The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 40

The Type

The Type.

First, then, we say that Adam was to be the father and head of a house and family. This was already included in that image of God which he was intended to constitute; it was also the obvious design of marriage, and accordingly it was conferred upon him in the promise and command, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.' But what a family was to be his, and what a father was Adam to constitute! The promise of it anticipated, but far exceeded that given to Abraham, as when God brought him forth abroad, and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be'—(Gen. xv. 5); or, again, when he said, 'In multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore'—(Gen. xxii. 17). Adam was to be the father not of a family only, but of a race, nor of a race only, but of mankind down to the end of time.

But He who made him such a father, conferred in him also an inheritance, a magnificent and wide extending principality, out of which he and his might be supported, and in which they might reign as kings, in the fulness of all things. 'Replenish the earth,' it was said to him, 'and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth'—(Gen. i. 28). Making a corresponding provision for Abraham, God said to him, 'Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee'—(Gen. xiii. 17). But Adam's inheritance was not a mere province, but the world at large, subjected to him in its heaven, earth, and sea, throughout and in all its parts, and elements, constrained to work together for his good, while, at the same time, possession was given him of every necessary key whether of knowledge, authority, or power, with which to unlock its varied and exhaustless stores, and to turn them to his service and enjoyment.

But constituted the father of such a family, and lord of such an inheritance, Adam comes farther to be manifested as a very remarkable king. Royalty indeed was another essential feature in that image of God which he was designed to constitute. It had also been already virtually conferred in the grant of a dominion. But farther, increasing, as he was intended to do, into a great nation, and company of nations, the father of neces- sity becomes the king of the race, and what a king, far exceeding Solomon in all his glory, was Adam thus to be constituted!

1. First, see the wide extent of his dominion, reaching, not in name only, but in glorious reality, from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

2. Then the number of his subjects, the glory of a king, was to comprehend not the ten thousands of Israel, but the myriads of Adam's children, the multitudinous hosts of all the tribes of men.

3. But, farther, there was to be something remarkable in the manner of his rule, and in the supremacy to attach to him. To him first, surely, that promise belonged, which next belonging to Noah, came afterwards to be addressed to Abraham : 'For a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee'—(Gen. xvii. 5, 6). Hence, the promise and command having been, 'Replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion,' it is obvious how all this was to be fulfilled. This we see in that partial restoration of what was lost, that comes to be exhibited in Noah, that new head and king of the race, and in his three sons; for as it came to be in Noah, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, so it was to have been in Adam, and his three sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth. Under Adam they were to become the heads of three distinct races, each with its own portion of the earth's territory divided out to it, and these again spreading out into a variety of tribes were to be constituted farther into a variety of nations, each under its own tribal father as its head and king. Thus was the earth to be replenished, and subdued, and reigned upon; and hence, as to the manner of Adam's rule, he was not to rule over his subjects and his earth immediately, but his posterity increasing, and coming to be constituted in a variety of tribes into a variety of nations, each with its own local head and king, the nations were to be ruled immediately by their own kings, while supremacy over all was to attach to Adam. He was to be their Prince; and thus, they ruling over the people, and he ruling over them, and having not the people only, but their kings under him, Adam was to he manifested a king of kings, and lord of lords, the prince of the kings of the earth.

4. But, once more, in connection with this, the glory of Adam's kingdom, and the figure which he constituted of Christ, we must observe how dependent all were to be on Adam, the righteous and well-earned character of his ride, the glad and grateful homage to accrue to him from his subject kings and nations, and so the exceeding glory in which he was to be manifested, as thrice over crowned their Prince, first by his own well-earned title, next by the promise and anointing of God, and then by the glad and grateful consent of the nations themselves and their kings.

For here, let us ask, on what this whole glorious super-structure of regnant nations inheriting the earth, and of Adam's supremacy over them, was to rest? On what nail to be fastened in a sure place, was all the glory, the offspring and the issue, to hang? This, it was for God to determine, and it is to be observed that presently existing kings and nations are vitally interested in the determination then given to it.

Hence, here, first, we take occasion to notice with, or on behalf of whom, supremely, God dealt in Adam. It was not surely on behalf of mere individuals, seeing that it was not mere individuals whom He created, or that came to be before Him in the creation of Adam. In creating Adam, God created principalities and powers, He created nations; for as the tree is seminally in the seed, so were these nations seminally in Adam; and as we do not see what God has created in the bare seed, as we do not see this until the seed has taken root in the earth, and has become a tree, its branches spread, and its beauty as the olive tree, so we do not see what God has created in Adam, till he, in like manner, has taken root, and has branched out into his nations. Hence, therefore, as in Adam God had now before Him not individuals merely, but nations, as He had before Him the great nation which A lam was to become, and the nations which were to be, in the first instance, its exalted constituency, it was supremely with, and on behalf of, nations that God is to be regarded as having dealt in Adam. Seeing, moreover, that it is only in the nation that the creative fiat reaches its last and highest result, and that, therefore, the nation must he regarded as the highest style of man, that in which man, as a creature, is exhibited in his best estate, and in which, therefore, he is most in circumstances to show forth the wisdom, power, and goodness of his great Creator, it could not but be that it was with a view to this, the highest style of man, that God had dealings with Adam. But, farther, it is to be observed, that as mere individuals, man cannot fulfil the purpose of God in his creation. He could not, for instance, subdue the earth, and exercise dominion over it; in order to this he must be a nation, and as we find, farther, that it is only in a national condition that man can fulfil his chief end, whether as regards God, or God's Son, or man himself, hence it is of necessity that he was contemplated as a nation when God dealt with Adam on his behalf. Farther, still, seeing that it is only in the nation that man enjoys his fullest measure of liberty, has his greatest independence of action, and that, at the same time, he has most in his power, it is therefore only in a national condition that he comes to be invested with his highest responsibility, and so also that he falls necessarily most to be dealt with, and made amenable to law. In creation, therefore, just as subsequently in Noah, and in Abraham, it was as a nation, and company of nations, that man stood before God. He dealt, indeed, with a view to the individual man, and with a view to the individual family, but His dealings with these were but a part of, and belonged to the national dealing, and the national dealing ruling that of the individual, hence it appears most certain that it was supremely with a view to a great nation, whose constituency should be a company of nations, that God must be regarded as having had dealings with our great progenitor.

But having noticed how God contemplated man in Adam, next we take occasion to notice the manner of His dealing with him.

In the first instance, He addresses Himself to Adam on behalf of the rest; but, in so far as He can be regarded as addressing, and communicating His will to, the others, He must be regarded as, next, addressing the kings on behalf of their nations, and then the fathers and heads of families on behalf of their family constituencies; His dealing with the whole in Adam, anticipating and regulating His manner of dealing with its subordinate parts, and, as appears from the parties addressed in the fourth commandment, the heads of the several constituencies being throughout the supreme objects of address.

In addressing Himself to Adam, He addressed him as the natural Head and representative of the all comprehending great nation, as its leader and guide, whom it would follow and obey, to whom, therefore, was entrusted the safe keeping of his nation, and on whom therefore also it devolved, as the captain of its salvation, to fight the battle necessary to its safety, and to provide for it, and to build it on, the foundation prescribed by God, and on which the glorious superstructure must be upheld. But, similarly, in addressing Adam, He is to be regarded as addressing the heads of the subordinate, national, and family constituencies, constituting them their leaders and guides, committing the safe keeping of their constituencies to them, and devolving it on them, by abiding in Adam, at once to fight the battle necessary to the safety of their several constituencies, and to build themselves, and them, on the foundation which Adam has already laid.

But, in the third place, in view of Adam already raised up into that provisional enjoyment of his kingdom which he had in the garden of Eden, and where in his begun enjoyment of all things he began his reign, and in view of the prospect farther to be realised of the earth replenished and subdued under regnant nations, and of Adam himself gloriously manifested as their Prince, is it now asked on what the glorious superstructure must rest, and short of which it must pass away like a vision of the night? We answer that its realisation depends on three things, and

(1.) First, it depends on Adam, and his nations in him, being constituted Churches. In these regnant nations we see man on one only of his sides, we see man in the enjoyment only of his promised and intended relations downwards, his rela- tions in respect of the earth as his inheritance, and of those civil relations among themselves which are necessary to it. But man cannot be rightly constituted in respect of, or enjoy, his downward relations, except on the due constitution of his relations upwards, his relations to God; his relations, in particular, to the Son of God, and his relations to the Father. In creation, as in redemption, God had it in view to make a marriage for His Son, and it is in his fulfilling the requirements of these relations that man must fulfil the chief end of man. He must be espoused as a chaste virgin to the Son, and stand related to Him as his spiritual Bride, and, thus related to the Divine Son, he must be received as a son of God, as the sons and daughters of God most high. Hence he must first be a church before he can be a state, he must first be a priest before he can be a king, and all that is enjoyed by him as a king is only the more to qualify him for being a priest unto God.

Accordingly, Adam having been created into union with the Son, in whom it pleased the Father that all the fulness should dwell, and in whom all things consist, and so into a condition immediately fitting him for his upward relations, there was no long suspense as to the chief end of man in the nations whom the Lord hath made. This was immediately made plain in the proposals and commands of the first table of the law, with its five precepts,—the fourth, with its necessary appendage the fifth, revealing to him his heavenly Bridegroom, proposing marriage to him, and inviting him into rest as in the house of a husband, in fellowship with the Son of God; while the first three revealed to him the Father, and showed him the name and sonship which it was proposed to confer on him. And as Adam, on his own behalf, and on behalf of his constituency, the nations, could not but yield a ready assent, hence there and then was he espoused a chaste virgin to the Son, and there and then did he become in himself and his nations the national sons of God. And so becoming a church, he was also constituted a nation, and having been rightly constituted upwards, he was hereupon also rightly constituted downwards.

(2.) But, in the second place, not only must he be conformed with the first table of the law in respect of the actual constitution of his upward relations, he must be conformed also with the second table of the law, and, in particular, with its last, but first and great commandment, 'Thou shalt not covet,' in respect of the continuance of these relations. He must abide in them, and for this end they must be carefully maintained, and maintained in opposition to whatever inducement or temptation to the contrary. Let Adam prove faithless in these his upward relations, let him on any consideration apostatise, then, as he ceases to be a church, he will cease also to be the nation, and instead of being planted as a tree of life upon the earth, according to the promise of the first table of the law, he will come to be planted, instead, according to the threatening of the second table of the law, a fair and specious, but poisonous tree of death, his grapes the grapes of Sodom, his clusters the clusters of Gomorrah, and whose end will be utter destruction. On the other hand, let Adam fight that good fight to which he is called, let his obedience be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, and then will the whole promise be fulfilled; he will abide as a church, and so also as a nation reigning gloriously on the earth.

(3.) Still, however, in order to this, the means must be used, and the promise, though now sure, will only be fulfilled in connection with a third great duty devolving on Adam in connection with his nations. His nations will require instruction as to the chief end of man in the nations whom the Lord has made, and as to the foundation of all their standing. They must not be left to set up on some independent footing of their own, but must be taught the necessity of abiding in him, and on the ground of that righteousness which he has wrought out for them, and thus of expecting all their continuance, and all their glory, in him, and through him. But who shall be their teacher? Who shall minister to them the truth by obedience to which their safety must be secured? Under the fourth commandment the duty devolved on Adam himself. He must instruct the kings, and, through them, the nations his children, as to what the nations must be as churches in order that also they may be nations, and as to the foundation on which they must be built in both these respects. He must show the kings the means which they must employ in order that nationally, and in their several families, they may be thus built and maintained; and, charging them with their responsibilities as having the safety of their nations committed to them, he must stir them up to the faithful use of these means, that so in themselves, in their nations, and in the several families of the national constituency, they may reign gloriously on the earth. But consequent on his own obedience, Adam would have been specially anointed for the work of this ministry, nor would he have laboured in it in vain. On the contrary, the heart of the fathers being dutifully turned to the children, the hearts of the children would have been, in terms of the fifth commandment, turned to the fathers, and, obediently abiding in Adam, the nations would have been maintained in all their promised happiness and glory, at once as churches and as nations.

And supposing that Adam's obedience had been thus found unto praise and honour and glory, what then would have been the result as regards the dependance of the nations upon him? They would have depended on him as branches do on the tree to which they belong. They would have had all their standing in him, and on his finished and accepted righteousness, and, according to the promise, they would have had their life through him, or from him. And they would have had thus in Adam the standing and life by which, first of all, to be maintained as churches. They themselves would continue to be the spouse of the Son, and the children of God, while their own literal children, already taken to be the children of the divine Son's kingdom, and from the Son, and through their instrumentality born again, would, in due time, be raised up into all their parents' spiritual relationships and privilege. But, so also they would have had in Adam the standing and life by which to be maintained as nations, and in all the glory of the promise.

But thus, and to such an extent deriving from, and dependant on, Adam; how righteous and well earned his sovereignty over them; how clear his title as prince of the kings of the earth; how glad and grateful must he the homage and subjection accruing to him from the earth's nations and kings; and how great his glory as so magnificently a king of kings, and prince of the kings of the earth!

In all this, however, Adam proved to be but a figure, an unsubstantial transitory representation of Him that was to come. We have now, therefore, to consider, in the second place, how this remarkable figure has come to be realised in Christ.

Previous to this, however, it will be observed, that even as regards creation, the figure had a present and introspective reference, and that in all that Adam was to be literally, we have the outward representation of what, the first creation standing, the Son of God was at the same time to have been spiritually, and of the spiritual house, kingdom, and royalty which were to have accrued to Him. For, as we have said, in creation as in redemption, the design was to make a marriage for the Son of God, and, in connection with this, to give Him a spiritual house and family, over which to reign as a king of saints—(Matt. xxii. 2; Heb. ii. 13). And hence, in Adam's marriage; in Adam's fatherhood by his wife; in his progeny innumerable as the sand on the sea shore; in his rich inheritance for their support; in his benign sway over them; and in all the glory in which he was to have been manifested as king, we have what was to have been a divinely constituted outward representation of the Son's marriage with Adam and Eve conjoined, and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; of His spiritual fatherhood, by this His spiritual wife; and of His resulting progeny; of the riches with which He was provided with a view to their support; of His benign sway over this His spiritual house and family, and of all the glory in which, the first creation standing, He was to have been manifested as a King of saints.

But Adam did not stand. He forgot or slighted his upward relations, and all their joy. He even became dissatisfied with what he had, in respect of them, in connection with his downward relations. He wished for more than was allowed him under the promise, and he would take it otherwise than by promise, and so, coveting, he took and ate of the forbidden tree: thus, at once, becoming guilty of a great apostacy, frustrating all God's design in relation to His Son in connection with the first creation, and forfeiting for himself and his nation all the privileges, both as a church and a nation, which would have followed on his stedfastness in his upward relations. Not only did he forfeit, instead of the blessing he brought on himself the curse. In the day that the staff of beauty was cut asunder, the staff of bands was also broken—(Zech. xii. 10-14)—and falling, at once spiritually and outwardly, at once ecclesiastically and civilly, given over to the power of sin and corruption, made subject to all the misery which all things now working together, not for good, but for evil, might inflict, he became the prey of that kingdom of darkness, which, as having suffered himself to be prevailed over by the devil, the devil had now righteously acquired over himself, and over his earth.

Civil government, it is said, is founded in nature, and the Church is founded in grace. This distinction, however, I humbly submit, is calculated to be as pernicious as it is certainly unfounded. Naturally and originally man was created to be at once a Church and a nation. He was invested with his upward and his downward relations simultaneously, and the one being necessary to the other, the one being the divinely constituted complement of the other, the Church without the state is like the soul without the body, the state without the Church is like the body without the soul, only in the union of both do we see the creature which God created man to be, and which it is in the purpose of God that he shall yet become. Hence, if, since the fall, civil government is to be regarded as founded in nature and not in grace, it is not founded in nature in the sense of having any of that standing before God, or excellence originally intended to attach to it; but only in the sense of being fallen, and under the curse, of being animated by the Prince of the power of the air, of being dominated by him in the interests of the kingdom of darkness in opposition to God and His Son, and so of being exposed to wrath and extermination. In consequence, however, of the inter-position of the promise, and the coming of the Saviour, there has been a large modification or suspension of the curse to which man in his outward kingdom is naturally subject; and hence, although he must still have lived his appointed time on the earth, it is difficult for us to conceive what, if unalleviated, his condition of wretchedness in the world would have been in respect of his downward relations, or of his state physically, socially, and civilly, and with his earth, too, under the curse, and refusing to yield up to him its strength. And yet, Israel having sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, and having thus fallen from his kingdom, something of what man's physical condition might have been, may be learned from the curse threatened on the bodies of the Jews—(Deut xxviii. 59-61). Something too of what man becomes socially consequent on the disruption of his relations Godward, is set forth at large in Rom. i. 24-32. While again, we see what his condition civilly, or in respect of any happy reign on, and enjoyment of the earth, might have been, from the anarchy and violence which prevailed before the flood, or from the civil despotisms that came to be established afterwards, and the oppressions, the wars, the captivities, and bloodshed, by which nations rising up against nations, have brought on each other, the consequences of their ceasing to be churches, the consequence of the disruption of their upward relations, and of their apostacy as nations from God and His Son.

Happily, however, God has been pleased not to suffer His purpose as regards His Son to be frustrated even by the sin of man. He will still make a marriage for His Son, He will raise Him up a bride and give Him a spiritual house and family out of the rubbish and stones of the fallen nations. He will make Him sons of God out of those who are by nature children of the Wicked One, and so, men restored to their upward relations shall be restored also to their relations downward, and in the nations of the saved, man shall yet enjoy, in preparation for a yet higher rest, all that inheritance of the earth, and royalty on it, from which Adam by transgression fell.

In order to this, however, a second Adam had to be con- stituted, willing and able to take on him all the obligations of the first, and these now as including even subjection to the curse.

Accordingly, it is such a Second Adam that we have in Christ, the Lord from heaven, in whom, promised as the seed of the woman, and constituted the Coming One, we have God, at length, sending His own Son into the world, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons; and hence, there being now in Christ all the requirements and all the fulness of the second Adam, everything necessary for the accomplishment of God's high purpose as regards Himself, His Son, and man, we are called on to see in the first Adam, the figure of the second, and in what was found to be so unsubstantial and transitory in the one, what has come to be so glorious and abiding a reality in the other.