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placed him as it were between two worlds, between CHAP. life and death.

29. And therefore it is said, that the Lord God put him into the garden, to dress it, and to keep it, and commanded him saying, "Of every tree of the gar- Gen.. den thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the 16, 17. knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

30. From which it may appear evident, that man was created with an inferior nature, to be kept in subjection by a superior law, in order to his becoming a just and rightful heir to any inheritance of promise, and more especially that of eternal life, which was the ultimate end of his creation.

31. It would have been contrary to the order that was established in the creation, for the Lord God immediately to exercise his governing power over any object which he had placed under the dominion of man. On MAN therefore it depended, rightly to use the powers with which he was invested by the father of his living soul, with whom he stood united.

32. Consider then, the state and order in which the man was placed. His living soul, endowed with the power of reason, stood in connexion with the Father of Spirits, and was superior to the instinct of his earthly nature, or the animal sensations and natural desires which might arise therefrom. And therefore he could not be influenced and governed by these, without the most pointed breach of the law and order of God, and the forfeiture of his dominion.

33. He could not be influenced and governed by the female, although bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, without the violation of the same law and order; because he was the first, and she the second, in the order of the creation.

34. Neither could the male or the female, together or separately, be influenced and governed by any inferior part of the creation, whether beast, or fowl, or creeping thing, without the subversion of the order and harmony of the creation, as well as the most direct and presumptuous transgression of the law of God. 35. For, God by his righteous law, had endowed

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CHAP them with wisdom and power, to subdue and have the dominion over all the inferior creation; therefore it was not the law of nature in any part of the inferior creation, but the law of God in the living soul, by which the conduct of both male and female was to be directed, and all their actions disposed. This law was constituted in the ruling powers of man, and because it was given of God the father of their existence, it laid them under the strictest obligations to the most punctual obedience.

Gen i 25.

Psal.xlix.

36. And while man stood in his first rectitude, and the line of order which God had placed in the creation remained entire, every part was in a condition to be regulated by a principle of justice and equity, to produce the fruits of harmony and peace, and through obedience to answer, without obstruction, the ultimate end of its creation.

37. For God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. No evil could flow from a good cause, nor could evil ensue while that cause was regarded. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Such was their perfect peace and innocence.

38. It was but the beginning of man's work of selfdenial, to abstain from one particular tree. In the progress of his government, he was to subdue the earth, and have dominion over ALL, and prove that his living soul had not its equal among all the beau ties of nature, nor in all the temporal glory of the universe.

39. But man who being in honour, and abode not,, 12. 20. is like the beasts that perish.

CHAPTER III

The Nature and Effects of the Fall of Man, from his first Rectitude.

B position of his body, but of his soul. His body

Y the fall of man, is not meant any change in the CHAP.

retained its natural relation to the earth, possessed of its usual gravity, subject to the laws of attraction, cohesion and repulsion, and endowed with all its former natural instinct, sensations and faculties.

2. But his spirit fell from God by disobedience. By yielding to the influence of an inferior attraction, he was deceived, and drawn out of his proper order in which he was placed by the fountain of truth.

3. And being drawn out of his proper order, he loosed the bond of his union and relation to heaven; and being loose, he fell into that which attracted him; and in that he is a fallen spirit; but still proves his supernatural descent, by a life and power which the most perfect law of nature never was given him to inspire.

4. According to the law which God prescribed to. man at the beginning, he was to subdue, and have dominion over all inferior things; this was his standing in his first rectitude; of course, to be subdued and overcome must be his fall..

5. The living soul of man was united to a natural body, and occupied all its natural faculties and senses, which were as a medium of conveyance, through which the law of God that was implanted in his soul, might be put into action, according to the directions. of the law-giver.

6. And hence, no object inferior to the perfect will of God, could find any access to his living soul, so as to bring it into captivity and rival God's claim to man's affections, but through the same medium of those animal passions and appetites arising from his inferior nature, and which were appointed to be under the government of a superior law.

7. And therefore, any object on which his obedi

III.

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CHAP ence could first be proved, must be that which addressed those natural and earthly appetites, or the propensities of his inferior nature. And these could not operate without the previous consent of his soul to cast off his superior, even God, who claimed the first and principal right to all his affections.

8. Here was the state of his trial: and it now remained with him, whether he would obey his superior or inferior; and his servant he must be, to whom he yielded obedience.

9. Therefore, in obeying his inferior, he became servant to that over which he was appointed ruler, and committed sin and transgression in breaking the law and order of God, by going over the bounds prescribed by the law-giver.

10. It is evident that the law and order of God, appointed for man, was good, not only from the thing considered in itself, but from the consideration that God is good, and no evil effect can flow from a good

cause.

11. But as man himself was created in a probation, ary state, in order to subserve a higher purpose, it rendered the creation of man, in itself, susceptable of either good or evil: the good to ensue as the effects of obedience to those laws which God gave for its regulation; or the evil might ensue in consequence of neglect and disobedience.

12. Therefore as man was not obedient to the law of God, his superior, but yielded to be influenced, through an inferior nature, by that serpent called the Devit, who in his nature is directly opposite to all good, hence ensued the evil. And the Devil could have no influence in the creation, otherwise than by a subversion of that true order which God had placed between soul and body, male and female, man and beast.

13. And as the man was the head, and first principal agent in the order and dominion of the creation, and the woman was the second and weaker part of man in the same agency; therefore that deceiver the serpent came forth with a lie, and tempted the woman to counteract the law and order of heaven, that is, to be led by the influence of the serpent, her infe

CHAP.

rior, instead of being led by the counsel of her supe- III. rior, the man.

14. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast Gen..1. of the field, (a striking emblem of man's nature!) and therefore the most suitable to allure and deceive. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ?

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15. And the woman said unto the serpent, may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, "Ye shall not eat of it, nor touch it, lest ye die." Thus far she exercised the rational faculties of her soul, and while she stood stedfast here, no evil could ensue.

4, 5.

16. But the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall Gen. ii not surely die: For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

17. Here the woman was allured, and being allured, she was deceived, and being deceived, she was excited to a passion which prevailed over her reason to listen to the voice of the serpent.

18. Thus the serpent beguiled her; and being beguiled, she distrusted the order of God, which was placed in the man, as it respected her immediate safety and protection; a contrary view of the order of things began to take root in her animal nature, and to promise something more delightful than what she apprehended from the order and counsel of God.

19. Here the nature and disposition of the woman, which before was pure, innocent, and lovely, became transformed into a nature and disposition which is unclean, wicked and deceitful.

20. The nature and quality of that disposition, with which God created man at the beginning, being pure, innocent, and lovely, is figuratively compared to a natural tree of pleasant fruit, a tree to be desired to make one wise.

21. And had man regarded the law of God, and punctually obeyed the directions of the law-giver, the fruit would have been good, pure, innocent and lovely. The tree was good only in its right use, and evil only in its wrong use.

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