tihtavy of Che Cheolo0ical ^tminaxy

PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY

PRESIDENT PATTON

LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 1

FEB I 8 2006

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

THE

COMPLETE WORKS

REV. ANDREW FULLER:

WITH A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE,

BY

ANDREW GUNTON FULLER.

REPRINTED FROM THE THIRD LONDON EDITION ; REVISED, WITH ADDITIONS,

JOSEPH BELCHER, D. D.

IN THREE VOLUMEp,

VOL. IIL

LIBRARY OF PRINCETON

1

FEB I 8 2005

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

EXPOSITIONS— MISCELLANEOUS.

PHILADELPHIA: AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY.

CONTENTS.

VOL. III.

EXPOSITORY DISCOURSES ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

1-

4,

of the fall,

10—3

Dedication,

I. The book in general, and the first day's creation, chap. II. The last five days' creation, chap. i. 6 — 31, .

III. Creation revived, chap. ii. .

IV. The fall of man, chap. iii. 1 — 7, .... V. The trial of the transgressors, chap. iii. 8 — 14,

VI. The curse of Satan, including a blessing to man — effect:

chap. iii. 15 — 24,

VII. The offerings of Cain and Abel, chap. iv. 1 — 8,

VIII. Cain's punishment and posterity, chap. iv. 9 — 24, .

IX. The generations of Adam, chap. iv. 25, 26, chap. v. .

X. The cause of the deluge, chap. vi. 1 — 7,

XI. Noah favoured of God, and directed to build the ark, chap. vi.

XII. The flood, chap. vi. vii. ......

XIII. The flood, (continued,)

XIV. God's covenant with Noah, chap. ix. 1 — 24, • XV. Noah's prophecy, chap. ix. 2.5 — 27, ....

XVI. The generations of Noah, chap x. ...

XVII. The confusion of tongues, chap. si. 1 — 9,

XVIII. The generations of Shem, and the call of Abram, chap xii. 1 — 4, ........

XIX. Abram in Canaan — removal to Egypt, chap. xii. 5 — 20,

XX. The separation of Abram and Lot, chap. xiii.

XXI. Abram's slaughter of the kings, chap. xiv.

XXII. Abram justified by faith, chap. xv. 1 — 6,

XXIII. Renewal of promises to Abram, chap. xv. 7 — 21,

XXIV. Sarai's crooked policy, chap. xvi. .... XXV. Covenant with Abram and his seed, chap. xvii. .

XXVI. Abraham entertains Angels — intercedes for Sodom, chap

XXVII. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, ohap. xix.

XXVIII. Abraham and xVbiinolech, chap. xx. ...

XXIX. The birth of Isaac, &c., chap. xxi.

XXX. Abraham commanded to off: i- up Isaac, chap. xxii. .

XXXI. Death and Burial of Sarah, chap, xxiii.

XXXII. Abraham sends his servant to obtain a wife for Isaac,

XXXIII. The same subject continued, .......

XXXIV. Abraha.m marries Keturah — dies — Ishmael's posterity and death —

birth, &c. of Esau and Jacob, chap, xxv

XXXV. Isaac and Abimolech, chap, xxvi

XXXVI. Jacob obtains the blessing, chap, xxvii.

XXXVII. Departs from Beersheba, chap, xxviii

XXXVIII. Arrives at Haran, chap, xxix

XXXIX. Residence in Haran, chap. xxx. xxxi ] — 16

XL. Departs from Haran, chap. xxxi. 17 — 55.

XLI. Is afraid of Esau — wrestles with the Angel, chap, xxxii.

XLII. Interview with Esau — arrives in Canaan, chap, xxxiii.

XLIII. Dinah defiled, and the Shechemites murdered, chap, xxxiv

XLIV. Jacob removes to Bethel — covenant reversed — death of Deborah —

Rachel and Isaac — Esau's generations, chap. xxxv. xsxvi.

XLV. Joseph sold for a slave, chap, xxxvii. .....

XLVI. Judah's conduct — Joseph's promotion and temptation, chap, xxxvi xxxix. ...........

XL VII. Joseph in prison, chap. xl. .

XLVIII. Joseph's advancement, chap. xii. ......

XLIX. First interview between Joseph and his brethren, chap. xlii. •

L. Second interview between Joseph and his brethren, chap, xliii. .

LI. The cup in Benjamin's sack, chap. xliv. 1 — 17.

iii

Page 1

IV

CONTENTS.

Discourse LII.

LIII.

LIV.

LV.

LVI. LVII. LVIII.

Paff->

Jadah's intercession, chap. xliv. IS — 34 173

Joseph makes himself known to his brethren, chap. slv. . . 176

Jacob goes down into Egypt, chap slvi. 179

Joseph's conduct in the settlement of his brethren, and in the affairs

of Egypt, chap, xlvii 1S2

Interview with his dying father — blessing of his sons, chap, xlviii. 1S5 Jacob's blessing on the tribes, chap. slix. ..... ISS

Jacob's burial — Joseph removes the fears of his brethren — death of

Joseph, chap. 1 195

Conclusion, 19S

EXPOSITORY DISCOURSES ON THE APOCALYPSE.

Dedication, ...201

Abstract of the Prophecy, 202

I. Introductory and preparatory vision, chap. i. .... 207

II. Epistles to the Churches, chap. ii. iii. 210

III. The same subject continued, 214

IV. Vision of the throne of God, chap. iv. 219

V. The Book with Seven Seals, chap, v 220

VI. The Seals opened, chap, vi 222

VII. The Seals opened, (continued,) ....... 225

VIII. Sealing of the Servants of God, chap, vii 227

IX. Seventh Seal subdivided into Seven Trumpets, chap. viii. 1 — 12, . 230

Appendix — History of the first Four Trumpets, .... 232 X. First Woe Trumpet ; or the Smoke and Locusts, chap. viii. 13, is.

1—12, 236

XI. Second Woe Trumpet ; or the Army of Horsemen, chap. ix. 13 — 21, 238

XII. Introduction to the Western Papal Apostacy, chap. x. . . 240

THE FIRST GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PAPAL APOSTACY.

XIII. State of the Church imder the Papal Apostacy, chap. xi. 1 — 6 . 243 Appendix — History of the Witnesses, 245

XIV. Slaughter and resurrection of the Witnesses, with the falling of the

tenth part of the city, chap. xi. 7 — 13, 249

XV. Sounding of the Seventh Angel, chap. xi. 14 — 19, . , . 254

THE SEi^OND GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

XVI. The great Red Dragon, and the Woman fleeing to the Wilderness,

chap. xii. 1 — 6, 256

XVII. War between Michael and the Dragon, chap. xii. 7 — 17, . . 259

THE THIRD GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

XVIII. The Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns, chap. xiii. 1 — 10, . 261

XIX. The Beast with Two Horns, like a Lamb, chap. xiii. 11 — 18, . 265

XX. The Lamb's Company, chap. xiv. 1 — 5, 267

XXI. Messages of the Three Angels, the Harvest, and the Vintage, chap.

xiv. 6—20, 269

XXII. Introduction to the Vials, chap. xv. 271

XXIII. On the Vials, chap, xvi 273

XXIV. The Vials, (continued,) • ... 276

XXV. The Great Harlot and the Beast, chap. xvii. .... 279

XXVI. Fall of Babylon— Marriage of the Lamb, chap, xviii. xix. 1 — 10, . 2S3

XXVII. Beast and False Prophet taken, chap. xix. 11 — 21, . . . 287

XXVIII. The Millennium, chap. xx. 1—6 291

XXIX. The Falling away — End of the World — Resurrection — Last Judg- ment, chap. XX. 7 — 15, 295

XXX. New Heaven — New Earth — New Jerusalem, chap. xxi. xxii. 1 — 5, 297

XXXI. Attestation to the Truth of the Prophecy, chap. xxii. 6 — 21, . 299

Conclusion, . . . . . . . . . . .301

Addition in 1814, 306

CIRCULAR LETTERS.

The excellence and utility of Hope, A.D. 1782, 308

Causes of declension in Religion, and means of Revival, 1785, .... 318

Why Christians in the present day possess less joy than the Primitive Disciples, 1795, 325

The Discipline of the Primitive Churches illustrated and enforced, 1799, . . . 331

CONTENTS. ▼

Page

The practical uses of Christian Baptism, 1802, , 339

The Pastor's Address to his Christian hearers, entreating their assistance in promoting

the interest of Christ, 1806, 345

On moral and positive obedience, 1807 . , • 352

The promise of the Spirit the grand encouragement in promoting the Gospel, 1810, 359 The situation of the Widows and Orphans of Christian Ministers, IS 15, . . . 363

MEMOIRS OF THE REV. SAMUEL PEARCE, M.A.

Dedication, « 367

Introduction, 368

Chaptee I. His parentage, conversion, call to the misistry, and settlement at Bir- mingham, ............ 369

II. His laborious exertions in promoting Missions to the heathen, and his

offering himself to become a Missionary, 378

III. His exercises and labour, from the lime of his giving up the idea of

going abroad, to the commencement of his last affliction, . . 392

IV. An account of his last affliction, and the holy and happy exercises of

his mind under it, ...... . . . 409

V. General Outlines of his character, 429

ESSAYS, LETTERS, &c., ON ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY.

An inquiry into tlie right of private judgment in matters of religion, ... 447

Creeds and subscriptions, ........... 449

Thoughts on the principles on which the Apostles proceeded in forming and organizing

Christian churches, &c. , . ^1

A brief statement of the principles of dissent, 459

Vindication of protestant dissent, in reply to the Rev. Thomas Robinson, M.A. . 463

The presence of Judas at the Lord's supper, 473

Dissent, ................ 474

State of dissenting discipline, ......,.,,, 477

Discipline of the English and Scottish Baptist churches, • • , • . 478

State of the Baptist churches in Northamptonshire, . , . , , , 481

Decline of the dissenting interest, ••..•••••. 483

Agreement in sentiment, the bond of Christian union, •••••• 489

Ordination : —

Re-ordination and imposition of hands, ••••••>. 492

Validity of lay ordination, ......,» ^ . 495

Administering the Lord's supper without ordination, ••,••> 495

Administering the Lord's supper without a minister, . . , , , 496

Counsel to a young minister in prospect of ordination, ..... 497

The dpostolic office, 498

Terms of Communion :

Remarks on infant baptism and infant communion, ...... 499

Strictures on the Rev. John Carter's " Thoughts on Baptism and Mixed Commu>

nion," 501

Thoughts on open communion, in a letter to the Rev. W. Ward, missionary at

Serampore, 603

Strict communion in the church at Serampore, ...... 507

The admission of unbaptized persons to the Lord's supper inconsistent with the

New Testament, ... 508

Instrumental music in Christian worship, ........ 6)5

Thoughts on singing, 521

MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS, ESSAYS, LETTERS, &c.

Truth, 624

The raaDDCt in which Divine truth is communicated, , . 637

The great question answered, • , , 640

The Awakened Sinner; or Letters between Archippus and Epaphras, ... 649

Spirituat Pbide, &c. : —

Introduction, .....,, 664

Sect. 1. Occasions or objects of spiritual pride, 665

2. Causes of spiritual pride, .....,,», 574

VI CONTENTS.

Pac6

Remarks on two sermons by W. W. Home of Yarmouth, • • « . . 678

The moral law the rule of conduct to believers, ....,,. 685

Strictures on sentiments of the Rev. Robert Robinson, 588

On spiritual declension and means of revival, . . • . . . . 615

The Backslider, &c. : —

Introduction, •••.......... 635

General nature and different species of backsliding, 635

Symptoms of a backsliding spirit, . 642

Injurious and dangerous effects of sin lying upon the conscience unlamented, 647

Means of recovery, 652

Progressiveness of sin and of holiness, ......... 660

Persuasives to a general union in prayer for the revival of religion, . . . 666

Thoughts on Civil Polity : —

Attachment to government, . . . . 670

Reflections on the Epistle of Jude 674

Influence of the conduct of religious people on the well-being of a country, . 675

Political self-righteousness, .......... 675

The proper and improper use of terms, ......... 677

The immaculate life of Christ, 686

The Deity of Christ : —

Tlie Deity of Christ essential to the atonement, 693

The Deity of Christ essential to our calling on his name, and trusting in him for

salvation, ............. 695

Defence of the Deity of Christ, 697

Remarks on the indwelling scheme, ...• 699

On the Sonship of Christ, 704

On the Trinity, 707

Justification :

The doctrine of imputed righteousness, ..•••... 709

Imputation and original sin (from a MS.) ...••... 720

To the afflicted, 722

The Heavenly Glory r —

Nature and progiessiveness of heavenly glory, 725

Degrees in glory proportioned to works of piety consistent with Balvation by grace

alone, 741

The final consummation of all things, 743

REVIEWS.

The abuse of Reviews, .•,•••• 745

Scott's " Warrant and Nature of Faith," 749

Booth's " Glad Tidings," &c., 752

Bootli's Sermon — the " Amen of Social Prayer," ....... 755

Memoirs of the Rev. James Garie, . . . . . . . , . . 756

Bevan's defence of the doctrine of the Friends, ....... 757

Jerram's " Letters on the Atonement," . 760

*' The Voice of Years concerning the late W. Huntington, S. S." . . • • 762

ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

The fall of Adam, 765

The accountability of man, 766

Moral inability, 768

The love of God, and its extension to the non-elect, ...... 769

The prayer of the wicked, 772

Aspect of gospel promises to the wicked, . 773

Power and influence of the gospel, .......... 774

The nature of regeneration, 776

Faith not merely intellectual, ........... 779

Faith required by the moral law, • 781

Christian love, .••.... 782

Christian charity, .«...• 783

Character not determined by individual acts, 784

CONTENTS. Vii

Page Satan's temptation?, •.•...•••,.. 784

Jbedience and suffering of Christ, ... ••••».. 785

Jesus growing in wisdom and knowledge, •*•••••• 7S7

Reading the Scriptures, .......,•,,. 788

State of the mind in social and secret prayer, ••>•••• 789

Nature of indwelling sin, ....,,•••,,. 790

Preservation against backsliding, ..••••», ,,791

Ministerial call and qualifications, ..•..»,,,, 793

FUGITIVE PIECES

The necessity of seeking first the things of greatest importance, . . * . 795

Party spirit, 797

Evil things under specious names, .......... 797

Scriptural treatment of rich and poor Christians, ....... 800

Dangerous tendency of the doctrine of Universal Salvation, ..... 802

The mystery of Providence, ........... 805

Connexions of the doctrine of election in the' Scriptures, . . • . . 807

The English translation of the Scriptures, ........ 810

Commendation, ....Sll

Oration at the grave of Rev. R. Hall, ......... 813

Lines to the memory of Rev. R, Hall, .....•••. 815

Nature of true virtue, ••••••• 817

Morality not founded in utility, . . , .818

The Great Aim of Life. 819

Credulity and disingenuousness of unbelief, ........ 821

The establishment of the Glasgow Missionary Society, ...... 823

Importance of faith, especially in Missionary undertakings, * . • . . 825

Infinite evil of sin, 828

The Leper, 828

The Christian Sabbath, 828

Picture of an Antinomian, ....••••••. 829

SERMONS.

The progress of the Gospel, .*.* 832

A right Spirit, 836

Ikdex, 843

EXPOSITORY DISCOURSES

THE BOOK OF GENESIS,

INTERSPERSED ■WITH

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS.

TO THE

BAPTIST CHURCH OF CHRIST AT KETTERING.

My dear Brethren,

It is now upwards of twenty-two years since I first took the oversight of you in the Lord. During the last fifteen years it has, as you know, been my practice to expound among you, on a Lord's day morning, some part of the Holy Scriptures, commonly a chapter. From all that I have felt in my own mind, and heard from you, I have reason to hope these exercises have not been in vain. They have enabled us to take a more connected view of the Scriptures than could be obtained merely by sermons on particular pass- ages ; and I acknowledge that, as I have proceeded, the work of exposition has become more and more interesting to ray heart.

I have not been in the habit of writing dedications to what I have pub- lished, but in this instance I feel inclined to deviate from my usual practice. Considering my time of life, and the numerous avocations on my hands, I may not be able to publish any thing more of the kind ; and if not, permit me to request that this family book may be preserved as a memorial of our mutual affection, and of the pleasures we have enjoyed together in exploring the treasures of the lively oracles.

You will consider these Discourses as the result of having once gone over that part of the Scriptures to which they relate. Were we to go over it again and again, such is the fulness of God's word, that we should still find interest- ing and important matter which had never occurred in reading it before ; and this should encourage us not to rest in any exposition, but to be con- stantly perusing the Scriptures themselves, and digging at the precious ore.

As the Exposition was delivered in public worship, it was not my wish to dwell upon particular words, so much as to convey the general scope and design of the Scriptures. Whether I have in any considerable degree caught the s.pirit which runs through them is too much for me to decide; but this I can say, that such has been my aim. I know by experience that, with respect

Vol. III.— 1 A 1

2 EXPOSITION OP GENESIS.

to this, when I have been the most spiritually-minded, I have succeeded the best; and therefore conclude, that if I had lived nearer to God the work had been better executed. But, such as it is, I commend it to the blessing of God and your candid acceptance ; and remain

Your affectionate Pastor, Kettering, October 29, 1805. The Author.

DISCOURSE I.

THE BOOK IN GENERAL, AND THE FIRST DAy's CREATION. Genesis i. 1-4.

It is common for the writers of other histories to go back in their researches as far as possible ; but Moses traces his from the beginning. The whole book is upon the origin of things, even of all things that had a begin- ning. The visible creation, the generations of man, moral evil among men. the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, the new world, the church in the family of Abraham, the various nations and tribes of man ; every thing, in short, now going on in the world, may be traced hither as to its spring-head. Without this history the world would be in total darkness, not knowing whence it came, nor whither it goeth. In the first page of this sacred book a child may learn more in an hour than all the philosophers in the world learned without it in thousands of years.

There is a majestic sublimity in the introduction. No apology, preamble, or account of the writer : you are introduced at once into the very heart of things. No vain conjectures about what was before time, nor why things were done thus and thus ; but simply so it was.

In this account of the creation nothing is said on the being of God; this great truth is taken for granted. May not this apparent omission be designed to teach us that those who deny the existence of a Deity are rather to be rebuked than reasoned with ? All reasoning and instruction must proceed upon some principle or principles, and what can be more proper than this? Those writers who have gone about to prove it, have, in my opinion, done but little, if any, good; and in many instances have only set men a doubting upon a subject which is so manifest from every thing around them as to render the very heathens without excuse, Rom. i. 20.

The foundation of this vast fabric is laid in an adequate cause — Elohim, The Almighty. Nothing else would bear it. Man, if he attempt to find an adequate cause for what is, to the overlooking of God, shall but weary him- self with very vanity.

The writer makes use of the plural term Elohim, which yet is joined to singular verbs. This has been generally thought to intimate the doctrine of a plurality in the unity of the Godhead. It is certain the Scriptures speak of the Son and Holy Spirit as concerned in creation, as well as the Father, John i. 1 ; Gen. i. 2. Nor can I, on any other supposition, affix a consis- tent meaning to such language as that which afterwards occurs : " Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," — "Behold, the man is become like one of us."

The account given by Moses relates not to the ivhole creation, but merely to what it immediately concerns us to know. God made angels; but

THE FIRST DAY S CREATION. 3

nothing is said of them. The moon is called one of the greater lights, not as to what it is in itself, but what it is to us. The Scriptures are written, not to gratify curiosity, but to nourish faith. They do not stop to tell j'ou Jioto, nor to answer a number of questions which might be asked ; but tell you so much as is necessary, and no more.

Ver. 1, 2. The first act of creation seems to have been general, and the foundation of all that followed. What the heavens were when first produced, previously to the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, it did not greatly con- cern us to know, and therefore we are not told. What the eart?i was we are informed in verse 2. It was a chaos, without form, and void; a confused mass of earth and water, covered with darkness, and void of all those fruits which afterwards covered the face of it. As regeneration is called a crea- tion, this may fitly represent the state of the soul while under the dominion of sin. — " The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The word signifies as much as brooded ; and so is expressive of " an active, effectual energy, agitating the vast abyss, and infusing into it a powerful vital principle." Hence those lines of Milton : —

" And chiefly thou, O Spirit-

-that, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like, satt'st brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant."

Thus also God hath wrought upon the moral world, which, under sin, was without form, and void ; and thus he operates upon every individual mind, causing it to bring forth fruit unto himself.

Ver. 3. From a general account of the creation, the sacred writer pro- ceeds to particulars; and the first thing mentioned is the production o( light. The manner in which this is related has been considered as an example of the sublime. It expresses a great event in a kw simple words, and exhibits the Almighty God perfectly in character : " He speaks, and it is done ; he commands, and it stands fast." The work of the Holy Spirit upon the dark soul of man is fitly set forth in allusion to this great act of creation: "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." As soon might chaos have emerged from its native darkness as our benighted world, or benighted souls, have found the light of life of their own accord. Nor was it sufficient to have furnished us with a revela- tion from heaven : the same almighty power that was necessary to give material light a being in the world was necessary to give spiritual light a being in the heart.

The light here mentioned was not that of the sun, which was created afterwards. Hence a late infidel writer has raised an objection against the Scriptures, that they speak of light, and even of night and day, which are well known to arise from the situation of the earth towards the sun, before the sun was made. But he might as well have objected that they speak of the earth in ver. 1, 2, and yet afterwards tell us of the dry land, as separated from the waters, constituting the earth, ver. 9, 10. The truth seems to be, that what chaos was to the earth, that the light was to the sun : the former denotes the general principles of which the latter was afterwards composed. A flood of light was produced on the first day of creation, and on the fourth it was collected and formed into distinct bodies. And though these bodies, when made, were to rule day and night, yet, prior to this, day and night were ruled by the Creator's so disposing of the light and darkness as to divide them, ver. 4. That which was afterwards done ordinarily by the sun was now done extraordinarily by the division of darkness and light.

Ver. 4. " God saw the light that it was good." Light is a wonderful

4 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

creature, full of goodness to us. This is sensibly felt by those who have been deprived of it, either by the loss of sight, or by confinement in dungeons or mines. How pathetically does our blind poet lament the loss of it:—

'•■ Seasons return ; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose. Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine: But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me ! From the cheerful ways of men Cut off; and, for the book of knowledge fair, Presented with a universal blank Of natures's works, to me expunged and rased And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out!"

If such be the value of material light, how much more of that which is mental and spiritual ! and how much are we indebted to the Holy Spirit of God for inditing the Scriptures, and opening our benighted minds to under- stand them !

DISCOURSE II.

THE LAST FIVE DAYS' CREATION.

Gen. i. 6-31.

Ver. 6-8. We here enter upon the second day, which was employed in making a firmament or expanse. It includes the atmosphere, and all that is visible, from the position of the sun, moon, and stars, down to the surface of the globe, ver. 14, 15, 20.

The use of it was to " divide the waters from the waters ;" that is, the waters on the earth from the waters in the clouds, which are well known to be supported by the buoyant atmosphere. The division here spoken of is that of distribution. God, having made the substance of all things, goes on to distribute them. By means of this the earth is watered by the rain of heaven, without which it would be unfruitful, and all its inhabitants perish. God makes nothing in vain. There is a grandeur in the firmament to the

to ^ o _

eye ; but this is not all ; usefulness is combmed with beauty. Nor is it use- ful only with respect to animal subsistence, it is a mirror, conspicuous to all, displaying the glory of its Creator, and showing his handiworks. The clouds also, by emptying themselves upon the earth, set us an example of generosity, and reprove those who, full of this world's good, yet keep it principally to themselves, Eccles. xi. 1-3.

Ver. 9-13. God having divided the heavens and the earth, he now, on the third day, proceeds to subdivide the earth, or chaos, into land and v/ater. The globe became terraqueous ; partly earth, and partly sea.

It is easy to perceive the goodness of God in this distribution. Important as earth and water both arc, yet, while mixed together, they afford no abode for creatures ; but, separated, each is a beautiful habitation, and each sub- serves the other. By means of this distribution the waters are ever in motion, which preserves them, and almost every thing else, from stagnancy and putrefaction. That which the circulation of the blood is to the animal frame, the waters are to the world : were they to stop, all would stagnate and

LAST FIVE days' CREATION. 5

die, Eccles. i, 7. See how careful our heavenly Father was to build us a habitation before he gave us a being. Nor is this the only instance of the kind : our Redeemer has acted on the same principle, in going before to prepare a place for us.

Having fitted the earth for fruitfulness, God proceeds to clothe it with grass, and herbs, and trees of every kind. There seems to be an emphasis laid on every herb and tree having its seed in itself. ■ We here see the pru- dent foresight, if I may so speak, of the great Creator in providing for futurity. It is a character that runs through all his works, that, having communicated the first principles of things, they should go on to multiply and increase, not independently of him, but as blessed by his conservative goodness. It is thus that true religion is begun and carried on in the mind, and in care and the world.

Ver. 14-19. After dividing this lower v/orld, and furnishing it with the principles of vegetation, the Creator proceeded, on the fourth day, to the producing of the heavenly bodies. First they are described in general, as the lights of heaven (ver. 14, 15) , and then more particularly, as the sun, moon, and stars, ver. lG-19.

The use of these bodies is said to be not only for dividing the day from the night, but " for signs and seasons, and days and years." They ordinarily afford signs of weather to the husbandman (Matt. xvi. 3) ; and, prior to the discovery of the use of the loadstone, were of great importance to the mariner. Acts xxvii. 20. They appear also, on some extraordinary occa- sions, to have been premonitory to the world. Previously to the destruction of Jerusalem, our Lord foretold that there should be great earthquakes in divers places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful sights, and great signs from heaven, Luke xxi. 11. And it is said by Josephus that a comet, like a flaming sword, was seen for a long time over that devoted city, a little before its destruction by the Romans. Heathen astrologers made gods of these creatures, and filled the minds of men with chimerical fears concern- ing them. Against these God warns his people, saying, " Be ye not dis- mayed at the signs of heaven." This, however, does not prove but that he may sometimes make use of them. Modern astronomers, by accounting for various phenomena, would deny their being signs of any thing ; but, to avoid the superstitions of heathenism, there is no necessity for our running into atheism.

The heavenly bodies are also said to be for seasons, as winter and sum- mer, day and night. We have no other standard for the measuring of time. The great vicissitudes also which attend them are expressive of the good- ness of God. If it were always day or night, summer or winter, our enjoy- ments would be unspeakably diminished. Well is it said at every pause, Atid God saw that it tvas good 1

David improved this subject to a religious purpose : " Day unto day utter- eth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." Every night we retire we are reminded of death ; and every morning we arise, of the resur- rection. In beholding the sun also, " which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his race," we see every day a glorious example of the steady and progressive "path of the just, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

Ver. 20-25. We are next led to review the animal creation ; a species of being less resplendent, but not less useful, than some of greater note. In one view, the smallest animal has a property belonging to it which ren- ders it superior to the sun. It has life, and some degree of knowledge. It IS worthy of notice, too, that the creation begins with things without life, and proceeds to things possessing vegetative life, then to those which have

*' a3

O EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

animal life, and after that to man, who is the subject of rational life. This shows that life is of great account in the Creator's estimation, who thus causes the subject to rise upon us as we proceed.

Ver. 20-31. We are now come to the sixth and last day's work of crea- tion, which is of greater account to us than any which have gone before, as the subject of it is man. — We may observe,

1. That the creation of man is introduced differently from that of all other beings. It is described as though it were the result of a special counsel, and as though there were a peculiar importance attached to it , " God said. Let us make man." Under the Great Supreme, man was to be the lord of the lower world. On him would depend its future well-being. Man was to he a distinguished link in the chain of being ; uniting the animal with the spiritual world, the frailty of the dust of the ground with the breath of the Almighty; and possessing that consciousness of right and wrong which should render him a proper subject of moral government.

2. Man was honoured in being made after his Creator's image. This is repeated with emphasis : " God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him." The image of God is partly natural, and parUy moral ; and man was made after both. The former consisted in rea- son, by which he was fitted for dominion over the creatures, James iii. 7; the latter, in righteousness and true holiness, by which he was fitted for com- munion with his Creator. The figure of his body, by which he was distin- guished from all other creatures, was an emblem of his mind : God made man upright. I remember once, on seeing certain animals which approached near to the human form, feeling a kind of jealousy (shall I call it?) for the honour of my species. What a condescension then, thought I, must it be for the eternal God to stamp his image upon man !

" God made man upright." He knew and loved his Creator, living in fellowship with him and the holy angels. Oh how fallen! "How is the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed !"

DISCOURSE III.

CREATION REVIEWED. Gen. ii.

This chapter contains a review of the creation, with the addition of some particulars, such as the institution of the sabbath, the place provided for man, the law given him, and the manner of the creation of woman.

Ver. 1. There is something impressive in this review : " Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them" — wisely, mightily, kindly, gradually, but perfectly. Man's work, especially when great, is commonly a work of ages. One lays the foundation, and another the top- stone; or, what is worse, one pulls down what another had reared; but God finishes his work. " He is a rock, and his work is perfect."

Ver. 2, 3. The conclusion of so Divine a work required to be celebrated, as well as the Creator adored, in all future ages; hence arose the institution of the sabbath. We are not to imagine that God was weary, or that he was unable to have made the whole in one day; but this was done for an example to us.

The keeping of a sabbath sacred for Divine worship has been a topic cf

CREATION REVIEWED, 7

much dispute. Some have questioned whether it was kept by the patriarchs, or before the departure of Israel from Egypt ; supposing that Moses, who wrote the Book of Genesis about that time, might be led to introduce God's resting from his works on the seventh day as a motive to enforce what was then enjoined upon them. But if there was social worship before the flood, and during the patriarchal ages, one should think there must have been a time for it. We expressly read of time being divided into weeks during these ages, chap. xxix. 27, 28 ; and as early as the flood, when Noah sent out the dove once and again from the ark, the term of " seven days" is noticed as the space between the times of sending her. Add to this, the division of time into weeks is said to have been very common in heathen nations in all ages ; so that though they ceased to observe the sabbath, yet they retained what was a witness against them — the time of its celebration.

The sabbath was not only appointed for God, but to be a clciy of rest for man, particularly for the poor. It was enjoined on Israel for this reason, " That thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou : and remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt." Those who would set it aside are no less the enemies of the poor than of God and reli- gion : they consult only their worldly interest. If such sordid characters could so order it, their servants would be always in the yoke. Nor would their being so in the least tend to increase their wages : every day's work would be worth a little less than it is now, and the week's work would amount to much the same. To those who fear God it is also a rest to the 7nind; a time of refreshing after the toils of worldly labour.

The reason for keeping the sabbath was drawn not only from God's having rested, but from the rest which Israel felt from the yoke of Egypt, Deut. v. 14, 15. And we have since that time another reason, namely, Christ having rested from his works, as God did from his, Heb. iv. 4-10. Hence, accord- ing to the practice of the primitive Christians, the day was altered, Acts xx. 7 : and by how much more interesting the work of redemption is than that of creation, by so much is this reason greater than the other.

Finally, It is a Jewish tradition, and seems to have generally prevailed, that, as there is a harmony of times in the works of God, this seventh day of rest is prefigurative of the seven thousandth year of the world being a rest to the church. We know that years were divided into sevens, and seven times sevens. Every seventh year the land was to have its sabbath, and every fiftieth year its jubilee: and thus it may be with the world. If so, we are not at a great distance from it ; and this will be the period when a great number of prophecies of the universal spread of the gospel shall be fulfilled.

Ver. 4-7. After reviewing the whole in general, and noticing the day of rest, the sacred writer takes a special review of the vegetable creation, with an intent to mark the difference of its first production and ordinary propagation. Plants are now ordinarily produced by rain upon the earth and human tillage ; but the first plants were made before there was any rain, or any human hand to till the ground. After this, a mist or vapour arose which engendered rain, and watered the earth, ver. 6. So also after this God formed man to till the ground, ver. 7. It is God's immediate work to communicate the first principles of things ; but their growth is promoted by the instrumentality of man. And now, having made mention of man, he tells us of what he was made. His body was formed " of the dust of the ground." His soul proceeded from the inspiration of the Almighty. What a wonderful compound is man ! There seems to be something in the ad- ditional phrase, "And man became a living soul." God is said to breathe the breath of life into all animals ; and we sometimes read of the soul of every living thing : but they are never said to be living souls, as men are.

8 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

God hath stamped rationality and immortality upon men's souls, so as to render them capable of a separate state of being, even when their bodies are dead. Hence the soul of a beast, when it dies, is said to go downwards; the soul of man upwards, Eccles. xii. 7.

Ver. 8. Next we have an account of the place provided for man ; not only the world at large, but a pleasant part of it. It was situated in the country of Eden, in Asia ; probably among the mountains of the East. It was near the origin of several rivers, which always proceed from mountainous parts of the country. It is spoken of as rich and fruitful in a high degree, so as even to become proverbial, Gen. xiii. 10; Isa. li. 3.

Ver. 9. Things were also adapted to accommodate man : trees and fruits, for pleasure and use, were ready to his hand. Among the trees of Eden there were two in particular which appear to have been symbolical, or designed by the Creator to give instruction, in the manner which is done by our positive institutions. One was " the tree of life," to which he had free access. This was designed as a symbol to him of that life which stood connected with his obedience ; and, therefore, when he sinned, he was debarred from eating it, by the flaming sword and cherubim, which turned every way to guard it. The other was " the tree of knowledge of good and evil," which was the only tree of the fruit of which he was forbidden to eat. As the name of the former of these trees is given it from the effect which should follow obedience, so that of the latter seems to have been from the effect which should follow on disobedience. Man, on the day he should eat thereof, should know good in a way of loss, and evil in a way of suffer- ance.

Ver. 10-14. Besides this, it was a well-watered garden. A river rose among the mountains of the country of Eden, which directed its course through it; and afterwards divided into four heads, or branches. Two of them are elsewhere mentioned in Scripture ; viz. the Hiddekel, or Tigris, and the Euphrates, both rivers of Asia. With the others we are less ac- quainted.

Ver. 15. Among the provisions for man's happiness was employment. Even in innocence he was to dress the garden and keep it. Man was not made to be idle. All things are full of labour : it is a stupid notion that happiness consists in slothful ease, or in having nothing to do. Those who are so now, whether the very rich or the very poor, are commonly among the most worthless and miserable of mankind.

Ver. 16, 17. The trial of man, by a special prohibition, was singularly adapted to the end. To have conformed to his Creator's will, he must always have been contented with implicit obedience, or satisfied in abstain- ing from a thing on the mere ground of its being forbidden of God, with- out perceiving the reason of his being required to do so. In truth, it was a test of his continuing in the spirit of a little child, that should have no will of its own ; and this is still the spirit of true religion. The consequences attached to a breach of this positive law teach us also not to trifle with the will of God in his ordinances, but implicitly to obey it.

More particularly. Observe, 1. The fulness of the grant. Here was enough for man's happiness without the forbidden fruit; and so there is now in the world, without transgressing the boundaries of Heaven. 2. The posiiivencss of the prohibition — " Thou shalt not eat of it." So long as this was kept in mind it was well ; and it appears to have been deeply impressed, from the first answer of the woman to the serpent, chap. iii. 3. It was this impression which he aimed to efface by his devilish question, " Yea, hath God said it?" And when once she began to doubt of this, all was over. Let us learn to keep God's words in our minds, and hide them in our hearts,

CREATION REVIEWED. . 9

that we may not sin against him. It was with — Thus and thus it is rcnttcn, that our Lord repelled all his temptations. 3. The penalty annexed, — " Thou shalt die," or, " Dying thou shalt die." Some think this means corporeal death, and that only ; and that if the threatening had been exe- cuted man must have been immediately struck out of existence. But the death here threatened, whatever it was, is said to have passed upon all 7nen, which implies the existence of all men, and which would have been pre- vented if Adam had at that time been reduced to a staie of non-existence. The original constitution of things provided for the existence of every indi- vidual that has since been born into the world, and that whether man should stand or Ml. The death here threatened doubtless included that of the body, which God might execute at pleasure ; the day he should eat he would be dead in law. But it also included the loss of the Divine favour, and an exposedness to his wrath. If it were not so, the redemption of Christ would not be properly opposed to it, which it frequently is, Rom. v. 12-21 ; Heb. ix. 27, 2S. Nor is Adam to be considered as merely a private individual : he was the public head of all his posterity, so that his transgression involved their being transgressors from the womb, and alike exposed to death with himself. Such has been the character of all mankind ; and such is the account of things given in the Scriptures. If men now find fault with this part of the Divine government, it is what they will not be able to stand to at the last day. The Judge of all the earth will, in that day, appear to have done right, whatever may be thought of him at present. 4. The promise of life implied by it. There is every reason to believe that if man had obeyed his Creator's will, he would, of his own boundless goodness, have crowned him with everlasting bliss. It is his delight to impart his own infinite blessedness as the reward of righteousness ; if Adam, therefore, had continued in the truth, he and all his posterity would have enjoyed what was symbolically promised him by the tree of life. Nor is there any reason to suppose but that it would have been the same fo7' substance as that which believers now enjoy through a Mediator ; for the Scriptures speak of that which the law could not do (in that it was weak through the ficsh, that is, through the corruption of human nature) as being accomplished by Christ, Rom. viii. 3, 4.

Ver. 18-2-5. The subject closes with a more particular account of the creation of woman. We had a general one before (chap. i. 27) ; but now we are led to see the reasons of it. Observe, 1. It was not only for the propagation of the human race, but a most distinguished provision for human happiness. The woman was made for the man; not merely for the gratifi- cation of his appetites, but of his rational and social nature. It was not good that man should be alone ; and therefore a helper that should be meet, or suitable, was given him. The place assigned to the woman in heathen and Mahomedan countries has been highly degrading; and the place as- signed . her by modern infidels is not much better. Christianity is the only religion that conforms to the original design, that confines a man to one wife, and that teaches him to treat her with propriety. Go among the ene- mies of the gospel, and you shall see the woman either reduced to abject slavery, or basely flattered for the vilest of purposes ; but in Christian families you may see her treated with honour and respect; treated as a friend, as naturally an equal, a soother of man's cares, a softener of his griefs, and a partner of his joys. 2. She was made after the other creatures were named; and, consequently, after Adam, having seen and observed all the animals, had found none of them a fit companion for himself, and thus felt the want of one. The blessings both of nature and of grace are greatly endeared to to us by our being suffered to feel the want of them before we have them.

Vol. III.— 2

10 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

3. She was made out of man, which should lead men to consider their wives as a part of themselves, and to love them as their own flesh. The woman was not taken, it is true, from the head, neither was she taken from the feet; but from some where near the heart! 4. That which was now done would be a standing law of nature. Man would " leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they twain should be one flesh." Finally, It is added, "They were both naked, and were not ashamed." There was no guilt, and therefore no shame : shame is one of the fruits of sin.

DISCOURSE IV.

THE FALL OF MAN. Gen. iii. 1-7.

We have hitherto seen man as God created him, upright and happy. But here we behold a sad reverse ; the introduction of moral evil into our world, the source of all our misery.

There can be no doubt but that the serpent was used as an instrument of Satan, who hence is called " that old serpent, the devil." The subtlety of this creature might answer his purposes. The account of the serpent speaking to the woman might lead us to a number of curious questions, on which, after all, we might be unable to obtain satisfaction. Whether we are to understand this, or the temptations of our Lord in the wilderness, as spoken in an audible voice, or not, I shall not take upon me to decide. Whatever may be said of either case, it is certain, from the whole tenor of Scripture, that evil spirits have, by the Divine permission, access to human minds; not indeed so as to be able to impel us to sin without our consent; but it may be in some such manner as men influence each other's minds to evil. Such seems to be the proper idea of a tempter. We are conscious of wliat tve choose; but are scarcely at all acquainted with the things that induce choice. We are exposed to innumerable influences; and have therefore reason to pray, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil 1"

With respect to the temptation itself, it begins by calling in question the truth of God. — Is it true that God has prohibited any tree? — Can it be? For what was it created ? — Such are the inquiries of wicked men to this day. " For what are the objects of pleasure made," say they, " but to be enjoyed? Why did God create meats and drinks, and dogs and horses? What are appetites for, but to be indulged?" We might answer, among other things, to try them who dwell on the earth.

It seems also to contain an insinuation that if man must not eat of evert/ tree, he might as well eat of none. And thus discontent continues to over- look the good, and pores upon the one thing wanting. " All this availeth me nothing, so long as Mordecai is at the gate."

Ver. 2, 3. The answer of Eve seems to be very good at the outset. She very properly repels the insinuation against the goodness of God, as though, because he had withheld one tree, he had withheld, or might as well have withheld, all. " No," says he, "we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; there is only one withheld." She also, with equal propriety and decision, repelled the doubt which the tempter had raised respecting the prohibition of that one. The terms by which she expresses it show how clearly she understood the mind of God, and what an impression his com-

FALL OF MAN. 11

mand had made upon her mind : " Of the fruit of this tree, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it ; neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die !" We do not read that they were forbidden to touch it ; but she understood a prohibition of eating to contain a prohibition of touching. And this exposition of the woman, while upright, affords a good rule to us. If we would shun evil, we must shun the appearance of it, and all the avenues which lead to it. To parley with temptation is to play with fire. In all this Eve sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Ver. 4, 5. The wily serpent now proceeds to a second attack. Mark the progress of the temptation. At the outset he only suggested his doubts ; but now he deals in positive assertion. In this manner the most important errors creep into the mind. He who sets off with apparently modest doubts will often be seen to end in downright infidelity.

The positivity of the tempter might be designed to oppose that of the woman. She is peremptory; he also is peremptory ; opposing assertion to assertion. This artifice of Satan is often seen in his ministers. Nothing is more common than for the most false and pernicious doctrines to be advanced with a boldness that stuns the minds of the simple, and induces a doubt: " Surely I must be in the wrong, and they in the right, or they could not be so confident."

Yet the tempter, it is observable, does not positively deny that God might have said so and so; for this would have been calling in question the veracity of Eve, or denying what she knew to be true; which must have defeated his end. But he insinuates that, whatever God might have said, which he would not now dispute, it would not in the end prove so. Satan will not be so un- polite as to call in question either the honour or the understanding of Eve, but scruples not to make God a liar ; yea, and has the impudence to say that God knetv that, instead of proving an evil, it would be a benefit. Alas, how often has man been flattered by the ministers of Satan at God's expense! Surely we need not be at a loss in judging whence those doctrines proceed which invalidate the Divine threatenings, and teach sinners going on still in their trespasses, " Ye shall not surcli/ die." Nor those which lead men to consider the Divine prohibitions as aimed to diminish their happiness; or, which is the same thing, to think it rigid or hard that we should be obliged to comply with them. And those doctrines which flatter our pride, or pro- voke a vain curiosity to pry into things unseen, proceed from the same quarter. By aspiring to be a god, man became too much like a devil ; and where human reason takes upon itself to set aside revelation, the effects will continue to be much the same.

Ver. 6. This poison had effect the woman paused looked

at the fruit it began to appear desirable she felt a wish to be

wise in short, she took of the fruit and did eat! But was she

not alarmed when she had eaten? It seems not; and feeling no such con- sequences follow as she perhaps expected, ventured even to persuade her husband to do as she had done ; and with her persuasion he complied. The connexion between sin and misery is certain, but not always immediate: its immediate effects are deception and stupefaction, which commonly induce the party to draw others into the same condition.

It does not appear that Adam was deceived ; but the woman only, 1 Tim. ii. 14. He seems to have sinned with his eyes open, and perhaps from love to his wife. It was the first time, but not the last, in which Satan has made use of the nearest and tenderest parts of ourselves, to draw our hearts from God. Lawful affection may become a snare. If the nearest relation or friend tempt us to depart from God, we must not hearken. When the woman had sinned against God, it was the duty of her husband to have dis-

12 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

owned her for ever, and to liave left it to his Creator to provide for his social comfort ; but a fond attachment to the creature overcame him. He hearJcenca to ha- voice, and plunged headlong into her sin. ,

Ver. 7. And now, having both sinned, they began to be sensible of its effects. Conscious innocence has forsaken them. Conscious guilt, remorse, and shame possess them. Their eyes are now opened indeed, as the tempter had said they would be ; but it is to sights of woe. Their naked bodies, for the first time, excite shame; and are emblems of their souls; which, stripped of their original righteousness, are also stripped of their honour, security, and happiness.

To hide their outward nakedness, they betake themselves to the leaves of the ^ardm. This, as a great writer observes, was " to cover, not to cure." And to what else is all the labour of sinners directed? Is it not to conceal the bad, and to appear what they are not, that they are continually studying and contriving ? And being enabled to impose upon one another, they with little difficulty impose upon themselves, " trusting in themselves that they are righteous, and despising others." But all is mere show, and when God comes to summon them to his bar will prove of no account.

DISCOURSE V.

THE TRIAL OF THE TRANSGRESSORS.

Gen. iii. 8-14,

Ver. 8. We have seen the original transgression of our first parents ; and now we see them called to account and judged. The Lord God is repre- sented as "walking in the garden in the cool of the day;" that is, in the evening. This seems to denote the ordinary and intimate communion which man enjoyed with his Maker, while he kept his first estate. We may be at a loss in forming an idea how God could icalk in the garden, and how he spoke : but he was not at a loss how to hold communion with them that loved him. To accommodate it to our weak capacities, it is represented under the form of the owner of a garden taking his evening walk in it, to see, as we should say, "whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded ;" to see and converse with those whom he had placed over it.

The cool of the (laj/, which to God was the season for visiting his creatures, may, as it respects man, denote a season of reflection. We may sin in the daytime; but God will call us to account at night. Many a one has done that in the heat and bustle of the day which has afforded bitter reflection in the cool of the evening; and such, in many instances, has proved the evening of life.

The voice of God was heard, it seems, before any thing was seen : and as he appears to have acted towards man in his usual way, and as though he knew of nothing that had taken place till he had it from his own mouth, we may consider this as the voice of kindness; such, whatever it was, as Adam had used to hear beforetime, and on the first sound of which he and his companion had been used to draw near, as sheep at the voice of the shep- herd, or as children to the voice of a father. The voice of one whom we love conveys life to our hearts: but, alas, it is not so now! Not only does conscious guilt make them afraid, but contrariety of heart to a holy God renders them unwilling to draw near to him. The kindest language, to one

TRIAL OF THE TRANSGRESSORS. 13

who is become an enemy, will work in a wrong way. " Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness : in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord." Instead of coming at his call, as usual, they " hide themselves from his presence among the trees of the garden." Great is the coumrdice which attaches to guilt. It flies from God, and from all approaches to him in prayer or praise ; yea, from the very thoughts of him, and of death and judg- ment, when they must appear before him. But wherefore flee to the trees of the garden ? Can they screen them from the eyes of Him with whom they have to do? Alas, they could not hide themselves and their nakedness from their own eyes; how then should they elude discovery before an omni- scient God? But we see here to what a stupid and besotted state of mind sin had already reduced them.

Ver. 9. God's general voice of kindness receiving no answer, he is more particular; calling Adam 6j/ «awe, and inciuiring, "Where art thou?" In vain does the sinner hide himself: the Almighty will find him out. If he answer not to the voice of God in his word, he shall have a special summons served upon him before long? Observe what the summons was, "Where art thou?" It seems to be the language of injured friendship. As if he should say. How is it that I do not meet thee as heretofore ? What have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? Have I been a barren wilderness, or a land of drought? How is it that thou hailest not my approach as on former occasions. — It was also language adapted to lead him to reflection: "Where art thou?" Ah, where indeed! God is thus interro- gating sinful men. Sinner, where art thou? What is thy condition? In what way art thou walking, and whither will it lead thee?

Ver. 10. To this trying question man is compelled to answer. See with what ease God can bring the offender to his bar. He has only to speak, and it is done. " He shall call to the heavens and the earth, that he may judge his people." But what answer can be made to him? "I heard thy voice in the garden." — Did you? Then you cannot plead ignorance. No, but something worse : — " I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself" Take notice, he says nothing about his sin, but merely speaks of its effects; such as fear, and conscious nakedness, or guilt. The language of a contrite spirit would have been, "I have sinned!" But this is the language of im- penitent misery. It is of the same nature as that of Cain, " My punishment is heavier than I can bear !" This spirit is often apparent in persons under first convictions, or when brought low by adversity, or drawing near to death; all intent on bewailing their misery, but insensible to the evil of their sin. To what a condition has sin reduced us ! Stripped naked to our shame, we are afraid to meet the kindest and best of Beings! O reader! we must now be clothed with a better righteousness than our own, or how shall we stand before him?

Ver. 11. Adam began, as I have said, with the effects of his sin ; but God directed him to the cause of those effects. — Naked ! how came such a thought into thy mind? The nakedness of thy body, with which I created thee, was no nakedness; neither fear nor shame attached to that. What meanest thou by being naked? — Still there is no confession. The truth will not come out without a direct inquiry on the subject. Here then it follows: " Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" Thus the sinner stands convicted. Now we might suppose he would have fallen at the feet of his Maker, and have pleaded guilty But oh the hardening nature of sin !

Ver. 12. Here is, it is true, a confession of his sin. It comes out at last; "I did eat;" but with what a circuitous, extenuating preamble, a preamble

B

14

EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

which makes bad worse. The first word is, The looman; aye, the woman. It was not my fault, but hers. " The woman whom thou gavest to be with me." — It was not I, it was thou thysdf! If thou hadst not given this woman to be with me, I should have continued obedient. — Nay, and as if he sus- pected that the Almighty did not notice his plea sufficiently, he repeats it emphatically; "She gave me, and I did eat!" Such a confession was infi- nitely worse than none. Yet such is the spirit of fallen man to this day : It was not I ... it was my wife, or ray husband, or my acquaintance, that per- suaded me; or it was my situation in life, in which thou didst place me! — Thus "the foolishness of man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord."

It is worthy of notice that God makes no answer to these perverse excuses. They were unworthy of an answer. The Lord proceeds, like an aggrieved friend who would not multiply words: — I see how it is : stand aside!

Ver. 13. Next the woman is called, and examined : " What is this that thou hast done?" The question implies that it was no trifling thing; and the effects which have followed, and will follow, confirm it. But let us hear the woman's answer. ■ Did she plead guilty? The circumstance of her being first in the transgression, and the tempter of her husband, one should have thought, would have shut her mouth at least ; and being also ,of the weaker sex, it might have been expected that she would not have gone on to provoke the vengeance of her Creator. But, lo! she also shifts the blame : " The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." — I was deceived. I did not mean evil ; but was drawn into it through the wiles of an evil being. — Such is the excuse which multitudes make to this day, when they can find no better: — The devil tempted me to it! — Still God continues his forbear- ance; makes no answer; but orders her, as it were, to stand aside.

Ver. 14. And now the serpent is addressed: but mark the diflference. Here is no question put to him, but merely a doom pronounced. Where- fore? Because no mercy was designed to be shown him. He is treated as an avowed and sworn enemy. There was no doubt wherefore he had done it, and therefore no reason is asked of his conduct.

The workings of conviction in the minds of men are called the strivings of the Spirit, and afford a hope of mercy. Though they are no certain sign of grace received, (as there was nothing good at present in our first parents,) yet they are the workings of a merciful God, and prove that he has not given over the sinner to hopeless ruin. But the serpent has nothing to ex- pect but a fearful looking for of judgment.

The form under which Satan is cursed is that of the serpent. To a super- ficial reader it might appear that the vengeance of Heaven was directed against the animal, distinguishing him from all cattle, subjecting him to a most abject life, condemning him to creep upon his belly, and of course to have his food besmeared with dust. But was God angry with the serpent? No : but as under that form Satan had tempted the woman, so that shall be the form under which he shall receive his doom. The spirit of the sentence appears to be this — Cursed art thou above all creatures, and above every thing that God hath made. Miserable shalt thou be to an endless duration ! — Some have thought, and the passage gives some countenance to the idea, that the state of fallen angels was not hopeless till now. If it had, the curse could only have added a greater degree of misery.

EFFECTS OF THE FALL. A

DISCOURSE VI.

THE CLRSE OF SATAN, INCLUDING A BLESSING TO MAN — EFFECTS OF THE FALL.

Gen. iii. 15-24.

Ver. 15. By all that had hitherto been .said and done, God appears to have concealed from man who was his tempter ; and for this reason, among others, to have pronounced the doom on Satan under the form of a curse upon the serpent. By this we may learn that it is of no account, as to the criminality of sin, whence it comes, or by whom or what we are tempted to it. If we choose it, it is ours, and we must be accountable for it.

But mark the wisdom and goodness of God : as under the form of curs- ing the serpent he had pronounced a most tremendous doom on the tempter, so under the form of this doom is coverdy intimated a design of mercy the most transcendent to the tempted ! If man had been in a suitable state of mind, the promise might have been dii-ect, and addressed to him : but he was not ; for his heart, whatever it might be afterwards, was as yet hardened against God. It was fit, therefore, that whatever designs of mercy were en- tertained concerning him, or his posterity, they should not be given in the form of a promise to hbn, but of threatening to Satan. The situation of Adam and Eve at this time was like that of sinners under the preaching of the gospel. The intimation concerning the woman's Seed would indeed imply that she and her husband should live in the world, that she should bring forth children, and that God would carry on an opposition to the cause of evil : but it does not ascertain their solvation ; and if there appear nothing more -in their favour in the following part of the history than what has hith- erto appeared, we shall have no good ground to conclude that either of them is gone to heaven. The Messiah might come as the Saviour of sinners, and might descend from them after the flesh, and yet they might have no portion in him.

But let us view this famous passage more particularly, and that in the light in which it is here represented, as a threatening to the serpent. This threatening does not so much respect the person of the grand adversary of God and man as his cause and kingdom in the world. He will be punished in his person at the time appointed ; but this respects the manifestation of the Son of God to destroy his works. There are four things here intimated, each of which is worthy of notice. 1. The ruin of Satan's cause was to be accomplished by one in hitman nature. This must have been not a little mortifying to his pride. If he must fall, and could have had his choice as to the mode, he might rather have wished to have been crushed by the im- mediate hand of God ; for however terrible that hand might be, it would be less humiliating than to be subdued by one of a nature inferior to his own. The human nature especially appears to have become odious in his eyes. It is possible that the rejoicings of eternal wisdom over man were known in heaven, and first excited his envy ; and that his attempt to ruin the human race was an act of revenge. If so, there was a peculiar fitness that from 7nan should proceed his overthrow. 2. It was to be accomplished by the Seed of the wo?nan. This Avould be more humiliating still. Satan had made use of her to accomplish his purposes, and God would defeat his schemes through the same medium ; and by how much he had despised and abused her, in making her the instrument of drawing her husband aside, by

16 EXPOSITION OP GENESIS.

SO much would he be mortified in being overcome by one of her descend- ants. 3. The victory should be obtained, not only by the Messiah himself, but by all his adherents. The Seed of the woman, though it primarily referred to him, yet, being opposed to " the seed of the serpent," includes all that believe in him. And there is little or no doubt that the account in Rev. xii. 17, has allusion to this passage : "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Now if it were mor- tifying for Satan to be overcome by the Messiah himself, considered as the Seed of the woman, how much more when, in addition to this, every indi- vidual believer shall be made to come near, and as it were set his feet upon the neck of his enemy ! Finally, Though it should be a long war, and the cause of the serpent would often be successful, yet in the end it should be utterly ruined. The head is the seat of life, which the heel is not: by this language, therefore, it is intimated that the life of Christ's cause should not be affected by any part of Satan's opposition ; but that the life of Satan's cause should by that of Christ. For this purpose is he manifested in human nature, that he may elcstj-oi/ the works of the devil; and he will never desist till he have utterly crushed his power.

Now as the threatenings against Babylon conveyed good news to the church, so this threatening against the old serpent is full of mercy to men. But for this enmity which God would put into the woman's seed against him, he would have had every thing his own way, and every child of man would have had his portion with him and his angels.

From the whole, we see that Christ is the foundation and substance of all true religion since the fall of man, and, therefore, that the only way of salvation is by faith in him. We see also the importance of a decided at- tachment to him and his interest. There are two great armies in the world, Michael and his angels warring against the dragon and his angels ; and, according to the side we take, such will be our end.

Ver. 16-19. The sentence of the woman, and of the man, which follows, like the rest, is under a veil. Nothing but temporal evils are mentioned ; but these are not the whole. Paul teaches us that, by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to conclemnation ; and such a condemnation as stands opposed io justification of life, Rom. v. 18. See on chap. iv. 11, 12, p. 21. The woman's load in this life was sorrow in hearing children, and subjection to her husband. The command to be fruitful and multiply might originally, for aught I know, include some degree of pain ; but now it should be " greatly multiplied :" and there was doubdess a natural subor- dination in innocency ; but through sin woman becomes comparatively a slave. This is especially the case where sin reigns uncontrolled, as in hea- then and Mahomedan countries. Christianity, however, so far as it operates, counteracts it ; restoring woman to her original state, that of a friend and companion. See on chap. ii. 18-25. The sentence on rnan points out to him wherein consisted his sin; namely, in hearkening to the voice of his wife, rather than to God. What a solemn lesson does this teach us against loving the creature more than the Creator, and hearkening to any counsel to the rejection of his! And, with respect to his punishment, it is worthy of notice, that as that of Eve was common to her daughters, so that of Adam extends to the whole human race. The grmmd is cursed for his sake — cursed with barrenness. God would, as it were, take no delight in blessing it; as well he might not, for all would be perverted to and become the food of rebellion. The more he should bless the earth, the more wicked would be its inhabitants. Man also himself is doomed to wretchedness upon it; he should drag on the icw years that he might live in sorrow and misery, of

EFFECTS OF THE FALL. 17

which the tliorns and thistles which it should spontaneously produce were but emblems. God had given him before to eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; but now he must be expelled thence, and take his portion with the brutes, and live upon the herb of the fcld. He was allowed bread, but it should be by the sioeat of his face; and this is the lot of the great body of mankind. The end of this miserable state of existence was that he should return to his native dust. Here the sentence leaves him. A veil is, at present, drawn over a future world ; but we elsewhere learn that at what time " the flesh returns to dust, the spirit returns to God who gave it;" and that the same sentence which appointed man " once to die" added, " but after this the judgment."

It is painful to trace the different parts of this melancholy sentence, and their fulHlment in the world to this day ; yet there is a bright side even to this dark cloud. Through the promised Messiah a great many things per- taining to the curse are not oidy counteracted, but become blessings. Under his glorious reign "the earth shall yield its increase, and God, our own God, delight in blessuig us." And while its fruitfulness is withheld, this has a merciful tendency to stop the progress of sin ; for if the whole earth were like the plains of Sodom in fruitfulness. which are compared to the garden of God, its inhabitants would be as Sodom and Gomorrah in wickedness. The necessity of hard labour, too, in obtaming a subsistence, which is the lot of the far greater part of mankind, tends more than a little, by separating men from each other, and depressing their spirits, to restrain them from the excesses of evil. All the afflictions of the present life contain in them a motive to look upward for a better portion ; and death itself is a monitor to warn them to prepare to meet their God. These are things suited to a sinful world; and where they are sanctified, as they are to believers in Christ, they become real blessings. To them they are "light afflictions," and last " but for a moment ;" and while they do last, " work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." To them, in short, death itself is introductory to everlasting life.

Ver. 20. Adam's wife seems hitherto to have been known only by the name of tvoman ; but now he calls her Eve, that is, life, living, or the mother of all living. He might possibly have understood from the beginning that the sentence of death would not prevent the existence of the human race, or if not, what had been said of the woman's seed would at least satisfy him on the subject.

But it is generally supposed, and there seems to be ground for the suppo- sition, that in calling his wife life, or living, he intended more than that she would be the mother of all mankind ; that it is expressive of his faith in the promise of her victorious Seed destroying, what Satan had succeeded in introducing — death, and that thus she should be the means of immortal life to all who should live in him. If such was his meaning, we may consider this as the first evidence in favour of his being renewed in the spirit of his mind.

Ver. 21. By the coats of skins wherewith the Lord God clothed them, it seems to be implied that animals were slain, and as they were not at that time slain for food, it is highly probable they were slain for sacrifice, espe- cially as this practice is mentioned in the life of Abel. Sacrifices therefore appear to have been ordained of God to teach man his desert, and the way in which he must be saved. It is remarkable that the clothing of Adam and Eve is ascribed to the Lord God, and that it appears to have succeeded the slender covering wherewith they had attempted to cover themselves. Is it not natural to conclude that God only can hide our moral nakedness, and

Vol. 111.-3 b 2

18 EXPOSITION OP GENESIS.

that the way in which he does it is by covering us with the righteousness of our atoning sacrifice ?

Ver. 23. This ironical reflection is expressive of both indignation and pity. — Man is becoming wonderfully wise! Unhappy creature! He has for ever forfeited my favour, which is life, and having lost the thing signified, let him have no access to the sign. He has broken my covenant : let neither him nor his posterity henceforward expect to regain it by any obedience of theirs.*

Ver. 23, 24. God is determined that man shall not so much as dwell in the garden where the tree of life grows, but be turned out as into the wide world. He shall no longer live upon the delicious fruits of Eden, but be driven to seek his food among the beasts of the field ; and, to show the im- possibility of his ever regaining that life which he had lost, "cherubim and a flaming sword" are placed to guard it. Let this suffice to impress us with that important truth, " By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justi- fied;" and to direct us to a tree of life which has no flaming sword to pre- vent our access! Yet even in this, as in other threatenings, we may perceive a mixture of mercy. Man had rendered his days evil, and God determines they shall be but few. It is well for us that a life of sin and sorrow is not immortal.

DISCOURSE VII.

THE OFFERINGS OF CAIN AND ABEL. Gen. iv. 1-8.

Having seen the origin of sin in our world, we have now the origin and progress of things as they at present are among mankind, or of the world as it now is.

Ver. 1. Adam has by his wife a son, who is called Cain ; viz. a possession or acquisition ; for, said Eve, " I have gotten a man from the Lord !" Many learned men have rendered it a man, the Lord; and it is not very improba- ble that she should understand " the seed of the woman" of her immediate offspring; but if so, she was sadly mistaken! However, it expresses what we have not seen before, i. e. Eve's faith in the promise. Even though she should have had no reference to the Messiah, yet it shows that she eyed God's hand in what was given her, and viewed it as a great blessing, especially considering what a part she had acted. In this she sets an example to parents to reckon their children " a heritage from the Lord." But she also affords an example of the uncertainty of human hopes. Cain, so far from being a comfort to his parents, proved a wicked man; yea, a pattern of wickedness ; held up like Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, as a warning to others : " Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother !" The joys attending the birth of a child require to be mixed with trembling; "for who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool ?"

Ver. 2. Eve bears Adam another son, who was called Abel, or Hehel. In these names we probably see the partiality of parents for their first-born children. Abel signifies vanity, or a vanishing vapour. Probably he was not so goodly a child in appearance as Cain, and did not seem likely to live

* See on chap. ii. 9.

CAIN AND ABEL. 19

long. The hearts and hopes of the parents did not seem to centre in him, but in his brother. But God seeth not as man seeth. In bestowing his blessing, he has often crossed hands, as Jacob did in blessing Ephraim and Manasseh. " He chooseth the base things of the world, that no flesh should glory in his presence." These two brothers were of different occupations ; one a husbandman, and the other a shepherd; both primitive employments, and both very proper.

Ver. 3-5. In process of time the two brothers both present their offerings to God : this speaks something in favour of their parents, who had brought them up " in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ainsworth renders it, " At the end of the days," and understands it of the end of the year, which was then in autumn, the time of the gathering in of the harvest and the vin- tage. The institution of a solemn feast among the Israelites on this occasion (Exod xxiii. 16) seems therefore to have borne a near resemblance to that which was practised from the beginning.

In the offerings of these two first-born sons of man, we see the essential difference between spiritual worship and that which is merely formal. As to the matter of which their offerings were composed, it may be thought there was nothing particularly defective : each brought what he had. There is indeed no mention made of Cain's being of the best of the kind, which is noticed of Abel's. And if he neglected this, it was a sign that his heart was not much in it. He might also, no doubt, have obtained a lamb out of his brother's flock for an expiatory sacrifice. But the chief difference is that which is noticed by the apostle : " By faith Abel oflered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." Cain's offering was just what a self-righteous heart would offer : it proceeded on the principle that there was no breach between him and his Creator, so as to require any confession of sin, or respect to an atonement. Such offerings abound among us; but they are " without faith," and therefore it is impossible they should please God. The offering of Abel I need not describe ; suffice it to say, it was the reverse of that presented by Cain. It was the best of the kind, and included an expiatory sacrifice.

The result was, " the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect." The one was probably con- sumed by fire from heaven, the other not so. This we know was afterwards a common token of the Divine acceptance. Lev. ix. 24 ; Psal. xx. 3, margin. The order of things is worthy of notice. God first accepted Abel, and then his offering. If he had been justified on the ground of his good deeds, the order should have been reversed; but, believing in the Messiah, he was ac- cepted for his sake ; and being so, his works were well-pleasing in the sight of God. And as Abel was accepted as a believer, so Cain was rejected as an unbeliever. Being such, the Lord had no respect to him ; he was under the curse, and all he did was abhorred in his eyes.

The rejection of Cain and his offering operated upon him very powerfully. If the love of God had been in him, he would have fallen before him, as Joshua and his brethren did when Israel was driven back ; and have pleaded, " Show me wherefore thou contendest with me?" But " he was wroth, and his countenance fell." This is just what might be expected from a self- righteous, proud spirit, who thought so highly of his offering as to imagine that God must needs be pleased with it, and with him on account of it. He was very wroth; and that no doubt against God himself, as well as against his brother. He went in high spirits, like the Pharisee to the temple, but came away dejected and full of foul passions, of which his fallen countenance was but the index.

Ver. 6, 7. Cain having returned home, the Lord, perhaps in a droam or vision of the night, expostulated with him. " Why art thou wroth ?" — What

20 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

cause is there for this enmity against thy Maker, and envy against thy brother? ■ — Doubtless, he thought that he had a cause; but when interrogated of God lie found none. " If tiiou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." By doing tcell he means doing as Abel did, offering in faith, which is the only well-doing among sinful creatures. If Cain had believed in the Messiah, there was forgiveness for him, no less than for his brother; and he should also have had the excellence attached to the first-born, which he reckoned he liad a right to, and the loss of which galled him. " If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door;"* unforgiven, to go down with thee to the grave, and to rise with thee, and appear against thee in judgment. "

Observe how things are ordered in the dealings of God with men. Abel was not accepted oiGoA for his well-doing; neither faith nor obedience was that on account of which he was justified, but the righteousness of him in whom he believed. Yet it was in well-doing that he obtained eternal life, Rom. ii. 7. Though faith was not the cause of the Lord's having respect to him, nor his having offered in faith the cause of his having respect to his works ; yet each was a necessary concomitant. And this, while it secures the interests of righteousness in the righteous, serves to silence the wicked, and make them feel the justice of their condemnation. Thus, at the last judgment, though every one who is saved will be saved by grace only, yet all will be judged according to their works. Things will be so ordered that the righteous will have nothing to boast of, and the wicked nothing to com- plain of, inasmuch as the decision in both cases will proceed according to character.

But though Cain was silenced by the Almighty, yet his malice was not subdued, but rather inflamed. If the life of God had been within his reach, he would have killed him; but this he could not do. From that time, there- fore, his dark soul meditated revenge upon Abel, as being God's favourite, his own rival, and the only object within his power. This is the first instance of the enmity of the seed of the serpent breaking out against the seed of the woman; but not the last! Observe the subtlety and treachery with which it was accomplished: "Cain talked with Abel his brother." He talked with him, probably, in a very familiar manner, as though he had quite forgotten the affair which had lately hurt his mind ; and when they were engaged in con- versation, persuaded him to take a walk with him into his field ; and, having got him away from the family, he murdered him! O Adam! thou didst murder an unborn world, and now thou shalt see some of the fruits of it in thine own family! Thou hast never before witnessed a human death: go, see the first victim of the king of terrors in the mangled corpse of Abel thy son! — Poor Abel ! Shall we pity him? In one view we must, but in others he is an object of envy. He was the first of the noble army of martyrs, the first of human kind who entered the abodes of the blessed, and the first in- stance of death being subservient to Christ. When the serpent had drawn man into sin, and exposed him to its threatened penalty, he seemed to have obtained the prnver of death; and, had man been left under the ruins of the fall, he would have been continually walking through the earth, arm in arm, as it were, with the monster, the one taking the bodies and the other the souls of men. But the woman's Seed is destined to overcome him. By death he destroyed " him who had the power of death, and delivered them who" must otherwise, " through fear of death," have been " all their lifetime subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 14, 15.

* This clause, which is in the middle of verse 7, 1 suppose should be in a parenthesis. I have therefore placed the first and last in connexion, and introduced this after them, by which the sense is clear.

gain's punishment and posterity. 21

DISCOURSE VIII. gain's punishment and posterity.

Gen. iv. 9-24.

Ver. 9. We have seen the tragical end of righteous Abel ; but what be- comes of the murderer? Probably he had hid the dead body of his brother to elude detection; but God will find him out. Jehovah said to Cain, " Where is Abel, thy brother?" What a cutting question! The words thy hrotlur would remind him of the tender ties of flesh and blood which he had broken ; and if he had any feeling of conscience left in him, must pierce him to the quick. But oh how black, how hardened is the state of his mind! Mark his answer. First, The falsehood of it — " I know not." We feel astonished that a man can dare to lie in the presence of his Maker; yet how many lies are uttered before him by formalists and hypocrites ! Secondly, The insolence of it — " Am I my brother's keeper?" This man had no fear of God before his eyes; and where this is wanting, regard to man will be wanting also. Even natural affection will be swallowed up in selfishness. Supposing he had not known where his brother was, it did not follow that he had no interest in his preservation ; but he did know, and instead of being his keeper, had been his murderer.

Ver. 10. " And he said, What hast thou done?" Ah, what indeed! This was the question put to Eve ; and sooner or later it will be put to every sin- ner, and conscience must answer to it too! But Cain refuses to speak : be it so ; there needs no confession to substantiate his guilt. His hrotlur' s blood had already done this! Blood has a voice that will speak; yea, that will " cry to Heaven from the ground" for vengeance on him who sheds it; and a brother's blood especially. — What a scene will open to view at the last judgment, when the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain ! And if such was the cry of Abel's blood, what must have been that of the blood which was shed on Calvary? We should have thought that blood must have called for vengeance sevenfold ; and in one view it did so, but in another it speaks " better things than that of Abel."

Ver. 11, 12. But let us notice the doom of Cain. He was cursed from the earth ; it should in future refuse to yield him its wonted fruits, and he should be a fugitive and a vagabond in it. Three things are here observable: 1. By the sovereign will of the Lord of all, his life was spared. Afterwards a positive law was made by the same authority, that " whosoever should shed man's blood, by man should his blood be shed." But at present, for reasons of state in the breast of the King of kings, the murderer shall be reprieved. If he had died by the hand of man, it must have been either by an act of private revenge, which would have increased bloodshed ; or Adam himself must have been the executioner of his son, from which trial of " quenching the coal that was left" God might graciously exempt him. 2. The curse which attached to his life, like that of oUr first parents, is confined to the present state. There is no reason in the world to suppose that the punish- ment of such a crime would actually be so, any more than others, nor others any more than this ; but a future life was at this time sparingly revealed, and almost every thing concealed under the veil of temporal good and evil. 3. It contains a special addition to that which was denounced on Adam. The earth was cursed to him ; but Cain was " cursed from the earth." It had

22 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

been his brother's friend, by affording a kind of sanctuary for his blood, whicli he had pursued ; but to him it sliould be an enemy, not only refusing its wonted fruits, but even a place whereon to rest his foot, or in which to hide his guilty head !

Ver. 13, 14. This tremendous sentence draws forth an answer from the murderer. There is a great change since he spoke last, but not for the better. All the difference is, instead of his high tone of insolence, we per- ceive him sinking into the last stage of depravity, sullen desperation. Behold here a finished picture of impenitent misery ! What a contrast to the fifty- first Psalm! There the evil dwelt upon and pathetically lamented is sin; but here it is only punishment. See how he expatiates upon it .'. . . Driven from the face of the earth .... deprived of God's favour and blessing, and, in a sort, of the means of hope (ver. 16) .... a wanderer and an outcast from men .... to all which his fears add, — Wherever I am, by night or by day, my life will be in perpetual danger ! — Truly it was a terrible doom, a kind of hell upon earth. " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"

Ver. 15. From the last part of what his fears foreboded, however, God was pleased to exempt him ; yet not in mercy, but in judgment. He shall not die, but live, a monument of Divine justice. If he had died, his ex- ample might soon have been forgotten ; but mankind shall see and fear. " Slay them not, lest my people forget : scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord !" God is not obliged to send a sinner to the place of the damned, in order to punish him : he can call his name Magormissabib, and render him a terror to himself and all about him, Jer. xx 3, 4. What the 7narJc was which was set upon Cain we know not, nor does it behove us to inquire : whatever it was, it amounted to a safe passage through the world, so far as respected a punishment from man for his present crime.

Ver. 10. And now, having obtained a reprieve, he retires in the true spirit of a reprobate, and tries to forget his misery. It shocked him at first to be driven out from God's face, by which perhaps he meant from all con- nexion with the people and worship of God, from the means of grace, and so from the hope of mercy ; but in a little time the sensation subsides, and he resolves to enjoy the present world as well as he can. He goes out " from the presence of the Lord," takes a final leave of God, and his worship, and his people, and cares no more about them. If this be the meaning of the words, (and I know of no other so probable,) it wears a very favourable ap- pearance with respect to the state of things in Adam's family. It shows that the worship of God was there carried on, and that God was with them. Indeed, if it were not carried on there, it appears to have had no existence in the world, which there is no reason to believe was ever the case when once it had begun. With respect to Cain, the country whither he went is called Nod, or Naid, which signifies a vagabond. It was not so called be- fore, but on his account; as who should say, The land of the vagabond.

Ver. 17. He was married before this, though we are not told to whom. Doubtless it was to one of Adam's daughters, mentioned in chap. v. 4, which near affinity, though since forbidden, was then absolutely necessary. Of her, in the land of the vagabond, he had a son, whom he called Enoch ; not him who icnlkcd uiith God, but one of the same name. It signifies taught or dedicated: it is rather difficult to account for his calling the child by this name after what had taken place. Possibly it might be one of those effects of education which are often seen in the ungodly children of religious parents. When he himself was born, he was, as we have seen, accounted an acquisition, and was doubtless dedicated, and as he grew up taught by his parents. Of this it is likely he had made great account, priding himself

GENERATIONS OP ADAM. 23

in it, as many graceless characters do in being the children of the righteous ; and now, having a child of his own, he might wish to stamp upon him this mark of honour, though it was merely nominal. After this, Cain built, or was building, a city; a very small one no doubt, as need required. He began what his family, as they increased, perfected; and called it after the name of his son. Thus he amused himself as well as he could. The Divine for- bearance probably hardened him in his security, as it commonly does the ungodly. " Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil."

Ver. 18-24. Next follow the generations of Cain, which present a few general observations. — 1. Nothing good is said of any of them; but, heathen like, they appear to have lost all fear of God and regard to man. 2. Two or three of them become famous for arts ; one was a shepherd, another a musician, and another a smith; all very well in themselves, but things in which the worst of men" may excel. Some have supposed that we are in- debted to revelation for all this kind of knowledge. Had it been said we are indebted to our Creator for it, it had been true ; for to his instruction the discretion of the husbandman is ascribed, Isa. xxviii. 24-29. But reve- lation was given for greater and better objects ; namely, to furnish not the man, but " the man of God." 3. One of them was infamous for his wicked- ness ; namely, Lamech. He was the first who violated the law of marriage ; a man who gave loose to his appetites, and lived a kind of lawless life. Among other evils, he followed the example of his ancestor Cain. It is not said whom he slew; but he himself says it was a young man. This is the first instance, but not the last, in which sensuality and murder are connected. Nor did he barely follow Cain's example ; but seems to have taken encourage- ment from the Divine forbearance towards him, and to have presumed that God would be still more forbearing towards him. Thus one sinner takes liberty to sin from the suspension of judgment towards another.

Here ends the account of cursed Cain. We hear no more of his posterity, unless it be as tempters to " the sons of God," till they were all swept away by the deluge!

DISCOURSE IX.

THE GENERATIONS OF ADAM.

Gen. iv. 25, 26; v.

We have of late met with little else than the operation of sin and misery; here I hope we shall find something that will afford us pleasure. Adam had lived to see grievous things in his family. At length, about a hundred and thirty years after the creation. Eve bare him another son. Him his mother called Seth; that is, set, or appointed ; "for God," said she, "hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." The manner in which the mother of mankind speaks on this occasion is much in favour of her personal religion. The language implies that though at first she had doted upon Cain, yet as they grew up, and discovered their dispositions, Abel was preferred. He was the child in whom all the hopes of the family seem to have cohcentrated; and, therefore, when he fell a sacrifice to his brother's cruelty, it was considered as a very heavy loss. She was not without a son before Seth was born, for Cain was yet alive : but he was considered as

24 EXPOSITION OP GENESIS.

none, or as worse than none; and therefore, when Seth was born, she hoped to find in him a successor to Abel: and so it proved; for this appears to have been the family in which the true religion was preserved in those times. At the birth of Enos, which was a hundred and five years after that of his father Seth, it is remarked with emphasis by the sacred historian — " Then began men to call itpon the name of the Lord." This cheering information doubt- less refers to the families in connexion with which it is spoken, and denotes, not that there had been no calling upon the Lord till that time, but that thence true religion assumed a more visible form ; the seed of the woman, afterwards called " the sons of God," assembling together to worship him, while the seed of the serpent might very probably be employed in deriding them.

From the genealogy in chap. v. I shall barely offer the following remarks :

1. It is a very honourable one. Not only did patriarchs and prophets, and the church of God for many ages, descend from it, but the Son of God him- self according to the flesh; and, to show the fulfilment of the promises and prophecies concerning him, is the principal reason of the genealogy having been recorded.

2. Neither Cain nor Abel has any place in it. Abel was slain before he had any children, and therefore could not; and Cain by his sin had covered his name with infamy, and therefore should not. Adam's posterity therefore, after a lapse of one hundred and thirty years, must begin anew.

3. The honour done to Seth and his posterity was of grace; for he is said to have been born in Adam's likeness, and after his image; a phrase which, I believe, is always used to express the qualities of the mind, rather than the shape of the body. Man was made " after the image of God ;" but this being lost, they are born corrupt, the children of a corrupt father. What is true of all mankind is here noted of Seth, because he was reckoned as Adam's first-born. He therefore, like all others, was by nature a child of wrath ; and what he or any of his posterity were different from this, they were by grace.

4. The extraordinary length of human life at that period was wisely ordered ; not only for the peopling of the world, but for the supplying of the defect of a written revelation. From the death of Adam to the call of Abram, a period of about eleven hundred years, there were living either Enoch, Lamech, Noah, or Shem ; besides other godly persons, who were their contemporaries, and who would feelingly relate to those about them the great events of the creation, the fidl and recovery of man.

5. Notwithstanding the longevity of the antediluvians, it is recorded of them all, in their turn, that they died. Though the stroke of death was slow in its approach, yet it was sure. If man could live to a thousand years, yet be must die; and if he die in sin, he will be accursed.

6. Though many of the names in this genealogy are passed over without any thing being said of their piety, yet we are not hence to infer that they were impious. Many might be included among them who " called upon the name of the Lord," and who are denominated " the sons of God," though nothing is personally related of them.

7. Two of them are distinguished for eminent godliness; or, as it is here called, walking with God; namely, Enoch and Noah. Both these holy men are enrolled in the list of worthies in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Let us look a little intensely at the life of the former of these worthies, the shortest of all the lives, but surely the sweetest : " Enoch walked with God, after he begat Methuselah, three hundred years." — " He walked with God, and was not ; for God took him." This is one of those brief, impres-

GENERATIONS OP ADAM. S5

sive descriptions of true religion with which the Scriptures abound. Its holy and progressive nature is here most admirably marked. " Enoch walked with God." He must then have been in a state of reconciliation with God; for two cannot walk together except they be agreed. lie was what Paul infers from another consideration, a believer. Where this is not the case, whatever may be his outward conduct, the sinner walks contrary to God, and God. to him. What an idea does it convey, also, of his setting God always before him, seeking to glorify him in every duty, and studying to show him- self approved of him, whatever might be thought of his conduct by sinful men! Finally, What an idea does it convey of the communion which he habitually enjoyed with God ! His conversation was in heaven while dwell- ing on the earth, God dwelt in him, and he in God !

" Enoch walked with God, after he begat Methuselah, three hundred years," and perhaps some time before that event. Religion with him, then, was not a transient feeling, but an habitual and abiding principle. In reviewing such a character, what Christian can forbear exclaiming, in the words of our Christian poet,

"Oh for a closer walk with God,

A calm and heavenly frame;

A light, to shine upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb !" — Cowfer.

Just so much as we have of this, so much we possess of true religion, and no more.

"Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him ;" that is, as Paul explains it, " he was translated, that he should not see death." This singular favour conferred on Enoch, like the resurrection of Christ, might be designed to afford a sensible proof of a blessed immortality, which, for the want of a written revelation, might then be peculiarly necessary. He had warned the wicked of his day that " the Lord would come, with ten thousand of his holy ones, to execute judgment ;" and now, however offensive his doctrine might have been to them, God, by exempting him from the common lot of men, will bear testimony that he hath pleased hi?n, not only to the mind of Enoch, but to the world. It is possible, also, that the trans- lation of this holy man might be conferred in order to show what would have been common to all had man persisted in his obedience — a translation from the earthly to the heavenly paradise.

With respect to Noah, we shall have an account of his righteous life in the following chapters; at present we are only told of the circumstances of his birth, ver. 28-32. His father Lamech speaks, on this occasion, like a good man and a prophet. He called his son Noah, which signifies rest ; " for this same," saith he, " shall comfort us concerning our work, and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." Noah, by building the ark, saved a remnant from the flood ; and, by offer- ing an acceptable sacrifice, obtained the promise that the ground should no more be cursed for man's sake, chap. viii. 2L As Lamech could have known this only by revelation, we may infer thence the sweet rest which Divine truth affords to the believing mind from the toils and troubles of the present life; and if the birth of this child afforded comfort, in that he would save the world and remove the curse, how much more His who would be a greater Saviour, and remove a greater curse, by being himself an ark of salvation, and by offering " himself a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour !"

Vol. HI.— 4

26 EXPOSITION OP- GENESIS.

DISCOURSE X.

THE CAUSE OP THE DELUGE. Gen. vi. 1-7.

Ver. 1-3. When we read of men beginning to " call upon the name of the Lord," we entertained a hope of good times, and of comfort, as Lamech said, after toil and sorrow ; but, alas, what a sad reverse ! A general corrup- tion overspreads the earth, and brings on a tremendous deluge, that sweeps them all, one family excepted, into oblivion.

First, We may remark the occasion of this general corruption, which was the increase of population. " When men began to multiply" they became more and more depraved : yet an increase of population is considered as a blessing to a country, and such it is in itself; but through man's depravity it often proves a curse. When men are collected in great numbers they whet one another to evil, which is the reason why sin commonly grows rankest in populous places. We were made to be helpers ; but by sin we are become tempters of one another, drawing and being drawn into innume- rable evils.

Secondly, Observe the first step towards degeneracy , which was the uniting of the world and the church by mixed marriages : — The sons of God and the daughters of men — the descendants of Seth and those of Cain — the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The great end of marriage, in a good man, should not be to gratify his fancy, nor to indulge his natural inclinations, but to obtain a helper; and the same in a woman. We need to be helped on in our way to heaven, instead of being hindered and cor- rupted. Hence it was that, in the law, marriages with idolaters were for- bidden (Deut. vii. 3, 4) ; and hence Christian marriages were limited to those " in the Lord," 1 Cor. vii. 39. The examples which we have seen of the contrary have, by their effects, justified these injunctions. I would earnestly entreat serious young people, of both sexes, as they regard God's honour, their own spiritual welfare, and the welfare of the church of God, to avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

Thirdly, Observe the great ojfence that God took at this conduct, and the consequences which grew out of it : " The Lord said. My Spirit shall not always strive with man," &c. Had the sons of God kept themselves to them- selves, and preserved their purity, God would have spared the world for their sakes; but they mingled together, and became in effect one people. The old folks were in their account too bigoted, and it seemed much better for them to indulge a more liberal way of thinking and acting. But this, in the sight of God, was worse than almost any thing that had gone before it. He was more offended with the religious than with the irreligious part of them. Seeing they had become one people, he calls them all by one name, and that is man, without any distinction ; and in giving the reason why his Spirit should not always strive with man, special reference is had to their having become degenerate — It was for that he also, or these also, ivere fiesh; that is, those who had been considered as the sons of God were become corrupt. God's Holy Spirit in his prophets had long strove or contended with the world (see Neh. ix. 30; 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20) ; and while the sons of God made a stand against their wickedness, God was with them, and the contest was kept up : but they having, like false allies, made a kind of separate peace, or rather gone over to the enemy, God will give up the war,

CAUSE OP THE DELUGE. 27

let sin have a free course, and let them take the consequences ! "Bread- corn is bruised, because he ivill not ever be threshing it."

Fourthly, Observe the long-suffering of God amidst his displeasure: "His days shall be a hundred and twenty years." This refers to the period of time which should elapse before the drowning of the world, " when," as an apostle expresses it, " the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing." All this time God did strive or contend with them ; but it seems without effect.

Ver. 4. Among various other evils which at that time prevailed, a spirit of ambition was predominant ; a thirst of conquest and dominion ; and of course a flood of injuries, outrages, and oppressions. The case seems to have been this : Previously to the unhappy junction between the families of Cain and Seth, there were, among the former, giants, or men of great stature, who, tempted by their superior strength, set up for champions and heroes, and bore down all before them.* Nor was the mischief confined to them ; for also after that, when the two families had become one, as the children that were born unto them grew up, they emulated, as might be expected, not the virtues of their fathers, but the vices of their mothers, and particularly those of the gigantic and fierce heroes among their relations. Hence there sprang up a number of characters famous, or rather infamous, for their plunders and depredations. Such, in after-times, was Nimrod, that " mighty hunter before the Lord."

Ver. 5. The church being thus corrupted, and in a manner lost in the world, there is nothing left to resist the torrent of depravity. Man appears now in his true character. The picture which is here drawn of him, though very affecting, is no more than just. If it had been drawn by the pen of a prejudiced erring mortal, it might be supposed to exceed the truth; but that which was written was taken from the perfect and impartial survey of God. Hear, ye who pretend that man is naturally virtuous 1 That the wickedness of man has in all ages, though at some periods more than others, been great upon the earth, can scarcely be called in question ; but that " every imagina- tion of the thoughts of his heart should be only evil, and that continually," is more than men in general will allow. Yet such is the account here given. Mark the affecting gradation. Evil: evil without mixture; "only evil." YavW loithout cessation ; "continually." Yts'iX ixomi\\e\Qxy fountain- head of action ; " the imagination of the thoughts of the heart." Nor is it a description of certain vicious characters only, but of " man," as left to himself And all this " God saw," who sees things as they are. This doc- trine is fundamental to the gospel : the whole of redemption rests upon it ; and I suspect that every fiilse scheme of religion which has been at any time advanced in the world might be proved to have originated in the denial of it.

Ver. 6. The effect of this Divine survey is described in language taken it is true from the feelings of men, but unusually impressive. " It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart!" We are not to attribute to an immutable mind the fickleness of man, nor to suppose that the omniscient Jehovah was really disappointed ; but thus much we learn, that the wickedness of man is such as to mar all the works of God over which he is placed, and to render them worse than if there were none ; so that if he had not counteracted it by the death of Christ, there had better have been no world. In short, that any one but himself, on seeing his work thus marred and perverted, would have really

* They are denominated aSoj and SflJ to fall, which in this connexion has been thought to mean that they were a kind of fellers, causing men to fall before them like trees by the axe.

28 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

repented, and wished from his heart that he had never made them! The words express, with an energy and impressiveness which it is probable notliing purely literal could have conveyed, the exceeding sinfulness and provoking nature of sin.

Ver. 7. From tliis cause proceeded the Divine resolution to " destroy man from the face of the earth ;" and, to show the greatness of his sin, it is represented as extinguishing the paternal kindness of God as his Creator: "The Lord said, I will destroy man, wliom I have created, from the face of the earth." — " He that made them would not have mercy on them, and he that formed them would show them no favour!" And further, to show his displeasure against man, the creatures which were subject to him should be destroyed with him. Thus, when Achan had transgressed, to render his punishment more impressive upon Israel, " his sons, and daughters, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, and tent, and all that he had, were brought forth, and with himself stoned with stones, and burnt with fire." However light man may make of sin during the time of God's forbearance, it will prove in the end to be an evil and bitter thing.

DISCOURSE XL

NOAH FINDS FAVOUR WITH GOD, AND IS DIRECTED TO BUILD THE ARK. Gen. vi. 8-22.

By the foregoing account, it would seem as if the whole earth had be- come corrupt. In the worst of times, however, God has had a remnant that has walked with him ; and over them he has in the most sore calamities directed a watchful eye. When God said, " I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth," it seemed as if he would make an end of the human race. " But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Observe, L It is painful to find but one family, nay, it would seem but one person, out of all the professed sons of God, who stood firmly in this evil day. Some were dead, and others by mingling with the wicked had apos- tatized. 2. It is pleasant to find one upright man in a generation of the ungodly ; a lily among thorns, whose lovely conduct would shine the brighter when contrasted with that of the world about him. It is a great matter to be faithful among the faithless. With all our helps from the society of good men, we find it difficult enough to keep on our way ; but for an individual to set his fice against the whole current of public opinion and custom requires and implies great grace. Yet that is the only true religion which walks as in the sight of God, irrespective of what is thought or done by others. Such was the resolution of Joshua, when the whole nation seemed to be turning aside from God: " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 3. It is encouraging to find that one upright man was singled out from the rest when the world was to be destroyed, li he had been destroyed with the world, God could have taken him to himself, and all would have been well with him ; but then there had been no public expression of what he loved, as well as of what he hated.

Ver. 9. As Noah was to be the father of the new world, we have here a particular account of him. His " generations" mean an account of him and his family; of what he was, and of the things which befell him. — See chap, ^xvii. 2. The first thing said of him, as being the greatest, is, " He was a

CHARACTER OF NOAH. 29

just, or righteous, man, and perfect in his generations, walking with God.'' Character is of greater importance than pedigree. But notice particularly,

1. He was just. He was the first man who was so called, though not the first who was so. In a legal sense, a just man is one that doeth good, and sinneth not; but since the fall, no such man has existed upon earth, save the man Christ Jesus. If any of us be denominated just, it must be in some other sense; and what this is, the Scriptures inform us when they represent the just as living by faith. Such was the life of Noah, and therefore he is reckoned among the believing worthies, Heb. xi. 7. And the faith by which he is justified before God operated in a way of righteousness, which rendered him just before men. He is called " a preacher of righteousness," and he lived according to his doctrine, 2 Pet. ii. 5.

2. He was perfect in his generations. The term in this connexion is not to be taken absolutely, but as expressive, not only of sincerity of heart, but of a decidedncss for God, like that of Caleb, who followed the hord ftil/i/. It does not merely distinguish good men from bad men, but good men from one another. It is said of Solomon, that his " heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father." Alas, how much of this half-hearted religion there is among us! Instead of serving the Lord with a perfect heart and a willing mind, we halt as it were between two, the love of God and the love of the world.

3. He walked with God. This is the same as was said of Enoch. It not only implies his being reconciled to God, and denotes his acknowledging him in all his ways, and enjoying communion with him in the discharge of duties, but is also expressive of the continuifi/ and progressive tendency of true religion. Whatever he did, or wherever he went, God was before his eyes ; nor did he ever think of leaving off till he should have finished his course.

Ver. 10. From Noah's character the sacred writer proceeds to his de- scendants. He had three sons — Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These after- wards became the patriarchs of the world, between whose posterity the three great divisions of Asia, Africa, and Europe have been principally divided. Thus much at present for the favoured family.

Ver. 11. Here we have the charge against the old world repeated as the ground of what should follow. If succeeding generations inquire, Where- fore hath the Lord done thus unto the work of his hands? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? Be it known that it was not for a small mat- ter : " The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with vio- lence." Here are two words used to express the wickedness of the world, corruption and violence, both of which are repeated and dwelt upon in verses 12, 13. The former refers, I conceive, to their having debased and depraved the true religion. This was the natural consequence of the junction between the sons of God and the daughters of men. Whenever the church is become one with the world, the corruption of true religion has invariably followed ; for if wicked men have a religion, it must needs be such as to accord with their inclinations. Hence arose all the heresies of the early ages of Chris- tianity ; hence the grand Romish apostacy ; and in short every corruption of the true religion, in past or present times. The latter of these terms is expressive of their conduct towards one another. The fear of God and the regard of man are closely connected ; and where the one is given up, the other will soon follow. Indeed, it appears to be the decree of the eternal God, that when men have cast off his fear, they shall not continue long in amity with one another. And he has only to let the laws of nature take their course in order to effect it; for when men depart from God, the prin- ciple of union is lost, and self-love governs every thing ; and being " lovers

-2

ox) EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

of their own selves" they will be " covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce- breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." Such a flood of wickedness is at any time sufficient to deluge a world with misery. If these things did not then break forth in national wars as they do with us, it was merely because the world was not as yet divided into nations : the springs of domestic and social life were poisoned, the tender ties of blood and affinity violated, and quarrels, intrigues, oppression, rob- beries, and murders pervaded the abodes of man.

From the influence of corruption in producing violence, and bringing on the deluge, we may see the importance of pure religion, and those who adhere to it, to the well-being of society. They are the preserving principle, the salt of the earth ; and when they are banished, or in any way become extinct, the consequences will be soon felt. While the sons of God were kept together and continued faithful, for their sakes God would not destroy the world ; but when reduced to a single family, he would, as in the case of Lot, take that away and destroy the rest. The late convulsions in a neighbouring nation may, I apprehend, be easily traced to this cause : all their violence originated in the corruption of the true religion. About a hundred and thirty years ago, the law which protected the Reformation in that country was repealed, and almost all the religious people were either murdered or banished. The consequence was, as might have been expected, the great body of the nation, princes, priests, and people, sunk into infidelity. The protestant religion, while it continued, was the salt of the state; but when banished, and superstition had nothing left to counteract it, things soon hastened to their crisis. Popery, aided by a despotic civil government, brought forth infidelity ; and the child as soon as it grew up to maturity murdered its parents. If the principal part of religious people, in this or any other country, were driven away, the rest would soon become infidels and practical atheists ; and what every order and degree of men would have to expect from the prevalence of these principles there is no want of examples to inform them.

Ver. 12, 13. The corruption and violence which overspread the earth attracted the notice of Heaven. God knows at all times what is doing in our world ; but his looking upon the earth denotes a special observance of it, as though he had instituted an inquiry into its affairs. Thus he is represented as " going down to Sodom, to see whether they had done alto- gether according to the cry of it, which was come up unto him." Such seasons of inquiry are the days of " inquisition for blood," and are so many days of judgment in miniature.

The inquiry being instituted, sentence is passed, and Noah is informed

of it, " God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me

behold, I will destroy them with the earth." In cases where individuals only, or even a majority, are wicked, and there is yet a great number of righteous characters, God often inflicts only a partial punishment ; but where a whole people are become corrupt, he has more than once made a full end of them. Witness the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the seven nations of Canaan ; and thus it will be with the world when the righteous shall be gathered out of it.

Ver. 14-16. As it was the design of God to make an exception in favour of his faithful servant Noah, he is directed to the use of an extraor- dinary means, namely, the building of the ark ; a kind of ship which, though not in the shape of ours, as not being intended for a voyage, should float on the surface of the waters, and preserve him and his family alive in the midst

CHARACTER OF NOAH. 31

of death. It is possible that this was the first floating fabric that was ever built. Its dimensions were amazing. Reckoning the cubit at only a foot and a half, which is supposed to be somewhat less than the truth, it was a hundred and fifty yards long, twenty-five yards wide, and fifteen yards deep ; containing three stories, or, as we should call them, decks, each five yards in depth. It had a window also, it should seem, from end to end, a foot and a half deep, for light, and perhaps for air.*

Ver. 17. When Joseph was called to interpret the dream of Pharaoh, he observed concerning its being doubled that it was " because the thing was established by God, and God would shortly bring it to pass ;" and thus we may consider the repetition which is here given of the sentence : " Behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven."

Ver. 18-2"3. But though it was the purpose of God to make an end of the world that then was, yet he did not mean that the generations of men should here be terminated. A new world shall succeed, of which his ser- vant Noah should be the father. Thus when Israel had offended at Horeb, the Lord said unto Moses, " Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation." Hence pairs of every living creature were to go with Noah into the ark, to provide for futurity.

The terms in which this gracious design is intimated are worthy of special notice : " With thee will I establish my covenant." Observe three things in particular. 1. The leading ideas suggested by a covenant are those of peace and good-will between the parties, and if differences have subsisted, forgiveness of the past, and security for the future. Such were the friendly alliances between Abram and Abimelech, Isaac and another Abimelech, and between Jacob and Laban. God was highly displeased with the world, and would therefore destroy that generation by a flood ; but when he should have done this, he would return in loving-kindness and tender mercies, and would look upon the earth with a propitious eye. Nor should they be kept in fearful expectation of being so destroyed again ; for he would pledge his word no more to be wroth with them in such a way, nor to rebuke them for ever. 2. In covenants wherein one or both of the parties had been offended it was usual to offer sacrifices, in which a kind of atonement was made for past offences, and a perfect reconciliation followed. Such were the covenants before referred to ; and such, as we shall see at the close of the eighth chapter, was the covenant in question. " Noah offered sacrifices, and the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and promised to curse the ground no more for man's sake." 3. In covenants which include a blessing on many, and them umcorthy, it is God's ordinary method to bestow it in reward, or for the sake, of one who was dear to him. God loves men, but he also loves righteousness ; hence he delights to bestow his blessings in such a way as manifests his true character. If there had been any dependence on Noah's posterity, that they would all have walked in his steps, the covenant might have been established with them, as well as with him ; but they would soon degenerate into idolatry and all manner of wickedness. If therefore he will bestow favour on them in such a way as to express his love of righteousness, it must be for their father Noah's sake, and in reward of his righteousness. To say, " With thee will I establish my covenant," was say- ing, in effect, I will not treat with thine ungodly posterity ; whatever favour I show them, it shall be for thy sake.

* Noah's ark is said to have been equal to forty of our largest men of war.t

t This note is singularly incorrect. Dr. Hales has calculated, apparently on correct data, that the ark would be of about 42,413 tons burthen ; a first rate man of war is about 2,300 tons ; so that the ark would hold about as much as eighteen of the largest men of war. — B

32 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

It was on this principle that God made a covenant with Abram, in which he promised great blessings to his posterity. "As for me," saith he, " be- hold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a flither of many nations." Hence, in a great number of instances wherein mercy was shown to the rebellious Israelites, they were reminded that it was not for their sakes, but on account of the covenant made tmth their father Abraham, and reneioed with Isaac and Jacob. It was upon this principle also that God made a covenant with David, promising that his seed should sit upon his throne for ever. And this is expressed in much the same language as that of Noah and Abraham : " My covenant shall stand fast with him." — " Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before him." Solomon pleaded this at the dedication of the temple. Hezekiah also derived advantage from it; and when the seed of David corrupted their way, the Lord reminded them that the favours whicli they enjoined were not for their own sakes, but for his name's sake, and for the covenant which he had made with David his servant.

After these remarks, I scarcely need say that, by these proceedings, God, even at this early period, was preparing the way for the redemption of his Son, by rendering the great principle on which it should proceed familiar to mankind. A very small acquaintance with the Scriptures will enable us to perceive the charming analogy between the language used in the covenants with Noah, Abram, David, &c., and that which respects the Messiah, " I will give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages." — " It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel ; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth." — "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." " He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satis- fied." In these, as in the former instances, God's covenant stands fast with one, and many are blessed for his sake ; their salvation is his reward.

DISCOURSE XII.

THE FLOOD.

Gen. vii.

We have seen the preparation of the ark, the warnings of God by it, and his long-suffering for a hundred and twenty years. Now we see it finished; now the end of all flesh is come before him.

Ver. 1. Observe, 1. God gave special notice to Noah, saying, " Come thou and all thy house into the ark ; for thee have I seen righteous." He who in well-doing commits himself into the hands of a faithful Creator, needs not fear being overtaken by surprise. What have we to fear when he whom we serve hath the keys of hell and of death ? This is not the only instance in which, when impending ills have been ready to burst upon the world, God has, in effect, said to his servants, " Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself, as it were

THE FLOOD. 33

for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." 2. God gave hira all his household with him. We are not informed whether any of Noah's family at present followed his example; it is certain that all did not; yet all entered with him into the ark for his sake. This indeed was but a specimen of the mercy which was to be exercised towards his distant posterity on be- half of him, as we have seen in the former chapter. But it is of importance to observe, that though temporal blessings maybe given to the ungodly chil- dren of a godly parent, yet without walking in his steps they will not be partakers with him in those which are spiritual and eternal. 3. It is an affecting thought that there should be no more than Noah and his family to enter into the ark. Peter speaks of them as fav; and few they were, con- sidering the vast numbers that were left behind. Noah had long been a preacher of righteousness ; and what ! is there not one sinner brought to repentance by his preaching? It should seem not one; or, if there were any, they were taken away from the evil to come. Not one that we know of was found at the time who had received his warnings, and was desirous of casting in his lot with him. We are ready to think our ministry has but little success; but his, so far as appears, was without any; yet, like Enoch, he pleased God. 4. The righteousness of Noah is reported as the reason of the difference put between him and the world. This does not imply that the favour shown to him is to be ascribed to his own merit; for whatever he was, he was by grace ; and all his righteousness was rewardable only out of respect to Him in whom he believed; but being accepted for his sake, his works also were accepted and honoured. And while the mercy of God was manifested towards him, the distinction between him and the world being made according to character, would render his justice apparent. Thus at the last day, though the righteous will have nothing to boast of, yet, every man being judged according to his works, the world will be constrained to acknowledge the equity of the Divine proceedings.

Ver. 2, 3. Of the animals which were to enter into the ark with Noah, those that were clean, that is, those which were fit for human food and for sacrifice to God, were to go in by sevens, and those which were unclean, only by two of a kind. It would seem as if this direction differed from that in chap. vi. 19, 20, which mentions only two of every sort ; but the meaning there may be, that whatever number entered in they should be in pairs, that is, male and female, to preserve them alive; whereas here the direction is more particular, appointing the number of pairs that should be admitted, according as they were clean or unclean. This order is expressive of the goodness of God in providing food for man, and of his regard for his own worship.

Ver. 4-9. Just one week was allowed for Noah to embark. What a week was this ! What feelings must it excite ! His neighbours had seen him busily employed for the last hundred and twenty years in rearing the massy fabric ; and doubtless had had many a laugh at the old man's folly and cre- dulity ; and now, behold, he is going to remove all his family into it, with birds, and beasts, and creeping things, and provisions for their accommoda- tion ! " Well, let him go ! a week longer, and we shall see what will become of his dreams!" Meanwhile they eat and drink, and buy and sell, and marry and are given in marriage. As for Noah, he must have felt much in contemplating the destruction of the whole of his species, to whom he had preached righteousness in vain. But it is not for him to linger; but to " do according to all that the Lord commanded him." He had borne his testi- mony; he could do no more. He, his sons, his wife, and his son's wives, therefore, with all the inferior creatures, which probably were caused to as- semble before him by the same power which brought them to Adam to b©

Vol. hi.— 5

9%. EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

named, enter into the ark. The same thing which is said of him in ver. 7 is repeated in ver. 13. He doubtless would have to enter and re-enter many times in the course of the week ; but the last describes his final entrance, when he should return no more.

Ver. 10-lG. From the account taken together, it appears that though God suffered long with the world during the ministry of Noah, yet the flood came upon them at last very suddenly. Tlie words, after seven days, in ver. 10, seem to mean on the seventh day ;* for that was the day when Noah made his filial entrance into the ark ; namely, the seventeenth day of the second month, answering to our October or November, in the six hundredth year of his life; and "on that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven opened." What a scene of conster- nation and dismay must that day have exhibited, on the part of those who were left behind ! The manner in which the rains set in would leave little or no hope of their being soon over. It was not a common rain : it came in torrents, or, as we should say, in a manner as though heaven and earth were come together. The waters of the subterraneous cavities from be- neath, and of the clouds from above, all met together at God's command, to execute his wrath on guilty men.t There is one sentence concerning Noah which is worthy of special notice: when he and all pertaining to him had entered into the ark, it is said, "And the Lord shut him in." The door of such a stupendous building may be supposed to have been too large for human hands to fasten, especially so few as they were, and all withinside it. It is possible, too, there might be, by this time, numbers crowdmg round it for admittance; for those who trifle with death at a distance are often the most terrified when it approaches. But lo, all is over! That act which shut Noah and iiis family in shut them for ever out! And let it be considered that something very nearly resembling this will ere long be acted over again. "As it was in tlie days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man." Not only shall the world, as then, be full of dissipation, but the con- cluding scene is described in nearly the same words — "And they that were ready went in, and the door was shut !"

Ver. 17-24. We hear no more of the inhabitants of the world, except that " all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." We are informed, however, of the progress of the flood. For six weeks, within two days, it continued to rain incessantly ; during which period it was of suflicient depth to bear up the ark from the earth, which after this floated upon the surface of the waters, like a ship on the sea. For some time, however, there were mountains and high hills which were out of water. Hither therefore, we may naturally suppose, the inhabitants of the earth would repair, as to their last refuge : but, by the end of the forty days, these also were covered ; the waters rising above seven yards higher than the highest of them. Thus every creature was swept away and buried in one watery grave, Noah and his family only excepted.

* Such a mode of speaking is usual in the Scriptures. Compare ver. 6 with ver. 11, and chap. xl. IS, 20.

t The great deep seems to mean that vast confluence of waters said to have been gathered together on the third day of the creation into one place, and called seas, chap. i. 9, 10. These waters not only extend over a great part of the surface of the earth, but probably flow, as through a number of arteries and veins, to its most interior recesses, and occupy Its centre. This body of waters, which was ordained, as I may say, unto life, was turned, in just displeasure against man's sin, into an engine of destruction. Bursting forth in tre- mendous floods, multitudes were hereby swept away; while, from above, the clouds poured forth their torrents, as though heaven itself were a reservoir of waters, and God had opened .ts windows.

THE FLOOD. ^

i-j The waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days (that is, "about five months) before they began to abate. This might seem to us un- necessary, seeing every living creature would be drowned within the first six weeks ; but it would serve to exercise the faith and patience of Noah, and to impress his posterity with the greatness of the Divine displeasure against man's sin. As the land of Israel should have its sabbaths during the cap- tivity, so the whole earth, for a time, shall be relieved from its load, and fully purified, as it were, from its uncleanness.

DISCOURSE XIII.

THE FLOOD (cONTINUEd). Gen. viii.

The close of the last chapter brought us to the crisis of the flood, or to the period in which it had arrived at its greatest height : hence it began to abate. Observe the form in which it is expressed : " God remembered Noah, and those that were with him in the ark." A common historian would only have narrated the event ; but the sacred writers ascribe every thing to God, sometimes to the omission of second causes. The term is figurative; for, strictly speaking, God never forgot them : but it is one of those modes of speaking which convey a great fulness of meaning. It is expressive of ten- der mercy, of covenant mercy, and of mercy after a strong expression of displeasure. These are things which frequently occur in the Divine pro- ceedings. Hence a wind passes over the earth, and the waters begin to assuage.

Ver. 2-4. The causes of the deluge being removed, the effects gradually subside ; and the waters, having performed their work, return into their wonted channels. The ark, which had hitherto floated on the waters, now finds land, and rests upon the top of one of the Armenian mountains; and this just five months after the entrance into it. For a ship in the sea to have struck upon a rock or land would have been extremely dangerous; but at this stage of the flood we may suppose the heavens were clear and calm, and the waters still. Noah did not steer the ark; it was therefore God's doing, and was in mercy to him and his companions. Their voyage was now at an end. They put in as at the first possible port. The rest which they enjoy is a prelude to a more perfect one approaching. Thus God places believers upon high ground, on which they are already safe, and may antici- pate a better country, even a heavenly one.

Ver. 5-13. The first objects that greet them, after having been nearly eight months aboard, are the tops of the mountains. They had felt one of them before ; but now the waters are sufficiently abated to see several of them. If we had been on a long and dangerous voyage at sea, we should be better able to conceive of the joy which this sight must have occasioned than we possibly can be without it. Often has a ship's company been called on deck to see a distant object which promised to be land. Often too have Christians in their voyage been cheered by the signs of approaching blessed- ness, and the happy foretastes bestowed upon them. After the lapse of forty days more, the window of the ark was opened, and a raven sent forth for the purpose of experiment, that they might see whether it could subsist of itself or not J and the event proved that it could subsist, for it returned no more

36 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

This was encouraging. Seven days after this, Noah tries a more delicate bird, the dove, which could not live unless the ground was at least in some places dry ; but she from necessity returned. A proof this that the waters as yet were on the face of the whole earth. Tarrying yet other seven days, Noah sends out a second time his faithful messenger, the dove, which again returned to him in the evening; but lo, a sign is in her mouth which glad- dens all their hearts! It is "an olive leaf plucked off!" An olive leaf might have floated upon the surface of the waters; but it was observable of this that the dove had plucked it off the tree; a proof that the tops of the trees, in some places, were out of water. Perhaps it is from this event that the olive branch has ever since been considered as the emblem of peace. After seven days more, Noah sends forth the dove again ; which returning no m'ore, he knew the earth must in some places be dry. The repeated mention of seven days seems to imply that from the beginning time had been divided into weeks ; which can no otherwise be accounted for, that I know of, than by admitting that, from the beginning, those who feared God remembered the sabbath day to keep it holy. About a month after this the waters are dried up fcom off the earth, and the covering of the ark is re- moved. Now they have the pleasure to look around them, and to see the dry land in every direction ; but still it is not habitable. And as Noah came into the ark by God's command, so he must wait his time ere he attempts to go out, which will be nearly two months longer.

Ver. 14-19. At length the set time to favour this little company is come. On the 27th day of the second month, that is, just a year and ten days after their entrance into the ark, they are commanded to go forth of it, with all that pertained to them, and to begin, not the world, as we should say, again, but a new world. Obedient to the heavenly vision, they take leave of the friendly vessel which through many a storm had preserved them, and landed them in safety.

Ver. 20-22. The first object of attention with a worldly man might have been a day of rejoicing, or the beginning to build a house ; but Noah begins by building an altar to Jehovah, on which he offered " burnt-offerings of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl." I think this is the first time we read of a hurnt-offering. It was so called, as Moses says, " because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning." It was a substitu- tional sacrifice, for the purpose of atonement. The process is described in Lev. i. 2-9. The sinner confessed his sin upon its head ; the animal was killed, or treated as if it were the transgressor, and as if the sin had been actually transferred to it ; the blood of the creature being shed, was sprinkled round about upon the altar; and to show the Divine acceptance of it on behalf of the offerer to make atonement for him, it was consumed by fire, either descending immediately from heaven, as was the case on some occa- sions, or kindled by the priest from the sacred fire kept for the purpose (Lev. ix. 24 ; Psal. xx. 3, mar.) ; finally, the sacrifice being sprinkled with salt, and perhaps with odours, ascended up in a sweet savour, and God was pro- pitious to the offerer.

The burnt-offerings of Noah, according to this, must have been designed for an atonement in behalf of the remnant that was left; and, as Hezekiah said after the carrying away of the ten tribes, " for the making of a covenant with the Lord." This his offering was graciously accepted : " The Lord smelled a sweet savour," and bestowed upon him, and those who were with him, a covenant promise, not to curse the ground any more for man's sake. The reason given for this is singular: "for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." If God had dealt with man according to law and justice, this should have been a reason for destroying rather than sparing

THE FLOOD. 85'

him; and was the reason why the flood was brought upon the earth. But here he is represented as dealing with him through a substitute (for the pro- mise follows the acceptance of the bunit-offering) ; and in this view the wickedness of man, however offensive, should not determine his conduct. He would, as it were, look off" from him, and rest his future conduct towards him on another ground. He would, in short, knowing what he was, deal with him on a footing of mercy and forbearance.

Surely I need not say that this sacrifice of Noah was one of those which bore a peculiar aspect to the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. It is not improbable that the apostle has a direct allusion to it when he says, " Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour."

In reviewing the destruction of the world by a flood, and the preserva- tion of Noah and his family, we are furnished with three important reflec- tions : —

1. It is a solid proof of the truth of Divine revelation, " We are ac- quainted," says a late perspicuous and forcible writer, " with no ancient people who were without traditions of this great event. From Josephus we learn that Berosus, a Chaldean historian whose works are now lost, related the same things as Moses of the deluge, and the preservation of Noah in an ark. Eusebius informs us that the history of the flood was contained in the works of Abydenus, and Assyrian writer. Lucian, the Greek writer, says that the present is not the original race of men ; but is descended from Deucalion, who was preserved in an ark from the universal deluge which destroyed men for their wickedness. Varro, the Roman writer, divided time into three periods, the first from the origin of men to the deluge. The Hindoo puranas contain the history of the deluge, and of Noah under the name of Satyavrata. They relate that Satyavrata was miraculously preserved in an ark from a deluge which destroyed all mankind."* The same writer adds, "That the whole of our globe has been submerged by the ocean is proved, not by tradition only, but by its mineralogical and fossil history. On the summits of high mountains, and in the centres of continents, vast beds of shells and other marine productions are to be found. Petrified fishes and sea weed exist in the heart of quarries. The vegetable and animal produc- tions of the torrid zone have been dug up in the coldest regions, as Siberia; and, vice versa, the productions of the polar regions have been found in warm climates. These facts are unanswerable proofs of a deluge."

2. It is intimated by the apostle Peter that the salvation of Noah and his family in the ark was a figure of our salvation by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was for a time buried, as it were, in the floods of Divine wrath from above and beneath. It rose however, and weathered the storm, safely landing those on dry ground who had been committed to its care. I need not make the application. A "like figure" of the same thing is Christian baptism, in which believers are said to be baptized into the death of Christ: " Buried with him into death, that like as he was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so they also should walk in newness of life."

3. We are directed to consider the destruction of the world by water as a presage and premonition of its being destroyed in the end by fire. " The heavens and the earth, which now are, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men."

* Letters on the Evidences of the Christian Religion, by an Inquirer. First printed in the Oriental Star, at Calcutta ; reprinted at Serampore in 1S02 ; and since reprinted in England, with additions and corrections by the author.

D

^

EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

DISCOURSE XIV.

odd's covenant with NOAH, Gen. ix.

Ver. 1, 2. We have now the beginning of a new world, and various di- rections given to those who are to people it. In several respects it resembles its first beginning ; particularly in the command to be fruitful and multiply, and in the subjection of the creatures to man. But there is one great differ- ence : all must now rest upon a gracious covenant. Man by sin had forfeited, not his existence indeed, (for that was given him to hold on no conditional tenure,) but the blessing of God, and his dominion over his creatures. Nevertheless, he shall be reinstated in it. God will, as it were, make a covenant for him with the beasts of the field, and they shall be at peace with him, or at least shall be awed by his authority. All this is out of respect to the mediation of Christ, and for the accomplishing of the designs of mercy through him.

Ver. 3, 4. Here is also a special grant, which does not appear to have been given before : not only the herbs of the field, but the animals, are given to man for food. It is however accompanied with a special exception with regard to blood, which is the life. This, being foi bidden to Noah, appears also to have been forbidden to all mankind ; nor ought this prohibition to be treated as belonging to the ceremonies of the Jewish dispensation. It was not only enjoined before that dispensation existed, but was enforced upon the Gentile Christians by the decrees of the apostles. Acts xv. 20. To allege, as some do, our Lord's words, " not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man," would equally justify the practice of cannibals in eating human flesh. The reason of this prohibition might be in part the prevention of cruelty ; for the eating of blood implies and cherishes a ferocious dispo- sition. None but the most ferocious of animals will eat it in one another ; and one would think none but the most ferocious of mankind could endure it. But there may be a higher reason. Blood is the life, and God seems to claim it as sacred to himself Hence, in all the sacrifices, the blood was poured out before the Lord ; and, in the sacrifice of Christ, he shed his blood, or poured out his soul unto death.

Ver. 5, 6. As God was tender of animal blood, in not suffering man to eat it, so, on the other hand, he would be especially tender of human blood. If any animal slew a man, let him be slain on that account; or if any man slew himself, God would require it ; or if any man slew another man, he should be put to death by man. This also appears to be a new law, as we read of no executions for murder among the antediluvians. The reason for this law is not taken from the well-being of man, but man's being made in the image of God. The image of God is of two kinds, natural and moral. The latter was lost by sin ; but the former continues with man in every state, and renders it peculiarly criminal to abuse him. To deface the king's image is a sort of treason among men, implying a hatred against him, and that if he himself were within reach, he would be served in the same man- ner ; how much more treasonable must it be to destroy, curse, oppress, or in any way abuse {he image of the King of kings ! — James iii. 9.*

* In defending the principles of civil and religious liberty against persecution for con- ■cience' sake, it has ofleu been alleged that civil government has no right to restrain or

god's covenant with NOAH. 39

Ver. 7. The command to multiply is repeated, and contains permission, not of promiscuous intercourse, like the brutes, but of honourable marriage. The same law which forbade the eating of blood, under the gospel, forbade fornication, which was common among the heathen ; and, alas, too common among those who call themselves Christians!

Ver. 8-17. Having given the foregoing precepts, God graciously proceeds to enter into a solemn covenant with Noah and his posterity, and every living creature that was with them, no more to destroy them by water, of which "the bow in the cloud" was to be the token. This covenant is an amplifi- cation of what was said at the altar, where the Lord smelled a sweet savour ; and indeed the first seventeen verses of this chapter are a continuation of that subject.

We see here, 1. The mercy and goodness of God in proceeding with us in a way of covenant. He might have exempted the world from this calam- ity, and yet not have told them he would do so. The remembrance of the flood might have been a sword hanging over their heads in tcrrorem. But he will set their minds at rest on this score, and therefore promises, and that with an oath, that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, Isa. liv. 9. Thus also he deals with us in his Son. Being willing that the heirs of promise should have strong consolation, he confirms his word by an oath, Heb. vi. 17, 18. 2. The importance of living under the light of reve- lation. Noah's posterity by degrees sunk into idolatry, and became " stran- gers to the covenants of promise." Such were our fathers for many ages, and such are great numbers to this day. So far as respects them, God might as well have made no promise; to them all is lost. 3. The importance of being believers. Without this it will be worse for us than if we had never been favoured with a revelation. Finally, We see here the kind of life which it was God's design to encourage — a life of faith. " The just shall live by faith." If he had made no revelation of himself, no covenants, and no promises, there would be no ground for faith ; and we must have gone through life feeling after him, without being able to find him; but having made known his mind, there is light in all our dwellings, and a sure ground for believing, not only in our exemption from another flood, but in things of far greater importance.

With respect to the sign, or token, of this covenant, the how in the cloud, as it seems to be the effect of causes which existed from the beginning, it is probable that that also existed ; but it was not till now a token of God's covenant with the world. Such a token was extremely suitable, on account of its conspicuousness, and its appearance in the cloud, or at a time when the fears of man would be apt to rise, lest they should be overwhelmed with another flood. This being a sign of peace, the King of Zion is described as having " a rainbow about his throne."

Ver. 18, 19. God having thus saved, counselled, and covenanted with this little company, Moses proceeds to narrate their history. In general, we are informed that the fathers of the new world were Noah's three sons, Shem,

punish men, but on account of their injuring their fellow men. That whatever is punish- able by man is injurious to man is true, because all sin in some way or other ia so ; but to make this the sole ground, or reason, of punishment, is selfish and atheistical. It is making ourselves the chief end ; whereas this is what God claims to himself at the hand of every man and body of men. The cognizance of the civil magistrate ought indeed to be confined to what is civil and moral; but, in punishing men for immorality, he ought not merely to regard his own safety, nor even that of the community, but the honour of God ; and if he be a good man, he wdl do so. If he regard merely his own safety, punishing crimes only in so far as they endanger it, the people will soon perceive that he is a selfish tyrant, and cares not for the general good ; and if he regard only the public safety, punishing crimes merely on account of their being injurious to men, it is still a spirit of selfishness, only a little more extended j and God will disapprove of this, as tlie people do of the other.

40 EXPOSITION or GENESIS.

and Ham, and Japheth ; from whom the earth was peopled. And having mentioned Ham, he says, " He was the father of Canaan." This remark of Moses was doubtless made with a special design ; for living, as he did, when the Israelites, who descended from Shem, were about to take posses- sion of the land of Canaan, it was of peculiar importance that they should be informed that the people whose country the Lord their God had given them to possess were under a curse from the days of their first father. The particulars of this affair will appear in the sequel.

Ver. 20-23. Noah, as soon as he could get settled, betook himself to the employment of husbandry ; and the first thing he did in this way was to plant a vineyard. So far all was right ; man, as we have seen, was formed originally for an active, and not an idle life. Adam was ordered to keep the garden, and to dress it ; and, when fallen, to till the ground whence he was taken, which now required much labour. Perhaps there is no employ- ment more free from snares. But in the most lawful occupations and enjoy- ments we must not reckon ourselves out of danger. It was very lawful for Noah to partake of the fruits of his labour ; but Noah sinned in drinking to excess. He might not be aware of the strength of the wine, or his age might render him sooner influenced by it : at any rate we have reason to conclude, from his general character, that it was a fault in which he was " overtaken." But let us not think lightly of the sin of drunkenness, "Who hath woe? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine." Times of festivity require a double guard. Neither age nor character is any security in the hour of temptation. Who would have thought that a man who had walked with God perhaps more than five hundred years, and who had withstood the temptations of a world, should fall alone? This was like a ship which had gone round the world being overset in sailing into port. What need for watchfulness and prayer ! One heedless hour may stain the fairest life, and undo much of the good which we have been doing for a course of years ! Drunkenness is a sin which involves in it the breach of the whole law, which requires love to God, our neighbour, and ourselves. The first as abusing his mercies; the second as depriving those who are in want of them of necessary support, as well as setting an ill example ; and the last as depriving ourselves of reason, self-government, and common decency. It also commonly leads on to other evils. It has been said, and justly, that the name of this sin is " Gad — a troop comcth !"

But sinful as it was for Noah thus to expose himself, it was still more so for Ham, on perceiving his situation, to go out and report it with malignant pleasure to his brethren. None but a fool will make a mock at sin in any one ; but for children to expose and sneer at the sin of their parents is wickedness of the most aggravated kind. It indicates a heart thoroughly depraved. The conduct of Shem and Japheth on this unhappy occasion was as commendable as the other was censurable, and as worthy of our imitation as that is of our abhorrence.

Ver. 24. When Noah came to himself, he knew what had been done by his younger son. Nothing is said of his grief for his own sin. I hope his anger did not turn merely against that of his son. Nor are we to consider what follows as an ebullition of personal resentment, but as a prophecy, which was meant to apply, and has been ever since applying, to his posterity, and that which it was not possible for human resentment to dictate. But as this prophecy is very comprehensive, and will lead us to take notice of some of the great principles of revelation, I shall reserve it for a future discourse.

noah's prophecy. 41

DISCOURSE XV.

noah's prophecy. Gen. ix. 25-27.

It was common among the patriachs, when about to die, to pronounce a prophetic sentence on their children, which frequently bore a relation to what had been their conduct, and extended to their remote posterity. This prophecy, however, though not immediately after the flood, was probably many years before the death of Noah. I shall first attempt to ascertain its meaning, and its agreement with the great outlines of historic fact; and then endeavour to justify the ways of Providence in such dispensations.

The prophecy is introduced with a curse upon the posterity of one of Noah's sons, and concludes with a blessing upon the other two; each cor- responding with his conduct on the late unhappy occasion.

" Cursed be Canaan: a servant of servants" (that is, the meanest of ser- vants) " shall he be unto his brethren." But why is the name of Ham omitted, and the curse confined to his son Canaan? Some suppose that Canaan must have been in some way partaker in the crime; but this is un- certain. It is thought by several able critics that instead of Canaan we should read, as it is in ver. 22, " Ham the father of Canaan ;* and this seems very plausible, as otherwise there is nothing said of Ham, except in the per- son of his son ; and, what is still more, the curse of servitude actually came, though at a remote period, upon other branches of the posterity of Ham as well as Canaan. It is manifest, however, that it was directed against him principally in the line of Canaan; and that it was related by Moses for the encouragement of Israel in going up against his descendants, the Canaanites. Canaan is under a curse of servitude to both Shem and Japheth : the former was fulfilled in the conquest of the seven nations by Israel, and the latter in the subjugation of the Tyrians and Carthaginians (who were the remainder of the old Canaanites) by the Greeks and Romans.

So far as the curse had reference to the other descendants of Ham, it was a long time, as I have said, ere it came upon them. In the early ages of the world they flourished. They were the first who set up for empire ; and so far from being subject to the descendants of Shem or Japheth, the latter were often invaded and driven into corners by them. It was Nimrod, a descendant of Ham, who founded the imperial city of Babylon- and Miz- raim, another of his descendants, who first established the kingdom of Egypt. These, it is well known, were for many ages two of the greatest empires in the world. About the time of the captivity, however, God began to cut short their power. Both Egypt and Babylon within a century sunk into a state of subjection, first to the Persians, who descended from Shem, and afterwards to the Greeks and Romans, who were the children of Japheth. Nor have they ever been able to recover themselves; for to the dominion of the Romans succeeded that of the Saracens, and to theirs that of the Turks, under which they, with a great part of Africa, which is peopled by the children of Ham, have lived, and still live, in the most degraded state of

* Ainsworth sayg, "By Canaan may be understood or implied Canaan's father, as the Greek translation hath Ham, and as elsewhere in Scripture Goliath is named for Goliath's father, 2 Sam. xxi. 19, compared with 1 Chron. xx. 5." See also Bishop Newton on tha Prophecies, Dissert. I.

Vol. hi.— G d 2

43 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

subjection. To all this may be added that the inhabitants of Africa seem to be marked out as objects of slavery by the European nations. Though these things are far from excusing the conduct of their oppressors, yet they estab- lish the fact, and prove the fulfilment of prophecy.

" Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem !" The form of this blessing is worthy of notice. It may not seem to be pronounced on him, but on his God. But such a mode of speaking implies his blessedness no less than if it had been expressly spoken of him; for it is a principle well known in religion, that " blessed is that people whose God is Jehovah." They are blessed in his blessedness. It is in this form that Moses describes the blessedness of Israel: "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky." Shem was the ancestor of Abram, and so of Israel, who, while the descend- ants both of Ham and Japheth were lost in idolatry, knew and worshipped Jehovah the only true God; and "of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God, blessed for ever." It has been remarked, too, that Shem is the first person who had the honour of having the Lord styled his God ; and that this expression denotes his being i?i covenant with him, as when he is called the God of Abram, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Noah, foreseeing, by a spirit of prophecy, that God would enter into a special cove- nant with the posterity of Shem, taking them to be his peculiar people, and binding himself to be their God, was affected at the consideration of so great a privilege, and breaks out into an ascription of praise to God on this account.

" God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." If this part of the prophecy have respect to temporal dominion, it seems to refer to the posterity of Japheth being formerly straitened, but in the later ages of the world enabled to extend their conquests ; and this exactly corre- sponds with history. For more than two thousand years the empire of the civilized world has in a manner been in the hands of the posterity of Japheth. First the Greeks, after them the Romans, and, since the declen- sion of their empire, the different powers of Europe, have entered into the richest possessions of Asia, inhabited by the children of Shem. Add to this, their borders have lately been enlarged beyond the Atlantic, and bid fair to extend over the continent of America.

But as Japheth united with Shem in the act of filial respect to his fither, it would seem as if the dwelling of the one in the tents of the other must be friendly, and not hostile; but as the blessing of Shem had a peculiar reference to the church of God among his descendants, it may be considered as prophetic of the accession of the Gentiles to it under the gospel. It is a fact that Christianity has principally prevailed among the posterity of Japheth. The Lord God of Shem is there known and honoured. The lively oracles given to the fathers of the one are possessed and prized by the other : they laboured, and we have entered into their labours. This inter- pretation is favoured by the marginal reading, which the very learned Ains- worth says the original word properly signifies : " God shall persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem."

Let us proceed in the next place to offer a remark or two on the justice of the Divine proceeding in denouncing a curse upon children, even to re- mote periods, for the iniquity of their parents. It is worthy of notice, that the God of Israel thought it no dishonour to his character to declare that he would "visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children in those that hated him," any more than that he would "show mercy to those that loved him," which he did in an eminent degree to the posterity of Abram. And should any object to this, and to the Bible on this account, we might appeal

GENERATIONS OF NOAH. 43

to universal fact. None can deny that children are the better or the worse for the conduct of their parents. If any man insist that neither good nor evil shall betall him, but what is the immediate consequence of his own con- duct, he must go out of the world; for no such state of existence is known in it.

There is, however, an important difference between the sin of a parent being the occasion of the prediction of a curse t/pon his posterity, (who were considered hy Him who knciv the end from the beginning as walking in his steps,) and its being the formal cause of their punishment. The sin of Ham was the occasion of the prediction against the Canaanites, and the antecedent to the evil predicted; but it was not the cause of it. Its formal procuring cause may be seen in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus. To Ham, and perhaps to Canaan, the prediction of the servitude of their descendants was a punishment; but the fulfilment of that prediction on the parties themselves was no farther such than as it was connected with their own sin.

There is also an important difference between the providential dispensa- tions of God towards families and nations in the present world, and the administration of distributive justice toivards individuals with respect to the world to come. In the last judgment "every one shall give an account of himself to God, and be judged according to the deeds done in the body;" but while we are in this world we stand in various relations, in which it is impossible that we should be dealt with merely as individuals. God deals with families and nations as such; and in the course of his providence visits them with good and evil, not according to the conduct of individuals, but, as far as conduct is concerned, that of the general body. To insist that we should in all cases be treated as individuals is to renounce the social character.

We are informed, at the close of the chapter, that Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years, and died at the age of nine hundred and fifty. How long this was after the foregoing prophecy we are not informed ; but he lived to see, in the descendants of Shem, Eber and Nahor and Terah the father of Abram.

DISCOURSE XVI.

THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH. Gen. X.

Without this genealogy we should not have been able to ascertain the fulfilment of Noah's prophecy; but, after what has been said on that subject, I need not be particular here. The chapter contains the origin of the various nations of antiquity; and the more it is examined and compared with universal history, the more credible it will appear. All the researches of the Asiatic Society into the ancient Hindoo records go to confirm it. But it does not comport with the object of these discourses to enter minutely into such subjects ; I shall therefore pass over it with only a few remarks.

1. Concerning the posterity of Japhcth, ver. 2-5. His family was the largest, and almost every one of his sons became the father of a nation. In them we trace, among others, the names oi Madia, the father of the Medes — oi Javan, and his two sons, Kittim and Dodanim, the fathers of the lonians,

44 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

or Greeks, and of the Romans. It was from Japheth that all the nations of Europe appear to have been peopled ; who seem, at this early period, to have obtained the name of Gentiles ; namely, peoples, or nations, ver. 5. This name was given in apostolic times to all who were not Jews; but in earlier ages it seems to have been chiefly, if not entirely, applied to the Europeans. Such at least is the meaning of "the isles of the Gentiles," in which, by a synecdoche, those places which were the nearest to the situation of the sacred writer are put for all the countries beyond them. And the Scriptures foreseeing that Europe would, from the first, embrace the gospel, and for many ages be the principal seat of its operation, the Messiah himself is introduced by Isaiah as addressing himself to its inhabitants: — "Listen, O isles, unto me ; and hearken, ye people, from afar 1 Jehovah hath called me from the womb, and hath said unto me, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob — I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be my salvation to the end of the earth." Here we see not only the first peopling of our native country, but the kind remembrance of us in a way of mercy, and this though far removed from the means of salvation. What a call is this to us who occupy what is denominated "the end of the earth" to be thankful for the gospel, and to listen to the sweet accents of the Saviour's voice !

2. Concerning the posterity of Ham, ver. 7-20. In them we trace, among others, the names of Cush, the father of the Ethiopians — of Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians — and of Canaan, the father of the Canaanites.

Particular notice is taken of Nimrod, the son of Cush, as the first who set up for empire. He might, for any thing I know, be fond of hunting beasts; but the connexion of his character with a kingdom induces me to think that men were the principal objects of his pursuit, and that it is in reference to this that he is called " a mighty hunter," a very proper name for what modern historians would have called a hero. Thus we see, from the beginning, that things which are highly esteemed among men are held in abomination with God. This perfectly accords with the language of the prophets, in which the great conquerors of the earth are described as so many wild beasts push- ing at one another, whose object is to seize and tear the prey. — Nimrod was a mighty hunter " before the Lord." This may denote his daring spirit, doing what he did in the face of Heaven, or in defiance of the Divine autho- rity. Thus the inhabitants of Sodom are said to be wicked, and sinners " before the Lord." Nimrod's fame was so great that his name became pro- verbial. In after-times, any one who was a daring plunderer in defiance of Heaven was likened to him, just as the wicked kings of Israel were likened to "Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." In short, he became the type, pattern, or father of usurpers and martial plunderers. Till his time government had been patriarchal; but his ambition led him to found a royal city, even that which was afterwards called Babel, or Babylon; and to add to it (for the ambhion of conquerors has no bounds) "Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." Nor was this all. Either he drove Ashur, the son of Shem, from the land of Shinar, (who, taking up his residence in Assyria, built Nineveh, and other places,) or else, as Ains- worth and the margin of our own Bibles render it, "He (Nimrod) went forth out of that land to Ashur, or Assyria, and builded Nineveh." The latter is very probably the true meaning, as the sacred writer is not here describing what was done by the posterity of Shem, which he introduces afterwards, but by that of Ham ; and it perfectly accords with Nimrod's character, to go hunting from land to land, for the purpose of increasing his dominion.

From Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians, descended also the Philistines. Their situation was near to that of the Canaanites; but, not being of themji

GENERATIONS OP NOAH. 45

their country was not given to Israel. This accounts for their not attempting to take it, though in after-times there were frequent wars between them.

Finally, Moses was very particular with regard to the Canaanites, describ- ing not only what nations they were, but what were their boundaries, that Israel might know and be content with what the Lord their God had given them. Under this head, we see much of what pertains to this world, but that is not all. We may learn from it that men may be under the Divine curse, and yet be very successful for a time in schemes of aggrandizement. But if this be their all, woe unto them ! There are instances, however, of individuals, even from among Ham's posterity, who obtained mercy. Of them were Rahab the harlot, Uriah the Hittite, Obed-edom, and Ittai, and his brethren the Gittites, and the Syrophenician woman who applied to Christ. The door of mercy is open to faith, without distinction of nations; nor was there ever a time in which the God of Israel refused even a Canaanite who repented and embraced his word.

3. Concerning the posterity of Shan, ver. 21-33. The account of this patriarch is introduced in rather a singular manner ; it is mentioned as an appendage to his name, a kind of title of honour that was to go along with it, that he was "father of all the children of Eber, and brother of Japheth the elder." Shem had other sons as well as these, and another brother as well as Japheth ; but no such special mention is made of them. When Moses would describe the line of the curse, he calls Ham " the father of Canaan;" and when the line of promise, he calls Shezn "the father of all the children of Eber." And as Japheth had been the brother of Shem in an act of filial duty, his posterity shall be grafted in among them, and become fellow heirs of the same promise ; yet, as in divers other instances, the younger goes before the elder.

Among Shem's other descendants we find the names of Elam and Ashur, fathers of the Persians and Assyrians, two great Asiatic nations. But these, not being of the church of God, are but little noticed in the sacred history, except as they come in contact with it.

Eber is said to have had two sons, one of whom is called Peleg, division; because in his days the earth was divided. This event took place subse- quently to the confusion of tongues, which is yet to be related. It seems to refer to an allotment of different countries to different families, as Canaan was divided among the Israelites by Joshua. This division of the earth is elsewhere ascribed to the Most High, Dent, xxxii. 8. Probably it was by lot, which was of his disposing; or if by the fathers of the different families, all was subject to the direction of His providence who fixes and bounds our habitation. It is intimated in the same passage that, at the time of this division, God marked out the Holy Land as Israel's lot, so that the Canaan- ites were to possess it only during his minority, and that by sufferance. It was rather lent than given to them from the first.

46 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

DISCOURSE XVII.

THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES Gen. xi. 1-9.

It has been before noticed that this story is thrown further on, on account of finishing the former. The event took place before the division of the earth in the time of Peleg ; for every family is there repeatedly said to be divided after their tongues ; which in)plies that at that time they spake various languages, and that this was one of the rules by which they were distinguished as nations.

Prior to the flood, and down to this period, " the whole earth was of one language." We are not told what this was. Whether it was the same which continued in the fiunily of Eber, or whether from this time it was lost, is a matter of small account to us. But it seemed good in the sight of God hence to divide mankind into different nations, and to this end to give them each a different tongue. The occasion of this great event will appear from the following story.

The posterity of Noah, beginning to increase, found it necessary to extend their habitations. A company of them, journeying from the east, pitched upon a certain plain in the land of Shinar, by the river Euphrates. Judging it to be an eligible spot, they consulted and determined here to build a city. There was no stone, it seems, near at hand; but there was a kind of earth very suitable for bricks, and a bituminous substance which is said to ooze from certain springs in that plain, like tar or pitch, and this they used for cement. Of these materials were afterwards built the famous walls of Babylon.

Having found a good material, they proposed to build " a city and a tower" of great eminence, by which they should obtain a name, and avoid the evil of which they thought themselves in danger, of being scattered upon the face of the whole earth But here they were interrupted by a Divine interposition : the Lord came down and confounded their language, so that they could not understand one another's speech.

To perceive the reason of this extraordinary proceeding, it is necessary to inquire into the object, or design, of the builders. If this can be ascertained, the whole passage may be easily understood. It could not be, as some have supposed, to provide against a future flood; for this Avould have needed no Divine interposition to prevent its having effect God knew his own inten- tion never to drown the world any more; and if it had been otherwise, or if they, from a disbelief of his promise, had been disposed to provide against it, they would not have been so foolish as to build for this purpose a tower upon a plain, which, when raised to the greatest possible height, would be far below the tops of the mountains. It could not have been said of such a scheme, "This they have begun to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do ;" for it would have defeated itself.

Neither does it appear to have been designed, as others have supposed, for an idol's temple. At least there is nothing in the story which leads to such a conclusion. It was not for the name of a god, but for their own name, that they proposed to build ; and that not the toiaer ordy, but a city and a toivcr. Nor was the confounding of their language any way adapted, that I can perceive, to defeat such a design as this. Idolatry prevailed in the world, for aught that appears, as much under a variety of languages as it would under one.

CONFUSION' OF TONGUES. ^

Some have imagined that it was intended merely as a monument of archi- tectural ambition, like the pyramids of Egypt. This supposition might in a measure agree with the idea of doing it for a name ; but it is far from har- monizing with other parts of the history. It contains no such deep-laid scheme as is intimated in the 6th verse, and given as the reason of the Divine interference ; nor is it supposable that God should interpose in so extraordinary a manner, by working a miracle which should remain through- out every age of the world, or which at least has remained to this day, merely for the purpose of counteracting a momentary freak of human vanity.

There are four characters by which this design, whatever it was, is de- scribed.— 1. It was founded in ambition ; for they said, " Let us make us a name." — 2. It required union ; for which purpose they proposed to build "a citij," that they might live together, and concentrate their strength and counsels. This is noticed by the Lord himself: " Behold, the people," saith he, "are one, and have all one language;" and his confounding their lan- guage was for the express purpose of destroying this oneness, by " scatter- ing them abroad upon the face of the earth." — 3. It required that they should be furnished with the means of defence; for which they proposed to add a " tower" to the city, to which the citizens might repair in times of danger ; and of such a height as to bid defiance to any who should attempt to annoy them with arrows, or other missive weapons. — 4. The scheme was wisely laid; so much so that, if God had not interposed to frustrate it, it would have succeeded : "And this they have begun to do ; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."

The only object which appears to accord with all these general charac- ters, and with the whole account taken together, is that of a universal MONARCHY, bij which all the families of the earth, in all future ages, might he held to subjection. A very little reflection will convince us that such a scheme must of necessity be founded in ambition ; that it required union, and of course a cift/, to carry it into execution: that a tower, or citadel, was also necessary to repel those who might be disposed to dispute their claims; and that if these measures were once carried into effect, there was nothing in the nature of things to prevent the accomplishment of their design.

If there were no other reasons in favour of the supposition in question, its agreement with all these circumstances of the history might be sufficient to establish it; but to this other things may be added, by way of corroboration.

The time when the confusion of tongues took place renders it highly pro- bable that the scheme which it was intended to subvert was of Nimrod's forming, or that he had a principal concern in it. It must have been a little before the division of the earth among the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japlieth, "after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations;" being that which rendered such division necessary. Now this was about the time of the birth of Peleg, who was named from that event; and this, by reckoning the genealogies mentioned in chap. xi. 10-16, will appear to have been about a hundred years after the flood. At this time, Nimrod, who was the grandson of Ham, must have been alive and in his prime. And as he was the first person who aspired to dominion over his brethren, and as it is expressly said of him that " the beginning of his kingdom was Babel," nothing is more natural than to suppose that he was the leader in this famous enterprise, and tliat the whole was a scheme of his, by which to make himself master of the world.

It was also natural for an ambitious people, headed by an ambitious leader, to set up for universal monarchy. Such has been the object of almost all the great nations and conquerors of the earth in later periods. Babylon, though checked for the present, by this Divine interference, yet afterwards

48

EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

resumed the pursuit of her favourite object; and, in the time of Nebuchad- nezzar, seemed almost to have gained it. The style used by that monarch in his proclamations comported with the spirit of this idea : " To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and tongues!" Now if such has been the ambition of all Nimrod's successors, in every age, it is nothing surprising that it should have struck the mind of Nimrod himself, and his adherents. They would also have a sort of claim to which their successors could not pretend ; namely, that of being the first, or parent kingdom ; and the weight which men are apt to attach to this claim may be seen by the later preten- sions of papal Rome, (another Babylon,) which, under the character of a mother church, headed by a pope, or pretended holy father, has subjected all Christendom to her dominion.

To this may be added, that the means used to counteract these builders were exactly suited to defeat the above design ; namely, that oi dividing and scattering them, by confounding their language. And it is worthy of notice, that though several empires have extended their territories over people of different languages, yet language has been a very common boundary of na- tions ever since. There is scarcely a great nation in the world but what has its own language. The dividing of languages was therefore, in effect, the dividing of nations; and so a bar to the whole world being ruled by one government. Thus a perpetual miracle was wrought, to be an antidote to a perpetual disease.

But why, it may be asked, should it be the will of God to prevent a uni- versal monarchy, and to divide the inhabitants of the world into a number of independent nations? This question opens a wide field for investigation. Suffice it to say, at present, such a state of things contains much mercy, both to the world and to the church.

With respect to the world, if the whole earth had continued under one government, that government would of course, considering what human nature is, have been exceedingly despotic and oppressive. We know that in every state of society where power, or wealth, or commerce is monopolized by an individual, or confined to a few whose interests may unite them to one another, there is the greatest possible scope for injustice and oppression; and where there is the greatest scope for these evils, human nature being what it is, theue they will most abound. Different nations and interests iu the world serve as a balance one to the other. They are that to the world which a number of rival merchants, or smaller tradesmen, are to society ; serving as a check upon each other's rapacity. Union, when cemented by good-will to men, is exceedingly desirable; but when self-interest and ambi- tion are at the bottom, it is exceedingly dangerous. Union, in such cases, is nothing better than a combination against the general good.

It might be thought that if the whole world were under one government, a great number of wars might be prevented, which, as things now are, would be certain to take place. And it is true that one stable government, to a certain extent, is on this account preferable to a great number of smaller ones, which are always at variance. But this principle, if carried beyond certain limits, becomes inimical to human happiness. So far as different nations can really become one, and drop all local distinctions and interests, it is well ; but if the good of the country governed be lost sight of, and every thing be done to aggrandize the city or country governing, it is otherwise. And where power is thus exercised, which it certainly would be in case of universal monarchy, it would produce as many wars as now exist, with only this difference, that instead of their being carried on between independent nations, they would consist of the risings of different parts of the empire against the government, in a way of rebellion ; and by how much wars of

CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 49

this kind are accompanied with less mutual respect, less quarter given and taken, and consequently more cruelt}-, than the other, by so much would the state of the world have been more miserable than it is at present.

The division of the world into independent nations has also been a great check on persecution, and so has operated in a way of mercy towards the church. If the whole world had been one despotic government, Israel, the people of God, must in all ages have been in the condition to which they were reduced from the times of the captivity as a punishment for their sins, a mere province of another power, which might have crushed them and hindered them, as was the case from the times of Cyrus to those of Darius. And since the coming of Christ, the only way in which he permits his fol- lowers to avoid the malice of the world, which rages against them for his sake, is this : " If they persecute you in one city, flee to another." Of this liberty millions have availed themselves, from the earliest to the latest periods of the Christian church ; but if the whole world had been under one govern- ment, and that government inimical to the gospel, there had been no place of refuge left upon earth for the faithful.

The necessary watch also that governments which have been the most disposed to persecute have been obliged to keep on each other has filled their hands, so as to leave them but little time to think of religious people. Saul, when pursuing David, was withdrawn from his purpose by intelligence being brought him that the Philistines had invaded the land; and thus, in innumerable instances, the quarrels of bad men have been advantageous to the righteous.

The division of power serves likewise to check the spirit of persecution, not only as finding employment for persecutors to watch their rivals, but as causing them to be watched, and their conduct exposed. While the power of papal Rome extended over Christendom, persecution raged abundantly more than it has done since the Reformation, even in popish countries. Since that period, the popish powers, both ecclesiastical and civil, have felt themselves narrowly watched by protestants, and have been almost shamed out of their former cruelties. What has been done of late years has been principally confined to the secret recesses of the Inquisition. It is by com- munities as it is by individuals; they are restrained from innumerable excesses by the consideration of being under the eye of each other. Thus it is that liberty of conscience, being granted in one or two nations, and becoming honourable, has insensibly made its way into the councils of many others.

From the whole we may infer two things : — 1. The harmony of Divine revelation with all that we know of fact. If any object to the probability of the foregoing account, and imagine that the various languages spoken in the world must have been of human contrivance, let them point us to a page in any history, ancient or modern, which gives an account of the first making of a language, dead or living. If all that man can be proved to have done towards the formation of any language be confined to changing, combining, improving, and reducing it to grammatical form, there is the greatest pro- bability, independently of the authority of revelation, that languages them- selves were originally the work of God, as was that of the first man and woman. — 2. The desirableness of the universal spread of Christ's kingdom. We may see, in the reasons which render a universal government among men incompatible with the liberty and safety of the world, abundant cause to pray for this, and for the tmion of all his subjects under him. Here there is no danger of tyranny or oppression, nor any need of those low motives of rivalship to induce him to seek the well-being of his subjects. A union with Christ and one another embraces the best interests of mankind.

Vol. III.— 7 E

50 EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

DISCOURSE XVIII.

THE GENERATIONS OF SHEM, AND THE CALL OF ABRAM.

Gen. xi. 10-32; xii. 1-4.

The sacred historian, having given an account of the re-peopling of the earth, here takes leave of the " children of men," and confines himself to the history of the " sons of God." We shall find him all along adhering to this principle. When any of the posterity of the righteous turn their backs on God, he presently takes leave of them, and follows the true church and true religion wherever they go.

Ver. 10-26. The principal use of the genealogy of Shem to Terah, the father of Abram, may be to prove the fulfilment of all the promises in the Messiah. To this purpose it is applied in the New Testament.

Ver. 27-29 Terah, after he was seventy years of age, had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. But the order in which they here stand does not appear to be that of seniority, any more than that of Shem, and Ham, and Japheth; for if Abram had been born when Terah was seventy years old, he must have been a hundred and thirtij-jive at the time of his father's death ; whereas he is said to have been but seventy-five when, after that event, he set out for Canaan. Haran therefore appears to have been the eldest of the three sons. He died in Ur of the Chaldees; but left behind him a son and two daughters. Lot, and Milcah, and Iscah. The two surviving sons, Abram and Nahor, took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, of whose descent we are not here told ; but by what he said of her in chap. XX. 12, it would seem that she was his half-sister, or his father's daughter by another wife. In those early ages nearer degrees of consanguinity were admitted than were afterwards allowed by the Divine law. Nahor married his brother Haran's eldest daughter Milcah.

Ver. 31. It is said of Terah that he took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and that they went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. But here is something supposed which the historian reserves till he comes to the story of Abram, who, next to God, was the first mover in the undertaking, and the principal character in the story. In chap. xii. 1, we are told that " the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy coun- try, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." Taking the whole together, it appears that God revealed himself to Abram, and called him to depart from that idolatrous and wicked country, whether any of his relations would go with him or not; that Abram told it to his father Terah, and to all the family, and invited them to accom- pany him ; that Terah consented, as did also his grandson Lot ; that Nahor and his wife Milcah were unwilling to go, and did not go at present; that, seeing they refused, the venerable Terah left them ; and though not the first mover in the affliir, yet, being the head of the family, he is said to have taken Abram, and Sarai, and Lot, and journeyed towards Canaan; that, stopping within the country of Mesopotamia, he called the place where he pitched his tent Haran, in memory of his son who died in Ur of the Chaldees; finally, that during his residence in this place he died, being two hundred and five years old.

But though Nahor and Milcah, as it should seem, refused to accompany the family at the time, yet as we find them in the course of the history settled

CALL OF ABRAM. 51

at Haran, and Abraham and Isaac sending to them for wives, to the rejection of the idolaters among whom they lived, we may conclude that they after- wards repented. And thus the whole of Terah's family, though they do not go to Canaan, yet are rescued from Chaldean idolatry; and, settling in llaran, maintain for a considerable time the worship of the true God.

Chap. xii. 1-3. But Abram must not stop at Haran. Jehovah, by whom he was called to depart from Ur, has another country in reserve for him ; and he being the great patriarch of Israel, and of the church of God, we have here a more particular account of his call. It was fit that this should be clearly and fully stated, as it went to lay the foundation of a new order of things in the world. It was therefore like the spring of a great river; or rather like the hole of a quarry whence the first stone was taken of which a city was built. It is this which is referred to for the encouragement of the church when in a low condition, and likely to become extinct. God called Abram alone, and blessed him, and increased him. Hence the faithful are directed to " look to the rock whence they were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence they were digged ;" and to depend upon his promise who assured them he would comfort the waste places of Zion.

How long Abram continued at Haran we are not told, but, about nine years after his departure from it, we read of his having three hundred and eighteen trained servants, who were " born in his house:" he must therefore have kept house between twenty and thirty years at least before that time, either in Haran, or in both Ur and Haran.

In the call of Abram we may observe, 1. The grace of it. There appears no reason to conclude that he was better than his neighbours. He did not choose the Lord, but the Lord him, and brought him out from amongst the idolaters, Neh. ix. 7. 2. Its peremptory tone: "Get thee out." The lan- guage very much resembles that of Lot to his sons-in-law, and indicates the great danger of his present situation, and the immediate necessity of escaping as it were for his life. Such is the condition of every unconverted sinner, and such the necessity of fleeing from the wrath to come to the hope set before us in the gospel. 3. The self-denial required by it. He was called to leave his country, his kindred, and even his father's house, if they refused to go with him ; and no doubt his mind was made up to do so Such things are easier to read concerning others than to practise ourselves ; yet he that hateth not father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, in comparison of Christ, cannot be his disciple. We may not be called upon to part with them; but our minds must be made up to do so, if they stand between us and Christ. 4. The implicit faith which a compliance with it would call for. Abram was to leave all and to go ... . he knew not whither .... unto a land that God would show him. If he had been told that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, and that be should be put in possession of it, there had been some food for sense to feed upon ; but to go out, " not knowing whither he went," must have been not a little trying to flesh and blood. Nor was this all ; that which was promised was not only in general terms, but very distant. God did not tell him he would give him the land, but merely show him it. Nor did he in his lifetime obtain the possession of it ; he was only a sojourner in it, without so much as a place to set his foot upon. He obtained a spot it is true to lay his bones in, but that was all. In this manner were things ordered on purpose to try his faith ; and his obedience to God under such circumstances was among the things which rendered him an example to future generations, even " the father of all them that believe."

Ver. 2. The promise had reference to things which could be but of small

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EXPOSITION OF GENESIS.

account to an eye of sense ; but faith would find enough in it to satisfy the most enlarged desires. The objects, though distant, were worth waiting for. He should be the father of "a great nation;" and, what was of greater account, and which was doubtless understood, that nation should be the Lord's. God himself would bless him; and this would be more than the whole world without it. God would also make his name great; not in the records of worldly fame, but in the history of the church; and being himself full of the blessing of the Lord, it should be his to impart blessedness to the world : " I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing." The great names among the heathen would very commonly arise from their being curses and plagues to mankind; but he should have the honour and happiness of being great in goodness, great in communicating light and life to his species.

This promise has been fulfilling ever since. All the true blessedness which the world is now, or shall hereafter be, possessed of, is owing to Abram and his posterity. Through them we have a Bible, a Saviour, and a gospel. They are the stock on which the Christian church is grafted. Their very dispersions and punishments have proved the riches of the world. What then shall be their recovery, but life from the dead ? It would seem as if the conversion of the Jews, whenever it shall take place, will be a kind of resurrection to mankind. Such was the hope of this calling. And what could the friends of God and man desire more? Yet, as if all this were not enough, it is added —

Ver. 3. "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." This is language never used but of an object of special favour. It is declaring that he should not only be blessed himself, but that all others should be blessed or cursed as they respected or injured him. Of this the histories of Abimelech, Laban, Potiphar, both