THE EXTENT TO WHICH WE MAY SUPPOSE HUMAN NATURE TO HAVE BEEN INJURED, BY "THE FIRST SIN OF ADAM.'

"On the day thou eatest thereof," said God to Adam, "thou shalt surely die." God, however, after Adam had partaken of the prohibited fruit, granted him a respite, through the Messiah, so that he did not die a temporal death until several hundreds of years afterwards. We conclude that the death threatened was temporal, because there was but ONE death mentioned by the Almighty, and we can prove that that ONE was a temporal death. "For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead." 1 Cor. 15: 21. "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Roin. 5: 12. These passages speak of temporal death, or the death of the body, and declare this death to have fallen upon mankind in consequence of the first sin of Adam: therefore, as there was but one death threatened, and as temporal death, according to the above scriptures, did result from the first sin, this one death must have been temporal.

Before Adam had sinned, he was permitted to partake of the fruits of all the trees of the garden, excepting the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was consequently permitted, before he had sinned, to partake of the fruit of the tree of life; for it was one of the trees of the garden. Now, whether we consider this tree as literal or figurative, the fruit of it had virtue, by which to perpetuate human life. This we learn from the words used by the Almighty, when he expelled our first parents from the garden. "And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground whence he was taken." Gen. 3: 22. 23. Thus we perceive, that by the partaking of the fruit of the tree of life, Adam might have lived forever, but being cut off from the lifeperpetuating fruit, he must ultimately die. He was left,

If we may use the expression, to his merely animal resources; and, as these were all limited, they must in a limited time become exhausted. Then, death ensued. And we may add, that diseases must have been the precursors of this death. For being destitute of the healthinspiring efficacy of the life-perpetuating fruit, he was as liable to disease as to death; in a word, was made liable to death through disease; for, were there no diseases, there would be no natural death.

But not only was Adam separated from the tree of life, as the consequence of the first sin; all mankind were separated also. Adam, in this respect, is represented as standing at the head of the whole human family, so that his sin became theirs, and his punishment likewise! Hence the declaration of the Apostle, "By one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men because all have sinned." Hence, also, it is said in the same chapter, that "death reigned by one man's offence," and that "by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." The meaning is, that through the sin of the first man Adam, God passed sentence of temporal death upon all men. But, still, there is no injustice in this procedure; for God has given to all men as much in the second Adam as they lost by the first. Hence it is said by the Apostle, "For as by Adam all die, even so by Christ shall all be made alive." As we lost temporal life and health by the first Adam, without any fault of our own, so we shall receive temporal health and life in the second Adam, without any righteousness of our own. As, therefore, it was temporal, and not eternal life, which we lost in Adam without any fault of our own, so it will be temporal, and not eternal life, which all those who have no obedience of their own will gain in Jesus Christ. Those alone, "who receive an abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, will reign in life by Jesus Christ."

As, however, this is a subject of some difficulty and much importance, we must endeavor to be more explicit. We have said that we lost only temporal life in Adam. The life which Adam lost, must have been that of which

temporal death deprived him; and must consequently have been the life of the body. Now, if the life which Adam lost, was the same that his posterity lost through him, it follows irresistibly that we lost our temporal life through the sin of Adam; and as God does not threaten Adam with more than one death, it also follows, just as conclusively, that we lost but one life by the sin of Adam. Some of the creeds inform us that death temporal, death spiritual,and death eternal, were the penalty of the Adamic sin; but, as the Bible mentions only one death as the penalty of the first sin, we have no right to say that there were three! Nor will it do to object that Adam was to die the threatened death on the day of trangression, and that, as he did not die a temporal death on that day, a temporal death was not meant. For we have already proved that Adam did subsequently die a temporal death on account of his first sin, and that as he was threatened with but one death, this was that one; therefore as to the respite, God did certainly grant it; nor can any valid objection be urged against his so doing. God told Jonah to say to the Ninevites, "yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." But they repented and God did not destroy them. A similar method of divine procedure is conspicuous in many of the dealings of God with his creatures. That it is best for God to act in this way, in many cases, his having so acted is a satisfactory proof.

It may, however, be said, that "the life, which Adam lost by temporal death, would have been eternal if he had never sinned." This we grant. Nay, more; the life of a flower would be eternal, if it were never to die; and day would be eternal if there were no night.

But we said that as we lost temporal, and not eternal life in Adam, without any fault of our own, so, without obedience of our own, we can gain nothing more than the same temporal life, in Jesus Christ. This,however, must be understood with some limitations; for infants and all other persons who are not capable of obedience are exceptions to this rule. As by Adam, we all die a temporal death, even so by Christ shall we all be made par

takers of that temporal life, of which the sin of Adam deprived us. Now, as infants have no personal sin, ít will follow that when they shall have been made alive in the resurrection, they will be in a perfectly saved and holy state. Those also who shall have committed personal sins, but who previously to death shall have obtained pardon, will be in a saved and holy state; but those who at death shall not have been pardoned, will in the resurrection be in an unsaved and unholy state; they will arise with all their sins upon their heads. Hence the necessity of obedience, if we would possess eternal life.

In accordance with this doctrine we have many apostolic exhortations. "To them that seek for glory, honor, immortality, eternal life shall be given." "Fight the good fight of faith, that you may lay hold on eternal life." "Laying up a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life." "Blessed are they that do his commandments, for they shall have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city." "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers. &c. shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.”

These are only a few, of the many scriptures of this sort to be found in the New Testament. If, then, these scriptures are to be credited, eternal life cannot be obtained by any person capable of obedience, who will not through obedience seek for it. "Jesus," Paul tells us, "has become the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." The persons who by obedience obtain the appellation, "overcomers," will inherit eternal life: but the fearful and unbelieving will inherit the burning lake, or second death!

The conclusions, then, to which from the preceding premises we must come, are these: that, in the resurrection, all will be made alive by Christ; "but every man in his own order," or band. One band will be composed of those who will come forth to the resurrection

of life, and the other, of those who will come forth to the resurrection of damnation. All the evils which Adam brought upon the human family will be removed; so that, if men had not by their own personal acts committed sin, the whole family of man would be saved. But, as many will, in the morning of the resurrection, by reason of their own acts, be found in a sinful state, they will, even after having been restored to all that they had lost in Adam, die the second death! while the righteous will reach forth their hands to the life-perpetuating fruit of the tree of life, "which stands in the midst of the Paradise of God," and eat and live forever!!

We think that this subject is now tolerably clear. Still, however, we fear that there is one difficulty in the mind of the reader. "How," he will ask, "can men receive life through Christ, and yet that life not be in its own essence eternal?" We answer that the life of the righteous will be perpetuated eternally by the tree of life, and will therefore be eternal. The scriptures no where teach us that the life which the righteous will possess, is independently eternal; if it were so, we can see no reason why the obtaining of access to the tree of life should be esteemed a privilege of so very exalted a char

acter.

The scriptures teach us that "God only hath immortality." He is the only being in the universe who possesses within himself the essence of indissoluble life. The saints, then, will possess eternal life by derivation; and the medium, through which they will derive it, is the tree of life.

If the reader argues that we lost either spiritual or eternal life in Adam, he is stranded!! For we have proved, that whatever life we lost in Adam will be restored by Jesus Christ. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ will all be made alive." Now, if men die a spiritual death in Adam, without any act of their own, they will be made spiritually alive in Jesus Christ, with out any act of their own; for as we die in Adam, in the same sense and to the same extent, shall all men be made alive in Jesus Christ! But, if all men shall be made