form some idea. But, man, ever fond of pourtraying things whose essence he cannot comprehend, under images borrowed from sensible objects, again recurs to the breath, as the sensible distinction between the living and the dead body, between what is animate and that which is inanimate, and he adopts it as the figure under which he attempts to image to himself and to others, that imperceptible and inconceivable something, which was the sentient and intelligent inmate of that body upon which we gaze with wonder, as having, in one moment, parted with breath, with life, with intelligence. denotes Thus, in Hebrew, the noun breath. Hence, it is used also to denote a respirant body, a breathing frame, an animal body; whence, it is employed to denote, not only a living animal body, a living breathing frame; but also, an animal body which has ceased to live, a body which has been respirant, a mere carcase. It is, also, used to denote animation or life. It is applied, also, to denote the sentient inmate of the animal body, that something of which we have spoken as coexisting with life in the respiring animal body. We read, in the first record of the book 66 ישרצו המים שרץ נפש Genesis, that God said » חיה (rendered "let the waters bring forth. abundantly the moving creature that hath life")" let the waters bring forth abundantly "and fowl, &c." י נפש the reptile living -ren) " את התנינים הגדלים And God created » ואת כל נפש החיה הרמשת ("great whales a Gen. i. 20, 21. dered " bring forth was the living (rendered "the living creature") after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth Ibid. 24. after his kind, and it was so.' "And God said—and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing אשר בו נפש חיה that creepeth upon the earth (rendered "wherein there is life") in which Ibid. 30. (is) living w &c." " C Thus, we see, that each of the creatures which the waters brought forth, and each of those which the earth brought forth, every beast of the earth, and every fowl of the air, and every creeping thing of the earth and of the waters, is called 'n (living wo i. e. living breath, living breathing-body) a living or animal; every one of these creatures had a bodily structure in which was (living breath) a living we or anima. We read, also, in this same record, that God said, "Let us make (or, we will make) man (07) in our image after our likeness; and let them have dominion (or, they shall rule) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God. created He him; male and female created He them." d No one can suppose, that this "image of God," in which man was formed, this "likeness of the Deity, after which he was made, refers to the bodily structure of man. For the bodily structure of man bears a close resemblance to that of many of the animals subjected to his dominion; and, in all the leading features of the bodily economy, this "likeness" of man to other animals is manifested. Whereas, we know not anything of the "likeness" of God, nor can we form any conception of what it is. "To whom will ye liken God, or what likeness" (, the same word as that employed in Gen. i. 25, 26.) d Ibid. 26, 27. 5. See xl. 25. 16. 66 e Isa. x1.18. "will ye compare unto him?” "To whom will ye liken me and make me equal and Ib. xlvi. compare me, that we may be like?" When "Jehovah descended upon" mount Sinai "in fire," and the mount was altogether on a * Exod. xix. smoke," "then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And the sight of the glory of Jehovah, was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the "Ye came eyes of the children of Israel." h near," says Moses to the Israelites, "and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness; and Jehovah spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice, but saw no Deut. iv. similitude: only (ye heard) a voice." "No *John i.12. man hath seen God at any time," for He is a Being whom "no man hath seen nor Christ, "the Son of God," h Exodus xxiv. 9. 10, 17. 11, 12. 11 Tim. can see.' "" 1 vi. 16. m m John xx. "the image of the invisible God,"" who, "being 31. » Col. i. 15. in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto 0 death." He was sent "in the likeness of sinful flesh."P "The word was made flesh." There is, then, an image, and a "likeness," of the Deity, in which, and after which, man was created; and there is a "likeness of men," which Christ, the " image" and the equal of the invisible God, took upon himself when he put on the "form of a servant,” and was "made flesh." As, then, the bodily structure, the fleshy form, was that "likeness of men, " which Christ, the image of the invisible God," put on when he resided on earth in a taber nacle of flesh; so, when we are told that "God created man in his own image," and after his own "likeness; " it is evident, that this statement refers to a part of man totally distinct from his body of flesh; as distinct from it as was Christ, the incarnate image of God, from the form of flesh which he condescended to assume. It refers to that inmate of the body which St. Paul expressively calls the "inward man," as contrasted with the body which he terms the "outward man." 2 Cor. iv. What, then, is the essence of this God-like inmate of the fleshy tabernacle of man? We know not. For, as no man hath seen, nor can see, God; as our minds cannot form any r 16. |