The Primitive and Present State of Man Compared

Next Part The Primitive and Present State of Man Compared 2

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man; how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:17

The ruin of mankind by the fall of Adam, and the method of redemption by Jesus Christ, are subjects of the utmost importance in the Christian religion. And it is necessary we should have some competent knowledge of them, and be suitably affected with them: otherwise, we cannot be recovered from the ruins of the grand apostasy, nor enjoy the salvation of the gospel. I do not mean, that it is absolutely necessary for any man, much less for plain and illiterate understandings, to know all the niceties of theological controversy, and to be able to solve all the difficulties and objections—which the ignorance, arrogance, or curiosity of wrangling and presumptuous disputants have started upon these heads. But the substance and importance of the truths themselves, their principal consequences as to us, and the duties resulting from them—these we ought to understand and feel.

This knowledge and sense of these things, is as necessary to our salvation, as a sense of sickness, and a knowledge of the means of cure—is to the recovery of the sick. And, whatever obscurity and perplexity attend these subjects, we have sufficient light from our Bibles, from observation and experience, to obtain such a degree of knowledge and sense of them, as is sufficient for this purpose.

These subjects, therefore, shall now employ an hour of your precious time. And may the blessed Spirit of God enable me to reveal, and you to receive—the knowledge of his own truths, without adulteration, without corrupt mixtures of human invention, and without partiality and self-flattery! And may He deeply impress our hearts with the knowledge we acquire, and make it a lively principle of practice!

The ruin and recovery of mankind, by the first and second Adam, is the subject of the apostle in the context. His immediate design is to show, the parity in some respects, and the disparity in others, between these two public people.

We have an instance of this parity and disparity in my text.

The instance of PARITY in this: That as the offence of Adam gave death a universal dominion over all his numerous posterity; so the grace and righteousness of Christ procure and bestow everlasting life to all those who receive these blessings. "As, by one man's offence, death reigned by one; so they, who receive the abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."

The instance of DISPARITY is this: The superior efficacy of the grace and righteousness of Christ—to procure and bestow life; above that of the offence of Adam—to subject mankind to the dominion of death. "If, by one man's offence, death reigned, how much more shall they reign in life, who receive the abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness from Jesus Christ?"

If the offence of Adam was sufficient for the condemnation of all his posterity—how much more sufficient is the grace and righteousness of the second Adam, to justify and save all who have a saving interest in him.

The expression is very strong and emphatic— "The abundance of grace;" an overflowing, a redundancy of grace; not only sufficient—but more than sufficient to repair all the ruinous consequences of Adam's fall; sufficient to procure more blessings, than he or his posterity would have enjoyed—even if he had never offended. And sufficient to render the reign, the dominion of life, more glorious and triumphant, than his sin rendered the reign or dominion of death dismal and irresistible. We may gain more by Jesus Christ—than we lost in Adam. He cannot only raise human nature out of its ruins—but repair it in a more glorious form, than that in which it came from the hands of its divine Author at first!

The two great truths which the Apostle has chiefly in view in my text, are these:

that by the sin of Adam—all mankind are subjected to the power of death;

and, that all who truly receive the blessings of redemption through Christ, are delivered from the death to which they are exposed by the sin of Adam, and also entitled to a more glorious and happy life, than that which they lost by Adam's sin.

Or, in other words, that the blessings of redemption, by Christ, are even more than sufficient to recover us from all the ruinous consequences of the fall of Adam.

These, I say, are the truths the apostle has chiefly in view—and these I intend chiefly to illustrate. But I would also make some transient remarks on one or two strong and beautiful expressions, which the apostle uses in my text; and which are certainly worthy of notice.

"Death reigned." How dreadfully striking is the representation! Death is represented as a mighty all-conquering king, that reigned undethroned, uncontrolled, through a long succession of thousands of years, over all mankind, from generation to generation; keeping them in slavery and terror; arresting, imprisoning, stripping them of all their enjoyments, and depriving them even of their lives—at his pleasure.

Death, in this sense, reigns . . .
king of kings—as well as of their subjects;
the sovereign lord of absolute monarchs—as well as of their slaves;
the conqueror of conquerors—as well as of their helpless captives.

The power of death is royal, the power of a king! Death reigns! This wide world is his kingdom—the kingdom of death! And all mankind are his subjects, his slaves! How shocking is the idea!

"By the trespass of the one man—death reigned through that one man" It was the one offence of one man, which gave death his royal dominion. Then death was proclaimed and crowned king of our world—and all mankind pronounced his subjects. Oh! the unspeakable mischiefs of that one offence!

But what a glorious contrast strikes our view, in the antithesis, as to those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness! "They shall reign"— they shall be made kings, invested with royal power and dignity. They shall reign in life—Life shall be the wide-extended territory over which they shall have full dominion. Life shall be the ornament of their crown, the regalia of their reign. They shall reign in life, in opposition to the reign of death; they shall have dominion over that gloomy lord of the sons of Adam. The offspring of the dust, the dying children of Adam the sinner, the feeble mortals that were once the subjects, the slaves of the tyrant death—shall reign in life!

What a glorious, surprising, miraculous advancement is this! And for this they are indebted, not to themselves—but to the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, who has conquered death for them, and dignified them with life and immortality. "They shall reign in life, by one—Jesus Christ." One Jesus Christ is sufficient to accomplish this illustrious revolution. Oh! what wonders has he wrought! and how worthy is he to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing! Revelation 5:12.

The emphasis will appear still farther, if we take notice of the comparison implied in the text. If death reigned—then much more shall they reign. If death reigned by one offence—then much more shall they reign by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness. If death reigned by one Adam, much more shall they reign by one—Jesus Christ. He is much more able to quicken, to save, and glorify—than the first Adam was to kill and destroy. His spiritual children shall reign in life, much more absolutely, illustriously, and uncontrollably, than ever death reigned over the sons of Adam.

What a glorious exaltation is this! To have the same command over life—as death has had over the enjoyments and lives of mankind! To be as victorious over death, and all its host of sickness and sorrow—as death once was over life and all its pleasures! What a grand and noble representation!

I now proceed to the ILLUSTRATION of the great truths the apostle has chiefly in view in this verse; and I begin with the first.

That, by the sin of Adam, all mankind are subjected to, the power of death.

It is the more necessary to insist upon this, as the doctrine of original sin, as it is commonly called, is not only disputed in our age and country—but too generally denied, and represented as a Calvinistic fiction, supported neither by Scripture nor reason, inferring blasphemous reflections upon the divine perfections, and degrading the dignity of human nature.

We now hear eulogies upon the powers of man, the dignity of his nature, and I know not what: as though these powers had never been shattered by the first fall.

We often hear and read such harangues as these, "Can we suppose that a righteous and good God would inflict punishment upon millions of millions of his own creatures, for an offence committed by another so long before they had a being; for an offence in which they had no concurrence, and which they could not possibly have prevented? Is this consistent with the mercy or the justiceof God? What horrid ideas must this raise in our minds of our heavenly Father—as an arbitrary, cruel tyrant, that dooms us to bear his displeasure for a crime in which we had no hand! Has not this doctrine a tendency to cool our love, and excite our horror of him, as the enemy of the race of man? And does it not also tend to cherish a base and sneaking spirit, from an apprehension that we are degraded depraved creatures, instead of that conscious greatness of mind, which proceeds from a sense of the dignity of human nature?"

We are also told, "That as this is not the doctrine of reason, no neither is it that of revelation; that there are but few passages of Scripture that so much as seem to countenance it; and that these will easily admit of another sense: that this, however, cannot be the sense of them, because it is contrary to reason, which a revelation from God can never contradict."

A great deal to this purpose is pleaded; and the representation is so popular and pleasing, as flattering their vanity—that mankind are naturally disposed to embrace it! And those are looked upon as the generous friends of human nature, who entertain such high sentiments of man; whereas those who look upon mankind as a degraded race of creatures—are esteemed intolerant, sour, malevolent creatures, who would dishonour the noble workmanship of God, and overwhelm themselves and others withmelancholy.

But, let us not be deterred by this, from an impartial examination of the subject. It is likely that in this, as well as in other matters of difference, both parties have gone to extremes; and we are most likely to find the truth in the midway between them.Moderation is a virtue, and also a guide to truth; and may it always actuate and direct our minds!

You may observe, that it is not my present design, nor that of my text, to consider that part of original sin which consists in the corruption of our nature derived from Adam; but only that which consists in the imputation of his guilt to us—or our expectedness to punishment, on account of his sin.

Here I would inquire, whether we do suffer punishment on account of Adam's first sin? and how far this punishment may justly extend?

To discover this, I shall compare the primitive and present state of our world, and of mankind in it, as it is represented to us by revelation, reason, experience, and observation.

If the present state of our world is the same with that in which Adam was created, and if all mankind now are placed in the same state and circumstances that he was placed in, while in innocence—then we may conclude, that his posterity do not suffer, or are not punished for his sin; or that the guilt of it is not imputed to them.

But if our world is thrown into disorder since his fall, rendered less commodious and more injurious to mankind; and, as it were, branded with the displeasure of God; if mankind, since his fall, groan under a variety of miseries, to which man in his primitive state was not subject; miseries, which cannot justly be inflicted upon a race of innocent creatures, and which are evident indications and effects of divine vengeance; if these miseries are evidently inflicted upon mankind for the sin of their first father, and not their own; if they have lost that holiness which adorned human nature, when first formed, and are morally corrupt and depraved—if this, I say, is the case—then it is evident, we are a fallen race, and lie under the penal effects of Adam's offence.

Now, if we take a view of the primitive state of our world, and of man in it, as it is given us by Moses—the ancient Jewish historian and law-giver in the beginning of Genesis, we shall find it vastly different from the present state.

In the primitive state, the world was so constituted, as to furnish man with the supports and comforts of life, without hard labour and toil. This is evident from the gracious grants made to the new-made man: "And God said: I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." Genesis 1:29.

This is also evident, from the curse denounced upon the earth after man's fall. Genesis 3:17-19. "Unto Adam God said: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return!"

This loss of fruitfulness in the earth—or its fruitfulness in thorns and thistles, and things of no use—this toil and sweat to procure even bread, the most common support of life—had no place in the state of innocence, because it is here expressly denounced as the punishment of Adam's sin. But that cannot be threatened or inflicted as a punishment of an offence, which the person endured before his offence. That the state of innocence was a state of ease and spontaneous plenty, we may infer also from the fatherly care of the Creator, in planting a garden in Eden, richly furnished with every tree pleasant to the eye, or good for food, and placing the man there to look after it, not for his toil—but for his pleasure, and to live upon the divine bounty, spontaneously springing out of the earth. Genesis 2:8, 9.

This is one instance of the dissimilitude between the primitive state of our earth—and the present. Instead of this universal fertility of the earth, and the spontaneous plenty of Eden—how great a part of the globe lies waste, in hideous, sandy deserts, in wildernesses of useless or noxious shrubs, in bleak and naked mountains, and horrid abrupt ridges of barren rocks! What intemperate seasons, what parching droughts, and drowning rains, what nipping frosts and withering heats! What devastations by earthquakes and floods, what blasting's and mildews, what consumptions by wild beasts, by locusts, caterpillars, and swarms of nameless insects—are the fruits of the earth subject to!

And what scanty harvests, what severe famines and dearths proceed from these causes! How many pine away and die by this scarcity! What coarse, insipid, and unwholesome provisions are a great part of mankind obliged to live upon, especially in theeternal winter of Iceland and Greenland; the burning, sandy wastes of Africa; and other barren, inhospitable climates?

And is this the paradisaic state of our earth? Did it come out of the hands of its Maker exposed to such disorders, and so scantily furnished with provisions for the sustenance and comfort of its inhabitants? Does it appear like a region designed for the residence of a race of creatures in favor with their Creator? Or, rather does it not appear, like the wilds of Siberia, a country into which criminals are transported, and which bears the evident marks of the displeasure of its Maker?

Does not its present disordered state pronounce upon all the sons of Adam, the curse once denounced against Adam, "Cursed is the ground for your sake!" May we not read this curse in every brier and bramble, in every tract of barren land, in every blasted field and scanty harvest? It is evident, the curse affects the ground, not only as to Adam—but also his posterity, through all generations; and, therefore, as it was once inflicted, so it is still continued, on account of his SIN, for which they suffer, as well as himself.

Again; is the present state of labour and toil the same with the primitive state of man? It must be owned, that the life of Adam in Paradise was not a life of idleness—for such a life cannot be a happiness—but a burden, to a reasonable creature formed for action. It must also be owned, that a gracious God, according to his usual art, has brought good out of evil, and turned the labour and sweat inflicted at the fall as a curse, into a blessing—as it prevents much sin, which men in a state of idleness would fall into. For none are more liable to temptation, or more ready to employ themselves in doing evil—than the idle. And hence we see the general prevalence of vice, irreligion, and debauched pleasures among the rich, who can support themselves without labour.

But then this happy conversion of the curse into a blessing, is altogether owing to the dispensation of grace in Christ, or the new covenant, under which God has been pleased to place our world, after the breach of the first covenant. This degree of labour and toil, as it was originally imposed upon Adam, and is still continued upon his posterity—is a curse, a proper punishment for his sin. This is evident from the form of its first denunciation, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you—Cursed is the ground because of you." That is, because you have sinned, therefore, cursed is the ground for your sake; and, therefore, "through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground!"

This, you see, was the curse of a broken law, the punishment of sin, in its original design, whatever new turn may be given to it by the hand of a Mediator, under a dispensation of grace. And it has eventually, as well as in its own nature, proved a curse in all ages.

What labour and fatigue, what hurry and distraction of business run through all ranks of mankind, except a few idle drones, whose indolence is more uneasy than labour itself! What intense application, what anxious contrivance, what painful labour of the head, if not of the hand, exhaust even those who get their livings by more genteel methods—the statesmen, the lawyer, the merchant, etc.!

But if we descend to the lower classes of mankind, the mechanic, the farmer, the common soldier, the mariner, the slave—what toils and hardships, what anxious and fatiguing nights and days do they endure, even to furnish a bare subsistence for themselves and families! And, after all their labour and care, they often suffer need. What days, and months, and years of toiling and sweating, what wearied bones and aching limbs do they endure! And, after all, how poorly do they live! This labour and care hinders their improvement in knowledge, so that they continue ignorant all their lives, and hardly ever enjoy any of the pleasures befitting a rational nature. This deprives them of the pleasure and ease of leisure; and, what is worse than all, it is the occasion of their neglecting the one thing needful, while they are distracted with many things.

How unlike is this to the happy life of Adam in the garden of Eden! Is it not a matter of sense and experience, that the curse of labour and toil denounced upon him, reaches also to his posterity; and, consequently, that they are punished for his sin?

Can we suppose that God would doom a number of reasonable, immortal creatures, capable of such high employments, to dig under the earth in mines, or upon its surface in the field—to endure so many toils and hardships, night and day, by land and sea, to procure a poor subsistence for themselves and their dependants; I say, can we suppose this, without supposing that it isinflicted as a penalty for sin? And it is evident, it must be for the sin of our first father, on whom it was denounced.

In this instance, you see, there is a visible disparity between the present and original state of our world and human nature; and this disparity is penal; that is, it is inflicted upon Adam and his posterity as the punishment of his sin.

Let us now proceed to another instance, which, for brevity's sake, must be very comprehensive; and that is, man in the state of innocence was not liable to death, or the separation of soul and body. This we may certainly infer from death's being the penaltythreatened to his disobedience; but if he had been liable to it while he was innocent, it could not be threatened as a penalty. When it is said, "In the day you eat—you shall surely die," it is certainly implied, "While you do not eat—you shall not die; or you shall continue to live." So when God pronounces the sentence upon him, after his offence, "Dust you are, and unto dust shall you return," he undoubtedly denounces something new, to which man was not exposed before, and something penal, on account of his sin, Genesis 3:19. This Paul also asserts in express terms. "By man," says he, "by the first man, Adam, came death," 1 Corinthians 15:21. So also, "By one man," namely, Adam, "sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned," Romans 5:12. This, therefore, is certain, that death had no place in a state of innocence.

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