Body of Divinity, Book 3 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. 2. Of MAN.
VVHen God had created Heaven and Earth, he rested not in Heaven nor any heavenly thing: neither in Earth, nor any earthly thing, but only in man, aVocabulum homo est duarum substantiarum fibula. Tertullian. Man was made last, because he was worthiest, the soul was inspired last, because yet more noble. Dr Halls Contempl. of Paradise. Man was created after Gods Image. 1. To awe the creature, whose Soveraign he was. 2. That he might acknowledge God to be his Lord, and do him homage, and that God and he might delight in each other: Ad imaginem ac similitudinem, id est, imaginem valdè similem. Eman. Sa ad loc. Significatur absoluta similitudo utraque voce, qua quid sit ita effectum ad exemplar alterius, ut proximè ad illud accedat, & quam maximè exprimat ac referat, ut in co agnoscas illud ipsum Archetypon ad cujus effigiem sit factum. Mercer. in loc.because he is a heavenly thing for his soul, and earthly in regard of his body.
Prometheus fashioned the bodies of men out of clay, but was fain to steal fire from Heaven for the quickning of them with souls.
Man is a living creature made after the image of God, Gen. 1. 26.
The efficient cause of man was the holy Trinity, God the Father, Sonne and holy Ghost.
In the Creation of man three things are considerable:Cum ibi sermo fiat in numero plurali faciamus, sunt multi Thecologi, qui Angelos ideo convocatos esse dicant, non ut consulat illos, cùm nemo fit tam rudis, qui … consilio, sed ut indicaret velle se efficere longè nobilissimam illam creaturam. Aut voluit forsan Deus … tudinem ostendere. Menass. Ben Isr. de fragilitate humana, Sect. 4.
1. The consultation of the Trinity, Let us make man, Gen. 1. 26▪ Quia rationalis creatura quasi cum consilio facta videretur.
2. The work made, not an Hermaphrodite, as some would have … Adam comprehended both sexes) but he is distinguished into both sexes…lows after, male and female. The man was made of the dust of the earth, the woman was made of the mans rib, to shew the near and social conjunction between man and wife. She was not made of his head, because she should not rule over him; nor of his feet, because she should not be servilely subject to him. So Aquinas.Quoniam haec duo synonimicè pro …odem usurpantur, verto, Ad imaginem sive similitudinem nostram. Quod autem ejusdem sint significationis, ne quis in his vane philosophetur, nimium liquet ex eo quod proximè in repetitione, & cap. 9. 6. infra tantum dicitur imò & repetetur, Ad imaginem Dei, ut & Col. 3. …0. Picherellus in Cosmopoeiam Annotat. Vide Molin E…odat. Gravis. Quaest. …. de Dei imagine.
3. The patern of it, the image of God, 1 Cor. 11. 7. Col. 3. 10. Bellarmine distinguisheth between an image and similitude; the first (saith he) consists in natural endowments: the other in supernatural graces: rather image and similitude represent an exact likenesse. These two words are in an inverted order joyned together, Chap. 5. 3. Iam. 3. 9. mentions only likenesse, leaving our image, which is a certain sign, that there is no difference between them, but that the second is added to insinuate the perfection of the image.
Mans primitive and pure condition was the enjoying of Gods image, Gen. 1. 26. his Apostate condition is the losse of Gods image, his renewed condition is the repairing of Gods image, 1 Cor. 3. ult. his blessed condition in the state of glory, is the perfection of Gods image, Psal. 17. 15.
The image of God in Adam and the Saints is not specifically distinct▪ though his image was conveyed to him by God immediately, and ours by a Mediator, Rom. 8. 29. the old image is renewed in his people, Col. 3. 10. Man is said to be after Gods image, Gen. 1. 27. in that he was indued with perfect knowledge, and with true holinesse and righteonsnesse, Col. 3. 10. Ephes. 4. 24.
There is a four-fold image or likenesse▪
First, Where there is a likenesse with an absolute agreement in the same nature, and so the Son of God is called the expresse image of the Father.
Secondly, By participation of some universal common nature, so a man and beast are like in the common nature of animality.
Thirdly, By proportion only, as when we say, the Governor of a Commonwealth, and the Pilot of a ship are like.
Fourthly, By agreement of order, when one thing is a patern or exemplar,The Schoolmen make Images and Similitudes divers; and again they distinguish between imaginem Dei and ad imaginem Dei. Vide Aquin. parte 1. Quaest. 93. Art. 1. & 9. Et Bellarm. de Gratia primi hominis, cap. 2. and the other thing is made after it: Now when man is said to be like God, it is meant in those two last wayes, Christ was the essentiall image of God, Mans was Imago representantis: aliter Imago imperatoris in nummo, aliter, in Filio, Augustine.
The Image of God in which man was created, is the conformity of man unto God, 1. In his soul. 2. In his body for his soul. 3. In the whole person for the union *Quamvis imago propriè resideat in anima, tamen ratione animae totus homo rectè dicitur conditus …d imaginem Dei. Scriptura non dicit Gen. 1. 27. factam esse animam ad imaginem Dei, sed factum esse hominem. Bellarm. de Amiss. Grat. l. 4. c. 11. Verily either my eyes be dim, or there is not much set down in precise terms, wherein Adam his perfection did consist. The image of God is that high perfection of whole Adam, and the integrity of all the powers both o… his soul and body, and that conformity that he had with God his Archetypus. Dr Hampton on Gen. 1. 26.of both.
The soul of a man is conformable to God in respect of its Nature, Faculties and Habits.
First, In respect of its Nature, Essence or Being, as it is a spiritual and immortalThis was a great cōtroversie between Hierom and Augustine. An anima sit ex traduce, an immortalis? Hierom held the immediate creation of it, and this is most suitable to the perfection and simplicity of the soul. Austin did at least incline to the later, that it is by propagation. That of Zech. 12. 1. & Heb. 12 9. makes it the more probable opinion, that it is by immediate creation, and for that of original sinne, the soul is created as part of man, & …o justly deprived of that original excellency. Substance. The Scripture witnesseth, 1. That the soul of a man is a spirit, Mat. 27. 20. Acts 7. 59. as appears by comparing the 1 Pet. 4. 19. with Heb. 12. 9. in Peter God is called The Creator of souls, in the Hebrews, The Father of spirits, in the same sense.
2. That it is immortal, 2 Cor. 5. 8. Phil. 1. 21, 22. 2 Pet. 1. 14. The Sadduces indeed denied the immortality of the soul, this opinion of theirs began on this occasion, Antigonus Sochaeus, the Disciple of Simeon the just said, We must not serve God for hope of reward or wages. Hence his Disciples Sadok and Baithos took occasion to teach that there is no reward or punishment after this life, whereas Antigonus meant, that there ought to be in us so great love of the Divine Majesty, and of vertue it self, that we should be willing to serve God, and ready to suffer any thing, without looking for any reward or wages.
Reasons of its immortality:
1. Because it cannot be destroyed by any second cause, Mat. 10. 28.
2. Being severed from the body, it subsists by it self, and goes to God, Eccl. 12. 7. Luk. 16. 22.
3. Because it is a simple and immaterial substance, not depending on matter: the minde works the better the more it is abstracted from the body, when it is asleep or dying.
4. Because it transcends all terrene and mortal things, and with a wonderful quicknesse searcheth after heavenly, divine, and eternal things. There is an invincible argument for the thing secretly imprinted in the instinct and conscience of the soul it self. Because it is every good mans hope that it shall be so, and wicked mans fear.
5. The food of the soul is immortal, 1 Pet. 1. 23. the evident promises of eternal life prove the soul to be immortal, He that beleeveth in me hath eternal life: and To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Nothing can satisfie the soul but God.
6. Man is capable of vertue and vice, of immortal desires and affections.
7. The souls of Adam and Eve were not made of any matter, but came by immediate Creation, in whom God gave a specimen what he would perpetually do with other men. That is but a cavil, that Solomon, Eccl. 12. 7. speaks only of our first Parents. See Dr Rainolds of the Passions, c. 34.
Children are called the fruit of their Parents body, to note, Bishop Lake on Ps. 132. 11. See Num. 27. 16. Ps. 35. 15. Isa 57. 16. Etiamst fuerint nonnulli apud Ethnicos qui putarint animam esse mortalem, Epicuri de grege porci, qui animam dixit sui da…am pro sale ne putr…sc…r…t: tamen omnes paulò saniores, & agnoverunt animae immortalitatem, & …irmissimis documentis stabilire sunt cona…. Rainold. de lib. Apoc …om. 2 praelect. 33. Illud autem maximum argumentum immortalitatis est, quòd Deum solus homo agnoscit. In mutis nulla suspicio religionis, quia terrena prospiciunt. Homo ideo rectus coelum aspicit, ut Deum quaerat. An potest igitur non esse immortalis, qui immortalem desiderat. Lactant. Divin. Institut. E…it.that they are only fathers of their flesh: they have another, namely God, which is Father of their spirits. S. Paul teacheth it, Heb. 12. 9. and the use of it. And this checks their opinion who will have souls propagated no lesse then bodies.
Many collect the immortality of the soul, and salvation of Iobs children, because they were not doubled as the rest of his estate was.
The soul of man is as it were the breath of God: God did not say of mans soul as of other creatures, Let it be made, Let there be a soul in mans body. No, but when he had formed the body, he breathed the soul into him. It was to note, that the soul of man had a more heavenly and divine original, then any of the other creatures that are here in this world. Vide Bellarm. de Amis. gratiae, lib. 4. cap. 11. See Sir Walter Rawleighs Ghost, lib. 2. per totum. And Master Rosse his Philos. Touchstone, Conclusion.
2. The soul of man is conformable to God in respect of its *Imago divinae sapientiae in intellectu effulsit, imago bonitatis, man…uctu…nis, tolerantiae in ejus animo, imago charitatis & misericordiae in cordis affectibus, imago justitiae sanctitatis & puritatis divinae in voluntate; imago comitatis, benignitatis & veritatis in gestibus & verbis, & imago divinae potentiae in dominio concesso super omnia animalia. Rivetus.faculties, in its Understanding, Will and Memory, is like the Trinity.
3. In the Qualities, Graces and admirable endowments of it. In the Understanding there was,
First, An exact knowledge of God and all Divine things, Col. 3. 10. Knowledge is a principal part of Gods Image, by reason he was inabled to conceive of things spiritual and universal.
Secondly, A perfect Knowledge of all inferiour things, Adam knew Eve, andSee Mr Burgess on 1 Tim. 1. 8. Lect. 12. p. 111 112, 113, 114, 115, 116. Adam was by his natural frame and disposition apt and …it to know, do, and forbear all that God would have him know, do and forbear, Gen. 9. 6. imposed names on the creatures sutable to their natures. He had most exquisite prudence in the practical part of his understanding, in all doubtful cases. He knew what was to be done. 2. In the Will there was holinesse, Ephes. 4. 24. God had the highest place in his soul, his glory was his end. His liberty then stood not in this that he could stand or fall, a possibility to sin is no perfection.
Thirdly, The image of God in our affections stood in four things:
1. All the affections were carried to their proper objects; Adam loved, feared, and desired nothing but what God had commanded him to love, fear and desire.
2. They were guided by a right rule, and carried in a due proportion to their objects. Adam loved not his wife more then God.
3. They were voluntary affections, he loved a thing because his will made choise of it.
4. They were whetstones of the soul in acting.
From this Image did necessarily follow peace with God, fellowship and union. He knew God to be his Creator, and to love him, in all good things he enjoyed God, and tasted his sweetnesse, Mans body also after a sort is an Image of DivineOs homini sub…ime dedit, &c. Man only hath a hand, which is the instrument of instruments. Perfection.
Observe first, The Majestical form of it, of which the Heathens took notice; by the structure of the body a man should be taught to contemn the earth which his feet tread upon, and to set his heart upon Heaven whether his eyes naturally tend.
It was convenient for man to have an erect stature, 1. Because the senses wereAll other creatures but man have only four muscles, one to turn downwards, another to hold forwards, a third to the right hand, a fourth to the left: only man hath a fifth muscle in his eye to roll it up to God. Columb. de re Anatom. God hath shewed admirable power and wisdom in the countenances of men and women, in that within little more then the compasse of an hand breadth, he hath made such variety, as that among millions of millions, there are none either much unlike or absolutely like in all lineaments, and also in the variety of voices. See S• Walter Rawleighs Ghost, l. 1. c. 10. Mr. Ross his Arcan… Microcosmi. given to man not only to procure the necessaries of life, as they were to other living creatures, but also to know, 2. That the inward faculties may more freely exercise their operations, whiles the brain is elevated above all the parts of the body. Aquinas part. 1. Quaest. 91. Artic. 3. he gives two more reasons there of it.
Secondly, Gods artifice in it, Psal. 139. 15. *Cum primis verò Jobus & Regius Psaltes stupendum illud conceptionis, …ormationis ac nutritionis in utero miraculum accuratiùs expendiss… videntur, unde verbis admodum emphaticis, de eo loquuntur, Job 10. 8, 9, 10, 1…, 12. Psaltes Ps. 139. 14. Gerh. loc. commun. de conjugio. Vide illum ibid. verba Hebraea optimè, c. 8. explicantem.Thou hast curiously wrought me, and I was wonderfully made▪ Vide Lactantium de opificio Dei. Materiam superabat opus, of the basest matter, dust, God made the noblest creature.
Thirdly, The serviceablenesse of every part for its end and use.
Fourthly, There is matter of humiliation, because it was made of the dust, Gen. Dr. Clerk.3. 19. Iob 14. 18, 19. & 5. 15. The Greek name makes man proud, cals him foreign bids him aspire, look up, but the Hebrew bAdam ab Adamah, Hom… ab humo. Nobilissimis creaturis, & inter eas homini, vilissima nomina Deus imposuit, tanquam fraena superbiae, & humilitatis documenta. Sic & foreign Homo ab Adama, id est, humo. Sunt quidem & alia animantia ab humo, sed quia non indigent istis documentis, nec capiunt, adeo ab humo non sunt denominata. Amama.and Latine humble him, bids him stoop, look down.
Adams body was mortal conditionally, if he had not eaten of the Tree, there could be no outward cause of his death, for Gods protection kept that off; nor no inward cause because original righteousnesse was in his soul, and for old age and weaknesse, the Tree of life would have preserved him from that.
3. The whole person (consisting both of soul and body) was conformable toExperienti… docet multò excellentius in statu innocentiae habuisse hominem hanc potentiam, quam in statu peccati. Tunc subjectio animalium erga hominem fuisset perfecta, quae nunc difficilis est, & non obtinetur nisi adhibita cura maxima & assiduo labore sunt enim quaedam animalia fera & indomita, quae nunquam cicurantur. Vide Gen. 2. 7. Uno verbo imò nutu etiam ursos & leones fugasset Adam. Hodiè habemus quidem defensionem, sed planè horribilem. Opus enim est ad eam gladiis, hastis, bombardis, muris, sepibus, fossis, & tamen vix possumus cum nostris in tuto esse, Luth, loc. commun. 2. …lass. loc. 3. God, in respect of his felicity and dominion over the creatures, Gen. 1. 26, 28. The image of God doth not principally consist in this, but secondarily, therefore though the man and woman were created perfectly after Gods image in other respects, yet in this respect the woman had not the image of God, as the Apostle sheweth. The power which Adam had over the creatures, was not absolute and direct (that God reserved to himself) but it was for Adams use, then the stoutest and fiercest beasts would be ruled by Adam, this dominion since the fall is lost for a great part, because of our rebellion against God, the creatures rebellion should minde us of ours: we may see sometimes a little childe driving before him an hundred Oxen or Kine this or that way as he pleaseth.
For the infusing of the soul, it is most probable that the body was first made as the organ or instrument, and then the soul put into it, as God did make Heaven and Earth before man was made.
God did not create all the souls of men at once, but he creates them daily as they are infused into the body, for that the reasonable soul is not ex traduce. Baronius in his Philosophia Theologiae Ancillans. Exercit. 2. Artic. 3. proves it well.
There are these two Questions to be resolved:
1. Whether immortality was natural to Adam?
2. Whether original righteousnesse was natural to Adam?
For the first. A thing is immortal four wayes:
1. Absolutely, so that there is no inward or outward cause of mortality, so God only, 1 Tim. 6. 16.
2. When it is not so by nature, but immortality is a perfection voluntarily put into…ide … de Gratia primi hominis c. 9. Et Aquin. part. 1. Qu. 97. art. 1. the constitution of the creature by the Creator, so Angels are immortal.
3. Not by any singular condition of Nature but of Grace, so the bodies of the Saints glorified.
4. When it is mortal inwardly but yet conditionally it is immortal, that is, if heAffirmativam sententiam tu… …ntur Evangeli… contra Pontisi…ios. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia primi hominis cap. 1. & 5, 6, 7. do his duty, and so Adam was immortal.
For the second Question.
The properties of it are these.
First, It is original righteousnesse, because it is the natural perfection of the whole man and all his faculties, for distinction sake we call it original righteousnesse.
It is so both in regard of it self, for it was the first in the first man.
Secondly, In regard of man, because he had it from his very beginning.
Thirdly, In regard of his posterity, because it was to be propagated to others.
Secondly, It is universal, it was the rectitude of all parts, it could not else be an image of God, unlesse it did universally resemble him in all holinesse. His understanding had all things for truth, his will for good, his affections for obedience.
Thirdly, Harmonious, every faculty stood in a right order, the will subject to the understanding, and the affections to both.
Fourthly, It was due to him, not by way of desert, as if God did owe Adam any thing; but conditionally, supposing God made Adam to enjoy himself, and by way of means.Rivet. exercit. 6. in Gen. 1. Scholastici disputant, quod justitia originalis non fuerit co…aturalis, sed c… ornatus quidam additus homini, tanquam donum: Ut si quis f…rmose p…ll… coronam imponat, Corona certè non est pars virginis naturae, sed quoddam separatum à natura, quod ab extra accedit, & sine violation… naturae potest …erum a…imi. Quare disputant de homine & daemonibus, quod etsi originalem justitiam amiserint, tamen naturalia pura manserint, sicut initio condita sunt. Sed haec sententia quia peccatum originis extenuat, ceu venenum …ugienda est. Quin haec statuimus, justitiam non fuisse quoddam donum, quod ab extra accederet, sed fuisse verè naturalem, ita ut natura Adae esset diligere Deum, credere Deo, agnoscere Deum. Luth. loc. commun. 2. Classis loc. 3.
Fifthly, Natural, 1. Subjective, that which inwardly adheres to the nature of a thing from its beginning. 2. Perfectivè, that which perfects nature for its end and actions. 3. Propagativè, when it would have been propagated in a natural way, if man had continued in innocency; but Constitutivè and Consecutivè supernatural.
The Papists deny that that was natural to man in innocency, and therefore they say mans nature is not corrupted by the fall, because a supernatural gift only is taken from him, all his naturals being left, which is the opinion of the Pelagians, who affirm, That the nature of man fallen is perfect before the committing of actual sins.
Paradise is spoken of in Gen. 2. Some of the Ancients (as Origen, Philo) yeaSee Sir Walter Rawl…igh in the History of the World, pag. 1. Multi quia locum à M…se hic descriptum reperire nusquam potu…runt, …tum, arbores, …mina, aquas, & omnia haec in allegorias transform trunt, qued rectè August. re…ellit, quamvis & ipse se idem sensisse fateatur. Alii eodem decepti errore Paradisum sinxerunt proximè sphaeram Lunae id aëre suspensum. Paraeus in loc. Vide Bellarm. de Gratia primi hominis, cap. 10. & 11. and of later Authors have turned all this into an Allegory, but now that it was a real corporal place, we may prove, 1. Because God planted a Garden, and put Adam into it, and there went a River out of it which was divided into four streams; but these were visible, and corporeal as Euphrates and Tigris; and in the third Chapter, it is said, That Adam hid himself with the leaves of the Tree, therefore the Trees in Paradise were real and not allegorical, and lastly Adam was cast out of it. The ground of allegorizing all these things ariseth from the vanity of mans mind, which thinketh these things too low for the Spirit of God to relate, and therefore endeavours to finde out many mysteries.
2. In what part of the earth it was.Mihi dubium non est, terram Canaan fuisse delicias totius orbis terrarum, itaque facile illis accedo, qui eo in loco fuisse ante diluvium Paradisum putant. Solus ille locus est, in quo postea Deus voluit Ecclesiam & populum suum esse. Luth. in Gen. 10. As the Scripture borroweth the term of Tartarus from the Heathen, 2 Pet. 2. 4. so it is thought by Tertullian and Gregory Nazianzen that the Heathens took the ground of their Elysian fields from the Scripture-Paradise.
Some have thought it to be the whole world, but that cannot be, for it is said, God took Adam and put him into it, and likewise that he was cast out of it: OthersIt is certain that Paradise was near or about Mesopotamia and Babylonia, as besides the consent of the best writers, the rivers Tigris & Euphrates which compasse Mesopotamia, and which watered the Garden, do infallibly demonstrate. Dr Crak. Defence of Constant. c. 11 thought Paradise to be a very high place reaching to the very Globe of the Moon, but that cannot be habitable for the subtilty of the air. Others (as Oleaster and Vatablus) think it was in Mesopotamia only, and that it hath lost his beauty by the floud.
A Lapide, Willet, Rivet, Zanchius, and others, say it was about Mesopotamia and Armenia, because
1. There are the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris.
2. Because Eden is part of Babylonia, and this part of Mesopotamia, as is manifest from Ezek. 27. 23. Isa. 37. 12.
3. These Regions are in the East, and most pleasant, and so agree with the description of Paradise, Gen. 2.
But the safest way is not to trouble our selves any further then Moses Text, which saith it was in the Region of the East, in respect of Iudaea, Egypt or Arabia, and as for the limits and bounds of it, they cannot now be known. Vide Bellar. de gratia primi hominis, c. 12, 13.
Homer had his invention of Alcinous Gardens (as Iustin Martyr noteth) out of Moses his description of Paradise, Gen. 2. And those praises of the Elysian fields were taken out of this story,
Ver erat aeternum, &c. Ovid. Metam. lib. 2.
And from the talk between Eve and the Serpent, Aesops Fables were derived.
Thirdly, Whether the waters of the Floud did destroy it?
Bellarmine *De Gratia primi hominis, c. 12. & 14., and generally the Papists will not admit that it was destroyed by Noahs Floud, and it is to maintain a false opinion, for they say, That Enoch and Elias (who are yet in their bodies) are the two Witnesses spoken of, and that they shall come when Antichrist shall be revealed, and then he shall put them to death; and therefore they hold that Enoch and Elias are kept alive in this Paradise which they say still remaineth; but that this is a meer fable, appeareth, because Iohn Baptist is expresly said by Christ to be the Elias that was to come, because he came in the spirit of Elias. Therefore we hold that wheresoever Paradise was, yet in the great Floud it was destroyed, not but that the ground remaineth still, only the form, beauty and fruitfulnesse is spoiled, Gen. 7. 19. Paradise signifieth a Garden, the word being translated out of Greek into Latine, and so into French and English; In Hebrew it is called Heden, which signifieth Delights, a Garden of all manner of Delights, a place beset with all kinde of fruitful and beautiful Trees.
Paradise was a little model of Heaven, and a sign of the great Heaven, assuring Adam, that if he continued in obedience to God, he should be translated into Heaven, to enjoy God supernaturally, as there he did enjoy him naturally; for the Law saying, Do this and live, means it of everlasting life. So Mr Wheatley held, but M Ball seems to differ from him in his Book of the Covenant.
Man was to die if he disobeyed, Gen. 2. 17. which implies strongly that Gods Covenant was with him for life if he obeyed. In several other Scriptures the promise is annexed, This do and live, Negatio fundatur in affirmatione, the life promised must be answerable to the death threatned, that was not only a miserable condition, but a separation from God for ever in hell, therefore the life promised was not only a happy condition, but a translating of Adam to Heaven, and his injoying of God for ever there. How long Adam should have lived before he had been translated, is not determined. There is an innate desire in the soul after the full enjoyment of God here, this instinct was not put in men in vain, Rom. 3. 23. And come short of the glory of God. The word signifies to fall short of the race, that price and crown he ran, for the full and perfect enjoyment of God; See Heb. 4. and what man fell short of by sinne, if he had not sinned he should have obtained.
This is the received opinion of Divines; That if Adam had not sinned, then asSee Kellets Miscel. l. 1. c. 3. soon as the number of Saints had been accomplished, men should have been translated from the earth to heaven, from their natural life to spiritual life, as we reade of Enoch and Elias, Heb. 11. 6. 2 King. 2. 11. Dr Hampton on Gen. 1. 26. Though Menasseh Ben Israel de fragil. hum. Sect. 12. saith, That common opinion, that Enoch was translated with his body and soul to heaven, doth not take place with them, and saith, that R. Solomon, Abrabanel, Aben Ezra interpret Gen. 5. 24. of a short death. See more there.
There were two special Trees in it, one called the Tree of life, the other of the knowledge of good and evil.
Some say *Paraeus in Gen. 2. 7.it was called the Tree of Life from the effect, because of the hidden power and force it had aThe Poets from the tree of life took their Nectar; and Ambrosia, Nectar, signifieth making young, and Ambrosia Immortality: therefore they are said to be the meat and drink of the gods.of sustaining and prolonging mans life. Although it be a Dispute, Whether it had this force as meat to prolong life, or as a medicine to prevent death, old-age and diseases, as likewise whether this power in the Tree were natural or supernatural. Vide Menass. Ben Israel de fragil. hum. Sect. 4.
Therefore others say it was called so not from the effect, but signification, because it was an outward sign, that God would give them immortality if they did continue.
It is questioned, Whether the Tree of Life was a Sacrament?
Paraeus answers, That it was a Sacrament three wayes:
First, As an admonition to them, that the life which they had, they had it from God, for as often as they tasted of it, they were to remember that God was the author of life.
Secondly, As it was a symbol of a better life in heaven, if he did continue in obedience.
Thirdly, Sacramentally of Christ, as in whom Adam and Angels did obtain life, Revel. 2. 7. He is called The Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise, but that is only allegorical and allusive, so that what the Tree of Life was to Adam in innocency, the same is Christ to us in our corrupt estate.
2. The Tree of Good and Evil.
It was not so called from any internal form, as if it self were knowing good andParaeus. evil, nor from the effect, as if by eating thereof it would have procured wisdom in man, and made him wiser; nor yet was it called so from the lying promise ofArbor scientiae boni & mali sic nominata propter eventum futurum: quia post ejus esum homo per experimentum poenae didicit, quid interesset inter obedientiae bonum & inobedientiae malum, Aquin. part. 1. Quaest. 102. Artic. 2. Hanc arborem hoc nomine à Deo appellatam non legimus: sed ab eventu Moses appellavit: quo Adamus & Heva, si ex hujus fructu comedissent, aeternum erant victuri, c. 3. 33. infra. Picherel. in Cosmop. Annotat. Corollaries from Gods goodnesse to man in his Creation. 1. It serves to blame mankinde for his wonderful naughtinesse in striving against God, who hath bestowed so great and undeserved benefits upon him. 2. Let us seriously consider of our selves and of our making, that we may come to a due knowledge of God, of our selves. One saith, the soul is not altogether immaterial, for what hath accidents, hath matter, nothing but that is the subject of accidents. 2. What is finite is material: seeing sinitenesse is the attribute of matter by which it is contained within its own limits: but it subsists, lives and works, being separated from the body, therefore it is immaterial. the Devil, concerning omniscience, for God called it so before they met together, therefore it was named so from the Event, for God by this name fore-told what would follow, if man did not abstain from it; that he should experimentally know what was good, and what was evil, he should practically feel what he had lost, and what evil he had plunged himself into. Some have thought, that those words Gen. 3. 24. should not be understood historically but allegorically, that is, that God gave him no hopes of coming into this place again, but the Text contradicts that, some have understood by Cherubims, some species and images of terrible creatures, as we call Scare-crows, but that is simple to think that Adam was so childish to be afraid of those; others interpret it of the fire of Purgatory. The more probable Interpretation is, that by Cherubims are meant Angels, who did after a visible manner shake up and down this fiery sword, Moses doth therefore call them Cherubims, because the Jews knew what he meant, having such forms over the Ark. Therefore it is taken for Angels, not simply, but as they appeared in some shape. It is a curiosity to enquire how long they staid there, although it is certain they ceased when Paradise was destroyed, which was by the Floud.
Therefore this serves, 1. For Information to instruct us.
1. That every man and woman hath a soul, there is a body, and a spirit which enlivens and acts the body for all performances of the Compositum, we must glorifie God in both, 1 Cor. 6. 20.
2. It is immortal by Gods appointing (but in it self endable, because it hath aVide Raymundi Pugionem adversus Iudaeos, part. 1. c. 4. beginning) that it may be capable of everlasting weal or woe.
3. It is so immortal that it admits of no cessation or intermission, the Anabaptists say, It is asleep when it parts from the body till the day of Resurrection, asIt is a strange impudence in the Author of the Leviathan (whose ignorance in Divinity cont…steth with his presumption, and I know not which may get the victory) to deny eternity of torments unto the damned, by wresting the expresse words of Scripture, and rejecting the general consent of the whole Church. But I must confesse this Assertion is sutable to another of his abominable Principles, that the rational soul hath no Subsistence out of the body, so that herein he is consentaneous to himself, though opposite to all the world besides, denying what hath been generally received, as well by the choisest Philosophers in the School of nature, as by Christians in the School of grace. These are Doctrines well agreeing to the Title of his Treatise, The Kingdome of Darknesse. Master Samwaies his Devotion digested, pag. 227, 228. soon as it leaves the body, it goes either to Abrahams bosome, or a place of torment. This opinion of the souls sleeping is repugnant to the holy Scriptures, Luk. 16. 23. Phil. 1. 23▪ and an heresie long since condemned in the Church. The soul lives after death, and in a state of separation, Psal. 90. 10. and we flee away, that is, the soul as a bird out of the shell, Eccles. 12. 3. Revel. 6. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 1, 8, 9. See Ioh. 17. 22, 24. 1 Cor. 13. 12. and B. Halls Invis. world, l. 2. Sect. 3.
4. At the last day it shall be united with the body, and the body raised up for it, and both be happy or miserable for ever.
2. Be thankful to God that hath given us our souls, and redeemed them by the bloud of his Son, Propter hanc Deus fecit mundum, propter hanc Filius Dei venit in mundum, Chrysost. Blesse him especially for soul-mercies, Eph. 1. 3. Ioh. 3. 2, 4. and let the soul praise him, Psal. 103. & 104. first and last.
We should love our souls, Psal. 22. 26. David calleth his soul his darling, it is the immediate work of God.