good he saw in them before existence, but only and alone for Jesus Christ; it was not for any good he saw they needed, nor any good they should enjoy by it, that moved God to create them, but only sequence of the end for which all things were created, (for Christ,) I will declare the decree, (the appointment) the Lord said unto me, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ps. ii. 8, 9. The same subject is further illustrated in the 53 ch. of Isaiah, where the terms are specified, upon which he was to enjoy this inheritance, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, &c. We find, that as soon as the conditions of obedience and sufferings were proposed, on the part of the Father, and accepted on the part of the Son, that Christ was considered as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rom. xiii. 8. Hence, Solomon speaking in the person of Christ, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Prov. viii. 23. As God, he could not be exalted to higher dignity, than he ever possessed: but as man united to God in the above appointment, and as such he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the world. He rejoiced not in the habitable parts of the world, because glory and happiness were the attendants of his life in it. There was nothing desirable in the poverty of en only only and alone for Jesus Christ; all other motives For des: The were too low to move him, only Jesus Christ, all things were made for him; let us learn to bless Jesus Christ, the cause of our creation, for we of Bethlehem, there was nothing captivating in the groans of Gethsemaneh, and nothing to be coveted in the cruel, lingering, and ignominious crucifixion. But the result of the whole, was the impelling principle to obey, to suffer, and to die. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, Heb, xii. 2. All things were not only made for him, but by him; and if we admit wisdom, infinite wisdom, concerned in the execution of the work, we shall find that all things were made in the best possible state, to accelerate the accomplishment of the end proposed. For the admission of any circumstance whatever, that tends to impede its accomplishment, is either a mark of weakness or ignorance; for if power exists, it is its province to prevent the impediment; and it is the part of Wisdom to point out its existence. As neither of the above considerations can apply to Christ, (who is emphatically called the All-wise and Omnipotent God,) I conclude, that every thing was performed we were created for him, not for ourselves, but for him only. Isaiah liv. 5. Let us forget the shame of our youth, for our Maker is our hushand; we were made for him alone, which is more than Eve could say by her husband; though she was made for him, she was not made by him. Was Eve made of him? yet she was not made by him; but we are made for him, and we are made performed with an unerring eye, to the accomplishment of the design, without any deviation whatever in any single circumstance; and particularly man, either in his creation, in the ends and motives that determined his conduct, or his fall the result of both. The Mosaic account of man's creation is, that he was created upon the image of God. God is holy, just, and good: so was Adam, and he possessed these qualities, in exact proportion to the receptive capacity of mind, received from his Maker. In fact, he was as holy, as just, and as good as God would have him to be, and as God could constitute him in that state. These assertions are additionally confirmed by Solomon, when the original state of man becomes the subject of his inspired and descriptive pen. He introduces it with admiration! Lo, this only have I found, that God made man upright; (and more than upright he could not be made) but they have sought out many inventions. made by him, and we are made of him. Eph. v. 30. Thirdly. If all things were made for Jesus Covenant Christ, then the covenant made with Adam was made for Jesus Christ. Thus I argue: If Adam was a shadow, or the figure, then Jesus Christ was the substance. Now here lyeth the matter, wherein Adam was a shadow of Christ. First. inventions. Eccl. vii. 29. Neither was there any thing wanting (after God brought a helpmeet for him) to constitute his state happy, and perfectly so in its kind. Neither could Adam be created in any other state, than that in which he was created; for his creation was not the undefinable effect of unlimited power, but the nature of every effect produced by that power, circumscribed within the limits prescribed by infinite wisdom in this situation he needed no more to make him happy, than what he had already received, and being perfectly free from every imperfection, he needed not, in this simple state, the interposition of any intermediate character between him and God: and having a law given him, had he obeyed that law, he never would have needed any. If he had obeyed that law, and thus secure as the reward of his obedience, the happiness of his creation state; the designs of God in constituting Christ, the Lamb slain from First. In his creation, he was made in the likeness of God. Gen. i. 27. So God created man in his own image; and if all things were made by him, then Jesus Christ, God-man, made Adam in his own image, male and female created he them. Matt. xix. 4, 5. He created them Image. male and female in one body, and called their one Body. me name Adam. Gen. v. 2. in the day that he cre- 33-35 ated from the foundation of the world, would have for a moment examine the merit of this reply; |