100 PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK L
" And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul." 1. There is the matter whereof he was formed; 2. The quickening principle added thereunto; and, 8. The effect of their conjunction and union. For the matter he was made of, it is said he was formed n^'lJ^.'inP "i^V, [of] " dust of the ground," or dust gathered together on a heap from and upon the ground : ''?^^ rih2y t^'X^ ^ Prov. viii. 26. So is God, the great hrnMiovpyog, the universal framer of all, represented as an artificer, who first prepares his matter, and then forms it as it seemeth good unto him. And this is mentioned for two ends: — First, To set forth the excellency, power, and wisdom of God, who. out of such vile, contemptible matter as a heap of dust, swept as it were together on the ground, could and did make so ex- cellent, curious, and glorious a fabric as is the body of man, or as was the body of Adam before the fall. Secondly, To mind man of his origuial, that he might be kept humble and in a meet dependence on the wisdom and bounty of his Creator; for thence it was, and not from the original matter whereof he was made, that he became so excellent. Hereof Abraham makes his solemn acknowledgment before the Lord: Gen. xviii. 27, " Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes." He abaseth himself with the remembrance of his original. And this, as it were, God reproacheth Adam withal upon his sin and transgression : Gen. iii. 19, " Thou shalt return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." He lets him know that he had now, by sin, lost that immortality which he was made in a condition to have enjoyed; and that his body, accord- ing to his nature and constitution, should return again into its first principles, or the dust of the earth. Into this formed dust, secondly, God breathed t2''*0 J^P^*^, the " breath of life;" divince aurce jmr- ticulam, " a vital immortal spirit." This God breathed into him, as giving him something of himself, somewhat immediately of his own, not made out of any procreated matter. This is the rational soul, or intelligent spirit. Thus man became a middle creature be- tween the angels above and the sensitive animals below. His body was formed, as the beasts, from the matter made the first day, and digested into dry land on the third day ; his soul was an immediate production of and emanation from the divine power, as the angels were. So when, in the works of the new creation, our blessed Savi- our bestowed the Holy Ghost on his disciples, he breathed on them, as a sign that he gave them something of his own. This celestial spirit, this heavenly breath, was unto man a quickening principle; for, thirdly, the effect hereof is, that man became n^n tJ'DJp^ a " living soul." His body was hereby animated, and capable of all vital acts.
CHAP. IV.] IN THE FIRST OR OLD CREATION. 101
Hence he could move, eat, see, hear, etc. ; for the natural effects of this breath of life are only intended in this expression. Thus the " first man Adam was made a living soul," 1 Cor. xv. 45. This was the creation of man, as unto the essentially constituting principles of his nature. '
With respect unto his onoral condition and principle of obedi- ence unto God, it is expressed, Gen. i. 26, 27, " And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion," etc. " So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." He made him " npright," Eccles. vii. 29, perfect in his condition, every way complete, — fit, disposed, and able to and for the obedience required of him ; without weakness, dis- temper, disease, contrariety of principles, inclinations, or reasonings. A universal rectitude of nature, consisting in light, power, and order, in his understanding, mind, and affections, was the principal part of this image of God wherein he was created. And this appears, as from the nature of the thing itself, so from the description which the apostle giveth us of the renovation of that image in us by the grace of Christ, Eph. iv. 24, Col. iii. 10. And under both these considera- tions we may weigh the especial operations of the Spirit of God : —
First, As to the essential 'principles of the nature of man, it is not ' for nothing that God expresseth his communication of a spirit of life f by his breathing into him : " God breathed into his nostrils the \ breath of life." The Spirit of God and the breath of God are the *■ same, only, the one expression is proper, the other metaphorical; wherefore, this breatliing is the especial acting of the Sj)irit of God. The creation of the human soul, a vital immortal principle and being, is the immediate work of the Spirit of God: Job xxxiii. 4, "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Here, indeed, the creation and production of both the essential parts of human nature, body and soul, are ascribed unto the same author; for the Spirit of God and the breath of God are the same, but several effects being mentioned causeth a repetition of the same cause under several names. This Spirit of God first made man, or formed his body of the dust, and then gave him that breath of life whereby he became a " living soul." So, then, under this first consideration, the creation of man is assigned unto the Holy Spirit, for man was the perfection of the inferior creation; and in order unto the glory of God, by him were all other things created. Here, therefore, are his operations distinctly declared, to whom the perfecting and completing of all divine works is peculiarly committed.