5. Man had a life of pure delight, and unalloyed pleasure, in this state. Rivers of pure pleasure ran through it. The earth, with the product thereof, was now in its glory; nothing had yet come in to mar the beauty of the creatures. God placed him, not in a common place of the earth; but in Eden, a place eminent for pleasantness, as the name of it imports; nay, not only in Eden, but in the garden of Eden; the most pleasant spot of that pleasant place; a garden planted by God himself, to be the mansion-house of this his favourite. When God made the other living creatures, he said, "Let the water bring forth the moving creature," Gen. i. 29, and, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature," verse 24. But when man was to be made, he said; "Let us make man,' verse 18. So, when the rest of the earth was to be furnished with herbs and trees, God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, and the fruittree," &c. verse 11. But of paradise it is said, "God planted it." Gen. ii. 8, which cannot but denote a singular excellence in that garden, beyond all other parts of the then beautiful earth. He was provided with every thing necessary and delightful; for there was every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food," verse 9. He knew not those delights which luxury has invented for the gratification of lust: but his delights were such as came out of the hand of God; without passing through sinful hands, which always leave marks of impurity on what they touch. So his delights were pure, his pleasures refined. Yet may I show you a more excellent way wisdom had entered into his heart; surely then knowledge was pleasant unto his soul. What delight do some find in their discoveries of the works of nature, by those scraps of knowledge they have gathered! but how much more exquisite pleasure had Adam, while his piercing eyes read the book of God's works, which God laid before him, to the end he might glorify him in the same; and therefore had certainly fitted him for the work! But, above all, his knowledge of God, and that as his God, and the communion which he had with him, could not but afford him the most refined and exquisite pleasure in the innermost recesses of his heart. Great is that delight which the saints find in those views of the glory of God, which their souls are sometimes let into, while they are compassed about with many infirmities: and much may well be allowed to sinless Adam; who no doubt had a peculiar relish of those pleasures.

6. He was immortal. He would never have died if he had not sinned; it was in case of sin that death was threatened, Gen. ii. 17, which shews it to be the consequence of sin, and not of the sinless human nature. The perfect constitution of his body, which

came out of God's hand very good, and the righteousness and holiness of his soul, removed all inward causes of death; nothing being prepared for the grave's devouring mouth, but the vile body, Phil. iii. 21, and those who have sinned, Job xxiv. 19. And God's special care of his innocent creature, secured him against outward violence. The apostle's testimony is express, Rom. v. 12," By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Behold the door by which death came in! Satan wrought with his lies till he got it opened, and so death entered; therefore is he said to have been "a murderer from the beginning," John viii. 44.

Thus have I shown you the holiness and happiness of men in this state. If any should say, What is all this to us, who never tasted of that holy and happy state ?-they must know, it nearly concerns us, as Adam was the root of all mankind, our common head and representative; who received from God our inheritance and stock, to keep it for himself and his children, and to convey it to them. The Lord put all mankind's stock, as it were, in one ship; and, as we ourselves would have done, he made our common father the pilot. He put a blessing in the root, to have been, if rightly managed diffused into all the branches. According to our text, making Adam upright, he made man upright; and all mankind had that uprightness in him; for, "if the root be holy, so are the branches." But more of this afterwards. Had Adam stood, none would have quarrelled with the representation.

III. The Doctrine of the State of Innocence applied.

USE I. For information. This shews us, 1. That not God, but man himself was the cause of his ruin. God made him upright; his Creator set him up, but he threw himself down. Was the Lord's directing and inclining him to good, the reason of his woful choice? or did heaven deal so sparingly with him, that his pressing wants sent him to hell to seek supply? Nay, man was, and is, the cause of his own ruin. 2. God may most justly require of men perfect obedience to his law, and condemn them for their not obeying it perfectly, though now they have no ability to keep it. In so doing, he gathers but where he has sown. He gave man ability to keep the whole law; man has lost it by his own fault; but his sin could never take away that right which God hath to exact perfect obedience of his creature, and to punish in case of disobedience. 3. Behold here the infinite obligation we lie under to Jesus Christ the second Adam, who, with his own precious blood has bought our freedom, and freely makes offer of it again to us, Hos. xiii. 9, and that with the advantage of everlasting security, and that it can

never be altogether lost any more, John x. 28, 29. Free grace will fix those, whom free will shook down into the gulph of misery.

USE II. This conveys a reproof to three sorts of persons: 1. To those who hate religion in the power of it, wherever it appears; and can take pleasure in nothing but in the world and in their lusts. Surely such men are far from righteousness: they are haters of God, Rom. i. 30, for they are haters of his image. Upright Adam in paradise would have been a great eyesore to all such persons; as he was to the serpent, whose seed they prove themselves to be, by their malignity. 2. It reproves those who put religion to shame, and those who are ashamed of religion, before a graceless world. There is a generation, who make so bold with the God who made them, and can in a moment crush them, that they ridicule piety, and make a mock of seriousness. "Against whom do you sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue?" Isaiah lvii. 4. Is it not against God himself, whose image, in some measure restored to some of his creatures, makes them fools in your eyes? But, "be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong," Isa. xxviii. 22. Holiness was the glory which God put on man when he made him; but now the sons of men turn that glory into shame, because they themselves glory in their shame. There are others that secretly approve of religion, and in religious company will profess it, who, at other times, to be neighbour-like, are ashamed to own it; so weak are they, that they are blown over with the wind of the wicked's mouth. A broad laughter, an impious jest, a scoffing jeer, out of a profane mouth, is to many an unanswerable argument against religion and seriousness; for, in the cause of religion, they are as silly doves without heart. O that such would consider that weighty sentence," Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels," Mark viii. 38. 3. It reproves the proud self-conceited professor, who admires himself in a garment of rags which he has patched together. There are many who, when once they have gathered some scraps of knowledge of religion, and have attained to some reformation of life, swell big with conceit of themselves; a sad sign that the effects of the fall lie so heavy upon them that they have not as yet come to themselves, Luke xv. 17. They have eyes behind, to see their attainments; but no eyes within, no eyes before, to see their wants, which would surely humble them for true knowledge makes men to see, both what once they were, and what they are at present; and so is humbling, and

will not suffer them to be content with any measure of grace attained; but inclines them to press forward, "forgetting the things that are behind," Phil. iii. 13. But those men are such a spectacle of commiseration, as one would be who had set his palace on fire, and was glorying in a cottage which he had built for himself out of the rubbish, though so very weak, that it could not stand against a

storm.

USE III. Of lamentation. Here was a stately building; man carved like a fair palace, but now lying in ashes: let us stand and look on the ruins, and drop a tear. This is a lamentation, and shall be for lamentation. Could we avoid weeping, if we saw our country ruined, and turned by the enemy into a wilderness? if we saw our houses on fire, and our property perishing in the flames? But all this comes far short of the dismal sight; Man fallen as a star from heaven; Ah, may we not now say, "O that we were as in months past!" when there was no stain in our nature, no cloud on our minds, no pollution in our hearts! Had we never been in better case, the matter had been less; but they that were brought up in scarlet, do now embrace dunghills. Where is our primitive glory now? once no darkness in the mind, no rebellion in the will no disorder in the affections. But ah! "How is the faithful city become an harlot !-Righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Our silver is become dross, our wine mixed with water." That heart which was once the temple of God, is now turned into a den of thieves. Let our name be Ichabod, for the glory is departed. Happy wast thou, O man! who was like unto thee? no pain nor sickness could affect thee, no death could approach thee, no sigh was heard from thee, till these bitter fruits were plucked from the forbidden tree. Heaven shone upon thee, and earth smiled: thou wast the companion of angels, and the envy of devils. But how low is he now laid, who was created for dominion, and made lord of the world! "The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us that we have sinned." The creatures that waited to do him service, are now, since the fall, set in battle-array against him, and the least of them, having commission, proves too hard for him. Waters overflow the old world; fire consumes Sodom; the stars in their courses fight against Sisera; frogs, flies, lice, &c. become executioners to Pharaoh and his Egyptians; worms eat up Herod: yea, man needs a league with the beasts; yea, with the very stones of the field, Job v. 23, having reason to fear, that every one who findeth him will slay him. Alas! how are we fallen! how are we plunged into a gulf of misery! The sun has gone down on us, death has come in at our windows; our enemies have put out our two eyes, and sport themselves with

our miseries.

Let us then lie down in the dust, let shame and confusion cover us. Nevertheless, there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Come then, O sinner, look to Jesus Christ, the second Adam: quit the first Adam and his covenant; come over to the Mediator and Surety of the new and better covenant; and let your hearts say, "Be thou our ruler, and let this breach be under thy hand." Let your "eye trickle down, and cease not, without any intermission, till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven," Lam. iii. 49, 50.