PART VI. NAME ADAM GAVE HIS WIFE. GOD REMINDS MAN OF THE FALL. THE

CHERUBIM.

I. V. 20. _And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she is the mother of all living._

We have heard above that it was inflicted as a punishment upon the woman, that she should be under the power of the man. That power to which she is thus made subject is here described anew. It is not God who here gives to Eve her name, but Adam, her lord; just in the same manner as before he gave to all the animals their names, as creatures put under his dominion. No animal devised its name for itself. Every one received its appellation, and the dignity and glory of its name, from its lord, Adam. So to this day, when a woman marries a man, she loses the name of her own family and is called after the name of her husband. On the other hand it would be a thing quite monstrous, if the husband should wish to be called by the name of his wife. This therefore is a sign and further confirmation of that punishment of subjection which the woman procured by her sin. In the same manner also, if the husband changes his place of residence the woman is compelled to follow him as her lord. So various are the traces in nature which put us in mind of original sin and of our numerous calamities on its account.

And the name which Adam gave to his wife is a name full of joy and delight. For what is better, or more precious, or more delightful, than life? There is a well-known poetic line--

_Num tu bona cuncta_ _Ut redimas vitam recuses?_ To save thy life, what wouldst thou not resign? The world, with all its wealth, if they were thine!

For neither gold, nor gems nor the glory of the whole world can be compared with the preciousness of life. This Christ intimates, Math. 6:25; 16:26. Hence the Jews generally give their children names taken from roses, flowers, jewels, etc. The name of Eve however was not taken from the preciousness of anything worldly, but from life itself, which in value exceeds all things. But Adam adds also his reason for giving this name to his wife. "Because she is the mother of all living." It is evident therefore from this passage that Adam, by receiving the Holy Spirit, was wonderfully enlightened; and that he believed and understood the word spoken by God concerning the Seed of the woman, which should bruise the head of the serpent; and that he therefore wished to signalize his faith, and to adorn it by the name which he gave his wife, the name the like of which he had not given to any other creature. It is equally evident also that he moreover wished, by this name given to his wife, to cherish his own hope of a future Seed, to confirm his own faith and to comfort himself by the belief of a future and eternal life, even at the very time when all nature had been rendered subject to death.

For if Adam had not apprehended all this by the faith of the life to come, his mind could not have been raised to such an assurance of it, as to give his wife a name so full of joy. As therefore he did give such a name to his wife, it is perfectly evident that his mind was lifted up by the Holy Ghost to this confidence in the remission of sins by the Seed of Eve, whom he therefore named Eve, in order that the name might be a memorial of that divine promise by which he himself was raised anew unto life and by which he left the hope of an eternal life to his posterity. This hope and this faith he imprinted as it were on the forehead of his wife in the brightest colors by the name Eve which he gave her; just in the same manner as those who are delivered from their enemies erect trophies and other glad memorials to commemorate the victory which they have gained.

But perhaps you will inquire, how Adam called Eve the mother of all living, when she was as yet a virgin and had never borne a child. Adam, we here again see, did this to testify his faith in the divine promise; because he believed that the human race would not be cast away nor destroyed, but would be saved. This same name Eve therefore embraces also a prophecy of the grace that should come; and it indicates that consolation, which is necessary under the perpetual trials of this human life and against all the temptations of Satan. It is very possible also that the joyful giving of this name to Eve, which as we have said is a most beautiful proof of the faith of Adam and of the recreation of his spirit unto a new life, formed a reason why the holy fathers in after ages held that day, on which their children were circumcised and received their names as a more glad and joyful festival than the day they were born; to the intent that such festival might forever commemorate this giving of the first name by Adam, when he called his wife Eve. But now follows another kind of memorial quite the contrary to this; a memorial of sorrow, not of joy.

V. 21. _And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them._

This is by no means so joyful and delightful information as was that of Adam giving to his wife the name of Eve. For, although the Lord had said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" yet Adam consoled himself by this name which he gave to his wife that the life which he had lost should be restored by the promised Seed of the woman, which should bruise the serpent's head and destroy the destroyer.

II. Here Adam and Eve are clothed with garments by the Lord God himself, in order that, being perpetually reminded by this clothing as a lasting memorial, they might reflect, as often as they looked at their garments, upon their awful and miserable fall from the highest felicity into the extremest calamity and wretchedness; to the intent that they might ever afterwards fear to sin and exercise continual repentance; yet looking for the remission of sins by the promised Seed. And this is the reason no doubt the Lord God did not cover them with leaves nor with that wool which grows on trees, but clothed them with the skins of slaughtered animals to remind them that they were now mortal and subject to certain death.

As therefore the name Eve contained in it the joyful hope of life, even of eternal life; so these skins were a memorial of sin passed and sin to come; but a memorial also of all those calamities present and future, which that sin deserved. And indeed our nature has need of such memorials and perpetual admonitions. For we easily forget both past evils and past blessings. Hence it is that Peter says, "For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you," 2 Pet. 1:9, 12. For it is truly an awful expression of the apostle when he here intimates that some forget the remission of their sins, and after they have well believed draw back from their faith, and adorn not themselves with the most beautiful chain of Christian virtues which he enumerates, but indulge in covetousness, pride, envy, lust, etc. We in our day also have great need of this admonition, who experience all these burdens of these calamities under the papacy, lest we become ungrateful to our merciful God, as, alas! the greater part of the world do.

As a remedy therefore against this forgetfulness these skins were added as clothings for Adam and Eve, that they might be forever a sure sign, or memorial or admonition, whereby both they and all their posterity might be reminded of their most wretched condition. But in after ages, marvelous to say, the world began to grow mad in the matter of this very memorial of their calamity! For who can possibly describe the amount of study and expense men and women give to dress! Indeed it is so great that it can no longer be properly termed pleasure nor luxury, but madness; because, like asses created for bearing burdens of gold they seem rather to consider with how much gold they can load themselves, than with how much they can best adorn themselves. A superior kind of dress may be justly commended in certain cases; especially in more illustrious persons. But that rage for dress in all classes, which now prevails, cannot but offend the eyes of all good men. And if Adam himself could rise from his grave and behold this madness for raiment in all circles of society, I believe he would stand petrified with astonishment at the sight. For the clothing of skins, which Adam daily wore, daily reminded him of his sin and his lost felicity. Whereas we, on the contrary, clothe ourselves with splendid garments and indulge in luxury of dress, that we may testify to all men that we have not only forgotten the evils of the fall, from which we have been saved by the Seed of the woman, but the blessings also which we have received through him. We next find that the admonition which the Lord had given by the sign of the garments, he gave also in word.

V. 22. _And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:_

These words contain sarcasm and most bitter derision. Some inquire therefore why it is that God here deals so harshly with miserable Adam? How it is that, after he had been robbed of all his glory and had fallen into sin and death, he is goaded in addition to all this by his Maker with this most bitter reflection passed upon him. Was it not enough, they ask, that he should wear this visible sign which should perpetually remind him of his lost glory and his present calamity, but he must hear also in addition this audible word of the Lord God?

To this I reply, Adam had the promise of mercy given him, and with that he ought to have lived content. But in order that he might more deeply fear, and more carefully guard against all future sin, there is spoken to him this bitter memorial word also. For God foresaw what kind of men Adam's posterity would be; and therefore he puts this word into his mouth that he might preach it to his posterity, and might teach them as a warning that by wishing to become like God, he became like unto the devil; in order that they also, being thus warned, might not add to that sin of their first parents their own sins, and so depart still farther from God.

As before, by the clothing of skins, so now, by his word itself, God reminds our first parents both concerning their past and their future calamities. Not that God is delighted with Adam's sad case, for had it been so he would have given him no such admonition at all; but would have remained silent. But God willed that man should sigh after the restoration of that "image of God" which he had lost; and should therefore the more hate sin, which had been the cause of this awful calamity; and that Adam should admonish his posterity of what had been the consequence of his sin; that when, having been plundered of his reason by Satan, he thought he should become like God, he became like Satan himself.

On this passage also that great question is raised, why God, who is one, here speaks in the plural number? And whether there are more gods than one? And Nicholas of Lyra, with others, considers that these words are either spoken in the person of an angel or addressed to angels, "Is become as one of us;" that is, "Is become an angel." But this comment is too cold. For God does not here call himself an angel. Nor does the force of the expression lie in the word "one;" but rather in the pronoun "us." Wherefore we repudiate altogether this cold comment. For if these words are spoken in the person of an angel, it is certain that God did not speak them; but God did speak them. For the assertion of the text is, "And Jehovah God said."

Wherefore here again let us have recourse to the light of the Gospel. For this light as I have above observed illumines all these obscure passages of the Old Testament. And indeed if you will explain these words as having reference to the angels, such interpretations will not accord with that portion of the sacred narrative which precedes. For Satan above said, verse 5, "And ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." From this it is manifest that Adam and Eve really endeavored to become like God, not like an angel. Wherefore this passage cannot rightly be understood in any other way than as meaning equality with God!

This error of the Jews therefore concerning the reference of the present passage to angels, which Lyra also follows in his interpretation, is exploded; and from this text, according to the letter, the doctrine is established that there is a _plurality_ in the _Godhead_, which doctrine was also determined above, Gen. 1:26, where God said, "Let _us_ make man in our image." All these passages argue, in the first place, for the unity of the divine essence. For the uniform expression in them all is, "And God said." And in the next place, they argue also for the plurality, or according to the general term used, a _Trinity_ of persons in the Godhead. All these mysteries however are more fully revealed in the New Testament. As for instance, when Christ commands believers to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The Three Divine Persons in the Godhead therefore were thus at once shadowed forth at the very beginning of the world, and were afterwards clearly understood by the prophets, and at length fully revealed in the Gospel.

The meaning of this passage therefore stands perfectly plain, that the intent of Adam and Eve was to become like God or to secure his image. Now the image of the invisible God is the Son, "by whom all things consist," Col. 1:17. Wherefore Adam by his sin dashed against the very person of Christ, who is the true image of God. These great things are but briefly and obscurely set before us in this divine narrative. There is no doubt however that Adam himself drew from them numberless sermons for his family and posterity; in the same way as the prophets after him evidently contain various allusions to these mysteries and wrap them up in marvelous indications, which the Gospel finally reveals in open and bright manifestation.

It makes also for our interpretation of the present passage that the name of God used is Jehovah, which cannot signify any creature, being a name which is applied absolutely and only to the Creator himself. And what does the Creator here say? "Adam is become as one of _us_." Now here most assuredly neither our profession nor our faith will tolerate receiving these words as being spoken or as having reference to angels. For who will dare to say that God is one of the angels, or that an angel is one of the _us_, the ELOHIM? The glorious God is above all angels and over all creatures! How therefore can God make himself only equal to the angels!

We receive this passage therefore as a sure testimony of that article of our faith concerning the holy Trinity; that there is One God, and Three Divine Persons in the Godhead. Moses indeed seems here obscurely, but plainly and purposely, to intimate concerning the sin of Adam that his aim was to become like, not unto angels, but unto God. For if he had sinned against angels only, he would not have been condemned to death for such a sin. But because his sin was directly against the majesty of the Creator, by aiming to become like unto him and to do as that divine majesty did, therefore it was that so awful a punishment followed so awful a sin.

And as when a man is delivered from crucifixion every one will naturally remind him of the danger in which he was placed and will exhort him to guard against a like danger ever afterward; so, after Adam is restored to the hope of life through the divine promise, God admonishes him by the bitter irony contained in the text, not to forget his horrible fall nor ever again to attempt to equal God, in which he so awfully failed; but to humble himself before the divine Majesty and ever afterwards to guard with all his posterity against such a sin. For these things were not spoken to Adam only; they apply to us also, who, after being baptized and renewed by grace, ought to take heed with all watchfulness that we fall not back into our former ungodliness.

In like manner there is equally bitter sarcasm in the words, when God says, "And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." As if God could not by one mere nod prohibit Adam from touching the tree and also prevent him ever doing so! Moses next adds those terrible and terrifying words,

Vs. 23, 24. _Therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life._

The contents of this text are intended also for our rebuke and admonition; as Paul says, Rom. 15:4, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our sakes also." For there is great peril, lest forgetting our former sins we should be plunged into them again; as Christ also gives us warning, when he says, "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee," John 5:14. Peter also speaks in the spirit of warning, when he says, "It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire," 2 Pet. 2:22. The same admonition and warning are given by the same apostle elsewhere, when he says, "Having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins," 2 Pet. 1:9.

These and other passages of Scripture are all admonitions concerning guarding against future sin; because, as in diseases so in sins, the relapse is more difficult of cure than the original. Hence therefore Adam and his whole posterity are warned in so many various forms by the present portion of the sacred record of Moses! All is written in order that, after they have received the hope of eternal life by means of the promise given through the Seed of the woman, they might beware that they lose not that hope by sinning again; according to that remarkable parable of the house which was swept and garnished after Satan was cast out, which Satan again occupied, taking with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself.

It is to this end that the Lord uses so much bitterness in his address to our first parents. It is as if, in explaining himself, he should say, "I before forbade Adam and Eve to touch the tree of death;" but such was their impudent self-will, that they would not abstain from doing so even to their own destruction. Now, therefore, I must take all care that they approach not the "tree of life" also; for it may be they will not refrain from putting forth their hand on that also. Therefore I will so effectually prevent them from eating of this tree, that I will prohibit them from the use of any of the trees of paradise whatsoever. Wherefore I say unto them, "Go ye forth from the garden altogether, and eat the herb of the field, and whatsoever else of the kind the earth produceth. Ye shall hereafter not only eat no more of the tree of life, but ye shall not taste any other tree of paradise," etc.

This passage further shows that the trees of paradise were in no manner like those which the other part of the earth brought forth. Wherefore, even the food which Adam and Eve ate, after their ejection from paradise, reminded them, and still reminds their posterity, of their sin and of their most miserable condition, into which they have been hurled by their sin. In so many and various ways are our calamities depicted before our very eyes that even our clothing, independently of our destitution by nature of those spiritual gifts, the knowledge and worship of God, etc., perpetually remind us of those great calamities.

Here a question presents itself, whether, if God had permitted Adam to eat of the tree of life, Adam would by this food have overcome death in the same manner as by eating of the tree of death, he became subject to death; for the reasoning in each case seems to be parallel. The tree of death killed; and that by the Word, which said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The tree of life, therefore, by the power also of the same Word, gave life and preserved from death.

Lyra and others in their reply to this question say that this tree of life had indeed the power of preserving life for a length of time, but not forever; and therefore it could not have restored that life which was lost by sin. For Adam was not created with the design of his remaining in this corporal life forever; but he was designed to be translated from this corporal life and from this corporal nourishing of it into that spiritual life, for which he was ultimately designed and into which he would have been translated, if he had not sinned. Just in the same way as when a man is created a consul from his former private life, no death is taken into consideration in his being created to that office, but his glory and dignity alone are increased; so Adam, had not death intervened by his sin, would have changed his mortality for an immortality without any death at all; being translated from the life corporal to the life spiritual and eternal. This "tree of life" however, according to the view of Lyra, served only for the preservation of the corporal life. And therefore he interprets the present text, "Lest he should live an age;" that is, a life of long duration. Such is Lyra's opinion.

My understanding of the text however is different. My belief is, that if Adam had been admitted to eat of the tree of life he would have been restored to that life which he lost; so that he would not have afterwards died, but would have been simply translated from the life corporal to the life spiritual and eternal; for the text contains both these statements most clearly; that Adam was prohibited from eating of "the tree of life," that he might not be restored to the life which he had lost; and also, that if he had eaten of that tree he would have lived LEOLAM; that is, for an age or a length of time.

My rejection of the opinion of Lyra, however, is especially on the ground that he attributes the power of giving life to the nature of the tree itself simply; whereas it is quite certain that the tree possessed not this property of its own nature, but from the power of the Word absolutely. Just in the same manner as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had its peculiar property from the same Word. It did not kill, because its fruits themselves were deadly, poisonous or pestiferous; but because the Word, as a certain paper, was added to it; on which paper God had written, "In the day that thou eatest of this tree, thou shalt surely die," Gen. 2:17.

Wherefore, in the first place, to this tree of death there was attached spiritual death or the death of the soul; that is, disobedience. For after Adam and Eve had violated this commandment of God by sin, which commandment had continued effectual in them up to that time, they began to think thus, "Behold, God has forbidden us to eat of this tree; but what is that to us?" This contempt of the commandment was that poisoned hook, by which being firmly fixed in their throats Adam and Eve were utterly destroyed. For since the divine threatening was added to the commandment, therefore after eating it the fruit wrought in them death on account of their disobedience. The tree of death itself was not poisoned; but, as I have copiously explained before under the second chapter, it was the tree of divine worship, where man might testify, by his obedience in that worship, that he acknowledged, reverenced and feared his God. For God saw everything which he had made, and behold it was very good, Gen. 1:31. Wherefore, I have no doubt that this tree of life in the present passage derived its efficacy, as did the tree of death, from the Word. Therefore, since the Word rested in its power on that tree, if Adam had eaten of it, he would have been restored to the life which he possessed before his fall.

It was just thus also with the serpent, which Moses raised in the desert. It did not give or cause life by its own nature; for it was made of brass, as any other serpent might be made of the same metal to this day. But it was the Word, added to that serpent, which made it effectual to give life; because God commanded that serpent to be lifted up, and because he added this Word to it when lifted up, "Every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live," Num. 21:8. Now, if thou shouldst make a serpent of brass at his day, thou couldst not have this Word to add to it. Moreover, the cause of the healing did not lie in the act of the looking, but that cause was contained in the Word, by which God had commanded that those who were bitten should look to the serpent, to which commandment was also added the promise of healing to those who should look. But because the Rabbins understand not the nature of the Word, therefore they shamefully err and fail in their interpretation and declare the meaning to be, that the nature itself of these trees was death-giving or life-giving. For they understand not that all things therefore take place, _because_ God by his Word either _promises_ or _threatens_ that they shall so take place.

Our sophistic human reasoners trifle in the same way, when they argue upon the manner in which baptism justifies. For Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura consider that there is a certain power of effecting justification infused by God into the water when the infant is baptized; so that the water of the baptism, by its own virtue thus communicated, creates justification. We, on the contrary, affirm that the water of baptism is water, nothing else or better than that water which the cow drinks. But we affirm, that to this water, natural and simple in itself, is added the Word, "He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved," Mark 16:16. And again, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John 3:5. Now, if any one is inclined to call this Word, or this Promise, the power communicated to the water of baptism, I will not resist such a view of the sacred matter. But the mind of our sophists is quite different from this; for they will not assign this power to the Word; they argue concerning the element only; and they affirm that the water itself contains a peculiar power communicated to it of God. Scotus has expressed the matter more correctly in his definition of it, when he says that baptism is "a divine compact or covenant, resting on the element."

The Word therefore is in every case to be regarded and honored, that Word by which God holds and endues his creatures with efficacy; and a difference is ever to be made between the creature and the Word. In the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there are bread and wine; in baptism there is water. These are the mere creatures. But they are held in God's hand by the Word, and as long as the creature is thus apprehended by the Word, so long also doth it effect that which the Word promises.

And yet we would by no means be understood as favoring by these views the Sacramentarians, when we thus join together baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Baptism hath annexed to it the promise, that with the Holy Spirit it regenerates. In the Supper of the Lord, in addition to the promise of the remission of sins annexed to it, it has also this excellency: that with the bread and the wine there is also truly set forth the body and blood of Christ, as Christ himself says, "This is my body which is given for you;" and also, "This cup is the New Testament in my blood," Luke 22:19, 20. In the same manner it might also be said that the human nature itself in Christ does not redeem us. But because the human nature was corporally held fast by the divine nature, and Christ is both God and man in one person, therefore his redemption is all-availing; and therefore Christ is called the "Son of Man" and the Saviour.

The Pope has invented the "blessed water," "extreme unction" and numberless other like things, to which he has attributed the remission of sins. In all these cases ever think thus with thyself: Has God ever added to these things his Word of Command and his Word of Promise? And if the promise and the precept of God are not attached to them, immediately judge that they are idolatry and profaning of the name of God. But they will tell you that the prayers of the pious are added to them and that there exist holy examples, in imitation of which these things were constituted. But do thou regard neither the pious prayers, nor the holy examples, nor the intentions of those who invented or established these things. Look only at whether the precept and promise of God are attached to them; for the divine command and promise alone can endue creatures with a new power beyond that power which they of their own mere nature possess.

Thus "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was of its own nature good as a creature; but by means of the Word of God, added and attached to it, it became to man through his sin the poison not of his body only but of his soul. And in like manner, on the contrary, "the tree of life" had by means of the Word of God attached to it the power of preserving life, and it would have restored and preserved the life of Adam had God so permitted. But God being angry with Adam did not permit him to return to eat of that tree after his fall. And this repulsion from "the tree of life" and from paradise was not only intended to keep Adam under the continual memory of the sin which he had committed, but also because Adam had now a better promise given him, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the seed of the serpent; so that, although Adam was subjected to corporeal death, he yet retained the hope of an immortality through the Son of God. Just as an angry father, though he does not deprive his son of the right of his inheritance, yet chastises him and turns him out of doors.

It is thus the will of the Lord God therefore that man should be content with the hope of a better life than that in which Adam was first created. For even though Adam had eaten of the tree of life and had been restored thereby to his former life, he would not even then have been safe from Satan nor from the danger of falling again from that life by his temptation. God therefore hath prepared for man that state of hope in which we may live assured that through the blessed Seed of the woman we never can die an eternal death, although this corporeal life thus appointed for us may be filled with various afflictions. The words of the passage are the words of God, spoken ironically and in anger to Adam now justified, warning him to be more cautious of sin in the future and not to forget his past sins and calamities.

Moses moreover beautifully inverts the order of his words to the intent that he might more effectually admonish man of the things he had related before, where he said, "Jehovah God placed man in the garden of Eden that he might till it and guard it," Gen. 2:15. Here on the contrary, he says, "The Lord God sent man forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken." For God by Moses would have man to reflect that he was formed of the ground and was stationed in a most delightful place; but that by means of his sin he was cast out of that most delightful place and carried back to the ground from which he was first created. By this striking inversion of the facts of his record, Moses indicates the manner in which God not only warned Adam and all his posterity against all future sin, but reminded them also of their great sins past. Now therefore Adam, whose appointed station before was in paradise, a place separate from all the beasts of the earth and in which peculiar food was prepared for him, is cast out into a place in common with the beasts and also has his general food in common with them.

Nor is Adam cast out of paradise only, but a guard also is set at the entrance of the place that he might not by any means be able to enter it again. Just as watches are set to guard citadels and armies. Moses therefore by the copiousness and variety of speech he here uses would show, that this expulsion of Adam from paradise was in the highest degree necessary unto our salvation; that, being warned thereby against sin, we might live in the fear of God, ever watching against temptations from Satan, who worked so much evil to our nature by the sin of our first parents.

Concerning the original word, MIKKEDEM, we have spoken above and have shown that it signifies "from the east" or "in the eastern quarter." The meaning of Moses is, that paradise had a way or gate on the eastern side, by which there was an entrance into this garden. Thus also, in the building of the temple described by Ezekiel, mention is made of a gate of the sanctuary, which looked toward the east, so that we may conclude that this temple was a certain form of paradise; for paradise, had nature remained innocent, would have been as it were the temple of the whole world. At this entrance therefore toward the east, which alone led to paradise, Cherubim were placed or angels which might guard this way, that neither Adam nor any of his posterity might ever enter paradise again. The Lord did these things after the manner of men as a terror, in order that there might thus exist a lasting memorial of so awful a fall.

Moreover these Cherubim had not iron wherewith to drive back those who should approach, but LAHAT, that is, "the blaze," or "the flame" of a turning or brandished sword; a flame like the flash of lightning which is uncertain in its motion and dazzles the eyes. This flame or flash of fire has the form of a sword, continually waved or brandished. Just, for instance, as we have it represented that cloven tongues like as of fire appeared resting upon each of the apostles on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:3. The same appearance do flying dragons also exhibit. In this manner it was also that the angels here spoken of unceasingly emitted flames, which flashed in all directions so that no one might by any possibility approach.

The absurdities of Origen on this passage we utterly reject, nor are we at all more pleased with the triflings of Lyra, who will have it, that by the "flaming sword" we are to understand the sinner, who for a sin unto death has ceased to be meritoriously, though not numerically one of the church militant. And he says, that the "flaming sword" being represented as "turning every way" signifies that if true repentance follow such sins a man is deservedly recalled into the church. For ourselves however, as we have all along maintained that paradise was a real and visible garden in a certain spot of the earth, so we explain the present text in a simple and historical sense; that this "sword" was a real and visible "flame" or "a flash of fire" in the form of a sword, by the turnings or brandishings of which every way the Cherubim or angels terrified and drove away Adam and his posterity, so that they dared not approach this garden.

And paradise was kept closed by this guard of angels until the Deluge, to the end that there might exist a sure memorial of this miserable and calamitous fall of Adam to all his posterity; in the same manner as in after ages the Lake of Sodom and the pillar of salt remained as memorials throughout the posterity of those generations. And indeed our insensibility and unconcern need such monuments of the wrath of God. After the Deluge however paradise, together with its angels and these brandishings of their sword, disappeared. For each rising generation had its monuments of the divine wrath, which were nearer to them and the better calculated to alarm the self-secure, although even this avails nothing with the wicked.

III. Thus have we in our Commentary on these first three chapters of the book of Genesis gone through the history of the whole creation. In what manner the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, were created; in what manner paradise was created of God, that it might be the palace of man, the lord of the whole world, who had dominion over all things therein; in what manner God instituted a temple for man in paradise, which was appointed for acts of divine worship; namely, the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," by his conduct concerning which Adam might testify his obedience to his God. We have also heard in these three chapters the history of those things which were done by man in paradise; how woefully he fell and sinned against God and lost all this glory of his innocence and natural immortality.

All these subjects I have treated with plainness and simplicity, according to the measure of my gift; giving them their plain historical sense, which is the true and genuine meaning. For the principal thing we have to do in interpreting the holy Scriptures is to gather from them, to some degree of certainty, their plain and simple sense; especially, surrounded as we are with such a variety of interpreters, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. For nearly all these not only pay no regard to the plain historical sense of the Scripture, but even confound it by foolish allegories and bury it under the confusion they themselves cause.

The absurd system of Origen and Jerome, which these commentators have followed in these chapters of the book of Genesis, is well known. They have throughout departed from the plain history, which they call "the mere letter that killeth," and "the flesh;" and have magnificently displayed the spiritual sense, as they term it, of which they know nothing. And Jerome has followed Origen as his great teacher. Precisely the same thing also has taken place in our time. For as men gifted and eloquent, have bent their powers to persuade their hearers and readers that histories are mere dead facts, which profit nothing to the edification of the churches, it has thereby come to pass that we have all run headlong in our common study into allegories. And I myself also, when a youth, found wonderful success in this my attempt at allegorizing. For I found a license here to invent the greatest absurdities; seeing as I did that such great doctors of the churches as Jerome and Origen sometimes gave open field to their ingenuities. Indeed, to such an extent was this indulgence in allegories carried, that he who was the greatest adept at inventing them was accounted the greatest theologian. Augustine also, carried away by this false opinion, often disregards the historical sense of the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms, and has recourse to allegory. In fact, all were filled with the false persuasion that the allegorical meaning was the spiritual and true sense; especially with reference to the histories of the Old Testament; but that the historical or literal sense was the mere carnal interpretation.

But is not this, I pray you, the positive profaning of sacred things? Thus Origen, out of paradise, makes heaven, and out of the trees, angels. If this be so, where is the article of the creed concerning creation? It is highly necessary therefore, especially in young students of the holy Scriptures, that when they come to read the old divines they condemn, with good judgment or rather with fixed determination, all those things in their writings which they find at all improbable or unsound, lest they be led astray by the authority that lies in the name of the fathers and doctors of the Church; for in this way was I deceived, as were all the schools of the professors of divinity. For myself, ever since I thus began to abide by the historical sense of the Scriptures, I have cautiously shunned all allegorizing; nor have I ever adopted allegories unless the text itself evidently furnished them or the interpretations derivable from the New Testament justified them.

I found it very difficult however to give up entirely my long indulgence in allegorizing, although I saw that these allegories were vain speculations and the mere froth, as it were, of the holy Scriptures. For it is the plain historical sense of Scripture that truly and solidly teaches. After the plain sense of the Word has been rightly understood and mastered, then allegories may be used as certain ornaments by which the plain historical sense may be illustrated and strikingly depicted. But naked allegories which respond not at all to the historical realities nor tend to paint them forth more impressively, are at once to be rejected as idle dreams; for instance, from what part of the Scriptures can it be proved that paradise signifies heaven, and the trees of paradise the angels? Are not these pure follies, and mere creatures of the brain without fruit or profit?

Let those therefore who would adopt allegories, seek the justification of them from the history itself in question; for it is history which, like sound logic, teaches true and indubitable realities. On the other hand allegory, like oratory, ought to adorn history only; but to prove facts, it avails nothing. Allegory is useful in this way, as when we say that the heavens represent the Church, and the earth the empires and the political government. Thus Christ himself calls the Church "the kingdom of heaven" and the "kingdom of God." And the earth is called in the Scriptures the "land of the living," where men live and kings and princes rule, Job 28:13. The Apostle Paul uses the same kind of allegory, when he represents Adam and Eve, or marriage itself, to be a type of Christ and his Church. This is an allegory full of divine instruction and consolation indeed. For, what could be uttered more deep or sweet than that the Church is the spouse and Christ the bridegroom? For, by this figure is signified both that conjugal fellowship and that most joyful communication of all those gifts which the bridegroom has to bestow, and by which gifts are buried in oblivion both all the sins and all the calamities with which the spouse is loaded. Wherefore that is a most delightful word where Paul says, "For I have espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ," 2 Cor. 11:2.

In like manner the same apostle says, Rom. 5:14, that Adam was "the figure of him that was to come." And how? The apostle himself gives the explanation: "For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many," V. 15. Does not this allegory, used by the apostle, beautifully refer to the historical facts recorded by Moses as its foundation? Exactly after the same manner does the apostle make out the history of Sarah and Hagar, an allegory whereby to represent the two Testaments, Gal. 4:24. Let all therefore, who are inclined to introduce allegories, seek their foundation of them and justifications for them from the divine history itself.

Moreover we have heard above the sacred record of "the seed of the woman" and "the seed of the serpent." And to this history Christ refers in his parable or allegory concerning the enemy who sowed in the night the evil seed, that is, wicked doctrine and evil inventions, Math. 13:28. Who does not at once see that such allegories as these are more appropriate, more illustrative, more useful and far superior to those allegories which Augustine, Lyra and others have introduced concerning the inferior power and the superior power of reason, on which we have dwelt in their place?

In like manner the closing of paradise and the stationing of a guard of Cherubim, with brandished swords of fire to prevent any one from re-entering, evidently signify nothing more or less than that man while living in the world "without," and destitute of faith in Christ, can endure neither the light of the law nor the light of the Gospel. And hence it is that Paul says concerning the Jews, "that they could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, and that Moses was obliged to put a veil over his face on that account," 2 Cor. 3:7, 13.

"The tree of death" in paradise represents the law, and "the tree of life" the Gospel or Christ. And to neither of these trees can any approach who have not faith in Christ. For they are prevented by the sword of the angels on guard, who cannot endure hypocrisy or poisonous self-righteousness. But who so acknowledges his sin and believes in Christ, to him the gate of paradise stands open, because he brings with him, not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, which righteousness the Gospel therefore preaches unto all men, in order that all might rest upon it and be saved.

But there is no need that we should pursue this subject of allegories further. Let it suffice that we have offered these admonitions, that we might thereby direct those who use allegories to adopt those allegories alone, which the apostles have indicated and justified, and which have their sure foundation in the very letter and in the historical facts of the Scriptures.

But we must offer a word concerning the cherubim. Frequent mention is made of them throughout the holy Scriptures. In the Latin authors we find nothing stated concerning them. They merely observe that the term CHERUB signifies a plentitude of knowledge. Among the Greek authors Dionysius speaks of the cherubim. There is a boasting report that Dionysius was a disciple of the Apostle Paul, but that is not true. Dionysius was a man full of the most vain absurdities, in which he abounds in his disputations concerning the heavenly and the ecclesiastical hierarchy. His imaginations make nine choirs, as so many ranks or spheres of heavenly beings. In the supreme hierarchy he places first the seraphim; next, the cherubim; next, thrones; next, dominions; next, powers; and lastly, principalities. And then in the lower or inferior hierarchy, he places first potentates; next, archangels; and last of all, angels. Now, who does not see that all these representations are nothing more nor less than idle and futile human inventions?

After all this he says there are in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, first bishops, then deacons, then sub-deacons, then readers, then exorcists. In such absurdities as these that great man, the disciple of the chief of the apostles, the great teacher of the Gentiles, was exercised! And yet, such is the boasted authority of this supposed great man, that inflated hypocrites set down all these, his foolish inventions, as if handed down to them by oracles from heaven. Whereas in all these follies there is not one word to be found concerning faith, nor one word of useful instruction in the holy Scriptures. And who after all told him that there were nine choirs of heavenly beings and potentates? And why moreover did the Franciscans afterward add a tenth sphere, as a sort of palace, in which the holy mother Mary might dwell? In a word, these are follies and absurdities adapted only for Papists to learn and admire, as a just punishment for their pertinacious war against all sound doctrine.

With respect therefore to the _Cherub_ I will offer my opinion as far as I have been enabled to form it from reading. The name Cherub appears to me to signify that florid countenance which we see in girls and young men in the blossom of their age. For this reason angels are represented in pictures as infants. So that by cherubim you may understand angels, as heavenly beings, appearing with a blooming countenance, and with brow free from wrinkle or sign of sorrow, and smoothly extended with joy, wearing a face plump and full with gladness, whether it be a human face or any other. The name Cherub therefore is a general appellation, a term which does not apply to any order of angels in particular, as Dionysius dreams, but has reference only to their general appearance, because they present themselves to men with a juvenile and florid aspect.

And this indeed is the opinion of the Jews themselves, who assert that KERUB is a Chaldaic term and that the letter _Kappa_ is a servile letter, and that RUB signifies a beautiful youth, who has a full and florid face; and they affirm that the angels are called KERUBIM, as representing their florid and joyful and delightful countenance or appearance; and thus they are generally represented in paintings.

In like manner the name Seraphim is a general appellation of angels; a name derived from fire or burning on account of the quality of their form, as is shown in Numbers 21:6, where Moses says, "And the Lord sent HANNECHASCHIM HASSERAPHIM, 'fiery serpents' among the people;" or, "serpent Seraphim" (_serpentes Seraphim_); that is, "serpents burning or on fire." So that we may here understand _Seraphim_ or fiery angels; that is, angels not only beautiful in their full and florid face, as are _Cherubim_, but also fiery or shining as the angel is represented in the Gospel to have been, which sat on the stone at the tomb of our Lord, of whom Matthew says, "His countenance was like lightning," Math. 28:3; and as angels are also described by the Psalmist, when he says, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire," Ps. 104:4. And again, it is said, Luke 2:9, "That when the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds, the glory of the Lord shone round about them." Of the same description also was the countenance of Christ at his transfiguration on Mount Tabor, of whom it is said, "And his face did shine as the sun," Math. 17:2. The same also shall be our countenances, when we shall be raised again at the last day to enter into the glory Christ hath prepared for us.

With respect to what is written in the Books of Kings concerning "the Cherubims overlaid with gold," _Cherubici certini_, we are there to understand these full and blooming countenances of angels, together with their wings, 1 Kings 6:28. Not that angels really have wings, but because they cannot otherwise be described. Hence it is that we find, Is. 6:6, that the angel, who comes flying with a joyous and beautiful countenance, such as angels are described on pictures of tapestry, is called CHERUB. And if to this full and florid countenance there be added also brightness, such as was the shining countenance of Stephen, full of joy and delight, so that nothing but rays of joy dart from the eyes, such angels are called _Seraphim_.

Such as these shall we also be. Our countenances shall shine as bright as the mid-day sun. There shall be no wrinkle, no contracted brow, no watery eyes; but as it is written, Rev. 21:4, "and God shall wipe all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Let us therefore hold fast this hope and live in the fear of God, until, being delivered from this life of affliction, we shall live that angelic and eternal life which is to come. Amen! Amen!