' v 
 
No 
 
 n... 
 
 This Book belongs to 
 
 1881 
 
 BOB3BBT B&X 
 
 If thou art borrowed by a friend, 
 Right welcome shall he be, 
 
 To read, to study — not to lend, 
 But to return to me. 
 
 Read carefully, pause frequently, return duly, with the 
 corners of the leaves not turned down. 
 
 
 SCS-^HV 
 
7' 
 
 I (fi'ifi^--.. 
 
AlN 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 - *,r-2\ 
 
 THE SALVATION 
 OF ALL DYING IN INFANCY 
 
 INCLUDING* 
 
 2S3OT® Wl ^1EM AWAMW 
 
 AND 
 
 CHRISTIAN DISPENSATIONS. 
 
 Bv DAVID RUSSELL, 
 
 Minister of the Gospel, Dundee. 
 
 PRINTED FOR WAUGH AND INNES; 
 
 CHALMERS & COLLINS, GLASGOW; AND OGLE, 
 
 DUNCAN & CO. LONDON. 
 
 1823. 
 

 DUNDEE : 
 
 Printed bv James> Chalmers. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 9CCCCC* 
 
 JL he design of the following Essay is to prove from 
 Scripture, that all children dying in infancy are 
 saved through Christ. The substance of a great 
 part of it was written some years ago, for the bene- 
 fit of a friend. In the hope that it might be useful 
 to some who have doubts on the subject, and in par- 
 ticular, to bereaved parents, the writer was lately 
 induced to revise it with a view to publication. Iii 
 the course of his progress he met with an interest- 
 ing Essay on the same subject, by Dr. Harris of 
 Hoxton, of several thoughts in which he has avail- 
 ed himself. 
 
 Some Hints are introduced on the Adamic and 
 Christian Dispensations, in order to illustrate the 
 character of Adam as a public head ; the nature of 
 the penalty annexed to the first transgression, and 
 the connexion between the work and resurrection 
 of Christ, and the redemption of infants. It is well 
 known, that Divine truths are so interwoven and so 
 scattered throughout the Scriptures, that the proper 
 knowledge of one cannot be obtained without some 
 acquaintance with many of the rest. Great are the 
 
IV 
 
 practical advantages of this mode of revelation, ancJ 
 it were wrong to expect a different mode to be fol- 
 lowed on the subjeet in question. From a wish to 
 obviate objections which he has met w r ith, in read- 
 ing and in conversation, the writer has however 
 been led to say more on collateral subjects than he 
 originally intended, but he hopes that the work will 
 not appear tedious to such as feel difficulties on the 
 interesting point of infant salvation. It was, in 
 particular, his wish to remove certain prejudices 
 which are entertained by some against the doctrine 
 of the indiscriminate salvation of deceased infants, 
 as inimical to several branches of evangelical truth. 
 Nothing can be more unfounded than this appre- 
 hension, and its existence is deeply to be regretted, 
 for it has been the occasion of many gross misre- 
 presentations of the doctrines of grace. Some, in- 
 deed, have rested the sentiment in question on im- 
 proper grounds, several of which are adverted to in 
 the following pages ; but it is for Christians " to 
 distinguish things that differ," to " prove all things, 
 and to hold fast that which is good." 
 
 If his endeavours should be the means of solving 
 the doubts, and of comforting the heart of any be- 
 reaved parent, with whose wounded feelings he 
 thinks he can sympathize, the writer will feel him- 
 self amply rewarded. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 SECT. 1. Introductory Remarks — Hints on the constitution 
 established with Adam—The character sustain- 
 ed by Christ, 9 
 
 2. The consequences of the fall of Adam — Remarks 
 
 on Original Sin — Importance of being satisfied 
 with the light of revelation — Natural death, the 
 consequence of Adam's sin — The loss sustained 
 by his fall, that of chartered benefits — Nothing 
 lost that is essential to obligation — The evil of 
 dwelling on untaught questions, 26 
 
 3. The original curse, not punishment in a future 
 
 body — The resurrection the fruit of the coming 
 of Christ — Thoughts on the reasoning in 1 Cor. 
 xv.— Infants raised only in consequence of the 
 resurrection of Christ — Shall therefore be raised 
 to blessedness, 50 
 
 4. The original threatening, more than returning to 
 
 the dust — Objection as to the meaning of death 
 answered — Not annihilation — Remarks on the 
 use of the term resurrection, in JVIatth. xxii. 
 28 — 31 — Uncertain if any would have died in 
 infancy had not a Saviour been provided — Ob- 
 servations on Rom. v. 21 — The nature of the 
 connexion between the sin of Adam and future 
 misery — The present a dispensation of mercy 
 and forbearance — Lessons taught by the univer- 
 sality of death — Observations on the sentiment, 
 that the original curse was only natural death — 
 Not the same as the second death The na- 
 ture of future misery,..., ,* 77 
 
Page 
 SECT. 5. The present dispensation an economy of moral go- 
 vernment, and an economy of Sovereign good- 
 ness — The nature of Divine Sovereignty — The 
 connexion between the law and the gospel— In- 
 fants not the subjects of moral government, but 
 the objects of Sovereign goodness — The final 
 judgment will proceed on the moral deeds done 
 in the body— Infants incapable of performing 
 moral actions — Cannot be condemned on these 
 grounds — Remarks on Heb. ix. 27, 28 — The 
 guilt of unbelievers — The spirit of the gospel 
 favourable to the salvation of infants, Ill 
 
 6. Reflections on the reasoning in Rom. v. 12 — 19 — 
 
 The case of infants introduced by the apostle — 
 The bearings of his reasoning on the salvation 
 of such, 135 
 
 7. Remarks on some passages of Scripture, which ex- 
 
 press particular regard for children. Joel ii. 
 16—18. Jonah iv. 9 — 11. Mark x. 13, 14. 
 Luke xviii. 16, particulars in which infants are 
 examples to disciples — Nothing in this incon- 
 sistent with original sin — Thoughts on Matth. 
 xviii. 1 — 14. Mark ix. 36. 37 — On the words 
 of David, in 2 Sam. xii. 23, 165 
 
 8. Reply to the objection, that the iniquities of the fa- 
 
 thers are visited on the children— This respects 
 the present and not the eternal world — The case 
 of Abijah noticed— The case of the infants in So- 
 dom — The caseof those who perished in the flood, ISO 
 
 9. Reply to the objection, that the Scriptures repre- 
 
 sent the number of the saved as small — Obser- 
 vations on mistaken views of the doctrine of grace* 193 
 10. Reply to objections taken from the doctrine of elec- 
 tion—The circumstances of infants different 
 from those of angels and of adults among man- 
 kind — Thoughts on the case of Jacob and Esau 
 — Moderate Calvinism, favourable to the salva- 
 tion of infants; 202 
 
Page 
 SECT. 11. Reply to objections taken from the promises re- 
 specting the children of believers — Those pro- 
 mises chiefly respect them as moral agents — Do 
 not exclude other infants from salvation — Re- 
 marks on the import of circumcision — The in- 
 fluence of the salvation of infants on prayer for 
 them — Reasons why the Scriptures say more of 
 the children of pious families than of others — 
 The restriction of salvation to the infants of be- 
 lievers, inconsistent with the peculiarity of A- 
 dam's public character — Hints on the import of 
 baptism — Parents sometimes spared for the sake 
 
 of their children, —«.-»»«» ~~* „— <ww « 217 
 
 12. Considerations addressed to religious parents — Ir- 
 religious parents admonished — Conclusion,,**** 239 
 
• 
 
AN 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE SALVATION OF INFANTS. 
 
 s _ 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 J. he death of an Infant is far from being an un- 
 common occurence. There are but few who are 
 parents long, without suffering the pang of paren- 
 tal grief, inflicted by the distress and death of one 
 or more cf their children. He who knows our 
 frame, has borrowed parental sensations to show 
 his tender compassion towards his people. " Like 
 w as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
 " them that fear him. "a " Can a woman/' says 
 he " forget her sucking child, that she should not 
 u have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea, 
 " they may forget, yet will I not forget thee."6 
 When Jehovah describes the bitterest grief, he 
 compares it to the grief felt for an only son, and 
 for a first born. " They shall mourn, as one 
 
 a Psalm, ciii^ 1?. b Isaiah, xlix. 15 
 
10 
 
 " that mourneth for an only son, and shall be in 
 " bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for a first- 
 '• born. "a Who, but a bereaved parent can fully 
 enter into this? The feeling must be experienced 
 in order to be fully understood. A suffering and a 
 dying infant, is to a parent a sight inexpressibly 
 melting. And when animation is gone, and all 
 that remains is silent and still, countless recollec- 
 tions crowd around the heart, and from the lips 
 there escapes the doleful expression — all is over 
 
 The most pressing inquiry by a christian pa- 
 rent in such circumstances, must be " Is it well 
 " with the child." The mind instinctively says, 
 Whether art thou fled ? to what world hast thou 
 gone? The heart is deeply interested, and its 
 very love makes it suspicious. Can a parent who 
 knows the value of Ins own sou!, and has tasted 
 the sweetness of christian hope, and christian joy, 
 be for a moment indifferent to the everlasting 
 welfare of that being, whom he was the means of 
 bringing into existence ; and will he not put the 
 Question " What is written in the law, how readest 
 thou?" Conjecture will net satisfy him, — probabili- 
 ty will not soothe or gladden his mind. He will 
 be anxious to see whether there is genuine ground 
 for confidence, respecting the final fate of his in- 
 fant offspring, on their leaving this world. 
 
 oZccbariah- xii. 1C. 
 
11 
 
 There are cases in which it were in vain to 
 search for certainty in regard to the dead. There 
 may be strong reason lo fear even the worst, or 
 at least there may be no ground to conclude any 
 tiling in their favour. In such circumstances, it 
 i-s for us to imitate Aaron, who on witnessing the 
 fearful death of his sons, Nadab and Abihu, devout- 
 ly held his peace. This was no smaH attainment. 
 But surely in cases, where there is no positive 
 reason for an unfavourable conclusion, it cannot 
 be improper to inquire, if there is any for the 
 assurance of hope. To oppose, or repine against 
 what God has said, is impious — to pry into what 
 he tells us he has purposely concealed, is highly 
 criminal, but to inquire whether or not he has re- 
 vealed a particular thing, and if so, what the Re- 
 velation amounts to, so far from being sinful, is 
 a bounden duty. Let us then endeavour to ascer- 
 tain, what the Scripture reveals on the final state 
 of departed infants. 
 
 It seems proper to begin our inquiries into this 
 subject, by the consideration of the first constitution 
 established with Adam ; for In Scripture, a parallel 
 \s stated between him and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 There can certainly be no parallel between them, 
 in regard to their personal conditions, which are 
 infinitely different; except that both are partak- 
 ers of human nature, and therefore the parallel 
 must respect them in a public character. It is evi- 
 dent from Scripture, that Adam was dealt with, 
 
12 
 
 not merely as an individual man, but as mankind, 
 because he sustained the character of the repre- 
 sentative, or head of his posterity, so that if he 
 stood the trial, all his posterity stood in him, and 
 were confirmed in life ; and if he fell, all fell in 
 him, and shared in the consequences. The threat- 
 ening of death in case of disobedience, plainly im- 
 plied a promise of the continuance, at least of that 
 life, which was then enjoyed. " The Lord God 
 " commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the 
 "garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree 
 H of the knowledge of good and evil, thoushalt not 
 6i eat of it; for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou 
 " shalt surely die." a It is idle to say, that in the 
 threatening, there is no express mention made of 
 posterity, because the words are, " in the day that 
 M thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," and that 
 therefore they are not included. It might as well be 
 said that because the address is said to have been 
 made to the man, it did not include the woman. It 
 is very true that the death denounced, only came on 
 his posterity, in as far as they were capable subjects- 
 ofit, but to this extent* the threatening must have 
 gone. Every thing else which God said to Adam, 
 in a state of innocence, though immediately ad- 
 dressed to him, had a direct reference to his de- 
 scendants. Thus the blessing pronounced on 
 Adam the injunction, to increase and multiply,, 
 
 a Qenesis ii*. 16, 17\. 
 
13 
 
 and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and the 
 dominion conferred on him, over the creatures > 
 were all intended to apply to his children, as well 
 as to himself, a To them as well as to him, was 
 the grant of food made, b The obligation to 
 sanctify the Sabbath, was binding on both, c And 
 the blessings and duties of the married relation, 
 extend to the one as well as the other, d Is it to 
 be supposed then, that though on every thing else, 
 the language of God, included the whole of the 
 human race; yet, the commandment respecting 
 the tree of knowledge of good and evil, regarded 
 Adam, in his individual capacity alone. Such 
 an idea is quite untenable on Scripture ground. 
 This is beyond controversy, apparent from the 
 declarations of God, in Gen. chap. hi. 17, 18, 19; 
 respecting the woman, the man, the ground, and 
 the punishment of death. Do not facts prove 
 every day, that these declarations are more or less 
 verified, in the experience of the whole human 
 race. And is rot the mode of expression in 
 the:K, precisely the same as in the original threat- 
 ening: and does it not indeed actually refer back 
 to that threatening, as a part of its fulfilment. This 
 view of the subject is confirmed by the incontesta- 
 ble facts, that all mankind are universally exposed 
 to a variety of natural evils ; are subjected to death 
 and are all in a condition of moral depravity. 
 
 a Genesis, i. 28. b Verse 29. c Genesis ii. 2, S. d Verse 24. 
 A 2 
 
14 
 
 Were suffering and death confined to adults, it 
 might be supposed thai they entirely proceeded from 
 personal offences, and not from the sin of Adam. 
 But how can the sufferings and death of infants, 
 be accounted for, seeing they have been guilty of no 
 actual offence. In no other way certainly, than 
 that stated by the Apostle, when he says, " That 
 " by one man sin entered into the world, and 
 " death by sin, and so death passed through to 
 " all men, in whom all have sinned. "a That is,, 
 in consequence of their connection with Adam, 
 as their public head and representative, all men 
 are treated as sinners, inasmuch as they are doom- 
 ed to suffer the effects of his sin. In consequence 
 of that state of things which originated in the sin of 
 Adam, all men universally became sinners ; for that 
 sin which entered into the world by Adam's trans- 
 gression, did not stop with him, but infected the 
 whole of the human race; all of whom are therefore 
 considered as sinners and are treated accordingly. 
 The Jews erred exceedingly, in supposing that the 
 law of Moses was the great univeral rule of judg- 
 ment; and that the nations were constituted sinners 
 through the want of it ; for before that law was 
 given, men were universally treated as sinners. 
 Now as sin is not imputed, that is, none are treated 
 as sinners, wheiv there is no law, because where 
 no law is, there is no transgression ; there must 
 
 a Romans v. \2. 
 
15 
 
 have been some previous law, the violation of 
 which incurred death. This was the original law 
 of works, established with Adam. Through his 
 transgression of that law, and not by their person- 
 al offences, are all his posterity subjected to death ; 
 hs is evident from the fact that death reigns over 
 multitudes of infants, who have not sinned after 
 the similitude of Adam, inasmuch as they have not 
 like him been guilty of actual transgression. 
 Does it not follow, then, that they are treated 
 as a part of the species involved iri the sin of 
 its head. 
 
 Adam did not actually die on the day in which 
 lie sinned, but he became liable to death, and there- 
 fore became dead inlaw. The expression, " in 
 " the day that thou eatest, thou shak surely die," 
 is used here as in other parts of Scripture, to 
 signify, the certain connexion between the offence 
 and its punishment ; and a certain exposure to that 
 punishment. Thus, when Solomon charged Shimei 
 to abide in Jerusalem, and added, '- It shall be, 
 " that on the day thou goest out, and passest over 
 " the brook Kidron, thou shalt know lor certain, 
 " that thou shalt surely die fia he did not mean 
 that if Shimei was not apprehended and executed 
 on the very day on which he quitted the city, then 
 he would not be put to death. It is evident, 
 that the intention of the King was only to 
 
 a L. Kings ii. 37 
 
16 
 
 assure him that his life would be forfeited from 
 the time that he absconded, and would be taken 
 away, when and' where might be judged ex- 
 pedient. The same view must be taken of the 
 declaration of Ezekiel, that the righteous shall not 
 be able to live, for bis former righteousness, in the 
 day that hesinneth.a It solemnly marks the certain 
 connexion between final apostacy and ruin ; but 
 does not mean, that on the first instance of apostacy. 
 Judgment should immediately follow. In like 
 manner, the threatening against Adam, did not 
 oblige the Almighty to imlict death on him, on 
 the very day of his sin ; but it solemnly assured 
 him, that on that day he would forfeit his right, in 
 virtue of the promise, to immortality, and become 
 liable to death at whatever time God saw meet to 
 inflict it. 
 
 The plans of Providence required that the full 
 execution of the sentence should be suspended, 
 but from that day he began to die, though the 
 work of dissolution was not completed, till he 
 yielded up his spirit. His life Included not only ex- 
 istence, but happiness , and on the day in which 
 he sinned, he became mortal as to his body, and 
 was subjected to trouble and distress ; and his spirit 
 became dead to all the principles of that blessed 
 life of which he was possessed; inasmuch as he was 
 cut off from the favour and fellowship of God* 
 
 a Ezekiel xxxiii. 12. 
 
17 
 
 and fell under the power of a wretched hostility 
 against him. The sentence and the event, clearly 
 show, then, that the precise time in which the fall 
 infliction of the curse should take place, was not in- 
 tended to be fixed. Now the case is the same with 
 the death of his posterity; for though all of them 
 are under the sentence of death, yet they do not all 
 die at the same age. It rests with the Judge, to 
 fix the time and the circumstances, in which the 
 general sentence shall be executed. He accord- 
 ingly fixes them so as best to answer the designs 
 of his providence. 
 
 There is in this, as in other things, a correspon- 
 dence between the treatment of Adam and that of 
 his children. " In Adam all die." They are not 
 in a state of trial, similar to that in which he was;, 
 they are condemned to death already, and accord- 
 ingly are born unto trouble. His death was the 
 pledge of the death of all his posterity, just as the 
 resurrection of Christ, is the pledge of the blessed 
 resurrection of all his people. 
 
 The whole of Pauls reasoning, in the latter part 
 of the 5th Chapter of the epistle to the Romans; 
 proceeds on the principle, that Adam is to be con- 
 sidered not merely as the natural root, but also as 
 the public head, and representative of the whole of 
 mankind. " But not as the offence," says he, "so 
 " also is the free gift. For if through the oftence 
 "of one, many be dead; much moie the grace 
 u of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one 
 " man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded into many. 
 
18 
 
 " And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the 
 " gift: for the judgment was by one (offence) to con- 
 (i demnation, but the free gift is of many offences 
 " unto justification. For if by one man's offence 
 " death reigned by that one man ; much more reason 
 " is there to expect, that they who receive, (embrace) 
 " the abundance of grace, and of the gift of righte- 
 '■ ousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesuy Christ. 
 6i Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment 
 i; came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by 
 6; the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon 
 6i men unto justification of life. For as by one man's 
 ''' disobedience many were made sinners; so by the 
 ''• obedience of one many shall be made righteous. "a 
 Now here Adam and Christ are contrasted as 
 the public heads of their respective seeds. By the 
 latter the redeemed " shall reign in life." By 
 the righteousness of one, (as the ground of pardon 
 and acceptance) the free gift came upon all (classes 
 of) mail unto justification of life. By the obed- 
 ience of one shall many be made (constituted or 
 treated as) righteous. Now if it be on account of 
 one man's obedience unto death, as the Scriptures 
 uniformly testify, that sinners come to be justified, 
 or treated as righteous, it follows that to make 
 the parallel here drawn a fair one, it must be on 
 account of one man's transgression, that men come 
 in the first instance to be constituted sinners, that 
 
 a Romans v. 1.5. — 19. 
 
19 
 
 is, to be treated as such. The Apostle according- 
 ly declares, that by the first man sin and death en- 
 tered into the world: and in reasoning on the subject, 
 he employs the following expressions. " Through 
 '•" the offence of one many are dead." " The 
 " judgment was by one to condemnation." M By 
 u one man's offence death reigned by one," 6i By 
 u the offence of one, judgment came upon all men 
 H to condemnation." " By one man's disobedience 
 " many were made sinners," that is, constituted or 
 treated as such. 
 
 The parallel here drawn between Adam and 
 Christ, illustrates our subject. In the former part 
 of the Chapter, the Apostle had dwelt on the 
 wonderful display of the love and mercy of God, 
 in giving up his own Son, to suffer and die for us ; 
 while helpless and ungodly, sinners and enemies : 
 on the blessed state of reconciliation and accep- 
 tance, into which we are brought, through the death 
 of the Saviour : — on the security we have in the 
 heavenly life, and exalted glory of our great 
 high priest, that our salvation shall be complete- 
 ed, and our blessedness continued: — and on the 
 exalted glory to which we are elevated, in having 
 God himself as our portion. Now, referring to 
 all this, as illustrative of the exceeding glory of 
 Christian redemption : he says in the 12th verse. 
 " Wherefore, these precious and exalted blessings, 
 " are bestowed in a way, parallel to that, in which 
 "sin and death entered into the world; and have 
 
SO 
 
 u there prevailed, in all ages and circumstances." 
 The similitude here introduced, does not lie in 
 the nature or degree of the two things compared, 
 but in the manner of their conveyance to all men, 
 without regard to the difference made by the 
 Mosaic law. The condemnation of death came 
 unto all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, through 
 the offence of Adam ; and in like manner, the bless- 
 ings of which he had been speaking, come unto al] 
 men inasmuch as in the gospel, they are pro- 
 claimed to all, whether Jews or Gentiles, and are 
 obtained by all who believe without difference, 
 chap. iii. 22. 
 
 But though the resemblance between the way 
 in which we fell through Adam, and that in 
 which we are saved and blessed through Christ, 
 is the great thing insisted on in the following part 
 of the chapter ; yet, in reasoning on this, he refers 
 to the exalted view which he had previously given 
 of the blessedness of the church of God. In speak- 
 ing of the loss sustained in the one case, and of tliQ 
 gain received in the other, he represents the latter 
 in a light, which shows that it is not merely a re- 
 storation to what was lost, but an elevation to an 
 infinitely higher condition. But exalted as this 
 condition is, and much as it exceeds the damage 
 sustained, " if through the offence of one, many 
 " be dead," much more reason was there to expect, 
 that according as has taken place, " the grace of 
 " God, and the gift conferred by grace, for the sake 
 
21 
 
 ** of one man Jesus Christ, should abound unto 
 " Many, 11 The gHt of restoration does not merely 
 reverse the forfeiture incurred by the one offence 
 of Adam; but also delivers believer*, of the gospei, 
 from all that is inclined by their own personal or 
 actual ( ffences. This is nothing more than what 
 Might be expected, when we consider the dignify 
 of Jesus as God in our nature, and the infinite 
 glory and value of that vvo»k, in winch Jehovah 
 rests with ineffable delight. 
 
 Justice is limited in its exercise to the desert 
 of sin, but grace when not prevented by the 
 claims of offended justice, is unrestricted in its com- 
 munications; though certainly? its exercise is always 
 regulated by wisdom. God never can inflict more 
 as a judge, than justice demands; but in the com- 
 munication of good, he acts as a sovereign benefac- 
 tor, and therefore g*ves according to the good 
 pleasure of his will. Now, since through Christ, 
 the law is magnified, and sin expiated, there are 
 no obstructions to the sovereign exercise of mercy 
 and grace; so that there is every reason to expect 
 an exceeding display of rich and abundant good- 
 ness. If sin huh abounded unto death, there is 
 more reason now to expect that grace will abound 
 unto eternal life, glory and blessedness. 
 
 A similar view of the character of Adam and of 
 Christ, is given in 1 Cor xv. 45—47. The latter 
 is called the second Adam; and obviously for no 
 other reason than this, namely, that both of them 
 
 B 
 
22 
 
 were public characters, and heads of their respeo 
 tive seeds. " The first man,'' it is said, " is of 
 " the earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord 
 €i from heaven." Now Jesus was not the second 
 man who lived, for the firs-born son of Adam was 
 go, and therefore the meaning must be, that Adam 
 and Jesus are the fir-st 'u.d second nan, in a sense 
 that cannot admit of another of the same character. 
 And what can this character be, but that represen- 
 tative character, in virtue of which, the disobedience 
 of the former became the cause why many are 
 treated as sinners; and the obedience to death 
 of the latter, the ground on which many are con- 
 stituted righteous. Here as in Rom. 5th. the apostle, 
 while he compares Adam and Christ, keeps his eye 
 fixed on the immense difference between them; 
 and on the immense difference between what we 
 have become through the former, and what we 
 shall attain through the latter. If we have borne 
 the image of the earthly Adam, we shall also bear 
 the image of the heavenly ; when our bodies shall 
 be fashioned like to Ids glorious body, and when 
 with this blessing, shall be connected IikenesS 
 to him in spirit and condition, in glory and enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
23 
 
 SECTION IL 
 
 In this Section we shall consider more particular- 
 ly the consequences of the breach of that constitu- 
 tion which was established with the first man., as 
 our public head. 
 
 The justice of this procedure in regard to Adam 
 and his posterity, has often been questioned ; but 
 surely the safest way of judging what is fit tor the 
 Almighty to do, is to consider what lie has done; 
 and to resolve undeniable facts into his infinite 
 wisdom ant) righteous supremacy, however unable 
 we may be fully to account for them. Does not 
 the prevalence of death where, no actual sin has been 
 committed, prove that in some sense, infants are 
 held as guilty, for death is the wages of sin? Does 
 cot experience prove that all mankind are morally 
 depraved? M his is not the effect of imitation only, 
 for propensities are found in children towards evils 
 of which they have seen no example ; good ex- 
 amples are imitated with great reluctance, while 
 those oi the \?vy worst kind are eagerly followed $ 
 and corruption must have existed before there 
 could be examples of evil. 
 
 To account for ihe corruption of mankind bv 
 example, is \<> make it account for itself: or to be 
 its own cause: for how came bad examples into 
 being, and how came they to be so general among 
 all classes, in all places, and in all ages of th# 
 
2* 
 
 worU? Do not these things shew the truth of the 
 scripture*, whicji trace »iu 10 an evil bias, antece- 
 dent lo ail example i Do not children soon dis- 
 cover pr.de ami vanity, deceit aid selfishness, an, 
 impatience of restraint, a spirit of refractoriness, 
 and a -desire, not oi.lv to be then* own masters, but 
 to have the ascendancy over all around them? Da 
 they not in particular discover an aversion to 
 the things of Gu. £ And is it not clear then, that 
 all evil proceeds from the state of the heart. 
 
 This is the view which »s expressed by David* 
 when he says, k ' Behold 1 was s»b:?pen in iniquity* 
 " and in sin <.\\C\ my mother conceive nie/'fl What 
 else would lead hun to take notice of his being- 
 born in sip, but the experience which he had of 
 of an inbred disposition to evil, Sin is represented, 
 as what belong* to man in his natural state. "The 
 " wav (>! man. is Howard and strange." 6 fcC Are 
 " ye not carnal am! walk as men?" c ' fc Thou savour* 
 t; esi not the things that be of God ; but those that 
 M be of men.' d These passages plainly signify, 
 that to be IVcrward, dona', and indisposed to what 
 is scriptural and divine, is what properly belongs 
 to men in tfreir present condition. 
 
 At an early period, a distinction, winch has con- 
 tinned ever since, began to be made between tius 
 people ol G< d, sn.d the ] eople <;f tin- world. •* Then 
 
 * PsaUm It 5. h Fro v. xxi. S. c I. Cor. ii . 3* 
 
 4 at xvi. £& 
 
ttegan men to call themselves (or to be called) by 
 the name of the Lord, a The race of Cain, incon- 
 sequence of their neglect of divine worship, and 
 their attachment to the things of this life, weie 
 called u sans of men;" whereas the others, were 
 denominated the " sons of God." 'J he import- 
 ance of this distinction appear.**, from our being 
 told, that forming connections inconsistent with a 
 due regard to it, proved the cause of that enormous 
 wickedness which occasioned the deluge. b The 
 sons of God or his professed worshippers, married 
 the daughters of men, that is, of the irreligious 
 world. In reference to this distinction, it is said 
 of the Israelites, that though as a people separat- 
 ed unto God, and called hi* children in distinction 
 from others ; it was 10 be expected that th ty would 
 have acted as members of his family ; they had on 
 the contrary like men, that is, like the people of 
 the world, transgressed the covenant. In disre- 
 garding tlie covenant of their God, they d scovered 
 the spiiit and acted the part of the nations around. 
 The same evil is charged upon the Coi inthians, 
 when it is said to ihem M Are ye not carnal and walk * 
 as men" Now, why is this behaviour called the be- 
 haviour oimen, but because it belongs to their nature 
 in their present condition. Accordingly the testi- 
 mony ot God is* that the imagination of man's heart 
 is evil from his youth \c and that the wicked are e- 
 
 m G«n. iv. 26* b Gen. vi. 1 — 6. e Ilosea vi. 7. U (Jen. viiu 24r 
 
 b2 
 
26 
 
 strmge'l fiuvin the womb, aiul go astray as soon as 
 they ai v ho; n, or as- soon as they aie capable of 
 $r.oi<;. <.tii. iisr/ And I may add, that when any 
 tendfi te\ towaids good is discovered, it is invari- 
 ably (r.ivea to the influence of the grace of God. b 
 
 \\ lia'c\er d.fiicu!t;es we may ieel in regard to 
 the permission of sin, yet as it was a permission ap- 
 proved cat by infinite wisdom and goodness, it be- 
 c ./.. es u> »o tow to the dispensations of heaven, and 
 to resS -atish'ed that the jtidje of a'l must do light. 
 Every other system than that oi fcbe Scriptures* 
 instead of relieving l-roni difficulties, increases 
 t i ■ ;i a thousand fold, The scriptures in declaring 
 t: e corruption of human nature, only declare a 
 iac , v h eh all experience confirms. Now the 
 ic x\ Usiil is independent of every thing else. The 
 scrij tines are not responsible for it, — they only de- 
 tiaie h,— and if a more fu'l account of the origin 
 of this feict than that which they contain, were 
 re;dly requisite, no doubt it had been given. We 
 ought therefore, humbly to submit to our present 
 pmtial vision, and to wait for the day, when ail diffi* 
 cnlties shall for ever vanish before the light of the 
 celestial world. 
 
 Our reasonings can never overthrow facts. Let 
 us therefore with the spirit of meek submission 
 to the revelation of God, ponder lor a little some 
 oi the mournful parts of our history. Man, it is 
 
 •-P*aLiis iyiii. 3. b Duet xxx. G. c Gal. v. 12, g& 
 
27 
 
 evident, " is horn unto trouble. " He is doomed 
 to a lite of labour and <f sorrow ;- lie is closely 
 connected with the material objects around him 
 for the support of his life ; and in a measure, also 
 of his enjoyment; — these objects, iji consequence 
 of the stale of his mind, unhappily swallow up his 
 attention, and estrange him from God : — he i»tows 
 up in supreme attachment to them, and he forms his 
 Sentiments upon them. The love of t! e present 
 world, govtins his heart, excludes the love il God, 
 and leads hun away horn the only fountain of gen- 
 uine enjo\ment. His rational facilities, which 
 ought to be propel h adjusted, and ought to balance 
 his heart with tilings spiritual and eternal, are cor- 
 rupted and peiveited, and so have lost their in- 
 fluence; and as lie advances in life lie contracts by 
 practice and deeply rooted associations, stronger 
 and more inveterate habit* of sin. '1 he will na» 
 turaiiy chooses what the judgment for tiie moment 
 suggests is agrccaiAc, but how different is this from 
 choosing what the understanding dictates to be 
 rig/tf. Low indeed is man sunk when the evil in* 
 ciinations of his heal t lead him to employ his ra» 
 tional facilities meiely to discover what will be 
 gratifying ! Is it a matter of wonder that in such 
 circumstances his judgment becomes inrceasingly 
 darkened, that his sentiments ate formed entirely 
 on the present scene, and that his principles rapid* 
 Jy become increasingly corrupted. Guilt often 
 causes uneasiness ; but alas ! instead of leading 
 
'23 
 
 liim to God, from whom alone relief can be had, it 
 leads hi in co view the Almighty as his enemy, and 
 excites his heart to treat him as such. He looks 
 upon the true character of God as opposed to 
 Ins happiness, because his holiness and rectitude 
 appear to forbid, that he should look with regard 
 •on a sinful and unholy creature; and because in 
 calling on man to abandon all that is pleasing to 
 his depraved taste and desires, he appears to be call- 
 ing him to renounce everv thing that can yield en-» 
 joyment. The mind is thus fiiled with dread, and 
 hatred, and jealousy; and to reconcile the heart to 
 the Scripture character of God, requires the exeiv 
 tion of an Almighty power. 
 
 This enmity does not often burst out into open 
 attacks upon Heaven, though even of tins there 
 have been learfil instances; but it is felt in inter- 
 nal wishes, that Gad were not so holy and so deter* 
 mined against sin, as his word represents him. 
 Hence it is, that men endeavour so to represent 
 the divine character, as to reconcile the hope of 
 escaping wrath, and of reaching Keavvn, with tlio 
 indulgence ot their sinful propensities. Thej 
 frame a Gad such as they wish, and while they 
 rest their hope on the worship of this imaginary 
 deitv, they consider not, that they are bowing to 
 an i<i>l, and manifesting their hatred of the 
 genui ie character of the only living and trtrj God* 
 Such is the dark side of the slate in which man 
 has been placed in consequence of the fall. But 
 
w 
 
 it is an unspeakable mercy, mat me very constitu- 
 tion established with the iir>t man, through the 
 breach at which we have been involved in ruin* 
 is employed by God, to ill usi rate the new consti- 
 tution established with the second Adam. The 
 former was of the earth, earthy, and at best could 
 only communicate what he had himself. And as 
 the stream can rise no higher tfitin the fountain, 
 we see in his death the stream dried up, and con- 
 sequently we have a pledge of our mortality. But 
 let us turn to the second Adam. He too died, 
 but he is now alive for evermore ; and because he 
 lives his people shall also live; for since he ever 
 liveth, he is able to save to the uttermost, all who 
 Come unto God by him. a 
 
 Instead of arraigning the equity or the goodness 
 of God, it is for men to be humbled under a sense 
 of their depravity, and their actual guilt ; and to 
 consider the liberal provision which has been 
 made for the salvation of sinners, not only from 
 the tflecls of the sin of Adam, but from the dismal 
 consequences of actual transgressions, and for their 
 restoration to the image and enjoyment of God. 
 
 In the 5th chapter of the epistle to the Romans, 
 it is clearly taught us, that one reason of the ap- 
 pointment of Adam as the public representative 
 of mankind, was with a view to introduce the Sa- 
 viour in a similar character, and to illustrate the 
 
 a John x\v. 19. — Romans iv. 25. v. 10. — Hub. vii. i.5* 
 
30 
 
 plan of redemption through him* Hence the foi> 
 mer is called a figure of the latter. The analogy 
 of the two systems, presents a harmonious cor- 
 respondence between the way in which sin and 
 death entered into the world, through the breach, 
 not of a moral precept, but of a positive ap- 
 pointment, arising from the mere will of God, and 
 the sovereign!) which hath provided redemption 
 through Christ. In tracing this analogy, the apos- 
 tle particularly includes die stale of infants, by the 
 distinct reference which he makes to the reign of 
 death over multitudes of them, from the days of 
 Adam to those of M >ses. It is true that adults 
 who died during that period, did not sin like 
 Adam as representatives, nor agaiast an express 
 law denouncing death as he did, and therefore 
 they did not sin in the same direct circumstance; 
 but still, it cannot be said of those who possessed the 
 capacity of reason, th it they did not sin after the 
 " similitude of Adam's transgression," since their 
 offences, iike his, were deliberate acts of wickedness. 
 Now, it deserves particular attention, that it is 
 while he thus dwells upon the forfeiture sustained 
 by infants, through their relation to Adam, that he 
 introduces the highly import an I consideration, that 
 our first parent '• is the figure of Him that was to 
 16 come." As the many became subject to death, 
 through the offence of the former, so provision is 
 made by the latter, fev the solvation of all who re- 
 ceive, or embiace, the abundance of grace exhibited 
 
51 
 
 in Wnv.a Infants cannot actually embrace tins sal- 
 vation, but mither can the} neglect it; and if all 
 who arc capable of embracing it, and actually do 
 so, are delivered not only from l he effects of the 
 one offence of Adam, but fi.om a!l their own per- 
 sonal offences, does it not follow, that such of the 
 human race as never could reject this salva- 
 tion, and are liable only to the effects of the one 
 ■offence, shall be saved through the second Adam, 
 as they were condemned in consequence of the sin 
 of ile first. In repaid to iLtnu the two systems 
 are eo-'-xtensive, for as the only limitation is to 
 those who receive or accept the grace;, infants, 
 who could not, cannot be ixcluded from it. 
 1 To form conjectures about what would have 
 taken place had Adam continued obedient, is alto- 
 gether vain; since it is evident from the evert, that 
 it was foreseen, that the first constitution of things 
 would not be permanent; aid that it Mas made 
 subservient to the introduction of a more glorious 
 display of the divine pei fictions in the economy 
 of redemption. The world was created not only 
 by, but y^;r him, who appeared in our nature in 
 order fully to unfold the character and glory of 
 God. To this wonderful display of the d vine 
 character, the entrance of sin has by the over-ruling 
 providence of Heaven, been made subservient; 
 while at the same time, the 4 i>uilt of man was not 
 thereby lessened. God has, in his wisdom, made 
 evil the occasion of good, but this does not in the 
 
$2 
 
 least excuse the sinner. He acted freely under 
 the influence of principles evil in theaiselves, hate* 
 fal Jo God, and ruinous in their natural uncontrol- 
 ed effects, and the manifestation of the divine 
 glory in Christ has been made in the way of a 
 remedy. 
 
 I do not mean to enter on the const deration of the 
 whole nature or the full extent of the curse, con- 
 quent upon the sin of Adam. It is sufficient tor 
 my present object to mention th it it cert i-inly does 
 include natural death, £ >r we are taught, that by 
 one man sin entered into the world, aod death by 
 sin, and that thus death bath c^rne upon all men, 
 in consequence of the first sin of Adam. That in 
 Adam all die, or are become subject to <ie ith, is a 
 fact which admits of no dispute; and children 
 therefore must be considered as having foiled so 
 far under the penal consequences of the first trans- 
 gression, since death is a penalty, and sin its only 
 assignable cause. Natur.il death is never ascribed 
 to the many offences of men, but to the " one of- 
 u fence" of Adam only. It is true tlttit many in- 
 fants perished in the flood, and in the destruction 
 of the cities of the plain, and some in the families, 
 of Korah, Dathan, and Abir.im, but those chillrei 
 were previously liable to death as descendants of 
 the first man, so that their death itself'did not arise 
 from the sins of their parents, but only the time 
 and the violent manner of it. God has a ri«:ht to 
 choose the time and the manner in which he will 
 
83 
 
 e^ecu*c tlie general sentence, which deems the hu- 
 man race to the grave ; and in cases such as these, 
 he executes it at such times ami in such wuys as 
 t'lat while they mamfest his displeasure against the 
 first sin off Adam, they also manifi-st his indig- 
 nation against the sins of die imnmdnite parents, of 
 such children. It is the plan of God to accom- 
 plish many ends by ihe same means; Such dispen- 
 sation^, then, itiiJLtate not gainst what 1 have 
 stated. 
 
 The connection between the first man and his 
 posterity, is in many things different from that 
 which subsists between children and dieir imme- 
 diate parents; but still in certain respects, the one 
 illustrates the oilier. With regard to the loss 
 sustained by the children of /Yd am in consequence 
 of his sin, it is the loss of what they had no natural 
 right to; and paiticularly of that which thev had 
 no right to, in order to their being accountable 
 agents; for their right to it arose entirely from iheir 
 relation to him, in the benefits of whose obedience 
 they wou'tl have participated, had he continue*! 
 holy. It is with them as with the children of a 
 traitor against an earthly government, who do not 
 forfeit any natural right, such as life : but only iheir 
 relative rights, that is, honour, rank in socuty, and 
 such like things; their right to which arises »oh-ly 
 from their relation to their father, who holds these 
 privileges on certain conditions. When those con- 
 ditions are violated, he is aript of his privileges, 
 c 
 
34 
 
 and therefore cannot convey them to his children* 
 But where there are just laws, as the children of 
 such an offender have not forfeited their lives to the 
 government, they are not punished with death, or 
 with any corporeal punishment. That which befalls 
 them, is the loss of what would have been their 
 standing in society, had their father continued in 
 possession of it, and not a thing to which they 
 had a natural right. Such is the spirit, of the law,— i 
 " The children shall not be put to death for the 
 * fathers; every man shall be put to death for hia 
 " own sin. "a 
 
 Two things, however, deserve attention here. First* 
 there is no such union subsisting between children 
 and their immediate parents, as between Adam and 
 his posterity, who are in law considered as one; 
 and therefore a difference may be expected between 
 the effects of the sin of our public representative, 
 and the effect of the iniquities of our immediate 
 progenitors. Secondly, though men, in relation 
 to an earthly government, have a natural right to 
 life, and cannot have it forfeited by the crimes of 
 a parent, yet, in relation to God, they have no na- 
 tural right 10 existence, and therefore God, the au- 
 thor of their being, can deprive them of life at his 
 pleasure. 
 
 Still, however, the reference which I have just 
 made to the conduct of a righteous human govern- 
 
 a Deut. xxiv. 16. 
 
35 
 
 merit, serves to illustrate the subject. To a crea- 
 ture as a creature, God owes nothing; for the very 
 idea of derivation, and that of absolute dependance, 
 which are essential to a creature, exclude all claims 
 on the Cieator for existence itself; and consequent- 
 ly for its continuance, or any of its positive enjoy- 
 ments. In so far as the happiness of life exceeds its 
 sufferings, in so far has the creature received a 
 boon from the Almighty. But to a creature con- 
 sidered as an accountable agent, God owes those 
 things which are necssary to constitute him such ; 
 particularly natural faculties, freedom in their ex- 
 ercise, and objects suited to his wants. Now all 
 Jthese were enjoyed by Adam, and whatever more 
 was granted him, was superadded as matter of so- 
 vereign favour. To use the expression already 
 employed, though to the former he had a natural 
 right, yet to the latter he had not. The guilt there- 
 fore which attaches to his posterity, is that which 
 he incmred as a representative, possessed of what 
 may be called "chartered benefits," when he violated 
 the condition on which those benefits had been 
 granted. His descendants are treated as sinners, 
 that is, they are obnoxious to the loss of the super- 
 added favours which were granted to him. To 
 these superadded favours, his posterity have no 
 natural right, because they were to be granted them 
 only in the event of his continuing obedient. Yet 
 as the possession of natural faculties and moral 
 means for their exeicise, constitutes die true ground. 
 
31) 
 
 of mattd oHuration, their accountability is un* 
 
 touched; for as soon as -ht-ir faculties are develop- 
 ed, they become by their means responsible airents. 
 Il follows, that in order to account for a sinful 
 Corruption of nature, it is not necessary to suppose 
 that any evil quality was infused by God into the 
 fiat tire of man. When our first parents, instead of 
 Continuing to seek their happiness in God, acted 
 Under the influence of t!>e blind operation of tint 
 necessary principle, which leads a creature to seek 
 f r enjoymeO;, pave way to t f <e in>tinct of real gra- 
 tifications, arid so withdrew from Gck! as the su- 
 preme object of affection and source of b'tssed- 
 nes<; G'ocf ttren withdrew from them that special 
 influence which had all alottgbeen the hestowment, 
 not of equity, but or' fiiVotir. Mow, in the circum- 
 stances in which they ha i placed themselves, this 
 was followed by a total corruption of uaiure. Death 
 followed, ami in it was included the loss of all that 
 life of holiness and happiness in the enjoyment of 
 the favour and fellowship o\ God, of which A dun 
 \v:rs then possessed. Now, as God dealt with bin 
 as our public head, so he treats his posterity as 
 bavin* sinned in bun : an i theretoiv he does not 
 impart tint special influence to which they have 
 no n tural claim, and -to which ;b the descendants 
 of Adam, ihey leave no vtlative claim, since the 
 constitution establish ed with him has been hioketi, 
 lie can be uiuler no obligation to impart to the- 
 cuildren, what he was not obliged to continue in-- 
 
37 
 
 the father. The consequence is, that they come 
 into the world void of the positive moral image of 
 God, and in their piesent circumstances, this state 
 is followed by their falling under the government 
 of the inferior and animal principles of their nature, 
 and so becoming wholly corrupt. Their faculties 
 themselves are derived from God, but their corrupt 
 bent is not from him, nor indeed from any positive 
 infusion whatever ; but arises from a privative 
 cause. The result is, that personal transgression 
 is produced in all cases where life continues, till 
 moral agency commences, and as soon as it does so. 
 
 Such is the doctrine of sc.iipture on this 'im* 
 portant subject, and such are the views of it which, 
 are taught by the most eminent and esteemed evan- 
 gelical writers. " Original sin is the fault .and 
 " corruption of the nature of every man that na« 
 * : turally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, 
 " whereby man is very far gone from original 
 4C righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined 
 « to evjl."a 
 
 " The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man. 
 u fell, consists in the guilt of Adams first s\u 9 the 
 " want of original righteousness, and the corruption 
 4i of his whole nature, which is commonly called 
 « original sin, together with all actual tiansgres- 
 4< sions, which proceed from it, b 
 
 Mr Jonathan Edwards, in replying to an op- 
 
 a Arti.lc, ix. of the Church of England, 
 b Assembly's Catchism, Answer, xmi 
 
 c2 
 
33 
 
 ponent of the dvrctrine <f original sin, thus ex* 
 passes himself. "This writer supposes some- 
 ■* thing to belong to the doctrine object* d auainst, 
 * { as main taiued Uy the divines whom he is oppos* 
 c< ing, which dots not htlohg to it, nor does iollour 
 " from it ; as parUcnla) fy, he supposes the doctrine 
 * ; of original sin to imply, that nature must be cor* 
 w rupted by some positive i n fluent e; something by 
 <; some means or other infused iiro ihe human 
 u nature; some quality 01 other, net from the 
 11 choice of our minus, hut like a taint^ tincture, or 
 <c infection, alteriiig die nattnal constitution, fa- 
 f< Guides and dispositions of our souls. That sin 
 € * ami evil dispositions are implanted in the foetus in 
 <c the womb. Wliereas truly, our doctrine neither 
 <4 implies nor inlers any such thing; In order to 
 ic account lor a sinful corruption of nature, yea, 
 * c a total depravity of the heart of nun, there is not 
 €< the least ee*J of suj } nsing any evil quality ???- 
 u Jit$ed 9 implanted, or wrought into 'he nature of 
 4 man, by any positive cause or iuPue- ce vvhat- 
 14 ever, either from God or the creature. 1 think 
 M :i little attention to the nature of things will be- 
 <c sufficient to satisfy any impartial enquirer that 
 u the absence ol positive gooo principles, and so the 
 " withholding i f a special divine influence to im- 
 " pari and maintain those good principles, leaving 
 *»the common principles of self love, natural nppe- 
 * lite, &c. (which were in man in innocence,) to 
 ** themselves, without the government of superior 
 
$9 
 
 ?« divine principles, will certainly be followed with 
 *' lilt corruption, yen, the total c.iruptions of the 
 u heart, without occasion for an\ positive influence 
 ** at all. As Adam's nature became corrupt with- 
 fi out God's implanting or infusin<r of any evil T lii!*£r 
 M into it, so does the nature of his posterity. 5 V/ 
 
 1 liere is reason to think, that mistakes have been 
 entertained on the d >etrine of original sin, from not 
 . pfoperly considering the import of the terms often 
 employed to express it. The use of terms which 
 convey the idea of something positive, and of some- 
 thing superadded to the subject or the agent spoken 
 of, if these terms a*e not well defined, have a ten- 
 dency to mislead. 
 
 The manner in which sin originates, does not by 
 any means involve the idea that mankind become 
 the subject of it by compulsion, or by natural ne- 
 cessity : ior what they are, they firei-Iy choose to be f 
 and in all their aciions they act freely. Indeed 
 there is no such thing in existence as involuntary 
 sin ; for in the consent of the will of an accountable 
 agent, lies the very essence of sin. There is no un- 
 righteousness then in the government of God, 
 when the children of Adam are born into the world 
 in that state width oiiginates in his sin. 
 
 The gromuls of accountability, and of moral obli- 
 gation, exist in the case of the descendants of Adam 
 as really as they did in his own. It is not neces- 
 sary to constitute an accountable being that ha 
 
 a EdwarcU, on Original Sin, i'art iv, chap. ?, 
 
40 
 
 -should he actually inclined to holy services, but 
 merely that he could perforin such 'services if he 
 Were inclined. If inclinations were the rule of duty, 
 on the ground of obligation it would foliow, that 
 the more depraved antl abandoned a creature, the 
 less is be obliged to be holy, and ofcour.se l be less 
 sinful is he. The absurdity of this 1 need not stop 
 to exhibit. It is a principle which destroys at once 
 both the law and the gospeh It is not sufficient 
 to say that we had once power in Adam to obey ; 
 arid that though we have now lost this power, God 
 has not lost his power to command. Adam, it is 
 true, was our public head, but what we have lost 
 through him, did not, as I have ahead \ staud, con- 
 stitute the ground of moral obligation, it was a su- 
 peradded favour. The possession of natural ficukies, 
 and of moral means for their exercise, lays us under 
 obligation to the extent of those faculties and means. 
 We are not required to love God with the strength 
 of angels, for we have not their faculties ; we are 
 required to love him with " all our heart, soul, 
 strength, and mind." Duty is measured, not by 
 moral ability, or, which is the same thing, holy in- 
 clination, but natural ability, that is, the possession 
 of natural faculties, 
 
 Nothing which is essential to moral obligation is 
 impaired by the fall, because, though the mental 
 faculties and bodily powers of mankind nre impaired 
 by it, ye', the weaknesses which follow are not held 
 .criminal. The scriptures accordingly never repre- 
 
41 
 
 sent weakness in mental faculties and bodily vigour 
 
 fts 'sinful, but as pitiable infirmities. The removal 
 ol the depravity of man, does not require the com- 
 munications of any new physical powers or faculties. 
 *$3xe change affected by the spirit of God, consists 
 in giving a right direction to the faculties already 
 possessed. Of his free favour he imparts a new 
 heait, by infusing a new principle and dispositions 
 It does not require greater natural faculties to love 
 Ood, than to hate him. AJI that is required is, that 
 we consecrate to him tie talents we possess. He 
 is no austere master, reaping where he has not sowny 
 and gathering where lie has not strawed. 
 
 The actions oi' those, for example, who are de- 
 prived of reason, though this state is ceitainly the 
 consequence oi the fall of man, aie never deemed 
 punishable, because they are not the deeds of ac- 
 countable agents. The blind are never blamed 
 because they do not see, nor the deaf because they 
 do not hear; tor otherwise they could not be, and 
 these things they could not do if the\ would. Man- 
 kind, -peaking generally, still retain their intelligent 
 faculties ; and so far are they from being impelleel to 
 sin> that in all their actions they are voluntary a- 
 geuts. Kven in the present slate, the duty of man 
 is no more than what is commensurate with the de- 
 gree of natural faculties; and the measure of the- 
 means which he enjoys for their exercise. God 
 requires of every man that his spirit and his deeds 
 be perfectly free from evil.; but he does not re- 
 
« 
 
 qaire in point of degree, the same positive extent 
 from every individual. Duty is ever measured by 
 the degree of natural faculties and means. As the 
 circumstances of men, with regard to the means of 
 information are exceedingly different, nil are not 
 required to be equally intelligent ; end as their 
 powers of memory, reasoning, and understanding 
 are very various, even where the means cf infor- 
 mation are the same, the same result is not expect- 
 ed in all, for nothing is required .that U naturally 
 impossible* The obligations of children- therefore, 
 must increase only in proportion as their faculties 
 expand ; and according to the kind and degree of 
 the advantages which f.dl to their lot. .4 
 
 This is quite a different thin/ from resting the 
 ground of moral obligation on the actual existence 
 of good inclinations, or, in other words, no moral 
 ability; a principle which is scouted among men in 
 regard to their own affairs, and cannot be the ground * 
 of their obligation to God. Let no man bless him- 
 self in this, that he lias got a bad heart, in which 
 he may bury his sins and tints keepMiis conscience 
 quiet. No person will be found more sinful than he 
 chose to be, for no action will be deemed sinful, 
 which was not the effect of choice. When men 
 speak thus lightly of the badness of their hearts, it 
 is evident that by heart they understand, they 
 know not what, something quite distinct from dis- 
 position, intention or desire. 
 
 It is no excuse to plead, that it is in consequence 
 
 
43 
 
 of their connexion with Adam, that men come to 
 be depraved. It is not with sin as with a natural 
 defect or affliction in our mental faculties, or our 
 bodily powers; for sin is a moral deficiency, and 
 it cannot be committed without a criminal inclina- 
 tion of heart. It would not exculpate traitors and 
 murderers were they to plead, that they were the 
 offspring of rebels, and the " seed of evil doers'* If 
 possessed of reason, capable of distinguishing be- 
 tween right and wrong, and voluntary agents, what 
 would it avail to say, that their disposition was that 
 of their family? And what plea can men have, see- 
 ing every man's conscience tells him, that lie trans- 
 gresses voluntarily, and therefore criminally. 
 $. The descendants of Adam, in consequence of hi* 
 sin, are held guilty in the sense of obnoxioushess> 
 to suffering, inasmuch as they suffer the loss of 
 that which, although they have no natural claim 
 to it as accountable creatures, they would have en- 
 joyed, had he been obedient. This, however, as has* 
 been already stated, interferes not with the freedom 
 of their actions ; and leaves their accountability un- 
 touched. To the superadded favours granted to* 
 Adam, they have no more right than they have to 
 immortality. To the latter blessing, no creature 
 as such, can have a natural claim ; for as God was 
 not at first bound to give existence, he cannot be 
 Bound to perpetuate it. Though the threatening 
 of death in case of disobedience, implied a promiso 
 of life in case of obedience, which would have laid 
 
44 
 
 s ground of claim for the support of existence, 
 \et, as the commandment was broken, the obliga* 
 tion arising from the promise, has ceased. Now, 
 the same principle is applicable to the whole of 
 what we have lost through the transgression of 
 Ada n. We have lost noticing to which we have a 
 natural right. Even the state into which we are 
 brought, with a'l its frailties and its troubles, is 
 deemed by ns better than a state of non-existence; 
 as is evident fioin the high value which we natur- 
 ally put upon it. Add to this, that we ought not 
 to view the dispensation established wiih Adam, 
 by itself alone, we ought to view it in connexion 
 with the dipensation established through Christ, 
 for lo the latter it has been the introduction. Witlv 
 our eyes directed to the gospel, we shall see the 
 ways of providence to be in peifect unison with 
 righteousness and grace. It is evident, then, that 
 no one ought to bless himself in the delusive thought, 
 that the blame of his sins is chit-fly, if not altogether 
 chargeable upon Adam. There is much of this un- 
 hallowed spirit among men, and hence the treat- 
 ment which both the law and the gospel receive 
 from them. 
 
 It is also clear that the scriptures reason justly, 
 when they draw a line of distinction between those 
 who have been guilty of actual transgressions, and 
 those who have not. The appetites and passions of 
 the latter, have not had time to be cherished and 
 employed as Lave those of the former; and such of 
 
45 
 
 them as die it) infancy, are removed from those 
 scenes and causes which would h:ive been the oc- 
 casion of a grievous abuse 6r/tht*fii. In regard, 
 therefore, to actual transgression, the Scriptures 
 call them innocents, a and tlfey always distinguish 
 between them and actual offenders, b his Hue, 
 tint had they survived, they would have become 
 actual transgressors, but God will r.ot punish 
 them on account of what tliev would have done ; 
 for he judges his creatures according to what they 
 nre and have done — not according to what, without 
 the special aid of His grace, they would do. Men^ 
 indeed, will be condemned, not only for the evils 
 which they have actually committed, but also far 
 those which they wished and intended to do ; but 
 this is because such il^ds are in principleand design, 
 virtually already done ; but infants are as incapable 
 of wishing or designing to do deeds of this kind* as 
 of actually doing them. 
 
 Since, however, as has been stated, there is no 
 unrighteousness in the government of Gcd, when 
 the children of Adam are born into the world in 
 that state which is occasioned by his .sin, the salva*- 
 tion of infants from this state, and from its conse- 
 quences, must be matter of pure sovereign favour. 
 When God gave his Son to redeem them, as well 
 as others, from the ruin of the fall, he was so far 
 
 a Jer, xix, 4. b Num. xiv. SI. Deut. i, 39. 
 
 D 
 
4G 
 
 from making amends for an injury, that he was 
 displaying the riches of his grace. Infants, as well 
 as adults, are debtors to the mercy and grace of 
 Heaven, and to the atonement and mediation of 
 Christ ; though being free from actual tiansgiession, 
 they are not equally with the latter, debtor* to the 
 offended justice and law of God. The measure of 
 this latter debt must in all cases be proportioned 
 to the number and aggravations of the transgres- 
 sions with which the individual is chargeable. In 
 this respect, one, to use the words of the parable, 
 may owe five hundred pence, and another only 
 fifty. From this difference arises the different de- 
 grees of punishment among the finally condemned ; 
 and on the same principle, there will be various 
 displays of the vianifold grace of God, among the 
 multitude of the saved. 
 
 It becomes even* one to remember, that whatever 
 cavils may be started by his deceitful heart against 
 the scripture doctrine relative to the entrance of 
 sin, that even were that subject entirely set asid*, 
 his personal gnilt would not thereby be lessened. 
 Does not the conscience of every man tell him 
 that he acts freely, and that he is verily guilty be- 
 fore God? Instead of engaging in unprofitable 
 discussions on what might have been enjoyed had 
 not sin entered, let the mind turn to the infinitely 
 surpassing glory of that hope, which is unfolded in 
 the Gospel of the grace o f God ; and let the cha- 
 racter of God, as displayed in bringing good out 
 
47 
 
 of evil, and order out of confusion* occupy the 
 Tieart. The same reason which forbids idle specu 
 lation, as to what would have taken place had not 
 sin entered, forbids the indulgence of speculation 
 as to wh it would have taken place in consequence 
 of the sin of Adam, had not a Saviour been pro- 
 vided. There can be no doubt that the breach of 
 the constitution established with the first man, left 
 all his posterity exposed to the loss of that blessed 
 life which was enj >yed in paradise ; and in the very 
 nature of thing*, the loss of this precluded the en- 
 joyment of that positite blessedness in a future 
 state, which is the scriptural import of « eternal 
 life." Not that thi deed of Adam can, in point of 
 fact, be the actual deed of his posterity, but that, 
 in consequence of his being their public head and 
 representative, they are so fir treated as though it 
 %**re theirs that they snfter the loss of the super- 
 added favours, or Unchartered benefits, of which we 
 have just been speaking ; and are exposed to the 
 natural consequences of this loss. This, as we 
 have seen, is far from being unjust, for thev are de- 
 prived of nothing to which, as accountable crea- 
 tures, they have a natural claim. 
 
 It is also true, that the manifestation of the Di- 
 vine glory in the plan of redemption, has been 
 made in the form of a remedy ; and that theiefore 
 it cannot be altogether improper to inquire into the 
 nature of that of which it is a remedy. But surely 
 it hi safest and wisest in us to adhere closely to 
 
4S 
 
 what God has been pleased to reveal, ami to be sa«* 
 tisfied with the degree of light which he has .seen 
 ro<-et to afford us on the subject. We err exceed- 
 ingly if we suppose that the Creator was disap- 
 pointed by the e'.i trance of sin, and was necessita- 
 ted to devise some remedial dispensation, as if the 
 plan of redemption were an alter thought. Froai 
 evei lasting he had provided a Saviour, who, as a 
 public Head, should redeem the fallen children 
 Qf Adam, for the apostacy of the first man was dis- 
 tinctly foreseen. Now, though there be nothing in 
 this at all inconsistent with the free agency ar.d 
 guilt of man, and though we ought not to think of 
 the dispensation established with him as merely a 
 step towards another, or in a way which would? 
 imply that man was altogether passive, and there- 
 fore free from blame, yet, as in point of fact the 
 former dispensation has in the over-ruling provi- 
 denc»- of Got!, been chiefly employed to introduce 
 and illustrate the latter, it is to be expected that 
 comparatively little will be said on a state which it 
 never was designed should exist — I mean a state of 
 the world without a Saviour. Accordingly, the 
 condition in which those of the posterity of Adam, 
 who are exposed to nothing more than the direct 
 relative consequence of his one offence, had been 
 placed by his fal', if a Redeemer had not appeared, 
 is stated iu very general terms only, in Scripture. 
 Since God foresaw that sin would enter into the 
 world, and that it would enter before Adam had 
 
49 
 
 any posterity — since he had previously provided a 
 Redeemer who should act as a second public repre- 
 sentative, and since none but our first parents were 
 in existence before the revelation of the plan of 
 mercy, it cannot be matter of surprise that compa- 
 ratively little is said on a subject which supposes & 
 state of things which never existed. 
 
 I beg that these remarks may be kept in view, 
 in considering what may follow, in relation to this 
 subject ; for it is necessary to advert to certain state- 
 ments which have been made regarding it, in order 
 to remove some objections to t':e doctrines of this 
 Essay, which have taken their rise from them. 
 Wereit not that the statements referred to, however 
 unsanctioned by scripture, have powerfully influ- 
 enced the minds of many, in regard to the doctrine 
 in question, they should have been passed over 
 without notice, — for it is a kind of discussion which 
 ii far from being desirable. 
 
 d S 
 
50 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 An the farther prosecution of the subject, I shall 
 now endeavour to shew, tint whatever was includ- 
 ed in the original threatening of death, it did not 
 include punishment in the body in the resurrection 
 state ; and that as deceased infants shall certainly 
 be raised from the dead, they therefore cannot be 
 raised to misery, but must be raised to blessedness* 
 
 Death and a resurrection are so opposed to each 
 other, that the threatening of the former cannot 
 comprehend the latter. The original threatening 
 makes mention of death only, and not of a resurrec- 
 tion to another slate, of the body. As the promise of 
 the law of imiocence was the continuance of life 
 without dying, for the obedient, so the threatening 
 connected with it was death without a resurrection 
 for the disobedient It was not said, € ' Thou shalt 
 " surely die, and then rise to new sorrows," but 
 simply, " Thou shalt surely die." 
 
 The resunection of the body was introduced 
 by Christ, not upon the footing of the constitution 
 established with Adam, but upon the footing of 
 that dispensation of mercy of which he himself is 
 the Head. The great promise in this dispensa- 
 tion is that of eternal life— to be begun here, and 
 
51 
 
 to be perfected by a resurrection from the dead; 
 and the great threatening in it is, not that there 
 shall be a resurrection, but that a second death, or 
 misery in both soul and body, shall be inflicted after 
 the resurrection. The resurrection, considered as 
 such or in itself, isnot theexecution of a threatening, 
 — it is the fruit of the appearance of Christ, and in 
 itself it is a blessing The second death, accord- 
 ingly, is represented as taking place after the ge- 
 neral judgment, a The import of the threatening 
 which is annexed to the gospel economy is, that 
 notwithstanding of their being raised from the 
 dead, such as do not embrace the mercy of Heaven 
 as revealed in it, shall be subjected to a worse 
 death than the first. The resurrection, then, con- 
 sidered in itself', is the removal, and not the injlic- 
 Hon of the curse consequent upon the sin of Adam. 
 A miserable resurrection is not the direct fruit of 
 his sin, but of the actual transgressions of man- 
 kind. The circumstances connected with the re- 
 surrection of the ungodly, will doubtless correspond 
 with their character as sinners, but it will be with 
 their character as actual transgressors, and parti- 
 cularly as despisers of the plan of redemption. Those 
 circumstances, therefore, ought not to be confound- 
 ed with the resurrection itself, but ought to be 
 viewed as resulting from the behaviour of men, in 
 
 a Rev. xx. 14. xxi. 8. 
 
52 
 
 regard to that economy under which they are not* 
 placed. 
 
 Now, as deceased infants shall all be raised 
 from the dead, it cannot be that they shall be so 
 in order to be doomed to the second death ; for 
 that formed no part of the original threatening, and 
 with no other threatening have they any thing to 
 do ; they must therefore be raised to everlasting 
 life. It cannot for a moment be supposed, that 
 after they have been so far blessed through Christ, 
 as to be delivered from the grave, they shall, with- 
 out having been guilty Ji any offence against that 
 dispensation of which he is the Head, be doomed 
 to a punishment peculiar to that dispensation. 
 Surely the Redeemer will never give them occasion 
 to say, that with regard to them he came not to be 
 a Mediator, or a Saviour, but solely to add to their 
 misery I 
 
 One great proof of the correctness of this view 
 of the subject is, that if Christ had not appeared, 
 there had been no resurrection of the dead at all ; 
 so that had it no*, been for Hirn, deceased infants, 
 as well as other-, would have continued in the dust. 
 This, I apprehend, throws considerable light on 
 the question resecting the salvation of deceased 
 infants, and I shall therefore consider it more fully* 
 
 In the 15th chapter of the First Epistle of Paul 
 to the Corinthians, we have a beautiful summarj 
 of apostolic preaching. The apostle dwells in par- 
 ticular on the evidence of Christ's resurrection 
 
53 
 
 and shews the necessity of holding fast the doctrine 
 of his deLverance from death, by proving that it 
 occupied so essential a place in the gospel testis 
 roony, that to depart from it was to sap the very 
 foundation of the Christian Faith, — verses 12 — 17. 
 None of the Corinthians had as yet been so bold 
 as to deny the resurreciion of Christ, but they had 
 admitted principles, which, if followed to their na- 
 tural consequences, would lead to do so ; and 
 hence his zeal for the maintenance of this funda- 
 mental truth. They had begun to deny the resur- 
 rection of the body, and thus they virtually denied 
 Mie resurrection of the Saviour himself, on which 
 the truth of Christianity itself rested. . Remove 
 this, and the whole fabric of the gospel is gone* 
 There is nothing in the reasoning of the apostle 
 which can justify the supposition that they had at 
 all questioned the existence and immortality of the 
 soul in a future state. On the contrary, his decla- 
 ration that their denial of the resurrection of the 
 body, involved in it the rejection of the Gospel, 
 upon wh : ch they professed to build all their hope 
 of salvation and of eternal blessedness; and that 
 their denial of this doctrine left them exposed to 
 the fearful desert of their sins, decidedly evinces 
 that they still held fast the truth respecting the ex- 
 istence and immortality of the spirit, in a state of 
 separation from the body. Indeed, the very na- 
 ture of the case serves to establish this as a fart ; 
 fjr though we can conceive of persons professing 
 
64 
 
 faith in the gospel, while denying the resurrection 
 of the body, because they may be looking lor eter* 
 nal life in the separate state, we cannot conceive 
 how any could, in the very nature of things, even 
 but profess to believe the gospel of Christ, while 
 avowing their persuasion that at death there is a 
 complete termination of existence. 
 
 But though th*y had not yet denied the immor- 
 tality of the soul, they had given too much heed to 
 the sophistical reasonings of men whose principles 
 included this, and many of whom did actually de- 
 ny it. This the apostle declares in verses 32, 33, 
 S*. Kis meaning in these verses appears to be 
 this*, — m According to the language employed by 
 44 the men with whom you havebejun to associate. 
 4 * If I hive, for the sake of the Gospel, fought 
 44 with wild beasts at Kphesus, what is the advan- 
 M tage to me if the dead lise not? For those men 
 44 imagine that death will put a total end to their 
 44 existence, and therefore they are in the habit of 
 4< laying, * Let us eat and drink, fur to-morrow 
 41 we die.* You will tell me, that you do not re* 
 ci ce ive that part of their creed which respects the 
 M total end of existence at death ; but let me en- 
 44 treat you to beware of being deceived, for evil 
 4< communications corrupt go.d manners. Though 
 14 you have not yet gone that length, you are in 
 41 the way to it; and 1 beseech you to auake fiom 
 44 your vain dreams, for you have become, as it 
 44 were, intoxicated with false notions, and aie ad* 
 
55 
 
 u mittmg principles which are inconsistent with all 
 u proper view* of the character of God, I speak 
 " this to your siring ; for considering the advan- 
 u tages which \ou have had, and the professions 
 <; which you have made, this behaviour is much 
 " worse ill you than in others." The apostle, then, 
 is shewing what sentiments they were in danger of 
 adopting — not what they had already adopted, and 
 is warning them that one error received, prepare* 
 f jr the reception of another, and anotner, till the 
 whole system of truth comes to be abandoned.— 
 J 1 Evil mdu and seducers shall wax worse and 
 14 worse, deceiving and being deceived ;** and hence 
 the unutterable importance of continuing stedfastly 
 in the faith and hope of the truth of God. a 
 
 But to return to the subject of their avowed senti- 
 ments, — I need not stop to prove that a profession of 
 faith in the gospel is utterly inconsistent with the 
 persuasion, that at death there is a total end of ex- 
 istence. It mu^t be evident at fir>t sight, that a 
 profession of faith in the former, is quite incompa- 
 tible with a profession of faith in the latter. For a 
 time, indeed, a Christian might be led to doubt the 
 resurrection of the body, because he might look for 
 eternal life in his spirit, but he could not question 
 the immortality of the soul, without avowedly re- 
 jecting the whole testimony of the Gospel. If 
 
 t Tim. iii. IS, !4. 
 
56 
 
 death puts a total end to our being, there is no 
 meaning in the Gospel, for its whole nature and 
 reasonings proceed on the principle, that there is 
 a state of existence beyond this. Oa no other 
 principle could it be said to the Corinthians, " If 
 Christ is not risen, ye are yet in your sins ;" for if 
 death was viewed by them as ft complete termina- 
 tion of their being, it had been idle to speak to 
 them of their being "yet in their sins," since in that 
 case there could be nothing in this statement cal- 
 culated to alarm them. The meaning obviously is, 
 that if Christ was not risen, it followed, that sin had 
 not been expiated, and that therefore there could 
 be no forgiveness. Were this so, then the Corin- 
 thians and all Christians, as well as the rest of 
 mankind, would be exposed to all the fearful ef- 
 fects of that curse which shall be the portion of 
 those who pass irto the eternal state, with con- 
 sciences unpurged from the guilt of rebellion. 
 Where, then, were the consolations and joys of 
 the Gospel ? What, then, had been the disap- 
 pointment of those who had died in the faith of 
 the perfection and acceptance of the atonement of 
 Christ, and in the sanguine hope and high antici- 
 pation of eternal life through Him ? Accordingly, 
 the apostle declares, that if Jesus is not risen, 
 " Then they who had fallen asleep in Christ had 
 perished." He does not mean by this, that in that 
 case they had ceased to exist, for upon the princi- 
 ple which has just been stated, he must refer, not 
 
57 
 
 Hot to tne total extinction of beings but to the total 
 extinction of well being. If it was not a truth that 
 Jesus had risen from the dead, then they who had 
 died in the faith and hope of participating in his 
 glory, had found, on their entrance into the world 
 of spirits that he was not as they had believed, in 
 the heavenly state, enthroned as their forerunner; 
 they must therefore have experienced all the misery 
 and anguish which could not but result from the 
 complete and eve: lasting disappointment of hope; 
 and they must also have been doomed to destruc- 
 tion, that is, to the loss of all happiness, and the 
 endurance of all that tribulation of spirit, which is 
 the wages of sin. 
 
 Ah hough they had hope in Christ while " in this 
 •life," and were supported and comforted by it amid 
 all their griefs and tribulations, and were therefore 
 of all men on earth the most happy, yet as our 
 estimate of the condition of man must be determin- 
 ed by a reference to his everlasting state, his feel- 
 ings in this life are not to be named when weighed 
 in the scales of eternity ; and therefore, when we 
 embrace in our view the whole of their existence, 
 Christians are of all men most miserable, if Christ 
 is not risen. If He is not risen, then the hope of 
 Christians is a mere delusion ; and pleasant as it 
 may be, it is all a dream. Though it makes their 
 passage through this life agreeable, yet, were it un- 
 founded, this would be more than balanced by the 
 fearful addition which it would make to their sor- 
 
 £ 
 
5S 
 
 rows, when nt death it would be completely and 
 far ever L»Ia>ted. Such i> our nature, that tie pre- 
 sent takes much of its diameter from the past. On 
 this principle, the misery of the ri h man in the 
 parable, is represented as aggravated In* the re- 
 membrance of his Former enjoyments. And on the 
 same principle, the fall from a state of the most 
 sanguine .md elevated ho; e of everlasting bies!>eei- 
 ttess, to consummate misery and dismal despair, 
 imi.st have made Christians as much more miser- 
 able than other men, as their expectations exceeded 
 those of the latter. 
 
 The apostle acts on no such principle as that of 
 those writers against infidelity, who timidly say, 
 6 \\ hy rob ns of om pleasant hopes, though vain? 
 "Whv awaken u^ fromoui dream: of future felicity? 
 Let t:s enjoy oi:r consoling delusions. It is ci uei 
 to deprive us of the only alleviation of human mi- 
 serv.' So far from this, he wishes the leal state cf 
 tilings to he distinctly seen, ar.el will not admit that 
 the belief of any falsehood can he useful. He 
 forms his estimate of a ) erson's I appiness by a re- 
 ference to hi* condition in eternity, ard not merely 
 by a reference to his feelings in the present scene. 
 He and his fellow apostles weie indeed the most 
 happy of men, notwithstanding o! all their tribula- 
 tions, because they were supported and g'addened 
 bv the highest hopes of participating in the glory 
 of Christ; but their misery would he proportion- 
 ablv gicati if, on entering the eternal world, die 
 whole were to prove a delusion. 
 
59 
 
 It is to no purpose to say, that those who are 
 
 considered to be subject to future ptl lislnnent, are 
 never said to have fallen asleep in Christ, and that 
 theielore it cannot be meant to affirm this here* 
 In reply to this, it U sufficient to say, thai the a- 
 postle is siiguiug with the Corinthians on some of 
 their own principles, and is endeavouring to con- 
 vince them that they hud fallen into error, by 
 blunving ihem ;o wh.it their newly adopted sen- 
 timents would naturally lead. If Christ were not 
 risen, there con Id indeed be no .such thing as 
 being in Clnist, in the scripture sense of the ex- 
 press* i! ; but the object oi the reasoning employed 
 here, is to show the inconsistency of the Cormthi- 
 nns >a ith themselves, in admitting one part of the 
 truth if God, and denying another. On the 
 grmnd that they were ii«ht in admitting the im- 
 mortality of the soul, independently of the resur- 
 rection of iht body, he argues, that according to 
 that gospel which they professed to believe, this 
 odmi'ted truth sealed their ruin, if there were no 
 resurrection. He is showing then! their inconsis- 
 tency in holding sentiments which were completely 
 at variance with truths, which they themselves ac- 
 knov\ ledged. 
 
 When lie says, " Then they also who have fallen 
 asleep in Christ are perished/' he is of course 
 speaking hypothetical ly ; and he refers to those who 
 had died in the laith of the gospel of Christ, and 
 ill the hope of eternal bles.s^Iuess thru.i^ii Miai ft 
 
60 
 
 but who, on the principles he is opposing, have 
 actually perished. By this we are to under- 
 stand, not. the extinction of their being, but the 
 same thing that is meant by the word perish^ when 
 our Lord says, IC (jkxl so loved the world, that he 
 gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlast* 
 ing Life." Novv, it is evident that our Lord means 
 the destruction of happiness alone ; and it is clear 
 from the connexion, that the meaning of the a- 
 postle hero is the same. Whatever may be said 
 about the primary sense of the word, the question 
 is, in what sense it is used by the writer. From 
 the effect of circumstances upon language, this rule 
 must be adopted in numerous instances, and why 
 not in this? The consideration of the following 
 passages will confirm this interpretation of the 
 term. In Matth. x. 28, it is applied to the future 
 misery of the finally condemned ; and also in 
 chap, xviii. 14-, John iii. 15, 16, and x. 28, and 
 2 Cor. ii. 15. 
 
 It is by no means intended by this to affirm that 
 the soul is naturally immortal, for that it cannot be. 
 Nothing can be more evident than that whatever 
 began at any time to exist, must have its existence 
 maintained by the s.ime Power which at first creat- 
 ed it, and that the exercise of this power is depend- 
 ent on the will of the Creator. The Scriptures ac- 
 cordingly do not teach that the soul cannot cease 
 to be, but only that it never shall cease to be, ber 
 
61 
 
 cause it is tlie purpose of God to preserve it in 
 being. 
 
 These views of tlie meaning of the expression* 
 M Ye are yet in your sins," and, " Then they who 
 are fallen asleep in Christ are perished," are quite 
 in accordance with the use made of similar lan- 
 guage by the sacred writers. Ezekiel was com- 
 manded to warn the w T icked, that if he turned 
 not from his evil way he should "die in his iniqui- 
 ty." a And our Lord said to the Jews, " If ye be- 
 lieve not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." b 
 Now, if in these connexions, the expression ia_ 
 question means, that the persons spoken of should 
 die under a load of unpardoned guilt, as well as 
 under the dominion of sin, it must, in the connec- 
 tion in which it is used by the apostle, mean, that 
 if guilt had not been expiated by Christ, it was of 
 course unpardoned ; and that therefore all its dis- 
 mal consequences were yet on their head. The 
 idea of sinners perishing through sin, in the sense 
 of being doomed to suffer its tremendous desert in 
 a future state of existence, was familiar to every 
 one who, from a conviction of guilt and of danger, 
 had fled for refuge to the hope set before him in 
 the gospel, so that the import of the expression in 
 question w r ould instantly be apprehended. This 
 was a mode of reasoning which would at once come 
 
 a Ezekiel xxviii. 8. b John viii. 24. 
 
 E 2 
 
62 
 
 home to the conscience and the heart, — to the fears 
 and the hopes of the Corinthians, and which was 
 admirably calculated to awaken them from the sin- 
 ful dreams in which they were indulging. 
 
 In opposition to the vain notions which had beeii 
 started among the Corinthians, the apostle, as an 
 accredited ambassador of Christ, testifies, that as 
 had been proved by the most infallible evidence, 
 the Saviour had indeed risen from the dead, and 
 had become " the first fruits of them that slept." 
 He declares, that as by one man death had come, 
 so by one man had come the resurrection of the 
 dead. He does not merely say that death and the 
 resurrection came by man, but that each respective- 
 ly came by an individual of the human kind. Con- 
 sequently his meaning is, that as by a man came 
 death, so by a man came the resurrection of the 
 dead. Accordingly, he adds, " For as in Adam all 
 die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
 
 His argument is this, — Christians acknowledge 
 that Jesus, like Adam, is a public Head. Now, 
 the analogy between these two public characters 
 cannot be complete, unless, as we lost our life by 
 the one, we are to recover it by the other. 
 
 It is obvious from the connexion, that he is not 
 speaking of spiritual death on the one hand, or 
 of spiritual life on the other, but of the death and 
 the resurrection of the body. It is doubtless a 
 truth, that spiritual death has come upon all in 
 consequence of their connexion with Adam, and 
 
6S 
 
 also that the spiritual life of the redeemed is de- 
 rived from Christ, but these are not the truths 
 here taught. The subject in question is the resur- 
 rection of the body alone, for there is nothing in 
 his reasoning like saying, " Since by a man came 
 the annihilation of the soul, by a man came also 
 the existence of the soul in a future state. The 
 Corinthians, it is also evident, had not denied the 
 Scripture doctrines relative to the spiritual death 
 of mankind, and the derivation of the spiritual life 
 of Christians ; and on these therefore the apostle 
 had no call to enter. 
 
 His reasoning on the subject of the resurrection, 
 decidedly shews that if Christ had not appeared, 
 the dead had never been raised ; for if the resur- 
 rection would have taken place though the Savi- 
 our had not come, how could he have affirmed that 
 by Him the resurrection came ? In that case, he 
 might have said, that by him a blessed resurrection 
 came, but not the resurrection itself. But it is of 
 the resurrection in itself that the apostle here 
 speaks, and not of a blessed resurrection in parti- 
 cular. In the latter part of his reasoning, indeed, 
 he dwells particularly on " the resurrection of life," 
 but in the former part of it he speaks of the resur- 
 rection in general. This is clear from the nature 
 of the error into which the Corinthians had fallen, 
 which was, that there is no resurrection of the 
 dead at all — verse 12 ; and from the nature of the 
 answers given to objections in verses 35 — 39. Nor 
 
64 
 
 does his argument merely respect the agency of 
 Christ in effecting the resurrection, for the subject 
 in question was not the agency which should be 
 employed in effecting it, but the thing itself; and 
 besides, when he does introduce the subject of this 
 agency, he dwells on the Divine almighty power, 
 and not upon any thing peculiar to Emmanuel. 
 When he says, " In Adam all die," he does not 
 mean that Adam is the agent w T ho inflicts death, or 
 who by some agency causes it, but simply that it is 
 in consequence' of his sin that men are cut off by 
 the hand of God. And in like manner, when he 
 says, " So in Christ shall all be made alive," he 
 does not mean that Christ is the agent in effecting 
 the resurrection, but that it is in consequence of 
 his mediatorial work that there is to be a resurrec- 
 tion. It is true that Christ will be the efficient 
 cause of the resurrection, but this is not the truth 
 taught here. It is the truth taught, however, in 
 our Lord's words to Martha, " I am the resurrec- 
 tion and the life." a His object in this declara- 
 tion was not to inform her how it came to pass that 
 there was to be a resurrection and a future state of 
 existence, but to inform her that he himself was 
 the efficient Author of the resurrection, and the 
 spring of all life, as having the principles of life 
 within himself, and at his own command. The 
 
 o John xi. 25. 
 
65 
 
 abstract terms, resurrection and life, are put as the 
 Strongest expression of* their cause and Author. 
 
 The case is different, however, in the reasoning 
 of Paul, which we are now considering. The ques- 
 tion here is, how conies it about that there is to be 
 a resurrection of the dead, and not, who is to be 
 the agent in effecting it. He is speaking to Chris- 
 tians, and therefore he dwells particularly on the 
 u resurrection of the just ;" but it was impossible to 
 discuss the subject without introducing the resur- 
 rect ion as such, and of course the generafl resur- 
 rection of mankind ; for the question involved the 
 whole bearings of the re-animation ot the dead. 
 As through live sin of Adam all mankind are ap- 
 pointed to die, so through Chris*, death, so far as it 
 is the fruit of Adam's transgression, is com f letely 
 done away, the effects of Christ's death and resur* 
 reclion being thus far co-extensive with the fruits 
 of Adam's disobedience Death, considered as 
 the everlasting separation of soul and body, is 
 altogether abolished by the heavenly Adam. 
 Now, the fact that in consequence of the ap- 
 pearing, and work of the Redeemer, there shall 
 be a resurrection, both of the just and unjust, was 
 fitted in particular to show the fallacy of the rea- 
 soning, which would affix to the term merely a 
 figurative meaning. Ic would no doubt be argu-. 
 ed by the Corinthians, that a moral change from 
 spiritual death to spiritual life, is called a resurrec- 
 tion ; and had been so by the apostle himself: 
 
66 
 
 and likewise that on a similar principle, a revival 
 of religion is so denominated, and that therefoie the 
 term did not refer to a revival of the body. Bat tha 
 fact that l€ the many that sleep in the dust of the 
 earth," even all mankind, are to be raised from tho 
 plumbers of the grave, showed that the term must 
 be applied to the body; tor in regard to those who 
 shall awake "to everlasting shame and con- 
 tempt," it could not have a mere figurative mean- 
 ing, because such shall be raised as well as under 
 its isuilt, under ihe complete do..iu<o;i of sin. a 
 They shall come forth from their graves " to 
 the resurrection of condemnation," b and of course 
 in a condition of spiritual death. The fact, agiin, 
 that this general resurrection from the dead, was 
 the re>ut of Christ's appearance in the world, and 
 of His resurrection fiom the dead, would serve to 
 convince them, that though they allowed that He 
 had risen, they had not understood the import of 
 his victory over death. His resurrection imports, 
 thet the judgment of the world is committed to 
 him ; that he will judge those by whom he was 
 judged, and finish the work which was given him 
 to do, in the final destruction of his enemies, and 
 the complete salvation of his people, c The err >r 
 of the Corinthians, not only overturned the Gos- 
 pel, considered as the hope uf christians, but con- 
 sidered as the message of mercy to an ungodlj 
 
 a Daniel xii. 2. 6 John v. 4 J1. c Verse 14 — >& 
 
n 
 
 trorld. It not only bereaved the former of their 
 dearest hope ; hut it hindered ihe latter, from pre- 
 ceiving the relation hi which they were placed to 
 him * 4 uho shall judge the quick and die dead, at 
 " hi* appearing and Kingdom. l>y his resin rec- 
 tion, M God hath given Assurance unto alt men, 
 u thdt lie hath appointed a day, in which he wilt 
 •* by Him judge the world in righteousness/ 9 a 
 Now, the authority given him to execute judg- 
 ment, includes a power to revive the dead, and to 
 cite before hi* tribunal, both the righteous and tho 
 wicked, for all must appear at his judgment seat, 
 to receive the things done in the bodv, according 
 to that they have done, whether it he good or bad. b 
 Such, then, is the nature of Chi is t\s administration as 
 the Ruler « f providence for the sake of his church, 
 that in order to the accomplishment of the plans of 
 heaven, through him, theie is to be a general re- 
 surrection of the dead, and also a general judgment, 
 No change is made in the mode of punishment, 
 without a corresponding change in the dispensation, 
 under which moral agents are placed ; and there- 
 fore, as inlants have not been guilty of abusing that 
 dispensation which has followed the constitution, 
 established with Adam, they cannot be subjected 
 to that kind of punishment, which arises from it* 
 On the contrary, the fact that they leceive through 
 
 a Act* xvii. :U. b l 2 Ccr. v. 10. 
 
cs 
 
 Christ, the blessing of a resurrection, when com- 
 bined with the consideration that they have never 
 sinned against his salvation ; shows that the other 
 blessings of his reign will be granted them. The 
 second death is not immediately connected with 
 the " one offence" of Adam, but is denounced a- 
 gainst the " many offences," of which men are 
 themselves, personally guilty. Yet though this 
 death is not immediately connected with the sin of 
 Adam, it certainly has a connexion with it through 
 the medium of men's personal guilt; for in conse- 
 quence of their connexion with him, they are expos- 
 ed to corruption, and so universally come, (though 
 in a way which cannot be explained,) to be deprav*.. 
 ed creatures; and the evil principles engendered 
 in their hearts, produce " fruit unto death," even 
 eternal death, in the resurrection state. This 
 death is the wages of personal transgression, for 
 men shall be judged at last according to their 
 deeds done in the body, and in the body raised 
 from the dead either be happy or miserable. 
 
 It follows then, that since, if the Redeemer had 
 not appeared, there had been no resurrection, the 
 first sin of Adam did not include punishment in 
 the body in a future state. The arrangements of 
 God in regard to the punishment of sin, vary so 
 far as their circumstances are concerned, accord- 
 ing to the nature of his several dispensations with 
 Adam and Christ. And therefore, since there was 
 no provision for the resurrection of the body, in 
 
69 
 
 the dispensation established with the former; of 
 course punishment in the embodied state in a fu- 
 ture condition of being, after a resurrection, could 
 not be included in the curse that was to follow his 
 first transgression. I mean not, as has been al- 
 ready stated, to enter on the consideration of all 
 that it did include beyond death and the grave, 
 but rest satisfied with endeavouring to prove, that 
 it did not include the punishment of the body in a 
 future state. The resurrection of the body, when 
 considered in itself, is always represented as the 
 removal^ in part at least, of the curse which has 
 followed the offence of Adam, instead of being re- 
 piesented as a part of its infliction. In itself, 
 ^therefore, it is a blessing, as death in itself is an 
 evil; and though it eventually will prove a curse 
 unto many, this does not alter its nature. Now, it 
 was only in as far as it is a restoration from death, 
 considered as a part of the curse which has follow- 
 ed the sin of Adam, that he was called to oppose 
 it to the effect of his rebellion. In itself it is this, 
 and is thus therefore a blessing; and accordingly, 
 it is never in this respect represented as an evil. 
 The painful and shameful circumstances which 
 shall be connected with it, in the case of the wick- 
 ed, will whollj result from their own personal sins. 
 Viewed simply as the result of Christ's coming, it 
 is a benefit and not a curse. The apostle eonnects 
 it most clearly as a blessing with the resurrection 
 
 I 
 
. 70 
 
 of Christ, in the same way that he connects deatfi 
 as a curse with the sin of Adam, when he tells us, 
 that death came by the latter, and the resurrection 
 by the former ; and that as in the one all die in the 
 body, so through the other shall all be yel made 
 alive in the body. Not only is he not speaking of 
 spiritual life in the soul, — he is not even speaking 
 of the existence or the immortality of the soul at 
 all. The latter he by no means connects with the 
 coming of Christ, but the former he does. He, 
 indeed, dwells on the resurrection of the righteous, 
 because he is writing to a Christian Church, but 
 his argument necessarily includes the resurrection 
 of all. 
 
 Accordingly, he says, that M Everyone shall arise 
 in his own order." This intimation is made by 
 him, to show that though the resurrection of Christ 
 is the pledge that "all who sleep in the dust of the 
 earth shall awake," yet the time and the order in 
 which each shall arise will be so fixed, as seems 
 meet to the Almighty. All the circumstances con- 
 nected with the resurrection and the final judg- 
 ment, will be so arranged as best to display the 
 character of God, and to accomplish his purposes, 
 in relation to the plan of redemption. As he fixes 
 the time at which he executes the original sentence 
 of death, so he fixes that at which he shall raise 
 the dead, according as his complicated plans re- 
 quire. 
 
 Christ is already risen by himself " as the first 
 
71 
 
 born from the dead, that in all things he might 
 have the pre-eminence." He has risen as the first 
 fruits of the dead, for as surely as the first fruits 
 were an indication and pledge of the harvest, so 
 surely was his resurrection the proof and pledge of 
 the resurrection of the dead. It was proper that 
 he should rise by himself ] that he might appear as 
 the first-born Chief, who, as the immortal Son of 
 God, and the consecrated High Priest of his house, 
 was to enter into heaven itself, there to exercise 
 his mediatorial functions as a Priest upon his 
 throne. The grant of the kingdom to him, was 
 not to be deferred till the general resurrection : It 
 was to be given him on the accomplishment of his 
 expiatorv work, and therefore he was to rise, not 
 with the rest of the dead, but by himself as a fore- 
 runner of others. The accomplishment of his 
 priestly work, and the exercise of the government 
 with which he was to be entrusted, required that 
 he should rise from the dead, both over the Church 
 and the world at large, and enter heaven in a spiri- 
 tual and glorious body, for in a body like the pre- 
 sent he could not have officiated there. Flesh and 
 blood in their present state cannot inherit the 
 kingdom of God ; and the dominion granted him 
 included the government of all worlds for the 
 sake of his Church, until the gracious purposes of 
 God were accomplished, and therefore it behoved 
 him not only to rise from the dead, but to rise first 
 and by himself, that he might carry into effect the 
 mighty plans of Jehovah, 
 
72 
 
 Nothing can be more evident than that it is at 
 the second coming of Christ, that what is here 
 meant by the resurrection is to take place. The 
 denial of this involves the unscrrptural doctrine of 
 the sleep of the soul. Departed spirits can be said 
 to sleep, only as it regards their bodies ; and 
 Christ, by rising from the dead, became, as far as 
 this sleep is concerned, the first fruits of their bo- 
 dies alone. 
 
 From the order In which the resurrection is to 
 take place, it follows, that every man shall rise in 
 his own band, or company. Indeed, the word here 
 rendered order, often signifies an army drawn up, 
 — a legion, a cohort, and may be here used in the 
 sense of band, or company. But whatever may bo 
 thought as to this, the scope of the passage shows 
 that the idea in question is included in its meaning. 
 Christ, the first fruits and the Chief, rose alone by 
 himself; afterwards they that are Christ's, shall 
 rise in one grand company at his coming. This 
 implies that the wicked shall rise in another com- 
 pany ; but as the immediate object of the apostle 
 was to establish the faith of the Christians to whom 
 he w r as writing, in the blessed nature of the gospel, 
 lie does not directly mention this. Nor is this the 
 only reason why he does not directly introduce li 
 here; his arguments had been chiefly taken from 
 those views of the origin of the resurrection which 
 exhibit it, as it is in itselj, or, in other words, 
 yfh&t is included in it considered as the fruit of 
 
73 
 
 Christ's coming, and not what it will eventually 
 prove to many, in consequence of their refusing 
 that grace with which it. is connected, and of which 
 l n itself it is a fruit. He accordingly opposes it to 
 the death which has entered by the sin of Ac!am 3 
 rather than as the introduction of the second death, 
 which will follow the personal offences of the 
 wicked. 
 
 Instead of dwelling on the subject as it bears 
 upon the latter class, he goes on to declare that 
 then cometh the end, when Christ will deliver up 
 the mediatorial kingdom of providence, which was 
 granted him for the sake of his spiritual and ever- 
 lasting kingdom, the Church ; because then all ene- 
 mies shall be subdued, and the redeemed com- 
 pletely saved, and gloriously blessed, and all the 
 purposes for which the kingdom of providence was 
 granted him, completely accomplished. Now, it is 
 needless to stop here to show that this includes 
 the resurrection of the wicked, as well as of the righ- 
 teous, and also that general judgment which jshall 
 seal the overthrow of the former, as enemies of 
 Christ who are to be made " his footstool," while 
 it will perfect the redemption and glory of the 
 latter, It was natural for the apostle, after he had 
 exhibited the connexion which subsists between the 
 resurrection of Christ, and that of the dead, to 
 give a view of the final issue of that new dispensa- 
 tion which has followed the breach of the constitu- 
 tion established with Adam; and which is there- 
 T 2 
 
74 
 
 suit of the appearance and glory of the Saviour* 
 The termination of the present system in the ge- 
 neral judgment, will be accompanied with the ruin 
 of many ; but this will be the effect, not of the re- 
 surrection in itself, nor the effect by natural neces- 
 sity of that dispensation of which it is a part, but 
 pi the wickedness of man. As the blessings of 
 Providence are abused by men, and thus become 
 curses* so the blessing of the resurrection will to 
 many prove ultimately an aggravation of their 
 misery. All good is from -God,, and all is good 
 that is from him; all evil is from the creature 
 alone, a 
 
 Now, apply this reasoning to the subject in 
 question : — It appears, that the threatening against 
 the first sin of Adam, did not include suffeiing in 
 the body in the resurrection state ; for had not 
 Christ appeared, there had been no such state, 
 and of course no punishment of the kind. It ne- 
 cessarily follows, then, that as deceased infants 
 have not been guilty of actual sin, and are there- 
 fore only liable to the consequences of Adam's one 
 offence, they cannot be exposed to more than was 
 denounced against that sin. They of course, can- 
 not be liable to suffering in a future embodied state, 
 for this were to inflict more than was threatened. 
 We know from Scripture, that all the human rac<* 
 
 Jam»i, I S — 17» 
 
75 
 
 bhall be raised from the dead ; and therefore de* 
 ceased infants as well as adults, shall be raised* 
 All who are in the grave, shall hear the voice of 
 the Judge, and shall come forth. As in Adam all 
 Jfc, so through Christ shall be made alive, whether 
 infants or adults. To what, then, shall infants be 
 raised ? Not to suffer in the body, for we have 
 seen that to this they were not liable to the first 
 sentence; and surely it will not for a moment be 
 imagined by any, that the only thing derived by 
 such, from the advent of Christ, is, that they 
 are, in consequence of it, doomed to a kind of suf- 
 fering from which had lie not come, they had beer> 
 free. Never will the Redeemer give occasion for 
 such to say, that to them he came not as a Saviour 
 but as a destroyer. If they be raised at all, as cer- 
 tainly they shall, they must, then, be raised in or- 
 der that they may inherit everlasting life. If the 
 foregoing premises are granted, and 1 see not 
 how on Scripture ground they can be denied, this 
 conclusion cannot be resisted. Since they never 
 have been accountable agents, they cannot be ex- 
 posed to more than the relative consequences of 
 Adam's sin ; from these the resurrection through 
 Christ delivers them, so for as external circum- 
 stances are concerned, and what remains but that 
 they are called to everlasting life in his kingdom; 
 and of course are made meet for it, by a change of 
 nature. 
 
 At what time children cx>rae to be account- 
 
76 
 
 able agents, cannot be exactly determined. Some 
 reach this state at one age, and some at another, ac- 
 cording to the degrees of their natural faculties, and 
 the means of developing them. It is, however cer- 
 tain, that till the faculties of a child are so far de- 
 veloped as to connect accountability with them, it 
 cannot be a capable subject of moral govern- 
 ment. It is pleasant to think, however, that before 
 children cart be the proper subjects of the moral 
 government of God, they are, and even in the ear- 
 liest stages of their being, capable of being the 
 subject of his sovereign mercy and goodness. 
 None but such as have been here the subjects of 
 his moral government, can be judged according to 
 •the deeds done in the body, and therefore, on such 
 as cannot thus be judged, the second death can 
 have no power. 
 
77 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 It may perhaps be proper to make some mere 
 observations on the argument maintained, in the 
 preceding Section, with a view in particular, to 
 meet certain objections which have been made io 
 its leading principle. 
 
 From what has been said, it appears, that th« 
 death denounced in the original threatening, in- 
 cluded more than merely returning to the dust, 
 and yet did not include a miserable resurrection. 
 If all included in it had been the total annihila- 
 tion of our first parents, then, of course, our very 
 existence itself had been the fruit of Christ's me- 
 diation, and if so, we could have no connexion with 
 Adam, except as our natural root. This notion, 
 therefore, involves the principle, that cur presex.t 
 unhappy condition is not the fruit of the sin of 
 Adam, and leads to the denial of original sin, and 
 of all that is connected with it. The salvation of 
 Christ is deliverance, not from evils into which he 
 himself brought us, but from evils in which we 
 were involved before his appearance. He came 
 " to seek out, and to save that which was lost/' 
 If our present existence, in the whole of its re- 
 lation.?, is entirely the result of the mediation of 
 Christ, then there are difficulties in accounting 
 
78 
 
 for our present character, which are much great- 
 er than any which arise from its being connect- 
 ed with our relation to the first man. 
 
 It has been objected^ that the same words are 
 applied to the death which is common to man and 
 to beast ; but it ought to be remembered, that 
 the Scriptures expressly distinguish between 
 the result of the death of the former, and that of 
 the death of the latter, by telling us, that the spirit 
 of the one u goeth upwards," and that of the 
 latter " downwards." a 
 
 The proper rule of interpretation is, to deter- 
 mine the sense of the expressions that relate to 
 death in every instance ; by the connexion in 
 which they occur, and according to the nature of 
 the subjects to whom they are applied ; the rela- 
 tion in which they stand, and the arrangement of 
 the dispensations under which they are respective- 
 ly placed. If it be asked, * Why suppose that in 
 the first threatening, Adam was taught to look be- 
 yond the literal meaning of the word death T The 
 question may be answered, by asking another, 
 * Why suppose that when the law was justgiven and 
 enforced, by the threatening of death, that nothing 
 was to be understood by him of that punishment, 
 which in all ages since, has been represented in. 
 Scripture, as the principal ingredient, of the death 
 
 a Ecdebiastes iii. 21, 
 
79 
 
 denounced against sin V There is nothing un- 
 reasonable in supposing, that Adam, who must 
 have, known the distinction between his soul and 
 his body, understood that when the dust returned 
 to the dust as it was, the spirit should return to 
 God who gave it. a Neither is there the least dif- 
 ficulty in conceiving that he would anticipate the 
 fearful consequences of his sin ? in the separate 
 state. 
 
 The term death, having been employed to de- 
 note the loss of natural life, which is the greatest 
 of present evils, is employed to express the whole 
 that shall follow it, in the case of rational and 
 sinful creatures. Being the greatest of visible 
 evils, it is used to denote the greatest of all 
 evils whatsoever ; and hence it is employed to de- 
 note that misery, which shall be endured by the 
 wicked in the embodied state, after the resurrec- 
 tion, which accordingly is denominated the second 
 death. Thus, our Lord applied it to to a state of 
 misery in the world to come, when he said, "If a 
 a man keep my saying, he shall never see death, h 
 The loss of holy blessedness is certainly the priva- 
 tion of life, in its highest and best sense. Now, as 
 it is used to denote that misery which shall be en- 
 dured by the wicked in an embodied state, there 
 can be nothing unnatural in considering it as in- 
 
 o Eccletiastes xii. 7. b John viii. 51* 
 
80 
 
 eluding that misery which in the separate state fol- 
 lows its literal infliction. 
 
 Death and annihilation are two very different 
 things, when applied to a creature such as man. 
 He is a being constituted by the union of two sub- 
 stances, in themselves essentially different. The 
 soul by itself is not th£ man, but only a component 
 part of him, and therefore, however it may subsist 
 after separation from the body, the man, as such, is 
 dead. Now, this is the death, so far as existence 
 is concerned, which is contained in the sentence 
 pronounced against the first transgression of Adam. 
 A separate spirit is not a mixed being, as man 
 considered as such is, and of the nature of its life, 
 and its modes of action, we can know nothing. 
 Such a change on the mode of existence, may well 
 be termed death, particularly when connected with 
 the loss of that holy spiritual life, which consists in 
 the enjoyment of the favour and image of God ; 
 and which was the principal glory of the para- 
 disiacal state. 
 
 To confine the immortality of the soul to the 
 children of believers, or to connect it with the par- 
 ticipation of a sacred rite, is utterly unscriptural ; 
 for it appears, that independently of the gospel, the 
 spirit had existed in a separate state. The question, 
 it ought to be observed, does not respect the natural 
 immortality of the soul ; for though it may be true 
 that it cannot die as bodies do, by a dissolution of 
 its parts, yet, its existence must entirely depend 
 
81 
 
 \^>on the will of the Creator. On the ground of 
 His will, and not on metaphysical speculations in 
 regard to its nature, do the Scriptures rest the 
 doctrine of the immortality of the spirit. If, 
 then, the death denounced against the offence of 
 Adam, did not include its annihilation, it follows, 
 that its bare existence cannot be the result of the 
 redemption of Christ. 
 
 As the Saviour appeared in order to deliver from 
 the effects of the sin of Adam, as well as from 
 those of other transgressions, he must have endur- 
 ed the substance of the death which hath followed 
 k ; but his human spirit did not for a moment 
 cease to be in a state of conscious existence. He 
 expressed his hope that God would not leave his 
 soul in the state of departed spirits, nor suffer his 
 body to see corruption in the grave, and in the a- 
 gonies of death he commended his spirit into the 
 hands of his Father. Had it not been for sin, the 
 soul of man had never been separated from his 
 body, and therefore the appearance of the Redeem- 
 er's spirit in the mansions of departed souls, even 
 though in a state of enjoyment, was a proof that 
 he had suffered for sin, though not his own. 
 While his body and spirit were separated, he was 
 not completely freed from the effects of the curse, 
 and hence the importance attached to his resurrec- 
 tion. Now, we may consider the circumstances in 
 which he was placed, as illustrative of the nature 
 of the original sentence against sin. Accordingly, 
 
 G 
 
84 
 
 when applied to that change which shall be effect* 
 ed at the second coming of Christ, it denotes the 
 resurrection of the body, and the life which shaH 
 follow. 
 
 It is to no purpose, therefore, granting this view 
 of the passage to be just, to reason, that because 
 the term resurrection is used to denote a future 
 state of existence, there had been no such state in 
 any sense, if there had been no resurrection of the 
 body. So far from this being a just inference, 
 even according to the view now mentioned, the 
 term is actually applied to the existence of the spri- 
 nt in a future and separate state. Now, as it is 
 never used to signify the bringing back of any 
 from a state of non-existence or insensibility, as 
 to the soul, it cannot be maintained, that if there 
 had been no resurrection of the body, the spirit 
 had not been immortal. Death is indeed called a 
 sleep, but this is a metaphorical mode of expres- 
 sion, derived from the resemblance which a dead 
 body bears to the body of a person asleep. The 
 use of the language appears also to have taken its 
 rise from the hope of the resurrection, between 
 which and a person awaking out of sleep there is a 
 degree of analogy, both as it regards the state of 
 the body, and the inexplicable manner in which 
 the mind had acted, independently of its aid. 
 
 When we think, however, of the import of the 
 high relation which is included in having Jehovah 
 for our God, we must be convinced that it com- 
 
85 
 
 preheiids our whole persons. Now, as he calls 
 himself the God of the patriarchs in their whole 
 persons, he will certainly prove himself worthy of 
 that appellation, by blessing them in their whole 
 persons, which it would be impossible to do, were 
 he to suffer their bodies to remain eternally under 
 the power of death and corruption. The reason- 
 ing of the apostle, in Heb. xu 16, is, that he would 
 be ashamed to be called the God of any for whom 
 he had prepared no permanent inheritance, and 
 the city which he prepared for the patriarchs, is 
 that celestial habitation into which they shall in 
 their whole persons be introduced at the resurrec- 
 tion of the just. It follows, then, that the argu- 
 ment of our Lord indirectly proves, that there 
 shall be a resurrection of the body. 
 
 When we consider that the resurrection of the 
 body is entirely the fruit of the coming of Christ, 
 •that the knowledge of it is chiefly, though not ex- 
 clusively, derived from the New Testament Scrip- 
 tures, and that as the Greek classic authors had 
 no idea of the thing, they had no word which ex- 
 pressly denoted it, we cannot be surprised that the 
 terms chosen to express it, admit of considerable 
 latitude in their interpretation, while, at the same 
 time, they naturally enough convey the proper 
 idea. The connexion and scope of the passages 
 where the usual words are employed, will, to every 
 candid and attentive reader, determine the sense. 
 Though, therefore, the Greek substantive which 
 G 2 
 
86 
 
 is almost invariably used when the resurrection of 
 the body is meant, is sometimes employed to sig- 
 nify a separate or future state in general, there is 
 nothing In this which obscures the subject, or that 
 in the least invalidates the foregoing reasoning, in 
 regard to its origin and bearings. 
 
 But though the term resurrection is sometimes 
 used to denote a future state of existence in gene- 
 ral, it is certainly more frequently employed to de- 
 note the revival of the body. If the Spirit of Him 
 that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, 
 He that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also 
 nuicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwel- 
 leth in you. a We look for the Saviour from 
 heaven, who shall change our vile body, that it may 
 be fashioned like to his glorious body, b In 1 Co- 
 rinthians xv. the resurrection of the body is the 
 great subject of discourse. That which was sown 
 in corruption, dishonour, and weakness, shall be 
 raised incorruptible, glorious, and vigorous ; that 
 which was sown an animal body, shall be raised a 
 spiritual body. u As we have borne (in our body) 
 the image of the earthly Adam, we shall also bear 
 (in the resurrection body) the image of the hea- 
 venly Adam. It is true that we bear the moral 
 image of disobedient Adam, and that we shall bear 
 the perfect moral and spiritual image of the Savi- 
 
 a Romans viii, 11, b Phil. iii. 21. 
 
87 
 
 our, but these are not the subjects in question 
 here. The apostle is reasoning on the subject of 
 the resurrection body, and on our future resem- 
 blance in it to the glorified body of Christ. 
 
 The view which has been given of the original 
 threatening is similar to that which has been given 
 of it by Dr Owen. In replying to a particular 
 question, he introduces the case of man after the 
 tail, and says, that if the punishment threatened 
 had been inflicted to the utmost of what was con- 
 tained in it, then man had died immediately, both 
 temporally and eternally, and had been placed in 
 the same relation to the law that a criminal is who 
 has been finally executed, and has thereby been 
 subjected to its whole penalty, a Now, by dying 
 temporally, he obviously means the death of the 
 body, and by dying eternally the misery of the 
 soul in the separate state, and not the second death 
 in the resurrection state, for his language leaves 
 no room for this. 
 
 It may be objected, that though this conclusion 
 be just, yet, as the death denounced against the 
 offence of Adam left the soul exposed to the evil 
 of separation from God in the world of spirits, in- 
 fants dying in infancy may therefore be exposed to 
 this evil in the spirit, though not to misery in a 
 future embodied state. In reply to this it is suffi- 
 
 a Owen, on Justification, Chap. xii. page 381— 385* 
 
88 
 
 i:iem to say, that granting the latter inference in 
 relation to children to be just, yet the view which 
 has been given of the connexion between Christ 
 and the resurrection, decidedly shows that it does 
 not follow that as things now stand, infants dying 
 in infancy shall be doomed to exclusion from the 
 light of God's countenance in the separate state. 
 To nothing more than this could they, according 
 to this reasoning, have been exposed, even had no 
 Saviour appeared ; and therefore, as all who shall 
 be raised from the dead to eternal bliss, shall have 
 previously been in a condition of happiness with 
 God in the separate state, and as infants shall all 
 be raised from the dead, and if so, can only, as 
 we have seen, be raised to blessedness, it undeni- 
 ably follows that their spirits must be with Christ 
 in a state of enjoyment between death and the re- 
 surrection. The Scriptures never speak as if any 
 shall be raised to blessedness whose spirits in the 
 separate state were in the abodes of the miserable, 
 but, on the contrary, invariably represent them as 
 persons who in the world of spirits were previously 
 with God in a condition of enjoyment, though cer- 
 tainly not of enjoyment equal in degree to what 
 shall be obtained at the resurrection unto life. 
 This is evident from our Lord's promise to the 
 thief on the cross, that he would be with Him in 
 paradise on the very day of his crucifixion ; from « 
 the way in which the expiring Redeemer com- 
 mended his Spirit to his Father, and from the 
 
89 
 
 Strong desire expressed by the apostle Paul to de 1 - 
 part and be absent from the body, that he might 
 be present with his Lord, a We accordingly 
 read of the spirits of just men made perfect, 
 we find Stephen saying, " Lord Jesus 3 receive 
 my spirit ;" and in the parable of the rich man 
 and Lazarus, we are taught, that their condition in 
 the separate state, after their death, corresponded 
 with what it should afterwards and for ever be — 
 subsequent to the resurrection. More than this I 
 need not sav, as I do not mean to discuss the sub- 
 ject of the full extent of the consequences of Adam's 
 sin in a future state. The full discussion of that 
 subject is unnecessary here, because the decision 
 of the question in hand does not depend on any 
 particular view which may be taken of the separate 
 state considered in itself, or of the consequence of 
 the sin of Adam in that condition ; for whatever 
 that state would have been had not Christ come, 
 it is evident from the Scriptures which have been 
 adduced, that to infants it must now be a condition 
 of enjoyment. 
 
 But it may well be asked, why reason on what 
 had been the state of infants if a Saviour had not 
 been provided, because, though it be granted that 
 the constitution established with Adam provided 
 for the existence of every individual that has since 
 been born into the world, it does not follow that 
 
 a Luke xxiii. 43. 4G. Phil. i. 23. 2 Cor. 
 
90 
 
 their circumstances would have been in all respect* 
 what they are now, even had not the Redeemer 
 appeared. For any thing that we know, none of 
 the human race would in that case have been cut 
 off in infancy. The same ends certainly which 
 are now answered by the death of infants, would 
 not, in all respects at least, have been answered by 
 it in the circumstances supposed. If it be said, 
 Why even suppose that such a difference could 
 have existed in the arrangements of God, relative 
 to the time and the manner of the death of man- 
 kind ? It may be replied, Why do those who 
 take a different view of the final condition of in- 
 fants, reason at all on what would have taken 
 place had not Christ been manifested ? If they con- 
 ceive themselves warranted to reason on the latter 
 supposition — a supposition which involves such a 
 remarkable difference between what in that case 
 had been the arrangements of God, and what are 
 now His dispensations, can it be deemed unwarrant- 
 able even but to hint at the possibility, that if this 
 great difference had indeed existed, it had been 
 accompanied with a somewhat different arrange- 
 ment as to the period of dissolution. The truth is, 
 I am very unfond of such speculations, but it is at 
 times necessary to say something on them, in or- 
 der to show that the inferences which are drawn 
 from them in relation to the final condemnation oi 
 infants, are by no means entitled to the oracular 
 character ascribed to them. We are too ready tc 
 
01 
 
 start curious questions, and then to dispute about 
 different solutions, while we neglect the obvious 
 practical instruction of Scripture. 
 
 The justice of God, it is obvious, requires that 
 he mark his hatred of sin by the execution of the 
 righteous sentence of his law, but under a dispen- 
 sation of mercy other ends besides this are answer- 
 ed by the infliction of death. Must not, then, the 
 time chosen for this infliction correspond with the 
 ends to be answered by it, and if so, is it not rea- 
 sonable to think that under a different dispensa- 
 tion a different arrangement had been adopted ? Is 
 it reasonable to suppose, that if the dispensation of 
 the gospel had not been established, the lot of 
 every individual in this life would have been the 
 same in every particular what it now is, without 
 the least degree of difference, notwithstanding of 
 the immense difference which there is between this 
 dispensation and one of an opposite description. 
 Yet without going this length, it cannot consistent- 
 ly be denied, that in the case of many, a difference 
 might have existed as to the period of dissolution. 
 There is really then no need for entering on sub- 
 jects which in the present state of things serve ra- 
 ther to excite prejudices and to increase our diffi- 
 culties, than to elucidate the truth, and to set the 
 mind at rest. 
 
 The view which has here been given of the im- 
 port of the original threatening, seems to free from 
 those difficulties which attach to the opinion, that 
 it involved what is called the second death ; and 
 
92 
 
 also from those which attach to the opinion, that 
 it included nothing more than natural death. On 
 both these opinions I shall now offer a few obser- 
 vations. 
 
 In support of the former opinion, it has been ar- 
 gued, that in Romans v. 21, the apostle opposes 
 the eternal life which comes by Christ, to the de#th 
 w r hich comes by sin, and that therefore the two 
 must correspond. But the apostle is there sum- 
 ming up all his reasoning on the subject of the in- 
 troduction and reign, both of sin and of righteous- 
 ness, and is therefore speaking of sin in general, 
 including all the personal offences of men, and not 
 merely the one offence of the first man. Accord- 
 ingly, he had said in the preceding verse, that the 
 law entered that sin might abound; that is, that it 
 might appear by the connexion established be- 
 tween the curse and every personal transgression, 
 that there were other grounds of forfeiture besides 
 the offence of Adam. But where personal offences 
 or causes of forfeiture thus abounded, grace did 
 much more abound, in redeeming not only from 
 the death introduced by the sin of Adam, but from 
 the tremendous consequences of innumerable per- 
 sonal transgressions, and calling to the enjoyment 
 of the celestial paradise. The word death is ac- 
 cordingly often used to express the punishment of 
 personal guilt, a 
 
 Besides, the death introduced must have con- 
 
 *:■ ' " ■*"" • — • — "~ 
 
 a Chap. vi. 21 — 25. viii. IS.— James i. 15. 
 
93 
 
 tinued for ever, had not mercy interposed, because 
 the first constitution did not, and indeed could not, 
 make provision for deliverance from its curse, so 
 that as far as duration is concerned, even the effect 
 the first sin may well be opposed to eternal life. 
 
 From what has been already said of the nature 
 of the second death, in the embodied state, it is 
 clear, that the resurrection of the body could not 
 fit departed infants for enduring it. We can con- 
 ceive of them being thereby subjected to physi- 
 cal pain, but this, considered apart from what we 
 have seen to be the essence of future punishment, 
 is not a fulfilment of the Divine denunciation. It 
 is true, that what we call bodily affliction, is in re- 
 ality a mental sensation, — and that its effects upon 
 the mind are generally as evident as those which 
 its causes produce on the body. But still, this is 
 quite a different thing from mental anguish, spring- 
 ing from the reflections of a guilty conscience. 
 The great seat of punishment will be the mind it- 
 self; and the connexion between the state of the 
 present body and that of the mind, shews that a 
 particular kind of body may be fitted to be the 
 means of heightening that mental distress which is 
 the soul of the curse. 
 
 But though we can easily conceive, from what 
 we know of the present influence of the body on 
 the ideas arid feelings of the mind, how a particu- 
 lar kind of body may in the future state be the 
 means of so influencing the latter, as to give rise to 
 
 H 
 
94 
 
 the most vivid views of all that is connected witr* 
 sin, and thus in part to occasion that mental dis- 
 tress in which the essence of future misery will 
 consist ; yet it is not conceivable how any kind of 
 body could cause similar distress in the mind of 
 departed infants, who, not having actually sinned, 
 cannot in the nature of things be the subjects of 
 the remorse and other mental sensations which a 
 consciousness of personal guilt must produce. Fu- 
 ture punishment, as has just been stated, is not a 
 merely arbitrary infliction, and it never can arise 
 from a false impression. In the fearful abode of 
 the condemned, there shall be weepings and wail- 
 ings, in reflecting on the deeds personally done in 
 the body. Punishment and sin are not joined to- 
 gether by a mere act of authority, for the judicial 
 and natural effects of character are united. Now, 
 it is inconceivable how the worm of consience could 
 exist in a mind free from personal crime. It does 
 not consist with fact, that even Christians feel in 
 regard to the sin of Adam, in exactly the same way 
 in every respect, that they do respecting their own 
 sins ; and the Scriptures neither suppose nor en- 
 join that they should. Deeply humbled they ought 
 certainly to be, that their first parents sinned 
 against God, and grieved tbey oughi to be at the 
 dishonour which was thereby done to him, but 
 still they cannot feel in the same w r ay that they do, 
 in regtird to their own sins. The latter they must 
 trace to a depraved mind, which, though the con- 
 
95 
 
 sequence of their connection with Adam, is not the 
 effect of compulsion or natural necessity, for as 
 soon as they are capable of acting, it appears 
 evidently to be the choice of the heart ; and the 
 conviction of this, by which they virtually approve 
 of the first offence, must cause in them the deepest 
 contrition. 
 
 There is a connexion, indeed, between the sin of 
 Adam and the final misery of the wicked, but it is 
 not direct and immediate ; it is evidently only 
 through the medium of that corruption of nature 
 which has followed our connexion with him, ex- 
 erting itself in personal and actual sins. The 
 scriptures, accordingly, never represent everlasting 
 misery in the body, in the resurrection state, as in- 
 flicted on any of the children of Adam, simply for 
 his one offence. On the contrary, they invariably 
 represent it, not as the execution of a sentence 
 pronounced in the days of Adam, as is the case 
 with natural death and other evils, but as the exe- 
 cution of the sentence pronounced in the last 
 judgment on actual transgressors, and on the 
 ground of their own personal offences; and hence 
 they are said to be treated according to their works, 
 that is, the deeds which they have done in the 
 body, a 
 
 I shall now advert for a moment to the opinion, 
 
 « Eccles. xii 14. Matth. xxv. 30—41. Rom. ii. 12—16. 
 2 Cor. v. 10. 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Rev. xx. 12. 14, 15. 
 
96 
 
 that the original threatening included only natural 
 death. 
 
 It has been said, that Christ did not appear in 
 order to prevent the execution of the threatening 
 denounced against the offence of Adam, but to de- 
 liver from the death which must be inflicted be- 
 cause of it, and to raise to a higher life than that 
 which was lost. It may therefore be argued, that 
 if the curse included any thing beyond the grave, 
 then to that, whatever it is, must departed infants 
 be subjected. Insupport of this sentiment, it has been 
 said, that natural death, and the sorrows and troubles 
 which precede it, come upon mankind universally 
 notwithstanding of the atonement of Christ, and 
 that therefore the original constitution must be 
 considered as still so far in force, that its full pe- 
 nalty must be endured, since even Christians are 
 not exempted from its curse. But there are se- 
 veral mistakes in this reasoning, as will appear 
 from the following considerations. It might as- 
 well be argued, that because the original constitu- 
 ion made no provision for deliverance in case of 
 tuilt ; and the punishment denounced, whatever it 
 was, must therefore have been eternal; that on this 
 account it is impossible for men to be saved at all, 
 because, it salvation be granted, then the punish- 
 ment denounced cannot be fully endured, because 
 it is not suffered/or ever. Suppose it to have been 
 only natural death, then according to this principle 
 there could never have been a resurrection. 
 
97 
 
 There is a wide difference, it ought to be ob- 
 served, between what a thing is in itself, or in its 
 origin, and what it becomes through the overruling 
 gracious providence of God. Natural death, and 
 the troubles which precede it, are doubtless in, 
 themselves the fruit of the curse which followed the 
 transgression of Adam, but to all the redeemed 
 they are converted into blessings, for " all things 
 are theirs, whether the world, or life, or death, or 
 tilings present, or things to come." All things, 
 and of course the ordinary sufferings of life, as 
 well as afflictions for the sake of the truth, are 
 made to work together for their present and final 
 good. It is true, that to the ungodly they will 
 eventually prove a curse, but this is owing to the 
 non-improvement or the abuse of them. After the 
 revelation of mercy in the first promise God de- 
 clared to man — that the ground was cursed for his 
 sake — that in sorrow he should eat of it all the 
 days of his life — that he snould eat his bread by 
 the sweat of his brow, and that as he came from the 
 dust, so to the dust he should return : But while 
 in this sentence we see judgment following sin, 
 we also see the Divine mercy and goodness. By 
 taking away many allurements and fascinations 
 from the world, and making it the scene of trouble 
 and disquietude, God has taught mankind the va- 
 nity of looking to it as a portion, and has directed 
 them to that provision which is made in the gos- 
 pel, for the deliverance and the blessedness of ail 
 ir 2 
 
95 
 
 who embrace it. His goodness as well as Ins righ- 
 teousness is apparent in the appointment, that man 
 should eat his bread as the fruit of his toil, for 
 there would be much mere wickedness and wretch- 
 edness in the world, if men could subsist without 
 labour. Often, accordingly, does he bless the af- 
 flictions of life for bringing the sinner to himself, 
 and as the means of endearing to him the glad 
 tidings of redemption. The troubles, therefore, 
 which have followed the fall, serve the double pur- 
 pose of expressing the Divine displeasure against 
 sin, and of exciting the sinner to embrace the sal- 
 vation of God ; while in the case of all who em- 
 brace it, they are the means of trying and cherish- 
 ing those holy principles which make meet for the 
 inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 There is nothing, then, in the prevalence of suf- 
 fering and death in consequence of the sin of Adam, 
 which militates against the statement, that in con- 
 sequence of the mediation of Christ, mankind are 
 placed under a new dispensation, by which evils 
 are often overruled for good, and that, although in- 
 fants are not delivered from suffering and natural 
 death, they are delivered from all the effects of this 
 sin in a future state. Though some of the effects 
 of the sin of Adam come upon men, notwithstand- 
 ing of the coining of Christ, it does not follow, 
 that every evil which was comprehended in the 
 original curse that was denounced against it, must 
 infallibly come upon them. The measure of its 
 
99 
 
 effects, which is allowed to afflict them, and the 
 measure of them which is withheld, are determined, 
 the one by God as the righteous Judge, and the 
 other by him as a sovereign Benefactor. 
 
 There is nothing more inconsistent in supposing, 
 that God has not inflicted the whole of the evils 
 comprehended in this curse, than there is in saying, 
 that though he has inflicted them all as to kind, he 
 has not inflicted them for ever ; for the latter is no 
 more a full infliction than the former. 
 
 It is true, that Christ came not to restore us to 
 the life and the paradise which Adam enjoyed, but 
 to raise us to an infinitely higher happiness; yet 
 it by no means follows, that it is correct to say, that 
 we sustain the everlasting loss of the earthly Eden. 
 Such an idea cannot for a moment be entertained, 
 when we think of the inheritance of the heavenly 
 paradise. Mistakes on this subject have sometimes 
 arisen, from considering the sacrifice of Christ as 
 an exact equivalent for value to be received, instead 
 of considering it as an infinitely meritorious work, 
 a grand manifestation of the Divine righteousness, 
 and a general medium through which the Divine 
 goodness may flow to the guilty in an honourable 
 manner. 
 
 In the very nature of the thing, the law could 
 make no provision for a remedy. Such, however, 
 is the transcendent glory of the work of Christ, that 
 the spirit of the law is as essentially preserved, the 
 great ends of retributive justice are as fully answer- 
 
100 
 
 cd, and the authority and honour of the divine go- 
 vernment as completely secured by His mediation; 
 as if the penalty had, according to the strict letter 
 of the law, been inflicted on the guilty themselves. 
 In the appointment of a mediator, we see God act- 
 ing, not in opposition to the law, but beyond the 
 line of it; and in raising the Redeemer from the 
 dead, and giving him glory, we see the reward of 
 an obedience infinitely surpassing what could ever 
 have been yielded, by the most exalted and holy 
 of creatures. There is a grandeur in this dispen- 
 sation which is altogether removed from that mi- 
 nutely calculating process, which has sometimes 
 been connected with it. 
 
 In the very nature of the thing, the redemption 
 of Christ comprehends both complete deliverance 
 from all kinds of evil, and the enjoyment of happi- 
 ness relatively perfect, in the world to come ; but 
 with regard to the present world, it degrades the 
 subject, nicely to calculate the proportion of evil, 
 from which the merit of his sacrifice is sufficient to 
 redeem. And even in regard to the world to come, 
 man will perish in consequence of any deficiency 
 in the worth of the atonement. 
 
 In virtue of the* promise, " I will make him my 
 first born," Christ is constituted heir of all things, a 
 for " all power in heaven and on earth is commit- 
 
 o Psalm lxxxix. 27. Heb. i. 2, 
 
101 
 
 ted to him.*' a His interposition on the entrance o( 
 sin, fixed the world under a despensation of mercy* 
 forbearance and patience : and all things connect-* 
 ed with it, whether in the infliction of etilj or the 
 bestowment of good are so regulated, as best to ac* 
 complish the ends of his administration. 
 
 It is wrong, therefore, to say, that the things of 
 this life are no more blessings to mankind at large, 
 than the food of condemned criminals, during the 
 time that their execution is delayed ; which is only 
 intended to preserve them in being till it take place, 
 and cannot therefore be considered in the light of 
 a benefit. This is true, indeed, of rebels who are 
 condemned without the least hope of forgiveness, 
 but it is not true of rebels, to whom a proclama- 
 tion of mercy is made, on their being reconciled to 
 their Prince, and whose lives are spared that they 
 may have space for repentance, b To them the 
 necessaries of life are in themselves b]essin5j;s. The 
 condition of impenitent actual transgressors, on 
 leaving the world, maybe compared to that of a 
 malefactor who is laid up in prison against the day 
 of execution ; but the condition of mankind in the 
 present state by no means corresponds with this. 
 The mediation of Christ is a grand general mani- 
 festation of the righteousness of God, by which the 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 18. Phil. ii. 7. 8. 9. b Rom. ii. 4. 
 2 fet. iii. 9. Rev. ii, 21. 
 
102 
 
 claims of justice are satisfied, and the glory of his 
 government is fully maintained in the exercise of 
 mercy towards mankind, in all the ways in which 
 lie shall see meet to display it. a 
 
 Since, then, the atonement is a general remedy 
 arising from the infinite glory of the Saviour's per- 
 son and character, and since the plan of redemp- 
 tion, though in strict accordance with the spirit of 
 the law, is not regulated by its provisions, it is 
 easy to see how, notwithstanding of the death of 
 Christ, a portion of the effects of the sin of Adam 
 come even on the saved themselves ; and how it is 
 that his redemption includes much more than a re- 
 storation to the state from which man by transgres- 
 sion fell. On the same principle, it is easy to see 
 how a dispensation of mercy has been established, 
 tinder which without distinction all are invited to 
 return to God. " All men, in consequence of 
 Christ's undertakings are under a dispensation of 
 mercy, and are endured with much long suffering ; 
 they are not left desperate, have many temporal 
 mercies, and shall all arise to judgment. There is 
 also such an infinite sufficiency in the atonement of 
 Christ, and it is so proposed to sinners as a com- 
 mon salvation for all who will accept of it, that a 
 foundation is laid for the most unreserved invita- 
 tions, exhortations, and expostulations, and no sin- 
 
 a Rom., iii. 25, 26. 2 Cor. v. 18—21. 
 
103 
 
 ner will be rejected, who sincerely desires this sal- 
 vation." a 
 
 Many things are granted, indeed, to those who 
 shall eventually perish for the sake of those who 
 shall eventually be saved, but this is not the only 
 reason why they are granted them. If it were, 
 why is the gospel preached to mankind in common ? 
 and why are not multitudes treated as the fallen 
 angels are ? 
 
 Men, indeed, abuse this forbearance, and so 
 treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of 
 wrath, and reyelation of the righteous judgment of 
 God, but this is entirely their own fault. The pa- 
 tience of God gives the sinner time and opportuni- 
 ty for repentance, and the discoveries of his mer- 
 cy furnish him with motives and encouragements ; 
 and were it not for man's total depravity, the pro- 
 posals of the gospel must prevail w r ith every one 
 to repent of his departure from God, and to return 
 to his worship and service, b 
 
 It follows, then, that the objection grounded on 
 the sentiment, that Christ did not appear to re- 
 deem from the effects of the first sin, and that 
 therefore they must in all cases he fully endured, is 
 altogether untenable. Though the sufferings 
 which precede natural death, as well as death it- 
 self, proceed from the offence of Adam, yet those 
 
 a Scott on Rom. 15—15. b Ibid. ii. 4—6. 
 
104 
 
 sufferings are far from being the same in every in- 
 dividual, so that there is evidently a mixture of 
 mercy and judgment in the present dispensation. 
 There is, therefore, nothing in it which can in the 
 least militate against the salvation of infants, from 
 those effects of the sin of Adam which respect what 
 follows dissolution. This view of the subject ac- 
 counts in some measure for the mixed nature of 
 the providence of Heaven in the present state. 
 When the final judgment arrives, and the whole 
 bearings of the present on the future are laid open, 
 we shall adore the righteousness of the Judge, and 
 the rich grace and mercy of the sovereign Bene- 
 factor. 
 
 The universal death of mankind, in consequence 
 of a single offence, is a striking proof of the evil 
 and demerit of sin, and of the exceeding opposi- 
 tion which exists between it and happiness. The 
 death of Adam alone could afford no adequate dis- 
 play of the pernicious nature of rebellion against 
 God, but the death of a whole race fearfully mani- 
 fests its inherent malignity. The value of this les- 
 son to infants in a future world, will infinitely over- 
 balance the loss of this life, and justify the ways of 
 Him who cannot be unjust. 
 
 The death of such is a striking proof to adults, 
 of the Divine displeasure against sin, and of the ab- 
 horrence in which it is held by the God of purity, 
 Every instance, indeed, of disease and mortality, 
 is a proof of the faithfulness of God to his threat- 
 
105 
 
 tilings. We may learn from the uniform fulfil- 
 ment of the threatening of death, which followed 
 the promise of mercy, that he will execute with 
 equal certainty his threatening of the second death, 
 in all its fearful extent, on every impenitent sinner. 
 It is very wrong to consider death merely as a debt 
 due to nature, for it is the result of sin, and is the 
 strongest visible expression of the Divine justice 
 which is afforded us in the present world. It is 
 the gospel alone which opens a door of hope, and 
 a prospect of happiness beyond it. And how many 
 have been led by the struggles of adversity, and 
 the devastations of death, to listen to the ravishing 
 sounds of that message which proclaims present 
 deliverance from guilt and sin, and wretchedness, 
 and final deliverance from death and the grave, 
 and full satisfying and social happiness in the re- 
 gions of immortality. Thus have the ills of life 
 led them to " the rest and the refreshing wherewith 
 he causeth the weary to be refreshed." Perhaps 
 this is what the apostle means, when he speaks of 
 some who had been baptized for the dead, a That 
 is, they had been led to study and to embrace the 
 Gospel, from regard to the life and incovruption 
 which it brings to light. Its blessed discoveries, 
 in relation to eternity, were balm to their agitated 
 and sorrowful minds, when oppressed at once with 
 a sense of guilt, and the weight of the many sor- 
 
 a 1 Cor. xr. 29. 
 
 I 
 
106 
 
 rows and ills of life. This sense of the preposition 
 here rendered for, is confirmed by Rom. ix. 27, 
 2 Cor. i. 7, 8, where it signifies concerning, and de- 
 notes the subject concerning which a person is speak- 
 ing or writing, and by Mark ix. 40, Acts ix. 16, 
 Rom. viii. 31. 32, where it signifies that connexion 
 which is produced by affection or attachment. The 
 words of eternal life form the object embraced ; for 
 it is the discovery that Jesus alone has them, that 
 attracts the heart to him. a 
 
 I shall here advert to an inconsistency which at- 
 taches to the sentiment of those who think that the 
 death denounced against the first transgression of 
 Adam was only natural death. If the actual sins 
 of his posterity are to be punished with the second 
 death, how can it consist with equity, that the first 
 threatening of death, which in the case of the first 
 man was certainly pointed against actual transgres- 
 sion, should have included only natural death ? It 
 cannot for a moment be supposed, that his first sin 
 had in it less criminality than the sins of his po- 
 sterity. But in order to maintain consistency, it is 
 necessary, not only to suppose this, but also to con- 
 clude that his first sin had in it less criminality than 
 his subsequent transgressions ; for against them, as 
 well as against those of his posterity, the threaten- 
 ing of the second death must have been pointed. 
 
 a John vi. 68. 
 
107 
 
 To suppose that the death originally denounced 
 against a sin committed by one circumstanced as 
 Adam was, consisted in the mere extinction of his 
 existence, whether immediately or after living for a 
 time in toil and labour, while the death denounced 
 as the wages of every transgression of his posterity 
 i:> sensible, hopeless, never-ending misery, — the 
 eternal death, not of being, but of well-being, seems 
 at utter variance with every principle of consistency 
 and equity. But on the principle that the death of 
 the body was not followed by the extinction of 
 being, but, on the contrary, left the soul in the 
 hands of the living God, in the separate state, it is 
 easy to see that there was full scope for the com- 
 plete infliction of that which constitutes the essence 
 of the curse, and for the endurance of all that is 
 comprehended in that most solemn and awful ex- 
 pression, « the wrath of God." The God of our 
 spirits coukl easily subject him to as great a pu- 
 nishment apart from the body as in it, so that there 
 is no room for the objection, that according to the 
 preceding reasoning, the punishment of Adam had 
 been less than that of his posterity in the embodied 
 state. " The spirit of a man will sustain his infir- 
 mity, but a wounded spirit who can bear ?" 
 
 To what extent his posterity, supposing the 
 original constitution of things to have provided for 
 their existence in a separate state, could, in the 
 nature of things, have been capable of participat- 
 ing in the consequences of his sin, I do not stop to 
 inquire. It is a mercy that this question is super- 
 
108 
 
 seded, so far as experience is concerned, by the ap- 
 pearance of the Saviour. It is self-evident, how- 
 ever, that the spirit of Adam must have been fear- 
 fully susceptible of the most acute anguish, and the 
 most agonizing mental torture. Who can express 
 or even conceive the misery which a spirit in the 
 hands of the almighty, holy, and living God, may 
 be doomed to endure ? In the case of Adam, sup- 
 posing no Saviour had been provided, what ago- 
 nies of remorse, and of grief, and of self-upbraiding 
 reflections must have wrung his soul, when con- 
 science depicted the nature, agravations, and dis- 
 mal effects of his crime ; and when he thought of 
 the height from which he had fallen, the blessed- 
 ness which he had lost, and the consequences of 
 his sin, as they respected not only himself, but the 
 many for whom he stood, and the many that had 
 fallen in his fall. Think of the shame, and the bit- 
 terly agonizing reflections and sensations, which 
 must have stung his soul to the quick. 
 
 Now, in the very nature of things, no being who 
 had not personally been guilty of what he had 
 committed, and who had not been circumstanced 
 as he individually was, could ever suffer as he, in 
 such circumstances had suffered. The punishment 
 of sin, as has already been stated, is not torture 
 inflicted by mere power, for it naturally arises 
 from the arrangements made by the Judge, in or- 
 der that sin may produce its natural fruits and 
 consequences. Now, these arrangements are or- 
 
109 
 
 dered as seems best to the righteous and only 
 wise God, whose wisdom will always be manifested 
 in the appointment of the circumstances in which 
 the penalty of his law is inflicted. The pangs of 
 remorse, and the reflections of an accusing con- 
 science, constitute the worm which shall never die; 
 and the rage of keen and ungratified passions and 
 lusts, may well be compared to unquenchable fire. 
 Who can conceive the dismal consequences of the 
 power which unbiidled lusts and passions may ac- 
 quire, through habits of sin ? But in the case of 
 departed infants, there has been no space for the 
 habits of sin gaining such an advantage. 
 
 These considerations should ever be kept in 
 view, when we speak of the death denounced 
 against the first sin of Adam as the same with that 
 in which his posterity are by nature involved. 
 The import of the threatening, as it regarded them, 
 could only be, that in as far as the relative conse- 
 quences could in the nature of things come upon 
 them, they should be involved in them. That de- 
 parted infants could in every respect suffer as Adam 
 would have done, is inconsistent with every princi- 
 ple of reason. It involves, as a writer on this sub- 
 ject has very properly hinted, theVevolting idea, that 
 the Almighty, by the exertion of physical ability, 
 would so govern their consciousness, as to make 
 them conceive that to be true which really was not, 
 and so represents future punishment, not only as 
 i 2 
 
110 
 
 an arbitrary infliction by mere power, but as Iff 
 fact founded upon false impressions, a Far, infinite- 
 ly far from us be such unhallowed notions as 
 these ! 
 
 This is a notion somewhat akin to the too com- 
 mon idea ; that punishment will somehow follow 
 sin, because it is the will of God that it should, 
 and because he is able to inflict it; without any ap- 
 prehension of the fearful truth that sin itself, and 
 not merely the direct operation of Almighty power, 
 is the cause of misery. A sentiment like this has 
 the most direful effects in the world, because it 
 blinds the mind to the true nature of sin, the scrip- 
 ture character of God, the nature of true religion, 
 and the nature of heavenly enjoyment. 
 
 a Dr. Harris, in his Essay on the Salvation of Infants, p. 27*. 
 
Ill 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 In order to the further illustratiou of the subject* 
 it may be of importance to consider the nature of 
 that dispensation under which mankind are now 
 placed, as it bears on their condition at the final 
 judgment. 
 
 A Chief Ruler exercises both justice in the cha- 
 racter of a Lawgiver, and benevolence in that of a 
 sovereign Benefactor, for these characters are in 
 themselves distinct, though sustained by the same 
 individual. In the former he judges according to 
 law and equity, and in the latter he exercises the 
 royal prerogative of pardoning offences and con- 
 ferring favours. 
 
 Now, the dispensation under which mankind are 
 placed, is not a system of mere benevolence, for 
 while it manifests the exceeding riches of Divine 
 grace, it provides for the maintenance of the au- 
 thority, and the full display of the whole character 
 of God, and also for the exercise of all the facul- 
 ties of men in a manner adapted to their present 
 condition, as accountable agents. It is therefore 
 at once a system of moral government, and of so- 
 vereign goodness. Under the former view, it 
 makes provision for the full illustration of the Di- 
 
112 
 
 vine holiness, righteousness, and truth in the plan 
 of redemption, and under the latter, it glorifies the 
 Divine love, mercy, and grace ; the former by 
 means of exhibitions and instructions, precepts and 
 warnings, shows what are the obligations of men, 
 and the latter by revelations from the God of all 
 grace, exhibits the mercies and the blessings which 
 flow from his gracious purposes and self-moved 
 love. The one informs us how an interest in the 
 salvation of Christ is to be had, and the other 
 points us to the proper source of all that we need. 
 In a word, while the message of mercy publishes 
 peace, it is clothed with authority, and demands, 
 as it well deserves, the most cordial reception. It 
 follows, then, that when men are called to believe 
 in Christ, and to walk under the influence of that 
 truth which manifests the sovereign kindness of 
 Heaven, they are addressed as accountable agents, 
 because capable of rational and voluntary moral 
 actions. They are the subjects of moral govern- 
 ment, because, being possessed of the natural facul- 
 ties of reason^ they are capable of being ruled by 
 rational motives, instead of being wholly guided 
 bv mere instinct or by mechanical impulse. Now, 
 it is easy to see th?.t infants cannot be accountable 
 creatures, and to them therefore the present dis- 
 pensation considered as a moral economy cannot ap- 
 ply. But God acts towards mankind, not merely 
 as a moral Ruler, but as a sovereign Benefactor ; 
 and from the nature of the dispensation of mercy, 
 
113 
 
 it appears, thai when any of the human race cannot 
 while on earth be his subjects in the former cha- 
 racrer, they are made the objects of goodness in 
 the latter, and are of course saved. 
 
 The ambiguity of the term sovereignty, has arisen 
 from the loose way in which it has been used to 
 signify supremacy. God is doubtless supreme, 
 both as a Judge and a Sovereign, because, in 
 whatever capacity he acts, there can be none above 
 him, but sovereignty is a distinct attribute of God, 
 and has its appropriate acts, which should not 
 be confounded with those of other attributes. 
 -Asa moral governor, God gives to his subjects 
 what is due to them as accountable agents ; he uses 
 means with them suited to their rational nature ; 
 he issues equitable laws as the basis of all judicial 
 administration ; and he never punishes beyond de- 
 sert, a but as a sovereign Benefactor he acts ac- 
 cording to the good pleasure of his w ill in the com- 
 munication of good only, and of good that is unde- 
 served, for sovereignty is exercised only for the 
 welfare of its object, b Now, in that dispensation 
 which has been established through Christ, the two 
 characters are strikingly blended, though their pro- 
 vinces are carefully preserved. The atonement 
 which has been made by His blood, and the pro- 
 clamation of mercy through it to the very chief of 
 
 a Rom. vii. 22. i. 32, and ii. 5. 
 1) Rom. ii. 4. iii. 24. Eph. ii, 1 — 9. 
 
114 
 
 sinners, have laid the foundation of a particular 
 exercise of moral government, in consequence 
 of the connexion between the law and the gospel, 
 while they are the medium of the most exalted 
 display of sovereign mercy and goodness. In 
 connexion with the revelation of the plan of mer- 
 cy, many favours were conferred upon the children 
 of men. Even the evils which followed the en- 
 trance of sin, are so circumstanced as to be the 
 means of profiting them. The goodness and long 
 suffering of God ought to lead men to him, and 
 would do so, were it Rot that they do not like to 
 retain the knowledge of his character. It is this 
 indisposition of mind towards Him which blinds 
 their eyes to the degree of light which they 
 enjoy. 
 
 It is worthy of particular attention, that every 
 exercise of moral government on the part of God, 
 presupposes some exercise of sovereign kindness 
 for its basis, a Thus the dominion exercised by 
 Him over our first parents, pre-supposed the fa- 
 vour of existence, and also the favour of those fa- 
 culties and enjoyments which he so liberally grant- 
 ed them. Now, the exalted prerogative of sove- 
 reignty has been employed by God id making 
 all things harmoniously to co-operate to the praise 
 of the glory of his grace, in connexion with the 
 
 a Ileb. xi. 6. 
 
115 
 
 whole of his perfections, a In the gospel we see a 
 salvation completely adapted to the circumstances 
 and wants of sinners, an atonement of infinite value, 
 as the basis of a universal proclamation of pardon 
 and reconciliation to all who submit to mercy, and 
 many calls and invitations addressed to the guilty 
 of every class and character, entreating them to 
 come and to partake freely of its precious blessings. 
 The message of God to them is suited to their fa- 
 culties as moral and accountable agents, and it ac- 
 cordingly addresses them as such, and appeals to 
 their understanding and conscience, while it ex- 
 hibits matter of infinite interest to engage the af- 
 fections, and influence the will. There is, there- 
 fore, in these objective or moral means of salvation, 
 the best foundation for that particular exercise of 
 authority, which obtains under the economy of 
 mercy ; and accordingly the gospel of peace is ac- 
 companied with a commandment to receive it, dis- 
 obedience to which is followed by judicial condem. 
 nation. 
 
 It deserves particular notice, that under the dis- 
 pensation of grace which followed the fall, the law 
 and the gospel have always been revealed together. 
 One great error of the Jews was, the separation of 
 the law from the promise of the Saviour. The 
 law and the gospel are doubtless in themselves dis- 
 
 ci Eph. i. 3—11. 
 
116 
 
 tinct, but they are revealed together, — they throw 
 much light on each other, and the reception of the 
 latter is enjoined by the former. On the entrance 
 of sin, mankind fell into a state of condemnation. 
 Now, though this condition did not in the least 
 interfere with their obligations to serve God, vet 
 he did not teach fallen man to look on Him mere- 
 ly as a lawgiver. The commandments which he 
 gave to his fallen creature, were all connected with 
 the promise of a Saviour who should bruise the 
 head of the serpent, and it was the belief of this 
 promise which alone could inspire him with proper 
 principles of obedience. Every subsequent revela- 
 tion, and every commandment given to man, was 
 connected with this. Partial as was the early light 
 communicated to mankind, they were taught the 
 delightful trnth, that God could be at once just 
 and merciful, and that at last salvation would be 
 effected in a manner honourable to his character 
 and government. The precepts, promises, and de- 
 clarations which from time to time were delivered 
 by the voice of inspiration, united the law of Hea- 
 ven with the gospel of peace, and served the double 
 purpose of exciting a conviction of guilt, and main- 
 taining the hope of forgiveness, while in proportion 
 as the saving truth was believed, the heart was 
 turned unto God. The light which was thus im- 
 parted, was carried down by tradition. The ty- 
 pical institutions of altars, sacrifices, and priests, 
 and the various material emblems of sacred tilings 
 
117 
 
 which were established, served to illustrate the 
 leading doctrines of the grace of God, and to em- 
 press them upon the mind. The separation of the 
 people of Israel was in subserviency to the gracious 
 design of God towards the world at large. Ac- 
 cordingly, traces both of the law of God and of 
 those institutions which illustrated the gospel, are 
 to be found through the world, which shows how 
 the original revelation, and also that given to Israel 
 have been disseminated, though in their progress 
 greatly corrupted. I need not stop to say, that in 
 the New Testament scriptures, the most close con- 
 nexion is preserved between the law and the gos- 
 pel. The former shows us the will of God and 
 our duty, — the latter cures us of our indisposition to 
 obedience, and restores us to that holy love which 
 makes us esteem it a privilege, and furnishes us 
 with all that can render it the very element of our 
 bliss. It deserves to be considered, in connexion 
 with this, that the present dispensation is accom- 
 panied with the bestowment of many benefits on 
 all, and with the excercise of much patience and 
 forbearance, by which a foundation is laid for that 
 administration under which all of mankind who 
 have come to be accountable agents, shall be final- 
 ly judged, according to their personal deeds. 
 
 Since this system of goverment, then, has a dis- 
 play of sovereign kindness, and particularly of a- 
 bundant grace towards sinners for its basis, it 
 follows, that no person will, on the present plan, be 
 
 K 
 
118 
 
 condemned for mere breach of law, unconnect- 
 ed with forbearing mercy, and without having 
 abused more or less of the Divine goodness ; and 
 hence the awful solemnity of a future judgment. 
 Whosoever are finally saved, will have the fullest 
 reason to say that they are saved by grace, and 
 those who perish will do so, entirely because of 
 their abuse of the measure of truth which was 
 known by them, or which they might have known, 
 had they sought after it. 
 
 If this twofold design of the gospel dispensation 
 be properly considered, it will appear, that none 
 are excluded from the blessings conferred by God 
 as a Sovereign Benefactor; but those who in the 
 disobedience of their hearts, continue to trifle w r ith 
 or reject the goodness displayed by Him in that 
 gracious character. By this, they at once disre- 
 gard his authority on the one hand, and abuse his 
 kindness on the other. Now, as deceased infants 
 can be guilty of neither, since they were never in 
 the present world the subjects of his moral govern- 
 ment, they cannot on this ground be excluded ; and 
 as they are capable, notwithstanding of their infan- 
 tile state, of being the objects of sovereign compas- 
 sion and goodness, it follows, according to the plan 
 adopted by God, that they are called to the en- 
 joyment of his gracious blessing. 
 
 The principle on which this new dispensation is 
 regulated, leads then, to the conclusion, that the 
 blessings of mercy are imparted wherever the in- 
 
terests of the Divine honour and g^r ernme nt do not 
 demand condemnation, such as in ca^»o S f fi na l 
 impenitence and unbelief. A declaration tti«t all 
 men shall infallibly be saved, though they continue 
 in sin, or irrespective of a reception of the truth, 
 would amount M to a bill of indemnity to all 
 sinners — a licence to transgress under an assurance 
 of impunity," while the honour of the holy and 
 righteous character of God, would be sacrificed. 
 But the universal salvation of deceased infants, 
 can have no such effect. It seems inconceiyable, 
 how, after the atonement of Christ, the honour of 
 any of the Divine perfections, or the good of the 
 universe, should require the final condemnation of 
 any who have not been guilty of actual transgression. 
 Since, therefore, none of the reasons which now limit 
 the enjoyment of salvation, can have place in infants, 
 it follows, according to the genius of the gospel, 
 that all of them who die in infancy are saved. 
 
 There is no room for supposing, that as they 
 were never subjects of that system of moral govern- 
 ment which is established through Christ, so 
 neither may they enjoy the blessings which, under 
 his administration, are the gift of sovereignity, but 
 may be left to the natural effects of the breach of 
 the first constitution established with Adam. This 
 supposition is completely precluded by the fact, that 
 they shall certainly be raised from the dead, 
 through Christ ; for this connects them with the 
 economy introduced by Him, and as they obtain 
 
this boon, tb^y must of course, as things now 
 stand, oh*n& the blessings of his grace, for the 
 caus- of condemnation now is the rejection of the 
 a'uth, and of this evil they have in no respect been 
 guilty. 
 
 In reference to the present dispensation, Dr. Owen 
 has expressed himself to the following effect : — 
 " To what end, says he, shall we conceive the provi- 
 dence and patience of God, to be exercised towards 
 mankind, for so long a time on the earth ?" and in 
 replying to this, he shows it to be unsuitable to the 
 wisdom and goodness of God, to suppose that he 
 hath no other end in his patience but merely to 
 suffer mankind to sin, that so he may at length 
 eternally destroy them. He allows that multitudes 
 of them eventually perish, but this he ascribes to 
 their own perverse wickedness, blindness, and love 
 of the pleasures of sin. a These sentiments are in 
 accordance with scripture, and warrant us to ask, 
 4 If this be true in regard to adults, can it consist 
 with the present dispensation of mercy, to suppose 
 that the Almighty calls into existence multitudes of 
 infants, merely to support them for a little on earth, 
 that he may afterwards make them miserable for 
 ever?' It could not be said of them, that they had 
 perished through their own personal wickedness, as 
 is the case with impenitent actual transgressors 3 and 
 
 a Owen, on the Hebrews, 2 Edition, Vol. 1, pare 15$, 156* 
 
121 
 
 to affirm that any thing else is in any case the 
 ground of condemnation, is to fly in the face of the 
 most explicit declarations of scripture, a 
 
 The spirit of the gospel of peace is in unison 
 with the doctrine of the universal salvation of de- 
 parted infants. It is called glad tidings of great 
 joy to all people. There are no exceptions in the 
 proclamation of mercy, so that none are excluded 
 from its blessings who do not exclude themselves. 
 It testifies to the perfection and all-sufficiency of 
 the atonement of Christ — it declares that through 
 this honourable medium, God appears just while 
 he justifies the ungodly; and it uses the most affec- 
 tionate entreaties, and the most unfettered invitations 
 in calling upon all to embrace the blessings it 
 exhibits, b 
 
 No holy pre-requisites or qualifications are requir- 
 ed in order to warrant an approach to the Saviour, c 
 The Holy Spirit, to whom every possible Variety and 
 aggravation of crime is at all times present, declares, 
 in the most solemn manner, that whosoever believ- 
 eth in Jesus shall assuredly be saved, d and the 
 commandment of Christ is, that the Gospel be 
 preached to every creature, e 
 
 a Prov. i. 23, 25. 2 Thess. i. 8. ii. 10, 11, 12 b Rem. 
 
 iii. 25, 26, and ir. 5. Isaiah lv. 1 — 3. c Isaiah 
 xlvi 13. Matt. xi. 28. d Acts x. 43. 
 
 e Mark xri. 15. 
 
 K 2 
 
122 
 
 Now, it is not meant to be argued here, that be- 
 cause the greatest of sinners may be saved, and 
 have been so, therefore inferior transgressors must 
 be so, and of course, infants who have not been 
 actual offenders at all. Since forgiveness, and the 
 gift of eternal life, are the fruits of free mercy and 
 undeserved grace, it might have pleased God to 
 grant these favours to the worst of characters, and 
 to withhold them from those who were less 
 guilty. On the ground just mentioned, therefore, 
 we do not plead for the salvation even of infants. 
 The ground of our reasoning is, that since pardon 
 and eternal life are proclaimed to the very chief of 
 sinners, not merely for their sakes, but for the ex- 
 press purpose of showing to every one, that there 
 are no exceptions in the gospel message, — since 
 the very worst are saved for the particular purpose 
 of being " a pattern of all long suffering," a to en- 
 courage every one to come to the Saviour, in the 
 confidence of obtaining mercy ; and since the de- 
 sign of God is to show thereby, that if any 
 perish, it is because they will not come to Him for 
 life ; b it follows, from the spirit of such a dispen- 
 sation, that none will be excluded who could not re- 
 sist or disregard any of those truths, on which it is 
 established, or with which it is connected, in any 
 form or circumstances, in which they have ever 
 
 a 1 Tim. i. 15. 16. b John v. 40. 
 
123 
 
 been exhibited. The salvation of infants, therefore, 
 shows a striking consistency between the gracious 
 aspect of the gospel, and the actual communica- 
 tions of the grace of God. 
 
 I am here led to consider, the scripture re- 
 presentation of the last judgment, in so far as it 
 bears on the present subject. It is doubtless true, 
 that God might have left mankind to suffer the 
 natural consequences of the entrance of sin, but 
 this he has not done. He has, on the contrary, of 
 his unmerited mercy established a dispensation of 
 grace, in consequence of which, he stands in a 
 new relation to them ; and their final state will be 
 determined according to their character in this 
 new situation ; that is, their ultimate condition will 
 be fixed according to the reception which they 
 give to the truth. They shall be judged according 
 to the kind and degree of their works. The 
 nature or kind of their works, will be a test of 
 character, inasmuch as it will show r whether they 
 have embraced or rejected the truth, and the de- 
 gree of their obedience, or the number and quali- 
 ties of their acceptable services, will show the de- 
 gree of the holy character which shall thus be dis- 
 closed in the case of believers ; and, on the other 
 hand, the extent of disobedience will make mani- 
 fest the measure of the guilt of the impenitent and 
 unbelieving. The former will regulate the de- 
 grees of glory to be granted on the one hand, and 
 the latter will determine the measure of punish- 
 
ment to be inflicted, on the other. Thus, though 
 by works shall none be justified, yet, according to 
 their works, all shall be judged. The condemna- 
 tion of the wicked, will be felt to be in justice in- 
 flicted, and the blessings of eternal life, it will be 
 seen, are graciously bestowed. 
 
 Now, to adults is granted a measure of light, 
 and none of them perish, except in consequence of 
 their neglect or abuse of it ; but infants have not 
 this advantage, and therefore if they perish, 
 they are placed in much worse circumstances, 
 notwithstanding of their being free from actual 
 transgression. It may be said, that the whole 
 is of grace, and therefore this may be accounted 
 for by the mere good pleasure of God. But the 
 question at present, is not what God might in 
 equity have done, but what he has said he will do, 
 in consequence of the introduction of the gospel 
 economy. By it, men are placed under a dispen- 
 sation of mercy, and are to be judged according to 
 their works in relation to it; and therefore, as in- 
 fants cannot reject the salvation of God, nor in- 
 deed act in opposition to the light at all, it follows, 
 on every fair principle of reasoning, that the cove- 
 nant of mercy embraces them all. Neither is the 
 question ■ Why does God do more for some adults 
 than for others of them, whether in regard to exter- 
 nal advantages, or special grace, but what light has 
 he thrown on his purposes regarding infants ?' 
 
125 
 
 Now, the language used in relation to judgment, 
 has a striking bearing on this subject. 
 
 Accordingly, when the scriptures introduce the 
 subject of final retribution, they warn sinners of 
 its certain approach, as an alarming consideration, 
 in consequence of their personal guilt; they describe 
 the character uf those who shall be doomed to 
 misery, as marked by tae abuse of the Divine good- 
 ness and long suffering ; a by the practice of ini- 
 quity ; b by the neglect of Christ and his salvation ; 
 c by wilful unbelief and impenitence ; d by a formal 
 and hypocritical profession of religion, e and in 
 general by their personal transgressions. f Even 
 those who are said to perish without law, are de- 
 scribed as having personally sinned against the 
 light which they had, and as without excuse, g 
 But in no instance do they advert to it, as big with 
 any thing painful to that immense portion of the 
 human race, who were never capable of actual re- 
 bellion. John indeed says, that he saw small and 
 great at the tribunal of judgment, but he does not 
 refer to corporeal stature, but to rank and situation 
 in social life, for he says, they were judged " ac- 
 cording to their works.' h 
 
 Rom. ii. 3—5. b Matt. xiii. 40—43. c Heb. ii. 3. 
 
 d John iii. 18, 36, and xii. 48. Matt. x. 14. 15. 
 
 e Matt. xxiv. 51. / Rev. xxi. 8, 27. and xxii. 11, 
 
 g Horn. i. 18,-21. andii. 12, — 16. 
 
 h Rev. xx. 1?, compared with chap. xi. 18, 
 
1CS 
 
 No doubt those who died in infancy will be there, 
 for all of them are to be raised from the dead, but 
 they will be there, only to be called to bliss, and 
 to be profited by the instructive and impressive 
 scenes of that day, and not to be j udged according 
 to their works, for of these they have none, on ac- 
 count of which, they can be either condemned or 
 applauded. 
 
 John, in allusion to human proceedings, in cases 
 of judgment, tells us, that he saw " the books were 
 opened, and that the dead were judged out of those 
 things, which were written in the books according 
 to their works" He says, moreover, that another 
 book was opened, which is the book of life. The 
 books which had been previously mentioned, 
 are the records cf the deeds of men, and of the re- 
 velation of the will of God, as far as it was made 
 known to them respectively; and the book of life, 
 as distinguished from these others, is the register of 
 all the genuine members of the church of Christ. 
 Now, our Lord when speaking of infants, says, "of 
 such is the kingdom of heaven ;" meaning by this, 
 as we shall afterwards endeavour to prove, that the 
 kingdom of God is in a great measure composed of 
 such, and therefore their names must be in the 
 book of life, that is, in the register " of the living 
 in Jerusalem/' To keep up the allusion introduc- 
 ed here, none who, from their works as recorded 
 in the other books, were found to have reject- 
 ed the truth, would be found in the book of life* 
 
1.-7 
 
 But in those books there could be nothing record- 
 ed concerning the deeds of infants, for they have 
 personally done neither good nor evil, and to them 
 therefore what is said of those books cannot apply. 
 But though their names cannot appear in them^ 
 because they never were moral agents on earth, 
 they will yet be found in the book of life, for M of 
 such is the kingdom of God." This book is accord- 
 ingly distinguished very particularly from the other 
 books, according to the contents of which, none but 
 those who have been moral agents can be judged. 
 If it be said, * Why suppose that deceased in- 
 fants shall have nothing more to do at the Judg- 
 ment Seat, than to be declared absolved from all 
 the effects of the sin of Adam, and as made meet 
 for the inheritance of the saints in light, to be call- 
 • ed to enjoy it?' — it may be replied, i Why sup- 
 pose, on the other hand, that they shall have no- 
 thing more to do there than to be condemned for 
 his sin ?' In the latter case as well as in the former, 
 they could not be the subjects of a scrutiny in the 
 judgment. No book of death is mentioned, in dis- 
 tinction from the records of the deeds of the wick- 
 ed, and of the law of God, as it bears upon them. 
 No intimation is given, that any shall be there, 
 simply in order to be condemned without any 
 personal deeds, to form the subject of investiga- 
 tion, and the ground of the sentence to be pro- 
 nounced. It is generally granted, however, that 
 some infants shall be saved, and of course some^ it 
 
128 
 
 is allowed, will be there simply to be declared ab- 
 solved from the consequences of the sin of Adam, 
 and to be called to the celestial paradise. Since, 
 then, it is granted that in certain cases this shall 
 take place, there can nothing be urged against the 
 thing itself, while the fact, that not the most dis- 
 tant hint is given, that the opposite shall take 
 place, proves that it will hold universally in regard 
 to infants. 
 
 Referring to this subject, the apostle, when rea- 
 soning on the perfection and all-sufficiency of the 
 atonement of Christ, as it bears on the sins both 
 of those who lived before his appearance in the 
 flesh, and those who have or shall vet come into 
 the world since, expresses himself thus : " And as 
 it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this 
 the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear 
 the sins of many; and unto them that look for him 
 he shall appear the second time, without sin, unto 
 salvation, a Now, the death spoken of is not the 
 second death, for it is a dying but once, and it is 
 a death which takes place before the judgment, 
 whereas the second death follows the judgment b. 
 It is the death to which men are appointed on ac- 
 count of the one offence of Adam, their common 
 representative. After this death, the general judg- 
 ment is ordained to take place, in which, as we have 
 
 c Heb. ix. 27, 28. b Rey. xx. 14. and xxi. 8. 
 
129 
 
 seen, men shall be judged according to their own 
 deeds done in the body, and by which they shall 
 be fixed in an unalterable state, without any further 
 revolutions of life and death. 
 
 When speaking of the judgment, the apostle 
 must have had his eye on the resurrection which is 
 to precede it, as in speaking of death he refers to 
 its origin — the sin of Adam. Now, as infants are 
 to be delivered from the latter, by the former, and 
 cannot be doomed to the second death, what fol- 
 lows, but that in the day of Christ, they shall be 
 called by him into his heavenly glory? 
 
 The punishment denounced against the personal 
 offences of men, and which is denominated the 
 second death, is not a second death of the body, 
 for it takes place in the embodied state, which shall 
 follow the resurrection from the first death. It is 
 the punishment of both body and soul in the pit ef 
 perdition, a It is not only not an extinction of 
 being, — it is not even a second change in the mode 
 of being— it is the destruction of well-being, both 
 as it regards the body and the spirit. It follows, 
 therefore, as the apostle reasons, that as men are 
 not appointed in consequence of their personal 
 offences, to die a second bodily death like unto the 
 first, so Christ did not need to die more than once, 
 
 a Matt. x. 28. 
 
ISO 
 
 although he suffered for the sins of many. When 
 mention is made of sins in the plural, and of the 
 sins of many, the reference must be to personal 
 offences, and to the punishment denounced against 
 them, and not merely to the one offence of the first 
 man, and to what has followed it. From both the 
 first and the second death, do personal offenders 
 need to be delivered, and deliverance from both 
 is secured by the atonement of Christ. To them 
 that look for him, he will appear the second time 
 to complete their salvation, by delivering them 
 from the whole effects of the curse, and calling 
 them, as sons of the resurection, to the heavenly 
 glory. He will come without sin offering, that is, 
 not to offer sacrifice for sin, as he did when he first 
 appeared: And why not, but because, by the 
 offering up of himself once for all, he hath fully 
 expiated guilt. There is nothing here, of that un- 
 moved indifference with which some can speak of 
 the final perdition of men, and even of their infant 
 connexions ; a state of mind very unlike to that of 
 the Saviour, who, when he beheld the city, wept 
 over it. Even in regard to those, of whose con- 
 demnation we may have a moral certainty, it were 
 unjustifiable to feel or speak as numbers have 
 done, in relation to infants. Paul felt the deepest 
 sorrow for his kinsmen, when he thought of their 
 condition ; and can any regard it as a mark of sound- 
 ness in the faith, to indulge in a spirit which be- 
 
131 
 
 trays a very different state of feeling. In the day 
 of Christ his people will perfectly acquiesce in all 
 that is done, but in the present state, we are not call- 
 to feel in regard to the condemned as we shall do 
 then. Besides, our feeling even then will not be 
 that of a frigid or a proud indifference. The 
 apostle delighted to dwell on the thought, that the 
 blood of Jesus was " shed for the remission of the 
 sins of many." A high tone of triumph filled his 
 soul, as he fixed his eye on this illustrious display of 
 the peerless grandeur and infinite worth of His 
 precious sacrifice. He saw in it, not merely the 
 pledge that the direct effects of the transgres- 
 sion of Adam shall be done away, but the pledge 
 also, that no weight of guilt shall ever exclude 
 from the Divine mercy, where this atonement is 
 rested on, as the only ground of acceptance with 
 God. He saw, in the salvation of many actual 
 transgressors, a greater display of the Divine glory, 
 than in the salvation of infants from the effects of 
 the first offence ; and can we wonder, then, that he 
 should generally take the latter for granted, while 
 e xpatiating on the former. 
 
 It is not meant by this to affirm, that because 
 multitudes of actual offenders are saved, therefore 
 God is bound in equity to save and glorify infants, 
 for their redemption and bliss must be traced to 
 his rich mercy and grace, but that such is the na- 
 ture of the present dispensation, that wherever, as 
 
132 
 
 in the case of infants, there has been no opposition 
 to the light of Heaven, there the blessings of mer- 
 cy will descend. No one will have it to say, that 
 he is doomed to irretrievable misery, merely be- 
 cause of the offence of Adam. 
 
 The bearings of this subject on the hearers of the 
 gospel, are of the greatest moment. What will it 
 avail any such, to plead against the wisdom or the 
 equity of the constitution established with Adam ? 
 Have they not often approved of his sin and imitated 
 his ways ? Yes, they have abetted his rebellion, and 
 they have involved themselves in deeper condem- 
 nation than that which followed his sin. Does not 
 the gospel proclaim to all who believe, deliverance 
 from the second death ? And what hinders any from 
 receiving it, but the love of sin, the love of this 
 world, and an unwillingness to come to Christ, that 
 they may have life ? Every suitable motive, and 
 every encouragement which can operate on their 
 faculties and circumstances, the message of Heaven 
 addresses to them, in order to awaken them to a 
 sense of their interest, and to persuade them to 
 escape from the wrath which is to come. Oh I 
 that all who enjoy the light of the gospel would 
 consider their ways, and welcome Him who from 
 the cross beseeches them, in accents the most en- 
 gaging, to abandon their vain pursuits, and to 
 come to Him for rest to their souls. " This is the 
 rest, and this is the refreshing wherewith he caus~ 
 
133 
 
 eth the weary to be refreshed." How fearful the 
 thought, that to words like these, God should have 
 to add, " Yet they would not hear." a 
 
 If a proclamation of pardon were made to the 
 inhabitants of a rebellious province in common, 
 on their submitting to the mercy of their prince, 
 certainly those of them who refused to lay down 
 their arms, w T ould, when brought to punishment, 
 suffer, not merely because of their rebellion, but 
 because they had rejected the pardon of their king. 
 Not that the refusal of mercy is the only crime for 
 which such would be punished, for their rebellion 
 is certainly that for which they suffer, but that the 
 refusal of mercy is the occasional cause of their 
 punishment, since, if they had submitted to their 
 prince, they had been forgiven. Besides, the re- 
 jection of the pardon was itself an act of rebellion, 
 and an act that sealed all which had gone before, 
 and must therefore have added a fearful aggravation 
 to their misery. In like manner, though sinners 
 have exposed themselves to the curse of the law, 
 by their breaches of its precepts, yet their final 
 misery, because of this, is occasioned by their re- 
 jection of the gospel. 
 
 Now, if in such a rebellious province, there had 
 been a number of orphan children, who were in. 
 
 a Isaiah xxviii. 12. 
 
 l2 
 
134 
 
 volved in the legal forfeiture of certain privileges, 
 would not the spirit of the general proclamation of 
 mercy, include their deliverance from the relative 
 loss to which they were exposed, though they 
 could not express any kind of submission, which 
 was called for in adults, since neither could they 
 be guilty of active rebellion. — And is not the spirit 
 of the gospel message of a similar kind ? 
 
135 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 With a view to the further illustration of the 
 subject, it may be proper again to advert to some 
 parts of the reasoning of the apostle, in Rom. 
 v. 12—19. 
 
 The object of the apostle is, to illustrate the 
 public character of Christ by that of Adam — to il- 
 lustrate the way of salvation, by the way in which 
 mankind are involved in guilt, and to show that 
 the blessings of redemption come upon mankind, 
 without regard to the distinction between Jews and 
 Gentiles. 
 
 He begins by saying, " 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." Verse 12. This verse is closed as if it 
 made a complete sentence, but the structure of the 
 language cannot admit of its being considered as 
 such ; for it is evidently but a part of a sentence, 
 in one side of a comparison. If we look forward 
 to the 18th verse, we will find both sides of the 
 comparison ; but though we should consider the 
 intermediate verses as a parenthesis, yet the 18th 
 does not well connect itself with the 12th, so as to 
 finish the sentence. It appears, then, that what is 
 
ISO' 
 
 called the reddition, or the other side of the com- 
 parison, is to be sought, not in what follows, but 
 in what goes before. There is there given a most 
 glowing description of the sublime glory of the 
 plan of redemption, and of the exalted privileges 
 of the people of God; and with his eye upon the 
 whole, the apostle in effect says, u Wherefore this 
 abundance of grace is bestowed, through Christ, in 
 a way corresponding with that in which sin and 
 death entered into the world, through the first 
 man, and have passed through him unto all ge- 
 nerations of mankind." As life and salvation are 
 the fruits of the mediation of Christ, as a public 
 Head, so death is the result of the offence of Adam, 
 as a public character. The latter is confirmed by 
 the undeniable fact, that multitudes of the human 
 race are cut off in infancy, before they are capable 
 of actual transgression. No man, accordingly, is 
 put upon his trial, whether he can obtain ex- 
 emption from the general condemnation of Adam 
 and his seed. 
 
 This death is often called temporal death, and 
 according to the intention of God, it was so, but 
 not in virtue of any restriction in the original 
 threatening, for that afforded no hope of a restora- 
 tion to life. It has obtained this appellation, in dis- 
 tinction from that, death which is spiritual, or that 
 which consists in the loss of the image and favour 
 of God ; but perhaps it would be better to express 
 this distinction, by calling it natural death ; since 
 
187 
 
 the reason why it is not eternal in duration, is the 
 redemption obtained by Christ. 
 
 The apostle does not directly introduce that 
 state of the soul, which would have followed the 
 death of the body, in the event of the full execu- 
 tion of the original threatening, but selects, in 
 proof of his position, that part of the curse which 
 is visible, and the universal infliction of which 
 cannot be questioned. 
 
 But though the descendants of Adam come into 
 the world in a state of utter destitution of those 
 spiritual principles, which he lost by the fall, and 
 may therefore be said to be spiritually dead, yet 
 the apostle makes a very explicit distinction be- 
 tween relative and personal blame, when he says 
 of departed infants, that they had " not sinned after 
 the similitude of Adam's transgression." This 
 distinction is not made for the purpose of showing 
 that such have a right to salvation, but in order 
 to show the origin of sin and of death — to show the 
 analogy that there is between the way in which 
 mankind come to be treated as sinners, and that 
 in which they come to be treated as righteous ; — 
 and also to show, from the spirit of the gospel dis- 
 pensation, that where, as in the case of infants the 
 Divine mercy and goodness have not been oppos- 
 ed or neglected, there the blessings of his grace will 
 be imparted. 
 
 In confirmation of these statements, let it be con- 
 sidered, that the apostle is writing to Christians of 
 
133 
 
 long standing, and who were generally very well 
 informed, for their " faith was spoken of through- 
 out the whole world." They of course must have 
 known, that there is to be a general resurrection, 
 and therefore a reversal, through Christ, of the 
 sentence of death, which was passed on the posteri- 
 ty of Adam, in consequence of his sin ; — that man- 
 kind are consequently placed under a new and 
 merciful dispensation, according to the provisions 
 uf which their final condition is to be determined — 
 and that this dispensation, as we have already seen, 
 rs a gracious aspect towards infants. It is easy 
 to see, then, why the apostle, instead of stop- 
 ping to establish these things by a train of discus- 
 sion, rather takes them for granted, and employs 
 them as the means of illustrating to those who 
 
 eady knew them, the analogy between the con- 
 stitution established with Adam, and that establish- 
 ed with Christ. His reasoning serves the double 
 purpose of furnishing a striking illustration of the 
 plan of redemption, and of refuting the false 
 notions of the Jews, that they had no head but 
 Abraham, —that as his descendants, they were in 
 a state of safety, and that all others were under the 
 curse. The former, however, is the principal 
 object; and the latter is introduced chiefly for the 
 sake of it. 
 
 He had enumerated, in the beginning of the 
 chapter, the exalted privileges cf the children 
 of God, and had represented them as the na- 
 
130 
 
 tural result of the glorious work, and the pre- 
 valent mediation of Christ, in which the love of 
 God was displayed, and through which it flows 
 toward sinners : And for the sake of illustrating 
 these subjects more clearly, he institutes, in the 
 latter part of the chapter, a comparison between 
 the nature and effects of the constitution establish- 
 ed with the first Adam, and those of the constitu- 
 tion established with the second Adam, the Lord 
 from heaven. It is worthy of particular notice, that 
 in this comparison the evils which have followed the 
 breach of the former, and the blessings which result 
 from the confirmation of the latter, are stated in 
 very general terms only, and that the great thing in- 
 sisted on is, the resemblance between the way in 
 which we are subjected to the one, and that in 
 which we come to partake of the other. This is 
 just what was to be expected of the apostle, in ad- 
 dressing characters like the Christian Romans, who 
 were acquainted with both, and who only required 
 to have their views enlarged and their faith con- 
 firmed, by having the subjects placed in some new 
 connexions, exhibited in their full harmony, and 
 presented in a more vivid light by some apt illus- 
 trations. The careful consideration of these cir- 
 cumstances will account for the particular manner 
 of the apostle's reasoning on the subjects in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 When the apostle says, in verse 12th, that by 
 one man sin entered into the world, he does not 
 
140 
 
 mean to affirm merely, that Adam was the first 
 sinner in the world, for M the woman being deceived, 
 was first in the transgression :" He means, there- 
 fore, that the sin of Adam was the introduction to 
 that state of guilt which obtains universally in the 
 world. " The sin which is charged on all, and in 
 consequence of which death is said to have passed 
 on all, can be no other than that first sin of Adam, 
 by which sin entered." Accordingly, all are said 
 to have sinned ; and as the all in question must be 
 all who have or shall yet come into existence, it 
 follows, that by their having sinned, we are to un- 
 derstand their being treated as having done so in 
 their head. " It cannot be understood of any sin- 
 ning which has followed the passing of death, (par- 
 ticularly spiritual death) upon all men ; it can only 
 be understood of that sinning which preceded and 
 primarily introduced this passing of death upon 
 them all, and therefore it can only mean the first 
 sinning of the one man, all men being considered 
 as having then sinned in him." We are accord- 
 ingly told, in verse 13, that before the law of Mo- 
 ses was delivered, sin was in the world, that is, 
 *' it was lying in its guilt upon the world," inas- 
 much as in consequence of it all mankind were 
 treated as liable to the forfeiture incurred by ik a 
 The subject of which the apostle here treats, 
 
 a Sacred Contemplations, by Adam Gib, page 89, 90, 92. 
 
Ul 
 
 then, is tha way in which men come to be treated 
 as sinners, through their connexion with Adam, 
 as illustrative of the way in which they come to be 
 treated as righteous through Christ. It follows, 
 that when he speaks of the damage sustained by 
 the sin of the former, he refers particularly to the 
 legal, or directly penal effects of it, rather than to its 
 natural or moral consequences ; and that when he 
 opposes to this damage the benefit which comes by 
 Christ, he particularly refers to that legal change 
 of condition which flows from it. He accordingly 
 distinguishes between death and sin, as the effect 
 is distinguished from its cause, or the crime from 
 its punishment. The reasoning of the apostle sup- 
 poses, indeed, that in the first sin Adam fell into a 
 state of corruption, and that sin has infected the 
 whole of his posterity ; and in an after part of the 
 epistle, he shows most distinctly the sanctifying in- 
 fluence of the grace of Christ upon his people ; but 
 as he connects the one with the condemnation of 
 man, so he connects the other with justification 
 through Christ, the doctrine concerning which is 
 the moral means of effecting a change of character. 
 In the 13th and 14th verses, he shows that there 
 is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, because 
 their condemnation arises from one common source, 
 and he proceeds on the principle of representation 
 as the basis of his argument, in regard to a com- 
 mon atonement. He says, however, in verse 15th, 
 that while there is a correspondence between the 
 M 
 
142 
 
 result of the fall of Adam, and that of the work of 
 Christ, there is also a dissimilarity. " But not as 
 the offence," says he, " so also is the free gift." 
 The offence, properly speaking, is the first trans- 
 gression, which is frequently opposed to the obedi- 
 ence of Christ : But here it is opposed to the free 
 gift, or the benefit which comes by that work, and 
 not directly to the work itself. It must therefore 
 be here used to denote, not simply the offence it- 
 self, but the damage incurred by it. The reason- 
 ing then appears to be, that the benefit conferred 
 through the work of Christ is not merely equal to 
 the damage sustained by the offence of Adam, but 
 far surpasses it. " For, if through the offence of 
 one the many have died, much more reason have 
 we to conclude that the free favour of God, and 
 the gift conferred for the sake of such an one as 
 Jesus his anointed Son, hath exceeded or super- 
 abounded unto the many." 
 
 The superabounding of the blessings of redemp- 
 tion over the effects of the general forfeiture incur- 
 red by the offence of Adam, is mentioned here in 
 general only, but its nature is explained in the next 
 two verses. In verse 16th 3 we are told, that though 
 the general forfeiture arose from but one offence, 
 yet we have much more reason to conclude that 
 other, even many particular forfeitures incurred 
 by personal offences are removed by the free gift 
 as well as the first, so that the atonement super- 
 abounds over the effects of the sin of Adam. In 
 
143 
 
 verse 17th, we are told, that if by one man's of- 
 fence death reigned through him, there is much 
 more reason to expect that all who receive the a- 
 bundance of favour and the gift of life, shall not 
 only enjoy life, but shall reign in life by one Jesus 
 Christ. That is, the blessedness which follows the 
 work of the Saviour, is not barely a resurrection 
 from the death which hath followed the offence of 
 Adam, though the argument implies that this will 
 be granted to all, but includes also the highest 
 glory and bliss in the celestial kingdom, in fellow- 
 ship with Him who is there a priest upon his 
 throne. Now, in as far as this blessedness exceeds 
 the enjoyments of the earthly paradise, it exceeds 
 the damage sustained by the fall. 
 
 When the apostle, after stating the damage, says, 
 that much more will the surpassing benefit exhibit- 
 ed in the gospel be bestowed through Christ, his 
 reasoning supposes that God u delighteth in mer- 
 cy" — is " slow to anger," and reluctant to execute 
 judgment; and that justice, in inflicting punish- 
 ment, is limited to desert, while grace, when not 
 obstructed by the claims of offended righteousness, 
 can be imparted according to the good pleasure 
 of his will. These views are connected with di- 
 rect references to the transcendent dignity of the 
 Saviour, and the infinite grandeur of his work. 
 What had the obedience of Adam been, supposing 
 him not to have fallen, when compared with that 
 in which Jehovah rests with ineffable complacency ! 
 
144 
 
 The conclusion of the apostle, that we have the 
 highest possible reason to expect that the benefit 
 will infinitely exceed the damage, is therefore per- 
 fectly just. 
 
 The whole is summed up in the 18th and 19th 
 verses, where the following deduction is stated : 
 That " as by the first offence the sentence of death 
 came upon all, whether Jews or Gentiles, so the 
 redemption effected by Christ, brings to all justifi- 
 cation of life, that is, deliverance from the genera! 
 forfeiture, and also from every ground of condem- 
 nation arising from personal offences ; the former 
 being granted to all who are exposed to nothing 
 but the original curse, and the latter to all actual 
 transgressors who receive the truth. For, as 
 through the disobedience of one, 4 the many/ 
 whether Jews or Gentiles, are treated as sinners, so 
 through the obedience of one, the many, whether 
 Gentiles or Jews, come on one common footing to 
 be treated as righteous." 
 
 Now, the antithetical reasoning of the apostle, in 
 regard to the damage on the one hand, and the be- 
 nefit on the other, is not intended to teach that the 
 penal effects of the sin of Adam, and the blissful 
 results of the work of Christ, are in all respects 
 co-extensive as to the number of their subjects, 
 for it is clear, from scripture, that all are not saved ; 
 and besides, this were not an excess, but an equa- 
 lity. Still less can it be meant to teach, that the 
 latter are in this sense more extensive than the ih% 
 
145 
 
 roer, for he is speaking of mankind alone. The 
 superabundance of the benefit, then, must be 
 sought in the nature and degree of the blessings to 
 be conferred on the actual subjects of final salva- 
 tion. But yet the argument seems evidently to 
 suppose, that in some sense the benefit and the da- 
 mage are co-extensive, in regard to their subjects; 
 and the particular care which is taken to employ 
 the same terms on both sides of the comparison, 
 serves to confirm this. 
 
 The language in question is employed, indeed, 
 to refute the false notions of the Jews, but it is 
 with the further view of illustrating the plan of re- 
 demption. Jt implies, that there is a point in re- 
 gard to which, the effects of the two constitutions 
 correspond as to the number of their subjects, and 
 that the excess of which the apostle speaks, con- 
 sists in what goes beyond this in the actual expe- 
 rience of those who shall ultimately be saved, what- 
 ever be their number ; the general language em- 
 ployed, in relation to the subjects of which arises 
 from the full provision that is made for the free 
 bestowment of it on all who believe. 
 
 Now, from the view which has already been 
 given of the original curse — of the connexion be- 
 tween the economy of Christ and the general re- 
 surrection, and of the bearings of both these en 
 the salvation of infants, it appears, that the two 
 constitutions are thus far co-extensive, that the 
 direct penal effects of the sin of Adam, separately 
 M 2 
 
146 
 
 considered, are so far removed, that none shall be 
 finally condemned, merely for his one i offence,' or 
 without having personally transgressed and ac~ 
 tually concurred in that sin, by their approval and 
 imitation of it. It follows, then, that those penal 
 effects, are removed in regard to all who die without 
 actual transgression. It is on this principle, that in 
 the reasoning of the apostle, personal offences are 
 represented as involving a forfeiture, and that the 
 final condition of adults is represented as resulting 
 from their personal character, because all such 
 shall be judged according to the deeds done in 
 the body. 
 
 It may here be remarked, that the concern of 
 infants in the sin of Adam, is of a relative nature, 
 and therefore the blame cannot be divided among 
 them, so as that one may have this share of it, and 
 another that, as is the case when a number have 
 actively shared in the doing of a thing, for the 
 whole of relative blame must attach equally to 
 every individual of the parties concerned in it. 
 Now, it must be granted, that the guilt of this sin 
 was expiated by Christ, for otherwise Adam could 
 never have been saved, and not a single infant could 
 have been redeemed from its effects on his posteri- 
 ty. It follows, then, that even taking the strictest 
 view of the atonement as an exact equivalent, the 
 guilt of this sin must be removed, as to all of those 
 who have not lived to make it their own, by their 
 personal concurrence in it, by approval or imita- 
 
n-7 
 
 tioii. On this principle, then, the deliverance of* 
 all such, from the original curse, necessarily fol- 
 lows. To deny this, is to introduce a most 
 strange minutely calculating process, which, admit- 
 ting that the principle which leads to this in the 
 present case, might be applied to the actual trans- 
 gressions of men, without leading to a process alto- 
 gether similar, can never be applied to the rela- 
 tive blame, which equally attaches to all, in re- 
 ference to one sin. Such a view of the subject is 
 quite revolting, because utterly at variance with 
 the Divine grandeur of the work of redemption, 
 and calculated to darken the subject by perplexing 
 distinctions. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the atonement of Christ 
 be viewed as a " general remedy, admitting ac- 
 cording to the Divine pleasnre and purpose of 
 a particular application," a can it for a moment 
 be supposed, that the immense multitudes of the hu- 
 man race who are removed by death, while incap- 
 able of actual sin, shall be excluded from this gra- 
 cious provision, under a dispensation, which, as has 
 already been stated, proceeds upon the principle, 
 that no exclusion takes place, where the interests 
 of the Divine government do not require it. It 
 cannot ?iow be necesssry, for the manifestation of 
 the righteousness of God, and the general good of 
 
 a Wardlaw on the Socinian Controversy, Discourse, vii. 
 William's Modern Calyinism, Chap. iii. § i. 
 
148 
 
 the universe, that any infants be doomed to final 
 condemnation; and therefore, on the principle just 
 mentioned, we are warranted to conclude, that all 
 of them who die in infancy are saved of his abun- 
 dant goodness, through the w r ork of Christ. 
 
 Now, when we consider the view thus given of 
 a certain point, wherein the two constitutions cor- 
 respond, namely, in the infliction of the penal ef- 
 fects of the sin of Adam, on the one hand, and in 
 their removal on the other, so as that none are 
 condemned for that sin, who have not made it 
 their own, by personal concurrence, w r e see a 
 foundation for the antithetical reasoning of the 
 apostle, concerning * the many," while a founda- 
 tion is also laid for that glorious superabundance 
 of grace, which is provided for the remission of 
 sins to all who receive the truth, and for the be- 
 stowment of that celestial glory, which shall actual- 
 ly be enjoyed by all who are finally saved. Ac- 
 cordingly, the reasoning employed concerning this 
 superabundance, as displayed in the forgiveness of 
 the many personal offences of all who embrace the 
 truth, and in their elevation to the surpassing 
 glory of the celestial kingdom, proceeds upon the 
 principle, that all who die without personal offences 
 are freed from the genera! forfeiture, and shall 
 participate in the heavenly glory. In arguing for 
 the greater, the apostle takes for granted the less ; 
 " He may be considered as teaching us, that the 
 provisions of Divine grace completely shield from 
 
149 
 
 the penal consequences of Adam's transgression, 
 separately considered ; because lie affirms that 
 they extend not to this only, but m\\c\\ J urtlier J' 
 
 There is nothing, however, in his reasoning, 
 which can lead to the conclusion, that all men 
 must be saved. It could never be intended that 
 the death of Christ should procure for sinners 
 the blessings of celestial glory? even though they 
 continue in rebellion, and in opposition to the truth, 
 for this were subversive of the moral government 
 of God, inconsistent with the means by which it 
 is exercised, as well as at variance with the na- 
 ture of salvation itself, and therefore tantamount 
 to a licence to sin without fear. 
 
 It is enough for the apostle's argument, that 
 through Christ, deliverance is obtained from the 
 penal effects of the sin of Adam, separately con- 
 sidered ; so that none shall finally be condemned, 
 merely because of their connexion with him, and 
 that provision is made in the plan of redemption, 
 for the complete salvation of ail who embrace the 
 truth. a 
 
 " This appears to have been the reason uf 
 Adam's calling his wife by the new and signifi- 
 cant name, Eve, (or Life) in consequence of the 
 promise which had just before been opened to 
 them, 6 That the seed of the woman should bruise 
 
 o £c]ldurv'$ True Religion delineated - 3 Dipcurse u. J yi< 
 
150 
 
 the head of the serpent;' a and not merely be- 
 cause she was to be the mother of an extended 
 progeny. A regard to the latter sense only, might 
 more reasonably have filled him with painful solici- 
 tude. — But when, from this gracious discovery of 
 the Divine Mediator, who should arise from 
 among the seed of the woman, he w T as enabled to 
 see and believe, that the sentence which his guilt 
 had incurred, was so far reversed, that none of his 
 posterity should finally perish on that account, 
 and that a safe and honourable way of reconcilia- 
 tion was already established, and would be suc- 
 cessively opened to his posterity, from which none 
 would be excluded, who did not wilfully reject it, 
 well might he with adoring thankfulness give 
 such a new name to his wife, in the hope of Him 
 who should be eminently and exclusively her 
 seed." b 
 
 It would appear, that when, in verse 17, the 
 apostle speaks of receiving the abundance of grace, 
 the same thing is meant as when it is said of ou r 
 Lord, in John i. 12, that to as many as received 
 him, to them he gave the privilege of a place, as 
 sons in the family of God. Now, when he says, 
 that every actual transgressor who embraces the 
 truth shall certainly be saved, does not his reason- 
 
 a Gen. iii. 20. 
 a Bennet's Treatise on the Gosnel Constitution, p. 143. 
 
151 
 
 ing proceed on the principle, that such as have not 
 sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, 
 and are incapable from their age, and circumstances 
 of rejecting the grace of the Saviour, shall also fi- 
 nally be saved by it. This is confirmed by the 
 consideration, that when speaking of the condem- 
 nation of such as are " without law," the apostle 
 ever limits this to such as " have sinned," that is, by 
 actual personal transgression. 
 
 The pardon of personal offences is connected, 
 for particular reasons, with a personal reception of 
 the truth, but redemption from relative guilt is 
 granted without this. The former arrangement is 
 explained by what was formerly said of the present 
 dispensation as a moral economy, and the latter 
 by what was said of it as a display of sovereignty. 
 In regard to adults, the blessing is limited to such 
 of them as receive the truth, which relates to the 
 grace of God, but not a hint is given of any limi- 
 tation as to infants. It cannot be said that this is 
 because departed infants were not, in the eye of 
 the apostle, or had not been previously mentioned 
 by him, for he most explicitly refers to them, and 
 reasons from the prevalence of death over them. 
 Indeed, it is impossible to reason on the effects of 
 the sin of Adam, without including their fate in 
 the discussion. Besides, their case is introduced 
 for the express purpose of illustrating the plan of 
 redemption, as well as to shew the origin of sin 
 and of death. 
 
152 
 
 The view which has just been given of the mean- 
 ing of verse 17, accords with that which has been 
 given of it by Calvin, who, in expounding ir, ex- 
 presses himself to the following effect : — " He 
 makes this grace common to all, because it is set 
 before all, though not in fact extended, (that is, by 
 special sovereign interposition) to all. For though 
 Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world, and 
 He is offered indifferently to all by the bounty of 
 God, yet all do not receive him." 
 
 The subject in discussion here, it ought to be 
 observed, is not the influence by which men are 
 inclined, or excited, to receive the truth, but the 
 full warrant which every sinner of mankind has, 
 to come as he is to the Saviour, in the confidence 
 of obtaining mercy, and consequently it includes 
 the reason why any of them perish, namely, that 
 they will not come to him for life, a Men possess 
 all the requisites of moral obligation, and the re- 
 fusal of the message of mercy is a voluntary deed 
 which is righteously followed by its natural result. 
 Though Divine influence excites the sinner to go 
 to him ; it is not his warrant to go in the con- 
 fidence of obtaining life, for this warrant is in the 
 free calls and invitations of the gospel itself. The 
 question at last, will not be — By what influence 
 or means were you led to accept the grace of the 
 
 a Matth. xi. 28. John v. 40. 
 
153 
 
 gospel, but did you embrace it? Proper ideas on 
 this subject serve to show the harmony which sub- 
 sists between the view now given of the present 
 dispensation, and the foreknowledge of God, the 
 special design of Christ in his death, and the even- 
 tual fate of mankind. 
 
 " All the hearers of the gospel, who remain and 
 perish in their unbelief, must prove utterly inex- 
 cusable, without having any apology for themselves 
 from the doctrine of particular redemption. They 
 cannot pretend that others who come to Christ, 
 have any better ground than they to go upon. In 
 a word, they have no shadow of excuse, as if they 
 had found themselves any way debarred from 
 Christ, and left under any necessity of perishing 
 without him : Seeing all their estrangement from 
 him is voluntary, and the tenor of their indictment 
 must be to the following effect, that they hated 
 knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the 
 Lord." a 
 
 Some, indeed think, that by receiving the abun- 
 dance of grace, nothing more is meant than being 
 made partakers of it. But granting this, the meaning 
 of the passage will be substantially the same; for it is 
 evident, from the whole tenor of scripture, that all 
 who receive the truth are, without a single excep- 
 tion, made partakers of its blessings. Since, then, 
 
 a Adam Gibb's Sacred Contemplations, p. 347, 348, 
 
 N 
 
154 
 
 the ground of condemnation, in the case of acfirifcr 
 is by obvious implication declared to be actual trans- 
 gression, and particularly the rejection of the truth, 
 and since there is not a word said of any ground 
 on which children dying in infancy shall be finally 
 condemned, does it not follow that all of them are 
 saved ? Their salvation is taken for granted, in 
 the apostle's reasoning concerning the superior 
 glory which is displayed in the redemption of ac- 
 tual transgressors, because it was his desire to dwell 
 on that which most illustriously manifests the ex- 
 ceeding riches of the mercy and the grace of God. 
 
 It has repeatedly been mentioned, that one 
 grand object of the reasoning in this passage, is 
 to illustrate the plan of redemption by the consti- 
 tution established with Adam. Now, the great 
 thing insisted on, is the correspondence between 
 the manner in which mankind came to be involved 
 in guilt, and that in which they come to be accepted 
 as righteous. As to those blessings which now come 
 upon them who eventually perish, they form a part 
 of the arrangements necessary to the accomplish- 
 ment of the plan of Heaven, as including a moral 
 economy, as well as a dispensation of Sovereign 
 goodness, and they by no means interfere with the 
 illustration which is given of the manner in which 
 the blessings, exclusively enjoyed by the people of 
 Christ, are communicated to them. 
 
 The sum of the apostle's reasoning is, that as all 
 mankind, through the offence of their common re* 
 
155 
 
 preservative are treated as guilty, inasmuch as they 
 sustain the loss of the chartered benefits which they 
 had otherwise enjoyed, so through the righteous" 
 ness of Christ all who are his spiritual seed, by 
 union with Him are treated as righteous, inasmuch 
 as they obtain the benefits of his obedience unto 
 death. As many are thus treated as sinners, pre- 
 vious to the consideration of their personal trans- 
 gression, so many are treated as though they were 
 righteous previous to the consideration of their per- 
 sonal obedience. Actual transgression, in the one 
 -case, springs from connexion with Adam, and per- 
 sonal obedience in the other, from connexion with 
 Christ, though not exactly in the same way; but 
 xhe question at present respects a change of state, 
 iind not a change of character. The reference is 
 not to a transfusion of qualities, but to a transfer- 
 ence of fruits and consequences. The meaning is 
 not, that the deed of one becomes by some process 
 -the actual deed of another, for no process could 
 possibly cause this : The meaning simply is, that 
 the latter, in consequence of a legal connexion with 
 the former, is treated in law as though it were his, 
 inasmuch as he sustains the loss incurred by it or 
 enjoys the benefit procured by it. 
 
 Such is the scriptural import of the imputation 
 -of sin, on the one hand, and of righteousness on 
 the other, when the reference is not to the doer of 
 either, but to those who are treated as one with 
 him in law. Now, what is there in this reasoning 
 
156 
 
 of the apostle, which in the least militates against 
 the universal salvation of infants ? Grant the pre- 
 mises that have been stated, and it will only follow, 
 that all who die in infancy, form a part of the spi- 
 ritual seed of the second Adam. There is nothing 
 in this view of the subject, which can interfere with 
 the great doctrines generally meant to be conveyed 
 under the representation of Adam as a federal 
 head. What the scriptures say of the covenant 
 ratified at Sinai, and the new covenant confirmed 
 by the sacrifice of Christ, ought certainly to be ap- 
 plied to those subjects, but this by no means con- 
 troverts the commonly received and scriptural doc- 
 trines, that had Adam continued obedient, his seed 
 had, in virtue of the implied engagement of God, 
 been confirmed in holiness and happiness, and that 
 depravity and death in his posterity, as well as in 
 himself, result from the forfeiture incurred by his 
 one offence, as the representative of mankind. Of 
 course there is not the vestige of a reason for sup- 
 posing, that the universal salvation of departed in- 
 fants is in the least inconsistent with the argument, 
 concerning the public characters sustained by the 
 first and the second Adam. 
 
 On the contrary, the slightest reflection will 
 show, that when the apostle so closely connects the 
 character of the first man, as " the figure of Him 
 that was to come," with the consequences of his 
 sin on those who have not sinned after the simili- 
 tude of his transgression, one object in view is, to 
 
157 
 
 afford thereby an illustration of the analogy which 
 subsists between the constitution established with 
 Adam, and that which has been established with 
 Christ. As through the offence of the former, in- 
 fants without personal sin were subjected to death, 
 so through the atonement of the latter, without any 
 personal act of obedience, they are put in possession 
 of the blessings of his kingdom. Kow, the striking 
 resemblance between the way in which they come 
 to be involved in the consequences of the fall, and 
 that in which men are saved through Christy shows 
 that one design of God, in the establishment of the 
 first constitution, and in suffering them to be in- 
 volved in its curse, was to afford a lucid illustra- 
 tion of the plan of redemption : and does it not fol- 
 low, according to the comparison instituted here 
 between the one and the other, that as they are 
 liable to nothing more than the consequences of 
 the first offence, so they are saved through Christ. 
 It is evidently the design of the apostle, not only 
 to teach that those who have actually embraced the 
 gospel, are accepted through the work of Christ 
 as they fell through the sin of Adam, and by this 
 means to establish and comfort believers, but he 
 designs also to exhibit a clear statement of that 
 way of acceptance which is revealed in the gospel, 
 in order that all who hear it may be led to under- 
 stand and receive it. Of course his reasoning re- 
 spects the full provision which is made for the re- 
 demption of all who come to the Saviour, and not 
 N 2 
 
158 
 
 merely the happiness of those who have actually 
 come to him. In a word, it is not an abstract dis- 
 cussion, but a subject full of practical bearings both 
 on the comfort of Christians, and on the privileges 
 of all who enjoy the light that points the way to 
 acceptance. 
 
 Now, the case of infants directly bears on this 
 view of the subject, because, in appointing faith to 
 be the medium through which adults come to par- 
 take of the blessings of mercy, the correspondence 
 of which we speak is carefully preserved. " Salva- 
 tion is by faith, that it may be of grace,"a because 
 though faith be an exercise of the mind, it is an ex- 
 ercise of it to which, when considered in itself, we 
 never think of attaching the smallest degree of 
 merit. It is not on the ground of faith in the gos- 
 pel, as a work performed by them that sinners ob- 
 tain mercy, but entirely for the sake of that sacri- 
 fice in which they confide; and faith is merely the 
 channel by which the Divine testimony concerning 
 this sacrifice is conveyed to their minds. The 
 blessing of pardon, indeed, could not be enjoyed 
 were the mind left unrenewed, and therefore the 
 gift of it is connected with faith, that w r hile a title 
 to eternal life is obtained, meetness for it may also 
 be enjoyed ; for as we cannot derive benefit from 
 food without eating it, or advantage from medicine 
 
 a Rom. iv. 16. 
 
159 
 
 without using it, so neither can we be sanctified by 
 the truth if we do not believe it. a 
 
 It is most dangerous to represent the gospel as a 
 new law, more mild and easy than the former, for 
 the two great commandments of the law, with the 
 whole precepts comprehended under them, continue 
 fully in force; but the gospel, as a grant of privi- 
 leges is now connected with them, and by motives 
 taken from it, the duties of the law are chiefly en- 
 forced. This arrangement is accounted for by the 
 consideration, that the introduction and discovery 
 of new relations, aVising from benefits exhibited or 
 conferred, produce new obligations according to 
 the different circumstances of the subjects. If, then, 
 the whole efficacy of faith arises from its object, it 
 is easy to see, that the salvation of infants who are 
 incapable of believing, serves to illustrate and con- 
 firm this, and is therefore of considerable impor- 
 tance in the economy of Heaven. In this sense, as 
 well as in others, we must " receive the kingdom 
 of God as little children." 
 
 Since, then, faith in itself is neither in whole nor 
 in part the ground of acceptance with God, and 
 since the end for which it is appointed to be the 
 medium of acceptance in the case of adult persons, 
 can doubtless be gained in dying infants, by the 
 
 a See Erskine's Essay on Faith, where this subject is fully and 
 perspicuously illustrated. 
 
160 
 
 sanctifying influence of the Spirit of God, there is 
 every thing in the nature of the case to warrant the 
 conclusion, that all of them are saved, " Infants 
 are as capable of regeneration as grown persons, 
 and there is abundant reason to conclude, that all 
 those who have not lived to commit actual trans- 
 gressions, though they share in the effects of the 
 first Adam's offence, will also share in the blessings 
 of the second Adam's gracious covenant, without 
 their personal faith and obedience, but not without 
 the regenerating influence of the Spirit of God upon 
 their souls." a 
 
 We are thus presented with an illustration of the 
 way of acceptance with God, which exhibits to 
 every sinner of mankind, the riches and freeness of 
 the grace of Heaven, which encourages every one 
 to come to the Saviour, and which removes every 
 objection arising from a fear, that salvation is in- 
 compatible with the honour and righteousness of 
 Jehovah. How important, then, that view of the 
 subject, which shows the abundant provision which 
 is made for the redemption of sinners of every class 
 and of every character. 
 
 This passage, then, will open perspicuously to our 
 view, if in the first place we consider the points in 
 which the benefit and the damage correspond, 
 and in which they are co-extensive as to their sub- 
 
 a Scott, on Matt. xix. 13 — 15. 
 
161 
 
 jects; and if, in the second place, we omit the con- 
 sideration of the numbers that finally perish in their 
 sins, or that are ultimately saved through Christ, as 
 one of those secrets which belong not to us, and 
 which we ought wholly to leave to the righteous, 
 merciful and only wise God, and so only consider the 
 superabounding benefit which believers of the truth, 
 and children dying in infancy, derive fiom the Re- 
 deemer, as compared with the loss sustained in 
 .Adam by the human race. " The thoughts of the 
 supposed vast majority of those who shall eventually 
 perish, is apt to encumber our minds in such con- 
 templations. I say supposed, for probably we shall 
 find our conjectures on this subject erroneous, when 
 the doom of men, through all ages and nations, shall 
 be finally determined." a Instead of starting curi- 
 ous and untaught questions, it is for us to rest satis- 
 fied that every subject of the moral government, shall, 
 as an accountable agent, receive an equitable doom, 
 and that as God is a gracious Sovereign as well as 
 a righteous Lawgiver, we may well leave it to him 
 to order his dispensations as he sees meet. But as 
 his treatment of accountable agents cannot be ap- 
 plicable to those who never we.re the subjects of 
 moral rule, we need not doubt that all who die in 
 a state of infancy are saved. 
 
 It may be proper to mention, thjit though the 
 great thing insisted on in the latter part of Rom. y, 
 
 a Scott, on Rom. v, 15 — iJ9, 
 
162 
 
 is the way in which a change of state is effected, yet 
 the chief blessing of the gospel is a change of 
 character. The doctrine of justification derives its 
 principle value from its being the moral means of 
 effecting this change, a 
 
 It may here be added, that the apostle never refer s 
 to the subject of our connexion with Adam, without 
 adverting to the redemption of Christ. Though 
 there can be no injustice done us in placing us in 
 our present circumstances, yet this certainly is made 
 more apparent by the manifestation of the charac- 
 ter of God in the work of the Saviour. Though, in 
 consequence of the sin of Adam, we are doomed to 
 affliction and death, yet as God hath for our sakes 
 given up his own Son to redeem all from the penal 
 consequences of that sin, and to deliver from the se- 
 cond death all who believe in him, we have the most 
 convincing evidence that there was nothing in the 
 Adarhic constitution in the least inconsistent with 
 the Divine rectitude or goodness. Success cannot 
 make a transaction equitable, and neither does a 
 failure constitute a stipulation wrong. Since the 
 dispensation established with Adam, has been the 
 introduction to that established with Christ, and is 
 chiefly employed to illustrate it, why dwell on the 
 former to the exclusion of the latter, and why 
 
 a See Letters, Practical and Consolatory Vol. i. Letter viii. and Vol* 
 ii. Letters 24th and 25th. 
 
163 
 
 speak as if the direct consequences of the first of- 
 fence were designed to be permanent ? The gospel 
 is illustrated by the dispensation which terminated 
 in the sin of Adam, but it is so by viewing the latter 
 as a representation of facts. If we seek, in the first 
 instance, to be fully satisfied as to all the moral bear- 
 ings of those facts on the perfections of God, and 
 the relations between Him and man, and postpone 
 the consideration of the gospel, we egregiously err. 
 Independently of the plan of mercy, the ways of 
 God no doubt must have been just, and therefore, 
 all that is meant by this reasoning is, that the dis- 
 pensation of the gospel ought to satisfy our minds, 
 in regard to the original constitution, though we 
 should feel unable to solve every difficulty, and 
 ought to put down every objection, however plau- 
 sible its appearance. When we take our station 
 at the cross, and there contemplate the union of 
 mercy and truth, of righteousness and peace in the 
 work of redemption, and when from thence we turn 
 to the celestial paradise prepared for all who em- 
 brace the gospel, can we fail to be convinced, that 
 the whole of the constitution established with Adam 
 must have been worthy of the justice and goodness 
 of God, and that the dismal result of the breach of 
 it, is nothing more than a righteous retribution. 
 If, when viewed by itself, it should appear beset 
 with difficulties, yet surely when viewed in con- 
 nexion with the new dispensation, the obscurity 
 which seemed to rest upon it will vanish ; or, if a 
 
166 
 
 tends to them. This conviction led Jehoshaphat, 
 when imploring deliverance from his enemies, to 
 call together the people with their little ones and 
 their children, a Now, it appears unreasonable to 
 suppose, that the Divine compassion should be so 
 strongly expressed, in regard to temporal and in- 
 ferior circumstances only, and forsake its objects 
 for ever, on their entering on an everlasting and 
 unutterably important condition. God is indeed 
 introduced as lamenting the circumstances of many, 
 who notwithstanding finally perish ; but the design 
 or such compassionate expostulations is to show, 
 that the ruin of sinners is wholly chargeable on 
 themselves, and is not owing to any unwillingness 
 on his part to receive the returning prodigal. But, 
 in the case of infants, there is no room for such ex- 
 postulations. Solemn warnings, and pathetic ad- 
 monitions, may be given to many who persist to 
 the last in their sins, and finally perish in them, 
 but how different is the case of those who are quite 
 unconscious of the expressions of Divine compas- 
 sion, and who never could despise them? 
 
 We find that the Divine regard for the infants 
 in Nineveh, is givtii as a reason why the city was 
 spared. In vindicating Mis procedure towards that 
 city, God gives his fretful prophet as a reason for 
 it, his compassion for the multitudes in it who 
 
 a 2 Chron. xx, 13. 
 
167 
 
 could not discern between their right and their 
 
 left, a Now, if this was a display of goodness in 
 which he could glory, how much more illustrious 
 must that plan of mercy be, which has provided 
 for the everlasting salvation and blessedness of in- 
 numerable myriads of infants. It claims our atten- 
 tion here, that the infants in Nineveh were not 
 spared merely because the inhabitants repented, 
 but that on the contrary, the Divine regard for the 
 former is given as a reason why Jehovah the more 
 readily spared the latter, even after their repent- 
 ance. It is true, that had not the adult inhabitants 
 repented, the infants had shared in the calamities 
 of the city, but it is conceivable that He who 
 the more readily spared the penitent for the sake 
 of their helpless children, would have doomed 
 those very children to perdition, had not the parents 
 repented. Does not the spirit of the history show, 
 that if not guilty of actual rebellion, the children 
 would be saved, happen what might to the city ? 
 If it be said, that the result of the offences of Adam 
 as to such, would prevent the exercise of kindness 
 towards them, in relation to eternity, it is suf- 
 ficient to reply, that much more would it prevent 
 its exercise towards them in relation to mere tem- 
 poral evils. The latter, we see 3 it did not, and 
 therefore the former it would not. 
 
 a Jonah, iv. 9, 10, II. 
 
168 
 
 The Saviour expressed particular regard for 
 children, and at all times looked upon them with 
 peculiar fondness. We repeatedly find, that he 
 was displeased with his disciples, but on no occa- 
 sion do we find him more so, than when they en- 
 deavoured to prevent infants from being brought 
 to Him. We are told, that when he saw thi:-, 
 he was much displeased, a Now, as the intention 
 of his disciples appears to have been, upon the 
 whole, good, for they seem to have thought that 
 the introduction of children to Him for any pur- 
 pose, while he was occupied in instructing the old, 
 was a reprehensible intrusion, how are we to ac- 
 count for the very great displeasure which was felt 
 by him. Is it not most natural to conclude, that 
 it arose from the consideration, that such had been 
 the uniform kindness which marked his conduct to- 
 wards children, that iiis disciples might have been 
 fully satisfied, that on no occasion would he deem 
 the office of blessing them unseasonable or unwel- 
 come. His displeasure was in no instance cause- 
 less, and it was a just reason for it at this time, 
 that the disciples, after what they had seen in him, 
 and particularly after the discourse, in regard to 
 children, recorded in Matth. xviii. 1 — 14, were 
 much to blame in thinking it an unnecessary intru- 
 sion to bring such to him, or that it would be 
 
 a Mark x. 13, 14. Matth. xix. 13, 14. 
 
169 
 
 beneath Him to notice infants. " Suffer little 
 children," he said, " to come unto me, and forbid 
 them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." a 
 " This emphatic declaration, uttered by Him when 
 he took up the little children in his arms and 
 blessed them, is such an unequivocal expression of 
 pure benevolence to infants, that to suppose them 
 to be as such excluded from the design and bene- 
 fits of his death, is to impute to his words a palpa- 
 ble impropriety." Whether we understand the 
 kingdom of God as referring to the Christian dis- 
 pensation, or the felicity of the heavenly state, 
 where the reign of Christ shall be consummated, in- 
 fants, though incapable of faith, must be connected 
 with it. He is not at present holding up infants 
 as examples of that child-like disposition which 
 ought to distinguish his disciples, but is giving a 
 reason why little children should be brought to 
 Him, and why it was wrong to endeavour to pre- 
 vent this. It surely will not be supposed that he 
 meant to say, <J Suffer infants to be brought to me, 
 for my kingdom consists only of adult persons, re- 
 sembling such in their disposition. " 
 
 The expression, " Of such is the kingdom of 
 God," means, then, that u of such it is in a great 
 measure made up," because they will form a very 
 great proportion of the redeemed family of Hea- 
 
 a Luke xviii. 16. 
 
 o 2 
 
170 
 
 Ten, The Saviour appears to have had the univer- 
 sal salvation of all of them who die in infancy in 
 his view. His reasoning is not, " of persons re- 
 sembling such in temper and disposition is the 
 kingdom made up, for this, as has already been 
 hinted, would not warrant the conclusion drawn, 
 namely, that children ought not to be hindered 
 from being brought to Him, in order to be blessed, 
 for on the same principle he might have said, u Suf- 
 fer doves and lambs to be brought unto me to be 
 blessed, for of persons resembling such is the king- 
 dom of God made up." Now, this would prove 
 too much ; consequently it proves nothing. His 
 words, then, must respect children literally; and 
 his blessing such ensures their salvation. It is to 
 no purpose to deny this conclusion by saying, that 
 though our Lord wept over Jerusalem, yet Jerusa- 
 lem fell, for there is a wide and an essential differ- 
 ence between a lamentation over the obstinacy of 
 active rebels, and a benediction poured upon in- 
 fants, between a warning of impending danger, and 
 an assurance, that u of such is the kingdom of Hea- 
 ven." Nor can the words be construed to respect 
 only the particular children then brought to Him, 
 or any particular class of children exclusively, for 
 the expression, M Of such," is comprehensive of all 
 who never get beyond the condition of infancy. 
 
 The salvation of infants must doubtless be of 
 pure favour, for they come into the world des- 
 titute of the moral image of God, and exposed to 
 
171 
 
 corruption, so that they are unfit for the enjoyment 
 of heavenly bliss, as well as liable to the conse- 
 quences of Adam's sin. They need, therefore, to 
 be washed in the blood of the Lamb, and regen- 
 erated by his Spirit. It is true, that our Lord 
 held up little children as examples to his disciples, 
 and in illustration of what every individual must 
 become, in order to his being a subject of his king- 
 dom. But this did not imply, that infants are not 
 the subjects of a depraved nature, for the only 
 thing meant by our Lord is, that their infantile 
 feelings of willing dependence on their parents, 
 their indifference as to rank and precedency, and 
 their disposition to credit whatever their parents 
 or teachers may say to them, serve to illustrate that 
 teachable and humble spirit which is necessary in 
 the disciples of Christ. It is by implicit subjection 
 of mind to the doctrine of God, the proper dispo- 
 sition of learners, that men are led to subject them- 
 selves to the truth, and so to become meet for the 
 kingdom of heaven. Our Lord is not exactly 
 teaching what a Christian ought to be, for doubt- 
 less he ought to be perfect in holiness ; he is illus- 
 trating that docile temper of mind which is neces- 
 sary to induce men to submit implicitly to the au- 
 thority of God, and so to receive the truth, without 
 implicitly receiving which, they cannot become 
 members, much less eminent characters, in his 
 kingdom. When he says, then, that except we be- 
 come as little children, we cannot enter the kingdom 
 
172 
 
 of heaven, he 13 not teaching that infants are en- 
 tirely free from depravity, for this were to say, that 
 no one can be a disciple of Christ unless he be 
 perfectly holy, which would be like saying, that 
 men must first be completely cured of their moral 
 maladies, in order to their submitting themselves 
 to that wholesome instruction by which alone they 
 can be healed. He is speaking of that state 
 of mind which leads men to come and to continue 
 under the medicinal truth of the gospel, by which 
 their cure is at last perfected. 
 
 The comparison of this tractable and lowly tem- 
 per, with that of little children, refers not to what 
 they are by nature, but to what they happen to be 
 by constitution, — the texture of their tender frame, 
 and their accidental inability to exercise their fa- 
 culties as they do when advanced in life. Their 
 infantile feelings, though in themselves possessed 
 of no moral quality, are capable of being sanctified 
 by the Spirit of God, so that infants may, on en- 
 tering the heavenly world, exhibit the lineaments 
 of the Christian character. 
 
 There is nothing, then, in the sentiment now 
 pleaded for, which in the least afreets the doctrine 
 of original sin. The question does not at all re- 
 spect the evil tendencies of children, for these are by 
 no means denied ; the question is, 6 Do the Scrip- 
 tures teach, that from those evil tendencies, and 
 from the other consequences of the sin of Adam, 
 
173 
 
 all who die in infancy shall be saved through the 
 atonement and Spirit of Christ? 
 
 It has already been stated* that the connexion 
 which has been established between faith and salva- 
 tion, by no means interferes with the sentiment in 
 question. Besides, as the requirements of Heaven 
 always respect the natural capabilities of the subjects 
 of law, children are no more excluded by this con- 
 nexion, than they are doomed to starvation by the 
 apostolic injuction, that " if any will not work, nei- 
 ther should he eat." It is easy to apply this to 
 the declaration, " He that believeth shall be saved, 
 and he that believeth not shall be condemned." 
 Were it otherwise, then all infants would be ex- 
 cluded from salvation, and not merely some of 
 them. 
 
 It is to no purpose to adduce, the passions 
 which children often discover at a very early 
 period, as instances of actual transgression, and as 
 the ground of an objection to what is now pleaded 
 for. We ought to beware of confounding mere 
 animal instincts, with things of a moral nature, and 
 u paroxysms of pain, with paroxysms of passion." 
 Infants are described as knowing neither good nor 
 evil* a and their ignorance is not that which the 
 scriptures condemn, for the latter, is such only as 
 is wilful, and which besides, is not total, but re- 
 
 o Dcut. i, 39, 
 
174 
 
 spects matters, ignorance about which is not only 
 consistent with the knowledge of other things, 
 but derives its criminality from that very know- 
 ledge. Now, as infants, in regard to knowledge, 
 are not moral agents, so neither are they such in 
 regard to the -feelings of their minds. 
 
 Respecting the time when God may be pleased 
 to change their hearts by his Spirit, whether be- 
 fore or at the time, of their disolution, it does not 
 seem to be of great importance to inquire. He 
 who imparted his moral likeness to Adam, im- 
 mediately at his creation, and gave his Holy Spirit 
 to John, while in his mothers womb, ought not to 
 be limited. We cannot say what may be the 
 mode of the Divine operations, in regard to such, 
 arid no practical benefit could we derive from the 
 knowledge of it. The Almighty can doubtless in- 
 stantaneously raise from infantile weakness and ig- 
 norance, to the perfection of heavenly light and 
 holy purity. This will afford a display of the 
 Divine power, which will be deeply impressive. 
 Christians who have long known the truth upon 
 earth, though through a glass darkly, understand 
 something of the celestial glory, before they enter 
 on it, but what must be the feelings of infants, 
 on being suddenly translated to the full radiance 
 of the heavenly inheritance, and what the feel- 
 ings of oilier s on witnessing this striking display of 
 Almighty power? 
 
 What prevents the full renovation of Christians 
 
175 
 
 on earth, but the weakness and unsettledness of 
 their faith in the gospel, and will not the full blaze 
 of its lustre at once assimilate the whole soul to 
 itself? " The germ of life and of glory," which 
 was here implanted in the infant mind, will burst 
 forth instantaneously into a full and vigorous life, 
 and the heart will be impressed w T ith the beauty 
 and grandeur of the character of God, and ca- 
 pacitated for the services and the bliss of the celes- 
 tial sanctuary. 
 
 When we remember, how God taught the chil- 
 dren of Jerusalem, to offer up their artless hosannas 
 in the temple, how their praises were accepted of 
 the Saviour, and how they seem to have relieved 
 and gladdened the mind of the Man of sorrows, vis 
 he thought of the obstinate unbelief, and impend- 
 ing fate of that city, over which he mournfully 
 wept, we cannot but recommend them to God, in 
 the confidence that his power and his goodness 
 are always the same. 
 
 Some of the most esteemed expositors appre- 
 hend, that our Lord's language, in Matth. xviii. 
 1 — 14, is to be understood as including children 
 literally, as w T ell as humble-minded disciples, in the 
 same way that Psalm viii. 2. is applied literally 
 to babes and sucklings, as well as to those who, in 
 regard to mental powers, external circumstances, 
 or dispositions of mind may be compared to them, a 
 
 a Matth. xxi. 16. 
 
176 
 
 But whatever may be thought as to this, it will not 
 in the least effect the interpretation which has just 
 been given of the passage in Matth. xix. 13, 14, 
 1 5. With regard to it, the application to children 
 literally, appears indispensably requisite to the 
 maintenance of consistency in the reasoning, and 
 by it the principle now pleaded for is completely 
 established. Dr Dwight, in speaking of the inter- 
 pretation which makes our Lord say, u Suffer little 
 children to come unto me, because the kingdom 
 of God is composed of Christians, that is, of such 
 as have a child-like disposition, " says that "it is 
 undeserving of a refutation." a 
 
 It deserves consideration, too, that even those 
 passages in which children are exhibited as exam- 
 ples of what is essential to the Christian character, 
 seem strongly to imply that all of them who die in 
 infancy are saved, for it appears utterly incongru- 
 ous that those who in a certain state of existence 
 are patterns of this, should, when they die in that 
 very state, be excluded from the kingdom of Hea- 
 ven. It were strange, indeed, to suppose, that the 
 benevolent Saviour would expatiate, with evident 
 pleasure, on the illustration afforded by their infan- 
 tile feelings of that simplicity of mind which is in- 
 dispensably necessary to discipleship, while yet 
 they might in an instant be consigned by him to 
 
 a D wight's Theology, Sermon 158. 
 
177 
 
 everlasting perdition. If it be said, that though 
 this be true of the infant or infants, whom he actu- 
 ally took in his arms, and held up for the instruc- 
 tion of his followers, it may not be true as to in- 
 fants in general, it may be said in reply, that our 
 Lord's manner of expressing himself seems pur- 
 posely chosen to guard against any such restric- 
 tion, for he says, c f Whosoever shall receive one of 
 such little children in my name, receiveth me." a 
 Besides, the very nature of the case shows, that he 
 was not speaking of any thing peculiar in the child 
 he had ill his arms, but was holding him up as a 
 specimen of what is common to all children at the 
 same stage of existence, so that what is true of one, 
 must be true of all. The judgment, as well as the 
 feelings of the heart, suggest this as the natural 
 conclusion to be drawn from the language and the 
 manner of our Lord, in the circumstances in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 When we reflect on the salvation of infants, and 
 think on the immense multitudes who die in a state 
 of infancy, we cannot but dwell on the delightful 
 promises that the children of God shall be in num- 
 ber as the sand on the sea shore — as the drops of 
 the morning dew — in a word, that they shall be in- 
 numerable. Not that the salvation of such is the 
 only thing illustrative of such promises ; far, very 
 
 a Mark ix. 36, S7. 
 P 
 
178 
 
 far from it, — but that it is one thing which throws 
 light on them, and that it ought not to be over- 
 looked. 
 
 The late celebrated Mr John Newton, whose 
 attachment to evangelical truth is well known and 
 generally acknowledged, introduces this sentiment 
 in the 50th Sermon of his work, entitled, " The 
 Messiah." Speaking of the innumerable multi- 
 tude which the apostle John saw in vision, he ex- 
 presses his persuasion that our Lord is stating a 
 Jact) when he says in regard to children, " Of such 
 is the kingdom of God," and that the reference is to 
 the number of departed infants, as exceeding the ag- 
 gregate number of adult believers, so far as that his 
 kingdom may be said to consist of them, and that 
 these go to make up the innumerable company of 
 the saved. 
 
 This view of the rubject accounts for the lan- 
 guage of David on the death of his child, " I shall 
 go to him," said he, " but he shall not return to 
 me." He felt none of that bitter anguish which 
 he afterwards felt on the death of Absalom. He 
 anticipated, not merely his own departure to the 
 world of spirits, for in that world there is no so- 
 cial intercourse between the saved and the lost ; 
 he expected to follow his child, not only to the 
 grave, but " to heaven and eternal happiness, where 
 his soul was, as he comfortably hoped and be- 
 lieved." a On no other principle, indeed, could 
 
 a Gill, on 2 Samuel, xii, 23. 
 
179 
 
 the thought relieve him from the extreme trouble 
 and affliction which he then felt. 
 
 It may not be improper to mention here, that 
 this supposes that the redeemed shall know each 
 other in the heavenly world. It seems strange 
 that this should ever have been doubted, for in the 
 nature of the thing it must add to our happiness. 
 If it be said, that the knowledge that certain of our 
 friends are not there will be a source of misery, it 
 is sufficient to reply, that the denial of the know- 
 ledge in question supposes a state of utter uncer- 
 tainty as to who are in heaven, and every one 
 knows that this is a state the most distressing of 
 all. Of course this is less favourable to happiness 
 than the other view of the subject. The fact is, 
 that all inferior feelings will be swallowed up in 
 the love of God, and in a conviction of the fitness 
 of His proceedings. 
 
180 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 I shall now examine some objections which have 
 been made to this comfortable doctrine. 
 
 The first objection which I shall notice, is that 
 which is taken from the fact, that children are often 
 involved in the crimes and temporal ruin of their 
 parents. Much has been said of those children on 
 whom God visited the iniquities of their fathers, as 
 if this militated against the final salvation of in- 
 fants. This dispensation, however, is applicable 
 to men, not as individuals, but as members of so- 
 ciety, and not to their eternal state, but to their 
 condition in the present life* God, in his provi- 
 dence, deals with nations and other bodies as if 
 they were persons. Thus the crimes of a nation 
 frequently accumulate from generation to genera- 
 tion, like the sins of an individual from youth to 
 age; and calamities are in consequence inflicted on 
 a people at one time for sins committed by them at 
 another, just as a judgment comes upon a man in 
 his old age, for sins committed in his youth, a 
 Nations and other public bodies are punished as 
 
 a Gen. xv. 16. Matth. xxiiL 32, 31— 36. Isaiah Ixy. 6, 7» 
 
181 
 
 such only in the present life, for in the eternal 
 world mankind are dealt with as individuals, al- 
 though the sins of which they were individually 
 guilty as members of society on earth, will certain- 
 ly be brought into judgment. Though as indivi- 
 duals, many who suffer in this life may be compa- 
 ratively innocent, yet as members of a guilty so- 
 ciety, their sufferings are necessary in order the 
 more remarkably to manifest the Divine displea- 
 sure against the sins of the community. Consider- 
 ed, however, as individuals, they are answerable 
 only for their personal offences, and according to 
 their personal character will their future condition 
 be determined. The eternal state, therefore, of 
 the children who died in consequence of the sins of 
 their parents, is not in the least affected by that 
 dispensation, for temporal calamities alone are in- 
 flicted by it. 
 
 If children, indeed, imitated the sins of their pa- 
 rents, and thereby justified them, and in one sense 
 made them their own, then the judgments which 
 followed were inflicted, not merely in consequence 
 of the sins of their parents, but actually for their 
 own transgressions. Thus the sins of the people of 
 Judah, from the days of Manasseh, were punished 
 in that generation which went to Babylon, because 
 they persisted in the practice of similar iniquities. 
 They indeed said, " The fathers have eaten sour 
 grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge, — 
 the ways of the Lord are not equal/' But the 
 p 2 
 
182 
 
 spirit of the reply made by God i?, that no injus- 
 tice was done them, because they deserved more 
 than was inflicted on account of their even sins, and 
 that the reason why the nation had not been 
 punished before was, that the Lord was longsuf- 
 fering, and had therefore exercised forbearance to 
 the third and fourth generation, when he might 
 have punished both their fathers and them. Visit- 
 ing the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, 
 does not intend punishing the latter for the iniqui- 
 ties of the former, whatever be their character and 
 conduct, and though they abhor and renounce the 
 sins of their fathers, and love and serve God. 
 Their character is supposed to be like to that of 
 their ungodly parents, and they therefore suffer for 
 their own evil dispositions and behaviour, a Had 
 Judah, in the days of Ezekiel, been righteous, they 
 would not have been sent into captivity for what 
 had been done in the days of Manasseh, but as they 
 walked in the steps of their fathers, they were treat- 
 ed accordingly, b It is the third and fourth genera- 
 tion of them that hate God, on whom the iniqui- 
 ties of the fathers are visited, c This dispensation 
 is w T ell fitted to impress the minds of parents with a 
 sense of the deep responsibility that attaches to 
 
 , Jeremiah xliv. 9—11. Mai. iii. 7. Psalm xlix. 13. 
 
 b Ezekiel xviii. 1— e JO, and xx. 30, 36. c Exodus xx. 5. 
 Num. xxxii. 14. 
 
183 
 
 them, and to induce thorn to bring up their chil- 
 dren in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
 It warns them, in the most solemn manner, of the 
 probable dismal effects and consequences of an evil 
 example, by the connexion which it supposes will 
 often be found between the conduct of parents, and 
 that not only of their immediate, but even of their 
 distant offspring. 
 
 While the delay of judgment was an exercise of 
 longsuffering, the declaration that it would come 
 in the third or fourth generation, was calculated to 
 enlist natural affection on the side of duty, because 
 parents might live to see the judgment descend on 
 their children and on their children's children, a 
 On the other hand, as the children were punished 
 only when they imitated the sins of their fathers, 
 it admonished them of the paramount authority of 
 God. How often do men, as an apology for what 
 is wrong, plead the example of their parents, and 
 how often is a corrupt religion adhered to, and all 
 impartial examination shunned, under the plea, 
 that their religion is that which their fathers pro- 
 fessed. 
 
 It ought to be remembered, that actual offenders 
 alone are referred to, when it is said, " Every one 
 shall die for his own iniquity. " b This was saying, 
 that (at least for a time) he would punish both fa- 
 
 a Job xsi. 19, 20. b Jer. xxxi. 30. 
 
T84 
 
 ther and son, and nol the latter only ; the one for 
 the bad example which he had set, and the other 
 for following it. It is evident, too, that he is speak- 
 ing of the mass of the people, when he so strikingly 
 delineates the wickedness of their character, and 
 threatens to punish them. There were some among 
 them who not only feared the Lord, but feared him 
 greatly, who notwithstanding suffered in the gene- 
 ral calamity, — witness Jeremiah and others. Im- 
 portant ends were to be answered by this dispen- 
 sation, and to the righteous he would make it a 
 blessing. Now, as the share which such had in 
 the common distress, did not by any means involve 
 their final condemnation, so neither will the share 
 which infants had in it, prove that this was their 
 fate. 
 
 As a proof that the infliction of death on chil- 
 dren, in consequence of the sins of their parents, 
 did not involve their final condemnation, the case 
 of Abijah may here be adduced. God would not 
 spare his life, because ruin had been denounced 
 against the house of his father Jeroboam, but his 
 early death was converted into a blessing, inasmuch 
 as he was thereby preserved from the sufferings 
 and the ignominy which awaited the rest of his fa- 
 mily. t; He only of Jeroboam/'' said God, " shall 
 come to the grave, because in him there is found 
 some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel." a 
 
 a \ Kings, xir. 1, 10—13. 
 
185 
 
 His affliction, then, we are thus assured, was over- 
 ruled in subserviency to his spiritual and tempo- 
 ral good. 
 
 The sentence of death has been passed on all, 
 and, as has already been stated, it rests with God 
 at what time and in what manner, whether by dis- 
 ease or by violence it shall be carried into execu- 
 tion. The providence of Heaven consists of many 
 parts, and the same means are made subservient to 
 a great variety of ends. While by the execution 
 of the general sentence of death he solemnly re- 
 minds us of the entrance of sin, he at the same 
 time and by the same means expresses his abhor- 
 rence of particular crimes, holds cut a salutary les- 
 son to survivors, and paves the way for many other 
 occurrences. The same view of the subject is ex- 
 hibited in the indiscriminate manner in which judg- 
 ments often come upon the world. 
 
 How many of the excellent of the earth have 
 perished in public calamities ! In pai titular in- 
 stances, God has indeed interposed to preserve 
 some such, but the general rule is, that "noman 
 can tell either love or hatred by that which is be- 
 fore him, for all things happen alike to all." It 
 does not follow, therefore, from the death of in- 
 fants at the deluge, in the cities of the plain, or in 
 any calamity, that they were consigned to the state 
 of misery. It may be added, that had God pre- 
 served the infants of the Antedeluvian world, what 
 would have been done with them ? The small fa* 
 
186 
 
 mily of Noah could not have taken charge of them. 
 Without a continued exertion of miraculous power, 
 corresponding to which there is nothing in scripture, 
 they must inevitably have perished in amoie dread- 
 ful way. The same remark is applicable to many 
 other instances, in which children were cut off with 
 their parents. 1 hey were truly " taken from the 
 evil to come." It is in vain to dwell upon the 
 application of the term right eons to the inhabitants 
 of Sodom, for when the Lord said, that if but ten 
 righteous persons were found in if, he would not 
 destroy it, the term cannot properly apply to mere 
 children, for it evidently denotes those principles 
 and deeds of which they are not the capable sub- 
 jects. The reference, then, must be to adults. 
 There were doubtless many more than ten infants 
 in the city; and upon the principle, that all such 
 "are of their own nature inclined to evil, " how 
 could God expect to find any righteous among 
 them P The death of such, while it took place in 
 consequence of their connexion with Adam, was 
 only so far connected with the sins of their im- 
 mediate parents, as to be in its lime and circum- 
 stances a mark of the Divine displeasure with them 
 also, and a lasting warning to parents in general. 
 
 This view of the subject explains such passages 
 £s this, u Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body." a 
 
 a Deut. xtv'ii. 18, 
 
187 
 
 The reference, so far as mere infants are concern- 
 ed, is to the temporal calamities inflicted by the 
 law of Moses, denounced during that law, and not 
 to eternal perdition. Thus, when it is said, 
 " Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," a 
 the meaning cannot be, that every one who is 
 thus ignominiously exposed is finally condemned, 
 for to the thief on the cross it was said by the Sa- 
 viour, " This day shalt thou be with me in para- 
 disc." The design of this declaration respecting 
 the curse, was to intimate, that Christ should be 
 made a curse for us, but not by any means to teach, 
 that those who thus suffered should necessarily 
 perish for ever. In like manner, the other decla- 
 ration referred to, respects the present, and not the 
 eternal condition of those who fell under its weight 
 in consequence of the sins of their parents. In so 
 far, again, as it may respect the fate of those chil- 
 dren who followed the evil example of their fathers, 
 it has nothing to do with infants.* In full harmo- 
 ny with these views, we find that God, when de- 
 nouncing the death of infants, as an expression of 
 His displeasure against the sins of their parents, 
 so far from expressing any immediate anger against 
 the children, He expresses a desire for their wel- 
 fare, by saying, " Wherefore commit ye this great 
 evil against your souls, to cut off from you man, 
 
 a Gal. iii. 10. Deut. xxi. 23. 
 
188 
 
 and woman, and child, and suckling out of Judah, 
 to leave none of you to remain ?" a 
 
 It is one thing for children to be subjected to 
 temporal inconveniences and losses, and to a pre- 
 mature death in consequence of the sins of their 
 immediate parents, and quite another to be doomed 
 to eternal misery because of them. The former 
 can be changed into a blessing, but the latter can 
 not. The evils to which they are subjected on 
 earth, no more prove that they are doomed to final 
 perdition, than the afflictions of Christians prove, 
 that they suffer because they are to be " condemned 
 with the w r orld." The fact is, that every one who 
 shall finally inherit everlasting life in the heavenly 
 paradise, must of necessity be placed more or less 
 in the condition of the earthly Adam, and must 
 therefore be exposed to those evils which fall to 
 the lot of children, for according to the existing 
 constitution of things, the gracious purposes of God 
 cannot otherwise be accomplished. 
 
 A particular objection has been taken from the 
 history of the deluge, on which it will be proper 
 to make some remarks, the spirit of which will 
 apply to all objections of a similar nature. 
 
 The objection supposes, that because the over- 
 throw of the old world was an emblem of the final 
 overthrow of the present system, and of the punish- 
 
 * Jer. xHV. 7, compared with Ezek. ix. 6, and Luke xxiii. 28, 29, 
 
189 
 
 ment of the wicked, and the security of the family 
 of Noah an emblem of the salvation of Christians, 
 therefore all who were without the ark perished e- 
 ternally. But in order to make the parallel com- 
 plete, it must be maintained, that all who were 
 preserved in the ark were eternally saved. Now, 
 this cannot be proved, for we have decisive evidence 
 that Ham, who was preserved in it, was in the gall 
 of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Since, 
 therefore, we cannot say that all w T ho were in the 
 ark were saved from the wrath to come, neither 
 can we say that all who were without it were finally 
 condemned to it. 
 
 The fact is, that the temporal punishment of one 
 class, and the temporal deliverance of another, may 
 be designed to pre-figure spiritual destruction on 
 the one hand, and eternal salvation on the other, 
 while some of the former may be finally saved, and 
 some of the latter may ultimately perish. For ex- 
 ample, the fall of the generation that left Egypt, 
 was an emblem of the final ruin of unbelievers, and 
 the entrance of the next generation into Canaan, 
 was a figure of the entrance of the redeemed into 
 the heavenly inheritance, yet we know that numbers 
 who fell in the wilderness were eternally saved, and 
 that some who entered Canaan fell short of the ce- 
 lestial country. This example is as good as a 
 thousand arguments on the subject. It decidedly 
 illustrates the nature of the typical deliverance and 
 overthrow at the flood, and disproves the reason- 
 2 
 
190 
 
 ings which have been drawn from that dispensation 
 against the salvation of infants. 
 
 To say that we are taught by what took place 
 at the flood, what proportion there shall ultimately 
 be between the saved and the condemned, is direct- 
 ly to oppose the Scriptures, which represent the 
 number of the former as incalculably great. This 
 mode of straining figurative events is very unwise, 
 and is utterly at variance with the spirit of Divine 
 revelation. The point in comparison in such cases, 
 is not the proportion which the saved and the lost 
 will at last bear to each other, but simply the cer- 
 tain salvation of the righteous, and the certain con- 
 demnation of the wicked, and therefore neither the 
 eternal condition of those who share in the typical 
 deliverance, nor that of those who fall in the tem- 
 poral calamity, is thereby determined. Of course 
 no argument can be taken from such dispensations, 
 against the salvation of those infants who suffered 
 their distressing consequences. 
 
 I do not stop to inquire whether, since while there 
 is liie there is hope, some of the adults who perished 
 in the deluge might not be led to repentance be- 
 tween the time at which the ark was shut, and that 
 at which the waters overwhelmed them, so that 
 though punished before men in the flesh, as an ex- 
 ample, they might live before God in the spirit. 
 My object is merely to remove the objection re- 
 specting infants, which is quite untenable, whatever 
 may be thought respecting the condition of adults. 
 
191 
 
 The apostle Peter, when speaking on this subject, 
 refers only to the disobedient under the preaching of 
 Noah. Now, of this disobedience infants could 
 not be guilty, and therefore the passage cannot in 
 the smallest militate against their salvation, a The 
 displeasure expressed by the deluge, was against 
 the violent and enormous wickedness with which 
 the world was filled, b And it needs not to be 
 stated, that the infants of that age were no more 
 depraved than the infants of former generations, 
 and that in this violence they could not participate. 
 It is plain, then, that though there was a particu- 
 lar expression of the Divine indignation in that 
 fearful catastrophe, it was not against them. They 
 fell in consequence of the sin of Adam, and they 
 fell at that particular time, to answer the additional 
 purpose of showing the Divine displeasure with 
 their parents, and thus affording a warning to those 
 which were to follow. 
 
 It may be proper to remark here, that though 
 what took place at the deluge, was not intended to 
 represent the proportion which there shall finally 
 be between the saved and the lost, yet it appears to 
 have been designed to show the vanity of the hope, 
 that from the multitude of transgressors there is 
 some chance of escaping. Accordingly, it solemn- 
 ly declares, that though hand join in hand, the 
 
 a 1 Pet ill 20. a Gen. vi. 11, 12. 13. 
 
192 
 
 wicked shall not pass unpunished. Though the 
 number of the saved will be incalculably great, the 
 number of the condemned will not be small ; and 
 He who spared not the multitude of the ungodly 
 then, will not spare them because of their number 
 at last. Let every one flee to the covert of the 
 atonement, for however many shall at last be found 
 out of Christ, the true refuge set before them in 
 the gospel, not one of them shall escape. 
 
193 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 J. his naturally leads to the consideration of an ob- 
 jection which has been made to the doctrine in 
 question, on the ground that the Scriptures repre- 
 sent the number of the saved as comparatively 
 small. Objections of this nature arise from a mis- 
 apprehension of the meaning of Scripture, in the 
 instances referred to. The passages which speak 
 of the fewness of the saved, respect the times pre- 
 ceding the general spread of the gospel, the active 
 opposition of the minds of men to the pure and 
 humbling doctrines of the cross, and their actual 
 choice and pursuit of the ways of sin. They there- 
 fore do not refer to infants as such at all. 
 
 When our Lord says, " Wide is the gate, and 
 broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and 
 many there be that go in thereat. Strait is the 
 gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto life, 
 and few there be that find it." a He is obvious- 
 ly speaking of adults alone, and is exhibiting the 
 holy nature of the truth, and the active opposition 
 
 a Matth. vii. 13, 14. 
 
 Q2 
 
194 
 
 of mankind to its sacred dictates. But infants are 
 not in his eye, for of moral actions they are utterly 
 incapable. The greater part of the Jews rejected 
 the counsel of God in the days of our Lord, and 
 the greater part of mankind reject it still, for the 
 description is far from being applicable only to the 
 Jews or apostolic times. But the Scriptures assure 
 us, that the time is coming when there shall be a far 
 more extensive diffusion of the gospel than has hi- 
 therto taken place, a The grain of mustard seed 
 shall become a tree so large, that the birds of hea- 
 ven may lodge under the shadow of it; and the 
 little leaven shall leaven the whole lump, b 
 
 The kingdom of Christ will by no means die 
 away like an expiring lamp, for he is set to be a 
 light to the Gentiles, and the extent and influence 
 of the Sun of righteousness, is compared with the 
 instruction imparted by the natural sun and the 
 heavenly bodies, to every creature under heaven 
 who attends to it. 
 
 Now, if the universal diffusion, and the very ge- 
 neral reception of the truth in the latter day, be con- 
 sistent with those parts of scripture which speak of 
 the narrow bounds occupied by it for ages, there 
 cannot be the smallest necessity for stopping, to 
 show the consistency between those passages which 
 sneak of the smallness of the number who at par- 
 
 a Psalm xxii. 27, and Ixxii. 11. Isaiah xi. 9—13. Heb. ii. 14. 
 b Matth. xiii. SI— 34. 
 
1Q5 
 
 ticular times, or in particular places, embraced the 
 gospel, and those which respect the salvation of in- 
 numerable infants. If we attend only to the sound 
 of words, we may prove any thing; and hence the 
 importance of attending to their meaning in the 
 different connexions in which they occur. 
 
 The objection taken from the declaration, that 
 " many are called, but few chosen," is of no force, 
 for in the sense intended, departed infants never 
 were nor could be called, and to them therefore 
 the passage by no means refers. Calvin, in ex- 
 pounding it, applies it to adults alone, and does 
 not consider it as referring to the general subject 
 of the purposes of Heaven. 
 
 When Christ says, " Fear not, little flock," he 
 is using the language of endearment. His mean- 
 ing is, Fear not, my dear flock, for your Father is 
 delighted to give you the kingdom, and will surely 
 then give you all that you need on your way to it. a 
 
 When Paul says, M There is a remnant, accord- 
 ing to the election of grace/' b he is speaking of 
 his Jewish brethren alone, the greater part of whom 
 had rejected the Saviour by obstinate unbelief, but 
 a portion of whom had been led, by the blessing of 
 God, to embrace that salvation which was preached 
 as the fruit of pure grace, and not as the birthright 
 of any privileged class, or as the reward of obedi- 
 
 a Luke xii. 32. b Rom. xi. 5. 
 
196 
 
 ence to any law. He is treating, therefore, of the 
 case of adults who had refused the Divine mercy, 
 and of the particular circumstances of the Jews at 
 the time. 
 
 It is of the first importance to compare scripture 
 with scripture, and to examine in every instance 
 what classes are spoken of, and what times and cir- 
 cumstances are intended. This is very properly 
 done in other cases, and why not in this ? Why 
 apply to infants what is said of the rejection of the 
 gospel feast by adults ? Why employ passages 
 which speak of active opposition to the cause of 
 truth, to prove that there are few that shall ulti- 
 mately be saved ? for, granting that they prove this 
 as to adults, they have no relation to infants. 
 
 It is in vain to adduce the scripture doctrine of 
 the freeness and sovereignty of Divine grace as an 
 objection, for the salvation of infants must undoubt- 
 edly be traced to this very grace, and how can 
 grace be opposed to itself? Great care should be 
 taken that our views of Divine grace do not con- 
 found it with something like human caprice, for 
 notions of this kind are exceedingly unscriptural, 
 and fearfully pernicious. If we confound the acts 
 of the Divine sovereignty with the capricious voli- 
 tions of men, we shall find, that instead of being 
 led to cherish holy love, and profound veneration 
 towards God, we shall feel at best but the transient 
 flash of a selfish gladness, and a spurious gratitude. 
 There is reason to think, that such views of the 
 
197 
 
 grace of God are at the bottom of that assuming 
 mid contemptuous spirit, which is sometimes con- 
 nected with professed zeal for the truth of the gos- 
 pel. See this exemplified in the Jews, who gloried 
 in themselves as the chosen people, and therefore 
 despised others. 
 
 To say that the grace of God cannot be display- 
 ed if many are partakers of it, is to betray the most 
 mistaken views of its nature. Did it not appear, 
 when on the day of Pentecost he saved three thou- 
 sand, as well as one Ethiopian eunuch received it? 
 Did not the apostles " seek the profit of many, that 
 they might be saved," and do not they and the pro- 
 phets rise above themselves, when they dwell on 
 the progress and enlargement of the kingdom of 
 Christ? Never, then, let it be said, that the ho- 
 nour of Divine mercy requires that a few only of 
 the guilty partake of it. Is it not declared, that one 
 great design of the plan of redemption, is to show 
 forth the exceeding riches of the grace of God ? 
 And can the meaning of such a declaration be, that 
 He means to save no more than is barely requisite 
 to manifest, that grace is a part of his character? — 
 Certainly not. Is it not most evident, that the im- 
 port of such language is, that the blessings of mercy 
 are imparted wherever the interests of the govern- 
 ment of heaven do not call for exception. We are 
 therefore warranted to expect an abundant display 
 of the goodness of God, and in particular, to look 
 for the manifestation of it towards all who have 
 
198 
 
 never lived to be the subjects of moral Rule. How, 
 then, can the salvation of such be an infringement 
 of the glory of Divine grace, when it is one of the 
 ways in which it is illustriously displayed ? 
 
 Will it still be said, that such a view of the plan 
 of redemption is apt to make men careless, and to 
 lead them to a presumptuous hope ? There is no- 
 thing, indeed, that the depraved heart of man will 
 not abuse, but might it not be said, that the op- 
 posite view is apt to lead to despair ? Now, if the 
 objector would not allow, that on his principles 
 this were a valid argument against his view of the 
 subject, it cannot be right to urge the possibility of 
 abuse, as an argument against the other. 
 
 The Scriptures have guarded against abuse by 
 teaching, on the one hand, that though the great- 
 est sinners have been saved, yet the least as well as 
 the greatest sins, when persisted in, will infallibly 
 issue in the second death; and on the other hand, 
 that though the salvation of the very least of sin- 
 ners is a display of free grace, yet the displays of 
 this grace rise in glory, according to the number 
 and aggravations of the sins which are forgiven, 
 and the strength of the corruptions which are con- 
 quered. The former warns men of the danger of sup- 
 posing, that because they are not so wicked as some 
 who have been saved, they shall therejoy^e be saved; 
 as if this negative goodness could furnish a plea 
 for mercy. And the latter encourages the sinner 
 to say, " Whatever has been my character, yet, as 
 
199 
 
 the blood of the Saviour can cleanse from all sin, 
 to Him will I go, on the ground of his unfettered 
 invitation." By this means, presumption and des- 
 pair are equally prevented, and holy fear and Chris- 
 tian confidence are happily united. 
 
 Though all are not guilty of the same measure 
 of positive or actual evil, yet all are by nature 
 equally destitute of good ; and as the law demands 
 perfect obedience, even but one offence shuts for 
 ever the door of justification by deeds of law. All 
 mankind, therefore, are by nature excluded from 
 the kingdom of Heaven. To infants, as well as 
 adults, the gift of it is matter of pure Sovereign 
 favour, and the bestowment of it on innumerable 
 multitudes of the former, is an illustrious display 
 of m'ace. 
 
 There is reason to think, that some have very 
 unscriptural notions of the grace of God, for it is 
 often spoken of, in a most vague and indefinite 
 manner. They appear to think, that in order to 
 maintain the important truth, that there is nothing 
 in any of the human race that can furnish a mo- 
 tive to excite the Divine regard, it is necessary to 
 maintain, that the love cf God is altogether with- 
 out reason — only, so it was, and so it must be. 
 But the former by no means involves the latter. 
 The Almighty has in every case, fit reasons for the 
 displays of his goodness, though those reasons 
 he does not always reveal, but simply informs us 
 that he acts according to the pleasure of his own 
 
200 
 
 will. This is a very different thing from a blind 
 or an unaccountable caprice, which, instead of ex- 
 alting his grace, would utterly debase it. Such a 
 notion is quite incompatible with proper views of 
 His wisdom and^excellence, and even inconsistent 
 with the feelings of gratitude and praise. 
 
 If the salvation of infants were pleaded for, on 
 the ground of something meritorious in them^ or 
 even in the ground of what is called negative good- 
 ness, then there were just ground for objection; 
 but on no such principle is the argument here 
 rested. It is only pleaded, that the Scriptures have 
 distinguished betw T een those of the human race, 
 who have sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
 transgression, and those who have not, — that God, 
 of his abundant goodness, has extended to the 
 whole of the latter the blessings of redemption, 
 and that He has commanded the gospel to be 
 preached to the former, and has declared, that who- 
 soever believeth it shall be saved, and whosoever 
 believeth not shall be condemned. • The distinction 
 between relative and personal blame, is not intro- 
 duced to show r , that infants who are involved only 
 in the former, have a right to salvation, but to 
 show that there is an analogy between the way in 
 which men came to be treated as sinners, and that 
 in which they came to be treated as righteous, and to 
 explain the principles of the present dispensation, 
 both as an economy of moral government, and an 
 economy of Sovereign goodness, — the former ac- 
 
201 
 
 counting for the principle on which ad alts shall at 
 last be judged, and the latter communicating grace 
 to all who never were the subjects of the other. 
 And if, for reasons worthy of himself, the Almighty 
 has determined that all dying in infancy shall 
 be saved, what is this dispensation but a part of 
 the general plan of redemption, through unmerited 
 and Sovereign favour ? Never can a dispensation 
 designed to illustrate His grace, be in the least in- 
 consistent with that very attribute. 
 
202 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 It is necessary now to advert to an objection which 
 has been taken from the doctrine of election. 
 
 In the Scripture doctrine respecting the purposes 
 of God, there is nothing which can in the least mi- 
 litate against what is now pleaded for, because it 
 only follows, from the premises which have already 
 been established, that all who die in infancy are in- 
 cluded in the gracious purposes of Heaven, and 
 are therefore chosen to salvation. There is no ne- 
 cessity, then, for saying more on the subject ; but 
 for the sake of farther elucidation, the following 
 considerations are suggested. 
 
 The Scriptures, when they distinguish any from 
 the chosen of God, invariably represent them as 
 walking in the ways of sin, as shutting their eyes 
 to the light, as hardening themselves against God, 
 as left by Him to follow their own courses, and as 
 abusing the longsufTering and goodness of God, to 
 the hardening of their hearts in unbelief and im- 
 penitence, a Election, so far as it is a cause, is a 
 
 a Rom. ii. 4—6. ix. 22. 
 
203 
 
 cause only of good, and not of evil ; it is not the 
 proper cause why any perish. The only cause of 
 men's perishing, is their not believing, or their dis- 
 obedience. It is clear, from the views which have 
 already been given of the Divine sovereignty, that 
 it is the right which God possesses, to bestow good 
 according to the good pleasure of His will, and 
 that when he punishes, it is not in sovereignty, but 
 as a Judge who is guided by law and by justice. A 
 sovereign appointment to condemnation is therefore 
 an utter contradiction, for it is as absurd to speak 
 of sovereign justice as of equitable mercy. The 
 same individual may be the subject of Sovereign 
 goodness and of retributive justice, but even then 
 the peculiar province of each is carefully preserved. 
 The measure of suffering which is inflicted, must 
 be traced to justice, and the portion of merited 
 punishment which is not inflicted, is withheld by 
 the hand of Sovereignty. Now, from what has 
 been formerly stated, it appears, that whatever He 
 injustice might have done, it is the fixed determi- 
 nation of God, that none of the human race shall 
 be finally condemned by a judicial act of His will, 
 arising simply from the offence of Adam. It fol- 
 lows, then, that all who die in infancy are chosen 
 
 by Him in Christ, of his rich and his Sovereign 
 
 o 
 
 grace. 
 
 It has been said, that God is represented as act- 
 ing on the principle of selection, both among an- 
 gels, and adults among mankind, and that there 
 
204 
 
 fore the same principle must be acted on in regard 
 to infants. But the conclusion does not follow 
 from the premises, for angels, and also adults among 
 mankind are moral agents, which infants as such 
 are not, and therefore it does not follow that the 
 treatment of the latter will be the same with that of 
 the former. What has already been said on the 
 difference between an economy of moral govern- 
 ment, and a dispensation of Sovereign goodness, 
 applies to the present question. Those beings who 
 never were the subjects of the former, and who are 
 yet capable of being objects of the latter, it is 
 reasonable to conclude, will be treated in a way 
 different from that in which the others are treated. 
 Besides, why suppose that the principle of selec- 
 tion must be applied in one case because it has been 
 so in another, particularly when the circumstances 
 of the different classes present no such similarity as 
 to warrant the conclusion, that their lot shall be re- 
 gulated by a similar principle. The principle of 
 selection, if applied to angels, appears in preserv- 
 ing some in " their first habitation," while others 
 are permitted to fall from it; but when applied to 
 mankind, it appears in making a distinction among 
 those who are fallen. Nov/, such is the difference 
 between these two things, that we cannot reason 
 from the one when treating of the other. The pur- 
 poses of God do not respect men as holy, but as 
 fallen creatures. Had the former been the case, 
 then they had been chosen to retain the holy and 
 
205 
 
 happy eminence on which they stood, and not 
 to be rescued from guilt and condemnation. The 
 latter, however, is most clearly the doctrine of 
 Scripture. It follows, then, that the goodness of 
 God to the holy angels is not the counterpart of 
 his goodness to fallen sinners, and therefore we 
 cannot reason from the one, in order to illustrate 
 the other, A purpose to preserve from sinning, 
 does not imply the same thing as a purpose to save 
 those who are considered as already in a state of 
 sin and condemnation ; and why then confound 
 tbem ? On the other hand, a determination to 
 punish the whole of the fallen angels, and a deter- 
 mination to punish those of the human race who 
 persist to the end in rebellion, are not exactly the 
 same. Let the different dispensations of God rest 
 each upon its own foundation, and let no desire for 
 simplifying lead us to confound things which differ. 
 With regard to the difference which appears ill 
 the final condition of mankind, the distinction 
 which the Scriptures make between relative and 
 personal blame as applied to infants, and actual 
 transgressors, is such, that it cannot be valid rea- 
 soning to argue, from the difference which appears 
 among the latter, that a similar difference must 
 exist among the former. It is evident that the con- 
 demnation even of the fallen angels did not rest on 
 a merely arbitrary purpose, but upon their own ac- 
 tual rebellion ; and that the final condemnation of 
 the wicked of mankind will not turn upon any such 
 it 2 
 
206 
 
 principle as a deed of exclusion; it will rest, as we 
 have seen, on their own wilful disobedience, and 
 particularly their rejection of the truth. But if in- 
 fants, notwithstanding of the coming of Christ, are 
 finally condemned, must not their sentence rest on 
 such a deed of exclusion ? Now, if no adult is to 
 be condemned, merely because God has appointed 
 him to perdition, or has not appointed him to sal- 
 vation, it must be very unwarrantable to say, that 
 infants shall be consigned to misery on grounds such 
 as these. 
 
 It is not to be expected, that we shall ever be 
 able in the present life, to explain the nature of the 
 link which unites the purposes of God with the free 
 actions of men. There is such a link, however, for 
 the Scriptures always represent the Divine purposes 
 as perfectly consistent with the free agency, and the 
 consequent responsibility of mankind, and ascribe 
 their ruin to their own iniquities. Every .ist view 
 of the nature of God leads to the conclusion, that 
 u known unto Him are all his works, from the be- 
 ginning of the world;" and on the other hand, 
 every just view of moral agency as necessarily leads 
 to the conclusion, that men must be free, that is, 
 without restraint in regard to good, or compulsion 
 in regard to evil, for this kind of libertv is essential- 
 ly necessary to their being accountable creatures. 
 The Scriptures accordingly never represent the 
 perfections or purposes of God, as in the least inter- 
 fering with the dictates of duty, the connexion be- 
 
207 
 
 tween the means and the end, or the voluntary na- 
 ture of the actions of mankind. These views are in 
 perfect accordance with the conviction which is 
 universally felt, that we act voluntarily, and are 
 therefore responsible agents — a conviction which is 
 inseparable from the moral constitution of our na- 
 ture. Now, it is on these principles that the cha- 
 racters of sinners will be ascertained, and their 
 condition determined in the final day of retribution, 
 and not upon the bare ground of the purposes of 
 Heaven, irrespective of their spirit and conduct, as 
 if their fate were the entire result of an arbitrary 
 deed. 
 
 The application of these views to the subject in 
 question is easily made, for as infants dying in in- 
 fancy have never come the length of being moral 
 and accountable agents, the link which connects 
 and harmonises the purposes of God, and the free 
 agency of man, can have no place in them. No 
 voluntary moral actions have they ever done, no 
 established connexion between means and ends 
 have they ever disregarded, and no kind of revela- 
 tion from heaven, have they neglected or scorned. 
 Does it not follow, then, that if they are to be con- 
 demned, it cannot be on the same ground with that 
 on which others shall, but in consequence of a pur- 
 pose quite different from the other purposes of 
 God. And if the Almighty has informed us that 
 on the ground of personal offences, and not on that 
 of his purpose to punish for the sin of Adam, men 
 
203 
 
 are finally to be doomed to misery, why apply io 
 infants a rule which is at utter variance with this ? 
 The question is not what God might in righteous- 
 ness have done, for certainly he might have left in- 
 fants to the consequences of the fall; it is a ques- 
 tion regarding a matter of fact, and is simply, 
 •** What has God intimated that he will do, in re- 
 gard to such ?" And certainly the fair conclusion 
 is, that as the declared rule of judgment does not 
 apply to them, they are included in the gracious 
 purposes of Heaven, and so chosen to salvation. 
 
 In the very nature of the thing, this choice must 
 be of Sovereign grace, for what claim can they have 
 any more than adults, to the bliss of the celestial 
 kingdom. The number who shall thus participate 
 in this grace, does not in the smallest interfere with 
 its freeness. So far from this, the great number 
 who partake of it serves to exult it. Did it not ap- 
 pear as illustriously when the gospel was embraced 
 by multitudes, as when a few only received it. To 
 suppose the contrary, were to betray the most er- 
 roneous views of its nature. 
 
 It is evident, that the Jews who w T erc broken off 
 because of unbelief, are represented as left to act 
 according to the impressions received from sur- 
 rounding objects, and so to the hardening influence 
 of their own evil hearts. Now, it is only in thus 
 leaving men to follow their own counsels, that God 
 marks a difference between one and another of the 
 human race. The vessels of mercy are " afore 
 
209 
 
 prepared," by the positive efficiency of Sovereign 
 grace for the heavenly glory, but God is infinite- 
 ly far from being the author of sin, though He be 
 the author of all that is good. The vessels of 
 wrath jft themselves for destruction, by rejecting the 
 counsel of God, stumbling at the doctrine of the 
 cross, and refusing to submit to the Divine plan of 
 justification, a 
 
 But if any of those who die in infancy are not 
 chosen of God to salvation, to what are they left by 
 Him ? Is it to the impenitence and hardening in- 
 fluence of their hearts? No, for they are removed 
 before they are capable of actual sin, and of course, 
 while incapable of despising his goodness, or tak- 
 ing occasion from it, to harden their hearts against 
 Him. Is it to the consequences of Adam's sin ? 
 No, for they shall rise again. Is it to the suffer- 
 ings and penalties entailed by sin upon this evil 
 world ? No, for God has in mercy removed them 
 from it. b Say, then, are not all who die in infancy 
 chosen to inherit everlasting; life through the grace 
 of God, flowing through the atonement of Christ? 
 
 The reasoning of Paul, Id the 9th chapter of 
 his epistle to the Romans, respecting Jacob and 
 Esau, has been explained by some, as if it were 
 incompatible with the general salvation of such; 
 
 a Rom. ix. 3?, 33. x. 3, and xi. 20. 
 b Eclectic Review, Vol. xviii. p. 221. 
 
210 
 
 but no such thing is there taught, as that any in- 
 fants shall finally perish. 
 
 The apostle is proving, that as the temporal in- 
 heritance, which was a figure of the heavenly, 
 did not go by birth, but as Jehovah pleased, so the 
 spiritual blessings of the kingdom of Christ, are 
 not to be considered as coming by birth, as the 
 Jews erroneously supposed, but by the choice of 
 God, that is, by free favour, and of course to Jews 
 and Gentiles, on the same ground without differ- 
 ence, as he teaches in chap. iii. 22, 23, 24 and x. 
 12. His reasoning respects the facts, in the his- 
 tory of Jacob and Esau, and also in that of Isaac 
 and Ishmael, as illustrative of the right which 
 God exercised in choosing whomsoever he pleas- 
 ed, to be employed in the accomplishment of His 
 purposes, connected with the birth of the Saviour, 
 and as throwing light on the unrestricted nature of 
 that grace, which communicates the blessings of 
 redemption. But this does not by any means de- 
 termine the everlasting condition of the individuals 
 introduced. It is not the manner of God to reveal 
 to the world, or to relatives, the final condition of 
 individuals, till their actions and character do so; 
 and this method is attended with many practical 
 and beneficial results. 
 
 Besides, the declaration of Heaven respecting 
 the pre-eminence to which Jacob was to rise, 
 though made while he was aa infant in the womb, 
 did not respect him as an infant, but rather what he 
 
211 
 
 should be in manhood, and as the head of the people 
 from whom the Messiah should descend, and what 
 they should be as a body; and in like manner the 
 declaration respecting Esau, though made before 
 he was born, did not respect him as an infant, but 
 what he should be long afterwards, and what place 
 should be occupied by the people which should 
 spring from him in their collective capacity. 
 Neither Jacob nor Esau died in infancy, and there- 
 fore the passage is wrested, when applied to those 
 who die in that state. If it be said, that as they 
 were infants before they became adults, therefore 
 that which respects them in the latter state, may re- 
 spect them in the former ; it is sufficient to say in 
 reply, that it might as well be said, that infants 
 are men; because all men are infants before they 
 reach manhood, or that all infants are labourers, 
 because labourers are infants before they become 
 adults. The absurdity of such reasoning is evi- 
 dent at first sight, and the application to the sub- 
 ject in question, is easily made. Why, then, ap- 
 ply to mere infants, what is descriptive of the lot 
 of adults, and of adults too, who are considered 
 more as the heads of collective bodies than as in- 
 dividuals. 
 
 Besides, such were the arrangements of God in 
 regard to the temporal inheritance, and such the 
 ends for which it was given, that only one could 
 obtain it. One only could be the head of that pe- 
 culiar people of whom Messiah was to spring, so 
 
212 
 
 ♦ 
 
 that if the inheritance in question were obtained by 
 Isaac, Ishmael could not partake of it, and if Jacob 
 got it, Esau could not. The purpose of God, 
 according to election of which, the apostle is 
 speaking is, that " The elder should serve the 
 younger." Had the case been reversed, still one 
 only could have got the privilege in question, for 
 the nation from which the Messiah was to spring, 
 was to have the pre-eminence. But the exclusion of 
 these two from the privileges in question, did not 
 of itself necessarily involve their exclusion from the 
 heavenly inheritance. It is not limited as was the 
 the other, but may be enjoyed by countless multi- 
 tudes, even by all who choose to seek it by faith in 
 the Gospel. As numbers whose carcases fell in 
 the wilderness, obtained, through faith in the pro- 
 mised Messiah, a place in the kingdom of heaven, 
 so might Ishmael and Esau obtain the blessings 
 of eternal redemption. The Scriptures do not war- 
 rant us to say, that they died impenitent. Ishmael, 
 it is true, was a persecutor, but so was Saul of 
 Tarsus. Besides, even granting that he finally 
 perished, his case will not apply to deceased in- 
 fants ; for they were not left of God to be perse- 
 cutors, and what is said of him, respects him not 
 as an infant, but as a man. 
 
 It is said, indeed, "Jacob have I loved, but 
 Esau have I hated," but in Scripture, when one is 
 said to be loved, and another hated, the meaning 
 is simply, that the former is more loved than the 
 
213 
 
 latter, and not that the hitter is absolutely hated, a 
 Accordingly, the passages in Gen. xxv. 23, Mai. 
 i. 2, 3, refer to the different lot assigned to the de- 
 scendants of Jacob and Esau respectively, b 
 
 But passing this, and granting that Esau finally 
 perished, still his case would not be parallel with 
 the case of infants. Even on this supposition, he was 
 left to the ways of his own will, and to the choice of 
 his evil heart, but to no such thing are infants dying 
 in infancy left. On the contrary, they are removed 
 from all danger of thus sinning to their ruin. In 
 a word, take which of the views we may, the argu- 
 ment drawn from this history against the salvation 
 of all who die in infancy, is utterly unfounded. — 
 Does it not follow, that all such are of " the election 
 of grace," and what can even the most rigid hyper- 
 Calvinist, find in fairness, objectionable in this, even 
 on his own principles. 
 
 To the doctrines of scripture, it becomes us im- 
 plicitly to bow, but let not men use language which 
 the scriptures never employ, and which is abhorrent 
 alike to the principles of the gospel, and the dic- 
 tates of humanity, and then charge those who object 
 to it, as hostile to the grace of God. By such lan- 
 guage, a prejudice has been excited in different 
 quarters, against several of the most important 
 branches of the evangelical system — an evil certainly 
 
 a Luke xiv. 26. John xii. 25. b Doddridge on Rom. ix. 12, 13. 
 S 
 
214 
 
 of no small magnitude. There is very little en- 
 couragement to reason with such, but there are 
 many who feel difficulties on the subject, who are 
 far from any approaches to the spirit I now refer 
 to, and who earnestly wish to get rid of those dif- 
 ficulties could they find their way clear. Let such 
 candidly examine the Scriptures, and beware of being 
 misled by the confident tone of persons, who, while 
 they boast of their soundness in the faith, betray a 
 temper which is in direct opposition to the truth. 
 It is strange, but, alas! too true, that the very essence 
 of self-righteous complacency, is sometimes found 
 in connexion with high pretensions of regard for 
 the doctrine of grace. 
 
 Though the great question is, " What saith the 
 Scriptures ?" and not, What saith this or the other 
 Reformer ? yet, as names are sometimes used as the 
 means of reproaching the innocent, and misleading 
 the unwary, and the uninformed, it may be proper 
 to state, that there is nothing in the great peculiari- 
 ties of the system commonly called moderate Cal- 
 vinism, which is in the least incompatible with the 
 salvation of infants. On the contrary, that system, 
 as now held by its enlightened advocates, furnishes 
 the most tenable and satisfactory grounds for the 
 pleasing persuasion, 1 that all who die without per- 
 sonal transgression, are written in the Lamb's bock 
 of life. Accordingly, very many of its most decided 
 friends have avowed their conviction of this, in re- 
 lation to all dying in infancy. And even some of 
 
215 
 
 the very highest, if not even hyper-Calvinists, have 
 expressed themselves favourably in regard to it. — 
 This, for instance, has been done by Dr. Gill, who 
 says, " that many unguarded expressions have been 
 dropped, concerning the punishment of such, which 
 are not at all to the credit of truth." a Mr Toplady 
 has given an explanation of our Lord's admonition 
 in Matt, xviii. 10, which (supposing it to be just) 
 affords a direct proof of the sentiment in question. 
 " Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 
 ones, for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels 
 do always behold the face of my Father which is in 
 heaven." He understands by their angels, " the souls 
 of such children as die in their infancy," who, upon 
 their bodies being previously " dislodged by death, 
 <\o always behold the face of God who is in 
 heaven." b Now, whatever may be thought of this 
 interpretation of the passage or of the word angel^ in 
 this connexion, (which some think is supported by- 
 Acts xii 15,) it will be allowed, that the salvation of 
 infants was not considered by this writer as in- 
 consistent even with the high views which he con- 
 nected with the doctrine of election, and in the 
 lie fence of which he was so active and zealous. It 
 may be added, that the opposite sentiment has not 
 been exclusively held by persons of one school cf 
 
 a Body of Divinity, Vol. ii. page 543. 
 
 b Historic proof of the Calvinism of the Church of England. 
 
 Introd. page 73. 
 
216 
 
 Theology, for not a few Anti-Calvinists have held, 
 that a great proportion of those who die in infancy, 
 are at least excluded from the benefits of redemp- 
 tion. The question of course is, On what grounds 
 do the respective advocates of these different views 
 rest their particular sentiments ? That some main- 
 tain the universal salvation of deceased infants on 
 imscriptoral grounds is true, but is this a reason 
 for charging all who hold the sentiment with those 
 errors, in the face of evidence sufficient to satisfy 
 every candid mind, that they rest it on grounds 
 altogether different. In a word, let candour be 
 exercised, and never let those be blamed as inimi- 
 cal to a particular system, who may be unwilling to 
 admit some unjust and exceptionable inferences, 
 which have been rashly drawn from it, because they 
 appear to them injurious excrescences, that deform 
 and weaken its strength. 
 
217 
 
 SECTION XT. 
 
 It has been objected, that the universal salvation 
 of children who die in infancy, is inconsistent with 
 the peculiar promises concerning the children of 
 believers. 
 
 There is a mistake in this objection, in regard to 
 the promises which peculiarly respect the families 
 of Christians. Those promises do not peculiarly 
 respect their infant children as infants, or as beings 
 who are not accountable agents, but rather apply 
 to them chiefly considered as moral agents, or when 
 they come of age to be profited by the means of in- 
 struction and example. Christian parents are en- 
 couraged to prayer in the behalf of their offspring, 
 and to diligence in the use of the means of grace 
 with them, by the promise, that their labour shall 
 not be altogether in vain, a They are warranted 
 by the word of the God of truth, to expect, that if 
 they themselves live by the faith of the Son of God, 
 if they faithfully discharge all parental duties, and 
 if they continue in the devout instruction of their 
 families, and seek to exemplify before them the na- 
 
 a Psalm Ixxviii. 5 — 8. £ Tim. i. 5. iii. 15. 2 John nr. 
 S 2 
 
218 
 
 ture and tendency of the gcspei in holy tempers, 
 and in the fruits of righteousness, then the Divine 
 blessing will more or less ultimately give success to 
 their endeavours, a w I know Abraham," says 
 God, " that he will command his children and his 
 household after him, and they shall keep the way 
 of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the 
 Lord may bring upon Abraham the thing which 
 he hath spoken of him." b It was, then, by Abra- 
 ham's behaviour towards his family, that the Lord 
 raised up among them a seed to serve Him. And 
 in like manner, it was by believing Israelites in 
 after times, teaching the things of God to their 
 children in successive generations, that " they were 
 led to set their hope in God." Only take heed to thy- 
 self," said he to Israel, ;: lest thou forget the things 
 which thine eyes have seen, — but teach them, thy 
 sons and thy son's sons, that they may learn to 
 fear me all the days that thay shall live upon the 
 earth, and that they may teach their children, c 
 Now, it is evident that such promises and precepts 
 chiefly respect such as are capable of receiving in- 
 struction and of yielding to its influence. There is 
 therefore nothing in them which can militate against 
 the salvation of all who die in infancy, from whom- 
 soever they may descend. 
 
 I do not mean by this, that the promises cou- 
 
 rt Frov. xxii. 16. b Gen. xviii. 19. 
 c Deut. iv. 9, 10. and vii. 9. xi. 18, 19. 
 
219 
 
 cerning the families of Christians, do not at all re- 
 fer to their infant children as such. They certainly 
 include an assurance to believers, of the salvation 
 of their infant seed, should they die in that state. 
 But it does not follow from this, that no others will 
 be saved, or that all others shall not. There are 
 no promises of spiritual blessings made in scripture 
 to unbelievers as such, and of course there can be 
 no promises made them concerning their seed. 
 Bat as the fact that many of the common benefits 
 of life, which are matters of promise to believers, 
 while they are not in the same way promised to un- 
 believers, is quite consistent with the fact, that the 
 latter receive them as well as the former, so also 
 the promises in question, are quite consistent with 
 the universal salvation of the children of the latter. 
 Such promises are of use to believers, but if the 
 promises of the gospel itself are disregarded, it is 
 evident that promises respecting their seed will not 
 profit the ungodly. 
 
 It surely cannot be necessary, in order to settle 
 the minds of believers regarding the salvation of 
 their infant seed, that all or even the greater part 
 of other infants, should, on leaving this world, be 
 shut out from the blessing. When God promised 
 to give to Israel a land flowing with milk and 
 honey, and promised to bless it with peculiar fer- 
 tility, he did not by this dispensation abandon all 
 care of the Gentiles, for to the latter he continued 
 u to do good ; he gave them rain from heaven, — and 
 
220 
 
 fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and 
 gladness." This example establishes a general prin- 
 ciple, namely, that particular promises made to a 
 certain body, do not in every case exclude all 
 others from every thing thus promised. What- 
 ever particular advantages were granted the Jews, 
 in order to answer the designs of Providence in 
 relation to the world, the Gentiles were "not left 
 without witness" of the care and the goodness of 
 God. 
 
 In like manner the promises in question, so far as 
 they include the dying infants of Christians, can only 
 show, that besides the general grounds of hope for 
 the salvation of all dying in infancy, there are some 
 additional ones in favour of the families of believers. 
 
 In so tar as the promises comprehend the infant 
 seed of believers, they by no means involve the 
 idea, that the grace of God and the spiritual bless- 
 ings of the kingdom of Christ are imparted by 
 fleshly birth, for they may be considered as just 
 confirming and applying to Christians in particu- 
 lar, for their comfort and encouragement, the ge- 
 neral purposes of grace, in regard to all who die 
 in a state of infancy. Considered, on the other 
 hand, as referring to their children as moral agents, 
 or as come of age to be profited by instruction, 
 and such like religious advantages, there can be 
 nothing in them inconsistent with the free opera- 
 tion of the grace of Heaven ; " because this grace 
 in its various blessings, being conveyed to sin- 
 
221 
 
 ners by means, it is quite according to the riattt- 
 ral order of things, that it should accompany 
 those means and flow with them, as it were in 
 the same channel." a In this way Jehovah appears 
 as the God of his people in successive generations. 
 Circumcision has been introduced in relation to 
 this subject, but that institution was not a seal of 
 the personal salvation of those on whom it was 
 performed, but of the general truth, that justifica- 
 tion could only be had through the work of the 
 Messiah, and that it would be obtained by every 
 individual of mankind who believed in Him. It 
 was not merely a seal, that the blessings of which 
 it was a sign, should be obtained by all of the cir- 
 cumcised, who believed as Abraham had done ; for 
 though it was administered only to his seed, and 
 to those Gentiles who were in his family, or con- 
 nected with the Israelitish commonwealth, it was a 
 seal of the general truth, that every individual of 
 mankind who believed in the Messiah, the un- 
 circumcised as well as the circumcised, should be 
 justified as the Patriarch had been, while he was 
 uncircumcised. b As a sign, it was a means of 
 instruction, and hence it was administered to those 
 respecting whom there was a moral certainty, that 
 they would be instructed in its import, or in the 
 truth of which it was a seal. It was therefore design- 
 ed to confirm a general truth, and is fitly called a 
 
 a Wardlaw on the Abrahamic Covenant. 
 b Rom. ir, 9 — 12 ii.. 25— 29, 
 
222 
 
 seal of the righteousness, or the justification by 
 faith, of the uncircumcised as well as of the cir- 
 cumcised. 
 
 Now, when faith and justification are connected, 
 the reference is exclusively to adults, who are cap- 
 able of believing. But we have already seen, that 
 < : It is of faith that it might be of grace," and that 
 this is illustrated by the salvation of infants, with- 
 out believing. 
 
 If, then, the spiritual blessings, of which circum- 
 cision was a sign, w T ere communicated to uncir- 
 cumcised believers, before, as well as after the com- 
 ing of Christ, would they not also be imparted to 
 uncircumcised infants who dietf in infancy. The 
 former, when connected with what has already been 
 seen, seems clearly to involve the latter. 
 
 Circumcision, then, was one of the external means 
 of grace, which were granted to Israel, the chief 
 of which was the enjoyment of the oracles of 
 God. Now, the actual benefit derived from ex- 
 ternal means, arises from the improvement which 
 is made of them ; and as the import of circum- 
 cision was a matter of after instruction to those 
 who received it in infancy, the ultimate spiritual 
 advantage derived from it, would arise from their 
 reception wLen they grew up, of the great truths 
 of which it was a seal. " Circumcision verily 
 profiteth," says Paul, " if thou keep the law; but 
 if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumci- 
 sion is made uncircumcision." Thus, though the 
 
. 223 
 
 families of the Jews had advantages, in regard to 
 the means of instruction, which those of the Gen- 
 tiles in general had not, yet the latter, if they re- 
 ceived the truth, however faintly it might be re- 
 vealed to them, were not by their circumstances 
 excluded from salvation. If in itself, then, this 
 institution did not determine the actual state of 
 its subjects, no argument can be drawn from it 
 against the salvation of those infants who never 
 received it. At the same time as its administration 
 to children, signified that even in childhood they 
 were capable subjects of salvation, it would lead the 
 believing parent to pray for his child, and if it died 
 in infancy, to rejoice in the grace which embraced 
 his offspring as well as himself, while, if an enlight- 
 ened character, it would gladden his heart to think 
 of the gracious aspect which the institution bore to- 
 wards all children dying at the same time of life. 
 The Israelites were happy in anticipating the fu- 
 ture conversion of the Gentiles, and even in the 
 salvation of many of them at the very time, through 
 the knowledge of the true God, though not circum- 
 cised, or in any way connected with the common- 
 wealth of Israel, for of the salvation even of such, 
 circumcision was a seal. — And on the same princi- 
 ple would an intelligent Jewish parent feel, in re- 
 gard to Gentile infants dying in infancy. 
 
 If it be said, that this view of the subject is cal- 
 culated to make parents careless as to their chil- 
 dren, while in a state of non-age, it may be replied, 
 
22-4 
 
 thai the inference is unfounded, because, though 
 . till they reach a certain age, children cannot un- 
 derstand or believe, yet it is of the first impor- 
 tance for parents so to train them, before they 
 reach that age, as to accustom them to habits of 
 order, attention, and obedience, as a means of fur- 
 thering the understanding and reception of the 
 truth, when their faculties are enlarged, and begin 
 to unfold themselves. Before they can compre- 
 hend any thing about God, they may be taught to 
 know that they ought to obey their parents, what 
 it is to offend them, — what it is to be punished 
 for a fault, and what it is to be pardoned, and 
 even what it is to be pardoned through the in- 
 tercession of another. Now, as the Gospel meets 
 such ideas, this instruction will tend to ena- 
 ble them to understand it, when it speaks of a 
 heavenly Father, of obedience and sin, of punish- 
 ment and forgiveness, and of the w r ork and media- 
 tion of Christ, This preparatory discipline must 
 be considered as included in the precepts, which 
 have just been quoted. If it be said, that the be- 
 lief of the universal salvation of infants, may tend 
 to cause parents to be the less fervent in prayer 
 for their infant children, it is sufficient to? say in 
 reply, that of the time of the departure of their 
 children, parents are generally ignorant — that pray- 
 er should he offered up for a blessing on the pre- 
 paratory discipline, of which I have just been 
 speaking, that if it shall please the Lord to spare 
 
225 
 
 them, they may soon be brought to the knowledge 
 and faith of the Gospel ; and that as we know not 
 how soon the Lord may be pleased to renovate 
 even the heart of an infant, it is for us to implore 
 His gracious influence in the behalf of their souls, 
 that whether they live or die they may be the Lord's. 
 No one surely can for a moment suppose, that the 
 promise of a blessing on the religious advantages 
 enjoyed by the advancing children of pious parents, 
 excludes from the hope of mercy those young peo- 
 ple^hose parents are irreligious, and who have not 
 the privilege of the instructions and example, 
 and the fervent prayers of a devout parentage. 
 Were it so, how could the Church of God ever 
 extend beyond the precincts of the families of those 
 who are already connected with it ? Blessed be 
 God that in his abundant grace he often brings 
 young people to the knowledge and faith of the 
 Gospel, who, so far from enjoying the advantages 
 of a pious family, have been brought up in the 
 midst of carelessness, folly, and sin ! 
 
 Now, if the promises of a blessing on the use of 
 means with the advancing children of religious pa- 
 rents, do not exclude from the hope of salvation, 
 the grown up young people of families who have no 
 such advantages, will it be argued that the ground 
 on which we are assured of the salvation of the de- 
 parted infants of Christians, affords no hope con- 
 cerning the infants of others ? If it be said, that 
 T 
 
226 
 
 those of the advanced children of unbelievers who 
 are saved, are such as believe the Gospel, it may be 
 replied, that as faith itself is not the ground of ac- 
 ceptance, there is nothing in the gift of eternal life 
 to the infants of such, without faith, which is at all 
 inconsistent with the plan of redemption ; for it is a 
 manifestation of the same grace w T hich appears in 
 leading any such adults to believe, and thus saving 
 their souls. — On the contrary, the denial of the sal- 
 vation of such infants, seems to proceed on the prin- 
 ciple, that faith is somehow the ground of accep- 
 tance, and so tends to darken the doctrine of the 
 grace of God. On no just principle, therefore, can 
 we grant that the former are saved, without grant- 
 ing that the latter may be so. Was not Abijah, 
 the son of Jeroboam, for instance, a partaker of 
 the grace of God, while yet but a child ? And was 
 not Josiah the son of Amon a partaker of it too at 
 a very early period ? a 
 
 I shall again advert to the objection, that to 
 maintain the certainty of the salvation of all who 
 die in infancy, is calculated to induce parents to be 
 less fervent in prayer for their children while in 
 that state, or when they are apparently dying in it, 
 because they will conclude, that in such circum- 
 stances there is little or no call for supplications in 
 their behalf. In addition to what has already been 
 said, in reply to this objection, it remains to be ob- 
 
 a 1 Kings xiv. 13. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 1, 2. 
 
227 
 
 served, that it proceeds upon the principle that 
 some, even of the infants of Christian parents, may 
 eternally perish, for otherwise there could be no 
 uncertainty on the subject. If, again, there be no 
 uncertainty in regard to the salvation of the dying 
 infants of believing parents, then the objection is as 
 strong against this view of the subject, as against 
 that which is now pleaded for. It follows, then, 
 that those who make this objection, so far from con- 
 sidering the promises respecting the children of be- 
 lievers, as including the certain salvation of all of 
 them who die in infancy, actually think that a great 
 degree of uncertainty hangs upon the subject. Now, 
 do any who take this view of the subject, feel the 
 smallest scruple as to the propriety of praying for 
 the salvation of the dying infants of unbelievers? 
 And if they do not, they of course allow that at 
 least some of the infants of such may be saved, for 
 if they do not believe this, why do they pray for 
 them any more than for fallen angels ? On this 
 principle they ought only to pray for the conversion 
 of the parents, and not in the first instance, in be- 
 half of the children. 
 
 It is to be hoped, however, that none will say, 
 that it is sinful to pray for such children, and that 
 no Christian will fail to pray that they may be 
 saved* Indeed, it is generally allowed, even by 
 those who hesitate as to the salvation of all infants, 
 that some of the infants, even of unbelievers, shall 
 be saved. 
 
228 
 
 If, then, the objectors in question allow that 
 some of the infant children of unbelievers may be 
 saved, what is this but saying of them what they 
 say of the infant children of believers, for the ob- 
 jection supposes that all, even of such, are not to 
 be saved. Is not this completely to give up the 
 point? Does it not place the infant children of 
 believers and unbelievers as much on a par, as does 
 their indiscriminate salvation. In vain, therefore, 
 is any objection on this ground brought against the 
 sentiment now pleaded for. If again it be said, that 
 there is a certainty of the salvation of the infants of 
 believers, but not of other infants, then, as has been 
 hinted, the objection is as applicable to Christian 
 prayer, in regard to the former, as it is on the prin- 
 ciple, that all infants are saved. 
 
 This objection supposes, too, that such parents 
 deem it needless, if not absurd, to pray for that of 
 which we have a promise, or of the accomplish- 
 ment of which we are certain. But will any pious 
 and rightly informed parent reason in this way ? 
 David had a promise made him, that his house and 
 kingdom should be established for ever, and yet no 
 sooner did he hear it, than we find him praying 
 that it might be accomplished. " And now, (> 
 Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken con- 
 cerning thy servant, and concerning his house > 
 establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said." a 
 
 a 2 Sam. vii. 16, 25. 
 
2^9 
 
 After making many promises to his people, God 
 says, " I will yet for this be inquired of by the 
 house of Israel to do it for them." a When 
 Daniel knew that the time of deliverance from Ba- 
 bylon was at hand, he became the more earnest in 
 prayer for it. b Are not Christians assured that 
 the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth 
 as the waters cover the sea, and does not this 
 assurance encourage and stimulate to prayer, in- 
 stead of causing them to relax in it ? And will 
 not the assurance that their infant offspring, when 
 taken hence, are removed to the heavenly para- 
 dise, call forth the aspirations of a devout and a 
 thankful heart. Will it not lead parents to devote 
 them to the God of all grace, and the Father of 
 mercies. And when they sit by the death-bed of 
 their departing infants, will not this confidence en- 
 dear to them the cross aud resurrection of the hea- 
 venly Adam ; will it not enlarge their views of the 
 exuberant grace of God, of the glory of the work 
 of Christ and of the preciousness and suitableness 
 of the hope of the gospel ; and will it not attract 
 their hearts towards the God of all consolation, 
 whose glorious perfections are employed in bring- 
 ing good out of evil, and in making all things to 
 work together for the present and the future bless- 
 
 a Ezek. xxxvi. 37. b Dan. ix. 2, S. 
 
 t2 
 
230 
 
 edness of his people. And can views and feelings 
 such as these cause to restrain prayer before God ? 
 Far, very far from it. 
 
 That the Scriptures say more respecting the chil- 
 dren of pious parents, than those of others, and that 
 particular promises are made regarding them, may 
 be accounted for, by the following considerations : — 
 First. — Pious parents alone can properly value the 
 blessing, and it is therefore reasonable to expect, 
 that less will be said in relation to others. Since 
 God often bereaves his people of their children, 
 it is to be expected, that he will afford them that 
 consolation, which to them is peculiarly delightful. 
 Secondly. — The design of Scripture, is to exhibit 
 the church of God chiefly as it appears in this world, 
 and therefore, little comparatively is said of the 
 children of those who are in no way connected 
 with it. The general declarations respecting the 
 universality of death, in consequence of Adam's sin, 
 and the resurrection as the fruit of the work of 
 Christ, are of themselves quite sufficient. Thirdly. 
 — The Scriptures dwell on the circumstances of 
 pious families, because such enjoy the means of 
 salvation, and because it is their object, as we have 
 seen, to encourage parents in the faithful and dili- 
 gent use of them, by representing the Divine bless- 
 ing as descending from generation to generation, 
 where they are enjoyed and improved, a What more 
 
 a Psalm lxxviii. 5, 6, 7. 
 
231 
 
 natural than this, when we consider that God 
 worketh by means adapted to the end. There is 
 nothing, therefore, in this that militates against the 
 universal salvation of infants dying in infancy. 
 
 This is confirmed by the fact, that God has in 
 several instances expressed his regard for children, 
 irrespective of the piety of their parents, and even 
 for the children of rebellious idolaters, as, for ex- 
 ample, in Isaiah lvii. 5. Ezek. xvi. 20, 21. In the 
 latter of these passages, He calls the children His, 
 because in giving them to their parents, he still re- 
 tained his right to them, so that in putting them to 
 death, there was robbery as well as cruelty exer- 
 cised. But the regard expressed for them, im- ' 
 plies more than what arises simply from their be- 
 ing his property, as the Creator. It is allowed by 
 Mr Boston, that " These might be God's children, 
 as being heirs of God and the kingdom of heaven, 
 though thus barbarously slain by their parents." a 
 Setting aside this passage, then the general principle, 
 that the infants of the ungodly may at death enter 
 the kingdom of heaven, is distinctly admitted by 
 him, so that in his view, there is nothing in the 
 thing itself, that is inconsistent with Scripture. 
 In Jeremiah xix. 3 — 6, God associates the injuries 
 inflicted on infants, who were burned in sacrifice 
 to Baal, with the base and daring affronts offered 
 to himself, by the worship of the idol. " And al- 
 
 a Miscellaneous Questions, Quest, vi. 
 
232 
 
 though occasion too often occurred, for expressing 
 indignation at the latter, it seems as if so mon- 
 strous a crime were capable of grievous aggrava- 
 tion from the former ; hence, we rarely, if ever, 
 find idolatry itself denounced in terms so adapted 
 to thrill through the heart, and fill it with horrific 
 apprehensions. Compassion for injured infants, 
 goads on the flashes of celestial wrath, and mercy 
 towards them, redoubles the thunder of holy in- 
 dignation. Can it then be supposed, that He who 
 in language so tremendous, undertook to avenge 
 their temporal injuries, was at the same time in- 
 tending to destroy them for ever !" a 
 
 The sentiment which restricts salvation to the 
 departed infants of believers, involves the notion 
 that the infants of unbelievers are punished, not 
 only on account of the sin of Adam, but also be- 
 cause of the sins of their immediate parents. If 
 it be said, that such are not punished for the sins 
 of their parents, but are only in consequence of 
 them, left to suffer the evils to which they are 
 exposed as descendants of Adam, it may be said 
 in reply, that in regard to the season and measure 
 of mere temporal calamities, this is quite admissi- 
 ble; for the whole temporal consequences of the 
 sin of Adam, are by no means removed, and in re- 
 gard to these one event, happeneth to the righteous 
 
 a Dr Karris' Essay, page 89. 
 
233 
 
 and to the wicked among adults, and not a little 
 of them falls to the lot of children. But when ap- 
 plied to the everlasting condition of such, it is in 
 direct opposition to the Scripture representation of 
 the connexion between the mediation of Christ, and 
 their resurrection from the dead ; and also to the 
 view there sriven of the nature and rule of the final 
 judgment. The former, we have seen, involves 
 the salvation of all departed infants, and as the 
 latter will proceed on the ground of personal deeds, 
 the same conclusion is thereby established, be- 
 cause, in regard to personal moral deeds and in- 
 dividual accountability, all infants are upon a lerel, 
 whether descended from believers or unbelievers. 
 
 No principle can be just, which would do away 
 the distinction so carefully preserved in the Scrip- 
 tures, between Adam and ordinary ancestors. Jt is 
 true, that there is a connexion between the be- 
 haviour of christian parents, and the character of 
 their offspring, because there is a connexion esta- 
 blished between the fulfilment of the promises of 
 God, and the attention of his people, to the use 
 of appointed means, with their children. " To ex- 
 pect the one without the other, is not trust in God, 
 but unwarrantable presumption." It is reason- 
 able to conclude, that where appropriate means 
 are employed, there the blessing of Heaven will 
 descend, to give them effect. But we are speak- 
 ing of mere infants who are not the subjects of 
 such means. For them indeed, prayer may, and 
 
234 
 
 ought to be offered up, but this is a different thing 
 from using means with them. The assurance that 
 when such die, they enter into life, will not, as we 
 have seen, lead to restrain prayer in their behalf. 
 Christians know, that the promises of God do not 
 operate as encouragements to indolence, but as in- 
 centives to activity, and that in like manner, they 
 excite to prayer, rather than make indifferent in re- 
 gard to it. But there is nothing in this, that makes 
 the eternity of an infant, entirely to turn on the be- 
 haviour of a parent. 
 
 Is it not the doctrine of Scripture, that Adam 
 ceased to be a public head as soon as he sinned ? 
 The fate of his offspring was not connected with his 
 after conduct, whether good or evil, as it had been 
 while he sustained a public character. But if the 
 everlasting fate of mere infants is made to depend 
 on the conduct of their immediate parents, is not 
 this to establish a multitude of public heads, so far 
 resembling Adam, as at least to weaken w T hat the 
 scriptures say of the peculiarity of his public cha- 
 racter? 
 
 It is true, as has just been stated, that there is a 
 connexion between the state of children and the 
 behaviour of their parents ; and this appears in irre- 
 ligious as well as pious families, because if parents 
 neglect their duty, children often grow up and die 
 in a course of transgression. But to this, the words 
 of God to Ezekiel fully apply, " If thou dost not 
 speak, to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked 
 
Q35 
 
 man shall die in 7iis iniquity, but his blood will I 
 require at thine hand." a On this principle, the un- 
 faithful parent will be held answerable for the blood 
 of his child, but yet that child shall die in his own 
 iniquity, because he will be judged according to 
 the light which he had, or might have had, if he 
 had used the means, which were in his power. 
 But this has no relation to the departed infants of 
 such parents, for it is assumed in the whole of this 
 reasoning, that such were never moral or account- 
 able agents, and had not their faculties sufficiently 
 developed to be capable of actual sin, whether 
 in voluntarily following a bad example, or in re- 
 jecting the means of knowledge, which might be 
 around them. There is nothing, therefore, in 
 such cases, of the same nature with the relation of 
 the human race, to their public head Adam. 
 
 I shall here introduce a remark or two, in rela- 
 tion to baptism, because objections in regard to the 
 subject in question, are sometimes taken from it. 
 
 The notion, that regeneration, or final salvation 
 is necessarily connected with this institution, is at 
 utter variance with Scripture. The institutions of 
 Heaven, are but signs of spiritual things, and do 
 not in themselves seal the salvation of any who 
 partake of them, b Baptism is a sign of the sav- 
 ing truth, and of that change which is necessary to 
 
 a Ezek. xxxiii. 8. b I Peter iii. 21. Acts viii 13. 22, 23. 
 
236 
 
 the enjoyment of its blessings. It is not a token, 
 that the individual to whom it is adminstered, 
 whether young or old, is himself a partaker of 
 those blessings, though it is a token, that in his pre- 
 sent state, he is capable of receiving them. It is, in 
 particular, a sensible illustration of the need which 
 its subjects have of those blessings of which it is a 
 sign, and of the means by which they have been pro- 
 vided of God, and is of course, designed to be an 
 illustration of the gospel, for the purpose of in- 
 struction. It is therefore a sign of those truths 
 in which all are concerned, and ought to be in- 
 structed, and is to be administered to those respect- 
 ing whom there is a moral certainty, that they 
 will actually in due time be instructed in them. 
 Being, as the ancient token was, a sign of the ge- 
 neral truth, that salvation is to be obtained only 
 through faith in Christ, and of that purification or 
 change which is necessary to the enjoyment of the 
 blessing, and being, like it too, a rile in which the 
 subject is passive, it is, like it, applied to them as 
 matter for future contemplation. It is thus a means 
 of instructing by signs, which at once assists the 
 parent and the public teacher in their teaching, 
 and those who are taught, in understanding what 
 they are instructed in. 
 
 This institution, therefore, has a particular re- 
 spect to the work of future instruction, and is a 
 means of aiding in it, and it is as a sensible illus- 
 tration of the truth, that adults themselves profit 
 
237 
 
 by reflecting on it. Since, then, it does not deter- 
 mine the actual state of its subjects, no argument 
 can be drawn from it against the salvation of those 
 who never received it. One of the errors of An- 
 tichrist, abjured by the Scots Reformers, was his 
 cruel sentence against children dying without it. It 
 is of great importance to give every institution its 
 proper place, without elevating it too high on the 
 one hand, or underrating it on the other. But as 
 it is not meant to say more on this subject than the 
 present question seemed to require, I pursue it no 
 farther. 
 
 It may be added, that the salvation of infants de- 
 scended from ungodly parents, serves in some mea- 
 sure to account for much of the kindness and long- 
 suffering which are often exercised towards the 
 enemies of God. For the sake of their children, 
 benefits may frequently be granted to the irreligi- 
 ous, as the tares are spared for the sake of the 
 wheat. The eye of God is upon more than the 
 present generation, and for the sake of those who 
 are yet unborn, the lot of the present race may 
 often be regulated. Not only is an ungodly cha- 
 racter spared that he may have space for repent- 
 ance — he may have a child, or children, for whose 
 sake he is prospered. 
 
 Let Christian parents be attentive to the duty of 
 " bringing up their children in the nurture and ad- 
 monition of the Lord." The language of God to 
 every Christian parent, is that of Pharaoh's daugh- 
 u 
 
238 
 
 ter to the mother of Moses, " Take this child and 
 nurse it for me." Let not this sacred obligation 
 be forgotten. Let parents fervently pray for their 
 offspring, and labour to impress at an early period 
 on their hearts, the unutterable importance of un- 
 seen and eternal things. Let them commend them 
 to Him who folded children in his arms, and bless- 
 ed them. What are temporal advantages, when 
 they expose to the snares and the dangers of this 
 evil world? What are worldly accomplishments 
 when compared with the blessing of " seeing our 
 w children walking in the truth ?" Let our lan- 
 guage to them be, — 
 
 Dear cherish'd babes, if you should have 
 
 To travel far alone, 
 And weep by turns at many a grave, 
 
 Before you reach your own ; 
 Bffay He who bade you weep, be nigb 
 To wipe away your tears, 
 And point you to a world on high 
 Beyond these mournful years. 
 Yet, if it be His holy will, 
 I pray that, hand in hand 
 We all may travel many a hill 
 Of this the pilgrim's land, 
 With Zion's shining gate in view, 
 Through every danger rise, 
 And form a family anew, 
 Unbroken in the skies. 
 
239 
 
 SECTION XIL 
 
 A he preceding reflections appear decidedly to show, 
 that the question respecting the salvation of infants 
 ought not to be shunned as an intrusion into "those 
 secret things which belong only to God." It seems 
 to be an evident conclusion, from every view which 
 the Scriptures exhibit of the will of the Almighty, 
 that all of them dying in infancy are saved. 
 
 Bereaved parents may therefore console them- 
 selves with the exquisitely pleasing consideration, 
 that their departed infants have gone to " a better, 
 even the heavenly country." And must it not en- 
 dear the Scriptures to a Christian, that while they 
 exhibit to himself the way of peace, they also direct 
 his views to the celestial world as the place whe- 
 ther the objects of his tenderest affections have 
 gone, and where he expects to join them when the 
 days of his sojourning on earth shall be ended. 
 How gratifying the thought, of having as it were a 
 part of ourselves in the kingdom of God ! " When 
 these tenderest of ties bind too strongly to the 
 earth, our merciful Father loosens them, and fast- 
 ens the knot nearer to Himself; and surely we 
 have much more need of ties to heaven than of ties 
 to earth. Although the chief reason why our affec- 
 
240 
 
 tions should be above is, that there Jesus sitteth 
 at the right hand of God, yet this surely is not at 
 all inconsistent with our feeling the influence of 
 subordinate ties. The pleasure which David ex- 
 perienced was not sinful, when he comforted him- 
 self with the thought, " 1 shall go to him, although 
 he shall not return to me." Shall we then soon follow 
 our departed offspring, and has not this a tendency 
 to moderate our grief? Does it not remind us of 
 the vanity of life? If this world were our final, 
 or even our long home, we might be justified in 
 feeling a deeper interest in its things; but we are 
 here only for a day, and is it not our chief concern 
 rather to be diligent, to be found of the Saviour in 
 peace, than inconsolably to bewail the departure of 
 others? Hear a Christian say after burying his 
 child, u And now one of our family is gone to take 
 possession of the sepulchre in all our names. Ere 
 long I shall lie down with my child. — It is a warn- 
 ing of Providence, that these concluding days of 
 my life may be more regular, more spiritual, more 
 useful than the former." 
 
 Parents are apt, when their children are tnken 
 away, and particularly when breach follows upon 
 breach, to think with Jacob, that nothing re- 
 gains for them, "but to go mourning to the grave, 
 because they are not." The trial doubtless is 
 heavy, but let us think of Job, in whom deep pa- 
 rental feeling and ardent piety were strikingly 
 blended* and like him, let us bow to the will of 
 
241 
 
 God, " who gave and who hath taken away;" 
 and say from the heart, " Blessed be the name 
 of the Lord." " The hope of their being trans- 
 planted into a, more salutary clime, there to re- 
 bloom in everlasting vigour, and the reflection, 
 that if they had been spared, they had been un- 
 avoidably exposed to innumerable temptations, from 
 which, if our lives were spared, we should yet be 
 unable to screen them, ought to settle our minds." 
 Yes, there is a pleasure in seeing them safe be- 
 fore us, instead of leaving them exposed to tempta- 
 tion and sin. How different the feelings of a pa- 
 rent bereaved of his infants, from those of Aaron^ 
 when Nadab and Abiliu fell in the act of rebellion, 
 and from those of Eli, when his sons fell " in one 
 day," as an express token of the Divine displeasure ! 
 They lost their children in circumstances the most 
 distressing, and yet they bowed with profound sub- 
 mission to the will of Heaven. But he who remov- 
 ed our infants, has seemed to say, " What I do 
 thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know here- 
 after ; patiently suffer this little one to come unto 
 me, for of such is my kingdom composed, ' Verily, 
 I say unto you, their angels do always behold the 
 face of my Father.' « If I take away your child, I 
 take it away to myself.' Is not this infinitely be- 
 yond any thing you could do for it ? Could you 
 say to it, if it had lived, thou shalt 'weep no more, 
 the days of thy mourning are ended,' Could you 
 show it any thing in this world like the glory of 
 u2 
 
212 
 
 God, and of the Lamb?" Could you raise it to 
 any honour here like " receiving a crown dfcfifeJ' a 
 If it has seemed meet to God, that the allotted 
 threescore years and ten, should be spent rather in 
 heaven than on earth, is there any reason for in- 
 consolable anguish ? Our departed infants have 
 attained the end of their creation, so that there is 
 no reason for saying, " Why were they brought 
 forth for the tomb ?" How animating the thought, 
 that those powers which were but beginning to un- 
 fold themselves, are now expanding, and employed 
 amid the glories of the heavenly paradise. Whether 
 they were spared for a season, and multiplied at- 
 tractions and endearments, or were cut oft from 
 the womb, and had the allotment which Job so pas- 
 sionately wished had been his, the same end has 
 been answered. Their short-lived existence on 
 earth, may appear as a kind of blank, but God 
 does nothing in vain. Their life belowv short as 
 it was, has served to introduce the eternal state, as 
 'well as the life of the hoary headed Patriarch. At 
 the same time, their death by its effects will im- 
 press a character on the eternity of surviving wit- 
 nesses, relatives and friends. Let bereaved pa- 
 rents then say, " It is well with the child." u It 
 is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good in his 
 sight." He who wept at the grave of Lazarus, 
 hath hallowed the tears of affection, but he forbids 
 
 a Cecil's Friendly Visit to the House of rejourning 
 
243 
 
 us to sorrow, as if there were no hcpe. While ydil 
 weep as nature feels, and indeed ought to feel, for 
 otherwise the providence could not profit you, be- 
 ware of nursing melancholy, and cherishing a mor- 
 bid sensibility. May not the child say to you, " If 
 ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I have got 
 home to my Father." If the hope of going to the 
 Saviour animates your heart, is not the thought, 
 that the happy spirit will never " return to you" in 
 this evil world, likewise fraught with consolation ? 
 " Staying only to wash away its native impurity in 
 the laver of regeneration, it bade a speedy adieu 
 to time and terrestial things — just looked on the 
 light, and then withdrew into the more inviting 
 2'egions of undisturbed repose. — Happy voyoger ! 
 no sooner launched, than arrived at the haven." a 
 / it is the Gospel alone, which can enlighten the 
 shades of the valley of death, open a delight- 
 ful prospect beyond the desolations of the grave, 
 and mark out the path to glory, honour and im- 
 mortality. No real alleviation of grief can be had, 
 but in the character of the Man of Sorrows, who 
 now liveth as the only mediator between God and 
 men, and who from cordial sympathy can speak to 
 the heart, and by his grace can heal its deepest and 
 most painful wounds. 
 
 It is delightful to repose on Him, who can enter 
 into our e\evy feeling, can effectually succour us in 
 
 a Hervey's Meditations, page 14. 
 
244 
 
 the day of trial, and with power can say, " Weep 
 not, the child is not dead but sleepeth." " I am 
 the resurrection and the life." " O thou afflicted 
 and tcssed with the tempest ; when thou passest 
 through the waters, I will be with thee." 
 
 While the Christian parent is consoled by the 
 thought, that his departed children have been 
 washed in the blood of the Lamb ; he rejoices also 
 in the faith, that the same blood can cleanse away 
 all his cw?i manifold and aggravated sins. Are 
 not irreligious parents, then, solemnly admonished 
 by what is said of their deceased infant offspring, to 
 seek deliverance through the same atonement and 
 resurrection, which have opened to the latter the 
 kingdom of heaven. What a mercy, if the death 
 of the child prove the life of the parent; by lead- 
 ing the latter to seek for consolation, where alone 
 it can be had ! And, oh ! what a blessing, when, 
 after wearying themselves seeking rest, and find- 
 ing none, the eyes of the unhappy are opened to 
 perceive the well of life, and their ears to hear the 
 melodious sounds of that message, which calms the 
 alarm occasioned by guilt, and soothes the sorrows 
 of the afflicted sufferer. \ '.It is the Gospel alone 
 which at once brings us to God, and as it were, re- 
 stores to us our friends. 
 
 How dreadful the thought, when properly realiz- 
 ed, that if bereaved unbelieving parents continue 
 strangers to the power of the Gospel, they and their 
 children are separated for ever. It is painful to 
 
21o 
 
 Lear parents speaking in a vague manner, of tlie 
 happiness of their beloved offspring, and to see 
 them fondly cherishing the hope of meeting the in 
 again in heaven, while yet they are living in the 
 careless neglect of the genuine Gospel of Christ, 
 and are evidently governed by principles, which al- 
 together unfit them for the celestial temple. Men 
 cannot always be wholly unconcerned about a fu- 
 ture state, and when bereaved of those who were 
 dear to their hearts, and obliged to think of death 
 and eternity, it is natural to wish to cherish the 
 hope, that the departed may still be happy, and 
 that at the close of life, they may meet them in the 
 realms of bliss. There is a way of acting and speak- 
 ing on this subject, which calls for no sacrifice, leads 
 to no diminution of eagerness in earthy pursuits, 
 and which, instead of exposing to the charge of fa- 
 naticism, is reckoned highly becoming, even by the 
 world. They know, that they cannot be here for 
 ever, and they are glad to think of heaven, as a 
 reserve, when they must leave the earth. But how 
 different that state of mind, which by faith, and 
 hope, and fellowship with God, gives access to the 
 blessedness of heaven, even while below ! 
 
 What will it avail unbelievers, that their chil- 
 dren are in heaven ? As the presence of Abraham 
 there did not procure the admittance of his son, the 
 rich man in the parable, so neither will the pre- 
 sence of the child there procure the admittance of 
 his parent. Will it not be dreadful for parents to 
 
246 
 
 see their children sitting in the kingdom of God, 
 while "they themselves are, shut out," notwith- 
 standing of the hope which they fondly indulged, 
 of meeting with them there. 
 
 On the other hand, how cheering to a Christian's 
 heart is the well founded assurance, that though 
 the earthly bond which joined him to his infant 
 dead, is for ever broken, there is a bond which 
 death never can dissolve ! " They are not lost, 
 but gone before." We and they shall yet meet to 
 celebrate for ever, in delightful communion, the 
 riches and the glories of redeeming love. 
 
 In that world the extent of the curse from which 
 infants shall have been saved, will be well under- 
 stood, and their grateful praises will ascend to " the 
 throne of the heavenly grace." 
 
 " Babes thither caught from womb and breast, 
 ClaiirTd right to sing above the rest ; 
 Because thaw found the happy shore, 
 They never saw nor sought before. 5 ' a 
 
 Shall Rachel, then, yet weep and refuse to be 
 comforted, because her children " are not." b Let 
 her listen to the voice which assures her that " there 
 is hope in their end," and that " her children shall 
 come again from the land of the enemy," for " the 
 last enemy Death shall be destroyed," and they 
 shall come again from the grave "to their own 
 
 a Ralph Erskiue's Gospel Sonnets. 
 b Jeremiah xxxi. 15— 17. Matthew ii. 17, 18. 
 
247 
 
 border," even to that country of which Canaan was 
 a figure. 
 
 What a great proportion of the human race die 
 in infancy, all of whom shall at last appear as the 
 trophies of the Saviour's grace, as the purchase of his 
 blood, and as the reward of his sorrows. To these 
 will be added, all of every age and clime who were 
 taught to know and to embrace that truth " which 
 saves and sets the sinner free ;" and in both classes 
 " he will be glorified and admired." The voice of 
 redeemed will be the voice of a great, even of an 
 innumerable multitude, and " as the voice of many 
 waters, and the noise of mighty thunders," saying, 
 6i Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive 
 power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
 honour, and glory, and blessing." " Salvation to 
 Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb for ever and ever." 
 
 What an exalted view does this give of the plan 
 of redemption ! Here is a new creation infinitely 
 surpassing the old, and a blessedness infinitely 
 higher than that of the earthly paradise. How glo- 
 rious to see the powers of darkness foiled with their 
 own weapons, and upon their own ground ! The 
 greatest evil has become through the overruling 
 providence of Heaven, the occasion of the greatest 
 good. In the new creation there are features of 
 the character of God exhibited which must other- 
 wise have been hid, while on such of them as his 
 other works serve to discover, there is thrown a 
 high additional brilliancy. 
 
248 
 
 In as far as the character of God was made 
 known to Adam he bore its impress, and reflected 
 its likeness. But there are parts of the Divine cha- 
 racter revealed in Christ, of which he knew no- 
 thing ; and since the redeemed are appointed to be 
 conformed to the image of the Saviour, as " the 
 first born among many brethren, " they are destined 
 to bear the moral likeness of God in a far higher 
 degree than was done by Adam. In order that 
 this exalted blessedness might be enjoyed, it was 
 necessary that the Divine perfections should be ex- 
 hibited to us in works, embodying the brightest 
 illustration of their nature, and accordingly the 
 entrance of sin has been followed by a most won- 
 derful display of the whole attributes of Deity. In 
 the work, mediation, and kingdom of Christ, there 
 is a manifestation afforded of the infinite excellen- 
 cies and glories of Jehovah, w T hich gives the utmost 
 scope to the faculties both of men and of angels, 
 and which is fitted to raise them to the most ex- 
 alted heights in their contemplations, devotions, 
 and obedience. If the happiness of a rational crea- 
 ture arises from knowing and enjoying the Father 
 of all bliss, it must of course be the higher in pro- 
 portion to the fulness and perfection of that mani- 
 festation through which he is revealed. The great- 
 er the variety, grandeur, and harmony of glories 
 which engage the heart, and the more vigorous its 
 cleavings to God as the transporting object of its 
 love, and the source and pattern of all that is ex- 
 
2i9 
 
 celient, the more exalted certainly must be the hap- 
 piness enjoyed, and the more must the soul be fired 
 with a holy ambition to be like to Him. Now, in 
 the Gospel there is all that is capable of engrossing 
 and captivating those faculties which fit for pursu- 
 ing an object infinitely great and infinitely good. 
 Here holiness and goodness, purity and love, jus- 
 tice and mercy, faithfulness and grace, are harmo- 
 niously blended. If, according to the original con- 
 stitution established with Adam, his posterity, had 
 he continued obedient, would have inherited im- 
 mortal life in a paradisaical world, there is much 
 more reason on the ground of the work of Christ, 
 to look for new heavens and a new earth, in which 
 the redeemed shall enjoy the blessedness of the ce- 
 lestial paradise, where in the effulgent light of the 
 Divine glory, they shall be satisfied for ever with 
 the likeness of God. 
 
 Through Him who hath conquered death, we 
 have the hope of a glorious body which will fit us 
 for the immediate vision of {i the Majesty on high, 7 ' 
 a blessing for the enjoyment of which, the body 
 even of Adam in innocence, was by no means a- 
 dapted. It is the hope of such a bodv, that chives 
 a glory to the life and incorruption which are 
 brought to light through the Gospel. There is a 
 grandeur about this plan of redemption, which may 
 well make Christians to rejoice, that "if sin hath 
 reigned over their infant offspring unto death, 
 much more will grace reign through ri:j;hteous- 
 
 o o o o 
 
 X 
 
250 
 
 xiess unto their eternal life > by Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." By Him all obstructions to the exercise 
 of grace have been honourably removed ; and now, 
 therefore, the stream of the Divine bounty may 
 continue freely to flow to the infinite display of 
 tli at exuberant goodness, in which Jehovah exults 
 on the glory of his character. 
 
 While the Christian rests his hope as a sinner, 
 on the perfect atonement of the Saviour, his 
 enjoyment instead of being damped as formerly, 
 by the remembrance of God, is enlarged in pro- 
 portion as he dwells upon his glory. His whole 
 soul has a tone of humility and grandeur, of holi- 
 ness and kindness, which cannot harmonize with the 
 proud spirit of self-righteousness, the low maxims 
 of the world, or the unhallowed spirit of rebellion. 
 No longer is it merely his endeavour to keep 
 within the limits of that kind and degree of wick- 
 edness, on which he vainly fancied that the ven- 
 geance of Keaven would never be poured. — No 
 longer does he oppose the mercy of God to the 
 perfection of his justice, for in the Gospel of peace 
 he sees how God is at once just and merciful in 
 perfection.— ^And feeling the ground on which he 
 himself rests so secure, he can with confidence leave 
 his children upon it. 
 
 Let the thought, then, of the blessedness of their 
 departed infants, quicken the progress of Christians 
 to the land of immortality, holiness and jo\\ Let 
 them rest on that wore"!, which is able to nil with 
 
251 
 
 confidence and hope, even when descending the 
 vale of the shadow of death, when like a ship 
 unmooring from its anchor, they are about to 
 launch into a world of spirits, when eternity is 
 bursting on their view, and when called to that 
 solemn meeting, which every individual must 
 one day have with " Him whose eyes are a flame 
 of fire," let them wait for that " happy, happy 
 hour, when on bursting the veil of mortality," 
 and entering into the celestial paradise, they shall 
 find their infants in the bosom of Him, who 
 hath graciously said, " of such is the kingdom of 
 heaven/' 
 
 A few short years of evil past, 
 
 We reach the happy shore; 
 Where death-divided friends, at last 
 
 Shall meet to part no mo; e. 
 
 j?mm 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 ^ge 32, line 
 
 . 3-2. 25, for "i si lu • .. read "destnu tion," 
 
 3'', li. .." ..incation."' 
 
 41, 5, for " affected, ected." 
 
 i 42, I 
 
 . 06, 10, after " rais '&c. 
 
 71, 19, alter " intrusted," insert t:c 
 
 , 90, 61i tin very unfon* . j much dislike. 4 
 
 |00, 5 lii ■•li." insert "no" 
 
 loi. 2. i- - • Bon." 
 
 117, 2. for ^empress," read "impress." 
 
 167, 14. for M it is, 1 
 
 170. . 2, for " effect," read " affect." 
 
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