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perior, but was under no voluntary obligation by promise to prevent the fall.

3. Neither doth that first act of sin reflect on God's unspotted providence which suffered it, as if sin were in any degree allowed by him. The holy law which God gave to direct man, the terrible threatening annexed to warn him, declare his irreconcilable hatred against siu. He permits innumerable sins every day, yet he is as jealous of the honour of his holiness now, as in the beginning. It is the worst impiety for the sinner to "think God like himself," Psal. 50. 21. as if he took complacency in sin, because he is silent for a time, and suffers the commission of it. In the next state he will fully vindicate his glory, and convince the whole world of his eternal aversion to sin, by inflicting on sinners the most dreadful and durable torments.

3. The goodness of God is not disparaged by permitting the fall this appears by considering,

1. That God bestowed on man an excellent being, and a happiness that might satisfy his nature, considered as human, or holy. But he perverted the favours of God to his dishonour, and this doth not lessen the goodness that gave them. It is unreasonable to judge of the value of a benefit, by the ungrateful abuse of the receiver, and not from its own nature. It is a chosen misery that is coine upon man, and not to be imputed to any defect of the divine goodness.

2. God is infinitely good, notwithstanding the entrance of sin and misery into the world. We must distinguish between. natural and voluntary agents. Natural agents have no power to suspend their acts, but are entirely determined, and their operations are ad extremum virium, to the utmost of their efficacy. If there were infinite degrees of heat, there would be no cold, it being overcome by the force of its contrary. But God is a wise and free agent, and as he is infinite in goodness; so the exercise of it is voluntary, and only so far as he pleases.

3. God is an omnipotent good, and it is his peculiar glory to bring good out of evil, that by the opposition and lustre of contraries his goodness might be the more conspicuous. To speak strictly, sin is the only evil in the world; for all the rest which appear so to our fancies and appetites, are either absolutely good, or upon the supposal of sin, viz. either for the reformation of sinners, or for the ruin of the obstinate. Now the evil

of sin God permitted as a fit occasion for the more glorious discovery of his attributes, in sending his Son into the world to repair his image which was defaced, and to raise man from an earthly to celestial happiness. I shall conclude with the excellent answer of St. Austin to the adversary of the law and prophets : * Quibus autem videtur sic hominem fieri debuisse ut peccare nollet, non eis displiceat sic esse factum, ut non peccare posset, si nollet. Nunquid enim si melior esset qui non posset peccare, ideo non benefactus est qui posset & non peccare? An vero usque adeo desipiendum est, ut homo videat melius aliquid fieri debuisse, & hoc Deum vidisse non putet? Aut putet vidisse & credat facere noluisse? Aut voluisse quidem & minime potuisse? Avertat hoc Deus a cordibus piorum. The substance of which is this, That it is an impious folly to imagine that God was either defective in wisdom, not to know what was the best state for man in his creation; or defective in goodness, that knowing it, he would not confer it upon him; or defective in power, that willing, he was unable to make him better.

There is another objection vehemently urged, that the impu tation of Adam's sin to all his posterity, who were not existent at that time, and did not give their personal consent to the treaty between God and him, is inconsistent with justice. To this I answer :

1. The terms of the first covenant are such, that the common reason of mankind cannot justly refuse. For suppose all the progeny of Adam had appeared with him before their Creator, and this had been propounded, that God would make an agree ment with their common father on their behalf, that if he continued in his obedience, they should enjoy a happy immortality; if he declined from it, they should be deprived of blessedness: what shadow of exception can be formed against this proposal? For God who is the master of his own favours, and gives them upon what terms he pleases, might upon their refusal have justly annihilated them. The command was equal, and his obedience for all was as easy, as that of every particular person for himself.

Besides, Adam was as much concerned to observe the conditions of the covenant, for securing his own interest, as theirs, and after a short time of trial they should be confirmed in their

* Contra adver Leg. & Proph, Lib. 1. c. 14.

blessedness. By all which it is apparent how reasonable the conditions of the original agreement between God and man are.

2. God hath a power over our wills superior to that we ourselves have. If God offers a covenant to the creature, the terms being equal, it becomes a law, and consent is due as an act of obedience. And if a community may appoint one of their num ber to be their representative, to transact affairs of the greatest moment, and according to his management, the benefit, or damage, shall accrue to them, because he is reckoned to perform the wills of them all; may not God, who hath a supreme dominion over us, constitute Adam the representative of mankind (Vid. Ward de peccat. Origin) and unite the consent of all in his general will, so that as he fulfilled or neglected his duty, they should be happy or miserable? This consideration alone, that the first covenant was ordered by God, may perfectly satisfy all inquiries. As Salvian having confessed his ignorance in the reason of some dispositions of providence, silences all objections with this; Nihil in hac re opus est aliquid audire, satis sit pro universis rationibus author Deus. (Salv, lib. 3. de Prov.) Neither is this a mere extrinsic argument, as authority usually is, because there is an intrinsic reason of this authority, the absolute rectitude and justice of God's nature, "who is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Psal. 145. 17.

CHAP. IV.

The impossibility of man's recovery by his natural power. He cannot regain his primitive holiness. The understanding and will the superior faculties are depraved. The mind is ignorant and insensible of our corruption. The will is more depraved than the mind. It embraces only sensual good. Carnal objects are wounding to the conscience, and unsatisfying to the affections, yet the will eagerly pursues them. The moral impotence, that ariseth from a perverse disposition of the will, is culpable. Neither the beauty nor the reward of holiness can prevail upon the unrenewed will. Guilty man cannot recover the favour of God. He is unable to make satisfaction to justice. He is incapable of real repentance, which might qualify him for pardon.

WHEN Adam was expelled from paradise, the entrance was guarded by a flaming sword; to signify, that all hopes of return by the way of nature, are cut off for ever. He lost his right, and could not recover it by power. The chiefest ornaments of paradise are the image and favour of God, of which he is justly deprived: and there is no possibility for him to regain them. What can he expect from his own reason, that betrayed him to ruin? If it did not support him when he stood, how can it raise him when he is fallen? If there were a power in lapsed man to restore himself, it would exceed the original power he had to will and obey: it being infinitely more difficult for a dead man to rise, than for a living man to put forth vital actions.

For the clearer opening of this point, concerning man's absolute disability to recover his primitive state, I will distinctly consider it, with respect to the image and favour of God, upon which his blessedness depends.

This will appear

1. He cannot recover his primitive holiness. by considering, that whatsoever is corrupted in its noble parts, can never restore itself; the power of an external agent is requisite for the recovering of its integrity. This is verified by innumerable instances, in things artificial and natural. If a clock be disordered by a fall, the workman must mend it, before it can be useful. If wine that is rich and generous, declines by the loss of spirits, it can never be revived without a new supply. In the

human body, where there is a more noble form, and more powerful to redress any evil that may happen to the parts; if a gangrene seize on any member, nothing can resist its course but the application of outward means; it cannot be cured by the internal principles of its constitution. And proportionably in moral agents, when the faculties which are the principles of action are corrupted, it is impossible, without the virtue of a divine cause, they should ever be restored to their original rectitude. As the image of God was at first imprinted on the human nature by creation, (Ephes. 4. 24.) so the renewed image is wrought in him by the same creating power. This will be more evident, by considering, that inward and deep depravation of the understanding and will, the two superior faculties which command the

rest.

1. The understanding hath lost the right apprehension of things. As sin began in the darkness of the mind, so one of its worst effects is, the increasing that darkness which can only be dispelled by a supernatural light. Now what the eye is to the body, that is the mind for the directing the will, and conducting the life. "And if the light that is in us be darkness, how great is that darkness." Mat. 6. 23. How irregular and dangerous must our motions be? Not only the lower part of the soul is under a dreadful disorder; but the "spirit of the mind,” the divinest part, is depraved with ignorance and error. Ephes. 4. 23. The light of reason is not pure; but as the sun, when with its beams, it sends down pestilential influences, and corrupts the air in the enlightening it, so the carnal mind corrupts the whole man, by representing good as evil, and evil as good. The "wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God." And the apostle describes the state of the Gentile world, Ephes. 4. 11. "That their understandings were darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts." The corruption of their manners proceeded from their minds. For all virtues are directed by reason in their exercise, so that if the understanding be darkened, all virtuous operations cease.

Besides, corrupt man being without light and life, can neither discern, nor feel his misery; the carnal mind is insensible of its infirmity, ignorant of its ignorance, and suffers under the incurable extremes of being blind, and imagining that it is very clear

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