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on the other hand, there were elements of bitterness in his cup, of which no other being can ever taste.

Such, then, was the penal sanction which admonished Adam, as in original rectitude he was invested with the domain of earth, and the sovereignty of the creatures, under allegiance to God. He is ruled by a law, which, in its exceeding simplicity is reducible to the one word, love; and, in its amazing compass, adapts itself to all cases, and all time. His obedience is enforced by the threatening of a penalty, which, simple as the law itself, in the single word, death, sums its whole significance. But in that word,-announcing the wrath of Him in whom he lived, and moved, and had his being, and in whose benignant smile he found all his happiness, he was forewarned of a ruin, infinite as the nature of God, comprehensive as the being of the victim, and enduring as that eternity, with the endowment of which his Maker had sealed his own likeness in the soul of man.

CHAPTER IX.

THE LAW A COVENANT OF LIFE.

"FŒDUS Dei cum suis, geminum numeratur in Scripturis; alterum, naturæ, cum homine adhucdum integro; alterum, gratiæ, cum corrupto. Prius illud, cujus hic agimus negotium, designari a theologis consuevit, jam fœdus legale, quod perfectam obedientiam legi, tam decalogicæ, cordi ejus inscriptæ; quam peculiari isti de non manducando fructu vetito, præstandam, pro conditione habuerit consequendi vitam æternam: jam 2. fœdus operum, quod pro imperio præscribat, absolutissimum legis obsequium, sub symbolo non manducandi fructum arboris vetitæ: jam 3. fœdus naturæ, quod non tantum legi isti exigat obedientiam, quæ maxima sui parte, hominis naturæ erat insculpta; sed etiam, quod cum universa natura humana, ex ordine generationis, etiam adhucdum futura, coierit."-VAN MASTRICHT THEOLOGIA, Lib. 3, cap. xii. 8.

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Science has amused itself with the construction of a curious box, in which, by the skilful arrangement of small mirrors, and ¿ 1. The cove- bits of various-coloured glass, beautiful figures, arnant gratuitous rayed in rainbow hues, present themselves to the from God. in ever varying forms. In it you admire some striking combination; but, as you gaze, the instrument is moved by some slight touch. Quick as thought, the image is gone, and new forms have taken its place. For days may you watch the fantastic shapes which in succession appear and then vanish forever away; and yet, among them all, never again will you recognise that which first excited your admiration. It is gone. No but yours ever rested upon it; no other will ever catch the reflection of its form.

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So might God have made this beautiful world a kaleidoscope for the admiration and instruction of angelic hosts,-in which they should have seen ever new and varying creations springing into existence, and passing away, to display the power, and wisdom, and wonderful resources of the Creator. Of all these

exhibitions of grandeur, beauty and excellence, man, the loftiest and the best, might have been called in his turn, by omnipotence, from nothing; and permitted for a few brief days to delight himself in the fresh and gladdening scenes of the new-born earth; to admire and adore the goodness and wisdom which everywhere shone; himself cast a brighter beam of divine glory over the whole; and then unconsciously vanish, to give place to some being endowed with still higher gifts, and more eminently qualified to admire and adore, as well as display and illustrate, the perfections of the Creator. Had such been the case, no right of the creature had been violated, and no attribute of the Creator tarnished.

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When Adam enjoyed those pleasurable sensations, which arose from the exercise of his bodily faculties, and the powers of his mind and soul,—as he went forth to receive the homage of the brute creation, and set upon them the seal of his sovereignty, in the names he imposed, as he assumed possession of the domain with which the Creator's goodness had endowed him, which everywhere shone resplendent with its Author's glory,— as he inhaled the fragrance of the new-blown flowers, and admired the beauty of the virgin world, basking in the warm and genial beams of the morning sun; or caught new pleasure from the brightness of the twinkling train of the evening sky, and the grandeur of their crescent queen,-it became him to burst forth in high strains of adoration, due to the glorious One, the Maker of them all; whose breath gave him life, and inspired him with those exquisite emotions of happiness;—and this, too, as much, even though the sun, which first shone on his birth, had been destined ere its decline to witness his life and being withdrawn, and NOTHING, whence he came, receive him back to her bosom of silence. Whatever he had of life or endowment was the gift of a Power, who might at any time, in unquestioned sovereignty, reclaim what he had in goodness lent; and thus far we have no assurance that man, with all his capacities, and all his gifts, will not prove fleeting as the golden drapery of the evening sky, which flings a passing splendour on the scenery of nature, then dies in the shadows of night. Had such been

the history of man, or of successive intelligences on this earth, any suggestion of complaint must have been forever silenced by the demand, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" and witnessing angels had, on each new display, attuned their harps to new themes, and cried, "Glorious are thy works, and just and holy thy ways, Lord God Almighty."

In such proceeding, God had indeed been glorified; but where, then, had been the bright hopes of immortality which he has deigned to confer on our race? How, then, had been unfolded the crowning glory of God, which is now displayed in the economy of grace to apostate man, ransomed from hell by the blood of the second Adam,-"God manifest in the flesh"? Ye angel choir, prepare new anthems of nobler praise; not to extol creating wisdom and power, but to celebrate redeeming love! Ye sons of Adam, lift up your voices, and magnify the grace which formed the plan, and gave the Son, a ransom for the sins of men!

Of that scheme, the covenant of life with Adam was the first element. In it, we view a feature of God's dealings with him, which presents the parties in an entirely new aspect, their position toward each other altogether transformed. God here stoops from his throne, to enter into covenant bonds with man; and our first parents rise, from the attitude of mere creature dependence, heretofore contemplated, to the dignity of parties confederate with God; and acquire from him a covenant property in life and happiness, in the sustaining power and beneficence of their Maker. The covenant between God and man presents itself in two forms:-the one, native, and the other, positive. Here, it will first be viewed in the former aspect. The effect of the positive constitution of it will afterward be considered. As there are some who deny that any covenant transaction took place between God and Adam, we shall first inquire into the facts; and shall then be prepared to determine whether they come under the definition of a covenant.

The Mosaic narrative states that the Lord God planted a garden, eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. "And out of the ground made the Lord God

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? 2. The promise and its seals.

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to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden, to water the garden." the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."-Gen. ii. 10, 16, 17. Here are four things bearing directly on the matter before us :-The garden; the river; the tree of life, and privilege respecting it; and the tree of knowledge, and prohibition concerning it.

1. The garden was a type of heaven, as a world of security and perfect blessedness and beauty. That this is so, needs but little argument. It is described as planted by God himself, and enclosed so as to be accessible only at the gate; it was watered by a river flowing through it; contained in its midst the tree of life; man, created outside, was brought into it; and upon his sin, he was excluded from it, although it was not destroyed, but placed under cherubic guard. By the Hebrews it was always regarded as a type of heaven, which they hence called paradise, from the Greek (napádɛ005) paradeisos, a garden. This opinion was recognised and sanctioned by our Saviour, when he, the second Adam, on the cross, expiating the sin of the first, and reopening the way to a forfeited heaven, assures the thief, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."-Luke xxiii. 43. So Paul says of himself, "I knew a man third heaven,. . . into paradise.”—2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. Again, with caught up to the still more emphatic reference to the garden of Eden, the Son of God writes, by John, to the church of Ephesus, "To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."-Rev. ii. 7. In the last chapter of the Revelation we have a vision of that paradise, no longer a solitary garden, the abode of a single pair, but grown into a city, whose maker and builder is God, and filled with the innumerable company of the redeemed. But still the tree of life flourishes in the streets, in eternal verdure and fruitfulness,

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