2. By life is meant the life of grace, begun here by the Spirit, and perfected in heaven. By wisdom we begin the life of grace here, and hereafter shall obtain the life of glory. In the Hebrew the word for life is in the dual number, the tree of lives; of both the lives, the life of holiness and the life of happiness, of grace and of glory. How this agreeth with the metaphor here used I shall show you by and by. This life is begun in regeneration when Christ cometh to live in us by his Spirit : John iii. 3, ' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' The immediate effects of the new birth are life and likeness to God; and it is perfected in heaven: Col. iii. 3, 4, ' Our life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.' This life is safely laid up in God, through Christ, in due time to be manifested in all its glory.
3. That this life is restored to those that live under the evangelical dispensation, provided they use the means, which are to lay hold on her and retain her. These are the things we must press upon you, to apprehend and retain, that is, we must receive the faith of Christ, and live accordingly. First be engaged in a course of godliness, and then hold it on, whatever temptations we have to the contrary. And accord- ingly two ordinances are required in the gospel — baptism, which signi- fieth our entrance, and the Lord's supper which confirmeth our vows of a new life, and bringeth down more grace for the performance of them ; or, as our Lord sets it forth, by the gate and the way : Mat. vii. 14, ' Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life ; and few there be that find it.' The gate by which we enter is faith and repentance. The narrow way is a strict obedience, doing the will of God, and not our own. And though few mind these things, we must mind them. It is elsewhere represented by making and keeping cove- nant. Making covenant : Ps. xl. 5, ' Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.' Keeping covenant : Ps. xxv. 10, ' All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, even to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.' We make it by faith ; we keep it by a resolved, holy, and heavenly life : Kev. xxii, 14, ' Blessed are they that do his commandments ; that they may have a right to the tree of life.' They that believe, repent, and obey, they have a right to the apples of paradise, to eat of this blessed tree ; as (to accommodate the notions of the text to these things) many as take hold of Christ by a lively faith, and resolve to live holily ; and this resolution must be made whatever difficulties we have to fight with in the
16 SERMON UPON PROVERBS III. 18.
accomplishing of it : Eev. ii. 7, ' To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.' It is promised to the conqueror who overcometh the w^orld, and is faithful to death.
1. Let me confirm it — (1.) By showing what the tree of life was to Adam ; (2.) What Christ will be to us if we choose him and walk in his ways.
[1.] What the tree of life was to Adam. That there wv^s such a tree in paradise appeareth, Gren. ii. 9, ' And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.' For the physical use of it, whether it might be wholesome, and a natural means to prolong life, we meddle not with ; the mystical use is that which falleth under our consideration, as it was a sacrament of immortality, or a sign of eternal life to man, if he had obeyed God his Creator. Now sacraments have a mutual respect to privileges and duties. As it relateth to his duty, Adam had two things enjoined him ; the one prccesse creaturis, to rule over the creatures, the other subesse creatcn'i, to be subject to his Creator. He had no need of a caveat for the one ; he was ready enough to govern and bear sovereignty : but for his duty to God, he had great need to be put in mind of that ; therefore under the condition of obedience, life present and future was promised to him. Those were his privileges : as he had received a natural life, in esse, m being ; so an eternal life, in ^posse, in powder, and so had matter and just occasion of thankfulness and obedi- ence. For this end served the tree of life as a token and pledge that he had received and should continue his life at God's will and pleasure. The tree of life sealed the continuance of his natural life during his abode upon earth ; and eternal life, when he should be removed thence, to enjoy the fulness of God's blessed presence for ever in heaven ; for in all probability the life promised answereth the death threatened. Now the death threatened is eternal, and therefore the life promised is eternal also. In short, it was God gave him life, and not the tree ; working not by physical efficacy, but by sacramental representation. It represented to Adam that God was his life and the length of his days, as he is also to us : Deut. xxx. 20, ' That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him ; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days ;' Job X. 12, ' Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.' Expressing thereby God's care in preserving his natural life. His life could not be preserved but by God's im- mediate power, care, and love, which Job calleth his ' visitation,' or looking after us, as a parent overseeth his child condiiione corporis. Adam was mortal as other men are, and no temporal thing could preserve him but immortal heneficio co7iditoris, by the bounty of his Creator, and the tree of life was the sign and assurance of it.