DISC. creatures was by no means a dominion abIV. folute and independent: that without and

:

befide God, there was no true and real good: that to defire any thing without and befide him, was evil: that no temporal worldly good, however fair and tempting it's appearance, was to be fixed upon by man, as the fource of his felicity that the fole rule for fhunning, or defiring things fenfible, fhould be the will and word of God; and that good and evil should be judged of by that standard alone: that the obedience, which God would accept, must be paid with all the powers and affections of the mind, fhewing itself careful and prompt in every the least instance: that man was not yet placed in a state of confummate and established blifs; but that fuch ftate was by him to be earnestly expected, and inceffantly defired; and that he must take the way to it, marked and pointed out by God himself 1.

h See VITRINGA-Obfervat. Sacr. vol. ii. lib. iv. cap. 12, from whom many of the fentiments in this Difcourfe are borrowed.

These

IV.

Thefe particulars feem to flow from the DISC. prohibition in an eafy and natural train. And they lead us to answer the other queftion, namely, What was the object reprefented by the Tree of Knowlege? It was that object, on which man is prone to fet his affections, instead of placing them on a better; it was that object, which, in every age, has been the great rival of the Almighty in the human heart; it was that object, which, in one way or other, has always been " worshipped and served " rather than the Creator ;"it was the CREATURE, the WORLD; and the grand trial was, as it ever hath been, and ever will be, till the world fhall cease to exist, whether things visible, or things invisible, fhould obtain the preference; whether man should walk "by fight, or by faith." To know this, was the knowlege of good and evil; and this knowlege came by the law of God, which faid, Thou shalt not

"covet1." Man's wifdom confifted in the

obfervation of that law; but an enemy per

DISC. fuaded him to feek wisdom by tranfgreffing IV. it. He did fo; and had nothing left, but

to repent of his folly: a cafe that happens, among his descendants, every day, and hour.

every

Let us, therefore, confider the Tree of Knowlege, in this light, with refpect to it's nature, fituation, defign, qualities, effects, and the knowlege conferred by it.

The fruit of this Tree was, to appearance, fair and pleasant; but, when tafted, it became, by the divine appointment, the cause of death. Now, what is it, which, in the eyes of all mankind, feems equally pleafing and alluring, but the end thereof, when coveted in oppofition to the divine command, proves to be death? It is the World, with it's pleasures and it's glories, defired by it's votaries, per fas atque nefas, to the denial of God, and to their own deftruction. The Scriptures proclaim this aloud, and the experience of all generations confirms their teftimony. Indeed, what is there

、

there in the univerfe, but the Creator, and DISC. the Creature? And between whom, but IV. them, can the conteft fubfift, for the love and obedience of man?

The Tree of Knowlege was fituated in the midst of the garden, as was the Tree of Life. They ftood near together, but they stood in oppofition. The divine difpenfations are always best illuftrated by each other. Under the Gospel, Jefus Chrift is the Tree of Life. What is it that opposes him, and, notwithstanding all that he has done, and fuffered, and commanded, and promised, and threatened, is continually, by it's folicitations, being ever present and at hand, feducing men into the path of death? Scripture and experience again join in assuring us, that it is the World. When we are in the house of God, which is Eden restored, engaged in hearing his word, and in the exercifes of devotion, we fit down, as it were, under the shadow of the Tree of Life. No fooner are we gone from it, and too often even while we are there,

DISC. the World intrudes, and draws off to IV. other subjects our thoughts and our affec

tions. What faith Mofes under the law? "Behold I fet before you, this day, life "and good, death and evil; choose ye *." Are not these the two Trees of Paradise ? But imagination cannot form to itself a more exquisite and affecting piece of scenery upon this fubject, than that exhibited by king Solomon in the book of Proverbs; a book whose end and defign is, to teach us the true knowlege of good and evil, that we may pursue the one, and avoid the other. In his 7th chapter, under the usual figure of an harlot, loosely decked in a profusion of vain ornaments, he introduces the World, or the false wisdom thereof, by it's feveral fictitious charms, and meretricious blandishments, alluring the unwary to the chambers of deftruction.

In the fucceed

ing chapter, by way of perfect contrast, appears, in the beauty and majefty of holinefs, the offspring of the Almighty, the Son of the Father, the true and eternal

k Deut. xxx. 15.

Wisdom