Sect. 4. — No Recovery by the Law, or Covenant of Works.
Sect. 4. — No Recovery by the Law, or Covenant of Works.
Nom. But sir, would it not have been possible for Adam to help himself and his posterity out of his misery, by renewing the same covenant with God, and keeping it afterwards?
Evan. No, by no means; for the Covenant of Works was a covenant in no way capable of renovation. Once he had broken it, he was gone forever; because it was a covenant between two friends; but now fallen man had become an enemy. And besides, it was an impossible thing for Adam to have performed the conditions now, which the justice of God necessarily required at his hands; for he had now become liable for the payment of a double debt; namely, the debt of satisfaction for his sin committed in time past, and the debt of perfect and perpetual obedience for the time to come; and he was utterly unable to pay either of them.
Nom. Why was he unable to pay the debt of satisfaction for his sin committed in the past?
Evan. Because his sin in eating the forbidden fruit (which is the sin I mean) was committed against an infinite and eternal God, and therefore it merited an infinite and eternal satisfaction: either some temporal punishment equivalent to eternal damnation, or eternal damnation itself. Now Adam was a finite creature. Therefore, between finite and infinite there could be no proportion; so it was impossible for Adam to make satisfaction by any temporal punishment. And if he had undertaken to satisfy by an eternal punishment, he would always be satisfying and never have satisfied it, as is the case of the damned in hell.
Nom. And why was he unable to pay the debt of perfect and perpetual obedience for the time to come?
Evan. Because his former power to obey was utterly impaired by his fall. For by his fall, his understanding was both enfeebled and drowned in darkness; and his will was made perverse, and utterly deprived of all power to will good; and his affections were set completely out of order; all things belonging to the blessed life of the soul were extinguished, both in him and us; so that he had become impotent, indeed, dead — and therefore he was not able to stand in the lowest terms to perform the meanest condition. The truth is, our father Adam, in falling from God, so dashed himself and all of us into pieces by it, that there was no whole part left either in him or in us, that was fit to base such a covenant upon. And the apostle witnesses this, both when he says, “We were of no strength,” Rom. 5.6; and, ‘‘The law was made weak, because of the flesh,” Rom. 8.3.
Nom. But, sir, might not the Lord have pardoned Adam’s sin without satisfaction?
Evan. O no! For justice is essential in God, and it is a righteous thing with God that every transgression receives a just recompense: and if recompense is just, then it is unjust to pardon sin without satisfaction. Though the Lord had pardoned and forgiven his former transgression, and thus restored Adam to his former condition of amity and friendship, yet having no power to keep the law perfectly, Adam could not have continued in it.
Nom. And is it also impossible for any of his posterity to keep the law perfectly?
Evan. Yes, it is impossible for any mere man in this life to keep it perfectly; indeed, even if he is a regenerate man. For the law requires from man that he “love the Lord with all his heart, soul, and might;” and the holiest man alive is but flesh as well as spirit, in all the parts and faculties of his soul; therefore he cannot love the Lord perfectly. Yes, and the law forbids all habitual concupiscence, not only saying, “You shall not consent to lust,” but, “You shall not lust:” it not only commands the binding of lust, but it also forbids the existence of lust: and who can say in this case, “My heart is clean?”
Ant. Then, Nomista, take notice, I ask, that as it was altogether impossible for Adam to return into that holy and happy estate in which he was created by the same way that he left it, so it is impossible for any of his posterity. Therefore, I remember one says very wittingly, “The law was Adam’s lease when God made him a tenant of Eden; and when he did not keep the conditions of that bond, he forfeited all for himself and us.” God read a lecture of the law to him before he fell, to be a hedge to him to keep him in paradise. But when Adam would not keep within its compass, this law has now become like the flaming sword at Eden’s gate, to keep him and his posterity out.