as the image of God, the possessor of the world and the ruler of the creatures;-a fitness to which rectitude of nature and life, and holiness of heart, were undeniably essential. dominion. tion. The Another element of the image of God in Adam, was his position, in the dominion of the world and the creatures; and 17. Adam's that endowment of authority which they recognised in his person and voice. To man, at present, all is Recapitula- in revolt, the result of his revolt from God. elements assail him. The earth gives thorns and thistles for his toil. The treacherous air instils death in his veins; and the animal tribes lie in wait for his blood, or fly from his presence with distrust and dread. But it was not so at the beginning. For Adam all were made, and to him assigned in the decree for his creation. The world's whole structure was framed for his convenience, and all its creatures placed under his hand in a dominion, the only limit of which was the ultimate sovereignty of the infinite Maker. The elements were in his alliance; and the earth brought in tribute the fatness of its virgin soil, and the spontaneous abundance of its luscious fruits; whilst around him carolled the feathered tribes, and before him trooped the animal throng, yielding loyal allegiance and fearless trust. "About them frisking played All beasts of the earth, since wild; and of all chase, In wood or wilderness, forest or den; Sporting the lion romped, and in his paw Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards, Gambolled before them; the unwieldy elephant, To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed His lithe proboscis; close the serpent, sly, Insinuating, wove, with Gordian twine, His braided train, and of his fatal guile Gave proof unheeded."-PARADISE LOST, Book iv. Thus have we traced the lineaments of the divine likeness which was in Adam, as he came from the hands of his Maker. He was surrounded by every circumstance which could serve to signalize and proclaim him the topstone and crown of the creation of God. "Created by the special council and care of the blessed Trinity, he was made the end of all the creatures; they all for him; and, therefore, he last of all. He was, in a peculiar manner, formed to the glory of his Maker; as he who, of all the creatures, could recognise, celebrate and respond to the wisdom, power and goodness of the Creator; so that, without man, all else had been created in vain. He was an epitome and compendium of the universe; representing the spiritual world by his soul, and the corporeal by his body. His body was formed as it were by the very fingers of God; and hence was admirable in the elegant proportion of its members, in its elastic vigour, and its aptitude for the service of God and of the soul. His soul was, in its nature, spiritual, celestial, divine, indivisible, incorruptible, immortal, akin to the angels,-yea, to God himself."* Invested with the choicest gifts, his body was the masterpiece of the material creation; and his soul shone, in uncompanioned brightness, sole occupant of the moral world. Begotten by the Spirit of God, his endowments were worthy of his origin; consisting in the noblest powers of intellect, and the richest resources of knowledge, the law of God written on his heart, the glory of God revealed to his conscience, and his whole nature clothed in perfect rectitude and spotless holiness; and his free will, the efficient cause of all his actions, declaring the moral attitude of his nature, and proclaiming the affinities of his soul. His name, the organization of his body, and the endowments of his soul, the whole structure of his being, and constitution of his nature, had hidden reference to the coming of the second Adam. They were constructed, not only as a present irradiation of God's likeness, but in adaptation to that secret counsel by which the Son of the Highest was from everlasting ordained to become the Son of man, to assume part in man's nature; and, whilst hiding the lustre of the Godhead under the veil of human flesh, to constitute that veil a means of shedding forth a still clearer radiance of the divine perfections, and of displaying a likeness in which an adoring universe and a ransomed world should behold "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person," the "image of the invisible God." * Van Mastricht Theologia, lib. iii. cap. ix. 12. Such was Adam in the day of his creation. No immature capacities dishonoured his inauguration; no imbecile minority prefaced his reign. He was created a king. Majesty shone in every line of his face; dominion sat enthroned in the expanse of his brow; and the lessons of true wisdom were inscribed in his heart. God's law was his counsel and delight, and God's glory his business and joy. Living amid a creation whose varying scenes and shadows were an unceasing anthem to the Creator,whose whole frame was a harp, to be attuned by his fingers to still sweeter harmonies and loftier strains, his happiness was in communion with Him whose honour he was ordained to shed abroad and celebrate. With open face, as man with his fellowman, so conversed he with God; and, relying on the terms of a covenant "ordered in all things and sure," he anticipated the lapse of a little season, when, his probation ended, he should pass to higher spheres, and become possessor of a life and glory of which the dominion of earth and the habitation of Eden were but the faintly-foreshadowing pledge. CHAPTER V. THE LAW OF GOD. WE have seen the successive inauguration of the universe and of man, as instrumentalities designed and constructed for reveal1. God our ing the glory of the Triune God. To the same end, Sovereign. and signally important and luminous in the light of God's manifested perfections, is his holy law. It is evident that the exercise of a universal, absolute and unchangeable sovereignty, by some being, is necessary to the harmony and happiness,-nay, to the very existence, of the universe which God has made. The Creator must be that sovereign. No other being has one requisite for the office. The very act of creation, implying, as it does, some suitable end to be attained, brings the Creator under obligation to his own wisdom. to give his creatures such laws as will guide them to the accomplishment of that end; whether they be enstamped upon the very essence of the creature, as in the case of the material elements; attached to the organic structure, as in the vegetable creation and animal tribes; or inscribed on the heart and made known to the understanding, as in man and the angelic hosts. We instinctively perceive it to be a matter of supreme obligation upon every intelligent creature to appreciate and honour the Being by whose wisdom, power and goodness, existence with all its blessings was conferred and is continued. Since all that a creature has, whether of being and powers or of possessions and time, is received from the Creator, and enjoyed from hour to hour as the gratuity of his bounty,-every one must feel that no obligation can be more complete or comprehensive than that which binds him to render his all to the Author of his being,-making subservient to this consideration every thought and act, every emotion and affection of the soul; constituting the will of the Creator the invariable rule, and his glory the supreme and all-pervading motive. New relations may add new force to the obligations thus already existing; but they cannot be expanded to any wider compass. All is already due; and beyond this no title can be extended, whilst less than this no possible circumstances will justify or excuse. God, our preserver and benefactor, unfolds to us, in the daily exercise of his goodness, new arguments, challenging our gratitude and love. Yet these can demand no more than that entire devotion which was already the Creator's right, prior to any such experience. Were we to see a person in peril of death, from which we have power to rescue him, the obligation to use our power becomes at once complete. Should the party in danger prove to be a friend and benefactor, the duty remains precisely the same, although the motives of a common humanity are now enforced by the superadded claims of gratitude and love. So, we continually receive from God benefits and favours, which add increasing force to a Creator's claims. But the right of God, as Creator, can never be expanded by any subsequent transaction to a wider scope. ian theory. The ultimate sovereignty thus attributed to God as Creator is extensively denied. Particularly by the Hopkinsian school of § 2. Hopkins- divines are positions assumed, which are entirely irreconcilable with it. An undefined and incomprehensible something, known as "the nature of things," is supposed to exist, back of the very being of God himself, and independent of him; which constitutes the ultimate rule, endowed with supreme obligation alike over God and the creatures; conformity with which constitutes God the Holy One, and deflection from which would abrogate his authority. Both Edwards and Bellamy, whilst they would have recoiled with indignation from the style of expression, often used by later writers, seem essentially to have held this opinion. Bellamy says that God by his infinite understanding "is perfectly acquainted with himself and with all his intelligent creatures; and so, perfectly knows what conduct in him toward them is right, fit and amiable, and such as |