Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 05 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis

Transcript

05 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis · Philosophy and Faith

• Chapter three, Part two. Sentence passed on the serpent intimation of Messiah b. C. Four thousand four, verses fourteen and fifteen. And the Lord God said, unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly, shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The prisoners being found guilty by their own confession, besides the personal and infallible knowledge of the judge, and nothing material being offered an arrest of judgment, God immediately proceeds to pass sentence, and in these verses he begins where the sin began with the serpent. God did not examine the serpent, nor ask him what he had done, nor why he did it, but immediately sentenced him number one, because he was already convicted of rebellion against God, and his malice and wickedness were notorious, not found by secret search, but openly avowed and declared as Sodoms number two, because he was to be forever excluded from all hope of pardon, And why should anything be said to convince and humble him who was to find no place for repentance. His wound was not search because it was not to be cured. Some think the condition of the fallen angels was not declared desperate and helpless until now that they had seduced man into the rebellion Numeral one. The sentence passed upon the tempter made he considered as lighting upon the serpent, the brute creature which Satan made use of, which was as the rest made for the service of man, but was now abused to his hurt. Therefore to testified displeasure against sin and a jealousy for the injured honor of Adam and Eve. God fastens a curse and reproach upon the serpent, and makes it a groan being burdened see Romans eight, verse twenty. The devil's instruments must share in the devil's punishments. Thus the bodies of the wicked, though only instruments of unrighteousness, shall partake of everlasting torments with the soul, the principal agent, even the ox that killed a man must be stoned. Exodus twenty one, Verses twenty eight and twenty nine. See here how God hates sin, and especially how much displeased he is with those who entice others into sin. It is a perpetual brand upon Jerbaum's name that he made Israel to sin. Now Number one, the serpent is here laid under the curse of God. Thou art cursed above all cattle, even the creeping things. When God made them, were blessed of him Verse twenty two. But sen turned the blessing into a curse. The serpent was more subtle than any beasts of the field Verse one, and here cursed above every beast of the field unsanctified. Subtlety often proves a great curse to a man. And the more crafty men are to do evil, the more mischief they do, and consequently they shall receive the greater damnation. Subtle tempters are the most accursed creatures under the sun. Number two. He is here laid under man's reproach and enmity. Subscript one. He is to be forever looked upon as a vile and despicable creature, and a proper object of scorn and contempt upon thy belly. Thou shalt go no longer upon feet or half erect, but thou shalt crawl along thy belly, cleaving to the earth, an expression of very abject miserable condition Psalms forty four, verse twenty five. And thou shalt not avoid eating dust with thy meat. His crime was that he tempted Eve to eat that which she should not. His punishment was that he was necessity to eat that which he would not dost thou shalt eat. This denotes not only a base and despicable condition, but a mean and pitiful spirit. It is said of those whose courage has departed from them, that they licked the dust like a serpent Micah seven, verse seventeen. How sad it is that the serpent's curse should be the covetous wordling's choice, whose character it is that he pants after the dust of the earth Amos two, verse seven. These choose their own delusions, and so shall their doom be Subscript two. He is to be forever looked upon as a venomous, noxious creature and a proper object of hatred and detestation. I will put enmity between thee and the woman. The inferior creatures be made for man. It was a curse upon any of them to be turned against man, and man against them, And this is part of the serpent's curse. The serpent is hurtful to man, and often bruises his heel because it can reach no higher Nay, notice is taken of his biting the horse's heels Chapter forty nine, verse seventeen. But man is victorious over the serpent and bruises his head, that is, gives him a mortal wound, aiming to destroy the whole generation of vipers. It is the effect of this curse upon the serpent, that, though that creature is subtle and very dangerous, yet it prevails not as it would if God gave it commission to the destruction of mankind. This sentence pronounced upon the serpent is much fortified by that promise of God to his people, thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder Psalms ninety one, verse thirteen, and that of Christ to his disciples, they shall take up serpents Mark sixteen, verse eighteen. Witness Paul, who is unhurt by the viper that fastened upon his hand, observe. Here the serpent and the woman had just now been very familiar and friendly in discourse about the forbidden fruit, and a wonderful agreement there was between them. But here they are irreconcilably set at variance. Note sinful friendships justly end in mortal feuds. Those that unite in wickness will not unite long numeral two. This sentence may be considered as leveled at the devil, who only made use of the serpent as his vehicle in this appearance, but was himself the principal agent. He that spoke through the serpent's mouth is here struck at through the serpent's side. It is principally intended in the sentence, which, like the pillar of clown fire, has a dark side towards the devil and a bright side towards our first parents and their seat. Great things are contained in these words Number one. A perpetual reproach is here fastened upon that great enemy both to God and man, under the cover of the serpent. He is here sentenced to be subscript one, degraded, and a curse of God. It is supposed that the sin which turned angels into devils was pride which is here justly punished by a great variety of mortifications, couched under the mean circumstances of a serpent crawling on his belly and licking the dust. How art thou fallen, o Lucifer, he that would be above God? And what head a rebellion against him? Is justly exposed here to contempt and lies to be trodden on. A man's pride will bring him low, and God will humble those that will not humble themselves. Subscript two. Detested and abhorred of all mankind, even those that are really seduced into his interests, yet profess a hatred and abhorreance of him. And all that are born of God make it their constant care to keep themselves that this wicked one touched himnot one John five, verse eighteen. He is here condemned to a state of war and irreconcilable enmity. Subscript three. Destroyed and ruined at last by the Great Redeemer, signified by the breaking of his head. His subtle politics shall all be baffled, his usurped power shall be entirely crushed, and he shall be forever a captive to the injured honor of divine sovereignty. By being told of this now he was tormented before the time. Number two, A perpetual quarrel is here commenced between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil. Among men, war is proclaimed between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. That war in heaven between Michael and the dragon began now Revelations twelve, verse seven. It is the fruit of this enmity. Subscript one, that there is a continual conflict between grace and corruption in the hearts of God's people. Satan, by their corruptions, assaults them, buffets them, sifts them, and seeks to devour them. They, by the exercise of their graces, resist him, wrestle with him, quench his fiery darts, force him to flee from them. Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, nor light in darkness. No more can Satan and a sanctified soul. For these or contrary the one to the other. Subscript two, that there is likewise a continual struggle between the wicked and the godly in this world, those that love God account those their enemies that hate him Psalms one hundred and thirty nine, verses twenty one and twenty two. And all the rage and malice of persecutors against the people of God are the fruit of this enmity, which will continue. While there is a go goly man on this side Heaven and a wicked man on this side Hell. Marvel not therefore, if the world hate you first John three, verse thirteen, number three, A gracious promise is here made of Christ as the deliverer, a fallen man from the power of Satan. Though what was said was addressed to the serpent, Yet it was said in the hearing of our first parents, who doubtless took the hints of grace here given them, and saw a door of hope open to them, else the following sentence upon themselves would have overwhelmed them. Here was the dawning of the Gospel day. No sooner was the wound given than the remedy was provided and revealed here in the head of the book, as the word is Hebrews ten, verse seven. In the beginning the Bible, it is written of Christ that he should do the will of God by faith. In this promise, we have reason to think our first parents and the patriarchs before the flood were justified and saved, and to this promise in the benefit of it, instantly serving God day and night, they hoped to come. Notice. Is here given them of three things concerning Christ. Subscrip one his incarnation, that he should be the seed of the woman, the seed of that woman. Therefore his genealogy Luke three goes so high as to show him to be the son of Adam. But God does a woman the honor to call him rather her seed, because she it was whom the devil had beguiled, and on whom Adam had laid the blame. Herein God magnifies his grace in that though the woman was first in the transgression, yet she shall be saved by child bearing, as some read it, that is, by the promised seed who shall descend from her. On Timothy two, verse fifteen. He was likewise to be the seed of a woman, only of a virgin, that he might not be tainted with the corruption of our nature. He was sent forth made of a woman. Galatians four, verse four, that this promise might be fulfilled. It is a great encouragement to sinners that their savior is the seed of the woman. Bone of our bone Hebrews two, verses eleven and fourteen. Man is therefore sinful and unclean because he is born of a woman, Job twenty five, verse four, and therefore his days are full of trouble Job fourteen, verse one. But the seed of the woman was made sin and a curse for us, so saving us from both Subscript two. His sufferings and death pointed at in Satan's bruising his heel, that is, his human nature. Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness to draw him into sin. And some think it was Satan that terrified Christ in his agony to drive him to despair. It was the devil that put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ, of Peter to deny him, of the chief priest to prosecute him, of the false witnesses to accuse him, and of Pilot to condemn him, aiming in all this by destroying the Savior, to ruin the salvation. But on the contrary, it was by death that Christ destroyed him that had the power of death Hebrews two, verse fourteen. Christ's heal was bruised when his feet were pierced and nailed the cross, and Christ's sufferings are continued in the sufferings of the saints for his name. The devil tempts them, cast them into prison, persecutes and slays them, and so bruises the heel of Christ, who is afflicted in their afflictions. But while the heel is bruised on earth, it is well that the head is safe in heaven Subscript three, his victory over Satan. Thereby, Satan had now trampled upon the woman and insulted over her. But the sea of the woman should be raised up in the fullness of time to avenge her quarrel, and to trample upon him, to spoil him, to lead him captive, and to triumph over him. Colossians two, verse fifteen. He shall bruise his head, that is, he shall destroy all his politics and all his powers, and give a total overthrow to his kingdom and interest. Christ, baffled Satan's temptations, rescued souls out of his hands, cast him out of the bodies of people, dispossessed the strong man, armed, and divide his spoil. By his death, he gave a fatal and incurable blow to the Devil's kingdom, a wound to the head of this beast that can never be healed. As his gospel gets ground, Satan falls Luke ten, verse eighteen, and is bound Revelations twenty verse two. By his grace, he treads Satan under his people's feet Romans sixteen, verse twenty, and will shortly cast him into the lake of fire Revelations twenty, verse ten. And the devil's perpetual overthrow be the complete and everlasting joy and glory of the chosen remnant. Sentence passed on Eve b c. Four thousand and four, verse sixteen. Unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception and sorrow. Thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee we have here the sentence passed upon the woman for her sin two things. She is condemned to a state of sorrow and a state of subjection, proper punishments of a sin in which she had gratified her pleasure and her pride Numeral one. She is here put into a state of sorrow, one particular of which only is specified that am bringing forth children, but includes all those impressions of grief and fear which the mind of that tender sex is most apt to receive, and all the common calamities which they are liable too. Note sin brought sorrow into the world. It was this that made the world a veil of tears, brought showers of trouble upon our heads, and open springs of sorrows in our hearts, and so delude to the world. Had we known no guilt, we should have known no grief. The pains of child bearing, which are great to a proverb a scripture proverb, are the effect of sin. Every pang and every groan of the travailing woman speak aloud the fatal consequences of sin. This comes of eating forbidden fruit. Observe number one. The sorrows are here said to be multiplied, greatly multiplied. All the sorrows this present time, or so many are the calamities which human life is liable too, of various kinds, and often repeated. The clouds returning after the rain, and no marvel that our sorrows are multiplied when our sins are both are innumerable evils. The sorrows of child bearing are multiplied, for they include not only the travailing throes, but the indisposition is before it is sorrow from the conception, and the nursing toils and vexations. After and after all, if the children prove wicked and foolish, they are more than ever the heaviness of her that bore them. Thus are the sorrows multiplied, as one grief is over another succeeds in this world. Number two. It is God that multiplies our sorrows. I will do it. God as a righteous judge does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows, as many as they are, we have deserved them all and more. Nay, God, as a tender father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin and weaned from the world by all our sorrows. And the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatlysoever they are multiplied. Numeral two. She is here put into a state of subjection. The whole sex, which by creation was equal of man, is for sin made inferior and forbidden to usurp authority Verse Timothy two, Verses eleven and twelve. The wife particularly is hereby put under the dominion of her husband, and has not sued juris at her own disposal, of which see and instance in that law numbers thirty, verses six through eight. When the husband is empowered if he pleased to disannall the vows made by the wife, this sentence amounts only to that command, wives, being subjection to your own husbands. But the entrance of sin has made that duty a punishment, which otherwise it would not have been. If man had not sinned, he would always have ruled with wisdom and love. And if the woman had not sinned, she would always have obeyed with humility and meekness, And then the dominion would have been no grievance. But our own sin and folly make our yoke heavy. If Eve had not eaten forbidden through herself and tempt her husband to eat it, she would never have complained of her subjection. Therefore it ought never to be complained of, though harsh. But sin must be complained of that made it so. Those wives who not only despise and disobey their husbands, but domineer over them, do not consider that they not only violate a divine law, but thwart a divine sentence. Numeral three observe here, how mercy is mixed with wrath in this sentence. The woman shall have sorrow, but shall be in bringing forth children, and the sorrow shall be forgotten for joy that a child is born. John sixteen, verse twenty one. She shall be subject, but shall be to her own husband that loves her, not to a stranger or an enemy. The sentence was not a curse to bring her to ruin, but chastisement to bring her to repentance. It was well that enmity was not put between the man and the woman, as there was between the serpent and the woman. Sentence passed on atom consequences of the fall b see four thousand and four, verses seventeen to nineteen. And unto Adam, he said, because I was hearkened under the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I command THEE, saying thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat of it. The days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shalt bring forth to thee, And thou shalt eat the herb of the field, and the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return under the ground, for out of it wast thou taken for dust sau art, and into dust shalt thou return. We have here the sentence passed upon Atom, which is prefaced with the recital of his crime. Because I was heart to the voice of thy wife Verse seventeen. He excused a fault by laying it on his wife. She gave it me. But God does not admit the excuse. She could but tempt him. She could not force him. Though it was her fault to persuade him to eat, it was his fault to hearken to her. Thus, men's frivolous please will, in the day of God's judgment, not only be overruled, but turned against them, and made the grounds of their sentence out of thine own mouth. Will I judge thee observe numer one. God put marks of his displeasure on Atom in three instances. Number one. His habitation is by this sentence cursed. Cursed is the ground for thy sake, And the effect of that curse is thorns and thistles shall bring forth unto thee. It is here intimated that his habitation should be changed. He should no longer dwell in distinguish blessed paradise, but should be removed to common ground, and that cursed the ground or earth is here put for the whole visible creation, which by the sin of man is made subject to vanity, the several parts of it being not so serviceable to man's comfort and happiness as they were designed to be when they were made, and would have been if he had not sinned. God gave the earth to the children of men, designed it to be a comfortable dwelling to them. But sin has altered the property of it. It is now cursed for man's sin. That is, it is a dishonorable habitation. It bespeaks man mean that his foundation is in the dust. It is a dry and barren habitation. Its spontaneous productions are now weeds and briars, something nauseous or noxious. What good fruits it produces must be extorted from it by the ingenuity and industry of man. Fruitfulness was its blessing for man's service on Verses eleven and twenty nine, and now barrenness was its curse. For man's punishment. Is not what it was in the day it was created. Sin turn of fruitful land into barrenness, and man, having become as a wild ass's colt, has the wild asses lot the wilderness for his habitation, and the barren land his dwelling. Jove thirty nine, verse six. Psalms sixty eight, verse six. Had not this curse been in part removed for aught, I know, the earth would have been forever barren and never produce anything but thorns and thistles. The ground is cursed, that is doomed to destruction at the end of time, when the earth and all the works there therein shall be burnt up for the sin of man, the measure of whose iniquity would then be full. Second Peter three, Verses seven and ten. But observe a mixture of mercy in this sentence. Subscript one. Adam himself is not cursed as a serpent was verse fourteen, but only the ground for his sake. God had blessings in him. Even the Holy seat destroy it, not for that blessing is in it Isaiah sixty five, verse eight. And he had blessings in store for him. Therefore he is not directly and immediately cursed, But as it were at second hand Subscript two, he is yet above ground the earth does not open and swallow him up. Only it is not what it was. As he continues alive, notwithstanding his degeneracy from his primitive purity and rectitude. So the earth continues to be his habitation, notwithstanding its degeneracy, from its primitive beauty and fruitfulness. Subscript three. This curse upon the earth, which cut off all expectations of a happiness in things below, might direct and quicken him to look for bliss and satisfaction only in things above. Number two. His employments and enjoyments are all embittered to him. Subscribe one. His business shall henceforth become a toil to him, and he shall go on with it in the sweat of his face Verse nineteen. His business before he sinned was a constant pleasure to him. The garden was then dressed without any uneasy labor, and kept without any uneasy care. But now his labor shall be a weariness, and shall waste his body. His care shall be a torment, and shall flick his mind. The curse upon the ground, which made it barren and produce thorns and thistles, made his employment about it much more difficult and toilsome. If Adam had not sinned, he had not sweated. Observe here sub Subscribe one that labor is our duty, which we must faithfully perform. We are bound to work not as creatures only, but as criminals. Is part of our sentence, which ileness daringly defies. Sub Subscript two that uneasiness and weariness with labor are our just punishment, which we must patiently submit to and not complain of, since they are less than our iniquity deserves. Let not us, by inordinate care and labor, make our punishment heavier than God has made it, but rather study to lighten our burden and wipe off our sweat by eyron, Providence and all, and expecting rest shortly. Subscript two. His food shall henceforth become in comparison with what it had been unpleasant to him. Sub Subscript one. The matter of his food is changed. He must now eat the herb of the field, and must no longer be feasted with the delicacies of the garden of Eden. Having by sin made himself like the beasts at parish, he is justly turned to be a fellow commoner with them, and to eat grass as oxen, till they know that the heavens due rule some subscript Two, there is a change in the manner of his eating it in sorrow verse seventeen, and in the sweat of his face verse nineteen. He must eat of it. Adam could not but eat and sorrow all the days of his life, remembering the forbidden fruit he had eaten, and the guilt and shame he had contracted by it. Observe first that human life is exposed to many miseries and calamities, which very much embitter the poor remains of its pleasures and delights. Some never eat with pleasure Joe twenty one, verse twenty five, through sickness or melancholy. All even the best have cause to eat with sorrow for sin, And all even the happiest in this world have some allays to their joy. Troops of diseases, disasters, and deaths in various shapes entered the world with sin and still ravage it. Secondly, that the righteousness of God is to be acknowledged in all the sad consequences of sin. Wherefore then should a living man complain. Yet in this part of the sentence there is also a mixture of mercy. He shall sweat, but his toil shall make his rest the more welcome. When he returns to his earth, as to his bed, he shall grieve, but he shall not starve. He shall have sorrow, but in that sorrow he shall eat bread, which shall strengthen his heart under his sorrows. He is not sentenced to eat dust as the serpent, only to eat the herb of the field. Number three. His life also is but short. Considering how full of trouble his days are, it is in favor to him that they are few. Yet death, being dreadful in nature, yea, even though life being pleasant, that concludes the sentence, Thou shall return to the ground out of which thou wast taken thy body, That part of thee which was taken now the ground shall return to it again. For dust, thou art. This points either to the first original of his body. It was made of the dust. Nay, it was made dust, and was still so so that there needed no more than to recall the grant of immortality, and to withdraw the power which was put forth to support it. And then he would of course return to dust, or to the present corruption and degeneracy of his mind. Dust, thou art, that is thy precious soul is now lost and buried in the dust of the body, in the mire of the flesh. It was made spiritual and heavenly, but has become carnal and earthly. His doom is therefore read to dust. Thou shalt return. Thy body shall be forsaken by thy soul and become itself a lump of dust. And then it shall be lodged in the grave, the proper place for it, and mingle itself with the dust of the earth, our dust Psalms one hundred and four, verse twenty nine. Earth to earth, dust to dust. Observe here Subscript one that man is a mean, frail creature, little as dust, the small dust of the balance. Light is dust, altogether lighter than manity. Weak is dust, and of no consistency. Our strength is not the strength of stones. He that made us considers it and remembers that we are dust Psalms one hundred and three, verse fourteen. Man is indeed the chief part of the dust of the world Proverbs eight, verse twenty six. But still he is dust. Subscript two, that he is a mortal, dying creature, and hastening to the grave. Dust may be raised for a time into a little cloud, and may seem considerable while it is held up by the wind that raised it, But when the force of that is spent, it falls again and returns to the earth out of which it was raised. Such a thing is man. A great man is but a great mass of dust, and must return to his earth. Subscript three. That sin brought death into the world. If Adam had not sinned, he would not have died. Romans five, verse twelve. God entrusted Adam with a spark of immortality, which he, by patient continuance in well doing, might have blown up into an everlasting flame, but he foolishly blew it out by wilful sin. And now death is the wages of sin, and sin is the sting of death. Numeral two. We must not go off from this sentence upon our first parents, which we are all so nearly concerned in and feel from to this day till we have considered two things. Number one, how fitly the sad consequences of sin upon the soul of Adam and a sinful race were represented and figured out by this sentence, and perhaps were more intended in it than we are aware of, though that misery only is mentioned which affected the body. Yet that was a pattern of spiritual miseries, the curse that entered into the soul. Subscript one. The pains of a woman in travail represent the terrors and pangs of a guilty conscience awakened to a sense of sin from the conception of lust. These sorrows are greatly multiplied, and sooner or later will come upon the center, like pain upon a woman in travail, which cannot be avoided. Subscript two. The stay of subjection to which the woman was reduced represents that loss of spiritual liberty and freedom will which is the effect of sin. The onion of sin in the soul is compared to that of a husband Roman seven, Verses one through five. The sinner's desire is towards it, for he is fond of his slavery, and it rules over him. Subscript three. The curse of barrenness, which was brought upon the earth, and its produce of briars and thorns, are a fit representation of the barrenness of a corrupt and sinful soul. In that which is good and its fruitfulness and evil, it is all overgrown with thorns and nettles cover the face of it, and therefore it is nigh undercursing Hebrews six, verse eight. Subscript four. The toil and sweat bespeak the difficulty which, through the infirmity of the flesh man labors under in the service of God and the work of religion. So hard has it now become to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed be God, it is not impossible. Subscript five. The embittering of his food to him bespeaks the soul's want of the comfort of God's favor, which is life and the bread of life. Subscript six. The soul, like the body, returns to the dust of this world. Its tendency is that way. It has an earthly taint. John three, verse thirty one, number two. How admirably the satisfaction our Lord Gius made by his death and sufferings answered to the sentence here pass upon our first parents. Subscript one. Did travailing pains come in with sin? We read the travail of Christ's soul Isaiah fifty three, verse eleven. And the pains of death who was held by are called o deny x two verse twenty four. The pains of a woman in travail Subscript two Did subjection come in with sin? Christ was made under the law Galatians four, verse four subscripte three Did the curse come in with sin? Christ was made a curse for us, died a curse of death. Galatians three, verse thirteen. Subscript four did thorns come in with sin? He was crowned with thorns for us? Subscript five did sweat come in with sin? He for us did sweat as it were great drops of blood. Subscript six did sorrow come in with sin? He was a man of sorrows. His soul was in his agony exceedingly sorrowful. Subscript seven did death come in with sin? He became obedient unto death. Thus is the plaster as wide as the wound. Blessed be God for Jeus Christ. Verse twenty and Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living God. Having named the man and called him Adam, which signifies red earth, Adam, in further token of dominion, named the woman and called her Eve, that is life. Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve, that of the living soul. The reason of the name is here given some think by Moses, the historian others by Adam himself, because she was, that is, was to be the mother of all living. He had before called her Isha woman as a wife. Here he calls her Eva life as a mother now Number one. If this was done by divine direction, it was an instance of God's favor, and like the noon naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, and in an assurance to them that, notwithstanding their sin, in his displeasure against him for it, he had not reversed that blessing, wherewith he had blessed them be fruitful and multiply. It was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made that the seed of the woman of this woman should break the serpent's head. Number two. If Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God. Doubtless it was not done, as some have suspected, in contempt or defiance of the curse, but rather in a humble confidence and dependence upon the blessing. Subscript one, the blessing of a reprieve, admiring the patience of God that he should spare such sinners to be the parents of all living, and that he did not immediately shut up those fountains of the human life and nature, because they could send forth no other than polluted, poisoned streams. Subscript two The blessing of a redeemer, the promised seed, to whom Adam had an eye in calling his wife Eve life, for he should be the life of all the living, and in him all the families of the earth should be blessed in hope of which he thus triumphs Verse twenty one. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them. We have here a further instance of God's care concerning our first parents, notwithstanding their sin. Though he corrects his disobedient children and put them under the marks of his displeasure, yet he does not disinherit them, but like a tender father, provides the herb of the field for their food and coats of skins for their clothing. Thus the Father provided for the returning prodigal Luke fifteen, Verses twenty two and twenty three. If the Lord had been pleased to kill them, he would not have done this for them. Observe number one that clothes came in with sin we should have had no occasion for them, either for defense or decency, if sin had not made us naked to our shame. Little reason. Therefore we have to be proud of our clothes, which are but the badges of our poverty and infamy. Number two, that when God may close for our first parents, he made them warm and strong, but coarse and very plain, not robes of scarlet, but coats of skin. Their clothes were made not of silk and satin, but plain skins, not trimmed nor embroidered, none of the ornaments which the daughters of Sion afterwards invented and prided themselves in. Let the poor that are meanly clad learn hens not to complain having food and covering. Let them be content they are as well done too, as Adam and Eve were. And let the rich that are finally clad, learn hens not to make the putting on of apparel their adorning. Verse Peter three, Verse three. Number three. That God is to be acknowledged with thankfulness, not only in giving us food, but in giving us clothes. Also Chapter twenty eight, verse twenty. The wool and the flax are his, as well as the corn and the wine HOSEA two verse nine, number four. These coats of skin had a significancy. The beasts whose skins they were must be slain, slain before their eyes to show them what death is, and as it is in Ecclesiastes three, verse eighteen, that they may see that they themselves were beasts, mortal and dying. It is supposed that they were slain not for food, but for sacrifice, to typify the great sacrifice which in the latter end of the world should be offered once for all. Thus, the first thing that died was a sacrifice or Christ in a figure who is therefore said to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. These sacrifices were divided between God and Man in token of reconciliation. The flesh was offered to God a whole burnt offering. The skins were given to Man for clothing, signifying that Jesus Christ, having offered himself to God a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor, we are to clothe ourselves with His righteousness, as with a garment, that the shame of our nakedness may not appear. Adam and Eve made from themselves aprons of fig leaves, a covering too narrow for them to wrap themselves. In Isaiah twenty eight, verse twenty, such are all the rags of our own righteousness. But God made them coats of skins, large and strong and durable, and fit for them. Such is the righteousness of Christ. Therefore put on the Lord jeous Christ, Adam and Eve expelled from Eden b See four thousand and four, Verses twenty two to twenty four. And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the gardener of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubums and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of life. Sinpence being passed upon the offenders, we have here execution in part done upon them. Immediately observe here numeral one, how they were justly disgraced and shamed before God and the Holy Angels by the ironical upbraiding of them with the issue of their enterprise. Behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil, a goodly god he makes. Does he not see what he has got, what preferments, what advantages by eating forbidden fruit? This was said to awaken and humble them, and to bring them to a sense of their sin and folly, and to repentance for it, that, seeing themselves thus wretchedly deceived, by following the devil's counsel, they might henceforth pursue the happiness God should offer in the way he should prescribe. God thus fills their faces with shame, that they may seek His name Psalms eighty three, verse sixteen. He puts them to this confusion in order to their conversion. True penitents will thus upbraid themselves. What fruit have I now by sin? Romans six, verse twenty one. Have I gained what I foolishly promised myself in a sinful way? No? No, it never proved what it pretended to. But the contrary numeral two, how they were justly discarded and shut out of paradise, which was a part of the sentence implied in that thou shalt eat the herb of the field. Here we have number one the reason God gave why he shut man out of paradise, not only because he had put forth his hand and taken of the Tree of Knowledge, which was his sin, but lest he should again put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, now forbidden him by the divine sentence, as before the tree of Knowledge was forbidden by the law. And should dare to eat of that tree and so profane a divine sacrament, and defy a divine sentence, and yet flatter himself with a conceit that thereby he should live forever observe. Subscript one. There is a foolish proneness in those that render themselves unworthy of the substance of Christian privileges to catch at the signs and shadows of them. Many that like not the terms of the Covenant, yet for their reputation's sake, are fond of the seals of it. Subscript two. It is not only justice but kindness to such to be denyed them, For by usurping that to which they have no title, they affront God and make their sin the more heinous. And by building their hopes upon a wrong foundation, they render their conversion the more difficult, and their ruin the more deplorable. Number two. The method God took in giving him this bill of divorce and expelling and excluding him from this garden of pleasure. He turned him out and kept him out Subscript one. He turned him out from the garden to the common. This is twice mentioned. He sent him forth verse twenty three, and then he drove him out Verse twenty four. God bade him go out, told him that that was no place for him. He should no longer occupy and enjoy that garden. But he liked the place too well to be willing to part with it. And therefore God drove him out, made him go out, whether he would or no. This signified the exclusion of him and all his guilty race, from that communion with God, which was the bliss and glory of paradise. The tokens of God's favor to him and his delight in the sons of men, which he had in his innocent estate, were now suspended. The communications of his grace were withheld, and Adam became weak and like other men as Samson. When the spirit of the Lord had departed from him, his acquaintance with God was lessened and lost, and that correspondence which had been settled between man and his maker was interrupted and broken off. He was driven out as one unworthy of this honor and incapable of this service. Thus he and all mankind, by the fall, forfeited and lost communion with God. But whither did he send him when he turned him out of Eden? He might justly have chased him out of the world Job eighteen, verse eighteen. But he only chased him out of the garden. He might justly have cast him down to Hell, as he did the angels that send when he shut them out from the heavenly paradise Second Peter two, verse four. But man was only sent to till the ground out of which he was taken. He was sent to a place of toil, not to a place of torment. He was sent to the ground, not to the grave, to the workhouse, not to the dungeon, not to the prison house. To hold the plow, not to drag the chain. His tilling the ground would be recompensed by his eating of its fruits, and his converse with the earth. Whence he was taken, was improvable to good purposes. To keep him humble and to remind him of his latter end. Observed then that though our first parents were excluded from the privileges of their state of innocency, yet they were not abandoned to despair God's thoughts of love, designing them for second state of probation upon new terms Subscript two. He kept him out and forbade him all hopes of a re entry, For he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden a detachment of Cherubum, God's host, armed with a dreadful and irresistible power, represented by flaming swords, which turned every way on that side the garden, which lay next to the place whither Adam was sent to keep the way that led to the Tree of Life, so that he could neither steal nor force an entry. For who could make a pass against an angel on his guard, or gain a pass made good by such force? Now this intimated to Adam some subscript one, that God was displeased with him, though he had mercy in store for him, Yet at present he was angry with him, was turned to be his enemy and fought against him. For here was a sword drawn numbers twenty two, verse twenty three, and he was to him a consuming fire, for it was a flaming sword. Sub Subscript two that the angels were war with him, no peace with the heavenly host, while he was in rebellion against their lord and ours. Sub Subscript three that the way to the Tree of life was shut up, namely that way which at first he was put into the way of spotless innocency. It is not said that the Cherubam were set to keep him and his forever from the tree of life. Thanks be to God, there is a paradise set before us, and a tree of life in the midst of it, which rejoice in the hopes of. But they were set to keep that way of the Tree of Life, which hitherto they had been in. That is, it was henceforward in vain for him and his to expect righteousness, life, and happiness by virtue of the First Covenant, for it was irreparably broken and could never be pleaded nor any benefit taken by it. The command of that covenant being broken, the curse of it is in full force. It leaves no room for repentance. But we are all undone if we be judged by that covenant. God revealed this to Adam not to drive him to despair, but to oblige and quicken him to look for life and happiness in the promised Seed, by whom the flaming sword is removed. God and his angels are reconciled to us in a new and living way. Into the Holiest is consecrated and laid open for us. End of Chapter three, Part two,