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DISC.

IV.

grove of Eden, that firft tabernacle or temple, planted for a place of worship as well as of abode, the whole of the religious scenery was composed of the beautiful and luxuriant productions of primeval nature, unftained with blood, when as yet there was no malediction upon the ground.

This confideration fatisfies the mind, and removes every objection made to the nature of the teft, and the wisdom of God in ap. pointing it. For if in this, as in other difpenfations, the action of eating was intended to be fymbolical of fome mental difpofition or affection, whether we can now ascertain particulars, or not, all the buffoonery of infidelity falls to the ground at once. The trial of Adam, like that of every other man, was, whether he would fo far believe in God, as to look for happinefs in obedience to the divine command; or would seek that happiness elsewhere, and apply for it to fome forbidden object, of which the Tree must have been an emblematical representation.

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IV.

You will ask, what that object was? DISC. and what information, as to the knowlege of good and evil, Adam could receive from the prohibition? By anfwering the last question, a way may, in fome measure, perhaps, be opened for an answer to the firft.

A due contemplation of the prohibition might naturally fuggeft to the mind of our firft parent the following important truths; especially if we confider (as we must and ought to confider) that to him, under the tuition of his Maker, all things neceffary were explained and made clear, how obfcure foever they may appear to us, forming a judgment of them from a very concise narrative, couched in figurative language, at this distance of time.

Looking upon the Tree of Knowlege, then, and recollecting the precept of which it was the subject, Adam might learn that God was the fovereign Lord of all things: that the dominion vefted in man over the

VOL. I.

H

crea

DISC. creatures was by no means a dominion abIV. folute and independent: that without and

befide God, there was no true and real good: that to defire any thing without and befide him, was evil: that no temporal worldly good, however fair and tempting it's appearance, was to be fixed upon by man, as the fource of his felicity that the fole rule for fhunning, or defiring things fenfible, fhould be the will and word of God; and that good and evil fhould be judged of by that standard alone: that the obedience, which God would accept, must be paid with all the powers and affections of the mind, fhewing itself careful and prompt in every the least instance: that man was not yet placed in a state of confummate and established bliss; but that fuch state was by him to be earnestly expected, and inceffantly defired; and that he must take the way to it, marked and pointed out by God himself 1.

h See VITRINGA-Obfervat. Sacr. vol. ii. lib. iv. cap. 12, from whom many of the fentiments in this Discourse are borrowed.

These

IV.

These particulars feem to flow from the DISC. prohibition in an eafy and natural train. And they lead us to answer the other queftion, namely, What was the object reprefented by the Tree of Knowlege? It was that object, on which man is prone to fet his affections, inftead of placing them on a better; it was that object, which, in every age, has been the great rival of the Almighty in the human heart; it was that object, which, in one way or other, has always been " worshipped and served " rather than the Creator;" it was the CREATURE, the WORLD; and the grand trial was, as it ever hath been, and ever will be, till the world fhall cease to exift, whether things vifible, or things invifible, fhould obtain the preference; whether man fhould walk " by fight, or by faith." To know this, was the knowlege of good and evil; and this knowlege came by the law of God, which faid, "Thou shalt not "covet1." Man's wifdom confifted in the obfervation of that law; but an enemy per

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DISC. fuaded him to feek wisdom by tranfgreffing IV. it. He did fo; and had nothing left, but

to repent of his folly: a cafe that happens, among his defcendants, every day, and every hour.

Let us, therefore, confider the Tree of Knowlege, in this light, with respect to it's nature, fituation, defign, qualities, effects, and the knowlege conferred by it.

The fruit of this Tree was, to appearance, fair and pleasant; but, when tafted, it became, by the divine appointment, the cause of death. Now, what is it, which, in the eyes of all mankind, feems equally pleafing and alluring, but the end thereof, when coveted in oppofition to the divine command, proves to be death? It is the World, with it's pleasures and it's glories, desired by it's votaries, per fas atque nefas, to the denial of God, and to their own destruction. The Scriptures proclaim this aloud, and the experience of all generations confirms their teftimony. Indeed, what is

there

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