idea of them.

II.

I knew a man (fays he) DISC. "who was caught up into Paradise." Our Lord, giving the penitent thief to underftand, that his forrows would foon be at an end, and he should pafs, with his Saviour, into a place of reft and joy, uses the fame expreffion -" This day shalt thou be with "me in Paradise." The beloved disciple, who was frequently in the spirit tranflated to those celeftial mansions which Chrift is gone to prepare for us, gives a more particular and extended description of them. But how? By bringing to our view all Eden, it's waters and plantations, together with those seen by Ezekiel, in his vision of the new temple. "He fhewed me a pure "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, " and of the Lamb.-And of either fide "of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and

yielded her fruit every month; and the "leaves of the tree were for the healing of "the nations.-To him that overcometh "will I give to eat of the tree of life, " which

E 2

DISC. " which is in the midft of the Paradife

II.

"of God.-Bleffed are they that do his "commandments, that they may have

66

right to the tree of life—And the spirit "and the bride fay, Come. And let him "that heareth fay, Come. And let him "that is athirst come; and whofoever will «let him take the waters of life freely.” In these paffages, the divine fcenery is evidently borrowed from objects once really existing in the terrestrial Paradise, and employed to aid our conceptions, in apprehending celeftial glories. If, therefore, we are taught, that heaven refembles the Garden of Eden, it seems fair and reasonable to conclude, that the Garden of Eden refembled heaven, and was, from the beginning, intended fo to do; that, like the temple under the law, and the church under the gofpel, it was, to it's happy poffeffors, a place chofen for the refidence of God; a place defigned to represent and furnish them with ideas of heavenly things; a place facred to contemplation and devotion; in one word, that it was the primitive

temple

temple and church, formed and confe- DISC. crated for the ufe of man, in his ftate of

innocence. There, undisturbed by care, and as yet unaffailed by temptation, all his faculties perfect, and his appetites in subjection, he walked with God, as a man walketh with his friend, and enjoyed communion with heaven, though his abode was upon earth. He ftudied the works of God, as they came fresh from the hands of the workmaster, and in the creation, as in a glass, he was taught to behold the glories of the Creator. Trained, in the school of Eden, by the material elements of a visible world to the knowlege of one that is immaterial and invifible, he found himfelf excited by the beauty of the picture, to aspire after the tranfcendent excellence of the divine original. This facred Garden the first Adam by tranfgreffion loft; but all the bleffings, fignified and represented by it, have been, through the fecond Adam, restored to his pofterity. In our ftead, he fubjected himself to the vengeance of "the flaming fword,” and regained

E 3

II.

DISC. gained for us an entrance into Eden. For, II. when he overcame the fharpness of

"death, he opened the kingdom of heaven "to all believers." He is himfelf "the "Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise "of God;" and, by the effufion of his Spirit, he gives us to drink "rivers of

living water." In his church here below, he has all along communicated, and ftill communicates his gifts, by external facraments, which ferve at once as figns, as means, and as pledges: but, admitted to the church above, we fhall fee and tafte them, as they are. Thou," O Lord Jefu, "fhalt fhew us," for thou only canft now fhew us" the path of LIFE," the "way to "the tree of life," and introduce us to the truth and fubftance of all that was fhadowed out by the blissful scenes of Eden; for "in thy prefence is the fulness of Joy, and "at thy right hand there are PLEASURES " for evermore."

DISCOURSE III.

THE TREE OF LIFE.

GENESIS II. Part of Verse 9.

The Tree of Life alfo in the midst of the Garden.

SOME

III.

OME arguments were offered upon a Disc. former occafion, tending to that prove, the Garden of Eden, laid out and planted by the hand of the Almighty, for the habitation of our firft parents, in a state of innocence and felicity, was of a figurative and facramental nature; that, like the temple under the law, and the church under the gospel, it was, to it's happy poffeffors, a place chofen for the refidence of God; a place defigned to reprefent, and furnish them with ideas of heavenly things; a place facred to contemplation and devotion. Among

E 4