representative of the human race, as he was then the natural head. By the manner in which the human race was to defcend from him, the punish-ment inflicted upon him muft of course defcend to them. If we fuppose that God might juftly create an order of beings like to what man is, to defcend from one another, and to propagate the nature which he had, the matter could not have fallen out otherwife, in cafe of fin, than it did.

5. Let us confider the import of the threatening: In the day thou eateft thereof, thou fhalt furely die." That temporal death was to be understood by it, and all the fufferings preparatory to death, must neceffarily be admitted. That it supposes allo fpiritual death, or the feparation of the foul from God, is a neceffary circumftance in the whole of this matter. The expreffion, Gen. iii. 22. “ Behold the man is become like one of us," &c. is by no means to be taken as if God was afraid they would eat of the tree of life, and thereby become immortal. The greateft part of interpreters confider thefe words as fpoken by way of derifion; and as it is alfo probable that this tree had much in it of a health giving quality, it was not proper that men devoted to fo many fufferings fhould be permitted the use of it. And as a facrament, it was to be refused to thofe who had broken the covenant, and were therefore unworthy of the fign.

Of the Fall.

BEFORE we fpeak farther of the fall of man by the breach of the covenant of works, it may be

expected that we should confider a little the introduction of fin or moral evil in general. Why did God permit fin, and the train of evils that follow it? This has been a queflion that has exercifed inquirers from the beginning, and especially under the gospel. I have treated a little upon this in the difcourfe upon the decrees, and fhall only further drop a few hints. Some fay that it was a neceffary confequence of creating free agents; but there are many objections to this. It is neither certain that it was a neceffary confequence, nor that there is any tuch worth in the free agency of the creature as to delerve to be preferved, at the price of this evil and uts train. Some have faid that the evil, natural and inoral, was neceffary to the perfection of the whole, as the fhade of a picture to the beauty of the whole piece. This is the fubftance of the Beltitian fcheme, the foundation of which I mentioned before, with the objections against it. I fhall now only add, that upon this fyftem it is neceffary to fuppofe that all the good, natural and moral, that the univerfe could pofiibly admit, is to be found in it. This is exceedingly difficult to believe from appearances, and it is impoflible to fupport it without laying God himself under the chains of neceffy. It is certainly infinitely preferable to take Scripture teaths juft as they ftand: that God is infinitely holy; bas teftified his abhorrence to fin, and therefore cannot be the author of it; that he has notwithstanding, moft juftly permitted it; and that he will illuftrate his own glory by it; but that the difpofition of his providence and grace is to us unftarchable.

There is mention made in Scripture of the angels that finned; from which it appears that fin was introduced among them. The Scriptures have not informed us of many circumstances on this fubject, which, as usual, men of fertile inventions have endeavoured to fupply by conjectures, or to determine from very flender evidence. Some have even prefumed to determine the number of the fallen angels, or at least their proportion to thofe that flood, from Rev. xii. 3, 4." And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon having feven heads and ten horns, and feven crowns upon his heads, and his tail drew the third part of the ftars of heaven, and did caft them to the earth." But this is a mifapplication of the paffage in that prophecy, which belongs to the vifible church on earth. Some have faid that the fin of the angels was envy, fome impiety or luft, but the greater number pride; and this last seems to have the most truth in it, not because we know any thing certain of the circumftances of their rebellion, but because pride or felf fufficiency feems to be the effence or ruling part of all our sin.

We do not know the time of their fall, nor inleed with much certainty the time of their creation. We only know that their fall was before that of man; and that God paffed by the angels that fianed; and that they are referved in chains under darkness, to the judgment of the great day.

Some have exercised themselves in conjecturing how long our first parents, continued in the ftate of innocence. Some fuppofe they fell upon the first day of their creation; others, that they continued

in innocence fome years. There is nothing faid in the book of Genefis that can determine this point with certainty, nor is it of much moment could it be determined.

Eve is faid to have been tempted by the ferpent, and by many paffages of Scripture it is put beyond a doubt, that it was by the devil or prince of the fallen angels. It ought not to be understood allegorically. Probably he made ufe of this creature as the fittest form in which he could appear. Many have fuppofed it was one of the bright fiery ferpents that are feen in Arabia, and fome parts of the East, and that he appeared to Eve as an angel, which would the more eafily account for the deception. If this opinion is embraced, we must however fuppofe that the ferpent was more glorious before the fall than since in his appearance; and indeed it is probable that moft, or all the creatures, were more excellent in their kind before than after the fall.

But what we are chiefly to attend to, is the confequence of the fall upon Adam and his pofterity. As to themfelves, they loft a great part of the image of God, in which they were created. They became the objects of divine difpleasure; their eyes we opened, and they felt fhame for their nakedness; were ftruck with the alarm of an evil confcience; were driven from the terreftrial paradife; expofed to many fufferings which were to end in death; and obliged to labour on the accurfed ground. Some few of the ancients have believed that our first parents perished eternally; but that has been far from the general belief, which has been, that as the first

promise was made to them, they underflood and improved it, and received confolation by it.

As to the effect of Adam's fin upon his pofterity, it feems very plain that the state of corruption and wickedness which men are now in, is ftated in Scripture as being the effect and punishment of Adam's first fin; upon which it will be fufficient to read the epiftle to the Romans, chap. v. from the 12th verfe and onward. And indeed when we con.fider the univerfality of the effects of the fall, it is not to be accounted for any other way, than from Adam's being the federal head of the human race, and they finning in him, and falling with him in his firft tranfgreffion.

The first and chief of thefe effects is the corruption of our nature-that man now comes into the world in a state of impurity or moral defilement. We will first confider the Scripture proof of original fin, and then fay, as far as we have warrant from Scripture, what it is, and the manner of its communication.

I fhall first mention the following paffages of Scripture: Gen. v. 6. 21. “ And God faw," &c. Pfal. li. 5. Behold I was fhapen in iniquity," &c. John iii. 6. "That which is born," &c. Rom. viii. 7, 8. Eph. ii 3. And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

After confidering the above paffages, let me ob ferve to you that in this, as in moft fubjects, the general strain of the Scripture is fully as convincing as particular paffages, The univerfal command of making atonement; children receiving the badge of the covenant; the tenor of the promises, "I will