An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among the author's papersafter his death, in his own handwriting; and published in 1691, by Charles Doe, ina folio volume of the works of John Bunyan.

ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR

Being in company with an enlightened society of Protestant dissenters of the Baptistdenomination, I observed to a doctor of divinity, who was advancing towards his seventiethyear, that my time had been delightfully engaged with John Bunyan's commentary onGenesis. "What," said the D.D., with some appearance of incredulity, "Bunyana commentator—upon Genesis!! Impossible! Well, I never heard of that work of thegood Bunyan before. Why, where is it to be found?" Yes, it is true that he hascommented on that portion of sacred scripture, containing the cosmogony of creation—thefall of man—the first murder—the deluge—and other facts which have puzzled the mostlearned men of every age; and he has proved to be more learned than all others inhis spiritual perceptions. He graduated at a higher university—a university unshackledby human laws, conventional feelings, and preconceived opinions.

His intense study of the Bible, guided by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, enabledhim to throw a new and beautiful light upon objects which are otherwise obscure.Oh! that young ministers, while attaining valuable book learning, may see the necessityof taking a high degree in, and of never forgetting this Bible university! Reader,is it not surprizing, that such a treatise should have remained comparatively hiddenfor more than one hundred and fifty years. It has been reprinted in many editionsof Bunyan's works: but in all, except the first, with the omission of the scripturereferences; and with errors of so serious a character as if it was not intended tobe read. Even in printing the text of Genesis 7:7 Noah's three sons do not enterthe ark! although in 8:16 they are commanded to go forth out of the ark. It is nowpresented to the public exactly as the author left it, with the addition of notes,which it is hoped will illustrate and not encumber the text.

This exposition is evidently the result of long and earnest study of the holy scriptures.It is the history of the creation and of the flood explained and spiritualized, andhad it been originally published in that form and under a proper title, it wouldmost probably have become a very popular work. The author's qualifications for writingthis commentary were exclusively limited to his knowledge of holy writ. To book learninghe makes no pretensions. He tells us that in his youth "God put it into my parents"hearts to put me to school, to learn to read and write as other poor men's children;though, to my shame, I confess, I did soon lose that little I learnt even almostutterly." In after life, his time was occupied in obtaining a livelihood bylabour. When enduring severe mental conflicts, and while he maintained his familyby the work of his hands, he was an acceptable pastor, and extensively useful initinerant labours of love in the villages round Bedford. His humility, when he hadused three common Latin words, prompted him to say in the margin, "The LatineI borrow."

And this unlettered mechanic, when he might have improved himself in book wisdom,was shut up within the walls of a prison for nearly thirteen years, for obeying God,only solaced with his Bible and Fox's Book of Martyrs. Yet he made discoveries relativeto the creation, which have been very recently again published by a learned philosopher,who surprised and puzzled the world with his vestiges of creation. Omitting the fancifultheories of the vestige philosopher, his two great facts, proved by geological discoveries,are—

I. That when the world was created and set in motion, it was upon principles by whichit is impelled on to perfection—a state of irresistible progress in improvement.This is the theory of Moses: and Bunyan's exposition is, that all was finished, evento the creation of all the souls which were to animate the human race, and then Godrested from his work.

II. The second geological discovery is that the world was far advanced towards perfectionproducing all that was needful for human life, before man was created. Upon thissubject, Bunyan's words are—"God shews his respect to this excellent creature,in that he first provideth for him before he giveth him his being. He bringeth himnot to an empty house, but to one well furnished with all kind of necessaries, havingbeautified the heaven and the earth with glory, and all sorts of nourishment forhis pleasure and sustenance." But the most pious penetration is exhibited inthe spiritualizing of the creation and of the flood—every step produces some typeof that new creation, or regeneration, without which no soul can be fitted for heaven.The dim twilight before the natural sun was made, is typical of the state of thosewho believed before Christ, the Sun of righteousness, arose and was manifested. Thefixed stars are emblems of the church, whose members all shine, but with differentdegrees of lustre—sometimes eclipsed, and at others mistaken for transient meteors.

The whales and lions are figures of great persecutors. But the most singular ideaof all is, that the moral degradation of human nature before the flood, was occasionedby hypocrisy and persecution for conscience sake, arising from governors interferingwith matters of faith and worship; in fact, that a STATE CHURCH occasioned the deluge—and since that time has been the fruitful source of the miseries and wretchednessthat has afflicted mankind. His prediction of the outpouring of the Spirit in theconversion of sinners, when the church shall be no longer enthralled and persecutedby the state, is remarkable. "O thou church of God in England, which art nowupon the waves of affliction and temptation, when thou comest out of the furnace,if thou come out at the bidding of God, there shall come out with thee, the fowl,the beast, and abundance of creeping things. O Judah, he hath set an harvest forthee, when I returned the captivity of my people." May this prediction soonbe verified, and the temporal government no longer vex and torment the church byinterfering with spiritual things.

It is remarkable that of the vast number of pious and enlightened mechanics who adornthis country and feed its prosperity, so few read the extraordinary writings of JohnBunyan, a brother mechanic; for with the exception of the Pilgrim's Progress andHoly War, they are comparatively little known. His simple but illustrative commentary—hisbook of Antichrist—his solemn and striking treatise on the resurrection and finaljudgment—in fact, all his works, are peculiarly calculated to inform the minds ofthe millions—to reform bad habits, and, under the divine blessing, to purify thesoul with that heavenly wisdom which has in it the promise of the life that now isas well as of that which is to come. It is also a fact which ought to be generallyknown, that those preachers who have edited Bunyan's works and have drunk into hisspirit, have been most eminently blessed in their ministry; Wilson, Whitefield, andRyland, can never be forgotten. If the thousands of godly preachers who are scatteredover our comparatively happy island were to take Bunyan's mode of expounding scriptureas their pattern, it would increase their usefulness, and consequently their happiness,in the great work of proclaiming and enforcing the doctrines of the gospel.

GEO OFFOR.

AN EXPOSITION ON THE FIRST TEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS, AND PART OF THE ELEVENTH

In the first edition of this commentary, a series of numbers from 1 to 294 were placedin the margin, the use of which the editor could not discover; probably the workwas written on as many scraps of paper, thus numbered to direct the printer. Theyare omitted, lest, among divisions and subdivisions, they should puzzle the reader.


CHAPTER I.

Of God.

God is a Spirit (John 4:24), eternal (Deu 33:27), infinite (Rom 1:17-20), incomprehensible(Job 11:7), perfect, and unspeakably glorious in his being, attributes, and works(Gen 17:51; Isa 6:3; Exo 33:20). "The eternal God." "Do not I fillheaven and earth? saith the Lord" (Jer 23:24). "Neither is there any creaturethat is not manifest in his sight" (Heb 4:13; Pro 15:11).

In his attributes of wisdom, power, justice, holiness, mercy, &c., he is alsoinconceivably perfect and infinite, not to be comprehended by things in earth, orthings in heaven; known in the perfection of his being only to himself. The seraphimscannot behold him, but through a veil; no man can see him in his perfection and live.

His attributes, though apart laid down in the word of God, that we, being weak, mightthe better conceive of his eternal power and godhead; yet in him they are withoutdivision; one glorious and eternal being. Again, though sometimes this, as of wisdom,or that, as of justice and mercy, is most manifest in his works and wonders beforemen; yet every such work is begun and completed by the joint concurrence of all hisattributes. No act of justice is without his will, power, and wisdom; no act of mercyis against his justice, holiness and purity. Besides, no man must conceive of God,as if he consisted of these attributes, as our body doth of its members, one standinghere, another there, for the completing personal subsistence. For though by the wordwe may distinguish, yet may we not divide them, or presume to appoint them theirplaces in the Godhead. Wisdom is in his justice, holiness is in his power, justiceis in his mercy, holiness is in his love, power is in his goodness (1 John 1:9, Num14:17,18).

Wherefore, he is in all his attributes almighty, all-wise, holy and powerful. Gloryis in his wisdom, glory is in his holiness, glory is in his mercy, justice, and strength;and "God is love" (1 John 4:16).[1]

II. Of the Persons or Subsistances in the Godhead.

The Godhead is but one, yet in the Godhead there are three. "There are threethat can bear record in heaven" (1 John 5:7-9). These three are called "theFather, the Son [Word], and the Holy Spirit"; each of which is really, naturallyand eternally God: yet there is but one God. But again, because the Father is ofhimself, the Son by the Father, and the Spirit from them both, therefore to each,the scripture not only applieth, and that truly, the whole nature of the Deity, butagain distinguisheth the Father from the Son, and the Spirit from them both; callingthe Father HE, by himself; the Son HE, by himself; the Spirit HE, by himself. Yea,the Three of themselves, in their manifesting to the church what she should believeconcerning this matter, hath thus expressed the thing: "Let us make man in OURimage, after OUR likeness" (Gen 1:26). Again, "The man is become as oneof US" (Gen 3:22). Again, "Let US go down, and there confound their language"(Gen 11:6,7). And again, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?" (Isa6:8).

To these general expressions might be added, That Adam heard the voice of the LordGod walking in the midst of the garden: Genesis 3:8. Which voice John will have,to be one of the Three, calling that which Moses here saith is the voice, the wordof God: "In the beginning," saith he, "was the word": the voicewhich Adam heard walking in the midst of the garden. This word, saith John, "waswith God," this "word was God. The same was in the beginning with God"(John 1:1,2). Marvellous language! Once asserting the unity of essence, but twiceinsinuating a distinction of substances therein. "The word was with God, theword was God, the same was in the beginning with God." Then follows, "Allthings were made by him," the word, the second of the three.

Now the godly in former ages have called these three, thus in the Godhead, Personsor Subsistances; the which, though I condemn not, yet choose rather to abide by scripturephrase, knowing, though the other may be good and sound, yet the adversary must needsmore shamelessly spurn and reject, when he doth it against the evident text.

To proceed the, First, There are Three. Second, These three are distinct.

First, By this word Three, is intimated the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,and they are said to be three, 1. Because those appellations that are given themin scripture, demonstrate them so to be, to wit, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 2. Becausetheir acts one towards another discover them so to be.

Secondly, These three are distinct. 1. So distinct as to be more than one, only:There are three. 2. So distinct as to subsist without depending. The Father is trueGod, the Son is true God, the Spirit is true God. Yet the Father is one, the Sonis one, the Spirit is one: The Father is one of himself, the Son is one by the Father,the Spirit is one from them both. Yet the Father is not above the Son, nor the Spiritinferior to either: The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God.

Among the three then there is not superiority. 1. Not as to time; the Father is fromeverlasting, so is the Son, so is the Spirit. 2. Not as to nature, the Son beingof the substance of the Father, and the Spirit of the substance of them both. 3.The fulness of the Godhead is in the Father, is in the Son, and is in the Holy Ghost.

The Godhead then, though it can admit of a Trinity, yet it admitteth not of inferiorityin that Trinity: if otherwise, then less or more must be there, and so either pluralityof gods, or something that is not God: so then, Father, Son and Spirit are in theGodhead, yet but one God; each of these is God over all, yet no Trinity of Gods,but one God in the Trinity.

Explication.—The Godhead then is common to the three, but the three themselves abidedistinct in that Godhead: Distinct, I say, as Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. Thisis manifest further by these several positions.

First, Father and Son are relatives, and must needs therefore have their relationas such: A Father begetteth, a Son is begotten.

Proof.—"Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered thewind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? What is his name, andwhat is his son's name, if thou canst tell?" (Pro 30:4).

"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," &c. (John3:16).

"The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world" (1 John 4:14).

Secondly, The Father then cannot be that Son he begat, nor the Son that Father thatbegat him, but must be distinct as such.

Proof.—"I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bearethwitness of me" (John 8:17,18).

"I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world"; again, "Ileave the world, and go to the Father" (John 16:28).

"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: Thatall men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (John 5:22,23).

Thirdly, The Father must have worship as a Father, and the Son as a Son.

Proof.—They that worship the Father must worship him "in spirit and in truth:for the Father seeketh such to worship him" (John 4:23,24).

And of the Son he saith, and "when he bringeth in the first begotten into theworld, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him" (Heb 1:6).

Fourthly, The Father and Son have really these distinct, but heavenly, relative properties,that discover them, as such, to be two as well as one.

Proof.—"The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things" (John 5:20).

"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I mighttake it again" (John 10:17). The Father sent the Son; the Father commanded theSon; the Son prayed to the Father, and did always the things that pleased him.

The absurdities that flow from the denial of this are divers, some of which hereunderfollow.

1. Absurdity.—It maketh void all those scriptures that do affirm the doctrine; someof which you have before.

2. Absurdity.—If in the Godhead there be but one, not three, then the Father, Son,or the Spirit, must needs be that one, if any one only: so then the other two arenothing. Again, If the reality of a being be neither in the Father, Son, nor Spirit,as such, but in the eternal deity, without consideration of Father, Son, and Spiritas three; then neither of the three are anything but notions in us, or manifestationsof the Godhead; or nominal distinctions; so related by the word; but if so, thenwhen the Father sent the Son, and the Father and Son the Spirit, one notion sentanother, one manifestation sent another. This being granted, this unavoidably follows,there was no Father to beget a Son, no Son to be sent to save us, no Holy Ghost tobe sent to comfort us, and to guide us into all the truth of the Father and Son,&c. The most amounts but to this, a notion sent a notion, a distinction senta distinction, or one manifestation sent another. Of this error these are the consequences,we are only to believe in notions and distinctions, when we believe in the Fatherand the Son; and so shall have no other heaven and glory, than notions and nominaldistinctions can furnish us withal.

3. Absurdity.—If Father and Son, &c., be no otherwise three, than as notions,names, or nominal distinctions; then to worship these distinctly, or together, assuch, is to commit most gross and horrible idolatry: For albeit we are commandedto fear that great and dreadful name, The Lord our God; yet to worship a Father,a Son, and Holy Spirit in the Godhead, as three, as really three as one, is by thisdoctrine to imagine falsely of God, and so to break the second commandment: but toworship God under the consideration of Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, and to believethem as really three as one when I worship, being the sum and substance of the doctrineof the scriptures of God, there is really substantially three in the eternal Godhead.

But to help thee a little in thy study on this deep.

1. Thou must take heed when thou readest, there is in the Godhead, Father, and Son,&c., that thou do not imagine about them according to thine own carnal and foolishfancy; for no man can apprehend this doctrine but in the light of the word and Spiritof God. "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man theFather, save the Son; and he to whom the Son will reveal him" (Matt 11:27).If therefore thou be destitute of the Spirit of God, thou canst not apprehend thetruth of this mystery as it is in itself, but will either by thy darkness be drivento a denial thereof; or if thou own it, thou wilt (that thy acknowledgment notwithstanding)falsely imagine about it.

2. If thou feel thy thoughts begin to wrestle about this truth, and to struggle concerningthis one against another; take heed of admitting of such a question, How can thisthing be? For here is no room for reason to make it out, here is only room to believeit is a truth. You find not one of the prophets propounding an argument to proveit; but asserting it, they let it lie, for faith to take it up and embrace it.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communionof the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen" (2 Cor 13:14).

III. Of the Creation of the World (Gen 1).

The Apostle saith, That "to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom areall things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, andwe by him" (1 Cor 8:6). "God that made the world" (Acts 17:24). "Allthings were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made"(John 1:3). This world therefore had a beginning, and was created by the God of heaven.Which work, because it is wonderful, and discovereth much of the greatness, of thewisdom and power of the eternal Godhead, it behoveth such poor mortals as we to beholdthese works of the mighty God, that thereby we may see how great he is, and be madeto cry out, What is man! [2] (Psa 8:3,4)

Now in the creation of the world we may consider several things; as, What was theorder of God in this work? And, whether there was a secret or mystery in this workcontaining the truth of some higher thing? For the first of these:

Of the Order of God in Making the World.

[THE HEAVEN.]

Although God be indeed omnipotent, and not only can, but doth do whatsoever he will;and though to do his works he needeth not length of time; yet it pleased him best,in the creation of the world (though it could, had it pleased him, have done allby one only word) to proceed by degrees from one thing to another, to the completingof six days' work in the making thereof.

And forasmuch as this work went on by degrees, now this thing, and then another,it may not be amiss, if in our discourse on this wonderful work, we begin where Godbegan; and if we can, go wondering after him who hath thus wrought.

1. The first thing that God made was time; I say, it was time: All the plain in whichhe would build this beautiful world; he made nothing before, but in the beginning:"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen 1:1). In thebeginning of time. "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea,and all that in them is" (Exo 20:11). Therefore the first day must first havea beginning to be. Whatsoever was before time, was eternal; but nothing but God himselfis eternal, therefore no creature was before time. Time, therefore, which was indeedthe beginning, was the first of the creatures of God.

2. I think, the second of creatures that the Lord created, were the holy angels ofGod, they being called the morning stars, as created and shining in the morning ofthe world; and therefore they are said to be by, when the corner-stone of the universewas laid; that is, when he "laid the foundations" of the world: Then "themorning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 5:4-7).

3. I think the third thing that the Lord created, was these large and copious heavens;for they are mentioned with respect to their being before the earth, or any visiblecreature. "In the beginning God created the heavens" (Gen 1:1), &c.Neither do I think that the heavens were made of that confused chaos that afterwardswe read of. It is said, he stretched out the heavens as a curtain, and with his handhe hath spanned the heavens (Psa 104:2; Isa 40:22; 48:13).; intimating, that theywere not taken out of that formless heap, but were immediately formed by his power.Besides, the Holy Ghost, treating of the creating of heaven and earth, he only saith,The earth was void, and without form; but no such thing of the heavens.

[THE EARTH.]

4. The fourth thing that God created, it was (in mine opinion) that chaos, or firstmatter, with which he in the six days framed this earth, with its appurtenances;for the visible things that are here below, seem to me to be otherwise put into beingand order, than time, the angels, and the heavens, they being created in their ownsimple essence by themselves: But the things that are visibly here below, whatevertheir essence and nature be, they were formed of that first deformed chaos. "Inthe beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without formand void" (Gen 1:1,2). He saith not so of the heavens; they, as I said, wereat first stretched forth as a curtain; indeed they were afterwards garnished withthe beauty which we now behold; but otherwise they had, at their first instant ofbeing, that form which now they have. This seems clear by the antithesis which theHoly Ghost put between them, God created the heaven and the earth, but "theearth was without form and void" (Gen 1:2). The earth was without form, &c.,without order; things were together on a confused heap; the waters were not dividedfrom the earth, neither did those things appear which are now upon the face of theearth; as man, and beast, fish, fowls, trees, and herbs; all these did afterwardsshew themselves, as the word of God gave them being, by commanding their appearance,in what form, order, place and time he in himself had before determined; but all,I say, took their matter and substance of that first chaos, which he in the firstday of the world had commanded to appear, and had given being to: And therefore 'tissaid, God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, herbs, trees, &c., (v 12) andthat the waters brought forth the fish, and fowl, yea, even to the mighty whales(vv 21,22). Also the earth brought forth cattle, and creeping things (v 24). Andthat God made man of the dust of the ground (3:19). All these things therefore weremade of, or caused by his word distinctly to appear, and be after its kind, of thatfirst matter which he had before created by his word. Observe therefore, That thematter of all earthly things was made at the same instant, but their forming, &c.,was according to the day in which God gave them their being, in their own order andkind. And hence it is said, that after that first matter was created, and found withoutform and void, that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; that isto work, and cause those things to appear in their own essence and form, which, asto matter and substance, was before created: Wherefore it follows, And God said,Let there be light; and God divided the light from the darkness, &c. Now he setto putting in frame that which before lay in disorder and confusion: And this wasa great part of the six days' work; I say, a great part, but not all; for (as I said)before that time, the angels, and the heavens were made; yea, after the beginningof the morning of the first day. I am of the belief, that other things also, thatwere formed after, were not made of that first chaos, as the sun, the moon, the stars,the light, the souls of men, and possibly the air, &c. The sun, and moon, andstars, are said to be made the fourth day, yet not of the body of heaven itself,much less, in my opinion, of any earthly matter: God made them, and set them in thefirmament of heaven (vv 16,17). So the light that was made before, it seems to bea thing created after the heavens and the earth were created: Created, I say, asa thing that wanted a being before, any otherwise, than in the decree of God: andGod said, Let there be light; Let it have a being (v 3). And so, though the bodyof man was made of the substance of earth, yet as to his soul, it is said, God breathedinto his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (2:7).

Whether there was a secret or mystery in this work, containing the truth of somehigher thing.

Though God in very deed, by his eternal power, created heaven and earth of thingsthat do not appear, we that are Christians believe: yet in this his wonderful work,neither his will or understanding did here terminate, or make a stop; but being infinitein wisdom, he made them, that both as to matter and manner, they might present untous, as in a mystery, some higher and more excellent thing; in this wisdom he madethem all. And hence it is that other things are also called a creation: As, 1. Theessential conversion of a sinner (2 Cor 5:17). 2. The recovery of the church froma degenerate state (Rev 21:5).

And therefore, as Moses begins with the creation of the world, so John begins withthe gospel of salvation (Gen 1:1; John 1:1). There is also besides many excellentthings in the manner and order of the creation of the world, held forth to thosethat have understanding: Some of which I may touch upon by way of observation. Butto begin with the first:

The first appearance of this earthy part of the world, is recorded to be but a formlessand void heap or chaos; and such is man before a new creation: formless, I mean,as to the order of the Testament of Christ, and void of the holy order thereof: Andhence Jeremiah, when he would set forth the condition of a wicked people, he dothit under this metaphor: "I beheld [saith he] the earth, and, lo, it was withoutform and void" (Jer 4:23). Indeed, the world would make this a type of Christ;to wit, a man of no form or comeliness (Isa 53:2). But 'tis only true of themselves;they are without a New Testament impression upon them; they are void of the sovereigngrace of God. So then the power of God gave the world a being, but by his word heset it in form and beauty; even as by his power he gives a being to man, but by hisword he giveth him New Testament framing and glory (Eph 2:10-13). This is still followedby that which follows:

And darkness was upon the face of the deep (v 2).

The Deep here, might be a type of the heart of man before conversion; and so Solomonseems to intimate. Now as the darkness of this world did cover the face of this firstchaos; so spiritual darkness the heart of the sons of men: and hence they are saidto be darkened, to be in darkness, yea, to be very darkness itself.

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

A blessed emblem of the word of God in the matter of regeneration; for as the firstchaos remained without form, and void, until the Spirit of God moved to work uponit, and by working, to put this world into frame and order; so man, as he comes intothe world, abides a confused lump, an unclean thing; a creature without New Testamentorder, until by the Spirit of the Lord he is transformed into the image of JesusChrist (Gal 1:15).

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face."

Solomon compares the heart to a man's face; because as in the face may be discernedwhether there is anger or otherwise; so by the inclinations of the heart are discoveredthe truth of the condition of the man, as to his state either for heaven or hell.And besides, as the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; so in the workof our conversion, the Spirit of God beginneth with the heart of the sons of men;because the heart is the main fort (Acts 2:37). Now if the main fort be not taken,the adversary is still capable of making continual resistance. Therefore God firstconquers the heart; therefore the Spirit of God moveth upon the face of our heart,when he cometh to convert us from Satan to God.

"And God said, Let there be light."

This is the first thing with which God began the order of the creation; to wit, light,"Let there be light": From which many profitable notes may be gathered,as to the order of God in the salvation of the soul. As,

1. When the Holy Ghost worketh upon us, and in us, in order to a new creation; hefirst toucheth our understanding, that great peace of the heart, with his spiritualillumination (Matt 4:16). His first word, in order to our conversion, is, Let therebe light: light, to see their state by nature; light, to see the fruits and effectsof sin; light, to see the truth and worth of the merits of Jesus Christ; light, tosee the truth and faithfulness of God, in keeping promise and covenant with themthat embrace salvation upon the blessed terms of the gospel of peace (Heb 10:32).Now that this word, Let there be light, was a semblance of the first work of theHoly Ghost upon the heart, compare it with that of Paul to the Corinthians; "ForGod, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness," that is, at the beginningof the world, "hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledgeof the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6).

2. "And God said, Let there be light." As here, the light of this world;so in conversion, the light of the New Testament of Christ, it comes by the wordof God. No word, no light: therefore the apostle saith, He "hath brought lifeand immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim 1:10). And therefore Paulsaith again, That salvation is manifest through preaching, through the expoundingor opening of the word of faith.

3. "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light": He spake theword, and it was done; all that darkness that before did cover the face of the deep,could not now hinder the being of light. So neither can all the blindness and ignorancethat is in the heart of man, hinder the light of the knowledge of the glory of Godin the face of Jesus Christ (Rev 3:7). When it pleaseth God to reveal, it is revealed;when he openeth, none can shut: He said, Let there be light, and there was light.

And God saw that the light was good. Truly the light is good (saith Solomon) anda pleasant thing it is for the eye to behold the sun. It was good, because it wasGod's creature; and so in the work of grace that is wrought in our hearts, that lightof the new covenant, it is good, because it is God's work, the work of his good pleasure(2 Thess 1:11); that good work which he hath not only begun, but promised to fulfiluntil the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6).

God saw that the light was good. The darkness that before did cover the face of thewaters, was not a creature of God, but a privation, or that which was caused by reasonthat light was not as yet in the world: so sin, that darkness that might be felt,is not the workmanship of God in the soul, but that which is the work of the devil;and that taketh occasion to be, by reason that the true light, as yet, doth not shinein the soul.

"And God divided the light from the darkness." As Paul saith, What communionhath light with darkness? they cannot agree to dwell together (2 Cor 6:14). We seethe night still flies before the day, and dareth not come upon us again, but as thelight diminisheth and conveyeth itself away. So it is in the new creation; beforethe light of the glorious gospel of Christ appears, there is night, all night, inthe soul (Eph 5:8): but when that indeed doth shine in the soul, then for night thereis day in the soul: "Ye were darkness [saith Paul] but now are ye light in theLord" (v 9): And, "The darkness is past [saith John] and the true lightnow shineth" (1 John 2:8).

"And God divided the light from the darkness."

God took part with the light, and preserved it from the darkness. By these words,it seems that darkness and light began the quarrel, before that bloody bout of Cainand Abel (Gal 5:17). The light and the darkness struggled together, and nothing coulddivide or part them but God. Darkness is at implacable enmity with light in the creationof the world; and so it is in that rare work of regeneration, the flesh lusteth againstthe spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; as Peter saith, Fleshly lusts, theywar against the soul. This every Christian feels, and also that which I mentionedbefore, namely, That before he be capable of opposing antichrist, with Abel, in theworld, he findeth a struggling in his own soul between the light and the darknessthat is there.

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night."

God doth not only distinguish by separating, but also by certain characters; thatthings which are distinguished and separate, may to us be the better known; he didso here in the work of creating the world, and he doth so also in the great concernof man's eternal happiness. The place of felicity is called heaven: The place oftorment is called hell: that which leads to hell is called sin, transgression, iniquity,and wickedness; that which leads to heaven, righteousness, holiness, goodness anduprightness: even as in these types God called the light day, of which the godlyare the children (1 Thess 5:5); but the darkness he called night, of which all ungodlymen are the inhabiters and children also. Thus after the Spirit of God had movedupon the face of the waters; after God had commanded the light to shine, and haddivided between the light and the darkness, and had characterized them by their propernames, he concludes the first day's work, "And the evening and the morning werethe first day." In which conclusion there is wrapped up a blessed gospel-mystery;for God, by concluding the first day here, doth shew us how we ought to determinethat one is made indeed a Christian: Even then when the Spirit of God hath movedupon the face of the heart, when he hath commanded that light should be there, whenhe divideth between, or setteth the light at variance with the darkness; and whenthe soul doth receive the characters of both, to observe them, and carry it to eachaccording to the mouth of God.

"And God saith, Let there be a firmament" (v 6).

This firmament he calleth heaven (v 8). Now this firmament, or heaven, was to makea separation, or to divide between the waters and the waters (v 7); To separate,I say, the waters from the waters; the waters which were under the firmament, fromthe waters which were above the firmament. Now by waters is signified in the scripturesmany things, as afflictions, worldly people (Psa 69:1,2), and particularly the saints(Rev 19:6); but in this place is figured forth, all the people in the world, butso as consisting of two parts, the children of God, and the children of the wickedone: They under the heaven, figure out the world, or ungodly: they above the firmament,the elect and chosen of God. And hence in scripture the one is called heaven, andthe other is called earth, to signify the separation and difference that there isbetween the one and the other.

"And God made the firmament, and divided the waters - from the waters."

Indeed the world think that this separation comes, or is made, through the captiousnessof the preacher: But in truth it is the handy work of God; And God made the firmament,and God divided, &c. "I," saith he, "will put enmity between theeand the woman, and between thy seed and her seed" (Gen 3:15). The good seedare the children of the kingdom of God, but the bad are the children of the wickedone (Matt 13:38).

"And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament,from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so" (v 7).

Whatsoever the Lord doth, it abideth for ever (Eccl 3:14). And again, What he hathmade crooked, who can make straight? (Eccl 1:15). He said it in the beginning, andbehold how it hath continued! Yea, though there hath been endeavours on Satan's part,to mingle his children with the seed of men; yet it hath not been possible they shouldever cleave one to another, "even as iron is not mixed with clay" (Dan2:43). Yea, let me add further, What laws have been made, what blood hath been shed,what cruelty hath been used, and what flatteries and lies invented, and all to makethese two waters and people one? And yet all hath failed, and fallen short of producingthe desired effect; for the Lord hath made a firmament, even heaven itself hath dividedbetween them.

"And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were thesecond day" (v 8).

After the waters were divided from the waters, God called the cause of dividing,heaven; and so concluded the second day's work. And indeed it was a very great work,as in the antitype we feel it to this very day. Dividing work is difficult work,and he that can, according to God, completely end and finish it, he need do no morethat day of his life.

"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto oneplace, and let the dry land appear: and it was so" (v 9).

Although in the second day's work, the waters above the firmament, and those thatbe under, are the two peoples, or great families of the world (Pro 8:31); yet becauseGod would shew us by things on earth, the flourishing state of those that are his(Hosea 10:12; Joel 2:21-23; Psa 91:1; Heb 6:7), therefore he here doth express hismind by another kind of representation of things (Jer 4:3,4): "And God said,Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place; and let thedry land appear." The waters here signifying the world; but the fruitful earth,the thrifty church of God. That the fruitful earth is a figure of the thriving churchof God in this world, is evident from many scriptures, (and there was nothing butthriftiness till the curse came). And hence it is said of the church, That she shouldbreak the clods of the ground; that she should sow righteousness, and reap it; thatshe should not sow among thorns; that if this be done, the heart is circumcised,and spiritual fruit shall flow forth, and grow abundantly: And hence again it isthat the officers and eminent ones in the church, are called vines, trees, and otherfruitful plants. And hence it is said again, When the Lord reigneth, let the earth(that is, the church) rejoice. That earth which bringeth forth fruit meet for himby whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. In all which places, and manymore that might be named, the earth is made a figure of the church of God; and soI count it here in this place.

"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place."

Let them be together: It is not thus of all waters, but of the sea, which is stillhere a type of the world. Let them be so together, that the earth may appear; thatthe church may be rid of their rage and tumult, and then she will be fruitful, asit follows in this first book of Genesis. The church is then in a flourishing state,when the world is farthest off from her, and when the roaring of their waves arefar away. Now therefore let all the wicked men be far from thence (Ezra 6:6): TheLord gather these waters, which in another place are called the doleful creatures,and birds of prey; Let these, O Lord, be gathered together to their own places, andbe settled in the land of Shinar upon their own base (Zech 5:11): Then the wildernessand the solitary places shall be glad for them; that is, for that they are departedthence, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose (Isa 34 and 35).

"And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waterscalled he seas: and God saw that it was good" (v 10).

God saw, that to separate the waters from the earth was good: And so it is, for thenhave the churches rest. Then doth this earth bring forth her fruit, as in the 11thand 12th verses may here be seen.

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven" (v 14).

The wisdom of God, is there to make use of figures and shadows, even where most fitthings, the things under consideration, may be most fitly demonstrated. The dividingthe waters from the waters, most fitly doth show the work of God in choosing andrefusing; by dividing the waters from the earth, doth show how fruitful God's earth,the church is, when persecutors are made to be far from thence.

Wherefore he speaketh not of garnishing of his church until he comes to this fourthday's work: by his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens, that most fitly showingthe glory of the church.

Let there be lights; to wit, the sun, the moon, and the stars.

The sun is in this place a type of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness: The moon isa type of the church, in her uncertain condition in this world: The stars are typesof the several saints and officers in this church. And hence it is that the sun issaid not only to rule, but it, with the moon and stars, to be set for signs, andfor seasons, and for days, and for years, &c. (Rev 1:20). But if we take theheaven for the church, then how is she beautified, when the Son of God is placedin the midst of her! (Rev 1:12,13). And how plainly is her condition made out, evenby the changing, increasing, and diminishing of the moon! And how excellent is thatcongregation of men, that for light and glory are figured by the stars! (Matt 28:20).

From this day's work much might be observed.

First, That forasmuch as the sun was not made before the fourth day, it is evidentthere was light in the world before the sun was created; for in the first day Godsaid, Let there be light, and there was light. This may also teach us thus much,That before Christ came in person, there was spiritual light in the saints of God.And again, That as the sun was not made before the fourth day of the creation, soChrist should not be born before the fourth mystical day of the world; for it isevident, that Christ, the true light of the world, was not born till about four thousandyears after the world was made. Second, As to the moon, there are four things attendingher, which fitly may hold forth the state of the church. (1.) In that she changethfrom an old to a new, we may conceive, that God by making her so, did it to showhe would one day make a change of his church, from a Jewish to a Gentile congregation.(2.) In that she increaseth, she showeth the flourishing state of the church. (3.)In her diminishing, the diminishing state of the church. (4.) The moon is also sometimesmade to look as red as blood, to show how dreadful and bloody the suffering of thechurch is at some certain times.

Third, By the stars, we understand two things. (1.) How innumerable the saints, thosespiritual stars shall be (Heb 11:12). (2.) How they shall differ each from otherin glory (1 Cor 15:41).

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to dividethe day from the night."

For though before the light was divided from the darkness, yet the day and nightwas not so kept within their bounds, as now by these lights they were: probably signifying,that nothing should be so clearly distinguished and made appear, as by the sun lightof the gospel of Christ: for by that it is that "the shadows flee away"(Song 2:17). The light of the sun gathers the day to its hours, both longer and shorter,and forceth also the night to keep within his bounds.

"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesserlight to rule the night" (v 16).

Signifying, That Christ should be the light and governor of his church, which arethe children of the day; but the church, a light to the children of the night, thatby them they might learn the mysteries of the kingdom. Saith Christ to his own, "Yeare the light of the world": And again, "Let your light so shine, - thatmen may see," &c., for though they that only walk in the night, cannot seeto walk by the sun, yet by the moon they may. Thus the heaven is a type of the church,the moon a type of her uncertain state in this world; the stars are types of herimmovable converts; and their glory, of the differing degrees of theirs, both here,and in the other world. Much more might be said, but I pass this.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature thathath life" (v 20).

The sea, as I said, is a figure of the world; wherefore the creatures that are init, of the men of the world (Zech 13:8; Isa 60:5). This sea bringeth forth smalland great beasts, even as the world doth yield both small and great persecutors,who like the fishes of prey, eat up and devour what they can of those fish that areof another condition. Now also out of the world that mystical sea, as fishers doout of the natural; both Christ and his servants catch mystical fish, even fish asof the great sea.

In the sea God created great whales, he made them to play therein.

Which whales in the sea are types of the devils in the world: Therefore as the devilis called, the prince of this world; so the whale is called, king over all the childrenof pride (Job 41:33,34).

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind"(v 24).

Of the beginning of this sixth day's work that may be said which is said of the fishes,and the rest of the sea; for as there is variety of fish in the one, so of beastsand cattle in the other, who also make a prey of their fellows, as the fishes do;a most apt representation of the nature and actions of bloody and deceitful men:Hence persecutors are called bulls, bears, lions, wolves, tigers, dragons, dogs,foxes, leopards, and the like.[3]

"And God said, Let us make man" (v 26).

I observe, that in the creation of the world, God goeth gradually on, from thingsless, to things more abundantly glorious; I mean, as to the creation of this earth;and the things that thereto appertain. First he bringeth forth a confused chaos,then he commands matter to appear distinct, then the earth bringeth forth trees,and herbs, and grass; after that beasts; and the sea, fowls; and last of all, Letus make man. Now passing by the doctrine of the trinity, because spoken to before,I come to make some observation upon this wonderful piece of the workmanship of God.

"Let us make man." Man in whom is also included the woman, was made thelast of the creatures. From whence we may gather, God's respect to this excellentcreature, in that he first provideth for him, before he giveth him his being: Hebringeth him not to an empty house, but to one well furnished with all kind of necessaries,having beautified the heaven and the earth with glory, and all sorts of nourishment,for his pleasure and sustenance.[4]

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

An image, or the likeness of any thing, is not the thing of which it is a figure;so here, Adam is an image, or made in the likeness of God. Now as Adam is the imageof God, it must either respect him, as he consisteth of the soul, as a part; or ashe consists of a body and soul together: If as he is made a reasonable soul, thenhe is an excellent image of the eternal Godhead, the attributes of the one beingshadowed out by the qualities and passions of the other; for as there is in the Godhead,power, knowledge, love, and righteousness; so a likeness of these is in the soulof man, especially of man before he had sinned: And as there is passions of pity,compassion, affections, and bowels in man; so there are these in a far more infiniteway in God.

Again, If this image respect the whole man, then Adam was a figure of God, as incarnate;or of God, as he was to be made afterwards man. And hence it is, that as Adam iscalled the image of God (Rom 5:14); so also is Christ himself called and reckonedas the answering antitype of such an image.

But again, Though Adam be here called the image or similitude of God; yet but soas that he was the shadow of a more excellent image. Adam was a type of Christ, whoonly is "the express image" of his Father's person, and the likeness ofhis excellent glory (Heb 1:3). For those things that were in Adam, were but of ahumane, but of a created substance; but those that were in Christ, of the same divineand eternal excellency with the Father.

Is Christ then the image of the Father, simply, as considered of the same divineand eternal excellency with him? Certainly, No: for an image is doubtless inferiorto that of which it is a figure. Understand then, that Christ is the image of theFather's glory, as born of the Virgin Mary, yet so, as being very God also: Not thathis Godhead in itself was a shadow or image, but by the acts and doing of that man,every act being infinitely perfect by virtue of his Godhead, the Father's perfectionswere made manifest to flesh. An image is to be looked upon, and by being looked upon,another thing is seen; so by the person and doings of the Lord Jesus, they that indeedcould see him as he was, discovered the perfection and glory of the Father.—"Philip,He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us theFather?" (John 14:9). Neither the Father nor the Son can by us at all be seen,as they are simply and entirely in their own essence. Therefore the person of theFather must be seen by us, through the Son, as consisting of God and man; the Godhead,by working effectually in the manhood, shewing clearly there through the infiniteperfection and glory of the Father: "The word was made flesh, and - [then] webeheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, [He being in hispersonal excellencies, infinitely and perfectly, what is recorded of his Father,]full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). So again, he "is the image of theinvisible God" (Col 1:15). The Godhead is indeed invisible; how then is Christthe image of it? Not by being invisible also; for so is he as much hid as the Father;but being clothed with flesh, that the works of the Son might by us be seen, he therebypresenteth to us, as in a figure, the eternal excellency of the Father. And henceas he is called "an image," he is also called "the first-born"of every creature (Col 1:18). His being a creature, respecting his manhood, and hisbirth, and his rising again from the dead. Therefore a little after, he is called,"the first-born from the dead" (v 19): And in another place, "thefirst-begotten of the dead" (Rev 1:5): And "the first-fruits of them thatslept" (1 Cor 15:20). So then, though Adam was the image of God, yet God's imagebut as a mere creature: But Christ though a creature as touching his manhood; yetbeing also God, as the Father, he shewed forth expressly, in capital characters,by all his works and doings in the world, the beauty and glory of the Father: "Thelight of the knowledge of the glory of God," is given "in the face of JesusChrist" (2 Cor 4:6). Where by face, we must understand that which is visible,that being open when all else is covered, and that by which most principally we arediscovered to others, and known. Now as to the case in hand, this face must signifyto us the personal virtues and doings of Christ, by which the glory of the Fatheris exposed; the glory of his justice, by Christ's exactness of life; the glory ofhis love, by Christ's compassion to sinners, &c.

Ver. 26. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: andlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, andover the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepethupon the earth."

As Adam was a type of Christ, as the image and glory of God; so by these words hefurther showeth, that he was a type of his sovereign power; for to him be dominionand power everlasting (Heb 2:8,9), "to whom be praise and dominion for ever"(1 Peter 4:11; Jude 25). Now by the fish of the sea, the beasts of the earth, thefowls of the air, and every creeping thing, we may understand all creatures, visibleand invisible, whether they be men, angels, or devils; in heaven, earth, or underthe earth: also all thrones, authorities and powers, whether in heaven, in earth,or hell: Christ is made head over all; He hath also a name above every name, "notonly in this world, but in that which is to come" (Eph 1:25).

Ver. 28. "And God blessed them; and God said unto them, [that is, to the manand his wife] Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,"&c.

This in the type doth show, in the antitype, how fruitful Christ and his church shallbe; and how he at last shall, all over the earth, have a seed to replenish and subdueit by the power of the immortal seed of the word of God: how his name shall be reverencedfrom one end of the earth to the other: how the kingdoms of the earth shall ALL atlast become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.

"And subdue it." God did put that majesty and dread upon Adam, at his creation,that all the beasts of the field submitted themselves unto him. As God also saidto Noah, "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast ofthe earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, andupon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered" (Gen 9:2).

"And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is uponthe face of all the earth; and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yieldingseed; to you it shall be for meat" (Gen 1:29).

These herbs and trees are types of the wholesome word of the gospel, on which bothChrist, his church, and unconverted sinners, ought to feed and be refreshed; andwithout which thee is no subsisting either of one or the other: "He causeththe grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bringforth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oilto make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart" (Psa 104:14,15).

"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good"(v 31).

All things have their natural goodness by creation. Things are not good, becausethey have a being only, but because God gave them such a being. Neither did God makethem, because he saw they would attract a goodness to themselves; but he made themin such kind, as to bring forth that goodness he before determined they should. "Andthe evening and the morning were the sixth day."

CHAPTER II.

Ver. 3. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that init he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

The seventh day did signify two things:

First, Christ Jesus, who is as well the rest of the justice of God, as a rest forsinful man.

Secondly, It was also a type of that glorious rest that saints shall have when thesix days of this world are fully ended.

For the first, the apostle makes the sabbath a shadow of Jesus Christ, "a shadowof things to come; but the body [or substance] is of Christ" (Col 2:17). Andhence it is that he is so often said to be "a rest" to the Gentiles, aglorious rest, and that he promiseth rest to such as cast their burthen upon him(Matt 11:29).

The second also the apostle asserteth in that fourth chapter to the Hebrews, "Thereremaineth therefore a rest," or the keeping of a sabbath, "to the peopleof God" (v 9 read also vv 4-11). Which sabbath, as I conceive, will be the sevenththousand of years, which are to follow immediately after the world hath stood sixthousand first: for as God was six days in the works of creation, and rested theseventh; so in six thousand years he will perfect his works and providences thatconcern this world. As also he will finish the toil and travel of his saints, withthe burthen of the beasts, and the curse of the ground; and bring all into rest fora thousand years. A day with the Lord, is as a thousand years: wherefore this blessedand desirable time is also called "a day," "a great day," "thatgreat and notable day of the Lord" (Acts 2:20), which shall end in the eternaljudgment of the world. God hath held forth this by several other shadows, as thesabbath of weeks, the sabbath of years, and the great jubilee, which is to be theyear after forty-nine years are expired (Lev 25:1-13). Of all which, more in theirplace, if God permit.

Ver. 4. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when theywere created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens."

Moses seems by these words, "In the day," to insist principally upon themin their first and primitive state, before there was sin or curse in the world; forin the day that they were created, there was a far more glorious lustre and beautythan now can be seen; the heaven, for sin, is, as it were, turned into brass; andthe rain into powder and dust, in comparison of what it was as it came from the fingersof God. The earth hath also from that time a curse upon it; yea, the whole creation,by sin, is even "made subject to vanity," is in travail, and groans underthe burthen that sin hath brought upon it (Rom 8:19-23).

Ver. 5. "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and everyherb of the field before it grew."

Thus it was in the first creation; they therefore became neither herbs nor trees,by the course of nature, but by the creation of God. And even so it is in the newcreation, men spring not up by nature to be saints: No, not in the church of God,but first they are created in Christ Jesus, and made meet to be partakers of thebenefit, and then planted in the church of God; "planted," I say, as plantsbefore prepared. Indeed hypocrites, and formal professors, may spring up in the church,by virtue of her forms, and outward services, as thorns and thistles spring up inthe earth, by virtue of her moisture and heartiness. But these are but the fruitsof the curse, and are determined to be burned at last in the fire: "Every plant[saith Christ] which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up"(Matt 15:13; Heb 6:8).[5]

"For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth." This is thereason that they came not up by nature first, but were first created, then planted,then made to grow. So the reason why men by nature grow not in the church, is, becausethe Lord doth not cause it to rain upon them, they still abiding and doing accordingto the course of this world; but he plants them in his house by the mighty powerof his word and Spirit, by which they are created saints, and then they afterwardsgrow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "Andthere was not a man to till the ground." It seems by this there was a kind ofnecessity why God should make man, yea, a multitude of men; for otherwise he hadmade what before he made in vain; that is, his end in making so glorious a creatureas this world, which was to shew forth his glory by, had been void, and without effect;for although it was glorious, as it came out of the hand of God; yet it was not ofpower so to preserve itself, but would, without men to look after and dress it, beturned into a wilderness.

Thus it is with the world of men, if there was not the second Adam to plough themand sow them, they could none of them become saints; No, not the elect themselves;because the means are determined, as well as the end.

By this we may likewise see what a woeful condition that people is in, that haveno ministers of the word of the gospel: "My people perish, [are destroyed] forlack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6): And again, "Where there is no vision, thepeople perish" (Pro 29:18). Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, thathe would send out his ploughers to plough, and his labourers into his harvest.

Ver. 6. "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole faceof the ground."

Although as yet there was no ploughman nor rain, yet a mist arose from the earth;so where there is not the word of the gospel, there is yet sufficiency of light,to teach men how to govern themselves in civil and natural society. But this is only"a mist," men cannot gospelly grow by this; therefore, as in the next verse,of necessity man must be formed.

But again, I have sometimes thought by this mist, might be held forth that nourishmentmen had by the doctrine of faith, before the gospel was divulged by Moses, the prophets,or Christ, &c. for before these, that nourishment the church received, was butslender and short, even as short as the nourishing of the mist is to sober and moderateshowers of rain; to which both the law and the gospel is compared.

Again, I have also sometimes thought, that by this mist might be typified those excellentproverbs and holy sayings of the men of old, before there was a written word; forit cannot be but the godly did contain in proverbs, and certain sayings, the doctrineof salvation hereafter, and of good living here [see Romans 2:14]; of which we havea touch in Genesis, but more at large by that blessed book of Job; which book, inmy opinion, is a holy collection of those proverbs and sayings of the ancients, occasionedby the temptation of that good man. But whatever this mist did signify (in othermen's judgment) certain it is, it was for present necessity, till a man should bemade to till the ground, and the fruits thereof watered with "the bottles ofheaven": Which, so far as I see yet, most aptly presents us with some of allthese.

Ver. 7. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground," &c.In the creation of man, God began with his outside; but in the work of regeneration,he first begins within, at the heart. He made him; that is, his body, of the dustof the ground; but he abides a lifeless lump, till the Lord puts forth a second act."And [he] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a livingsoul." Now he lives, now he acts: so it is in the kingdom of Christ, no mancan be a living soul in that kingdom by his first creation, he must have life "breathed"into him, life and spirit from Jesus Christ (John 20:22).

Now therefore is Adam a type, yet but an earthly one, of things more high and heavenly;"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the imageof the heavenly" (1 Cor 15:49).

Ver. 8. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he putthe man whom he had formed."

"And the Lord God planted a garden." Thus the Holy Ghost speaks clearerand clearer; for now he presents the church to us under the similitude of a garden,which is taken out of the wide and open field, and inclosed; "A garden inclosedis my sister, my spouse"; a garden inclosed, "a spring shut up, a fountainsealed" (Cant 4:12); and there he put the man whom he had formed. An excellenttype of the presence of Christ with his church (Rev 1:12,13).

Ver. 9. "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that ispleasant to the sight," &c.

These trees, and their pleasurableness, do shew us the beauty of the truly godly,whom the Lord hath beautified with salvation. And hence it is said, the glory ofLebanon, of Sharon, and of Carmel, is given to the church: that is, she is more beautifiedwith gifts and graces than can by types and shadows be expressed. "The treeof life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

This "tree of life," was another type of Christ, as the bread and healingmedicine of the church, that stands "in the midst of the paradise of God"(Rev 2:7; 22:2).

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was a type of the law, or covenant ofworks, as the sequel of the story clearly manifesteth; for had not Adam eaten thereof,he had enjoyed for ever his first blessedness. As Moses saith, "It shall beour righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord ourGod, as he hath commanded us" (Deu 6:25). But both Adam and we have touched,that is, broken the boughs and fruit of this tree, and therefore now for ever, bythe law, no man can stand just before God (Gal 2:16).

Ver. 10. "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thenceit was parted, and became into four heads."

This river while it abided in Eden, in the garden, it was the river of God; thatis, serviceable to the trees and fruit of the garden, and was herein a type of thosewatering ministers that water the plants of the Lord. But observe, when it had passedthe garden, had gotten without the bound of the garden, from thence it was parted,and became into four heads; from thence it was transformed, or turned into anothermanner of thing: it now became into four heads; a type of the four great monarchiesof the world, of which Babylon, though the first in order of being, yet the lastin a gospel or mysterious sense. The fourth is the river Euphrates, that which wasthe face of the kingdom of Babel of old. Hence note, That how eminent and serviceablesoever men are while they abide in the garden of Eden, THE CHURCH; yet when theycome out from thence, they evilly seek the great things of the world: one is forcompassing the whole land of Havilah, where is gold; another is for compassing this,a third that, and a fourth another thing, according as you see these four heads did.Observe again, That while men abide in the church of God, there is not by them aseeking after the monarchies of this world; but when they depart from thence, thenthey seek and strive to be heads; as that cursed monster the pope, forsaking thegarden of God, became in a manner the prince of all the earth: Of whom Tyrus mentionedby Ezekiel, was a very lively type, "Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God;every precious-stone, [that is, doctrine,] was thy covering; as the sardius, topaz,diamond," &c., "till iniquity was found in thee" (Eze 28:13-18);till thou leftest thy station, and place appointed of God, and then thou wast castas profane out of the mountain of God, yea, though a covering cherub. See it againin Cain, who while he continued in the church, he was a busy sacrificer, as busyas Abel his brother; but when he left off to fear the Lord, and had bloodily butcheredhis holy brother, then he seeks to be a head, or monarch; then he goeth and buildetha city to preserve his name and posterity for ever (Gen 4:17).

Ver. 15. "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden,to dress it and to keep it."

In this also Adam was a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, as pastor and chief bishopof his church. "I the Lord, [saith Christ,] do keep it; I will water it everymoment, I will keep it night and day" (Isa 27:3).

"And the Lord God took the man." No man taketh this honour upon him, buthe that is called of God, as was Aaron. Blessed is he also that can say as the prophetAmos; "And the Lord took me [said he] as I followed the flock, and the Lordsaid unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel" (Amos 7:15).

"To dress it and to keep it." He that is not dressed, is not kept: Thatis a sad judgment, That which dieth, let it die; That which is diseased, let it notbe dressed, let it die of that disease. By dressing therefore I understand, pruning,manuring and the like, which the dresser of the vineyard was commanded to do, withoutwhich all is overrun with briers and nettles, and is fit for nothing but cursing,and to be burned (Luke 13:6-9; Pro 24:30-34; Heb 6:7,8).

"And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayestfreely eat" (v 16).

It is God's word that giveth us power to eat, to drink, and do other our works, andwithout the word we may do nothing. The command gave Adam leave: "Every creatureof God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; forit is sanctified by the word of God [by the command of the word, and by receivingof it according to the limits thereof,] and prayer" (1 Tim 4:4,5).

Ver. 17. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt noteat of it." I said before, What God's word prohibits, we must take care to shun.

This "tree of knowledge," as I said before, was a type of the covenantof works, the which had not Adam touched, (for by touching it he broke that covenant,)he then had lived ever, but touching it he dies (Gen 3:3).

Adam going into the garden under these conditions and penalties, was therein a typeof the humiliation of Christ; who at his coming into the world, was made under thelaw, under its command and penalty, even as other men, but without sin (Gal 4:4,5).

"For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

"For in the day." Adam lived to God no longer than while he kept himselffrom eating forbidden fruit; in that very day he died; first a spiritual death inhis soul; his body also was then made capable of mortality, and all diseases, whichtwo great impediments in time brought him down to dust again.

Ver. 18. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; Iwill make him an help meet for him."

By these words, Adam's state, even in innocency, seems to crave for help; whereforeit is manifest that that state is short of that we attain by the resurrection fromthe dead; yea, for as much as his need required earthly help, it is apparent hiscondition was not heavenly; "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the secondman is the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor 15:47). Adam in his first estate was notspiritual: "That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;and afterwards that which is spiritual" (v 46). Wherefore those that think itenough to attain to the state of Adam in innocency, think it sufficient to be merenaturalists; think themselves well, without being made spiritual: yea, let me add,they think it safe standing by a covenant of works; they think themselves happy,though not concerned in a covenant of grace; they think they know enough, thoughignorant of a mediator, and count they have no need of the intercession of Christ.[6]

Adam stood by a covenant of works: Adam's kingdom was an earthly paradise; Adam'sexcellency was, that he had not need of a Saviour; and Adam's knowledge was ignoranceof Jesus Christ: Adam in his greatest glory, wanted earthly comforts; Adam in hisinnocency, was a mere natural man.

Ver. 19. "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field,and every fowl of the air."

This proveth further what I said at first, That in the first chaos was containedall that was made upon the earth.

"And brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them: and whatsoeverAdam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."

In this Adam was a lively type of the Lord Christ's sovereign and glorious powerover all flesh: "Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should giveeternal life to as many as thou hast given him" (John 17:2).

"And brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them."

So Christ nameth the world; whom he will he calleth saints; and whom he will he calleththe world, "ungodly," "serpents," "vipers," and thelike. "I pray for them, I pray not for the world" (John 17:9).

"And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."Even as Christ passes sentence, so shall their judgment be.

Ver. 20. "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, andto every beast of the field." So Christ judgeth of angels, devils, and men.


"But for Adam, there was not found an help meet for him." All the gloryof this world, had not Adam had a wife, could not have completed this man's blessedness;he would yet have been wanting: so all the glory of heaven, considering Christ asmediator, could not, without his church, have made him up complete. The church, Isay, "which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."

Ver. 21, 22. "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and heslept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; andthe rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her untothe man."

In these words we find an help provided for Adam; also whence it came. The help wasa wife; she came out of his side; she was taken thence while Adam slept. A blessedfigure of a further mystery. Adam's wife was a type of the church of Christ; forthat she was taken out of his side, it signifies we are flesh of Christ's flesh,and bone of Christ's bone (Eph 5:30). And in that she was taken thence while Adamslept, it signifies, the church is Christ's, by virtue of his death and blood: "Feedthe church of God, which he hath purchased with is own blood" (Acts 20:28).

"And he brought her to the man." That is, And God brought her to the man.By which he clearly intimates, That as the church is the workmanship of God, andthe purchase of the blood of Christ; so yet she cannot come to Christ, unless broughtto him of God: "No man can come to me [saith Christ] except the Father whichhath sent me, draw him" (John 6:44).

Ver. 23. "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

In that Adam doth thus acknowledge his wife to be bone and flesh of his substance,it shews us, that Christ will acknowledge those that are his: "He is not ashamedto call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midstof the church will I sing praise unto thee" (Heb 2:11,12).

And observe it, He said, "She is bone of my bone," &c. before thatGod, that brought her to him; intimating, that Christ both owns us now at his Father'sright hand, and will not be ashamed of us, even in the day of judgment (Matt 10:33;Luke 12:8).

Ver. 24. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleaveunto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

This ought to be truly performed in our married estate in this world. But here endethnot the mystery.

"Therefore shall a man leave his father." Thus did Christ when he cameinto the world to save sinners: He came forth from the Father; "I came forthfrom the Father, and am come into the world" (John 16:28).

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother." The Jewish churchmay, in a mystical sense, be called the mother of Christ; for she was indeed God'swife, and of her came his Son Jesus Christ: yet his mother he left and forsook, tobe joined to his Gentile spouse, which is now his only wife.

Ver. 25. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

No sin, no shame: Let men stand where God hath set them, and there is no cause ofshame, though they be exposed in outward appearance to never so much contempt.

"And they were both naked." Apparel is the fruits of sin; wherefore letsuch as pride themselves therein, remember, that they cover one shame with another.But let them that are truly godly have their apparel modest and sober, and with shamefacednessput them on, remembering always the first cause of our covering our nakedness, wasthe sin and shame of our first parents (1 Peter 3:3).

CHAPTER III.

Ver. 1. "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which theLord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eatof every tree of the garden?"

In these words we have an entrance of the first great spiritual conflict that wasfought between the devil and flesh; and it is worth the observing, how the enemyattempted, engaged, and overcame the world (2 Cor 11:3).

1. He tempts by means; he appeareth not in his own shape and hue, but assumeth thebody of one of the creatures, the body of the serpent, and so begins the combat.And from hence it is, that in after ages he is spoken of under the name of that creature,"the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil, and Satan" (Rev 20:2);because, as the Holy Ghost would have us beware of the devil, so of the means andengines which he useth; for where one is overcome by his own fearful appearance,ten thousand are overcome by the means and engines that he useth.

2. "The serpent was more subtil." The devil, in his attempts after ourdestruction, maketh use of the most suitable means. The serpent was more subtil,therefore the cunning of the devil was least of all discerned. Had he made use ofsome of the most foolish of the creatures, Adam had luckily started back, for heknew the nature of all the creatures, and gave them names accordingly; whereforethe serpent, Adam knew, was subtil, therefore Satan useth him, thereby to catch thisgoodly creature. Hereby the devil least appeared; and least appearing, the temptationsoonest took the tinder.[7]

"Now the serpent was more subtil." More subtil. Hence the devil is called,"the serpent with heads," [with great cunning;] "the crooked serpent,"[with knotty objections;] "the piercing serpent," [for he often wounds;]and his ways are called "devices," "temptations," "delusions,""wiles," "power," and "the gates of hell"; becauseof their mighty prevalency. This is he that undertook our first parents.

But how did he undertake them?

He labours to make them question the simplicity of the word of God, bearing Adam'swife in hand, that there must needs be some meaning that palliates the text; HathGod said ye shall not eat of the tree? Which interrogatory suggested them with astrong doubt that this word would not appear a truth, if you compare it with the4th verse.

Hence learn, that so long as we retain the simplicity of the word, we have Satanat the end of the staff; for unless we give way to a doubt about that, about thetruth and simplicity of it, he gets no ground upon us. And hence the apostle says,He feared lest by some means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, soour minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor 11:3);that is, lest our minds should be drawn off from the simplicity of the word of thegospel by some devilish and delusive arguments; For mark, Satan doth not first ofall deny, but makes a doubt upon the word, whether it is to be taken in this or anothersense; and so first corrupting the mind with a doubt about the simplicity of thetrue sense, he after brings them to a denial thereof; "Hath God said, Ye shallnot eat of every tree of the garden?"

Ver. 2. "And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of thetrees of the garden."

"And the woman said." Indeed, the question was put to her, but the commandwas not so immediately delivered to her: "The Lord God commanded the man"(2:16). This therefore I reckon a great fault in the woman, an usurpation, to undertakeso mighty an adversary, when she was not the principal that was concerned therein;nay, when her husband who was more able than she, was at hand, to whom also the lawwas given as chief. But for this act, I think it is, that they are now commandedsilence, and also commanded to learn of their husbands (1 Cor 14:34,35): A commandthat is necessary enough for that simple and weak sex:[8] Though they see it wasby them that sin came into the world, yet how hardly are some of them to this daydissuaded from attempting unwarrantably to meddle with potent enemies, about thegreat and weighty matters that concern eternity (1 Tim 2:11-15).

Hence note, That often they who are least able, will first adventure to put in theirhead to defend that, from whence they return with shame.

"And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees ofthe garden."

This was her prologue to her defence, but that also for which she had no warrant.In time of temptation, it is our wisdom and duty to keep close to the word, thatprohibits and forbids the sin; and not to reason with Satan, of how far our outwardand worldly privileges go, especially of those privileges that border upon the temptation,as she here did: We may eat of all but one. By this she goeth to the outside of herliberty, and sets herself upon the brink of the danger. Christ might have told thetempter, when he assaulted him, That he could have made stones bread; and that hecould have descended from the pinnacle of the temple, as afterwards he did (Matt4:3-7; Luke 4); but that would have admitted of other questions. Wherefore he choosethto lay aside such needless and unwarrantable reasonings, and resisteth him with adirect word of God, most pertinent to quash the tempter, and also to preserve himselfin the way. To go to the outside of privileges, especially when tempted of the devil,is often, if not always very dangerous and hazardous.

By these words therefore, in mine opinion, she spoke at this time too much in favourof the flesh; and made way for what after came upon her, We may eat of all but one.

Ver. 3. "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Godhath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

Now, too late, she urgeth that which should have been her only stay and weapon; towit, the express word of God; That she should, if she would have disputed with thetempter, have urged at the first that only, and have thought of nothing else. Thusdid the Lord himself: but she looking first into those worthy privileges which Godhad given her, and dilating delightfully of them before the devil, she lost the dreadof the command from off her heart, and retained now but the notion of it: which Satanperceiving, and taking heart therefrom to make his best advantage, he now adds tohis former forged doubt, a plain and flat denial, "Ye shall not surely die."

Ver. 4. "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die."

When people dally with the devil, and sit too near their outward advantages; whenthey are tempted to break the command of God, it is usual for them, even by settingtheir hearts upon things that in themselves are honest and lawful, to fall into temptation:To see a piece of ground, to prove a yoke of oxen, to marry a wife, are doubtlesslawful things; but upon the borders of these privileges lay the temptation of thedevil; therefore by the love of these, which yet were lawful in themselves, the devilhardened the heart, and so at last made way for, and perfectly produced in them,flatly to deny, as then, to embrace the words of God's salvation (Matt 22:5; Luke14:16-20). The like befel our first mother; wherefore though at last she freely objectedthe word; yet because before she had so much reasoned to the pleasing of the flesh,she lost the dread and savour of the command, and having nought but notion left,she found not wherewith to rebuke so plain a lie of the devil, but hearkened to hisfurther reasoning.

"Ye shall not surely die." Not surely; in the word there is some slightmeaning, of which you need not be so afraid. And besides,

Ver. 5. "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shallbe opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

In these words two privileges are asserted: one, That their eyes should be opened;the other, That they should be as gods, knowing good and evil. The first is verydesirable, and was not at all abridged by them; the second, as to their knowing goodand evil, was absolutely forbidden; because they could not attain to the knowledgeof that which was evil, but by transgressing, or by eating of that forbidden tree.

Hence observe, That it is usual with the devil, in his tempting of poor creatures,to put a good and bad together, that by shew of the good, the tempted might be drawnto do that which in truth is evil. Thus he served Saul; he spared the best of theherd and flock, under pretence of sacrificing to God, and so transgressed the plaincommand (1 Sam 15:20-22). But this the apostle saw was dangerous, and therefore censurethsuch, as in a state of condemnation (Rom 3:8). Thus he served Adam; he put the desirablenessof sight, and a plain transgression of God's law together, that by the lovelinessof the one, they might the easier be brought to do the other. O poor Eve! Do we wonderat thy folly! Doubtless we had done as bad with half the argument of thy temptation.

"Ye shall be as gods." In these words he attempts to beget in them a desireto be greater than God had made them (1 Tim 3:6). He knew this was a likely way,for by this means he fell himself; for being puffed up with pride, they left theirown estate, or habitation, and so became devils, and were tumbled down to hell, wherethey are "reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgmentof the great day" (Jude 6).

"Ye shall be as gods." When souls have begun to hearken to the tempter,that hearkening hath made way for, and given way to so much darkness of mind, andhardness of heart, that now they can listen to anything: as to hear God charged withfolly, "Ye shall not surely die"; as to hear him made the author of ignorance,and that he delights to have it so, by seeking by a command to prohibit them fromknowing what they could; for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, thenyour eyes shall be opened; and therefore he forbids to touch it.

"Ye shall be as gods." Here is also a pretence of holiness, which he knewthey were prone unto; "Ye shall be as gods," as knowing and perfect asGod. Oh! Thousands are, even to this day, by such temptations overcome! Thus he wrapshis temptations up in such kind of words and suggestions as will carry it eitherway. But mark his holiness, or the way that he prescribes for holiness; it is, ifnot point blank against, yet without and besides the word, not by doing what Godcommands, and abhorring what he forbids, but by following the delusion of the devil,and their own roving fancies; as Eve here does.

Ver. 6. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that itwas pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took ofthe fruit thereof," &c.

This verse presents us with the use that Eve made of the reasonings of the serpent;and that was, to take them into consideration; not by the word of God, but as herflesh and blood did sense them: A way very dangerous and devouring to the soul, fromwhich Paul fled, as from the devil himself: "Immediately I conferred not withflesh and blood" (Gal 1:16). Wherefore, pausing upon them, they entangled heras with a threefold cord. 1. "The lust of the flesh"; she saw it was goodfor food. 2. "The lust of the eye"; she saw it was pleasant to the eye.3. "The pride of life"; a tree to be desired, to make one wise (1 John2:16). Being taken, I say, with these three snares of the adversary, which are notof the Father, but of the world, and the devil the prince thereof, forthwith shefalls before him: "And when the woman saw" this, "she took of thefruit thereof, and did eat."

"And when the woman saw." This seeing, as I said, is to be understood ofher considering what Satan presented to her, and of her sensing or tasting of hisdoctrine; not by the word, which ought to be the touch stone of all, but by and accordingto her own natural reason without it. Now this makes her forget that very commandthat but now she had urged against the tempter: This makes her also to consent tothat very reason, as an inducement to transgress; which, because it was the natureof the tree, was by God suggested as a reason why they should forbear; it was thetree of the knowledge of good and evil, therefore they should not touch it; it wasthe tree, that would by touching it, make them know good and evil; therefore shetoucheth, and also eateth thereof. See therefore what specious pretences the devil,and those that are under the power of temptation, will have to transgress the commandof God. That which God makes a reason of the prohibition, even that the devil willmake a reason of their transgression.

God commands to self-denial, but the world makes that a reason of their standingoff from the very grace of God in the gospel. God also commands, That we be sober,chaste, humble, just, and the like; but the devil, and carnal hearts, make thesevery things the argument that keeps sinners from the word of salvation. Or rathertake it thus; God forbids wickedness, because it is delightful to the flesh, anddraws the heart from God, but therefore carnal men love wickedness and sin: Thereforethey go on in sin, and "therefore they say unto God, Depart from us, for wedesire not the knowledge of thy ways" (Job 21:14; 22:15-17).

She "did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."

The great design of the devil, as he supposed, was now accomplished; for he had bothin the snare, both the man and his wife, and in them, the whole world that shouldbe after. And indeed the chief design of Satan was at the head at first, only hemade the weakest the conveyance for his mischief. Hence note again, That Satan bytempting one, may chiefly intend the destruction of another. By tempting the wife,he may aim at the destruction of the husband; by tempting the father, he may designthe destruction of the children; and by tempting the king, he may design the ruinof the subjects. Even as in the case of David: "Satan stood up against Israel,and provoked David to number the people." He had a mind to destroy seventy thousand,therefore he tempted David to sin (1 Chron 21:1).

She gave also to her husband, and he did eat. Sin seldom or never terminates in oneperson; but the pernicious example of one, doth animate and embolden another; orthus, the beholding of evil in another, doth often allure a stander-by. Adam wasthe looker-on, he was not in the action as from the serpent: "Adam was not deceived,"that is, by having to do with the devil, "but the woman, the woman being deceived,was in the transgression" (1 Tim 2:14). This should exhort all men that theytake heed of so much as beholding evil done by others, lest also they should be allured.When Israel went into Canaan, God did command them not so much as to ask, How thosenations served their gods? lest by so doing, Satan should get an advantage of theirminds, to incline them to do the like (Deu 12:30). Evil acts, as well as evil words,will eat as doth a canker. This then is the reason of that evil- favouredness thatyou see attending some men's lives and professions; they have been corrupted, asAdam was, either by evil words or bad examples, even till the very face of theirlives and professions are disfigured as with the pox or canker (2 Tim 2:17).

Thus have we led you through that woeful tragedy that was acted between the womanand the serpent; and have also shewed, how it happened that the serpent went awayas victor.

1. The woman admitted of a doubt about the truth of the word that forbad her to eat;for unbelief was the first sin that entered the world.

2. She preferred the privileges of the flesh, before the argument to self-denial;by which means her heart became hardened, and grew senseless of the dread and terrorof the words of God.

3. She took Satan's arguments into consideration, and sensed,[9] or tasted them;not by the word of God, but her own natural, or rather sore-deluded fancy.

4. She had a mind to gratify the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and thepride of life.

Now to speak of the evil consequences that followed this sinful act: That is notin the wisdom of mortal man to do; partly, because we know but in part even the eviland destructive nature of sin; and partly, because much of the evil that will followthis action, is yet to be committed by persons unborn. Yet enough might be said toastonish the heavens, and to make them horribly afraid (Jer 2:12). 1. By this actof these two, the whole world became guilty of condemnation and eternal judgment(Rom 5). 2. By this came all the blindness, atheism, ignorance of God, enmity andmalice against him, pride, covetousness, adultery, idolatry, and implacableness,&c., that is found in all the world. By this, I say, came all the wars, blood,treachery, tyranny, persecution, with all manner of rapine and outrage that is foundamong the sons of men. 3. Besides, all the plagues, judgments, and evils that befalus in this world, with those everlasting burnings that will swallow up millions forever and ever; all and every whit of these came into the world as the portion ofmankind, for that first transgression of our first parents.

Ver. 7. "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they werenaked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

That their eyes might be opened, was one branch of the temptation, and one of thereasons that prevailed with the woman to forsake the word of God: But she littlethought of seeing after this manner, or such things as now she was made to behold.She expected some sweet and pleasant sight, that might tickle and delight her deludedfancy; but behold, sin and the wrath of God appears, to the shaking of their hearts!And thus, even to this very day, doth the devil delude the world: His temptationsare gilded with some sweet and fine pretences; either they shall be wiser, richer,more in favour, live merrier, fare better, or something; and that they shall seeit, if they will but obey the devil: Which the fools easily are, by these and suchlike things, allured to do. But behold, when their eyes are opened, instead of seeingwhat the devil falsely told them, they see themselves involved in sin, made guiltyof the breach of God's command, and subject to the wrath of God.[10]

"And they knew that they were naked." Not only naked of outward clothing,but even destitute of righteousness; they had lost their innocency, their uprightness,and sinless vail, and had made themselves polluted creatures, both in their heartsand in their flesh; this is nakedness indeed; such a kind of nakedness as Aaron madeIsrael naked with, when he set up his idol calf for them to worship: "For Aaronhad made them naked unto their shame" (Exo 32:25). Naked before the justiceof the law.

"And they knew that they were naked." And they knew it: Why, did they notknow it before? The text says, They were naked, and were not ashamed. O! they stoodnot naked before God! they stood not without righteousness, or uprightness beforehim, and therefore were not ashamed, but now they knew they were naked as to that.

"And they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons." A fitresemblance of what is the inclination of awakened men, who are yet but natural!They neither think of Christ, or of the mercy of God in him for pardon, but presentlythey betake themselves to their own fig-leaves, to their own inventions, or to therighteousness of the law, and look for healing from means which God did never providefor cure. "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then wentEphraim to the Assyrian" (Hosea 5:13). Not to God, and sent to King Jarib, notto Christ, yet could they not heal him, nor cure him of his wound.

"And made themselves aprons." Not coats, as God did afterwards. A carnalman thinks himself sufficiently clothed with righteousness, if the nakedness whichhe sees, can be but covered from his own sight: As if God also did see that and onlythat which they have a sight of by the light of nature; and as if because fig- leaveswould hide their nakedness from their sight, that therefore they would hide it fromthe sight of God. But alas! No man, without the help of another, can bring all hisnakedness to the sight of his own eye; much is undiscovered to him, that may yetlie open and bare to a stander-by: So it is with the men that stand without Christbefore God, at best they see but some of their nakedness, to wit, their most grossand worst faults, and therefore they seek to cover them; which when they have hidfrom their own sight, they think them hid also from the sight of God. Thus did Adam,he saw his own most shameful parts, and therefore them he covered: They made themselvesaprons, or things to gird about them, not to cover them all over withal. No man byall his own doings can hide all his own nakedness from the sight of the justice ofGod, and yet, but in vain, as busy as Adam to do it.

"And they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Fig-leaves!A poor apron, but it was the best they could get. But was that a sufficient shelteragainst either thorn or thistle? Or was it possible but that after a while thesefig-leaves should have become rotten, and turned to dung? So will it be with allman's own righteousness which is of the law; Paul saw it so, and therefore countedit but loss and dung, that he might win Christ, and be found in him (Phil 3:7,8).

Ver. 8. "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in thecool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LordGod, among the trees of the garden."

"And they heard the voice of the Lord God." This voice was not to be understoodaccording, as if it was the effect of a word; as when we speak, the sound remainswith a noise for some time after; but by voice here, we are to understand the LordChrist himself; wherefore this voice is said to walk, not to sound only: "Theyheard the voice of the Lord God walking." This voice John calls the word, theword that was with the Father before he made the world, and that at this very timewas heard to walk in the garden of Adam: Therefore John also saith, this voice wasin the beginning; that is, in the garden with Adam, at the beginning of his conversion,as well as of the beginning of the world (John 1:1).

"And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the coolof the day." The gospel of it is, in the season of grace; for by the cool ofthe day, he here means, in the patience, gentleness, goodness and mercy of the gospel;and it is opposed to the heat, fire, and severity of the law.

"And Adam and his wife hid themselves." Hence observe, That a man's ownrighteousness will not fortify his conscience from fear and terror, when God beginsto come near to him to judgment. Why did Adam hide himself, but because, as he said,he was naked? But how could he be naked, when before he had made himself an apron?O! the approach of God consumed and burnt off his apron! Though his apron would keephim from the sight of a bird, yet it would not from the eye of the incorruptibleGod.

Let therefore all self-righteous men beware, for however they at present please themselveswith the worthiness of their glorious fig- leaves; yet when God shall come to dealwith them for sin, assuredly they will find themselves naked.[11]

"And they hid themselves." A man in a natural state, cannot abide the presenceof God; yea, though a righteous man. Adam, though adorned with his fig-leaves, flies.

Observe again, That a self-righteous man, a man of the law, takes grace and mercyfor his greatest enemy. This is apparent from the carriage of the Pharisees to JesusChrist, who because they were wedded to the works of their own righteousness, thereforethey hated, persecuted, condemned, and crucified the Saviour of the world. As herein the text, though the voice of the Lord God walked in the garden in the cool ofthe day, in the time of grace and love, yet how Adam with his fig-leaves flies beforehim.

"And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God."These latter words are spoken, not to persuade us that men can hide themselves fromGod, but that Adam, and those that are his by nature, will seek to do it, becausethey do not know him aright. These words therefore further shew us what a bitterthing sin is to the soul; it is only for hiding work, sometimes under its fig-leaves,sometimes among the trees of the garden. O what a shaking, starting, timorous evilconscience, is a sinful and guilty conscience! especially when 'tis but a littleawakened, it could run its head into every hole, first by one fancy, then by another;for the power and goodness of a man's own righteousness, cannot withstand or answerthe demands of the justice of God, and his holy law.

"And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God, amongthe trees of the garden." If you take the trees in a mystical sense as sometimesthey may be taken (Eze 31:8-11); then take them here to signify, or to be a typeof the saints of God, and then the gospel of it is, That carnal men, when they areindeed awakened, and roused out of their foolish fig-leaf righteousness; then theywould be glad of some shelter with them that are saved and justified freely by grace,as they in the Gospel of Matthew; "Give us of your oil; for our lamps are goneout" (Matt 25:8). And again, The man without the wedding garment had crowdedhimself among the wedding guests: Had hid themselves among the trees of the garden(Matt 22:11).

Ver. 9. "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"

Adam having eaten of the forbidden tree, doth now fleet his station, is gone to anotherthan where God left him. Wherefore, if

God will find Adam, he must now look him where he had hid himself. And indeed sohe does with "Adam, where art thou?"

"And the Lord God called," &c. Here begins the conversion of Adam,from his sinful state, to God again. But mark, it begins not at Adam's calling uponGod, but at God calling upon him: "And the Lord God called unto Adam."Wherefore, by these words, we are to understand the beginning of Adam's conversion.And indeed, grace hath gone the same way with the elect, from that time to this day.Thus he dealt with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; he called them from their native country,the country of their kindred. And hence it is, that, especially in the New Testament,the saints are said to be the Called; "Called of God," and "Calledof Jesus Christ." And hence again it is that Calling is by Paul made the firstdemonstration of election, and that saints are admonished to prove their electionby their calling; for as Adam was in a lost, miserable and perishing condition, untilGod called him out of those holes into which sin had driven him: so we do lie wheresin and the devil hath laid us, until by the word of God we are called to the fellowshipof his Son Jesus Christ.

By these words therefore we have the beginning of the discovery of effectual callingor conversion; "And the Lord God called": In which call observe three things,

1. God called so that Adam heard him. And so it is in the conversion of the New Testamentsaints, as Paul says, "If ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, asthe truth is in Jesus" (Eph 4:21). That therefore is one discovery of effectualcalling, the sinner is made to HEAR him, even to hear him distinctly, singling outthe very person, calling, "Adam, Where art thou?" "Saul, Saul, whypersecutest thou me?" I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. As he alsosaid to Moses, "I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight"(Exo 33:12).

2. God called so, as to fasten sin upon his conscience, and as to force a confessionfrom him of his naked and shameful state.

3. God called so, as to make him tremble under, and be afraid of the judgment ofGod.

"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"Indeed, Where art thou must of necessity be forcibly urged to every man on whosesoul God doth work effectual conversion; for until the person is awakened, as tothe state and condition he is in, he will not desire, nay, will not endure to beturned to God; but when in truth they are made to see what condition sin hath broughtthem to, namely, that it hath laid them under the power of sin, the tyranny of thedevil, the strength of death, and the curse of God by his holy law; then is mercysweet.

"Where art thou?" God knew where he was, but foolish Adam thought otherwise;he thought to hide himself from the presence of the Lord, but the Lord found himout. Indeed, deluded sinners think that they can hide themselves and sins from God."How doth God know," say they, "Can he judge through the thick cloud?"(Job 22:13). But such shall know he sees them; they shall know it, either to theircorrection, or to their condemnation. "Though they dig into hell," saithGod, "thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thencewill I bring them down: And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I willsearch and take them out thence," &c. (Amos 9:2,3).[12] "Can any hidehimself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fillheaven and earth? saith the Lord" (Jer 23:24).

Ver. 10. "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, becauseI was naked; and I hid myself."

This then was the cause of his flying, he heard the voice of God: A wicked and evilconscience saith, every thing is to it as the messenger of death and destruction;for, as was said before, "the voice of the Lord walked in the garden in thecool of the day," in the time of grace and mercy. But it mattereth not whetherhe came with grace or vengeance; guilt was in Adam's heart, therefore he could notendure the presence of God: He "that doeth evil hateth the light" (John3:20). And again, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth" (Pro 28:1). Cainthought all that met him, would seek his blood and life.

"I heard thy voice." Something by the word of God was spoken, that shookthe heart of this poor creature; something of justice and holiness, even before theyfell into this communication: for observe it, Adam went forthwith from the tree ofknowledge of good and evil a convinced man, first to his fig-leaves, but they wouldnot do; therefore he seeks to be hid among the trees. And observe again, That theinsufficiency of fig-leaves were discovered by this voice of the Lord God, that atthis time walked in the garden: "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I wasafraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." So then, there was a first andsecond voice which Adam heard; the first he ran away from, "I heard thy voice,and hid myself." The second was this, wherein they commune each with other.The first therefore was the word of justice, severity, and of the vengeance of God;like that in the 19th of Exodus, from the pronouncing of which, a trembling, andalmost death, did seize six hundred thousand persons.

"I heard thy voice in the garden." It is a word from without that dothit. While Adam listened to his own heart, he thought fig- leaves a sufficient remedy,but the voice that walked in the garden shook him out of all such fancies: "Iheard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Ver. 11. "And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten ofthe tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"

"Who told thee?" This, as I said before, supposeth a third person, a preacher,and that was the Son of God; the voice of the Lord God that walked in the garden.

"Hast thou eaten of the tree?" That is, If thou hast been shewed thy nakedness,thou hast indeed sinned; for the voice of the Lord God will not charge guilt, butwhere and when a law hath been transgressed. God therefore, by these words, drivethAdam to the point, either to confess or deny the truth of the case. If he confess,then he concludes himself under judgment; if he deny, then he addeth to his sin:Therefore he neither denieth nor confesseth, but so as he may lessen and extenuatehis sin.

Ver. 12. "And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gaveme of the tree, and I did eat."

He had endeavoured with fig-leaves to hide his transgressions before, but that beingfound too scanty and short, he now trieth what he can do with arguments. Indeed heacknowledgeth that he did eat of the tree of which he was forbidden; but mark wherehe layeth the reason: Not in any infection which was centred in him by reason ofhis listening to the discourse which was between the woman and the serpent; but becauseGod had given him a woman to be with him: "The woman whom thou gavest to bewith me, she gave me of the tree." The woman was given for an help, not an hindrance;but Satan often maketh that to become our snare, which God hath given us as a blessing.Adam therefore here mixeth truth with falsehood. It is true, he was beguiled by thewoman; but she was not intended of God, as he would insinuate, to the end she mightbe a trap unto him. Here therefore Adam sought to lessen and palliate his offence,as man by nature is prone to do; for if God will needs charge them with the guiltof sin for the breach of the law, they will lay the fault upon anything, even uponGod's ordinance, as Adam here doth, rather than they will honestly fall under theguilt, and so the judgment of the law for guilt. It is a rare thing, and it arguethgreat knowledge of God, and also hope in his mercy, when men shall heartily acknowledgetheir iniquities, as is evident in the case of David: "Wash me thoroughly frommine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: andmy sin is ever before me" (Psa 51:2,3). But his knowledge is not at first inyoung converts; therefore when God begins to awaken, they begin, as sleepy men, tocreep further under their carnal covering; which yet is too short to hide them, andtoo narrow to cover their shame (Isa 28:20).

"The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree." Although,as I said, this sinner seeks to hide, or at least to lessen his sin, by laying thecause upon the woman, the gift of God; yet it argueth that his heart was now filledwith shame and confusion of face, for that he had broken God's command; for indeedit is the nature of guilt, however men may in appearance ruffle under it, and setthe best leg before, for their vindication; yet inwardly to make them blush and failbefore their accuser. Indeed their inward shame is the cause of their excuse; evenas Aaron, when he had made the golden calf, could not for shame of heart confessin plainness of speech the truth of the fact to his brother Moses, but faulteringly:They gave me their gold, saith he, and "I cast it into the fire, and there cameout this calf" (Exo 32:24). "And there came out this calf"; a pitifulfumbling speech: The Holy Ghost saith, Aaron had made them naked; "had madethem naked unto their shame," for he, as also Adam, should, being chief andlord in their place, have stoutly resisted the folly and sin which was to them propounded;and not as persons of a womanish spirit, have listened to wicked proposals.[13]

Ver. 13. "And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hastdone?" &c.,

Forasmuch as Adam did acknowledge his sin, though with much weakness and infirmity,God accepts thereof; and now applieth himself to the woman, whom Satan had used ashis engine to undo the world.

Hence observe, That when God sets to search out sin, he will follow it from the seducedto the seducer, even till he comes to the rise and first author thereof, as in thefollowing words may more clearly appear. Not that he excuseth or acquitteth the seduced,because the seducer was the first cause, as some do vainly imagine; but to lay allunder guilt who are concerned therein: the woman was concerned as a principal, thereforehe taketh her to examination.

"And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?"What is this? God seems to speak as if he were astonished at the inundation of evilwhich the woman by her sin had overflowed the world withal: "What is this thatthou hast done!" Thou hast undone thyself, thou hast undone thy husband, thouhast undone all the world; yea, thou hast brought a curse upon the whole creation,with an overplus of evils, plagues, and distresses.

"What is this that thou hast done!" Thou hast defiled thy body and soul,thou hast disabled the whole world from serving God; yea, moreover, thou hast letin the devil at the door of thy heart, and hast also made him the prince of the world."What is this that thou hast done!" Ah! little, little do sinners knowwhat they have done, when they have transgressed the law of the Lord. I say, theylittle know what death, what plagues, what curse, yea, what hell they, by so doing,have prepared for themselves.

"What is this that thou hast done!" God therefore, by these words, wouldfasten upon the woman's heart a deep sense of the evil of her doings. And indeed,for the soul to be brought into a deep sense of its sin, to cry out before God, Ah!what have I done! it is with them the first step towards conversion: "Acknowledgethy iniquity [saith God] that thou hast transgressed against me" (Jer 3:13).And again, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us oursins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). The want ofthis is the cause of that obdurate and lasting hardness that continueth to possessso many thousands of sinners, they cry not out before God, What have I done? butfoolishly they rush into, and continue in sin, "till their iniquity be foundto be hateful," yea, their persons, because of their sin.

"What is this that thou hast done?" By this interrogatory the Lord alsoimplieth an admonition to the woman, to plead for herself, as he also did to herhusband. He also makes way for the working of his bowels towards her, which (as willbe shewn anon) he flatly denies to the serpent, the devil: I say he made way forthe woman to plead for, or bemoan herself; an evident token that he was unwillingto cast her away for her sin: "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself;- I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord" (Jer 31:18-20). Again,by these words, he made way for the working or yearning of his own bowels over her;for when we begin to cry out of our miscarriages, and to bewail and bemoan our conditionbecause of sin, forthwith the bowels of God begin to sound, and to move towards hisdistressed creature, as by the place before alleged appears. "I have surelyheard Ephraim bemoaning himself;—therefore my bowels are troubled for him: I willsurely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord." See also the 11th and 14th chaptersof Hosea.

"And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me and I did eat." A poor excuse,but an heart affecting one; for many times want of wit and cunning to defend ourselves,doth affect and turn the heart of a stander-by to pity us. And thus, as I think,it was with the woman; she had to do with one that was too cunning for her, withone that snapt her by his subtilty or wiles; which also the woman most simply confesses,even to the provoking of God to take vengeance for her.

Ver. 14. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this,thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field."

The serpent was the author of the evil; therefore the thunder rolls till it comesover him, the hot burning thunder-bolt falls upon him.

The Lord, you see, doth not with the serpent as with the man and his wife; to wit,minister occasion to commune with him, but directly pronounceth him cursed aboveall, "above every beast of the field." This sheweth us, that as concerningthe angels that fell, with them God is at eternal enmity, reserving them in everlastingchains under darkness. Cursed art thou: By these words, I say, they are preventedof a plea for ever, and also excluded a share in the fruits of the Messiah whichshould afterwards be born into the world (Heb 2:2).

"Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou." "Because thou hastdone this": Not as though he was blessed before; for had he not before beenwicked, he had not attempted so wicked a design. The meaning then is, That eitherby this deed the devil did aggravate his misery, and make himself the faster to hangin the everlasting chains under darkness; or else by this he is manifested to usto be indeed a cursed creature.

Further, "Because thou hast done this," may also signify how great complacencyand content God took in Adam and his wife while they continued without transgression;But how much against his mind and workmanship this wicked work was. 1. Against hismind; for sin so sets itself against the nature of God, that, if possible, it wouldannihilate and turn him into nothing, it being in its nature point blank againsthim. 2. It is against his workmanship; for had not the power of the Messias steptin, all had again been brought to confusion, and worse than nothing: as Christ himselfexpresses it: "The earth, and all the inhabitants thereof, are dissolved: Ibear up the pillars of it" (Psa 75:3). And again, "He upholdeth all thingsby the word of his power" (Heb 1:3).

Besides, this being done, man, notwithstanding the grace of God, and the merits ofJesus Christ, doth yet live a miserable life in this world; for albeit that Christhath most certainly secured the elect and chosen of God from perishing by what Satanhath done; yet the very elect themselves are, by reason of the first transgression,so infested and annoyed with inward filth, and so assaulted still by the devil, andhis vassals the proper children of hell, that they groan unutterably under theirburthen; yea, all creatures, "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth inpain together until now" (Rom 8:22). And that most principally upon the veryaccount of this first sin of Adam; it must needs be therefore, this being so highan affront to the divine majesty, and so directly destructive to the work of hishands; and the aim of the devil most principally also at the most excellent of hiscreation (for man was created in God's own image) that he should hereat be so highlyoffended, had they not sinned at all before, to bind them over for this very factto the pains of the eternal judgment of God.

Ver. 15. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thyseed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

The woman may, in this place, be taken either really or figuratively; if really andnaturally, then the threatening is also true, as to the very natures of the creatureshere under consideration, to wit, the serpent and the woman, and so all that comeof human race; for we find that so great an antipathy is between all such deadlybeasts, as serpents and human creatures, that they abiding in their own natures,it is not possible they should ever be reconciled: "I will put enmity":I will put it. This enmity then was not infused in creation, but afterwards; andthat as a punishment for the abuse of the subtlety of the serpent; for before thefall, and before the serpent was assumed by the fallen angels, they were, being God'screatures, "good," as the rest in their kind; neither was there any jarringor violence put between them; but after the serpent was become the devil's vizor,then was an enmity begot between them.

"I will put enmity between thee and the serpent." If by woman, we hereunderstand the church, (but then we must understand the devil, not the natural serpentsimply,) then also the threatening is most true; for between the church of God, andthe devil, from the beginning of the world, hath been maintained most mighty warsand conflicts, to which there is not a like in all the blood shed on the earth. Yea,here there cannot be a reconciliation, (the enmity is still maintained by God): Thereason is, because their natural dispositions and inclinations, together with theirends and purposes, are most repugnant each to other, even full as much as good andevil, righteousness and sin, God's glory, and an endeavour after his utter extirpation.

Indeed, Satan hath tried many ways to be at amity with the church; not because heloves her holiness, but because he hates her welfare, (wherefore such amity mustonly be dissembled,) and that he might bring about his enterprise, he sometimes hathallured with the dainty delicates of this world, the lusts of the flesh, of the eyes,and the pride of life: This being fruitless, he hath attempted to entangle and bewitchher with his glorious appearance, as an angel of light; and to that end hath madehis ministers as the ministers of righteousness, preaching up righteousness, andcontending for a divine and holy worship (2 Cor 11:12-15): but this failing also,he hath taken in hand at length to fright her into friendship with him, by stirringup the hellish rage of tyrants to threaten and molest her; by finding out strangeinventions to torment and afflict her children; by making many bloody examples ofher own bowels, before her eyes, if by that means he might at last obtain his purpose:But behold! all hath been in vain, there can be no reconciliation. And why, but becauseGod himself maintains the enmity?

And this is the reason why the endeavours of all the princes and potentates of theearth, that have through ignorance or malice managed his design against the church,have fallen to the ground, and been of none effect.

God hath maintained the enmity: doubtless the mighty wonder, that their laws cannotbe obeyed;[14] I mean their laws and statutes, which by the suggestion of the princeof this world they have made against the church: But if they understood but thisone sentence, they might a little perceive the reason. God hath put enmity betweenthe devil and the woman; between that old serpent called, The Devil and Satan, andthe holy, and beloved, and espoused wife of Christ.

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and herseed." The seeds here are the children of both, but that of the woman, especiallyChrist (Gal 3:16). "God sent forth his Son made of a woman" (Gal 4:4).Whether you take it literally or figuratively; for in a mystery the church is themother of Jesus Christ, though naturally, or according to His flesh, He was bornof the virgin Mary, and proceeded from her womb: But take it either way, the enmityhath been maintained, and most mightily did shew itself against the whole kingdomof the devil, and death, and hell; by the undertaking, engaging, and war which theSon of God did maintain against them, from his conception, to his death and exaltationto the right hand of the Father, as is prophesied of, and promised in the text, "Itshall bruise thy head."

"It shall bruise thy head." By head, we are to understand the whole power,subtilty, and destroying nature of the devil; for as in the head of the serpent liethhis power, subtilty, and poisonous nature; so in sin, death, hell, and the wisdomof the flesh, lieth the very strength of the devil himself. Take away sin then, anddeath is not hurtful: "The sting of death is sin": And take away the condemningpower of the law, and sin doth cease to be charged, or to have any more hurt in it,so as to destroy the soul: "The strength of sin is the law" (1 Cor 15:56).Wherefore, the seed, Jesus Christ, in his bruising the head of the serpent, musttake away sin, abolish death, and conquer the power of the grave. But how must thisbe done? Why, he must remove the curse, which makes sin intolerable, and death destructive.But how must he take away the curse? Why, by taking upon Him "flesh," aswe (John 1:14); by being made "under the law," as we (Gal 4:4); by beingmade "to be sin for us" (2 Cor 5:21), and by being "made a curse forus" (Gal 3:10-13). He standing therefore in our room, under the law and thejustice of God, did both bear, and overcome the curse, and so did bruise the powerof the devil.

"It shall bruise thy head." To bruise is more than to break; he shal