“God is a spirit,” who thinks, and wills, and acts. There was some “likeness” to God even in the nature of man. And it is deserving of particular notice, that, in our dedication to our Creator at our baptism, we are expressly required to acknowledge this mysterious doctrine, being “baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. ![]() Here, then, we may see an early intimation of the Trinity in Unity a doctrine which pervades the whole Bible, and is the very corner-stone of our holy religion. We must not however suppose that there are three Gods: there certainly is but One God and His unity is as clear as his existence: and this is intentionally marked in the very verse following our text where the expressions, “ us” and “ our” are turned into “ he” and “ his:”-“God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him.” ” And it is confirmed in a variety of other passages, where God, under the character of our “Creator,” or “ Maker,” is spoken of in the plural number. This appears from a still more striking expression, which occurs afterwards where God says, “Now man is become like one of us, to know good and evil. In the manner of our creation there is something worthy of very peculiar attention. We may not unprofitably notice somewhat respecting the time. And these are the subjects which we would now propose for your consideration: But we are not left to the uncertain deductions of reason: God has been pleased to reveal unto us (what could not otherwise have been known ) the time and manner of our creation, together with the state in which we were created. That there was a period when no such creature as man existed, even reason itself would teach us for every effect must proceed from some cause: and therefore the formation of man, however remotely we trace his origin, must, in the first instance, have been the product of some intelligent Being, who was eternally selfexistent. ![]() THOUGH men constantly trace their origin to their immediate parents, and frequently to their remoter ancestors, yet they rarely consider When, or How they first came into existence, or Whether any change has taken place in their nature since they came out of their Creator’s hands. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
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