A Complete Body of Divinity
3. Come to the Lord Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, and the beginning of the creation of God, who at first made man after the divine image, and can make him so over again, and will do so to those that come to him by faith, with this addition, that the image of God which he will impress on the soul anew, shall never be lost any more. O come to him now, that you may become God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
MATTHEW. 10:29.—Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
OUR Lord is here encouraging his disciples against all the troubles and distresses they might meet with in their way, and particularly against the fear of men, by the consideration of the providence of God, which reaches unto the meanest of things, sparrows and the hairs of our head. Sparrows are of a mean price and small value; and yet, for as mean as they are, God preserves them, guides and disposes of all things concerning them, so that one of them cannot fall to the ground by shot or any other way, without his sovereign ordering and disposal.
The instruction deducible from the text is,
DOCTRINE. 'There is a providence that extends itself to the least of things.
In discoursing from this doctrine, I shall,
I. Show that there is a providence.
II. Consider its Objection
III. Explain the acts thereof.
IV. Consider its properties.
V. Lastly, make improvement.
I. I am to show that there is a providence. This appears,
1. From plain scripture-testimonies; as Psalm 103:19. 'His kingdom rules over all.' Acts 17:28. 'In him we live, and move, and have our being,' Ephesians 1:11.—'Who works all things after the counsel of his own will.' Providence is also held forth by a threefold scripture-emblem. Chiefly,
(1.) Mount Moriah, which upon occasion of the miraculous preservation of Isaac, and a ram to be put in his room in order to be sacrificed, was called JEHOVAH JIREH, that is, The Lord will provide, Genesis 22:14.
(2.) Jacob's ladder, on which God appears managing all things, Genesis 28.
(3.) Ezekiel's wheels, where there was a wheel in the middle of a wheel, denoting the agency of the first cause, and the superintending and directing providence of God, Ezekiel 1.
2. From the nature of God, who being independent, and the first cause of all things, the creatures must needs depend upon him in their being and working. He is the end of all things, wise, knowing how to manage all for the best; powerful to effectuate whatever he has purposed; and faithful to accomplish all he has decreed, promised, or threatened.
3. From the harmony and order of the most confused things in the world. Everything appears to a discerning eye to be wisely ordered, notwithstanding the confusions that seem to take place. What would become of the world, if there were not a providence seeing men that despise all order, and would gladly give loose reins to their lusts and unbridled inclinations, are always the greatest party, and would overpower and destroy the smaller and most virtuous party? Herein the truth of providence clearly appears. The extraordinary judgments that have pursued and been inflicted upon wicked men, and the remarkable deliverances that have been granted to the church and people of God in all ages, do loudly proclaim a providence.
4. From the fulfillment of prophecies, which could not possibly be without a providence to bring them to pass.
II. Let us, in the next place, consider the object of providence, or that which it reaches and extends to. And this is all the creatures, and all their actions, Hebrews 1:3.—'Upholding all things by the word of his power,' Psalm 103:19. 'His kingdom rules over all.' The angels are subject to this providence, Nehemiah 9:6. 'You, even you are Lord alone, you have made Heaven, the Heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and you preserve them all, and the host of Heaven worships you.' So are also the devils, these infernal spirits, Matthew. 8:31, 'If you cast us out (said they to Jesus), suffer us to go away unto the herd of swine.' It reaches natural things, as clouds, snow, winds, etc. as appears from Psalm 104; 147 and from daily observation. Casual things are ordered by providence, as lots, Proverbs 16:33. 'The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.' So in the case of accidental manslaughter, Exodus. 21:13. 'If a man lie not in wait, and God deliver him into his hand.' There is nothing so mean but providence extends to it, such as the falling of a sparrow, and the numbering of the hairs of our head. It is God that feeds the birds and the young ravens that cry. He clothes the lilies and grass of the field, that have no hand of man about them. He made lice, frogs, etc. a plague to scourge Pharaoh and his people, worms to eat up Herod, etc. In a special manner providence is conversant about man, forming him in the womb, 'Have you not poured me out as milk (says Job), and curdled me like cheese? You have clothed me with flesh and have fenced me with bones and sinews,' Job 10:10, 11.—bringing him forth out of his mother's affections, and holding him up thereafter, Psalm 71:6. His heart is in the Lord's hand, and all his thoughts and inclinations are under his control, Proverbs 21:1. He directs and orders all his steps. The most free acts of the creature's will are governed by superintending providence. All their good actions, John 15:5. 'Without me you can do nothing.' So also their evil actions, Acts 4:27, 28. 'For of a truth against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatever your hand and your counsel determined before to be done,' Genesis 45:7. 'God sent me before you,' says Joseph to his brethren, though they had wickedly sold him into Egypt.
III. I proceed to consider the acts of providence. They are two, preserving and governing the creatures and their actions.
1. God by his providence preserves all the creatures. This preservation of the creatures is an act of providence, whereby they are preserved in their being and power of acting, Hebrews 1:3. 'Upholding all things by the word of his power.' In this God sometimes makes use of means, and sometimes acts without means. We have both described, Hosea 2:21, 22. 'I will hear says the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.' He preserves the heavens immediately, the earth, the corn, the wine, and the oil, etc. mediately. And thus by his providence he provides all things necessary for the preservation of all things; Psalm 145:15, 16. 'The eyes of all wait upon you, and you give them their meat in due season. You open your haud, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.' This act of providence is so necessary, that nothing could exist one moment without it. For there is no necessary connection between the being of the creatures this moment and their being the next; and as they could not give themselves a being, so they cannot continue it, but must be upheld by God as a ball in the air, Hebrews 1:3. There is a continual efflux of providence necessary for preserving and upholding the creatures in their being, otherwise they would be independent, and could preserve themselves, which is grossly absurd.
2. God does not only preserve the creatures, but governs and manages them, which is the second act of providence; whereby he disposes of all things, persons, and actions, according to his will, Proverbs 21:1. 'The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will, Proverbs 16:33. 'The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.' Chapter 16:9. 'A man's heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps.' And this act of providence is also necessary: for as the creature cannot be or exist without God, so neither can it act without him, Acts 17:21. 'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' God does not make man as the carpenter does the ship, which afterwards sails without him; but he rules and guides him, sitting at the helm, to direct and order all his motions: so that whatever men do, they do nothing without him: not only in their good actions, where he gives grace, and excites it, working in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure: but also in their evil actions, wherein they are under the hand of Providence, but in a very different manner.
For understanding this point, how the providence of God reaches to and is concerned in sinful actions, we are to consider, that God neither puts evil into the hearts of men, nor stirs them up to it: for, says the apostle, Jam. 1:13. 'God cannot be tempted with evil; neither tempts he any man.' And therefore he is not the author of sin. But,
1. God permits sin, when he does not hinder it, which he is not obliged to do. Not that it falls out so as he cannot hinder it, for he is omnipotent, and can do all things; nor yet as if he cared not what fell out in the world; but he does wisely, for his holy ends, efficaciously will not to hinder it: Hence we read, Acts 14:16 that 'God in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.' He does not permit sin, for that he will not violate or force the creature's free will; for God's providence offers no violence to the will of the creature; and if so, he should never hinder sin at all, for the same reason. But certainly he has holy ends in the permission of sin: for thereby his justice, mercy, wisdom, and love, in sending his Son to save sinners, do conspicuously appear, which otherwise would have been under an eternal cloud, hidden from the view of men and angels.
For the further illustration of this doctrine relating to the concern of providence in sinful actions, we are to consider them in a twofold respect, as simple actions, or natural actions of the creature, abstract from any obliquity or deformity cleaving to them; and as actions having irregularity and depravity in them. Considered as natural actions of the creature, they are all effected by the providence of God, which co-operates with, and enables the creature to produce them, in such a manner that without the efflux of providence the creature could not move a hand or foot, or perform any action whatever; 'for in him we move:' and no action of the creature simply considered, or as a natural action, can be sinful, but has a goodness of being in it, and is effected by the influence of providence. As to the depravity or sin that is in actions, as God decreed the futurition of sin, or permitted it to take place, and did not hinder it; so all the sin that is in actions proceeds entirely from the creature, and the evil lusts and passions that are in his heart.
Thus a man's taking up a stone, and throwing it, is a natural action, which the providence of God enables him to perform; but his throwing it at another man with an intention to kill him, is permitted by God, otherwise it could not take place; for if a hair cannot fall from our head without the providence of God, much less can a man be murdered without it: and the killing of the man by the throwing of the stone, proceeds entirely from the malice and wickedness that was in the heart of the murderer, the operation of which God did not hinder, which he is nowise obliged to do.
2. God leaves the sinner so far as he sees meet to the swing of his own lusts, and denies him restaining grace. Thus it is said of Hezekiah, a godly king, that, "in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart," 2 Chronicles 32:31. And when the restraint is taken off the sinner, he runs furiously, to evil.
3. God bounds sin, and restrains men in their sins, as he does the raging sea, allowing it to go so far, but no further. He has such a power and command over wicked men, that they are not masters of their own affections and dispositions, but many times act quite contrary to what they had firmly resolved and proposed: as in the case of Laban. He pursued Jacob, when he left Padan-aram, in order to return into his own country, with a wicked intention to do him hurt, by robbing him of his wives, children, and cattle; but the Lord restrained him, and influenced him to enter into a covenant of friendship with the good patriarch, Genesis 32. Thus Esau had resolved on Jacob's death, and went out to meet him with a purpose to destroy him; but when providence brought them together, it is said, "Esau embraced Jacob, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Thus Balaam came with an express intention to curse Israel, and yet he fell a blessing them. Thus he bent the hearts of the Egyptians to favor the Israelites, so that they sent them away with great riches, by lending them jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and costly garments. Thus, by a secret instinct, he turned Jehoshaphat's enemies away from him, when they came with a purpose to destroy him, 2 Chronicles 18:31; and at another time he turned his enemies against themselves, so that they sheathed their swords in one another's affections, 2 Chronicles 20. Thus also he restrained the soldiers that broke the legs of the two thieves that were crucified with Christ, from touching his, in order to accomplish his word, that a bone of the paschal lamb, which was a type of Christ, the Lamb of God, should not be broken. So true is that saying of the Psalmist, Psalm 76:10. 'Surely the wrath of man shall praise you: the remainder of wrath shall you restrain.' God has a bridle in the months of wicked men, when they are under the most impetuous fury of their lusts, to turn them as he will, restraining and curbing in respect of some, and giving swing to others.
4. Lastly, God over-rules all to a good end. God has one end in wicked actions, and the sinner another. The sinner minds and intends evil, but God means and designs good by them all. So Joseph's brethren, in their cruelly selling him for a slave, meant evil to the poor youth; but God, in that dispensation meant it for good, and brought much good out of it to Joseph, and his father and brethren. Thus the Jews crucified Christ out of malice against him; but God by that crucifixion intended satisfaction to his justice for the sins of men, and the redemption and salvation of an elect world. Thus God brings good, the greatest good out of the worst of evils. What greater evil or more atrocious wickedness can be imagined, than the violent death of the innocent Son of God, who went about doing good, and was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners? and yet what a rich and astonishing good resulted therefrom, even glory to God, and peace and good-will towards men!
IV. Our next business is to consider the properties of divine providence.
1. God's providence is most holy, Psalm 145:17. 'The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.' Even though providence reach to and be conversant in sinful actions, yet it is pure; as the sun contracts no defilement, though it shine on a dunghill. For God is neither the physical nor moral cause of the evil of any action, more than he who rides on a lame horse is the cause of his halting. All the evil that is in sinful actions proceeds and flows from the wicked agent, as the stench of the dunghill does not proceed from the heat of the sun, but from the corrupt matter contained in the dunghill.
2. It is most wise, Isaiah 28:29. 'This comes forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.' Infinite wisdom always proposes the most excellent ends in all its operations, and uses the best methods for accomplishing its ends. However perplexed confused, and void of wisdom providential administrations may appear to us poor mortals of narrow, shallow capacities, yet they are the result of the highest wisdom and the deepest counsel, as proceeding from and directed by him whose name is the only wise God, and cannot but manage all things with the greatest understanding. And the day will at last come when it shall be said by the united voice of the whole assembly and church of the first-born, that God has done all things well: and then the plan of providence will appear in every respect to have been most wise, harmonious and consistent.
3. Providence is most powerful. Hence the Lord says to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria 'I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came,' 2 Kings 19:28. 'The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will.' Who can resist his will which is almighty? He can never fail of his end, but all things fall out according to his decree, which is efficacious and irresistible.
I shall conclude with an use of exhortation.
1. Beware of drawing an excuse for your sin from the providence of God; for it is most holy, and has not the least efficiency in any sin you commit. Every sin is an act of rebellion against God; a breach of his holy law, and deserves his wrath and curse; and therefore cannot be authorised by an infinitely-holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity without detestation and abhorrence. Though he has by a permissive decree allowed moral evil to be in the world, yet that has no influence on the sinner to commit it. For it is not the fulfilling of God's decree, which is an absolute secret to every mortal, but the gratification of their own lusts and perverse inclinations, that men intend and mind in the commission of sin.
2. Beware of murmuring and fretting under any dispensations of providence that you meet with; remembering that nothing falls out without a wise and holy providence, which knows best what is fit and proper for you. And in all cases, even amidst the most afflicting incidents that befall you, learn submission to the will of God; as Job did, when he said, in consequence of a train of the heaviest calamities that happened to him, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord,' Job 1:21. In the most distressing case say with the disciples, 'The will of the Lord be done,' Acts 21:14.
3. Beware of anxious cares and diffidence about your through-bearing in the world. This our Lord has cautioned his followers against, Matthew. 6:31. 'Take no thought (that is, anxious and perplexing thought), saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?' Never let the fear of man stop you from duty, Matthew. 10:28, 29; but let your souls learn to trust in God, who guides and superintends all the events and administrations of providence, by whatever hands they are performed.
4. Do not slight means, seeing God works by them; and he who has appointed the end orders the means necessary for gaining the end. Do not rely upon means, for they can do nothing without God, Matthew. 4:4. Do not despond if there be no means, for God can work without them, as well as with them; Hosea 1:7. 'I will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.' If the means be unlikely, he can work above them, Romans 4:19. 'He considered not his own body now dead, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.' If the means be contrary, he can work by contrary means, as he saved Jonah by the whale that devoured him. That fish swallowed up the prophet, but by the direction of providence, it vomited him out upon dry land.
5. Lastly, Happy is the people whose God the Lord is: for all things shall work together for their good. They may sit secure in exercising faith upon God, come what will. They have ground for prayer; for God is a prayer-hearing God, and will be inquired of by his people as to all their concerns in the world. And they have ground for the greatest encouragement and comfort amidst all the events of providence, seeing they are managed by their covenant God and gracious friend, who will never neglect or overlook his dear people, and whatever concerns them. For he has said, 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you,' Hebrews 13:5.
THE WISE OBSERVATION OF PROVIDENCES ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED
PSALM 107:43.—Whoever is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.
WHOEVER would walk with God, must be due observers of the word and providence of God, for by these in a special manner he manifests himself to his people. In the one we see what he says; in the other what he does. These are the two books that every student of holiness ought to be much conversant in. They are both written with one hand, and they should both be carefully read, by those that would have not only the name of religion, but the thing. They should be studied together, if we would profit by either; for being taken together, they give light the one to the other; and as it is our duty to read the word, so it is also our duty to observe the work of God, Psalm 28:5. The one I formerly recommended; and I am now to press the other, as a proper addition to our late discourse on the providence of God, from the text now read. Wherein we have two things.
1. The observing of providences recommended, Whoever is wise, etc. In the Hebrew it runs, Who is wise, and will observe these things. Wherein we may observe,
1st, The duty itself recommended, observing these things. Where we are to consider the act and the Objection
(1.) The object these things; that is, the dispensations of providence. These are the things the Psalmist would have men to observe. For the design of this psalm is to praise God for his wonderful works of providence in the world, especially in the church. For this cause he sets before us,
(1.) Wonderful deliverances wrought by providence, instanced in the seasonable relief given to,
(1.) Needy and bewildered strangers, far from their own, verse 3–9.
(2.) Captives and prisoners, verse 10–16.
(3.) Sick people at the gates of death, verse 17–22.
(4.) To seafaring men in a storm, verse 23–32.
(2.) Strange and surprising changes in human affairs.
(1.) Fruitful places made barren, and barren places fruitful. verse 33–35. For an instance of which we need but consider this our own country, sometime a forest, for little use but to be a hunting-field, now comfortably maintaining many families, and useful to the nation by its great store.
(2.) Mean families raised by a blessing on their husbandry and store, and cast down again from their prosperity by cross providences, verse 36–39.
(3.) Those that were high in the world abased, and those that were mean and despicable raised to honor, verse 40, 41. These turns of providence are of use to solace saints, and silence sinners, verse 42. Now, here is a field opened for serious observation. These and such like things we are called to notice.
(2.) The act, observation. We must not let providences pass without remark, but observe them carefully, as men that are neither fools nor atheists, but have eyes in their heads, and do not think the world is guided by blind chance, but by an infinitely wise God. The word signifies to take heed, and retain, as a watchman in a city does. We must take heed to them as they fall out, and carefully keep them in mind, that they be not forgot, or slip out of our minds.
2dly, The qualification necessary to fit a man for this duty, wisdom. This is true spiritual wisdom; for in scripture language all strangers to serious godliness are accounted fools, however sharp-sighted otherwise they be. As for others, they neither will nor can rightly observe these things.
3dly, The manner of the expression. It intimates,
(1.) That there are few so wise as to observe providences. Most part of the world are stupid on that point; they let them go and come without notice, Jeremiah 9:12.
(2.) That those who are truly wise will do it, Hosea 14 ult.
2. The advantage accruing from a wise observation of providences. They shall understand thereby the loving-kindness, goodness, and mercy of God, written out in his dispensations towards themselves and others; as we know how one stands affected to us by his behavior towards us. His works will give us a clearer discovery of his glorious perfections; and these observations will enrich us with experiences. It is remarkable that some of these things are cross providences; yet a right observation of them will show us God's kindness; for the divine goodness may be seen in cross providences as well as in favorable ones.
From the text I shall only observe one doctrine at present.
DOCTRINE. "It is the duty of Christians wisely to observe providences."
This is a weighty point in practical religion, that requires observation in speaking to it, and practicing it.
In discoursing from this doctrine, I shall show,
I. What it is to observe providences wisely.
II. What are the objects about which we are to make our observations.
III. What we are to observe in them.
IV. The reasons why Christians should wisely observe providences.
V. Make some practical improvement.
I. I am to show what it is to observe providences wisely. It presupposes some things, and imports some things.
First, It presupposes these four things.
1. That there is a providence. The world is not managed by fortune, nor do things fall out by blind chance. That there is a God, and that there is a providence, have been always looked on by men of sound judgment as certain maxims, establishing one another. And indeed to set up the creatures to act otherwise than under the providence of God, is to set them up for independent beings, that is, for gods. The scripture is plain that it reaches all things, Romans 11:36. 'For of him, and through him, and to him are all things;' even from the greatest to the least, as you will see from Matthew 10:29, 30, 31. 'Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing; and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear you not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.' And unless it were so, how could he foresee and foretell things, Isaiah 46:10.
Some think this would disturb his repose, and is unworthy of him, and his purity and wisdom. But do not these atheists see the sun in the heavens undisturbed, with his (yet) universal influence, shine on the dunghill as well as the garden, without contracting any spot? And is it unworthy of God to govern what he has created? As for the wisdom in the management of the world, they are fools who judge it folly before they see the end.
2. The faith of this providence. We must believe the doctrine of providence, if we would be wise observers thereof. The faith of the saints in this point may be shaken in an hour of temptation; as was the case with Asaph, Psalm 73:13, 14, 15. 'Truly (says he) I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of your children.' And the unbelief of others therein makes them half atheists, Malachi 3:14, 15. 'You have said, it is vain to serve God: and what profit is it, that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yes, they that work wickedness are set up; yes, they that tempt God are even delivered.' And the slender belief there is of it in the world makes men overlook providence, Habakkuk 1:16. 'Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag: because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous.' Labor you firmly to believe providence, that you may observe it; nay, believe it, and you will observe it.
3. Providence has a language to the children of men. It is a clear part of the name of God whereby he manifests himself to the world, and has served to convince men of his eternal power and Godhead, whom no other arguments could reach: Daniel 4 ult. 'Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honor the King of Heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.' Psalm 19:3, 4. 'There is no speech, nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.' Rods have a language, Micah 6:9. 'The Lord's voice cries unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see your name: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.' And so also have mercies a language, Romans 2:4. 'Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.' And providences being the work of a rational agent, they must have a design.
4. A disposition to understand the language and design of providence. It is for this end they are observed wisely, Micah 6:9 forfeited. God speaks by providence, and the wise hearken by observation, that they may know what is meant by those characters, in which God writes his mind towards them. Hence the more one pursues communion with God, he will the more narrowly observe providence; and when he grows remiss and negligent as to communion with God, he lets these things easily pass. But these are the prints of the Lord's feet, which one walking with God will set himself to observe.
Secondly, To observe providences wisely, imports these five things.
1. A watching for them until they come. Hence says the prophet, Habakkuk 2:1. 'I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.' This is to wait on the Lord in the way of his judgments, Isaiah 26:8. A practice necessarily following on the serious practice of godliness, in laying matters before the Lord by prayer, and depending on him according to his word, Psalm 130:1, 5, 6. 'Out of the depths have I cried unto you, O Lord. I wait for the Lord, and my soul does wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning: I say more, than they that watch for the morning.' Some providences have a glaring light with them, that cannot but strike the eye of the beholder; but others not being so may pass unobserved, if people be not on their watch. Providence sometimes works long under ground, and wraps itself up in a long night of darkness; but the wise observer will wait the dawning of the day, and the setting up its head above ground, Psalm 69:3. 'Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God,' Lamentations 3:49, 50. 'Mine eye trickleth down and ceases not, without any intermission: until the Lord look down, and behold from Heaven.' For they that believe will not make haste.
2. A taking heed to them, and marking them when they come, Isaiah 25:9. 'Lo this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.' Heeding them, I mean, as from the hand of the Lord; for though men heed the thing, if they do not heed the hand it comes from, they have but the carcass without the soul of providences. The threads of providence are sometimes so small and fine, and our senses so little exercised to discern, that they may come and go without our notice, Luke 19:44. 'You knew not the time of your visitation.' Therefore the eyes of the wise man are in his head, to observe what comes from Heaven; looking aforehand, and in the time; for he who looks sees, Ezekiel 1:15, Zechariah 6:1.
3. A serious review of them, pondering and narrowly considering them. We should not only look to them, but into them, Psalm 111:2. 'The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.' And the more we see of them, the more of God we will see in them; for the further we wade in these waters, the deeper. Providence is a wheel within a wheel, a piece of the nice workmanship of Heaven, which may make us cry out with wonder many a time, O wheel! Ezekiel 10:13. The design of providence often lies hid, not to be seen at first view; but we must look again and again, and narrowly inspect it, before we can comprehend it. It is a mystery many times, looking at which our weak eyes will begin to dazzle. And that we may unravel the clue by a sanctified judgment, Psalm 77:6 it will be needful to call in the help of prayer, with much humility, faith, and self-denial, Job 10:2 and of the scripture, Psalm 73:16.
4. Laying them up, and keeping them in record, Luke 1:66. We should keep them as one would do a treasure, for the time to come. Then are they experiences, which will be notable provision for after-times. O, if these observations were wisely made, and carefully laid up, the former part of our life might furnish noble helps for the latter part of it; and the longer we lived, the richer would we be in this spiritual treasure: even as in war one victory helps to get another. And the old disciple might have a body of practical experimental divinity in his head, drawn forth from his own observation. We find David, when young, improving providences formerly thus observed, 1 Samuel 17:37. 'The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine;' and when old doing the same, Psalm 37:25. 'I have been young, and now am old: yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.'
5. Lastly, It is a practical observation of them. They who observe providences wisely do not observe them only to clear their judgments, and inform their understandings, as by matters of speculation; but to influence their hearts and affections in the conduct of their life, Micah 6:9. The more that one wisely observes providence, he will be the more holy. The observing the work of providence about himself and others, will advance the work of grace in the heart, and holiness in the life, Romans 5:4. 'Patience works experience; and experience hope,' Psalm 64:7, 9. 'God shall shoot at them with an arrow, suddenly shall they be wounded. And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider his doing.' It is a woeful observation of providence, when it has no good effect on people to make them better. Hence Moses says to the Israelites, Deuteronomy 29:2, 3, 4. 'You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the great temptations which your eyes have seen, the signs and those great miracles: yet the Lord has not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.' But it is yet worse when people are made worse thereby, as in the case of him who said, 'Behold this evil is of the Lord, what! should I wait for the Lord any longer?' 2 Kings 6:33. But it is a kindly effect of it when men accommodate their spirits to the divine dispensations they are under, according to that, Ecclesiastes 7:14. 'In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider.'
II. I come now to speak of the objects about which we are wisely to make our observations, these things. This is a spacious field, as broad as the universe, or the whole creation, so far as we come to the knowledge any manner of way of the works of God. For providence reaches to all things, and in everything the finger of God is to be seen. None of all God's works of providence laid open to our view are excepted, nor allowed to be overlooked, Psalm 28:5. And all of them may be profitably noticed. But more particularly, I shall offer you a sample of the admirable web of providence; a sample, I say, for how small a part of his ways do we know? The dispensations of providence may be considered,
1. With respect to their objects.
2. With respect to their kinds.
3. With respect to the time of their falling out.
FIRST, Providences may be considered with respect to their objects, which are all the creatures and all their actions. And here let us,
FIRST, Look into the invisible world, and trace providence a little there. It becomes Christians to cause their eye to follow there where God's hand is before them at work. David tells us, Psalm 139:8. 'If I ascend up into Heaven, you are there: if I make my bed in Hell, behold, you are there.' God is there with his hand of providence, verse 10. 'Even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.' And the apostle gives the Christian that character, 2 Corinthians 4:18 that 'he looks not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.'
First, Look to the lower part of that world, the kingdom of darkness, and there you see devils and damned spirits of men, with the providence of God about them in an awful manner. A fearful web of providence encompasses them.
1. Concerning devils, view the awful providences they are under, and observe,
(1.) How these once glorious creatures are now irrecoverably lost, and reserved to a certain and dreadful judgment, 2 Peter 2:4. Jude 6. Behold and learn the severity of God's justice from this his work; how no natural excellency will preserve the creature from wrath when once defiled with sin. They were the first that ventured to break over the hedge of the holy law, and God set them up for dreadful examples to the whole creation. Behold the power of God, whose hands devils themselves cannot rid themselves out of. And understand the loving-kindness of the Lord, in providing a Savior for man, and not for them, Hebrews 2:16.
(2.) How, notwithstanding, these malicious creatures are not so pent up in their prison, but they are permitted to go about through the world; yet this world is generally inhabited without molestation from them. Only now and then, in some very rare cases, they are suffered to molest men, by a particular providential permission as in the case of Job, chapter 2. This general case of the world is a continued wonder of providence. How is it that ever we get any rest from them in house or field? It is not for want of will or natural power, but from the restraint of providence upon them, continued upon them, notwithstanding the world's wickedness. Observe this thankfully, and understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.
2. Concerning damned spirits, who are in Hell under the wrath of God, see the awful providences about them, and observe how miserable they are, Luke 16:23 being 'punished from the presence of the Lord,' 2 Thessalonians 1:9 all hopes of recovery being now lost forever. And learn how precious time is, that what we have to do, you may do quickly: how deceitful sin and the world are; and how severely God punishes at length, though he may long bear with sinners. And understand the loving-kindness of the Lord, that you are yet in the land of the living, under means of grace, and hopes of glory.
Secondly, Look to the upper part of the invisible world, the regions of bliss; and there you will see angels and the spirits of just men made perfect enrapt up in a glorious web of providence, sparkling with goodness and mercy. See the Larger Catechism on Providence.
Concerning the blessed angels, observe,
1. How they are established in holiness and happiness, 1 Timothy 5:21. They were of the same changeable nature with those that fell; but God held them up, and has confirmed them, that they cannot fall now. And learn the power of sovereign grace, which can establish one tottering creature when another falls; and how happy they are who cheerfully do the will of God, for so the angels do in Heaven. Though proud shining hypocrites fall away and perish, yet trembling saints shall be made to stand.
2. How they are employed in the administration of his power, mercy, and justice, 2 Kings 19:35. In one night the angel of the Lord smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand, Hebrews 1:14. 'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?' God sends them to take care of his children, who no doubt receive many benefits off their hands, which they are not sensible of. Understand the loving-kindness of the Lord in sending them, and their love to God and man in taking such employment. The living creatures have the wheels going by them.
Concerning the souls of the blessed, observe how blessed and happy they are in the enjoyment of God, where no clouds interpose between them and the light of his countenance, Hebrews 12:23. Luke 16:22. And learn here what a vain thing this world is, and how we may be happy without it, yes cannot be completely happy until we be beyond it. What a rich harvest the seed of grace in the soul brings in, and how holiness leads the way to complete happiness. Wonderful is the loving-kindness of the Lord, that takes those who serve him here, to be his attendants in his palace and brings them to the full enjoyment of himself in glory.
Let this suffice for a sample of providence in the invisible world.
SECONDLY, Look to the visible world, and trace providence there. See how the hand of the Lord is constantly at work about these his creatures which he has made, John 5:17. 'My Father works hitherto, and I work.'
1. Consider the inanimate or lifeless creatures, which are the objects of providence as well as other things. They are not capable of self-governing, but he who made them guides them to their ends.
The heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars, are under the government of wise providence. They got their orders at first, Genesis 1:16. 'God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.' And they have still observed these orders since. Psalm 104:19. 'He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knows his going down.' Sometimes indeed by a particular commission, they have altered their ordinary course as in Joshua's time, chapter 10:12, 13, when the sun stood still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon; for a whole day; but they returned to their course again. The sun keeps his course allotted him by the divine decree; for should he go at random, our earth would either be burnt or quite frozen up, that we could not live on it. O the loving-kindness of the Lord, that makes the very heavenly bodies punctually to keep pace with our necessities, and has not avenged himself on men's disorders, by suffering these to go into disorder and confusion!
The raging sea is under the management of providence. God manages it as easily as the nurse does the infant, whom she swaddles and lays in its cradle, from whence it cannot get out, while she will have it to stay there; Job 38:11. 'Hitherto shall you come (says Providence to this unruly element), but no farther; and here shall your proud waves be stayed.' O look to his work and learn his loving-kindness, Psalm 104:24, 25, 26. 'O Lord, how manifold are your works! in wisdom have you made them all: the earth is full of your riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom you have made to play therein.' Behold his greatness, and adore him, Matthew. 8:27. 'What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?' Fear before such a mighty One, Isaiah 28:2. And let it quiet your hearts under all the tossings you meet with in the world; for it will cost him but to say, 'Peace and be still;' Psalm 93:4. 'The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty waves of the sea.'
The air and wind, which no man can lay hold of, are entirely under the conduct of Providence, John 3:8. 'The wind blows where it wills,' in respect of man; but in respect of God, where he wills, Matthew. 8:27 forfeited. What a wonder is it, (not to speak of tempests, hail, rain, snow, etc. Psalm 147:15–18), that such a thin invisible body should bear up all the birds of the air, the heavy clouds also, and carry them from place to place, so that we may say, as Psalm 18:10. 'He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yes, he did fly upon the wings of the wind! How then can our God be at a loss for means to support us? He has filled the world with it; it is about us, in us, in our nostrils, in our affections, nay, in every pore of our bodies; yes, without it we could not breathe, yet we see it not. Shall we then think it strange, that the God who made it is everywhere present? Nay, he is without and within us, though we see him not. If he mix pestilential vapors with it, we are dead men, as if poison were mixed with our drink: for at every breathing we draw it in; so entirely do we depend on the Lord. O then understand the loving-kindness of the Lord in this respect.
The earth is under the care and government of the same wise Providence. He made it, and that was a great work; he preserves it and governs it, and that is another. He supports it, Hebrews 1:3. The earth bears us, but what bears the earth? You cannot think it is infinite or boundless, and therefore it must have another side opposite to that we are on. Yes, and by the powerful providence of God it hangs like a ball in the air, Job 26:7. 'He hangs the earth upon nothing.' O then, is there anything too hard for our God to do? He fills it with his riches, the surface of it, and the affections of it, Psalm 104:24. But what is most necessary for men's use is on the surface of it, easiest to be come at, Job 28. He feeds it, that it may feed us, Deuteronomy 11:11. Hosea 2:21, 22. When the strength thereof is weakened with new influences from the heavens, he renews it, Psalm 104:30. And since the flood, the promise then given, Genesis 8:22 that 'while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease,' has been punctually performed. O understand the loving-kindness of the Lord in these things, what a gracious and bountiful God he is! And learn how surely all his promises to his people shall be accomplished.
2. Consider the vegetative part of the world, things that have life, but not sense, such as trees, plants, etc. how Providence cares for and manages them. Our Lord calls us to observe these things, and thereby understand the loving-kindness of the Lord, Matthew. 6:28. 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin.' Lilies of the field have not the care of man about them, as those of the garden, but Providence cares for them. This teaches us to lay by anxiety, and trust God, verse 30. See how the earth is kindly furnished with vegetables by providence, not only for men's necessity, but their convenience and delight, Psalm 104:14–17. And shall not this good God be loved and cheerfully served by us? Every pile of grass is a preacher of the loving-kindness of the Lord.
3. Consider the sensitive part of the world, such as have life and sense, but not reason; as birds, beasts, and fishes. And observe what a vast family are maintained on the Creator's cost. And though we cannot trust providence, yet what an innumerable company there is of dependents on mere providence! Psalm 104:27. 'These all wait upon you; that you may give them their meat in due season.' Observe this provision, and thence learn to believe even where you cannot see, Matthew. 6:26, 'Behold the birds of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?' For Providence does for them that have none to do for them; Psalm 147:9. 'He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens that cry.' Observe how providence has subjected them to man as servants that could easily be his masters in respect of strength, as the horse, ox, etc. yet the face of man strikes a damp upon them, which is the more remarkable, that man by sin did forfeit his dominion over the creatures. But this must be resolved into the virtue of that word, executed daily by providence, Genesis 9:2. 'The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea.' O what a power is in a word of divine appointment?
4. Consider the rational part of the world, men having life, sense, and reason. In these providence shows itself most brightly. Man is the compend of the creation, having a spirit as angels are spirits, and a body with the rest. And he is the peculiar care of Heaven. This is the main object of our observation.
1st, We should observe the dispensations of providence towards societies; and the nearer our relation to them be, we should observe them the more narrowly.
(1.) Towards societies of men in the world, kingdoms, churches, congregations, families, etc.
[1.] Much of the power, wisdom, goodness, justice, etc. of God, might be learned from the revolutions and changes in states and kingdoms, which should make us inquisitive for the knowledge of public affairs. And O what a glorious scene of providence has been opened of late in Britain, shining with illustrious mercy to the church and nation, in delivering us when at the brink of ruin; depth of wisdom, in baffling in a moment the cunning projects of enemies; almighty power, in so easily crushing their towering hopes; radiant justice, in making the stone tumble down on the heads of those that rolled it, and making inquiry for the blood of the saints shed many years ago.
[2.] Providences toward the church of God are mainly to be observed, 1 Samuel 4:13. The angels themselves notice these, to learn something from them, Ephesians 3:10. What concerns the church is the greatest work on the wheel of providence; and in most, if not all the great works of God through the world, he has in them an eye to his church. As she is for God, so other things are for her.
Particularly we should observe the way of providence towards the church of Scotland, whereof we are members; which has been as admirable a mixture of mercy and judgment, as perhaps any church since the apostles days has met with. How high has she been raised in peace and purity, and how low laid at other times! How often has she been at the brink of ruin, and wonderfully preserved? How have her faithful friends been signally owned of God, and her enemies often borne the evident marks of God's displeasure! etc. And yet, more particularly,
We should observe the way and aspect of providence towards the congregation, how the Lord has been and is dealing with us, that we may accommodate ourselves to his dispensations, and answer the call of them.
[3.] Towards families. Sometimes the Lord causes a warm sunshine of prosperity on families, and sometimes the heavens are louring above them; they have their risings and fallings, as all other societies in this changeable world, as is beautifully described by the Psalmist, Psalm 107:38, 39, 41. 'He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffers not their cattle to decrease. Again they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. Yet sets he the poor on high from affliction, and makes him families like a flock.' How does Job mournfully observe the way of providence with his family, chapter 29:2–5 and David on his death-bed the humbling circumstances of his! 2 Samuel 23:5.
There are few of our families but God has of late one way or other visited them; his voice has cried to our houses, as well as to the land. It is our duty to observe the same, read the language of it, and comply with the design thereof.
2dly Towards particular persons; for we may learn something, from God's way with every one. And,
(1.) Towards others, whether godly or wicked. This was the Psalmist's practice to have his eyes in his head, and to look about him in the world, and learn something for his own establishment, both from the harms and happiness of others, Psalm 37:35–37. 'I have seen the wicked in great power; and spreading himself like a green bay-tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not; yes, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and 'behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.' It is observable, that the holy scripture is not written as a system of precepts, with the reasons of them; but the body of it is a cluster of examples, wherein we may see, as in a glass, what we are to follow if we would be happy, and what we are to shun, Romans 15:4. 'For whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.' A plain evidence, that whoever would please God, must observe those things that are set before his eyes in providence.
(2.) Towards ourselves in particular. These providences come nearest us, and therefore should be most narrowly observed. In these we are the parties to whom God directs his speech immediately; but, alas! often it is not observed, Job 33:14. 'For God speaks once, yes twice, but man perceives it not.' There is none of us that are not the objects of wonderful providences, but especially true Christians, who may well say, as Psalm 40:5. 'Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto you: If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.' We might each of us fill a volume with accounts of the wonderful works of God, and yet confine ourselves to what has happened to ourselves, if we had but the wisdom to observe the same. Every moment we would be a wonder to ourselves, if we could but discern the beautiful mixture of that web of providence wherein every moment we are enrapt up.
(1.) Let us observe how we are powerfully preserved by Providence, Hebrews 1:3. Psalm 36:6. 'Lord, you preserve man and beast.' When we consider how unlike our souls are to our bodies, we may more wonder at the continuance than the breach of that union. When we think how death has as many gates to come in by, as our body has pores, how the seeds of a thousand diseases are in our bodies, what a train of perishing principles they are made up of, how easily, while we walk amidst the creatures of God here, fire may be set to the train, and the house of clay quickly blown up, we may say there is something more astonishing in our life than in our death. And it must be a powerful providence that preserves this life of ours, as a spark of fire in the midst of an ocean of water, or as a bag of powder amidst sparks of fire flying on every hand.
Besides, how few of us are there, but sometimes there has been but as a hair-breadth between death and us, by reason either of diseases or unforeseen accidents, which we could not therefore ward off. So that we might say of our preservation, This is the finger of God.
What remarkable deliverances has the Lord wrought for some by unordinary means, as Jonah preserved by a whale, and Elijah fed by the ravens!
(2.) How we are holily, wisely, and powerfully governed by Providence, our persons and actions disposed of according to his will, either in mercy or in wrath, Daniel 4:35. 'All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What do you?' Psalm 135:6. Whatever the Lord pleased, that did he in Heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.' While we sail the sea of this world, we may well perceive, that it is not we ourselves, but holy providence that guides the ship: Jeremiah 10:23. 'O Lord, (says the prophet), I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.' And while men will not see this, to engage them to a life of holiness, faith, and dependence on God, they are often made to feel it, by their dashing on rocks, to the bruising, if not to the splitting of them, Isaiah 26:11. 'Lord, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see, and be ashamed.' Let me instance here but in two things, to show that God sits King, and rules among men.
(1.) Man proposes, but God disposes, Lamentations 3:37. 'Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?' How often are men's towering hopes leveled with the ground in a moment? Their projects are laid with all the wit and industry they are capable of, managed with all diligence and circumspection, so that they cannot see how they can misgive, but must take effect according to their wish. But he who sits in Heaven, in a moment looses a pin, and all the fabric falls to the ground, their projects are baffled, their measures disconcerted, some stroke of providence, which ungodly men call an unlucky accident, mars all. This was evident in Haman's case. Sometimes it is done by an invisible hand, whereby the wheels are taken off, that they can drive no farther, Job 20:26. 'All darkness shall be hidden in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.' How often do men find their greatest cross where they looked for their greatest comfort! and things turn about quite the contrary way to what was their design.
(2.) Man's extremity is God's opportunity, Genesis 22:14. How often does the Lord begin his work where man ends his, and can do no more? When men know not what to do, God opens a door; and when they have no firm ground of their own left to stand upon, he sets their foot on a rock, Psalm 107:27, 28. 'They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses.' Their hopes are disappointed, but their fears and desperate conclusions are prevented. Something threatens them a stroke, which they see not how to escape; but an invisible arm wards off the blow; and what they look for their ruin in, there they find by an over-ruling providence, Esther 9:1. What is most unlikely is brought about, while the fairest hopes are made like the blossom that goes up as dust. Thus God baffles men's hopes on the one hand, and their fears on the other, that they may see, there is a wheel within a wheel that moves and guides all.
SECONDLY, We may consider providences with respect to their kinds, Psalm 40:5 forfeited. The wisdom of God is manifold wisdom, and produces works accordingly, Psalm 104:24. And each of them is to be observed. I will instance in these three distinctions of providence.
First, Providences are either cross, or smiling and favorable. Both ought to be observed, and may be so profitably.
1. We should observe cross providences that we or others meet with. They come not by chance, but under the guidance of a holy sovereign God, Job 5:6. 'Affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground.' Amos 3:6. 'Shall there be an evil in a city, and the Lord has not done it?' God makes himself known by them, his justice, truth, holiness, wisdom, and power, Psalm 9:16. 'The Lord is known by the judgment which he executes.' And he requires us 'to observe them, Micah 6:9. Hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.' And it is a horrible provocation not to observe them, Isaiah 26:11 forfeited, and not to comply with the design of them; to murmur, but not kindly mourn under them, Job 35:9, 10 and 36:13. Sometimes men meet with crosses in the way of their duty, Galatians 6:17 and sometimes in the way of sin, as Jonah. The design of both is to purge away sin,' Isaiah 27:9. But, without observations, the plaster is not applied to the sore.
2. Smiling and favorable providences towards ourselves or others, Psalm 40:5. Many, in their observations of providence, are like the flies that pass over the sound places, and swarm about the sores. They are still complaining of their crosses and sorrows, and will nicely reckon them up: but as to their mercies, they will not go the length of the unjust steward, of a hundred to set down fifty, Luke 16:6. They have their language, but it cannot be understood without observation, Romans 2:4. Dependence on God, and humility of heart, would teach us carefully to observe our mercies, Lamentations 3:22. Genesis 32:10 even when we are meeting with heavy crosses, Job 1:21.
Secondly, There are great lines and small lines of providence. And,
1. We should observe the great lines of providence in signal events. Some dispensations bear such a signature of a divine hand, and so flash like lightning on men's face, that one can hardly miss to observe, but must say, as Exodus. 8:19. 'This is the finger of God.' 2 Chronicles 26:19, 20. 'Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand, to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence, yes, himself hastened also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.' It is rare that God leaves himself without a witness, by some such signal providences; yet such is the perverseness of the heart of man, that as the blind cannot observe the flash of lightning, even these are lightly looked at, 1 Samuel 6:9.
2. The small lines of providence. The most minute things are guided by the all-ruling hand, Matthew. 10:29, 30. And if God do manage them, it becomes us to notice them. All the king's coin, from the massiest piece of gold to the smallest penny, bears the king's image and superscription, and therefore the least as well as the greatest is current in trade. So the smallest lines of providence pass current with those that keep a trade with Heaven. Gideon notices his hearing a fellow tell a dream, Judges 7:13, etc. Heman, the removing of an acquaintance, Psalm 88:8 and Jacob, a kind word, the show of his brother's countenance, Genesis 33:10.
Thirdly, There are common and uncommon providences.
1. We should observe common and ordinary dispensations, such as fall out every day in the common road of providence. These, because they are common, lie neglected: yet the 104th Psalm is penned on that subject. I have observed to you already, how providence appears in the constant revolutions of seasons, day and night; by the one the weary earth is refreshed, and by the other weary man, the night being fit for rest. The subjection of the beast, to man, by virtue of that divine word, Genesis 9:2 forfeited, without which man could not have his necessary designs served. I add, that wonderful diversity of faces and features, without which the man could not know his wife, nor the parents their own children, nor the judge the criminal; so that without this there could be no orderly society, no government, commerce, etc. These are a sample of common providences, which studied might be of great use.
2. Uncommon and unordinary providences, as miracles, which are beyond the power of nature; extraordinary deliverances, judgments, discoveries of secret crimes; which are bright spots here and there interspersed in the web of providence, and challenge a peculiar regard.
THIRDLY, we may consider providences with respect to the time of their falling out. The works of providence run parallel with the line of time, and the continuance of the world, John 5:17.
1. We should observe the past dispensations of providence, Psalm 77:5. 'I have considered the days of old, (says Asaph), the years of ancient times.' An observer of providence must look off unto others, look into himself, and, with respect to himself and others, look back also.
(1.) Past providences towards others afford a large field for observation, reaching from the creation until now, Psalm 143:5. 'I remember the days of old,' says David. He remembered how the Lord dealt with Nimrod, Abimelech, Pharaoh, etc. What a chain of wise providences has encompassed the world in the several generations thereof? what a beautiful mixture of providences has always appeared towards the church, while the mystery of God, not yet finished, has been a carrying on! What very remarkable things have fallen out in the life and death of particular persons! From all the particulars of these we might draw something for our spiritual advantage, as the see from every flower extracts her honey.
(2.) Past providences towards ourselves in particular afford also a large field, reaching from our first being until now. Look back and consider that wonderful providence that framed you in the womb, Job 10:10, 11. The Psalmist finds himself in a transport of wonder upon this reflection, Psalm 139:14, etc. Consider how the same kind providence brought you safe out of the womb, that the womb was not made your grave, or that you were not stifled in the birth, Psalm 22:9. How you were provided for and preserved from the dangers in infancy, by the same kind providence, while you could do nothing for yourself, Psalm 22:9, 10. Observe the providences of God towards you in your childhood, youth, middle age, and forward to the present time; and you must say as old Jacob, Genesis 48:15. 'God fed me all my life long unto this day;' and with the Psalmist, Psalm 71:17. 'O God you have taught me from my youth.' Observe how God gave you such and such education, ordered your lot in such and such a place in his earth, and in such sort as he has done, how he brought you into such and such company, saved you from such and such dangers, etc.
2. We should observe the present dispensations of providence towards ourselves and others, Zechariah 6:1, 2. It is a stream that still runs by us, like those rivers that bring down the golden ore, Psalm 65:11. By day nor night it ceases not, Psalm 19:2. Providence with the one hand bids us stoop and take on the day's load of benefits, Psalm 68:19 and with the other hand lays on the day's burden of evils, Matthew. 6 ult. And therefore that is our duty, Psalm 4:4. 'Commune with your own hearts upon your bed and be still;' that having made our observations through the day, we may cast up our accounts against night.
Thus far of the objects on which we are to make observations.
III. The next general head is, to show what we are to observe in providences. It is not enough to observe the work itself, but we must be as particular as we can about it. This is like the bruising of the spices and the pouring out of the ointment, whereby their fragrance is best-perceived. There are these nine things I recommend to your observation.
1. The timing of providences, the great weight of a dispensation sometimes lies in this very circumstance, that then it came, and neither sooner nor later. And O the admirable wisdom that appears in thus jointing of them! Genesis 24:45. Abraham's servant prays to be guided to the woman appointed to be Isaac's wife; and in the very time Rebekah comes. Gideon in the very time when he comes near the enemy's camp, hears one of them telling his dream, Judges 7:13, etc. Uzziah is smitten in the very time when he is attempting to offer incense upon the altar of incense. And here particularly observe the timing of providences,
(1.) With respect to the frame of our spirit; for much lies in observing what frame of spirit a mercy or stroke overtakes us in. So the church observes the timing of her deliverance, that it came when they were not looking for it, Psalm 126:1. And that made it look the greater. Job observes, that his trouble came on him when he was far from security, and that made him wear it the better, Job 3 ult. Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar's trouble began when their hearts had quite forgot God, and that made the heavy hand of God the heavier. O notice carefully what frame of spirit your mercies or crosses find you in; you will see much in that,
(2.) With respect to your circumstances. How often does kind providence catch the child at the very halting, Psalm 94:18 and an angry God set fire on people's nest just when they had well feathered it, and throw them down when they are just come to their height? Job 20:23. So he did with holy Job, chapter 29:18. Observe it, and you will find either a sting or a sweet ingredient in what you meet with.
There is a piece of holy foresight that an exercised Christian may have by observing the timing of a dispensation. If you be such an one, and would know whether a mercy you have got will last or no, how was it timed; came it to you when your spirit was weaned, lying at the Lord's feet? You have a sure hold of it. But came it when your spirit was upon the fret, unhumbled, unsubdued, and you would needs have it? It will stick short while in your hand, Psalm 18:17, 18. Hosea 13:11. Fruit plucked off the tree of providence before it be ripe, will last short while, and set their teeth on edge while they have it.
2. The beginnings and dawnings of providences, Psalm 130:6. 'My soul,' says the Psalmist, 'waits for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning.' So did those mentioned, Luke 1:66. 'All they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be?' Sometimes a work that God has upon the wheel of providence will be but like the cloud, as big as a man's hand; but being observed, it will spread. Good Jacob observed the dawnings of providence in Joseph's case, though he little knew what a bright day it would end in, Genesis 37:11. It may be long between the beginning and the end; but it is good to notice, as the holy penman does, the door of hope a little after the midnight of the captivity, Jeremiah 52:31. There is a great advantage in being able to follow the thread of providence from the beginning of it.
3. The progress of providence, endeavoring always to notice the several steps of it, Luke 2:19 and 51 and to follow the thread. For God ordinarily brings great works to pass by degrees, that so men that are weak may have the greater advantage for observation, Hosea 6:3. Mercies and strokes may be long a-working, the decree may go long before it bring forth: but much of the wisdom of God may be seen in the several steps it takes, and the advances it makes.
4. The turns of providence. The wheel of providence is a wheel within a wheel, and sometimes it runs upon the one side, and sometimes on the other. Observe the change of the sides. For providence to our view has many turnings and windings, and yet really it is going straight forward, Zechariah 14:7. It runs fast to the evening with the church there; but behold the turn, 'In the evening it shall be light.' See the turn of the wheel in Joseph's case, Genesis 41:14 in Pharaoh's taking him from prison; in the church's case, Esther 6:3, 4 in Ahasuerus' inquiring whether any honor had been done to Mordecai for his discovering a plot formed against the king's life; and in that of Hagar and Ishmael, Genesis 21:17 in the angel's calling to them out of Heaven, to know what ailed them. And you may see the wheel ordinarily turns at the brow of the hill.
5. The end of providence, James 5:11. There seemed to be many dismal circumstances in Job's case, concurring to his ruin. His substance goes, his family, his health and ease; his wife bids him blaspheme and die; his friends represent his case as that of an hypocrite; many a black thread appears in the web: but O what a beautiful piece does it appear when it is wrought out! Job 42:10, 12.
6. The mixture of providence. The unmixed dispensation is reserved for another world; there is mercy unmixed, Revelation 22:1 and judgment unmixed, chapter 14:10. But here all we meet with is mixed. There is never a mercy we get, but there is a cross in it; and never a cross, but there is a mercy in it. Observe the mixture of your mercies, to make you humble and heavenly; for the fairest rose that grows here has a prickle with it, and there is a tartness in our sweetest enjoyments. Observe the mixture of your crosses, to make you patient and thankful; for the bitterest pill God gives you to swallow has a vehicle of mercy, Lamentations 3:22. 'It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.' And wise observers will see many mercies in one cross, if they will but allow themselves to see how God could and might have made it worse.
7. The concurrence of providences. Sometimes several dispensations of providence meet together in one's case. One while there may be a meeting of several mercies together, which make a golden spot of time among them to a person. At other time several afflictions meet together, one wave comes on the back of another, until the furnace is by several coals heated seven times. Job had experience of both in his case, a train of troubles first, and a train of mercies succeeded. Jacob, when he came homeward to Canaan, had a train of troubles that waited on him. And in the case of the people of God, a very fair blink forebodes a heavy shower. The duty in that case is, 'In the day of prosperity be joyful; but in the day of adversity consider,' Ecclesiastes 7:14. Sometimes there is a meeting of several kinds, and one gets his bed strewed with a rose and a thorn, etc.
8. The design and language of providences, Micah 6:9. They are the works of infinite wisdom, and therefore cannot be without a design. And seeing God speaks to us by his providences, and we ought to hear and obey when he speaks, we should be very careful to know the meaning of dispensations, that we may fall in with the call of providence. And the Lord takes it heinously ill if we do not, Jeremiah 7:7. If it be dark and doubtful let us lay it before the Lord in prayer, set it in the light of the word, and meditate on it until we find it out, Psalm 73:16, 17.
9. Lastly, The harmony of providences. There is a fourfold harmony to be observed in providences.
1st., Their harmony with the word, which they agree with as the copy with the original. The sealed book of God's decrees is opened in providences. Hence that of the opening the seals, in the Revelation. And the book of the scripture is written over again in providence, so that as in water face answers to face, so do God's works to his word, Psalm 48:8. Providence is a most regular building, and the word is the draught of that building. Providence is a curious piece of embroidery, and the word is the pattern. So that in providence the word has been a-fulfilling ever since it was given, and still it is a-fulfilling, and the pattern will be wrought out when the mystery of God is finished, and not until then, Matthew 5:18. And thus it is a-fulfilling, not only by the extraordinary but ordinary providences. If a man quarrel anything in a building or embroidery, there must be a comparing it with the draught or pattern of the house or embroidery, and he will be satisfied. Psalm 73:16, 17.
You will never observe providences aright, if you do not observe their harmony with the word; for the word is the instituted means of the conveyance of influences, Isaiah 59 ult. By neglecting of this, some dispensations prove stumbling-blocks, over which some break their necks, Malachi 3:15. Many draw harsh and ungodly conclusions against others, whereby they only discover their own ignorance of the scriptures, and of the method of providence, Luke 13:1–5. John 9:2, 3 like Job's censorious uncharitable friends, Job 5:1.
O Sirs, learn this lesson, that all providences which you, or I, or any person or society in the world meet with, are accomplishments of the scripture. And they may be reduced to and explained by one of these five things. Either they are accomplishments of,
(1.) Scripture-doctrines, Psalm 48:8. 'As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.' May not every one see, that few great men are good men? Do not stumble at it; it is but a fulfilling of the scripture, 1 Corinthians 1:26. 'Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.' That the safest condition for the soul is the medium between great wealth and pinching poverty, according to Agur's prayer, Proverbs 30:8, 9. 'Give me neither poverty, nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny you, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.'—That Satan and the corruptions of the heart are sometimes most busy, when people are setting themselves to serve the Lord, agreeable to Paul's experience, Romans 7:21. 'I find a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.'—That the generality of the hearers of the gospel are not savingly wrought on by it, according to these scripture-passages, Isaiah 53:1. 'Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?' Matthew 22:14. 'Many are called, but few are chosen.' And so in other cases. Or of,
(2.) Scripture-prophecies, 1 Timothy 1:18. 'This I commit unto you, O Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on you.' What astonishing providences were the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, the expulsion of the Canaanites, Cyrus' overturning the Babylonian empire, and loosing the captivity, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans? But all these were but a fulfilling of scripture-prophecies. What an astonishing providence was the rise, reign, and continuance of the Anti-christian kingdom, and the reformation of religion in many nations, after they had lain many hundreds of years under Popish darkness; These are the fulfilling of the apocalyptic prophecies. And what an astonishing providence was the introduction of the gospel into Britain, and the preservation of it hitherto, amidst so many attempts to destroy it? It is an accomplishment of that prophecy, Isaiah 42:4. 'The isles shall wait for his law.' Or of,
(3.) Scripture-promises, Joshua 21:45. 'There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel: all came to pass,' Psalm 119:65. 'You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according unto your word.' You see the orderly revolutions of the year, and seasons thereof; that is the fulfilling of the scripture, Genesis 8:22.—That those who have suffered loss in the cause of Christ, have been bountifully treated with so much in hand, that they have had more content and inward satisfaction in that, than any other time of their life, is a fulfilling of scripture, Mark 10:29, 30. 'There is no man that has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.'—That the way of duty has been not only the most honorable but the safest way, is an accomplishment of scripture-promises, Proverbs 10:9. 'He who walks uprightly, walks surely.' Chapter 16:7. 'When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.'—That communion with God is to be had in ordinances, is conformable to promise, Exodus. 20:24. 'In all places where I record my name, I will come unto you, and I will bless you.' Or of,
(4.) Scripture threatenings, Leviticus 10:3. 'This is that the Lord spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the congregation I will be glorified.' Hosea 7:12. 'I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard.'—You may observe how dangerous it is to meddle for the ruin of the work and people of God, from that passage, Micah 4:11, 12. 'Now also many nations are gathered against you, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. Bat they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.' How their faces are covered with shame that despise the Lord, from 1 Samuel 2:30. 'The Lord God of Israel says, I said indeed, that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever: but now the Lord says, Be it far from me; for them that honor me, I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.'—How the faster people cleave to their temporal comforts, they have the looser hold, from Ezekiel 24:25. 'I will take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters.'—How people may run long in an evil way, but their foot will slip at length, from Deuteronomy 32:35. 'Their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.'
(5.) Lastly, Or they are the parallels of scripture-examples. Psalm 143:5. 'I remember the days of old.' The serious observer will find a surprising fullness here, as in the other parts of scripture. I will instance in three very astonishing pieces of providence, which often put good men to their wits end, to know how to account for them; yet being brought to the glass of scripture-examples, such a harmony appears between the one and the other, as cannot but be extremely satisfying.
(1.) Sometimes we see men walking contrary to God, and yet providence smiling on them, and caressing them, as if they were the darlings of Heaven. This has puzzled the best of men. It put Jeremiah sore to it, chapter 12:1, 2, 'Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments: wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? You have planted them, yes, they have taken root: they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit; you are near in their mouth, and far from their reins.' It was near carrying Asaph quite off his feet, Psalm 73:13. 'Truly, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. But, O! is there not a beautiful harmony in this with scripture-examples? How did all Israel as one man back Absalom in his rebellion? How did Haman rise until he could come no higher, unless he had got the throne? And the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar carries all before him according to his wish, etc. And scripture-doctrine unriddles the mystery, Psalm 92:5, 6, 7. 'O Lord, how great are your works! and your thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knows not: neither does a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish: it is that they shall be destroyed forever.'
(2.) How often do astonishing strokes light on those who are dear to God, as if God selected them from among the rest of the world, to show his hatred of them? Ecclesiastes 8:14, 'There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there be just men unto whom it happen according to the work of the wicked: again, there be wicked men to whom it happen according to the work of the righteous.' O Sirs, this has been very puzzling to those that have met with it. But behold the harmony with scripture-examples; as in Job's case. Eli loses his two sons at one blow, his daughter-in-law dies, and himself breaks his neck. Aaron the saint of God has two sons slain by fire from Heaven. The apostles were set forth as appointed for death, etc. 1 Corinthians 4:9. Babylon is at ease when Zion lies in ruins. See Lamentations 2:20. But further,
(3.) How often has it been the lot of some of God's people to meet with heavy strokes from the hands of the Lord, when they have been going in the way which God himself bade them take? That will try people to purpose that observe these things. But blessed be God for the Bible, that lets us see this is no untrodden path. Jacob has an express command to return to Canaan, Genesis 31:13. But O what a train of heavy trials attend him! Laban pursues him as a thief, Esau meets him with four hundred to slay him, the angel puts the knuckle of his thigh out of joint, his daughter is ravished by the Shechemites, his sons murder the Shechemites, Deborah dies, and his beloved wife Rachel dies, and Reuben defiles Bilhah. It was no wonder he said, 'Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.' Genesis 47:9.
2dly; There is a harmony of providences among themselves. It is observed of the wheels, that the four had 'one likeness,' Ezekiel 1:16. The dispensations of providence of the same kind, at the greatest distance of time from one another, have a beautiful likeness to one another. And therefore Solomon observes, Ecclesiastes 1:10. 'Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It has been already of old time, which was before us.' Did ever any meet with such a temptation and trial as I have met with? say some. But says the apostle, 1 Corinthians 10:13. 'There has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.' Was ever any afflicted at the rate that I am? says another. But hear what the apostle says. 1 Peter 4:12. 'Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.' See how Solomon accounts for this, Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10, 11. 'The Thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall their be any remembrance of things that are to come, with those that shall come after.'
(1.) They are all wrought after the same pattern, namely, the word, in the various parts thereof. The same word which was accomplished on a nation or person thousands of years ago, is accomplished on others at this very day. The same word fulfilled in one's case some time ago, may be fulfilled over again when their case comes to be the same it was then.
(2.) They have all the same specific end, to reward or punish, check, direct, etc. And where the ends are alike, it is no wonder the measures be so too. God designed to make his enemies fall, and to deliver his church at the brink of ruin, in Esther's days; and so in ours of late. Hence the plot was suffered to succeed; and when all seemed to be done, providence struck a sudden stroke, and turned the wheel on the wicked. But is there anything new here? was it not just so in Esther's days?
It is good to observe this harmony; for by these means one sees himself in a paved road, and so may the better know how to steer his course. When one finds himself in a road where providence has led him before, he may consult his way-marks that he set up when he was there formerly, and so may travel it the more easily. And the same may he do when he is in the road, where he observes others have been before him. He may beware of the steps where they stumbled, and keep the road by which he sees they got through.
3dly, There is a harmony of providences with their design and end, Deuteronomy 32:4. 'All his ways are judgment.' There is an admirable fitness in God's measures to reach his holy ends. The wheels were full of eyes as guided by infinite wisdom; and wherever the living creatures had a face looking, the wheels had a side to go on. Whatever God created was very good, Genesis 1 ult. that is, very fit for the end of its creation. And so are all God's works of providence exactly answering their end. It is often observed of the wheels, They turned not when they went, as a chariot must needs do, when the charioteer has driven the horses the wrong way. If they were to go to another quarter, they were but to go on that side that looked that way all along. There is a twofold harmony to be observed here.
(1.) The harmony of every piece of providence with its particular end and design. Where there lie a great many pieces of wright-work framed and shaped by the tradesman, should a bungler take them in hand, he cannot join them; he complains that one mortise is too strait, and another too wide: but the artificer can sort them, and put each in its own place, and they answer exactly. So it is with providence. Every piece answers to its end, Ecclesiastes 3:11. 'He has made everything beautiful in his time.' There is a glaring instance of this in the strokes that providence reaches sinners to punish them for particular sins, where there is such an affinity between the sin and the stroke, that the sin may be read in the punishment. This is done many ways, which yet perhaps may be all reduced to one of these four. The stroke answers the sin, either,
(1.) In time, the stroke following hard at the heels of the provocation, as 1 Kings 13:4. When Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, lay hold on the man of God, immediately his hand dried up. So God punished Dinah's gadding abroad unnecessarily, David's security by his adultery, and Peter's going into the high priest's hall. Or,
(2.) In kind, whereby God justly pays home a person in the same coin as he sinned. Adonibezek is a notable instance of this, Judg. 1:7. 'Threescore and ten kings (says he) having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table; as I have done, so God has requited me.' David's injury to Uriah's bed is punished by Absalom's doing the same to his. So many disobedient to their parents are paid home by their children again. Some wrong and oppress others, and afterwards others deal just so by them. Or,
(3.) In likeness, the stroke bearing a resemblance to the sin. The Sodomites burn in lust, and they are burnt with fire from Heaven. Nadab and Abihu sinned by offering strange fire, and they are consumed with fire from the Lord. Jacob beguiles his father, pretending he was Esau, and Laban beguiles him with Leah instead of Rachel. As sinners measure to God in spirituals, he measures to them in temporals, 1 Corinthians 11:30.
(4.) In flat contrariety. Adam will be as God, and he becomes like the beast that perishes. David's pride of the numbers of his people is punished by the loss of seventy thousand of them. Rachel must have children, or she cannot live; she gets them, and dies in bringing one forth. The Jews crucify the Lord of glory, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and their nation; and that is the very thing that brings them.
(2.) The harmony of the several pieces among themselves with respect to their common end and design. And here there is often a beautiful mixture of contraries to make together one beautiful piece, Romans 8:28. 'All things shall work together.' Strike the strings of a viol one by one, they make but a sorry sound; but strike them together by are, they make a pleasant harmony. The niecest piece of work lying in pieces, is but a confused heap. Joseph is sold for a slave; and he is brought into Pharaoh's presence. How contrary do these seem? but the former was as necessary as the latter to accomplish the design of providence. Haman is advanced, and the good deed done by Mordecai is forgotten, until the fittest time of remembering it. Both harmonize to Haman's ruin. Providence loses no ground in all the compasses we imagine it takes: every circumstance is necessary to the carrying on of the common end.
4thly, There is a harmony of providences with the prayers of the people of God, that have the Spirit of prayer, Genesis 32 compared with 33:10. Many dispensations of providence are the returns of prayer. This seems to be the ground of that conclusion, Psalm 41:11. 'By this I know that you favor me, because mine enemy does not triumph over me;' and puts an additional sweetness in mercies. There is one general rule as to the hearing of prayer, John 16:23. Whatever prayers are believingly put up in Christ's name are heard. And so we should notice the harmony of providence with prayer. Concerning which I offer these five observations.
(1.) That where God has no mind to give such a mercy, the spirit of prayer for that mercy will be restrained, Jeremiah 7:16. 'Pray not you for this people,' etc. As, upon the other hand, when God minds his people a favor, he will open their lips to pray for it, Ezekiel 36:37. 'Thus says the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.' And this is no wonder, if we consider, that the Spirit of the Lord dictated the word whereof providence is the accomplishment, and the same Spirit guides the wheel of providence, Ezekiel 1:20 and the same Spirit is the author of acceptable prayer, by which the sap of the word is sucked out in providence, Romans 8:26, 27.
(2.) God hears believing prayers, either by granting the mercy itself which is sought, as Genesis 24:45 in Rebekah's appearing at the well, and drawing water as Abraham's servant had prayed for; or else the equivalent, something that is as good, 2 Corinthians 12:8, 9 in Paul's obtaining grace sufficient for him. Either of these ways providence brings the answer of prayer. For God's bond of promise that faith lays hold on, and pleads in prayer, may be paid either (as it were) in money or money-worth. And the harmony between prayer and providence is to be acknowledged either of the ways.
(3.) Providence may for a time seem to go quite contrary to the saints' prayers, and yet afterwards come to meet exactly. It is an astonishing piece of providence that the saints sometimes meet with, namely, that a case never is more hopeless than just after they have had a particular concern upon their spirits before the Lord about it; so that they are made to say, as Psalm 65:5. 'By terrible things in righteousness will you answer us, O God of our salvation.' But it is very usual in the Lord's dealings with his people to pass a sentence of death on their mercies before they get them, as he did with the Israelites in Egypt, who were worse treated by Pharaoh after the application made to him to let them go, than before, Exodus. 5 ult. Providence acts like a man that is to fetch a stroke, swinging the axe back, that he may come forward with the greater vigor.
(4.) Providence often very discernibly keeps pace with the prayers of his people, that as they go up or down, so it goes. An eminent instance whereof we have Exodus. 17:11 in that while Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Hence sometimes a matter will go fairly on, while the soul is helped to believe and wrestle; but when unbelief makes the soul fag, the wheel begins to stand too. And it is no wonder this takes place, where the same Spirit is in the creature, and in the wheel.
(5.) Lastly, Providence may sweetly harmonize with the spirit of prayer, and the believer's expression in prayer, and yet not with the desires of their own spirit, which perhaps they went to lay before the Lord, Romans 8:26, 27. The not distinguishing of these two makes many see a great jarring between providence and their prayers, while in very deed there is a notable harmony between them. And if they would carefully mark the words in which, under the influence of the Spirit, they presented their petitions to the Lord, they might find them wonderfully agree with the dispensation of providence, though not with the desire of their own spirits.
IV. I proceed, in the next place, to assign reasons why Christians should wisely observe providences.
1. Because they are God's works, Psalm 135:6. The world, in the framing of it, was not a work of chance; neither is it so in the management of it. Whoever be the instruments and second causes by which anything falls out in our lot, God has the guiding of the wheels, and has a negative on the whole creation, Lamentations 3:37. 'Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?' Meet me with a favorable event? we are debtors to God for it, As Abraham's servant acknowledged, on the favorable answer he received relating to Rebekah, in his bowing his head, and worshiping the Lord, Genesis 24:26. Do we meet with a cross one? It is the finger of God, though we see a creature's whole hand in it, Amos 3:6. 'Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord has not done it?' Now, seeing they are his works, they ought to be observed.
2. Because they are great works, Psalm 111:2. 'The work of the Lord is great.' Every work of providence bears the signature of a divine hand upon it. But the stamp is sometimes so fine, and our eyes so dull, that we are slow to perceive it. I told you that there are small lines of providence as well as great: but the great God does nothing but what is great and suitable to himself. Though some of his works are comparatively small, they are all great absolutely. And therefore with respect to those I called small ones, I must say to you, as Deuteronomy 1:17. 'You shall hear the small as well as the great.' And good reason is there for it. For,
(1.) The smaller a piece of work is, the greater and more curious is the workmanship. Galen confessed the hand, and extolled the wisdom of God in the thigh of a gnat. An ordinary artificer will fit out a mill; but the small wath requires a curious hand, and pictures of the least size show most of the painter's skill. That frogs should have been a plague to Pharaoh, or Herod eaten up of worms, was more admirable, than if the one had been plagued with an armed host, and the other devoured by a lion. The rats devouring hats and poppies. (Turn. hist. Proverbs chapter 112.) was truly more admirable than the conquests of Alexander and Caesar both.
(2.) Great things may be lying hidden in the bosom of very minute and ordinary things. Search into the rise of that wonderful turn of providence with the church in Esther's days, and you shall find it to be the king's falling off his rest one night, Esther 6:1 of that wonderful overthrow of the Moabites, and you will find it a mere fancy, 2 Kings 3:22, 23. The curse of God may be in the miscarrying of a basket of bread, Deuteronomy 28:17. And it may be big with a great mercy. They say the whale is mightily indebted to the little fish called musculus, which swims as a guide before her, without which she would be in danger in straits and between great rocks. The little cloud like a man's hand often darkens the heavens before all be done.
3. Because they are often very mysterious works, and therefore they need observation, Psalm 92:5. It is necessary to give us right views of providence, and to keep us from mistakes. The making judgment of providences is a very tender point, wherein the best of men have gone far wrong. Was not Jacob far out when he said, Genesis 42:36. 'All these things are against me,' if we compare the promise, Romans 8:28. 'All things shall work together for good,' etc. and the event too? Many a time the outside of providence is very unlike it inside. The greatest cross may be enrapt up in what we take to be our greatest comfort; and the greatest comfort may be enwrapt in what we call our greatest cross. Observation must break the shell, that we may look in.
4. Because they are always perfect works. They will abide the strictest search and the most narrow inquiry, Deuteronomy 32:4. Whatever faults we find with them, as we do many, it is for want of due observation. But at length he shall gain that testimony and recantation, 'He has done all things well,' Mark 7:37. In these his works no flaw is to be found, no mistake; nothing too much, nothing too little; nothing too soon done, nothing too late done; nothing misplaced, nothing in or over; nay, nothing done that is not best done; nothing that man or angel could make better. The world will startle at this as a paradox: but faith will believe it, on the solid ground of infinite wisdom, though sense contradict it, Isaiah 38:8. Jeremiah 12:1. O that they who will debate this truth would come near and observe.
5. Lastly, Because they are speaking works, Micah 6:9. They speak Heaven's language to the earth, and therefore should be observed. And they speak,
(1.) Of him, Psalm 19:2. They preach to us that he is, what a God he is, how holy, just, wise, good, and powerful, etc. We may see there his perfections as in a glass. Each pile of grass speaks a God, a wise, good, and powerful one. So many creatures as there are, so many mouths to speak of him. And it is man's work to observe and hear. When God had replenished the heavens with sun, moon, and stars, and the earth with variety of creatures, the creation was still imperfect until man was made. For what avails the musical instrument, if there be nobody to play on it?
(2.) For him. Cross providences speak for him, Micah 6:9. And favorable providences also, Romans 2:4. Hereby sinners are instructed in the way they should go, Psalm 32:8 reproved, as Joseph's brethren; and comforted, as Paul was, Philippians 2:27 And, in a word, they call us from sin unto God; by them, where the word goes before, Christ knocks at the door of sinners' hearts, and calls for access.
I come now to the improvement of this doctrine. And,
I. It may serve for lamentation. Ah! may we not say, Who is wise to observe these things? Wise observers of providence are thin sown in the world; because there are few exercised to godliness. God has given us enough to observe in the public and in our private case. He is speaking by his providence to the land, he is speaking loudly at this day to the parish, to you and to me, and to every one in particular. But, alas! it is not observed to purpose. Graceless people are presumptuous, and will not observe; and even many godly are heedless, and do not observe. There are these six evidences that this wise observation of providence is very rare.
1. How many are there who see God no more in their mercies and crosses, than if they were a parcel of atheists, that did not think there were a God, or that believed no providence at all? If they get a mercy, God is not owned in it; they sacrifice to their own net. If they get a cross, they cry out by reason of the arm of the Almighty. But none says, Where is God my Maker! In all the turns of their life and lot, they never seriously look to the wheel within the wheel.
2. How many are there to whom God in his providence is speaking plain language, that he who runs may read it, yet they will not understand it? Psalm 82:5. God plagues the Philistines for the ark most visibly, yet they are at a loss, saying, It may be it is a chance. Balaam's donkey refuses to carry him forward on the way, but he is in a rage against her. God meets sinners in their way, with speaking providences; but on they go; they do not hear, they will not be stopped. Like the dog, they snarl at the stone, but look not to the hand that threw it.
3. How few are exercised to know the design of providences that they meet with? Many signal mercies they meet with, but put not the question, What is God saying to me by these things? Many a heavy dispensation they meet with, partly by the rod's hanging over their heads, partly by its lying on them; yet they never seriously take up Job's exercise, chapter 10:2. 'I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; show me wherefore you contend with me.' These things let them come and go with as little concern to know the design of them, as if they had none.
4. How few are exercised to comply with the design of providences, to accommodate themselves to the divine dispensations? Job 33:13, 14. If men were wise observers of providence, it would be their constant practice to be answering the several calls thereof, still facing about towards it, as the shadow on the dial to the body of the sun, Psalm 27:8. 'When you said, Seek you my face; my heart said unto you, Your face, Lord, will I seek.' But, alas! men meet with humbling providences, but they are not exercised to mortify their pride: they meet with awakening providences, yet they are not exercised to rouse up themselves to their duty: they meet with afflicting providences in worldly things, yet they are not exercised to get their hearts weaned from the world; they meet with reproving providences, yet they are not exercised to repent and mourn over the sins thereby pointed out. But they really strive with their Maker, and while he draws by his providence, they hold fast, and will not let it go, Jeremiah 6:29.
5. The little skill that people have in judging of providences. A man will readily have skill in his own trade: but it is no wonder to see people unacquainted with things in which their business does not lie. O what commentaries on providence are in the world, that destroy the text! How miserably is the doctrine of particular dispensations perverted! Despisers of God and his ordinances are very easy; and therefore the world concludes, 'it is vain to serve God, and that there is no profit in keeping his ordinances,' Malachi 3:14. 'The proud are called happy,' verse 15. They are best that have least to do with them. Good men meet with signal strokes: the world concludes that they are hypocrites, and they must be guilty of some heinous wickedness beyond other people, Job 5:1. Luke 13:1, 2. And a thousand such blunders there are.
6. Lastly, They rank poverty in respect of Christian experience found among professors. What a learned Egyptian said to a Greek, Vos Grœci semper pueri, may be said to many in whom there is some good thing towards the God of Israel. You professors are ever children, 2 Corinthians 3:1. Hebrews 5:12. And what is the reason, but that we have never yet fallen close to the study of observing providences? See the text. There is a daily market in providence, but you do no trade in it; and therefore you are always poor. There is perhaps a lesson put in your hands this day, that you had several years since, but you did not learn it; and so it is now as great a mystery to you as then.
USE II. Of exhortation. O be exhorted to become wise observers of providence. O fall at length upon this piece of practical religion. Many of us have it, I fear, yet to begin; and all have need to mend their pace in it. For enforcing this exhortation, I shall give you some other points of doctrine from the words, by way of motives and direction, and so shut up this subject.
For motives take these doctrines.
1. Wise observing of providence is a rare thing in the world: Who is wise, and will observe these things, as the words may bear. And the reason is, the truth of religion is rare, and close and tender walking with God is yet rarer, Matthew. 22:14 and 25:5. The most part of the world go the broad way to destruction, Matthew. 7:14 and therefore they are not concerned to observe the works of the Lord. Many Christians there are, that, alas! in these dregs of time are not exercised Christians. Up then and be doing, and conspire not with the multitude to put a slight on God's speaking by his providence, lest his fury break forth as fire en you with the rest, John 6:66.
The more rare the observing of providence is, it is the more precious. Stones may be gathered from the surface of the earth, while gold must be dug with much labor out of the affections of it, The finest things are hardest to be won at: Nulla virtus sine lapide. As Christ himself had a stone rolled on him, so every grace, work, and way of Christ has one. But there is a pearl underneath; and the heavier the stone, the more precious is the pearl. Come and see in this particular.
II. They that are wise will be observers of providences, Whoever is wise, and will observe these things. And at what pitch your wisdom arrives, your observation of providences will follow it, Ecclesiastes 2:14. The eating of the forbidden fruit cast all mankind into a spiritual madness; and the truth is, the most part of the world are in that respect as madmen, regarding neither the word nor works of the Lord. But if you were come to yourself, it would not be so, Luke 15:17. How long have you acted as a fool, in matters of greatest weight, being penny-wise and pound-foolish, careful for a mite, and in the meantime letting talents slip through your fingers? Luke 10:41, 42.
O Sirs, how do unobserved providences aggravate our guilt, and increase our accounts! When the day shall come, the Lord will reckon with the sinner, for all the pains he has bestowed on him to bring him to himself: when his slighting the call of the word shall be aggravated with so many items of providences. How will the sinner look, when the Lord shall say, Did I not give you such and such mercies to draw you from your sin? lay such and such crosses in your way to drive you from it? What have you done with all the instructive up-stirring providences I gave you? with all the providential warnings, rebukes, etc. given you? Remember that passage, Proverbs 9:12. 'If you be wise, you shall be wise for yourself: but if you scorn, you alone shall bear it.'
III. The wise observation of providences is a soul-enriching trade. They shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. This is so on two accounts, both deducible from the text.
1. That which seems the most barren piece of providence, becomes fruitful by wise observation. Some of these things in the text are very cross providences; yet even by them one shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. Behold a holy are, whereby you may not only gather honey out of every sweet-smelling flower, but may gather grapes of spiritual profit off the thorns of afflictions, and figs of thistles. The apostle tells us a mystery, of a pleasure in infirmities, distresses, etc. 2 Corinthians 12:10. Wise observation would let you into the secret.
2. It has the promise, in the text. God has said, such a one shall know more and feel more in religion than others. 'To him that has (that is, improves what he has) shall be given.' And the more a man sets himself to observe, the more he will get to observe, and the more sappy will his observations be. By the wise observation of providences,
(1.) Sin and duty in particular cases is discovered. No dispensations of providence whatever can warrant us to go over the belly of God's commands, 1 Samuel 13:11, etc. But where two lawful things are before us, providence may point out what is present duty, and which of them we are to choose. And so the word teaches, Psalm 32:8. 'I will instruct you, and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you with mine eye.'
(2.) One gets a clear view of the divine authority of the scriptures, very necessary in such an age wherein atheism, profaneness, and immorality so much abound. For the wise observer sees the fulfilling of it exactly, and so is confirmed. While he observes providences, he sees scripture-doctrines, promises, threatenings, and prophecies accomplished, and the parallels of scripture-examples; and so reads the truth of God's word in his works, Psalm 58:11.
(3.) Hereby a Christian is established in the good ways of the Lord, and that by those very things that make others to stagger, yes, themselves also, when they do not observe, Psalm 73:22, etc. It is the woeful estrangedness to this exercise that makes so many here-away there-away professors, tossed about with every wind that rises, while amidst all these reelings the wise observer sits firm like the expert mariner among the boisterous waves, Psalm 143:5.
(4.) Hereby a Christian gets store of experiences, to lay by him for use at another time. How did Joseph sustain Egypt in time of the dearth, but by the corn laid up in time of plenty? So the Psalmist says,' O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember you from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar,' Psalm 42:6. But for want of this some people are always from hand to mouth, always to begin; ever learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth, Mark 6:52.
(5.) Lastly, It is a nurse to all the graces of the Spirit. It is a notable help to faith, Exodus. 14 ult. A short-limbed faith will reach far up, when it stands upon experiences.—To love; see the text. Now, the love of God perceived kindles the flame of love in us.—To patience and waiting on the Lord; for observation will keep them from being hasty while the work is on the wheel, Psalm 37:2.—To hope; 'for experience works hope,' Romans 5:4; for former mercies are pledges of future ones.—To contempt of the world.—To holy fear, Exodus. 14 ult.—To delight and joy in the Lord, Psalm 92:4.—To self-loathing, and thankfulness, Psalm 144:1, 2, 3, etc.
And now for direction take this doctrine, There is need of true wisdom to fit a man for right observation of providence. And that wisdom is,
1. Spiritual wisdom, 1 Corinthians 2:15. Carnal wisdom is no good observer of providence, as the blind man is no fit judge of colors.
2. Scripture wisdom; for the scripture is the pattern, and providence the work. They that study the language of Heaven in providence, must consult the scriptures as the dictionary for that language.
3. Practical wisdom, Psalm 111:2. Even scripture-notions floating in the head will do but little service, but sinking into the heart, reduced into practice, will be of good use here. And the more to fit you for this work, take these following lessons from the word concerning providences.
(1.) The design of Providence may sometimes lie very hid; and therefore it is good to wait, and not to be rash, Psalm 77:19.
(2.) Sometimes providence seems to forget the promise; but it is not so, but only the time of the promise is not then come, Genesis 15:4 with 16:2.
(3.) Sometimes providence seems to go quite cross to the promise, and his work to go contrary to his word. But wait you, they will assuredly meet, Genesis 22.
(4.) Often providence favors a design, which yet will be blasted in the end, for that it was not the purpose of God, Jonah 1:3.
(5.) Often providence will run counter in appearance to the real design, and by a tract of dispensations will seem to cross it more, and more until the grave-stone appear to be laid on it. And yet, 'at evening-time it shall be light,' Zechariah 14:7.
(6.) Providence many times lays aside the most likely means and brings about his work by that which nothing is expected of, 2 Kings 5:11, 12.
(7.) Lastly, Sometimes providence works by contraries, as the blind man was cured with laying clay on his eyes.
Learn to live by faith, and be frequent in meditation and self-examination, and be much in prayer.
Thus I have laid before you the duty of observing providences. May the Lord pity them that make no conscience of practicing what they hear, and get nothing of all but a testimony against themselves. And may he give us all understanding in all things.
OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS
GENESIS 2:16, 17.—And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.
HAVING already shown, that God from all eternity decreed whatever comes to pass; that he executes his decrees in the works of creation and providence; that he made all things of nothing by the word of his power; that he made man upright, adorned with his moral image, consisting in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; and that his providence, extends to all his creatures, and all their actions: that which now falls to be considered is the special act of providence which God exercised towards man, in the estate wherein he was created, namely, the covenant of works which God made with Adam. This covenant is sometimes called the covenant of works, because works, or obedience, was the condition of it; and sometimes the covenant of life, because life was promised therein as the reward of obedience.
In discoursing from this subject, I shall,
I. Show that God made a covenant with Adam, when he created him in a state of innocency.
II. Explain the nature of this covenant.
III. Show why God entered into this covenant with man.
IV. Make improvement.
I. That God made a covenant with Adam when he had created him in a state of innocency, appears from this text with the context. For here are the parties contracting, God and man.
1. Here is the duty which God requires of man, not eating of the forbidden fruit; which was no command of the natural law, but superadded thereto, and implied his obligation to observe that law much more.
2. A threatening in case man should break this positive law, You shall die.
3. A promise of life in case of continued obedience. For the threatening manifestly implies another proposition, namely, 'If you eat not of this tree you shall live.' Besides, the license the Lord gives him to eat of every other tree in the garden, and so of the tree of life, imports this promise.
4. Man's accepting of the terms. This is left to be gathered from the proposal of it by the Lord to innocent man, who would refuse no terms that a bountiful God proposed. He objected not against the condition; he betook himself to the privilege of the covenant, eating of the other trees of the garden. Eve owns it, Genesis 3:3. 'Of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.' And when they had eaten of this forbidden fruit, their consciences terrified them, verse 8. 'Adam and his wife hidden themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.' No wonder that Moses with a running pen describes this transaction, which, as to its being the way of salvation then proposed, passed as a flying shadow. Thus this covenant appears from the text.
To confirm this, consider that the scripture speaks of two covenants, Galatians 4:24 the one of grace, and therefore the other of works. See also Hosea 6:7. 'They like men have transgressed the covenant.' The Hebrew bears, as Adam. It is the same word that occurs, Job 31:33. 'If I have covered my transgressions as Adam. This will further appear while we show,
II. The nature of this covenant. Wherein consider,
First, The parties covenanting. On the one hand was God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, man Creator and Sovereign Lord, who is the great Lawgiver, and withal good, and communicative of his goodness to his creatures. On the other part was man, God's creature; Adam, representing all mankind, and covenanting with God, not only for himself, but for all his posterity, as the natural father of all, of whose one blood nations of men were to be made, Acts 17:26 and the appointed federal head; which is clear from the imputation of his sin to all, Genesis 2:17.' 'In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.' Compare Romans 5:12. 'As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' There was no mediator in this covenant; nor was there need of any: for man was as yet the holy friend of God, and his service while he stood was acceptable to God, as being fully conformable to his own law, in which he could not but delight, as in his own image.
Secondly, The condition of that covenant was perfect obedience, which God required of Adam, Galatians 3:10, 12, "Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.—And the law is not of faith: but, The man that does them shall live in them.' The tenor of this covenant was, 'Do this and live.' Where three things are to be considered.
1. The law, which was to be the rule of that obedience; which is twofold.
(1.) The moral law, or the law of the ten commandments, as the apostle explains it, Galatians 3:10 forfeited. It is true, Adam had not this law written on tables of stone, but it was written in his heart; the knowledge of it was concreated with him, so that he naturally knew it, being made upright; which he could not be without this, Ecclesiastes 7:29. Yes, this law is in part written on man's heart after the fall, as appears from Romans 2:15. Much more was it written on Adam's heart before the fall. This law is the perpetual rule of righteousness.
(2.) There was the positive symbolical law, of not eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This law was revealed to Adam in the text, neither could he otherwise have known it; it being no part of the law of nature, but a thing in itself altogether indifferent, and depending merely on the will of God, who could have appointed otherwise. Only, as the natural or moral law obliged him to this, seeing it commands the creature to obey God's will in all things; so by this his respect to the moral law was manifested; for as in not eating he testified his supreme love and obedience to God, so in eating of it he rejected the sweet yoke of God, and took on that of the devil.
2. The nature of the obedience that was in the condition of this covenant. It behooved to be perfect.
(1.) In respect of the principle of it. So the law requires men to 'love the Lord with all the heart.' It required not only external obedience, refraining from the thing forbidden; but internal obedience, which behooved to proceed from a disposition of soul bent towards God, in which there was no blemish, and altogether free and unconstrained without any reluctancy from within. And this implies, that the glory of God behooved to be man's chief end in all his actions, without having the least squint look to any other as his chief end.
(2.) Perfect in parts extending to all the commands of God whatever that were given him, Galatians 3:10 with respect to his thoughts, words, and actions. He was to do nothing that God prohibited, and to omit nothing that he commanded. He was to fulfill all righteousness, and his obedience was to be as broad as the law. Every commandment, without the least exception as to one tittle, was to be obeyed to the fullest extent.
(3.) Perfect in degrees. He was to 'love the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind,' Matthew 22:37. Every act of obedience behooved to be perfect in degrees, wanting nothing of that perfection which the law required. Every action performed by him behooved to be screwed up to the pitch determined in the law, without falling short of it in the least punctilio. All that was lower than that height required, was to be rejected as sinful; and the least flaw spoiled the whole.
(4.) Perfect in duration or continuance, without interruption, while God should have kept him in the state of trial, Galatians 3:10. This state could not have been forever, without rendering the promise of life fruitless; for to make a promise necessarily implies that a time is set for obtaining the reward promised to the obedience; and if Adam was to continue in a perpetual state of trial, he could never have obtained the reward of his obedience. The time of this probation is not mentioned in the Bible. Probably it was not to be very long. And perhaps the devil, knowing the benignity and goodness of the Creator to his upright creature man, that he would not keep him long in a state liable to mutability, was incited to attack him so very early as on the day of his creation, in order to prevent his confirmation in an upright estate.
This and no less was the condition of that covenant. On no other terms could he attain to eternal happiness by it, or be justified in respect of his state before the Lord, though he might in respect of particular actions.
Hence it appears, that sincere obedience could not have been accepted, if it was not altogether perfect; nothing could be accepted, but an obedience altogether without fault or blemish; and that there was no place for repentance under this covenant; no sorrow for transgressing in the least instance could be admitted: for the threatening was peremptory, 'In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.' Such a positive denunciation cut off all hope, and rendered repentance of no avail.
3. Adam's power to perform the obedience required. He was able to answer all the demands of that covenant, being made upright, Ecclesiastes 7:29 and in the image of God. There was light in his understanding, sanctity in his will, and rectitude in his affections; there was such an harmony among all his faculties, that his members yielded to his affections, his affections to his will, his will obeyed his reason, and his reason was subject to the law of God. Had he not then sufficient knowledge of his duty? and was he not invested with full power to perform the obedience required of him? Besides, it was not consistent with the justice and goodness of God to have required that of his creature, which he had not given him power to perform. The case is quite otherwise with respect to us in our lapsed state, for we have lost the power of yielding obedience to God's law in Adam. But let it be remembered, that though we are utterly unable to obey, yet God has not lost his right to demand obedience; which should induce us to betake ourselves to the second covenant, where everything is freely given, and the will accepted for the deed.
Thirdly, The promise of the covenant was life, and therefore it is called the covenant of life. Now, a threefold life was promised.
1. Natural life, consisting in the union of the soul with the body, which should have been continued without death, if Adam had not sinned, Genesis 3:19. Though man's body was made of dust, yet, by virtue of the covenant-promise, it would have been secured from mingling with its original materials. As it was created without any principle of death, so it was not susceptive of any hazard from that quarter, as long as the covenant should be observed. His natural life would have remained in constant vigor, without languishing or decay: And he would have enjoyed the comfort of this life pure and unmixed without any of those evils, miseries and inconveniences, which now overspread the world.
2. Spiritual life, consisting in the union of the soul with God. Man's soul was, and is in its own nature, immaterial and immortal, not liable to dissolution. It was endued with spiritual life at its creation, living in union and communion with God, and adorned with his image, consisting in righteousness and holiness. This image of God would have been continued in him. His knowledge of God and his duty would not have failed; nor would the righteousness of his will, or the purity and regularity of his affections have decayed. He would still have been the friend of God, and the favorite of Heaven; and would never have been without the most lively marks of the love and friendship of his covenant God. He would have had ready access to God, without any eclipse of the divine favor; and the utmost pleasure and satisfaction in doing his duty, which would have been a continual feast to him.
3. Eternal life, or the glorious happiness of Heaven. He should have been confirmed in his holy and happy estate beyond the hazard or possibility of sinning, or forfeiting it.—Though he was created mutable, and mutability is woven into the very nature of the creature, yet having finished the time allotted for his probation, he would have been secured from actual liableness to change forever. His body would have been absolutely and forever secured against hazard of death, or hurt from external accidents or injuries. He would have been confirmed in the love and favor of God forever, without any hazard of falling out of it. The sun of favor from God would have shone upon him, without ever setting. And after the time of his trial was over, he would have been transported, soul and body, into the heavenly paradise, there to abide forever. He would not have always lived in the earthly paradise, where he was to eat, drink, and sleep, but have been carried to the celestial paradise, where the happy inhabitants live as the angels of God. This is plain, if he consider that application of the covenant of works, Matthew. 19:16, 17.—'If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.' Here Christ holds forth eternal life as the promise of this covenant, to be had on the performance of the condition. The weakness of the law to give eternal life now, arises only from the flesh, that is, the corruption of nature, whereby we are unable to fulfill the condition of it, Romans 8:3. 'It was eternal life that Christ purchased for his people, and that as he was made under the law, by which he obtained that very life to them, which otherwise they should have had, if man had not sinned, Romans 8:3, 4. Galatians 4:4, 5. Besides, eternal death was threatened; and the goodness of God uses not to propose greater punishments than rewards. And if it had not been so, man had nothing to expect more than he had when created, and set down in paradise.
Fourthly, The penalty of this covenant, in case of disobedience, was death; natural, consisting in the separation of the body from the soul; spiritual, in the separation of the soul from God, a death in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1; and eternal, in the separation of both body and soul from God forever in Hell, Matthew 25:41. Man's body had never died had he not sinned, for 'the wages of sin is death,' Romans 6 ult. and far less his soul, which would have flourished in all the beauty of spiritual verdure and vigor forever. But it may be asked, How was the threatening accomplished, when Adam lived so long after his fatal transgression? I answer, That day that he sinned he died spiritually. His soul was divested of the image of God that was stamped upon it at its creation; his understanding became dark, his will rebellious, and his affections impure and irregular. He lost the favor of his Maker, and he was exposed to the wrath of God, as a mark at which the arrows of the divine displeasure were to be leveled. That this spiritual death was inflicted upon man immediately after his foul transgression, is evident from those gripes and throws of conscience that seized him, which made him hide himself from God amidst the trees of the garden. And this of course would have actually terminated in eternal death in Hell, had not a Mediator been provided, who found man bound with these cords of death as a malefactor bound to the execution. And as for his natural life, that day he sinned, he got his death's wounds, of which he afterwards died; that day he became mortal, and his body liable to sickness, disease, pain, and every other harbinger of death. The crown of immortality, which he held of his Creator, by virtue of the covenant made with him, fell from off his head, and he became a subject of the king of terrors. He became liable to all those cords with which death binds his prisoners. So that he was as sure a dead man as if dead already, though the execution of the sentence was delayed, because of his posterity which were in his loins, and because another covenant was prepared, by which the life and happiness forfeited by the breach of the first covenant, was to be recovered, and that with great advantage.
Fifthly, We may consider how the covenant of works was confirmed. It has pleased God to append seals to his covenants with men; and this covenant seems not to have wanted some things intended sacramentally to confirm it. Among which may be reckoned,
1. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Genesis 2:17. What sort of a tree it was, the scripture does not determine. But whatever it was, it was not so called, as having any virtue or power to make men wise; that was the devil's divinity, Genesis 3:5 who told Eve, that if they eat of it, they should be as gods; but he was a liar from the beginning, John 8:44.: but it was called so, because by it they knew to their fatal experience the happy state they fell from, and the woeful misery that fall plunged them into. It obtained that name, because it was a warning-sign to them to beware of the experimental knowledge of evil, as they knew good. They had special acquaintance with good in all its charming kinds; and this tree was set before them as a beacon to warn them from looking after the knowledge of evil, which, like a dangerous rock, would dash them to pieces, if they split upon it. And it served to confirm the covenant, and the happiness of their primitive state; inasmuch as in the threatening relative to this tree was included a promise, that as long as they kept from eating of its prohibited fruit, they should never die. And hence we may gather, which is no improbable opinion, that our first parents could fall by no other transgression than eating of this tree. And the devil that finished master of craft and subtlety, attacked them in this quarter, as the only side on which he could promise himself success. And alas for poor man! Satan's stratagem succeeded, to the ruin of the whole human race.
2. The tree of life, Genesis 2:9. Though we have ground to think that this tree might be an excellent means of preserving the vigor of bodily life, as other trees in the garden also were, yet it could have no virtue in itself of making man every way immortal. But it seems to have been called the tree of life by reason of its signification being appointed of God as a sacrament, by eating whereof he should have been confirmed in the belief of the promise of life natural being continued, of spiritual life perpetuated, and eternal life to be enjoyed in Heaven; which was the main thing, and included the other two, Genesis 3:22. 'And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,' he must be driven out; denoting, that man, by sin, having lost his right to eternal life signified by this tree, was driven out, Revelation 2:7 that he might not profane the sacrament of it, to which he had now no more right. The words do not mean, that if Adam had eaten of the tree of life after his fall, he should retrieve his forfeited life; this being impossible, because the threatening was express, In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die; and that the tree of life had no such virtue and efficacy in itself, and ceased to be a sacrament of the covenant of works the moment man sinned. It was intended to assure and persuade him of life upon performing the condition; but the covenant being broken that assurance and persuasion actually fell of course. The whole verse may be read thus, Behold the man who was one of us, to know good and evil: and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, that he may live forever. Where three things are very plain.
(2.) There is no irony or scoff here, as if God should say, Behold the man has attempted to become like one of us, to know good and evil; but how shamefully has he failed of his design! but, on the contrary, a most pathetic lamentation over fallen man. This sentence is evidently broken off abruptly, the words, I will drive him out, being suppressed; even as in the case of a father, who, with sighs and sobs, puts his offending child out of doors.
(2.) It was God's design to prevent Adam's eating of the tree of life, as he had eaten of the forbidden tree; thereby mercifully taking care, that our fallen father, who had now got a revelation of the covenant of grace, might not, according to the corrupt natural inclination of men since the fall, run back to the covenant of works for life and salvation, by partaking of the tree of life, a sacrament of that covenant, and so reject the covenant of grace, by the eating of that tree now, as he had before broken the covenant of works, by the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
(3.) At this time Adam imagined, that by the eating of the tree of life he might recover his forfeited life, and so live forever.
III. I come now to show why God entered into this covenant with man. I know no reason can be given for this, but what must be resolved into the glory of the grace and goodness of God. It was certainly an act of grace and admirable condescension in God, to enter into a covenant with his own creature. Man was not at his own but God's disposal; nor had he anything to work with but what he had from God; so that there was no proportion between the work enjoined and the reward promised. Man before that covenant was bound, but God was free: for man was under the law of nature before he was under the covenant; for the law was created with him, that is, he was no sooner a rational creature than he was under the law; but this covenant was not made with him until after he was brought into the garden to dress it. Before that covenant God was free to dispose of man as he saw fit, however perfectly he kept the law; but when in the covenant he made the promise of conferring life upon Adam in case of continued obedience, during the time set for his trial, then he was debtor to his own faithfulness, which is necessarily engaged to perform whatever he has promised. Again, death was the natural wages of sin, though there had been no covenant, and that by the rule of justice, which plainly requires that man should be dealt with as he has done. But man having given consent, however tacit, and not expressed in so many words, which yet is equivalent to a formal consent to the covenant, implying the threatening, the Lord proceeds not by simple justice, but by express formal covenant, in punishing for the breach of it. But we may consider the reason of God the Almighty Creator and Lawgiver's entering into a covenant with man a little more particularly, and that to the end our hearts may be impressed with a just sense of the glorious perfections of the great God, and the great goodness shown to man in that whole transaction. I say, then, that God was pleased to deal with man by way of covenant, for two very important ends, the manifestation of his own glory, and man's greater good.
1. For his own glory, which is the supreme end of all his actions. More particularly,
(1.) To display the luster of his manifold or variegated wisdom, Ephesians 3:10. This way of dealing was the most effectual method for securing man's obedience: for the covenant being a mutual engagement between God and his creature, as it gave him infallible assurance to strengthen his faith, so it was the sweetest bond to preserve his felicity. Divine wisdom shines clearly, in suiting the method of dealing to the nature of the reasonable creature, which was to be led with its own consent. It is true the precept alone is binding upon man by virtue of the authority of the imposer; but man's own consent increases the obligation, twisting the cords of the law and binding them more strongly to obedience. Thus Adam was God's servant by the condition of his nature, and also by his own choice, accepting the covenant, from which he could not recede, without the guilt and infamy of the worst perfidy. The terms of the covenant were such as became the parties concerned, God and man: it established an inseparable connection between duty and happiness; as is plain from the sanction, In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.
(2.) To show his wonderful moderation. For though he be Sovereign Monarch of the world, and has absolute power over all creatures to dispose of them as he pleases; yet, in covenanting with man, he sweetly tempered his supremacy and sovereign power, seeking as it were to reign with man's consent. And when, by virtue of his sovereign authority and absolute right, he might have enjoined harder terms to man, and those too altogether just and righteous, he chose to use so much moderation, that he would require nothing of man, but that which man himself should judge, and behooved in reason to be a just and easy yoke; and which, in accepting the terms, he acknowledged to be such.
(3.) For the praise of the glory of his grace. It was free condescension on God's part to make such a promise to man's obedience. He might have required obedience from him by virtue of his sovereignty, as his Lord and Maker, without binding himself by any promise to reward his service. All that he was capable to do was but mere duty to his Creator; and when he had done all that was commanded him, it was no more than what he was bound to do as God's creature. It was simply impossible for man to merit anything at God's hand. It must be owned, there was much grace in this transaction, in that God entered into terms of agreement with man, not his equal, but his own creature, and the work of his hands; and in promising him a reward for his service, which was due to God by the law of creation previous to that federal deed, and so great a reward, even eternal life, between which and the work there was no proportion.
(4.) For venting his boundless love in the communications of his goodness to man. For God did not create man or angels because he needed them, but that there might be proper objects for receiving the displays of his goodness. Nor did he enter into a covenant with man from any natural necessity, but on design of communicating his bounty to him, Deuteronomy 7:7, 8. Ezekiel 16:8. Though the Lord might have exacted all that obedience and service from man, which possibly he could yield, and reduced him into his first nothing by annihilation at last, or at least not have bestowed everlasting happiness upon him, not bound himself by covenant whereby he might expect it; yet, to show the greatness of his goodness and love, he chose a way to reward that service in a most bountiful manner, which otherwise was due to him.
(5.) For the manifestation of his truth and faithfulness in keeping covenant with his creature, which could not otherwise have been so gloriously discovered. God had made illustrious displays of his wisdom, power, and goodness, in the creation of all things, and in that excellent piece of workmanship, man, the chief of his works in this world; hat his faithfulness and veracity could not have been known, at least in its effects, without some such transaction.
(6.) That he might be the more cleared and justified in resenting the injuries done him by the disobedience of his creature, with whom he had condescended to deal so graciously. For the more condescension and goodness there is on God's part, the greater ingratitude appears on man's part in trampling on the divine goodness. But,
2. God condescended to enter into covenant with man for man's greater good.
(1.) That thereby he might put the higher honor upon him. It was indeed a very distinguishing respect put upon man to be an ally of Heaven, and the confederate friend of God. If it be an honor for a mean country peasant to be joined in a formal bond of friendship with a prince or potentate on earth, how much greater honor and dignity was it unto man to be joined in a bond of love and friendship with God, the Supreme Monarch of the whole world?
(2.) To bind him the faster to his duty. The Lord knew man's mutable state, and how slippery and inconstant the heart of man is, where confirming grace is not given; therefore, to prevent this inconstancy incident to man, a finite creature, and to establish him in his obedience, he laid him under a covenant-obligation to his service. Man was bound to obey God by virtue of his creation; but his making a covenant with man which he willingly consented to, was a superadded tie to bind him the faster to his duty. By the covenant that was made with Adam, he had a kind of help to make him the more careful to observe the law which was written on his heart, and a prop to make him stand the more fixed and steady. For, on the one hand, he was warned of his danger in case of disobedience, that so he might beware of offending God; and, on the other he was encouraged to serve his Maker with the greater alacrity, from the greatness of the reward set before him, and the greatness of the punishment threatened in case he should disobey: both which tended notably to incline him to constancy in his duty.
(3.) That his obedience might be more cheerful, being that unto which he had willingly tied himself. God chose to rule man by his own consent, rather than by force. An absolute law might have extorted obedience from man, but a covenant made it appear more free and willing. It made man's obedience look as if it were the result of his own choice, rather than of any obligation lying upon him. This tended much to the honor of God; for one volunteer that goes to the war, does honor the service more than ten soldiers pressed by force.
(4.) For his greater comfort and encouragement. By this he might clearly see what he might expect from God as a reward of his diligence and activity in his service.
(5.) That he might manifest himself to him, and deal with him the more familiarly. The dealing by way of covenant is the way of dealing between man and man that has least of distance in it, and most of familiarity, wherein parties come near to each other with greatest freedom. There is more nearness and familiarity in this than in any other way whereby God has expressed his will. It is a more familiar way than that of commands and precepts, which imports nothing but authority and sovereignty. Yes, it is more familiar than the way of absolute promises, which might indeed set forth God's abundant goodness, but not so much God's familiar condescension, as the way of a covenant, when so great and so glorious a Majesty stoops to treat and deal by reciprocal engagements with so mean a creature as man, who is sprung of dust.
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. Though he is infinitely great and glorious in himself, the fountain of his own blessedness, the glass of his own beauty, and the throne of his own glory; yet he condescended to treat with mean man in a way of covenant. How astonishing is it that God should make a covenant with dust and ashes; and that he should bind himself to man, to give him life and happiness as the reward of his obedience, which he owed to God by the law of his creation?
2. See what a glorious condition man was in when God entered into a covenant with him. He was placed in a pleasant and delightful place, where he was furnished with every convenience he could desire. He was conformed to God in holiness. Light sparkled in his understanding, sanctity shined in his will, and his affections were regular and pure. He had familiar intimacy and communion with his Maker, and conversed as freely with him as a favorite with his prince. As he enjoyed the light of the sun in paradise to cherish and refresh his body, so he had the light of God's countenance to solace and delight his soul. Thus happy was man: but, ah! he is now fallen like a star from Heaven.
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 a 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 favor 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. The duty of the first covenant is now impossible, and the penalty of it intolerable. It admits of no repentance, nor accepts of any short endeavors; but leaves sinful man as a malefactor in the hands of the law. Blessed be God for the revelation of the covenant of grace, wherein life and salvation is freely provided and offered to fallen man through the obedience and satisfaction of the second Adam. Well may it be called a covenant of grace: for it came from the rich and free grace of God, as its true spring; it is all bespangled with gracious promises, as the heavens are with stars; and all the blessings contained in it are gratuitous and free, such as men cannot plead any right or title unto by any merit or works of their own. When the angels sinned, God expelled them from Heaven, and left them to perish in their misery; but be was graciously pleased to enter into a covenant with his Son, as second Adam, for the recovery of fallen man, who by his obedience and death has fulfilled the law, and suffered the penalty thereof, and thereby made ample provision for all the wants and miseries of poor sinners.
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 you 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 you are under admits of no repentance, no will for the deed. It requires nothing less than perfect obedience, which you are incapable to give.
9. Lastly, 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, Canticles 3:9, 10 which will drive you safely to eternal life and glory. That chariot which the first Adam drove, went not far until 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. But come into the chariot of the covenant of grace, and you will be safely carried in it to the land of eternal rest and glory.
OF THE FALL OF OUR FIRST PARENTS
GENESIS 3:6, 7.—And when the woman saw that the tree wag good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
GOD made man upright, but he sought out many inventions. Man being in honor, abode not. He soon fell from the happy and holy state in which he was created.
In the text we have three things to be considered.
1. The fall of our first parents from their state of primitive integrity; it was by their both eating of the forbidden fruit, and consequently sinning against God, verse 6. And they were immediately sensible that they were fallen from that holy and happy state, verse 7. This appears two ways.
(1.) By their knowledge of their nakedness. Some suppose, that their bodies, before their fall, had a divine glory and luster on them, which was immediately taken away when they sinned, and they saw that this beautiful covering was now gone. Most part of interpreters understand it of their seeing their nakedness with grief and shame, from a sense of their guilt contracted, and of that sinful concupiscence they found now working in them. Thus the eyes of their minds were opened, which Satan had blinded before.
(2.) By their going about to cover their bodies with the broad leaves of the fig-tree. All this clearly holds forth their sense, though it was no holy sense, of their shameful fall.
2. That action by which they fell, their sinning against God, verse 6 namely, by eating the forbidden fruit. They broke God's express command, forbidding them, under pain of death, to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And immediately after this wicked deed they saw they were naked.
3. How they fell. They fell of their own free-will being left to their freedom, verse 6. The woman saw that the tree was good for food, etc. There was no force or compulsion here; all proceeded from free choice. Their eyes saw the fruit, their hearts coveted it, their hands took it, and their mouths ate it.
The doctrinal truth deducible from the text is,
DOCTRINE. 'Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created by sinning against God.'
Two things are here to be considered.
I. The fall of our first parents.
II. How or what way they fell.
I. Let us consider the fall of our first parents. And here I will show,
1. That man is fallen.
2. Whereby he fell, or what cast him down.
3. What he fell from.
First, I am to show that man is fallen, and that our first parents did not continue in the estate wherein they were created, but fell from it. This is clear,
1. From the express narrative of this fatal event given by Moses, Genesis 3 from which it appears, that the devil entering into a serpent, artfully tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, in direct opposition to the express command of God, prohibiting it under a dreadful penalty; that she prevailed upon Adam to follow her example; that they were both immediately stung with remorse and horror for what they had done; and perceiving themselves to be naked, they fell a-sewing fig-leaves together for a covering to their bodies; that hearing the voice of the Lord God in the garden, they did, as an evidence of their guilt, and of the privation of light in their minds, hide themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden; that being called to account for their conduct, the woman threw the blame on the serpent, and the man on the woman; and that both received sentence from their offended Creator and Judge, expressive of their future misery; though at the same time God was pleased to give them a revelation of the method of salvation by a Redeemer, in the promise respecting the seed of the woman braising the serpent's head. All this amounts to a plain proof that man has fallen from the holy and happy state he was placed in at his creation.
2. From the doleful experience of their posterity, Romans 5:12. 'As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all man, for that all have sinned.' When we see the whole race of mankind born beggars, surely we may conclude that their father became bankrupt; for he once had a happy portion to transmit to his posterity, which he foolishly squandered away. And the misery attending upon us now, is, that we are pursued for our father's debt as well as our own, without having a farthing to pay.
Secondly, We may inquire, How did Adam fall, or what cast him down? It was his sinning against God. While our first parents held with God, they stood; but when they departed from him, they fell. What their sin was more particularly, will fall to be shown afterwards. They thought to rise by their sin, affecting to be as gods, Genesis 3:5, 6 but it was their ruin. Seeking more they lost what they had.
Thirdly, It may be asked, What did they fall from? The state wherein they were created. Now, this was a state of the greatest holiness and felicity. When they sinned,
1. They fell from a holy into a sinful state. They lost the image of God. Observe the opposition between the image of God and that of Adam, Genesis 5:1, 3. There we are told, 'that God made man in his own likeness,' or image; and that Adam beget a son 'in his own likeness,' even Seth, from whom the whole human race is sprung. Sin was a turning from God as their chief end, and making themselves their chief end; whereby all their uprightness behooved to be lost. It broke the whole law of God at one touch, and violently struck against God and man's neighbor, that is, his posterity; and so could not but waste and defile the conscience. This was the sense of the threatening, 'In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.' And in this unholy state are all born of the first man.
(1.) They lost their knowledge, and fell under horrible blindness. Witness their fig-leaf cover for shrouding their nakedness, and their hiding themselves from the presence of the Lord, Genesis 3:7, 8. A plain indication of their falling into dreadful ignorance of the Divine Being, the opposite of that great knowledge they had of him in their primitive state of integrity.
(2.) They lost the righteousness of their will, Ecclesiastes 7:29. And they fell under an aversion to God. Witness their running away from him, verse 8 their excusing their sin, transferring the guilt every one off themselves, until it landed at length on God himself, verse 12.
(3.) They lost the holiness of their affections, which immediately fell into confusion and disorder. Witness their covering their nakedness. While they were innocent, though naked, they were not ashamed; but that jewel being gone, the irregularity of their affections began to appear in discovering themselves to be naked, by the evil operation of concupiscence in their minds.
2. They fell from their happy state into a miserable one. O what a fearful overturn was made by their sin.
(1.) Horror of conscience seizes them, verse 8 appearing in flying from the divine presence; which nothing but guilt, clasping as a serpent about them, could have induced them to do. Death was threatened in case of transgression, Genesis 2:17. They both died spiritually, and were bound with the cords of temporal and eternal death.
(2.) They are driven out of paradise, excommunicated and declared incapable of communion with God in the tree of life in the garden, Genesis 3:23. 'The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden,' as a divorced woman out of the house of her husband, as the word signifies. Nay, God drove out the man, expelling him from that pleasant and delightful place, which he had forfeited by his transgression, verse 24.
(3.) The woman, the first transgressor, is condemned to sorrow and pain in breeding, bearing, and bringing forth children, verse 16 which, as some observe, is greater in women than other creatures. And frequently women lose their lives in the case.
(4.) She is put under a yoke of subjection to her husband, verse 16. Not but that the woman was subject to him before, but it was to a gentle and loving guide: but now all her desires are subjected to her husband, to grant them or deny them as he sees fit, because she ate of the forbidden fruit without asking his advice, which now, because of his and her corruption, becomes a heavy yoke.
(5.) The ground is cursed for man's sake; under the influence of which curse it is barren of wholesome fruits, which it does not yield without heavy labor and diligent cultivation, but fruitful in noxious plants, as thorns and thistles, verse 17.
(6.) Man is condemned to singular anxiety, to weary, toilsome, and often fruitless labor, whether it be the labor of the hands or of the mind, verse 17, 19; for this last is to be taken into the account too, as appears from Ecclesiastes 1:13, 18. 'I gave my heart (says the preacher), to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under Heaven: this sore travail has God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.'
II. Let us next consider, how or what way upright man fell. It was so that our first parents sinned, being left to the freedom of their own will. For understanding of this let us consider the following things.
1. That our first parents had a freedom of will. Freedom of will is a liberty in the will, whereby of its own accord, freely and spontaneously, without any force upon it, it chooses or refuses what is proposed to it by the understanding. And this freedom of will man has in whatever state he be. But there is a great difference of the freedom of the will in the different states of man. In the natural corrupt state, man has a free will only to evil, Genesis 6:5. 'Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually.' Ephesians 2:1. 'He is dead in trespasses and sins.' He freely chooses evil without any force on his will; and he cannot do otherwise, being under the bondage of sin. In the state of grace, man has a free will, partly to good and partly to evil. Hence the apostle says, Romans 7:22, 24. 'I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.' In this state the will sometimes chooses that which is good, and sometimes that which is evil. This freedom of will is in all regenerate persons who have in some measure recovered the image of God. They chose good freely by virtue of a principle of grace wrought in them by the sanctifying operations of the Divine Spirit; yet through the remainders of corruption that abides in them, their wills are sometimes inclined to that which is evil. In the state of glory, man has a free will to good only. In this state the blessed chose good freely; and being confirmed in a holy state, they cannot sin.
The freedom of will that man had in the state of innocence was different from all these. In that state he had a freedom of will both to good and evil; and so had a power wholly to chose good, or wholly to chose evil: which differences it from the freedom of will in the state of grace. He had a free will to good, yes, the natural set of his will was to good only, Ecclesiastes 7:29 being 'made upright;' but it was liable to change through the power of temptation, and so free to evil also, as mournful experience has evidenced. Man was created holy and righteous, and received a power from God constantly to persevere in goodness, if he would? yet the act of perseverance was left to the choice and liberty of his own will. To illustrate this a little, we may observe some resemblance of it in nature. God creates the eye, says one, and puts into it the faculty of seeing, and withal he adds to the eye necessary helps by the light of the sun. As for the act of seeing, it is left to man's liberty; for he may see if he will, and if he will he may shut his eyes. The physician, again, by his are procures an appetite, and provides convenient food for the patient: but the act of eating is in the pleasure of the patient; for he may eat, or abstain from it if he will. Thus God gave Adam strength and power to persevere in righteousness, but the will he left to himself.
Let no man quarrel, that God made Adam liable to change in his goodness; for if he had been unchangeably holy, he behooved to be so either by nature or by free grace; if by nature, that were to make him God; if of free grace, then there was no wrong done him in with-holding what was not due. And he would have got the grace of confirmation, if he had stood the time of his trial.
Secondly, God left our first parents to the freedom of their own will; and was in no respect the cause of their falling.
1. The Lord did not withdraw any of that strength and ability which he had bestowed upon them in their creation. There was no subtraction of any grace that was requisite for their standing. God is not like man to give and recall again; for his gifts are without repentance. Adam left God before he was forsaken by him.
2. The Lord did not infuse any vicious inclinations into man. There was no internal impulsion from God, exciting him to eat the forbidden fruit. He neither moved him to sin, nor approved of it, but forbade it under the severest penalty. It is altogether inconsistent with the divine purity to incline the creature to sin. As God cannot be tempted to evil, neither tempts he any man. It is extremely injurious to his infinite wisdom to think, that he would deface and spoil that admirable work which he had composed with so much design and counsel. And it is highly dishonorable to his immense goodness. He loved his creature, the master piece of his works; and love is an inclination to do good. It was impossible therefore, that God should induce man to sin, or withdraw that power from him which was necessary to resist the temptation, when the consequence must be his inevitable ruin.
But by their being left to the freedom of their own will, we are to understand God's with-holding of that further grace (which he was nowise bound to give them) that would have infallibly prevented their falling into sin. God only permitted this fall. No doubt he could have hindered either Satan to tempt, or man to have yielded; but in his holy wise providence, without which a sparrow cannot fall, far less all mankind, he permitted Satan to tempt, that is, he did not hinder him, which he was not obliged to do. It was in man's power to continue in his obedience or not. God was not obliged to hinder his fall. As he brings light out of darkness, order out of confusion and life out of death, so he knew how to bring good out of evil, and glory to himself out of man's fall. Adam's fall was perfectly voluntary; his own will was the sole cause of it, as will plainly appear, if you consider.
(1.) That while he continued innocent, he had a sufficient power to persevere in his holy state. God created him with a perfection of grace. If he had pleased, he might have effectually resisted the temptation and continued steadfast in his duty to God; and God was under no obligation to give him that further actual grace which would have effectually kept him up. And this grace he was bound neither to give nor continue with him.
(2.) That the devil did only allure, he could not ravish his consent. Though his malice be infinite, yet his power is restrained and limited by the omnipotent hand of Jehovah, that he cannot fasten an immediate, much less an irresistible, impression on the will. He therefore made use of an external object to invite man to sin. Now, objects have no constraining force: they are but partial agents, and derive all their efficacy from the faculty unto which they are agreeable. And although now, in our fallen state, sin has so disordered the flesh, that there is great difficulty in resisting those objects that pleasantly insinuate themselves; yet, in the state of innocence, there was such a universal rectitude in Adam, and so entire a subjection of the sensual appetite to the superior power of reason, that he might have obtained an easy conquest. A resolute negative had made him victorious; by a strong denial, he had baffled that proud spirit.
(3.) That Adam's disobedience was the effect of his own choice. For a specious object was conveyed through the unguarded sense to his fancy, and from that to his understanding, which, by a vicious careless neglecting to consider the danger, commended it to the will, and that resolved to embrace it. Now, it is plain and undeniable, that the action which resulted from the direction of the mind, and the choice of the will, was absolutely free. Besides, as the regret that is mixed with an action is a certain character that the person is under restraint; so the delight that attends it is a clear evidence that he is free. When the appetite is drawn by the lure of pleasure, the more violent, the more voluntary is its motion. Now, the representation of the forbidden fruit was under the notion of pleasure: The woman saw that the fruit was good for food, (that is, pleasurable to the palate), pleasant to the eye, and to be desired to make one wise, that is, to increase knowledge, which is the pleasure of the mind; and these temptations drew her into the snare. Man was under no necessity to sin. Force and co-action are inconsistent with the nature of the will, and entirely destroys it. Adam might have continued in his obedience if he had pleased. The devil had no power over him to disturb his felicity. He prevailed against him by simple suasion.
Thirdly, The devil tempted our first parents to sin. The devil in the serpent set on man while he stood. Where observe,
1. It was a true serpent which the devil appeared in. What sort of a serpent it was, is not determined: but it seems to have been a beautiful creature of a shining color: for in Deuteronomy 8:15 there are serpents spoken of that are in the Hebrew called Seraphim, the very name given to angels, which were accustomed to appear in a splendid form, it may be like these seraphim; and so Eve might take the serpent for one of these good angels. But Moses' plain historical narrative leaves no room to doubt that it was a real serpent, representing it to be more subtle than any beast of the field, and as cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field, after the transgression, when it was condemned to go upon its belly, and to eat dust all the days of its life, Genesis 3:1, 14. And it is known that the Egyptians, by the devil's instigation, worshiped serpents. And in the old Greek mysteries they used to carry about a serpent, and cry Evah: A sign of the extraordinary service it had done to the devil.
2. Though Moses makes no mention of the devil in this affair, yet surely he was the prime instrument in this fatal seduction. For seeing serpents cannot speak, and far less reason, we may easily conclude it was the devil, who therefore is called 'the old serpent, and a liar and murderer from the beginning,' John 8:44. See Genesis 3:15. Compare Hebrews 2:14. The devil then, one, perhaps the chief, of those rebellious spirits, who by a furious ambition had raised a war in Heaven, and were fallen from their obedience and glorious state, designing to corrupt man, and make him a companion with them in their revolt, set about this work, urged by two strong and powerful passions, hatred and envy.
(1.) The devil was prompted to this action by an implacable hatred against God. For being fallen under a final and irrevocable doom, he looked upon God as an irreconcilable enemy; and not being able to injure his essence, he struck at his image; as the fury of some beast discharges itself at the picture of a man. He singled out Adam as the mark of his malice, that, by seducing him from his duty, he might defeat God's design, which was to be honored by man's free and cheerful obedience; and so to eclipse the luster of his excellencies as though he had made man in vain.
(2.) He was solicited by envy, the first native of Hell. For having lost the friendship and favor of God, and being cast out of Heaven, the happy region of blessedness and joy, the sight of Adam's felicity highly exasperated and accented his grief, that man, who by the condition of his nature was inferior to him, should be prince of the world, and the special friend and favorite of Heaven, while he himself was a miserable prisoner, under those fatal chains which restrained and tormented him, the power and the wrath of God. This made his state and condition more intolerable. His torment was incapable of any allay, but by rendering man as miserable as himself. And as hatred excited his envy, so envy inflamed his hatred, and both joined together in mischief. And being thus pushed on, his subtlety being equal to his malice, he contrives a temptation which might be most taking and dangerous to man in his raised and happy state. As soon as Adam was invested with all his glory, the devil, as it were, would dethrone him on the day of his coronation, and bring both him and all his posterity under a curse. Here I shall consider the temptation which was the occasion of man's fall, and the devil's subtlety in managing it.
1. As to the temptation itself, it was very suitable and promising. The devil attempted to seduce him by are, in his propounding the lure of knowledge and pleasure, to inveigle the spiritual and sensitive appetites at once. There were three things in which the desirableness of this fruit was represented, which sets forth the great are and sagacity of Satan.
(1.) Its agreeableness to the palate. It is said, The woman saw the fruit that it was good for food. Satan told her that it was of a most sweet and delicious taste, and would highly gratify her sensual appetite.
(2.) It was pleasant to the eye; a charming and beautiful fruit, which had an inviting aspect.
(3.) There was a desirableness in it to the rational appetite. It was a tree to be desired to make one wise. And the serpent told her, verse 5 that, upon eating it, their eyes should be opened, and they should be as gods, knowing good and evil. He made Eve believe, that, upon her eating the fruit of that tree, she would be raised and elevated from the human to a kind of divine nature and condition. This was the temptation with which the devil assaulted our first parents in paradise, and prevailed against them.
2. I shall take notice of Satan's subtlety in managing this temptation. We read of his wiles in scripture; and indeed they are worse than his darts.
(1.) That he might the better succeed in his hellish design, he addressed himself to the woman, the weakest person, and most liable to seduction. He reckoned, and that justly enough, that his attempt would be most successful here, and that she was less able to resist him. He broke over the hedge where it was weakest. He knew very well that he could more easily insinuate and wind himself into her by a temptation. An old experienced soldier, when he is to storm and enter a castle, observes carefully where there is a breach, or how he may enter with most facility: so did Satan here when he assaulted Eve, the weaker vessel. And he tempted the woman first, because he knew, if once he could prevail with her, she would easily entice and draw on her husband. Satan knew very well, that a temptation coming to Adam from Eve, his wife, in this the infancy of their married state, would be more prevailing and less suspected. Sometimes near relations prove strong temptations. A wife may be a snare, when she dissuades her husband from his duty, or entices him to sin. It is said of Ahab, 1 Kings 21:25 that 'there was none like unto him, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.' She blew the coals, and made his sin flame out with the greater violence. Satan discovered his great subtlety in tempting Adam by his wife; for he with delight received the temptation, and, by the enticement of this old serpent, committed adultery with the creature, from whence the cursed race of sin and all miseries proceed.
(2.) He assaulted her when alone, in the absence of her husband, and so did the more easily prevail. For 'two are better than one;' and, as Solomon observes, 'a threefold cord is not easily broken.' Had Adam been present at this fatal congress, it is like the attempt had not been so easily successful.
(3.) The devil's subtlety may be seen here in hiding himself in the body of a serpent, which, before sin entered into the world was not terrible to Eve. Satan crept into a serpent, and spoke in it, as the angel did afterwards in Balaam's donkey. She was not afraid of this apparition; for she knew no guilt, and therefore was not subject to any fear. She might look upon this as one of the angels or blessed spirits, which, as they used after this to appear in the shape of men, why might not one of them appear now, and converse with her in the shape of a beautiful serpent; why might not she freely discourse with this, which she reckoned one of those good angels, to whose care and tuition both she and her husband were committed? For we may suppose the fall of the angels was not yet revealed to her, and she thought this to be a good spirit, otherwise she would certainly have declined all conversation with an apostate angel. Some have supposed, and that not very improbably, that more discourse passed between the serpent and Eve than is recorded, Genesis 3 and represent the matter thus: The serpent, catching the opportunity of the woman's being at a distance from her husband, makes his address to her with a short speech, saluting her as empress of the world, and giving her a great many encomiums and dignifying titles: She wonders, and inquires what this meant? and whether he was not a brute creature? and how he came to be endowed with understanding and speech? The serpent replies, that he was nobler than a brute, and did indeed once want both these gifts; but by eating a certain fruit in this garden, he had got both. She immediately asks what fruit and tree that was which had such a surprising influence and virtue. Which when he had showed her, she replied, This no doubt is an excellent fruit, but God has strictly forbidden us the use of it. To which the serpent presently replies, as in the close of verse 1. 'Yes, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?' The way how these words are introduced plainly shows that something had passed previous thereto. And some suppose, that the serpent, to confirm the truth of his assertion, pulled off some of the fruits of the tree, ate one in her presence, and presented another to Eve, who, before eating it, had the discourse with the serpent recorded in the subsequent verses.
(4.) The devil's subtlety appears in accosting our first parents so early, before they were confirmed in their course of obedience. The holy angels in Heaven are fully confirmed in righteousness and holiness; they are called morning stars; Job 38:7 and are all fixed, not wandering stars. But our first parents were not confirmed in their obedience, they were not yet fixed in their orb of holiness. Though they had a possibility of standing, yet they had not an impossibility of falling. They were holy but mutable. It was possible for them to change their state. Now, Satan's subtlety was eminently manifested here.
(5.) He first allures with the hope of impunity, and then he promises a universal knowledge of good and evil.
(1.) He persuades Eve, that though she did eat of the forbidden tree, yet she should not die, verse 4. 'You shall not surely die.' 'God indeed did say so for your terror, to keep you in awe. But do not entertain such hard and unworthy thoughts of that God who is infinitely good and gracious. Do not think that, for such a trifle as the eating of a little fruit, he will undo you and all your posterity forever, and so suddenly destroy the most excellent piece of his own workmanship, wherein his image shines in a most resplendent manner.'
(2.) He promises them a universal knowledge, as the effect of eating this fruit, verse 5. 'For God does know, that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' 'God's design in that prohibition is only this: He knows that you shall be so far from dying, that thereby you shall certainly be entered into a new and more noble and excellent kind of life. The eyes of your understanding, which are now shut in a great measure as to the knowledge of many things, shall then be wide opened, and you shall see more clearly and distinctly than now you do. You shall be as God, and shall attain to a kind of omniscience.'
(6.) Satan's subtlety was manifested here, in assaulting Eye's faith. He would persuade her, that God had not spoken truth in that threatening. He managed the whole business with a lie; yes, he adds one lie to another. 'You shall not surely die,' says he; and then he represents God as envying our first parents that great honor and happiness that was attainable by them, verse 5 and himself as one that wished their happiness, and would tell her how to arrive at it; and alleges they might easily understand, by the very name of the tree, the truth of what he says to her. 'It is (says he) because God envies your felicity that he has forbidden you the use of this tree. But know you, if you eat of it, you shall be as gods.' Here was subtlety indeed. The devil was first a liar, and then a murderer. This was Satan's master-piece to weaken her faith; for when he had shaken that, and brought her once to distrust, then she was easily overcome: and presently put forth her hand to pluck the forbidden fruit. By these pretenses he ruined innocence itself: for the woman being deceived by these allectives, swallowed down the poison of the serpent; and having tasted death herself, she betook herself to her husband, and persuaded him by the same means to despise the law of their Creator.
Thus sin made its entrance into the world, and brought a universal confusion into it. For the moral harmony of the world consisting in the just subordination of the several ranks of beings to one another, and of all to God, when man, who was placed next to him, broke the union, his fall brought a desperate disorder into God's government. And though the matter of the offence may seem small, yet the disobedience was infinitely great; it being the transgression of that command which was given to be the real proof of man's subjection to God. The honor and majesty of the whole law was violated in the breach of that symbolical precept. But this will fall to be more fully illustrated in a subsequent discourse.
Fourthly, Man being thus left to the freedom of his own will, abused his liberty in complying with the temptation, and freely apostatized from God. And so man himself, and he only, was the true and proper cause of his own sinning. Not God, for he is unchangeably holy; not the devil, for he could only tempt, not force: therefore man himself only is to blame, Ecclesiastes 7:29. 'God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.'
I shall conclude this subject with a few inferences.
1. Hence see the great weakness, yes the nothingness of the creature when left to itself. When Adam was in the state of integrity, be quickly made a defection from God, he soon lost the robe of his primitive innocence, and all the blessedness of paradise. If our nature was so weak when at the best, then how miserably weak is it now when it is at its worst? If Adam did not stand when he was perfectly holy and righteous, how unable are we to stand when sin has entirely disabled us? If purified nature could not resist the temptation, but was quite overturned at the first blast, how shall corrupt nature stand, when besieged and stormed with a long succession of strong and violent assaults? If Adam in a few hours sinned himself out of paradise, O how quickly would even those who are regenerated sin themselves into Hell, if they were not preserved by a greater power than their own; nay 'kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation?' God left some of the angels to themselves, and they turned devils; and he left innocent Adam, and he fell into a gulf of misery. May we not then much more say, 'Let him that stands take heed lest he fall;' especially seeing we have a violent bent and strong propensity of heart and will to go away from God, which Adam had not.
2. There is no reason to blame God for the misery of the fall. He gave man sufficient power and ability to stand if he would, promised a large reward to excite his obedience, and severely threatened disobedience: but man would needs try experiments to make his case better than God made it; and so fell by his own inventions. The fault then was his own, he alone was culpable, and he was the author of his own ruin.
3. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. You see that you have to do with an impudent devil, who is still going about seeking whom he may devour. No state, while you are in this world, can secure you from his temptations. Though you be in a state of reconciliation and friendship with God, you are not secure from his assaults. No place, though it were a paradise, can protect you. He has malice enough to push you on to the most atrocious sins; subtlety and experience, acquired by hellish are in the course of some thousand years, to suit his baits so as they may best take with you. Do not parley with the tempter: listening to him may bring on doubting, and doubting may bring on the denial of God's truths, and so end in full compliance with his horrid temptations, as it did with our first mother.
4. If Adam fell so soon after he was created, and could not be his own keeper, then certainly he can much less be his own Savior. If he could not preserve himself from falling into the gulf, much less can he pull himself out of it again. We are by nature without strength, and have no inclination to that which is good; and therefore God must work powerfully and efficaciously in us. We cannot break the chains and knock off the fetters of sin and Satan, by which we are held. We can make no reparation to the honor of God for the wrongs and indignities we have done him. To Christ alone we must be indebted for all this. We have destroyed ourselves, but in him is our help.
5. There is no justification by the works of the law. Adam broke the covenant of works, and so rendered it impracticable for him or his posterity to attain to life and happiness by it. For it is written, 'Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them,' Galatians 3:10. 'As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.' The law requires a perfect spotless righteousness, but the best righteousness of fallen man is but filthy rags. It is not only torn and ragged, but polluted and defiled. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God: and there is no possibility of obtaining justification by the works of the law now; 'for by the works of the law (says Paul) shall no flesh be justified.'
6. Lastly, See your absolute need of Christ; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby you can be saved. Go not about to establish a righteousness of your own, or to seek to get to Heaven by any works of your own. That is indeed still the thing man aims at. First he sins, and then, like Adam, sets to work to cover himself with a cover of his own making, to procure a title to eternal life by his own works. But is it easier to recover yourselves from the ruins of the fall, than to stand while yet in an innocent and upright state? Have you gathered strength by sinning, and are you able to walk to Heaven on your own legs? Come then to Christ, who by his obedience and death has procured a righteousness which alone can stand you in stead, and by which alone you can obtain a right to eternal life. You must then either come to Christ, or perish forever.
OF SIN IN GENERAL
1 JOHN 3:4.—Sin is the transgression of the law.
IN these words we have an answer to that question, 'What is sin?' It is a transgression of the law: for 'where no law is, there is no transgression,' Romans 4:15. But because the word transgression seems to import something positive and actual, therefore it is added in the Catechism, it is a 'want of conformity unto the law,' which is a more general definition: and this meaning the word in the original most properly bears. Hence both a want of conformity unto the law of God, and a transgression of it, are taken into the description; and in effect they are both one thing.
In the further illustration of this subject, it will be proper to show,
I. What that law is whereof sin is the transgression.
II. Wherein the nature of sin consists.
III. Wherein the evil thereof lies.
IV. Deduce a few inferences.
I. I am to show what is that law whereof sin is the transgression. It is the law of God, even any law of his whereby he lays any duty upon any of the children of men, whether it be the natural law which is written even in the hearts of all men, Romans 2:15 or the revealed law and will of God, written in the Bible, whether it be the law strictly so called, or the gospel, whose great command is to believe in Christ; the transgression of which command is the great sin of the hearers of the gospel. In a word, the law of which sin is the transgression, is any law or command of God which he obliges us to obey. More particularly,
1. There is a law engraved upon the hearts of men by nature, which was in force long before the promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai. This is the light of reason, and the dictates of natural conscience concerning those moral principles of good and evil, which have an essential equity in them, and show man his duty to God, to his neighbor, and to himself. There is a law in all men by nature, which is a rule of good and evil. They have notions of right and wrong in their consciences; which is evident by those laws which are common in all nations for the preservation of human society, the encouraging of virtue, and discouraging of vice. These laws are to be found among men who have not the benefit of divine revelation for regulating their lives. Now, what standard else can they have for these but common reason, and the light of nature? Every son and daughter of Adam brings with them into the world a law in their breast; and when reason clears up itself from the clouds of sense, they can distinguish between good and evil, between things which ought to be done, and things which they should avoid. Every man finds a law in his heart that checks and rebukes when he offends, and cherishes and encourages him when he does good. None are without a legal indictment and a legal execution within themselves, Romans 2:14, 15.
2. There is another law which was given to the Jewish nation by the ministry of Moses. This is spoken of by Christ, John 17:19. 'Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? By this we are to understand the whole system of divine precepts concerning ceremonial rites, judicial processes, and moral duties. Accordingly there was a threefold law given by Moses.
(1.) The ceremonial law, which was a certain system of divine positive precepts, with relation to the external worship of God. It was wholly taken up in enjoining those observances of sacrifices and offerings, and various methods of purifications and cleansings which were typical of Christ, and of that sacrifice of his which alone was able to take away sin.
(2.) The judicial law consisted of those institutions which God prescribed the Jews for their civil government. For, whereas, in other commonwealths, the chief magistrates give laws unto the people; in this the laws for their religion and for their civil government were both divine, and both immediately from God. So that the judicial law was given them to be the standing law of their nation, according to which all actions and suits between party and party were to be tried and determined; as in all other nations there are particular laws and statutes for the decision of controversies that may arise among men.
3. There is the moral law which is a system or body of those precepts which carry a universal and natural equity in them, being so conformable to the light of reason, and the dictates of every man's conscience, that as soon as ever they are declared and understood, we must needs subscribe to the justice and righteousness of them. We have the sum of this law in the ten commandments. This law continues in its full force and power, obliging the conscience as a standing rule for our obedience. Our Lord tells us, Matthew 5:17 that 'he came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.' The ceremonial law was abolished by the death of Christ, and the judicial law, so far as it concerned the nation of the Jews as a commonwealth and body politic, particularly touching their not marrying out of their own tribes, their not alienating the inheritance of their fathers, the raising up of seed to their deceased brother, &c., but such of these political laws as are common to men in general, and founded upon the law of nature, are still binding and in force, such as the laws for punishing criminals and other offenders, the laws against oppressing of widows, orphans, strangers, the fatherless, etc. These are a standing rule of equity and justice; they are of a moral nature, and therefore of perpetual obligation. So that the law of which sin is the transgression, is to us the law of nature in our hearts, and the moral law contained in the scriptures, and summed up in the decalogue, as well as the positive laws of the gospel of Christ.
II. I proceed to show wherein the nature of sin consists. It consists in a want of conformity to the law of God, or a disconformity thereto. The law of God is the rule; whatever is over this rule, is sin. The law of God is set as a mark to us; and so the word sin, in the first language properly signifies a not hitting the mark; and transgression is a swerving from the right line, or a going off the way. So it is called 'a going aside,' Psalm 14:3. Now, nothing is conformable to the law which is not perfectly so; for if it be in the least disagreeable thereto, it is not conformable to it, more than that which wants half an inch of an ell is truly an ell of measure; and therefore any want of that conformity is sin. The law of God requires universal conformity to it. Now the law or command of God requires a twofold conformity.
1. A conformity of the heart to it. It reaches the inward man, seeing God is a spirit, and that omniscient One who knows the heart; and the whole heart must be subject to him. Therefore our Savior says, Mark 12:30. 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
2. A conformity of the life both in words and deeds. Hence says David, Psalm 24:3, 4. 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.' And forasmuch as the law requires some things, and forbids other things both in heart and life, the want of conformity to it in these respects, either in heart or life, is sin. Hence we may infer,
1. Sin is no positive being, but a want of due perfection, a defect, an imperfection in the creature; and therefore it is,
(1.) Not from God, but from the creature itself.
(2.) It is not a thing to glory in, more than the want of all things.
(3.) It is a thing we have reason to be humbled for, and have great need to have removed.
(4.) It is not a thing to be desired, but fled from and abhorred, as the abominable thing which God hates.
2. Original sin is truly and properly sin. Look to yourselves as you came into the world, and you must smite on your breast, before you have sucked the breasts, and say, 'God be merciful to me a sinner.' For we come into it with Adam's sin imputed, Romans 5:12 stripped of original righteousness, and the whole nature corrupted. This is the sin of our nature, being a want of conformity in our souls to the law of God, which requires all moral perfection of us, Matthew. 5 ult. 'Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.' Instead of which we have a bent of soul quite contrary to the law, Romans 8:7. 'The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.'
3. The first motions of sin, and the risings of that natural corruption in us, before it be completed with the consent of the will to the evil motion, are truly and properly sin. The apostle calls this lust, and distinguishes it from sin, I e. the sin of our nature, and from the consent to it and execution of it, which he calls 'obeying these lusts,' Romans 6:12 and tells us that it is condemned by the law, Romans 7:7. Therefore a thing may be our sin, though we know it not to be so, 1 Timothy 1:13 and though it be not our will, yes though against our will, Romans 7:16. For it is neither our knowledge, or opinion, nor our will, but the law of God, that is the rule.
4. All consent of the heart to and delight in motions towards things forbidden by the law of God are sins, though these never break forth into action, but die where they were born in the inmost corners of our hearts, Matthew. 5:28. 'Whoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.' Speculative filthiness is a disconformity to the law. There is heart murder as well as actual murder, verse 22.
5. All omissions of the internal duties we owe to God and our neighbors are sins, as want of love to God or our neighbors. Want of due fear of God, trust and hope in him, etc. are internal sins of omission.
6. Hence a man sins by undue silence and undue speaking, when the cause of God and truth require it; seeing the law bids us speak in some cases, but never speak what is not good.
7. Hence also a man's sins, when he omits outward duties that are incumbent on him to perform, as well as when he commits sin of whatever kind in his life.
8. Lastly, The least failure in any duty is sin; and whatever comes not up in perfection to the law is sinful. And therefore we sin in everything we do, and our best duties deserve damnation, and cannot be accepted according to the law. Wherefore the duties of wicked men are absolutely rejected, seeing they are under the law; and the duties of the godly are no otherwise accepted, but as washed in the blood of Christ, which takes away the sin cleaving to them.
Further, nothing can be a sin but what is a transgressing of the law of God, who only is Lord over the conscience. Therefore, if there be no law of God in the case, there is no transgression affecting the conscience. But it must be considered, that the law of God commands some things expressly, and others things by good consequence. No law of God commands a servant expressly to do such and such a particular piece of work that is lawful, which he is bidden do by his master; but the law of God says, 'Servants, obey your masters;' and therefore it is sin if he do not that work. The case is the same as to men's laws. Therefore the apostle says, Romans 13:5. 'Wherefore you must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.' Now, men's laws are either contrary to God's laws, or agreeable and subservient thereto, as being for the glory of God, or the good of the nation in general. As to the first of these, you cannot obey without sin, as if the Queen and Parliament should command you to receive human ceremonies in the worship of God. As to other things that are good and just, we are obliged to obey, as is clear from Romans 13; and therefore the conscience is not altogether unconcerned in the laws of men. And therefore, if you would be tender Christians, before you go against the laws of the land, consider well whether their commands be unlawful, or whether they be such as are good and just; for doubtless magistrates have a power to make laws for the good of the land in general; and what they so make we are obliged to respect, otherwise we despise the ordinance of God, and regard not the good of our neighbor, and thereby sin against God; as is acknowledged in the case of those that now export grain, to the general distress of the country. And I apprehend, that if we would lay the case home to ourselves, we would have less liberty than we have in some things that are not scrupled at.
III. I come now to show wherein the evil of sin lies. It lies,
1. And principally, in the wrong done to God, and its contrariety,
(1.) To his nature, which is altogether holy. Hence the Psalmist says, Psalm 51:4. 'Against you, you only have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight.' David had exceedingly wronged Uriah in defiling his wife, and procuring the death of himself; yet he considers his great sin in that matter as chiefly against God, and contrary to his holy nature.
(2.) In its contrariety to God's will and law, which is a sort of a copy of his nature. And God being all good, and the chief good, sin must needs be a sort of infinite evil.
2. In the wrong it does to ourselves: 'He who sins against me,' says the personal Wisdom of God, 'wrongs his own soul,' Proverbs 8:36. For,
(1.) It leaves a stain and spiritual pollution on the soul, whereby it becomes filthy and vile; and therefore sin is called filthiness, and is said to defile the soul, whereupon follows God's loathing the sinner, Isaiah 1:15 and shame and confusion on the sinner himself, Genesis 3:7.
(2.) It brings on guilt, whereby the sinner is bound over to punishment, according to the state in which he is, until his sin be pardoned. This arises from the justice of God and the threatening of his law; which brings on all miseries whatever.
But more particularly upon this head, when men pass the bounds and limits which God has set them in his law, then they transgress it. All the violations of negative precepts are transgressions of God's law. The design of the moral law is to keep men within the bounds of their duty; and when they sin they go beyond them. Sin is indeed the greatest of evils; it is directly opposite to God the supreme good. The definition that is given of sin expresses its essential evil. It is the transgression of the divine law, and consequently it opposes the rights of God's throne, and obscures the glory of his attributes, which are exercised in the moral government of the world. God is our King, our Lawgiver, and our Judge. From his right and propriety in us as his creatures, his title to and sovereign power and dominion over us does arise and flow. Man is endued with the powers of understanding and election, to conceive and choose what is good, and to reject what is evil; is governed by a law, even the declared will of his Maker. Now, sin, being a transgression of this law, contains many evils in it. As,
1. It is high rebellion against the sovereign Majesty of God, that gives the life of authority to the law. Therefore divine precepts are enforced with the most proper and binding motive to obedience. I am the Lord. He who commits sin, especially with pleasure and design, implicitly denies his dependence upon God as his Maker and Governor, and arrogates to himself an irresponsible liberty to do his own will. This is clearly expressed by those atheistical designers, who said, 'Our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? Psalm 12:4. The language of men's actions, which is more convincing than their words, plainly declares, that they despise his commandments, and despise his authority, as if they were not his creatures and subjects.
2. It is an extreme aggravation of this evil, that sin, as it is a disclaiming our homage to God, so it is in true account a yielding subjection to the devil; for sin is in the strictest propriety his work. The original rebellion in paradise was by his temptation; and all the actual and habitual sins of men, since the fall, are by his efficacious influence. He darkens the carnal mind; he sways and rules the stubborn will; he excites and inflames the vicious affections, and imperiously rules in the children of disobedience. He is therefore styled the prince and God of this world. And what more indignity can there be, than to prefer to the glorious Creator of Heaven and earth, a damned spirit, the most cursed part of the whole creation? More particularly, sin strikes at the root of all the divine attributes.
(1.) It is contrary to the unspotted holiness of God, which is the peculiar glory of the Deity. Of all the glorious and benign constellations of the divine attributes which shine in the law of God, his holiness has the brightest luster. God is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works: but the most precious and venerable monument of his holiness is the law. This is a true draught of his image, and a clear copy of his nature and will. It is the perspicuous rule of our duty, without any blemish or imperfection. See what a high encomium the apostle gives it, 'The commandment is holy, just, and good,' Romans 7:12. It enjoins nothing but what is absolutely good, without the least mixture and tincture of evil. It is a full and complete rule, in nothing defective, and in nothing superfluous, but comprehends the whole duty of man. The sum of it is set down by the apostle, Titus 2:11. We are to live soberly, that is, we are to abstain from everything that may blemish and stain the excellency of our reasonable nature. We are to live righteously. This respects the state and situation wherein God has placed us in the world for the advancing of his glory. It includes and comprehends in it all the respective duties we owe to others, to whom we are united by the bands of nature, of civil society, or of spiritual communion. And we are to live godly, which takes in all the internal and outward duties which we owe to God, who is the Sovereign of our spirits, whose will must be the rule, and his glory the end of all our actions. In short the law is so contrived and framed, that abstracting from the authority of the Lawgiver, its holiness and goodness lays an eternal obligation upon us to obey its dictates. Now, sin is directly and formally a contrariety to the infinite sanctity and purity of God; consisting in a not doing what the law commands, or in doing that which it expressly forbids; and God cannot look upon it, but with infinite detestation, Habakkuk 1:13. He cannot but hate that which is opposite to the glory of his nature, and to the luster of all his perfections.
(2.) Sin vilifies the wisdom of God, which prescribed the law to men as the rule of their duty. The divine wisdom shines resplendently in his laws. They are all framed with an exact congruity to the nature of God, and his relation to us, and to the faculties of man before he was corrupted. And thus the divine law being a bright transcript both of God's will and his wisdom, binds the understanding and will, which are the leading faculties in man, to esteem and approve, to consent to and choose, all his precepts as best. Now, sin vilifies the infinite wisdom of God, both as to the precepts of the law, the rule of our duty, and the sanction annexed to it for confirming its obligation. It taxes the precepts as an unequal yoke, and as too severe and rigid a confinement to our wills and actions. Thus the impious rebels complained of old, 'The ways of the Lord are not equal:' they are injurious to our liberties, they restrain and infringe them, and are not worthy of our study and observation. And it accounts the rewards and punishments which God has annexed as the sanction of the law to secure our obedience to its precepts, weak and ineffectual motives to serve that purpose. And thus it reflects upon the wisdom of the Lawgiver as lame and defective, in not binding his subjects more firmly to their duty.
(3.) Sin is a high contempt and horrid abuse of the divine goodness, which should have a powerful influence in binding man to his duty. His creating goodness is hereby contemned, which raised us out of the dust of the earth unto an excellent and glorious being. Our parents were indeed instrumental in the production of our bodies; but the variety and union, the beauty and usefulness, of the several parts, was the high design of his wisdom, and the excellent work of his hands. Man's body is composed of as many miracles as members, and is full of wonders. The lively idea and perfect exemplar of that regular fabric was modeled in the divine mind. This affected David with holy admiration, Psalm 139:14, 15, 16. The soul, or principal part, is of a celestial original, inspired by the Father of Lights. The faculties of understanding and election are the indelible characters of our honor and dignity above the brutes, and make us capable to please God and enjoy our Maker. Now, God's design in giving us our being was to communicate of his own fullness to, and to be actively glorified by intelligent creatures, Revelation 4:11. None are so void of rational sentiments, as not to own, that it is our indispensable duty and reasonable service to offer up ourselves an entire living sacrifice to the glory of God. What is more natural, according to the laws of uncorrupted reason, than that love should correspond with love? As the one descends in benefits, the other should ascend in praise and thankfulness. Now, sin breaks all these sacred bonds of grace and gratitude, which engage us to love and obey our Maker. He is the just Lord of all our faculties, intellectual and sensitive; and the sinner employs them all as weapons of unrighteousness to fight against God. Again, it is he who upholds and preserves us by the powerful influence of his providence, which is a renewed creation every moment, daily surrounding us with many mercies. All the goodness which God thus bestows upon men, the sinner abuses against him. This is the most unworthy, shameful, and monstrous ingratitude imaginable. This makes forgetful and unthankful men more brutish than the dull ox or stupid donkey, who serve and obey those that feed and keep them. Yes it sinks them below the insensible part of the creation, which invariably observes the law and order prescribed by the Creator. This is astonishing degeneracy. It was the complaint of God himself, Isaiah 1:2. 'Hear, O heavens, and give ear O earth: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.'
(4.) The sinner disparages the divine justice, in promising himself peace and safety, notwithstanding the wrath and vengeance that is denounced against him by the Lord. He labors to dissolve the inseparable connection that God has placed between sin and punishment, which is not a mere arbitrary constitution, but founded upon the desert of sin, and the infinite rectitude of the divine nature, which unchangeably hates it. The sinner sets the divine attributes a contending as it were with one another, presuming that mercy will disarm justice, and suspend its power by restraining it from taking vengeance upon impenitent sinners. And thus sinners become bold and resolute in their impious courses, like him mentioned, Deuteronomy 29:19 who said, 'I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.' This casts such an aspersion on the justice of God, that he solemnly threatens the severest vengeance for it; as you may see in verse 20. 'The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven.'
(5.) Sin strikes against the omniscience of God, and at least denies it implicitly. There is such a turpitude adhering to sin, that it cannot endure the light of the sun, nor the light of conscience, but seeks to be concealed under a mask of virtue or a veil of darkness. What is said of the adulterer and the thief, is true in proportion of every sinner, 'If a man sees them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.' And hence it is, that many who would blush and tremble if they were surprised in their sinful actings by a child or a stranger, are not at all afraid of the eye of God, though he narrowly notices all their sins in order to judge them, and will judge them in order to punish them.
(6.) Lastly, Sin bids a defiance to the divine power. This is one of the essential attributes of God that makes him so terrible to devils and wicked men. He has both a right to punish and power enough to revenge every transgression of his law that sinners are guilty of. Now, his judicial power is supreme and his executive power is irresistible. He can with one stroke dispatch the body to the grave, and the soul to the pit of Hell, and make men as miserable as they are sinful: and yet sinners as boldly provoke him as if there were no danger. We read of the infatuated Syrians, how they foolishly thought that God the protector of Israel had only power on the hills but not in the valleys, and therefore renewed the war to their own destruction. Thus proud sinners enter the lists with God, and range an army of lusts against the armies of Heaven, and, being blindly bold, run on headlong upon their own ruin. They neither believe God's all-seeing eye, nor fear his almighty hand. You see then what an evil sin is in its nature. It is high rebellion against God, and strikes at the root of all his attributes.
I shall conclude with a few inferences.
1. If you would see your sins, look to the law of God. That is the glass wherein we may see our ugly face. Hence the apostle says, Romans 7:7. 'I had not known sin but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, You shall not covet.' Look to it for what is past and present, in order to your being humbled in the sight of a holy God. Look to it for your direction, if you would shun the fatal rocks of sin for the time to come. It is not what this man says, but what the Word of God says, that is to be the rule of your duty.
2. See here what presumption it is in men to make that duty which God has not made so, and that sin which God has not made so in religion. This is for men to set themselves in God's room, and their will for the divine will. This is true superstition, however far the guilty seem to themselves and others to be from it. And in this too many of different denominations agree, making that duty and sin which God never made so. In this general they agree, however they differ in particulars. This is expressly forbidden, Deuteronomy 4:2. 'You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it.' Remarkable is the reason of this prohibition, 'that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.' For to both agrees what our Lord said, Matthew 15:3. 'Why do you transgress the commandment of God by your traditions?' Witness the deep ignorance of matters of salvation and the power of godliness, wherein many are kept by reason of these principles, which have no footing in the Word of God.
3. Flee to Jesus Christ for the pardon of sin, for his blood and Spirit to remove the same. All the waters of the sea will not wash it out, but that blood alone. And repent and forsake your sin, or it will be your ruin. Consider it is the greatest evil. For,
(1.) It is most contrary to the nature of God, who is the greatest good; and that which is most contrary to the greatest good, must needs be the greatest evil. It may be looked on as the nadir to zenith. The devil is not so contrary to God: for God gave the devil a being, but not sin. It is sin that makes the devil opposite to God; it is the master, he the scholar. The fire is hotter than the water which it heats. Sin fights against God; it is a deicide; and, as one says, the sinner so far as in him lies, destroys the nature of God. Sin is a dethroning of God, yes it strikes at his being. It musters up its forces in the open field against God, and when it is beaten from thence, it has its strong holds to go to; yes, like the thief on the cross, when it is crucified, it spits its venom against him. It is a walking contrary to him; and it rises against him even to the last gasp.
(2.) Sin is the mother of all evils that ever were or shall be. It is the big-bellied monster that is delivered daily of all other evils as its births. It is that which has brought forth all the fire-brands that ever were. What cast the angels out of Heaven, or Adam out of paradise? Sin draws the sword against nations, makes women husbandless, mothers childless, and brings on wars, famine and pestilence. Personal evils, whether on soul or body, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, are all from sin. It must needs then be the greatest evil.
(3.) Sin is the concluding stroke of wrath on the soul. It is that to which people are entirely given up. And what is it that makes Hell in the world, that God gives as the last stroke after all the rest? Why, it is to give up the soul to sin; Ezekiel 24:13. 'Because I have purged you, and you were not purged, you shall not be purged from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my fury to rest upon you,' That is the doom, 'Let him that is filthy be filthy still.' He who was delivered up to Satan, was restored again: but we never hear of any being restored who were given up to themselves. Better be given up to the devil than to sin.
OF THE FIRST SIN IN PARTICULAR
GENESIS 3:6, 7.—And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he aid eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
IN these words we are distinctly informed how the covenant of works was broken, and our first parents stripped of their primitive innocence and integrity. Eve seduced by the devil, first ate of the forbidden fruit, and Adam followed her example. The act being completed by both, they immediately discovered, to their shame and dishonor, the miserable state they were reduced to.
The words sufficiently found the following doctrine.
DOCTRINE. 'Our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, by eating the forbidden fruit.'
I have already shown why the forbidden tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, as also of what use it was in the covenant of works. It remains that we show,
I. How the eating of the forbidden fruit was the first sin of our first parents, by which they fell.
II. Why this fruit was forbidden.
III. The aggravations of it.
IV. Deduce some inferences.
I. I am to show how the eating of the forbidden fruit was the first sin of our first parents, by which they fell. It is not to be thought, that they were wholly innocent until they had the forbidden fruit in their mouths; for their coveting it in their hearts behooved of necessity to go before that; but the eating of it was that whereby their sin and apostasy from their Creator was completed. The first step of their sin seems then to be doubting and unbelief of the threatening, Genesis 3:4, 6. Their faith as to the truth of the threatening being first foundered, their heart plied to the temptation; and then succeeded a lust after the forbidden fruit; and then the sin was completed by their actually eating it, as in the words of the text.
Satan, the old serpent, very artfully laid his train for enticing our first parents to eat this forbidden fruit. For he attacked the woman when alone, at a distance from her husband; he endeavored to make her doubt of the truth of the divine threatening; he presented the fatal object, as fruit pleasant to the eye, and to be desired to make one wise: he pretended a higher regard for them than their sovereign Creator, who, he tacitly insinuated, grudged their happiness: and he used means to persuade them, that they should be like God, in the vast extent of their knowledge, upon their eating the delectable morsel. Thus the eyes of their mind were first blemished by a mist from Hell; which being admitted, gradually darkened their understanding, so that first doubting, and then disbelief of the threatening, ensued. Their will was easily conquered to a compliance with the temptation; then a corrupt affection to the tree seized them, discovering itself in a lustful looking at it: then the hand took it, and the month ate it, and the fatal morsel was swallowed.
II. I am next to show why this fruit was forbidden.
1. It was not because God grudged the happiness of our first parents, as the devil blasphemously alleged, whom the event proved a liar, John 8:44. Nor yet,
2. Because there was any evil in the fruit itself; for that could not be; for we are told, Genesis 1 ult. that, at the close of the creation everything was very good. This fruit was not forbidden because it was evil, but it was evil because it was forbidden. It was forbidden for the trial of man's obedience. Not that God knew not what was in man, and what he would be, but to discover the creature's weakness to himself without God, and that he might thence take occasion of advancing his own glory impaired by the sin of man, in a more illustrious manner than if innocent Adam had continued in his primitive state. But it may be asked, Why did God make choice of this for the trial of man? I answer, God did so most reasonably. For,
(1.) This being a thing in itself indifferent, was most meet for the trial of his obedience. For hereby his obedience was to turn upon the precise point of the will of God, which would have been the plainest evidence of obedience. Had it been to love God or his neighbor, nature itself taught him to do so, and by the natural make of his soul he was inclined to this. What trial would that have been to a man newly created, and loaded with benefits from God, not to take another God, worship images, or take his name in vain, when he saw all to be God's creatures or servants; to keep the sabbath, which was to return once a-week only? He had no father or mother to honor, none to kill but her that was his own flesh, none to commit adultery with, none to steal from, none to bear false witness against, none to covet their goods. Thus the prohibition of a thing in itself indifferent was a proper test, and the only proper test for the trial of man.
(2.) Thus man's obedience or disobedience would be most clear and conspicuous, being in an external thing whereof his very senses might be judge; which could not be in the internal acts of obedience.
(3.) This was most proper for asserting the sovereign dominion of God, who had set him down in a beautiful paradise, and made him lord of the world. Was it not very reasonable that God should keep one single tree from him, as a testimony of his holding God as his great Landlord?
(4.) This was most useful and necessary to man, as a memorandum of the state wherein he was created. For man was created with a free will to good, whereof the tree of life was an evidence: but also to evil, whereof the tree of knowledge of good and evil was an evidence. So that in effect it was a continual watchword to him, and a beacon set up before him to beware of dashing on the rock of sin.
(5.) It was a great mercy to man, in that, beside the natural make of his soul, which was turned towards God as his chief happiness and end, he had this prohibition set to keep it in that posture. For as Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hand, Exodus. 17:12, so man had the fabric of his body looking upward, and this fair tree forbidden him, to teach him that his happiness lay not in the creatures, but in God. So that this tree being forbidden was a sign of emptiness hung before the creature's door, with that inscription, Here is not your rest; the creature's hand pointing man away from themselves to God, as the alone fountain of happiness.
(6.) Lastly, This was a compend of the whole law of God, wherein all was summarily comprehended, namely, love to God, and his neighbor, as will afterwards be made appear.
III. I come now to consider the evil of this first sin. Some may be ready to say, Was not the eating of the forbidden fruit a little sin? So it appears indeed in the sight of blind man, whose eye being put out with it, sees not the great majesty of God, and the horrid evil of the action. But indeed it was more horrible if you consider,
1. The aggravations of it.
2. The nature of it
3. The effects of it.
First, Let us view the aggravations of this first sin. Consider,
1. The person who did it. I may say it was not a sinner that sinned, but an innocent person, free from all inclination to evil; one whom God made able to stand if he would, and endued with the image of God, without any mixture of sinful ignorance, perverseness of will, or irregularity of affections. No wonder to see a man with a poor stock soon broken: but that a man who had such a large stock should play the bankrupt, was horrid indeed.
2. What was the thing for which he broke the command. Achan had a wedge of gold to tempt him, and Judas thirty pieces of silver to entice his covetous disposition. But what was the enticing object in Adam's case? The fruit of a tree: a small thing indeed: but the smaller the thing was, the more inexcusable the sinner, whom Satan could draw after him by so slender a thread. What need had he of that, when God had given him abundance of other fruit? But, with David, Adam spares his own flock, and takes his neighbor's one lamb.
3. The persons wronged by this sin. He sinned against God himself, to whom he owed the strictest obedience; against his soul and body, upon which he brought wrath and a curse; against all his posterity, who were then in his loins, upon whom his sin has entailed a scene of evils, under which the human race will groan to the end of time. Never did one sin strike against so many at once.
4. The time of this transgression. Man was scarcely well come out of the hand of his Creator, until he lifted up his heel against him. He stood very short while, until he turned giddy with ambition, and fell into disgrace. It is thought probable, he fell the same day he was created; and such an early revolt from his allegiance was a very high aggravation of his sin.
5. The place where the crime was committed. In paradise, where every plant and flower were proclaiming the glory of God, and where he wanted nothing that was necessary for him. In the presence-chamber, as it were, he struck at his Sovereign Lord and King. So his offence was aggravated like the murder of Zachariah, whom the Jews slew between the temple and the altar, Matthew 23:35.
Secondly, The nature of this sin. It was not one single sin, but a complication of all evils, a violation of the whole law of God, and a total apostasy from him in heart, lip, and life. This was a sin whereby at one touch both the natural and positive law was trampled under foot; yes, by which all the ten commandments were struck at, at once.
1. Did they not chose new gods: when, by eating this fruit, they made their belly their God; self their God; nay the devil their God, when they conspired with him against God, being filled with pride and ambition as he to be like God; when they believed the devil and mistrusted God, and shook off the yoke of his dominion, turning rebels to him, and being most unthankful for the divine goodness expressed towards them? Rebel-man set up a trinity,
(1.) Of his belly, for sensuality,
(2.) Of himself, by ambition; and,
(3.) Of the devil, by believing him, and disbelieving his Creator.
2. Though man at first received, yet he did not observe that great ordinance of God about the forbidden fruit. He contemned that ordinance which God had most plainly appointed, and would needs carve out to himself how he would serve the Lord.
3. He took the name of the Lord his God in vain, despising his attributes, whereby he makes himself known, his justice, truth, power, etc. profaning God's ordinance, that sacramental tree; abusing his word, by not giving credit to it; and abusing his works, that creature which he should not have touched; and violently misconstructing the work of providence, as if God, by that act of forbidding them that tree, had minded to keep them from happiness. And therefore though there was no man to punish them, God suffered them not to escape his righteous judgment.
4. He was so far from remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy, that he put himself out of all case for serving God before it came, by this means. He kept not that state of rest wherein God had placed him.
5. Adam honored not his Father in Heaven. Both our first parents minded not their relative duties. Eve forgets herself, and acts without advice of her husband, to the ruin of both; and Adam, instead of admonishing her to repent, yields to the temptation too, and so confirms her in her wickedness. They forgot all duty to their posterity. Therefore their days were not long in the land which the Lord their God gave them.
6. He was the greatest murderer that ever lived. By this act he was a child-murderer, cutting the throats of all his posterity; and he was a self-murderer too.
7. Our first parents were gladly to cover their nakedness with fig-leaves, which their luxury and sensuality had brought them too.
8. Adam committed theft; and was but a thief and a robber in taking that which was not his own, against the will of the great Owner. He was the Achan in the camp.
9. He bare false witness against the Lord, when he ate of the forbidden fruit. It was an avouching, that God's word was not to be believed, that the Lord dealt harshly with him, and grudged his happiness.
10. He was discontented with that happy state wherein God had placed him. He was not content with his lot, and therefore, like another king of Babylon, he coveted an evil covetousness to his house; which ruined both himself and them.
Thirdly, Consider the effects of this first sin.
1. God was robbed of his glory, that he should have had from the creature's active obedience. He was made and well qualified for glorifying his Creator; but breaking covenant with God, and falling under the curse of the law, he was quite indisposed for that work. He could aim no more at this mark which God set before him.
2. God's image was defaced; the King of Heaven's picture was rent in pieces. What a huge offence would it be to come into a workman's shop, and with one touch dash in pieces a curious piece of work that he had made? Yet thus offensively did Adam behave, spurning at the image of God, and quite defacing it from his soul.
3. Adam and all his posterity were ruined by this fatal transgression. It opened the sluice to all that flood of miseries that has overspread the face of the earth. At this gate sin and death entered into the world, where they will reign until time shall be no more. God is just and holy; and if the first sin had not deserved this punishment, it would not have been inflicted with such a mark of indignation.
I shall conclude with a few inferences.
1. Say not when you are tempted, it is but a little sin and therefore you may act it. Consider, that which in the commission is but as the little cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, when God comes to judgment, or conscience gets up, will cover the face of the heavens. Little do you know what a small temptation may be big with. A man may drown in a little rivulet as well as in the deep sea.
2. Then God's will is a sufficient bar to hold us back from anything if we would be safe. And therefore let us know, that where there is no more to be a hedge to us but the bare command of God, if we leap over it, a serpent will bite us. Ah! how few know what it is to be restrained by a bare command of God! Ah! the generality leap over the hedge of God's will and law, and live as if their were no restraint upon them from the God of Heaven, who will severely punish all transgressions of his law.
3. Beware of the pleasure of your senses, and the pride of life. The lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh ruined the world at first, and do so still. The devil shoots his darts by the eye into the soul, which is weaker now than it was in the primitive state, and more liable to deception. Therefore watch your eyes and ears. Have a care of sensuality. Eating ruined Adam and Eve; and still ruins many, who eat not for God or his glory, but to satisfy their sensual appetite, as they did.
4. Lastly, O prize Christ, who to redeem lost man, did hang upon a tree, and drink the cup of wrath as the bitter fruits of sin, and was buried in a garden. The first Adam ate of the forbidden tree, and Christ hung on the cursed tree. Adam's preposterous love to his wife made him sin, and Christ's love to his spouse made him suffer. Our first parents pleased their sensual appetite with the taste of the pleasant fruit of the forbidden tree, and therefore Christ got vinegar mixed with gall to drink upon the cross-tree. Adam sinned in a garden, and in a garden was Christ buried. By eating the forbidden fruit, death came upon all men to condemnation; and by eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of Christ, life is brought to the soul. O then, sinners, flee unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who has restored that which the first Adam took away; and you shall be reinstated in all that happiness and favor with God which he forfeited by eating the forbidden fruit.
OF OUR FALL IN ADAM
ROMANS 5:19.—For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
THIS text consists of two propositions. The first is, By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. Where consider,
1. Who that one man was. It was Adam. This is plain from verse 14 and to no other can it agree.
2. What that disobedience of his was. It was his first sin, the eating of the forbidden fruit. This was that sin that first broke into the world, and opened the door to death, verse 12. This was the transgression of Adam, verse 14 that offence or fall, verse 15 the offence of one, or, as the Greek will bear, the one offence, here called disobedience, for thereby he hearkened to the devil, not to God.
3. Whom it concerned; many. This is in effect the same with the all mentioned, verse 14. But the alteration of the phrase is not without reason: for there is an exception here of the man Christ, of whom he speaks in the next clause. It reached many men, but not all simply; he, and he only, was excepted.
4. How it touched them; they were made sinners by it. Now, there are only two ways how men might be made sinners by the disobedience of Adam, namely, either by imputation or imitation. The last is not meant.
(1.) Because some of those many who are made sinners, are not capable of imitation or actual sin, namely, infants.
(2.) Because we are made righteous, not by the imitation, but imputation, of Christ's righteousness; but as we are made righteous by the one, so we are made sinners by the other.