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DISC. If there was at the beginning this familiar intercourfe between Jehovah and Adam, and he vouchfafed to converse with him as he afterwards did with Mofes, "as "a man converfeth with his friend," there can be no reasonable doubt, but that he inftructed him, as far as was neceffary, in the knowlege of his Maker, of his own spiritual and immortal part, of the adversary he had to encounter, of the confequences to which disobedience would subject him, and of thofe invifible glories, a participation of which was to be the reward of his obedience.

When God, in after times, felected a peculiar people to be his church and heritage, to receive the law from his mouth, and to be the guardians of his promifes, he "chofe one place to place his name "there;" to be the place of his refidence, where he appeared and was confulted. He gave directions for the construction of a temple, or house, in a particular manner appropriated to him, and called his; which though

II.

though compofed of worldly elements, was DISC. fo framed as to exhibit an apt resemblance, model, or pattern of heavenly things; to serve as a school for inftruction, as a fanctuary for devotion. Might not the Garden. of Eden be a kind of temple, or fanctuary, to Adam; a place chofen for the refidence and appearance of God; a place defigned to represent and give him ideas of heavenly things; a place facred to contemplation and devotion? Something of this fort seems to be intimated by the account we have of the garden in the fecond chapter of Genefis, and to be confirmed by the references and allufions to it, in other parts of the Scriptures.

With this view we may obferve, that though Paradife was created with the rest of the world; yet we are informed, the hand of God was in a more especial manner employed in preparing this place for the habitation of man. "The Lord God

planted a Garden eastward in Eden. And "out of the ground the Lord God made

DISC." to grow every tree that is pleasant to the

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fight, and good for food. And a river "went out of Eden, to water the Garden; "and from thence it was parted, and be"came into four heads." Thus the great architect of the univerfe, he who, in the language of the apostle, "built all things," is defcribed as felecting, difpofing, and adorning this wonderful and happy fpot, wherein was to be placed the creature made after his own image and likeness, but a little lower than the angels. Does not this circumftance fuggeft to us, that fomething more was intended, than what generally enters into our idea of a Garden?

Whenever the Garden of Eden is mentioned in the scriptures, it is called “the "Garden of God," or "the Garden of

the Lord;" expreffions which denote fome peculiar defignation of it to facred purposes, fome appropriation to God and his fervice, as is confeffedly the cafe with many fimilar phrafes; fuch as " house of

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God, altar of God, man of God," and

the

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the like; all implying, that the perfons DISC. and things fpoken of were confecrated to him, and fet apart for a religious use.

When it is faid, "The Lord God took "the man, and put him into the Garden of "Eden, to DRESS it, and to KEEP it," the words undoubtedly direct us to conceive of it, as a place for the exercise of the body. We readily acquiefce in this, as the truth, but not as the whole truth; it being difficult to imagine, that fo noble a creature, the lord of the world, fhould have no other, or higher employment. Much more fatisfaction will be found in fuppofing, that our first parents, while thus employed, like the priests under the law, while they miniftered in the temple, were led to contemplations of a more exalted nature," ferving to the example and fha"dow of heavenly things." The powers of the body and the faculties of the mind might be fet to work at the same time, by the fame objects. And it is well known, that the words here ufed", do as frequent

.שמר and עבד m

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DISC. ly denote mental as corporeal operations; and under the ideas of DRESSING and KEEPING the facred Garden, may fairly imply the CULTIVATION and OBSERVATION of fuch religious truths as were pointed out by the external figns and facraments which Paradise contained.

That fome of the objects in Eden were of a facramental nature, we can hardly doubt, when we read of "the tree of

knowlege," and "the tree of life." The fruit of a material tree could not, by any virtue inherent in it, convey "the knowlege "of good and evil," or cause that, by eating it, a man fhould " live for ever." But fuch fruit might be ordained as a facrament, upon the participation of which, certain fpiritual effects should follow. This is entirely conformable to reafon, to the nature of man, and of religion.

It is remarkable, that, in the earliest ages, a custom should be found to prevail, both among the people of God, and idolaters,

of