ral image of God, but that which might be lost, be- cause it is that in which we may be "renewed." It is, therefore, to be understood of the faculty of knowl- edge in right exercise ; and of that willing reception, and firm retaining, and heart}- approval of religious truth, in which knowledge, when spoken of morally, is always understood in the Scriptures. We may not be disposed to allow, with some, that Adam under- stood the deep philosophy of nature, and could com- prehend and explain the sublime mysteries of religion. The circumstance of his giving names to the animals is certainly no sufficient proof of his having attained to a philosophical acquaintance with their qualities and distinguishing habits, although we should allow their names to be still retained in the Hebrew, and to be as expressive of their peculiarities as some exposi- tors have stated. Sufficient time appears not to have been afforded him for the study of the properties of animals, as this event took place previous to the for- mation of Eve ; and as for the notion of his acquiring knowledge by intuition, this is contradicted by the revealed fact that angels themselves acquire their knowledge by observation and stud}', though, no doubt, with great rapidity and certainty. The whole j of this transaction was supernatural; the beasts were " brought" to Adam, and it is probable that he named them under a Divine suggestion. That his under- standing was, as to its capacity, deep and large be- yond any of his posterity, must follow from the per- fection in which he was created ; and his acquisitions of knowledge would, therefore, be rapid and easy. It was, however, in moral and religious truth, as being of the first concern to him, that we are to suppose the excellency of his knowledge to have consisted. " His reason would be clear, his judgment uncorrupted, and his conscience upright and sensible." The best knowl- edge would, in him, be placed first, and that of every other kind be made subservient to it, according to its relation to that. The apostle adds to knowledge "righteousness and true holiness;" terms which ex- press, not merely freedom from sin, but positive and ■ active virtue.
Sober as these views of man's primitive state are, I it is not, perhaps, possible for us fully to conceive of so exalted a condition as even this. Below this stand- i ard it could not fall ; and that it implied a glory, and J dignity, and moral greatness of a very exalted kind, I is made sufficiently apparent from the degree of guilt j charged upon Adam when he fell ; for the aggravating j circumstances of his offence may well be deduced from the tremendous consequences which followed. I (6.) As to Adam's moral perfection, it has sometimes | been fixed at an elevation which renders it exceed- ingly difficult to conceive how he could fall into sin at all. On the other hand, those who deny the doc- trine of our hereditary depravity, delight to represent Adam as little superior in moral perfection and capa- bility to his descendants. But if we attend to the passages of Holy Writ above quoted, we shall be able, on this subject, to ascertain, if not the exact degree of his moral endowments, yet that there is a certain standard below which they cannot be placed. Gen- erally, he was made in the image of God, which, we have already proved, is to be understood mora!/// as well as naturally. To whatever extent it went, it nec- essarily excluded all which did not resemble God ; it was a likeness to God in "righteousness and true holiness," whatever the degree of each might be, and excluded all admixture of unrighteousness and unho- liness. Man, therefore, in his original state, was sin- less, both in act and in principle.
4. The rabbis and the Arabians relate many absurd traditions about Adam's personal beauty, endowments, etc., and such are still current among the Eastern na- tions. An account of many of them may be found in Bayle (s. v.\
5. That Adam was a type of Christ is plainly af-
ADAM
ADAMI
firmed by Paul, who calls hiin "the figure of him ■who was to come." Hence our Lord is sometimes call- ed, not inaptly, the second Adam. This typical rela- tion stands sometimes in similitude, sometimes in con- trast. Adam was formed immediately by God, as was the humanity of Christ. In eacli the nature was spotless, and richly endowed with knowledge and true holiness. Both are seen invested with dominion over the earth and all its creatures ; and this may ex- plain the eighth Psalm, where David seems to make the sovereignty of the first man over the whole earth, in its pristine glory, the prophetic symbol of the do- minion of Christ over the world restored. Bej'ond these particulars fancy must not carry us ; and the typical contrast must also be limited to that which is stated in Scripture or supported by its allusions. Adam and Christ were each a public person, a federal head to the whole race of mankind ; but the one was the fountain of sin and death, the other of righteous- ness and life. By Adam's transgression " many were made sinners" (Rom. v, 1-1-19). Through him, "death passed upon all men, because all have sinned" in him. But he thus prefigured that one man, by whose right- eousness the "free gift comes upon all men to justifi- cation of life." The first man communicated a living soul to all his posterity ; the other is a quickening Spirit, to restore them to newness of life now, ami t<> raise them up at the last day. By the imputation of the first Adam's sin, and the communication of his fallen, depraved nature, death reigned over those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans- gression ; and through the righteousness of the sec ond Adam, and the communication of a divine nature by the Holy Spirit, favor and grace shall much more abound in Christ's true followers unto eternal life. — Watson, Tkeol. Diet. s. v. ; Hunter, Sac. Biog. p. 8 ; Williams, Characters of 0. T. i ; Kurtz, Hist, of Old Cor. § 21, 22. See Fall and Redemption.