CHAPTER 3.

ON THE LAW OF GOD AS REVEALED TO MAN.

Gen. Chap. 2, verses 16, 17. "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it." Thus far the law extends, and what follows after. in the text, makes no part of the law of God, but is a reason given to man why he was prohibited from indulging himself in the use of what is signified by the figure of a tree. "For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."

This shows the love and kindness of God to man, in revealing the holy law of his divine nature. It is also a sufficient evidence, that the holy reason why God is opposed to sin, is because it begets misery in the mind of his offspring, and renders mankind, who are objects of his love, incapable of enjoying and glorifying their creator. Therefore, the divine law forbids that act which he knew would be a source of so much evil in the world. So that as the inspired apostle says, "By the law is the knowledge of sin," i. e, the evil nature of sin is revealed in the righteous law of God, even so, God out of his great goodness to man, being willing to inform him what would injure him, and what would benefit him as a dependent creature, revealed his holy law to that amount for man's best good. From which we learn the nature of morai good, and the sinful nature of moral evil, that as the apostle says, That sin might appear exceeding sinful." Again he says, "Where no law is there is no transgression, for sin is the transgression of the law." Hence, as man in his state of formation, was made subject to vanity, he needed a knowledge of the law of God to govern, or in other words, to restrain his actions.

Therefore, St. Paul says, Rom. 5. 20, "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." From which it appears that if even the nature of sin was magnified by a revelation of the law to man; the kindness, mercy and favour of God in that revelation, was much greater. Then what is the law of God in its divine nature? It is love, requiring us to love God and to love one another. For it is evident that God required this love from man from the beginning, when he first gave him the law as a test of his obedience; as knowing, if man loved his maker, then he would keep his law. Christ the image of the invisible God, repeats the spirit of that holy commandment to his followers, when he says, "It ye love me, ye will keep my commandments." He had given them a commandment to love one ano

ther.

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Again he says, Matt. 22. 37, 38, 39, 40. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." subject is so plain here, we need not mistake; the spirit of the whole law is expressed. From which we must infer, that it can only be obeyed in the mind and soul of man, as it requires its whole fulfilment in the mental exercise of love to God and man, no outward action of the body, unless dictated by love in the mind of man, touches the point; which shows us, that the mind or soul and not the flesh, is amenable to the divine law. It is given as a rule to govern the mind, in keeping the body in subjection; So that the soul or spirit must only be accountable in case of disobedience. For the mind receives the rule to go by, in propelling the body into action, for the soul is a spirit, created after the likeness of God who is a spirit, and the father of our spirits; of him his children received the law. But the body is nothing but mere matter formed of the dust of the ground. Now as matter cannot receive the things of the spirit,

even so the law was never given to the bodily machine, but to him who governs and dictates it, in keeping the body in motion. For it is not the house God calls upon but the master of the house. He must love and obey the king of Kings, or he is culpable, and he only; every one shall die for his own sins, The soul that sinneth, it

shall die." Hence we must rationally conclude, the commandment of God, was given to man as a law of the mind. "For there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding."

CHAPTER 4.

ON THE ORIGIN OF SIN.

Gen. Chap. 3, verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman yea, bath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat ef the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." This ar gument had its desired effect,so that both the woman and the man indulged themselves in disobedience against the command of God.

Now, in order to find out more perfectly, the origin of transgression, let us inquire what is meant by this figure, a serpent tempting man to disobey. Surely it could mean no beast of the field, for that serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field God had made. And it could mean no immortal spirit, for we find the serpent's life, or being, expressly limited as to duration, in the next chapter. I think, according to the Scriptures, that by the serpent, must be meant some principle in nature attached to man in his state of formation, which as a link connects his animal and spiritual nature together, in point of natural reasoning faculty, called in Scripture the wisdom of this world: this wisdom from beneath, has always been man's tempter. St. James, when speaking of this kind of wisdom, says, (Chap. iii. 15,) "This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." This must have been that

adversary of a serpent which first tempted man in the garden: especially, as James says again, (Chap. 1, verses 14, 15,) "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death." But is wisdom ever plainly signified by this figure, a serpent? Yes abundantly in the holy scriptures, as I shall endeavor to show, as follows. The Scribes and Pharisees, who exerted every faculty they possessed in human ingenuity, to tempt Jesus Christ, and who also through that wis dom which is from beneath, sought to explain away the true meaning of the ceremonial law, were on that account, called serpents by Christ himself, Mat. 23. 33, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?" Jesus warns his followers to be wise as they, but at the same time, to be harmless as doves. St. Mat. 10. 16, Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." St. Luke 16.8. "For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." By those passages, when compared together, it is easy to be seen why our Lord called that generation,serpents, who so often tempt ed him. It was with reference to that cunning, or in other words, with an allusion to that wisdom which is from beneath, and was so much exercised among the treacherous Jews. St. Paul seems to understand the figure of serpent, to signify subtility, in his 2 Ep. to the Cor. 11.3 "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." It appears that the apostle thought as Eve had been formerly tempted by the subtility of carnal wisdom, and so drawn away from the simplicity in Christ, even so there was now danger, after one was restored to such child like state in Christ, of being drawn away by the deceitfulness of fleshy wisdom, the same serpent; and thereby becoming naked, as to the simplicity of being clothed with the righteousness of Christ. For as any man was crea