is often used in the fcriptures to illuftrate that glory of the divine nature; in each cafe the twain are one. It is then apparent that this endowment in the formation of man refpects the great divine mystery of Christ, who is the image of God.

Hence it may be inferred, that the bond of marriage is of the most facred nature, far superior to that of a merely civil institution; and, relating fo particularly to the image of God, the violation of it must be criminal in the highest degree. The purity of marriage is called the holiness of the Lord which he loved, Mal. ii. 11. And the arguments to enforce it are fuch as thefe, Have we not one Father? Hath not one God created us? And did he not make one? Yet had he the refidue of the Spirit: and wherefore one? That he might feek a godly feed: therefore take heed to your Spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Jeremiah closely connects this fin with that of murder. Why trimmest thou thy way to feek love. Alfo in thy fkirts is found the blood of the fouls of the poor innocents, chap. ii. -Under the law, all profanations of facred things were punishable with death; and as marriage was of a facred nature, adultery was to be fo punished; this matter related to God's altar; hence, it was charged upon the violators of the marriage covenant, that they had profaned the holiness of the Lord; and this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears.

But, though it be known what is the just judgment of God in this cafe, it may not be

inferred, that civil magistrates ought therefore to punish the crime with fuch severity; for a punishment according to the peculiar defert of the fin, in this, and some other cafes, feems to have been particularly reserved to the divine province. Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.-My object in this remark is merely to state the nature of the fin, and not how it is to be punished.

The reafon affigned for the divine law, Whof Sheddeth man's blood, by man fhall his blood be fhed, is only this; for in the image of God made be man.-What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put afunder.

2. It is alfo faid, when the Lord God had formed man of the dust of the ground, that he breathed into his nofirils the breath of life; and he became a living foul. Thus man receiv ed immediately from his Maker the vital spirit of the creation; by which breath, fomething more is intended than merely animal life. It was this that endowed Adam with his vast understanding, and distinguifhed him from all the other creatures, and gave him a capacity to hold the dominion over them.-So. that in this respect also, man was created in the image of God, and Adam was the figure of the Lord Christ.

This endowment was nothing less than an inspiration of the Divine Spirit, the power of which was fhewn in the skill with which Adam gave the name of every creature; for the Lord brought them unto him, to fee what he would call them; and whatfoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name there

of. Names were originally used to fignify the characters or natures of beings and things; and, doubtlefs, in Adam's giving a name to every creature, he defignated its nature, and this he could do with perfect precision, and without the least mistake; for whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

It appears, therefore, that Adam poffeffed a certain divine infpiration, by which he could look intuitively into the natures of the creatures, and difcern at once, even before he had ufed or improved them, what were their powers, and their use and defign.-Indeed, this inspiration fo unfolded the reafon of things, as led him to take prophetic views of the natural ftate of the creation: this appears by his faying, when the woman was brought unto him, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: She fhall be called Woman, becaufe fhe was taken out of Man.-Therefore fhall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Thus was Adam capacitated for the dominion of the world. It was evidence that Jefus ́ was the Chrift, that he knew all men, and needed not that any should tefiify of man: for he knew what was in man: for in this appeared his ability to govern and judge the world.So Adam needed not to be told what was the name or nature of any creature; for at one glance he could difcover it, and in this was manifefted his ability to fland where he was placed by his Maker, in the image of God at the head of the creation,

And it is evident that the divine breath or spirit given to Adam, was the Spirit of Chrift; for, In him was life, and the life was the light of men.-The true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world; or, the illumination which distinguishes men from the irrational creatures, confifting in the breath of life which was breathed into Adam, is thus to be traced to the eternal fource of the divine word: Accordingly it is faid, Job xxxii. 8. But there is a Spirit in man: and the inSpiration of the Almighty giveth them underflanding.

It muft, however, be carefully obferved, that the fpirit of knowledge with which Adam was animated and lightened, was not the Spirit of Holinefs; it was merely the light of nature, or a teaching of natural things: the felf-denial, and the confolation -the teaching to know the Father in duty, and to abide in the love of Christ, given by the Holy Ghoft, are things which belong to the other world, and connect only with the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. These are the humble portions of the poor in Spi rit-the tranfcendently rich legacies of babes! Adam, though he had a mind that could unravel the whole fecret of nature, and command the fea, the air, and the earth, of these things ftill he knew nothing!

The knowledge of the true God is the life of rational creatures; this is the only proper idea which may be formed of a living foul, or of rational intelligent life. Of this knowledge the Lord Jefus Chrift is the only trea

fury, the fole medium, the beginning and the end.-- This life was given to man, being created in the image of God, and by the divine Spirit endowed with wisdom and knowledge, he became a living foul.-But, according to the divine theory, in the knowledge of God there exifts a great distinction, viz. First, the knowledge of Christ as the Beginning, or the truth and glory of God unfolded in the creation; and, Secondly, the knowledge of Chrift as the Servant and Son, or the truth and glory of God unfolded in the work of redemption and in the kingdom of heaven; and it will be understood that the knowledge and life of Adam, related merely to the beginning, or to this firft manifeflation of God in the light and felicity of nature.

The happiness and glory of Adam, though infinitely fhort of the blessedness of the faints in the kingdom of heaven, was, nevertheless, truly the enjoyment of God; and when the immenfity of the works of creation are confidered, and how perfect and harmoniouswere all things in their original ftate, and that the whole fyftem was full of God; and alfo, how man was capacitated to look into and furvey every part of the wonderful ftructure, and was, as it were, filled with the light and glory of the whole: I fay, when these things are confidered, it is readily perceived, that his enjoyment was inconceivably great, and that the fource of the happiness of man, in his innocency, was boundlels.

Moreover, it will from hence be diftinguilhed, that the life of Adam, though it con