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BECAUSE What creature soever God made in the 'celestial heavens to set forth his glory, they were not to increase and multiply, nor to decrease, die, and lessen, but to set forth their Creator's glory for ever. For female of all, creatures, as well as women, God made on purpose to increase and multiply here in this world; so that one generation might pass away, and another come, even to the end of time: for as to increase and multiply had a beginning of time, as the creation of this world had a beginning of time, so there will be an end of time to this world, and an end of increasing and multiplying, both of man, and of all other creatures whatsoever. Furthermore, all those living creatures in heaven above, did God create out of that earth and matter above the stars all manner of celestial creatures, with spiritual bodies; every thing in its kind, for his own glory; before it came into God's heart to make this world, or to make man in his own image. And, further, in God made all celestial creatures heaven with spiritual bodies; and without a body did God make no living creature at all; neither did God make those spiritual creatures in heaven of nothing, but he had matter to make them of: viz. earth and water, as aforesaid.

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So that by faith a man may perfectly know what God was, and is, in his form, shape and nature, from eternity; and what form and nature angels are of, and of what matter and substance God made angels, and all other celestial creatures, their spiritual bodies of, in heaven, above the stars, viz. of that glorious earth, and chrystal seas, or waters, above the firmament of heaven: the Scriptures are full to prove the persons and nature of angels, and the form, person, and nature of God; yet, for want of faith, men understand them not; therefore I cannot expect that unbelieving men should understand what matter and substance God made all creatures in heaven of, seeing the Scriptures hath not declared it, as it hath the other; but the faith that is of God's own nature is not tied so as to know no more than what is written in public:

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for true faith is the substance of these things hoped for, by him that hath faith in his heart, and the evidence of things he never saw by the eye of reason, nor by the sight of the natural eye. I know these things will be looked upon by unbelieving men as idle tales; yet these things may be understood by faith, as well as Paul did understand, by faith, that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.m So that the reader may see, that God hath framed two worlds by his Word; that is, the celestial world, where none but spiritual bodies are, and this terrestrial world we now see, where none but terrestrial and natural bodies are; where is mortality increasing and decreasing continually, as long as this world doth last; so that by faith a man may as well un derstand, and know what substance and matter God made མསས angels, and all other creatures of, in that world above, which is called the world to come (because it is yet to come to us) as to know by faith that this world was framed by the Word of God, or had a beginning, or ever shall have an ending. Thus by faith a man may see as perfectly what God is in heaven above the stars, and what creatures God hath created there in a celestial state, and what their forms, shapes, and natures are, as really as a man may see the glory, persons, forms, and shapes of kings and princes, and the forms, natures, and shapes of all living creatures under the firmament of heaven, by the eye of sense and reason. Thus the reader may see that faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, by the eye of sense and reason.

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God is not in the shape of a man, and that man, in respect of his body, is not the image of God; but doth prove altogether that man is the image of God, in respect of his body, as well as his soul. Mind that the God of Jeshurun, spoken of here by Moses, is that very same God Moses speaks of Gen. i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. In verse 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and for male created he them. These words the reader may see ale plain. Now the question is, whether Moses did really be lieve, when he wrote those words, that God made man in his own image and likeness: I do really believe that Moses' faith did cause him to speak as he did believe; as David said, in another case, I believed, therefore I spake. And that Moses' faith did see, by revelation, that God was a glorious spiritual body, in form and shape like a man, when God created man, and from eternity, else Moses would never have written those words without any distinction; and this was the prophets' faith, and the apostles' faith; and I am of that faith, being made partaker of the like precious faith and revelation of Moses. Likewise, I know that Moses' faith was, that man, in respect of his bodily shape, is made in the image of God, and that God's person, body, and shape, though heavenly, spiritual, and glorious, was, in form and shape, like a man from eternity, and is so still, and will be of the same form and shape to eternity. I wonder how the imagination of reason in man came to derogate from the sense of such plain positive words, to imagine the soul of man to be the image of God, and not of his body; so that one half of man is the image of God, and the other half not. I know the cause is, that the imagination of all men in the world are by nature in chains of darkness, and shall be reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day; then shall all men know that God was in the form and shape of man's body, as well as his soul, and that man's body was the image of God, as well as his soul; but all men shall not see God face to face, only such as did believe he had a face and body in this life.

Secondly, this God of Jeshurun is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob; the God of Jeshurun

was the God of Jacob or of Israel, and God made Moses king in Jeshurun, that is, Moses was made king, to lead and guide the inheritance of Jacob, in that he gave forth a law to the children of Israel, as you may see in the 4th and 5th verses of this chapter. Moses commanded us a law, even the inhe ritance of Jacob: and he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together: so that the God of Jeshurun was the God of Israel, or the God of Jacob. The same God that made man in his own image, and that spake to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and did appear unto them in the form of a man, and made covenants and promises unto them, that their seed should be his inheritance; and Moses was made king here on earth, of the God of Jeshurun's inheritance; so that this Scripture makes not to Penn's purpose to prove that man is not the image of God, in respect of his bodily shape, but altogether the contrary.

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In this chapter Moses blesseth the twelve tribes of Israel, and blessing them, he instructed them, and encouraged them to trust in that God that had done so many wonderful things by his hand in the midst of them: saying, there was none, meaning no God, like unto the God of Jeshurun; that is, there was no God like unto the God of Jacob, God of Israel, who rideth upon the heaven for thy help, and his excellency on the sky. Verse 27. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the enemy before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. What doth this signify as to God's form, being like unto man's body, because there is no God like unto the God of Jeshurun; therefore shall we conclude that man's body and shape was not made in the image of God, as well as his soul, because there is no other God nor man can do those wonderful things as the God of Jeshurun did. These words of Moses were only to encourage the people to trust in that God, that had brought them out of Egypt, with a high hand, and parted the Red Sea, that they might go on dry land, and had thrust out their enemies before them: so that these things they had experience of might cause them to trust in the God of Israel, or in the mighty God of Jacob, and not rebel against him.

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BECAUSE there was no God could do such mighty works, not like unto the God of Jeshurun, even the God of Israel, who rideth upon the heaven for their help, which no other God can do, and his excellency on the sky, to help his people Israel; for he could descend in a pillar of fire by night to help his people, and descend in the pillar of a cloud by day, to discomfort his people's enemies; so that the God of Jeshurun, being a spiritual body, can descend in a cloud from the sky, and ascend in a cloud to the sky again; so that a spiritual body may be said to ride upon the sky in his excel lency, which no other God can do; and, in this regard, there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, the God of Jacob, the eternal God, who created man in his own image, who, Moses said, in ver. 29, Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help! and so forth. This is the true interpretation of these Scriptures, so that the God of Jeshurun is the same God that made man's body and shape in his own glorious image, and that the God of Jeshurun, which none was like unto, was, at that time, in form like a man's bodily shape, only God's body was spiritual, heavenly, and glorious; therefore able to ride upon the heaven, and upon the sky, which no other God nor mortal man could do: therefore, none is like unto the God of Jeshurun, the mighty God of Jacob, who made man in his own image and likeness, in respect of his bodily shape, as well as his soul. This was the true meaning of Moses; only this hint I would give the reader to understand, that the imagination upon the heaven and upon the sky, without a body, when the unclean spirit of imagination goeth out of a

man, it rideth upon the sky, without a body, seeking rest,

but can find none; so it returns into the body again, and there abides till death; because no rest can be had to any spirit whatsoever without a body; therefore it is that none is like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven, and upon the sky, with his spiritual body and soul

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