Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A66604
|
A discourse of the Resurrection shewing the import and certainty of it / by William Wilson.
|
Wilson, William, Rector of Morley.
|
1694
(1694)
|
Wing W2954; ESTC R24575
|
126,012
|
256
|
adjudg'd to Immortality but that Life and Death were set before him to be the Rewards of his doings Whether Immortality was a natural Privilege of innocent Man and the Mortality that we are now subject to was a natural Effect of his Eating the forbidden fruit or no i.e. Whether his Body which was made out of the Dust was naturally subject to those decays which at last turn ours into Dust again Or whether it was so built that no Time or Age could possibly have impair'd it if he had not eaten of a fruit that tainted his Vitals is a question that we need not much trouble our selves about For what-ever we believe in this case yet it is certain that Mortality and Death even according to this nice Speculation came upon him and us by his transgressing the Law that upon pain of Death forbad him to eat of such a Tree Those who suppose he was made Immortal i.e. That Immortality was conferr'd upon him in his very Creation do understand no more by the Command not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge but only a Caution to avoid a fruit that would kill him of it self Now as to this matter it may seem reasonable enough to believe that a Body that was not created Corruptible as Adam's was not would not have dissolved to Dust again as ours do if he had not corrupted it by sin For though his Body was made of the same matter as ours are yet it was in a far more perfect state In us the Appetites of the Body are broken loose and grown extravagant and the Principles of our Constitution are not so equally pois'd at to prevent those decays and languishings which at last issue in Death The rage of our Appetites often destroy us by being the occasion of Intemperance and Excesses in Eating and Drinking and bodily Pleasures And the predominancy of some of those Humours that belong to our Bodies is the occasion of Diseases in us and a natural reason why we die But while Man was innocent though he did stand in need of Meat and Drink to nourish and sustain his Body yet his Food was wholsome and his Appetites so temperate that he was in no danger of dying either through the illness of his Body or by an extravagant Excess And since the several Humours of his Body were at peace the good and sound Constitution of Body with which he was created did exempt him from those decays and infirmities that let Death in upon us He was 't is true made out of the Dust as we are and needed the supports of Meat and Drink as we do And on that account it is plain that he was not Immortal but that there was one way at least that it was possible for him to die though not so many as do destroy us Hunger and a want of food would certainly have kill'd him as well as it will us or else there needed not such a provision of food have been made for him in Eden But yet as he was so well provided for that there was no danger of his dying this way So his Body though formed out of the Dust was so well built that Age and Infirmity would have made no Impressions upon it And besides we are to consider that the Ground being not under a Curse as it is now his Body could naturally be no more subject to Vanity than the Earth out of which he was made For why may we not suppose that the Earth was not then what it is now as it is suited to the Condition of our Mortal sinfull state no more than it will be the same it is now when we come out of our Graves to live in that New World that will be prepared for us when we have shook off our Corruption And as the Renovation of our Bodies does require that there should be New Heavens and a New Earth for us to live in So the Earth in which innocent Man lived was such as was proper for him to inhabit It was not surely such as now it is since a Curse has come upon it for the sake of Man i.e. Even out of Charity to Man that he who is under a Curse might have a proper Habitation to live in And when the Earth out of which Adam was taken was not subject to the Bondage of Corruption under which it now groans his Body though framed out of the Dust was not for that reason to resolve into Dust again But though he was not naturally Mortal neither was he naturally Immortal For a Creature that is made Immortal does not stand in need of Meat and Drink that he may live neither could it have been in the power of the forbidden fruit to have kill'd an Immortal Creature because what-ever is naturally Immortal cannot die And therefore is not in danger of being hurt by Poyson or the Sword or any other Instrument of Death So that it is not good sense to say He was naturally Immortal and yet that the Fruit he was forbidden to Eat of could naturally kill him For what can kill that which cannot die And besides Why was the Tree of Life planted in the Garden if Adam was created Immortal It was not surely for show only but for use as all the other Trees even that of Knowledge undoubtedly were For though there was good Reason to prohibit a Tree of Knowledge to a Creature that was by his own industry and endeavour to improve himself in Knowledge and Vertue yet perhaps he was at last to have been allowed the liberty of Eating that Fruit as the Reward of his Labour and for the highest improvement of his knowing Faculty if by Care and Diligence he applied himself to that which was his great Duty and Business It is not to be thought surely that God planted the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden merely for the hurt of his Creature or to become a Temptation to him to ruine himself but rather for his good had he waited the time that God in his Wisdom had appointed to reward him with that fruit whereby all his further search after Knowledge should have been ended by having this Wisdom and Knowledge he by his own Industry had acquired secured and perfected But when by a hasty step he endeavour'd to gratifie his Appetite of Knowledge by becoming like unto God knowing Good and Evil at once without any labour of his own his Appetite became vicious and his Attempt was such a Breach of the Order and a Transgression of the Method that God had appointed him that he denied him the benefit of the Tree of Life and condemn'd him to a Mortal condition And therefore the subtil Serpent when he tempted Eve to Eat of this Fruit spoke a Truth when he told her God does know that in the day you eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Gen. 3.5 He knew the vertue that was in this Tree and therefore it is said
that when they had eaten their Eyes were opened v. 7. But the mischief of the Temptation lay in this That they were prevailed upon to Eat of it before their time before they were prepared and qualified for it or fitted for so great a Benefit as was designed them in it And therefore it was that God turned them out of the Garden lest they should Eat likewise of the Tree of Life and live for ever i.e. Lest they should make themselves Immortal when by setting their Appetites at liberty they had made their improvements in Vertue more difficult than they would have been and when in the Condition they were in Immortality would have been no Blessing For I don't suppose that the Tree of Life was planted in Eden to repair the decays of a mortal Body but that by Eating of it they might be made Immortal when by a course in Vertue and Piety they were become fit for a Translation to that place where they should no more need Meat or Drink to support their Lives And therefore St. John tells us that in the New Jerusalem that glorious City we shall after the Resurrection dwell in for ever There is the Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the Healing of the Nations Rev. 22.2 i.e. Whose Fruit shall make us Immortal as the Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise should have made Adam had he not disobey'd the Divine Command The Sum of all is this Adam was created in so sound and healthfull a State that Age and Infirmities could not Naturally have prevail'd over him But as he was not Naturally subject to Death so neither was he Created in an Immortal Condition But Life and Death were set before him and as he was a Probationer for Immortality so God having created him Innocent left it to his own choice whether he would live or die i.e. Whether by Obeying he would procure to himself when the time of his Tryal was over a grant to Eat of the Trees of Knowledge and of Life or whether by disobeying God he would be debarr'd of this privilege and instead of being translated to a state where he should live without Food as the Angels do be doom'd to a Life of Sorrow and Labour So that as Mortality was the Judgment that came upon him for his Sin so Immortality was the gift God would have bestow'd on him for his Obedience had he improved himself for it This then being that perfection of Life that God when he made Man innocent design'd him for The Resurrection 't is plain is design'd to restore us to that way of living that God in our Creation fitted us for For although Man was not created Immortal yet it is plain he was created for an Immortal Life because God put an Immortal Principle into these Bodies of Clay which now are Mortal For why should he unite two such Principles together and make it Natural for an Immortal Soul to live in a Body if he did not design they should live always together And if this was the way of living that Man was intended for in his Creation the Life that the Resurrection is designed to give us is the same Immortal Life that we were Created for For he that over-cometh i.e. maketh those Improvements in Vertue as Adam should have done shall after he is risen again for the confirming of Life to him eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 i.e. We shall be made Immortal as Adam should have been The Life we now live which is subject to Diseases and Death is not the Life that God gave us but the sorry Remains of that Life which he appointed us to It is only so much as has been left us But at the Resurrection we shall begin to live like Men. For then our Immortal Souls shall be united to Immortal Bodies And the Life we should have lived if we had never sinned will then Commence when Corruption and Mortality which are the Punishments of Sin shall be changed into Incorruption and Immortality which are the glorious Privileges of the Sons of God 3. We shall then be freed from the Reproach of Mortality and Corruption The Reproach I call it for there can be no greater Reproach to a Creature that was made for Immortality than to die And especially when we consider that Death is the Punishment of Sin and that we die for our Disobedience to our Creator and Soveraign Lord. In this case Death puts us to open shame in the sight of all the World We seem to have a Natural sense of the fault that is the occasion of it when we lament the Funerals of our Friends and Relations And the natural dread and horror of Death that is in all Men does express a mighty Regret that such a thing as Mortality and Corruption should belong to us who have an Immortal Principle within us We go out of the World like Criminals and can any thing grate more upon an ingenuous Mind than to think we die because we are under an offence and we condemned to die And had not our gracious Redeemer born our Shame for us and appeas'd the Wrath that is come upon us and made it a more easie thing to enter upon another state with what shame and horror with what confusion and disorder can we imagine that our Souls would have crept out of these Bodies For in this case they would have been dragg'd like Apprehended Malefactors to that separate state whither they go when they leave the Body as to a Gaol over which the Devil has the power For according to St. Paul's Expression he has the power of Death Heb. 2.14 i.e. Death would have deliver'd our Souls into his hands as a condemn'd Criminal is put into the hands of an Executioner They would have been consigned over to him who has the power over that State whither Death sends us And oh with what Vexation and Anguish would they have been tormented to think that all this was come upon them by the just Judgment of God! Think with how much shame a Man that was born to a plentifull Estate appears among Men or is haled to a Prison when by his Folly he has reduced himself to Beggary and Rags and the common Reproach of all that knew him is See the Man that has undone himself by his Extravagancies And how much more grievous would it have been to us had not Christ by dying and rising again taken away our Reproach to have been pointed at by Angels when we had gone into the other World without the Bodies that by the Law of our Creation we were appointed to live in and when we had fall'n under the Power and Dominion of Evil Spirits to have had it said of us That we were the Spirits of Men and had brought our selves into that Condition by our own Folly and want of Consideration But Christ by Death has destroyed him that had the power of Death