Ofthe Creaturer, and the Condition ~by Solomo11, Ecchj: 2, ·~.) planted by God himfelt, the befi Gardinerfor sk.ll BooK If. tl.at ever was, (and therefore often cnll'd in E:ukiel, The Gardr11 of God) V""V""-1 and fo, furr:ifht with all the choiccfi Rarities and Glories of the whole Earth brought thither togethtr (which in all other places were but thinly fpnnk. led ): feated in a s~il fertile and pleafant beyond expreflion' and therefore called<['aradtjr, 1rJ1.7' i;•x~., as being the Garden ofGardens, And the great– eft Monarch of .171fyria is compared but to one of the Trees of this Garden as other Princes that en'vied him are compared to other Trees/ Ezrk. ·j:6 / 8. And then God gave him a Soul, able to fcirch into, and fo; to knowj ;h~ Natures of all the Creatures, (for he gave N•mes to them all) which (as Pla. to faid of him who firfi did this) argued him to be Sapitntij/imm; and much more able than Solomo11 was he to difcern of all things , and fo, m fee God clearly in each of them; whom then lookiog into his heart, he found by the Covenant of Works (as before he hadtafted hts favour in ~ll the Creatures) to ~e hiJGod: From whence 1ffued an ~mm1xed peace and JOY, fuch as fully fmsfied h1s heart ma fcllowfhrp wrth h1m, as thus known to be hu chiefe£! Good, joyned with a Promife of having this God: to be for ever his, whiUl he lhould thus continue to obey him. The Promife to him was, That he fbeuld ltvr by doi11g: by which was meant, not only not to dyf, but to live to a life made up of nothing but of comforts and contentmcnts. His htt.rf did livr as the l'hrafe is, Pjal. 69. j2. And befidesthis, he feeing and tafiingGod; love and goodnefs in and by all the Creatures, he was made capable of a fu. peradded Fellowlhip with God, which at times he was pleafed to vouchfafe him by Revela'tions, io Vtfions and Apparitions, wherein God talked wzth bim, (as he did with the Patriarchs after him) as appeareth in his Story, Gen. 2d and jd Ch,zpters: By which he was refrefhed and cheered, and alfo in· ftruded further, than limply by God enjoyed in, and by the Creatures. And furely we have now t aken tile height of that his happinefs. Now this Condition of his, infinitely furpaffed the be1l fiare that fince the Fall ever was, or c•n be foppofed to be on Earth. Since Sin fubjelled both the Creature to vaniry, and Us to vexation of Spirit; there never was the l1ke enjoyed by any Son nfMan. Yea, take but the contentment h.: took in the Creatures, and his Pleafures mufi needs as much exceed thefe which now men have, as the Plcafuresof a man , found and in perfell health , do exceed thorcof a defparately fick man, who wants all relifi1; as we now are faid to be, Ecclej. 5· 17, by reafon of Lufts within us, (as So/omo11 compates it). But befides, 1he Creatures now are but a Husk . as they were to the Prodigal (who was the Type of Sinners) Luke 15. whereas then, God was as the Kernel of them, end with his tavour tafied in them, fill'd them with a tranf· cendent fweetnefs. Neither" as there then, any crofs accident added to this Emptinefs : No flings ofConfcience to caufe any fadnefs in the midft ofminh; no contrary ·Pailions to all ay the Pleafures then enjoyed; but all in Man was fubjeCled unto Reafon, and that unto God. Heenjoyed aperfect peace and fecurity , and a Condition {o happy, that God delighted himfelf therein when accomplifhed, and kept a day of Refi in memory thereof: which E· fiate of his the fain Angels did envy and malign. And Man himfclf could not but think this World, and his Condition in it good enough'; nor knew he how any thing could be beyond it. Now , notwithfianding all this that bath, or may be faid of it, thisis the Po(itio/J which I 0Jal! endeavour toatTert and e(\oblifh' THATA'DAMS beft KNOWLEDGE and EN10TMENTw44itift· riour, andof a lowerrrmk, thrm i< that ' KNOWLE<JJGE and FELLOW· SHI-P with G<Jd, which WE IN CHRISt, through FAITH, do hm mjoy, i11that Ejlattof Gract which tht Gofptl puttttb us into. . Than INhich, (if well el\ablifht) nothing will more tend to magnifie the Grace of God in Chrift; and will abundantly ferve to heighten our apprehen· fions about Heavens Glory, when we fhall confider how infinitely tranfcendent that happinefs muft needs be, which God in ~he Enddoth beyond all this, ad· vance us unto. Now
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