"earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of "God created he him: male and female created he them."* The account is afterwards resumed. Of man alone, amidst all the tribes of animated nature, it is said, " And the Lord God formed แ man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils "the breath of life; and man became a living soul."+

The history having thus described the formation of this favoured creature, proceeds to relate the manner in which the divine goodness provided for his accommodation and support. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and "there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant "to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the "midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and “evil. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the "garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it. And the Lord "God 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 not eat of it: for in the day that "thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."‡

When, after the fatal transgression of this easy command, God pronounced the sentence of judgment on the transgressors, he declares to the serpent, "Because thou hast done this thou "art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the "days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the "woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy "head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." To man he declares, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of "it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return "unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou "art, and unto dust shalt thou return."||

:

But, notwithstanding this melancholy doom, God is represented as still prolonging the existence of our first parents, providing for their immediate comfort, and assuring them of a numerous posterity. "Adam called his wife's name Eve, "because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also

* Gen. i. 26, 27.

Ib. iii. 14, 15.

† Ib. ii. 7.

Ib. ver. 17, 19.

Ib. 8, 9, 15-17.

"and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins, and "clothed them."* Then follows a very remarkable passage which is peculiarly worthy of attention, on this subject: “A→ "the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to "know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand, " and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever; "therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of "Eden, to till the ground, from whence he was taken. So he "drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden "of Eden, cherubins, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."+

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Gen. iii. 20, 21.

From the entire of this account it seems clearly deducible, that man, by his original constitution, was destined for immortality. When God is said to have created man after his own image, surely it is no straining of this expression to interpret it as denoting not only reason and freedom of will, moral rectitude, and the power of dominion over inferior animals, but also a nature capable of and designed for immortality, without which, all the preceding endowments, however exalted and splendid, would have been so transient and ineffectual, so vainly and unworthily bestowed. When of all animated beings, it is asserted of man alone, that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and that man became a living soul; ‡ we cannot † Ib. iii. 22, &c. I am aware that the words which are translated "living soul," AL are the same which are employed in Gen. i. 30, to denote all inferior animals in which "is life," or as it is more accurately rendered in the margin of our Bibles, "a living soul." But my argument is, that man alone being made after the image of God, man alone being described, as having received from God immediately the breath of life; and man alone being represented capable of living for ever, by partaking of the tree of life; the whole tenor of the history marks him out as in his original nature. destined for immortality; and that the divine promise of a future deliverer, inspiring a strong assurance of mercy, must have produced an humble but confident hope in every pious, reflecting and believing mind, of being ultimately restored to this privilege of mortality. This interpretation of the Sacred History is justified by the most respectable authorities, ancient and modern. The Targum of Onkelos, though it retains in Gen. i. 30, the original expression, common to men and inferior animals, of a living soul; yet in Gen. ii. 7, substitutes the expression, of a spirit enjoying the capacity of speech, and the Arabic version renders the same verse, "And Adam was made a rational soul;" thus showing how strongly these translators felt the reasonableness of distinguishing the principle of life in man and inferior animals. And in this distinction, the Targum of Jonathan B. Uziel concurs with the Targum of Onkelos, in adopting the same expression in Gen. ii. 7. Vide Biblia Polyglotta Waltoni.

much dissent from those commentators, who conceive the breath of life, thus immediately derived from God, partook of the immortality of its divine Author, and that the living soul which man thus acquired, deserved that title much more eminently than the animating principle of any of the brute creation, all of which are described as formed with such different views, and sharing so inferior a degree of their Creator's favour. And, finally, to prove clearly that man was originally intended for immortality, we are told that the tree of life was placed in the midst of the garden, whose efficacy was such, that if man was permitted to take of it, he would live for ever. Can it be denied that these passages suggest some intelligible hint of immortal

"It is not to be doubted," (says Perrerius) "that from these few words, in which "Moses has related the creation of a rational spirit, it may be proved that the soul is "immortal; which Moses has frequently intimated both in this and his other books." "And Rivetus on this passage, disputes at large on the immortality of the soul. "S. Method. Conviv. Virg. p. 75, asserts, "It is false doctrine, that the immortal "substance of the mind, which God himself breathed into us, was generated along with "the mortal and frail substance of the body." Cyrill Alex. de Adorat, lib. x. Vol. I. p. 356, and Comment. in Joan, lib. v. p. 471, resolves the immortality of the soul into "the virtue and support of the divine breath breathed into man." "Man," says Theodoret and several of the ancient Fathers, "must be certainly admitted to a noble "share of divine intelligence and ideas, since these were a privilege breathed into him "by his Maker at his creation, a dignity and eminence of nature superior to that of all "other animals.”

The expression of the image of GOD also plainly implies the idea of the soul's immortality, according to the best commentators. Abarbinel explains it to mean, “an "approach to the divine likeness in understanding, freedom of choice, spirituality and "immortality." And Tertullian contra Marcion, cap. ix. "Habent illas ubique "lineas DEI, qua immortalis anima, qua libera, et sui arbitrii, qua prescia plerumque, "qua rationalis, capax intellectus et scientiae." Vatablus and Paulus Fagius make this image to consist "in immortality, innocency, holiness, and the other perfections of the "soul, as well as in man's dominion over inferior animals." The learned and judicious Edwards, in his Survey of the various Methods of Religion, Vol. I. p. 13, and 17. observes, "Besides the dominion over the creatures, and something in the outward man, "the image of God consists chiefly in the soul: first, as this part of us is of an im"material and spiritual nature, and such is God, he is a spirit,' John iv. 24. Again "the soul of man is immortal, and therein is God's image and representation. This "indeed follows upon the former quality; it being immaterial and incorporeal, it must "needs be in its own nature incorruptible; herein we signally resemble the Deity. "And therefore it is rightly asserted by St Augustin, that because of the immor"tality of the soul, though not only for that, man is said to be made after God's image." Vide also Taylor's Scheme of Scripture Divinity, ch. v. the three last paragraphs, which express the same sentiments. Vide also Poli Synopsis, Patrick, and Bibliotheca Biblica on Genesis, i. 26. and ii. 7.

life, some idea at least of the capacity of the human soul to enjoy an eternal existence?

It will be said all this relates to the state of man before his fall, but that by this fatal transgression the hope of immortality was totally cut off, and eternal death was the melancholy doom which every human being must look to as the close of his existence. Now to me the Sacred Narrative seems to imply the very contrary conclusion; and to hold out to penitent man the hope, that notwithstanding his privilege of enjoying eternal life in this present world was withdrawn, he yet might hope for the continuance or the renewal of his existence in another state. It may be remarked, that the very words of the curse denounced against him by his offended God, in which, if any where, this awful doom would be declared, seems not at all to convey it. Man had been described originally consisting of two distinct parts; he was "formed of the dust of the earth," and "God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Now to the former part, and to the former part alone, does the letter of the curse confine itself. "In the "sweat of thy face," says the divine Judge to fallen Adam, "shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for "out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art, and unto dust "shalt thou return." Here the dissolution of the bodily frame, and its return to its original dust is the only thing menaced. The extinction of that breath of life which God had inspired, the destruction of that living soul which man had been described as possessing, is not so much as hinted at.

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But if from the letter we direct our attention to the spirit of the narrative, this conclusion seems to acquire irresistible strength. It is admitted, that in the very condemnation of deluded man, his heavenly Judge tempered the severity of justice with mercy, and guarded against that despair which would have extinguished the vital principle of virtue ;* by giving assurance of a deliverer to spring from the seed of the woman, who should bruise the head (that is, subdue the power and punish the malignity) of the serpent who had seduced them. If we admit the divine institution of sacrifice,† at this crisis, (which is surely the most rational interpretation of the

Vide Sherlock on the Use and Intent of Prophecy, Discourse III. P. 60.

Vide on this subject, Taylor's Scheme of Scripture Divinity, chap. xiv.; and Dr. Magee's Second Sermon on Sacrifice and Atonement, with the notes.

narrative concerning the beasts slain immediately after the fall, and of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel,) it will follow, that the very mode in which this deliverance should be effected was not indistinctly pointed out: even that God would accept the life of the great Sacrifice, which the sacrifices now instituted prefigured, as a substitute for the life, and an atonement for the sins, of man.

But whether Adam could or could not conceive the particular mode in which it was to be effected, he certainly cherished a sure hope of future deliverance. Now let me ask, what hope could he have cherished, if he conceived of death as the final extinction of his being? If eternal annihilation was his own fate, what consolation could he derive from the promise of a future deliverer? What mixture of hope would have remained to sustain the energy of virtue, had he conceived of that death which inevitably awaited him and all his posterity, as a total extinction of being? I contend, therefore, that the very history of the creation and fall of man, not only suggested the idea, and gave an intelligible hint of a future state, but was calculated to inspire every serious and pious mind with an humble but assured hope that they were in the hands of a merciful Judge; who, though he thought it necessary to remove them from this world by a corporeal dissolution, would yet preserve that breath of life, that living soul, which he had himself inspired and which had been formed after the image of God, from total annihilation and eternal death.

Such seems to have been the conclusion naturally suggested by the history of the Fall. But this conclusion must have derived great additional clearness and strength, from the circumstances attending the very first instance of death inflicted upon man; combined with the knowledge of the divine attributes, which revelation and experience had supplied.

"Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the "Lord; and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, "and of the fat thereof: and the Lord had respect unto Abel and his "offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect: "and Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." God pointed out the unreasonableness of this wrath: For "the Lord "said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy counte"nance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? "and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." But no