seed; and the covenant at Horeb, with the children of Israel, was not only with them that were then present, and on the spot, but with those that should be descendants of them.5- Nor have any of Adam's posterity reason to complain of such a procedure; since if Adam had stood in his integrity, they would have partook of all the blessed consequences of his standing, and enjoyed all the happiness that he did.6. Since God, in his infinite wisdom, thought proper that men should have an head and representative of them, in whose hands their good and happiness should be placed; who so fit for it as the first man, the common parent of mankind, made after the image of God so wise, so holy, just, and good? could it have been possible for all men to have been upon the spot at once, and it had been proposed to them to choose an head and representative for themselves; who would they, who could they have chosen but the first man, that was their natural parent, of whose blood they were made; and who, they might reasonably think, had the most tender affection for them, and would take the greatest care of them, and of their good, put into his hands? so that it is reasonable to conclude, they would all to a man have united in the choice of him.-7. To silence all complaints and murmurings, let it be observed, that what God gave to Adam, as a federal head, he gave it in a way of sovereignty; that is, he might, and might not have given it; he was not obliged to it; it was his own that he gave and therefore might choose whom he pleased in whose hands to deposit it; and who can say to him, What doest thou?

OF THE SIN AND FALL OF MAN.

I. I SHALL Consider the persons sinning, the same to whom the law was given, and with whom the covenant was made; the common parents of mankind, Adam and Eve; first Eve and then Adam; for Eve was first in the transgression, and then Adam; though Adam was formed first, Eve sinned first. I. Eve; she was beguiled and deceived by the old serpent the devil, to eat of the forbidden fruit, by which

she sinned and fell from her original state. Her sin lay in giv ing credit to what the serpent said, Ye shall not surely die; in direct opposition to the word of God, Thou shalt surely die. The fruit being of so lovely an aspect, so good for food, and having such a virtue in it as to make wiser, at once there sprung up in her, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; hence she inwardly sinned, before she eat of the forbidden fruit. Much the same progress may be observ. ed in her sinning, which the apostle James observes of sin in common, James i. 15. When she came to Adam, held it up to him to look at, as most lovely to behold, and commended the deliciousness of it; and no doubt used the same argu ments with him to eat, the serpent had made use of with her, he hearkened to her, eat of it, and sinned also. For, 11. That Adam sinned as well as Eve, is most certain; for though it is said, Adam was not deceived; the meaning is, that he was not first deceived; when she is said to be in the transgression, the sense is, that she was in the transgression first; we read of Adam's transgression, Rom. v. 14. His sin lay in hearkening to his wife, to her solicitations and requests, upon which it is put, Gen. iii. 17. Some think that he was not de. ceived by her; that he knew what he did, and what would be the consequence of it; he sinned with his eyes open; but from a vehement passionate love and affection for her; because he would not grieve her; and that she might not die alone, he chose to eat and sin and die with her: but then this was all very criminal. However, Adam sinned, and his sin is more taken notice of than the sin of Eve. In Adam all died; for he being the federal head of all his posterity, he sinned not as a single private person, but as the common head of all mankind, 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22.

II. How creatures so wise and knowing, so holy, just, and good made after the image and likeness of God, came to sin as they did, deserves an enquiry: To what could their sin and fall be owing?-1. Not to God; he forbid it; was displeased with it; and resented it to the highest degree. het as

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a little consider what concern God had in this affair. 1. What he did not do.-1. He did not restrain the serpent from tempting; nor withhold man from sinning. Satan, full of spite and malice, and moved with envy at the happiness of man, most freely and voluntarily entered into a scheme to destroy him; and our first parents, with the full consent of their wills, and without any force upon them, took and eat the forbidden fruit.-2. God did not withdraw any favour from man he had bestowed upon him, nor any power and strength to stand which he had given him; for when God does any thing of this kind, it is by way of punishment for a preceding sin or sins; but no such punishment could be inflicted on Adam, because as yet he had not sinned; but God left him in the full possession of all the powers and abilities he had conferred upon him; so that he could have stood if he would. Now these negative acts of God could never make him chargeable with being the author of Adam's sin and fall. 2. There are other things which God did do, or which are ascribed unto him, relative to this affair.-1. He foreknew the sin and fall of Adam; if God foreknew the most trivial and contingent events that befal any of his creatures; then surely such an event as the fall of Adam; now God's fore-knowledge of things future flows from the determinations of his will. Wherefore-2. God pre-determined the fall of Adam; this fell under his decree, as all things do that come to pass in the world; but then neither the fore-knowledge of God, nor any decree of God, laid Adam under a necessity of sinning; it is true, there arises from hence a necessity of immutability, that is, that the things God has decreed should unchangeably come to pass, but not a necessity of co-action or force; as Judas and the Jews sinned freely, the one in betraying, the other in puting Christ to death; so Adam sinned freely without force or compulsion, notwithstanding any decree of God concerning him; so that these do not make God at all chargeable with being the author of his sin; he and he alone was the author of it.3. God permitted or suffered Adam to sin and fall; he

willed, and he did not will the sin of Adam, in different respects; he did not will it as an evil, but as what he would overrule for good, as a great good.-4. There was a concourse of divine providence attending this action. Every action, as an action is from God; but the obliquity, irregulari ty, and sinfulness of the action is from the creature. 5. God may be said, by planting a garden, and that particular tree, of the knowledge of good and evil in it, and by forbidding him to eat of that fruit, to afford an occasion of sinning to Adam; but had he not a right, as the Lord of the whole world, ta plant a garden; and as a sovereign Lord, to plant what tree he pleased in it, and to forbid the eating of it, without being bla med for it? especially when he gave to Adam a power to abstain from it, had he made use of it; and God can no more on this account be chargeable with being the author of Ad. am's sin, than by giving wealth and riches to a wicked man, which are occasions of his sinning, by his consuming them on his lusts. 11. The concern that Satan had in this affair may next be considered; and what he did was not by force or compul sion, but by persuasion; he acted the part of a tempter, and from thence he has that appellation, Matt. iv. 3. Satan shewed great craftiness and cunning throughout this whole af fair; in making use of the serpent, the most subtle of all creatures, which could easily creep into the garden unobserved, which some other creatures could not; and it might be a very lovely creature to look at, adorned with beautiful spots, and of a bright shining golden colour, as such creatures in those parts are said to be: what might make her still more fond of it, was its faculty of speaking; whereby she could converse with it about indifferent things. Satan's cunning also appeared in going to work with our first parents so early; as also making his attack on Eve first, and when she was alone, and her husband not with her, to aid and assist, counsel and protect her. He begun, seemingly, with owning the authority of God, and that he had power to forbid the use of any of the trees of the garden; and only questioned whether he had

done so or not: they must surely misunderstand him, and mistake his meaning: and after this and more conversation, the woman began to doubt whether God had said so or not. Thus they sinned and fell, not through any force and compulsion, but through the temptation of Satan, and his seduction. III. The sin, fall, and ruin of man were of himself. It was hot through ignorance and want of knowledge that Adam fell, he was created after the image of God, one part of which lay in wisdom and knowledge. Nor was it through a defect of holiness and righteousnes in him; for God made man upright, endowed him with rectitude and holiness of nature; but as he was made mutable, which he could not otherwise be, he was left to the mutability of his will, and so sinned. Should it be said, Why did God make man mutable? it might as well be asked, Why did he not make him God? for immutability, in the strict sense of it, is peculiar to God. Should the question be altered, Why did not he confirm him in the state in which he was created, as he confirmed the elect angels? Is this good divinity? The truest answer is, that it did not so seem good in his sight. To shew his sovereignty, he confirmed the elect angels: but did not confirm, as not the rest of the angels, so neither man. And this should satisfy.`

OF THE NATURE, &c. OF THE SIN OF MAN.

FIRST, the nature of it may be learned in some measure from the names it goes by; it is called sin, and the sin, the grand sin, the first and fountain of all sin among men, Rom. v. 12. It is called a transgression, v. 14. a transgression of the law, as every sin is defined, 1 John iii, 4. It is called disobedience, Rom. v. 19. disobedience to the will of God, and to his law; and as obedience to God is well pleasing to him; so disobedience, in any case, is highly resented by him. It is often called the offence, it being in its nature, and in all its circumstances, very offensive to God, and abominable in his sight.

II. The aggravations of this sin were, the place where it was committed, and the time when, with other things. 1. With