"fulness. He set fire and water before "him, with a power to stretch forth his "hand to whether of them he would. "Life and death also he set before him, "that whether he liked, should be given "him." Adam, therefore, was made neither properly mortal, nor properly immortal; but capable of both; for he was made possibly immortal; yet so, that if he should sin, he should die; and possibly mortal too; so, that if he should not sin, he should not die: and the determination of this his indifferent capacity to both events was left to depend upon himself. So that by the proper use of his freedom and continuance in innocence, he might have reached to that blessed state, in which he could neis ther sin nor die.

"Nevertheless through envy of the "devil, came death into the world, and "they that do hold of his side, do find "it." Wisdom of Solomon, ii. 24. "Of "the woman, says the son of Sirach, "came the beginning of sin, and through "her we all die." Eccles. xxv. 24. "By "sin then death entered into the world." Rom. v. 12. From which leading circum

stance

stance in man's original history, the obvious conclusion is, that according to the design of God in his creation, had man continued in innocence, he should not have died. His body, though in itself perishable from the nature of its compo sition, was still capable of being rendered incorrupt, through the use of means divinely appointed for that purpose.

For

thus ought the word made use of in the passage above brought forward from the Wisdom of Solomon, to have been rendered, "God," says Solomon, "created man to "be incorrupt, or for incorruption," eπ άøJapoia-the same word which is made use of by the Apostle in his description of man's final change; "this corruptible "must put on incorruption," adapoían. Hence we conclude that man was originally created with the view of his body being continued in a state of incorruption, by the use of the tree of life, as preparatory to his being finally made partaker of the gift of immortality. So that what fallen man must now pass through the valley of the shadow of death, previous to his

possessing,

possessing, Adam might have obtained without the necessity of such a passage.

With this view of the subject, one of the early Bishops, not far removed from the days of the Apostles, thus describes the original state of Adam*. "God "translated him," says he, "from the earth "out of which he was taken into Paradise, administering to him matter or occasion of proficiency; that increasing and "being made perfect, he might at length "be canonized or consecrated, and so "ascend into Heaven itself." "There"fore," continues the same Bishop in a subsequent page, "God made man nei"ther immortal nor mortal;" that is, not absolutely nor necessarily, one or the other; (for had such been the case, as man had been made by divine power, so, without the intervention of that power, he must have continued ;) " but," as we said before," capable of either state; that

A

* σε Μελέθηκε δε αυτον (Αδαμ) ο Θεος εκ της γης εξ ης εγεγόνει εις τον παράδεισον, δίδως αυτω αφορμην προκοπης, όπως αυξάνων και τέλεια γρυομρυ, επι δε και αναδειχθεις σε Θεός, όπως και εις τον κρανον αναβη.”

THEOPHYLUS, Lib. ii. ad Autol. p. 101.

"keeping the commandment of God, he might gradually proceed unto, and by

66

way of reward obtain immortality from "him; and so be consecrated or cano"nized." Whence it appears (in conformity with the language of a learned writer on this mysterious subject,) that Adam was originally created with a body, furnished with a vital, but not with vivifick power; that is, a body capable of receiving, and being continued in life; but not possessing in itself a life-giving principle. Unless supported, therefore, by supernatural means, it must, in consequence of the perishable materials of which it was composed, necessarily decay. To furnish, from time to time, this supernatural support, appears to have been at least one object of the tree of life so called, by way of distinction; because it was a natu ral means of incorruption; being through

σε ούτε εν αθανατον αυτον (Αδαμ) εποίησεν, συθέμεν σε θνητον, αλλα καθως εκάνω προειρήκαμεν, δεκτικον αμ " φοτέρων ένα ρεψη επι τα της αθανασίας, τήρησας την εύω σε όλην το Θεό, μισθον κομισηται παρ' αυτά την αθανασίαν,

it

και γενηται Θεος.” ΤΗΕΟΡHYLUS.

+ H. Grotius, Lib. de satisfactione Christi.

divine appointment, invested with a quality to repair the advancing decays of nature; at the same time that the due participation of it, under appropriate circumstances, was accompanied with those spiritual effects, which were the pledge or earnest of immortality to the party.

The reason, it is to be observed, for Adam's exclusion from Paradise, after the Fall, is thus expressly given by God himself; "lest he put forth his hand, and take "also of the fruit of the tree, and live for "ever." Hence it appears that the tree of life, in Paradise, possessed some peculiar property distinguishing it from all other trees, which are described in common as good for food, in this respect; that the party who partook of this particular tree might live for ever, which is not the conse quence of food conveyed to man in the ordinary way. But Adam's exclusion from Paradise, for the sole purpose of debarring him, under his present circumstances, from any further use of the tree in question, does not appear to have been necessary; since this end might have been most effectually secured by the destruction of

the