and abundance But withal kindle in our hearts a longing desire after that One thing which is both Necessary and Sufficient even God Himself communicated unto us in his Son Jesus Christ who alone is unto us a Full and All-sufficient Treasury seeing the very variety of these outward things argue their Insufficiency and Imperfection The second Circumstance by which this Grant of the fruits of Paradise is enlarged is that God gave not the man only the Taste of them but withall the Full and Constant fruition of them to take of them what he pleased either for Necessity or Delight within the bounds of Sobriety without any other limitation or restraint at all Whence 6. Observe Whatsoever God bestowes upon us he bestowes Freely and Fully Observ 6 AL things abundantly 1 Tim. 6.17 Commanding us to open our mouthes wide that we may fill them Psalme 81.10 Satisfying the desire of every living thing Psalme 145. Multiplying his Blessing like the Widdowes oyl 2 King 4. which never ceased till there were no more Vessells to receive it And as he gives largely so He desires that we should satisfie our souls with his Goodnesse Jer. 30.14.25 Freely using his Blessings within the bounds of Moderation but above all things his Desire is that we take of the waters of the Well of Life freely without money and drink and eat and delight their souls in fatnesse Isa 55.2 That we may rejoyce in the Lord alwaies and again rejoyce Phil. 4.4 And this God doth Partly because the bounty of his Goodnesse may be seen the more the more we taste it so many various and divers waies Let our acknowledgments in our duties unto God be some way answerable unto his gifts unto us Free and Full every way that they may be accepted of him who loves a Chearful Giver the rather because we render unto him 1. Of his Own 1 Chron. 29.14.2 Our giving unto him is but Sowing and that unto our selves whereof we receive the increase and that proportionable to our Seed 2 Cor. 9.6 VERSE 17. BUt That is notwithstanding this free liberty which I have given unto you to take and enjoy the rest of the fruits of the Garden you shall not meddle with this Tree Not eat thereof Not for any Evil in the fruit it self which might in it self be as fit for food as the other fruits as it appears Chap. 3.6 Otherwise it could be no tryall of Adams Obedience to forbear that whereof he could make no use Now in this relation of Gods Restraint laid upon Adam we find no more forbidden but the Eating of the fruit of that Tree though the woman in repeating it mentions Touching as well as Eating Gen. 3.3 Whether that Clause were added by God though it be omitted by Moses here or whether the Woman conceived it to be implyed although it were not expressed as conceiving it unfit for them to handle that which they might not Eat it is not much material This is evident that by this abstinence from the Tree Adam was to acknowledge Gods Absolute Power over the Creatures who had therefore free liberty to grant or withhold what he pleased And withall he was to manifest his Subjection unto God to be guided wholly by his Will by abstaining from all that God denied him meerly because it was his pleasure And for this cause God singles out a Tree as Beautifull to the Eye as Delightfull in Taste and good for Food as any of the rest And forbids the man to eate of it to shew that it was no difference in the fruits but meerly in the Will of God which made the eating of the rest lawful and of this One onely Unlawful as we shall see more fully hereafter in the next Chapter For in the day Or very Moment of time for the very Act of sin involves the sinner in the Punishmentt though sometimes the Execution of it may be differred for a while and yet this Judgment here mentioned seized upon our First Parents in the very act of sinning for we find that Folly Fear and Shame besides the corrupting of their hearts within included amongst other Evils in this name of Death took hold on them in the very moment when they tasted the forbidden fruit Thou shalt surely die Dying thou shalt die saith the Originall as before Eating thou shalt eat pointing at the Certainty Continuance and Extent of that death which should seize upon man in case of transgressing under that name of Death Including all kind of Evils Outward and Inward on the Soul and Body Temporal and Eternal Plagues of all sorts on the Outward man and the meanes of inflicting them as Locusts are called a death Exod. 10.7 and Saint Paul calls his outward Afflictions and Miseries Deaths 2 Cor. 11.23 and Infirmities of the body tending unto ending in the dissolution of Nature by separating the Soul from the Body But especially weaknesse and corruption of the Soul in all the parts thereof Blindnesse in the Understanding Rebellion and Perversenesse in the Will Bondage and slavery in the Affections Distemper and Distraction in the thoughts by the fighting of contraries within us Horror of Conscience by the Apprehension of Gods unsupportable and unavoidable Wrath and lastly Eternall Separation from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes 1.9.8 and Delivering over of the Body and Soul to everlasting torments called the Second death Rev. 20.6.14 We have then in this verse set before us a law given to Adam with the Sanction annexed thereunto in both which are divers considerable circumstances to be taken notice of as namely in the Law 1. The person that gives it 2. The Restraint laid upon man thereby 3. The matter wherein 4. The measure how far it reacheth Out of the former of those considered in relation to the person to whom the Law is given even to Adam himself in the state of his Innocency and the perfection of his nature 1. Observe The most righteous amongst the Sons of men Must and Needs to live under a Law Observ 1 NOt so much to enforce him to his duty by any terrour because a godly mans nature by the Renovation thereof being made conformable to the Law and thereby delighting therein and having withall his heart filled with the Love of God by that double band is more strongly drawn on to all duties of Obedience then he can be by any other way in which respect the Law is said not to be given to a Just man because he is a Law unto himself 1 Tim. 2.9 Notwithstanding unto such a person a law is needful 1. For direction for man is unfit to choose his own way being through his ignorance so apt to mistake evill for good neither is any able to find out what is truly good but God alone who is Goodnesse it self and His Will the Rule of goodnesse which none can find out or reveal but himself 1 Cor. 2.11.2 It is needful that by conforming to the Law given us by God we
his Hand alone Math. 10.28 whereof men are not so much as Instruments either in the Sentence or in the Execution thereof It must necessarily be so seeing otherwise the giving of Life could not be intirely in Gods Hand if a Creature at his pleasure might take away that which he Himself hath bestowed And Secondly it is fit that God alone should have the disposing of the greatest of all judgements as well that it might be measured out to all in Righteousnesse as that God might be feared alone The consideration hereof cannot but revive the heart of Gods Servants hated and persecuted by men of the world when they know their life and breath is in Gods Hand which therefore none can take away but by his Will and Decree And therefore 1. not while God hath any use of their service here 2. Not if they be of the Number of Christs Redeemed Ones for whom he hath conquered Death and taken away the sting of it 1 Cor. 15.55.57 and delivered them from the power of it Under this name of death are included all manner of Evils Outward and Inward Temporal and Eternal both Death it self and whatsoever tends thereunto So that we have hence warrant to 9. Observe All kinds of Evils and Miseries Present or Future Outward or Inward are the Wages of Sin Observ 9 DEath came into the world by sin Rom. 5.12 whereof it is the wages Rom. 6.23 Wherefore we find all Outward miseries threatened against men for disobedience Levit. 26. Deut. 28. And the plagues of the soul as Ignorance Inordinate Lusts a Reprobate mind are justly reckoned up amongst the Judgments upon men for sin Rom. 1.28 29. much more is it sin alone that brings Eterual death For unbelief men are condemned Joh. 3.36 and for hatred and malice men abide in death 1 Joh. 3.14 and for sin are adjudged to the everlasting flames of Hell fire Matth. 25.41 Rev. 21.8 Let men then when they feel the smart of any evil either Inward or Outward complain of nothing but sin as the fountain from which they spring Lam. 3.39 Ascribing their destruction to themselves or any evils that lyes upon them at present see Hos 13.9 And therefore 1. Let them remove and take away their sinnes if they desire ease abstaining from that as from the gates of Hell 2. Especially when they fear any Judgment hanging over them let them labour to prevent it by taking away the sin that brings it 3. In the mean time admiring and magnifying the riches of Gods mercy in our Redemption by Christ by whom both our sins in which we were all once dead and by which we draw death upon our selves every day are taken away and with them Hell and Eternal Death and those Evils that remain upon us at present are sanctified so that they work together for our good This phrase Dying you shall dye doth not only import the Extent but withall the Certainty of that Death which the doubling of that word usual in the Hebrew Language doth very often imply Whence we may further 10. Observe Gods Judgments are Certain and Infallible as well as his Promises of Mercy Obser 10 REsting upon the same grounds which are in themselves Infallible 1. The Holinesse of his Nature by which he is constantly moved to take vengeance on Sin as well as to reward Righteousnesse 2. His unalterable Truth which is firmer then Heaven or Earth See Numb 14.23 35. 3. His unresistable power Deut. 32.39 Secondly directed to the same End which God ayms at in all his wayes and works the filling of the Earth with his glory Numb 14.21 advanced in the Acts of his Justice as well as of his Mercy Howsoever men bewitch themselves with a groundlesse hope of Impunity in their sinful courses Deut. 29.19 Whereby as they take from God the honour of his Justice Holinesse and Truth so they necessarily overthrow all the grounds of their dependance upon Gods Promises the Certainty whereof is built upon the same grounds which assure the Infallibility of his Judgments and withall opens a gap to all Impiety The last considerable Circumstance in the Judgment here threatened is the speedy Execution thereof as being limited to the very day wherein they should transgresse Whence 11. Observe Vengeance and Judgment follow sin at the Heeles Obser 11 SIn that is the guilt and punishment lyeth at the door as God tells Cain Gen. 4.7 Indeed the Guilt of sin by which men are made liable to the Punishment is incurred by the very act of sinning Although God be pleased oftentimes to suspend the Execution either 1. For his own sake to manifest his Patience and Long-suffering and withall the Justice of his Wrath upon those that abuse it to the hardening of their own hearts Rom. 2.4 5. Rev. 2.22 23. 2. Or for the Sinners sake to bring him if it be possible to repentance Rom. 2.4 as God bearing with St. Paul in his bloody persecutions won him at the last Or 3. for the Churches sake to make use of the sinners service in the mean time for the good of his people Or some way or other for some fitter opportunity or some special occasion as we spare the Execution of women with child till they be delivered Notwithstanding vengeance overtakes men sometimes in the very act of sinning as it did the Sodomites Zimri and Cosby Corah Dathan and Abiram Gehazi Ananias and Sapphirah and the like in their several sins Let men tremble at Sin as at a Serpent conceiving that when they lay hold on sin they take hold of death it self and embrace the flames of Hell fire 1. Fly from it and from all Means and Instruments Occasions and Opportunities that lead unto sin 2. Repent of it speedily and cast it out as we would do fire out of our bosome and sleep not in the bonds of iniquity all night lest it break out suddenly upon us like an hidden fire and Consume us and all that we have VERSE 18. VVE have taken a surview of the Lawes given to man for the worship and service of God and for his employment The means of Propagating mankind and the Law that God gives man concerning it we have set down unto us in the rest of this Chapter wherein as in the relation of the planting of Paradise we have an addition to the works of the Sixth day as we had there to the works of the Third day the chief whereof were set down in the former Chapter In recounting the works of the Sixth day Moses had related the Creation of the man and addes that he created man in both Sexes how this was done the Holy Ghost records at large in this place Wherein he sets before us 1. The Cause or Occasion of Creating the Woman which was the Inconvenience of Adam's Solitarinesse and the Unfitnesse of his Society with any other of the Creatures 2. Gods observing of it and Resolution thereupon to make him such an help as might be every way meet for
who having by experience found how ill she was able to moderate her own desires must needs be the more secured by having a Moderator set over her by whose wisdome such inordinate motions of her minde might at least be so farre kept in order that they should not break out into outward Acts. Now it must needs be that the man being of the two of the more noble sex and the woman being created both for him and out of him he must from the beginning have preeminence above the woman but that may seem to be at the first rather a priority in order then a superiority in authority And both of them being endued with perfect understanding and with wills and affections rightly ordered every way their government if they had continued in that condition might in all probability have been carried on rather by consent then by prescription when they should both of them desire and approve the same things in which case injunctions had been needlesse In examining this sentence which God passeth upon the woman first and upon the man afterwards it is worthy our observation that in them both we finde a mixture of mercy tempered with judgement The woman shall endure paines and sorrow in conceiving and in bringing forth children but that necessarily supposeth that she shall have children and a posterity and leave an issue behinde her whereas in the extremity of Justice she might at that very present have been cut off from the earth according to the curse threatened In the day when thou catest thereof thou shalt die the death And as for the man his labour which at first was unto him a recreation and delight shall now be hard and painful but withal there 's a promise enterlaced that the sweat of his face shall yield him bread that is meanes for the sustaining of his life And that we may more clearly discover the way of God herein we must in a special manner observe that this sentence is pronounced against them both after the promise of Christ made unto them in the verse praecedent in whom God offered to our first Parents peace and reconciliation although he lay upon them these quick remembrances both of their own sin and of Gods just displeasure against them for it Whence 1 OBSERVE All the afflictions of Christs members are dispensed unto them under the Covenant of Grace Observe 1 GOd establisheth a firme Covenant with David Psal 89.28 and after that chastens him in his posterity when they provoke him and yet makes good his Covenant still ver 31 32 34. His children must have afflictions in the world Joh. 16.33 He receives us for sons and yet chastens us Heb. 12.6 pardons Davids sinne and yet layes his hand upon his childe 2 Sam. 12. Whence the Prophet David acknowledgeth that he had afflicted him in faithfulnesse Psal 119.75 that is both in sincere love and according to his Promise and Covenant which he had made with him Reasons may be 1. All his dispensations towards the members of Christ are by vertue of that Covenant by which he administers all things to them having committed all judgement to the son Joh. 5.22 2. Neither is the chastisement of his children any hinderance to that Covenant by which God hath engaged himself to with-hold no good thing from us Psal 84.11 seeing they also work together to their good Rom. 8.28 as David found by experience Psal 119.71 3. Otherwise God should lose his end in chastening his own for their good seeing the good of all proceeds from the sanctifying of all in Christ who is like the tree that sweetened the bitter waters Exod. 15.25 4. God is no changeling His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting upon those that feare him Psal 103.17 neither doth he as men sometimes love and sometimes hate but loves unto the end those whom he loves John 13.1 Alwayes taking pleasure in those that fear him Psal 147.11 even when he is displeased with their sins Esay 57.17 18. 1. A singular consolation to the godly when not only those afflictions which fall upon them by the will of God are sanctified unto them in Christ but besides the Covenant of peace remains firme unto them So that no evil shall offend them or interrupt their peace Psalme 119.165 nor separate them from the love of Christ Rom. 8.31 2. Let no man judge of his estate by the afflictions that befall him in this life by which no man can guesse whether he be worthy of love or hatred Eccl. 9.1 It was Davids error that he judged of his own condition by his chastisements that lighted on him every morning Psal 73.14 which besides the present unquietnesse of his spirit which much afflicted him ver 21. had wel nigh disheartned him in his course vers 13. Indeed the judging of our estates upon such false grounds 1. Cannot but at present deprive us of our comfort in the assurance of Gods love and hinder our rejoycing in him 2. Discourage us in our duties of his service 3. Shake our faith 4. And take away the fruits of our afflictions reformation for time to come see Psalm 119.67 and experience of his love and faithfulnesse at present Rom. 5.3 1. Let us then in the midst of our afflictions hold fast the grounds of our hope as Job doth in the middest of those sharp tryals wherewith God exercised him Job 19.25 and the Church of God Lam. 3.21 24. 2. Let us withal search our wayes Lam. 3.40 remembring that afflictions although they be not laid upon any of Gods children as a judgement for sin yet they are chastisements for sin and are intended to us for reformation Isa 27.9 Seeing Gods displeasure is not against our persons which he chastiseth in love Psal 119.75 but against our sins only for which when we are humbled and break them off by repentance we shall finde the experience of Gods relenting towards us and readinesse to abound in mercies as in times past Jer. 31.18 19 20. The sentence that was decreed by God against our Parents was as the words import present death Death in that day wherein they should eat of the fruit forbidden The extremity of this sentence God now looking upon them in Christ is pleased to remit Notwithstanding he thinks fit to leave with them such remembrances both of their sin and of his dislike of it as might put them in minde of it all the dayes of their lives Whence 2 OBSERVE Though God have thorough Christ remitted to his children the sentence of Death yet he hath not freed them from the afflictions of this life Observe 2 ARising 1. From within our selves either in the outward man as infirmities or sicknesses of body such as the Prophet David complaines of Psal 38.5 7. or in the soul and spirit in much grief and unquietnesse of mind with which the godly are somtimes afflicted Psal 77.2 3. and that so far that both their flesh and their heart may fail them Psal 73.26 2. From
Him when we are limited even in the smallest things 2. To shew us that it is only Obedience and Conformity to his Will that God respects and not the Matter or Substance of the thing it self in which he requires it 3. To make our yoke the more easie that we might be the more encouraged to obedience as Naaman's servants move him to wash himself in Jordan as the Prophet commanded him because it was an easie thing even a small matter that was required of him 2 King 5.13 Who then are they that esteem observances in matters of small moment nicenesse and precisenesse and would perswade us that the smalnesse of the matter makes a sin venial whereas God punisheth the gathering of sticks only on the Sabbath day with death Numb 15.35 as he did afterwards only for touching the Ark 2 Sam. 6.7 and shall as our Saviour tells us judge men hereafter for every idle word Matth. 12.36 This Tree of the fruit whereof Man was forbidden to eat was seated in the middest of Paradise and consequently in the middest of all those pleasant fruits which God had given man free liberty to make use of not only for necessity but for delight besides Whence we may take occasion to 5. Observe Our Abundance and Delights and Pleasures must be used in fear and within the Limits of Obedience Observ 5 A Man must not give the rains to his appetite but eat within measure when he comes to a Feast as Solomon adviseth Prov. 23.2 And it is a mark of sensual men that they feast without fear Jude 12. So that there must be a limited measure in the freest use of Gods blessings and limited time both of them proportioned according to the Laws 1. Of Nature that we feed for hunger and to strengthen the body and not for drunkennesse and surfeiting Eccl. 10.17 2. Of Moral respects of Sobriety Modesty and Correspondency to our present condition every man may not wear costly apparel but such as are in Kings Courts Luk. 7.25 And to the necessities of other men Dives must not feast every day and let Lazarus starve at his Gate 3. According to the Rules of Religion God takes it heinously at his Peoples hand when they fall to slaying of Sheep and Oxen in a time when He calls to mourning and fasting Isa 22.12.13 And the Apostle gives a Caveat to forbear even the Lawful use of marriage at such time as we should give our selves to fasting and prayer We have hitherto considered the law which forbad the eating of the fruit of that Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill The Sanction followes which is the Intermination of a most fearfull curse which necessarily implyes the heinousnesse of the sin in disobeying Gods Commandement Whence 6. Observe Disobedience is a fearful sin in Gods account Observ 6 ANd is therefore by Samuel equalled to Witch-craft the most hatefull of all sins 1. Sam. 15.23 for which Saul was cast out of his Kingdom which God Himself threatens with Destruction Isa 1.20 not onely Temporall but Eternall 1 Pet. 3.19.20 And that especially because it is directed against the Majesty of God Himself whose Authority is sleighted and despised when his Lawes and Commandements are disobeyed And Secondly it opens a gap to all manner of loosenesse and disorder Nature knowes to stay when it hath once passed the bounds of Obedience no more then a violent stream doth when it hath once broken over those Banks that before kept it in Let us then esteem and value all sins according to that Circumstance the more Disobedience there is in any act of ours the more sin Therefore sin is out of measure sinful when it is 1. Against knowledge Jam. 4.17 John 9.41 2. Against Warnings Perswasions Judgments Experience of Mercy or against any meanes of Grace See John 15.22.24 2 Chron. 36.15 3. Or Voluntary without Sollicitation or urging by the violence of any Temptation as when men set themselves in a way that is not good Psal 36.4 and imagine mischief upon their beds Mich. 2.1 Lastly when the law it self is rejected and cast aside Jer. 44.16 and accompted as a strange thing Hos 8.12 and cast behind a mans back Psal 50.17 But why is such an heavy curse threatned to Adam in this state of his Innocency having especially had such late and large experiments of Gods Bounty towards him It cannot be doubted that God had speciall respect unto the Mutability of his Nature and therefore knew that he needed this bridle which also by experience appeared to be too weak to restrain those inordinate lusts which were quickly stirred up in him by Satans Suggestions so that out of this help that God thought fit to provide for him We may 7. Observe The Terrours of the Law are usefull and needful even unto the best amongst the sons of men Observ 7 IF God found it needful to Adam in this state of perfection much more must it be useful to all men now seeing besides all temptations from without we have within us such a fountain of Corruption breathing out continually Inordinate lusts that need the strongest bridle to keep them in and suppresse them Besides those terrours are now unto us of speciall use to sweeten the Remembrance of our Redemption by Christ from the Curse and condemning sentence of the Law and to strengthen us against those manifold temptations which from without assault us more free-quently and prevalently then they did our First Parents Wherefore we finde the Spirit of God making use of those Terrours not onely in Generall as in the Proposall of the Law to his own People but more particularly to affect the hearts of the best men as Moses Himself trembled as well as the rest at the giving of the Law Heb. 12.21 Yea even godly men themselves have made use of them of their own accord for the keeping of their hearts in an awful Reverence of God to hold them on in a Course of Obedience as Job did Job 31.14 15. and David Psalme 119.120 Hitherto we have considered this Curse in relation to the Sin against which and the Person against whom it is denounced We are farther to take notice of the Kind Measure and Certainty thereof all implyed in that phrase Dying thou shalt die together with the speedy Execution thereof in the very day wherein they should eat thereof And first in that God threatens death unto the man in case of his rebellion We may 8. Observe Death and Destruction are in Gods Hand to inflict them where He pleaseth Observ 8 HE justly claimes unto Himself the power to kill as well as to make alive Deut. 32.39 And therefore his Children ascribe it unto him 1 Sam. 2.6 and unto Christ Rev. 1.18 Even Bodily or Temporall death which may indeed be inflicted by men who can kill the body Matth. 10.28 But therein they are but Gods Executioners Rev. 6.4 and are the Sword in his his Hand Psal 17.13 Much more are Hell and Eternall death in
that she so thought both of the one and the other in her heart as she represents them in her speeches having a low esteem of Gods large liberality in the grant of eating of all the trees and grudging at the interdiction from eating of that one Besides we finde that upon Satans reply to this answer the woman turnes wholly away unto the creature which she could not do unlesse she had first departed from God which we may probably conceive is described or at the least intimated in this verse Which is in the midst of the Garden By this answer it is evident that this phrase in the midst cannot be taken largely for within as it is in some other places of Scripture as namely Gen. 41.48 that we render in the Cities is in the Original in the midst of the Cities but more properly and distinctly for the particular place in which that tree stood seeing the woman by this expression distinguisheth it from the rest of the trees of the Garden This Middest here mentioned we must understand within a certain latitude because the Tree of life is said in the former Chapter verse 9. to be planted in the midst of the Garden near unto which it seemes this tree was placed and was it which the woman meant in this place because that only was the tree of which she was forbidden to eat God hath said Whether she answers the Divel to that particular that he points at in his question whether she was sure that it was God that had forbidden the eating of that tree so that it is as if she had said yea it is God himself that hath forbidden not only the eating but the very touching of that fruit or whether she is moved to name God not so much in satisfaction to Satans question as out of a distaste of his strict interdiction it is not much material Questionlesse when she expressely mentions his name in the restraint and passeth by it in the grant of all the rest of the trees in the Garden she cannot but be conceived to discover some unkinde thought of God of whom she seemes to take no notice at all in so free and large a grant which if she had valued as she ought she might and in justice ought to have cleared God in this interdiction acknowledging both the equity of God in interdicting the use of one tree when he had so freely granted them all the rest and her ready and willing submission thereunto especially seeing also the whole Garden was of Gods own planting and therefore it was free for him to grant or withhold what he pleased Neither shall ye touch it Of this clause we finde no mention in the relation of the interdiction recorded in the former Chapter whether that clause was left out by God in the delivery of that Law or by Moses in recording of it it is uncertain Howsoever we may probably conceive that if that clause was not expressed in giving the Law yet the woman might conceive it to be implied But admit she did it was more then she needed to have added in her answer to the divels question who enquires only of the restraint from eating and not from touching or handling so that she may justly be conceived in this voluntary expressing of more then was demanded to discover some discontent and propension to grudge and complain of Gods hard dealing with her and her husband Lest ye die Some adde peradventure and it is true that that particle Pen in the Original signifies sometimes only the likelihood or possibility of an uncertain Consequent Take it how you will it appears plainly that the woman expressing the curse in a phrase so much different and so much weaker then that wherein God had delivered it gives great cause of suspicion that she entertained not that sharp threatening of so heavy a judgement with that feare and trembling of heart that she ought seeing she could not but speak of it as her heart was inwardly affected by it and consequently discovereth the wavering of her heart in not firmly believing that certain truth of Gods judgement threatened in case of her transgression of which she speaks so slightly and doubtfully whereby she gives encouragement to Satan in his reply to deny that flatly and peremptorily which she believes so weakly as being assured by one assault more wholly to overthrow that which began to totter already Verse 4. And the Serpent said Watching more diligently to catch something from the womans mouth then ever Benhadads Messengers did from Ahabs 1 Kings 20.33 And perceiving that the woman began now to stagger and give ground he renews his assault with the more violence as we shall see by and by Ye shall not surely die The forcible forme of speech used by God which the woman had omitted Satan takes up perhaps not without some derision as if he had said yea I know you are threatened death certain death yea death in the highest degree if you will be such fools as to believe God It must needs then be granted that Satan relating the curse more exactly according to the forme wherein it was delivered then the woman had done knew it well enough beforehand as being questionlesse present when God denounced it at first whereat we need not wonder seeing we know how diligently he watcheth God in all his wayes and his children in all his dispensations towards them as appears in the History of Job which if Eve had well observed she might have had just cause to suspect Satans dealing with her in enquiring of her that which he knew before hand as well as her selfe And withal it manifestly discovers Satans impudency in contradicting that which he knew God had uttered with his own mouth and that to the woman her selfe who had heard it as well as he But he well knew that he could now speak no more then the woman was ready to believe And besides he takes the more liberty to deny that which God had affirmed because no man had hitherto by trial had experience of the contrary by the execution of that curse which God had threatened And therefore seeing there was no meanes to convince him of falshood he takes the more boldnesse to gain say that upon his word which God had affirmed only upon his Word Hoping that his Nay might prevaile as much with so favourable a hearer as Gods Yea could do when there was no meanes to determine the point in difference but the credit of the persons that affirmed and denied Verse 5. But God doth know Whatsoever he speaks or affirmes to the contrary This circumstance the divel urgeth with great probability if the tree were believed to have any such vertue that God who made the tree could not be ignorant of the nature of his own work and enforceth with great advantage for the furthering of his main end to take off mans heart from God if it were assented unto as true for then God must be charged
with two fearful evils The first of envy to man to whom he so severely interdicted that which he knew to be so beneficial unto him The second of notorious falshood divers wayes First in affirming that which he knew to be untrue Next in doing it in the delivery of his Law whereas Lawes above all things ought to be Oracles of Truth Lastly in casting this interdiction as a cloak over his envy to man pretending to be tender of his safety in forewarning him of a danger when indeed he used it as he makes the woman believe as a scar-crow to deterre him from seeking his owne good These horrible blasphemies against God involved in this manner of Satans contradicting his truth we ought to observe the more heedfully that we may accordingly proportion and value the hainousnesse of the sin of our first Parents in assenting unto and believing them that we may the more justifie God in the judgements inflicted on them That in that day Alluding again to Gods threatening that in the day wherein they should eat of the fruit forbidden they should die the death and therein not only contradicting God in every circumstance but besides as God by threatening the speedy execution of the curse deterrs man more effectually from acting the sinne so Satan more strongly allures him to attempt it by promising a speedy reward Besides by this meanes he endeavours to gain some credit to his words because it would quickly be tried whether he spake truth or no and therefore it might seem incredible that he would lie in that wherein he might so speedily and certainly be disproved Your eyes shall be opened An ambiguous speech as are all the rest of Satans Oracles which proved true by lamentable experience although in a far other sense then that wherein the devil desired to have it understood which moves the Holy Ghost to expresse the event afterwards in the same phrase affirming that their eyes were opened indeed but it was only to behold their own shame and misery Now in this expression besides the representing of the benefit which the eating of this fruit would bring them Satan chargeth God by the way that he had all this while kept man hood-winked and thereby ignorant of those things which he might and which it concerned him to know In the mean time Satan doth that indeed wherewith he chargeth God falsely and maliciously dazeling the eyes of our first Parents so much with the brightnesse of that glorious condition unto which he promiseth to advance them that they oversaw and took no notice of that large measure of wisedome and knowledge wherewith God had already enriched their mindes in all things that it concerned them to know and thereby so blinded them in this action that they understood not what they went about till they were utterly undone like the Syrians whom Elisha led that knew not whither they went till they found themselves in the midst of Samaria 2 Kings 6.20 And ye shall be as Gods Or Princes or Angels as the same word sometimes signifies Thus having represented unto them the benefit that they should receive by rebelling against God he now enlargeth it by laying before them a patterne of their happinesse wherein they should equal even God himself and by this enflames their hearts and distempers them It may be withal that he conveighs into the womans minde some ground of hope of attaining to this glorious condition seeing they saw a patterne of it in God himself and therefore might hope that it was possible to be enjoyed It is out of question that he casts into her thoughts of discontent against God by representing their condition so far below that which it might have been as he perswades the woman to believe joyned with much unthankfulnesse for that which she had received already at Gods hand the creating of him after Gods own Image soveraignty over the rest of the creatures the planting and free bestowing of that pleasant Garden with all the fruits thereof and the inheritance of the whole world with a desire to rise higher that she might be a match unto God himself Knowing good and evil Whether he alludes to the name given to that tree given by God himself it is not certain if he do it is to strengthen what he had before affirmed that God knew well enough the vertue of that tree as appears in the very name which he had given it The Promise it self which Satan makes is frivolous if it be duly weighed Good they knew already and what could they gain by the knowledge of evil wherewith they had nought to do We have then here laid before us in brief that temptation by which Satan foiled and without Gods infinite mercy had for ever ruined our first Parents with their posterity as will appear in the sequel and it is by Moses only briefly pointed at and not displayed at large and is therefore by us to be scanned and searched into the more exactly Partly because it nearly concernes us to know the meanes by which all those evils under which all mankinde labours unto this day came first into the world especially seeing those Engines wherewith Satan assaulted our first Parents are the patternes according to which all the rest are forged wherewith he fights against us continually even to this day And partly because we may be assured that this temptation was the Divels master-piece wherein it concerned him to make use of the depth of his policies as having to encounter an adversary First made perfect in wisdome and holinesse and withal filled with Gods love kindled and confirmed by so many fresh experiments of his superabundant favours and mercies and now walking in a course of perfect obedience Secondly Satan was to encounter him meerly with his own strength assisted neither by lusts within nor by any allurements or other instruments without Thirdly he had to deal in a matter of great difficulty namely to set man against that God that had made him and had compassed him with infinite variety of blessings but never provoked him by the least discourtesie Nay against that God upon whom his happinesse still depended and who was able easily to destroy him by the same power by which he had created him or make him as miserable as he had made him happy Fourthly he was to attempt a matter of infinite consequence upon the good or ill successe whereof depended the happinesse or utter destruction of all mankinde the weakening of Gods Kingdome and the advancing and enlarging of the Kingdome of Satan And lastly he was to adventure upon an enterprise to be carried through at this present assault or not at all For if Adam had stood the first brunt and by use and experience been setled and confirmed in that state of Innocency and Holinesse wherein he then stood having once discovered Satans nature and scope he had afterwards in all probability been attempted in vain It will therefore be of good use to take in sunder
unto Satan gives him the greater advantage and encouragement to set upon her with a fresh and more violent assault as we shall see This errour of hers in opening her selfe so rashly to one that she knew not gives warrant to 1 OBSERVE It is dangerous to lay open our selves freely to persons unknown or such of whom we have no assurance Observe 1 SOlomon notes it to be a great folly to utter all a mans minde and a point of wisdome to keep it in till afterwards Prov. 29.11 Peter endangered himselfe very farre by conversing with strangers in the High-Priests Hall Mat. 26.69 70. Nay David himself we see ensnared himself by opening himself though to a familiar acquaintance yet to one whose heart he had not throughly sounded Psal 55.13 And Gedaliah by trusting Ishmael too far ruined both himself and his followers Jer. 41.1 This was Eves first oversight a second and no lesse is that she is contented to have a manifest truth questioned though delivered by Gods own mouth namely his interdiction of tasting the tree of knowledge of good and evil which the event discovered to be a great folly in her and may warrant us to 2 OBSERVE It is a dangerous thing to question or debate evident and knowen truthes Observ 2 PRinciples in all Sciences are exempted from dispute much more should they be in Divinity Amongst which we may account 1. The dictates of Nature written by the finger of God in all mens hearts as that there is a God Rom. 1.19 20. that he judgeth the world Psal 58.11 and that in righteousnesse which is a principle that Jeremy will not dispute Jer. 12.1 and that consequently it shall be well with the good and ill with the wicked at last Eccl. 12.13 as being truthes which every mans conscience within his own breast gives testimony unto 2. Such truthes as are delivered by God himselfe either recorded in his Word as the Creation of the world and that great mystery of mans Redemption by Jesus Christ c. or made known unto us by any special message from God as Zachary is both blamed and punished for disputing against the message sent from God by the Angel Luke 1.20 much more did that Prince deservedly perish by the just decree of God that denied the truth of Elishahs Prophecie 2 Kings 7.2 Only believing and acknowledging the truthes themselves we may be warranted to enquire more thoroughly into the Manner Meanes Order and other circumstances of those things which we fully assent unto and believe as Jeremy doth Jer. 12.1 and the blessed Virgin Luke 1.34 and the Prophets searched into what and what time the coming of Christ should be whereof they prophesied 1 Pet. 1.10 11. thereby to informe our selves of those secrets more fully as well to quicken our affections which are most effectually moved by the full discovery of things in particular and to strengthen our faith the more thereby as also to enable us by the full understanding of the truthes which we embrace to satisfie others and to maintain them against and stop the mouthes of such as oppose and contradict the truth And by this assenting unto the truthes of God without questioning or admitting them into debate 1. We seale unto his truth John 3.33 and give him the honour of a God to be believed upon his own testimony whereas we believe not men upon their word without some further evidence 2. And by the same meanes we provide for our own safety who having our mindes full of ignorance and by their corrupt disposition more inclinable to embrace lies rather then truth might be endangered by admitting known truth to debate to be mislead by the mists of humane reasonings into errour to the endangering or overthrowing of our faith These were Eves grosse oversights in entertaining conference with Satan a person unknown and that about such a manifest and evident truth In the substance of her answer and the forme of it she failes many wayes And first in this that if she consented not unto yet she entertaines such a dangerous suggestion as the divels question implies with so much coldnesse of spirit which she ought to have opposed with a zealous detestation and vehement indignation This errour of hers may give just occasion to 3 OBSERVE Blasphemous and foule suggestions ought not to be heard without indignation and detestation Observe 3 THus Job answers his wives damnable counsel to curse God and die Job 2.10 And our Saviour Christ Peters carnal advice to favour himself and not to yield himself to death Mat. 16.23 as he had done before Satans cursed motion to fall down and worship him Mat. 4.10 In like manner doth St. Paul those blasphemous exceptions Rom. 3 4 6. And thus we ought to do 1. To manifest our zeale for Gods honour and for his truth 2. By it we secure our selves from a farther assault which we easily invite when we bear such blasphemies with too much softnesse of spirit and patience 3. And harden our own hearts against such wicked suggestions by abhorring the very mention of them 4. And oftentimes terrifie the suggesters themselves or at least put them to shame The second failing of Eve in her answer is that when she mentions that large grant of God in bestowing on them the free use of all the trees in the Garden she doth not so much as mention Gods Name that had bestowed that large favour so freely not without manifest injury to him who ought to be known and proclaimed to be the Author of his own gift as having bestowed them especially for that end Whence 4 OBSERVE When Gods mercies are mentioned we must withal be careful to remember his Name that bestows them Observe 4 ANd this must be done not only in such solemn thanksgivings as we have Isa 63.7 Psal 68.19 20. but even in ordinary conferences after Jacobs example Gen. 33.5 and that of Moses Exod. 18.8 9. And this we must do 1. That by entituling God unto and prefixing his own Name before his works of mercy wherewith mens hearts are most affected he may be highly advanced above all things and held out and proclaimed to the world as the fountain of all goodnesse when all the good things which we enjoy and in which we rejoyce are still laid down at his foot See Rev. 4.10 11. whereby withal the heart is filled with his love and with an holy rejoycing in him with thankfulnesse and encouraged by such enlargements to all cheerfulnesse in his service with the Prophet Psal 116.12 13 14. which are the main ends that God aims at in lading us with his blessings 2. There is an evil disposition in mens hearts to forget God in his mercies Deut. 32.18 Psal 106.21 and to ascribe them to themselves with Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.30 Hab. 1.16 or if not to their idols Hos 2.5 yet at least to some second causes or meanes by which those blessings which they enjoy are conveighed unto them never looking up to the
God because it crosseth our carnal affections and condemns all our wayes and works John 3.20 Let no man then suffer his judgement to be swayed by the opinion of the world in any matter that concernes the grounds of Truth delivered in the Word seeing the world is guided by the wisdome of the flesh which is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 And therefore no marvel though it oppose his Truth which brings down the strong holds and high imaginations of the natural man to bring under every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 and refuse to give credit to those that speak it as the Jewes dealt with our Saviour John 8.45 because the world lying in wickednesse 1 John 5.19 which the truth of God reproves John 16.8 cannot but hate that which disgraceth and opposeth it Now if we observe it well that which made the woman so apt to give credit unto Satans suggestions was that her heart was beforehand taken with some desire after the knowledge which the eating of that fruit would certainly bring as Satan had informed her and she was desirous to believe Whence 5 OBSERVE Men are easily drawen to believe and hope any thing of that which they affect and desire Observe 5 LOve as the Apostle tells us hopes and believes all things 1 Cor. 13.7 and we know that as our affection is towards the person that speaks unto us so we give credit to his words much more to a friend then to a stranger Thus we are apt to hope well of our children because we love them well much more are we apt to promise ourselves good of our own counsels which we love better then our children It must needs be so seeing love being grounded upon a perswasion of some worth in that which we love we are easily drawn by the experience of that which we know to be in it to hope for and expect that which we know not although it doth not yet appear And whatsoever we desire to have because we desire withal that it may be good we hope it will be so By this one mark it will evidently appear that the generality of men are greater lovers of Wealth of Men of Honours of Pleasures then of God Himself or his Sonne Christ because it is evident they expect and promise themselves more good by them then by God and all his Promises following them more earnestly rejoycing in the fruition of them more cordially preserving them more carefully and resting on them more securely then on Gods Promises of Grace and Glory of this life and of that which is to come which as their own wayes convince them to their faces they esteem little better then meer delusions Yea it is manifest that they have no desire towards any way or work of Godlinesse of which they promise themselves no good by them Job 21.15 but disgrace poverty danger losse of profit and pleasure besides much unquietnesse of minde Nay by the same mark the greatest part of men appear to be greater lovers and better friends to wicked men of whom they never speak nor patiently endure to heare any evil then they are unto the godly of whom themselves are alwayes willing to believe any ill report that can be raised upon them The woman had before her eyes this pleasant fruit but she had withal an Interdiction from God not to meddle with it under the fearful curse of dying the death if she tasted of it but her inordinate appetite stirred up by sense we see prevailes with her above the terrour of the curse though denounced by God himself Whence 6 OBSERVE The terrours of wrath to come cannot prevâ—â—â— against strong and violent affections to things that are present Observe 6 IF the sense of an evil felt cannot withhold us in such a case as Prov. 23.34 35. much lesse can the feare of future evils work on our hearts The Prophet complaines that the peoples violent affection to rebellious courses thrust them forwards as an horse rusheth into the battel Jer. 8.6 of whom the Lord himselfe testifieth that he mocketh at feare and turnes not back from the sword Job 39.22 opposing their confirmed resolutions to evil against any shame or feare that stood in their way Jer. 2.25 26. Like Zimri and Cozbi that scorned the presence and tears of the Congregation and the apprehension of the future danger to fulfil their filthy lusts Numb 25.6 nay even the whole multitude of that rebellious people a little before were not deterred by the fearful judgement executed in their sight on Corah Dathan and Abiram from renewing their rebellion against Moses and Aaron the very next day Numb 16.4 The reason whereof is 1. Because such things as are present such as the pleasures of sinne are being apprehended by sense work more strongly upon the affections then things absent can do because they want that help of sense to conveigh them to the mindes which the affections are most moved by For as hope deferred maketh the heart sick because the thing desired is absent Prov. 13.12 so on the other side when the judgment is deferred and is not present the heart is not affected with the feare of it but hardened in men to mischief Eccl. 8.11 2. Because affections which things present raise up in us blinde our judgements so far that the evils threatened because they are not present are not believed so that men perswade themselves they will not come Deut. 29.19 Isa 28.15 and for that reason the feare of them restrains not men from evil because unto such persons they are esteemed as if they were not at all Let all men by this try their affections either to good or evil If our affections to that which is good be strong Much water will not quench love Cantic 8.6 7. as appears in the example of holy David whom though the proud derided Psal 19.51 Princes spake against him ver 23. the hands of the wicked robbed him ver 61. the proud digged pits for him ver 85. the wicked waited to destroy ver 95. yet all quenched not his love to Gods Law ver 97. nor his endeavours not to decline from his testimonies ver 157. Out of the same affection the Apostles were not deterred from preaching by all the menaces of the counsel and stripes that they laid upon them Acts 4.20 21. Thus Daniel continues his duty of making his request unto God despising the Lions Den Dan. 6.10 as the three children had done the flames of fire Dan. 3.17 On the other side to faint in the day of adversity argues small strength Prov. 24.10 or to take offence and be disheartened when tribulations arise Mat. 13.21 or mens displeasure threatens us as they do John 13.42 or much more when feigned terrours keep us off from our duty Prov. 26.13 That which prevailed so far with the woman or at least by which her minde already distempered by Satans suggestions was so far inflamed that it carried her on violently into this actual
services easie Gen 29.20 2. And of the Law it selfe for the purity of it Psal 119.140 the righteousnesse and saithfulnesse of it v. 138. the wonderful perfection and admirable effects of it Psal 19.7 8. 3. For the reward set before us hereafter and peace which our obedience to the Law brings at present See Psal 73.24 and 119.165 This cheerfulnesse of spirit is necessary 1. To sweeten and make us despise those incombrances which we meet in our wayes 2. To encourage others 3. To bring honour to God But it is observable that in this Commandment though the labour enjoyned be hard and painful yet it shall not want effect though it be purchased with the sweat of his brows yet his labour shall produce him bread to sustaine his life Whence 3. OBSERVE Whatsoever we undertake in obedience to Gods Commandment shall not want effect Observe 3 PRov. 14.23 He that soweth plentifully shall reap plentifully 2 Cor. 9.6 which is not only true in respect of the future reward promised 1 Cor. 15.58 but besides in respect of mens present labours that they shall not want successe unlesse God be pleased to deny his blessing to humble men for their sins as Hag. 1.6 otherwise the promise holds and is made good to all that in their labours serve God in sincerity Ps 128. 2. Isa 65.23 Unles God see it fit sometimes to with hold his blessing on them for some greater good to us or honour to himself Reasons 1. That God is able to give successe and by his blessing to prosper mens endeavours no man can deny 2. That it concerns him in point of honour to prosper that which he commands is as clear as theformer 3. It is needful to be so lest other wise men should be discouraged in his service if they should labour therein without bringing any thing to effect Let it encourage all men in the services which God Commands wherein they are sure not to labour in vaine but either to effect what they undertake 2. Or to attain something that shall be better for them 3. And to have the reward of their endeavours from God Isa 49.5 so they undertake things 1. In obedience to Gods Command 2. To a right end for his glory and the good of others 3. And depend upon Gods blessing and not on their ownlabours for successe After the injunction of painful labour follows the duration of it for terme of his life containing withal the sentence of God concerning mans dissolution by death with the equity thereof In this sentence take notice 1. Of the moderation thereof in respect of the curse threatened 2. Of the mitigation thereof 1. In the time Adam shall die though not that day 2. In the kinde of death it shall be temporal but not eternal though both were included in the Sanction Whence 4 OBSERVE Gods Sanctions are certain as well of judgement as of mercy Observe 4 NOt only unto the wicked Gen. 4.12 Eccl. 8.12 13. but unto the godly too 2 Sam. 12.14 18. but with this difference 1. That their judgments are only outward and temporary whereas wicked mens judgements are spiritual and eternal 2. And those judgements are laid on them not as a part of their debt for sin which Christ hath satisfied to the full 3. And are sanctified to them so that they work together to their good Reason 1. Both the threats of judgement as well as the Promises of mercy are founded on the same grounds of Gods Truth and Immutability and Power 2. And have the same scope the honouring of God in the manifestation as well of his justice as of his mercy giving to every man according to his deeds see Psal 58.11 Isa 59.18 19. 1. Learne to tremble at Gods judgements Ps 119.120 as well as to hope in his mercy yea even the godly who though they are freed from the everlasting curse by the death of Christ yet are liable to such chastisements Psal 89.31 32. as may make their hearts ake Psal 143.4 2. Let it appale the hearts of all wicked men that notwithstanding all Gods threatenings go on desperately in their sins Deut. 29.19 who as they dishonour God in the highest degree either denying his Power Holinesse and Providence Psal 94.7 and his truth or imagining him to be like unto themselves Psal 50.21 so they bring upon themselves the wrath of God to the uttermost to their everlasting destruction Deut. 29.20 Psal 50.21 If we consider this sentence of Gods decreeing mans dissolution and the turning of his body into dust in particular we may 5. OBSERVE Though God hath freed his children from eternal death yet he hath left them as well as others under the sentence of temporal death Observe 5 DEath by sinne passed upon all men Rom. 5.12 Heb. 9.27 from which though Henoch was exempted Heb. 11.5 and Elijah 2 Kings 2.11 as shall be such as are found living when Christ shall come to judgement 1 Cor. 15.51 1 Thes 4.17 yet upon the rest as well godly as wicked this sentence takes hold as all experience shewes Reason 1. That by it they might be put in minde of sin that brought death upon them Rom. 5.12 2. They have no harme by death which is at present but a sleep wherein they rest from their labours Isa 57.2 and which severs them not from Christ 1 Thes 4.14 through whom it is sanctified to them see 1 Cor. 15.55 and is made an entrance into life Rev. 14.13 and hurts not the body which shall be raised up in glory 1 Corinth 15.42 43. Prepare for it as being 1. Most certain Eccl 9.5 2. And yet uncertain in the time and meanes of it Luke 12.20 3. And whereof men are naturally regardlesse being bewitched by the world Psal 49.11 4. And yet being of all other things that which most nearly concerns us To this end 1. Make sure of Christ whom if we have to die is gaine Philip. 1.21 2. Be alwayes doing good see Luke 12.40 42 43. knowing there is no work nor device in the grave whither we go Eccl. 9.10 3. Stand loose from the world that it may not trouble us to go out of the world 4. Let us have our conversation in heaven Phil. 3.20 and lay up our treasure there Mat. 6.20 whither by death we are translated The Lord contents not himselfe to minde Adam that he was taken out of the dust but tells him that he is dust and shall be resolved into dust Whence 6 OBSERVE Mens bodies are bast every way both in their original in their present condition and in their dissolution Observe 6 IN their Original of the dust Eccl. 3.20 earthly of the earth 1 Cor. 5.47 in their present condition no better then dust Psal 103.14 Eccl. 12.7 their food out of the earth Psal 104.14 their clothing no better and their dwelling houses of clay Job 4.19 In their dissolution turned into dust Psal 104.29 where one may say to corruption thou art my father to the worme thou art