The Retired Mans Meditations, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
Concerning the fall of man, the ſteps and degrees to it, with the bitter fruits and conſequents thereof.
BY what hath been ſaid of mans Creation, it is undeniable that God made him perfect, though the perfection of his eſtate was mutable or ſubject to change, and therefore not the Reſt from all eternity deſigned him by God: ſo that man in this firſt perfect ſtate had that ſtill wanting which was the finiſhing and compleating work to what he at preſent enjoyed: howbeit, that which was wanting unto man, did no way cauſe or neceſſitate his fall: but that (as we ſhall ſhew) proceeded from the ſuggeſtion of Sathan and enticing of his own luſt; which luſt when it had conceived, brought forth ſin: and ſin when it was perfected brought forth death; although man in this eſtate was well and ſufficiently armed and provided againſt it, if he had followed the directions given him by God.
For in this natural conſtitution of ſpirit, ſoul and body, which man obtained by creation, his underſtanding, will and affections were all placed in their true rectitude and proper ſubordinations; his rational and his ſenſual mind were ſet in right tune and harmony together, diſpoſed and fitted to the bringing forth of all manner of righteous and holy operations anſwerable to the image of God wherein he was created: which contained as much of divine light and manifeſtation, as man, in his earthly capacity and firſt make, could take in; amounting but to a ſhadowy repreſentation of Gods mind, and a ſight of it, but in part; in order to prepare him to receive more, by a ſecond and new creation on the ſeventh day, when he ſhould have been admitted within the veil, to have beheld Gods very ſimilitude open, and bare-faced, converſing with him as friend ſpeaks with friend.
Now man (being thus furniſhed with a reaſonable ſoul and all the excellencies of its operations before deſcribed, with freedom of will to chooſe the good and refuſe the evil, honoured alſo with a ſoveraignty over the creatures) in this fair poſture of preparation to receive more, was nevertheleſs ſeduced, enſnared and made a prey of by Sathan, ſin and death, to the rendring (as it were) abortive all that work which was already paſſed upon him, and to the letting in of ſin and death, with the deſerved curſe and wrath of God, through him, as through a door, upon all his poſteritie.
The occaſion of this was twofold: Firſt the preſent enjoyment of good from God under the miniſtry of the firſt covenant, the fruit of which, to the eye of fleſh and blood even at its beſt, was ſo glorious, and appeared ſo beautiful and deſireable, that man was eaſily perſwaded that it was the beſt and higheſt attainment hee needed to look after; and thereby, through Sathans ſubtilty, rendred ſecure and negligent as to the uſe of means given by God to carry him on, paſs him through and conduct him out of this his corruptible ſtate, as from glory to glory, into the power of an endleſs life (without the intervening of ſin) to the full and perfect ſecuring of mans nature from all prevailing power of fins aſſaults for ever; which was not done by creation.
The ſecond occaſion of mans fall, was the freedom of his will, wherein the judging and deſiring faculties of his mind were entirely committed by God to his own free motion and operation, upon the terms of the covenant he was brought into with God; which was, to be dealt with according unto his works, to be rewarded with life or with death, as he ſhould rightly order or abuſe this liberty of action with which God had inveſted him by way of tryal and probation. That man had ſuch a power of free-will as this,
Firſt, the nature and tenor of the Covenant he was taken into, doth demonſtrate; which is conditional in reference to the works of man; And God throughout deals with man under that Covenant according to his works, ſtrongly thereby aſſerting them to be mans own; ſo as the very reward which comes thereby, is accounted to him of debt, even the thing which his own action (as left alone unto himſelf therein) hath brought upon him, and entitled him unto.
Secondly, without ſuch a power of free-will, mans firſt eſtate could not have been mutable, at leaſt could never have changed into corruption; for if it had been neceſſary to him to have ſtood, he could not have fallen; and if it had been neceſſary to him to fall, God had thereby made himſelf the Author of ſin, which could not be.
Now the power itſelf wherein mans free-will conſiſted, was the free uſe and exerciſe of his judging and electing power of mind, either in reference to good or evil, as it ſhould be preſented to him, and come before him in a way to be by him decided and determined as his deliberate act and reſolution, which Paul calls, 1 Cor. 4. 3. mans judgement, or mans day.
Adam had then this honour given him by creation, to exerciſe his humane judicature, or mans day, not only upon all the works of Gods hands already made in the ſix daies, and preſented before him in Eden the garden of God; but he had alſo as in proſpect and contemplation, what was yet behind and to come: both which being the object or ſubject matter that Adam was to paſs his judgement upon, God was pleaſed by way of precaution and premonition to forbid him to fix his eye and his deſire upon things ſeen, which are temporal and fading; there being a reſerve of unſeen things, as an enduring ſubſtance, to be imparted and communicated to him on the ſeventh day.
That which Adam was forbidden, was not ſimply to forbear the uſe of his free-will, but the evil and unlawful uſe of it, as (through an unwiſe diſcerning, and erroneous judging between the preſent temporary good which he ſaw, and the future durable excellency of the things unſeen, and but in hope) there did ſpring up an inordinate coveting and deſire in him after the retaining of the firſt, to the deſpiſing and rejecting of the ſecond; preferring the viſion of God in part, and as under a vayl, before the full and compleat view of his glory unvayled.
To induce man unto this, the Serpent employed all his power and ſubtilty, contributing all the influence he could from his and the fallen Angels example herein; which (together with the aptneſs in the natural deſire of man to be enticed this way to ſerve his own belly, rather then the Law and Command of God, and to gratifie his natural appetite, rather then ſhew his obedience to Gods voice) did prevail with him to eat the forbidden fruit, whereby the door was ſet open for ſin and death to enter upon himſelf and all his poſterity.
That which remains yet to be declared on this ſubject, is the poſſibility which Adam had in the ſtate of innocency, to have made a right uſe of his free-will, ſo as thereby to have done what God required him to do, by the firſt Covenant. And (by the way) when we ſpeak of this Covenant in reference to the ſtate of innocency, it is to be underſtood for the ſame thing with the law of nature, under which Adam was created, and hath this difference in it from what it was afterward (when diſpenſed by the name of the Law under Moſes miniſtry, and called, Heb. 9. The firſt Teſtament; receiving its renewal from the blood of Chriſt) that as it is the law of nature, it requires mans perſonal righteouſneſs and holyneſs to be continued in, even the preſervation of mans nature in the ſinleſs ſtate wherein he was created, as the condition of keeping up and maintaining that ſort of union and communion between God and him; though not therein to reſt, but to be ready to be carried on by God into a ſure, unmovable and fixed ſtate of life, from whence there is no poſſibility of falling: Whereas the ſame Covenant, as it is the Law or firſt Teſtament, though in effect it requires the ſame thing of man, yet it is in reference to the ſacrifice of the Redeemer, by the vertue of whoſe blood the Covenant is not only renewed, but kept from being broken, until through wilful provocation there remain to man no more benefit by that ſacrifice for ſin, Heb. 10. 26.
That then which was poſſible for Adam to have done in the ſtate of innocency, was ſo to have made uſe of the power given unto him by his free will, as to have walked faithfully with God, according to the light he had received; and therein to have abode in the earthly Paradiſe of his ſinleſs nature, as Chriſt commanded his Diſciples to do in the earthly Jeruſalem, until the further effuſion of the Spirit, or pouring out of the Holy-Ghoſt upon them: which further miniſtry was figured out unto Adam in the tree of life, and the true Reſt reſerved by God yet to be more fully revealed unto him on the ſeventh day, when the marriage union between Chriſt and him upon the terms of the new and everlaſting Covenant, was to have been contracted and celebrated; whereof the inſtitution of Marriage in the beginning, was alſo unto him an earthly figure.
So that this we ſay as the reſult of all; That by the power of pure and incorrupt nature in the firſt Adam, he could never have wrought himſelf into the ſtate of ſalvation, nor have entred into the true Reſt, or procured an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, this being reſerved to the work and power of faith, that was yet to be revealed to him, as the means to tranſlate him out of his holy, corruptible and mutable ſtate of the firſt Covenant, into the moſt holy, incorruptible and immutable ſtate of the ſecond and everlaſting Covenant; and this without ſin (or forfeiture of the good he had in preſent poſſeſſion) to the advantage of himſelf and all his poſterity.
But if it be here objected, That if the power of nature could not do this, it could do nothing, and was of little avail to Adam; the Anſwer is, It was of great profit and avail to Adam, if he had made the right uſe thereof. For firſt he might by the power thereof, have kept out the entrance of ſin for the preſent, until by being armed with a higher & greater power, he might have for ever ſhut the door upon it and excluded it. Secondly, he might have preſerved in himſelf an unengaged and unprejudiced ſpirit againſt the approaching dawnings and breakings forth of further and higher light; and in that ready, ſilent, waiting poſture, have diligently attended upon the means that were to be exhibited to him on the ſeventh day to lead him into reſt; which was the further preaching and holding forth of the Word of life by the voice and miniſtry of Gods ſecond appearance, which did bring its own ſaving power along with it, to have begotten that precious faith in Adam, that ſhould have intereſted him in thoſe precious promiſes, whereby he might have been made partaker of the divine nature, and have had the power given him to have become the Son of God in the new Covenant through believing, and ſo heir of that ſalvation which by nature could not be obtained.
But Adam neglecting the opportunity by God put into his hands, and hearkning to the voice of his wife, and ſeducement of the Devil, did juſtly fall under Gods diſpleaſure, and was made a ſad ſpectacle thereof in himſelf and in his poſterity, who are now by nature children of wrath and diſobedience, a habitation of Devils, a hold of every unclean ſpirit, and Cage of every unclean and hateful bird; yet not left in ſuch a deſperate ſtate, but that by the blood of Chriſt there is remiſſion of ſin to be obtained, and a reſtauration capable to be wrought out.