A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 50 (Question 13)
SERMON L.
QUESTION XIII.
DID our Firſt Parents continue in the Eſtate wherein they were Created?
ANSWER.
OUR Firſt Parents being l…ft to the Freedom of their own will, fell from the Eſtate wherein they were Created, by ſinning againſt GOD.
HITHERTO we have ſeen Man bidding fair for Happineſs; being Created in the Image of God, furniſhed with a ſtock of Original Sanctification, f…ing him for the whole Obedience of the Moral Law, and put under a Covenant firmly engaging Life to him upon that Obedience: And now what ſhould hinder him? What ſtronger tye could there ly upon him, than the aſſured Felicity which ſhould have been his Reward, and the certain Miſery he ſhould incur in Caſe he ſhould Tranſgreſs? But behold, The next News is, Man is fallen and undone: And this is the doleful Condition we are now to enquire into: We have conſidered the Firſt Covenant as the Rule of God's ſpecial Government, and according to the Tenour of which, He leads Men to an Everlaſting State of Happineſs or Miſery: We are now,
III. TO take a view of the Things that were conſequent upon this Covenant, with reſpect unto Man; or what bec…mes of him wi…h r…rence unto it: And all of this will be reduced unto Two Heads, viz. Man's Apoſtacy; and his Recovery: The Apoſtacy ſubjects Men to Everlaſting Miſery, and God leaves multitudes to Periſh in it; but there is alſo a Recovery and Reſtitution in which many are reſtored to the Enjoyment of Felicity.
I. THE firſt of theſe to be ſpoken to is Man's Apoſtacy, his departure from, and violation of the Covenant, (which the preſent and ſeveral following Queſtions will inſtruct us in.)
IN the Anſwer before us, there are Four Things to be obſerved, viz.
1. The Fal. of Man from his Primitive Eſtate is alſo aſſerted.
2. That the O…aſion of it was his being left to his Free will.
3. That the Principle bla…ea…e Cauſe was the Abuſe of his Free-will.
4. That ther…n which …e …ſed it, and by which be …ell, was his ſinning againſt God.
HERE then …wo Things may be look'd into for the opening and confirming of this Truth.
1. Something in General concerning the Apoſtacy of Man.
2. Something in Particular about the way in which it was brought about.
I. IN General reſpecting Man's Apoſtacy; there are three Things worthy our Reflexion, viz.
1. THAT Man is certainly fallen from his Primitive Eſtate. That our Firſt Parents did not continue in that Integrity, Perfection and Dignity in which they were placed at firſt, but caſt themſelves down from that height. We have the Hiſtory of this at large, recorded in, Gen. 3. where we are informed, both that it was, and … it was. And indeed there needs no more to prove the Fall of Mankind, or that Man is by Nature in a State of Apoſtacy, than to conſider what he once was, and what he now is; whether we look upon his Endowments, or his Privileges which he was at firſt inveſted withal, and ſee how all theſe are now g…ne, & exchanged for Miſery, it ſpeaks plainl… that he is Fallen; if his Eſtate were ſuch as it hath been already deſcribed to us, there is none of that now abiding: Once he was able to Serve God, now he cannot; Once he knew Him, and could chuſe him for his Portion, now he is ignorant of Him, and bids Him depart from him: Once he was Immortal, in Health and Favour, all the Creatures ſerved him, and there was nothing to moleſt him; but now he is a Dying Creature, and every thing gives him Trouble and Sorrow: And if this be not a Fall, what can be ſo? But,
2. WE may look upon the general Nature of the Apoſtacy of Man. It is in the Anſwer called, His falling from the Eſtate wherein he was Created, and that reſpects to …wo Things;
1. The State of Nature in which he was, and that was a State of Perfection, by vertue of the Image of God which was upon him.
2. The Covenant State which he bare, and that was in Relation to Happineſs, as he was under a Covenant Promiſe of it, and ſtood fair for it: From both of theſe he is gone, and they are utterly loſt, as will be particularly taken notice of under ſome of the following Anſwers.
MAN by the Fall loſt himſelf; and there are two Words by which this Fall is expreſſed in the New Teſtament, which will give us light into the general Nature of it:
[1.] IT is called an Apoſtacy, Heb. 3.12 The Word properly ſignifys a ſtanding off, and ſo properly expreſſeth the fallen State of Man: He was made to cloſe with God, but now … ſtood off from him, departed and ſeperated himſelf; hence a ſinful Man is ſaid to be ſeperated, Iſa. 59 …. It implies a Defection, and there … two Things contained in it:
(1.) THAT Man l…ſt the Place which God … ſet him in. There was a Station to which … was appointed, but he Deſerted it: God … manded him to Serve him; and to make … Glory the ultimate Scope of his whole Life, and all his Actions, he was ranked foremoſt in … viſible Creation, but he broke his Rank, deſerted his Place, ſlew from his Colours.
(2.) THAT he Rebelled againſt God, and … part with His Enemies, againſt his Maker: He went over to thoſe that had taken up Ar… againſt his Lord, and liſted himſelf among the… and became of their Party: He went away from God to the Creature; it is ſummarily expreſ… i…, Jer. 2.13. For my people have committed … evils; they have forſaken me the fountain … living waters, and h…w…d them out ciſterns, … ken cisterns that can …o…d …o water. And … is ſurely a great Fall.
[2.] IT is called an Offence, Rom. 5.17. The Word properly ſignify… a Fall which is tak… … ſtumbling at ſomething which lies in one way: And here it is applied to Adam's total Apoſtacy; and it ſerves moſt aptly to expreſs the ru… Eſtate into which Man hath caſt himſelf; … there are. Three or Four Senſes in which it … uſed, all of which give light in this Affair.
(1.) IT ſignifys a falling beſides ones Ai… … Mark which he ſhould have gone to: And … was the very Nature of the Apoſtacy; for i… it Man fell beſide his Rule, which ſhould … guided him to his End, and ſo he miſt of that: he declined from the Law which God gave him to direct him to this Happineſs, and ſo he fell quite beſide it. Adam ſhould have gone by Rule, and ſo have reached to his End; his coming ſhort of ſo doing, was the procuring Cauſe of his Fall.
(2.) IT is a falling down, a declining; or … loſs of a Man's excellent Eſtate, and that by ſtumbling at ſomething thrown in his way; and ſo it farther expreſſeth the Apoſtacy. Man ſtumbled at his Rule, and ſo he fell. There was a Queſtion of the verity of God's Promiſe & Threatning caſt before him; and this gave him ſuch a Trip, that it threw him down: He was in an high Place of Eminency and Dignity, exalted above his fellow Creatures, ſtood next to his Maker; but now he is brought into a low, a mean, and an ignoble State: was made free; but is now become a Servant of Servants.
(3.) IT intimates a falling from one Object to another. A deſerting of one thing, for ſomething elſe. Such was the Apoſtacy: Man's proper Object is GOD, whoſe Face and Glory he was to view, and in the Enjoyment of whom he was to be Happy; but he changed his Object, and choſe ſomething beſides God to cloſe withal: He choſe the Creature inſtead of God, to ſeek his Happineſs from: For that is the Sum of Man's Apoſtacy, Rom. 1.25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worſhipped and ſerved the creature more than the Creator.
(4.) BY a Metonymy of the Cauſe, it ſignifies the Ruin of a thing. The Fall and the Ruin of a thing are one and the ſame thing in Scripture Language; compare, Hoſ. 13.9. O Iſrael, thou haſt deſtroyed thy ſelf: with, 14.1. O Iſrael, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou …aſt fallen by thine iniquity: And this well ſuits to the Apoſtacy. Man in his Creation was like a fair Houſe, new built, fit to entertain the King of Glory, fit for a Temple for the Holy Ghoſt to dwell in; but now he is like an old Houſe gone to decay, where, by the ruinous Heaps, we may gueſs what a famous Structure it once was, but is now nothing but Rubbiſh.
3. WE are to obſerve the Manner of his Fall; and that is expreſt to be, by Sinning againſt God. I am not here to ſpeak of the Nature of Sin in general, nor of the particular Tranſgreſſion in which Man…s Apoſtacy conſiſted; for theſe things come afterwards: But only in General to take notice, that Man's Fall comes under a Moral Conſideration; or that it was his Sin which threw him. And here take this General Concluſion;
THAT Man loſt his Primitive State by falling off from the Rule of ſpecial Government, under which he was placed, as it was a Rule of Life.
AND that we may take up the right notion of this, let theſe things be obſerved:
(1.) THAT Man did not fall from the Rule of Creation or Conſervation, but of Gubernation. Not of Creation, for he ſtill remains one of God's Creatures, tho' he be a Diſobedient one: He is not therefore cut off from that Duty and Homage, which as a Creature of God, he owes to his Maker: Nor doth God diſown him from being one of His Creatures: Nay Sinners ſhall know it one Day to their Coſt. Nor of Conſervation; as God gave his Being to him, ſo He will ſuſtain or uphold this Being of his according to the Rules o… Providence, and the Condition of ſuch a Creature: As therefore he had an Immortal Being beſtowed upon him, ſo God will preſerve him in it to all Eternity, and not ſuffer him to be Anni…ilated, or loſe that Being and Nature of his: He partakes in that Conſervation here, during God's Pleaſure, which extends to Good and Bad, Juſt and U…put, and he ſhall do ſo forever: But his Fall is pr…p…rly from the Rule of ſpecial Government.
(2.) THAT Man did not Fall abſolutely from God…s Government. Nay he is as much under it as ever he was, notwithſtanding his Apoſtacy; he is a Subject, tho' he be a Rebellious one: and God will have His Glory by him, whether he will or no, which is the deſign of His Government: God will in this reſpect hold him in Subjection, that if he will not pay Him the Homage which he owes Him, He will recover His Honour of him by force: If he will not Glorify Him, He will ſtrein for it: If he will not do what a good Subject ought to do, he ſhall ſuffer what is an Offenders due: If he will not Serve at Liberty, he ſhall be held in Chains: God will drive him home to his Journey's end, & bring him to an Everlaſting State, and that according to the Rule of ſpecial Government. Man can never wholly deſert this Rule: but muſt ſtand related to one of the Conditions of it: Hence we read in Prov. 16.4. The Lord hath made all things for himſelf: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
(3.) THAT Man did not fall from the Obligation of Obedience, to the Rule of ſpecial Government. For notwithſtanding the Fall, he is ſtill held under the Dominion of the Rule, and the Conditions of it ſtand inviolable: He is held in paſſive Subjection to the Law, tho' he doth not actually conform unto it. He is not properly an out-law, or put out of the reach of it, but a Rebel, one whom the Law hath an eye and aim at, and will take hold of; it will Cenſure and Judge him according to Rule. The Heathen themſelves, who are without the written Law, are a Law to themſelves, Rom. 2.14. And they ſhall one Day be Tried by, and Sentenced to an Everlaſting State, according to the Relation they bear to this Law: Hence, every Sin expoſeth him.
(4.) MAN's proper Fall was from this Rule of Government, as it was a Rule of Life. He is fallen from his Eu…roxy, and ſo from his Happineſs; and he is fallen under Ataxy, and ſo into Miſery. Here obſerve,
1. THAT by the Rule of ſpecial Government, Life was to be the Reward of Obedience, and Death the Recompence of Diſobedience. Theſe we have obſerved to be the Terms of the Firſt Covenant, and Man was to be Happy or Miſerable upon theſe Conditions: for the Law is not to be conſidered barely as a Directory, but as it ſtood with it's Sanctions, which were the Rule of Relative Juſtice in it's Proceedings with Mankind, and the diſtribution of Recompences to them; according to which he was to Live or Dy.
2. THAT as Man by his power to Obey, ſtood fair for Life, ſo by his actual Obedience he ſhould have been confirmed in it. All the Created Holineſs and Righteouſneſs in Man, did not put him into Poſſeſſion of Happineſs, but it diſpoſed him into a … capacity for it; he might be happy is it were not his … fault, he was told … it was to be attained, and he had power to comply with the condition, and if he had but ſo done it had been put paſt danger, for the promiſe poſitively ſaid. Do and …: And it he had been faithful in his Duty, God would have been true to His Word.
3. HENCE Man's Actual coming ſ…ert of his Obedience, was properly his Fall. Herein his Apo…aſy truly and eſſentially con…ed, in his falling from his Ru…e, in diſobeying of it; and all …he conſequent Miſery which he fell into, was but the fruit and effect of this. If he had not ſinned he had not died; nothing elſe but ſin could have …umbled him down from that excellent ſtate, and laid him in the p…t of miſery, Hoſ. 1….1. O Iſreal, re…ar… unto the Lord thy God; for thou haſt …alen by thine iniquity. For, by neglecting the condition of Life, he loſt the reward of it, and by fulfilling the condition of Death, he brought himſelf under the effica… of it.
4. HENCE, Th… he is …ul…en from all power and … of …ey…ng and being Ha…py by it, is a penalty … that Diſobedience. His loſs o… his power conſiſts in the loſs of the Sanctification which he at firſt had habitually in him, and this was part of the Death which he procured to himſelf by his Sin. How far th…re was a Phyſical influence into it by the act of Diſobedience, is matter of diſpute, but this Moral influence it certainly had; and whether Man did actually deſtroy all his Grace at once, by the Tranſgreſſion, it is certain that he did it Meritoriouſly, and it all went away upon it, by God…s righteous Judgment; ſo that he left no good thing remaining in him, that was Theologica…ly ſo; and this was the complement of his Fall, now his Primitive State was altogether gone, and the Law it ſelf according to the …ſt conſtitution of it, can no longer give him Life, Gal. 3.21. It the law them againſt the promiſes of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteouſneſs ſhould have been by the law. And this may ſ…ffice to be ſpoken of the Fall of Man in general.
USE, 1. HERE we ſee the true and proper Reaſon of Man's M…ſery. When we look all over the World, and ſee Sons and Daughters of Sorrow ſcattered up and down upon the face of the Earth, born to Afflict…, as the ſpar…s fly upwards; when we ſee Sickneſſes, Diſeaſes, Deaths, Perplexities, Diſappointments▪ Diſcontents, and all manner of Miſeries, let us ſtand ſtill and enquire, How a Creature ſo excellent in his Creation, is become ſo Sorrowful and Miſerable in his preſent condition; and to ſatisfy our Minds about it, let us look back to Man's Apoſtaſy, and there we ſhall read th… Text o… which all this Infelicity is the woful Commentary. Had not he fallen from his God, and from his Rule, his God had never forſaken him; nor had we ever read or heard ſuch Tragical things, of Man had not thrown himſelf down into them by Sin; had not that opened the door, theſe Miſchiefs had never got our: Jer. 2.17. Haſt thou not pr…cured this unto thy ſelf; in that thou haſt forſaken the Lord thy God.
USE, 2. SEE here how needful both the Active and P…ſſive Obedience of the Second Adam, were for the Reſtitution of fallen M…n. For,
(1) IN his Apoſtaſy Men fell from his Obedience. He ſtood off from the Law of God, which was the Rule of Life, and here upon came ſhort of the condition of Life, without which it could not be enjoyed: the Second Adam therefore muſt of neceſſity obey, and perform the required Condition for him. No Obedience, no Happineſs; Life comes in up on that Condition: He then that will be Mans Saviour muſt fulfill all Righteouſneſs.
(2) IN the Apoſtaſy Man came under the condition of Death. By falling off from God, … fell under the Threatning, and ſo was … over to ſuffer the Penalties included in … and he who will Redeem him, muſt alſo comply with this Condition, by ſuffering in his ſte…d, e…e could not an Holy and Juſt God ſtand to his own Agreement: No part therefore of Chriſt's work could have been ſpa… … nor could we have been Happy, if any of it had been omitted.
USE, 3. THE Conſideration of Mans Apoſtaſy may ſhew us what weak Things we … and what little reaſon we have to confide in our own Strength. When we look upon Adam i… Innocency, adorned with all thoſe glorious Perfections of Original Righteouſneſs and Holineſs, having God…s Law written on his …ea…, and God's Image imprinted upon him, an… every way furniſhed for Obedience, and now … him fallen, and a…l his glory lo…t, and hi… tumbling into a Pit of Ignominy and Miſery let it teach us to be afraid of truſting to our own Abilities, or leaning to our imperfect Grace. None more likely than Adam in perfection, and yet he loſt all. Be not high minded but fear; let us make ſure to have our Security in a Stronger Hand, not rec… ning our ſelves ſafe, but in having Immutable Omnipotency engaged to carry us through; and let our hopes Center there.
[JANUARY, 26. 1691.]