Chapter X
A more particular comparison between Adam and Jesus Christ in their persons.
- The formation of Adam s body by God s immediate hand, typifies the
assumption of the human nature by the Son of God, whose body was formed immediately by the Holy Ghost. The union of soul and body in Adam
typifies the hypostatical union. In what there is an agreement in the com
parison between them, wherein a disparity. What was the state of Adam
1 s
body : it comprised the perfections of all creatures ; it was suited to take in
all the pleasures and comforts which they could afford ; it had a natural
beauty in it ; it was guarded from injuries, and was immortal, yet in its
original it was but earth ; it depended on the creatures for its subsistence, and was subject to many alterations. To what a higher degree of glory the
divine nature of Christ, united to the human, raised the body of Christ, as he is one with God, and the Lord from heaven. It ivas necessary that the
glory of his human nature should excel all creatures, even the angels them-
. selves. The glory of his body was illustrated by his transfiguration on the mount ; and yet that fell short of the glory it has now in heaven.
Having thus in the general demonstrated Adam to have been Christ s
type, I come now to lay the particulars together, wherein this typicalness consisted ; for the fitting of which each to other, as also concerning all other types, I will premise this rule, which I take to be safe and warrant-
92 OF THE CKEATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
able, that although, for what are types and what are not, as also for the
general scope intended in them, we must find a special warrant by the
Holy Ghost s own interpreting and applying of them, as hath been said ;
yet so as, when once that scope is found, we may, for the particulars wherein
the types agree with the things typified, take liberty, as in all other simili
tudes, to enlarge them, and extend them as far, and to as many particulars, as the likeness will hold in, whilst that we keep to the analogy of that their
general scope, although we have not an express word for each particular part wherein there seems to be a resemblance. For which rule there is both this reason and instance : The reason is, because when God useth a similitude to any purpose, all
parts of that similitude, wherein to spiritual reason it is evident they are
alike, as well in what is not so expressly applied by the Holy Ghost already as in what is, they all are sanctified to resemble it, and are so intended,
seeing that the similitude doth as readily and fully arise at the first blush
in the one as in the other.
The instance I would give is in the interpretation of parables, in which
this rule holds good. Now, Heb. ix. 9, the types of the old law are called
: ring iraeaZoXq, which was a parable ; rendered by our trans
parables
lation, which was a figure. Now concerning the interpretation of parables, you usually have the general scope annexed by Christ in them all, but no more ; he leaving us, according to the analogy of faith, and of that scope given us as a pole-star to steer our course by therein, to apply the several
particulars ourselves, according to that resemblance that unto spiritual reason doth appear. This rule, therefore, will I observe herein, and keep to it as sacred, not to make anything a type which the Holy Ghost hath not designed out for one, but in opening the similitude between such as he hath designed and the things signified, to take liberty for the fitting of
particulars, without once sailing out of the sight of the general scope given, or applying the similitude of any particular to signify anything concerning Christ, which otherwise I have not authentic warrant for in the express letter of the word.
This rule thus premised, I descend to the particulars. Now the com
parison lies in two things
1. In respect of their own persons. 2. As they both are ordained public persons, to convey the likeness or
image of their condition unto their posterity.
1. Their persons are compared ; and that,
(1.) In the substance whereof each consisted. Adam was a living soul, that is, a reasonable soul, giving life to a body made of earth, and to live on earth ; not a soul simply, but a
* living soul. And that attribute of
living is given to soul, as it communicated life to that body into which it was inspired, Gen. ii. 7. And so, Christ was a Spirit (or God), quicken ing an human nature joined unto it. And that that was the nature assumed
for the Godhead to quicken and give life unto, the apostle declares, ver. 47,
calling him a man.
(2.) In the infinitely differing conditions of their persons, or state of life which that human nature, by virtue of that union, must needs enjoy, tran
scending that which a soul could convey to a body of earth. This second
comparison, namely, of their condition, is couched in these words, living,
quickening, as that other of the substance of their persons in those words,
1 spirit.
soul,
t Now the first particular of this resemblance lies, as I take it, in compar-
CHAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 93
ing the formation of Adam s body, and the union of his soul with it, with
the formation of Christ s human nature, and the hypostatical union of it with the divine, which is the foundation of all that Christ as a public
person did for us.
For, first, this being the first formation of Adam, by which he became a man, must needs typify out the first formation and assumption of our nature
by Christ, by which he became a man.
And, secondly, the thing compared is the one s becoming a living soul, and the other s being a quickening Spirit, which notes out a comparison of
their natures or substances. Adam was made soul when into his body the
rational soul was inspired, which, being united to it, used it as an instru ment to perform the functions of that life which it led on earth. But Christ became a quickening Spirit when his Godhead assumed the human nature
to work and dwell in it, and to glorify it. And the apostle calls the whole
person of Adam now made by that which was most excellent in it, the
soul : mem cujusque quisqiie est. And so, the person of Christ made man
is, by that which is most excellent in that person, Spirit, or the Godhead, which is the foundation of all that which Christ is made unto us.
Thirdly, That his scope is, by Adam s formation, to signify the assump tion of the human nature by the Godhead, appears by ver. 47, where he
calls the first man, Adam, but mere man, the first man, &c. ; but he calls
* the second man, so the Lord (namely, God) also, as being become God and man. Therefore we may warrantably conclude that to be the first thing typified by Adam s creation. Let us now see how they
Christ as
agree.
The first making of Adam a man is described in two things
1. The forming of his body. 2. The breathing in, and uniting the soul unto it, which, together united, do make up one person. Now, the forming of Adam s body doth clearly
typify out the formation of Christ s human nature assumed, which whole
nature is accordingly called his body ; for so, comparatively to the God
head, it may be called. Thus, Heb. x. 5, A body hast thou fitted me,
(that is, an human nature), says Christ there of his coming into the world. And the agreement lies in two things
(1.) Adam s body and Christ s do agree in this, that Adam s body was
immediately formed by God himself, without man s help, he being the
first man. It was God who fashioned his body, whereas it is vis plastica, the formative faculty, that doth it in ours begotten of him. And so Christ s
body assumed is also said, Heb. ix. 11, to be a tabernacle not made with hands ; not by the help of any creature, not by generation, as ours
is, but immediately by God.
And, (2dly,) as God formed the body of Adam, even as a potter doth mould or fashion his clay (as the word denotes), and as God did this
immediately, even so the Holy Ghost did Christ s body. That word in Heb. x. 5, which we translate fitted me, signifies also to articulate, or form joint by joint fxanjr/<ra) ; and the Hebrew words in Psalm xl. (from whence this is taken), which we translate,
* My ear hast thou bored through, as having allusion unto the servants under the old law. Genebrard says that the ear is by a synecdoche put for the whole body ; and that which we translate perfodisti, is rather fodicasti, to fashion with the hand as a
< a body hast thou formed (or
potter doth ; and so the apostle renders it,
fitted) me. The Holy Ghost therein supplied that which the plastic
faculty doth in our conception, consisting partly in the seed of the man,
94 OF THE CREATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
and partly in the nature of the womb ; and this that so Christ might be born without sin.
Therefore, (3dly,) as Adam was without father and mother, so was Christ
also ; who, Heb. vii. 4, is therein made like unto Melchisedec ; but he is much more like to Adam, who herein was a more perfect type of Christ than Melchisedec was ; for Melchisedec having no father nor mother, was not that he had none indeed, but that in Scripture none were recorded, as
appears by ver. 6. But Adam really had no man to his father nor woman
to his mother ; he was not born from the conjunction of man and woman, which Melchisedec was.
(4.) Fourthly, As Adam was in a peculiar manner, in respect of his forma
tion, the son of God, and that in such a respect as other men are not
for, Luke iii., whereas others are in that genealogy said to be the sons of such and such men, as Enoch the son of Seth, and Seth of Adam, Adam
is said to be the son of God, ver. 38, because he was his son by immediate
creation, which they were not, who yet in another respect, namely, as they were elect, were adopted sons of God this typified that Christ, even as
having assumed an human nature, was in a transcendent manner God s
Son, even as he was man he was God s natural (not adopted) Son ; for
else there had been two relations of sonship in that person, the person being the subject of that relation, not the nature. So Luke i. 35, because the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee : therefore that holy thing which
shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God, that is, so the Son, as no man else :
* the only begotten Son of God, John iii. 16.
2. In the second place, the uniting of the soul and body together (which was done at that breathing of life into him) so as they both made one man, and the first Adam so became a living soul, this of all things doth the most lively set forth the hypostatical union of the divine and human nature. And so I find all divines acknowledge that the nearest instance that can in nature be found of this mystery is therein held forth. And therefore, 1 Pet. iii. 18, the human nature of Christ is called flesh, and the divine nature spirit, which in the very naming of it seems to bear an allusion to the soul or spirit in man, conjoined with his body and
flesh. And it seems a fair interpretation which is given by some of that
place, the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily ; that is, by a more near and firm union than a man s soul doth in his body, as speaking by way of similitude to illustrate this. And so I find the schoolmen labouring much to shew how nearly this instance resembles it ; as Thorn. Aqu. lib. iv.
cont. gent. cap. 41 ; and Athanasius in his very creed taketh up this similitude of all others to express it. But I did not think to have found such a ground in the word to have made this the type of it as this place holds forth.
For, first, considering the distance that is between the reasonable soul
(a spirit immortal, more glorious than the sun, but a step inferior to the
angels, bearing God s image in its substance and faculties, and capable of
holiness) and a piece of earth, that that should dwell in and inform this, the conjoining of two such extremes best resembled the union of the divine nature with the human, God with man. The angels they are spirits without bodies, and the souls of beasts are but earthly like the bodies which
they inform, and indeed the spirits of elements only.
Secondly, The nearness of their union does yet further help to resemble
it ; for this soul dwells not in bodies, as a man in a house, or as angels did in bodies assumed, to move them, &c., but is conjoined to them as a
CHAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 95
form, that together with the body makes up a person ; whereas the souls
of beasts, though they make a nature, jei not a person. And as the
rational soul s union, so this union of God and man makes one Christ, one
person.
Thirdly, The supereminent manner of subsisting that this soul hath in the body, is the highest resemblance of that of the Godhead in an human
nature. Other souls have their being from the matter ; they are extracted out of its passive power, as spirits of wine are out of wine ; but this is God s
breath, and is from without. And in the body it is semi-persona, it is not
that only quo subsistit, but quod. Other forms are but principles of the whole ; this is more. It can of itself subsist, only whilst it is in the body
it subsists after another manner, namely, in a body. Therefore men s souls
are said to give an account for what was done in the body. And it can subsist when severed from the body, which the souls of beasts cannot, Eccles. xii. 7. It, moreover, bears the name of the whole. Therefore
Christ, arguing the immortality of the soul, saith that Abraham is alive ; that is, the soul of Abraham, for
* God is the God of the living, &c. Thus the second person is a person of himself, who subsisted before a body was assumed. Before Abraham was I am ; and when this person subsists in the human nature, it is the same subsistence that was before, only he takes a body up unto himself to partake of his subsistence.
Fourthly, As the body is but the soul s instrument, its members are
called weapons or tools he acts by. Rom. vi. 13, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin : but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. And the sheath thereof: Dan.
* I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. And its house of clay
vii. 15,
: Job iv. 19,
1 How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. Such is this assumed body unto the Godhead, which many interpret that place of, The flesh
profiteth nothing, but the Spirit quickeneth, John vi. 63. And the thing is a truth, though there is another meaning given of the words.
Fifthly, As these two remain distinct the soul is one thing, and the body another so do the two natures in Christ.
Sixthly, As the soul hath faculties and actions distinct from those of the bod}- the body hath its appetite, which we call the sensitive ; the soul a distinct appetite, which we call rational, the will so the divine nature in Christ hath powers and operations distinct and severed from those of his human. The will of the human nature is distinct from the divine.
But yet this comparison is not without a world of difference in these two ; for, First t The Godhead and the human nature are not as two parts of that
person, as the soul and body are of a man ; for though the soul be of itself a subsistence, yet it is ordained to be a part of the man, and hath not its
full and natural perfection and intended state, without union with the body. And although, in respect of holiness, the spirits of just men departed are said to be
* perfect, Heb. xii. 23, yet in respect of God s ordination to a
conjunction with the body, they are not for happiness so perfect as when
again united to the body. But the Son of God was as perfect afore assum
ing man s nature as after, and nothing of perfection is added unto him
thereby. And if we could now suppose a separation, he should lose none
96 OF THE CREATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
of his perfection thereby, being of himself God blessed, and so perfect in
himself, for ever.
Secondly, Man is a third thing different from his soul and body, though made up of both ; but it is not so here, the person of Christ is God, and the
person of Christ is man.
Thirdly, The soul, though it can subsist without the body, yet did not alone subsist before it was joined to the body. But the divinity of Christ was from all eternity, and was then as perfect without this human nature assumed as now it is. He is the person, and the human nature but an
adjunct of it, and perfected by it.
Fourthly, This hypostatical union is more intimate than that of the
soul and body. For we cannot say of man that he is the soul or the body, but the Son of God assuming our nature, may properly and truly be called both God and man.
Fifthly, The soul and body may be and are severed, but so cannot Christ s divine and human nature be. No ; nor were they in death ; but when Christ was in the grave, that union held.
Thus you have seen a comparison made between the person of Adam,
singly considered in his being made up of soul and body united, to make one person, and the person of Christ singly considered as God and man
in one person also.
I come now to the second head, which is the conveyance of an image by each of these persons to the posterity of each of them, and the different manner of conveying it. And as to that point, the text in 1 Cor. xv. 45, 46, shews the eminently transcendent difference held by God between these two : 1. That Adam
conveys his image as a living soul ; and by virtue of that conveyance, we are
merely made living souls ourselves, such as Adam was. We have barely that animal life conveyed. Thus all those that came of Adam were to be, in likeness to him, living souls. But Christ conveys his image and hea
venly life and state, as a quickening Spirit, viz., the same life which Christ himself hath. So that there is a different manner of these two con
veyances of life. The one, that of Adam, is by natural generation, to make us men like himself. But Christ s conveyance is by immediate quicken ing and causation of his new life. And therein there is this difference between Adam s conveyance to his members and Christ s to us, that Christ,
1 the Lord from heaven, is alone that quickening Spirit, and we are not to become quickening spirits to others. We are quickened, not quickeners ; we
are not made living souls ourselves to others, as in Adam his sons were : God
* blessed them to multiply, Gen. i. 28. But the holiest men that ever were could never convey the new birth and life to any ; Abraham could not to Ishmael, for it goes not by the will of man : John i. 13, Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And this is to be understood not only of Christ s
quickening at the resurrection, though that only be here spoken of, but
that of our first birth is called a quickening us together with Christ as the sole author of it : Eph. ii. 5, Even when we were dead in sins, hath
1 And in that
quickened us together with Christ ; (by grace ye are saved).
respect for, and by the same reason, that Christ is a quickening Spirit at the resurrection of our bodies, which was there the particular subject of
the apostle s discourse in 1 Cor. xv. 45, 46, is Christ the quickening Spirit at our first conversion ; and it is answerably termed a resurrection : Col. ii. 12,
* Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through
ClIAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 97
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And this is a work of no less power than the other of raising our bodies
at last. And Christ is expressly termed that Spirit which quickens ns, and changeth us into his image
: 2 Cor. iii. 17th and 18th verses com
pared, Now the Lord is that Spirit
: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. It is spoken of Christ :
* The Lord is
that Spirit, ver. 17. The difference is in this (as the very words here do
shew), that it is Christ s prerogative to have life in himself, as the Father
hath, and we are to live by him. And as the personal union in Christ and this his prerogative are inseparable, it cannot be communicated unto
others.
Only this is to be understood, that the same image in that 2 Cor. iii. 18
is as to a likeness in qualities, and a similitude of what is in Christ,
according to the sphere and proportion of that union which is our lot to have in subordination under him, and which, in a next degree unto him,
is to be conveyed to us, both as to our souls and bodies.
Christ s and Adam s communication in this respect are as vastly different
as the communication of light from a candle to another, and the derivation
of light from the sun to the moon and stars. The communication of light from one candle or torch to another, sets the torch or candle lighted in as
full a condition of light, and to propagate light to other torches, as itself hath ; and so it is that we are made living souls from him who was a
living soul as fully as himself, both for ourselves and others our children. But Christ, he communicates light and life to us, as the sun doth to the moon and stars ; he makes them light and bright with that light which is in
himself, but he makes them not to be suns as himself is. There is but one sun still, the fountain of light and the quickener of all things. I might enlarge, to shew that likeness we shall have with Christ in glory, both in all sorts of qualifications of soul as well as body. But I shall, by way of inference from the lesser, argue to the greater, and so pursue only the glory our bodies shall then have from the glorious body of Christ. And
it is the proper argument of this 1 Cor. xv. to shew the vastly differing state of Adam s body, as enlivened by a reasonable soul, and that of the
glory of Christ s body as then in heaven, unto which ours are in heavenly
qualifications and endowments to be conformed at the resurrection. Our
bodies are the vile part of us, as Paul terms them, Phil. iii. 21, which
yet Christ will conform to his most glorious body ; and he speaks this to the end that from the instance of this body we may infer from that honour
which the vilest part hath, what glorious and heavenly spiritualised souls we shall have, and that by Christ, when we are glorified together with him
in heaven.
In handling of this, I am to perform three things
: to shew, 1. What was the state of Adam s body when he was made a living soul, that is, had a reasonable soul that dwelt in his body.
2. How glorious the body, the human nature, of Christ was, being quickened by the Godhead, the glory of Adam s body, and his soul dwell
ing in it, being a type of the glory of the Godhead dwelling in the human
nature.
3. That our bodies they were made and intended by God to be conformed unto Christ s body and human nature in that his glory heavenly.
] . For the first, will you take Adam s body as it had a reasonable soul VOL. VII. G
98 OF THE CKEATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
joined to it, and in the dignity it was thereby raised unto at the first crea
tion ? The body of Adam taken thus, with the reasonable soul dwelling in
it, abstracting and cutting off the image of God which yet dwelt in it, for
that is a fourth thing to be handled, it had,
(1.) All the world in it subjective, and it had all the world in it objective; that is, there is no excellency that is in the world which he had not in him
inherent. Nor is there any excellency or comfort in the world but he had
something in him to take it in suited to it, and to take comfort from it. He had, first, all excellencies in him subjectively. There is no perfec tion in any creature but it is in man, that is certain. In his soul he
partakes with the angels. In his body, and the actions of it, and the
perfections of it, he is the epitome, the sum of all the world ; he is called
therefore a little world. The poets did feign, and they said well in it,
only the story they tell is a fiction. When man was made, say they, then
did God take a piece out of every creature, and make man out of it. The
thing hath a truth in it ; not that God indeed did take out of every crea
ture a piece, but he framed up man in an answerable excellency to what
* unto every
is in any of the creatures : Preach the gospel, saith Christ,
creature, Mark xvi. 15 ; that is, to men, for man is every creature.
Then, secondly, the body of Adam, as it had this reasonable soul dwell
ing in it, it was fitted and suited to take in comfort from all things in tho
world. It was capable of all the comforts in this world ; and of them
above, some taste of them. His soul could look up to heaven, to God ;
his body, his senses, were suited to the creatures. This is a certain truth,
there is no creature, but go take the original institution of it, and it did some way serve for the comfort of man. And look as the eye is fitted to
colours, so there is something in man, in his body, suited to every crea
ture, in the original constitution of them. There is no creature but there
is something in man to answer it, and to take comfort from it, or an use
in some way of it for man s help. And there is nothing in man but there
is some creature made to answer to it. In a word, there is nothing that
is in this life, that we behold with our eyes or hear with our ears, nothing in this world, but was some way suited to something in the nature of man
to make use of, to have benefit by. And was not this a great glory and
dignity that was given to Adam s soul, living in such a poor tabernacle of
dust and ashes, that it should have a whole world made for it, suited to
it ? And thus glorious a creature was man in his first creation.
(2.) Go take the beauty that God stamped upon man. The beauty which we have now ariseth as from our garments, from our clothing, but tho
beauty that Adam s body had then, it was innate ; therefore it is said, they
* knew not that they were naked, Gen. ii. 25. Christ saith that the lilies are
clothed better than Solomon was in all his royalty, Mat. vi. 28, 29. What
is the reason of it ? Because Solomon in all his royalty he was beholden
to the silkworm, beholden to his clothes ; beholden to the earth, or rivers, wherein the veins of gold do run, for the golden crown he wore upon his head, and for the precious stones that were in that crown ; but the lilies wear their own glory about them, it is innate in them. So now there was a beauty in Adam and Eve innate, inherent in them, which was their glory and their
excellency, and they had that then which all the kings of the earth in all
their royalty, and all the beauties of the world put in one, have not now.
(3.) This body which Adam s soul did dwell in, was made free from all
hurt from all the creatures without him. You use to say of some men s
bodies, that they are shot-free ; why, Adam was shot-free, as I may say,
CHAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 99
from all hurt from the creatures. There was not a gnat to sting him, or a
flea (I instance in these lower creatures, to exemplify how free he was from
all evil) ; therefore, though he lived in a hot country, for paradise was seated near Babylon, a very hot climate, yet he could sleep quietly; though naked, he was exposed neither to sun or weather, to have received any hurt from thence, for he was naked, and he had as great a comfort in his life that way, and a freedom from all injury, infinitely more than we have now. He had no sickness, nor no diseases, nor no suffering of any kind.
(4.) His body had immortality, it should never have died, for in Eom.
v. 15 it is said, that death entered by sin ; and therefore, if he had not
sinned, he should not have died. These were the perfections of Adam s
body, as it was first created. He had a world made for him ; he had a world in him. He was free from all evil, free from pain. He was immor
tal ; that soul of his, dwelling in that body, should never have been parted. And he had that native original beauty, which putteth down all the additions of any kind, whereby man now acquireth a beauty to himself. These, I
say, were the privileges of that body, which, by the reasonable soul of Adam
having the image of God, it was raised up to, by the union of that soul to that body ; and he should have conveyed this to all his posterity, as a
public person.
Yea, but now let me tell you also, how short it fell of that spiritual body which Jesus Christ, the second Adam, bringeth with him, whereof this body of Adam s was but a type ; and so you shall see what will lose it, notwith
standing it was thus perfect.
(1.) For the original of this body, it was but an animal body, it was but earth ; and all the senses in the body, and whatever was in the body, and the soul, as it was joined to this body, and working by the body, and in the
body, was but earth. It had actions as a soul, which it works, without the
help of the body outward, toward God ; but the actions which it wrought in the body, they were all but earthy, suited to earthy things. The first man is of the earth earthy, and is no better. The apostle in this, 1 Cor. xv. 46, 47, &c., you see, speaks of Adam at his best. If you take his cor
poreal state, as the reasonable soul did work and did dwell in his body, he
speaks merely, you see, of it ; and as he called the law the beggarly rudiments of the world in comparison of the gospel, so saith he, this state of Adam s body, though it had this soul in it, it was but earthy, and it was suited to take comfort from earthly things, if you take the animal and bodily state of it. In Philip, iii. 21, we translate it, our vile bodies ; but the truth is, in the original it is, our
* humble bodies, our mean bodies, that depend upon, and are beholding unto, eating and drinking, and the actions that follow thereupon, which humble them and lower them : Luke i. 48,
* He had regard to the lowliness of his handmaid ; it is the same word we translate vile bodies, the lowliness of our bodies, or our mean bodies, whose
life and subsistence depends upon such mean actions as we do, and poor creatures without us ; and Adam did so too. His body was an earthly body, that had such earthly actions as these are.
(2.) His body, though it was not exposed to hurt or injuries, yet it was in a dependence upon creatures ; it depended upon meat, and drink, and
sleep, and upon all such things to uphold itself.
(8.) Though it was not subject to dying, yet it was subject to many alte
rations. If Adam had begotten a child, it would have been little when it had been born ; it must have grown in augmentation. He was subject to
expense of spirits, to weariness, and therefore refreshed himself by sleep
100 OF THE CREATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
and by meats ; so as though he had not a decay in the whole by death,
yet he had a decay in the parts which was supplied and renewed again ; even as we now have not the same bodies we had when we were first born, for our spirits waste, and our blood wastes, and new comes in the room.
It is the same body indeed, because it hath the soul, yet notwithstanding there is a wasting ; so there was in his. A man eateth more in a year than
his own bulk over and over again. Why ? Because he wasteth and
spendeth ; there is a partial alteration still ; and so it was in Adam.
* The body
(4.) It is true he was immortal, as it is in Rom. viii. 10, 11,
is dead because of sin ; that is, the reason why the body shall die is, because
of sin. Had not man sinned, he should not have died ; therefore, Adam
having no sin, he was immortal. And it is clear he speaks of natural bodies
in that place. I will give you two reasons for it, because it is controverted. He saith, The body is dead for sin, or because of sin. If he had spoken of the body of sin, he would not have used that phrase, It is dead, because
of sin, for itself was dead in sin ; therefore he meaneth a natural body, for
the death cometh only by sin. And that he speaks of the natural body is
clear also ; for in ver. 11 he saith that God shall quicken, when he shall
raise up our mortal bodies : he speaks, therefore, of the mortal body. Now, my brethren, the temper of the elements in us are unequal ; as we have
4 warring in our lusts, as James saith, James iv. 1,
* in our souls, so there
is a warring in the elements in our bodies. There are contrary factions in
every man s body. There is fire against water, and water against fire (for we are made up of the elements), and a kingdom divided within itself cannot stand ; and that is the reason why all men die. Whereas, in Adam s body in innocency, the elements were so poised that he should never have died, God did so temper them, so poise them. We do find
this in experience, in monuments that have been digged up in those places where the Romans have died, that there have been urns digged up, in which they have made a perpetual lamp in a double glass, a continued
flame that was fed with oil, that hath lasted even to this day. Such a
perpetual lamp was the radical moisture in Adam ; and if man was able to make a perpetual flame, God was able to make it much more ; and so he
did in Adam s body.
Yet though his body was thus immortal, it was not immortal by virtue
of its own principles ; his immortality was not natural to him, for he had
the four elements in him, the one fighting against the other ; and had it not been for a promise that God would poise them, it would in the end have wrought old age and death. His immortality was natural indeed, as a natural due to such a creature created in God s image, while he stood in
that state, but it was not natural, as arising from the principles of nature, and from the natural constitution that was in his body, but the contrary. Rather it was God s promise,
* Do this and thou shalt live, and his pro tection over him, that made him immortal. Our divines use to say this, that Adam had a posse non mori, that he could not have died, but he had not a non -posse mori ; that is, he had not such a principle as that no way he could die ; for he might die and he might live, as he might sin and he
might not sin, he had but a conditional immortality ; he was not indeed
moriturus, but he was mortalis ; he should not have died for the act, but
take the power, and he might have died. There was a possibility of Adam s being killed if he had fallen off from on high, as well as any of us ;
only the promise was, that God would keep him by his providence, and
therein lay his immortality ; and he had the tree of life to eat of, for to
CHAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 101
repair nature, and so to live for ever. It is not natural to the body of man to live for ever, for the contrary elements would bring a man to ruin ; nor was it in the power of the soul to keep the body ; it was not like salt
to keep the body from corruption or putrefaction ; but, as I said afore, it was the promise of God did it, that if he did thus and thus he would pro tect him and keep him, he should live ; and that it was by virtue of the
promise of God that he was thus immortal is clear by this, that the sacrament of the tree of life did seal up this promise. He might eat of
that tree of life, and it was a sacrament to him that he lived by promise of
God, that said, Do this and thou shalt live. So as, if you ask whether
immortality was natural to Adam ? I answer, It was natural in this
respect, it was a due to that condition according to the covenant of works ;
it was a suitable promise, and a due promise to man in that condition ; but it was not natural in that respect, as arising out of the principles of
r have kept itself immortal, nor could the soul have kept that body immortal ; the temperature of his body would never of itself and its own mixture been so equally poised, but it would have been ruinated ; only he was under God s protection, he was under God s promise, he was under the covenant of the tree of life, and so he should have been immortal. And to me this is clearly hinted in these
his own nature ; for neither could the bod}
words, Thou art dust, saith he ; that is, in that thou art not fallen to dust again, it doth not arise from the constitution of thy original, for thou
art but a dust-heap, and thou wilt easily mould and fall to nothing, it is
easy for dust to return to dust ; but it is my protection that hath kept thee from falling to dust ; and therefore the Lord saith, Thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return ; I will now withdraw this promise of pro tection from thee, and then to dust thou shalt return. Which evidently
implieth, that he was not immortal from the union of soul and body, or from the constitution of his own body, but that the covenant of works, to which the promise was made that was everlastingly to keep him, so he was immortal.
Here is the state of Adam s body, and so I have despatched the first
thing that I was to do, namely, to shew you what was the state of Adam s
body in his first creation, when he was made a living soul.
2. I am, secondly, to shew you unto what a glorious state and condition
the union of the Godhead must needs raise up the body of Christ when he had performed the work of redemption (for that is the apostle s scope here), that as the soul of Adam did advance a poor piece of clay to so high and
great a dignity, as the body of a man is advanced by the soul joined to it, and did so ennoble it that it hath all things under it, hath all this world made for it, and suited to it, and itself was the compendium and epitome of
the world (as you have heard), and what a great deal of difference there is between the body of a man having a reasonable soul joined to it, and
dwelling in it, and the body of a beast, you all know. Answerably, and in a proportion infinitely greater ; for the first Adam was but a type and an
imperfect shadow of the second Adam ; if that the Godhead shall become
to a human nature that which the soul was unto Adam s body, will be the
height and dignity unto which the Godhead will raise that human nature.
If, saith the apostle, the first Adam was a living soul ; that is, if that
reasonable soul which Adam had created for him, and put into his body, upon which God stamped his image, did so enliven a body of earth, raise
it to such a glorious condition, all which was but a type and an imperfect shadow of something more perfect to come, then, saith he, the second
102 OF THE CREATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
Adam must be a quickening Spirit ; and by Spirit he meaneth the God head of the Son of God, which did quicken or communicate a glory suitable (it must needs do so) unto the human nature it assumed. To what a glorious life then must that human nature be ordained, unto which
the Godhead becometh, as it were, the soul, and is a quickening Spirit ?
Now to shew you what that state of body is that Jesus Christ is to have, and hath in heaven, and is due unto him by virtue of the union of the human nature with the Godhead, I shall only give you what arguments the
text affordeth. And there are three things in the text from which it may be
argued, which indeed do all three come unto one, yet there is by way of
argument something distinct in them all.
First, The apostle argues it from the inhabitation of the Godhead in the
body and human nature of Christ, that it is united to a Spirit, to the God
head, that shall quicken it and raise it up to a proportion suitable to itself. And his argument, as I have said, lies thus : If that a poor reasonable
soul, created by God, having the image of God upon it, raised up Adam s
body to such a state, what shall the Spirit, the Godhead, raise up the body
of Christ unto ! For you must keep a proportion between the one and the
other. The union between the human nature of Christ and his Godhead
is nearer and stricter than the union of the body and soul, and doth there
fore require in a proportion that that human nature, the very body of Christ, should be advanced to a state suitable. Adam, saith he, was a living soul, but Christ is a quickening Spirit.
I shall give you a wild similitude, but indeed I do not know what simili
tude else to use, and I do it merely for illustration s sake. Suppose the sun had a crystal case round about it, and there were a poor mean candle
in a lantern, what a world of difference would there be between the glory of the sun shining through this crystal case, and the light that the candle doth diffuse through that poor lantern ! Just thus, even in this proportion, and infinitely greater, must the difference be between what Adam s soul
raised the lantern of his body unto, when it dwelt in it, and shined in it, and through it, and that advancement that the Godhead, the fulness of
the Godhead, dwelling bodily or personally in the human nature of Christ, raised up his body unto.
God hath made here a world, and God hath stamped a great deal of his
glory upon it ; but if we could suppose that which Plato and other philo sophers supposed, that God was the soul of this world, what a world of
glory must this world needs have beyond what it now hath ! Even as much
as the dead carcase of a man hath when the soul comes into it, from what
it had when it was a dead carcase. Why, but, my brethren, God hath made
a little world, and that is the human nature of Christ, and he himself hath become the very soul of it ; and there is not only the manifestation of the
things of God, as there is in the world, but there is God manifested in that human nature.
I shall exemplify it unto you further, thus : there is a glorious redemp tion to come of the sons of God. And in Rom. viii. 19, 20, the apostle
tells us that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, to be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for
the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity ; not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Now mark, see how he reasoneth ; when the saints shall be in their ruff and glory, for their sakes, and to grace their coming into
CHAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 103
the world at latter day of judgment, this world shall be new hung ; and all the glory that is now, it will vanish and be nothing in comparison of that
glory the glorious liberty of the sons of God shall make the world par takers of, and that God shall do for their sakes. Shall the world be thus made glorious by the coming of the people of God into it, when they are in their glory at latter day ? how much more glorious must the human nature of Christ be made, when the Godhead shall put forth a full glory in
it, whenas that human nature shall be made partaker of the glorious liberty of the Godhead and of the Son of God !
Christ himself saith, that those that live in king s courts are clothed
in costly raiment. My brethren, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he was to be God s fellow, Zech. xiii. 7. If he be God s fellow and to come so near him, nearer than all the angels, and to converse continually with God in the greatest nearness that can be (for he is united to the God
head) he must have costly raiment, for his body is but raiment, and it
shall be made a glorious body ; for he is to be God s fellow, therefore he
shall wear, and doth wear, a glorious body in heaven. That is the first
argument.
Secondly, The apostle telleth us that he is the Lord, 1 Cor. xv. ver. 47. And therefore this human nature is to be advanced above all the angels, and to be worshipped by all the angels ; Let all the angels of God worship him, Heb. i. 6. Therefore his body is to be raised up to a condition above
angels. You may judge what is due to the body of Christ by this : go take his body when it lay in the grave ; his soul was then out of it ; yet
notwithstanding, then, when it was in the grave, the Son of God was per
sonally united to that body, or otherwise Christ had not been said to be buried (as he is said to be in the Creed). When that body was in the grave, the angels came into the grave to worship him ; it was his due that they should do so. Mary likewise, when he was in the grave (at least as she
thought), she called him Lord ; Where have they laid my Lord ? saith
she. She meaneth his body. Now therefore, this human nature of his, body and soul thus united together, is made higher than the heavens, saith the seventh to the Hebrews ver. 26. It is said of us, that we shall be like the angels ; he is above the angels, his body is not turned into a spirit, but is made spiritual. And this must needs be because he is the Lord :
his human nature, body and soul, is Lord above angels ; therefore must have a condition raised up to a greater glory than theirs is. And then,
Thirdly, By virtue of this union of the human nature with the Godhead, he is the Lord from heaven ; mark the words, it is a strange speech that he should be called the Lord from heaven. Was ever the human nature of Christ there ? No ; not till such time as he did ascend. Upon this
place many have said, and been deceived with it, that Jesus Christ had a human nature in heaven before the world was, and that he came down from heaven into the virgin by an elapse. No ; that is not the meaning of the
place, my brethren, to shew that his human nature had its original from
heaven, in respect of the matter of it, for then he had not took the seed of the virgin, he had not took the seed of Abraham, and so had not been that
proportioned Redeemer to save us which the Scripture telleth us he was. What is the meaning then of this, that he is the Lord from heaven, speak ing of him as he is man ? And in John iii. 13, No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that is come down from heaven, even the Son of man (he speaks of himself as man) who is in heaven. He never came down from heaven, in respect of taking his body there, and so came into
104 OF THE CEEATUBES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II*
the womb of the virgin. How is he then said, as he is the Son of man, to be the Lord of heaven, and to come down from heaven ? My brethren, the riddle is opened thus : that ye take what was his due ; when that Son of God should take a human nature, his right it was to be in heaven the very first moment ; and therefore, if he take human nature with the frailties of it, this is to condescend from what is due to that human nature thus assumed, so as indeed, my brethren, all the glory that he hath now in heaven is connatural to him. It was suspended indeed for our redemption ; he was ordained to take the likeness of sinful flesh, as the apostle saith, that he might redeem us, and till such time as that was finished he did suspend himself and his right ; for he should never have set his foot upon this earth, according to what is his due, if he would assume human nature ; and therefore, because he did condescend from this due of his, he is said to be the Lord from heaven, and to come down from heaven. Now hence it cometh to pass, that it being his due, as he is the Son of God, for to be in heaven, the human nature that he assumed must one day be made heavenly, though it be suspended a while for man s redemption ; and when he hath done that work, it must be made heavenly by virtue of this very union of the Son of God ; his body must up to heaven and be made like to the heavens. Flesh and blood it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, it will not bear it. Adam therefore, because he was not in himself ordained to go to heaven, he had but an earthly body ; that is, his reasonable soul dwelt in a body suitable to this earth ; but this man Christ Jesus, saith he, is an heavenly man. And however for our sakes he took the frailties of flesh and blood, yet his due is to be in heaven ; hence therefore (here lies the apostle s argument) he must have an heavenly body. Why ? Because that every nature hath a body suited to the place it liveth in : There is one kind of flesh of beasts, and another of fishes, and another of birds. Why ? Because they live in several elements. Fishes they live in the water, therefore they have bodies suited to that watery element they live in ; beasts and birds, they living here in the earth and in the air, they have bodies suited likewise to those elements they live in. Hence, saith he, if Jesus Christ be to be the heavenly man, if he be the Lord from heaven when he goeth up to heaven, his body must be made like the heavens ; therefore he must have a spiritual body. And
so^ now you have the three reasons couched in the text, why that Jesus Christ being a quickening Spirit, that is, a God that quickeneth the human nature, that human nature must needs be made spiritual, and raised up (even his very body) to a heavenly state and condition. Now I will give you but one instance, because if I should lay open all that concerneth the body of Jesus Christ, and the glory of it, it would ask
a^long time. I will therefore single out but one instance which he himself did give, to shew how glorious his body should be one day, and I will but argue from that to the glory he hath now in heaven.
The instance I shall give you is, that of the transfiguration of his body upon the mount, that you read of in Mat. xvii. 1, and so on, and in Mark ix. 2, &c., and in Luke ix. 48 ; which yet was but a mere transient flush ing of the glory of the Godhead appearing in him. You shall read there, that he was transfigured before those three great apostles, Peter, James, and John, and that his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, and there did converse with him in their bodies, Moses and Elias, appearing in glory with him. And what was this, but to bring down heaven a little to earth, to make a masque, a show of it ? It was to
ClIAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 105
shew what glory the body of Jesus Christ should have in his kingdom. That that is his scope in this transfiguration is most clear and evident ;
for if you read the preface to this story in all the three evangelists, you shall find it in them all to be this, The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father ; and then he shall reward every one according to his works.
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not see
death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. When he had
told them what a great glory he shall come in at latter day, saith he, There be some of you here shall see a glimpse of it. And hence, in relation
"days," saith Matthew and Mark ; about an eight
to this promise, after six
days after, saith Luke (namely, after the mention of that promise) ; he
taketh Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and there he fulfilled his promise, giving them a glimpse of the glory of that kingdom of his which he had spoken of. And hence
now, both Moses and Elias they do accompany him, and they do accom
pany him in that glory which they shall have at latter day ; for Luke telleth
us, They appeared with him in glory. And that this is the meaning too,
is plain by what Peter saith of it in 2 Peter i. 16 : "We have not followed
cunningly-devised fables, when we made known to you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my well-beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. It is clear he speaks of this transfiguration of
Christ, and he makes it an instance of that glory which he should have to
come. And that he doth so, observe the words ; saith he, We have not
followed cunninglydevised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we saw him coming in his king dom, according as his promise was. And that Peter, when he saith,
* We made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, meaneth his second coming, it is evident by this, because his scope was
(as appears by chap, iii) to confirm men in the faith of his second coming. And he saith, there should
* come in the last days scoffers, that should walk after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of his coming ?
But, saith he, we have not told you fables in this, for we had an instance
of it, and we saw, and were eye-witnesses of his majesty. They saw no more but the transfiguration of his body. And therefore the word in
1 Peter i. 16, which is used for the coming of Christ, is the same that is used for that coming of his in chap. iii. ver. 4, and is nowhere applied to his
first coming.
I speak this to take away the interpretation of some popish writers, that
apply it to his first coming ; but the apostle s scope is clearly this, to give an instance of that glory he shall have by that glory which he had then ; the word which is used for his first coming is always another word. Peter, you see, makes a great matter of it ; and so likewise doth John : John i. 14, We saw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God ; that is, such a glory as none could have but he that was the only begotten Son of God. We saw it, saith he. John, you know, was one of them that was in the mount, and Peter was another ; and both these give testimony of it in their writings. There was a third, James, not he that wrote the epistle, but he that was
put to death by Herod ; and he dying so soon after, could give no testimony of it ; but the two apostles that survived, both of them did. Now to con
firm further, that this transfiguration of Christ in the mount was on pur pose to shew how glorious he should be in the latter day, and glorious in
106 OF THE CREATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
his body, hence therefore did Elias and Moses, both of them, come and
appear in their bodies. God was pleased to raise up the body of Moses,
together with his soul ; and he appeared with Elias, and that in body too ; for Elias, you know, went to heaven in his body, and he was changed as those at latter day shall be ; and they were to testify to him his
resurrection, by their having their bodies there, and that he also should come unto glory after he had suffered. Moses he was in his body too, not only because he was called Moses, which was argument enough, but
they are said to be two men, Luke ix. 29. If Elias had his body, cer
tainly Moses had ; and the scope was to shew the glory of the body of
Christ, and therefore both were in their bodies. The Lord had made two
promises to Moses : the one, that he should see his face ; the other, that he would speak with him mouth to mouth. And here he hath made a second fulfilling of it ; for the Son of God, whom he had prophesied of,
speaks with him mouth to mouth, and he beholds his face in his glory. Now to speak a little of this glory that was thus appearing in the body of Christ.
It was an internal glory ; it was not a glory that did shine about Christ, as if the sun should shine upon a glass, or upon a thing making it to shine ;
it was not extrinsecal, it came from within, it was the Godhead quickening him ; and therefore he is said to be transfigured, and his face to shine
as the sun ; it was not that the sun did shine upon his face and made it
to shine. And hence it was that his very garments did shine ; so saith Mark, chap. ix. ver. 3, And his raiment became shining, exceeding white
as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them. Therefore the glory of
his garments was from the glory appeared in his body, and his garments did shine by a redundancy, by an overplus ; for if it had been by an
external light, it would have fallen first upon his garments, and then upon his body ; but here it falleth upon his body first, and that is made the reason why his garments did thus shine. The glory that Moses had, who was Christ s type, it was but an external glory put upon the face of Moses
by reason of his talking with God, but the glory that Christ s body had was from the breakings forth of the Godhead within it. And that is the
: hea
difference (by the way) between worldly glory and heavenly glory
venly glory springeth from within, and so diffuseth itself to the body, from
the Spirit s dwelling in the saints, and from the Godhead dwelling in the human nature of Christ ; but worldly glory is a mere external thing put upon men, it is but an outward splendour that environeth men. And his whole body was thus transfigured ; and therefore Mark saith plainly, He was transfigured, Mark ix. 2 (not his face only), and his raiment became
shining, implying that his whole body was transformed into a glory which
did shine through his very garments. My brethren, if vile garments (for so I may call the garments of Christ, they were but mean garments) if
they did shine so, what shall these bodies of ours do when they are trans formed into
* the likeness of his glorious body ? Consider further the greatness of this glory that did shine in his body ; for we do not read of anything else. Peter calleth it majesty
: 2 Peter
i. 16, We were eye-witnesses of his majesty; the same word that is used
for that great glory in heaven, in Heb. i. 3, He is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The evangelists do compare it to the glory of the sun ; it is said, His face did shine as the sun, Mat. xvii. 2. If
you say it did but shine like the sun, I answer, The reason of that expres
sion is this, not that it was a light of the same kind with the sun, but
CHAP. X.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 107
because there was nothing else to convey the glory, and the beauty, and
excellency of it to human apprehension but the sun. My brethren, now that
Christ is in heaven, it is more glorious than the sun. Paul, you know, he saw him from heaven ; saith he in Acts xxvi. 12, 13, I saw from heaven
a light above the brightness of the sun (mark his expression, he riseth
higher, above the brightness of the sun) shining round about me ; yet it was not the body of Christ in the air, but the body of Christ in heaven ; and this brightness he saw was but a light that came from it, which yet was far above the brightness of the sun itself, though it was confined to
that company, and did not shine to all the world.
Consider the greatness of it likewise in this, that it made his garments to shine ; so you shall find it in all three evangelists
: Matthew saith,
chap. xvii. 2, His raiment was white as the light ; Mark, chap. ix. 3, that
* His raiment became shining exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them ; Luke, chap. ix. 29, that His raiment was white and glistering. They compare the light of the face and body of
Christ to that of the body of the sun, and the light of his raiment to the
light of the sun, or of the moon in the air, which makes it white, or to the sun shining upon snow, or the like.
Lastly, How infinitely did it affect the apostles, though they themselves were not transformed into the same glory with him ! "What saith the
apostle Peter, poor man ? Master, saith he, it is good for us to be here ; and upon what occasion did he say this ? When he saw Moses and Elias going away. So Luke, chap. ix. ver. 33, And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us
to be here : and let us make three tabernacles ; one for thee, and one for
Moses, and one for Elias : not knowing what he said. He had but a
little glimpse of it, and yet notwithstanding, his heart was infinitely affected with it, and yet he had a mixture of great fear and astonishment too, which must needs allay it ; one that is afraid, you know (and the text saith they were all afraid), would rather have the thing removed that he feareth ; yet
notwithstanding, though he was full of fear, full of astonishment rather, his
desire breaks out : Oh, saith he, that we might be ever here ; and let us make three tabernacles, saith he. The text saith, he spake he knew not what. And why spake he he knew not what ? Because he would
stay there ; and because he would have earthly tabernacles, made
of boughs and booths, such as the Jews had, for to be a covering to
glorified bodies, that have tabernacles made without hands ; as the apostle
speaks, 2 Cor. v. 1, For we know, that, if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Our Saviour Christ had other work to do ; for they had been talking of Christ s death, which he should accom
plish at Jerusalem. And herein lay the folly of his speech ; yet so as it shewed how mightily his heart was taken. Oh, saith he, let us be ever