CH. XII. and move even in our own bodies, and in all parts of the earth and water; and even with this advantage of fight, there may still be a world of fmaller animals, which our fenfes cannot reach. Much more may myriads of fpirits be mixed amongst us, which come not under our ob fervation. Therefore, as without the aid of microfcopes we fhould never have difcovered the most numerous part of the inhabitants of our earth; fo neither, without the light of Revelation, can we be afcertained, what fpirits are and act in the region of the air. And Revelation is a mean as proper, at leaft, for difcovering the one, as our own aṛtificial inventions for difcovering the other. But Revelation informs us, that angels, both good and bad, are converfant in this world; which may be true, though we have no diftinct, fenfible perceptions of their existence and operations. Under former difpenfations of religion they might appear, and act in a fenfible manner; but under the prefent difpenfation they may, for wife reafons (particularly, becaufe we are now fufficiently inftructed in their nature and agency), be wholly invisible: nor may we be capable of diftinguishing their fecret internal impreffions from the fuggeftions of our own minds; or the external, kind affiftances of good angels, or the malicious injuries of evil angels, from the common courfe of Providence.

II. That we are now upon trial hath been already proved; and that our trial is well and wifely adjufted, cannot be doubted. We ourselves are by no means capable of judging what kind of trials are moft fuitable to our own fpirits, becaufe we know but little of the nature of them. To fettle the kind and degree of our Trials, belongs entirely to him who alone understands the nature of our minds, and the defigns of his own wisdom. Therefore, if we are fhocked when we hear God hath permitted many evil fpirits to range our world, and to exercise their malice in tempting mankind, we are really fhocked at our own ignorance, feeing this method of trial, as well as the reft, is under regulations of infinite wifdom, and defigned for the purposes of infinite goodness.

OBJECTION. "Suppofe God hath for wife ends permitted fuch be❝ings to mingle among mankind, is it not very ftrange that any should "be found fo malicious as to employ that permiffion to the worft of pur62 poses? How can we fuppofe any fpirits, any intelligences, especially "of a fuperior nature, fo far abandoned to all fenfe of goodnefs and "virtue, as to endeavour without ceafing the corruption and perdition of "their fellow-creatures?"

ANSWER. That wickedness exifts in the univerfe, is too plain from the fate of things in that part of it which we inhabit; where we fee great numbers, in spite of their own reafon and understanding, and of all the inftances of God's love and goodness, and of all the most evident and powerful arguments to virtue and piety, who not only are very vicious themselves, but take an unnatural pleafure in tempting and corrupting others, and making them as bad as themfelves. It cannot then be hard to fuppofe, that there are other fpirits, in other circumftances, who, in the fame manner, oppofe God; that is to fay, oppofe truth and virtue. For the Devil oppofeth and fetteth himfelf againft God, not by might and power, as if he were able to contend with the Almighty, but only

as

as he opposeth virtue and truth; juft as wicked men do among ourselves. Indeed, we men are under ftrong temptations from the flesh, and the objects that relate to it; but the fpirits we are speaking of, may be un der as ftrong temptations of fome other kind, that we are not acquainted with; they may, by fome finful pursuits and compliances, have funk themselves into the laft degrees of moral pravity, and even be more wicked than the wickedeft man in the earth, more blind to the goodness of God, and more fearless of his wrath. Nor are fuperior natural abilities an abfolute fecurity against the very worst moral cor→ ruption for we do actually find, that great knowledge and underftanding are so far from always making men good and virtuous, that, on the contrary, thefe are often in a high degree the inftruments of fin and disobedience; being wholly employed in finding out pleas and pretexts for the most abandoned iniquity.

Thus you fee it is very poffible fuch vicious fpirits may be, may be mixed among us, and be permitted to tempt us; and, according to Scripture reprefentations, they are very dangerous enemies. For,

I. Satan is continually going about feeking all advantages against us, Jeb i. 7. The Lord faid unto Satan, Whence comeft thou? Satan answered, and faid, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And from the query in the next verfe, Haft thou confidered my fervant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and efcheweth evil? and alfo from what our Saviour faith to Peter, Luke xxii. 31. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan bath defired to have you, that he may fift you as wheat; it appears, that he is inquifitive into the characters of men, and bufily feeks, and gladly lays hold of any occafion to try, and, if poffible, to overthrow their integrity. 1 Cor. vii. 5. Defraud you not one the other, except it be with confent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fafting and prayer ; and come together again, that Satan temp! you not for your incontinency.

II. We may fuppofe a fpirit of fuperior faculties to be very fubtle in understanding our various conftitutions and inclinations, and the particular fins to which our circumstances do expofe us; and in laying his baits, and addreffing his temptations accordingly.

III. Such a tempter can apply a great variety of machinations, devices, vonuala, 2 Cor. ii. 11.] and wiles [uodas, Ephef. vi. 11,] to de

This is feen in the cafe of Eve. And in tempting our Lord, it is very obfervable, how he varied his devices, and fhifted the fcene of temptation, to fix, if poffible, fome ftain upon his fpotlefs mind. He can put himself into any shape, either of terror, or pleafing allurement; either as a roaring lion, or an angel of light, [2 Cor. xi. 14. Sometimes he works by his agents, employing thofe who are already infnared to draw in others; fo Eve was his tool to tempt Adam: fometimes injecting into our minds unrighteous, impure fuggettions, [Luke xxii. 3. Acts v. 3.] fometimes taking the word out of our heart, [Luke viii. 12.] or mixing tares with the good feed, [Mat. xii. 25.] and corrupting our minds from the fimplicity that is in Chrift.

But then, all this must be understood under the following reftrictions.

1. That the Devil can neither hurt us, nor fo much as attempt to hurt

D 4

burt us, further than God permits. He is not like the pretended evil god of the Manichees, eternal, felf-existent, almighty, and independent, but as much under the power of God as the weakeft reptile under our When God gives him a commiffion, he cannot act beyond it; and when he has no commiffion, he is chained up and can do nothing. He is therefore no other than an agent, entirely and always in God's ha, to be used as he fees fit..

2. Nor can he any ways pollute our minds, further than we ourfelves do confent, If God permits, poffibly he may work upon the humours of the body, he may inflame our paffions, abufe our imaginations, or fuggeft evil things to our thoughts; but unless we willingly admit thofe impreffions, he cannot poffibly ftain our confciences with fin.

3. God hath not only furnished means and ftrength to refift him, but hath appointed that, if we do refift him, he fhall be conquered and vanquithed. Fam. iv. 7. Refift the Devil, and he will, he fhall, he muft, flee from you; not by his own choice, but by the will and power of God. The God of our peace and safety shall bruife Satan under our feet. And fuch a victory fhall turn to the praise and glory and establishment of our virtue. Hence it follows,

1. That it must be our own act and deed if we are overcome by the temptations of the Devil. It is common for people to confider themfelves as altogether paffive in this cafe, and to afcribe the wickedness they commit to the power of temptation; whereas, in truth, fo far as we are tempted effectually, we are active, we confent and agree to the temptation, we are drawn away of our own luft and enticed, Jam. i. 14, Satan tempts, yet can have no advantage over ús but what we choose to give him. And therefore,

2. It must be an aggravation of any crime, that it was done under the power and influence of this wicked fpirit. For we must be the children of disobedience, we must have abandoned ourselves to wickednefs, before Satan can work in us. If Satan can fill our hearts, confider in what a wretched condition we must be. We must have abused the faculties of our minds; we must have defpifed all the riches of Divine Goodness; we must have fhut our eyes against the light of faving truth, hardened our hearts against the fear of God, feared our confciences, fifled many and strong convictions, done defpite to the Spirit of Grace; we must have withdrawn ourfelves from God, till he hath forfaken us; we must have advanced from one degree of iniquity to another, till our hearts are prepared to be the feat and refidence of the unclean spirit, the murtherer, the father of lies, the prince of darkness. A condition unfpeakably deplorable!

With men of virtue and piety he hath no power, though he may vex and affault them, but only with the vicious; and they not only imitate his wickedness, which is bad enough, and conftitutes him their father, but likewife are under his government, which is ftill worse, and conftitutes him their prince and ruler. Moft dreadful cafe, to be the children of fuch a father, the fubjects of fuch a prince, the children of perdition, the fubjects of the enemy of all righteoufnefs! To have the powers of our minds, defigned for the nobleft a&ts and enjoyments, under the dominion of error and luft; to have the spirits created for eternal happiness

in union with God, in flavery to the vileft of beings; to have the fouls for whom Chrift fhed his blood, to deliver them from iniquity, to purify them into the Divine Image, and to prepare them for everlafting falvation,-to have thofe fouls quite infenfible to all that is true and excellent, heavenly and divine, guided by the grand deceiver, in the power of the deftroyer, and by him pufhed on in the way of iniquity to eternal perdition; how frightful is the reflection! how dreadful muft the ftate of fuch fouls be!

To prevent our falling into fuch a fad condition, and to fecure ourfelves from the encroachments of this wicked fpirit, let us ever be mindful that we have fuch an enemy, and that, without due care and circumfpection, we shall fall under his power. Let us carefully guard our hearts, and obferve well the temper and frame of our minds, that we may feasonably restrain every inordinate affection, and immediately reject every evil thought and fuggeftion which starts up in our minds. Be fober, be vigilant. Nothing gives this adverfary greater advantage than fenfual indulgences. Mortify the flesh with the affections and lufts. Shun all intemperance and excefs; and never dare to venture, how little foever, into the way of temptation and fin. And let us be fure to keep clofe to God in prayer, and other exercifes of religion. Thus we fhall put ourselves under the banner of the Prince of Life, the Lord Jefus Chrift, and fhall be kept by the power of God, through faith, unto falvation,

WE

CHA P. XIII.

Of the Confequences of ADAM'S TRANSGRESSION.

Gen. ii. 7, to the End.

7E are now come to a very grand point in Theology, the Fall of Man, or the Confequences of Adam's Tranfgreffion upon himfelf and his pofterity. Which Confequences Divines, both Papift and Proteftant, have generally, and for a long tract of time, reprefented to be those that follow, namely, "the guilt of Adam's first fin imputed "to, or charged upon, all his pofterity a total defect of that righ"teousness wherein he is fuppofed to have been created the corruption of the human nature, whereby all mankind are utterly indifpofed, difabled, and made oppofite unto all that is fpiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil, and that continually; which cor-"ruption of our nature is the fource of all wickednefs that is committed "in the world. Further, by Adam's Tranfgreffion all mankind were "deprived of communion with God—and all, as foon as ever they "come into the world, under his displeasure and curfe, being b ture the children of wrath, bond-flaves to Satan, juftly liabi

pur

punishments in this world, and in the world to come, to an ever"lafting feparation from the comfortable prefence of God, the most "grievous torments in soul and body without intermiffion in hell-fire " for ever."

This is an affair of the moft dreadful importance, and requires to be examined with all poffible care and impartiality; for an error in this point will affect the whole fcheme of Chriftianity, pervert and abufe our confciences, and give us very wrong notions of God and of ourfelves. Upon this article I have examined the Scriptures, with diligence and impartiality, in the treatife entitled The Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, propofed to free and candid Examination in the ftudy of which this is a proper place to exercise your thoughts and judg

ments.

[* Adam having tranfgreffed the law, not only loft a claim to life, but became obnoxious to death, which was death in law, or eternal death. And had the law been immediately executed, his pofterity, then included in his loins, muft have been extinct, or could have had no exiftence at all; for, the covenant of innocence being broken, there was no covenant or conftitution fubfifting upon which Adam could have the least hope of the continuance of his own life, and confequently, could have no profpect of any pofterity. Thus in Adam all die. While things were in this ftate, under broken law, and before a promise of favour, or grace, in this interval, for any thing Adam could know, he, and the whole world in him, were utterly loft and undone for ever. our merciful God and Father had quite different views; he graciously intended to make Adam's fin, and his being expofed to eternal death, an occafion of erecting a new difpenfation, a difpenfation of grace in the hands of a Mediator. According to which, Adam was affured that he fhould not immediately die, but fhould live to have a pofterity by his wife. So Adam underflood what the Lord God faid, ver. 15. upon this he gave his wife a new name, (ver. 20.) mm Life, or Lifegiving, for joy that mankind were to be propagated from her, when he expected nothing but immediate death in confequence of his tranfgreffion.]

But

And

[t God graciously intended, after Adam's Tranfgreffion, to erect a difpenfation of grace, for the redemption of mankind; which grace was declared, and, confequently, which difpenfation was established, (Gen. iii. 15. And I will put enmity, &c.) before the fentence of death was pronounced upon Adam (ver. 19. Dust thou art, and to duft thou palt return). Death therefore, in that fentence, ftands under the new difpenfation, or the difpenfation of grace, and for that reafon cannot be Death in LAW, or eternal death; but death in DISPENSATION, or death appointed for wife and good purposes, and to be continued only fo long as God fhould think fit. And thus alfo all die in Adam; thus by man came death; thus by one man fin entered into the world, and death by, or in conse

quence

Take this in, as a note, p. 18 of Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, at

the paragraph, 1. Whereas Adam had before, &c.

Take this in, as a note, p. 66 of Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, at No. Immediately upon the annulling the first covenant, &c.