BRIEF THOUGHTS CONCERNING LIFE AND DEATH.
THE NATURE OF THE LIFE GIVEN TO ADAM.
It is evident that Adam's right to live was conditional. If he obeyed God, he should live; if he transgressed, he must die. He was created for a certain purpose. It was that he might glorify God. Rev. iv, 11. If he should answer this design, he would never cease to live. If he did not answer it, he that created him, would reduce him to that condition from which he had been raised by creation. His probation therefore was to determine his right to existence. For before his existence should be confirmed to him, and established for eternal ages, he must show that he would answer the end for which he rose from the dust. He had a conditional existence. There were no seeds of death in his being. There was no tendency to disease and death. But there was no assurance that this should not at any moment be implanted within him, except that he faithfully obeyed God. His condition was not like ours, in that we have death in our very nature, and cannot escape it. Nor was he in the condition of the saints after the resurrection, because they have an unconditional life. Their probation is past. They have established the fact that they will answer the end for which they were created. But while Adam was on probation, God reserved this unconditional gift of life. He lived by obedience. But he was upon trial, to determine whether he should have unconditional life, or be reduced to that non-existence from which he arose. THE DEATH THREATENED ADAM.
The Judge who sentenced Adam was also the Lawgiver who had affixed the penalty of death to the violation of his commandment. The sentence of the law is therefore of necessity an exact exposition of the meaning of its penalty. It says nothing respecting “spiritual death,” or “everlasting pain;” but it does say, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen. iii, 19. The sentence cannot embrace more than the penalty, without injustice to Adam. It cannot include less, without trifling on the part of the Lawgiver. But does not the law demand his death the very day he sinned? It does threaten him in these words: “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” Gen. ii, 17. The execution of the sentence showed that the penalty was not fully inflicted for many years. The curse fell on him that very day; but he did not turn to dust for almost 1000 years. The threatening must mean one of two things. 1. Either that he should turn to dust the very day he sinned; or, 2. That the irrevocable sentence of death should that day pass on him. The first view we know is not true. The second is true. It seems to us to be a just exposition of the words of the Lawgiver. The marginal reading, “dying, thou shalt die,” is used also to show the meaning of the law, that his dying condition should begin with the curse upon him in the day of his transgression. This is all true, though it perhaps hardly covers the whole ground. His dying condition did begin indeed on that day, because the curse of God then fell upon him; but, to my mind, the law refers rather to the fact that the sentence of death was that day made irrevocable, than to the fact that it was actually executed. The subject is well illustrated by the case of Shimei, 1 Kings, ii, 37–42, where the terms used shed great light upon this subject. “Know for a certain, said Solomon, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die.” Verse 42. The penalty of death was made certain on that day; but its execution was at a later time. Adam was placed on trial, that he might establish a character worthy of the approbation of his Creator. He was an innocent being, but subjected to trial, that his virtue might be approved, and himself be confirmed in righteousness. He made a disastrous failure. Instead of becoming confirmed in virtue, he lost his innocence, and brought ruin upon himself. The first probation of Adam ended in failure. From being innocent, he became sinful. And in the very day of his sin, the sentence of death was passed upon him. He had become a sinner. His sin opened the door for death. And so death entered and passed upon all men. Adam had forfeited the right to live. He could transmit no higher life to his posterity than he possessed himself. Sin began its reign, and death has shared with it the empire of the world. Sin entered our world by the act of the first man. Death came by sin. Sin has reigned unto death ever since. Yet mankind have sought to make death the beginning of our immortal existence. And in the estimation of the vast multitude, it is the door into the eternal world. Many even think death to be one of the greatest boons ever conferred on mankind. So the last enemy becomes transformed into a messenger of joy, a servant sent by God to transport men to his presence. But how far is this from the truth. It is simply the close of human existence. It is the end of all consciousness till life is given back again. Sin is the cause of death. Death cannot be the door of Paradise. It is not the entrance upon a higher sphere of life. It is only the terminus of that life which we now possess. MANKIND GIVEN A SECOND PROBATION.
The first probation of mankind was while they were yet innocent, that they might prove themselves, while under trial, worthy to live. When this had ended in failure, and death became their inevitable portion, then God granted to them a second opportunity to establish a virtuous character. He gave them ground of hope, even though the life that remained to them was a dying life, and though their original innocence was gone. In the promise of One that should bruise the serpent's head, he held out the hope of recovery from the degradation of sin. This second probation is to recover the ground which was lost in the first, and to establish what the first one failed to establish. In other words, it is to recover man's lost innocence, and to establish a righteous character by acts of obedience in the midst of powerful temptations to sin. The first Adam lost the ground. It only can be recovered by the help of the second. The failure of the first Adam brought death upon mankind. They die now, not as the consequence of their own sins, but as that of Adam's. But having probation granted a second time, and each man being upon probation for himself, each one shall either form a virtuous character, and at the end have eternal life granted to him, or each man must for his own sins die the second death. The fact that Christ interposes to attempt the rescue of lost man, makes it as necessary to punish those who neglect or despise his salvation, as to punish Adam for his sin. The failure of the first probation involved the first death. The second probation involves the second death to all who fail. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. But those who despise that salvation, shall find themselves involved in a much more awful ruin than that incurred by Adam's failure. The second probation involves the judgment of all mankind, the resurrection of the wicked to damnation, and the infliction of the second death.