tality. By faith he was to acquire, upon the mediatorial plan, a fresh right or power to eat of the Tree of Life, and live for ever, after the resurrection from the dead, with his propitiated and reconciled Maker. In mercy, therefore, he was excluded from the garden of Eden, and from the original symbol of that eternal life, which was now to be sought af ter by other means, and represented by other sacraments. He was sent forth into the world to pass his time in toil, pain and sorrow; in mourn. ing, contrition, and penance; till death should set him free, and introduce him to the joys purchased and prepared for him by that blessed person, "in whom is Life, and the Life was the light of men." John i. 4. The same divine person was always the source of immor. tality, however the sacred symbols, instituted to adumbrate it, have been varied under different dispensations. To our first parents, before the fall, he stood in the relation of Creator and Lord. To them, and to their posterity, since that sad catastrophe, he hath stood, and ever continues to stand, in the new relation of Saviour and Redeemer. The man who doth not now acknowledge him in this latter character, will find him, in the former, an avenger to execute wrath: and what wrath can be so fierce and terrible, as that of the Lamb? It is oil set on fire. The sinner unless he be in love with condemnation, must not revert to the first covenant, and aim at the acquisition of eternal life, on the foot of the law of works, or the performance of unsinning obedience. In this case the rebel claims promotion, instead of suing for pardon. He puts forth his hand to the fruit of the now forbidden tree, which is no longer food for man. Its nature is changed, with our condition. To the eye of human pride it still looks fair and tempting; but its contents, when eaten, are ashes and sulphur; and immortality, without redemption, would prove the reverse of a blessing."

LECTURE XV.

DID OUR FIRST PARENTS CONTINUE IN THE STATE WHEREIN THEY WERE CREATED?

We are now to consider the following answer of our Catechism

"Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.”

In discussing two or three of the previous answers, we have had occasion to say so much on the nature of that estate in which man was originally created, that it will not be necessary to add much to it here. It was an estate of perfect innocence, in which he had his standing under God, as his Lord and Creator; it was an estate in which he was perfectly conformed, in his measure, to the image of God; had intimate fellowship and communion with him; and an ample dominion over all the work of his hands in this lower world-the tree of knowledge of good and evil alone excepted: It was an estate too, in which he was bound to obedience by solemn covenant engagements, enforced, as was shown in the last lecture, by the awful sanctions of life and death, in all the various and extensive import of those terms; and in which he knew that his posterity, as well as himself, was to share. It was in fine, an estate which he had full power given him to maintain; since he could not lose it without the voluntary choice of evil; and since his will, though capable of choosing evil, was not only not inclined to it, but sweetly and perfectly disposed to the choice of good. Such being his estate, he was left to the freedom of his own will; and he fell by sinning against God.

How a being, formed and constituted as man was, should fall into sin-how sin should ever come to be the choice of a perfectly free and holy soul-is a

problem on which the strongest minds have often tried their strength; and hitherto, so far as I know, they have tried it in vain. The origin of moral evil is, in every view that we can take of the subject, an inexplicable mystery. It is one of the arcana of the moral world. While no one can doubt or deny the fact, that it does exist for I do not believe that even professed atheists doubt it-yet to account for its existence, or to explain the process, or manner, in which it came into existence, is not, I suspect, within the reach of the human faculties in the present life.

Will any one undertake to affirm that the Deity could not have preserved all his moral offspring from sin? We have no right to say that he could not. We are by no means sure that man might not have been made and preserved in a state of as perfect freedom as he actually possessed, and yet have been kept from sin. And for myself I would not dare to say that infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, could not have formed a system, into which as much happiness should have entered as will ever be found in our system, and yet that no moral evil should have entered with it-I cannot tell what infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, could perform. Thus does this subject transcend our powers, as it relates to the Creator.

It is also unsearchable, I think, even as it relates to the creature. How man, being perfectly holy, should fall in love with sin-how the first sinful exercise or emotion, should gain admission to his heart-is a difficulty which at present we are unable to explain. If we suppose that we find some assistance in an explanation, from the circumstance that man was powerfully and most insidiously tempted-as he certainly was still the question returns, how did his tempter become a sinner?-how did the angels, who kept not their first state, fall into transgression? Sin did not first take place on earth. It began in heaven, among an order of beings of much higher rank and nobler powers than those which we possess. How did rebellion against God first find its way into their pow

erful, and pure, and holy minds?—And here, too, at least in regard to the first that fell, there was no tempter. What shall we say to these things? In reference to our Maker, we should say "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out." Yes, the judgments and the ways of God are past finding out.

And yet, my young friends, let it be remembered after all, that we know perfectly all that we need to know on this very subject: yea, let it be remembered, that a murmuring desire to know more than God has made known on this subject, partakes of the nature of that very sin by which our first parents fell-the sin of wishing to be as Gods in our knowledge. We know assuredly that our Creator is perfectly holy, and perfectly opposed to all sin; that he is not and cannot be the author of it; that though he left man to sin, he did not incline him to it; and that on this very fall of man, is founded the whole work of redemption by Christ; which will exhibit the divine glory, and raise the redeemed of the Lord to the greatest heights of heavenly bliss, throughout eternity.

In regard to man, we know that although he was created perfect, yet he was also created mutable; that being mutable, he was capable of falling; that though we cannot explain the manner in which sin was conceived in his heart, yet that under the temptation of the devil, there it was conceived; that he did sin, and that freely; and that sinning he fell, and "brought death into the world and all our wo;" and that this whole transaction did actually take place, in such manner as to leave the whole guilt of the fall resting on man, and on his vile seducer. These are facts, clearly ascertained to us in Scripture; and they are all that it is of any practical use for us to know. If we could clearly understand all that is actually beyond our depth in this subject, what would be the consequence? It would make no alteration at all, in any one point of duty. It would then be our duty to act exactly as we are now called to act. Our know

ledge might gratify curiosity, but it would not direct our practice. And it seems to be the character of the divine dispensations, and of the state of our knowledge at present-not only in regard to religion, but to every thing else that we should be acquainted with facts, and with the use that we are to make of them; but that we should be able to proceed but a very little way, in any of our theories for their explanation. To be humbly submissive to this order, and content with it, is an act of pious resignation wherever it is found; and those who act otherwise incur both guilt and torment, and after all make no advances whatever in knowledge. Hear the declaration of the wisest of men, speaking too under the guidance of inspiration, on this very point-which, if it had been duly regarded, might, one would think, have prevented many a long and painful inquiry. Solomon says, "Lo, this only have I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions." That is, the result of all my inquiries and investigations, and the amount of all that is revealed, and that can be known on this deep speculation, is simply this, That God made man holy, and that he and his posterity have made themselves sinners. This then is the result of all, and here we rest.

Among other things, in regard to which the busy minds of men have employed themselves to little purpose, is the inquiry, what was the length of time that our first parents spent in the state of innocence, or before the fall? Some have concluded that the space was very small, and some that it was very considerable. If I were to form a conjecture, it would be, that it was neither the one nor the other. Supposing the truth of what has heretofore been suggested, that the angels were created on the first of the six days during which our earth was formed and furnished, it seems reasonable to suppose that there was some moderate period of time necessary for their probation, fall, and punishment, and their efforts for the seduction of Adam and Eve. Yet no great space certainly was necessary for the whole. But what was the state