And both are vocal in his praise by turns.
While thus their pow’rs in pleasing acts employ,
The social worship much augments their joy:
Their warm addresses to the sacred throne,
Ascend as incense, and bring blessings down.”
The relation between husband and wife is the strongest union that results from the highest obligations of nature. “Therefore,” said Adam, “shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Here we perceive, as Dr. Delany intimates, that Adam had a perfect idea of father and mother, before any existed; that he had clear ideas of the affection arising from that relation, before any children were born into the world: and yet perceived that the endearment arising from marriage should be stronger than these ties, so as to attach a man with warmer affection to his wife, than to those very parents to whom he was indebted for life. Now if the received doctrines of philosophy be true, that the senses are the inlets of ideas, and that we can have no ideas without objects: then we must conclude, that as he had these ideas, and had them not from nature, he must have received them from express revelation. Hence our Saviour, in his answer to the Pharisees, informs us, that the words pronounced by Adam on this occasion, were the declaration of God himself. “Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh.” These two shall be considered as one body, having no separate or independent interests: or, these two shall be for the production of one flesh; from their union a posterity shall spring, as exactly resembling themselves as they do each other. The Greek word προσκολληθησεται, translated one flesh, signifies shall be glued to her.
How happy must such a state be, where the parties married come up to the design of this sacred institution! Dr. Hunter observes, “What an important era in the life of Adam! What a new display of the Creator’s power, skill, and goodness! How must the spirit of devotion be heightened, now that man could join in social worship! What additional satisfaction in contemplating the frame, order, and course of nature, now that he possessed the most exalted of human joys, that of conveying knowledge to a beloved object! Now he could instruct Eve in the wonders of creation, and unfold to her their Maker’s nature, perfections, and will!“ Oh happy state! They are happy in the constitution of their nature,—being innocent, upright creatures; and in having their pure minds perfectly united in love and kindness to each other. They were happy in all their united acts of adoration and praise to their Creator,—exact harmony, unmixed delight, and untainted piety, residing in each breast! They lived in communion with God, enjoyed a transporting sense of his favor, walked in the light of his countenance, and were raptured in their meditations on the Divine glory!
We have here the first institution of marriage, and we see in it several things worthy of peculiar attention and regard. 1. God pronounces the state of celibacy not a good one: and the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone,” לבדו lebaddo only himself. It was neither for his comfort, who was formed for society, nor for the accomplishment of God’s purpose in the increase of mankind. Though he was created in the image of God, and enjoyed delightful intercourse with him, his solitary condition required a suitable companion. 2. God made the woman for the man; he was not made for her, but she was made for him, and derived, under God, her being from him. The apostle says, “Neither was the man created for the woman: but the woman for the man,” to be a suitable helper and comfort to him. And thus God has shown us, that every son of Adam should be united to a daughter of Eve to the end of the world. 3. God made the woman out of the man: as Adam was immediately from God, so Eve was immediately from Adam; “the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man:” made of a part of his body, taken out, not of his head, to show that she was not to exercise dominion over him; nor of his foot, to indicate that she must not be his slave; but of his side, to intimate that she needs his counsel and direction; from under his arm, to teach him that he must protect her; and near his heart, to tell him that he must love her as himself. The closest union, and the most affectionate attachment, should subsist in the matrimonial connection. The man should ever consider and treat the woman as a part of himself; and as no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and supports it, so should a husband evince the greatest tenderness and affection for his wife: and on the other hand, considering that the woman derived her being from man, and was made for him, therefore the wife should “see that she reverence her husband.” “For as man is the image and glory of God; so the woman is the glory of the man.” 4. God himself instituted the marriage union, and being appointed and established by him, it must be an honorable state. “Marriage is honorable in all,” being a Divine institution; and consequently suitable for persons of any rank, or employment, either civil or sacred. The corruption of manners has strangely perverted this original purpose and institution of God. However, he will never accommodate his morality to the times, nor to the inclinations of men. What was settled at the beginning, he judged most worthy of his glory, most profitable for man, and most suitable to his nature. 5. Marriage was instituted immediately on the creation of man and formation of the woman; whence it is evident that God never designed that mankind should be preserved, and the earth peopled any other way. And as the marriage union took place while man was in a state of innocence, upright and pure, just such as his Creator made him, it is therefore suitable to the greatest purity both of heart and life. 6. The design of this institution was, that man and woman might be mutually helpful to each other, in all the necessities and uses of life partaking of the cares and labors of each other, reciprocally sharing in each other’s delights and pleasures, and combining together to love, serve, and please God.
The situation of Adam and Eve is worthy of our attention. The sacred historian says, “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” The word עדן Eden, signifying pleasure or delight, is expressive of their excellent residence. The Septuagint render the passage thus: εφυτευσεν ὁ Θεος παραδεισου εν Εδεμ, God planted a Paradise in Eden. The Fathers of the Church; says Huet, both Latin and Greek, all the Interpreters of Scripture, ancient and modern, and all the Orientals, do agree, that Eden is a local name taken from the beauty of the place. The Garden or Paradise was situated in Eden, being two different places, as the whole from its part. “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. And the name of the first is Pison; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.” The most probable account of the situation of the terrestrial Paradise, says Dr. A. Clarke, is that given by Hadrian Reland. He supposes it to have been in Armenia, near the sources of the great rivers, Euphrates, Tigris, Phasis, and Araxes. He thinks Pison was the Phasis, a river of Cholchis, emptying itself into the Euxine Sea, where there is a city called Chabala, the pronunciation of which is nearly the same with that of Havilah, or חוילה Chavilah, according to the Hebrew, the vau ו being changed in Greek to beta β. This country was famous for gold, whence the fable of the Golden Fleece, attempted to be carried away from that country by the heroes of Greece. The Gihon he thinks to be the Araxes, which runs into the Caspian Sea, both the words having the same signification, namely, a rapid motion. The land of Cush, washed by the river, he supposes to be the country of the Cussæi of the ancients; a nation of Asia, destroyed by Alexander to appease the manes of Hephæstion. The Hiddekel all agree to be the Tigris; and the other river, Phrat, or פרת Perath, to be the Euphrates. All these rivers rise in the same tract of mountainous country, though they do not proceed from one head.
Man, says Faber, was placed by the Deity in the garden of Paradise. The beauty of its scenery, the salubrity of its climate, the variety and excellence of its fruits, all contributed to the beatitude of the first pair, and tended to elevate their thoughts to that Being, who was the author and contriver of such numerous blessings. Trained, says Bishop Horne, in the school of Eden by the material elements of a visible world, to the knowledge of one that is immaterial and invisible, Adam found himself excited by the beauty of the picture, to aspire after the transcendent excellence of the Divine original.