Sect. III. (

the Living And because he obferved, by what God had faid, that Deliverance and Life was to be by the Seed of the Woman, he therefore remarks, that he is the Mother of all Living, and thereupon gives her a new Name, calls her Chavah, LIFE, Gen. iii. 20.

There is a great deal of Evidence, that this is the Occafion of Adam's giving his Wife her new Name. This was her new Honour, and the greatest Honour, at least in her present State, that the Redeemer was to be of her Seed. New Names were wont to be given for fomething that was the Perfon's peculiar Honour. So it was with regard to the new Names of Abraham, Sarah, and Ifrael. Dr. T. himself obferves *, that they who are faved by Chrift, are called the Livers, (wTES 2 Cor. iv. 11. the Living, or they that live. So we find in the Old Teftament, the Righteous are called by the Name of the Living, Pfal. Ixix. 28. Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living, and not be written with the Righteous. If what Adam meant by her being the Mother of all Living, was only her being the Mother of Mankind; and gave her the Name Life upon that Account; it were much the most likely that he would have given her this Name at firft; when God first united them, under that Bleffing, Be fruitful and multiply, and when he had a Prospect of her being the Mother of Mankind in a State of Immortality, living indeed, living and never dying. But that Adam fhould at that Time give her only the Name of Iba, and then immediately on that melancholy Change, by their coming under the Sentence of Death, with all their Pofterity, having now a new awful Prospect of her being the

*Note annexed to § 287.

Mother

Mother of Nothing but a dying Race, all from Generation to Generation turning to Duft, through her Folly I fay, that immediately on this, he fhould change her Name into Life, calling her now the Mother of all living, is perfectly unaccountable. Befides, it is manifeft, that it was not her being the Mother of all Mankind, or ber Relation as a Mother, which fhe ftood in to her Pofterity, but the Quality of those the was to be the Mother of, which was the Thing Adam had in View, in giving his Wife this new Name; as appears by the Name itself, which fignifies Life. And if it had been only a natural and mortal Life which he had in View, this was Nothing diftinguishing of her Pofterity from the Brutes; for the very fame Name of living ones, or living Things, is given from Time to Time in this Book of Genefis to them: As in Chap. i. 21, 24, 28. Chap. ii. 19. Chap. vi. 19. vii. 23. and viii. 1. and many other Places in the Bible.And befides, if by Life the Quality of her Pofterity was not meant, there was nothing in it to diftinguish her from Adam; for thus fhe was no more the Mother of all living, than he was the Father of all living; and fhe could no more properly be called by the Name of Life on any fuch Account, than he: But Names are given for Diftinction. Doubtless Adam took Notice of fomething diftinguifhing concerning her, that occa→ fioned his giving her this new Name. And I think, it is exceeding natural to fuppofe, that as Adam had given her her first Name from the Manner of her Creation, fo he gave her her new Name from Redemption, and as it were new Creation, through a Redeemer, of her Seed: And that he fhould give her this Name from that which comforted him, with refpect to the Curse that

God

Se&t.III.

God had pronounced on him and the Earth, as Lamech named Noah, Gen. v. 29. Saying, This fame fhall comfort us concerning our Work, and Toil of our Hands, because of the Ground which the Lord bath curfed. Accordingly he gave her this new Name, not at her first Creation, but immediately after the Promife of a Redeemer, of her Seed. See Gen. iii. 15-20.

Now as to the Confequence which I infer from Adam's giving his Wife this Name, on the Intimation which God had given, that Satan fhould by her Seed be overthrown and difappointed, as to his malicious Defign, in that Deed of his which God then fpake of, viz. his tempting the Woman; Adam infers from it, that great Numbers of Mankind fhould be faved, whom he calls the Living; they fhould be faved from the Effects of this malicious Defign of the old Serpent, and from that Ruin which he had brought upon them by tempting their first Parents to Sin; and fo the Serpent would be, with refpect to them, disappointed and overthrown in his Defign. But how is any Death or Ruin, or indeed any Calamity at all, brought upon their Pofterity by Satan's Malice in that Temptation, if instead of that, all the Death and Sorrow that was confequent, was the Fruit of God's fatherly Love, and not Satan's Malice, and was an Inftance of God's free and fovereign Favour, fuch Favour as Satan could not poffibly foresee? And if Multitudes of Eve's Pofterity are faved, from either spiritual or temporal Death, by a Redeemer, of her Seed, how is that any Difappointment of Satan's Defign, in tempting our firft Parents? How came he to have any fuch Thing in View, as the Death of Adam's and Eve's Pofterity, by tempting them to

Sin,

Sin, or any Expectation that their Death would be the Confequence, unless he knew that they were included in the Threatening?

Some have objected against Adam's Pofterity's being included in the Threatening delivered to Adam, that the Threatening itself was inconfiftent with his having any Pofterity: It being that he fhould die on the Day that he finned.

To this I anfwer, that the Threatening was not inconfiftent with his having Pofterity, on two Ac

counts:

Thofe Words, In the Day thou eateft thereof thou shalt furely die, according to the Ufe of fuch like Expreffions among the Hebrews, do not fignify immediate Death, or that the Execution fhall be within twenty-four Hours from the Commiffion of the Fact; nor did God by those Words limit himself as to the Time of executing the threatened Punishment; but that was ftill left to God's Pleasure. Such a Phrafe, according to the Idiom of the Hebrew Tongue, fignifies no more than these two Things:

1. A real Connection between the Sin and the Punishment. So Ezek. xxxiii. 12, 13. The Righteoufness of the Righteous fhall not deliver him IN THE DAY of his Tranfgreffion. As for the Wickednefs of the Wicked, He shall not fall thereby IN THE DAY that he turneth from his Wickedness: Neither fhall the Righteous be able to live IN THE DAY THAT HE SINNETH: But for bis Iniquity that he hath committed, HE SHALL DIE for it. Here it is faid, that in the Day he finneth, he fhall not be able to live, but he fhall die; not

fignifying

Sect. III. S

fignifying the Time when Death fhall be executed upon him, but the Connection between his Sin and Death; fuch a Connection as in our prefent common Ufe of Language is fignified by the Adverb of Time, When; As if One fhould fay, "According to the Laws of our Nation, fo long as a Man behaves Himself as a good Subject, he may live; but When he turns Rebel, he must "die:" Not fignifying the Hour, Day, or Month in which he must be executed, but only the Connection between his Crime and Death.

66

66

2. Another Thing which feems to be fignified by fuch an Expreffion, is, that Adam should be exposed to Death for one Tranfgreffion, without waiting on him to try him the fecond Time. If he eat of that Tree, he thould immediately fall under Condemnation, though afterwards he might abstain ever so strictly. In this Respect the Words are much of the fame Force with thofe Words of Solomon to Shimei, 1 Kings ii. 37. For it shall be that ON THE DAY that thou goeft out, and paffeft over the Brook Kidron, thou shalt know for "certain, that thou fhalt furely die.". Not meaning, that he should certainly be executed on that Day, but that he should be affuredly liable to Death for the first Offence, and that he should not have another. Trial to fee whether he would go over the Brook Kidron a fecond Time.

And then befides,

II. If the Words had implied, that Adam fhould die that very Day, within 24 or 12 Hours, or that Moment that he tranfgreffed, yet it will by no Means follow, that God obliged himself to execute the Punishment in its utmoft Extent on that

Day.