II. This narrative presents to us the Father seeking the sinful child with blended righteousness and tenderness, assuring him of help to bear the burden which righteousness had imposed on transgression, and of redemption out of the spiritual death, which was the fruit of sin.

III. God not only, father like, made wise disposition for the correction of His child, but He east in with His child's lot of toil and suffering His own sympathy and hope; He made Himself a partaker in man's new experience of pain, and, that He might destroy sin, linked the sufferer by a great promise to Himself.

(J. B. Brown, B. A.)

II. A SPHERE OF WORK.

III. AN ABODE OF INNOCENCE.

IV. A HOME OF HAPPINESS.

V. A PLACE OF PROBATION.

1. Man in his original condition was immortal.

2. Man's immortality was suspended on his personal obedience.

3. Adam acted in the garden as a public person, or as the representative of the race.

(Anon.)

I. HIS POWER.

1. Physical. The might involved in the creation and maintenance of the universe. As much power displayed in preservation of universe as in its creation.

2. Intellectual. The thought and intelligence involved in the works of nature; the unity of design, harmony of motion, and proportion of parts visible everywhere, from the majesty of revolving worlds to the structure and polish of an insect's wing, all attest the work and power of a boundless intelligence.

II. HIS WISDOM.

1. We see God's wisdom here in the order of events.(1) He planted a garden.(2) There He put the man. Every man has his own God-appointed work.

2. In providing so bountifully for the wants of man, both present and future.(1) Present. In causing all manner of fruits and vegetables to spring out of the earth, and in stocking the earth, air, and water with creatures for man's food and happiness.(2) Future. In filling the bowels of the earth with those priceless treasures which He saw he would be required, in order to man's highest civilization and wellbeing.

III. HIS GOODNESS.

1. In providing a home for man.

2. God's goodness is also seen in the size of Adam's home. "A garden." Why not something larger? God's idea of human vocation is not distribution, but concentration. Not farming a township, but tilling a garden. No man can be a gardener, a doctor, a lawyer, a banker, and a preacher, and succeed in either.

3. In putting him in possession of his new home. "There He put the man." I am pleased to find this statement, especially as Adam got into trouble so soon afterwards. If the Lord had only pointed out the garden, and left Adam to find it, he might have doubted, after the Fall, whether he had not gotten into the wrong place, and whether such a calamity could have befallen him in a God-selected residence. Learn, here, that however clearly we may be able to trace the Divine hand in bringing us into any position or calling, we may there yield to the tempter, and fall. That God can build no Eden this side the gates of glory which man cannot curse and wither, by listening to the suggestions of the devil.

4. In providing a wife for Adam. "Brought her unto him." The composition of the first divinely ordained home was husband and wife.

(T. Kelly.)

II. And now let us attend to some of THE LESSONS OF THE STORY.

1. And, first, the birth of industry. Jehovah God took the man He had formed, and put him in the Garden of Eden, to till it, and to keep it.

(1)Work is man's normal condition. Man must work for

(a)the soul's sake;

(b)his own sake;

(c)God's sake.

(2)Pursue your calling with enthusiasm.

2. The birth of language.

(1)Wonderfulness of language.

(2)The first words nouns.

(3)Our words are judges.

3. The birth of immortality. "The tree of life."

4. The birth of probation.

5. The Eden of the soul.

6. The heavenly Eden.

(G. D. Boardman.)

II. ADAM'S WORK. Two fold; to till and to keep the garden — work and watchfulness. Something to call out vigilance as well as diligence.

III. ADAM'S WIFE. Loving companionship and mutual help. How glad Adam must have been! LESSONS: The teacher can point out how this picture of the first man and woman reminds us of —(1) God's providential rule (He places us where we are; He orders our circumstances. City or country; this land or that. He gives us a position to occupy).(2) God's moral law (i.e., our duty of obedience to God).(3) Man's family and social position on earth (i.e., our relative duties, one to another — for the relation of husband and wife leads to that of parent and child, brother and sister, and so on. Only sin brings in discord and division).

(W. S. Smith, B. D.)

(Dr. J. Hamilton.)

(J. Parker, D.D.)

II. GOD, WHO TOLD MAN HOW TO SPEND THE SEVENTH DAY, TOLD HIM HOW TO SPEND THE OTHER SIX ALSO. One of the happinesses of paradise was employment — not idleness. And God Himself chose for Adam his occupation. He has clone so also for each of us. In the garden where God puts you He will find you work; some flowers to rear and cultivate; some human minds to which you may do good; some plantations of Divine grace which you may dress and water, and so be fellow worker with Him who gives the increase.

III. GOD PLACED MAN UNDER A LAW IN PARADISE. For our own sake, for our own true happiness, God would have us keep Him in our thoughts. The yielding up our own will to His has greater sweetness to the taste than pleasing ourselves ever had.

IV. GOD, THE AUTHOR OF ALL OUR HAPPINESS, IS THE IMMEDIATE FOUNDER OF DOMESTIC LIFE. Observe what exceeding honour He has put on the institution of marriage, making it one of the two original appointments which came immediately from Himself when He made our race. CONCLUSION: All these fair features are types or emblems of heavenly things. The Sabbath is a type of the heavenly rest; the employments, of the employments of heaven, and its peaceful industry; the law, of the law which the angels keep, happy in that their every thought and act is according to the motions of God's good Spirit: and the marriage tie, of the spiritual union betwixt Christ and His Church. The picture of Paradise shall be reproduced in perfectness — in heaven. It should be seen, even here and now, in Christian families.

(C. P. Eden, M. A.)

2. The nature or kind of it; it was a garden.

3. The situation of it; it lay eastward.

4. The furniture or store of the garden.

(1)In general; it was furnished with all sorts of plants both for use and delights.

(2)In particular; it had in it two trees appointed to a spiritual use.

5. The commodious situation of the garden, both for fruitfulness and delight, by the benefit of the liver that issued out of it.

6. The assigning over of the garden to the man.

(1)Of the place, for them to dwell in.

(2)Of the fruits, to feed on.

(J. White.)

I. THE RIVERS. A river is a beautiful object. A river of clear water winding through a garden, meandering among flowers and trees, presents to the eye a lovely scene. And then, besides the beauty of a river or stream in itself, which may be called its direct contribution of beauty — much of the remaining attractions of the garden through which it passes is to be ascribed to it. The flowers and the trees are quickened and refreshed by it. Through its aid the flowers assume their fair and gorgeous array, and the trees spread out their noble arms, and are covered with foliage and fruit. There was a river in the paradise of Eden. The benignant Creator did not leave the primeval home of man without the advantage and the ornament of a river. In the future paradise there is also a river. It is not behind the paradise of the past in this respect. Two things are to be noted concerning this river — the water of it, and the source of it. The water is pronounced to be "water of life, clear as crystal." We cannot be at a loss, with the Bible in our hands, for the interpretation of this. "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God" (Psalm 46:4). What can that be but Jehovah's love and faithfulness, which are always the consolation of the Church in times of trial and danger? "He leadeth me beside the still waters" (Psalm 23:2). "Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of Thy pleasures" (Psalm 36:8). "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3). The water of life is no other than the joys, and privileges, and blessings of that life eternal, which is the appointed portion of the redeemed. It corresponds to the new wine which Christ and His people drink together in the kingdom of God. And it is a river of water of life, because, as the flow of a river goes on continually, so shall there never be an end of the celestial happiness. The river, also, is pure, and clear as crystal, because the future state will be a state of unmixed felicity, and a state of glory without a cloud. The river proceeds "out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." In the throne of God and of the Lamb it has its source. The throne of God and of the Lamb. A single throne is meant, which is occupied by God and the Lamb. The lesson is, that the joys and blessings of the future paradise are to be traced, in the first place, to the sovereign love of God; and, in the second place, to the redeeming work of Christ. The river proceeds out of the Father's throne. The whole life, and grace, and glory, which the Church ever arrives at, must be traced back through the far-reaching depths of eternity, and are connected with, and spring out of, that which was done in the beginning, when God, in the greatness, the freeness, and the sovereignty of His love, pronounced the decree of salvation. The throne of the Lamb alone could not have originated this river. The Lamb's throne, by itself, originates nothing. The spring and first fountain of all our blessings, and of that river which shall gladden the paradise of God, is in the Father's throne. But the throne, whence it comes, is not to be viewed as the Father's throne merely. It is the throne of God and of the Lamb. Without that work of the Son, which the name of the Lamb suggests, and on account of which the Lamb has a seat on the Father's throne — without what is done by Him as the second Man, the Servant of the Father, and our covenant head, neither grace nor glory could be ours. His death has made openings for its egress; and from His hands, and His feet, and His side, come the joyful waters that flow in the river of paradise.

II. THE TREES. The paradise of Eden was adorned and enriched with trees — "every tree," we are told, "that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." The beautiful trees and the noble stream together must have made an exquisite scene. And two trees there were, that stood in the midst of the garden (Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:3), and excelled all the rest. They were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These were sacramental trees, as their names denote. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a sign and seal of the condition of God's covenant, and the tree of life was a sign and seal of its reward. The first paradise was remarkable for its trees. It had wonderful trees. The new paradise is not behind. It has many stately and fruitful trees. There are trees of righteousness without number, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. And there is, besides, one matchless tree, that is in the midst of that paradise of God (Revelation 2:7). There is the tree of life, which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. With its river of the water of life, and its tree of life, the paradise, on which the Church's hope is fixed, is, indeed, a paradise of life. We need not say that the tree of life is Christ. He is the goodly tree in the midst of the garden. His Word, His gospel, His ordinances, are the means which the Holy Spirit employs on earth for quickening, regenerating, and sanctifying the people; and the enjoyment of Him is the chief ingredient, and the very essence, of the heavenly felicity.

III. THE CURSE. Of the second paradise, it is emphatically said, "There shall be no more curse." The words, no doubt, have reference, in the way of contrast, to the state of things here and now, and are designed to intimate that the curse, which lies on the present creation, shall not be prolonged and carried onward from thin state to that. "There shall be no more curse." The curse is here, but it shall not be there. There was curse in the first paradise. There was curse in it the moment its peaceful and happy bowers were invaded by the devil. The being on whom God's curse alights is himself, in a sense, a curse. For this reason, even Christ, when He bore the curse as our substitute, is said to have been made a curse. There was curse in the garden of Eden, for there was sin in it. Not, indeed, at first. Man was blameless and holy for a season. But sin there was at last, and probably soon. And sin came not alone. Sin, by necessary consequence, brought the curse. There was curse in the garden of Eden; for there was shame, and there was slavish fear. When the privileged pair fell, they must have fig leaves to cover them; and they must hide among the trees from the presence of the Lord. There was curse in the garden of Eden; for there was death in it. "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And die that day they did. The life of God went out of them. And there was curse in the garden of Eden: there was a curse which was spoken by the mouth of the Lord. The garden had been the scene where words of blessing and grace were wont to be uttered by the Creator, and where the holy affections of those whom He had made in His image found vent in glad songs of adoration and praise, accompanied, it may be, by a chorus of angels. But sin changed it all. It is gone — that paradise — gone forever. Let us not, however, despair. There is another paradise. He who planted the first has planted a second. He has planted a second, which is better than the first; and concerning which He has declared, that "there shall be no more curse." "There shall be no more curse." This implies that there shall be no more devil — no more Satanic intrusions. "There shall be no more curse." The words imply that, in the second paradise, there shall be no more sin. As the heirs of glory appear within its precincts, they are found, one and all, to be perfectly sanctified. And they will never fall again. The crown of righteousness will never drop from their heads. Never again will they break God's law, transgress His holy covenant, or be guilty of an act of distrust or rebellion. "There shall be no more curse." The declaration implies that God shall no more pronounce any curse. It has been impossible for Him, hitherto, as the moral ruler of a sinful world, to dispense with the use of the curse. "There shall be no more curse"; and so there shall not be another expulsion from paradise.

IV. THE GENERAL STATE OF THE INHABITANTS.

1. The state of man was, in the old paradise, and will be in the new, a state of honourable service.

2. The state of man, in the garden of Eden, was a state of enjoyment and privilege. But the second paradise, also, will have enjoyment and privilege. It will have such enjoyment and privilege as to afford no occasion of regret for what has been lost. The old men, who had seen the temple of Solomon, wept when they thought how inferior must be the temple that was to succeed it. The contrast between the first and the second paradise will draw no such tears from our original progenitors. They shall have the richest social delights. They shall dwell together, the incorporated members of a family, having God the Father as their Father, God the Son as their Brother, and the Spirit of love resting on them all. They shall see God.

3. The pristine state of man was a state of power and glory. He was a king. The earth was His kingdom; the fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth, were His subjects. Believers will be kings. They are kings already by right. They are kings, who are not yet of age, and who must wait a little for the actual commencement of their reign. A kingdom is prepared for them. They shall be greater kings than Adam was, and have a wider and more illustrious dominion. Their kingdom shall be immoveable and undecaying. They shall be enthroned with Christ. They shall be crowned with righteousness and glory. And "they shall reign forever and ever."

(Andrew Gray.)

(Bishop Horne.)

(M. M. Kalisch.)

(G. D. Boardman.)

2. God planted the first garden; our flowers are lineal descendants of Eden's bright blossoms, as we are of the "grand old gardener" — Adam. Let the colours and perfumes of summer call that garden to mind.

3. Cultivate flowers of holiness, and fruits of godliness; possess the Rose of Sharon and the true Vine, and paradise will be regained.

(J. C. Gray.)

II. THE FIRST STEWARDSHIP. To dress and keep a garden. Lowly, healthful; needing diligence, forethought, etc. Mere office, however lofty, does not dignify; nor however humble, degrade. The great ancestor of the race, a gardener.

III. THE FIRST COMMAND. A command to remind man of his subordinate relation, his duty, etc. Only one, very simple and easy. In common life the breach of one often makes many injunctions needful.

(J. C. Gray.)

II. THOUGH GOD HAVE PREPARED THE EARTH FOR MAN, YET HE CAN HAVE NO TITLE TO ANY MORE OF IT THAN GOD ALLOTS OUT OF IT FOR HIS HABITATION.

III. GOD IS PLEASED TO BESTOW UPON MEN LIBERALLY HIS BEST AND CHIEFEST BLESSINGS.

(J. White, M. A.)

I. AS GOD GIVES US ALL THINGS FREELY, SO WITHAL HE TAKES SPECIAL NOTICE OF ALL THAT HE BESTOWS UPON US.

II. EVERY PLANT ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH GROWS WHERE AND IN WHAT MANNER AND ORDER GOD APPOINTS IT.

III. GOD'S BOUNTY ABOUNDS UNTO MEN NOT ONLY TO THE SUPPLYING OF THEIR NECESSITIES, BUT ALSO FOR THEIR DELIGHT.

1. Let us then tender unto God, after the measure that we receive from Him, the most acceptable presents of our cheerful services, which that variety and abundance which we receive from His hand should provoke us unto (Deuteronomy 28:47). Serving Him with enlarged hearts, and delighting to run the way of His commandments with the holy prophet (Psalm 119:32).

2. It may warrant us the honest and moderate use of God's blessings, even for delight: so we use them —

(1)Seasonably, when God gives us an occasion of rejoicing, and

(2)within bounds of moderation, as we are advised (Proverbs 23:2), and

(3)directed to those holy ends proposed by God to His own people (Deuteronomy 26:11).

IV. IT IS USUAL WITH GOD TO MIX DELIGHT AND PLEASURE WITH USEFULNESS AND PROFIT IN ALL HIS BLESSINGS.

V. THE BEST AMONGST MEN AND MOST PERFECT HAVE NEED OF THE HELP OF OUTWARD MEANS TO QUICKEN AND STRENGTHEN THEM AND PUT THEM IN MIND OF THEIR DUTIES. Let no man neglect any outward means, public or private, as being —

(1)So needful to ourselves.

(2)Commanded by God Himself.

(3)Effectual by His blessing upon the conscionable use of them.Considering that the best of us know but in part (1 Corinthians 13:9), are subject to so many temptations, laden with a body of sin (Romans 7:24). By which we are continually assaulted, often foiled, and continually retarded in our coarse of obedience.

VI. SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS DUTIES OUGHT TO BE REMEMBERED IN THE MIDST OF THE USE OF OUR EMPLOYMENTS ABOUT THE THINGS OF THIS LIFE. VII. GOD'S COMMANDMENTS OUGHT TO BE STILL IN THE VIEW AND BEFORE THE FACE OF HIS CHILDREN. VIII. IT IS USUAL WITH GOD TO TEACH HIS CHILDREN BY THINGS OF ORDINARY AND COMMON USE. And this He cloth —(1) In compassion of our weakness, stooping low unto us, because we cannot ascend up unto Him, nor easily raise up our earthly minds, to comprehend and behold spiritual things in their own nature, unless they be shadowed unto us by things that are earthly.(2) That by resembling those spiritual things by earthly, He might acquaint us with the right use of those things which are subject to sense, which is to raise up our hearts to the contemplation of things that are above sense.(3) That we might have monitors and teachers in every place, in every object of sense, in every employment that we take in hand.(4) To affect us the more with spiritual things, by representing them unto us by the objects of sense, which are most apt to work upon our affections.

IX. GOD IS CONTENTED NOT ONLY TO DO US GOOD, BUT BESIDES TO ENGAGE HIMSELF THEREUNTO BY HIS WORD, RATIFIED BY HIS OWN SEAL.

X. BOTH THE CONTINUANCE OF PRESENT, AND HOPE OF FUTURE LIFE, AS THEY ARE GOD'S GIFT, SO THEY ARE ASSURED BY HIS PROMISE.

XI. ALL GOD'S PROMISES MUST BE UNDERSTOOD AND EMBRACED UNDER THE CONDITION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF OUR OBEDIENCE.

XII. GOOD AND EVIL ARE BOUNDED AND LIMITED ONLY BY THE WILL OF GOD.

(J. White, M. A.)

2. If Adam in innocence was not to depend for happiness immediately on the goodness of God's nature but on the promise of His covenant, how evidently does that sinner expose himself to woful disappointment who trusts to general, to uncovenanted mercy! Finally, was the first Adam's state of innocence his state of trial? Then a state trial or probation is not, properly speaking, the state of man since his fall. But now, since he has failed in his obedience, and broken the covenant, his state of trial has issued in a state of condemnation.

(J. Colquhoun, D. D.)

The tree of knowledge of good and evil. —

II. THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Why may we not take this in the same literality of meaning as the former? Why may it not mean a tree, the fruit of which was fitted to nourish man's intellectual and moral nature? How it did this I do not attempt to say. But we know so little of the actings of the body or the soul, that we cannot affirm it impossible. Nay, we see so much of the effects of the body upon the soul, both in sharpening and blunting the edge alike of intellect and conscience, that we may pronounce it not at all unlikely. We are only beginning to be aware of the exceeding delicacy of our mental and moral mechanism, and how easily that mechanism is injured or improved by the things which affect the body. A healthy body tends greatly to produce not only a healthy intellect, but a healthy conscience. I know that only one thing can really pacify the conscience — the all-cleansing Blood; but this I also know, that a diseased or enfeebled body operates oftentimes so sadly on the conscience as to prevent the healthy realization by it of that wondrous blood, thereby beclouding the whole soul; and there is nothing which Satan seems so completely to get hold of, and by means of it to rule the inner man, as a nervously diseased body. Cowper's expression, "A mind well lodged, and masculine of course," has in it more meaning than we have commonly attached to it.

(H. Bonar, D. D.)

1. What God has made known concerning His covenant, is, by this means, proposed to man's more accurate consideration; since he is not only once and again instructed in the will of God by a heavenly oracle, but frequently and almost daily beholds with his eyes those things which by heaven are granted him as pleasures of the greatest blessings: what believers see with their eyes, usually sink deeper into the soul, and leave deeper impressions of themselves, than those only which they hear with their ears. Elegantly to this purpose says Herodotus, "men usually give less credit to the ears than to the eyes."

2. These symbols also tend to confirm our faith. For, though nothing can be thought of that deserves more credit than the Word of God, yet, where God adds signs and seals to His infallible promises, He gives a two-fold foundation to our faith (Hebrews 6:17, 18).

3. By means of this institution, a holy man does, by the sight, touch, and taste of the sacred symbols, attain to some sense of eternal blessings, and accustoms himself under the symbols, to a contemplation and foretaste of these things, to the plenary and immediate fruition of which he will, one time or other, be admitted without any outward signs.

4. The man has in these something continually to remind him of his duty: and as, from time to time, they present to his thoughts, and give a foretaste of his Creator, so at the same time they put him in mind of those very strong obligations, by which he is bound to his Covenant-God. And thus, they are both a bridle to restrain him from sin and a spur to quicken him cheerfully to run that holy race which he has so happily entered upon.

(H. Witsius, D. D.)

1. That man was sincerely to contemplate and desire the chief good, but not to endeavour after it, but only in the manner and way prescribed by Heaven; nor here to give in to his own reasonings, how plausible soever they might appear.

2. That man's happiness was not to be placed in things pleasing to the senses of the body. There is another and a quite different beatifying good which satiates the soul and of itself suffices to the consummation of happiness.

3. That God was the most absolute Lord of man, whose sole will, expressed by His law, should be the supreme rule and directory of all the appetites of the soul and of all the motions of the body.

4. That there is no attaining to a life of happiness but by perfect obedience.

5. That even man in innocence was to behave with a certain religious awe when conversing with his God, lest he should fall into sin.

(H. Witsius, D. D.)

II. But the condition on which such an object may be accomplished is this: that the Book of God should appeal to men in a form not dependent for its appreciation upon any knowledge which they may have obtained — independent, that is, of the science of any particular age or country.

III. Here, so early in the sacred books, is revealed the fact of the two opposing forces of right and wrong. Take away the reality of this distinction, and the Bible and all religion falls forever. Make its reality and importance felt in the soul of man, and you have at once whereon to build. Righteousness is the word of words throughout all Scripture. The righteousness which the Scriptures reveal is the knowledge of a communion with God. When our earth has played its part in the economy of the universe, and is seen by the few spheres which are within its ken to pass away as a wandering fire, right and wrong will not have lost their primeval significance, and the souls which have yearned and laboured for rest in the home of spirits will find that rest in Him who was and is and is to be.

(A. Ainger, D. D.)

(Bishop Horne.)

(M. W. Jacobus.)

(G. D. Boardman.)

The gold of that land is good. —

II. Be this as it may, THERE IS ANOTHER LAND WHOSE GOLD IS GOOD, a land farther off than the far West and the islands of the sea, and yet ever close at hand, approachable by all, attainable by all, where no rust corrupts and no thieves break through and steal. The gold of that other land is good, simply because, though the words sound like a contradiction, it is not gold. It has been changed. In the world above, that which stands for gold is more precious than gold itself, for even gold cannot purchase it, though gold may serve it.

III. THE TREASURE OF HEAVEN IS LOVE. Love is the true gold. All else will tarnish and canker and eat into the souls of them that covet it; but Love never. It is bright and precious here in this world; fraud cannot despoil us of it; force cannot rob us of it; it is our only safe happiness here, and it is the only possession we can carry with us into the world beyond the grave.

(F. E. Paget, M. A.)

I. Now, understand me at the beginning, there is no sin in having money, if it be honestly come by and rightly used. What I want to do is to show you THE SIN AND FOLLY OF THINKING TOO MUCH OF EARTHLY TREASURE, and too little of heavenly. An emigrant ship was once wrecked on a desert island. The people were saved, but they had few provisions, and it was necessary to make haste to clear and till the ground and sow seed. Before this could be done they discovered gold on the island, and everyone gave himself up to the search for wealth. Meantime, the season slipped by, the fields were left untilled, and the people found themselves starving in the midst of useless treasure. There are people now who starve their soul and conscience that they may acquire a little more gold and silver.

1. One reason why we are wrong in thinking too highly of earthly wealth is, that the obtaining it is a very uncertain and difficult thing. Where one man grows rich, hundreds are ruined.

2. Another reason for not thinking too highly of earthly wealth is, that it is soon gone.

3. We should not overvalue earthly wealth, because it does not make people happy. A golden crown will not cure the headache, or a velvet slipper give ease from the gout. Sometimes, indeed, wealth has made people altogether miserable. There was a miser, worth thousands of pounds annually, who firmly believed that he must die in the workhouse, and actually worked daily in a garden and made one of his own servants pay him wages.

4. Excessive love of money is to be avoided, because it often keeps us back from God.

II. I pass on to speak of BETTER RICHES THAN THIS WORLD CAN GIVE, riches which all may have if they will, which will make the poorest wealthy. "The gold of that land is good." Earthly gold is often alloyed with base metal, but the gold of God is pure. Earthly gold is only for the few; the gold of God is for all who desire it. Earthly gold soon passes away; the gold of God lasts forever. Earthly gold must be left at the grave; the gold of God becomes even more precious after death than before. Earthly gold cannot satisfy; the gold of God brings perfect peace and satisfaction.

1. Tim love of God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

2. The precious promises of the gospel.

(1)That God will never leave or forsake us.

(2)That the righteous shall want no good thing.

(3)That God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him.

(4)Rest for the weary and heavy laden.

(5)Pardon for the penitent.

(6)The resurrection of the body.

(7)The life everlasting.

(H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)

I. THE WAY OF GETTING this gold is wonderful.

1. People sometimes have to go a great distance in order to get earthly gold. When the gold mines in California were first discovered, there was a great rush of people from all parts of this country, who wanted to go out there and get gold. Some went by sea, all the way round Cape Horn. That was a long, cold, stormy, disagreeable, and dangerous voyage to take. But they were going for gold, and they cared nothing for the length of the journey they had to take ill getting it. Other people went in waggers, or on foot, across the country. Some had more than two thousand miles' distance to go. What a long way that is to travel! But they were going for gold, and that made them willing. But the wonderful thing about the heavenly gold is, that no long journey is necessary in order to get it. It is not stored up, like earthly gold, in mines which can only be found in particular places. It is to be found in all countries. It may be had in all places. The church is a good place in which to seek it. So is the Sunday school. So is the room in which you sleep at night.

2. But, besides going a great distance, men often have to meet great dangers before they can get the earthly gold they are seeking. Some of those people who went round by sea to California to get gold met with terrible storms. Some of them were shipwrecked, and lost their lives on the way. And those who went by land met with great dangers too. Some of them lost their way in the desert plains which they had to travel over. Some got out of provisions and suffered dreadfully from hunger and thirst. Some were robbed by the Indians. But there is no exposure to danger in seeking the heavenly gold. At home, among those who love you best, you may seek it and find it. And no one can hinder or hurt you in doing this.

3. In getting earthly gold men not only have to go a great distance, and meet great dangers, but often they have to pay a great price to get it. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, lost his situation with that good master; he lost his health too, and became a miserable leper all his days, whom no one could cure, in order to get a little gold. That was a great price to pay for it. Judas Iscariot sold his Master for a little money. Oh, what a tremendous price that was to pay for it! Benedict Arnold sold his country for a poor, paltry sum of gold. Some men are willing to pay any price for earthly gold. Look at the whalers. They are willing to go from home for two or three years at a time. They will sail up into the cold and stormy North Sea, or Frozen Ocean. They will run the risk of being crushed to death between jarring icebergs; or of being frozen up in the north all winter; they will meet with all sorts of trials and hardships in order to get a little gold. This is the great price they are willing to pay for it. But nothing of this kind is necessary in order to get the heavenly gold. Jesus counsels us to buy this gold of Him. He is the only one from whom it can be had. But the way in which Jesus sells this gold is very wonderful. He tells us to "come, and buy wine and milk, without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1). The "wine and milk" spoken of in one of these passages, and the "gold" spoken of in the other, all mean the same thing. They refer to the grace of God. Jesus sells this "without money and without price." This means that He lets poor sinners, such as we are, have it free.

II. The second thing that is wonderful about it is THE DESIRE OF GETTING IT. The desire to get earthly gold often has a wonderfully bad effect; but the desire to get the heavenly gold has a wonderfully good effect. Let us see now what a bad effect the desire to get earthly gold often has on people. St. Paul calls this desire "the love of money"; and he says it is "the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). The desire to get this gold has led men to cheat, and to lie, and to steal, and to murder, and to commit all kinds of wickedness. Some time ago, as many will remember, there was a horrible murder committed just outside Philadelphia. A poor, wretched German, whose name was Probst, enticed a whole family into the barn, and murdered them one by one, even down to the innocent little babe in the cradle. He was not angry with them. He had no quarrel with them. The only thing that led him on to do that dreadful deed was the desire for gold — "the love of money." And most of the horrible murders committed in the world are caused by this same desire. When the Spaniards discovered the country of Mexico, in South America, they sent an army, under a general, whose name was Cortez, to conquer the country. The principal motive of those Spanish soldiers, in trying to conquer the country, was a desire to get gold. They expected to find gold so plentiful in the city of Mexico, that there would be more than they would want, or more than they could carry away. The Mexicans defended their city as long as they could, like brave men. When they found that it was impossible to defend it any longer, they took the great treasures of gold that were in their city, and threw them into the lake on which the city stood. They knew that gold was the chief thing the Spaniards desired, and they wanted to leave as little for them to get as possible. The Spaniards took the city, but were sorely disappointed to find so little gold there. They knew that the Mexicans had put it away somewhere. They tried to persuade them to tell where they had hid their treasures. But the Mexicans would not toll. Then the Spaniards tortured them in order to make them tell. The Emperor of Mexico then was a truly brave and noble man. The miserable Cortez became very angry with him, because he would not tell where the treasure was. So he ordered a huge gridiron to be made. He had this brave emperor fastened to it with a chain. Then he had a fire kindled under it, and roasted him alive in the most cruel and lingering manner. How horrible to think of! There you see the bad effect of the desire of earthly gold. But very different results follow from the desire to get the heavenly gold of which we are speaking. Wonderful good results from this, as wonderful evil results from the other. The love of earthly gold is the root of all evil. The love of heavenly gold is the root of all good. It corrects everything that is wrong, and leads to everything that is right. It makes the heart new, and the thoughts new, and the feelings new, and the tempers new; and everything about it makes holy and good.

III. The third thing about this gold that is wonderful is THE RESULT OF GETTING IT. The result of getting earthly gold is wonderfully bad; but the result of getting the heavenly gold is wonderfully good. When St. Paul would show us the bad result that often follows to people from getting earthly gold, he says, it "drowns men in destruction and perdition" (1 Timothy 6:9). Some years ago there was a person, in a village in England, who was a collector for a Bible Society. He had a list of the names of a number of persons in the village who were subscribers to the Bible cause, and once a year he used to go round and collect their subscriptions. Among these names was that of a poor widow woman, who supported herself by washing. She was about the poorest person whose name he had on his list, and yet she was one of the most liberal, For a long time she had been in the habit of giving a guinea a year to the Bible Society. But one year a rich relation of this poor washer woman died, and left a large fortune to her. She still lived in the same village; but her humble little cottage had been exchanged for one of the largest and finest houses in the village. After a while the time came for the Bible collector to go round and gather up his subscriptions. He knew about the change which had taken place in the circumstances of her whom he had long known as the poor washer woman. And as he went to call on her at her new house he said to himself, "I shall get a fine largo subscription from this good woman. For if, when she was a poor washer woman, and had to work hard for her living, she could give a guinea a year, how much more will she be sure to give now, when she lives in so large a house, and is so well off?" So he rang the bell; and was ushered into the handsome parlour, where he met his old friend and subscriber. He said he was glad to hear of the pleasant change which had taken place in her circumstances, and then stated that he came once more for her subscription to that best of all books — the Bible. She opened her purse and handed him a shilling! He looked at it with astonishment. Then he said, "My good friend, what does this mean? I can't understand it. When you were a poor woman and lived on your own labour, you always gave a guinea a year to the Bible Society; and now, when you are so well off, can it be possible that you intend to give only a shilling?" "Yes," she said, "that's all I am willing to give now. I feel very differently about these things from what I used to do. When I was really a poor woman I gladly gave away whatever money I could spare, for I never felt afraid of being poorer than I then was. But now the fear of being poor haunts me like a ghost, and makes me all the time unwilling to spend any money, or give it away. The truth is," she continued, "when I only had the shilling means, I had the guinea heart; but now, when I have the guinea means, I find that I only have the shilling heart." Here we see the evil that resulted to this person from getting gold. It froze all her kind feelings, and shrunk up her large and liberal heart into a tiny little selfish one. She was a rich woman when she was very poor, but a poor woman when she became very rich. But the heavenly gold is very different from this. It is wonderful gold, because of the good it always does to those who get it.

(R. Newton, D. D.)

     4528   trees
     5033   knowledge, of good and evil

Genesis 2:4-9

     4060   nature

Genesis 2:4-23

     4468   horticulture

Genesis 2:8-9

     4209   land, spiritual aspects

Genesis 2:8-12

     8701   affluence

Genesis 2:8-17

     4526   tree of life

Genesis 2:8-25

     4241   Garden of Eden

Of the First Covenant.
Gal. iii. 12.--"The law is not of faith; but the man that doeth them shall live in them."--Gen. ii. 17.--"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The Lord made all things for himself, to show forth the glory of his name; and man in a more eminent and special manner, for more eminent manifestations of himself; therefore all his dealings towards men, whether righteous or sinful, do declare the glory …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Disciple, -- Sometimes this Question is Asked, "Since God is Fully Aware of Our...
The Disciple,--Sometimes this question is asked, "Since God is fully aware of our needs, and knows how to supply them in the best way, not for the good only but for the evil, how should we pray to Him about them? Whether our necessities be temporal or spiritual, can we by our prayers alter the will of God?" The Master,--1. Those who ask such a question show clearly that they do not know what prayer is. They have not lived a prayerful life, or they would know that prayer to God is not a form of begging. …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Covenant of Works
Q-12: I proceed to the next question, WHAT SPECIAL ACT OF PROVIDENCE DID GOD EXERCISE TOWARDS MAN IN THE ESTATE WHEREIN HE WAS CREATED? A: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge upon pain of death. For this, consult with Gen 2:16, 17: And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Paradise of God
T. P. Gen. ii. 18; Eph. v. 32 In the Paradise of glory Is the Man Divine; There my heart, O God, is tasting Fellowship with Thine. Called to share Thy joy unmeasured, Now is heaven begun; I rejoice with Thee, O Father, In Thy glorious Son. Where the heart of God is resting, I have found my rest; Christ who found me in the desert, Laid me on His breast. There in deep unhindered fulness Doth my joy flow free-- On through everlasting ages, Lord, beholding Thee. Round me is creation groaning, Death, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Forasmuch as Each Man is a Part of the Human Race...
1. Forasmuch as each man is a part of the human race, and human nature is something social, and hath for a great and natural good, the power also of friendship; on this account God willed to create all men out of one, in order that they might be held in their society not only by likeness of kind, but also by bond of kindred. Therefore the first natural bond of human society is man and wife. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

Turn Away Thine Eyes from Me, Because they have Made Me to Flee Away; Thy Hair is as a Flock of Goats that Appear from Gilead.
It is impossible to conceive the delicacy of the love of God, and the extremity of purity which He requires of souls that are to be His Brides; the perfection of one state is the imperfection of another. Heretofore the Bridegroom rejoiced infinitely that His Spouse never turned her eyes away from Him; now, He desires her not to look at Him; He tells her that her eyes have made Him to flee away. When once the soul has begun to flow into her God, as a river into its original source, she must be wholly …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Epistle xiv. To the Count Narses .
To the Count Narses [1642] . Gregory to Narses, &c. Your Charity, being anxious to learn our opinion, has been at the pains of writing to us to ask what we think of the book against the presbyter Athanasius which was sent to us. Having thoroughly perused some parts of it, we find that he has fallen into the dogma of Manichæus. But he who has noted some places as heretical by a mark set against them slips also himself into Pelagian heresy; for he has marked certain places as heretical which …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Epistle xxxiv. To Eulogius, Bishop.
To Eulogius, Bishop. Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, and Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch [1717] . The charity wherewith I am greatly bound to you allows me by no means to keep silence, that your Holiness may know all that is going on among us, and, deceived by no false rumours, may keep more perfectly the way of your justice and rectitude, as you have perfectly begun to do. Now the representatives (responsales) of our brother and fellow-bishop Cyriacus came to me, bringing me his synodical …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

The Interpretation of the Early Narratives of the Old Testament
[Sidenote: Importance of regarding each story as a unit] Of all the different groups of writings in the Old Testament, undoubtedly the early narratives found in the first seven books present the most perplexing problems. This is primarily due to the fact that they have been subject to a long process of editorial revision by which stories, some very old and others very late and written from a very different point of view, have been closely joined together. While there is a distinct aim and unity …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Concerning the Condition of Man in the Fall.
Concerning the Condition of Man in the Fall. [182] All Adam's posterity, or mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, as to the first Adam, or earthly man, is fallen, degenerated, and dead; deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward testimony or seed of God; and is subject unto the power, nature, and seed of the serpent, which he soweth in men's hearts, while they abide in this natural and corrupted estate; from whence it comes, that not only their words and deeds, but all their imaginations, are …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Though Ye Know Him Not
"I have known cases of young ministers dissuaded from facing the missionary call by those who posed as friends of Foreign Missions, and yet presumed to argue: 'Your spiritual power and intellectual attainments are needed by the Church at home; they would be wasted in the Foreign Field.' 'Spiritual power wasted' in a land like India! Where is it so sorely needed as in a continent where Satan has constructed his strongest fortresses and displayed the choicest masterpieces of his skill? 'Intellectual …
Amy Wilson-Carmichael—Things as They Are

Of Creation
Heb. xi. 3.--"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."--Gen. i. 1. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." We are come down from the Lord's purposes and decrees to the execution of them, which is partly in the works of creation and partly in the works of providence. The Lord having resolved upon it to manifest his own glory did in that due and predeterminate time apply his …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as Revealed in his Names.
At least twenty-five different names are used in the Old and New Testaments in speaking of the Holy Spirit. There is the deepest significance in these names. By the careful study of them, we find a wonderful revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. I. The Spirit. The simplest name by which the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible is that which stands at the head of this paragraph--"The Spirit." This name is also used as the basis of other names, so we begin our study with this. …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

Sin a Power in Reversed Action.
"If ye live after the flesh ye shall die."--Rom. viii. 13. Altho sin is originally and essentially a loss, a lack, and a deprivation, in its working it is a positive evil and a malignant power. This is shown by the apostolic injunction not only to put on the new man, but also to put off the old man with his works. The well-known theologian Maccovius, commenting on this, aptly remarks: "This could not be enjoined if sin were merely a loss of light and life; for a mere lack ceases as soon as it is …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Providence of God
Q-11: WHAT ARE GOD'S WORKS OF PROVIDENCE? A: God's works of providence are the acts of his most holy, wise, and powerful government of his creatures, and of their actions. Of the work of God's providence Christ says, My Father worketh hitherto and I work.' John 5:17. God has rested from the works of creation, he does not create any new species of things. He rested from all his works;' Gen 2:2; and therefore it must needs be meant of his works of providence: My Father worketh and I work.' His kingdom …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Millennium in Relation to Creation.
The blessings which will be brought to the world upon the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom will not be confined to the human family but will be extended to all creation. As we have shown in earlier chapters, the Curse which was pronounced by God upon the ground in the day of Adam's fall, and which resulted in a creation that has groaned and travailed ever since, is yet to be revoked. Creation is not to remain in bondage for ever. God has set a hope before it, a hope, which like ours, centers …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

The Unjust Steward - Dives and Lazarus - Jewish Agricultural Notes - Prices of Produce - Writing and Legal Documents - Purple and Fine Linen -
Although widely differing in their object and teaching, the last group of Parables spoken during this part of Christ's Ministry are, at least outwardly, connected by a leading thought. The word by which we would string them together is Righteousness. There are three Parables of the Unrighteous: the Unrighteous Steward, the Unrighteous Owner, and the Unrighteous Dispenser, or Judge. And these are followed by two other Parables of the Self-righteous: Self-righteousness in its Ignorance, and its dangers …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Covenanting Adapted to the Moral Constitution of Man.
The law of God originates in his nature, but the attributes of his creatures are due to his sovereignty. The former is, accordingly, to be viewed as necessarily obligatory on the moral subjects of his government, and the latter--which are all consistent with the holiness of the Divine nature, are to be considered as called into exercise according to his appointment. Hence, also, the law of God is independent of his creatures, though made known on their account; but the operation of their attributes …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Growth of the Old Testament Prophetic Histories
[Sidenote: Analogies between the influences that produced the two Testaments] Very similar influences were at work in producing and shaping both the Old and the New Testaments; only in the history of the older Scriptures still other forces can be distinguished. Moreover, the Old Testament contains a much greater variety of literature. It is also significant that, while some of the New Testament books began to be canonized less than a century after they were written, there is clear evidence that …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Sovereignty of God in Administration
"The LORD hath prepared His Throne In the heavens; and His Kingdom ruleth over all" (Psa. 103:19). First, a word concerning the need for God to govern the material world. Suppose the opposite for a moment. For the sake of argument, let us say that God created the world, designed and fixed certain laws (which men term "the laws of Nature"), and that He then withdrew, leaving the world to its fortune and the out-working of these laws. In such a case, we should have a world over which there was no intelligent, …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

Death by Adam, Life by Christ
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. F rom Mr. Handel's acknowledged abilities as a composer, and particularly from what I have heard of his great taste and success in adapting the style of his music to the subject, I judge, that this passage afforded him a fair occasion of displaying his genius and powers. Two ideas, vastly important in themselves, are here represented in the strongest light, …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2