Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/65

Rh assuring him of the continuance of life and happiness, even to immortality and everlasting bliss, through the grace and favour of his Maker, upon condition of his perseverance in this state of innocency and obedience. Of this he might eat and live. Christ is now to us the Tree of Life, Rev. 2. 7.—22. 2, and the Bread of life, John 6. 48. 53. [2.] There was the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so called, not because it had any virtue in it to beget or increase useful knowledge, surely then it would not have been forbidden; but, First, Because there was an express positive revelation of the will of God concerning this tree, so that by it he might know moral good and evil. What is good? It is good not to eat of this tree. What is evil? It is evil to eat of this tree. The distinction between all other moral good and evil was written in the heart of man by nature; but this which resulted from a positive law, was written upon this tree. Secondly, Because, in the event, it proved to give Adam an experimental knowledge of good by the loss of it, and of evil by the sense of it. As the covenant of grace has in it, not only, Believe and be saved, but also, Believe not, and be damned, Mark 16. 16, so the covenant of innocency had in it, not only "Do this and live," which was sealed and confirmed by the tree of life, but, "Fail and die," which man was assured of by this other tree; "Touch it at your peril:" so that, in these two trees, God set before Adam good and evil, the blessing and the curse, Deut. 30. 19. These two trees were as two sacraments.

5. The rivers with which this garden was watered, v. 10...14. These four rivers (or one river branched into four streams) contributed much both to the pleasantness and the fruitfulness of this garden. The land of Sodom is said to be well-watered every where as the garden of the Lord, ch. 13. 10. Observe, That which God plants, he will take care to keep watered. The trees of righteousness are set by the rivers, Ps. 1. 3. In the heavenly paradise there is a river infinitely surpassing these; for it is a river of the water of life, not coming out of Eden, as this, but proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb, Rev. 22. 1. a river that makes glad the city of our God, Ps. 46. 4. Hiddekel and Euphrates are rivers of Babylon, which we read of elsewhere; by these the captive Jews sat down and wept, when they remembered Zion, Ps. 137. 1. but methinks they had much more reason to weep, (and so have we,) at the remembrance of Eden; Adam's paradise was their prison; such wretched work has sin made. Of the land of Havilah, it is said, v. 11, 12, that the gold of that land was good, and that there was bdellium, and the onyx-stone: surely this is mentioned, that the wealth which the land of Havilah boasted of, might be as a foil to that which was the glory of the land of Eden. Havilah had gold, and spices, and precious stones; but Eden had that which was infinitely better, the tree of life, and communion with God. So we may say of the Africans and Indians; "They have the gold, but we have the gospel. The gold of their land is good, but the riches of our's are infinitely better."

II. The placing of man in this paradise of delight, v. 15, where observe,

1. How God put him in possession of it. The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden; so v. 8, 15. Note here, (1.) That man was made out of paradise; for, after God had formed him, he put him into the garden: he was made of common clay, not of paradise-dust. He lived out of Eden before he lived in it, that he might see that all the comforts of his paradise-state were owing to God's free grace. He could not plead a tenant right to the garden, for he was not born upon the premises, nor had any thing but what he received; all boasting was hereby for ever excluded. (2.) The same God that was the Author of his being, was the Author of his bliss: the same hand that made him a living soul, planted the tree of life for him, and settled him by it; he that made us, is alone able to make us happy; he that is the Former of our bodies, and the Father of our spirits; he, and none but he, can effectually provide for the felicity of both. (3.) It adds much to the comfort of any condition, if we have plainly seen God going before us, and putting us into it. If we have not forced providence, but followed it, and taken the hints of direction it has given us, we may hope to find a paradise there, where otherwise we could not have expected it; see Ps. 47. 4.

2. How God appointed him business and employment; he put him there, not like Leviathan into the waters, to play therein, but to dress the garden, and to keep it. Paradise itself was not a place of exemption from work. Note here, (1.) That we were none of us sent into the world to be idle. He that made us these souls and bodies, has given us something to work with; and he that gave us this earth for our habitation, has made us something to work on. If either a high extraction, or a great estate, or a large dominion, or perfect innocency, or a genius for pure contemplation, or a small family, could have given a man a writ of ease, Adam had not been set to work; but he that gave us being, has given us business, to serve him and our generation, and to work out our salvation: if we do not mind our business, we are unworthy of our being and maintenance. (2. ) That secular employments will very well consist with a state of innocency, and a life of communion with God. The sons and heirs of heaven, while they are here in this world, have something to do about this earth, which must have its share of their time and thoughts; and if they do it with an eye to God, they are as truly serving him in it, as when they are upon their knees. (3.) "That the husbandman's calling is an ancient and honourable calling; it was needful even in paradise. The garden of Eden, though it needed not to be weeded, (for thorns and thistles were not yet a nuisance,) yet it must be dressed and kept. Nature, even in its primitive state, left room for the improvements of art and industry. It was a calling fit for a state of innocency, making a provision for life, and not for lust; and giving man an opportunity of admiring the Creator, and acknowledging his providence; while his hands were about his trees, his heart might be with his God. (4.) There is a true pleasure in the business which God calls us to, and employs us in; Adam's work was so far from being an allay, that it was an addition, to the pleasures of paradise; he could not have been happy, if he had been idle: it is still a law, He that will not work, has no right to eat, 2 Thess. 3. 10. Prov. 27. 23.

III. The command which God gave to man in innocency, and the covenant he then took him into. Hitherto, we have seen God, man's powerful Creator, and his bountiful Benefactor; now he appears as his Ruler and Lawgiver. God put him into the garden of Eden, not to live there as he might list, but to be under government. As we are not allowed to be idle in this world, and to do nothing, so we are not allowed to be wilful, and do what we please. When God had given man a dominion over the creatures, he would let him know that still he himself was under the government of his Creator.

16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou Vol. I.—E