The primeval state was but of short continuance, even at the longest duration, which it hath been computed at*. No wonder therefore, that the account which we have of it, is short and obfcure likewife. The facred hiftorian is indeed far from being diffuse in any of his descriptions. We are to make the most we can of the hints, which he hath given us.

In his history of the vegetable creation, the order and manner in which it feems to have been carried on, was, That God, in the first place, exercised his creative power, in making and forming all plants, and herbs, in their feveral kinds, by themselves, in a diftinct and separate state from the earth- And that at the fame time, he prepared the earth for their reception, when created, impregnating it with virtue for their nourishment and growth; after which he planted them in it. This, I think, may be

.

* See Effay on Redemption, p. 15. where it is computed to have lafted about fix months.

con

concluded from the words, God made every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field, before it grew- And the Lord God planted a garden eaf-ward in Eden*. This I take to be explanatory of what went before, by fpecifying the fpot where, and the manner in which, he provided for the preservation and growth of the trees and vegetables, which he had made. He planted them in a garden; the choice of them at least; and there he caufed them to grow.

2. The neceflity of this procedure appears from the reafons affigned for it. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the ground. The natural and ordinary means for raifing and cultivating the fruits of the earth, had not as yet been provided: Whence, by the way, we may learn, not to ascribe too much to fecond causes, as God can work without them; or fupply the abfence of them another way. Thus,

Genefis, ii. 5. 8.

instead

inftead of rain, there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

3. We may infer, That the vegetable fyftem was brought into existence in a very vigorous state; and being planted in what may, with the greateft propriety, be called a virgin earth, it must have been endowed with plenty of rich juices, to feed and maintain the charge committed to it; fince it required no rain, nor any culture of man, to affift in promoting the nurture, or growth of any of the feveral fpecies of its vegetables. This is confirmed by the defcription of paradife. The trees, with which it abounded in great variety, were pleafant to the fight, and their fruits very good for food: And one particular tree there was in it, the fruit of which was fo excellent, as to confer immortality: Nay, the forbidden fruit seems to have been excellent in its kind likewife; and the eating of it might have been attended with many benefits, had it not

been under a peremptory inhibition; the act of tranfgreffing of which was probably productive of an alteration in its nature, and made the eating of it fo detrimental, and fatal in its confequences.

Adam having had an express grant of all the other trees of the garden, the fruits of which were delicious and nourishing; there doth not seem to have been any need of his having recourse to any other kind of food: And as he had nothing to do for the fupport of life, but to take, and eat; he must have been exempt from all hard labour; as he might thus, ftrictly speaking, live from hand to mouth, on the provifions which every where prefented themselves to him, readily prepared for his ufe. His only charge was, to dress and keep the garden he was placed in. The dreffing of it, required little more than the pruning of its luxuriances; of which it might be faid, Labor ipfe voluptas. And his keeping of it confifted, in guarding watchfully against the intrufion

intrusion of any of the beasts of the field, or of any other creature, that might annoy him, and prove an enemy to his felicity: For which purpose therefore he must have had it fufficiently fenced, and in need of nothing, but his own diligence in watching it.

From the cuftody of the garden having been committed to Adam's charge may be inferred, that he had it in his power to have kept the ferpent from entering the garden; and therefore, that he was guilty of a breach of truft in fuffering him to enter. For he never would have had a truft committed to him, which he had not the power of executing. All therefore that followed was the confequence of his own negligence.

The fertility of the earth in its primitive state, and the goodnefs of its nature, may be deduced from the very curfe on the ground. If, upon this account, Adam was to eat of it in forrow all the days of his life, he would otherwife have had

a long