VII. might become exceeding sinful. For I delight in the law of CHAP. God after the inward man. But I see another law in my mem This bers warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me 3. And thus, while the original law required upright man to be fruitful, it could only work in fallen man all manner of concupiscence. 4. And so long as he imagined, by that deceitful and corrupt nature of the serpent, that the command was to him, he was essentially deceived, and the very fruit of his pretended obedience stood as a witness to condemn him, and to prove that he was not the one who could answer the demands of a holy and just law. 5. The very design of sin, through the instigation of the devil, was to bring death, and destroy the creation; and had not God retained in his own power the eternal law and nature of man, the human race must have become extinct, and no flesh 22. could have been saved. 6. For the strictest laws that were ever given among men, for the punishment of evil doers, come far short of the original brightness of that pure and inflexible nature of God, which, like a flaming sword, stood pointedly against every sensation of a carnal mind. Mat. xxiv. 7. Hence it is written, "The wrath of God is revealed from Rom. i. 18. heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." 8. And how could they hold the truth in unrighteousness? Manifestly in holding that the commands of God, which were true and righteous in themselves, and given to upright man in a state of innocence, were still extended (for propagation) to them, though in a fallen state, and in that corrupt nature of the serpent, which is unrighteousness in the very abstract. 9. Thus, they could hold the truth that man and woman were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, and use this as a sacred covering for the life of all their most hidden abominations, and "freely," says Boston, "do that in secret which they would be ashamed to do in the presence of a child; as if darkness could hide from an all-seeing God!" 10. Well, therefore said God, by the Prophets, "Wo unto Is xxix. 15. them that seck deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and Jer. v. 9. their works are in the dark?" "Shall I not visit for these things? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" 11. It is certain that God, from time to time, destroyed the nations of the earth for their acts of abomination, committed through the lust of concupiscence; and if so many thousands and millions were actually destroyed, according to the measure CHAP. Rom. vii. 13. Col. ii. 8. Prov xxi. 4. of God's righteous law, revealed from time to time, for such acts as were openly committed, what must have become of the world, if all the secret actions of every individual had been brought naked into judgment, and laid open to view, and received their full reward? How truly was it said, that sin wrought death by that which is good! 12. Surely then, had God openly denounced and executed his wrath and just displeasure against corrupt and fallen man, personally, to the extent of his deserts, his punishment and weight of condemnation must have been more than he could have borne. 13. But the purpose of God in the creation of man being in itself eternal and unchangeable, could not be frustrated, although the pure law of nature itself was violated and corrupted by the agency of man. 14. It was therefore in mercy to fallen man, whose life was intended for wise purposes to be prolonged, that God denounced the curse upon the serpent above all creatures, as an emblem or figure of that miserable race which he had infected with his poison. 15. The pure law of nature, which God placed in man, as well as in the animal or brute creation, when he directed them to "be fruitful and multiply," was at the beginning, holy, just, and good, being given by a perfectly just and holy God, as hath been observed. 16. So that before man hearkened to the serpent, and fell below the rest of the animal creation, in the order of nature there could be no unclean, lascivious, or inordinate desire of the flesh, to rule his animal faculties; nothing but motives pure and consistent with the law of God, in his mind. 17. A pure and simple desire of planting seed and raising a crop, is entirely different and distinct from the curious researches of the naturalist, who searches out all the properties and qualities of the ground in which the seed is planted. An honest farmer may discharge his duty without searching into vain philosophy merely to please his curiosity and gratify a vain feeling. 18. But Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain. The sacred text does not say he begat Cain, or that he knew her for the purpose of begetting; that was not his motive, for "Cain was of that wicked one." But he knew his wife, and she conceived; and what was the fruit of that conception? A murderer! 19. "The plowing of the wicked is sin." "God causeth his Mat v. 45, sun to rise upon the evil, and sendeth rain upon the unjust." Yet He saith unto such, "I never knew you." vii. 23. 20. Then, might not Adam have fulfilled, in God's appointed time and season, the pure and innocent law of nature, without intruding into that beastly and forbidden knowledge, which destroyed his dignity, and degraded him below the order of the beasts of the field? CHAP VII. Rom. vii. 21. But when LUST had conceived, it brought forth SIN. Then "the EYES of them both were opened, and they KNEW that they were naked." And he "KNEW his wife, and she conceived." And then, and not till then, he could say, "I see another law!" 23. 22. Then the pure law of nature was perverted into this other law-A LAW OF SIN! A MAN OF SIN! A STRONG MAN ARMED! "A law of sin, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing into captivity" his noblest affections, his reason, his judg ment, and every sensation and faculty of his mind and body, to this law of sin in his members. 23. Then did the MAN OF SIN set himself in the temple of God, ordering the faculties, and claiming the highest affections of man to that which is highly esteemed among men, which is Luke, xvi. the lust of the flesh, the root of all evil, an abomination in the 15. sight of God. 24. And thus did the MAN OF SIN, that corrupt nature of the serpent, set himself in the place of the pure law of God, and under a sacred cloak of pretended love and obedience to the only true God, concealed the fountain of INIQUITY in a MYSTERY, shewing himself that he is God, by alluring through the iusts of the flesh, and pretending that God ought to be so worshipped. 25. Therefore we say, if there be a man and woman now existing on the earth, honestly united in a covenant of promise to each other, who have so much of the fear of God as neither to touch, taste, nor handle the unclean thing, who never gratify the desires of the flesh and of the mind, in any manner whatever, except barely and conscientiously to propagate offspring, and that with the motive to obey the will of God, they are verily an honor to the original law of nature, a blessing to themselves and posterity, and an example to the human race. 26. And therefore, even with regard to the law of nature, which is inferior to the law of grace, such, and none but such, under any pretext, however sacred, need ever expect to answer a clear conscience, before that just and perfect Law-giver, who Isa. lxvi. will "render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of 15. fire." 27. But we say, moreover, that none, under the covenant of the flesh since the fall of man-no, not one-ever did before God keep that law in its purity; nay, even those who profess to be under a covenant of grace, and make the most sanctified outward appearance before men, do (more or less) violate the perfect law and order of nature, and, by a contrary law of evil concupiscence, do that which their light and conviction forbid. For the truth of this we appeal to the consciences of all men. CHAP. 1 John, i. 5. Rom xi. 16. 28. Here we shall make one remark, which is worthy the observation of all good men; or such as desire to be so, and that is, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. And were it pointedly declared by an angel commissioned from heaven, that every secret action which is now performed under the cloak of an ordinance of God, should be openly and publicly performed, it would be detested by the wickedest men on earth. 29. Then, from what has been said, let not any of the sons and daughters of fallen Adam think to escape the severity of God's righteous law, by imputing the blame of their own sins to the transgression of their original father and mother, while they themselves are guilty of the same sin, and violate the same law: "for as is the root, so are the branches." 30. Neither let any one be guilty of such horrid impiety as to imagine that a just and righteous God will impute Adam's original sin to his posterity, nor punish them, unless they in like manner violate the law of their creation by committing actual transgression. For "the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. As I live, saith the Lord God, the soul that sinneth it shall die." 31. It therefore remains with all those who make a sacred profession of God's law, and do not live up to it, either to remove the fig leaf, the veil of their sin, and the sacred cloak of a profession, and candidly acknowledge their loss from God and ignorance of his law, or otherwise perfectly to keep that law in every jot and tittle. Honesty is the best policy, in the sight of God, angels, and just men. "with 32. For certain it is, that God will require his own usury," and not with abuse, and that, according to his unchangeIsa. xxv. 7. able purpose, "He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over ail nations." 33. For although MAN has become a captive to that "LAW OF SIN," and fallen entirely under its dominion, and notwithstanding it works in him all manner of concupiscence, and, contrary to the law of light, leads him into the most secret and abominable actions, which cannot bear the presence of even an innocent child, or a fellow creature, and much less the inflexible light and purity of a just and holy God. 34. Yet the supporters of this very "law of sin" have the effrontery to call it the original and pure law of nature, and to Lost as mankind are in the lust of the flesh, yet even their little remaining sense of purity must teach them that a God who is worshipped by such acts as cannot endure the light of the sun, or the sight of men, must be a God of darkness, and not of light. By this let every candid person discriminate between those acts which are acceptable to that God who is light, in whom is no darkness, and those which are congenial to darkness itself; and by this criterion let all nien judge what kind of a god they worship. vindicate its existence and lawless actions, by specious reasonings, from a claim to the original command or ordinance of God, "Be fruitful." The deepest deception! A very MYSTERY! 35. For "unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant into thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been a partaker with adulterers." 36. "These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." vine CHAP. Psalms 1, 22. 16, 18, 21, 22. 37. "I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how Jer. ii. 21, then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange unto me? For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet is thine iniquity marked before me, saith the Lord God." 38. Thus far concerning that MYSTERY, which, as a veil, has covered the INIQUITY of all nations. CHAPTER VIII. THE PRINCIPAL SEAT OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY. Ir is granted that sin is the first cause of shame; for, when Adam and Eve stood in a state of innocence, they were both naked, and were not ashamed. But no sooner had they transgressed, than they felt shame, and made themselves aprons of fig leaves, to cover and hide something from each other. 2. And as they begat children in their own likeness; from thence it is decided, by the practice of all nations, what part that was which they covered, and, of course, where the seat of sin is. 3. But what was the matter with that part? Why did the shame occasioned by sin, fall particularly there? If their transgression is to be considered in a literal sense only, and not as represented in a figure, why did not the shame fall upon the hand that took the fruit, and the mouth that ate it? 4. But it does not appear that God took any notice of the hand, or the mouth, in pronouncing the curse which they had |