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own happiness and the happiness of his posterity, and for the honor and glory of his Creator. His task was easy; it required no sacrifice, but merely the subjection of his animal propensities to his rational powers. But still he was in a state of trial, a state of probation; and his obedience was the very point to be tried. So long as he kept this, all was safe; but if he failed in this, all was lost. This state of trial was necessary; for without it there could be no proof, either of obedience or disobedience. The soul in yielding obedience to God his superior, was safely protected; but in yielding to an inferior propensity, he must of necessity fall under the power of that influence to which he yielded obedience. “Know 66 ye`not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or "of obedience unto righteousness."*

But whence originated the evil influence which led to disobedience? It could not be in any of the works of God; for they were all pronounced "very good," and it is impossible that very evil should proceed from very good. It could not spring from God; for no evil influence could originate from the source of all goodness. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Hence darkness could never proceed from light. The evil therefore, must have originated in darkness; it could have had no other source. By recurring back to the order of the creation, in. the preceding chapter, it will be seen that tho God's works were 66 all very good," tho light was created in the midst of darkness, and order established in the midst of confusion; yet the darkness was not annihilated, nor was the source of confusion destroyed. In scripture, the power of evil is called the power of darkness. Hence that invisible power of evil, which is eternally opposed to all good, and which is called The Devil, has its existence in that spiritual darkness of which the natural darkness is a figure. From this power flows all spiritual and moral evil; it is the source of all those principles and influences which, in their operations, oppose the nature of godliness and injure the works of God. It is therefore the height of folly and wickedness, in any one, to charge any of those evil propensities which lead to the dark works of sin, upon the God of light and holiness: for they never originated from him.

The darkness which was left in the natural creation, and which was divided from the light, was designed to show that good hath no fellowship with evil, nor the spirit of light with the spirit of darkness. It also shows that there was still a place left for the entrance and temptation of an evil influence. That evil influence indeed entered, in the hour of darkness, and found access to the woman, in the form of a serpent, a sly, cunning serpent, a crooked serpent, an inferior, grovelling reptile, one of those figures of evil

* Rom. vi. 16.

See Luke xxii. 59 Eph. vi. 12. & Col. i. 13.

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which was intended as a warning to man, and which ought to have put the woman on her guard. Instead of listening to the deceitful insinuations of a reptile so much her inferior, she ought to have been guided by the wholesome counsel of her superior, and kept the law of her Creator, which it is evident she well recollected, even in the midst of her fatal interview with the serpent.

But the woman was overcome, She yielded to that evil influence which, through the subtilty of the serpent, wrought upon her animal propensities, and infused into her mind the filthy passion of lust. The woman being thus enticed and overcome, enticed her husband, and through the same evil influence, overcame him. Thus the noble order of the creation was reversed. Man having yielded to the temptation, and received and indulged an evil propensity, his power was gone. And having been once overcome, by yielding to the insinuations of an authority inferior to his own, he had henceforth no control over the inferior creation, any further than by the permission of his Creator: for he had forfeited his right by his disobedience. Thus man became a servant to the power of evil by yielding obedience to it, by which means his nature, and, through that medium, the whole natural world became corrupted with evil.

Hence it is easy to see that this earth was, in every respect, calculated for a state of probation. Had there been no darkness upon it, had there been nothing in it to which evil could find access, then truly it would have been no place of trial; and if no place of trial, then no state of probation to man. As darkness is the habitation of evil; so the spirit of evil can always find access wherever he finds darkness. But darkness had its appointed place and order; and had man been faithful in his duty, evil might have been confined within its own limits. It was evidently man's duty from the beginning, to retire to his place of protection, and rest in the time of darkness, and wait the returning light; and not to expose himself in the dark till he had obtained light sufficient to withstand the power of darkness.*

Man, by his disobedience, exposed himself to the power of darkness, and opened the way for the entrance of the enemy where, otherwise, he never could have entered. This occasioned his fall, the loss of his power and authority, and completed his ruin, as far as respected his relation and connection with the spiritual world. From this loss and ruin, it was impossible that there should be any restoration without a new order of things, and a new man who would prove faithful to his trust. What a lesson of warning to the children of God to be faithful! unfaithfulness leads to inevitable ruin.

* A wise man will not attempt even to pursue his honest calling in the dark; if he has no lamp to light him, he will retire to rest till the morning light; but thieves and robbers, whoremongers and adulterers, "chuse darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." This may serve as a figure of the wickedness committed in spiritual darkness, and the danger of being exposed to it.

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This world being created and designed for a state of probation, it must necessarily continue to be such to Adam's posterity, as well as to himself. To suppose that Adam's faithfulness would have released his posterity from a state of trial, is a mistaken supposition; because a season of probation was no less necessary for them than for him: for evil still existed; and it was therefore as necessary for his posterity to gain power over it, as for himself. His faithfulness could not have released them from the trial of their own obedience, nor have secured them from the wiles of the Adversary. Each individual must therefore necessarily pass through a state of trial; and had Adam stood faithful, his posterity, even to the latest generation, while the order of nature remained, must have stood by their own obedience, or fallen by their own disobedience, to the authority of their righteous parents, who, by standing in the order of God, and keeping the Divine law, would have been God's representatives to their offspring.

Adam and Eve having, through disobedience, yielded to the influence of evil, were overcome by it; and the spirit of evil having once found an entrance, could enter again and again. They must therefore, ever after, be under the power of that evil influence, unless protected by some superior power. And as like causes produce like effects; so they begat children in their own likeness, an offspring like themselves, and under the power of the same evil influence in the work of generation. Their union and relation to their Creator was now lost. They were now forever debarred from the tree of life, which was before accessible to them, and by which they partook of the life of God, and shared communion with him, in their natural state. Having now nothing to support them in their former exalted station, they of course, fell from their relation to God, into that nature which they had indulged and gratified; the nature of lust. The rational soul having yielded its power, their animal propensities, being corrupted by the nature of the serpent, had now the preeminence over them.

Here we may clearly see the cause why it is, even to this day, that the rational soul of man is so much under the influence of his animal passions. And yet, even of this, the greater part of man kind seem to be utterly insensible, and will often imagine that they are guided in their speculations and pursuits, by the dictates of truth and right reason, while in fact, they are either led by their animal passions, or deceived by some of the propensities of a fallen nature. This is often seen, not only in the ordinary transactions of life, but also in the pursuits of religion, in the establishment of many religious institutions, in the speculations and writings of men on subjects of divinity, and may be observed in a thousand instances, even among those who are esteemed great and good men: But the tree is known by its fruit.

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THE FALL, LOSS AND DEPRAVITY OF MAN, INCLUDING God's progressive work, AND HIS DEALINGS WITH MAN IN HIS FALLEN state.

CHAPTER 1.

The cause, nature and effects of Man's loss from God.

It is universally acknowledged by the professors of christianity, that in consequence of Adam's transgression, mankind are lost from God. This is so fully taught in the scriptures, and the evidence of it so visible throughout the world, that it cannot be dispu ted. But what was the real cause of that loss, and wherein its nature and effects are most clearly manifested, is but little considered, and still less understood. It is generally viewed, however, as á punishment inflicted on mankind, for an act of disobedience committed by their first parents. In this view, God is represented as an arbitrary despot, with his eternal and absolute decrees, imputing guilt to the whole human race, as the effect of Adam's transgression. But this doctrine, to say the least of it, is a blind impeachment of God's righteousness.

The idea that mankind are born into the world with Adam's guilt upon them, is wholly inconsistent with Divine Righteousness, and contrary to all the light of reason and revelation that ever God bestowed on man, and has no foundation in truth. Even the common sense of mankind must teach them, that it is impossible for a son to be guilty of an act of sin which was committed by his father, before he was born; and it would be considered as the height of injustice to punish the son for his father's sin. "The son shall "not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear "the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall "be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon " him."* Yet this son might afterwards become guilty of the same sin by his own act; and in that case he would justly deserve punishment.

To say that the child of fallen parents is born in a fallen state, or under the influence of a fallen nature, is to declare the truth ; but this by no means implies guilt in the child. No one will pretend that a child who is the offspring of adultery, is, on that account, chargeable with the guilt of his parents; nor would it be consistent with justice for him to suffer for the crime of his parents. But as a corrupt fountain cannot send forth pure waters, and as like causes necessarily produce like effects; so the fruit of every tree partakes of the nature of the tree which produced it. And tho the wicked act of the parents cannot be charged upon the child;

* Ezek. xviii. 20.

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