Page images
PDF
EPUB

DEVELOPMENT OF REGENERATION.

61

eral points contained in the chapter, leaving a very large amount of its particular arcana altogether unreferred to. The object has been to place the subject in such a light, as to enable the ordinary thinker to see, at least, some general resemblance, between the literal description, and the spiritual process, through which a successive development of human principles, finally resulted in man becoming an image of the Divine.

This process we have spoken of as a development. It might have been called regeneration, and we should have adopted that term, if we had not contemplated some probable confusion by its use. Regeneration, indeed, considered in an enlarged and proper sense, is a development of all the human excellences; but then it is commonly used to express man's attainment of those graces after he had fallen, and therefore, in treating of that portion of the Scriptures, which speaks of him before that calamity had taken place, it was felt that the expression, development, would exclude that idea, and so enable us to employ the word regeneration, in its more general acceptation, when we come to consider the events by which that calamity was succeeded.

Hitherto we have considered the process, by which man was successively raised, as it were, out of a state of nothingness, as to spiritual life, into its full possession and enjoyment. The SPIRITUAL life of man is that, in which all his affections and thoughts are regulated and determined into act, by a clear understanding of the laws and rules of religious duty. In other words, man becomes SPIRITUAL, when he becomes good, by means of truth teaching him what good is. In this case, he becomes a practical reflector of the Divine wisdom, and thence he is called the image of God. This was his condition upon the sixth day.

But a seventh day is next treated of, in which a higher state is contemplated. This was a condition of CELESTIAL life, in which there is rest and peace, in consequence of the Lord having become the primary object of human love. He who loves the Lord above all things, and from that love perceives and does what is good and true, in all the descending varieties of duty, is a CELESTIAL MAN. It is a development of the highest condition of humanity on earth. To accomplish this, was the great design of all God's providential works; and the realization of it is expressed, as being the attainment of the seventh day; hence the Lord is stated to have ended his work and rested thereon; also, to have blessed and sanctified it. That the seventh day is expressive of this exalted state of

man, and thus a realization of the Divine purpose on earth respecting him, must be pretty evident to the reflecting. For God cannot be said to have "ended his work," and "rested," in any ordinary sense of those terms. The perpetuation of nature is as much a Divine work as was that of its origination; and, therefore, supposing the narration to refer to mundane things, the statement that he ended his work on the seventh day, does not agree with the truth, that he is continually working for its preservation. To this it may be indeed replied, that the statement ought to be understood, only as expressing the end of the work, by which nature was originated. But if this were granted, the difficulty is not removed; for after this, God is described to have caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, to have taken a rib out of his side and built it into a woman. The expression, therefore, will not bear such a construction. Neither can it be supposed that rest could be required, unless we venture to predicate fatigue of the Omnipotent, which will be scarcely attempted.

It is easy, then, to see, that by God ending his work, and resting on the seventh day, is a symbolic method of expressing the idea, that the Divine purpose in human development was so far completed, and thus, that the Divine love was satisfied; the rest, not being a cessation of those active providences, by which it had been brought about, but a holy satisfaction with their result.

It is admitted, that the seventh day, in this narrative, cannot mean the seventh day, in the ordinary sense of that expression, because that which is described as the six preceding days, are not days in the ordinary sense; and therefore, the seventh day, from the circumstances of man, with which it is connected, must be regarded as the emblem of some exalted state. Cruden observes, that this word seven, is used in the Scriptures as a number of perfection, and that in the sacred books and religion of the Jews, a great number of events and mysterious circumstances are set forth by it. (Concordance, Art. Seven.) It may be useful to cite an instance or two, in which it is employed, without any reference to its numeral import. Thus Isaiah, speaking of the future glory of the church, says, "In that day, seven women shall take hold of one man;" (Isaiah iv. 1;) where, by seven women, are denoted an exalted state of the affections, and by their taking hold of one man, is signified their attachment to, and acknowledgment of the Lord, as that one Divine Being, whom the prophet beheld as 66 one man." (Daniel x. 5. Marginal reading.) Again, it is written,

HOW THE SABBATH IS HOLY?

63

"She, that hath borne seven, languisheth;" (Jeremiah xv. 9;) to signify that the church, in which sanctified affection had been conspicuous, was now declining. The Lamb, which was beheld in the midst of the throne, is said to have "had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God:" (Rev. v. 6:) to denote the perfection of power and wisdom, by which the Lord is distinguished: and thus it is evident, that the number seven, is used to denote completeness and perfection.

The seventh day was afterwards called the sabbath, which word means rest, in the original tongue: it also includes the idea of peace. The rest and peace, which God is said to have had, on the sabbath day, signify that merciful repose and heavenly tranquillity, which are experienced on the part of man, when he rests in the delights of superior wisdom, and enjoys the peace of exalted virtue; they are plainly the Divine rest and peace within him, and they are predicated of God, to indicate that their existence in man is from him.

Almost every one has some idea, more or less distinct, of the number seven denoting something that is holy. This may have originated in the circumstance of the sabbath being the seventh day; nevertheless, it cannot be the holiness of the day; for what distinction, in that respect, can exist among the seven? Therefore, it must be some presumed states of holiness in man, specially exhibited on this day, which is the ground of this idea. Holiness, indeed, belongeth to the Lord alone, and therefore, He is the essential Sabbath; (Mark ii. 28;) consequently, man, so far as he is receptive of holiness from him, may also be considered as a sabbath, by virtue of that excellence.

It is on account of this signification of the seventh or sabbath day, that under the representative economy, it was commanded, that no work should be done thereon. They, who attain the celestial state, are not, like the spiritual man, to be engaged in the labor, which attends the learning of spiritual truths and duty by an external way; because, possessing the love of God above all things, which is the highest sentiment of humanity, they will at once perceive what is wise and good, from an internal dictate. Thus the law, which is prohibitory in the letter, declares a blessing in its spirit and the prohibition was delivered, in order to provide a means conducive to the blessing.

Under the same significant dispensation, there was a law, declaring that the transgressor of the sabbath should be put to death.

(Exodus xxxv. 2.) This, indeed, appears a fierce and sanguinary enactment, nor was its letter ever designed for perpetual obligation. It was written for the sake of representing, and so revealing, a spiritual truth, which every one may see to be rational in its nature and continually in force. The sabbath, in the highest sense, is the Lord himself, because He is himself that essential rest and peace, which the word expresses to violate the sabbath, in this sense, is to reject the Lord, by sinning against him, and thereby to incur the penalty of spiritual death.

Hence, then, it is evident that the seventh day, in the subject before us, is mentioned to express the holiness of man, on his attainment of the celestial state. And thus we learn, that the second chapter of Genesis is designed to treat of man, under an aspect superior to that in which he is spoken of in the first. It was seen, that the divine proposition was to create man in his own image and likeness, but that it was the image only which was then effected the production of the likeness was to be a subsequent work, and this is distinctly declared to have been accomplished. (Gen. v. 1.) It came into existence with man's sabbatical state. He was an "image," in his spiritual degree of life, because he was good from the teachings of wisdom: but he was a "likeness," in his celestial degree of life, because he was good from the impulses of love.

The first chapter of Genesis treats of the creation of the image, or spiritual state; the second chapter describes the creation of the likeness, or celestial state. And this at once accounts for the circumstance, of there being two descriptions of the creation, marked by somewhat different and distinctive features. Each treats of its own subject: and therefore, we may observe even a difference of terms applied to both man and God. The Supreme Being, in respect to the spiritual man, is called by the single name God, but in reference to the celestial man, he is called Lord God. Also, man's external nature, in the former case, is denominated earth, but in the latter, it is spoken of as the ground:* and this is the man of whom it is said, "the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and he became a living soul." The living soul, here spoken of, does not specifically refer to that

*The reader is desired to verify these remarkable facts, by referring to the first chapter throughout, up to the third verse of the second, and from thence to the commencement of the fall.

+ Gen. ii. 7. "Lives," plural, is the true rendering of the original.

[blocks in formation]

internal part of man, to which his immortality belongs:* that had been communicated before, and was obviously implied in his possession of the divine image: what is here more properly meant is, that external part of him, which was now to be infilled with the living principles of heavenly life, which are, the truths of faith in the understanding and the good of love in the will. These are the lives, by which his character was now to be distinguished: they were to belong to him, and to be among the sources of his dignity and blessedness. They are proper to a high state of genuine religion; and Christianity contemplates their existence, for it is written, "that man does not live by bread only, but by every word, that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live:" (Deut. viii. 3; Matt. iv. 4:) here, by living, is not meant man's natural animus, but his religious life- -the life of love in the will, denoted by the "bread," and the life of wisdom in the understanding, denoted by the "word, that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." When the soul lives from these principles, the seventh day is attained, and a celestial man exists. A wise and amiable love is the ground of his faith and action. He possesses a holy freedom, and the ends which influence him, have all a regard to the Lord, his kingdom, and eternal life. What the Lord teaches him, he perceives to be true and beautiful, because he has made a near approximation to that intellectual eminence, which the divine instructor proposed.

CHAPTER V.

ADAM A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY. - EDEN, WITH ITS GARDEN AND EASTERN SITUATION HOW TO BE KEPT.

"What if earth

Be but the shadow of heav'n; and things therein
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought."
MILTON'S Paradise Lost. Book V. line 574--6.

THE points, in that most ancient history in the world, to the elucidation of which this and the two succeeding chapters are to be devoted, are thus described.

* It is generally allowed, that the import of the original words translated "living soul," is not the immaterial spirit of man, but the organic life of the animal frame; for the same words are rendered "creature that hath life" and "living creature," see Gen. i. 20-24. This is the opinion of Grotius, Hewlett, Dr. Pye Smith, and other eminent scholars: and thus, it very satisfactorily agrees with the spiritual idea advanced

above.

« PreviousContinue »