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III

54. Although the root and fountain of all sin and CHAP. iniquity, which entered into the nature, and captivated the soul of man by the fall, was not to be fully revealed until Christ should make his second appearing; yet more or less in every age since his first appearing, there have been those who have borne a testimony against the root of sin, according to that measure of light which they possessed.

Isa. xxix.

55. For every degree of light that goes to discover sin, be it more or less, is of God; and every spirit, Jam.i.17. that goes to conceal it, is a spirit of darkness, and arises from a contrary source. And here it may not be improper to add a few sentences from the writings of

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Thomas Boston.

15.

State. p. 40, 41,

19.

&c.

56. "Man certainly is sunk very low now, in com- Four-fold parison of what he once was, God made him but a little lower than the angels: but now we find him 'likened to the beasts that perish: he hearkened to a 'brute; and is now become like one of them-mind- Phil. üi. ing only earthly things. Nay, brutes, in some sort, "have the advantage of the natural man, who is sunk ' a degree below them: He is more witless in what 'concerns him most-He is more stupid than the ox Iss. i. 3. for ass."

57. "Nay more than all this, the scripture holds ' out the natural man, not only as wanting the good qualities of those creatures; but as a compound of the evil qualities of the worst of the creatures-the fierceness of the lion, the filthiness of the dog and swine, the poison of the asp, and such like. Truth Matt. itself calls them serpents, a generation of vipers; John vii, yea, more, even children of the devil. Surely then 44. • man's nature is miserably corrupted."

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58. "Cast your eye upon these terrible convulsions the world is thrown into by the lust of men: Lions make not a prey of lions, nor wolves of wolves; but men are turned wolves to one another, biting and devouring one another! Upon how slight occasions will men sheath their swords in one another's bowels! These violent heats among Adam's sons, speak the whole body to be distempered-They surely proceed from an inward cause, Lusts that war in the Jam.iv.1. • members."

F

CHAP.

IV.

5, 13.

59. "Laws are often made to yield to men's lusts'And seldom is there a time wherein there are not some persons so great and daring, that the laws dare 'not look their impetuous lusts in the face."

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60. "Men live as if they were nothing but a lump Rom.vii. of flesh-They are flesh, they mind the things of the 'flesh, and they live after the flesh-If the consent of 'the flesh be got to an action, the consent of the con'science is rarely waited for: yea, the body is often served, when the conscience has entered a dissent." 61. "The mind of man has a natural dexterity to "devise mischief: none are so simple as to want skill 'to contrive ways to gratify their lusts, and ruin their 'souls-None needs to be taught this black art; but 'as weeds grow up, of their own accord, in the neg'lected ground, so doth this wisdom, (Which is earthly, sensual, devilish) grow up in the minds of men, by virtue of the corruption of their nature." 62. "Doth not the carnal mind naturally strive to grasp spiritual things in imagination, as if the soul were quite immersed in flesh and blood, and would See Ros-turn every thing into its own shape? And hence are Four-fold horrible, monstrous, and misshapen thoughts of God, StatChrist, the glory above, and all spiritual things."

ton's

63. Such then, are the evil, and deplorable effects of man's fall from his first rectitude, to which the heavens and the earth bear witness.

CHAPTER IV.

The Mystery of Iniquity, or the Man of Sin revealed: His Rise in the Fall of Man; by the Subversion of the Original Order and Law of God.

Maing

AN being created male and female, with a livsoul, in which was implanted the image and law of an all-wise, and perfectly holy God; and being united to a terrestrial body, endowed with animal faculties, sensations and affections, which all originated from the fountain of true happiness and everlasting

IV.

life, he stood in a noble capacity to honour and glorify CHAPhis Creator.

1 Cor. iit.

2. Thus man in his state of innocence, stood as the temple of God. As it is written, Ye are the temple of the living God. Here were deposited his righteous 16. laws and commands, relating to the order and government of the creation.

2 Cor. vi.

16.

Gen.ii. 19

8. While as yet the man stood alone, before the woman was formed, the Lord God brought unto Adam every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and whatsoever he called every living creature, that was 20. the name thereof. But among all those, for Adam there was not found an help to be with him.

4. Now, upon the supposition that it might still have continued so, the deficiency in the order and glory of the creation of man would as sensibly appear, as it would for the natural body of a rational man, to be divided into two equal parts, the one part made extinct, and the other left destitute of those co-operating parts, without which his body could not be complete, nor his glory augmented.

5. But the Lord God, seeing that it was not good for the man to be alone, formed him in two parts, male and female; and these two parts constituted one Chap. il. entire, and complete man, as hath been observed.

6. And in this capacity, they were endowed with cooperating faculties, sensations and affections; which arising from the true source of all goodness, were pure, innocent and lovely, and were thus calculated to be influenced by proper objects, to augment their happiness, as well as the honour and visible glory of the Creator.

7. Consider then, as the living soul of man, with all its rational faculties, in which the perfect law of God was implanted, was superior to all the animal sensations, faculties or affections of his natural body; therefore, sin could not enter into man, but by a willing sacrifice of his reason, and a direct violation of God's law.

8. And when man had once sacrificed his reason, and violated God's express command, by obeying the voice of the serpent through the woman; then the true order of God in the obedience of the inferior

ver.21,22

IV.

CHAP. the superior, was not only subverted, but sin found an easy entrance into man, who stood as God's temple, claiming the sole right to man's obedience, shewing himself that he is God.

Rom. v.

12.

9. So that it was by the first man's disobedience, that sin entered into the world, and death by sin, forasmuch as death is the wages of sin. And so death passed upon all men, in that all Adam's posterity have sinned. And therefore sin is not imputed to any, merely on account of Adam's original sin and transgression, but their own sins are imputed to them. xvi. 20. The soul that sinneth it shall die.

Ezek.

10. And as by a subversion of the true order of God, and the express violation of his law, sin entered into the world, so it took the possession and government of all those faculties and affections of body and mind, which had constituted man a noble creature in his state of innocence.

11. And thus, sin, taking possession of all that constituted man in his innocent state, constituted himself The Man of Sin, and placed himself as God, in the highest and most noble seat of man's affections: and there he sat, ever ready to oppose and exalt himself 2 Thes.. above and against every work and dispensation of God's grace.

3.4, 7.

Rom.xin. 10.

12. And this he did particularly in the days of Christ's first appearing, because he was essentially disturbed. As saith St. Paul, The mystery of iniquity doth already work.

13. Here then, even in the fall of man from his first rectitude, was the rise of the Man of Sin, that Son of Perdition; and not in some certain man, or set of men called Popes, four or five thousand years after man had received the very nature and disposition of the serpent. Nay, when sin first entered into man, there was the beginning of the Man of Sin.

14. LOVE is the fulfilling of God's pure and perfect law. The highest, and most noble of all those 7,8-18. affections which God placed in man, and the chief and Rom.v.5. leading motive of all his actions, was LOVE.

1 John iv.

While

this remained in its original purity and perfection,
there could be no transgression; nor any cause of
fear or shame,

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15. But when man rebelled against his Creator, and all his sweet and noble disposition and affections became converted into the foul and rebellious nature of the serpent, then was LOVE converted into LUST, and made the principal seat, and fountain head of the whole serpent's nature and influence; the sole leading cause of every vile affection, and of every evil work; and the primary object of man's obedience.

CHAP.

IV.

Matt.

16. And hence it is, that Crist not only calls the fallen race of Adam, serpents, and a generation of vihers, but further says, Ye are of your father the Devil, xx 33, and the lusts of your father ye will do. And hence John visi. Cruden also among many others, calls lust, "that Concord. 'original corruption which inclines men to sin and st 'evil."

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Article

17. And thenceforth, even from man's first rebellion, the fallen posterity of Adam and Eve, could call LUST, by the name of LOVE, with the same propriety, and through the same old deceitful and foul spirit, by which the first deceived woman, could call a murderer, the first fruit of her rebellion, A man from Gen.iv.1. the Lord!

18. And herein lies the deceitfulness of sin, and the very mystery of iniquity, in believing that to be LOVE, which in truth is nothing but LUST, and thus pretending to claim a just and innocent right to the original law and order of God, as though it had never been violated. Which is verily, The face of the cov ering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread 7. over all nations.

19. Doubtless it will be granted, that a violation of the good and wholesome laws of a nation, in a case of treason, is a political iniquity; and that the man who either directly or indirectly, violates the laws that are calculated to promote the peace and welfare of the nation, excludes himself from any active part in the administration of those laws.

20. And further, that neither he, nor his confederates, nor any of their descendants in the same line of treachery and rebellion, could ever claim any benefits arising from those laws, under any pretext whatever; but on the contrary, the whole law must stand as a pointed testimony, to judge and condemn the de

Isai. XXV.

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