021. CHAPTER 8 - THE PRIMEVAL STATE OF MAN.
CHAPTER 8 - THE PRIMEVAL STATE OF MAN.
AFTER the Creator had formed the inferior parts of sublunary creation, man, the most exalted and noble being of earth, was next produced. Referring to the series of beings produced by the Creator, a learned author has remarked:
“Yet, near the top of the series, we meet with a being whose physical organization is the perfected antitype of all other animals; who subjects all others to his sway, and converts even the fiercest elements into servants, placed at once upon the earth as the crown of all. What a stretch of credulity does it demand to explain this wonderful phenomenon irrespective of divine miraculous power! On this last and grandest act of creation, God hath impressed the signet of his wisdom and might so deeply that skepticism tries in vain to deface it. Man’s creation, as taught by geology, rises up as a lofty monument of miraculous intervention in nature, beating back the waves of unbelief, and reflecting afar the divine wisdom and glory.” (Hitchcock.) In the investigation of man’s character and condition, several points of interest present themselves to our view.
1.His nature was twofold-material and immaterial; or, in other words, he had a body and a soul. His body was “formed of the dust of the ground;” and was material, like the earth whence it was taken. But his soul was immaterial; in this respect, like the God from whom it proceeded. The question has been asked, Whether the soul of man was properly created, or was it merely an emanation from the Deity? The former opinion is more in accordance with the Scriptures, and more generally adopted. To suppose that the soul was not created, in the proper sense of the word, would be to deny that man was a created being; for the soul is the most important part of his nature. Nay, more, it would be to deny the real existence of the Soul altogether; for if it was not created, then it must be a part of God; but God is infinite, without parts, and indivisible; therefore the idea is absurd in itself. But could we free the position from absurdity in that sense, difficulty would meet us from another quarter. The souls of the ungodly are to be punished with “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord;” consequently they cannot be a spark of the divine nature. The conclusion, then, is clear, that we must either admit that God created the soul of man out of nothing, or deny its real existence altogether.
2.In the divine image. The inspired delineation of the primitive character of man is, that he was “in the image, and after the likeness, of God.” We proceed, therefore, to inquire more particularly in what that “image or likeness” consisted. No theory ever advanced upon this subject is, perhaps, more absurd than that which refers this image to the body. “God is a Spirit,” without bodily shape or parts, and therefore the body of man could not, as such, be in the divine image.
Others have made this image to consist in the dominion given to man over the works of creation; but this notion is refuted by the fact that man received this dominion after he had been created; whereas, he was made in the image of God. In endeavoring to ascertain in what this image consisted, we cannot fix upon one single quality, and say that it consisted in that alone, but we shall find several particulars in which it consisted.
(1)Spirituality is the first we shall name. God is called “the Father of spirits,” doubtless in allusion to man’s resemblance to his Creator in the spirituality of his nature. In Acts 17:29, we read: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” The argument of the apostle here is evidently based upon man’s resemblance to God in spirituality. The argument is this: as man is a spiritual being, if he is the offspring of God, then God must be a spiritual being; consequently the Godhead cannot be a material substance “like unto gold, or silver, or stone.” Although there is this resemblance in spirituality, yet we cannot say that the spiritual essence of Deity is not vastly superior, in refinement and purity, to that of the most exalted creature. But the comprehension of a spiritual essence transcends our utmost powers.
(2)Knowledge is the next particular in which we shall notice that this image consisted. This we prove from Colossians 3:10, reading as follows: “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Here is a plain allusion to the image of God in which man was originally made. Upon this passage Macknight adds these words: “Even as, in the first creation, God made man after his own image.” In respect to the degree of knowledge with which man was originally endued, commentators have widely differed. Some have represented him, in this respect, almost in a state of infancy, having nearly every thing to learn; while others have exulted him almost, if not altogether, to angelic perfection. The probable truth lies between the two extremes. That man was inferior, in this respect, to the angels, we may infer from the testimony of Paul: he was made “a little lower than the angels.” That his knowledge was exceedingly great, we may infer from the purity and perfection of his nature. Moral evil had not deranged and enervated his powers, or enshrouded him in darkness. We may also very naturally be led to the same conclusion, from his history in paradise; his readiness in naming appropriately the various animals presented before him, and his capability of holding converse with his Maker.
(3)Holiness, or moral purity, is the next and the most important part of this image of God which we shall notice. In Ephesians 4:24, we read: “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Here the renewal of our moral nature, which in the Scriptures generally is represented as a recovery from the polluting consequences of sin, is said to be “after God,” that is, after the image of God; and this image is said to consist in “righteousness and true holiness.” That man originally possessed absolute and essential holiness, independent of God, we do not believe. None but God, the fountain of holiness, can possess this quality in an independent and supreme sense. Man, therefore, derived holiness from his immediate connection and direct communion with God. That such was his condition, we may confidently infer from this very fact of his communion with his God. It is also clearly implied in the sentence of absolute approval pronounced by the Creator upon his works. They were said to be “very good.” Such they could not have been, if unholiness, in the least degree, attached to any of them. He who is infinitely holy himself, could not, consistently with his nature, have produced an unholy creature. The stream must partake of the nature of the fountain. Therefore, man was created, in the moral sense, “without spot or wrinkle.”
(4)Immortality is the last thing we shall notice in which this image consisted. This we understand to apply to the body as well as the soul of man. It relates to his entire compound nature. That man never would have died but for the introduction of sin, is the irresistible conclusion from the reasoning of St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Romans, where he shows that “death entered into the world by sin.” Again, it is implied in the original penalty of the law: “In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” Most certainly the promise is here implied that if he continued in obedience he should live. With these direct testimonies to man’s original immortality before us, we can feel no inclination to dispute with those who contend that man would have died literally, whether he had sinned or not. If men choose to amuse themselves with their own fancies, in direct opposition to the plainest Scripture, we will leave them to the enjoyment of the pleasing reverie.
Again, we may clearly infer that immortality was a part of the image of God in which man was created, from Genesis 9:6 : “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man.” Now, as the heinousness of the crime of murder results from the fact that man was made in the image of God, that image must have consisted, in part, in immortality, or we cannot see the force of the reasoning.
Some have adopted the idea that the body of man was created naturally mortal, but that this natural tendency to dissolution, by a wise arrangement, was counteracted by means of the “tree of life.” We confess we cannot see the scriptural authority, or the force of the reasoning, by which this theory is sustained. Even admitting that the tree of life was the medium through which God was pleased to continue the existence of man, it would not follow that he was naturally mortal, unless the terms be taken in a different acceptation from any in which they are ever used in application to man. What, I would ask, are we to understand by the natural qualities of man? Are they not those qualities belonging to his nature by the arrangement of his Creator? And if so, was not man secured in the possession of the immortality of his nature as absolutely, upon the supposition that the tree of life was the medium, as he could have been in any other way? And will it not result from this that his immortality is just as natural, if secured through that channel, as it could be if derived from any other source? None but God can possess immortality independently. The continuance of the existence of the soul of man, yea, even the being of angels, is just as dependent on the will, and results as really from the power of God, as the immortality of man’s body could have done, supposing it to have been secured by the tree of life. Whether the divine power by which the perpetuity of our existence is secured be exerted through the medium of the tree of life, or in any other way, it is no less really the power of God. Hence it would follow that, even upon this supposition, the body of man was just as naturally immortal as his soul could have been. But is not the idea that the body of man originally was by nature mortal, antagonistic to the general tenor of Scripture on this subject, that “death is the wages of sin?” I cannot but think that the more scriptural comment upon the “tree of life” would be to say that it was rather a seal or pledge of the clearly implied promise of God that man, a being created naturally immortal, should, upon the condition of obedience, be continued in that state. Be this as it may, the point is clear that man was made immortal, according to the will and power of God; and this, in part, constituted the divine image in which he was made.
Man’s immortality may be inferred from the analogy of God’s works.
Look upon man-what is he? He is the highest link, so far as known to us independently of revelation, in the vast chain of beings throughout creation. He is the head and ruler over all the creatures of God; and, as shown by numerous testimonies in all ages, he is the object of the peculiar care and regard of his Maker. Along-side with man are all created things else; and over them is extended the dominion and providence of God, controlling all in reference to the accommodation and good of man. And yet, from age to age, all physical nature stands secure on its basis, shining on in undiminished strength, and beauty, and glory; while man, the highest, the noblest, the most exalted of all God’s creatures, if he be not immortal, is doomed to a transitory existence, for no apparent good purpose, and then to fade from the universe as “a dream when one awaketh.”
All nature, man excepted, seems to occupy an appropriate position and to contribute to a desirable end. But man, for whom “all nature stands, and stars their courses move,” appears to be out of place, and existing for no assignable good reason, and contributing to no worthy and appropriate end. Weak and imperfect, depraved and polluted, yet full of sublime aspirations and immortal hopes, he “fleeth as a shadow,” and is gone. As he feels that his powers are just beginning to unfold, he is struck down by death in his career; and plans and enterprises, joys and sorrows, in one moment are extinguished forever. Can we suppose that all this mass of aimless, capricious, incoherent, incongruous results, has been contrived and produced by the God of infinite wisdom and goodness? The position is too appalling to be entertained. But if we view this life as but a stepping-stone to the next-as but the opening scene to an endless career-a probation, a school of discipline, in reference to an endless hereafter; with this view of the subject, the clouds are dispersed-man appears in his true character, and a flood of light is poured upon his duty and destiny, while the perfections of God are displayed in his history.
Thus have we seen that this image of God, in which man was created, embraced spirituality, knowledge, holiness, and immortality.
3. The last thing which we shall notice, in reference to the primeval state of man, is that he was constituted happy.
Formed an intellectual and spiritual essence, endued with rational faculties capable of lofty and holy exercise, and admitted into social intercourse and intimate communion with God, he shared the blessing of pure and uninterrupted felicity. Placed in a world where all was order, harmony, and beauty-exempt from all infirmity or affliction of body, and conscious of no imbecility or imperfection of soul-he was permitted, with undisturbed freedom of body and mind, and conscious innocence and rectitude of heart, to range the garden of paradise, where opening flowers and unfolding beauties, sweetest odors and richest melodies, proclaimed in heavenly accent, to the eye, the ear, and every sense of man, that God, his Maker, had formed him for happiness.
Thus have we faintly sketched the condition in which our race was originally placed by the Creator. Our first parents were holy and happy. Placed as man was in a garden of delights, where all was beauty, freshness, fragrance, and music, how could he have one want? Created with high capabilities of acquiring knowledge, how well rewarded would be all his inquiries! Made holy, loving God with all his soul, how sweet to him was communion with the Father of his spirit! Every act was worship; for no sin was there. As he gazed enraptured on the vaulted firmament, studded with glittering worlds, or sat in the soft light of the moon, or walked forth in the softer twilight, no doubt his soul ascended in silent or speaking gratitude to Him who had fitted up for his children so beautiful an abode. When the light of day appeared in the east, and the songs of morning burst upon his ear, man’s heart would be attuned to worship, and the bowers of paradise would resound with the notes of his grateful praise. Thus the recurrence of day and night would alike bring seasons of holy devotion. With what delighted anticipation would he look forward to the periods set apart for communion with the Holy One! He noted not the slow-moving of the hours, for he knew no suffering, no grief; he hid not his face and wept, for as yet he knew no sin. But, alas, he fell from this glorious estate! He “forsook the fountain of living waters” and turned to an impure stream. In an evil hour he listened to the voice of the tempter: and sweet must have been his charming to cause man to forget the voice of his Father, God, saying to him, “In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die!”
Let us now, in conclusion, take a general survey of the material and intellectual universe, as spoken into being by the omnific fiat of Jehovah. What, we ask, was the grand object of God in calling into being this stupendous fabric of creation? It could not have been requisite for the promotion of his own essential happiness, for he was perfectly and independently happy in the possession of his own inimitable perfections. The great moving principle in the Deity, which resulted in the work of creation, we are led to believe, from all that we know of the divine character and administration, was benevolence, or love. He designed to exhibit his own perfections, and to show forth his own declarative glory, in the happiness of millions of intelligent existences. Infinite wisdom saw that happiness would be promoted by creation; infinite love delighted in this noble end; and infinite power spoke the word, and a universe appeared in being. Myriads of sentient existences have thus been permitted to taste the streams of bliss, and all that fill the station assigned them may rejoice forever in ascriptions of praise to Him “in whom they live, and move, and have their being.”