Aisorders of sin. Thus guilty, fallen man is recovered and restored. Thus the evils recorded in the first pages of the Bible are remedied and done away in that bright revelation of a world to come, which is opened to us in the close of it. Thus is Adam, and his renewed offspring, conducted from a terrestrial paradise, where the tree of knowledge of good and evil grew up among the trees of life, to the paradise of God, where no mixture of evil intrudes itself, where none but the trees of life find a place. And thus the several parts of divine revelation explain, illustrate, strengthen, and confirm each other; and the whole taken together, exhibiting throughout one great leading ob ject, carrying on one great design, and accomplishing, at length, the one original purpose of the ETERNAL, is gloriously perfect. ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECTURE III. And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a Nay, farther, the different parts of scripture itself, taken separately and without connexion, may seem to have less force, beauty, and importance; but when brought together, like the magnet and the steel, they immediately attract each other and unite; like the scattered bones in the valley, bone coming together to his bone, there starts up a perfect man, nay, an exceeding great army. Type meeting the thing typified, prediction squaring with event, promise tallying exactly with accomplishment, scripture acquires a solidity which bids defiance to all created force: becomes, in its own energetic language, "as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." The persons exhibited, the events recorded, the scenes described, the institutions ordained in one age and state of the world, which were the shadows of good things to come, are not only instructive and interesting in themselves, but acquire a weight and importance which they possessed not before, when viewed in their relation to Him, to whom all the prophets give witness, and whose person, character, and work, are the fulfilling of all that was written of old time. THE frame of nature, the ways of Provi- | dim and scattered fragments become both dence, and the work of redemption, mutu- legible and intelligible. ally illuminate, explain, and support each other. The invisible things of God are clearly understood by the things which are made: the world is evidently upheld and governed by him who made it at first. And the suspension of the laws of nature, and the special interpositions of Divine Providence, constitute the proof, that the gospel dispensation is from Him who has the universe under his control, to continue or to change its appearance at his pleasure; who has all hearts in his hand, and consequently, all events at his disposal. When we attempt to contemplate the providence of God, we immediately find it to be a system infinitely too vast for human capacity to take in, too complex for our penetration to unfold, too deep and mysterious for our understanding to fathom. All that we can do is to consider the detached parts of this majestic whole, as they present themselves to our senses, or to our reason; as they are transmitted to us in the history and experience of others; or as they are discovered to us by a revelation from heaven. Without the Bible, it were utterly impossible to give a tolerable account, much less one completely satisfactory, of the origin of the world, or The history of Adam ministers both pleaof the appearances of nature; of the events sure and instruction to us as men: but Chriswhich are past and are recorded, or those tians feel a peculiar interest in the perusal which are every day presenting themselves of it, by considering Adam "as the figure of to our observation. But when reason vouch-him who was to come." safes to kindle her feeble lamp with fire from the altar of God, and to supply it continually with fresh oil from the sacred stores, what was formerly dark becomes clear: what before seemed intricate and perplexed, is found to be in perfect order and harmony; and the Having, in the last Lecture, attempteu a delineation of the life of the first man, according as it is transmitted to us in the holy scriptures, we proceed, in prosecution of our plan, to institute in a few particulars, a comparison between Adam and Christ; between the federal head and representative of the human race, and the covenant head and representative of the church. But first, let us observe wherein the first man differs from, and wherein he resembles all other men, who have descended from him by ordinary generation. first man, into whose nostrils God breathed the breath of life, and who thereby became a living soul, was "the type or figure of him that was to come:"* and in many other places, in his epistles, shows us wherein the resemblance consists. Following him therefore, and the other sacred writers of the New Testament, as our guides, we observe, First, that Adam typified Christ, as being in a peculiar sense the Son of God. The evangelist Luke, in tracing the natural pedi from son to father, till he comes to the first progenitor of all, "who was," says he, "the Son of God:" that is, his immediate offspring, deriving his existence without any interposition, from the great source of being. And what saith the scripture concerning the Messiah? "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," and "when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world," he saith, "And let all the angels of God worship him."‡ First,-In the manner of his production. Other men arrive at their maturity, such as it is, by slow and insensible degrees; they make a progress through infancy, childhood, and youth, to man's estate; Adam was creat-gree of our Saviour, ascends step by step ed perfect at once; the moment he began to exist, he existed in all the dignity and strength of reason and intelligence. All other men are conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity; he came from the hands of his Creator, holy and blameless, the son of God. The mental powers of the wisest and most intelligent of mankind, his sons, are narrow and contracted; we know but a few things, and them imperfectly: the whole world of nature was an open volume to his understanding. Since the fall, men are born into the world with the seeds of decay and As the manner in which Adam was prodissolution in the constitution and frame of duced, was new and unexampled, so the contheir nature; but Adam was created incor- ception and birth of Christ were "a new ruptible, immortal. The property and power thing in the earth:" the former created of of the greatest of his posterity is cramped dust from the ground, the latter formed by and confined; limited by mountains, rivers, the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of and seas; liable to be encroached upon, dis- a virgin. But Adam, the son of God, though puted, invaded, taken away: but the domi- made in the likeness of his Creator, express nion of the first man was uncontrolled, his ed that divine image only externally, as the authority indisputable, his property univer- coin exhibits the image and impress of the sal; the beasts of the field, the birds of the sovereign: whereas Christ the Son of God air, and whatsoever passeth through the displayed "the brightness of his Father's paths of the sea, all, all were put under his glory," and bore "the express image of his feet. But Adam, fallen and lost, is just what person." Adam the son of God was produced all his hapless children are; like them a in time, on the sixth day of the creation, af slave to divers lusts and passions; like them ter all the other works of God were finished: liable to disease and death; like them a prey but Christ, the Son of God, the eternal wisto sorrow, fear, and remorse; like them a dom of the everlasting Father, thus speaks child of wrath, an heir of hell; and like them, of himself. "The Lord possessed me in the to be recovered, restored, re-established, only beginning of his way, before his works of by the mercy of God, and through the aton-old. I was set up from everlasting, from the ing blood of a Saviour; and how that Saviour was typified or held forth to the world, by the person, character, and relative connexions of Adam, is to be the subject of the remaining part of this discourse. beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth: when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: Adam, perhaps, was not himself aware, while as yet he had not made the earth, nor that he was in this respect fulfilling the de- the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of signs of Providence. We know that many the world: when he prepared the heavens ] others exhibited striking types of the pro- was there: when he set a compass upon mised Saviour, in their persons, offices, and the face of the depth: when he established actions, without being conscious that such the clouds above: when he strengthened honourable distinction was conferred upon the fountains of the deep: when he gave them; and Moses, the inspired author of the to the sea his decree, that the waters should history of the first man, no where hints, that not pass his commandment: when he aphe considered Adam, or that Adam consider-pointed the foundations of the earth: then ed himself in this light. But to us the matter I was by him, as one brought up with him: is put beyond a doubt, by one who wrote also and I was daily his delight, and rejoicing und e inspiration of God, the great apos- always before him: rejoicing in the habita tle of the Gentiles, who informs us, that this Romans v. 14. † Psalm ii. 7. Heb. i. 6. ble part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men."* Secondly, The constitution of Adam's nature prefigured the person of Christ. In Adam, an immaterial immortal spirit was united to a material earthly body, to constitute one perfect, living man; in Christ, the human nature was united to the divine, to constitute one perfect life-giving Saviour. The one a mystery of nature, the other a mystery of grace. The one, though incomprehensible, yet certainly known by every man to be true; the other though incomprehensible, yet by every christian believed to be true. Thirdly, The paternal relation which Adam bears to all the human race, beautifully represents to us Jesus the Son of God, as the spiritual father of all them that believe. The first man, Adam, says the text, was made "a living soul," that is, the source of a natural life, to them who had it not before; the last Adam was made "a quickening spirit," that is, the giver and restorer of a spiritual and divine life, to those who, having lost it, were "dead in trespasses and sins.' The water in the conduit will rise to the level of its fountain, but can never mount higher. Thus Adam can communicate only what he was, and what he had himself; being therefore of the earth, earthly, he could only propagate an earthly existence; but the second man, being the Lord from heaven, can, and does, make his spiritual offspring "partakers of a divine nature." As every man, upon coming into the world of nature, the instant he draws the breath of life, bears the image of the first man whom God created; 80 from Jesus Christ, progenitor of them who believe, all who are regenerated, or born into the world of grace, derive their spiritual existence, and bear the image of him, from whom the whole family of heaven and earth is named. But Adam is the remote, not the immediate father of our flesh: whereas Christ is the immediate source of spiritual light and life to all those "who are born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."+ Fourthly,-Adam and Christ bear a striking resemblance in respect of dominion and sovereignty. When God had created man, "he blessed him, and said unto him, Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." "Thou hast made him," says the Psalmist, "a little lower than the angels; and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through ↑ John i. 13. Prov. viii. 22-31. the paths of the seas." "And Christ the Lord. even in the days of his flesh, while he yet dwelt among men, not only possessed but exercised an unlimited authority over the whole world of nature, over things visible, and things invisible. The prince of the power of the air fled at his command: the boisterous elements heard and obeyed his word: disease, and death, and the grave fulfilled his pleasure. How much more justly, after his resurrection from the dead, when "declared the Son of God with power," could he say of himself, "all power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth?" and the Apostle also, concerning him, "God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour. "And he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet." The sovereignty of Adam, however, was derived, dependent, limited, and might be forfeited: and his history, and our own experience feelingly assure us, "that, being in honour he continued not;" that the crown is fallen from his head, and the sceptre dropt from his hand. His derived authority was withdrawn by him who bestowed it; his dependent power was checked and curbed, because he had abused it; his limited empire was reduced to nothing, because he presumed to affect equality with his Creator; and having received dominion under a condition, failing in the condition, he forfeits his throne. But the sovereignty of Christ is inherent, independent, unlimited, and everlasting. "Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom;" and the Son himself saith, "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Again, the sacred and pure matrimonial union established in paradise between Adanı and Eve, was intended to prefigure the mysterious union, the pure and reciprocal affec tion of Christ and his church: in which also we follow the Apostle of the Gentiles in his epistle to the Ephesians, "for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject | adulterous generation, but preserved unspotto Christ, so let the wives be to their own ted innocence; "he did no sin, neither was husbands in every thing. Husbands, love guile found in his lips." Adam by one offence your wives, even as Christ also loved the became guilty of the whole law, poured conchurch, and gave himself for it; that he tempt upon it, and transmitted his crime, might sanctify and cleanse it, with the wash- together with the punishment of it, to all ing of water by the word; that he might pre- mankind: Christ, by a complete obedience, sent it to himself a glorious church, not hav-"magnified the law, and made it honouring spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish. We are members of his body; of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause, shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church." able," approved himself unto God, and conveys the merit of his obedience and sufferings to all them that believe, for their justification and acceptance. Adam, aspiring to a condition superior to that in which his Maker placed him, not only failed to obtain what he aimed at, but also lost what he had; desiring to be as God, to know good and evil, he acFinally, The whole tenor of scripture quired indeed the fatal knowledge of evil, teaches us to consider Adam, the first of men, but lost the knowledge of good which he alas the covenant head and representative of ready possessed; and sinking himself, drags all his posterity, according to the order and down a devoted world with him: whereas course of nature; and Jesus Christ the Lord, Christ, for the voluntary abasement of himas the federal head and representative of all self, is exalted to "the right hand of the his redeemed, according to the election of Majesty on high," "for the suffering of death, grace. "For since by man came death, by is crowned with glory and honour," and man came also the resurrection of the dead.""lifted up on the cross, draws all men unto For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ him." The moment we exist, in virtue of our shall all be made alive." 66 By one man sin relation to the first Adain, we die for an ofentered into the world, and death by sin; and fence we could not commit; so, we no sooner so death passed upon all men, for that all become united to the second Adam through have sinned." And "if by one man's offence, faith in his blood, than we become partakers death reigned by one, much more they which of a spiritual and divine nature, and heirs of receive abundance of grace, and of the gift everlasting life, in virtue of a righteousness of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, not our own. Being justified by faith, we Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offence of have peace with God, through our Lord Jeone, judgment came upon all men to con- sus Christ; and rejoice in hope of the glory demnation: even so by the righteousness of of God." In Adam, we are condemned for one, the free gift came upon all men unto one sin: in Christ we are justified for many justification of life. For as by one man's dis-offences. The history of Adam represents to obedience, many were made sinners: so by us a garden with one tree of life amidst many the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous."* But whatever admits of comparison, by bearing resemblance, must likewise admit of contrast, on account of dissimilitude: for what so like, as to be undistinguishable? What two persons are so much the same, as not to exhibit, to the least discerning eye, characteristical marks of difference? And indeed, the very particulars wherein the first and second Adam coincide, evince the infinite superiority of the one above the other, as well as those circumstances which could not possibly be in common between them. Adam was assaulted of the wicked one, by a slight temptation; yielded; and fell: Christ was tempted of the devil, by repeated, vigorous, and well-conducted attacks; resisted to the last; and overcame. Adam in paradise, became guilty, and miserable, and liable to death: Christ passed through a corrupted world, lived in the midst of a sinful and Rom. v. 17-19. 66 that were good for food, and near to one that was pregnant with death: the Revelation of Jesus Christ exhibits to us a paradise, all whose trees are of one sort; whose fruit is life-giving, whose very leaves are salutary; trees of life which know no decay, never disappoint the gatherer's hope, never feel the approach of winter. Genesis presents to our trembling, astonished sight," cherubims and a flaming sword, which turn every way to keep the way of the tree of life." The Apocalypse discloses to our delighted eyes, angels ministering to them who are the heirs of salvation; and our ravished ears hear these glad accents bursting from amidst the excellent glory, "To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." "Let him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. LECTURE IV. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh.-HEBREWS XI. 4. sense, A STATE of innocence was apparently of of communicating that natural life to others; short duration. The history of it contains for that Eve should become a mother, though but a very few particulars. To plunge the the pain and sorrow of conception and childhuman race into guilt and ruin was the work bearing were to be greatly multiplied. In only of a moment: but to restore mankind process of time she accordingly brings forth to life and happiness, employed depth of de-a son; and pain and sorrow are no more resign to contrive; length of time to mature membered, for joy that a man-child is born and unfold; and irresistible force to execute. into the world. What she thought and felt The history of the world is, in truth, the his- upon this occasion, we learn from what she tory of redemption. For all the dealings of said, and from the name she gave her newDivine Providence with men, directly or by born son. With a heart overflowing with implication immediately or remotely, point gratitude, she looks up to God, who had not out and announce a Saviour. To our first only spared and prolonged her life, but made parents, immediately upon the fall, a promise her the joyful mother of a living child; and was given, in general, indeed, but not in ob- who, in multiplying her sorrow, had much scure terms, of deliverance and recovery, by more abundantly multiplied her comfort. one who should be in a peculiar and proper Ease that succeeds anguish is doubly relished 99 "the seed of the woman.' And it is and enjoyed, Kindness from one whom we far from being unreasonable to suppose, that have offended, falls with a weight pleasingly the skins employed to cover the shame of our oppressive upon the mind. Some interpretguilty first parents, were taken from victims ers, and not without reason, suppose, that she slain by divine appointment; who by the considered the son given her, as the promised shedding of their blood were to typify the seed, who should bruise the head of the sergreat atonement, styled in scripture "the pent; and they read her self-gratulatory exLamb slain from the foundation of the world." clamation thus, "I have gotten the man from But admitting this to be merely a fanciful the Lord." And how soothing to the materconjecture, we have the authority of God nal heart must have been the hope of deliverhimself to affirm, that the immediate descendance and relief for herself, and triumph over ants of Adam offered such sacrifices, and her bitter enemy, by means of the son of her looked in faith and hope to such propitiation : own bowels! How fondly does she dream "For by faith Abel offered unto God a more of repairing the ruin which her frailty had excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he brought upon her husband and family, by this obtained witness, that he was righteous, God"first-born of many brethren!" The name testifying of his gifts, and by it he, being she gives him signifies "possessed" or a dead, yet speaketh." The history, charac-"possession." She flatters herself that she ter, and conduct of these two brothers, from has now got something she can call her own; the materials furnished us in scripture, are to be the subject of this Lecture. Adam, with the partner of his guilt and of his future fortunes, being expelled from Eden, and tumbled from all his native honours, enters on the possession of a globe, which was cursed for his sake. He feels that he is fallen, from a spiritual and divine life, from righteousness and innocence; that he has become liable to death; nay, by the very act of disobedience, that he really died to goodness and happiness. But the sentence itself which condemns him, gives him full assurance, that his natural life, though forfeited, was to be reprieved; that he should live to labour; to eat his bread with the sweat of his brow; and not only so, but that he should be the means. and even the loss of paradise seems compensated by a dearer inheritance. If there be a portion more tenderly cherished, or more highly prized than another, it is that of which David speaks,* "Lo, children are an heritage the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is als reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed; but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." But O, blind to futurity, with how many sorrows was this "possession" so exultingly triumphed in, about to pierce the fond materna breast! How unlike are the forebodings and wishes of parental tenderness and partiality, * Psalm cxxvii. 3-5. |