the powers and faculties which he had; “with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might” (Deut. 6:5); so that man verily loved God more than himself, and preferred God and His honor, to himself and his own.
7. But as the image of God shone forth in the soul, so the image of the soul again shone forth in and from the body. This, therefore, was holy, chaste, and pure throughout, not subject to any unclean motion or lust. It was undefiled and without blemish. It was in every respect, beautiful, well proportioned, and graceful; of vigorous health, and possessed of a constitution even out of the very danger of sickness. It was such as death itself had no power over, and it was perfectly free from pain, listlessness, passion, grief, and old age, now the common attendants and warnings of man's mortality. In a word, the whole man, both in soul and body, was pure, holy, righteous, and every way acceptable to God. For, in order that man might be the image of God, it was necessary that his body should be holy, and conformable to God, as well as his soul. Accordingly, St. Paul both exhorts and prays, that the body, together with the spirit and soul, be sanctified wholly; and be preserved holy and blameless unto the coming of our Lord. 1 Thess. 5:23. For since man is made up of soul and body, and exercises both bodily and spiritual functions, there was a necessity that the instrument through which the soul was to act, should be pliable and obedient, adapted to the nature of the soul, and holy as the soul was holy; to the end that the holy and righteous soul, might finish her work through the body without any obstacle or resistance. As, therefore, the soul burned with the pure love of God: so did all the powers of the body manifest and exert themselves in the love of God and man. As the soul was altogether merciful; so also the body was, with its whole might, and all its faculties, impelled to tenderness and compassion. As chastity shone forth from the soul, which was altogether pure; so the whole body, in like manner, with all the inward and outward senses and powers thereof, visibly set forth the most perfect purity and chastity. To conclude, the virtues no less gloriously shone in the body, than in the soul itself; so that the body was the holy instrument of the soul, in everything suited to it, and worked together with it. And hence man in the state of innocency, was able to love God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, and with all his mind, and to love his neighbor as himself: which is the very substance both of the old and new law given to man. Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37, 39; Luke 10:27. Hence, as often as God calls for the heart of man, we are to understand [pg 145] the whole man, both as to body and soul, and the powers, faculties, and operations of both. In this sense, the word “heart” is frequently taken in Scripture; so that under it are comprehended all the powers of the soul, as the understanding, will, and memory, together with all the desires and affections attendant on them. So when God demands a man's soul, he, under that name, requires not a part, but the whole of a man. He must, in all his powers, be conformed to God, and renewed in Christ Jesus: and thus man, having put off the old nature, and being renewed in the spirit of his mind, must also walk in newness of life, and in the spirit by which he was begotten again. Gal. 5:16; Eph. 4:23.
8. Moreover, there was a perfect joy in God, which accompanied this perfection of holiness, righteousness, and divine love, in man. By this, all the faculties and springs, both of soul and body, were most powerfully affected: for wherever divine holiness resides, there also divine joy must be present. These two are knit together with an everlasting bond, and make up the very image of God. Yet, as in this life, the divine righteousness and holiness are but imperfect in us, so we but taste, while here, only the first fruits of that joy which shall be fully revealed hereafter. However, as the righteousness of Christ is verily begun in sincere believers, so it follows that they also enjoy a real beginning and foretaste of divine joy and comfort; as those Christians can abundantly attest, that have learned religion by experience. John 16:22; 2 Cor. 1:5; Phil. 4:4. Whatever progress, therefore, any one makes in the love of God, be it more or less, so much of divine joy does he also perceive in his soul. And this holy and divine love, as it shall in the next life attain its full perfection, so in that day the Christian's joy (arising from love) shall also be full, as the Lord himself declares. John 15:11; 16:22. For divine love is the only true life, and the only true joy: but where this love of God is wanting, there is neither joy nor life; but death itself, and the everlasting portion of wicked men and devils. Whence has a father joy? Is it not from the love of his children? Whence has a bridegroom joy? Is it not from the love of the bride? Isaiah 61:10; 62:5. But infinitely sweeter must that joy be, which is derived from the love of our Creator! He not only embraces us as a father does his children, but he rejoices over us as over his bride; nay, most tenderly kisses us “with the kisses of his mouth” (Cant. 1:2.), (that is, in Christ, who is his mouth and word), and coming to us, through Christ with the Holy Ghost, makes his abode with us. John 14:23. Take heed, however, concerning this image of God, which consists in a conformity with God, that you do not therefore think, as if man were made equal with God in holiness. Not by any means. For God is infinite as to his essence, virtues, and properties; he is incomprehensible, and without bounds; so that nothing in the world can be compared with him. Man therefore, even in his first state, could not properly be said to bear God in him; being designed only to bear his image, as it has been already explained in Chapter I. of this Book.
9. That which has now been stated concerning the image of God, is plain, true, and beyond all doubt. It cannot be denied, that God created man, to be a bright mirror of himself: so that if man had been desirous to know the [pg 146] nature of God, he might, by looking into himself, have beheld God there, as in a glass, and clearly perceived the image of the Deity within his own breast.
10. This image was the life and blessedness of man; but the devil, looking with envious eyes upon this image of God in man, exerted all his art and cunning to efface it, by raising in man a spirit of disobedience and enmity against God. Gen. 3:1, etc. This he accordingly effected with a subtility and haste, that never were since seen. He was not ignorant, that if man had continued in that state, he would have been the master: but that if he could be induced to fall from it, that the devil would thereby become the lord (or rather the tyrant) of fallen man. When, therefore, with all the powers of his cunning and malice, he could devise nothing more likely to accomplish his design than that by which he himself lost his first state or principality, he began, in a seductive manner, to insinuate into the imagination of the woman, no less than an affectation of the Divine Majesty. What can appear more divine, or what is there more noble to be wished for, than to “be as God”? Gen. 3:5. By this cunningly contrived method, man being therefore circumvented, he lost the divine image at once; and the image of Satan, consisting in an affectation of the Divine Majesty, was impressed upon him.
11. This aspiring thought, by which man threw off all his dependence on God, being thus begotten in the mind; and this haughty arrogance having once seized the imagination, there followed immediately apostasy from God, disobedience, and transgression of the commandment concerning the forbidden tree. Hereupon the image of God was extinguished, the Holy Spirit departed from man, and the image of Satan was imprinted instead of that which was effaced. Hence now there are so many men, so many slaves of the devil. The devil having thus gained his object in subjecting man to his dominion, most cruelly tyrannized over him; just as a giant may be supposed to do over a little infant. Hence the understanding in man is darkened and blinded; the will is, by a complete disobedience, turned from God; and all the springs and powers of the heart are stirred up against God in utter malice. In a word, the whole image of God lieth now slain in man, and the whole race of mankind, being swayed by the satanical nature, have a seed sown in them full of the deepest malignity. Hence men became the offspring of Satan, and his living likeness, being poisoned with all manner of sin and enmity against God. Thus died man! Thus died he the death everlasting! For as the image of God is the life and salvation of man, so the departure of this image is the death of man, even death eternal, and his damnation, which is also called a death “in trespasses and sins.” Eph. 2:1; Col. 2:13.
12. They best understand this death, who, having been cast into deep spiritual temptations, sensibly feel the devil's rage and tyranny over them. By this he torments the soul beyond what it is in the ordinary power of sin to effect. Now, unless the Holy Ghost shine in upon the soul under this terrible affliction, and by darting in some ray of his light comfort it; the devil slays the man with this death, and racks the soul with the very anguish of hell itself. Hence all the natural force of the body sinks, the strength fails, the heart withers and pants, and [pg 147] the very marrow in the bones consumes away, so that there is no soundness left in the body. This state is described at large, in Psalms 6 and 38. The word of God itself, to such a one, seems dead and lifeless: he finds in it no manner of devotion, no savor of spiritual life. This is the spiritual death, into which the soul is fallen: and while the soul remains thus spiritually dead, all human holiness, righteousness, excellency, might, power, glory, honor, arts, and wisdom, can avail nothing. And, truly, man would undoubtedly perish in this grievous condition, if he were not supported by divine grace: for nothing but this is able to succor him.