he tranfmitted to them along with that life which he conveyed. CHA P. IV. The nature of the Curfe, and the condition of man by the Fall, ftated. This not think deferves the epithet of an unhappy one, for fuch of mankind as improve it, has occafioned a great variety of curious fpeculations, and plans of the divine government, for justifying the creator's proceedings in the measures which he has taken for mankind, which I apprehend the plain Chriftian needs give himfelf very little trouble about, as all of them, more or lefs directly, are founded upon a propofition (to which I will not give the name that I think it deferves), viz. That fo foon as the noble rational creature was brought into being, God put off the character of creator, and affumed that of a righteous moral governor, by which he bound himself to proceed with him in the precife terms of rectoral I 2 rectoral justice; that is, by fuch meafures as the kings of this earth are bound to observe toward their subjects, who are poffeffed of rights and property as well as the fovereign, and which he has no right to meddle with; but, on the contrary, ftands bound by his place to be the guardian of. And thus the fovereign proprietor of all things in heaven and earth must be degraded into the rank of an earthly king, and that not an abfolute, but a limited monarch, to favour the infolent pretenfions of a fet of precarious beings, who have neither right nor property, not fo much as in their own life and being, but what he is pleafed in mere fovereign grace to confer. And yet could a king be found among men perfectly wife, good, and powerful, it would unquestionably be the interest of his subjects to have him vefted with the most abfolute and uncontrollable powers. The different plans which the affertors of this form of divine government have laid down for the measure of the divine procedure, will be found to terminate much in the fame iffue. Many have thought, that they might be best account ed ed for on the plan of a covenant or covenants, as occafion required, concerted on certain terms and conditions to be performed by either party. The basis of the whole they make that which they suppose to have been made with the first man on condition of perfect obedience, and all after measures founded in and directed by it. Others reckoning this fort of condefcenfion below the majefty of the fovereign, will have him to manage all as a righteous lawgiver, who prefcribes rules of duty to his fubjects, and is to reward or punish them as they observe or neglect his commandments; and thus reduce Chriftianity to a mere fyftem of laws, and fufpend the eternal state of mankind upon their good or bad behaviour, who must expect to be rewarded or punished according to the meafures of justice, with fuch mixtures of mercy, or abatements of justice, as the cafe of the subject shall need. The dangerous tendency of this last mentioned scheme, the promoters of the covenant-plan greatly avail themselves of. But the most plaufible ground, and what they found mainly upon, is, the word in the Old-Teftament language, by which God } God hath chofen to exprefs his inftrument of government, and which our translators always render covenant. The word fignifies generally all kinds of deeds, whereby rights of any fort are conferred, and is very frequently used for covenants or mutual agreements between man and man. This might have been reckoned decifive, if the New-Teftament writers had not cleared up the difference. Where the Hebrews had but one word for all kind of deeds, the Greeks have two, uvonen, and di«t»xu. The first, as the word plainly imports, is ufed to fignify covenants or mutual agreements, wherein two or more are engaged; the other is never ufed but to denote the deed of one, a conftitution or established order, a grant, or deed of gift; and particularly a teftament, by which inheritances or legacies are conveyed. And whofoever will with any care and attention confider what in our tranflation are called God's covenants, will find them all of this latter kind, either authoritative conftitutions, which thofe to whom they were given were obliged to fubmit to, or grants and deeds of gift in their favour, which went always together, and constituted at once once the rule of judgement for the fovereign, and of duty for the fubject. I obferved before, that Adam, in his primitive state, had no grant of life; but he was put in poffeffion of it, and had by fpecial grant dominion given him over all God's other creatures within his reach: and this was founded the commandment, and the punishment in cafe of tranfgreffion. This was the fole conftitution, and enough for that short period; and we fee by the fequel how it was the rule on which judgement proceeded. upon And here it may be proper to obferve, once for all, that the laws of God, or fuch constitutions of any kind as he has feen fit to establish, are not like those of weak fallible men, who cannot foresee the different events and cafes that may fall out, and therefore need often to be mitigated, dispensed with, and even abrogated, as the unforeseen alteration of circumstances may require. All his orders are concerted on perfect wisdom and foreknowledge of all events that can poffibly happen; and therefore can never be dispensed with in any cafe, but must be fulfilled in every point; and where the meaning |