$UESTION VIII. 967 as well as upon himself. All that appears as narrative and real fact in thebible, might be represented in the springs and causes thereof to Adam, so far as God pleased. V. As Adam was under a law Whose sanction threatened mortality and death upon disobedience, and there was a symbol or seal of it, viz. the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; Gen, ii. 16, 17, so it is most highly probable, or rather certain, that God favoured him witha covenant of life, and a promise of life and immortality upon his obedience, because there was another tree appointed to be a symbol or seal cg this covenant and promise, that is, the tree of lfe : So that if he had not sinned against God he should have eat of that tree and been established in im- mortality. Gen. ii. 9. as Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree, &c. the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil ;" the one to be a seal of the promise of life upon his obedience, the other a seal of the threatening of death on his disobedience : And therefore after his sin God would not suffer him to taste of the tree of life. Gen. iii. 22, 24. " Now lest he put forth his hand andtake of the tree of life, and live for ever,God drove out the man from the garden." And we may suppose this tree of life did not merely signify the confirmation of Adam, in life and immortality if he had con- tinued obedient, but that it also included some advance òf hap- piness since the fruits of this very tree are made use ofin the New Testament, particularly Rev. xxii. 2. to signify the advan- ced delights and satisfactions which truechristians shall enjoy in heaven by the grace and salvation of Jesus Christ. It may also be observed here, that some ingenious and ration- al divines have supposed, that each of these two trees, viz, that of knowledge and that of life, bore fruits naturally suited to their federal or sacramental design : That the fruit of the tree of knowledge beingpoisonous, would convey into the blood of the eater such juices as should irritate irregular appetites and pas- sions should raise them to an immoderate degree, andshould also vitiate the vital powers of man with diseases, and by degrees bring him down to death. And that the fruit of the tree of life being suited to maintain the vital principles of, animal nature, should keep the flesh and blood in a temperate state of health, and preserve the appetites and passions in that moderation; as to be always subject to reason and within the rules of innocence : And that it had also some latent virtue, to heal all manner of dis- orders which could prossibly come upon human nature, if any could come, in a state of innocence and virtue. It is described as a plant both of healing and of immortality ; Rev. xxii. 2. And God would not suffer Adam, who was guilty of death, to taste of it after his fall, lest he should raise some false hope a 2
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