when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat," &c. The first that sinned was the woman: 1 Tim. ii. 14, "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." And it was the devil that ensnared her: Gen. iii. 12.-" And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." The woman having sinned, insnared Adam, ver. 6, forecited. But their being tempted to sin, did not excuse them; because it was of their own free will that they sinned. Freedom of will is a power in the will, whereby it doth of its own accord, without it, choose or refuse what is proposed to it by the understanding. And man hath this freedom of will in whatever state he be. But this power of the will is not of the same extent in all states. In the state of innocence, it extended both to good and evil; that is to say, man had a freedom of will, whereby he could wholly turn, either to the one side or the other, to good or evil, proposed by his understanding: And that man was created thus mutable, was sutable to the state of trial. Now, the special act of providence about the fall of our first parents, was that God left them to the freedom of their own will, and the use they made of that, was, that they went freely, of their own accord, to the side of sin. But in the state of corrupt nature, the power of the will extends only to evil: Gen. vi. 5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." In the state of grace, it extends partly to good, and partly to evil: Rom. vii. 23. "But I see another

law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." And in the state of glory it extends only to good: Heb. xii. 23. "To the spirits of just men made perfect."

QUEST. 14. What is Sin?

ANSW. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

EXPLICATION.

By sin is meant transgression of the law of God; and therefore nothing can be sin but what one way or other is a transgression of some law of God: 1 John iii. 4. "Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law for sin is the transgression of the law.” Transgression of the law of God, is any want of conformity to it

whatsoever, 1 John iii. 4, forecited. So the least coming short of the perfection required by the law, is sin; because so far there is a "Be want of conformity to the law: Matth. v. 48, ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect." Compared with 1 John iii. 4, above cited. Now the law of God requires a twofold conformity to it in the reasonable creatures; namely a conformity of their natures to it, and a conformity of their lives to it: Psalm xxiv. 3, 4. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Hence there are two general kinds of sin; namely original sin, and actual sin: and each of them is a want of conformity to the law of God. Original sin is a want of conformity of our natures to the law of God. Actual sin is a want of conformity of our lives to the law of God, whether by omission or commission. The chief evil of sin lies in the filthiness of it. The filthiness of sin is its being the quite contrary of God's holiness expressed in his law; whence it is, in the sight of God, the object of his greatest loathing and abhorrence: Jer. xliv. 4. "Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate !"

QUEST. 15. What was the Sin whereby our first Parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

ANSW. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.

EXPLICATION.

The sin whereby man fell, was the eating the forbidden fruit: Gen. ii. 6, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." There was no evil in the fruit itself, for which it was forbidden: Gen. i. ult. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good." The evil of the matter lay in man's eating it against the express command of God. God forbade it to be eaten, for the trial of man's obedience. And the fitness of taking trial of man by that mean, appears in that so it was taken in an external thing, in itself indifferent, wherein man's obedience behoved to turn pre

This sin was then in

cisely upon the point of the will of God. effect, man's practical declaration that he would not be ruled by God's will, but by his own: and therefore it was not a little sin, but a breaking of the whole law at once: Jam. ii. 10, 11, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery; said also, do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."

QUEST. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression? ANSW. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.

EXPLICATION.

Adam did not fall alone in this transgression: but all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, were involved with him in the ruins of his fall: and these are all his posterity, except the man Christ: 1 Cor. v. 22, "In Adam all die.”

Christ as man did indeed descend from Adam: Luke iii. 23, "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph." Compared with verse last, "Which was the son of Adam." But he did not descend from him by ordinary, but extraordinary generation. That which was extraordinary in Christ's generation, was, that he was born of a virgin; Matth. i. 18, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."

All the rest of Adam's posterity fell with him: they fell with him, from the state of holiness and happiness; both which they had in hand, and which they had in hope from the promise of the covenant of works: and they so fell, by his first transgression, Rom. v. 18, 19, "By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." His first transgression was his eating of the forbidden fruit. His eating of that fruit, is called his first transgression: because by it his sin and apostacy begun in his heart, was completed, Gen. iii. 6, forecited. Now, that transgression cast him and them down from these states of holiness and happiness, inasmach as by it the covenant of works was broken: Gen. ii. 17. Compared with chap. iii. 10, 11, 12, forecited. The reason why they fell with him by that trans

gression, was, that in it they sinned in him: So that sin, whereby the covenant was broken, was our sin as well as his, Rom. v. 12, 19, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners."

It came to be our sin, because he was our covenant head and representative in the covenant of works; and that is to say, "The · covenant was made with him, not only for himself, but for his posterity: 1 Cor. xv. "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul." The man Christ is not included in that representation which Adam made as head of the covenant of works, 1 Cor. xv. 22, 45, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." ver. 45, "The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit;" and that because Christ came, not in virtue of the blessing of fruitfulness given while the covenant of works stood entire, but in virtue of a special promise made after it was broken: Gen. i. 28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, 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." And chap. iii. 15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Adam's sin, then, could not be imputed to the man Christ; since Adam did not represent him in the covenant. But Adam represented all the rest of mankind in it: Rom. v. 12, forecited. It is true, we did not choose him for our representative, but God choose him for us and he was the most fit choice for that end; Eccl. iii. 14, “I know that whatsoever God doth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doth it, that men should fear before him." And this he was, in regard he was the natural head of mankind, endowed with sufficient ability: Acts xvii. 26, "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth," &c. Eccl. vii. 29, "God hath made man upright."

Now, man did not become free from the covenant of works, upon his breaking of it: For his breaking of it could never free him; and the honour of the law barred his discharge, till the breach of it should be made up, Isa. xlii. 21, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law and make it honourable." Matt. v. 18, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no ways pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." And man himself was utterly unable to make up the breach: Rom, v.

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." All men then by nature are under the broken covenant of works: Rom. iii. 19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.

QUEST. 17. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

ANSW. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

:

EXPLICATION.

The natural state of mankind now, under the covenant of works, is a "state of sin and misery :" And we were brought into it by the fall: Rom. v. 12, "By one sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all had sinned.” We were all born or conceived in that state: Psal. li. 5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." Eph. ii. 3, "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." There is no true holiness attainable in that our natural state; for it is a state of sin. There is no salvation from wrath attainable in it; for it is a state of misery. The state we must be brought into, out of our natural state under the covenant of works, if we would be saved, is the state of grace in the covenant of grace: Rom. vi. 14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Those that are brought out of their natural state, from under the covenant of works, into the state of grace, are all that are in Christ, converted persons: Rom. viii. 1, "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Those that are still in their natural state, under the covenant of works, are all that are out of Christ, unconverted: Eph. ii. 12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." The power that the covenant of works hath over such persons, is a commanding, cursing, and condemning power. It commands them perfect obedience under pain of the curse: It curseth and condemneth them for the very least failure : Gal. iii. 10, "For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, Rom. iii. 19, forecited.