" and put Aleim took the man" (marg. Adam) him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it." There is in both the Hebrew words here employed, the same ambiguity that exists in the Latin verb colo, and in the English verb to cultivate. They may express either bodily or mental employment; earthly or spiritual husbandry; the outward act of cultivating the earth, or the inward act of cultivating the affections of the soul. Both words are often used in either sense. And I cannot but think that, as the employment of the compound nature of Adam in Paradise must have been adapted to that compound nature, the ambiguity found in these words was intended to comprehend both senses, and that a confirmation of the views espoused in the former part of this letter may be derived from it. Doubtless Adam had a further office assigned him than the mere exercise of his bodily strength. He was to study the lessons of doctrinal and practical truth, which the symbols of paradise were intended to teach him. He was to "ascend from nature up to nature's God;" to derive from the works of the first creation, what the angels are said to derive from the works of the second; to whom is "made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." (Eph. iii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 12.) Man then, as endowed with an animal and spiritual life, was placed in the garden of Eden, in order that all his powers, both of body and soul, should be exercised in obedience to the will of his Creator, and for his own benefit; while his hands found employment in horticultural pursuits, and his mind in the contemplation of the Divine Perfections and his own obligations. Man, as redeemed and placed in the Church of Christ, is not created anew without employment for his newly created faculties. The new Paradise affords scope for the exercise of faith and hope and love. It furnishes clearer views of the object of faith, JEHOVAH ALEIM, as now revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, than the symbols of the primitive Eden could possibly afford. It displays the glory of God with a clearness of manifestation that Adam in innocence could never have attained. Such knowledge was too wonderful for him. The daily occupation of a Christian, then, is, not to merit Paradise, (for he has been already placed in it by the grace of God) but to enjoy it. His employment is, like that of Adam, unaccompanied with fatigue or lassitude, except what arises from mental imbecility and indisposition. His work is to contemplate the glory of God, and to show forth His praise. But he must remember that, in this earthly Paradise the Church, "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil," still grows by the side of " the tree of life." The serpent still exhibits his lure; and though, in consequence of the obedience of the second Adam, he cannot incur a second forfeiture of Paradise, he may, as to his own experience, mar its enjoyment, and embitter its sweetest fruits. But these trees of paradise will furnish scope for discussion in one or two more letters with which I mean to trouble you. I observed in an early part of my present letter, that the garden of Eden is to be considered, not only as a type of the Christian Church, but, with a higher degree of emphasis, as a type of the intermediate state of redeemed souls between the time of death and the resurrection of the body. Then, like Adam in the terrestrial Paradise, "the spirits of the just, made perfect," are admitted to more immediate communion with God in Christ, or to the participation of the true Tree of Life, according to the tenour of the symbolic promise made to the faithful in the Ephesian church. (Rev. ii. 7.) "To him that overcometh, (i. e. who " endureth to the end,") "will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." To this happy state our Lord promised to introduce the penitent malefactor: "To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise;" from whence we learn, that thither the disembodied spirit of our Redeemer went during the period of its separation. Of this blessed state St. Paul was indulged with a vision and foretaste, when "he was caught up into Paradise." Of this other believers are sometimes indulged with sweet prelibations. Like the Israelites, they are occasionally permitted to taste the grapes of Eshcol, before they reach the good land where these fruits are indigenous. But of the state of departed spirits we can say but little for want of experience. We know nothing of it but by report; but report, credible and indisputable, informs us that it abounds with every thing that is "pleasant to the sight and good for food," that it is adapted to satisfy to the utmost the desires and capacities of the renewed soul, without wearying the vision or cloying the appetite, for ever and ever. To this state we may apply whatever has been said of the church on earth, with redoubled emphasis. The fruits which, in the enclosure of the church below, savour of the unfavourable clime, in which they grow, will there be found in the utmost perfection of flavour. And there is, moreover, this difference between the earthly and heavenly Paradise, that, in the latter, "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" will not be found. The period of trial and danger will be for ever at an end. The imperfection of which we are conscious with respect to our knowledge of the intermediate state, is still greater in contemplating the place and state of regenerate souls after their reunion with their bodies. "We know not what we shall be; but this we know, that when Christ, who is our life, 66 shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." With the prospect that is in view, we have no cause for regretting the loss of the earthly Eden, since all that was forfeited by the first Adam is restored by the second, "the Lord from heaven;" nay, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" is provided for the heirs of his redemption. "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." The earthly Paradise was forfeited by the first Adam for himself and all his posterity; but "There is a paradise that fears I am, my dear friend, Faithfully your's, |