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who could answer the demands of a perfectly holy and CHAP. just law.

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42. The very design of sin, through the instigation of the Devil, was to bring death, and destroy the crea tion; and had not God retained in his own power, the eternal law and nature of man, the human race must have become extinct, and no flesh could have been saved.

43. For the very nature, and whole drift of that lawless lust, which came from the serpent, was to run into all manner of concupiscence, to corrupt the law of God, to give the predominancy to man's animal and inferior appetites, to excite debauchery, to debase the dignity of man, and ruin the soul!

44. And therefore, by the original law of a perfectly pure and holy God, the whole must have been subjected to immediate destruction from the glory of his presence, had it not been that, for wise purposes, he intended to prolong man's life.

45. For the strictest laws that were ever given among men, for the punishment of evil doers, were far short of the original brightness of that pure and inflexible nature of God, which like a flaming sword, stood pointedly against every sensation of a carnal mind.

46. Hence it is written, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

47. And how could they hold the truth in unrighteousness? Manifestly in holding that the commands of God, which were true and righteous in themselves, and given to upright man in a state of innocence, were still to them, though in a fallen state, and in that corrupt nature of the serpent, which is unrighteousness in the very abstract.

48. Thus, they could hold the truth, that man and woman were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, and use this as a sacred covering for the life of all their most hidden abominations, and "freely," says Boston," do that in secret, which they would be ' ashamed to do in the presence of a child; as if darkness could hide from an all-seeing God!”

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V.

Rom.i.18

Isai. xxix

49. Well therefore said God by the prophets, Wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the 15.

V.

CHAP. Lord, and their works are in the dark! Shall I not visit for these things? Shall not my soul be avenged on Jer. v. 9. such a nation as this?

50. It is certain that God, from time to time, destroyed the nations of the earth for their acts of abomination, through the lust of concupiscence; and if so many thousands and millions were actually destroyed, according to the measure of God's righteous law, revealed from time to time, for such acts as were openly committed; what must have become of the world, if all the secret actions of every individual, had been brought naked into judgment, and laid open to view? Rom. v How truly was it said, that, Sin wrought death by that which is good!

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p. 72, 73.

Note q.

51. Surely then, had God openly denounced his wrath and just displeasure, against corrupt and fallen Man, personally, to the extent of his deserts, his punishment and weight of condemnation must have been more than he could have been able to bear.

52. But the purpose of God, in the creation of man, being in itself eternal and unchangeable, could not be frustrated, although the pure and perfect law of nature itself was violated and corrupted.

53. It was therefore in mercy to fallen man, whose life was intended, for wise purposes, to be prolonged, that God denounced the curse upon the serpent above all cattle, as an emblem or figure of that miserable race which he had infected with his poison.

54. Hence it is justly observed, by the judicious Hist. of author before mentioned, that, "God intended this Redemp. debasement of it, [the serpent] not so much to express his indignation against it, as to make it a " monument of man's apostacy, a testimony of his dis" pleasure against sin, and an instructive emblem to debar all future ages from the commission of that which brought such vengeance along with it.”

Lev. xx.

15.

55. "In the Levitical law, we find, that if a man 'committed any abomination with a beast, the beast ( was to be slain as well as the man, and by parity of reason the serpent is here punished-at least to re'mind the delinquents themselves of the foulness of their crime."

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56. The pure law of nature, which God placed in

V.

man, as well as in the animal or brutal creation, when CHAP. he commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, was at the beginning, holy, just, and good, being given by a perfectly just and holy God, as hath been observed. 57. So that before man hearkened to a brute, and fell below him in the order of nature, there could be no unclean, lascivious, or inordinate desire of the flesh, to rule his animal faculties; nothing but motives perfectly pure, and consistent with the law of God, in his mind.

58. Hence, a pure and simple desire of planting seed, and raising a crop, is entirely different and distinct from the curious researches of the naturalist, who searches out all the properties and qualities of the ground in which the seed is planted. An honest farmer may perfectly discharge his duty, without any of the curious knowledge, or experiments of the philosopher.

59. But Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain. The sacred text doth not say, he begat Cain; or that he knew her for the purpose of begetting; that was not his motive, and Cain was of that wicked one: But he knew his wife and she conceived and what was the fruit of that conception ? A murderer!

4.

60. The plowing of the wicked is sin. God causeth Prov.xxi his sun to rise upon the evil, and sendeth rain upon the unjust. Yet saith unto such, I never knew you.

61. Then might not Adam have fulfilled, in God's appointed time and season, the pure and innocent law of nature, without intruding into that beastly and forbidden knowledge, which destroyed his dignity, and degraded him below the order of the beasts of the field?

62. But when LUST had conceived it brought forth SIN. Then the EYES of them both were opened, and they KNEW that they were naked. And he KNEW his wife and she conceived. And then, and not till then, he could say, I see another law!

63. Then the pure law of nature was converted into this other law, A LAW OF SIN! A MAN OF SIN ! A STRONG MAN ARMED! A law of sin, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing into captiv

Matt. v.

45, v.2

Rom, vă

23.

V.

CHAP. ity his noblest affections, his reason, his judgment, and every sensation and faculty of his mind and body to the law of sin in his members.

Luke xvi. 15.

64. Then did the MAN OF SIN set himself in the temple of God, ordering the faculties, and claiming the highest affections of man, to that which is highly esteemed among men, which is The lust of the flesh, the root of all evil, an abomination in the sight of God.

65. And thus did the MAN OF SIN, that corrupt law of the serpent, set himself in the place of the pure law of God; and under a sacred cloak of pretended love and obedience to the only true God, concealed the fountain of INIQUITY in a MYSTERY, shewing himself that he is God, by alluring through the lusts of the flesh, and pretending that God ought to be so worshipped.

66. Therefore we say, if there be a man and woman now existing on the earth, honestly united in a covenant of promise to each other, who have so much of the fear of God, as neither to touch, taste, nor handle the unclean thing; who never gratify the desires of the flesh and of the mind, in any manner whatever, but barely and conscientiously to propagate their species and that with the sole motive to obey the will of God; they are verily an honour to the original law of nature, a blessing to themselves and posterity, and an example to the human race.

67. And therefore, even with regard to the law of nature, which is inferior to the law of grace, such, and none but such, under any pretext however sacred, need ever expect to answer a clear conscience, before Imi vi that just and perfect law-giver, who will render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

15.

68. But we say moreover, that none under the covenant of the flesh since the fall of man, no not one, ever did before God, keep that law; nay, even those who profess to be under a covenant of grace, and make the most sanctified outward appearance before men, do more or less violate the perfect law and order of nature, and by a contrary law of evil concupiscence, do that which their light and conviction forbids. the truth of this we appeal to the consciences of all

men.

For

V.

1 John i.

5.

69. Here we shall make one remark, which is CHAP. worthy the observation of all good men, or such as desire to be so: and that is, that, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. And were it pointedly declared by an angel commissioned from heaven, that every secret action which is now performed under the cloak of an ordinance of God, should be openly and publicly performed, it would be detested by the wickedest men on earth.*

70. Then, from what hath been said, let not any of the sons and daughters of fallen Adam, think to escape the severity of God's righteous law, by imputing the blame of their own sins to the original transgression of their father, while they themselves are guilty of the same sin, and violate the same law : for as is the root, so are the branches.

71. Neither let any be guilty of such horrid impiety, as to imagine that a just and righteous God will impute Adam's original sin to his posterity, unless they violate the same law, and commit the same sin by actual transgression. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. As I live saith the Lord Godthe soul that sinneth it shall die.

72. It therefore remains with all those who make a sacred profession of God's law, and do not live up to it, either to remove the fig-leaf, the veil of their sin, and the sacred cloak of a profession, and candidly acknowledge their loss from God and ignorance of his law or otherwise, perfectly to keep that law in every jot and tittle-Honesty is the best policy, in the sight of God, angels, and just men.

:

73. For certain it is, that God will require his own with usury, and not with abuse, and that according to his unchangeable purpose, he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

Lost as mankind are in the lust of the flesh, yet even their little remaining sense of purity must teach them, that a God who is worshipped by such acts as cannot endure the light of the sun, nor the sight of men, must be a God of darkness, and not of light. By this let every candid person discriminate between those acts which are acceptable to that God who is light, in whom is no duri ness, and those which are congenial to darkness itself; and by this criterion, let all mem judge what kind of a God they worship. H

Rom,

16.

Isai. XXP

7.

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