//,/5 ./? C^"^* PRINCETON, N. J. % '* sec /U1 Division. Section . •'i-i<:-'\'t ' ■:>:■'/ '.f:' W^ mmmmM f K^--A^^^ //y!!^. 7 LAPSE OF S O U L S^ „,, I N A S T A T E O F I TsJU V i H 1917 pre-existenceI^*'^ THE ONLY ORIGINAL SIN, and GROUND -WORK OF THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION V By CAPEL BERROW, A.M. RECTOR OF ROSSINGTON, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. MAKE NOT IM^rOSSIBLK THAT WHICH BUT SEEMS UNLIKE.- SHAKESPEAR. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. DODSLEY, PALL-MALL. contents; CHAP. I. ^ '^Pre'exijicfice of human- {ouh^ in which is im^ '^ plied a lapfe ofthofe fou;s in that flate ofpre-exijlence . the belief of the mo(t learned and ingenious among the ancient vhilof others, c H A P. ir. ■A pre-exifience, ^c, of human fouls ^ deducihle from feme 'pa jj ages in holy writ. CHAP. III. A pre-exiflcnce.. &c. of human fouls a branch of the Chriftian theology, and the belief of many of the Greek and Latin fathers. CHAP IV. Apre-exiftence, Uc. cf human fouls, the belief of many eminent writers of a more modern dati C H A P. V. Apre^exifience, he, of human fouls dcdudbk froiii the infelicities of man'sprefent (late. C H A P. VI. 4 Pre-exiflence, &c. cf huma:- fouls deducihle from the general depravity of human nature, ' ' B CHAP. i CONTENTS. CHAP. vir. ^he article of the church of England concerning ori- ginal Jin and the depravity of human nature con^ •■■. Jidered and explained, *,Q CHAP. VIII. ^J^e Scripture account of the Fallen Angels illujlrated and confirmed, CHAP, IX. Human Souls fhe-wn to have been complicated and in", volved in the guilt of the fallen angels, \ CHAP. X. Thai hp{t f'cm original righteoufnefs the only origi- nal/in^ and theground-work of the golpeldifpenfation: CHAP. XI. OljeStions to the above hypothefts fiated andremcved* CHAP, XIL An application of the whole ^ To the Reverend Mr. B E R R O W. Prior-Park, Reverend Sir, f-r^HE favour of your very learned book was fent me down to this place- 1 The idea of z pre-exiftence Ijas been efpoufed by many learned and ingenious men in every age, as bidding fair to refolve many difficulties. The principles I have gone upon, in my endeavours to ferve revealed religion, arefuch only as I find explicity taught in the Bible, according to whit I underftand to be the plain and literal fenfe. If I can ferve the caufe of religion within thefe limits, I fhall think myfelf happy : further I muft not venture. But Ihall I condemn others who feek more extenfive aids for the attaining this ineftimable end ? On the contrary, I fhall always hold, that they who endeavour to promote our common caufe, whatever rout they chufe to take, have a juft claim to the candour and benevolence of thft public. I I am, Reverend Sir,. your faithful and obedient humble fervant,. W,- GLOUCESTER. To t 2 3 To the Reverend Mr. B E R R O W, &c. Portfmcuth. Reverend Sir, THOUGH I was deprived of the pleafurc of making my acknowledg- ment to you in perfon, for the very acceptable prefent of your book on the pre-exiftent laple, yet I cannot omit doing it by letter, and therefore beg leave to take this opportunity of exhibiting my fmcereft thanks, as well as teilifying the great fatisfadion I have, enjoyed from the perufal of a work, which is fo well fupported by reafon, fcripture, and authority : I could wifh my time would permit me to write ray fcntiments fully to you on the fubjed of pre-exiftence, which has always appeared to me to be the only fcheme whereby the prefent fcene of thingj upon this earth can be clearly folvcd, and the propriety of the gofpel difpcnfation fully vindicated. I make no doubt but you will m(et with a number of opponents on this fubjed, who will abufe you for deviiting from the common track, opponents, whofe minds are either too narrow cr too grofs to contemplate the glorious plan of Providence — However let me addrefs you in the words of the poet — 'Tu ne cede vialisfcd contra audentior ito. "Whenever your fecond part comes out, I muft requeft you will do me the favour of fending it, and though I am deprived of the pleafure of your acquaintance, yet I fhall efteem myfclf greatly happy in your correfpondence, which if you will be fo good as to indulge me with — be pleafed to dired to me asredorof St. Andrew's in South Carolina. As I conclude you have not ken the Chevalier Ramfay's principles, I would beg leave to recommend them to your perufal : I don't mean for in- ftrudlioii in a point of which you aic already fo good a maflrer, but only as i:^ will be a fatisfaftory circumftance for you to be informed, that the fcnti- ments of fo great a man coincide with your own — I wifli you all defirablc fuccefs in your ftudies, and am, with the greateft ellcem. Your moft faithful and obedient fervanc, CHARLES MARTIN. To C 3 ] To the Reverend Mr. CAPEL BERROW. ^uefday. May 27. Reverend Sir, I Humbly beg you pardon for prefuming to write to you on fuch a fubjeit as this, more efpecially as my illiteracy renders me incapable and wholly unworthy of fo great a man's correfpondence as yours ; not to mention my circumftances in life, which is not better than a butler to a certain noble family. But as I refle6l the reformation of every fmgle foul muft have its due weight on a mind aduated by fuch noble and generous principles as yours, it the more emboldens me to fpeak, relying wholly on your candour to forgive the inability for the intention's fake., You muft know. Sir, my Lord has your book on the pre-exiftent lapfe, and I have read it long before I had the happinefs to fee this book, (though I am but a young man of little more than tvfenty-four years of age) I muft to my ftiame own that I have, many, very many times, reafoned myfelf almoft into a dilbelief of a God, owing entirely to the feeming inconfiftien- cy of the chriftian religion. It was a very great myftery to me, how a Being of fuch infinite perfeftions, as God is rcpretnted to be in holy writ, could a6l in a manner that I could not have done ijiyfelf, had it been in my power; when my tooth ached, or I had a cold, it was enough to make me reafon myfelf almoft an atheift. It feemed to me improbable, nay, impofiible, that God could be capable of creating fouls to mifery in this world and with very little likelihood of a better fate hereafccr, and all for the fm of one man ; no, why not rather to inexprcfiible happinefs ? Sure, thought I, it's much more confiftent with the notion we have of God. However, after all, I could not fully perfuade myfelf but there was an infinite wife Being that made and governed the univerfe ; to which belief, tUe hiftory of the Jews, both facred and profane, did not a little contribute : in fliort, I could not help thinking but there was a myftery in religion that I could not fee into, or elfe it was a heap of ftufF, originally patched up merely to ferve the private ends of ambitious, defigning men •, not dreiming of the foul's pre-exiftence, which in my poor opinion, wholly unravels this myftery. The inv/ard fa- tisfaftion I have received from this hypotheus is not to be exprefied -, fo far .am I now from grumbling at my fufferings^that I am fully perfuaded I defer vc ' • • te« C 4 J ten times more. Thanks be to God ! with refpcd to health, few men has lefs reafon to complain. But with refpe(5l to the Jews, to whom we are greatly indebted for the knowledge we have of God, I could wifli to fee them embrace chriftianity ; as I firmly believe they will, and , can't forbear thinking they will be re-fettled in Judea again j for, give me lea/e to afk you, what nation in the world bcfides, after lofing their country, has kept themfclves a diftindl people ? I believe none ; therefore I think the hand of Providence is plain in their prefervation for fome great end. Agreeable to this, St. Paul obferves, that God has concluded them ail in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all ; and St. Luke likewifc fays, that Jerufalem Ihall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the fullnefs of the Gentiles is come in : intimating thereby, that the Jews fhall embrace chriftianity, and inhabit it again, after the gofpel has been preached through- out the world ; and, indeed, moib, if not all, the prophecies in the old tefta- ment, has, at leaft, a diftant dlufion thereto. The prophet Zachariah* in the twelfth chapter of his boak, fpeaks very plainly of the deftrudtion of Jerufalem by Titus, the return and repentance of the Jews and all Ifrael ; and I think whoever reads that aid the prcceeding chapter attentively, will conclude with me, their return and repentance to be certain ; for noneof thofe excellent prophecies can have any relation to the BabyloniHi captivity, be- caufe Zachariah did not prophecy till their return from captivity ; though their return is fo plainly foretold, nothing lefs than a miracle can acconi- plifh it-, the downfall of the Ottoman empire muft precede it — What a vafl: work ! In the mean while, why is not their converfion attempted by our learned divines, and other great men ? Sure it would redound much to their honour.. My intent is to incite your able pen to write on this fubjcd : if I fucceed, my trouble is rewarded and my point gained ; if not, as I faid before, I muft rely on your c-ndour to forgive the liberty, for thc fake of the intention. I am, Sir, your moft obllged/humble fervant, A. B. C. N. B. I beg, if you will condefccnd to honour me with a line of reproof, to direv^l: it to A. B. C. to be kft at the Mews Coffee-houfe, in Dulce's- Court,. St.. Martin's-Lane, any day this. week. ( >' ) CHAP. I. A Pre-exijlence of human fouls ^ in which is implied a lapfe of thofe fouls in that ftnte ofpre-exijlmcey the belief of the mofi learned and ingenious among the antient fhilofophers, § I. rr^HE, original docftrlne of pre-exiftence JL included afuppofed /^^/^ofhunridn fouls in a ftate of pre-exiftence : And as there is no hy- pothcfis in which Chriftianity is, as I apprehend, fo efientially interefted, it g'ves me the higheft pleafure to find that it obtained in the earlieft ages of the world, and met with an univcrfal reception among men eminent for learning, fpe- culation, and phiiofophic reafoning § 2. " Let us caft our eyes, fays Dr. Henry Moore, into what corner of the world we wi)l, that has been famous for wifdom and literature, and the wifeft of all nations you will find the af- fertors of the foul's pre-exillence. In Egypt, that antient nurfery of all fciences, that this opir nion was in voo;ue among; the wifeft men there, thofe fragments of I'rifmegilt's do fufficicntly witnefs: of which opinion not only theGymno- fophifts, and other wife men of Egypt were, but alio the Brackmans of India, the viagi of Baby- lon and Pcrfia : to which may be added, the ab- Itruce philolophy of the Jews, which they call the Cabbala of the foul's pre-exiftence, and, if fays he, we can believe the Cabbala of the Jews, we muft aftign it to Mofes : to whom we may add B 2 Zorcafier^ (12) 2oroaJler^ Pythagcras, Epcharmus^ Emp£6ak% Cehes, Euripides, Plato"*, Euclid, P hi lo, Virgil, Mar- cus, Cicero, Phtinus, jamhlicus, Proclus, Boetbi- us, Pfellus and feveral others." § 3. Quotations from each of the above-men-^ tioned authors, could not be brought within the limits prefcribed to this work ; the reader will therefore, I hope, be faiisfied with knowing where to have recourfe for further information ■when he choofes— I fnall procc' d in the next place to point out to him fome pafTagfs in holy writ from which a pre-exiftence, 5ic. of human fouls Jecms dcdu- cible. * The reader will finc^ r.ot a Vntle in favour of the do(n:rine in the works of Plato ; and I wonder Dr. Moore fhould omi^ Tanking Socrates in his lift of authorities^ wh^n, in tha^. folemn difcourfe with his friends, at the clofe of which he \cc>k the cup f f poifon, he forced from S!miasx\ic followiTigdeciaration: *' By the moft beautiful chain of realoning we are ccn- ftrained, fays he, to confefs that our fouls, and that within us, to which we owe our ideas of what is good and beautiful, cxifted before we were born. — Trpy yEvs^Oat '/j^ua?." See P.atcs '^hcedo. Though not a ^cvriter, yet he was apparently a teacher qf the dodrine oi pre-exijience. G H A p. ( ^3 ) CHAP. 11. A pre-exifience ^c, of human Jotils deducihle from feveral pciffages in holy writ, § I. TT has been matter of no fmall concern X ^^ ^^ ^^ obferve many pafTages in holy writ which, to the impartial eye, leem either dillantly allufive to, or pofitively declarative of a pre-exiftence, &c. of human fouls manifeilly perverted by misjudging interpreters into a mean- ing quite foreign to the real truth. Among Vvhich is in the firfi place, the following paffage, from Job. chap, xxxviii. v. 21. God having queftioned Job about the nature and place of light fuy?, according to ctir tranQa- tion of the paifage, vvhich is a bad one — Kno^'iL^eft then it hecaufe thou wert then bom^ or be^ ^aufe the number of thy days is great ? The meaning of which paifage fome under- iiand to be this — ^' Thou wert not fo much as *' born, when I {^x. a diftin^lion between day f* and nighr, between light and darknefs. Thy " days had nor then commenced. How tlien *' canft thou certainly know what was done be- " fore thou wert born ?" Others again confider the words thus — '' Thou knowefl iifor thou waft *' then born, and for that the number of thy years 5' fhould be great." Similar to this is the interpretation which Junius and Tremellius put upon the paifage. " Noveris te jam turn natum fuide, et numero ** dies tuos effe multos. *' Know thou, or I would have thee to knoiv^ " that ( u ) ^^ that thou waft then born, or In hwg, and that ^' in number thy days are many." § 2. Another fcriptural pafiage which may be urged in fupport of this dodrine is, that fay- ing of God to Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly ^ I knew thee^ and before thou camefi cut of the womb I gave thee wifdom. Ch. i. v. This pafiage, agreeably to the opinion of mod commentators, contains nothing more than God's declaration to the prophet Jeremiah, that, before his entrance into the womb, he had fore-ordain- ed him to the Oiiice, to which he was them called. In like manner as Jofias^ Cyriis^ John the Bapti/ty &c. were co-operating inftruments fore-ordained by God, for the better carrying on rhe gofpel difpenfation. But why mull: we neceflarily fup- pofe that all thele were in non-entity at the tin^e they were pre-ordained to their feparate ofBces ? Or rather why Ihould we not conclude the very reverfe from even that very emphatical expref- fion- 1 knew thee, agnovi te^ as rendered by Junius and ^reniellius ; which grammarians fup- pole to be, generally fpeaking, applied to a per- fon known before^ and then a6lually exiilent. Ag- nofimus quos antea novimus — cognofcirnus quos nunquam prius vidimus. § 3, Another pafiage to the point is our Sa- viour's earneil ejaculation to his father before his pafllon, in St. John ch. xvii. ver. 5. And now^ Father glorify me with thine own glory ^ with the glory which I had with thee before the world was •, which neceifarily refpeds the/«^- ordinate nature^ and glory y as his fupreme glorifica~ tion could never have departed from him. § 4. To the above may be added the anfwer which the difciples gave to our Saviour's demand — whom men faid that he was — Some fay that thou ( 15 ) thou art John the Baptijl^ fome Elias or one of the prophets. A fufficient demonitration this, that a delcent of the human fpecies upon earth, from a -prior ftate^ was a prevailing opinion among the Jews at that time, which our Saviour feemed rather to acquiefce in than obje6l to, by only afk- ing them in return — But vjhom fay ye that I am? § 5. And the fame obfervation may be made on that queftion put to our Saviour concerning the blind man : Mofter^ was it for this man's Jin or his parents that he vjas horn blind? — —A quef^ tion which our Saviour did not we find take upon him to reprove, which undoubtedly he would have done, had it feemed to him to favour of a do^trme falfe and frivolous. Gur Saviour's an- fwer is, " Neither hath this man finned^ nor his pa- rents — but that the works of God fhould be made manifeft in him. Which he faid (according to the opinion of fome, whom I efteem the bed: commentators on the icriptures extant) not (^tta^;?^ limply ; for fo, boch he and his parents had fin» ned (as St. Chryfoftom notes) but that neither this man's fin, nor his Parents v/ere the caufe why he in particular fhould be born blind, but that God's glory might appear in his cure. See aflembly of divines Annot. printed 1623. § 6. To the above let me add the following declaration of the author of the book of VVifdom. Yea rather being good (comparatively fo he means) " I came into a body undefiled." Wif- dom. ch. viii. ver. 20. V/herein he manifeftly declares himfelf to have been a moral agent m a flate prior to his abode here, § 7. But what f^ems more home to the point flill, is our Saviotir^s declaration, that John the -Baptift had adlually pre-exitled in the perlbn of Ehas Ellas or Elijah. His difciples ajk him fjefusj fay- im^ why then fay the fcribes that Elias mufi firft come P And Jefiis anj'wered and /aid unto them, Elias Jhall truly firft come and reftore all things, Bui I fay unto you^ that Elias is come already, and they knew him not^ and have done unto him whatfoever they lifted^ likewife alfo Jhall the fon of man fuffer of them, "Then the difciples knew that he fpake unto them of John the Baptift. Mat. ch. xvii. lo. And fo great was the refcmblance between the Elias of the Old Teftament, and that of the New, in point of circumftances and fituation of life, and io equally adapted thereto 'were thefpiric and tenor of their minds, that there is no doubt I think but that one and the fame foul animated at two different periods of time two different corpo- real vehicles. They were both born, as a learned commentator obferves, (Burket) in bad times, they were both zealous for God and religion-, they were both undaunted reprovers of the faults of princes, and \.h.*ty were bo^h hated and implac- ably perfccutedon that account. § 8. That the above pafiages, if not pofitivc declarations of, are, however tranfient glances at apre-exiftence, &:c. 'of the human foul, the reader will, I apprehend, find more and more reafon to conclude as he .wes along. v^.*>^ „ ~.*-^.-Q, e H A E ( 17 ) CHAP. HI. 'J pre-exiftence, ^c, of human fouls a branch of tht Chriflian theology, and the belief of many of th^ Greek and Latin fathers, § I T Have long fince made this obfervation,' X %s Mr. Broklcfby, that there is fcarce a truly pious book written touching matters of the Chriftian theology, wherein the pre» exiflence of human fouls is not either implicitly or in exprefs words acknowledged, although it is intentionally no afTertor of it *. Of the truth of which obfervation he produces a number of * This Mr, Brocklefby was a man of mofl prodigious j-ep.ding, and of an uncommon fhare of penetration in mat- ters relative to the Chriftian theology. Singular indeed he is in his opinions, and often fmgular, and feemingly un- vcouth, at firll fight, in his phrafeology, owing to a reach of fentiment not to be exprefied by common language. He is emphatical, and greatly fo, but not elegant. He deals not in that kind of elegance (the only captivating fort of com- poficion now) which carries the admiring reader fo glibly, fo fmocthly , fo enchantingly on the glaffy furface of a jgently flowing— »«/i';'/z§'. It is not to be wondered therefore, that a work of this great man, the fruit, as he exprefTes Jiimfelf, ** of much time, and thought, of anxious contem- plaiion and great labour," though abounding with fpeculati- onsof the uimoft importance (if matters relative to the gof- pel difpenfation may be deemed fuch) is fcarce to be met with but under a load of ufelefs lumber. The work to which I allude— is j^y-i Explication of the Go/pel Thei/m, and the Di" *vitiify rf the Chi ijtian Religion^ concerning the true Peccant of the Syjiem. of the uni'verfe, a\:< of the chrijlian Tnmty^ Printed 1706. Large Folio. A work to which 1 am greatly indebted for references to authors who have wrote C' t! e ',o6lrine of pre-exiftence; from whom, together with thofeextradts which 1 have myfelf made, I have given the reader many as they lic m Mr. Bioklefby's page. C inftances C i^ ) inftances lufficient to fliew that a pre-exiftence^ bf human fouls may be accounted a branch of the Chr.ftian theology. § 2. I he antient writers of the church, at- tribute a celefcial and divine condition to Adam in his innoccncy, as appears from their fuppofing him to have been firft formed in the utmolt per- fection. And by their reprefencing the foul of man as lapfed from a dignity and purity of foul truly celeftial, they muil necefifarily conclude that it took its oriein from a celeftial ftate. And in this they agreed with the Pagan theologers, who thought it an inJignity to the foul, toconfider it as deriving its exiftence from the earth — Their maxim v/as, that our fouls were brought from heaven and return thither again.— that not any of them were fbrmed upon earth '*. In alhifion to which opinion ipeaks Lucretius-f . § 3. The foul, fays Ladantius, could not have poffcfTed fo much fagacity, could not have been able to exert itfelf withfo much energy and adroitnefs, had it not taken its rife from Heavenjl. § 4. The foul is then, fays Mr. Farrendon, moft herfelf and cometh nigheft to her former Hate, when forgetting the weight and hindrance of the body, (be enjoys hci felt, takes wings, as it * Noflras animas deduci e Cslo, redire in Caelum— —• animoruin nuHa in terris origo inveniri potell. Cicero. f Deniq; c^elelti fumus omnes femine oriundi — ---Csdit Item rerro dc terra, quod fuit ante In terras ; &c q od miflTum'ft exetheris oris. Id rurfum Csli rellatum templa receptant. Lucretius lib. 2. II Nee enifn tantam pnfiet habere folertiam, tantam Vim, tantarn celerit^tem, nifi Originem traheret e Calo. La^. de diviu» Piem. lib, 7, ( 19 "i it were, and foars up in the contemplation of God and his ^oodnefs, when fhe begins to be that which fhe muft needs believe herfelf to be, of a celeftial and heavenly beginning*. § 5. Do we not, fays Arnobius, owe this in the firfl place to God that we are what wc are^ are called men^ and that, defcending hither by eithet ^n fMual expuljlcn fi'om hisprefcncc, or i^aturally in conieqiience of a prior lapfe, we are detained in this darkjome habitation the body-f-. And that our defcent from heaven was confidt r- ed by chriftian writer? as having been preced- ed by fome pre-exiifent duration and habitation with the celeftial inhabitants, we muft neceffarily fuppofe, or they were at very unnecefTary pains to prove what none but Atheifts v/ill deny— -that thd foul of man fprung from God — But to return. § 6. How, fays St. Auguftine, is the love of our country revived in vis which we had forgot by a long perigrination? And again, fays he, heaven is our country, which^ perhaps, by a long perigrination we have forgot -f. § 7 Chriftians, fays another Chriflian writer, arc invited to the delights of Paradife, and to all the regenerate, a return is opened to their loll country *, And the fecond petition of cur Lord's praye- * See Farrendon*s fermon on Ephef v. i. f Nonne huic (Deo) omnes debemus hoc ipfum primum quod fumus ? quod efTe homines dicimur quod, ab eo, vel mifli vel lapfi, c^citate hujus corporis continemur ? Ar'iob. Advers genf. Lib. i. jl Qaomodo in nobis reform-^tiir amor civitatis nnflr^'e qnam diuturna perec^rination? obiti fuerrrru^;. A^^atn lllaeft Parria nollra quam longa fortaffe perigrinatione obliti fumus. Sf. Aug, in Pial. xxxii. C 2 (tl>v ( 20 ) ij thy kingdom come) conRrains us to confefs, fays Luther (apud Hornbek) with our own mouths, the fad calamity of our banilhment from Hear yen. § 8. And a divine of our own. Dr. Edes, con- cerning the original and prefcnt (late of man, fays as follows. His being in the world is but a kind of being in the wildernefs, wherein he is eltranged from the city of the living God. Agreeably to which fays theapoftleto the Ephefians— Ibefeech you brethren as (Irangers and plgrhns, that ye abflain from flcfhly lulls, &c. Again fays ano- ther writer, having loofed the bonds of death, he, viz. Chrifl, opened the way to oqr heavenly country, from which all mankind had been ba- niflied many ihoufand years. We are call from 'an high, fays the fame writer, into the fink of this world f. And we are, fays St. Bafil, by fin fallen to the earth J. § 9. Man ! fays St. ChryfoOrom, thou art a flranger, a foreigner here, your country is Hea- ven, thither remit your treafure |1. § 10. Chrifl, fays St. Chryfoflom, leads us again into Heaven *— -giving us undoubtedly to underfland that we had been there before. § II. It is the firm perfuafion, fays Grotius, of the ancient fathers, that the fouls of men were * Invitatur ad paradili delicias populus Chriflianus, cc pun&is regeneratis ad amiflani patriam patefefac eft reditus* Leo. M. de P^ffion. dom. fer. 13. ^t Laurent Surii Homil. p. 379. in Die Pafchas. St . Bafil. de Spirit, fandl. T^vrcx, e^ei ^eTc^Ogg. Chryroft. ad Prop. Antioch Homil. 2. '?' "^fiKTos £»? rov Hfuvov v)(A.cii ^i avTH iruhiv i\ffnyaytt ChryiOit# (lonii de S, S. Martyr, t 21 ) were originally pofiefTed of the divine ioiage; which now they have loft, and that their regene- ration is a redu6lion therelio. Greg. Nazianzen fays, that the foul is'of God, and divine, and par- takes of the fupernal nobility, which is alfo her ancient nobility. Orat i. p. 8. § 12. She is of God, fays St. Chryfoftom, not only in the general v/ay as all beings are of God, their creator, nor only as being of more than human original (God being peculiarly the father of fouls and fpirits) but if Ihe was originally pof- felled of the divine image, fhe was of God as ifTuing from paternal fanclity. StChryfoftom. viii. p. 145. All men, fays Grotius, were from their birth fons of God^ but they loft that privilege by fiUenating themfelves from him. See Grotius on the parable of the Prodigal Son, § 13. The fouls of all men were divinely vir- tuous in their original creation ; nor have they fo totally loft the divine image but that there are^ as St. Aug. fays, the feeble remains, the weak relicks of the image of God, the Rudera or broken pieces of our firft building. St, Aug. de Spirit, & Lib. vi. 28. And Maximus the martyr fays, that the defign of Chrift's incarnation, was to make us partakers of a divine nature, ty? «7r ap;^>:j g-s in the beginning. CHAP. ( 22 ) CHAP. IV. 'A pn-ex'iflence^ ^c. of human fouls ^ the helkf of ma7ty eminent writers of a more modern date, § I. A MONG thofe writers of a more mo- ±\ dern date, who have efpoufed the do61:rine of a pre-exiftencc, &c. ot human fouls, there is (as we have feen above p. 12.) the great Dr. Henry Moore— his ingenious and learned difciple Mr. Glanville*, the lagacious Dr. Chey- Tse f and that very learned and ingenious divine Dr.Buder, the late Bifliop of Durham^. § 2. To the above nnay be added fome letters in the Turkifh Spy, and fome papers, if I mif r * Vid. Mr. Glr^nvile's Lux Orientalis, in which the Tub- je£lis confidered fo copiouily as to have left room for little or nothing nevv to be added, excepting Vr hat arifes from its being confidered as the ground-work of the gofpel difpen- fation'. f I fhall have occafion to mention this author more than once 23 I go along. X There are, fays he, natural appearances of our being Ir^ a ftateof dej^eneration— -fee his Anal. p. 11 1. and again, p. 297, 298. Whoever will confider the manifold miferies and even extreme wicked nefs of rhe world, that the bell have great wrongneiTes within themfelves, which they complain of and endeavour to amend, but that the generality grow proffligate and corrupt with age ; hat heathenifh moralilis thought the prefent to be a ftate of punifhment ; and what might be added, that the earth our habitation, has the ap- pearance of being a ruin ; whoever, I fay, will confider all thefe and fome other obvious thinfrs, will think he has little reafon to obje^ againfi: the fcripture account, that mankind is in a Hate of degradation ; againll this being the fad;ho,% difficult foever he may think itto account for or even to form a dtj}in6l conception of the reafons and circitmjiances of it. take C 23 ^ take not, in the Rambler. But, together with Dn fienry Moore, ancTIVIr. Glanville, 1 would in a particular manner recommend to the reader's pe- ruial the following trads— A Letter of Refoluti- ons, concerning Origen and the chiefeil of his Opinions, printed 1661— a fcarce, but mod va- luable work--Dr. Henry Moore's Philofophical Poems— The Chevalier Ramfay's Philofophical Principles "^'\ And a very curious little tradt intitled, The New Pradice of Piety, wrote in imitation of Dr. Brown's Religio Medici, and by one of the Authors of the Athenian Oracle. Printed 1704. Thefe are the principal advocates for the doc- trine of a pre exlilence, &c. of human fouls, to the want of a perufal of which ic is owing, I ima- gine, that fo many in the world are fo unreafon- ably, and fo unmeaningly prejudiced againft it. But that I may not detain the reader too long with authorities, I fhall clofe this chapter with the two following extracts • the one from the great Dr. Ifaac Barrow, and the other from our incompara- ble Brokielby. § 3. Thofe Perfons, fays Dr. Barrow, who for offences wide of malice, were detained in the City of Refuge (among the Jews) and prohibited to return home until the death of the high prieft, were after wardsreilored to the land cf their pof- * Though I have the pleafure to find that this ingenious writer is firmly perfaaded that human fouls did pre-ex- ift, yet we differ in opinion as to the time and place of that fuppofed pre-exiftence. I fuppofe it to have commenced above, the learned writer i-ix^% it to Adam's Paraiifaical ftate. leffion i ( H ) feffiOii ; tvliereby was intimated, that until aftef our Saviour's death, no man could return intoPa- radife hi^ primitive home^ from which man for his fin had been excluded ; but that thenceforth all perfons in an evangelical account not malicious or wicked, had a right to return thither, Barrow Serm. 31, on Mark xvi. 19. § 4. And we applaud, fays Brocklefby, thofe fayings of the fathers, which affirm that the in- tent of Ch rift's coming was our rejiauration , but not fuch as feem to affirm that the intent of Chrift's coming was nothing more than to repair the fall of Adam in his terrejirial paradife-— that we may regain in Chrift, that which we had loft in Adam^ the image and fimilitude of God— that by the ceconomy of the tree, we might regain that which we had negligently loft by the tree— -that what was loft of old in Adam by the tree, might be reftored by the Tree ot ChrilVs paffion. Irene adv. Hor. L. 3. C. 20. ibid L. 5. Tertul. adv* Jud. C. 13— bat, fays he, if it be a reftauration, it muft be counted more than a reftauration of what was before a heavenly ftate, and an hea- venly world of fouls muft be prc-exiftent, this -prefent world of rationals muft be made out of the ruins of the heai-enly^ond, Brokleft^y, p. 509. § 5. Having now<3one with references to, and quotations from authors ancient and modern, who have wrote in favour of a pre-exiftence, &Crf of human fouls, I fliall proceed to offer to the reader's confideration a few arguments in farther fupport of that do6trine arifing from the nature and circumftances of our abode here ; which, if urged before in fome degree by others, will be found t<>*be placed in a new, and with refpe^t to fome of tliem in, perhaps, a more ftriking light. C H A ?•• (^5 ) CHAP. V. 'A pre-exiftence^ &c. of human fouls deduccible frojn marC s 'prefent infelicities, $ I. ^T^HAT infinite benevolence is as eflen- X tial to the nature of the divine Being, as ihfinitejuftice, wifdom, and power, I confider as a truth equally obvious as is that of his ex- iftence, nor can I conceive it more natural and cflential to the fun to give warmth than for the Deity, when calling creatures into a rational ex- iftence to impart to them inftant happinefs. The very reverfe of which idea of the Creator is im- plied in the fuppofal that the prefent is the firft ftate of exiftence in which v/e have made our ap- pearance*. We are born to troubles as the fparks ily upwards. We fuck in mifery with our mother's milk, and the very firil point of knowledge at which we are enabled to arrive, is to know what forrow meaneth. Thofe piercing cries, with which the new-born babe falutes the opening world,- how do they eccho forth an inward grief? How reludantly does it meet its enlargement from the imprifoning womb^ as if confcious that it v^as a paflage only to a place of punifhment ? How like an outcaft of herven afterwards is the helplefs in- fant, "mewling and puking in his nurfe's arms!'* Its mental faculties how inept are they and in- active! Its organic powers how inert and lan- guid ! Call you this an original, and the painter * Confider this life fays St. Chryfoilom, ard you'll find it compounded of nought but tears, obliquy, revilin^s, forrow, negligences, labour, fickiiefs, old age, fin and death — Ityoir&y VMi oh,iy'ji)^icc: y.cci TTOW; y.sn ipcre* xa» yy)Pa,i; v.a,\ aixx^TiOK^ y.xi ©avaroy. D God? ( i6 ) God ? Bat v^here then are thefinidiings worthy the hand of the divine mafter ? Where thofe ex- alted' breathings of a frefh-formed foul, reafon^ refle6lion, a6live purity ? Where the open ever- fmiling countenance and eyes, that beam forth- the glowing happinefs within ? Thele, what but thefe can be the genuine lineaments of a true image of God r Bat can v/e find them even in miniature, in infant man ? Alas! no. Whence then fo imperfedl and unfmiihed a piece ? Is it mot an original ? And the artilf was it not God ? Yes. But who does not (ee that it is an original' terribly damaged ? Faded every beauty, every feature marred ! § 2, If now from this unpleafing picture of man in his infant (late Vt?e proceed to trace him through the other progreflive ftages of life, how unpleafing and uncomfortable an appearance does he itili make? Youth has its thoufand croffes and difappointments. And the trifling pkafures which in that feafon of giddinefs and folly captivate and amufe for a while, are more than over-balanced by the occurrence of fome jh^Jowy grievances and diilrefles that fit upon the mind with a weight equal iQfulil:mitialQXiQs, Inlfruction is a tax upoR- the youth's diverllons, not to be endured, and re- ftraint of any kind, however feafonable, is a feve- rity not to be born, and till he can rain , himfelf in his own way ^ he is quite unhappy. § 3. View now this offspring of providence ripened at length into man, and how does k fare v/ith him then ? Why then his former falUes are exchanged for flagrant viccs^ and his imaginary^ troubles and misfortunes removed far the acceirion of fuch as are real. And Ihould even prudence, piety, and virtue be, the go- verning principles of his afier-life, yet what preca- C 27 5 precarious prefervatives are thefe againH: calami- ties ! The good and bad, alas ! fliare them more or lefs indilcriminately. Pre fuming therefore, that the Deity could not but communicate happi- nefs to all his intellei^lual creatures, at the very inftant that he conferred on them life: I infer from the above retrofpedl into man's flate from his birth, that he mufl: have experienced a vital ex- idence prior to this •*, and a lapfe from original righteoufnels in that prior flate. § 4. If it be urged that this fuppofedj^r/? will not be the laji flage of man's exilience, and that therefore it is eafy to conceive hov/ the defe^ls, inconvenicncies, diforders and calamities, under which he now labours, v/ill be removed mzfiateto come, and that if he is made miferable as fcrip^ ture informs us he is, throus'h the default of one. he will be there fufficiently rewarded for that mi- lery by the all-fufficient merits of another : what is this but inverting the idea of divine Providence, and fuppofingGod to end only With man in a manner with which we would rather exped he would begin, and as one who delighteth not more in mercy, than in his creatures mifery ? , § 5. Can the God of infinite reditude and goodnefs view with an eye of indignation crea- tures jufl ftarting into a rational exiitence, by the * If all is not deceit and illufion it mufl be evident to a d^monftration, that nothing unhappy in its order can come out of the hands of infinite goodnefs ; and yet it is fa6l that ail fentient and intelligent beings here arc univerfally more or lefs mifernble, and that there never was any human creature in his right fcnfes, which in a whole duration of human life, felt not and thought not himfelf unhappy and miferable for fome time, if not for the moft part of his rational life, and wifhed not himfelf earnellly better, wifer and more happy, Vid. Dr. Cheyne's Diicourfes, p. 30,31. D 2 power power of his almightv ;f^/ r a ,^ No crime ? Ay fofnlirut f ^"'" "° '""^^ ? previoufly to the power of .a; ^''^^" creatures ^l to fuffer wrongfuS/ Such fh 'f ' ''^ ^"^'f^" comes, which undoubter^k h^JL ^^ ""^^ ^hen creature ^..., ^uft he not have t'/' VfiT^^^r But this is a point whTT [, '''"^e/^'^'" /^#<#«^ CHAP, C 29 ) c H A p. vr. , A Pre-exijlence^ &c. of human fouls deducihie front the general depravity of human nature* 5 I. T T QW great the depravity of human XX nature is, fcripture, and the experience of pait ages as v\xll as the prefent, abundantly evince. § 2. With refped' to the former, take for the f)rerent the two or three following paffages only. Who might offend and hath not offended? Or done evil and hath not done it P O Jenifakm, fays the prophet Jeremiah^ wafb thine heart from wickedncfs that thou mayejt be faved^ how longftjall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? Again fays he^ "The heart i: deceitful above all things and defprately vJicked^ whe can know it ? The Lord knoisjeth the thoughts of men that thsy are but vain, lliys the Pfalmiit. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts^ adultery^ fornication^ theft^ &c. fays our Saviour. And again, We are^ fays the apoille, by nature the children of wrath, S 3, ^f from fcripture we turn to experience,' ^hat abundant evidence have we of the depravity of man's nature, fom thofe ftrong propenfions to evil, diicoverable, more or lefs in all of us, as foon afier our firlt cntSnce into life as we are at all capable of adling m it. Man, frovvard man, longs^to go atlray from his very cradle, and were his infap.L efforts not retrained by the occafional rearoning.% rewards or corrcdlions of the watch- lui parent, what crimes would h% not dcvife ? * What ( 30 ) "What enormities would he not perpetrate ? To what follies would he not become enflaved ? In- fomuch that nature v/ho lliould feem firft entitled to the guardianfhip of her own offspring, is the very lafl to whom we would entruit the important charge. A truth which every fyjiem of mcrality fuggefts, and education implies. The end and defign of which is not only to ftrengthen, invigorate, and enrich a weak, languid and barren -under ft anding^ but alfo to corredt and reform a vicious and corrupt will, § 4. The firft dawnings of fenfe and refleflion in the infant's mind difcover fome uprifing paflion or affcdlion, fome young difeafe, which as the poet fays. Grows with his growth, and ftrengthens with his ftrength 5 is alike conftitutional to the foul, as maladies of various kinds are to the body*. And as, from its natural or acquired temperature, the latter be- comes more orlefs fufceptible of infedion from a peftilcnt air, or other noxious influencies from without ; fo fares it.evidently with the former. A kind cf conftitution there is in the fouls of men, as well as in their bodies, w^hich, though not equally bad in {\>vc\t as in others, is more or lefs difeafcd in all. And proportionably to the diffe- rence obfervable in this conftitutional frame of fouls in different men, v/e fee them excited to different forts of gratifications, and varying from * Nam vitiis neir.o fine nafcitur, jlle eft Qui nunimis ufgetuf Kor. Sat. 3. lib. r. each ( 31 ) ?acb other as much in their paffions as in their perfons, or choice of food *. § 4. So that vvhilil certain objedls work upon the fancy of fome, with a force and energy too powerful for human means alone to repel, they operate feebly, or not at all perhaps on others. When attradlcd therefore by fuch as are congru- ous to d. peculiar turn of afFedlion, a man commits crimes enormonjly detejlahle ; the refledling part of- the world will not fail heartily to pity the offen- der, at the fame time that they think it neceflary to punifh the offence, and will confider^t rather as a matter oi good for itine^ than any kind oim-erit in themfelvcs or others, that they Hand exempt from tranfgrefTions for which they have no degree of relilh, which take not their rife from either bad precepts or bad examples, but grow fponta- neoufly as it were from nature. Bad precepts and bad examples do indeed too frequently influence men to the pra(5lice of com- mon crimes; evil counfel adminiftered with fkill, may enfnare a weak aflbciate into theft, or forni- cation or adultery. When he feeth a thief ^ he may confent unto him^ and be partaker with the adulterer^ and as Shakefpear fays, ■ Qnemvis media erue turba Aut ob avarltiam, aut mifera ambltione laborat. Hie nuptarum infanlt amoribus, hie puerorum, Hunc capitargenti fplendor ; ftupet Albius ^re; Hie mutat merces furgente a fole, ad eum quo Vefpertina tepet regio> quin per mala prasceps Fieitur, uti pulvis collectus turbine^ ne quid Suinma deperdat metuens, autarapliet ut rem. Hor, Sat. 4.. Kb. Who ( 3^ ) " Who fo firm that cannot be feduced*?** But thofe afFedlions of the mind to which I herd alude, and from which is proveable man's depra^ vity of nature, are not capable of being inftilJed, any more than they are of being difpelled by ad- vice, authority or example, and thefe, [not to mention thofe /r^/^r;7J/;^r^/propenfi ties fo unhap- pily arifing in the breads of fome,] are envy, ma- lice, cruelty, revenge, covetoufnefs, ambition, pride, fubtilty, craft, deceit. Where any of thefe take place, there nature herfelf gives the fettle- ment-f. § 5. And • Julius Csefar. Warburton, p. 16. — where the power of advice, however pernicious, is ftrongly painted. Well, Brutus, fays his fellow- confpirator Caifius [Brutus gone] Thou art noble ; yet I fee Thy honourable metal may be wrought upon From what it is difpofed ; therefore *tis meet. That noble minds keep ever With their likes. For who To firm as cannot be feduced ? + The very ingenious Dr. Haker, in his treatifeDe AfFedi- bus Animi, has a pafTags fo fully illuftrative of my mean- ing, that I could not help giving it an Englifh drefs. Thispaffion fays he, (fpeaking o^ >:f>vy) is the moft trou- blefome inmate of the human heart, it h an intelline plague, difFufmg its poifonous infiuenct^ through the whole luafs of blood and juices. Sucks up the marrow frons the folid bone. Nor leaves within the limbj one drop of blood. And, ftrangc as it may appear, yet is it, aoLwithilaiiJing, true from knov/n fafts, that fymptoms of envy appear in the infant ftate of man from his very cradle. — Infomuch that it is not unufual to fee a babe pining and langullhing in a moft wretched manner with this pafiion, as with a confumptive malady. Nor is it capable of being freed from the over- powering diforder by any medical art or affiilance whatever, but by either a total removal, or a pretended flight of the in- fant rival. Hxc ( 33 ) § 5- And what charadler is there in public life, tor among thofe in a more private fphere of adlion, either amiable or great^ that is not fuUied by an unlucky intermixture of one or other of nature's foibles, if not flagrant vices. § 6. Jgriophilus and Philanthropus are men whofe lives form an entire contraft. In the one you have what is completely odious and deteftable in the general eftimation of the world ; in the other the truly amiable and engaging. And yet it is remarkable, that in that particular courfe of behaviour, vthtYoxn Philanthropus S\^tx% mod from the temper and condud of Jgriophilus, he is moft reprehenfible. Jgriophilus is morofe, covetous, cruel, and re- vengeful ; Philanthropus quite the reverfe ; he is affable, generous, tender-hearted, compafTionate, But how does it grieve one to fee thefe, and many other fhining virtues obfcured at once by one fingle foible of nature, — indifcrction ? A frailty, which accompanied him from his earlieil life. Jgriophilus is covetous, Philanthrcpus is extrava^ gant. Agriophilus hides himlelf from the world, as loving no part of it but that from which he can make a thirty, forty, or an hundred per cent, ad- Haec eft hofpes (nempe invidia) humani pefloris moleftiffi- ma ; haec inteftina peftis, qua^fanguine, humoribufque noftris malum fuum immifcet virus ; quae Intat^is vorat ofTibus medullas, Et totum bibit artubus cruorem. Etiam in tenella hominis aetate, ipfifque ab incunabuHs (mirum eft quod di£lurus Turn, at experientia fatis pervulga- tum) produnt fe baud obfcura qusedam zelotypias figna ; ita ut infantulum videre liceac ex hoc afte£lu tabe miferrime ex- tenuari, ac languefcere ; non nifi rivali infantulo aut amoto oculis, aut magis de induftna ncgkflo, arte ulla, aut auxilio medicorum a gravi morbo liberandum. Vid. D. Baker de AfFedl. Anim. SiC. p. 23, 24. E vantage. ( 34 ) Vantage. Philanthropus^ on the contrary, holding fuch a mean^ loW-lpirited mind in the a'tmoft con- tempt, runs into a culpable negligence in his af- fairs, and a too excefTive fondnefs for friendfhips, popularity, and vain applaufe. Hut is it not won- derful, that two fuch contrafted difpofitions Ihould cxifl: in nicn whofe fituation and circumftances in life give them opportunities of adting entirely the fame part in it ? Jgriophilus has as much money to fquander away as Pbilanthropus ever potfclted ; but he would not, if he could help it, part wit^ a (hilling -^ and Fhilanthropus could have availed hi'iif If of as many powerful pleas for ceconomy and frugality as Agriophilus^ and would haie jo done had he ever been diredled hy prudence. But how fhall we account for a. dijfonaitcy of principles and propenfions in thefe two; a diiTonancy as great as if it exifted in beings of a diflerent fpe- cies ? Is it refolvable all into the force of ex- ample, advice, or felicitation ? Certainly no. For the one is as univerfally defpifed for his imenfi- b:lity and brutality, and he knows it, as the other is condemned' for his gaiety and indifcretiont To what, in ftiort, but a diflimilarity of tajl'e alone can we afcribe the extraordinary difference ? Tafte, which makes as well the moral man^ as the muftcian^ fainter^ or poet. It is tafte, the foul's conflitutional frame I mean, that makes the man; and you may as eafily whip one lad at fchool into a nice and exquifite relifh for mufic, paindng, poe- try, or other arts, as give another, by the ufe of the befl methods you can devife, a nice and deli* catc turn for honour, integrity, and public fpirit. And it is notorious what very different effedls arife frequently from the fame courfe of difcipline, in general, the fame falutary precepts, patterns, and examples, in two or more yQULhs,the oiTspFing of ( 35 ) of the fame parents. How amazingly different very often are their tempers, genius, pafllons, in- chnations, purfints * ? § 7, And yeu [ would not be thought to aflert, that that which we here call tafte, that predomi* nant, conftitutional furn of mind, with which each man comes into the world irrefifltbly^ and by a kind ot fatality y determines him to his peculiar purfuits. For, generally [peaking, its influence either lefTens, or is encrcaled in proportion to the encouragement or checks it may occafionally meet with, in the courfe of a weli or ill-conduded edu- cation. The former will do wonders in breaking- or weakning the force of many pafTions, v;hich too ufually rage in the juvenile mind, with double force, by means of the latter \ and yet that there are lome which by the ufe of meer natural powers are irremoveable, no one will deny, who confiders in the lead what human nature in gene- ral ij, and always has heenf, E 55 § 8. Nor • ** Cur alter fratrum ceflare, et ludere, et unoj, •* Prseferat Ilerodis paltnetis pirguibus ; alter *' Sylveftrem flammis, et ferro mitiget agrum : ** Scit genius, natale comes, qui temperat aftrum, " Natur^-edeus humanae." By the term Genius, Horace means the natural turn, dif- pofition or fpirit of a man, and it Iscalled theDeus humane natura?, as being that which gives life and adivity to the whole intelle£luai frame. '* Le gene, fays madam Dacier, qui prcfide a la naiflance " de tous les hommcs, et qui etant different, fit la difference '* des inclinations, et des temperans. Ce genie n'eft autre *f chofc, que leur efprit." Dacier in loco. t it is inconceivable, fays a French writer, that the curious obfervers of nature, men who bend their utmoll application upon ftudying and knowing themfelves, O.ould not have ob- ferved, that man is not governed and conduced by leaion-— ti^t rcafon,with all its power and induftry, cannot deftroy any one ( 36 ) § 8. Nor would the argument for the fcul's dc- pravicy be at all weakened, Ihould it be infilled on. one paflion that is rooted in the heart of man, neither by the help of age nor by the influence of example, nor by the fear of evil. Vid. TEfprit's preface to his deceit of human virtues. And fays Seneca: ** Nulla fapientia naturalia corporis, aut ** animi vitia ponuntur, quicquid ingenitum eft lenitur arte, ** non vincitur." Senec. Epift. *' It is more eafy, fays an old poet, to give life and edur ** cation to a man, than to impart to him arightly-difpofed ♦* mind ; to which not one has attended, as yet, who has aimed *' to make a wif." man of a fool, or a good man out of a bad *' one. If the deity had given to the^fculapian tribe the art *' of correding and removing the peccant and malignant hu- *' moors of the mind, many and great would have been their ** fees. But if the vo^/xa of a man--his leading principle— was •* any thing capable of being framed or implanted, that never ** would have proved in the end a bad man, who had liftened •* to the wholfome prefcripts of a good father. But be your <« precepts what they may, it will never be in your power to ^* make a bad man a good one.*' EfSc/xEv. ovonqTCwravTo y i'7ti(pcocaa.roy OrK o-it)(p^ov i-}riKE toy cc^covcij k) x««ov sctGAo;'* Et d AanT^xTiicx.o'cx.iq rovro t^coxs ceo?, Uccadcii xKorv-jTci, f^ ccrvjpcci; (pptvcK; otwpwfji ^oT^ovq ocv y^iaoovq, t^ (/.iyccXni; e^B^ov, Ei Y,v "TroirjToy T£ x^ tv^irov av^c» voyi[x,oc, aTTOT ccv £| ayoi^ov 'TTocr^oq Eyevro y.ccKOf WsiSo/xEvo? [AV^oia-i (Tuo^fociv AAXiat ^i^ccancov ^pvaroTt tjjowcrsts rov kxkod cf,vof »yocBov, Qioy. yvufi. 1. 4^9^ This pafiage, which I have taken upon me to tranflate, the reader is defired to attend to with proper caution, and not to forget that it comes from the pen of an heathen moralift, un- acquainted, ofcourfe, with thofeallfufficient refources for the' luppreffion of thofe bad palfions, to which Chriftians are di- reded, and from which they may, if they are not wanting to themfelves, reap the defired advantage. And it is introduced here in proof, or illuftration of this one obvious truth only, that man comes into the world naturally bad. I would not however be underftood to mean, from what has here been advanced, that no one either does, or ever did come into C 37 ) on, or could it be even proved that her vices or frailties are propagated among men, by either the influence of bad example, or by an incogitant negledl, or grofs perverfion of right reafon 5 fince in the firft place, bad examples prefuppofe a vitiofity of mind in thofc v^ho at firfl: fet the ex- amples ; and from the reGftance and oppofuion, which in various inftances they are found to meet with in fome, it may reafonably be prefumed, thac tUey into this world altogether uninfe6led with vicious principles and propenfions; the reverfe having been evidently the cafe, as may be abundantly proved as well from hiitory, facred and profane, as alfo from even the prefent times ; but only that, generallyfpeaking, man has at the bcft,and under the advan- tages of education, interwoven with his virtues many natural frailties, imperfeftions, not to fay immoralities. As to the exalted examples of piety and virtue, recorded either in facred hiftory or profane, or of what even the pre- fent times may be thought to boaft, thefe, when compared with the bulk of mankind in general, (not to mention the more than ordinary powers, with which moft, if not all of the former, came furnifhed, that they might become exemplary patterns of purity and holinefs to a wicked and degenerate world {aj. ) thefe, I fay, are inftances fo feemingly fingular and extraordinary, as do not in the leafl difpro^e, what only I would be underftood to affert, that the untutored and undif* piplined mind of man, is in gefieraly not only averfe to that which is good, but prone, in reality, to pradices fo abfolutely bad, as to be a difgrace to the honour and dignity of in- telligent and rational beings. {aJ The patriarchs, fays Eufebius, were adorned with a ViTe that is according to nature, (to original nature) by right reafon- ings they were adorned with the virtue of religion ; by natural reafonings and written laws, fleering the right courfe of vir- tue, they pafied beyond flelhy pleafures into an every-way wife and religious life. Befides which, he fays, that they had extraordinary appearances of God, and converfe with him ; wereiXoi0souxJ U^o(pnra.if '* the friends of God and prophets." Euftb. Prep. Evan. lib. vii. cap- 5, 7. They are therefore, as fays Brocklefby, not to be looked upon merely as holy men, but as fome extraordinary minifteriof religion. Brock. 731. ( 3^ ) they never prevail at all, but where there is a cor- refpondent aptitude of mind for receiving the de^ ftrudive imprefTion*; and then fecondly, the en- quiry here is not by what means we may cure, check the progrefs, or avoid the infection of thofc diforders and difeafes of the foul, which fink it fo far below the rank and dignity of intellecElual and rational beings, but how to trace them to their fountain-head. It cannot be fuppofed, that the Deity himfelf infufed them ; nor can we, with any degree of propriety, afcribe them, as will be fhewii hereafter to any obliquity of nature derived from Adam^ — derived, J mean, from the nature of that body which we do i^ reality inherit from him f. That -^«*4in^ii*^Mi * When we fay men arc mifled by external circumftances of temptation, it cannot but be underftood that there isfome- what within themfelves, to render thofe circumftances temptar tions, or to render them fufceptible cf impreffionb from them ; fo when we fay, they are mifled by pafTions, it is always fup- pofed, that there are occasions, circumflances, and objeftsexr citing thofe paffions, and aiFording means for gratifying them. Vid. Butler's Anal. p. 107. ■j- And yet fuch has been, and is ftill the prevailing opi-r nion among men, owing to their not forming to themfelves dear conceptions of that duplex compofition of which fcrip- ture and experience prove us to confifl, 'viz,, the carnal man and/piriiual. Some indeed have been wife enough to afcribp to man a triple foul, the vegetative, animal, and rational f'^aiy' ; imaginiag, that among fo many different fpecies of fouls, it was a chance but that there might be one, upon which they could, with propriety, fix the rife and propagation of bad paffions. In anfwer to this, it may, with great confidencCj, I think, be affirmed, that the belief of a double or triple foul in man is abfurd to the laft degree; that only one and faj Allufive to which abfurdity, fays Ben Johnfon in his Foetafter : " What, (hall I turn (hark upon my friends, or my '' friends* friends ? I fcorn it with my three fouls.'* Vid. Warburton, in Shakefpear's Twelfth Night, p. 14^, ( 39 ) That the firfl cannot be the cafe, even this fingle eonfideration evinces, ^viz, that sve are not univer- tlie fame foul aftuates and animates that duplex, that fpiri- tual and animal nature, of which we now Confift ; and that from its afting, under two feparate and diftint^ relations, there arifes the exertion of two (orts of propenfions or defircs, in their natures eflentially different: i\it{t Malebranche chufes to diftinguifh by the terms pajjions and natural inclinations ; I would rather call them our pajjions and our natural aj^cSiiom* The former are the refult and confequence of the foul's rela- tion to, and union with the body : the latter the efTential workings of its own free and independent felf. The oneare the cravings, as it were, of the foul, to which the nature and GonflJtution of the body make her fubjeifl, which are iiecef- fary for her fupport and nourifliment, and which we have ia common with brutes (a)y . ( 40 ) tiniverfally affedled by that body in afimilar man- ner. Men differ from each other as much in their affedion as in their faces. And if to th^sit be replied that that may be owing to fome diffe- rent texture and modification of one and the fame fpecies of matter, I would aO^i, how it comes to pafs that fuch a great contrariety of tempers Ihould be fo frequently met with inperfons of the very fpiritual frame, and which may therefore be mofl: properly ftiled the foul's afFeftions. The firft are what the apoftle means by that Lai^ in his members tvarriug againjl the laixj of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the laiu of Jin, — that carnal mind, which is enmity againji God, — whence proceed what he ftiles the lujis ef the flcjh, njiz adultery, fornication, l^c. the latter are what the fame apoftle terms the fruits of thefpirit, in%, \owey joy, peace, gentlenefs, meeknefs, i^c. When we are enquiring therefore into the rife and progrels of the various vices and frailties of mankind, we fhould care- fully diftinguifli between fuch propeniions as are in reality th^'ir fault, and thofe which are only their misfortune. The foul's paffions, thofe to which (he is made fubjeft by her alli- ance with the body, are neceifary for the fupport and conti- nuance of that union and connection, and are confequently only finful when gratified beyond the bounds and reftridlions which reafon, religion, and the laws of fociety prefcribe. Thefe we derive necelTarily from the nature and conftitutioa of that body we inherit from Adam. And thefe are, properly fpeaking, not the foul's faults, but her misfortunes ; as be* ing of a carnal, fenfual nature only; nor are thefe the affec- tions of the mind to which I allude, and from which is prove- able the depravity of nature ; which confids, and only con- fifts of irregularities, inconfiftences, and adlual blemifhes in her intelleSiual frame ; fuch as are envy, malice, revenge, cruelty, ^c. And when the apoftle ranks even thefe in his catalogue of the ivorks of the fief?, we are not to confider him as pronouncing them the genuine, neceflary efFeds and pro- dudions of the flefi^, but as principles which are moll ufually difcernable in and lefs rellrained by thofe, whofe defires tcr- miiiare more on the gratification of fenfual appetites and paf- fions, than in correfting and reforming the degeneracy of their {piritual and more natural aifs<5lions. r 41 ; very {ame kind of complexion, and fcemingly fi- milar texture of body *? The external form and figure indeed is that by which your phyfiognomifts aim to read the inter- nal man+j yet experience (hews, that that is not an index which invariably and infallibly points true. § 10. Nor is there the leaftreafon in nature to cxpecl that it fhould. It is notpoflible that purely pafTivc matter fhould impart principles not its owm, or, in other words, the a6live properties and efTen- tials o^ fpirit. So that it is or courfe not pofTible, that the foul can receive either hergocd ov badin^ tdledual qualities from this or that frame or tem- perature of the body. We may as well fiippofe the very conftrudion of the foul to be material, as make it dependent on matter for its properties. § II. The foul's native powers indeed are fo far dependent on the nature and quality of that heterogeneous vehicle wherein it is contained, and from which it is furnifhed with all its proper in- flruments of fenfe and refledion, as to be enabled to operate to only that confined degree of excel- lence and perfeflion, to which the properties of that vehicle are fuited. Hence arifes moft pro- .bably that fubordination of intelle6lual abilities obfervable in the feveral fpecies of intelligent na- tures. Hence it is that brute creatures are be- come inferior to us in the ufe of their realoning * The reader is to take notice, that I am now fpeaking of the realaffeftions of the mind, not the fenfual paffions, which arife from the foul's connexion with the body. Theoc. And the wife fon of SIrach fays, " A man may be known •* by his looks.'* Ecclaf xlx. 29. F faculties, ( 42 ) faculties, as we are perhaps to angels. Brutes can reafon and reflt'dl only in part •, and how in- confiderable and contracled is the utmoft range o^ human reafoning, when compared with the in- teJiedual powers of the angelic holl ! Had the fouls of brutes been lodged in a vehicle like our own, it is probable that they might have attained to as high a degree of rationality in this their fublu- nary fphere of action, as we have done-, and that we fliould ourfelveshave experienced a debility of reaioning fimilar to that to which they are re- duced , had we been thrown into a body entirely organized, as is theirs*. § 12. As Siquidem res eadem nobis et illis eft, fays St. Cyprian. [Advers, Gent. ]. ii. p:257.] una per quam efTe animantia dicimur, et Motura agitare vitalem. And again, p. 94. Nonrie primordiis iifdem eadem et me et Reilias genuitimfor- mavitque natura. Nonne fpiritus unus eft qui et illos et me reo;i^ Non conftmilimi ratione refpiro et video et casteris afficior fenfibus?. * Moft of theancieri philofophers tau^jht, that the fouls of beafts were rational; from whence it follows, that they be- lieved thofe fouls to differ in degrees of rationality only from thofe of men. Anaxagoras placed that difference in this parti- cular, viz. ** That men are capable of explaining their rea- ** fonings,. whereas beafts are not able to explain theirs.'* Vid. Plutarch, de Placit. Philof. lib. v. cap. 20. p. 908. Pythagoras and Plato had the fame thoughts on this point. They faid, that the fouls of beafts, though truly rational, a6l not according to reafon, becaufe they want the ufe of fpeech, jmd their organs are noc well proportioned, — That the mere difpofition of the orpans hindered reafon from appearing in beafts, as it appears in men. See Bayle's life of Pereira. Agreeably to which, fays Virgil, Ignens eft oHis vi(>or et creleftis oriao Seminibus : quantum non noxia corpora tardanf, Terrenique hebetant artus, moribundaque membra.- And that the fouls of men and beafts are, ra their narurf, ii:trinfically C 43 ) ■ § 12. As the Inherent depravity of the foul> therefore evidently proceeds not from the conftitii- F 2 tional intrinfically the fame, and that there is not that great dlfpa- rity between the fouls of men and hearts as is ufually fup- pofed, we feem authorifcd to conclude, from what theiacred preacher fays upon the point. " I faid in mine heait, concerning the eftate of the fons of '* men, that God might manifeli:, or (as agreeably to the ori- *' ginal it fhould be tendered) God will make manifeft, that ** they arc beafts. For that which befalleth the ions of men '* befalleth hearts, even one thing befalleth them : as one " dieth, fo dieth the other, yea they have all one breath, fo ** that a man hath no pre-eminence over a heart. All go •* unto one place, all are of dull, and all turn to dull again.* Ecclef. iii. 19, 20. Diogenes faid, that hearts are made up of a body and a foul, and that if their foul does not adiually feel and reafon, it is hecaufe the thicknefs of its organs, and the great quan* tity of humours, reduce it to the condition of mad-men. See Plut.de Plac. Philofoph. Appofite to this reflection is the following cxtraft from the ingenious author of Refledions on the CEconomy of Na- ture in Animal Life. It is certain, fays he, that the felf-motive and felf-adlve principle, or fpiritual fubrtance, that aduates or animates or- ganifed matter, muft have, efientially and actually, inherent in it all thofe natural qualities, faculties, and endowments, in the highert perfedion, that it ever exerts or attains ro in any time of its duration. To augment or encreafe in eflentiai qualities is an abfurdity, and to augment or encreafe naturally is only the property of body and matter ; but fpiritual fjhrtance being indivifible and immortal, if it could admit of more or lefs, in natural or efiential qualities, it might ceafe to be; I mean as to its natural qualities of living, perceiving, and willing, ;. e, of cogitation or thinking; for as to its moral qualities of juf- tice, goodnefs, and truth, tliey may encreafe or decrease to any degree, fince they entirely depend on the free will ; and therefore the natural faculties of living, perceiving, and wil- ling; and thus feveral degrees and modifications of a<^iivity, fagacity, and defire, are ertentially and uniformly permanent in it in their order and degree, whatever kind ot body it ani- mates; ( 44 ) tional qualities of that body it is made to inhabit here, fo neither is it, Secondly, to be confidered as imprefled on it by him that formed it. § 13. It is impofilble that the Deity can be the parent of imperfedtion. By Vv'hich I do not mean to aflcrt, that God cannot produce any thing fhort of, or inferior to perfedion itfcrlf. For then finits beings could not be the offspring of an infinite one, nor an effed be unequal to the caufe from whence it proceeded. But this I do venture to aiTert, that nothing imperfed in its kind can come out as fuch immediately from the hands of God. And yet however true and unqueflionable fuch a po- fition is, the reverfe would evidently be the cafe, if man in his ftate o^imture^ is as he czmef.rfi from the hands of God; for then every intelletlual de- formity and irregularity is a blemilh in the crea- ture, chargeable wholly and folely upon God its creator. Then the envious, the malicious, the cruel and revengeful, are not more excentric from the laws of virtue and purity, or, in other words, not worfe than they fliould or could be ; and the mates ; and when it does not exert tliefe innate and eiTential qualities, it is becaufe it is limited and rcilrained by the na- ture of grofs matter, and the laws of the body which it ani- mates, which is a foreign impediment, infuperable to its de- gree of felf- activity and f?lf-mobility. For an angel is as truly an angel, as to its fpiritual nature and faculties, informing the body of a ferpent, or any other organized body, as informing the body of a man. And an angel, animating any human body, would be only a more perfedl man, and, by its natural and ef- fential qualities could then only more perfeclly exert human .functions and operations. An unorganized body coujd pro- duce no vital funftions ; it could only put it into particular •rs'-otion^ Vid. Cheyne, Nat. Method of Curing difeafes of the body and mind, p. 1,2, 3, thinoj C 45 ) thing formed may fay unto him that formed it. Why halt thou made me thus ? § 14. Moft wricers on thefubjefl of the human paflions aflert indeed, what may be judged perhaps a fufficient anfwcr to the above remark, that moil, if notallof thofe paflions, which men ufually deem bad, are, in various inftances, confequentially good, and of courfe not to be looked upon as blemifhes and imperfeftions in our nature — Thz.t ambit tony for example, is produ6live ot deeds that ferve, in many refpecfts, to agrandize the prince and his people ; introduces into a public fphere of adion, men beft qualified to advance the honour, reputa- tion, and interefts of their king and country, and tranfmit topofterity many illuftrious examples of magnanimity and undaunted bravery — That the pafllon of fride fwells the mind to a refiftance of mean, felfifh, abje6l confiderations, or any diflio- nourable or unjuft attacks upon a man*s probity. That even envy has apparently its advantages, in- afmuch as it fpurs a man on to a rivalfliip of ano- ther in his viitues and noble exploits— That co- vetoufnefs ferves to create an abundance, which the heir, adluated by a different kind of fpirit from the firft poiTcflbr, is enabled to diffufe in various a6ts of generofity, and a well-placed be- neficence. This is the light in which, as far as I can recoUecb, writers on this fubjecl, place, for the moil part, thefe and other paflions of the human bread, in order to fliew that they are not what I eileem them to be, real blemiflies. But if reafon may be allowed to be a proper judge in this cafe, I would aflc whether this is not abfolutely confounding theeflential difference between good and evil, judging of the nature of Dur paflions from their accidental effects and confc- ^uences^ and blending the ej[ence of things with their ( 46 ) thc'i^ ends and ufesP For ruppofing, though not granting, the accidental eff^e^s ifluing from thole above-mentioned paffions, to be a proper crite- rion whereby to afcertain their expediency and real value, we fliall even then, I think, find M- iicient realbn to pronounce them, in general, i^ad. They are as frequently mifchievous in their effedl*?, as heneficialy and perhaps more fo. It was ambi- tion^ you'll fay, that makes Alexander fhine with fuch diftinguilhed luflre in the annals ot fame, and ril grant it-, but did it not give to the world at the fame time, and in the fame perfon, a mad- man, and a murderer of millions ? It was to the monarch's pride that Babylon owed her magnifi- cent temples, and her other fumptuous build- ings that were the glory and wonder of the age in which he lived •, but did not that fame intoxi- cating pall'ion fink at lad the renowned lord there- of into the fimiiitude of a creature inferior to the joweft of the human fpecies? With relped to envy ' ^ Say firfl what caufe Mov'd our grandparents in that happy fbte, Favour'd of Heaven fo highly, to fall off From their Creator, and tranfgrefs his will F'orone reftraint — lords of the world befides? Who firftfeduc'd them to that foul revolt ? The infernal Serpent, he it was, whofe guile, Stirr'd up with envy and revenge deceiv'd The mother of mankind . As for covetoufnefs^ if that be either in principle, or in pradice, a virtue, then in the catalogue of vices charity muft of courfe be inferted as one, § 15. In fliort, it will not be denied, but that, in the general courfe of God's providence, ^ij^vi will frequently arife out of evil. But then it ought to ( 47 )■ ' to be confidcred, that the good accidentally ilTu- ing therefrom, does not alter its fpecific nature and quality. And as there are pafilons which, without any kind of dilpute, are intrinfically ^^cJ, the re- verfe of thofe pafTions muft of courfe be intrind- calJy bad^ be they in their confequences accidentally this or that •, elfe adieu to all diftinctions between good and evil^ between virtue and vice, between the riorhteous and the wicked ! As therefore among the various affec^lions incident to the human kind, there are fome which muft undoubtedly be denominated bdd, thofe are a blcmifh in the creature chargeable on the Creator^ if the former had not an exijience prior to its appear- ance here. § 1 6. It is urged indeed by a very lively and fprightly writer, " That in the fcale of beings " there muft be fomewhere fuch a creature as *' man, with all his infirmities about him, — that a *' removal of thefe would be altering his very na- " ture, and that as foon as he became perfe6l, *' he r/2uft ceafe to be man^." The removal of man's infirmities would be al- tering undoubtedly the very nature of man \ but is the inference from thence juft, that man comes into the world with all his imperfedlions about him, " becaufe there muft be fomewhere in the *' fcale of Beings a creature fo unfortunately and immorally formed?" To fuppofe God necefTitated to call into his aid evily for the better carrying on his moral go- vernment of the world, is methinks an idea of providence, not fhort — may I not fay of mental blafphemy ? M the ingenious author had faid that moral evil will in the final ijjitc of things be pro- * See Nat. and Origin, of Evil, p. p?. du^ftive ( 4S ) du6live of a far fuperior degree of moral goodg^ it would have been judged by the generality of his readers I imagine a much better apology for the introduction of moral evil into the world, than what he has deviled. Having now fnewn, that the depravity of the human mind is not occafioned either by thegrois Hate and condition of that body in which the foul is now lodged, nor imprelTed on it by him that formed it, it would be an affront to com- jTion fenfe, and to the reader's judgment, to ima- gine he would not grant me this ccmclulion, that it can be none clfe than the effedt of a lapfe of fouls in a pre-exiftent Hate *, efpecialjy if to what has been already obferved, he adds an impartial attention to the enfuing chapters. And as the article of the church of England concerning ori- ginal fm has been generally underftood to allerc that the depravity of human nature is a corrup- tion of the heart derived entirely from Adam's tranfgreffion *, the reader will not I hope think it too digreihve from the point in view to take that article under confideration, and to fee whether it can with any degree of propriety be interpreted into fuch a meaning. C H A P : ( 49 ) C fl A P. VII. ^he article of the church of England concerning ori- ginal fin and the depravity of human nature con- fidered and explained. § I. " /^RIGINAL fin," fays the ninth V^ article of the church of England^ (landeth not in the following of Adam^ (as the Pelagians do vainly boall) but it is the natu;re of every man that is naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam^ whereby man is very far gone from original righteoufnefs, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, fo that the flefli lufteth always contrary to the fpirit, and there- fore in every perfon born into the world it de- ferves God's wrath, and damnation." § 2. From the firft claufe of which article there are two propofitions plainly deducible-, the former of which is affirmative^ and the other negative, Firfl, it is therein pofitively implied (though not indeed adlually, and in exprefs terms declared; that there is a particular kind of fm chargeable upon mankind, which is peculiarly, and molt pro- perly termed original-^ but that. Secondly, and negatively, the fin fo called is not what the Pelagians pronounced it to be. § 3. Now, though it cannot be denied, that the term original^ as applied to fin^ is n6 where to be met with in holy writ, yet fufficient autho- rity ariies from thence, for imputing to the whole race of mankind, what may aptly enough be termed the guilt of original Jin. This was the opinion of the church in the fifth century, G though _ ( 50 ) though as to its ideas of the nature of it, and the circumilances wherein it confined, the church and Pelagians widely differed, without being either of them, as it happened, in the right. § 4 Tht former refolved it all into Adam\ fa- tal offence, the latter into fuch kind of trcfpaffes as were peculiarly mens own. The one fuppofed that the fin of Adam was of fuch an univerfal and diffufive efficacy, as to derive a guilt and ftain to mankind in all ages of the world, and this on ac- count of the relation which all men have to Adam.y as their natural and moral principal, or head, from whom they therefore derive a general depravity af nature, and a mind prone to fin and wickednefs ; the other urged, that Adam's tranfgreffion was a crime of a perfonal nature only, and not derivative of any of the leaft guilt to his defcendants •, that it Avas not produdive of any of thofe bad propen- fions obfcrvable fince in mankind, but that both he and they were originally created perfe6lly pure and innocent, though fallible and peccable at the fame time ^ and that confequently fm took its ori- gin from, and could only be imputable to every man's own perfonal afls and trefpafles *. Though of thefe two opinions on this point, the latter makes by much the nearcll approach to truth, the former admitting of no kind of defence from either rcafon or fcripture, as will hereafter be fully fhewn, yet it does not fufBciently coincide with holy writ, which, whilft it gives plain intimations of another kind of guilt imputable to mankind, * Ilacrefin illius (Pelagii) quod attinet fumma hnc fere re- dit. Peccatura originale funditus fuftulit, docens Adami pec- v;atum fobcli ejus non impurari, nnuniquemque e contra ia eadem qua Adam creatuseft voJuntaiis pertedionenafci. A'id, Cave. Sciipt. Lcclef. Hift. Liter. Vol. i. p. thai> ( 5' ) than what arifes merely from their own perfonai trefpafles here, isrepugnantahogethertoP^'/^^/^j's conjedlure, that Adam and his poiterity came into this world perfedly pure and innocent. Wc are, fays the apoftle, by nature the children of wrath, &c, § 5. Amidd: this great oppofition of opinions between the church and the Pelagians^ concerning original fin^ in which each of them ran wide of the mark, the compilers of our articles, by their openly condemning the one, and tacitly rejeding the other, feem to me to have had an eye to d^fiate ^pre-exifient, as the only hypothefis by means of which could fairly be removed every difficulty ly- ing in the way of both. If that be not the cafe, it will be difficult, if not abfolutely impoffible, to explain that article in any rational or confiitent fenfe at all. § 6, " Original fin, fays the article, ftandeth " not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians " do vainly talk)" i. e. It ftandeth not in finnmg, like him, perfonally ^fr^, and agai..ft an expref^ law of God. Well, but how then doth it ftand ? Standethit in any crime relative or imputative ? No. Standeth it in any guile or liain in mankind^ derived to them from Adamh tranfgreffion, on ac- count of the relation which all men bear to him, as their natural principal or hcadP No luch thing. But it is — What.^ " Why it is the fault, or cor- ruption of the nature of every man, that natu- rally is engendered of the offspring of Adam ^ whereby man is far gone from original righ- " teoufnefs, and is of his own nature inclmed to *' evil." § 7. Now it will not confift with the reafon and nature of things, or with our ulual ideas of the amiable and all-perfe6l attributes of God, to ima- G 2 gins ( 52 ). g'lne that the fault or corruption of the nature of every nnan is therefore [inful^ (o as to defervc God's wrath and dam7tatio7t^ becaiife he is of the offspring . 0^ Adam. Nor fhould we haftily afcribe to the compilers of our articles an opinion fo hSrid. When they therefore fay, that original fin is a fault, or corruption of the nature of every man, that is naturally engendered of the offspring of Adayn^ they can, I apprehend, mean nothing more or lefs than this, viz. That it is a fault or corrup- tion interwoven in the nature oi tvtry offspring of Adam., whereby, or on account of which fault or corruption, man is far gone from original righ^ teoufnefs (that righteoufnefs in which he was ori- o-inally created) and is therefore of his own nature, not any kind of nature derived to him {vom Adam^ of his own nature inclined to evil. § 8. liCt us fee then what, upon a further ex- amination of this article, as above ilated and ex- plained, may be fairly deduced therefrom, relative to the do6lrineof original (in. Firft then, it tells us what it is not, and Secondly, it informs us what in reality it is. It is not what the Pelagians efteemed it to be, "whofe opinion on that head we have before con- fidered, and (hall not need now to repeat — But it is — What? Why it is the guilt of a particular kind of fm emphatically termed originah the nature of which we find exprefly reprefented to us under the idea of a fault or corruption of the nature of every man naturally engendered of the offspring of Adanu &c. But how the fault or corruption of every offspring of Adam ? Are we by that to un- derftand, thar^^<^?;^'s fin is tranlmitted to us by traduftion ? That cannot, with any fhadow of reafon, be fuppofed. Nothing but a man's owi> perfanal ( 53 ) per fonal d\(obQd\cr\cc can make htm a finncr In the fiorht ofman^ or of God. He only that Jins can be a finner*. No one can fin by proxy, can fm by virtue of any act of another perfon, to which he himfelf was not privy, or in any (hape concern- ed. And it needs no proof furely that we coulci be neither mediately, nor immediately, agents in the fmful aft of Adam^ which was commited at a diftance of more than 5000 years before we are fuppofed to have had a vital exillence. § 9. If however, it be urged, that the article cannot mean, that we are confidered as ad:ual Tin- ners, but only that we are treated as fuch in con- fequence of Adam^s tranfgreflion *, that not h\s>fm^ but th-M hcdy of fin, which he contrafted by fin, is tranfmitted to us by traduction, on account of >» ii 1 1 — ■ > * " A reprefjntative of a moral adion, fays d odor Taylor, is what I can by no means digell. A reprefentative, the guile of whofe condud fhail be imputed to us, and vvhofe fins ihall corrupt and debauch our nature, is one of the greateft abfurdi- ties in 9II the fyftem of corrupt religion.— That any man, without my knowledge or confent, ihould fo reprefent me, that when he is guilty, I am to be reputed guilty; and when he tranTgrefTes, I fhali be accountable and puniihable for hi« tranfgreffion, and thereby fubjecled to the wrath and curfe of Godi nay further, that his wickednefs fhallgive me a finful nature, and all this before I am born, and confequently while I am in no capacity of knowing, helping, or hindering what he doth ; fo.rely any one, fays that ingenious writer, who dares ufe his underftanding, mull clearly fee this is unreafo- rablc, and altogether inconfiftent with the truth and good- ntk of God." See Dr. Taylor's fupplement to Scrip. Dod. of orig. fin, p. 109. *' Nor does the apoftle in Rom. v. 12 20, as the fame writer had before obl'erved, mention, or intimate, the con- veyance of a finful nature, or any confequence of Adam's of- fence, in which all mankind are concerned, befides that death which all men die, when they leave this world." Vid. ibid. p. 107. ' And as fays St. ChryfoftOm, we are puniflied or faved by our own works. Atto Tvy oixuup t^yay xo^o^oi^eOx Kui a-ua-o^i^a which ( 54 ; _ which we are made naturally firDJe(5b to fin, and of confequence equally expofed with him to the guile and puni(hment of ir -, what is this but a refledlion on the jufticc and wifdom of God, as unworthy as the former?' Suppofing us not accountable, I mean, for any^mr fm there being no diffe- rence, that I can perceive, between making fm it- felf necefTary, hereditary, or efTential to the foul, and the cloarhing it with a body, that neceflarily prompts, difpofes, or gives fuel to evil actions. § 10. When our article therefore fays, that original fm is the fault or corruption of the nature of every man that is naturally engendered of the offspring oiAdam^ it can only in rcafon mean, that fin is born with every fuch offspringof yfJ^^;^, and brought into the world with him from the very womb, not by any derived, miputed guilt of ano- ther*, but from fome a6lual and inherent depra- vity in his own nature •, for the article in exprefs terms declares, that on account of this fault or corruption of the nature of man he is iar gone from original righteoufnefs. § II. If it be faid, that by original righteouf- nefs we are to underftand that ftate of righteouf- nefs only in which Adam was created, and from which man is far gone, i. e, widely differs from— quam longijjime dijlat — by means of a vitiofity of nature with which he comes into the world j I * It is not poflible, fays Mr. Procklefby, that Adam, by Jils tranfgrcffion, fhould merit for the fouls of all his offspring their ftate of blindnefs, pravity, fpiritual death, to be deprived of the holy fpirit and the divine image, with all the honours and felicities thereof, and to be fnbjefted to eternal punifh- mentin the world to come; for it never was, nor can be in any man's power to kill fouls, fays he, without their own con- fent. Brocklefby, p. 468. would ( 55 ) ^ %vould afk, how we can make it reconcileable with reafon to fuppofe, that God fhould, in the exercifc of his creative power and authority, indicate fo cruel a partiality towards the defcendants ot Adam, as to force them into exiftence with a lefs (hare of infufed righteoufnefs in their nature, than was vouchfafed to their primogenitor ? Or that becaufc the one forfeited at length that integrity and up- rightnefs of foul with which he was 3t firft formed, his offspring (hould be neccfiarily created in fin ? lliould, at their fuppofed firft entrance into life, be made flaves to impetuous pafTions and affcdlions, which the former, being created in the image of God, (Gen. i. 27.) could, cf courfe, only have contracted by afubfequent abufe of hisreaion and nnderftanding ? This is a view of the divine Being and his providence, comprehenfive, may I not fay, of abfolute blafphemy ? § 12. I cannot therefore fee what elfe can be meant by the original righteoufnefs mentioned in the article under confideration, than a fuppofed adlual ftate of righteoufnefs, in which the intellec- tual inhabitants of this world were originally created, and from which they had fwerved in a prior ftate. Whether that be the cafe or not, it mud be left to the reader's judgment to deter- mine. This however, is clearly the fenfe of the article, as to the nature of original fin, or that wherein it confifts, vi%. that it is the fault or cor^ ruption of the yiature of every man that is naturally engendered of Adam^ CHAP. ( 5^ ) CHAP. VIII. ^he Scripture account of the Fallen Angels illujlrated and confirmed. f I. r j '1HAT human {ouh are of coeval origin J[ with angelic^ and both the produdlionc of one inttantaneous exertion of infinite power, it feems necelTary to conclude, becaufe in the firft- place, no reafon can be afligned v^hy the Deity fhould give the preference implied in a priority of creation to this, or that order of intelligent natures, rather than to another : And fecondly, becaufe a JHCccJJive tradidiion of fouls, or a daily creation of them (one or other ofwhichmuftelfe be fuppofed) is the one an a6lual impoflibility in nature, and the other a fuppofition, which conveys an idea of ihe Creator, than which there cannot be one . more grofs and unworthy ^. § 2. And * A fucce^ive traduftion of fouls is, as Dr^ Henry More obferves, *' A plain cor.tradiftion to the notion of a foul, *' which is a fpirit, and therefore of an indivifib]e,that is, of ** anindifcerpible eifence. And a daily creation of them im- ** plies both an indignity to the majefty of God (in making ** him the chiefeft aififtant and adlor in the higheft, fre;jft, " and moft particular way in which the Divinity can be con- '• ceived to aifl, in thofe abominable crimes of whoredom, •* adultery, and incefl, by fupplyin^ thofe foul coitions with ** new-created fouls for the purpofe) and alfo an injury lo ** the fouls thetufelves ; that they being ever thus created by ** the immediate hand of God, and therefore pure, innocent, '* and immaculate, (hould be imprifoned in unclean, difeaf- •• ed, and difordered bodies, where very many of them feem •* to be fo fr.tally over-maftered, and in fuch an utter ^nca- •' pacity of clofing with wjiat is good and virtuous, that \tty *' muft ( 57 5 § 2. And that the Mofaic was not the original creation of all things, but that prior to it, there cxilled an univerfe of rational beings, all but men of the moil contradled fentiments will rea- dily enough conceive j*. § 3. And ** mufl needs be adjudged to that extreme calamity, which ** attends all thofe that forget God.'* See Dr. Mere's Im- mortality of the Soul, p. 113. See alfo Glanville's Lux Orientalis ; where the above argu- ments are expatiated upon in a moft comprehenfife and maf- tcrly manner. f It is the opinion of the generality of writers, who look no further than to the letter of the Mofaic hiftory, that the whole frame of nature comes within the compafs of the fix days creation ; that not only the fun, moon, and planets, but the immenfe fyilem of the fixed ftars, are there defcribed as coeval with the formation of our earth: confequently they mull: hold, that till about fix thoufand years ago, the Deity exifled alone, reigning over an abfoiute void without either worlds or inhabitants. But as the contrary opinion may be fairly deduced from many paiTages in Scripture, fo it is much more agreeable to our jufteftapprehenfions of the Divine na- tire to fuppoie, that the fountain of power and goodnefs had createrd worlds, and communicated being to many orders of creatures long before our earth or its inhabitants had an ex- iftence. See Jamefon, Pref to his Expofit. of the Pentat, Again ; By the heaven, fays Mr. Jackfan on Gen. i. I,— " lii the beginning God created the heaven and the earth''-— we are to underltand the feveral fyflems of the fun, moon, and planets, which were created before the formation of the earth, of which only Mofes gives a particular account, and to which his hiilory primarily belongs. It is faid, '* God made two ** great lights," viz. the fun and the moon ; and it is certain that the earth was, bv God's almighty power, fo fituated, with refpeifl to the pofition of the fun and moon, that they mi j;ht have their proper influence over it, and fo with pro- priety be faid to have been new made to rule over its day and niffht. They now became properly a fun and moon to the earth, whether they were then created, when they firfl Ihone upon it, or before., II The { 5^ ) § 3* ^"^^ ^^ every part of the creation miifl, \vben ifTuing firil from the hands of the Creator, hcperfcoi in Ks y^i?^^ (the fountain being pure, the' ftreap.is flowing therefrom mull be pure alfo.) It neccflarily toUows, that the univerfe of rati- onal creatures came into being poflefTed of as large a Hiare of intcUedual purity, and moral rec- titude, as j^/z/7^ natures can be fuppofed capable of enjoying, or an all-perfe^ power able to bellow. But from the very Hate, and circumllances of their cxiflence, and that freedom of will^ which conilituted them moral agents^ it is eafy, and even raeceilary to conceive, that though pire^ and per- Th-e Hebrew word Hll^y Afa, or Afe rendered to make,fig<. nilies alfo to conf^itute, or appoint, or prepare; and {o it may mean, ihat God appointed two great lights, the one to rule over the day, the other to rule over the night. And it is evident, that the woid may be taken in the preterpluperfeft tcnfe, as it is in the 31ft verfe, where it is rightly rendered, ** and God faw every thing that he had made.'* There- fore, though it is undoubtedly true, that God made, or crea- ted the fun, moon, and ilars« yet there is no need to under- iland that they are any p^rt of the Mofaic creation, which compiehended only the heavens and the earth, or the earth with its firmament or atmofphere, which is called heaven. Sec Jackfon's Chronol. Antiq. p. 4, 5. Agreeably to which, our learned and ingenious Brok- lefby had before oblerved, that the original creation was anre-Mofaical ; that the .vjofaical Cofmopc^ia was not God*s t/r/g-/;/^/ creation, nor the creation of the ijaj} uniuerje of rati- onals, but 7< Jecondury creation, a creation of our terreftrialfyf-*' ism only ; and that our planetary globe, though in refpedl of the mai'.er of it, it was a part of God's original creation, yet as formed and inhabited, did not belong to the original con- llitution of the univerfe. See BrocklePjy's Chriflian Trini'- tarian, p. 493. &:c. The truth of which hypothefis hefupports by a variety of cogent arguments, feme of which may occa- fionall V come in perhaps hereafter. ( 59 ) fetl in their kind^ they were neverthelefs /)c^fr^Mv and liable to tranfgreffion *''. It is an aflertion of Calvin^ that the holy angels themfelves art" nor li 2 uncriminal. • ** Unlefs a man, fays Dr. Cheyne, gives up all reafon, philofophy, and proportion, as Weil as analogy, and runs. into downright fcepticifm, blind fate, witchcraft and en- chantment, he mufl: fuppofe, that an infinitely wife and be- neficent being could not have created free and intelligent •' creatures, but for fome wife end and purpofe. And to ob- ** tain this end be muft have made them at firft found (fo he " is pleafed to exprefs himfelf) in body and mind. How cr-. ** ror, difeafes, mifery, and death commenced, may readily be *' accounted for from the abufe of freedom and liberty, ipu- ** rious felf-Iove,and an inordinate love of the creature." See Cheyne, Difcourfe iv. p. 119. An argumeut equally conclufive as to angels and men. There is fomething extremely rational and fatisfa£lory, as to this point, in what follows from Dr. Jenkin. ** It muft be confidered, fays he, that no created being can, ** in its own nature, be uncapable of fin or default: becaufe ** it cannot be infinitely perfect; for it is infeparablefrom all ** creatures to have but finite perfeflions ; and whatever has V bounds fet to its perfeftions is in fome refpecl imperfe(ft ; ** that is, it wants thofe perfeflions which a being of infinite ** perfections alone can have. So that imperfection is implied *' in the very eflence of created beings ; and what is imperfeft ** may make default." Jenkin's P^eafon. of Chr. Pvcl. vol. ii. p. 238. And again, p. 246, he fays, ** In the beginning God cre- " ated every thing perfect in its kind, and endued the angels ** and men with all intelledaal and moral perfe(flions fuitable ** to their refpeClive natures ; but f^ as to leave them capable *' of finning. For it pleafed the infinite wifdom ofCjod to *' place them in a flate of trial, and to put it to their owa *' choice whether they would ftand in that condition of inno- *' cence and happinefs in which they were created, or fall into '* fin and mifery. We have little or no account in the Scrip- ** tures cf the caufe or temptation which occafioned the Vall *' of angelsj becaufe it doth not concern us," fays he, (But It does concern us much more than he imagined) *' to be ac- ** quainred with it ; and therefore it little becomes us ro be " inqujfitive about it.'' (fcarc- any thing concerns us more, or ( 6o ) uncriminal, and uncondemnable ; they are, " non *' fatisjufti /* not fufficiently, or compkatly,y«/ and rightecus. " The liars are nor pure in Gods *■' fight," fays Job, c. xxv. v. 5. And ahjolute impeccability is, perhaps, the prerogative of Gc^only. § 4. Accordingly Scripture informs us, that an order of celeftial powers incurred in procefs of time their Maker's difpleafure, by not keeping their /r/ tftatey and leaving their hahitations. >' And the angels, which kept not their firfi ejlateT fays St. Jude, " but left their own habi- *•' taticjt, he hath referved in everlading chains " under darknefs unto the judgment of the great ^' day." Jude 6ch. § 5. For the more clear underftanding of which important paffage in holy writ, I obferve, as fol- lows, Firjl^ That each clafs, or divifion of the angelic hoft, had, from the beginning, and have ilill a determinate region in Heaven afTigned or merits a more diligent and earneft enquiry.) But to pro- ceed with our author — ** Indeed it is very difficult to con- " ccivp, how beings of fuch great knowledge and purity, a4 *' the falkn angels once were of, fhould fall into fin : but it *' is to be confidered that nothing is more unaccountable, ** than the motives and caufes of aftion in free apents : when ** any being Is at liberty to do as it will, no oiher reafon of ** his actings befides his own will need be enquired o.fter. — *' But how perfeft and excellent foever any creature is, unlefs' *' it be fo confirmed and eftablifhed in a ilate of purity and holincfs, as to be fecured from all poflibiJity of finning, it * may be fuppofed to admire itfelf, and dote upon its own perfeiftions and excellencies, and by degrees to negledl and not acknowledge God the author of them, but to fin and rebel iigalnft him. And it is moft agreeable both to Scrip- ture and reafon, that pride was the caufe of the fall of angels." Jenk. vol. ii. p. 246, 247. Whether this be, or be not, juft reafoning upon a matter o^ faft, as to the motives or caufes from which it happened, it is quite unnecefiary for me to enquire at prefent. them. i <( it n ( 6i ) them, as their proper fpherc of glory, and pecu- liar place of refidence. — Agreeably to which, fays our Saviour, " In my father's houfe are many *' manfions." John xiv. 2, — I obferve Secondly^ That the intelledual world, that part of it, I mean, with which we feem to have any con- nexion, or of which we have any intelligence, appears to have been ranked, and difpofed by the Creator, from the beginning, into feveral diftindl clafles, gradually fubordinate to each other in dig- nity and power j in proportion, probably, to the different degrees of intelledual capacity, with which the members of each clafs had been en- dowed at firft. Without fuppofing fome fort of or- derly gradation like this, the mind cannot frame to itfelf any idea of an exifting fociety or a pofl\- bility of felicity even in heaven*. I ob- * If It (hould be urged that a fubordinatlon of rank and quality in heaven, would argue an unequal diilribution of power and authority, and a partiality in the fupreme Lord thereof, interruptive of univerfal harmony and equal happi- refs, and inconliftent with our idea of celeftiaf fruition— I an- fwer, that in minds not vitiated by pride and ambition, obe- dience to thofe to whom reverense and efleem is due, is a fatisfadlion of mind equal, at leaft, to that which arifes from a fuperiority of power, &c. in thofe to whom is alloted the preheminency. That there was, however, is, and always will be, fuch a fub- ordination of rank and dignity in the celeftial abodes, wemay conclude from thofe diHinftions, which we meet with in Scrip- ture, of angels and arch angels, of cherubim and feraphim,of principalities, powers, thrones, and dominions, i The/T. iv. 16. Jud. ix. Ezck. X. Pfal. xviii. 10. Ifa. vi. 2. Rom. viii, 38. Ephef. i. 21. iii. 10. vi. 12. Col. i, 16. ii. 10, 15. Agreeably to which fays St. Jerom That there may be due order amongft rationals, there mud be r^r,<;, xflsi Tuv £v uvm siam ctf^uv Apol. 27. 28. Gr. NyfTen, and J.Da- mafcen fuppofe, that when the world was created, the feveral parts of it were committed to feveral orders ofaneels, that he who was the devil, was prefect of the terrene order, having the prefidency over the earth, and the adminiHration of terrene things. And the name by which the Rabins called the devil viz, *^^*1D fignifyinj? the apoftare, is plainly allulive to his apoftacy from God ; as is alfo another of his ufual appella- tions, viz. Satanas, or fatan, the original import of which word is Atto^uty:;, Rebbellis. The cabalillical book Zohar treating of lapfed angels fays — God threw them down headlong, bound, and enchain- ed — Thefe were j^za and Jzae/y which R. EJeazer fays were two anpels, which accuf^d their Lord, and God caft them out of the holy place headlong. And the pagans difcourfe of a fort of evil genii, paflively and penally fuch, which Plutarch calls — Ot QEr,?^a,Toif nai ycuvoTT^Tnq Exejvoi Ta EjM.7r£i5b;£?;£«? ^aijM.o»vtf.— — — *' Thofe God- ** agitated, and heaven-fallen demons of Empedocles." See Brooklefby, p. 29, 30, 31. * As other beings have their proper regions, fo there is, fays a Greek writer, a land or country of Satan, where the powers of dp.rkntfs, and fpirits of wickednefs live and walk, and have their refting place. OvTuq BTi 7*?, y.ut 'TTccTfiq craranK'/? a Ciuyaai, xa» f/txTTEpffaTtfcr*, voixfiui, S. Macarius. Horn. 14. I CHAP. t ^^ ) CHAP. IX. Human Souls Jhewn to have he en complicated and in^ volved in the guilt of the fallen angels. § I. TN the foregoing chapter I gave the reader X a fummary account of the rife, progrefs, and confequence of that memorable event, the fall of thole Rebel angels, which fcripture gives ns in part, and which is fhadowed out to us not obfcurely by Heathen, and Jewifli theology.—* And a molt awful interefting event it is! An event fo comprehenfive as to its obje6ls, as well as diffufive of its mlfchievous effects, as to have involved in fin and mifery, the whole race of hu- man beings. All nature (bared in that original guilt, all nature groans now under the ruinous weight of it*. " The whole creation groaneth *' and travelleth in pain of it until now." For lb? All who have trod this mother earth of ours (fome few righteous ones only perhaps excepted) had afibciated with the apoftate powers, afTiniu- lated more or kfs with them in their various vices, joined them in their revolt from God, ranked with them under the banner of the vile ufurp^r, aided his foul rebellion, and became cap- tives from that period more or lefs to his tyrannous * By nature I vvou'd not be underilood to include here the univerfe in general^ but that fuhlunary part of hitdligent nature to which we belong, ^ autho- ( 6; ) authority *. Elfe wherefore, in the firfl place, is it * The author exprefTes himfelf here,in terms accommodated to the account given of that event, by the Apocalyptic apojile, who (liles it a ^ivar in heanjen. " There was war in heaven; Michael Siv\d his angels fought againft the Dragon, and the Dragon fought and his angels." Apoc. xii. 7. The reader muft therefore confider the one in the fame figurative point of view in which reafon direfts him to place the o- ther. The vifion he alluded to was of both a retrofpeSIinje caft, and prophetic, ihewing that a train of devices, fimilar to thofe by which Satan (the dragon) aimed too fuccefsfuUy to draw his fellow creatures,fromtheirduty to their creator, and to inveigle them into adls of impiety, and moral obliquity in heaven, (all which were a6ls of rebellion againft God) would be continued for a time by the divine permriiTion, (tho* with the like overthrow at laft,) againft the church or the king* dom of heaven to be eftablifiied upon earth ; which appears very evidently to have been the cafe. vid. Hammond^ and other commentators in Loco. The only idea, therefore, which we can form of the falllof angels from the very fhort account given us of it in fcrip* ture, is that of an apoftacy (in one tribe or principality perhaps) from piety, and moral redlitude ; which, conftitu- ting a kind of rebellion againft the Majefty of God, fomewhat /imilar to the revolt of a temporal colony, or province from the allegiance due to the lawful Sovereign, ^nd that by the inftigation, and under the command of a leader chofen from among themfelves, brought all at laft under the fame fenrence of expulfion or banifljment from the oivine prefence But as the diftinguiftiing eye of the Deity, when furveying the ex- tenfive overthrow, could not but feparate, as intended objefls for his future indulgence, the lejffer fort of offenders from the greater, inftead of affigning^/ a dwelling among thofe, whom he hath rejewed in euerlajiing chains tinder darkne/s, God has been pleafed to give us a probationary abode here ; which, though from its incidental calamities it may be reckoned a kind of ^^// compared with the felicities forfeited above, is an hta-ve^i, when contrafted with thofe regions of mifery to which are doomed the firft feducers of fallen man. The reader will not therefore be fo undifcerning, or unfair, as to charge me with ranking mankind in general with the infernal I 2 powers. ( 68 ) k that fcripture reprefents men in their fiatural nnregenerate (late, not only as alienated from God and goodnefs, linners even from their birth, but as conne5ied with the prince of thofe powers that fell by //Vj of the moft intimate \im^^ as creatures totally devoted to his fervice, equally apt for diabolical pra6lices,and of the fame rank and qua- lity in the fcale of intelledual beings ? " When the ungodly curfeih Satan," fays the wife fon of Sirach, *• he curfeth his own foul." Eccluf. xxi. 27*. Again, " Ye are of your father the devil,'* fays our Saviour to the infidel Jews, " and the deeds, (rat^ya) «« the works of your father ye will *' do ; intimating, that they, who had not only blafphemoufly belied him, by telling him that he was a Samaritan, and had a deyil^ but had alfo gone powers. No, my Hypothefis does not require a belief fo horrid ; and the contrary is a plain pofitive fcripture truth. For God (as fays the Apoflle) has not appointed us unto Wrath', but to obtain falvation by Jefus Chrift our Lord. I Their. 5. 9. Whatever may have been our connexion with them in a prior ftate, we are with refpeft to them, apparent- ly now a detached fpecies of beings, are brought into a region where drop continual dews of divine grace, are fent hither as candidates for a refloration to our loft happinefs (of which the others are not yet deemed worthy) with the feed, of a new, and divine life impregnated in us — the feed of the njooman that will at length finally break the fer pent'' s head. And the only Criterion, by which to determine what were our refpeSii've jhares in a pre-exiftent guilt, is that natural tajie, and difpofition of mind, with which we come into the world, and of which felf -intuition is the only unerring judge. * Chrift, fays Chryfoftom, from devils made men angels. fi/n^ ^oc^fjiovuv ocyyiT^aq req arQfwwtfj si^y^aoc-TOk Chryfoft. HoiQ* advers. Gent. 38, P. 737. ( ^9 ) eone about to kill him* gave evident tokens of their affiniiy and affe(ftion to him who was " a *' murderer from the beginning, and abode not in *' the truths becaufe there is no truth in him." John. vlii. 41. 45. Again, " He that committeth fin," fays St. John, " is of the devil, for the devil finneth from *' the beginning." ill, John iii. 8*. Again. " Ye are from beneath'^ fays our Sa- viour to the unbelieving Jews, " I am from a- bove." John viii 23.-— Ye are iy. ruy x^tw, from the powers heloWy I am va. rm a^w, from x.\\q powers above. That is, your alHances, friendlhips, and con- neflions, are with the powers below^ mine with. the powers above An explanation of that pafTage, ■ that will appear, I believe, when cri- tically and fairly attended to perfectly juft. And in fad, vv'ithout fuppofing fome fuch pri- or conned^ion with the rulers of the darknefs of this world, with thofe fpiritual wickednejfes among the aerial inhabitants f, the vicinity of our abode, to the place where dwell thofe apoHate powers J j Satan's early and artful prac- tices * He that committeth fin,Thatis,he thatis inzjiate of Jin, (in which we are all by nature,) *' is of the devil,'* in like manner as he that is ** horn of God^ regenerate and born anee foul, thought and perception muft be fo too. For to be adive with* out being percipient of the a6lion, as the fame writer ob- ferves, is to be active, not from an internal principle ^ or the power of action, but from mechanical nscejjity. To be acflive implies the nx:ill to adl ; and there can be no at'///, but what is determined by a greater orlefs degree of thought, reafon, re- fledion, and choice. And wherever there is fenfe of percep- tion, fays Mr. Locke, there fome idea is aflually produced, and prefent in the underftanding. B. 2. c. 9. fed. 4. Xhe very lowcft kind of life, fays Baxter, fecms to confift ( 8; ) that thefe mull have exifted in the foul aferles of thought, reafon, reticdion, &c. previous to its en- trance into this world-, unlefs we can fuppofe its generation in the ivomh to be in reaUty ics firft for- mation-, an idea in which is involved the grofleft ablurdity, not to give it a worfe name; making the Creator, in fadt, a coadjutor in the works of fornication, adultery, inceft-f. § 3. Canft thou then, whofoever thou art, to whom the^^^ci'^objedtion ieems to be ofany weight, tell me what pafled in thy mind, when thou ilTu- cdft firft from the hands of thy Creator, and waft made a living foul ? Tell me, if thoi] canft, what in the perceptive capacity ; fo that we can never imagine this removed from a living being. And again, lays he, it does not Hand in need of the adlion of external matter upon it to become percipient. V. i. p. 267. f A reriedion this, to which the reader will give, I hope, the due attention, and not forget that this is the inferenco which una~ooidably follows from a ruppofed dotily creation of fouls. How much more confentaneous to reafon therefore, is it, to conclude, agreeably to the fentiments of the mod rational philofophers, that all fouls were created from the beginning of things, by one Almighty Fiat, and that fome of them having finned in their fiyft Hate, (the probability, if not atflual certainty of which, we hope we have already fhewnfrom reafon, and from fcripture likcwife) were detrud- ed from their celeftial abode, into an aerial one ; from whence, after having acquired a vital congruity with matter duly prepared for the reception of fuch of the fallen powers as fliall be deemed worthy to enter into ?^:j probationary fcene of aflion, fucceluvely drop of courfe (or rather Providential five -Animae Mundi Lege) into a terrelirial habitation. By the above mentioned aerial abode, however, I do not mean, that purer region to which the foul will afcend, it properly /«n- Jjedhcre, when fcparated from the body, but tnat grofs cir- cumambient atmofphere of the eanh, where dwell the chiif of the apoftate powers; wit:j whom a more r^Ji/ieJ, or rather lefs cerriept order of lapfed beings may as reafonably be fup- pofed iO cohabit, as good and bad men be intermixed with each other, and bcfl? with furious beaH';, and other noxious animals, in this their lerrcfinal habitation, were ( S3 ) icveteat that period thy reafonings, thy refleflions } What, I pray thee, were thy perceptions, what the Hate of thy thoughts, when God fafhioned thee in the womb, and when thou laydeft there for nine months*? And afterwards, when thou firft hangedft * Whether immediately upon conception faj, or not till the embryo of the future man is formed into a foetus, the foul drops into the womb, it is not necefiaryj or perhaps eafy to determine, tho' the latter feems moll probable ; we may however reafonably conclude that, the neceflary difpo- fition ofpafts being made for its reception, the foul becomes, by a derived power from its Creator, a kind oi fubordhiate architeSf of its own manfion, raifing itfelf, by a conftant ex- cxtion of its plaflic powers on the emreafing matter (arifing from a regular fupply of food) from its diminuti-ve form, when ilfuing from the womb, to the daterminate bulk cf man* Agreeably to which, fays St. Cyprian. CaroSpiritu, (mean- ing by Spiritu, the foul moft undoubtedly) inlirudta nutritur, adolefcir, affatur> docet, operatur. Rigalt. in opufc. St. Cyprian. And to the fame eiFed, fays Dr. More — In tyiG.xy particular world fuch as man is, fays he, his own foul is the peculiar and moft perfect archited, and being a Jpirit, and therefore contradable and dilatable, it begins within lefs compafs at firfl in organizing the fitly-prepared matter, and {o bears itfelf on the fame tenor of work, till the body has attained its full growth, dilates itfelf in dilating the body, and poflefles it through all the members thereof. Vid. More, Jmmor. b. 2. c. 10. A conjeflure this, than which there cannot be one more rationally plealing, as it ferves to account fo fatisfadorily,not only for the gradual growth of the corporeal frame of man, but for the gradual improvement likewjfe of his intelledual powers and faculties. For till the foul can have worked the body up to its proper organization and conformity of parts (which it can only eifedt by degree?) by virtue of its plaftic faculty; till, in Ihort, the nerves, and thofe other more z/w- mediate inftruments of ftnfe, motion, and organization, the animal (a) By conception, I mean the impregnation of the ovum (wherein is contained the iirft rudiments of the human body) by the femen virile; for a very rational fatisfadory iliuftra- tion of which poinr, I muft refer the reader to Dr. Farfons's ingenious treaiife on the analogy between the propagation of animals and vegetables. ( ^ ) hahgedft on thy mother's breaft, doft thou re* ihember what gave thee thy pains, and thy for- Vows, G'nimal/piriiSy are rendered fo complete as to be able totranf- mit the impreffion of fenfible objeas to the brain, wherein centers the perceptive faculty of the foul, there muft of courfe be a debility of both the corporeal and intelleaual operations ; but neither philcfophy nor common fenfe will allow us to conclude, that the foul is totally void of fenfe and refledlion, when it enters into and begins its operations upon the corporeal frame, tecaufe it difcovers no', that fub- limity or extenfivenefs of reafoning, to which a more com- plete organization of its material vehicle (or vivification, ra- iher, of its organic powers) is requifite. I doubt not, fays Mr. Locke, but children, by the exer- cife of their fenfes about objefts that af^edl them in the womb, receive fome few ideas before they are bornj as the unavoidable efFcds either of the bodies that environ them, or tlfe of thefe wants or defires that afFed them ;-~fuch as hun- ger, warmth, &c. B. 2. c. 9. fed. 5. And though the foul* iays^ a very ingenious modern French writer, allonifhed and. furprifedto find itfelf confined and imprifoned, may, during the firll: days of life, remain in a ftate of flupidity and dul- nefs, it does not follow, that flie is not properly awake till ihe begins to reafon: on the contrary, fhe is quickly roufed by the calls of neceflity; the organs foon inform her that they Hand in need of her orders, and the correfpondence be- tween body and foul is eilablilhed by means of the recipro- cal impreliions they make on each other. From that inlbnt the foul broods in filence over her faculties, which in due time fhe properly prepares and brings forth into attion. ^y the help and miniftry of the eye, the ear, the feeling, and the other fenfes, fhe aflembles a fet of lights and ideas which {qy\q her as provifions for life; and as it is ih.^ fentiment that alone prefides over and directs all thefe acquifitions, it necef- farily follows, that it muft have already made a very confide- rable progrefs, before rea/on has begun to exert herfelf, or even taken the firll ftrp. It gives me no fmall degree of pleafure, and even pride, to find my own fentiments, as above advanced, countenanced fincefo ftrongly by f) extremely len- fiblc and ingenious a writer, as is the abbot Eatteau, from whom the above is taken. Vid. His Principles ofhHcrature^ — tranflated by Mr. Millar. But to return. The debility and habittrde of the foul's intellectual powers during infancy (and fomething fimilar may perhaps be the cafe with it, when in M the ( 90 ) . rows, and what drew from thee thy ftrong crying ? Plas thy mind ftill a feeling of thofe pains, and thofe the womb) Dr. More afcribes, not irrationally I think, to the thenftate and condition of the animal {pirhs {aj^ which beinj^, as he fays, more torpid and watery in children and old men, muft needs hinder her in fuch operations as require another conftitution of fpirlts; though I will not profefs my- felf ahfolutely, fays he, confident, that the foul cannot aft without all dependence on matter ; but if it does not, which is moft probable, it muft needs follow, that its operations will keep the laws of the body it is united to ; whence it is demonftrable, adds he, how neceflary purity and temperance is to preferve and advance a man*s parts. Vid. p. 206. The truth of this latter remark cannot but be obvious to anyone, who confiders how intimately the operations of the foul de- pend upon the temper and tenor of thofe immediate inftru- m-nts of reafon and refleflion here the animal fpirits. And how important the confideration is, not only with refpeft to TX\tns parts y but to theiT principles alfo, will appear from the following reflexions, which, though digrelTive not a little from the point immediately under' confideration, will not, however, be altogether unacceptable, I hope, to the fpecu- lative reader. Thof-' animal fpirits, then^ above mentioned, are a fecre- tion of the blood, perpetually arifing from the heart, which the foul is neceffitaced, by her union with the body, to make life of in her intelleitual as well as fenfitive operations — I mean in the powers of thought, meditation, reflexion, &c. Whatever, therefore, tends moft to a fuller and more pure fupply of the one, gives the foul of courfe a proportionably more enlarged and enlivened aptitude for the other. And from a peculiar happy temperature and tenor of the animal fpirits, with which fome are naturally furniilied, it is, that they arc pofl'efled of proportionably quici5? £yivs7\va-!ja,iA-bnq n hcckqv, Ast ocoi ^a;y.cH(; y.ay.oq zyi^iyon ; Otvo^ t'Xiy^i\ Toy T^oTsrov, Ot-x tyava vvv xaxo^ a^A, i(pci)iv)q. It was not the wine that made the bad man, but it was ths bad man that /^^atW himfelf in the wine* Nol , ( 93 ) wert wrapped in fwadling clothes, or by whom rocked from time to time in thy cradle ? Who mixed for thee the milky pap, and fupplied thee with thy daily fuftenance ? Or were not in reality thefe things fo? Alas! They might, or they might not, for any proofs thou can ft bring of either, from thine own prefent confcioufnefs. When the minifter at the font fprinkled thee with the water of baptifm, and thou wert engraf- ted into the body of Chrift's church, when three or four around him gave fecurity for thy leading a godly and a Chrijiian life^ and all joined in de- vout prayers to the almighty for the fame, re- membreft thou, I pray, aught of this? § 4. When thy maturer itrength enabled thee to fpring from the cradle, and from thy nurfe's arms, and thou waddleft with eager pace from chair to chair, remembreft thou who was the fe- dubus attendant on thy feeble frame, and who kept from time to time thy feet from falling ? And when thy tongue denied thee an utterance Not that I would mean to appear fo fevere and dry 3 Cynic, with refpedl to this point, as if I had a mind to difcountenance wholly the cheerful glafs. Taken in mo- deration, it is not only falutary oft times to the body, but produ6^ive, at the fame time, of a kind of invigorating, pnlivening, dilatation and activity in the foul. The mif- ^hief of it lies in an excefs ; as fays the Greek moralift, Ojwv to» mnx^t irsXri* y.a,y.(iv> Hv ^i Ti? avr^v Oeoy:. /y&;//ta» — Lin. 210, 211, Wine circulating without bounds is bad, !But makes man's heart, when drank with temperance, glad. The author begs the reader^% pardon for this long digrcfli- m, and hopes he will frame the beflexcufe for it he can. of ( 94 ) of what thou dldft not more wifli to fpeak, than thofe about thee to hear, what was the plcafin^ obje^l of thy fancy then ? When afterwards thy tongue was loofed, and thou delightedit thy fond parents with inceffant prattle, doeft thou remember the hundredth part of the pretty things thou faidft — being a witty child — with what mirth thou regaledfl the admi- ring guell, and with what an heart-felt joy thy doating mother catched the whifpered applaufe of thy growing genius ? § 5. Where, again, is thy confcioufnefs of a long train of events, and a variety of detached circum- llances in thy more ripened life, when memory got firm hold on thee ? Thy gibes too, thy gam- bols, thy longs, and thy flafhes of merimenr (be- fides thy ten thoufand freaks, which died in think- ing) how few of them are there, which have not paired off from thy remembrance like the dew of morn, or like " the bafelefs fabric of a vifion, ** leaving not a wreck behind." § 6. If then it appears that the foul does exift in/ome periods of life, without retaining m other jiibfequent ftages of her exillence, a confciouf- nefs of fuch exiftence, why may it not in others ^ In deliria, ebriety, fleep, &:c. it apparently does. With refped to the two firft, the fad is fo no- torious, that it would be an abfurdiiy even to fuppofe it a matter of doubt with any one. And if in proof of the latter I again branch out into a long digreffive note, I mud again befpeak the reader's candor *. § 7. That * It is altogether as intelligible, to fay, that a body is ex- tended without parts, fays Mr. Locke, as that any thing thinks,withoutbeingconfciousof it. Hum.Und. v. i. p. 77. That there muft be a confcioufners of what pafTes in a man's ( 95 ) § 7. That there are fome ftages of e^ciftence therefore, through which the Ibul does adually pafs. man's mind dunng the very time of thinking, it may, per- haps, be granted ; but that fuch a train of Jiinkincy inuft: necefTarily be followed by an aJter-recolleBion of the fubjedl- inatter of the thought, we have proofs .to the contrary from men's dreams. For there are frequent inftances of perfon's talking, and fhewiiig other figns of thinking, in their fleep; of which, when awjkened, they have reraembered nothing. And, it is notoiious, that many a dream is ai.vakened in a man's mind, bv the accidental occurrence of fome limilar or relative circumftances, without which, the man would not have kno^vn that he had dreamed that night at all. Mr. Locke, in (hort, either defignedly quibbles, or miftakenly blunders here moil egregioufly, in not making the due diitin<5lion between. prefait confcioufnefs (i. e a confcioufnefsof what pafles in the mind during the time of thinking^^ and an after recclhc' tion of a man's thoughts. And it gives me great concern, to fee {o great a man dealing out fophiftry, inftead of folid ar- gument, fo plentifully, in fupport of a favourite hypothefis; which he does moft remarkably in his 1 2th, and fome follow- ing feftions of the chapter above qnoted. In faft, I cannot help imagining, that the foul is, for the moft part, equally employed in thought, lleeping as well as waking, with this difference only, that it is, and mnft be, in the former ftate,. exercifed in fpeculating internal objedls only. — I mean ima- ^Qs/enjtti'vet or inte lie tfiual, internally imprefied on the fenfori- um before — whereas, waking, it has the pov/er of taking in other externa! objects alfo. All the avenues for a frelh fup- ply of exter7ial oh]c&.s being (hut up in fleep, the mind can only employ itfelf in the contemplation of fuch as are within, with the feveral detached impreffes conveyed to the brain, by the inftrumentality of the outward organs of fenfe when awake. By which means the foul has fuch an imaginary {en{c of things, as mufl: necefTarily appear real, till fhewn to be otherwife, by external demonllrations from the awakened or- gans of fenfe and reflection. Hence it is, that the /eaj zre io frequently made to live again in the imagination, xXidX pa(i converfations become ^^rV^;?/, ana that we are rr,ade to :.d, as it were, a redoubled and repeated life. Hence it is, that things improbable, and even things impoffible, appear, in a manner, real — that yon tobler in his flail fliall be a king in his bed, and the enamoured Damon in the prcjeitce of his love- ly Philis, at an hundred miles diflance from lier. The dream- ins: C 9^ ) ' pafs, without deriving to itfelf any reflex ccnfl&H oufnefs" ing imagination, in fhort, makes reafon to entertain the" fond idea, of which the aiuakened mind only difcovers the il- lufion. What the line and rule are to the mafon, or other mechanic, the organic powers of the body are to the mind. The former give the workmen an experimental knowledge of what, nvithout them, they would only have an ideal or conjee-^ turaly and that moft frequently, and of confequence, an er- roneous one. In like manner, the experience arifing to the mind, from time to time, by theinflrumentality of theiv^/f- ing organs of fenfe, is that rule of right, by which we are enabled to diftingui{h real exiftences from imaginary ones. It is not to be wondered, therefore, if, when the foul lies drowned, as it were, in the deep of fleep, that the various detached ideas of kings, coblers, friends, foes, fports, paf- times, frolicks, follies, pains, pleafures, horfes, towns, har- bours, mountains, rivers, &c. &c. floating upon the furface of the imagination, feparately attract, at times, the foul's at- tention* The images of things being prefent to the mind, the man himfelf feems, for the time, prefent too. The percepti^^ ons of the impreffions made, when awake, on the fenforium, are as real as if the oije^s really exilied ; the foul takes them for reaiy it afts and behaves as if they were real. So that a man may be a monarch in his ileep, to all intents and pur- pofes fa) excepting only that the experience of fenfe y when he is awake, convinces him that he is not — not really, though he was ideally (6 before. He then fees and hiars that he is no monarch ; the avenues to which fenfible deraonftrations were lli'jt, or locked up, before, in fleep (^). (ct) TO yu? u; vttcc^ nhv ov2i^ov, Moich. [6) A very ingenious writer refolves the phenomenon of dreams into the agency oi /eparatefpirits; but in this, though In other refpefts a moft engaging writer and folid reafoner, he is moft egrcgioufly miftaken. Vid. The Enquiry into the Nat. of the Human Soul. That thofe various prophetic, &c, dreams among the people of old, and of whom fcripture makes mention, were infufed by the agency of feparate fpirits, and that fomewhat of a fimilar nature, and from a flmilar caufe, may have been not unfrequently experienced by numbers in life fince, we have abundant reafons to conclude. But what I contend for is, that tiioie incoherent, extravagant, &c, dreams, with which the mind is fo often and ufually bufied in fleep, are not as I apprehend efFefted by the agency of feparate fpirits bat creatfd as above mentioned. ( 97 ) bufnefs of fuch prior exiftences, viz., from its/r/? formation to its defcent into the womb, and its exit therefrom, in its infant flate always^ and oft times in deliria, ebriety, fleep, experience proves Jnconteftably ; and though the non-confcl- oufnefs of tranfadtions paft, in a fuppofed prior ftare, cannot affe6l the credibility of the foul's having paflld through fuch a ftate, without ren- dering equally difputable its w/j/ exigence in the Womb, in deliria, ebriety, fleep, or the like •, yet to fet the infufficiency of the objection to the doc- trine of pre-exiftence, grounded on the want of confcioufncfs^ in a far ftronger light ftill, the rea- der is requefred to take into confideration a cir- cumftance, hitherto fcarce enough, if at all at- tended to, which is this, viz. fuppofing a prior exiftence ever fo unqueflionabie, and even de- monftrable, yet it is not in the nature of things •pojjihle^ that there fliould be a recoUedtion of things tranfacled in that flate. In the firif place — ^ § 8. Unlefs the foul had brought with it up- on thh (lagc of adion, the fame kind of vehicle wherein it was enclofed in the former^ how is it pofl^ibie it fliould have any re- conception of thofe ideas of which that fort of body only was furnifhed with proper initruments for the formation and reception ? The foul in its former flate was con- verfant, we may fuppofc, only with objeds imma- terial ; the prefent turniihes it with fuch as are material only ^ i. e. the latter are the only objedls of which the foul's prefent vehicle can derive to the mind any pofuive diflindt images and repre- fentations. Is it v/onderful then that the former fliould be defaced and difpolTelTed by the latter ? Or ra- ther, does it feem poflible, that objecSts immateri- al fliould be let in upon, or any former images thereof be renewed, in the mind, through organs fuited to the reception of material mz^Qs only. N § 9, The ( 98 ) § 9« The foul cannot now refle£l upon, Co as to form, I mean, ideas of any thing fpiritual or immaterial, not even of its own nature and eflence — and wherefore ? Why, becaufe it is itfelf of a fubftance immaterial ; and the body, by the inf- irumentality of which the ideas of objedls arc refieded and refraded to the mind, is not adapt- ed to refled to its view an obje^b fo refined and imperceptible to prefent fenfe *. Agreeably to * In anfwer to which it will be urged, perhaps, that the nature oidifpirit^ or of objefts immaterial, is not lefs concei'v able or eafy to be defined than the nature of any thing elfe. For as for the very ejfence or h^ixe /ubj}ance of any thing whatfo- ever, he is a very novice in fpeculation that does not acknow- led8:e, that utterly imkno%vahle ', but as for the e^ential B.nd jnfeparable properties, they are as intelligible and explicable in a fpirit as in any other fubje^ whatfoever, Vid, Dr. More's Antidot. b. i.e. 4. That the nature tind h^re ejence of matter and fpirit is alike unknonvahle and unexplicable J will not take upon me to de- ny; but, will it therefore follow, that the exiftence of each is equally ^'//r(?;7/.s/^/i7 and fen/tble? Material objefts adl upon our fenfes, fo as to become ailually palpable. But can this be faid of obje6ls immaterial ? Can the exigence of things, not the objcfls o^ Jenfe, which make not impref-^ fions on the mind, I mean, by the inflruraentality of the or- gans of either hearing, feeing, the tafte or the touch, &c. be faid to be equally obvious, knowable and dtfcernable as thofe wliich exifl only in the imagination, i.e. of whofe ex- iflence the imagination is confirmed y'^Z?/)' by the deduftions of reafon and revelation } And yet, fuch is the cafe with pure immateriality, which is not capable of being manifefled to any of our bodily fenfes; is of a natare fimilzr to thofe ex- igences alluded to in Scripture, which eye hath notfeen, nor can {ce ht'rc, nor ear heard, nor which have entered into the heart of man to conceive, but are perceivable by the eye of the imderfianding only. As for Dr. Berkley's hypothefils, upon which he at- tempts to reafon men out of ^t\x fenfes, and to di/pro^oe the a6lual exigence of what they hear, fee, fmell, tafte, or feel, (Vid. Dr. Berkley's Principles of Human Knowledge) I can- not, I own, think it material enough to require any notice here, or even any where, which> ( 99 ) which, fays Mr. Wolafton, — the foul may con* template the body which it inhabits, be confcioijs of its own a(5ls, and refleft upon the ideas it finds; but of its own fubftance it can have no adequate notion, unlefs it could be, as it were, objedl and fpe(5lator. And again, fays another writer* : The fubtle matter which goes out of the body with the foul, is indeed too fine to ftrike upon our grof- fer fcnfes, but v/e may fee it when God alTifts us in an extraordinary manner. By xht fubtle matter here mentioned, is meant, that inward vehicle in which Plato, Ariftotle, Des-Cartes, and our great Dr. More, fuppofe the foul to a6t feparately from that outward one, the body-f, by the inftrumen- talityof which it exerts its efformative or plaflic powers, for fuch an organization of its outward vehicle, as (hall be neceffary for the difcharge of its vital fundlion in fuch vehicle, be it an etherial, aerial, or a terreflrial one. § lo. Now agreeably to the opinion of the Pla- tonifts, and other philofophers, I fuppofe the loul to have pafTed through the two former of the a- bove-mentioned vehicles, previous to its entrance into this'^: from whence another argument ariles, which equally (or rather, more powerfully) de- monftrates how im^^^^ible it is, that there fhould * Mr. Poiret, in Mr. Bayle's Life of Rorarlus. -f Arirtotle plainly affirms, that the foul partakes of a bo- dy diftindl from tliis organized terreftrial body, confilling of a nature etherial and lucid, and analogous to the element of the flars, (pvaiq oi,vixKoyo<; aaa tco im affuv fo^ucj, Vid. M. Im. b. 2. c. 14. p. 1 18, X Should the foul have been reduced to a ftate of Ji/ence and itta<^i^ity, " before its turn came to revive in an earthly •* body," as Dr. More, though with no degree of probabi- lity, I think, fuppofes. (Vid. Immor. b. 2. c. 14, p. 119.) fuch a fuppofitlon, fliould it be admitted for truth, will ac- count for an oblivion of what happened to it in a preceding exigence. N 2 be ( 100 ) be a re-conception of things tranfacled in a prioif Hate, was our exiftence therein ever fo unquedi- enable. § II. For, fecondly, €2ich outward vehicle of the foul, being the tablet whereon are impreflecj and treafured up the images of objeds conveyed thither through the organs of ibat vehicle, and refteded to the foul from time to time, by the in- Jtriimentality of the inward vehicle above-menti- oned, all prior images and impreffions mufl, of courfe, be de^ad to the foul, when it changes that outward vehicle for another. And though it is, niethinks, eafy and reafonable to imagine, that the regiliry of fads contained in one vehicle, may be tranfmitted progrefTively and upward^ to another, that the foul in each frage of its return thither, from whence it came, may, by means of that nearer approach to the fource and center of perception, intuition and refic^ion^ ^LQCj^u'wt a re- conceptive intimation of ;??-^?{)' tranfad ions pads, yet its defcent downwards into this befmearing moiflure of the firft rudiments of life, as Dr. More exprefies it, mufl, of courfe, lull it into an oblivion of whatever happened to it in its former abodes ; nor will the whole fcene of paft tranfadions, in each fuccefl^^/'j^-flage hither, be ex^ hibited, perhaps, till the u^; wherein the books fhall he opened^ and the dead judged, out • of thcfe things that are written in the book^ according to their works, Apoc. c. 2C. § 12. This however is certain, that whatever were the objeds (material or immaterial) with which we had been converfant in a prior ftate, yet the dilierence of organs, arifmg f«-om differ- ent vehicles, muil render it impoffible for any thing here to recall to the mind images pafl ; the prefent vehicle being, toto calo, lo difilmilar from ( lOI ) from the former, and fuited to the reception of terrefirial images only. § 13. yonlee,then,of what little avail the foul's vo7i-confcioufnefs of tranfaclions pad is, towards rendering incredible its fuppofed exigence in a prior ftate-, or rather, how impofiible it is, fup- pofing fuch an exiflence demonftrable, that there Ihould be tranfmitted to the fou), in this its third vehicle, a confcioufnefs of what pafled in the firft. § 14. Ob J. II. It will, however, in the next place, be urged, that if we are here under a ju-** dicial degradation for crimes committed above, are probationers for a recovery of the divine fa- vour, forfeited by fuch trefpafles, it is incon- ceivable how, without being confcious of either the guilt or chaftifement therein implied, we can be brought to fuch a repentant ftate of mind, as mud be neceffary for the obtaining the wifhed-for reconciliation, with our offended Cod. § 15. In anfv/er to this objedion, I would, in the firft place, afk,* where lies the fliult, if men are really fo much in the dark, with refpedl to thefe points, as the objedion fuppofes ? Would they but give a fair, unprejudiced ear to the voice of reafon, fcripture, and the nioft learned, ingenious, and religious of almoft every age, I do not fee how it is poftible they can be under any kind of doubt about either. § 16. I have already confidered a pre-exiftence of human fouls, not only as the belief of moft of the learned, in all ages paft, but as the very ground-work of the golpel difpenfation. The former has been fufhciently evinced in a foregoing chapter ; nor could the latter be lefs ob- vious to the Chriftian world in general, would men be perfuaded to throw afide their prejudices. give ( 102 ) give the fcriptures a fair and rational interpreta- tion, and aim to makeChriftianity coincide with the nature and attributes of God, its divine Au- thor. Evidences, without number, of a deprav- ed degenerate nature in man, his own condem- ning heart fets in continual array before him ; that this cannot be the work either of God or our primogenitor Adam, reafon proves incontef- tibly •, that we are children of wrath from our birth, and under the power and dominion of Sa- tan, in our natural unregenerate Jtate^zriiing from a ^rior affociation with the apoftate angels, and that to purify our corrupted nature, to expiate our original guilt, and to refcue us from the powers of darknefs, is the very end and defign of the gofpel difpenfation, we have full fufficient evi- dence, from reafon, fcripture, and the exprefs fun- damental articles of the Chriftian faith ; ©r, I know not, what is the true language of fcripture, what ideas we are to affix to the terms redemp- tion^ atonement^ &:c*, nor what we are to under- ftand ■* Dr. Taylor, indeed, obferves as follows: *' The fcrip" tures of the New Teftament, excepting Rom. xii. &c. and J Cor. XV. 2 1, 22. before explained, do always affign the a^ual nxitckednefs and corruption of mankindt ^vhere^ith they ha^e corrupted themfelnjes, as a reafon and ground (next to the grace of God) of Chrift's coming into the world. When the apoftle, Rom. i. i6, 17. is profefledly demonftrating the excellency and neceility of gofpel grace (which is the fame thing as the redemption in Chrill) for the falvation of the world, he proves it, not from the ftate of fin and mifery, into which they were brought by Adam's fall, but from the fin and mifery which they had brought upon themfelves by their (nvn ivicked departing from God — ver. 2 1. Be- caufe, that when they knew God, they glorified him, not as God, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolifh hearts were darkened. And fo on to the end of the ciiapter. ** And Y^.^-- ^^. C 103 ) ftand by St. Paul's being fent to open the eyes of the Gentiles i to turn them from darknefs to light, and " And as the Gentiles, fo likewlfe, the Jews had corrupted themfflves and flood in need of gofpel grace, and redemp- tion, as well as other men, Chap. ii. iii. to ver. 19. where he concludes, he had, from notorious fads and fcripcure- proofs, flopped every mouth, both of Jew and Gentile, and brought in the ^ujhje nvorld guilty before God, and infufficient for their own juftificatlon upon the deeds of mere law. And tlien goes on — but tionju the righteovjnefi of God, or that method ©ffa«/ation which the gracious law-giver hath provided, is vianifejlcd to the world, &c. for the benefit of all forts of men (Ver 23. For all ftand in need of it, all having finned and come fhort of the glory of God, i. e. the obedience of God) that they may be jullihed freely by his grace^ through the re- demption which is in Chrift, &c. You lee the apoftle grounds the grace of redemption upon the aflual wickednefs of man- kind, and upon no other caufe or reafon. So Tit. iii. 3. For we ourfelves alfo were ibmetimes fooliih, &:c. Ver. 4^ But after that the kindnefs and love of God, our Saviour^ towards man, appeared, — Ver. 5. According to his mercy he faved us, &c. — Ver. 6. Which he hath Ihed on us, Sec. Ver. 7. That being jufiified by his grace we fliould be made heirs, ?jc. Gal. i. 4. He gave himfelf for us, that he might redeem us from this prefent evil world, i. e. from the Infts oftheflefh. i Pet. i. 18. We are redeemed from a vain converfation. i John iii. 8. For this purpofe the Son of God was manifelled, that he might deftroy the works of the devil. In Ihort (excepting the two places above excepted, which relate only to the reverfmg the fentence of common morta- 3ity) I know not of any place in fcriptare where redemption is not afiigned on God's part, to his own free grace; and on man's part to the depravity and corruption of the world, wherewith they have depraved themfelves. And I verily be- lieve it is not in the power of any man to bring any text to the contrary. Vid. Dr. Taylor on Original Sin, Fart 3. p. 290". The dcfign of our Saviour's con^jng into the v/orld, there- fore, according to \yx. Taylor's opinion, was not to redeem- mankind from the guilt and punifhment of any corruption of nature, inherent or derived, but to atone for their a<5lual per- /onal trefnafles^ or (as he exprefTes it) their c-cvn -jdcked depart - irn ( 104 ) and froiT) the power of Satan unto God. And that the ftate of the Gentile world is to be confidered as ingfrom God — both Jew and Gentile had corrupted themfcl^^/> v»'icked departing from God; by their own aftual, /^r)^.W wickednefs ; and on this, and no o//^^r caufe or reafon whatfoever, is grounded the grace of redemption. But this wicked depurtingfrom God, this /^'r^»tf/ wicked nefs, &c. whence proceed that? What could urge creatures, living under fo ftrong a fenfe of the nature and attributes of the di- vine Being, and of their manifold obligations to him, to re- quite his inexhaufled goodnefs with fuch repeated afts of impiety, ingratitude, and vile enormities ? What, but a heart elapfed from original righteoufnefs, eftranged from God and goodnefs, and devoted wholly to the fervice of the prince of darknefs? A releafe, therefore, from the original guiit, deferved punifliment, and growing pon.ver of this malady (and not as Dr. Taylor fuppofes from the feveral fpecies of vice which could not kit flow therefrom) is the whole and fole objed of the redemption by Jefus Chrift. This is plainly intimated, by the apollle to the K-omans, c. v. and x. For wohen nve nvcre enemies, nve n.vcre recomiisd to God hy the death cf his Son. — When we were enemies i.e. when we were 3n a flate of tnmity with God, children of q.vfath, (as we all were by nature, on account of that Hate of fin and iniquity in which we were born, and thofe corruptions of nature which attended us from the womb) we were reconciled to God, were refcued from the power and punifliment of thofe corruptions, &c. by the 'death of Chrifl:. And the finners to which the apoflle here alludes, as recon- ciled to God, and of courfe cleanfed from their fins, are not to be confidered as finners, made fuch by ferjhial trefpafl^es here^ but by that original debafement of nature, in which they were conceived. For, in the firll fenfe, even the re- generate and converted, were reprefented as finners fi:ill. If nve fay ijce ha^ve no fin, fays St. John, ^^'Je dcceiz'C our J elves ^ and the truth is not in us. i John i. 8. But fins, confider- ed in the other fenfe, the fins which were the immediate ob- jeOs of redemption, they are forgiven us; are, as the apollle fpeaks, naikd to the crofs. I'he hodv of fn is defrayed. Sin pall ( 105 ) a^ the natural ftate of men, fcems evident from the following paflage, of St. Paul to the Ephefians. And you hath he quickened^ who were dead in trefpajfes and fins. Wherein^ in time paft^ ye walked according to the courfe of this wcrld^ accord- ing to the prince of the power of the air^ thefpirit that now worketh in the children of difobedience, Among whom alfo we all had our converfation in times pajt in the lufls of our flejhy fulfilling the de fires of theflefjj and of the mind^ and were by nature the children of wrathy even as others. Intimating, that the apoftle and his Chriftian converts v/ere, before their con- verfion, upon the fame footing entirely with the Gentile world, walked as they did, according to Jhall not ntn» have dominion over us. For njce are not undet the laiVy but under grace. But, fays Dr. Taylor, ** the redeemer himfelffrequentl/ fpeaks of various parts of his own great work ; fuch as, en- livening the world, converting- finners, raiiing the dead, &:c. but of redeeming it from thefinfulnefs and corruption of na- ture derived from AdarUy he faith not one word in all the four gofpels." 1 muft, however, beg leave here to obferve, that our Sa- viour's filence, with refpeft to this or any other fuppofed fcripture-do<^fine, is not to beconfidered abfolutely as a kind of impeachment of its credibility and importance ; it being evident, that the myilery of godlinefs was not wholly revealed, but in part (and on purpoje) concealed by our Saviour, from even his own difciples. I have many things (fays our Saviour, to his difciples, juit before his departure from them) I have many things to fay unto you y hut ye cannot bear them no//*W^a/7/from Adam, I f- have already (hewn in my comment on her ninth article. And have proved from fcripture and the nature and tenor of the gofpel diipenfa- tion, that men are from their birth, and in their natural unregenerate fi:ate, children of wrath, and under the power and dominion of Satan ; and if, from what has already been faid upon this point, this complex calamity in man ihould appear to be the refult of a prior afibcia- tion with the apoftate powers, (hall the want of a confcioufnefs of the feveral circumftances of the iuppofed lapfe^ which, in the nature of things is O 2 nat% '( loS ) hot, as I have (hewn above poffihky be deemed a fufHcient warrant for the dijhelief of the hypo- thefiSjin oppofition to fcripture, reafon, and the o- pinion of the moft rational and approved writers. Heathen, Jewifh,andChriflianphilofophers,&c P § 1 8. And reader, as I doubt not of your having difcernment enough to conceive rightly the force of an argument, let me afk you this queftion. Have any of us, any other confcioufnefs of otir be- ing the offspring of heaven^ and candidates for a future immortality, than what arifes from the fame kind of information ? — Is, in fhort, any fircnger evidence appealed to, or even required, , in proof of a God, the immortality of the foul, or of a future ftate of rewards and punifhments ? And if that original guilt charged upon us in fcripture, is, in reality derived from our firfi pa* rents^ how comes it to pafs, that there are mil- lions in the world, who, fo far from hav- ing a confcioufnefs of fuch fuppofed truth in their minds, treat, on the contrary, with the utmoft derifion and deteftation, the extraordinary doc- trine ? § 19. And then, fecondly ; that a confcioufnefs of paft tranfadions is not eflentially neceflary for the reformation of a being degraded for fuch tranf- adions, as the above objedion fuppofes, the cafe of Nebuchadnezzar (not to mention any other argument at prefent) clearly evinces. What con- fcioufnefs had he of that wretched condition to which he was reduced, or the crimes from which it refulted, when, as fcripture informs us, he was driven from men^ and did eat grafsas oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven^ till his hairs were grown like eagles feathers^ and his nails like birds claws? At the end of the days, indeed when his fcver^ ( 109 ) feven years degradation was at an end, he lifted up his eyes unto heaven, and his underflanding returned unto him, and he bleflfed the mod High, and praifed and honoured Him that liveth for ever. § 20. Now, whether there was, or was not, an ac- tual transformation of the monarch into the form of a bead, it is not effential to the point in quef- tion to determine •, it being fufficient to obierve, that his hearty or the ftate ot his mind, was changed from man^s heart, and a beaft^s heart was given him*i and without any apparent confcioufnefs of * This transfiguration of Nebuchadnazar, {ox former crimssy feems intended to fhadow out to us the nature and circum- ilances of the brute creation ? That brutes are endowed v/ith fome degree of reafon and refleftion, and a fenfibility of pain, as well as pleafure, there 13 no kind of doubt with men of reafon and refledlion. Nor is itlefs evident and unqueftionable that the latter, viz. Pain, is frequently more than overbalanced by the former. To mention only that excellent and mod ferviceable animal, the horfe : What exquifite, what afFcding tortures do many of thefe animals endure (though fome few of them, perhaps, Bieet with a more friendly fate) from feme mercilefs, callous- hearted monfter of a mailer ! How frequently, to the pangs of hunger and a diftempered body, are added the moll cut- ting flripes and fcourges, moil liberally, and oftimes wan- tonly, dealt out by an inhuman driver, or fome human brute, a rider! And all this, perhaps, for not eifeding impofnbilitiesl But wherefore all this wretchednefs? Wherefore all thefe agonizing pains and miferies heaped on an helplefs offspring of divine providence ? Are they not fle(h and blood ? Do they not, as well as loe, know what forrow means ? Were thfy brought into a fenfible exiftence for nothing but the fer- vice, or rather to gratify the pride, the wantonnefs, the cruelty of man ? Shall one being be created, even under the bare poifibility of being mademiferable, folely for the ufe or pleafure ( no ) ofeither his degradation, or the guilt for which it was the deftined punifliment, a proper re- morfe for his former pride, vanity, and felf- fuffici- pleafure of another? Lord, what is man? or, rather, what are not brutes ? Art they not, let me aflc, fouls, labouring under a feverer llroke of juftice, than is the lot of man, from having contracted an heavier load of pre-exiftent guilt ? What can be more probable ? what more adequate to our idea ofinfinite reditude ? If it fhould be urged, that the af- iigning fouls to one part of the brute creation, will reduce us to the neceflity of fuppofing the like to aftuate the moft 3Tiinute fpecies of vital nature alio ; I would wilh the fpecu- lative and philofophic part of mankind, to confider that there is difcernable, by the microfcopic eye, as exquifitcly juft and due proportioned difpofition of organs, fibres, kc, (the more amazing, in proportion as they are more minute) in the one as in the other. — That, again the foul has the power of felf- contraction to an infinitefiimal degree, as well as that of felf dilatation — that, fuppofing, in the next place, every organized body, as well in the brute creation, as in the rational, to be an allotted temporary prifon for a predelinquent foul (an hypothefis, than which, there cannot, I th^k be one more rational) it is eafy to conceive how, and why, /ofnem?iy be made prifoners here more at large, as we fay, and entrufted with privileges and faculties more nu^- merous, extenfive, and exalted than others: and that, laft- ly, it is impoiTible to fay into how many different kinds of vehicles a foul may tranfmigrate, *ere \Ki plajlic faculty be re- fined enough to inform one wherein to perform the funilions of an intellige?jt and rational \\ie(aj. (a) But St. Cypriaa's obfervation upon the point is me- thinks no bad one. Should I deny, fays he, that flies, beetles, wood-lice, glow- worms, mites, moths, are the work of the Almighty, it will not necefiarily be required of me to fay who made them, who appointed them. I may without offence, furely, fay that I know not from whence they came. Si negemus mufcas, fcarabaeos, & cimices, nitedulas, cur- culiones, et tineas omnipotentis efle opus regis, non iequi- tur f III ) fufficiency, was the happy confequence; There is, however, no reafon to doubt but that a retrof- •pe5live fctne of pafl tranfacflions, will hereafter, in confequence of a pre-concerted plan, worthy a God of infinite wifdom and juftice, be laid open to all thofe who have travelled through this vale of mifery, irretninifcent of the country from which they came^ which will be produdlive of every defirable advantage. , § 21. Objec. III. But flill fay you, when I pafs through the flreets of this great metropolis, or tra- vel into different countries, what multitudes of the human race appear with a complacency of counte- nance which fo far from teilifying any inward confcioufnefs of a prior guilt, forbids our enter- taining the lead fufpicion of their being charge- able with any thing of that kind ! And, fhould it be told them, that they had not only lived in a prior (late, but were detruded into this lower world, as a kind of difinherited offspring of hea- ven, and adherents to the prince of darknefs; how few are there who would not fire with indig- nation at the horrid report? When, again, we view the anointed of heaven, kings of the earth, and all others who bear rule in the feveral parts of the world; perfons confecrated to religious purpofes, powers and preheminences, prelates and their fubordinate dignitaries in the church, the venerable minifters of judice, and men of eminence in every order and profeffion — fhall thefe, fay you, be looked upon as beings funk down by the tur poftulandum a nobis eft ut quis ea fecerit inftituerltquc dicamus. Poflimus nulla cum reprehenfione neicirc quis cc illis originem dederit. St. Cyp, Adv. Gent, L. 2. p. 34. weight ( 112 ) weight of zpre-exifiens guilt? fs thi^, in ^riy d^- gree, Credible? What! fhall we dare to view ma^ jejly itfelf in {q unfavourable, fo uncomfortable alight? And are all — even all— princes, prelates, pealants, pedlars, in the eye of the Deity, on one and the fame ignominious level ? § 22. InanrwertothefequeriesImuft,irithefirft place, obferve, that the marvelloufnejs of a dodlrinC is not, of itfelf^ a fufficient foundation for a dif- belief of it, it being no uncommon thing for er- rors to be admitted for truths, only becaufe the/ arc popular J or (y?^^///Z'^^ errors, which the many fuccefTive deviations from old received fyftems^ ecclefiaflical or civil, fpeculative or philofophic, abundantly evince-, and that therefore novelty is as likely to have truth on its fide as antiquity*. §23. 1 muft, in the fecond place, defire the reader to give due attention to what has been already ob- ferved ; that, even fuppofing our defcent hither to be the refult of a pre-exiftent guilt •, it does not therefore, follow, either that all of us are cri- minal in the fame refpe^l, nor even any of us upon a footing with the apoftate angels, or in an equal degree objeds ot the divine difpleafure. But, that fcripture in exprefs terms fixes upon ally inajejiy itfelf not excepted, an original, inhe- rent guilt and drepravity of nature, the reader will not, I apprehend, dilpute-, and as the honour and equity ot God, and the credit, dignity, and authority of our religion, require this quefi:ion fairly to be dilcufiTed, viz. whether fcripture af- cribes that original guilt, &c. to the imputed tref- * Error is old, fays a Greek Father, therefore truth feem- cth new — Tro^^atat ^i^ TrAav^j, xauw h *?i^0sk». Clem. -TTpoTpTTT. V m. 4. pafles ( 113 ) pafles of our firft parents, or to a perfonal pre- exiftent default in ourfelves, let reafon, the grand criterion of truth, and the only infallible interpre- ter of fcripturedoclrines, determine the point, and my hypothefis will not appear, perhaps, more marvellous than manly, rational, and, I had al- moll: faid, unquellionable. § 24. And then, thirdly, though the high ho- nours, pre-eminences and powers, to which many by birth, others by a feries of fortunate events, ar- rive, may, from a fuperficial view of things in- duce us to confider the glittering proprietors thereof, rather as peculiar favourites of heaven, than lapfed apoftates from his power and autho- rity; yet how very ill grounded fuch a conclufion very often is, experience too frequently proves. Many of the fancied blejjings of life are oft-times given in the Deity's wrath, and, in order to (hew how equally contemptible, in his fight, are both the receiver and the gift. Nor could providence nnore effe61ually convince the world what a fhare of pride, vanity, cruelty, want of feeling for the diftreffes of others, &c. lodged in the heart of fome,than by heaping on them riches, or invefting them with pov/er and authority ! In many others, indeed, we cannot help confidering them as to- kens of the divine favour, and rewards of a prior comparative degree of merit. And though royalty^ in particular, wears too frequently the image of the ruler of this worlds the prince of the powers of darknefs^ yet fometimes (as it does now m an unufual degree on the inhabitants of /^/jifle) it fi"iines with the ineffable glories of piety, purity and (leady patriotifm. Majefly, fo ar- rayed, befpeaks an original fijperior to the com- mon race of Ir.pfcd beings, and almoO: tempts P the ( 114 ) the inferior clafs of mortals to fay, of perfonages fo dignified^ " I he Gods are come down to us, in the likenefs of men." And when riches and honours are bellowed on others, whofe delight it is to employ them to the comfort and happinefs of their fellow creatures, there is no doubt but that providence fingkd them out as perfons moft wor^ thy to be entrufled with the happy opportunity of doing good. Objec. IV. It may ftill be urged, that this world is fo far from being a (late of punilhment and exclufion from happinefs, which the dodrine of a lapfe of human fouls in a pre-exiflent ftate fup- pofes, that, upon the whole, it is produdive of public and private happinefs in great abundance. With refpe(5t to the firft, viz. piihlic happinefs, and to that Canaan of happinefs, which Britons enjoy, compared with others, it may, perhaps, be deemed (and I wiih we werefufficiently fenfible of the difference) what the objedionfuppofes. Heaven be praifed, we have none of the miferies under v/hich other nations are ofttimes labouring ! Ours is not now the horrid feat of war ; nor are pkgues peftilences, fiery irruptions, and devouring earth- quakes, tlie defolating horrors of this our Sion; nor are galling opprefTions of tyrants, nor rude and favage barbarities, common amongft us : but, are not thefc the miferies, under which groan more or lefs, a gixac, I might fay the far greateft part of the Globe, § 25. Carry we, then, ourfelves intoa view of detached pictures of the world, and what are the moft exalted gratifications here, when contrafted with that portion of blifs v^'hich we have forfeited, and to which v/c can be reflored by Chriftianity only. Are they more than fo mai"\v play-things in the h.ands of cliildren, far (horr of manly enjoyments, and ( 1^5 ) and of a rational and ample fruition? And if to thefe we add, the incidental misfortunes, dif- quietudes, and deep calamities of life, can we be faid to enjoy a—life of happinefs? Is it not at bed a life of diflatisfadlion ? § 26. I am apt to think, fays Mr. Woollafton, with refpedt to private fehcity, that, even amoncr thofewhofeftateis beheld with envy, there are many who, if at the end of their courfe they v/ere put to their option, whether, without anv refpecft to a future ftate, they would repeat all the plea- fures they have had in life, upon condition, to go over again alfo all the difappointments, the fame vexations and unkind treatment from the world, the fame fecret pangs and tedious hours, the fame labours of the body and mind, the fame pains and fickneffes, would be far from ac- cepting them at that price. But here the cafe, as I have put it, only refpedls them who may be reckoned among the more fortunate pajfengers ; and for one that makes his voyage fo well, chou- fands are toll in tempefts and lolt How many never attain any comfortable ^tx." tlement in the world? How many fail, atter they have attained it, by various misfortunes ? What melancholy, what diftracflions are caufed in fa- milies, by inhuman or vicious hulbands •, falfe or peevifh wives *, refradory or unhappy children j and if they are otherwife, if they are good, what forrow for the lofs of them ? How many are forced by necefTity upon drudging and very ihocking employments, for a poor livelihood ? How many fubfift upon begging, borrowing, and other (hifts, nor can do otherwife ? How many meet with fad accidents, or fall into de- plorable difeafes? are not all companies, and the very (Ircets filled with complaints and grie- P 2 vanccs. ( ii6 ) vances,^ and doleful llories ? I verily believe, that a great part of mankind may afcribe their deaths to want and dejedlion. WooUailon Rel. Nat. p. 207. § 27. But allowing, what can by no means be denied, that there are many in life who ex- perience a continued feries of real comforts, real enjoyments, yet the queftion is, with what view they are vouchfafed by the difpofer of all things, and on what account ? It is certain that a fupe- riority of pofTefTions, titles and power, do not happen by meer chance, and with no particular view in deity refpe^lmg thofe to whom they are allotted. A paradife was prepared for Adam, for one to whom the deity knew it would be an unde- ferved bleffing. And temporal bleOlngs were perpetually pouring down on the peculiar people of God, a ^to^iXt peculiar only for their ingraiitude. From whence we may conclude that the many advantages in life, are in general no more than defigned trials of a man's behaviour in the pofTef- fion of them j the particulars of whofe condudb are repofed, unknown to the pofiefibr, in the bread of God, to be produced againft him in the laft great day of accounts, when it will ap- pear that it had been infinitely more to his re^l advantage never to have been pofTefled of them, than to have made (as he will then fee though too late) that he has made fo unworthy an uleof them. Confider this for your own fakes, d^Ayt great ones> and* learn from hence ye little ones how to efti-*. mate aright your defpiled Uttlenefs. § 28. Objec. V. It may be urged, if the foul did adually exift in a prior ftate, it is very, ex-' traordinary, that that pre-exiflence (hould not have been intimated to us in the mofaic hiftory of ( 117 ) of the creation ; whereas that evidently fnppofes thG Joul of man, as well as his Ipody, to have been ihtnfirjl formed by the Creator. That the Mofaic creation was not the ori spinal creation, I have endeavoured to prove already, and that the defgn of the Mofaic hiflory accounts for its filence with refpefl to a lapfe of human fouls in a pre-exiftent (late, the reader will fee from what follows. It is certain fays St. Baftl^ that Mofes did not defign to write of the creation of all things^ bun only of things vijihle and corporeal He is wholly filent with refpecc to the crea- tion of human fouls, whence the divines of the Chriftian church are, as fays Brock lefloy (p. 502.) extremely at a lofs, de origine anm^, not know- ing which of the three opinions to prefer, that of the pre-exiflence of fouls, or that of their creation, and infufion by the immediate hand of God, in fuccefTive generations ; or that which derives them from propagation. Which total filence, touching the origin of fouls, is a plain • f^ indication, that the creation of them was no part of the Mofaic creation. § 29. And, it is evident that the Mofaic hif- tory of the creation is, in the whole of it, nothing elfe but an hidory of the produdlion of a world of terreftrial animals, and of God's making pro- vifion for them as fuch \ and reaches to nothing higher, than the making fuch a terrellrial animal as man, not amending to the creation of his in- telledual foul.^ It afcends not to the creation of any living creature higher than terreftrial animals, fays not a word of the creation of an- gels-, and, as a Jev^illi writer obferves, in the; hiftory of the creation, only vifibles, quce vifii pr- ^^yf<^ ■ J.s^^ ' ^^^^^.^^^M ^ Wh^V^ > ( ii8 ) perdpiunier, are treated of; fuch as heaven, the earth, moon and flars, plants, animals, and fuch like ', not fuch things as, being immaterial, are difcernable only by the mind. MenafT Ben. Ifr. Qu. in Gen. p. 2 r . Nor is the filence of Mofes, with refpedl to the pre-exiftence of fouls, at all to be wondered at, when we confider how many truths of the utmoft importance are left totally unnoticed by him. He fays nothing of the knowledge of God, nothing of his effence and attributes, nothing of his divine nature and fovereignty, nothing of his rights, dues, and prerogatives, nothing of true worlhip and fer- vice, nor even any thing of the fervice of fa- crifice. And, though man is eflentially, more or lefs, a religious animal, is necefTarily under the law of religion, and has the law of nature written, as is fuppofed, on his heart, yet even of the law of nature, and the multifarious branches of it, there is no mention at ail in the Mofaic hiil'vry^ no moral philofophy, no divine mora- lity, nor any of the great rules and precepts of fobriety, righteouinefs, and godlinefs. And fo, though man is allowed to be pofTefled of an hea- ven-born foul, yet there h as little notice taken in the Mofaic creation, of the heaven -born foul of man, as there is of the creation and fall of angels, and that is none at all-, nothing of the origin and immortality of the foul, nothing re- lative to its prefent and future felicity, nothing of the end and bufincfs, the holinefs, and true happinefs of man ; nothing ot falvation and the way to it ; nothing of another world, nothing of either heaven or hell-, or of fpirituals and eternals. The Mofaic hiftory, therefore, being nothing elfe, as to the letter of it, but an hiftory of what belongs to God's creating terreftrial ani- mals. ( tip ) tnals, as fnch, and making for them a fuitable provifion, it is no reafonable objeiflion to the be- lief of the foul's prior exillence, that no mention of it is made in the Mofaic hirtory of the creation*. § 30. Ob, V;! Admiting for argument fake that the entire filence in the pentateuch concerning a Lapfe of fouls in a pre-exiflentflate is fufficiently ac- counted for above, yet how fbrange is it that no adtual declaration of it fhould have been made by Chrijl^ and that his difciples (hould have been to- tally ignorant of any fuch event ? To this obje6lion be pleafed to accept of the following reply. Whoever will ferioudy confider, fays Dr. Butler, that part of the Chriftian fcheme which is revealed in fcripture, will find fo much unrevealed, as will convince him, that to all the purpofes of obje6i:ing and judging, we know as little of it as of the constitution ot nature. Butler's Analogy P- 275- §31. This is not at all to be wondered at when we take into our confideration a circumitance, to which there feems not to have been given, as yet, the due attention, viz. that added to the want of thofe informations, which were purpofely fup- prefTed by our Saviour, as above-intimated, we find even the apoftle St. Paul, who wd^s feparated unto the gofpel of Chrift^ afling no lefs upon the referve throughout the whole courfeof his minif- try ', GiihQV partially relating, or purpofely invelop- ing in myltic types and allufions, many thino-s relative to the gofpcl difpenfation. An obferva- tion, the truth ot which is confirmed by his own exprefs declaration. For though he difclofed, from tim.e to time, the arcana of ttie gofpcl ceco- nomy to a feledl defer ving/^-zc; — to them who were f erf eft, as he fays, yet in general he fpake the Vid. Brcciilefby, f. riz. C I20 ) wifdom of God in a myjlery. We /peak wifdom^ fays he, among them who are perfe5f ; yet, not the wif dom of this worlds nor of the princes of this worldy that came to nought. But we fpeak (to the bulk of his hearers he means) the wifdom of God in a myftery. § 32. Pie had before obferved, to the Corinthians, that difdaining altogether the ghttering pomp of eloquence, or a vain oftencations Ihew of human wifdom, he had, with the utmoft plain- rxfs and fimplicity of Tpeech, declared to them the iefiimcny of God\ folicitous only to inculcate for the prefent, and as a foundation for their further progrefs in the knowledge of Chriilianity, the belief of Jefiis Chrifl and him crucified. Some of the more remote, recondite truths, contained in that belief (though not all of them, for a reafon which will hereafter occur) he referved for the in- formation ^//Z?^_/)^r/(?^ — for the fincere, humble, rightly difpofed convert* . Whence it follows, that the apolHe's full and thorough infight into the nature, tenor, and feveral circumftances of the gofpel difpenfation, is not eafily, if at ail, to be colleded fiomwhat is tranf- mitted to us in his epillles •, in which, as St. Peter fays, there are fome things hard to he underflood. * Creclendnm omnibus proponitur Chriflurn mortuum efle nt nos e Poteftate dlaboli eriperet. PerfeBis aiitem dicitur quo Juretotum huraanum genus in Diaboli Poteilatem faerie redadunn : ac rurfas quo Jure & ^qultatc per Chrilti Mortem fuerit inde ereptum. And again, as a comment o^xi We fpeak the ^-uoifdom of God in a m^iftery.ix. is added. — Sapicntiam Dei qus: abfconditaeil, id eil Concilia diviiKc fapientise, quae Deus efTe voKiit abrcondita& ante Filii fui Paflionem pauciflimis revelata, loquimur & dncemus non fropalam l^ pojp.ni apud crnnes (quia ron omufi ca capiunt) ied in Myilerio & apud /^r/c/VtV. Vid. iLlUum in Loco, Ac- )^ccGUnt^ fays he, that the long ftiffering of cur Lord is fahation-, even as our brother Paul alfoy according to the wifdom given unto hinty hath written unto you. As alfoy in all his epiftles fpeaking in them of thefe things in ivUch are fome things hard to be underftood, 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16. § 33. That the epillle, to which the words iy^-n^iv r/xiv written unto you^ particularly refers, is that of St. Paul to the Hebrews* •, and not, as is ufually judged, to the 2d chapter of his epiflle to the Romans, the learned hflius has, I think, proved beyond difpuie. Nor is it lefs evident that St. Peter alludes not to this or ihdii particular pajfage^ in that epifrle to the Hebrews, but to the whole thread of reafoning (the major part of it however) therein contained •, and further, that the cbfcurity which he afcribes to that epiftle in particular, he fuppofes to be applicable likewife to all his epillles in general. As alfo in all his epijlles fpeaking in them of thofe things^ &c. in which (v ot$ (not ev a'? as fome copies erroneoufly have it) in which epifles are fome things hard to be underjhod. From which pafTage the fame judicious com* mentator draws the following inference. It is a- bundantly evident, fays ht.*, that St. Peter affirms, that there are in S'.. Paul's epiftles, things hard to be underftood ; and at the fame time that it is a common thing for the other fcriptures, as well as St. Paul's epiftles, to be mifincerpreted and perverted by the unlearned -f. * And principally to the eleventh chapter of that ej^iftle, according to Dr. Kammcnd. f Apertiflimnm eft hcc Petri Teftimoninmin iis qux/crip- fit Paulus eiTe qusedam inielledu difficilia ; finriul indicans et ca^reris Scriptnris id efic commune quod et e?s ficut Pauli bcripta depravent Homines indctfU. Vid Eflium in Loco. Q. § 34- The ( 122 ) § 34* ^^^ reader is not, however, to infer from hence, that in the Aiimra. afcribed to St. Paul's cpiftles— the thifigs hard to he underjieod^ the ne- ceflary indifpenfable creadcnda of a Chriftian, truths, the belief of which is eflential to falvation, are included, the contrary being abundantly evi- dent. A lively operative faith in Chrill, as the Kedeemer of mankind, which is the very bafis, nay, and even the fum and fubftance of Chrifli- anity is not only the plain, ohviotis objedl of the apoftle's miniftry, but a conftant topic of exhor- tation throughout his whole epiftles. A faith, which (aduated and enlivened, I fay, by a corref- pondent purity of life) has given, 1 doubt not, all who have lived and died therein, an unqueftioncd pafport to the regions of blifs-, incapable as they were of fathoming the depth of the riches of the wif- dom andgocdnefs ofGod^ difplayed in the great work of man's redemption, of framing to themielves any idea of an atonement due to a pre-exiftent ftate of guilt, or of conceiving that a blefTmg, greater or more extoafive, was accomplifhed by Chrift^s mediation, interceflion, &c*. than a deliverance from the evils confequent on Adam's trefpafs. Thefe are points to which the apoftlc, I own, does but either diftantly allude Or myllerioufly incul- cate ; concluding as we may fuppofe, that, in af- ter times, the Spirit of Truth would, by due degrees, lead mankind into a difcovery of rhofe and many other important truths, refpeding the * Tliat tlie diotb Cif Chriit was made ^.coytditicn of our redempiior, or that it was any tiling more than a coptingevi Ccnfequcnce of liis miniftry (and as fiich f:refeen^prDphr/ird,Zir.d. frrfi;:urt:d oi old, and alluded to in the Mofaic rites and facri- fices, &c.) it is neither cafy of belief, nor capable, J think, of fcripluieproof— Butasio this let every one judge for himfrif,. medirw ( 123 ) mediatorial oeconomy, which neither the world was then capable of receiving, or he hinnfelf at liberty openly to difclofe. That they are, however, the lefs credible from the want of an exprefs, po- fitive declaration from the apoftle, we fhould not haftily conclude, when we confider (and 1 hope the confideration will have its due w^ightj that the apoftle was, by virtue of that extraordinary vifion vouchfafed to him — 2 Cor. xii.->undoubted- ly poflcfTed of a fuller and more intimate know- ledge of the myfteries of the gofpel difpenfation, than he was permitted to jnake known. And that the difcoveries then made, were of fuch a nature, as greatly exalted the dignity of the Chriftiaa ceconomy, is evident, from the excefs of vanity, to v/hich the communication of them had well- riigh drove the apoftle, and on account of which the meftenger of Satan was fent to buffet him. That thofe difcoveries did relate to a prc« exiftent guilt, and a redemption from it, by the death of Chrift, there is indeed no a6lual proof from fcripture. But whether our ideas of the mediatorial difpenfation are not tranfcen- dantly exhalted by viewing it through the me- dium of a fuppofed perfonal pre-exiftent guilt and appoftacy, inftead of ^ derived Adamic trefpafs and defilement, let the judicious, ferious, and impartial reader determine. \ '^S' 2^t ^s a farther, more direfl, and full anfwer to the above objedlion, I will give the reader another extrafl from that valuable tradt, the new Pradlice of Piety. I am not ftartled, fays he, th^t I find not Chrift nor any of his apoftles allerting. or fo much as mentioning any fuch dodrine (the doc- trine of pre-exiftence.) St. John's hyperbole in the laft verfe of his gofpel, fatisfies me, that I Q a; muft '( 124 ) rnufl: not expert to find all that our Saviour did and faid, regifbered by the evangelifts : And St; Paul's frequent exhortation, to hold fafl the tra- dition that he had imparted to them, whether by word or epiftle, convinces me, that it is not un- reafonable to conclude that he delivered many dodlrinjs in his fermons, which he had no occa- fion to mention in his letters to the church, among which this might be one. However it is a fuffi- cient warrant to my belief, that 1 no where in all the fcriptures can find this dodrine reprehended ; which had it been an error, could not hive ef- caped the cenfure of Chriic ^vA his apoftles, it being the univerfal tenet of all iorts '^f Jews ex- cept the faduces. When I confider thatOrigen and Ammonius taught it in the fchools of Alex- andria (Plotinus himfelf learning it from the lat- ter,Jand that all the primitive fathers, who were Platonifts, afferted it not only as a philofophical, but alfo as a divine truth •, I look upon it as an ef- fe6t of Gothic barbarity and ignorance, which afterwards overfpread all Cbrifiendom^ that neither this, nor hardly any other point of Platonifm were countenanced in the Chriftian fchools. CHAP. ( 125 ) t>mmmm i ' ' ' ■ ii ■ C H A P. XII. An Application of the Whole. 'A p. I. § I. TT^ROM the view which we have ±} taken ot a fuppoled lapfe of human fouls in a pre-cxillent ftatc, there opens to the intelledual eye an entire confiftency in that grand landfcape of nature, man*s terreflrial abode ; and the whole courfe of divine provi- dence towards him, from the creatio4i of the world, to its prefent (late. It enables us in the firft place, to fee in what manner, and with what advantageous views refpeding man, 7jatural and 7Jioral evil *were introduced into the world. § 2. Upon an exalted fcheme of compafllon for undone creatures, to introduce into aflateof trial, and probation, afelcdt nuinber of the lapf- ed race, Inatched, as it were, from the jaws of the great dragon, and to enable them to recover, if they pleafed, their forfeited happinefs, was Adam fent into the world in the manner and form defcribed by the facred hiilorian. And, though created after God's image, i. e. with fuch inteliedlual powers and faculties, as are in na- ture, though not in degree refembling thofe, by which the infinite and eternal mind is go- verned *, yet we find him here accompanied with * When Mofes fays, *' God created man in his own ** image,'* we muft confider the image of God in the Old Tellament notion of it; and it cannot be flicwn that the image of God in the Old Teftament, ever fignifies the di- vine, 'virtuous image of God. No fuch notion of it appears in ^ith that inftabillty, and depravity of nature, which he had acquired by his departure from ori- ginal redtitude above. -^ And here, if infinite mer- cy had not interpofed, the laft date of man had been worfe than thejir/i *• § 3. Myriads in the Old Teftament, but, on the contrary, mankind con* fidered as merely animal, are fuppofed to hear God^s image : Whofo Ihedeth man's blood, by man fhall his blood be fhed; for in the image of God made he man. Gen. ix. 6. So alfo in the New Teftament. Therewith curfe we men, that are made after the iimili- tude of God, James iii. 9, For a man ought not to cover his head, forafmuch as he is the image and glory of God. i Cor. xi. 7. But the image of God in Adam, confifted principally in his being a kind of reprefentative lord of the creation. Let MS make man, fays God, in our image, after our likenefs, and let them have dominion over the fifti of the fea, and over the fowls of the air, &c. — in our image, after our likenefs, j. e. in our ftead. * '* Even fuppoiing, fays Glanville, that Adam had not *' been a delinquent before his noted tranfgreflion in a ter- " reftrial body, and that his body had vaft advantages over ** ours, in point of beauty, purity, and ferviceablenefs to •* the foul, what hardship is there in conceiving that God •* might fend one of thofe immaculate fpirits, that he had " made, into fuch a tenement, that he might be an over- *' feer and ruler of thofe other creatures, that he had order- *' ed to have their dwelling upon earth. I am fure, fays he, ** that there is no more contrariety to any of the divine at- *' tributes in this fuppofidon, than there is in that, which ** makes God to have fent a pure fpirit, which he had juft '* made, into fuch a body. But then fuppofing that fome «* fouls fell when the angels did, (which he (hews is n« un- ** reafonable fuppofition) this was a merciful provifion of ** our Maker, and a generous undertaking for a fcraphic •' and untainted fpirit. For by this means, fit and congru- " ous matter IS prepared for fouls to refide and adl in, who ** had rendered themfelves unfit to live and enjoy thettifelves " in more refined bodies. And fo thofe fpirits that had fin- *' ned themfelves into a ftate of filence, and inactivity, are *' by this reafonable means, which the divine wifdom and ** goodnefa ( 127 5 § 3* Myriads of the fallen race wef6 to IfTue from his loins. He was to introduce them into a new probatory Icene of a6tion, was to become a kind of furety for their after condu6t, and in confequence of a right behaviour in all, was to bring them back to their former flate of glory. But having, together with the mother of mankind, loft fight of his duty to his Maker here, by eat- ing the forbidden fruit, he again fell a facrifice to the divine vengeance, and involved his un- happy offspring in the ruinous confequence. . § 4. Natural and moral evil then flowed \n apace. Now it was that fin entered into the worlds and that grcateil of natural evils, toge- ther with its ufual forerunners, bodily pains, in- firmities, and gradual decays,) death by fm, arif- ing, not improbably, from a malignant efficacy, efietitial to the fruit forbiden *♦ § 5- So ** goodnefs hath contrived for that purpofc, put once more ** into a capacity of adinjr their parts anew, and coming in- ** to play again. Now if it feems hard, continues he, to ** conceive, how fo noble a fpirit, in fach an advantageous ** body, fhould have been impofed upon by fo grofs a delu- •* iion, and fubmit fo impotently to the firil temptation, he ** may pleafe to confider that the difficulty is the fame, fup- ** pofing him juft then to have been made, if we grant him *' but that purity, and thofe perfeflions, both of will and * underftanding, which orthodox theology allows him. Yet ' I might allc again, fays he, what inconvenience there is in fuppoling, that Adam himfelf was one of thofe delin- qusnt fouls, which the divine piety, and compalTion, had thus fet up again ; that fo many of his excellent creatu: c» might not be loft, and undorte irrecoverably ; but might a6l anew, though upon a lower ftage, in the univerfe r A due conlideration of the infinite fcecundity of divine good- nefs, fays he, will, if not warrant, yet excufe fuch afup- pofitlon." VId. GIan%.'illeh Lux Orientalls.— pag. 3 r, 32. "' Bf?fore Adam ha-d eaten th? forbiden fruit, a divine be-'jt/ ( 128' ) § 5- So that inftead of being removed, as was the peculiar indulgence vouchfafed to Enoch and Elijah, by a direB tranflation from earth to the region of purefpirits, which would have been the cafe moil' probably, if he, on whom our ter- rem fate depended, had not finned here^ we have now the mortification to find that our paflage to it mud be through the dark chambers of the grave^ and that through a kind of phyfical neceflity. For the fame frail periihable body which Adam contraded by his tranfgrefTion defcendingof courfe to his poflerity, nothing but a miraculous inter- pofition of divine power, an immediate renova- tion of the protoplait's corporeal frame could pre- vent this from being the unhappy confequence *. beauty and majefiy was ftcd upon his body, fuch as could ntither be eclipfed by ficknels, nor extinguifhed by death : nature was his phyfician, ard prudence, and abflinence would have kept him healthful to Immortality. Stack. Hill. B. i. c. 2.p; 37. * Agreeably to which, ia^y^ the author of the book of wifdom, God created man to be immortal, but through the cxwy of the devil, death entered into the world. Wifdom. 23, 24. And Hgain. — By the woman vvas the beginning of fin, fays the wife fon of Sirach, and by her we all die. Eccl. 25, 2. By the counfel which the ierpent gave to Eve, all the inhabitants of the earth became obnoxious to daaih, fays the Targum, on Ruth, 4. v. ult. And the fame Chaldee pa- raphrafc upon Ecclef. c. 7. v. ult. fays, God made man pure and upright, but the Serpent and Eve feduced him to eac of the fruit of the tree, and fo they made death to rufh in up* en him, and all the inhabitants of the earth. It fecms to be no ill -grounded conjecture of fome, that the forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledoe of j^ood and evil, brought forth fruit the reverfe of that which was pro- duced by the tree of life. And they take this tree to have been of the nature of that Indian fig defcribed by Pliny, whofe frujt was fv/eeter th.-m an apple, but of a juice molt baneful to the human conlliiution ^ for which re-fon Alexan- der, in ii.is expedition gave ftriift orders that none of his ar- XV.)' llioivld touch that fruit. Plin. hift. 1. 12. c. 6. ^ 6. But ( m ) § 5. Sut is it not hard, after all, fays the free- thinker and enquirer, that things fhould be fo tinhappily circumftanced with refped to the ofF- fpring of Adam, as that the innocent fhould be made fharers in the punifhment due only to the guilty ? And the anfwer ufually given to the queftion is what? Why— //j in Adam all die^ even fo in Chrift Jhall all be made alive *. As if it ar- gued no degree of inconfiRency and injullice in divine providence,- to have recourfe to and avail himfelf of the death of him who knew ns fin^ in order to repair the damages the innocent ofF- fpring of Adam fuitained folely on account of their parents tranfgrelTion — A tranfgreflion too which could not but have been forefeen. Not- withllanding however the abfiirdity^ (might I not fay impiety ?) of fuch a fuppofition that calamity, deaths has hitherto been generally afcribed to Adam's tranfgrelTion, as the primary Sind file caufe when fcripture, fo agreeably to the didtates of rea- fon and retledion, declares, plainly and pofitively, that we fliare that part of the puniQiment inflidled On Adam's fm, only by having been ourfelves linners in a prior itate •, for what fays the apoftie ? Death pafTed upon all men, for that, or becaufi that («?> (^ eo quod, or as Erafmus readers it, tiua* tenuSy) all had finned. § 6. That this is the true import of the above paifage we learn from the apoftle's drift in the whole chapter; which is to amplify, or illuftrate the merit of the redemption of the world by Chrift. In order, therefore, to obviate any plea, that might perhaps be urged in behalf of the de- fcendants of Adam, as fuppcfed to be innocently, and as fuch wrongfully involved in the confe- quences of his guilt, and of courfe, intitled to a * Tliistexi will le confideredas we go along-. R redemp- ( I30 ) i-edemption from death and deftru£tion •, he takes upon him to convince them, that, incapable as they were of incurring the guilt for which Adam died, yet, having been hfore perfonally finners themfelves, they fhared, not unjuftly, the puniQi- ment infli61:ed on him. As by one man fin entered into the world, and death by [in, even fo (tor that is the true mean- ing of y-oci «Ta7?) even fo death pafled upon all men for or becaufe that all had finned. § 7. The more common tranflation of the pafiage is arrant nonfenfe. Wherefore, as by one man, fin entered into the world, and death by fin, and fo death pafied upon ail men, forafmuch as all have finned. — Well, and what then ? Why nothing at all fol- lows to make the fenfe complete, even allowing a parenthefis to extend as far as you pleafe. In what fenle, then, all had finned^ we learn from the fcope of the apoille's reafoning throughout the whole chapter. Doubtlefs one will fcarce die, fays he, for a righteous man, i. e. for one, who b^mg perfonally righteous, could fland in need of a redeemer •, yet for a good man — one from whom lome good may have been received — it may be that one might even dare to die. But herein is God's live manifefled towards us^ fays he, in that while we were Jtnners^ neither jV(# nor good^ (in a ftate of original fin moft undoubtedly, for the apoilles and other believers in Chriil, could not be fuppofed to be then labouring under a continued courfe of prefent fin) wh^le we were yet finners^ Chriil: died for us. And in order to Jhew, that it was (oidg pre- exi/hnt guilt in man, for which Chriil died, the apolUe reafons as follows. — § 8. Unto the time of the law^ fays he, was fin injhe worhiy hit fin is not imputed while there is n^ law ( 131 ) Uw. But death reigned from Adam to Mofes, even Qver them alfo^ that finned not after the manner of the tranjgrefficn of Adam^ who was the figure of him that was to come^ i. e. Sin was in the world prior to the law, [a^f ^^^'^^^ ufqtte ad Legem] but to what law ? To the law given by God to Adam, or to that delivered to Mofes ? Not to t!ie latter aflli- redly, becaufe fin was imputed before the Mofaic law commenced. Witnefs the fentence of deathi executed upon Adam, and the fucceeding race ; the puni(hmentinfli(5tcd on Cain ; the deltru6lion of the world by a general deluge -, the judicial confufion at the building of the 'Tower of Bahel\ the overthrow of ^odom and Gomorrah:, the fate of hof^ wife ; Simeon and Levi\ revenge on Ha~ tj7or, and Shechem for the rape committed on Dinah', and the muldplied judgments on Pi>^r^^/^, and on the people of the land of Egypt, § 9. By the law therefore, prior to which fin entered into the world, and to which the Apoille mull be fuppofed to allude, we mud undoubted- ly underftand the law of God given to Adam. And as the punifhment for fin was inflicted even oa thofe, who had not been tranfgrefibrs oi that law, the fufferers mud of courfe have been trefpafl^ers in 2L prior flat e, ioxftn is not imputed where there is no law. But death [the wages of Sin] reigned from Adam to Mofes even over them that had not finned after the fimilitude ofAdam's tranfgrefiion, who was the image of him that was to come i. e. who . by involving /?r^-^;;//te/ finners into the miferies denounced on his perfonal tranfgrefiions here^ the principal of which is a frail, corruptible, mortal body, bore a kind of contradiitind refemblance of him, who gave them an undeferved ihare in the benefits arifing to mankind by the 7nerit of his own perfonal attonement for fin in general. K 2 And ( 132 ) And fo it is that — By man came deaths and that hy man came alfo the refur region of the dead: So it iSy that — As in Adam all die^ evenfo in Chriftjhali all be made alive *. § lo. As the infedlion of fin (a pre-exiftent fin) remained among the pfierity^ of Adam, it wa^ no impeachment of divine juftice, that death, the punifhment denounced upon his tranfgrelTion, Ihould be tranfmitted to them hkewik-^// hav- ing finned.— § II. And that the other intermediate evils (»^. tural evils I mean) arife from the fanie fource, Scripture alTursus in exprefs terms f. Curfed is the ground for his fake '^ in for row do we- tat of it^ more or lefs, all the days of our life \ thorns alfo^ and thifiles it brings forth \ and we eat- of the herb of the field j in thefweat of our brow J we- '* If however it fiiould be infifted on» that the apoftle al-. ludes not to the law given by God to Adam, but to the law of Mofes, I don*t fee but my argument is of equal force notwithftanding, it being evident from the apoftle's own words, that before the latter, there was a fin n.:t imputedj^ and what could that be but men's original pre-exiftent iin, when as we have obferved above, other fins were aftualiy im- puted and punilhed. t " It is evident, that evil ought to be prevented if it ** be poffible, and that- it is a fmful thing not to prevent it " when it can be prevented. Neverthelefs our theology fbews ** OS, that this is falfe ; it teaches us, that God does no- ** thing but what becomes his perfedions, when he permits ^* all the diforders that are in the world, and which he might ** have prevented.'* This is part of a conference between two Abbots which Mr. Bayle introduces into his account of the Life of Pyrroh ; wherein a refleftion is caft upon the Deity, in permitting the introduftion and continuance of evil in the world, which is fnfficiently removed, by fuppofin^ it the refult of a lapfe of fouls in a pre-exiftent ftate. J Some conclude from hence, that the earth, before the fAlI, brought foyth fpostaneoufiy ; and indeed in fpme mea- fure .C 133 ) we eat bread, tillive return to the ground \ for out pfit we were taken, Dufi we are, and unto dujl we muft return. And it was not jnankind only which felt the fad effeds of the introdii(5lion of fin, but even the inanimate part of the creation fuffered by it. The fertility of the earth, and ferenity of the air were changed; the elenrients began to jar, the fealons, and the weather grew uncertain. See Stack, hill. p. 43. Milton * introduces God foon after the fall, appointing Angels to make an al- teration in the courfe of celellial bodies, and to polTefs them with noxious qualities, in order to rieftroy the fertility of the earth, and thereby punifh man for his difobedience. § 12. Thus the introdudion of natural evil among pre-exift en t finners, on account of Adam's appears confillent with our ideas of infinite equi- ty and wifdom ; we fhall fee now, how neeeilk-^ rily moral evil ififued from the fame fource. The Jews fuppofed, that the body of Adam, before the fall, was not an ordinary human body, but approached to theangcliclubtilty and purity. Creatura fuit fubtilifftma ^ puriffima proxime acce* dens ad Corpus fpirituale . See Brook, p. 464. fure, it is true, fince all things were produced at firft, by di- vine power, in full perfe6lion, without toil or labour. Gen. i. II, 12. But what labour would have been necefiary in time, we know not, only the words iq:> ply, that much lefs toil would in that cafe have been requiiire. See Patr.^n Lo- co. Other commentators obferve, that by the fweat of our »brow is underflood all manner of labour, whether of the body or the brain. Ecclef. i. 13. Asalfo what is grievous to a man in this life, either to do or fufFer. See aflembly qf fdivines.in Loco. * The fun Had firft his precept fo to move, fo fhine, As might afFed the earth with cold and heat 5;carce tolerable, and from the north to call Decrepit Winter, from the fouth to bring Sclflitial fummer's heat. — Mil. L. X. 9^1. § 13. But / (134 ) § 13. But this tenuous vehicle of the foul, after having imbibed the baneful juice of the forbidden fruit, degenerated by degrees^ into a more grofs and indelicate confiftency-, whence a group of fenfual groveling appetites unufuaU a- rofe of courfe. And as the degenerate nature of Adam's body becomes necejfarily hereditary to us, who are his offspring, fo in proportion muft its conconiitant grofs pajfions become hereditary too: Hence that law in our members^ warring againjl the law of our mind ^, and bringing us into captivity to the law of Jin \ hence that carnal mind^ which is enmity againft God, Our fouls are now cloathed with bodies calculated to adminifter fuch affc6li^ ons only^ as are repugnant to, and incompatible with that purity of mind, to which difpiritual life only can enable us to attain, and wherein only it is poflible for us to pleafe God. This is that life, which Adam forfeited by his tranfgreflion, and his poftcrrty fink in the ruins of it. Hence it is, that we are ftill dead in trefpafTes and fins ; that in the midft of life we are in death. The glory of the divine image, before eclipfed, is now more and more clouded, and obfcured by carnal luHs, and paflions ; the foul is, as it were, buried in finful/ua. Vid. C. Cels. L 6. p. 304. Item. I. 4.. p. 1 14. Eufeb. pra;par. Evang. 1. i2» c. U. And ( ii5 ) And the advantages deducible frOrh the re^ flcftion are as follow. § 15. They in the firft place afford us a (Irik- ing memorial of the calamitous effcdls of ^m^ and impiety in general, and of the heinoufnefs of thofe prior offences from whence are de- rived to us the evils confequent on Jdam's Cm in particular. § 16. The)^ are, in the fecond place, proper medicines to heal ourfpiritual ficknefs, to correcft the peccant humours in our intelle6lual and mo- ral frame, to check the impetuofity of our inflam- ed afid unruly appetites, and reduce us to a cool and Confident knowledge of ourfelves, and our unhappy condition. § ly. When, in the third place, it is remem- bered, that we come into this world, as objedts of the divine wrath, for fome pre-exiftent adts of rebellion againil heaven, w^ill it be wondered, if we feel, now and then, a ilroke from the rod of juftice \ or that the flate into which we are banifh- ed for thofe crimes fliould be prolific of correc- tive difTiCukies, anxieties, and adlual grievances ? Application 2. The long ^^rmtttd fovereigviy of the devil ill this inferior globe, the late appearance of the MeOiah, and the pail and prefent ftate of the heathen world, are all accounted for by the above hypothefis. § 1 8 \Vhen it fliall be confidered, that cr.ea- tures, bcrorc ballsing in the beams of glory, nay, and ever; ^:njoying , ■ . ^ — . . Their fill Of blifs on biifs — — — • — — Imparadis'd in fecial joys, dropp'd gratitude 5 that ( 137 )^ that inattentive to the laws of jufllce, generofity, and moral equity, they proflituted that freedom of will, with which they were entrufted by their Maker, revolted by degrees to the traiterous ri- val of his power and dignity, and fixed their al- legiance there — who docs not fee the wifdom of divine providence in conftituting him^ who had been their feducer in 3. prior world, their king or potentate in this? that fo by rendering his per- mitted fovereignty here inefFedlual for accomplifh- ing any thing but his and their own ruin, the va- nity of his ambitious enterprifes, and of their own truft and confidence in hi?}^ might be ren- der'd more confpicuous. To this nothing could have contributecj more, than the pre-ordained late appearance oWhtMeffiah among men, to ref- cue them from the power of the devil, and the multiplied miferies ifTliing from it. § 19. For, in the nrit place, mankind had by this means more time to refledl on the wretch- ednefs of their lapfed condition •, and feeing by long experience their own infufficiency to fatisfy the divine juflice, to cleanfe themfelves from their contraded pollutions, or regain their for- feited freedom, they of courfe became more and more convinced of the necefiity of a Redeemer, (fome more than human Redeemer,) to reflore rhem to themfelves, to reconcile them to their offended God, and to refcue them from the power of Satan. § 10. If then the Redeemer had been fent into the world foon atter the fall of Adam, or wiihin an age or two after the flood, and checked by that means the devil's controul in its infancy, the manifeflation of divine power in fuch a fjgnal conquefl, and of confe- S quence ( i3« ) quence the glory arifing from it, had been sr- bundantly lefs confiderable, than they afterwards were,, whcn—;;^ the lad days the Son of God was manifefted^ that he might deftroy the ^jjorks of the devil — I fay, in the laft days^ when the prince of darknefs had fo widely extended his donriinions, and continued robbing the king of Heaven of almoft all his fubjeds, in every province of -his empire here below, excepting that of Pale/line (nor was that totally exempt from Satanic fway) ~at fuch a jun6liire, as this, when the apoftacy of mankind became fo confpcuoiis and univerfal here, it was evidently mo(i for the glory of God to afTert his rightful fovereignty, to pull down the ufurped empire of his rival, the prince of the apoftate powers, and refcue a captive world (in themfeives helplefs, and hopelefs, and yet de- firous at the fame time of a deliverance) from the tyranny and oppreflion of thofe their fpiritual enemies^ whom they had ^^^r^ fo unguardedly ca- relTed, as friends. § 21. If in the fecond place, the Redeemer had come earlier into the world, than he did, men might ha/e been tempted to regard the Al- mighty, as lefs provoked by their prior apollacy and rebellion, or more placable, condefcending, and eafy to be entreated, than might well com- port with, either his dignity, majefty, or ho- nour *. § 22. And if there is ftill a great part of the human race, to whom the arm of the Lord is not yet revealed, men, who ftill fit in darknefs, 00 * If it (hould be urged, that thefe reflexions would hold equally good, upon a fuppofe.i imputed ^xsWtixom Adam, as ffom a pretended pre-exijient tranfgreffion, I will allow that they ( 139 ) on whom not a fingle ray of the light of the gof- pel has as yet (hined ; and who being unregene- rate^ are of courfe under the dominion of the powers of darknefs, with what an advantage does the gofpel difpenfation appear ? With what additional majefty and luftre does the fun of righteoufnefs emerge, out of fuch an Egyptian darknefs? And who is fo infefifible of the blef- fings refulting from that lights as not to learn, from luch a contralled view of things, to prize more highly, to acknowledge with greater grati- tude, and to covet, and embrace more ardently the great blefijngs of the gofpel difpenfation ? § 23. Are they borne down with the torrent of impetuous and unruly appetites, eflential to unregencrate nature, hurried mto enormities and favage cruelties, at the bare mention of which civilized humanity islhocked,and can fcarcecon- fider as the deeds of man F How mufl that confide- ration work upon our gratitude, to whom are pro- pofed the gofpel terms of falvation •, by a fincere and cordial accefjtance of which we are renewed in the fpiril of ourmindsy are turned from darknefs to light, and from the power of Satan unto Gcd^ are furnifhed with th^e whole armour of God, and enabled to ftand againft the wiles of the devil ; to combat the outrageous appetites of degene- rate nature, and regain our loit intereft in Heaven. diey would, when I can be convinced that there is no diffe^ rencBt whether it be on the one account or on the other, that the world lies in ivickednefs and under the po^ fays he, there fiall no fiejh be juftificd in his fight. But now the right eoufnefs of God without the laio is manifefted, being ijuitnejfed by the law and pro- phets ; even the righteoufnefs of God, which is by faith of (in) Jefus Chrift unto all, and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have finned, and come fhort of the glory of God, being juftified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Chrift Jefus. Whom God hath fet forth (or as the marginal reading rightly words it, foreordained) to be a pro- pitiation through faith in his bloody to declare his righteoulnefs for the remifilon of fins, that are pad, through the forbearance of God. To declare, I fay, his righteoufnefs, that he might be juft, and the jufLifier of him that be- li^veth in Jefus. Now, can any thing be more plainly the fenfe of the preceding pafTages, than that we TiV^ jujlijied^ or cleared from the guilt of original fin, rellored to the forfeited favour and affeftion of God, and refcued from the power and dominion of fm and fatan, by a true faith in Chrift only ? Is there a fingle word throughout, shout works? Not a fyllable. And how inefiicaciou they are, and muft be, for the efreding that jujiification to which the apofilc^ alludes, which is the fubjedlof the go I pel Qfcononiy, and the very price of our re- demption^ we pei^'-eive through the medium of a pre-exiltence, and prior lapjc of human fouls with T a ( hs ) a clearnefs that cannot butftrike conviftion upon the mofl partial and unwilling eye. § 33. The new or mediatorial ceconomy, efta- bliflied by the author of our falvation, is frequently ftiled in fcripture, the kingdom of God^ and that partly, if not principally, in contradiftinftion to the kingdom oi fatan. This is plainly intimated by our Saviour's anfwer to his enemies who tra- duced him as an impoftor, and as one who was in confederacy with Beelzebub^ the prince of devils. If Jatan^ fays he, caji cut fat nn^ he is divided againfi him f elf *^ how then fh all his kingdom fl and ? But If I caft out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Matt. xii. 26. 28. In which pafTage Chrifl and fatan are reprefent- ed as rival princes, pofiefled of kingdoms incon- fiflent with, and deftrudive of each other. To the fame purpofe is that parable in St. Luke^ of a ftrong man in his palace overcome by a flronger than he. Luke xi. 21, 22, And that other wherein the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man, that fowed good feed in the field, but while he flept, his enemy came, and fowed tares among the wheat. Matt. xiii. 24. ^c. Agreeably to all which St. Paul obferves to the Corinthians, that there is no concord betwixt Chrift and Belial, § 34. If to the paflages above we add St» Jobn^^ declaration, that for this purpofe the Son of God was manifefted, that he might deftroy the works of the devil, and, that St. Paul fup- pofes all men in general, in their natural unrege- nerate ftate I mean, to walk according to the prince of the power of the air — Vid. my critique onEphefians, c. ii. v. 2. 3.— -It Vv'ill appear thac he who is our Redeemer comes with the dele- gated authority of a kmg^ to aflerc his Father's ' right ( H7 ) right to an nncontrouled, unoppofed fovereignty over the univerfe j' to pull down, and evacuate the ufurped empire of the devil in this inferior world, and to refcue mankind from his opprefTion, by turning them from darknefs to light, and from the power of fatan unto God — and that by offer- ing them peace with their offended God, and pardon for that pad ^Jfociation with the prince of darknefs, which v;e have above fuppofed, on the flipulated conditions of a fmcere, unfnaken fidelity to Him, the appointed captain of our falvation. § 35' 1 ill therefore, we have difavowed our attachment to the prince of darknefs, and fworn allegiance to the Lord of life, there ftill hangs over our heads, for our prior diO'-yal- ty, the rod of vengeance -, ftill we are obje6ts of the divine wrath ; and be our moral accom- plifhments ever fo many, and great, we are, and muft be upon the lift of rebels ftill. Our at- tainder muft be taken off, ere we can be made candidates for an entrance into thrift's kingdom. And in that confifts our juftijication'^ which re- placeth us before the eye of the Deity, in the id.n\Q favourable and aufpicious point of view, wherein we ftood^ when poiTefled of that origi- nal righteoulnefs, and moral reditude, by a de- parture from which we became rebels to the king of heaven ; and, in confequence thereof, are now banilhed his divine prefence. Herein con- fifts that righteoufnefs of God, which is— by what ? By good works ? Is it not by faith of Jejus Chrijl unto all^ and upon all them that believe ? And OUT jujtification — is it in the leaft degree effedled by the merit of good works ? is it not accomphih- ed wholly, and folely through the redemption that is in Chrijl Jejus^ and through faith in his blood ? Who ftiall lay any thing to the charge of God's T 2 eleft? ( uS ) eleft? It is God that jufti fie th*; who is he that condemneth ? It is Chrift, that died, yea rather, that is rifen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who alfo maketh intercefTion for us. § 36. Juftification therefore, being fuppofed to refpedl that defilement of our nature and re- bellion againft God, with which we come into this world, and which is now our condemnation \ is it poflible that any prefent^ or future a6ts of pu- rity, piety, and obedience in us, can render that condemnation for prior ads of impiety no con- demnation. Can all the forrowful fighings of prifoners, under fentence of death for rebellion againft a temporal king, any fuitable, decent, amiable afls then take away the guilt of thofe pri- cr crimes, for which they forfeited their lives ? If they are pardoned, and reftorcd afterwards to their prince's favour, by the intercelTion of his Son pledging his life for their future fidelity, need we afk to whom they are indebted both for their life and liberty ? Come they not from the free grace of the one, and thro' the mediation, and intercefiion of the other ? Could the criminals plead, with any fhew of reafon, from any fuhfe^ quent deeds, a right to be exempted from the punifhment due to their ^^7? criminalities ? § 37, Juftification, confidered in this view, as a releafe, I mean, from the guilt of a prior perfonal lapfe from original righteoufnefs, in- Head of a derived guilt and defilement from Adam, exalts — how greatly! the dignity and me- rit afcribed in fcripture to a true faith in Chrift at the fame time that it enables us the more clearly * That is, who through ChriH, accepts us as juft, by our i^iih and reliance on i^ij mediation^ incerceifion, &c» ' . . " to ( 149 ) ^ to adjudge to fc^ith and good vwrks the regards due to their refpedive efficacy in accomphlliing man's /w^/ falvation. § 38. The two apoftles differed in that point on- ly in appearance ; and whilft the one, with great truth, aflerted, that the works of the law ceafcd to have any fhare in the jufiificatioyioi the elc6t chriftianized Jew, fo circumftanced, and fo con^ fidered •, the other with equal propriety declared, that faith alone could not render worthy of the vo-^ cation wherewith he was called^ the converted Gen- tile. Men mufl become Chriflia?js to be juftified, or cleared from the imputation of their original fins and trefpafles, and to be confijlent Chriftians, they muft become ^W;;?^;/. How apparently then \% faith in Chrift alone neceflary for the firft, and how evidently eflential are good works for the lat- ter? And how confident altogether with each other are the two apoftles*! And if there arefomewho fay * How confident altogether with each other are the two apoftles— To dear up this point, be pleafed to attend to the following note. Introduftory to the final ftate of blifs, referved for the Jincere profe/Tors of Chriftianity, will be an entrance into Chrifi^s kingdom ; the two prime fundamental requifites for which privilege 2ixtjufiiJication and janQification — or true ho- linefs. By the former we aie to underftand an abfolution from the penalty of original guilt and defilement, obtained whole* Jy and folely by a firm faith in, or reliance on the all-fuffi* cient merits ot Chrift, who died for our fins, and rofe again for our juftification. By the latter, that acquifition of mo- ral purity and holinefs, which the gofpel enjoins, and with- out which, the apoftle informs us, no man ihall fee the Lord. This being admitted, the perplexed difpute, whether faith with or without works can be available to our jufiification^ drops at once, as the queftion fhould rather be, whether they are feparately effeaual to OMv/ahation, or not? As to this, there ( 150 ) fay that all our moral works, independent oiChrif- tian renovation^2iVt unavailable to juftifi cation ^qx to clear us from original fin, how apparently do they fpeak a fcripture dodrine ? What they err in, is their afcribing that original guilt, by which at our birth we became objeds of the divine wrath and indignation to the tranfgreflion of another there can be no r^3;/iflW difpute. That we 2xz jujiified^ i.e, cleanfed from the guilt of orip;InaI lin by a firm faith in Chrift, independent of any merit in ourfelves, or of good works, we have reiterated declarations from holy writ; but then, in order to render "CdT^. jufiification efFedual to our/W falvation, introductory to which will be an entrance into Chrifl's kingdom (a), we mull add to our faith works — mull walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called — mull cleanfe ourfelves from all filthinefs of the flelh and the fpirit^ perfcfting holinefs in the fear of God —knowing this, that without a tri>egofpel repentance, added to the applied merits of our Saviour, neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulte- rors, nor effeminate, nor abufers of themfelves with man- kind, nor railers, nor extortioners, (hall enter into the king- dom of God. Men, in fhort, are wont to place jufiification and man's iix^2X falvation in one and the fame point of view, as if they were in reality one and the fame thing, or that the one naturally, and of neceffity, lead to the other ; which is rot the cafe. For the apollle St. Paul, plainly fuppofes, thatthofe who have been once enlightened--a7ra|;:^^,''/.;^• ( 152 ) § 39' Is It credible the miferies of our natural Unregenerate ftate, not the lofs of God's favour only^ ous perfons, though aftual offenders at the Tame time. For the Son of God having, while here on earth, fulfilled all righteoufnefs (of which the moft eminent and meritorious inilance was, his becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the crofs, in compliance with his Father's will, and in order to accomplifh the redemption of mankind) God the Father was p leafed to impute this perfed obedience of that onem2CCiy xh^fecond A^antt to the whole race of mankind, as an atonement for all their prior trefpafTes ; as compleat, and fatisfadory to his juftice, as if they had fulfilled all rightC' citfnefs by fome perfonal merit in themfelves. Thus, 1 fay^ and thus only it is true, that, by the obedience of one many njoere made righteous. And as this bears an analogical refe- rence to what is afferted in the words immediately preceding, viz. that by one man's difohedience ma7iy nvere madejirmers^ the {dime Jiguratirue interpretation mufl oi courfe be put on both. When the apoflle therefore fays, that—** by one man's dif- *' obedience many were made finners,*' he undoubtedly means, that God was pleafed fo far to impute the tranfgref- fion of that one man, xhefirji Adam, to his whole pofterity, as to deal with them univerfally in fuch a manner, as if they had all been partakers with him in the very aft («). And ihcf reafon nvhy God proceeded againfl them in a manner fo feem- ingly rigorous y and unreafonable^ the apoftle had given in the following words. Wherefore ashy one man Jin entered into the vjorld, and death by fifty e5 a/xapT^cravTaj »7r» n;ji\lKo\0y,ix.j\ T»i; KX^x^acTiWi; A^u^k,. But if wc fuppofe the word ( 153 ) an a6lual exertion of liis wrath and Indlgnatiori upon us, our alienation from God and goodnefs, and propenfity to vice and impiety, added to the multiplied calamities of a world -, which taking in all its fancied excellencies and advantages^ its riches and honours, and powers, and pre-emi- hences, and glittering glories, is at heft but a fool's paradile — That llich fhould be the wretch- ed condition of man, and merely in confequence of a crime that he had it not in his power either to commit or'prevent -, is this, I fay, credible ? Is it pofiible * ? § 40. And when it is further alferted, that nothing lefs than the blood of the Son of God could atone for, or wafh away the ftain of thi5 hnpited guilt, who but mud fire with pious indig- nation at fuch an impious outrage upon human underftanding ? And how necelfary is it, as we »;,wapTov to refer to crimes not prior ^ h^\. fuhfequent to the fen- tence pafTed upon Adam's trahfgreffion, viz. our perfonal tranfgreflions here, the apoftle's afiertion is manifeflly this, I'iz. Death pafled upon all men on account of Adam's fm becaufe all have finnedy?«f^. *TtT ^/*a§T£p aro^ r oi yovsig ocvrs ivcc rvOXo^ yzwSr^ — fay the Jews to our Saviour : — in our Englifli trandation thus; who did fin, this Man, or his parents, that he was born blind? The fenfc of which quellion manifeflly is, who had finned, this man, or, c:c. Now r;/xaj;T(jy in the /r^'c^^?;?^ naiTige, be- ing of the fame tenfe with Y^y.ot^xz]) in this i:oLV'7i.<{ e>/.aoroi> may, and.muft with critical propriety be rendered — all had iinned. * The trivial argument, that God had provided, cr pre- ordained a l^edeemer, in favour of thofe who Ihould bj in- volved in the ruinous efFeifls of Adam's fall, fo far from be- ing a rational appeal to our underftandinq-s, is on the con- trarv a barefaced infult upon common fenfe, J nil as if a king fhould condemn a man to df .:h tor anoihsr perfon's crime, in order that he might uiev.' his mercy afterwards ia giving the imaginury offender 'ife, U value. ( 154 ) valne the credit, and would wifli the moH: exteii* five propagation of the gofpel, to dear the facred pages from the charge of advancing a dodrine fo abhorrent to reafon and calm refledlion ! This only can enable us to convince unbelievers, that Chriilianity is in reality founded on argument \ then, and not till then, fhall we be able to ap- prove our faith to the underftanding of the rati- onal enquirer, and free-thinker. And had this been done before, the ^IndaVs^ Collins' s^ Woolfton^s^ ChiihVs^ Bolingbroke^^ would not have had fo fair a mark whereat to flioot fo plentifully (and with fo many palpable hits at the fame time) their ar- YoiJos — even Utter words. § 41. The chevalier Ramfay, in fpeaking of the fuppofed guilt derived from Adam--adds— '' Atro- cious Maxim that fullies all the condudl of provi- dence, and that Ihocks the underftanding of the moft intelligent ^/bf/c/'r^^ of all nations! the an- fevers ordinarily made to them, throw into tlieir tender minds the feeds of a latent incredulity, and of this I could give many fatal examples, if this were the proper place for it. I fhall content myfelf with one. A great Prince, fays he, of 3 neighbouring nation, equally admired for his fu- perior genius, univerfai learning, and furprizing talents in political and military affairs, but wha lived and died in the moft obftinate incredulity, being one day afked after a long, ferious and fa- miliar ccnvcrfation with a friend, what had infpir- ed him with fuch invincible prejudices againll re- vealed relioion ; he anfwered, he had imbibed them early, yea even from his childhood when he learned his catechifm. He faid his^ preceptor having entertained him along time with theflory of the forbidden fruit, and the rm-putaticn of Adam^sfn to all his pojlerity^ he afj<.ed how a good God could condemn all the human race for the Y r 155 )^ the fault of one man^ in whofe crime they had never co-operated, and whofe perfon they had never feen ? The tutor embarrafed, made him the com- mon childifli anhver of the fchoolmen. Thcfe infipid replies augmenting rather than diminifliing the diihcuhies, my tender mind, continued the prince, was firuck with horror upon every new repetition of that infipid lluffi as I grew up, this facred horror changed by degrees into a ilirewd fufpicion, and turned at lad into a total contempt of a religion that was founded upon fuch a blaf- phemous tenet. The fame prince added, that, puQied by his general curiofity for fciences of all kind, he had looked into the fcholaftic theo- logy, and that he had never found any book fo proper to nourifli in him deijm and incredulity^ as the account they give of religion. " And I defy any man to read, fays Ramfey.our vulgar ca- techifms on this point, with a fprightly Imart fchool boy, and hint to him its abfurdity, with- out the child's being ilruck with the fame im* preflions as the great prince mentioned," Application 6. From the do6lrine of a pre-exldence, &c. of human fouls, there arifes an additional argument in proof of that life and immortality fo happily brought to light by the gofpel. § 42. The idea of the foul's being immortal from time paft, Itrengthens our hopes of its bein