Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/64

32 When our Lord Jesus anointed the blind man's eyes with clay, perhaps he intimated that it was he who first formed the man out of the clay; and when he breathed on his disciples, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, he intimated that it was he who first breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. He that made the soul, is alone able to new-make it.

8. And the God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9. And out of the ground made the God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12. And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx-stone. 13. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria, And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15. And the God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.

Man consisting of body and soul, a body made out of the earth, and a rational immortal soul the breath of heaven, we have, in these verses, the provision that was made for the happiness of both; he that made him, took care to make him happy, if he could but have kept himself so, and known when he was well off. That part of man by which he is allied to the world of sense, was made happy; for he was put in the paradise of God: that part by which he is allied to the world of spirits, was well provided for; for he was taken into covenant with God. Lord, what is man, that he should be thus dignified? Man that is a worm! Here we have,

I. A description of the garden of Eden, which was intended for the mansion and demesne of this great lord, the palace of this prince. The inspired penman, in this history, writing for the Jews first, and calculating his narratives for the infant-state of the church, describes things by their outward sensible appearances, and leaves us, by further discoveries of the divine light, to be led into the divine understanding of the mysteries couched under them. Spiritual things were strong meat, which they could not yet bear; but he writes to them as unto carnal, 1 Cor. 3. 1. Therefore he does not so much insist upon the happiness of Adam's mind, as upon that of his outward estate. The Mosaic history, as well as the Mosaic law, has rather the patterns of heavenly things, than the heavenly things themselves, Heb. 9. 23. Observe,

1. The place appointed for Adam's residence was a garden; not an ivory house, or a palace overlaid with gold, but a garden furnished and adorned by nature, not by art. What little reason have men to be proud of stately and magnificent buildings, when it was the happiness of man in innocency, that he needed none! As clothes came in with sin, so did houses. The heaven was the roof of Adam's house; and never was any roof so curiously ceiled and painted: the earth was his floor; and never was any floor so richly inlaid: the shadow of the trees was his retirement, under them were his dining-rooms, his lodging-rooms; and never were any rooms so finely hung as these; Solomon's, in all their glory, were not arrayed like them. The better we can accommodate ourselves to plain things, and the less we indulge ourselves with those artificial delights which have been invented to gratify men's pride and luxury, the nearer we approach to a state of innocency. Nature is content with a little, and that which is most natural; grace with less; but lust with nothing.

2. The contrivance and furniture of this garden were the immediate work of God's wisdom and power. The Lord God planted this garden, that is, he had planted it—upon the third day, when the fruits of the earth were made. We may well suppose it to have been the most accomplished place for pleasure and delight that ever the sun saw; when the all-sufficient God himself designed it to be the present happiness of his beloved creature, man, in innocency, and a type and figure of the happiness of the chosen remnant in glory. No delights can be agreeable or satisfying to a soul, but those that God himself has provided and appointed for it; no true paradise, but of God's planting; the light of our own fires, and the sparks of our own kindling, will soon leave us in the dark, Isa. 50. 11. The whole earth was now a paradise, compared with what it is since the fall, and since the flood; the finest gardens in the world are a wilderness, compared with what the whole face of the ground was before it was cursed for man's sake: yet that was not enough; God planted a garden for Adam. God's chosen ones shall have distinguishing favours showed them.

3. The situation of this garden was extremely sweet; it was in Eden, which signifies delight and pleasure. The place is here particularly pointed out by such marks and bounds as were sufficient, (I suppose,) when Moses wrote, to specify the place to those who knew that country; but now, it seems, the curious cannot satisfy themselves concerning it. Let it be our care to make sure a place in the heavenly paradise, and then we need not perplex ourselves with a search after the place of the earthly paradise. It is certain, wherever it was, it had all desirable conveniences, and (which never any house or garden on earth was) without any inconvenience; beautiful for situation, the joy and glory of the whole earth was this garden: doubtless, it was earth in its highest perfection.

4. The trees with which this garden was planted. (1.) It had all the best and choicest trees in common with the rest of the ground. It was beautified and adorned with every tree that, for its height or breadth, its make or colour, its leaf or flower, was pleasant to the sight, and charmed the eye; it was replenished and enriched with every tree that yielded fruit grateful to the taste, and useful to the body, and so, good for food. God, as a tender Father, consulted not only Adam's profit, but his pleasure; for there is a pleasure consistent with innocency, nay, there is a true and transcendent pleasure in innocency. God delights in the prosperity of his servants, and would have them easy; it is owing to themselves, if they be uneasy. When Providence puts us into an Eden of plenty and pleasure, we ought to serve him with joyfulness and gladness of heart, in the abundance of the good things he gives us. But, (2.) It had two extraordinary trees peculiar to itself; on earth there were not their like. [1.] There was the tree of life in the midst of the garden, which was not so much a memorandum to him of the Fountain and Author of his life, nor perhaps any natural means to preserve or prolong life; but it was chiefly intended to be a sign and seal to Adam,