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Full text of "The works of President Edwards .."

I 




WORKS 



SIDMNT EDWARDS, 

*IN EIGHT VOLUMES. 



VOLUME VL 



CONTAINING 



I. DISSERTATION CON- 
CERNING THE END FOR 
WHICH GOD CREATED 
THE WORLD. 

n. DOCTRINE OF ORIGIN- 
AL SIN DEFENDED. 



III. OBSEnvATIONS UPON 
PARTICULAR PASSAGES 
OF SCRIPTOKE. 

IV. THEOLOGICAL QUES" 
TIONS. 



FIRST AMERICAN EDITIOJ^. 



PUBLISHED AT WORCESTER, 

By ISAIAH T H O iM A S, Juu. 

ISAAC ST'UHfEl'AKT, PRINTER. 

1809. 



PREFACE. 



1 HE editionft heretofore fxuhlhhcd of the Disaerfatlons^ 
the one concerning the end Jor which God cheated the world ^ 
and the other, on the Miture of Virtue, which ha-i uniformly been 
put with it ; but is filaced in the second volume of this collection, 
have had prefxed to them th" following Preface^ v^hich, because 
it contains se oeral just remarks^ aplili cable a<i well to the Treatise 
on Original Sin, as to the Dissertations, it is thought fir oper here 
to insert. 

" The author had designed these dissertations for the public 
view ; and wrote them out as they now apprar : Though it is 
probable, that if his life had been spared, he woidd have revised 
them, and rendered them, in some rcsfiects more complete. Sjme 
new sentiments, here and there, might probably have been added j 
and some passages brightened with farther illustrations This 
may be conjectured, from some brief hints, or sentiments minuted 
down, on loose papers, found in the 7nanuscripts. 

" But those sentiments concisely sketched out, which^ it is 
thought, the author intended to enlarge, and digest into ihe body 
of the work. ...cannot be so amplified by any other hand, as to do 
justice to the author : It is therefore probably best that nothing 
of this kind should be attempted. 

" As these dissertations were more especially designed for the 
learned and inqidsitive, it is expected that the judicious and can- 
did, will not be disposed to object that the manner in which these 
subjects are'trcat-d, is something above the level of common read" 
ers. For though a superficial way of discourse and loose ha- 
rangues may well enough stnt some s ibjects, and answer some val- 
uable purposes; yet other subjects dc7nand more closeness and 
accuracy. And if an author should neglect to do justice to a sub- 



iv PRFFACE. 

jert, fnrjear that the skimpier sort should not fit Ihj understand 
hinu he might expect to be deemed a trifler by the more intelli- 
gent. 

'< Our author had a rare talent to fienetrate deefi in search of 
trvth ; to rake an extensive survey of a siibject, and look through 
it into remote consequences. Hence many theorems., that appear- 
ed hard and barren to others., were to him pleasant and fruitful 
fields., nvhere his mind would expatiate with peculiar ease, profit 
and entertainment. Those studies, which to some were too fa- 
tiguing to the mind., and wearing to the constitution, were to him 
but a natural filay of genius ; and which his mirul, without labor, 
would freely and spontaneously perform. A close and concilia 
sivi^waij of reasoning upon a controversial point was easy and 
natural to him,. 

" This may serve, it is conceived, to account for his usual 
manner of treating ai.struse and controverted subjects, which 
some have thought haa been too metaphysical. But the truth isy 
that his critical rnethod of looking through the nature of his sub- 
ject ; his accuracy and precision in canvassing truth, comparing 
ideas., drawing consequences, pointing out and exposing absurdi- 
ties. ...naturally led him to reduce the evidence in favor of truth 
into trie form of demonstration. Which doubtless, where it can 
be obtained., is the most eligible, and by far the most satisfying to 
great uud noble minds. And though some readers may find the 
labor hard., to keefipace with the wri'er, in the advances he rnakes, 
where ihf ascent is arduous ; yet in general all was easy to him : 
Such was his peculiar love and discernment of truth, and na ural 
propensity to search after it. His own ideas were clear to him, 
tvhere some readers have thought them obscure. Tiius many 
things in the works ofJVewton and Locke, which appuar either 
quit: unintelligible, or very obscure to the illiterate, were clear 
and bright to those illustrious authors, and their learned readers. 

" The subjects here handled are stibliine and important. 2^he 
end i:hich God r.ad in view in creating the world, was doubtless 
worthy of him ; and consequently the most excellent and glorious 
fiossible. This, therefore must be worthy to be hiown by all the 
inttiltgerit creation, as excellent in itself, arid worthy of their pur- 
suit. And as true virtue distinguishes the inhabitants of heaven 



PREFACE. V 

mnd all fh^ hapfiy candidate.^ for that world of glory ^ from all 
others. Ihf-r cannot surely be a more interesting .subject, 

« Thp notions which some men entertain conce'-ning God's 
end in crrating the world, and conreming true virtue, in our late 
author's ofiinion, have a natural tendency to corrufit Christianity^ 
and to destroy the gos/iel of our divine Redeemer. It was there- 
fore, no doubt, in the exercise of a fii us concern for the honor 
and glory of God, and a tender res/iect to the best interests of Ma 
fellow men, that this devout and learned writer undertook the 
following work. 

" May the father of lights smile ufioti the fiious and benevot 
lent aiiiifi and labors of /liig servant^ an4 crown them with his 
Messing I EDITOR. 

July 12, 1765." 



ADVERTISEMENT, 

FOR THE TREATISE ON ORIGINAL SIN. 



When the page is referred to in this manner, p. 40, p. 50. without men- 
tioning the book, thereby is to be understood such a page in Dr Taylor's 
Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin. S intends the Supplement When the 
word, Key, is used to signify the book referied to, thereby is to be under- 
stood Dr Taylor's Key to the Apostolic IVritings. This mark [^v] with fig- 
ures or a number annexed, signifies such a section or parasjraph in his Key, 
When after mentioning Preface to Par. on Epist. to Romans, there is subjoined 
P 145- 47> o*" '^" '''^**> thereby is intended P'jre an^ Paragr ph. page 145,^ 
Para-» ph 47 The references suit the London editions of Dr. Taylor's books, 
priuud about the year 17(^0, 



DISSERTATION 

CONCERNING THE END 



FOR WHICH 



GOD CREATED THE WORLD, 



DISSERTATION 

CONCERNING THE END FOR WHICH GOD 
CiiEATED THE WORLD. 



INTRODUCTION: 

Containing Explanations of Terms, and general 
Positions. 



1 O avoid all confusion in our inquiries and rea- 
sonings, concerninc:; the end for which God created the world, 
a distinction should be observed between the chief end for 
which an agfcnt or tfficient exerts any act and performs any 
work, and the ultinrate end. These two phrases arc not al- 
ways precisely of the same signification : And though the 
ehie/ tix\d be always an ultimate end, yet every ultimate end, 
is not always a chief end. 

A chief end is opposite to an inferior end : An ultimate 
end Is opposite to a subordinate end. A subordinate end is 
somelhing that an agent seeks and aims at in what he does ; 
but yet does not seek it, or regard it at all rpon its own ac- 
count, but Avholly on the account of a further end, or in order 
to some other thing, which it is considered as a means of. 
Thus, when a man that goes a journey to obtain a medicine 
to cure him of some disease, and restore his health, the ob- 
taining that medicine is his subordinate end ; because ir is 
not an end that he seeks for itself, or values at all upon its 
flwn account, but wholly as a means of a furt her end, viz. his 

Vor,. VI. B 



10 END IN CREATION. 

liealtli. Separate the medicine from that further end, and it 
is esteemed good for nothing ; nor is it at all desired. 

An ultimate end is that which the agent seeks in what he 
does, for its own sake : That he has respect to, as what he 
loves, values and takes pleasure in on its own account, and 
not merely as a means of a further end. As when a man 
loves the taste of some particular sort of fruit, and is at pains 
and cost to obtain it, for the sake of the pleasure of that taste, 
which he values upon its own account, as he loves his own 
pleasure ; and not merely for the sake of any other {^ood, 
which he supposes his enjoying that pleasure will be the 
means of. 

Some ends are sul)ordinate ends, not only as they are sub- 
ordinated to an ultimate end, but also to another end that is 
itself but a subordinate end : Yea, tuere may he a succession 
or chain of many subordinate ends, one dependent on anoth- 
er.. ..one sought for another : The first for the next, and 
that for the sake of the next to that, and so on in a long 
series befo' e you come to any thing, that the agent aims at 
and seeks for its own sake : As when a man sells a gar- 
ment to get money. ...to buy tools.. ..to till his land.. ..to ob- 
tain a crop. ...to supply him with food. ...to gratify the appetite* 
And he seeks to gratify his appetite, on its own account, 
as what is grateful in itself. Here the end of his selling his 
garment, is to get money ; but getting money is only a sub- 
ordinate end : It is not only subordinate to the last end, 
his gratifying his appetite ; but to a nearer end, vjz. 
his bijying husbandry tools ; and his obtaining these, is 
only a subordinate end, being only for the sake of tilling land ; 
And the tillage of land is an end not sought on its own ac- 
count, but for the sake of the crop to be produced ; and the 
crop produced is noi an ultimate end, or an end sought for 
itself, but only for the sake of making bread ; and the having 
bre id, is not sought on its own account, but for the sake of 
gratifying the appetite. 

Here the gratifying the appetite, is called the ultimate 
end ; because it is the last in the chain, where a man's aim 
and pursuit stops and rests, obtaining in that, the thing finallv" 



END IN CREATION. 11 

aimed at. So whenever a man comes to that in which his 
desire terminates and rests, it being something valued on its 
own account, then he conies to an ultimate end, let the chain 
be lon.^er or shorter; yea, if there be but one link or one 
step that he takes before he comes to this end. As when 
a man that loves honey puis it into his mouth, for the sake 
of the pleasure of the taste, without aiming at any thing fur- 
ther. So that an end which an agent has in view, may be 
both his immediate and his ultimate end ; his next and his 
last end. That end which is sought for the sake of itself, 
and not for the sake of a further end, is an ultimate end ; it 
is ultimate or last, as it has no other beyond it, for whose sake 
it is, it being for the sake of itself : So that here the aim of 
the agent stops and rests (without going further) being come 
to the good which he esteems a recompense of its pursuit 
for its own value. 

Here it is to be noted that a thing sought, may have the 
nature of an ultimate, and also of a subordinate end ; as it 
may be sought partly on its own account, and partly for the 
sake of a further end. Thus a man in what he does, may 
seek the love and respect of a particular person, partly on its 
own account, because it is in itself agreeable to men to be 
the objects of others' esteem and love : • And partly, becausfe 
he hopes, through the friendship of that person to have his 
assistance in other affairs ; and so to be put under advantage 
for the obtaining further ends. 

A chief end or highest end, which is opposite not prop- 
erly to a subordinate end, but to an inferior end, is something 
diverse from an ultimate end. The chief tiid is an end that 
is most valued ; and therefore most sought after by the 
agent in what he does. It is evident, that to be an end more 
valued than another end, is not exactly the same thing as to 
be an end valued ultimately, or for its own sake. This will 
appear, if it be considered. 

1. That two different ends may be both ultimate ends, 
and yet not be chief ends. They may be both valued for 
their own sake, and both sought in the same work or acts, 
and yet one valued more highly and sought more than anoth- 



J2 END IN CREATION. 

er : Thus a man may £?o a j'^urney to obtain two different 
benefits or enjoyments, both which may be agreeable to him 
in tliemselves considered, and so both may be what he values 
on their own account, and seeks for their own sake ; and yet 
one may be much more apcreeable than the other ; and so be 
■what he sets his heart chitfly upon, and seeks most after in 
his t^oins> a journey. Thus a man may go a journey partly 
to obtain the possession and enjoyment of a bride that is very 
dear to him, and partly to gratify his curiosity in looking in a 
telescope, or some new invented and extraordinary optic 
girss : Both may be ends he seeks in his journey, and the 
one not properly subordinate or in order to another. (Jne 
■may not depend on another, and therefore both may be ulti- 
mate ends ; but yet the obtaining his beloved bride may be 
his chief end, and the benefit of the optic glass, his inferior 
end. The tormer may be what he sets his heart vastly most 
upon, and so be properly the chief end of his journey. 

2. An ultimate end is not always the chief end, because 
some subordinate ends may be more valued and sought after 
than some ultin>ate ends. Thus for instance, a man may 
aim at these two things in his going a journey ; one may be 
to visit his friends, and another to receive a great estate, or a 
large sum of money that lies ready for him at the place to which 
he IS going. The latter, viz. his receiving the sum of money 
may be but a subordinate end : He may not value the silver 
and gold on their own account, but only for the pleasure, grat- 
ifications and honor"; that is Ihc ultimate end, and not the 
money which is valued only as a means of the other. But 
yet the obtaming the money, may be what is more valued? 
and so an higher end of his journey, than the pleasure of see- 
ing his friends ; though the latter is what is valued on its own 
account, and so is an ultimate end. 

But here several things may be noted : 

First, That when it is suid, that some subordinate endsmay 
be more valued than some ultimate ends, it is not supposed 
th-rtt ever a subordinate end is i-nore valued than that ultimate 
end or ends to which it is suboidii'ate ; because a subordinate 
end has no value, but what it derives from its ultiniate end • 



END IN CREATION. IC 

For that reason it is called a subordinate end, because it Is val- 
ued and so\!p;ht, not for its own sake, or its own value, but 
onlv in svibordinution to a further end, or for the sake of the 
«I ia-.aie end, that it is in order to. But yet a subordinate end 
may be valued more than some other ultimate end that it is 
not subordinate to, but is independent of it, and does not be- 
lon?^ to that -series, or chain of ends. Tiius for instance : If a 
Tnan 'e:oes a journey to receive a sum of money, not at all as 
an ultimate end, or because he has any value for the silver and 
gold for fheir own sake, but only for the value of the pleasure 
and honor that the money may be a means of. In this case it 
is impossji^le that the subordinate end, viz. his bavins^ the mon- 
ey should be more valued by him than the pleasure and hon- 
or, for which he values it. It would be absurd to suppose 
that he values the means more than the end, when he has no 
Talue for the means but for the sake of the end, of which it is 
the means : But yet he may value the money, though but a 
subordinate end, more than some other ultimate end, to which 
it is not subordinate, and with which it has no connexion. 
For instance, more than the comfort of a friendly visit ; which 
was one end of his journey. 

Secondly, Not only is a subordinate end never superior 
to that uldmate end, to which it is subordinate ; but the ulti- 
mate end is always (not only equal but) superior to its sub- 
ordinate end, and more valued by the agent ; unless it be 
when the ultimate end entirely depends on the subordinate : 
So that he has no other means by which to obtain his last end, 
and also is looked upon as certainly connected with it. ...then 
the subordinate end may be as much valued as the last end ; 
because the last end, in such a case, does altogether depend 
tapon, and is wholly and certainly conveyed by it. As for in- 
stance, if a pregnant womiAu has a peculiar appetite to a cer- 
tain rare fruit that is to be found orly in the garden of a partic- 
ular friend of hcr's, at a distance ; and she goes a journey to 
go to her friend's house or garden, to obtain th?t fruit. ...the 
ultimate end of her jouiney, is to gratify that strong appetite : 
The obtaining that fruit, is the subordinate end of it. If sue 
looks upon it, that the appetite can be gvarjfied by no other 



14 END IN CREATION. 

means than the obtaining that fruit ; and that it Avill certainly 
be gratified if she obtains it, then she will value the fruit as 
much as she values the ^^ratification of her appetite. But other- 
wise, it will not he so : If she be doubtful whether that fruit 
•will satisfy her craving, then she will not value it equally with 
the gratification of Iser appetite itself ; or if there be some 
other fruit that she knows of, that will gratify her desire, at 
least in part ; which she can obtain without such inconve- 
nience or trouble as shall countervail the gratification ; which 
is in effect, frustrating her of her last end, because her last 
end is the pltasure of gratifying her appetite, without any 
trouble that shall countervail, and in eflect destroy it. Or if 
it be so, that her appetite cannot be gratified without this fruit, 
nor yet with it alone, without son^elhing else to be compound- 
ed with it. ...then her value for her last end will be divided be^ 
tween these several ingredients as so many subordinate, and 
no one alone will be equally valued with the last end. 

Hence it rarely happens among mankind, that a subordi- 
nate end is equally valued with its labt end ; because the ob- 
taining of a last end rarely depends on one single, uncom- 
pounded means, and is infallibly connected with that means : 
Therefore, men's last ends are commonly their highest ends. 

Thirdly, If any being has but one ultimate end, in all that 
he does, and there be a great variety of operations, his last 
end may justly be looked upon as his sufirone end : For in 
such a case, every other end but that one, is an end to that end ; 
and therefore no other end can be superior to it. Because, 
as was observed before, a subordinate end is never more val- 
ued, than the end to which it is subordinate. 

Moreover, the subordinate effects, events, or things brought 
to pass, which all are means of this end, all uniting to contri- 
bute their sl-are towards the obtaining the one last end, are 
very various ; and therefore, by what has been now observed, 
the ultimate end of all must be valued, more than any one of 
the particular means. This seems to be the case with the 
works of God, as may more fully ajjpear in the sequel. 

From what has been said, to explain what is intended by 
an ultimate end, the following things may be observed con- 
ceruins; ulliniale ends in the stnbc cxnlained. 



END IN CREATION. 15 

Fourthly, Whatsoever any asjent has in view in any thing 
he does, which he loves, or which is an immediate gratifica- 
tion of any appetite or inclination of nature ; and is agreea- 
ble to hirti in itself, and not merely for the sake of something 
else, is regarded by thai agent as his last end. The same 
may be said, of avoiding of that which is in itself painful or 
disagreeable : For the avoiding of what is disagreeable is 
agreeable. This will be evident to any bearing in mind the 
meaning of the terms. By last end being meant, that which 
is regarded and sought by an agent, as agreeable or desirable 
for its own sake ; a subordmate that v\rhich is sought only for 
the sake of something else. 

Fifthly, From hence it will follow, that, if an agent in his 
works has in view more things than one that will be brought 
to pass by what he does, that are agreeable to him, consider- 
ed in themselves, or what he loves and delights in on their 
own account.. ..then he must have more things than one that 
he regards as his last ends in what he does. But if there be 
but one thing that an agent seeks, as the consequence of what 
he does that is agreeable to him, on its own account, then 
there can be but one last end which he has in all his actions 
and operations. 

But only here a distinction must be observed of things which 
may be said to be agreeable to an agent, in themselves con- 
sidered in two senses. (I.) What is in itself grateful to an 
agent, and valued and loved on its own account, simfUij and ab- 
solutely considered, and is so universally and originally, ante- 
cedent to, ■a.x\fMndcfie7ide7it o^ sM conditions, or any supposition 
of paiticular cases and circumstances. And (2) What may 
be said to be in itself agreeable to an agent, hyfiothetically and 
consequentially : Or, on supposition or condition of such and 
such circumstances, or on the happening of such a particular 
case. Thus, for instance : A man may originally love socie- 
ty. An inclination to society may be implanted in his very 
nature : And society may be agreeable to him antecedent to 
all presupposed cases and circumstances : And this may cause 
him to seek a family. And the comfort of society may be 
originally his last cikI, in seeking a family. BiU after he has 



iS ^ND IN CREATION. 

a family, peace, good order and itiutiial justice and friend- 
£ihip in his family, may be agreeable to him, and what he de- 
lights in for their own sake ; and therefore these things may 
be his last end in many things he does in the government 
and regulation of his family. But they were not his original 
end with respect to his family. The justice and peace of 
a family was not properly his last end before 'he had a family, 
that induced him to seek a family, but consequentially. And 
the case being put of his having a family, then these things 
wherein the good order and beauty of a family consist, be- 
come his last end in many things he does in such circumstan- 
ces. In like manner we must suppose that God before he 
created the world, had some good in view, as a consequence 
of the world's existence that was originally agreeable to him 
in itself considered, that inclined him to create the world, or 
bring the universe, with various inleliigent creatures into ex- 
istence in such a manner as he created it. But after the worI4 
was created, and such and such intelligent creatures actually 
had existence, in such and such circumstances, then a wise, 
just regulation of them was agreeable to God, in ilselfconsid- 
ered. And God's love of justice, and hatred of injus ice, 
would be sufficient in such a case to induce God to deal just- 
ly with his creatures, and to prevent all injustice in him to- 
wards them. But yet there is no necessity of supposing, that 
God's love of doing justly to intelligent beings, and hatred of 
the contrary, was what originally induced God to create the 
world, and make intelligent beings ; and so to order the occa- 
sion of doing either jus;ly or unjustly. The justice of God's 
nature makes a just regulation agreeable, and the contrary 
disagreeable, as there is occasion, the subject being suppos- 
ed, and the occasion given : But we must suppose so 'eihing 
else that should incline him to create the subjects or order the 
occasion. 

So that perfection of God which we call his faithfulness, 
or his inchnaiion to fulfil his promises to his creatures, could 
not properly be what moved him to create the world ; nor 
could 5uch a fulfilment of his promises to his creatures, be 
his-last end, in g iving the creatures being. But yet after th« 



END IN CREATION. It 

world is created, after intelligent creatures are made, and 
God has bound himself by pronr'i-e to them, then that dispo- 
sition which is called his faithfulness may move him in his 
providential disposals towards them : Aud this may be the 
end of many of God's works of providence, even the exercise 
of his faithfulness in fulfilling his promises. And may be in 
the lower sense his last end. Because faithfulness and truth 
must be supposed to be what is in itself amiable to God, and, 
what he delights in for its own sake. Thus God may have 
ends of particular works of providence, which are ultimate 
ends in a lower sense, which were not ultimate ends of the 
creation. 

So that here we have two sorts of ultimate ends ; one of 
which may be called an original, and independent ultimate 
end ; the other consequential and dependent. For it is evi- 
dent, the latter sort are truly of the nature of ultimate ends : 
Because, though their being agreeable to the agent, or the a- 
gent's desire of them, be consequential on the existence, or 
supposition of proper subjects and occasion ; yet the subject 
and occasion being supposed, they are agreeable and amiable 
in themselves. We may suppose that to a righteous being, 
the doing justice between two parties, with whom he is con- 
cerned, is agreeable in itself, and is loved for its own sake, 
and not merely for the sake of some other end : And yet we 
may suppose, that a desire of doing justice between two par- 
ties, may be consequential on the being of those parties, and 
the occasion given. 

Therefore, I make a distinction between an end that in this 
manner is consequential^ and a subordinate end. 

It may be observed, that when I speak of God's ultimate 
end in the creation of the world, in the following discourse, I 
commonly mean in that highest sense, viz. the original ulti- 
mate end. 

Sixthly, It may be further observed, that the oriii^inal ul- 
timate end or ends of the creation of the world is alone, that 
which induces God to give the occasion for consequential 
endb, by the first creation of the world, and the original dis- 
posal of it. And the more original the end is, the more ex- 

VoL. VI. T G 



18 END IN CREATION. 

tensive and universal it is. That which God had primarily 
in view in creatinp;, and the original ordination of the world, 
must be constantly kept in view, and have a governing influ- 
ence in all God's works, or with respect to every thing that 
he does towards his creatures. 
And therefore, 

Seventhly, If we use the phrase ultimate end in this high* 
est sense, then the same that is God's ultimate end in creat- 
ing the world, if we suppose but one such end, must be what 
he makes his ultimate aim in all his works, in every thing he 
does either in creation or providence. But we must suppose 
that in the use, which God puts the creatures to that he hath 
wade, he must evermore have a regard to the end, for which 
he has made them. But if we take vUimate end in the otner 
lower sense, God may sometimes have regard to those things 
as ultimate ends, in particular works of providence, which 
could not in any proper sense be his last end in creating the 
■world. 

Eigh'.hly, On the other hand, whatever appears to be 
God's ultimate end in any sense, of his works of providence 
in general, that must be the ultimate end of the work of cre- 
ation itself. For though it be so that God may act for an 
end, that is an ultimate end in a lower sense, in some of his 
woiks of providence, which is not the ultimate end of the cre- 
ation of the world r Yet this doth not take place with regard 
to the Viorks of provii.encc in general. But n'e may justly 
look upon whatsoever has the nature of an ultimate end of 
God's works of providence in general, that the same is also 
an ultimate end of the creation of the world ; for God's works 
of provuience in general, are the same with the general use 
that he puts the world to that he has made. And we may 
well argue fram what we see of the general use which God 
makes of the world, to the general end for which he designed 
the world. Though there may be some things that are ends 
of particular works of providence, that were not the last end 
of the creation, which are in themselves grateful to God in 
such particular emergent circumstances ; and so are last 
ends in an inferior sense : Yet this is only in certain cases. 



END IN CREATION. IS 

or particular occasions. But if they are last ends of God's 
proceedings in the use of the ■world in general, this shews 
that his making them last ends does not depend on particu- 
lar cases and circumstances, but the nature of things in gen- 
eral, and his general design in the being and constitution of 
the universe. 

Ninthly, If there be but one thing that is originally, and 
independent on any future, supposed cases, agreeable to God, 
to be obtained by the creation of the world, then there can be 
but one last end of God's work, in this highest sense : But if 
there are various things, properly diverse one from another, 
that are, absolutely and independently on the supposition of 
any future given cases, agreeable to the divine being, which 
are actually obtained by the creation of the world, then there 
were several ultimate ends of the creation, in that highest 
sense. 



2» END IN CREATION. 



CHAPTER I. 



Wherein is considered, what Reason teaches co7i- 
cerning this Affair. 



SECTION I. 

Some Things observed in general, which Reason 
dictates. 



Having observed these things^ which are prosier to be taken ?iO' 
tice oJ\ to prevent confusion in discourses on this subject^ 
I now /iroeeed to consider ivhat may, and tvliat maij not be 
supposed to be God's ultimate end in the creation of the 

world. 

AND in the first place, I woxild observe some things which 
reason* seems to dictate in this matter. Indeed tiiis affair, 
seems properly to be an affair of divine revelation. In order 
to be determined what was aimed at, or designed in tlie cre- 
ating of the astonishing fabric of the universe which we be- 
hold, it becomes us to attend to and rely on what he has 
told us, who was the architect that built it. He best knows 
his own heart, and what his own ends and designs were in 
the wonderful works which he has wrought. Nor is it to 
be supposed that mankind, who, while destitute of revelation, 
by the utmost i improvements of their own reason, and ad- 
vances in science and philosophy, could come to no clear and 
established determination who the author of the world was, 
would ever have obtained any tolerable settled judfrmcnt of 
the end which the author of it propo.scd to himself in so vast, 
complicated and wonderful a woik of his hands. And though 



END IN CREATION. SI 

it be true, that the revelation which God has p;iven to rnen, ■■ 
which has been in the world as a light shining in a dark 
place, has been the occasion of great improvement of their 
facuhies, has taught men how to use their reason ; (in which 
regard, notwithstanding the nobleness and excellency of the 
faculties which God had given them, they seemed to be in 
themselves almost helpless.) And though mankind now, 
through the long, continual assistance they have had by this 
divine light, have come to attainments in the habitual exercise 
of reason, which are far beyond what otherwise they would 
have arrived to ; yet I confess it would be relying too much 
on reason, to determine the affair of God's last ^nd in the cre- 
ation of the world, only by our own reason, or without bein-i- 
herein principally guided by divine revelation, since God has 
given a revelation containing instructions concerning this 
tnatter. Nevertheless, as in the disputes and wranglin^-s 
which have been about this matter, those objections, which 
have chiefly been made use of against what I think the scrip- 
tures have truly revealed, have been from the pretended dic- 
tates of reason....! would in the first place soberly consider m 
a few things, what seems rational to be supposed concerning- 
this affair ; and then proceed to consider what light divine 
revelation gives us in it. 

As to the first of these, viz. what seei^is in itself rational 
to be supposed concerning this matter, I think the following 
things appear to be the dictates of reason : 

1. That no notion of God's last end in the creation of 
the world is agreeable to reason, which would truly imply or 
infer any indigence, insufficiency and mutability in God ; or 
any dependence of the Creator on the creature, for any part 
■of his perfection or happiness. Because it is ev;Jent, by' 
both scripture and reason, that God is infinitely, eternally, un- 
changeably, and independently glorious and happy ; that he 
stands in no need of, cannot be profited by, or receive anv 
thing from the creature ; or be truly hurt, or be the subject 
of any sufferings, or impair of his glory and felicity from anv 
other being. I need not stand to produce the proofs of God's 
being such a one, it being so universally allowed and main- 



^2 END IN CI^EATION. 

tained by such as c?A\ themselves Christians. The noUon of 
God's crcalin^ the world in order to receive any thing prop- 
erly from the creature, is not only coturary to the nature of 
God, but inconsistent with the notion of creation ; which imi- 
plies a being's receiving its existence, and all that belongs to 
its being, out of nothing. And this implies the most perfect, 
absoUue, and universal derivation and dependence. Now, if 
the creature receives its all from Gud entirely and perfectly, 
how is it possible that it should have any thing to add to God, 
to make him in any respect more than he was before, and so 
the Creator become dependent on the creature ? 

2. Whatsoever is good and valuable in itself, is worthy 
that God should value for itself, and on jts own account ; op 
Avhich is the same thing, vulue it with an ultimate value or res- 
pect. It is therefore worthy to be ultimately sought by God, 
or made the last end of his action and operation, if it be a thing 
of such a nature as to be properly capable of being attained 
in any divine openuion. For it may be supposed that some 
things, which are valuable and excellent in themselves, are not 
properly capable of being attained in any divine operation ; 
because they do not remain to be attained ; but their exist- 
ence in all possible respects, must be conceived of as prior to 
any divine operation. Thus God's existence and infinite per- 
fection, thougli infinitely valuable in themselves, and infinite- 
ly valued by God. yet cannot be supposed to be the end of any 
divine operation. For we cannot conceive of them as in any 
respect consecjuent on any works of God : But Nvhatever is 
in, itself valuable, abscluiely so, and that is capable of being 
sought and attained, is worthy to be made a last end of the 
divine operation. 

The > 2 fore, 

3. . Whiitever that be which is in itself most valuable, and 
was so originally, prior to the creation of the world, and which 
is aUii'.uablc by Hie creation, if there be any thing which was 
superior in value to all others, that must be worthy to be God's 
last end in t!>c creation ; and also worthy to be his highest 
end. 



END IN CREATIOK. 25 

In consequence of this, it will rollow, 

4. That if God himself be in any respect properly capa- 
ble of beiiis his own end in tiie creation of the world, then 
it is reasonable to suppose that he had respect {o /n?nse/f as his 
last and highest end in this work ; because he is worthy in 
hiniself to be so, beins; infinitely the greatest and best of be- 
inrs. AH ?hl:if;s else, v.ith rc;;aid to worlliineas, importance 
and CAcellcnce, a e pjrfectly as nothin;^- in comparison of 
him And. therefore, if God esteems, values, and has respect 
to tbino-s according; to their nature and proportions, he noust 
ntccs'^arily have the greatest respect to himself. It would be 
against the perfection of his nature, his Vvisdoni, holiness, and 
perfect rectitude, whereby he is disposed to do every thing 
that is fit to be done, to suppose otherwise. At least a great 
part of ii'C mcra! rectitude of the heart of God, whereby he 
is disposed to every tiling that is fit, suitable and annabie in 
itself, consists in his having infinitely the highest regard to 
that A\liich is in itself infinitely highest ?.nd best : Yea, it is 
in this that iJ. seems chiefly to consist. The moral rectitude 
of God's heart must consist in a proper and due respect of his 
heart to things that are objects of moral respect ; that is, 
to intelligent beings capable of rnoral actions and rt-lations. 
And therefore it must chiefly consist in giving due respect lo 
that Being to whom most is due ; yea, infinitely most, and 
in effect all. For God is infinitely the most worthy of re- 
gard. The worthiness of others is as nothing to his: So 
that to him belongs all possible respect. To him belongs 
the whole of the respect tlxit any moral agent, either God, 
or any iutelligetit Being is capable of. To him belongs all 
the heart. Therefore, if mora! rectitude of heart consists in 
paying the respect or regard of tiie heart which is due, or 
which fitness and suitableness requires, fitness requires infi- 
nitely the greaicst regard to be paid to God ; and the denying 
supreme regard here, would be a conduct infi.iitely the 
■most unfit. Therefore a proper regard to this Being, is 
what the fitness of regard does infinitely most consist in. 
Hence it will follow. ...That the moral rectitude and fitness of 
the disposition, inclination or aficction of God's heart, does 



24 END IN CREATION. 

chiefly consist in a respect or regard to himself infinitely 
above his regard to all other beings : Or, in other words, his 
holiness consists in this. 

And if it be thus fit that God should have a supreme re- 
gard to himself, then it is fit that this supreme regard should 
appear, in those things by which he makes himself known, 
cr by his nvord and works ; i. e. in what lie says, and in what 
he docs. If it be an infinitely amiable thing in God, that he 
should have a supreme regard to himself, then it is an amia- 
able thing that he should act as having a chief regard to him- 
self ; or act in such a manner, as to shew that he has such a 
regard ; that what is highest in God's heart, may be highest 
in his actions and conduct. And if it was God's intention, 
as there is great reason to think it was, that his works should 
exhibit an image of himself their author, that it might bright- 
ly appear by his works what manner of being he is, and 
afford a proper representation of his divine excellencies, and 
especially his moral excellence, consisting in the dinjiodtion of 
bis heart ; then it is reasonable to suppose that his works are 
so wrought as to shew this supreme respect to himself, where- 
in his moral excellency does primarily consist. 

When we are considering with ourselves, v/hat would be 
most fit and proper for God t© have a chief respect to, in his 
proceedings in general, with regard to the universality of 
things, it ^ay help us to judge of the matter with the greater 
ease and satisfaction to consider, what we can suppose would 
be judged and determined by some third being of perfect wis- 
dom and rectitude, neither the Creator nor one of the crea- 
tures, that should be perfectly indifferent and disinterested. 
:")r if we make the supposition, that wisdom itself, or infinitely 
wise justice and rectitude were a distinct, disinterested per- 
son, whose office it w as to determine how things shall be most 
fitly and p^-operly ordered in the whole system, or kingdom 
of existence, including king and sul)jects, God and his crea- 
tures ; and r.pon a view of the whole, to decide what regard 
should prevail and govern in all proceedings. Now such a 
judire in adjusting the proper measures and kinds of regard 
that every part of existence is to have, would weigh things in 



END IN CREATION. 25 

an even balance ; takini^ care, that greater, or more existence 
should have a greater share than less, that a greater part of 
the whole should be more looked at and respected, than the 
lesser in proportion (other things being equal) to the meas- 
ure of existence, liiat the more excellent should be tiiore re- 
garded than the less excellent: So that the degree of re- 
gard should always be in a proportion, compounded of the 
proportion of existence, and proportion of excellence, or ac- 
cording to the degree of greatness and goodness, considered 
conjunctly. Such an arbiter, in considering the system of 
created intelligent beings by itself, would determine that the 
system in general, consisting of many millions, was of greater 
importance, and worthy of a greater share of regard, than 
only one individual. For however considerable some of the 
individuals might be so that they might be much greater and 
better, and have a greater share of the sum total of existence 
and excellence than another individual, yet no one exceeds 
others so much as to countervail all the rest of the system. 
And if this judge consider not only the system of created be- 
ings, but the system of being in general, comprehending the 
sum total of universal existence, both creator and creature ; 
still every part must be considered according to its weight 
and importance, or the measure it has of existence and ex- 
cellence. To determine then, what proportion of regard is 
to be allotted to the creator, and all his creatures taken to- 
gether, both must be as it were put in the balance ; the Su- 
preme Being, with all in him, that is great, considerable and 
excellent, is to be estimated and compared with all that is to 
be found in the whole creation ; and according as the former 
is found to outweigh, in such proportion is he to have a great- 
er share of regard. And in this case, as the whole system of 
created beings in comparison of the creator, would be found 
as the light dust of the balance, (which is taken no notice of by 
him that weighs) and as nothing and vanity ; so the arbiter 
must determine accordingly with respect to the degree in 
which God should be regarded by all intelligent existence, 
and the degree in which he should be regarded in all that is 
Vol. VI. D 



2^ END IN CREATION. 

done through the whole universal system ; in all actions and 
proceedings, determinations and effects whatever, whether 
creating, preserving, using, disposing, changing, or destroying. 
And as the creator is infinite, and has all possible exis'tence, 
perfection and excellence, so he must have all possible regard. 
As he is every way the first and supreme, and as his excel- 
lency is in all respects the supreme beauty and glory, the 
original good, and fountain of all good ; so he must have in 
all respects the supreme regard. And as he is God over all, 
to whom all are properly subordinate, and on whom all 
depend, worthy to reign as supreme head with absolute and 
universal dominion ; so it is fit that he should be so regarded 
by all and in all proceedings and effects through Uie whole sys- 
tem : That this universality of things in their whole compass 
and series should look to him and respect him in such a man- 
ner as that respect to him should reign over all respect t» 
other things, and that regard to creatures should universally be 
subordinate and subject. 

When I speak of regard to be thus adjusted in the uni- 
versal system, or sum total of existence, I mean the regard of 
the sum total ; not only the regard of individual creatures, or 
all creatures, but of all intelligent existence, created, and un- 
created. For it is fit that the regard of the creator should 
be proportioned to the worthiness of objects, as well as the 
regard of creatures. Thus we must conclude such an arbi- 
ter, as I have supposed, would determine in this business, be- 
ing about to decide how matters should proceed most fitly, 
properly, and according to the nature of things. He would 
therefore determine that the whole universe, including all 
creatures, animate and inanimate, in all its actings, proceed- 
ings, revolutions, and entire series of events, should proceed 
from a regard and with a view, to God, as the supreme 
and last end of all : That every wheel, both great and small, 
in all its rotations, should move with a constant, invariable re- 
gard to him as the ultimate end of all ; as perfectly and uni- 
formly, as if the whole system were animated and directed 
by one common soul ; or, as if such an arbiter as I have be- 
fore supposed, one possessed of perfect wisdom and rectitude 



END IN CREATION. 27 

became the com-mon soul of the universe, and actuated and 

governed it in all its rnotions. 

Tims I have gone upon the supposition of a third per- 
son, neither creator nor creature, but a disinterested person 
stepping in to judge of the concerns of both, and state what 
is most fit and proper between them. The thing sup- 
posed is impossible ; but the case is nevertheless just the same 
as to what is most fit and suitable in itself. For it is most 
certainly proper for God to act, according to the greatest 
fitness, in his proceedings, and he knows what the greatest 
fitness is, as much as it perfect rectitude were a distinct per^- 
son to direct him. As therefore there is no third being, be- 
side God and the created system, nor can be, so there is no 
reed of any, seeing (iod himself is possessed of that perfect 
discern n>cnt and rectitude which have been supposed. It be- 
longs to him as supreme arbiter, and to his infinite wisdom 
and rectitude, to state all rules and measures of proceedings. 
And seeing these attributes of God are'',infinite, and most ab-. 
solutely perfect, they are not the less fit to order and dispose, 
because they ave in him, who is a being concerned, and not a 
third person that is disinterested. For being interested unfits 
a person to be arbiter or judge, no otherwise than as in- 
terest tends to blind and mislead his judgment, or incline him 
to act contrary to it. But that God should be in danger of 
either, is contrary to the supposition of his being possessed of 
discerning and justice absolutely perfect. And as there must 
be some supreme judge of fitness and propriety in the uni- 
versality of things, as otherv^ise there could be no order nor 
regularity, it therefore belongs to God whose are all things, 
who is perfectly fit for this office, and who alone is so to state 
all things according to the most perfect fitness and rectitude, 
as much as if perfect rectitude were a distinct person. We 
may therefore be sure it is and will be done. 

I should think that these things might incline us to sup- 
pose that God has not forgot himself, in the ends which he 
proposed in the creation of the world ; but that he has so 
stated these ends (however he is selfsufficient, immutable, 
and independent) as therein plainly to shew a supreme re^ar^ 



2» END IN CREATION. 

to himself. Whether this can be, or whether God has done 
thus, must be considered afterwards, as also what may be ob- 
jected against this view of thint^s. 

5. Whatsoever is good, amiable and valuable in itself, 
absolutely and originally, which facts and events shew that 
God aimed at m the creation of the world, must be supposed 
to be regarded, oi aimed at by God ultimately, or as an ulti- 
rnaie end of creation. For we must suppose from the per- 
fection of God's nature, that whatsoever is valuable and ami- 
able in itself, simply and absolutely considered, God values 
simply for itself; it is agreeable to him absolutely on its own 
account, because God's judgment and esteem are according 
to truth. He values and loves things accordingly, as they 
are worthy to be valued and loved. But if God values a 
thing simply, and absolutely, for itself, and on its own ac- 
count, then it is the ultimate object of his value ; he does not 
value it merely for the sake of a further end to be attained by 
it. For to suppose that he values it only for some farther end, 
is in direct contradiction to the present supposition, which is, 
that he values it absolutely, and for itself. Hence it most 
clearly follows, that if that which God values ultimately and 
for itself, appears in fact and experience, to be what he seeks 
by any thing he does, he must regard it as an ultimate end. 
And therefore if he seeks it in creating the world, or any part 
of the world, it is an ultimate end of the work of creation. 
Having got thus far, we may now proceed a step further, 
and assert, 

6. Whatsoever thing is actually the effect or conse- 
quence of the creation of the world, which is simply and ab- 
solutely good and valuable in itself, that thing is an ultimate 
end ol God's creating the world. We see that it is a good 
that God aimed at by the creation of the woild ; because he 
has actually attained ii by that means. This is an evidence 
that he intended to attain, or aimed at it. For we may justly 
infer what God intends, by what he actually does ; because 
he does nothing inadvertently, or without design. But what- 
ever (iod intends to attain from a value for it; or in other 
words, whatever he aims at in his actions and wovksj that he 



END IN CREATION. 29 

values ; he seeks that thing in those acts and works. Be- 
cause, for an agent to intend to attain something he values 
by means he uses, is the same thing as to seek it by those 
means. And this is the same as to make that thing his end 
in those means. Now it being by the supposition what God 
values ultimately, it must therefore by the preceding posi- 
tion, be aimed at by God as an ultimate end of cveating the 
world. 



SECTION II. 

So?ne farther observations concerning those things which reason 
leads us to sufi/iose God aimed at in the creation of the world, 
shewing particularly what things that are absolutely good, 
are actually the consequence of the creation of the world. 

FROM what was last observed it seems to be the most 
proper and just way of proceeding, as we would see what light 
reason will give us respecting the particular end or ends God 
had ultimately in view in the creation of the world ; to con- 
sider what thing or things, are actually the effect or conse- 
quence of the creation of the world, that are simply and orig- 
inally valuable in themselves. And this is what I would 
directly proceed to, without entering on any tedious meta- 
physical inquiries wherein fitness, amiableness, or valuable- 
ness consists ; or what that is in the nature of some things, 
which is properly the foundation of a worthiness of being lov- 
ed and esteemed on their own account. In this I must at pres- 
ent refer what I say to the sense and dictates of the reader's 
mind, on sedate and calm reflection. 
I proceed to observe, 
1. It seems a thing in itself fit, proper and desirable, that 
the glorious attributes of God, which consist in a sufficiency 
to certain acts and effects, should be exerted in the production 



3^5 END IN CREATION. 

of such effects, as might manifest the infinite power, wisdom, 
righteousness, goodness, ccc. which arc in God. If the wotid 
had not been created, these attributes never would nave had 
any exercise. The power of God, which is a sufficiency in 
him to produce great eiTccts, must for ever have been dormant 
and useless as to any effect. The divine wisdom and pru- 
dence would have had no exercise in any wise contrivance, 
any prudent proceeding or disposal of things ; for there would 
have been no objects of contrivance or disposal. The same 
Tnight be observed of God's justice, goodness and truth. In- 
deed God miglit have known as perfectly that he possessed 
these attributes, if they had never been exerted or expressed 
in any effect. But then if the attributes which consist in a 
sufficiency for correspondent effects, are in themselves excel- 
lent, the exercises of them must likewise be excellent. If it 
be an excellent thing that there should be a sufficiency for a 
certain kind of action or operation, the excellency of such a 
sufficiency must consist in its relation to this kind of operation 
or effect ; but that could not be, unless the operation itself 
■were excellent. A sufficiency for any act or work is no far- 
ther valuable, than the work or effect is valuable.* As God 
therefore esteerns these attributes themselves valuable, and 
delia;hts in them ; so it is natural to suppose that he delights 
in their proper exercise and expression. For the same rea- 
son that he esteems his own sufficiency wisely to contrive and 
dispose effects, he also will esteem the wise contrivance and 
disposition itself. And for the same reason as he delights in 
his own disposition, to do justly, and to dispose of things ac- 

♦ As we must conceive of things, the end and perfection of these attributes 
does as it were consist in their exercise : " The end of wisdom (says Mr. G,* 
Tennent. in his Sermon at the opening of the P:esbyterian church of Phila- 
delphia) is design ; the end of power is action ; the end of goodness is doing 
good. To si'ppose these perfections not to be exerted, would be to repre- 
sei t thzm as insignificant. Of what use would God's wisdom be, if it had 
nothing to design or direct ? To what purpose his almightiness. if it never 
biought any thing to pass ? And of what avail his goodness, if it never did 
any good ?" 



END IN CREATION. 31 

cording to truth and just proporuon ; so he must deli;>ht in 
such a righteous disposal itself. 

2. It seems to be a thing in itself fit and desirable, that 
the glorious perfections of God should be known, and the 
operations and expressions of them seen by other beings be- 
sides himself. If it be fit, that God's power and wisdom, &c. 
should be exercised and expressed in some effects, and not 
lie eternally dormant, then it seems proper that these exercis- 
es should appear, and not be totally hidden and unknown. For 
if they are, it will be just the same as to the above purpose, 
as if they were not. God as perfectly knew himself and his 
perfections, had as perfect an idea of the exercises and effects 
they were sufficient for, antecedently to any such actual op- 
erations of them, as since. If therefore it be nevertheless a 
thing in itself valuable, and worthy to be desired, that these 
glorious perfections be actually expressed and exhibited ia 
their correspondent effects ; then it seems also, that the knowl- 
edge of these perfections, and the expressions and discoveries 
that are made of them, is a thing valuable in itself absolutely 
con'jidered ; and that it is desirable that this knowledge should 
exist. As God's perfections arc things in themselves excel- 
lent, so the expression of them in their proper acts and fruits 
is excellent ; and the knowledge of these excellent perfec- 
tions, and of these glorious expressions of them, is an cxcei- 
Sent thing, the existence of which is in itself valuable and de- 
sirable. It is a thing infinitely good in itself that God's glory- 
should be known by a glorious society of created beings. 
And that there should be in them an increasing knowledge of 
God to all eternity, is an existence, a reality infinitely worthy 
to be, and worthy to be valued and regarded by him, to whom 
it belongs to order that to be, which, of all things possible, 
is fittest and best. If existence is more worthy than defect 
and nonentity, and if any created existence is in itself worthy 
to be, then knowledge or understanding is a thing worthy to 
be ; and if any knowledge, then the most excellent sort of 
knowledge, viz. that of God and his glory. The existence 
of the created universe consists as much in it as in any thing : 
Yea this knowledge, is one of the highest, most real and sub- 



S2 END IN CREATION. 

stantial parts, of all created existence, most remote from non- 
entity and defect. 

3. As ii is a thing valuable and desirable in itself that 
God's glory should be seen and known, so when known, it 
seems equally reasonable and nt, it should be valued and es- 
teemed, loved and delii^hted in, answerably to its dignity. 
There is no more reason to esteem it a fit and suitable thing 
that God's glory should be known, or that there should be 
an idea in the understanding corresponding unto the glorious 
object, than that there should be a corresponding disposition 
or affection in the will. If the perfection itself be excellent, 
the knowledge of it is excellent, and so is the esteem and 
love of it excellent. And as it is fit that God should love and 
esteem his own excellence, it is also fit that he should value 
and esteem the love of his excellency. For if it becomes any 
being greatly to value another, then it becomes him to love to 
have him valued and esteemed: And if it becomes a being 
highly to value himself, it is fit that he should love to have 
himself valued and esteemed. If the idea of God's perfection 
in the understanding be valuable, then the love of the heart 
seems to be more especially valuable, as moral beauty espe- 
cially consists in the disposition and affection of the heart. 

4. As there is an infinite fulness of all possible good in 
God, a fulness of every perfection, of all excellency and beau- 
ty, and of infinite happiness ; and as this fulness is capable 
of communication or emanation ad extra ; so it seems a thing 
amiable and valuable in itself that it should be communicated 
or flow forth, that this infinite fountain of good should send 
forth abundant streams, that this infinite fountain of light 
should, diffusing its excellent fulness, pour forth light all 
around... .And as this is in itself excellent, so a disposition to 
this, in the divine being, must be looked upon as a perfection 
or an excellent disposition, such an emanation of good is, in 
some sense, a multiplication of it ; so far as the communica- 
tion or external stream may be looked upon as any tiling be- 
sides the fountain, so far it may be looked on as an increase 
of good. And if the fulness of good that is in the fountain, 
is in itself excellent and worthy to exist, then the emanation, 



END IN CREATION. S3 

or that which is as it were an increase, repetition or multipli- 
cation of it, is cxcellcn' and worthy to exist. Thus it is Et, 
since (here is an infinite fountain of light and knowledge, that 
this lij^ht should shine forth in beams of communicated 
knowledge and understanding : And as theie is an infinite 
fountain of holiness^ moral excellence and beauty, so it should 
flow out in communicated holiness. And that as there is an 
infinite fulness of joy and happiness, so these should have an 
emanation, and become a fountain flowing out in abundant 
streams, as beams from the sun. 

From this view it appears another way to be a thing in 
itself valuable, that there should be such things, as the knowl- 
edge of God's glory in other beings, and an high esteem of 
it, love to it, and delight and complacence in it : This appears 
I say in another way, \iz. as these things are but the emana- 
tions of God's own knowledge, holiness and joy. 

Thus it appears reasonable to suppose, that it was what 
God had respect to as an ultimate end of his creating the 
■world, to communicate of his own infinite fulness of good ; oc 
rather it was liis last end, that tliere might be a ghnious and 
abundant emanation of his infinite fulness of good ac? e.rj;-a', 
or M'ithout himself, and the disposiuon to communicate hini- 
self, or diffuse his own fulness,* which we must conceive 
of as being originally in God as a perfection of his nature, was 
what moved him to creaie the world. But here as much as 
possible to avoid confusion, I observe, that there is some im- 
propriety in saying that a disposition in God to communi- 
cate himself ;'o ?/2e creature, moved him to create the world. 
For though the diffueive disposition iii the nature of (jod, that 
moved him to create the world, doubtless inclines him to 
communicate himself to the cretitiut, when the creaiure ex- 
ists ; yet tl is cannot bf nil : Because i.n inclination ia God to 
communicate himself to an object, seems to presuppose the 

* I shall often use the phrase God's f ulna.', as signifying and comprehend- 
ing all (he goor which is m God natural and moral, eith -r excellence or hap- 
piness ; partly bixause I know of no better phrase to be used in this general 
meaning ; and partly bec.iuse I am led hereto by some of the inspired writers. 
Particularly the -ipostie Paul, who often u-eih the phrase ia thisseuse, 

VuL. VT. 3 Ji 



34 END IN CREATION. 

existence of the object, at least in idea. But the diffusive 
disposition that excited Ood to give creatures existence, was 
rather a communicative disposition in general, or a disposition 
in the fulness of the diviniiy to flow out and diffuse itself. 
Thus the disposition there is in the root and stock of a tree 
to diffuse and send forth its sap and life, is doubtless the rea- 
son of the communication of its sap and life to its buds, leaves 
•and fruits, after these exist. But a disposition to communi- 
cate of its life and sap to its fruits, is not so properly the cause 
of its producing those fruits, as its disposition to communicate 
itself, or diffuse its sap and life in general. Therefore to 
speak more strictly according to truth, we may suppose, that 
a dispoiiitio7t in God, as an original property of his nature, to an 
emanation of his own infinite fulness, was what excited him to 
create the world ; a?id so that the emanation itself was aimed at 
hy him as a last end of the creation. 



SECTION III. 

Wherein it is considered how, on the svfifiosiiion of God's mak' 
ing the forementioned things his last end, he 7nanifests a su- 
fireme and ultimate regard to himself in all his works. 

IN the last section I observed some things, which are 
actually the consequence of the creation of the world, which 
seem absolutely valuable in themselves, and so worthy to be 
made God's last end in this work. I now proceed to inquire, 
how God's making such things as these his last end is consist- 
ent with his making himself his last end, or his manifesting 
an ultimate respect to ! imself in his acts and works. Because 
this is a thing I have observed as agreeable to the dictates of 
reason, that in all his proceedings he should set himself high- 
est. ...Therefore I would endeavor to shew with respect to each 
of the forementioned things, that God, in making them his 
end, makes himself his end, so as in all to shew a supreme 



END IN CREATION. 35 

and ultimate respect to himself; and how his infinite love to 
himself and delight in himself, will naturally cause him to 
value and delit^ht in tliese things : Or rather how a value to 
these things is implied in his love to himself, or value of that 
infinite fulness of good that is in himself. 

Now with regard to the first of the particulars mentioned 
above, viz. God's regard to the exercise and expression of 
those attributes of his nature, in their proper operations and 
eflects, which consist in a sufficiency for these operations, it is 
not hard to conceive that God's regard to himself, and value 
for his own perfections, should cause him to value these ex- 
ercises and expressions of his perfections ; and that a love to 
them will dispose him to love their exhibition and exertment : 
Inasmuch as their excellency consiss in their relation to use, 
exercise and operation ; as the excellency of wisdom consists 
in its relation to, and sufliciency for, wise designs and effects. 
God's love to himself, and his own attributes, will therefore 
make him delight in that, which is the use, end and operation 
of these attributes. If one highly esteem and delight in the 
virtues of a friend, as wisdom, justice, 8cc. that have relation 
to action, this will make him delight in the exercise and gen- 
uine effects of these virtues : So if God both esteem, and de- 
light in his own perfections and virtues, he cannot but value 
and delight in the expressions and genuine efifects of them. 
So that in delighting in the expressions of his perfections, he 
manifests a delight in his own perfections themselves : Or in 
other words, he manifests a delight in himself; and in mak- 
ing these expressions of his own perfections his end, he makes 
himself his end. 

And with respect to the second and third particulars, the 
matter is no less plain. For he that loves any being, and has 
a disposition highly to prize, and greatly to delight in his vir- 
tues and perfections, must, from the same disposition, be well 
pleased to have his excellencies known, acknowledged, es- 
teemed and prized by others. He that loves and approves 
any being or thing, he naturally loves and approves the love 
and approbation of that thing, and is opposite to the disap- 
probation and contempt of it. Thiis it is when one loves 



56 knd in creation'. 

another, and highly prizes the virtues of a friend. And thus 
it is fit it should be, if it be fit that the other bhould be belov- 
ed, and his qualification prized. And therefore thus it will 
necessarily be, if a being loves himself and highly prizes his 
owTi excellencies : And thus it is fit it should be, if it be fit he 
should thus love himself, and prize his own valuable qualities. 
That is, it is fit that he should take delight in his own excel- 
lenc ies being seen, acknowledged, esteemed, and delighted in. 
This is implied in a love to himself and his own perfections. 
And in seeking this, and making this his end, he seeks him- 
self, and makes himself his end. 

And with respect to the fourth and last particular, viz. 
God's being disposed to an abundant communicaiion, and 
glorious emanation of that infinite fulness of good which he 
possesses in himself; as of his own knowlcdge> excellency, 
and happiness, in the manner which he does ; if we thorough- 
ly and properly consider the maiter, it will appear, that here- 
in also C.ocl makes himself his end, in such a sense, as plainly 
to manifest and testify a supreme and ultimate regard to 
himself. 

Merely in this disposition to ditTuse himself, or to cause 
an emanation of his glory and fulness, which is prior to the 
existence of any other being, and is lo be considered as the 
inciting cause of creation, or giving existence to other be- 
ings, God cannot so properly be said to make the creature 
his end, as himself.. ..For the creature is not as yet consider- 
ed as existing. This disposition or desire in God, must be 
prior to the existence of the creature, even in inieniion and 
foresight. For it is a disposition that is the original ground 
of the existence of the creature ; and even of the future in- 
tended and foreseen existence of the creature.- God's love, 

or benevolence, us it respects the crea'ure, may be taken eith- 
er in a larger, or stricter sense. In a larger sense it may 
signify notliing diverse from that good disposition in his na- 
ture to comnmnicale of his own fulness in general ; as his 
knowledge, his holiness, and happiness ; and to give crea- 
tures cxisicnce in order to it. This may be called benevo- 
lence or love, because it is the same good disposition that is 



END IN CREATION. 37 

exercised in love ; it is the very fountain from whence love 
originally proceeds, when taken in the most proper sense ; 
and it has the same general tendency and effect m the crea- 
ture's well being. ...But yet this cannot have any particular 
present or future created existence for its object ; because 
it is prior to any such object, and the very source of the fu- 
turilion of the existence of it. Nor is it really diverse from 
God's love to himself; as will more clearly appear after- 
wards. 

But God's love may be taken more strictly, for tiiis gen- 
eral disposition to communicate good, as directed to particu- 
lar objects. Love, in the most strict and proper sense, pre- 
supposes the existence of the object beloved, at least in idea 
and expectation, and represented to the mind as future. God 
did not love angels in the strictest sense, but in consequence 
of his intending to create them, and so having an idea of fu- 
ture existing angels. Therefore his love to them was not 
properly what excited him to intend to create them. Love 
or benevolence strictly taken, presupposes an existing object, 
as much as pity, a miserable, suffering object. 

This propensity in God to diffuse himself, may be consid" 
ered as a propensity to himself diffused ; or to his own glo- 
ry existing in its emanation. A respect to himself, or an 
infinite propensity to, and delight in his own glory, is that 
which causes him to incline to its being abundantly diffused, 
and to delight in the emanation of it. Thus that nature 
in a tree, by which it puts forth buds, shoots out branches, 
and brings forth leaves and fruit, is a disposition that termi- 
nates in its own complete self. And so the disposition in 
the sun to shine, or abundantly to diffuse its fulness, warmth 
and brightness, is only a tendency to its own most glorious 
and complete state. So God looks on the communication 
of himself, and the emanation of the infinite glory and good 
that are in himself lo belong to the fulness and complete- 
ness of himself; as though he were not in his most complete 
and glorious state without it. Thus the churcli of Christ 
(toward whom, and in whom are the emanations of his 
glory and communications of his fulness) is called the ful- 



S8 END IN CREATION. 

liess of Christ : As though he were nut in his complete state 
•without her, as Adam was in a defective state without Eve, 
And the church is called the glory of Christ, as the woman 
is the glory of the man, 1 Cor. xi. 7. . Isaiah xlvi. 13. " I will 
place salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory." Very remarka- 
ble is that place, John xii. 23, 24. " And Jesus answered 
thera, saying, The hour is conie that the Son of Man should 
be glorified. Verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat 
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die it 
bringeth forth much fruit." He had respect herein, to the 
blessed fruits of Christ's death, in the conversion, salvation, 
and eternal happiness and holiness of those that should be re- 
deemed by hi.n. This consequence of his death he calls his 
glory ; and his obtaining this fruit he calls his being glori- 
fied ; as the flourishing beautiful produce of a corn of wheat 
sown in the ground is its glory. Without this he is alone as 
Adam was before Eve was created ; but from him by his 
death proceeds a glorious offspring; in which he is communi- 
cated, that is his fulness and glory : As from Adam in his 
deep sleep proceeds the woman, a beautiful companion to fill 
his emptiness, and relieve his solitariness. By Christ's 
death, his fulness is abundantly diffused in many streams ; 
and expressed in the beauty and glory of a great multitude of 
his spiritual offspring. ...Indeed, after the creatures are intend- 
ed to be created, God may be conceived of as being moved 
by benevolence to these creatures, in the strictest sense, in 
his dealings with, and works about them. His exercising his 
goodness, and gratifjing his benevolence to them in particu- 
lar, may be the spring of all Ciod's proceedings through the 
universe, as being now the determined way cf gratifying his 
general inclination to diffuse himself. Here God's acting 
for himself, or making himself his last end, and his acting 
for their sake, are not to be set in opposition, or to be consid- 
ered as the opposite parts ot a disjunction. They are rather 
to be considered as coinciding one with the other, and im- 
plied one in the other. Bat yet God is to be considered as 
first and original in his regard ; and the creature is the ob- 
ject of God's regard consequentially and by implication as 



END IN CREATION. 39 

it were comprehended in God ; as shall be more particularly 
observed presently. 

But how God's value for and delight in the emanations 
of his fulness in the work of creation, ar!2;ues his delight in 
the infinite fulness of good there is in himself, and the su- 
preme respect and regard he has for himself ; and that in 
making these emanations of himself his end, he dees 
ultimately make himself his end in creation, will more 
clearly appear by considering more particularly the na- 
ture and circumstances of these communications of God's 
fulness which are made, and which we have reason either 
from the nature of things, or the word of God to suppose 
shall be made- 
One part of that divine fulness which is communicated^ 
is the divine knowledge. Thai communicated knowledge 
which must be supposed to pertain to God's last end in cre- 
ating the world, is the creature's knowledge of him. For 
this is the end of all other knowledge ; and even the fac- 
ulty of understanding would be vain without this. And 
this knowledge is most properly a communication of God's 
infinite knowledge which primarily consists in the knowl- 
edge of himself. God, in making this his end, makes him- 
self his end. This knowledge in the creature, is but a 
conformity to God. It is the image of God's owa 
knowledge of himself. It is a participation of the same. 
It is as much the same as it is possible for that to be, 
which is infinitely less in degree : As particular beams of 
the sun communicated, are the light and glory of the sun 
in put. 

Besides, God's perfections, or his glory, is the object of 
this knowledge, or the thing knov/n ; so that God is glo- 
rified in it, as hereby his excellency is seen. As therefore 
God values himself, as he delights in his own knowledge ; 
he must delight in every thing of that nature : As he de- 
lights in his own light, he must delight in every beam of 
that light : And as he highly values his own excellency, 
lie must be well pleased in having it manifested, and so 
p;lorified. 



40 END IN CREATION. 

Another thing wherein the emanation of divine fulnesa 
that is, and will he made in consequence of the creation of 
the world, is the communicntion of virtue and holiness to 
the creature. This Is a communication of God's holiness ; 
so that hereby the creature partakes of God's own moral 
excellency ; which is properly the beauty of the divine 
nature. And as (iod delights in his own beauty, he must 
necessarily delight in the creature's holiness ; which is a 
conformity to, and participation of it, as truly as the bright- 
ness of a jewel, held in the sun's beams, is a participation 
or derivation of the sun's brightness, though immensely less 

in degree And then it must be considered wherein this 

holiness in the creature consists ; viz. in love, which is the 
comprehension of all true virtue ; and primarily in love to 
God, which is exercised in an high esteem of God, admira- 
tion of his perfections, con^placency in them, and praise 
of them. All which things are nothing else but the hearts 
exalting, magnifying, or glorifying God ; which as I shewed 
before, (^od necessarily approves cf, and is pleased with, as he 
loves himself, and values the glory of his own nature. 

Another part of (iod's fulness which he communicates, 
is his happiness. This happiness consists in enjoying and 
rejoicing in himself ; and so does also the creature'^ hap- 
piness. It is, as has been observed of the other, a partici- 
pation of what is in God ; and God and his glory are the 
objective ground of it. The happiness of the creature con. 
sists in rejoicing in God ; by which also God is magnified 
and exalted : Joy, or the exulting of the heart in God's glo- 
ry, is one thing that belongs to praise. ...So that God is 
all in all, with respect to each part of that communication 
of the divine fulness which is made to the creature What 
is communicated is divine, or something of God : And- 
each communication is of that nature, that the creature to 
whom it is made, is thereby conformed to God, and united 
to hiin, and that in proportion as the communication is great- 
er or less. And the coinmunication itself, is no other, in the 
very nature of it, than that wherein the very honor, exaltation 
and praise of God coniiists. 



END TN CREATION. U 

And it is farther to be considered, tljat the thing Avhich 
God aimed at in the creation of the world, as the end which 
he had idtimately in view, was that communication of him- 
self, which he intended throughout all eternity. And if 
we attend to tlie nature and circumstances of this eternal 
emanation of f!i\ine f;ood, it will more clearly shew how in 
niukinc^ this his end, Cjod testifies a supreme respect to him- 
self, and. makes himself his end. There arc many reasons 
to think that what God has in view, in an increasing com- 
munication of himself throughout eternity, is an increasing 
knowledge of God, love to him, and jov in him. And it 
is to be considered that the more those divine communica- 
tions increase in the creature, the more it becomes one with 
God ; for so much the more is it united to God in love, the 
heart is drawn nearer and nearer to God, and the union 
with him becomes more firm and close, and at the same 
time tlie creature becomes more and more conformed to 
God. The image is more ahd more perfect, and so tiie good 
that is in the creature comes forever nearer and nearer to an 
identity with that which is in God. In the view therefore 
of God, who has a comprehensive prospect of the increasing 
union and confoi-mity ihiough eternity, it must be an infi- 
nitely stiict and perfect nearness, conformity, and oneness. 
For i' will forever come nearer and nearer to that strictness 
and perfection of union which there is between the Father 
and the Son ; so that in the eyes of God, who perfectly 
sees the v hole of it, in its infinite progress and increase, it 
must c<-.me to an eminent fulfilment of Christ's request, in 
John xvii. 21, '22. " That they all may be one^ as thou. Fath- 
er, ait in me, and I in thee, that tliey also may be one in us, 
I in tiiem, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in 
vnr." In this vi^^w, those elect creatutes which must be 
Ic< k' d upon as the end of all the rest of the creation, con- 
sidoeci with respect to the whole of their eternal duration, 
and as such made God's end, must be viewed as being, as 
it were, one with God. They were respected as brought 
home to him, united with him, centering most perfectly 
in him, and as it were swallowed up in him ; so that his 

Vox. VI. F 



42 END IN CREATION. 

respect to them finally coincides and becomes one and 
the same with respect to himself. The interest of the 
creature, is, as it were, Gotl's own interest, in proportion 
to the degree of their relation and union to God. Tlius 
the interest of a man's family is looked upon as the same 
•with his own interest ; because of the relation they siund 
in to him; his propiiety in them, and their strict union 
with him. But consider Gnd's elect creatures with respect 
to' their eternal duration, so they are infinitely dearer to 
God, than a man's family is to him. What has been 
said, shews iha as all things are from God as their first 
cause and fountain ; so all things tend to him, and in their 
progress come nearer and nearer to him through all eter- 
nity : Which argues that he who is their first cause is their 
last end. 



SECTION IV. 

So7ne objections considered which may be made against the rcas' 
onableness ofivhat has been said of God's making himself 
his last end. 

Objection 1. SOME may object against what has been 
said, as inconsistent with God's absolute independence and 
immutability, particularly the representation that has been 
made, as though God were inclined to a communication of 
liis fulness and emanations of his own glory, as being his 
own most glorious and cotrtplcte state. It may be thought 
that this does not well consist with God's being selfexistent 
from all eternity, absolutely perfect in himself, in the 
possession of infinite and independent good. And that in 
general, to suppose that God makes himself his end, in the 
creation of the world, seems to suppose that he aims at some 
interest or happiness of his own, not easily reconcileable 
with his being happy, perfectly and infinitely happy in him- 



END IN CREATION. 43 

self. If it could be supposed that God needed any thing ; 
or that the goodness of his creatures could extend to him ; 
or that they could be profitable to him ; it iifiight be fit, that 
God should make himself, and his own interest, his highest 
and last end in creating the world ; and there would be 
some reason and ground for the p'eceding discourse. But 
seeing that God is above all need and all capacity of being 
added to and advanced, made belter or happier in any res- 
pect ; to what purpose should God make himself liis end ; 
or seek to advance himself in any respect by any of his 
■works ? How absurd is it to suppose that God should do 
such great things with a view to obtain what he is already 
nosi perfectly possessed of, and was so from all eternity ; 
and therefore cannot now possibly need, nor with any color 
of reason be supposed to seek ? 

Answer 1. Many have wrong notions of God's happi- 
ness, as resulting from his absolute selfsufficience, indepen- 
dence, and immutability. Though it be true, that God's 
glory and happmess are in and of himself, are infinite and 
cannot be added to, unchangeable for the whole and every 
part of which he is perfectly independent of the creature ; 
yet it does not hence follow, nor is it true, that God has no 
real and proper delight, pleasure or happiness, in any of his 
acts or communications relative to the creature ; or effects 
he produces in them ; or in any thing he sees in the crea- 
ture's qualifications, dispositions, actions and state. God 
may have a real and proper pleasure or happiness in seeing 
the happy state of the creature ; yet tills may not bs dif- 
ferent from his delight in himself ; being a de!i?;ht in his 
own infinite goodness ; or the exercise uf that glorious pro- 
pensity of his nature to diffuse and communicate himself, and 
so gratifying this inclination of his own heart. This deliglit 
which God has in his creature's happiness, cannot properly 
be said to be what God receives from the creature. For it is 
only the effect of his own work in, and communications to 
the creature, in making it, and admitting it lo a participation 
•f his fulness. As the sun receives nothing from the jewel 



44 END IN CREATION. 

that receives its light, and shines only by a participation oi'ita 
brightness. 

"Wiih respttt also to the creature's holiness : God may 
have a proper delii^ht and joy in imparling this to the crea- 
ture, as g;raufying hereby his inclination, to communicate of 
his own exce lent fulness. God may dclitijht with true and 
great pleasure in hchoklin^ that beauty which is an imat^e 
and communication of his own beauty, an expression and 
■manifestation of his own loveliness. And this is so far from 
being an instance of his happiness not being in and from, 
himself, tliat it is an evidence that he is happy in himself, or 
delights and has pleasure in his own beauty. If he did not 
take pleasure in the expression of his own beauty, it would 
rather be an evidence that he docs not delight in his own 
beauty ; that he hath not his happiness and enjoyment in his 
own beauty and perfection. So that if we suppose God 
has real pleasure and hajipiness in the holy love and praise 
of his saints, as the image and communication of his own 
holiness, it is not proptily r.ny pleasure distinct from the 
pleasure he has in himself; but is truly an instance of it. 

And with respect to God's being glorified in this respect, 
that those peritciions wherein his glory consists, are exer- 
cised and expressed in tlieir proper and corresponding effects ; 
as his wisdom in wise designs and wellcontrived works... .his 
power in great fcifects....his justice in acts of righteousness 
....his goodness in communicating happiness ; and so his 
shewing forth the glory of his own nature, in its being ex- 
ercised, cxliibited, comniunicated, known, and esteemed ; his 
having delight herein does not argue that his pleasure or 
happiness is not in himself, and his own glory ; but the con- 
trary. This is the necessary consequence of his delighting 
in the glory of his nature, that he delights in the emanatioa 
and effulgence of it. t 

Nor do any of these tilings argue any dependence in 
God on the creature for iiappiness. Though he has reaF 
pleasure in the creature's holiness and happiness ; yet this 
is not properly any pleasure which he receives from the 
?:reature. Fbr these things are r/hut he gives t!ie creature.. 



END IN CREATION. 45 

They are wholly and eiiiirely from him. Therefore they are 
nothin<2: that they give to God by which they add to him. 
His rejoicing therein, is rather a rejoicing in his own acts, 
and his own glory expressed in those acts, than a joy derived 
from the creature. God's joy is dependent on nothing be- 
sides his own act, which he exerts with an al)Solute and inde- 
pendent power. And yet, in some sense it can be truly said 
that God has the more delight and pleasure for the holiness 
and happiness of his creatures. Because God would be less 
happy, if he was less good : Or if he had not that perfection 
of nature which consists in a propensity of nature to diffuse of 
his own fulness. And he would be less happy, if it were pos- 
sible for him to be hindered in the exercise of his goodness, 
and his other perfections in their proper eflPects. But he has 
complete happiness, because he has tht-se perfections, and 
cannot be hindered in exercising and displaying them in their 
proper eflFecls. And this surely is not thus, because he is de- 
pendent ; but because he is independent on any other that 
should hinder him. 

From this view it appears, that nothing that has been said 
is in the least inconsistent with those expressions in the scrip- 
ture that signify that man cannot be profitable to God ; that 
he receives nothing of us by any of our wisdom and right- 
eousness. For these expressions plainly mean no more than 
that God is absolutely independent of us ; that we have 
nothing of our own, no stock from whence we can give to 
God ; and that no part of bis happiness originates from man. 

From what has been said it appears, that the pleasure 
that God hath in those things which have been mentioned, is 
rather a pleasure in diffusing and communicating to the crea- 
ture, than in receiving from the creature. Surely, it is no 
argument of indigence in God, that he is inclined to commu- 
nicate of his infinite fulness. It is no argument of the emp- 
tiness or deficiency of a fountain, that it is inclined to over- 
flow ...Another thing signified by these expressions of scrip- 
ture is, that nothing that is from the creature, adds to or al- 
ters God's happiness, as though it were changeable either by 
increase or diminution. Nor does any thing that has been 



46 END IN CREATION. 

advanced in the least suppose or infer that it does, or is it iti 
the least incorisislent with the eternity, and most absolute 

immutability of God's pleusme and happiness For though 

these communications of God, these exercises, opera'ions, 
ePerts and expressions of his glorious perfections, which God 
rejoices in, are in time ; yet his joy in them is without begin- 
ning or change They were always equally present in the 
divine itiind. Ho beheld them with equal clearness, certain- 
ty and fulness in every respect, as he doth now. They were 
alw. ys equally present ; as with him there is no variableness 
or succession. He ever beheld and enjoyed them perfectly 
in his own independent and immutable power and will. And 
his view of, and joy in the ^i is eternally, absolutely perfect 
unchangeable and independent. It cannot be added to or di- 
TTiinished by the power or will of any creature ; nor is in the 
least dependent on any thing mutable or contingent. 

2. If any are not satisfied with the preceding answer, 
but still insist on the olijection : Let them consider whether 
they can devise any other scheme of God's last end in creat- 
ing the world, but what will be equally obnoxious to this ob- 
jection in its full force, if there be any force in it. For if God 
had any last end in creating the world, then there was some- 
thing, in some respect future, that he aimed at, and designed 
to bring to pass by creating the world ; Something that was 
agreeable to his inclination or will : Let that be his own glo- 
ry, or the happiness of his creatures, or what it will. Now if 
there be somethinp; that God seeks as agreeable, or grateful 
to him, then in the accomplishment of it he is gratified. If 
the last end which he seeks in the creation of the world, be 
truly a thing grateful to him, (as certaiidy it is if it be truly 
his end and truly the object of his will) then it is what he 
takes a fcal deliglu and pleasure in. But then according to 
the argument of the objection, how he can have any thing fu- 
ture to desire or seek, who is already perfecily* eternally and 
immutably satisfied in himself? What can remain for him to 
lake any delight in or to be further gratified by, whose eter- 
nal and unchangeable delight is in himself as his own com- 
plete object of enjoyment ? Thus the objector will be press- 



END IN CREATION. 47 

ed with his own objecilon ; let him embrace what notion he 
will of God's end in the creation. And I think he has no way 
left to answer but that wliich has been taken above. 

It may therefore be proper here to observe, that let what 
will be God's last end, that, he must have a real and proper 
pleasure in : Whatever be the proper object of his will, be is 
gratified in. And the thing is either gratefni to him in itself; 
or for something else for which he wills it : And so is his 
further end. But whatever is God's last end, that he wills 
/o7- its own sake ; as grateful to him in itself; or which is the 
same thing ; it is that wliich he truly delights in ; or in which 
he has some degree of true and proper pleasure. Otherwise 
we must deny any such thing as will in God with rcspLxt to 
any thing brought to p-iss in time ; and su must deny his work 
of creation, or any work of his providence to be truly volunta- 
ry. But we have as much reason to suppose that God's 
works in creating and governing the world, are properly the 
fruits of his will, as of his understanding. And if there be 
any s\ich thing al all, as what we mean by acls of will in God ; 
then he is not indifferent whether his will be fulfilled or not. 
And if he is not indifferent, then he is truly gratified and 
pleased in the fulfilment of his will : Or which is the same 
thing, he has a pleasure in it. And if he has a real pleasure 
in attaining his end, then the attainment of it belongs to his 
happiness. That in which God's delight or pleasure in any 
measure consists, his happiness in some measure consists. 
To suppose that God has pleasure in tilings, that are brought 
to pass in time, only figuratively and metaphorically ; is to 
suppose that he exercises will about these things, and makes 
them his end only metaphorically. 

3. The doctrine that makes God's creatures and not him- 
self, to be his last end, is a doctrine the farthest from having 
a favorable aspect on God's absolute selfsufficience and inde- 
pendence. It far less agrees therewith than the doctrine 
against which this is objected. For we must conceive of tli^ 
efficient as depending on his ultimate end. He depends on 
this end, in his desires, aims, actions and pursuits ; so that he 
fails in all his desires, actions vj\d pursuits, if he fails of his 



48 END IN CREATION. 

cnrl.. Now if God himself be his last end, Ihen in his de-' 

pendence on his end, he depends on nothin^^ but himself. If 
all lhinE!:s be of him, and to him, and he the first and the last, 
this shews him to be all in all : He is all to himself. He 
goes not out of himself in what he seeks ; but his desires and 
])ursuits as they originate from, so they terminate in himself ; 
and he is dependent on none but himself in the bes^inning or 
end of any of his exercises or operations. But if not him- 
self, but the creature, be his last end, then as he depends on 
his last end, he is in some sort dependent on the creature. 

Objection 2. Some may object, that to suppose that 
God makes himself his hii^hest and last end, is dishonorable 
to him ; as it in effect supposes, that God does every thing 
from a selfish spirit. Selfishness is looked upon as mean and 
sordid in the creature I Unbecoming and even hateful in such 
a worm of the du't as man. We should look upon a man 
as of a base and contemptible character, that should in every 
thing he did, be governed by selfibh principles ; should make 
his private interest his governing aim in all his conduct in 
life. How far then should wc be from attributing any such 
thing to the Supreme Being, the blessed and only potentate ! 
Does it not become us to ascribe to him, the most noble and 
generous dispositions ; and those qualities that are the most 
remote from every thing that is private, narrow and sordid? 

Answer 1. Such an objection must arise from a very ig- 
norant or inconsiderate notion of the vice of selfishness, and 
the virtue of generosity. If by selfishness be meant, a dis- 
position in any bemg to regard himself; this is no otherwise 
vicious or unbeconung, than as one is less than a multitude ; 
and so the public weal is of greater value than his particular 
intertst. Among created beings one single person must be 
looked upon as inconsiderable in comparison of the generali- 
ty ; and so liis in'crcst as of little importance compared with 
the interest of the whole system : Therefore in them, a dis- 
position to prefer self, as if it were moVe than all is exceeding 
vicious. But it is vicious on no other account, than as it is a 
disposition that docs not agree with the nature of things ; and 
that which is indeed the greatest good. And a disposition 



END IN CREATION. 49 

in any one to forego his own interest for the sake of others, is 
no further excellent, no further worthy the nanrie of generosi- 
ty than it is a treating things according to their true value ; a 
prosecuting something most worthy to be prosecuted ; an ex- 
pression of a disposition to prefer something to selfinterest, 
that is indeed preferable in itself. But if God be indeed so 
great, and so excellent, that all other beings are as nothing to 
him, and all other excellency be as nothing and less than 
nothing, and vanity in comparison ot his ; and God be omnis- 
cient, and infallible, and perfectly knows that he is infinitely 
the most valuable being ; then it is fit that his heart should 
be agreeable to this, which is indeed the true ^nature and pro- 
portio 1 of things, and agreeable to this infallible and all com- 
prehending understanding which he has of them, and that 
perfectly clear light in' which he views them ; and so it is 
fit and suitable that he should value himself infinitely more 
than his creatures. 

2. In created beings, a regard to selfinterest may prop- 
erly be set in opposition to the public welfare ; because 
the private interest of one person may be inconsistent with 
the public good ; at least it may be so in the apprehension 
of that person. That, which this person looks upon as his 
interest may interfere with, or oppose the general good. 
Hen< e his private interest may be regarded and pursued in 
opposition to the public. But this cannot be with respect to 
the Supreme Being, the an'hnr and head of the whole system, 
on whom all absolutely depend ; who is the fountain of 
being and good to the whole. It is more absurd to suppose 
that his interest should be opposite to the interest of the uni- 
versal system, than that the welfare of the head, heart, and 
vitals of the natural body, should be opposite to the welfare 
of the body. And it is impc-jsible that God, who is omnis- 
cient, should apprehend the matter thus, viz. his inter- 
est, as being inconsistent with the good and interest of the 
•whole. 

3. God's seeking himself in the creation of the world, 
in the manner which has been supposed, is so far frotn 
being inconsistent with the good of his creatures, or any 
Vol. \I, G 



50 END IN CREATION. 

possibility of being so ; that it is a kind of regard to himself 
that inclines hiin to seek the good of his creature. It is a 
regard to hinfself that disposes him to diffuse and commu- 
nicate himself. It is such a deHght in his own internal 
fulness and glory, that disposes him to an abundant effusion 
and emanation of that glory. The same disposition, ihat 
inclines him to delight in his glory, causes him to delight 
in the exhibitions, expressions and communications of it. 
This is a natural conclusion. If there were any person of 
such a taste and disposition of mind, that the brightness and 
light of the sun secmtd unlovely to him, he would be willing 
that the sun's brightness and light should be retained within 
itself : But they, that delight in it, to whom it appears 
lovely and glorious, will esteem it an amiable and glorious 
thing to have it diffused and communicated through the 
world. 

Here by the way it may be properly considered, whether 
some writers are not chargeable with inconsistence in this 
respect, viz. thnt whereas they speak against the doctrine 
of God's making himself his own highest and last end, as 
though this were an ignoble selfishness in God ; when indeed 
he only is fit to be made the highest end, by himself and 
all other beings; inasmuch as he is the highest Being, 

and infinitely greater and more worthy than all others 

Yet with regard to creatures who are infinitely less worthy 
of supreme and ultimate regard, they (in effect at least) 
suppose that they necessarily at all times seek their own 
happiness, and make it their ultimate end in all, even their 
most virtuous actions : And that this principle, regulated by 
wisdotTi and prudence, as leading to that which is their true 
and highest happiness is the foundation of all virtue and every 
thing that is morally good and excellent in them. 

(Objection 3. To what has been supposed, that God 
makes himself his end in this way, viz. in seeking that his 
glory and excr.llent perfection should be known, esteemed, 
loved and delighted in by his creatures, it may be objected, 
that this seenis unworthy of God. It is considered as below 
a truly great man, to be much influenced in his conduct, by 



END IN CREATION. 51 

•jL desire of popular applause. The notice and admiration of 
a gazirii^ iTiullitude, would be esteemed but a low end, to be 
aimed at by a prince or philosopher, in any great and noble 
cntei prize. How muc.li more is it unworthy the great God, 
to perlorrn his magnificent works, e. g. the cieaticn of the 
vast universe, out of regard to the notice and admiration of 
worms of the dust : That the displays of his magnificence 
may be gaztd at, and applauded by tho^e who are infinitely 
more beneath him, than the meanest rabble are beneath the 
greatest prince or pliilosopher. 

This objection is specious. It hath a shew of argument: 
But it wdl appear to be nothing but a siiew....if we con- 
sider, 

1. Whether or no it be not worthy of God, to regard and 
value what is excellent and valuable in itself, and so to take 
pleasure in its exiitence. 

It seems not liable to any doubt, that there could be noth- 
ing future, or no future existence worthy to be desired or 
sought by God, and so worthy to be made his end, if no 
future existence was valuable and worthy to be brought to 
effect. If when the world was not, there was ary possible 
future thing fit and valuable in itself, I think the knowledge 
of God's glory, and the esteem and love of it must be so. 
Understanding and will are the highest kind of created ex- 
istence. And if they be valuable, it must be in their ex- 
ercise. But the highest and most excellent kind of their 
exercise, is in some actual knowledge and exercise of will. 
And certainly the most excellent actual knowledge and 
will, that can be in the creature, is the kn?>wledge and the 
love of God. And the most true, excellent knowledge of God 
is the knowledge of his glory or moral excellence, and the 
most excellent exercise of the will consists in esteem and 
love, and a delight in his glory. If any created existence is 
in itself worthy to be, or any thing that ever was future is 
worthy of existence, such a communication of divine fulness, 
such an emanation and expression of the divine glory is wor- 
thy oi existence. But if nothing that ever Avas future was 
worthy to exist, then no future thing Avas worthy to be aimed 



52 £nd in creation. 

at by God ill creatinj!^ the world. And if nolhiiif;- was worthy 
to be aimed at in creation, then nothing was worthy lo be 
God's end in creation. 

If God's own excellency and glory is worthy to be high- 
ly valued and delighted in by him, then the value and 
esteem hereof by others, is worthy to be regarded by him ; 
for this is a necessary consequence. To make this 
plain, let it be considered how it is with regard to the 
excellent qualities of another. If we highly value the vir- 
tues and exi ellencies of a friend, in proportion as we do so. 
we shall approve of and like others' esteem of them ; and 
shall disapprove' and dislike the contempt of them. If 
these virtues are truly valuable, they are worthy that we 
should thus approve others' esteem, and disi^pprove their 
contempt of them. And the case is the same with respect 
to any being's own qualities or attributes. If he highly es- 
teems them, and greatly -Jelights in them, he will naturally 
and necessarily love lo see esteem of them in others, and dis- 
like their disesteem. And if the attributes are worthy to be 
highly esteemed by the being who hath theni, so is the 
esteem of-thcm in others worthy to be proportionably approv- 
ed and regarded. I desire it may be considered, whether it 
be unfit that God should be displeased with contempt of him- 
self. If not, but on the contrary, it be fit and suitable that 
he should be displeased with this, there is tiie same reason 
that he sliould be pleased with the proper love, esteem and 
honor of himself. 

The matter inay be also cleared, by considering what it 
would become us to approve and value with respect to 
any public society we belong to, e, g. our nation or country. 
It becomes us to love our country, and therefore it l^ecomes 
lis to value the just honor of our country. But the same that 
it becomes us to .value and desire for a friend, and the same 
that it becomes us to desire and seek for the community, the 
same does it become God to value and seek for himself; i. e. 
on supposition it becomes God to love himself as well as it 
docs men lo love a friend or the public ; which 1 think has 
been before proved. 



END IN CREATION. 53 

i-iere are two things that ought particularly to be ad- 
verted to 1. That in God, the love of himself, and the 
love of the public are not to be distinguished, as in man, 
because God's being, as it were, comprehends "nil. His ex- 
istence, beino; infinite, must be equivalent to universal exist- 
ence. And for the same reason that public affection in 
the creature is fit and beautiful, God's regard to himself 
must be so likewise. 2. In God, the love of what is fit and 
decent, or the love of virtue, cannot be a distinct thint^ fiom 
the love of himself. Because the love of Gud is that where- 
in all virtue and holiness does primarily and chiefly consist, 
and God's own holiness must primarily consist in the love of 
himself, as was before observed. And if God's holiness consists 
in love to himself, then it will imply an approbation of, and 
pleasedncss with the esteem and love of him in others ; 
for a being- that loves himself, necessatily loves love to 
himself. If holiness in God consist chiefly in love to him- 
self, holiness in the creature must chiefly consist in love to 
him. And if God loves holiness in himself, he must love it 
In the creature. 

Virtue, by such of the late philosophers as seem to be in 
chief repute, is placed in public affection or general benevo- 
lence. And if the essence of virtue lies primarily in this, 
then the love of virtue itself is virtuous no otherwise than as 
it is implied in, or arises from this public affection, or exten- 
sive benevolence of mind. Because if a man truly loves the 
public, he necessarily loves love to the public. 

Now, therefore, for the same reason, if universal benev- 
olence in the highest sense, be the same* thing with benev- 
olence to the Divine Being, \vho is in effect universal be- 
ing, it will follow, that love to virtue itself is no otherwise 
virtuous, than as it is implied in or uiises from love to the 
Divine Being. Consequently God's o^vn love to virtue is 
implied in love to himself; and is virtuous no otherwise 
than as it arises from love to himself, bo that God's vir- 
tuous disposition, appearing in love to holiness in th.c crea- 
ture, is to be resolved into the same thin;^- with love to him- 
self. And consequently whereinsoever he makes virtue his 



54 END IN CREATION. 

end, he makes himself his end In fine, God, being, as 

it were, an all compiehcndinij Bting, all his moral per- 
fections, as his holiness, justice,'grace and benevolence are 
some way or other to be resolved into a supreme and in- 
finite regard to himself ; and if so it will be easy to suppose 
that it becomes him to make himself his supreme and last 
end in his works. 

I would here observe by the way, that if any insist that it 
becomes God to love and take delight in the virtue of his 
creatures for its own sake, in such a manner as not to love 
it from regard to himself, and that it supposeth too much 
selfishness to suppose that all God's delight in virtue is to be 
resolved into delight in himself: This will contradict a 
former objection against God's taking pleasure in communi- 
cations of himself, viz. that inasmuch as God is perfectly 
independent and sclfsufficient, therefore all his happiness 
and pleasure consists in the enjoyment of himself. For in 
the present objection it is insisted that it becomes God to 
have' some pleasure, love or delight in virtue distinct from 
his delight in himself. So that if the same persons make 
both objections, they must be inconsistent with themselves. 

2, In answer to the objection we are upon, as to God's 
creatures whose esteem and love he seeks, being infinitely 
inferior to God as nothing and vanity ; I would observe that 
it is not unworthy of God to take pleasure in that which in 
itself is fit and amiable, even in those that are infinitely be- 
low him. If there be iiifinite grace and condescension in it, 
yet these are not unworthy of God, but infinitely to his honor 
and glory. 

They who insist that God's own glory was not an ultimate 
end of his creation of the world ; but that all that he had any 
ultimate regard to was the happmess of his creatures ; and 
suppose that he made his creatures, and not himself, his last 
end, do it under a color of exalting and magnifying God's 
benevolence and love to his creatures.. ..But if his love to 
them be so great, and he so highly values them as to 
look upon them worthy to be his end in all his great 
works as they suppose ; they are not consistent v'ith them- 



END IN CREATION. 55 

selves, in supposing that God lias so Utile value for their 
]ove and esteem. For as the naiure of love, especially great 
love, causes him that loves to value the esteem of the per- 
son beloved ; so 'hat God should take pleasure in the crea- 
ture's just love and esteem will follow both from God's love 
to himself and his love to his creatures. If he esteem and 
love himself, he must approve of esteem and love to him- 
self, and disapprove the contrary. And if he loves and val- 
ues the creature, he must value and take delight in their 
mutual love and esteem, because he loves not because he 
needs them. 

3. As to what is alleged of its being unworthy of great 
men to be governed in their conduct and achievements by 
a regard to the applause of the populace ; I would ^serve, 
what makes their applause to be worthy of so little regard, 
is their ignorance, giddiness and injustice. The applause 
of the multitude very frequently is not founded on any just 
view and understanding of things, but on humor, mistake, 
folly and unreasonable affections. Such applause is truly 
worthy to be disregarded. But it is not beneath a mart 
of the greatest dignity and wisdom, to value the wise and 
just esteem of others, however fnferior to him. The con- 
trary, instead of being an expression of greatness of mind, 
would shew an haughty and mean spirit. It is such an es- 
teem in his creatures only, that God hath any regard to : 
For it is such an esteem only that is fit and amiable in 
itself. 

Objection 4. To suppose that God makes himself his 
ultimate end in the creation of the woild derogates from the 
freeness of his goodness, in his beneficence to his creatures ; 
and from their obligaticns to gratitude for the good commu- 
nicated. For if God, in communicating his fulness, makes 
himself, and not the creatures, his end ; then what good he 
does, he does for himself, and not for them ; for his own sake, 
and not their's. 

Answer. God and the creature, in this affair of the ema- 
nation of the divine fulness, are not properly set in opposi- 
tion, or made the opposite pans of a disjunction. Nor ought 



56 END TN CREATION. 

God's glory and the creature's good to be spoken of as if 
they Avere properly and entirely distinct, as they are in the 
objection. This snpposetli, that God's having respect to his 
glory, and the communication of good to his creatures, are 
things altogether cliflcicnt : That God's communicating 
his fulness for himself, and his doing it for them, are things 
standing in a proper disjunction and opposition. Where- 
as if we were capable of having more full and perfect views 
of God and divine things, which are so much above us, 
it is probable it would appear very clear to us, that the mat- 
ter is quite otherwise ; and that these things, instead of ap- 
pearing entirely distinct, are impUed one in the other. That 
God, in seeking his glory, therein seeks the good of his crea- 
tures. Because the emanation of his glory (which he seeks 
and delights in, as he delights in himself and his own eternal 
glory) implies the communicated excellency and happiness 
of his creature. And that in communicating his fulness for 
llxem, he does it for himself. Because their good, which he 
seeks, is so much in union and communion with himself. 
God is their good. Their excellency and happiness is noth- 
ing but the emanation tmd expression of God's glory. God, 
in seeking their glory and 1 oppiness, seeks himself, and in 
seeking himself, i. e. him>^elf diffused and expressed, (which 
he delights in, as he delights in his own beauty and fulness) 
he seeks their glory and happiness. 

This will the better appear, if we consider the degree and 
rnanncr in which he aimed at the creature's excellency and 
happiness in his creating the world ; viz. the degree and 
manner of the creature's glory and happiness during the 
whole of the designed eternal duration of the world, he was 
about to create ; which is in greater and greater nearness 
and strictness of union with himself, and greater and greater 
communion and participation with him in his own glory 
and happiness, in constant pro'j:ression, throughout all eler- 
nitv. As ihe creature's good was viewed in this manner 
when (iod made the world for it, viz. with respect lo the 
•whole of ihe eternal duration of it, and the eternally pro- 
gressive union and communion with hiin ; so the creature 



END IN CREATION. 51 

must be viewed as in infinite strict union with himself. 
In this view il appears that God's respect to the creature 
in the whole, unites with his respect to himself. Both re- 
gards are like two lines which seem at the beginning to be 
separate, but aim finally to meet in one, both being direct- 
ed to the same centre. And as to the good of the crea- 
ture itself, if viewed in its whole duration, and infinite pro- 
gression, it must be viewed as infinite ; and so not only be- 
ing some communication of God's glory, but as coming near- 
er and nearer to the same thing in its infinite fulness. The 
nearer any thing comes to infinite, the nearer it comes to an 
identity with God. And if any good, as viewed by God, is be- 
held as infinite, it cannot be viewed as a distinct thing from 
God's own infinite glory. 

The apostle's discourse of the great love of Christ to men, 
Eph. V. 25, to the end, leads us thus to think of the love of 
Christ to his church, as coinciding with his love to himself, 
by virtue of the strict union of the church with him. Thus, 
" Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, 
and gave himself for it, that he might present it to himself a 
glorious church. So ought men to love their wives, as their 
own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself, even as 
the Lord the church ; for we are members of his body, of his 
flesh, and of his bones." 

Now I apprehend that there is nothing in this manner 
of God's seeking the good of the creatures, or in his dis- 
position to communicate of his own fulness to them, that at 
all derogates from the excellence of it, or the creature's ob- 
ligation. 

God's disposition to commimicate good, or to cause his 
own infinite fulness to flow forth, is not the less properly 
called God's goodness, because the good that he commu- 
nicates, is something of himself; a communication of his 
own glory, and what he delights in as he deligh'.s in his own 
glory. The creature has no less benefit by it ; neither has 
such a disposition less of a direct tendency to the creature's 
benefit ; or the less of a tendency to love to the creature, 
when the creature conies to exist. Nor is this disposition in 
Vol. VI. H 



58 END IN CREATION. 

God (o communicate of and diffuse his own good, the les3 
excellent, because it is implied in his love and regard to 
himself. For his love to himself does not imply it any other- 
wise, than as it implies a love to whatever is worthy and ex- 
cellent. The emanation of God's glory, is in itsdf worthy 
and excellent, and so God delights in it ; and his delight in 
this excellent thing, is implied in his love to himself, or his 
own fulness ; because that is the fountain, and so the sum 
and comprehension of every thing that is excellent. And the 
matter standing thus, it is evident that these things cannot de- 
rogate from the excellency of this disposition in God, to an 
emanation of his own fulness, or communication of good to 
the creature. 

Nor does God's inclination to communicate good in this 
manner, i. e. from regard to himself, or delight in his own 
glory, at all diminish the freeness of his beneficence in this 
communication. This will appear, if we consider particularly 
in what ways doing good to others from selflove, may be in- 
consisient with the freeness of beneficence. And I conceive 
there are only these two ways : 

1. When any does good to another from confined self- 
love, that is opposite to a general benevolence. This kmd 
of selflove is properly called selfishness. In some sense, the 
most benevolent, generous person in the world, seeks his own 
happiness in doing good to others, because he places his 
happiness in their good. His mind is so enlarged as to take 
them, as it were, into himself. Thus, when they are hap- 
py, he feels it, he partakes with them, and is happy in their 
happiness. This is so far from bting inconsistent with the 
freeness of beneficence, that on the contrary, free benevolence 
and kindness consists in it. The most free beneficence that 
can be in men, is doing good, not from a confined selfishness, 
but from a disposition to general benevolence, or love to be- 
ings in general. 

But now, with respect to the Divine Being, there is no 
such thing as such confined selfishness in him, or a love to 
himself, opposite to general benevolence. It is impossi- 
ble, because he comprehends all entity, and all excellence 



END IN CREATION. 39 

in his own essence. The first Being, the eternal and infinite 
Being, is in effect, Being in general ; and comprehends 
universal existence, as was observed before. God, in his 
benevolence to his creatures, cannot have his heart enlarged 
in such a manner as to take in beings that he finds, who are 
originally out of himself, distinct and independent. This 
cannot be in an infinite being, who exists alone worn eter- 
nity. But he, from his goodness, as it were enlarges him- 
self in a more excellent and divine manner. This is by 
communicating and diffusing himself ; and so instead of 
finding, making objects of his benevolence ; not by taking 
into himself what he finds distinct from himself, and so 
partaldng of their good, and being happy in them, but by 
fiowing forth, and expressing himself in them, and making 
them to partake of him, and rejoicing in himself expressed 
in them, and communicated to them. 

2. Another thing, in doing good to others from selflove, 
that derogates froin the freeness of the goodness, is doing 
good to others from dependence on them for the good we 
need or desire ; which dependence obliges. So that in 
our beneficence we are not selfmoved, but as it were con- 
strained by something without ourselves. But it has been 
particularly shewn already, that God's making himself his end, 
in the manner that has been spoken of, argues no dependence, 
but is consistent with absolute independence and selfsuf- 
ficience. 

And I would here observe, that there is something in 
that disposition in God to communicate goodness, which 
Bhews him to be independent and seifmoved in it, in a 
manner that is peculiar, and above what is in the benefi- 
cence of creatures. Creatures, even the most gracious of 
them, are not so independent and selfmoved in their goodness, 
but that in all the exercises of it, they iire excited by some 
object that they find ; something appearing good, or in some 
respect worthy of regard, presents itself, and moves their 
kindness. But God, being all and alone, is absolutely self- 
moved. The exercises of his communicative disposition are 
absolutely from within himself, not finding any thing, or any 



60 END IN CREATION. 

object to excite them or draw them forth ; but all that is good 
and worthy in the object, and the very being of the object, 
proceeding from the overflowing of his fulness. 

These thin;5S shew that the supposition of God's making 
himself his last end, in the manner spoken of, does not at all 
diminish the creature's obligation to gratitude, for communi- 
cations of good it receives. For if it lessen its obligation, it 
must be on one of the following accounts. Either, that the 
creature has not so much benefit by it, or that the disposition 
it flows from is not proper goodness, not having so direct a 
tendency to the creature's benefit, or that the disposition is not 
so virtuous and excellent in its kind, or that the beneficence is 
not so free. But it has been observed that none of these things 
take place, with regard to that disposition, which has been 
supposed to have excited God to create the world. 

I confess there is a degree of indistinctness and obscurity 
in the close consideration of such subjects, and a great imper- 
fection in the expressions we use concerning them, arising 
imavoidably from the infinite sublimity of the subject, and the 
incomprehenbiuleness of those things that are divine. Hence 
revelation is the surest guide in tliese matters, and what that 
teaches shall in the next place be considered. Nevertheless, the 
endeavors used to discover what the voice of reason is, so far 
as it can go, may serve to prepare the way, by obviating cavils 
insisted on by many ; and to satisfy us that what the Word of 
God says of the matter, is not unreasonable, and thus prepare 
our minds for a more full acquiescence in the instructions it 
gives, according to the more natural and genuine sense of 
words and expressions, we find often used there concerning* 
this subject, 



END IN CREATION. 



CHAPTER ir. 



Wherein it is inquired, what is to be learned from 
thehoXy Scriptures cancerning God's last End m 
the Creation, of the florid. 



SECTION I. 

TAe scrifitures represent God as ?naking himself his oivn last 
end in the creation of the world. 

IT is manifest, that the scriptures speak, on all occa- 
sions, as though God made himself his end in all his works ; 
and as though the same being, who is the first cause of all 
things, were the supreme and last end of all things. Thus in 
Isa xliv. 6. " Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel, and his 
redeemer the Lord of Hosts, I am the first, I also am the last, 
and besides me there is no God." Chap xlviii. 12. "I am 
the first, and I am the last." Rev. i. 8. « I am alpha and 
omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which 
is, and was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Verse 1 1. 
"lam alpha and omega, the first and tlie last." Verse 17. 
" I am the first and the last." Chap. xxi. 6. « And he said 
unto me, it is done, I am alpha and omega, the beginning and 
the end." Chap. xxii. 13. <« I am alpha and omega, the be- 
ginning and the end, the first and the last." 

And when God is so bften spoken of as tlie last as well as 
the first, and the end as well as the beginruug, what is meant 
(or at least implied) is, that as he is the first efficient cause 
and fountain from whence all things originate ; so he is the 
last final cause for which they are made ; the final term to 
which they all tend in their ultimate issue. This seems to 



a^ END IN CREATION. 

be the most natural import of these expressions ; and is cou- 
firmed by otlier parallel passages ; as Rom. xi, 36. " For of 
him, and through him, and to him are all things." Col. i. 16. 
" For by him were all thins^s created, that are in heaven, and 
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones 
or dominions, principalities and powers, all things were cre- 
ated by him, and for him." Hcb. ii. 10. " For it became 
him, by whom are all things, and for whom are all ihing-s." 
In Prov. xvi. 4. It is said expressly, " The Lord hath made 
all things for himself." 

And the manner is observable, in which God is said to be 
the last, to whom, and for whom are all things. It is evident- 
ly spoken of as a meet and suitable tiiinyj, a branch of his glo- 
ry ; a meet prerogative of the great, infini e and eternal be- 
ing ; a thing becoming tlie dignity of him who is infinitely 
above all o'her beings; from whom all things are, ;tnd by 
%vhom they consist, and in comparison with whom, all other 
things are as nothing. 



SECTION II. 

jH~herein some positions are advanced concerning a just metliod 
of arguing in this affair, from what nve find in holy Scrip- 

WE have seen that the scriptures speak of the creation 
of the world as being for God, as its end. What remains 
therefore to be inquired into, is, "iv/iich nvaij do the scriptures 
represent God as making himself his end ? 

It is evident that God does not make his existence or be- 
ing the end of the creation ; nor can he be supposed to do so 
without great absurdity. His being and existence cannot be 
conceived of but as prior to any of God's acts or designs ; 
they must be presupposed as the ground of them. There- 
fore it cannot be in this way that God makes himself the end 



E^B IN CREATION. ^S 

©f his creating the world. He cannot create the world to the 
end that he may have existence ; or may have such attributes 
and perfections, and such an essence. Nor do the scriptures 
give the least intimation of any such thing. Therefore, what 
divine effect, or what is it in relation to God, that is the thing 
which the scripture teacheth us to be the end he aimed at in 
his works of creation, in designing of which, he makes himself 
his end ? 

In order to a right understanding of the scripture doc- 
trine, and drawing just inferences from what v/e iwid said in 
the word of God relative to this matter ; so to open the way 
to a true and definitive answer to the above inquiry, I would 
lay doM'n the following positions. 

Position 1. That which appears to be spoken of as God's 
ultimate end in his works of providence in general, we may 

justly suppose to be his last end in the work of creation 

This appears from what was observed before (under the fifth 
particular of the introduction) which I need not now repeat-. 

Position 2. When any thing appears by the scripture to 
be the last end of some of the works of God, which thing ap- 
pears in fact, to be the result, not only of this work, but of 
God's works in general ; and although it be not mentioned as 
the end of those works, but only of some of them, yet being 
actually the result of other works as well as that, and nothing 
appears peculiar, in the nature of the case, that renders it a 
fit, and beautiful and valuable result of those particular works, 
more than of the rest ; but it appears with equal reason de- 
sirable and valuable in the case of all works, of which it is 
spoken in the word of God as (and seen in fact to be) the ef- 
fect ; we may jui.tly infer, that thing to be the last end of 
those other works also. For we must suppose it to be on ac- 
count of the valuableness of the effect, that it is made the end 
of those works which it is expressly spoken of as the end ; 
and this effect, by the supposition, being equally, and in like 
manner the result of the work, and of the same value, it is 
but reasonable to suppose, that it is the end of the work, of 
which it is naturally the consequence, in one case as well as 
in another. 



54 END IN CREATION. 

Position- 5. The ultimate end of God's creating th6 
world, being also (as was before observed) the last end of all 
God's works of providence, and that in the hi^^hesi sense, and 
being above all other things important, we may well presume 
that this end will be chieily insisted on in the word of God, in 
the account it gives of God's designs and ends in his works 
of providence....and therefore, if there be any particular thing, 
that we find more frequently mentioned in scripture as God's 
ultimate aim in his works of providence, than any thing else, 
this is a presumption that this is the supreme and ultimate 
end of God's works in general, and so the end of the work of 
creation. 

Position 4. That which appears from the word of God 
to be his last end with respect to the moral world, or God's 
last end in the creation and disposal of the intelligent part of 
the system, and in the moral government of the world, that 
is God's last end in the work of creation in general. Because 
it is evident, from the constitution of the world itself, as well 
as from the word of God, that the moral part is the end of all 
the rest of the creation. The inanimate unintelligent part is 
made for the rational as much as a house is prepared for the 
inhabitant- And it is evident also from reason and the word 
of God, that it is with regard to what is moral in them, or for 
the sake of some moral good in them, that moral ai;ent3 arc 
made and the world made for them. But it is further evident 
that whatsoever is the last end of that part of creation that is 
the €in\ of all the rest, and for which all the rest of the world 
was made, must be the last end of the whole. If all the oth- 
er parts of a watch are made for the hand of the watch, to 
move that aright, and for a due and proper regulation of that, 
tlien it will follow, that the last end of the hand, is the last end 
of the whole machine. 

Position 5. That, which appears from the scripture to 
be God's last end in the chief work or works of his providence, 
we may well determine is God's last end in creating the 
world. For as was observed, we may justly infer the end of 
a thing from the use of it. We may justly infer the end of 
a clock, a chariot, a ship, or water engine from the main use 



END IN CREATION. 65 

to which it is applied. But God's providence is his use of ihe 
world he has made. And if there be any work or works of 
providence that are evidently God's main work or works, 
herein appears and consists the main use that God makes of 
the creation. ...From these two last positions we may infer the 
next, viz. 

Position 6. Whatever appears by the scriptures to be 
God's last end in his main work or works of providence to- 
wards the moral world, that we justly infer to be the last end 
of the creation of tlie world. Because as was just now observ- 
ed, the moral world is the chief part of the creation and the 
end of the rest ; and God's last end in creating Ihat part of 
the world, must be his last end in the creation of the whole. 
And it appears by the last position, that the end of God's 
main work or works of providence towards them, or the main 
use he puts them to, shews the last end for which he has 
made them ; and consequently the main end for which he has 
made the whole world. 

Position 7. That which divine revelation shews to be 
God's last end with respect to that part of the moral world 
which are good, or which are according to his mind, or such 
as he would have them be ; I say that which is God's last 
end with respect to these (i. e. his last end in their being, and 
in their being good) this we must suppose to be the last end 
of God's creating the world. For it has been already shewn 
that God's last end in the moral part of creation must be the 
end of the whole. But his end in that part of the moral world 
that are good, must be the last end for which he has made 
the moral world in general. For therein consists the good- 
nebs of a thing, viz. in its fitness to answer its end : Or at least 
this must be goodness in the eyes of the author of that thing. 
For goodness in his eyes is its agreeableness to his mind. 
But an agreeableness to his mind in what he makes for some 
end or use, must be an agreeableness or fitness to that end. 
For his end in this case is his mind. That which he chiefly 
aims at in that thing, is chiefly his mind with respect to that 
thing. And therefore they are good moral agents, who are 
fitted for the end for which God has made moral agents : As 
Vol, Vr. T 



66 END IN CREATION. 

they are good iTiachines, instruments and utensils that are lit* 
led to the end they are desipined for. And consequently that 
which is the cnief end to which in being good they are fiued 
that is the chief end of utensils, bo that which is the chief 
end to which good created moral agents in being good are 
fitted, this is the chief end of moral agents, or the moral part 
of :he creation ; and consequently of the creation in general. 

Position 8. That, which the word of God requires the 
intelligent and moral part of the world to seek as their main 
end, or to have respect to in that they do, and regulate all 
their conduct by, as their ultimate and highest end, that we 
have reason to suppose is the last end for which God has made 
them ; and consequently, by position fourth, the last end for 
which he has made the whole world. A main difference be- 
tAveen the intelligent and moral parts, and the rest of the 
world, lies in this, that the former are capable of knowing their 
creator, and the end for which he made them, and capable of 
actively complying with his design in their creation and pro- 
moting it ; while other creatures cannot promote the design 
of their creation, only passively and eventually. And seeing 
they arc capable of knowing the end for which their author has 
made them, it is doubtless their duty to fall in with it. Their 
wills ought to comply with the will of the creator in this resi- 
pect, in mainly seeking the same as their last end which God 
mainly seeks as their last end. This must be the law of na- 
ture and reason with respect to them. And we must suppose 
that God's revealed law, and the law of nature agree ; and that 
his will, as a lawgiver, must agree with his will as a creator. 
Therefore we justly infer, that the same thing which God's 
revealed law requires intelligent creatures to seek as their 
last and greatest end, that God their creator has made their 
last end, and so the end of the creation of the world. 

Position 9. We may well suppose that what seems in 
holy scripture from time to lime to be spoken of as the main 
end of the goodness of the good part of the moral world, so 
that the respect and relation their virtue or goodness has to 
that end, is what chit-fiy makes it valuable and desirable ; I 
say, we may well suppose that to be the thing which is God's 



END IN CREATION. 6T 

last end in the creation of the moral world ;. and so by posi- 
tion fourth, of the whole world. For the end of the goodness 
of a thing, is the end of the thing. Herein, it was observed 
before, must consist the goodness or vuluableness of any thing 
in the eyes of him that made it for his use, viz. its being good 
for that use, or good with respect to the end for which he 
made it. 

Position 10. That which persons Avho arc described in 
scripture as approved saints, and set forth as examples of pie- 
ty, sought as their last and highest end in the things which 
they did, and which are mentioned as parts of their holy con- 
versation, or insiances of their good and approved behav- 
ior ; that we must suppose, was what they ought to seek as 
their last end ; and consequently by the preceding position 
was the same with God''- last end in the creation of the world. 

Position 11. That which appears by the word of Gud to 
be that end or event, in the desire of which, the souls of the 
good parts of the moral world, especially of the best, and in 
their best frames, do most naturally and diieclly exercise their 
goodness in, and in expressing of their desire of this event or 
end they do oiost properly and directly express their respect 
to God ; we may, I say, well suppose, that event or end to be 
the chief and ultimate end of a spirit of piety and goodness, 
and God's chief end in making the moral world, and so the 
whole world. For doubtless the most direct and natural de- 
sire and tendency of a spirit of true goodness in the good and 
best part of the moral world is to the chief end of goodness, 
and so the chief end of the creation of the mural world. And 
in what else can the spirit of true respect and friendship to 
God be expressed by way of desire, than desires of the same 
end, which God himself chiefly and ultimately desires and 
seeks in making them and all other things. 

Position 12. Since the holy scriptures teach us that Je- 
sus Christ is the head of the moral world, and especially of all 
the good part of it ; the chief of God's servants, appointed to 
be the head of his saints and angels, and set forth as the chief 
and most perfect pattern and example of goodness ; we may 
well suppose by the foregoing positions, that what he sought 
as his last end, was God's last end in the creation of the world. 



68 JEND IN CREATION. 



SECTION III. 



Particular texts of Scripture, that shew that God's glory is an 
iiltimate End of the Creation. 



WHAT God says in Isa xlviii. 11, naturally leads us 
to suppose, that the way in which (iod makes himself his end 
in his work or works which he does for his own sake, is in 
making his ^lory his end. " For my own sake, even for my 
own sake will I do it. For how should my name be pollut- 
ed ; and I will not give ray glory to another." Which is as 
much as to say, I will obtain my end, I Avill not forego my 
glory : Another shall not take this prize from me. It is pret- 
ty evident here, that God's name and his glory, which seems 
to intend the same thing (as shall be observed more particu- 
larly afterwards) are spoken of as his last end in the great 
Avork mentioned, not as an inferior, subordinate end, subservi- 
ent to the interest of others. The words are emphatical. 
The emphasis and repetition constrain us to understand that 
■what God does, is ultimately for his own sake : " For my own 
sake, even for my own sake will I do it." 

So the words of the apostle, in Rom. xi. 36, naturally 
lead us to suppose that the way in which all thmgs are to 
God, is in being for his glory. " For of him, and through 
him, and to him arc all things ; to whom be glory forever 
and ever. Amen." In the preceding context, the apostle 
observes the marvellous disposals of divine wisdom, for caus- 
ing all things to be to him in their final issue and result, as 
they are from him at first, and governed by him. His dis- 
course shews how God coi.trived and brought this to pass in 
his disposition of things, \^ by setting up the kingdom of 
Christ in the world ; leaving the Jews, and calling the Gen- 
tiles ; and in what he would hereafter do in bringing in the 
Jews with the fulness of the Gentiles ; with the circumstan- 
ces of these wonderful works, so as gi eatly to shew his jus- 
♦ice and his goodness, magnify his grace, and manifest the 



END IN CREATION. 69 

sovereignty and freeness of it, and the absolute dependence 
of all on him. ...and then in the four last verses, breaks 
out into a most pathetic, rapturous exclamation, expressing 
his great admiration of the depth of divine wisdom in the steps 
he takes for the attaining his end, and causing all things to 
be to him ; and finally, he expresses a joyful consent to God's 
excellent design in all to glorify himself, in saying, " to him 
be glory forever ;" as much as to say, as all things are so 
wonderfully ordered for his glory, so let him have the glory 
of all, forevermore. 

2. The gloiy of God is spoken of in holy scripture as the 
last end for which that part of the moral world that are good 
were made. Thus in Isaiah xliii. 6, 7. " I will say to the 
North, give up, and to the South, keep not back. ...Bring my 
sons from far, and my daughters from the ends ot the 
earth, even every one that is called by my name ; for I 
have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I 
have made him." Isaiah Ix. 21. "Thy people also shall 
be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever ; the 
branch of my planting, the work of my hand, that I may 
be glorified." Chap. Ixi. 3. " That they may be called trees 
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be 
glorified.'" 

In these places we see that the glory of God is spoken of 
as the end of God's saints, the end for which he makes 
them, i. e, either gives them being, or gives them a being 
as saints, or both. It is said that God has made and form- 
ed them to be his sons and daughters, for his oiv?i glory ; 
that they are trees of his planting, the work of his hands, 
as trees of righteousness, that he might be glorified. And 
if we consider the words, especially as taken with the con- 
text in each of the places, it will appear quite unnatural 
to suppose that God's glory is here spoken of only as an 
end inferior and subordinate to the happiness of God's 
people ; or as a prediction that God would create, form and 
plant them that he might be glorified, that so God's people 
might be happy. On the contrary, if we take the places 
with the context, they will appear rather as promises of 



7® END IN CREATION. 

making God's people happy, that God therein might be 
glorified. So is that in chapter xliii. as we shall see plainly, 
if wc lake the whole that is said from the beginning of the 
chapter. It is wholly a promise of a future, great, and won- 
derful work of God's power and grace, delivering his people 
from all misery, and making them exceeding happy ; and 
then the end of all, or the sum of God's design in all, is de- 
clared to be God's own glory. " I have redeemed thee, I 
have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. 1 will be with 
thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not 
be burnt, nor the flame kindle upon thee. ...thou art precious 
and honorable in my sight. I will give men for thee, and 
people for thy life. Fear not, I am with thee. 1 will bring 
my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the 
earth ; every one that is called by my name, ybr I have creat- 
ed him for my glory." 

Soil plainly is, chapter Ix. 21. The whole chapter is 
made up of nothing but promises of future, exceeding happi- 
ness to God's church. But for brevity's sake, let us take on- 
ly the two preceding verses. " The sun shall be no more 
thy light by day, neither for brightness shall tlie moon give 
light unto thee ; but the Lord shall be unto ihee an ever- 
lasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no 
more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; 
for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light ; and the 
days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also 
shall be all righteous ; they shall inherit the land forever, 
the branch of my planting, the work of my hands," and then 
the end of all is added, " that I might be glorified." All the 
preceding promises are plainly mentioned as so many parts 
or consiilucnts of the great and exceeding happiness of God's 
people ; and God's glory is mentioned rather as God's end, 
or the sum of his design in this happiness, than this happi- 
ness as the end of this glory. Just in like manner is the 
promise in the third verse of the next chapter. » To ap- 
point to them that mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty 
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise 
for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of 



END IN CREATION. fl 

righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glori' 
jSed." The work of God promised to be effected, is plainly 
an accomplishment of the joy, gladness and happiness of 
God's people, instead of their mourning and sorrow ; and thei 
end in which the work issues, or that in which God's design 
in this work is obtained and summed up, is his glory. This 
proves by the seventh position, that God's glory is the end of 
the creation. 

The same thing may be argued from Jer, xiii. 11. <' For 
as a girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused t« 
cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole 
house of Judah, saith the Lord ; that they might be unto me 
for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glorij^ 
but they would not hear." That is, God sought to make them 
to be his own holy people ; or, as the apostle expresses it, his 
peculiar people, zealous of good works ; that so they might 
be a glory to him, as girdles were used in those days for or- 
nament and beauty, and as badges of dignity and honor.* 
Which is agreeable to the places observed before, that speak 
of the church as the glory of Christ. 

Now when God speaks of himself, as seeking a peculiar 
and holy people for himself, to be for his glory and honor, as 
a man that seeks an ornament and badge of honor for his 
glory, it is not natural to understand it merely of a subordi- 
nate end, as though God had no respect to himself in it, but 
only the good of others. If so, the comparison would not be 
natural ; for men are commonly wont to seek their own glory 
and honor in adorning themselves, and dignifying themselves 
with badges of honor, out of respect to themselves. 

The same doctrine seems to be taught, Eph. xliv. 25. 
" Havmg predestinated us to the adoption of cliildren, by Je- 
sus Christ, unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his 
will, to the praise of the glory of his grace." 

The same may be argued from Isaiah xliv. 23, " For the 
Lord hath redeemed Jacob, he hath glorified himself in Is- 
rael." And chapter xlix. 3. " Thou art my servant Jacob, 

* See verse g, and also Isaiah lit. 24, .xxii, 2J, and xxiii. 10. 2 Sam. xviii. 
II, Exod. xxviii. 8, 



72 END IN CREATION. 

in whom I will be glorified." John xvii. 10. "And all mine 
are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. ' 
2 Thess. i. 10. <' When he shall come to be glorified in his 
saints." Verse xi. 12. «' Wherefore also we pray always 
for you, that our God would count you worthy of his calling, 
and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work 
of fai'h with power ; that the name of our Lord Jesus may 
be glorified in you, and yc in him, according to the grace of 
God and our Lord Jesus Christ." 

3. The scripture speaks from lime to time, of God's glo- 
ry, as though it were his ultimate end of the goodness of the 
•moral part of the creation ; and that end, in a respect and re- 
lation to which chitfly it is, that the value or worth of their 
virtue consists. As in Phil. i. 10, 11. " That ye may approve 
things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere, and without 
offence till the day of Christ : Being filled with the fruits of 
righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and 
praise of God." Here the apostle shews how the fruits of 
righteousness in them are valuable and how they answer their 
end, viz. in being " by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of 
God." John xv. 8. " Herein is my Father glorified, that ye 
bear much fruit." Signifying that by this mea-.is it is, that 
the great end of religion is to be answered. And in 1 Peter 
iv 11, the apostle directs the Christians to regulate all their 
religious performances, with reference to that one end. " If 
any m.an speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any 
man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giv- 
eth, that God in ail things may be glorified ; to whom be 
praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen." And from 
time to time, embracing and practising true religion, and re- 
pcntinp- of sin, and turning to holiness, is expressed by glo- 
rifying God, as though that were the sum and end of the 
whole mutter. Rev. xi. 13. " And in the earthquake were 
slain of men seven thousand ; and the remnant were aff"right- 
ed, and gave jrlory to the God of heaven." So, Rev. xiv. 6, 
7. " And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell 
on the earth ;.... saying, with a loud voice, fear God, and give 



END IN CREATION. 75 

glory to him." As thoucjh this were the sum and end of that 
virtue and religion, which was the grand design of preaching 
the gospel every where through the world. Rev. xvi. 9. 
"And repented not, to give him glory." Which is as 
much as to say, they did not forsake their sins and turn to 
true religion, that God might receive that which is the great 
end he seeks, in the religion he requires of men. See to the 
same purpose, Psalm xxii. 21....23, Isa. Ixvi. 19,xxiv. 15,xxv. 
3j Jer. xiii. 15, 16, Dan. v. 23, Rom. xv. 5, 6. 

And as the exercise of true religion and virtue in Christ- 
ians is summarily expressed by tl.eir glorifying God ; so 
when the good influence of this on others, as bringing them 
by the example to turn to the ways and practice of true good- 
ness, is spoken of, it is expressed in the same manner. Matth. 
V. 16. " Let your light so shine before men, that others see- 
ing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in 
heaven." 1 Pet. ii. 12. " Having your conversation honest 
among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak evil against you 
as evil doers, they may by your good works which they be- 
hold, gloiify God in the day of visitation." 

That the ultimate end of moral goodness, or righteous- 
ness is answered in God's glory being attained, is supposed 
in the objection which the apostle makes, or supposes tome 
will make, in Rom. iii. 7. " For if the truth of God hath 
more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why am I 
judged as a sinner ?" i. e. Seeing the great end of righteous- 
ness is answered by my sin, in God's being glorified, why is 
my sin condemned and punished ; and why is not my vice 
equivalent to virtue ? 

And the glory of God is spoken of as that wherein con- 
sists the value and end of pariicular graces ; as of faith, Rom. 
iv. 20. " He staggered not at the promise of God through 
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." Phil, 
ii. 11. »' That every tongue should confess that Jesus is the 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Of repentance. Josh, 
vi. 19. " Give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, 
and make confession unto him." Of charily, 2 Cor. viii. 19 
•^ With this grace, which is administered by us, to the glorf 
Voi.VL K. 



74 END IN CREATION. 

of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind." 
Thanksgiving and praise, Luke vii. 18. "There are not 
found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." 
Psalm 1. 23. « Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me. and to 
him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the 
salvation of God." Concerning which last place it may be ob- 
served, God here feems to say this to such as abounded in 
their sacrifices and outward ceremonies of religion, as taking 
it for granted, and as what they knew already, and supposed 
in their religious performances, that the end of all religion 
Avas to glorify God. They supposed they did this in the best 
rnanner, in offering a multitude of sacrifices (see the preced- 
ing part of the p?ialm.) But here God corrects this mistake, 
and informs that this grand end of religion is not attained this 
way, but in offering the more spiritual sacrifices of praise anJ 
a holy conversation. 

In fine, the words of the apostle in 1 Cor. vi. 20, are wor- 
thy of particular notice. " Yc are not your own, for ye are 
bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and 
in your spirit, which are his." Here not only is glorifying 
God spoken of, as what summarily comprehends the end of 
that religion and service of God, which is the end of Christ's 
redeeming us ; but here I would further remark this, that 
the apostle in this place urges, that inasmuch as we are not 
our own, but bought for God, that we might be his ; therefore 
we ought not to act as if we were our own, but as God's ; 
and should not use the members of our bodies, or faculties of 
our souls for ourselves, as making ourselves our end, but for 
God, as making him our end. And he expresses the way 
in which wc are to make God our e«d, viz. in making his 
glory our end. <' Therefore glorify God in your body and in 
your spirit, which are his." Here it cannot be pretended, 
that though Christians are indeed required to make God's 
glory their end ; yet it is but as a subordinate end, as subservi- 
ent to their own happiness, as a higher end ; for then in act- 
ing chiefly and ultimately for their own selves, they would 
use themselves more as their own, than as God's ; which is 
directly contrary to the design of the apostle's exhortation, 



END IN CREATION. -To 

and the argument he is upon ; which is, that we should gii'e 
ourselves, as it were, away from ourselves to God, and use 
ourselves as his, and not our own, acting for his sake, and not 
our own sakes. Thus it is evident by Position 9, tliat the glory 
of Ciod is the last end for which he created the world. 

4. There are some things in the word of God, that lead us 
to suppose that it requires of men, that they should desire and 
seek (iod's trlory, as their highest and last end in what they 
do. As particularly the passage last mentioned. This ap- 
pears from what has been just now observed upon it. The 
same may be argued from 1 Cor. x. 30. " Whether there- 
fore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory 
of God." And 1 Pet. iv. 11. " That God in all things may 
be glorified ;" which was mentioned before. And it may be 
argued that Chiist requires his followers should desire and 
seek God's glory in the first place, and above all things else, 
from that prayer which he gave his disciples, as the pattern 
and rule for the direction of his followers in their prayers. 
The first petition of which is, " Hallowed be thy name." 
"Which in scripture language is the same with " glorified be 
thy name ;" as is manifest from Lev. x. 3, Ezek. xxviii. 22, 
and many other places. Now our last and highest end is 
doub'less what should be first in our desires, and consequent- 
ly first in our prayers ; and therefore we may argue, that 
since Christ directs that God's glory should be first in our 
prayers, therefore this is our last end. This is further 
confirmed by the conclusion of the Lord's prayer, " For thine 
is the kingdom, the power and glory." Which, as it stands 
in connexion with the rest of the prayer, implies that we de- 
sire and ask all these things, which are mentioned in each 
petition, with a subordination, and in subservience to the do- 
minion and glory of God ; in which all our desires ultimately 
terminate, as their last end. God's glory and dominion are 
the two first things mentioned in the prayer, and are the sub- 
ject of the first half of the prayer ; and they are the two last 
things mentioned in the same prayer, in its conclusion : And 
Cod's glory is the alpha and omega in the prayer. Frdna 



76 END IN CREATION. 

these things we may argue, according to Position 8, that God*i> 
glory is the last end of the creation. 

5. The gloiy of God appears, by the account given in the 
word of God, to be that end or event, in the earnest desires 
of which, and in their delight in which, the best part of the 
moral world, and when in their best frames, do most natural- 
ly express the direct tendency of the spirit of true goodness, 
and give vent to the virtuous and pious affections of their 
heart, and do most properly and directly testify their supreme 
respect to their Creator. This is the way in which the holy 
apostles, from time to time, gave vent to the ardent exercises 
of their piety, and expressed and breathed forth their regard 
to the Supreme Being. Rom.xi. 36. " To whom be glory 
forever and ever. Amen." Chap. xvi. 27. "To God only 
wise, be glory, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen." Gal. i. 
4, 5. " Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver 
us from this present evil world, according to the will of God 
and our father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." 
2 Tim. iv. 18. " And the Lord shall deliver me from every 
evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom ; to 
whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Eph. iii. 21. " Un- 
to him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus throughout all 
ages, world without end." Heb. xiii. 21. " Through Jesus 
Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Phil. iv. 
20. " Now unto God and our Father, be glory forever and 
ever. Amen." 2 Pet. iii. 18." To him be glory both now and 
forever. Amen." Jude 25. « To the only wise God our 
Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now 
and ever. Amen." Rev. i. 5, 6. " Unto him that loved us 
&c....to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." 
It was in this way that holy David, the sweet Psalmist of Is- 
rael, vented the ardent tendencies and desires of his pious 
heart. 1 Chron. xvi. 28, 29. " Give unto the Lord ye kin- 
dreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength ; 
give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name." We have 
much the same expressions again, Psal. xxix. 1, 2, and Ixix. 
7,8. See also, Psal. Ivii. 5, Ixxii. 18, 19, cxv. 1. So the 
whole church of God. through all parts of the earth. Isa. xUi. 



END IN CREATION. 77 

i0....12. In like manner the saints and angels in heaven ex- 
press the piety of their hearts. Rev. iv. 9, 11, and v. 11.... 14, 
and vii. 12. This is the event that the hearts of the seraphim 
especially exult in, as appears by Isa. vi. 2, 3. " Above it 
stood the seraphim. And one cried unto anotlier and said, 
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full 
of his glory." So at the birth of Christ, Luke ii. 14. " Glo- 
ry to God in the highest," &c. 

It is manifest that these holy persons in earth and heav- 
en, in thus expressing their desires of the glory of God, have 
respect to it, not merely as a subordinate end, or merely for the 
sake of something else ; but as that v.'hich they look upon in 
itself valuable, and in the highest degree so. It would be ab- 
surd to say, that in these ardent exclamations, they are only 
giving vent to their vehement benevolence to their fellow- 
creatures, and expressing their earnest desires that God might 
be glorified, that so his subjects may be made happy by the 
means. It is evident it is not so much love, cither to them- 
selves, or fellow creatures, which they express, as their exalt- 
ed and supreme regard to the mo^t high and infinitely glori- 
ous Being. When the church says, " Not unto us, not unto 
us, O Jehovah, but to thy name give glory," it would be ab- 
surd to say, that she only desires that God may have glory, 
as a necessary or convenient means of their own advancement 
and felicity. From these things it appears, by the eleventh 
position, that God's glory is the end of the creation. 

6. The scripture leads us to suppose, that Christ sought 
God's glory, as his highest and last end. John vii. 18. " He 
that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory ; but he that 
seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no un- 
righteousness is in him." When Christ says, he did not 
seek his own glory, we cannot reasonably understand him, 
that he had no regard to his own glory, even the glory of the 
human nature ; for the glory of that nature was part of the 
reward promised him, and of the joy set before him. But we 
must understand him, that this was not his ultimate aim ; it 
w^as not the end that chiefly governed his conduct ; and there- 
fore when, in opposition to this, in the latter part of the sen- 



7S END IN CREATION. 

tence, he says, " But he that seeketli his glory that sent him, 
the same is true," &c. it is natural from the antithesis to un- 
derstand him, that this was liis ultimate aim, his supreme 
governing end. John xii. 27, 28. " Now is my soul troub- 
led, and what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hour : 
But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify 
thy name." Christ was now going to Jerusalem, and ex- 
pected in a few days there to be crucified ; and the prospect 
of his last sufferings, in this near approach, was very terrible 
to him. Under this distress of mind, in so terrible a view, 
he supports himself with a prospect of what would be the 
consequence of his sufferings, viz. God's glory. Now, it is 
the end that supports the agent in any difficult work that he 
undertakes, and above all others, his ultimate and supreme 
end. For this is above all others valuable in his eyes ; and so, 
sufficient to countervail the difficulty of the means. That is 
the end, which is in itself agreeable and sweet to him, which 
ultimately terminates his desires, is the centre of rest and 
support ; and so must be the fountain and sum of all the de- 
light and comfort he has in his prospects, with respect to his 
work. Now Christ has his soul straitened and distressed with 
a view of that which was infinitely the most difficult part of 
his work, which was just at hand. Now certainly if his mind 
seeks support in the conflict from a view of his end, it must 
most naturally repair to the highest end, which is the proper 
fountain of all support in this case. We may well suppose, 
that v/hen his soul conflicts with the appearance of the most 
extreme diflkuliies, it would resort for support to the idea of 
his supreme and ultimate end, the fountain of all the support 
and comfort he has in the means, or the work. The same 
thing, viz. Christ's seeking the glory of God as his ultimate 
end, is manifest by what Christ says, when he comes yet; 
nearer to the hour of his last sufferings, in that remarkable 
prayer, the last he ever made wiih his disciples, on the even- 
ing before his crucifixion ; wherein he expresses the sum of 
his aims and desires. His first words are, " Father, the hour 
is come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee." 
As this is his first request, we may suppose it to be his sur 



END IN CREATION. 79 

preme request and desire, and what he ulumately aimed at 
in all. If we consider what follows to the tnd, all the rest 
that is said in the prayer, seems to be but an amplification of 
this great request. 

On the whole, I think it is pretty manifest, that Jesus 
Christ sought the glory of God as his highest and last end j 
and that therefore, by position twelfth, this was God's last end 
in the creation of the world. 

7. It is manifest from scripture, that God's glory is the 
last end of that great work of providence, the work of re- 
demption by Jesus Christ. This is manifest ftom what is 
just now observed, of its being the end uitimately sought by 
Jesus Christ the Redeemer. And if we further consider the 
texts mentioned in the proof of that, and take notice of the 
context, it will be very evident, that it was what Christ sought 
as his last end, in that great work which he came into the 
world upon, viz. to procure redemption for his people. It is 
manifest that Christ professes in John vii. 18, that he did not 
seek his own glory in what he did, but the glory of him that 
sent him. He means that he did not seek his own glory, but 
the glory of him that sent him, in the work of his ministry ; 
the work he performed, and wliich he came into the world to 
perform, and Avhich his Father sent him to work out, which is 
the work of redemption. And with respect to that text, John 
xii. 27, 28, it has been already observed, that Christ comfort- 
ed himself in the view of the extreme difficulty of his work, 
which was the work of redemption, in the prospect of that 
which he had respect to, and rejoiced in, as the highest, ul- 
timate and most valuable excellent end of that work, which 
he set his heart most upon, and delighted most in. And in 
the answer that the Father made him from heaven at that time, 
in the latter part of the same verse, " I have both glorified it, 
and will glorify it again," the meaning plainly is, that God 
had glorified his name in what Christ had done, in 'he work 
he sent him upon, and would glorify it again, and to a great- 
er degree, in what he should further do, and in the success 
thereof. Christ shews that he understood it thus, in what he 
says upon it, when the people took notice of it, wondering at 



8T)' END IN CREATIOI^r. 

the voice ; some saying, that it thundered,, others, that an an- 
gel spake to him. Christ says, " This voice came not be- 
cause of me, but for your sakes." And then he says, (exult- 
ing in the prospect of tliis glorious end and success) " Now is 
the judgment of this world ; now is the prince of this world 
cast out, and I, if I be lift up from the earth, will draw all 
men unto me." In the success of the same work of redemp- 
tion, he places his own glory, as was observed before, in these 
words in the 23d. and 24th. verses of the same chapter. 
" The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. 
Verily, verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall in- 
to the ground, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth 
much fruit." 

So it is manifest that when he seeks his own and his fa- 
ther's glory, in that prayer, John xvii. (which, it has been ob- 
served, he then seeks as his last end) he seeks it as'the end 
of that great work he came into the world upon, which he is 
now about to finish in his death. What follows through the • 
whole prayer, plainly shews this ; and particularly the 4th 
and 5lh verses. *' I have glorified thee on the earth : I have 
finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O 
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self." Here it is pret- 
ty plain that declaring to his Father, that he had glorified him 
on earth, and finished the work God gave him to do, meant 
that he had finished the work which God gave him to do for 
this end, viz. that he might be glorified. He had now finish- 
ed that foundation that he came into the world to lay for his 
glory. He had laid a foundation for his Father's obtaining his 
will, and the utmost that he designed. By which it is mani- 
fest, that God's glory was the utmost of his design, or his ul- 
timate end in this great work. 

And it is manifest by John xiii. 31, 32, that the glory of 
the Father, and his own glory, are what Christ exuhed in, in 
the prospect of his approaching sufferings, when Judas was " 
gone out to betray him, as the end his heart was mainly set 
upon, and supremely delighted in. " Therefore when he 
was gone out, Jesus said. Now is the Son of Man glorified, and 
God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God 



END IN CREATION. 8t 

shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glori- 
fy him." 

That the glory of God is the highest and last end of the 
work of redemption, is confirmed by the song of the angels at 
Christ's birth. Luke ii. 14. " Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth, peace and good will towards men." It must be 
supposed that they knew what was God's last end in sending 
Christ into the woild : And that in their rejoi> ing on the oc- 
casion of his incarna'.ion, their minds would be most taken up 
with, and would most rejoice in that which was most valuable 
and glorious in it ; which must consist in its relation to that 
which was its chief and ultimate end. And we may further 
suppose, that the thing which chiefly engaged their minds, as 
what was most glorious and joyful in the affair, is what would 
be first expressed in that song which was to express the sen- 
timents of their minds, and exultation of their hearts. 

The glory of the Father and the Son is spoken of as the 
end of the work of redemption, in Phil. ii. 6. ...11, very much 
in the same manner as in John xii. 23, 28, and xiii. 31, 32, 
and xvii. 1,4,5. "Who, being in the form of God, made 
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross : Wherefore 
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a nam?, Sec. 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every 
tongue confess, that Jesus is the Lord, To the glory of God 
the Father." So God's glory, or the praise of his glory, is 
spoken of as the end of tlie work of redemption, in P^ph. i. 3, 
&c. " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who hath blessed us whh all spiritual blessings in heav- 
enly places in Christ : According as he hath chosen us in 
him.... Having predestinated us to the adoption of children.... 
to the praise of the glory of his grace." And in the continu- 
ance of the same discourse concerning the redemption of 
Christ, in what follows in the same chapter, God's glory is 
once and again mentioned as the great end of all. Several 
things belonging to that great redemption are mentioned in 

Vol. VI. L 



82 END IN CREATION. 

the following verses ; such as God's ^reat wisdom in it, versc 
8. The clearness of light granted through Christ, verse 9. 
God's gathering together in one, all things in heaven and 
earth in Christ, verse 10. God's giving the Christians that 
were first converted to the Christian faith from among the 
Jews, an interest in this great redemption, verse 11. Then 
the great end is added, verse 12. " That we should be to the 
firaise of his glorij^ who first trusted in Christ." And then is 
mentioned the bestowing of the same great salvation on the 
Gentiles, in its beginning or first fruits in the world, and in 
the completing it in another world, in the two next \'^rses. 
And then the same great end is added again. " In whom ye 
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel 
of your salvation ; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye 
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the 
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the pur- 
chased possession, unto the firaise of his gioj-y." The same 
thing is expressed much in the same manner, in 2 Cor. iv. 14, 
15. " He which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us al- 
so by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are 
for your ?akes, that the abundance of grace might through 
the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God." 

The same is spoken of as the end of the work of redemp- 
tion in the Old Testament. Psal. Ixxix. 9. <' Help us, O 
God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name ; deliver us 
and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." So in the 
prophecies of the redemption of Jesus Christ. Isa. xliv. 23. 
" Sing, O ye heavens ; for the Lord hath done it : Shout, yc 
loAvcv parts of the earth : Break forth into singing, ye moun- 
tains, O forest, and every tree therein : For the Lord hath 
redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel." Thus 
the works of creation are callt;d upon to rejoice at the attain- 
ing of the same end, by the redemption of God's people, that 
the angels rejoiced at, when Christ was born. See also chap, 
xlviii. 1ft, 11, and xlix. 3. 

Thus it is evident that the glory of God is the ultimate 
end of the work of redemption.. ..Which is the chief work of 
providence towards the moral world, as i^abundantly manifest: 



END IN CREATION/ 83 

from scripture : The whole universe being put in subjection 
to Jesus Christ ; all heaven and earth, angels and men being 
subject to him, as execuiing this office ; and put under him 
to that end, that all things may be ordered by iiim, in subser- 
vience to the great designs of his redemption ; all power, as he 
says, being given to him, in heaven and in earth, that he may 
give eternal life to as many as tlie Father lias given him ; 
and he, being esalted far above all principality and power, and 
might and dominion, and made head over all things to the 
church. The angels being put in subjection to him> that he 
may employ them all as ministering spirits, for the good of 
them that shall he the heirs of his salvation ; and all things 
being so governed by their Redeemer for them that all things 
are theirs, whether things present or things to come ; and all 
God's works of providence in the moral government of the 
world, which we have an account of in scripture history, or 
that are foretold in scripture prophecy, being evidently subor- 
dinate to the great purposes and ends of this great work. And 
besides, the work of redemption is that v/ork, by which good 
men are, as it were, created, or brought into being, as good 
men, or as restored to holiness and happiness. The work of 
redemption is a new creation, according to scripture represen- 
tation, whereby men are brought into a new existence, or are 
made new creatures. 

From these things it follows, according to the 5th, 6th and 
7th positions, that the glory of God is the last end of the crea- 
tion of the world. 

8. The scripture leads us to suppose, that God's glory is 
his last end in his moral government of the world in general. 
This has been already shewn concerning several things that 
belong to God's moral government of the world. As particu- 
Jarly, in the work of redemption, the chief of all his dispensa- 
tions, in his moral government of the world. And I have al- 
so observed it, with respect to the duty which God requires 
of the subjects of his moral government, in requii ing them 
to seek his glory as their last end. And this is actually the 
last end of the moral goodness required of them ; the end 
which gives their n?^ral goodness its chief value, .iud also, 



U END IN CREATION. 

that it is what that person which God has set at the head ot 
the moral world, as its chief governor, even Jesus Christ, 
seeks as his chief end. And it has been shewn, that it is the- 
chief end for which that part of the moral world which are 
good, are made, or have their existence as good. I now fur- 
ther observe, that this is the end of the establishment of the 
public worship and ordinances of God among mankind. Hag. 
i. 8. " Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the 
house ; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorifi- 
ed, saith the Lord." This is spoken of as the end of God's 
promises of rewards, and of their fulfilment. 2 Cor. i. 20. 
« For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him 
amen, to the glory of God by us." And this is spoken of as 
the end of the execution of God's threatenings, in the punish- 
ment of sin. Num. xiv. 20. ...23. "And the Lord said, I 
have pardoned according to thy word. But as truly as I live? 
all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah. Be- 
cause all these men, Sec. ..Surely they shall not see the land." 
The glory of Jehovah is evidently here spoken of, as that 
which he had regard to, as his highest and ultimate end ; 
which therefcre he could not fail of ; but must take place eve- 
ry where, and in every case, through all parts of his dominion, 
whatever became of men. And whatever abatements might 
'be made, as to judgments deserved ; and whatever changes 
iTjight be made in the course of God's proceedings, from com- 
passion to sinners ; yet the attaining of God's glory was an 
end, which being ultimate and supreme, must in no case 
whatsoever give place. This is spoken of as the end of God's 
execMiing judgments on his enemies in this world. Exod.xiv. 
17, 18. "And I will get me honor (JUiabhedha, Iw'iW be glori- 
fied) upon Pharoah, and upon all his host," 8cc. Ezek. xxviii. 
22. " Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee O 
Zion, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee : And they 
shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed 
judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her." So Ezek. 
xxxix. 13. " Vea, al! the people of the land shall bury them ; 
and it shall be to ihera a renown, the day that I shall be glori- 
fi''d^ saitii the Lord God." 



END IN CREATION. 'ts 

And this is spoken of as the end, both of the executions of 
wrath, and in the glorious exercises of mercy, in the misery 
and happiness of another world. Rom. ix. 22, 23. » What if 
God, willing to shew his wrath, and make his power known, 
endured with much long suffering, the vessels of wrath lilted 
to destruction ; and that he might make known the riches of 
his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore pre- 
pared unto glory." And this is spoken of as the end 
of the day of judgment, which is the time appointed for 
the highest exercises of God's authority as moral governor of 
the world ; and is, as it were, the day of the consummation 
of God's moral government, with respect to all his subjects in 
heaven, earth and hell. 2 Thess. i. 9, 10. " Who shall be 
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of 
the Lord, and from the glorij of his power ; when he shall 
come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them 
that believe." Then his glory shall be obtained, with respect 
both to saints and sinners. 

From these things it is manifest by the fourth position, 
that God's glory is the ultimate end of the creation of the 
world. 

9. It appears from what has been already observed, that the 
glory of God is spoken of in scripture as the last end of many 
of God's works ; and it is plain that this thing is in fact the 
issue and result of the works of God's common providence, 
and of the creation of the world. Let us take God's glory in 
what sense soever, consistent with its being something brought 
to pass, or a good attained by any work of God, certainly it is 
the consequence of these works ; and besides it is expressly 
so spoken of in scripture. This is implied in Psalm viii. 1, 
wherein are celebrated the works of creation ; the heavens 
being the work of God's fingers ; the moon and the stars be- 
ing ordained by God, and God's making man a little lower 
than the angels, &;c. The first verse is, " O Lord, our Lord, 
how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! Who hast set 
thy glory above the heavens," or upon the heavens. By name 
and ^-/ory, very much the same thing is intended here as in ma- 
ny other places, as shall be particularly shewn afterwards. So 



U END IN CREATION. 

the Psulm concludes as it bcf^an. " O Lord, our Lord, how 
excellent is thy name in all the earth !" Su in Psalm cxlviii. 
after a particular mention of the works of creation, enumerat- 
ing them in order, the Psalmist says, verse 13, " Let them 
praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is excellent, 
liis glory is above the earth and the heaven." And in Psalm 
civ. 3!, after a very particular, orderly, and maprniScent rep- 
resentatio!» of God's works of creation and common provi- 
dence, it is said, " The glory of the Lord shall endure forever ; 
the Lord shall rejoice in his works." Here Gad's glory is 
spoken of as the ^^rand result and blessed consequence of 
all these works, \vi.i;:h God values, and on account of which 
he rejoices in these works. And this is one thing doubtless 
implied in the song of the seraphim, Isaiah vi. 3. «' Holy, 
holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts ! The whole earth is lull of 
liis glory " 

The glory of God, in being the result and consequence 
of those works of providence that have been mentioned, :s in 
fact the consequence of the creation. The good attained in 
the use of a thing made for use, is the result of the making 
of that thing, as the signifying the time of day, when actually 
attained by the use of a watch, is the consequence of the mak- 
ing of t!ie watch. So that it is apparent that the glory of God 
is a thing that is actually the result and consequence of the 
creation of the world. And from what has been already ob- 
?:eived, it appears, that it is what God seeks as good, valuable 
and excellent in itself. And I presume, none will pretend 
that there is any thing peculiar in the nature of the case, ren. 
dering it a thing valuable in some of the instances wherein it 
takes place, and not in others ; or that the glory of God, 
thougli indeed an effect of all God's works, is an exceeding 
desirable effect of some of them ; but of others, a worthless 
and insignificant effect. God's glory therefore, must be a de- 
sirailc, valuable consequence of the work of creation. Yea, 
ii is expressly spoken of in Psalm civ. 3, (as was observed) as 
an effect, on account of which, Ciod rejoices and takes pleas- 
ure in the works of creation. 

Therefore it is inanifest by Positioti 3d, that the glory of 
Gcd is an uliimale end in the creation of the world. 



END IN CREATION. $7 



SECTION IV. 

'Places of Scripture that lead us to sufifiosey that God created the 
World for his JVanie, to make Ms /iciftcdons known^ and thai 
he made it for his Praise. 

HERE I shall first take notice of some passages of 
scriptiH'C; that speak of God's name as being made God's end. 
or the object of his regard, and the regard of his virtuous and 
holy, intelligent creatures, much in the same manner as has 
been obsen ed of God's glory. 

As particularly, God's name is in like manner spoken of, 
as the end of his acts of goodness towards the good part of the 
moral world, and of his works of mercy and salvation tov/ardi> 
his people. As 1 Sam. xii. 22, •« The Lord will not forsake 
his people, ybr his great name's sake." Psalm xxiii. 3. " He 
restore! h my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, 
for his nar.ie's sake." Psalm xxxi. 3. " For thy name's sake, 
lead me and guide me." Psalm cix. 21. "But do thou for 
me for thy name's sake." The forgiveness of sin in par- 
ticular, is often spoken of as being for God's naiiie's sake. 
1 John ii. 12. "I write unto you, little children, because your 
sins are forgiven you /o J' his name's sake." Psalm xx v. II, 
" For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is 
great." Psalm Ixxix. 9. « Help us, O God of our sJvation, 
for the glory of thy name., and deliver us, r.nJ purge away our 
sins,/o7- thy na?ne's sake." Jer, xiv. 7. " O Lord, though 
our iniquities testify against us, do thou kfor thy name's sake." 

These things seem to shew, that the salvation of Christ is 
for God's name's sake. Leading and guiding in the way of 
safety and happiness, restoring the soul, the forgiveness of 
sin, and that help, deliverance and salvation, that is conse- 
quent thereon, hfor God's name. And hers; it is observable, 
that those two great temporal salvations of God's people, the 
rcelemption from Egyp":, and that from Eabylon, that are often 



S8 END IN CREATION. 

represented as figures and similitudes of the redemption of 
Christ, are frequently spoken of as being wrought for God's 
name's sake. So is that great work of God, in delivering his 
people from Egypt, carrying them through the wilderness to 
thtir rest in Canaan. 2 Sam. vii. 23. " And what one nation 
in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God 
•went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a 
name.'' Psalm cvi. 8. " Nevertheless he saved them/or his 
vame's sake." Isaiah Ixiii. 12, "That led them by the right 
hand of Moses, with his glorious arm, dividing the waters be- 
fore them, to make himself an everlasting name." In Ezek. xx. 
God, rehearsing the various parts of this wonderful work, 
adds from time to time, " / wrought for my name's sake, that 
it should not be polluted before the heathen," as in ver, 9, 14, 
22. See also Josh. vit. 8, 9. Dan. ix. 15. So is the re- 
demption from the Babylonish captivity. Isaiah xlviii. 9, IG. 
« For my nam.e's sake, will I defer mine anger. For mine 
own sake, even for mine own sake will I do it, for how should 
my name be polluted ?" In Ezek. xxxvi. 21, 22, 23, the rea- 
son is given for God's mercy in restoring Israel. " But I 

had pity for my holy name Thus saith the Lord, I do not 

thi?; for your sakes, () house of Israel, but for my holy name's 
sake ; and I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned 
among the heathen." And chap, xxxix. 25. " Therefore 
thus saith the Lord God, now will I bring again the captivity 
of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and 
ivill be jealous for my holy name." Daniel prays that God 
would forgive his people, and shew them mercy /o?- his own 
sake, Dan. ix. 19. 

When God from time to time speaks of shewing mercy, 
and exercising goodness, and promoting his people's happi- 
ness for his ?iame's sake, we cannot understand it as of a mere- 
ly subordinate end. How absurd would it be to say, that he 
promotes their happiness for his name's sake, in subordination 
to their good ; and that his name may be exalted only for 
their sakes, as a means of promoting their happiness ; es- 
pecially when such expressions as these are used : " For 
mine own sake, even for mine own sake will I do it, for how 



END IN CREATION. 89 

should my name be polluted ?" and " Not for your sakes do 

1 this, but for my holy name's sake." 

Again, it is represented as though God's people had their 
existence, at least as God's people, for God's name's sake. 
God's redeeming «r purchasing them, that they might be his 
people, for his Jiaine, implies this. As in that passage men- 
tioned before, 2 Sam. vii. 23. " Thy people Israel, whom 
God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him 
a iiamt." So God's making them a people for his name, is 
implied in Jer. xiii. 11. '• For as the girdle cleaveth to the 
loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole 

house of Israel, Sec. that they may be unto me for a 

people, and for a name" Acts xv. 14. " Simeon hath de- 
clared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out 
of them a peopleybr his name" 

This also is spoken of as the end of the virtue and reli- 
gion, and holy behavior of the saints. Rom. i. 5. " By whom 
we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the 
faith among all nations/or /«s rzcwf." Matth. xix. 29. "Ev- 
ery one that forsaketh houses or brethren, Sec. for my 

name^s sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit 
everlasting life." 3 John 7. " Because that for his name's 
sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles." Rev. 
ii. 3. " And hast borne, ^nd hast patience, and ybr my name's 
sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.** 

And we find that holy persons express their desire of this, 
and their joy in it, in the same manner as in the glory of God. 

2 Sam. vii. 26. " Let thy name be magnified forever." Psalm 
Ixxvi. 1. "In Judah is God known : His name is great in 
Israel." Psalm cxlviii. 13. « Let them praise the name of 
the Lord ; for his name alone is excellent I His glory is 
above the earth and heaven." Psalm cxxxv. 13. "Thy 
name, O Lord, endureth forever, and thy memorial through- 
out all generations." Isaiah xii. 4. " Declare his doings 
among the people, make mention that his name is exalted." 

The judgments God executes on the wicked, are spoken 
of as being/or the sake of his name, in like manner as for his 
glory. Exod.-ix.-16. "And in very deed for this causa hav^ 
Vol. VT. M 



90 END IN CREATION. 

I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power, ^nd that'irfff 
name may be declared throughout all the earth." Neh. ix. 10. 
« And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all 
his servants, and on all the people of his land ; for thou knew- 
edst that they dealt proudly against them ; so didst thou 
get thee a name as at this day." 

And this is spoken of as a consequence of the works ol 
creation, in like manner as God's glory. Psalm viii. 1. " O 
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! Who hast 
set thy glory above the heavens." And then at the conclu- 
sion of the observations on the works of creation, the Psalm 
ends thus, verse 9. " O Lord, our Lord, hoiv excellent is thy 
name in all the earth !" So Psalm cxlviii. 13, after a particu- 
lar mention of the various works of creation, " Let them 
praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is excellent 
in all the earth, his glory is above the earth and the heaven." 

So we find manifestation, or making known God's /iej/ec- 
tions^ his greatness and excellency^ is spoken of very much in 
the same manner as God's glory. 

There are several scriptures which would lead us to sup- 
pose this to be the great thing that God sought of the moral 
•world, and the end aimed at in the moral agents, which he had 
created, wherein they are to be active in answering their end. 
This seems implied in that argument God's people, some- 
times made use of, in deprecating a state of death and des- 
truciion ; that in such a state, they cannot know or make 
known the glorious excellency of God. Psalm Ixxxviii. 18,. 
19. «' Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave, or 
thy faithfulness in destruction ? Shall thy wonders be known 
in the dark, an3 thy righteousness in the land of forgetful- 
ncss ?" So Psalm xxx. 9, Isaiah xxxviii. 18, 19. The argu- 
ment seems to be this : Why should we perish ? And how 
shall thine end, for which thou hast made us, be obtained in 
a state of desUuction, in which thy glory cannot be known or 
declared ? 

This is spoken of as the end of the good part of the moral 
world, or the end of God's people in the sam* manner as the 
glory of God. Isaiah xliii. 21. « This people have I form- 



END IN CREATION. 91 

ed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise." 1 Peter ii. 
9. " But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an 
holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the 
praises ofhi?7i, who hath called you out of darkness into mar- 
vellous light." 

And this seems to be represented as the thing wherein 
the value and proper fruit and end of their virtue appear. 
Isaiah Ix. 6. Speaking of the conversion of the Gentile na- 
tions to true religion. " They shall come and shew forth 

the praises of the Lord." Isaiah Ixvi. 19. "I will send— — 

vinto the nations and to the isles afar off, that have not 

heard my fame, neither have seen my glory ; and they shall 
declare my glory among the Gentiles. 

And this seems by scripture representations to be the 
end, in the desires of which, and delight in Avhich appear the 
proper tendency and rest of true virtue, and holy dispositions, 
much in the same manner as the glory of God. 1 Chron. xvi. 
8. " Make known his deeds among the people." Ver. 23, 
24. " Shew forth from day to day thy salvation. Declare 
his glory among the heathen." See also. Psalm ix. 1,11, 14, 
and xix. 1, and xxvi. 7, and Ixxi. 18, and Ixxv. 9, and Ixxvi. 1, 
and Ixxix. 13, and xcvi. 2, 3, and ci. 1, and cvii. 22, and cxviii, 
17, and cxlv. 6, 11, 12. Isaiah xlii. 12, and Ixiv. 1, 2. Jer, 
1. 10. 

This seems to be spoken of as a great end of the acts of 
God's moral government ; particularly the great judgments 
he executes for sin. Exod. ix. 16. "And in very deed for 
this cause have I raised thee up, to shew in thee my power, 
and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth." 
Dan. iv. 17. " This matter is by the decree of the watchers, 

Sec to the intent that the living may know that the Most 

High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whom- 
soever he will ; and setteth up over it the basest of men." 
But places to this purpose are too numerous to be particular- 
ly recited. 

This is also spoken of as a great end of God's works of 
favor and mercy to his people. 2 Kings xix. 19. "Now, 
therefore, O Lord, our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out 



92 END IN CREATION. 

of his hand, that nil the kingdoms of the earth may knovJ ih<U 
thou art the Lord God., even thou only." 1 Kings viii. 59, 60. 

« that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause 

of his people Israel at all times as the matter shall require, 
that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is 
God, and that there is none else." 

This is spoken of as the end of the eternal damnation of 
the wicked, and also the eternal happiness of the righteous. 
Rom. ix. 22, 23. " What if God, willing to shew his wrath, 
and make his power known, endured with much long suffer- 
ing, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ; and that he 
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of 
mercy which he hath alore prepared unto glory ?'* 

This is spoken of from lime to time, as a great end of the 

miracles which God wrought. See Exod. vii. 17, and viii. 10, 

and X. 2. Deut. x:;ix. 5, 6. Ezek. xxivv 27. -- 

•-4 
This is spoken of as a great end of ordinances. Exod.; 

xxix. 44, 45, 46. " And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the 

congregcilion ; I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to 

minister to me in the priest^s office. And I will dwell among 

the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall 

know that I am the Lord their God, 8cc." Chap. xxxi. 13. 

•' Verily my Sabbaths shall ye keep ; for it is a sign between 

me and vou, throughout your generations ; that ye may 

know that I am the Loul that doth sanctify you." We have 

again almost the same words, Ezek. xx. 12, 20 

This is spoken of as a great end of the redemption out of 

Egypt. Psalm cvi. 8. " Nevertheless he saved them for his 

name's sake that/^e might make his mighty jioiver to be knoiun." 

See also Exod. vii. 5, and Deut. iv. 34, 35. And also of the 

redemption from the Babylonish captivity. Ezek. xx. 34.... 

38. " And I will bring you out from the people, and will 

gather you cut of ti)e countries wiiilher ye are scattered 

And I will bring you into the \\iUierness of the people ; and 

there I will plead with you as 1 pleaded with your fathers in 

the wilderness lif the land of Egypt.. And I will bring you 

into the bond of the covenant. And I will purge out the 

vf^bcls— — ffwrf vp shall kncKV that I am the Lord." ^'ersc 42. 



END IN CREATION. 9t 

" ^nd ye shall knotv that lam the Lord, when I shall bring you 
into the land of Israel." Verse 44'. " Jnd ye shall knoit) thcif 
I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you /or 7ny vajns'f; 
sake." See also chap, xxviii. 25, 26, and x:sxvi. 11, and 
xxxvii. 6, 13. 

This is also spoken of as a great end of the work of re- 
demption of Jesus Christ : Both of the purchase of rederrip- 
tion by Christ, and the application of redemption. Rom. iii. 
95, 26. " Whom God hath set forth to be a propiliation 

through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness <To 

declare I say, at this time his righteousness ; that he might be 
just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Eph. 
ii. 4. ...7. " But God who is rich in mercy, &:c. That fie 
might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness 
towards us through Jesus Christ." Chap. iii. 8.... 10. « To 
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 
and to make all men see, what is the fellowship of the mys- 
tery which, from the beginning of the world hath been hid in 
God, who ci'eated all things by Jesus Christ : To the intent. 
that nonu unto the princifmlities and powers in heavenly places, 
might be known by the church the 7nanifold wisdom of God." 
Psal. xxii. 21, 22. « Save me from the lion's mouth. I will 
declare thy name unto my brethren : In the midst of the con- 
gregation will I praise thee," compared with Heb. ii. f2, and 
John xvii. 26. Isa. Ixiv. 4. « O that thou wouldest rent the 
heavens, to make thy name known to thine adversaries." 

And it is spoken of as the end of that great actual salva- 
tion, which should follow Christ's purchase of salvation, both 
among Jews and Gentiles. Isa. xlix. 22, 23 <' I will lift up 

my hand to the Gentiles and they shall bring thy sons in 

their arms and kings shall be thy nursing fathers. and 

thou shalt know that I am the Lord." See also, Ezck. xvi. 62. 
and xxix. 21, and xxxiv. 27, and xxxvi. 38, and xsxix. 28, 
29. Joeliii. 17. 

This is spoken of as the end of God's common providence. 
Job xxxvii. 6, 7. " For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the 
tjirth. Likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of 



9* END IN CREATION. 

his strength. He scaleth up the hand of every man, that all 
men may know his work." 

It is spoken of as th^ end of the day of judp:ment, that 
grand consummation of God's moral government of ihe world, 
and the day for the bringing all things to their designed ulti- 
mate issue. It is called " The day of the revelation of the 
righteous judgment of God," Rom. ii. 5. 

And the declaration, or openly manifesting God's excel- 
lency is spoken of as the actual, happy consequence and effect 
of the work of creation. Psal. xix. at the beginning. •' The 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth 
his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, night unto 
Tiight sheweth knowledge. In them hath he placed a tab- 
ernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of 
his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his race, 
&c." 

In like manner, there are many scriptures that speak of 
God's praise, in many of the forementioned respects, just in 
the same manner as of his name and glory. 

This is spoken of as the end of the being of God's peo- 
ple, in the same manner. Jer. xiii. 11. " For as the girdle 
tleavcth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave un- 
to me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Ju- 
dah, saith the Lord ; that they might be unto me for a name, 
mid for a firaise, and for a glory." 

It is spoken of as the end of the moral world. Matth. xxi. 
16. " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou per- 
fected firaise." That is, so hast thou in thy sovereignty and 
wisdom ordered it, that thou shouldest obtain the great end 
for which intelligent creatures are made, more especially 
from some of them that are in themselves weak, or inferior 
and more insufficient. Compare Psal. viii. 1, 2. 

And the same thing that was observed before concerning 
the making known God's excellency, may also be observed 
concerning God'-s praise. Tliat it is made use of as an argu- 
ment in deprecating a state of destruction, that in such a state 
this end cannot be answered ; in such a manner as seems to 
imply its being an ultimate end, that God had made man for. 



END IN CREATION, 95 

Psal. txxxvir. 10. "Shall the dead arise and f^raise t/iee ? 
Shall thy lovinjj; kindness be declared in the grave ? Shall thy- 
•wonders be kiiowii in the dark ? Psal. xxx. 9. " What prof- 
it is there io my blood ? When I yo down to the pit, shall 
the dust firaise thee ? Shall it declare thy truth ?" Psul. cxv. 

17, .8. '* The dead yira!/s(" «o; Me iorrf, neither any tha<^^ go 
down into hilence ; but v/e will hless the Xorrf, from this time 
forth and forevermore. Praise ye the Lord." Isa. xxxviii. 

18, 19. " For the grave cannot praise /Aer.ideath cannot cel- 
ebrate thee ; they that go d(jwn into the pit cannot hope for 
thy trnth. The livin*^, the livir.g, he shall firaise thee?" 

It is spoken of as the end of the virtue of God's p-op!", in 
like manner as is God's glory. Phi!, i. 11. « Being filled 
with the fruits of righteo'.i-.ness, which are by Jesus Christ t9 
the firaise and glory of God" 

It is spoken of as the end of the woik of redemption. Ir» 
the first chapter of Eph. where that work in the various parts 
of it is particularly insisted on, and set forth in its exceeding 
glory, this is men'.ioned from time to time as the great end of 
all, that it should be " to the firaise of his glory. (As in verse 
6, 12, 14.) By which we may doubtless understand much the 
same thing, with that which in Pl.il. i. 1 1', is expressed, <' /«? 
praise and glory." Agreeable to this, Jacob's fourth son, 
from whom the Pvlessiah the great Redeemer was to proceed, 
by the spirit of prophecy, or the special direction of God's 
providence, was called firaise^ with reference to this happy 
consequence, and glorious end of that great redemption, this 
Messiah, one of his posterity, was to work out. 

This in the Old Testament is !^poken of as the end of the 
forgiveness of the sin of God's people, and their salvation, in 
the same manner as is God's name and glory. Isa. xlviii. 9, 
10, II. " For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and 
for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. 
Behold I have refined thee, for mine own sake, even for mine 
own sake will I do it ; for how should my name be polluted ? 
And my glory will I not give to another." Jer. xxxiii. 8, 9. 
'' And I will cleapse them from all their iniquity -and I 



>6 . END IN CREATION. 

will pardon all their iniquities. And it shall be to me » 

name of joy, a firaise, and an honor." 

And that the holj' part of the moral world, do express de- 
sires of this, and delight in it, as the end which holy princi- 
ples in them tend to, reach after, and rest in, in their highest 
exercises, just in the same manner as the glory of God, is 
abundantly manifest. It Avould be endless to enumerate par- 
ticular places wherein this appears ; Avherein the saints de- 
clare this, by expressing their earnest desires of God's praise ; 
calling on all nations, and all beings in heaven and earth to 
praise him ; in a rapturous manner calling on one another, 
crying Hallelujah, praise ye the Lord, praise hira forever." 
Expressing their resolutions to praise him as long as they 
live, through all generations, and forever ; declaring how 
good, how pleasant and comely the praise of God is, &c. 

And it is manifest that God's firaise is the desirable and 
glorious consequence and effect of all the works of creation, 
by such places as these. Psalm cxlv. 5,... 10, and cxlviii. 
throughout, and ciii. 1 9. ...22. 



SECTION V. 

Places of Scrifiture from •whence it niay be argued, that com- 
- munication of good to the Creature, was one thing nvhich 
God had in view, as an Ultimate End of the Creation of the 
", World, 

1. ACCORDING to the scripture, communicating 
gpod to the creatures, is what is in itself pleasing to God ; 
and that this is not merely subordinately agreeable, and es- 
teemed valuable on account of its relation to a further end, as 
it is in executing justice in punishing the sins of men ; which 
God is inclined to as fit and necessary in certain cases, and 
nn the account of good ends attained by it ; but what God is 



END IN CREATION. 97, 

inclined to on its own account, and what he delights in sim- 
ply and uhiinately. For though God is sometimes in scrip- 
ture spoken of as taking pleasure in punishing men's sins, 
Deut. xxviii. 63. '' The Lord will rejoice over you, to des- 
troy you." Ezek. v. 13. " Then shall mine anger be accom- 
plished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I 
IviH be comforted." Yet God is often spoken of as exercis- 
ing goodness and shewing mercy, with delight, in a manner 
quite different, and opposite to that of his executing wrath. 
For the latter is spoken of as what God proceeds to with back- 
wardness and reluctance ; the misery of the creature being 
not agreeable to him on its own account. Neh. ix. 17. 
« That thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merci- 
ful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness." Psal. ciii. 
8. <' The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and 
plenteous in mercy." Psal. cxlv. 8. " The Lord is gvacious 
and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy." 
We have again almost the same words, Jonah iv. 2. Mic. 
▼ii. 10. " Who is a God like thee, that pardoneth miquity, 
he He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delight- 
eth in mercy." Ezek. xviii. 32. " I have no pleasure in the 
death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God ; wherefore turn 
yourselves, and live ye." Lam. iii. 33. " He doth not afflict 
willingly, nor grieve the children of men." Ezek. xxxiii. 1 1. 
♦' As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the 
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way 
{^d live : Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will 
ye die, O house of Israel" 2 Pet. iii. 9. " Not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 

2, The work of redemption wrought out by Jesus Christ, 
is spoken of in such a manner as being from the grace and 
love of God to men, that does not well consist with his seek- 
ing a communication of good to them, only subordinately, i. e. 
not at all from any inclination to their i^ood directly, or delight 
in giving happiness to them, simply and ultimately consider- 
ed ; but only indirectly, and wholly from a regard to some- 
thing entirely diverse, vvnich it is a means of. buch expres- 
sions as that in John iii. 16, carry another idea. « God so 

Vol. VI. N 



m END IN CREATION. 

loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who*- 
soever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlast-- 
ing life." And 1 John iv. 9, 10. " In this was manifested 
the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only 
begotten son into the world, that we might live through him. 
Herein is love ; not that we lovtd God, but that he loved us, 
and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins." So Eplu 
ii. 4. " But God, who is rich in meivvi for his great lov©" 
wherewith he loved us, &c." But if indeed this was only from' 
love to something else, and a regard to a further end, entirely 
diverse from our good ; then all the love i^ truly terminated' 
in that, its ultimate object ! And God's love consists in regard^ 
towards that ; and therein is God's love, and therein is his 
love manifested, strictly and properly speaking, and not in' 
that he loved us, or exercised such high regard towards us." 
For if our good be not at all regarded uliima'.ely, but only^- 
subordinatcly, then our good or interest is in itself considered*; 
nothing in God's regard or love : God's respect is all termi*- 
nated upon, and swallowed up in something diverse, which is 
the end, and not in the means. 

So the scripture every where represents concerning Christ, 
as though the great things that he did and suffered, were ia 
the most direct and proper sense, from exceeding love to us ; 
and not as one may shew kindness to a person, to whose in- 
terest, simply and in itself considered, he is iniirely indiffer- 
ent, only as it may be a means of promoting the interest of 
another (that is indeed directly regarded) which is connected 
■with it. Thus the Apostle Paul represents the matter, Gal, 
ii. 20. " Who loved me, and gave himself for me." Eph. v. 
25. " Hubbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the 
church, and gave himself for it." And Christ himself, John 
xvii. 19. '^ For their sakes I sanctify myself." And the 
scripture represents Christ as resting in the salvation and 
glory of his people, when obtained, as in what he ultimately 
sought, as having therein reached the goal at the end of his 
race ; obtained the prize he aimed at ; enjoying the travail of 
his soul, in which he is satisfied, as the recompense ol his la- 
bors and extreme agonies. Isa. liii. 10,11. "When thou* 



END IN CREATION. 99 

shaltmake his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, 
he shall prolons; his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall 
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, 
and shall be satisfied ; by his knowledge shall my righteous 
servant justify many, for he shall bear tlieir iniquities." He 
sees the travail of his soul, in seeing his seed, the children 
brought forth in the issue of his travail. This implies liiat 
Christ has his delight, most truly and properly, in obtaining 
the salvation of his church, not niere'y as a means conducing 
to the thing which lerminaies his delighl and joy ; but as what 
he rejoices and is satisfied in, most directly and properly ; as 
do those scriptures, wiiich represent him as rejoicing in his 
obtaining thih> fruit of hjs labor and purchase, as the bride- 
groom, when he obtains his bride. Isa. Ixii, 5. '' As the 
bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice 
oyer thee" And how emphatical and strong to the purpose, 
are the expiessions in Zeph. iii. 17. " The Lord thy God in 
the midst of tliee is mighty ; he will save, he will rejoice 
over ihee with joy ; he will rest in his love, he will rejoice 
ever thee with singing." The same thing may be argued 
fuom Prov. viii.30,^ XI. "Then was I by him, as one brought 
up with him ; and 1 was daily his delight, rejoicing always 
before him ; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and 
my delights were with the sons of men." And from those 
places that speak of the saints as God's portion, his jewels 
and peculiar treasure. These things are abundantly confirm-^ 
efl by what is related, John xii. 2S— — .32. But the particular 
consideration of what may be observed to the present pur- 
pose, m that passage of scripluie, may be referred to the next 
section. 

3. The communications of divine goodness, particularly 
forgiveness of sin, and salvation, are spoken of from time to 
time, as being for God's goodness sake, and for his mercy's 
sake, just in the same manner as they are spoken of, as being 
for God's name's sake, in places observed before. Psal. xxv. 
7. " Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgres- 
sions : According to thy mercy remember thou me, for thy 
goodness' sake, O Lord." In the 1 1th verse the Psalniiot says. 



too ENt5 IN CREATION. 

« For thy name's sake, O Lord pardon mint Iftlquily." Nfeh, 
ix. 31. " Nevertheless for thy great niercy^s sake, thou hast 
not utterly consumed them, nor forsaken them ; for thou art 
a gracious and a merciful God.'* Psal. vi. 4. " Returrt,0 
Lord, deliver my soul : O save me for thy mercy's sake." 
Psal. xxxi. 16. " Make thy face to shine upon thy servant : 
Save me for thy mercy's sake.*' Psal. xliv. 26. « Arise for 
our help ; redeem us for thy mercy's sake." And here it may 
be observed, after what a remarkable tnanner God speaks of 
his love to the children of Israel in the wilderness, as though 
his love were for love's sake, and his goodness were its own 
end and motive. Deut. vii. 7, 8. « The Lord did not set his 
love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in num- 
ber than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people ; 
dut because the Lord loved you." 

4. That the government of the world in all parts of it, 
is for the good of such as are to be th© eternal subjects of 
God's goodness, is implied in what the scripture teaches us of 
Christ's being set at God's right hand, made king of angels 
afid men ; set at the head of the universe, having all power 
given him in heaven and earth, to that end that he may pro- 
tnote their happiness ; being made head over all things tathe 
church, and having the government of the whole creation for 
their good.* Christ mentions it (Mark xxviii 29) as the rea- 
son why the Son of Man is made Lord of the sabbath, that 
« the iabbath was made for man." And if so, we may in like 
tnanner argue, that all things were made for imarivthat the Son 
of Mar) is t-nade Lord of all things. ' iv .• ,-s 

5. That God uses the whole creation, in his whole gov- 
ernment of it, for the good of hib people, is most elegantly 
represented in Deut. xxxiii. 26. " There is none like the 
God of Jeshurun, who rideth on the htavens in thine help» 
and in his excellency on the sky." The whole universe' is U 
machine, which God hath made for his own use, to be his 

' Chafi'Ot'fbr hlfift to ride in ; as is represented in Ezekiel'S vis- 

* Epb. i. 20... .23. johnxvii. 2. Matth. x\. 27, and xxviii, iS, jO 
John iii. 35. 



END IN CREATION. . ioi 

,,.ion. In this chariot, God's seat or throne, is heaven, where 
wjic sits, who uses, and governs, and rides in this chariot, Ezek, 
i. 22, 26, 27", 28. The inferior part of the creation, this visi«. 
J)le universe, subject to such continual changes and revolu- 
tions, are the wheels of the chariot, under the place of the 
seat of him who rides in this chariot. God's providence in the 
it.constant I'evolutions, and alterations, and successive eventsj 
Y.-is represented by the motion of the wheels of the chariot, by 
the spirit of him who sits in his throne on the heavens, or 
above the firmament. Moses tells us for whose sake it is 
Eji/.'that God moves the wheels of this chariot, or rides in it sit- 
'e|j|ting in his heavenly seat ; and to what end he is making his 
«lf.progress, or goes his appointed journey in it, viz. the salva- 
tion of his people. 

6. God's judgments on the wicked in this world, and also 

their eternal damnation in the world to come, are spoken of 

lo jks being for the happiness of God's people. So are his judg- 

^o anents on them in this world. Isaiah xliii. 3, 4. « For I am 

tils the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. I 

- gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 

Since thou hast been precious in my sight, thou hast been 

. honorable, and I have loved thee ; therefore will I give men 

it*} for thee, and people for thy life." So the works of God's 

ifislfindictive justice and wrath, are spoken of as works of mercy 

?fif(to his people, Psalm cxxxvi. 10, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20. And so 

isiiis their eternal damnation in another world. Rom. ix. 22, 23. 

fioc*' What if God, willing to shew his wrath and make his power 

known, endured with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath 

fitted to destruction ; and that he might make known the 

riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had 

afore prepared unto glory." Here it is evident the last verse 

comes in, in connexion with the foregoing, as giving another 

reason of the destruction of the wicked, viz. the shewing the 

riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy ; in higher degrees 

of their glory and happiness, in an advancement of their relish 

of their own enjoyments and greater sense of their value, and 

of God's free grace in the bestowment, 



I0j2 END IN CREATION. 

c^- 

■ 7. It seems to arj^ue that God's goodness to them whci 
ai^e to be the eternal su'ojccts of his goodness, is the end of 
the creation, that the whole creation, in all parts of it, and, 
ail God's disposals of it, is spoken of as theiu's. I Cor. iii. 
22,23. » All things are yours : Whether Paul, or Apollos, 
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or 
things to come, all are yours." The terms are very univer- 
sal ; and both works of creation and providence are mention- 
ed ; and it is manifestly the design of the apostle to be un- 
derstood of evejy Avork of God whatsoever. Now, how can 
we understand this any otherwise, than that all things are 
for their benefit ; and that God made and uses all for their 
good ? 

8. All God's works, both his works of creation and provi- 
dence, are represented as works of goodness or mercy to his 
people in Psal. cxxxvi. His wonderful works in general, verse 
4. " To him who alone doth great wonders ; for his mercy 
cndureth forever." The avoi ks of creation in all parts of it. 
Verses 5, ...9. " To him that by wisdom made the heavens, 
for his mercy endureth forever. To him that stretched out 
the earth above the waters, for his mercy endureth forever. 
To him that made great lights, for his mercy endureth for- 
ever. The sun to rule by day, for his mercy endureth forev- 
er. The moon and stars to rule by night, for his mercy en- 
dureth forever." And God's works of prQyidejic^^i^^,tli^_^jfc4r 
lowing part of the Psalm. } ,.„,l, :^a f-^nirn i\fi ni 

0. That expression in the blessed sentence pronounced 
on the righteous at the day of judgment, " Inherit the king- 
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," 
seems to hold forili as much, as that the eternal expressions 
and fruits of God's goodness to them, was God's end in creat- 
ing the world, and in his providential disposals ever since tho 
creation : That God, in all his works, in laying the founda- 
tion of the world, and ever since the foundation of it, had 
been preparing this kingdom and glory for them. 

10. Agreeable to this, the good of men is spoken of as an 
ultimate end of the virtue of the moral world. Rom. xiii. 8, 
0, 10. *• He tliat lovelh another hath fulfilled the law. For 



END IN CREATION. 103 

this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, 

&c — And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly 

comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself. Love workelh no ill to his neighbor j therefore^ 
love is the fuljilling of the law." Gal. v. 14. « All the law, 
is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neigh-, 
bor as thyself." James ii. 8. " If ye fulfil the royal law, ac- 
cording to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor us thy-' 
self... .thou shalt do well." 

If the good of the creature be one end of God in all things 
he does ; and so be one end of all things that he requires moral 
agents to do ; and an end they should have respect to in all 
that they do, and which they should regulate all parts of their 
conduct by ; these things may be easily explained ; but other- 
wise it seems difficult to be accounted for, that the Holy Gijost 
should thus express himself from time to ti!\:e. The scrip-, 
ture represents it to be the spirit of all true saints, to prefer 
the welfare of God's people to their chief joy. And this was 
the spirit of Moses and the prophets of old ; and the good of 
God's church was an end they reguhited all their conduct by., , 
And so it was with the apostles. 2 Cor. iv. 15. '• For all -I 
things are for your sakes." 2 Tim. ii. 10. « I endure all, 
things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the sal- 
vation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory." And! 
the scriptures represent as though every Christian shouitr. 
in all things he does be employed for the good of God's 
church, as each particular member of the body, is in all things 
employed, for the good of the body. Rom. xii. 4, 5, £^c. Eph! '^ 
iv. 15, 16. 1 Cor. xii. 12, 25, to the end ; together with tlie"'' 
whole of the next chapter. To this end the sc ripturc teach- 
es us the angels are continually empioyed, Heb,-i. 14. 

■ft ije ai ,boO JerlT : noiico;? 
(;:;,.(,■ Mjutv' ' '=73 hnn ffiilo'// arfilo floi.v 

insik loi : i^nii Auii gniisqaiq naad 

,3 .iiix .mofl . i ^dt io bna.aiBmillj. 



104 END IN CREATION. 



SECTION VI. 

Wherein it is considered tvhat is meant by the Glory of God, 
and the naytrc of God vi Hcrifiturcy nvhen sfioken of as God's 
end in his nvorks. 

HAVING thus considered what things are spoken of in 
the holy scriptures, as the ends of God's works ; and in such 
a manner as justly to lead us to suppose, they were the ends 
which God had ultimately in view, in the creation of the 
world : I now proceed particularly to inquire concernirvg 
some of these things, what they are, and how the terms are 
to be understood. 

I begin first, with the glory of god. 

And here I might observe, that the phrase, the glory of 
God, is soiTietimes manifestly used to signify the second per- 
son in the Trinity. But it is not necessary at this time to 
consider that matter, or stand to prove it from particular pas- 
sages of scripture. Omitting this, therefore, I proceed to 
observe concerning the Hebrew word Cabhodh, which is the 
word most commonly ui^ed in the Old Testament where we 
have the word gloi'^ in the English Bible. The root which 
it comes from is either the verb Cabhadh, which signifies to 
be heavy, or make heavy, or from the adjective Cabhedhy 
which signifies heavy or weighty. These, as seems pretty 
manifest, are the primary significations of these words,-though 
they have also other meanings, which seem to be derivative. 
The noun Cobhedh signifies gravity, heaviness, greatness, and 
abundance. Of very many places it will be sufficient to name 
a few. Prov. xxvii. 3. 2 Sam. xiv. 26. 1 Kings xii. 11. 
Psalm xxxviii. 4. Isaiah xxx. 27. And as the weight of 
bodies arises from two things, viz. solidity or density, or spe- 
cific gravity, as it is called, and their magnitude ; so we find 
the word Cabhedh used to signify dense, as in Exod. xix. 16. 
■Gnanatz Cobhedh^ a dense cloud. And it is very often used 



END IN CREATION. x05 

ror great. Isaiah xxxii. 2. Gen. v. 9. 1 Kings x. 2. 
2 Kings vi. 14, and xviii. 17. Isai.ih xxxvi. 2, and other 
places. 

The word Cabhodk, which is commonly translated glorify 
is used in such a manner as might be expecied from this sig- 
nification of the words from whence it comes. Sometimes 
it is used to signify what is interna!, what is within the being 
or person, inherent in the i^ubject, or what is in the pos- 
session of the person ; and sometimes for emanation, 
exhibition or communication of this internal glory ; and 
sometimes for the knowledge or sense, or effect of these, in 
those who behold it, to whom the exhibition or communica- 
tion is made ; or an expression of this knowledge, or sense, 
•r effect. And here I would note, that agreeable to the use 
©f the word Cabhodh^ in the Old Testament, is that of the 
■word Doxa in the new. For, as the word Cabhodh is gener- 
ally translated by Doxa in the Septuagint ; so it is apparent, 
that this word is designed to be used to signify the same thing 
in the New Testament, with Cabhodh in the Old. This mi:,ht 
be abundantly proved by comparing particular places of the 
Old Testament ; but probably it will not be denied. 

I therefore proceed particularly to consider these words, 
with regard to their use in scripture, in each of the foremen- 
iioned ways. 

1. As to internal glory. When the word is used to signify 
what is within, inherent, or in the possession of the subject, it 
very commonly signifies excellency, or great \a!uableness, 
dignity, or worthiness, or regard. This, according to the He- 
brew idiom, is, as it were, the weight of a thing, as that by 
which it is heavy ; as to be lightf is to be worthless, without 
value, contemptible. Numb. xxi. 5. " This light bread." 
1 Sam. xviii. 23. " Seemeth it a light thing." Judges ix. 4. 
'' Light persons," i. e. worthless, vain, vile persons. Sd Zeph- 
iii. 4. To set light is to despise, 2 Sam. xix. 43. Belshaz- 
zar's vilencss in the s'gbt of God, is represented by hit. being 
Tf/v'7, v/eighed in the balances and found light, Dan. v. 27. 
And as the weight of a thi.->g arises from these two things, its 
*tttagnitude,.gT>d its specific gra\iiy conjunctly, so the word 

Vol. VI. O 



i&s END IN CREATION. 

glory is very commonly used to sij^nify the excellency of 3 
person or thing, as consisting: either in grea'ness, or in beau- 
ty, or as it were, preciousness, or in both conjunctly ; as will 
^bunclanily appear by Exod. xvi. 7, and xxviii. 2, 40, and iii. 
8, and many other places. 

Sometimes that internal, great, and excellent good, which 
is called glory, is rather in possession than inherent. Any- 
one may be called heavv^ that possesses an abundance ; and 
he that is empty and destitute, may be cdWe^light. Thus we 
find riches is sometimes tailed glory. Gen. xxxi. 1. " And 
of that which was our fathers, hath he gofen all this glory." 
Esth. V. 11. " Haman told them of the glory of his riches." 
Psal. xlix. 16, 17. «« Be not afraid, when one is made rich, 
when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dielh, 
he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after 
him." Nah. ii. 9. " Take ye the spoil of silver, take the 
spoil of gold ; for there is none end of the store and glory out 
of the pleasant furniture. 

And it is often put for a great height of happiness and 
prosperity and fulness of good in general. Gen. xlv. 13. 
" You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt." Job 
xix. 9. "He hath stript me of my glory." Isaiah x 3. 
« Where will you leave your glory." Verse 10. " There- 
fore shall the Lord of Hosts send among his fat ones leanness, 
and under his glory shall he kindle a burning, like the burn- 
ing of a fire." Isaiah xvii. 3, 4. " The kingdom shall cease 
from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria ; they shall he a^ 
the glory of the children of Israel. And in that day it shall 
coTTiC to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and 
the fiuncss of his flesh shall be made lean." Isaiah xxi. 16. 
" And all the glory of Kedar shall fail." Isaiah Ixi. 6. " Ye 
shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall 
ye boast yourselves." Chap. Ixvi. 11, 12, "That ye may- 
milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory, 
I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of 
the Gentiles like a flowing stream." Hos, ix. 11. " As for 
Ephraim, their glory shall fly away as a bird " Matth, iv. 8. 
" Sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glor^r 



END IN CREATION. 107 

of them." Luke xxiv. 26. « Oui^ht not Christ to have suf- 
fered these things, and to enter into his glory ?" John xvii. 
27. " And the glory which thou gavest me, have I given 
them." Rom. v. 2. " And rejoice in hope of the' glory oi 
God." Chap. viii. 18. ''The sufFerings of this present 
time arc not worthy t« be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us." See also chap. ii. 7, 10, and iii. 23, 
and ix. 23. 1 Cor. ii. 7. " The hidden wisdom which God 
ordained before the world unto our glory." 2 Cor. iv. 17. 

" Worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal 

weight of glory." Eph. i. 18. " And what the riches of the 
glory of his inheritance in the saints." 1 Pet. iv. 13. " But 
rejoice inasmuch as ye are made partakers of Christ's suffer- 
ings ; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad 
also with exceeding joy." Chap. i. 8. " Ye rejoice with joy 
vmspeakable and full of glory." See also Colos. i. *7, and iii, 
4, and many other places. 

2. The word glory is used in scripture often to express 
the exhibition, emanation, or communication of the internal 
glory. Hence it often signifies a visible exliilntion of glory ; 
as in an effulgence or shining brightness, by an emanation of 
beams of light. Thus the brightness of the sun, and moon, 
and stars is called their glory in 1 Cor. xv. 41. But in par- 
ticular, the word is very often thus used, when applied to God 
and Christ. As in Ezek. i. 28. "As the appearance of the 
bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appear- 
ance of the brightness round about. This was the appear- 
ance of the likeness of ths glory of the Lord." And chap. 
X. 4, « Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, 
and stood over the threshold of the house, and the house was 
filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness 
W the Lord's glory." Isaiah vi. 1, 2, 3. "I saw the Lord 
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled 
the temple. Above it stood the seraphim.— —And one cried 
to another and said. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, 
the whole earth is full of his glory." Compared with John 
xii. 4. " These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory 
and spake of him." Ezek. xliii. 2. " And behold the glory 



lOS END IN CREATION. 

of tlie God of Israel came from the way of the east/- 

and ihe earth i/imerf whh his glory." Isaiah xxiv. 2:J» 

« Then the moon sliall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, 
when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in 
Jerusalem, and before his ancienls gloriously " Isaiah Ix. 1, 
2. " Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the 
Lord is risen upon thcc. For behold, the clarkness shall covf 
er the earth, and gross darkness the people ; but the Lord 
shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." 
Together with verse 19. " The sun shall be no more thy 
light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light 
unto thee ; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting- 
light, and thy God thy glory." Luke ii. 9. " The glory of the 
Lord shone round about them." Acts xxii. 11. "And when 
I could not see, for the glory of that light.** In 2 Cor. iii. T, 
the shining of Moses's face is called ihe glory of his counte- 
i:a7ice. And to this Christ's glory is compared, verse 18. 
'■ But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory 
of the Lord, are changed into tho same image, from glory to 
glory." And so chap. iv. 4. " Lest the light of the glorious 
gospel of Chiist, who is the image of God, should shine unto 
them." Verse 6. " For God, who commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath shincd in our hearts, to give the 
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Je- 
sus Christ." Heb, i. 3. " Who is the brightness of his glo- 
ry." The Apostle Peter, speaking of that emana ion of ex- 
ceeding brightness, from the bright cloud that overshadowed 
the disciples in the mount of transfiguration, and of the shin- 
ing of Christ's face at that time, says, 2 Pet. i. \7. '- For he 
received from God the Father, honor and glory, when there 
came such a voice to him fiom the excellent glory, This is 
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Rev. xviii. 1. 
" Another angel came down from heaven, having great power, 
and the earth nvas lightened with his glory." Rev. xxi. 11. 
" Having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a 
stone most precious, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.'' 
Verse 23. " And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the 
moon to shine in it ; for the glory of God did lighten .It." 



END IN CREATION. im 

So tbe ^<rovd for a visible effulgence or emanation of light in 
the places to be seen in Exod. xvi. 1 2, and xxiv. 16, 17, 23, 
and xl. 34, 35, and many other places. 

The word glorij, as applied to God or Christ, sometimes 
evidently signifies the communications of God's fulness and 
means much the same thing, with God's abundant and ex- 
ceeding goodness and grace. So Eph. ii. 16. « That he 
would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be 
strengthened with might, by his spirit in the inner man.'' 
The expression, " According to the riches of l-.is glory," is 
apparently equivalent to that in the same epistle, chap. i. 7. 
" According to the riches of his grace." And chap. ii. 7. 
" The exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness lowarde 
us, through Christ Jesus." in like manner is the word ij'crv 
used in Phil. iv. 19. " But my God shall supply all you< 
need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus." And 
Rom. ix. 23. « And that he might make known the riches of 
his glory, on the vessels of mercy." In this, and the foregO' 
iag verse, the apostle speaks of God's making known two 
things, his great wrath, and his rich grace. The former, on 
the vessels of wrath, verse 22. The latter, which he calls the 
riches of his ghrtj, on the vessels of mercy, verse 23. So 
when Moses says, " I beseech thee shew me thy glori/ ;" 
God, granting his request, makes answer, " I will make all 
my goodness to pass before thee." Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19.* 

* Dr. Goodwin observes (Vol I. of his works. Part ad page i66)that 
riches of grace are called riches of glory in scripture. " The scripture," says 
be, " speaks of riches of glory in Eph. iii. i6. ' That he would grant you 
according to the riches of his glory;' yet eminently mercy is thcic intended : 
For it is that which God bestows, and which the zpostle there prayeth for. 
And he calls his mercy there his glory, as elsewhere he doth, as being the 
most eminent excellency in God. That in Rom. ix. 22, 23, compared, is 
observable. In the 22d verse where the apostle speaks of God's making- 
known the power of bis wrath, saiih he, ' God willing to shew his wrath, 
and make his power known.' But in verse 23d wlien he comes to speak of 
mercy, he saiih, 'That he might make known the riches of his glory, on the 
vessels of nacrcy." 



il& END IN CREATION. 

What we find in John xii. 23 32, is worthy of particu- 
lar noiice in this place. The words and behavior of Christ, 
\vhich we have an account of here, ars^ue two ti)ings. 

1. Tliat the happiness and salvation of men, was an end 
that Christ ultimately aimed at in the labors and sufferings he 
went through, for our redemption (and consequently, by what 
has been before observed,- an ultimate end of the work of 
creation.) The vcrv same things which were observed be- 
fore in this passage (Chapter 2(1, Scctzon 3'1) concerning 
God's glory, are equally, and in the same manner observable, 
concerning the salvation of men. As it was there observed, 
that Christ in the great conflict of his soul, in the view of the 
near approach of the most extreme diffit -ilties which attend- 
ed his undertaking, comforts himself m a certain prospect of 
obtaining the end he had chiefly in view. It was observed 
that the glory of Cod is therefore mentioned and dwelt upon 
by him, as what his soul supported itself and resred in, as this 
great end. And at the same time, and exactly in the same 
manner, is the salvation of men mentioned and insisted on, as 
the end of these great labors and sufferings, which satisfied 
his soul, in the prospect of undergoing them. Compare the 
23d and 24th verses ; and also the 28ih and 29th verses ^ 
verse 31, and 32, And, 

2. The glory of God, and the emanations and fruits of his 
j^race in man's salvation, are so spoken of by Christ on this 
occasion in just the same manner, that it would be quite un- 
natural, to understand him as speaking of two distinct things. 
Such IS tne cotmcxion, that what he says of the latter, must 
rnost naturally be understood as exegetical of the former. 
He first speaks of his own glory and the glory of his Father, 
as the great end that should be obtained by what he is about 
to suffer ; and then explains and amplifies what he says on 
tliis in what he expresses of the salvation of men that shall be 
obtained by it. Thus in the 23d. verse he says, " The hour 
is come that the Son of Man should be glorified." And in 
what next follows, he evidently shews how he was to be glori- 
fied, or wherein his glory consisted: "Verily, verily I say 
unto you, except a corn ofv.hcat fall into the ground, and die, 



END IN CREATION. liJ 

it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeih forth rnucli fruit." 
As much fiuit is the s^lory of the seed, so is the multitude of 
redeemed ones, which should spring from his death, his glo- 
ry.* So concerning the trlory of his Father, in the 27lh, and 
following verses. " Now is Tny soul troubled, and what shall 
I say ? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause 
came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then 
came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have bolh gloriiied. 
it, and will glorify it again." In an assurance of this, which 
this voice declared, Christ was greatly comforted, and his soul 
even exulted under the view of his approaching sufferings. 
And what this glory was, in which Christ's soul was so com- 
forted on this occasion, his own wordj which he then spake, 
plainly shew. When the people said it thundered ; and oth- 
ers said, an angel spake to him ; then Christ explains the. 
matter to them, and tells them what this voice meant. Verse, 
^0 — — T3. " Jesus answered and said, This voice came, 
not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment; 
of this world ; now shall the prince of this world be cast. out. 
And I, if 1 be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men un-. 
to me." By this behavior, and these speeches of our re-, 
deemer, it appears that the expressions of divine grace, in., 
the sanctification and happiness of the redeemed, arc espe- 
cially tliat glory of his, and his Father, which was the joy that 
was set belbie him, for which he endured the cross, and des- 
pised the shame ; and that this glory especially, was the end., 
of the travail of his soul, in obtaining which end he was satis- 
fied, agreeable to Isa. liii. 10, 11. 

This is ai;!eeable to -what has been just observed, of God's 
glory l)ting so often represented by an effulgence, or emana- 
tion, or communication of light, from a luminary or fountain 
of light. What can be thought of, that so naturally and aptly 
represents the emanation of the internal glory of God ; or the 
flowing forth, and abundant communicaiion of that infinite 
fulness of siood that is in God ? Light is very often in scrip- 

* Here mrv Hi» remembered what was bfjfore ob'ierved oF trie church's 
bein^ so ofteo spokea of as the glory and fu"lne:s of Christ. 



H2 END IN CREATION. 

ture put for comfort, joy, happiness, and for good in gen- 
eral,* 

Again, the word :;hry, as applied to God in scripture, inf- 
plies the view or knowledge of God's excellency. The exhi- 
bition of glory, is to the view of beholders. The manifesta- 
tion of glory, the emanation or eifulgence of brightness, has 
relation to the eye. Light or brightness is a quality that has 
relation to the sense of seeing: We see the luminary by its 
light. And knowledge is often expressed in scripture by 
Hccht. The word !;tory very often in scripture signifies or im- 
plies ho7ioi\ as any one may soon see by casting liis eye on a 
concordance. t But honor implies the knowledge of the dig- 
nity and excellency of him who hath the honor. And this is 
often more especially signified by the word glory^ when appli- 
ed to God. Num. xiv. 21. " But as truly as I live, all the 
earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." i. e. All the 
earth shall see the manifestations I will make of my perfect 
holiness and hatred of sin, and so of ray infinite excellence. 

This appears by the context. So Ezck. xxxix. 21 2.". 

" And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the 
heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my 
hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel 
shall knoiv that I am the Lord their God. And the heathen 
shall know, that the house of Israel went into captivity for 
their iniquity." And it is manifest in many places, where 
we read of God's glorifying himself, or of his being glorified, 
ihat one thing directly intended, is a manifesting or making 
known his divine greatness and excellency. 

* Isa. vi. 3. «' Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole cartL 
is full of his gliry." In the original, " His glory is the fulness of the whole 
earth:" Which signifies much more than the words of the translation. 
God's glory, consisting especially.in his holiness, is that, in the sight or com- 
munications of which, man's filness, i. c. his holines sand happiness, consists. 
By God's glory here, there seems to be respect to that train, or those efful- 
gent beams that filled the temple : These beams signifying God's glorv shin- 
in'- forth, and commuaicated. This effulgence or communication is tJi* 
fulness of all intelligent creatures, who haveno fulness of their own. 

+ See particularly Heb. iii. 3. 



END IN CREATION. 115 

Again, glorij^ as the word is used in scripture, often signi- 
£es or implies /p-c/se. This appears from what was ohserved 
before, that glory very often signifies honor, which is much 
the same thing with praise, viz, hitjh esteem and respect of 
heart, and the expression and testimony of it in words and ac- 
tions. And it is manifest that the words glory and praise^ are 
often used as equivalent expressions in scripture. Psal. 1. 
23. » Whoso ofFereth praise, glorifieth me." Psal. xxii. 23. 
«"* Ye that fear the Lord, praise him ; all ye seed of Israel, glo- 
rify him." Isa. xlii. 8. " My glory I will not give unto anoth- 
er, nor my praise to graven images." Verse 12. « Let 
them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the 

islands." Isa. xlviii- 9 11. "For my name's sake will 

I defer mine anger ; for my praise will I refrain for thee.... 
For mine own sake will I do it ; for, I will not give my glory 
unto another." Jer. xiii. 11. " That they might be unto me 
for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory." 
£^h. i. 6. " To the praise of the glory of his grace." Verse 
12. «To the praise of his glory." So verse 14. The 
phrase is apparently equivalent to that, Phil. i. 1 1. " Which 
are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God." 2 Cor. 
iv. 15. " That the abundant grace might, through the thanks- 
giving of many, redound to the glory of God." 

It is manifest the praise of God, as the phrase is used in. 
scripture, implies the high esteem and love of the heart, ex- 
alting thoughts of God, and complacence in his excellence 
and perfection. This must be so manifest to every one 
acquainted with the scripture, that there seems to be no 
aeed to refer to particular places. 

It also implies joy in God, or rejoicing in his perfections, 
as is manifest by Psal. xxxiii. 2. " Rejoice in the Lord, O ye 
righteous {ov firaise is comely for the upright." How often dp 
we read of singing praise ? But singing is commonly an expres- 
sion of joy. It is called, making a joyful noise. Ps il. Ixvi. 1, 2, 
and xcvi. 4, 5. And as it is often used, it iu.plics gratitude 
or love to God for his benefits to us. Psal. xxx, 13, and ma-i 
ny other places. 

Vol. VI. P 



114 £ND IN CREATION. 

Having thus considered what is implied in the phrase, the 
glory of God, as we find it used in scripture ; I proceed to 
inquire what is meant by the name of God. 

And I observe that it is manifest that God's name and his 
glory, at least very often, signify the same thing in scripture. 
As it has been observed concerning the glory of God, thai it 
sometimes signifies the second person in the trinity ; the same 
might be shewn of the name of God, if it were needful in 
this place. But that the name and glory of God are often 
equipollent expressions, is manifest by Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19. 
When Moses says, " I beseech thee, shew me thy glory :" 
And God grants his request, he says, " I will proclaim the 
name of the Lord before thee." Psal. viii. K " O Lord, how 
excellent is thy name in all the earth ! Who hast set thy glo- 
ry above the heavens." Psal. Ixxix. 9. « Help us, O God of 
our salvation, for the glory of thy name ; and deliver us, and 
purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." Psal. cii. 15. 
" So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord ; and all the 
kings of the earth, thy glory.** Psal. cxlviii. 13 " His Jiamc 
alone is excellent, and his glorij is above the earth and heav- 
en." Isa. xlviii 9. " For my -name's sake will I defer mine 
anger, and for my Jiraise will I refrain for thee." Verse 1 i. 
" For mine own sake, even for mine own sake will I do it ; 
for how should my name be polluted ? And I will not give 
my glory unio another. Isa. xlix. 19. '' They shall fear the 
name of the Lord from the west, and his glonj from the ris- 
inc^ of the sun." Jcr. xiii. 11. " That they might be unt« 
me for a 72amf, and for a//rnzV. and for a glorij." As glory 
often implies the manifestation, publication and knowledge of 
excellency, and the honor that any one has in the world ; so 
it is evident does name. Gen. xi. 4. "Let us make us a 
name.'* Deut. xxvi. 19. " And to make thee high above all 
nations, in praise, in nanne, and in honor." See 2 Sam. vii. 
9, and many other places. 

So it is evident that hy name is sometimes meant much the 
same thing as praise, by several places which have been just 
mentioned, as Isa. xlviii. 9. Jer. xiii. 11. Deut. xxvi. l-9» 
and also by Jer. xxxiii. 9. « And it shall be unto me for a 



END IN CREATION. lis 

Aame^ dk praise and an honor, before all ihe nations of the earth, 
which shall hear of all the good 1 do unto them/' Zeph. iii. 
20. " I will make you a name and a praise among all people 
of the earth." 

And it seems that the expression or exhibition of God's 
goodness is especially called his name, in Exod. xxxiii. 19. 
*' I will make all my goodness * pass before thee, and I will 
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." And chap. 

xxxiv. 5 7. " And the Lord descended in the cloud, and 

stood with him there, and proclaimed the na7ne of the Lord. 
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the 
Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, longsuffering 
and abundant in goodness and truth ; keeping mercy for 
thousands." Sec 

And the same illustrious brightness and effulgence in the 
pillar of cloud, that appeared in the wilderness, and dwelt 
above the mercy seat in the tabernacle and temple (or rather 
the spiritual divine brightness and effulgence represented by 
it) which is so often called the glory of the Lord, is also often 
called the name of the Lord. Because God's glory was to 
dwell in the tabernacle, therefore he promises, Exod. xxix. 
4.'^. " There will I meet with the children of Israel, and the 
tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory." And the temple was 
called the house of God's glory, Isa. Ix. 7. In like manner, 
the 7ia7ne of God is said to dwell in the sanctuary^ Thus we 
often read of the place that God chose, to put his 7iame there £• 
or (as it is in the Hebrew) to cause his nam.e to inhabit there. 
So it is sometimes rendered by our tvanslatorso As Deut. 
xii. H. " Then there shall be a place which the Lord your 
God shall chuse to cause bis 7iame to dwell there " And the 
temple is often spoken of as built for God's name. And in 
Psal. Ixxiv. 7, the temple is called the dwel&ig place ofGod'^j 
name. The mercy seat in the temple was called the throne 
of God's name or glory, Jer. xiv. 21. "Bo not abhor us, 
Xor thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glo- 
ry." Here God's name and hi% glory, seem to be spoken of 
iisthe same. 



11^ END IN CREATiaN. 



SECTION VII. 



Shewing that the Ultimate End of the Creation of the Worlds 
is but one, and what that one End is. 



FROM what has been observed in the last section, it 
appears, that however the last end of the creation is spoken 
of in scripture under varioos denominations ; yet if the whole 
of what is said relating to this affair, be duly weighed, and 
one part compared with another, we shall have reason to 
think, that the design of the vSpirit of God does not seem to 
be to represent God's ultimate end as manifold, but as one. 
For though it be signified by various names, yet they appear 
not to be names of different things, but various names involv- 
ing each other in their meaning ; either different names of 
the same thing, or names of several parts of one whole, or of 
the same whole viewed in various lights, or in its different 
respects and relations. For it appears that all that is ever 
spoken of in the scripture as an uhimate end of God's works, 
is included in that one phrase, the glory of God ; which is the 
name by which the last end of God's works is most common- 
ly called in scripture ; and seems to be the nanf'e which most 
aptly signifies the thing. 

The thing signified by that name, the glory of God, when 
spoken of as the supreme and uhimate end of t lie work of 
creation, and of all God's works, is the emanation and true 
external expression of God's internal glory and fulness ; • 
meaning by his fulness, what has already been explained.. 
Or, \\i other words, God's internal glory extant, in a true and 
just exhibuion, or external existence of it. It is confessed 
that there is a degree of obscurity in these definitions ; but i 
perhaps an obscurity which is unavoidable, through the ira- 
petfcction of language, and vfotds being less fitted to expiess 
things of so sublime a nature. And therefore the thing may 



END IN CREATICTn/' \\Y 

possibly be better understood, by using many words and a va- 
riety of expressions, by a particular consideration of it, as it 
were by parts, than by any short definition. 

There is included in this, the exercise of God's perfec- 
tions to produce a proper effect, in opposition to theii lying 
eternally dormant and ineffectual ; as his power being eter-r 
nally without any act or fruit of that power ; his wisdom eter- 
nally ineffectual in any wise production, or prudent disposal 
of any thing, Sec. The manifestation of his internal glory to 
created understandings. The communication of the infinite 
fulness of God to the creature. The creature's high esteem 
of-God, love to God, and complacence and joy in God, and 
the proper exercises and expressions of these. 

These at first view may appear to be entirely distinct 
things : But if we more closely consider the matter, thcr 
will all appear to be one thing, in a variety of views and rela- 
tions. They are all but the emanation of God's glory ; ov 
the excellent brightness and fulness of the Divinity diffused, 
overflowing, and as it were, enlarged ; or, in one word, exist- 
ing ad extra. God's exercising his perfection to produce a 
proper effect, is not distinct from the emanation or commu- 
nication of his fulness ; for this is the effect, viz. his fulness 
communicated, and the producing this effect is the commu- 
nication of his fulness ; and there is nothing in this effectual 
exerting of God's perfection, but the emanation of God's inter- 
nal glory. The emanation or communication is of the inter- 
nal glory or fulness of God as it is. Now God's internal 
glory, as it is in God, is either in his understanding or will. 
The glory or fulness of his understanding, is his linowledge. 
The internal glory and fulness of God, vvliich we must con- 
ceive of as having its special seat in his will, is his holiness and 
happiness. The whole of God's internal good or glory, is in 
these three things, viz. his infinite knowledge ; his infinite 
virtue or holiness, and his infinite joy and happiness. Indeed 
there are a great many attributes in G(jd; according to our 
way of conceiving or talking of them ; but all may be reduced 
to these, or to the degree, circumstances and relations of 
these. We have no conception of Gc I's power, different 



lit END IN CREATION. 

from the degree qf these things, with a certain relation of 
them to elTtcts. God's infinity is not so properly n distinct 
kind of 5>ood in God, but only expresses the degree of the 
good there is in him. So God's eternity is not a distinct 
good ; but is the duration of good. Ilis immutability is still 
the same good, with a negalion of change. So, that, as I said, 
5hc fulness of the Godhead is the fulness of his understand- 
ing, consisting in his knowledge, and the fulness of his will, 
consisting in his virtue and happiness. And therefore the 
external glory of God consists in the communication of these. 
The communication of his knowledge is chiefly in giving the 
knowiedge of himself ; for this is the knowledge in which 
the fulness of God's understanding chiefly consists. And thus 
we see how the manifestation of God's glory to created un- 
derstanding's, and their seeing and knowing it, is not distinct 
from an emanation or communication ef God's fulness, but 
clearly implied in it. Again, the communication of God's 
virtue or holiness is principally in communicating the love of 
himself (which appears by what has before been observed.) 
And thus we see how, not only the creature's seeing and 
knowing God's exceiience, but also supremely esteeming and 
kvins him, belongs to the communication of God's fulness. 
And the communication of God's joy and happiness, consists 
chiefly in communicating to the creature, that happiness and 
py, which consists in rejoicing in God, and in his glorious 
©scellency ; for in such joy God's own happiness does prin- 
cipally consist. And in these things, viz. in knowing God's 
excellency, loving God for it, and rejoicing in it ; and in the 
exercise and expression of these, consists God's honor and 
praise ; so that these are clearly implied in that glory of 
God, which consists in the emanation ot his internal glory. 
And though we suppose all these things, which seem to bq so 
various, are signified by that glortj, which the scripture speaks 
of as the last end of all God's works ; yet it is manifest there 
is no greater, and no other variety in it, than in the internal 
iind essential glory of God itself. God's internal glory is 
partly iii his understanding, and panly in his will. And this 
internal glory, as seated in the will of God, implies both his 



END IN CREATION. iW 

holiness and his happiness ; both are evidently God's glory> 
according to the use of the phrase. So that as God's external 
glory is only the emanation of his internal glory, this variety 
necessarily fol!ov/s. And again, it hence appears that here 
is no other variety or distinction, but what necessarily arises 
from the distinct faculties of the creature, to which the com- 
municaiion is made, as created in the image of God ; even 
as having these two faculties of understanding and will. God 
communicates himself to the understanding of the creature, 
in giving him the knowledge of his glory ; and to the will of 
the creature, in giving him holiness, consisting primarily in 
the love of God ; and in giving the creature happiness, chief- 
ly consisting in joy in God. Tliese are the sum of that ema- 
nation of divine fulness called in scripture, the glory of God. 
The first part of this glory is called truths the latter, grace. 
John i, 14. « We beheld \\\% glorv, the glory as of the only 
begotten of the Father, full oi grace and truth." 

Thus we see that the great and last end of God's works 
which is so variously expressed in scripture, is indeed bui: 
one ; and this one end is most properly and comprehensively 
called, THE GLORY OF GoD ; by which name it is most 
commonly called in scripiure : And is fitly compared to an 
effulgence or cmanaion of light from a luminary, by which 
this glory of God is abundantly represented in scripture. 
Light is the external expression, exhibition and manifestatio!! 
of the excellency of the luminary, of the sun for instance : 
It is the abundant, extensive emanation and conamunication 
of the fulness of the sun to innumerable beings that partake 
of it. It is by this that the son itself is seen, and his glory 
beheld, and all other things are discovered ; it is by a partici- 
pation of this communication from the sun, that surroimding 
objects receive all their lustre, beauty and brightness. It is 
by this that all nature is quickened and receivts life, comfort 
and joy. Light is abundantly used in scripiure to represent 
and signify these three things, knowledge, holiness and hap- 
piness. It is used to signify knowledge, or that manifestation 
and evidence by which knov.'ledgc is received. Psalm, xix. 8, 
and cxix. 103, 130. Prov- vi. 23. Isaiah viii. 20, and ix. ?- 



wo END IN CREATION. 

and xxix. 18. Dan. v. 11. Eph. v. 13. "But all things 

that are reproved are made manifest by the light ; for 
%vhatsoever doth make manifest, is light." And in otlier 
places of the New Testament innumerable. 

It is used to signify virtue or moral good, Job xxv. 5, and 
other places. And it is abundantly used to signify comfort, 
joy and happiness, Esth. viii. 16, Job xviii. 18, and many oth- 
er places. 

What has been said may be sufficient to shew how those 
things v.'hich are spoken of in scripture as ultimate ends of 
God's works, though they may seem at first view to be dis- 
tinct, are all plainly to be reduced to this one thing, viz. 
God's internal glory or fulness extant externally, or existing 
in its emanation. And though God in seeking this end, seeks 
the creature's good ; yet therein appears his supreme regard 
to himself. 

The emanation or communication of the divine fulness^, 
consisting in the knowledge of God, love to God, and joy in 
God, has relation indeed both to God, and the creature ; but 
it has relation to God as its fountain, as it is an emanation 
from God ; and as the communication itself, or thing com- 
Tnunicated, is something divine, something of God, something 
of his internal fulness, as the water in the stream is some- 
thing of the fountain, and as the beams of the sun, are some- 
thing of the sun. And again, they have relation to God, as 
they have respect to him as their object ; for the knowledge 
communicated is the knowledge of God ; and so God is the 
object of the knowledge, and the love communicated is the 
love of God ; so God is the object of that love, and the hap- 
piness communicated is joy in God ; and so he is the object 
of the joy communicated. In the creature's knowing, es- 
teeming, loving, rejoicing in, and praising God, the glory of 
God is both exhibited and acknowledged ; his fulness is re- 
ceived and returned. Here is both an emanation and remano' 
tion. The refulgence shines upon and into the creature, and 
is reflected back to the luminary. The beams of glory come 
from God, and are something of God, and are refunded back 
again to their original. So that the whole is ofQod, and in 



END IN CREATION. nt 

God, and to God, and God is the beginning, middle and end 
in this affair. 

And though it be true that God has respect to the creature 
in these things ; yet his respect to himself and to the crea- 
ture in this matter, are not properly to be looked upon, as a 
double and divided respect of God's heart. What has been 
said in chap. I. sect. 3,4, may be sufficient to shew this. 
Nevertheless, it may not be amiss here briefly to say a few 
things ; though they are mostly implied in what has been 
said already. 

When God was about to create the world, he had respect 
to that emanation of his glory, which is actually the conse- 
quence of the creation, just as it is with regard to all that be- 
longs to it, both with regard to its relation to himself, and the 
creature. He had regard to it, as an emanation from him- 
self, and a communication of himself, and as tlie thing com- 
municated, in its nature returned to himself, as its final term. 
And he had regard to it also, as the emanation was to the 
creature, and as ihe thing communicated was in the creature, 
as its subject. And God had regard to it in this manner, as 
he had a supreme regard to himself and value for his own 
infinite, internal glory. It was this value for himself that 
eaused him to value and seek that his internal glory should 
flow frth from himself. It was from his value for his glo- 
rious perfections of wisdom and righteousness, &c. that he 
valued the proper exercise and effect of these perfections, in 
wise and righteous acts and ciTects. It was from his infinite val- 
tic for his internal glory and fulness, that he valued the thing 
itself, which is cominunicatcd, which is something of the 
same, extant in the creature. Thus, because he infinitely 
Viikies his own glory, consisting in the knowledge of himself, 
love to himself, and complacence and joy in himself; he 
therefore valued the image, communication or participation 
of these, in the creature. And it is because he values him- 
self, that he delights in the knowledge, and love, and joy of 
the creature ; as being himself the object of this knowledge, 
love and complacence. For it is the necessary consequence 
of the true esteem and love of any person or being (suppose 

Vol VT. Q * - 



V2!'2 END IN CREATION. 

a son or friend) that we should approve and value others* es- 
teem of the same object, and disapprove and dislike the con- 
trary. For the same reason is it the consequence of a bein<r's 
esteem and love of himself, that he should approve of others* 
esteem and love of himself 

Thus it is easy to conceive, how God should seek the 
good of the creature, consisting in the creature's knowledge 
and holiness, and even his happiness, from a supreme regard 
to himself ; as his happiness arises from that which is an 
image and participation of God's own beauty ; and consists 
in the creature's exercising a supreme regard to God, and 
complacence in him ; in beholding God's glory, in esteem- 
ing and loving it, and rejoicing in it, and in his exercising 
and testifying love and supreme respect to God ; which is 
the same thing with the creature's exalting God as his chief 
good, and making him his supreme end. 

And though the emanation of God's fulness which God 
intended in the creation, and which actually is the consequence 
of it, is to the creature as its object, and the creaiure is the 
subject of the fulness communicated, and is the creature's 
good ; and was also regarded as such, when God sought it 
as the end of his works ; yet it does not necessarily follow, 
that even in so doing, he did not make himself his end. It 
comes to the sjme thing. God's respect to the creature's 
good, and his respect to himself, is not a divided respect ; but 
both are united in one, as the happiness of the creature aim- 
ed at, is happiness in union with himself The creature is 
no further happy with this happiness which God makes his 
ultimate end, than he becomes one with God. The more 
happiness the greater union : When the happiness is per- 
fect, the union is perfect. And as the happiness will be in- 
creasing to eternity, 'he union will become more and more 
strict and perfect ; nearer and more like to that between God 
the Father, and the Son ; who are so united, that their inter- 
est is perfectly one. If the happiness of the creature be con- 
sidered as it will be, in the whole of the creature's eternal 
duration, with all the infinity of its progress, and infinite in- 
crease of nearness and union to God ; in this view the crea- 



END IN CREATION. 12S 

ture must be looked upon as united to God in an infinite 
strictness. 

If God has respect to something in the creature, which 
he views as of everlastir.g duration, and as rising higher and 
higher through that infinite duration, and that not -svith con- 
stantly diminishing (but perhaps an increasing) celeriLy ; then 
he has respect to it, as in the whole, of infinite height, though 
there never will be any particular time, whe'n it can be said 
already to have come to such an height. 

Let the most perfect union with God be represented by 
something at an infinite height above us ; and the eternally 
increasing union of the saints with God, by something that is 
ascending constantly towards that infinite height, moving up- 
wards with a given velocity, and that is to continue thus to 
move to all eternity. God, who views the whole of this eter- 
nally increasing height, views it as an infinite height. And 
if he has respect to it, and makes it his end, as in the whole 
ot it, he has respect to it as an infinite height, though the 
time will never come when it can be said it has already ar- 
rived at this infinite height. 

God rtims at that which the motion or progression which 
he causes, aims at, or tends to. If there be many things sup- 
posed to be so made and appointed, that by a constant and e- 
ternal motion, they all tend to a certain centre ; then it ap- 
pears that he who made them, and is the cause of their mo- 
lion, aimed at that centre, that term of their motion, to which 
they eternally tend, and are eternally, as it were, striving af- 
ter. And if God be this centre, then God aimed at himself. 
And herein it appears, that as he is the first author of their 
being and motion, so he is the last end, the final term, to 
which is their ultimate tendency and aim. 

We may judge of the end that the Creator aimed at, in 
the being, nature and tendency he gives the creature, by the 
mark or term which they constantly aim at in their tendency 
and eternal progress ; though the time will never come, 
when it can be said it is attained to, in the most absolutely 
perfect manner. 

But if strictness of union to God be viewed as thus infi- 
nitely exalted, then the creature n)U";t be regarded as infinite- 



124 tND IN CREATION. 

!y, nearly, and closely united lo God. And viewed thus| 
their interest must be viewed as one with God's interest, and 
so is not regarded properly with a disjunct and separate, but 
an undivided respect. And as to any difficulty of reconciling 
God's not making the creature his uhimaie end, with a res« 
pect properly distinct from a respect to himself, with his be- 
nevolence and free grace, and the creature's obligation t© 
gratitude, the reader must be referred lo Chap. I. Sect. 4, 
Object. 4, where this objection has been considered and an- 
swered at large. 

If by reason of the strictness of the union of a man and 
his family, their interest may be looked upon as one, how 
much more one is the interest of Christ and his churchy 
(whose first union in heaven is unspeakably more perfect and 
exalted than that of an earthly father and his family) if they 
be considered with regard to their eternal and increasing 
union I Doubtless it may justly be esteemed as so much 
one, that it may be supposed to be aimed at and sought, not 
with a distinct and separate, but an undivided respect. 

It is certain that what God aimed at in the creation of 
the world, was the good that would be the consequence of the 
creation, in the whole continuance of the thing created. 

It is no solid objection against God's aiming at an infinite- 
ly perfect union of the creature with himself, that the par- 
ticular time will never come when it can be said, the union is 
now infinitely perfect. God aims at satisfying justice in the 
eternal damnation of sinners ; which will be satisfied by their 
daninalion, considered no otherwise than with regard to its 
eternal duration. 13ul yet there never will come that partic- 
ular moment, when it can be said, that now justice is satis- 
fied. But if this does not satibfy our modern free thinkers, 
who do not like the talk about satisfying justice with an in- 
finite punishment ; I suppose it will not be denied by any, 
that God, in glorifying the saints in heaven with eternal fe- 
licity, aims to satisfy his infinite grace or benevolence, by the 
bestov/ment of a good infinitely valuable, becauJie eternal ; and 
yet there never will corne the moment, when it can be said, 
that now this infinitely valuable gccd has been ivclually be- 
et owed. 



THE 

CREAT CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 

OF 

ORIGINAL SIN 

DEFENDED; 

EVIDENCES OF ITS TRUTH PRODUCED, 

AND 

ARGUMENTS TO THE CONTRARY ANSWERED. 

CONTAINING IN PARTICULAR, 

h. REPLY TO THE OBJ ECTIONS AND ARGUINGS OF DR. JOHN 

TAYLOR, IN HIS BOOK, INTITLED, "■ THE SCRIPTURE 

DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN PROPOSED TO FREE 

AND CANDID EXAMINATION, &C." 



Matth. ix. 12. "They that be vhole, need not a Physician; but they that 

are sick." 
Et haec non tantum ad Peccatores referenda est ; quia in omnibus Maledic- 
tionibus primi Hominis, omnes ejus Generationcs conveniunt.... 

R. Sal. Jarchi. 
Propter Concupiscentiam, innatam Cordi humano, dicitur, In Iniquitate geni- 
tus sum ; atqueSensus est, quod a Nativitate inaplantatum sit Cordi hu- 
mano J'f^zfr A«ra«^ Figmentum malum.... Aben Ezxa. 
....Ad Mores Natura recurrit 
Pamnatos, fixa et rautari nescia..,. 

....Dociles, imitandis 
Turpibus et pravis omnes sumus..., Jf ^'. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



1 HE folloiuing Discourse is intended^ not merely as 
an answer to any particular Book written against the Doctrine 
q/" Original Sin, but as a general Defence of that great rmfiort- 
ant Doctrine. J^tevertheless^ I ha-ve in this D fence taken no- 
tice of the wain things said against this Doctrine, by such of the 
more noted ofifiosers of ity as I have had opfiortunity to read ; 
fiarticularly those two late Writers, Dr. Turnbull and Dr. \ 
Taylor of Norwich ; but esfieciaUy the latter, in what he has 
published in those two Books of his, the first intitled, The Scrip- 
ture Doctrine of Original Sin proposed to free and candid 
Examination ; the other, his Key to the Apostolic WritingSi 
with a Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistle to the Romans. 
I have closely atte?ided to Dr. Taylor's Piece on Original Sirs, 
in all its Parts, and have endeavored that no one thing there 
said, of any consequence in this Controversy, should pass unno- 
ticed, or that any thing which has the appearance of an .Argu- 
ment, in opfiosition to this Doctrine, should be Ift unanswered. 
I look on the Doctrine us of great Impoitance ; which every 
Body will doubtless own it is, if it be true. For, if the case be 
such indeed, that all Mankind are by Nature in a State o/" total 
Ruin, both with respect to the moral Evil they are the subjects 
of, and the afflictive Evil they are exposed tOj the one as the con- 
sequence and punishment of the other, then doubtless the great 
SaXvation by Cnnisr sta7ids in direct Relatio?i to this Ruin, as 
the remedy to the disease ; and the whole Gospel, or Doctrine of 
Salvation, must suppose it ; and all real belief, or true notion of 
that Gospel, must be built upon it. Therefore, as J think the 
Doctrine is most certainly both true and importaiit, I hope, my 
attempting a Vindication of it, will be candidly interpreted ; 



128 PREFACE. 

and that what I have done tonvards its defence-t ivill be impartial' 
ly considered., by all that will give themselves the trouble to read 
the ensuing Discourse ; in which it is designed to examine every 
thing material throughout the Doctor's whole Book, and many 
things in that other Book of Dr. Taylor's, containing his Key 
arid exfiosition on Romans ; as also many things written in op- 
position to this Doctrine by some other modern Authors. And 
moreover, my discourse being not only inteiidedfor an Answer to 
Dr. Taylor, and other opposers of the Doctrine of Original 
Siit^ but (as was observed above J for a general defence of that 
Doctrine i producing the evidence of the truth of the Doctrine, 
as well as answeri7jg objections made against it. ...considering 
these things, I say, I hope this attempt of mine will not be 
thought needless, nor be altogether useless, 7iotwithstanding oth- 
er publications on this subject. 

I would also hope, that the extensiveness of the plan of the 
following treatise will excuse the length of it. And that when, 
it is co?isidered, how much was absolutely requisite to the full 
executing of a design formed on such a plan ; how much has 
been written against the Doctrine of Original Sin, and with what 
plausibility ; and how strong the prejudices of many are in fa- 
vor of what is said iii opposition to this Doctrine ; and that it 
camiot be expected, any thing short of a full consideration of al- 
most every argument advanced by the ?nain opposers, especially 
by this late and specious Writer, Dr. Taylor, will satisfy many 
readers ; and also, how much must unavoidably be said in order 
to a full handling of the argu?ne7its in defence of the Doctrine ; 
ajid how important the Doctrine must be, if true ; I say, when 
such circumstances as these are considered, I trust, the length 
of the following discourse will not be thought to exceed what the 
case really required. However, this must be left to the Judg- 
ment of the intelligent and candid Reader. 

Stockbridge, May- 26, 1757. 



DOCTRINE 

OF 

ORIGINAL SIN 

DEFENDED. 



Wherein are considered some Evidences of Origin- 
al Sin from Facts and Events, as found by Ob- 
servation and Experience, together with Repre- 
sentations and Testimonies of Holy Scripture, 
and the Confossion and Assertions of Opposers. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Evidence of Original Sin frovi what appears 
in Fact of the Sinfulness of Mankind. 



SECTION I- 

Jll Mankind do constantly^ in all jlges^ without Fail in any one 
Instance, run into that moral EviU which is, in Effect, their 
own utter and eternal Perdition, in a total Privation of 
God's Favor, and Suffering of his Vengeance and V/rath. 

JlSy Original Sin, as the phrase has been most 
commonly used by divines, is meant the innate, sinful depravity 
of the heart. But yet, when the doctrine of Original Sin is spok- 
en of, it is vulgarly understood in that latitude, as to include 
Vol. VI. R 



ise ORIGINAL SIN. 

not only the defirarity of nature^ but the imfiutation of .idani's 
first Sin ; or in othet- words, the liableness or exposedness of 
Adam's posterity, in the divine judgnnent, to partake of the 
punishment of that Sin. So far as I know, most of those 
who have h^lc} pne of ihese, have maintained the other ; and 
most of those who have opposed one, have opposed the other ; 
boh are opposed by the author chiefly attended to in the fol- 
lowing discourse, in his book against Original Sin : And it 
may perhaps appear in our future consideration of the subject, 
that they are closely connected, and that the arguments which 
prove the one, establish the other, and that there are no more 
difficulties attending the allowing of one than the other. 

I shall, in the first place, consider this doctrines more es- 
pecially with regard to the corruption of nature ; and as we 
treat of this, the other will naturally come into consideration, 
in the prosecution of the discourse, as connected with it. 

As all moral qualities, all principles either of virtue or 
vice, lie in the disposition of the heart, I shall consider wheth- 
er we have any evidence, that the heart of man is naturally 
of a corrupt and evil disposition. Tliis is strenuously denied 
by many late waiters, who are enemies to the doctrine of 
Original Sin ; and particularly by Dr. Taylor. 

The way we come by the idea of any such thing as dis- 
position or tendency, is by observing what is constant or gen- 
eral in event ; especially under a great variety of circumstan- 
ces ; and above all, when the effect or event continues the 
same through great and various opposition, much and mani- 
fold force and mtruns used to the contrary not prevailing to 
hinder the effect. I (3o not knov.^, that such a prevalence of 
effects is deniecj. tp be an evidence of prevailing tendency ii;i 
causes and agerit,s ; or that it is expressly denied by the op- 
posers of the doctrine of Original Sin, that if, in the course of 
events, it universally or generally proves that m^inkinti arc 
actually corrupt, this would be an evidence of a prior, corrupt 
propensity in the world of mankind ; whatever ^iiay be said 
by some, which, if taken \yith its plain consequences, yamy 
sqem to imply a denial of this ; >vhich may be considered after- 
wards. ...But by many the fact is denied.; that is, it is denied, 



Ol^lGINAL SIN. IS I 

that corruption and moral evil are commonly prevalent in thfe 
world : On the contrary, it is insisted on, that good prepon- 
derates, and that virtue has the ascendant. 

To this purpose Dr. Turnbull says,t " With rei^ard to the 
prevalence of vice in the world, men are apt to let their im- 
agination run out upon all the robberies, pyracies, murders, 
perjuries, frauds, massacres, assassinations they have either 
heard of, or read in history ; thence concluding all mankind 
t(j be very wicked. As if a court of justice v/as a proper 
ptdce to make an estimate of the morals of mankind, or an 
hfclspitai bf the healihfulness of a climate. But ought they 
not to consider, that the number of honest citizens and farm- 
ers far surpasses that of all sorts of criminals in any state, 
and that the innocent and kind actions of even criminals them- 
s^#fes surpass their crimes in numbers ; that it is the rarity 
of primes, in comparison of innocent or good actions, which 
engages our attention to them, and makes them to be record- 
set in history ; while honest, generous, domestic actions are 
overlooked, only because they are so common ? As one great 
dagger, or one month's sickness shall become a frequently 
repeated story during a long life of heahh and safety... .Let 
not the vices of mankind' be multiplied or magnified. Let us 
rt'ake a fair estimate of human life, and set over against the 
shbcking, the astonishhig instances of barbarity dnd wicksd- 
n'^^s that have been perpetrated in any age, not only the ex- 
ceeding generous and brave actior^s with ¥,hich history shines, 
biif the prevailing innocency, good nature, industry, felicity, 
ahfl cheerfulness of the greater part of mankind at ail limes ; 
and we shall not find reason to cry out, as objectors against 
p'rov'idente do oh this occasion, that all men are vastly corrupt, 
and that there is hardly any such thing as' virtue in the world. 
Upon a fair computation, the fact does indeed come out, that 
very great villanies have been very uncommon in all ages, 
ancl looked upon as monstrous ; so general is the sense and 
esteem bf virtue." It seems to be with a like view that Dr. 
Taylor says, '• We must not take the measure of our health 

t Moral Philosophy, p, 289, 290. 



las ORIGINAL SIN. 

and enjoyments from a lazar house, nor of our understanding 
from bedlam, nor of our morals from a gaol." 

With respect to the propriety and pertinence of such a 
representation of things, and its force as to the consequence 
designed, I hope we shall be better able to judge, and in some 
measure to determine, whether the natural disposition of the 
hearts of mankind be corrupt or not, when the things which 
follow have been considered. 

But for the greater clearness, it may be proper here to 
premise one consideration, that is of great importance in this 
controversy, and is very much overlooked by the opposers of 
the doctrine of Original Sin in their disputing against it ; 
which is this — . 

That is to be looked upon as the true tendency of the 
natural or innate disposition of man's heart, which appears 4o 
be its tendency, when we consider things as they are in them- 
selves, or in their own nature, without the interposition of di- 
vine grace. Thus, that state of man's nature, that disposition 
of the mind, is to be looked upon as evil and pernicious, 
which, as it is in itself, tends to extremely penicious conse- 
quences, and would certainly end therein, were it not that the 
free mercy and kindness of God interposes to prevent that is- 
sue. It would be very strange if any should argue, that there 
is no evil tendency in the case, because the mere favor and 
compassion of the Most High may step in and oppose the 
tendency, and prevent the sad effect tended to. Particularly, if 
there be any thing in the nature of man, whereby he has an 
universal, unfailing tendency to that moral evil, which, ac- 
cording to the real nature and true demerit of things, as they 
are in themsclvc;-, implies his utter ruin, that must be looked 
upon as an evil tendency or propensity ; however divine grace 
n\ay interpose, to save him from deserved ruin, and to over- 
rule things to an issue contrary to that which they tend to of 
themselves. Grace is a sovereign thing, exercised according 
to the good pleasure of God, bringing good out of evil. The 
effect of it belongs not to the nature of things themselves, 
that otherwise have an ill tendency, any more than the rem- 
edy belongs to the disease ; but is something altogether inde- 



ORIGINAL SIN. ISS 

pendent on it, introduced to oppose the natural tendency, and 
reverse the course of things. But the event that thin!::s tend 
to, according to their own demerit, and accordinpj to divine 
justice, that is the event which they tend to in their own na- 
ture, as Dr.Taylor's own words fully imply. " God alone, (says 
he) can declare wliether he will pardon or punish the ungod- 
liness and uniighteousness of mankhid, which is in its orjn 
nature punishahle." Nothing is miore precisely accord'.ni; to 
the truth of things, than divine justice : It weighs things in 
an even balance : It views and estimates things' no other- 
wise than they are truly in their own nature. Therefore un- 
doubtedly that which implies a tendency to ruin, according to 
the estimate of divine ^'z^s^/cf, docs indeed imply such a ten- 
dency in its cnim nature. 

And then it must be reraembered that it is a Tnoral de- 
pravity wc are speaking of; and therefore when we arc con- 
sidering whether such depravity do not appear by a tendency 
to a bad effect or issue, it is a moral tendency to such an issue. 
that is the thing to be taken into the account. A moral ten- 
dency or influence is by desert. Then may it be said, man's 
nature or state is attended with a pernicious or destructive 
tendency, in a mora/ sense, when it tends to that which c?e- 
serves misery and destruction. And therefore it equally 
shews the moral depravity ol'the nature of mankinJ in their 
present state, whether tb.at nature be universally attended 
■with an effectual tendency to destructive vengeance actually 
executed, or to their deserving misery and ruin, or their just 
exposedness to destruction, ho\vever that fatal consequence 
may be prevented by grace, or whatever the actual event be. 
One thing more is to be observed here, viz. that the topic 
mainly insisted on by the opposers cf the doctrine of Original 
Sin, is the justice of God ; both in their objections aganist 
the imputation of Adam's sin, and also against its being so 
ordered, that men should come into the world v/ith a corrupt 
and ruined nature, without having merited the displeasure of 
their Creator by any personal fault. But the latter is not re- 
pugnant to God's justice, if men can be, and actually are, 
born into the world with a tendency to sin, and to miserv and 



134 ORIGINAL SIN. 

ruin for their sin, which actiially will I)e the consequence, 
unless mere grace steps in and prevents it. If this be allow- 
ed, the argument fiom justice is given up ; for it is to sup- 
pose that their liableness to nusery and ruin comes in a Avuy 
of justice ; otherwise there would be no need of the interpo- 
sition of divine grace to save them. Justice alone would be 
suffxient security, if exercised, without grace. It is all one 
in this dispute about what is just and righteous, whether men 
arc born in a miserable state, by a tendency to ruin, which 
actually foUoiva, and \.\i^t justly ; or Whether they are born in 
such a state as tends to a desert of ruih, which 7iT7gIit justig 
follow, and ivould actually foilotv^ did no't grace prevent. For 
the controversy is hot, what grace will do, but what justice 
might do. 

I have been the more particular on this head, because it 
enervates many of the reasonings and conclusions by which Dr. 
Taylor makes out his sciierae ; in which he airgucs from that 
state which mankind are in by divine grace, ye<x, which he him- 
self supposes to be by divine grace, and yet not making any 
allowance for this, he from hence drav.s conclusions against 
what others suppose of the deplorable and ruined state man- 
kind are in by the fall. He often speaks of death and afflic- 
tion as coming on Adam's posterity in consequence of his 
sin ; and in pages 20, 21, and many other places, he supposes 
that these things come in consequence of his sin, not as a 
punishment or a calarhi'y, btit as a benefit. Bui in page 23, 
he supposes these things \vould be a great calamity and mis- 
ery, if it were hot for th6 resurrection ; which resurrection 
he there, aT>d in the fo'lowihg pages, arid in many other pla- 
ces, iir.eaks of as being by Chriat ; ahd oftenf s^6aks of it as 
bfeing by the grace of God in Christ. 

In pages 63, 64, speaking of our being gubjecftd to sor- 
row, labor and death, ia consequence of Adam's sih, he repre- 
sents these ab evils that arc reversed and turned into advaii- 
tdges, dnd that we are delivered from through grace in Christ. 
And in pages 65.. ..67, he speaks of God's thus turning deatllf 
into an advantage through grace in Clirisl, as what vindicat^k' 
■the justice of God in bringing death by Adam- 



ORIGINAL SIN. J 35 

in pages 152, 156, it is one thing which he alleges against 
tbjs proposition of the assembly of divines, that wc are by na- 
ture bondslaves to Satan ; That God hath been providing, frorn, 
(he beginning of the ivorhl to this day-, -various means and dis*, 
fiensations, to /irese7Tie and rescue jnankind/rofn the devil. 

In pages 168. ...170, one thing alleged in answer to that 
objection against his doctrine, that we are in worse circum- 
stances than Adam, is, the happy circumstances we are under 
by the provision and means furnished through free grace in 
Christ. 

In page 228, atnong other things which he says, in an- 
swering that argument against his doctrine, and brought to 
shew men have corruption by nature, viz. that there is a law 
in our members.. ..bringing us into captivity to the law of sin 
and death, spoken of in Rom. vii. he allows that the case of 
those who are under a law threatening death for every sin 
(which law he elsewhere says, shews us the natural and firojiej; 
demerit of sin, and is perfectly consonant to everlasting truth 
and righteousness) tnust be rjuite deplorable, if they have no re- 
lief from the mercy of the lawgiver. 

In pages 90. ...93, S. ip opposition to what is supposed o? 
the miserable state mankind are brought into by Adam's siu, 
one thing he alleges, i§, The noble designs oflo-ce, manifested- 
by advancing a new and happy dispensation, founded on the obe- 
dieiice and rig/^tcousness of the Son of God ; and that aKhough 
by Adam we are subjected to death, yet in this dispensation 
a resurrection is provided ; and that Adam's posterity are 
under a mild dispensation oi grace, &c. 

In page 1 12, S. he vindicates God's dealings with Adam, in 
placing bin? at fir§t under the rigor of la^, tr^nsgrcs^and die, 
(\yhich, as he expresses it, was putting his happiness on. afoot, 
extremely dangerous) by saying, that as God had before de- 
termmed in /\is Qwn breast, so he immediately established fiis cov- 
enant upon a quite different bottom, namely, upon grace. 

In pagei^ 122, 12Sj 5. against >yhat R. R. says, lha,t Go4 
for^opk man \yUe.n he fell, and that mankind after Adam's si^v 
were born without the divine favor, 8cc. he alleges among oth- 
er things, Christ's cQ?ning io he the propitiation for the sins cf 



156 ORIGINAL SIN. 

the ivholc world. And tke riches of God's mercy in giving the 
promise of a Redeemer to destroij the Kvorks of the devil. That 
he caught his sinning^ falling creature in the arms of his grace. 

In his note on Rom. v. 20, p. 297, 298, he says as follows : 
" The law, 1 conceive, is nol a dispensation suitable to the 
infirmity of the human nature in our present state ; or it doth 
not seem cont^iuous to the i^oodncss of God, to afford us no 
other way of salvation but by law, which, if we once trans- 
gress, we are ruined forever. For who then from the begin- 
ning of the world could be saved ? And therefore it seems 
to me that the law was not absolutely intended to be a rule for 
obtaining life, even to Adam in Paradise. Grace was the 
dispensation God intended mankind should be under ; and 
therefore Christ was foreordained before the foundation of 
the world." 

There are various other passages in this author's writings 
of the like kind. Some of his arguments and conclusions to 
this effect, in order to be made good, must depend on such a 
supposition as this : That God's dispensations of grace are 
reciifications or amendments of his foregoing constitutions 
and proceedings, which were merely legal ; as though the dis- 
pensations of grace, which succeed those of mere law, implied 
an acV;nowledgment, that the preceding, legal constitution 
would be imjust, if left as it was, or at least, very hard dealing 
with mankind ; and that the other were of the nature of a 
satisfaction to his creatures, for former injuries or hard treat- 
ment ; so that put together, the injury with the satisfaction, 
the legal and injurious dispensation, taken with the following 
good dispensation, which our author calls grace, and the un- 
fairness or improper severity of the former, amended by the 
goodness of the latter, both together made up one righteous 
dispensation. 

The reader is desired to bear in mind that which I have 
said concerning the interposition of divine grace, its not alter- 
ing the nature of things, as they are in themselves ; and ac- 
cordingly, when 1 speak of such and such an evil tendency of 
things, belonging to the present nature and state of mankind, 
understand me to mean their tendency as they are in the?n^ 



ORIGINAL SIN. 137 

selves, abstracted from any consideration of that remedy the 
sovereign and infinite grace of God has provided. 

Having premised these things, I now proceed to say, 

That mankind are all naturally in such a state, as is at- 
tended, without fail, with this consequence or issue ; that 
they universally run themselves into that which is, in effect, 
their own utter, eternal perdition, as being finally accursed of 
God, and the subjects of his remediless wrath through sin. 

From which I infer that the natural state of the mind of 
man, is attended with a propensity of nature, which is preva- 
lent and effectual, to such an issue ; and that therefore their 
nature is corrupt and depraved with h moral depravity, that 
amounts to and implies their utter undoing. 

Here I would first consider the truth of the proposition ; 
and then would shew the certainly of the consequences which 
I infer from it. If both can be clearly and certainly proved, 
then, 1 trust, none will deny but that the doctrine of original 
depravity is evident, and so the falseness of Dr. Taylor's 
scheme demonstrated ; the greatest part of whose book, call- 
ed T'he Scri/iture Doctrine of Original &'w, See. is against the 
doctrine of invMte de^iravity . In page 107, S, he speaks of 
the conveyance of a corrupt and sinful nature to Adam's pos- 
terity as ^/i<? ^mn(//i«?2i to be proved by the maintaiuers of 
the doctrine of Original Sin. 

In order to demonstrate what is asserted in the proposi- 
tion laid down, there is need only that the=;e two things should 
be made manifest : 07ic is this fact, that all mankind come 
into the world in such a state, as without fail comes to this 
issue, namely, the universal commission of sin ; or that eve- 
ry one who comes to act in the world as a moral agent, is, in 
a greater or less degree, guilty of sin. The other is, that all 
sin deserves and exposes to utter and eternal destruction, un- 
der God's wrath and curse ; and v.'ould end in it, were it not 
for the interposition of divine grace to prevent the effect. 
Both which can be abundantly demonstrated to be agreeable 
to the word of God, and to Dr. Taylor's own doctrine. 

That every one of mankind, at least of them that are ca? 
pable of acting as moral agents, are guilty of sin (not now 

VoL.YI. S 



138 ORIGINAL SIN. 

taking it for g-ranted that they come guilty into the world) is 
a thin* most clearly and abundantly evident from the holy 
scriptures. 1 Kings viii. 46. " If any man sin against ihee ; 
for there is no man that sinneth not." Eccl. vii. 20. « There 
is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not." 
Job ix. 2, 3. " I know it is so of a. truth, (i. e. as Bildad had 
just before said, that God ivoidd not cast aivaxj a perfect man^ 
is'c.J but how should man be just with God ? If he will contend 
with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand." To the 
like purpose. Psalm cxliii. 2. " Enter not into judgment 
with thy servant ; for in thy sight shall no man living be jus- 
tified." So the words of the apostle (in which he has appar- 
ent reference to those of the Psalmist) Rom. iii. 19, 20. 
" That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world be- 
come guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law 
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight ; for by the lavr 
is the knowledge of sin." So Gal. ii. 16, and 1 John i. 7.... 10. 
« If we walk in the light, the blood of Christ cleanseth us 
from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
selves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he 
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from a'l unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sin- 
ned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." As in 
this place, so in innumerable other places, confession and re- 
pentance of fiin are spoken of, as duties proper for all ; as al- 
so prayer to God for pardon of sin ; and forgiveness of those 
that injure us, from that motive, that we hope to be forgiven 
of God. Universal guilt of sin might also be demonstrated 
from the appointment, and the declared use and end of the 
ancient saciifices ; and also from the ransom, which every 
one that was numbered in Israel, was directed to pay, to make 
atonement for his soul, Exod. xxx. 11. ...16. All are repre- 
sented, not only as being sinful, but as having great and man- 
ifold iniquity, Job ix. 2, .'i, James iii. 1, 3. 

Tliere are many scriptures which both declare the univer- 
sal sinfulness of mankind, and also that all sin deserves and 
justly expo as to everlasting destruction, under the wrath 
and curse of God ; and so demonstrate both parts of the 



ORIGINAL SIN. 139 

proposition I have laid down. To which purpose that in 
Gal. iii. 10, is exceeding full. "For as many as are of llie 
works of the law are under the curse ; for it is written, Curs- 
ed is every one that continueth not in all thinc;s which are 
written in the book of the law, to do them." How manifestly 
is it implied in the apostle's meaning here, that there is no 
man but what fails in some instances of doing all things that 
are written in the book of the law, and therefore as many as 
have their dependence on their fulfilling the law, are under 
that curse which is pronounced on them that do fail of it I 
And hence the apostle infers in the next verse, t/ml no nia?i is 
justified by the law in the sight of God ; as he had said before 
in the preceding chapter, verse 1 6, " By the works of the 
law shall no fesh be justified" The apostle shews us that he 
understands, that by this place which he cites from Deuter- 
bhomy, the scripture hath concluded, or shut up, all under 
sin, as in chap. iii. 22. So that here we are plainly taught, 
both that every one of mankind is a sinner, and that every 
sinner is under the curse of God. 

To the like purpose is that, Rom. iv. 14, and also 2 Cor. 
iii. 6, r, 9, where the law is called the letter that kills, the min- 
istration of deaths and the ministration of condemnation. The 
wrath, condemnation and death, which is threatened in the 
law to all its transgressors, is final perdition, the second death, 
eternal ruin, as is very plain, and is confessed. And this 
punishment which the law threatens for every sin, is a just 
punishment, being what every sin truly deserves ; God's law 
being a righteous law, and the sentence of it a righteous 
sentence. 

All these things are what Dr. Taylor himself confesses 
and asserts. He says that the law of God requires perfect 
obedience. (Note on Rom. vii. 6, p. 308.) " God can never 
require imperfect obedience, or by his holy law allow us to 
be guilty of any one sin, how small soever. And if the law, 
as a rule of duty, were in any respect abolished, then we 
might in some respects transgress the law, and yet not be 
guilty of sin. The moral law, or law of nature, is the truth, 
everlasting, unchangeable, and therefore, as such, can never. 



t4(? ORIGINAL SIN. 

be abrogated. On the contrary, our Lord Jesus Christ has 
promulgated it anew under the gospel, fuller and clearer than 
it was in the Mcsaical constitution, or any where else ; having 
added to its precepts the sanction of his own divine authority." 
And many things which he says, imply that all mankind do 
in some degree tiansgress the law. In page 228, speaking 
of what may be gathered from Rom. vii. and viii, he says, 
« We are very apt, in a world full of temptation, to be deceiv- 
ed, and drawn into sin by bodily appetites, &:c. And the case 
of those who are under a law threatening death to every sin, 
must be quite deplorable, if they have no relief from the mer- 
cy of the lawgiver." 

But this is very fully declared in what he says in his note 
on Rom. v. 20, page 297. His words are as follows : " In- 
deed, as a rule of action prescribing our duty, it (the law) al- 
ways was, and always must be a rule ordained for obtaining 
life ; but not as a rule of justification, not as it subjects to 
death for every transgression. For if it could in its utmost 
vigor have given us life, then, as the apostle argues, it would 
have been against the promises of God. For if there had 
been a law, in the strict and rigorous sense of law, nuhick 
could have made us live, verily justification should have been 
by the lav . But he supposes, no such law was ever given ; 
and therefore there is need and room enough for the promi- 
ses of grace ; or as he argues, Gal. ii. 21, it would have frus- 
trated, or rendered useless the grace of God. For if justifi- 
cation cmr e by the law, then truly Christ is dead in vain, 
then iie died to accomplish what was, or mig/it have beencffect- 
ed by law itself without his death. Certainly the law was not 
brought in among the Jews to be a rule of justification, or to 
recover them out of a state of death, and to procure life by 
their sinless obedience to it ; for in this, as well as in another 
respect, it was ivcak, not in itself, but through the weakness 
of our flesh, Rom, viii. 3, The law, I conceive, is not a dis- 
pensation sz/zVoWr ^o the injirmity of the human nature in our 
pre^^ent state ; or it doih not seem congruous to the goodness 
of God to afford us no other way of salvation, but by law, 
which, ifvjc 071CC transgrcs-j, ive are ruined forever. For ivha 



ORIGINAL SIN. ^Ui 

then^ from the beginning of the world, could be saved ?".... 
How clear and express are these things, that no one of 
mankind, from the besjjinning of the world, can ever be justi- 
fied by law, because every one transgresses it ?* 

And here also we see, Dr. Taylor declares, that by the 
law, rr en are sentenced to everlastiJig ruin for one transgres- 
sion. To the like purpose he often expresses himself. So 
p. 207. " The law requireth the most extensive obedience, 
discovering sin in all its branches. It gives sin a deadly 
force, subjecting every transgression to the penalty of death ; 
and yet supplieth neither help nor hope to the sinner, but 
leaveth him under the power of sin and sentence of death." 
In p. 2 1 3, he speaks of the law as " extending to lust and ir- 
regular desires, and lo every branch and principle of sin ; 
and even to its latent principles, and minutest branches." 
Again (Note on Rom. vii. 6. p. 308) " to every sin, how 
small soever." And when he speaks of the law subjecting 
every transgression to the penalty of death, he means eternal 
death, as he from time to time explains the matter. In p. 
212, he speaks of the law " in the condemning power of it, 
as binding us in everlasting chains." In p. 120. S. he says, 
" that death which is the wages of sin, is the second death ;" 
and this p. 78, he explains of final perdition," In his Key^ 
p. 107, § 296, he says, « The curse of the law subjected men 
for every transgression to eternal death." So in J^ote on Rom. 
V. 20, p. 291. « The law oi Moses subjected those who were 
under it to death, meaning by death eternal death." These 
are his words. 

He also supposes, that this sentence of the law, thus sub- 
jecting men for every, even the least sin, and every minutest 
branch and latent firincifile of sin, to so dreadful a punishment, 
is just and righteous, agreeable to truth and the nature of things, 
or to the natural and proper demerits of sin. This he is very 

' * I am sensible, these things are quite inconsistent with what he says else. 
Wlieie, of '• sufficient power in all mankind constantly to do the whole duty 
which God requires of them," without a necessity of breaking God's law in 
any degree, (p. 63. ...68. S.) But, I hope, the reader will not think me ac- 
countable for his inconsistences. 



142 ORIGINAL SIN. 

full in. Thus in p. 186. P. " It was sin (says he) which 
subjected us to death by the law, justly threatening sin 
with death. Which law was given us, that sin might appear ; 
itiight be set forth in its proper colors ; when we saw 
it svihjected us to death by a law pcrfecthj holy^ juat and 
good ; that sin by the commandment, by the law, miijht be 
represented ivhat it really is, an exceeding great and deadly 
evil." So in note on Rom. v. 20, p. 299. " Tiie law or min- 
istration of dealh, as it subjects to death for every transgres- 
sion, is still of use to shew the naiural and proper demerit of 
an." Ibid. p. 292. « The language of the law, dying thou 
shalt die, is to be understood of the demerit of the transgres- 
sion, that which it desei-ves." Ibid. p. 298. "The law was 
added, saith Mr. Locke, on the place, because the Israelitesy 
the posterity of Abraham, were transgressors as well as oth- 
er men, to shew them their sins, and the punishment and 
death, which in strict justice they incurred by them. And 
this appears to be a true comment on Rom. vii. 13... .Sin, by 
virtue of the law, subjected you to death for this end, that 
sin, working death in us, by that which is holy, Just, and good ^ 
perfectly consonant to everlasting truth and righteousness... .Con- 
sequently every sin is in strict justice deserving of wrath and 
punishment ; and the law in its rigor was given to the Jews, 
to set home this awful truth upon their consciences, to shew 
them the evil and pernicious nature of sin ; and that, being 
conscious they had broke the law of God, this might convince 
them of the great need they had of the ycvor of the lawgiv- 
er, and oblige them, by faith in \ii% goodness, to fly to his mer- 
cy, for pardon and salvation." 

If the law be holy, just, and good, a constitution perfectly 
agreeable to God's holiness, justice, and goodness ; then he 
might have put it exactly in execution, agreeably to all these 
his perfections. Our author himself says, p. 133. S. <' How 
that constitution, which establishes a law, the making of 
which is inconsistent with the justice and goodness of God, 
and the executing of it inconsistent with his holiness, can be 
a righteous constitution, I confess, is quite beyond my com- 
prehension." 



ORIGINAL SIN. US 

Now the reader is left to judge, whetlicr it be not most 
plainly and fully agreeable to Dr. Taylor's own doctrine, that 
there never was any one person from the beginning of the 
world, who came to act in the world as a moral agent, and 
that it is not to be hoped there ever will be any, but what is a 
sinner or transgressor of the law of God ; and that therefore 
this proves to be the issue and event of things, with respect to 
all mankind in all ages, that, by the natural and proper de- 
merit of their own sinfulness, and in the judgment of the law 
of God, which is perfectly consonant to truth, and exhibits 
things in their true colors, they are ^he proper subjects of the 
curse of God, eternal death, and everlasting ruin ; which 
must be the actual consequence, unless the grace or favor 
of the lawgiver interpose, and mercy prevail for their pardon 
and salvation. The reader has seen also how agreeable this 
is to the doctrine of the holy scripture. 

And if so, and what has been observed concerning the in- 
terposition of divine grace be remembered, namely, that this 
alters not the nature of things as they are in themselves, and 
that it does not in the least affect the state of the controversy 
we are upon, concerning the true nature and tendency of the 
state that mankind come into the world in, whether grace pre- 
vents the fatal effect or no ; I say, if these things are consid- 
ered, I trust, none will deny, that the proposition that v/as laid 
down, is fully proved, as agreeable to the word of God, and 
Dr. Taylor's own words ; viz. that mankind are all naturally 
in such a state, as is attended, without fail, with this conse- 
quence or issue, that they universally are the subjects of that 
guilt and sinfulness, which is, in effect, their utter and eternal 
ruin, being cast wholly out of the favor oTGod. arid subjected 
to his everlasting wrath and curse. 



(44 ORIGINAL SIN. 



SECTION II- 

It foUo'iOs from the Profiosition jiroved in the foregoing Sec- 
iio7i, that all Maiikind are under the influence of a prevail-, 
ing effectual Tendecy in their Nature, to that Sin and 
Wickedness^ which imfiUes their utter and eternal ruin. 

THE proposiuon laid down bein<^ proved, the conse- 
quence of it remains to be made out, viz. that the mind of man 
has a natural tendency or propensity to that event, which has 
been shewn universally and infallibly to take place (if this be 
not sufficiently evident of itself, without proof) and that this is 
a corrupt or depraved propensity. 

I shall here consider the former part of this consequence, 
jiamely, whether such an universal, constant, in fallible event 
is truly a proof of the being of any tendency or propensity to 
that event ; leaving the evil and corrupt nature of such a pro- 
pensity to be considered afterwards. 

If any should say, they do not think that its being a thing 
universal and infallible in event, that mankind commit some 
sin, is a proof of a prevailing tendency to sin ; because they 
do not only sin, but also do good, and perhaps more good than 
evil ; let them remember, that the quesiion at present is not, 
how much sin there is a tendency to ; but, whether there be 
a prevailing propensity to that issue, which it i>' allowed all 
men do actually come to, that all fail of keeping th«? law per- 
fectly ; whether there be not a tendency to such imperfection 
of obedience, as always without fail comes to pass ; to that 
degree of sinfulness, at least, which all fall into ; and so to 
that utter ruin, which that sinfulness implies and infers. 
Whether an effectual propensity to this be worth the name 
of depravity, because of the good that may be supposed to bal- 
ance it, shall be considered by and by. If it were so, that all 
mankind, in all nations and ages, were at least one day in their 
lives deprived of the use of their reason, and run raving mad ; 
or tha,t allj even eyery individual person, once cut their own 



ORIGINAL Sm. jl45 

throats, or put out their own eyes ; it might be an evidence 
of some tendency in the nature or natural state of mankind 
to such an event ; though they might exercise reason many 
more days than they were distracted, and were kind to, and 
tender of themselves oftener than they mortally and cruelly 
wounded themselves. 

To determine whether the unfailing constancy of the above 
named event be an evidence of tendency, let it be considered, 
what can be meant by tendency^ but a prevailing liableness or 
exposedness to such or such an event. Wherein consists the 
notion of any such thing, but some stated prevalence or pre- 
ponderation in the nature or state of causes or occasions, that 
is followed by., and so proves to be effectual i^o, a stated preva- 
lence or commonness of any particular kind of effect ? Or, 
something in the permanent state of things, concerned in 
bringing a certain sort of event to pass, which is a foundation 
for the constancy, or strongly prevailing probability of such 
an event I If we mean this by tendency (as I know not what 
^e can be meant by ir, but this, or something like this) then 
it is manifest, that where we see a stated prevalence of any 
kind of effect or event, there is a tendency to that effect in the 
nature and state of its causes. A common and steady effect 
shews, that there is somewhere a preponderation, a prevail- 
ing exposedness or liableness in the state of things, to what 
comes so steadily to pass. The natural dictate of reason 
shews, that where there is an effect, there is a cause, and a 
cause sufficient for the effect ; because, if it were not suffi- 
cient: it would not be effectual ; and that therefore, where 
there is a stated prevalence of the effect, there is a stated 
prevalence in the cause : A steady effect argues a steady 
X:ause. We obtain a notion of such a thing as tendency, no 
other way than by observation ; and we can observe nothing 
but events ; and it is the commonness or constancy of events 
that gives us a notion of tendency in all cases. Thus' we 
judge of tendencies in the natural world. Thus we judge &1" 
ttfe tendencies or propensities of nature in minerals, vegeta- 
bles, animals, rational and irrational creatures. A notion 6f a 
atated tendency, or fixed propensity, is not-obtained by obserV' 

Vol.. VI. T 



we ORIGINAL SIN. 

ing only a single event. A stated preponderation in the cause 
or occasion, is argued only by a stated prevalence of the effect.. 
If a die be once thrown, and it falls on a particular side, we do 
not argue from hence, that that side is the heaviest ; but if it 
be thrown without skill or care, many thousands or millions 
of limes going, and constantly falls on the same side, we have 
no' the least doubt in our minds, but that there is something 
of propensity in the case, by superior weight of that side, or 
in some oJier respect. How ridiculous would he make him- 
self, who should earnestly dispute against any tendency in the 
state of things to cold in the winter, or heat in the summer ; 
or should stand to it, tliat although it often happened that wa- 
ter quenched fire, yet there was no tendency in it to such aa 
effect. 

In the case we are upon, the human nature, as existing ia 
sue h an immense diversity of persons and circumstances, and 
never failing in any one instance, of coming to that issue, viz. 
that sinfulness, which implies extreme misery and eternal ru- 
in, is as the die often cast. For it alters not the case in the 
least, as to the evidence of tendency, whether the subject of 
the constant event be an individual, or a nature and kind. 
Thus, if there be a succession of trees of the same sort, pro- 
ceeding one from another, from the beginning of the world, 
growing in all cour;tries, soils, and climates, and otherwise ia 
(as it were) an infiniie variety of circumstances, all bearing ill 
fruit; it as much proves tlie nature and tendency of the hnd^ 
as if it were only one individual tree, that had remained from 
the beginning of the world, had often been transplanted into 
different soils, Sec. and had continued to bear only bad fruit. 
So, if there were a particular family, which, from generation 
to generation, and through every remove to innumerable dif- 
ferent countries, and places of abode, all died of a consump- 
tion, or all run distracted, or all murdered themselves, it would 
be as much an evidence of the tendency of something in ilic 
nature or constitution of that race, as it would be of the ten- 
dency of something in the nature or state of an individual, if 
some one person had lived all that time, and some remarka- 
ble event had often appeared in him, which he had been the 



ORIGINAL SIN. Hfr 

ag-ent or subject of from year to year, and from Ggclorge, 

continually and without foil. 

Here may be observed the weakness of that objection, 
made ac^ainst the validity of the argument for a fixed propensi- 
ty to sin, from the constancy and universality of the event, 
that Adam sinned in one instance, without a fixed propensity, 
without doubt a single event is an evidence, that there was 
some cause or occasion of that event ; but the thing we are 
speaking cf, is ^ fixed cause. Propensity is a stated., continu- 
ed thing. We justly argue, that a stated effect must have :i 
ttated cause } and truly observe, that we obtain the notion of 
tendency, or stated Jireponderation in causes, no other way than 
by observing a stated prevalence of a particular kind of effect. 
But who ever argues a fixed propensity from a single event ? 
And is i. not strange arguing, that because an event which once 
comes o pass, does not prove any stated tendency, therefore 
the unfailing constancy of an event is an evidence of no such 
thir g ? But because Dr. Taylor makes so much of this ob- 
jection, from Adam's sinning without a propensity, I shall 
hcicafter consider it more particularly, in the beginning of 
the 9th Section of this Chapter ; v.'here will also be consider' 
cd what is objected from the fall of the angels. 

Thus a propensity, attending the present nature or natur- 
al state of mankind, eternally to ruin themselves by sin, may 
certainly be inferred from apparent and acknowledged fact. 
And I would now observe further, that not only does this fol- 
low from facts that are acknowledged by Dr. Taylor but the 
things he asserts, the expressions and words which he uses, 
do plainly imply that all mankind have such a propensity ; 
yea, one of the highest kind, a propensity that is invincible, or 
a tendency which really amounts to a fixed, constant, unfail- 
ing necessity. There is a plain confession of a propensity or 
jironeness to sin, p. 14S. "Man, who drinketh in iniquity 
like water, who is attended with so many sensual appetites, 
and so c/2^ to indulge them." And again, p. 228, "we are 
very afit, in a world full of temptation, to be deceived, and 
drawn into sin by bodily appetites." If we are very apt or 
prone to be drawn into sin by bodily appetites, and sivfuUy ti: 



t4b ORIGINAL SIN. 

indulge thfr.-'j and very apt or prone to tjield to temptation io mu, 
^•^hen we are firone to sin; for to yield to temptation to sin is 
mnful. In the same page he represents, that on this account, 
and on account of the consequences of this, the case of those 
V)ho are under a law, threatening death for every sin, must be 
quite deplorable, if they have no relief from the mercy of the 
lawgiver. Which implies, that their case is hopeless, as to 
an escape from death, the punishment of .sin, by any other 
means than God's mercy. And that implies, that there is 
such an aptness to yield to temptation to sin, that il is hope* 
less that any of^roankirid should wholly avoid it. But he 
speaks of it elsewhere, over and over, as truly impossible, or 
^hat cannot be ; as in the words Which were cited in the last 
Section, from his note on Rom. v. 20, where he repeatedly 
speaks of the law, which subjects us to death for every trans.- 
gression, as what cannot give life ; and represents that if God 
offered us no other way of salvation, no man from the begin- 
ning of the world coidd be saved." In the same place he, 
with approbation, cites Mr. Locke's words, in which, speak- 
ing of the Israelites, he says, " All endeavors after right' 
cousness were lost labor, since any one slip forfeited life, and 
It was impossible for them to expect ought but death." Our 
author speaks of it as impossible for the law requiring sinless 
obedience, to give life, not that the lanu was weak in itself, but 
through the nveakncss 6f our flesh. Therefore he says, he con- 
ceives the Law not to be a dispensation suitable to the infirmity 
of the human nature in its present state. These things amount 
to a full confession, that the proneness in men to sin, and to a 
demerit of, and just exposedness to eternal ruin by sin, is uni- 
versally invincible, or, which is the same thing, amounts to 
absolute, invincible necessity ; which surely is the highest 
kind of tendency or propensity ; and that not the less for his 
laying this propensity to our infirmity or weakness, which 
may seem to intimate some defect, rather than any thing pos- 
itive : And it is agreeable to the sentiments of the best di- 
vines, that all sin originally comes from a defective or priva- 
tive cause But sin does not cease to be sin, or a thing not 
justly exposing to eternal ruin (as implied in Dr. Taylor's own 



OftlGINAL SIN, ,U9 

^ords) for arising from infamity or defect ; nor does any in- 
vincible propensity to sin, cease to be a propensity to such 
demerit of eternal ruin, because the proneness arises from 
such a cause. 

It is manifest, that this tendency which has been proved, 
does not consist in any particular external circumstances, that 
some or many are in, peculiarly tempting or influencing their 
minds ; but is inherent^ and is sealed in that nature which is 
common to all mankind, which they carry with them wherev- 
er they go, and still remains the same, however circumstances 
may diifer. For it is implied in what has been proved, and 
shewn to be confessed, that the same event comes to pass in 
all circumstances, that any of mankind ever are, or can be un- 
der in the vvorld. In God's sight no man living can be justi- 
fied i but all are sinners, and exposed to condemnation. This 
is true of persons of all constitutions, capacities, conditions, 
manners, opinions and educations ; in all countries, climates, 
nations and ages ; and through all the mighty changes and 
revolutions, which have come to pass in the habitable world. 
We have the same evidence, that the propensity in this 
ease lies in the nature of the subject, and does not arise from 
any particular circumstances, as we have in any case whatso- 
ever ; which is only by the eflFects appearing to be the same 
in all changes of time and place, and under all varieties of 
circumstances. It is in this way only we judge, that any pro- 
pensities, which we observe in mankind, are such as are seat- 
ed in their nature, in all other cases. It is thus we judge of 
the mutual propensity betwixt the sexes, or of the disposi- " 
tions which are exercised in any of the natural passions or ap- 
petites, that they truly belong to the nature of man j because 
they are observed in mankind in general, through all coun- 
tries, nations, and ages, and in all conditions. 

If any should say, though it be evident that there is a ten- 
dency in the state of things to this general event, that all 
mankind should fail of perfect obedience, and should sin, and 
incur a demerit of eternal ruin ; and also that this tendency 
does not lie in any distinguishing circumstances of any par- 
ticular people, person, or age ; yet it may not lie in man's 



i5« okiginaL sin. 

nature, bnt in the general constitution and frame of this world, 
into which men are born ; though the nature of man may bfe 
good, without any evil propensity inherent in it ; yet the na- 
ture and universal state of this eartldy world may be such as 
to be full of so many and strong temptations every where, and 
of such a powerful influence on such a creature as man, dwell- 
ing in so infirm a body, 8cc. that the lesult of the whole may 
be a strong and infallible tendency in such a state of things, to 
the sin and eternal ruin of every one of mankind. 

To this I would reply, that such an evasion will not at all 
avail to the purpose of those whom I oppose in this con- 
troversy. It alters not the case as to this question, whether 
man is not a creature that in his present state is depraved and 
ruined by propensities to sin. If any creature be of such a 
nature that it proves evil in its proper place, or in the situa* 
tion which God has assigned it in the universe, it is of an evil 
nature. That part of the system is not good, which is not 
good in its place in the system ; and those inherent qualities 
of that part of the system, wiiich arc not good, but corrupt, in 
that place, are justly looked upon as evil inherent qualities. 
That propensity is truly esteemed to belong lo the nature of 
any being, or to be inherent in it, that is the necessary conse- 
quence of its nature, considered together with its proper situ- 
ation in the universal system of existence, whether that pro- 
pensity be good or bad. It is the nature of a stone to be heavy ; 
but yet, if it were placed, as it might be, at a distance from 
this world, it would have no such quality. But seeing a stone 
is of such a nature, that it will have this quality or tendency, 
in its proper place, here in this world, where God has made 
it, it is properly looked upon as a propensity belonging to its 
nature : And if it be a good propensity here in its proper 
place, then it is a good quality of its nature ; but if it be con- 
trariwise, it is an evil natural quality. So, if mankind are of 
such a nature, that they have an universal, effectual tendency 
to sin and ruin in this world, where God has made and placed 
them, this is to be looked upon as a pernicious tendency be- 
longing to their nature. I'here is, perhaps, scarce any such 
thjng in beings not independent and selfcxistent, as any pow- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 15 fe 

€r or tendency, but what has some dependence on other be* 
ings, which they stand in some connexion with, in the univer-: 
sal system of existence : Propensities are no propensities, any- 
otherwise, than as taken with tiieir objects. Thus it is with 
the tendencies observed in natural bodies, such as gravity,; 
magnetism, electricity, &c. And thus it is with the propen» 
sities observed m the various kinds of animals ; and thus it is 
with most of the propensities in created spirits. 

It may further be observed, that it is exactly the sarao 
thing, as to the controversy concerning an agreeableness with 
God's moral perfections of such a disposal of things, that man 
should come into the world in a depraved, ruined stale, by a 
propensity to sin and ruin ; whether God has so ordered it, 
that this propensity should lie in his nature considered alone, 
or with relation to its situation in the universe, and its con- 
nexion with other parts of the system to which the Creator 
has united it ; which is as much of God's ordering, as man's 
nature itself, most simply considered. 

Dr.Taylor, (p. 188, iSy) speaking of the attempt of some 
to solve, the difficulty of God's being the author of our nature, 
and yet that our nature is polluted, by supposing that God 
makes the soul pure, but unites it to a polluted body, (or a 
body so made, as tends to pollute the soul) he cries out of it 
as weak and insufficient, and too gross to be admitted. » For, 
(says he) who infused the soul into the body ? And if it is 
polluted by being infused into the body, who is the authdr 
and cause of its pollution \ And who created the body," &c. 
But is not the casp just the same, as to those who suppose 
that God made the soul pure, and places it in a polluted 
world, or a world tending by its natural state in which it is 
made, to pollute the soul, or to have such an influence upon 
it, that it shall without fail be polluted with sin, and eternally 
ruined ? Here, may not I also cry out, on as good grounds 
as Dr. Taylor, who placed the soul here in this world ? 
And if the world be polluted, or so constituted as naturally 
and infallibly to pollute the soil with sin, who is the cause ol 
^is pollution ? And v/ho created the world ? 



152 ORIGINAL SIN. 

Though in the place now cited, Dr. Taylor so insists up- 
on it, that God must be answerable for the pollution of thft 
soul, if he has infused or put the soul into a body that tends 
to pollute it ; yet this is the very thing which he himself sup- 
poses to be fact, with respect to the soul's being created by 
God, in such a body as it is, and in such a world as it is ; in 
a place which I ha% e already had occasion to observe, where 
he says, " We are afit^ in a world full of temptation, to be 
drawn into sin by bodily appetites.** And if so, according to 
his way of reason, God must be the author and cause of this 
aptness to be drawn into sin. Again, page 143, we have these 
words, " Who drinketh in inquity like water ? Who is at- 
tended with so many sensual appetites, and so apt to indulge 
them ?" In these vt'ords our author in effect says the indi- 
vidual thing that he cries out of as so gross, viz. the tendency 
of the body, as God has made it, to pollute the soul which he 
has infused into it. These sensual appetites, which incline 
the soul, or make it a/i( to a sinful indulgence, are cither from 
the body which God hath made, or otherwise a proneness to 
sinful indulgence is immediately and originally seated in the 
soul itself, which will not mend the matter for Dr. Taylor. 

I would here lastly observe, that our author insists upon 
it, page 42, <S. that this lower world where we dwell, in its 
present state, « is as it was, when, upon a review, God pro- 
nounced it, and all its furniture, very good. And that the 
present form and furniture of the earth is full of God's riches, 
mercy, and goodness, and of the most evident tokens of his 
love and bounty to the inhabitants." If so, there can be no 
room for such an evasion of the evidences fiom fact, of the 
universal, infallible tendency of man's nature to sin and eter- 
nal perdition, as that the tendency there is to this issue, does 
not lie in man's nature, but in the general constitution and 
frame of this earthly world, which God hath raade to be the 
habitation of mankind. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 153 



v*?t.'c „ SECTION III. 

Xh.at,jProfiensiiy^ Kvhich has been proved to be in the nature oj 
all 7iiankind^jnust be a very evil, depraved and pernicious 
Propensity ; making it mamfest^ that the soul ofman^ as it 
is by nature^ is in a corrupt, fallen, and ruined state ; 
ivbich is the other part of the consequence, draivn from 
th^ proposition laid dozvn in the frst Section. 

;^-.j',THE question to be considered, in order to determine 
whether man's nature is not depraved and ruined^ is not, 
.whether he is not inclined to perform as many good deeds as 
b(td ones ; but which of these two he preponderates to, in the 
i^iaipe of his heart, and state of his nature, a state of innocence 
,a}}d righteousness, and favor ivith God ; or a state of sin, guilt' 
iness, and abhorrence i7i the sight of God. Persevering sinless 
lighteousness, or else the guilt of sin, is the alternative, on 
the decision of which depends, (as is confessed) according to 
the nature and truth of things, as they are in themselves, and 
according to the rule of right, and of perfect justice, man's 
bgjng appr<oved and accepted of his Maker, and eternallv 
i.blessed as good ; or his being rejected, thrown away, and 
cursed as bad. And therefore the determination of the ten- 
dency of man's heart and nature, with respect to these terms, 
is that which is to be looked at, in order to determine wheth- 
er his nature is good or evil, pure or corrupt, sound or ruined. 
If such be man's nature, and state of his heart, that he has an 
infallibly effectual propensity to the latter of those terms ; 
then it is wholly impertinent to talk of the innocent and kind 
actions, even of criminals themseto^s, surpassing their crimes in 
nmnbers, a7id of the prevailing innocence, good nature, industry, 
felicity, and cheerfidness of the greater part of mankind. Let 
never so many thousands or millions of acts of honesty, good 
nature, Sec. be supposed ; yet, by the supposition, there is an 
unfailing propensity to such moral evil, as in its dreadful 
Vol. VI. U 



154 ORIGINAL SIN. 

consequences infinitely outweighs all effects or consequences 
of any supposed p:ooc1. Surely that tendency, whicli, in ef- 
fect, is an infallible tendency to eternal destruction, is an infi- 
nitely dreadful and pernicious tendency ; and that nature and 
frame of mind, ^vhich implies such a tendency, must be an 
infiniely dreadful and pernicious frame of mind. It would 
be much more absurd to suppose that such a state of nature is 
good, or not bad, under a notion of men's doing more honest 
and kind things than evil ones ; than to say, the state of that 
ship is good to cross the Atlantic Ocean in, that is such as 
cannot hold together through the voyage, but will infallibly 
founder and sink by the way ; under a noiion that it may 
probably go great part of the way before it sinks, or that it 
will proceed and sail above water more hours than it will be 
in sinking : Or to pronounce that road a good road to go to 
such a place, the greater part of which is plain and safe^ 
though some parts of it are dangerous, and certainly fatal to 
them that travel in it ; or to call that a good propensity, which 
is an inflexible inclijiation to travel in such a way. 

A propensity to that sin which brings God's eternal wrath 
and curse (which has been proved to belong to the nature of 
man) is evil, not only as it is cala7nitous and sorrowfuU ending 
in great natural e-viU but as it is odious and detestable : For 
by the supposition, it tends to that moral evil, by which the 
subject becomes odious in the sight of God, and liable, as 
such, to be condemned, and utterly rejected, and cursed by 
him. This also makes it evident, that the state which it has 
been proved mankind are in, is a corrupt state in a7}ioral sense,. 
that it is inconsistent with the fulfilment of the law of God, 
■which is the rule of moral rectitude and goodness. That 
tendency which is opposite to that which the moral law re- 
quires and insists upon, and prone to that which the moral 
law utterly foibids, and eternally condemns the subject for, 
is doubtless a corrupt tendency, in a moral sense. 

So that this depravity is both odious, and also fier7iicioiis, 
fatal and destructive, in the highest sense, as inevitably tend- 
ing to that which implies man's eternal ruin ; it shev^s that 
man, as he is by nature, is in a deplorable and undone state. 



ORIGINAL SIN. i^5 

in the highest sense. And this proves that men do not come 
into the world perfectly innocent in the sight of God, and 
without any just exposedness to his displeasure. For the be- 
ing by nature in a lost and ruined state, in the highest sense, 
is not consistent with being by nature in a state of favor with 
God. 

But if any should still insist on a notion of men's good 
deeds exceeding their bad ones, and that, seeing the good 
that is in men is more than countervails the evil, they cannot 
be properly denominated evil ; all persons and things beinp^- 
most properly denominated from that which prevails, and luv:. 
the ascendant in them, I would say further, that, 

I presume it will be allowed, that if there is in man's na- 
ture a tendency to guilt and ill desert, in a vast overbalance 
to virtue and merit ; or a propensity to that sin, the evil and 
demerit of which is so great, that the value and merit that is 
in him, or in all the virtuous acts that ever he performs, are 
as nothing to it ; then truly the nature of man may be said to 
be corrupt and evil. 

That this is the true case, may be demonstrated by v.hat 
is evident of the infinite heinousness of sin against God, from 
the nature of things. The heinousness of this must rise in 
some proportion to the obligation we are under to regard the 
Divine Being ; and that must be in some proportion to his 
worlhiness of regard ; which doubtless is infinitely beyond 
the worthiness of any of our fellow creatures. But the merit 
of our respect or obedience to God is not infinite. The merit 
of respect to any being does not increas<?,but is rather dimin- 
ished, in proportion to the obligations we are under in strict 
justice to pay him that respect. There is no great merit in 
paying a debt we owe, and by the highest possible obligations 
in strict justice are obliged to pay, but there is great demerit 
in refusing to pay it. Thai on such accounts as these there 
is an infinite demerit in all sin against God, which must there- 
fore immensely outweigh all the merit which can be suppos- 
ed to be in our virtue, 1 think, is capable of full demonstra- 
tion ; and that the futility of the objections which some have 
made against the argument, might most plainly be demon- 



156 ORIGINAL SIN. 

stratcd. But I shall omit a particular consideration of ihe 
evidence of this matter IVom the nature of things, as I study 
brevit}', and lest any should cry out, Mctafihysics I as the 
manner of some is, when any argument is handled against any 
tenet they are fond of, wi(h a close and exact consideration of 
the nature of things. And this is not so necessary in the pres- 
ent case, inasmuch as the point asserted, namely, that he who 
commits any ©ne sin, has guilt and ill desert, which is so 
great, that the value and merit of all the good which it is 
possible he should do in his whole life, is as nothing to it ; 
I say this point is not only evident by meCafihysics, but is plain- 
ly demonstrated by what has been shewn to be fact, with res- 
pect to God's own constitutions and dispensations towards 
mankind ; as particularly by this, that whatever acts of virtue 
and obedience a man performs, yet if he trespasses in one 
point, is guilty of any the least sin, he, according to the law 
of God, and so according to the exact truth of things, and 
the proper demerit of sin, is exposed to be wholly cast out of 
favor with God, and subjected to his curse, to be utterly and 
eternally destroyed. This has been proved, and shewn to be 
the doctrine which Dr. Taylor abundantly teaches. But how 
can it be agreeable to the nature of things, and exactly consio- 
nant to everlasting truth and righteousness, thus to deal with 
a creature for the least sinful act, though he should perform 
ever so many thousands of honest and virtuous acts, to coun- 
tervail the evil of that sin ? Or how can it be agreeable to 
the exact truth and real demerit of things, thus wholly to 
cast off the deficient creature, without any regard to the 
merit of all his good deeds, unless that be in truth the case, 
that the value and merit of all those good actions, bear no 
proportion to the heinousness of the least sin ? If it were 
not so, one would think, that however the offending person 
might have some proper punishment, yet, seeing theic is so 
much virtue to lay in the balance against the guilt, it would 
be agreeable to the nature of things, that he should find some 
favor, and not be altogether rejected, and made the subject 
of perfect and eternal destruction ; and thus no account at all 
be made of all his virtuc< so iiiuch as to procure him the 



ORTGINAL SIN. 157 

least relief or hope.- How can such a constitution refiresent 
ain in its proper colors., and according to its true nature and dc- 
serty (as Dr. Taylor says it does) unless this be its true na- 
ture, that it is so bad, that even in the least instance it perfect- 
ly swallows up all the value of the sinner's supposed good 
deeds, let them be ever so many. So that this mailer is not 
left to our metaphysics or philosophy ; the great Lawgiver, 
and infallible Judge of the universe, has clearly decided it, in 
the revelation he has made of what is agreeable to exact truth, 
justice, and the nature of things, in his revealed law, or rule of 
righteousness. ' 

He that in any respect or degree is a transgressor of God's 
law, is a wicked man, yea, wholly wicked in the eye of the 
law ; all his goodness being esteemed nothing, having no ac- 
count made of it, when taken together with his wickedness. 
And therefore, without any regard to his righteousness, he is, 
by the sentence of the law, and so by the voice of truth and 
justice, to be treated as worthy to be rejected, abhorred, and 
cursed for ever ; and must be so, unless grace interposes, to 
cover his transgression. But men are really, in themselves, 
what they are in the eye of the law, and by the voice of strict 
equity and justice ; however they may be looked upon, and 
treated by infinite and unmerited mercy. 

So that, on the whole, it appears, all mankind have an in- 
fallibly effectual propensity to that moral evil, which infinite- 
ly outweighs the value of all the good that can be in them; 
and have such a disposition of heart, that the certain conse- 
quence of it is, their being, in the eye of perfect truth and 
righteousness, wicked men. And I leave all to judge, wheth- 
er such a disposition be not in the eye of truth a depraved 
disposition ? 

Agreeably to these things, the scripture represents all 
mankind, not only as having guilt, but immense guilt, Avhich 
they can have no merit or worthiness to countervail. Such 
is the representation we have in Matth. xviii. 21, to the end. 
There, on Peter's inquiring, How often /lin brother should tres' 
pass against hi/n, and he forgive Iiim, whether until seven times ; 
Christ replies, I say ?iof jintn thee, until seven times, but until. 



iiS ORIGINAL SIK. 

seventy times seven ; apparently meaninij, that lie should es- 
teem no num!)cr of ofTences too many, and no degree of inju- 
ry it is possible our neighbor should be guilty of towards us, 
too great to be forgiven. For which this reason is given in 
the parable there following, that if ever we obtain forgiveness 
and favor with God, he must pardon that guilt and injury to- 
wards his majesty, which is immensely greater than the great- 
est injuries that ever men are guilty of one towards another, 
yea, than the sum of all their injuries put together, let them 
be ever so many, and ever so great ; so that the latter would 
be but as an hundred pence to ten thousand talents, which im- 
mense debt we owe to God, and have nothing to pay ; which 
implies, that we have no merit to countervail any part of our 
guilt. And this must be, because if all that may be called 
virtue in us, be compared with our ill desert, it is in the sight 
of God as nothing to it. The parable is not to represent Pe- 
ter's case in particular, but that of all who then were, or ever 
should be, Christ's disciples. It appears by the conclusion of 
the discourse. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do, if ye, 
from your hearts-, forgive not every one his brother their tres- 
passes. 

Therefore how absurd must it be for Christians to object 
against the depravity of man's nature, a greater number of in- 
nocent and kind actions, than of crimes ; and to talk of a 
prevailing innocency, good nature, industry and cheerfulness 
of the greater part of mankind ? Infinitely more absurd, than 
it would be to insist, that the domestic of a prince was not a 
bad servant, because though sometimes he contemned and 
affronted his master to a great degree, yet he did not spit in 
his master's face so often as he performed acts of service ; or, 
than it \yould be to affirm, that his spouse was a good wife to 
him, because, although she committed adultery, and that with 
the slaves and scoundrels sometimes, yet she did not do this 
?o often as she did the duties of a wife. These notions would 
be absurd, because the crimes are too heinous to be atoned 
for, by many honest actions of the servant or spouse of the 
prince ; there being a vast disproportion between the merit 
of the one, and the ill desert of the other ; but in no measure 



ORIGINAL SIN. 159 

so great, nay infinitely less, than that between the demerit of 
our offences against God, and the value of our acts of obe- 
dience. 

Thus I have s;ox\e through v/ith my first argument ; hav- 
ing shewn the evidence of the truth of the proposition I laid 
down at first, and proved its consequence. But there are ma- 
ny other things, that manifest a very corrupt tendency or dis- 
position in man's nature, in his present state, which I shall 
take notice of in the following Sections. 



SECTION IV. 

The depravity of JVature appears by a propensity in all to Sin 
immediately, as soon as they are capable of it, and to Sin 
continually and progressively ; and also by the remains of 
Sin i?i the best of Men. 

THE great depravity of man's nature appears, not on- 
ly in that they universally commit sin, who spend any |ong 
time in the world, but in that men are naturally so prone to 
sin, that none ever fail of ?m?n(?(:/?a?f/j/ transgressing God's law, 
and so of bringing infinite guilt on themselves, and exposing 
themselves to eternal perdition, as soon as they are capable 
of it. 

The scriptures are so very express in it, that all mankind, 
all fleshi all the world, every man living, are guilty of sin ; 
that it must at least be understood, every one that is come to 
be capable of being active in duty to God, or sin against him, 
is guilty of sin. There are multitudes in tl.e^orld who have 
but very lately begun to exert their faculties, as moral agents ; 
and so are but just entered on their state of trial, as flcling for 
themselves. There are many thousands constantly in the 
world, who have, not lived one month, or week, or day since 
they have arrived to any period that can be assigned from 
their birth to twenty years of age. And if there be not a 



U(J ORIGIXAL Slis'. 

strong; propensity in man's nature to sin, that should, as it 
were, hurry them on to speedy transgression, and they have 
no guilt previous to their personal sinning, what should hinder 
but that there might always be a 52;reat number of such ;»s act 
for themselves on the stage of the world, and are answerable 
for themselves to God, who have hitherto kept themselves 
free from sin, and have perfectly obeyed God's law, and so 
are righteous in God's sight, with the righteousness of the 
law ; and if they should he called out of the world without any 
longer trial (as great numbers die at all periods of life) would 
be justified by the deeds of the law ? And how then can it be 
true, that in God's sight no 7nan liviitg can be justified, that no 
vmn can be just nvith God., and that by the deeds of the laiv no 
fiesh can be justified, because by the law is the knonvledge of Sin }-' 
And what should hinder but that there may always be many 
in the world, who are capable subjects of instruction and coun- 
sel, and of prayer to God, for whom the calls of God's word to 
repentance, and to seek pardon through the blood of Christ, 
and to forgive others their injuries, because they need that 
God should forgive them, would not be proper ; and for whom 
the Lord's prayer is not suitable, wherein Christ directs all 
his followers to pray, that God would forgive their sins, as 
they forgive those that trespass against them ? 

If there are any in the world, though but lately become 
capable of acting for themselves, as subjects of the law of God, 
who are perfectly free from sin, such are most likely to be 
found among the children of Christian parents, who give them 
the most pious education, and set them the best examples ; 
and therefore such would never be so likely to be found in 
any part or age of the world, as in the primitive Christian 
church, in the first age of Christianity, (the age of the church- 
es greatest purity) so long after Christianity had been estab- 
lished, that there had been time for great numbers of child- 
ren to be born, and educated by those primitive Christians. 
It was in that age, and in such a part of that age, that the 
Apostle John wrote his first epistle to the Christians that then 
were. But if there was then a number of them come to un- 
derstanding, who were perfectly free from sin, M'hy does he 



ORIGINAL SIN. 161 

write as he does? 1 John i. 8 10. « If we say that we 

have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we 
say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and the truth 
is not in us." 

If any should object, that this is an overstraining of things ; 
and that it supposes a greater niceness and exactness than is 
observed in scripture representations and expressions, to infer 
from these expressions, that all men sin immediately as soon 
as ever they are capable of it. To this I would say, that I 
think the arguments used are truly solid, and do really and 
justly conclude, either that men are born guilty, and so are 
chargeable with sin before they come to act for themselves, or 
else commit sin immediately, without the least time interven- 
ing, after they are capable of understanding their obligation tQ 
God, and reflecting on themselves ; and that the scripture 
clearly determines, there is not one such person in the world, 
free from sin. But whether this be a straining things up to 
too great an exactness, or not ; yet I suppose, none that do 
not entirely set aside the sense of such scriptures as have 
been mentioned, and deny those propositions which Dr. Tay- 
lor himself allows to be contained in some of them, will deny 
they prove, that no considerable time passes after men are ca- 
pable of acting for themselves, as the subjects of God's 
law, before they are guilty of sin ; because if the time were 
considerable, it would be great enough to deserve to be taken 
notice of, as an exception to such universal propositions, as. 
In thy sight shall no man living be justified, &c. And if this be 
allowed, that men are so prone to sin, that in fact all mankind 
do sin, as it we?-^immediately, after they come to be capable 
of it, or fail not to sin so soon, that no considerable time passes 
before they rim into transgression against God ; it does not 
much alter the case, as to the present argument. If the time 
of freedom from sin be so small, as not to be worthy of notice 
in the forementioned universal propositions of scripture, it 
Is also so small, as not to be worthy of notice in the present 
argument. 

Vol. VI. W 



162 ORIGINAL 9l5r. 

A?fain, the reality and greatness of the depravity of man's 
nature appears in this, that he has a prevailing propensity to 
be continually sinning against God. What has been observ- 
ed above, "will clearly prove this. That same disposition of 
nature, which is an effectual propensity to immediate sin, 
amounts to a propensity to continual sin. For a being prone 
to continual sinning, is nothing but a proneness to immediate 
sin continued. Such appears to be the tendency of nature to 
sin, that as soon as ever man is capable, it causes him imme- 
diately to sin, without suffering any considerable time to pass 
without sin. And therefore, if the same propensity be con- 
tin iicri ndimnished, there will be an equal tendency to im- 
mediate sinning again, without any considerable time passing. 
And so the same will always be a disposition still immediate- 
ly to sin, with as little time passing without sin afterwards, as 
at first. The only reason that can be given why sinning must 
be immediate at first, is that the disposition is so great, that 
it will not suffer any considerable time to pass without sin ; 
and therefore, the same disposition being continued in equal 
degree, without some new restraint, or contrary tendency, it 
will still equally tend to the same effect. And though it is 
true, the propensity may be diminished, or have restraints 
laid upon it, by gracious disposals of providence, or merciful 
influences of God's spirit ; yet this is not owing to nature. 
That strong propensity of nature, by which men are so prone 
to immediate sinning at first, has no tendency in itself to a 
diminution ; but rather to an increase ; as the continued ex- 
ercise of an evil disposition, in repeated actual sins, tends to 
strengthen it more and more ; agreeable to that observation 
of Dr. Taylor's, p. 228. " We are apt to be drawn into sin 
by bodily appetites, and when once we are under the govern- 
ment of these appetites, it is at least exceeding difficult, if 
not impracticable, to recover ourselves, by the mere force of 
reason." The increase of strength of disposition in such a 
case, is as in a falling body, the strength of its tendency to de- 
scend is continually increased, so long as its motion is contin- 
ued. Not only a constant commission of sin, but a constant 
increase in the habits and practice of wickedness, is the true 



ORIGINAL SIN. 163 

tendency of man's depraved nature, if unrestrained by divine 
grace ; as the true tendency of the nature of an heavy body, 
if obstacles are removed, is not only to fall with a continued 
motion, but with a constantly increasing motion. And we 
see, that increasing iniquity is actually the consequence of 
natural depravity, in most men, notwithstanding all the res- 
traints they have. Dispositions to evil are commonly much 
stronger in adult persons, than in children, when they first 
begin to act in the world as rational creatures. 

If bin be such a thing as Dr. Taylor himself represents it, 
f. 69. " A thing of an odious and destructive nature, the 
corruption and ruin of our nature, and infinitely hateful to 
God ;" then such a propensity to continual and increasing 
sin, must be a very evil disposition. And if we may judge of 
the perniciousness of an inclination of nature, by the evil of 
the effect it naturally tends to, the propensity of man's nature 
must be evil indeed ; for the soul being immortal. Dr. Tay- 
lor acknowledges, p. 94. 5. it will follow from what has been 
observed above, that man has a natural disposition to one of 
these two things ; either to an increase of wickedness with- 
out end, or till wickedness comes to be so great, that the ca- 
pacity of his nature will not allow it to be greater. This be- 
ing what his wickedness will come to by its natural tendency, 
if divine grace does not prevent, it may as truly be said to be 
the effect which man's natural corruption tends to, as that an 
acorn in a pi-oper soil, truly tends by its nature to become a 
great tree. 

Again, that sin which is remaining in the hearts of the 
best men on earth, makes it evident, that man's nature is cor- 
rupt, as he comes into the world. A remaining depravity of 
heart in the greatest saints, may be argued IVom the sins of 
most of those who are set forth in scripture as the most emi- 
nent instances and examples of virtue and piety ; and is also 
manifest from this, That the scripture represents all God's 
children as standing in need of chastisement. Heb. xii. 6.. ..8. 
" For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth ; and scourgeth 
every Son whom he receiveth. What Son is he, whom the 
Father chasteneth not ? If ye re without chastisement, thefs 



164 ORIGINAL SIN. 

are ye bastards, and not sons." But this is directly and fully 
asserted in some places ; as in that forementioned, Eccles. vii. 
20. «' There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and 
sinneth not." Which is as much as to say, there is no man 
on earth, that is so just, as to have attained to such a degree 
of ris^hteousness, as not to commit any sin. Yea, the Apos» 
tie James speaks of all Christians as often sinning, or com- 
mitting many sins ; even in that primitive age of the Christ- 
ian church, an age distinguished from all others by eminent 
attainments in holiness ; James iii. 2, " In many things we 
all offend." And that there is pollution in the hearts of ally 
as the remainder of moral filth that was there antecedent to 
all attempts or m»ans for purification, is very plainly declar- 
ed, in Prov. xx. 9. " Who can say, I have made my heart 
clean, I am pure from my sin ?" 

According to Dr. Taylor men come into the world whol- 
ly free from sinful propensities. And if so, it appears from 
what has been already said, there would be nothing to hinder, 
but that many, without being better than they are by nature, 
might perfectly avoid the commission of sin. But much 
more might this be the case with men after they had, by care, 
diligence, and good practice, attained those positive habits of 
virtue, whereby they are at a much greater distance from sin, 
than they were naturally ; which this writer supposes to be 
the case with many good men. But since the scripture 
teaches us, that the best men in the world do often commit 
sin, and have remaining pollution of heart, this makes it 
abundantly evident, that men, when they are no otherwise 
than they were by nature, without any of those virtuous at- 
tainments, have a sinful depravity ; yea, must have great 
corruption of nature. 



ORIGINAL SIN. US 



SECTION V. 

T/ie defrravity of Nature appears-, in that the general Co7ise- 
quence of the State and Tendency of Man^s Nature is a much 
greater Degree of Sin^ than Righteousness ; not only with 
respect to Value and Dement, but Matter and Quantity. 

I HAVE before shewn, that there is a propensity in man's 
nature to that sin, which in heinousness and ill desert im- 
mensely outweighs all the value and merit of any supposed 
good, that may be in him, or that he can do. I now proceed 
to say further, that such is man's nature, in his present state, 
that it tends to this lamentable effect ; that there should at 
all times, through the course of his life, be at least much 
more sin than righteousness, not only as to weight and value, 
but as to matter and measure ; more disagreement of heart 
and practice from the law of God, and from the law of nature 
and reason, than agreement and conformity. 

The law of God is the rule of right, as Dr. Taylor often 
calls it : It is the measure of virtue and sin : So much 
agreement as there is with this rule, so much is there of rec- 
titude, righteousness, or true virtue, and no more ; and so 
much disagreement as there is with this rule, so much sin 
is there. 

Having premised this, the following things may be here 
observed. 

I. The degree of disagreement from this rule of right is 
to be determined, not only by the degree of distance from it 
in excess, but also in defect ; or in other words, not only in 
positive transgression, or doing what \s forbidden, but also in 
withholding what is required. The Divine Lawgiver does as 
much prohibit the one as the other, and does as much charge 
the latter as a sinful breach of his law, exposing to his eternal 
wrath and curse, as the former. Thus at the day of judg- 
ment, as described Matth. xxv. The wicked are condemned 



;«5 ORIGINAL SIN. 

as cursed to everlasting Jlre, for their sin in defect and omis- 
sion : / ii'as an hungred^ and ye gave me no meat^ £cc. And 
the case is thus, not only when the defect is in word or behav- 
ior, but in the inward temper and exercise of the mind. 1 
Cor. xvi. 22, " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, 
let him be Anathema Maranatha." Dr. Taylor, speaking of 
the sentence and punishment of the wicked, (Matth. xxv. 41, 
46) says, p. 159, " It was manifestly for want of benevolence, 
love, and compassion to their fellow creatures, that they were 
condemned." And elsewhere, as was observed before, he 
says, that the law of God extends to the latent firindples of 
sin \o forbid them, and to condemn to eternal destruction for 
them. And if so, it doubtless also extends to the inward 
principles of holiness, to require them, and in like manner to 
condemn for the want of them. 

II. The sum of our duty to God, required in his law, is 
love to God ; taking love in a large sense, for the true regard 
of our hearts to God, implying esteem, honor, benevolence, 
gratitude, complacence. Sec. This is not onlyVfery plain by 
the scripture, but it is evident in itself. The sum of what the 
law of God requires, is doubtless obedience to that law : No 
law can require more than that it be obeyed. But it is man- 
ifest, that obedience to God is nothing, any otherwise than as 
a testimony of the respect of our hearts to God : Without 
the heart, man's external acts are no more than the motions 
of the limbs of a wooden image, have no more of the nature 
of either sin or righteousness. It must therefore needs be 
so, that love to God, or the respect of the heart, must be the 
sum of the duty required towards God in his law. 

III. It therefore appears from the premises, that whoso- 
ever withholds more of that love or respect of heart from 
God, which his law requires, than he affords, has more sin 
than righteousness. Not only he that has less divine love, 
than passions and affections which are opposite ; but ilso he 
that does not love God half so much as he ought, or has rea- 
son to do, has justly more wrong than right imputed to him, 
according to the law of God, and the law of reason, he has 



ORIGINAL SIN. ler 

more irre8:ularity than rectitude, with regard to the law of ♦ 
love. The sinful disrespect or unrespectfulness of his heart 
to God, is greater than his respect to him. 

But what considerate person is there, even among the 
more virtuous part of mankind, but what would be ashamed 
to say, and profess before God or men, that he loves God half 
so much as he ought to do ; or that he exercises one half of 
that esteem, honor and gratitude towards God, which would be 
altogether becoming him ; considering what God is, and what 
great manifestations he has made of his transcendent excel- 
lency and goodness, and what benefits he receives from him ? 
And if few or none of the best of men can with reason and 
truth make even such a profession, how far from it must the 
generality of mankind be ? 

The chief and most fundamental of all the commands of 
the moral law, requires xis " to love the Lord our God tvith all 
our hearts^ and tvilh all our souls, with all 07ir strength^ and all 
our mind ;" that is plainly, with all that is within us, or to the 
utmost capacity of our nature ; all that belongs to, or is com- 
prehended tvithin the utmost extent or capacity of our heart 
and soul, and mind and strength, is required. God is in 
hirnself worthy of infinitely greater love, than any creature 
can exercise towards him : He is worthy of love equal to 
his perfections, which are infinite : God loves himself witli 
no greater love than he is worthy of, when he loves himself 
infinitely ; but we can give God no more than we have. 
Therefore, if we give him so much, if we love him to the ut- 
most extent of the faculties of our nature, we are excused ; 
but when what is proposed, is only that we should love him 
as much as our capacity will allow, this excuse of want of ca- 
pacity ceases, and obligation takes hold of us ; and we are. 
doubtless obliged to love God to the utmost of what is possi- 
ble for us, with such faculties, and such opportunities and 
advantages to know God, as we have. And it is evidently 
implied in this great commandment of the law, that our love 
to God should be so great, as to have the most absolute pos- 
session of all the soul, and the perfect government of all thr 
principles and springs of action that are in our nature. 



168 ORIGINAL SIN. 

Though it is not easy, precisely to fix the limits of maa*s 
capacity, as to love to God ; yet in general we raay deter- 
mine, that his capacity of love is coextended with his capacity 
of knowledge ; the exercise of the understanding opens the 
way for the exercise of the other faculty. Now, though we 
cannot have any proper positive undersanding of God's infi- 
nite excellency ; yet the capacity of the human understand- 
ing is very great, and may be extended far. It is needless to 
dispute, how far man's knowledge may be said to be strictly 
comprehensive of things that are very great, as of the extent 
of the expanse of the heavens, or of the dimensions of the 
globe of the earth, and of such a great number, as of the 
naany millions of its inhabitants. The word comprehensive 
seems to be ambiguous. But doubtless we are capable of 
some proper positive understanding of the greatness of these 
things, in comparison of other things that we know, as un- 
speakably exceeding them. We are capable of some clear 
understanding of the greatness or considerableness of a whole 
nation ; or of the whole world of mankind, as vastly exceed- 
ing that of a particular person or family. We can positively 
understand that the whole globe of the earth is vastly greater 
than a particular hill or mountain. And can have some good 
positive apprehension of the starry heavens, as so greatly ex- 
ceeding the globe of the earth, than the latter is as it were 
nothing to it. So the human faculties are capable of a real 
and clear understanding of the greatness, glory and goodness 
of God, and of our dependence upon him, from the manifes- 
tations which God has made of himself to mankind, as being 
beyond all expression above that of the most excellent human 
friend, or earthly object. And so we are capable of an esteem 
and love to God, which shall be proportionable, and as much 
exceeding that which we have to any creature. 

These things may help us to form some judgment, how 
vastly the generality of mankind fall below their duty, with 
respect to love to God ; yea, how far they are from commg 
halfway to that height of love, which is agreeable to the rule 
of right. Surely if our esteem of God, desires after him, and 
delight in him, were such as become us, considering the 



Ol^IGINAL SIN. 469 

•ihings forementioncd, they would exceed our regard to oth« 
er things as the heavens are high above the earth, and would 
swallow up all other afFections like a deluge. But how far, 
how exceeding far, are the generality of the world from any 
appearance of being influenced and governed by such a de- 
gree of divine love as this ! 

If we consider the love of God, with respect to that one 
kind of exercise of it, namely, gratitude, how far indeed do 
the generality of mankind come short of the rule of right and 
reason in this ! If we consider how various, innumerable, 
and vast the benefits are we receive from God, and how in- 
finitely great and wonderful that grace of his is, which is re- 
vealed and offered to them that live under the gospel, in that 
eternal salvation which is procured by God's giving his only 
begotten Son to die for sinners ; and also how unworthy we 
are all, deserving (as Dr. Taylor co ifesses) eternal perdition 
tinder God's wrath and curse ; how great is the gratitude 
that would become us, who are the subjects of so many and 
great benefits, and have such grace towards poor, sinful, lost 
mankind set before us in so affecting a manner, as in the ex- 
treme sufferings of the Son of God, being caiiifd through 
lliose pains by a love stronger than death, a love that conquer- 
ed those mighty agonies, a love whose length, and breadth, 
and depth, and height, passes knowledge ? But oh ! What 
poor returns I How little the gratitude ! How low, hov?" 
•fjld and inconstant the affection in the best, compared with 
the obligation ! And what then shall be said of the gratitude 
of the generality ? Or rather, who can express the ingrati- 
tude ? 

If it were so, that the greater part of them that are called 
€hristiLUis, were no enemies to Christ in heart and practice, 
were not governed by principles opposite to him and his gos- 
pel, but had some real love and gratitude ; yet if their love 
falls vastly short of the obUt;aiion or occasion given, they are 
guilty of shameful and odious ingratitude. As when a man 
has been the subject of some instance of transcendent gene- 
rosity whereby he has been relieved from the most extreme 
calamity, and brought into very opulent, honorable, and hap- 

VoL. VI. X 



iro ORIGINAL SIN. 

py circuTYistances, by a benefactor of excellent cljawcter j 
and yet expresses no more gratuude on such an occasion than 
would be requisite for some kindness comparatively infinitely 
small, he may justly fall under the imputation of vile un» 
thankfulness, and of much more ingratitude than gratitude ; 
thous^h be may have no ill will to his benefactor, or no posi- 
tive affecMon of mind contrary to thankfulness and benevo- 
lence. What is odious in him is hia defect, whereby he falls 
so vastly below his duty- 

Dr. Turnbull abund.tntly insists, that the forces of the af- 
fections naturally in man are well proportioned ; and oftem 
puts a question to this purpose :....How man's nature could 
have been better constituted in this respect ? How the affec- 
tic ns of his heart could have been better proportioned I I 
will now mention one instance, out of many that might be 
mentioned : 

Man, if his heart were not depraved, might have had a dis- 
position to gratitude to God for his goodness, in proportion t» 
his disposition to anger towards men for their injuries. When 
I say in proportion, I mean considering the greatness and 
number of favors and injuries, and the degree in which the 
one and the other are unmerited, and the benefit received by 
the former, and the damage sustained by the latter. Is there 
not an apparent and vast difference and inequality in the dis- 
positions to these two kinds of affection, in the generality of 
brth old and young, adult persons and little children ? How 
ready is resentment for injuries received from men ? An4 
how easily js it raised in most, at least to an equality with the 
desert ? And is it so with respect to gratitude for benefits 
received from God, in any degree of comparison ? Dr. Turn- 
bull pleads for the natural disposition to anger for injuries, as 
being good and useful ; but surely gratitude to God, if we 
were inclined to it, would be at least as good and useful as 
the oiher. 

How far the generality of mankind are from their duty 
with respect to love to God, will further appear, if wc consid- 
er that we are obliged not only to love him with a love of 
gratitude for benefits received ; but true love t* God primari- 



ORIGINAL SIN. IT I 

Sy consists in a supreme regard to him for what he is in 
himself. The tendency of true virtue is to treat every thing 
as it is, and according to its nature. And if we regard the 
Most High according to the infinite dignity and glory of his 
nature, we shall esteem and love him with all our heart and 
Soul, and to the utmost of the capacity of our nature, on this 
account ; and not primarily because he has promoted our in- 
terest. If God be infinitely excellent in himself, then he ic 
infinitely lovely on that account, or in other words, infinitely 
■worthy to be loved. And doubtless, if he be worthy to be 
loved for this, then he ought to be loved for this. And it is 
manifest there can be no true love to him, if he be not lo*'ed 
for what he is in himself. For if we love him not for his 
own sake, but for something else, then our love is not termi- 
nated on him, but on something else, as its ultimate object. 
That is no true value for infinite worth, which implies no 
value lor that worthiness in itself considered, but only on the 
account of something foreign. Our esteem of God is funda- 
mentally defective, if it be not primarily for the excellency of 
his nature, which is the foundation of all that is valuable in 
him in any respect. If we love not God because he is what 
he is, but only because he is profitable to us, in truth we love 
him not at all ; if we seem to love him, our love is not to 
him, but to something else. 

And now I must leave it to every one to judge for him- 
self, from his own opportunities of observation and informa- 
tion concerning mankind, hov/ little there is of this disinter- 
ested love to God, this pure divine afi'ection, in the world. 
How very little indeed in comparison of other aifections alto- 
gether diverse, which perpetually urge, actuate and govern 
mankind, and keep the world, through all nations and ages, 
in a continual agitation and commotion ! This is an evidence 
of an horrid contempt of God, reigning in the world of man- 
kind. It would justly be esteemed a great instance of disres- 
pect and contempt of a prince, if one of his subjects, when 
he came into his house, should set him below his meanest 
slave. But in setting the Infinite Jehovah below earthly ob" 
jects and enjoyments, men degrade him below those things^ 



172 ORIGINAL SIN. 

between which and him there is an infinitely greater distance, 
than between the highest earthly potentate, and the most ab- 
ject of mortals. Such a conduct as the generality of men are 
guihy of towards God, continually and through all ages, in 
innumerable respects, v/ould be accounted the most vile, con- 
temptuous treatment of a fellow creature of distinguished 
dignity. Particularly men's treatment of the offers God 
snakes of himself to them as their Friend, their Father, their 
God, and everlasting portion ; their treatment of the exhibi- 
tions he has made of his unmeasurable love, and the bound- 
less riches of his grace in Christ, attended with earnest re- 
pealed calls, counsels, expostulations and mtrealies, as also of 
the most dreadful threatenings of his eternal displeasure and 
vengeance. 

Before I finish this Section, it may be proper to say some- 
thing in reply to an objection, some may be ready to make 
against the force of that argument, which has been used to 
prove that men in general have more sin than righteousness, 
namely, thqt they do not come halfway io that degree of 
love to God, which becomes them, and is their duty. 

The objection is this : That ihe argument seems to prove 
too much, in that it will prove, that even good men themselves 
have more sin than holiness, which also has been supposed. 
But if this were true, it would follow that sin is the prevalent 
principle even in good men, and that it is the principle which 
has the predominancy in the heart and practice of the truly 
pious, which is plainly contrary to the word of God. 

I answer, if it be indeed so, that there is more sin, consist- 
ing in defect of required holiness, than there is of holiness in 
good men in this woild ; yet it will not follow that sin has 
the chief government of their heart and practice, for two rea- 
sons. 

1. They may love God more than other things, and yet 
there may not be so much love, as there is want of due love ; 
er in other words, they may love God more than the world, 
and therefore the love of God may be predominant, and yet 
may not love God near half so much as they ought to do. 
This need not be esteemed a paradox : A person may love R 



ORTGIKAL SIN. 17S 

father, mr smme f^real friend and benefactor, of a very excel- 
lent character, more than some other object, a thousand limes 
less worthy of his esteem and affection, and yet love him ten 
times less than he ought ; and so be chargeable, all things 
considered, with a deficiency in respect and gratitude, that is 
very unbecoming and hateful. If love to God prevails above 
the love of other things, then virtue will prevail above evil 
affections, or positive principles of sin ; by which principles 
St is, that sin has a positive power and influence. For evil 
affections radically consist in inordinate love to other things 
besides God ; and therefore, virtue prevailing beyond these, 
•will have the governing influence. The predominance of the 
love of God in the hearts of good men, is more from the na- 
ture of the object loved, and the nature of the principle of true 
love, than the degree of the principle. The object is one of 
supreme loveliness ; immensely above all other objects in 
worthiness of regard ; and it is by such a transcendent excel- 
lency, that he is God, and worthy to be regarded and adored 
as God ; and he that truly loves God, loves him as God : 
True love acknowledges him to be God, or to be divinely and 
supremely excellent ; and must arise from some knowledge, 
sense, and conviction of his worthiness of supreme respect; 
and though the sense and view of it may be very imperfect, 
and the love that arises from it in like manner imperfect ; yet 
if there be any realising view of such divine excellency, it 
must cause the heart to respect God above all. 

2. Another reason, why a principle of holiness maintains 
the dominion in the hearts of good men, is tiie nature of the 
covenant of grace, and the promises of that covenant, on 
■which true Christian virtue relies, and which engage God's 
strength and assistance to be on its side, and to help it against 
enemy, that it may not be overcome. The just live by faith. 
Holiness in the Christian, or his spiritual life, is maintained, 
as it has respect by faith to its author and finisher ; and de- 
Tives strength and efficacy from the divine fountain, and by 
this means overcomes. For, as the apostle says, T/iis is the 
■victory that overcomes the world., even our faith. It is our 
f^ithin him who has promised, never to leave nor forsake his 



IT4 ORIGINAL 9IN. 

people, and not to forsake the work of his own hands, nor suf* 
fer his people to be tempted above their ability, and that his 
grace shall be sufficient for them, and that his strength shall 
be made perfect in weakness, and that where he has begun t 
jood work he will carry it on to the day of Christ. 



SECTION VL 

The Corrufttion of Man's Kature afifiears by its Tendency^ in 
its present State^ to an extreme degree of Folly and Stupid- 
ity in Matters of Religion. 

IT appears, that tnan*s nature is greatly depraved, by 
an apparent proneness to an exceeding stufiidity and soitish- 
ness in those things wherein his duty and main interest are 
chiefly concerned. 

I shall instance in two things, viz. men's proneness to 
idolatry ; and so general and great a disregard of eternal 
things, as appears in them that live under the light of the 
gospel. 

It is manifest, that man's nature in its present state is at- 
tended with a great propensity to forsake the acknowledg-» 
ment and worship of the trne Cod, and to fall into the most 
stupid idolatry. This has been sufficiently proved by known 
fact, on abundant trial : Inasmuch as the world of mankind 
in general (excepting one small people, miraculously deliver-* 
cd and persevered) through all naMons, in all pans of thd 
■world, ages after ages, continued without the knowledge and 
worship of the true God, and overwhelmed in gross idolatry, 
without the least appearance or prospect of its recovering it- 
self from so great blindness, or returning from its brutish 
principles and customs, till delivered by divine grace. 



ORIGINAL SIN. lf$ 

in order to the most just arguing from fact, concerning^ 
<he tendency of man's nature, as that is in itself, it should Ije 
inquired what the event has been, where nature has been left 
to itself, to operate according to its own tendency, with least 
opposition made to it by any thing supernatural ; rather than 
in exempt places, where the infinite power and grace ol God 
have interposed, and extraordinary means have been used to 
stem the current, and bring men to true religion and virtue. 
As to he means by which God's people of old, in the line of 
Abraham, were delivered and preserved from idolatry, thef 
were miraculous, and of mere grace : Nolwithstandmg which, 
they were often relapsing into the notions and ways of the 
heathen ; and when they had backslidden, never were recov- 
ered, but by divine gracious interposition. And as to the 
means by vyhich many Gentile nations have been delivered 
since the days of the gospel, they are such as have been 
wholy owing to most wonderful, miraculous, and infinite grace. 
God was under no obligation to bestow on the heathen world 
greater advantages than they had in the ages of their gross 
darkness ; as appears by the fact, that God actually did not, 
for so long a time, bestow greater advantages. 

Dr. Taylor himself observes, (Key.^ p. 1.) " That in about 
four hundred years after the flood, the generality of mankind 
were fallen into idolatry." And thus it was every where 
through the world, excepting among that people that was 
saved and preserved by a constant series of miracles, through, 
a variety of countries, nations, and climates, g-rea( enough ; 
and through successive changes, revolutions, and ages, numc' 
rous enough^ to be a sufficient trial of what nsankind are prone 
to, if there be any such thing as a sufficient trial. 

That men should forsake the true God for idols, is an evi- 
dence of the most astonishing folly and stupidity, by God's 
awn testimony, Jer. ii. 12, IS. " Be astonished, O ye heav- 
ens, at this, and be ye horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, 
saith the Lord : For my people have committed two evils ; 
ihcy have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and 
iiave hewed out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that 
«n hold no water.** And that mankind in general did thus. 



176 ORIGINAL SIN. 

so soon after the flood, was from the evil propensity of their 
hearts, and because they did not like to retain God in their 
knonvkdge ; as is evident by Rom. i- 28. And the universal- 
ity of the effect shews that the cause was universal, and not 
any thing belonging to the particular circumstances of one, or 
only some nations or ages, but something belonging to that 
nature that is common to all nations, and that remains the 
same through all ages. And what other cause could this great 
effect possibly arise from, but a depraved disposition, natural 
to all mankind ? It could not arise from want of a sufficient 
capacity or means of knowledge. This is in effect confessed 
on all hands. Dr. Turnbull (Christian Philosophy, p. 21.) 
says as follows : " The existence of one infinitely powerful, 
wise, and good mind, the author, creator, upholder, and gov- 
ernor of all things, is a truth that lies plain and obvious to all 
that will but think." And (ibid, p. 245.) " Moral knowledge, 
which is the most important of all knowledge, may easily be 
acquired by all r.ien." And again, (ibid, p. 292.) " Every 
man by himself, if he would duly employ his mind in the 
contemplation of the works of God abnut him, or in the exam- 
ination of his own frame might make very great progress in 
the knowledge of the wisdom and goodness of God. This all 
men, generally speaking, might do, with very little assist- 
ance ; for they have all sufficient abilities for thus employing 
theirminds, and have all sufficient time for it." Mr. Locke says 
(Hu7nan Understanding, p. iv. Chap. iv. p. 242, Edit. 11.) 
" Our own existence, and the sensible parts of the universe, 
offer the proofs of a deity so clearly and cogently to our 
thoughts, that I deem it impossible for a considerate man to 
withstand them. For I judge it as certain and clear a truth, 
as can any where be delivered, that the invisible things of 
God are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being 
understood by tbc things that are made, even his eternal pow- 
er and godhead." And Dr. Taylor him' elf, (in p. 78) says, 
«< The light given to all ages and nations of the world, is suf- 
ficient for the knowledge and practice of their duty." And in 
p. Ill, 112, citing those words of the apostle, Rom. ii. 14, 
15, says, " This clearly supposes that the Gentiles, who were 



ORIGINAL SIN. 177 

then in the world, might have done the things contained in 
the law by nature, or their natural power." And in one of the 

next sentences, he says, "The apostle, in Rom. i. 19 21, 

affirms that the Gentiles had light sufficient to have seen God's 
eternal power and godhead, in the works of creation ; and 
that the reason why they did not glorify him as God, wis be- 
cause they became vain in their imaginations, and had dark- 
ened their foolish heart ; so that they were without excuse." 
And in his paraphrase on those verses in the 1st of Romans 
he speaks of the " very heathens, that were without a written 
yevelation, as having tliat clear and evident discovery of God's 
being and perfections, that they are inexcusable in not glori- 
fying him suitably to his excellent nature, and as the author 
of their being and enjoyments." And in p. 146, 5, he says, 
" God affords every man sufficient light to know his duty." 
If all ages and nations of the world have sufficient light for the 
knowledge of God, and their duty to him, then even such na- 
tions and ages, in which the most brutish ignorance and bar- 
barity prevailed, had sufficient light, if they had had but a 
disposition to improve it ; and then much more those of the 
heathen, which were more knowing and polished, and in ages 
wherein arts and learning had made greatest advances. But 
even in such nations and ages, th^^re was no advance made to- 
wards true religion ; as Dr. Winder observes (History of 
KnoivledgCy Vol. ii. p. 336) in the following words: "The 
Pagan religion degenerated into greater absurdity, the further 
it proceeded ; and it prevailed in all its height of absurdity, 
when the Pagan nations were polished to the height. Though 
they set out with the talents of reason, and had solid founda- 
tions of information to build upon, it in fact proved, that with 
all their strengthened faculties, and growing powers of reason, 
the edifice of religion rose in the most absurd deformities and 
dispositions, and gradually went on in the most irrational, dis- 
proportioned, incongruous systems, of which the most easy- 
dictates of reason would have demonstrated the absurdity. 
They were contrary to all just calculations in moral mathe- 
matics." He observes, " That their grossest abominations 
first began in Egypt, where was an ostentation of the greatest 
Vol. VI, Y 



17B ORIGINAL SIN. 

prop-ress in learning and science ; and they never renounced 
clearly any of their abominations, or openly returned to the 
worship of the one tree God, the Creator of all things, and to 
the original, genuine sentinnents of the highest and most ven- 
erable aniquity. The Pagan religion continued in this deep 
stale ofcorriipticn to the last. The Pagan Philosophers, and 
inquisitive men, made great improvements in many sciences, 
and even in morality itself ; yet the inveterate absurdities of 
Pagan idolatiy remained without remedy. Every temple 
smoked with increase to the sun and moon, and other inani- 
mate material luminaries, and earthly elements, to Jupiter, 
Juno, Mars and Venus, Sec the patrons and examples of al- 
most every vice. Hecatombs bled on the altars of a thous- 
and gods ; as mad superstitions inspired. And this was not 
the disgrace of our ignorant, untaught northern countries on- 
ly ; but even at Jihens itself, the infamy reigned, and circu- 
lated through all Greece ; and finally prevailed, amidst all 
their learning and politeness, under the Ptolejnys in Egyfit, 
and the Cesars at Rome. Now if the knowledge of the Pagan 
world, in religion, proceeded no further than this ; if they re- 
tained all their deities, even the most absurd of them their de- 
ified beasts, and deified men, even to the last breath of Pagan 
power ; wc may justly ascribe the great improvements in the 
world, on the subject of religion, to divine revelation, either 
vouchsafed in the beginning when this kno\vledp:e was com- 
petently clear and copious ; or at the death of Paganism, 
when this light slione forth in its consummate lustre at the 
coming of Christ." 

Dr. Taylor often speaks of the idolatry of the heathen 
world, as great vj/ckechiess, in which they were wholly inex- 
cusable ; and yet often speaks of their case as remediless, and 
of them as being dead in sin, and unable to recover them- 
selves. And if so, and yet, according to his own doctrine; 
every age, and every nation, and every man, had sufficient 
light afforded, to know God, and to know and do their whole 
duty to him ; then their inability to deliver themselves must 
be a moral inalMlity, consisting in a desperate depravity, anft 
most evil disposition of heart. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 179 

And if there had not been sufficient trial of the propensity 
of the hearts of mankind, throuG:h all those ages that passed 
from Abraham to Christ, the trial has been continued down 
to this day, in all those vast regions of the face of the earth, 
that have remained without any efiects of the light of the 
gospel ; and the dismal effect continues every where unvari- 
ed. How was it with that multitude of nations inhabiting 
south and north America ? What appearance was there, wheil 
the Europeans first came hither, of their being recovered, or 
recovering, in any degree, from the grossest ignorance, delu.« 
sions, and most stupid Paganism ? And how is it at this day> 
in those parts of Africa and Asia, into \yhich the light of the 
gospel has not penetrated ? 

This strong and universally prevalei^t disposition of man- 
kind to idolatry, of which there has been such great trial, and 
so notorious a^d vast proof, in fact, is a most glaring evidence 
of the exceeding depravity of the human nature; as it is a 
propensity, in the utmost degree, contrary to the highest end, 
the main business, and chief happiness of mankind, consist- 
ing in the knowledge, service, and enjoyment of the living 
God, the Creator and Governor of the world ; in the highest 
degree contrary to that for which mainly God gave mankind 
more understanding than the beasts of the earth, and made 
them wiser than the fowls of heaven ; which was, that they 
might be capable ©f the knowledge of God ; and in the high- 
est degree contrary to the first and greatest commandment 
of the moral law, that ive should have no other gods before 
Jehovah, and that we should love and adore him with all our 
heart, soul, mind, and strength. The scriptures are abundant 
in representing the idolatry of the heathen world, as their ex- 
ceeding wickedness, and their most bru'ish stupidity. They 
worship and trust in idols, are said to be like the lifeless stat- 
ues they worship, like mere senseless stocks and stones. 

Psalm cxv. 4 8, and cxxxv. 15 18. 

A second instance of the natural stufiidity of the minds of 
mankind, that I shall observe, is, that great disregard of their 
own eternal interest^ which appears so remarkably, so gener- 
ally among them that live under the gospel. 



ISO ORIGINAL SIN. 

As Mr. Locke observes (Human Understanding, Vol. I. p. 
207.) " Were the will delermhied by the views of good, as it 
appears in contemplation, greater or less to the understand- 
ing, it could never get loose from the infinite, eternal joys of 
heaven, once propo'oed, and considered as possible ; the eter- 
nal condition of a future state infinitely outweighing the ex- 
pectation of riches or honor, or any other worldly pleasure, 
which we can propose to ourselves ; though we should grant 
these the more probable to be obtained." Again (p. 228, 229^ 
" He that will not be so far a rational creature, as to reflect se- 
riously upon infinite happiness and misery, must needs con- 
demn himself, as not making that use of his understanding 
he should. The rewards and punishments of another life, 
%vhich the almighty has established, as the enforcements of 
his laws, are of weight enough to determine the choice, 
against whatsoever pleasure or pain this life can shew. When 
the eternal state is considered but in its bare possibility, which 
nobody can make any doubt of, he that will allow exquisite 
and endless happiness to be but the possible consequence of a 
good life here, and the contrary state the possible reward of a 
bad one, must own himself to judge very much amiss, if he 
does not conclude that a viriuous life, with the certain expect- 
ntion of everlasting bli-^s, which may come, is to be preferred 
To a vicious one, with the fear of that dreadful state of misery, 
which it is very possible may overtake the guilty, or at least 
the terrible, uncertain hope of annihilation. This is evident- 
ly so ; though the virtuous life heie had nothing but pain, 
and the vicious continual pleasure ; which yet is for the most 
part quite otherwise, and wicked men have not much the 
odds to brag of, even in their present possession : Nay, all 
things rightly considered, have I think even the worst part 
here. Bat when infiaiie happiness is put in one scale, against 
infinite misery in the other ; if the worst that comes to the 
pious man, if he raistahes, be the best that the wicked man 
can attain to, if he be in the right ; who can, without madness, 
run the venture ? Who in his wits would choose to come with- 
in a possibility of infinite misery ? Wuich if he miss, there 
is yet nothing to b.' go": by tint hazi-d : Whereas, on the' 



ORIGINAL SIN. 181 

other side, the sober man ventures nothing, ac^ainst infinite 
happiness to be got, if his expectation comes to pass. 

That disposition of mind which is a propensity to act 
contrary to reason, is a depraved disposition. It is not be- 
cause the facuhy of reason, which God has given to inankind, 
is not sufficient fully to discover to them, that forty, sixty, or 
an hundred years, is as nothing in comparisQn of eternity, in- 
finitely less than a second of time to an hundred years, that 
the greatest worldly prosperity and pleasure is not treated 
with most perfect disregard, in all cases where there is any 
degree of competition of earthly things, with salvation from 
exquisite, eternal misery, and the enjoyment of everlasting 
glory and felicity ; as certainly it would be, if men acted ac- 
cording to reason. But is it a matter of doubt or controver- 
sy, whether men in general do not shew a strong disposition 
to act far otherwise, from their infancy, till death is in a sen- 
sible approach ? In things that concern men's temporal in- 
terest, they easily discern the difference between things of a 
long and short continuance. It is no hard matter to convince 
men of the difference between a being admitted to the accom- 
modations and entertainments of a convenient, beautiful, well 
furnished habitation, and to partake of the provisions and 
produce of a plentiful estate for a day or a night, and having 
all given to them, and settled upon them as their own, to 
possess as long as they live, and to be their's, and their heirs 
forever. There would be no need of men's preaching ser- 
mons, and spending their strength and life, to convince men 
of the difference. Men know how to adjust things in their 
dealings and contracts one with another, according to the 
length of time in which any thing agreed for is to be used or 
enjoyed. In temporal affairs, men arc sensible that it con- 
cerns them to provide for future lime, as well as for the pres- 
ent. Thus common prudence teaches them to take care in 
summer to lay up for winter ; yea, to provide a fund, and 
get a solid estate, whence they may be supplied for a long 
time to come. And not only so, but they are willing and for- 
ward to spend and be spent, to provide that which will stand 
their children in stead, after they are dead ; though it be 



182 ORIGINAL SIN. 

quite Tincertairif who shall use and enjoy what they lay up, 
after ihey have left the world ; and if their children should 
have the comfort of it, as they desire, they will not partake 
■with them in that comfort, or have any more a portion in any 
thing under the sun. In things wliich relate to men's tempo- 
ral interest, they seem very sensible of the uncertainty of 
life, especially of the lives of others ; and to make answerable 
provision for the secuiity of their worldly interest, that no 
con&i-ierablc part of it may vest only on so uncertain a foun- 
dation, as the life of a neighbor or friend. Common discre- 
tion leads men to take good care tliat their outward posses- 
sions be well secured by a good and firm title. In worldly 
concerns men are discerning of iheir opportunities, and care- 
ful to injprove them before they are past. The husbandman 
is careful to plow his ground and sow his seed in the proper 
season, otherwise he knows he cannot expect a crop ; and 
when the harvest is come, he will not sleep avray the time ; 
for he knows, if he docs so, the crop will soon be lost. How 
careful end eagle eyed is the merchant to observe and im- 
prove his opportunities and advantages to enrich himself ? 
How apt are men to be al rmed at the appearance of danger 
to their worldly estate, or any thing that remarkably threatens 
great loss or damage to their outward interest ? And how 
will they bestir themselves in such a case, if possible to avoid 
the threatened calamity ? In things purely secular, and not 
of a moral or spiritual nature, men easily receive conviction 
by past experience, when any thing, on repeated trial, proves 
unprofitable or prejudicial, and are ready to take warning by 
what they have found themselves, and also by the experience 
of their neighbors and forefathers. 

But if we consider how men generally conduct themselves 
in things on v/hich their well being does infinitely more de- 
pend, how vast is the diversity ? in these things how cold, 
lifeless and dilatory ? With what difficulty are a few of mul- 
titudes excited to any tolerable degree of care and diligence, 
by the innumerable means used with men to make them wise 
for themselves ? And when some vigilance and activity is 
excited, how apt is it to die away, like a mere force against 



ORIGINAL SIN. 183 

a natural tendency ? What need of a constant repetition of 
admonitions and counsels, to keep the heart from falling 
asleep ? How many objections are made ? And how are 
difficulties inagnified ? And how soon is the mind discour- 
aged ? How many arguments, and often renewed, and vari- 
ously and elaborately enforced, do men stand in need of, to 
convince them of things that are selfevidert ? As that things 
which are eternal, are infinitely more important than things 
temporal, and the like. And after all, how very few are con- 
vinced effectually, or in such a manner as to induce to a prac- 
tical preference of eternal things ? How senseless are men 
of the necessity of improving their time to provide for futuri- 
ty, as to their spiritual interest, and their welfare in another 
world ! Though it be an endless futurity, and though it be 
their own personal, infinitely important good, after they are 
dead, that is to be cared for, and not the good of their child- 
ren, which they shall have no share in. Though men are so 
sensible of the uncertainty of their neighbors' lives, when any 
considerable part of their estates depends on the continuance 
of them ; how stupidly senseless do they seem to be of the 
uncertainty of their own lives, when their preservation from 
immensely great, remediless, and endless misery, is risqued 
by a present delay, through a dependence on future opportu- 
nity ? What a dreadful venture will men carelessly and bold- 
ly run, and repeat and multiply, with regard to their eternal 
salvation, who are very careful to have every thing in a deed 
or bond firm, and without a flaw ? How negligent are they 
of their special advantages and opportunities for their soul's 
good ? How hardly awakened by the most evident and im- 
minent dangers, threatening eternal destruction, yea, though 
put in mind of them, and much pains taken to point th.em 
forth, shew them plainly, and fully to represent them, if pos- 
sible to engage their attention to them ? How are they like 
the horse, that boldly rushes into the battle ? How hardly 
are men convinced by their own frequent and abundant expe- 
rience, of the unsatisfactory nature of earthly things, and the 
instability of their own hearts in their good frames and inten- 
tions ? And how hardly convinced by their ov/n ob;:ervatioti. 



184 ORIGINAL SIN. 

and Ihe experience of all past generations, of tiie uncertainty 
of life, and its enjoyments ? Psalm xlix. U, Sec. "Their 
inward thouijht is, that their houses shall continue forever. 
....Nevertheless, man being in honor, abideth not : He is 
like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly, yet 
their posterity approve their sayings. Like sheep are they 
laid in the grave." 

In these things, men that are prudent for their temporal 
interest, act as if they were bereft of reason : « They have 
eyes, and see not ; ears, and hear not ; neither do they un- 
derstand : They are like the horse and mule, that have no 
xmderstanding." Jer. viii. 7. " The stork in the heaven 
knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and the 
crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming i 
but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." 

These things are often mentioned in scripture, as eviden- 
ces of extreme folly and stupidity, wherein men act the part 
of enemies to themselves, as though they loved their own ru- 
in ; Prov. viii. 36. « Laying wait for their own blood." Prov. 
i. 18. And how can these things be accounted for, but by 
supposing a most wretched depravity of nature ? Why oth- 
erwise should not men be as wise for themselves in spiritual 
and eternal things, as in temporal ? All Christians will con- 
fess that man's faculty of reason was given him chiefly to ena- 
ble him to understand the former, wherein his main interest, 
and true happiness consists. This faculty would therefore 
undoubtedly be every way as fit for the understanding of 
them, as the latter, if net depraved. The reason why these 
are understood, and not the other, is not that such things as 
have been mentioned, belonging to men's spiritual eternal in- 
tere-it, are more obscure and abstruse in their own nature- 
For instance, the difference between long and short, the need 
of providing for futurity, the importance of improving proper 
opportunities, and of having good security, and a sure foun- 
dation, in affairs wherein our interest is greatly concerned, &c. 
these things are as plain in themselves in religious matters, 
as in other matters. And we have far greater means to as- 
sist us to be wise for ourselves in eternal, than in temporal 



ORIGINAL SIN. 185 

things. We have the abundant instruction of perfect and 
infinite wisdom itself, to lead and conduct us in the paths of 
righteousness, so that we may not err. And the reasons of 
things are most clearly, variously, and abundantly set before 
us in the word of God ; which is adapted to the faculties of 
mankind, tending greatly to enlighten and convince the 
mind : Whereas we have no such excellent and perfect 
rules to instruct and direct us in things pertaining to our tem- 
poral interest, nor any thing to be compared to it. 

If any should say, it is true, if men gave full credit to what 
they are told concerning eternal things, and these appeared 
to thetm as real and certain things, it would be an evidence 
of a sort of madness in them, that they shew no greater re- 
gard to them in practice ; but there is reason to think, this 
is not the case, the things of another world being unseen 
things, appear to men as things of a very doubtful nature, and 
attended with great uncertainty. In answer, I would observe, 
agreeably to what has been cited from Mr. Locke, though 
eternal things were considered in their bare possibility, if 
men acted rationally, they would infinitely outvvei>;(h all tem- 
poral things in their influence on their hearts. And I would 
also observe, that the supposing eternal things not to be fully 
believed, at least by them who enjoy the light of the gospel, 
does not weaken, but rather strengthen the argument ior the 
depravity of nature. For the eternal world being what God 
had chiefly in view in the creation of men, and the things of 
this world being made to be wholly subordinate to the otlier, 
man's state here being only a state of probation, prepara- 
tion, and progression, with respect to the fuiure state, 
and so eternal things being in effect men's all, their whole 
concern ; to understand and know vi'hich, it chiefly viras, that 
they had understanding given them ; and it concerning them 
infinitely more to know the truth of eternal things than any 
other, as all that are not infidels will own ; therefore we may 
undoubtedly conclude, that if men have not respect to them 
as real and certain things, it cannot be for want of sufficient 
evidence of their truth, to induce them so to regard them ; 
especially as to them that live under that light, which God 

Vol. VI. Z 



186 ORIGINAL SIN. 

has appointed as the most proper exhibition of the nature and 
evidence of these things ; but it must be from a dreadful stu- 
pidity of mind, occasioning a sottish insensibiUty of their truth 
and importance, Avhen manifested by the clearest evidence. 



SECTION VII. 

That Man's nature is corrufit, afifiears in that vastly the greater 
part of mankind.) in all ages, have been wicked Men. 

THE depravity of man's nature appears, not only in its 
propensity to sin in sowze degree, which renders a man an 
evil or wicked man in the eye of the law, and strict justice, as 
was before shewn ; but it is so corrupt, that its depravity ei- 
ther shews that men ai-e, or tends to make them to be, of 
such an evil character, as shall denominate them wicked men, 
according to the tenor of the covenant of grace. 

This may be argued from several things which have been 
already observed ; as from a tendency to continual sin, a 
tendency to much greater degrees of sin than righteousness, 
and from the general extreme stupidity of mankind. But 
yet the present state of man's nature, as implying or tending 
to a wicked character, may be worthy to be more particularly- 
considered, and directly proved. And in general, this ap- 
pears in that there have been so very few in the world, from 
age to age, ever since the world has stood, that have been of 
any other character. 

It is abundantly evident in scripture, and is what I sup- 
pose none that call themselves Christians will deny, that the 
whole world is divided into good and bad, and tliat all mankind 
at the day of judgment will either be approved as righteous, 
or condemned as wicked ; either glorified as children of the 
kingdorn, or cast into a furnace of fire, as children of the imked 



ORIGINAL SIN. 18? 

I need not stand to shew what things belong to the char- 
acter of such as shall hereafter be accepted as righteous, ac- 
cording to the word of God- It may be sufficient for my 
present purpose, to observe what Dr. Taylor himself speaks 
of. as belonging essentially to the character of such. In p. 
20:5, he says, " This is infallibly the character of true Christ- 
ians, and what is essential to such, that tliey have really mor- 
tifiefl the flesh with its lusis ; they are dead to sin, and live no 
longer therein ; the old man is crucified, and the body of sin 
destroyed ; they yield themselves to God, as those that arc 
alive from the dead, and their members as instruments of 
righteousness to God, and as servants of righteousness to ho- 
liness." There is more to the like purpose in the two next 
ptiges. In p. 228, he says, " Whatsoever is evil and corrupt 
in us, we ought to condemn ; not so, as it shall still remain 
in us, that we may always be condemning it, but that Ave may 
speedily reform, and be efiectuaily delivered from it ; other- 
wise certainly we do not come up to the character of the true 
disciples of Christ." 

In page 248, he says, " Unless God's favor be preferred 
before all other enjoyments whatsoever, unless there be a de- 
light in the worship of God, and in converse with him, unless 
every appetite be brought into subjection to reason and truth, 
and unless there be a kind and benevolent disposition towards 
our fellow creatures, how can the mind be fit to dwell with 
God, in his house and family, to do him service in his king- 
dom, and to promote the happiness of any part of his crea- 
tion." And in his Key, §286, page 101, 102, &c. shewing 
there, ivhat it is to be a true C/iristia?!, he says among other 
things, " That he is one who has such a sense and persuasion 
of the love of God in Christ, that he devotes his life to the 
honor and service of God, in hope of eternal glory. And 
that to the character of a true Christian, it is absolutely neces- 
sary that he diligently study the things that are fieely given 
him of God, viz. his election, regeneration, 8cc. that he may 
gain a just knowledge of those inestimable privileges, may 
taste that the Lord is gracious, and rejoice in the gospel sal- 
vation, as his greatest happiness and glory. It is necessary 



188 ORIGINAL SIN. 

that he work these blessings on his heart, till they become a 
vital principle, producing in him the love of God, engaging 
him to all cheerful obedience to his will, giving him a proper 
dignity and elevation of soul, raising him above the best and 
worst of this world, carrying his heart into heaven, and fixing 
his affections and regards upon his everlasting inheritance} 
and the crown of glory laid up for him there. Thus he is 
armed against all the temptations and trials resulting from 
any pleasure or pain, hopes or fears, gain or loss, in the 
present world. None of these things move him from a 
faithful discharge of any part of his duty, or from a firm at- 
tachment to truth and righteousness ; neither counts he his 
very life dear to him, that he may do the will of God, and 
finish his course with joy. In a sense of the love of God in 
Christ, he maintains daily communion with God, by reading 
and meditating on his word. In a sense of his own infirmity, 
and the readiness of the divine favor to succor him, he daily 
addresses the throne of grace, for the renewal of spiritual 
strength, in assurance of obtaining it, through the one Media- 
tor Christ Jesus. Enlightened and directed by the heavenly 
doctrine of the gospel," Sec* 

Now 1 leave it to be judged by every one that has any de- 
gree of impartiality, whether there be not sufficient grounds 
to think, from what appears every where, that it is but a very 
small part indeed, of the many myriads and millions which 
overspread this globe, who are of a character that in any wise 
answers these descriptions. However, Dr. Taylor insists 
that all nations, and every man on the face of the earth, have 
light and means sufficient to do the whole will of God, even 
they that live in the grossest darkness of paganism. 

Dr. Taylor in answer to arguments of this kind, very im- 
pertinently from time to lime objects, that we are no judges 
of the viciousness of men's characters, nor are able to decide 
in what degree they are virtuous or vicious. As though we 

» What Dr. TurnbuU says ot the character of a good man, is also worthy 
to be observed, ihiistian Philosophy p. 86,258, 259, 2881 375, 376, 409, 
410. 



ORIGINAL SIN. i89 

could have no good grounds to judge, that any thing apper- 
taining to the qualities or properties of the mind, which is in- 
visible, is general or prevailing among a multitude or collec- 
tive body, unless we can determine how it is with each indi- 
vidual. I think I have sufficient reason, from what I know 
and have heard of the American Indians, to judf^e, that there 
are not many good philosophers among them ; though the 
thoughts of their hearts, and the ideas and knowledge they 
have in their minds, are things invisible ; and though I have 
never seen so much as a thousandth part of the Indians ; and 
with respect to most of them, should not be able to pronounce 
peremptorily concerning any one, that he was not very know- 
ing in the nature of things, if all should singly pass before me. 
And Dr. Taylor himself seems to be sensible of the false- 
ness of his own conclusions, that he so often urges against 
others ; if we may judge by his practice, and the liberties he 
takes, in judging of a multitude himself. He, it seems, is 
sensible that a man may have good grounds to judge, that 
wickedness of character is general in a collective body ; be- 
cause he openly does it himself. (JK^ey, p. 102.) After declar- 
ing the things which belong to the character of a true Christ- 
ian, he judges of the generality of Christians, that they have 
cast off these things, that they are a fieofile that do err in their 
hearts, and have not knotvn God's ways. P. 259, he judges that 
the generality of Christians are the jnost wicked of all mankind ; 
when he thinks it will throw some disgrace on the opinion of 
such as he opposes. The like we have from time to time in 
other places, as p. 168, p. 258. Key, p. J27, 128. 

But if men are not sufficient judges, whether there are 
few of the world of mankind but what are wicked, yet doubt- 
less God is sufficient, and his judgment, often declared in his 
word, determines the matter. Matth. vii. 13, 14. " Enter ye 
in at the strait gate ; for wide is the gate, and broad is the 
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in 
thereat : Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way 
that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it." It is man- 
ifest, that here Christ is not only describing the state of things, 
as it was at that day, and does not mention \\\q comparative 



190 ORIGINAL SIN. 

smallness of the number of them that are saved, as a conse- 
quence of the peculiar perverseness of that people, and of 
that generation ; but as a consequence of the general citcum- 
stances of the way to life, and the way to destruction, the 
broadness of the one, and tlie narrowness of the other. In 
the straitness of the gate. Sec. I suppose none will deny, that 
Christ has respect to the strictness of those rules, which he 
had insisted on in the preceding sermon, and which render 
the way to life very difncult to mankind. But certainly these 
amiable rules would no; be difficult, Mere they not contrary to 
the natural inclinations of men's hearts ; and they would not 
be contrary to those inclinations, were these not depraved. 
Consequently the wideness of the gate, and broadness of the 
T,vay, that leads to destruction, in consequence of which many 
go in thereat, must imply the agrceableness of this way to 
inen's natural inclinations. The like reason is given by- 
Christ, why few arc saved. Luke xiii. 23, 24. " Then said 
one unto him, Lord, are there few savfed ? And he said unto 
them, strive to enter in at the strait gate : For many I say 
unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.'"' That 
there are generally but few good men in the world, even 
among them that have those most distinguishing and glori- 
ous advantages for it, which they are favored v/ith, that live 
under the gospel, is evident by that saying of our Lord, from 
time to time in his mouth, 7nany are called, but Jew are chosen. 
And if there are but few among these, how few, how very 
few indeed, must persons of this character be, compared with 
the whole world of mankind ? The exceeding smallness of 
the number of trne saints, compared with the whole world, 
appears by the representations often made of them as distin- 
guished from the world ; in which they are spoken of as call- 
ed and chosen out of the world, redeemed from the earth, 
redeemed from among men ; as being those that are of God, 
while the whole world lielh in wickedness, and the like. And 
if we look into the Old Testament, we shall find the same 
testimony given. Prov. xx. 6. " Most men will proclaim 
every man his own goodness : But a faithful man who can 
find ?" By a faithful man, as the phrase is used in scripture,. 



ORIGINAL SIN, 191 

is intended much the same as a sincere, upright, or truly- 
good man ; as in Psal. xii. 1, and xxxi. 23, and ci. 6, and oth- 
er places. Again, Eccl. vii. 25. ...29. " I applied mine heart 
to know, and to search, and to find out wisdom, and the rea- 
son of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of 
foolishness and madness : And I find more bitter than death, 
the woman whose heart is snares, Sec. ..Behold, this have I 
found, sailh the preacher, counting one by one, to find out 
the account, which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not : One 
man among a thousand have I found ; but a woman among 
all these have I not found. Lo, this only have I found, that 
God made man upright ; but they have sought out many in- 
ventions." Solomon here signifies, that when he set him- 
self diligently to find out the account or proportion of true 
wisdom, or thorough uprightness among men, the result was, 
that he found it to be but as one to a thousand, &c. Dr. Tay- 
lor on this place, p. 184, says, " The v/ise man in the context, 
is inquiring into the corruption and depravity of mankind, of 
the men and women, that lived iij. his time." As though what 
he said represented nothing of the state of things in the world 
in general, but only in his time. But does Dr. Taylor or any 
body else, suppose this only to be the design of that book, to 
represent the vanity and evil of the v.'orld in that time, and to 
shew that all was vanity and vexation of spirit in Solomon's 
day ? (Which day truly we have reason to think, was a day of 
the greatest smiles of heaven on that nation, that ever had 
been on any nation from the foundation of tiie world.) Not only 
does the subject and argument of the whole book shew it to 
be otherwise ; but also the declared design of the book in the 
first chapter ; where the world is represented as very much 
the same, as to the vanity and evil it is full of, from age to 
age, making little or no progress, after all its revolutions and 
restless motions, labors and pursuits, like the sea, that has all 
the rivers constantly emptying themselves into it, from age 
to age, and yet is never the fuller. As to that place, Prov. 
XX. 6. « A faithful man, who can find ?" There is no more 
reason to suppose that the wise man has respect only to his 
time, in thesewords, than in those immediately preceding, 



192 ORIGINAL SIN. 

counsel in the heart of a man is like decji waters ; but a man of 
jmderstanding -will draw it out. Or in the words next follow- 
ing, The just man noalketh in his integrity : His children are 
blessed after him. Or in any other Proverb in the whole book. 
And if it were so, that Solomon in these things meant only to 
describe is own times, it would not at all weaken the argu- 
ment. For, if we observe the history of the Old Testament, 
there is reason to think there never was any time from Josh- 
ua to the captivity, wherein wickedness was more restrained, 
and virtue and religion more encouraged and promoted, than 
in David's and Sclomon's times. And if there was so little 
true piety in that nation that was the only people of God un- 
der heaven, even in their very best times, what may we sup- 
pose concerning the world in general, take one time with 
another ? 

Notwithstanding what some authors advance concerning 
the prevalence of virtue, honesty, good neighborhood, cheer- 
fulness, 8cc. in the world ; Solomon, whom we may justly 
esteem as wise and just an observer of human nature, and 
the state of the world of mankind, as most in these days (be- 
sides, Christians ought to remember, that he wrote by divine 
inspiratioT ) judged the world to be so full of wickedness, that 
it was better never to be born, than to be born to live only in 
such a world. Eccles iv. at the beginning. « So I returned 
and considered ail the oppressions that are done under the 
sun; and behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and 
they had no comforter : And on the side of their oppressors 
there was power ; but they had no comforter. Wherefore, I 
praised the dead, which were already dead, more than the liv- 
ing, which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, 
which hath not yet been ; who hath not seen the evil work 
'that is done imder the sun." Surely it will not be said that 
Solomon has only respect to his times here too, when he 
speaks of the opprc-sions of them that were in power : since 
he himself, and others appohited by him, and wholly under 
bis control, were the men that weie in power in that land, and 
in almost all the neighboring countries. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 19S 

The same inspired writer say*?? Eccles. ix. 3. " The heart 
of the sons of men is full of evil ; and madness is in their 
heart while they live ; and after that they go to the dead." 
If these general expressions are to be understood only of some, 
and those the less part, when in general, truth, honesty, good 
nature, &c. govern the world, why are such general express- 
ions from time to time used ? Why does not this wise and 
noble, and great soul'd Prince express himself in a more gen- 
erous and benevolent strain, as well as more agreeable to 
truth, and say. Wisdom is in the hearts of the sons of Ken ivhile 
they live, Sec. .instead of leaving in his writings so many sly, 
illnatured suggestions, which pour such contempt on the hu- 
man nature, and tend so much to excite mutual jealousy and 
malevolence, to taint the minds of mankind through all gene- 
rations after him ? 

If we consider the various successive parts and periods of 
the duration of the world, it will, if possible, be yet more evi- 
dent, that vastly the greater part of mankind have, in all ages, 
been of a wicked character. The short accounts we have of 
Adam and his family are such as lead us to suppose, that far 
the greatest part of his posterity in his life time, yea, in the 
former part of his life were wicked. It appears, that his eld- 
est son, Cain, was a very wicked man, who slew his right- 
eous brother Abel. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty 
years before Seth was born ; and by that time, we may sup- 
pose, his posterity began to be considerably numerous : 
When he was born, his mother called his name Seth ; for God, 
said she, hath appointed jne another seed instead of Abel. Which 
naturally suggests this to our thoughts ; that of all her seed 
then existing, none were of any such note for religion and 
vii'tue, as that their parents could have any great comfort in 
them, or expectation from them on that acrount. And by 
the brief hisiory we have, it looks as if (however there might 
be some intervals of a revival of religion, yet) in the general, 
mankind grew more and more corrupt till the flood. It is 
Signified, that tohsji men began to multiply 07i the face of the 
earthy wickedness prevailed exceedingly. Gen. vi. at the be» 
ginning. And that before God appeared to Noah, ro com^ 

Vol, VI a A 



194 ORIGINAL SIN. 

mand him to build the Ark, one hundred and twenty years be- 
fore the flood, the world had long continued obstinate in great 
and general wickedness, and the disease was become invete- 
rate. The expressions we have in the 3, 5, and 6 verses of 
that chapter suggest as much : " And the Lord said, my 
Spirit shall not always strive with man ; and God saw, that 
the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every 
imagination of the thought of his heart was evil, only evil 
continually ; and it repented the Lord, that he had made man 
on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." And by that 
Unie, all Jlesh hod corrufUed his ivay nfion the ear(h, v. 12. 
And as Dr. Taylor himself observes, p. 122. « Mankind 
were universally debauched into lust, sensuality, rapine, and 
injustice." 

And with respect to the period after the flood, to the call- 
ing of Abraham ; Dr. Taylor says, as has been already ob- 
served, that in about four hundred years after the flood, the 
ffetaerality of mankind were fallen into idolatry ; which was 
^'efore the passing away of one generation ; or before all they 
were dead, that came out of the Ark. And it cannot be 
thought, the world sunk into that so general and extreme de- 
gree of corruption, all at once ; but that they had been grad- 
ually growing more and more corrupt ; though it is true, it 
tnust be by very swift degrees, (however soon we may sup- 
pose they began) to get to that pass in one age. 

And as to the period from the calling of Abraham to the 
cbining of Christ, Dr. Taylor justly observes as follows : 
fKey^ p. 133.) " If we reckon from the call of Abraham to 
the coming of Christ, the Jewish dispensation continued one 
thousand nine hundred and twentyonc years ; during which 
period, the other families and nations of the earth, not only 
lay out 01 God's peculiar kingdom, but also lived in idolatry, 
great ignorance, and wickedness." And with regard to that 
one only exempt family or nation of the Israelites, it is evi- 
dent that wickedness was the generally prevailing character 
among them, from age to age. If we consider how it was 
with Jacob's family, the behavior of Reuben with his father's 
concubine, the bel>avior of Judah with Tamar, the conduct of 



ORIGINAL SIN. 195 

Jocob's sons in general (though Simeon and Levi were lead- 
ing) towards the Shechemites, the behavior of Joseph's ten 
brethren in their cruel treatment of him ; we cannot think,, 
that the character of true piety belonged to many of them, ac- 
according to Dr. Taylor's own notion of such a character ; 
though it be true, they might afterwards repent. And with 
respect to the time the children of Israel were in Egypt ; the 
scripture, speaking of them in general, or as a collective 
body, often represents them as complying with the abomina- 
ble idolatries of the country.* And as to that generation 
which went out of Egypt, and wandered in the wilderness, 
they are abundantly represented as extremely and alniobt uni- 
versally wicked, perverse, and children of divine wrath. And 
after Joshua's death, the scripture is very express, that wick- 
edness was the prevailing character in the nation, from age to 
age. So it was till Samuel's time. 1 Sum. viii. 7, 8. " They 
have rejected me, that I should not reign over them ; accord- 
ing to all their works which they have done, since the day 
that I brought them out of Egypt, unto this day." Yea, so it 
was till Jeremiah and Ezekiel's time. Jer. xxxii. 30, 31, 
" For the children of Israel, and the children of Jiulah, have 
only done evil before me from their youth ; for the children 
of Israel have only provoked me to anger v.ith the work of 
their hands, saith the Lord : For this city hath been to me a 
provocation of mine anger, and of my fury, from the day they 
built it, even unto this day." (Compare chap. v. 21, 23, and 
chap. vii. 25. ...27.) So Ezek. ii. 3, 4, " I send thee to the 
children of Israel, to a rebellious nation, that hath rebelled 
against me, they and their fathers have transgressed against 
me, even unto this very day : For they are impudent children, 
and stiffhearted." And it appears by the discourse of Ste- 
phen (Acts vii.) that this was generally the case with that na- 
tion, from their first rise, even to the days of the apostles. Af- 
ter his summary rehearsal of the instances of their perverse- 
ness from the very time of their selling Joseph into Egypt, 
he concludes (Verse 51.... 53.) " Ye stiffnecked, and uncir- 

* Levit. xvii. 7. Josh, v, 9, and xxiv, 14. Ezek. xx, 7, 8, and xxiii. 3. 



196 ORIGINAL SIN. 

cumcised in heart and cars, ye do always resist the Holy 
Ghost. As your Fathers did, so do ye. Which of the Proph- 
ets have not your Fathers persecuted ? And they have slain 
them which shewed before of the coming of that just one, of 
■whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers : 
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and 
have not kept it." 

Thus it appears, that v.'ickedness was the generally pre- 
vailing character in all the nations of mankind, till Christ 
came. And so also it appears to have been since his coming 
to this day. So in the age of the apostles ; though then, 
among those that were converted to Christianity, were great 
numbers of persons eminent for piety ; yet this was not the 
case with the greater part of the world, or the greater part of 
any one nation in it. There was a great number of persons 
of a truly pious character in the latter part of the apostolic 
age, when multitudes of converts had been made, and Christ- 
ianity Avas as yet in its primitive purity. But what says the 
Apostle John of the church of God at that time, as compared 
with the rest of the world ? 1 John v. 19. " W^e know that 
we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." 
And after Christianity came to prevail, to that degree, that 
Christians had the upper hand in nations and civil communi- 
ties, still the greater part of mankind remained in their old 
heathen state ; which Dr. Taylor speaks of as a state of great 
ignorance and ivickedness. And besides, this is noted in all 
ecclesiastical history, that as the Christians gained in power 
and secular advantages, true piety declined, and corruption 
and wickedness prevailed among them. And as to the state 
of the Christian world, since Christianity began to be estab- 
lished by human laws, wickedness for the most part has 
greatly prevailed ; as is very notorious, and is implied in 
what Dr. Taylor himself says : He, in giving an account how 
the doctrine of Oriij,inal Sin came to prevail among Christians, 
says, p. 167. 5. '^ That the Christian religion was very early 
and grievously corrupted, by dreaming, ignorant, supersti- 
tious monks." In p. 259, he says, '' The generality of Christ- 
'::ins have embraced this persuasion concerning Original Siu ; 



ORIGINAL SIN. 19? 

and the consequence has been, that the generality of Christ- 
ians have been the most wicked, lewd, bloody, and treacher- 
ous of all mankind." 

Thus, a view of the several successive periods of the past 
duration of the world, from the beginning to this day, shews, 
that wickedness has ever been exceeding prevalent, and has 
had vastly the superiority in the world. And Dr. Taylor him- 
self in effect owns that it has been so ever since Adam first turn- 
ed into the way of transgression, p. 168. » It is certain f says he) 
the moral circumstances of mankind, since the lime Adam first 
turned into the way of transgression, have been very different 
from a state of innocence. So far as we can judge from his- 
tory, or what we know at present, the greatest part of mankind 
have been, and still are very corrupt, though not equally so 
in every age and place." And lower in the same page, he 
speaks of Adam^s jiosterity^ as having sunk t/ierjtselves into the 
most lamentable degrees of ignorance, sii/ierstition, idolatri/j in- 
justice, debauchery, Sec. 

These things clearly determine the point, concerning the 
tendency of man's nature to wickedness, if we may be allow- 
ed to proceed according to such rules and methods of reason- 
ing, as are universally made use of, and never denied, or 
doubted to be good and sure, in experimental philosophy ;* 
or may reason from experience and facts, in that manner 
which comnion sense leads all mankind to in other cases. If 
experience and trial will evince any thing at all concerning 
the natural disposition of the hearts of mankind, one would 
think the experience of so many ages, as have elapsed since 
the beginning of the world, and the trial as it were made by 
hundreds of different nations together, for so long a time, 
should be sufficient to convince all, that wickedness is agree- 
able to the nature of mankind in its present state. 

* Dr. Turnbull, though so great an enemy to the Joctrine of the Depravi- 
Uy of Nature, yet greatly insists upon it, that the experimental method 
of reasoning ought to be gone into in moral matters, and things pertaining 
to the human nature, and should chiefly bq relied upon, in moral, as well as 
ratijral philosophy. See Mrod. to Mar. Phil. 



'-^^ ORIGINAL SIK. 

Here, to strengthen the argument, if there were any need 
of it, I might observe some further evidences than those 
■which have been already mentioned, not only of the ex^en? 
and generality of the prevalence of wickedness in the world, 
but of the height to which it has risen, and the degree in 
which it has reigned. Among innumerable things which 
shew this, I shall now only observe this, viz. the degree in 
■which mankind have from age to age been hurtful one to 
another. Many kinds of brute animals are esteemed very 
noxious and destructive, many of them very fierce, voracious, 
and many very poisonous, and the destroying of them has al- 
-vvays been looked upon as a public benefit ; but have not 
mankind been a thousand times as hurtful and destructive as 
any one of them, yea, as all the noxious beasts, birds, fishes, 
and reptiles in the earth, air, and water, put together, at least 
of all kinds of animals that are visible ? And no creature can 
be found any where so destructive of its own kind as mankind 
are. All others for the most part are harmless and peacea- 
ble, with regard to their own species. Where one wolf is 
destroyed by another wolf, one viper by another, probably a 
thousand of mankind are destroyed by those of their own spe- 
cies. Well, therefore, might our blessed Lord say, when send- 
ing forth his disciples into the world, 3Iatth. x. 16, 17, Be- 
hold, I send xjou forth as sheefi in the midst qfivolves ;....but 
BEWAiiE OF MEx. As much as to say, I send you forth as 
slieep among wolves. But why do I say, wolves ? I send you 
forth into the wide world of 7?u?i,that are fur more hurtful and 
pernicious, and that you had much more need to beware of, 
than wolves. 

It would be strange indeed, that this should be the state 
of the world of mankind, the chief of the lov>'er creation, dis- 
tinguished above all by reason, to that end that they might be 
capable of religion, Avhich summarily consists in love, if men, 
as they come into the woild, are in their nature innocent and 
harmless, undepraved, and perfectly free from all evil propen- 
sities. 



ORIGINAL SIN. i^9 



SECTION VIII. 

7he native Depravity of Mankind afi/iears, in that there haa 
been so little good effect of so manifold and great means 
used to promote Virtue in the World. 

THE evidence of the native corruption of mankind, ap- 
pears much more glaring, when it is considered that the 
world has been so generally, so constantly, and so exceed- 
ingly corrupt, notwithstanding the various, great and continu- 
al means, that have been used to restrain men from sin, and 
promote virtue and true religion among them. 

Dr. Taylor supposes all that sorrow an^ death, which 
came on mankind,in consequence of Adam's sin, was brought 
on them by God, in great favor to them ; as a benevolent 
Father, exercising an wholesome disci/iline towards his child- 
ren, to restrain thetn from sin, by increasing the vanity of all 
earthly things, to abate their force to tempt and delude ; to 
induce them to be moderate in gratifying the appetites of 
the body ; to mortify pride and ambition ; and that men 
might always have before their eyes a striking demon- 
stration^ that sin is ivfnitely hateful to God, by a sight of 
that, than loMch nothing is more proper to give them the 
utmost abhorrence of iniquity, and to fix in their minds u2 
sense of the dreadful consequences of sin. Sec. &c. And ill 
general, that they do not come as. punishments, but purely as 
means to keep men from vice, and to make them better. If 
it be so, surely they are great means indeed. Here is a 
mighty alteration : Mankind, once so easy and happy, health- 
ful, vigorous and beautiful, rich in all the pleasant and abund- 
ant blessings of Paradise, now turned out, destitute, weak, 
and decaying, into a wide, barren world, yitlding biias's and 
thorns, instead of the delightful growth and sweet fruit of the 
garden of Eden, to wear out life in sorrow and toil, on the 



2D9 ORIGINAL SIN. 

ground cursed for his sake ; and at last, either through long 
languislinient and lingering decay, or severe pain and acute 
disease, to expire and turn to putrefaction and dust. If these 
are only used as medicines, to prevent and to cure the diseases 
of the mind, they are sharp medicines indeed, especially 
death ; which, to use Hczekiah's representation, is, as it 
were, breaking' all his bonea : And one would think, should 
be very efieciual, if the subject had no depravity, no evil and 
contrary bias, to resist and hinder a proper effect ; especially 
in the old world, when the thiiig which was the first occasion 
of this terrible alteration, this severity of means, was fresh in 
memory, Adam continuing alive near two thirds of the time 
that passed before the flood ; so that a very great part of 
those that were alive till the flood, might have opportunity 
of seeing and conversing with him, and hearing from his 
mouth, not only an account of his fall, and the introduction of 
the awful consequences of it, but also of his first finding him- 
self in existence in the new created world, and of the creation 
of Eve, and the things which passed between him and his 
Creator in Paradise. 

But what was the success of these great means, to restrain 
men from sin, and to induce them to virtue ? Did they prove 
sufficient ? Instead of this, the world soon grew exceeding 
corrupt, till it came to that, to use our author's own words, 
that manki7id were universally debauched into lust, sensualitijy 
rapine, and injustice. 

Then God used further means : He sent A''oah, a preach- 
er of righteousness, to warn the world of the universal de- 
struction which would come upon them by a flood of waters, 
if they went on in sin. Which warning he delivered with 
these circumstances, tending to strike their minds, and com- 
mand their attention ; that he immediately went about ouild- 
ing that vast structure of the ark, in which he must employ 
a great number of hands, and probably spent all he had in 
the world, to save himself and his family. And under these 
uncommon means God wailed upon them one hundred and 
twenty years ; but all to no effect. The whole world, for 
ought appears, continued obstinate, and absolutely incorrigi- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 201 

hie ; so that nothing remained to be done with them, but ut- 
terly to destroy the inhabitants of the earth, and to begin a 
new world from that single family who had distinguished 
themselves by their \irtue, that from ihem might be propaga- 
ted a new and purer race. Accordingly this was done ; and 
the inhabitants of this new world, of Noah's posterity, had 
these new and extraordinary means to restrain sin, and excite 
to virtue, in addition to the toil, sorrow, and common mortality, 
which the world had been subjected to before, in consequence 
of Adam's sin, viz. that God had newly testified his dreadful 
displeasure for sin, in destroying the many millions of man- 
kind, all at one blow, old and young, men, women and child- 
ren, without pity on any for all the dismal shrieks and cries 
which the world was filled with ; when they themselves, the 
remaining family, were so wonderfully distinguished by God's 
preserving goodness, that they might be a holy seed, being 
delivered from the corrupting examples of the old world, and 
being all the offspring of a living parent, whose pious instruc- 
tions and counsels they had, to enforce these things upon 
them, to prevent sin, and engage them to their duty. And 
these inhabitants of tl-.e new earih, must for a long time, have 
before their eyes many <.vidciit, and as it were, fresh and 
striking effects a!id sit. us of that universal destruction, to be a 
continual, uffccung admonition to them. And besides all this, 
God now shortened the life of man, to about one half of what 
it used to be. The shortening man's life. Dr. Taylor says, 
page 68, " was, that the wild range of ambi'ion and lust might 
be brought into narrower bounds, and have less opportunity 
of doing mischief ; and that death, being still nearer to our 
view, might be a more powerful tnotive to regard less the 
things of a transitory world, and to attend more to the rules 
v">f truth and wisdom." 

And now let us observe the consequence. These new 
and extraordinary meacs, in addition to the former, were so 
far from provnig sufficient, that the new world degenerated, 
and became corrupt by such swift degrees^that, as Dr. Taylor 
observes, mankind in general were sunk into idolatry in about 

Vol. VI. 2 B 



20S ORIGINAL SlM. 

four hundred years after the flood, and so in about fifty ycatB 
after Noah's death. They became so wicked and bruiish, as 
to forsake the true God, and turn to the worship of inanimate 
creatures. 

When things were come to this dreadful pass, God was 
pleased, for a remedy, to introduce a new and wonderful dis- 
pensation ; separating a particular family and people from all 
the rest of the world, by a series of most astonishing miracles, 
done in the open view of the world, and fixing their dwelling, 
as it were in the rnidst of the earth, between Asia, Europe and 
Africa, and in the midst of those nations which were most 
considerable and famous for power, knowledge, and arts, that 
God might, in an extraordinary manner, dwell among that 
people, in visible tokens of his presence, manifesting himself 
there, and from thence to the world, by a course of great and 
miraculous operations and effects for many ages ; that that 
people might be holy to God, and as a kingdom of priests, 
and might stand as a city on an hill, to be a light to the 
world ; withal, gradually shortening man's life, till it was 
brought to be but about one twelfth part of what it used to be 
before the flood ; and so, according to Dr. Taylor, vastly cut- 
ting off and diminishing his temptations to sin, and increasing 
his excitements to holiness. And now let us consider what 
the success of these means was, both as to the Gentile world, 
and the nation of Israel. 

Dr. Taylor justly observes, (Key^ p. 24, § 75) " The 
Jewish dispensation had respect to the nations of the 
■world, to spread the knowledge and obedience of God 
in the earth ; and was established for the benefit of all 
mankind." But how unsuccessful were these means, and 
all oiher means used with the heathen nations, so long as this 
dispensation lasted ? Abraham was a person noted in all the 
principal nations that were then in the world ; as in Egypt, 
and the eastern monarchies : God made his name famous, by 
his wonderful, distinguishing dispensations towards him, par- 
ticularly by so miraculously subduing before him and his 
trained servants, those armies of the four eastern kings. 
This great work of the most high God, Possesser of heaven 



ORIGINAL SIN. SOS 

and earth, was greatly taken notice of by Melchizedeck, and 
•ne would think, should have been sufficient to have awaken- 
ed the attention and consideration of all the nations in that 
part of the world, and to have led them to the knowledge and 
worship of the only true God; especially if considered in con- 
junction with that miraculous and most terrible destruction 
ef Sodom, and all the cities of the plain, for their wickedness, 
-with Lot's miraculous deliverance, which doubtless were facts, 
that ill their day were much famed abroad in the world. But 
there is not the least appearance, in any accounts we have, of 
any considerable good effect. On the contrary, those nations 
•which were most in the way of observing and being affected 
W\^h these things, even the nations of Canaan, grew worse 
and worse, till their iniquity came to the full, in Joshua's 
time. And the posterity ot Lot, that saint so wonderfully 
distinguished, soon became some of the most gross idolaters ; 
as rhey appear to have been in Moses' time. See Numb. xxv. 
Yea, and the far greater part even of Abraham's posterity, 
the children of Ishmael, Ziman, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, 
Ishbak and Shuah, and Esau, soon forgot the true God, and 
fell off to Heathenism, 

Great things were done in the sight of the nations of the 
■world, tending to awaken them, and lead them to the knowl- 
edge and obedience of the true God, in Jacob's and Joseph's 
time ; in that God did miraculously, by the hand of Joseph, 
preserve from perishing by famine, as it were the whole 
world, as appears by Gen. xli. 56, 57. Agreeably to which, 
the name that Pharaoh gave to Joseph, Zafinath Paaneah, as 
is said, in the Egyptian language, signifies Saviour of the 
World. But there does not appear to have been any good 
abiding effect of this ; no, not so much as in the nation of 
the Egyptians, (which seems to have been the chief of all 
the heathen nations at that day) who had these great works 
of Jehovah in their most immediate view ; on the contrary, 
they grew worse and worse, and seem to be far more gross 
in their idolatries and ignorance of the true God, and every 
way more wicked, and ripe for rwm, when Moses was sent to 
Pharaoh, than they were in Josejih*s time. 



204 ORIGINAL SIN. 

After this, in Moses' and Joshua's time, the great God 
■was pleased to manifest himself in a series of the most aston- 
ishing^ miracles, for about fifty years togetlier, wrought in the 
inost public manner, in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in Ca- 
naan, in the view, as it were, of the whole world ; miracles 
by which the world was shaken, the whole frame of the visi- 
ble creation, earth, seas and rivers, the atmosphere, the clouds, 
sun, moon and stars were affected ; miracles, greatly tending 
to convince the rations of the world, of the vanity of their 
false gods, shewing Jehovah to be infinitely above them, in 
the thing wherein they dealt most proudly, and exhibiting 
God's awful displeasure at the wickedness of the Heathen 
world. And these things are expressly spoken of as one end 
of these great miracles, in Exod. ix. 14, Numb. xiv. 21, Josh, 
iv. 23, 24, and other places. However, no reformation fol- 
lowed tliese things ; but, by the scripture account, the nations 
which had them most in view, were dreadfully hardened, stu- 
pidly refusing all conviction and reformation, and obstinate- 
ly went on m an opposition to the living God, to their own 
destruction, 

Afjcr this, God did from time to time very publicly mani- 
fest himself to the nations of the world, by wonderful works, 
wrought in the time of the Judges, of a like tendency with 
those already mentioned. Particularly in so miraculously 
destroying, by the hand of Gideon, almost the whole of that 
vast army of the Midianites, Ama'ekites, and all the Children 
oftheEast^ consisting of about 133,000 men, Judges vii. 12, 
and viii. 10. But no reformation followed this, or the other 
great works of God, wrought in the times of Deborah and Ba- 
rak, Jephtha and Sampson. 

After these things, God used new, and in some respects 
much greater means with the heathen world, to bring them 
to the knowledge and service of the true God, in the days of 
David and Solomon. He raised up David, a man after his 
own heart, a most fervent worshipper of the true God, and 
zealous hater of idols, and subdued before him almost all the 
rations between Egypt and Euphrates ; often miraculously 
assisting him in his battles with his eneruies ; and he con- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 205 

firmed Solomon, his son, in the full and quiet possession of 
that great empire, for about forty years ; and made him the 
wisest, richest, most magnificent, and every way the great- 
est monarch that ever had been in the world ; and by far the 
most famous, and of greatest name among the nations ; espe- 
cially for his wisdonii and things concerni-ng the name of his 
God ; particularly the temple he built, which was exceeding 
magnificent^ that it might be of fame and glory throughout all 
lands; 1 Chron. xxii. 5. And we are told, that there came of al! 
people to hear the wisdom of Snlomon, from all kings of the 
earth ; 1 Kings iv. 34, and x. 24. And the scripture informs 
us, that these great things were done, that the " Nations in far 
countries might hear of God's great name, and of his out- 
stretched arm ; that all the people of the earth might fear 
him, as well as his people Israel : And that all die people of 
the earth might know, that the Lord was God. and that mere 
was none else." 1 Kings viii. 41. ...43, 60. But still there is 
no appearance of any considerable abiding effect, with regard 
to any one heathen nation. 

After this, before the captivity in Babylon, many great 
things were done in the sight of the Gentile nations, very 
much tending to enlighten, affect, and persuade them : As, 
God's desti'oying the army of the Ethlofiians of a thousand 
thousand, before Asa ; Elijah's and Elisiui's miracles ; espe- 
cially Elijah's miraculously confounding B ud'a prophets and 
worshippers; Eiisha's healing Naamun, tiie king of Syr- 
ia's prime minister, and the miraculous victories obtained 
through Eiisha's prayers, over the Syriai.s, Moabites and 
Edomites ; the miraculous destruction of ti,'; vast uni.ed ar- 
my of the children of Moab, Amon and Eriom, at Jehoaha- 
phal's prayer. (2 Chron. xx.) Jonah's preaciiiiig at Nmeveh, 
together with the miracle of his deliverance from the whale's 
belly; which was published and well attested, as a sign to 
confirm his preaching ; but more especially that gieat work 
of God, in destroying Sennacherib's arvny by an angel, for 
his contempt of the God of Israel, as if he had been no more 
than the gods of the heathen. 



:.>06 ORIGINAL SIN. 

When all these thinj^s prcv(?d ineffectual, God took a new 
method with the heathen world, and used, in some respects, 
much greater me.ns to convince and reclai>n them, than ever 
before. In the first place, his people the Jews were remov- 
ed to Babylon, the head and heart of the heathen world 
(Chaldea having been very much the four;taln of idolatry) to 
carry thither the revelations which God had made of himself, 
contained in the sacred writings ; and there to bear their tes- 
timony against idolatry ; as some of them, particularly Dan- 
iel, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, did, in a very open 
manner before the king and the greatest men of the empire, 
■with such circumstances as made their testimony very famous 
in the world ; God confirming it with great miracles, which 
•were published through tlie empire, by order of its monarch, 
as the mighty works of the God of Israel, shewing him to be 
above all gods : Daniel, that great prophet, at the same time 
being exalted to be governor of all the wise men of Babylon, 
and one of the chief officers of Nebuchadnezzar's court. 

After this, God raised up Cyrus to destroy Babylon, for 
its obstinate contempt of the true God, and injuriousness to- 
wards his people ; according to the prophecies of Isaiah, 
speaking of him by name, instructing him concerning the na- 
ture and dominion of the true God. (Isa. xlv.) which proph- 
ecies were probably shewn to him, whereby he was induced 
to publish his testimony concerning the God of Israel, as the 
God. (Ezra i. 2, 3.) Daniel, about the same time, being ad- 
vanced to be prime minister of state in the new empire, erect- 
ed under Darius, did in that place appear openly as a worship- 
per of the God of Israel, and him alone ; God confirming his 
testimony for him, before the king and all the grandees of his 
kingdom, by preserving him in the den of lions ; whereby 
Darius was induced to publish to all people, nations and lan- 
guages, that dwelt in all the earth, his testimony, that the 
God of Israel was the living God, and steadfast for tver^ &c. 

When, after the destruction of Babylon, some of the Jews 
returned to their own land, multitudes never returned, but 
were dispersed abroad through many parts of tlie vast Persian 
empire ; as appears by the book of Esther. And many of 



ORIGi: iL SIN. 207 

4hem afterwards, as good histories inform, were removed into 
the more western parts of the world ; and so were dispersed 
as it were all over the heathen world, having the Holy Scrip- 
tures with them, and Synagogues every where, for the wor- 
ship of the true God. And so it continued to be, to the days 
of Christ and his apostles ; as appears by the acts of the apost- 
les. Thus that light, which God had given them, was in the 
providence of God carried abroad into all parts of the world : 
So that now they had far greater advantages, to come to the 
knowledge of the truth, in matters of religion, if they had 
been disposed to improve their advantages. 

And besides all these things, from about Cyrus's time, 
learning and philosophy increased, and was carried to a great 
height. God raised up a number of men of prodigious geni- 
us, to instruct others, and improve their reason and under- 
standing in the nature of things ; and philosophic knowledge, 
having gone on lo increase for several ages, seemed to be got 
to its height before Christ came, or about that time. 

And now let it be considered vvhat was the effect of all 
these things ; instead of a reformation, or any appearance op 
prospect of it, the heathen world in general rather grew 
worse. As Dr. Winder observes, " The inveterate absurdi- 
ties of Pagan idolatry continued without remedy, and increas- 
ed, as arts and learnmg increased ; and paganism prevailed 
in all its height of absurdity, when Pagan nations. were polish- 
ed to the height, and in the most polite cities and countries ; 
and thus continued to the last breath of Pagan power." And 
50 it was with respect to wickedness in general, as well as 
idolatry ; as appears by what the Apostle Paul observes in 
Rom. i. Dr. Taylor, speaking of the time when the gospel 
scheme was introduced, (Key,^ 289.) says, " The moral and 
religious state of the heathen was very deplorable, being gen- 
erally sunk into great ignorance, gross idolatry, and abomina- 
ble vice." Abominable vices prevailed, not only among the 
common people, but even among their philosophers them- 
selves, yea, some of the chief of them, and of greatest genius ; 
90 Dr. Taylor himself observes, as to that detestable vice of 



20 8 ORIGINAL SIN. 

Sodomy, which they commonly and openly allowed and prac- 
tised without shame. See Dr. Taylor's note on Rom. i. 27. 

Having thus considered the state of the heathen world, 
with regard to the effect of means used for its reforma- 
tion, during the Jewish dispensation, from the first founda- 
tion of it in Abraham's time ; let us now consider how it 
was with that peoi)le themselves, that were distinguished with 
the peculiar t<tivileges of that dispensation. The means used 
with the he.ithen nations were great ; but they were small, if 
compared with those used with the Israelites. The advanta- 
ges by which that people were distinj^uished, are represent- 
ed in scripture as vastly above all parallel, in passages which 
Dr. Taylor takes notice of. (Key^ % 54.) And he reckons 
these privileges among those which he calls antecedent bless- 
ings^ consisting in motives to virtue and obedience ; and says, 
(Key^ § 66.) " That this was the very end and design of the 
dispensation of Cod's extraordinary favors to the Jews, viz. 
to engage them to duty and obedience, or that it was a scheme 
for promoting virtue, is clear beyond dispute, from every 
part of the Old Testament." Nevertheless, as has been al- 
ready shewn, the generality of that people, through all the 
successive periods of that dispensation, were men of a wicked 
character. But it will be more abundantly manifest, how 
strong the natural bias to iniquity appeared to be among that 
people, by considering more particularly how things were 
with them from time to time. 

Notwithstanding the great things God had done in the 
times of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to separate them and 
their posterity from the idolatrous world, that they might be a 
holy people to himself; yet in about two hundred years after 
Jacob's death, and in less than one hundred and fifty years af- 
ter the death of Joseph, and while some were alive that had 
seen Joseph, the people had in a great measure lost the true 
religion, and were apace conforming to the heathen world : 
When, for a remedy, and the more effectually to alienate 
thtm from idols, and engage them to the God of their fathers, 
God appeared to bring them out from among the Egyptians, 
and separate them from the heathen world, and to reveal him- 



ORIGINAL SIN, 209 

self in his glory and majesty, in so affecting and astonishing 
a manner, as tended most deeply and durably to impress 
their minds ; that they mie;ht never forsake him more. But 
so perverse were they, that they murmured even in the 
midst of the miracles that God wrought for them in Egypt, 
and murmured at the red sea, in a few days after God had 
brought them out with such a mighty hand. When he had 
led them through the sea, theij sang his firaise, but soon forgat 
bis works. Before they got to mount Sinai, they openly man- 
ifested their perverseness from time to time ; so that God 
says of them, Exod. xvi. 28. " How long refuse ye to keep 
my commandments, and my laws i"' Afterwards they mur- 
mured again at Rephidim. 

In about two months after they came out of Egypt, they 
came to Mount Sinai, where God entered into a most solemn 
covenant with the people, that they should be an holy people 
unto him, with such astonishing manifestations of his power, 
majesty and holiness, as were altogether unparalleled ; as 
God puts the people in mind, Deut. iv. 32. ...34. " For ask 
now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since 
the day that God created man upon the earth ; and ask from 
one side of heaven unto the other, whether there has been 
any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like 
it. Did ever people hear the voice of God, speaking out of 
the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live ? Or hath 
God assayed to take him a nation from the midst of another 
nation," &c. And these great things were to that end, to im- 
press their minds with such a conviction and sense of divine 
truth, and their obligations to their duty, that they might nev- 
er forget them ; As God says, Exod. xix. 9. " Lo, I come 
unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when 
I speak with :hee, and believe thee for ever." But what wa.s 
the effect of all ? Why, it was not more than two or three 
months, before that people, there, under that very mountain, 
returned to their old Egyptian idolatry, and were singing and 
dancine: before a golden calf, which they had set up to wor- 
ship. And after such awful manifestations as there were of 
God's displeasure for that sin, and so much done to bring 

Vol. VI. 2C 



21« ORIGINAL SIN. 

them to repentance, and confirm them in obedience, it was 
but a few months before they came to that violence of spirit, 
in open rebellion ai^ainst God, that with the utmost vehe- 
mence they declared their resolution to follow God no lon- 
ger, but to make them a captain to return into Egypt. And 
thus they went on in ways of perverse opposition to the most 
high, from time to time, repeating their open acts of rebel- 
lion, in the midst of continued, astonisliing miracles till that 
generation was destroyed. And though the following gene- 
ration seems to have been the best that ever was in Israel, 
yet, notwithstanding their good example, and notwithstanding 
all the wonders of God's power and love to that people in 
Joshua's time, hoAV soon did that people degenerate, and be- 
gin to forsake God, and join Avith the heathen in their idola- 
tries, till God, by severe means, and by sending prophets and 
judges, extraordinarily influenced from above, reclaimed 
them ? But when they were brought to some reformation by 
such means, they soon fell away again into the practice of 
idolatry ; and so from time to time, from one age to anoth- 
er ; and nothing proved effectual for any abiding reformation. 
After things had gone on thus for several hundred years, 
God used new methods with his people, in two respects j 
First, He raised up a great prophet, under whom a number 
of young men were trained up in schools, that from among 
them there might be a constant succession of great prophets 
in Israel, of such as God should choose ; which seems to have 
been continued for more than five hundred years. Seco7idly, 
God raised up a great king, David, one eminent for wisdom, 
piety, and fortitude, to suIkIuc all their heathen neighbors, 
who used to be such a snare to them ; and to confirm, adorn 
and perfect the institutions of his public worship ; and by 
him to make a more full revelation of the great salvation, 
and future glorious kingdom of the Messiah. And after him, 
raised up his son, Solomon, the wisest and greatest prince 
that ever was on earth, more fully to settle and establish those 
things which his father David had begun, concerning the 
public worship of (iod in Israel, and to build a glorious tem- 
ple for the honor of Jehovah, and the institutions of his wor- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 211 

ship, and to instruct the neighbor nations in true wisdom and 
religion. But as to the success of these new and extraordi- 
nary means ; if ve take Dr. Taylor for our expositor of scrip- 
ture, the nation must be extremely corrupt in David's time ; 
for he supposes, he has respect to his own times, in those 
words, Psal. xiv, 2, 3. " The Lord looked down from heav- 
t>n, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek 
God ; they aie ail gone aside ; they are together become 
filthy ; there is none that doeth good ; no, not one." But 
whether Dr. Taylor be in the right in this, or not, yet if we 
consider what appeared in Israel, in Absalom's and Sheba's 
rebellion, we shall not see cause to think, that the greater 
part of the nation at that day were men of true wisdom and 
piety. As to Solomon's time, Dr. Taylor supposes, as has 
been already observed, that Solomon speaks of his own limes, 
when he says, he had found but one in a thousand that was a 
thoroughly upright man. However, it appears, that all those 
great mearis used to promote and establish virtue and true 
rel'gion, in Samuel's, David's and Solomon's times, were so 
far from having any general, abiding good eflect in Israel, 
that Solomon himself, with all his wisdom, and notwithstanding 
the unparalleled favors of God to him, had his mind corrupt- 
ed, so as openly to tolerate idolatry in the land, and greatly to 
provoke God against him. And as soon as he was dead, ten 
tribes of the tw^elve forsook the true worship of God, and in- 
stead of it, openly established the like idolatry, that the people 
fell into at mount Sinai, when they made the golden calf ; 
and continued finally obstinate in this apostasy, notwithstand- 
ing all means that could be used with them by the prophets, 
whom God sent, one after another, to reprove, counsel and 
warn them, for about two hundred and fifty years ; espe- 
cially those two great prophets, Elijah and Elisha. Of all 
the kings that reigned over them, there was not so much as 
one but what was of a wicked character. And at last it came 
to that, that their case seemed utterly desperate ; so that noth- 
ing remained to be done with them, but to remove them out 
of God's sight. Thus the scripture represents the matterj 
2 Kings xvii. 



212 ORIGINAL SIN. 

And as to the other two tribes ; though their kings were 
always of the family of David, and they were favored in many 
respects far beyond their brethren, yet they were generally 
very corrupt ; their kings were most of them wicked men, and 
their other magistrates, and priests and people, were generally 
agreed in the corruption. Thus the matter is represented 
in the scripture history, and the books of the prophets. And 
when they had seen how God had cast off the ten tribes, in- 
stead of taking warning, they made themselves vastly more 
vile than ever the others had done ; as appears by 2 Kings 
xvii. 18, 19. Ezek. xvi. 46,47,51. God indeed waited lon- 
ger upon them, for his servant David's sake, and for Jerusa- 
lem's sake, that he had chosen ; and used more extraordina- 
ry means with them ; especially by those great prophets, 
Isaiah and Jeremiah, but to no effect : So that at last it came 
to this, as the prophets represent the matter, that they were 
like a body universally and desperately diseased and corrupt- 
ed, that would admit of no cure, the whole head sick, and the 
whole heart faint, &c. 

Things being come to that pass, God took this method 
with them : He utterly destroyed their city and land, and the 
temple which he had among them, made thorough work in 
purging the land of them ; as when a man empties a dish, 
wipes it, and turns it ufiside down ; or nvhen a -vessel is cast into 
a fierce fire, till its filthiness is thoroughly burnt out, 2 Kings 
xxi. 13. Ezek. Chap. xxiv. They were carried into captiv- 
ity, and there left till that wicked generation was dead, and • 
those old rebels were purged out ; that afterwards the land 
might be resettled with a more pure generation. 

After the return from the captivity, and God had built the 
Jewish church again in their own land, by a series of wonder- 
ful providences ; yet they corrupted themselves again, to so 
great a degree, that the transgressors were come to the full 
again in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes ; as the matter is 
represented in the prophecy of Daniel, Dan. viii. 23. And 
then God made them the the subjects of a dispensation, little, 
if any thing, less terrible than that v.hich had been in Ne- 
buchadnezzar's days. And after God had again delivered 



ORIGINAL SIN. 213 

them, and restored the state of religion among them, by 
the instrumentality of the Maccabees, they degenerated 
again ; so that when Christ came, they were arrived to that 
extreme degree of corruption, which is represented in the ac- 
counts given by the evangelists. 

It may be observed here in general, that the Jews, though 
so vastly distinguished with advantages, means and motives 
to holiness, yet are represented as coming, from time to time, 
to that degree of corruption and guilt, that they were more 
•wicked in the sight of God, than the very worst of the Heath- 
en. As, of old, God sware by his life, that the wickedness of 
Sodom was small, compared with that of the Jevvs. Ezek. 
xvi. 47, 48, &c. also chap. v. 5.... 10. So Christ, speaking of 
the Jews in his time, represents them as having much great- 
er guilt than the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, or even Sod- 
om and Gomorrah. 

But we are now come to the time when the grandest 
scene was displayed, that ever was opened on earth. After 
all other schemes had been so long and so thoroughly tried, 
and had so greatly failed of success, both among Jews and 
Gentiles ; that wonderful dispensation was at length intro- 
duced, which was the greatest sclieine for the suppressing 
and restraining iniquity among mankind, that ever infinite 
wisdom and mercy contrived, even the glorious gospel of Je- 
sus Christ. " A new dispensation of grace was erected (to 
use Dr. Taylor's own words, p. 239, 240) for the more cer- 
tain and effectual sanctification of mankind, into the image of 
God ; the delivering them from the sin and wickedness, into 
which they might fall, or were already fallen ; to redeem 
them from all iniquity, and bring them to the knowledge and 
obedience of God." In whatever high and exalted terms the 
scripture speaks of the means and motives which the Jews 
enjoyed of old ; yet their privileges are represented as hav- 
ing no glory, in comparison of the advantages of the gospel. 
Dr. Taylor's words in p..g33, are worthy to be here repeated. 
" Even the Heathen (says he) knew God, and might have 
glorified him as God ; but under the glorious light of the 
gospel, we have very clear ideas of the divine perfections. 



2U ORIGINAL SIN. 

and particularly of the love of God ss our Father, ami as the 
God and Father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We 
see our duty in the utmost extent, and the most cogent rea- 
sons to perform it : We have eternity opened to us, even 
an endless state of honor and felicity, the reward of virtuous 
actions, and the Spirit of God promised for our direction and 
assistance. And all this may and ought to be applied to the 
purifying our minds, and the perfecting of holiness. And to 
those happy advantages we are born, for which we are bound 
for ever to praise and magnify the rich grace of God in the 
Redeemer." And be elsewhere says,* » The gospel consli- 
ttition is a scheme the most perfect and effectual for restoring 
true religion, and promoting virtue and happiness, that ever 
the world has yet seen." Andf admirably ada/Ucd to enlight' 
en our minds^ and sanctify our hearts ;. And\ never were mo- 
tives so divine and poiverfvl proposed^ to induce us to the Jirac- 
(he of all virtue and goodness. 

And yet even these means have been ineffectual upon the 
far greater part of them with whom they have been used ;. of; 
the many that have been called^ fenv have been chosen. 

As to the Jews, God's ancient people, with whom they 
were used in the first place, and used long by Chiist and his 
apostles, the generality of them rejected Christ and his gjcwj 
pel, with extreme pertinaciousness of spirit. They not only/^ 
■went on still in that career of corruption which had been ia-r 
creasing from the time of the Maccabees ; but Christ's com- 
ing, and his doctrine and miracles, and the preaching of his. 
followers, and the glorious things that attended the samef. 
were the occasion, through their perverse mit^improvementr^ 
6f an infinite increase of their wickedness. They crucified 
the Lord of Glory with the utmost malice and cruelty, and, 
persecuted his followers ; they pleased not God, and were 
contrary to all men ; and went on to grow worse and worse, 
till they filled up the measure of their sin, and wrath came 
upon them to the utlci^iaost ; and they were destroyed, and 

■» Key, ^ 167. + Note on Rom. i. i6. % Pre/, to Par, on Rom. pages 
145. 47. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 213 

cast out of God's sight, with unspeakably greater tokens of 
the divine abhorrence and indignation, than in the days of Ne- 
buchadnezzar. The bigger part of the whole nation were 
slain, and the rest were scattered abroad through the earth, 
in the most abject and forlorn circumstances. And in the 
same spirit of unbelief and malice against Christ and the 
gospel, and in their miserable, dispersed circumstances, do 
they remain to this day. 

And as to the Gentile nations, though there was a glorious 
success of the gospel amongst them in the apostles' days, yet 
probably not one in ten of those that had the gospel preached 
to them, embraced it. The powers of the world were set 
against it, and persecuted it with insatiable malignity. And 
among the professors of Christianity, there presently appear- 
ed in many a disposition to corruption, and to abuse the gos- 
pel unto the service of pride and licentiousness. And the 
apostles, in their days, foretold a grand apostasy of the Christ- 
ian world, which should continue many ages, and observed 
that there appeared a disposition to such an apostasy, among 
professing Christians, even in that day, 2 Thess. ii. 7. And 
the greater part of the ages which have now elapsed, have 
been spent in the duration of that grand and general aposta- 
sy, under which the Christian world, as it is called, has been 
transformed into that which has been vastly more deformed, 
more dishonorable and hateful to God, and repugnant to true 
virtue, than the state of the Heathen world before ; which is 
agreeable to the prophetical descriptions given of it by the 
Holy Spirit. 

In these latter ages of the Christian church, God has 
raised up a great number of great and good men, to bear 
testimony against the corruptions of the church of Rom.e, 
and by their means introduced that light into the world, 
by which, in a short time, at least one third part of Eu- 
rope was delivered from the more gross enormities of An- 
tichrist ; which was attended at first with a great reformation 
as to vital and practical religion. But how is the gold st>on 
become dim ! To what a pass are things come in Protestant 
countries at this day, and in our nation in particular I To 



216 ORICmAL SIN. 

what a prodigious height has a dchige of infidelity, profane- 
nessjuxury, debauchery and wickedness of every kind, arisen I 
The poor savage Americans are mere babes and fools, (if I 
may so speak) as to proficiency in v/ickedness,in comparison of 
multitudes that tiie Christian world throngs with. Dr. Tay- 
lor himself, as was before observed, represents that the gerie- 
rality of ChriRtians have been the most vjicked, leivd, bloody^ and 
treacherous of all mankind; and says, ('^q/, § 288) "The 
wickedness of the Christian world renders it so much like the 
Heathen, that the good effects of our change to Christianity 
are but little seen." 

And with respect to the dreadful corruption of the present 
day, it is to be considered, besides the advantages already 
mentioned, that great advances in learning and philosophic 
knowledge have been made in the present and past century, 
giving great advantage for a proper and enlarged exercise of 
our rational powers, and foi our seeing the bright manifesta- 
tion of God's pf^rfections in his works. And it is to be ob- 
served, that the means and inducements to virtue, which this 
age enjoys, are in addition to most of those which were men- 
tioned before as given of old, and among other things, in addi- 
tion to the shortening of man's life to seventy or eighty years, 
from near a thousand. And with reg: rd to this, I would observe, 
that as the case now is in Christendom, take one with another 
of them that ever come to years of discretion, their life is not 
more than forty or fortyfive years; which is but about the 
twentieth part of what it once was ; and not so much in great 
cities, places where profaneness, sensuality and debauchery 
commonly prevail to the greatest degree. 

Dr. Taylor, (Key^ § 1) truly observes, that God has, from 
the beginning, exercised wonderful and infinite wisdom, in the 
methods he has, frorn age to age, made use of to oppose vice, 
cure corruption, and promote virtue in the world, and intro- 
duced several schemes to that end. It is indeed remarkable, 
how many schemes and methods were tried of old, both be- 
fore and after the flood ; how many were used in the times 
of the Old Testament, both with Jews and Heathens, and how 
inelTectual all these ancient methods proved for four hundred 



ORIGINAL Sm. 317 

years together, till God introduced that grand dispensation 
for the redeeming men from all iniquity, and purifying them 
to himself, a people zealous of good works, which the scrip- 
ture represents as the subject of the admiration of angels. 
But even this has now so long proved ineffectual with respect 
to the generality, that Dr. Taylor thinks there is need of a nciv 
dispensation i the Jire sent light of the gosfiel being i?isufficiene 
for the full reformation of the Christian world, by reason of 
its corruptions ; (Note on Rom. i. 27J and yet all these things, 
according to him, without any natural bias to the contrary ; 
no stream of natural inclination or propensity at all, to oppose 
inducements to goodness ; no native opposition of heart, to 
withstand those gracious means, which God has ever used 
with mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, 
any more than there was in the heart of Adam, the moment 
God created him in perfect innocence. 

Surely Dr. Taylor's scheme is attended with strange par- 
adoxes I And that his mysterious tenets may appear in a 
true light, it must be observed, at the same time while he 
supposes these means, even the very greatest and best of 
them, to have proved so ineffectual, that help from them, as 
to any general reformation, is to be despaired of ; yet he 
maintains that all mankind, even the Heathen in all parts of 
the world, yea, every single person in it (which must include 
every Indian in America, before the Europeans came hitier ; 
and every inhabitant of the unknown parts of Africa and TVr- 
ra Australis) has ability, light and means sufficient to do their 
whole duty ; yea, (as many passages in his writings plainly 
suppose) to perform perfect obedience to God's law, without 
the least degree of vice or iniquity.* 

But I must not omit to observe... .Dr. Taylor supposes that 
the reason why the gospel dispensation has been so ineffec- 
tual, is, that it has been greatly misunderstood and perverted. 
In Key^ § 389, he says, " Wrong representations of the 
scheme of the gospel have greatly obscured the glory of di- 
vine grace, and contributed much to the corruption of its pro- 

*Seep.259, 63, 64, 72,.?. 
Vol. VI. 2D 



«ia origi;nal sin. 

lessors. Such doctrines have been almost universaliy tan|^ 
and received, as quite subvert it. Mistaken notions about 
nature, grace, election and reprobation, jusiificalion, regener- 
ation, redemptioD, calling, adoption, 8cc. have quite taken 
avray the very ground of the Christiaa life " 

But how came the gospel to be so universally and exceed- 
in?:Iy misunderstood ? Is it because it is in itself so very 
dark and unintelligible, and not adapted to the apprehension 
of the human faculties ? If so, how is the posses'^ion of such 
an obscure and unintelligible thing, so unspeakable and glori- 
ous an advantage ? Or is it because of the native blindness, 
corruption and superstition of mankind ? But this is giving 
up the thing in question, and allowing a great depravity of 
nature. And Dr. Taylor speaks of the gospel as far other- 
wise than dark and unintelligible ; he represents it as exhib- 
iting the clearest and most glorious light, to deliver the world 
from darkness, and bring them into marvellous light. He 
speaks of the light which the Jews had, under the Mosaic 
dispensation, as vastly exceeding the light of nature, which 
the Heathen enjoyed : And > et he supposes that even the 
latter wss so clear as to be sufficient to lead men to the knowl- 
edge of God, and their whole duty to him. And he speaks of 
the light of the gospel as vastly exceeding the light of the Old 
Testarpent. He says of the Apostle Paul in particular, "That he 
wfote with great perspicuity ; that he takes great care to ex- 
plain eve'-y pari of his subject ; that he has left no part of it 
unexplained and unguaixled, and that never was an author 
toore exact and cautious in this."* Is it not strange, therefore, 
that the Christian world, without any native depravity to prej- 
udice and darken their minds, should be so blind in the midst 
of such glaring light, as to be all, or the generality, agreed*, 
from age to age, so essentially to tnisuTider stand that which is 
made so very plain ? 

Dr. Taylor says, p. 167, 5. « It is my persuasion that the 
Christian religion was very early and grievously corrupted; 

* Prtf. ta Par. oq Rom. p. 146, 48. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 219 

by dreaming", ignorant, strperstitious monies^ too conceited to 
be satisfied with plaid gospel, and has long remained in that 
deplorable state.** But how came the whole Cbristian 
world, without any blinding depravity, to hearken to these i^ 
norant, foolish men, rather than unto wiser and better teach- 
ers ? Especially^ when the latter had plain gospel on their 
side, and the doctrines of the other were (as oor author sop- 
poshes) so very contrary, not only to the plain gospel, bsit to 
men's reason and common sense I Or were all the teachers of 
the Christian church nothing but a parcel of zgnorwit dream' 
rrs ? If so, this is very strange Indeed, unless mankind natural- 
ly hve darknes.^ rather than light, seeing in aill parts of the 
Christian world there was so great a multitude of those in 
the work of the ministry, who had the gospel in their hands, 
and whose whole business it was to study and teach it, and 
therefore had infinitely greater advantages to become truly 
■wise, than the Heathen philosophers. But if it did happen 
so, by some strange and inconceivable means, that notv/iih- 
standing all these glorious advantages, all the teachers of the 
Christian church through the world, without any native evil 
propensity, very early became silly dreamers., and also in their 
dreammg, generally stumbled on the same individual, mon- 
strous opinions, and so the world might be blinded for a 
while ; yet why did they not hearken to that wise and great 
man, Pelagius, and others like him, when he plainly held 
forth the truth to the Christian world ! Especially seeing 
his instructions were so agreeable to the plain doctrines, and 
the bright and clear light of the gospel of Christ, and also so 
agreeable to the plainest dictates of the common sense and 
understanding of all mankind ; but the other so repugnant to 
it, that (according to our author) if they were true, it would 
prove understanding to be no miderstanding., and the JVord of 
God to be no rule of truth., nor at all to be relied upon, and 
God to be a Being -worthy of no regard I 

And besides, if the ineffectualnessof the gospel to restrain 
sin and promote virtue, be owing to the general prevalence 
of these doctrines, which are supposed to be so absurd and 
contrary to the gospel, here is this further to be accounted 



22U ORIGINAL SIN. 

for, namely, why, since there has been so great an increase of 
li^ht in religious matters (as must be supposed on Dr. Tay- 
lor's scheme) in this and the last age, and these monstrous 
doctrines of Original Sin, Election, Reprobation, Justification, 
Regeneration, 8cc. have been so much exploded, especially in 
our nation, there has been no reformation attending this great 
advancement of light and truth ; but on the contrary, vice, 
and every thing that is opposite to practical Christiainity, has 
gone on to increase, with such a prodigious celerity, as to be- 
come like an overflowing deluge, threatening, unless God 
mercifully interpose, speedily to swallow up all that is left of 
what is virtuous und praiseworthy. 

Many other things might have been mentioned under this 
head, ol the ?neans wliich mankind have had to restrain vice, 
and promote virtue ; such as wickedness being many ways 
contrary to men's temporal interest and comfort in this world, 
and their having continually before their eyes so many instan- 
ces of persons made miserable by their vices ; the restraints 
of human laws, wiihout which men cannot live in society ; 
the judgments of God brought on men for their wickedness, 
with which history abounds, and the providential rewards of 
virtue, and innumerable particular means that God has used 
from age to age to curb the wickedness of mankind, which I 
have omitted. But there would be no end of a particular 
enumeration of such things. Enough has been said. They 
that will not be convinced by the instances which have been 
mentioned, probably Avould not convinced, it the world had 
stood a thousand times so long, and we had the most authen- 
tic and certain accounts of means having been used from the 
beginning, in a thousand times greater variety, and new dis- 
pensations had been introduced, after others had been tried 
in vain, ever so often, and still to little effect. He that will 
not be convinced by a thousand good witnesses, it is not like- 
ly that he would be convinced by a thousand thousand. The 
proofs that have been extant in the world, from trial and fact, 
of the depravity of man's nature, are inexpressible, and as it 
were infinite, beyond the representation of all comparison 
and similitude. If there were a piece of ground, which 



ORIGINAL SIN. 221 

abounded with briars and tliorns, or some poisonous plant, 
and all mankind had used their endeavors, for a thousand 
years together, to suppress that evil growth, and to bring that 
ground by manure and cultivation, planting and sowing, to 
produce better fruit, but all in vain, it would still be overrun 
with the same noxious growth ; it would not be a proof, that 
such a produce was agreeable to the nature of that soil, in any 
wise to be compared to that which is given in divine provi- 
dence, that wickedness is a produce agreeable to the nature of 
the field of the world of mankind ; which has had means used 
with it, that have been so various, great and wonderful, con- 
trived by the unsearchable and boundless wisdom of God ; 
medicines procured with infinite expence, exhibited with so 
vast an apparatus ; so marvellous a succession of dispensa- 
tions, introduced one after another, displaying an incompre- 
hensible length and breadth, depth and height, of divine wis- 
dom, love, and power, and every perfection of the godhead, 
to the eternal admiration of the principalities and powers in 
heavenly places. 



SECTION IX. 

Several Evasions of the Arguments for the Depravity of Na- 
ture, from trial and events, considered. 

Evasion 1. DR. TAYLOR says, p. 231, 232. Adam's 
nature, it is allowed, was very far from being sinful ; yet he 
sinned. And therefore, the common doctrine of Original 
Sin, is no more necessary to account for the sin that has been, 
or is in the world, than it is to account for Adam's sin." 
Again, p. 52... ,54. 5. &c. «' If we allow mankind to be as 
wicked as R. R. has represented them to be ; and suppose 
that there is not one upon earth that is truly righteous, and 
Avithout sin, and that some are very enormous sinners, yet it 



SZ!? OKrCINAL SfK 

trill not thence follow, that th-ey are natarally iismvjrt. For, 
ff sinful action infer55 a natnre orif^Hially corrupt, then, where* 
a» A'^iam (accordinj^ to them that hold the doctrine of OrKi,ii>- 
fi-1 Sin) committed the mobl he'nous and a^Rravated sin. that 
•verwas committed in the world ; for, accwding to them, he 
Rati greater light than any other man in the world, to know 
iis duty, and {greater power than any other man to fulfil it), 
anxi was under greater obligations than any other man to obe- 
dience ; he sinned, when he knew he was the representative 
©£ millions, and 'hat the hnppy or miserable state of all man- 
kind, depended on his conduct ; which never was^ nor can bC) 
the case of any other man in the world : Then, I say, it will 
follow, that his nature was originally coruipt, &c. Thus their 
argument from the wickedness of mankind, to prove a sinful 
and corrupt nature, must inevitably and irrecoverably fall to 
the ground ; which will appear more abundantly, if we take 
In the case of the angels, wha in numbers sinned^ and kept 
not their first estate, though created with a nature superior 
to Adam's." Again, p. 145. 5. " When it is inquired, how 
it comes to pass that our appetites and passions are now so 
irregular and r.trong, as that not one person has resisted them, 
«o as to keep himself pure and innocent ? If this be the case, 
if such as make the inquiry will tell the world, how it came 
to pass that Adam's appetites and passions v/cre so irregular 
and strong, that he did not resist them, so as to keep himself 
pure and innocent, when, upon their principles, he was far 
ttiore able to have resisted them ; I also will tell them how it 
comes to pass, that his posterity does not resist them. Sin 
doth not alter its nature, by its being general ; and therefore 
fcow far soever it spreads, it must come upon all just as it 
earoe upon Adam." 

These things are delivered with much assurance. But is 
there any reason in such a way of talking ? One thing impli- 
ed in it, and the main thing, if any thing at all to the purpose, 
is, that because an effect's being general, does not alter the 
nature of the effect, therefore nothing more can be argued 
concerning the cause, from its happening ronstatnly, and in 
the moat steady raai^ner,, than from its happening but once. 



'OMGINAL SrW. 52S 

B«t how contrary is this to I'eason ? If sncli a«ase shoulS 
happen, thai a person, through the deceitful pei^suasions «f ;« 
pretended friend, once lakes an unwholesome and poisonous 
draught, of a liquor he had no inclination to before; but 
after he has once taken of it, he be observed to act as -one 
that has an insatiable, incurable thirst after more of the satnei, 
in his constant practice, and acts often repeated, and obstinate- 
ly continued* in as long as he lives, against all possible argu- 
itjents and endeavors used to dissuade him from it ; and we 
should from hence argue a fixed inclination, and begin to sus- 
pect that this is the nature and operation of the poison, to 
produce such an inclination, or that this strong propensity is 
some way the consequence of the first draught in such a casoj 
could it be Sdid with good reason, that a fixed propensity can 
no more be argued from his consequtnt constant practice* 
than from his first draught ? Or, if we suppose a young man, 
no otherwise than soberly inclined, and enticed by v/icked 
companions, should drink to excess, until he had got a habit 
of excessive drinking, and should come under the power of a 
greedy appetite after strong d'-ink, so that drunkenness should 
become a common and constant practice with him ; and some 
observer, arguing from this his general practice, should say, 
" It must needs be that this young man has a fixed inclinatioa 
to that sin ; otherwise, how should it come to pass that he 
should make such a trade of it ?" And another, ridiculing 
the weakness of his arguing, should reply, " Do you tell me 
how it came to pass, that he was guilty of that sin the first 
time, without a fixed inclination, and I will tell you how he is 
guilty of it so generally without a fixed inclination. Sin does 
not alter its nature by being general ; and tlierefore, how com- 
mon soever it becomes, ii must come at all times by the same 
means that it came at first.'' I leave it to every one to judge, 
who would be chargeable with weak arguing in such a case. 
It is true, as was observed before, there is no effect with- 
out some cause, occasion, ground or reason of that effect, 
and some cause answerable to the effect. But certainly it 
will not follow from thence, that a transient effect requires a 
permanent cause, or a fixed influence or propensity. An ef- 



224, ORIGINAL SIN. 

feet's happening once, though the effect may be great, yea, 
though it may come to pass on the same occasion in many sub- 
jects at the same time, will not prove any fixed propensity, or 
permanent influence. It is true, it proves an influence great 
and extensive, answerable to the effect, once exerted, or once 
effectual ; but it proves nothing in the cause fixed or constant. 
If a particular tree, or a great number of trees standing to- 
gether, have blasted fruit on tlicir branches at a particular sea- 
son, yea, if the fruit be very much blasted, and entirely spoil- 
ed, it is evident that something was the occasion of such an 
effect at that time ; but this alone does not prove the nature 
of the tree to be bad. But if it be observed, that those trees, 
and all other trees of the kind, wherever planted, and in all 
soils, countries, climates and seasons, and however cultivated 
and managed, still bear ill fruii, from year to year, and in all 
ages, it is a good evidence of the evil nature of the tree ; and 
if the fruit, at all these times, and in all these cases, be very 
bad, it proves the nature of the tree to be very bad ; and if 
we argue in like manner from what appears among men, it is 
easy to determine, whetiier the universal sinfulness of man- 
kind, and iheir all sinning immediately, as soon as capable of 
it, and all sinning continually, and generally being of a wick- 
ed character, at all times, in all ages, and all places, and un- 
der all possible circumstances, against means and motives 
inexpressibly manifold and great, and in the utmost conceiva- 
ble variety, be from a permanent, internal, great cause. 

If the voice of common sense were attended lo, and heard, 
there would be no occasion for labor in multiplying argu- 
ments and instances to shew, that one act does not prove a 
fixed inclination ; but that constant practice and pursuit do. 
We see that it is in fact agreeable to the reason of all man- 
kmd, to argue fixed principles, tempers, and prevailing in- 
clinations, from repeated and continued actions, though the 
actions are voluntary, and performed of choice ; and thus to 
judge of the tempers and inclinations of persons, ages, sexes, 
tribes and nations. But is ii the manner of men to conclude, 
that whatever they see others once do, they have a fixed, abid- 
ing inclination to do ? Yea, there may be several acts seen, 



ORIGINAL SIN. 225 

and yet they not taken as good evidence of an established pro- 
pensity ; nay, though attended with that circumstance, that 
one act, or tho'-e several acts, are followed with such constant 
practice, as afterwards evidences fixed disposition. As for 
example, there may be several instances of a man's drinking 
some spirituous liquor, and they be no sign of a fixed incli- 
nation to that liquor ; but these acts may be introductory to a 
settled habit or propensiiy, which may be made very manifest 
afterwards by constant practice. 

From these things it is plain, that what is alleged concern- 
ing the first sin of Adam, and of the angels, without a previ- 
ous, fixed disposition to sin, cannot in the least injure or weak- 
en the arguments, which have been brought to prove a fixed 
propensity to sin in mankind in their present state. The 
thing which the permanence of the cause has been argued 
from, is the permanence of the effect. And that the perma- 
nent cause consists in an internal, fixed propensity, and not 
any particular, external circumstances, has been argued from 
the effects being the same, through a vast variety and change 
of circumstances. Which things do not take place with res- 
pect to the first act of sin that Adam or the angels were guilty 
of ; which first acts, considered in themselves, were no per- 
manent, continued effects. And though a great number of 
the angels sinned, and the effect on that account was the 
greater, and more extensive ; yet this extent of the effect is a 
very different thing from that }iermanence^ or settled continu- 
ance of the effect, which is supposed to shew a permanent 
cause, or fixed influence or propensity. Neither was there 
any trial of a vast variety of circumstances attending a perma- 
nent effect, to shew the fixed cause to be internal, consisting 
in a settled disposition of nature, in the instances objected. 
And however great the sin of Adam, or of the angels was, 
and however great means, motives, and obligations they sin- 
ned against ; whatever may be thence argued concerning the 
transient cause, occasion, or temptation, as being very subtle, 
remarkably tending to deceive and seduce, or otherwise great ; 
yet it argues nothing of any settled disposition, ovfxed cause 
at all, either great or small ; the effect both in the angels and 

Vol, VT, 2E '• 



226 ORIGINAL SIN. 

our first parents, being in itself transient, and for ought ap- 
pears, happening in each of them under one system or coin- 
cidence of influential circumstances. 

Tiic general, continued wickedness of mankind, against 
such means and motives, proves each of these things, viz. 
that the cause is Jixed^ and that the fixed cause is internal, in 
man's nature, and also that it is very fiowerfuL It proves the 
7?r?/, namely, that the cause is fixed, because the effect is so 
abiding, through so many changes. It proves the second, that 
is, that the fixed cause is internal, because the circumstances 
are so various : The variety of means and motives is one 
thing that is to be referred to the head of variety of circum- 
stances ; and they are that kind of circumstances, which above 
all others proves this ; for they are such circumstances as 
cannot possibly cause the effect, being most opposite to the 
effect in their tendency. And it proves the third, viz. the 
greatness of the internal cause, or the powerfulness of the 
propensity ; because the means which have opposed its influ- 
ence, have been so great, and yet have been statedly over- 
come. 

But here I may observe by the way, that with regard to 
the motives and obligations which our first father sinned a- 
gainst, it is not reasonably alleged, that he sinned \vben he 
knew his sin would have destructive consequences to all hi» 
posterity, and mighty in firocess of time, fiaoe the whole globe 
tvith shdla. 5cc. Seeing it is so evident, by the plain account 
the scripture gives us of the temptation which prevailed with 
our first parents to commit that sin, that it was so contrived 
by Jhe subtilty of the tempter, as first to blind and deceive 
theni as to that matter, and to make them believe that their 
disobedience should be followed with no destruction or calamitu 
at allijo theTri:-.elves (and therefore not to their posterity) but 
o» the contrary, with a great increase and advancement of 
dignity and happiness. 

SivAsxov 2. Let the wickedness of the world be ever so 
^jeneral and great, there is no necessity of supposing any de- 
pravity of nature to be the cause : Man's own/rrr w/// is cause 
suiBcient- l^X mankind 1>& more or less corrupt, they makr 



ORIGINAL SIN. 227 

\hemselves corrupt by their own free choice. This, Dr. Tay- 
lor abundantly ini-ists upon, in many parts of his book.* 

But I would ask, how it comes to pass that mankind so 
universally agree in this evil exercise of their freewill? If 
their wills are in the first place as free to good as evil, what is 
it to be ascribed to, that the world of mankind, consisting of 
so many millions, in so many successive generations, without 
cousuUalion, all agree to exercise their freedom in favor of 
evil ? If there be no natural tendency or preponderalion in 
the case, then there is as good a chance for the will's being 
determined to good as evil. If the cause is indifferent, why 
is not the effect in some measure indifferent ? If the balance 
be no heavier at one end than the oilier, why does it perpetu- 
ally, and, as it were, infinitely, preponderate one way ? How 
comes it to pass, that the free will of mankind has been de- 
termined to evil, in like manner before the flood, and after 
the flood ; under the law, and under the gospel ; among both 
Jews and Gentiles, under the Old Testament ; and since that, 
among Christians^ Jews, Mahometans ; among Papists and 
Protestants ; in those nations where civility-, politeness, arts, 
and learning most prevail, and among the Ne';^roes and Hot- 
tentots in Africa, the Tartars in Asia, and Indians in Ameri- 
ca, towards both the poles, and on every side of the globe ; 
in greatest cities and obscurest villages ; in palaces and in 
huts, wigwams and cells under ground ? Is it enough to reply, 
it happens so, that men every where, and ati^U times, choose 
thus to determine their own wills, and so to make themselves 
sinful, as soon as ever they are capable of it, and to sin con- 
stantly as long as they live, and universally to choose never to 
come up half way to their duly ? 

As has been often observed, a steady effect requires a 
steady cause ; but free will, without any previous propensity 
to influence its determinaiions, is no permanent cause ; noth- 
ing can be conceived of, further from it : For the very no- 
tion of freedom of will, consisting in selfdeterminiag power, 
implies contingence : And if the will is free in that seiise., 

• Page 257, 258, 52, 53, 5. and many other places. 



22fa ORIGINAL SIN. 

that it is perfectly free from any government of previous in- 
clination, its freedom must imply the most absolute and fier- 
feet contingence ; and surely nothing can be conceived of, 
more unfixed than that. The notion of liberty of will, in this 
sense, implies perfect freedom from every thing that should 
previously fix, bind or determine it ; that it may be left to be 
fixed and determined wholly by itself : Therefore its deter- 
minations must be previously altogether unfixed. And can 
that which is so unfixed, so contingent, be a cause sufficient 
to account for an effect, in such a manner, and to such a de- 
gree, permanent, fixed and constant ? 

When men see only one particular person, going on in a 
certain course with gre'at constancy, against all manner of 
means to dissuade him, do they judge this to be no argument 
of any fixed disposition of mind, because he, being free, may 
determine to do so, if he will, without any such disposition ? 
Or if they see a nation or people that differ greatly from oth- 
er nations, in such and such instances of their constant con- 
duct, as though their tempers and inclinations were very di- 
verse, and any should deny it to be from any such cause, and 
should say, we cannot judge at all of the temper or disposi- 
tion of any nation or people, by any thing observable in their 
constant practice or behavior, because they have all free 
will, and therefore may all choose to act so, if they please, 
without any thing in their temper or inclination to bias them ; 
would such an account of such effects be satisfying to the rea- 
son of mankind ? But infinitely further would it be from satis- 
fying a considerate mind, to account for the constant and uni- 
versal sinfulness of mankind, by saying, that the will of all 
mankind is free, and therefore all mankind may, if they 
please, make themselves wicked : They are free when they 
first begin to act as moral agents, and therefore all may, if 
they please, bep;in to sin as soon as they begin to act : They 
are free as long as they continue to act in the world, and 
therefore they may all commit sin continually, if they will : 
Men of all nations are free, and therefore all nations may act 
alike in these respects, if they please (though some do not 
know how other nations do act.) Men of high and low condi- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 229 

tlon, learned and ignorant, are free, and therefore they may 
agree in actins^ wickcJly, if they please (though they do not 
consult together.) Men in all ages are free, and therefore 
men ui one age may all agree with men in every other age iu 
wickedness, if they please, (though they do not know how 
men in other ages have acted) Sec. he. Let every one judge 
whether such an accoun' of things can satisfy reason. 

Evasion 3. Ii is said by many of the opposers of the doc- 
trine of Original Sin, that the corruption of the world of man- 
kind may be owing, not to a depraved nature, but to bad ex- 
ample. And I think we must understand Dr. Taylor as hav- 
ing respect to the powerful influence of bad instruction and 
example, when he says, p. 118. " The Gentiles, in their 
heathen state, when incorporated into the body of the Gentile 
world, were without strength, unable to help or recover them- 
selves." And in several other places to the like purpose. 
If there was no depravity of nature, what else could there be 
but bad instruction and example, to hinder the heathen world, 
as a collective body, (for as such Dr. Taylor speaks of them, as 
may be seen p. 117, 118) from emerging out of their corrup- 
tion, on the rise of each new generation ? As to their bad in- 
struction, our author insists upon it, that the heathen, not- 
withstanding all their disadvantages, had sufficient light to 
know God, and do their whole duty to him, as we have ob- 
served from time to time. Therefore it must be chiefly bad 
example, that we must suppose, according to him, rendered 
their case helpless. 

Now concerning this way of accounting for the corruption 
of the world, by the influence of bad example, I would observe 
the following things : 

1. It is accounting for the thing by tl.e thing itself. It is 
accounting for the corruption of the m orld by the corruption 
of the world. For, that bad examples are general all over 
the world to be followed by others, and have been so from 
the beginning, is only an instance, or rather a description of 
that corruption of the world which is to be accounted for. If 
mankind are naturally no more inclined to evil than good, 
then how comes there to be so many more bad exam- 



2S0 ORIGINAL SIN 

pies than i^ood ones', in all ajjes ? And if there arc not, how- 
come the had examples tliat are sel, to he so much more fol* 
lowed than the good ? If the propensity of man's nature he 
not to evil, how comes the curi-ent of c;et\cral example, eve- 
ry where, and at all times, to he so much to evil ? And when 
opposition has heen made hy p^ood examples, how comes it to 
pass that it has had so little effect to stem the stream of gen- 
eral wicked practice ? 

I think from the brief account the scripture gives xis of 
the behavior of the first parents of mankind, the expressions 
of their faith and hope in God's mercy revtaled to them, we 
have reason to suppose, that before ever they had any children, 
they repented, and were pardoned, and became truly pious. 
So that God planted the world at first with a noble vine i and 
at the beginning of the generations ef mankind, he set the 
stream of example the right way. And we see, that children 
are more apt to follow the example of their parents, than of 
any others ; especially in early youth, their forming time, 
when those habits are generally contracted, whicli abide by 
them all their days. And besides, Adam's children hatl no 
ether examples to follow, but those of their parents. How 
therefore came the stream so soon to turn, and to proceed the 
contrary way, with so violent a current ? Then, when man- 
kind became so universally and desperately corrupt, as not to 
Ijc fit to live on earth any longer, and the world was every 
where full of bad examples, God destroyed them all at once, 
but only righteous Noah, and his family, to remove those bad 
examples, and that the world of mankind might be planted a- 
gain with good example, and the stream again turned the right 
way : Hov/ therefore came it to pass, that Noah's posterity did 
not follow his good example, especially when they had sucl: 
extraordinary things to enforce his example, but so general- 
ly, even in his life time, became so exceeding corrupt i One 
would think, the first generations at least, while all lived to- 
gether as one family, under Noah, their venerable Father, 
might have followed his good example ; and if they had done 
so, then, when the earth came to be divided in Peleg's time, 
'he hea-ds of the several families would have set out their par- 



ORIGINAL SIN. n\ 

ticular colonies with good examples, and the stream -w-ould 
iiave been turned the right way in all the various divisions, 
colonies, and nations of the world. But we see verily the 
fact was, that in about fifty years after Noah's death, the world 
in general was overrun with dreadful corruption ; so that all 
virtue and goodness were like soon to perish from among 
mankind, unless something extraordinary should be done to 
prevent it. 

Then, for a remedy, God separated Abraham and Hs 
family from all the rest of the world, that they might be de- 
livered from the influence of bad example, that, in his poster- 
ity, he might have an holy seed. Thus God again planted a 
nob^e vine ; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob being eminently pious. 
But how soon did their posterity degenerate, till true religion 
was like to he swallowed up ? We sec how desperately, and 
almost universally corrupt they were, when God brought 
tiiem out of Egypt, and led them in the wilderness. 

Then God was pleased, before he planted his people in 
Canaan, to destroy that perverse generation in tiie wilderness, 
that he might plant them there a noble vine, ^vhollij a right 
seedy and set them out with good example, in the land where 
they were to have their settled abode. Jer. ii. 21, It is ev- 
ident, that the generation which came with Joshua into Ca- 
naan, was an .excellent generation, by innumerable tiling;; 
said of them.* But how soon did that people, nevertheless, 
become the degenerate filant of a strange vine ? 

And when the nation had a long time proved themselves 
desperately and incurably corrupt, God destroyed them, and 
sent them into captivity, till the old rebels were dead and 
purged out, to deliver their children from their evil example ; 
and when the folloAving generation were purified as in a fur- 
nace, God planted them again, in the land of Israe', a noble, 
vifi-e, and set them out with good example ; which yet was 
not followed by their posterity. 

*See Jer. ii. 2, 3. Psal. Ixviii 14, Josh, xxll 2, and xxiii. 8. Deut, 
iv. 3, 4, Hos. xi. 1, and IX. 10. Judges ii. 7, 17, 21, and many othf 
ojaces. 



232 ORIGINAL SIN. 

When again the corniption was become inveterate and 
desperate, the Christian church was planted by a glorious 
outpouring of the Spirit of God, causing true virtue and piety 
to be exemplified in the first age of the church of Christ, lar 
beyond whatever had been on earth before ; and the Chriit- 
ian church was planted a noble vme. But that primitive good 
example has not prevailed, to cause virtue to be generally and 
steadfastly maintained in the Christian world : To how great 
a degree it has been otherwise, has already been observed. 

After many ages of general and dreadful aj-ostasy, God 
was pleased to erect tlve Protestant church, as separated from 
the more corrupt part of Christendom ; and true pieiy flour- 
ished very much in it at first ; God planted it a yioble vine : 
But, notwithstanding the good examples of the first reform- 
ers, what a melancholy pass is the Protestant world come to 
at this day ? 

When England grew very corrupt, God brought over a 
number of pious persons, and planted them in NewengJand, 
and this land was planltd with a noble vine. But how is the 
gold become dim ! How greatly have we forsaken the pious 
examples of our fathers I 

So prone have mankind always proved themselves to de- 
generacy, and bent to backsliding. Which shews plainly 
their natural propensity ; and that when good has revived, 
and been promoted among men, it has been by some divine 
interposition, to oppose the natural current ; the fruit of some 
extraordinary means, the efficacy of which has soon been 
overcome by constant, natural bias, and the effect of good ex- 
ample presently lost, and evil has regained and maintained 
the dominion : Like an heavy body, which may by some 
great power be caused to ascend, iigainst its nature, a little 
while, but soon goes back again towards the centre, to which 
it naturally and constastly tends. 

So that evil example will in no wise account for the cor- 
ruption of mankind, without supposing a natural proneness to 
sin. The tendency of example alone will not account for 
general wicked practice, as consequent on good example. 
And if the influence of bad example is a reason of some of 



ORIGINAL Sm. 233 

t'le wickedness that is in the world, that alone will not ac- 
count for men's becoming worse than the example set, and de- 
generating more and more, and growing worse and worse, 
which has been the manner of mankind. 

2. There has been given to the world an example of 
virtue, which, were it not for a dreadful depravity of nature, 
would have influence on them that live under the gospel, far 
beyond all other examples ; and that is, the example of Jesus 
Christ. 

God, who knov/ the human nature, and how apt men are to 
be influenced by example, has made answerable provision. 
His infinite wisdom has contrived that we s'loukl have set be- 
fore us the most amiable and perfect example, in such circum- 
stances, as should have the greatest tendency to influence all 
the principles of man's nature, but his corruption. Men are 
apt to be moved by the example of others like themselves., or in 
their own nature ; thereibre this example was given in our 
nature. Men are ready to follow the example of the great 
and honorable ; and this example, though it was of one in 
our nature, yet it was of one infinitely higher and more hon- 
orable than kings or angels. A people are apt to follow the 
example of their prince : This is the example of that glori- 
ous person, who stands in a peculiar relation to Christians, as 
their Lord and King, the Supreme Head of the church ; and 
not only so, but the King of kings, Supreme Head of the Uni- 
verse, and head over all things to the church. Children are 
apt to follow the example of their parents : This is the ex- 
ample of the Author of our Being, and one who is in a pecu- 
liar and extraordinary manner our Father, as he is the Author 
of our Holy and happy Being; besides his being the Creator 
of the world, and everlasting Father of the Universe. Men 
are very apt to follow the example of their friends : The ex- 
ample of Christ is of one that is infinitely our greatest friend, 
standing, in the most endearing relations of our Brother, Re- 
deemer, Spiritual Head and Husband ; whose grace and love 
expressed to us, transcends all other love and friendship, as 
much as heaven is higher than the earth. And then the vir- 
tues and acts of his example were exhibited to us in the most 

Vol. VI 2F 



^34, ORIGINAL SIN. 

cndearin.^■ and engaging circumstances that can possibly be 
conceived of : His obedience and submission to God, his hu- 
mility, meekness, patience, charity, selfdenial, 8cc. being ex- 
ercised and expressed in a work of infinite grace, love, con- 
descension, and beneficence to us ; and had all their highest 
expressions in his laying down his life for us, and meekly, 
patiently, and cheerfully undergoing such extreme and unut- 
terable suffering, for our eternal salvation. Men are pecuUar- 
ly apt to follow the example of such as they have great bene- 
fits from : But it is utterly impossible to conceive of greater 
benefits, that we could have by the virtues of any person, than 
we have by the virtuous acts of Christ ; who depend upon be- 
ing thereby saved from eternal destruction, and brought to- 
inconceivable, immortal glory at God's right hand. Surely 
if it were not for an extreme corruption of the heart of men, 
such an example would have that strong influence on the heart, 
that would as it were swallow up the power of all the evil and 
hateful examples of a generation of vipers. 

3. The influence of bad example, vvithont corruption of 
nature, will not account for children's universally committing 
sin as soon as capable of it ; which, I think, is a fact that has 
been made evident by the scripture. It will not account for 
this, in the children of eminently pious parents ; the first ex- 
amples that are set in their view, being very good ; which, as 
has been observed, was especially the case of many children 
jn Christian families in the apostles' days, when the Apostle 
John supposes that every individual person had sin to repent 
of, and confess to God. 

4. What Dr. Taylor supposes to have been fact, with 
respect to a sjreat part of mankind, cannot consistently be ac- 
counted for from the influence of bad example, viz. the state 
of the heathen world, which he supposes, considered as a col- 
Jcctive body, was helpless, dead in sin, and unable to recover- 
itself. Not evil example alone, no, nor as united with evil 
instruction, can be supposed a sufficient reason why every 
new generation that arose among them, should not be able to 
emerge from the idolatry and wickedness of iheir ancestors, 
in any consistence with his scheme. The ill example of an- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 235 

cestors could have no power to oblige them to sin, any other 
way than as a strong temptation. But Dr. Taylor himself 
says, p. 72. 5. " To suppose men's temptations to be supe- 
Tioi' to their powers, will impeach the goodness and justice of 
God, who appoints every man's trial." And as to bad in- 
structions, as was observed before, he supposes that they all, 
yea every individual person, had light sufficient to know God, 
and do their whole duty. And if each one could do this for 
himself, then surely they might all be agreed in it through 
the power of free will, as well as the whole world be agreed 
in corruption by the same power. 

Evasion 4. Some modern opposers of the doctrine of 
Original Sin, do thus account for the general prevalence of 
wickedness, viz. that in a course of nature our senses grow 
up first, and the animal passions get the start of reason. So 
Dr. Turnbull says,* " Sensitive objects first affect us, and in- 
asmuch as reason is a principle, which, in the nature of things, 
must be advanced to strength and vigor, by gradual cultiva- 
tion, and these objects are continually assailing and soliciting 
us; so, unless a very happy education prevents, our sensitive 
appetites must have become very strong, before reason can 
have force enough to call them to an account, and assume an- 
thority over them." From hence Dr. Turnbull supposes it 
comes to pass,t " That though some few may, through the 
influence of virtuous example, be said to be sanctified from 
the womb, so liberal, so generous, so virtuous, so truly noble 
is their cast of mind ; yet, generally speaking, the whole 
world lieth in such wickedness, that, with respect to the far 
greater part of mankind, the study of virtue is beginning to 
reform, and is a severe struggle against bad habits, early con- 
tracted, and deeply rooted ; it is therefore putting off" an old, 
inveterate, corrupt nature, and putting on a new form and 
temper; it is moulding ourselves anew; it is a being born 
again, and becoming as children. And how few are there in 
the world who escape its pollutions, so as not to be early in 
that class, or to be among the righteous that need no repent- 
ance ?" 

* See Moral Philosophy, p. 279, and Christian Philosophy, p. 87^, 
+ Christian Philosophy, p, ^gz, 283, 



230 ORIGINAL SIN. 

Dr. Taylor, though he is not so explicit, seems to hint at 
the same thing, p. 192. <' It is by slow degree'^: (says he) that 
children come »o the use of understanding ; the animal pas- 
sions being for some years the governing part of their con- 
stitution. And therefore, though they may be frovvard and 
apt to displease us, yei how far this is sin in them, we are not 
capable of judging. But it may sufiice to say, that it is the 
will of God that children should have appetites and passions 
to regulate and restrain, that he hath given parents instruc- 
tions and commands to discipline and inform their minds, that 
if parents first learned true wisdom for themselves, and then 
endeavored to bring up their children in the way of virtue, 
there would be less wickedness in the world." 

Concerning these things I would observe, that such a 
scheme is attended with the very same difficulties, which they 
that advance it would avoid ; liable to the same objections, 
which they make against God's ordering it so that men 
should be brought into being with a prevailing propensity to 
sin. For this scheme supposes, the author of lature has so 
ordered things, that men should come into being as moral 
agents, that is, should first have existence in a state and ca- 
pacity of moral agency, under a prevailing propensity to sin. 
For that strength, which sensitive appetites and animal pas- 
sions come to by their habitual exercise, before persons come 
to the exercise of their rational powers, amounts to a strong 
propensity to sin, when they first come to the exercise of 
those rational, powers, by the supposition ; because this is 
given as a reason why the scale is turned for sin among man- 
kind, and why, generally n/ieaking, the ivhole ivorld lies in wick- 
edness, and the study of -virtue is a severe struggle against bad 
habits, early contracted, and deeply rooted. These deeply- 
rooted habits must imply a tendency to sin ; otherwise they 
could not account for that which they are brought to ac- 
count for, namely, prevailing wickedness in the world ; 
for that cause cannot account for an effect, which is sup- 
posed to have" no tendency to that effect. And this ten- 
dency which is supposed, is altogether equivalent to a natur- 
al tendency : It is as necessary to the subject. For it is sup- 
posed to be brought on the person who is the subject of it, 



ORIGINAL SIN. 23; 

when he has no power to withstand or oppose it : The habit, 
as Dr. Turnbull says, becoming very btroni.;, before reason 
can have force enough to call the passions to account, or as- 
sume authority over them. And it is supposed, that this 
necessity, by which men become subject to this propensity to 
sin, is from the ordering and disposal of the author of nature ; 
and therefore must be as much from his hand, and as much 
without the hand bf the person himself, as if he were first 
brought into being with such a propensity. Moreover, it is 
supposed that the effect, which the tendency is to^ is truly 
wickedness. For it is alleged as a cause or reason why the 
whole world lies in wickedness, and why all but a very few 
are first in the class of the wicked, and not among the right- 
eous, that need no repentance. If they need repentance, what 
they are guilty of is truly and properly wickedness, or mor- 
al evil ; for certainly men need no repentance for that which 
is no sin, or blamable evil. If it be so, that, as a consequence 
of this propensity, the world lies in wickedness, and the far 
greater part are of a wicked character, without doubt, the far 
greater part go to eternal perdition ; for death does not pick 
and choose for men of a righteous character only. And cer- 
tainly that is an evil, corrupt state of things, which naturally 
tends to, and issues in that consequence, that as it were the 
whole world lies and lives in wickedness, and dies in wicked- 
ness, and perishes eternally. And this, by the supposition, is 
a state of things, wholly of the ordering of the author of na- 
ture, before mankind are capable of having any hand in the 
affair. And is this any relief to the difficulties, which these 
writers object against the doctrine of natural depravity ? 

And I might here also observe; that this w^ay of account- 
ing for the wickedness of the world, amounts to just the same 
thing with that solution of man's depravity, which was men- 
tioned before, that Or. Taylor cries out of as loo gross to be 
admitted (p. 188, 189.) viz. God's creating the soul pure, and 
putting it into such a body, as naturally tends to pollute it. 
For this scheme supposes, that God creates the soul pure, and 
puts it into a body, and into such a state in that body, tiiat the 
iiatural consequence is a strong propensity to sin, as soon as 
the soul is capable of sinning. 



2S8 ORIGINAL SIN. 

Dr. Turnbiill seems to suppose, that the mutter could no'. 
have been ordered otherwise, consistent with the nature of 
things, than that animal passions should be so aforehand with 
reason, as that the consequence should be that Avhich has been 
mentioned ; because reason is a faculty ef such a nature, that 
it, can have strenp;lh and vigor no otherwise than by exercise 
and culture.* But can there be any force in this ? is there 
any thing in nature, to make it impossible, but that the supe- 
rior principles of man's nature should be so proportioned to 
the inferior, as to prevent such a dreadful consequence, as the 
moral and natural ruin, and eternal perdition of the far great- 
er part of mankind ? Could not those superior principles be 
in vastly greater strength at first, and yet be capable of end- 
less improvement ? And what should hinder its being so or- 
dered by the Creator, that they should impiove by vastly 
swifter degrees than they do ? If we are Christians we must 
be forced to allow it to be possible in the nature of things, 
that the principles of human nature should be so balanced, 
that the consequence should be no propensity to sin, in the 
first beginning of a capacity of moral agency ; because we 
must own, that it was so in fact in Adam, when first created, 
and also in the man Christ Jesus ; though the faculties of the 
ktter were such as grew by culture and improvement, so that 
be increased in wisdom as he grev/ in stature. 

Evasion 5. Seeing men in this v/orld are in a state of 
trial, it is fit that their virtue should meet with trials, and con- 
sequently that it should have opposition and temptation to 
overcome ; not only from without, but from within, in the 
animal passions and appetites we have to struggle with ; that 
by the conflict and victory our virtue may be refined and es- 
tablished. Agreealily to this, Dr. Taylor (p. 253.) says, 
"Without aright use and application of our powers, were 
they naturally ever so perfect, we could not be judged fit to 
enter into the kingdom of God. 'I his gives a good reason 
why we arc now in a state of trial and temptation, viz. to prove 
and disciplinsi our minds, to season our virtue, and to fit u» 

* Mor, Phil. p. 311. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 239 

for the kingdom of God ; for which, in the judgment of infi- 
nite wisdom, -we cannot be qualified, but by overcoming our 
present temptations." And in p. 78. S. he says, " We are 
upon trial, and it is the will of our Father that our constitu- 
tion should be attended with various passions and appetites, 
as well as our outward condition with various temptations." 
He says the like in several other places. To the same pur- 
pose very often Dr. Turnbull, panicularly Christian Philoso- 
phy^ p. 310. " What merit (says he) except from combat? 
What virtue without the encounter of such enemies, such 
temptations as arise both from within and from abroad ? To be 
virtuous, is to prefer the pleasures of virtue, to those which 
come into competition with it, and vice holds forth to tempt 
ns ; and to dare to adhere to truth and goodness, whatever 
pains and hardships it may cost. There m.ust therefore, in 
order to the formation and trial, in order to the very being of 
virtue, be pleasures of a certain kind to make temptations to 
7ice." 

In reply to these things I would say, either the slate of 
temptation, which is supposed to be ordered for men's trial, 
amounts on the whole to a prevailing tendency to that state of 
general wickedness and ruin, which has been proved to take 
place, or it does not. If it does not amount to a tendency to 
such an effect, then how does it account for it ? When it is 
inquired, by what cause such an effect should come to pass, 
is it not absurd to allege a cause, which is owned at the same 
lime to have no tendency to such an effect ? Which is as much 
as to confess, that it will not account for it. I think it has 
hcan demonstrated, that this effect must be owing to some 
prevailing tendency. If the other part of the dilemma be 
taken, and il be said, that this state of things does imply a pre- 
vailing tendency to that effect, whicli has been proved, viz. 
that all mankind, without the exception of su much as one, 
sin against God, to their own deserved and just, eternal ruin ; 
and not only so, but sin thub immediately, as soon as capable 
of it, and sin continually, and huve more sin than virtue, and 
have guilt that in{ini>eiy outweighs the value of all the good- 
ness any ever have, and that the generality of the world in 



210 ORIGINAL SIN, 

all ages are extremely stupid and foolish, and of a wiekcd 
character, and actually perish for ever ; I say, if the state of 
temptation implies a natural tendency to such an effect as 
this, it is a very evil, corrupt, and dreadful state of things, as 
has been already largely shewn. 

Besides, such a state has a tendency to defeat its own sup- 
posed end, which is to refine, ripen, and perfect virtue in man- 
kind, and so to fit men for the greater eternal happiness and 
glory : Whereas, the effect it tends to, is the reverse of this, 
viz. general, eternal infamy and ruin, in all generations. It 
is supposed, that men's virtue must have passions and appe- 
tites to struggle with, in order to have the glory and reward 
of victory ; but the consequence is, a prevailing, continual 
and generally effectual tendency, not to men's victory over 
evil appetites and passions, and the glorious reward of that 
victory, but to the victory of evil appetites and lusts over men, 
and utterly and eternally destroying them. If a trial of vir- 
tue be requisite, yet the question is, whence comes so gener- 
al a failing in the trial, if there be no depravity of nature ? If 
conflict and war be necessary, yet surely there is no necessity 
that there should be more cowards than good soldiers ; unless 
it be necessary that men should be overcome and destroyed : 
Especially it is not necessary that the whole world as it 
were should lie in wickedness, and so lie and die in cowardice. 

I might also here observe, that Dr. Turnbull is not very 
consistent, in supposing, that combat with temptation is req- 
uisite to the very being of virtue. For I think it clearly fol- 
lows from his own notion of virtue, that virtue must have a 
being prior to any virtuous or praiseworthy combat with 
temptation. For, by his principles, all virtue lies in good af- 
fection, and no actions can be virtuous, but what proceed from 
good affection.* Therefore, surely the combat itself can 
have no virtue in it, unless it proceeds from virtuous affec- 
tion ; and therefore virtue must have an existence before the 
combat, and be the cause of it. 

^ * Christian Pkilssophy, p. 113 115. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 241 



CHAPTER II. 



Universal Mertality proves Original Sin; par-^ 
ticularly the Death of Infants^ with its vari- 
ous circumstances. 



THE universal reign of death, over persons of all ages 
indiscriminately, with the awful circumstances and attend- 
ants of death, proves that men come sinful into the world. 

It is needless here particularly to inquire, whether God 
has not a sovereign risiht to set bounds to the lives of his own 
creatures, be they Sinful or not ; and as he gives life, so to 
take it av/ay when he pleases ? Or how far God has a right 
to bring extreme suffering and calamity on an innocent mor- 
al agent ? Yov death, wiih the pains and agonies with which 
it is usually brought on, is not merely a limiting of existence, 
but is a most terrible calamity ; and to such a creature as 
man, capable of conceiving of immortality, and made with so 
earnest a desire after it, and capable of foresight and of re- 
flection on approaching death, and that has such an extreme 
dread of it, is a calamity above all others terrible, to such as 
are able to refleci upon it. I say, it is needless, elaborately 
to consider, whether God may not, consistent with his perfec- 
tions, by absolute sovereignty, bring so great a calamity on 
mankind when perfectly innocent. It is sufficient, if we have 
good evidence from scripture, that it is not agreeable to God*s 
manner of dealing with mankmd so to do. 

It is manifest, that mankind were not originally subject- 
ed to I his calamity : God brought it on them afterwards, on 
occasion of man's sin, at a time of the manifestation of God's 
great displeasure for sin, and by a denunciation and sentence 
pronounced by him, as acting the part of a judge, as Dr. Tay- 
VoL. VI. 2 G 



a42 ORIGINAL SIN 

lor often totilesses. Sin entered into the world, and death 
by sin, as the apostle says. Which certainly leads us to sup- 
pose, that this affair was ordered of God, not merely by the 
sovereignty of a Creator, hut by the righteousness of a judge. 
And the sciiplure every where speaks of all great afflictions 
and calannilies, which God in his providence brings on man- 
kind, as testimonies of his displeasure for sin, in the subject 
of those calamities ; excepting those sufferings which are to 
atone for the sins of others. He ever taught his people to 
look on such calamities as his rod, the rod of his anger, his 
Jrowns, the hidings of his face in displeasure. Hence such 
calamities are in scripture so often called by the name of 
jiidgmtntsy being what God brings on men as a judge, execut- 
ing a riglueous sentence for transgression : Yea, they are 
often called by the name of wrath, especially calamities con- 
sisting or issuing in death.* And hence also is that which 
Dr. Taylor would have us take so much notice of, that some- 
limes, in the scripture, calamity and sutTering is called by 
fciich names as sin, iniquity, being guiltij, Sec. which is evident- 
ly by a roetonytny of the cause for the effect. It is not like- 
ly, that in the language in use of old among God's people, 
calamity or suffering would have been called even by the 
names of sin and guilt, if it had been so far from having any 
connexion with sin, that even death itself, which is always 
spoken of as the most terrible of calamities, is not so much 
as any sign of the sinfulness of the subject, or any testiu.ony 
of God's displeasure for any guilt of his, as Dr. Taylor sup- 
poses. 

Death is spoken of in scripture as the chief of cal.-^miiies, 
the most extreme and terrible of all those natural evils, which 
come on mankind in this world. Deadly destruction is spok- 
en of as the most terrible destruction. 1 Sam. v. 11. Bead- 
ly sorrow, as the most extreme sorrow. Isa. xvii. 1 1. Malth. 
xxvi. 38, and deadly enemies, as the most bilter and terrible 

* See Lcvit. x. 6. Numb. i. 53, and xviii, 5. Josh, ix. 20. aChroo. 
xxiv. 18, and xix. 2, 10, and xxviii. 13, and xxxii. 25. Ezra vii. ffg. 
Neh. xiii. i8. Zech. vii, 12, and many other places. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 243 

enemies. Psal. xvii. 9. The extremity of Christ's suffer- 
ings is represented by his suffering -1171(0 death. Philip, ii. 8, 
and other places. Hence the greatest testimonies of God's 
anger for the sins of men in this world, have been by inflict- 
ing death : As on the sinners of the old world, on the inhab- 
itants of Sodom and Gomo rah, on Onan, Pharaoh, and the 
Egyptians, Nadab and Abihu, Korah and his company, and 
the rest of the rebels in the wilderness, on the wicked inhab- 
itants of Canaan, on Hophni and Phinehas, Ananias and Sap- 
phira, the unbelieving Jews, upon whom wrath came to the 
uttermost, in the time of the last destruction of Jerusalem. 
This calamity is often spoken of as in a peculiar manner the 
fruit of the guilt of sin. Exod. xxviii. 43. " That they bear 
not iniquity and die." Levit. xxii. 9. " Lest they bear sin 
for it and die." So Numb, xviii. 22, compared with Levit. x. 
1, 2. The very light of nature, or tradition from ancient rev- 
elation, led the heathen to conceive of death as in a peculiar 
manner an evidence of divine vengeance. Thus we have an 
account, Acts xxviii. 4. That tvhen the Barbarians .saw the 
•venoinous beast hang on Paul's handt they said among them.' 
selves^ no doubt this man is a murderer, ivhom^ though he hath 
tscaped the seas, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. 

Calamities that are very small in comparison of the uni- 
versal, temporal destruction of the whole world of mankind 
by death, are spoken of as manifest indications of God's great 
displeasure for the sinfulness of the subject ; such as the des- 
truction of particular cities, countries, or numbers of men, by 
war or pestilence. Deut. xxix. 24. " All nations shall say, 
wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land ? What 
meaneth the heat of this great anger ?" Here compare Deut. 
xxxii, 30. 1 Kings ix. 8, and Jer. xxii. 8, 9. These calam- 
ities, thus spoken of as plain testimonies of God's great an- 
ger, consisted only in hastening on that de:ith, wtiich other- 
wise, by God's disposal, would most certainly have come in a 
short time. Now the taking off of thirty or forty years from 
seventy or eighty, (if we should suppose it to be so muchj 
one with another, in the time of these extraordinary judg- 
ments) is but a small matter, in comparison of (icd's first 



244 ORIGINAL SIN. 

making man mortal, cutting off his hoped for immortality, 
subjecting him to inevitable death, which his nature so ex- 
ceedingly dreads ; and afterwards shortening his life further, 
"by cutting off more than eight hundred years of it ; so bring- 
ing it to be less than a twelfth part of what it was in the first 
ages of the world. Besides that innumerable multitudes in 
the common course of things, without any extraordinary 
judgment, die in youth, in childhood, and infancy. There- 
fore how inconsiderable a thing is the additional or hastened 
destruction, that is sometimes brought on a particular city or 
country by war, compared with that universal havoc which 
death makes of the whole race of mankind, from generation 
to generation, without distinction of sex, age, quality, or con- 
dition, with all the infinitely various, dismal circumstances, 
torments, and agonies, which attend the death of old and 
young, adult persons and little infants ? If those particular 
and comparatively trivial calamities, extending perhaps not to 
more than the thousandth part of the men of one generation, 
are clear evidences of God's great anger ; certainly this uni- 
versal, vast destruction, by which the whole world in all gen- 
erations is swallowed up, as by a flood, that nothing can re- 
sist, must be a most glaring manifestation of God's anger for 
the sinfulness of mankind. Yea, the scripture is express in 
it, that it is so. Psal. xc. 3, &c, " Thou turnest man to des- 
truction, and sayest, return, ye children of men... .Thou earli- 
est them away as with a flood : They are as a sleep : In the 
morning they are like grass, which groweth up ; in the morn- 
ing it flourisheth and groweth up ; in the evening it is cut 
down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, 
and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniqui- 
ties before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy counte- 
nance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : We 
spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years 
are threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of strength 
they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sor- 
row ; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth 
the power of thine anger ? According to thy fear, so is thy 
wrath. So teach us to number our days that we may apply 



ORIGINAL SIN. 245 

oui' hearts unto wisdom." How plain and full is this testimo- 
ny, that the general mortality of mankind is an evidence of 
God's anger for the sin of those who are the subjects of such 
a dispensation ? ■■ 

Abimelech speaks of it as a thing which he had reason to 
conclude from God's nature and perfection, that he ivould not 
slay a righteous nation. Gen. xx. 4. By righteous evidently 
meaning innocent. And if so, much less will God slay a right' 
eons world, (consisting of so many nations. ...repealing the 
great slaughter in every generation) or subject the whole 
world of mankind to death, when they are considered as inno- 
cent, as Dr. Taylor supposes. We have from tinae to time 
in scripture such phrases as worthy of death, and guilty of 
death ; but certainly the righteous Judge of all the earth will 
not bring death on thousands of millions, not only that are not 
worthy of death, but are worthy of no punishment. 

Dr. Taylor from time to time speaks of affliction and 
death as a great benefit, as they increase the vanity of all 
earthly things, and tend to excite sober reflections, and to in- 
duce us to be moderate in gratifying the appetites of the body, 
and to mortify pride and ambition, &c.* To this I would 
say, 

1. It is not denied but God may see it needful for man- 
kind in their present state, that they should be mortal, and 
subject to outward afflictions, to restrain their lusts, and mor- 
tify their pride and ambition, Sco. But then is it not an evi- 
dence of man's depravity, that it is so ? Is it not an evidence 
of distemper of mind, yea, strong disease, when man stands 
in need of such sharp medicines, such severe and terrible 
means to restrain his lusts, keep down his pride, and make 
him willing to be obedient to God ? It must be because of 
a corrupt and ungrateful heart, if the riches of God's bounty, 
in bestowing life and prosperity, and things comfortable and 
pleasant, will not engage the heart to God, and to virtue, and 
childlike love and obedience, but thiit he must always have 
the rod held over him, and be often chastised, and held under 

* Pages ai, 67, and other places. 



2i5 ORIGINAL SIN. 

the apprehen'j'rens of death, to keep him from ri^nnin}* wild 
in pride, contempt and rebellion, xingratefully using the bless- 
ings dealt forth from God's hand, in sinning against him, 
and serving his enennes. If man has no natural di^ingenuity 
of heart, it must be a mysterious thing indeed, that the sweet 
blessings of God's bounty have not as powerful an influence 
to restrain him from sinning against God, as terrible afflictions. 
If any thing can be a proof of a perverse and vile disposition, 
this must be a proof of it, that men should be most apt to 
forget and despise God, when his providence is most kind ; 
and that they should need to have God chastise them with 
great severity, and even to kill them, to keep them in order. 
If wc were as much disposed to gratitude to God for his bene- 
fits, as we are to anger at our fellow creatures for injuries, as 
we must be (so far as 1 can see) if we are not of a depraved 
heart, ihe sweetness of the divine bounty, if continued in life, 
and the height of every enjoyment that is pleasaYit to innocent 
human nature, would be as powerful incentives to a proper re- 
gard to God, tending as much to promote religion and virtue, 
as to have the world filled with calamity, and to have God (to 
use the language of Hczekiah, Isaiah xxxviii. 13, describing 
death and its agonies) as a lion, breaking alt our bones, and 
from day even to niglit, making an end of us. 

Dr. Taylor himself, p. 252, says, " That our first parents 
before the fall were placed in a condition proper to engage 
their gratitude, love and obedience." Which is as much as 
to say, proper to engage them to the exercise and practice of 
all religion. And if the paradisaical state was proper to en- 
gage to all religion and duty, and men still come into the 
world with hearts as good as the two first of the species, why 
is it not proper to engage them to it still ? What need of 
so vastly changing man's state, depriving him of all those 
blessings, and instead of them allotting to him a world full of 
briars and thorns, afliiction, calamity and death, to engage 
him to it ? The taking away of life, and all those pleasant 
enjoyments man hod at first, by a permanent constitution, 
would be no stated benefit to mankind, unless thcie was a 
sta'cd disposition in ihem to abuse such blessings. The tak- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 247 

ir!g them away is supposed to be a benefit under the notion of 
their bcin;^- things that tend to lead men to sin ; but they 
would have no such tendency, at least in a stated manner, un- 
less there was in men a fixed tendency to make that unrea- 
sonable misimprovemcnt of them. Such a temper of mind as 
amounts to a disposition to make such a mibimprovemcnt of 
blessings of that kind, is often spoken of in scripture, as most 
astonishingly vile and perverse. So concerning Isracrs abus- 
ing the blessings of Canaan, that land flowing with milk and 
honey ; iheir ingratitude in it is spoken of by the prophets, as 
enough to astonish ail lieaven and eartli, and as more than 
brutish stupidity and vileness. Jer. ii. 7. '• I brought them 
into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof, and the good- 
ness thereof. But when ye entered, ye defiled my land," £cc. 
See the following verses, especially verse 12. '^ Be astonish- 
ed, O ye heavens, at this." So Isaiah i. 2.. ..4. " Kcar, t) 
heavens, and give ear, O earth ; I have nourished and brought 
wp children, and they have rebelled against rne. The ox 
knoweth liis owner, and the ass his master's crib, but my peo- 
ple doth not know, Israel doth not consider. Ah, sinful na- 
tion ! A people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, child- 
ren that arc corruptors." Compare Deut. xxxii. 6,...l9. If 
it shewed so great depravity, to be disposed thus to abuse the 
blessings of so fruitful and pleasant a land as Canaan, surely it 
would be an evidence of a no less astonisliing corruption, to 
be inclined to abuse the blessings of Eden, and the garden of 
God there. 

2. If death be brought on mankind only as a benefi', ar,d 
in that manner which Dr. Taylor mentions, viz. to moi-lify or 
moderate their carnal appetites and afl'ections, wean them 
from the world, excite them to sober reflections, and lead 
them to the fear and obedience of God, Sec. is it not strange 
that it should fall so heavy on infants, who arc not capable of 
making any such improvement of it ; so that many more of 
mankind suffer death in infancy, than in any other equal part 
of the age of man ? Our author sometimes hints, that the 
death of infants may be for the good of parents, and those that 
are adult, and m.ay be for the correction and pii?/ishmcnt of 



248 ORIGINAL SIN, 

the sins of parents : But hath God any need of such methods 
to add to parents' afflictions ? Are there not ways enout^h 
that he might increase their trouble, without destroying the 
lives of such multitudes of (hose that are perfectly innocent, 
and have in no respect any sin belonging to them ; on whom 
death comes at an age, when not only the subjects are not ca- 
pable of any reflection or making any improvement of it, eith- 
er in the suffering or expectation of it ; but also at an age, 
when parents and friends, who alone can make a good im- 
provement, and whom Dr. Taylor supposes alone to be pun- 
ished by it, suffer least by being bereaved of them ; though 
the infants themselves sometimes suffer to great extremity ? 

3. To suppose, as Dr. Taylor does, that death is brought 
on mankind in consequence of Adam's sin, not at all as a ca- 
lamity, but only as a favor and benefit, is contrary to the doc- 
trine of the gospel, which teaches that when Christ, as the 
second Adam, comes to remove and destroy that death which 
came by the first Adam, he finds it not as a friend, but an 
enemy. 1 Cor. xv. 22, " For as in Adam all die, so in 
Christ shall all be made ahve ;" with verses 25 and 26, " Tor 
he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death." 

Dr. Taylor urges that the afilictions which mankind are 
subjected to, and particularly their common mortality, are 
represented in scripture as the chastisements of our heavenly 
Father ; and therefore are designed for our spiritual good, 
and consequently are not of the nature of punishments. So 
in p. 68, 69, 38, 39, 5. 

Though I think the thing asserted far from being true, 
viz. that the scripture represents the afflictions of mankind in 
general, and particularly their common mortality, as the chas- 
tisements of an hi-avenly father, yet it is needless to stand to 
dispute that matter ; for if it be so, it will be no argument 
that the afflictions and death of mankind are not evidences of 
their sinfulness. Those would be strange chastisements from 
the hand of a wise and good Father, which are wholly for 
nothing ; especially such severe chastisements as to break 
the child's bones, when at the same time the Father does not 



ORIGINAL SIN. $49 

suppose any guilt, fault or offence in any respect belonjjing to 
the child ; but it is chastised in this terrible manner, only 
for fear that it will be faulty hereafter. I say, these would be 
a strange sort of chastisements ; yea, though he should be 
able to make it up to the child afterwards. Dr. Taylor tells 
of representations made by the whole current of scripture : 
I am certain it is not agreeable to the current of scripture, to 
represent divine, fatherly chastisements after this manner. It 
is true, that the scripture supposes sudi chastenings to be the 
fruit of God's goodness ; yet at the same time it evermore 
represents them as being for the sin of the subject, and as 
evidences of the divine displeasure for its sinfulness. Thus 
the apostle in 1 Cor. xi. 30.. .,.'^2, speaks of God's chastening 
his people by mortal sickness, for their good, that they inighf. 
not be condemned with the Tjorld, and yet signifies that it was 
Jbr their sin ; for this cause many are weak and sickly among 
you, and many sleeji : That is, for the prefaneness and sinful 
disorder before mentioned. So Elihu, Job xxxiii. 16, &c. 
speaks of the same chastening by sickness, as for men's good, 
to withdrew man from his sinful piir/iose, and to hide firicle from 
man., and keep back his soul from the pit ; that therefore God 
chastens man with pain on his bed, and the multitude of his bones 
with strong pain. But these chastenings are for his sins, as 
appears by what follows, verse 28, where it is observed, that 
•when God by this means has brought men to repent, and hum- 
bly confess their sins, lie delivers them. Again, the same E- 
lihu, speaking of the unfailing love of God to the righteous, 
even when he chastens them, and they are bound in fetters, and 
holden in cords of affliction, chap, xxxvi. 7, &c. yet speaks of 
these chastenings as being for their sins, verse 9. »' Then he 
sheweth them their work, and their transgressions, that they 
have exceeded." So David, Psalm xxx speaks of God's 
chastening by sore afflictions, as being for his good, and issuing 
joyfully ; and yet being the fruit of God's anger for his sin, 
verse 5. " God's anger endureth but for a moment" &c. 
Compare Psalm cxix. 67, 71, 75. God's fatherly chastise- 
ments are spoken of as being for sin. 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15. 
*' I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son. If he com- 
VoL. VL 2 H 



HS^ ORIGINAL sin: 

mit injquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and ^vhfc 
the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not de« 
part away from him." So the prophet Jeremiah speaks of 
the great affliction that Go.Vs people of the young generation 
suffered in the time of the captivity, as being for their good. 
Lam. iii. 25, &c. But yet these chastisements are spoken of 
as being for their sin, see especially verses 39, 40. So Christ 
says, Rev. iii. 19. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chas- 
ten." But the words following shew that these chasteninga 
from love, are for sin that should be repented of : " Be zeal* 
ouH, therefore, and repent." And though Christ tells us, thejr 
are blessed that are persecuted for righteousness' sake, and 
have reason to rejoice and be exceeding glad ; yet even the 
persecutions of God's people, as ordered in divine Providence, 
are spoken of as divine chastenings for sin, like the just cor- 
rections of a Father, when the children deserve them, Ileb. 
xii. The apostle, there speaking to the Christians concern- 
ing the persecutions which they suftered, calls their sufferings 
by the name of divine rebukes, which implies testifying against 
a fault ; and that they may not be discouraged, puts them in 
mind, that lohom the Lord loves he chastens^ arid sccurgeth ex'- 
erij aon that he receivcth. It is also very plain, that the per- 
secutions of God's people, as they are from the disposing 
hand of God, are chastisements for sin, from 1 Pet, iv. 17, 18, 
compared with Prov. xi. 31. See also Psalm Ixix. 4.... 9. 

If divine chastisements in general are certain evidences 
that the subjects are not wholly without sin, some way be- 
longing to them, then in a peculiar manner is death so, for 
these reasons : 

1. Because slaying, or delivering to death, is often spok- 
en of as in general a more awful thing than the chastisements 
that are endured in this life. So Psalm cxviii. 17, 18. "I 
shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lordv 
The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me 
over unto death." So the Psalmist, in Psalm Ixxxviii. 15, 
setting forth the extremity of his affliction, represents it by 
this, that it was next to death. " I am afflicted, and ready 
to die: While I suffer thy terrors, lam distracted." Sci 



ORIGINAL SIN. 351 

David, 1 Sam. xx. 3. So God's tenderness towards persons 
under chastisement, is from time to time set forth by that, 
tliat he did not proceed so far as to m&ke an end of them by 
death, as in Psalm Ixxviii. 38, 39, Psahn ciii. 9, wiih verses 
14, 15, Psalm XXX 2, 3, 9, and Job xxxiii. 22, 23, 24. So we 
have God's people often praying, when under great affliction, 
that God would not proceed to this, as being the greatest ex- 
tremity. Psalrn xiii. 3. " Consider, and hear me, O Lord 
rny God : Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." 
So Job X, 9, Psalm vi. 1....5, Ixxxviii. 9, 10, 11, and cxliii. T. 
Especially may death be looked upon as the most extreme 
of all temporal sufferings, when attended with such dreadful 
circumstances, and extreme pains, as those with which I'rovi- 
dence sometimes brings it on infants, as on the ciiildren that 
%vere offered up to Moloch, and some other idols, who were 
tormented to death in burning brass. Dr. Taylor says, p. 83, 
128,5. " The Lord ot all being can never want time, and 
place, and power, to compensate abundantly any sufferings 
infants now undergo in subserviency to his good providence." 
But there are no bounds to such a license, in evading eviden- 
ces from fact. It might as well be said, that there is not and 
cannot be any such thing as evidence, from events of God's 
displeasure, which is most contrary to tlie whole current of 
scripture, as may appear in part from things which have been 
observed. This gentleman might as well go further still, and 
say that God may cast guiltless persons into hellfire, to re- 
main there in the most unutterable torments for ages of ages, 
(which bear no greater proportion to eternity than a quarter 
of an hour) and if he does so, it is no evidence of God's dis- 
pleasure, because he can never want time, place, and power, 
abundantly to compensate their sufferings afterwards. If it 
be so, it is not to the purpose, as long as the scripture does so 
abundantly teach us to look on great calamities and sufferings 
which God brings on men, especially death, as marks of his 
displeasure for sin, and for sin belonging to them that suffer. 
2. Another thing which may well lead us to suppose death, 
in a peculiar manner, above other temporal sufferings, in- 
tended as a testimony of God's displeasure for sin, is, that 



252 ORIGINAL SIN. 

death is a thine: attended with that awful appearance, that 
gloomy and terrible a'.pect, that naturally suggests to our 
minds God's awful displeasure Which is a thing that Dr. 
Taylor himself takes particular notice of, page 69, speaking 
of death, '^Herein," says he, " have we before our eyes a 
striking ciemonstration that sin is infinitely hateful to God, 
and the corruption and ruin of our nature. Nothing is more 
proper than such a sight to give us the utoiost abhorrence of 
all iniquity, &c." Now if death be no testimony of God's 
displeasure for sin, no evidence that the subject is looked 
upon, by him who inflicts it, as any other than perfectly inno- 
cent, free from all manner of imputation of guilt, and treated 
only as an object of favor, is it not strange, that God should 
annex to it such affecting appearances of his hatred and anger 
for sin, more than to other chastisements ? Which yet the 
scripture teaches us are always for sin. These gloomy and 
striking manifestations of Cod's hatred of sin attending death, 
are equivalent to awful frowns of God attending the stroke of 
his hand. If we should see a wise and just father chastising 
his child, mixing terrible frowns with severe strokes, we 
should justly argue, that the father considered his child as 
having something in nim displeasing to him, and that he did 
not thus treat his child only under a notion of mortifying him, 
and preventing his being faulty hereafter, and making it up 
to him afterwards, when he bad been perfectly innocent, and 
without fault, either of action or disposition thereto. 
- We may well argue from these things, that infants are 
not looked upon by God as sinless, but that they are by na- 
ture children of wrath, seeing this terrible evil comes so heav- 
ily on mankind in infancy. But besides these things, which 
are observable concerning the mortality of infants in general, 
there arc some particular cases of the death of infants, which 
the scripture sets before us, that are attended with circum- 
stances, in a peculiar manner giving evidences of the sinful- 
ness of such, and their just exposedness to divine wrath. As 
particularly, 

The destroying of the infants in Sodom, and the neigh- 
boring cities ; which cities, destroyed in so extraordinary, 



ORIGINAL SIN. 253 

miraculous, and awful a manner, are set forth as a signal ex- 
ample, of God's dreadful vengeance for sin, to the world in 
all generations ; agreeable to that of the apostle, Jude, verse 
7. God did not reprove, but manifestly countenanced Abra-- 
ham, when he said, with respect to the destruction of Sodom, 
(Gen. xviii. 23, 25 ) " Wilt thou destroy the righteous with 
the wicked?. ...That be far from thee to do after this manner, 
to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous 
should be as the wicked, that be far from thee. Shall not the 
judge of all the earth do right ?" Abraham's words imply that 
God would not destroy the innocent with the guilty. We 
may well understand innocent as included in the word right- 
eous, according to the language usual in scripture, in speak- 
ing of such cases of judgment and punishnient ; as is plain in 
Gen. XX. 4. Exod. xxiii. 7. Deut. xxv. 1. 2Sain. iv 11. 
2 Chron. vi. 23, and Prov. xviii. 5. Eliphaz says, Job iv. 7. 
"Who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the 
righteous cut off ?" We see v.-hat great care God took that 
Lot should not be involved in that destruction. He was mi- 
raculously rescued by angels, sent oii purpose ; who laid hold 
on him, and brought him, and set him without the gates of 
the city ; and told him that they could do nothint^- till he was 
out of the way. Gen. xix. 22. And not only was he thus 
Hiiraculously delivered, but his two wicked daughters for his 
sake. The whole afTair, both the destruction, and the rescue 
of them that escaped, was miraculous ; and God could as ea- 
sily have delivered the infants which were in those cities. 
And if they had been without sirt, their perfect innocency, one 
should think, would have pleaded nuich more strongly for 
them, than those lewd women's relation to Lot pleaded for 
them. When in such a case, we must suppose these infants 
■much further from deserving to be involved in that destruc- 
tion, than even Lot himself. To say here, that God cov. id 
make it up to those infants in anotiier world, must be an in- 
sufficient reply. For so he could as easily have nu;r!e !•: up 
to Lot, or to ten or fifty righteous, if they had been c rsti oved 
in the same fire ; Nevertheless it is plainly signified, mai this 



254 ORIGINAL SIN. 

"would not have been agreeable to the wise and holy proceed- 
ings of the judge of all the eartli. 

Since God declared, that if there had been found but ten 
righteous in Sodom, he would liave spared the whole city for 
their sakcj may we not well suppose, if infants are perfectly 
irlnocent, that he would have spared the old worlds in which 
there were, without doubt, many hundred thousand infants, 
and in general one in every family, whose perfect innocence 
pleaded for its preservation ? Especially when such vast care 
vas taken to save Noah and his family, (some of whom, one 
at least, seem to have been none of thu best) that they might 
not be involved in that destruction. If the perfect sinlessness 
of infants had been a notion entertained among the people of 
God of old, in the ages next following the flood, handed down 
from Noah and his children, who well knew that vast multi- 
tudes of infants perished in the flood, is it likely that Eliphaz, 
who lived within a few generations of Shem and Noah, would 
have said to Job, as he does in that forcmentioned, Job iv. 7. 
" Who ever perished, being innocent? And when were the 
righteous cut off?" Especially since in the same discourse 
(Chap. v. 1.) he appeals to the tradition of the ancients fur a 
confirmation of this very point ; as he also does in Chap. xv. 
7....10, and xxii. 15, 16. In which last place he mentions 
that very thing, the destruction of the wicked by the flood, 
as an instance of that perishing of the wicked, which he sup- 
poses to be peculiar to them, for Job's conviction ; in which 
the nvicked ivere cut down cut of tmie, their foimdation bcwg 
Gverjloivn ivith a Jlood. Where it is also observable, that he 
speaks of such an untimeliness of death as they suffered by 
the flood, as one evidence of guilt ; as he also does, Chap. xv. 
32, S3. " It shall be accomplished before his time ; and his 
branch shall not be green." But those that were destroyed 
by the flood in infancy, above all the rest were cut donvn out 
of time ; when instead of living above nine hundred years, ac- 
cording to the common period of man's life, many were cut 
down before they were one year old. 

And when God executed vengeance on the ancient inhab- 
itants of Canaan, not only did he not spare their cities and 



Oi^IGINAL Sm. ^25^ 

families for the sake of the infants that were therein, nor take 
any care that they should not be involved in the destruction ; 
but often with particular care repeated his express commands, 
that their infants should not be spared, but should be utterly 
destroyed, without any pity; while Raliab the Aar/o;; (who 
had been far from innocence, thouc^h she expressed her fdith 
in entertaining, and safely dismissing the spies) was preserv- 
ed, and all her friends for her sake. And when God execut- 
ed his wrath on the Egyptians, by slaying their first born, 
though the children of Israel, who were most of them wicked 
men, as was before shewn, were wonderfully spared by the 
destroying angel, yet such firstborn of the Egyptians as were 
infants, were not spared. They not only were not rescued 
by the angel, and no miracle wrought to save them (as was 
observed in the case of tha infants of Sodom) but the angel 
destroyed them by his own immediate hand, and a miracle 
was wrought to kill them. 

Here, not to stay to be particular concerning the command 
by Moses, respecting the destruction of the infants of the 
Midianites, Num. xxxi. 17. And that given to Saul to des- 
troy all the infants of the Aroalekites, 1 Sam. xv. 3, and what 
is said concerning Edom, Psalm cxxxvii. 9. " Happy shall he 
he that taketh, and dashelh thy little ones against the stones, 
I proceed to take notice of something remarkable concern- 
ing the destruction of Jerusalem, represented in Ezek. ix. 
when command was given to them, that had cliarge over the 
city, to destroy the inhabitants, verse 1....8 And this rea- 
son is given for it, that their iniquity required it, and it was a 
just recompense of their sin, verse 9, 10. And God at the 
same time was most particular and exact in his care that such 
should by no means be involved in the slaughter, as had prov- 
ed by their behavior, that they were not partakers in the 
abominations of the city. Command was given to the angel 
to go through the city, and set a mark upon their foreheads, 
and the destroying angel had a strict charge not to come near 
any man, on whom was the mark ; yet the infants were not 
marked, nor a word said of sparing them : On the contrar}'^, 
infants were expressly mentioned as those that should be utter- 



256 ORIGINAL SIN. 

}y destrovecl, withoiU pity, verse 5, 6. « Go through the city, 
and smite : Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. 
Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children ; 
but come not near any man upon whom is the mark. 

And if any should suspect that such instances as these 
were peculiar to a more severe dispensation, under the Old 
Testament, let us consider a remarkable instance in the days 
of the glonons gospel of the grace of God ; even the last des- 
truction of Jerusalem ; which was far more terrible, and with 
greater testimonies of God's wrath and indignation, than the 
destruction of Sodom, or of Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar's 
time, or any thing that ever had happened to any city or peo- 
ple, from the beginning of the world to that time : Agreea- 
ble to Matth. xxiv. ^1, and Luke xxi. 22, 23. But at that 
time particular care was taken to distinguish and deliver God's 
people, as was foretold Dan. xii. 1. And we have in the New 
Testament a particular account of the care Christ took for the 
preservation of his followers : He gave them a sign, by which 
they might know when the desolation of the city was nigh, 
that they that were in Jerusalem might flee to the mountains, 
and escape. And as history gives account, the Christians 
followed the directions given, and escaped to a place in the 
mountains called Pella, and were preserved. Yet no care was 
taken to preserve the infants of the city, in general ; but, ac- 
cording to the predictions of that event, they were involved 
with others in that great destruction : So heavily did the ca- 
lamity fall upon them, that those words were verified, Luke 
xxiii. 29. " Behold the days are coming, in which they shall 
say. Blessed are the barren, and the womb that never bare, 
and the paps which never gave suck. And that prophecy in 
Deut. xxxii. 21. ...25, which has undoubtedly special respect 
to this veiy time, and is so applied by the btst commentators. 
" I will provoke them to jealousy, with those that are not a 
people ; for a fire is kindled in mine anger ; and it shall burn 
to the lowest hell. I will heap miscliiefs upon them : I will 
spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with 
hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and bitter destruc- 
tion. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy 



ORIGINAL SIN. 257 

both the young man, and the virgin, the suckling also, with 
the man of grey hairs." And it appears by the history of that 
destruction, that at that time was a remarkable fulfilment of 
that in Deut. xxviii. 53.. ..57, concerning parents' eating (heir 
children in the siege ; and the tender and delicate ivoynan eating 
her newborn child. And here it must be remembered, that 
these very destructions of that city and land are spoken of in 
those places forementioned, as clear evidences of God's wrath, 
to all nations which shall behold them. And if so, they were 
evidences of God's wrath towards infants ; who, equally with 
the rest, were the subjects of the destruction. If a particular 
kind or rank of persons, which made a very considerable 
part of the inhabitants, were from time to time partakers of 
the overthrow, without any distinction made in divine provi- 
dence, and yet this was no evidence at all of God's displeasure 
•with any of them ; then a being the subjects of such a calam- 
ity could not be an evidence of God's wrath against any of the 
inhabitants, to the reason of all nationsf or any nation, or so 
much as one person. 



Vol* VI. SI 



aaJ ORIGINAL sncv 



PART II. 



Containing observations on particular parts of the 
Holy Scripture, which prove the Doctrine of 



Original Sin. 



CHAPTER r. 

Observations relating to things contained in the 
three first Chapters of Genesis, with rejer- 
.enc€ to the Doctrine of Original Sin. 



SECTION I. 

Concerning Original Righteousness ; and •whether our first 
Parents noere created ivith Righteousness^ or moral recti* 
tude of Heart ? 

THE doctrine of Original Righteousness, or the crea- 
tion of our first pavents with holy principles and dispositions, 
has a close connexion, in several respects, with the doctrine 
of Original Sin. Dr Taylor was sensible of this ; and ac- 
cordingly he strenuously opposes this doctrine, in his book 
against Original sin. And therefore in handling the subject, 
1 would in the first place remove this author's main objection 
against this doctrine, and then shew how the doctrine may be 
inferred from the account which Moses gives us, in the three 
first chafitcrs of Genesis. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 259 

Dr. Taylor's grand objection at^ainst this doctrine, which 
he abundantly insists oh, is this : That it is utterly inconsist- 
ent with the nature of virtue, that it should be concreated 
with any person ; because, if so. It must be by an act of God's 
absolute power, without our knowledge or concurrence ; and 
that moral virtue, in its very nature implieth the choice and 
consent of the moral agent, without which it cannot be virtue 
and holiness : That a necessary holiness is no holiness. So 
p. 180, •vhere he observes, "That Adam must exist, 
he must be created, yea he must exercise thought and 
reflection, before he was righteous." See also p. 250, 
261. In p. 161. 5. he says, "To say, that God not only 
endowed Adam with a capacity of being righteous, but more- 
over that righteousness and true holiness were created with 
him, or wrought into hb nature, at the same time he was 
made, is to affirm a contn.diction, or what is inconsistent with 
the very nature of righteousness." And in like manner Dr. 
TurnbuU in many places insists upon it, that it is necessary 
to the very being of virtue, that it be ov/ing to our own choice, 
and diligent culture. 

With respect to this, I would observe, that it consists in a 
notion of virtue quite inconsistent wiih the nature of things, 
and the common notions of mankind ; and also inconsistent 
with Dr. Taylor's own notions of viriue- Therefore if it be 
truly so, that to affirm that to be virtue or holiness, which is 
not the fruit of preceding thought, reflection and choice, is to 
affirm a contradiction, I shall shew plainly, that for him to af- 
firm otherwise, is a contradiction to himself. 

In the first place, I think it a contr:idiction to the nature 
of things, as judged of by the common sense of mankind. It 
is agreeable to the sense of the minds of men in all nations 
and ages, not only that the fruit or effect of a good choice is 
virtuous, but the good choice itself, from whence that effect 
proceeds ; yea, and not only so, but also the antecedent good 
disposition, temper, or affection of mind, from whence pro- 
ceeds that good choice, is virtuous. This is the general no- 
tion, not that principles deiive their goodness from actions, 
but that actions derive their goodness from the principles 



260 ORIGINAL SIN. 

whence they proceed; and sothattheact of choosing that which 
is g:ood, is no further virtuous than it proceeds from a (^ood 
principle, or virtuous disposition of mind. Which supposes, 
that a virtuous disposition of mind may be before a virtuous 
act of choice ; and that therefore it is not necessary that there 
should firgt be thought, reflection and choice, before there 
can be any virtuous disposition. If the choice be first, before 
the existence of a good disposition of heart, what signi- 
fies that choice ? There can, according lo our natural notions, 
be no virtue in a choice which proceeds from no virtuous 
principle, but from mere selflove, ambition, or some animal 
appetite ; and therefore a virtuous temper of mind may be 
before a good act of choice, as a tree may be before the fruit, 
and the fountain before the stream which proceeds from it. 
The following things in Mr. Hutcheson's inquiry con- 
cerning moral good and evil, are evidently agreeable to the 
nature of things, and the voice of human sense and reason. 
Sectwn II. p. 132, 133. " Every action which we apprehend 
as either morally good or evil, is always supposed to flow 
from some affections towards sensitive natures. And whatev- 
er we call virtue or vice, is either some such affection, or 
some action consequent ufion it. All the actions counted re- 
ligious in any country, are supposed by those who count thera 
so, to Jloiv from some affections towards the Deity ; and , 
•whatever we call social virtue, we still suppose to Jiov} from 
affections towards our fellow creatures. Prudence, if it is 
only employed in promoting private interest, is never imag- 
ined to be a virtue." In these things Dr. Turnbull express- 
ly agrees with Mr. Hutcheson, who is his admired author.* 
If a virtuous disposition or affection is before acts that pro- 
ceed from it, then they are before those virtuous acts of choice 
which proceed from it. And therefore there is no necessity 
that all virtuous dispositions or affections should be the effect 
of choice : And so no such supposed necessity can be a good 
objection against such a disposition's being natural, or from 
a kind of instinct, implanted in the mind in its creation. A- 

* Moral rhiloscphy p, xi2 115, p. 142, ct aiiii passim. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 261 

gieeable to what Mr. Hutcheson says, (Ibid. Section III, p. 
196, 197.) " I know not, says he, for what reason some will 
not allow that to be virtue, which flows from instinct or pas- 
sions. But how do they help themselves ? They say, virtue 
arises from reason. What is reason, but the sagacity wc 
have in prosecuting any end ? The ultimate end proposed 
by common moralists, is the happiness of the agent himself. 
And this certainly he is determined to pursue from instinct. 
Now may not another instinct towards the public, or the good 
of others, be as proper a principle of virtue, as the instinct to- 
wards private happiness ? If it be said, that actions from in- 
stinct are not the effect of prudence and choice, this objec- 
tion will hold full as strongly against the actions which flow 
from selflove." 

And if we consider what Dr. Taylor declares as his own 
notion of the essence of virtue, we shall find, what he so con- 
fidently and often affirms, of its being essential to all virtue, 
that it should follow choice, and proceed from it, is no less 
repugnant to that, than it is to the nature of things, and the 
general notions of mankind. For it is his notion, as well as 
Mr. Hutcheson's, that the essence of viitue lies in good affec- 
tion, and particularly in benevolence or love ; as he very fully 
declares in these words in his Key,* " That the word that sig- 
nifies goodness and mercy should also signify moral rectitude 
in general, will not seem strange, if we consider that love is 
the fulfilling of the law. Goodness, according to the sense of 
scripture, and the nature of things, includes^ll moral rectitude^ 
which, I reckon, may every part of it, where it is true and 
genuine, be resolved into this single principle." If it be so 
indeed, then certainly no act whatsoever can have moral rec- 
titude^ but what proceeds ivom this principle. And conse- 
quently no act of volition or choice can have any moral rec- 
titude, that takes place before this principle exists. And yet 
he most confidently afiirms, that thought, reflection and 
choice must go before virtue, and that all virtue or righteous- 
ness must be the fruit of preceding choice. This brings his 

• Marginal Note annexed to % 3^8. 



262 ORIGINAL SIN. 

scheme to an evident contradiction. For no act of choice can 
be virtuous but what proceeds IVom a principle of benevolence 
or love ; for he insists that all genuine, moral rectitude, in 
every part of it, is resolved into this single principle ; and 
yet the principle of benevolence itself cannot be virtuous, un- 
less it proceeds from choice, for he affirms, that nothing can 
have the nature of virtue but what comes from choice. So 
that virtuous love, as the principle of -ill virtue, must go before 
virtuous choice, and be the principle or spring of it ; and yet 
virtuous choice must go before virtuous benevolence, and be 
the spring of that. If a virtuous act of choice goes before a 
principle of benevolence, and produces it, then this virtuous 
act is something distinct from that principle which follows it, 
and is its effect. So that here is at least one part of virtue, 
yea, the spring and source of all virtue, viz. a virtuous choicCi 
that cannot be resolved into that single principle of love. 

Here also it is worthy to be observed, that Dr. Taylor, p. 
128, says, " The cause of every effect is alone chargeable 
with the effect it preduceth ; or which proceedelh from it :" 
And so he argues, that if the effect be bad, the cause alone is 
sinful. According to which reasoning, when the effect is 
good, the cause alone is righteous or virtuous ; To the 
cause is to be ascribed all the praise of the good effect it pro- 
duceth. And by the same reasoning it will follow, that if, as 
Dr. Taylor says, Adam must choose to be righteous, before 
he was righteous, and if it be essential to the nature of right- 
eousness or moral rectitude, that it be the effect of choice, 
and hence a principle of benevolence cannot have moral rec- 
titude, unless it proceeds from choice ; then not to the prin- 
ciple of benevolence, which is the effect, but to the foregoing 
choice alone is to be ascribed all the virtue or righteousness 
that is in the case. And so, instead of all moral rectitude in 
every part of it, being resolved into that single principle of 
benevolence, no moral rectitude, in any part of it, is to be re- 
solved into that principle ; but all is to be resolved into the 
foregoing choice, which is the cause. 

But yet it follows from these inconsistent principles, that 
there is no moral rectitude or virtue in that first act of choice; 



ORIGINAL SIN. 263 

that is the cause of all consequent virtue. This follows two 
■ways : 1. Because every part of virtue lies in the bcnevoleryt 
principle, which is tiie effect, and therefore no part of it can 
lie in the cause. 2. The choice of virtue, as to the first act 
at least, can have no virtue or righteousness at all, because it 
does not proceed from any foregoing choice. For Dr. Taylor 
insists that a man must first have reflection and choice, before 
he can have righteousness, and that it is essential to holiness 
that it proceed from choice. So that the first choice of holi- 
ness, which holiness proceeds from, can have no virtue at all, 
because by the supposition it does not proceed from choice, 
being the first choice. Hence if it be essential to holiness, 
that it proceeds from choice, it must proceed from an unholy- 
choice ; unless the first holy choice can be before itself, or 
there be a virtuous act of choice before that which is first of 
all. 

And with respect to Adam, let us consider how, upon Dr, 
Taylor's principles, it was not possible he ever should have 
any such thing as righteousness, by any means at all. In the 
state wherein God created him, he could have no such thing 
as love to God, or any love or benevolence in his heart. For 
if so, there wotild have been original nghteousness ; there 
would have been genuine moral rectitude : Nothing would 
have been wanting ; for our author says, True., genuine^ moral 
rectitude, in everij fiart of it, is to be resolved into this single 
princi}ile. But if he v/ere wholly without any such thing as 
love to God, or any virtuous love, how should he come by 
virtue ? The answer doubtless will be, by act of choice : He 
must first choose to be virtuous. But what if he did choose 
to be virtuous ? It could not be from love to God, or any vir- 
tuous principle, that he chose it ; for, by the supposition, he 
has no such principle in his heart : And if he chooses it 
without such a principle, still, according to this author, there 
is no virtue in his choice ; for all virtue, he says, is to be re- 
solved into that single pr nciple of love. Or will he say, 
there tnay be produced in the heart a virtuous benevolence 
by an act or acts of choice, that are not virtuous ? But this 
does not consist with what he implicitly asserts, that to the 



264 . ORIGINAL SIN. 

cause alone is to be ascribed what is in the effect. So that 
there is no way that can possibly be devised, in consistence 
Tvith Dr. Taylor's scheme, in which Adam ever could have 
any righteousness, or could ever either obtain any principle 
of virtue, or perform any one virtuous act. 

These confused, inconsistent assertions, concerning virtue 
and moral rectitude, arise from the absurd notions in vogue, 
concerning Frecdo7n of JVill, as if it consisted in the will's sclf- 
determiriing fioiver, supposed to be necessary to moral agency, 
virtue and vice. The absurdities of which, with the grounds 
of these errors, and what the truth is respecting these matters, 
•with the evidences of it, I have, according to my ability, fully 
and largely considered, in my Inquiry on that subject ; to 
which I must refer the reader, who desires further satisfac- 
tion, and is willing to give himself the trouble of reading that 
discourse. 

Having considered this great argument, and pretended 
demonstration of Dr. Taylor's against original righteousness ; 
I proceed to the proofs of the doctrine. And in the first place, 
I would consider, whether there be not evidence of it in the 
three first chapters of Genesis : Or, whether the history 
there delivered, does not lead us to suppose, that our first 
parents were created in a state of moral rectitude and ho- 
liness. 

I. This history leads us to suppose, Adam's sin, with re- 
lation to the forbidden fruit, was the first sin he committed. 
Which could not have been, had he not always, till then, 
been perfectly righteous, righteous from the first moment 
of his existence, and consequently, created, or brought into 
existence righteous. In a moral agent, subject to moral 
obligations, it is the same thing to be perfectly innocent^ 
as to be perfectly righteous. It must be the same, be- 
cause there can no more be any medium between sin 
and righteousness, or between a being right and being 
Avrong, in a moral sense, than there can be a medium between 
straight and crooked, in a natural sense. Adam was brought 
into existence capable of acting immediately, as a moral agent, 
and therefore he was immediately under a rule of right ac- 



ORIGINAL SIN, 2CL5 

tion : He was obliged as soon as he existed to act right. And 
if he was obliged to act right as soon as he existed, he was 
obliged even then to be inclined to act right. Dr. Taylor says, 
p. 165, 5. " Adam could not sin without a sinful inclination ;"* 
And just for the same reason he could not do right, without 
an inclination to right action. And as he was obliged to act 
right from the first moment of his existence, and did do so 
till he sinned in the affair of the forbidden fruit, he must have 
an inclination or disposition of heart to do right the first mo- 
ment of his existence ; and that is the same as to be created 
or brought into existence, with an inclination to right action, 
or, which is the same thing, a virtuous and hply disposition of 
heart. 

Here it will be in vain to say, it is true that it was Adam's 
duty to have a good disposiiion or inclination, as soon as it 
was possible to be obtained, in the nature of things , but as 
it could not be without time to establish such an habit, which 
requires antecedent thought, reflection, and repeated right 
action ; therefore all that Adam could be obliged to in the 
first place, was to reflect and consider things in a right man- 
ner, and apply himself to right action, in order to obtain a 
right disposition. For this supposes, that even this reflec- 
tion and consideration, which he was obliged to, was 7-ighs 
action. Surely he was obliged to it no otherwise than as 
a thing that was right ,• and therefore he must have an incli?t 
Tiation to this right action immediately, before he could per- 
form those first right actions. And as the inclination to them 
should be right, the principle or disposiiion from which he 
performed even these actions, must be good ; otherwise the 
actions would not be right in the sight ©f him who looks, at 
the heart ; nor would they answer the man's obligations, of 
be a doing his duty, if he had done them for some sinister 
end, and not from a regard to God and his duty. Therefore 

* This is doubtless true ; for although there was ao natural, sinful incU- 
aation in Adam, yet an inclination to that sin of eating the forbidden truitj 
was begotten in hira by the delusion and err, r be was led into, and this in- 
clination to eat the forbiddea fruit, must precede hu acluil eating. 

Vol. VI. 3R 



2«6 ORIGINAL SIN. 

there must be a regard to God and his duty implanted in him 
at his first existence ; othenvise it is certain he would have 
done nothing from a regard to God and his duty ; no, not so 
much as to reflect and consider, and try to obtain such a dis- 
position. The very supposition of a disposition to right ac- 
tion being first obtained by repeated right action^ is grossly 
inconsistent with itself ; for it supposes a course of right ac- 
tion, before there is a disposition to perform any right action. 
These are no invented quibbles or sophisms. If God ex- 
pected of Adam any obedience or duty to him at all, when he 
first made him, whether it was in reflecting, considering, op 
any way exerting the faculties he had given him, then God 
expected he should immediately exercise love and regard to. 
bim. For how could it be expected, that Adam should have a 
strict and perfect regard to God's commands and authority, 
and his duty to him, when he had no love nor regard to him 
in his heart, nor could it be expected he should have any ? 
If Adam from the beginning did his duty to God, and had 
more respect to the will of his Creator than to other things, 
and as much respect to him as he ought to have ; then from 
the beginning he had a supreme and perfect respect and love 
to God ; and if so, he was created v.'ith such a principle. 
There is no avoiding the consequence. Not only external 
duties, but internal duties, such as summarily consist in 
love, must be immediately required of Adam, as soon as he 
existed, if any duty at all was required. For it is most ap- 
parently absurd, to talk of a spiritual being, with the faculties 
of understanding and will, being required to perform external 
duties, without internal. Dr. Taylor himself observes, that 
love is the fulfilling of the law, and that all moral rectitude^ 
even every part of it, must be resolved into that single principle. 
Therefore, if any morally right act at all, reflection, consider- 
ation, or any thing else, was required of Adam immediately, 
on his first existence, and was performed as required ; then he 
must, the first moment of his existence, have his heart pos- 
sessed of that principle of divine love ; which implies the 
■whole of moral rectitude in every part of it, according to our 
author's own doctrine ; and so the whole of moral rectitude 



OT^IGINAL SIN. 267 

or righteousness must begin with his existence ; ^vhich is the 
thing taught in the doctrine of Original Righteousness. 

And let us consider how it could be otherwise, than that 
Adam was always, in every moment of his existence, obliged 
to exercise such regard or respect of heart towards every ob- 
ject or thing, as was agreeable to the apparent merit of that 
oBject. For instance, would it not at any time have been a 
becoming thing in Adam, on the exhibition to his mind of God's 
infinite goodness to him, for him to have exercised answer- 
able gratitude, and the contrary have been unbecoming and 
odious ? And if something had been presented to Adam's 
view, transcendently amiable in itself, as for instance, the 
glorious perfection of the divine nature, would it not have 
become him to love, relish and delight in it ? Would not 
such an object have merited this ? And if the view of an ob- 
ject so amiable in itself did not affect his hiind with compla- 
cence, would it not, according to the plain dictates of our un- 
derstanding, have shewn an unbecoming temper of mind? 

To say that he had not had time, by culture, to form and 
establish a good disposition or relish, is not What would have 
taken dff the disagreeableness and odiousness of the temper. 
And if there had been never so much time, I do not see how 
it could be expected he should improve it aright, in order to 
obrain a good disposition, if he had not already scirsf; r'ood 
disposition to engage him to it. 

That belonging to the will and disposition cf the heart, 
which is in itself either odious or amiable, 'unbecoming or de- 
cent, always would have been Adam's virtue or sin, in any 
moment of his existence ; if there be any such thing as vir- 
tue or vice, by which nothing can be meant, but that in our 
moral disposition and behavior, which is becoming or unbe- 
coming, amiable or odious. 

Human nature must be created with some dispositions ; a 
disposition to relish some things as good and amiable, and to 
be averse to other things as odious and disagreeable ; other- 
wise it must be without any such thing as inclination or will : 
It must be perfectly indifferent, without preference, without 
choice or aversion towards any thing as agreeable or disa 



i6i ORIGINAL SIN. 

greeable. But if it had any concreated dispositions at all, 
they must be eill'.er right or wrong, either agreeable or disa- 
greeable to the nature of things. It man had at first the 
highest relish of those things that were most excellent and 
beautiful, a disposition to have the quickest and highest de- 
light in those things that were most x\ orthy of if, then his dis- 
positions were morally right and amiable, and never can be d<3- 
cent and excellent in a higher sense. But if he had a dispo- 
sition to love most those things that were inferior and lese 
■worthy, then his dispositions were vicious. And it is evident 
there can be no medium between these. 

II- This notion of Adam's being created without a prin» 
ciple of holiness in his heart, taken with the rest of Dr. Tay- 
lor's scheme, is inconsistent with what the history, in the be- 
ginning of Genesis, leads us to suppose of the great favors 
and smiles of heaven, which Adam enjoyed while he remain- 
ed in innocency. The Mosaic account suggests to us that 
till Adam sinned he was in happy circumstances, surrounded 
with testimonies and fruits of God's favor. This is implicitly 
owned by Dr. Taylor, when he says, page 252. " That in 
the dispensation our first parents were under before the fall, 
they were placed in a condition proper to engage their grati- 
tude, love and obedience." But it will follow on our author's 
principles, that Adam, while in innocency, was placed in far 
worse circumstances than he was in after his disobedience, 
and infinitely worse than his posterity arc in ; under unspeak- 
ably greater disadvantages for the avoiding of sin. and the per- 
formance of duty. For by his doctrine, Adam's posterity 
come into the world with their hearts as free from any pro- 
pensity to sin as he, and he v^as made as destitute of any pro- 
pensity to righteousness as they ; and yet God, in favor to 
them, does great things to restrain them from sin, and excite 
them to virtue, which he never did for Adam in innocency, 
but laid him, in the highest degree, under contrary disadvan- 
tages. 

God, as an Instance of his great favor, and fatherly love to 
man, since the fall, ha? denied him the case and pleasures of 
Paradise, which gratified and allured- his senses, and bodily 



ORIGINAL SIN. ^69 

appetites ; that he might diminish his temptations to sin. 
And as a still greater means to restrain from sin, and promote 
virtue, has subjected him to labor, toil and sorrow in the 
■world ; and not only so, but as a means to promote his spirit- 
ual and eternal good far beyond this, has doomed him te 
death : And when all this was found insufficient, he, in fur- 
ther prosecution of the designs of his love, shortened men's 
lives exceedingly, made them twelve or thirteen times short- 
er than in the first ages. And yet this, with all the innume- 
rable calamities, which God in great favor to mankind has 
brought on the world, whereby their temptations are so vast- 
ly cut short, and the means and inducements to virtue heap- 
ed one upon another, to so great a degree, all have proved 
insufficient, now for so many thousand years together, to res- 
train from wickedness in any considerable degree ; innocent 
human nature, all along, coming into the world with the same 
purity and harmless dispositions that our first parents had in 
'Paradise. What vast disadvantages indeed then must Adan^« 
and Eve have been in, that had no more in their nature to keep 
them from sin, or incline them to virtue, than their postei'ity, and 
yet were without all those additional and extraordinary means J 
Not only without such exceeding great means as we now 
have, when our lives are made so very short, but having vast- 
ly less advantages than their an+ediluvian postcrit)', who to 
prevent their being wicked, and to make them good, had so 
much labor and toil, sweat and sorrow, briers and thorns, with 
a body gradually decaying and returning to the dust ; when 
our first parents had the extreme disadvantage of being 
placed in the midst of so many and exceeding great tempta- 
tions, not only without toil or sorrow, pain or disease, to hum- 
hie and mortify them, and a sentence of death to wean them 
from the world, but in the midsi of the most exquisite and al- 
luring sensitive deJight*^ the reverse in every respect, and to 
the highest degree, of that most gracious state of requisite 
means, and great advantages, which mankind now enjoy ! If 
mankind now vmder these vast restraints, and great advanta- 
ges, are not restrained from general, and as it were universal 
wickedness, how could it be expected that Adam and Eve, 



-70 ORIGINAL SIN. 

created with no better hearts than men bring into the world 
now, and destitute of all these advantages, and in the midst 
of all contrary disadvantages, should escape it ? 

These things are not agreeable to Moses' account ; which 
represents an happy state of peculiar favors and blessings be- 
fore the fall, and the curse coming afterwards ; but accord- 
ing to this scheme, the curse was before the fall, and tha 
great favors and testimonies of love followed the apostacy. 
And the curse before the fall must be a curse with a witness, 
being to so high a degree the reverse of such means, means 
so necessary for such a creature as innocent man, and in all 
their multitude and fulness proving too little. Paradise there- 
fore must be a mere delusion I There was indeed a great 
shew of favor, in placing man in the midst of such delights. 
But this delightful garden, it seems, with all its beauty and 
sweetness, was in its real tendency worse than the apples 
of Sodom : It was but a mere bi-.it (God forbid the blasphe- 
Vny) the more effectually enticing by its beauty and delicious- 
ness, to Adam's eternal ruin ; which might be the more ex- 
pected to be fatal to him, seeing that he was the first man 
that ever existed, having no superiority of capacity to his 
posterity, and wholly without the advantage of the observa- 
tions, experiences, and improvements of preceding genera- 
tions; whiclvhis posterity have. 

I proceed now to take notice of an additional proof of the 
doctrine we are upon, from another part of the holy scripture. 
A very clear text for original righteousness is that in Eccles. 
vii. 29. <' Lo, this only have I found, that God made man 
upright ; but they have sought out many inventions." 

It is an observation of no weight which Dr. Taylor make^ 
on this text, that the word man is commonly used to signify 
mankind in general, or mankind collectively taken. It is true, 
it often signifies the species of mankind ; but then it is used 
to signify the species, with regard to its duration and succes- 
sion from its beginning, as well as with regard to its extent. 
The English word mankind is used to signify the species : 
But what if it be so ? Would it be an improper or unintelligi- 
ble way of speaking, to say, that when God first made man- 



ORIGINAL sin; aft 

Itind, he placed them in a pleasant paradise, (meaning in their 
first parents) but now they live in the midst of briers and 
thorns ? And it is certain, that to speak of God's making man- 
kind in such a meaning, viz. his giving the species an exist- 
ence in their first parents, at the creation of the world, is- 
agreeable to the scripture use of such an expression. As in 
Deut. iv. 32. " Since the day that God created man upon the 
earth." Job xx. 4. " Knowest thou not this of old, since 
man was placed upon the earth." Isa. xlv. 12. " I have 
Hiade the earth, and created man upon it : I, even my hands, 
have stretched out the heavens." Jer. xxvii. 5. " I have 
made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the 
ground, by my great power." All these texts speak of God's 
making man, by the word wzan, signifying the species of man- 
kind ; and yet they all plainly have respect to God's making 
man at ^rst, when God made the earth, and stretched ozii the 
heavens^ and created the first parents of mankind. In all these 
places the same word Adam is used, as here in Ecc'esiastes ; 
and in the last of them, used with he evifihaticum, as it is here ; 
tliough Dr. Taylor omits it, when he tells us, he gives us a 
catalogue t3f all the places in scripture where the word is 
used. And ii argues nothing to the doctor's purpose, that 
the pronoun theij is used. They have sought out many invent 
tiona. Which is properly appHed to t.he species, which God 
made at first upright : God having begun the species with 
more than one, and it being continued in a multitude. As 
Christ speaks of the two sexes, in the relation of man and 
wife, as coatinuedin successive generations. Matth. xix. 4. 
" He that made them at the beginning, made them male and 
female ;" having reference to Adam and Eve. 

No less impertinent, and also very unfair, is his criticisiu 
on the word jasha?; translated ufiright. Because the word 
sometimes signifies right, he would from thence infer, that it 
does not properly signify a moral rectitude, even when used 
to express the character of moral agents. He might as well 
insist, that the English word ufiright, sometimes, and in its 
most original meaning, signifies right ufu or in an erect pos- 
ture, therefore it does not properly signify any morgl characis 



TTU. ORIGINAL SIN. 

ter, -when applied to moral agents ; and indeed less unreason- 
ably ; for it 13 known, that in the Hebrew language, in a pe* 
culiar manner, most words used to signify moral and spiritu- 
al tl)ings, are taken from things external and natural. The 
word jashar is used, as applied to m.oral agents, or to the words 
and actions of such, (if I have not misreckoned*) about an 
liundrcd and ten times in scripture ; and about an hundred 'of 
thera, without all dispute, to signify virtue, or moral recti- 
tude, though Dr. Taylor is pleased to say, the word does not 
generally signify a moral character) and for the most part it 
signifies true virtue, or virtue in such a sense, as distinguish- 
es it from all false appearances of virtue, or what is only vir- 
tue in some respects, but not truly so in the sight of God. It 
is used at least eighty times in this sense : And scarce any 
word can be found in the Hebrew language more significant 
of this. It is thus used constantly in Solomon's writings, 
(where it is often found) when used to express a character or 
property of moral agents. And it is beyond all controversy, 
that he uses it in this place, in the 7th of Ecclesiastes to sig- 
nify a moral rectitude, or character of real virtue and integri- 
ty. For the wise man, in this context, is speaking of meii 
with respect to their moral character, inquiring into the cor- 
ruption and depravity of mankind (as is confessed p. 184) and 
he here declares, he had not found more than one among a 
thousand of the right stamp, truly and thoroughly virtuous 
and upright ; which appeared a strange thing I But in this 
text he clears God, and lays the blame on man : Man was not 
jTiade thus at first. He was made of the right stamp, alto- 
gether good in his kind, (as all other things were) truly and 
thoroughly virtuous, as he ought to be ; but they have sough: 
out many inveiitions. Which last expression signifies things 
sinful, or morally evil ; as is confessed, p. 185. And this ex- 
pression, used to signify those moral evils he found in man^ 
which he sets in opposition to the uprightness man was made 
in, shews, that by uprightness he means the most true and 

* Making use of Buxtorf's Concordance, which, according to the au- 
thor's professed desiga, directs to all the places where the word is lucd. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 273 

sincere goodness. The word rendered inventions, most nat- 
urally and aptly si2;nifics the subtle devices, and crooked, de- 
ceitful ways of hypocrites, wherein they are of a character 
cout'iry to men of simplicity and godly sincerity ; who, 
thoui^h wise in that which is good, are simple concerning evil. 
Thus the same wise man, in Prov. xii. 2, sets a truly good 
wian in opposition to a man of wicked devices, whom God will 
condemn. Solomon had occasion to observe many who put 
on an artful disguise ahd fair shew of goodness ; but on search- 
ing thoroughly, ho found very few truly upright. As he says, 
Prov. XX. 6. " Mos-t men will proclaim every one his own 
goodness : But a faithful man who can find ?" So that it is 
exceeding plain, that by uprightness, in this place in Ecclesi- 
asies, Solomon means true moral goodness. 

What our author urges concerning 77ia2iy ijivendons being 
spoken of, whereas Adam's eating the forbidden fruit was but 
cne i7ive7itio?i, is of as little weight as ihe rest of what he says 
on this text. For the many lusts and corruptions of mankind, 
appearing in innumerable ways of sinning, are all the conse- 
quence of that sin. The great corruption men are fallen in- 
to by the original apostasy, appears in the multitude of wick- 
ed ways they are inclined to. And therefore these are properl)' 
mentioned as the fruits and evidences of the greatness of that 
apostasy and corruption. 



SECTION II. 



Concerrdng the kind of Death, threatened to our Jirst Parents, 
if they should eat of the Forbidden Fruit. 

DR. TAYLOR, in bis observations on the three first 
chapters of Genesis, says, p. 7. " The threatening to man, 
in case of transgression was, that he should surely die. Death 

Vox.. VJ. 2 L 



274 OKIGINAL SIN. 

is the losing of iiie. Death is opposed to life, and must be 
understood according to the nature of that life, to which it is 
opposed. Now the death here threatened can, with any cer- 
tainty, be opposed only to the life God gave Adam, when he 
treated him, verse '. Any thing besides this must be pure 
conjecture, without solid foundation." 

To this I would say. It is true, death is opposed to life, and 
mvst be imdcr stood according to the nature of that life^ to which 
it ia oJi/)osed : But does it therefore follow, tnai nothing can 
be meant by it but the toss of life ? Misery is opposed to hap- 
piness, and sorrow is in scripture often opposed to joy ; but 
can we conclude from thence, that nothing is meant in scrip- 
line by sorrow, but the loss of joy ? Or that there is no more 
in misery, than the loss or absence of happiness ? And if it be 
i:o, lliat the death threatened ta Adam can, with certainty, he 
opposed only to the li.'e giv/:n to Adav^nvhen God created him ; 
I think, a state of perfect, perpetual and hopeless misery is 
proper' y opposed to that state Adam -iras in, nvhen God created 
:,ii!i. For I suppose it will not be denied, that the life Adam 
liad, was truly a }iappij life ; happy in perfect innocency, In 
the favor of hb maker, surrounded with the happy fruits and 
testimonies cf his love : And I think it has been proved, that 
he also was happy in a state of perfect righteousness. And 
roihing is more manifest, than that it is agreeable to a very 
common acceptation of the word life, in scripture, that it be 
luiderstcod as signifying a state of excellent and happy exist- 
ence. Now that which is most oppobitc to that life and state 
Adam ivas created in, is a state of total, confirmed wickedness, 
and perfect hopeless misery, under the divine displeasure and 
curse ; not excluding temporal death, or the destruction of 
(he body, as an introduction to it. 

And besides, that which is much more evident, than any 
thing Dr- Taylor says on this head, is this, viz. that the 
death., which was to come on Adam, as the punishment of his 
disobedience^ was opposed to that life, which he would have 
had as the reward of his obedience in case he had not sinned. 
Obedience and disobedience are contraries : And the threatcn- 
in^s aval prc7niscs, that are sanctions of a law, arc set in direct 



ORIGINAL SIN. dTS 

opposition ; and the 'firomised reivards and threatened punish' 
ments, are what dre most properly taken as each other's oppo- 
sites. But none will deJiy, that the life which would have 
been Adam's reward, if he had persisted in obedience, was 
eternal life. And therefore we argue justly, that the deatii 
which stands opfiosed to that life (Dr. Taylor himself being 
judge, p. 120. S.) is mariifcsibj eternal dcath^ a death widely 
diff'erent from the death nve novj die. ...to use his own words. 
If Adam, for his persevering obedience, was to have hadVr^r- 
/asting life and hafifiiness, in perfect holiness, union whh his 
maker, and enjoyment of his favor, and this was the life which 
was to be confirmed by the tree of life ; theii doubtless the 
death threatened in case of disobedience, which stands in di- 
rect opposition to this, was a being given over to everlasting 
vj-ickedness a7id misery, in se/iarat:o?i from God, and in endur- 
ing his ivrath. 

And it may with the greatest reason be supposed, (liUt -irhen 
God first made manldnd, and made Icnown to them the meth- 
ods of his moral government towards them, in the reveialioa 
he made of himself (o the natural !ioad of the whole species ; 
and let him know, that obedience to him was expected as his 
duty ; and enforced this duty with the sanction of a threaten- 
ed punishment, called by the name oi death ; I say, we may 
with the greatest reason suppose in such a case, that by dea!:h 
was meant that same death which God esteemed lo be tlic 
most proper punishment of the sin of mankind, and wliich he 
speaks of under that name, throug) out the scripture, as the 
proper wages of the sin of man, and was always from the be- 
ginning understood to be so in the chu xh of God. It would 
be strange indeed, if it should be otherwise. It would have 
been strange, if when the law of God was first given, and en- 
forced by the threatening of a punislio.i'^nt, nothing at all 
had been mentioned of that great punisiinient, ever spoken of 
under the name of death, fin the revelations which he has 
given to mankind from age to age) as the proper puiiisiiment 
of the sin of m.ankind. Audit would be no less strange, ii' 
v/hen the punishment which was mentioned and threatened 
on that occasion, was called by the same liairjf", even deathj 



276 ORIGINAL SIN. 

yet we must not understand it to mean the same thing, but 
something infinitely diverse, and infinitely more inconsider- 
able. 

But now let us consider what that death is, which the 
scripture ever speaks of as the proper wages of the sin of 
mankind, and is spoken of as such by God's saints in all ages 
of the church, from the first beginning of a written revelation, 
to the conclusion of it. I will begin with the Ne\v Testa- 
ment. When the Apostle Paul says, Rom. vi. 23. the ivagea 
ofsinis death, Dr. Taylor tells us, p. 120. S. that " this means 
eternal death, the second death, a death widely diffcent from 
the death we now die." The same apostle speaks of death 
as the proper punishment due for sin, m Rom. vii. 5. and 
chap. viii. 13. 2 Cor. iii. 7. 1 Cor. xv. 56, In all which places, 
Dr. Taylor himself supposes the apostle to intend eternal 
death.* And when the Apostle James speaks of death as the 
proper reward, fruit, and end of sin. Jam. i. 15. " Sin when 
it is finished bringelh forth death." It is manifest that our 
author supposes eternal destruction to be meant.f And the 
Apostle John, agreeable to Dr. Taylor's sense, speaks of the 
second death as that which sin unrcpented of will bring all 
men to at last. Rev. ii. 11. xx. 6. 14. and xxi. 8, In the 
same sense tlie Apostle John uses the word in his 1st epistle, 
chap. iii. 11. " We know, that we have passed from death to 
life, because we love the brethren : He that hateth his brother, 
abideth in death. 

In the same manner Christ used the word from time to 
lime when he was on earth, and spake concerning the punish- 
ment and issue of sin. John v. 24. « He that heareth my 
word, and bclitveih, &c. hath everlasting life ; and shall not 
come into condcmnaiion ; but is passed from death to life." 
Where, according to Dr. Taylor's own way of arguing, it 

• See p. 78. Note on Rom, vii. 5. and Note on verse 6. Note on Rom, 
V. 20. Note on Rom. vii. 8. 

+ By comparing what he says, p, 126, witli what he often says of that 
death and destruction which is rhe demerit and end of personsl ijn, which 
he says is the second death, or eternal dist^tidifr. 



ORIGINAL SIN. srr 

cannot be the death which we now die, that Christ speaks oi", 
but eternal death, because it is set in opposition to everlasting 
life. John vi. 50. This is the bread -which comcth down 
from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." Chap. 
viii. 51. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my 
saying, he shall never see death." Chap. xi. 26. « And who- 
soever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." In which 
places it is plain Christ does not mean that believers shall 
never see temporal death. See also IMatth. x. 28, and Luke 
X. 28. In like manner, the word Avas commonly used by the 
prophets of old, when they spake of death as the proper end 
and recompense of sin. So, abundantly by the Prophet Eze- 
k'iel. Ezek. iii. 18. "When I say unto the wicked man, 
thou shall surely die." In the original it is. Dying thou shal: 
die. The same form of expression, which God used in the 
threatening to Adam. We have the same words again, chap. 
xxxiii. 18. In chap, xviii. 4, it is said, IVie soul that siimeth^ 
it shall die. To the like purpose are chap. iii. 19, 20, and 
xviii. 4, 9, 13, 17. ...2 1, 24, ^6, 28, chap, xxxiii, 8, 9, 12, 14, 
19. And that temporal death is not meant in these places is 
plain, because it is promised most absolutely, that the right- 
eous shall not die the death spoken of. Chap, xviii. 21. He 
ihall surely live., he shall not die. So verses 9, 17, 19, and 22, 
and chap. iii. 21. And it is evident the Prophet Jeremiah 
uses the v/ord in the same senses. Jer. xxxi. 30. Every «ne 
shall die/or his own iniquity. Ap,d the same death is spoken of 
by the Prophet Isaiah. Isai. xi. 4. With the breath of his Ufia 
shall he slay the wicked. See also chap. Ixvi. 16, with verse 
24. Solomon, who we must suppose was thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the sense in which tlie word was used by the 
wise, and by the ancients, continually speaks of death as the 
proper fruit, issue, and recompense of sin, using the word 
only in this sense. Prov. xi. 19. ./,? righteousness tendeth to 
life, so he that fiursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death. So 
chap. V. 5, 6, 23, vii. 27, viii. 36, ix. 18, x. 21, xi. 19, xiv. 12, 
XV. 10, xviii. 21, xix. 16, xxi. 16, and xxiii. 13, 14. In these 
places he cannot mean temporal death, for he often speaks of 
it as a punishment of the wicked, wherci!i the righteous shall 



?"8 ORIGINAL SIN. 

certainly be dislinguished from them ; aj in Prov. xii. 28. In 
the Tjay of rightcoimnrss is life., and in the fiatlnvay thereof is no 
death. So in chap. x. 2, xi. 4, xiii. 14, xiv. 27, and many- 
other places. But we find this same wise man observes, that 
as to temporal death, and temporal events in general, there is 
}io distinction, but that they happen alike to good and bad. 
Eccl.ii. 14, 15, 16, viii. 14, and ix. 2,3. His words are remark- 
able in Eccl. vii. 15. "There is a just man that /zfmAc?/; in 
his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that /iro/orz^-e/Zi 
his life in his wickedness." So we find David, in the Book of 
psalms, uses the word death in the same sensc,when he speaks 
of it as the proper wages and issue of sin. Psal. xxxiv. 21, 
"Evil shall j/ay the wicked." He speaks of it as a certain 
thing, Psal. cxxxix. 19. «' Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, 

God." And he speaks of it as a thing wherein the wicked 
are distinguished from the righteous. Psalm Ixix. 28. " Let 
them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be writ- 
ten with the righteous." And thus we find the word death 
used in the Pentateuch, or Books of Moses ; in which part 
of the Scripture it is, that we have the account of the threat- 
ening of deatli to Adam. When death, in these books, is 
spoken of as the proper fruit, and appointed reward of sin, it 
is to be understood of eternal death. So Deut. xxx. 15. " See, 

1 have set before thee this day life and good, and death and 
evil." Verse 19. "I call heaven and earth to record this 
day against you, that I have t^ct before you life and deaths 
blessing and cursing." The life that is spoken of here, is 
doubtless the same that is spoken of in Levit. xviii. 5. " Ye 
shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if 
a man do, he shall live in them." This the apostle under- 
stands o{ eternal life, as is plain by Rom. x. 5, and Gal. iii. 12. 
But that the death threatened for sin in the law of Moses, 
meant eternal death, is what Dr. Taylor abundantly declares. 
So in his Note on Rom. v. 20, Par. p. 291. " Such a consti- 
tution the law of Moses was, subjecting those who were un- 
der it to death for every transgression ; meaning by death 
eternal death" These are his words. The like he asserts in 
many other places. When it is said, in the place now men- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 27$ 

fioned, J have set before thee life and death, blessing and cursing, 
without doubt, the same blessing and cursing is meant which 
God had already set before them with such solemnity, in the 
27th and 28th chapters, where we have the sum of tije curbcs 
in those last words of the 27lh chapter, " Cursed is every one, 
which confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them." 
Which the apostle speaks of as a threatening of eternal death, 
and v/ith him Dr. Taylor himself.* In this sense also Job 
and his friends, spake of death, as the wa;^es and end of sin, 
who lived before any written revelation, and had their religion 
and their phraseology about the things of religion from the 
ancients. 

If any should insist upon it as an objection against sup- 
posing that death Avas intended to signify eternal death in tije 
threatening to Adam, that this use of the word is figurative ; 
I reply, that though this should be allowed, yet it is by no 
means so figurative as many other phrases used in the history 
contained in these three chapters ; as when it is said, God 
naid^ Let there be light : God said, Let there be ajirmamentf 
8cc. as though God spake such words with a voice. So when 
it is said, God called the light, day : God called the firma- 
ment, heaven, Sec. : God rested on the seventh day ; as 
though he had been weary, and then rested. And when it is 
said, They heard the x'ozct of God walking ; as though the 
Deity had two feet, and took steps on the ground. Dr. Tay- 
lor supposes, that when it is said of Adam and Eve, "Their 
eyes were opened, and they saw that they were naked ;" by 
the word naked is TCi&Q.T\x. 2k state of guilt ; page 12. Which 
sense of the word naked, is much further from ih.e comnioii 
use of the word, than the supposed sense of the word death. 
So this author supposes the promise concerning the seed of 
the woman's bruising the sfr/ient's heady while the serpent 
should bruise his heel, is to be understood of '^ the Messiah's 
destroying the power and sovereignty of the Devil, and rc- 
receiving some slight hui't from him ;" pages 15, 16. Which 
iiaakes the sentence full of figures, vastly more beside the 
- nmmon use of words. And why might not God deliver 
* Note OR Rom. v. 20. Par. p. 29'.— 299. 



280 ORIGINAL SIN. 

threa'cnirif^s to our first parents in figurative expressions, as 
well as pi'omises ? Many other strong figures are used in 
these chapters. 

But indeed, there is no necessity of supposing the word 
dcathf or the Hebrew word so translated, if used in the man- 
rer that has been supposed, to have been figui-ative at all. It 
does not appear but that this word, in its true and proper 
meaning, might signify perfect inisery, and sensible destruc- 
tion, thougli the word was also applied to signify something 
more external and visible. There are many words in our 
language, such as heart., sen.sc, vie-.v, disco-very.^ concefitio77,lig/i(, 
and many others, which are applied to signify external things, 
as that muscular part of the body called /leari ; external feel- 
ing, called sense / the sight of the bodily eye, called view ; 
the finding of a thing by its being uncovered, called discovery ; 
the first beginning of the fo2tus in the womb, called conccfi- 
don ; and the rays of the sun, called liiiht : Yet these words 
do as truly and properly signify other things of a more spir- 
itual, intcinal nature, as those : Such as the disposition, af- 
fection, perception, and thought of the mind, and manifesta- 
tion and evidence to the soul. Common use, which governs 
the propriety of language, makes the latter things to be as 
much signified by those words, in their proper meaning, as 
the former. It is especially common rn the Hebrew, and I 
suppose, other oriental languages, that the same word that 
signifies something external, docs no less properly and usually 
•Jgnify something more spiritual. So the Hebrew words 
used for breath, have such a double signification : J\''eshama 
signifies both brcat/i and the so^d, and the latter as commonly 
as the former. Bnach is used for breath or TWTzrfjbut yet more 
commonly signifies .spirit. Jy'rfthesh is oscd for breath, but 
yet TYiove commonly signifies soul. So the word lebh, heart, 
no less properly signifies the snni, especially with regard 
to the will and affections, than that part of the body so called. 
The word nhalom, vf\\\ch we render /:pccr, no less properly 
signifies prosperity and happiness, than mutual agreement. 
The word translated life, signifies the natural life of the body, 
and also the perfect and happy state of sensible, active being; 



ORIGINAL SIN. 281 

trid the latter as properly as the former. So the word death 
signifies destruction, as to outward sensibility^ activity and en- 
joyment ; but it has most evidently anothev signification, 
which, in the Hebrew tongue, is no less proper, viz. perfect^ 
sensible^ hopeless ruin and misery. 

It is therefore wholly without reason urged, that death 
properly signifies only the loss of this present life ; and that 
therefore nothing else v/as meant by that death which was 
threatened for eating the forbidden fruit. Nor does it at all 
appear but that Adam, who, from what God said concerning 
the seed of the woman, that was so very figurative, could un- 
derstand, that relief was promised as to the death which was 
threatened, (as Dr. Taylor himself supposes) understood the 
death thai was threatened in the more important sense ; es- 
pecially seeing temporal death, as it is originally, and in it- 
self, is evermore, excepting as changed by divine grace, an 
introduction or entrance into that gloomy, dismal state of mis- 
ery, which is shadowed forth by the dark and awful circum- 
stances of this death, naturally suggesting to the mind the 
most dreadful state of hopeless, sensible ruin. 

As to that objection which some have made, that the 
phrase, dying thou shall die, is several times used in the Books 
of Moses, to signify temporal death, it can be of no force : 
For it has been shewn already, that the same phrase is some- 
times used in scripture to signify etei-nal death, in instances 
much more parallel with this. But indeed nothing can be 
certainly argued concerning the nature of the ihmg intended, 
from its being expressed in such a manner. For it is evident 
that such repetitions of a word in the Hebrew language, are 
no more than an emphasis upon a word in the more modern 
languages, to signify the great degree of a thing, the import- 
ance of it, or the certainty of it, Sec. When we would sig- 
nify and impress these, we commonly put an emphasis oti 
our words : Instead of this, the Hebrews, when they would 
express a thing strongly, repeated or doubled the word, the 
more to impress the mind of the hearer ; as may be plain to 
every one in the least conversant with the Hebrew Bible. 
The repetition in the threatening to Adam, therefore only 
Vol. VL 2 M 



282 ORIGINAL SIN. 

implies the solemnity and importance of the threatening. 
But God may denounce either eternal or temporal death with 
peremptoriness and solemnity, and nothing can certainly be 
inferred concerning the nature of the thing threatened, be- 
cause it is threatened v.-ith emphasis, more than this, that the 
threatening is much to be regarded. Though it be true, 
that it might in an especial manner be expected that a threat- 
ening of eternal death would be denounced with great empha* 
" sis, such a threatening being infinitely important, and to be 
regarded above all others. 



SECTION III. 

Wherein it is inquired, tvhether there be any tiling in the history 
of the three first chapters of Genesis, nvhich should lead us to 
supfiose that God, in his constitution with Adam, dealt with 
mankind in general, as included in their first father, and 
that the threat etiitiff of death, in case he should eat the for- 
kiddefi fruit, had respect not only to him, but Ms pos^ 
terity ? 

DR. TAYLOR, rehearsing that threatening to Adam. 
Thou shall surely die, and giving us his paraphrase of it, p. 7, 
8, concludes thus : " Observe, here is not 07ie word relating 
to Adam*s posterity." But it may be observed in opposition 
to this, that there is scarcely one word that we have an ac- 
count of, which God ever said to Adam or Eve, but what does 
manifestly include their posterity in the meaning and design 
of it. There is as much of a word said about Adam's pos- 
terity in that threatening, as there is in those wcrds of God to 
Adam and Eve, Gen. i. 28 ; « Be fruitful, and multiply, and 
replenish the earth, and subdue it ;" and as much in events. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 28S 

to lead us to suppose Adam's posterity to be included. There 
3S as much of a word of his posterity in that threatening, as in 
those words, verse 29. « Behold, I have given you every 
herb bearing seed. ...and every tree in which is the fruit of a 
tree yielding seed," Sec. Even when God was about to create 
Adam, what he said on that occasion, had not respect only to 
Adam, but to his posterity. Gen. i. 26. « Let us make man 
in our image, antl let them have dominion over the fish of the 
sea," &c. And, what is more remarkable, there is as much 
of a word said about Adam's posterity in the threatening of 
death, as there is in that sentence. Gen. iii. 19, " Unto dust 
shalt thou return." Which Dr. Taylor himself supposes to 
be a sentence pronounced for the execution of that very 
threatening, « Thou shalt surely die ;" and which sentence 
he himself also often speaks of as including Adam's posterity ; 
and what is much more remarkable still, is a sentence which 
Dr. Taylor himself often speaks of, as including' his posterity^ 
as a sentence of cQnde7nnation, as a judicial sentence, and a 
sentence which God pronounced with regard to Adam's pos- 
terity^ acting the part of a Judge, and as such condemning 
them to temporal death. Though he is therein utterly incon- 
sistent with himself, inasmuch as he at the same time abund- 
antly insists, that death is not brought on Adam's posterity 
in consequence of his sin, at all as a punishment ; but merely 
by the gracious disposal of a Father, bestowing a benefit of the 
highest nature upon them.* 

But I shall shew that I do not in any of these things false- 
ly charge, or misrepresent Dr. Taylor. He speaks of the 
sentence in chap. iii. 19, as pronounced in pursuance of the 
threatening in the former chapter, in these words, pages 17, 
18. " The sentence upon man, verses 17, 18, 19, first affects 
the earth, upon which he was to subsist : The ground should 
be incumbered with many noxious weeds, and the tillage of 
it more toilsome ; which would oblige the man to procui'e a 
sustenance by hard labor, till he should die, and drop into the 
ground, from whence he was taken. Thus death entered by 

* Page 27, S. 



684 ORIGINAL SIN. 

sin into the world, and man became mortal,* accordlt'ig to the 
threatening in the former chapter.'' Now, if mankind becomes 
mortal, and must die, according to the threatening in the for- 
mer chapter, then doubtless the threatening in the former 
chapter. Thou shalt die, had respect not only to Adam, but to 
mankind, and mcluded Adam's posterity. Yea, and Dr. Tay- 
lor is express in it, and very often so, Jiat the sentence con- 
cerning dropping into the ground, or returning to the dust, 
did include Adam's posterity. So, page 20, speaking there 
of that sentence, " Observe, (says he) that we their posterity 
are in fact subjected to the same affliction and mortality, here 
by sentence inflicted upon our first parents. Page 42, Note. 
But yet men through that long tract, were all subject to 
death, therefore they must be included in the sentence." 
The same he affirms in innumerable other places, some of 
which I shall have occasion to mention presently. 

The sentence which is founded on the threatening, and, 
as Dr. Taylor says, according to the threalerdng, extends to as 
many as were included in the threatening, and to no more. 
If the sentence be upon a collective subject, infinitely, (as it 
were) the greatest part of which were not included in the 
threatening, nor were ever threatened at all by any threaten- 
ing whatsoever, then certainly this sentence is not according 
to the threatening, nor built upon it. If the sentence be ac- 
cording to the threatening, then we may justly explain the 
threatening by the sentence ; and if we find the sentence 
spoken to the same person, to whom the threatening was 
spoken, and spoken in the second person singular, in like 
manner with the threatening, and/ounded on the threatening, 
and according to the Areatening ; and if we find the sentence 
includes Adam's posterity, then we may certainly infer, that 
so did the threatening ; and hence, that both the threatening 
and sentence were delivered to Adam as the public head and 
representative of his posterity. 

* The subsequent part of the quotation, the reader will not meet with in 
die third edition of Dr. Taylor, but in the fecond of 1741. 



ORIGINAL SIN, 233 

And we may also further infer from it, in another respec*; 
directly contrary to Dr. Taylor's doctrine, that the sentence 
which included Adam's posterity, was to death, as a fiwiishment 
to that posterity, as well as to Adam himself. For a sentence 
pronounced in execution of a threatening, is to a punishment. 
Threatenings are of punishments. Neither God nor man are 
wont to threaten others with favors and benefits. 

But lest any of this author's admirers should stand to it, 
that it may very properly be said, God threatened mankind 
with bestowing great kindness upon them, I would observe, 
that Dr. Taylor often speaks of this sentence as pronounced 
by God on all mankind as condemning them, speaks of it as 
a sentencf^ of condemnation judicially fironohnced^ or a sentence 
which God pronounced on all mankind acting as their judge, 
and in a judicial proceeding. Which he affirms in multitudes 
of places. In p. 20, speaking of this sentence, which he there 
says, subjects us, Adam's and Eve's posterity, to affliction and 
mortality, he calls it a judicial act of condemnation. " The 
judicial act of condemnation (says he) clearly implies, a tak- 
ing him to pieces, and turning him to the ground from 
whence he was taken." And p. 28, 29, Note. " in all the 
scripture from one end to the other, there is recorded but one 
judgment to condemnation, which came upon all men, and that 
is, Gen. iii. \7 ...19. Dust thou art," 8cc. P. 40, speaking of the 
same, he says, " all men are brought under condemnation." 
In p. 27, 28. " By judgment, judgment to condemnation, it ap- 
peareth evidently to me, he (Paul) means the being adjudged to 
the forementioned death ; he means the sentence of death, of 
a general mortality, pronounced upon mankind, in consequence 
of Adam's first transgression. And the condemnation inflict- 
ed by {he judgment of God, answereth to, and is in effect the 
same thing with being dead." P. 30. "The many, that is 
mankind, were subject to death by the judicial act of God." 
P. 31. "Being made sinners, may very well signify, being 
adjudged, or condemned to death. For the Hebrew word &c. 
signifies to make one a sinner by a judicial sentence, or to con- 
demn." P. 178. Par. on Rom. v. 19. " Upon the account of 
one man's disobedience, 7nankind were judicially constituted 



2«6 ORIGINAL SIN. 

sinners ; that is, subjected to death, by the sentence of God 
the judge." And there are many other places where he re» 
peats the same thing. And it is pretty remarkable, that in p. 
48,49, immediately after citing Prov. xvii. 15. "He that 
justifieth the wicked, and he that condem.neth the just, are 
both an abomination to the Lord ;" and when he is careful in 
citing these words to put us in mind, that it is meant of a j'Uo 
dicial act ; yet in the very next words he supposes that God 
himself does so, since he constantly supposes that Adam's 
posterity, whom God condemns, are innocent. His words are 
these, " From all this it followeth, that as the judgment, that 
passed upon all men to covde7nnation^\% death's coming upon 
all men, by ihe judicial act oj' Godf upon occasion of Adam's 
transgression ; So, &c." And it is very remarkable, that in 
p. 3, 4, 7. S. he insists, « That in scripture no action is said 
to be imputed, reckoned, or accounted to any person for right- 
eousness or CONDEMNATION, btz-t the proper act and 
deed of that person.'* And yet he thus continually affirms, 
that all mankind are made sinners by a judicial act of God 
the Judge, even to condemnation, ^n^ judicially constituted sin- 
ners, and so subjected to a judicial sentence of condemnation, on 
occasion of Adam's sin ; and all according to the threatening 
denounced to Adam, thou shalt surely die : Though he suppos- 
es Adam's posterity were not in^^luded in the threatening, and 
are looked upon as perfectly innocent, and treated wholly as 
such. 

I am sensible Dr. Taylor does not run into all this incon- 
sistence, only through oversight and blundering ; but that he 
is driven to it, to make out his matters in his evasion of that 
noted paragraph in the 5th chapter of Romans ; especially 
those three sentences, ver. 16. "The judgment was by one 
to condemnation." Ver. 18 " By the offence of one, judgment 
came upon all men to condemnation ;" and ver. 19, " By one 
man's disobedience many were made sinners." And I an^ 
also sensible of what he offers to salve the inconvenience, viz. 
" That if the threatening had immediately been executed on 
Adam, he would have had no posterity ; and that so far the 
possible existence of Adam's posterity fell under the threaten* 



ORIGINAL SIN. S8f 

ingof the law, and into the hands of the judge, to be dispos- 
ed of as he should think fit : And that this is the ground of 
the judgment to condemnation, coming upon all men."* But 
tliis is trifling, to a great degree : For, 

1. Suffering death, and failing of possible existence, are en- 
tirely different things. If there had never been any such 
thing as sin committed, there would have been infinite num- 
bers of possible beings, which would have failed of existence, 
by God's appointment. God has appointed not to bring into 
existence numberless possible worlds, each replenished with 
innumerable possible inhabitants. But is this equivalent to 
God's appointing them all to suffer death ? 

2. Our author represents, that by Adam's sin, tiie possible 
existence of his posterity fell into the hands of the judge, to be 
disposed of as he should think ft. But there was no need of any 
sin of Adam's, or anybody's else, in order to their being 
brought into God's hands in this respect. The future possi- 
ble existence of all created beings, is in God's hands, antece- 
dently to the existence of any sin. And therefore by God's 
sovereign appointment, infinite numbers of possible beings, 
without any relation to Adam, or any other sinning being, do 
fail of their possible existence. And if Adam had never sin- 
ned, yet it would be unreasonable to suppose, but that innu- 
merable multitudes of his possible posterity, would have fail- 
ed of existence by God's disposal. For will any be so un- 
reasonable as to imagine, that God would, and must have 
brought into existence as many of his posterity as it was pos- 
sible should be, if he had not sinned ? Or that in that case, it 
would not have been possible, that any other persons of his 
posterity should ever have existed, than those individual per- 
sons, who now actually fall under that sentence of suffering 
death, and returning to the dust ? 

3. We have many accounts in scripture, which imply the 
actual failing of the possible existence of innumerable multi- 
tudes of Adam's posterity, yea, of many more than ever come 
into existence. As of the possible posterity of Abel, tU» 

* Page qo, 91 95. 



283 ORIGINAL SIN. 

possible posterity of all them that were destroyed by the flood) 
andihc possible posterity of the innumerable muUitudes which 
Mvc read of in,scripture, destroyed by sword, pesliler.ee, &c. 
And if the threatening to Adam reached his posterity, in no 
other respect than this, that they were liable to be depiived by 
it ot their possible existence, then these instances are much 
more properly a fulfilment of that threatening, than the suf- 
fering of death by such as actually come into existence ; and 
so is that which is most properly the judgment to condem- 
nation, executed by the sentence of the judge, proceeding on 
the foot of that threatening. But where do we ever find this 
so represented in scripture ? We read of multitudes cut off 
for their personal sins, who thereby failed of their possible pos- 
terity. And these are mentioned as God's judgments on 
them, and effects of God's condemnation of them : But when 
are they ever spoken of as God's judicially proceeding against, 
and condemning their possible posterity ? 

4, Dr. Taylor, in what he says concerning this matter, 
speaks of the threatening of the law delivered to Adam, which 
the possible existence of his posterity fell under, as the ground 
of the judgment to condem7iatiG7i coming upon all men. But 
herein he is exceeding inconsistent with himself ; for he af- 
firms in a place forecited, that the scripture never speaks of 
any sentence of condemnation coming upon all men, but that 
sentence,in the third of Genesis, concerning man's turning, to 
dust. But according to him, the threatening of the law deliv- 
ered to Adam, could not be the ground of that sentence ; for 
. ii^ gre.atjy insists upon it, that that law was entirely abrogated 
Jbefore thiJt sentence was pronounced, that this law at that 
time was ?iQ.t in beings had no existence to have any such influ- 
ence, as might procure a sentence of death ; and that there- 
fore this sentence was introduced entirely «gi another foot, 
viz. on the foot of a new dispensation of grace. The reader 
m; y see this matter strenuously urged, and particularly ar- 
gued by himj, p. 11 3. ..220. iS". So that this sentence could 
not, according to him, have the threatening of that law for its 
ground, as he supposes ; for it never stood upon that ground. 
It could not be called a iudement of condemnation ^lnder awj 



ORIGINAL SIN, 289 

s'uch view ; for it could not be viewed under circumstances 
under which it never existed. 

5, It it be as our author supposes, that the sentence of | 
death on all men comes under the notion of a judgment to 
condemnation by this means, viz. that the threatening to Ad- 
am was in some respect the ground of it ; then it also comes 
under the notion of a punishment : For threatenings annexed 
to breaches of laws, are to punishments ; and a judgment of 
condemnation to the thing threatened, must be to punishment ; 
and the thing condemned to, must have as much the notion of 
a punishment, as the sentence has the notion of a judgment 
to condemnation. But this, Ur. Taylor wholly denies : He 
denies that the death sentenced to, comes as any punishment 
at all, but insists that it comes only as afavor and benefit, and 
a fruit of fatherly love to Adam's posterity, respected, not as 
guilty, but wholly innocent. So that his scheme v/ill not admit 
of its coming under the notion of a sentence to condemnation 
in any respect whatsoever. Our author's supposition, that the 
possible existence of Adam's posterity comes under the 
threatening of the law, and into the hands of the judge, and 
is the ground of the condemnatidn of all men to death, im- 
plies, that death, by this sentence, is appointed to mankind as 
an evil, at least negatively so ; as it is a privation of good : 
For he manifestly speaks of a nonexistence as a negative evil. 
But herein he is inconsistent with himself : For he continu- 
ally insists, that mankind are subjected to death only as a ben- 
t^C, as has been before shewn. According to him, death is 
not appointed to mankind as a negative evil, as any cessa- 
tion of existence, as any cessation or even diminution of good ; 
but on the contrary, as a means of a more hafifiy existence^ 
and a great increase of good. 

So that this evasion, or salvo of Dr. Taylor's, is so far 
from helping the matter, or salving the inconsistence, that it 
Increases it. 

And that the constitution or law, with the threatening of 
death annexed, which was given to Adam, was to him as the 
head of mankind, and to his posterity as included in him, not 
only follows from some of our author's own assertions, and 

Vol. VI. 2 N 



290 ORIGINAL SIN. 

the plain and full declarations of the apostle, in the fifth of 
Romans (of which more afterwards) which drove Dr. Taylor 
into such gross inconsistencies : But the account given in tho 
three first chapters of Genesis, directly and inevitably leads 
us to such a conclusion. 

Though the sentence, Gen. iii. 19, Unto dust thou shali 
returriy be not of equal extent with the threatening in the fore- 
going chapter, or an execution of the main curse of the law 
therein denounced ; for, that ^l^ should have been so, woufd 
have been inconsistent with the intimations of mercy just be- 
fore given : Yet it is plain, this sentence is in pursuance of 
that threatening, being to something that was included in it. 
The words of the sentence were delivered to the same per- 
son, with the words of the threatening, and in the same man- 
ner, in like singular terms, as much without any express men- 
tion of his posterity : And yet it manifestly appears by the 
consequence, as well as all circumstances, that his posterity 
were included in the words of the sentence ; as is confessed 
en all hands. And as the words were apparently delivered m 
the form of the sentence of a judge, condemning for some- 
thing that he was displeased with, and ought to be condemn- 
ed, viz. sin ; and as the sentence to him and his posterity was 
but one, dooming to the same suffering, uOder the same cfr- 
cumstances, both the one and the other sentenced in the saroe 
words, spoken but once, and immediately to but one persoD, 
we hence justly infer, that it was the same thing to both ; and 
not as Dr. Taylor suggests, p. 67, a sentence to a proper 
punishment to Adam, but a mere promise of favor to his pos- 
terity. 

Indeed, sometimes our author seems to suppose, that God 
meant the thing denounced in this sentence, as a favor both 
to Adam and his posterity.* But to his posterity, or man- 
kind in general, who are the main subject, he ever insists, 
that it wus purely intended as a favor. And therefore, one 
would have thought the sentence should have been delivered, 
with manifestations and appearances of favor, and not of an- 

* Page 2 5, 45, 46. .< 



ORIGINAL SIN. 291 

ger. How could Adam understand it as a promise of great 
favor, considering the manner and circumstances of the de- 
nunciation ? How could he think, tliat God would go about to 
delude him, by clothing himself with garments of vengeance, 
using words of displeasure and rebulie, setting forth the hei- 
nousness of bis crime, attended with cherubimsand a flaming 
sword ; when all that he meant was only higher testimonies 
of favor, than he bad before in a state of innocence, and to - 
manifest fatberly love and kindness, in promises of great 
blessings ? If this was the case, God's words to Adam must 
be understood thus : " Because thou hast done so \vickedly, 
bast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of 
the tree of which I commanded thee, saying. Thou shalt not 
eat of it ; therefore I will be more kind to thee than I was in 
thy state of innocence, and do now appoint for thee the fol- 
lowing great favors : Cursed be the ground for thy ,<sakr," &c. 
And thus Adam must understand what was said, imless any 
will say (and God forbid that any should be so blasphemous) 
that God clothed himself with appearances of displeasure, to 
deceive Adam, and make him believe the contrary of what he 
intended, and lead him to expect a dismal train of evils on his 
posterity, contrary to all reason and justice, implying the most 
horribly unrighteous treatment of millions of perfectly inno- 
cent creatures. It is certain there is not the least appearance 
in what God said, or the manner of it, as Moses gives us the 
account, of any other, than that God was now testifying dis- 
pleasure, condemning the subject of the sentence he was pro- 
nouncing, as justly exposed to punishment for sin, and for 
that sin which he mentions. 

When God was pronouncing this sentence, Adam doubt- 
less understood, that God had respect to his posterity, as well 
as himself, though God spake wholly in the second person 
singular, " Because thou hast eaten.. ..In sorrow shall thou eat 
....Unto the dust shalt thou return.'? But he had as much 
reason to understand God as having respect to his posterity, 
when he directed his speech to him in like manner in the 
.threatening, Thou shalt surely die. The sentence plainly re- 
and results from il. The threatening 



292 ORIGINAL SIK. 

says, If thou tat,, thou shalt die : The sentence says, iJ(?« 
cause thou hast eaten, thou shalt die. And Moses, who wrote 
the account, had no reason to doubt but that the affair would 
be thus understood by his readers ; for such a way of speak- 
ing was well understood in those days : The history he gives 
us of the origin of things, abounds with it. Such a manner of 
speaking to ihe first of the kind, or heads of the race, having 
respect to the progeny, is not only used in almost every thing 
that God said to Adam and Eve, but even in what he said to 
the very birds and fishes. Gen. i. 22 ; and also in what he said 
afterwards to Noah, Gen. ix. and to Shem, Ham and Japhelh, 
and Canaan, Gen. ix. 25. ...27. So in promises made to Abra- 
ham, in which God directed his speech to him, and spake in 
the second person singular, from time to time, but meant 
chiefly his posterity : " To thee will I give this land. In 
thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed,*' &c. &c. 
And in what is said of Ishmael, as of his person, but meant 
chiefly of his posterity, Gen. xvi. 12, and xvii. 20. And so 
in what Isaac said to Esau and Jacob, in his blessing ; in which 
he spake to ibem in the second person singular, but meant 
chiefly their posterity. And so for the most part in the prom- 
ises made to Isaac and Jacob, and in Jacob's blessing of Eph- 
raim and Manasseh, and of his twelve sons. 

But I shall take notice of one or two things further, shew- 
ing that Adam's posterity were included in God's establish- 
ment with him, and the threatening denounced for his sin ; 
and that the calamities which come upon them in consequence 
of his sin, are brought on them as punishments. 

This is evident from the curse on the ground i which, if it 
be any curse at all, comes equally on Adam's posterity with 
himself. And if it be a curse, then against whomsoever it is 
designed and on whomsoever it terminates, it comes as a pun- 
ishment, and not as a blessing, so far as it comes in conse- 
quence of that sentence. 

Dr. Taylor, page 19, says, " A curse is pronounced upoi> 
the ground, but no curse upon the woman and the man." 
And in pages 45, 46, 5. he insists that the ground only was 
cursed, and not the man ; just as though a curse could ler- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 292 

minate on lifeless, senseless earth 1 To understand this curse 
otherwise than as terminating upon man through the ground, 
would be as senseless as to suppose the meaning to be, The 
ground shall he punished, and shall be miserable for thy sake. 
Our author interprets the curse on the ground, of its being 
incumbered with noxious weeds ; but would these weeds 
have been any curse on the ground, if there had been no in- 
habitants, or if the inhabitants had been of such a nature, that 
these weeds would not have been noxious, but useful to 
them? It is said, Deut. xxviii. 17, "Cursed shall be thy 
basket, and thy store ;" and would he not be thought to talk 
very ridiculously, who should say, " Here is a curse upon the 
basket, but not a word of any curse upon the owner ; and 
therefore we have no reason at all to look upon it as any pun- 
ishment upon him, or any testimony of God's displeasure to- 
wards him." How plain is it, that when lifeless things, 
which are not capable of either benefit or suffering, are said 
to be cursed or blessed with regard tp sensible beings, that 
use or possess these things or have connexion with them, the 
meaning must be, that these sensible beings are cursed or 
blessed in the other, or with respect to them ! In Exod. xxiii. 
25, it is said, " He shall bless thy bread and thy water." 
And I suppose, never any body yet proceeded to such a de- 
gree of subtilty in distinguishing, as to say, " Here is a bless- 
ing on the bread and the water, which went into the posses- 
sors' mouths, but no blessing on ihem." To make such a 
distinction with regard to the curse God pronounced on the 
ground, would in some respects be more unreasonable, be- 
cause God is express in explaininr; the matter, declaring that 
it was/or man^s sake, expressly referring this curse to /zzm, as 
being with respect to him, and for the sake of his guilt, and as 
consisting in the sorrow and suffering he should have from it. 
« In sorrow shalt thou eat of it. Thorns and thistles shall it 
bring forth to thee" So that God's oun words tell us where 
the curse terminates. The words are parallel with those in 
Pent, xxviii. 16, but only more plain and explicit, « Cursed 
shalt thou be in the field," or in the ground. 



2^4 ORIGINAL SIN 

If Ihir. part of the senlcnce was pronounced under no no- 
tion of any curse or punishment at all upon mankind, but on 
the contrary) as making an alteration in the ground, that 
should be for the better, as to them ; that instead of the sweet, 
but templing, pernicious fruits of paradise, it might produce 
■wholesome fruits, more for the health of the soul ; that it 
might bring forth thorns and thistles, as excellent medicines, 
to prevent or cure moral distempers, diseases which would 
issue in eternal death ; 1 say, if what was pronounced was 
under this notion, then it was a blessing on the ground, and 
not a curse ; and it might more properly have been said, 
*■*■ Blessed shall the ground be for thy sake. I will make a 
happy change in it, that it may be a habitation more fit for a 
creature so infirm, and so apt to be overcome with tempta- 
tion, as thou art." 

The event makes it evident, that in prot^ouncing this curse, 
God had as much respect to Adam's posterity, as to himself : 
And so it was understood by his pious posterity before the 
flood ; as appears by what Lamech, the father of Noah, says, 
Gen. V. 29. " And he called his name Xoah, saying, This 
same shall comfort us concerning our work, and the toil of 
our hands, because of the ground ivhich the Lord hath cursed.'^ 

Another thing which argues, that Adam's posterity were 
included in the threatening of death, and that our first parents 
understood, when fallen, that the tempter, in persuading them 
10 eat the forbidden fruit, had aimed at the punishment and 
ruin of both them and their posterity, and had procured it, is 
Adam's immediately giving his wife that new name, Eve, or 
Zifc, on the promise or intimation of the disappointment and 
overthrow of the tempter in that matter, by her seed, which 
Adam understood to be by his procuring life, not only for 
themselves, but for many of their posterity, and thereby de- 
livering them from that death and ruin which the serpent had 
brought upon them. Those that should be thus delivered, 
and obtain life, Adam calls the living ; and because he ob- 
served, by what God had said, that deliverance and life were 
to be by the seed of the woman, he therefore remarks that 



ORIGINAL SIN. 5^? 

s/»^ is the mother of all living, and thereupon gives her a new 
name, calls her Chavah, life, Gen. iii. 20. 

There is a great deal of evidence, that this is the occasion 
of Adam's giving his wife her new name. This was her 
new honor, and the greatest honor, at least in her present 
state, that the Redeemer was to be of her seed. New names 
were wont to be given for something that was the person's 
peculiar honor. So it was with regard to the new names of 
Abraham, Sarah, and Israel. Dr. Taylor himself observes,* 
that they Avho are saved by Christ, are called the livers, S* ^wtTi?, 
2 Cor. iv. 11, the livings or they that live. So we find in the 
Old Testament, the righteous are called by the name oi the 
living, Psalm Ixix. 28. » Let them be blotted out of the book 
of the living, and not be written with the righteous." If what 
Adam meant by her being the 7nother of all living, was only 
her being the mother of mankind, and gave her the namej 
life upon that account ; it were much the most likely that 
he would have given her this name at -first, when God first 
united them, under that blessing, " Be fruitful and multiply," 
and when he had a prospect of her being the mother of man- 
kind in a state ofimmortalitij, living indeed, living, and never 
dxjing. But that Adam should at that time give her only the. 
name of Isha, and then immediately on that melancholy 
change, by their coming under the sentence of death, with all 
their posterity, having now a new, awful prospect of her being 
the mother of nothing but a dijing race, all from generation to 
generation turning to dust, through her folly ; I sa;^, that 
immediately on this, he should change her name into life, call- 
ing her now the mother oi all living is perfectly unaccounta- 
ble. Besides, it is manifest that It was not her being the 
•mother of all mankind, or her relation as a mother, which 
she stood in to her posterity, but the qualitij of those she 
was to be the mother of, which was the thing Adam had 
in view, in giving his wife this new name; as appears 
by the name itself, which signifies life. And if it had been 
only a natural and mortal life which, he had in view, this was 

• Note annexe^ to \ 287, 

* 



S96 ORIGINAL SIN'. 

nothing diblinguishing of her posterity from the brutes ; lot 
the very same name of livvi,^ ones, or living things, is given 
from time to time in this Book of Genesis to them ; as in 
chap. i. 21, 24, 28, ii. 19, vi. 19, vii. 23, viii. 1, and many oth- 
er places in the Bible. And besides, if by life the quahty of 
her posterity was not meant, there was nothing in it to dis- 
tinguish her from Adam ; for thus she was no more the 
mother of all living, than he was the father of all living ; and 
she coukl no more properly be called by the name ol life on 
any such account, than he ; but names are given for distinc- 
tion. Doubtless Adam took notice of something distinguish- 
ing concerning her, that occasioned his giving her this new 
name. And I think it is exceeding natural to suppose, that 
as Adam had given her htrfrst name from the manner of her 
creation^ so he gave her her new name from redemfition, and 
as it were, ?2£'w creation, through a Redeemer, of her seed; 
and that he should give her this name from that which com- 
forted him, with respect to the curse tha: Cod had pronounc- 
ed on him and the earth, as Lamech named Noah, Gen. v. 29, 
" Saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work, 
and toil of otir hands, because of the ground which the Lord 
hath cursed." Accordingly he gave her this new name, not 
at her first creation, but immediately after the promise of a 
R.edeemer, of her seed. See Gen. iii. 15.... 20. 

Now as to the consequence which I infer from Adam's 
giving his wife this name, on the intimation which God bad 
given, that Satan should by her seed be overthrown and dis- 
appointed, as to his malicious design, in that deed of his which 
God then spake of, viz. his tempting the woman. Adam in- 
fers from it, that great numbers of mankind should be saved, 
whom he calls the living ; they should be saved from the ef- 
fects of this malicious design of the old serpent, and from 
that ruin which he had brought upon them by tempting their 
first parents to sin ; and so the serpent would be, with res- 
pect to them, disappointed and overthrown in his design. 
But how is any death or ruin, or indeed any calamity at all, 
brought upon their posterity by Satan's malice in that tempt- 
ation, if instead of that, all the death and sorrow that was con- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 29r 

sequent, was the fruit of God's fatherly love, ard not Satan*s 
malice, and was an instance of God's free and sovereign favor, 
such favor as Satan could not possibly foresee ? And if mul- 
titudes of Eve's posterity are saved, from' either spiritual or 
temporal death, by a Redeemer, of her seed, how is that any 
disappointment of Satan's design in tempting our first parents ? 
How came he to have any such thing in view, as the death of 
Adam's and Eve's posterity, by tempting them to sin, or any 
expectation that their death would be the consequence, unless 
he knew that they were included in the threatening ? 

Some have objected against Adam's posterity's being in- 
cluded in the threatening delivered to Adam, that the threat- 
ening itself was inconsistent with his having any posterity ; 
it being that he should die on the day that he sinned. 

To this I answer, that the threatening was not inconsist- 
ent with his having posterity, on two accounts. 

Those words, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
surely die," according to the use of such like expressions a« 
mong the Hebrews, do not signify immediate death, or that 
the execution shall be within twentyfour hours from the 
commission of the fact ; nor did God, by those words, limit 
himself as to the time of executing the threatened punish- 
ment, but that was still left to God's pleasure. Such a 
phrase, according to the idiom of the Hebrew tongue, signi- 
fies no more than these two things : 

1. A real connexrion between the sin and the punishment. 
So Ezek. xxxiii. 12, 13. "The righteousness of the right- 
eous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. 
As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall there- 
by in the day that he turneth from his wickedness ; neither 
shall the righteous be able to live in the day that he sinneth; 
But for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it." 
Here it is said, that in the day he sinneth, he shall not be able 
to live, but he shall die ; not signifying the time when death 
shall be executed upon him, but the connexion between bis 
sin and deatii ; such a connexion as in our present common 
use of language is signified by the adverb of time, v:hen s 
Vol. VI. 2 



99« ORIGINAL SIN. 

as if one should say, « According to the laws of our nation^ 
so long as a man behaves himself as a good subject, he may 
live ; but nvhen he turns rebel, he must die :" Not signifying 
the hour, day or month in which he must be executed, but 
only the connexion between his crime and death. 

2. Another thing which seems to be signified by such 
an expression, is, that Adam should be exposed to death for one 
transgression, without waiting on him to try him the second 
time. If he eat of that tree, he should immediately fall under 
condemnation, though afterwards he might abstain ever so 
strictly. In this respect the words are much of the same force 
with those words of Solomon to Shimei, 1 Kings ii. 37. " For 
it shall be that on the day that thou goest out, and passest over 
the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain, that thou shall 
furely die." Not meaning that he should certainly be execut- 
ed on that day, but that he should be assuredly liable to death 
for the first offence, and that he should not have another trial 
to see whether he would go over the brook Kidron a second 
time. 

And then besides, 

II. If the words had implied that Adam should die that 
very day, within twentyfour or twelve hours, or that moment 
that he transgressed, yet it will by no means follow, that God 
obliged himself to execute the punishment m'lis utmost ex- 
tent on that day. The sentence was in great part executed 
immediately : He then died spiritually : He lost his inno- 
cence and original righteousness, and the favor of God ; a 
dismal alteration was made in his soul, by the loss of that ho- 
ly, divine principle, which was in the highest sense the life 
of the soul. In this he was truly ruined and undone that very 
day, becoming corrupt, miserable and helpless. And I think 
it has been shewn that such a spiritual death was one great 
thing implied ir the threatening. And the alteration then 
made in his body and external state, was the beginning of 
temporal death. Grievous, external calamity is called by the 
name of death in scripture, Exod. x. 17. « Intreat the Lord 
that he may take away this death." Not only was Adam's 
soul ruined that day, but his body was ruined : It lost its 



ORIGINAL SIN. 299 

he&Mty and vigor, and became a poor, dull, decaying;, dying 
thing. And besides all this, Adam was that day undone in 
a more dreadful sense : He immediately fell under the curse 
of the law, and condemnation to eternal perdition. In the 
language of scripture, he is dead, that is, in a state of condem- 
nation to death ; even as our author often explains this lan- 
guage in his expo^tion upon Romans. In scripture lan- 
guage, he that believes in Christ, immediately receives life. 
He passes at that time from death to life, and thenceforward 
(to use the Apostle John's phrase) « has eternal life abiding 
in him." But yet he does not then receive eternal life in ita 
highest completion ; he has but the beginning of it, and re- 
ceives it in a vastly greater degree at death ; but the proper 
time for the complete fulness is not till the day of judgment. 
When the angels sinned, their punishment was immediately 
executed in a degree ; but their full punishment is not until 
the end of the world. And there is nothing in God's threat* 
ening to Adam that bound him to execute his full punishment 
at once, nor any thing which determines that he should have 
no posterity. The law or constitution which God established 
r.nd declared, determined that if he sinned, and had poster- 
ity, he and they sheuld die ; but there was no constitution de- 
termining concerning the actual being of his posterity in this 
case ; what posterity he should have, how many, or whether 
any at all. All these things God liad reserved in his own 
power : The law and its sanction intermeddled not with the 
matter. 

It may be proper in this place also to take some no- 
tice of that objection of Dr. Taylor's, against Adam's being 
supposed to be a federal head for his posterity, that it gives 
him greater honor than Christ, as it supposes that all his 
posterity would have had eternal life by his obedience, if he' 
had stood ; and so a greater number would have had the ben- 
efit of his obedience, than are saved by Christ.* I think a 
very little consideration is sufficient to shew that there is no 

*Fagc 120, &C.S. 



300 ORIGINAL SIN. 

weight in this objection ; for the benefit of Christ's merits 
may nevertheless be vastly beyond that which would have 
been by the obedience of Adam. For those that are saved by 
Christ, are not merely advanced to happiness by his merits, 
but are saved from the infinitely dreadful effects of Adam's 
sin, and many from immense guilt, pollution and misery, by 
personal sins ; also brought to a holy and happy state, as it 
were through infinite obstacles, and are exalted to a far great- 
er degree of dignity, felicity and glory, than would have been 
due for Adam's obedience, for aught I know, many thousand 
times so great. And there is enough in the gospel dispensa- 
tion, clearly to manifest the sufficiency of Christ's merits for 
such effects in all mankind. And how great the number will 
be, that shall actually be the subjects of them, or how great 
a proportion of the whole race, considering the vast success 
of the gospel, that shall be in that future, extraordinary and 
glorious season, often spoken of, none can tell. And the hon- 
or of these two federal heads arises not so much from what 
•was proposed to each for his trial, as from their success, and 
the good actually obtained, and also the manner of obtaining. 
Christ obtains the benefits men have through him by proper 
merit of condignity, and a true purchase by an equivalent ; 
which would not have been the case with Adam, if he had 
obeyed. 

I have now particularly considered the account which Mo- 
ses gives us in the beginning of the Bible, of our first parents, 
and God's dealings with them, the constitution he established 
with them, their transgression, and what followed. And on 
the whole, if we consider the manner in which God apparent- 
ly speaks to Adam from time to time ; and particularly, if we 
consider how plainly and undeniably his posterity are includ- 
ed in the sentence of death pronounced on Adam after his fall, 
founded on the foregoing threatening ; and consider the curse 
denounced on the ground for his sake, and for his and his pos- 
terity's sorrow : And also consider what is evidently the occa- 
sion of his giving his wife the new name of Eve, and his mean- 
ing in it, and withal consider apparent fact in constant and 
universal events, with relation to the state of our first parents* 



ORIGINAL SIN, 3Q1 

and their posterity from that time forward, through all ages of 
the world ; I cannot but think, it must appear to every im- 
partial person, that Moses' account does,-"with sufficient evi- 
dence, lead all mankind, to whom his account is communicat- 
ed, to understand, that God, in his constitution with Adam, 
dealt with him as a public person, and as the head of the hu- 
man species, and had respect to his posterity, as included in 
him : And that this history is given by djvine direction, in the 
beginning of the first written revelation, to exhibit to our view 
the origin of the present, sinful, miserable state of mankind, 
that we might see what that was, which first gave occasion 
for all those consequent, wonderful dispensations of divine 
mercy and grace towards mankind, which are the great sub- 
ject of the scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament : 
And that these things arp not obscurely and doubtfully point- 
ed forth, but delivered in a plain account of things, which ea- 
sily and naturally exhibits them to our understandings. 

And by what follows in this discourse, we may have, in 
some measure, opportunity to see how other things in the 
Holy Scripture agree with what has been now observed from 
the three first chapters of Genesis. 



CHAPTER II. 

Observatidiis on other parts of the Holy Scripture:', 
" chiefLy in the Old Testament, thai prove the 
doctrine of Original Sin. 

ORIGINAL depravity may well be argued, from wick- 
edness being often spoken of in scripture, as a thing belonging 
to the race of mankind, and as if it were a firofierty of the sfie- 
cice. So in Psal. xiv. 2, 3. « The Lord looked down from 



302 ORIGINAL SIN.' 

heaven upon the childrm ofmen^ to see if there were any th^ 
did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside ; 
they are togetlier become filthy : There is none that doeth 
i^ood ; no, not one." The like we have again, Psal. liii. 2, 3. 
Dr. Taylor says, p. 104, 105. " The Holy Spirit does not 
mean this of every individual ; because in the very same 
psalm, he speaks of some that were righteovis, ver. 5, God h 
in the generation of the rif^hteous." But how little is this ob- 
servation to the purpose ? For who ever supposed, that no 
unrighteous men were ever chanj^ed by divine grace, and af- 
terwards made righteous ? The Psalmist is speaking of what 
men are as they are the children of men, born of the corrupt 
human race ; and not as born of God, whereby they come to 
be the children of God, and of \.\\e generation of the righteous^ 
The Apostle Paul cites this place in Rom. iii. 10, 11, 12, to 
prove the universal corruption of mankind ; but yet in the 
same chapter he supposes these same persons here spoken 
of as wicked, may become righteous, through the righteous- 
ness and grace of God. 

So wickedness is spoken of in other places in the Book of 
Psalms, as a thing that belongs to men, as of the human racCf 
as sons of men. Thus in Psal. iv. 2. " O ye sons of men, how 
long will ye turn my glory into shame ? How long will ye 
love vanity ?" &c. Psal. Ivii. 4. « I lie among them that are 
set on fire, even the sons ofmeji, whose teeth are spears and ar- 
rows, and their tongue a sharp sword." Psal. Iviii. 1,2. « Do 
ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation ? Do ye judge* 
uprightly, ye sons of men ? Yea, in heart ye work wicked- 
ness ; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth." 
Our author, mentioning these places, says p. 105, Note, 
" There was a strong party in Israel disaffected to David's 
person and government, and sometimes he chooseth to de- 
:note them by the sons or children of men." But it would 
liave been worth his ^vhile to have inquired, Why the Psalm- 
ist should choose to denote the wickedest and worst men in Is- 
rael by this name ? Why he should choose thus to disgrace 
«^be human race, as if the corapellation of sons of men most 
properly belonged to such as were of the vilest character, 



ORIGINAL SIN. I^S 

tand as if all the sons of men, even every one of them, were 
of such a character, and none of them did good ; no, not one ? 
Is it not strange, that the righteous should not be thought 
worthy to be called sons of men, and ranked with that noble 
race of beings, who are born into the world wholly right and 
innocent ! It is a good, easy, and natural reason, why he 
chooscth to call the wicked, sons of men, as a proper name for 
them, that by being of the sons of men, or of the corrupt, ru- 
ined race of mankind, they come by their depravity. And 
the Psalmist himself leads us to this very reason, Psal, Iviii. at 
the beginning. " Do ye judge uprightly, ye sons of men ? 
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness, ye weigh out the violence 
of your hands. The wicked are estranged from the womb,'* 
&c. of which I shall speak more by and by. 

Agreeable to these places is Prov. xxi. 8. " The way of 
man is froward and strange ; but as for the pure, his work is 
right." He that is perverse in his walk, is here called by the 
name oiman, as distinguished from the pure : Which I think 
is absolutely unaccountable, if all mankind by nature are pure, 
and perfectly innocent, and all such as are froward and strange 
in their ways, therein dejjart from the native purity of all 
mankind. The words naturally lead us to suppose the con- 
trary ; that depravity and perverseness properly belong t» 
mankind as they are naturally, and that a being made pure, is 
by an afterwork, by which some are delivered from native 
pollution, and distinguished from mankind in general ; which 
is perfectly agreeable to the representation in Rev. xiv. 4, 
•where we have an account of a number that iverc not defiled^ 
but were pure, and followed the Lamb ; of whom it is said, 
These -were redeemed from among men. 

To these things agree Jer. xvii. 5, 9. In ver. 5, it is said, 
" Cursed is he that trusteth in man** And in ver. 9, this rea- 
son is given, " The heart is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked ; who can know it ?" What heart is this 
so wicked and deceitful ? Why, evidently the heart of him, 
tohom, it was said before, lue must not trust ; and that is 7nan. 
It alters not the case, as to the present argument, whether the 
deceilfulness of the heart here spoken of, be its deceitfulness 



50^ ORIGINAL blN*. 

to the man himself, or to others. So Eccl. ix. 3. " Madness 
is in the heart of the sons ofmen^ while they live." And those 
words of Christ to Peter, Matth. xvi. 23. " Get thee behind 
me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, 
but the things that beofnzf/z." Signifying plainly, that to be 
carnal and vain, and opposite to uhat is spiritual and divine, is 
•what properly belongs to men in their present state. The 
same thing is supposed in that of the apostle, 1 Cor. iii. 3. 
" For ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you 
envying and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk as vicn ?" And 
that in Hos. vi. 7. " But they like men, have transgressed the 
covenant." To these places maybe addedMatth.vii.il. 
" If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts." Jam. iv. 5. 
" Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain. The spirit that 
dioclleth in us, lusteth to envy ?" 1 Pet. iv. 3. '' That he no 
longer should live the rest of his time in the lusts of men, but 
to the will of God." Yet above all, that in Job xv. 16. »' How 
much more abominable and filtliy is man,'whQ drinkcth iniqui- 
ty like li-ater? Of which more presently. 

Now what account can be given of these things, on Dr. 
Taylor's scheme ? How strange is it, that we should have 
such descriptions, all over the Bible, of man, and the sons of 
men I Why should man be so continually spoken of as evil, 
carnal, perverse, deceitful, and desperately Avicked, if all men 
are by nature as perfectly innocent, and free from any propen- 
sity to evil, as Adam was the first moment of his creation, all 
made rig/it, as our author would have us understand, Eccl. vii. 
29 ? Why, on the contrary, is it not said, at least as often, and 
with equal reason, that the heart of man ts right and pure ; that 
the way of man is innocent and holy j and that he who savors 
true virtue and wisdom, savors the thi?igs that be of men ? Yea, 
and why might it not as well have been said, The Lord looked 
doitmfrom heaven on the so7i3 of men, to see if there were any 
that did tinderstand, and did seek after God ; and they were all 
right, altogether pure, there was none inclined to do wickedness^ 
no, not one ? 

Of the like import with the texts mentioned are those 
which represent wickedness as what properly belongs to the 



ORIGINAL SIN. 305 

iL'orld ; and that they who are otherwise, are saved from the 
ivorld, and called out of it. As John vii. 7. " The ivorld can- 
not hate you ; but me it hateth ; because I testify of it, that 
the works thereof are evil." Chap,, viii. 23. " Ye are of this 
world: I am not of this world." Chap. xiv. 17. « The spirit 
of truth, whom the world cannot receive; because it seeth 
him not, neither knoweth him : But ye know him." Chap. 
XV. 18, 19. " If the world hate you, ye know that it hated 
me before it hated you. If ye were of the ivorld., the world 
would love its own : But because ye are not ot the world., but 
I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth 
you." Rev. xiv. 3, 4. " These are they v/hich were redeem- 
ed from the car^/z... .redeemed from among men." John xvii. 
9. " I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast 
given me." Ver. 14. " I have given them thy word ; and the 
world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, 
even as I am not of the world." I Jolm iii. 13. " Marvel 
not, my brethren, if the wor/i hate you." Chap. iv. 5 " They 
are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the 
world heareth them." Chap. v. 19. '• We are of God, and 
the whole world lieth in wickedness." It is evident, that in 
these places, by the world is meant the world of mankind j 
not the habitation, but the inhabitants : For it is the world 
spoken of as loving, hating, doing evil works, sfieaking, hear- 
ing, 8c c. 

It shews the same thing, that wickedness is often spoken 
of as being man's own, in contradistinction from virtue and ho- 
liness So men's lusts are often called their own heart's lusts, 
and theii' practising wickedness is called walking in their own 
Avays, walking in their own counsels, in the imagination of 
their own heart, and in the sight of their own eyes, according 
to their ovjn devices, &c. These things denote wickedness 
to be a quality belonging properly to the character and nature 
of mankind in their present state : As, when Christ would 
represent that lying is remarkably the character and the very 
nature of the devil in his present state, he expresses it thus, 
John viii 4 4. " When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of hi% 
own : For he is a liar, and the father of it," 

Vol. VI. 2 P 



306 ORIGINAL SIN. 

And that wickedness belongs to the nature of mankind m 
their present state, may be argued from those places M-hich 
speak of mankind as being wicked in their childhood, or from 
their childhood. So, that in Prov. xxii. 15. « Foolishness is 
bound in the heart of a child ; but the rod of correction shall 
drive it far from him." Nothing is more manifest, than that 
the wise man in this book continually uses the -word folly, or 
foolishness, for wickedness : And that this is what he means 
in this place, the words themselves do shew : For the rod of 
correction is proper to drive away no other foolishness, than 
that which is of a moral nature. The word rendered (5o?/n(/, 
signifies, as is observed in Pool^s Syno/isis, a close and firm 
union. The same word is used in chap, vi. 21. " Bind them 
continually upon thy heart." And chap. vii. 3. « Bi7id them 
upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.''' 
To the like purpose is chap. iii. 3, and Deut. xi. 18, where 
this word is used. The same verb is used, 1 Sam. xviii. I. 
" The soul oi Jojiathan was kynt (or bound) to the soul of ZJa- 
rid, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." But how 
comes wickedness to be so firmly bound, and strongly- fixed, 
in the hearts of children, if it be not there naturally ? They 
having had no time firmly to fix habits of sin, by long custom 
in actual wickedness, as those that have lived many years in 
the world. 

The same thing is signified in that noted place. Gen. viii. 
21. « For the imagination of man's heart is c\i\, from his 
youth." It alters not the case, whether it be translated for 
or though the imagination of man's heart is evil from his 
youth, as Dr. Taylor would have it ; still the words suppose 
it to be so as is said. The word translated youth, signifies 
the whole of the former part of the age of man, which com- 
mences from the beginning of life. The word, in its deriva- 
tion, has reference to the birth or beginning of existence. It 
comes from JWigiiar, which signifies to shake off, as a tree 
shakes off its ripe fruit, or a plant its seed : The birth of 
children being commonly represented by a tree's yielding 
fruit, or a plant's yielding seed. So that the word here trans- 
lated youth, comprehends not only what we in English most 



ORIGINAL SIN. 3or 

coitimonly call the lime of youth, but also childhood and in- 
Fancy, and is very often used to signify these latter. A word 
of the same root is used to signify a yowig child, or a little 
child, in the following places ; 1 Sam. i. 24, 25, 27 ; 1 Kings 
iii. 7, and xi. 17 ; 2 Kings ii. 23 ; Job xxxiii. 25 ; Prov. xxii. 
6, xxiii. 13, and xxix. 21 ; Isai. x. 19, xi. 6, and lxv.20 ; Hos. 
xi. L The same word is used to signify an infant, in Exod. 
11. 6, and X. 9 ; Judg. xiii. 5, 7, 8, 24 ; 1 Sam. i, 22, and iv. 
21 ; 2 Kings v. 14 ; Isai. vii. 16, and viii. 4. 

Dr. Taylor says, p. 124, Note, that he " conceives, frojn 
fhe youth, is a phrase signifying the greatness^ or long dura- 
tion of a thing." But if by long duration he means any thing 
else than what is literally expressed, viz. from the beginning 
of life, he has no reason to conceive %o ; neither has what he 
offers, so much as the shadow of a reason for his conception. 
There is no appearance in the words of the two or three texts 
he mentions, of their meaning any thing else than what is 
most literally signified. And it is certain, that what he sug- 
gests is not the ordinary import of such a phrase among the 
Hebrews : But that thereby is meant from the beginning, or 
early time of life, or existence ; as may be seen in the places 
following, where the same word in the Hebrew is used, as in 
this place in the 8th of Genesis. 1 Sam. xii. 2. '* I am old, 
and gray headed.. .and I have walked before you from my child' 
hood unto this day ;" where the original word is the same, 
Psal. Ixxi. 5, 6. " Thou art my trust y/o;H vnj youth : By thee 
have I been holden up from the womb. Thou art he that 
took me out of my mother's bowels," Ytw 17,18. " O God, 
thou hast taught me from my youth ; and hitherto have I de- 
clared thy wondrous works : Now also, when I am old and 
gray headed, forsake me not." Psal. cxxlx. 1, 2. " Many a 
time have they afflicted me from viy youth, may Israel now 
say : Many a time have they afflicted me/rc7?2 my youth ; yet 
have they not prevailed against me." Isai. xlvii. 12. " Stand 
now with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast 
Uhm-e,^, from thy youth." So ver. 15, and 2 Sam. xix. 7. 
-' That will be worse unto thee, than all the evil that befel 
thee, /rom ;//7/ i/oz/M until now." Jer. iii. 24, 25. "Shame 



308 ORIGINAL SIN. 

hath devoured the labor of our fathers,/ro7n our youth. Wo 
have sinned against the Lord our God /rom our youth, even tq 
this day." So Gen. xlvi. 34 ; Job xxxi. 18 ; Jer. xxxii. 30, 
and xlviii. 11 ; Ezek. iv. 14 ; Zech. xiii. 5. 

And it is to be observed, tliat according to the manner of 
the Hebrew language, when it is said, such a thing has been 
from youth, or iho. first part of existence, the phrase is to be 
understood as including that first time of existence. So, Josh. 
vi. 21. « They utterly destroyed all, from the young to the 
old," (so it is in the Hebrew) i. e. including both. So Gen. 
xix. 4, and Esther iii. IS. 

And as mankind are represented in scripture, as being of 
a wicked heart from their youth, so in other places they are 
spoken of as being thus/rom the ivomb. Psal. Iviii. 3. « The 
wicked are estranged /ro;;? the womb : They go astray as soon 
as they be born, speaking lies." It is observable, that the 
Psalmist mentions this as what belongs to the wicked, as the 
sons of men : For, these are the preceding words : " Do ye 
judge uprightly, O j/e sons o/'w(?7i .? Yea, in heart ye work 
wickedness." (A phrase of the like import with that in Gen. 
viii. 21. The imasmation, or operation, as it might have been 
rendered, of his heart is evil.) Then it follows. The wicked 
are estrant^ed from ihe womb, £ic. The next verse is. Their 
poison is like the poison of a ser/ieiit. It is so remarkably, as 
the very nature of a serpent is poison : Serpents are poison- 
bus as soon as they come into the world : They derive a poi- 
sonous nature by their generation. Dr. Taylor, p. 134, 135, 
says, " It is evident that this is a scriptural figurative way of 
aggravating wickedness on the one hand, and of signifying 
early and settled halnts of virtue on the other, to speak of it a^ 
being/rom the womb." And as a probable instance of the lat- 
ter, he cites that in Isai. xlix. 1. " The Lord hath called me 
from the nuomb ; from the bowels of my mother he made 
mention of !viy name.' But I apprehend, that in order to 
seeing this to be cither evident or probable, a man must have 
eyes peculiarly afTccted. I humbly conceive that such phra- 
ses as that in the 49th of Isaiah, of God's calling the prophet 
from the tvotnb) arc evidi-ntly not of the import which he sup- 



* ORIGINAL SIN. 309 

poses ; but mean truly from the beginning of existence, and 
are manifestly of like signification with that which is said of 
the prophet Jeremiah, Jer. i. 5. " Before I formed thee in 
the belly, I knew thee : Before thou earnest out of the 
womb, I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto 
the nations." Which surely means something else besides 
a high degree of virtue : It plainly signifies that he was, 
from his first existence, set apart by God for a prophet. And 
it would be as unreasonable to understand it otherwise, as to 
suppose the angel meant any other than that Samson was 
set apart to be a Nazarite from the beginning of his life, 
when he says to his mother, " Behold, thou shalt conceive 
and bear a son : And now drink no wine, nor strong drink, 
Sec. For the child shall be a Nazaiile to God,//o.vz the nvombf 
to the day of his death." By these instances it is plain, that 
the phrase, frcm the voojub^ as the other, from the youth., as 
used in scripture, properly signifies from the beginning of 
life. 

Very remarkable is that place. Job xv. 14, 15, 15. <' What 
is man, that he should be clean ? And he that is born of a 
woman, that he should be righteous ? Behold, he putteth no 
trust in his saints : Yea, the heavens are not clean in his 
sight ? How much more abominable and filthy is man, 
which drinketh iniquity like watei- ?" And no less remark- 
able is our author's method of managing it. The sixteenth 
verse expresses an exceeding degree of wickedness, in as 
plain and emphatical terms, almost, as can be invented ; ev- 
ery word representing this in the strongest manner : " How 
much more abominable and filthy is man, that drinketh iniqui- 
ty like water ?" I cannot now n-oollect where we have a 
sentence equal to it in the whole Bible, for an emphatical, 
lively and strong representation of great wickedness of heart. 
Any one of the words, as such words are used in scripture, 
would represent great wickedness : If it had been only said, 
" How much more abominable is man ?" Or, " How much 
more filthy is man V Or, " Man that drinketh iniquity." 
But all these are accumulated with the addition of.... ///re ivatei' 
,.:Al\e further to represent the boldness or rreediness of men 



310 ORIGINAL SIN. 

7Tien in wickedness ; though iniquity be the most deadly pois- 
on, yet men drink it as boldly as they drink water, are as fa- 
miliar with it as with their common drink, and drink it with 
like greediness, as he that is thirsty drinks water. That 
boldness aiid eagerness in persecuting the saints, by which 
the great degree of the depravity of man's heart often appears, 
is represented thus, Psal. xiv. 4. " Have the workers of in- 
iquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they cat bread?*' 
And the greatest eagerness of thirst is represented by thirst- 
ing as an animal thirsts after water, Psalm xlii. 1. 

Now let us see the soft, easy, light manner, in which Dr. 
Taylor treats this place, p. 143. " How much more abomin- 
able and filthy is man, in comfiarison of the divine purity^ who 
drinketh iniquity like water ? Who is attended with so 
many sensual appetites, and so apt to indulge them. You see 
the argument, man, in his present weak and fleshly state, can- 
not be clean before God. AVhy so ? Because he is conceiv- 
ed and born in sin, by reason of Adam's sin : No such thing. 
But because, if the purest creatures are not pure, in comjiari- 
son of God, much less a being subject to so many infmiities, 
as a mortal man. Which is a demonstration to me, not only 
that Job and his friends did not intend to establish the doc- 
trine we are now examining, but that they were Avholly stran- 
gers to it." Thus this author endeavors to reconcile this 
text with his doctrine of the perfect, native innocence of man- 
kind ; in which we have a notable specimen of his demon- 
strations, as well as of that great impartiality and fairness in 
examining and expounding the scripture, which he makes so 
often a profession of. 

In this place we are not only told how wicked man's heart 
is, but also how men come by such wickedness ; even by be- 
ing of the race of mankind, by ordinary generation. " What 
is man, that he shoidd be clean ? And he that is born of a 
woman, that he should be righteous ?" Our author, pages 
141, 142, represents man's being born of a woman, as a pe- 
riphrasis, to signify man ; and that there is no design in the 
words to give a reason, why man is not clean and righteous. 
But the case is most evidently otherwise, if we may interpret 



ORIGINAL SIN. 311 

the Book of Job by itself : It is most plain, that man's be- 
ing born of a woman is given as a reason of his not being 
clean, chap. xiv. 14. "Who can bring a clean thing out of 
an unclean ?" Job is speaking there expressly of man's be- 
ing born of a woman, as appears in verse 1 . And here hov/ 
plain is it, that this is given as a reason of man's not being 
clean ? Concerning this Dr. Taylor says, " That this has no 
respect to any moral uncleanness, but only common frailty," 
See. But how evidently is this also otherwise ? When 
that uncleanness, which a man has by being born of a woman, 
is expressly explained of unrighteousness, in the next chapter 
at verse 14. « What is man that he should be clean ? And 
he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous ?" 
And also in chap. xsv. 4. " How then can man be justified 
with God ? And how can he be clean that is born of a wo- 
man ?" It is a moral cleanness Bikiad is speaking of, which 
a man needs in order to being justified. His design is, to 
convince Job of his moral impurity, and from thence of God's 
righteousness in his severe judgments upon him ; and not of 
his natural frailty. 

And without, doubt, David has respect to this same way 
of derivation of wickedness of heart, when he says, Psalm li. 
5. *' Behold, I was shapcn in iniquity, and in sin did my 
mother conceive me." It alters not the case as to the argu- 
ment we are upon, whether the word translated cojiccive, sig- 
nifies conceive, or nurse ; which latter our author takes 
so much pains to prove : For when he has done all, ha 
speaks of it as a just translation of the words to render them 
thus : " I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
nurse me," page 135. If it is owned that man is horn in 
sin, it is not worth the while to dispute whether it is express- 
ly asserted that he is conceived in sin. But Dr. Taylor af- 
ter his manner insists, that such expressions, as being born 
in sin, being transgressors from the womb, and the like, are 
only phrases figuratively to denote aggravation and high de- 
gree of wickedness. But the contrary has been already de- 
monstrated, from many plain scripture instances. Nor is 
one instance produced, in which there is any evidence that 



S12 ORIGINAL SIN. 

such a phrase is used in such a manner. A poetical sen' 
tence out of Virgil's ^£neids, has here been produced, and 
made much ofb3'some, as parallel with this, in what Dido 
iays to iEneas in these lines : 

Nee tibi diva parens, generis ncc Dardanus auctor, 
Perfide : Sed duris genuit te cau'ibus horrens 
Caucasus, hyrcanxque admorunt ubera tygres. 

Jn which she tells TEneas, that not a goddess was his motherj 
nor Anchises his father ; but that he had been brought forth 
by a horrid, rocky mountain, and nursed at the dugs of ty- 
gers, to represent the greatness of his cruelty to her. But 
how unlike and unparallel is this ? Nothing could be more 
natural than for a woman, overpowered with the passion of 
love, and distracted with raging jealousy and disappointment, 
thinking herself treated with brutish perfidy and cruelty, by 
a lover, wh.ose highest fame had been his being the son of 
a goddess, to aggravate his inhumanity and hardheartedness 
with this, that his behavior was not worthy the son of a god- 
dess, nor becoming one whose father was an illustrious prince i 
and that he acted more as if he had been brought forth by 
hard, unrelenting rocks, and had sucked the dugs of tygers. 
But what is there in the case of David parallel, or at all in 
like manner leading him to speak of himself as born in sin, 
in any such sense ? He is not speaking himself, nor any 
one else speaking to him, of any excellent and divine father 
and mother, that he was born of; nor is there any appear- 
ance of his aggravating his sin by its being unworthy of his 
high birth. There is nothing else visible in David's case, 
to lead him to take notice of his being born in sin, but only 
his having such experience of the continuance and power of 
indwelling sin, after so long a time, and so many great means 
to engage him to holiness ; which shewed that sin was inbred, 
and in his very naiure. 

Dr. Taylor often objects to these and other texts, brought 
by divines to prove Original Sin, that there is no mention 
made in them of Adam, nor of bis sin. He cries out, " Here 



ORiGlNAL sm. 313 

ts hot the least mention or intimation of Adam, or any ill ef- 
fects of his sin upon us Here is not one Word, nor the least 

hint of Adam, or any consequences of his sin, &c. &c.* He 
says,t " If Job and his friends had known and believed the 
doctrine of a corrupt nature, derived from Adam's sin only, 
they ought in reason and truth to have given this as the true 
and only reason of the human imperfection and uncleanness 
they mention." But these objections and exclamations are 
made no less impertinently, than they are frequently. It is 
no more a proof, that corruption of nature did not come by 
Adam*s sin, because many times when it is mentioned, Ad- 
am*s sin is not expressly mentioned as the cause of it, than 
that death did not come by Adam's sin (as Dr. Taylor says it 
did) because though death, as incident to mankind, is men- 
tioned so often in the Old Testament, and by our Saviour in 
his discourses, yet Adam's sin is not once expressly mention- 
ed, after the three first chapters of Genesis, any where in all 
the Old Testament, or tlie four evangelists, as the occasion 
of it. 

What Christian has there ever been, that believed the 
moral corruption of the nature of mankind, who ever doubted 
that it came that way, which the apostle speaks of, when he 
says, '< Bij one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin" ? Nor indeed have they any more reason to doubt of it, 
than to doubt of the whole history of our first parents, be- 
cause Adam's name is so rarely mentioned, on any occasion 
in scripture, after that first account of him, and Eve's never at 
all ; and because we have no more any express mention of 
the particular m.anner, in which m.ankind were first brought 
into being, either with respect to the creation of Adam or 
Eve. It is sufficient, that the abiding, most visible effects of 
these things, remain in the view of mankind in all ages, and 
are often spoken of in scripture ; and that the particular man- 
ner of their being introduced, is once plainly set forth in the 
beginning of the Bible, in that history which gives us an ac- 

•Page 5, 64, q6, 97, 98, xoe, 108, ai2, ii8, lao, laa, 127, teg, igf, 
142,143,149,152,155,229. +142. 

Vol. VT. 2Q - 



314 ORIGINAL SIN. 

count of the origin of all things. And doubtless it was eX' 
pectcd, by the great autlwr of the Bible, that the account in 
the three first chapters of Genesis should be taken as a plain 
account of the introduction of both natural and moral evil into 
the world, as it has been shewn to be so indeed. The histo- 
ry of Adam's sin, with its circumstances, God's threatening, 
and the sentence pronounced upon him after his transgres- 
•iion, and the immediate consequences, consisting in so vast an 
alteration in his state, and the state of the world, which abides 
still, with respect to all his posterity, do most directly and suf- 
ikiently lead to an understanding of the rise of calamity, sin. 
and death, in this sinful, miserable world. 

It is fit we all should know, that it does not become us ta 
teil the Most High, how often he shall particularly explain 
and give the reason of any doctrine which he teaches, in or- 
der to our believing what he says. If he has at all given uS' 
evidence that it is a doctrine agreeable to his mind, it be- 
comes us to receive it with full credit and submission ; and 
not sullenly lo reject it, because our notions and humors are. 
not suited in the manner, and number of times, of his parlic- 
ulavly explaining it to us. How often is pardon of sins prom- 
ised in the Old Testament to repenting and returning sin- 
ners ? How many hundred times is God's special favor there 
promised to the sincerely righteous, without any express 
mention of these benefits being through Christ ? Would it 
therefore be becoming us to say, that, inasmuch as our de- 
pendence on Christ for these benefits, is a doctrine, which, if 
true, is of such importance, God ought expressly to have 
mentioned Christ's merits as the reason and ground of the 
b'^nefits, if lie knew they were the ground of them, and should 
l»«ve plainly declared it sooner, and more frequently, if ever 
he expected wc should believe him, when he did tell us of it : 
How often is vengeance and misery threatened in the Old 
Testament to the wicked, without any clear and express sig- 
i)ificalion of any such thing intended, as that everlasting fire, 
where there is wailinjj and gnashing of teeth, in another 
world, which Christ so often speaks of as the punishment ap- 
pointed for all the wicked ? Would it now become a Christ- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 315 

ian, to object and say, that if God really meant any such 
thing, he ought in reason and triith to have declared it plainly 
and fully ; and not to have been so silent about a matter of 
such vast importance to all mankind, for four thousand years 
together. 



CHAPTER III. 

Ohservatidns on various other Places of Scripture, 
principally of the New Testament, proving the 
Doctrine of Original Siu. 



SECTION I. 

Observations on John iii. 6, in connexion with some other pas- 
sages in thc'jVenv Testament. 

THOSE words of Christ, giving a reason to Nicode- 
rnus, why we must be born again, Jolin iii. 6, " That which 
is born of the flesh, is flesh ; and that which is born of the 
spirit, is spirit ; have not, without good reason, been produc- 
ed by divines, as a proof of the doctrine of original sin ; sup- 
posing, that by Jlesh here is meant the human nature in a de- 
based and corrujit state. Yet Dr. Taylor, p. 144, thus ex- 
plains these words, That '■johich is born of the Jiesh^ is Jlesh : 
" That which is born by natural descent and propagation, is a 
man, consisting of body and soul, or the mere constitution 
and powers of a man in their natural stale." But the con- 
stant use of these terms, Jlesh and spirit^ in other parts of the 
New Testament, v/hen thus set in opposition one to another, 



3ie ORIGINAL SiN. 

and the latter said to be produced by the Spirit of God, j^j. 
here, and when speaking of the same thing, which Christ is 
here speaking of to Nicodemus, viz. the requisite qualifica"- 
tions to salvation, will fully vindicate the sense of cur divines. 
Thus in the 7th and 8th chapters of Romans, where these 
terms^es/i and sfiirit (craff and wwu^a) are abundantly repeat- 
ed, and set in opposition, as here. So, chap. vii. 14, The law 
is spiritual (oi»tofx«T»!t^) but I am carnal {cafy-u^) sold under 
sin. He cannot only mean, " I am a man, consisting of body 
and soul, and having the powers of a man." Ver. 18. « I 
know that in me, that is in rayjles/t, dwelleth no good thing." 
He does not mean to condemn his frame, as consisting of body 
and soul ; and to assert, that in his human constitution, with the 
powers of a many dwells no good thing. And when he says 
in the last verse of the chapter, " With the mind, I myself 
serve the law of God, but with the^fsA, the law of sin ;" he 
cannot mean, " I myself serve the law of God ; but with -my 
innocent human constitution, as having the powers of a man, / 
aerve the law ofsin.'* And when he says in the next words 
in the beginning of the 8lh chapter, " There is no condemna- 
tion to them, that walk not after ihojlesh, but after the s/iiri! ;" 
and ver. 4, " The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, 
■who walk not after the flesh ;" he cannot mean, " There is[ 
no condemnation to them that walk not according to the pow- 
ers of a man" Sec. And when he says, ver. 5 and 6, <' They 
that are after \.\\t flesh, do mind the things of \\\c flesh ; and 
to be carnally minded is death ;" he does not intend, " They 
that are according \.o Xhc human constitution, and ihe powers 
of a man, do mind the things of the human constitution and 
powers ; and to mind these, is death." And when he says, 
ver. 7 and 8, " The carnal {pvjieshly) mind is enmity against 
God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be ; so that they that ave in xhejiesh, car.not please Gcd ;" he 
cannot mean, that, <■'■ to mind the things which are agreeable 
to \.\iiC powers and constitution of a man" (who, as our author 
says, is constituted or made right) " js enmity against God ; 
and that a mind which is agreeable to this right human con- 
stitution, as God hath made it, is not subject to the law of 



ORIGINAL SIN. Air 

Cod, nor indeed can be ; and that they who are according to 
fluch a constitution, cannot please God." And when it is said, 
ver. 9, « Ye are not in the Jlesh, but in the spirit ;" the apos- 
tle cannot mean, " Ye are not in the human nature, as consti^ 
tuted of body and soul, and with the fio'ivers of a man*'' It is 
most manifest, that by x\\& flesh here, the apostle means some 
nature that is corrupt, and of an evil tendency, and directly 
opposite to the law, and holy nature of God ; so that to be, 
and walk according to it, and to have a mind conformed to it, 
IS to be an utter enemy to God and his law, in a perfect in- 
consistence with being subject to God, and pleasing God ; and 
in a sure and infallible tendency to death, and utter destruc- 
tion. And it is plain, that here by being and walking after, or 
according to ^^^& flesh, is meant the same tiling as being and 
talking according to a corrupt and sinful nature ; and to be 
and walk according to the sfxirit, is to be and walk according 
to a holy and divine nature, or principle : And to be carnally 
minded, is the same as being viciously and corruptly minded ; 
and to be sftiritually minded, is to be of a virtuous and holy 
disposition, 

When Christ says, John iii. 6. « That which is born of 
the feshj is fesh" he represents the fesh not merely as a 
quality ; for it would be incongruous, to speak of a quality as 
a thing born : It is a person, or man, that is born. There- 
fore man, as in his whole nature corrupt, is called flesh : 
"Which is agreeable to other scripture representations, where 
the corrupt nature is called the old man, the body of sin, and 
the body of death. Agreeable to tliis are those representa- 
tions in the 7th and 8th chapters of Romans : Thtvefesh is 
figuratively represented as a person, according to the apos- 
tle's manner, observed by Mr. Locke, and after him by Dr. 
Taylor, who takes notice, that the apostle, in the 6th and 7th 
of Romans, represents sin as a person ; and that he figura- 
tively distinguishes in himself two persons, speaking of flesh 
as his person. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, 
dwelleth no good thing. And it may be observed, that in the 
8th chapter he still continues tliis representation, speaking of 
t.he fcsh as a person : And accordingly in the 6th and 7th 



S18 , ORIGINAL SIN. 

verses, speaks of the. mind of the Jlcsh, Ogon;//* ^rapx®-, and of 
the mind of the spirit, fl>fo)}^a •cr»£Vf<aT©- ; as if the fesh and 
ffiirit were two opposite persons, each having a mind contra- 
ry to the mind of the other. Dr. Taylor interprets this 7nind 
of the flesh, and viind of the s/iirit, as though the Jlesh and the 
sftirit Avere here spoken of as the different objects, about which 
the mind spoken of is conversant. Which is plainly beside 
the apostle's sense ; who speaks of the Cesh and spirit as the 
subjects and agents, in which the mind spoken of is ; and not 
the objects about which it acts. We have the same phrase 
again, ver. 27. He that scarcheth the hearts, knoweth what is 
the mind of the spirit, *gotT;/Aa 'ssivjt/.xT©^ ; the mind of the spir- 
itual nature in the saints being the same with the mind of the 
Spirit of God himself, who imparts and actuates that spiritual 
nature ; here the spirit is the subject and agent, and not the 
object. The same apostle in like manner uses the word, vav, 
in Col. ii. 18. Vainlij puffed up by his fleshly mind, ccjo is va<^ 
75!5 cci^x.©^ avra, by the mind of his fesh. And this agent so 
often called fesh, represented by the aposlle, as altogether 
evil, without any good thing dwelling in it, or belonging to 
it ; yea, perfectly contrary to God and his law, and tending 
only to death and ruin, and directly opposite to the spirit, is 
"vvhat Christ speaks of to Nicodemus as born in the first birth, 
as giving a reason why there is a necessity pf a new pirth, in 
order to a better production. 

One thing is particularly observable in that discourse ot 
the apostle, in the 7th and 8th of Romans, in which he so 
often uses the term fcsh, as opposite to spirit, which, as well 
as many other things in his discourse, makes it plain, that by 
fiesh he means something in itself corrupt and sinful, and that 
is, that he expressly calls it sinful fesh, Rom. yiii. 0. It is 
manifest, that by si?2ful flesh he means the same thing with 
that flesh spoken of in the immediately foregoing and follow- 
ing words, and in all the context : And that when it is said, 
Christ was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, the expression 
is equipollent with those that speak of Christ as made sin, and 
made a curst' for 7.'.?, 



ORIGINAL SIN, 315 

Flesh and sfiirit are opposed to one another in Gal. v. ia the 
same manner as in the 8th of Romans : And there, hyfe&h 
cannot be meant only the human nature of body and souly or the 
mere cojistitution andfionversofaman, as in its natural state, 
innocent and right. In the 1 6th ver. the apostle says, '' Walk 
in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the fcsh :" 
Where the fiesh is spoken of as a thing- of an evil inclination, 
desire or lust. But this is more strongly signified in the next 
words : " For \.\\Qjlesh lusteth against the sfiirit^ and the sfiirit 
against ihejksh ; and these are contrary the one to the oth- 
er." What could have been said more plainly, to shew that 
\\ hat the apostle means by Jiesh, is something very evil in its 
nature, and an irreconcileable enemy to all goodness ? And it 
may be observed, that in these words, and those that follow, 
the apostle still figuratively represents ihe Jlesh as a person or" 
agent, desiring, acting, having lusts, and perforniing works. 
And by works o^thefesh, and fiuits of the spirit, which are. 
opposed to each other, from ver. 19, to the end, are plainly 
meant the same as works of a sinful nature, and fruits of vc 
holy, renewed nature. Now the works of the Jiesh aic man- 
ifest, which are these : Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, 
lasciviousness, idolatry, Avitchcraft, haired, variance, wrath, 
strife, seditions, heresies, Sec. But the fruit of the s/tirit is 
love, joy, peace, long suffering, genileness, goothiess, &c. 
The apostle, by Jiesh, does not i«ean any thing that is inno- 
cent and good in itself, that only needs to be restrained, and 
kept in proper bounds ; but something altogether evil, which 
is to be destroyed, and not merely restrained. 1 Cor. v. 5. 
« To deliver such an one to Satan, for the destruction of the 
flesh. We must have no mercy on it ; we cannot be too cruel 
to it ; it must even be crucifed." Gal. v. 24. " They that 
arc Christ's, have crucified the fc&h, with the aft'cctions and 
lusts." 

The Apostle John, the same apostle that writes the ac- 
count of what Christ said to Nicodemus, by the sjiij-it means 
the same thing as a new, divine, and holy nature, exerting it- 
self in a principle of divine love, which is the sum of all 
Christian holiness. 1 John iii. 23, 24. « And tliai. we should 



3^0 ORIGINAL SIN. 

love one another, as he gave us commatjdment ; and hie ttiat 
fceepeth his commandnicnis, dwelleth in him, and he in hiiti : 
And hereby we know that ht abideth in us, by the sfiirit thai 
he hath given us." With chap. iv. 12, 13. « If we love one 
another, Cod dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us : 
Hereby know we, that we dwell in him, because he kath giv- 
en us of his fifurit." The spiritual principle in us being as it 
were a communication of the spirit of God to us. 

And as by mnv^x is meant a holy nature, so by the epi- 
thet, 'mnv(/.ot'riy.^, f^piritnal^ is meant the same as truly virtuous 
and holy. Gai. vi. 1. " Ye that are spiritual^ restore such an 
one in the spirit of m.cekness.'* The apostle refers to what 
he had just said, in the end of the foregoing chapter, where 
he had mentioned jneekness, as a fruit of the sfiirit. And so 
by canml^ or feshly^ aa.^mx.'^, is meant the same as sinful. 
Rom. vii. 14. " The law is spiritual (i, e. holy) but I am car- 
nal, sold under sin." 

And it is evident, that by fesh^ as the word is used in the 
New Testament, and opposed to s/.-tnV, when speaking of the 
qualincations for eternal salvation, is not meant only what is 
i^ow vnlf^arly called the dris of the Jlesh, consisting in inordi- 
nate appetites of the body, and their indulgence ; but the 
whole body of sin, implying those lusts that are most subtle, 
and furthest from any relation to the body ; such as ^Sde, 
malice, envy, &c. When the works of the flesh are enumerat- 
ed, Gal. v. 19, 20, 21, they are vices of the latter kind chiefly, 
that arc mentioned ; idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, 
emulations, wrath, sfife, seditions, heresies, envyings. So, 
pride of heart is the effect or operation of the/fsA. Col. ii. 
18. » Vainly puffed up by his feshly mind:" In the Greek, 
by the mind of Che fesh. So, pride, envying, strife and divis- 
ion, are spoken of as works of Ihe flesh. 1 Cor. iii. 3. 4. " For 
ye arc yet carnal [caetuMi, fleshly.) For whereas there is en- 
vying, and strife, and division, are ye net carnal.^ and walk as 
men ? For while one saith, 1 am of Paul, and another, I am 
of Jfiollosi, are ye not carnal ?" Such kind of lusts do not de- 
pend on the body, or external senses ; for the devil himscli 



ORIGINAL SIN. 3^1 

has ihem in the hig;hest degree, who has not, nor ever had, 
my body or external senses to gratify. 

Here, if it should be inquired, how corruption or deprav- 
ity in general, or the nature of man as corrupt and sinful, 
came to be cMad Jlesh ; and not only that corruption which 
consists in inordinate bodily appetites, I think, what the apos- 
tle says in the last cited place, .^re ye not carnal, and walk as 
■men ? Leads us to the trufe reason. It is because a corrupt 
and sinful nature is what properly belongs to mankind, or the 
race of Adam, as they are in themselves, and as they are by 
nature. The \sKi\dji('^h is often used in both Old Testament 
and New, to signify mankind in their present state. To enu- 
merate all the places, would be very tedious ; I shall there- 
fore only mention a few places in the New Testament. Matth. 
xxiv. 22. " Except those days should be shortened, no Jlesh 
should be saved." Luke iii. 6. " h\\ Jlesh shall see the salva- 
tion of God." John xvii. 2. <« Thou hast given him power 
over all Jlesh." See also Acts ii. 17, Rom. iii. 20, 1 Cor. i. 
29, Gal. ii. 16. Man's nature, being left to itself, forsaken 
of the Spirit of God, as it was when man fell, and consequent- 
ly forsaken of divine and holy principles, of itself became ex- 
ceeding corrupt, utterly depraved and ruined : And so the 
word Jlesh, which signifies man, came to be used to signify 
man as he is in himself^ in his natural state, debased, corrupt 
and ruined : And on the other hand, the word siiirit came to 
be used to signify a divine and holy principle, or new nature ; 
because that is not ojman, but oJGod, by the indwelling and 
vital influence of his Sfiirit. And thus to be cornifit, and to 
be carnal, ovfeshly., and to walk as men^ are the same thing 
with the apostle. And so in other parts of the scripture, to 
savor the things that be ojmen, and to savor things which are 
corrupt, are the same ; and sons oJmen, and wicked men, also 
are the same, as was observed before. And on the other 
hand, to saxwr the things that be of God, and to receive th^ 
things ojthe Sfiirit oj God, are phrases that signify as much as 
relishing and embracing true holiness or divine virtue. 

All these things confirm what we have supposed to be 
Christ's meaning, in saying, " That which is born of the. 

Vol. VL 3R 



322 ORIGINAL SIN. 

flesh, is flesh ; and that which is born of the spirit, is spirit."" 
His speech implies, that what is born in the first birth of man, 
is nothing but man as he is of himself, without any thing di- 
vine in him ; depraved, debased, sinful, ruined man, utterly 
\infit to enter into the kingdom of God, and incapable of the 
spiritual, divine happiness of that kingdom : But that which 
is born in the new birth, of the Spirit of God, is a spiritual 
principle, and holy and divine nature, meet for the divine and 
heavenly kingdom. It is a confirmation that this is the true 
meaning, that it is not only evidently agreeable to the con- 
stant language of the Spirit of Christ in the New Testament ; 
but the words understood in this sense, contain the proper 
and true reason, Avhy a man must be born again, in order to 
enter into the kingdom of God ; the reason that is given ev- 
ery where in other parts of the scripture for the necessity of 
a renovation, a change of mind, a new heart, 8cc. in order to 
nalvation : To give a reason of which to Nicodemus, is plain- 
ly Christ's design in the words which have been insisted on. 

Before I proceed, I would observe one thing as a corolla^ 
ry from what has been said. 

CoROLL. Ifbyfiesh and spirit, when spoken of in the 
New Testament, and opposed to each other, in discourses on 
the necessary qualifications for salvation, we are to under- 
stand what has been now supposed, it will not only follow, 
lliat men by nature are corrupt, but nvhoUy corrufit, without 
any good thing. If by flesh is meant man's nature, as he re- 
ceives it in his first birth, then therein dwelkth no good thing ; 
as appears by Rom. vii. 18. It is wholly opposite to God, 
and to subjection to his law, as appears by Rom. viii. 7, 8. It 
is directly contrary to true holiness, and wholly opposes it, 
and holiness is opposite to that ; as appears by Gal. v. 17. 
So long as men are in their natural state, they not only have 
no good thing, but it is impossible they should have or do any- 
good thing ; as appears by Rom. viii. 8. There is nothing 
in their nature, as they have it by the first birth, whence 
should arise any true subjection to God ; as appears by Rom. 
\iii. 7. If there were any thing truly good in the Jlesh, or in 
man's nature, or natural disposition, under a moral view, then 



ORIGINAL SIN. 323 

it should only be amended ; but the scripture represents as 
though we were to be enemies to it, and were to seek nothing 
short of its entire destruction, as has been observed. And 
elsewhere the apostle directs not to the amending of the old 
man, hut fiutting it off, and putting on the new man ; and seeks 
not to have the body of death made better, but to be delivered 
from it, and says, " That if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature (which doubtless means the same as a man new bom) 
old things are (not amended) but passed away, and all things 
are become new." 

But this will be further evident, if we particularly consider 
the apostle's discourse in the latter part of the second chapter 
of 1 Cor. and the beginning of the third. There the apostle 
speaks of the natural man, and the sjiiritual man ; where nat- 
-ural and spiritual are opposed just in the same manner, as I 
have observed carnal ^nd s/iiri tual oiien are." In chap. ii. 14, 
15, he says, « The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God : For they arc foolishness unto him ; neither 
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
But he that is spiritual, judgeth all things." And not only 
does the apostle here oppose natural and spiritual, just as he 
elsewhere does carnal and sjtiritua/, but his following dis- 
course evidently shews, that he meani; (he very same distinc- 
tion, the same two distinct and opposite things. For imme- 
diately on his thus speaking of the difference between the 
natural and the spiritual man, he turns to the Corinthians, in 
the first words of the next chapter, connected witlj this, and 
says, " And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto 
spiritual, but as unto cariial." Referring manifestly to what 
he had been saying, in the immediately preceding discourse, 
about spiritual and natural men, and evidently using the word 
car72al, as synonymous with natural. By which it is put out 
of all reasonable dispute, that the apostle by natural men 
means the same as men in that carnal, sinful state, that they 
are in by their first birth ; notwithstanding all the glosses 
and criticisms, by which modern writers have endeavored to 
palm upon us another sense of this phrase ; and so to deprive 
us of the clear instruction the apostle gives in that 14th verse^ 



524 ORIGINAL SIN. 

concerning the sinful, miserable slate of man by nature. Dr 
Taylor says, by ■^vx}it'^, is meant the aninial man., the man 
who maketh sense and appetite the law of his action. If he 
aims to limit the meaning of the word to external sense, and 
bodily appetite, his meaning is certainly not the apostle's. 
For the apostle in his sense includes the more spiritual vices 
of envy, strife, 8cc. as appears by the four first verses of the 
next chapter ; where, as I have observed, he substitutes the 
word carnal in the place of 4'f%«>'^« So the Apostle Jude 
uses the word in like manner, opposing it to sfiiritiial, or /mv' 
ing the s/iirit, \er. 19. " These are they that separate them- 
selves, sensual, ('^vx,moi) not having the spirit." The vices 
he had been just speaking of, Avere chiefly of the more spirit- 
ual kind. Ver. 16. " These are murmurers, complainers, 
walking after their ovsrn lusts ; and their mouth speaketh great 
swelling words, having men-s persons in admiration, because 
of advantage." The vices mentioned are much of the same 
kind with those of the Corinthians, for which he calls them 
carnal^ envying, strife and divisions, and saying, lam of Paul, 
and / of Jiiollos ; and being fniffed ufifor one against another. 
We have the same word again. Jam. iii. 14, 15. « If ye have 
bitter envying and strife, glory not, and lie not against the 
truth : This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earth- 
ly, sensual (j^vx^nri) and devilish ;" where also the vices the 
apostle speaks of are of the more spiritual kind. 

So that on the whole, there is sufficient reason to under- 
stand the apostle, when he speaks of the natural man in that 
1 Cor. ii. 14, as meaning man in his native, corrupt state. 
And his words represent him as totally corrupt, wholly a 
stranger and enemy to true virtue or holiness, and things ap- 
pertaining to it, which it appears are commonly intended in 
the New Testament by things sfiiritual, and are doubtless 
here meant by things of the Sfiirit of God. These words also 
represent that it is impossible man should be otherwise, while 
in his natural state. The expressions are very strong : The 
natural man reccivcth not the things of the Spirit of God, is not 
susceptible of things of that kind, neither can he know them, 
can have no true sense or relish of them, or notion of iheir 



ORIGINAL SIN. 325 

f ca'l nature and true excellency, because theij are sfiiritually 
discerned : They are not discerned by means of any princi- 
ple in nature, but altogether by a principle that is divine, 
something introduced by the grace of God's Holy Spirit, 
•which is above all that is natural. The words are in a con- 
siderable degree parallel with those of our Saviour, John xiv, 
16, 17. « He shall give you the Spirit of Truth, whom the 
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither know- 
eth him ; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and 
shall be in you." 



SECTION XL 



Observations on Romans iii. 9. ...2 4. 



IF the scriptures represent all mankind as wicked in their 
Srst state, before they are made partakers of the benefits 
of Christ's redemption, then they are wicked by nature ; for 
doubtless men's first state is their native state, or the state 
they come into the world in. But the scriptures do thus rep- 
resent all mankind. 

Before I mention particular texts to this purpose, I would 
observe that it alters not the case as to the argument in hand, 
whether we suppose these texts speak directly of infants, or 
only of such as are capable of some understanding, so as to 
understand something of their own duty and state. For if it 
be so with all mankind, that as soon as ever they are capable 
of reflecting and knowing their own moral state, tliey find 
themselves wicked, this proves that they are wicked by na- 
ture ; either born wicked, or born with an infallible disposi- 
tion to be wicked as soon as possible, if there be any differ- 



326 ORIGINAL SIN. 

ence between these, and either of tliem will prove men to bt 
born exceedingly depraved. I have before proved, that a na- 
tive propensity to sin certainly follows from many things 
said in the scripture of mankind ; but what I intend now, is 
something more direct, to prove by direct sci-ipture testimo- 
ny, that all mankind, in their first state, are really of a wick- 
ed character. 

To this purpose is exceeding full, express, and abundant 
that passage of the apostle, in Rom. iii. beginning with the 
9th verse to the end of the 24th ; which I shall set down at 
large, distinguishing the universal terms which are here so 
often repeated, by a distinct character. The apostle, having 
in the first chapter, verse 16, 17, laid down his proposition, 
that none can be saved in any other way than through the 
righteousness of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, proceeds to 
prove this point, by shewing particularly that all arc in them- 
selves wicked, and without any righteousness of their own. 
rirst, he insists on the wickedness of the Gentiles, in the 
first chapter, and next, on the wickedness of the Jews, in the 
second chapter. And then in this place, he comes to sum 
up the matter, and draw the conclusion in the words follow- 
ing : " What then, are we better than they ? No, in no- 
wise ; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, 
that they are all under sin ; as it is written, There is nojie 
righteous, no, not 07ie ; there is none that understandeih ; 
there is none that seeketh after God ; they are all gone out 
of the way ; they are together become unprofitable ; there is 
none that doth good, no, not owe. Their throat is an open 
sepulchre ; with their tongues they have used deceit ; the 
poison of asps is under their lips ; whose mouth is full of 
cursing and bitterness ; their feet are swift to shed blood ; 
destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of 
peace they have not known ; there is no fear of God before 
their eyes. Now avc know that whatsoever things the law 
sailh, it saith to them that are under the law, that every 
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty 
before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall 
no flesh be justified in his sight ; for by the law is the know!- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 53/ 

edge of sin. But now the righteousness of God vathout the 
law, is manifest, being witnessed by the law and the proph- 
ets ; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Je- 
sus Christ, unto all, and upon all them that believe ; for there 
is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the 
glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace, through 
the redemption which is in Jesus Christ." 

Here the thing which I would prove, viz. that mankind in 
their first state, before they are interested in the benefits of 
Christ's redemption, are universally wicked, is declared with 
the utmost possible fulness and precision. So that if here 
this matter be not set forth plainly, expressly, and fully, it 
must be because no words can do it, and it is not in the power 
of language, or any manner of terms and phrases, however 
contrived and heaped up one upon another, determinately to 
signify any such thing. 

Ur. Taylor, to take off" the force of the v/hole, would have 
us to understand, pages 104. ..107, that these passages, quoted 
from the Psalms, and other parts of the Old Testament, do 
not speak of all mankind, nor of all the Jews ; but only of 
them of whom they were trtie. He observes, there were 
many that were innocent and righteous ; though there were 
also many, a strong party, that were wicked, corrupt, Sec. 
of whom these texts were to be understood. Concerning 
which I would observe the following things : 

1. According to this, the universality of the terms that 
are found in these places, which the apostle cites from the 
Old Testament, to prove that all the world, both Jews and 
Gentiles, are under sin, is nothing to his purpose. The 
apostle uses universal terms in his proposition, and in his 
conclusion, that all are under sin, that every mouth is stopped, 
all the world guilty... .that by the deeds of the law no fcsh can 
be justified. And he chooses out a number of universal say- 
ings or clauses out of the Old Testament, to confirm this uni- 
versality ; as, " There is none righteous, no, not one : They 
are all gone out of the way : There is none that understand- 
eth," &c. But yet the universality of these expressions is 
nothing to this purpose, because the universal terms found 



828 ORIGINAL S!l^. 

in them have indeed no reference to any such univefrjnality a* 
this the apostle speaks of, nor any thing akin to it ; thejr 
mean no universality, either in the collective sense, or per- 
sonal sense ; no universality of the nations of the world, or of 
particular persons in those nations, or in any one nation in 
the world : " But only of those of whom they ore true.'* 
That is, there are none of them righteous, of whom it is true. 
that they are not righteous, no, not one : There are none 
that understand, of whom it is true, that they understand not : 
They are all gone out of the way, of whom it is true, that 
they are gone out of the way. Sec. Or if these expressions are 
to be understood concerning that strong party in Israel, in 
David's and Solomon's days, and in the prophets* days, they 
are to be understood of them universally. And what is that 
to the apostle's purpose ? How does such an universality of 
wickedness as this... .that all were wicked in Israel, who were 
wicked ; or that there was a particular evil party, all of 
which were wicked, confirm that universality which the apos- 
tle would prove, viz. that all Jews and Gentiles, and the whole 
world, were wicked, and e7ery mouth stopped, and that no 
flesh could be justified by their own righteousness. 

Here nothing can be said to abate the nonsense but this^ 
That the apostle would convince the Jews that they were capa- 
ble of being wicked, as well as other nations ; and to prove 
it, he mentions some texts, which shew that there was a 
"wicked party in Israel a thousand years ago ; and that as to 
the universal terms which happened to be in these texts, the , 
apostle bad no respect to these ; but his reciting them is as 
it were accidental, they happened to be in some texts which 
speak of an evil party in Israel, and the apostle cites them 
as they are, not because they arc any more to his purpose for 
the universal terms, which happen to be in them. But let 
the reader look on the words of the apostle, and observe the 
violence of such a supposition. Particularly let the words of 
the 9th and 10th verses, and their connexion, be observed- 
" All are under sin : As it is written, There is none right- 
eous ; no, not one." How plain is it, that the apostle cites 
that latter universal clause out of the 14th Psalm, to confirm 



ORIGINAL SIN. 329 

the preceding universal words of his own proposition ? And 
yet it will follow from the things which Dr. Taylor supposes, 
that the universality of the terms in the last words, There is 
none righteous ; no, not one, hath no relation at all to that uni- 
versality he speaks of in the preceding clause, to which they 
are joined, all are under sin ; and is no more a confirmation 
of it, than if the words were thus : " There are some, or 
there are 7nany in Israel, that are not righteous." 

2. To suppose the apostle's design in citing these pas- 
sages, was only to prove to the Jews, that of old there was a 
considerable number of their nation that were wicked men, is 
to suppose him to have gone about lo prove what none of the 
Jews denied, or made the least doubt of. Even the Phari- 
sees, the most selfrightcous sect of them, who went furth- 
est in glorying in the distinction of their nation from oth- 
er nations, as a holy people, knew it and owned it : They 
openly confessed that their forefathers killed the firofihets, 
Matth. xxiii. 29... .31. And if the apostle's design had been 
only to refresh their ptiemories, to put them in naind of the 
ancient wickedness of their nation, to lead to reflection on 
themselves as guilty of the like wickedness, (as Stephen does, 
Acts vii) what need had the apostle to go so far about to prove 
this ; gathering up many sentences here and there, which 
prove that their scriptures did speak of some as wicked men, 
and then, in the next place, to prove that the wicked men 
spoken of must be of the naion of the Jews, by this argu- 
ment, " That what things soever the law saith, it saith to 
them that are under the law," or that whatsoever the books 
of the Old Testament said, it must be understood of that 
people that had the Old Testament ? What need had the 
apostle of such an ambages or fetch as this, to prove to the 
Jews, that there had been many of their nation in some of 
the ancient ages, which were wicked men ; when the Old 
Testament was full of passages that asserted this expressly, 
not only of a strong party, but of the nation in general ? 
How much more would it have been to such a purposcj 
to have put them in mind of the wickedness of the people 
n general, in worshipping the golden calf, and the unbe- 
Vor,. VI. 2 S 



S30 ORIGINAL SIN. 

lief, murmurini;, and perverseness of the whole congrega- 
tion in the wilderness, for forty years, as Stephen does ? 
Which things he had no need to prove to be spoken of their 
nation, by any such indirect argument, as that, " Whatsoever 
things the law saith, it saith t© them that are under the 
law." 

3. It would have been impertinent to the apostle's pur- 
pose, even as our author understands his purpose, for him to 
have gone about to convince the Jews that there had been a 
strong party of bad men in David's, Solomon's, and the proph- 
et's times. For Dr. Taylor supposes, the apostle's aim is to 
prove the great corruption of both Jews and Gentiles at that 
day, when Christ came into the world.* 

in order the more fully to evade the clear and abundant 
testimonies to the doctrine of Original Sin, contained in this 
part of the holy scripture, our author says, "The apostle is 
here speaking of bodies of people, of Jews and Gentiles in a 
collective sense, as two great bodies into which mankind are 
divided ; speaking of them in their collective capacity, and 
not with respect to particular persons ; that the apostle's 
design is to prove, neither of these two great collective bod- 
ies, in their collective sense, can be justified by law, because 
both were corrupt ; and so that no more is implied, than that 
the generality of both were wicked."t 

On tliis I observe, 

(1.) That this supposed sense disagrees extremely with 
the terms and language which the apostle here makes use of. 
For according to this, we must understand, either, 

First, That the apostle means no universality at all, but 
only the far greater part. Bui if the words which the apostle 
uses, do not most fully and determinately signify an univer- 
sality, no words ever used in the Bible are suflicient to do it. 
I might challenge any man to produce any one paragraph in 
the scripture, from the beginning to the end, where there is 
such a repetition and accumulation of terms, so strongly and 

* See Key, ^ 3O7, 310. i Page loz, 104, 117, 119. 120, and Note on 
Rom. iii. 10.. ..ig. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 331 

eiTiphatically and carefully, to express the most perfect and 
absolute universality, or any place to be compared to it. What 
instance is there in the scripture, or indeed any other writing, 
•when the meaning is only the much greater part, where this 
meaning is signified in such a manner, by repeating such ex- 
pressions, "They are all. ...they are all. ...they are all.. ..togeth- 
er... .every one. ...all the world," joined to multiplied negative 
terms, to shew the universality to be without exception, say- 
ing, "There is no flesh. ...there is none. ...there is none.... 
there is none. ...there is none, four times over ; besides the 
addition of" No, not one.. ..no, not one," once and again ! 

Or, secondly, if any universality at all be allowed, it is only 
of the collective bodies spoken of; and these collective bod- 
ies but two, as Dr. Taylor reckons them, viz. the Jewish na- 
tion, and the Gentile world ; supposing the apostle is here 
representing each of these parts of mankind as being wicked. 
But is this the way of men's using language, when speaking 
of but two things, to express themselves in universal terms of 
such a sort, and in such a manner, and when they mean no 
more than that the thing affirmed is predicated of both of 
them ? If a man, speaking of his two feet as both lame, 
should say, " All my feet are lame, they are all lame, all to- 
gether are become weak : None of my feet are strong, none 
of them are sound, no, not one ;" would not he be thought 
to be lame in his understanding, as well as his feet ? When 
the apostle says, that every mouth may be stopped^ must we 
suppose, that he speaks only of these two great collective 
bodies, figuratively ascribing to each of them a mouth, and 
means that these two mouths are stopped ! 

And besides, according to our author's own interpretation, 
the universal terms used in these texts cited from the Old 
Testament, have no respect to those two great collective bod- 
ies, nor indeed to either of them, but to some in Israel, a par- 
ticular disaffected p.rty in that one nation, which was made 
up of wicked men. So that his interpretation is every way 
absurd and inconsistent. 

(2.) If the apostle is speaking only of the wickedness 
or guilt of great collective bodies, then it will follow, that al- 



332 ORIGINAL SIN. 

so the justification he here treats of, is no other than the jus- 
tification of such collective bodies. For they are tlie same 
he speaks of as f^uilty and Avicked, that he argues cannot be 
justified by the works of the law, by reason of their being 
•wicked. Otherwise his arp;uinent is wholly disannulled. If 
the guilt he speaks of be only of collective bodies, then what 
he argues from that guilt, must be only that collective bod- 
ies cannot be justified by the works of the law, having no 
respect to the justification of particular persons. And in- 
deed, this is Dr. Taylor's declared opinion. He supposes 
the apostle here, and in other parts of this epistle, is speak- 
ing of men's justification considered only as in their collective 
cafiacity* But the contrary is most manifest. The 26th 
and 2Slh verses of this third chapter cannot, without the ut- 
most violence, be understood otherwise than of the justifica- 
tion of particular persons. « That he might be just, and the 
jusiifier of few that believeth in Jesus. Therefore we con- 
clude that a ma?i is justified by faith, without the deeds of 
the law." So chap. iv. 5. « But to him that worketh not, 
but believelh on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is 
counted for righteousness." And what the apostle cites in 
the 6th, 7th and 8th verses from the Book of Psalms, evi- 
dently shews that he is speaking of the justification of par- 
ticular persons. " Even as David also describeth the bles- 
sedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness 
■without works, saying. Blessed are they whose iniquities are 
forgiven, and whose sins are covered." David says these 
things in the 32d Psalm, with a special respect to his own 
particular case ; there expressing the great distress he was 
in, while under a sense of the guilt of his personal sin, and 
the great joy he had when God forgave him. 

And then, it is very plain in that paragraph of the 3d 
chapter, which we have been upon, that it is the justification 
of particular persons that the apostle speaks of by that place 
in tlie Old Testament, which he refers to in ver. 20. " There- 
fore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified 

• Sec Note on Rom, iii. iO„..i9, chap, v, ii, and ix. 30, gr. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 333 

in his sight." He refers to that in Psal. cxliii. 2. « Enter not 
into judgment with thy servant ; for in thy sight shall no ?nan 
living be justified." Here the Psalmist is not speaking of the 
justification of a nation, as a collective body, or of one of the 
two parts of the world, but of a particular man. And it is 
further manifest, that the apostle is here speaking of personal 
justification, inasmuch as this place is evidently parallel with 
that, Gal. iii. 10, 1 1, " For as many as are of the works of 
the law, are under the curse : For it is written. Cursed is ev- 
ery one that continueth not in all things that are written in the 
book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by 
the works of the law, is evident ; for the just shall live by 
faith." It is plain, that this place is parallel with that in the 
3d of Romans, not only as the thing asserted is the same, and 
the argument by which it is proved here, is the same as 
'.here, viz. that all are guilty, and exposed to be condemned by 
the law : But the same saying of the Old Testament is cited 
herein the beginning of this discourse in Galatians, chap, ii, 
16. And many other things demonstrate, that the apostle is 
speaking of the same justification in both places, which I 
omit for brevity's sake. 

And besides all these things, our author's interpretation 
makes the apostle's argument wholly void another way. The 
apostle is speaking of a certain subject, which cannot be just- 
ified by the works of the law ; and his argument is, that that 
same subject is guilty, and is condemned by the law. If he 
means, that one subject, suppose a collective body or bodies, 
cannot be justified by the law, because another subject, an- 
other collective body, is condemned by the law, it is plain, the 
argument would be quite vain and impertinent. Yet thus the 
argument must stand according to Dr. Taylor's interpreta- 
tion. The collective bodies, which he supposes are spoken 
of as wicked, and condemned by the law, considered as in 
their collective capacity, are those two, the .lewish nation, 
and the Heathen world : But the collective body which he 
supposes the apostle speaks of as justified without the deeds 
of the law, is neither of these, but the Christian church, or 
body of believers ; which is a new coliective body, a new 



334 ORIGINAL SIN. 

creature, and a new man faccording to our author's undet- 
standing of such phrases) which never had any existence be- 
fore it was justified, and therefore never was wicked or con- 
demned, unless it was with regard to the individuals of which 
it was constituted ; and it does not appear, according to our 
author's scheme, that these individuals had before been gen- 
erally wicked. For according to him, there was a number 
both among the Jews and Gentiles, that were righteous be- 
fore. And how does it appear, but that the comparatively 
few Jews and Gentiles, of which this new created collective 
body was constituted, were chiefly of the best of each ? 

So that in every view, this author's way of explaining this 
passage in the third of Romans, appears vain and absurd. 
And so clearly and fully has the apostle expressed himself, 
that it is doubtless impossible to invent any other sense to 
put upon his words, than that which will imply, that all man- 
kind, even every individual of the whole race, but their Re- 
deemer himself, are in their first original state, corrupt and 
wicked. 

Before I leave this passage of the apostle, it may be prop- 
er to observe, that it not only is a most clear and full testi- 
mony to the native depravity of mankind, but also plainly de- 
clares that natural depravity to be total and exceeding great. 
It is the apostle's manifest design in these citations from the 
Old Testament, to shew these three things. 1. That all 
wanki?id are by nature corrufit. 2. That every one is alto- 
gether corru/it, and, as it were, depraved in every part. 3. 
That they are in every part corrufit in an exceeding degree. 
With respect to the second of these, that every one is wholly, 
and, as it were, in every part corrupt, it is plain the apostle 
chooses out, and puts together those particular passages of 
the Old Testament, wherein most of those members of the 
body are mentioned, that are the soul's chief instruments or 
organs of external action. The hands (implicitly) in those 
expressions, They are together become unfirojitable.^ There is 
none that doth good. The thioat, tongue, lips and mouth, the 
organs of speech ; in those words, " Their throat is an open 
sepulchre : With their tongues they have used deceit : The 



ORIGINAL SIN. 335 

poison of asps is under their lifts ; whose month is full of curs- 
ing and bitterness." The feet in those words, ver. (5, " Their 
feet are swift to shed blood." These things together signify, 
that man is, as it were, all over corrupt in every part. And not 
only is the total corruption thus intimated, by enumerating 
the several parts, but by denying of all good ;• any true under- 
standing or spiritual knowledge, any virtuous action, or so 
much as truly virtuous desire, or seeking after God. There 
is none that understandeth : There is none that seeketh after 
God : There is none that doth good : The way of peace have 
they not known. And in general, by denying all true piety or 
religion in men in their first state, ver. 18. " There is no fear 
of God before their eyes." The expressions also are evident- 
ly chosen to denete a most extreme and desperate wicked- 
ness of heart. An exceeding depravity is ascribed to every 
part : To the throat, the scent of an open sefiulchre ; to the 
tongue and lips, deceit, and the poison of asps ^ to the mouth, 
cursing and bitterness ; of their feet it is said, they are sivift to 
shed blood : And with regard to the whole man, it is said, de- 
structio7i and misery are in their ways. The representation 
is very strong of each of these things, viz. That all mankind 
are corrupt ; that every one is wholly and altogether corrupt ; 
and also extremely and desperately corrupt. And it is plain, 
it is not accidental, that we have here such a collection oi" such 
strong expressions, so emphatically signifying these things ; 
but that they are chosen of the apostle on design, as being di- 
rectly and fully to his purpose ; which purpose appears in all 
his discourse in the whole of this chapter, and indeed from 
the beginning of the epistle. 



336 ORIGINAL SIN. 



SECTION III. 

Observatic7is 071 V^omans V. 6... AOf and Ephesians ii. 3, mt/i 
the Context^ and Romans vii. 

ANOTHER passage of this aposlle in llie same epistle to 
the Romans, which shews that all that are made partakers of 
the benefits of Christ's redemption, are in their first state 
wicked, and desperately wicked, is that, chap. v. 6... 10. " For 
when we were yet withoztt .strength, in due time Christ died 
for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one 
die ; yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare 
to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that 
while we Avere yet sin?2ers, Christ died for us. Much more 
then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from 
wrath through him. For if while we were enemira, we were 
reconciled to God through the dea'h of his Son ; much more, 
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 

Here all that Christ died for, and that are saved by him, 
are spoken of as being in their first state sinners, iingodc'y, ene- 
mies to God, exposed to divine wrath, and without strength, 
■without ability to help themselves, or deliver their souls from 
this miserable state. 

Dr. Taylor says. The apostle here speaks of the Gentiles 
only in their heathen state, in contradistinction to the Jews ; 
and that not of particular persons among the heathen Gentiles, 
or as to the state they were in personally; but only of the 
Gentiles collectively taken, or of the miserable state of that 
great collective body, the heathen world : And that these ap- 
pellations, sinners, ungodly, enemies^ &c. were names by which 
the apostles in their writings were wont to signify and distin- 
tinguish the heathen world, in opposition to the Jews ; and 
that in this sense these appellations are to be taken in tlieir 
epistles, and in this place in particular.* And it is observa- 

* Page 114,...! 20. See also Dr. Taylor's Paraph, and Notes on the place. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 3a7 

ble, that this way of interpreting these phrases in the apostol- 
ic writings, is become fashionable with many late writers ; 
whereby they not only evade several clear testimonies to the 
doctrine of original sin, but make void great part of the New 
Testament ; on which account it deserves the more particu- 
lar consideration. 

It is allowed to have been long common and customary 
among the Jews, in Christ's and the apostle's days, especially 
those of the sect of the Pharisees, in their pride and confidence 
in their privileges, as the peculiar people of God, to exalt 
themselves exceedingly above other nations, and greatly to 
despise the Gentiles, and call them by such names as sinners.) 
enemies, dog's, &c. as notes of distinction from themselves, 
whom they accounted in general (excepting the publicans, 
and the noioriously profligate) as \\\cfrie7ids, special yafonVc'^j 
and children of God ; because they were the children of Abra- 
ham, were circumcised, and had the law of Moses, as their 
peculiar privilege, and as a wall of partition between them and 
the Gentiles. 

But it is very remarkable, that a Christian divine, who hap> 
studied the New Testament, and the episile to the Romans 
in particular, so diligently as Dr. Taylor, should be strong in 
an imagination, that the apostles of Jesus Christ should so far 
countenance, and do so mucli to cherish these selfexalting, 
uncharitable dispositions and notions of the Jews, which gave 
rise to such a custom, as to fall in with that custom, and adopt 
that language of their pride and contempt ; and especially 
that the Apostle Paul should do it. It is a most unreasona= 
ble imagination on many accounts. 

1. The whole gospel dispensation is calculated entirely to 
overthrow and abolish every thing to which this selfdistin- 
gnishing, selfexalting language of the Jews was owing. It 
was calculated wholly to exclude such boasting, and to des- 
troy that pride and self righteousness that were the causes of 
it : It was calculated to abolish tiie enmity, and break flown 
the partition wall between Jews and Gentiles, and of tivain lo 
make one new man, so making fieace j to destroy ull disposition's 
in nations and particular persons to despise one another, or to 
, Vol. VL ST 



338 ORIGINAL SIN. 

Bay one to another, Stand by thyself^ come not near to me ; for 
I am holier than thou ; and to establish the contrary principles 
of humility, mutual esteem, honor and love, and universal 
union, in the most firm and perfect manner. 

2. Christ, when on earth, set himself, throu|;h the course 
of his ministry, to militate as^ainst this pharisaical spirit, prac- 
tice, and lani^uage of the Jews ; appearinfj in such represent- 
ations, names, and epithets, so customary amoni^ them ; by 
which they shewed so much contempt of the Gentiles, publi- 
cans, and such as were openly lewd and vicious, and so exalt- 
ed themselves above them ; calling them sinners and enemies, 
and themselves holy and God's children ; not allowin?^ the 
Gentile to be their neighbor. Sec. He condemned the Phari- 
bces for not esteeming themselves si?mers, as well as the pub- 
licans ; trusting in themselves that they were righteous, and 
despising others, lie militated against these things in his 
uvvn treatment of some Gentiles, publicans, and others, 
whom they called siriners, and in what he said on those oc- 
casions.* 

He opposed these notions and manners of the Jews in his 
parables,! and in his instructions to his disciples how to treat 
the unbelieving Jews ;| and in what he says to Nicodemus 
about the necessity of a new birth, even for the Jews, as well 
as the unclean Gentiles, with regard to their proselytism, 
■which some of the Jew^ looked upon as a new birth : And in 
opposition to their notions of their being the children of God, 
because the children of Abraham, l)iit the Gentiles by nature 
sinners and children of wrath, he tells them that even they 
were children of the devil.\\ 

* Matth. viii.5. .13. Chap. ix. 9.. .13. Chap. xi. 19. ..24, Chap xv. 
i;i...s8. Luke vii. 37, to the end. Chap, xvil 12. .19. Chap. xix. 1...10. 
Tohn iv. 9, &c. ver. 39, &c. Compare Luke x. 29. &c. 

+ Matih xxi £8...32. Chap. xxii. 1...1O. Luke xiv. i6,..24. Com- 
pare Luke xiii. 28, 29, 30. % M^uh x. 14, 15 || John viii. 33 ..44. 

It mav also be ob.served, that John the Baptist greatly contradicted the 
Jews' opinion of themselves, as being a holy people, and accepted of God, 
because ihey were the children of Abraham, and on that account better than 
theheaihen, whom they calkd iinners, enemies, unclean, &c. in baptizing tlir 



ORIGINAL SIN. 33^ 

3. Though we should suppose the apostles not to have 
been thoroughly brought off from such notions, manners and 
language of the Jews, till after Christ's ascension ; yet after 
the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of pentecost, or at 
least, after the calling of the Gentiles, begun in the conver- 
sion of Cornelius, they were fully indoctrinated in this matter, 
and effectually taught no longer to call the Gentiles uncleati^ 
as a note of distinction from the Jews, Acts x. 28, which was 
before any of the apostolic epistles were written. 

4. Of all the apostles, none were more perfectly instruct- 
ed in this matter, and none so abundant in instructing others hi 
it, as Paul, the great Apostle' of the Gentiles. He had abund- 
ance to do in this majter : None of the apostles had so much 
occasion to exert themselves against the forementioned no- 
tions and language of the Jews, in opposition to Jewish teach- 
ers, and judaizing Christians, that strove to keep up the sepa- 
ration wall between Jews and Gentiles, and to exa't the form- 
er, and set the latter at nought. 

5. This apostle does especially strive in this matter in 
his epistle to the Romans, above all his other writings ; ex- 
erting himself in a most elaborate manner, and wijh his ut- 
most skill and power, to bring the Jewish Christians off from 
every thing of this kind ; endeavoring by all means that there 
might no longer be in them any remains of these old notions 
they had been educated in, of such a great distinction between 
Jews and Gentiles, as were expressed in the names they used 
to distinguish them by, calling the Jews holy, children of 
Abraham, friends and children of God ; but the Gentiles sin- 
ners, unclean, enemies, and the like. He makes it almost 
his whole business, from the beginning of the epistle, to this 
passage in the 5th chapter, which we are upon, to convince 
them that there was no ground for any such distinction, and 

jews as a polluted people, and sinners, as the Jews used to baptize proselytes 
from among the heathen; calling them to repentance as sinners, saying, "Think 
not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father ; for 2 say un- 
to you, that God is able, of these stones, to raise up children unto Abraham ;" 
iind teaching the Pharisees, that instead of their being a holy generation, and 
children of God, as they called themselves, they were z. generation oj vipers. 



340 ORIGINAL SIN. 

to prove that in common, both Jews and Gentiles, all were 
desperately wicked, and none righteous ; no, not one. He 
tells liiem, chap. iii. 9, that the Jews were by no means bet- 
ter than the Gentiles ; and (in what follows in that chapter) 
that there was no difference between Jews and Gentiles ; and 
represents all as without strength, or any sufficiency of their 
own in the affair of justification and redemption : And in the 
continuation of the same discourse, in the 4th chapter, teach- 
es that all that were justified l^y Christ, were in themselves 
ungodly ; and that being the children of Abraham was not pe- 
culiar to the Jews. In this 5th chapter, still in continuation 
of the same discourse, on the same subject and argument of 
justification through Christ, and by faith in him, he speaks of 
Christ's dying for the imgodly and sinners, and those that 
were without strength or sufficiency for their own salvation, 
as he had done all along before. But now, it seems, the apos- 
tle by sinners and ungodly must not be understood according 
as he used these words before ; but must be supposed to 
mean only the Gentiles as distinguished from the Jews ; 
adopting the language of those selfrighteous, selfexalting, 
disdainful, judaizing teachers, whom he was with all his nught 
opposing ; countenancing the very same thing in them, which 
he had been from the beginning of the epistle discountenanc- 
ing and endeavoring to discourage, and utterly to abolish, with 
all his art and strength. 

One reason why the Jews looked on themselves better 
than the Gentiles, and called themselves holy, and the Gen- 
tiles sinners, was, that they had the laiv of Moses. They wa(/(? 
their boast of the law. But the apostle shews them, that this 
was so far from making them better, that it condemned them, 
and was an occasion of their being sinners, in a higher de- 
gree, and more aggravated manner, and more effectually and 
dreadfully dead in, and by sin, chap. vii. 4... 13, agreeable to 
those words of Christ, John v. 45. 

It cannot be justly objected here, that this apostle did in- 
deed use this language, and call the Gentiles sinners, in con- 
tradistinction to the Jews, in what he said to Peter, which he 
himself gives an account of in Gal. ii, 15, 16. '• We who 



ORIGINAL SIN. 341 

are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing 
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by 
faith in Jesus Christ." It is true that the apostle here refers 
to this distinction, as what was usually made by the selfrip;ht- 
eous Jews, between themselves and the Gentiles, but not in 
such a manner as to adopt or favor it ; but on the contrary, 
so as plainly to shew his disapprobation of it ; q. d. <' Though 
we were born Jews, and by nature are of that people which 
are wont to make their boas' of the law, expecting to be justi- 
fied by it, and trust in themselves that they are righteous, 
despising others, calling the Gentiles sinners, in distinction 
from themselves ; yet we, being now instructed in the gospel 
of Christ, know better. We now know that a man is not 
iustified by the works of the law ; that we are all justified only 
by faith in Christ, in whom there is no difference, no distinc- 
tion of Greek or Gentile and Jew, but all are one in Christ 
Jesus." And this is the very thing he there speaks of, 
■which he blamed Peter for ; that by his withdrawing and 
separating himself from the Gentiles, refusing to eat with 
them. Sec, he had countenanced this selfexalting, selfdistin- 
guishing, separating spirit and custom of the Jews, whereby 
they treated tiie Gentiles, as in a distinguishing manner, sin- 
ners and unclean, and not fit to come near them who were a 
holy people. 

6, The words themselves of Jhe apostle in this place, 
shew plainly, that he here uses the word sinners, not as sig- 
nifying Gentiles, in opposition to Jews, but as denoting the 
morally evil, in opposition to such as are righteous or good : 
Because this latter opposition or distinction between sinners 
and righteous is here expressed in plain terms. " Scarcely 
for a righteous man will one die ; yet perad venture for a good 
man some would even dare to die ; but God commended his 
love towards us, in that while we were yet simiers, Christ died 
for us." By righteousmen are doubtless meant the same that are 
meant by such a phrase, throughout this apostle's writings, and 
throughout the New Testament, and throughout the Bible. 
Will any one pretend, that by the righteous man, whom 
men would scarcely die for, and by the good man, that per- 



342 ORIGINAL SIN. 

haps some migbt even dare to die for, is meant a Jew ? Dr. 
Taylor himself does not explain it so, in his exposition of 
this epistle, and therefore is not very consistent with himself, 
in supposing that in the other part of the distinction the apos- 
tle means Gentiles, as distin,2;uished from the Jews. The 
apostle himself had been laboring abundantly, in the preced- 
ing part of the epistle, to prove that the Jews were sinners 
in this sense, namely, in opposition to righteous ; that all had 
tinned, that all were under sm, and therefore could not be 
justified, could not be accepted as righteous by their own 
righteousness. 

7. Another thing which makes it evident that the apostle, 
when he speaks in this place of the sinners and enemies 
which Christ died for, docs not mean only the Gentiles, is 
that he includes himself among them, saying, while nue were 
sinners, and when tve were enemies. 

Our author from time to time says, "The apostle, though 
he speaks only of the Gentiles in their Heathen state, yet 
puts hhnaelf with themy because he was the ajiostleofthe Ge7i- 
iiles" But this is very violent and unreasonable. There is 
no more sense in it than there would be in a father's ranking 
himself among his children, when speaking to his children 
of the benefits they have by being begotten by himself, and 
saying, JVe children... .or in a physician's ranking himself 
with his patients, when talking to them of their diseases 

and cure, saying, JVe sick folks Paul being the apostle of 

the Gentiles, to save them from their Heathenism, is so far 
from being a reason for him to reckon himself among the 
Heathen, that on the contrary, it, is the very thing that 
would render it in a peculiar manner unnatural and absurd 
for him so to do. Because, as the apostle of the Gentiles, he 
appears as their healer and deliverer from Heathen'iim ; and 
therefore in that capacity does in a peculiar manner ap- 
pear in his distinction from the Heathen, and in opposition 
to the slate of Heathenism. For it is by the most opposite 
qualities only, that he is fitted to be an apostle of the Heatlien, 
and recoverer from Heathenism. As the clear ligiit of the 
sun is the thing which makes it a proper restorative from 



ORIGINAL SIN. 343 

darkness ; and therefore the sun's being spoken of as such 
a remedy, none would suppose to be a good reason why it 
should be ranked with darkness, or among dark things. And 
besides (which makes this supposition of Dr. Taylor's appear 
more violent) the apostle in this epistle, does expressly rank 
himself with the Jews, when he speaks of them as distin- 
guished from the Gentiles, as in chapter iii. 9. " What 
then ? Are we better than they ?" That is, are we Javs 
better than the Gentiles ? 

It cannot justly be alleged in opposition to this, that the 
Apostle Peter puts himself with the heathen, 1 Pet. iv. 3. 
" For the time past of ow life may suflRce us to have wrought 
the will of the Gentiles ; when ive walked in lasciviousness, 
lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abomina- 
ble idolatries. For the Apostle Peter, (who by the way was 
not an apostle of the Gentiles) here does not speak of him- 
self as one of the Heathen, but as one of the church of Christ 
in general, made up of those that had been Jews, Proselytes, 
and Heathens, who were now all one body, of which body he 
was a member. It is this society therefore, and not the 
Gentiles, that he refers to in the pronoun us. He is speaking 
of the wickedness that the members of this body or society- 
had lived in before their conversion ; not that every member 
had lived in all those vices here mentioned, but some in one, 
others in another. Very parallel with that of the Apostle 
Paul to Titus, chap. iii. 3. " For nve ourselves also (i. e. we of 
the Christian church) were sometimes foolish, disobedient, 
deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, (some one lust 
and pleasure, others another) living in n)alicc, envy, hateful 
and hating one another," Sec. There is nothing in this, but 
what is very natural. That the apostle, speaking to the 
Christian church, and of that church, confessing its former 
sins, should speak of himself as one of tiiat society, and yet 
mention some sins that he personally had not been guilty of, 
and among others, Heathenish idolatry, is quite a different 
thing from what it Would have been for the apostle, express- 
ly distinguishing those of the Christians which had been 



5U ORIGINAL SIN. 

Heathen, from those which had been Jews, to have ranked 
himself with the former, tliough he was truly of the latter. 

If a minister in some congregation in England, speaking 
in a sermon of the sins of the nation, being himself of the 
nation, should say, " IVe have greatly corrupted ourselves, 
and provoked God by our deism, blasphemy, profane swear- 
ing, lasciviousness, venality," &c. speaking in the first person 
plural, though he himself never had been a deist, and per- 
haps none of his hearers, and they might also have been 
generally free from other sins he mentioned ; yet there 
would be nothing unnatural in his thus expressing himself. 
But it would be a quite different thing, if one part of the Brit- 
ish dominions, suppose our king's American dominions, had 
universally apostatised from Christianity to deism, and had 
long been in such a stale, and if one that had been born and 
brought up in England among Christians, the country being 
universally Christian, should be sent among them to shew 
them the folly and great evil of deism, and convert them to 
Christianity ; and this missionary, when making a distinc- 
tion between English Christians, and these deists, should 
rank himself with the latter, and say, '' We American deists, 
ii>e foolish, blind infidels," See. this indeed would be very- 
unnatural and absurd. 

Another passage of the apostle, to the like purpose with 
that which we have been considering in the 5th of Romans, 
is that in Eph. ii. 3. " And were by nature children of 
wrath, even as others." This remains a plain testimony to 
the doctrine of Original Sin, as held by those that used to 
be called orthodox Christians, after all the pains and art used 
to torture and pervert it. This doctrine is here not only plain- 
ly and fully taught, but abundantly so, if we take the words 
with the context, where Christians are once and again repre- 
sented as being, in their first state, (icarf i'j M", and as quick- 
ened and raised u[i from such a state of death, in a most 
marvellous display of free and rich grace and love, and exceed- 
ing greatness of the power of God, &c. 

With respect to those words, »/*e» t8k»« (pvan ogy>)j. We ivcre 
by nature children cfivra'.hi Dr. Taylor says, pages 1 \2....\ !4. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 345 

■(■ The apostle means no more by this, tlian truly or 
reath) children of nvralh ; nsin^ a metaphorical expression, 
borrowed from the word that is used to signify a true and 
genuine child of a family, in distinction from one that is a 
child only by adoption." In which it is owned, that the prop- 
er sense of the phrase is, being a child by nature, in the same 
sense as a child by birth or natural generation ; but only he 
supposes that here the word is used metaiihorically. ■ The in- 
stance he produces as parallel, to confirm Ids supposed meta- 
phorical sense of the phrase, as meaning only truly, really^ or 
firofierly children of wrath, viz. the Apostle Paul's calling 
Timothy his oiun sen in the faith, fncnov riKnv, is so far from 
confirming his sense, that it is rather directly against it. For 
doubtless the apostle uses the word ytrxnov in its original sig- 
nification here, meaning his btgotten son, ynj«r»©- being the 
adjective from yo»D, oifspring, or the verb ymuca, to beget ; as 
much as to say, Timothy, my begotten son in the faith ; only 
allowing for the two ways of being begotten, spoken of in 
the NcAV Testament, one natural, and the other spiritual ; one 
being the first generation, the other regeneration ; the one a 
being bec;otten as to the human nature, the other a being begot- 
ten in the faith, begotten in Christ, or as to one's Christianity. 
The apostle expressly signifies which of these he means in this 
place, Timothy my begotten son in the faitli, in the same manner 
as he says to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. iv. 15. " In Christ Je-^us J 
have begotten you through the gospel." To say the apostle 
uses the word ^vset, in Eph. ii. 3, only as sigi iiying real, true, 
and proper, is a most arbitrary interpretation, having nothing 
to warrant it in the whole Bible. The word ^u3-»s is no where 
used in this sense in the New Testament.* 

Another thing which our author alleges to evade the fores 
of this, is that the word rendered nature^ someiimes signifies 
habit contracted by custom, or an acquired nature. But this 
is not the proper meaning of the word. And it is plain the 

* The following are all the other places wheie the word is used, Rom. j. 
26, ii. 14, 27, xi. 21, 24, thrice i.i ihar verse, i Cor. xl. i.^. Gal. ii. \^^ 
iV. 8 James iii. 7, twice in that verse, and 2 Pet. i. 4, 

Vol. VI. 2 U 



346 ORIGINAL SIN. 

word in its common use, in the New Testament, signifies 
what we properly express in English by the worJ nature. 
There is but one place where there can be the least pretext 
for supposing it can be used otherwise ; and that is 1 Cor. 
xi. 14. " Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man 
have long hair, it is a shame unto him ?" And even here 
there is, I think, no manner of reason for understanding na- 
ture otherwise, than in the proper sense. The emphasis used 
avrn »J f fo-i?) nature itself^ shews that the apostle does not 
mean custom, but nature in the proper sense. It is true, it 
was long custom, that made having the head covered a token 
of subjection, and a feminine habit or appearance ; as it is 
custom that makes any outward action or word a sign or sig- 
nification of any thing ; but nature itself^ nature in its proper 
sense, teaches that it is a shame for a man to appear with 'he 
established signs of the female sex, and with significations of 
inferiority, &c. As nature itself shews it to be a shame for a 
father to bow down or kneel to his own child or servant, or 
for men to bow to an idol, because bowing down is by custom 
an established token or sign of subjection and submission ; 
such a sight, therefore, would be unnatural, shocking to a 
man's very nature. So nature would teach that it is a shame 
for a woman to use such and such lascivious words or ges- 
tures, though it be custom, that establishes the unclean sig- 
nification of those gestures and sounds. 

It is particularly unnatural and unreasonable, to under- 
stand the phrase, T«jt»a. ^t«r«, in this place, any otherwise than 
in the proper sense, on the following accounts. 

1. It may be observed that both the words rixia, and (pv(n(;, 
in their original signification, have reference to the biilh or 
generation. So the word ^i/aij, which comes from <i>vu, 
which signifies to beget, or bring forth young, or to put 
forth, or bud forth as a plant that brings forth young buds 
and branches. And so the word imvov comes from tmnru, 
which signifies to bring forth children. 

2. As though the apostle took care by the word used 
here, to signify what we arc by birlh, he changes the word 
he used before for children. In the preceding verse he used 



ORIGINAL SIN. 347 

wo», speaking of the children of disobedience ; but here 
T(x»a which is a word derived, as was now observed, from 
TixTw, to bring forth a child, and more properly signifies a 
kegotten or born child. 

3. It is natural to suppose that the apostle here speaks 
in opposition to the pride of some, especially the Jews, (for 
the church in Ephesus was made up partly of Jews, as well 
as the church in Rome) who exalted themselves in the privi- 
leges they had by birth, because they were born the children 
of Abraham, and were Jews by nature^ (ftvaet Ia^a»e», as the 
phrase is, Gal. ii. 15. In opposition to this proud conceit, 
he teaches the Jews, that notwithstanding this, they were by 
nature children of wrath, even as others, i. e. as well as the 
Gentiles, which the Jews had been taught to look upon as 
sinners, and out of favor with God by nature, and borri children 
»f wrath. 

A: It is more plain, that the apostle uses the word nature 
in its proper sense here, because he sets what they were by 
nature, in opposition to what they are by grace. In this 
verse, the apostle shews what they are by nature, viz. child- 
ren of wrath ; and in the following verses he shews how 
very difTerent their state is by grace, saying, verse 5, By grace 
ye are saved, repeating it again, verse 8, By grace ye are saved. 
But if by being children of wrath by nature, were meant no 
ntore than only their being really and truly children of 
wrath, as Dr. Taylor supposes, there would be no opposition 
in the signification of these phrases ; for in this sense they 
were by nature in a state of salvation, as much as by nature 
children of wrath ; for they were truly, really, and firojierly in 
a state of salvation. 

If we take these words with the context, the whole a- 
bundantly proves that by nature we are totally corrupt, with- 
out any good thing in us. For if we allow the plain scope of 
the place, without attempting to hide it, by extreme violence 
used with the apostle's words and expressions, the design 
here is strongly to establish this point ; that what Christians 
have that is good in them, or in their state, is in no part of 
it naturally in themselves, or from themselves, but is wholly 



548 ORIGINAL SIN. 

from divine grace, all the gift of God, and his tvorkmanshifi, tht 
effect of his power, and free and wonderful love : None of 
our good works are primarily from ourselves, but with res- 
pect to them all, ive are God's nvorkmanihifi, created tmto good 
nvorka, as it were out of nothing : Not so much as faith itself 
the first principle of good works in Christians, is of them- 
selves, but that is the gift cfGod. 

Therefore the apostle compares the work of God, in form- 
ing Christians to true virtue and holiness, not only to a neiv 
creation, but a resurrection, or raising from the dead, ver. 1. 
" You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and 
sins." And again, ver. 5. " Even when we were dead in sins, 
hath quickened us together with Christ." In speaking of 
Christians being quickened with Christy the apostle has refer- 
ence to what he had said before, in the latter part of the fore- 
going chapter, of God's manifesting the exceeding greatness of 
his fioiver towards Christian converts in their conversion, 
agreeable to the operation of his Tnighty power, nvheti he raised 
Christ from the dead. So that it is plain by every thing in 
this discourse, the apostle would signify, that hy nature we 
have no goodness ; but are as destitute of it as a dead corpse is 
of life : And that all goodness, all good works, and faith the - 
principle of all, are perfectly the gift of God's grace, and the 
^vork of his great, almighty, and exceeding excellent power. 
I think, there can be need of nothing but reading tlie chapter, 
and minding what is read, to convince all who have common 
understanding, of this ; whatever any of the most subtle crit- 
ics have done, or ever can do, to twist, rack, perplex, and per- 
vert the words and phrases here used. 

Dr. Taylor here again insists, that the apostle speaks only 
of the Gentiles in their heathen state, when he speaks of 
those that were rffac? ?n sin, am] litj nature children of wrath ; 
and that though he seems to include himself among these, 
saying, " IVe were by nature children of wrath, we were dead 
in sins ;" yet he only puts himself among them because he 
was the apostle of the Gentiles. The gross absurdity of which 
may appear from what was said before. But besides the 
things which have bten already observed, there are some 



ORIGINAL SIN. 349 

things which make it peculiarly unreasonable to understand 
it so here. It is true, the greater part of the church of Ephe- 
sus had been heathens, and therefore the apostle often has 
reference to their heathen state, in this epistle. But the 
words in this chap. ii. 3, plainly shew, that he means himself 
and other Jews in distinction from the Gentiles ; for the dis- 
tinction is fully expressed. After he had told the Ephesians, 
who had been generally heathen, that they had been dead in 
sin, and had walked according to the course of this world, &c. 
ver. 1 and 2, he makes a distmctio7i, and says, " Among whom 
vje also had our conversation. Sec. and were by nature children 
of wrath, evm as others." Here first he changes the person ; 
whereas, before he had spoken in the second person, " Ye 
were dead... .Ye in time past walked," &C. Now he changes 
stile, and uses the first person, in a most manifest distinction, 
*' Among whom ive also" that is, lue Jeivs^ as well as ije Gen- 
tiles : Not only changing the person, but adding a particle of 
distinction, also ; which would be nonsense, if he meant thie 
same without distinction. And besides all this, more fully to 
express the distinction, the apostle further adds a pronoun of 
distinction : " We also, even as others" or, we as well as oth- 
ers : Most evidently having respect to the notions, so gene- 
rally entertained by the Jews, of their being much better than 
the Gentiles, in being Jews by nature^ children of Abraham, 
and children of God ; when they supposed the Gentiles to be 
utterly cast off, as born aliens, and by nature children of wrath : 
In opposition to this, the apostle says, " We Jews, after all 
our glorying in our distinction, were by nature children of 
ivrath, as well as the rest of the world." And a yet further ev- 
idence, that the apostle here means to include the Jews, and 
even himself, is the universal term he uses, " Among whom 
also we all had our conversation," &c. Thouf;h wickedness 
was supposed by the Jev/s to be the course of this world, as to 
the generality of mankind, yet they supposed themselves an 
exempt people, at least the Pharisees, and the devout obi^^crv- 
ers of the law of Moses, and traditions of the elders ; whatev- 
er might be thought of publicans and harlots. But in oppo- 
sition to this, the apostle asserts, that they all were no better 



350 ORIGINAL SIN. 

by nature than others, but were to be reckoned among the 
children of disobedience^ and children ofiurath. 

And then besides, if the apostle chooses to put himself 
among the Gentiles, because he was the apostle of the Gen- 
tiles, I would ask, why does he not do so in the 1 1th verse of 
the same chapter, where he speaks of their Gentile state ex- 
pressly ? Remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the 
Jlcch. Why does he here make a distinction between the 
Gentiles and himself? Why did he not say, Let us remem- 
ber, that we being in times past Gentiles ? And why does the 
same apostle, even universally, make the same distinction, 
speaking either in the second or third person, and never in 
the first, where he expressly speaks of the Gcntilism of those 
that he wrote to ; or speaks of them with reference to their 
distinctior; fix>m the Jews ? So every where in this same epis- 
tle ; as in chap. i. 12, 13, where the distinction is made just 
in the same manner as here, by the change of the person, 
and by the disdnguishing particle, also. " That we should be 
to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ (the first 
believers in Christ being of the Jews, before the Gentiles 
were called) in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the 
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation," And in all the 
following part of this second chapter, as ver. 11, 17, 19, and 
22, in which last verse the same distinguishing particle again 
is used : " In whom ye also are builded together for an habit- 
ation of God through the Spirit." See also the following 
chapters : Chap. iii. 6, and iv. 17. And not only in this epis- 
tle, but constantly in other epi-stles ; as Rom. i. 12, 13 ; chap. 
xi. 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,22, 23, 24, 25,- 28, 30,31 ; chap. 
XV. 15, 16 ; 1 Cor. xii. 2 ; Gal. iv. 8 ; Col. i. 27 ; chap. ii. 
13 ; 1 Thess. i. 5, 6, 9 ; chap. ii. 13, 14, 15, 16. 

Though I am far from thinking our author's exposition 
of the 7th chapter of Romans to be in any wise agreeable to 
the true sense of the apostle, yet it is needless here to stand 
particularly to examine it ; because the doctrine of Original 
Sin may be argued not the less strongly, though we should 
allow the thing wherein he mainly differs from such as he op- 
poses in his interpretation, viz. That the apostle docs not 



ORIGINAL SIN. 351 

speak in his own name, or to represent the state of a true 
Christian, but as representing the state of the Jews under the 
law. For even on this supposition, the drift of the place will 
prove, that every one who is under the law, and with equal 
reason every one of mankind, is carnal, sold under sin, in his 
first state, and till delivered by Christ, For it is plain, that 
the apostle's design is to shew the insufficiency of the law to 
give life to any one whatsoever. This appears by what he 
says when he comes to draw his conclusion, in the continua- 
tion of this discourse ; chap. viii. 3.* " For what the law 
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh ; God 
sending his own Son," See. Our author supposes this here 
spoken of, viz. " That the law cannot give life, because it is 
weak through the flesh," is true with respect to evej^ij one of 
■mankind.\ And when the apostle gives this reason, In that it 
is nveak through the Jiesh, it is plain, that by the flesh, which 
here he opposes to the S/iirit, he means the same thing which, 
in the preceding part of the same discourse, in the foregoing 
chapter, he had called by the name flesh, ver. 5, 14, 18 ; and 
the law of the members, ver. 23 ; and the body of death, ver. 24. 
Which is the thing that through this chapter he insists on as 
the grand hindrance and reason why the law could not give 
life, just as he does in his conclusion, chap. viii. 3. Whicli 
in this last place, is given as a reason why the law cannot 
give life to any cf mankind. And it being the sarne reason of 
the same thing, spoken of in the sarne discourse, in the former 
part of it; as appears, because this last place is the conclu- 
sion, of which that former part is the premises : And inas^ 
much as the reason there given is being in the flesh, and a be^ 
ing carnal, sold under sin : Therefore taking the whole of the 
apostle's discourse, this is justly understood to be a rea>^on 
why the law cannot give life to any of mankind ; and conse- 
quently, that all mankind are in the fli\sh, and are carnal, sold 
under sin, and so remain till delivered by Christ : And con- 
sequently, all mankind in their first or original state are very 
sinful ; which was the thing to be proved. 

* Dr. Taylor himself reckons this a part of the siitip d'scourse or para- 
graph, in the dvisior> h» makes of the epistle, in his paraphrase and uotes. 
upon it, + See Note on Rom. v. 20. 



352 ORIGINAL SIN. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Containing Observations en Romans v. 12, to the 
End. 



SECTION I. 



Remarks on Dr. Taylor's ivay of explainiyig this Text. 

THE foll9wing thinc^s are worthy to be taken notice of, 
concerning our author's exposition of this remarkable passage 
of the Apostle Paul. 

1. He greatly insists, that by death in this place no mora 
is meant, than that death which we all die, when this present 
life is extinguished, and the body returns lo the dust ; that 
no more is meant in the 12th, l4th, 1 5th, and 17th verses. 
Page 27, he speaks of it as evidently^ clearly^ and infallibly so, 
because the apostle is still discoursing on the same subject ; 
plainly implying, that it must most infallibly be so, that the 
apos'le means no moie by ciealh, throughout this paragraph 
on the subject. But as infallible as this is, if we believe what 
Dr. Tiiyior elsewhere says, it must needs be otherwise. He, 
in p. 120, S, speaking of ihose words in the last verse of the 
next chapter, " The vages of sin is deaths but the gift of God 
is eternal Ife, through .Tt-sus Christ our Lord," says, " D'cath 
in this place is wifle'y d fferent from the death we now die ; 
as it stands there opfioscd to eternal life, which is the gift of 



ORIGINAL SIN. 353 

God through Jesus Christ, it manifestly signifies eternal death, 
the second death, or that death which they shall hereafter die, 
who lire after the flesh." But death (in the conclusion of the 
paragraph we are upon in the 5th chapter, concerning the 
death that comes by Adam) and the life that comes by Christ, 
in the last verse of the chapter, is opfiosed to eternal life just 
in the same manner as it is in the last rerse of the next chap- 
ter : " That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might 
grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus 
Christ eur Lord." So that by our author's own argument, 
death in this place also is manifestly nvidely different from the 
death ive now die, as it stands here opposed to eternal life^ 
through Jesus Christ ; and signifies eternal death, the second 
death. And yet this is a part of the same discourse or para- 
graph with that begun in the 12th verse, as reckoned by Dr. 
Taylor himself in his division of paragraphs, .in his para- 
phrase and notes on the epistle. So that if we will follow 
him,, and admit his reasonings in the various parts of his book, 
here is manifest proof against infallible evidence ! So that it is 
true, the apostle throughout this whole passage on the same 
subject, by death, evidently, clearly, and infallibly means no 
more than that death ive now die, when this life is extinguished ; 
and yet by death, in some part of this passage, is meant some- 
thing widely difFerent from the death we now die, and is man' 
ifestly intended eternal death, the second death. 

But had our author been more consistent with hinoself In 
his laying of it down as so certain and infallible, that because 
the apostle has a special respect to temporal death, in the 
14th verse. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, therefore he 
means no more in the several consequent parts of this pas- 
sage, yet he is doubtless too confident and positive in this 
matter. This is no more evident, clear, and infallible, than 
that Christ meant no more by perishing, in Luke xiii. 5, when 
he says, '* I tell you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all 
likewise perish ;" than such a teniporal death, as came on 
those that died by the fall of the tower of Siloam, spoken of 
in the preceding words of the same speech ; and no mure in- 
fallible, than that by Uf; Christ moans r*o more than thi.^: 

Vol. VI. 2W 



354 ORIGINAL SIN^. 

temnnrnl life, in each part of that one sentpnce, Matth. x. 59* 
" He -hi't finddh his hf, shall ^o e il ; and he tha» loseHi hii 
/z/f for my sake, shall find /V ;" because in the first part of 
each clause, he has respect especially to ten^poral life.* 

The truth of he case, with re-pect to wha' the apostle 
inten''s bv the woid dt-ath in this place, is this, viz. That the 
same thinjr is meant, 'hat is meant hy death in the forec:oing 
and followinp: parts of ihis epistle, and other writings of this 
apostle, where he speaks of death as the consequence of sin, 
viz. the whole of that death, which he, and the scripture ev- 
ery where, speaks of as the proper wages and punishment of 
sin, inchuline: death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal ; though 
in some parts of this discourse he has a more special respect 
to one part of this whole, in others to another, as his argu- 
ment leads him ; without any more variation thaw is common 
in the same.disrourse. That life, which the scripture speaks 
of as the rewaid of righteousness, is a whole, containiny; sev- 
eral part!^, viz. The life of the body, union of soul and body, 
and the most perfect sensibility, activity, and felicity of both, 
Avhich is the chief thing. In like manner the death, which 
the scripture speaks of as the punishment of sin, is a whole, 
including the death of the body, and the death of the soul, and 
the eternal, sensible, perfect destruction and misery of both. 
It is this latttr whole, that the apostle speaks of by the name 

♦ There are many placts parallel with these as John xi. 25, 26, " I ara 
the resurrection and the life : He that believeth in me though he were dead, 
vet he shall live : •^nd whosoc>er liveth, .ind believeih in me shall never die " 
lier:' both the words, life and death, are ustd with this variation : " I am 
ihi restr ection and the life, ' meaning spritual an eternal life : " He that 
belicvcth in mc, hough he were dead." having r sped to temporal death, 
«• \et shall he live," with respect to spirit 'al life and hv- restoration ot the 
life of the body. " And whosoever liveth and believeth in me. shall never 
liie, ' meaning a spiri'u 1 and eternal -^ieath So in John vi 49. 50. " Your 
iathtrs did eat.ma.;na ii the wilderness and are dead," havnig respect hiefly 
to temporal death. " This is he bread which cometh dnvrn fr m heaven, that 
a man may eat thereof, and not die," i c. by the loss of spiritual life and by 
etcrial des h. 'See al -o ver 58 ) And in ;he next verse " If any m n eat 
of this biead he shall livr forever," have eternal life. So ver. 54. bee an- 
other like instance, John v. 24. ...29. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 355 

6f death in this discourse, in Rom. v. thouoh in some sen- 
tences he has a moie special respect to one part, in others to 
another: And this, without chanq;int^ the signification of the 
word. For an havins^ respect to several things included in 
the extensive signification of the word, is not the same tiling 
as using the word in several distinct sic^nificdtions. As loi* 
inft.ince, '.he appellative, jnan,ov the proper name of any par- 
ticular man, is the name of a w!)ole, inchidn g the different 
parts f)f soul and body. And if any one in speaking of James 
or John, should say, he was a wise man, and a beautiful mau ; 
in the former part of the sentence, respect would be liad more 
especially to his soul, in the latter to his body, in the word 
man : Bu; ye without any pioper change of the signification 
of the name to distirrct senses. In John xxi. 7, it is said, 
Peter wa/i naked, and in the following part of the same story- 
it is said, Peter was grieved. In the former luoposition, res- 
pect is had especially to his body, in the latter to his soul : 
But yet here is no proper change of the meaning of the name, 
Peter. And as to the apostle's use of the word death, in the 
passage now under consideration, on the sujiposiiion that he 
in general means the whole of that death, which is the wages 
of sin, there is nothing but what is perfectly natural in sup- 
posiiig that he, in order to evince, thai death, the proper pun- 
ishment of sin, comes on all mankind, in consequence of Ad- 
am's sin, should take notice of that part of this punishment, 
which is visible in this world, and which every body therefore 
sees, does in fact come on all mankind (as in ver. 14) and 
from thence should infer, that all n)ankind are exposed to the 
whole of that death which is the proper punishment of sin, 
whereof that temporal death M-hich is visible, is a nart, and a 
visible imag-e of the whole, and (unless cl\jing-ed by divine 
grace) an introduction to the principal, and infinitely the most 
dreadful part. 

II. Dr. Taylor's explanation of this passage makes wholly 
insignificant those first words, " By one man sin entered into 
the world," and leaves this proposition without any sense or 
signifiration at all. The apostle had been largely and elabo- 
rately representing, how the whole world was full of sin, in all 



356 ORIGINAL SIN. 

parts of it, both among Jews and Gentiles, and all exposed to 
death and condemnation. It is plain, that m these words he 
would tell us how this came to pass, viz. that this sorrowful 
event came by one man^ even the first man. That the world 
\v full of sin, and full of death, were two great and notorious 
facts, deeply affecting the interests of mankind ; and they 
seemed very wonderful facts, drawing the attention of the 
more thinking part of mankind every where, who often asked 
this question, Whence coynes evil, moral and natural evil ? (the 
latter chiefly visible in death.) It is manifest the apostle 
here means to tell us, how these came into the world, and 
came to prevail in it as they do. But all that is meant, ac- 
cording to Dr. Taylor's interpretation, is, " He begun trans- 
gression."* As if all that the apostle meant, was, to tell us 
who happened to sin first ; not how such a malady came upon 
the world, or how any one in the world, besides Adam him- 
self, came by such a distemper. The words of the apostle, 
<' By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin," 
shew the design to be, to tell us how these evils came, as af- 
fecting the state of the world ; and not only as reaching one 
man in the world. If this -were not plain enough in itself, 
the words immediately following demonstrate it : " And so 
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." By sin's 
being in the world, the apostle does not mean being in the 
■world only in that one instance of Adam's first transgression, 
but being abroad in the world, among the inhabitants of the 
earth, in a wide extent, and continued series of wickedness ; 
as is plain in the first words of the next verse, " For until the 
law, sin was w the world,'* And therefore when he gives us 
an account how it came to be in the world, or, which is the 
same thing, how it entered into the world, he does not mean 
only coming in, in one instance. 

If the case were as Dr. Taylor represents, that the sin of 
Adam, either in its pollution or punishment, reached none 
but himself, any more than the sin of any other man, it would 
be no more proper to say, that by one man sin entered into the 

* Page 56. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 357 

tDorld^ than if it should be inquired, how mankind came into 
America, and there had anciently been a ship of the Pheni- 
cians wrecked at sea, and a single man of the crew was driv- 
en ashore on this continent, and here died as soon as he 
reached the shore, it should be said, By that one man mankind 
came into America. 

And besides, it is not true, that by one man, or by Adam, 
sin entered into the world, in Dr. Tayloi''s sense ; for it was 
not he, but Eve^ that begun transgression. By one man Dr. 
Taylor understands Adam, as the figure of Christ. And it 
is plain that it was for his transgression, and not Eve's, that 
the sentence of death was pronounced on mankind after the 
fall. Gen. iii. 19. It appears unreasonable to suppose the 
apostle means to include Eve, when he speaks of Adam ; for 
he lays great stress on it, that it was by one, repeating it sev- 
eral times. 

III. In like manner this author brings to nothing the 
sense of the causal particles, in such phrases as these, so 
often repeated ; " Death by sin," verse 12. « If through the 
offence of one, many be dead," verse 15. « i5t/ one that 
sinned.... Judgment was by one to condemnation," verse 16. 
"JSyone man's offence, death reigned by one," verse 17. 
« By the offence of one, judgment came upon all," &c. verse 
18. " J?J/ one man's disobedience," verse 19. These causa! 
particles, so dwelt upon, and so variously repeated, unless 
■we make mere nonsense of the discourse, signify some con- 
nexion and dependence, by some sort of influence of that sin 
of one man, or some tendency to that effect, which is so often 
said to come by it But according to Dr. Taylor, there can 
be no real dependence or influence in the case of any sort 
whatsoever. There is no connexion by any natural influence 
of that one act to make all mankind mortal. Our author 
does not pretend to account for this effect in any such man- 
ner, but in another most diverse, viz. A gracious act of 
God, laying mankind under affliction, toil and death, from 
special favor and kindness. Nor can there be any dependence 
of this effect on that transgression of Adam, by any moral in- 
fluence, as deserving such a consequence, or exposing to it on 



358 ORIGINAL SIN. 

any moral account, for he supposes ti.at mankind are not in this 
■way exposed to the least cleti:iee of evil. Nor has tliis effect 
ar.\ ifffal dependence on that sin,or any connexion hy virtue of 
anv antecedent co:islitution, which God had established with 
A'iam ; for he insists that in that threatening, Jn the day 
thou eatest t-hou shalt die, there is not a word said of his pos- 
terity, page 8. And death on mankind, according to him, 
cannot come by virtue of that legal constitution with Adam ; 
because the sentence by which it came, was after the annall- 
ing and abolisl-.ing that constiiution, page 113, 5. And it is 
manifest that this consequence cannot be through any kind of 
tendencu of that sin to such an effect, because the effect comes 
on! as a benefit, and is the fruit of mere favor ; but sin has 
no tendency, either natural or moral, tCi benefiio and divine fa- 
vors. And thus that sin of Adam could neither be the effi- 
cient c use nor the proem ing cause, nei.her the natural, mo- 
ral, tior le^al cause, nor an exciting and moving cause, any 
more than Adam's eating of any other tree of the garden. 
And the only real relation that the effect can have to that 
sin, is a relation as to, time, viz. that it i.s after it. And when 
the matter is closely examined, the whole amounts to no 
more than this, Th t God is pleased, of his mere good will 
and pieasure, to bestow a greater favor upon us, than he did 
upon Adam in innncci.cy, after that sin of his eating the for- 
bidden fruit ; whicii sin we are no more concerned in, than 
in the sin of the king of Pegu, or emperor of China. 

IV. It is altogether inconsistent with the apostle's scope, 
and the import ol what he says, to suppose that the death 
which he here speaks of, as coming on mankind by Adam's 
sin, conies not as a punishment, but only as a favor. It quite 
makes void the opposition, in Avhich the apostle sets the 
consequences of Adam's sin, and the consequences of the 
grace and righteousness of Christ They are set in opposi- 
tion to each other, as opposite effects, arising from oppo-.ite 
causes, throughout the [)aragraph : One as the Juit con&c^ 
fjuence of an offence, the other a free gift, verse 15... 18. 
W'nereas, accoiding to this scheme, there is no such opposi- 
tion in the case ; both are benefits, and both are free gifts. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 559 

A very wholesome TnefUcine to save from perishing, ordered 
by a k nd father, or a shield to preserve Vom an enemy, be- 
stowed by a friend, is as much a free gift as pleasant food. 
The death that comes by Adam, is stt in opposiii«n to the 
life and happiness that comes by Christ, as being the froit of 
«irz, and judgment for sin ; when the latter is the fruit of di- 
vine grace, verses 15, 17, 20, 2\. Whereas, according to 
our author, both ct^nie by grace : Death comes on mankmd 
by the free kindness'and love of God, much more truly and 
properly than by Adam's sin. Dr. Taylor speaks ol it as 
coming by occasion of Adam's sin. (But as I have observ< d, 
it is an occasion without any influence.) Yet the proper cause 
is God'fi grace ; so that the true cause is wlioUy good. Which 
by the way, is directly repugnant to the apostle's doctrine in 
Rom. vii. 13. « Was then that which is good, made death 
unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appeal sm, 
working death in me by that which is good." Where the 
apostle utterly rejects nny siicli suggestion, .iS though that 
which is good were the firofier cause of death ; and signifies 
that sin is the proper cause, and that which is good, only the 
occasion. But acrording to this author, the .reverse is true' : 
That which is good iii \ne highest sense, even the love of 
God, and a divine, gracious (.onstiiutiun, is the proper cause 
of death, and sin only the occasion. 

But to return, it is plain, that death by Adam, and life 
and happiness by Christ, are here set in opposition ; the latter 
bemg spoken of &% good, the other as evil ; one. as the effect 
of ri,q/iteo7isnesSf the other of an offence j one the fruit of obe- 
dience, the other of disohclience, ; one as the fruit of God's 
favor, in consequence of what was pleasing and acceptable to 
him, but the other the fruit of his disjikasure, in consequence 
of what was displeasing and hateful to him ; the latter com- 
ing by justification, the former by the condemnation of the 
subject. But according to the scheme of our author, there 
can be no opposition in any of these respects ; the death here 
spoken of, neither cones as an evil, nor from an ew7 ffltw<?, 
ciihcr an evil efficient c2M1,q, (v -/irocurin g caiise ; not at all 
as any testimony of God's disfileasure to the subject, but as 



360 ORIGINAL SIN, 

properly the effect of God's favor, no less than that which is 
spoken of as coming by Christ ; yea, and as much as to that 
appointed by an act of juatijication of the subject, as he un- 
derstands and explains the word justification ; for both are 
by a grant of favor ^ and are instances of mercy and good- 
ness. And he does abundantly insist upon it, that " any 
grant of favor, any instance of mercy and goodness, whereby 
God delivers and exempts from any kind of danger, suffering 
or calamity, or confers any favor, blessing, or privilege, is 
called justification^ in the scripture sense and use of the 
word."* 

And over and above all these things, our author makes 
void, and destroys the grand and fundamental opposition of all, 
to illustrate which is the chief scope of ihis whole passage, 
viz. That between the first and second Adam, in the death 
that comes by one, and the life and happiness by the other. 
For, according to his doctrine, both come by Christ, the second 
Adam ; both by his grace, righteousness, and obedience : 
The death that God sentenced mankind to in Gen. iii. 19, be- 
ing a great deal more properly and truly by Christ, than by 
Adam. For, according to him, that sentence was not pro- 
nounced on the foot of the covenant with Adam, because that 
was abrogated, and entirely set aside, as what was to have no 
more effect, before it was pronounced ; as he largely insists 
for many pages together, pages 1 13.... 119, 5. He says, page 
113, S. " This covenant with Adam was disannulled immedi- 
ately after Adam sinned. Even before God passed sentence 
upon Adam, grace was introduced." And in p. 119, -S. he 
says, " The death that mankind are the subjects of now, stands 
under the covenant of grace." And in p. 120, 5. " In the 
counsel and appointment of God, it stood in this very light, 
even before the sentence of death was pronounced upon 
Adam ; and consequently, death is no proper and legal pun- 

• Key, ^ 374, where it is to be observed, thai he himself puts the 'A-ord 
ANY in capital letters. The same thing in substance is often asserted else- 
-where. And this, indeed, is his main poiot in what he calls " the true gos- 
pel scheme." 



ORIGINAL SIN. 361 

ishnient of sin." And he often insists, that it comes only as 
a favor and benefit ; and standing, as iie says, under the cov- 
enan' of grace, which is by Christ, therefore is truly one of 
the benefits of the new covenant, which comes by Christ, 
the second Adam. For he himself is full in it, to use his 
own words,* " 1 hat all the grace of the gospel is dispensed 
to us, in, by, or through the Son of God." *' Nothing is 
clearer (says hef) from the whole current of scripture, than 
that all the mercy and loVe of God, and all the blessings of 
the gospel, from first to last, are /«, by, and through Christ, 
and particularly by his blood, by the redemption that is in 
him. This (says hej can bear no dispute among Christians." 
What then becomes of all this discourse of the apostle, a- 
bout the great difference and opposition between Adanr? and 
Christ ; as death is by one, and eternal life and happiness 
by the other ? This grand distinction between the two Ad- 
ams, ■ and all the other instances of opposition and difference 
here insisted on, as between the effects of sin and righteous' 
ness, the consequences of obedience and disobedience, of the 
offence and ihe free gift, judgment and grace^ condemnation and 
justif cation, they all come to nothing ; and this whole dis- 
course of the apostle, wherein he seems to labor much, as 
if it were to set forth some very grand and most important 
distinctions and o/i/iositions in the state of things, as derived 
from ihe two great heads of mankind, proves nothing but a 
multitude of words without meaning, or rather an heap of 
inconsistencies. 

V. Our author's own doctrine entirely makes void what 
he supposes to be the apostle's argument in the 13th and 14th 
verses, in these words : " For until the law, sin was in the 
world ; but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nev- 
ertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them 
that hiid not sinned alter the similitude of Adam's transgres- 
sion. 

Whtt he supposes the apostle would prove here, is, 'hat 
death, or the morialiiy of mankind, comes only by Adam's 

* Key, char): viii. Title, p 41. + K:-y, \ 145. 

Vol. VI. " 2X' 



362 ORIGINAL SIN. 

sin, and not by men's fiersonal sins ; and that it is here prov- 
ed by this argument, viz. because there was no lavj threaten- 
ing death to Adam's posterity for {iers<mal sins, before the 
law of Moses ; but death, or the mortality of Adam's poster- 
ity, took place many ages before the law was given ; therefore 
death could not be by any law threatening death for fiersonal 
sins, and consequently could be by nothing but Adam's sin.* 

On this I would observe, 

1. Thai which he supposes the apostle to take for a 
truth in this argument, viz. That there was no law of God In 
being, by which men were exposed to death for personal 
sin, during the time from Adam to Moses, is neither truc^ 
nor agreeable to this apostle's own doctririe. 

First, It is not true. For the law of nature, written in 
men's hearts, was then in being, and was a law by which 
men were exposed to death for fiersonal sin. That there 
Avas a divine establishment, fixing the death and destruction 
of the sinner, as the consequence of personal sin, which was 
■well known before the giving of Moses' law, is plain by 
many passages in the Book of Job, as fully and clearly imply- 
ing a connexion between such sin and such a punishment, as 
any passage in the law of Moses ; such as that in Job xxiv, 
19. "Drought and heat consume the snow waters: So 
doth the grave them that have sinned." (Compare verse 
20 and 24.) Also chap, xxxvi. 6. " He prcserveih not the 
life of the wicked." Chap. xxi. 29... .32. " Have ye not 
asked them that go by the way ? And do ye not know their 
tokens ? That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruc- 
tion ; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Ver. 
52. " He shall be brought to the grave."t 

Secondly, to suppose that there is no law in being, by 
which men are exposed to death {ov personal sins, where or 
when a revealed law of God, before, in, or afler Moses' 
time is not in being, is coyitrary to this afiostlc^s own doctrine 

* Page 40, 41, 42, 57, and often elsewhere. + See also Job iv. 7, 8. 9. 
Chap. XV. 17. ...35. Chap, xviii. 5... .21, xix, 29, and xx. 4., ,.8, and many 
other places. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 363 

in this epistle. Rom. ii. 12, 14, 15. " For as many as have 
sinned without law, (i. e. the revealed law) shall perish with- 
out law." But how they can be exposed to die and perish, 
who have not the law of Moses, nor any revealed law, the 
apostle shews us in the Uth and l5th verses, viz. in that they 
have the law of nature, by which they fall under sentence to 
this punishment. " For when the Gentiles, which have not 
the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, 
having not the law, are a law to themselves ; which shew 
the work of the law written in their hearts ; their conscience 
also bearing witness." Their conscience not only bore 
witness to the duty prescribed by this law, but also to 
the punishment before spoken of, as that which they who 
sinned without law, were liable to suffer, viz. that they 
should perish. In which the apostle is yet more express, 
chap. i. 32, speaking more especially of the Heathen, '« Who 
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such 
things are worthy of death." Dr. Taylor often calls the law 
the rule of right ; and this rule of right sentenced those sin- 
ners to death, who were not under the law of Moses, accord- 
ing to this author's own paraphrase of this verse, in these 
words, « The Heathen were not ignorant of the rule of right, 
which God has implanted in the human nature ; and which 
shews that they which commit such crimes, are deserving of 
death." And he himself supposes Abraham, who lived be- 
tween Adam and Moses, to be under laivy by which he would 
have been ex/wsed to Jiumshment without hope, were it not for 
the promise of grace. ...in his paraphrase on Rom. iv. 15. 

So that in our author's way of explaining the passage be- 
fore us, the grand argument, which the apostle insists upon 
here, t© prove his main point, viz. that death does not come 
by men's personal sins, but by Adam's sin, because it came 
before the law was given, that threatened death for personal 
sin : I say, this argument which Dr. Taylor supposes so clear 
and strong,* is brought to nothing more than a mere shadow 
without substance ; the very foundation of the argument hav- 
ing no truth. To say, there was no such law actually cx- 
• • Page 117. 5. 



364 ORIGINAL SIN. 

pressed in any standing revelation, would be mere trifling > 
For it no more appears, tliat God wf)iild not bims? temporal 
death for personal sins, without a standnig revealed law threat- 
ening it, than that he would not bring eternal death before 
there was a revealed law threatening that : Which yet^vick- 
ed men that lived in Noah's time, were exposed to, as appears 
by 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20j and which Dr. Taylor supposes all man- 
kind are exposed to by th( ir personal sins ; and he himself 
says,* " Sin, in its own unalterable nature, leads to death." 
Yea, it might be argued with as much strength of reason, that 
God could bring on men no punishment at all for any sin, that 
■was committed from Adam to Moses, because there was no 
standing revealed law then extant, threatening any punish- 
ment. It may here be properly observed, that our author sup- 
poses the shortening of man's days, and hastening of death, 
entered into the world by the sin of the antediluvians, in the 
same sense as death and mortality entered into the world by 
Adam's sin.f But Where was there any standing revealed 
law for that, though the event was so universal ? If God 
might bring this on all mankind, on occasion of other men's 
sins, for which they deserved nothing, without a revealed law, 
what could there be to hinder God's bringing death on men 
for their /frsowa/ sins, for which their own consciences teli 
them they do deserve death without a revealed law ? 

3. If it had been so, that from Adam to Moses there had 
been no law in being, of any kind, revealed or natural, by 
Surhieh men could be properly exposed to temporal death for 
peisonal sin, yet the mention of Moses' law would have been 
wholly impertinent, and of no signification in the argument, 
according to our author's understanding of it. He supposes, 
what the apostle would prove, is, that temfioral death, or the 
death we now die, comes by Adam ; and not by any law threat- 
ening such a punishment fur personal sin ; because this death 
prevailed before the law of Moses was in being, which is the 
only law threatening deatli for personal sin. And yet he hint- 
self supposes, that the law of Moses, when it -was in beings 

•Page 77, 78. + Page 68. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 365 

threatened no such death for personal sin. For he abundantly 
asserts, that the death which the law of Moses threatened for 
personal sin, was eternal death, as has been already noted : 
And he says in express terms, that eternal deaih is of a na* 
ture widely different from the death we now die ;* as was also 
observed before. 

How impertinently therefore does Dr. Taylor make an 
inspired writer argue, when, according to him, the apostle 
would prove, that this kind of death did not come by any law 
threatening this kind of deaths because it came before the ex- 
istence of a law threatening another kind of death, of a nature 
widely different ? How is it to the apostle's purpose, to fix on 
that period, the time of giving Moses' law, as if that had been 
the period wherein men began to be threatened with this pun- 
ishment for their personal sins, when in truth it was no such 
thing ? And therefore it was no more to his purpose, to fix on 
that period, from Adam to Meses, than from Adam to David, 
or any other period whatsoever. Dr. Taylor holds, ihac even 
now, since the law of Moses has been given, the mortality of 
mankind, or the death we now die, does not come hy that 
law; but that it always comes only by Adam.f Aiifiifit 
never cornea by that law, we may be sure it never was threat- 
ened'in that law. 

3. If we should allow the argument in Dr. Taylor's sense 
of it, to prove that death does not come by personal sin, yet it 
will be wholly without force to prove the main point, even 
that it must come by Adam's sin : For it might come by 
God's sovereign and gracious pleasure ; as innumerable oth- 
er divine benefits do. If it be ordered, agreeably to our au- 
thor's supposition, not as a punishment< nor as a calamity, but 
only as afavor^ what necessity of any settled constitution, or 
revealed sentence, in order to the bestowing such a favor, 
more than other favors ; and particularly more than that 
^reat benefit, which he says entered into the world by the sin 
of the antediluvians, the shortenmg men's lives so much af- 

* Page 1 20. 5 He says to the like purpose in his Note on Rom, v. 17. 
i This is plain by what he says, p. 38, 40, 53, 117, S. 



366 ORIGINAL SIN. 

ter the flood ? Thus the apostle's arguing, by Dr. Taylor's 
explanation ofit, is turned into mere triflini;, and a vain and 
impertinent use of words, without any real force or signifi- 
cance. 

VI. The apostle here speaks of that great benefit which 
we have by Christ, as the antitype of Adam, under the notion 
of a fruit of grace. I do not mean only that snfierabounding 
of grace, wherein the benefit Ave have by Christ goes beyond 
the damage sustained by Adam ; but that benefit, with re- 
gard to which Adam nvafi the figure of him that was to come, 
and which is, as it were, the counterpart of the suffering by 
Adam, and which repairs the loss we have by him. This is 
here spoken of as ihe fruit of the free grace of God ; as ap- 
pears by ver. 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21. This, according to our 
author, is the restoring of mankind to that life which they 
lost in Adam : And he himself supposes this restoration of 
Mfe by Christ to be what grace does for us, and calls it the 
^ree gift of God, and the grace and favor of the laivgiver* And 
speaking of this restoration, he breaks out in admiration of 
the tinsficakable riches of this grace. \ 

But it follows from his doctrine, that there is no grace at 
all in this benefit, and it is no more than a mere act of justice, 
being only a removing of what mankind suffer, being innocent. 
Death, as it commonly comes on mankind, and even on in- 
fants (as has been observed) is an extreme positive calamity ; 
to bring which on the perfectly innocent, unremedied, and 
without any thing to countervail it, we are sufficiently taught, 
is not consistent with the righteousness of the Judge of all the 
earth. What grace, therefore, worthy of being so celebrated, 
would there be in affording remedy and relief, after there had 
been brought on innocent mankind that which is (as Dr. Tay- 
lor himself represents)! the dreadful and universal destruc- 
tion of their nature ; being a striking demonstration how in- 
finitely hateful sin is to God 1 What grace in delivering from 

* Page 39,70. 148, 27,5. See also contents of this paragr^h in Rotn. v. 
in his notes on the epistle, and bis note on ver. 15, 16, 17. + Page 119, S. 
X P'ge 69. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 36r 

such shocking ruin, them that did not deserve the least ca- 
lamity ! Our author says, " We could not justly lose com- 
munion with God by Adam's sin."* If so, then we could 
not justly lose our lives, and be annihilated, after a course of 
extreme pains and agonies of body and mind, without any 
restoration ; which would be an eternal loss of communion 
with God, and all other good, besides the positive suffering. 
The apostle, throughout this passage, represents the deaths 
which is the consequence of Adam's transgression, as coming 
in a way of judgmeiit and condemnation for sin ; but deliver- 
ance and life through Christ, as by grace^ and the free gift of 
God. Whereas, on the contrary, by Dr. Taylor's scheme, 
the death that comes by Adam, comes by grace, great grace i 
it being a great benefit, ordered in fatherly love and kindness, 
and on the foot of a covenant of grace : But in the deliver- 
ance and restoration by Christ, there is no grace at ali. So 
things are turned tofisy turvy, the apostle's scope and scheme 
entirely inverted and confounded. 

VII. Dr. Taylor explains the words, judgment, condemna- 
tion^ justification, and righteousness, as used in this place, in a 
very unreasonable manner. 

I will first consider the sense he puts upon the two former, 
judgment and condemnation. He often calls this condemna- 
tion a ^wrf/c/c/ Acr, and a sentence of condemnation. But, ac- 
cording to his scheme, it is a judicial sentence of condemna- 
tion passed upon them that are perfectly innocent, and viewed 
by the Judge, even in his passing the sentence, and condemn- 
ing them, as having no guilt of sin, or fault at all chargeable 
upon them ; Siud ?t. judicial /iroceeding, passing sentejice arhi' 
traiily, without any law or rule of rigiit before established : 
For there was no preceding law or rule threatening death, 
that he, or any one else, ever pretended to hav^ been estab- 
lished, but only this, " In the day that thou eatest thereof, 
thou shalt surely die," And concerning this, he insists, that 
there is not a word said in it of Adam's posterity. So that the 
condemnation spoken of, is a sentence of condemnation tr 

* Pagf 14^. 



368 ORIGINAL SIN-. 

death, for, or in consequence of the sin of Adam, without any 
law, by which that sin could be imputed to biintr any such 
consequence ; contrary to the apostle's plain scope. And 
not only so, but over and above all this, it is a judicial sentencf 
oi condemnation to that which is no calamity, nor is considered 
as such in the sentence ; but it is condemnation to a great 
favor 1 

The apostle uses the words judg?nrnt and condemnation in 
other places ; they are no strans>:e and unusual terms with 
him : But never are they used by him in this sense, or any 
like it ; nor are they ever used thus any where else in the 
New Testament. This apostle elsewhere in this epistle to 
the Romans is often speaking of condemnatio?!, using the same. 
or similar terms and phrases as here, but never in the above- 
said sense. Chap. ii. 1, 2, 3. six times in these verses ; also 
ver. 12 and 27, and chap. iii. 7 ; chap. viii. 1 and 3 ; chap. xiv. 
3, 4 and ver, 10, 13, 22 and 23. This will be plain to every 
one that casts his eye on these places : And if we look into 
the former part of this chapter, the apostle's discourse here 
makes it evident, that he is here speaking of a condemnation, 
that is no testimony of favor to the innocent ; but of God's 
displeasure towards those that he is not reconciled to, but 
looks on as offenders, sinners, and enemies, and holds as the 
objects of his wrath, which we arc delivered from by Christ ; 
as may be seen in verses 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 1 1. 

And viewing this discourse itself, in the very paragraph 
\ve are upon, if we may judge any thing by language and 
manner of speaking, there is every thing to lead us to sup- 
pose, that the apostle uses these words here, a^ he does else- 
where, properly and as implying a supposition of sin, charge- 
able on the subject, and exposing to punishment. He speaks 
of condemnation with reference to sin, as what comes by sin, 
and as a condemnation to death, which seems to be a most 
terrible evil, and capital punishment, even in what is temporal 
and visible ; and this in the way of judgment and execution 
of justice, in opposition to grace or favor, and gift or a benefit 
coming by favor. And sin and cffcnce, transgression and 
disobedience, are over and over .ngain spoken of as ilie ground 



ORIGINAL SiN. 369 

of ihe condemnation, and of the capital sufTeting condemned 
!o, for ten verses success \ely, that is, in every verse in the 
whole paragraph, without missing one. 

The words, justification and righteousness., are explained 
by Dr. Taylor, in a no less unreasonable manner. He wW' 
ders\.ands jiistjfication, in ver. 18, and righteousness, in ver. 19, 
in such a sense, as to suppose them to belong to all, and act- 
ually to be applied to all mankind, good and bad, believers 
and unbelievers ; to the worst enemies of God, remaining 
such, as well as his peculiar favorites, and many that never 
had any sin imputed to them ; meaning thereby no more 
than what is fulfilled in an universal resurrection from the 
dead, at the last day.* Now this is a most arbitrary forced 
sense. Though these terms are used every where, all over 
the New Testament, yet nothing like such an use of them is 
to be found in any one instance, through all the writings of 
the apostles and evangelists. The •v/ovd^ justify, justification., 
and righteousness, as from God to men, are never used but to 
signify a privilege belonging only to some, and that which is 
peculiar to distinguished favoi-ites. This apostle in particular, 
above all the other writers of the New Testament, abounds in 
the use of these terms ; so that we have all imaginable op- 
portunity to understand his language, and know the sense in 
which he uses these words : But he never elsewhere uses 
them in the sense supposed here, nor is there any pretence 
that he does. Above all, does this apostle abound in the use 
of these terms in this epistle. Justification is the subject he 
had been upon through all the pieccding part of the epistle. 
It was the grand subject of all the foregoing chapters, and the 
precediDg part of this chapter, where these terms are contin- 
ually repeated. And the v;o\\\, justificationy is constantlv used 
to signify something peculiar to believers, who had been sin- 
ners ; implying some reconciliation and forgiveness of sin, 
and special privilege in nearness to God, above the re-t of 
the woild. Yea, the word is constantly used thus, according 
to Dr. Taylor's own explamuions, in his paraphrase and i.otes 

• So, page 47, 49, 60, 61, 62, and orher places. 
Vol., VI. ? Y 



3ro ORIGINAL SIN. 

on this epistle. And there is not the least reason to suppose 
but that he is still speaking of the same jusli/icalioji and rights 
eousness, which he had dwelt upon from the beginnins* to this 
place. He speaks of justijication and righteousness here, just 
in the same manner as he had done in the preceding part of 
the epistle. He had all along spoken of justification as stand- 
ing in relation to am, disobedience to God, and offence against 
God, and so he does here : He had before been speaking of 
justification through free grace, and so he does ^ere : He 
before had been speaking of justification ihi'ough rightcous- 
ness, as in Christ Jesus, and so he does here. 

And if we look into the former part of this very chapter, 
there we shall find justijicatiori spoken of just in the same 
sense as in the rest of the epistle ; \vhich is also supposed by 
our author in his exposition : It is still jusiijication by faith., 
justijication of them that had been sinners, justijication attend- 
ed with reconciliation, justification peculiar to them that had 
the love of God shed abroad in their hearts. The apostle's fore- 
going discourse on justification by grace through faith, and 
what he had so greatly insisted on as the evidence of the 
truth of this doctrine, even the universal sinfulness of man- 
kind in their original state, is plainly what introduces this dis- 
course in the latter part of this 5th chapter ; where he shews 
how all mankind came to be sinful and miserable, and so to 
need this grace of God, and righteousness of Christ. And 
therefore we cannot, without the most absurd violence, sup- 
pose any other than that he is still speaking of the %d^\a& justi- 
fication. 

And as to the universal expression used in the 1 8th verse, 
" By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all n, en 
to justification of life ;" it is needless here to go into the con- 
troversv between the remonstrants and aiiti remonstrants, con- 
cerning universal redemption, and their dift'erent interpreta- 
tions of this place. If we take the words even as the Arniin- 
ians do ; yet, in their sense of them, the free gift comes on 
all men to justification only conditiojmll'j ; i. e.firovided ihty 
believe, repent. Sec. But in our author's sense, it actually 
comes on all,, whether they believe and repent, or not ; which 



ORIGINAL SIN. 371 

certainly cannot be inferred from the universal expression, as 
here used. Dr. Taylor himself supposes, the main design of 
the apostle in this universal phrase, all men, is to signify that 
the benefits of Christ shall come on Gentiles as well as Jews.* 
And he supposes that the many, and the all, here signify Ihe 
same : But it is quite certain, that all the benefits here spok- 
en of, which the apostle says are to the many, does not actual- 
ly come upon all mankind ; as particularly the abounding of 
grace, spoken of ver. 15. The grace of God, and the gift by 
grace, hath abounded unto the many, ttt; th; tao'KKai;. 

This abounding of grace our author explains thus : " A 
rich overplus of grace, in erecting a new dispensation, fur- 
nished with a glorious fund of light, means and motives," 
p. 44. But will any pretend, that all mankind have actually 
been partakers of this new fund of light, 8cc. How were the 
many millions of Indians, on the American side of the globe, 
partakers of it, before the Europeans came hither ? Yea, Dr. 
Taylor himself supposes, all that is meant is, that it is free 
for all that are vAlling to accefit ofit.'f The agreement be- 
tween Adam, as the type or figure of him that was to come, 
and Christ as the antitype, appears as full and clear, if we 
suppose all which are in Christ (to use the common scripture 
phrai5e) have the benefit of his obedience, as all that are in 
Adam have the sorrowful fruit of his disobedience. The 
scripture speaks of believers as the seed or posterity of Christ. 
(Gal. iii. 29.) They are in Christ by grace, as Adam's pos- 
terity are in him by nature : The one are in the frst Adam 
naturally, as the other are in the second Adam spiritually ; Ex- 
actly agreeable to the representation this apostle makes of the 
matter, 1 Cor. xv. 45. ...49. The spiritual seed are those 
which this apostle often represents as On-ist's body : And the 
CI 'BTo?Jio» here spoken of as made righteous by Christ's obedi- 
ence are doubtless the same with the o» o^oXAoj which he speaks 
of in chap. xii. 5. JTe, being ?nanyy are one body ; or, we, the 
many, oi •o^eTk^ot i» au(*et Slitv. And again, 1 Cor. x. 17, e» vufioi 

* Page 6o, 6i, See also Contents of this paragraph, in his notes on the 
epistle. + Notes on the epistU, p. 284. 



372 ORIGINAL SIN. 

oj OTo^Xoj £«-^£r. And the same which the apostle had spoken 
of in tlie preceding chapter, Rom. iv. 18, compared with 
Gen. XV. 5. 

Dr. Taylor mvich insists on that place, 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. 
" For since hy man came death, by man came also the resur- 
rection of the dead : For as in Adam all die, so in Christ 
shall all be made alive ;" to confirm his suppositions, that the 
apostle here in the 5th of Romans, speaking of the death and 
condemnation which come by Adam, has respect only to the 
death ive all die, when this life ends : And that by the justifi- 
cation and life which come by Christ, he has reipect only to 
the general resurrection at the last day. But ii is observable, 
that his argument is wholly built on these two suppositions, 
viz._ First, That the resurrection meant by the apostle, in 
that place in the 1 Cor. xv. is the resurrection of all mankind, 
both just and unjust. Secondly, That the opposite conse- 
quences of Adam's s,in, and Christ's obedience, spoken of here 
in Rom. v. are the very same, neither more nor less, than are 
spoken of there. IJut there are no grounds for supposing 
cither of these things to be true. 

1. There is no evidence, that the resurrection there spok- 
en of, is the resurrection both of the just and unjust j but 
abundant evidence of the contrary. The resurrection of the 
wicked is seldom mentioned in the New Testament, and rare- 
ly included in the meaning of the word ; it being esteemed 
not worthy to be called a rising to life, being only for a great 
increase of the misery and darkness of eternal death : And 
therefore by the reF.urrrction is most commonly meant a rising 
to life and hitppiness ; as may be observed in Matth. xxii. 30 
....Luke XX. 35, 36. ...John vi. 39, 40, 54.. ..Philip, iii. 11, and 
other places. The saints avq called the children of the resur- 
rection, as Dr. Taylor observes in his note on Rom. viii. 1 1, 
And it is exceeding evident, that it is the resurrection to life 
and happiness, the apostle is speaking of in this 1 Cor. xv. 21, 
22. It appears by each of the three foregoing verses, ver. i8. 
" Then I hey which are fallen asleep in Christ (i. e. the saints) 
are perished." Ver. 19. " If in this life only ive (Christians 
or apostles) have hope in Chribt (and have no resuireclion 



ORIGINAL SIN. SfS 

and, eternal life to hope for) we are of all men most misera- 
ble." Ver. 20. *' But now is Christ risen from the dead, and 
is become Xhejirst fruits of them that slepc." He is the fore- 
runner and first fruits only with respect to them that are his ; 
who are lo follow him, and partake with him in the glory and 
happiness of his resurrection : But he is not the first fruits of 
them that shall come forth to the resurrection oi damnation. 
It also appears by tiie verse immediately following, ver. 23. 
" But every man in his own order ; Christ the first fruits, and 
afterward lliey that are Christ's^ at his coming." The same 
is plain by what is said in verse 29, 30, 31 and 32, and by all 
that is said from the 35th verse to the end of the chapter, for 
nventythree verses together : It there expressly appears, that 
the apostle is speaking only of a rising to glory^ with a glori- 
mis body, as the little grain that is sown, being quickened, 
rises a beautiful flourishing plant. He there speaks of the 
different .degrees of glory among them that shall rise, and 
compares it to the different degrees of glory among the ce- 
lestial luminaries. The resurrection which he treats of, is 
expressly a being raised in incorrufiiion^ in glory^ in /lowevj 
-xith a spiritual body., having the image of the second man, the 
spiritual and heavenly Adam ; a resurrection wherein this 
/■.orrujitible dhall fiiit on incorrvfition^ ayid this mortal fiut on im- 
7norta'ity, and death be sivalloived up in -victory, and the s^nta 
shall gloriously triumph over that last enemy. Dr. Taylor 
himself says, that which is in effect owning the resurrection 
hfere spoken of is only of the righteous ; for it is expressly 
a resurrection, w a^a.i)xa.Mx., and a(p^uq7f.a., ver. 53 and 42, But 
Dr. Taylor says, »' These are never attributed t© the wicked 
In scripture.* So that when the apostle says here, " As in 
Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive ;" it is as 
much as if he had said. As in Adam we all die, and our bodies' 
are sown in corruption, in dishonor, and in weakness ; so in 
Christ we all (we Christians, whom I have all along been 
speaking of) shall be raised in power, glory, and incorruption, 
spiritual and heavenly, conformed to the second Adam. « For 

* Note on Rom. viii. 27. 



374 ORIGINAL SIN. 

as we have lioi ne the imat^e of the earthy, we shall also bear 
the image of the heavenly," ver. 49. Which clearly explains 
and determines his meaning in verse 21, 22. 

2. There is no evidence that the benefit by the second 
Adam, spoken of in Rom. v. is the very same (containing 
neither more nor less) as the resurrection spoken of in I Cor. 
XV. It is no evidence of it, that the benefit is opposed to the 
death that comes by the first Adam, in like manner in both 
places. The resurrection to eternal life, though it be not 
the whole of that salvation and happiness which comes by the 
second Adam, yet it is that wherein this salvation is princi- 
pally obtained. The time of the saints' glorious resurrection 
is often spoken of as the proper time of the saints' salvation, 
4he day of their redem/ition, the time of their adofition, glory, 
and recompense. (As in Luke xiv. 14, and xxi. 28, Rom. 
viii. 23, Eph. iv. 30, Coloss. iii. 4, 2 Thess. i. 7, 2 Tim. iv. 
8, 1 Pet. i. 13, and v. 4, 1 John iii. 2, and other places.) All 
that salvation and happiness which is given before, is only a 
prelibation and earnest of their great reward. Well therefore 
may that consummate salvation bestowed on them, be set in 
opposition to the death and ruin which comes by the first 
Adam, in like manner as the whole of their salvation is op- 
posed to the same in Rom. v. Dr. Taylor himself observes,* 
" T'^t the revival and resurrection of the body, is frequently 
put for our advancement to eternal life." It being the high- 
est part, it is often put for the whole. 

This notion, as if the justification, righteousness, and life 
spoken of in Rom. v. implied the resurrection to damnation, 
is not only without ground from scripture, but contrary to 
reaf.on. For those things are there spoken of as great bene- 
fits, by the grace and free gift of God ; but this is the con- 
trary, in the highest degree possible, being the most con- 
summate and infinite calamity. To obviate this, our author 
supposes the resurrection of all to be a great benefit in itself, 
tho\igh turned into a calamity by the sin and folly of obstinate 
pinners, who abuse God's goodness. But the far greater pari 

^ * No'.e on Rom. viii. Ji, 



ORIGINAL SIN. 375 

of mankind, since Adam, have never had opportunity to abuse 
this goodness, it having; never been made known to tbem.- 
Men cannot abuse a kindness, which they never had either 
in possession, promise, ofl'er, or some intimation ; but a res- 
urrection is made known only by divine revelation, which few 
comparatively have enjoyed. So that as to such wicked men 
as die in lands of darkness, if their resurrection comet; at all 
by Christ, it comes from him, and to them, only as a curse, 
and not as a blessing ; for it never comes to them at all by 
any conveyance^ grant, fir omise.^ or offer, or any thing by which 
they can claim it, or know any thing of it, till it comes as an 
infinite calamity, past all remedy. 

VIII. In a peculiar manner is there an unreasonable vi« 
olence used in our author's explanation of the words shmers 
and sinned, in the paragraph before us* He says, " These 
words, By one man's disobedience many tvere made siftners, 
mean neither more nor less, than that by one man's disobe- 
dience, the many were made subject to death, by the judi- 
cial act of God."* And he says in the same place, " By 
death most certainly is meant no other than the death and 
mortality common to all mankind.'* And those words, verse 
12, For that all have sinned, he thus explains, " All men 
became dnners as all mankind are brought into a stale of suf- 
£ering."t 

Here I observe, 

I. The main thing, by which he juslilies such interpreta- 
tions, is, that sin, in various instances, is used for snfferinq;, 
in the Old Testament.:^ To which I reply, though it be 
true that the word Chattaah, signifies both sin, and a sin offer- 
ing ; and this, and some other Hebrew words, which signify 
sin, iniquity, and wickedness, are sometimes put for the ef- 
fect or punishment of iniquity, by a metonymy of the cause 
for the effect ; yet it does not appear, that these words are 
ever used for enduring suffering, where the suffering is nee 
spoken of under any notion of a punishment of sin, or a fruit 
of God's anger for sin, or of any imputation of guilt, or under 

♦ Page 30. + Page 54, and elsewhere. % Page 34. 



376 ORIGINAL SIN. 

anjr notion of sin's bein^ at all laid to the chart^e of tiie suffer- 
er, or the suffering's being at all of the nature of any recom- 
pense, compensation, or satisfaction for sin. And therefore 
none of the instances he mentions, come up to his purpose. 
When Lot is commanded to leave Sodom, that he might not 
be consumed m the iniquity of the city, meanintr in that fire, 
which was the effect and punishment of the iniquity of the 
city ; this is quite another thing, than if that fire came on the 
city in general, as no punishment at all, nor as any fruit of a 
charge of iniquity on the city, or of God's displeasure for 
their sin, but as a token of God's favor to the inhabitants ; 
which is what is supposed with respect to the deatii of man- 
kind ; it being introduced only as a benefit, on the foot of a 
covenant of grace. And especially is this quite another thing, 
than if, in the expression used, the iniquity had been asciibed 
to Lot ; and God, instead of saying, Lest thou be consumed 
in the iniquity of the city, had said. Lest thou be consumed in 
thine iniquity, or. Lest thou sin, or be made a sinner. Whereas 
the expression is such, as does expressly remove the iniquity 
spoken of from Lot, and fix it on another subject, viz. the 
city. The place cited by our author in Jer. li, is exactly par- 
allel. And as to what Abimelech says to Abraham, " What 
have I offended thee, that thou hUst brought on me, and on 
my kingdom, a great sin ? It is manifest, Abimelech was 
afraid that God was angry, for what he had done to Sarah ; 
or, would have been angry with him, if he had done what he 
was about to do, as imputing sin to him for it : Which is a 
quite different thing from calling some calamity, sin, under 
no notion of its being any punishment of sin, nor in the least 
degree from God's displeasure. And so with regard to evf>ry 
place our author cites in the margin, it is plain, that what is 
meant in each of them, is the puidshment of sin, and not some 
suRering which is no punishment at all. And as to the in- 
stances he mentions in his Supplement, p. 8, the two that look 
most favorable to his design, are those in Gen. xxxi. 39, and 
2 Kings vii. 9. With respect to ihe former, where J;tcob 
says, That which was torn of beasts, Anochi-achattenah, Dr. 
Taylor is pleased to iianslate it, J was the sinner ; but prop- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 377 

eriy rendered, it is, I exfiiatecl it ; the verb in Pihel properly 
^h^m^y'm^ to exfiiate ; and the plain meaning is, I bore the 
blame ofit^and ivas obliged to fiay for it, as being supposed to 
be lost throuj^h my fjult or neglect : Which is a quite differ- 
ent thing from suffering without any supposition of fault. 
And as to the latter place, where the lepers say, " Tliis day 
is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace : If we tarry 
till morning some mischief will befal us :" In the Hebrew 
it is Umetzaanu gnavon, " Iniquity will find us," that is, some 
punishment of our fault will come upon us. Elsewhere such 
phrases are used, as, Your iniquity nvilljind you out^ and the 
like. But certainly this is a different thing from suffering 
without fault, or supposition of foult. And it does not appear, 
that the verb in Hiphil, hirshiang, is ever put for condemn, in 
any other sense than condemning for sin, or guilt, or suppos- 
ed guilt belonging to the subject condemned. This word is 
used in the participle of Hiphil, to signify condemning^ in 
Prov. xvii. 15. » He that justifieth the wicked, and he that 
condemneth the just, even both are an abomination to the 
Lord." This Dr Taylor observes, as if it were to his pur- 
pose, when he is endeavoring to shew, that in this place, in 
the 5th of Romans, the apostle speaks of God himself as con- 
demjiiyig (ht just, or perfectly innocent, in a parallel significa- 
tion of terms. Nor is any instance produced, wherein the 
verb, dn, which is used by the apostle when he says, All ha-oe 
sinned, is any where used in our author's sense, for being 
brought into a state of suffering, and that not as a punishment 
for sin, or as any thing arising from God's displeasure ; much 
less' for being the subject of what comes only as the fruit of 
divine love, and as a benefit of the highest nature * Nor can 
any thing like this sense of the verb be found in the whole 
Bible. 

2. If there had been any thing like such an use of the 
words, sin and sinner, as our author supposes, in the Old 
Testament, it is evident that such an use of them is quite 
alien from the language of the New Testament. Where c.\n 

* Pige 27, S. 

Vol.. VI. 2Z 



378 ORIGINAL SIN. 

an instance be produced of any thjnt^ like it, in any one place, 
besides what is pretended in this ? And particularly, where 
else shall we find these words and phrases used in such a 
sense in any of this apostle's writings ? We have enough of 
his writings, by which to learn his language and way of speak- 
ing about sin, condemnation, punishment, death, and suffering. 
He wrote much more of the Ncav Testament than any other 
person. He very often has occasion to speak of condemnation, 
but where does he express it by being made sinners ? Espe- 
cially how far is he elsewhere from using such a phrase, to 
signify a being condemned without guilt, or any imputation 
or supposition of guilt ? Vastly more still is it remote from 
his language, so to use the verb sin, and to say, man sinneth, 
or has sinned, though hereby meaning nothing more nor less, 
than that he, by a judicial act, is condemned, on the foot of a 
dispensation of grace, to receive a great favor ! He abund- 
antly uses the words sin and sinner ; his writings are full of 
such terms ; but where else does he use them in such a 
sense ? He has much occasion in his epistles to speak of 
death, temporal and eternal ; he has much occasion to speak 
oi suffering, of all kinds, in this world, and the world to come ; 
but where does he call these things sin, and denominate in- 
nocent men sinners, or say, they have sinned, meaning that 
they are brought into a state of suffering ? If the apostle, 
because he was a Jew, was so addicted to the Hebrew idiom, 
as thus in one paragraph to repeat this particular Hebraism^ 
which, at most, is comparatively rare even m the Old Testa- 
ment, it is strange that never any thing like it should appear 
any where else i\t his wiiiings ; and especially that he should 
never fall into such a way of speakmg in his epistle to the 
Hebrews, written to Jews only, who were most used to the 
H-^brew idiom. And why does Christ never use such lan- 
guage in any of his speeches, though he was born and brought 
up amongst the Jews, and delivered almost all his speeches 
only to Jews ? And why do none of the rest of the writers 
of the New Testament ever use it, who were all born and ed- 
ucated Jews, (at least all excepting Luke) and some of them 
wrote especially lor the benefit of the Jews ? 



ORIGINAL SIN. 379 

It is worthy to be observed, what liberty is taken, and bold- 
ness used xrith this apostle ; such words as a,t<a|To^©', afca^rava, 
xpif^eij xaraxp/Aa, Jtxa»oft», Jixanuo-if, and words ol the same root 
and signification, are words abundantly used by him else- 
where in this and other epistles, and also when speaking, as 
he is here, of Christ's redemption and atonement, and of the 
general sinfulness of mankind, and of the condemnation of 
sinners, and of justification by Christ, and of death as the 
consequence of sin, and of life and restoration to life by 
Christ, as here ; yet no where are any of these words used, 
but in a sense very remote from what is supposed here. 
However in this place, these terms must have a diatinguishtd, 
singular sense found out for them, and annexed to them ! 
A new language must be coined for the apostie, which he ia 
evidently quite unused to, and put into his mouth on this oc- 
casion, for the sake of evading this clear, precise, and abund- 
ant testimony of his, to the doctrine of Original Sin. 

3. The putting such a sense on the word sin, in this place, 
is not only to make the apostle greatly to disagree with him- 
self in the language he uses every where else, but also to 
disagree with himself no less in the language he uses 
in this very passage. He often here uses the word airiy 
and other words plainly of the same design and import, such 
as transgression^ disobedience^ offence. Nothing can be more 
evident, than that these are here used as several names of 
the same thing ; for they are used interchangeably, and put 
one for another, as will be manifest only on the cast of an 
eye on the place. And these words are used no less than 
seventeen times in this one paragraph. Perhaps we shall 
find no place in the whole Bible, in wliich the word sin, and 
other words synonymous, are used so often in so little com- 
pass ; and in all the instances, in the proper sense, as signi- 
fying moral evil., and even so understood by Dr. Taylor him- 
self (as appears by his own exposition) but only in these two 
places ; wheie in the midst of all, to evade a clear evidence 
of the doctrine of Original Sin, another meaning must be 
found out, and it must be supposed that the apostle uses the 



380 ORIGINAL SIN. 

word in a sense entirely different, signifying something that 
neither imfilies nor stififioscs any moral evil at all in the sub- 
ject. 

Here it is very remarkable, the gentleman who so greatly 
insisted upon it, that the word death must needs be under- 
stood in the same sense throughout this paragraph ; yea, 
that it is evide-ntly, clearly, and infallibly so, inasnmch as the 
apostle is still discoursing on the same subject ; yet can, 
without the least difficulty, suppose the word sin, to be used 
so differently in the very same passage, wherein the apostle 
is discoursing on the same thing. Let us take that one in- 
stance in verse 12. " Wherefore as by one man sin entered 
into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon alt 
men, for that all have sinned." Here by sin, implied in the 
word sinned, in the end of the sentence, our author under- 
stands something perfectly and altogether diverse from what 
is meant by the word sin, not only in the same discourse on 
the same subject, but twice in the former part of the very 
same sentence, of which this latter part is not only the con- 
clusion, but the explication ; and also entirely different from 
the use of the word twice in the next sentence, wherein the 
apostle is still most plainly discoursing on the same subject, 
as is not denied : And in the next sentence to that (verse 
14) the apostle uses the veiy same verb sinned, and as signi- 
fying the committing of moral evil, as our author himself un- 
derstands it. Afterwards fvcse 19) the apostle uses the 
word sinners, which our author supposes to be in somewhat 
of a different sense still. So that here is the utmost violence 
of the kind that can be conceived of, to make out a scheme 
agamst the plainest evidence, in changing the meaning of a 
word backward and forward, in one paragraph, all about one 
thing, and in different parts of the same sentences, coming 
over and over in quick repetitions, with a variety of other 
synonymous words to fix its signification ; besides the con- 
tinued use of the word in the former part of this chapter, 
and in all the preceding part of this epistle, and the continu- 
ed use of it in the next chapter, and in the next to that,and 
the 8th chupier following that, aiid to the end of the epistle ; 



ORIGINAL SIN. 3«l 

in none of which places it is pretended, but that the word is 
used in the proper sense, by our author in his paraphrase and 
notes on the whole epistle.* 

But indeed we need go no further than that one, verse 12. 
What the apostle means by sin, in the latter part of the verse, 
is evident with the utmost plainness, by comparing it with 
the former part ; one part answering to another, and the last 
clause exegetical of the former. " Wherefore as by one man 
sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death 
passed upon all men, for that (or, unto which) all have sin- 
ned.'* Here sin and death are spoken of in the former part, 
and sin and deafh are spoken of in the latter part ; the two 
parts of the sentence so answering one another, that the same 
things are apparently me^nt by sin and death in both parts. 

And besides, to interpret sinning, here, of falling under 
the suffering o( death, is yet the more violent and unreasona- 
ble, because the aposile in this very place does once and again 
distinguish between sin and death ; plainly speaking of one as 
the effect, and the other the cause. So in the 2 1st verse, 
" That assm hath reigned unto death ;"" and in the I2th verse, 
'^ Sin entered into the world, and death by sin." And this 
plain distinction holds through all the discourse, as between 
death and the offence, ver. 15, and ver. 17, and between the 
offence and condemnation, ver. 18. 

4. Though we should omit the consideration of the man- 
ner in which the apostle u.^es the words, sin^ sinned, £cc. in 

♦ Agreeably to th's manner, our author, in explaining the ylh chapter of 
Romans, ur.dtrstands the pron.un /, ox me, usi d by the apostle in that one 
continued discourse, in no less than six different senses. He takes it in the 
ist verse to signify the Apostle Paul himself 'n the 8th gh, lOth and nth 
vevses, for the people of the Jews, through all ages, both before and after 
Moses, especially the carnal, ungodly part of them. In the 13th verse for an 
objec ing Jew, entering into a dialo;jue with the apostle. In the I5ih, 16th, 
t7th, ■?o:h, and latter part of the 25th verse, it is understood in two different 
senses, for two /'s in the same person ; one, a man's reason ; and the other, 
his passions and carnal appetites. And in the 7th and former part of the last 
verse, for us Chris ians in general ; or, for all thnt enjov the word of God, 
the law and thf go'pfl : \x\A hese difFcre-'t sen es. the most of them strange- 
ly iaterraixed and interchanged ijackwards and forwards. 



382 ORIGINAL SIN. 

other places, and in other parts of this discourse, yet Dr. Tay* 
lor's interpretation of them would be very absurd. 

The case stands thus : According to his- exposition, we 
are said to have sinned by an active verb, as though we had 
actively sinned ; yet this is not spoken truly and properlyj 
but it is put figuratively for our becoming sinners //ass/T'e/t/, 
our being made or constituted sinners. Yet again, not that we 
do truly become sinners /ia*s/t>e/?/, or are really rnade sinnersy 
by any thing that God does ; this also is only a figurative or 
tropical representaiion ; and the meaning is only, we are con- 
demned, and treated as if we were sinners. Not indeed that 
■we are properly condemned, for God never truly condemns 
the innocent : But this also is only a figurative representation 
of the thing. It is but as it were condemning ; because it is 
appointing to death, a terrible evil, as if it ivere a punishment. 
But then, in reality, here is no appointment to a terrible evil, 
or any evil at all ; but truly to a benefit, a great benefit : And 
so, in representing death as a punishment or calamity con- 
demned to, another figure or trope is made use of, and an ex- 
ceeding bold one ; for, as we are appointed to it, it is so far 
from being an evil or punishment, that it is really ix favor, and 
that of the highest nature, appointed by mere grace and love, 
though it see7ns to be a calamity. Thus we have tropes and 
figures multiplied, one upon the back of another ; and all in 
that one word, sinned ; according to the manner, as it is sup- 
poi^ed, the apostle uses it. We have a figurative refiresenta- 
tion, not of a reality, but of a figurative re/iresentation. Nei- 
ther is this a representation of a reality, but of another thing 
that still is but -d. figurative refiresentation of something else : 
Yea, even this something else is still but a figure, and one that 
is very harsh and far fetched. So that here we have a figure 
to represent a figure^ even z. figure of a figure, representing 
some very remote figure, which most obscurely represents 
the thing intended ; if the most terrible evil can indeed be 
said at all to r<'/i7V'sr??Mhe contrary g-oorf of the highest kind. 
And now, what cannot be made of any place of scripture, in 
such a way of managing it, as this ? And is there any hope of 
ever deciding any controversy by the scripture) in the way of 



ORIGINAL SIN. 383 

using such a licence with the scripture, in order to force it to 
a compliance with our own schemes ? If the apostle indeed 
uses language after so strange a manner in this place, it is 
perhaps such an instance, as not only there is not the like of 
it in all the Bible besides, but perhaps in no writing whatso- 
ever. And this, not in any parabolical, visionary, or prophet- 
ic description, in which difficult and obscure representations 
are wont to be made use of ; nor in a dramatic or poetical 
representation, in which a great licence is often taken, and 
bold figures are commonly to be expected : But it is in a fa- 
miliar letter, wherein the apostle is delivering gospel instruc- 
tion, as a minister of the New Testament ; and wherein, as 
he professes, he delivers divine truth without the vail of an- 
cient figures and similitudes, and uses great plainness of 
speech : And in a discourse that is wholly didactic, narrative, 
and argumentative ; evidently setting himself to explain the 
doctrine he is upon, in the reason and nature of it, with a 
great variety of expressions, turning it as it were on every 
side, to make his meaning plain, and to fix in his readers the 
exact notion of what he intends. Dr. Taylor himself ob- 
serves,* " This apostle takes great care to guard and explain 
every part of his subject : And I may venture to say, he has 
left no part of it unexplained or unguarded. Never was an 
author more exact and cautious in this than he. Sometimes 
he writes notes on a sentence liable to exception, and wanting 
explanation." Now I think, this care and exactness of the 
apostle no where appears more than in the place we are upon. 
Nay, I scarcely know another instance equal to this, of the 
apostle's care to be well understood, by being very particular, 
explicit, and precise, setting the matter forth in every light, 
going over and over again with his doctrine, clearly to ex- 
hibit, and fully to settle and determine the thing which he 
aims at. 

• Preface to Paraph, on Rom. p. 14S, 48 



384 ORIGINAL SIN. 



SECTION LI. 



Some Observations on the Connexion, Scopci and Sense of this 
remarkable paragrafih in Rom. v. With some Rejiectiuns 
on the Evidence nvhichnve here have of the Doctrine o/Ohio- 
iNAL Sin. 



THE connexion of' this remarkable paragraph with the 
foregoing discourse in this epistle, is not obscure and diffi- 
cult, nor to be sought for at a distance. It may be plainly 
seen, only by a general glance on things which went before, 
from the beginning of the epistle : And indeed what is said 
immediately before in the same chapter, leads directly to it. 
The apostle in the prr-ceding part of this epistle had large- 
ly treated of the sinfu/n^s and misery of all mankind, Jews 
as well as Gentiles. He had particularly spoken of the de- 
pravity and ruin of mankind in their natural state, in the fore- 
going part of this chapter ; representing them as being .<?/«- 
nei's, ungodly, enemies, exposed to divine lurath, and without 
strength. No wonder now, this leads him to observe, hoiv 
this so great and deplorable an event came to pass ; how tins 
universal sin and ruin came into the world. And with regard 
to the Jews in particular, who, though they might allow the 
doctrine of Original Sin in their own profession, yet were 
strongly prejudiced against what was implied in it, or evident- 
ly followed from it, with regard to themselves ; in this res- 
pect they were prejudiced agtiinst the dociiine of iiniversal 
sinfulness, and cxposedness to wrath by natiire. looking on 
themselves as by nature holy, and favorites of God, because 
they were the children of Abraham ; and with them the apos- 
tle had labored most in the foregoing part of the episle, to 
convince them of their being by nature as sinful, and as much 



ORIGINAL SIN. 385 

the children of wrath, as the Gentiles :....! say, with regard 
to them, it was exceeding proper, and what the apostle's de- 
sign most naturally led him to, to take off their eyes from 
their fatlier A'jraham, who was their father in distinction 
from other nations, and direct them to their father Adam, 
who was the common father of mankind, and equally of Jews 
and Gentiles. And when he was entered on this doctrine of 
the derivation of sin and ruin, or death, to all mankind from 
Adam, no wonder if he thought it needful to be son. e what 
particular in it, seeing he wrote to Jews and Gentiles ; the 
former of which had been brought up under tlie prejudices of 
a proud opinion of tliemselves, as a holy people by nature, 
and the latter had been educated in total ignorance of all 
things of this kind. 

Again, the apostle had, from the beginning of the epistle, 
been endeavoring to evince the absolute dependence of all 
mankind on the free grace of God for salvation, and the great- 
ness of this grace ; and particularly in the former part of this 
chapter. The greatness of this grace he shews especially by 
two things. (1.) The universal corruption and misery of 
mankind ; as in all the foregoing chapters, and in the 6th, 7th, 
8th, 9th and 10th verses of this chapter. (2.) The greatness 
of the benefits which believers receive, and the greatness of 
the glory they have hope of. So especially in verse 1, 2, 3, 
4, 5, and llih of this chapter. And here, in ihis place we 
are upon, from verse 12 to the end, he is still on the sarae 
design of magnifying the grace of God, in the same thing, 
viz. the favor, life, and happiness which believers in Christ 
receive ; speaking here of the grace of God, the gift by grace , 
the abounding of grace, arid the reign of grace. And he still 
^ets forth the freedom and riches of grace by the same two 
argiimenis, viz. The universal sinfulness and ruin of man- 
kind, all having sinned, all being naturally exposed to death, 
judgment and condemnation ; and the exceeding greatness 
of the benefit received, being far greater than the misery 
whicli comes by the first Adam, and abounding beyond it. 
And it is by no means consistent witli the apostle's scope, to 
.suppose, that the benefit which we have by (ilirist, as the aii- 
^'«I.. VI. '5 A 



386 ORIGINAL SIN. 

titypc of Adam, liere mainly insisted on, is without any grace 
at all, being only a restoration to life ot such as never deserv- 
ed death. 

Another thing observable in the apostle's scope from the 
beginning of the epistle, is, he endeavors to shew the gieat- 
iiess and absoluteness of the dependence of all mankind on 
the redemption and righteousness of Christ, for justification 
and life, that he might magnify and exalt the Redeemer ; 
which design his wiiole heart was swallowed up in, and may 
be looked upon as the main design of the whole epistle. And 
this is what he had been upon in the preceding part of this 
chapter ; inferring it from the same argument, the utter sin- 
fulness and ruin of all men. And he is evidently still on the 
same thing in this place, from the 12th verse to the end ; 
^peaking of the same justification and righteousness, which 
he had dwelt on before, and not anoti>er totally diverse. No 
wonder, when the apostle is treating so fully and largely of 
our restoration, righteousness, and life by Christ, that he is 
led by it to consider our fall, sin, death, and ruin by Adam ; 
and to observe wherein these two opposite heads of mankind 
agree, and wherein they differ, in the manner of conveyance 
of opposite influences and communications from each. 

Thus, if the place be understood, as it used to be under- 
stood by orthodox divines, the whok stands in a natural, easy, 
and clear connexion with the preceding part of the chapter, 
and all the former part of the epistle ; and in a plain agree- 
ment with the express design of all that the apostle had been 
saying ; and also in connexion with the words last before 
spoken, as introduced by the two immedrately preceding 
verses, where he is speaking of our justification, reconcilia- 
tion, and salvation by Christ ; which leads the aposik directly 
to observe, how, on the contrary, we have sin and death by 
Adam. Taking this discourse of the apostle in its true and 
plain sense, there is no need of great extent of learning, or 
depth of criticism, to find out the connexion : But if it be un- 
derstood in Dr. Taylor's sense, the plain scope and connex- 
ion are wholly lost, and there was truly need of a skill in crit- 
icism, and art of discerning, beyond or at least diilercnt from 



ORIGINAL SIN. S«7 

that of former divines, and a faculty of seeing something afar 
off, which other men's sight could not reach, in order to find . 
out the connexion. 

What has been ah-eady observed, may suffice lo shew the 
apostle's general scope in this place. But yet there seem to 
be some other things, which he has his eye to, in several ex- 
pressions ; some particular things in the then present state, 
temper and notions of the Jews, which he also had before 
spoken of, or had reference to, in certain places of the fore- 
going part of the epistle. As particularly, the Jews had a 
very superstitious and extravagant notion of their law, deliv- 
ered by Moses ; as if it were the prime, grand, and indeed 
only rule of God's proceeding with mankind as their judge, 
both in men's justification and condemnation, or from whence 
all, both sin and righteousness, were imputed ; and had no 
consideration of the law of nature, written in the hearts of the 
Gentiles, and of all mankind. Herein they ascribed infinite- 
ly too much to their particular law, beyond the true design of 
it. They vxade their boast oftlie latv ; as if their being distin- 
guished from all other nations by that great privilege, the giv- 
ing of the law, sufficiently made them a holy people, and God's 
children. This notion of theirs the apostle evidently refers to, 
chap.ii. 13, 17, 18, 19, and indeed through that whole chapter. 
They looked on the law of Moses as intended to be the only 
rule and means of justification ; and as such, trusted in the 
works of the law, especially circumcision ; which appears by 
the 3d chapter. But as for the Gentiles, they looked on them 
as by nature sinners, and children of wrath ; because born of 
uncircumcised parents, and aliens from their law, and who 
themselves did not know, profess and submit to the law of 
Moses, become proselytes, and receive circumcision. What 
they esteemed the sum of their wickedness and condemna- 
tion, was, that they did not turn Jews, and act as Jews.* This 
notion of theirs the apostle has a plain respect to, and endeav- 

* Here are worthy to be observed tlie things which Dr. Taylor himself 
i.ays to the same purpose, K-cy, ^ 302, 303, and Preface to Paraph, on Epist, 
-.0 Rom. p, 144, 43. 



388 ORIGINAL SIN. 

ors to convince them of the falseness of, in chapter ii, \t....\t. 
And he has a manifest regard again to the same thing here, 
in the 12th, 13th, and 14th verses of chapter v. Which may 
lead us the more clearly to see the true sense of those verses ; 
about the sense of which is the main controversy, and the 
meaning of which being determined, it will settle the mean- 
ing of every other controvciled expression through the whole 
discourse. 

Dr. Taylor misrepresents the apostle's argument in these 
verses (Which as has been demonstrated, is in his sense aU 
together vain and impertinent.) He supposes, the thing 
which the apostle mainly mtends to prove, is, that deaf/i or 
mortality does not come on mankind by personal sin ; and that 
he would prove it by this medium, that death reigned when 
there was no law in being which threatened personal sin with 
death. It is acknowledged, that this is implied, even that 
dtath came into the world by Adam's sin : Vet this is not the 
main thing the apostle designs to prove. But his main point 
evidently is, that sin and guit'ty and Junt exfiosedness to death 
and ruin, came into the world by Adam's sin ; as righteous- 
luss, juatijication, and a title to eternal life come by Christ, 
Which point he confirms by this consideration, that from the 
veiy time when Adam sinned, these things, viz. sin, guilt, 
and desert of ruin, became universal \n\\\t world, long before 
the law given by Moses to the Jewish nation had any being. 

The apostle's reniark, that sin entered into the world by 
one man, who wastlu; I'aiher of the whole human race, was an 
observation which afforded proper instruction for the Jews, 
who looked on tl-.emselves as an holy people, because they 
had the law of IVIoscs, and were the children of Abraham, an 
h"lv father ; while they looked on other nations as by nature 
unholy and sinners, because they were not Abraham's child- 
dren. He leads them up to an higher ancestor than this pa- 
triarch, even to Adam, who being equally the father of Jews 
and Gentiles, both alike come from a sinful father ; from 
whom guilt and pollution were derived alike to all mankind. 
And this the apostle provts by an argument, which of all that 
could possibly be invented, tended the most briefly and direct- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 389 

)y to convince the Jews ; even by this reflection, that death 
had come equally on all mankind from Adam's time, and that 
the posterity of Abraham vpcre eqiialh subject to it with the rest 
of the world. This was apparent in/act, a thin;^ they all knew. 
And the Jews had always been taught that death (which began 
in the destruction of the body, and of this present life) was 
the proper punishment of sin. This they were taught in 
Moses' history of Adam, and God's first threatening of pun- 
ishment for sin, and by the constant doctrine of the law and 
the prophets, as has been already observed. 

And the apostle's observation, that sin tvas in the ivorld 
long before the law was given, and was as universal in the 
world from the times of Adam, as it had been among the 
Heathen since the law of Moses, this shewed plainly that 
the Jews were quite mistaken in their notion of their particu- 
lar law, and that the law which is the oViginal and universal 
rule of righteousness and judgment for all mankind, was 
another law, of far more ancient date, even the law of nature, 
which began as early as the human nature began, and was 
established with the first father of mankind, and in him with 
♦he whole race : The positive precept of abstaini-it; from 
the forbidden fruit, being given for the trial of his compliance 
with this law of nature ; of which the main rule is supreme 
regard to God and his will. And the apostle proves that it 
must be thus, because, if the law of Moses had been the 
highest rule of judgment, and if there had not been a superi- 
or, prior, divine rule established, mankind in general would 
not have been judged and condemned as sinners, before that 
was given, (for " sin is not imputed, when there is no law") 
«s it is apparent in fact they were, because death reigned be- 
fore that time, even from the times of Adam. 

It may be observed, the apostle in this episile, and that 
to the Galatians, endeavors to convince the Jews of these two 
things, in opposition to the notions and prejudices they had 
entertained concerning their law. 1. That it never was in- 
tended to be the covenant, or method by which they should 
actually he Just/Jed. 5. That it was not the highest and uni- 



3S0 ORIGINAL SIN. 

■versal rule or law, by which mankind in general, and particu- 
larly the Heathen world, were condemned. And he proves 
both by similar arguments. lie proves that the law of Mo- 
ses was not the covenafit, by which any of mankind were to ob- 
tain yw.s/'i/?ca//o7J, because that covenant was of older date, being 
expressly established in the time of Abraham, and Abraham 
himself was jusUJicd by it. This argument the apostle par- 
ticularly handles in the 3d chapter of Galatians, especially in 
verses 17, 18, 19. And this argument is also made use of 
in the apostle's reasonings in the 4th chapter of this epistle 
to the Romans, especially verses 13, 14, 15. He proves also 
that the law of Moses was not ihe prhne rule of judgment, by 
which mankind in general, and particularly the Heathen 
world, were coyjdeimied. And this he proves also the same 
■way, viz. by shewing this to be of older date than that law, 
and that it was established with Mam. Now these things 
tended to lead (he Jews to right notions of their law, not as 
the intended method of justification, nor as the original and 
universal rule of condemnation, but something superadded to 
both, both being of older date, superadded to the latter., to il- 
lustrate and confirm it, that the offence might abound; and 
superadded to the former, to be as a schoolmaster, to prepare 
men for the bencfils of it, and to magnify divine grace in it, 
that this might much more abound. 

The chief occasion of the obscurity and difficulty which 
seems to attend the scope and connexion of the various clauses 
in the three first verses of this discourse, particularly the l3iU 
and 14th verses, is, that there are ivjo things (although things 
closely connected) which the apostle has in his eye at once, 
in which he aims to enlighten them he writes to ; which 
-will not be thought at all strange by them that have been con* 
versant with, and have attended to this apostle's writings. 
He would illustrate the grand point he had been upon from 
the beginning, CMtwjustiJication through Christ's righteousiicis 
clo7ic, by shewing how we arc originally in a sinful, miserabl9 
state, and how we derive this sin and misery from Adam, 
and how we are delivered and justified by Christ as a second 
Adam. At the same time he would confute tiiose foolish 



ORIGINAL SIN. 391 

and corrupt notions of the Jews, about their nation and their 
la7Vi that were very inconsistent with these doctrines. And 
be here endeavors to establish, at once, these two things in 
opposition to those Jewish notions. 

1. That it is our natural relation to Adam, and not to 
Abraham, which determines our native, moral state ; and 
that therefore the being natural children of Abraham, will 
not make us by nature holy in the sight of God, since we 
are the natural seed of sinful Adam ; nor does the Gentiles' 
being not descended from Abraham, denominate them sinners^ 
any more than the Jews, seeing both alike are descended 
from Adam. 

2. That the law of Moses is not the prime and general 
law and rule of judgment for mankind, to condemn them, and 
denominate them sinners ; but that the state they are in with 
regard to a higher, more ancient and universal law, deter- 
mines mankind in general to be sinners in the sight of God, 
and liable to be condemned as such. Which observation is, 
in many respects, to the apostle's purpose ; particularly in 
this respect, that if the Jews were convinced, that the law, 
which was the prime rule of condemnation, was given to all^ 
was common to all mankind, and that all fell under condem- 
nation ihrough the violation of that law by the common father 
of all, both Jews and Gentiles, then they would be led more 
easily and naturally to believe, that the method of justification 
which God had established, also extended equally to all man- 
kind ; and that the Messiah, by whom we have this justifi- 
cation, is appointed, as Adam was, for a common head to all, 
both Jews and Gentiles. 

The apostle's aiming to confute the Jewish notion, is the 
principal occasion of those words in the 15th verse : " For 
until the law, sin was in the world ; but sin is not imputed, 
when there is no law." 

As to the import of that expression, '< Even over them 
that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgres- 
sion," not only is the thing signified by it, in Dr. Tay- 
loi*s sense of it, not true; or if it had been true, would 
have been impertinent, as has been shewn ; but his intevpre- 



S92 ORIGINAL SIN. 

tation IS, otherwise, very much stravied and unnatural. Ac- 
cording to him, by " sinning after the simihtude of Adain'j 
transgression," is not meunt any similitude of the act of sin» 
ning, nor of the command sinned against, nor properly any 
circumstance of the sin ; but only the similitude of a circum- 
stance of the command, viz. the threatening it is attended with, 
A far fetched thing, to be called a similitude .of sinning ! Be- 
sides this expression in such a meaning, is only a needless, 
impertinent, and awkward jr/un/m^' over again the same thing, 
which it is supposed the apostle had observed in the forego- 
ing verse, even after he had left it, and had proceeded another 
step in the series of his discourse, or chain of arguing. As 
thus, in the foregoing verse the apostle had plainly laid down 
his argument, (as our author understands it) by which he 
would prove, death did not come by personal sin, viz. that 
death reigned before any law, threatening death for personal 
sin, was in being ; so that the sin then committed was against 
no laiif, threatening death for personal sin. Having laid this 
down, the apostle leaves this part of his argument, and pro- 
ceeds another step. Xevrtheless death reigned from Adam tb 
Moses; and then returns, in a strange, unnatural manner, 
and refieat3 that argument or assertion again, but only more 
obscurely than before, in these words, Even over them that 
had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, i. e. 
over thtm that had not sinned against a law threatening death 
for personal sin. Which is jubt the same thing as if the 
apos>tlt had said, " They that sinned before the law, did not siu 
against a law threatening death for personal sin ; for there 
was no Ruch law for any to sin agaihst at tliat time : J^ever- 
theless death reii^ned at that lime, even o,<er such as did not 
tin against a law threatening death for personal sin." Which 
htter clause adds nothing to the premises, and tends nothing 
to illustrate what was said before, but rather to obscure and 
darken it. The pi^r icle xai, even, when prefixed in this man- 
ner used to signify sometliing additional, some advance in the 
sense or argunicnt ; implying that tlie words following ex- 
press something more, or express the same thing more fully, 
plainly, or forcibly. But to unite two clauses by such a par- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 393 

licle, m such a manner, when there is noihlng besides a flat 
repetition, with no superadded sense or force, but rather a 
greater uncertainty and obscurity, would be very unusual, and 
indeed very absurd. 

I can see no reason why we should be dissatisfied with 
that explanation of this clause, which has more commonly 
been given, viz. That by thnn ivho have not sinned after the 
similitude of Adam* s transgression^ are meant infants ; who, 
though they have indeed sinned in Adam, yet never sinned as 
Adam did, by actually transgressing in their own persons ; 
unless it be that this interpretation is too old., and too common. 
It was well known by those the apostle wrote to, that vast 
numbers had died in infancy, within that period which the 
apostle speaks of, particularly in the time of the deluge ; and 
it would be strange the apostle should not have the case of 
such infants in his m.ind ; even suppqsing his scope were 
what our author supposes, and he had enly intended to prove 
that' death did not come on mankind for their personal sin. 
How directly would it have served the purpose of proving 
this, to have mentioned so great a pan of mankind that are 
subject to death, who, all knew, never committed any sin ia 
M«'r o%v7i persons ? How much more plain and easy the 
proof of the point by that, than to go round about, as Dr. 
Taylor supposes, and bring in a thing so dark and uncrrtaiii 
as this. That God never would bring death on all mankind 
for personal sin, (though they had personal sin) without ai> 
express, revealed constitution ; and then to observe that 
there was no revealed constitution of this nature from Adam* 
to Moses ; which also seems a thing without any plain evi- 
dence ; and then to infer that it must needs be so, that it 
could come only on occasion of Adam's sin, though not for 
his sin, or as any punishment of it ; which inference also is 
very dark and imintelligible. 

If tiie apostle in this place meant those who never sinned 
by their personal act, it is not strange that he should express 
this by their not sinning- after the similitude of Ada }i's trans" 
grrssicn. We read of two ways of men's being like Adam, 
or in which a similitude 'o him is ascribed to men : One is 

Vol. VI. 5 B 



i94, ORIGINAL SIN. 

a beinjj bep^otten or born in his image or likeness, Gen. v. S. 
Another is a transgressing God's covenant or law, likp hirrif 
Hos vi 7. « They, like Adam, (so in the Heb. and Vulg. 
Lat.) have transgressed the covenant." Infants have the 
fornier similitude, but not the latter. And it was very 
na'ural, when the apostle would infer that infants become 
sinners by that one act and offence of Adam, to observe 
that they had not renewed the act of sin themselves, by 
any second instance ofa like sort. And such might be the 
state of language among Jews and Christians at that day, that 
the apostle might have no phrase more aptly to express this 
meaning. The manner in which the epithets, fiersonal and 
actual, are used and applied now in this case, is probubly of 
later date and more modern use. 

And then this supposition of the apostle's having the case 
of infants in view, in this expression, makes it more to his 
purpose, to mention death reigning before the law of Moses 
was given. For the Jews looked on all nations, besides 
themselves, as sinners^ by virtue of (heir laiv ; being made so 
especially by the law of circumcision, given first to Abraham, 
and completed by Moses, making the want of circumcision 
a legal /?o//urzon, utterly disqualifying for the privileges of the 
sanctuary. This law, the Jews supposed, made the very in- 
fants of the Gentiles sinners, polluted and hateful to God; 
they being uncircumcised, and born of uncircumcised parents. 
But the apostle proves against these notions of the Jews, that 
the nations of the world do not become sinners by nature, 
and sinners from infancy, by virtue of their law, in this man- 
ner, hut by Adam's sin ; inasmuch as infants were treated 
as sinners long before the law of circumcision was given, as 
well as before they had committed actual sin. 

What has been said, may, as 1 humbly conceive, lead us 
to that which is the true scope and sense of the apostle in 
these three verses ; which I will endeavor more briefly to 
represent in the foilowing paraphrase. 

" The things which I have 12. Wherefore, an by one 

largely insisted on, viz. the man sin entered into the r.wldy 
evil that is in the world, the and death by sin ; and so deatfi 



ORIGINAL SIN. 395 

general wickedness, guilt and flashed ufion all men^ Jot that 
ruin of mankind, and the op- all have sinned. 
posite good, even justification 
and life, as only by Christ, 
lead me to observe the likeness 
of the manner in which they 
are each of them introduced. 
For it was by one man, that 
the general corruption and 
guilt which I have spoken of, 
came into the world, and con- 
demnation and death by sin : 
And this dreadful punishment 
and ruin came on all man- 
kind by the great taw of works, 
originally estal)lished with man- 
kind in their first father, and 
by his one offence, or breach 
of that law ; all thereby be- 
coming sinners in God's sight, 
and exposed to final destruc- 
tion. 

" It is manifest that it was 13. For until the law,sin ivas 
in this way the world became in the world ; but sin is not 
sinful and guilty ; and not in im/mted, when there in no la'W. 
that way which the Jews sup- 
pose, viz. That their law, 
given by Moses, is the grand, 
universal rule of righteous- 
ness and judgment for man- 
kind, and that it is by being 
Gentiles, uncircumcised, and 
aliens from that law, that the 
nations of the world are con- 
stituted smncra, and unclean. 
For before the law of Moses 
was given, mankind were all 
looked upon by the greatJudge 



39C ORIGINAL SIN. 

as sinners, by corrnption and 
guilt derived fiom Ada n's 
vi'Iation of the oritjinal law. 
of works ; which shews that 
the original, universal rule of 
ricjhteousness is not the law 
of Moses ; for if so, there 
would liave been no sin imput- 
ed before that was given, be- 
cause sin is not imputed when 
there is no law. 

" But that at that time sin U. J^'everthelesa, death 

was im/mted^ and men were reigned from Adam to Moaea^ 
by their Judge reckoned as even over them that had not sin» 
sinners, throus:;h guilt and ned after the similitude of Ad' 
corruption derived from Ad- c;«'« transgression. 
am, and condemned for sin to 
deaths the proper punishment 
of sin, we have a plain proof; 
in that it appears in fact, all 
mankind, during that whole 
time which preceded the law 
of Moses, were subjected to 
that temporal death, which is 
the visible introduction and 
image of that Utter destruc- 
tion which sin deserves, not 
excepting even infants, who 
could be sinners no other way 
than by virtu*^ of Adam's 
transgression, having never in 
their own persons actually sin- 
ned as Adam did ; nor could 
at that time be made polluted 
by the law of Mosc<^, as being 
uncircuuicised, or Iiorn of un- 
circumcisecj parents." 



ORIGINAL SIN. 39r 

Now, by way of reflection on the whole, I would observe, 
that though there are two or three expressions in this para- 
graph, Rom. V. 12, &c. the design of which is attended with 
some difficulty and obscurity, as particularly in the 13th and 
14th verses, yet the scope and sense of the discourse in gen- 
eral is not obscure, but on the contrary very clear and mani- 
fest ; and so is the particular doctrine mainly taught in it. 
The apostle sets himself with great care and pains to make it 
plain, and precisely to fix and settle the point he is upon. 
And the discourse is so framed, that one pari of it does great- 
ly clear and fix the meaning of other parts ; and the whole is 
determined by the clear connexion it stands in with other 
parts of the epistle, and by the manifest drift of all the pre- 
ceding part of it. 

The doctrine of Original Sin is not only here taught, but 
most plainly, explicitly, and abundantly taught. This doc- 
ta-ine is asserted, expressly or implicitly, in almost every 
verse, and in some of the verses several times. It is fully 
implied in that first expression in the 12th verse, " By one 
man sin entered into the world." The passage implies, that 
sin became universal in the world ; as the apostle had before 
largely shewn it was ; and not merely (which would be a tri- 
fling, insignificant observation) that one man, who was made 
first, sinned first, before other men sinned ; or, that it did not 
80 happen that many men began to sin just together at the 
same moment. The latter part of the verse, " And death by 
sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that (or, if you will) 
unto nvhich) all have sinned," shews, that in the eye of the 
Judge of the world, in Adam's first sin, all sinned ; not only 
in some sort, but all sinned so as to be exposed to that death, 
and final destruction, which is the proper ivaqes of sin. The 
same doctrine is taught again twice over in the 14th verse. 
It is there observed, as aproof of this doctrine, that " Death 
reigned over them which had not sinned after the similitude 
of Adam's transgression ;" i. e. by their personal act ; and 
therefore could be exposed to death, only by deriving guilt 
and pollution from Adam, in consequence of his sin. And it 
ts taught again m those words, « Who is the figure of him' 



S9B ORIGINAL SIN. 

that was to come." The reseniblunce lies very much in this 
circumstance, viz. our deriving sin, guilt, and punishment by 
Adam's sin, as we do righteousness, justification, und the re- 
ward of life by Christ's obedience ; for so the apostle explains 
himself. The same doctrine is expressly taught again, verse 
15. " Through tlie offence of one, many be dead," And again 
twice in the :6th verse. " It was by one that sinned ;" i. c it 
was by Adam, that guilt and punishment (before spoken of) 
came on mankind : And in these words, '• Judgment was by 
one to condemnation." It is again plainly and fully laid 
down in the 17th verse, « By one man's offence, death reign- 
ed by one." So again in the 18th verse, « By the oflfence of 
one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Again 
very plainly in the 19th verse, " By one man's disobedience, 
many were made sinners." 

And here is every thing to determine and fix the meaning 
of all important terms, that the apostle makes use of: As, 
the abundant use of them in all parts of the New Testament ; 
and especially in this apostle's writings, which make up a 
very great part of the New Testament : And his repeated 
use of them in this epistle in particular, especially in the 
preceding part of the epistle, which leads to and introduces 
this discourse, and in the former part of this very chapter ; 
and also the light, that one sentence in this paragraph casts 
on another, wliich fully settles their meaning : As, with res- 
pect to the words junti^cadon, right couNneas and condemnation ; 
and above all, in regard of the word ■«>:, which is the most 
important of all, with relation to the doctrine and controversy 
we are upon. Besides the constant use of this term every 
where else through the New Testament, through the epistles 
of this apostle, this epistle in particular, and even the former 
part of this chapter, it is often repeated in this very para- 
graph, and evidently used in the very sense that is denied to 
belong to it in the end of verse 12, and verse 19, though owned 
every where else : And its meaning is fully determined by 
the apostle's varying the term ; using logt-ther ^vith it, to sig- 
nify llie same thing, such a variety of other synonymous 
words, such as offence^ transgression, disobedience. And fur- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 399 

ther, to put the matter out of all controversy, it is particularly 
and expressly and repeatedly distinguished from that which 
our opposers would exfilain it by, viz. condemnation and death. 
And What is meant by sin's entering into (he ivorld, in verse 
12, is determined by a like phrase of sin's being in the worlds 
in the next verse. And that by the offence of one, so oiten 
spoken of here, as bringing death and condemnation on all, 
the apostle means the sin of one, derived in its guilt and pol- 
lution to mankind in general, is a thing which (over and above 
all that has been already observed) is settled and determined 
by those words in the conclusion of this discourse, verse 20. 
« Moreover, ihe law entered, that the offence might abound : 
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." 
These words plainly shew, that the offence spoken of so often, 
and evidently spoken of still in these words, which was the 
offence of one man, became the sin of all. For when he says, 
" The law entered, that the offence might abound," his mean- 
xns^ cannot be, that the offence of Adam, merely as his per- 
sonally, should abound ; but, as it exists in its derived guilt, 
corrupt influence, and evil fruits, in the sin of mankind in 
general, even as a tree in its root and branches.* 

It is a thing that confirms the certainty of the/?ro&/'of the 
doctrine of Original Sin, which this place affords, that the ut- 
most art cannot pervert it to another sense. What a variety 
of the most artful methods have been used by the enemies of 
this doctrine, to wrest and darken this paragraph of holy wiit, 
which stands so much in their way, as it were to force the 
Bible to speak a language that is agreeable to their mind ! 
How have expressions been strained, words and phrases rack- 

• The offence, according to Dr Taylor's explanation, does not abound 
by the law at all really and truly, in any sense ; neither the sin, nor the pun- 
ishment. For ha savs, " The meaning is not, that men should be made more 
wicked ; but, that men should be liable to death for every transgression.'' 
But after all, they are liable to no more deaths, nor to any worse deaths, if 
t,hcy are not more sinful : For they were to have punishments accoiding to 
their desert, before. Such as died, and went into another world, before the 
law of Mos s was given, were punished according to their deserts ; and the 
law, when it came, threatened no moie. 



400 OKTGINAL SIN. 

ed ! What strange figures of speech have been invented, and 
with violent hards thrust into the apostle's mouth ; and then 
with a bold countenance and magisterial airs obtruded on the 
world, as from him l....But, blessed be God, we have his worda 
as he delivered them, and the rest of the same epistle, and his 
other writings to compare with them ; by which his meaning 
stands in too strong and glaring a light to be hid by any oi 
the artificial mists which they labor to throw upon it. 

It is really no less than abusing the scripture and its read- 
ers, to represent this paragraph as the most obscure of all the 
places of scripture, that &peak of the consequences of Adam's 
sin ; and to treat it as if there was need first (o consider other 
places as more filain. Whereas, it is most manifestiy a place 
in which these things are declared, beyond ail, the most plain- 
ly, particularly, precisely, and of set purpose, by that great 
apostle, who has most fully explained to us those doctrines 
in general, which relate to the redemption by Christ, and the^ 
sin and misery we are redeemed from. And it must be now 
left to the reader's judgment, whether the Christain church 
has not proceeded reasonably, in looking on this as a place of 
scripture most clearly and fully treating of these things, and 
in using its determinate sense as an help to settle the meaning 
of many other passages of sacred writ. 

As this place in general is very full and plain, so the doc- 
trine of the corruption of nature, as derived from Adam, and 
also the imputation of his first sin, are bot/i clearly taugiit in 
it. The i»i/iufation of Adam's one transgression, is indeed 
most directly and frequently asserted. We are here assured 
that bi; one man's sin, death fiassed on oil ; all being adjudged 
to this punishment, as having s/Vmrc/ (so it is implied) in that 
one man's sin. And it is repeated over and over, that all are 
condemned^ many are dead, tnatiy made sitmersy 8tc. iJy one nian't 
offence, by the disrjbedience of one, and by one offence. And the 
doctrine of original defiravity is also here taught, when the 
apostle says, By one man sin entered into the -world ; havin.i; a 
plain respect (as hath been shewn) to that univeisal coriup- 
tion and wickedness, as well as guilt, which he h^d before 
largely treated of. 



ORIGINAL SIN- 40 ] 



PART III 



Ohserving the Evidence given us, relative to the 
Doctrine 0/ Original Sin, in what the Scrip- 
tures reveal concerning the Redemption by 
Christ. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Evidence o/Original Sin, /ronz the JVaiure of Redcrfifi- 
tion in the firocurement of it. 

ACCORDING to Dr. Taylor's scheme, a very great part 
of mankind are the subjects of Christ's redemfition, who live 
and die perfectly innocent^ who never have had, and never will 
have any sin charged to their account, and never are either the 
subjects of, or exposed to any punishment whatsoever, viz. all 
that die in infancy. They are the subjects of Christ's re- 
dem/ition, as he redeems them from death, or as they by his 
righteousness hay e justif cation, and by his obedience are made 
righteous, in the resurrection of the body, in the sense of Rom. 
V. 18, 19. And all mankind are thus the subjects of Christ's 
redemption, while they are perfectly guiltless, and ex.'oscd 
to no punishment, as by Christ they are intilled to a resurrec- 
tion. Though, with respect to such persons as have sinn'd, 
he allows it is w seme sort by Christ and his fTeath, 'hat ihey 
are sfived from sin, and the punishment nf it 
Vol. VI. 3 C 



432 ORIGfNAL SIN. 

Now let us see whether such a scheme well consists witTi- 
the scripture account of the redemption by Jesus Ciirist. 

I. The representations of the redemption by Christ, every- 
where in scripture, lead us to suppose, that all whom he came 
to redeem, are sinners ; that his salvation, as to the term 
from nvhich (or the evil to be redeemed from) in all is sin^ and 
the deserved punishment of sin. It is natural to suppose, that 
when he had his name Jesus, or Saviour, given him by God's 
special and immediate appointment, the salvation meant by 
that name should be his salvation in general ; and not only a 
part of his salvation, and with regard only to some of them 
?hat he came to save. But this name was given him to sig- 
nify his saving his peofile from their sins, Matth, i. 21. And 
the great doctrine of Christ's salvation is, that he came into 
the world to save sinners, 1 Tim. i. 15. And that Christ hath 
once suffered, the just for the unjust, 1 Pet. iii. 1 8. In this was 
■manifested the love of God towards us (towards such in genera! 
as have the benefit of God's love in giving Christ) that God 
sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live 
through him. Herein is love, that he sent his sc^n to be the fire- 
pitiation for our sins, 1 John iv. 9, 10. Many other texts 
might be mentioned, which seem evidently to suppose, that 
all who are redeemed by Christ, are saved from sin. We are 
led by what Christ himself said, to suppose, that if any are 
jiot sinners, they have 720 need of him as a redeemer, any 
more than a well man of a physician, Mark ii. 17. And that 
men, in ord<;r to being the proper subjects of the mercy 01 
God through Christ, must first be in a state oi sin, is implied 
in Gal. iii. 22. " But the scripture hath concluded all under 
sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given 
to them that believe." To the same effect is Rom. xi. 32. 

These things are greatly confirmed by the scripture doc- 
trine of sacrifccs. It is abundantly plain, by both old and 
New Testament, that they were types of Christ's death, and 
were for sin, end supposed sin in those for whom they w?re 
offered. The apostle supposes, that in order to any having 
the benefit of the efrrnal inlieritance by Christ, there must 0/ 
necessity be the death of the testator ; and gives that reason for 



ORIGINAL SIN. 403 

■=it, that ivithout sheddin!^ of blood there is no remissioriy Heb. ix. 

15, &c. And Christ himself, in representing the benefit of 

his blood, in the institution of the Lord's supper, under the 
notion of the blood of a testament., calls it, The blood of tht 

Kei!} Testament., shed for the remission of sins, Matth. xxvi. 28. 

But according to the scheme of our author, many have the 
eternal inheritance by the death of the testator, who never 
'had any need of remission. 

II. The scripture represents the redemption by Christ as 
a redemption from deserved destruction ; and that, not merely 
as it respects some particulars, but as the fruit of God's love 
to mankind. John iii. 16. " God so loved the ivorld, that he 
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in hina 
should not perish, but have everlasting life :" Implying, that 
otherwise they must perish, or be destroyed : But what ne- 
cessity of this, if they did not deserve to be destroyed ? Now, 
that the destruction here spoken of, is deserved destruction, 
is manifest, because it is there compared to the perishing of 
such of the children of Israel as died by the bile of the fiery 
serpents, which God, in his wrath, for their rebellion, sent 
amongst them. And the same thing clearly appears by the 
last verse of the same chapter, « He that believeth ©n the 
Son, hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son, 
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him," or, 
is left remaining on him : Implying, that all in general an 

found under the rorath of God, and that they only of all man- 
kind, who are interested in Christ, have this wrath removed, 
and eternal life bestowed ; the rest are left with the ivrath of 
God still remaining on them. The same is clearly illustrated 
and confirmed by John v, 24. " He that believeth, hath ever- 
lasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is 
passed from death to life." In being passed from death to 
life is implied, that before, they were all in a state of death ; 
and they are spoken of as being so by a sentence oi condeiyina- 
tion ; and if it be a just condemnation, it is a deserved con- 
demnation. 

III. It will follow on Dr. Taylor's scheme, that Christ's 
redemption, with regard to a great part of them who are the 



404 ORIGINAL SIN. 

subjects of it, is not only a redemption fron» no muy but from 
no calamity, and so from no evil of any kind. For as to deathf 
which infants are redeemed from, they never were subjected 
to it as a calamity, but purely as a benefit. It came by no 
threatening or curse denounced upon or through Adam ; the 
covenant with him being utterly abollslied, as to all its force 
and power on mankind (according to our author) before the 
pronouncing of the sentence of mortaliiy. Therefore trouble 
and death could be appointed to innocent mankind no other 
way than on the foot of another covenant, the covenant of 
grace ; and in this channel they come only as favors, not as 
evils. Therefore they could need no medicine or remcdvj 
for they had no disease. Even death itself, which it is sup- 
posed Christ saves them from, is only a medicine ; it is pre- 
venting physic, and one of the greatest of benefits. It is ri- 
diculous to talk of persons needing a medicine, or a physician 
to save them from an excellent medicine ; or of a remedy 
from a happy remedy ! If it be said, though death be a ben- 
efit, yet it is so because Christ changes it, and turns it into a 
benefit, by procuring a resurrection : I would here ask. What 
can be meant by turning or c/ianging it into a benefit, when it 
never was otherwise, nor could ever jusllij be otherwise ? Jn- 
fants could not be brought under death as a calamity ; for 
they never deserved it. And it would be only an abuse (be it 
far from us, to ascribe such a thing to Cod) in any being, to 
jBake the offer to any poor sufferers, of a redeemer from 
some calamity, which he had brought upon them without the 
least desert of it on ihcir part. 

But it is plain, that death or mortality was not at first 
brought on mankind as a blessing, on the foot of the cove- 
nantof giace through Christ ; and that Christ and grace do not 
bring mankind under death, hm find them under it. 2 Cor. v. 
14, " We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all 
dead." Luke xix. 10, " The Son of man is come to seek 
and to save that which was lost." The grace which appears 
in providing a deliverer from ahy state, supposes the subject 
vo be in that state prior to that grace and deliverance ; and 
not that such a state is first introduced by that grace. In our 



ORIGINAL SIN. 405 

author's scheme, there never could be any sentence of death 
or condemnation that requires a Saviour from it ; because 
the very sentence itself, according to the true meaning of it, 
implies and makes sure all that good which is requisite to 
abolish and make void the seeming evil to the innocent sub- 
ject. So that the sentence itst If is in effect the deliverer, and 
there is no need of another deliverer to deliver from that sen- 
tence. Dr. Taylor insists upon it, that " Nothing comes up- 
on us in consequence of Adam's sin, in any sense, kind or 
degree, inconsistent with the original blessirig pronounced on 
Adam at his creation ; and nothmg but what is perfectly 
consistent with God's blessing, love and goodness, declared 
to Adam as soon as he came out of his Maker*s hands."* If 
the case be so, it is certain there is no evil or calamity at all 
for Christ to redeem us from ; unless things agreeable to the 
divine goodness^ love and blessing, are things which we need 
redemption from. 

IV. It will follow, on our author's principles, not onlv 
with respect to infants, but even adult persons, that redemp- 
tion is needless, and Christ is dead in vain. Not only is there 
no need of Christ's redemption in order to deliverance from 
any consequences of Adam's sin, but also in order to perfect 
freedom from personal sin, and all its evil consequences 
For God has made other sufficient provibion for that, viz. c 
sufficient power aJid ability, in all mankind, to do all their duty, 
and wholly to avoid sin. Yea, this author insists upon it, 
that " when men have not sufficient power to do their duty, 
they have no dutij to do. We may safely and assuredTy con- 
clude, (says he) that mankind in all parts of the world, have 
sufficient power to do the duty which God requires of them ; 
and that he requires of them no more than they have suffi- 
cient powers to do."t And in another place4 " God has 
given powers equal to the duty which he expects." And he 
expresses a great dislike at R. R's supposing <» that our pro- 
pensities to evil, and temptations, are too strong to be effcctU" 
afhj and constantly resisted, or that we are unavoidably siniul vn 

"• P. 88, 89, S. + P. Ml, 63, 64, S. tP. 67,S' 



406 ORIGINAL SIN. 

a degree ; that our appetites and passions will be breaking out, 
notwitlistandinG; our everlasting watchfulness."* These things 
fully imply that men have in their own natural ability suffi- 
cient means to avoid sin, and to be perfectly free from it ; 
and so, from all the bad consequences of it. And if the 
means are sufficient, then there is no need of more ; and 
therefore there is no need of Christ's dying, in order to it. 
"What Dr. Taylor says, in p. 72, 6'. fully implies that it would 
be unjust in God to give mankind being in such circumstan- 
ces, as that they would be more likely to sin, so as to be ex- 
posed to final misery, than otherwise. Hence then, without 
Christ and his redemption, and without any grace at all, mere 
justice makes sufficient provision for our being free from sin 
and misery, by our own power. 

If all mankind, in all parts of the world, have such sufficient 
power to do their whole duty, without being sinful in any de- 
gree, then they have sufficient power to obtain righteousuess 
by the law ; and then, according to the Apostle Paul. Christ 
is dead in vain. Gal. ii. 21. " If righteousness come by the 
law, Christ is dead in vain -"....ha, ►o;*«, without the article, brj 
/aw, or the rule of right action, as our author explains the 
phrase.f And according to the sense in which he explains 
this very place, «' It would have frustrated or rendered useless 
the grace of God, if Christ died to accomplish what was or 
might have been effected by law itself, without his death. ":| 
So that it most clearly follows from his own doctrine, that 
Christ is dead in vain, and the grace of God is tiseless. The 
same -apostle says, " If there had been a law which could have 
given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law," 
Gal. iii. 21 ; i. e. (still according to Dr. Taylor's own sense) 
if there was a law that man, in his present state, had suffi- 
cient power perfectly to fulfil. For Dr. Taylor supposes 
the reason why the law could not give life, to be, " not because 
it was weak in itself, but through the weakness of our flesh, 
and the infirmity of the human nature in the present stale."§ 

• P. 68, S. + Pref. to Par, on Rom. p. 143, 38. t Note on Fom. 
v. 20, p. 297. S ^^^^' 



ORIGINAL SIN. 40? 

But he says, "We are under a mild dispensation of grace, 
making allowance for our infirmities."* By our itifirmlties, 
■we may upon good grounds suppose he means that infirmity 
of human nature which he gives as the reason why the law 
cannot give life. But what grace is there in making that al- 
lowance for our infirmities, which justice itself (according to 
his doctrine) most absolutely requires, as he supposes divine 
justice exactly proportions our duly to our ability ? 

Again, If it be said, that although Christ's redemption 
•was not necessary to preserve men from beginning to sin, and 
getting into a course of sin, because they have sufficient pow- 
er in themselves to avoid it ; yet it may be necessary to de- 
liver men, after they have by their own folly brought them- 
selves under the dominion of evil appetites and passions. f I 
answer, if it be so, that men need deliverance from 'hose 
habits and passions, which are become too strong for them, 
yet that deliverance, on our author's principles, would be no 
salvation from sin. For, the exercise of passions which arc 
too strong for us, and which we cannot overcome, is necessary, 
and he strongly urges that a necessary evil can be no moral 
evil. It is true, it is the effect of evil, as it is the effect of a 
bad practice, while the man remained at liberty, and had pow- 
er to have avoided it. But then, according to Dr. Taylor, 
that evil cause alone is sin ; and not so, the necessary effect ; 
For he says expressly, " The cause of every effect is alone 
chargeable with the effect it produceth, or which proceedeth 
from it. "I And as to that sin which was the cause, the man 
needed no Saviour from that, having had sufficient fiotver in 
himself to have avoided it. So that it follows, by our author's 
scheme, that none of mankind, neither infants nor adult per- 
sons, neither the more nor less vicious, -neither Jews nor Gen- 
tiles, neither Heathens nor Christians, ever did or ever could 
stand in any need of a Saviour ; and that, with respect to all, 
the truth is, Christ in dead in vain. 



* Page 92, S, + See p. 228, and also what he .'ays of the helpless state 
oi the Heathen, in Par. and Notes 'on Rom. 7ii. and beginning of Chap. viii. 
t P. 125. 



408 ORIGINAL SIN. 

If any should say, Although all manUind in all nc!;e9 hare 
sufficient ability to do their whole duty, and so may by their 
own power enjoy perfect freedom from sin, yet God/orMa« 
that rhey would sin, and that after they had sinned, they 
would need Christ's death ; I answer, it is plain by what the 
apostle says in those places \yhich were just now men- 
tioned, Gal. ii. 21, and iii. 21, that" God would have esteemed 
it needless to t^ive his Son to die for men, .unless there had 
been a prior impossibility of their Iiavinf* riighteousness by 
jaw ; and that, if there had been a law which eouid have giv- 
en life, this other way by the death of Christ would not have 
been provided. And this appears to be agreeable to our 
author's own sense of things, by his words which have been 
cited, wherein he says, " It would hSiVe fries (rated or render- 
ed iisrless the grace of God, if Christ died to accomplisli what 
was or mig/it have been effected by law itself, vvithout his 
death." 

V. It will follow on Dr. Tayloi's scheme, not only that 
Christ's redemption is 7ieedless for the saving from sin, or its 
consequences, but also that it does no good that way, has no 
tendency to any diminution oi sin in the world. For as to any 
infiisicn of virtue or holiness into the heart, by divine power 
through Christ or his redemption, it is altogether inconsistent 
with this author's notions. With him, inwrought virtue, if 
there were any such thing, would be no virtue ; not being 
the effect of our own will, choice and design, but only of a 
sovereign act of God's power.* And therefore, all that 
Christ docs to increase virtue, is only increasing our talents, 
our light, advantages, means and motives, as he often explains 
the inatter.t But sin is not at all diminished. For he says, 
Our duty 7nust be measured by our talf:nt$ ; as, a child that has 
less talents, has less duty, and therefore must be no more ex- 
posed to commit sin, than he that has greater talents, because 
he that has greater talents, has more duty required, in exact 
proportion.!: If so, he that has but ouc talent, has as much 

* See pages i8o, 245, 250. + In p. 44, 50, and innumerable olhe'- 

places, X See p. 234, 61, 64. ,.,70, S. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 40S 

(idvantage to perform that one degree of duty which is requir- 
ed of him, as he that has^x^e talents, to perform \\\sjive de- 
grees of duty, and is no more exposed to fail of it. And that 
man's 5"i^?V^, who sins against greater advantages, means and 
motives, is greater in proportion to his talents, f And there- 
fore it will follow, on Dr. Taylor's principles, that men stand 
no better chance^ have no more eligible or valuable probabili- 
ty of freedom from sin and punishment, or of contracting but 
little guilt, or of performing required duty, with the great 
advantages and talents implied in Christ's redemption, than 
without them ; when all things are computed, and put into 
the balances together, the numbers, degrees and aggravations 
of sin exposed to, degrees of duty required, &c. So that men 
have no redemption from sin, and no new means of perform- 
ing duty, that are valuable or worth any thing at all. And 
thus the great redemption by Christ in every rc-pect comes 
fo nothing, with regard both to infants and adult persons. 



CHAPTER IL 



.T/ie Evidence of the Doctrine of Original Sin from what 
the Scrijilure teaches of the Application cf Redemjition. 

THE truth of the doctrine of Original Sin is very clear- 
ly manifest from what the scripture says of that change of 
state which it represents as necessary to an actual interest ift 
the spiritual and eternal blessings of the Redeemer's king- 
dom. 

In order to this, it speaks of it as absolutely necessary fop 
every one, that he be regeneJated, or born again. John iii. 3, 

* See Paraph, on Rom. ij< 9, also on vtree 12, 
.Vol. VI. 3 D 



410 ORIGINAL SIN. 

"Verily, Tcrily, I say unto thee, except a man ytm^n tt»ti5i»^ 
be begotten again, or born again, he cannot see the kingdom 
of God." Dr. Taylor, though he will not allow that this sig- 
nifies any change from a state of natural firo/iensUy to sin, yet 
supposes that the new birth here spoken of means a man's be- 
ing brought to a divine life, in a right use and afifiUcation of the 
natural fioivers, in a life of true holiness ;* and that it is the at- 
tainment of those habits of virtue and religion, which gives tis 
the real character of true Christians, and the children of God ;\ 
and that it is fmtting on the nenv nature of right action.\ 

But in order to proceed in the most sure and safe manner, 
in our understanding what is meant in scripture by being born 
again, and so in the inferences we draw from what is said of 
the necessity of it, let us compare scripture with scripture, 
and consider what other terms or phrases are used in other 
places, where respect is evidently had to the same change. 

And here I would observe the following things : 

I. If we compare one scripture with another, it will be 
sufficiently manifest, that by regeneration, or being begotten, 
or born again, the same change in the state of the niind is sig- 
nified with that which the scripture speaks of as effected in 
true refientance and cojiversion. I put repentance and con- 
version together, because the scripture puis them together, 
Acts iii. 19, and because they plainly signify much the same 
thing. The word, fAErafota, (repentance) signifies a change of 
the mi7id ; as the word conversion means a change or turning 
from sin to God. And that this is the same change with that 
which is called regeneration, (excepting that this latter term 
especially signifies the change, as the mind is fiassive in it) 
the following things do shew. 

In the change which the mind passes under in repentance 
and conversion, is attained that character of true Christians, 
which is necessary to the eternal privileges of such. Acts iii. 
19. " Refient ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins 
may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come 
from the presence of the Lord." And so it is with regcneva 

» Page 144.. + Page 246, 248, % Page 251 



ORIGINAL SIN. 411 

tion ; as is evident from wliat Cluist says to Nicodemus, and 
as is allowed by Dr. Taylor. 

The change the mind passes under in repentance and con- 
version, is that in which s&v'in^fait/i is attained. Mark i. 15. 
« The kingdom of God is at hand : Repent ye, and believe 
the gospel." And so it is with a being born again, or born of 
God ; as appears by John i. 12, 13. <' But as many as re- 
ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of 
God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, 
not of blood, See. but of God." 

Just as Christ says concerning conversion, Matth. xviii. 3. 
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted and 
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom 
of heaven ;■' so does he say concerning being born again, in 
what he spake to Nicodemus. 

By the change men pass under in conversion, they become 
as iitdc children.) which appears in the place last cited ; and 
so they do by regeneration, 1 Pet. i. at the end, and chap, ii« 
at the beginning. Being born again.... Wherefore, as newboj-n 
itabes, desire, &c. It is no objection that the disciples, whom 
Christ spake to in Matth. xviii. 3, were converted already t 
This makes it not less proper for Christ to declare the neces- 
sity of conversion to them, leaving it with them to tiy them- 
selves, and to make sure their conversion ; in like manner as 
he declared lo them the necessity of re/ientance, in Luke xiii. 
3, 5. " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 

The change that men pass under at their re/ientance, is 
expressed and exhibited by baptism. Hence it is called the 
bafitism of repentance, ivom time to time, Matth. iii. 11, Luke 
iii. 3, Acts xiii. 24, and xix. 4. And so is regeneration, or being 
born again, expressed by baptism ; as is evident by such rep- 
resentations of regeneration as those, John iii. 5. "Except 
a man be born of water, and of the Spirit".. ..Titus iii. 5. « He 
saved us by the washing of regeneration," Many other things 
iftight be observed, to shew that the change men pass under 
in their repentance and conversion, is the same with that which 
they are the subjects of in regeneration. But these observa- 
tions may be sufficient. 



412 ORfCmAL SI>J. 

11. The chanj^e which a man passes under when feoTu 
again, and in his repentance and conversion, is the same thai: 
the scripture calls the circumcision of the heart. This may 
easily appear by considering, 

That as regeneration is that in which are attained the hab- 
its of true virtue and holiness, as has been shewn, and as is 
Confessed ; so is circumcision of heart. Deut. xxx. 6. " And 
the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of 
thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and 
\>ith all thy soul.** 

Regeneration is that whereby men come to have the char- 
acter of true Christians ; as is evident, and as is confessed ; 
and so is circumcision of heart ; for by this men become Jews 
inivardly, or Jews in the spiritual and Christian sense (and that 
is the same as being true Christians) as of old firoselytes were 
made Jews by circiirricision of the flesh. Rom. ii. 28, 29. 
"For he is not a7fw,which is one outwardly ; neither is tnat 
cirtumcision, which is outward in the flesh : But he is a Jew, 
Avhich is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, 
in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, 
but of God." 

That circu7nc!sion of the heart is the same with conversion, 
or turning from sin to God, is evident by Jer. iv. 1....4. " If 
thou wilt retvirn, O Israel, return (or. convert unto me)....c/r- 
cumcisp yourselves to the Lord, and put away the foreskins of 
your heart.** And Deut. x. 16. " Circumcise therefore the 
foreskiii of your heart, and be no more stiff"necked." 

Circumcision of the heart is the same change of the heart 
that men pass under in their repentance ; as is evident by Lc- 
vit. xxvi. 41; ''If their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, 
and they accept the punishment of their iniquity." 

The change men pass under in regeneration, repentance, 
and conversion, is signified by baptism, as has been shewn; 
ard so is circumcision of the heart signified by the same thing. 
Kone will deny that it was this internal circumcision, which 
efold was signified by external circumci=icn ; nor will any 
deny, now under the New Testament, that inward and spivit- 
tal baptism* or the cleansing of the heart, is signified by- ex- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 4 IS 

tcrnal washine; or baptism. But spiritual circumcision and 
spirittial baptism are the same thing ; both being the putting 
iff the body of the sins of the Jiesh ; as is very plain by Col. ii 
! 1, 12, 13, "'In whom also ye are circumcised with the a'r- 
cumcision mafle without hands, in putting off the body of the 
sitis ofthefesh, by the circumcision of Chrisi, buried with 
him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him," &c. 

III. This inward change, called regeneration and circum- 
cision of the hearty which is wrodght in repentance and convert 
sion, is the same with that spiritual resurrection so often spok- 
en of, and represented as a dying unto sin, and living unto 
righteousness. 

Tiiis appears with great plainness in that last cited place. 
Col. ii. "•' In whom also ye aie circumcised, with the circumi 
cioion made without hands. ...buried with him in baptism, 
wherein also ye are risen ivith him, through the faith of the 
operation of God, £cc. And you, being dead in your sins, 
and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened togeth-. 
er with him ; having forgiven you all trespasses. 

The same appears by Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5. " Know ye not, 
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were 
baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried with hi in 
by baptism into death ; that, like as Christ was raised up from 
the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should 
walk in newness of life," ^c. Verse 11. " Likewise reckon 
ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

In which place also it is evident, by the words recited, 
and by the whole context, that this spiritual resurrection is 
that change, in which persons are brought to habits of hoii- 
jiess and to the divine life, by which Dr. Taylor describes the 
thing obtained in being bom again. 

That a spiritual resurrection to a new divine life, should 
be called a being born again, is agreeable to the language oi 
Scripture, in which we £i.n^ ix resurrection is called a being 
horn, or begotten. So those words in the 2d Psalm, " Thou 
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," are applied to 
Christ's resurrection, Ac'.c- Kii;, Si So in Col i. 18, Christ i« • 



A.H ORIGINAL SIN. 

called ihe Jirst born from the dead ; and in Rev. i. 5, The first 
begotten of the dead. The saints, in their conversion or sfiirit- 
ual resurrection^ are risen with Christy and are begotten and 
born idth him. 1 Pet. i. 3. " Which hath b.'gotten us again to 
a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the deadf 
to an inheritance incorruptible." This inheritance is the 
same thing with ihai kingdom of heaven, which men obtain by 
being born again, according to Christ's words to Nicodemus ; 
and that same inheritance of them that are sanctified, spoken of 
as what is obtained in true conversion. Acts xxvi. 18. " To 
turn them (or convert them) from darkness to light, and from 
ihe power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgive- 
ness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified^ 
through faith that is in me." Dr. Taylor's own words, in his 
note on Rom. i. 4, speaking of that place in the 2d Psalm, just 
now mentioned, are very worthy to be hero recited. He ob- 
serves how this is applied to Christ's resurrection and exalta- 
tion, in the New Testament, and then has this remark, " Note, 
Begetting is conferring a new and happy state : A son is a 
person put into it. Agreeably to this, good men are said to 
be the sons of God, as they are the sons of the resurrection to 
eternal life, which is represented as a vaKiy/inarix, a being be- 
gotte)T, or born again, regenerated.^^ 

So that I tl-.ink it is abundantly plain, that the sfiiritual 
resurrection spoken of in scripture, by which the saints are 
brought to a new divine life, is the same Avith that being born 
again, which Christ says is 7iecessarij for every one, in order 
to his seeing the kingdom of God. 

IV. This change, which men are the subjects of, when 
they are born again, and circuyncised in heart, when they re- 
fienty and are converted, and spiritually raised fro77i the dead, is 
the same change which is meant when the scripture speaks 
of making the heart and sfiirit new, or giving a nc^v heart and 
sfiirit. 

It is needless here to stand to observe, how evidently this 
is spoken of as necessary to salvation, and as the change io 
which are attained the habits of true virtue and holiness, and 
the character of a true saint ; as has been observed oiirgen^ 



ORIGINAL SIN. 415 

sration^ conversion., &c. and how apparent it is from thence, 
that the change is the same. For it is as it were selfevident i 
It is apparent by the phrases themselves, that they are differ- 
ent expressions of the same thing. Thus repentance (|tMTavo»a.) 
or the change of the mind, is the same as being changed to a 
new mind, or a new heart and spirit. Conversion is the turn- 
ing of the heart ; which is the same thing as changing it so, 
that there shall be another heart, or a new heart, or a new 
spirit. To be born again., is to be born anew ; which implies 
a becoming wew, and is represented as becoming new born 
babes : But none supposes it is the body, that is immediately 
and properly new, but the mind, heart, or spirit. And so a 
spiritual resurrection is the resurrection of the spirit, or rising 
to begin a new existence and life, as to the mind, heart, or 
spirit. So that all these phrases imply an having a new heart, 
and being renewed in the spirit, according to their plain sig- 
nification. 

When Nicodemus expressed his wonder at Christ's de- 
claring it necessary, that a man should be born again in order 
to see the kingdom of God, or enjcy the privileges of the 
kingdom of the Messiah, Christ says to him, '• Art thou a 
master of Israel, and know est not these things ?" i. e. " Art 
thou one set to teach others the things written in the law 
and the prophets, and knowest not a doctrine so piainlv 
taught in your scriptures, that such a change as I speak of, 
h necessary to a partaking of the blessings of the kingdom of 
the Messiah r"....But what can Christ have respect to in this, 
unless such prophecies as that in Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26, 27 I 
Where God, by the prophet, speaking of the days of the Mes- 
siah's kingdom., says, " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon 
you, and ye shall be clean. ...^ new heart also will I give you, 
and a new spirit will I put within you. ...and I will put my spir- 
it within you." Here God speaks of having a new heart and 
spirit, by being washed with water, and receiving the Spirit of 
God, as the qualification of God's people, that shall enjoy the 
privileges of the kingdom of the Messiah. How much is thia 
like the doctrine of Christ to Nicodemus, of being born agar}: 



41t> ORIGINAL SIN. 

ofioater^ and of the spirit ? Wc have another like prophecy ia 
Ezek. xi. 19. 

Add to these thing;s, that regeneration, or a being born 
i^gain^ and the reneiving {or makint^ new) by the Holy Ghost, 
are spoken of as the same thing. Titus iii. 5. " By the wash- 
ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghosi." 

v. It is abundantly manifest, that being bom again, a spir- 
itually rising from the dead to newness of life rer.feiving a 7iet» 
heart, and being renewed in the spirit of the mind-, these are the 
same thing with that which is called putting off the old man, 
and putting on the new 7nan. 

The expressions are equivalent ; and the representations 
are plainly of the same thing. When Christ speaks of being 
born again, two births are supposed ; 2i first and a second ; an 
old birth, and a new one : And the thing born is called man. 
So what is born in the first birth, is the old man ; and what is 
brought forth in the second birth, is the new man. That which 
is born in the first birth (says Christ) hfiesh : It is the carnal 
man, wherein we have borne the image of the earthly Adam, 
■whom the apostle calls \\\e first man. That which is born in 
the new birth, is spirit, or the spiritual and heavenly man : 
"Wherein we proceed frorn Christ ihc second ?nan, the new 
man, whb is made a quickening spirit, and is tiie Lord frotn- 
heaven, and the head of the new creation. In the new birth, 
men are represented as becoming new born babes (as was ob- 
served before) which is the same thing as becoming new men. 

And how apparently is what the scripture suys of the spir- 
itual resurrection of the Christian convert, equivalent and of 
the very same import with putting off the old man, and put- 
ting on the neiv man ? So in Rom. vi. the convert is spoken of 
as dtjing, and being buried with Christ ; which is explained in 
the 6ili verse, by this, that " the old man is crucified that the 
body of sin miglu he destroyed." And in the 4th verse, con- 
verts in this chunge are spoken of as rising to newness of life. 
Are not these things plain enough ? The apostle does in ef- 
fect tell us, that when he speaks of that spiritual death and 
resurrection which is in conversion, he means tlie sarhc thing 
as tntcifving and burying the old man, and rising a new rncr 



ORIGINAL SIN. 417 

And it is most apparent, that spiritual drcumcision^ and 
spiritual bafithm^ and the spiritual resurrection., are all the 
same with putting off the old man^ and putting on the new 7nan. 
This appears by Col. ii. 11, 12. " In whom also ye are cir- 
cumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in put ting 
ojf the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of 
Christ, buried with him in baptism ; wherein also ye are risen 
witli him." Here it is manifest, that the spiritual circumcis- 
ion, baptism, and resurrection, all signify that chanj^e wherein 
men put off the body of the sins ofthejlesh : But that is the 
same thing, in this apostle's language, as putting off the old 
man; as appears by Rom. vi. 6. " Our old man is crucified, 
that the body of sin may be destroyed." A'ld that putting off 
the old man is the same Avith putting off the body of sins ■, ap- 
pears further by Ephes. iv. 22, 23, 24. ...and Col. iii. 8, 9, 10. 

As Dr. Taylor confesses, that a being born again is '» that 
"wherein are obtained the habits of virtue, religion, and true 
holiness ;" so how evidently is the same thing predicated of 
that change, which is called putting off the old man^ and put' 
ting on the neiv man? Eph. iv. 22, 23, 24. " That ye put 
off the old man, which is corrupt, &c. and put on the new 
man, which after God is created in righteousness and true 
holiness." 

And it is most plain, that this putting off the old man, &c, 
is the very same thing with making the hrart and spirit ne%i\ 
It is apparent in itself : The spirit is called the ?nan, in the 
language of the apostle ; it is called the inivard 7nan, and the 
hidden man, Rom. vii. 22. ...2 Cor. iv. 16....1 Pet. iii. 4. And 
therefore putting off the oW n^arz, is the same thing with the 
removal of the old heart ; and the putting on the 7ieio ma?!., is 
the receiving a new heart and a new spirit. Yea, putting on 
the new man is expressly spoken of as the same thing with re- 
ceiving a new spirit, or being renewed in spirit. Eph. iv. 22, 
23, 24. " That ye put off the old man, and be renewed in the 
spirit, of your mind, and that ye put on the new man." 

From these things it appears, how vuireasonable, and con- 
trary to the utmost degree of scriptural evidence, is Dr. Tay- 

Vol. VI. 3 L 



118 ORIGINAL SIN. 

lor's way of explaining the old man, and the new man,* as- 
though thereby was meant nothing /7er5(jwa/; but that by the 
old 7nan was meant the heathen state, and by the new man the 
Christian dispensation, or state of professing Christians, or the 
■whole collective body of professors of Christianity, made up of 
Jews and Gentiles ; Avhen all the color he has for it is, that 
the apostle once calls the Christian church a new man, Eph. 
ii. l5o It is very true, in the scriptures often, both in the 
Old Testamen' and New, collective bodies, nations, peoples, 
cities, are figuratively represented by persons ; particularly 
the cfturch of Christ is represented as one holy person, and 
has the same appellatives as a particular saint or believer ; 
and so is called a child and a son of God, Exod. iv. 22. ...Gal. 
iv. 1,2; and z servant of God, Isai. xli. 8, &, and xliv. 1. The 
daughter of God, and spouse of Christ, Psal. xlv. 10, 13, 14.... 
Rev. xix. 7. Nevertheless, would it be reasonable to argue 
from hence, that such appellations, as a servant of God, a child 
of God, &c. are always or commonly to be taken as signifying 
only the church of God in general, or great collective bodies ; 
and not to be understood in a personal sense ? But certainly 
this would not be more unreasonable, than to urge, that by the 
old and the new man, as the phrases are mostly used in scrip- 
lure, is to be understood nothing but the great collective bodies 
of Pagans and of Christians, or the Heathen and the Christian 
world, as to their outward profession, and the dispensation 
they are under. It might have been proper, in this case, to 
have considered the unreasonableness of that practice which 
our author charges on others, and finds so much fault with in 
them,t " That they content themselves with a few scraps of 
scripture, which, though wrong understood, they make the 
test of truth, and the ground of their principles, in contradic- 
tion to the whole tenor of revelation." 

VI. I observe once more, it is very apparent, that a being 
born again, and spiritually raised irom death to a state of new 
existence and life, having a new heart created in us, being re- 
newed in (he spirit of our mind, and being the subjects of tha'. 

♦ Pagci49..,^153, S. t Page 221, 



ORIGINAL SIN. 415 

change hy which vre /iu( off" the old man, and put on the neti^ 
man, is the same thing ^yith that which, in scripture, is called 
a being created aneiv, or made nenu creatures. 

Here, to pass over many other evidences of this, which 
migiu be mentioned, I would only observe, that the repre- . 
sentadons arc exactly equivalent. These several phrases nat- 
urally and most plainly signify the same effect. In the first 
birth, or generation, we ?^re created, or brought into existence ; 
it is then the whole man first receives being : The soul is then 
formed, and then our bodies ■sx^ fearfully and kvonderfully madc^ 
being curiously ivrought by our Creator : So that a new born 
child is a nenu creature. So, when a man is born again, he is 
created again ; in that neiv birth, there is a netv creation ; and 
therein he becomes as a new born babe, or a new creature. So, 
in a resurrection, there is a nezv creation. When a man is 
dead, that which was creat*;d or made in the first birth or cre- 
alior. is destroyed : When that which was dead is raised to 
life, the mighty power of the Creator or Author of life, is ex- 
erted the second time, and the subject restored to new exist- 
ence, and new life, as by a new creation. So giving a new 
heart is called creating a clean heart, Psal li. 10. Where the 
word translated, create, is the same that is used in the first 
veise in Genesis. And when w<i read in scripture of the nenv 
creature, the creature that is called new, is man ; not angel, or 
beast, or any other sort of creature ; and therefore the phrase, 
new man, is evidently equippolent with new creature ; and a 
putting off the old man, and putting on the new man, is spoken 
of expressly as brought to pass by a work of creation. Col. 
iii. 9, 10, " Ye have put off the old man, and have put on the 
new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of 
him that created him." So Eph. iv. 22, 23, 24. " That ye 
put off the old man, which is corrupt, Sec. and be renewed in 
the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, 
which after God is created in righteousness and true holi- 
ness." Tjiese things absolutely fix the meaning of that in 
2 Cor. v. 17. " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : 
Old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become 
new." 



420 ORIGINAL SIN. 

On the whole, the following reflections may be made ; 

1. That it is a truth of the utmost certainty, with respect 
to every man, born of the race of Adam, by ordinary genera- 
tion, that unless he be bom again^ he cannot see the kingdom of 
God. This is true, not only of the Hcuthen, but of them that 
are born of the professing people of God, as Nicodemus, and 
the Jews, and every man born of the Jiesh. This is most man- 
ifest by Christ's discourse in John iii. 3.... 11. So it is plain 
by 2 Cor, V. 17, That everxj man ivho is in Christ, is a new 
creature. 

2. It appears from this, together -with what has been prov- 
ed above, that it is most certain with respect to every one of 
the human race, that he can never have any interest in Christ, 
or see the kingdom of God, unless he be the subject of that 
change in the temper and disposition of his heart, which is 
made in repentance and conversion,, circumcision of heart, spir- 
itual baptism, dying to s?>?, and rising to a new and holy life ; 
and unless he has the old heart taken away, and a new heart 
and spirit given, z.x\A puts off the old man, and puts on the new 
man, and old things are passed away, and all things made new. 

3. From what is plainly implied in these things, and from 
what the scripture most clearly teaches of the nature of them, 
it is certain, that every man is born into the world in a state of 
moral pollution : For spiritual baptism is a cleansing from mor- 
al filthiness. Ezek. xxxvi. 25, compared with Acts ii. 16, 
and John iii. 5. So the washing of regeneration, or the new 
birth, is a change from a state of wickedness. Tit. iii. 3, 
4, 5. Men are spoken of as purified in their regeneration. 
1 Pet. i. 22, 23. See also 1 John ii. 29, and iii. 1, 3. And 
it appears that every man, in his first or natural state, is a sin- 
ner ; for otherwise he would then need no repentance, no con- 
version, no turning from sin to God. And it appears, that ev- 
ery man in his original state has a heart of stone ; for thus the 
scripture calls that old heart, which is taken away, when a 
new heart ^r\^ new spirit is given. Ezek. xi. 19, and xxxvi. 
26. And it appears, that man's nature, as in his native state, 
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and of its own mo- 
tion e^certs itself in nothing but wicked dteds. For thus the 



ORIGINAL SIN. 421 

scripture characterizes the old inan^ which is put off, when 
men are renewed in the spirit of their minds, and put on the 
new man, Eph. iv. 22, 23, 24....CoI. iii. 8, 9, 10. In a word, it 
appears, that man's nature, as in its native state, is a body of 
sin^ which must be destroyed., must die, be buried, and 7iever 
rise more. For thus the old man is represented, which is cru- 
cijied, when men are the subjects of a spiritual resurrection, 
Rom. vi. 4, 5, 6. Such a nature, such a body of sin as this, 
is put off in the spiritual renovation, wherein we put on the 
neto man, and are the subjects of the spiritual circumcision, 
Eph. iv. 21, 22,23. 

It must now be left with the reader to judge for himself, 
whether what the scripture teaches of the apjilication of 
Christ's redemption, and the change of state and nature neces- 
sary to true and final happiness, does not afford clear and 
abundant evidence to the truth of the doctrine of Original 
§in. 



422 ORIGINAL SIN. 



PART IV. 



Containing Answer i to Objections. 



CHAPTER I. 



t!onceming that Objection^ That to sufifiose meti's being born in 
sirif ivithout their choice,, or any fireuious act of their own, is 
to supfiose nvhat is iticonsiste7it with the nature of sin. 

SOME of the objections made against the doctrine of 
Original Sin, which have reference to particular arguments 
used in defence of it, have been already considered in the 
handling of those arguments. What I shall therefore now 
consider, are such objections as I have not yet had occasion to 
take any special notice of. 

There is no argument Dr. Taylor insists more upon, than 
that which is taken from the Arrainian and Pelagian notion of 
freedom of will, consisting in the Avill's sclfdetermination, as 
neccssaiy to the being of moral good or evil. He often urges, 
that if we come into the world infected with sinful and deprav- 
ed dispositions, then sin must be natural to us ; and if natural, 
then necessarxj ; and if necessary, then no sin, nor any thing 
we are blameable for, or that can in any respect be our fault, 
being what we cannot help : And he urges, that sin must pro- 
ceed from our own choice^ Sec* 

* Page 125, 128, 129, 130, t86, 187, 188, 190, 200, 245, 246, 253, 
258, 63, 64, 161, S, and other places. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 423 

Here I would observe in general, that the forementionecl 
notion of Freedom of Will, as essential to moral agency, and 
necessary to the very existence of virtue and sin, seems to be 
a grand favorite point with Pelagians and Arminians, and all 
divines of such characters, in their controversies with the or- 
thodox. There is no one thing mor« fundamental in their 
schemes of religion ; on the determination of this one leading 
point depends the issue of almost all controversies we have 
with such divines. Nevertheless, it seems a needless task for 
roe particularly to consider that matter in this place ; having 
already largely discussed it, with all the main grounds of this 
notion, and the arguments used to defend it, in a late book 
on this subject, to which I ask leave to refer the reader. It 
is very necessary, that the modern prevailing doctrine con- 
cerning this point, should be well understood, and therefore 
thoroughly considered and examined : For without it there 
is no hope of putting an end to the contrc-ryersy about Original 
Sin, and innumerable other controversies that subsist, ?.bout 
many of the main points of religion, I stand ready to confess 
to the forementioned modern divines, if they can rnainiaiu 
their peculiar notion o{ freedom, consisting in the selfdetermin- 
ing poTjer of the kvHI, as necessary to moral agency, and can 
thoroughly establish it in opposition to the arguments lying 
against it, then they have an impregnable castle, to which 
they may repair, and remain invincible, in all the controver- 
sies they have with the reform.ed divines, concerning Original 
Sin, the sovereignty of grace, election, redemption, conversion, 
the efficatious operation of theHoly Spirit, the nature of sav- 
ing faith, perseverance of the saints, and other principles of 
the like kind. However at the same time I think this same 
thing will be as strong a fortress for the deists, in common 
with them, as the great doctrines, subverted by their notion of 
freedom, are so plainly and abundantly taught in the scripture- 
But I am under no apprehensions of any danger, the cause of 
Christianity, or the religion of the reformed is in, from any 
possibility oi that notion's being ever established, or of its be- 
ing ever evinced that there is not proper, perfect, and nir.ni' 
fold demonstration lying against it. But as I said, it would be 



424 ORIGINAL SIN. 

needless for me to enter into a particular disquisition of this 
point here ; from which I shall easily be excused by any 
reader who is willing to give himself the trouble of consulting 
tvhat I have already written : And as to others, probably they 
will scarce be at ihe pains of reading the present discourse ; 
or at least would not, if it should be enlarged by a full consid- 
eration of that controversy. 

I shall at this time therefore only take notice of some gross 
inconsistencies that Dr. Taylor has been guilty of, in his hand- 
ling this objection against the doctrine of Original Sin. 

In places which have been cited, he says, that " Sin must 
proceed from our own choice : And that if it does not, it be- 
ing necessary to us^ it cannot be sin, it cannot be our fault, or 
"what we are to blame for :" And therefore all our sin must 
be chargeable on our choice, which is the cause of sin : Foi' 
he says, " The cause of every effect is alone chargeable with 
the effect it produceth, and which proceedeth from it."* 
Now here are implied several gross contradictions. He great- 
ly insists that nothing can be sinful^ or have the nature of sin, 
but what proceeds from our choice. Nevertheless he says, 
"....Not the effect, h\xt the rcwse alone is chargeable with 
blame." Therefore the choice, which is the cause, is alone 
blamable, or has the nature of sin ; and not the effect of that 
choice. Thus nothing can be sinful, but the effect of choice ; 
and yet the effect of choice never can be sinful, but only the 
cause, which alone is chargeable with all the blame. 

Again, the choice which chooses and produces sin, or from 
which sin proceeds, is itself sinful. Not only is this implied 
in his saying, " the cause alone is chargeable with all the 
blame," but he expressly speaks of the choice asfaultj/.^ and 
calls that choice tvicked, from which depravity and corruption 
proceeds.^ Now if the choice 4tself be sin, and there be no 
sin but what proceeds from a sinful choice, then the sinful 
choice must proceed from another antecedent choice ; it must 
be chosen by a foregoing act of will, deiermining itself to that 
sinful choice, that so it may have that v;liich he speaks of as 

* Page 128. i Page 19 ^, + Page 200. Sec alfo page 216. 



ORIGINAL Sm. 42s 

absolutely essential to the nature of sw, nanaely, that it firo- 
vecds/i-om our choice, and does not happen to us necessa- 
rily. But if the sinful choice itself proceeds from a forego- 
ing choice, then also that foregoing choice must be sinful ; 
it being the cause of sin, and so alone chargeable Avith the 
blaiiie. Yet if that foregoing choice be sinful, then neither 
must that happen to us necessarily, but must likewise proceed 
from choice, another act of choice preceding that : For we 
must remember, that " nothing is sinful but what proceeds 
from our choice." And then, for the same reason, even this 
prior choice, last mentioned, must also be sinful, being charge- 
able with all the blame of that consequent evil choice, which 
was its effect. And so we must go back till we come to the 
vcvyjirst volition, the prime or original act of choice in the 
whole chain. And this, to be sure, must be a sinful choice, 
because this is the origin or primitive cause of all the train of 
evils which follow ; and according to our author, must there- 
fore be " alone chargeable with all the blame." And yet so 
it is, according to hifn, this " cannot be sinful,'-* because it does 
not " proceed from our own choice," or any foregoing act of 
our will ; it being, by the supposition, the very first act of 
will in the case. And therefore it must be necessary, as tQ 
us, having no choice of ours to be the cause of it. 

In page 232, he says, " Adam's sin was from his own dis- 
obedient mill ; and so roust every man's sin, and all the sin in 
the world be, as well as his." By this, it seems, he must have 
a " disobedient will" before he sins ; for the cause must be 
before the effect : And yet that disobedient will itself is sin- 
ful; otherwise it could not be called disobedient. But the 
question is, How do men come by the disobedient will, this 
cause of all the sin in the world ? It must not come necessa- 
rily, without men's choice ; for if so, it is 7iot sin, nor is there 
2H)y disobedience in ii. Therefore that disobedient will must 
also come from a disobedient will ; and so on, in infinitum. 
Otherwise it must be suppo5>ed, that there is some sin in the 
world, which does not come from a disobedient will : contrary 
to our author's dogmatical assertions. 

Vol. YL 3 F 



42b ORIGINAL SIN. 

In page 166, 5". he says. " jidam could iioi sin 'without a 
sinfulincHnation." Here he calls that inclination ilhclf i/n/i^/j 
which is the principle from whence sinful acts proceed ; as 
elsewhere he speaks of the disobedient will from whence all 
sin comes ; and he allows,* that " the law reaches to all the 
latent firi7ici files of sin ;" meaninc: plainly, that it forbids, and 
threatens punishment for, those latent principles. Now these 
latent principles of sin, these sinful inclinations, without 
which, accorcUnj^ to our author, there can be no sinful act, 
cannot all proceed from a szw/u/ cAofce ; because that would 
imply great contradiction. For, by the supposition, they are 
the principles from whence a sinful choice comes, and whence 
all sinful acts of will proceed ; and there can be no sinful act 
without them. So that the^r*^ latent principles and inclina- 
tions, from whence all sinful acts proceed, are sinful ; and yet 
they are not sinful, because they do not proceed from a ivick- 
ed choice^ without which, according to him, <^' nothing can be 
sinful." 

Dr. Taylor, speaking of that proposifion of the Assembly 
of Divines, wherein they assert, that Man is by nature utterly 
corrufit, &c f thinks himself well warranted by the supposed 
great evidence of these his contradictory notions, to say, 
" Therefore sin is not natural to us ; and therefore I shall not 
scruple to say, this proposition in the Assembly of Divines is 
false.'* But it may be worthy to be considered, wlielher it 
would not have greatly become him, before he had clotiied 
himself with so much assurance, and proceeded, on the foun- 
dation of these his notions, so magisterially to charge the As- 
sembly's proposition with falsehood, to have taken care that 
his own propositions, which he has set in opposition to them, 
should be a htvle more consistent ; that he might not liave 
contradicted himself while contradicting them ; lest some im- 
partial judges, observing his inconsistence, should think they 
bad warrant to declare with equal assurance, that '• They 
shall not scruple to say. Dr. Tayloi *s doctrine h false." 

♦ Contents of Rom. cHap. viii. in Notes on the Epistle. + Page 125, 



ORIGINAL SIN, 4Sr 



CHAPTER II. 



Concerning thai objection against the doctrine of native corrufi^ 
tion, That to sufi/iose men receive their first existence in sin^ 
is to make him who is the author of their being, the author of 
iheir dejiravity. 

ONE argument against men's being supposed to be "born 
^seilh sinful depravity, which Dr. Taylor greatly insists upon, 
is, " That this does in effect charge him, who is the author of 
our nature, who formed us in the womb, with being the author 
cfa sinful corruption of nature ; and that it is highly injurious 
to the God of our nature, whose hands have formed and fash- 
ioned us, to believe our 7iature to be originally corrupted, and 
that in the worst sense of corruption."* 

With respect to this, I would observe in the first place, 
that this writer, in his handling this grand objection, supposes 
something to belong to the doctrine objected against, as main- 
tained by the divines whom he is opposing, which does not 
belong to it, nor does follow from it : As particularly, he sup- 
poses the doctrine of Original Sin to imply, that nature must 
be corrupted by some positive influence ; » something, bjr 
some means or other, infused into the human nature ; some 
quality or oiher, not from the choice of our minds, but like a 
taint, tincture, or infection, altering the natural constitution, 
faculties, and dispositions of our souls. f That sin and evil dis- 
positions are implanted in the foetus in the womb."^ Whereas 
truly our doctrine neither implies nor infers any such thing. 
In order to account for a sinful corruption of nature, yea, a 

* Page 137, 187, 188, 189, 256, 258, 260, 143,5. and other plaCM. 
•^ Psge 187, % Page 146, 148, 149, S. and the like in many other placcj. 



498 OftiCmAL SIN. 

total native depravity of the heart of man, there is not the 
least need of supposing any evil quality, infused, im/i/anted, or 
nvrought into the nature of man, by any fiositive cause, or in- 
fluence whatsoever, either from God, or the creature ; or of 
supposing, that man is conceived and born with a fountain of 
ei;z7 in his heart, such as is any thing properly positive. I 
think, a little attention to the nature of things will be sufficient 
to satisfy any impartial, considerate inquirer, that the absence 
of positive good principles, and so the withholding of a spe- 
cial divine influence to impart and maintain those good prin- 
ciples, leaving the common natural principles of selflove, nat- 
ural appetite, &c. (which were in man in innocence) leaving 
these, I say, to themselves, without the government of supe- 
rior divine principles, will certainly be follov/ed with the cor- 
ruption, yea, the total corruption of the heart, without occa- 
sion for any positive influence at all : And, that it was thus 
indeed that corruption of nature came on Adam, immediately 
on his fall, and comes on all his posterity, as sinning in him, 
and falling with him« 

The case with man was plainly this : When God made 
man at first, he implanted in him two kinds of principles. 
There was an inferior kind, which may be called natural, be- 
ing the principles of mere human nature ; such as stlflove, 
■with those natural appetites and passions, which belong to the 
■nature of man, in Which his love to his own liberty, honor, and 
pleasure, were exercised : These, when alone, and left to 
themselves, are what the scriptures sometimes caWfesh, Be- 
sides these, there were superior principles, that were spiritual, 
holy, and divine, Summarily comprehended in divine love ; 
■wherein consisted the spiritual image of God, and man's 
righteousness and true holiness ; which are called in scrip- 
ture the divine nature. These principles may, in some sense, 
be called su/ierr.atural^* being (however concreated or con- 



♦ To prevent all cavils, the reader is desired particularly to observe, in 
■wViat sense I here use the words natural and supernatural : Not as epithets of 
distinction between that which is concreaicd or connate, and that which is 
':xtraordinarily introduced afterwards, besides tlie fust slate ef things, or the 



dRIGINAL SIN. 429 

riate, yet) such as are above those principles that are essen- 
tially implied in, or necessarily resulting from, and insepara- 
bly connected with, mere human nature ; and being such as 
immediately depend on man's union and communion with 
God, or divine communications and influences of God's Spirit : 
Which, though withdrawn, and man's nature forsaken of these 
principles, humad nature \Vould be human nature still ; man's 
nature, as such, being etitircj without these divine iirind}iles^ 
which the scripture sometimes calls spirit., in cotitradistinc* 
tion to flesh. These superior principles were given tb pos- 
sess the throne, and maintain an absolute dominion in the 
heart : The other to be wholly subordinate and subservient. 
And while things continued thus, all things were in excellent 
order, peace, and beautiful harmony, and in their proper and 
perfect state. 

These divine principles thus reigning, were the dignity, 
life, happiness, and glory of man's nature. When man sin- 
ned, and broke God's covenant, and fell under his curse, these 
superior principFes left his heart : For indeed God then left 
him ; that communion with God, on which these principles 
depended, entirely ceased ; the Holy Spirit, that divine inhab- 
itant, forsoek the house. Because it would have been utterly 
improper in itself, and inconsistent with the covenant and con- 
stitution God had established, that God should still maintain 
communion with man, and continue, by his friendly, gracious, 
^ital influences, to dwell with him and in him, after he was 
become a rebel, and had incurred God's wrath and curse. 



order established originally, beginning when man's nature began ; but as dii. 
iinguishing between what belongs to, or flows from, that nature which maa 
has, merely as man, and those things which are boe this, by which one is 
denominated, not only a man, but a truly virtuous, holy, and spiritual man ; 
which, though they began in Adam, as soon as humanity began, and are nec- 
essary to the perfection and well being of the human nature, yet are not essen- 
tial to the contitution of it, or necessary to its being : Inasmuch as one may 
have every thing needful to his. being man, exclusively of them. If in thus 
tisins the words, natwal an supernatural, I use them in an uncommon sense, 
it is not finivi any affcctaiioH of singularity, but for want of other terms more 
aptly to express my meauing. 



4'^ ORIGINAL sm. 

Therefore immediately the superior divine principles wholly 
ceased ; so light ceases in a room when the candle is with* 
drawn ; and thus man was left in a sta.e of darkness, woeful 
corruption and ruin ; nothing but flesh without spirit. The 
inferior principles of selflove, and natural appetite, which were 
given only to serve, being alone, and left to themselves, of 
course became reigning principles ; having no superior prin- 
ciples to regulate or control them, they became al>solute mas- 
ters of the heart. The immediate consequence of which was 
z fatal catastrofihe, a turning of all things upside down, and the 
succession of a state of the most odious and dreadful confu- 
sion, Man did immediately set up himaelf, and the objects of 
bis private affections and appeiites, as supreme ; and so they 
look the place of God. These inferior principles are Uke^?-e 
in an house ; which, we say, is a good servant, but a bad mas- 
ter ; very useful while kept in its place, but if left to take pos- 
session of the whole house, soon brings all to destruction. 
Man's love to his own honor, separate interest, and private 
pleasure, which before was wholly subordinate unto love to 
God, and regard to his authority and glory, now disposes and 
impels him to pursue those objects, without regard to God's 
honor or law ; because there is no true regard to these divine 
things left in him. In consequence of which, he seeks those 
objects as much when against God's honor and law, as when 
agreeable to them. And God, still continuing strictly to re- 
quire supieme regard to himself, and forbidding all gratifica- 
tions of these inferior pasfeions, but only in perfect subordina- 
tion to the ends, and agreeableness to the rules and limits, 
■which his holiness, honor, and law prescribe, hence immedi- 
ately nrises enmity in the heart, now wholly under the power 
of selflove ; and ncihing but war ensues, in a constant course, 
against God. As, when a subject has once renounced his 
lawful sovereign, and set up a pretender in his stead, a state 
of enmity and war against his rightful king necessarily en- 
sues. It were easy to shew, how every lust, and depraved 
disposition of man's heart would naturally arise from this 
prrvative original, if here were room for it. Thus it is easy 
to give an account, how total corruption of heart should follow 



ORIGINAL SIN. 4?: 

on man*s eating the forbidden fruit, though that was but one 
act of sin, vjithout Gcd's fiuttmg any evil into his heart, or im- 
planting' any bad principle, or infusing any corrupt taint, and 
so becoming; the author of depravity. Only God's nvithdraiV' 
itig, as it was highly proper and necessary that he should, 
from rebel man, being as it were driven away by his abomi- 
nable wickedness, and men's natural principles being left to 
tliemsdvesy this is suflRcient to account for his becoming en- 
tirely corrupt, and bent on sinning against God. 

And as Adam's nature became corrupt, without God's im- 
planting or infusing aay evil thing into his nature ; so doss 
the nature of his fiosterity, God dealing with Adam as the 
head of his posterity (as has been shewn) and treating them a* 
one, he deals with his posterity as having ali sinned in him. 
And therefore, as God withdrew spiritual communion, and 
his vital, gracious infl'ience from the common head, so he 
withholds the same from all the members, as they come into 
existence ; whereby they come into the world mevefesk. and 
entirely under the government of natural and inferior princi- 
ples ; and so become wholly corrupt, as Adam did. 

Now, for God so far to have the disposal of this affair, a« 
to ivit h hold tho%t influences, without which nature will be cor-- 
rufit, is not to be the author of sin. IJut^ concerning this, I 
must refer the reader to what I have said of it in my dis- 
course on the freedom of the ivill* Though, besides what I 
have there said, I may here observe, That if for God so far 
to order and dispose the being of §in, as io permit it, by with- 
holding the gracious influences necessary to prevent it, is for 
him to be the author of ^in, then some things which Dr. Tay- 
lor himself lays down, will equaliiy be attended with this very 
consequence. For, from time to time, he speaks of God's 
giving men up to the vilest lusts and affections, by permit- 
ting, or leaving them.f Now, if the continuance of sin, and 
its increase and prevalence, may be in consequence of God's 
disposal, by his withholding that grace, that is needful, under 



* Pan iv. § 9, p. 354, &c. + Key, § 3S8, Note; and Pa-apb. en Ron?- 
-4, a6. 



432 ORIGINAL SIN. 

sv?ch circumstances, to prevent it, without God's being th^ 
author of that continuance and prevalence of sin ; then, by 
parity of reason, may the bcms ofsin^ in the race of Adam, be 
in consequence of God's disposal, by his withholdmg that 
grace, that is needful to prevent it, v,ithoul his being the au- 
thor of that being of sin. 

If here it should be said, that God is not the author of sin, 
in giving men up to sin, who have already made themselves 
sinful, because when men have once made themselves sinful, 
their continuing so, and sin's prevailing in them, and becom- 
ing more and more habitual, will follow in a course of nature : 
I answer, Let that be remembered, which this writer so great- 
ly urges, in opposition to them that suppose original corrup- 
tion comes in a course of nature, viz. That the course of na- 
ture is nothing "juithout God. He Utterly rejects the notion of 
the " Course of nature's being a proper active cause, which 
will work, and go on by itself, nvithout God, if he lets or per- 
mits it." But affirms,* " That the course of nature, separate 
from the agency of God, is no cause, or nothing ; and that the 
course of nature should continue itself, or go on to operate by 
itself, any more than at first produce itself, is absolutely imfios- 
sible." These strong expressions are his. Therefore, to ex- 
plain the continuance of the habits of sin in the same person, 
when once introduced, yea, to explain the very being of any 
such habits, in consequence of repeated acts, our author must 
have recourse to those same principles, which he rejects a9 
absurd to the utmost degree, when alleged to explain the corr 
ruption of nature in the posterity of Adam. For, that habits, 
either good or bad, should contimie, after being once esiabiishr 
ed, or that habits should be settled and have ejcisteice in con- 
sequence of repeated acts, can be oAying only to a course of 
nature, and those laws of nature which God has established. 

That the posterity of Adam should be born without holir 
n'css, and so with a depraved nature, comes to pass as much 
by the established course of nature, as the continuance of a cor- 
rupt disposition in a particular person, after he once has it ; 

* Fagt 134., S, Sec also with what vehemence this is urged in p, 137, S. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 433 

or as much as Adam's continuing uiiiioly and cornipt, after 
he had once lost his holiness. For Adam's postfiity are 
from him, and as it were in J im, and belons^in^ to him, ac- 
cording to an establuthed course of nature^ as much as the 
branches of a tree are, according to a course oynu'ure, from 
the tree, in the tiee, and beloni^ing; to the tree ; or (to make 
use of the comparison which Dr. Taylor himself chooses and 
makes use of from time to time, as proper to illustrate the 
matter*) Just as trie acorn is derived from the oak. And I 
think, the acorn is as much derived fiom the oak, according 
to the course ofnamre^ as the buds and branches. It is true, 
that God, by his own almit^hty power, creates the soid of the 
infant; and it is also true, as Dr. Taylor often insists, that 
God, by his immediate power, forms and fashion;-^ the bodij of 
the infant in the womb ; yet he does both according to that 
course of nature^\i\i\c\i he has been pleased to establish. The 
course of nature is demonsiratedr by late improvements in 
philosophy, to be indeed what our author himself says it is, 
viz. Nothing but the established order of the agency and ope- 
ration of the author of nature. And though there be the im- 
mediate agency of God in bringing the soul into existence 
in generation, yet it is done according to the method and order 
established by the author of nature, as much as his producing 
the bud, or the acoin of the oak ; and as much as his contin- 
tiins; a particular person in being, after he once has existence. 
God's immediate agency in bringing the soul of a child into 
being, is as much according to an established order, as his im- 
mediate agency in any of the works of nature whatsoever. It 
is aereeable to the established wder of nature, that the good 
qualities wanting in the fref, sho-uld also be wanting in the 
branches and frtdt. It is agreeable to the order of nature, 
Ihut when a particular person is without good moral qualities 
in his heart, he should continue witheut then), till some new 
cause or efficiency produces them 5 and it is as much agreea' 
ble to an established course and order of nature, that sinc^ 
Adan!, the head of the race of mankind, the root of that grca^; 

* Page 146, 187. 

Vol. VL 3 G 



434 ORIGINAL SIN'. 

tree with many branches sprine:inc: from it, was deprived of 
original righteo»isness,the branches should come forth without 
it. Or if any dislike the word nature, as used in this last c^se, 
and instead of it choose to call it a constitution or established 
orrfpr of successive events, the alteration of the nanne will not 
in the least alter the state of the present argument. Where 
the name, nature., is allowed without dispute, no more is 
meant than an established method and order of events, settled 
and limited by divine wisdom. 

If any should object to this, that if the want of original 
righteousness be thus according to an established course of 
■nature, then why are not principles of holiness, when restored 
by divine grace, also communicated io fiostei-ity ? I answer, 
the divine laws and establishments of the author of nature.^ 
are precisely settled by him as he pleaseth, and limited by 
his wisdom. Grace is introduced among the race of mankind 
by a new establishment ; not on the foot of the original estab- 
lishment of God, as the head of the natural woild, and author 
of the first creation ; but by a constitution of a vastly hivi^her 
kind ; wherein Christ is made the root of the tree, whose 
branches are his spiritual seed, and he is the head of the new 
creations of which I' need not stand now to speak particu- 
larly. 

But here I desire it may be noted, that I do not suppose 
the natural depravity of the posterity of Adam is owing to 
the course of nature only ; it is also owing to the 'jxistjicdg^ 
■ment of God. But yet I'lliink, it is as truly and in the same 
■jnanner owing to the course of wc/wrc, that Adam's posterity 
come into the world without original righteousness, as that 
Adam continued without it, after he had once lost it. That 
Adam continued destitute of holiness, when he had lost it, 
and would always have so continued, had it not been restored 
by a Redeemer, was not only a natural consequence, accord- 
ing to the course of things established by God, as the Author 
of Nature ; but it was also a/ienal consequence, or a punish- 
-mcnt of his sin. God, in righteous judgment, continued to 
absent himself from Adam after he became a rebel ; and 
•.withheld from him now those influences of the Holy Spirit., 



ORIGINAL SIN. 43. 

which he before had. And just thus I suppose it to be with 
-every natural branch of mankind : All are looked upon as 
sinning in and with their common root ; and God righteously 
withholds special influences and spiritual communications 
from all, for this sin. But of the manner and order of these 
things, more may be said in the next chapter. 

On the wliole, this grand objection against the doctrine of 
men's being born corrupt, That it makes him who gave us 
our beings to be the cause of the being of corruption^ can have 
no more force in it, than a like argument has to prove, that if 
men, by a course of nature, continue wicked, or remain without 
gocjdncss, after they have by vicious acts contracted vicious 
habits, and so made themselves wicked, it makes him, who is 
the cause of their coniinuance in being, and the cause of the 
continuance of the course of nature, to be the cause of their 
continued wickedness. Dr, Taylor says,* " God would not 
viake any thing ;hat is hateful to him ; because, by the very 
terms, he would hate to make such a thing." But if this be 
good avguing in the case to which it is applied, may I not as 
well say, God nvould not continue a thing in being, that is 
hateful to him, because, by the very terms., he would hate to 
continue such a thing in being ? Lthink the very terms do as 
mucli (and no morej infer one of these propositions, as the 
otl.er. In like manner the rest that he says on that head may 
be shewn to be unreasonable, by only substituting the word, 
continue., in the place oi 7nake and /iro/iagate, I may fairly im- 
itate his way of reasoning thus: " To say, God continue^' us ac- 
cording to his own original decree, or law of continuation, 
which obliges him iocontijiue us in a manner he abhors, is real- 
ly to make bad worse : For it is supposing him to be de- 
fective in wisdom, or by his own decree or law to lay such a 
■constraint upon his own actions, that he cannot do what he 
would, but is continually doing what he would not, what he 
hates to do, and what he condemns in us, viz. continuing us 
sinful, when he condeinns us for continuing ourselves sml'ul." 
If the reasoning be tveak in the one case, ii is'no less so in 
the other. 

*Fageis6,S. 



436 ORIGINAL SIN. 

If any shall still insist, that there is a difference betweeft 
God's so disposing things as that depravity of heart shall be 
continued, according to the settled course of nature, in the 
same person, who has by his own fault introduced it ; and 
his so disposing as that men, according to a course of nature, 
should be born with depravity, in consequence of Adam's in- 
troducing sin, by his act which we had no concern in, and 
cannot be justly charged with. On this I would observe, that 
it is quite going off the objection, which we have been upon, 
from God's agency, and flying to another. It is then no 
longer insisted on, that simply for him, from whose agency 
the course of nature and our existence derive, so to dispose 
things, as that we should have existence in a corrupt state, 
is for him to be the author of sin ; but the plea now advanc- 
ed is, that it is not proper and just for such an agent so to dis- 
pose, in this casp, and only in consequence ot Adam's sin ; it 
not being just to charge Adam's sin to his posterity. And 
this matter shall be particularly considered, in answer to the 
SiiexL objection, to which J, now proceed. 



CHAPTER III. 

7%fff jTffl? Objection against the Impwizilon of Jdam's sin tq 
his posterity^ considered, that such Imputation is unjust and 
unreasonable^ inasmuch as jldam and his fiosterity are not 
one and the same. With a brief reflection subjoined oftvhat 
some have su/ifiosed, of God's imputing the guilt ofJdam's 
sin to his Posterity, but in an infinitely less degi'ee, than to 
Adam himself. 

THAT we may proceed with the greater clearness in 
considering the main olijeciions against supposing the guilt 
of Adam's sin lobe imputed to bis posterity ; I would pre- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 437 

mise some observations with a view to the right slating of 
the doctrine of the imputation of Adam's first sin, and then 
shew the reasonabhmess of this doctrine, in opposition to the 
great ch»mor raised against it on this head. 

I think, it would go far towards directint^ us to the more 
clear and distinct conceiving and right staling of this affair, 
were we steadily to bear this in mind : That God, in each 
step of his proceeding with Adam, in relation to the covenant 
or constitution established with him, looked on his posterity 
as being one with him. (The propriety of his looking upon 
them so, I shall speak to afterwards.) And though he dealt 
more immediately with Adam, yet it was as the head of the 
•whole body, and the root of the whole tree ; and in his pro- 
ceedings with him, he dealt with all the branches, as it they 
had been then existing in their root. 

From which it will follow, that both guilt, or exposedness 
to punishment, and also depravity of heart, came upon Ad- 
am's posterity just as they came upon him, as much as if he 
and they had all coexisted, like a tree with many branches ; 
allowing only for the difference necessarily resuhing from 
the place Adam stood in, as head or root of the whole, and 
being first and most immediately dealt with, and most imme- 
diately acting and suffering. Otherwise, it is as if, in every 
step of proceeding, every alteration in the root had been at- 
tended, at the same instant, wiih the same steps and altera- 
tions throughout the whole tree, in each individual branch. 
I think this will naturally follow on the supposition of there 
being a constituted oneness or identity of Adam and his pos- 
terity in this affair. 

Therefore I am humbly of opinion, that if any have sup- 
posed the children of Adam to come into the world with a 
double guilt, one the guilt of Adam's sin, another the guilt 
arising from their having a corrupt heart, they have not so 
well conceived of the matter. Thti gicilt a man has upon his 
soul at his first existence, is one and simple, viz. the guilt of 
the original apostasy, the guilt of the sin by wiiich the species 
first rebelled against God. This, and the guilt arising from 
ihe first corruption or depraved disposition of the heart, are 



456 ORIGINAL SIN. 

not to be looked upon as /wo things, distinctly imputed and 
charged upon men in the sight of God. Indeed the guilt that 
arises from the corruption of the heart, as it remains a con- 
■Srmed principle, and appears in its consequent operations, is 
a distinct and additioncl guilt : But the guilt arising from the 
first existing of a depraved disposition in Adam's posterity, I 
apprehend, i%not distinct from their guilt of Adam's first sin. 
Tor so it was not in Adam himself. The first evil disposition 
or inclination of the heart of Adam to sin, was not properly- 
distinct from his first act of sin, but was included in it. The 
external act lie committed was no otherwise his, than as his 
heart was in it, or as that action proceeded from the wicked 
inclination of his heart. Nor was the guilt he had double, as 
for two distinct sins : One, the wickedness of his heart and 
will in that affair ; another, the wickedness of the external 
act, caused by his heart. His guilt was all truly from the act 
of his inward man ; exclusive of which the motions of his 
body were no more than the motions of any lifeless instru- 
ment. His sin consisted in wickedness of heart, fully sufT;- 
cient/or, and entirely amounting ?o, all that appeared in the 
act he committed. 

The depraved disposition of Adam's heart is to be consid- 
ered two ways. (I.) As the first rising of an evil inclination 
-in his heart, exerted in his first act of sin, and the ground of 
the complete transgression. (2,) An evil disposition of heart 
continuing afterwards, as a confirmed principle that came by 
God's forsaking him ; which was a iiunishment of his first 
transgression. This confirmed corruption, by its remaining 
and continued operation, brought additional guilt on his soul. 

And in like manner, depravity of heart is to be considered 
two ways in Adam's posterity. The first existing of a cor- 
rupt disposition in their hearts, is not to be looked upon as sin 
belonging to them, distinct from their participation of Adam's 
first sin : It is as it Avere the extended fiollution of that sin, 
through the whole tree, by virtue of the constituted union of 
the branches with the root ; or the inherence of the sin oi that 
head of the species in the members, in the consent and con- 
^itrrence of the hearts of the members with the head in that 



ORIGINAL sm. 43y 

i!rst act. (Which may be, without God's being the author of 
sin, about which I have spoken in the former chapter.) But 
the depravity of nature remaining an established princifile in 
the heart of a child of Adam, and as exhibited in after opera- 
tions, is a consequence and imnishment of the first apostasy thus 
participated, and brings new guilt, 'i'he first being of an evil 
disposition in the heart of a child of Adam, whereby he is 
disposed to afiprove of the sin of his first father, as fully as he 
himself approved of it when he committed it, or so far as to 
imply a full and perfect consent of heart to it, I think, is not 
to be looked upon as a consequence of the imputation of that 
first sin, any more than the full consent of Adam's own heart, 
in the act of sinning ; which was not consequent on the im- 
putation uf his sin to himself, but rather /irwr to it in the or- 
der of nature. Indeed the derivation of the evil disposition 
to tJie hearts of Adam's posterity, or rather the coexistcvce of 
the evil disposition, implied in Adam's first rebellion, in the 
root and branches^ is a consequence of the union that the wise' 
author of the world has established between Adam and his 
posterity ; but not properly a consegue7ice of the im/nitadon of 
his sin ; nay, rather antecedent to it, as it was in Adam him- 
self. The fifs't depravity of heart, and the imputation of that 
sin, are both the consequences of that established union ; but 
yet in such order, that the evil disposition is frst, i.nd the 
charge of guilt consequent, as it was in the case of Adam him- 
self.*^ 

* My meaning, in the whole of '>vl)at has been Here said, may be illustrat- 
ed thus : Let us suppose, that Adam and all his posterity had cotxisted, and 
that his posterity had been, through a law of nature, established by the Crea- 
tor, united to him, something as the branches of a tree are united to the root, 
or the members of the body to the head, so as to constitute as it were one 
complex person, or one moral whole : '^o that by the law of union, there 
should have been a communion and coexistence in acts and affections ; all 
jointly participating, and all concurring, as one whole, in the disposition and 
action of the head : As we see in the body natural, the whole body is affected 
as the head is affected ; and the whole body concurs wlien the head acts. 
Now, in this case, the hearts of all the branches of mankind, by the coiistitii- 
tion of nature and law of union, v/ould have been affected iust as the b' art 
jrf Adam, their common root, was affected. When the heart of the root, bv 



440 ORIGINAL Sm. 

The first existence of an evil tlisposition of hea;t, amount-* 
ing; to a full consent to Adam's sin, no more infers God's be- 
int^ the author of that evil disposition in the chihU ^han in the 
father. The first arising or existing of that evil disposition 

a full disposition, committed the first sin, the hearts of all the branches would 
have concurred ; and wben the root, in consequence of this, became guilty, 
so would all the branches; and when the heart of the root, as a punishment 
of the sin committed, was forsaken of God, in like mjnner would it have 
fared with all the branches ; and when the heart of the root, in consequence 
of this, was confirmed in permanent depravity, the case would have been the 
same with all the branches; and as new guilt on the soul of Adam would 
have been consequent on this, so also would it have been with his moral 
branches. And thus all things, with rel tion to evil disposition, guilt, pol- 
lution and depravity, would exist, in the same order and dependence, la 
each branch, as in the root. Now, difference of the time of existence does 
not at all hinder things succeeding in the same order, any meie than differ- 
ence of place in a coexistence of time. 

Here may be worthy to be observed, as in several respects to the present 
purpose, some things that are said by Stapferus, an emintnt divine of Zurich, 
in Switzerland, in his I he log'a i olem ca, published about fourteen years 
ago; in English as follows. "Seeing all Adam's posterity are derived from 
their first parent, as their root, the whole of the human kind, with its root, 
may be considered as coristituting but one whole, or rne mass ; so as not to 
be properly a thing d.stinct from its ro. t ; the posterity not differing froin 
it, arv otherwise than the branches from the tne. From which it easily ap- 
pears, how that when the root sinned, all that which is tier ved from t, and 
wiih it constitutes but one whole, may be lookea U| on as also sinning; see- 
ing it is not distinct from the root, but is one with it.". ...Tom, i, cap 3, 
\ 856. 57. 

" It is objected against the imputation of Adam's sin, that we never com- 
mi;ted tlie same sin with Adam, neither io number nor in kind. I answer, 
we should distin,;uish here between the physical act itself, which Adam com- 
tni'ted, and the morality of the action, and consent to it. If we have respect 
only to the evterna act, to be sure it must be con cssed. that Adam's poster- 
ity did not put forth their hands to the (orbidden fruit: In which sense, 
that act of transgression, and that fall of Adam cannot be physically one with 
the sin of his poiterity But if we consider the morality of the action, and 
wha' consent here is 10 it, it is altogether to be maintained, that his posterity 
commi ted the same sin, both in number and in kind, inasmuch as they arc 
to be looked upon as consenting to ii. For where there is consent to a sin, 
there the same sin is c .mmitted. Seeing therefore that Adam, with all his 
posterity, constitute but one moral person, and are united in the same cove- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 441 

jti the heart of Adam, was by God's fierinission ; who could 
h;tve prevented it, if he had pleased, hy giving 'iwcU influences 
of his Spirit, as would have been absolutely effectual to hinder 
jt ; which, it is plain in fact, he did 'withhold : And whatever 

nant, aad are transgressors of the same law, they are also to be looked upon 
as having, in a moral ellimation, commi ted the same transgression of the law, 
both in number and in kind Therefore this reasoning avails nothing against 
the righteous imputation sf the sin of Adam to all mankind, or to he whole 
moral person that is consenting te it. And for the reason mentioned, we may 
rather argue thus : The sin of the posterity, on account of iheir consent, and 
the moral view in which they are to be taken, is the same with the sin of Adam, 
not only ia kind, but in number ; therefore the sin of Adam is rightfully 
imputed to his posterity,". ...Id. Tom. iv. cap 16, ^ 60, 61. 

" The imputation of Adam's first sin consists in nothing else than this, 
that his posterity are viewed as in the same place with their father, and are 
like him. But seeing, agreeable to what we have already proved, God might, 
according to his own righteous judgment, which was founded on his most 
righteous law, give Adam a posterity that were /(^e Aiwj^//"; and indeed it 
could not be otherwise, according to the very laws of nature ; therefote he 
might also in righteous judgment impute Adam's sin to them ; inasmuch as 
to give Adam a posterity like himaelj, and to impute his sin to th^m, is one and 
the same thing. And therefore if the former be nqt contrary to the divine 
perfections, so neither is the latter. Our adversaries contend with us chiefly 
on this account. That according to our doctrine of Original Sin, such an im- 
putation of the first si) is maintained, whereby God, without any regard to 
universal native corruption, esteems all Adam's posteritv as guHtf, and holds 
them as liable to condemnation, purely on account of that sinful apt qf their 
first parent ; so that they, without any respect had to their own sin, and so, as 
innocent in themselves, are destined to eternal punishment. I have therefore 
ever been careful to shew, that they do injuriously suppose t^ose things to be 
separated, in our doctrine, which a e by no means to be separated. The whole 
of the controversy they have with us about this matter, evdentiv arises from 
this, That they suppose the mediate and the immediate imputation arc distin- 
guished one from the other, not only in the manner of conception, but in re- 
ality And so indeed they consider imputation only as immediate and ab- 
stractly from the mediate ; when yet our divites suppise, ihat neither ought 
to be considered separately from the other. Therefore I ch se not to use any 
iuch distinction, or to suppose any such thing, in what I have said on the 
subject; but only have endeavored to explain the thing itself, and to recon- 
cile it with the divine attributes. And therefore I have every where conjoin- 
"d both these conception? concerning the imputation «f the first sin, as inser- 

Vol. VL 5 H 



*42 ORIGINAL SIN. 

mystery may be supposed in the affair, yet no Christian will 
presume to say, it was not in perfect con-:,istence with GodV 
holiness ancf righteoitsnessy notwithstandintj: Adam had been, 
guihy of no offence before. So root and branches beini; one» 
according to God's wise constitution, the case in fact is, that 
by virtue of this oneness answerable changes or effects throut^h 
all the branches coexist with the changes in the root : Conse" 
quenily an evil disposition exists in the hearts of Adam's pos- 
terity, equivalent to that which was exerted in his own heart, 
vhen he ate the forbidden fruit. Which God has no hand in, 
any otherwise, than in not exerting such an influence, as 
might be effectual to prevent it ^ as appears by what was ob- 
served in the former chapter. 

But now the grand objection is against the reasonableness 
ef such a constitution, by which Adam and his posterity should- 
be looked upon as one, and dealt with accordingly, in an affuir 
of such infinite consequence ; so that if Adam sinned, they 
must necessarily be made sinners by his disobedifnce, and 
come into existence with the same de/iravity of disposition, 
and be looked upon and treated as though they were partak- 
ers with Adam in his act of sin. I have not room here to re- 
hearse all Dr. Taylor's vehement exclamations against the 
reasonableness and justice of this. The reader may at his 
leisure consult his bonk, and see them in the places referred 
to below.* 'Whatever ])lack colors and frightful representa- 
tions are employed on this occasion, all may be summed up 
in this, That Adam and his posterity are not one, but entirely 
disinict agents. But with respect to this mighty outcry made 
against the reasonablet^ess of any such constitution, by which 

arable ; and judged, that one ought never to be considered without the other. 
While I have been writ!n? this note, I consulted all the systems of divinity, 
■which I have by me, that I might see what w>.s the true and genuine opinioo 
of UT chief divines in this affoir ; and I found that they were of the same 
mind with me ; nan^elv, (hat these two kinds of imputation are by no mean:. 
to be seyarated, or to be consideied abstizctly one from the other, but thai 
csne does involve the other.". .H- there psrticularly c^tes t!>ose two famous 
-•'forafsed divine.-., Vitringa and Lamp'us... Tom iv. Cap. 17, ^ 7^, 
♦ Page 13, 150,151, 156, 261, 108, 109, lit, 5 



ORIGINAL SIN. 44S 

^o& is supposed to treat Adam and his posterity as one, I 
would make the following; observations. 

I. It signifies nothing to exclaim against \)\a.infact. Such 
is tht fad, most evident and acknowledgedyac?, with respect 
to the state of all mankind, without exception of one individ- 
ual among all the natural descendants of Adam, as makes it 
apparent, that God actually deals with Adam and his posterity 
as one, in the affair of his apostasy, and its infinitely terrible 
consequences. It has been denionstrated, and shewn to be in 
effect plainly acknowledged, that every individual of mankind 
comes into the world in such circumstances, as that there is 
no hope or possibility of any other than their violating God's 
hoiy law (if they ever live to act at all as moral agents) and 
being thereby justly exposed to eternal ruin.* And it is thus 
by God's ordering and disposing of things. And God either 
thus deals with mankind, because he looks upon them as one 
•with their first father, and so treats them as tiinful and guilty 
by his apostasy ; or (which will not -mend the matter) hCs 
nvithout viewing them as at all concerned in that affair, but as 
in every respect perfectly innocent, docs nevertheless subject 
them to this infinitely dreadful calamity. Adam, by his sin, 
was exposed to the calamities and sorroivs of this life, to teni" 
fioi-al death and eternal ruin ; as is confessed. And it is also 
in effect confessed, that all his posterity come into the world 
in such a state, as that the certain consequence is, their being 
ex/iosed, and justly so, to the sorrows of this life, io temfiorai 
death and eternal ruin, unless saved by grace. So that we see, 
God in fact deals with them together, or as one. If God or- 
ders the consequences of Adam's sin, with regard to his pos- 
terity's welfare, even in those things v/hich are most impor- 
tant, and which do in the highest degree concern their eternal 
interest, to be the same with the consequences to Adam him- 
self, then he treats Adam and his posterity as one in that af- 
fair. Hence, however the matter be attended with difficulty, 
fact obliges us to get .over the difficulty, either by finding out 
^some solution, or by shutting our mouths, and acknowlcdjjiac; 

• Part I. Chap. I, the three first Section;. 



44i ORIGINAL SIN. 

the weakness and scantiness of our understandings ; as v/<^ 
must in innumerable other cases, where apparent and unde- 
r\\i\hlc/acry in God's works of creation and providence, is at« 
tended with events and circumstances, the mcmner and reason 
of which are difficult to our understanding's. But to proceed, 

II. We will consider the difficulties themselves, insisted 
on in the objections of our opposers. They may be reduced 
to these two : First, That such a constitution is irjjurious to 
Adam's posterity. Secondly, That it is altogether imfirofier., 
as it \n\\A\e^ falsehood, viewing and treating those as one, 
which indeed are not one, but entirely distinct. 

First Difficulty, That the appointing Adam to stand, 
in this great affair, as the rnOra! head of his posterity, and so 
treating them as one with him, as standing or falling with 
liim, is injurious to them, and tends to their hurt. To which 
I answer, it is demonstrably otherwise ; that such a constitu- 
tion was so far from being injurious and hurtful to Adam's 
posterity, or tending to their calamity, anymore than if every 
or.e had been appointed to stand for himself personally, that it 
was, in itself considered, very much of a contrary tendency, 
and was attended with a more eligible firobability of a hafifiy 
issue than the latter would have been : Andsn is a constitu- 
tion truly expressing the goodness of its author. For, here 
the following things are to be considered, 

1. It is reasonable to suppose, that Adam was as likely, on 
account of his capacity and natural talents, to fiersevcre in 
obedience, as his posterity (taking one with another) if they 
had all been put oh the trial singly for themselves. And 
supposing that there was a constituted union or oneness of 
him and his posterity, and that he stood as a public person, or 
common head, all by this constitution would have been as sure 
to partake of the benefit of his obedience, as of the ill conse- 
quence of his disobedience, in case of his fall. 

2. There was a greater tendency to a happy issue, in such 
ar appointment, than if every one had been appointed to stand 
for himself; especially on two accounts. (J.) That Adam 
had stronger motives to ivatchfulness than his posterity would 
have had ; in that not only his own etemal welfare lay at 



ORIGINAL SIN. 445 

)5take, but also that of all his posterity. (2.) Adam was in a 
istate of complete manhoou. when his trial began. It was a 
constitution very agreeable to the goodness of God, consid- 
ering the state of mankind, which was to be propagated in the 
"way of generation, that the'wjiriit father siiould be appointed 
to stand for ail. For by reason of the manner of their coming 
into existence in a state of infancy^ and their coming so grad- 
ually to matu;'e state, and so remaining for a great while in a 
state of chiklbood and comparative imperfection, after they 
were become moral agents, they would be less fit to stand for 
themselves, than their first father to stand for them. 

If any man, notwithstanding these things, shall say, that 
for his own part, if the affair had been proposed to him, he 
should have chosen to have had his eternal interest trusted in 
his own hands ; it is sufficient to answer, that no man's vain 
©pinion cf himself, as more Jit to be trusted than others, al- 
ters the true nature and tendency of things, as they demon- 
strably are in themselves. Nor is it a just objection, that 
this constitution has in event proved for the hurt of mankind. 
For it does not follow that no advantage was given for a ha/i/iy 
event, in such an establishment, because it was not such as to 
make it utterly impossible there should be any other event, 

3. The goodness of God in such a constitution with Adam 
appears in this : That if there had been no sovereig??y gra- 
cious establishment at all, but God had proceeded only on the 
foot of mere justice, and had gone no further than this re- 
quired, he roight have demanded of Adam and ail his poster- 
ity, that they should perform perfect, fierfietual obedience, 
without ever failing in the least instance, on pain o{ eternal 
death, and might have made this demand without the firomise 
of any positive reward for their obedience. For perfect obe- 
dience is a debt, that every one owes to his Creator, and 
therefore is what his Creator was not obliged to pay him for. 
None is obliged to pay his debtor, only for discharging his 
just debt. But such was evidently the constitution with Ad- 
am, that an eternal happy life was to be the consequence of 
his persevering fidelity, to all such as were included within 
t!iat constitution (of which the tree of life was a sign) aa 



446 ORIGINAL Sm. 

'Well as eternal death to be the consequence of his disobe- 
dience. 

I come now to consider the 

Second Difficulty. It beinf; thus manifest that this 
constitution, by which Adam and his posterity are deah with 
as 07?e, is not unreasonable upon account of its being injurious 
and hnrtful to the interest of mankind, the only thing remain- 
ing in the objection against such a consiiiuuon, is the impro- 
priety of it, as imjilying falsehood^ and contradiction to the 
true nature of things ; as hereby they are viewed and treated 
as one., who are not one, but wholly distinct ; and no arbitrary 
constitution can ever make that to t>e true, which in itself 
considered is not true. 

This objection, hov/ever specious, is really founded on a 
false hypothesis, and wrong notion of what we call sameness 
or oneness^ among created things ; and the seemmg force of 
the objection arises from ignorance or inconbideration of the 
degree, in which created identity or oneness with past exist- 
ence, in general, depends on tlie sovereign constitution and 
law of the Supreme Author and Disposer of the Universe. 

Some things, being most simply considered, are entirely 
distinct, and very diverse, which yet are so united by the es- 
tablished law of the Creator,in some respects, and with regard 
to some purposes and effects, that by virtue of that estabhsh* 
ment it is witii them as if they were one. Thus a tree, grown 
great, and an hundred years old, is one plant with the little 
sprout, that first came out of the ground, from whence it 
grew, and hcis been continued in constant succession, though 
it is now so exceeding diversr, many thousand times bigger, 
and of a very different forrR, and perhaps not one atom the 
very same ; yet God, according to an established law of na- 
ture, has in a constant sitccession communicated to it many 
©f the same quaUties and most important properties, as if it 
•were one. It has been his pleasure to constitute an union in 
these respects, and for these purposes, naturally leading us 
to look upon all as one. So the body of man at forty years of 
age, is one with the infant body which first came into the 
^orldj from whence it grew ; thougii i\ow constituted of dif- 



OUIGINAL SIN. 44f 

ferent substance, and the greater part of the substance proba- 
bly rlian^ed scores (if not hundreds) of times; and though 
it be now in so many respects exceeding diverse, yet God, 
according to the course "of na'ure, which he has been pleased 
to establish, has caused that in a certain method it should 
communicate with that infantile body, in the same life, the 
same senses, the same features, and many of the same quali- 
ties, and in union with the same soul, and so, with regard to 
these purposes, it is dealt with by him as one body. Again, 
the body and soul of a man are o?zc, in a very different man- 
ner, and for different purposes. Considered in themselves, 
they are exceeding different beings, of a nature as diverse as 
can be conceived ; and yet, by a very peculiar divine conslir 
tulion or law of nature, which God has been plea.ed to estab- 
lish, they are strongly united, and become one, in most impor- 
tant respects ; a wonderful mutual communication is estab- 
lished ; so that both become different parts of the saine man. 
But the union and mutual communication they have, has ex- 
istence, and is entirely regulated and limited, according to 
the sovereign pleasure of God, and the constitution he has 
been pleased to establish. 

And if we come even to the fiersonai identity of created 
intelligent beings, though this be not allowed to consist whol- 
ly in that which Mr. Locke places it in, i. e. same conscious- 
ness ; yet I think it cannot be denied, that this is one thing 
essential to it. But it is evident that the communication or 
continuance of the same consciousness and memory to any 
subject, through successive parts of duration, depends wholly 
on a divine establishment. There would be no necessity tiiat 
the remembrance and ideas of what is past should continue 
to exist, but by an arbitrary constitution of the Creator. If 
any should here insist that there is no need of having* recourse 
to any such constitution^ in order to account for the continu- 
ance of the same consciousness, and should say, that the very 
Karwre of the soul is such as will sufficiently account for it; 
and that the soul will retain the ideas and consciousness it 
once had, according to the course of nature ; then let it be re- 
membered, who it is gives the soul this nature j and let Ihur 



44S ORIGINAL SIN. 

be remembered, which Dr. Taylor says of the course of na- 
ture, before observed ; denying, tbat " the course of nature 
is a proper active cause, which will work ar.d go on by 
itself without God, if he lets and permits it;" saying that 
*' the course of nature, separate from the agency of God, is 
no Cause, or nothing ;" and affirming that <' it is absolutely 
impossible the course of nature should continue itself, or go 
on to operate by itself, any more than produce itself ;"* and 
that " GoH, the Original of all Being, is the Ow/y Cause of all 
natural effects."! Here is worthy also to be observed, what 
Dr. Tuinbull says of the laivs of nature^ in words which he 
cites from Sir Isaac Newton^ " It is the will of the mind 
that is the Jlrst cause, that gives subsistence and efficacy to 
all those laivs, who is the efficient cause that produces the 
phenomena, which appear in amilogy, harmony and agreement, 
according to these laws" And he says, «' The same princi« 
pies must take place in things pertaining to morale as well as 
natural philosophy. "§ 

From these things it will clearly follow, that identity of 
consciousneas depends wholly on a i?.w of nature, and so, oi\ 
the sovereign will and agency of God ; and therefore, that 
personal identity, and so the derivation of the pollution and 
guilt of past sins in the same person, depends on an arbitra- 
ry divine constitution ; and this, even though we should al- 
low the same consciousness not to be 'he only thing which 
constitutes oneness of person, but should, besides that, sup- 
pose sameness of substance requisite. For, if same con- 
sciousness be one tiling necessary to personal identity, and 
this depends on God's sovereij^n constitution, it will still fol- 
low that personal identity depends on God';? sovereign consti- 
tuticn. 

And with respect to the identity of created substance it- 
self, in the different moments of its duration, 1 think, we 
shall grcdtly mistake, if we imagine it to be like that abso- 
lute, independent identity of the Tirst Being, whereby he is 
the same, ijesterdaiJj today, and forever . In. ay, on the contrary, 

• Pagei34,S. + Page 140. S, $ Mor. Phil. p. 7. ^ Ibid, p.o. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 4.19 

it may be demonstrated that even this oneness of created sub- 
stance, tir g at different times, is a merely dependent iden- 
tity, dependent on the pleasure and sovereign constitution of 
tiim who loorketh all in all. This will follow from what is 
generally allowed, and is certainly true, that God not only- 
created all things, and gave them being at first, but continu- 
ally preserves them, and upholds them in being. This be- 
ing a matter of considerable importance, it may be worthy 
here to be considered with a little attention. Let us inquire 
therefore, in the first place, whether it be not evident that 
God does continually, by his immediate power, ufihold every 
created substance in being ; and then let us see the conse- 
ijuerice. 

That God does, by his immediate power, iifihold every 
created substance in being, will be manifest, if we consider 
that their present existence is a defiendent existence, and 
therefore is an effect, and must have some cause ; and the 
cause must be one of these two ; either the antecedent exist- 
ence of the same substance, or the power of the Creator. But 
it cannot be the antecedent existence of the same substance. 
For instance, the existence of the body of the 7«oo7z at this 
present moment, cannot be the effect of its existence at the 
last foregoing moment. For not only was what existed the 
last moment, no active cause, but wholly a passive thing ; but 
this also is to be considered, that no cause can produce effects 
in a ti/ne and f2lace in which itself is not. It is plain, nothing 
can exert itself, or operate, when and where it is not existing. 
But the moon's past existence was neither w/iere nor when its 
present existence is. In point of time, what is fiast, entirely 
ceases, when present existence begins j otherwise it would 
not be past. The past moment is ceased and gone, when 
the present moment takes place ; and does no more coexist 
with it, than does any other moment that had ceased twenty 
years ago. Nor could the past existence of the particles of 
this moving body produce effects in any other place than where 
it then was. But its existence at the present moment, in 
isvery point of it, is in a different place from where its exist. 

Vol. VI. 3 1 



450 ORIGINAL SIN. 

ence was at the last preceding motnent. From these things. 
I suppose it will certainly follow that the present existencei 
either of this, or any other created substance, cannot be an 
effect of its past existence. The existences (so to speak) of 
an effect, or thinp: dependent, in different parts of space or 
duration, though ever so near one to another, do not at all co- 
exist one with the other ; and therefore are as truly different 
effects, as if those parts of space and duration were ever so 
far asunder ; and the prior existence can no more be the 
proper cause of the new existence, in the next moment, or 
next part of space, than if it had been in an age before, or 
at a thousand miles distance, without any existence to fill up 
the intermediate time or space. Therefore the existence of 
created substances, in each successive moment, must be the 
effect of the immediate agency, will, and power of God. 

If any shall say, this reasoning is not good, and shall insist 
upon it, that there is no need of any immediate divine power 
to produce the present existeivce of created substances, but 
that their present existence is the effect or consequence of 
past exis' ence, according to tht nature of things ; that the 
established course of nature is sufficient to continue existence, 
■where existence is once given j I allow it : But then it 
should be remembered, tvhat nature is in created things ; and 
nohat the established course of nature is ; that, as has been 
oh served already, it is nothings stfmrate from the agency r/ 
God; and that, as Dr. Taylor says, God, the Original of all 
being, is the onlt cause of all natural ejects. A father, ac- 
cording to the course of nature, begets a child ; an oak, ac- 
cording to the course of nature, produces an acorn, or a bud ; 
so, accouling to the course of nature, the former existence 
of the trunk of the tree is followed b\ its new or present ex- 
istence. In the one case and the other, the new effect is con- 
sequent on the former, only by the established lanvs and settled 
course of nature, \vl:ich is allowed to be nothing but the con- 
tinued immediate efficiency of God, according to a constitution. 
that he has been pleased to establish. Therefore, according 
to what our author urges, as the child and th.e acorn, which 
come into esister-ce accctding to the course cf nature, in con 



ORIGINAL SIN, 4&1 

■sequence of the prior existence and state of the parent and 
the oak, are truly, itmnediately created or made by God ; so 
must the existence of each created person and thing, at each 
"inoment of it, be from the immediate continued creation of 
God. Ii will certainly follow from these things, that God*s 
preserving created things in 1 ;ing is perfectly equivalent to 
a continued creation, or to his creating those things oat of no- 
thing at each moment of their existence. If the continued 
existence of created things be wholly dependent on God'« 
preservation, then those things would drop into nothing, up- 
on the ceasing of the present moment, without a new exer- 
tion of the divLie power to cause them to exist in the follow- 
ing moment. If there be any who own, that God preserves 
things in being, and yet hold that they would continue in be^ 
ing without any further help from him, after they once have 
existence ; I think, it is hard to know what \hey mean. To 
■what puipose can it be. to talk of God^s fireservinff things in 
being, when there is 720 need 6f his preserving them ? Or to 
talk of their being defiendent on God for continued existence, 
when they v/ould of themselves continue to exist without his 
help ; nay, though he should wholly withdraw his sustaining 
power and influence ? 

It will follow from what has been observed, that God's up- 
holding created substance, or causing its existence in each 
successive moment, is altogether equivalent to an immediate 
'production out of nothing, at each moment. Because its exist- 
"Cnce at thi« moment is not merely in part from God., but 
wholly from him, and not in any part or degree, from its an^ 
tecedent existence. For the supposing that its antecedent ex- 
istence concurs with God in efficiency, to produce some fiart 
of the effect, is attended with all the very same absurdities, 
■which have been shewn to attend the supposition of its pro- 
. ducing it ivhoUy. Therefore the antecedent existence is no- 
thing, as to any proper influence or assistance in the affair j 
and consequently God produces the effect as much from no^ 
thing, as if there had been nothing before. So that this effect 
differs not at all from the first creation, but only circumstan* 
tiallu I as \x\ first creation there had been no such act and ef- 



41,2 ORIGINAL SIK. 

feet of God's power before ; vhercas, liis giving existence 
aftei wards, /o/Zows preceding acts and effects ct the same 
kind, in an established order. 

Now, in the next place, let us see how the consequence of 
these things is to my present purpose. If the existence of 
created aubsiance, in each successive moment, be wholly the 
cficct of God's immediate power, in that moment, without 
any dependence on prior existence, as much as the first crea- 
tion out of no'hing, then what exists at this moment, by this 
power, is a new effect^ and simply and absolately considered, 
not the same with any past existence, though it be like it, 
and follows it according to a certain established method.* 

* When I suppose that an effect which 13 produced every moment, by a 
Bcw action or exeruon ot power, must be i new effrct in each moment, and 
not ab= luteiy and numerically the same with hat whi: h existed in preceding 
moments, the thing th^t 1 intend, may be illustrated by this example. The 
lucid co!or or brightness of the7BCio«, as we look stedtastly upon it, seemi to 
be A permanent thing, as though it were perfectly the same brightness continu- 
ed. But indeed it is an eflect produced every moment. It ceases, and is 
renewed, in each successive point of time ; and so becomes altogether a netu 
effect at each instaat ; and no one thing that belongs to it, is numerically the 
same that existed in the preceding moment. The rays of the sun, impressed 
on that body, and reflected from it, which cause tlie effect, are none of them 
the same : The impression, made in each moment on our sensory, is by the 
stroke of new rays; and the sensation, excited by the stroke, is a new effect, 
an effect of a new impulse. Therefore the brightness or lucid whiteness of 
this body is no more numerically the same thing with that which existed in 
the preceding moment, than the sound of the wind that blows now, is indi- 
vidually the same with the sound of the wind t'-.at blew just before which^ 
though it be like it, is not the same, any more than the agitated air, that makes 
the sound, is the .same; or than the water, flowiiig in a river, that now pass- 
es by, is indiv, dually th.e same with that which passed a little before. And 
if it be thus with ihe brightness or color of the moon, so it must be with its 
solidity, and every thing else belonging to its substance, if all be, each moment, 
as much the immediate effect of a new exertion or app ication of power. 

The matter may peihnps be in some rt-^pects still more clearly illustrated 
by this. The images of things in ^ glass, as we keep our eye upon them, 
seem to remain precis ly the same, '-vith a conlin ing, peifi-c; identity. But 
it is known to be otherwise. Philosophers well know that these images ace 
constantly renewed, by the impression and reflection of new rays of light ; so 
that the image impressed by the farmer rays is constantly vanishing, and a 



ORIGINAL SIN. 459 

And there is no identity or oneness in the case, but what de- 
pends on the arbitrary constitution of the Creator ; who by 
his wise soverei'^-n establishment so unites these successivo 
new effects, that he treats them as o?zf, by communicating to 
them like pioperties, relaiions, and circumstances ; and so> 
leads vs to regard and treat them as one. When I call this 
an arbitrary constitution, 1 mean, it is a constitution which de- 
pends on nothint^^ but the divine will i which divine will de- 
P' nds on nothint-^ hut the divine wisdom. In this sense, the 
wlioie course of nature, with ail that belongs to it, all its laws 
and methods, and constancy and reo-ularity, continuance and 
proceeding, is an arbitrary constitution. In this ssnse, th« 
couinuance of the very being of the world and all its parts, as 
veil as the manner of continued being, depends entirely oa 
an arbitrary constitution : For it does not at all necessarily fol- 
low, that because there was sound, or light, or color, or resist- 
ance, or gravity, or thought, or consciousness, or any other 
dependent thine: the last moment, that therefore there shall 
be the like at the next. All dependent existence wtiatsoever 

}jeui image impressed by new rays every moment, both on the glass and oa 
the eye. The image constantl^y renewed, hy new successive rays, is no more 
num-r.cally ihe same, than if it were by some artist put on anew with a pen- 
cil, and the colors constantly vanishing as fast as put on. And tlie new im- 
ages being put on immediately or instantlv, do not make them the same, any 
more tliari it it were done with ihe iniermiision o4^ an hour or a day. The im- 
age that exists thi;. moment, is not at all derived from the image which existed 
the last preceding moment ; as may be seen, because, if the succession of new 
rayi be intercepted, by tomething interposed between the object and the glass, 
the image immediately ceases ; tht past existence of the image has no influence 
to upliold it, so much as for one moment. Which shews, that the image is 
altogether new made every monieut ; and strictly speaking, is in no part nu- 
merically the same with that which existed the moment preceding. And 
truly so the matter must be with the bodies themselves, as well as their images : 
They also cannot be the same, with an absolute identity, but must be wholly 
renewed every moment, if he case be as has been proved, that iheir present 
existence is no:, strictly speaking, at all the effect of their past existence ; but 
is wholly, every instant, the effect of a new agency, or exertion of the power, 
of the cause of their existence. V so, the existence caused is every instant a 
new effectj whether the cause be I'gh!^ or immediate divir.c pcxcr, or whatever 
it be. 



454 ORIGINAL SIN. 

is in a constant flux, ever passing and returning ; renewed 
every moment, as the colors of bodies are every naoment re- 
newed by the light that shines upon them ; and all is con- 
stantly proceeding from God, as light from the sun. In him 
*>ve live, and ?nove, and have our being. 

Thus it appears, if we consider matters strictly, there is 
no such thinsT as any identity or oneness in created objects, 
existing at different limes, but what depemls on God's sove- 
reign constitution. And so it appears, that the objection we 
are upon, made against a supposed divine constitution, where- 
by Adam and his posterity are viewed and treated as one, in 
the manner and for tlte purposes supposed, as if it were not 
consistent ivith truth, because no constitution can make those 
to be one, which are not one : I say, it appears that this objec- 
tion is built on a false hypothesis : For it appears, that a di- 
nine constitution is the thing which ynakcs truth, in affairs of 
this nature. The objection supposes, there is a oneness in 
created beings, whence qualities and relations are derived 
down from past existence, distinct from, and prior to any one- 
ness that can be supposed to be founded on divine co?istitution. 
Which is demonstrably false, i'ud sufficiently appears so from 
things conceded by the adversaries themssives : And there«= 
fore the objection wholly falls to the ground. 

There are various kinds of identity and oneness, found 
among created things, by which they become one in different 
manners, resfierts and degrees, and to various Jmr/wses ; sev- 
eral of which differences have been observed ; and every kind 
is ordered, regulated and limited, in every respect, by divine 
constitution. Some things, existing in different times and 
places, are treated by their Creator as one in one respect, and 
others in ayiother ; some are united for this communicaticn, 
and others for that ; but all according to the sovereign pleasure 
of the fountain of all being and operation. 

it appears, particularly, from what has been said, that all 
oneness, by virtue whereof pollution and guilt from past wick- 
edness are derived, depends entirely on a divine ectablishment. 
It is this, end this only, that must account for guilt and an evil 
laint on any individual soul; in consequence of a crime com- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 455 

mitted twenty or ferty years ago, remaining still, and even to 
the end of the world and forever. It is this, that must ac 
count for the continuance of any such thinj^, any where, as. 
consciousness of acts that are past ; and for the continuance of 
all /labits, either good or bad : And on this depends every 
thing that can belong io Jicrsonal identity. And all communi- 
cations, derivations, or continuation of qualities, properties or 
relations, natural or moral, from vv?hat is fiasiy as if the subject 
were one, depends on no other foundation. 

And I am persuaded, no solid reason can be given, why 
God, who constitutes all other created union or oneness, ac- 
cording to his pleasure, and for what purposes, communica- 
tions, and effects, he pleases, may not establish a constitution 
whereby the natural posterity of Adam, proceeding from him, 
much as the buds and branches from the stock or root of a 
tree, should be treated as one with him, for the derivation, 
either of righteousness, and communion in rewards, or of the 
loss of righteousness, and consequent corruption and guilt.* 

* I appeal to such as are not wont to content themselves with judging by a 
superficial appearance and view of things, but are habituated to examine 
things strictly and closely, that they may judge righteous judgment, Wheth- 
er on supposition that all mankind had coexisted, in the manner mentioned 
before, any good reason can be given, why their Creator might not, if he had 
pleased, have established such an union between Adam aixd the rest of man- 
kind, as was in that case supposed. Particularly, if it had been the case, thaS 
Adam's posterity had actually, according to a law of nature, some hov/ groan 
out of him, and yet remained contiguous and literally united to him, as the branch- 
es to a tree, or the membeis of the body to the head ; and had all, before the 
fall, existed together at the same time, though in dijfcrent places, as the head and 
members are in different places : In this case, who can determine, that the 
author of nature might not, if it had pleased him, have established such an 
union between the root and branches of this complex being, as that all should 
constitute one moral whole ; so that by the law of union, there should be a 
communion in each moral alteration, and that the heart of every bra^uh should 
at the same moment participate with the heart of the root, be conformed to it, 
and concurring with it in all its affections and acts, and so jointly partaking 
in its state, as a part of the same thing ? Why might not God, if he had pleas- 
ed, have fixed such a kind of union as this, an union of the various parts of 
such a moral whole, as well as many other unions, which he has actually fixed» 
according to his soversigu pleasure ?■ And if he might, by his sovereign con« 



4S& ORIGINAL SIN. 

As I said before, all oneness in created thingSi ^vhenc8 
qualiiicB and relations are derived, depends on a divine consti- 
tution that is arbitrarily in every other lesptct, exccpliny; that 
it is regulated by divine wisdom. The wisdom, which is ex- 
ercised in these constitutions, appears in these iwo things. 
Fir&tt In a beautiful analogy and harmomj with other laws or 
constitutions, especially relating to the same subject ; and 
secondly^ in the good ends obtained, or useful conscrjucjices of 
such a constitution. If therefore there be any objection still 
lying against this constitution with Adam and his posterity, it 
must be, that it is not sufficiently wise in these respects. 
But what extreme arrogance would it be in us, to take 
upon us to act as judges of the beauty and wisdom of the 
laws and established constitutions of the supreme Lord and 
Creator of the universe ? And not only so, but if this consti- 
tution, in particular, be well considered, its ?wWo7?2, in the 
two forementioned respects, may easily be made evident. 
There is an apparent manifold analogy to other constitutions 
and laws, established and maintained through the whole sys- 
tem of vital nature in this lower world ; all parts of which, in 
all successions, are derived frorn the^^rs? of the Icindy as froni 
their root, or fountain ; each deriving from thence all proper- 
ties and qualities, that are proper to the nature and capacity 
of the kind, or species : No derivative having any one perfec- 
tion (unless it be what is merely circumstantial) but what was 
in its firimitive. And that Adan>'s posterity should be with- 
out that original righteousness, which Adam had lost, is also 
analogous to other laws and establishments, relating to the na- 
ture of mankind ; according to which, Adam's posterity have 
no one perfection of nature, in any kind, superior to what was 

ititution, have established such an union of the various branches of mankind, 
•when existing in diHerent places, I do not see why he might not also do the 
same, though they exist in different times. I know not why succession, or 
diversity of time, should make any such constituted union more unreasonable, 
than diversity of /i/ac*. The only reason, vhy diversity of lime can seem t« 
make it unreasonable, is. that difference of time shews, there is no absolute 
identity of the things existing in those different times : But it shews this, I 
think, not at all more than the difference of the place of existence. 



ORIGINAL sm. 45? 

f'ii him, when the human race began to be propagated from 
'iiim. 

And as such a constitution was fit and 'wise in other res- 
pects, so it was in this that follows. Seeing the divine con- 
stitution concerning the manner of mankind*s coming into ex- 
istence in their propagation, was such as did so naturally unite 
them, and made them in so many respects one^ naturally- 
leading them to a close union in society, and manifold inter- 
course, and mutual dependence. Things were wisely so es- 
tablished, that all should naturally be in one and the same 
7noral state ; and not in such exceeding different states, as that 
some should be perfectly innocent and holy, but others corru/ii 
and wicked ; some needing a Saviour, but others needing 
none ; some in a confirmed state of perfect /la/i/nness, but 
others in & state of public condemnation to perfect and eter- 
nal misery ; some justly exposed lo great calamities in this 
world, but others by their innocence raised above all suffering. 
Such a vast diversity of state would by no means have agreed 
with the natural and necessary constitution and unavoidable 
situation and circumstances of the world of mankind ; all made 
»fone blood, to dnveil on all the face of the earth, to be united 
and blended in society, and to partake together in the natural 
and common goods and evils of this lower world. 

Dr. Taylor urges,* that sorrow and shame are only for/?er- 
sonal sin : And it has often been urged, that refientance can be 
for no other sin. To which I would say, that the use of ivords 
15 very arbitrary : But that men's hearts should be deeply af- 
fected with grief and humiliation before God, for the pollu- 
tion and guilt which they bring into the world with them, I 
;hink, is not in the least unreasonable. Nor is it a thint" 
strange and unheard of, that men should he ashamed of things 
done by others, whom they are nearly concerned in. I am 
sure, it is wot unscrifitural ; especially when they are justly 
sooked upon in the sight of God, who sees the disposition of 
j«heir hearts, as fully consenting and concurring: 

* Page ,^. 
¥01.. VI. 3 K 



4!rtr ORIGINAL SIN. 

From what has been observed it may appear, there is na» 
aure ground to conclude, that it must be an absurd and im- 
possible thing;, for the race of mankind truly to partake of the 
tin of the first apostasy, so as that this, in reality and propria 
ety, shall become their sin ; by virtue of a real uaion between 
the root andbranchesof the world of mankind (truly and prop» 
crly availing to such a consequence) established by the Au- 
thor of the whole system of the universe ; to whose establish- 
ments are owing all propriety and reality of union, in any pare 
of that system ; and by virtue of the full consent of the hearts 
•f Adam's posterity to that first apostasy. And therefore the 
sin of the apostasy is not theirs, merely because God imfiutet 
it to them ; but it is truly and profitrly theirs, and on that 
ground, God imp\iles it to ihem. 

By reason of the established union between Adam and his 
posterity, the case is far otherwise between him and themy 
than it is between distinct parts or individuals of Adam's race 5 
betwixt whom is no such constituted union y as between child- 
ren and other ancestors. Concerning whom is apparently to 
be understood that place, Ezek. xviil. 1....20.* Where God 
reproves the Jews for the use they made of that proverb, The 
fathers have vaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set 
en edge J and tells them, that hereafter they shall no more 
have occasion to use this proverb ; and that if a son sees the 
wickedness ofi his father, and sincerely disafifirovea it and 
avoids it, and he himself is righteous, he shaU not die for the 
iniquity of his father ; that all souls, both the soul of the father 
and the sonii are Aw; and that therefore the son ahall not bear 
*^the iniquity of his father, nor the faJher bear the iriiquity of the 
ion; but the -soul that sinneth, it shall die ; that the right eouf 
ness of the righteous shall beufion him, and the wickedness of the 
wicked shall be ufion him. The thing denied, is communion in 
the guilt and punishment of the sins of others, that are dis- 
tinct parts of Adam's race ; and expressly, in that case, where 
there is no consent and concurrenccy but a sincere disapproba' 
tion of the wickedness of ancestors. It is declared, that chili* 

♦ Whicb Dr, Taylor illegoe, p. i», n, 5. 



ORICINAL SIN. 45$ 

yen who are adult and come to act for themselves, who are 
righteous, and do not approve of, but sincerely condemn the 
■wi-; kedness of their fathers-, shall not be punished for their 
dis. pproved and avoided iniquities. The occasion of what 
is here said, as well as the design and plain sense, shews, 
that nothing is here intended in the least degree inconsistent 
with what has been supposed concerning Adam's posterity's 
sinning and fallitig in his afiostasy. The occasion is, the peo- 
ple's murmuring at God's methods under the 'Mosaic dispen« 
sation; agreeable to that in Levit, xxvi. S9. « And they that 
are left of you, shall pine away in their iniquity in their ene^ 
mies lands ; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they 
pine away with them :'* And other parallel places, respecting 
external judgments, which were the punishments most plain* 
ly threatened, and chiefly insisted on, under that dispensation, 
(which was, as it were, an external and carnal covenant) and 
particularly the people's suffering such terrible judgments at 
that day, even in Ezekiel's time, for the sins of Manasseh j 
according to what God says by Jeremiah (Jer. xv. 4.) and 
agreeable to what is said in that confession, Lam. v, 7. « Our 
fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne thwr ini- 
quities." 

In what is said here, there is a special respect to the in* 
troducing of the gospel dispensation ; as is greatly confirmed 
by conipa'ing this place with Jer. xxxi. 29, 30, 31. Under 
which dispensation, the righteousness of' God's dealings with 
mankinil would be miore fially manifested, in the clear revela- 
tion then to be made of the raQ\.ho^ x>i Xht judgment of God, 
by which {hejinal state of wickedmen is determined ; which 
is not according to the behavior ef- their particular «?2ce«ror«-; 
but every one is dealt with according io- the sin o^ his otvn 
wicked heart, or sinful nature and practice. The affair of de^ 
rivation of the natural corruption of mankind in general, and 
of thfir consent to, and participation of, the /irimitive and com* 
mon apostasy, is not in the least intermeddled with, or touched, 
by any thing meant or aimed at in the true scope and deiiign 
^f this place in Ezekiel, 



460 (5RIG1NAL SIN. 

On ihe whole, if any do not like ihe fihilosofihy, 6r tha 
metaphysics (as some perhaps may choose to call it) made use 
of in the foregoing reasonings ; yet I cannot doubt, but that a 
proper consideration of what is apparent and undeniable in 
fact., with respect to the d'Cficndence of the state and course of 
things in this universe on the sovereign constitutions of the 
supreme Author and Lord of all, who gives none account of 
any of his ynatters, and nvhose ways are fiast finding out., will be 
suffi'-ient, with persons of common modesty and sobriety, to 
stop their mouths from making peremptory decisions against 
the justice of God, respecting what is so plainly and fully 
taught in fds holy word, concerning the derivation of a deprav- 
ity and guilt from Adam to his posterity ; a thing so abun- 
dantly confirnifd by what is found in \.\iQ experience oi d\\ 
mankind in all ages. 

This is enough, one would think, forever to silence such 
bold expressions as these...." If this hz just... \{ ihe scriptures 
teach such doctrine, &c, then the scriptures are of no use.,.. 
understanding is no understanding.. ..and. What a God must 
Ae be, that can thus curse innocent creatures l....ls this \\\y 
Got), O Christian !" See. &c. 

It may not be improper here to add something (by way 
of supplement to this chapter, in which we have had occasion 
to say £0 much about the imputation of Adam's sin) concern- 
ing the opinions of two divines, of no inconsiderable note 
among the dissenters in England, relating to a partial imputa- 
tion of Adam's first sin. 

One of them supposes that this sin, though truly imputed 
to I'SFAN'Ts, so that thereby they are exposed to a proper //ww- 
ishment, yet is not imputed to them in such a degree^ as that 
upon this account they should be liable to f/(?mfl/ punishment, 
as Adam himself was, but only to temporal death, or a?wihila- 
tion ; Adam himself, the immediate actor, being made infin- 
itely more guilty by it, than his posterity. On which I would 
observe, that to suppose, God imputes not all the guilt of 
Adam's sin, but only some little part of it, relieves nothing 
but one's imagination. To think of poor little ir fonts bearing 
$uch torments for Adam's sin, as they sometimes do in this. 



Original sIn. 46 i 

'vvdrld, and these torments ending in death and annihilation, 
may sit easier on the imagination, than to conceive of their 
suffering eternal misery for it. But it does not at all relieve 
one's reason. There is no rule of reason that can be suppos- 
ed to lie against imputing a sin in the whole of it, which was 
committed by onej to another who did not personally commit 
it, but what will also lie against its being so imputed and pun- 
ished in part. For all the reasons (if there are any) lie 
against the imputation ; not the quantity or degree of nvkat is 
imputed. If there be any rule of reason, that is strong and 
good, lying against a proper derivation or communication of 
guilt, from one that acted, to another that did not act ; then it 
lies at{:ainst all that is of this nature. The force of the rea- 
sons brought against imputing Adam's sin to his posterity (if 
there be any force in them) lies in this, That Adam and his 
posterity are riot o?ie. But this lies as properly against charg- 
ing a part of the guilt, as the whole. For Adam's posterity! 
by not being the same with him, had no more hand in a little 
of V iiat was done, than in the Avhole. They were as absolute- 
ly free from being concerned in that act partly^ as they were 
nvholly. And there is no reason to be brought, why one man's 
sin cannot be justly reckoned to another's account, who was 
not then in bcitlg, in the whole of it ; but what will as proper- 
ly lie against its being reckoned to him in any part, so as 
that he should be subject to any condemnation or punishment 
on that account. If those reasons are good, all the difference 
there can be, is this ; that to bring a great punishment oa 
infants for Adam's sin, is a great act of injustice, and to 
bring a comparatively small punishment, is a smaller act of 
injustice, but not, that this is not as truly and demonstrably an 
act of injustice, as the other. 

To illustrate this by an instance something parallel. It is 
used as an argument why I may not exact from one of my 
neighbors, what was due to me from another, that he and my 
debtor are 7iot the same ; and that their concerns, interests 
and properties are entirely distinct. Now if this argument 
be good, it lies as truly against my demanding from him a 
fiart of the debt, as the whole. Indeed it is a ^greater act of 



%€2 GRIGINAL SIN. 

injustice for me to take from him the -whole of it, than a pattj 

but not more truly and certainly an act of injustice. 

The other divine thinks there is truly an imputation of 
Adam's sin, so that infants cannot be looked upon as innocent 
creatures ; yet seems to think it not agreeable to the perfec- 
tions of God, to make the state of infants in another world 
^orse than a state of nonexistence. But this to me appears 
■plainly a giving up that grand point of the imputation of Ad- 
am's sin, both in whole and in part. For it supposes it to 
be not right, for God to bring any evil on a child of Adam, 
"which is innocent as to personal sin, without paying for it, at 
balancing it with 5t)orf ; so that still the state of the child 
shall be v^sgood, as could be demanded in justice, in case of 
jncre innocence. Which plainly supposes tliat the child is 
not exposed to any proper punishment at all, or is not at all in 
elcbt to divine justice, on the account of Adam's sin. For if 
the child were truly in debt, then surely justice might take 
something from him nvithout payi7ig for it, or w'whoMX giving 
that which makes its state as ^ooc^, as mere injiocence could in 
justice require. If he owes the suffering of some puniahmen4t 
then there is no need that justice should requite the infant 
for suffering that punishment ; or rnake upforit, by confer- 
ring some good, that shall countervail it, and m effect remove 
and disannul it ; so that, on the whole, good and evil shall be 
at an even balance, yea, so that the scale oi good shall prepon*' 
<Jerate. Ifit is unjust in a judge to order any quantity of 
money to be taken from another without paying him again» 
and fully making it up to him, it must be because he had 
justly forfeited none at all. 

It seems to me pretty manifest that none can, in good 
consistence with themselves, own a real imputation of the 
guilt of Adam's f^rst sin to his posterity, without owning that 
they are justly viewed and treated as sinners, truly guilty and 
children of wrath on that account ; nor unless they allow a 
just imputation of the whole of the evil of that transgres- 
sion ; at least all that pertains to the essence of that act, 
£? a full and complete violation of the covenant which 



ORIGINAL SIN. 46« 

Cirod had established ; even as much as if each one of man* 
kind had the like covenant established with him singly, and 
had by the like direct and full act of rebellion, violated it 
for himself. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Wherein several other Objections are consideredi 

BR. TAYLOR objects against Adam's posterity's being 
auppased to come into the world under Zi forfeiture of God's 
kleasing^ and subject to his curse through nis sin....That at the 
restoration of the world after the fiood, God pronounced 
equivalent or greater blessings on Noah and his sons, than he 
did on Adarn at his creation, when he said, « Be fruitful and 
multiply, and replenish the earth, and have dominion over 
the fish of the sea," &c* 

To this I answer, in the following remarks. 

I. As it has been already shewn, that in the threatening^ 
denounced for Adam's sin, there was nothmg which appears 
inconsistent with the cojitinuqnce of this present life for a sea- 
son, or with the propagating his kind ; so for the like reason, 
there appears nothing in that threatening, upon the supposi- 
tion that it reached Adam's posterity, iVjfcwsisrfrzr with their 
enjoying- the temporal blessings of the present life, as long as 
this is continued ; even those temporal blessings which God 
pronounced on Adam at his first creation. For it must be 
observed, that the blessings which God pronounced on Adam, 
when he first created him, and before the trial of his obedience^, 

*■ S?e p. 3i, &c, S. 



i6i ORIGINAL SIN. 

;vere not the same with the blessings which were susfiended 
on his obedience. The blessings thus suspended, were the 
blessings of er^7-?m/ ///b ; which, if he had maintained his in- 
tegrity through his trial, would have been pronounced upon. 
him afterwards ; when God, as his judge, should have given 
him his reward. God might, indeed, if he had pleased, imme- 
diately have deprived him of ///e, and of all temfioral blessings 
given him before. But those blessings pronounced on him 
beforehand, were not the things, for the obtaining of which 
his trial was appointed. These were reserved, till the issue 
of his trial should be seen, and then to be pronounced in the 
blessed sentence, which would have been passed upon him by 
his judge, when God came to decree to him his reward for 
his approved fidelity. The pronouncing these latter bless- 
ings on a degenerate race, that had fallen under the threaten" 
ing denounced, would indeed (without a redemption) have 
been inconsistent with the constitution which had been estab- 
lished. But the giving them the former kind of blessings, 
•which were not the things suspended on the trial, or depend- 
ent on his fidelity (and these to be continued for a season) was 
not at all inconsistent therewith. 

2. It is no more an evidence of Adam's posterity's being 
not included in the threatening, denounced for his eating the 
forbidden fiuit, That they still have the temfiorql blessings of 
fruitfulness and a dominion ov.er the creatures continued to 
them, than it is an evidence of Adam's being not included in 
that threatening himself, that he had these blessings continu- 
ed to him, was fruitful, and had dominion over the creatures 
after his fall, equally with his posterity. 

3. There is good evidence, that there were blessings im- 
plied in the benedictions God pronounced on Noah and his 
posterity, which were '^.ranted on a neiv foundation ; on the 
foot of a dispensation diverse from any granti promise or rev- 
elation which God gave to Adam, antecedently to his falL 
even on the foundaiion of the covenant of grace, established in 
Christ Jesus ; a dispensation, the design of which is to deliv- 
er men from the curse tluU caine upon them by Adam's sin, 
and to brinj^' them to greater bkssings than ever he had- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 45.- 

l^iese blessings were pronounced on Noah and hh seed, on the 
same foundation whereon afterwards the blessing was pronounc- 
ed on Abraham and his seed, which included both spiritual and 
temporal benefits. Noah had his name proplietically given 
-him by his father iQ!?/?^^/^ because by him and his seed, deliv- 
erance should be obtained from the curse which came by 
Adam's fall. Gen. v. 29. " And he called his name jVoah, 
(i. e. Rest) saying, This same shall comfort us concerning- 
our work, and toil of our hands, because of the ground which 
the Lord hath cursed." Pursuant to the scope and intent of 
this prophecy (which indeed seems to respect the same thing 
■with the prophecy in Gen. iii. 15) are the blessings pro- 
nounced on Noah after the flood. There is this evidence of 
these blessings being conveyed through the channel of the 
covenant of grace, and by ihe redemption through Jesus 
Christ, that they were obtained by sacrifice ; or were bestow- 
ed as the effect of God's favor to mankind, which was in con- 
sequence of -God's s?nelling a sweet savor in the sacrifice which 
Noah offered. And it is very evident by the epistle to the 
Hebrews, that the ancient sacrifices never obtained the favor 
of God, but only by virtue of the relation they had to the sac- 
rifice of Ghrist. Now that Noah and his family had been so 
'svonderfullj' saved from the wrath of God, which had destroy- 
ed the rest of the world, and the world was as it were restored 
from a ruined state, there was a proper occasion to point to 
the great salvation to come by Christ : As it was a common 
thing for God, on occasion of some great temfioral salvation of 
his people, or restoration from a low and miserable state, to 
renew the intimations of the great spiritual restoratioo of the 
world by Christ's redemption.* God deals with the general- 
•ty of mankind, in their present state, far diiTerently, on occa- 
ion of the redemption by Jesus Chrbt, from what he other- 
ivise would do ; for, being .capable subjects of saving mercy, 
.hey have a day of patience and grace, and innumerable tem- 

* It may be noted that Dr. Taylor liimself signifies it as his mind, that 
these blessin5s on Noah wfre on the foot of the tcvcnant of gnu, p. 8^, go. 
<5,i, 92, S. 

Vol. VI. ? L 



4m ORIGINAL sm. 

poral blessincjs bestowed on them ; which, as the apostle sig- 
nifies (Act« xiv. 17) are estimonies of God's reconcileableness 
to sinful men. to put tliem upon seekirtg after God. 

But besidf the sense in which the posterity of Noah in 
general partake of these blessinj^s of dominion over the crea" 
(ures, Sec. Noah himself, and all such of his posterity as 
have obtained like precious faith with that exercised by him 
in offering his sacrifice which made it a sweet savory and bjr 
■which it procured these blessinci;s, have dominion over the 
creatures, through Christ, in a more excellent stnse than 
Adam in innocency ; as they are made kings and priests unto 
God, and reign with Christ, and all things are theirs, by a 
covenant of grace. They partake with Christ in that domin- 
ion " over the beasts of the earth, the fowls of the air, and fish- 
es of the sea," spoken of in the Sth Psalm ; which is by the 
apostle interpreted of. Christ's dominion over the world. 1 
Gor. XV. 27, and Heb. ii. 7. And the time is coming when 
the greater part of the posterity of Noah, and each of his sons, 
shall partake of this more honorable and excellent dominion 
over the creatures, through him " in whom all the families of 
the earth shall be blessed." Neither is there any need of 
supposing that these blessings have their most complete ac- 
complishment until many ages after they were ,c,ranted, any 
more than the blessing on Japhet, expressed in those words, 
« God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents oF 
Shem." 

But that Noah's posterity have such blessings given them 
through tiie great Redeemer^ who suspends and removes the 
curse which came through Adam's sin, surely is no argument 
that they oiiginally, and as they be in their natural state, arc 
not under the cprse. That men have blessings through f^race^ 
is no evidence of their being not justly exposed to the curse 
iby nature, but it rather argues the contrary: For if ;hey 
did not deserve 'he curse, they would not depend on grace and 
redemption for the removal of it, and for bringing them into 
a state of favor with God. 

Another ohjrction which our author strenuously urges 
against the doctrine of Original Sin; is, that it disparages the 



ORIGINAL SIN. 46r 

divine goodness in giving us our bdiig, which we ought to re- 
ceive with thankfulness, as a great gift of God's beneficence, 
and look upon as the first, original, and fundamental fiuic of 
the divine liberality.* 

To this 1 answer, in the following observations. 

1. Tliis argument is buiil on the supposed truth of a 
thing in cH&fiutc, and so is a begging the question. It is built 
on this suppositioHi that we ase not properly looked upon as 
«ne with owr Jirst father^ in the state wherein God at first 
created him, and in his fall from thai state. If we are so, it 
beoomes the whole race to acknowledge God's great goodness 
to them, in the state wherein mankind was made at Jirst ; in 
the hafifiy state thty were then iu; and the fair opportunity 
they liien had of obtaining -fo?2/5r/ne>(/ and eternal happiness, 
and to acknowledge it as an aggravation of their apostasy, and 
to humble themselves, that they were so ungrate ul as to re- 
bel against theii good Creator. Ceriainiy, we may all do 
this wi h as much reason, as (yea, much more than) the peo- 
ple of Israel in Daniel's and Nehemiah's times, did with 
thankfulness acknowled.^e God's great goodness to their fath- 
trst many ages before, and in their confessions bewailed, and 
took shame tu thevnselves, for the sins committed by iheir 
ya^Aers, notwiihsianding such great goodness. See the ixih 
chapter of Daniel, and ixth ot Nehemiah. 

2. If Dr. Taylor would imply in iiis objection, that it doth 
not consist with the goodness of God, to give mankind being 
in a state of misery, what ever was done before by Adam, 
wlicther he sinned, or did not sin. I reply, if it be justly so 
ordered, that there should be a posterity of Adam, which must 
be looked upon as one with him, then it is no more contrary to 
God's attribute of goodness to give being to his posterity in a 
state of ponisnment, than ^o continue the being of the sc/nt 
wicked and guilty person, who has made himself guilty, in a 
state of punisliment. The giving being, and the continuing 
being are both alike the work of God's power and will, and 
both are alike fuudaiiien.al to all blessings of ma.i's present 

♦ Page 256, 257, 260, 71. ,..74, S. 



468 OKIGINAL SIN. 

and future existence. And if it be said, it cannot be juslfy ib' 
ordered, that there should be a posterity of Adam, which 
Should be looked upon as one -svith him, this is begi^iy^g the'' 
question. 

3. If our author would have us suppose that if is contrary 
to the attribute of goodness forGod,inc7?i/ case^hy an immedi- 
ate act of his power, to cause existence, and to cause new ex- 
istence, which shall be an exceeding miserable existence, by 
reason of cxposedness to eteiT.al ruin ; then his own scheme 
must be supposed co7Jirary to the attribute of God's goodness ; 
for he supposes that God will raise multitudes from the dead 
at the last day (which will be giving new existence to their 
Ijcdics, and lo bodily life and sense j in order only to their suf- 
fering eternal dcstruclion. 

4. Nolwithstaiiding we are so ;;inful and miserable, as we 
?re by nature, yet we may have great reason tn bless God, 
that he has given us our being under so glorious a dii>pensa^ 
tion of grace through Jesus Christ ; by which wc have a 
Iriappy oppbrtunity to be delivered frt»m this sin and misery, 
and to obtain unspeakable, eternal happiness. And because, 
through our own wicked inclinations, we are disprscdsota 
neglect and abuse this mercy, as to fail of final benefit by it, 
this is no reason why we ought not to be thankful for it, even 
sccording to our author's own sentiments. " What (says 
Jie*) if (he tvhote -world ties in ivickedness, and few therefore 
«hall be saved, have itien no reason to be //lan/cfuly because 
they are wicked ahd ungrateful, and abuse their being and 
God's bomVy ? Suppose odr own evil incliyiaficns do withhold 
lis," [viz. fiom seeking after happiness, which under the light 
of the gospel we are placed Avithin the nearer and easier reach 
pf] « suppose the whole Christian world should lie in wick- 
edness, and but few Christians should be saved ; is it there- 
fore certainly true, that we cannot reasonably i/ian^ God for 
the gospel?" Well, and though \he evil inclinations, which 
l-inder our seeking and obtaining happiness by so glorious art 
jidvantnge, are what we are born with, yet if those inclinations' 

• P»5<^ 72, 73, S. 



ORIGINAL SIN, 46S 

M'e our fault or sin, that alters not the case ; and to say, they 
are not our Sin, is still begging the question. Yea, it will fol- 
low from several things asserted by our author, put together, 
that not'>vithstanding men arfe born in such circumstances, as 
that they are under a very great imfirobability of ever becom« 
inpj righteous, yet they may have reasori to be thankful for their 
being. Thus, particularly, those that were born and lived 
among Ihe Heathen, before Christ came. For Dr. Taylor as- 
serts, that all men have reason of thankfulness for their being ; 
and yet he supposes, that the Heathen world, taken as a col- 
lective body, were dead in sin, and could not deliver or help 
themselves, and tnerefore stood in necessity of the Christian 
dispensation. And not only so, but he supposes, that the 
Christ/an world is now at length brought to the like deplorable 
6nd helpless circumstances, and needs a neio dispensation for 
itb relief ; as I observed before. According to these things, 
the world in general, not only formerly, but even at this day, 
are dead in szn, and helpless as to their falvation ; and there- 
fore the generality of them that are born into it, are much 
more likely to perish, than otherwise, till the new dispensation 
comes : And yet he supposes, we all have reason to be thank- 
ful for our being. Yea, further still, I think, according to our 
author's doctrine, men may have great reason to be thankful 
to God for bringing them into a stale, wnich yet, as the case 
is, is attended with misery, as its certain consequence. As, 
with respect to God's raising the wicked to life, at the last 
day ; which, he supposes, is in itself a great benefit, procured 
by Christ, and the wonderful grace of God through him : And 
if it be the fruit of God's wonderful grace, surely men ought 
to be thankful ^orlhdii grace, and praise God for it. Our doc- 
trine of Original Sin, therefore, no more disparages God's 
goodness in man's formation in the womb, than his doctrine 
disparages God's goodness in their resurrection from the 
grave. 

Another argument which Dr. Taylor inakes use of, against 
the doctrine of Original Sin, is what the scripture reveals of 
the process of the day oi judgment ; which represents the 
•■'ulge as dealing with men dnghj and separately, rendering to 



479 ORIGINAL SIN. 

eveii/ man according to /lis deeds, and according to the im« 
provement he has made of the particular powers and talents 
God has given him personally.* 

But this objection v/ill vanish, if we consider what is the 
end or design of that public jiid^;ment. Now ihis will not be, 
that God m&yjlnd out what men are, or what punishm^t or 
reward is proper for them, or in order to the pussint? a right 
judgment of these things within himself, which is the end of 
human trials ; but it is to manifeat what men are, to their own 
consciences, and lothe woild. As the day of judgment is 
called the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of 
God ; in order to this, Cod will make use of evidences, or 
proofs. But the proper evidences of the wickedness of men's 
hearts^ (the true seat of all wickedness) bolh as to corrup- 
tion of nature, and additional pollution and guilt, are men's 
ivorks. 

The special end of God's public judgment will be, to make 
a proper, perfect, open distinction among men, rightly to state 
and manifest their difference one from another, in order to 
that separation and difference in the eternal retribution, that 
is to follow : And this difference will be made to appear, by 
their ficrsomd tvorks. 

There are two things, with regard to which men will be 
tried, and openly distinguished by the perfect judgment of 
God at the last day ; according to the twofold real distinctioji 
subsisting among mankind, viz. (1.) The difference of state ; 
thai primary and grand distinction, whereby all mankind are 
divided into two sorts, the righteous and the wicked. (2,) 
Th&t secondary distinction, whereby both sorts differ from oth- 
ers in the same general state, in degrees of additional fruits of 
righteousness and wickedness. Now the judge, in order to 
manifest both these, will judge men according to their per- 
sonal works. But to inquire at the day of judgment, whether 
Adam sinned or no, or whether men are to be luoked upon as 
one with him, and so partakers in his sin, is what in no res- 
nect lends to manifest eitlier of these distinctions. 

♦Page 65, 66, 111, 5. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 4fi 

t. The,/irst thini^ to be manifested, will be the state, that 
each man is in, with respect to the grand distinction of the 
whole world of mankind into righteous 'awCl ivicked ; or, in 
metapliorica! language, wheat and tares ; or, the children of 
the kingdom of Christ, and the children of the wicked one ; the 
latter, the head of the apostasy ; but the former, the head of 
the restoration and recovery. The judt^e, in manifesting tliis, 
will prove men's hearts by their ivorks, in such as have had 
opportunity to perform any works in the body. The evil 
works of the .children of the nvicked one will be the proper 
Tjianifpstation and evidence or proof of whatever belongs to the 
general state of such ; and particularly they will prove, that 
they belong to the kingdom of the great deceiver, and head 
of the apostasy, as they will demonstrate the exceeding cor- 
ruption of their nature, and full consent of their hearts to the 
common apostasy ; and also that their hearts never relin- 
quished the apostasy, by a cordial adherence to Christ, the 
great restorer. The judge will also make use of the good 
'works of the righteous to shew their interest in the redemp- 
tion of Christ ; as thereby will be manifested the sincerity of 
their hearts in their acceptance of, and adherence to the Re- 
deemer and his righteousness. And in thus proving the state 
of men's hearts by their actions, the circumstances of those 
actions must necessarily come into consideration, to manifest 
the true quality of their actions ; as, each one's talents, oppor- 
tunities, advantages, light, motives, Sjcc. 

2. The other thing to be manifested, will he that second- 
ary distinction^ Vv'herein particular persons, both righteous and 
wicked, differ from one another, in the degree of secondary 
good or evil, that is something beside what is common to ail 
in the sa-me general state : The degree of evil fruit, which is 
additional to the guilt and corruption of the whole body of 
apostates and enemies ; and the f/r§-r^c of personal goodness 
and good fiuit, which is a secondary goodness, with respect 
to the righteousness and merits of Christ, which belong to all 
by that sincere faith manifested in all. Of this also each 
one's works, with their circumstances, opportunities, talents^ 
&c. will be the proper evidence. 



472 ORIGINAL SIN. 

As to the nature and aggravations of the general apostasy 
by Adam's sin, and also the nature and sufficiency of the re- 
demption by Jesus Christ, the great restorer, though both 
these will have vast injluence on the eternal state, which men 
shall be adjudged to, yet neither of ihem will properly belong 
to the ^/"/o/ men will be the suhjecls of at that day, in order to 
the manifestation of their state^ wherein they are distinguished 
cne from another. They will belong to the business of that 
day no otherwise, than the manifestation of the great truths 
of religion in general ; as the nature and perfections of God, 
the dependence ot mankind on God, as iheir creator and pre- 
server, &c. Such truths as these will also have great influ- 
ence on the eternal state, whlcli men will then be adjudged 
to, as they aggravate the guilt of man's wickedness, and must 
be considered in order to a due estimate of Christ's righteous- 
ness, and men's personal virtue ; yet, being of general and 
equal concernment, will not properly belong to the trial ol 
particular persons. 

Another thing urged by our author particularly against 
the imputation of Adam's sin, is this : " Though, in scripture, 
action is frequently said to be imfiuted, reckoned., accounted to 
a person, it is no other than his cnvn act and deed 1"* In the 
same place he cites a number of places of scripture, wl'.ere 
these words are used, y/hich he says are all that he can find in 
the Bible. 

But we are no way concerned with this argument at pres- 
ent, any further than it relates to imfiutation of sin, or stiful 
action. Therefore all that is in the argument, which relates 
to the present purpose, is this : 'I hat the word is so often ap 
plied in scripture to signify God's imputing personal sin, but 
never once to his imputing Adam's sin....5o often .'....How 
often ?....But twice. There are but two of all those places 
which he reckons up, that speak of, or so much as have any 
reference to, God's imputing sin to any person, where there is 
any evidence that only personal sin is meant ; and they arc 
J.evit. xvii. 3, 4, and 2 Tim. iv. 16. All therefore the argu- 

♦ Pages, &c. 105, S. 



Ol?IGINAL SIN. 473 

meftt comes to, is this : That the word, imfiute, is applied iri 
scripture, two times, to the case of God's imputing sin, and 
neither of those times to signify the imputing of Adam's sin, 
but both times it has reference to personal sin ; therefore 
Adam's sin is not imputed to i>is posterity. And this is to be 
noted, that one of these two places, even that in Levit. xvii. 
3, 4, does not speak of imputing the act committed, but an- 
other not committed. The words are, " What man soever 
there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox or lamb or 
goat in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, and bring- 
eth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 
to offer an offering unto the Lord, before the tabernacle of 
the Lord, blood shall be imputed unto that man ; he hath shed 
blood ; that man shall be cut off from among his people, i. e. 
plainly, murder shall be imputed to him : He shall be put to 
death for it, and therein punished with the same severity as if 
he had slain a man. It is plain by Ibai. Ixvi. 3, that in some 
cases, a shedding the blood of beasts, in an unlawful manner, 
was imfiutedio them, as if they slew a man. 

But whether it be so or not, although in both these places 
the word, imfiute, be applied to personal sin, and to the very- 
act done by the person spoken of, and in ten more places ; or 
although this could be said of all the places, which our author 
reckons up ; yet that the word, imfmte, is never expressly ap- 
plied to Adam's sin, does no more argue, that it is not imput- 
ed to his posterity, than it argues, that pride, unbelief, lying* 
theft, oppression, persecution, fornication, adultery, sodomy, 
perjury, idolatry, and innumerable other particular moral 
evils, are never imputed to the persons that committed them, 
or in whom they are ; because the word, impute, though so 
often used in scripture, is never applied to any of these kinds 
of wickedness. 

I know not what can be said here, except one of these two 
things : That though these sins are not expressly said to be 
imputed^ yet other words are used that do as plainly and cer- 
tainly imply that they are imputed, as if it were said so ex- 
pressly. Very well, and so I say with respect to the imputa- 
tion of Adam's sin. The thing meant by the y^Qvd^ impute. 

Vol. VI. 3 M 



474 ORIGINAL SIN. 

may be as plainly and certainly expressed by usin^ other 
■words, as if that word were expressly used ; and 7nore cct' 
tainly^ because the words used instead of it, may amount to 
an explanation of this word. And this, I think, is the very 
case here. Though the word, imfmte, is not used with res- 
pect to Adam's sin, yet it is said, ^11 have sinned ; which., 
respecting infants, can be true only of their sinning by his 
tin. And, it is said. By hia disribediencc many were made sin- 
ners ; &nd^ Judgment and condemnation came ufion all by that 
sin ; and. that, by this means, deaths [the wages of sin] passed 
on all 7nen, &c. Which phrases amount to full and precise 
explanations of the word, im/mte ; and therefore do more cer- 
tainly determine the point really insisted on 

Or, perhaps it will be said, With respect to those person- 
al sins forementioned, firide, unbeliefs 8cc. it is no argument, 
they are not imfiuted to those who are guilty of them, that the 
very word, imfiutcy is not applied to them ; for the word itself 
is rarely used ; not one time in a hundred, and perhaps five 
hundred, of those wherein the thing meant is plainly implied, 
or may be certainly inferred. Well, and the same also may 
be replied likewise, with respect to Adam's sin. 

It is probable, Dr. Taylor intends an argument against 
Original Sin, by that which he says in opposition to what R, 
R. suggests of c/«7rfrfn'a discovering the princif lies ofiniqidty., 
and seeds of sin, before they are capable of moral action,* \\z. 
That little children are ?nade patterns of humility, meekness and 
innocence, in Matth. xviii. 3....1 Cor. xiv. 20, and Psal. cxxxi. £. 

But when the utmost is made of this, there can be no 
shadow of reason, to understand more by these texts, than 
that Utile children are recommended as patterns in regard of 
a ?iega'ivc virtue, innocence with respect to the exercises and 
fruits o? sin, harmlessness as to the hurtful effects of it ; and 
that image of meekness and humility arising from this, in con- 
junction with a natural tenderness of mind, fear, selfdiffi- 
dence, yieldablencss, and confidence in parents and others 
older than themselves. And so, they are recommended n'" 

• Paje 77, 78, S. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 475 

jjatterns of virtue no more than cloves^ which are an harmless 
sort of creature, and have an image of ihe virtues of meekness 
and love. Even according to Dr. Taylor's own doctrine, no 
more can be made of it than this : For his scheme will not ad- 
mit of any such thini^ as fiositive virtue, or virtuous disposi- 
tion, in infants ; he insisting (as was observed before) that 
viitue must be the fruit of thought and rejection. But there 
can be no thought and reflection, that produces posiiive vir- 
tue, in children, not yet capable of moral action j and it is 
such children he speaks of. And that little children have a 
negative virtue, or innocence, in relation to the positive acts 
and hurtful effects of vice, is no argument that they have not 
a corrufit nature within them : For let their nature be ever so 
€o>Tunt, yet surely it is no wonder that they be not guilty of 
po-ntive wicked action, before they are capable of any moral 
action at all. A young viper has a naalii^nant nature^ though 
incapable of doine a malignant action, and at present appear- 
ing a harmless creature. 

Another objection, which Dr. Taylor and some others of- 
fer against this doctrine, is, That it pours contempt upon the 
human nature.* 

But their declaiming on this topic is like addressing the 
affections and conceits oi children, ratber than rational argu- 
ing with men. It seems, this doctrine is not complaisant 
enough. I am sensible, it is not suited to the taste of some, 
who are so very delicaw (\.o say no worse) that they can bear 
noibino; but compliment and flattery. No contempt is by this 
doctrine cast upon the noble faculties and capacities o^ man's 
tmture.. or the exalted business, and divine and immortal hap- 
piness he is made capable of. And an to speaking ill of man's 
present 7noral staf.e, I presume, it will not be denied, that 
shame belongs to them that are truly sinful ; and to supsi^^se, 
thai this is not the native character of mankind, is still but 
meanly begging the question. If we, as we come into the 
world, are truly sinful, and consequently miserable, he act*; 
but ^friendly part to us, who endeavors fully to discover an4 

• P3-e 74, 75, 5. 



4Y6 ORIGINAL SIK. 

manifest our disease. Whereas, on the contrary, he acts an 
unfriendly part, who to his utmost hides it from us ; and so, 
in effect, does what in him lies to prevent our seekintr a rem- 
edy from that, which, if not remedied in time, must biing us 
finally to shame and everlasting contemfit, and end in perfect 
and remediless destruction hereafter. 

Another objrction^ which some have made against this 
doctrine, much like the former, is, That it tends to beget in 
us an ill ofiinion of our fellow creatures, and so to promote ill 
nature and mutual hatred. 

To which I would say, If it be truly so, that we all come 
sinful into the world, then our heartily acknotvledgivg it, tends 
to X^xoxwolt humility : But our disowning that sin and guilt, 
which truly belongs to Ub, and endeavoring to persuade our* 
selves that we are vastly better than in truth we are, tends to 
a foolish self exaltation and pride. And it is manifest, by rea- 
son, experience, and the word of God, that pride is the chief 
source of all the contention., mutual hatred, and ill nvilly which 
are so prevalent in the world ; and that nothing so effectually 
promotes the contrary tempers and deportments, as humility. 
This doctrine teaches us to think no worse of others, than of 
ourselves : It teaches us, that we are alt, as we are by nature, 
cofnpanions in a miserable, helpless condition ; which, under 
a revelation of the divine mercy, tends to promote mutual 
compassiom. And nothing has a greater tendency to promote 
those amiable dispositions of mercy, forbearance, long sutTer- 
ing, gentleness and foreiyeness, than a sense of our own ex- 
treme unworthiness and misery, and the infinite need we have 
of the divine pity, forbearance and forgiveness, together with 
a hope of obtaininjj; mercy. If the doctrine, which ieaches 
that mankind are corrupt by nature, tends to promote ill nvilly 
why should not Dr. Taylor's doctrine tend to it as much ? 
For he teaches us, that the generality of mankind are very 
wicked, having made themselves so by their own free choice, 
without any necessity ; which is a way of becoming wicked, 
t^at renders men truly ivorthy oi' resentment ; but the other, 
rot ct all, even according to his own doctrino. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 477 

Another exclamation against this doctrine, is, That it 
tends to hinder comfort and joij, and to promote melanchohj and 
gloominess of mind. 

To which I shall briefly say, Doubtless, supposing men 
are really become sinful, and so exposed to the displeasure of 
God, by whatever means, if they once come to have their eyes 
opened, and are not very stupid, the reflection on their c;'se 
will tend to make them sorro'ivful ; and it is Jit, it should. 
Men, with whom this is the case, may well be filled with sor- 
row, till they are sincerely willing to forsake their sins, and 
turn to God. But there is nothing in this doctrine, that in 
the least stands in the way of comfort and exceeding joy, to 
such as find in their hearts a sincere willingness, wholly to 
forsake all sin, and give their hearts and whole selves to 
Christ, and comply with the gospel method of salvation by 
him. 

Another thing objected is, that to make men believe that 
wickedness belongs to their very nature, tends to encourage 
thtra in dn, and plainly to lead them to all manner of iniqui- 
ty ; because they are taught, that sin is 7iatural, and therefore 
necessary and unavoidable.* 

But if 'his doctrine, which teaches that sm is natural to 
us, does also at the same time leach us, that it is never the 
fetter, or less to be condemned, for its being natural, then it 
does not at all encourage sin, any more than Dr. Taylor's 
doctrine encourages wickedness, when it is become inveterate i 
who teaches, that such as by custom have contracted strong 
habits of sin, are unable to helfi themselves. -t And is it reason- 
able to represent it as encouraging a man's boldly neglecting 
and wilfully continuing in his disease, without seeking a cwj-e, 
to tell him of his disease, to shew him that his disease is real 
and very fatal, and what he can never cure himself of ; yet 
withal directing him to a ^rcat fihtjsician, who is sufficient for 
his restoration ? But for a more particular answer to what 
is objected against the doctrine of our natural impotence and 

* Page 231, and some other places. +See his exposition of Rom. vii. 
f . 2C5....aao. But especially in his Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistle. 



478 ORIGINAL SIN. 

inability, as beinoj an encouragement to go on in sin, and a 
discouragement to the use of all means for our help, I must 
for brevity refer the reader to what has be»n largely written 
on this head in my discourse on the Freedom of the Will. 

Our author is pleased to advance another notion, among 
others, by way of objection against the doctrine of Original 
Sin ; that if this doctrine be true, it would be unlawful to beget 
children. He says,* " If natural generation be the means of 
unavoidably conveying all sin and wickedness irUo the world, 
\i vc\u^\. itself hQ u sinful and unlawful x.hvci^.''* Now, if there 
be any force of argument here, it lies in this proposition, 
^ Whatsoever is a means or occasion of the certain, infallible 
existence of sin and wickedness, must itself hz sinful." But 
I imagine Dr. Taylor had not thoroughly weighed this prop- 
osition, nor considered where it would carry him. For God's 
€ontinui7ig in being the devil, and others that are finally given 
up to wickedness, will be attended, most certainly and infalli- 
bly, with an eternal series of the most hateful and horrid \yick- 
«dness. But will any be guilty of such vile blasphemy, as to 
say, therefore God's upholding them in being is itself a sinfui 
thing ? In the same place our autlior says, « So far as we 
are generated in sin, it must be a sin to generate." But tjiere 
is no appearance of evidence in that position, any more than 
in this : " So far as any is upheld in existence in sin, it is a 
ain to uphold them in existence." Yea, if there were any 
reason in the case, it would be strongest in the latter position j 
for parents, as Dr. Taylor himself observes, are not the au- 
thors of the beginning of existence ; whereas, God is truly 
the author of the continuance of existence. As it is the known 
"will of God, to continue Satan and mihions of others in beings 
though the most sure consequence is the continuance of a 
vast infernal world, full of everlasting hellisH ivickedness ; so 
it is part of the revealed will of God, that this world of man- 
kind should be continued, and the ^y^ecies firofiagated^ for his 
own wise and holy purposes ; which will is complied wit!) by 
the parents joined in lawful 7narriage ; whose children, though 

• Page 145. 



ORIGINAL STN. 479 

they come into the world in sin, yet are capable subjects of 
eternal holiness and happiness ; which infinite benefits for 
their children, parents have great Teason to encourage a hope 
of, in the way of giving up their children to God in faith, 
through a Redeemer, and bringing them up in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord. I think, this may be answer 
enough to such a cavil. 

Another objection is, that the doctrine of Original Sin is 
no oftener., and vo more plainly spoken of in scripture ; it bC'^ 
ing, if true, a very important doctrine. Dr. Taylor, in many 
parts of his book suggests to his readers, that there are very 
few texts^ in the whole Bible, wherein there is the least ap» 
pearance of their teaching any such doctrine. 

Of this I tftok notice before, but would here say further? 
That the reader who has perused the preceding defence of 
this doctrine, must now be left to judge for himself, whether 
there be any ground for such an allegation ; whether there 
be not texts in sufficient number,- both in the Old Testament 
and New, that exhibit undeniable evidence of tl)is great article 
of Christian divinity ; and whether it be not a doctrine taught 
in the scripture with g'"eat plainness. I think there are few. 
If any, doctrines of revelation, taught more plainly and ex- 
pressly. Indeed, it is taught in an explicit manner more m 
the New Testament, than in the Old ; which is not to be 
wondered at ; it being thus with respect to all the most im- 
portant doctrines of revealed religion. 

But if it had been so, that this doctrine were rarely taught 
in scripture ; yet if we find that it is indeed a thing declared 
to us by God, if there be good evidence of its being held 
forth to us by any word of his, then what belongs to us, is, tov 
believe his word, and receive the doctrine which he teaches 
us, and not, instead of this, to prescribe to him how often he 
shall speak of it, and to insist upon knowing what reaso?is he 
has for speaking of it no oftener, before we will receive what 
he teaches us, or to pretend that he should give us an accounts- 
why he did not speak of it so plainly as we think he ought to 
have done, sooner than he did. In this way of proceeding, if 
it be reasonable, the Sadducees of old, who denied any resur- 



48© ORIGINAL SIN. 

rection or future state, mi^'ht have maintained their ca-asv; 
against Christ, when he blamed them for " not knowing tho 
scriptures, nor the power of Goci ;" and for not understanding 
by the scripture that there Wf-uld be a resurrection to spiritual 
enjoyment, and not to animal life, and sensual gratifications ; 
and they might have insisted that these doctrines, if true, 
were very important, and therefore ought to have been spoken 
of in the scriptures oftener and more explicitly, zm] not that the 
church of God should be left, till that time, with only a/eiv, 
o^scwre intimations of that which so infinitely concerned them. 
And they might with disdain have rejected Christ's argument 
by way o{ ivference^ from God's calling himself, in the Books 
of Moses, the God of Abraham^ Isaac and Jacob. For an- 
swer, they might have said, that Moses was sent on purpose 
to teach the people the mind and wilt of God ; and therefore, 
if these doctrines were true, he ovght in reason arid in truth to 
have taught them plainly and frequently, and not have left the 
people to spell out ?o important a doctrine, only from God's 
saying, that he was the God of Abraham, Sec. 

One great end af the scripture is to teach the world what 
manner of being God is ; about which the world, without reve- 
lation, has been so wofully in the dark ; and that God is an 
infinite being, is a doctrine of great importance, and a doctrine 
sufficiently taught in the scripture. But yet it appears to me, 
this doctrine is not taught there, in any measure, with suck 
expUcitness and precision, as the doctrine of Original Sin ; and 
the Socinians, who deny God's omnipresence and omniscience, 
have as much room left them for cavil, as the Pelagians, who 
deny Original Sin. 

Dr. Taylor particularly urges, that Christ says not one 
word of this doctrine throughout the four gospels j which 
doctrine, if true, being so iinnportant, and what so nearly con- 
cerned the great work of redemption, which he came to work 
out (as is supposed) one would think, it should have been em" 
phatically spoken of in everij page of the gospels.* 

* Page 2^2, 213. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 4^1 

in reply to this, it may be observed, that by the account 
given in the four gospels, Christ was continually saying those 
things which plainly imfiUcd, that all men in their orighial 
state are sinful and miserable. As, when he declared that 
" they which are whole, need not a physician, but they which 
are sick ;* that " he carrte to seek and to save that which was 
lost ;"t that it was necessary for all to be bor?i again, and to be 
converted, and that otherwise they could not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven ;\ and that all were sinners, as well as 
those whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, Sec. 
and that every one nvho did not refient, should perish ;^ withal 
directing every one to firay to God for forgiveness of sin ;|| 
using our necessity of forgiveness from God, as an argument 
with all to forgive the injuries of their neighbors ;1f teaching 
that earthly parents, though kind to their children, are in 
themselves evil ;** and signifying, that things carnal and 
corrufit, are properly the things of men ;tt warning his disci- 
pies rather to beware of men, than of wild beusts ;^| often rep- 
resenting the world as evil, as wicked in its works, at enmity 
with (ruth and holiness, and hating him ;§§ yea, and teaching 
plainly, that all men are extremely and inexpressibly sinful, 
owing ten thousand talents to their rlivine creditor. ||j| 

And whether Christ did not plainly teach Nicodemus the 
doctrine of original total depravity, when he came to hini to 
know what his doctrine was, must be left to the reader to 
judge, from what has been already observed on John iii. I..,, 
11. And besides, Christ, in the course of his preaching, 
took the most proper method to convince men of the coi- 
rupiion of their nature, and to give them an effectual and 
practical knowledge of it, in application to themselves, in par 
ticular, by teaching and urging the holy and strict lavj ol 
God, in its extent and spirituality and dreadful threatenings.. 
Which, above all things, tends to search the hearts of men, 

* Matt.ix. 12. +Matt. xviii, i i,Luke xix. lO. J Matt, xvlii. 3. §Lukexiii. 
I. .,.5. liMatt. vi. i2,Lukexi.4 IMatt. vi. 14, i5,and xviii. 35. *« Matt. vii. 
11. ++ Matt. xvi. 23. JJ Matt. X. 16, 17. ^^ John vii. 7, viii. 23, xiv, 
17, XV. »8, 19. III! Matt, xviii. 21, to the end. 
Vol. VI. 3 N 



4^2- ORIGINAL SIN. 

and to teach them their inbred, exceedinc^ depravity ; not* 
merely as a matter cf speculation, bu* by proper conviction* 
of conscience ; -which is the only knowledge of Original Sin, 
that con avail to prepare the mind for receiving Christ's re- 
demption ; as a man's sense of bis own sickness preparer 
him to apply in irood earnest to the physician. 

And as to Christ's be-ng no more frequent and particular 
in mentioning and inculcating this point in a doctrinal man- 
ner, it is p'obable one reason to be given for it, is the same 
that is to be given for his speaking no oftener of God's creat' 
ivg the world ; which, though so important a doctrine, is 
scarce ever spoken of in any of Christ's discourses ; and no 
wonder, seeing this was a matter which the Jews, to whom 
he confined hi'^ personal min-istry, had all been instructed in 
from tieir forefathers, and never was called in question 
among them. And ther&is a great deal of reason, from the 
ancient Jewish writer?, to- suppose that the doctrine of Orig- 
inal sin had ever been allowed in the ope^n profession of that 
people ;* though they were generaHy, in that corrupt lime, 

* What is found in the more ancient of the Jewish Rabbies, who have 
wrote since the coming of Christ, is an argument of this. Many tilings of 
this sort are taken notice of by Stapferus, in his Theo/ogia Polemka before men- 
tioned. Some of these things which are there cited by him in Latin, 1 shall 
here faithfully give in English, for the sake of the English reader. 

"....So Manasseh, concerning Human Frailty, page 129. Gen. viii. 2r. 
'•^ I iL'ill not ajftx more airse the earth for man's sake; for the appetite of nan is 
fill from his youih ;" that is, from the time when he comes fonh/rom his moth- 
er^s womb. For at . the. same time that he sucks the breasts, he follows his 
lust \ and while he is yet an infant, he is under the dominion of anger, envy, 
hatred, and other vices to which that tender age is obnoxious. Prov xxii. 15. 
Solomon says, " foolishness is hound to the mind oj a. child." Concerning which 
place, R. Levi Ben Gersom observes thus : '^Fcdlishvess, as it zvere, grows t» 
him in his very beginning." Concerning this sin, which is common and erig- 
inal to all men, David said, Psalm li. 5. " Behold, I voas begotten in iniquity, 
and in iin did my mother icarm me." Upon which place Lben Ezra says thus : 
" Behold, because of the concupiscence which is innate in the heart of man, it 
is said, I am begotten in iniquity." And the sense is, that there is implanted in 
the heart of man, Jctzer harang, an evil figment, from his nativity. 

«• And Manasseh Ben Israel, de Fragil. page 2. " Behold, I was formed in' 
iniauity, and. in sin kalh my mother u-armed mc." But whether thij be under.- 



ORIGINAL SIN. -^3 

-very far from a practical conviction of it ; and many notions 
•were then prevalent, especially among the Pharisees, which 
were indeed inconsistent with it. And though on account 
■of these prejudices ihey might need to have this doctrine ex- 
plained and applied to them, yet it is well known, by all ac- 
quainted with taeir Bibles, that Christ, for v/ise reasons, spake 

stood concerning the common mother, which was Eve, or whether Da vi'd 
spake only of his own mother, he would signify, that sin is as it were natural, 
and inseparable in this life. For it is, to be observed, that Eve conceived after 
the transgression was committed ; and as many as were begotten afterwards, 
were not brought' forth in a conformity to the rule of right reason, but in con- 
formity to disorderly and lustfiil affecions.'' He adds, " One of the wise 
men of the Jews, namely, R. Aha, rightly observed, David -would signify- 
that ;t is impossible, even for pious men who excel in-virtue, never to com- 
mit an,- sin." Job also asserts th» samelHing with David, chap. xiv. 4, say- 
ing, " Who xvjll give a clean tking from an unclean ? Truly not one.'" Concern- 
ing which words Aben Ezra says thus : " The sense is the same with that, / 
was begotten in iniquity, because man is made out of an unclean thing." Stap- 
Jerus, Tl'.eolog. Polem. Tom. iii. p 36, 37. 

Id. ibid, p 132, &c. ^^ So Sal Jarchi ad Gemaram, Cod. Schabbalh, fol. i^t, 
p. 2. " And this is not only to be referred to sinners, because all the pofteri- 
ty of \.\\t first man are in like manner fubjected to all the curses pronounced on 
him." And Manasseh Ben Israel, i.i his Preface to Human Fraiity, says, " I 
had a mind to shew by what means it came to pass, that when the fint father 
*t all had lost his righteousness, \\\i, posterity are begotten liable to Xht same pun-' 
ishment with him." And Munsterus, on the gospel of Matthew, cites :he foi- 
l-owing words from the book called The Bundle of Myrrh: "The blessed 
Lord faid to tht first man, when ht cursed him, Thorns and thistles shall it brino- 
Jorlh to thee; and thou shdlt eat the herb of the field. The thing which he 
means, is, that because of his sin all who should descend from him, should be 
wicked and perverse, like thorns and thistles, according to that word of the 
Lord, speaking to the Prophet ; Thorns and irritators are with thee, and thou 
dwellest amo"g scorpions. And all this is from the serpent, who was the Devi!, 
Sam-miel, who emitted a mortiferous and corruptive poison into Eve, and 
became the cause of death to Adam himself, when he ste the fruit. Remark- 
able is the place quoted in Joseph de Voism, against Afar<m Raymund, p. 471, 
of Master Menachem Rakanatensis , Sect. Bereschit, from Midrasch Tehillim, 
which is cited by Hoornbehius, against the Jews, in these words : «' It is no 
wonder that the sin of Adam and Eve is written and sealed with the kinc's 
ring;, and to be propagated to all following generations ; because on the day 
ihjt Adam was created, all things were iinishcd ; so that he stood forth the 
perfection and completioff of the whole •workmanship of the world ; so whm 



4h; oniGINAL SIN. 

more sparingly and obscurely of several of the roost important 
doctrines of revealed religion, relating to the necessity, 
grounds, nature, and way of his rcdennption, and the meth-= 
od of the justification of sinners, while he lived here in the 
flesh, and left these doctrines to be more plainly and fully op- 
ened and inculcated by the Holy Spirit, after his ascension. 

he sinned, the whole world sinned, whose sin we bear and suffer. But tbc 
matter is not thus with respect to tlie sins of his posterity." Thus far Stap- 
ferus. 

Besides these, as Ainszuortkon Gen. vili. 21 , observes, " In Bereshith Rabbay 
(a Hebrew commentary on this place) a Rabbin is said to be asked. When is 
the evil imagination put into man ? And he answered, From the hour that he i& 
formid." And in Pool's Synopsis it is added from Grotius, " So Rabbi Salomon 
interprets Gen. viii. 21. The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, 
of its being evil from the time thai he is taken out of his mother's bowels " 
Jroi Ezra thus interprets Psalm li. 5. i ivas shapen in iniquity, and in sin did 
tny mother conceive me ; that evil concupiscence is implanted in the heait from 
childhood, as if he were forvied in it ; and by my mother, he understands Eve, 
■who did not bear children till the had sinned. And so Kafvenaki says, How 
shall I avoid sinnirg ? A/y original jj coriupt, and from tiiince are ihose sins. 
So Manasseh Ben Israel, from this placf (Psalm li 5) c:>ncludes that not only 
David, but all miskind, ever since sin was introduced into the world, do shi 
from their oiiginal. To this purpose is the answer of Rabbi Hakhadosch^ 
•which there is an account of in the lalmud. From what time does cuncupiscence 
rule over man ? From the very moment cj his first faimation, orjren his nativity f 
Anfw. From his formation." YooVs Synops.u\Loc, 

On these things 1 observe, there is the greatest reason to suppose that these 
old Rabbies of the Jewish nation, who gave such heed to the Tradition of the 
Elders, would never have received this doctrine of Original 6in, had it not 
been delivered do.wn to them from iht'ir forefathers. For it is a doctrine very 
disagreeable to those practical principles and notions wherein the religion of 
the unbelieving Jews most fundamcf. tally differs from the religion maintained 
among Christians ; parliculaily ibeir notion oi justification by their own right- 
eousness and privilcgei as the children of Abraham, &c. without standing in 
need of any satisfaction by the surlcrings of ibe Messiah. On which account 
the modern Jews do now uiiivei sally reject the doctrine o! Original .^in, and 
corruption of nature, as Stapferus observes. And it is not at all likely that 
the ancient Jews, if no such doctrine had been received by tradition from the 
fathers, would have taken it up from the Christians, whom they had in suth 
great contempt and enmity ; especially as it is a doctrine so peculiarly agree- 
able to the Chriitian notion of the spiritual salvation of Jesus and $0 contrary 
t<i their carr.al notions of the Messiah, and of his salvation and kingdom, 2n,J, 



ORIGINAL SIN. 485 

But if after all, Christ did not speak of this doctrine often 
enough to suit Dr. Taylor, he might be tisked, Why he sup- 
poses Christ did no oftener^ and no more plainly teach some of 
Ms (Dr. Taylor's) doctrines, which he so much insists on ? 
As, That temporal dealh comes on all mankind by Adam ; 
and, That it comes on them by him, not as a punishment or 



so contrary to their opinion of themselves, and a doctrine, which men in gen- 
eral are so apt to be prejudiced against. And besides, these RaLbies do ex- 
pressly refer to the opinion of t\\t\r forefathers ; as R. Mjnasseh says, "Ac- 
cording to the opinion of the ancients, none are subject to death, but those 
which have j?nn£(/ ; For where there is no sin, there h no death.". ...Si^.pici. 
Tom. Hi. p. 37, 38. 

But we have more direct evidence, that the doctrine of Original Sla was 
truly a received doctrine among the ancient Jews, even before the coming of 
Cliri-st. This appears by ancient Jewish writings, which were written before 
Chiist ; as, in ihe apocrypha, a Esdras, iii. 21. " For the first Adam, bearing 
a wicked heart, transgressed, and was overcome ; and so be all they that are 
born of him. Thus infirmity was made permanent ; and the law also in the 
heart of the people, with the malignity of the root ; so that the good departed 
away, and the evil abode still.". ...2 Esdras iv. 30. " For the grain of evil seed 
hath been sown in the heart of A'*am, from the beginning ; asd how much 
ungodliness hath it brought up unto this time ? And how m.uch shall it yet 
bri'.ig torth, till the time of threshing shall come ?" And chap. vii. ^6. " It 
had been better, not to have given the earth unto Adam ; or else, when it was 
given him, to have restrained him from sinning ; for whai profit is it,- for 
men now in this present time, to live in heaviness, and after death, to look for 
pun shment ? O thou Adam, what hast thou done! For though it was thou 
that sinned, thou art 7iot fallen alone, hni we all that come ef thee. " And we 
read, Fxcl. xxv. 24. " Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through 
her ice all die." 

As this doctrine of original corruption was constantly maintained in the 
chuTch of God from the beginning ; so from thence, in all probability, as 
weli as from the evidence of it in universal experience, it was, that the wiser 
Heathen maiutained the like doctrine. Particularly Plato, that great (.hiloso- 
pher, so distinguished for his veneration of ancien' traditions, and diliircnt 
inquiries after them. Gale, in his Court of the Gentiles, observes as follows : 
" Flato says (Gorg. fol. 493.) / have heard from the zvise men, that we are nozu 
dead, and that the body is but our sepulchre. And in his Timceas Locrus (fol. 1C3) 
be says. The came ofvitiosily is from cut parents, and frst principles, rather than 
from ourselves. So that u<e never relinquish those actions, which lead us to follow 
these primitive blemishes of our first parents. /Vd^o mentions the corrup- 
•n ci' the zcill. pp.d jpems to Qisov.n znyfree icill to true good ; albeit he al- 



486 ORIGINAL SIN. 

calamity, but as a great /at/or, being made a rich benefit, and 
a fruit of God's abundant grace, by Christ's redcmjition, who 
came into the world as a second Adam for this end. Surely^ 
if this were so, it was of vast imfiortance^ that it should be 
known to the church of God in all ages, who saw death reign- 
ing over infants, as well as others. If infants were indeed 
perfectly i?inocen(, was it not needful, that the design of that 
which was such a melancholy and awful dispensation to.vards 
so many millions of innocent creatures, should be known, in 
order to prevent the Avorst thoughts of God from arising in 
the minds of the constant spectators of so mysterious and 
gloomy a dispensation ? But why then sucb a total sile?ice 
about it, for four thousand years together, and not one word 
of it in all the Old Testament ; nor one word of it in all the 
Jbitr go.ifiels ; and indeed not one word of it in the whole Bi- 
Ale, but only as forced and wrung out by Dr. Taylor's arts of 
criticism and deduction, against the plainest and strongest 
evidence ! 

As to the arguments, made use of by many late writers, 
from the universal moral seii^e, and the rea;>ons they offer 
from experience, and observation of the nature of mankind, 
to shew that we are born into the world with principles of vir- 



lows some£t'(pt/i'a, or natural dispositions, to civil good, in some great hfr> 
roes. Socrates asserted the corruption of human nature, or xftKoi- f^^tToc. 
Gretius affirms, that the philosophers acknowledged, it was connatural to men, 
to sin." 

Seneca (Benef. v. 14) says, «< Wickedness has not its first beginning in 
■w'lckcd practice ; though by that it is firu exercised and made manifest." And 
Plutarch (de Sera vindicta) says, " Man does not first become wicked, when 
he first manijests himself so : But he hath wickedness/ro;» the beginning ; and he 
sheics it as soon as he finds opportunity and ability. As men rightly judge, 
that the sting is not first engendered in scorpions when they strike, or the poi- 
son in vipers when they bite". ...Pool's Synops. on Gen. viii. ai. 

To which may be subjoined what Juvenal says, 

-id mores natura rccurrit 

Damnatos,fxa et maturi ncscia." 
Englished thus, in prose; 

Nature, a thing fixed and not knowing how to change, returns to t» 
vyicV.cd manners. Watts's Ruin and Recovery. 



ORIGINAL Sm. 4fST 

tue ; "With a natural prevailing relish, approbation, and love o£ 
righteousness, truth, and goodness, and of whatever tends to 
the public welfare ; with a prevailing natural disposition to 
dislike, to resent and condemn what is selfish, unjust and im- 
moral ; and a native bent in mankind to mutual benevolence, 
tender compassion, &c. those who have had such objections 
against the doctrine of Original Sin, thrown in their way, and- 
desire to see them particularly considered, I ask leave to 
refer them to a Treatise on the Xature of true Virtue., lying by 
me prepared for the press, which may ere long be exhibited: 
to public view. 

CONCLUSION. 



On the whole, I observe, There are some other things,. 
besides arguments, in Dr. Taylor's book, which are calculat- 
ed to influence the minds, and bias the judgments of some 
sorts of readers. Here, not to insist on the taking profession, 
he makes, in many places, of sincerity^ htimility., meekness^ 
modesty., charity., &c. in his searching after truth ; and freely 
proposing his thoughts, with the reasons of them, to others ;* 
nor on his magisterial assurance, appearing on many occa« 
sions, and the high contemfit he sometimes expresses of the 
opinions and arguments of very excelleHt divines and fathers 
in the church of God, who have thought differently from 
Lim :t J^oth of which things, it is not unlikely, may have a 
degree of influence on som.e of his readers. (However, that 
they may have only their just influence, these things might 
properly be compared together, and set in contrast., one with 
the other.). ...I say, not to dwell on these matters, I would 
take some notice of another thing, observable in the writings- 
of Dr. Taylor, and many of the late opposers of the more pe- 
culiar doctrinfcs of Christianity, tending (especially yi\\.\\ juve- 
nile and iinivary readers (not a little to abate the force, and 



♦ See his Preface, and p. 6, 237, 265, 267, 175; 5. ^ Psge 110, !2^ 
'5<^. »5»j »59. »6i, 183, 188, 77. -y. 



48S ORIGINAL SIN. 

prevent the due effect, of the clearest scripture evidences, iij 
favor of those important doctrines ; and particuhiily to make 
void the arguments taken from the writings of the Apostle 
Paul, in which those doctrines are more plainly and fully re- 
vealed, than in any other part of the Bible. What I mean, is 
this : These gentlemen express a high opinion of this apostle, 
and that very justly, for his eminent genius, his admirable 
sagacity, strong powers of reasoning, acquired learning, See 
They speak of him as a wriier,...of masterly address, of ex- 
tensive reach, and deep design, every where in his epistles, 
almost in every word he says. This looks exceeding sfie- 
cious : It carries a plausil>le appearance of Chrislian zeal, and 
attachment to the Ho/y Scri/ilures, in such a testimony of 
high veneration for that great apostle, who was not only the 
principal instrument of propagating Christianity, but with his 
own hand wrote so considerable a part of the New Testament, 
And I am far from determining, with respect at least to some 
of these writers, that they are not sincere in their declara- 
tions, or that all is mere artifice, only to make way for the re- 
ception of their own peculiar sentiments. However, it tends 
greatly to subserve such a purpose ; as much as if it were de- 
signedly contrived, with the utmost subtlety, for that end. 
Hereby their incautious readers are prepared the more easily 
to be drawn into a belief, that they, and others in their way of 
thinking, have not rightly understood many of those things in 
this apostle's writings, which before seemed very/;/amto 
them ; and they are also prepared, by a prepossession infiivor 
of these new wnVers, to entertain a favorable thought of the 
interpretations put by them upon the words and phrases of 
this apostle ; and to admit in many passages a meaning which 
before lay entirely out of sight ; quite foreign to all that in 
the view of a common reader seems to be their obvious sense ; 
and most remote from the expositions agreed in, by those 
which used to be esteemed the greatest divines, and best 
commentators. For they must know, that this apostle, being 
a man of no vulgar understanding, it is nothing strange if his 
meaning lies very deep ; and no wonder then, if the superfi- 
cial discerning and observation of vulgar Christii;nsj or indeed 



ORIGINAL SIN. 485 

of the hevd of common divines, such as the Westminster Js" 
semblyy &c. falls vastly short of the apostle's reach, and ire- 
quently does not enter into the true spirit and design of Paul's 
epistles. They must understand, that the Jirst reformers^ 
and preachers and expositors in general, both before and 
since the reformation, for fifteen or sixteen hundred years 
past, were too unlearned ■a^A shortftigh'ed, to be capable of pen- 
etrating; into the sense, or fit to undertake the makins: cont- 
ments on the writings of so great a man as this ai^ostle ; of 
else had dwelt in a cave oi bigotry and superstition, too c;loomy 
to allow them to use their own understandings with freedom, 
in reading the scrip'. ure. But at the same time, it must be 
understood, that there is risen up, now at length in this happy 
age of light and liberty, a set of men, of a more free and gen- 
erous turn of mind, a more inquisitive genius, and better dis- 
cernment. By such insinuations they seek advantage to their 
Cause ; and thus the most unreasonable and extravagant in- 
terpretations of scripture are palliated and recommended : So 
that, if the simple reader is not very much on his guard, if he 
does not clearly see with his bwn eyes, or has too much indo- 
lence, or too little leisure, thoroughly to examine for himself 
(as few, alas, are willing to be at the pains of acquainting 
themselves thoroughly with the apostle's writings, and of 
comparing one part of them with another, so as to be fully 
able to judge of these gentleman's glosses and pretences) in 
this case, he is in danger of being imposed on with delusive 
appearances ; as he is prepared by this fair pretext of exalt- 
ing the sagacity of the apostle, and by a parade of learningj 
criticism, exact version, penetration into the new scope, and 
discerning of wonderful connexions, together with the airs 
these writers assume of dictatorial peremptoriness, and con- 
tempt of old opinions and old expositions ; I say, ^uch an one 
is by these things prepared to swallow strange doctrine, as 
trusting to the superior abilities of these modern interpreters. 

But I humbly conceive, their interpretations, particularly 
of the Apostle Paul's writings, though in some things inge- 
nious, yet in many things concerning these great articles of 
religion, are exLremtly absurd, and demonstrably disagreea- 

Vol. VI. 3 O 



490 ORIGINAL SIN. 

ble, in the highest degree, to his real design, to the language 
he commonly uses, and to the doctrines currently taught in 
his epistles. Their criticisms, when examined, appear far 
inore subtle, than solid ; and it seems as if nothing can possi- 
bly be strong enough, nothing perspicuous enough, in any 
composure whatever, to stand before such liberties as these 
writers indulge : The plainest and most nervous discourse is 
analyzed and criticised, till it dissolves into nothing, or till it 
becomes a thing of little significance : The holy scripture is 
subtilized into a mere mist ; or made to evaporate into a thin 
cloud, that easily puts on any shape, aiid is moved in any di- 
rection, with a puff of wind, jusr as the manager pleases. It 
is not in the nature and power of language, to afford sufficient 
defence against such an art, so abused ; as, I imagine, a due 
consideration of some things I have had occasion in the pre- 
ceding discourse to observe, may abundantly convince us. 

But this, with the rest of what I have offered on this sub- 
ject of Original Sin, must be left to every candid reader to 
judge of, for himself; and the success of the whole must now 
be left with God, who knows what is agreeable to his own 
mind, and is able to make his own truths prevail ; however 
mysterious they may seem to the poor, partial, narrow, and 
extremely imperfect views of mortals, while looking through 
a cloudy and delusory medium ; and however disagreeable 
they may be to the innumerable prejudices of men's hearts : 
And who has promised, that the gospel of Christ, such as is 
really his, shall finally be victorious ; and has assured us, that 
the word which goeth out of his mouth, shall not return to him 
void, but shall acco?nfilish that which he Jdeascth, and shall fir os- 
per in the thing whereto he sends it. Let Cod arise, and plead 
his own cause, and glorify his own great name. Ams>% 



OBSERVATIONS 

UPON 

PARTICULAR PASSAGES 

OF 

S 



OBSERVATIONS 



UPON PARTICULAR PASSAGES OF 



s 



Genesis ii, 1, 

1 HUS the heavens and the earth were finished, 
and all the host of them." This argues that the angels belong 
to the Mosaic creation, who are so often spoken of as God's 
host, and as the hosts of heaven. 

Genesis iv. 23, 24...." And Lamech said unto his wives, 
Adah and Zillah, I have slain a man to my wounding," &c. 
The probable design of the Holy Ghost in relating this, is to 
shew the great increase of the depravity and corruption of the 
world, or of Cain's posterity and those that adhered to them. 
This is shewn in the particular instance of Lamech, the chief 
man of Cain's posterity, in his day. Lamech had been guilty 
of murdering some man that he had a quarrel with. And he 
justifies himself in it, and endeavors to satisfy his wives that 
he shall escape with impunity, from the instance of Cain,, 
whose life God spared, and even took special care that no 
man should kill him, making the declaration, that if any man 
killed him, vengeance should be taken of him seven fold, 
though the man he slew was his brother, and a righteous 
aaan; and had done him no injury. But the man he had slain 



494 OBSERVATIONS UPON 

in ov for his woundinj; (as the words are interpreted by some 
learned men, See Pool's Synopsis in Loc.) i, e. the man he 
had slain had injured or wounded him. Therefore, if Cain 
should be avenged sevenfold, doubtless he seventy and seven- 
fold. By this speech to his wives, he shews his impenitence 
and presumption, and great insensibility. When Cain had 
slain his brother his conscience greatly troubled him. But 
Lamech with great obduracy shakes off all remorse, and as it 
were bids defiance to all fear and trouble about the matter. 

Genesis iv. 26...." And to Seth, to him also was born a son, 
and he called his nameEiios. Then men began to call upon the 
name of the Lord." The right translation probably is, Then 
began men to call by the name of the Lord, or in the name of the 
Lord. i. e. Then they began to call themselves, and their 
children by, or in his name : Signifying that then the people 
of God, of whom Seth was the principal man, and as it were 
their head, leader and chief priest, being with his posterity 
appointed another seed (seed or generation of God) instead of 
Abel ; I say, then the people of God began openly to separate 
themselves from the wicked apostate world of the posterity of 
Cain, and those that joined with them ; and began to appear 
in a visibly distinct society, being called the children of God, 
when the other were called the children of men. 

The children and posterity were looked upon as being in 
the name of the F.ather, and upholding his name. See Numb, 
xxvii. 4....Deut. ix. 14, and xxv. 7....1 Sam.xxiv. 21....2 Sam. 
xviii. 18... .Ruth iv, 5.... Job xviii. 17....Isai. xiv. 22. ...Gen. 
xlviii. 16, compared with Numb. vi. 27. On the birth of 
Enos it probably first began to be a custom for parents open- 
ly to dedicate their children to God, and call them by his 
name, and as it were insert them into his name, by bringing 
them to the place of public worship ; the transaction being 
personal, by the parents' solemn declaration and covenant, at- 
tended with prayer and sacrifice. 

Genesis ix, 26...." Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.'* 
By Jehovah, the God of Shem seems especially meant Jesus 
Christ, who was of his posterity, and eminently his seed. The 



PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. 495 

blessing here pronounced on Japhet, is on his posterity.... 
And the curse of Canaan respects his posterity. Therefore 
it is reasonable to understand the blessing of Shem to be also 
on his posterity. 

GEhfEsis xxix, 20...." And Jacob served seven years for 
Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the 
love he had to her." Jacob was a type of Christ, in his ob- 
taining his wife by a servitude, and in his servitude's seeming 
so light to him, and his going so cheerfully through it, for the 
love wherewith he loved her. That Jacob might enjoy his 
beloved Rachel, was the joy set before him ; for which he 
despised the difficulty of his servitude. So, that Christ might 
redeem his church and present it to himself a glorious and 
blessed church, to dwell with him in glory forever, was the 
joy that was set before him, for which he endured the cross 
and despised the shame. 

Genesis xlv... .Joseph's making himself known to his 
brethren. It is without all doubt that one thing signified by 
Joseph's being hated of his brethren, with a mortal hatred, 
their intending to kill him, and selling him to the Gentiles, 
was the rejection of Christ by the Jews his brethren, his be- 
ing hated, and envied and slain by them, and delivered up to 
the Gentiles, See Psal. Ixix. 8....Matth. xx. 19. So Joseph's 
brethren being brought to repentance, and Joseph's being 
made known to them, their being reconciled and received 
•with great joy, represents the future conversion of the Jews, 
their being brought to repentance after having rejected and 
crucified Christ, and the great joy and gladness there shall be 
on that occasion. 'I his affair was much taken notice of by 
Pharaoh and his servants, and was very pleasing to them. So 
the coming in of the Jews will be life from the dead lo the 
Gentiles. 

Deut. viii. 4....« Thy raiment waxed not old upon th.ec, 
neither did thy foot swell these forty years." This was prob- 
ably a type of the desirableness of the clothing of the spiritiuU 
Israel, in their journey through the wilderness of this world 
towards the heavenly Canaan. The saints' grace or right- 
eousness is often represented as this clothing. fNcither did 



496 OBSERVATIONS UPON 

thy foot swell] If their feet had swoln they would not have 
been able to proceed any farther. But the righteous shall be 
enabled to hold on his way ; and God will keep the feet of his 
saints, and establish their i^oing?. This seems to be the chief 
reason why this is remarked, viz. because it was a type. For 
in itself it seems no very extraordinary thini^, that their foot 
did not swell. For they lay still most of the time ; and when 
they travelled it is probable it was not by long journies, but as 
the women and children could bear. 

Deut. xxxii. 2....« My doctrine shall drop as the rain ; 
my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small r in upon the 
tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." God here 
speaks to the people quite in a different manner from what he 
did at Mount Sinai, when he spake to them out of the midst 
of the fire. God's word then was like thunder and lightning 
and devouring fire, threatening to overbear and consume so 
frail and lender a creature as man, who is like the grass and 
flower of the field. God's voice now is gentle. It is heard 
in pleasant song. Instead ot being like lightning to destroy 
and consume, it is like the gentle showers, and refreshing dew 
on the lender grass, revealing, not his wrath, but his great 
mercy, in a manner adapted to men's tender frame. In thi* 
song is much of the glorious gospel. Even the warnings and 
threatenings that are in it, are delivered in an evangelical 
manner, much in the same way that they were delivered in 
(he mild language of the glorious Messiah. All the songs of 
the scripture are the voice of the gospel. The glorious 
things of the gospel are their foundation and subject matter ; 
and therefore in them God's word drops as the rain. 

Deut. xxxiii. 8...." And of Levi he said. Let thy urirrt 
and thy thummim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst 
prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the wa<« 
ters of Meribah." Here Chiibt is evidently called Levi's holy 
one. Aaron, the high priest of that tribe, was Levi's holy 
one in some sense. But it was not Aaron, but Christ, that 
■was tempted at Massah and Meribah (1 Col. x. 9.) Moses 
also was of that tribe, and might be called their holy one ; but 
neither wa"» he the person there tempted. Both Mose« and 



PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. 49? 

Aaron rather concurred with the people in temptini^. Numb. 
XX. 10.... 13. Christ, the great antitype of Moses and AuioOi 
the true higli priest, that was the substance and end of all the 
ancient sacrifices and offerings, and of all the peculiar minis- 
trations of the high priest of the tribe of Levi, according to 
Jer. xxxiii. 17. ...22, may well be called Levi's holy one. For 
it is there represented as the great honor and privilege of 
Levi, that his priesthood was to be upheld and completed ia 
Christ. AH the honor and privilege that there ever was in 
having the priesthood of his tribe, arose from the relation of 
that priesthood to Christ, the glorious things which he should 
accomplish by the sacrifice of himself, and the eternal bene- 
fits he should procure. Therefore this is properly mentioned 
in the blessing uttered by Moses with respect to this tribe. 
The priestliood was not a vain thing, but of unspeakable value, 
as it stood in relation to the priesthood of Christ, and was to 
be brought to its infinitely glorious and interesting effect in 
him. It was by the Urim and the Thummim that the high 
priest was especially furnished to make intercession for the 
people, and to reveal the mind and will of God to them. The 
Urim and Thummin had their principal importance, as they 
were typical, and represented the perfection, and merit, the 
light, and glory, there are in Christ. 

2 Sam. xv.... Absalom seems to have been a type of anti- 
christ. He was the son of Uavid ; as the man of sin was orig- 
inally a Christian bishop, one of the ministers of the gospel* 
who in a peculiar manner are Christ's sons. Absalotn was 
David's so" by Maacah, daughter of the king of Geshur, the 
©nly wife that he had that was a Gentile. So Popery is ai 
mixture of Christianity wifh Heathenism. Absalom wa-; the 
3on of a Heathen mother, or one thai had been a Heathen. 
So the Papistical church is the daughter of old Heathen 
Rome. Absalom usurped his father's authority over his 
kingdom, his city Jerusalem, and over hi'^ house. So tne 
pope usurps the authority of Christ, sets himself up to be kirtg 
in his kingdom, and takes possession cf the church, the true 
spiritual Jerusalem, sitting in the temple of God, shewing 
himself that he is God. ALsalom was a person of great beat> 
Vol. VL 3 P 



498 OB'^ERVATIONS UPON 

ty, and was admired, and praised by the people for his beiauty^. 
So it has been \vi*h the pope. Whereas Christ appeared in a 
mean and low condition, without any external splendor, and 
Vfhen the people saw him, there was no beauty in him where* 
fore they should desire him ; antichrist appears in great ex* 
ternal pomp and glory, decked with gold and silver and pre- 
cious stones, fine linen and scarlet, which all the world has 
admired and wonrlered after, saying, Who is like unto the 
beast ? Absalom cloaked his rebellion and usurpation with a 
pretence of relieion. Like antichrist, he said to his father, 
chap. XV. ver. 7, 8, " Let me go and pay my vow which I 
have vowed," Sec, Absalom drove David, and those that ad- 
hered to him, out of Jerusalem. So antichrist casts out of 
the church all the true, and faithful followers of Christ. Da- 
•vid went away into the wilderness, and all his faithful subjects 
•went with him, wherever he went. Which is agreeable to 
WVat is represented to be the spirit and practice of the true 
followers of Christ in the time of antichrist, Rev. xix. 4, 
•'These are they which foUov/ the Lamb whithersoever he 
goeth." 

1 Kjngs xix. 19, 20.:.." So he departed thence and found 
Elisha," ike. The truth wih respect to v/hat is related in 
these verses probably was thus. Elijah was directed by the 
Spirit of God to cast his mantle upon Elisha. Bui Elijah had 
rot the design of God fully made known to him ; supposing it 
to be intended as a sign that Elisha should be prophet after 
him, agreeable to what God had said to him at Mount Sinai. 
But God hud a-fariher meaning in it, which was intimated by 
his Spirit, which went with Elijah's n-antle as it passed over 
to EUsha ; viz. that he should immtdiately forsake tdl, and 
devote himself to the performance of the business of a proph- 
et. Elisha, su Imposing that Elijah had this design of God 
made knowp to him, and had been directed to cast his mantle 
on him, with this view, has at first some reluctance, and de- 
sires of Elijali that, by his prayers, he would obtain leave of 
God for him to go first and kiss his father and mother. Eli- 
jah, surprised ai this request, as was natural, supposing him 
thus igiiorant, says, Go back } for what have I done that should 



PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. 499 

iainder it ? However, Elisha, who understood the mind of 
God, soon recovers from his reluctance, and went no further 
back than his oxen ; and took them and the instruments, and 
offered up all to God, signifying by this action, his full con* 
sent to make a sacrifice of ali his wotldly possessions to the 
^reat and infiniiely important concerns of his ministry. 

2 Chhon. V. 12, 13, 14.....Vhen the priests and Levites 
were as one to make one sound, in praising God with singing 
and instruments of music, saying. He is good, for his mercy 
«ndurelh forever, then the glory of the Lord came and filled 
the house. So, when it shall come to that in the latter days, 
that the ministers of the gospel shall generally be united in 
preaching the true doctrines of it, those doctrines that are in 
a peculiar manner evangelical, by which is manifested the 
glory of God's e'ernal mercy ; free, sovereign, and immutable 
grace, through Christ Jesus, and shall be umied in affections 
and act in union, as fellow laborers and fellow helpers, then 
shall the glory of God remarkably appear ; the Spirit of God, 
as a spirit of light, holiness and joy, shall descend from heav» 
en in a very new and glorious manner, and remark.ible suc- 
cess attend the preaching of the gospel eveiy wae: e ; and then 
shall be the proper commencement of the church's rest, peace 
and glory upon earih. The .peaieful reign of Sol )mon, in 
the possesiiion of unparalleled wisdom, riches and glory, after 
the militant and tumultuous reign of David, is evidently typ- 
ical of the peaceful, joyous, and glorious reign of Christ in 
the latter day : And God's dwelling in the temple, as the set» 
tied place of his rest, after removing to and fro in a taberna- 
cle, is typical of the glorious manner of his dwelling with his 
churcn in the latter day, as compared with preceding times. 
Te largeness of the temple compared with the tabernacle, 
represents ihe vast increase of the cimrch ; and the cloud of 
glory filling the temple, represents the filling of the whole 
eartli with God's glory. 

PsAL. Ixxxii. 8...." Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou 
shalt inherit all nations." The design of these words, in their 
conn xion with the foregoing verses, confirms, that the prince."? 
ef Israel are there called Gods, and sons of God, with refey- 



500 OBSERVATIONS UPON 

ence to Christ, the true King of Israel, and as bein.^ types of 
him. The three verses in their connexion import thus much, 
....God has given theae firinces and judges the name of Gods or 
sons of God, as they are exalted to the place of kings a7id sav 
iours of his fieofilc, ivho are God's heritage or kingdom^ but they 
die like men ; ivhcreby it afifiears^ that they arc no Gods^ nor are 
the true sons cf God ,- hut mere men, and no more than images 
and shadows of him. But oh I that he toho is truhj God, who is 
indeed the Son of God, the true king, judge and saviour of God's 
fieo/ile, the antitype of these, would come and reign, not only over 
the land of Israel, but over the whole earth ; when God's Israel 
shall fill the earth, and all nations shall be God's fieojile. It is 
observable that when it is said in this verse, " Aiist:, O God," 
the word God is Elohim, the same that is used verse 6th, " I 
have said ye are Godu" They were called Elohim ; but 
Christ is the true Elohim ; just as the manna in the wil- 
derness was called bread, but Christ is the true bread from 
heaven. 

Psalms Ixxiii. 4....« There are no bands ir their death." 
In the original the words arc, " Ein, chartzabbuth Lenio- 
tham," which might more properly have been rendered, their 
death hath no bands ; the Hebrew of the Latin verb sum, with 
the prefix iamed, being used for have. The meaning seems 
to be, that they appear to be at liberty from death, as though 
they were out of his reach. Their death is here represented 
as a person that is indeed their enemy, or an officer of ven- 
geance, that they greatly deserve to be delivered up to, and 
that has a commission against them, and would fain seize 
them, and make them his prisoners, but has no bands to bind 
them. 'I'hey live long, and live without the fears of death, 
^vhich arc, as it were, the band> of death. That this is the 
meaning is confirmed by the following words of the sentence. 
*' But their strength is firm." 

Jer. xxxi. 32...." Not according to the covenant which I 
made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by tlie 
hand to bring them out of the land of Es^ypt." That cove- 
nant was, as it were, founded in the redemption out of Egypt. 
Therefore when God made it Avith the people, he prefaced it 



PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. 501 

thus: « I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the 
land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage." It is hence 
natural to suppose, that the covenant of which the prophet 
here speaks, would not be one founded on that redemption ; 
but on some other, far better, and more glorious redemption. 

Zech. xiv. 4...." And his feet shall stand that day upon the 
Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, on the east, and 
the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof towards 
the east, and towards the west, and there shall be a very great 
valley," &c. The mountains were round about .Terusaleni 
like a wall ; of which Mount Olivet was the chief. This, stood 
on the east, between Jerubalem and the greatest Gentile na- 
tions ; those nations that were the most malignant and formi* 
dable enenaes of Israel. The dividing of this mountain un- 
der the feet of Zion*s Redeemer, and making such a wide val- 
ley or plain on the east of Jerusalem, whereby there would 
be an easy access for the Gentile nations, signifies the break- 
ing down of the partition wall between the church of God, 
and those that were without, and afar off; and that remarkable 
rsmoving of obstacles signified by God's causing that every 
mountain and hill should be brought low ; and the drying up 
of the river Euphrates, that the way of the kings of the east 
nnighi be prepared. The tTiountain's being thus divided, by 
Cv.rist's treading on it, significantly and beautifully represents 
the ease with which, in the exercise of his sovereign and 
mighty power, he overcomes the strongest and proudest ene- 
m.ies that oppose the salvation of his elect ; agreeably to what 
is said in the fourth chapter of this book, verse 7th. » Who 
art thou, O great mountain ! Before Zerubbabel thou shalt 
become a plain." And chap. viii. 6. « Thus saith the Lord 
of Hosts, if it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this 
people in these days, should it also be marvellous in my eyes, 
saith the Lord of Hosts ?" The opening made through the 
mountains here is represented as very wide, to signify the 
abundant grace, and free and open access for vast multitudes ; 
agreeably to Isai. Ix. 1 1, and Rev. xxi. 25. 

Matth. xii. 30. " He that is not with me is against 
me." The true reason of Clirisi's making this observation 



5J03 OBSERVATIONS UPON 

in this place, where he is reprovincc the Pharisees for 

.saying* tliat he cast out de\ils by Beelzebub, is this 

These Pharisees had, till now, appeared to exercise that kind 
of piucience, falsely so called, which is comtnonly to be seen 
amon^ those, Wiio count ibeniselves wise and ^reat men, and 
think it becomes then) to let matters of relit3;ion much alone» 
and not to appear forward and zealous, or give out their 
thoughts freely. When, in view of the miracles which Christ 
•wrought, the multitude were affected, and some appeared 
zealous to follow him ; when the esteem ;hat he gained 
among the people was so great that they apprehended them- 
selves m danger of having their glory eclipsed, and of losing 
the respect of the people, and their authority over themj 
the Phaiisees could keep silence no longer. They openly 
shewed what was in their hearts before ; a fixed enmity 
against Christ, and that truly they never had been indifferent 
as they appeared. 

Heb. X. 3r...." For ye^ a little while, and he that should 
come, will come, and will not tarry," It cannot be justly 
inferred from these Avords, that the apostle expected Chiist's 
last coming to judgment in that generation. All that could 
reasonably be understood by them is, that the time of their 
sufferings was short, and it would be but a little season before 
they would be wholly delivered from all their enemies, and 
should receive the recompense of the reward they hoped for. 
This appears by the context and also by the obvious mean- 
ing of the place referred to in the Old Testament. If this 
and the next verse be compared with Hab. ii. 2, 3, 4, it will be 
manifest that the apostle refers to what is there said. 'I he 
vision is for an appointed time, but in the end it shall speak 
and not lie, though ittarry, wait tor it, because it will surely 
come, it will not tarry. Behold his soul which is lifted up is 
not upright in him ; but the just shall live by his faith. The 
thing that it is there said will come and will not tarry, is God's 
people's deliverance from the oppression of their enemies, 
especially from the Babylonish captivity ; as appears by the 
context. 



PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. 50S 

loHN V. 27- " And hath given him authority to execute 
judg-rnen', also, because lie is the Son of Man." Chiist is the 
more fitted to be the judj^e of men, for his being himself a 
man, one of the same race, havinf^ the san^e faculties, senses 
and organs, living in the same world, under the same law, and 
in the midst of the same temptations. It tends to confirm 
the faith of the saints that their near kinsman and elder 
brother performed obedience for them, and wrought out the 
righteousness that they depend upon for justification in the 
judgment, and also suffered from the same unrighteous ene- 
mies ; this tends to encourage and confirm thci' faith that he 
li^ill vindicate them in the judgment, and plead their right- 
eous cause against their unrighteous enemies. 

Rom. viii 23,..." And not only they, but ourselves alsoj, 
t^hich have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves 
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop.ion, to wit, the 
fedemption of cur body." The apostle had been represent- 
ing, in the preceding verses, that the whole creation was, as it 
were, in a state of travail, to bring to the birth, i. e. to bring 
the children of God into u state of liberty, happiness and 
glory. This in verse l^, he calls the manifestation of the 
sons of God, alluding to children's being brought forth to the 
light when they are born* Tliis was to have its highest ful- 
filment at the resurrection, when they shall be born froin the 
grave, and manifested in the most public manner in the prop- 
er glory of God's chi-dren, and shall receive the most public 
testimonies of God's fatherly love. Even, in this present state, 
Christians, by receiving the spirit, wiiich is a filial spirit, a 
spiiit of adoption, are brought forth, as the sons of God, and 
have the liberty and privileges of God's children in part. Yet 
it is bu' in part. They have only the first fruits of the spirit 
of adoption ; and they themselves therefore join with the cre- 
ation around them, groaning within themselves, wailing for 
the most glorious, the ultimate and perfect manifestation of 
the sons of God, when they shall be born from the grave. 

Ephes. i, 18...." The glory of his inheritance in the saints.'- 
It appears to me the true sense of this passat^e is, his inherit-^ 
onu- in luaven. In the Greek it is, » toio- «7ie«<r, which might 



fe4 OBSERVATIONS UPON 

have been literally translated in the holy places ; which if we 
suppose the apostle means htavcn, would have been very 
agreeable to his way of speaking;. In the next verse but one, 
where he evidently means in heaven, he expresses it thus, 
ev tnov^etnoK;, in the high. So in chap. ii. 6, 3, 10. In Heb. i. 
3, he expresses it thus-, t* v-^nMif, in the high. The same is 
expressed in Luke ii. 14, tt t4»?oi?r ir> the highest. If it may 
thus be called the heavenly, the high, and the higl.est, it may 
as properly be called the holy. The iand of Canaan was call- 
ed the holy land, and the city Jerusalem the holy city ; mount 
Zion the holy mountain, and the temple the holy place. And 
heaven is eminently the holy land, the holy city, mountain 
and temple. 

Rom. 7, 25.»..« With the mind I myself serve the law 
of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." This Mr. Locke 
paraphrases thus : " To comfort myself therefore, as that state 
requires, for my deliverance from death, I myself, with full 
purpose, and sincere endeavors of mind, give up myself to 
obey the law of God ; though my carnal inclinations are en- 
slaved, and have a constant tendency to sin. This is all 1 can 
do, and this Is all, 1 being under grace, that is required of me, 
and through Christ will be accepted." In iiis notes he ob- 
serves, " I myself is in the original, At/ro; ey«, i e. (says Mr. 
Locke) I the man, with all my full resolution of mind. Avroq 
and eyu might both have been spared, if nothing more had 
been meant here than the nominative case to JouAeuw," see 
note, verse 20. He observes again on the words, " o» ^t\t» eya, 
I would not, I in the Greek is very emphatical, as is obvious, 
and denotes the man, in that part wherein he is chiefly to be 
counted himself, and therefore with the like emphasis, verse 
35, is called Auto? tyu, " I my own self." The apostle would 
doubtless intimate that when he, the saint, was himself, and 
acted himself, he served the law of God ; and when he served 
the law of sin, he was as it were not himself, but ltd captive 
by an enemy. That is agreeable to verses 17, 20, and 22. 
These things plainly shew that the apostle speaks in the 
name of a saint, and not in the name of a wicked man. 



tHEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS. 



1. JTlOW does it appear that something has existed 
from eiermty ? 

2. How does it appear that this earth and the visible sys- 
tem are ndt from eternity ? 

3. How does it appear that the existence of man is deriv- 
ed and dependent ? 

4. How do you prove the natural perfections of Gnd, viz. 
his intelligence, infinite power, foreknowledge and immuta- 
bility ? 

5. How do you prove his moral perfections, that he is a 
friend of virtue, or absolutely holy, true, just and good? 

6. How do you prove that the scriptures are a revelation 
from God ? And what are the evidences, internal and external? 

7. How do you prove the divine mission of Christ ? 

8. How do you prove the divinity of Christ ? 

9. Howr do you prove the personality and divinity of the 
Holy Ghost ? 

10. How do you prove that the persons in the Trinity are 
one C^od ? 

1 1 . Whence arose the manichean notion of two gods, and 
how is it confuted ? 

12. Whence arose the polytheism of the Pagans, and how 
confuted ? 

13. Whence was it that the knowledge of the one true 
God, in which Noah was instructed, was not preserved among 
his posterity in all ages ? 

14. Why are not mankind in all ages (their internal fac- 
talties and external advantae;es being sufficient) united in right 
sentiments of the one true God ? 

15. Were the moral character of God and the moral law 
understood and loved, would there be any objections against 
revealed religion ? 

Vol. VI. 3 Q 



506 THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS. 

16. What is the true idea of God's decrees ? 

17. How do you prove absolute and particular election? 

18. Did God decree the existence of sin ? 

19. Why did God decree sin ? 

20. In what sense did he introduce sin into the universe I 

2 1 . How do you reconcile this with the holiness and goodT 
nessof God ? 

22. What is necessary to constitute a moral agent ? 
93. Are men moral and free agents ? 

24. What is the difference between natural and moral 
power and inability ? 

25. How is absolute moral necessity, or inability, consist- 
ent with the free agency of men ? 

26. How is the doctrine of universal, absolute decrees, 
consistent with the free agency of men ? 

27. How do you prove an universal and special providence ? 

28. What is the covenant of redemption ? 

29. If man was created in original righteousness, how is 
that consistent with moral agency ? It being said that a neces- 
sary holiness is no holiness. 

30. What was the constitution under which Adam in in- 
nocency was placed ? 

31. Was Adam under the same necessity of falling that 
•we are of sinning ; 

32. Are all intelligencies bound to love God supremely, 
sinners and devils ? 

33. Is the law holy, just and good, and how is it proved ? 

34. Are ihcy, who are under its curse, bound to delight 
in it? 

35. How great is the demerit of sin? 

36. Are the torments of hell eternal ? 

37. How do you reconcile them with the justice and infi- 
nite goodness of God ? 

38. How do you reconcile them with those texts which 
say Christ died for all men, that God will not that any should 
perish ? 

39. How docs it appear that human nature is originally- 
depraved ? 



THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS. 50? 

40. Whence comes that depravity ? 

41. How is it proved to be total ? 

42. What is the covenant of grace ? 

43. Are the law and gospel inconsistent with each other ? 

44. Why was an atonement, and one so precious as the 
blood of Christ necessary ? 

45. In what manner did Christ atone for sin ? 

46. To whom doth it belong to provide an atonement, 
God, or the sinner ? 

47. Did Christ redeem all men alike, elect and nonelect ? 

48. Can the offer of the gospel be made in sincerity to the 
nonelect ? 

49. How is redemption applied ? 

50. What is the office of the Holy Ghost in the work of 
redemption ? 

51. What is regeneration ? 

52. Whence arises the necessity of it ? 

53. What is true love to God ? 

54. What is true benevolence to men ? 

55. What is true repentance, and how distinguished from 
legal ? 

56. What is true faith? 

57. What is pardon and justification ? What is their 
foundation, and what is the influence of faith therein ? 

58. How are full satisfaction and free pardon consistent ? 

59. Is the sinner forgiven before he repents? 

60. Is sanctifying grace needful at all to any man, unless 
with respect to that which is his duty, and in neglect of which 
he would be without excuse ? 

61. What is the sum of man's duty, and what the effect 
produced by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit ? 

62. Can that holy volition in us, which is the effect of di- 
vine power, be wholly our act, or our duty ? 

63. How is it proved that unbelief is sin, and that all er- 
rors in moral matters are of a criminal nature ? 

64. Will the wicked Heathens, Jews, infidels, and error- 
jsts of every kind, be without excuse at the day of judgment ? 

65. What is the essence of true virtue, or holiness ? «„ 



508 THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS. 

66. Is there no virtue in the exercise of natural con- 
science, the moral sense, natural compassion and generosity ? 

67. Is not selflove the root of all vii tue ? 

68. Do not the unregenerate desire to be regenerated, 
and can they not properly pray for regenerating grace ? 

69. Do they not desire the heavenly happiness ? 

70. What is the utmost the unregenerate do in the use of 
the means of grace ? 

71. Is any duty done by them therein ? 

72. Do they grow better in the use of means ? 

73. To what are they to be exhorted ? 

74. What is the real advantage of the assiduous use of 
means to the unregenerate ? 

75. How do you prove that the institution of the Sabbath 
is of perpetual obligation ? 

76. How is it that the Sabbath is changed from the sev- 
enth to the first day of the week ? 

77. How do you prove that public worship is to be cele- 
brated on the Sabbath ? 

78. What is the foundation of the duty of prayer, since 
God is omniscient and immutable ? 

79. How do you prove that family prayer is a duty ? 

80. To whom are the promises of the gospel made, to the 
regenerate, or unregenerate ? 

81. Are no encouragements given to the unregenezate ? 

82. How do you prove the saints' pRrseverance ? 

83. What is the nature of a Christian church ? 

84. Who are fit for communion therein ? 

85. What is the nature and import of baptism ? 

86. How do you prove infant baptism ? 

87. W^hat is the nature of the Lord's Supper ? 

88. What are the rules and end of church discipline ? 

89. What is the character of a good minister oi Christ ? 

90. In what does the happiness of heaven consist ? 



END OF THE SIXTH VOLUME.