Thus it is evident, from all the perceptions of the soul, that it is not compounded like the body. Those powers and affections, such as thought and reason, judgment and liberty, love and hatred, joy and sorrow, can never be the properties or effects of matter, in any possible variation or modification of its parts. Nor can matter ever produce those noble and just sentiments, those sublime and generous affections, to which the soul sometimes rises in its contemplations of God, the phenomena of the universe, and the operation of Providence which sustains and governs all things. All this can never be produced by matter, which is altogether inactive of itself; and when motion is impressed on it, the only change produced is in the situation and contexture of its parts. Surely all attempts to account for these things, by any laws of nature known in the corporeal world, are absolutely ridiculous.
How strange is it then, that such a spiritual being should be united so closely to flesh and blood, imprisoned in a tenement of clay, and use the body as the instrument of active operations.—Several philosophers, among whom is Socrates, have called the body της ψυχης οικητηριον, the habitation of the soul; yea, φυλακη και ταφος, her moveable prison, and living sepulchre. These two essential parts of man, which God, at his creation, united so closely together, that both make but one person, is a great mystery; considering the different natures that adhere, soul and body, matter and spirit. All this is unintelligible to the human intellect, however improved and capacious. The disputers of this world will find themselves completely perplexed, in attempting to explain by what ties a spirit is united to a piece of clay; and what holds it confined to its habitation. The adhesion of the material particles in the human body, the flame of animal life kindled and burning clear and strong within us, and the union of spirit and matter, so that the one is the tenement of the other, and the instrument of its operations, are, as to their manner, mysterious, and attended with difficulties that would perplex and confound the most penetrating and sagacious mind.
Man then was created in the natural image of God, which consisted chiefly in the spiritual nature, amazing powers, and immortality of his soul; like God, it is a spirit, immaterial, invisible, active, intelligent, free, and immortal: and partly, in a lower sense, in the privilege of his body, which, in his state of innocence, was, by the promise of his Creator, entitled to a gratuitous immortality. Some make reason or understanding to be the image in which God created man: but, though this may be included, yet, it is not the principal thing intended by the Divine image: for if rationality were the image, it could never be lost. Sin, which defaces this beautiful image, does not deprive man of intellect: his nature will for ever continue rational; he can never, I presume, be deprived of his reason so as not to possess it any more. Thought and consciousness are inseparable from the nature of man, and therefore this image of God in which Adam was created, must be something distinct from reason. Indeed reasonable creatures only can be the subjects of it, but reason is not the thing itself. To suppose that mere reason is God’s image in man, is an hypothesis unworthy of a reasonable nature; and with how much confidence soever some assert, the assertion is reproachful to our Maker.
The chief thing intended by the Divine image, is moral rectitude; man was created in the moral image of God; but that image in man was only a likeness, it did not equal,but resembled its high original—a disparity which necessarily exists between a creature and its Creator. According to any rational opinion we can form of God, we must believe that he is a spiritual Being; which includes the simplicity of his nature, his indivisibility, and his immortality; possessed not only of every natural perfection, but of all moral excellencies. He is not only an intelligent, omnipresent, omniscient, almighty Being, but wise, holy, righteous, and good. Without moral perfections, his character would not be very interesting to us. If he had no radical and constitutional principle in his nature that could move him to regard the temper of our minds, and the complexion of our actions, or cause him to be either pleased or displeased with our behavior, however conducted, we should have no reason to act either from motives of love or fear of him. His natural attributes alone, are very far from finishing his character; in conjunction with these, his moral excellencies complete his glory, exhibit him as the most perfect Agent, and render him in the most exalted sense our Governor. His holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, are called moral attributes, or communicable perfections; because we can trace some resemblance in angels and men; though there is an infinite disproportion between these perfections as they exist in God, and are faintly displayed in the creatures: in him they are infinite, in the creatures finite and limited.
These moral perfections constitute God a proper object of religious adoration, and without which no worship would be due or could be rendered to him. The Divine Nature is the foundation of that worship which we, as rational beings, are under obligations to perform; and the revelation of the will of God, with which he has graciously favored us in the Scripture, is the constant rule of his worship. On believing his existence, and cultivating the knowledge of his attributes, especially those which are so astonishingly displayed and harmonized in the redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ, it very naturally follows, to every reflecting mind, that we owe him ourselves, and are bound by the strongest ties to present to him the most spiritual worship of which our intelligent nature is capable.
The moral image of God, after which man was created, was his greatest excellence. His understanding possessed a large capacity for improvement, equal to an extensive and accurate acquaintance with things both natural and divine, the acquisition of which would facilitate his own happiness, by rendering him more competent to answer the benevolent design which his Creator projected in calling him into existence. This capacity was amply supplied by his Creator; for all divine knowledge is given by revelation; which he must either communicate to man, or he must remain ignorant of him. The capacity is one thing, and its improvement is another; which, as it is not naturally inherent in man, so it must be acquired. The knowledge of the nature, perfections, and will of God, can, in the first instance, only be made known by himself; for there is not a correct notion of him in the whole intellectual and moral world, but what has been received from either Divine revelation, or his own immediate influence. Adam, then, as an intelligent creature, was endued with the knowledge of God, so far as was necessary to enable him to fear, love, and serve him. Without a perception of his existence and perfections, and the knowledge of his will, he could not perform any acts of adoration, reverence, reliance, regard, and delight, toward him. If therefore man, in his primitive state, was obliged to worship his Creator (of which certainly no one can doubt,) it must be granted that he possessed knowledge equal to the nature and extent of his obligations. In his state of innocence, he did not perform a blind devotion, or worship he knew not what. Such ignorance is the consequence of sin; therefore he could not be the unhappy subject of it before he transgressed.
Some persons have thought that Adam, in his primeval state, understood the doctrine of a Trinity of Persons or Subsistencies in the Godhead. Though the knowledge of this important doctrine cannot be attained by reasoning on the operations of Divine wisdom, power, and goodness, visibly and conspicuously displayed in the universe; yet, as Adam received by immediate revelation some truths, why may we not suppose that this mystery was not conveyed to him in the same way, that his acts of devotion might comport with the honors due to each of the Sacred Three? The Divine Nature is without multiplicity, it is one; but the Three Subsistencies in that Essence are essential to the Godhead: this arrangement is radical, constitutional, and eternal. Therefore why should not God be worshipped according to his own natural distinction of Persons in his undivided Essence, by man in his primitive state? A Trinity in Unity is the most correct view of God; and, consequently, the worship that accords with it, being the most accurate, must be acceptable to him. The Christian religion has not given existence to this doctrine of the Trinity; for independently of the mediatorial scheme of redemption and salvation by Christ, God was from eternity the same Triune Being, and cannot change. It is not improbable that man, while he retained his pristine state, worshipped the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in all his acts of religious worship. Lord Bacon, in his Confession of Faith, says,—“I believe that nothing is without beginning but God; no nature, no matter, no spirit, but one only, and the same God. That God, as he is eternally almighty, only wise, only good, in his nature; so he is eternally Father, Son, and Spirit, in Persons.”
We cannot rationally suppose that Adam was a stranger to his duty, either in its nature, manner, or extent. If he had not known what duties his Creator required him to perform, it would have been impossible for him to act agreeably to his will. Obedience to any authority necessarily supposes a knowledge of what it enjoins: and, consequently, Adam must have known what he ought to practise, in what manner, and with what views; for, otherwise, he could not be obedient to the will of God in what he did. Hence we must conclude, that he was acquainted with the whole compass of his duty. As his understanding was not blinded by contracted prejudices, so it was free from any natural defect. His mind was furnished with correct views of God, his own dependence upon him, relations and obligations to him, and the way to please and enjoy him.
Adam, in his primitive state, knew wherein his happiness consisted. If he had been ignorant of that happiness to which he was entitled so long as he preserved his integrity, how could he have enjoyed it while in his possession; for a delight in any present good arises from a perception of its nature and value. Neither was he ignorant of the misery, into which an action committed against the will of his Creator would bring him. He certainly knew that sinning against God would inevitably be attended with fatal effects to himself. His unclouded reason could not but discern, that rebellion against the dignity and sovereignty of his Maker would unavoidably expose him to his righteous displeasure.
As the judgment of Adam could not but entirely approve of the supreme Good, in all the perfections of its nature, and revelation of the Divine Mind; so his will, with great freedom following its dictates, readily embraced what was right, and exactly harmonized with every requisition. He had a holy disposition, such as comported with the infinite perfection of holiness, so resplendent in the Divine Nature. Some have asserted, that God formed man without any direction in his will either to good or evil. But this imagination is irrational, for it supposes that he was neither holy nor unholy. It is evident from Scripture, that he was created good in an ethical or moral sense, for he was made in the image of God, which chiefly consisted in a conformity to his moral perfections. He resembled these, particularly that of holiness; so that, though in an infinitely lower degree, he was holy as God is holy; without the least taint of sin in his nature, or any inclination to evil, all his powers and faculties being disposed to comply with his utmost requisition.