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ON THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION.

CHAP. I.

DIVINE PROCEDURE TOWARDS MANKIND.

Man in Honour-in Dishonour-in Hope-and under Chastisement.

MAN IN HONOUR.

ALMIGHTY God, the glorious creator of heaven and earth, having resolved to form a creature resembling himself in wisdom, holiness, and dignity, made man of the dust of the ground, breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul; and having laid out with his own hand a delightful garden, he there placed the man whom he had formed; and then, surveying all his works, he pronounced them very good, as being in all respects worthy of his infinite wisdom. This was man's first estate, in which he possessed universal dominion over the earth and its inferior inhabitants, with permission to eat freely of its exquisite fruits, with only one exception, (the pledge of his obedience) and to employ himself daily, the sabbath excepted, in the easy and pleasant cultivation of the garden. It is very natural for us to suppose that the first exercises of his intellectual faculties would be contemplation, love and gratitude. In beholding the deversified scenes of nature around him, his thoughts must have passed in quick succession from object to object. In observing the distinguishing regards of his Creator towards

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himself, he must have felt the strongest emotions of gratitude and affection; while the wisdom, beauty, order, and goodness, every where displayed, must have called forth his admiration, joy, and praise.

The next exercise of his powers was to learn silently and submissively the divine instructions, injunctions, and admonitions of his gracious God; who, knowing the attempts that would be practised upon him, forewarned him of the dreadful consequences of disobedience.

Jehovah then tried the strength of his understanding, by making the various creatures over which he had placed him to pass before him, that they might receive appropriate names, doubtless, according to their rank and nature; and such was his discernment, that whatever he called them, met with his Maker's approbation, and retained the names he had given them: but so vastly superior was he to them all, that not one amongst them was found capable of making him a suitable companion.

Previous to this transaction his Creator had pronounced that it was not good for him to be alone, and had resolved to make a help meet for him; and having taught him from this circumstance how desirable such a friend would be, he caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and took from him one of his ribs, of which he made a woman, and brought her to Adam; who, immediately recognizing part of himself in her, continued with an unimpaired understanding to exercise the office of assigning names to the creatures; and, from his penetrating judgment, seeing both what she was and from whence she sprung, called her woman, inferring from the whole the future union of the sexes, and that most tender and affectionate regard they would entertain for each other above any other ties whatever: all which proves (if the words are his) that he received her as a most signal mark of the Creator's favour.

How long Adam continued alone, or by what means the woman was instructed in the will of God, whether immediately by himself, or mediately by her husband, is not re

vealed; it is enough that she knew it, and the dire ful effects which would assuredly follow their departure from it: and it is probable that they continued for some time in this state of innocency and happiness.

Thus, in this blessed place, sacred to devotion, and consecrated by that which alone can consecrate any place in heaven or earth, the gracious presence of their God, they enjoyed his "loving kindness, which is better than life," and could have no prospect before them, but a succession and perpetuity of varied joy. They knew indeed that this must be secured by a grateful and cheerful obedience to the divine commands; but while love to him continued to be the ruling principle of their souls, there was nothing required but what was perfectly agreeable and suitable to their holy nature and situation.

This is the short account given us by the sacred historian of the first human pair, and the circumstances in which they were placed. In which we may observe, that all the works of God, without exception, were all very good and perfect in their kind—that man was created upright, without the least knowledge of, or inclination to evil-that all was order and harmony, and that every part conspired to the happiness of the whole-that nothing was defective or redundant-that disease, misery, and death, had no place-and that the infinitely wise and beneficent Creator was glorified by his works, but especially by man, the head and tongue of all.

MAN IN DISHONOUR.

THUS God created the first happy pair, surrounded with blessings and crowned with favours. Their minds were pure and serene, and this harmony within corresponded with that without; but, through the malice of the devil, the beauteous scene was soon changed. He tempted them to disobey their Maker's righteous commands, to become discontented with the bounds prescribed them, and to launch into the untried depths of prohibited knowledge; and the

pernicious bait was swallowed with apparent avidity. Instead of preserving an inviolable allegiance to their Almigh ty Sovereign, or being alarmed at the bold contradiction of his threatening and command by the impious tempter, and urged on by a fatal curiosity, they touched, purloined, and ate of the forbidden tree. In that instant their innocency, holiness, and happiness, disappeared, and guilt, evil, and misery, supplied their place. Their eyes indeed were opened; and what presented itself but shame? They understood evil as well as good, and became, in some sense, as gods," but not as they expected, for they fell into the condemnation of devils; and, seized with horror at the presence of him whom they so lately adored and loved, they vainly attempted to hide themselves from his all-penetrating view, The dreadful penalty succeeded this rash and sacrilegious act; and had not divine mercy interposed, they and their posterity had been involved in one common ruin. Thus by their disobedience many were constituted sinners, and death passed upon all men, for all have sinned; and judgment is all.

come upon

The Great Lawgiver, seeing his authority despised and trampled under foot, seeks the transgressors in their guilty retreat ; and, having summoned them before him, he calmly and solemnly investigates the case; and, from the confession of the criminals themselves, passes the righteous sentence on the old serpent, in the final overthrow of his kingdom -on Eve, in multiplied sorrow in conception, and comparative degradation—and on Adam, in cursing the ground for his sake, and dooming him to perpetual toil and grief; till, worn out with care and age, he should return to mingle with the dust from whence he sprung: and he was driven from the heavenly cultivated garden, to return to it no more.

How holy, just, and terrible, does Jehovah appear in this whole transaction! How wretched and deplorable the criminals! They sin-they fly-they accuse one another: the one seems ungratefully to blame his Maker for his greatest favour, and the other for his creative power in the formation

of the tempter's agent; but we remark, neither confesses his fault, nor appears sufficiently sensible of his crime or its dreadful consequences. The treacherous serpent, who could talk so fluently to Eve, was awed and dumb before God! Such is the nature of sin: it deceives, hardens, and destroys. And it was thy love, thy boundless love, O God, that prevented them and their posterity from sinking into eternal misery, and sharing the fate of their vile seducer!

MAN IN HOPE.

In this solemn transaction we observe how "mercy rejoices against judgment;" or rather, how eminently it displays itself by two remarkable circumstances: the one (the foundation of all our hope) in the promise of a Saviour, and the other in providing them with more suitable coverings for their bodies, now exposed to various changes of heat and cold, of drought and moisture: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This refers to the former, as "The Lord God made coats of skins and clothed them," does to the latter.

Many have thought, and it is highly probable, that the bodies of the beasts, whose skins are mentioned, were offered in sacrifice, and that hereby Adam was instructed in the nature of the great propitiatory sacrifice which was afterwards offered for "the sin of the world," and enjoined to offer the like kind of sacrifice, as expressive of his faith in that; and to teach others to do the same, till the Saviour should make his appearance. In like manner, may we not suppose, that as Adam was to be a figure of him who was to come," Eve might also represent the true church, against which the devil should have enmity, but whose power should ultimately be destroyed by him who should spring from a living member of that mystical body. I dare not affirm this as absolutely true; yet, as the spiritual church is frequently represented under the figure of a woman, and especially so in the Canticles, and in the Apo

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