I.

DISC. revelation informs us; it is that upon which the economy of man's redemption is founded; his creation, as well as that of the world, is, in different paffages, attributed to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; what more natural therefore, than that, at his production, this form of fpeech fhould be used by the divine perfons? What more rational than to fuppose, that a doctrine, fo important to the human race, was communicated from the beginning, that men might know whom they worshipped, and how they ought to worship? What other good and fufficient reason can be given, why the name of God, in ufe among believers from the first, should likewise be in the plural number, connected with verbs and pronouns in the fingular? It is true, we Chriftians, with the New Teftament in our hands, may not want these arguments to prove the doctrine: but why should we overlook, or flight fuch very valuable evidence of it's having been revealed and received in the church of God,

.Gen. i. I ברא אלהים 4

from

It is a DISC.

from the foundation of the world?
fatisfaction, it is a comfort to reflect, that,
in this momentous article of our faith, we
have patriarchs and prophets for our fa-
thers; that they lived, and that they died
in the belief of it; that the God of Adam,
of Noah, and of Abraham, is likewise our
God;
and that when we adore him in
three persons, and give glory to the Father,
to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, we do
as it was done in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be.

Proceed we to confider the materials, of which man was compofed.

"The word of the Lord once came to "the prophet Jeremiah, faying, Arife, " and go down to the potter's houfe, and "there I will caufe thee to hear my words.

Then he went down to the potter's houfe, and behold he wrought a work "on the wheel. And the word of the "Lord came unto him, faying, Behold as

"the

DISC." the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye

d

A fcene like this is prefented to our imaginations by the words of Mofes; "The "Lord God formed man out of the dust of "the ground; he moulded or modelled him as a potter doth; we fee the work, as it were, upon the wheel, rifing and growing under the hands of the divine artificer !

The human body was not made of the celestial elements, light and air; but of the more gross terrestrial matter, as being defigned to receive and communicate notices of terreftrial objects, by organs of a nature fimilar to them. In this inftance, as in another fince, God feemeth to have," chofen, "the base things of the world, to con"found things honourable and mighty"," when of the duft of the ground he compofed a frame, fuperior, in rank and dignity, to the heavens and all their hosts.

יצר 8

с I Cor. i. 28.

They

I.

They whose profeffion leads them to ex- DISC. amine the structure of this aftonishing piece of mechanism, these men fee the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the formation of the human body. A contemplation of it's parts, and their difpofition, brought Galen upon his knees, in adoration of the wifdom with which the whole is contrived; and incited him to challenge any one, upon an hundred years study, to tell, how any the leaft fibre or particle could have been more commodiously placed, either for use, or beauty. While the world shall last, genius and diligence will be producing fresh proofs, that we are "fearful

ly and wonderfully made;" that "mar"vellous are the works," and, above all,

this capital work of the Almighty; and that the hand which made it must needs be verily and indeed divine.

Into the body of man, thus constructed, we learn from Mofes, that God, "breathed "the breath of life, and man became a

living foul." The question here will be,

Whether

DISC. Whether thefe words are intended to de

I.

note the rational and immortal foul, or the fenfitive and animal life?

They are certainly fometimes used in the lower of these acceptations. "Ceafe ye "from man whofe breath f is in his nof"trils. All creatures in whofe noftrils was "the breath of life died by the flood." By thefe texts it appears, that the terms Spirit and breath are used to fignify that animal life, which is fupported mechanically, by refpiration through the noftrils.

h

But they are likewise used for the rational and immortal foul; witnefs those words of the pfalmift, adopted by our Lord, when expiring on the cross; "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." So again" The spirit * fhall return to God " who gave it." And "The spirit of man "is the candle of the Lord."

66

k

נשמת רוח היים 8 .נשמת and רוח 5 .הדוח .נשמת אדם !

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Spiritual