at first have confented to be guilty of. He that fears falling down a precipice, will be fure not to come near it; and he that would extinguish the fire, fhould withdraw the fuel. Keep thy heart with all diligence; reject every finful thought and fuggeftion. Keep the body in fubjection = to reafon and religion by felf-denial and abftinence. Beware of an undue attachment to the world. Your life and treasure is in heaven; and there let your hearts be. Let the word of God dwell in you richly by daily meditation. Pfal. cxix. FI. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not fin against thee. (2.) Pray. Not that we may be totally exempted from temptation; for we came into the world for this very end, that we might be tried and tempted. We cannot reasonably expect that God, in our favour, fhould alter the conftitution of the world, or of the human nature; but we fhould pray, that God would order our Trials in fuch manner as will beft promote the purity and probity of our lives. Prov. xxx. 8, 9. Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me, &c. The wife man doth not prescribe any condition that did not belong to him; but, in general, is defirous of that fituation in life which God faw would be most favourable to his piety and integrity. Lead us not, fuffer us not to enter, into temptation, i. e. fuffer us not to fall under the power and prevalence of temptation. The example of our Lord is of the greatest force to direct and animate us in our conflicts; he took upon him our nature, and went through all our Trials, on purpose to thew us how to behave under them; and to affure us that, imitating his example, we shall at length be partakers of his glory. And thus by his perfect obedience, his obedience unto death, a facrifice highly pleafing to God, he recovered that life and immortality which Adam forfeited by his disobedience.

CHA P. IX.

Of Law, or the religious DISPENSATION ADAM and Eve were under in the GARDEN.

EN. ii. 17. But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eateft thereof, thou Shalt furely die. This is Law; clear ideas of which are necellary to the right understanding of St. Paul's writings.

Law is a rule of action, or duty, commanding or probibiting, given by the Sovereign to moral Agents, with the penalty of death annexed. Tranfgrefs and die, is the language of Law. And therefore every tranfgref for, the moment he is fuch, is dead in law; and, for any thing in Law, he must continue fo, as long as it is true that he has violated theYaw, that is, for evermore. For the Law, which condemns hini, can give him no

relief;

relief; as, in its own nature, it excludes repentance and pardon; neither of which can take place, unless Law is overruled, or the execution of it fufpended by the authority and favour of the Sovereign. For Law would not be Law, if its fenfe or language were this, the tranfgreffor, who doth not repent and obtain pardon, shall die; feeing this would be to allow tranfgreffion by Law, upon the uncertain conditions of repentance, and the Sovereign's mercy. "You may fin with impunity, if you do but "repent, and find favour." And fo the Law would be invalidated by. itself, as it would allow a conditional tranfgreffion, which would annul the annexed penalty, by fufpending the execution of it for ever, in expectation of the finner's repentance, and the Sovereign's forgiveness; for, as the finner may poffibly repent in any future tinie to all eternity, fo the Law could not at any time be executed. Confequently the Law, by this means, would be rendered for ever infignificant, as it might be violated for ever with impunity. Therefore, to be confiftent with itself, Law muft must be conceived in abfolute terms, fin and die, fubjecting every finner immediately to the penalty of death, which is the curfe of the Law. Gal. iii. 10, 13. By this rule the Apoftle, having proved that all flesh have finned, concludes, that no flefb, or no part of mankind, can be juftified, or entitled to life, before the Sovereign, by deeds or works of Law. Rom. iii. 20. For the Law works wrath, or fubjects the tranfgreffor to death, the curfe or penalty of it, Rom. iv. 15. On which account it is very properly called, the miniftration, difpenfation, or conftitution, of death, 2 Cor. iii. 7. as it is a conftitution which affords nothing but rigid condemnation for all tranfgreffors.

Hence it follows, that death in Law is death eternal, without hopes of a revival or refurrection. For, as before proved, it is the very nature of Law, never to remit the penalty or forfeiture. The Law which now condemns the criminal, condemns him to death abfolutely, and for evermore; the everlasting language of Law to every one that breaks it, and for every breach and tranfgreffion, being this, Thou shalt die. And this is the force of the expreffion non ni moriendo morieris, “in 56 dying thou shalt die," in the Law given to Adam. It doth not fpeak of the certainty of the event, as if he should certainly die the day he tranfgreffed, for the event fhews the contrary; nor that he fhould become mortal from a change in his conftitution, which is a random conjecture, without any foundation in the nature of his conftitution, which was created mortal, or in the force of the words. For the phrase

on is an Hebraism, importing that a thing is, or is done, thoroughly, totally, in the most perfect manner, or the moft intenfe degree, and is to be interpreted according to the nature of the fubject. As Gen. ii. 16. comedendo comedes, "thou mayeft freely eat," without any reftraint. Chap. xxxvii. 33. difcerpendo difcerptus eft Jofeph," Jofeph is torn all to pieces," or moft cruelly torn to pieces. Exod. xxi. 19. Y Y et medicando medicabitur," and fhalt cause him to be thoroughly healed." Thus the force of the words, in dying "thou fhalt die," is this, thou shalt thoroughly, utterly, totally die, or die for ever, without coming to life again. Thou haft justly for

feited thy life and being, and fhalt fuffer a total and eternal extinction of it.

This fenfe and language of Law must be understood only as a declaration, that the penalty is juft and due; which is all that can be done by Law as a rule of juftice, declaring, in general, that he who is difobedient to his Maker hath juftly forfeited his being; and that, in confequence of his difobedience, his Maker may justly deprive him of it. The Law can only declare the truth of this denunciation, as it hath no power to put it in execution: the execution of this threatening must neceffarily and entirely reft in the hands and power of the Lawgiver; who therefore may mitigate, refpite, or fufpend it, as he, judging of circumstances, fhall in his wifdom think proper. This is the prerogative of the Sovereign or Lawgiver, which is allowed to be fit and reafonable all the world over. For, if this were not allowed, in proper cafes, there could be no fuch thing as pardon, or the mitigation of the fentence of Law, either with God or man; which in every nation, and throughout the whole univerfe, would be a ftate of things the moft fevere and the moft dreadful.

Thus room is made for the exercise of favour or grace, without doing any violence to truth. The penalty indeed is due; but according to the true natures of things, there may be alleviating circumftances in the cafe of the tranfgreffor, which, though Law can make no provision for them without deftroying itself, yet the Lawgiver may, and, in reason and truth, ought to confider and allow, with refpect to the infliction of the penalty. Wifdom and goodness ought to have place in him, and certainly do take place in God, as well as juflice. Juftice confifts in executing the penalty of the Law according to the letter of it; which letter (2 Cor. iii. 6.) killeth, or deftroys, the finner, by fubjecting him to eternal death, or to a total extinction of life; according to which rule, there could be no place for mercy, and the whole world must be ruined. But wisdom and goodness may mitigate the rigour of this conftitution, not by abrogating the Law, as a rule of life; for fo the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, juft and good, (Rom. vii. 12.) and can never be abrogated, being, in its general intention, agreeable to the everlafting and immutable nature of things: much lefs by finding out fome expedient to fatisfy Law and juftice, which can be fatisfied no other way than by the death of the offender; for juftice, as used in this cafe, is acting ftrictly according to Law.

Nothing, therefore, but the execution of the Law can fatisfy Juftice. The wisdom and goodness of the Sovereign may do what the Law cannot do; that is to fay, may fufpend the execution of the fentence as long as he shall think fit; and fo may leave what space he pleases for the finner's repentance, and provide what means he shall think proper to induce him to repentance; and upon his repentance, may reftore him to the affurance of eternal life, by an eternal fufpenfion of the execution of the Law. For as to that, he cannot be limited to any space of time. If he hath a right by prerogative to fufpend at all, it must be a difcretionary right to fufpend as long as he choofeth. This is grace, or gofpel; by

2

which

2

which the finner may be reftored to the hope of immortality, and actually invested in it, by the wisdom and favour of the Lawgiver. This new, or remedying conftitution, the Apoftle calls fpirit, which quickens the finner condemned to death by the letter of the Law, or makes him to live. 2 Cor. iii. 6. Who also hath made us [Apoftles] able minifters of The New Teftament (or conftitution], not of the letter but the fpirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit giveth life. Which spirit, he informs us, ver. 17, is the Lord, or the Gospel of our Lord. Now the Lord is that Spirit, that life-giving fpirit, or the latter Adam, who is a quickening, or life-giving, fpirit, 1 Cor. xv. 45.

That the penalty, in the day that thou eateft thereof, thou shalt furely, or utterly, die, is to be understood, not of the event, as if he fhould certainly die, but of the demerit of tranfgreffion, that he would deferve to die; and that, notwithstanding this threatening, the Sovereign might refpite the execution of it, and not only allow the tranfgreffor the benefit of repentance, but also appoint means to lead him to repentance, and to eternal life; may be clearly proved from Ezek. iii. 18. xxxiii. 8, FI, 14, 15. Where God repeats the very fame fentence of the Law upon the wicked perfon, whom yet, at the fame time, he charges the Prophet to warn, in order to bring him to repentance, promifing pardon and life in cafe he did repent. Ezek. iii. 18. When [ in dicendo me, whereas] I fay [in the Law] unto the wicked on thou shalt furely die; and thou giveft him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to fave his life. Chap. xxxiii. 8. When [whereas] I fay [in the Law] unto the wicked, Owicked man, non in thou shalt furely [utterly] die, if thou doft not speak to warn the wicked from his way, &c. Ver. 14. Again; when [whereas I fay [in the Law] unto the wicked, monni thou 'fhalt furely [totally] die; if he turn from his fin, and do that which is lawful and right, ver. 15.5 mm vivendo vivet, he shall furely [totally, eternally] live, he shall not die.

חיו יחיה לא

This Law in the rigorous fenfe is to be understood; and thus it stands in connexion with the pardon of tranfgreffors, or their attainment to eternal life through the favour of the Lawgiver. That our firft parents, while in the garden of Eden, were under Law, or a rule of Action with the penalty of death annexed, is manifeft from the very form of the proHibitionBut of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day thou eateft thereof, thou shalt utterly die. And the Apostle Paul evidently fuppofes, that Adam was under Law, Rom. V. 13, 14. For until the law [of Mofes] fm was [committed] in the world; but fin [though committed] is not imputed [unto death un ortos vous when Law is not in being. This fuppofes, 1. That Law is the only conftitution which subjecteth the finner to death. 2. That Law was not in being in the times preceding the giving of the Law of Moses. ver. 14. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Mofes [while Law was not in being], even over them that had not finned after the likeness of Adam's tranfgreffion. That is to fay, "Death reigned all the long space of about 2500 years from Adam to Mofes, even over thofe who did not fin, as Adam did, againft Law, making death the penalty of their fin; becaufe du"ring that period mankind were not under Law, but under the general "covenant,

3

❝ covenant, or conftitution, of grace, given to Adam immediately after "his tranfgreffion."..

This evidently fuppofes, that Adam was under Law with the penalty of death annexed, while he was in the garden, or before he tranfgrefled; and that the fame fevere conftitution was again revived by Mofes, after it had been fufpended from the time of Adam's tranfgreffion till the Law was given by Mofes. Whence the Apoftle concludeth, that, as Death reigned all that long period, while fin was committed in the world, and yet no pofitive Law fubfifted, making death the penalty of fin, he concludes, I fay, that men, in general, did not die for their own tranfgreffions, but in confequence of Adam's one tranfgreffion.

It must be observed, that the Apostle Paul doth not always ufe Law in the rigid fenfe, but fometimes for the whole Jewish Code, or the Old Teftament. Rom. iii. 19; fometimes for any inward principle which influenceth and governeth a man-vii. 23; fometimes for a rule in generaliii. 27; and fometimes for a rule of action, with the penalty of death annexed. Rom. v. 20. vi. 15. vii. 4, &c.

ADAM's calling all beafts and fowls by names doth not imply, that he had a perfect knowledge of the natures and intrinfic qualities of all animals; an opinion deftitute of all evidence; but that God gave him dominion over them, as a mafter over his bond-fervants, according to the force of the phrafe, to call things or perfons by name. Pfal. cxlvii. 4. Ifai. xl. 26. xliii. I. God allowing Adam to give the creatures what names he pleased, was the form of conveying or making over to him the property of them, and dominion over them. It hath alfo reference to the formation of woman; that Adam, our firft parent, having furveyed all other animals, and having obferved that they were created in pairs, for the propagation of their feveral kinds, might be fenfible of his own folitary, deftitute condition, and of the importance of his being alfo provided of a mate suitable to his nature, (which, by reason of its fuperior excellency, could not be matched with any of the brutal kind) a companion in body and mind, fit to cohabit with him, for mutual converfe, delight, comfort, and affiftance, especially for propagating the human fpecies; without which the world would have been Itocked with only brutes.

And it was fitting, or agreeable to the true nature of things, that the formation of the firft woman fhould be attended with some circumstance expreffive of the nearnefs of that relation which was to be the fountain of

the