1Answ. It lies in this; That God would so continue good to Adam, that if he would obey God, he would so support him with his grace, that he should have pleased him for ever: as if God had said, If thou will do what I command, I will unchangeably supply life to thee. I will ⟨p. 237⟩express it by the contrary: Thus it befell Adam; he broke the law, and therefore was under the power of sin, to be led by the force of it to sin eternally, and perish everlastingly. The Lord said, Thou shalt not eat; Adam did eat; so going against the command, the Lord puts him under the authority of corruption; and this is spiritual death. So then, it is not the law of God that rules thee, but the vanity of thy mind, that domineers over thy soul, and members of thy body. Contrariwise, had Adam pleased God, he should have been under the power of holiness, and never have sinned. For God thus said to Adam, If thou will keep my Laws, I will support thee, and thou ⟨p. 238⟩shalt never be subject to any evil. As it is with the damned, they can do nothing but sin, and depart from God daily: so contrariwise, had Adam performed Gods laws, God, with a full stream of immutable assistance, had carried him on daily in his service. This is the happiness of a Saint in heaven, not only to be freed from misery and anguish, or to have joy and delight (a man was not made only for these) but to please God. If it were possible for a sinful creature to carry a proud heart to heaven, he were miserable; but if a man have holiness, all sweet content is his. This is but the second part of happiness.
1Answ. It lies in this; That God would so continue good to Adam, that if hee would obey God, hee would so support him with his grace, that hee should have pleased him for ever: as if God had said, If thou will doe what I command, I will unchangeably supply life to thee. I will ⟨p. 237⟩expresse it by the contrary: Thus it befell Adam; hee broke the law, and therefore was vnder the power of sinne, to bee led by the force of it to sinne eternally, and perish everlastingly. The Lord said, Thou shalt not eate; Adam did eate; so going against the command, the Lord puts him under the authority of corruption; and this is spirituall death. So then, it is not the law of God that rules thee, but the vanity of thy minde, that domineers over thy soul, and members of thy body. Contrariwise, had Adam pleased God, he should have been under the power of holinesse, and never have sinned. For God thus said to Adam, If thou will keep my Lawes, I will support thee, and thou ⟨p. 238⟩shalt never bee subject to any evill. As it is with the damned, they can doe nothing but sinne, and depart from God daily: so contrariwise, had Adam performed Gods laws, God, with a full streame of immutable assistance, had carried him on daily in his service. This is the happinesse of a Saint in heaven, not only to be freed from misery and anguish, or to have joy and delight (a man was not made only for these) but to please God. If it were possible for a sinfull creature to carry a proud heart to heaven, hee were miserable; but if a man have holinesse, all sweet content is his. This is but the second part of happinesse.
- 1The sweetness of the promise of life, wherein.The sweetnesse of the promise of life, wherin.
