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Genesis Chapter
Two
Genesis 2
Chapter Contents
The first sabbath. (1-3) Particulars about the creation.
(4-7) The planting of the garden of Eden. (8-14) Man is placed in it. (15)
God's command. (16
17) The animals named
The making of woman
The Divine
institution of marriage. (18-25)
Commentary on Genesis 2:1-3
After six days
God ceased from all works of creation. In
miracles
he has overruled nature
but never changed its settled course
or
added to it. God did not rest as one weary
but as one well pleased. Notice the
beginning of the kingdom of grace
in the sanctification
or keeping holy
of
the sabbath day. The solemn observing of one day in seven as a day of holy rest
and holy work
to God's honour
is the duty of all to whom God has made known
his holy sabbaths. At this time none of the human race were in being but our
first parents. For them the sabbath was appointed; and clearly for all succeeding
generations also. The Christian sabbath
which we observe
is a seventh day
and in it we celebrate the rest of God the Son
and the finishing the work of
our redemption.
Commentary on Genesis 2:4-7
Here is a name given to the Creator
"Jehovah."
Where the word "LORD" is printed in capital letters in our English
Bibles
in the original it is "Jehovah." Jehovah is that name of God
which denotes that he alone has his being of himself
and that he gives being
to all creatures and things. Further notice is taken of plants and herbs
because they were made and appointed to be food for man. The earth did not
bring forth its fruits of itself: this was done by Almighty power. Thus grace
in the soul grows not of itself in nature's soil
but is the work of God. Rain
also is the gift of God; it came not till the Lord God caused it. Though God
works by means
yet when he pleases he can do his own work without them; and
though we must not tempt God in the neglect of means
we must trust God
both
in the use and in the want of means. Some way or other
God will water the
plants of his own planting. Divine grace comes down like the dew
and waters
the church without noise. Man was made of the small dust
such as is on the
surface of the earth. The soul was not made of the earth
as the body: pity
then that it should cleave to the earth
and mind earthly things. To God we
must shortly give an account
how we have employed these souls; and if it be
found that we have lost them
though it were to gain the world
we are undone
for ever! Fools despise their own souls
by caring for their bodies before
their souls.
Commentary on Genesis 2:8-14
The place fixed upon for Adam to dwell in
was not a
palace
but a garden. The better we take up with plain things
and the less we
seek things to gratify pride and luxury
the nearer we approach to innocency.
Nature is content with a little
and that which is most natural; grace with
less; but lust craves every thing
and is content with nothing. No delights can
be satisfying to the soul
but those which God himself has provided and
appointed for it. Eden signifies delight and pleasure. Wherever it was
it had
all desirable conveniences
without any inconvenience
though no other house or
garden on earth ever was so. It was adorned with every tree pleasant to the
sight
and enriched with every tree that yielded fruit grateful to the taste
and good for food. God
as a tender Father
desired not only Adam's profit
but
his pleasure; for there is pleasure with innocency
nay there is true pleasure
only in innocency. When Providence puts us in a place of plenty and pleasure
we ought to serve God with gladness of heart in the good things he gives us.
Eden had two trees peculiar to itself. 1. There was the tree of life in the
midst of the garden. Of this man might eat and live. Christ is now to us the
Tree of life
Revelation 2:7; 22:2; and the Bread of life
John 6:48
51. 2. There was the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil
so called because there was a positive revelation
of the will of God about this tree
so that by it man 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. In these two trees God set before Adam good and evil
the blessing and the curse.
Commentary on Genesis 2:15
After God had formed Adam
he put him in the garden. All
boasting was thereby shut out. Only he that made us can make us happy; he that
is the Former of our bodies
and the Father of our spirits
and none but he
can fully provide for the happiness of both. Even in paradise itself man had to
work. None of us were sent into the world to be idle. He that made our 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 upon. The sons and heirs of
heaven
while 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 as truly serve him in it
as when they are upon their knees. Observe
that the husbandman's calling is an ancient and honourable calling; it was
needful even in paradise. Also
there is true pleasure in the business God
calls us to
and employs us in. Adam could not have been happy if he had been
idle: it is still God's law
He that will not work has no right to eat
2 Thessalonians 3:10.
Commentary on Genesis 2:16
17
Let us never set up our own will against the holy will of
God. There was not only liberty allowed to man
in taking the fruits of
paradise
but everlasting life made sure to him upon his obedience. There was a
trial appointed of his obedience. By transgression he would forfeit his Maker's
favour
and deserve his displeasure
with all its awful effects; so that he
would become liable to pain
disease
and death. Worse than that
he would lose
the holy image of God
and all the comfort of his favour; and feel the torment
of sinful passions
and the terror of his Maker's vengeance
which must endure
for ever with his never dying soul. The forbidding to eat of the fruit of a particular
tree was wisely suited to the state of our first parents. In their state of
innocence
and separated from any others
what opportunity or what temptation
had they to break any of the ten commandments? The event proves that the whole
human race were concerned in the trial and fall of our first parents. To argue
against these things is to strive against stubborn facts
as well as Divine
revelation; for man is sinful
and shows by his first actions
and his conduct
ever afterwards
that he is ready to do evil. He is under the Divine
displeasure
exposed to sufferings and death. The Scriptures always speak of
man as of this sinful character
and in this miserable state; and these things
are true of men in all ages
and of all nations.
Commentary on Genesis 2:18-25
Power over the creatures was given to man
and as a proof
of this he named them all. It also shows his insight into the works of God. But
though he was lord of the creatures
yet nothing in this world was a help meet
for man. From God are all our helpers. If we rest in God
he will work all for
good. God caused deep sleep to fall on Adam; while he knows no sin
God will
take care that he shall feel no pain. God
as her Father
brought the woman to
the man
as his second self
and a help meet for him. That wife
who is of
God's making by special grace
and of God's bringing by special providence
is
likely to prove a help meet for a man. See what need there is
both of prudence
and prayer in the choice of this relation
which is so near and so lasting.
That had need to be well done
which is to be done for life. Our first parents
needed no clothes for covering against cold or heat
for neither could hurt
them: they needed none for ornament. Thus easy
thus happy
was man in his
state of innocency. How good was God to him! How many favours did he load him
with! How easy were the laws given to him! Yet man
being in honour
understood
not his own interest
but soon became as the beasts that perish.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 2
Verses 1-3
[1] Thus
the heavens and the earth were finished
and all the host of them. [2] And
on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which he had made. [3] And
God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified it: because that in it he had
rested from all his work which God created and made.
We have here
(1.) The settlement of the
kingdom of nature
in God's resting from the work of creation
Genesis 2:1
2. Where observe
1. That the
creatures made both in heaven and earth
are the hosts or armies of them
which
speaks them numerous
but marshalled
disciplined
and under command. God useth
them as his hosts for the defence of his people
and the destruction of his
enemies. 2. That the heavens and the earth are finished pieces
and so are all
the creatures in them. So perfect is God's work that nothing can be added to it
or taken from it
Ecclesiastes 3:14. 3. That after the end of the
first six days
God ceased from all work of creation. He hath so ended his
work
as that though in his providence he worketh hitherto
John 5:17. preserving and governing all the
creatures
yet he doth not make any new species of creatures. 4. That the
eternal God
tho' infinitely happy in himself
yet took a satisfaction in the
work of his own hands. He did not rest as one weary
but as one well-pleased
with the instances of his own goodness. (2.) The commencement of the kingdom of
grace
in the sanctification of the sabbath day
Genesis 2:3. He rested on that day
and took a
complacency in his creatures
and then sanctified it
and appointed us on that
day to rest and take a complacency in the Creator; and his rest is in the
fourth commandment made a reason for ours after six days labour. Observe
1.
That the solemn observation of one day in seven as a day of holy rest
and holy
work
is the indispensible duty of all those to whom God has revealed his holy
sabbaths. 2. That sabbaths are as ancient as the world. 3. That the sabbath of
the Lord is truly honourable
and we have reason to honour it; honour it for
the sake of its antiquity
its great author
and the sanctification of the
first sabbath by the holy God himself
and in obedience to him
by our first
parents in innocency.
Verses 4-7
[4] These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were
created
in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens
[5] And
every plant of the field before it was in the earth
and every herb of the
field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the
earth
and there was not a man to till the ground. [6] But
there went up a mist from the earth
and watered the whole face of the ground. [7] And
the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground
and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
In these verses
1. Here is a name given to
the Creator
which we have not yet met with
Jehovah. The LORD in capital
letters
is constantly used in our English translation
for Jehovah. This is
that great and incommunicable name of God
which speaks his having his being of
himself
and his giving being to all things. It properly means
He that was
and that is
and that is to come. 2. Further notice taken of the production of plants
and herbs
because they were made to be food for man. 3. A more particular
account of the creation of man
Genesis 2:7. Man is a little world
consisting
of heaven and earth
soul and body. Here we have all account of the original of
both
and the putting of both together: The Lord God
the great fountain of
being and power
formed man. Of the other creatures it is said
they were
created and made; but of man
that he was formed
which notes a gradual process
in the work with great accuracy and exactness. To express the creation of this
new thing
he takes a new word: a word (some think) borrowed from the potter's
forming his vessel upon the wheel. The body of man is curiously wrought. And
the soul takes its rise from the breath of heaven. It came immediately from
God; he gave it to be put into the body
Ecclesiastes 12:7 as afterwards he gave the
tables of stone of his own writing to be put into the ark. 'Tis by it that man
is a living soul
that is
a living man. The body would be a worthless
useless
carcase
if the soul did not animate it.
Verses 8-15
[8] And
the LORD 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 LORD 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 LORD 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
we have in these verses the
provision that was made for the happiness of both. That part of man
which is
allied to the world of sense
was made happy
for he was put in the paradise of
God; that part which is allied to the world of spirits was well provided for
for he was taken into covenant with God. Here we have
1. A description of the
garden of Eden
which was intended for the palace of this prince. The inspired
penman in this history writing for the Jews first
and calculating his
narratives from the infant state of the church
describes things by their
outward sensible appearances
and leaves us
by farther discoveries of the
divine light
to be led into the understanding of the mysteries couched under
them. Therefore he doth 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
Hebrews 9:23. Observe
(1.) The place appointed
for Adam's residence was a garden; not an ivory house. 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 cieled and painted: the earth was his floor
and never was
any floor so richly inlaid: the shadow of the trees was his retirement
and
never were any rooms so finely hung: Solomon's in all their glory were not
arrayed like them. (2.) The contrivance and furniture of this garden was 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 be the most accomplished place that ever
the sun saw
when the All - sufficient God himself designed it to be the
present happiness of his beloved creature. (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
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. (4.)
The trees wherewith this garden was planted. [1.] It had all the best and
choicest trees in common with the rest of the ground. It was beautified with
every tree that was pleasant to the sight - It was enriched with every tree
that yielded fruit grateful to the taste
and useful to the body. 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 natural means to preserve or prolong life; but was chiefly intended
to be a sign to Adam
assuring him of the continuance of life and happiness
upon condition of his perseverance in innocency and obedience. 2. There was the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil - So called
not because it had any
virtue to beget useful knowledge
but because there was an express revelation
of the will of God concerning this tree
so that by it he might know good and
evil. What is good? It is good not to eat of this tree: what is evil? To eat of
this tree. The distinction between all other moral good and evil was written in
the heart of man; but this
which resulted from a positive law
was written
upon this tree. And 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. (5.) The
rivers wherewith this garden was watered
Genesis 2:10-14. These four rivers
(or one
river branched into four streams) contributed much both to the pleasantness and
the fruitfulness of this garden. Hiddekel and Euphrates are rivers of Babylon.
Havilah had gold and spices and precious stones; but Eden had that which was
infinitely better
the tree of life
and communion with God. 2. The command
which God gave to man in innocency
and the covenant he than took him into.
Hither we have seen God; man's powerful Creator
and his bountiful benefactor;
now he appears as his ruler and lawgiver.
Verses 16-17
[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 shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Thou shall die —
That is
thou shalt lose all the happiness thou hast either in possession or
prospect; and thou shalt become liable to death
and all the miseries that
preface and attend it. This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin.
In the day thou eatest
thou shalt die — Not only thou shalt become mortal
but spiritual death and the
forerunners of temporal death shall immediately seize thee.
Verses 18-20
[18] And the LORD God said
It is not good that the man should be alone; I will
make him an help meet for him. [19] And out of the ground the LORD God formed
every beast of the field
and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam
to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living
creature
that was the name thereof. [20] And Adam gave names to all cattle
and to
the fowl of the air
and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was
not found an help meet for him.
It is not good that man — This man
should be alone - Though there was an upper world of angels
and a lower world of brutes
yet there being none of the same rank of beings
with himself
he might be truly said to be alone. And every beast of the field
and every fowl of the air God brought to Adam-Either by the ministry of angels
or by a special instinct that he might name them
and so might give a proof of
his knowledge
the names he gave them being expressive of their inmost natures.
Verses 21-22
[21] And
the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam
and he slept: and he took
one of his ribs
and closed up the flesh instead thereof; [22] And
the rib
which the LORD God had taken from man
made he a woman
and brought
her unto the man.
This was done upon the sixth day
as was also
the placing of Adam in paradise
though it be here mentioned after an account
of the seventh day's rest: but what was said in general
Genesis 1:27
that God made man male and female
is more distinctly related here
God caused the sleep to fall on Adam
and made
it a deep sleep
that so the opening of his side might be no grievance to him:
while he knows no sin
God will take care he shall feel no pain.
Verse 23
[23] And
Adam said
This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh: she shall be
called Woman
because she was taken out of Man.
And Adam said
this is now bone of my bones — Probably it was revealed to Adam in a vision
when he was asleep
that
this lovely creature
now presented to him
was a piece of himself and was to
be his companion
and the wife of his covenant - In token of his acceptance of
her
he gave her a name
not peculiar to her
but common to her sex; she shall
be called woman
Isha
a She-man
differing from man in sex only
not in
nature; made of man
and joined to man.
Verse 24
[24]
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother
and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
The sabbath and marriage were two ordinances
instituted in innocency
the former for the preservation of the church
the
latter for the preservation of mankind. It appears by Matthew 19:4
5
that it was God himself who said
here
a man must leave all his relations to cleave to his wife; but whether he
spake it by Moses or by Adam who spake
Genesis 2:23 is uncertain: It should seem they
are the words of Adam in God's name
laying down this law to all his posterity.
The virtue of a divine ordinance
and the bonds of it
are stronger even than
those of nature. See how necessary it is that children should take their
parents consent with them in their marriage; and how unjust they are to their
parents
as well as undutiful
if they marry without it; for they rob them of
their right to them
and interest in them
and alienate it to another
fraudulently and unnaturally.
Verse 25
[25] And
they were both naked
the man and his wife
and were not ashamed.
They were both naked
they needed no cloaths
for defence against cold or heat
for neither could be injurious to them: they
needed none for ornament. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these. Nay
they needed none for decency
they were naked
and had no reason to
be ashamed. They knew not what shame was
so the Chaldee reads it. Blushing is
now the colour of virtue
but it was not the colour of innocency.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
02 Chapter 2
Verse 1
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished
and all the host of
them
The completed creation
I.
THE
CREATION WAS A GRADUAL PROCESS. The reasons might be--
II. THE CREATIVE
PROCESS AT LAST CAME TO A POINT IN MAN. (G. Gilfillan.)
Lessons from the Mosaic account of creation
1. That the universe as it
exists now is different from the universe as it existed once.
2. That the creation of the world was not the work of many gods
but
of One.
3. That it was a Person that effected this vast work
and not some
law of the universe gradually educing all things from a power that was inherent
in matter.
4. Respecting the character of the Creator
the Israelite was taught
that He had formed all things good.
5. The Israelite was taught also the divinity of order: that it is
the law of man’s existence; that the unregulated or unruly heart is like the
ship with an insubordinate crew which is wrecked on the ocean; that order is to
pervade the church
to rule the state
to regulate the family
to influence man’s
personal happiness
his affections
his desires.
6. The Israelite was taught also this: that it was gradation that
regulated God’s creation
to be traced not only in this that the more perfect
forms of life were created last
but also in the fact that more work was done
at the close than at the beginning of the creative period. And this is true of
every work which will stand the test of time. It must not be hastily done
but
thoughtfully planned and carried out with steady and increasing energy. God who
works for eternity lays His foundations deep
He does not extemporize. It
matters not whether it be in things great or small: quick
mere outside work is
done for time; meant for show
it falls speedily to nothing
there is in it
nothing belonging to eternity. If then a man would follow God
he must be
content to toil and toil to the last.
7. Once more
the principle of the providence of the Almighty
emerges from the history of the creation. We read of man’s creation and the
creation of the beasts. The vegetables He did not create till the earth was
dry; the animals not till the vegetables were prepared for their sustenance;
and man not till the kingdom was put in order which man should rule. Now this
is what we call providence in God
foresight or prudence in man. Thus we see
how a mere earthly virtue may in another sense be a spiritual excellence
and
it is the duty of man to rise into this higher view. (F. W. Robertson
M. A.)
The second account of creation
This is
observe
a second account
not a continuation of the
first. Yet let us not suppose for one moment that these are two separate
accounts thrown together with no object. They are manifestly linked together
each is supplemental to the other. In the first
we have these spiritual
truths--the unity of God
His personality
His order: in the second
His
dealings with nature and with the mind of man. God gives man law
and annexes
to his obedience and disobedience reward and punishment. We make three remarks
on this second account.
1. The first is with reference to the reason given for man’s
creation
that there was a man wanted to till the ground. We should not have
said that of man. We should have held another view
and looked upon ourselves
as the rulers of this world for whom all things were created
were it not for
this verse which teaches us the truth. In the order of creation man is the
highest; but the object for which man is created is that he should
like all
the rest
minister to the advance of all things. That is our position here; we
are here to do the world’s work.
2. The next thing we have to observe is the unity of the human race.
All that we are told in the first account is that God
in the beginning
created them male and female. All that we are told in the second is that He
placed Adam and Eve in paradise. Theologically
the unity of the human race is
of great importance. Between the highest and the lowest animals there is an
everlasting difference
but none between the highest and lowest men; and it is
only as this is realized that we can ever feel the existence of our common
humanity in Jesus Christ.
3. The next thing to observe is this
that we have here a hint
respecting immortality. It must have struck every attentive reader of the
Scriptures
that in the Old Testament there is so little allusion to futurity.
We are told
in a phrase that declares the dignity of man’s nature
that God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And when the mind of the
Israelite began to brood on this he would remember that there was also a sad
dark intimation
“Dust thou art
and unto dust thou shalt return
” apparently a
denial of immortality. But then there were aspirations in the soul that never
could be quenched; and this yearning aspiration would bring him back again to
ask: “Dust is not all; the breath of God
what has become of that?” (F. W.
Robertson
M. A.)
Creation
First
God says
I made all these earthly treasures which you see;
value them for My sake
and do not misuse them. A child on its birthday finds a
present on its plate at breakfast time. Who could have put it there? Presently
the father says
“I put it there
my child: it is my gift to you.” Has not that
gift
however small it be
a value over and above its intrinsic worth as bought
in a shop? And still more
if the father says
“I did not buy it
I made it for
you myself.” Let us all so regard God’s gifts to us! Secondly
God says
I made
you: I made that wonderful body of yours out of the material elements
the
“dust of the ground
” and I breathed into it that “living soul” which makes the
body alive. So says Genesis 2:7. But look also at Genesis 1:26. There God seems to say
I
did more than this: I made you in My image
like Myself; are you like Me? No
indeed
we are not; but then comes in the new creation in Christ Jesus. Christ
is “the image of the invisible God
” and He took our human nature. If we yield
ourselves to Him
He will make us “partakers of the Divine nature” 2 Peter 1:4)
and hereafter “we
shall be like Him
for we shall see Him as He is.” (E. Stock.)
The theology of creation
I. THAT CREATION
IS AN EXPRESSION OF GOD’S MIND. It is the embodiment of an idea; the form of a
thought. Theology says that creation had a beginning
and that it began at the
bidding of God.
II. THAT CREATION
BEING AN EXPRESSION OF GOD’S MIND
MAY FORM THE BASIS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF
GOD’S PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER. If we see something of the artist in his work
we may see something of the Creator in creation.
1. The works of God proclaim His eternal and incommunicable
sovereignty. Man cannot approach the dignity of having himself created
anything. He is an inquirer
a speculator
a calculator
a talker--but not a
creator. He can reckon the velocity of light
and the speed of a few stars. He
can go out for a day to geologize and botanize; but all the while a secret has mocked
him
and an inscrutable power has defied the strength of his arm. The
theologian says
that secret is God--that power is Omnipotence.
2. There is more than sovereignty
there is beneficence. “Thou
openest Thine hand; they are filled with good.” “He giveth to the beast his
food
and to the young ravens which cry.” This is a step downwards
yet a step
upwards. Over all is the dread sovereignty of God--that sovereignty stoops to
us in love to save our life
to spread our table and to dry our tears; it comes
down
yet in the very condescension of its majesty it adds a new ray to its
lustre. The theologian says
This is God’s care; this is the love of the
Father; this bounty is an expression of the heart of God. It is not a freak of
what is called nature; it is not a sunny chance; it is a purpose
a sign of
love
a direct gift from God’s own heart.
III. THAT GOD’S
WORD IS ITS OWN SECURITY FOR FULFILMENT. God said
Let there be--and there was.
“He spake
and it was done; He commanded
and it stood fast.” “By the word of
the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His
mouth.” This is the word which alone can ultimately prevail. This is of
infinite importance--
IV. THAT THE WORD
WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF NATURE ACCOUNTS ALSO FOR THE EXISTENCE OF
MAN. “Know ye not that the Lord He is God? It is He that made us
and not we
ourselves.” “O Lord
Thou art our Father; we are the clay
and Thou our potter;
and we are the work of Thy hand.” “Have we not all one Father? hath not one God
created us?” “We are the offspring of God”: “In Him we live
and move
and have
our being.” See what a great system of unity is hereby established. He who made
the sun made me!
V. ALL THINGS
CONTROLLED BY THE CREATOR.
VI. ALL THINGS
JUDGED BY THE CREATOR. (J. Parker
D. D.)
The work of creation
I. We are to
consider WHAT THINGS GOD DID CREATE IN THE PERIOD OF SIX DAYS.
II. THAT THOSE
THINGS
WHICH WERE CREATED AT THAT ONE PERIOD OF TIME
COMPRISED
OR INCLUDED
ALL THINGS THAT EVER WERE CREATED.
1. There is reason to think that when God began to create
He would
not rest
until He had completely finished His whole work of creation. This
Moses represents Him to have done in the text.
2. All the works of God must compose but one whole
or perfect system.
This we may safely conclude from the perfect wisdom of God. He could not
consistently begin
or continue to operate
before He had formed a wise and
benevolent design to be answered by creation.
3. Those things which we know God did create in six days
compose a
whole
or form a complete system. The lower heaven is intimately connected with
the earth. The sun
the moon
the stars
the firmament
the atmosphere
the
heat
the cold
the clouds and the rain
were all made for the service and
benefit of mankind; and are so necessary
that they could not subsist without
the kindly influence of these things
which belong to the lower heaven. And it
is no less evident that there is a constituted connection between the
inhabitants of the upper heaven and the inhabitants of this lower world.
4. Those things which were created in six days
not only form a
whole
or system
but the most perfect system conceivable. All the parts
taken
together
appear to be completely suited to answer the highest and best possible
end that God could propose to answer by creation.
5. It appears from the process of the great day
that angels and men
are the only rational creatures who will then be called to give an account of
their conduct.
Improvement:
1. It appears from what has been said
that the enemies of Divine
revelation have no just ground to object against the Bible because it does not
give a true and full account of the work of creation.
2. If angels and men are all the intelligent beings that God created
in six days
then there is no reason to think that this world
after the day of
judgment
will be a place of residence for either the happy or miserable part
of mankind.
3. If God acted systematically in the work of creation
and formed
every individual in connection with and in relation to the whole
then we may
justly conclude that He always acts systematically in governing the world.
4. If God created all things at once
and as one whole connected
system
then He can remove all the darkness which now rests
or ever has
rested
on His providence. It is only to bring all His intelligent creatures
together
and show them their relations to and connection with each other; and
that will discover the various reasons of His conduct towards every individual
and convince them all that He has been holy
wise
and just
in all the
dispensations of His providence and grace. When they see the same reasons that
He saw for His conduct
it will carry irresistible evidence to every created
being
that He has treated him perfectly right.
5. If God created all things at once
to answer a certain great and
good purpose
then that day will be a glorious day
when this purpose shall be
completely accomplished. And it will be completely accomplished at the end of
the world. So that the end of the world will be a far more glorious day than
the day of creation.
6. If the end of the world will exhibit such a blaze of perfect
light
then we may be sure that it will fix all intelligent creatures in their
final and unalterable state. Those who are happy in the light of the last day
must necessarily be happy forever; and those who are unhappy in Chat light
must be unhappy and completely miserable forever. (N. Emmons
D. D.)
The form of the record of creation
The first narrative commences
“In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth”: and then follows the detail of God’s work through the
six days of creation
concluding with His rest on the Sabbath of the seventh.
This carries us to the third verse of the second chapter. But with the fourth
verse we make a new commencement. “These are the generations of the heavens and
of the earth when they were created”: words which appear to refer solely to
what follows them
and to contain no recognition of the narrative which has
just preceded. This second account traverses a new and more deeply interesting
field
as far as the end of the fourth chapter. But with the fifth chapter
again we seem to encounter a third commencement: “This is the book of the
generations of Adam”; a clause which is followed up
after a very brief summary
of creation containing no direct allusion to the fall
by the genealogy of the
earliest line of Patriarchs.
1. The first chapter
as contrasted with the others
relates
especially to the physical aspect of creation. It deals more with powers than
with persons: more with the establishment of law
than with the gift of will.
2. But the second narrative at once enters on the moral record. Man
is now charged with personal duties
and holds individual relations to the
Personal Jehovah. There is a moral law
a moral probation
a punishment which
it would need a moral principle to understand. While man’s dominion is defined
and explained
as the beasts are summoned to their master to receive their
names
yet he is taught that he must obey as well as rule: that if he is higher
than the brute creation
there is a law
again
which is higher than himself;
which he cannot break without descending from his sovereignty
and submitting
to the forfeiture of death. And then follows the minute history of his fatal
trial
fall
expulsion from Eden. To this division belongs the whole fourth
chapter
which does but lead us from that point of expulsion
through the
original quarrel between Abel and Cain
up to the actual establishment of a Church
and the consequent establishment
by exclusion
of an ungodly world
when men
began to call upon the name of Jehovah
and so again to recognize a personal
God.
3. Then this scene also closes. It had unveiled relations which
exist upon this world no longer. It had spoken of higher communion
and of
purer glory
than the fallen mind can maintain
or than the eyes of the fallen
can behold. Adam now stands only as the highest term in these our mortal
genealogies. There is no further notice of the innocence which he had lost; of
that open intercourse with God which he had forfeited; of the mode in which sin
had found an entrance into this world; of the establishment of a Church
as
defining and completing the separation
between those who were satisfied with their
evil
and those who were struggling to recover their good. And this is the
account of creation
which especially connects it with our present history.
Observations
I. IT MUST BE OUR
CARE TO OBSERVE
NOT ONLY WHAT GOD WORKS
BUT WITHAL HOW HE DISPOSETH
AND
ORDERETH THAT WHICH HE HATH WROUGHT.
1. Because the excellency and perfection of every work is in the end
whereunto it is directed and applied.
2. Because the wisdom of God is most discovered in the ordering and
disposing of His works
as His power is most seen in creating of them: as
usually the workman’s skill is more commended in the use of an instrument than
in the making and framing of it.
II. THE CREATURES
THAT GOD HATH MADE ARE TO BE LOOKED ON AS AN ARMY ARRAYED IN AN EXCELLENT AND
WELL COMPOSED ORDER.
1. Let all men carefully search into the order
mutual
correspondence
and scope
whereunto all the ways of God
in the administration
of the creatures
tend.
2. Tremble before that God
and trust in Him that hath power in His
hand to command all the creatures in heaven and earth
and to arm them at His
pleasure for the defence of those that fear Him
and against such as hate Him.
III. GOD PERFECTETH
AND FULLY FINISHETH EVERY WORK THAT HE TAKES IN HAND.
1. In their measure
which is proportioned to the end
whereunto
they were appointed.
2. And in their time
for they are brought to perfection by degrees
as David professeth of the framing of His own body (Psalms 139:16).
(a) Of sanctification. God
according to His promises
will not leave
purging us till He have made us without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:17-20).
(b) Of our salvation (Philippians 1:6). He that suffered for
us
till all was finished (Job 19:30)
will not leave till He have
brought us into thefull possession of the glory which He hath purchased for us.
(J. White
M. A.)
The completed creation
God now proclaims the completion of His creation work. It was no
mere sketch or outline: it was no half-finished plan: it was a “finished” work.
A goodly and glorious work! Not merely on account of what we see and touch in
it
but on account of what we cannot see or touch. For creation is full of
secrets. Science
in these last days
has extracted not a few
but how many
remain secrets still! What a multitude of hidden wonders does each part of
creation contain! Outwardly
how marvellous for the order
beauty
utility of
all its parts; inwardly
how much more marvellous for the secret springs of
life
motion
order
health
fruitfulness
and power! Each part
how wondrous
in itself
as perfect in its kind; yet no less wondrous
as wrapping up within
itself the seeds of ten thousand other creations
as perfect
hereafter to
spring from them! God proclaims the perfection of His works
not as man does
in vainglory
but that He may fix our eye on their excellency
and let us know
that He
the Former of them
is fully satisfied
and that His work is now ready
for its various functions and uses. The great machine is completed
and now
about to begin its operations. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
He rested on the seventh day
The Divine Sabbath:
I.
THE
DIVINE COMPLETION OF HIS CREATIVE WORK. No further creations.
II. THE DIVINE
CONTEMPLATION OF HIS CREATIVE WORK. Everything complete. Everything in
subordination. Everything ready for the higher and more glorious exercise of
the Divine activity in providence and grace. All prepared for the kingdom of
probation
by which the last created of the world was to be tried
disciplined
and perfected. We may learn here--
1. Evil has no natural place in the universe.
2. Matter is not necessarily hostile to God. The Bible
in this
picture of Divine contemplation
cuts away the ground from certain forms of
false religion and philosophy. Divine life is not the destruction of matter
nor the rising out of the region of the sensuous; but so restoring the harmony
that God may again look upon the world
and say it is “very good.”
3. The present condition of things
so changed from that which God
first looked upon
must be the result of some catastrophe.
III. THE DIVINE
REST AFTER HIS CREATIVE WORK. The rest began when the work was done. The
contemplation was a part of the Sabbatic blessedness. The Sabbath:
1. It was a season of rest. It does not imply that there was
weariness
but cessation from creative activity.
2. The rest was blessed by God. As He saw His work good
so He saw
His rest good.
3. There was an appointment of a similar blessed rest for His
creatures. “He sanctified the seventh day.” It is not for us to discuss the
relations of God to labour and repose. The fact may be beyond our
comprehension. It has lessons for us:
1. There is a place and time for rest.
2. The condition on which rest may be claimed is that men work.
3. This rest should be happy. Much of the modern idea of a Sabbath
is not that which God would say was blessed. The Sabbath is not a time of
gloom.
4. This rest should be religious.
5. This rest is unlimited to any particular portion of the race. (Homilist.)
Sabbath rest
An allegory lies in this history. Every week has its Sabbath
and
every Sabbath is to be a parenthesis between two weeks’ work. From the
beginning of the world
a seventh of time was set apart for rest. The rest of
the Sabbath must be
It must be refreshment to body
mind
and soul; and it must not
infringe upon the rest of others. The rest of a holy peace must be combined
with the loving energies of an active body and an earnest mind. (J. Vaughan
M. A.)
The original Sabbath
I. THAT THE WORK
OF CREATION WAS COMPLETED ON THE SIXTH DAY. God could have done His creative
work in a moment. Why
then
did He take six days?
II. THAT THE
SEVENTH DAY WAS THE FIRST SABBATH.
The Sabbath
1. A memorial of past labour.
2. A pillar of testimony to God as Creator.
3. A proclamation of rest.
4. A type of coming rest. (H. Bonar.)
The Sabbath sanctified
I. THE FACT
STATED. God blessed
etc.
II. THE REASON
ASSIGNED. He rested
etc.
III. THE END IN
VIEW. (W. Burrows
M. A.)
The Christian Sabbath
Paradise
with its calm
its purity
and its beauty
is gone; but
the Sabbath has not with Paradise passed away. It has accompanied man in his
sorrows
as it accompanied him in his joys.
I. THE
CONSECRATION OF THE SABBATH. Fenced off by God as His own peculiar property.
“Holiness to the Lord” is written upon it by the finger of our Creator. And the
consecration of the Sabbath must be for such purposes as these.
1. Primarily and preeminently
for the consideration of the wondrous
work of creation; that man
the intelligent creature
may behold
in the
glorious workmanship of God
traces of the Divine power
and wisdom
and love
and that he may render to his Creator the homage that is due to Him.
2. It was further consecrated for services fitted to increase the
holiness of man while he remained in innocency
and to restore fallen man to
the holiness which he had lost. It was intended
therefore
for man not less
than for God.
II. THE PERPETUITY
OF THE SABBATH. Instituted long before Judaism
long before Abraham’s time
even; therefore
of perpetual obligation. God has appointed a holy rest for His
people in every age
and though the day may be changed
yet the institution
remains the same.
III. THE BLESSINGS
OF THE SABBATH.
1. God designed it as a blessing to man.
2. God annexed a special blessing to the day. (H. Stowell
M. A.)
The Sabbath
That the Sabbath was originally a Divine institution
nobody can
doubt. It originated with God: and now God has either abrogated the Sabbath
or
He has not. If God has not abrogated the Sabbath
the matter is quite clear: it
comes commended to us with all that Divine authority itself can rest upon. But
if God has abrogated the Sabbath
I ask
who is the man that would dare to reinstitute
it?
I. THE OBLIGATION
OF THE SABBATH. First
I say that the fourth commandment is absolutely
obligatory on Christian men. If not
one or other of these alternatives must be
adopted: either the whole of the ten commandments are abrogated and abolished
or the fourth is an exception out of the ten. There is no escape from one or
other of these alternatives. But now suppose for a moment
for argument’s sake
you were to allow that the fourth commandment
as far as it is found in the
Mosaic economy
is abrogated. What then? Is the law of the Sabbath destroyed?
Now
here is the proper argument for the Sabbath. “Thus the heavens and the
earth were finished
and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended
His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work
which He had made.” What has that to do with the Mosaic economy?
Why
here is the institution of the Sabbath more than two thousand
years before the Mosaic economy is introduced! Suppose you allow all the Mosaic
law to be abrogated
here stands the original institution. And if any man says
“But that refers to Eden
” I grant it
Was it abolished when our first parents
were cast out of Eden? Then I will give you a proof for once to the contrary
in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus
the twenty-third and twenty-ninth verses.
Listen to these words. “And he said unto them
This is that which the Lord hath
said
Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which
ye will bake
” and so forth. Again
in the twenty-ninth verse: “See
for that
the Lord hath given you the Sabbath.” This is the sixteenth chapter of Exodus.
How did they come to have the Sabbath day here? You know the law was not given
till some considerable time after this: yet here you have the observance of the
Sabbath
not based on the tea commandments at all--it is before they are
uttered: here you have God recognizing the same thing. But now notice another
remarkable fact. Why does the fourth commandment begin with the word
“Remember”? There is not another of the commandments that begins with the word
“Remember.” They are all positive institutions at that very time. But here is
the fourth commandment notably commencing with the word “Remember.” Why?
Because it was an original institution
and the word points back to that.
Another very remarkable fact in regard to the institution of the Sabbath
so
far as it is connected With the Mosaic economy
is
that God institutes it in
connection with the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. In the fifth
chapter of Deuteronomy
at the fourteenth verse
it is said--“The seventh day
is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God
” and so on. Now observe. “Remember that
thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt
and that the Lord thy God brought
thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore”--I
beseech you to notice this--“therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep
the Sabbath day.” You observe
that the reason why God commanded Israel to keep
the Sabbath there is because they were brought out of the land of Egypt; but
when God gave the fourth commandment in connection with the ten from Sinai
evidently intending it to have a general application
He makes no mention of
this particular deliverance
but merely states the reason we find in the second
chapter of Genesis--because God had rested Himself on the seventh day. So that
if we admit
as I will do
that there was a peculiarity in the reason for the
institution of the Sabbath in connection with the Israelites
yet God marks a
distinction between that peculiarity and the general application in the
passages I have referred to: giving as the peculiarity in their case the
deliverance from Egypt
but in the other case giving as a reason that He
Himself rested from His work
that the institution might be known to be
applicable to all men. One further proof let us for a moment notice. The object
of the Sabbath--let us see what that involves. There is a two-fold object
alluded to in my text--with reference to God
and with reference to man. First
with reference to God. God rested on the seventh day
in commemoration of the
finishing of His work. Now
whatever that may involve
I suppose it will be
admitted that it is applicable to all men
and that it does not apply to the
Jews or to one age only. If God thought fit to commemorate the fact of His
resting from His labours by setting apart one day in seven
you and I are as
much concerned in it as the Israelite was. But this will be still further
enforced
when we come to consider the reason for which the Sabbath was
instituted with reference to man. This was a two-fold reason. It was in order
to his physical rest
and in order to his spiritual profit; the one subservient
to the other. His physical rest: is not that equally necessary at all times?
What gave rise to this reason for the institution of the Sabbath? On what
ground was it necessary that there should be one day in seven set apart? I tell
you: the law of rest was based on the law of labour. That was true in Eden. In
Eden man was to till the ground; and even in Eden
in his unfallen state
there
was a day of rest appointed. If that was true in man’s perfect state
before
his physical ability became deteriorated and broken down through sin
as it has
been
how much more is it necessary in his fallen state! Again
let me ask
this: If it was needful to Israel that they should have a day of rest
on the
ground of the physical system being liable to exhaustion
and on the ground of
the law of labour not being remitted
will any man pretend to argue that the
law of rest shall be abolished and abrogated while the law of labour still
remains? Or again: look at the spiritual purpose of the Sabbath. It is
instituted in order to give man an opportunity--by resting from labour and the
ordinary transactions of secular concerns
to have an opportunity of
cultivating a holy and heavenly taste
and becoming fit for heaven. Now
I ask
this question: Do your secular avocations
the cares and anxieties with which
you are conversant every day
produce the same general results that they did in
Israel’s days
or do they not? Do you find
or do you not find
when you go
about your ordinary business six days in the week
that you have immense
difficulty to keep your hearts and affections separated from these things
and
give them to God? Do you find that you could afford to be without one day in
the week
on which to meet in God’s house
and have an opportunity of reading
your Bible and meditating at home
feeling it to be so easy in your worldly
vocation to separate your hearts for communion with Him? It is monstrous to
suppose such a thing. But again. That the Sabbath is an eternal Sabbath is
clear from this: that in the Hebrews the apostle says
“There remaineth a
rest.” I need not tell you that the word there translated “rest” is
“Sabbath”--“There remaineth a rest
” a Sabbath “for the people of God.” “A
Sabbath!” What is the present Sabbath? What was the original Sabbath? Without
controversy
a type of the coming Sabbath. “There remaineth a Sabbath.” And yet
God gave a Sabbath from the beginning! The Sabbath God gave was of course a
type of the eternal Sabbath. Now
do you conceive that Israel should enjoy the
type of the heavenly Sabbath
and yet that you and I
who live so much nearer
to the time of the end
and are supposed to be
by virtue of the pouring out of
the Holy Ghost and a knowledge of Christ
so much more holy in heart
are not
to enjoy that type? But a type is in force till it is fulfilled. When will that
type be done away? Never
unquestionably
till it resolves itself into the
eternal Sabbath.
II. THE MODE OF
OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. If God has given us the Sabbath
and we are to keep
it on the Lord’s day
every right-minded man will ask
How are we to keep it?
Now
it is very remarkable and important
that in the passages where God
teaches us how the Sabbath day is to be kept
He deals with the subject as a
general subject. It is not spoken of in the passages I will refer to in
reference to any peculiarities connected with Judaism; but there are such
declarations and instructions as would be applicable to all men
and all
Christian men
to the end of time. There is the fourth commandment and the
fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. The fourth commandment we know. Here is the
passage I quote from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah: at the thirteenth
verse--“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath
from doing thy pleasure on
My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight
the holy of the Lord
honourable;
and shalt honour Him
not doing thine own ways
nor finding thine own pleasure
nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” If
you take the fourth commandment in connection with that verse
you will find
that you have instruction as to the spiritual and physical obligation of the
Lord’s day. The fourth commandment instructs us in regard to our rest from all
labour; this passage instructs us in regard to the object for which that
physical rest is to be enjoyed
as subservient to our spiritual advantage. (C.
Molyneux
M. A.)
The blessed day
I. THE OBLIGATION
OF THE SABBATH.
1. The Sabbath was made for man in Paradise.
2. The Sabbath was revived in the wilderness.
3. The Sabbath was established by an express commandment.
4. The Sabbath was confirmed by the practice of our Lord Jesus
Christ and His apostles. The change of day
from the seventh to the first of
the week
makes no alteration in the proportion of our time which God has
“sanctified” and “blessed.”
5. The Sabbath has been observed by the Church of Christ in general.
II. THE ADVANTAGES
OF THE SABBATH. A “blessed” day.
1. Its temporal advantages.
2. Its spiritual advantages.
Institution and end of the Sabbath
I. WHO WAS IT
INSTITUTED THE SABBATH? God. It sets forth the Divine complacency--how He
looked back on the work He had finished
and how He was refreshed with the
contemplation of it. And this gives us the true idea of the first Sabbath
when
the Lord rested from His work; He set it apart
that His creatures might rest
also
that they might be taken from the work to the worker
from the gift to
the Giver
from the creation to the Creator.
II. THE
CONTINUATION OF THE INSTITUTION (Exodus 20:1-26). Though the
appointing one day out of seven was a moral command
yet it was also positive:
it was arranged in the garden of Eden before Satan tempted man to fall.
Therefore it had its truth
not in Mount Sinai
not because Moses gave it
but
from the living God Himself. And there it stands at an amazing distance from
all ceremonies and all shadows. It sets forth a great truth
I allow--our rest
in Jesus: but the setting apart a day of rest was no shadow; it was God’s claim
on His people. “Your bodies are Mine
your souls are Mine
and you shall give
what you owe to Me.”
III. THE GREAT END
AND OBJECT OF THE SABBATH (Hebrews 4:11). Just as the Creator did
rest from His work
and did command His creatures to rest as He rested
giving
themselves up to the contemplation of Himself: so in the Christian Sabbath we
are led by Eternal Spirit to seek our rest
and to find our rest
in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
IV. WHAT IS THE
NATURE OF THAT OBEDIENCE WHICH OUGHT TO BE GIVEN TO IT BY CHRISTIANS? Let him
beware of Jewish legality
of the spirit of bondage--of that principle which
while it seemeth as if it honoured God in strictness
strains at a gnat and
swallows a camel. You and I
to obey one single principle aright
must have a
right principle. It is in vain the command comes to us: it can work on us by
authority and by terror: but we must have a higher principle to influence the
inner man. The nature of the obedience is at once unfolded in the nature of the
institution. Whatever has a tendency to promote my entering into that rest
to
promote my spiritual acquaintance with that rest
enters of necessity into the
consideration of the Christian Sabbath. Whatever has a tendency to hinder it
whatever has a tendency to prevent it
whatever has a tendency to chain me down
to this earth
is to be avoided by a Christian man. (J. H.Evans
M. A.)
Genesis of the Sabbath
I. EXPLANATION OF
THE PASSAGE.
1. Cessation of the creative process.
2. The Creator’s resting.
3. Sanctification of the Sabbath day.
II. CHRIST’S
DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH.
1. Man himself is the basis of the Sabbath.
A day of conscious
formal
stately acknowledgment of the Divine
supremacy. A day on which to dismiss worldly cares
and look through
unobstructed vistas into the opening heavens. An English gentleman was once
inspecting a house in Newcastle
with a view of buying it. The landlord
after
having shown him the premises
took him to an upper window
and remarked: “You
can see Durham Cathedral from this window on Sundays.” “How is this?” asked the
visitor. “Because on Sundays there is no smoke from the factory chimneys.” Ah
man must have a day in which he can retire to some solitude
where his spirit--
“With
her best nurse
Contemplation
May
plume her feathers
and let grow her wings
That
in the various bustle of resort
Were
all too ruffled
and sometimes impaired.”
2. Man greater than the Sabbath. Man
as God’s son and image and
representative
is the end
and the Sabbath
like every other “ordinance
” is a
means. An immortal being
outliving institutions
economies
aeons--capable of
carrying a heaven within him--God’s own image and son: man is more sacred than
ordinances. Jesus Christ did not die for ordinances: Jesus Christ died for man.
The Sabbath is sacred
not in itself
but because man is sacred. Hence the
Sabbath is his servant--not his master. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. And in
accordance with this principle Jesus Christ Himself ever acted.
3. The true method of keeping the Sabbath. Being made for man
the
Sabbath must be used religiously: for the capacity for religion is man’s chief
definition. The Sabbath must be kept in homage of God
in the study of His Word
and character and will
in the spirit of worship
private and public. But full
unfolding of man’s spiritual nature is possible only in the sphere of
edification
or society building. The Sabbath summons man to conjugate life in
a new mood and tense; but still in the active voice. And here the Son of Man is
our Teacher and blessed Model. How many of His healings and works of mercy were
wrought on the Sabbath day! And what is man’s office in this fallen
sorrowful
world
but a ministry of healing? And healing
or edification
is the highest
form of worship. Nothing can take the place of it.
4. Objections.
III. THE CHANCE
FROM SATURDAY TO SUNDAY. Here is a venerable
sacred institution--hallowed by
the Creator’s own example in Eden
solemnly enjoined amid the thunders of
Sinai
distinctly set apart as one of the chief signs that Israel was God’s
chosen
covenanted people
majestically buttressed by loftiest promises in case
of observance
and by direst threats in case of non-observance
freighted with
the solemn weight of fifteen centuries of sacred associations and scrupulous
observance--suddenly falling into disuse
and presently supplanted by another
day
which to this year of grace has held its own amid the throes of eighteen
centuries. How
then
will you account for this stupendous revolution? It is a
fair question for the philosophical historian to ask. And the philosophical
historian knows the answer. Jesus the Nazarene had been crucified. All through
the seventh day or Hebrew Sabbath He had lain in Joseph’s tomb. In that tomb
amid solitude and darkness and grave-clothes
He had grappled in mortal duel
with the king of death
and had thrown him
and shivered his sceptre. At the
close of that awful Sabbath
as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week (Matthew 28:1)
He had risen triumphant
from the dead. And by and in the very fact of that triumphant rising
He had
henceforth and for evermore emblazoned the first day of the week as His own
royal
supernal day
even time’s first
true Sabbath.
IV. JESUS CHRIST
HIMSELF IS OUR SABBATH
alike its origin
its meaning
and its end. In fact the
final cause of the Sabbath is to sabbatize each day and make all life
sacramental. And Jesus Christ being our true Sabbath
Jesus Christ is also our
true rest--even the spirit’s everlasting Eden. (G. D.Boardman.)
Need of the Sabbath
Man needs the Sabbath--i.e.
one day of rest after six days
of toil--for his secular nature
alike bodily and mental. The testimony of
physicians
physiologists
political economists
managers of industrial establishments
etc.
is emphatic on this point. Let me cite some instances. Dr. John William
Draper
the eminent physicist and author
writes as follows: “Out of the
numberless blessings conferred on our race by the Church
the physiologist may
be permitted to select one for remark
which
in an eminent manner
has
conduced to our physical and moral well-being. It is the institution of the
Sabbath. No man can for any length of time pursue one avocation or one train of
thought without mental
and therefore bodily
injury--nay
without insanity.
The constitution of the brain is such that it must have its time of repose.
Periodicity is stamped upon it. Nor is it enough that it is awake and in action
by day
and in the silence of night obtains rest and repair; that same
periodicity
which belongs to it as a whole
belongs to all its constituent
parts. One portion of it cannot be called into incessant activity without the
risk of injury. Its different regions
devoted to different functions
must
have their separate times of rest. The excitement of one part must be
coincident with a pause in the action of another. It is not possible for mental
equilibrium to be maintained with one idea
or one monotonous mode of life . .
. Thus a kind providence so overrules events that it matters not in what
station we may be
wealthy or poor
intellectual or lowly
a refuge is always
at hand; and the mind
worn out with one thing
turns to another
and its
physical excitement is followed by physical repose. Lord Macaulay
in his speech
before the House of Commons on the Ten Hours’ Bill
spoke thus: “The natural
difference between Campania and Spitzbergen is trifling when compared with the
difference between a country inhabited by men full of mental and bodily vigour
and a country inhabited by men sunk in bodily and mental decrepitude. Therefore
it is we are not poorer
but richer
because we have
through many ages
rested
from our labours one day in seven. That day is not lost. While industry is
suspended
while the plough lies in the furrow
while the Exchange is silent
while no smoke ascends from the factory
a process is going on quite as
important to the wealth of nations as any process which is performed on more
busy days. Man
the machine of machines the machine compared with which all the
contrivances of the Watts and the Arkwrights are worthless--is repairing and
winding up
so that he returns to his labours on the Monday with clearer
intellect
with livelier spirits
with renewed corporeal vigour.” (G. D.
Boardman.)
The Sabbath
I. THE PRIMAL
SABBATH. God’s Sabbath. The end of the mysterious periods of God’s creative
operations
is the beginning of a new age in which all creation is intended to
glorify God and be happy.
II. THE PERIODICAL
SABBATH. Made for man. A sign of God’s care for man; and a memorial of the holy
rest which man should seek to obtain.
III. THE PERFECT
SABBATH. The future rest in heaven. Unending joy and refreshment. Perfectly
holy
perfectly happy; all things “very good.” (W. S. Smith
B. D.)
The Sabbath is for rest
A week filled up with selfishness
and the Sabbath stuffed full of
religious exercises
will make a good Pharisee but a poor Christian. There are
many persons who think Sunday is a sponge with which to wipe out the sins of
the week. Now
God’s altar stands from Sunday to Sunday
and the seventh day is
no more for religion than any other. It is for rest. The whole seven are for
religion
and one of them for rest. (H. W. Beecher.)
The excellency of the Sabbath
What the fire is amongst the elements
the eagle among the fowls
the whale among the fishes
the lion amongst the beasts
gold among the metals
and wheat amongst other grain
the same is the Lord’s day above other days of
the week
differing as much from the rest as doth that wax to which a king’s
great seal is put from ordinary wax
or that silver upon which the king’s arms
and image are stamped from silver unrefined
or in bullion; it is a day
the
most holy festival in relation to the initiation of the world and man’s
regeneration
the queen and princess of days
a royal day
a day that shines
amongst other days as doth the dominical letter
clad in scarlet
among the
other letters in the calendar; or
as the sun imparts light to all the other
stars
so doth this day
bearing the name of Sunday
afford both light and life
to all the other days of the week. (J. Spencer.)
The first Sabbath
I. SABBATH REST.
Sabbath rest is not merely a rest from sin
though it includes that: we are not
merely required to lay aside things that are sinful to keep this Sabbath
for
God rested
and He could do only good. It is not only a rest from labour
though it includes it: for God rested
and He knew no labour--commanding
and
it was done. It is a rest from work. God rested from all His work. Even then
those things which are lawful and pleasant work on weekdays
causing no labour
and involving no sin
are to be put aside on the Sabbath
that we may rest unto
God. This rest is a rest from care. You well know
that with all your desire to
let the morrow take thought for the things of itself
the necessity of
providing for the creature’s wants will give a care and anxiety to your mind.
Well
on the Sabbath you are privileged to put this all away
and to let
everything remain in abeyance
leaving all in Christ’s hands
while you enjoy
present rest in Him. This rest is
or ought to be
a rest of body and mind
as
well as of soul. Lastly
above all
this rest is a rest in the Lord. It is an
everlasting satisfaction in what He has done for you; and what He means to do
with you. It is to go in with David to sit before the Lord; it is to lie down
in green pastures
by the waters of comfort; it is to hide in the secret places
of the stairs; it is to enter that chariot whose pillars are of silver
and
whose bottom is of gold
and whose curtains are of purple
and which is paved
with love for the daughters of Jerusalem; it is to drink that new wine which
goeth down sweetly
causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
II. SABBATH
OCCUPATION. It may seem a strange transition to pass from the thought of
Sabbath rest to that of Sabbath occupation; but the rest of saints is not an
idle rest
it is not a rest which excludes the idea of employment or of
service. Even in the description of the eternal and heavenly Jerusalem we have
the words
“His servants shall serve Him
” as well as
“They shall see His
face”; and how much more then shall the Sabbath of earth be spent in doing the
will of God! Sabbath rest is found in beholding the face of God. Sabbath
occupation is found in serving Him. All Sabbath occupation is lawful which does
not break in upon and disturb Sabbath rest. If the employment in which we
engage does not hinder
but rather promotes our enjoyment of that spirit rest
which I have already spoken of
then may we be sure we are right in pursuing
it.
1. First
then
as a lawful Sabbath occupation I would put
self-study
for there is something in the quiet and leisure of the day of rest
which seems peculiarly to favour it. God hath said
“Commune with your own
heart
and in your chamber
and be still”; and he who is in the Spirit on the
Lord’s day will find it good and right so to do.
2. Next in order as a Sabbath occupation I would mention Bible
study. I do not by that expression mean Bible reading
but that earnest
patient
investigation of the Divine Word which requires time
and thought
and prayer.
3. As another Sabbath occupation I would name creation study. God
has in so wonderful a manner linked together the visible and the invisible
the
tangible with the things that cannot be touched
that we cannot go forth in our
glorious world without seeing traced on almost every object the hieroglyphics
which tell of the higher mysteries of an inner life. Those who are instructed
in the emblematic glory of the things which are can walk with Christ amidst
creation’s beauties
and understand His parables. To them He speaketh still of
the sower and the seed; the tares and the wheat; the lilies of the field
in
their more than royal glory: and many a precious lesson is taught them
as they
study the manner in which God is daily bringing about those results which
preserve the frame of nature in its order and beauty.
4. I would next suggest as a fitting occupation for the Lord’s day
the ministration of good.
5. As another Sabbath occupation
I would mention
writing on sacred
subjects: it may be original composition or otherwise.
6. Another precious Sabbath occupation will be found in Christian
converse.
7. Christian correspondence.
8. Sacred music. Blessed
beautiful gift! which God has preserved to
this disordered and disruptured world--the harmony of sound. David
in
Scripture times
and Luther in more modern days
are instances of those who
have appreciated its powers. There is something peculiarly soothing and healing
(if I may use the latter word) in the effect of the higher cast of music upon
the mind; it will sometimes bring tears to eyes whose fount has long been
dried. And on the Sabbath day I know no more blessed relief to the mind
when
it has been kept in a high state of tension for
many hours engaged in earnest
thought and study
than that which is afforded by
the strains of sacred song.
III. SABBATH
WORSHIP. In spirit and in truth we must worship that God
who is a Spirit
with
our whole understanding
and soul
and strength; with our lamps burning and our
armour bright
as a peculiar people
a chosen generation
a royal priesthood we
must do Him service. (The Protoplast.)
A world without a Sabbath
A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile
like a summer without flowers
and like a homestead without a garden. It is the
joyous day of the whole week. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Sabbath not to be effaced
The original distinction
made by God Himself
and founded both
upon His nature and ours
between working and resting
must be kept in mind;
and we must not attempt to confound these
or suppose that
provided we try to
glorify God in everything
it matters little whether we set the two different
things distinctly before us; viz.
the glory which we are to give Him in
working and the glory which we are to give Him in resting. In trying to make
every day a Sabbath we are doing what we can to efface this Divine distinction.
And can it be effaced without sin
without injury to the soul
without harm
both to the Church and to the world
both to Jew and Gentile? It cannot; for
thus God does not get the glory which He desires. He does not get the separate
glories of which we have been speaking
but a mere human compound of
both--vague
indefinite
diluted--something that neither glorifies Him nor
benefits His saints
nor bears witness to the world. Those who deny the
authority of the Sabbath now must undertake to prove the following things:--
1. That the Decalogue or Law is no longer binding; or at least that
one out of the ten commandments is no longer binding.
2. That Christ came to diminish our store of blessings during the
present dispensation; that He has narrowed instead of enlarged our privileges.
3. If they shrink from this
then they must maintain that the Sabbath
is not a blessing; that it is an unwholesome
unnatural
intolerable restraint;
a weariness
a bondage
a curse.
4. That the Sabbath was a Jewish institution exclusively
and
therefore fell when Judaism fell. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
The Divine rest
There are some who can see in this description nothing higher than
the ignoble image of a weary Creator reposing after His fatigues; as if the God
of this chapter were like the Olympian deities
or the Baal whose slumbers
provoked the mockery of the Tishbite. Nor is the “rest” of God intended to
suggest that the Creator has ceased to create; that He has constructed the
world as a self-acting machine
and now commits it to its course. A far nobler
thought
a religious and not a scientific conception underlies the image.
1. It marks a stage in the process of creation. The earth is
rendered habitable. Every portion of the creation has been pronounced good in
itself; now the whole is regarded by God with satisfaction. “God saw everything
that He had made
and
behold
it was very good.” God “rested from all His work
which He had made.”
2. The image of God’s rest emphasizes the relation of man to the
terrestrial creation. We rest when our purpose is complete. The plan of God was
wrought out when man was formed.
3. There is a rest for the affections as well as for the purposes; a
repose of the heart as well as of the planning intellect and the active will. A
father who expects his children home
and prepares for their reception
does
not rest until he sees them; in his welcome of them there is repose. It is not
that he wilt have nothing more to do
that he abates his labour for them or
relaxes his care. His heart is full of tranquillity; the excitement of
preparation has given way to peace.
4. And yet once more--consider to what a history this creation
legend is the introduction. The narrative only pauses a moment; and then begins
a story of sin and chastisement
of strife and shame and struggle. It is the
prologue of a long drama of passion
weariness
and woe. (A. Mackennal
D.
D.)
Institution of Sabbath
I. THE DIRECT
REASONS why we believe the Sabbath to have been instituted at the time when the
sacred narrative begins. The transactions of the seventh day immediately follow
those of the sixth
precisely as those of the sixth follow the fifth--the
history is chronological
unbroken
complete. This is the reason each day’s
work comes in order. These were the transactions of the seventh day
which come
as directly in succession after the preceding as any of the other days. The
plain literal common sense interpretation of the history of the Scripture is
indispensable to faith. But in the present case we have yet further reasons.
The distribution of the work of creation into its parts would be deprived of
its object and end
if the institution of the Sabbath were expunged. For why
this distribution but to mark to man the proportion of time allotted him for
his usual labour
and the proportion to be assigned to religious exercises?
Again
where is the example in Scripture of any instituted commemoration not
beginning from the time of its appointment? One is ashamed to urge more
arguments in such a case--but what meaning
I ask
had Moses in his reference
to six days’ labour and a seventh day’s Sabbath
as matters familiarly known
at the time of the miraculous fall of manna before the giving of the law
if
there had not been a preceding institution? Or what is intended by the citation
of the very language of my text in the fourth commandment
if the reason there
assigned had not really reposed on facts--“For in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth.”
II. THE JUST
INFERENCES to be drawn from them as to the glory and dignity of the Sabbath.
1. We learn from them
first
its essential necessity to man as man.
2. Consider
further
that it was the first command given by God to
Adam
as soon as ever the work of creation was finished. Man never was without
a Sabbath.
3. Observe
further
that this command was not merely made known to
man
in some of those ways in which his Maker afterwards communicated His will
but it was placed
as it were
on the footing of creation itself. By the
Almighty Hand all nature might have been called into being in an instant. The
distribution of the work over six days
followed by the repose on the seventh
was to infix this grand principle in the mind of every human being
that after
six days’ labour one day of religious rest should follow.
4. We learn also from this order of creation that man was made
not
for constant and unrelieved employment or for earthly pursuits chiefly
but for
labour with intervals of repose
and in subordination to the glory of his God;
man was formed not for seven days’ toil
but for six--man was formed not for
secular and terrestrial pursuits merely
but for the high purpose of honouring
God
meditating on His works
and preparing for the enjoyment of Him forever.
III. Let us next
show that THERE ARE TRACES OF THE OBSERVATION OF A WEEKLY REST DURING THE
PATRIARCHAL AGES. The very first act of Divine worship after the Fall affords
indications of a day of religion. Cain and Abel brought their offerings “in
process of time
” as the common reading has it
but literally
and as it is in
the margin
“at the end of the days.” Thus we have in the sacred narrative
the
priest
altar
matter of sacrifice
motive
atonement made and accented
and
appointed time--indications these entirely consistent with the supposition of a
previous sabbatical institution
and indeed proceeding upon it--for that is the
meaning of the expression
“at the end of the days.” But one division of days
had been yet mentioned
and that was of the days of the week
the Sabbath being
the last or seventh day--we may
therefore
reasonably suppose that holy season
to be here termed “the end of the days.” Again
we read that “men
” in the days
of Seth (two hundred years
perhaps
after Abel’s sacrifice)
“began to call
upon the name of the Lord
” or
“to call themselves by the name of the Lord”;
and four hundred years later
that “Enoch walked with God
”--terms of large
import
and which
when illustrated by the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews
where the faith of the patriarchs in the Divine order of creation is so
extolled
are
to say the least
entirely consistent with the observation of a
day of religious worship. We come to the flood. Sixteen centuries have elapsed
since the institution of the weekly rest. And now we find the reckoning by
weeks familiarly referred to as the ordinary division of time. The Lord said
unto Noah
“Yet seven days
and I will cause it to rain upon the earth.” And
again
“It came to pass after seven days
that the waters of the food were upon
the earth.” These passages occur in the seventh chapter. Nothing can be more
certain than that the return of seven days brought something peculiar with it;
and we judge it probable
from the institution of the Sabbath
that that
peculiarity was the day of sacred rest. Accordingly after the flood
the
tradition of that division of time spread over all the eastern
world--Assyrians
Egyptians
Indians
Arabians
Persians
unite with the
Israelites in retaining vestiges of it. In the earliest remains of the heathen
writers
Hesiod
Homer
Callimachus--the sanctity of the seventh day is
referred to as a matter of notoriety. Philo
the Jew
declares that there was
no nation under heaven where the opinion had not reached. But we come to the
history of Abraham. Here it is deserving notice
as we pass
that the rite of
circumcision was to be performed after the lapse of seven days from the birth;
but the commendation of Abraham’s example
“That he commanded his children and
his household after him
to keep the way of the Lord
to do justice and
judgment
” implies that there was a way prescribed by the Almighty
and certain
observances in which consisted justice and judgment
amongst which the Sabbath
was probably the chief. But in the more fall declaration afterwards made
concerning him to Isaac; “That Abraham obeyed His voice
and kept His charge
His commandments
His statutes
and His laws”; the terms employed are so
various as to be by no means naturally interpreted of the ordinances of
circumcision and sacrifice only
but to include
as much as if it were named
the charge and law of the Sabbath. We come to Jacob; and few
I think
can
doubt that when he uttered the devout exclamation
“This is none other than the
house of God
this is the gate of heaven”; and then vowed that the “stone
should be God’s house”--he alluded to what was customary with the pious
patriarchs
the worship of God in a stated place
and on a stated time--the
Sabbath; without which a house of God would be a term of little meaning; but
with which it would indeed be the pledge and anticipation of heaven. Even Laban
seems to have had the notion of a weekly division of time
“Fulfil her week
and we will give thee this also.” But I will not dwell on more particulars. The
numerous
the almost perpetual notices of places
of altars
of sacrifices
of
the worship of God
of solemn titles given to particular spots
all confirm the
supposition
which is the only reasonable one
that the sabbatical institution
was not unknown to the patriarchs. We may notice the case of holy Job
as
confirming this
who
remote as was the place of his abode
more than once
reminds us of “a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
Lord.”
IV. THE MANNER IN
WHICH THE SABBATH WAS REVIVED AND RE-ESTABLISHED BEFORE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE
MOSAICAL ECONOMY
proves that it was a previous institution
which had never
been entirely lost; and therefore confirms all we stated of its origin in
Paradise and its continuance during the patriarchal ages.
1. Let us
then
first
in applying this part of our subject
observe
the extreme violence which is done to the Christian faith
when any
important fact in the Scriptures
such as the institution of the Sabbath in
Paradise
is attempted to be explained away by the fancy of man.
2. Yes
come with me before we close this discourse and let us adore
and praise the Almighty Father of all for the distinct glories shed upon the
day of religious repose. Come and praise Him for condescending to imprint its
first enactment
and the reasons on which it is grounded
on the six days’
creative wonders. Come
glorify your God and Father. He bids you rest
but it
is after His own example. He bids you labour
but it is after His pattern.
Imitate the Supreme Architect. Work in the order in which He worked
cease when
He was pleased to cease. Let the day of religion
after each six days’ toil
be
to you a blessed and a sanctified season. Plead the promise attached to the
Sabbath: it is blessed of God
it is sanctified of God
it is hallowed of God.
Implore forgiveness of your past neglect. Let no Sabbath henceforth leave you
without having sought the blessing promised and performed the duties to which
it is dedicated. Let your devout meditation on the glories of creation swell
the choir of your Maker’s praise. Join “the sons of God” in their joys and
songs at the birth of the universe. (D. Wilson
M. A.)
The Lord’s day
or Christian Sabbath
1. Delight in the Lord’s day
as a high privilege bestowed upon you: make it the matter of your holy joy.
2. Dispose of your earthly affairs wisely in the foregoing week
so
that if possible you may not have the Lord’s day
which is a day of rest and
worship
invaded and intrenched upon by the cares and business of this world.
3. Think of the promises which are made to these who with a
religious care serve and worship God upon His appointed day.
4. Whatsoever spiritual advantages or improvements you obtain on
God’s own day
take care that you do not lose them again amidst the labours or
the pleasures of the following week.
5. Take notice what relish and satisfaction you find in the duties
or services of the Lord’s day
and let that be a test whereby you may judge of
the sanctification of your souls and your preparation for heaven.
6. Let every Lord’s day
every Christian Sabbath
lead your
meditations
your faith
and hope onward to the eternal rest in heaven. (Isaac
Watts
D. D.)
The Sabbath
I. ITS ORIGIN.
Days and nights
lunar months
and solar years
are natural divisions of time;
and may be easily supposed or accounted for
by the diurnal revolution of the
earth
the appearance of the moon
and the annual course of the sun; but weeks
of seven days cannot have the shadow of a reason assigned for their observance
except on the ground of the primeval institution of the Sabbath on the seventh
day of the creation
and banded down by tradition to all parts of the world.
II. ITS
PERPETUITY.
1. It was enjoined upon Adam
as the federal head and common parent
of all mankind
and not given to Abraham
as the father of the Jewish nation.
2. It was introduced and enforced in the decalogue as a moral
precept
and not a mere ceremonial institution.
3. The same
and even stronger reasons
may be assigned for the
perpetuity of the Sabbath
than those expressed as the design of its original
appointment. There is the same God to adore; there are the same works to
contemplate; and we are the same dependent creatures as were our first parents
with this great disadvantage on our parts
that we are ever prone to forget the
Almighty
and require more means to keep us in remembrance of the Lord than
ever Adam needed in primeval innocence.
4. When the Gentiles were brought into the Church of Christ by the
preaching of the gospel
their observance of the Sabbath is mentioned by the
prophet Isaiah
as positive proof of their conversion to God (chap. 56:6
8).
By this they testified their faith
affection
and obedience
in the great
cause which they had espoused; they thus observed the command
exalted the
goodness
and magnified the grace of that Supreme Being
whose name they were
destined to profess and to honour in the world.
5. The last book of the inspired volume emphatically terms it
“the
Lord’s day.”
III. ITS SCRIPTURAL
OBSERVANCE.
1. A complete cessation of our secular employments.
2. Holy meditation of the Divine Being and works.
3. Fervent prayer.
4. A close attention to the Word of God.
5. Public worship.
CONCLUSION:
1. Regard the Sabbath as a merciful appointment.
2. Lament the abuse of the Sabbath amongst us.
3. Observe the day thus blessed and sanctified. (Thomas Wood.)
The Sabbath
I. THE WORSHIP OF
GOD OUGHT TO BE MEN’S FIRST AND CHIEF CARE.
II. GOD MAKES
GREAT ACCOUNT OF THE SANCTIFYING OF HIS SABBATHS.
1. As serving for a public and notorious badge of our profession Ezekiel 20:12).
2. An especial means of preserving and increasing of religion
being
as it were
the mart day for the soul
wherein we have commerce in a
sort wholly with God in spiritual things
tendering unto Him
and pouring out
before Him the affections of our souls in prayers and praises; and God pouring out
grace and comfort upon our spirits in the use of His holy ordinances.
III. THE SABBATH
DAY SANCTIFIED AS IT OUGHT IS A DAY OF BLESSINGS.
IV. THE SABBATH IS
A DAY OF REST CONSECRATED BY GOD HIMSELF
AND SET APART FROM A COMMON TO A HOLY
USE.
V. THE LAW GIVEN
BY GOD FOR THE OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH DAY IS A LAW UNIVERSAL AND PERPETUAL.
VI. MEDITATION ON
GOD’S WORKS
THAT OUR HEARTS MAY BE RAISED UP TO A HOLY REJOICING IN HIM
IS
AND OUGHT TO BE
A CHRISTIAN’S CHIEF EXERCISE FOR THE RIGHT SANCTIFYING OF THE
SABBATH DAY. (J. White
M. A.)
Intellectual gain of Sunday rest
Wilberforce accounts
in part at least
for the suicide of
Castlereagh
Romilly
and Whitbread
by the absence of the Sabbath rest. Lord
Hatherley
who rose to be Lord High Chancellor of England
testified
at a
public meeting in Westminster
that many lawyers who were in the habit of
Sunday study or practice of law have failed in mind and body--not a few of them
becoming inmates of lunatic asylums; and that
within his experience
the
successful and long-living lawyers are those who
like himself and Lords Cairns
and Selborne
have always remembered the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. If you
wish to get the full good of your mind
you will give it the rest which its
Creator indicates; you will give it sleep; you will give it the Sabbath. The
mind is not an artesian well
but a land spring. The supply is limited. If you
pump continually
the water will grow turbid; and if
after it grows turbid
you continue still to work it
you will not increase the quantity
and you will
spoil the pump. There is a difference of intellectual activity
but the most
powerful mind is a land spring after all; and those who wish to preserve their
thoughts fresh
pure
and pellucid
will put on the Sabbath padlock. In the
subsequent clearness of their views
in the calmness of their judgment
and in
the free and copious flow of ideas
they
find their speedy recompense.
The Sabbath--the weekly summer
It is the chief time for gathering knowledge to last you through
the following week
just as summer is the chief season for gathering food to
last you through the following twelvemonth. (A. W. Hare.)
Never-ending Sabbaths
Yes
it was the beautiful remark of an aged Christian
a poor widow
when asked by her minister
as she stood lingering in the porch of the church
“What have you been thinking of so deeply?”--“I have been thinking
sir
oh!
that my Sabbaths would never end.” Happy state of mind! How natural the
transition from the Sabbath that ends
to the Sabbath that never ends; from the
Sabbath whose sun so soon sets
to the Sabbath of that city which “hath no Heed
of the sun
neither of the moon to shine in it
for the glory of God doth
lighten it
and the Lamb is the light thereof
” and which hath “no temple
for
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” There will be no more
temple there
for it will be all one temple--a temple where they rest not day
nor night
crying
“Holy
holy
holy
Lord God of hosts.” God has annexed this
blessing to His day
that in proportion as we love to enter into its blessed
services
breathe its holy atmosphere
do we feel assured that heaven is ours
and that we are heaven’s
and that our Sabbaths are as blessed steps by which
we rise higher and higher till we reach a Sabbath whose sun shall never set. (H.
Stowell
M. A.)
Sabbath the perfection of creation
In “Bereshith Rabbah
” a Rabbinical commentary of the second
century
it is beautifully said
“What is the institution of the Sabbath like?
A king erected a marriage canopy
which he ornamented and beautified. When it
was completed there was but one thing wanting
and that was the bride. Thus
likewise
the creation of the world completed
its perfection required nothing
but the Sabbath.”
Verse 4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth
The primeval condition of the earth
and of man as a sentient
spiritual
and social being
I.
The
economy of the kingdom of Inanimate nature
or of the vegetable world
was
fitted at once to maintain the sovereignty of God
and to provide for the
welfare of man; viewing mall as a compound being
having both body and soul (Genesis 2:5-7). Three things
it is here
implied
are ordinarily necessary to the growth of plants and herbs--soil
climate
and culture. The vital energy of the earth itself
in which all
various seeds are lodged
is the first element (Genesis 2:5). The influence of rain and
dew from heaven comes next (Genesis 2:6). And lastly
there must be
superadded the labour of the hand of man (Genesis 2:7 compared with Genesis 2:5). This is the law of nature
or rather of nature’s God.
II. The moral
world also--the spiritual kingdom was rightly adjusted.
1. Man
as a sentient being
was placed in an earthly paradise (Genesis 2:8-15).
2. As a rational and religions being
he was subjected to a Divine
law (Genesis 2:16-17).
3. As a social or companionable being
he was furnished with human
fellowship (Genesis 2:18-25). (R. S. Candlish
D.
D.)
Observations
I. HE THAT GIVES
THINGS THEIR BEING MAY DISPOSE AND ORDER THEM AS HE WILL
II. WHENSOEVER WE
MENTION AND REMEMBER THE BEING OF THE CREATURES
WE OUGHT WITHAL TO SET BEFORE
US AND REMEMBER HIM THAT MADE THEM. (J. White
M. A.)
A new section of creation history
A new section of creation history now begins
and the fourth verse
is the title or heading: “The following are the details of what took place when
God created heaven and earth.” The fifth is intended to state that all that was
done was entirely God’s doing
without the help of second causes
without the
refreshment of rain
without the aid of man
There had been no power in action
hitherto but God’s alone. His hand
directly and alone
had done all that was
done
in making plants and herbs to grow. The soil was not of itself
productive; no previous seed existed; there was no former growth to spring up
again. All was the finger of God. He is the sole Creator. Second causes
as
they are called
are His creations: they owe their being
their influence to
Him. The operations of nature
as men speak
are but the actings of the
invisible God. God is in everything. Not as the Pantheist would have it
a part
of everything
so that nature is God; but a personal Being
in everything
yet
distinct from everything; filling
quickening
guiding creation in all its
parts
yet no more the same with it than the pilot is with the vessel he
steers
or the painter with the canvas on which he flings all the hues of earth
and heaven. Let us beware of this subtle delusion of the evil one
the
confounding of the creature with the Creator; of God
“the King eternal
immortal
and invisible
” with the hills
and plains
and forests
and flowers
which He has made. To deify nature seems one of the special errors of the last
days. And no wonder; for if nature be deified
then man is deified too. Man
becomes God
and nature is the throne on which he sits. Let us not lose sight
of God in nature. Let not that which is the manifestation of His glory be
turned by us into an obscuration of Himself. Let us look straight to the living
God. Not nature
but God; not providence
but God; not the law
but the
Lawgiver; not the voice
but the Speaker; not the instrument and its wide
melodies
but the Master who formed the lyre
and whose hands are drawing the
music out of its wondrous chords! (H. Bonar
D. D.)
In Eden and out
The heading of this passage might not be inappropriate as the
title of all the rest of the Bible. We have had the origin in the first
chapter
and all the rest of the Bible gives the development--the development
of the heavens and the earth
until at last
after all the changes of time are
over
we shall witness the inauguration of “the new heavens and the new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness.” In the meantime we shall limit our view to the
little book of Generations
with its sad record of fall and failure
gilded
however
with a gleam of hope at the close.
I. First
then
there is a different name for God introduced here. All through the Genesis it
has been
“God said
” “God made
” “God created.” Now it is invariably
“Jehovah
God” (Lord God in our version). And this is the only continuous passage in the
Bible where the combination is used. How is this explained? Very easily. In the
apocalypse of the Genesis
God makes Himself known simply as Creator. Sin has
not yet entered
and so the idea of salvation has no place. In this passage sin
is coming in
and along with it the promise of salvation. Now the name Jehovah
is always connected with the idea of salvation. It is the covenant name. It is
the name which indicates God’s special relation to His people
as their Saviour
and Redeemer. But lest anyone should suppose from the change of name that there
is any change in the person; lest anyone suppose that He who is to redeem us
from sin and death
is a different being from Him who created the heavens and
the earth
the two names are now combined--Jehovah God. The combination is retained
throughout the entire narrative of the Fall to make the identification sure.
Thereafter either name is used by itself without danger of error.
II. Look next at
the way in which Nature is spoken of here. When you look at it aright
you find
there is no repetition. Nature in the Genesis is universal nature. God created
all things. But here
nature comes in
as it has to do immediately with Adam.
Now see the effect of this. It at once removes difficulties
which many speak
of as of great magnitude. In the first place it is not the whole earth that is
now spoken of
but a very limited district. Our attention is narrowed down to
Eden
and the environs of Eden
a limited district in a particular part of the
earth. Hence the difficulty about there not being rain in the district
(“earth”) disappears. Again
it is not the vegetable kingdom as a whole that is
referred to in the fifth verse
but only the agricultural and horticultural
products. The words “plant
” “field
” and “grew” (verse 5) are new words
not found
in the creation record. In Genesis 1:1-31. the vegetable kingdom as
a whole was spoken of. Now
it is simply the cereals and garden herbs
and
things of that sort; and here
instead of coming into collision with the
previous narrative
we have something that corresponds with what botanists tell
us
that field and garden products are sharply distinguished in the history of
nature
from the old flora of the geological epochs. In the same way it is not
the whole animal kingdom that is referred to in verse nineteen
but only the
domestic animals
those with which man was to be especially associated
and to
which he was very much more intimately related than to the wild beasts of the field.
It may be easy to make this narrative look ridiculous
by bringing the wild
beasts in array before Adam
as if any companionship with them were
conceivable. But when we bear in mind that reference is made here to the
domestic animals
there is nothing at all inappropriate in noticing
that while
there is a certain degree of companionship possible between man and some of
those animals
as the horse and dog
yet none of these was the companion he
needed.
III. Passing now
from nature to man
we find again a marked difference. In Genesis 1:1-31 we are told
“God created
man in His own image; in the image of God created He him.” And here: “The Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7). Some people tell us there
is a contradiction here. Is there any contradiction? Are not both of them true?
Is there not something that tells you that there is more than dust in your
composition? When you hear the statement that “God made man in His own image
”
is there not a response awakened in you--something in you that rises up and
says
It is true? On the other hand
we know that man’s body is formed of the
dust of the earth. We find it to be true in a more literal sense than was
formerly supposed
now that chemistry discloses the fact that the same elements
enter into the composition of man’s body
as are found by analysis in the “dust
of the ground.” And not only are both these statements true
but each is
appropriate in its place. In the first account
when man’s place in universal
nature was to be set forth--man as he issued from his Maker’s hand--was it not
appropriate that his higher nature should occupy the foreground? His lower
relations are not entirely out of sight even there
for he is introduced along
with a whole group of animals created on the sixth day. But while his
connection with them is suggested
that to which emphasis is given in the
Genesis is his relation to his Maker. But now that we are going to hear about
his fall
about his shame and degradation
is it not appropriate that the lower
rather than the higher part of his nature should be brought into the
foreground
inasmuch as it is there that the danger lies? It was to that part
of his nature that the temptation was addressed; and so we read here
“God
formed man of the dust of the ground.” Yet here too there is a hint of his
higher nature
for it is added
“He breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life
” or as we have it in another passage
“The inspiration of the Almighty
gave him understanding.” In this connection it is worth while to notice the use
of the words “created” and “formed.” “God created man in His own image.” So far
as man’s spiritual and immortal nature was concerned it was a new creation. On
the other hand
“God formed man out of the dust of die ground.” We are not told
He created man’s body out of nothing. We are told
and the sciences of today
confirm it
that it was formed out of existing materials. Then
in relation to
woman
there is the same appropriateness in the two narratives. In the former
her relations to God are prominent: “God created man in His own image. In the
image of God created He him; male and female created He them”--man in His
image; woman in His image. In the latter
it is not the relation of woman to
her Maker that is brought forward
but the relation of woman to her husband.
Hence the specific reference to her organic connection with her husband. And now
is there anything irrational in the idea that woman should be formed out of
man? Is there anything more mysterious or inconceivable in the formation of
woman out of man
than in the original formation of man out of dust? Let us
conceive of our origin in any way we choose
it is full of mystery
Though
there may be mystery connected with what is said in the Bible
there will be
just as much mystery connected with any other account you try to give of it. (J.
M. Gibson
D. D.)
Verse 5
Every plant of the field
The leaf
One of the most beautiful scientific generalizations was the
result
not of the patient
persevering researches of the naturalist
but of
the dreamy reverie of a peer.
On the meditative mind of Goethe on one occasion dawned the bright idea
that
the flower of a plant is not
as is commonly supposed
an added or separate
organ
but only the highest development
or rather transformation of its
leaves--that all the parts of a plant
from the seed to the blossom
are mere
modifications of a leaf. This one idea has done more to lift the veil of
mystery from nature
and to interpret the plans and purposes of the Creator
than all the previous labours of botanists. It shows us order in the midst of
confusion; simplicity in the midst of apparently inextricable complexity; unity
of plan amid endless diversity of form. Thoreau
watching the leafy expansions
of frost vegetation on the window pane and on the blades of grass
declared
that “the Maker of this earth but patented a leaf.” He traced the leaf pattern
throughout all the kingdoms of Nature. He saw it in the brilliant feathers of
birds; in the lustrous wings of insects; in the pearly scales of fishes; in the
blue-veined palm of the human hand; and in the ivory shell of the human ear.
The earth itself
according to him
is but a vast leaf veined with silver
rivers and streams
with irregularities of surface formed by mountains and
valleys
and varied tints of green in forest and field
and great bright spaces
of sea and lake. This
however
is a mere transcendental idea when thus applied
to all the departments of nature; it is scientific truth only when confined to
the vegetable kingdom. But the unity of which it speaks may be traced
everywhere. All the recent discoveries of science
both as regards the forms
and the forces of matter
have an obvious tendency to simplify greatly the
scheme of nature
and reduce its phenomena to the operation of a few simple
laws; and in this respect they have a profound theological significance. Amid
these brilliant generalizations
we cannot stop short until we have reached the
highest and sublimest generalization
and nature has led us by such great altar
steps up to nature’s God. The theory of the leaf
as lying at the basis of the
vegetable kingdom
requires more particular explanation. All plants are
produced from seeds or buds; the one free
the other attached; the one
spreading the plant geographically
the other increasing its individual size.
Carefully examined
the seed
or starting point in the life of a plant
is
composed of a leaf rolled tight
and altered in tissue and contents
so as to
suit its new requirements. The real character of a seed may be seen in the
germination of a bean
when the two leaves of which it is composed appear in
the fleshy lobes or cotyledons which first rise above ground
and afford
nourishment to the embryo. The bud
or epitome of the plant
which is
physiologically co-ordinate with the seed
is also found to consist of leaves
folded in a peculiar manner
and covered with tough leathery scales to protect
them from the winter’s cold; and in spring it evolves the stem
leaves
and
fruit--in short
every structure which comes of the seed. Further
all the appendages
borne on the stem--such as scales
leaves
bracts
flowers
and fruit--are
modifications of this one common type. Flowers
the glory of the vegetable
world
are merely leaves
arranged so as to protect the vital organs within
them
and coloured so as to attract insects to scatter the fertilizing pollen
and to reflect or absorb the light and heat of the sun for ripening the seed.
Stamens and pistils may be converted by the skill of the gardener into petals
and the blossoms so produced are called double
and are
therefore
necessarily
barren. The wild rose
for example
has only a single corolla; but when
cultivated in rich soil
its numerous yellow stamens are changed into the red
leaves of the full-blown cabbage rose. That all the parts of the flower
the
calyx
corolla
stamens
and pistils
are modified leaves
is proved by the
fact that it is by no means uncommon for a plant to produce leaves instead of
them. We come next to the fruit
which
in all its astonishing varieties of
texture
colour
and shape
is also a modified leaf; and it is one of the most
interesting studies in natural history
to trace the correspondence between the
different parts of structures so greatly altered and the original type. In the
peach
for instance
the stone is the upper skin of a leaf hardened so as to
protect the kernel or seed; the pulp is the cellular tissue of a leaf expanded
and endowed with nutritive properties for the sustenance of the embryo plant;
and the beautiful downy skin on the outside is the lower cuticle of the leaf
with a sun bloom upon it
the hollow line on one side of the fruit marking the
union between the two edges of the leaf. So also in the apple; the
parchment-like core is the upper surface of the leaf
and the flesh is the
cellular tissue greatly swollen; in the orange
the juicy lips enclosing the
seeds are the different sections of the leaf developed in an extraordinary
manner; while through the transparent skin of the ripe gooseberry
we see the
ramifications of the leaf veins
conclusively proving its origin. In all the
parts and organs of the plant then
from the seed to the fruit
we have found
that the leaf is the type or pattern after which they have been constructed;
and those modifications of structure
colour
and composition
which they
exhibit
are for special purposes in the economy of the plant in the first
place
and ultimately for necessary services to the animal creation
and even
to man himself
to whom the sweetness of the fruit and the beauty of the flower
must have had reference in the gracious intentions of Him who created them
both. On the leaf itself may be read
as unmistakeably as on a printed page
its morphological significance. As the architect draws on a chart the plan of a
building
so the Divine Artist has engraved on the leaf the plan of the
organism
of which it is the only essential typical appendage. Each leaf in
shape and formation may be regarded as a miniature picture
a model of the
whole plant on which it grows. The outline of a tree in full summer foliage may
be seen represented in the outline of any one of its leaves; the uniform
cellular tissue which composes the flat surface of the leaf being equivalent to
the round irregular mass of the foliage. In fact
the green cells which clothe
the veins of the leaf
and fill up all its interspaces
may be regarded as the
analogues of the green leaves which clothe the branches of the tree: and
although the leaf be in one plane
there are many trees
such as the beach
whose foliage
when looked at from a certain point of view
is also seen to be
in one plane. Tall pyramidal trees have narrow leaves
as we see in the needles
of the pine; while wide-spreading trees
on the other hand
have broad leaves
as may be observed in those of the elm or sycamore. In every case the
correspondence between the shape of the individual leaf and the whole mass of
the foliage is remarkably exact
even in the minutest particulars
and cannot
fail to strike with wonder everyone who notices it for the first time.
Examining the leaf more carefully
we find that the fibrous veins which ramify
over its surface bear a close resemblance to the ramification of the trunk and
branches of the parent tree; they are both given off at the same angles
and
are so precisely alike in their complexity or simplicity
that from a single
leaf we can predicate with the utmost certainty the appearance of the whole
tree from which it fell
just as the skilful anatomist can construct in
imagination
from a single bone or tooth
the whole animal organism of which it
formed a part. In connection with this general typical character of the leaf
may be viewed its particular typical significance
as representing the three
great classes into which the vegetable kingdom has been divided. That it is
possible to determine from the leaf alone
or even from the smallest fragment
of it
what position to assign to any given plant in our systems of
classification
is surely owing to the fact that the plan of the leaf is the
basis upon which all vegetation
as a distinct kind of life
has been
constructed. There is no end to the diversity of shape which leaves display;
almost every species of plant having a different kind of leaf. But it almost
never occurs to us to ask ourselves the object of this variation of shape. We
regard it as a thing of course
or refer it to that boundless variety which
characterises all the works of nature
in accommodation
we proudly but
foolishly suppose
to man’s hatred of uniformity. But observation and
reflection will convince us that there is a special reason for it; that the
shapes of leaves are not capricious or accidental
but formed according
to an
invariable law
the council of His will with “whom there is no variableness or
shadow of turning.” In the first place there is a morphological reason for it.
The shape of leaves depends upon the distribution of the veins
and the
distribution of the veins upon the mode of branching in the plant
and the mode
of branching in the plant to its typical character as an exogens or endogens
and its typical character brings us back again to the leaf. When the leaf is
simple
the branching of the stem and the blossoms is simple; and when the leaf
is compound
all the parts of the plant are also compound. But besides this
morphological reason for the immense variety of leaf shapes
there are also
teleological and geographical reasons. Leaves are adapted not only to the
typical character of the whole plant
but also to the character of the
situation in which it grows. They are
moreover
exactly constructed to shade
and shelter
or freely expose to the light and air
the plants on which they
are found
and to transmit the dews and rains which fall upon them to the young
absorbing roots. He who studies attentively and reverently the numerous
wonderful modifications in shape and structure which the typical leaf
undergoes
to suit the varied circumstances of plants
will be brought by this
study
more closely than by anything out of the Bible
into the personal
presence of Him who said
“My Father worketh hitherto
and I work.” I have
often had a train of reflections of the most profitable kind awakened in my
mind by simply looking at the common water ranunculus
whose white flowers
cover the surface of many of our quiet rivulets in June
and observing that the
leaves floating or the top of the water were round and broad
whereas the lower
ones
immersed in the stream
were divided into a vast number of linear
segments
so as not to impede the current or be torn by its force. Even in
gazing on the common gorse or whin of our hillsides--a plant
apart from the
golden glory with which the summer halos it
not very attractive to the lover
of beauty--I have been often struck with the same adaptation to the tempestuous
currents of the air
in its sharp needle-like leaves and stems--a proof of
God’s care over the homeliest thing
giving more honour to that which lacked
it. But feelings of greater interest still will be excited by the more
wonderful adaptations which we see in the tropical plants growing in our
conservatories. The mimosa
peculiarly exposed to injury
sensitively drooping
its leaves at the slightest touch; the pitcher plant
holding up its leaf
goblets filled with water to refresh it in the thirsty desert; the leaf of the
Venus’ flytrap of North America
closing together on its prey by turning on its
mid-rib as on a hinge; the leaf of the cactus growing on the dry plateaus of
Mexico
fleshy and juicy
and having no evaporating pores in its skin
so that
the moisture imbibed by the root is retained; the gigantic leaf of the royal
water lily of South America
furnished on the underside with outstanding veins
of great depth
acting as so many supporting ribs: these and a thousand other
instances almost equally remarkable
that might be alluded to
attract the most
careless eye
and in their strange variations from the typical form
disclose
abundant proof of beneficent design. The colours as well as the shapes of
leaves are wonderfully diversified
though green is the prevailing hue
and
every varied shade of that colour
from the darkest to the lightest tint
is
exhibited--and very beautifully
for instance
in the verdure of spring; yet
the whole chromatic scale may be seen illustrated in the foliage of plants.
Indeed
where it is possible to see specimens of the whole vegetable kingdom
growing together
an autumnal forest would not exhibit greater varieties of
coloured foliage. In some plants the leaves are as beautiful as the flowers of
other plants: and these are now cultivated and grouped with great effect in our
conservatories. A greenhouse full of beautifully foliaged plants
is as
attractive as one stocked with gay blossoms. It is a remarkable circumstance
that when the leaves are dressed in bright crimson
or golden
or silvery
splendours
the flowers are almost invariably sombre in hue
and insignificant
in form and size. What purposes such beautiful leaves may serve in the economy
of vegetation
we cannot in every case find out satisfactorily. It may be to
absorb or reflect the light and heat of the sun in a peculiar way
or to guard
the vital organs from injury by diverting attention from them. In orchids and
other plants
the blossoms are gorgeously coloured and peculiarly shaped
in
order to attract insects
without whose agency the species could not be fertilized
or propagated. But in plants where the foliage is large and beautiful
and the
flower minute and sombre
it seems as if Nature wished to conceal her vital
processes
lest they should be frustrated or injured by animals. Probably
also
the same law of compensation may be illustrated in the case of coloured
leaves
as in the irregular corolla of flowers
where the odd petal has a
different and much brighter colour
as in the common pansy. Do not these
curious plants
that among their leaves of light have no need of flowers
resemble those lure human plants
that develope all the beauties of mind and
character at an exceptionally early age
and rapidly ripen for the tomb? They
do not live to bring forth the flowers and the fruit of life’s vigorous prime;
and therefore God converts their foliage into flowers
crowns the initial stage
with the glories of the final
and makes their very leaves beautiful. By the
transfiguration of His grace
by the light that never was on sea or land
He
adorns even their tender years with all the loveliness which in other cases
comes only with full maturity. (H. Macmillan
LL. D.)
There was not a man to
till the ground
The earth without a man
I. THE WORLD’S
INDEPENDENCY OF MAN. The terraqueous globe
embosomed in those wonderful
heavens
and filled with every species of vegetable and animal life
existed
before man appeared.
1. The world can do without him. The heavens would be as bright
the
earth as beautiful
the waves of the ocean as sublime
the song of the bird is as
sweet; were man no more.
2. He cannot do without the world. He needs its bright skies
and
flowing rivers
and productive soil
etc. He is the most dependent of all
creatures.
II. THE WORLD’S
INCOMPLETENESS WITHOUT MAN. Without man the world would be a school without a
pupil
a theatre without a spectator
a mansion without a resident
a temple
without a worshipper. Learn from this subject--
1. The lesson of adoring gratitude to the Creator. Adore Him for the
fact
the capabilities
and the sphere of your existence.
2. The lesson of profound humility. The world can do without thee
my brother; has done without thee; and will do without thee.
III. THE WORLD’S
CLAIM UPON MAN. “The earth He hath given to the children of men.” The nature of
this gift proclaims the obligation of the receiver.
1. The world is filled with material treasures; develop and use
them.
2. The world is fertile with moral lessons; interpret and apply
them.
3. The world is filled with the presence of God; walk reverently. (Homilist.)
Observations
I. EVERY HERB AND
PLANT UPON THE EARTH IS GOD’S CREATURE.
II. NOT ONLY THE
MERCIES OF GOD IS GENERAL
BUT EVERY PARTICULAR BLESSING MUST BE TAKEN NOTICE
OF AS COMING FROM GOD.
III. THAT WHICH IS
BROUGHT TO PASS WITHOUT ORDINARY MEANS
MUST NEEDS BE WROUGHT BY THE HAND AND
POWER OF GOD HIMSELF.
IV. THERE CAN BE
NO RAIN ON THE EARTH UNLESS GOD SEND IT.
V. IT IS BY RAIN
FROM HEAVEN THAT ALL THE HERBS AND PLANTS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH DO GROW AND
ARE NOURISHED.
VI. THOUGH GOD BE
PLEASED TO MAKE USE OF MAN’S LABOUR IN PRODUCING AND CHERISHING THE FRUITS OF
THE EARTH
YET HE CAN INCREASE AND PRESERVE THEM WITHOUT IT.
VII. THOUGH THE
FRUITFULNESS OF THE EARTH COME ONLY BY GOD’S BLESSING
YET THE LABOUR OF MAN IS
REQUIRED AS THE ORDINARY MEANS TO FURTHER IT. (J. White.)
Observations
I. GOD WANTS NO
VARIETY OF MEANS TO EFFECT WHATSOEVER HE WILL.
II. GOD CAN
AND
MANY TIMES DOTH
BRING THINGS TO PASS WITHOUT ANY MEANS AT ALL.
III. GOD’S POWER IN
EFFECTING ALL THINGS IS NEVER CLEARLY DISCOVERED UNTIL ALL MEANS BE REMOVED.
IV. EVERY CREATURE
OUGHT IN AN ESPECIAL MANNER TO BE USEFUL UNTO THAT FROM WHENCE IT IS PRODUCED.
(J. White.)
A gardener wanted
Here begins that great system of Divine and human cooperation
which is still in progress. There were trees
plants
herbs
and flowers
but a
gardener was wanted to get out of the earth everything that the earth could
yield. By planting
and transplanting
and replanting
you may turn a coarse
tree into a rare botanical specimen
--you may refine it by development. So man
got something for his own pains
and became a sort of secondary creator! This
was also too much for him. He began to think that he had done nearly everything
himself
quite forgetting who gave him the germs
the tools
the skill
and the
time. It is so easy for you junior partners in old city firms to think that the
“house” would have been nowhere if you had not gone into partnership! But
really and truly
odd as it may seem
there was a “house” before you took it up
and glorified it. What a chance had man in beginning life as a gardener!
Beginning life in the open sunny air
without even a hothouse to try his
temper! Surely he ought to have done something better than he did. The air was
pure
the climate was bright
the soil was kindly: you had but to “tickle it
with a spade and it laughed in flowers.” And a river in the grounds! Woe to
those who have their water far to fetch! But here in the garden is the stream
so broad that at the moment it is liberated from the sacred place it divides
itself into four evangelists
carrying everywhere the odours of Eden and the
offer of kindly help. Surely
then
man was well housed to begin with. He did
not begin life as a beggar. He farmed his own God-given land
without disease
or disability
or taxation to fret him; yet what did he make of the fruitful
inheritance? Did the roots turn to poison in his mouth
and the flowers hang
their heads in shame when his shadow fell on them? We shall see. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Verse 7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground
The humility and dignity of man
“The Lord God formed man
” etc.
I. THEN MAN OUGHT
NOT TO INDULGE A SPIRIT OF PRIDE.
II. THEN MAN OUGHT
NOT TO INDULGE A SPIRIT OF HOSTILITY TO GOD. Shall we contend with our Maker
the finite with the infinite?
III. THEN MAN
SHOULD REMEMBER HIS MORTALITY. “Unto dust shalt thou return.” (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
The dust
1. The emblem of frailty (Psalms 109:14).
2. The emblem of nothingness (Genesis 18:27).
3. The emblem of defilement (Isaiah 52:2).
4. The emblem of humiliation (Lamentations 3:29; Job
42:6).
5. The emblem of mourning (Joshua 7:6).
6. The emblem of mortality (Ecclesiastes 3:20; Ecclesiastes 12:7). (H. Bonar.)
Man’s body formed of dust
Man hath received from God not only an excellent fabric and
composure of body
but
if you consider it
the very matter of which the body
is composed is far more excellent than dust or earth. Take a piece of earth
a
handful of dust
and compare them with the flesh of man; that flesh is earth
indeed
but that flesh is far better than mere earth. This shows the power of
the Creator infinitely exceeding the power of a creature. A goldsmith can make
you a goodly jewel
but you must give him gold and precious stones of which to
make it; he can put the matter into a better form
but he cannot make the
matter better. The engraver can make a curious statue
exactly limbed and
proportioned to the life
out of a rough piece
but the matter must be the same
as put into his hands: if you give him marble
it will be a marble statue; he
cannot mend the matter. Man’s work often exceeds his matter; but man’s work
cannot make the matter exceed itself. If the body
then
be but clay and hath a
foundation of dust
do not bestow too much cost upon the clay and the dust. In
an over-cared body there ever dwells a neglected soul. We usually laugh at
children
when they are making houses of clay. They whose care is overactive
for the body are but children of a greater stature
and show they have as much
more folly in their hearts than they. There is no child like to the old child.
(J. Caryl.)
Organization of the body
God made the human body
and it is by far the most exquisite and
wonderful organization which has come to us from the Divine hand. It is a study
for one’s whole life. If an undevout astronomer is mad
an undevout
physiologist is still madder. The stomach that prepares the body’s support; the
vessels that distribute the supply; the arteries that take up the food and send
it round; the lungs that aerate the all-nourishing blood; that muscle engine
which
without fireman or engineer
stands night and day pumping and driving a
wholesome stream with vital irrigation through all the system
that unites and
harmonises the whole band of organs; the brain
that dwells in the dome high
above
like a true royalty; these
with their various and wonderful functions
are not to be lightly spoken of
or irreverently held. (H. W. Beecher.)
Observations
I. THE SUBSTANCE
OF MAN’S BODY IS EXCEEDING BASE AND VILE.
II. HOW BASE
SOEVER THE MATTER OF MAN’S BODY IS
YET GOD HATH FRAMED IT INTO A CURIOUS AND
EXCELLENT PIECE OF WORK.
III. THE SOUL OF
MAN BY WHICH HE LIVES
COMES IMMEDIATELY FROM GOD HIMSELF.
1. Let our souls seek unto Him
who gave them
and serve Him
as we
are directed (1 Corinthians 6:20).
2. Lay hold on this as a ground of special comfort; that which God
hath given more immediately
He will certainly most carefully preserve and
provide for
as it appears He hath done
by redeeming the soul from hell
and
purging it from sin by the blood of His own Son
and adorning it with the
graces of His Spirit
and reserving it hereafter to enjoy His presence
and
there to be satisfied with His image.
IV. THE LIFE OF
MAN CONSISTING IN THE UNION OF THE SOUL WITH THE BODY
HATH BUT A VERY WEAK
FOUNDATION.
V. THE LIFE OF
MAN IS ONLY BY HIS SOUL.
VI. THERE IS NONE
WORTHY OF THE NAME OF A LIVING SOUL
BUT HE ONLY THAT LIVES BY A REASONABLE
SOUL. (J. White.)
Humbling origin of body
This is most humbling. It was not formed of heavenly matter
as
the radiant sun
or the sparkling stars
nor the most precious jewels. Gold and
silver were not melted down
nor were sparkling diamonds made use of
but God
formed it of the vile dust which is trodden under foot. (J. Flavel.)
Constituents of the human body
Out of the ordinary elements of the material world is that body
made
and into those elements it is resolved again. With all its beauties of
form and expression
with all its marvels of structure and of function
there
is nothing whatever in it except some few of the elementary substances which
are common in the atmosphere and the soil. The three commonest gases
oxygen
hydrogen
and nitrogen
with carbon
and with sulphur
are the foundation
stones. In slightly different proportions
these elements constitute the
primordial combination of matter which is the abode of life. In the finished
structure there appear
besides
lime
potash
and a little iron
sodium
and
phosphorus. These are the constituents of the human body--of these in different
combinations--and
so far as we know
nothing else. (Duke of Argyll’s
“Unity of Nature. ”)
It is because of the composition of our body that the animals and
plants around us are capable of ministering to our support
that the common air
is to us the very breath of life
and that herbs and minerals in abundance have
either poisoning properties or healing virtue. (Duke of Argyll’s “Unity
of Nature.”)
The breath of life
Respiration
Breathing
according to the physiologists
is a genuine burning
and consumes organic substance in us
as fire does in our stoves. It takes the
same oxygen from the air
combines it with the same elements
with the same
evolution of heat
and gives off the same products in our breath as in smoke.
Respiration is a real fire. Still
may we not find under this destructive
process some beneficent spiritual law? We ought to
for it is also a most vital
process. “Breath of life
” the Bible calls it
in a phrase I take for text; and
life seems more closely connected with breath than with anything else
beginning on earth with it
ever depending on it
ever advancing with its
increase. So the lesson of respiration seems to be that destruction does not
destroy
that consuming does not kill
that even burning brings life. This is
the lesson I wish to illustrate. But respiration is not limited to animals. It
begins in a much lower and rises into a much higher field.
I. We notice it
in the VEGETABLE world. For even plants
besides that taking of food for
growth
take true breath to burn out their growth. We are wont to speak of
Moses’ burning bush as a miracle unique in nature. But botanists say that every
bush on earth is burning. Through its every living cell that fiery oxygen works
all summer. In autumn
too
the colours come from oxidation of the chlorophyll
so that Whittier put good science in his poem when he called “yon maple wood
the burning bush.” And in certain processes the breath and fire become active
enough to show their heat. Such is the ease in sprouting seeds. Such is the
ease in flowers. In the sight of chemistry
flowers are all fires; and one
great genus is well named phlox--flame. There was fact enough in Hafiz’s fancy
that roses were the flames of a burning bush; and botany adds that every
blooming plant is another
whether blazing in the cardinal flower or only
smoking in the gray grass blossoms. And
just as in that bush of old story
this
burning does not harm. Rather
it is so helpful that the plant dies without it
as surely as a man without air
and quickly
too. And not only does it not
consume the life
but with still greater miracle creates new. Out of that
burning seed it brings a new plant. It brings new energies
too. In each cell
the fire creates force
just as in the boiler of a boat; and
as a result
the
celiac of some algae lash the water like oars
the diatom moves across the
field of the microscope like a propeller across the lake
and the beautiful
volvox goes rolling through the water like the wheel of a steamer. And out of
that warmer fire in the flower how many new creations come! One is beauty. The
leaves are refined to softer petals and grow radiant with gold and purple
and
proclaim to us that spiritual law that the highest beauty is reached only
through the burning out of our substance. The same process brings sweetness
too--oxidizes starch to sugar
and loads the flower with honey and perfume. It
even brings something like love; and the corolla becomes a real marriage bower
and stamen and pistil join in the genuine wedding
and give themselves for each
other and their offspring. And so the flower is consumed only to rise again
from its ashes
and extend its life to distant lands and ages.
II. But we see
this law clearer in its revelation in the ANIMAL world. Here breath is more
active
and grows evermore so through the rising animal scale. And this deeper
breathing always means faster burning. Analysis shows
for instance
that the
breath of an average healthy man consumes carbon at the rate of one hundred and
seventy pounds a year--literally burns up within him every month the substance
of over a bushel of charcoal. With this increasing fire comes increasing warmth.
And here
too
the fire does not consume. It does
indeed
waste our substance
so that the animal
unlike the tree
soon gets his growth. Some poor-lunged
creatures are said to lengthen as long as they live
like an elm; but better
breathers burn up their accumulations
and men and birds keep but little body.
Nor do they keep even that; but it is continually consumed--several times
during our lives
the doctor says: muscles
nerves
lungs
heart
brain
bones
and all. But this consumption is always restored
and does not harm us in the
least. Rather
it is just the thing that keeps us alive. If we were not thus
perpetually destroyed we should get sick
and die; and the only way we can keep
alive and well is by being annihilated every few years. And the curious thing
to notice is that this destructive process is just the one which cannot be
suspended at all. Other functions may be stopped for a season
even the
nutritive ones. The really important thing is burning up. When the fire goes
out
we die; but so long as it is consuming us we thrive. Such is the paradox
and first principle of this mysterious thing called life. Burning saves and
increases it. Increases all its energies
too. The faster this breath burns
the greater the activity. Such a breath of life is this fire in the animal
world.
III. But this
breath rises to a third stage in HUMAN ARTS. For man breathes more largely than
with lungs; and
learning how to burn that carbon anywhere
he adds to nature’s
slow fire within him a much faster one without. So he heats his hut and home;
and
instead of having to migrate like an animal
he brings Florida to his own
fireside
and makes the tropics anywhere to order. And
learning how to make
this artificial breathing faster and fire fiercer
he gains new forces that far
outdo those of animals. Instead of crawling through the country
like that
quadruped
he makes this fire carry him and all his family and furniture
further and faster. Instead of flying fifty miles for his breakfast
like a
bird
he sits still like a lord and orders it
beefsteak from Texas
rolls from
Dakota
an orange from Italy
and coffee from Asia. And
by this breath under a
boiler
he gets them brought so easily that Mr. Atkinson says a good mechanic
in Massachusetts can get his whole year’s meat and flour fetched from beyond
the Mississippi for one day’s work; and Sir Lyon Playfair said this summer that
a ton of freight can be carried on land a mile by two ounces of carbon
and on
water two miles by a little cube of coal that would pass through a ring the
size of a shilling. Nor does man stop with moving nature’s products
but works
better by this same principle. In his manufactures and his varied arts
he
learns to consume not merely a little in the form of food
like an animal
but
enormously in other forms--not only acorns
but oaks; not only fruits
but
whole forests; not only a few acres
but long ages of them condensed in coal;
and not only coal and other organic products
but ores and rocks and the
original elements themselves. Human art becomes a boundless burning
destroying
about everything on earth. Yet this burning
too
only helps. It turns the
forests into force
and the whole carboniferous era into energy--turns ores and
everything into something better. It consumes only to create. Indeed
strictly
speaking
it does not consume at all. Not an atom of carbon or anything else
has ever been destroyed. Burning only sets it free from old forms to enter into
life again: and nature is always waiting to start it into life
and is all the
summer turning our smoke and ashes back into new trees and corn.
IV. But above
these material fields we trace the same principle through a fourth phase
in
SPIRITUAL LIFE. Thought is a breathing
ever inhaling fresh truth
which
consumes old ideas in society
just as oxygen does old cells in the body.
Indeed
those arts we have just noticed have all come from this mental
breathing. How many established opinions had to be consumed to bring that ease
of travel! Once
even science argued that no steamer could ever cross the
Atlantic; and there was a time when everybody knew that steam could not carry
anything on land
either. The first modern who suggested such a thing is said
to have been shut up in the Bicetre for it as a lunatic. Afterward
the Englishman
who first advocated passenger railways was called by the Quarterly Review
“beneath
our contempt
” while the wise old Edinburgh Review said
“Put him in a
straitjacket.” So many and so firmly established ideas have been consumed this
century in this mere matter of travel. And this is only an illustration of the
consumption of old theories that has been going on through the arts and
sciences and philosophies and all fields. Yet here
too
it has consumed only
to create
and been in still higher degree the “breath of life.” It has aided
all those arts and sciences. It has advanced society
too--just as breathing
has advanced the animal kingdom--and has brought to mankind a progress about as
great as from mollusks to mammals. It has burned out social wrongs only to
bring rights. What an advance history shows
from savages eating each other to
modern society feeding its hungry and founding hospitals and charities of a
hundred kinds! What an advance in morality
even since the praised days of our
pious ancestors last century
when Parton says the best Christian in New
England saw nothing wrong in buying negroes for rum and selling them for West
India molasses to make rum to buy more! What a moral progress from even the
boasted Bible days--when David could slay a man to steal his wife
and still be
revered asmost sacred Psalmist; and Solomon
with a whole regiment of wives
could be sainted for wisdom and thought worthy to make the longest prayer in
the Bible--today
when such saints would be thought hardly so fit for writing
sacred poetry as for working in the penitentiary! For religion
too
has felt
the effects of this spiritual breathing
and been advancing by it. Here
too
ancient ideas have been burning out to bring better; and Samuel’s Jehovah
ordering innocent men to be slain like mice
gave way to Isaiah’s God of
justice and Jesus’ of love. Here
too
the burning has been a very “breath of
life”; and religion ought to have learned ere this to breathe fearlessly
and
let its old forms be consumed as fast as they will. All that is really alive
and worth living
in our beliefs and bodies alike
will not be harmed. Only the
effete and hurtful will be burned out
and will bring new warmth and life in
the process
and be replaced by better. Let religion
then
breathe away
and
continue to enlarge its lungs and elevate its life. But breath brings its best
lessons to private life. It rebukes our greed
and bids us burn out our gains
generously. Gain is good
but must be followed by giving
as eating by breathing
if we would rise above vegetables. Indeed
our gains have to be given away
to
get the good of them. Miserliness is very near to misery
as even etymology
teaches. The wise preacher advocated foreign missionary contributions
since
he said
if they were of no help to the heathen
they greatly helped the
Christian contributors at home; and giving does enrich the giver
whether it
does anyone else or not. Beneficence is the bank that pays the best interest on
deposits
and pays back in better coin than was put in; and our proverbs have
well declared that the best way to keep what we get is by giving it away to
some good cause. But this truth of external possessions is still truer of
ourselves. They
too
must be given away in order to be kept
or even to be found
at first. “The life of life is when for another we’re living
” says a poet; and
another tells of one to whom love was the first waking
--“The past was a sleep
and her life began.” Love
whether of a person or a cause
is indeed the
highest form of the breath of life. It consumes as nothing else can
wastes
with self-sacrifice and sorrows
yet only to lift to larger life
to bless with
new powers and higher happiness. Selfishness is as fatal to the soul as holding
the breath to the body; and burning ourselves out in sacrifice for something is
the only way to keep the heart warm and the soul alive. (H. M. Simmons.)
The human spirit
Upon the bodily side man stands among the animals as the noblest
of them; but he has another side by which he holds communion with God and
invisible things. He has a spirit as well as a body--a spirit not like that
“spirit of the beast which goeth downward to the earth
” having but an
attraction to the things of sense
and that an unreflecting attraction; the
spirit of the sons of man is one “which is ascending” (Ecclesiastes 3:21). The spirit is in us
the element of self-consciousness and freedom. By it we see our true relation
to the things of sense
and are able to claim affinities above them. It is a
gift from God Ecclesiastes 12:7)
and unless it be
unfairly tampered with
it must by its very constitution “ascend
” and aspire
after God and what is Godlike. In it is the seat of the higher
the only true
free will
as opposed to the random animal impulses of the flesh. There lies
the power of conscience
by which we are able to judge our own actions
comparing them with what we see to be the right standard
and condemning
ourselves when we have allowed the true will to be mastered by the inferior
appetite. Such a spirit is not
and cannot be (so far as we can understand)
a
product of natural evolution
but comes direct from the hand of God. Man is
thus a dual being
living at one in two worlds
not two separate lives
but one
life in the two. The spirit lives in the body
and acts through it and makes it
its vehicle. The meeting point of spirit and body appears to lie in the soul. (Canon
Mason.)
Life--its nature
discipline
and results
There are two ways in which we are accustomed to estimate the
relative importance of events--one by considering what they are in themselves;
and the other by considering what they are in their consequences. Viewed in
either of these aspects
the event referred to in the text is by far the most
important that ever occurred in our world. The creation of the heavens and the
earth
with all their various appendages
is not to be compared with it. In the
one case only matter was created and arranged under fixed laws; in the other
mind was created
intelligent
immortal mind
made in the image of God
in
dignity a little lower than the angels
commencing its fight for eternity. And
then the consequences of that event
how surpassing all finite comprehension!
From that moment commenced the history of the human race; from that moment
began to flow the great stream of human life
which
now for six thousand
years
has been deepening and surging onward
pouring itself into the ocean of
eternity. That living soul
into which God first breathed the breath of life
is still alive; and so are all the countless myriads of souls which in
successive generations He has brought into being; all are still alive and will
live forever. What
then
is life
that mysterious principle which was
enkindled within us by the Creator when we began to be
and which makes us
living souls? This question
viewed in its physiological aspect
I shall not
attempt to answer
as I find the ablest writers on the subject are entirely
undecided in respect to it
or rather they are decided that we cannot know what
life is in itself
or in its essence. We know some of the conditions on which
it depends; some of the laws which govern it
and the phenomena which it
exhibits; but what the vital principle
what life is
we seem not to have the
means of knowing. There are various kinds of life which belong to different
orders of being
and which are characterized by distinct qualities. There is
vegetable life
and a portion of this belongs to the human being in common with
plants and trees. There is animal life
and this we have in common with birds
and beasts that live and move around us. And there is intellectual or spiritual
life
and this we are wont to regard as belonging exclusively to the soul
and
which makes us
in the sense of our text
living immortal souls. It is of life
in this last sense that I am now to speak; not of life as simple animal
existence
nor of life as a mere period of continuance on earth; but of life in
the soul
viewed as the source of consciousness
thought
desires
purposes
and acts
all tending to develope and form character
and fit the subject for
blessedness or woe in the future world. In this view we can know what life is
what are the means of its development
and how it may be so nurtured and
trained on earth that it shall conduct us to everlasting life in heaven. I
remark
then--
I. Life is
INTERMINABLE it has no end. The principle on which it depends
whatever it be
is beyond the reach of man or angel
or any other being
but God who made us
living souls. The life of the body can be destroyed
for it depends on a
material organization; and this may be so deranged and disturbed in its
functions
that the life which depends upon it shall cease to be. But the life
of the soul is independent of matter. It is not the result of any material
mechanism
or of any nice adjustment of particles of matter
as of nerves and
other finer portions of the body. It has its seat in the inner spirit; in that
thinking
intelligent
conscious principle
which we call the soul
and which
the Bible assures us
as does sound philosophy
survives the dissolution of the
body and is to live forever. The vital spark is kindled; it must burn on forever.
Have you ever asked what and where you shall be ten thousand years hence?
II. Life is
DISCIPLINARY. By which I mean that in the present world we are subjected to
various influences
adapted and designed to exercise the vital principle within
us; to elicit and draw forth its powers
and thus form and fix its character
for a future state of being. All the ills we endure and the blessings we enjoy;
the sicknesses
disappointments
sorrows
that come upon us
together with the
various blessings and privileges of our condition--all are to be regarded as
disciplinary. They are the means appointed byProvidence to wake up and call
into action the living principle within us; to make us
as it were
conscious
of life and ever solicitous to be found in an attitude to be rightly affected
by all the various influences that act upon us. Now
this view of life as
disciplinary
is of the greatest practical importance. It changes the whole
aspect and bearing of things around us. It sheds light upon a thousand facts
and occurrences which would otherwise be entirely mysterious. It gives a new
and significant view of the dealings of Providence with us in this world
and
attaches a meaning and an importance to the events of every day
which they
would not otherwise possess.
III. Life is
PROBATIONARY. By this is meant
we are now living and acting with reference to
a future state of retribution. We are not only subjected to discipline and
training in this world
but results are to follow in the world to come. The
life that now is
is preparatory to a life in the state beyond the grave; and
the life we are to live hereafter is to receive its character and destiny from
the life we are now living on the earth. Every word and every act is a seed for
eternity
and daily
as our time on earth is hastening to its close
we are
laying up treasures of immortal joy in heaven
or preparing for ourselves a cup
of woe in the world of despair. I may add
in this connection
that life passed
by us in this state of discipline and probation
acquires of necessity a fixed
and permanent character. Neutrality is here impossible. As no one can destroy
the vital principle which the Creator has implanted in his bosom
so no one can
stop its feeling
thinking
acting.
IV. It might
perhaps seem commonplace and trite to say THAT LIFE
VIEWED AS A PERIOD OF
CONTINUANCE ON EARTH
IS ENCOMPASSED WITH INNUMERABLE ILLS
AND IS EXCEEDINGLY
UNSATISFYING
AS WELL AS VERY SHORT AND UNCERTAIN. Yet these are facts which
lose none of their importance by their triteness
and they demand to be
seriously considered by us
if we would form a just estimate of life
and train
it
in a right manner
for a future state of being. Why is it
that life
in
the present state
is so unsatisfying
so subject to changes
disappointments
and trials: One great reason is to make us realize that this is not our home
not the place of our rest
but of our discipline and training
the place of our
tarrying for a night as strangers
and then pass on to our future abode.
1. How infinitely we are indebted to our Lord Jesus Christ for
marking out to us the way
and furnishing us with the means whereby our life
may be rendered immortally blessed.
2. Our subject teaches us how we may make a long life even of a
short one. Life
in its proper sense
is not mere existence. A stone has
existence. It is not mere animation; for a tree has animation
and so has an
oyster and an ox. But neither has life understanding by life
the vital
principle of a living intelligent soul. Nor has such a soul life
any further
than its living energies are brought out in action
and its existence is filled
up with thought
and feeling
and with deeds and fruits of useful living. Life
says Fuller
is to be measured by action
not by time; a man may die old at
thirty
and young at eighty; the one lives after death
the other perished
before he died.
3. Our subject is fitted to show us how serious and how important to
us are the daily events of life--the influences which act upon us in the
various circles in which we are called to move. These are the instrumental
means employed by Providence for our discipline and training; the development
of our life
the formation of our character
the fixing of our state in
eternity.
4. Life in respect to each of us is every day becoming more and more
serious and impressive in its responsibilities and prospects. It is so
because
its powers are being more fully developed
and its character more and more
permanently fixed. It is so
because the period of discipline and probation is
fast drawing to a close
and results are thrown forward to greet us on our
entering into eternity with welcomes of joy or signals of woe. It is so
in
fine
because every day we live bears us nearer and still nearer to that awful
point in our history
a point unknown to us
when the great work of preparation
for eternity will be ended
and we shall each one take our place among the
redeemed in glory
heirs of immortal life
or with the lost in despair
children of wrath. With what serious concern
then
does it become every one of
us to review our past course in life and inquire
whither it has been
conducting us; for what state we have been preparing
during the time we have
spent on earth. (J. Haines
D. D.)
The wondrous constitution of man
I. THAT THE
CREATION OF MAN PRESENTS US WITH THE MOST COMPLEX AND MYSTERIOUS NATURE IN THE
UNIVERSE OF GOD. Man is a link between the material and the spiritual--the
visible and the invisible--the temporal and the eternal. His is a compound
nature. And to obtain a sufficiently enlarged view of that nature
we must
reduce it to its primary elements. The creation of matter we resolve into the
will and power of God. That which was created could not be eternal. It is a
result--an effect. On the mode of this creation we touch not. How “things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear”--in other words
how
something was produced out of nothing
we can never hope to comprehend. But
matter once brought into existence
almost equally marvellous is its
organization into distinct living forms. Man was formed of the dust of the
ground. Through what process of refinement the different particles which
compose the human body passed previous to their combination and union we know
not. But this process perfected
each atom was so arranged and disposed
and
placed under such laws of affinity and mutual action
as to bring out that
great unity
to which we give the name of--body. Every part was contrived with
the most exquisite skill
and wrought into the most curious texture. Nothing can
be conceived which would surpass the workmanship and elegance of this fabric.
It sets forth preeminently the Divine art--the art of God in fitting up a
structure including within itself so many miracles. Of the nature of the soul
we are wholly ignorant. What was the emanation which came forth from the
creating Spirit
and which raised man from a mere material and sensitive
existence into a spiritual
intelligent
and immortal being
it is vain to
conjecture. We can speak only of the properties of mind. It is not material;
but something added to matter
and so essentially spiritual as to be distinct
from matter and separable. It is also essentially vital. The body lives
and so
long as the soul inhabits it
it will continue to live. But it does not so live
that it must always live
which is the case with mind; and of which we cannot
conceive but as of a vital
living thing. It has begun to exist
and it cannot
cease to exist. Yet it is not enough that man should become a living soul
and
that his life should run out into immortality. To subserve the great end of his
creation he must have intelligence. With the breath of life came the power of
thought. Nor is this all. A being endowed with mind
and to whose thoughts
there is no limit--who by a single effort can grasp the past
the present
and
the future--the whole universe--and if there be any limit to the universe
more
than the universe itself--could not be left without the freedom of choice. To
thought we must add volition. This freedom of will rendered him capable at once
of duty and of happiness. Without liberty to choose his course of action
he
would have been laid under no obligation; while the filling up of imposed
obligation was followed by corresponding joy and felicity. The power to choose
involved the power to act. Having made his election
nothing interfered to
prevent him carrying his purposes into execution. He who gave him a
self-determining power
gave him at the same time dominion over every inward
operation and every outward action. This vital
thinking
self-active
and
self-controlling spirit
admits of no decay. Whatever may be the changes
incident to matter
mind remains the same. The only method by which this vital
spirit could be reduced would be by an act of annihilation. Annihilation! It
enters not into the government of God. We believe in the immortality of the
soul. This is but the dawn of its existence. It will survive death
and hold on
its course when that of nature is ended. There is another and perhaps the most
striking peculiarity to notice in the creation of man. We refer to the
mysterious union of this living soul with the corporeal frame
so close and
intimate
that these two thus united are absolutely necessary to make up the
one compound being--Man. Neither would of itself be sufficient. The body might
be perfect in every part and property
but without the vital spirit it would be
an inert mass
or at the best a mere animal nature. The soul might be endowed
with every possible attribute and excellence
but denied “an earthly house” in
which to reside
it would rise to the rank and order of angelic existence. And
yet close as is the union between these two there is no confounding of their
nature. The body does not so absorb the spirit as by incorporation to make it
part of itself. Nor is the soul so linked to the body that it cannot exist and
act separately from it. Mysterious is the bond of union; but the two natures
are perfectly distinct.
II. THAT THE
NATURE WITH WHICH MAN WAS CREATED IS SUSCEPTIBLE OF THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE RELATIONS
ACTIVITY
AND ENJOYMENT. This nature touches on the extremes of the
universe--matter and mind. We cannot go lower; and higher we cannot ascend. On
the one hand
we are allied to the dust of the ground; on the other
we are
united to the one uncreated and eternal Spirit When God breathed into man the
breath of life
and man became a living soul
He designed that this soul should
be held in contact with universal spirit. Its properties and powers eminently
qualify it for such association and union. And with spiritual existences it is
forever to live and act. Let us rise into those regions of light where are
countless thousands of the redeemed. In what close affinity are they with the
firstborn sons of God. They occupy no lower ground. They exhibit no inferior
nature. Angels in all their ascending orders acknowledge them as their
compeers--their equals. To them even the seraphim give place before the
throne.God takes them nearer to Himself. In His presence they dwell. Of His
glory they partake. With Him they commune. This perfects our idea of the soul’s
relation; and proclaims the original design of the Eternal in the creation of
man. In making him a living soul
He raised him to the highest possible
relation in the universe. In taking him into closer union with Himself
He gave
him the preeminence over every other species of created existence. This
relation involves corresponding service. Where there is life there is motion.
If the soul be essentially vital
it must be essentially active
and this activity
will be in the degree of the life. In assigning to man this high relation
and
endowing him with this unending activity
it is without controversy that the
Creator had in view the most benevolent design. Endowed with the faculty of
thought
here was a field over which he might travel with ever-rising interest
and enlarged discovery. But man was alone. There was no one to share his
thoughts or partake his joys. The mighty God at once let Himself down to the
necessities of His creature. In the cool of each day He appeared in the garden
and communed with our first father. The thoughts and lessons which man had
gathered from contemplation
he was taught and encouraged to express to his
Creator
while his heart throbbed high with gratitude and love. Pure in the
last recesses of his mind
and filled with the sublimest conceptions of his
Maker and his God
his was no vulgar enjoyment. In the nearest attitude to the
great Spirit of life
he was invited to the most intimate and familiar
communion. It was no deputed representative of the Godhead with whom he enjoyed
fellowship. He walked with God. His desires ran out infinitely beyond all that
is created and finite. Unlimited in extent
and existing with the existence of
mind itself
they must terminate on infinite fulness.
III. THAT THE LAW
UNDER WHICH MAN WAS ORIGINALLY PLACED WAS ONE OF INFINITE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND
GOODNESS. A state of trial is one of the conditions of all created existence.
Give to the creature whatever freedom we may--let him be ever so conscious of
his own subjective independence as a free agent--it was not possible that he
should be ignorant of the fact that there is one Supreme Will
to which every
other will must be subordinate. The moment that he lost sight of this
primordial truth
he was in danger of entrenching on the Divine prerogative
and of losing both his life and his happiness. While due regard was had to the
freedom of his will
yet everything within him and around him was calling up
the fact of his dependence. This dependence was the condition of his being; but
the law to which he was called to conform involved nothing above his capacity
or power of fulfilling. It made probation easy. He might have stood
and thus
maintained his original rectitude. Continual integrity was not more impossible
than moral failure. As the subject of inward righteousness
he was simply
called to conform to the law of his being. (R. Ferguson
LL. D.)
Man became a living soul
Man’s higher nature
I. THEN MAN IS
SOMETHING MORE THAN PHYSICAL ORGANIZATION. Man is not merely dust
nor merely
body; he is also a living soul. His bodily organization is not the seat of
thought
emotion
volition
and immortality; these are evoked by the
inspiration of the Almighty. From this text we learn that the soul of man was not
generated with
but that it was subsequently inbreathed by God into his body.
We cannot admit the teaching of some
that the soul of man is a part of God;
this is little better than blasphemy. It is only a Divine gift. The gift is
priceless. It is responsible.
II. THEN MAN
SHOULD CULTIVATE A MORAL CHARACTER
PURSUE EMPLOYMENTS
AND ANTICIPATE A
DESTINY COMMENSURATE WITH THIS DIVINE INSPIRATION. Men gifted with immortal
souls should endeavour to bring them into harmony with their Author and Giver
to make them pure as He is pure
and benevolent as He is benevolent; they
should never be degraded by sin. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Life in man
Rowland Hill once conversed with a celebrated sculptor
who had
been hewing out a block of marble to represent that great patriot
Lord
Chatham. “There
” said the sculptor
“is not that a fine form?” “Now
sir
”
said Mr. Hill
“can you put life into it? else
with all its beauty
it is
still but a block of marble.” God put life into His creation
and man became a
living soul. Christ puts new life into dead men. (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.)
The soul and its capacities
I. First
among
the properties of the soul
consider ITS CAPACITY OF ENJOYMENT AND ITS CAPACITY
OF SUFFERING. I could appeal on this point to the experience of everyone who
has lived but a few years in this fallen world: few have done so who cannot
bear inward witness of what the soul is capable of suffering. How acute is the
sense of disappointed hope; how sad the anticipation of expected evil: how
bitter the feeling of desire
long indulged
and still deferred
making the
heart sick: how intense are the pangs of sorrow; how intolerable the agony of
remorse! I will only remind you that God
who in His justice remembers mercy
seldom dispenses in this world unmixed suffering. To the wicked
even
there is
commonly some hope of relief
which mitigates the sense of suffering; to the
righteous there is always an alleviation. Think
then
what must be the weight
of unmitigated suffering
aggravated by the assurance that it must endure
forever. In proportion to the capacity of suffering in the soul is also its
capacity of enjoyment. We have some knowledge of this likewise. We can conceive
the joy by which the heart of Jacob was elated when his sons “told him all the
words of Joseph
which he had said unto them: and when he saw the waggons.” We
can conceive the feelings of David when he found himself seated upon the throne
of Israel
and the promise made unto his children after him
and the natural
satisfaction arising from greatness and prosperity was enhanced by the
spiritual gratification of the consciousness of Divine favour. How intense
again must have been the delight of the aged Simeon when the sight which he had
been so long expecting was granted to him
and it was revealed to him that the
child which his parents were now presenting in the temple was indeed the
promised Saviour. But as in this preparatory world
sorrow comes attended with
mitigation
so there is always some drawback to our joy. Even it the joy itself
were perfect
there is fear it would be short-lived; and He that gave may see
fit to take away. There will be no such diminution of the eternal enjoyment
prepared for the righteous in His heavenly kingdom: nothing to disturb the
happiness of those who have washed their robes
and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb.
II. Consider
another capacity of the soul--ITS CAPACITY OF GOODNESS AND OF WICKEDNESS. I
speak
you will observe
not of any goodness which it naturally has
but of
that of which it is capable. The natural imagination of man’s heart is evil
and that continually
since he fell from the innocency in which he was created.
The soul
however
which was created in the image of God
and which has lost
that likeness
is capable of having that image restored. It is capable of much
which our reason tells us is good in itself
and which Scripture tells us is
pleasing in the sight of God. How beautiful is the conduct of Abraham
as
recorded in Genesis 13:1-18
when the land in which
they were dwelling grew too strait for himself and his nephew Lot
and it
became needful that they should separate. How admirable is the affection of
Moses towards the Israelites
and the disinterestedness with which he entreats
God to spare them. Look at the piety of Daniel
who
though he knew the writing
was issued which should condemn him before an earthly tribunal
yet
“his
window being opened in his chamber before Jerusalem
he kneeled upon his knees three
times a day
and he prayed
and gave thanks before his God
as he did
aforetime.” Once more
admire the spirit of the martyr Stephen
who returned
blessing for cursing
and kneeled down and cried with a loud voice
“Lord
lay
not this sin to their charge.” The soul
then
is capable of goodness; the
fruits of the Spirit may grow upon it
which are love
joy
peace
long
suffering
gentleness
goodness. There is less need of proving that it is
capable of wickedness; for “from within
out of the heart
proceed evil
thoughts
adultery
murder
fornication
theft
false witness
blasphemy; and
these defile the soul”; they have defiled it ever since the time that Adam
transgressed the command of God
and brought sin into the world. What envy
hatred
and malice were in the heart of Cain
when he rose up against his
brother Abel and slew him; or of Esau
who “hated Jacob
because of the
blessing wherewith his father had blessed him”: “And Esau said in his heart
The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother
Jacob.” Look at the history of Pharaoh
one while entreating and repenting
and
promising obedience
and then repenting of his repentance
and defying the
power of God. Or take the case of Judas
daily hearing the word of righteousness--words
such as never man spake
doctrines at which the people were astonished--yet not
subdued
not converted
cherishing a secret sin
indulging covetousness
and
appropriating to his own use what was designed for the poor.
III. Let me now
proceed to remind you
in the third place
THAT BETWEEN THIS WICKEDNESS AND
MISERY
AS ALSO BETWEEN GOODNESS AND HAPPINESS
GOD HAS APPOINTED AN
INSEPARABLE CONNECTION. “The righteous shall go into life eternal; into that
world where is fulness of joy
and pleasures for evermore”; and where “there
shall be no more death
neither sorrow nor crying
neither shall there be any
more pain; for the former things are passed away; but the unbelieving
and the
abominable
and murderers
and whoremongers
and sorcerers
and idolaters
and
all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone
which is the second death.” We do not stop to enter into the
question of what is meant by this “second death”: whether it speaks of actual
material fire
or whether the fire be figurative
it expresses the greatest
imaginable misery. But this we know
that the unrestrained wickedness of the
unrenewed heart leads on to misery in the Way of natural consequence: it needs
not the idea of material fire to form an addition to bodily anguish. The souls
of the wicked
as well as of the good
are immortal; separated
indeed
into
their respective folds
as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats
but
still continuing immortal. (Bishop Sumner.)
The soul of man
I. THE WORTH AND
EXCELLENCE OF THE SOUL. Taught by--
1. Our own experience. It combines
compares
and reasons on all
subjects (Psalms 104:1-35 and Job 38:1-41).
2. By observation.
3. By Scripture.
II. THE WISDOM OF
CARING FOR ITS SALVATION. (Alexander Shanks.)
Man's Soul
1. Its nature and property.
“Nephesh
” to breathe or respire. Not that the breath is the soul
but it
denotes the manner of its infusion
and the means of its continuation. It is
spiritual in essence. The Chaldee renders it a sparkling soul
Speech only
belongs to man.
2. Its descent and original. It is not a result from matter
but
from the inspiration of God (John 3:6). Man’s spirit comes from the
Father of spirits.
3. Its manner of infusion into the body. By the same breath which
gave it. Augustine says
“It is created in the infusion
and it is infused in
the creation.”
4. The bond that unites the soul with the body. The breath of his
nostrils. It is a mystery to see heaven and earth united in one person; dust
and immortal spirit clasping each other with tender love. What a noble guest to
take up residence within mean walls of flesh and blood! That union comes in
with the breath of the nostrils
and so soon as that breath departs
it departs
also. All the rich elixirs and condiments in the world will not avail to make
it stay one minute longer after the breath departs. One puff of breath will
carry away the wisest
holiest
and best soul that ever inhabited a human body
(Psalms 104:19; Job 17:1). (John Flavel.)
On the origin
nature
and dignity of man
It is said that above the door of the celebrated temple of Apollo
at Delphi there was a Greek inscription
the whole of which consisted in a
simple monosyllable of two letters signifying THOU ART
which is not only a
proper
but a peculiar title of God
because He alone is being
the
ever-existing One
and is derived from the Hebrew name Jehovah; but it had
nothing to do with the heathen god
for I am persuaded that the evil one was
there worshipped under the name of Apollo. His ambition was to be like the Most
High
and therefore he assumed God’s name; but he was a murderer from the
beginning
and also a thief and a robber. It is also said
that on the same
temple this often repeated admonition was written
“Know thyself
” which
being
connected with the preceding
reminded man of his frail and mortal nature. But
without Divine revelation man could never have been in possession of these
Divine truths. Hence we learn the wonderful condescension of God. After the
Lord for His own pleasure called man into existence
He revealed Himself to
him.
I. Concerning THE
ORIGIN OF MAN
various and absurd opinions have been put forth by men
who
presume to be wiser than the inspired writers. Some have asserted
but devoid
of all reason
that men have existed from eternity
or existed by an infinite
succession of beings; and others have as absurdly asserted
that the first man
and woman
or several pairs
sprang into being from some spontaneous action of
the earth
or chance combination of the natural elements
independent of any
adequate power or designing cause. But this is opposed to the clearest
deductions of reason
and involves impossibilities. Now
although men generally
admit the absurdity of the notion that man has existed from eternity
and that
he came into being by the spontaneous action of the earth or elements
independent of a designing cause
yet many assert that God in the beginning
created a plurality of pairs
from whence arises the great difference in
complexion and form which distinguishes the several races of mankind. This idea
seems very plausible; but those who are most competent to pronounce an opinion
on comparative anatomy have declared that the whole race of mankind has sprung
from one original pair--one man and one woman
and on physiological grounds
agree with the Mosaic account.
II. HIS NATURE
AND THE REASON OF HIS NAME. Formed of dust; therefore suitably called Adam or
earth.
III. We shall now
consider THE DIGNITY
MORAL EXCELLENCE
AND IMMORTALITY OF MAN
as be came out
of the hands of God.
1. In the creation of matter
and bringing it into a harmony of
spheres
the fiat of the Almighty was sufficient. He merely said
“Let there be
light
” and light was
as a necessary consequence; but in the creation of man
it was otherwise. The Holy Ones reasoned together
which indicates the dignity
and moral excellence of the being about to be called into existence. That Divine
consultation was significant of the God-like nature of man.
2. But one of the chief features in man
as he came out of his
Creator’s hand (if anything can be chief where all is perfect)
was
that he
derived immediately from God the breath of life; for God “breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life
” and he became a living
or
as some of the Hebrew
paraphrasts have it
a rational
soul. His spirit partook of the immortality of
its Divine author
and was destined to live forever; and therefore the tree of
life was placed in the midst of the garden
the virtue of which was such
that
if he partook thereof
he would live forever. (A. Jones.)
The life of living soul
1. We are
as to the outward
man
mere dust of the ground. Is not this plain enough from experience? Does
not the food that maintains our bodies come directly from plants
or indirectly
from them
through the beasts that feed upon them? And do not those plants draw
all their support from the ground?
2. We have in this living body passions and affections common with
the brute creation. And too many act as if they had nothing more
as if they
had only to exercise their brutal appetites
eat and drink
and tyrannize over
the poor brute creation
as its merciless kings
and then like them to die. How
many have passed through this world from the womb to the grave
with no higher
exercise of their faculties
and with a much more brutal one of their
appetites
than a dog or an elephant?
3. But we are living souls. God has given unto us reason and not
instinct
free agency and not mere necessity. We are rational
and therefore
accountable beings. We are servants of a heavenly Master
sons of a heavenly
Father
to whom we have to render faithful service and affectionate obedience.
We have a reckoning to render of the manner in which we have employed our
bodies
our appetites
our faculties. (R. W.Evans
B. D.)
Excellency of She soul of man
When God Almighty bad in six days made that common dial of the
world
the light; that storehouse of His justice and His mercy
the firmament;
that ferry of the world
the sea; man’s work house
the earth; chariots of
light
the sun and moon; the airy choristers
the fowls; and man’s servants
the beasts; yet had He one more excellent piece to be made
and that was man
a
microcosm
even an abstract of the whole
to whom
having fashioned a body
proceeding by degrees of perfection
He lastly created a soul. And as the
family of Matri was singled out of the tribe of Benjamin
and Saul out of the
family of Matri
being higher than the rest by the shoulders upwards
so is the
soul singled out from the other creatures
far surpassing them all in
excellency
whether we consider the efficient cause of its creation
Elohim
the blessed Trinity
being then in consultation; or the material cause
a quinta
essentia
noble and Divine substance
more excellent than the heavens; or
the cause formal
made after the image of God Himself; or
lastly
the cause
final
that it might be the temple of God and the habitation of His blessed Spirit.
(J. Spencer.)
A living soul in man
About forty-five years ago a funeral was passing through the
streets of Carlisle
Pennsylvania. It was the burial procession of John Hall
Mason
the son of the eminent Dr. Mason
President of Dickinson College
one of
the most powerful and eloquent preachers in America. The son was distinguished
for his piety and talents
and his death had cast a gloom over many hearts.
Many gathered to the funeral
from far and near
and especially young men.
After the services at the house had been performed
and the pallbearers had
taken up the bier
a great concourse obstructed the entrance
and great
confusion and noise ensued. The bereaved doctor
observing the difficulty
and
following closely the pall bearers
exclaimed in solemn sepulchral tones:
“Tread lightly
young men! tread lightly! You bear the temple of the Holy
Ghost.” These sentiments
as though indited by the Holy Spirit
acted like an
electric shock; the crowd fell back and made the passage way clear. Through the
influence of these words a most powerful revival of religion sprung up
and
swept through the college
and extended over the town.
Men to set a high value upon their souls
When Praxiteles
a cunning painter
had promised unto Phryne one
of the choicest pieces in his shop
she
not knowing which was the best
began
to think upon some plot whereby to make him to discover his judgment which of
them was the piece indeed
and suborned one of his servants to tell his master
(being then in the market
selling his pictures) that his house was on fire and
a great part of it burnt down to the ground. Praxiteles
hearing this
presently demanded of his servant if the “Satyr and Cupid” were safe
whereby
Phryne
standing by
discovered which was the best picture in the shop. And
shall a silly painter set so high an esteem upon a poor
base picture
the
slubbered (imperfect) work of his own hands
and shall not we much more value
the soul
that is of an immortal being
the most precious piece that ever God
made
the perfect pattern and image of Himself. Let riches
honour
and all go
if nothing but this escape the fire
it is sufficient. (J. Spencer.)
Man has a soul
Some time ago the Rev. James Armstrong preached at Harmony
near
the Wabash
when a doctor of that place
a professed Deist
called on his
associates to accompany him while he attacked the Methodists
as he said. At
first he asked Mr. Armstrong if he followed preaching to save souls. He
answered in the affirmative. He then asked Mr. Armstrong if he ever saw a soul.
“No.” If he ever heard a soul. “No.” If he ever tasted a soul
“No.” If he ever
smelled a soul. “No.” If he ever felt a soul. “Yes
thank God!” said Mr.
Armstrong. “Well
” said the doctor
“there are four of the five senses against
one that there is a soul.” Mr. Armstrong then asked the gentleman if he was a
doctor of medicine; and he also answered in the affirmative° He then asked the
doctor if he ever saw a pain. “No.” If he ever heard a pain. “No.” If he ever
tasted a pain. “No.” If he ever smelled a pain. “No.” If he ever felt a pain.
“Yes.” Mr. Armstrong then said
“There are also four senses against one to
evidence that there is a pain; yet
sir
you know that there is a pain
and I
know there is a soul.” The doctor appeared confounded
and walked off. (Whitecross.)
Verses 8-14
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden
The garden of Eden
I.
IN
THIS GARDEN PROVISION WAS MADE FOR THE HAPPINESS OF MAN.
1. The garden was beautiful.
2. The garden was fruitful.
3. The garden was well watered.
II. IN THIS GARDEN
PROVISION WAS MADE FOR THE DAILY OCCUPATION OF MAN.
1. Work is the law of man’s being.
2. Work is the benediction of man’s being. Work makes men happy.
Indolence is misery. Work is the truest blessing we have. It occupies our time.
It keeps from mischief. It supplies our temporal wants. It enriches society. It
wins the approval of God.
III. IN THIS GARDEN
PROVISION WAS MADE FOR THE SPIRITUAL OBEDIENCE OF MAN.
1. God gave man a command to obey.
2. God annexed a penalty in the ease of disobedience.
The two paradises
I. Compare the
PLACES. The second is superior to the first.
1. In respect to its elements. What was dust in the first paradise
was gold in the second.
2. Of its extent. The first paradise was the corner of a small
planet; the second is a universe of glory in which nations dwell
and whose
limits angels know not.
3. Of its beauty.
II. Compare the
INHABITANTS of the two paradises. The inhabitants of the second are superior to
those of the first.
1. In physical nature.
2. In employment. The employment of heaven will relate to beings
rather than to things. The sphere of activity will be more amongst souls than
flowers. Will call into exercise loftier faculties; will tend more to the glory
of God.
3. In rank.
4. In freedom.
5. In security. Adam was liable to temptation and evil. In the
second paradise is immunity from peril. 6
In vision of God. In the first
paradise God walked amid the trees of the garden. Adam realizes the
overshadowing Presence. The inhabitants of the second paradise shall enjoy that
Presence more perfectly.
Man’s life in Eden
I. Our first
parents are discovered in a state of innocence
beauty
and blessedness
which
is broken up utterly by the transgression of the Divine command.
II. This narrative
presents to us the Father seeking the sinful child with blended righteousness
and tenderness
assuring him of help to bear the burden which righteousness had
imposed on transgression
and of redemption out of the spiritual death
which
was the fruit of sin.
III. God not only
father like
made wise disposition for the correction of His child
but He east
in with His child’s lot of toil and suffering His own sympathy and hope; He
made Himself a partaker in man’s new experience of pain
and
that He might
destroy sin
linked the sufferer by a great promise to Himself. (J. B.
Brown
B. A.)
The garden of Eden
I. A SCENE OF
BEAUTY.
II. A SPHERE OF
WORK.
III. AN ABODE OF
INNOCENCE.
IV. A HOME OF
HAPPINESS.
V. A PLACE OF
PROBATION.
1. Man in his original condition was immortal.
2. Man’s immortality was suspended on his personal obedience.
3. Adam acted in the garden as a public person
or as the
representative of the race. (Anon.)
Adam in Eden
The text teaches several things concerning God.
I. HIS POWER.
1. Physical. The might involved in the creation and maintenance of
the universe. As much power displayed in preservation of universe as in its
creation.
2. Intellectual. The thought and intelligence involved in the works
of nature; the unity of design
harmony of motion
and proportion of parts
visible everywhere
from the majesty of revolving worlds to the structure and
polish of an insect’s wing
all attest the work and power of a boundless
intelligence.
II. HIS WISDOM.
1. We see God’s wisdom here in the order of events.
2. In providing so bountifully for the wants of man
both present
and future.
III. HIS GOODNESS.
1. In providing a home for man.
2. God’s goodness is also seen in the size of Adam’s home. “A
garden.” Why not something larger? God’s idea of human vocation is not
distribution
but concentration. Not farming a township
but tilling a garden.
No man can be a gardener
a doctor
a lawyer
a banker
and a preacher
and
succeed in either.
3. In putting him in possession of his new home. “There He put the
man.” I am pleased to find this statement
especially as Adam got into trouble
so soon afterwards. If the Lord had only pointed out the garden
and left Adam
to find it
he might have doubted
after the Fall
whether he had not gotten
into the wrong place
and whether such a calamity could have befallen him in a
God-selected residence. Learn
here
that however clearly we may be able to
trace the Divine hand in bringing us into any position or calling
we may there
yield to the tempter
and fall. That God can build no Eden this side the gates
of glory which man cannot curse and wither
by listening to the suggestions of
the devil.
4. In providing a wife for Adam. “Brought her unto him.” The
composition of the first divinely ordained home was husband and wife. (T.
Kelly.)
Genesis of Eden
I. THE
TOPOGRAPHICAL PROBLEM. All that we can determine at present is this: Eden lay
to the east of the venerable witness of creation’s panorama
somewhere in the
neighbourhood of the Tigris and the Euphrates. And history strikingly confirms
the chronicle of the hoary witness. Those confessedly competent to discuss such
questions agree that the cradle of mankind is to be looked for somewhere in the
country of the Euphrates. Civilization has generally
with comparatively
unimportant exceptions
moved from east to west. Who knows but that we
the
latest born of the nations
with the Continental railways and Pacific
steamships in our grasp
are God’s chosen instruments in carrying the glad
tidings ever and ever westward
till
having crossed China
we reach again the
cradle of humanity
and reinaugurate the lost paradise on the very spot where
our inspired Seer caught glimpse of the tree of life? The truth
however
is
the exact site of Eden will probably never be discovered--at least
till the
day when the voice of Him who was wont to walk in the garden in the evening
breeze (Genesis 3:8) is again heard on earth.
II. And now let us
attend to some of THE LESSONS OF THE STORY.
1. And
first
the birth of industry. Jehovah God took the man He
had formed
and put him in the Garden of Eden
to till it
and to keep it.
(a) the soul’s sake;
(b) his own sake;
(c) God’s sake.
2. The birth of language.
3. The birth of immortality. “The tree of life.”
4. The birth of probation.
5. The Eden of the soul.
6. The heavenly Eden. (G. D. Boardman.)
Paradise held; or
man’s innocency
I. ADAM’S HOME. A
pleasant
fruitful garden. Beautiful flowers; green meadows; rivers and brooks;
woods and coppices.
II. ADAM’S WORK.
Two fold; to till and to keep the garden--work and watchfulness. Something to
call out vigilance as well as diligence.
III. ADAM’S WIFE.
Loving companionship and mutual help. How glad Adam must have been! LESSONS:
The teacher can point out how this picture of the first man and woman reminds
us of--
.
. (W. S.
Smith
B. D.)
Love of flowers a relic of life in Eden
Waking up to conscious existence in the midst of a garden
it
would seem as if man had not entirely forgotten the wonderful vision on which
his eyes then opened. At least
there is no passion more general than the
admiration of beautiful flowers. They kindle the rapture of infancy
and it is
touching to see how over the first kingcups or daisies its tiny hand closes
more eagerly than hereafter it will grasp silver coins or golden. The solitary
blossom lights a lamp of quiet gladness in the poor man’s chamber
and in the
palace of the prince
the marble of Canova and the canvas of Raffaelle are
dimmed by the lordly exotic with its calyx of flame or its petals of snow. With
these companions of our departed innocence we plait the bridal wreath
and
scattered on the coffin
or planted on the grave
there seems a hope of
resurrection in their smile
a sympathy in their gentle decay. And whilst to
the dullest gaze they speak a lively oracle
in their empyrean bloom and
unearthly fragrance the pensive fancy recognizes some mysterious memory
and
asks
--
“Have
we been all at fault? Are we the sons
Of
pilgrim sires who left their lovelier land?
And
do we call inhospitable climes
By
names they brought from home?”
(Dr.
J. Hamilton.)
The chains of a river
A river has special charms for me--always arriving
always
departing; softening the landscape
and completing the circle of the firmament;
rich with manifold reflections
and eloquent with the sad yet soothing minor in
which all Nature speaks in her gentlest moods. I love to tarry by the
riverside
to look
to listen
to wonder
and to feel the pleasant unrest of
constant expectation. Standing by a river
one seems to be on the edge of
another world--life
motion
music--signs that tell of speed
gliding and
darting
that look as if activity had solved the mystery of industrious repose;
breaking bubbles that hint at something of incompleteness and disappointment;
occasional floodings and rushings that tell of power under control
--all are
seen in that flowing world. (J. Parker
D.D.)
Man’s life in Paradise
I. THE FIRST
INSTITUTION FOR PARADISE AND FOR MAN IN PARADISE
WAS A SABBATH DAY. Man
not
yet fallen
needed the Sabbath to keep him to God--and all too little
as the
event showed. Better to wait in Paradise with God and the Sabbath
than go to
find a lower happiness elsewhere.
II. GOD
WHO TOLD
MAN HOW TO SPEND THE SEVENTH DAY
TOLD HIM HOW TO SPEND THE OTHER SIX ALSO. One
of the happinesses of paradise was employment--not idleness. And God Himself
chose for Adam his occupation. He has clone so also for each of us. In the
garden where God puts you He will find you work; some flowers to rear and
cultivate; some human minds to which you may do good; some plantations of
Divine grace which you may dress and water
and so be fellow worker with Him
who gives the increase.
III. GOD PLACED MAN
UNDER A LAW IN PARADISE. For our own sake
for our own true happiness
God
would have us keep Him in our thoughts. The yielding up our own will to His has
greater sweetness to the taste than pleasing ourselves ever had.
IV. GOD
THE
AUTHOR OF ALL OUR HAPPINESS
IS THE IMMEDIATE FOUNDER OF DOMESTIC LIFE. Observe
what exceeding honour He has put on the institution of marriage
making it one
of the two original appointments which came immediately from Himself when He
made our race. CONCLUSION: All these fair features are types or emblems of
heavenly things. The Sabbath is a type of the heavenly rest; the employments
of the employments of heaven
and its peaceful industry; the law
of the law
which the angels keep
happy in that their every thought and act is according
to the motions of God’s good Spirit: and the marriage tie
of the spiritual
union betwixt Christ and His Church. The picture of Paradise shall be
reproduced in perfectness--in heaven. It should be seen
even here and now
in
Christian families. (C. P. Eden
M. A.)
Man’s residence
1. The Lord of it
God
Himself
who planted it with His own hand.
2. The nature or kind of it; it was a garden.
3. The situation of it; it lay eastward.
4. The furniture or store of the garden.
5. The commodious situation of the garden
both for fruitfulness and
delight
by the benefit of the liver that issued out of it.
6. The assigning over of the garden to the man.
The two paradises
We read of two paradises--one is described to us at the beginning
of the Bible
and the other at the end of it (Revelation 22:1-5). The descriptions
cannot be perused without leading the thoughts into a comparison and contrast
of the one paradise with the other.
I. THE RIVERS. A
river is a beautiful object. A river of clear water winding through a garden
meandering among flowers and trees
presents to the eye a lovely scene. And
then
besides the beauty of a river or stream in itself
which may be called
its direct contribution of beauty--much of the remaining attractions of the
garden through which it passes is to be ascribed to it. The flowers and the
trees are quickened and refreshed by it. Through its aid the flowers assume
their fair and gorgeous array
and the trees spread out their noble arms
and
are covered with foliage and fruit.
There was a river in the paradise of Eden. The benignant Creator
did not leave the primeval home of man without the advantage and the ornament
of a river. In the future paradise there is also a river. It is not behind the
paradise of the past in this respect. Two things are to be noted concerning
this river--the water of it
and the source of it. The water is pronounced to
be “water of life
clear as crystal.” We cannot be at a loss
with the Bible in
our hands
for the interpretation of this. “There is a river
the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God” (Psalms 46:4). What can that be but
Jehovah’s love and faithfulness
which are always the consolation of the Church
in times of trial and danger? “He leadeth me beside the still waters” (Psalms 23:2). “Thou shalt make them drink
of the rivers of Thy pleasures” (Psalms 36:8). “With joy shall ye draw
water out of the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). The water of life is no
other than the joys
and privileges
and blessings of that life eternal
which
is the appointed portion of the redeemed. It corresponds to the new wine which
Christ and His people drink together in the kingdom of God. And it is a river
of water of life
because
as the flow of a river goes on continually
so shall
there never be an end of the celestial happiness. The river
also
is pure
and
clear as crystal
because the future state will be a state of unmixed felicity
and a state of glory without a cloud. The river proceeds “out of the throne of
God and of the Lamb.” In the throne of God and of the Lamb it has its source.
The throne of God and of the Lamb. A single throne is meant
which is occupied
by God and the Lamb. The lesson is
that the joys and blessings of the future
paradise are to be traced
in the first place
to the sovereign love of God;
and
in the second place
to the redeeming work of Christ. The river proceeds
out of the Father’s throne. The whole life
and grace
and glory
which the
Church ever arrives at
must be traced back through the far-reaching depths of
eternity
and are connected with
and spring out of
that which was done in the
beginning
when God
in the greatness
the freeness
and the sovereignty of His
love
pronounced the decree of salvation. The throne of the Lamb alone could
not have originated this river. The Lamb’s throne
by itself
originates
nothing. The spring and first fountain of all our blessings
and of that river
which shall gladden the paradise of God
is in the Father’s throne. But the
throne
whence it comes
is not to be viewed as the Father’s throne merely. It
is the throne of God and of the Lamb. Without that work of the Son
which the
name of the Lamb suggests
and on account of which the Lamb has a seat on the
Father’s throne--without what is done by Him as the second Man
the Servant of
the Father
and our covenant head
neither grace nor glory could be ours. His
death has made openings for its egress; and from His hands
and His feet
and
His side
come the joyful waters that flow in the river of paradise.
II. THE TREES. The
paradise of Eden was adorned and enriched with trees--“every tree
” we are
told
“that is pleasant to the sight
and good forfood.” The beautiful trees
and the noble stream together must have made an exquisite scene. And two trees
there were
that stood in the midst of the garden (Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:3)
and excelled all the rest.
They were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
These were sacramental trees
as their names denote. The tree of the knowledge
of good and evil was a sign and seal of the condition of God’s covenant
and
the tree of life was a sign and seal of its reward. The first paradise was
remarkable for its trees. It had wonderful trees. The new paradise is not
behind. It has many stately and fruitful trees. There are trees of
righteousness without number
the planting of the Lord
that He may be
glorified. And there is
besides
one matchless tree
that is in the midst of
that paradise of God (Revelation 2:7). There is the tree of
life
which bears twelve manner of fruits
and yields her fruit every month;
and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. With its river
of the water of life
and its tree of life
the paradise
on which the Church’s
hope is fixed
is
indeed
a paradise of life. We need not say that the tree of
life is Christ. He is the goodly tree in the midst of the garden. His Word
His
gospel
His ordinances
are the means which the Holy Spirit employs on earth
for quickening
regenerating
and sanctifying the people; and the enjoyment of
Him is the chief ingredient
and the very essence
of the heavenly felicity.
III. THE CURSE. Of
the second paradise
it is emphatically said
“There shall be no more curse.”
The words
no doubt
have reference
in the way of contrast
to the state of
things here and now
and are designed to intimate that the curse
which lies on
the present creation
shall not be prolonged and carried onward from thin state
to that. “There shall be no more curse.” The curse is here
but it shall not be
there. There was curse in the first paradise. There was curse in it the moment
its peaceful and happy bowers were invaded by the devil. The being on whom
God’s curse alights is himself
in a sense
a curse. For this reason
even
Christ
when He bore the curse as our substitute
is said to have been made a
curse. There was curse in the garden of Eden
for there was sin in it. Not
indeed
at first. Man was blameless and holy for a season. But sin there was at last
and probably soon. And sin came not alone. Sin
by necessary consequence
brought the curse. There was curse in the garden of Eden; for there was shame
and there was slavish fear. When the privileged pair fell
they must have fig
leaves to cover them; and they must hide among the trees from the presence of
the Lord. There was curse in the garden of Eden; for there was death in it. “In
the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” And die that day they did.
The life of God went out of them. And there was curse in the garden of Eden:
there was a curse which was spoken by the mouth of the Lord. The garden had
been the scene where words of blessing and grace were wont to be uttered by the
Creator
and where the holy affections of those whom He had made in His image
found vent in glad songs of adoration and praise
accompanied
it may be
by a
chorus of angels. But sin changed it all. It is gone--that paradise--gone
forever. Let us not
however
despair. There is another paradise. He who
planted the first has planted a second. He has planted a second
which is
better than the first; and concerning which He has declared
that “there shall
be no more curse.” “There shall be no more curse.” This implies that there
shall be no more devil--no more Satanic intrusions. “There shall be no more
curse.” The words imply that
in the second paradise
there shall be no more
sin. As the heirs of glory appear within its precincts
they are found
one and
all
to be perfectly sanctified. And they will never fall again. The crown of
righteousness will never drop from their heads. Never again will they break
God’s law
transgress His holy covenant
or be guilty of an act of distrust or
rebellion. “There shall be no more curse.” The declaration implies that God
shall no more pronounce any curse. It has been impossible for Him
hitherto
as
the moral ruler of a sinful world
to dispense with the use of the curse.
“There shall be no more curse”; and so there shall not be another expulsion
from paradise.
IV. THE GENERAL
STATE OF THE INHABITANTS.
1. The state of man was
in the old paradise
and will be in the
new
a state of honourable service.
2. The state of man
in the garden of Eden
was a state of enjoyment
and privilege. But the second paradise
also
will have enjoyment and
privilege. It will have such enjoyment and privilege as to afford no occasion
of regret for what has been lost. The old men
who had seen the temple of
Solomon
wept when they thought how inferior must be the temple that was to
succeed it. The contrast between the first and the second paradise will draw no
such tears from our original progenitors. They shall have the richest social
delights. They shall dwell together
the incorporated members of a family
having God the Father as their Father
God the Son as their Brother
and the
Spirit of love resting on them all. They shall see God.
3. The pristine state of man was a state of power and glory. He was
a king. The earth was His kingdom; the fish of the sea
the fowls of the air
and every living thing that moveth upon the earth
were His subjects. Believers
will be kings. They are kings already by right. They are kings
who are not yet
of age
and who must wait a little for the actual commencement of their reign.
A kingdom is prepared for them. They shall be greater kings than Adam was
and
have a wider and more illustrious dominion. Their kingdom shall be immoveable
and undecaying. They shall be enthroned with Christ. They shall be crowned with
righteousness and glory. And “they shall reign forever and ever.” (Andrew
Gray.)
The garden of Eden
When we think of paradise
we think of it as the seat of delight.
The name Eden authorizes us so to do. It signifies pleasure: and the idea of
pleasure is inseparable from that of a garden
where man still seeks after lost
happiness
and where
perhaps
a good man finds the nearest resemblance of it
which this world affords. The culture of a garden
as it was the first
employment of man
so it is that to which the most eminent persons in different
ages have retired
from the camp and the cabinet
to pass the interval between
a life of action and a removal hence. When old Diocletian was invited from his
retreat
to resume the purple which he had laid down some years before--“Ah
”
said he
“could you but see those fruits and herbs of mine own raising at
Salona
you would never talk to me of empire!” An accomplished statesman of our
own country
who spent the latter part of his life in this manner
hath so well
described the advantages of it
that it would be injustice to communicate his
ideas in any other words but his own. “No other sort of abode
” says he
“seems
to contribute so much
both to the tranquillity of mind and indolence of body.
The sweetness of the air
the pleasantness of the smell
the verdure of the
plants
the cleanness and lightness of food
the exercise of working or
walking; but
above all
the exemption from care and solicitude
seem equally
to favour and improve both contemplation and health
the enjoyment of sense and
imagination
and thereby the quiet and ease both of body and mind. The garden
has been the inclination of kings
and the choice of philosophers; the common
favourite of public and private men; the pleasure of the greatest
and the care
of the meanest; an employment and a possession
for which no man is too high
nor too low. If we believe the Scriptures
” concludes he
“we must allow that
God Almighty esteemed the life of man in a garden the happiest He could give
him
or else He would not have placed Adam in that of Eden. The garden of Eden
had
doubtless
all the perfection it could receive from the hands of Him who
ordained it to be the mansion of His favourite creature. We may reasonably
presume it to have been the earth in miniature
and to have contained specimens
of all natural productions
as they appeared
without blemish
in an unfallen
world; and these disposed in admirable order
for the purposes intended. And it
may be observed
that when
in after times
the penmen of the Scriptures have
occasion to describe any remarkable degree of fertility and beauty
of grandeur
and magnificence
they refer us to the garden of Eden (see Genesis 13:10; Joel 2:3; Ezekiel 31:3
etc.). Traditions
and traces of this original garden seem to have gone forth into all the earth
though
as an elegant writer justly observes
“they must be expected to have
grown fainter and fainter in every transfusion from one people to another. The
Romans probably derived their notion of it
expressed in the gardens of Flora
from the Greeks
among whom this idea seems to have been shadowed out under the
stories of the gardens of Alcinous. In Africa they had the gardens of the
Hesperides
and in the East those of Adonis. The term of Horti Adonides was
used by the ancients to signify gardens of pleasure
which answers strangely to
the very name of paradise
or the garden of Eden.” In the writings of the
poets
who have lavished all the powers of genius and the charms of verse upon
the subject
these and the like counterfeit or secondary paradises
the copies
of the true
will live and bloom
so long as the world itself shall endure. It
hath been already suggested
that a garden is calculated no less for the
improvement of the mind
than for the exercise of the body; and we cannot doubt
but that peculiar care would be taken of that most important end in the
disposition of the garden of Eden. Our first father differed from his
descendants in this particular
that he was not to attain the use of his
understanding by a gradual process from infancy
but came into being in full
stature and vigour
of mind as well as body. He found creation likewise in its
prime. It was morning with man and the world. As man was made for the
contemplation of God here
and for the enjoyment of him hereafter
we cannot
imagine that his knowledge would terminate on earth
though it took its rise
there. Like the patriarch’s ladder
its foot was on earth
but its top
doubtless
reached to heaven. By it the mind ascended from the creatures to the
Creator
and descended from the Creator to the creatures. It was the golden
chain which connected matter and spirit
preserving a communication between the
two worlds. That God had revealed and made Himself known to Adam
appears from
the circumstances related
namely
that He took him
and put him into the
garden of Eden; that He conversed with him
and communicated a law
to be by
him observed; that He caused the creatures to come before him
and brought Eve
to him. If there was
at the beginning
this familiar intercourse between
Jehovah and Adam
and He vouchsafed to converse with him
as He afterward did
with Moses
“as a man converseth with his friend
” there can be no reasonable
doubt but that He instructed him
as far as was necessary
in the knowledge of
his Maker
of his own spiritual and immortal part
of the adversary he had to
encounter
of the consequences to which disobedience would subject him
and of
those invisible glories
a participation of which was to be the reward of his
obedience. Whenever the garden of Eden is mentioned in the Scriptures
it is
called “the garden of God
” or “the garden of the Lord”--expressions which
denote some peculiar designation of it to sacred purposes
some appropriation
to God and His service
as is confessedly the case with many similar phrases;
such as “house of God
altar of God
man of God
” and the like; all implying
that the persons and things spoken of were consecrated to Him
and set apart
for a religious use. When it is said
“The Lord God took the man
and put him
into the garden of Eden
to dress it
and to keep it
” the words undoubtedly
direct us to conceive of it as a place for the exercise of the body. The powers
of the body and the faculties of the mind might be set to work at the same
time
by the same objects. And it is well known that the words here used do as
frequently denote mental as corporeal operations; and
under the idea of
dressing and keeping the sacred garden
may fairly imply the cultivation and
observation of such religious truths
as were pointed out by the external signs
and sacraments
which paradise contained. When the prophets have occasion to
foretell the great and marvellous change to be effected in the moral world
under the evangelical dispensation
they frequently borrow their ideas and
expressions from the history of that garden
in which innocence and felicity
once dwelt together
and which they represent as again springing up and
blooming in the wilderness (see Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 41:17; Isaiah 35:1). At the time appointed
these predictions received their accomplishment. Men “saw the glory of the
Lord
and the excellency of our God.” By the death and resurrection of the
Redeemer
lost paradise was regained; and its inestimable blessings
wisdom
righteousness
and holiness
are now to be found and enjoyed in the Christian
Church. But as men are still men
and not angels
those blessings are still
represented and conveyed by sacramental symbols
analogous to the original ones
in Eden. From the sacred font flows the water of life
to purify
to refresh
to comfort; “a river goes out of Eden
to water the garden
” and to “baptize
all nations”; while the eucharist answers to the fruit of the tree of life: at
the holy table
we may now “put forth our hands
and take
and eat
and live
forever.” Let us go one step farther
and consider the state of things in the
heavenly kingdom of our Lord. There
it is true
all figures and shadows
symbols and sacraments
shall be no more; because faith will there be lost in
vision
and we shall “know even as we are known.” (Bishop Horne.)
Legends of Paradise among ancient nations
Paradise is no exclusive feature of the earliest history of the
Hebrews; most of the ancient nations have similar narratives about a happy
abode
which care does not approach
and which reechoes with the sounds of the
purest bliss. The Greeks believed
that at an immense distance
beyond the
pillars of Hercules
on the borders of the earth
were the islands of the
blessed
the elysium
abounding in every charm of life
and the garden of the
Hesperides
with their golden apples
guarded by an ever-watchful serpent
(Laden). But still more analogous is the legend of the Hindoos
that in the
sacred mountain Meru
which is perpetually clothed in the golden rays of the
sun
and whose lofty summit reaches into heaven
no sinful man can exist; that
it is guarded by dreadful dragons; that it is adorned with many celestial
plants and trees
and is watered by four rivers
which thence separate
and
flow to the four chief directions. Equally striking is the resemblance to the belief
of the Persians
who suppose
that a region of bliss and delight
the town
Eriene Vedsho or Heden
more beautiful than the whole rest of the world
traversed by a mighty river
was the original abode of the first men before
they were tempted by Ahriman
in the shape of a serpent
to partake of the
wonderful fruit of the forbidden tree Hem. And the books of the Chinese
describe a garden near the gate of heaven where a perpetual zephyr breathes; it
is irrigated by abundant springs
the noblest of which is the “fountain of
life”; and abounds in delightful trees
one of which bears fruits which have
the power of preserving and prolonging the existence of man. (M. M. Kalisch.)
The Eden of the soul
To every human being
not less than to Adam
God has given a garden
to till and to keep: it is the garden within him. Alas! this garden of the soul
is no longer an Eden. An enemy hath come and sown tares (Matthew 13:25). Instead of the fir tree
has come up the thorn
and instead of the myrtle tree has come up the brier (Isaiah 55:13). Nevertheless
the capacity
of paradise still lies latent within us all. Like seeds which have for ages
lain buried beneath the soil of our primeval forests
there lie deep down in
the subsoil of our moral natures the germs of giant spirit powers and
experiences. Fallen as we are
we are capable of being redeemed
reinstated in
the range of conscious sonship to the everlasting Father. In fact
this
capacity for redemption is
on its human side
the basis of the possibility of
Christ’s salvation. The Son of God came not to crush
but to save; not to
destroy
but to restore; not to annihilate
but to transfigure. And when we let
Him have His way in our hearts; when we let Him drive the ploughshare of His
Spirit’s conviction
uprooting tares and thorns and all baleful weeds; when we
let Him sow the good seed of the kingdom
which is the Word of God; when we let
Him quicken it with the warmth of His breath
and water it with the dews of His
grace
and hue it with the sunshine of His beauty: then does paradise lost
become paradise found; then is brought to pass--oh
how gloriously!--the saying
of the poet-prophet (Isaiah 35:1). (G. D. Boardman.)
The first garden
1. Situation of paradise that
man lost
unknown. Landmarks obliterated by the Deluge. It may be sought
and
found in every part of the world. “Thy presence makes my paradise
” etc.
2. God planted the first garden; our flowers are lineal descendants
of Eden’s bright blossoms
as we are of the “grand old gardener”--Adam. Let the
colours and perfumes of summer call that garden to mind.
3. Cultivate flowers of holiness
and fruits of godliness; possess
the Rose of Sharon and the true Vine
and paradise will be regained. (J. C.
Gray.)
Adam in Eden
I. THE FIRST MAN.
Adam. “Of the earth
earthy.” His happiness Genesis 1:28). His moral dignity
likeness of God (Genesis 1:26; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). His mental greatness;
named the animals
etc. (Genesis 2:20). His regal position (Genesis 1:28). His relation to other
created intelligences (Hebrews 2:7-8). His great age; lived 930
years (Genesis 5:5). During 243 years a
contemporary of Methuselah
who for 600 years was contemporary of his grandson
Noah.
II. THE FIRST
STEWARDSHIP. To dress and keep a garden. Lowly
healthful; needing diligence
forethought
etc. Mere office
however lofty
does not dignify; nor however
humble
degrade. The great ancestor of the race
a gardener.
III. THE FIRST
COMMAND. A command to remind man of his subordinate relation
his duty
etc.
Only one
very simple and easy. In common life the breach of one often makes
many injunctions needful. (J. C. Gray.)
Observations
I. THE
FRUITFULNESS OF ONE PART OF THE EARTH ABOVE ANOTHER IS FROM GOD ALONE
AND
MERELY AND ONLY BY HIS BLESSING.
II. THOUGH GOD
HAVE PREPARED THE EARTH FOR MAN
YET HE CAN HAVE NO TITLE TO ANY MORE OF IT
THAN GOD ALLOTS OUT OF IT FOR HIS HABITATION.
III. GOD IS PLEASED
TO BESTOW UPON MEN LIBERALLY HIS BEST AND CHIEFEST BLESSINGS. (J. White
M.
A.)
Work
Not only did Adam work before the Fall; but also nature and
nature’s God. From the particle of dust at our feet to man
the last stroke of
God’s handiwork
all bear the impress of the law of labour. ‘The earth
as has
been said
is one vast laboratory
where decomposition and reformation are
constantly going on. The blast of nature’s furnace never ceases
and its fires
never burn low. The lichen of the rock
and the oak of the forest
each works
out the problem of its own existence. The earth
the air
and the water teem
with busy life. The poet tells us that the joyous song of labour sounds out
from the million-voiced earth
and the rolling spheres join the universal
chorus! Therefore
labour is not
as Tapper expresses it
the curse on the sons
of men in all their ways. Observations:--
I. AS GOD GIVES
US ALL THINGS FREELY
SO WITHAL HE TAKES SPECIAL NOTICE OF ALL THAT HE BESTOWS
UPON US.
II. EVERY PLANT ON
THE FACE OF THE EARTH GROWS WHERE AND IN WHAT MANNER AND ORDER GOD APPOINTS IT.
III. GOD’S BOUNTY
ABOUNDS UNTO MEN NOT ONLY TO THE SUPPLYING OF THEIR NECESSITIES
BUT ALSO FOR
THEIR DELIGHT.
1. Let us then tender unto God
after the measure that we receive
from Him
the most acceptable presents of our cheerful services
which that
variety and abundance which we receive from His hand should provoke us Deuteronomy 28:47). Serving Him with
enlarged hearts
and delighting to run the way of His commandments with the
holy prophet Psalms 119:32).
2. It may warrant us the honest and moderate use of God’s blessings
even for delight: so we use them--
IV. IT IS USUAL
WITH GOD TO MIX DELIGHT AND PLEASURE WITH USEFULNESS AND PROFIT IN ALL HIS
BLESSINGS.
V. THE BEST
AMONGST MEN AND MOST PERFECT HAVE NEED OF THE HELP OF OUTWARD MEANS TO QUICKEN
AND STRENGTHEN THEM AND PUT THEM IN MIND OF THEIR DUTIES. Let no man neglect
any outward means
public or private
as being--
Considering that the best of us know but in part (1 Corinthians 13:9)
are subject to
so many temptations
laden with a body of sin (Romans 7:24). By which we are continually
assaulted
often foiled
and continually retarded in our coarse of obedience.
VI. SPIRITUAL AND
RELIGIOUS DUTIES OUGHT TO BE REMEMBERED IN THE MIDST OF THE USE OF OUR
EMPLOYMENTS ABOUT THE THINGS OF THIS LIFE.
VII. GOD’S COMMANDMENTS OUGHT TO BE STILL IN THE VIEW AND BEFORE
THE FACE OF HIS CHILDREN. VIII. IT IS USUAL WITH GOD TO TEACH HIS CHILDREN BY
THINGS OF ORDINARY AND COMMON USE. And this He cloth--
IX. GOD IS
CONTENTED NOT ONLY TO DO US GOOD
BUT BESIDES TO ENGAGE HIMSELF THEREUNTO BY
HIS WORD
RATIFIED BY HIS OWN SEAL.
X. BOTH THE
CONTINUANCE OF PRESENT
AND HOPE OF FUTURE LIFE
AS THEY ARE GOD’S GIFT
SO
THEY ARE ASSURED BY HIS PROMISE.
XI. ALL GOD’S
PROMISES MUST BE UNDERSTOOD AND EMBRACED UNDER THE CONDITION OF THE PERFORMANCE
OF OUR OBEDIENCE.
XII. GOOD AND EVIL
ARE BOUNDED AND LIMITED ONLY BY THE WILL OF GOD. (J. White
M. A.)
The promise of life in the first covenant
I. We behold here
the goodness and grace of God to man. Though the first covenant was a covenant
of works there was
not withstanding
much grace displayed in it. Could that
obedience of the first Adam which was perfect
have
strictly speaking
merited
nothing for him
at the hand of God? What ignorance
then
what folly
what
pride
does it argue in a sinner
to pretend that his performances
notwithstanding their acknowledged imperfections
merit for him not something
merely
but eternal happiness!
2. If Adam in innocence was not to depend for happiness immediately
on the goodness of God’s nature but on the promise of His covenant
how
evidently does that sinner expose himself to woful disappointment who trusts to
general
to uncovenanted mercy! Finally
was the first Adam’s state of
innocence his state of trial? Then a state trial or probation is not
properly
speaking
the state of man since his fall. But now
since he has failed in his
obedience
and broken the covenant
his state of trial has issued in a state of
condemnation. (J. Colquhoun
D. D.)
The tree of knowledge of
good and evil
The two trees
I. THE TREE OF
LIFE. This was a real tree
as real as any of the rest
and evidently placed
there for like purposes with the rest. The only difference was
that it had
peculiar virtues which the others had not. It was a life-giving or life-sustaining
tree--a tree of which
so long as man should continue to eat
he should never
die. Not that one eating of it could confer immortality; but the continuous use
of it was intended for this. The link between soul and body was to be
maintained by this tree. So long as he partook of this
that tie could not be
broken.
II. THE TREE OF
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Why may we not take this in the same literality
of meaning as the former? Why may it not mean a tree
the fruit of which was
fitted to nourish man’s intellectual and moral nature? How it did this I do not
attempt to say. But we know so little of the actings of the body or the soul
that we cannot affirm it impossible. Nay
we see so much of the effects of the
body upon the soul
both in sharpening and blunting the edge alike of intellect
and conscience
that we may pronounce it not at all unlikely. We are only
beginning to be aware of the exceeding delicacy of our mental and moral
mechanism
and how easily that mechanism is injured or improved by the things
which affect the body. A healthy body tends greatly to produce not only a
healthy intellect
but a healthy conscience. I know that only one thing can
really pacify the conscience--the all-cleansing Blood; but this I also know
that a diseased or enfeebled body operates oftentimes so sadly on the
conscience as to prevent the healthy realization by it of that wondrous blood
thereby beclouding the whole soul; and there is nothing which Satan seems so
completely to get hold of
and by means of it to rule the inner man
as a
nervously diseased body. Cowper’s expression
“A mind well lodged
and
masculine of course
” has in it more meaning than we have commonly attached to
it. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
Of the sacraments of the covenant of works
I. It hath
pleased the blessed and Almighty God
in every economy of His covenants
to
confirm
by some sacred symbols
the certainty of His promises
and
at the
same time
to remind man in covenant with Him of his duty: to these symbols
ecclesiastical practice has long since given the name of sacraments: this was
certainly appointed with an excellent design by the all-wise God. For--
1. What God has made known concerning His covenant
is
by this
means
proposed to man’s more accurate consideration; since he is not only once
and again instructed in the will of God by a heavenly oracle
but frequently
and almost daily beholds with his eyes those things which by heaven are granted
him as pleasures of the greatest blessings: what believers see with their eyes
usually sink deeper into the soul
and leave deeper impressions of themselves
than those only which they hear with their ears. Elegantly to this purpose says
Herodotus
“men usually give less credit to the ears than to the eyes.”
2. These symbols also tend to confirm our faith. For
though nothing
can be thought of that deserves more credit than the Word of God
yet
where
God adds signs and seals to His infallible promises
He gives a two-fold
foundation to our faith (Hebrews 6:17-18).
3. By means of this institution
a holy man does
by the sight
touch
and taste of the sacred symbols
attain to some sense of eternal
blessings
and accustoms himself under the symbols
to a contemplation and
foretaste of these things
to the plenary and immediate fruition of which he
will
one time or other
be admitted without any outward signs.
4. The man has in these something continually to remind him of his
duty: and as
from time to time
they present to his thoughts
and give a
foretaste of his Creator
so at the same time they put him in mind of those
very strong obligations
by which he is bound to his Covenant-God. And thus
they are both a bridle to restrain him from sin and a spur to quicken him
cheerfully to run that holy race which he has so happily entered upon. (H.
Witsius
D. D.)
The tree of the knowledge of evil
There was here a very plain memorial of duty. For this tree
taught--
1. That man was sincerely to contemplate and desire the chief good
but not to endeavour after it
but only in the manner and way prescribed by
Heaven; nor here to give in to his own reasonings
how plausible soever they
might appear.
2. That man’s happiness was not to be placed in things pleasing to
the senses of the body. There is another and a quite different beatifying good
which satiates the soul and of itself suffices to the consummation of
happiness.
3. That God was the most absolute Lord of man
whose sole will
expressed by His law
should be the supreme rule and directory of all the
appetites of the soul and of all the motions of the body.
4. That there is no attaining to a life of happiness but by perfect
obedience.
5. That even man in innocence was to behave with a certain religious
awe when conversing with his God
lest he should fall into sin. (H. Witsius
D. D.)
The knowledge of right and wrong
I. We call the
Scriptures a revelation; in other words
an unveiling. The Bible records were
given to us to take away the veil which hung between heaven and earth
between
man and God. Their purpose is to reveal God. The actual revelation which has
been made to us is of God in His relation to the soul of man. We are not to
demand
we are not to expect
any further revelation. Of the secrets of God’s power
and origin we are told not a word. Such knowledge is not for us. The
self-declared object of the Scriptures is that men should know God and know
themselves.
II. But the
condition on which such an object may be accomplished is this: that the Book of
God should appeal to men in a form not dependent for its appreciation upon any
knowledge which they may have obtained--independent
that is
of the science of
any particular age or country.
III. Here
so early
in the sacred books
is revealed the fact of the two opposing forces of right
and wrong. Take away the reality of this distinction
and the Bible and all
religion falls forever. Make its reality and importance felt in the soul of
man
and you have at once whereon to build. Righteousness is the word of words
throughout all Scripture. The righteousness which the Scriptures reveal is the
knowledge of a communion with God. When our earth has played its part in the
economy of the universe
and is seen by the few spheres which are within its
ken to pass away as a wandering fire
right and wrong will not have lost their
primeval significance
and the souls which have yearned and laboured for rest
in the home of spirits will find that rest in Him who was and is and is to be.
(A. Ainger
D. D.)
The tree of knowledge
The trial of Adam
like that of every other man
was whether he
would so fat” believe in God as to look for happiness in obedience to the
Divine command; or would seek that happiness elsewhere
and apply for it to
some forbidden object
of which the tree must have been an emblematical
representation. You will ask what that object was? And what information
as to
the knowledge of good and evil
Adam could receive from the prohibition? By
answering the last question
a way may
in some measure
perhaps
be opened for
an answer to the first. A due contemplation of the prohibition might naturally
suggest to the mind of our first parent the following important truths;
especially if we consider (as we must and ought to consider) that to him
under
the tuition of his Maker
all things necessary were explained and made clear
how obscure soever they may appear to us
forming a judgment of them from a
very concise narrative
couched in figurative language
at this distance of
time. Looking upon the tree of knowledge then
and recollecting the precept of
which it was the subject
Adam might learn
that God was the sovereign Lord of
all things: that the dominion vested in man over the creatures was by no means
a dominion absolute and independent: that without
and beside God
there was no
true and real good: that to desire anything without and beside Him was evil;
that no temporal worldly good
however fair and tempting its appearance
was to
be fixed upon by man as the source of his felicity: that the sole rule for shunning
or desiring things sensible
should be the will and word of God; and that good
and evil should be judged of by that standard alone: that the obedience
which
God would accept
must be paid with all the powers and affections of the mind
showing itself careful and prompt in even the least instance: that man was not
yet placed in a state of consummate and established bliss; but that such state
was by him to be earnestly expected
and incessantly desired: and that he must
take the way to it
marked and pointed out by God Himself. These particulars
seem to flow from the prohibition in an easy and natural train. And they lead
us to answer the other question; namely--What was the object represented by the
tree of knowledge? It was that object
on which man is prone to set his
affections
instead of placing them on a better; it was that object
which
in
every age
has been the great rival of the Almighty in the human heart; it was
that object
which
in one way or other
has always been “worshipped and served
rather than the Creator”; it was the creature
the world; and the grand trial
was
as it ever hath been
and ever will be
till the world shall cease to
exist
whether things visible
or things invisible
should obtain the
preference; whether man should walk “by sight
or by faith.” To know this
was
the knowledge of good and evil; and this knowledge came by the law of God
which said
“Thou shalt not covet.” Man’s wisdom consisted in the observance of
that law; but an enemy persuaded him to seek wisdom by transgressing it. He did
so
and had nothing left but to repent of his folly; a case that happens
among
his descendants
every day
and every hour. Let us
therefore
consider the
tree of knowledge
in this light
with respect to its nature
situation
design
qualities
effects
and the knowledge conferred by it. The fruit of
this tree was
to appearance
fair and pleasant; but
when tasted
it became
by the Divine appointment
the cause of death. Now
what is it
which
in the
eyes of all mankind
seems equally pleasing and alluring
but the end thereof
when coveted in opposition to the Divine command
proves to be death? It is the
world
with its pleasures and its glories
desired by its votaries
per fas
atque nefas
to the denial of God
and to their own destruction. The tree
of knowledge was situated in the midst of the garden
as was the tree of life.
They stood near together
but they stood in opposition. The Divine
dispensations are always best illustrated by each other. Under the gospel Jesus
Christ is the tree of life. What is it that opposes Him
and
notwithstanding
all that He has done
and suffered
and commanded
and promised
and
threatened
is continually
by its solicitations
being ever present and at
hand
seducing men into the path of death? Scripture and experience again join
in assuring us that it is the world. The tree of knowledge was designed to be
the test of Adam’s obedience
the subject matter of his trial. The world
with
its desirable objects
is the test of our obedience
the subject matter of our
trial
whether we will make it our chief good
or prefer the promise of God to
it. The apparent qualities of the forbidden tree are represented to have been
these. It seemed “good for food
and fair to the sight
and a tree to be desired
to make one wise.” It is remarkable that St. John
laying before us an
inventory of the world
and all that is in it
employs a division entirely
similar. “Love not the world
” says he
“neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world
the love of the Father is not in him. For all
that is in the world
the desire of the flesh
and the desire of the eyes
and
the pride of life
is not of the Father
but is of the world. And the world
passeth away
and the desire thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever.” Here is a picture of the fatal tree
full blown
with all its
temptations about it
drawn
by the pencil of truth
in its original and proper
colours. The expressions tally
to the minutest degree of exactness The “desire
of the flesh” answers to “good for food”; the “desire of the eyes” is parallel
with “fair to the sight”; and the “pride of life” corresponds with “a tree to
be desired to make one wise.” The opposition between this tree and the other is
strongly marked. “If any man love the world
the love of the Father is not in
him.” And
we are informed
that one leads to death
the other to life. “The
world passeth away
and the desire thereof; but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever.” Precisely conformable
in every circumstance
was the
threefold temptation of the second Adam. He was tempted to convert stones into
bread for food
to satisfy “the desire of the flesh.” Thus
whether we consider
the tree of knowledge as to its nature
its situation
its design
or its
qualities
it seems to have been a very apt and significant emblem of the
creature
or the world
with its delights and its glories
the objects opposed
in every age
to God and His Word. To reject the allurements of the former
and
obey the dictates of the latter
is the knowledge of good and evil
and the
true wisdom of man. So that the forbidden tree in paradise
when the Divine
intentions concerning it are explained from other parts of Scripture
teaches
the important lesson more than once inculcated by Solomon
and which was
likewise the result of holy Job’s inquiries; “Behold
the fear of the Lord
that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” (Bishop Horne.)
The tree of knowledge of good and evil
The tree of knowledge of good and evil was so called not merely as
a test for proving man
and showing whether he would choose the good or the
evil--nor
merely because by eating it he would come to know both good and
evil
and the evil so that he would know the good in the new light of contrast
with the evil. Both these were involved. But it was set also as a symbol of the
Divine knowledge to which man should not aspire
but to which he should submit
his own judgment and knowledge. The positive prohibition was to be a standing discipline
of the human reason
and a standing symbol of the limitation of religious
thought. Man was to have life
not by following out his own opinions and
counsels
but by faith and the unqualified submission of his intellect and will
to God
No reason is here given for this
except in the name of the tree
and
the nature of the penalty. God would not have him know evil. Sin was already an
invader of His universe in the fallen angels. Evil was
therefore
a reality.
Man was interdicted from that kind of knowledge which is evil
or
which
includes evil--because of itself in its own nature
it leads him to death. Thus
this is
therefore
not a mere arbitrary appointment. It has grounds in the
evident nature of things. Nor was the penalty denounced against the transgression
arbitrary. The disobedience was itself necessarily death. The curse could not
have been less than it was. The act itself was a disruption of the tie which
bound man to his Maker
and by which alone he could live. The knowledge of
evil
sadly enough
lay in the partaking of that tree. Man already had the
knowledge of good
and a moral sense of the eternal distinction between right
and wrong. But good and evil
in all their mutual bearings
he could not
presume to know by contact and experience as he aspired and claimed to know
them under the promise of Satan. We hear no more of this tree. It served its
purpose in the garden. We hear of the tree of life. The act of partaking was an
encroachment upon the Divine prerogative. This tree was set to be to man the
occasion of the highest Divine knowledge
in the training of his thoughts to
subjection
and in the contemplation of God’s prerogatives of knowledge. The
highest reason accords to God this claim--and renders the profoundest
submission of the human mind and will toGod--to His plan of Providence and
grace. So the renewed man cries out
“O the depth of the riches
both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God.” Christ crucified is the wisdom of God
and the
power of God
unto salvation. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Man was
prohibited from laying hold of this fruit that was held to be under the Divine
prerogative. And it is just at this point that Satan has always plied his most
artful and powerful temptation. And just here
in taking what is forbidden--and
in refusing all subjection and limitation of religious thought
man has always
fallen under the curse. “Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.”
This is the spirit of our fallen race
that in every age
keeps man out of
paradise. And this is the mark of Anti-Christ “sitting in the temple of God
showing (exhibiting) himself that he is God
” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Hence
also
cherubim--the angels of knowledge--are set with the “flaming sword to keep
(guard) the way of the tree of life” (chap. 3:24). This tree was also
as
Luther says
a sign for man’s worship dud reverent obedience of God
and so it
would represent the homage due to God’s word
as the revelation of God’s
truth--of His mind and will to men. (M. W.Jacobus.)
Significance of trees
To the thoughtful observer
perhaps
there is no more profound
object in nature than a tree. Its graceful figure
its wavy outlines
its
emerald hue
its variety of branches and twigs and leaves--illustrating
diversity in unity--its tinted and fragrant blossoms
its luscious fruit
its
exhibition of many of the wonderful phenomena of human life
such as birth
growth
respiration
absorption
circulation
sleep
sexuality
decay
death
reproduction: these are some of the particulars which make a tree the living
parable of man and of society
and
as such
perhaps the most interesting
object in the natural world. No wonder
then
that among all nations and in all
ages trees have had a peculiar fascination
and even sacredness for the
devoutly inclined. Witness the groves of the Hebrews
the symbol tree of the
Assyrian sculptures
the Dryads of Greece
the Druids of Britain
the Igdrasil
of the Norsemen. We need not be surprised
then
that on going back to nature’s
Eden we learn that paradise
rich in every element of beauty
was especially
rich in trees. Jehovah God caused to spring up in the Garden of Eden every tree
that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. But amid all this variety of
trees two stood forth in memorable conspicuousness
their very names having
come down to us through the oblivion of millenniums: one was the tree of life
in the midst of the garden; the other the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (G.
D.Boardman.)
The gold of that land is
good
Good gold
I. If men so
willed
GOLD MIGHT BE WON AND NO SOUL LOST. And therefore we must take care to
distinguish between gold and the thirst for gold. Gold is like the rest of
God’s gifts
a good thing or a bad thing
according to the use made of it. And
so it is no wonder that Scripture has recorded that near to paradise was a land
of gold. The land of Havilah may exist still; the fine gold and the bdellium
and the onyx stone may now lie buried deep beneath its surface
or perhaps may
yet be lying disregarded
like the treasures of California or Australia not
many years ago.
II. Be this as it
may
THERE IS ANOTHER LAND WHOSE GOLD IS GOOD
a land farther off than the far
West and the islands of the sea
and yet ever close at hand
approachable by
all
attainable by all
where no rust corrupts and no thieves break through and
steal. The gold of that other land is good
simply because
though the words
sound like a contradiction
it is not gold. It has been changed. In the world
above
that which stands for gold is more precious than gold itself
for even
gold cannot purchase it
though gold may serve it.
III. THE TREASURE
OF HEAVEN IS LOVE. Love is the true gold. All else will tarnish and canker and
eat into the souls of them that covet it; but Love never. It is bright and
precious here in this world; fraud cannot despoil us of it; force cannot rob us
of it; it is our only safe happiness here
and it is the only possession we can
carry with us into the world beyond the grave. (F. E.Paget
M. A.)
Fine gold
Money and money making are the most frequent and familiar subjects
of talk and thought. I remember once seeing an old merchant
at whose house I
was visiting
sitting by himself against the wall. The room was filled with
guests; music and dancing and merry laughter were all around; but there sat the
old man
taking no heed
with his head against the wall. Fearing he was ill
I
asked his son about him
and he answered--“He is only thinking about money; he
is always like that.”
I. Now
understand me at the beginning
there is no sin in having money
if it be
honestly come by and rightly used. What I want to do is to show you THE SIN AND
FOLLY OF THINKING TOO MUCH OF EARTHLY TREASURE
and too little of heavenly. An
emigrant ship was once wrecked on a desert island. The people were saved
but
they had few provisions
and it was necessary to make haste to clear and till
the ground and sow seed. Before this could be done they discovered gold on the
island
and everyone gave himself up to the search for wealth. Meantime
the
season slipped by
the fields were left untilled
and the people found
themselves starving in the midst of useless treasure. There are people now who
starve their soul and conscience that they may acquire a little more gold and
silver.
1. One reason why we are wrong in thinking too highly of earthly
wealth is
that the obtaining it is a very uncertain and difficult thing. Where
one man grows rich
hundreds are ruined.
2. Another reason for not thinking too highly of earthly wealth is
that it is soon gone.
3. We should not overvalue earthly wealth
because it does not make
people happy. A golden crown will not cure the headache
or a velvet slipper
give ease from the gout. Sometimes
indeed
wealth has made people altogether
miserable. There was a miser
worth thousands of pounds annually
who firmly
believed that he must die in the workhouse
and actually worked daily in a
garden and made one of his own servants pay him wages.
4. Excessive love of money is to be avoided
because it often keeps
us back from God.
II. I pass on to
speak of BETTER RICHES THAN THIS WORLD CAN GIVE
riches which all may have if
they will
which will make the poorest wealthy. “The gold of that land is
good.” Earthly gold is often alloyed with base metal
but the gold of God is
pure. Earthly gold is only for the few; the gold of God is for all who desire
it. Earthly gold soon passes away; the gold of God lasts forever. Earthly gold
must be left at the grave; the gold of God becomes even more precious after
death than before. Earthly gold cannot satisfy; the gold of God brings perfect
peace and satisfaction.
1. Tim love of God--Father
Son
and Holy Spirit.
2. The precious promises of the gospel.
The wonderful gold
Everyone knows what gold is. The land here spoken of was called
“the land of Havilah.” This was a country far away in Asia
near the garden of
Eden
in which God put our first parents when they were created. What a
blessed
happy place it must have been! Who would not like to have lived there?
And there was gold
too
in Eden; yes
and “the gold of that land was good.”
Now
we never can enter that garden. But there is a better one than that
which
we may enter. The garden in which Adam first lived
and which we call Eden
or
Paradise
was the figure or image of heaven. And many of the very same things
will be found in this heavenly paradise which were in the earthly paradise. The
gold of heaven means the grace of God. And
if anybody wants me to prove this
it is easy enough to do so. Jesus Himself speaks of His grace as gold
when He
says
“I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire
that thou mayest be
rich” (Revelation 3:18). “Gold tried in the fire”
here means the grace of God. And so
if we take “the land of Havilah” spoken of
in our text as representing heaven
and if we take the gold of heaven as
representing the grace of God
then we may very well point up to heaven and
say
“The gold of that land is good.” There are three things about this gold
which show that it is wonderful. And these three things are all connected with
the word getting.
I. THE WAY OF
GETTING this gold is wonderful.
1. People sometimes have to go a great distance in order to get
earthly gold. When the gold mines in California were first discovered
there
was a great rush of people from all parts of this country
who wanted to go out
there and get gold. Some went by sea
all the way round Cape Horn. That was a
long
cold
stormy
disagreeable
and dangerous voyage to take. But they were
going for gold
and they cared nothing for the length of the journey they had
to take ill getting it. Other people went in waggers
or on foot
across the
country. Some had more than two thousand miles’ distance to go. What a long way
that is to travel! But they were going for gold
and that made them willing.
But the wonderful thing about the heavenly gold is
that no long journey is
necessary in order to get it. It is not stored up
like earthly gold
in mines
which can only be found in particular places. It is to be found in all
countries. It may be had in all places. The church is a good place in which to
seek it. So is the Sunday school. So is the room in which you sleep at night.
2. But
besides going a great distance
men often have to meet great
dangers before they can get the earthly gold they are seeking. Some of those
people who went round by sea to California to get gold met with terrible
storms. Some of them were shipwrecked
and lost their lives on the way. And
those who went by land met with great dangers too. Some of them lost their way
in the desert plains which they had to travel over. Some got out of provisions
and suffered dreadfully from hunger and thirst. Some were robbed by the
Indians. But there is no exposure to danger in seeking the heavenly gold. At
home
among those who love you best
you may seek it and find it. And no one
can hinder or hurt you in doing this.
3. In getting earthly gold men not only have to go a great distance
and meet great dangers
but often they have to pay a great price to get it.
Gehazi
the servant of Elisha
lost his situation with that good master; he
lost his health too
and became a miserable leper all his days
whom no one
could cure
in order to get a little gold. That was a great price to pay for
it. Judas Iscariot sold his Master for a little money. Oh
what a tremendous
price that was to pay for it! Benedict Arnold sold his country for a poor
paltry sum of gold. Some men are willing to pay any price for earthly gold.
Look at the whalers. They are willing to go from home for two or three years at
a time. They will sail up into the cold and stormy North Sea
or Frozen Ocean.
They will run the risk of being crushed to death between jarring icebergs; or
of being frozen up in the north all winter; they will meet with all sorts of
trials and hardships in order to get a little gold. This is the great price
they are willing to pay for it. But nothing of this kind is necessary in order
to get the heavenly gold. Jesus counsels us to buy this gold of Him. He is the
only one from whom it can be had. But the way in which Jesus sells this gold is
very wonderful. He tells us to “come
and buy wine and milk
without money and
without price” (Isaiah 55:1). The “wine and milk” spoken
of in one of these passages
and the “gold” spoken of in the other
all mean
the same thing. They refer to the grace of God. Jesus sells this “without money
and without price.” This means that He lets poor sinners
such as we are
have
it free.
II. The second
thing that is wonderful about it is THE DESIRE OF GETTING IT. The desire to get
earthly gold often has a wonderfully bad effect; but the desire to get the
heavenly gold has a wonderfully good effect. Let us see now what a bad effect
the desire to get earthly gold often has on people.
St. Paul calls this desire “the love of money”; and he says it is
“the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). The desire to get
this gold has led men to cheat
and to lie
and to steal
and to murder
and to
commit all kinds of wickedness. Some time ago
as many will remember
there was
a horrible murder committed just outside Philadelphia. A poor
wretched German
whose name was Probst
enticed a whole family into the barn
and murdered them
one by one
even down to the innocent little babe in the cradle. He was not
angry with them. He had no quarrel with them. The only thing that led him on to
do that dreadful deed was the desire for gold--“the love of money.” And most of
the horrible murders committed inthe world are caused by this same desire. When
the Spaniards discovered the country of Mexico
in South America
they sent an
army
under a general
whose name was Cortez
to conquer the country. The
principal motive of those Spanish soldiers
in trying to conquer the country
was a desire to get gold. They expected to find gold so plentiful in the city of
Mexico
that there would be more than they would want
or more than they could
carry away. The Mexicans defended their city as long as they could
like brave
men. When they found that it was impossible to defend it any longer
they took
the great treasures of gold that were in their city
and threw them into the
lake on which the city stood. They knew that gold was the chief thing the
Spaniards desired
and they wanted to leave as little for them to get as
possible. The Spaniards took the city
but were sorely disappointed to find so
little gold there. They knew that the Mexicans had put it away somewhere. They
tried to persuade them to tell where they had hid their treasures. But the
Mexicans would not toll. Then the Spaniards tortured them in order to make them
tell. The Emperor of Mexico then was a truly brave and noble man. The miserable
Cortez became very angry with him
because he would not tell where the treasure
was. So he ordered a huge gridiron to be made. He had this brave emperor
fastened to it with a chain. Then he had a fire kindled under it
and roasted
him alive in the most cruel and lingering manner. How horrible to think of!
There you see the bad effect of the desire of earthly gold. But very different
results follow from the desire to get the heavenly gold of which we are
speaking. Wonderful good results from this
as wonderful evil results from the
other. The love of earthly gold is the root of all evil. The love of heavenly
gold is the root of all good. It corrects everything that is wrong
and leads
to everything that is right. It makes the heart new
and the thoughts new
and
the feelings new
and the tempers new; and everything about it makes holy and
good.
III. The third
thing about this gold that is wonderful is THE RESULT OF GETTING IT. The result
of getting earthly gold is wonderfully bad; but the result of getting the
heavenly gold is wonderfully good. When St. Paul would show us the bad result
that often follows to people from getting earthly gold
he says
it “drowns men
in destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9). Some years ago there
was a person
in a village in England
who was a collector for a Bible Society.
He had a list of the names of a number of persons in the village who were
subscribers to the Bible cause
and once a year he used to go round and collect
their subscriptions. Among these names was that of a poor widow woman
who
supported herself by washing. She was about the poorest person whose name he
had on his list
and yet she was one of the most liberal
For a long time she
had been in the habit of giving a guinea a year to the Bible Society. But one
year a rich relation of this poor washer woman died
and left a large fortune
to her. She still lived in the same village; but her humble little cottage had
been exchanged for one of the largest and finest houses in the village. After a
while the time came for the Bible collector to go round and gather up his
subscriptions. He knew about the change which had taken place in the
circumstances of her whom he had long known as the poor washer woman. And as he
went to call on her at her new house he said to himself
“I shall get a fine
largo subscription from this good woman. For if
when she was a poor washer
woman
and had to work hard for her living
she could give a guinea a year
how
much more will she be sure to give now
when she lives in so large a house
and
is so well off?” So he rang the bell; and was ushered into the handsome
parlour
where he met his old friend and subscriber. He said he was glad to
hear of the pleasant change which had taken place in her circumstances
and
then stated that he came once more for her subscription to that best of all
books--the Bible. She opened her purse and handed him a shilling! He looked at
it with astonishment. Then he said
“My good friend
what does this mean? I
can’t understand it. When you were a poor woman and lived on your own labour
you always gave a guinea a year to the Bible Society; and now
when you are so
well off
can it be possible that you intend to give only a shilling?” “Yes
”
she said
“that’s all I am willing to give now. I feel very differently about
these things from what I used to do. When I was really a poor woman I gladly
gave away whatever money I could spare
for I never felt afraid of being poorer
than I then was. But now the fear of being poor haunts me like a ghost
and
makes me all the time unwilling to spend any money
or give it away. The truth
is
” she continued
“when I only had the shilling means
I had the guinea
heart; but now
when I have the guinea means
I find that I only have the
shilling heart.” Here we see the evil that resulted to this person from getting
gold. It froze all her kind feelings
and shrunk up her large and liberal heart
into a tiny little selfish one. She was a rich woman when she was very poor
but a poor woman when she became very rich. But the heavenly gold is very
different from this. It is wonderful gold
because of the good it always does
to those who get it. (R. Newton
D. D.)
Verse 15
To dress it and to keep it
Observations
I.
EVERY
SON OF ADAM IS BOUND TO SOME EMPLOYMENT OR OTHER IN A PARTICULAR CALLING. This
ordinance of God concerning man’s labour (as are all the rest of His laws) is
both equal and good.
1. That men might exercise their love to the creatures
wherein they
some ways resemble God Himself.
2. That they might have some title
in equity
to the use of the
creature
which they preserve by their labour.
3. That by busying themselves about the creatures
they might the
better observe God in His various works in and by them; that so they might
yield Him His due honour
and quicken their hearts to more cheerfulness in His
service
and settle them in a faithful dependence upon Him.
4. That their employments about the creatures might keep their
hearts both from vain and idle thoughts
and from swelling with the
apprehension of their lordship and sovereignty over them.
5. That the body of man being exercised as well as his mind
might
at present be the better preserved in health
and hereafter be partakers of
eternal glory
having been used as an instrument for God’s service.
II. MEN’S CALLINGS
AND EMPLOYMENTS ARE BY GOD’S OWN APPOINTMENT. Let every man then in his calling
so carry himself as God’s servant:
1. Undertaking it by His warrant
either by public or private
direction
or by bestowing on us abilities for the employment
or by presenting
opportunities outwardly
or moving us inwardly
by strong
constant
and
regular inclinations thereunto.
2. Walking in it with fear
fidelity
and cheerfulness (Ephesians 6:6-8).
3. Guiding himself by the rule of God’s Word directing him
either
by particular precepts or by general rules.
4. Aiming therein at the right end
seeking not so much our good as
the good of community.
5. And abiding therein till God Himself discharge him (2 Corinthians 7:20)--either
III. DUTY
AND NOT
GAIN TO OURSELVES
IS
OR SHOULD BE
THE GROUND AND SCOPE OF THE UNDERTAKING OF
ALL OUR PARTICULAR CALLINGS. This duty we owe--
1. To God
whose we are
and to whom we must be accountable for all
that we do; whence the apostle requires every man to continue in his place
because he is called of God (1 Corinthians 7:20)
as being
therein the servants of God or Christ (Ephesians 6:7).
2. To men
serving one another through love
labouring not so much
what is good to ourselves as what is good generally to others with ourselves Ephesians 4:28)
not seeking our own
but
the profit of many (1 Corinthians 10:33).
IV. MAN’S LABOURS
ALTHOUGH THEY BE A MEANS OF PRESERVING THE CREATURES
YET THE BENEFIT OF THEM
REDOUNDS AT LAST UNTO THEMSELVES. The plants and trees that are preserved and
propagated by our labours are either our food or medicine
or serviceable to us
for building; we clothe ourselves with the fleece of those flocks that we store
up provision for
have the benefit of the labour of those oxen that we feed and
cheer our hearts with the wine of those vines that we plant. God hath indeed
been pleased to order it--
1. Because He hath made the creatures for our service.
2. That He might the more encourage us unto those services
whereof
ourselves are to receive the fruit.
V. MAN’S
EMPLOYMENT OUGHT ESPECIALLY TO BE IN THOSE PLACES
AND LABOUR WHERE IT IS MOST
NEEDED
AND MAY BRING MOST BENEFIT.
VI. THE LABOUR OF
MAN MAKES NOTHING AT ALL
BUT ONLY BY HIS HUSBANDRY CHERISHETH AND ORDERETH
THAT WHICH IS ALREADY MADE.
1. God provides all the materials whereof we make use in our
employments
as the soil
the seed
the rain
and influence of the heavens that
cherish it; the timber
the stones
the metals
the wool
the flax
and the
like.
2. The abilities by which they have strength to produce those
effects are merely from God.
3. The understanding and wisdom by which men discern the natures and
abilities of the creatures and their uses
for which
by well ordering and
disposing of them
they may be made serviceable; that also is wholly from Isaiah 28:26).
4. The success and effect of the labour which we bestow is the fruit
of this blessing (Genesis 26:12; Psalms 65:10). So that it is God alone
that doth all in all; and man in effect doth nothing but make use of such means
as God both prepares to his hand and works by to produce the desired effect.
Let it then pluck down the pride of all our hearts
who are so apt to rejoice
in the works of our own hands
not as in the fruits of God’s blessing
but as
in the effects of our own endeavours; and let it check our vain and dangerous
confidence
which makes us trust in our own wisdom and power
and burn incense
to our own net and yarn
that we may ascribe the success of all our labours
about the things of this life unto God alone
who is indeed pleased to make use
of our heads and hands in the conservation of His creatures; but--
1. Rather to keep us doing than because He needs our help.
2. That finding by experience how little our labours work to the
producing of any effect
we might rejoice in Him who worketh all things by His
mighty power and not in ourselves.
3. And thereupon might be taught to depend upon Him and serve Him;
when we observe the success of our labours to be the effect of His power
and
not of any ability of ours.
4. To abase and humble us
in busying ourselves about the service
even of those creatures that He hath put under our feet; all which He hath
ordained only for a short time
whereas hereafter all men’s labours
as well as
all other means
shall cease with the use of those creatures which are
supported by them; and God shall be all in all. (J. White
M. A.)
Man’s work in the garden
Having prepared the garden
the Lord God took the man and placed
him in it
that he might till it and keep it. It was made for him
and he for
it
as the body is made for the soul
and the soul for the body. It was
fruitful beyond anything we now know of
yet it was not so fruitful as to make
any kind of care or cultivation needless. It was so fruitful as to occasion no
toil nor weariness to the cultivator
yet not so fruitful as not to afford
occasion to man’s skill and watchfulness. No amount of skill or toil now can
call up beauty
or verdure
or fruit
beyond a certain narrow limit; for man
has to do with a rugged soil. But in Adam’s case the ground easily and gladly
yielded its substance without limit to the most gentle toil. Nay
it was not
toil; it was simple
pleasant occupation. No doubt the amount and kind of its
actual fruit bearing was to depend upon himself; he was to regulate this
according to his wants and tastes; but still the fruit-bearing source was in
the soil
imparted directly by the hand of God--that all-quickening
all-fertilizing Spirit that brooded over the face of the deep. Afterwards that
Spirit was grieved away from the soil by man’s sin; but at first His power was
most signally manifested in its fruitful richness. Man was lord of the soil
and of all that trod it or grew on it
and his daily employments were to
manifest his dominion--not dominion over a rebellious earth
needing to be
curbed or scourged into obedience
but a dominion over a willing world
that
stood eagerly awaiting his commands. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
Exhortation to industry
If God have called you
as He called Adam
to till the ground
let
your weedless field give evidence that Industry has holden the plough and the
hoe in her hands. If He have called you to ply the instruments of the artizan
let your shop be musical the livelong day with the clicking of your tools. If
He have called you to the pursuit of trade
let your well-arranged commodities
and punctual fulfillments testify that you are not slothful in business (Romans 12:11). If He have called you to
the quest of knowledge
let your well-thumbed books attest that Diligence has
reigned in your study. If He have called you to the wifely duties of the
matron
look well to the ways of thy household
and eat not the bread of
idleness (Proverbs 31:27). Take care lest thy
garden degenerate into the sluggard’s field
grown up with nettles
covered
with brambles
breached with broken walls
poverty prowling around thy
dwelling
thy wants leaping upon thee as armed men (Proverbs 24:30-34). In brief
whatever be
the occupation to which the Providence of God has called thee
pursue it with
enthusiasm
doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus
giving thanks to God the
Father through Him (Colossians 3:17). (G. D.Boardman.)
Cyrus a gardener
When Lysander
the Lacedaemonian general
brought magnificent
presents to Cyrus
the younger son of Darius
who piqued himself more on his
integrity and politeness than on his rank and birth
the prince conducted his
illustrious guest through his gardens
and pointed out to him their varied
beauties. Lysander
struck with so fine a prospect
praised the manner in which
the grounds were laid out
the neatness of the walks
the abundance of fruits
planted with an art which knew how to combine the useful with the agreeable
the beauty of the parterres
and the glowing variety of flowers
exhaling
odours universally throughout the delightful scene. “Everything charms and
transports me in this place
” said Lysander to Cyrus; “but what strikes me most
is the exquisite taste and elegant industry of the person who drew the plan of
these gardens
and gave it the fine order
wonderful disposition
and happiness
of arrangement which I cannot sufficiently admire.” Cyrus replied
“it was I
that drew the plan and entirely marked it out; and many of the trees which you
see were planted by my own hands.” “What!” exclaimed Lysander
with surprise
and viewing Cyrus from head to foot
“is it possible that
with those purple robes
and splendid vestments
those strings of jewels and bracelets of gold
those
buskins so richly embroidered; is it possible that you could play the gardener
and employ your royal hands in planting trees?” “Does that surprise you?” said
Cyrus; “I assure you that
when my health permits
I never sit down to my table
without having fatigued myself
either in military exercise
rural labour
or
some other occupation.”
Verse 16-17
In the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.
The fall of man
These words were fulfilled at the time they were spoken; they have
been fulfilled ceaselessly thereafter. We live in a universe of death. The
phenomenon is common to us
but no familiarity can rob it of its dreadfulness;
for the dead
who are the more in number
have kept their awful secret
unrevealed
and the child who died yesterday knows more than can be guessed at
by the thousand millions of living men. Yet this death is the least and the
least dreaded part of that other
that second
that spiritual death which God
meant in the warning of the text.
1. Notice first the certainty of that death. Let us learn to be
early undeceived about the tempter’s falsehood
“Ye shall not surely die.” If a
man will serve his sin
let him at least reckon upon this
that in one way or
other it will be ill with him; his sin will find him out: his path will be
hard; there will be to him no peace. The night of concealment may be long
but
dawn comes like the Erinnys to reveal and avenge its crimes.
2. Not only is this punishment inevitable
but it is natural; not
miraculous
but ordinary; not sudden
but gradual; not accidental
but
necessary; not exceptional
but invariable. Retribution is the impersonal
evolution of an established law.
3. Retribution takes the form which of all others the sinner would
passionately deprecate
for it is homogeneous with the sins on whose practice
it ensues. In lieu of death God offers us His gift of eternal life. While yet
we live
while yet we hear the words of invitation
the door is not shut
and
we may pass to it by the narrow way. To Eve was given the dim promise that her
seed should bruise the serpent’s head; for us Christ has trampled sin and Satan
under His feet. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
In what does man’s death as a sinner consist?
I. THE EMPHASIS
EXPRESSED IN THE TEXT. Literally
“Dying thou shalt die.” Intensity
rather
than certainty.
1. Death
as a dissolution
may be a natural event.
2. Sin gives this dissolution its terrible significance.
II. THE TIME
SPECIFIED IN THE TEXT. Adam did die on the day he sinned. Such a change took
place
not merely in his physical condition
but in his mind and heart--so much
remorse and foreboding
so many dark thoughts about his dissolution--that he
died: his innocency died
his hopes died
his peace died. Conclusion: This view
of the subject--
1. Serves to reconcile science and revelation.
2. Serves to explain many ambiguous passages. “The wages of sin is death.”
“To be carnally minded is death.” “Christ hath abolished death.”
3. Serves to show the value of the gospel. (Homilist.)
Will God punish sin?
I. Who can doubt
it
who listens to the voice of reason and of Scripture?
II. The political
history of the world bears equally positive testimony.
III. The history of
the Church itself furnishes a solemn and affecting answer to the question.
IV. The human
conscience bears no doubtful testimony on this subject.
V. The Holy
Scriptures answer our question with solemn and startling emphasis. They reveal
a holy God
hating all iniquity
and pledged by every attribute of His being
and by every principle of His government
to oppose
subdue
punish
and hedge
up the way of sin. (J. M. Sherwood
D. D.)
The forbidden tree
I. THE LARGE AND
BOUNTIFUL PROVISION WHICH GOD MADE FOR THE HAPPINESS OF MAN. It is this which
leaves our first parents without excuse. There was but one forbidden tree.
II. THE TRIAL OF
MAN’S OBEDIENCE. The having some command which we can break is evidently
essential to our first notions of moral accountableness; but further than this
the restriction placed upon our first parents seems not intended to go. You
will observe
from its terms
that it interfered with no one form of rational
enjoyment; it left no one of man’s mental appetencies ungratified; it involved
neither pain
nor effort
nor self-denial
nor cost; it was just an
acknowledgment which God required from man of his submission; it was
in fact
a mere nominal quit rent
which he had to pay to the great Landlord of the
universe
for having an estate worthy of an angel. With regard to the manner in
which all this mental and moral confusion could be connected with the mere
gratification of the bodily appetite
it is not wise to speculate. Analogies
are not wanting to show to us how the fruits of the earth may be converted into
a moral as well as a material poison. We have heard of those who are said to
“dig their graves with their teeth”; of those who for a mess of pottage would
sell the birthright of immortality; of those who put a thief into their heads
to steal away reason
reflection
thought
ay
their very hopes of heaven; and
it may have been so with regard to “the tree of knowledge.”
III. THE THREATENED
PENALTIES OF DISOBEDIENCE. Where you may first notice the terms of the
sentence
in respect to time. “In the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt
surely die.” Some persons see a difficulty in this passage
because the
sentence of death was not executed upon the day of transgression; but this
arises from overlooking the exact import of the Hebrew words used
which would
fairly admit of being rendered as referring not to the actual infliction of
death
so much as subjecting man to the liability to die. It imports
that he
should from that moment become mortal
that there should be the beginnings and
seeds of dissolution incorporated with his very being
from the time he tasted
of that tree. This rendering will receive some elucidation
if you look at the
marginal rendering which is proposed. You will observe
it is there said
“dying
thou shalt die.” Now
this is a common Hebraism for some continuous and
gradually accomplished act. And therefore the import of the words is
that from
the moment this tree was tasted
there should be the beginnings of a death
which should reach to all his posterity. The same continuousness of action
applies to a former part of the verse; for there too
you observe
the same
marginal reference is given. It is said
“eating
thou shalt eat
” just as here
it is said
“dying
thou shalt die”; and therefore the two expressions may be
interpreted alike--the one as saying
“Eating
thou shalt eat
” or
“This tree
shall be for thy perpetual life
” the other as saying
“Dying
thou shalt die
”
or
“The taste of this tree shall be for thy perpetual death.” Let us close
with two reflections.
1. The history we have been contemplating should impress us with a
sense of the transcendent evil of sin. The fruit
as it hung in all its
seductive and inviting clusters
was a type of all the evil that is to be found
in the world. It was pleasing to the eye
it was exciting to the appetite
it
was easy to grasp
and
if the eye of God would but slumber
it might be
partaken of unobserved. But what were its immediate effects? Disease
mortality
loss of paradise
tormenting fears
the shunning of-the very
presence of God. And such is sin now
and such do they who have entered upon
its courses know to be its consequences.
2. Then
once more
this history should fill us with gratitude for
the greatness of our deliverance through Christ. If we would know the infinite
evil of sin
if we would be inspired with a holy aversion from its contact
if
we would be won to love and gratitude to the Father of our spirits
we must go
and gaze with the eye of faith on the wonders of the cross. (D. Moore
M. A.)
God’s command
This is a pregnant sentence. It involves the first principles of
our intellectual and moral philosophy.
I. THE COMMAND
HERE GIVEN IN WORDS BRINGS INTO ACTIVITY THE INTELLECTUAL NATURE OF MAN. First
the power of understanding language is called forth. This is the passive lesson
of elocution; the practice
the active lesson will speedily follow. Not only
the secondary part
however
but at the same time the primary and fundamental
part of man’s intellectual nature is here developed. The understanding of the
sign necessarily implies the knowledge of the thing signified. The objective is
represented here by the “trees of the garden.” The subjective comes before his
mind in the pronoun “thou.” The physical constitution of man appears in the
process of “eating.” The moral part of his nature comes out in the significance
of the words “mayest” and “shalt not.” The distinction of merit in actions and
things is expressed in the epithets “good and evil.” The notion of reward is
conveyed in the terms “life” and “death.” And lastly
the presence and
authority of “the Lord God” is implied in the very nature of a command. Thus
the susceptible part of man’s intellect is evoked. The conceptive part will
speedily follow and display itself in the many inventions that will be sought
out and applied to the objects which are placed at his disposal.
II. THE MORAL PART
OF MAN’S NATURE IS HERE CALLED INTO PLAY.
1. Mark God’s mode of teaching. He issues a command. This is
required in order to bring forth into consciousness the hitherto latent
sensibility to moral obligation which was laid in the original constitution of
man’s being.
2. The special mandate here given is not arbitrary in its form
as
is sometimes hastily supposed
but absolutely essential to the legal adjustment
of things in this new stage of creation. Antecedent to the behest of the
Creator
the only indefeasible right to all the creatures lay in Himself. These
creatures may be related to one another. In the great system of things
through
the wonderful wisdom of the grand Designer
the use of some may be needful to
the well-being
the development
and perpetuation of others. Nevertheless no
one has a shadow of right in the original nature of things to the use of any
other. And when a moral agent comes upon the stage of being
in order to mark
out the sphere of his legitimate action
an explicit declaration of the rights
over other creatures granted and reserved must be made. The very issue of the
command proclaims man’s original right of property to be not inherent but
derived. As might be expected in these circumstances
the command has two
clauses
a permissive and a prohibitive.
3. The prohibitory part of this enactment is not a matter of
indifference
as is sometimes imagined
but indispensable to the nature of a
command
and
in particular
of a permissive act or declaration of granted
rights.
4. That which is here made the matter of reserve and so the test of
obedience
is so far from being trivial or out of place
as has been imagined
that it is the proper and the only object immediately available for these
purposes. The immediate want of man is food. The kind of food primarily
designed for him is the fruit of trees.
5. We are now prepared to understand why this tree is called the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The prohibition of this tree brings man
to the knowledge of good and evil. The products of creative power were all very
Genesis 1:31). Even this tree itself is
good
and productive of unspeakable good in the first instance to man. The
discernment of merit comes up in his mind by this tree. Obedience to the
command of God not to partake of this tree is a moral good. Disobedience to God
by partaking of it is a moral evil.
6. In the day of thy eating thereof
die surely shalt thou. The
Divine command is accompanied with its awful sanction
death. The man could not
at this time have any practical knowledge of the physical dissolution called
death. We must
therefore
suppose either that God made him preternaturally
acquainted with it
or that He conveyed to him the knowledge of it simply as
the negation of life. Probably the latter.
III. MAN HAS HERE
EVIDENTLY BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH HIS MAKER. On the hearing and understanding of
this sentence at least
if not before
he has arrived at the knowledge of God
as existing
thinking
speaking
permitting
commanding
and thereby exercising
all the prerogatives of that absolute authority over men and things which
creation alone can give. If we were to draw all this out into distinct
propositions
we should find that man was here furnished with a whole system of
theology
ethics
and metaphysics
in a brief sentence. (Prof. J. G. Murphy.)
The first covenant
I. When we use
the word covenant to describe a revelation
which sounds more like a bare
command
we mean to imply that this earliest transaction between God and man is
marked by the same characteristics which we can trace throughout God’s later
dispensations; that it does not rest the claim of obedience on the naked
prerogative of unquestionable power
but connects it with the offer of an
explicit alternative for the decision of freewill; accompanied by the promise
of a blessing for obedience
and by the threat of punishment for disobedience.
We thus bring it into direct comparison with the general tenor of God’s later
covenants: “Behold
I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.” “See
I
have set before thee this day life and good
and death and evil.” A covenant
then
stands by its very nature between two other conceptions
each of which
falls short of the full import of God’s dealings with man. It is more than a
mere ordinance
or a mere command
such as might have been imposed without
reason
and enforced without reward. On the other hand
it is more than that
expression of God’s law which He wrote on man’s heart in his very creation
and
the traces of which we retain in the authority of conscience.
II. We have next
to ask the meaning of the precept which that covenant contained; a precept
which sometimes seems so strange and arbitrary: which some interpretations
indeed
describe as really strange and arbitrary; namely
that while freely
indulged in every other earthly blessing
man was forbidden to eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. What is the right interpretation of those
words? The following seems to be the meaning of Scripture in its disclosures on
this earliest covenant. When man had been created after the image of God
there
were two of the Divine attributes
his admission to which was limited by
positive laws. These higher endowments were Immortality and Knowledge. To these
the two trees which were planted in the midst of the garden bore a certain
correspondence; that of life he might use
that of knowledge be might not. To
have enjoyed free access to both from the beginning would have raised him above
the rank which was suited to a being who was as yet so utterly untried. Therefore
the one fruit was unconditionally forbidden
while the other fruit was
conditionally allowed. When man disobeyed
and tasted of the prohibited tree of
knowledge
the command was readjusted to meet the case of his sin. The tree of
knowledge had now been tasted: the tree of life was therefore withdrawn. (Archdeacon
Hannah.)
The knowledge of good and evil
“The knowledge of good and evil.” Now to understand this
expression thoroughly
we must distinguish it very clearly
in the first place
from other kinds of knowledge which were not forbidden: and in the second
place
from such a knowledge
even of good and evil
as could manifestly be
possessed without sin.
1. As to the first of these points
we might at first be disposed to
wonder how knowledge could be
in any form
the one gift which God denied; how
the special test of man’s obedience could be placed in his abstinence from what
would bring him knowledge
and so open his eyes more fully
as it seemed
to
the true nature of the path that lay before him. To this difficulty the obvious
answer would be
that when man was forbidden to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil
the injunction certainly did not imply that every
kind of knowledge was withheld.
2. It is also clear that there is a knowledge of good and evil
which can be possessed
if it cannot be directly sought for
without sin. From
these two considerations we establish
first
that the precept of this earliest
covenant would debar man from some kind of knowledge
without excluding him
from all knowledge; and secondly
that even when it withheld the knowledge of
good and evil
there was still some knowledge which might be described by those
same words
yet which could not have been forbidden by them
because its
presence was implied in the mere form of the command. The first of these
remarks suggests
that we may confine our present inquiry entirely to what is
specially called moral knowledge: i.e.
the knowledge of moral acts or
habits
so far as they are permitted or condemned: knowledge of the right
whether regarded as law
or precept
or command: in combination with knowledge
of that transgression of the right
which may be diversely regarded as crime
or vice
or sin. Further
the second remark suggests
that this moral knowledge
was not so much forbidden in itself
which would have been impossible in the
ease of a being endowed with both a moral and an intellectual nature; but
forbidden under certain circumstances
and at a certain time.
By the help of these two positions we may gain
I think
a more
close and accurate conception of that acquirement which the fruit of the tree
of knowledge would convey.
1. First it would have been barren knowledge. It would have given
man a theory
when he needed a rule: it would have lighted up his mind to
debate about his duty
when at present his sole work was
to do his duty as the
will of God. Precisely so our moral sciences teaches
that in morality
bare
theory can never be safely carried far in advance of practice; and that the
safe road to moral wisdom lies
not through a familiarity with intellectual
systems
but through the ready obedience of the heart.
2. That this knowledge would have been barren
then
is enough to
establish the mercy and wisdom of God’s first injunction. But we can go
further: we can show that it would have been not less dangerous than useless.
Such a knowledge of good and evil would reveal to Adam the grounds of sin
the
sources of temptation
etc. Hence
shame was the immediate result of that
knowledge. The instant appearance of that feeling showed
that man now for the
first time knew his capacities
tendencies
and opportunities for sin. (Archdeacon
Hannah.)
Observations
I. THE MOST
RIGHTEOUS AMONGST THE SONS OF MEN
MUST AND NEEDS TO LIVE UNDER A LAW.
1. For direction
for man is unfit to chose his own way
being
through his ignorance so apt to mistake evil for good: neither is any able to
find out what is truly good but God alone
who is goodness itself; and His will
the rule of goodness which none can find out or reveal but Himself (1 Corinthians 2:11).
2. It is needful that by conforming to the law given us by God
we
may testify our obedience and subjection unto Him; withal acknowledging and
witnessing to the world
that we account His will in all things to be most
just
which we take unto ourselves as the rule of our actions.
II. THE WILL OF
GOD IS THAT ONLY
WHICH MAN IS TO LOOK UPON AND TAKE FOR HIS RULE TO GUIDE
HIMSELF BY IN ALL HIS WAYS.
1. That by that means we may acknowledge God’s absolute sovereignty
when all things are done upon no other ground but because God will have it so.
2. Because nothing is infallibly good or holy but His will
as
Himself is good and righteous
and there is no iniquity in Him (Deuteronomy 32:4)
seeing nothing is fit
to be the rule of other things but that which is in itself certain and
unchangeable.
III. GOD IS PLEASED
NOT ONLY TO GIVE A LAW TO DIRECT US
BUT TO FURNISH US WITH ALL NEEDFUL MEANS
TO FURTHER US IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE DUTIES REQUIRED THEREIN. And this He
doth
partly
to manifest the sincerity of His affection towards us
in
desiring our salvation; and partly
to justify Himself in the condemnation of
those that refuse so great salvation so many ways tendered unto them
and so
obstinately refused. Let us
then
make use of such helps and means as God is
pleased to offer unto us
as being assured that He really intends what He so
many ways labours to draw us to embrace; and
secondly
as having need of such
helps to support us; and
thirdly
being liable to the greater Condemnation
by
despising and rejecting them.
IV. THE MATTERS IN
WHICH GOD DELIGHTS TO TRY OUR OBEDIENCE ARE MANY TIMES IN THEMSELVES OF NO
GREAT IMPORTANCE.
1. To manifest our total subjection unto Him
when we are limited
even in the smallest things.
2. To show us that it is only obedience and conformity to His will
that God respects
and not She matter or substance of the thing itself in which
He requires it.
3. To make our yoke the more easy
that we might be the more
encouraged to obedience.
V. OUR ABUNDANCE
AND DELIGHTS
AND PLEASURES MUST BE USED IN FEAR AND WITHIN THE LIMITS OF
OBEDIENCE.
VI. DISOBEDIENCE
IS A FEARFUL SIN IN GOD’S ACCOUNT. And that especially because it is directed
against the majesty of God Himself
whose authority is slighted and despised
when His laws and commandments are disobeyed. And
secondly
it opens a gap to
all manner of looseness and disorder; nature knows no stay when it hath once
passed the bounds of obedience
no more than a violent stream doth
when it
hath once broken over those banks that before kept it in.
VII. THE TERRORS OF
THE LAW ARE USEFUL AND NEEDFUL
EVEN UNTO THE BEST AMONGST THE SONS OF MEN.
VIII. DEATH AND
DESTRUCTION ARE IN GOD’S HAND
TO INFLICT THEM WHERE HE PLEASETH. The
consideration hereof
cannot but revive the heart of God’s servants
hated and
persecuted by men of the world
when they know their life and breath is in
God’s hand
which therefore none can take away
but by His will and decree; and
therefore--
1. Not while God hath any use of their service here.
2. Not if they be of the number of Christ’s redeemed ones
for whom
He hath conquered death
and taken away the sting of it (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
and
delivered them from the power of it.
IX. ALL KINDS OF
EVILS AND MISERIES
PRESENT OR FUTURE
OUTWARD OR INWARD
ARE THE WAGES OF SIN.
X. GOD’S
JUDGMENTS ARE CERTAIN AND INFALLIBLE
AS WELL AS HIS PROMISES OF MERCY. Resting
upon the same grounds which are in themselves infallible.
1. The holiness of His nature
by which He is constantly moved to
take vengeance on sin
as well as to reward righteousness.
2. His unalterable truth
which is firmer than heaven or earth. (See
Numbers 14:23-35).
3. His unresistible power (Deuteronomy 32:39). Secondly
directed to
the same end which God aims at in all His ways and works
the filling of the
earth with His glory (Numbers 14:21)
advanced in the acts of
His justice
as well as of His mercy.
XI. VENGEANCE AND
JUDGMENT FOLLOW SIN AT THE HEELS. (J. White
M. A.)
A view of the covenant of works
We have here an account of the original transaction between God
and our first father Adam in paradise
while yet in the state of primitive
integrity. In which the following things are to be remarked
being partly
expressed and partly implied.
1. The Lord’s making over to him a benefit by way of a conditional
promise
which made the benefit a debt upon the performing of the condition.
This promise is a promise of life
and is included in the threatening of death.
2. The condition required to entitle him to this benefit
namely
obedience. It is expressed in a prohibition of one particular
“Of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil
thou shalt not eat of it.”
3. The sanction
or penalty in case of the breach of the covenant
“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
4. Adam’s going into the proposal
and acceptance of those terms
is
sufficiently intimated to us by his objecting nothing against it. Door. There
was a covenant of works
a proper covenant
between God and Adam the father of
mankind.
I. I SHALL
CONFIRM THIS GREAT TRUTH
AND EVINCE THE BEING OF SUCH A COVENANT.
1. Here is a concurrence of all that is necessary to constitute a
true and proper covenant of works. The parties contracting
God and man; God
requiring obedience as the condition of life; a penalty fixed in case of breaking;
and man acquiescing in the proposal.
2. It is expressly called a covenant in Scripture: “For these are
the two covenants
the one from Mount Sinai
” etc. (Galatians 4:24). This covenant from Mount
Sinai was the covenant of works as being opposed to the covenant of grace
namely
the law of the ten commandments
with promise and sanction
as before
expressed. At Sinai it was renewed indeed
but that was not its first appearance
in the world. For there being but two ways of life to be found in Scripture
one by works
the other by grace
the latter hath no place but where the first
is rendered ineffectual; therefore the covenant of works was before the
covenant of grace in the world; yet the covenant of grace was promulgated
quickly after Adam’s fall; therefore the covenant of works behoved to have been
made with him before. And how can one imagine a covenant of works set before
poor impotent sinners
if there had not been such a covenant with man in his
state of integrity? “But as for them
like Adam
they have transgressed the
covenant” (Hosea 6:7).
3. We find a law of works opposed to the law of faith. “Where is
boasting
then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of
faith” Romans 3:27). This law of works is the
covenant of works
requiring works
or obedience
as the condition pleadable
for life; for otherwise the law as a rule of life requires works too. Again
it
is a law that does not exclude boasting
which is the very nature of the
covenant of works
that makes the reward to be of debt. And further
the law of
faith is the covenant of grace; therefore the law of works is the covenant of
works.
4. There were sacramental signs and seals of this transaction in
paradise. “And now lest he put forth his hand
and take also of the tree of
life
and eat
and live forever” (Genesis 3:22); and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil
mentioned in the words of the text. When we find
then
confirming seals of this transaction
we must own it to be a covenant.
5. Lastly: All mankind are by nature under the guilt of Adam’s first
sin Romans 5:12). And they are under the
curse of the law before they have committed actual sin: hence they are said to
be “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3)
which they must needs owe
to Adam’s sin
as imputed to them. This must be owing to a particular relation
betwixt them and him; which must either be
that he is their natural head
simply
from whence they derive their natural being--but then the sins of our
immediate parents
and all other mediate ones too
behoved to be imputed rather
than Adam’s
because oar relation to them is nearer--or because he is our
federal head also
representing us in the first covenant. And that is the
truth
and evidences the covenant of works made with Adam to have been a proper
covenant.
II. I shall
explain THE NATURE OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. In order to do this
I shall
consider--First. The parties contracting in this covenant. These were two.
First. On the one hand
God Himself
the Father
Son
and Holy Ghost. “And the
Lord God commanded the man
saying
” etc. Genesis 2:16). God
as Creator and
Sovereign Lord of man
condescended to enter into a covenant with man
His own
creature and subject
whom He might have governed by a simple law
without
proposing to him the reward of life. Thus it was a covenant betwixt two very
unequal parties. And here God showed--
1. His supreme authority over the creature man
founded on man’s
natural dependence on Him as his Creator (Romans 11:36).
2. His abundant goodness
in annexing such a great reward to man’s
service
which it could never merit (Hebrews 11:6).
3. His admirable condescension
in stooping to make a covenant with
His own creature. Secondly. On the other hand was Adam
the father of all
mankind. He must be considered here under a two-fold notion.
1. As a righteous man
morally perfect
endued with sufficient power
and abilities to believe and do whatever God should reveal to or require of
him
fully able to keep the law. That Adam was thus furnished when the covenant
was made with him--
(a) His mind was endowed with knowledge; for that is a part of the
image of God in man (Colossians 3:10).
(b) His will was endowed with righteousness (Ephesians 4:24).
(c) His affections were holy (Ephesians 4:24).
(d) He had an executive power
whereby he was capable to do what he
knew to be his duty
and inclined to do. He was made very good Genesis 1:31); which implies not only a
power to do good
but a facility in doing it free from all clogs and
hindrances.
(e) If he had not been so
that covenant could not have been made
with him. It was inconsistent with the justice and goodness of God to have
required that of His creature which he had not ability to perform given him by
his Creator. Wherefore
before Adam could be obliged to perfect obedience
he
behoved to have ability competent for it; otherwise that saying of the wicked
and slothful servant had been true (Matthew 25:24).
Use 1. How low is man
now brought
how unlike to what he was at his creation! Alas! man is now
ruined
and sin is the cause of that fatal ruin.
2. What madness is it for men to look to that covenant for
salvation
when they are nowise fit for the way of it
having lost all the
furniture and ability proper for the observation thereof.
3. See how ye stand with respect to this covenant; whether ye are
discharged from it
and brought within the bond of the new covenant in Christ
or not. But I proceed. Adam
in the covenant of works
is to be considered as
the first man (1 Corinthians 15:47)
in whom all
mankind was included. And he was--
1. The natural root of mankind
from which all the generations of
men on the face of the earth spring. This is evident from Acts 17:26.
2. The moral root
a public person
and representative of mankind.
And as such the covenant of works was made with him. As to this representation
by Adam
we may note--
1. That the man Christ was not included in it; Adam did not
represent Him
as he stood covenanting with God. This is manifest
in that
Christ is opposed to Adam
as the last and second Adam to the first Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45)
one
representative to another (verse 48).
2. Whether Eve was included in this representation is not so clear.
I find she is excepted by some. It is plain that Adam was the original whence
she came
as he and she together are of all their posterity. He was her head.
“For the husband is the head of the wife” (Ephesians 5:23). The thread of the
history (Genesis 2:1-25) gives us the making of
the covenant of works with Adam before the formation of Eve. The covenant
itself runs in terms as delivered to one person: “Thou mayest--Thou shalt”
(verses 16
17). From whence it seems to me that she was included.
3. Without question
all his posterity by ordinary generation were
included in it. He stood for them all in that covenant
and was their federal
head
that covenant being made with him as a public person representing them
all. For--
1. God made the choice; He pitched on Adam as a fit person to
represent all mankind; and there is no mending of God’s work
which is perfect Ecclesiastes 3:14).
2. Adam was undoubtedly the most fit choice. He was the common
father of us all; so being our natural head
he was fittest to be our federal
head. He was in case for managing the bargain to the common advantage Ecclesiastes 7:29)
being “made upright
”
and furnished with sufficient abilities. And his own interest was on the same
bottom with that of his posterity. Thus his abilities and natural affections
concurring with his own interest
spoke him to be a fit person for that office.
3. The choice was of a piece with the covenant. The covenant
in its
own nature most advantageous for man
though it could not be profitable to Job 35:7) was a free benefit and gift on
God’s part; forasmuch as man had not a claim to the life promised
but by the
covenant. So that as the covenant owed its being
not to nature
but a positive
constitution of God
so did the choice owe its being to the same. God joined
the covenant and representation together; and so the consent of Adam or his
posterity to the one was a consenting to the other.
III. I COME NOW TO
DISCOURSE OF THE PARTS OF THE COVENANT. Now
the parts of the covenant of works
agreed upon by God and man were three--the condition to he performed by man
the promise to be accomplished to man upon his performance of the condition
and the penalty in case of man’s breaking the covenant. The condition of the
covenant of works: First. The first part is the condition to be performed;
which was obedience to the law
fulfilling the commands God gave him
by doing
what they required (Romans 10:5)
upon the doing of which he
might claim the promised life in virtue of the compact. So this was a covenant
a covenant properly conditional. For understanding of this
we must consider--
1. What law he was by this covenant obliged to yield obedience to;
and--
2. What kind of obedience he was obliged to yield thereto.
First. Let us consider what law he was by this covenant obliged to
yield obedience to.
1. The natural law
the law of the ten commandments
as the New
Testament explains it (Galatians 3:10). If it be inquired
How
that law was given him? It was written on his mind and heart (Romans 2:15); and that in his creation (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Therefore it is
called the natural law.
2. Another law which Adam was obliged
by the covenant of works
to
yield obedience to
was the positive symbolical law
forbidding him to eat of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil recorded in the text. This law Adam
had not
nor could have
but by revelation; for it was no part of the law of
nature
being in its own nature indifferent
and altogether depending on the
will of the Lawgiver
who
in a consistency with His own and man’s nature too
might have appointed otherwise concerning it. But this law being once given
the natural law obliged him to the observation of it
inasmuch as it strictly
bound him to obey his God and Creator in all things
binding him to love the
Lord with all his heart
soul
mind
and strength. Hence it follows--
1. Herein man’s obedience was to turn upon the precise point of
respect to the will of God
which was a trial of his obedience exactly suited
to the state he was then in
and by which the most glaring evidence of true
obedience would have been given.
2. Thus his obedience or disobedience behoved to be most clear
conspicuous
and undeniable
not only to himself
but to other creatures
capable of observation; forasmuch as this law respected an external thing
obvious to sense
and the discerning of any
who yet could not judge of
internal acts of obedience or disobedience.
3. It was most proper for asserting God’s dominion over man
being a
visible badge of man’s subjection to God.
4. It was a most proper moral instrument
and suitable mean
to
retain man in his integrity
who
though a happy creature
was yet a changeable
one. Secondly. Let us consider what kind of obedience to the law Adam was
by
this covenant
obliged to yield
as the condition of it.
To this two-fold law he was to yield--
1. Perfect obedience.
2. Adam was obliged to perpetual obedience (Galatians 3:10). Not that he was forever
to have been upon his trial; for that would have rendered the promise of life
vain and fruitless
since he could never at that rate have attained the reward
of his obedience. But it behoved to be perpetual
as a condition of the
covenant
during the time set by God Himself for the trial; which time God has
not discovered in His Word.
3. Adam was obliged to personal obedience. Hence says the Lord
“Ye
shall keep My statutes and My judgments; which if a man do
he shall live in
them” (Leviticus 18:5)
which words the Apostle
Paul quotes: “Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law
That the
man which doth these things shall live by them” (Romans 10:5). The promise to be
accomplished to man upon his performance of the condition. That was a promise
of life (Romans 10:5)
which was implied in the
threatening of death in case of sinning. We come now to consider THE PENALTY IN
CASE OF MAN’S BREAKING THE COVENANT
not fulfilling the condition. This was
death
death in its full latitude and extent
as opposed unto life and
prosperity. This death was two fold. First: Legal death
whereby man sinning
became dead in law
being a condemned man
laid under the curse
or sentence of
the law
binding him over to the wrath of God
and to revenging justice. “For
as many as are of the works of the law
are under the curse. For it is written
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them” Galatians 3:10). Thus was man to die the
day he should break the covenant; and thus he died that very moment he sinned
because by his sin he broke the holy
just
and good law of God
set himself in
opposition to the holy nature of God
and cast off the yoke of submission to
his Creator. Secondly: Real death
which is the execution of the sentence Deuteronomy 29:19-20); the threatened
evils and punishments contained in the curse of the law coming upon him. And of
this there are several parts
all which man became liable to
or fell upon him
when he sinned. We take them up in these three--spiritual
natural
and eternal
death.
1. Spiritual death
which is the death of the soul and spirit of man
Ephesians 2:1
where the apostle mentions
a being “dead in trespasses and sins”). This results from the separation of the
soul from God
by the breaking of the silver cord of this covenant
which knit
innocent man to God
causing him to live
and live prosperously
as long as it
was unbroken; but being broken
that union and communion was dissolved
and
they parted (Isaiah 59:2). Thus man was separated from
the fountain of life
upon which death necessarily ensued.
2. Natural death
which is the death of the body. This results from
the separation of the soul from the body. It is two fold--stinged and unstinged
death. Unstinged death parts the soul and body indeed
but not by virtue of the
curse for sin. This is the lot of the people of God (1 Corinthians 15:55)
and is not the
penalty of the covenant of works; for that is death with the sting of the curse
(Galatians 3:10)
which death Christ died
which penalty He paid
and so freed believers from it Galatians 3:13). So that there is a
specified difference betwixt the death of believers and that death threatened
in the covenant of works; they are not of the same kind
no more than they die
the death that Christ died.
3. Eternal death
which issues from the eternal separation of both
soul and body from God in hell (Matthew 25:41). This is the full
accomplishment of the curse of the covenant of works; and presupposes the union
of the soul and body
in a dreadful resurrection to damnation; the criminal
soul and body being brought forth from their separate prisons and joined
together again
that death may exercise its full force upon them forever and
ever. I shall consider THE SEALS OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS
WHEREBY IT WAS
CONFIRMED TO ADAM.
It has pleased God to append seals to His covenants with men in
all ages
for the confirmation of their faith of the respective covenants; and
this covenant seems not to have wanted some seals appended thereto for the same
effect.
1. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). Whatever it was
it was
not so called
as having a power really to make men wise. So the tempter
pretended (Genesis 3:5)
but he was a liar from the
beginning (John 8:44). But it was a sign both of
good and evil; sealing to him all good while he should abstain from it
and
evil if he should eat of it; and so confirming his faith in both parts of the
persuasion of it. And eventually
by eating of it
he knew good by the loss of
it
and evil by the feeling of it. Though it was not to be touched
it might be
seen
even as the rainbow
the seal of the covenant with Noah.
2. The tree of life (Genesis 2:9). The which
though it might
be an excellent means of preserving the vigour of natural life
as other trees
of paradise also
yet it could not have a virtue in itself of making man every
way immortal. But it was a notable sacramental sign of life and eternal
happiness
according to the nature of that covenant.
Here
as in a glass
ye may see several things
concerning God
concerning man in his best estate
concerning Christ
and concerning man in his
present fallen state.
1. Concerning God
look into this covenant
and behold--
2. Concerning man in his state of primitive integrity.
3. Concerning Christ the Saviour of sinners
behold here--
4. Concerning man in his fallen state.
Of the covenant of works
I. To show WHY
GOD ENTERED INTO THIS COVENANT WITH MAN.
1. For His own glory
which is the supreme end of all His actions.
More particularly--
2. God condescended to enter into covenant with man for man’s
greater good.
II. I come now TO
MAKE SOME PRACTICAL IMPROVEMENT OF THIS SUBJECT.
1. See here the great and wonderful condescension of God
who was
pleased to stoop so low as to enter into a covenant with His own creature.
2. See what a glorious condition man was in when God entered into a
covenant with him.
3. See that God is very just in all that comes on man. He set him up
with a good stock
in a noble case
making him His covenant party. He gave him
the noblest undeserved encouragement to continue in his obedience
and told him
his hazard if he should disobey. So that falling he is left without excuse
his
misery being entirely owing to himself.
4. See the deplorable condition of all Adam’s posterity by reason of
the breach of this covenant. They are under the curse of the law
which is an
universal curse
and discharges its thunder against every person who is
naturally under that covenant
and has not changed his state.
5. This serves to humble all flesh
and beat down the pride of all
created glory
under the serious consideration of the great loss we have
sustained by Adam’s fall
and the sad effects thereof upon us. We Have lost all
that is good and valuable
the image and favour of God
and have incurred the
wrath and displeasure of a holy God.
6. See the unsearchable riches of Divine grace
in providing a
better covenant for the recovery and salvation of fallen man.
7. There is no wonder
that however little good is wrought in the
world
yet working to win heaven is so frequent. We have sufficient evidence of
the covenant of works being made with man as a public person
seeing it is yet
natural to us to do that we may live
and to think that God will accept us for
our works’ sake.
8. See your misery
all ye that are out of Christ. This covenant is
your way to heaven
which is now impossible. Tell not of your good meanings and
desires
your repentance
and your obedience
such as it is; and think not to
get life
salvation
and acceptance thereby. For the covenant ye are under
admits of no repentance
no will for the deed. It requires nothing less than
perfect obedience
which ye are incapable to give.
9. Therefore give over this way of seeking life by the broken
covenant of works
and come to the Lord Jesus Christ; lay hold on the better
covenant
and come up to Christ’s chariot (Song of Solomon 3:9-10)
which will drive
you safely to eternal life and glory. That chariot which the first Adam drove
went not far till it was all shattered
and made unfit to carry any to heaven.
It breaks with the weight of the least sin; and so you can never think it will
drive to heaven with you (Romans 8:1-39). But come into the
chariot of the covenant of grace
and ye will be safely carried in it to the
land of eternal rest and glory. (T. Boston
D. D.)
The law of paradise
A right understanding of this law of paradise is necessary
in
order to get a clear knowledge of the most essential and fundamental doctrines
of the gospel; and no less necessary in order to detect and refute many great and
dangerous errors which have prevailed
and which still prevail
in the
Christian world.
I. I am to show
that GOD HAS A RIGHT TO GIVE LAW to all His intelligent creatures. It is the
part of a superior to give law to an inferior. Every lawgiver must be supreme
in respect to those to whom he gives law. God is by nature supreme in all His
natural and moral attributes. His power is superior to the united power of all
created beings. His wisdom is superior to their united wisdom. His goodness is
superior to their united goodness. He stands supreme among the whole
intelligent creation
in point of power
wisdom
and goodness
which are the
most amiable and essential qualifications of a lawgiver. This supremacy alone
is sufficient to give Him the throne of the universe
and clothe Him with the
highest possible authority
to give law to all His intelligent creatures in
every part of His vast dominions. But here the important point to be considered
is
how God enacts His will into a law or rule of duty to the subjects of His
moral government. This He does
by publishing His will to them in a certain
manner. By publishing His will
I say
because there is no necessity of His
publishing His design
intention or determination. This
as a lawgiver
He has
a right to keep a secret in His own breast. But He must publish His will
that
is
His pleasure
in order to make His will or pleasure a rule of duty of legal
obligation. And He must also make it known in a certain manner
to give it the
force and obligation of law; or in other words
He must publish His will in the
form of law.
1. In the first place
He must specify the persons or beings to whom
He speaks authoritatively.
2. Secondly
He must express His will in the form of a precept
or a
prohibition
in order to clothe it with Divine authority.
3. Besides
thirdly
He must threaten to punish those who disobey
His precepts or prohibitions
in order to give His will the form and force of
law. There can be no precept nor prohibition without a penalty expressed or implied.
The penalty is the sanction of a law
and expresses the whole authority of the
lawgiver.
II. It is now easy
to show that GOD DID GIVE A PROPER LAW TO ADAM respecting the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. These words were addressed to Adam personally; they
contained a precise prohibition
which was sanctioned by a precise penalty.
Adam was the very person prohibited; the thing prohibited was his eating of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and the penalty annexed was death: “In
the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.” This was a proper law
in distinction from any covenant
or constitution.
III. I am next to
show WHEREIN THIS LAW OF PARADISE WAS LIKE ALL OTHER DIVINE LAWS. Here it is
easy to mention several important points of resemblance.
1. It was like all other Divine laws in its nature. Every Divine law
which was given to Adam
and which has ever been given to his posterity
has
required the heart
or internal holiness.
2. The law respecting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was
like all other Divine laws in its extent. It extended to all who were specified
in it
and to no others.
3. The law of paradise was like all other Divine laws in regard to
its condemning power. Every Divine law has a condemning power; that is
a power
to condemn those who are bound by it
and actually transgress it. And the law
given to Adam
respecting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had the
same condemning power
and did actually condemn those who were guilty of eating
the forbidden fruit.
IV. Wherein the
law respecting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was UNLIKE SOME LAWS
which God has given to mankind. And here I can think of but one point of
difference worthy to be mentioned; and that is
in respect to duration. This
law was given to our first parents
to try their love and obedience; and as
soon as it had answered this purpose
it ceased of course to have any legal
force or obligation.
V. WHAT
PUNISHMENT THE LAW THREATENED TO ADAM
IN CASE OF DISOBEDIENCE. The words of
the law are plain and explicit. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil
thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou
shalt surely die.” (N. Emmons
D. D.)
The threatened death
Our business in now to consider the import and the extent of this
penalty. What are we to understand by this threatened death? What is the true
construction of the language: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die”? Let us first inquire whether bodily death
the dissolution of the
physical organization
is embraced in the threatened penalty? Is there good
ground to believe
either from the teachings of Scripture
or from any other
source
that this is at least a part
if not the whole
of the punishment which
was denounced and executed on our first parents? We answer at once that we know
of no reason whatever for thus thinking. That corporal death does not include
the whole of what was threatened
we suppose that there is little occasion for
attempting to show to any here; and I hope to be able to convince the most of
you
in the course of my discussion
that there is no evidence that it
constitutes any part of the original threatening. I will not say that physical
pain and bodily dissolution are not and cannot be
in any case
the fruit of
sin and a part of its punishment; but there is force in the allegation
that as
sin is the transgression of a moral law
and a moral offence
its proper
punishment should first and chiefly be looked for in a disturbed state of the moral
feelings and the moral relations. Since the seat of sin is the mind
it is
mainly
no doubt
in the mind that its punishment should be sought. We cannot
argue from the words in the text--“Thou shalt surely die”--that bodily death
forms any part of the evil thus signified. This language may just as well be
interpreted of moral or spiritual death
as of corporeal. The terms “die” and
“death” are often used in the Bible to denote nothing beyond spiritual death
or that state of mind
that feeling of guilt
condemnation
and misery
which
immediately succeeds the transgression of the Divine law. But is there not a
reason
in the language of the threatening itself
which unavoidably drives us
to the spiritual sense? The terms employed are: “IN THE DAY THAT THOU EATEST
THEREOF
thou shalt surely die.” Now if we suppose here any reference at all to
bodily death
if we consider this idea as in any manner included in the
expression
“Thou shalt surely die
” we at once involve ourselves in a great
and apparently inextricable difficulty. We compromise the veracity of God; we
make Him pronounce a sentence which He does not execute; for Adam and Eve did
not die corporeally
did not suffer the extinction of their natural earthly
life the very day in which they partook of the forbidden fruit
but lived
according to the account which we have of them
hundreds of years after this
time. Is there
then
any way of avoiding the conclusion that bodily death is
no part of the threatening pronounced against them? I certainly know of none.
Let us see
however
what has been offered in order to meet this difficulty. It
has been maintained by some
and is perhaps the common view
that although Adam
and Eve did not actually suffer bodily death on that day
yet they then became
mortal; they underwent a sudden change in their physical organization
which
made them liable to death
and rendered it certain that their bodies would
ultimately decay and perish. Death
according to this view
then began to work
in them
inasmuch as they then became liable to bodily pains and diseases
which
by the appointment of the Creator
end in corporeal death. Now
satisfactory and consistent as this explanation may have been deemed by many
I
trust I shall disturb no one in saying
that it is wholly incapable of support.
It is
in fact
a mere supposition
invented
I believe
for the purpose of
escaping a difficulty; and a supposition in favour of which there is not a
particle of evidence. Especially we cannot accept it
when there are against it
these two objections; first
that it assigns to the word “die
” a meaning which
it never has elsewhere
that of becoming liable to die; and hence
secondly
that it assumes that man was created physically immortal
endowed not only with
an immortal soul
but with an equally immortal body; since otherwise his sin
could not be spoken of as making him mortal. Let us then examine more
particularly this assumption
that man had at the beginning a naturally
imperishable body. The most that can be said of it is
that it is a mere human
opinion
devoid of any precise and express warrant from the Bible. We believe
that they received from their Maker a body which was subject to old age
decay
and death; and that their sin produced in them no immediate change in this respect.
They were subject from the beginning to the great law of mortality
and had
they always maintained their integrity
would
at the proper time
have passed
out of their original corporeal life into some higher state of existence. The
mere statement of this view is already some evidence of its correctness; for it
corresponds in no way with our conceptions of the high dignity and destination
of these first sharers of our nature
to suppose them encumbered forever with
the shackles of a coarse material body
appointed always to dwell on the earth
and denied any other knowledge and happiness
than what might come to them in
this region and under these physical conditions. The garden of Eden was
at
best
but the fit receptacle of their infancy; and after a suitable time passed
on earth
a period of existence in the body
it must have been the intention of
their Maker to take them up
by translation
if not by death
to a nobler
sphere. This view recommends itself to us as intrinsically reasonable. It
accords with all our best and most natural conceptions. But we have
in favour
of the view
something more than this strong internal recommendation
this
conformity with our natural ideas of the high destination of man. The
Scriptures themselves lend it their decisive confirmation. They teach us that
the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground
and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; that He gave him for food every herb bearing seed
and every tree yielding fruit; and that He commanded him to be fruitful and
multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. This is an account of man
not
as affected by sin
but as he was from the beginning. It is the description of
his physical origin
of his sustenance
and of his appointment to exist in a
succession of generations
till the world should be filled and subdued by his
multiplied descendants. Now
can we fail to see
in all these carefully
enumerated circumstances
the sure marks and evidences of a law of individual
decay and dissolution? Is it not here clearly implied that our first parents
were not exempted from any of the physical wants and changes which belong to
men in general? Further evidence that man was created mortal is found in the
sentence pronounced on him at the time of his transgression. The substantial
import of the curse is: While thy life lasts
thou shalt toil for its support
and have experience of sorrow. The words take for granted that the bodily life
was limited; but they do not at all intimate that it then became so; that the
sin
just committed and now punished
had limited this life. Far less do we
find in them any allusion to a suddenly produced change in the physical
constitution
by which this
created immortal
was now rendered mortal. On the
whole
these intimations in Genesis (and we know of no conflicting statements
in other parts of the Bible) lead us to conclude that the bodily constitution
of Adam and Eve was
from the beginning
in every respect essentially like our
own. They had just such skin and bones
just such muscles and nerves as we
have. They fed on similar food
and would just as surely have hungered and died
without it. They were placed in like relations to all natural agents and
natural laws. A further support to the view here urged is found in the fact
that Christ came on earth in a mortal body. As He was wholly free from sin
and
an example of the right condition of our nature morally
so we cannot help
viewing Him as exempted from any liability to physical sufferings
which were
not common also to our first parents before the Fall. If these were created
with a body incapable of pain
want
and death
then they were thus far
distinguished above Christ
the Lord from heaven. But this is a highly
improbable supposition. We add that it did not belong to the design of Christ
to save any from corporeal death. Still His salvation must be commensurate with
the evils caused by sin; and we hence infer that a liability to physical death
is not among these evils. Our Saviour nowhere teaches us to look upon the death
of the body as in itself an evil
and to see in it a proof of our guilt. There
is no difficulty in admitting that sin may render the prospect of dissolution
and of what lies beyond it sad and fearful
while yet it is true that men would
suffer dissolution if they had not sinned. Sin may not have brought in
corporeal death
any more than it brought in the destination to a continued and
endless life after this death; but yet it may have darkened the view and the
contemplation of both
and particularly of the latter. Returning
then
to the
question
In what consisted the penalty inflicted on our first parents for sin?
we have no hesitation in replying
that it consisted essentially in spiritual
death
or in a state of condemnation before God
with such superadded physical
sufferings
corporeal death excluded
as are traceable to sin. The penalty of
their transgression lay emphatically in that state of mind which is always the
appointed result of transgression. Adopting this view
we have no difficulty in
giving their full force to all the words in the text: “In the day that thou
cutest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The execution of the penalty thus
corresponds perfectly with the threatening. The very day of the commission of
the sin is the day of its righteous visitation. A spiritual punishment alights
on the offenders
and enters into their very souls. They fear the presence of
their Maker
and hide themselves from Him amidst the trees of the garden. This
view saves the Divine veracity. It recommends itself to our sense of what is
right and proper. It places the main punishment of the sin in the fit place
in
the mind and the conscience of the sinner. It maintains the supremacy of the
moral
instead of half sacrificing it to the material. Let us learn from what
has been said
to regard
not bodily death
but sin
as the great evil which we
have to fear. The death of the body
when not caused
and not hastened by sin
is never in itself an evil; but an uncorrected sinful character is always a
fearful evil. The state of an unholy soul is as wrong now as it would be seen
to be
if suddenly unclothed
and summoned into the world of spirits. It could
carry thither nothing but its character
nothing but itself
as its own life
education had made it. Let us then all seek to give a wise direction to our
thoughts. Let us recall them from the material to the moral
from the
perishable to the imperishable
from the accidental to the essential. (D. N.
Sheldon
D. D.)
The prohibition
1. It was a needful
prohibition. To remind man that he is not absolute sovereign
only vicegerent.
2. It was but one prohibition
Man was not burdened
or fretted
or
perplexed with many points of this kind. Only one! How gracious! How
considerate
as if God sought to make man’s trial the least possible
so as to
leave him without excuse if he should disobey.
3. It was a simple prohibition. It had nothing intricate or dark
about it. There was nothing mysterious about it
nothing in which man could
mistake
nothing which could leave room for the question
Am I obeying or not?
It was distinct beyond the possibility of mistake.
4. It was a visible prohibition. It was connected with something
both visible and tangible. It was not inward
but outward. It was not a thing
of faith
but of sight. Everything about it was palpable and open-the tree
the
fruit
the place
the threat
the consequences.
5. It was an easy prohibition. Man could not say it was hard to
keep. He was only to refrain from eating one fruit. Being a negative
not a
positive requirement
it reduced obedience to its lowest form and easiest
terms. Hence man’s sin was the greater. He was wholly inexcusable.
6. It was enforced by a most solemn penalty. It began with a
declaration of God’s will
and it ended with the proclamation of the penalty--death.
How much this expression includes has been often disputed. There is no need of
this. In the day that man ate of the tree he came under condemnation; he became
a death-doomed man; the sentence went forth against him. This death brought
with it all manner of infinite ills and woes. It brought with it or included in
it
condemnation
wrath
misery
separation from God; all endless; all
immediate; all irreversible
had not free love come in; had “grace not reigned
through righteousness
unto eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The
sentence was
“The soul that sinneth
it shall die.” But “where sin abounded
grace did much more abound.” (H. Bonar
D. D.)
The first law
The first word God spake to man was a blessing; the second word
was a law. We might have anticipated this. It seems the natural expression of
the relationship which exists between the Creator and His creature. The
commandment given was a very simple one
“Thou shalt not eat of the tree of
knowledge.” We are almost involuntarily reminded of the words of Naaman’s
servant--“My father
if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing
wouldest
thou not have done it? how much rather then
when he saith to thee
‘Wash
and
be clean’?” Doubtless
in this morning of creation
Adam’s soul
filled to
overflowing with gladness
was ready to break forth
and say
“What shall I
render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” No thank offering could
have seemed too great for God
no tribute of love too costly. The language of
his worship could only be
“Of thine own
I give thee.” And yet it was a little
thing which God asked of man
for” to obey is better than sacrifice.” Think
how great
how abounding was the provision for Adam; how narrow the
prohibition. It was a small thing that God demanded; but a great ruin was
involved in the withholding of obedience. We wonder to see how slight was the
thread to which a world’s destinies were suspended. Blind fools we are
slow to
learn the lesson taught in every page of the Bible
and in every dispensation
of personal providence
that there is nothing trivial with God. He makes great
matters to turn on imperceptible hinges. We have no spiritual microscope
wherewith to read that fine writing of the eternal finger of God upon every
grain of ocean sand
and every glittering mote in the sunbeam
telling us of “a
purpose under the heaven.” Curious men have striven hard to discover what the
forbidden tree of knowledge was: they would fain study the physiology of that
“fruit
which brought death into our world”; but surely
there was no physical
quality in that tree to enlighten the mind; it received its name
because by
eating it
in transgression of God’s law
man obtained the bitter knowledge of
evil as an antagonist of good: the act of feeding upon its fruit taught him
that there was misery as well as blessedness
darkness as well as light
evil
as well as good. God called the tree according to His foreknowledge; Adam only
saw the fitness of the name
when
having eaten
his eyes were opened
and he
knew his ruin. There is one thing which calls
I think
for particular
attention in the first law. It is
that there was no independent intrinsic evil
in the forbidden act; it was evil only because God’s law stood against it. If
God had spoken of intrinsic evil to Adam (I use the word intrinsic
because I
know no better word to express my meaning
evil
per se) he would not
have understood that which was said. If God had said
Thou shalt not kill
or
Thou shalt not lie
Adam would have been utterly unable to comprehend the
words. He had not yet learnt the nature of evil. God took an act that was in
itself perfectly innocent
and by forbidding it
He made it sin in Adam. I
trust I shall not be mistaken here. I do not say
God made Adam to sin; but I
say
God’s law prohibiting an action
caused that action to be sinful in His
creature. This is
indeed
a great lesson for us
and one which we are very
unwilling to learn. God’s law is as sovereign as His love. It is not necessary
that a thing should be essential evil to meet with His disapprobation; it is
enough that His will is against it. Behold
then
the severity of God
and fear
before Him. There is no such thing as good by His law condemned. There is no
such thing as evil by His law commanded. (The Protoplast.)
The limitation
There need not
I think
be any reasonable difficulty in finding
out the meaning of these trees. Make the statement historical
or make it
parabolical
and it comes much to the same thing. It means that there is a
permanent line separating obedience from disobedience; that all created life is
limited; and that whoever breaketh through a hedge a serpent shall bite him.
These trees were not traps set to catch the man; they were necessities of the
case. They showed him where to stop. Wonderful
truly
that if he touched the
tree of mystery he should die I Yes
and it is grandly and solemnly true. It is
so with life. Let life alone if you would live. Receive it as a mystery
and it
will bless you; degrade it
abuse it
and it will slay you in great wrath. It
is the same with light. Pluck the sun
and you will be lost in darkness; let
the sun alone in his far-off ministry
and you shall never want day and summer.
It is the same with music. Open the organ
that you may read its secret
and it
will fall into silence; touch it on the appointed keys
and it will never tire
in answering your sympathetic appeals. It is so difficult to be satisfied with
the little we have and the little we know. We want to see over the hedge. We
long to withdraw the screen that is everywhere trembling around us. We torture
these little pulses of ours to tell us what they are
and how they were set
a-ticking in their warm prisons. No man ever saw his own heart! There it is
knocking in his side
as if it wanted to come out; but if you let it out
it
can return to its work no more! It seems to be only the skin that covers the
pulse
but
though seemingly so near
it is really so far! “In the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die
” said the Almighty. This is not a
threat. It is not a defiance or a challenge. It is a revelation; it is a
warning! When you tell your child not to touch the fire or it will be burned
you do not threaten the child: you warn it in love
and solely for its own
good. Foolish would the child be if it asked why there should be any fire; and
foolish are we
with high aggravations
when we ask why God should have set the
tree of life and the tree of knowledge in Eden. These trees are in every
family. Yes; they are in every family
because they are in every heart! How
near is death. One act and we cease to live. This is true
physically
morally
socially: one act--one step between us and death! (J. Parker
D. D.)
The missionary trees
A good man in Berkshire had a cherry orchard. He bethought himself
what he could do for the missionary cause
and at length selected two cherry
trees
the fruit of which he would devote himself most sacredly to the cause of
missions. When his friends occasionally visited him
he allowed them the full
range of his orchard. “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat
” said
he
“but of these two trees ye shall not eat--they belong to God.” The fruit
was carefully kept separate
was brought to market
and the proceeds remitted
to the Church Missionary Society. (Word and Work.)
Verses 18-25
I will make him an help meet for him
The creation of woman
I.
WOMAN
WAS BROUGHT TO MAN IN ORDER THAT SHE MIGHT RELIEVE HIS SOLITUDE BY INTELLIGENT
COMPANIONSHIP.
II. WOMAN WAS
BROUGHT TO MAN THAT SHE MIGHT BE HIS HELPMEET IN THE STRUGGLES OF LIFE.
1. To develop his intellectual thinkings.
2. To culture his moral sympathies.
3. To aid him in the daily needs of life.
4. To join him in his worship of God.
III. WOMAN WAS
BROUGHT TO MAN THAT SHE MIGHT RECEIVE HIS LOVE
PROTECTION
AND CARE. LESSONS:
1. The Divine compassion for a lonely man.
2. That marriage is to furnish man with true companionship of soul.
3. That marriage is to aid man in all the exigencies of life. (J.
S.Exell
M. A.)
The creation of woman
1. The occasion.
2. The resolution.
3. The preparation.
4. The presentation. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Loneliness is not good
1. For intellectual
development.
2. For moral culture.
3. For true enjoyment. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Loneliness not good
1. For man’s comfort.
2. For man’s employment.
3. For posterity. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
The woman a help
1. For assistance in family
government.
2. For the comfort of society.
3. For the continuance of the race. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Complete solitude
I. ADAM’S
LONELINESS WAS COMPLETE.
II. This complete
loneliness was A MARK OF IMPERFECTNESS OF LIFE.
III. This complete
loneliness
marking an imperfect life
was THOROUGHLY UNIQUE. (Urijah R.
Thomas.)
Genesis of woman
I. EXPLANATION OF
THE PASSAGE.
1. A Divine parable.
2. Panorama of emergent woman. It is the golden hour for Divine
instruction; for it is in dreams
in visions of the night
when deep sleep
falleth upon men
that God openeth their ear
and sealeth up their instruction
(Job 33:15-16). Wrapped in his deep sleep
Eden’s dreamer beholds the vision of his second self. He sees his Maker taking
from out of him one of his own ribs
forming it into a woman
and presenting
her in all her glorious beauty to himself
to be to him henceforth that blessed
mate for whom he has unconsciously sighed. And so his God has in very truth
given to His beloved in his sleep (Psalms 127:2). Nor is it altogether a
dream. Awaking from his sleep
he beholds still standing by him the fair
blissful vision. Instinctively recognizing the community of nature
he joyously
exclaims; “This
now
is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this shall be
called woman
Isha because from man
Ish
was she taken.”
II. MORAL MEANING.
1. Woman’s formal inferiority to man. Woman
in the matter of
outward
formal
scenic authority
is to yield to man. For every kind of
organization
whatever it may be
political
military
financial
ecclesiastical
domestic
must have some kind of nominal head
or index
finger--e.g.
king
president
general
chairman
bishop
pastor
husband. Look at grand old fatherland. According to her theory of Government
England must have a monarch. And who sits on England’s throne today? A woman--a
pure
noble
true-hearted woman. But
because Victoria wears a crown as her
nation’s emblazoned figurehead
does it necessarily follow that she is
intellectually superior to the Disraeli who holds her helm of state; or morally
superior to the Spurgeon who preaches that there is another Sovereign
even one
Jesus? Quite so is it with woman in her relation to man. According to Holy
Scripture
she is subordinate to him. But this subordination implies in no
sense whatever any essential inferiority. Woman is man’s peer in all essential
capacities--in capacities of sensibility
intellect
moral worth
humanhood.
Woman is man’s inferior simply in the matter of scenic
symbolic
formal
authority.
2. Woman’s essential equality. Man and woman
considered in their
essence
are a unity. But
observe
unity implies complexity; that is to say
unity implies likeness and unlikeness
sameness and difference
community and
diversity.
3. Marriage a Divine institution.
4. The earthly marriage a type of the heavenly. (G. D. Boardman.)
God’s provision for man’s needs
I. GOD KNOWS AND
CONSIDERS ALL OUR WANTS
AND OUT OR HIS OWN GOODNESS MAKES PROVISION TO SUPPLY
THEM. And this--
1. He must do
or else we should often perish.
2. And it is fit He should do so to magnify His free mercies. Let
God’s dealing with us move us to deal in like manner with our brethren
considering the poor and needy (Psalms 41:1) after the example of the
disciples of Antioch (Acts 11:29).
II. GOD’S
PROVIDENCE AND ABUNDANT GOODNESS FAILS US NOT TILL IT HATH SUPPLIED US WITH ALL
THAT WE NEED THAT IS FIT FOR US. Let it quiet all our hearts in the
consideration of our present condition
when our inordinate lusts provoke us
sometimes to causeless complaints and murmurings upon supposed but mistaken
grounds. Whereas--
1. Either we have that which we conceive we want
as Hagar wept for
want of water when she saw not the well which was fast by her Genesis 21:19). Or--
2. That which we want would do us hurt and no good if we had it
as
the Israelites found by experience when they murmured for want of flesh Numbers 11:33).
III. A SOLITARY
LIFE IS AN UNCOMFORTABLE AND AN UNPROFITABLE LIFE. From whence
then
came the
affecting and admiring of a monastical life which crosseth--
1. The very law of nature by which men are inclined to society;
and--
2. God’s ordinance who hath appointed us--
(a) Deprives God of His honour;
(b) Men
and the Church especially
both of that increase of an holy
seed
which they might have of the fruit of their bodies
of the comfort of
their fellowship
the service of love which they owe
and of the examples of
their godly lives;
(c) Themselves in present
of many sweet comforts and needful helps
and hereafter of the increase of their reward enlarged according to the
proportion of their present improving of their talents in advancing God’s
honour
and seeking and procuring the good of His children.
IV. GOD TAKES NOT
NOTICE OF OUR WANTS AS AN IDLE SPECTATORS BUT
AS A FAITHFUL HELPER
PUTS FORTH
HIS HAND TO HELP US IN WHAT WE NEED. Let us do likewise--observe
take pity
and relieve.
1. Otherwise our brethren have no benefit by us if we express our
compassion in words only
and not in deeds (James 2:16)
but provelike clouds and
wind without rain (Proverbs 25:14).
2. We make our own thoughts or words evidences against ourselves
when we know what our brother needs and help him not
and provoke God to
neglect us as we neglect Him. See what He threateneth in such a case Proverbs 24:11-12).
V. GOD MAKES
NOTHING BUT FOR SOME NECESSARY USE AND UNTO SOME PROFITABLE END.
VI. A WIFE IS NOT
GOOD TILL IT BE NOT GOOD TO BE WITHOUT A WIFE. VII. A MAN MAY
AND IT IS GOD’S
WILL THAT HE SHOULD
BE THE BETTER FOR HIS WIFE.
1. Woe be to those foolish wives that pluck down the house which
they should build (Proverbs 14:1)
proving moths in their
husband’s estates by their idleness and wastefulness; and thorns in their
sides
vexing those whom they should comfort
with their continual dropping;
perverting those whom they should advise.
2. Let every man labour to be the better for his wife
and to that
end--
VIII. IT IS ONLY GOD
HIMSELF THAT MUST SUPPLY US WITH THAT WHICH WE STAND IN NEED OF.
IX. NOTHING MOVES
GOD TO TAKE COMPASSION ON US
TO SUPPLY US IN WHAT WE NEED
BUT HIS OWN BOUNTY
AND GOODNESS.
X. A WIFE IS BUT
AN HELPER TO HER HUSBAND. Not his guide
for she was created for the man
not
the man for her (1 Corinthians 11:9)
and that too
inferior unto him
both in dignity
and usually in abilities. So that she is
truly and worthily called the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7).
XI. A WIFE CANNOT
BE A GOOD WIFE UNLESS SHE BE A MEET AND A FIT WIFE. Answerable
if it may be--
1. In blood and parentage (see 1 Samuel 23:1-29.).
2. In estate.
3. Education.
4. Especially in the temper of her disposition.
5. But above all the rest
in religion; seeing there can be no
fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness
nor of light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14). Least of all
between married persons. (J. White
M. A.)
God’s provision to remedy man’s loneliness
God has always been thinking what would be for the man’s good.
How
then
does God propose to meet loneliness? By making another man? Why
when He made a man to keep Cain company
Cain killed him! It would seem to be
one of the deepest laws of human nature that man must kill man
and that the
only chance of keeping society together is by the marvellous influence of
woman. For man to be alone means suicide; for two men to be together means
homicide; woman alone can keep society moving and healthful. The woman and the little
child are the saviours of social order at this day all over the world. For
woman to be alone is as bad as for man to be alone. Safety is in contrast
and
in mutual complement. Reverence for womanhood will save any civilization from
decay. Beautiful and very tender is this notion of throwing man into a deep
sleep to take a rib from him as the starting point of a blessed companionship.
So much is always being done for us when we are in states of unconsciousness!
We do not get our best blessings by our own fussiness and clever contrivance:
they come we know not how. They are sweet surprises; they are born of the
spirit
and are as untraceable as the veerings of the wind. This is the course
of true love
and of marriages that are made in heaven. You cannot by
searching
and advertising
and scheming find out a companion for the lonely
soul. She will come upon you unconsciously. You will know her by a mark in the
forehead which none but yourself can read. (J. Parker
D. D.)
The creation of woman
I. The Creator’s
care of man
and His fatherly concern for his comfort.
1. God’s pity for his solitude.
2. His resolve to provide society for him.
II. The creatures’
subjection to man
and his dominion over them. God brought the animals to Adam
that he might name them
and so give a proof of--
1. His knowledge.
2. His power.
III. The creatures’
insufficiency to be a happiness for man. Observe--
1. The dignity and excellency of human nature.
2. The vanity of the things of this world. (M. Henry
D. D.)
Eve
Let us speak of--
I. The woman.
1. Her creation.
2. The purpose God had in view in creating her.
II. The wonderful
institution by which man and woman are made one. It is wonderful that this
institution should be found so early in human history.
III. The glorious
union of which this institution is a type. Adam is a type of Christ; and since
Christ was the spouse of the Church
then Eve was a type of the Church. And our
conclusion therefore is that the marriage of Adam and Eve
and the marriage
institute altogether
is typical of the union between Christ and the Church. (T.
W. Richards
M. A.)
Lessons
1. How it is not said by God
that it was not good for Adam to be alone
but for man to be alone; thereby in
wisdom enlarging the good of marriage to man in general
that is
to some of
all sorts
and not tying it to Adam alone
or to any sort only. Again
in
saying it is not good
you see what the Lord regardeth in His actions and
works
to wit
goodness and profit to the users
how good it may be
how
comfortable: which is a good lesson for all such as regard in their deeds
their wills
their pleasures. Sis volo
sic iubeo
So will I
so command
I not respecting at all the good of any other. Shall sinful flesh disdain to do
what the Lord of lords doth? He
though He have all power and authority
yet
will not do only according to that
but He looketh how good it may be that He
doth; and shall sinful flesh
dust and earth
upon a little authority be so
proud
that their will must rule all actions?
2. Mark it with all your heart
how God doth consider before ever
man see the want himself
what may be good for man
and entereth into purpose
to make for him
and prepare for him what yet he wanted and had need of
saying
“Let us make man a helper like himself.” Oh
how may we cleave and
cling to the providence of this God in all comfort of our minds
that thus
thinketh of what may be good for us before ever we think of it ourselves
and
not only thinketh of it
but provideth it and prepareth it for us
saying in
all matters as in this
Yet my servant such an one wanteth such a help
it is
not good for him to be without it; come
therefore
let us prepare it for him
etc.
3. That woman is honoured with the title of a helper
not only
showeth the goodness of the institution
as was noted before
but teacheth also
how dear and beloved she should be to her husband
for whose good she was
ordained and given. Who will not cherish
foster
and love what is given him
for a help
not by man
but by God Himself? Her help chiefly consisteth in
three things
in bearing him children
the comforts of his life
and stays of
his age
which he cannot have without her. In keeping his body holy to the Lord
from filthy pollution which the Lord abhorreth. The apostle so teaching when he
speaketh thus
“For the avoiding of fornication
let every man have his own
wife.” And
thirdly
in governing his house
children
and family
and many
ways tending his own person both in sickness and health. These all and everyone
are great helps
and therefore the woman justly to be regarded for them.
4. But whereupon was woman made? Surely not of an outward but of an
inward part of man
that she might be dear to him even as his inwards. Not of
the head of man
lest she should be proud and look for superiority. Not of the
foot of man
lest she should be contemned and used as for his inferior; but of
his side
that she might be used as his fellow
cleaving to his side as an
inseparable companion of all his haps whilst they two live. And as the rib
receiveth strength from the breast of man
so doth the woman from her husband:
his counsel is her strength
his breast should she account of to be ruled and
governed by in all her ways
and seek to please him and ease him from all
griefs as she any way can
knowing ever that she is most weak without her
husband’s breast
from which cometh all her strength and good comfort at all
times. No creature had his mate made of his own flesh but man
and therefore no
creature under heaven should be like man in the love of his mate
but man above
them all.
5. It is
if you mark it
not only said that God made woman
but
that He brought her to man: and thereby we are taught
that marriage is not
every meeting of man and woman together upon their own heads
but when God
bringeth them together
either to other: and God bringeth not together
except
in His fear they meet with consent of parents and such as are interested in
them. (Bp. Babington.)
God’s ordinance of marriage
Let us pay particular attention to this language. Probably we have
imagined the statement to mean that God would provide for man one who should be
a helper to him
and whose nature and character would be suitable to his. Well
the words do mean this; but they mean also something more. Correctly rendered
they would run thus: “I will make him a help as over against him”; or
“so as
to meet him”: that is to say
“I will create for him one who shall tally and
correspond with him as his counterpart.” And the expression seems to point to
that oneness in diversity
to that moral
intellectual
and spiritual
adaptation of one to the other
--which exists between the woman and the man.
Why were the man and the woman not created apart
as the animals were
and
afterwards brought together? Because Adam was to be the inclusive head of the
human race: all were to be derived from him; he was to be the fountain from
which every stream should flow. Therefore it was necessary that woman should
not have an independent
but a derived existence--an existence derived from the
federal head of the human race. As St. Paul says
“Man is the image and glory
of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman;
but the woman of the man.”
I. Now in
commenting upon the passage
let us take this as the thought which rises first
before the mind--THAT IT WERE WELL IF THE RELATION BETWEEN THE TWO SEXES
AND
EVERYTHING BEARING UPON THE MARRIAGE TIE
WERE LOOKED UPON AS BEING SOMEWHAT
SERIOUS MATTERS. Of course no sensible man would speak in an unnaturally solemn
tone about them. He would throw bright and cheerful colours upon the subject of
courtship and marriage. He knows that this entrance into life ought to be
characterized by joyousness. But yet
underlying the joyousness
there should
be
we venture to think
for Christian people
a sense of seriousness and
responsibility. Young women
for instance
should understand and value the
influence which they exert in the world; whereas
too often
in their
intercourse with the other sex
they condone worthlessness of character for the
sake of showy and attractive qualities. And as to men
if they would see the
relation of the sexes in the light which this narrative of Genesis throws upon
it
the)
would be more characterized than perhaps they are by chivalrous
respect for womankind. They would honour a woman because she is a woman.
II. Our second
thought CONNECTS ITSELF WITH THE SUBJECT OF WHAT IS COMMONLY CALLED “WOMEN’S
RIGHTS.” Now let us see our way clear in this matter. We do not suppose that
the great end of woman is to get married: many say so and think so; but so do
not we. Still less do we wish to be understood as implying that a woman is
justified in regarding herself
or that others are justified in regarding her
as having in any considerable degree failed of the object of her existence
if
circumstances should lead her to remain in a single condition. Yet whilst
holding the view of the essential and independent dignity of womanhood
we
lament over that mismanagement of human affairs
which necessitates in so many
human beings a life of celibacy; and we trace up to the fact of the immense and
most disproportionate preponderance of women in our modern civilization
the
existence of many of the evils which are sapping the foundations of our social
prosperity. “Well
” you may say
“there is the fact: you cannot alter it.” No:
I know that we cannot alter it; but we can try to make the best of it.
Recognizing that there are
and that as matters now stand there ever must be
amongst us large numbers of unmarried women
we would do all we could to make
it possible for them
or at least for many of them (for some do not require
it)
to attain to a position of independence by means of their own honest
exertions. This
at the very least
is our duty. But do we fulfil it? Of course
we do not. I need not say that in the case of the educated classes
and in the
case of those who come immediately below them
the way to independent
subsistence for women is barred and blocked up by innumerable obstacles
that
the sleepless dragon of popular prejudice guards most of the avenues of access
to the golden fruit of honourable success
and that those few women who
as the
pioneers of the advance of their sex
contrive by persistent energy to break
through the circle of iron that encompasses them
are only too likely to
acquire an unattractive and unfeminine hardness
from the very strength of the
effort which enables them to force their way. There is something here which is
wrong
and wants amending. Our social arrangements necessitate celibacy for
hundreds of thousands who
probably
would not embrace that condition by
choice. And then we frown upon their efforts if they struggle to
maintain--might they be permitted to do so--an independent foothold upon our
common earth. One last thing more let me say
and this of the same general
character with what I have already ventured to advance. I have no manner of
sympathy with the cackle and clatter we sometimes hear about the relative
excellencies of the two sexes--about the superiority of one or the inferiority
of the other. To me the idea that a woman wants only a “clear stage and no
favour
” wants training
and education
and suitable circumstances
in order to
develop as big a brain and as vigorous a muscle as man
and so to be able to
cope with him in the struggle of life--to me such a thought is unutterably
repulsive. The great charm of a woman is that she is diverse from man: not a
man in a lower stage of development. She is the complement of the man: her
nature
her disposition
her powers
supply what is lacking in his. The two
together make a completed orb: apart they are only segments of the circle. But
in order to stand in this relation to each other
it is obvious that they must
not be alike
but diverse. I believe with our great modern poet
that “woman is
not undeveloped man
but diverse.” Nay
and I believe that the sexual
differences of character
and disposition
and faculty
and nature generally
which exist upon earth
will be found--of course in a certain modified form--to
exist in the kingdom of heaven. (G. Calthrop
M. A.)
Eve
God does nothing without a purpose: and therefore “the rib
which
the Lord God had taken from man
made He a woman.” We can readily understand
that
had Eve been builded of the earth as Adam was
there would have been a
relationship between them which was never intended. They might have been
regarded as bearing towards each other in some degree the tie of a brother and
sister
springing from the earth as the parent of both. But the love that was
to exist between them was not designed to be the love of relationship
not the
love of consanguinity
not the love of a brother and sister. Adam was to love
Eve as being essentially a part of himself
as a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother
as one that originated in himself
and actually derived her
existence from his own body. And the great purpose which the Almighty had in
view in this formation of woman was the institution of marriage. So that you
are not to regard the formation of Eve simply as a creation of the woman
just
as the formation of Adam was the creation of the man; but you must consider it
as the production of Adam’s wife
and as having involved in it the Divine
purpose of the institution of marriage. And then you see at once why the
peculiar process of creation was employed in taking the rib of Adam. And all
this shows us and teaches us that marriage is a Divine institution of no
ordinary import
and that its vows and obligations are to be regarded as in a
high degree sacred. It should never be entered upon inconsiderately
nor should
its festivity ever go on to such extent as to blot out its sacred character. If
we fail to recognize its Divine appointment
and give it not the reverence
which it claims by virtue of its Divinity
how shall we look for the Divine blessing?
It should be all love--love from the beginning to the close of the compact;
like the ring
which belongs to our ceremony
having no end
emblematic of
eternal love. And this is a mystical love: it is not the love which nature
plants and nourishes wherever she has established kinsmanship
or where she has
joined soul to soul in the bonds of friendship. It is a mystic love
which
takes its stand upon Divine institution
and can be traced only to the recorded
circumstance of creation--“The rib
which the Lord God had taken from man
made
He a woman.” And it strikes us as a wonderful thing
that this institution
should be found so early and so prominently placed among the brief records of
creation. We should
perhaps
have rather expected that it would have had its
position among the Levitical appointments. It behoves us
then
to inquire
whether there was any special purpose of the Almighty
whether there was any
hidden mystery involved in the institution. There appears to be something so
remarkable in the creation of the woman
and there is something so expressive
in Adam’s remark: “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”; and the
appointment is altogether so wonderful
that there must be some meaning in the
history beyond that which appears upon the surface
and beyond that which our
remarks have hitherto included. Now
we know that in many particulars Adam was
a type of Christ our Redeemer. “Husbands
” says the apostle
“love your wives
even as Christ also loved the Church
and gave Himself for it.” And
after
speaking and exhorting concerning marriage
he quotes the very words employed
by Adam at its first institution
and adds
“This is a great mystery
but I
speak concerning Christ and the Church.” If
then
Adam was the type of Christ
and Christ is the spouse of the Church
it follows as a logical deduction that
Eve was a type of the Church. And our conclusion therefore is this
that the
marriage of Adam and Eve
and the marriage institute altogether
is typical and
emblematical of the union between Christ and His Church. And thus
in the very
first page almost of the Bible (and there is hardly a page or a letter that has
not reference to the same wonderful subject)
we find redemption hinted at
and
a Redeemer pointed out
and a Church suggested. Here is the gospel
here is the
glad tidings of mediation in the very alpha of Divine revelation
and it is
never lost sight of
even to the omega. And here
then
we arrive at the deep
mystery of the marriage institute: here we learn why its appointment is such a
prominent feature in the concise history of creation. If
then
we have
reasoned correctly
and Eve be thus a type of the Church
then it would prove a
matter of profitable investigation to observe how the position and the
directions of Adam and Eve apply in their fulfilment to Christ and the Church.
But we can only hint at these things
and leave this wonderful subject for
private meditation. There can be no question but that the opening of Adam’s
side for the formation of Eve had had reference to that opening of the side of
the second Adam for the formation of His Church
which took place upon the
cross at Calvary; for the Church
the ransomed of Sion
owes all its existence
and all its salvation to the water and the blood which issued upon the spear
stroke of the soldier
and without which
we are told
there could have been no
remission. And this opening of the side also was effected during a deep sleep;
for
when the soldiers came to Him
they found that He was dead already: it was
a deep sleep
the deep sleep of death. Let us
then
be true to ourselves and
to our profession; so that
after having taken upon us the vows of marriage to
Christ
we may never be spoken of as a wicked and adulterous generation. (T.
W. Richards
M. A.)
The family: its scriptural ideal and its modern assailants
I. THE FOUNDATION
OF THE FAMILY IN NATURE.
II. THE IDEAL OF
THE FAMILY. The family is one of nature’s combinations
being composed of
several constituent parts; and it shows the same properties as are usually
found in the other combinations of nature. In such combinations we find two
things: first
a natural affinity or attraction of the parts to each other; and
second
harmony and repose when the combination is effected
as if some
invisible cement has been made use of to bind the whole into one. Harsh
frictional combinations are foreign to nature. The oxygen and hydrogen that
combine to form water have a natural affinity to each other
and the product is
so beautifully harmonious that no one could have fancied beforehand that water
was not a simple substance. The most striking instance of harmonious
combination in nature is that of light
where the seven colours of the rainbow
give birth to a product in which the faintest trace of discord can never be found.
Nature
in arranging her forces
makes a similar provision in that combination
which we call the family. The intention of nature
or rather of the Creator
seems obvious here
although that intention is often frustrated by the
perversity of man. In the first place
a natural affinity draws the man and
woman together. There is not only the natural affinity of the sexes
but there
is the individual attraction between one man and one woman
the desire to be
closely related to each other
which is the true and natural foundation of
marriage. It would be a very low view of the marriage relation that would make
it flow from instinct alone. Man is surely much more than an animal. Has he not
a spiritual nature that allies him to the higher orders of being
as really as
his animal nature allies him to the lower? And when one human being is drawn to
another with a view to the closest relation it is possible to form
surely this
is not merely an attraction of the animal; the higher nature has a share in it
too. We speak
at present
of what seems to be the purpose of the institution.
We say that the law of affinity that governs all nature’s combinations leads us
to expect that the foundation of marriage should lie in an affinity or
attraction
not of one part of man’s nature merely
and not of the lower part
of it merely
but of the whole. And when we turn to the Bible we find this view
amply confirmed
for it is said
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and
his mother
and shall cleave unto his wife
and they twain shall be one flesh.”
There must be some attraction of the higher nature to draw a man from his
father and mother
to whom his best affections would naturally induce him to
cling. In other words
true marriage has its foundation in the attractive power
of love. And as love is its foundation
so also it is the cement designed to
bind the two beings into unity
and give rise to that harmony which we have
seen to characterize all nature’s combinations. Differences of temperament
varieties of taste
diversities of will
diverse forms of natural weakness and
natural temptation tend naturally to friction and discord. What provision is
there in nature to counteract this tendency and secure harmony? Love is the
moral cement of nature. By its magi¢ power
different temperaments become the
complements of each other
opposing tastes find a method of reconciliation
and
even contradictory wills
by learning to take and give
to bear and forbear
become like one. Perhaps it will be asked
Are you serious in affirming that
marriage should always be founded on mutual love? Is not such an idea utterly
Utopian? It may be: but Utopianism is not always the opposite of truth or of
duty. If we were to lay it down as a proper rule of life that men should always
speak the truth
it would seem utterly impracticable and Utopian; and yet it is
a right and proper rule. When we speak of love we do not mean necessarily the
state of ecstatic fervour which is commonly delineated in novels and which is
sometimes found in actual life. That real affinity of hearts to each other
which is the true foundation of marriage
may be
and often is
much more calm
and undemonstrative. There is another important element that enters into the
idea of a complete family
and in connection with which
too
provision is made
in nature for harmonious combination with the other elements--namely
children.
It is not difficult to see
either in theory or in practice
that children may
very readily become a most discordant element. To bring about the needful and
desirable harmony
the parents are furnished with two things
strength and
affection. They have strength of body if not also of mind to enforce what they
deem right; but the employment of sheer strength would only stir up the spirit
of rebellion
and while producing a temporary submission
make the discord
deeper in the end. Hence love
parental love
is supplied
to make the
application of strength more smooth and more effective. The two must work
together
otherwise evil ensues. Thus we see how
in the case of families
the
great law of nature is exemplified which aims at making all combinations
harmonious and efficient. If in the case of any family the combination is
discordant
it is because the working out of the plan is abused in the hands of
frail human beings. For it is a painful fact in this world’s history that
nothing so often frustrates the plans of providence as the intervention of man.
When Divine arrangements fall to be carried into effect by the blind forces of
nature
they are carried out with precision and certainty; but when they are
dependent on the intervention of man
bungling and defeat are too often the
result.
III. THE PURPOSE OF
THE FAMILY.
1. As regards the fellowship of husband and wife. It is to be
remarked that the reason which is given in the second chapter of Genesis why
God made woman is
that He might furnish the man with a suitable companion; it
is not till afterwards that she is named Eve
in token of her motherhood
“because she was the mother of all living.” Scripture views the relation of the
married man and woman
therefore
as having an important end to serve in the
Divine purpose
even apart from the continuation of the race. Man and woman
come into this remarkable relation of unity in order to promote each other’s welfare.
True
there is often discord instead of unity. But unity is certainly attained
in quite a sufficient number of cases to vindicate the wisdom of the
arrangement. One thing is very certain: if this unity be not realized
the
relation of husband and wife
instead of being beneficial
must be irksome and
even disastrous to both. To be forced to live
eat
sleep
and worship
together
while their hearts are at open discord
is simply awful. On the other
hand
where there is substantial unity
the necessary interlacing of all the
events of their life makes the unity the greater
and invests the relation with
a more tender interest and a profounder sanctity. To bear the same name: to
spend their days and nights in the same house and chamber; to share the same
worldly goods; to be parents of the same children; to be partners of one
another’s joys and sorrows
cares and anxieties
perplexities and deliverances;
to look to one another for counsel and cheer; to mingle their prayers and
thanksgivings as none else can; to look back along the line of their lives
and
think of all they have shared; to look forward
and think of the inevitable
parting that is coming
and then of the reunion which faith expects; who shall
deny that such experiences are fitted not only to deepen the unity which lies
at the foundation of the relation
but to elevate the tone of life
purify the
character
and sweeten the current of existence
as no other earthly influences
can? Where the two are one flesh
there must be no contact with other flesh.
And here
too
nature provides an abundant reward for those who are faithful to
her order. Nothing keeps the fountain of conjugal love so pure and fresh as
absolute faithfulness to the marriage bond. Even in pagan nations
there have
been beautiful instances of a happy unity and the highest esteem between man
and wife. Joseph Cook
in his Boston lectures
finds much in this connection to
vindicate marriage on natural grounds. He instances the case of the wife of
Phocion
the great reformer
who
when her husband was refused burial in Attic
soil
went by night to burn the body
brought back his bones to Athens
buried
them beneath her hearth
and blessed the place that thus afforded protection to
the remains of a good and great man
until the Athenians
returning to their
right minds
should restore them to the sepulchre of his fathers. More striking
is the story told by Cyrus of Panthea
the wife of Abradatus. She loved her
husband with a supreme affection. When taken captive by Cyrus
he asked her where
her home was. “On the bosom of my husband
” was in substance her reply; and
when offered a dazzling position at the Court of Cyrus
she besought them to
send her swiftly home. “If ever there was a woman that regarded her husband
more than her own soul
she was that woman.” Encouraging him to fight for Cyrus
to show his gratitude
she sent him with her blessing to the battle in which he
fell. Again she had offers of this world’s glory; again her purpose was
declared to be with her husband. “I cannot justify Panthea in everything
” says
Mr. Cook. “She had been brought up to the stern opinions which justified
suicide. She told her maid to cover her in the same mantle with her husband.
Then she smote herself; put her head upon his breast
and fell asleep. Great
nature is in that! You wish me to teach what science proclaims respecting
family life. I must ask you to go back to the deepest springs of human
experience. These women
Phocion’s wife and the wife of Abradatus are sisters
to us all
helpers to every age. They are crystalline water bursting up from
the innermost rifts of human nature and society
and one in its purity with
that rain which falls on all the hills
and is the real source
after all
of
every one of these crystalline springs.” Even under Paganism there were thus
influences strong enough to realize in at least some instances the true unity
of husband and wife
and show to the world what kind of relation it was
designed to be. Christianity has brought new influences into the field. A new pattern
has been furnished of conjugal unity
and a new force for developing conjugal
love (Ephesians 5:25; Ephesians 5:30).
2. The relation of parents and children. Now let us observe that the
provision of nature for the bringing up of children is to place them under the
charge of their two parents
both possessed of affection towards them
though
in somewhat different proportions
and this provision for their upbringing is
most essential. An essential desideratum for a child is moral training. Is this
too hard and too heavy a task for parents? So it is affirmed by those who
disparage the family institute
and who would gather children into barracks or
other large establishments
where they would be brought up by the wisest and
most experienced of the race
under the best conditions of efficient training.
To commit such work to parents of average character
is objected to on two
grounds; first
because where it is attempted
the work will be done ill
in
consequence of the folly and ignorance of the parents; and second
because in a
vast multitude of cases
it will not be attempted at all. That the
qualifications needed for the right upbringing of children are within the reach
of the ordinary run of parents
is sufficiently clear from the fact
that many
a parent
in the humblest ranks of life
has discharged the duty with admirable
success. When Dr. Livingstone composed a simple epitaph to be placed on the
tombstone of his father and mother
the one thing which he desired to
commemorate was the gratitude of their children to God for poor and pious
parents. He refused to change the expression into “poor but pious
” because he
believed in the beneficial influences of poverty
in the nobility of character
which it had fostered in them
and in the good he had got from it himself. Had
he been brought up in luxury and splendour he would not have learned the habits
that enabled him to open Africa at a cost of painful endurance and unflinching
perseverance seldom equalled in the annals of mankind. It is not great
intellect nor ample means that enables a parent to give a good upbringing to
his children
but conscientious devotion to duty
the spirit of love
and a
good example. These are qualities within the reach of every class. Much stress
is to be laid on the last point--the good example. In estimating the moral
value of the family as a whole
we must not lose sight of the influence which
the children often have on the parents. “What I learned from my children” might
often be the subject of as interesting a narrative as “What I learned from my
parents.” What father has not found occasion to search deeper into truth from
the strange questions which children so often put respecting things which older
minds are apt to take for granted? The present writer
in his early ministry
had once occasion to hear the spiritual history of an afflicted woman
who was
lying in bed
awaiting the last messenger. “For many years
” she said
“I did
not see that I was a sinner
I did not think that I had seriously broken any of
the commandments of God.
But I had the misfortune to have an only son who ran away from me
and never wrote to me
or seemed to care to hear of me or from me. Then it
flashed upon me that I had been just as unmindful of my heavenly Father
as my
son had been of me. Though I had not been guilty of open sins
I had utterly
neglected my duty to my heavenly Father. The words came into my mind
‘The ox
knoweth his owner
and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know
My
people doth not consider.’ I got a new light on the whole of my life; I saw
myself to be a great sinner; and I got no rest until I came to the cross
and was
there sprinkled with the blood that cleanseth from all sin.” The presence of
children in a house softens the heart
makes it more human and sympathetic. It
brings men down from the stiff and serious attitude of business. It evokes the
gentler and the more playful elements of our nature. It keeps the heart young
and its affections fresh. But more powerful than anything yet noticed
is the
effect on a right-minded man of the thought of his children in reference to his
own temptations and dangers. There are evil pleasures whose attraction might
prove too strong for some men
if the thought of their children did not come to
check them. What would they think if these children were to do the same?
3. We note then
next
the relation of brothers and sisters. In a
well-regulated family this is a very important factor. The ideal of the
Christian home suggests the thought of Milton’s Comus
where pure-minded
brothers
admiring a dear sister’s purity
are concerned lest
alone in the
world
she should fall in the way of any of those bloated monsters that would
drag even an angel into their filthy sty. But apart from this painful subject
what a blessed provision we have for the spread of mutual benefit in the
contrasted qualities of brothers and sisters attached to each other
and deeply
interested in each other’s welfare! A great charm in the relation of brothers
and sisters comes from the difference in their ages. The power to help on the
part of the older is designed to develop the sense of responsibility
and when duly
exercised
gives them some share in the parental government
and facilitates
the work of the parents themselves. Moreover
there is a development of that
tender spirit which intercourse with the weak stirs in the hearts of the
strong.
4. In many families
besides brothers and sisters
there are also
servants.
5. The friends and acquaintances of a family extend the horizon of
interest
affection
and sympathy. (W. G. Blaikie
D. D.)
Marriage
I. THE MARRIAGE
TIE. This is really what it comes to. It is needless to discuss the question
whether marriage ought to be dissoluble not only on the ground of adultery
but
on that of cruelty
or of habitual drunkenness
or of insanity. The opponents
of marriage as it now is
would be satisfied with no such enactments. The
contract of marriage must be brought down to the level of a contract between
partners in business
and the one must be rendered voidable precisely in the
same way as the other. Is this
let us ask
apart altogether from Scripture
a
fair or reasonable method of treating the contract of marriage?
1. Does it not overlook the very delicate and solemn nature of the
relation established in marriage between man and wife? That contract is indeed
without a parallel. It places the parties in a relation of intimacy and
delicacy unapproached in any other.
2. This view of marriage subverts the provision of nature for the
welfare of the young. What is to become of the children when a marriage is
broken up on the ground that the father and mother are tired of each other?
3. An arrangement which would terminate the union of husband and
wife whenever they happened to tire of it
would greatly discourage the
exercise of forbearance toward each other when differences unfortunately did
arise.
4. Such a policy would
moreover
leave little opportunity for
repentance and reconciliation. Once the tie was severed
severed it must
remain. But it may be contended
that what is called the arrangement of nature
is a faulty arrangement
and in practice gives rise to evils so great that in
order to remedy them you must have recourse to easy divorces. Are we to exalt
into “a plan of nature
” an arrangement which is so painfully fruitful of
contention and misery? Yes
it is still the plan of nature; but it is the plan
of nature perverted
frustrated
made abortive by some evil habit or vile
indulgence which hinders the intention of nature from being fulfilled
as
really and as wholly as a nail driven into the works of a watch hinders it from
indicating the proper time. First among these perverting influences we must
place the habit of drunkenness. Hitherto we have been dealing with the
objection on grounds common to the Secularist and the Christian. But we cannot
leave the subject without examining it also on the ground of Scripture. Let us
remember that
according to Scripture
marriage and the family constitution
were instituted while the human race was yet unfallen
and while the relation
between God and man existed in all its fulness of blessing. The Fall did not
abrogate the institution
but it made a great change in the conditions under
which it existed. Discord ensued between man and God
discord in man’s own soul
between passion and conscience
discord in his social relations
discord
between man and wife. Admitting
then
that in a vast number of cases marriage
is the parent of discord and misery
which of two policies is the more worthy
of support with a view to remedy this grievous evil? Are we to change the
marriage bond as it has hitherto been
make the relation of married persons
slack and easy
tie the knot so loosely that a very slight pull will undo it
and place what has hitherto been the most sacred of human obligations at the
mercy of the whim of either party? Or shall we try to get this relation
penetrated by the love of Christ
to bring the spirit of forbearance and
forgiveness to bear on actual divergences
to exalt men’s sense of the dignity
and sacredness of the conjugal relation
--symbol as it is of the union of
Christ and His Church; shall we try to quicken the consciences of parents in
regard to the welfare of their children
to induce them to extend their view
beyond the horizon of the present life
and to think of the momentous
consequences for evermore of faithfulness on the one hand and neglect on the other?
II. THE NURTURE OF
CHILDREN. Another common objection to the family has reference to the best
arrangement for bringing up children to be orderly
respectable
and useful
citizens. We say it is family life. But in how many instances is the upbringing
they get in their homes worse than useless--an education of blows and curses
of drunkenness and debauchery
ofsin and misery. In such cases
no doubt
you
must supersede the family. But this is an extreme remedy
applicable only to
the very worst case. And before this course is resorted to
every effort should
be made to stimulate the sense of parental responsibility. To many it appears
not only a simpler but a more efficient remedy for the evils of parental
neglect
to take neglected children wholesale from their parents and bring them
up elsewhere. But to make a promiscuous practice of this would be to do
infinite harm. When Dr. Guthrie instituted his Ragged Schools
he provided no
sleeping accommodation for his children; at night they returned to their parents;
because of all things he was most anxious to preserve the interest of the
parents in their children
and the interest of the children in their parents.
We are not warranted to separate the children wholly from their parents except
under two conditions: first
When it is certain that the children would he
ruined if they should continue to live with them; and
second
when the parents
are willing to give them up
let us say for emigration. (W. G. Blaikie
D.
D.)
Meaning of wife
And now let us see whether the word “wife” has not a lesson. It
literally means a weaver. The wife is the person who weaves. Before our great
cotton and cloth factories arose
one of the principal employments in every
house was the fabrication of clothing: every family made its own. The wool was
spun into thread by the girls
who were therefore called spinsters; the thread
was woven into cloth by their mother
who
accordingly was called the weaver
or the wife; and another remnant of this old truth we discover in the word
“heirloom
” applied to any old piece of furniture which has come down to us
from our ancestors
and which
though it may be a chair or bed
shows that a
loom was once an important article in every house. Thus the word “wife” means
weaver: and
as Trench well remarks
“in the word itself is wrapped up a hint
of earnest
indoor
stay-at-home occupations
as being fitted for her who bears
this name.” (Dictionary of Illustrations.)
Woman
a helpmeet
Joshua Reynolds met Flaxman the day after his marriage
and said:
“You are a happy man
but you are ruined for an artist.” He told his bride of
it in great despondency. “I wanted to be a great artist.” “And
John
” said
Annie
with the fire in her eye
“a great artist you shall be!” He always said
that was what made an artist of him. There was a young man in Switzerland
engaged in observing and classifying the Hymenoptera of his native land
when he was suddenly smitten with blindness. The calamity was so hopeless that
marriage was absolutely forbidden by the father of his beloved. She waited
like a dutiful child
until she was twenty-one years of age; then
without
concealment
and
in great sorrow
but honouring her father in disobeying him
she married the scientist
and immediately persuaded him to resume his studies.
She carried on his experiments under his direction. She soon became more
skilful than he had ever been in watching the operation of the curious
creatures. And he became more exact in his generalization
in consequence of
being shut up to his own reflections. The result was a work which astonished
the world
and remains a classic and the first authority on the subject--the
immortal treasure of Huber on bees! What will not the faithful love of a wife
accomplish! God in heaven looks down upon nothing on earth so like the paradise
above as trustful and helpful married love.
Society in the family
“Family society
” says Henry
“if that be agreeable
is a redress
sufficient for the grievance of solitude. He that has a good God
a good heart
and a good wife to converse with
and yet complains that he wants conversation
would not have been easy and content in paradise
for Adam himself had no
more.”
Verse 19
That was the name thereof
The naming of the animals by Adam
1.
The
man was thus to be made conscious of his lordship over the animal tribes.
2. In token of his relations to them
respectively
he was to give
them their respective names.
3. His knowledge of animal nature
(in which he had been created)
is at once to be developed
under the special teaching of God.
4. His organs of speech are to be put in exercise.
5. His knowledge of language (Divinely imparted)
is to be developed
in the use of terms for naming the several classes--under the Divine
instruction and guidance.
6. It would seem
from the connection
that the man was to be made
sensible of his social need as he should see the animals passing before him in
pairs. (M. W. Jacobus.)
Language a Divine gift
The man was created in knowledge
after the Divine image
and thus
was endowed with powers of perception and discrimination
by which he could
know the habits
characters
and uses of the several species
both of animals
and of fowls
yet not without Divine teaching in the matter
and in the use of
terms. The names which he gave them were appointed to be their names by which
they should be known--and they were
doubtless
significant--as was the name of
Eve
(Genesis 2:23)
Genesis 3:20. Language itself could not
so early have been a human invention
but a revelation. (M. W. Jacobus.)
Observations
I. GOD’S MERCIES
ARE
OR SHOULD BE
PRECIOUS UNTO US WHEN WE CAN NEITHER BE WITHOUT THEM
NOR
HAVE THEM FROM ANY OTHER BUT FROM HIMSELF. That the necessity of creating a
woman to be Adam’s helper might be the more clearly discovered unto him
He
brings before him the creatures
that out of his own judgment himself might
conclude how unit any of them were to be his companions or helpers.
II. WE MUST KNOW
THE UNSERVICEABLENESS OF OTHER THINGS
THAT WE MAY KNOW AND APPROVE THE
PROFITABLENESS OF THAT WHICH IS TRULY GOOD.
III. GOD CAN ORDER
AND DISPOSE OF THE CREATURES TO DO WHAT
AND TO BE WHERE HE APPOINTS THEM.
IV. MAN MAY
LAWFULLY USE THAT POWER OVER THE CREATURES WHICH GOD HIMSELF HATH PUT INTO HIS
HAND.
V. GOD IS PLEASED
TO HONOUR MEN SO FAR AS TO EMPLOY THEM IN MANY THINGS WHICH OF RIGHT BELONG
UNTO AND MIGHT BE DONE BY HIMSELF ALONE.
1. To encourage men to His service in honouring them so far as to
make them His fellow workers.
2. To unite men the more in love
one to another.
3. To increase their reward hereafter
by the faithful employment of
their talents for the advantage of their Master from whom they received them
Matthew 25:21; Matthew 25:23. (J. White
M. A.)
Intuition
God now proceeds to show man the exact point where the void lay.
Adam had been made to feel that void
but God’s object is to place him in
circumstances such as shall lead him step by step to the seat of the unsatisfied
longing within. Accordingly
God brings before him all the creatures which He
had made
that Adam
in his choice
may have the whole range of creation. Adam
surveys them all. He sees by instinctive wisdom the nature and properties of
each
so that he can affix names to all in turn. His knowledge is large and
full; it has come direct from God
just as his own being had come. It is not
discovery
it is not learning
it is not experience
it is not memory
it is
intuition. By intuition he knew what the wisest king in after ages only knew by
searching. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
The first act of man’s sovereignty over the animals
Man was certainly the superior master of nature. This is evident
from the next feature which our text mentions. God brought the animals which He
had created to man
to “see what he would call them”; and the names chosen by
man were to remain to them forever. This is the first act by which man
exercised his sovereignty; and although his intellect was not yet roused
he
was sufficiently endowed for that task; for he had been capable of
understanding the Divine command and of representing to himself death. In the
first cosmogony
God Himself fixed the names of the objects which He had called
into existence; He determined the appellations of day and night
of heaven
and
sea
and dry land. Here He cedes this right to man
whom He has ordained “to
have dominion over all the earth.” The name was
according to Hebrew and
Eastern writers in general
an integral part of the object itself; it was not
deemed indifferent; it was no conventional sign; it was an essential attribute.
When God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush
the latter hastened to
inquire under what name He wished to be announced to the Israelites. When a
crisis in the life of an individual was imminent
or had been successfully
overcome
his name was changed into another one expressive of that event.
Kings
at their elevation to the throne
assumed another name. To “know the
name of God” was identical with knowing His internal nature
and even with
piously walking in His precepts. The right
therefore
of determining the names
includes authority and dominion; but man did not perform this act of his own
accord; he did not yet feel his exalted rank; but God
by inviting him to perform
it
made him governor over the works of His hands
and placed all under his
feet Psalms 8:7). It has been frequently
observed
that our text explains the origin of language
and attributes its
invention solely to man. Language is
indeed
a spontaneous emanation of the
human mind; it is implanted in its nature; in furnishing man
besides his
external organization
with reason and imagination
God bestowed upon him the
principal elements for communication by speech; it is as natural a function of
his intellect as reflection; intelligent speech is one of the chief
characteristics of man; hence the ancient Greek poets call men simply the
“speech-gifted”; the germ was bestowed by God; man had to do no more than to
cultivate it. But our author does not enter upon this abstruse question at all;
it is of no practical importance for religious truth; it must have appeared
superfluous to one who knows God as the Creator and Framer of all
as the
Bestower of every gift
as Him who “has made man’s mouth
and who maketh dumb” Exodus 4:11). Pythagoras
and other
ancient philosophers
justly considered the invention of names for objects an
act of the highest human wisdom; and the Chinese ascribed it to their first and
most honoured sovereign Fo-hi
who performed this task so well
that “by naming
the things their very nature was made known.” (M. M. Kalisch
Ph. D.)
The origin of language
Was it an invention? So some have taught. Was it the issue of a
convention? So some have taught. Was it an imitation of the sounds of nature?
So some have taught. Was it a direct gift from heaven? So some have taught.
Most erudite men have pondered the problem; and yet all speculation here is
quite afloat. And so we fall back on the childlike
pictorial language of
time’s most hoary archive: “Jehovah God formed out of the soil every beast of
the field and every fowl of the heavens: and He brought them to the man to see
what he would call them: and whatever the man should call every living being
that should be the name thereof; and the man gave names to all cattle
and to
the fowl of the heavens
and to every beast of the field.” It was man’s first
recorded act. Observe: it was an act of perception
discrimination
description. The animals were arrayed before him; and animals suggest all the
phenomena of life. And the vision of moving life stirred up within him the
latent capacity of speech. In brief
it was the origin of humanity’s
vocabulary. As such
it is a profoundly philosophical account. For nouns
i.e.
names
are the rudiments of language
the very A B C’s of speech. Such is
the theory of the genesis of language according to Moses. Can your Max Mullers
and Wedgwoods and Whitneys give a more philosophical theory? (G. D.Boardman.)
Two-fold use of language
This indicates to us a two-fold use of language. First
it serves
to register things and events in the apprehension and the memory. Man has a
singular power of conferring with himself. This he carries on by means of
language in some form or other. He bears some resemblance to his Maker even in
the complexity of his spiritual nature. He is at once speaker and hearer
and
yet at the same time he is consciously one. Secondly
it is a medium of
intelligent communication between spirits
who cannot read one another’s
thoughts by immediate intuition. The first of these uses seems to have preceded
the second in the case of Adam
who was the former of the first language. The
reflecting reader can tell what varied powers of reason are involved in the use
of language
and to what an extent the mind of man was developed
when he
proceeded to name the several classes of birds and beasts. He was evidently fitted
for the highest enjoyments of social intercourse. (Prof. J. G. Murphy.)
Verse 21-22
The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam
The first sleep
How profound is the mystery of sleep! It is one of those riddles
of familiar life of which we know so little; about which thought will occupy
itself and fancy speculate.
Sleep has been beautifully spoken of by the Germans as the “twin brother of
death”; and really the more earnestly we regard the subject
the more we see
the likeness which has given rise to the observation. But sleep was born in the
garden of paradise
ere its beauty faded and its glory grew dim; death sprung
into existence amid the gloom and sorrow of a darkened world. Sleep came to man
as a blessing: death as a curse. Strong as is the resemblance
there are points
where it fails; but
since the Fall
sleep has become more like death; since
the resurrection of Christ
death has become more like sleep. We who have
sinned--in our sleep “die daily”; we who are redeemed--in our death “sleep in
Christ.” I think we have every reason to receive the words of the text as a
record of the first sleep. Whether
as the nights of Eden came round in their
starry and cloudless beauty
they brought to the first man the repose of sleep
alternating with his pleasant occupation of keeping and dressing the garden
I
cannot tell; but I think the first sleep was not of this character; it has
something special and peculiar in it
occurring by the direct interposition of
the Creator. “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam
and he
slept.” What a blessed sleep it proved! The first sleep has been succeeded by
the troubled
diseased
and pain-fraught slumbers of a fallen race; and for us
the mystery is mingled with fearfulness. I purpose to say a few words on the
four kinds of sleep which naturally suggest themselves to the mind while musing
on the subject of somnolency.
I. THE DEEP
OR
DREAMLESS SLEEP
of which the first sleep was peculiarly the type and pattern.
The physical condition of this sleep appears to be simply this
that the
senses
tired from use
or acted upon by some influence from without
refuse to
do their office
and cease to give to the soul intelligence of the external
world. It is remarkable to think how
in such a sleep
all those functions of
the body which are necessary to it as an organic structure
and which are
generally performed without the soul’s recognition
or particular notice
such
as the pulsation of the heart
the circulation of the blood
the digestion of
our food
go on uninterruptedly: but just those parts of our system which are
the especial channels of communication between outward things and the
reasoning
immaterial essence are affected. Surely there is a fearfulness in
sleep. The soul
unconscious of its fleshly companion
exists in some strange
state of suspension
hid in the hollow of its Creator’s hand
and overshadowed
by His covering wings. It is not with the present world of realities; nor with
the past world of memory; nor with the future world of promise; but
held in
life by the Preserver of men
and compassed about with Divine power
it waits
the body’s fitness to be used again. Such a state
indeed
is inconceivable; we
can only refer the fact to the infinite and wonder working operation of God. It
is the current supposition that the dreamless sleep is common at the present
day. I have long had my doubts
however
whether since the Fall
men have ever
slept this sleep. So completely do I look upon dreaming as one of the strongest
physical effects of the Fall
I am inclined to think it always accompanies
slumber
except when vision takes its place; and that what we imagine to be a
dreamless sleep is only one in which our dreams are unremembered when we wake.
This is somewhat confirmed by the fact of forgotten dreams being suddenly
recalled to the mind
by some circumstance occurring hours or days after. It is
very seldom indeed that we retain a recollection of what we have dreamed
immediately on awaking: the recall to the mind of the impressions it has
received in sleep is generally incidental
and brought about by some connection
with waking thoughts.
II. THE SLEEP OF
DREAMS. It is no uncommon thing to pursue a long and connected train of thought
in sleep. The Bible is full of instances of God’s speaking by this mode to His
servants; and although we live in the days of gospel light
and not in the days
of Urim and Thummim
dream and vision
shall we positively affirm that God
never now by the instrumentality of dreams communicates warning and strength to
His Church? Shall we altogether slight and scorn the testimony of John Newton
concerning his dream of the ring? I think not. And yet let us not be idle
superstitious observers of dreams
they are but the “divers vanities” of a
fallen nature. If they weigh with us and depress our minds
let us carry them
to God; if they afford us comfort in a time of sorrow
let us bless Him who
useth the weak and the dishonourable things of this world to show forth His
praise.
III. THE MESMERIC
OR ARTIFICIAL SLEEP.
IV. THE TRANCE
OR
SLEEP OF VISION. (The Protoplast.)
Observations
I. EVEN SLEEP AND
QUIET REST ARE GIVEN BY GOD HIMSELF
AND THEREFORE ARE TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS
HIS BLESSINGS.
II. THOUGH GOD BE
PLEASED TO MANIFEST HIS WORKS TO MEN
THAT THEY MAY BEHOLD THEM YET THE MANNER
HOW THEY ARE WROUGHT IS USUALLY HIDDEN FROM THEIR EYES.
III. GOD TAKES CARE
OF US
AND PROVIDES FOR US
EVEN WHILE WE SLEEP
AND THINK NOT ON OUR OWN AFFAIRS.
And this as--
1. He can do because He neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalms 121:3-4). So
2. He doth--
IV. GOD DELIGHTS
TO VARY HIS WAYS IN ALL HIS OPERATIONS. Matter is sometimes rude and
unprepared
sometimes fitted for the effect to be produced
as seeds to produce
herbs and plants. And so are His ways of working sometimes by means
sometimes
without: sometimes by means agreeable
otherwise by contraries. All this He
doth to manifest--
1. His infinite wisdom (Psalms 104:24).
2. His almighty power
appearing in this
that He ties Himself to no
means nor manner of working
but brings to pass anything by what way He
pleaseth; so that the effect appears not to depend upon any means
but only
upon the power of Him that worketh all in all.
3. That He may entice us by such variety
to search into His ways as
His works are sought out by those that have pleasure therein (Psalms 3:2).
V. GOD’S WAYS AND
WORKS ARE ORDINARILY FULL OF HOLY INSTRUCTIONS.
VI. THE WIFE MUST
BE NEITHER HER HUSBAND’S LORD NOR VASSAL.
VII. A WIFE IS
OR
SHOULD BE
A STRONG HELPER TO HER HUSBAND.
VIII. GOD REQUIRES
NOTHING OF US
NOR DOTH ANYTHING UNTO US
THAT MAY HURT US
OR UNDO US. Let
nothing be grievous unto us that God either commands or lays upon us;
remembering--
1. That He may do with His own what He will.
2. And yet He hates nothing which He hath made.
3. And He can and will not fail to restore unto us abundantly
whatsoever we seem to lose
either in doing
or suffering by His appointment
that He may be no man’s debtor.
IX. GOD TAKES
NOTHING FROM US BUT HE TAKES CARE TO RECOMPENSE IT UNTO US
SOME WAY OR OTHER.
X. IT IS USUAL
WITH GOD TO LEAVE WITH US NEAR AND LIVELY REMEMBRANCES BOTH OF HIS MERCIES TO
US AND OF OUR DUTIES. (J. White
M. A.)
Observations
I. GOD CAN CHANGE
ANYTHING INTO WHAT FORM HE PLEASETH.
II. GOD IS EXACT
AND PERFECT IN ALL THE WORKS THAT HE UNDERTAKES.
III. WOMEN
AS WELL
AS MEN ARE GOD’S OWN WORKMANSHIP.
IV. GOD HATH
ALLOWED BUT ONE WIFE TO ONE MAN.
V. THOUGH ALL
THINGS BE MADE FOR MAN
YET HE CAN HAVE NO INTEREST IN ANYTHING UNTIL GOD
HIMSELF BESTOW IT ON HIM. Yea
when God hath put men’s estates into their
hands
yet our Saviour directs us to beg our allowance out of them from God
for the portion of every day.
1. Because all that we have or use is God’s
who only sends them to
us for our use
reserving the propriety of all to Himself.
2. That we may use all according to His direction
and not according
to our own lusts.
3. That we may upon the better grounds expect His blessing upon that
which we use
without which it cannot profit us.
VI. EVERY CHILD OF
GOD MUST DESIRE TO RECEIVE HIS WIFE FROM GOD’S HAND.
1. By making choice of such a person
as is of His family
with whom
He may converse as an heir with him of the grace of life.
2. Labouring to gain her by warrantable ways
prayer
advice
and
mediation of godly friends
holy conferences
and godly propositions
not by
carnal allurements
deceitfulness
enticements
or violent importunities.
3. And aiming at a right end therein
rather our increase in piety
and the propagation of an holy seed
than the advancing ourselves in our
outward estates: remembering--
1. That God only (who looks not as man on the outward appearance
bit seeth the heart) is able to direct us in our choice.
2. That it lays upon us a strong engagement to make an holy use of
marriage
when we thus lay the foundation of it in His fear.
3. That it sweetens all the crosses which we may meet with in a
married life; being assured
that if they fall upon us by His hand
they shall
by Him be so sanctified unto us
that they as all things else
shall work
together to our good. (J. White
M. A.)
Observations
I. GOD’S
BLESSINGS OUGHT TO BE ENTERTAINED AND EMBRACED BY US WITH A HOLY REJOICING AND
THANKFULNESS. This rejoicing must be--
1. In God
and not in ourselves; not so much that it is well with
us
as that God’s honour
in His mercy and truth
is manifested and advanced
thereby.
2. And performed with fear and trembling (Psalm if. 11); and
infinite abasement of ourselves before Him
upon the apprehension of our own
unworthiness
of so great favours
after David’s example (2 Samuel 7:18). And--
3. May be publicly testified when God’s favours are eminent and
public
and especially when the Church is any way concerned in them: whence
David
being a public person
promiseth a public thanksgiving in the
congregation for those mercies
which though they lighted on Him
yet redounded
to the benefit of his people also.
II. WE MAY AND
SHALL KNOW AS MUCH OF GOD’S WAYS AND WORKS AS CONCERNS US
FOR THE DIRECTING
AND QUICKENING OF US UNTO OUR DUTIES. As--
1. That they are the works of His own hand (Psalms 64:9).
2. And those wrought in righteousness
mercy
and truth.
3. And for His only glory (Proverbs 16:4); and for our good
unto
which all things work together (Romans 8:28); that men may fear
and
trust in Him (Psalms 64:10).
III. IT IS CONSENT
THAT MUST MAKE THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN MAN AND WIFE.
IV. EVEN THE BEST AMONGST
MEN NEED TO BE MINDED BOTH OF THEIR DUTY AND CONDITION EVERY WAY. (J. White
M. A.)
I. THE POSITION
AND DESTINY OF WOMAN.
Woman
1. Her position is inferior and subordinate. If the Scripture speaks
plainly on any point
it most unequivocally asserts the superiority of man over
the woman
both in his nature and in the sphere which by Divine appointment he
is to occupy. How strange
then
it is
that our day should have given birth to
so many schemes for raising her to the level of him
unto whom the supremacy
has been so distinctly given. Even in innocence we have seen that woman was not
man’s equal: Eve
in her unsullied purity
was content to take a lower place
than Adam
and to serve him according to God’s ordinance. Experience confirms
the truth stated in the Word of God--the inferiority of the female character.
That woman’s physical strength is less than that of man
is almost universally
acknowledged. In all cases where power and daring are required
the work is
given to man. From scenes of terror and danger woman instinctively shrinks
and
man instinctively shields her. If it be said that the historic page records
instances of her passing through them with undaunted mien; if the name of a
Joan of Arc be cited as a witness to disprove my statement
I only answer
that
the exception proves the rule. Is it not equally true
that woman’s mental
strength is less than that of man? Should it be urged
again
that the name of
a De Stael
a De Genlis
or a Somerville certifies the possibility of the highest
masculine mind being enshrined in a female form--if I admitted this--I would
say
again
the exception proves the rule: but while I do not deny that a woman
of the noblest and most exalted intellect may be superior to men of ordinary
talent around her
I do not hesitate to say she is inferior
in her greatness
to a man of the highest genius. Compare woman at her best estate
with man at
his best estate
and the disparity will tell itself strikingly. There has been
no Isaac Newton in the ranks of the weaker sex. According to the woman’s
nature
God has appointed her position in the world. She is “not to teach”; she
is “not to usurp authority over the man”; she is to be in “subjection
” and
“under obedience.”
2. Her destiny is to occupy the next rank to him who was made “a
little lower than the angels”; to share with him the government of the animal
world; to stand by his side in all the life of the present; to give herself
unto him
with all her powers
and all her affections; to sacrifice herself for
him
with her peculiar devotedness and concentration of purpose; to draw near
unto him when the society of his fellow man would be insupportable; and to
speak to him when the voice of his fellow man would be jarring and discordant;
to sympathize with him in the hour of sorrow; to cheer him in the hour of
sickness; to re-animate him in the hour of listlessness; to aid him in the hour
of difficulty; to encourage him in the hour of temptation: to be
in fact
his
companion
his comfort
his cooperator
his friend. But
moreover
this
destiny
under a dispensation of redemption
is to participate with him the
blessings and privileges of the New Covenant--to share with him the duties and
hopes of an inner and spiritual life; to receive with him the gift of immortality;
to hold with him the title deeds of an inheritance incorruptible
undefiled
and that fadeth not away
reserved in the eternal heaven. Surely there is
nothing necessarily degrading in such a lot! All the ignominy and misery
attached to it have been the effect of the woman’s sin
and the woman’s curse.
We may say
in conclusion
using the apostle’s words
“Neither is the man
without the woman
neither the woman without the man
in the Lord.”
II. THE
PREPARATION NECESSARY FOR WOMAN’S WORK.
1. As a most important self-discipline
I would mention
first
that
progressive cultivation of the mind which is carried on when the time for
compulsory study is passed. There has been no mistake so fatal to the elevation
of female character as the idea
that when the rubicon of the eighteenth year
is crossed
a life of so-called pleasure
that is
a life of idleness and
dissipation
is to succeed a life of mental application.
2. A woman’s preparation for her office is greatly brought about by
an experience of suffering. Sorrow
sanctified and sacred sorrow
gives the
finest touches to her character. It produces in her that exquisite refinement
of feeling
that acute susceptibility
that deep sympathy
for which woman is
so distinguished.
III. Woman’s WORK
itself. After all I have written
will it be thought strange if I say
that its
nature may be expressed in one comprehensive word--ministration! It must be
remembered that we are not considering woman in her direct relations to God as
His creature
but in her direct relations to man as his help. In this point of
view
her work may be regarded as consisting in ministration to man. In mental
ministration
or a service unto his mind. In corporeal ministration
or a
service unto his body. In spiritual ministration
or a service unto his spirit.
1. Mental ministration. Woman
as we have seen
meets man
not upon
the footing of a passive slave
but of an intelligent assistant. It is her
office to share his intellectual pursuits
and to aid him in his researches
after natural knowledge and scientific truth. How is she to do this? By
bringing her mind to bear upon his; by laying its treasures before him; by
entering with appreciation and interest into the details of the discoveries of
his genius
or even of the speculations of his imagination; by communicating to
him her thoughts on the high and mysterious subjects which engage his
attention.
2. Corporeal ministration. It is a woman’s province to provide for
man the trifles of life
things which contribute greatly to his comfort
and
which are yet unworthy to engage much of his time and attention. The
constitution of her nature is such
that household arrangements do not have
with her that harassing effect on the mind
which is so peculiarly felt by one
who would devote himself wholly to higher and more important matters. It is her
office then to surround man with little luxuries; to give him little pleasures;
to let him feel that he has cared for nothing
and yet has wanted nothing in
the domestic economy of each successive day.
3. Spiritual ministration. Woman
as redeemed from the Fall
is a
fellow heir with man of the grace of life. She is to walk with him in that
narrow path which leads to the heavenly land
and much of her companion’s
progress therein depends instrumentally upon her own. Many a man has been
hindered in the perfecting of holiness by the burden of a woman who has
forgotten to do him service in the best and highest sense. The task of a
Christian female is a very glorious one. She is to be the “help” of the servant
of God. Living with man
and bound to him by some close tie
it is her part to
assist him in the devotion of all his energies to his Creator’s glory; to aid
him in his renunciation of the world
by showing that she is contented with the
lot of God’s children; to aid him in his liberality to those who are in need by
proving that she looks upon money given unto the poor as lent to the Lord
and
that she is willing to wait for the redemption of His bond; to aid him in the
establishment of righteous authority in his household
by respecting his rule
herself; to aid him in his obedience to duty’s call
even when it leads him
into the midst of danger
by counting his life less dear to her than his
fulfilment of the will of God.
IV. The RECOMPENSE
attending woman’s work. A few brief words will suffice for this last division
of our subject. The highest recompense of woman consists in the honour and the
joy of being employed for God
in the way of His own appointment. The
creature’s blessedness is connected with the consciousness of filling the place
assigned by Jehovah’s unerring wisdom
and of fulfilling His holy will. In
proportion to a woman’s greatness of mind
will be her satisfaction in the
thought that she is occupying the station which God intended for her
and that
she is accomplishing the service to which He has called her. Moreover
the work
of ministration is its own reward. In drawing a woman out of self
in bringing
her into sympathetic union with another; in giving her occupation and interest
all the days of her life on earth; it is itself a means of happiness. Still God
has permitted a further recompense to wait upon a female’s fulfilment of her
sacred office. For a married woman there is a peculiarly rich and sweet reward.
It is beautifully set before us by Solomon
as a husband’s trust
and a
husband’s praise. “The heart of her husband cloth safely trust in her” (Proverbs 31:11). (The Protoplast.)
A wedding sermon
God’s bringing Eve to Adam implieth five things:--
1. His permission
allowance
and grant
for that Adam might
thankfully acknowledge the benefit as coming from God
God Himself brought her.
This bringing was the full bestowing her upon him
that they should live together
as man and wife.
2. His institution and appointment of marriage as the means of
propagating mankind.
3. For the greater solemnity and comely order of marriage. Adam did
not take her of his own head
but God brought her to him. This honour and special
favour God vouchsafeth mankind above all other creatures; He Himself
in His
own person
maketh the match
and bringeth them together.
4. To dispense His blessing to them. The woman was created on the
sixth day
as appeareth (Genesis 1:1-31); and it is said that when
He had “created them male and female
He blessed them” (verse 28). He doth
enlarge things here
and explaineth what there He had touched briefly. When He
had made the woman
He brought her to the man
and blessed them both together;
showing thereby that when any enter into this estate
they should take God’s
blessing along with them
upon whose favour the comfort of this relation doth
wholly depend.
5. For a pattern of providence in all after times. It is worth the
observing
that Christ reasoning against polygamy
from Genesis 2:24
compared with Matthew 19:1-30. God having abundance of
the spirit
as the prophet speaks Malachi 2:15)
brought the woman to one
man
though there was more cause of giving Adam many wives for the speedier
peopling of the world
than there could be to any of his posterity. The point
which I shall insist on is this:--That marriages are then holily entered into
when the parties take one another out of God’s hands.
I. I will show
you in what sense they are said to take one another out of God’s hands.
II. Why this is so
necessary to be observed.
I. For the first
THEY TAKE ONE ANOTHER OUT OF GOD’S HANDS TWO WAYS.
1. When His directions are observed.
2. When His providence is owned and acknowledged.
3. When His directions in His word are observed; and so--
2. When His providence is owned and acknowledged. It is the duty of
them that fear God to own Him upon all occasions
especially in such a
business. Heathens would not begin such a business without a sacrifice. There
is a special providence about marriages. God claimeth the power of match-making
to Himself
more than He doth of ordering any other affairs of men--“Riches and
honours are an inheritance from our fathers; but a goodwife is from the Lord” (Proverbs 19:14).
II. WHY IS THIS SO
NECESSARY A DUTY? It doth in a great measure appear from what is said already.
But farther--
1. It will be a great engagement upon us to give God all the glory
of the comfort we have in such a relation
when you do more sensibly and
explicitly take one another out of God’s hands.
2. That we may carry ourselves more holily in our relations
it is
good to see God’s hand in them. Every relation is a new talent wherewith God
intrusteth us to trade for His glory; and to that end we must make conscience
to use it.
3. That we may more patiently bear the crosses incident to this
state of life if God call us to them. They that launch forth into the world
sail in a troublesome and tempestuous sea
and cannot expect but to meet with a
storm before they come to the end of their voyage. The married life hath its
comforts
and also its encumbrances and sorrows. Now it will sweeten all our
crosses incident to this condition
when we remember we did not rashly enter
into it by our own choice
but were led by the fair directure and fair
invitation of God’s providence; we need not much be troubled at what overtaketh
us in the way of our duty
and the relations to which we are called. That hand
that sent the trouble will sanctify it
or He will overrule things so that they
shall work for our good. If God call us into this estate
He will support us in
it.
4. We may with the more confidence apply ourselves to God
and
depend on Him for a blessing upon a wife of God’s choosing
or a husband of
God’s choosing. We have access to the throne of grace with more hope
because
we have given up ourselves to His direction--“In all thy ways acknowledge Him
and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).
5. It is a help to make us more ready to part with one another when
God willeth it. It is the apostle’s direction--“The time is short
it remains
that those that have wives be as though they had none” (1 Corinthians 7:29); not so as to be
defective in our love to them and care over them; no
there is rather to be an
excess than a defect here--“Be thou ravished always with her love” (Proverbs 5:19); but as to a preparation
of heart to keep or lose
if God should see fit
to be contented to part with a
dear yoke fellow
or at least with an humble submission and acquiescence
when
God’s will is declared; and somewhat of this must be mingled with
all our rejoicings
some thoughts of the vanity of the creature. APPLICATION.
I. Let us seek
God by earnest prayer when any such matter is in hand. It is a contempt of God
and a kind of laying Him aside
when we dare undertake anything without His
leave
counsel
and blessing; and these are the things we are to seek in
prayer.
1. His leave. Adam had no interest in Eve till God brought her to
him
and bestowed her on him. Every one of us must get a grant of God of all
that he hath; the Lord He possesseth the house that we dwell in
the clothes we
wear
the food we eat; and so
in the use of all other comforts
we must have a
license from God
and take His leave. God is said to have given David the wives
that he had into his bosom.
2. His counsel and direction when the case is doubtful and our
thoughts are uncertain--“Lean not to thy own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). We scarce know duties
certainly we cannot foresee events; therefore a man that maketh his bosom his
oracle
his wit his counsellor
will choose a mischief to himself
instead of a
comfort and a blessing. Therefore we ought chiefly
and first of all
to
consult with God
and seek His direction
for He seeth the heart
and foreseeth
events.
3. We ask His blessing. God doth not only foresee the event
but
orders it; by His wisdom He foreseeth it
and by His powerful providence He
bringeth it to pass. Therefore God
that hath the disposal of all events
when
our direction is over
is to be sought unto for a blessing; for every comfort
cometh the sooner when it is sought in prayer; and whatever God’s purposes be
that is our duty.
II. Advice to
persons that are entering into this relation.
1. Negatively. See that God be no loser by the marriage.
2. Positively. Be sure that God be a gainer. These are the two
proffers I have to make to you.
1. Negatively. Let not God be a loser; He never intended to give you
gifts to His own wrong. Now that will be--
2. Positively. Let God be a gainer.
A preparative to marriage
Well might Paul say (Hebrews 13:4)
“marriage is honourable”;
for God hath honoured it Himself. It is honourable for the author
honourable
for the time
and honourable for the place. Whereas all other ordinances were
appointed of God by the hands of men
or the hands of angels (Acts 12:7; Hebrews 2:2)
marriage was ordained by
God Himself
which cannot err. No man nor angel brought the wife to the
husband
but God Himself (Genesis 2:12); so marriage hath more
honour of God in this than all other ordinances of God beside
because He
solemnized it Himself. Then it is honourable for the time; for it was the first
ordinance that God instituted
even the first thing which He did
after man and
woman were created
and that in the state of innocency
before either had
sinned: like the finest flower
which will not thrive but in a clean ground.
Then it is honourable for the place; for whereas all other ordinances were
instituted out of paradise
marriage was instituted in paradise
in the
happiest place
to signify haw happy they are that marry in the Lord. As God
the Father honoured marriage
so did God the Son
which is called “the Seed of
the woman” (Genesis 3:15); therefore marriage was so
honoured among women because of this seed
that when Elizabeth brought forth a
son (Luke 1:25)
she said that “God had taken
away her rebuke
” counting it the honour of women to bear children
and
by
consequence
the honour of women to be married; for the children which are born
out of marriage are the dishonour of women
and called by the shameful name of
bastards (Deuteronomy 23:2). As Christ honoured
marriage with His birth
so He honoured it with His miracles; for the first
miracle which Christ did
He wrought at a marriage in Cana
where He turned the
water into wine (John 2:8). As He honoured it with
miracles
so He honoured it with praises; for He compareth the kingdom of God
to a wedding (Matthew 22:2); and He compareth holiness
to a wedding garment (Genesis 2:11); and in the 5th of
Canticles He is wedded Himself (Song of Solomon 5:9). We read in
Scripture of three marriages of Christ. The first was when Christ and our
nature met together. The second is
when Christ and our soul join together. The
third is
the union of Christ and His Church. These are Christ’s three wives.
As Christ honoured marriage
so do Christ’s disciples; for John calleth the
conjunction of Christ and the faithful a marriage (Revelation 19:7). And in Revelation 21:9
the Church hath the name
of a bride
whereas heresy is called an harlot (Revelation 17:1). Now it must needs be
that marriage
which was ordained of such an excellent Author
and in such a
happy place
and of such an ancient time
and after such a notable order
must
likewise have special causes for the ordinance of it. Therefore the Holy Ghost
doth show us three causes of this union. One is
the propagation of children
signified
in that when Moses saith “He created them male and female” (Genesis 2:22)
not both male nor both
female
but one male and the other female; as if He created them fit to propagate
other. And
therefore
when He had created them so
to show that propagation of
children is one end of marriage
He said unto them
“Increase and multiply” (Genesis 1:28); that is
bring forth
children
as other creatures bring forth their kind. The second cause is to
avoid fornication. This Paul signifieth when he saith
“For the avoiding of
fornication
let every man have his own wife” (1 Corinthians 7:8). The third cause
is to avoid the inconvenience of solitariness
signified in these words
“It is
not good for man to be alone”; as though He had said
This life would be
miserable and irksome
and unpleasant to man
if the Lord had not given him a
wife to company his troubles. If it be not good for man to be alone
then it is
good for man to have a fellow; therefore
as God created a pair of all other
kinds
so He created a pair of this kind. We say that one is none
because he
cannot be fewer than one
he cannot be less than one
he cannot be weaker than
one
and therefore the wise man saith
“Woe to him that is alone” (Ecclesiastes 4:10)
that is
he which is
alone shall have woe. Thoughts and cares and fears will come to him because he
hath none to comfort him
as thieves steal in when the house is empty; like a
turtle which hath lost his mate; like one leg when the other is cut off; like
one wing when the other is clipped; so had the man been
if the woman had not
been joined to him; therefore for mutual society God coupled two together
that
the infinite troubles which lie upon us in the world might be eased with the
comfort and help one of another
and that the poor in the world might have some
comfort as well as the rich; for “the poor man
” saith Solomon
“is forsaken of
his own brethren” (Proverbs 19:7); yet God hath provided one
comfort for him
like Jonathan’s armour bearer
that shall never forsake him (1 Samuel 14:7)
that is
another
self
which is the only commodity (as I may term it) wherein the poor do match
the rich; without which some persons should have no helper
no comfort
no
friend at all. In Matthew 22:1-46
Christ showeth that
before parties married
they were wont to put on fair and new garments
which
were called wedding garments; a warning unto all which put on wedding garments
to put on truth and holiness too
which so precisely is resembled by that
garment more than other. Yet the chiefest point is behind
that is
our duties.
The duties of marriage may be reduced to the duties of man and wife
one toward
another
and their duties towards their children
and their duty toward their
servants. For themselves
saith one
they must think themselves like to birds:
the one is the cock
and the other is the hen; the cock flieth abroad to bring
in
and the dam sitteth upon the nest to keep all at home. So God hath made the
man to travel abroad
and the woman to keep home; and so their nature
and
their wit
and their strength are fitted accordingly; for the man’s pleasure is
most abroad
and the woman’s within. In every state there is some one virtue
which belongeth to that calling more than other; as justice unto magistrates
and knowledge unto preachers
and fortitude unto soldiers; so love is the
marriage virtue which sings music to their whole life. Wedlock is made of two
loves
which I may call the first love and the after love. As every man is
taught to love God before he be bid to love his neighbour
so they must love
God before they can love one another. To show the love which should be between
man and wife
marriage is called conjugium
which signifieth a knitting
or joining together; showing
that unless there be a joining of hearts
and a
knitting of affections together
it is not marriage in deed
but in show and
name
and they shall dwell in a house like two poisons in a stomach
and one
shall ever be sick of another. Therefore
first
that they may love
and keep
love one with another
it is necessary that they both love God
and as their
love increaseth toward Him
so it shall increase each to other. To begin this
concord well
it is necessary to learn one another’s natures
and one another’s
affections
and one another’s infirmities
because ye must be helpers
and ye
cannot help unless you know the disease. Thus much of their duties in general;
now to their several offices. The man may spell his duty out of his name
for
he is called “the head” (Ephesians 5:23)
to show that as the eye
the tongue
and the ear are in the head to direct the whole body
so the man
should be stored with wisdom
and understanding
and knowledge
and discretion
to direct his whole family; for it is not right that the worse should rule the
better
but the better should rule the worse
as the best rules all. The
husband saith that his wife must obey him
because he is her better; therefore
if he let her be better than himself
he seems to free her from her obedience
and binds himself to obey her. His first duty is called hearting
that is
hearty affection. As they are hand-fasted
so they must be heart-fasted; for
the eye
and the tongue
and the hand will be her enemies if the heart be not
her friend. As Christ draweth all the commandments to love
so may I draw all
their duties to love
which is the heart’s gift to the bride at her marriage.
First
he must choose his love
and then he must love his choice. This is the
oil which maketh all things easy. His next duty to love
is a fruit of his
love; that is
to let all things be common between them which were private
before. The man and wife are partners
like two oars in a boat; therefore he
must divide offices
and affairs
and goods with her
causing her to be feared
and reverenced
and obeyed of her children and servants
like himself
for she
is an under officer in his commonweal
and therefore she must be assisted and
borne out like his deputy; as the prince standeth with his magistrates for his own
quiet
because they are the legs which bear him up. Lastly
he must tender her
as much as all her friends
because he hath taken her from her friends
and
covenanted to tender her for them all. To show how he should tender her
Peter
saith
“Honour the woman as the weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7). As we do not handle
glasses like pots
because they are weaker vessels
but touch them nicely and
softly for fear of cracks
so a man must entreat his wife with gentleness and
softness
not expecting that wisdom
nor that faith
nor that patience
nor
that strength in the weaker vessel
which should be in the stronger; but think
when he takes a wife he takes a vineyard
not grapes
but a vineyard to bear
him grapes; therefore he must sow it
and dress it
and water it
and fence it
and think it a good vineyard
if at last it brings forth grapes. So he must not
look to find a wife without a fault
but think that she is committed to him to
reclaim her from her faults; for all are defective. And if he find the proverb
true
that in space cometh grace
he must rejoice as much at his wife when she
amendeth
as the husbandman rejoiceth when his vineyard beginneth to fructify.
So much for husbands. Likewise the woman may learn her duty of her names. They
are called goodwives
as goodwife A and goodwife B. Every wife is called a good
wife; therefore if they be not good wives
their names do belie them
and they
are not worth their titles
but answer to a wrong name
as players do upon a
stage. This name pleaseth them well. But besides this
a wife is called a yoke
fellow (Philippians 4:3)
to show that she should
help her husband to bear his yoke
that is
his grief must be her grief; and
whether it be the yoke of poverty
or the yoke of envy
or the yoke of
sickness
or the yoke of imprisonment
she must submit her neck to bear it
patiently with him
or else she is not his yoke fellow
but his yoke; as though
she were inflicted upon him for a penalty
like to Job’s wife
whom the devil
left to torment him when he took away all he had beside (Job 2:9). Beside a yoke fellow
she is
called a helper (Genesis 2:18)
to help him in his
business
to help him in his labours
to help him in his troubles
to help him
in his sickness
like a woman physician
sometime with her strength
and
sometime with her counsel; for sometime as God confoundeth the wise by the
foolish
and the strong by the weak (1 Corinthians 1:27)
so He teacheth
the wise by the foolish
and helpeth the strong by the weak. Beside a helper
she is called a comforter too; and therefore the man is bid rejoice in his wife
(Proverbs 5:18); which is as much to say
that wives must be the rejoicing of their husbands
even like David’s harp to
comfort 1 Samuel 16:23). Lastly
we call the
wife huswife
that is
housewife; not a street wife
like Tamar (Genesis 38:14); nor a field wife
like
Dinah (Genesis 34:2); but a housewife
to show
that a good wife keeps her house; and therefore Paul biddeth Titus to exhort
women that they be “chaste
and keeping at home” (Titus 2:5). Presently after “chaste” he
saith “keeping at home
” as though home were chastity’s keeper. As it becometh
her to keep home
so it becometh her to keep silence
and always speak the best
of her head. Others seek their honour in triumph
but she must seek her honour
in reverence; for it becometh not any woman to set light by her husband
nor to
publish his infirmities. For they say
That is an evil bird that defileth her
own nest; and if a wife use her husband so
how may a husband use his wife?
Because this is the quality of that sex
to overthwart
and upbraid
and sue
the preeminence of their husbands
therefore the philosophers could not tell
how to define a wife
but call her the contrary to a husband
as though nothing
were so cross and contrary to a man as a wife. This is not Scripture
but no slander
to many. As David exalted the love of women above all other loves (2 Samuel 1:26)
so Solomon mounteth
the envy of women above all other envies (Proverbs 21:19). Stubborn
sullen
taunting
gainsaying
out-facing
with such a bitter humour
that one would
think they were molten out of the salt pillar into which Lot’s wife was
transformed (Genesis 19:28). We say not all are alike
but this sect hath many disciples
Doth the rib that is in man’s side fret or
gall him? No more then should she which is made of the rib (Genesis 2:20). Though a woman be wise
and painful
and have many good parts
yet if she be a shrew
her troublesome
jarring in the end will make her honest behaviour unpleasant
as her
overpinching at last causeth her good housewifery to be evil spoken of.
Therefore
although she be a wife
yet sometimes she must observe the servant’s
lesson: “Not answering again” (Titus 2:9)
and hold her peace to keep
the peace. Therefore they which keep silence are well said to hold their peace
because silence oftentimes doth keep the peace when words would break it. To
her silence and patience she must add the acceptable obedience which makes a
woman rule while she is ruled. This is the wife’s tribute to her husband; for
she is not called his head
but he is called her head. Thus we have shadowed
the man’s duty to his wife
and the woman’s to her husband. After their duties
one to another
they must learn their duties to their family. One compareth the
master of the house to the seraphim
which came and kindled the prophet’s zeal;
so he should go from wife to servants
and from servants to children
and
kindle in them the zeal of God
longing to teach his knowledge
as a nurse to
empty her breasts. Another saith that a master in his family hath all the
offices of Christ
for he must rule
and teach
and pray; rule like a king
and
teach like a prophet
and pray like a priest (Revelation 5:10). To show how a godly man
should behave himself in his household
when the Holy Ghost speaketh of the
conversation of any housekeeper
lightly he saith
that “the man believed with
all his household” (Acts 16:34; Acts 18:8). As Peter being converted
must convert his brethren; so the master being converted
must convert his
servants. Lastly
we put the duty towards children
because they come last to
their hands. In Latin children are called pignora
that is
pledges; as
if I should say
a pledge of the husband’s love to the wife
and a pledge of
the wife’s love toward the husband; for there is nothing which doth so knit
love between the man and the wife as the fruit of the womb. The first duty is
the mother’s
that is
to nurse her child at her own breasts
as Sarah did Genesis 21:7); and therefore Isaiah
joined the nurse’s name and the mother’s name both in one
and called them
“nursing mothers”; showing that mothers should be the nurses. The next duty is
“Catechize a child in his youth
and he will remember it when he is old” (Proverbs 22:6). This is the right
blessing which fathers and mothers give to their children
when they cause God
to bless them too. If these duties be performed in marriage then I need not
speak of divorcement
which is the rod of marriage
and divideth them which
were one flesh
as if the body and soul were parted asunder. But because all
perform not their wedlock vows
therefore He which appointed marriage hath
appointed divorcement
as it were taking our privilege from us when we abuse
it. As God hath ordained remedies for every disease
so He hath ordained a
remedy for the disease of marriage. The disease of marriage is adultery
and
the medicine hereof is divorcement. Moses licensed them to depart for hardness
of heart Matthew 19:8); but Christ licenseth them
to depart for no cause but adultery. If they might be separated for discord
some would make a commodity of strife; but now they are not best to be
contentious
for this law will hold their noses together
till weariness make
them leave struggling; like two spaniels which are coupled in a chain
at last
they learn to go together
because they may not go asunder. As nothing might
part friends
but “if thine eye offend thee
pull it out” (Matthew 5:32); that is
thy friend be a
tempter; so nothing may dissolve marriage but fornication (Matthew 19:9)
which is the breach of
marriage
for marriage is ordained to avoid fornication (1 Corinthians 7:9)
and therefore if
the condition be broken
the obligation is void. (H. Smith.)
Why the creation of woman was deferred to this precise juncture in
human history
First
man’s original unity is the counterpart of the unity of
God. He was to be made in the image of God
and after His likeness. If the male
and the female had been created at once
an essential feature of the Divine
likeness would have been wanting. But
as in the Absolute One there is no
duality
whether in sex or in any other respect
so is there none in the
original form and constitution of man. Hence we learn the absurdity of those
who import into their notions of the deity the distinction of sex
and all the
alliances which are involved in a race of gods. Secondly
the natural unity of
the first pair
and of the race descended from them
is established by the
primary creation of an individual
from whom is derived
by a second creative
process
the first woman. The race of man is thus a perfect unity
flowing from
a single centre of human life. Thirdly
two remarkable events occur in the
experience of man before the formation of the woman; his instalment in the
garden as its owner
keeper
and dresser; and his review of the animals as
their rational superior
to whom they yield an instinctive homage. By the
former he is prepared to provide for the sustenance and comfort of his wife. By
the latter
he becomes aware of his power to protect her. Still farther
by the
interview with his Maker in the garden he came to understand language; and by
the inspection of the animals to employ it himself. Speech implies the exercise
of the susceptive and conceptive powers of the understanding. Thus Adam was
qualified to hold intelligent converse with a being like himself. He was
competent to be the instructor of his wife in words and things. Again
he had
met with his superior in his Creator
his inferiors in the animals; and he was
now to meet his equal in the woman. And lastly
by the Divine command his moral
sense had been brought into play
the theory of moral obligation had been
revealed to his mind
and he was therefore prepared to deal with a moral being
like himself
to understand and respect the rights of another
to do unto
another as he would have another do to him. It was especially necessary that
the sense of right should grow up in his breast
to keep in due check that
might in which he excelled
before the weaker and gentler sex was called into
being
and entrusted to his charge. (Prof. J. G. Murphy.)
Feminine solace
Washington Irving likens such a woman to the vine. As the vine
which has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak
and been lifted by it
in sunshine
will
when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt
cling
round it with its caressing tendrils
and bind up its shattered boughs; so it
is beautifully ordered by Providence that woman should be man’s stay and solace
when smitten with sudden calamity--binding up the broken heart.
“‘Tis
woman’s to bind up the broken heart
And
soften the bending spirit’s smart;
And
to light in this world of sin and pain
The
lamp of love
and of joy again.”
Wife help
Guelph
the Duke of Bavaria
was besieged in his castle
and
compelled to capitulate to the Emperor Conrad. His lady demanded for herself
and the other ladies safe conduct to a place of safety
with whatever they
could carry. This was granted; and to the astonishment of all
the ladies
appeared
carrying their husbands on their backs. Thus wives aided their
husbands: and never in the gayest moods in tournament or court did those fair
dames look more lovely.
Woman
Hargrave says that women are the poetry of the world in the same
sense as the stars are the poetry of heaven. Clear
light-giving harmonies
women are the terrestrial planets that rule the destinies of mankind.
The word “woman”
In English
the qualification “wo
” placed before “man
” indicates
merely a difference of sex. In Latin
she is called the muller
a word
derived from mollior--softer
more tender. In Hebrew ish signifies
“man
” and the addition of a terminal vowel makes it isha--a woman. In
all three of these languages
the words used are also applied to a “wife.” In
Turkish
however
the name karu--woman--is never applied to a wife; she is
called ev
which signifies “house”; while the Armenians call her undanik
or the keeper at home
a word which includes the children; they also call
the wife gin
i.e.
a woman. (Things not Generally Known)
Verse 24
Cleave unto his wife
Marriage
I.
THE
NATURE AND END OF MARRIAGE. It is a vow of perpetual and indissoluble
friendship.
1. It has long been observed that friendship is to be confined to
one: or that
to use the words of the axiom
“He that hath friends
has no
friend.” That ardour of kindness
that unbounded confidence
that unsuspecting
security which friendship requires
cannot be extended beyond a single object.
2. It is remarked
that friendship amongst equals is the most
lasting
and perhaps there are few causes to which more unhappy marriages are
to be ascribed than a disproportion between the original condition of the two
persons.
3. Strict friendship is to have the same desires and the same
aversions. Whoever is to choose a friend is to consider first the resemblance
or the dissimilitude of tempers. How necessary this caution is to be urged as
preparatory to marriage
the misery of those who neglect it sufficiently
evinces.
4. Friends
says the proverbial observation
“have everything in
common.” This is likewise implied in the marriage covenant. Matrimony admits of
no separate possessions
no incommunicable interests.
5. There is yet another precept equally relating to friendship and
to marriage
a precept which
in either case
can never be too strongly
inculcated
or too scrupulously observed; “Contract friendship only with the
good.” Virtue is the first quality to be considered in the choice of a friend
and yet more in a fixed and irrevocable choice.
II. BY WHAT MEANS
THE END OF MARRIAGE IS TO BE ATTAINED. The duties
by the practice of which a
married life is to be made happy
are the same with those of friendship
but
exalted to higher perfection. Love must be more ardent
and confidence without
limits. It is therefore necessary on each part to deserve that confidence by
the most unshaken fidelity
and to preserve their love unextinguished by
continual acts of tenderness: not only to detest all real
but seeming
offences: and to avoid suspicion and guilt
with almost equal solicitude. (John
Taylor
LL. D.)
Marriage
I. MARRIAGE OF
MAN AND WOMAN IS AN ORDINANCE OF GOD HIMSELF. And is therefore called the
covenant of God (Proverbs 2:17). By which He is said to
join the married persons together (Matthew 19:6). Of which conjunction
especially the apostle speaks
when he warns every man to walk as God hath
called him (1 Corinthians 7:17). Neither in
reason can it be otherwise; seeing--
1. We are God’s and not our own; and therefore none of us having
power over his own person
can be disposed of otherwise than He directs (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
2. We bring forth children unto God (Malachi 2:15). Which He therefore calls
His own (Ezekiel 16:21)
as born unto Him.
II. MARRIED
PERSONS MUST BE WHOLLY AND ENTIRELY ONE TO ANOTHER. According to the form of
that stipulation mentioned (Hosea 3:3)
which extends unto all
conjugal duties only. One may love other friends
but only his wife with a
conjugal love and affection
rejoicing in her alone Proverbs 5:18-19); dwelling with her as
an inseparable companion; advising and jointly labouring with her for upholding
and governing of the family (1 Corinthians 7:3) and the like--in
those the married persons must be wholly one to another. But so that they also
as well as others
must still hold themselves obliged to those general duties
of love
due reverence
and service
unto all other persons
according to their
several relations.
III. MARRIED
PERSONS ARE NOT ONLY TO REFRAIN THEMSELVES FROM ALL OTHERS
BUT RESIDES TO
ADHERE AND CLEAVE FIRMLY ONE TO ANOTHER. (J. White
M. A.)
The unity of husband and wife
Husband and wife should be like two candles burning together
which
make the house more lightsome; or like two fragrant flowers bound up in one
nosegay
that augment its sweetness; or like two well-tuned instruments
which
sounding together
make the more melodious music. Husband and wife--what are
they but as two springs meeting
and so joining their streams that they make
but one current? (W. Secker.)
Two hallowed institutions
Two hallowed institutions have descended to us from the days of
primeval innocence
the wedding and the Sabbath. The former indicates communion
of the purest and most perfect kind between equals of the same class. The
latter implies communion of the highest and holiest kind between the Creator
and the intelligent creature. The two combined
import communion with each
other in communion with God. Wedded union is the sum and type of every social
tie. It gives rise and scope to all the nameless joys of home. It is the native
field for the cultivation of all the social virtues. It provides for the due
framing and checking of the overgrowth of interest in self
and for the gentle
training and fostering of a growing interest in others. It unfolds the graces
and charms of mutual love
and imparts to the susceptible heart all the peace
and joy
all the light and fire
all the frankness and life of conscious and
constant purity and goodwill. Friendship
brotherly kindness and love
are
still hopeful and sacred names among mankind. Sabbath keeping lifts the wedded
pair
the brethren
the friends
the one-minded
up to communion with God. The
joy of achievement is a feeling common to God and man. The commemoration of the
auspicious beginning of a holy and happy existence will live in man while
memory lasts. The anticipation also of joyful repose after the end of a work
well done will gild the future while hope survives. Thus the idea of the
Sabbath spans the whole of man’s existence. History and prophecy commingle in
its peaceful meditations
and both are linked with God. God is; He is the
author of all being and the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. This is
the noble lesson of the Sabbath. Each seventh day is well spent in attending to
the realization of these great thoughts. (Prof. J. G. Murphy.)
Verse 25
Not ashamed
Nakedness without shame
There they stood
just as they came from the hands of God.
They did not need to blush; they felt no shame. It is sin that has connected
nakedness and shame together. No sin
no shame. There is no blush upon an
angel’s brow. Unfallen man had the unashamed nakedness of innocence; but with
the Fall this has passed away
not to be returned to
even under redemption
but to be replaced by something higher
the glorious raiment of a righteousness
that is unfading and divine. Unfallen man needed no covering
and asked for
none; but fallen man
under the bitter consciousness of the unworthy and
unseemly condition to which sin has reduced him
as unfit for God
or angels
or man to look upon
cries out for covering--covering such as will hide his
shame even from the eye of God. Hence He who undertook to provide this
covering
must bear the shame. And He has borne it--all the shame of hanging
naked on the cross; the shame of a sinner; the shame of being made the song of
the drunkard; the shame of being despised and rejected of men; the shame of
being treated as an outcast
one unfit for either God or man to look
upon--unfit not only to live
but even to die within the gates of the holy city
(Hebrews 13:11-12). All that shame has He
borne for us
that we might inherit His glory. He stooped to the place of shame
below
that we might obtain the place of honour in the better paradise above.
Thus walked our first parents amid the groves of a paradise that had not then
been lost. Thus dwelt they in its bowers as a home
and worshipped in it as a
sanctuary. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
What was man’s glory is now his shame
That very state of body which was
in Adam and Eve
their highest
glory
would be
in us
should we be seen in that state
our deepest shame. It
was the very glory of man
and would have continued to be so
had he remained
in his original innocency
that while all the other animals had need of hairs
feathers
and scales
etc.
to cover their unsightliness
man alone was created
with that dignity and beauty of body
that he could appear
uncovered
in the
glory of his created nakedness. But all this glory is lost. We are now
compelled
not only for necessary protection
but for the sake of avoiding the
deepest turpitude
to cover our bodies with more study and care than any other
animals of God’s creation. For they all come into the world covered by nature.
(M. Lather.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》