Human nature in its fourfold state ... In several practical discourses

Fifthly, Man had a life of pure delight, and undreggy pleasure in this state: Rivers of pure pleasures run through it: The earth, with the product thereof, was now in its glory; nothing had yet come in, to mar the beauty of the creatures. God set him down, not in a common place of the earth; but in Eden, a place eminent for pleasantness, as the name of it imports: nay, not only in Eden, but in the garden of Eden; the most pleasant spot of that pleasant place: a garden planted by God himself, to be the mansion-house of this his favourite. As, when God made the other living creatures, he said, Let the water bring forth the moving creature, Gen i. 20. And, Let the earth bring firth the living creature, ver. 24. But when man was to be made, he said, Let us make man, ver. 20. So, when the rest of the earth was to be furnished with herbs and trees, God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and the fruit-tree, Gen. i. 11. But of paradise it is said, God planted it, chap. ii. 8. which cannot but denote a singular excellency in that garden, beyond all other parts of the th•• beautiful earth. There he wanted neither for necessity nor delight: for there was •ry tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, ver. 9. He know not these delights which luxury has invented for the gratifying of lusts: but his delights were such as came out of the hand of God; without passing through' sinful hands, which readily leave marks of impurity on what they touch. So his delights were pure, his pleasures refined. And yet may I now show you a more excellent way: wisdom had entered into •is heart: surely then knowledge was pleasant unto ⟨p. 28⟩his soul. What delight do some find in their discoveries of the works of nature, by the scrapes of knowledge they have gathered! but how much more exquisite pleasure had Adam, while his piercing eyes read the book of God's works, which God laid before him, to the end he might glorify him in the same; and therefore he had surely fitted him for the work! but above all, his knowledge of God, and that as his God, and the communion he had with him, could not but afford him the most refined and exquisite pleasure in the innermost recesses of his heart. Great is that delight which the saints find in these views of the glory of God, that their souls are sometimes let into, while they are compassed about with many infirmities;