What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.1
Scripture proofs
The Westminster Assembly's proof texts (KJV). The bracketed numbers in the answer above mark the clause each set of references supports; expand a row to read the verses.
1 Gen. 2:16-17; Jas. 2:10
Gen. 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen. 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
This doctrine across the Standards
Where the Confession and the Westminster Larger Catechism treat the same matter, so the question can be studied alongside its parallel statements.
In the Westminster Confession
VII.1 The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto …
The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.
→ VII.1 · Of God's Covenant with ManVII.2 The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam, and …
The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam, and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.
→ VII.2 · Of God's Covenant with ManIX.2 Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which is …
Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which is good and well-pleasing to God, but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it.
→ IX.2 · Of Free WillXIX.1 God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all …
God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it.
→ XIX.1 · Of the Law of GodXIX.6 Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or …
Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned; yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives; so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin; together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law. The promises of it, in like manner, show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof; although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works: so as a man's doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law, and not under grace.
→ XIX.6 · Of the Law of GodIn the Westminster Larger Catechism
Q.20 What was the providence of God toward man in the estate in which he was created?
The providence of God toward man in the estate in which he was created, was the placing him in paradise, appointing him to dress it, giving him liberty to eat of the fruit of the earth; putting the creatures under his dominion, and ordaining marriage for his help; affording him communion with himself; instituting the sabbath; entering into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience, of which the tree of life was a pledge; and forbidding to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.
→ Open Q.20Q.30 Doth God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
God doth not leave all men to perish in the estate of sin and misery, into which they fell by the breach of the first covenant, commonly called the Covenant of Works; but of his mere love and mercy delivereth his elect out of it, and bringeth them into an estate of salvation by the second covenant, commonly called the Covenant of Grace.
→ Open Q.30