The reasonableness and certainty of the Christian religion by Robert Jenkin ...

CHAP. XIII. Of the Fall of the Angels, and of our First Parents.

IN the Beginning God created every thing perfect in its kind, and endned the Angels and Man with all intellectual and Moral Per∣fections suitable to their respective Natures: but so as to leave them capable of sinning. For it pleased the infinite Wisdom of God (for the Reasons already alledg'd, and for ma∣ny more, and greater Reasons perhaps than any man is able to imagine) to place them in a State of Tryal, and to put it to their own Choice, whether they would stand in their present Condition of Innocence and Happi∣ness,

in which they were created, or fall into Sin and Misery. We have little or no Account in the Scriptures of the Cause or Temptation, which occasioned the Fall of Angels, because it doth not concern us to be acquainted with it; and therefore it little becomes us to be inquisitive about it. Indeed it is very diffi∣cult to conceive, how Beings of so Great Knowledge and Purity, as the Fall'n Angels once were of, should fall into Sin: But it must be considered, that nothing is more unaccoun∣table than the Motives and Causes of Action in Free Agents: when any Being is at Liberty to do as it will, no other Reason besides its own Will need be enquir'd for, of its Actings. What is liable to Sin, may sin, whatever the Motive be; and to enquire after the Motive, is to enquire what Motives may determine a Free Agent, that is, an Agent, which may determine it self upon any Ground or Motive.

But how perfect and excellent soever any Creature is, unless it be so confirmed and esta∣blished in a State of Purity and Holiness, as to be secured from all possibility of Sinning, it may be supposed to admire it self, and dote upon its own Perfections and Excellencies, and by degrees, to neglect and not acknowledge God the Author of them, but to sin and re∣bell against Him. And it is most agreeable both to Scripture and Reason, that Pride was the cause of the Fall of Angels. For those

Excellencies which might secure them from any other Sin proved a Temptation to this, and the greater their Perfections were, the greater was the Temptation; as in a Man who is guilty of Spiritual and Pharisaical Pride, all that is good and commendable in him af∣fords him only matter for his Sin. So that where there is a freedom of Will and a pos∣sibility of Sinning, the very Perfection of Nature in a Creature may be made an Occa∣sion to sin; and that which excludes other sins may prove a Motive and Temptation to Pride, which therefore we have reason to conclude was the Sin of the Fall'n Angels.

As to the Fall of Man, however the Thing may be disputed, the Effects of it are visible in the strange Proneness of Humane Nature, to act against Reason and Conscience, that is, to act in plain contradiction to it self, and its own Principles. This is a State in which it cannot be supposed, that Mankind was at first created by the infinitely Good and Holy God. And the most plausible Opinion, and that which has most generally obtained a∣mong the Heathens, is, that the Souls of Men had a Being before they came into this World, and were sent into Human Bodies in Punish∣ment for what they had done amiss in a pre∣cedent State. But this is mere suspicion and Conjecture without any possibility of Proof, and there is this plain Reason against it, that ••o man can be punished for his Amendment,

who knows nothing of it. For it is inconsi∣stent with the Nature and end of Punishment, that the Offender should not be made sensible of his Fault, especially when the Punishment is designed for his Amendment, as it is said to be in the present Case.

If it can be supposed, that Men may possi∣bly retain no Remembrance of what they did in another State, yet if their Faults were not kept in Memory, they should be brought to their Remembrance, if this Life were designed as a State of Punishment in order to Amend∣ment. But the State of this Life is so far from being thought a Punishment, that Men natural∣ly are of nothing more fond, nor dread any thing more than to leave it. And tho' Men meet with great Afflictions here, yet those do not befall those only or chiefly, who by their Proneness to Evil in this Life, might be supposed to have been the greatest Offen∣ders in a former State, and every Calamity has not the Nature of Punishment. The Suffer∣ings and Miseries which we endure by reason of Adam's Transgression are not so properly Punishments as the Effects and Consequences of his sin: But Personal Faults such as are sup∣posed to have been committed in a State of pre-existence require a proper Punishment, and if the Punishment be for Amendment, as it is supposed to be in this present State, both the Fault and the Punishment must be known, with the Cause and End of its being

inflicted, and the greatest Offenders must undergo the severest Punishment.

The Account which the Scripture gives us of the Fall of our First Parents may be consi∣dered either, 1. in the Manner, or 2. in the Consequences of it.

1. If we consider the Manner of the Fall of our First Parents. 1. Eve was beguiled by the Serpent, and Adam was enticed by Her to eat the Forbidden Fruit. 2. They both eating of it, thereby fell from their State of Happiness.

1. Eve was beguiled by the Serpent, and Adam was enticed by her. It is not to be supposed, but that the Devil would use all the Means that the subtilty of his Malice could invent, to procure the Ruine of Man∣kind, and that therefore he would not only make use of inward Suggestions, but of out∣ward Allurements also by a visible shape and Appearance. And if he had assumed the shape of a Man or Woman; Eve knew that there was none of Human Kind but Adam and her self in the World, and therefore that Shape was least of all proper for him to make use of. But if he had assumed any other shape, or made use of any other Creature as his In∣strument, the same, or the like Objections might lie against it, that can be supposed against his beguiling Eve by a Serpent.

The Serpent's subtilty made him the fitter Instrument for the Devil's Purpose, for all fi∣nite Agents can act no otherwise than as the

matter they have to work withal will per∣mit, It is supposed by a (a) 1.1 Person of great Learning, that Eve was tempted by a siery flying Serpent, such as are still seen in some Parts of the World, of great brightness and Splendor, being stiled Seraphims: Num. xxi. 6, 8. Isai. xiv. 29. which is a Name that de∣notes likewise one of the highest Orders of Angels; and he concludes that this fiery Ser∣pent appeared to Eve in such a Shining and Beautiful Lustre, as she had seen Angels ap∣pear in before, and that it was mistaken by her for an Angel. This Account has great probability in it; but if it should not be ad∣mitted, yet we may observe that ordinary Serpents were generally esteemed sacred by the Heathens, as it is evident from the Ca∣duceus of Mercury, and many other instances; the sight of them was accounted a (b) 1.2 good Omen, and the (c) 1.3 Genij were painted under the form of Serpents. It was (d) 1.4 reported both of Alexander and Scipio, that they were begotten of Jupiter under the shape of a Serpent, and (e) 1.5 Aesculapius is said to have assumed that form, when he was transported in the time of a great Plague from Epi∣daurus to Rome, (e) 1.6 Serpents were had in the greatest Honour, and had Sacrifices made to them in the Worship of Bacchus, and a (f) 1.7 Snake was portrayed round the Tripos of Sibylla Erythrea. The Story of (g) 1.8 Ophioneus among the Hea thens was taken from the Devils assuming

the Form or Body of a Serpent in his tempt∣ing of Eve, and the Hereticks called (h) 1.9 O∣phitae worshiped a Serpent, and to name no more instances, Serpents have commonly had Religious Worship paid them both by Antient and (k) 1.10 Modern Heathens. And if the Devil has been so generally Worshiped in the Form of a Serpent since the Fall, it can seem no in∣credible thing that he should by a Serpent deceive Eve. He seems to have prided him∣self in this manner of Worship, to insult and trample upon fall'n Mankind, by causing him∣self to be adored under that very form, by which he first wrought our Ruine; to which purpose Clemens Alexandrinus (l) 1.11 observes, that in the Feasts of Bacchus, they were wont to cry out 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 meaning, as he supposes Eve; (m) 1.12 Lucretius makes Evan, a Denomination of Bacchus. However it can be no impossible thing, that Eve should be deceived once by a Creature, by which her Posterity has been de∣ceived, even to the Worship of it in so ma∣ny Ages and Countries since. The Speech of a Serpent could be no frightful thing to Eve. who knew not what Fear was before her Fall; and if it be thought absurd (tho' it was so soon after her own Creation) that she should not know but that other Creatures might have the use of Speech as well as Man: Yet why might not she attribute his faculty of Speech to the Vertue of that Fruit, which ••e might be supposed to have tasted, and

from his own Experience to recommend to her. So far is it from any Inconsistency or Improbability, that Eve should be beguiled by a Serpent; and when she was once deceived, it will not be denyed but that Adam might be enticed by her.

2. The Sin committed by our First Parents was in eating the forbidden Fruit, and they both eating of it, fell thereby from their Pri∣mitive State of Happiness. The time when our First Parents sinned is uncertain, and there∣fore there is no ground for the Objection, which some have framed by crowding a long series of things into the Business of one day. Many Circumstances are omitted in the Scri∣ptures concerning the State of our First Pa∣rents in Paradise, and relating to their Fall. For no more is mentioned than was needful to Moses's Design, which was to give a very brief Account of the most remarkable things that had past from the Creation to his own Times. It appears that our First Parents were no strangers to the Presence and Voice of God, and there is no reason to doubt but that they were fully instructed in the Terms proposed to them, with ••he Reasona∣bleness of God's Commandments, how much depended upon their Obedience, what danger they were in, and how easily they might es∣cape it, and become enstated in Everlasting In∣nocence and Happiness.

God had determined to make Tryal of them

by purposing an easy instance of their Obedi∣ence, and by forbidding them the use of but one Tree in Paradise: It was but a small re∣straint, and they had Ability enough to have overcome the greatest Temptation, and Life, and Death were set before them, as the Reward or Punishment of their Obedience or Disobedience, upon eating the forbidden Fruit, they must surely die; but if they had but refrained from it, another Tree was provided, the eating of which should as cer∣tainly have made them Immortal, as this made them subject to Death: For then without ever undergoing Death, they should have been tran∣slated to a State of more perfect Bliss and Happiness.

It cannot be deny'd, but that it was very fitting and reasonable, that God should lay some Restraint upon our First parents, where∣by he might be obeyed, and his Soveraignty acknowledg'd: And as no Law could be more easily observ'd than this, so it was most pro∣per for the place in which they were, and for their manner of Life and State of Inno∣cence. The common Rules and Laws of Mo∣rality could then scarce have any place, but it was requisite that this or some such other Instance of Obedience, should be imposed. Theft, and Murder, and Adultery, and other Sins against Moral Duties were then either impossible to be committed, or so unnatural, that it can hardly be imagined, how any of

them should be committed, when there were yet but two Persons in the World, in a State of perfect Innocence: and therefore in Moral Duties there could be no Tryal of the Obedi∣ence of our First parent; besides, these were so well known to them, that there could be no need of any Command concerning them. But God gives them a Command in a Thing of an indifferent Nature, that so he might have a plainer proof of their Obedience, in a thing which was both indifferent of it self, and so easy to them, that nothing but a care∣less and perverse Neglect could betray them into Disobedience. To suppose Good and Evil to be in the Nature of Things only, and not in the Commandments and Prohibitions of God, is in effect, a renouncing of God's Au∣thority; but this Tree was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: For it made them sensible of the Divine Authority upon which Moral Good and Evil formally depend, tho' matterially they be in the Nature of Things: Whatever God is pleased to com∣mand or forbid, however indifferent it be in it self, is for that very Reason, so far as it is commanded or forbidden by him, as truly Good or Evil, as if it were absolutely and morally so, being enacted by the same Divine Authority, whereby all Moral Precepts be∣come obligatory as Laws to us; for all Mo∣ral Truths, or Precepts, or Rules of Life, however certain and necessary in themselves,

yet receive the Obligation of Laws from the Divine Authority, this being the most certain Truth in Morality, and in order of Nature an∣tecedent to all others, that God is to be obey∣ed in all that he commands or forbids. But the Divine Authority was solely and purely concern'd in this Commandment, which had no foundation in the Nature of Things, but depended meerly upon the Will and Pleasure of God, and by the Transgression of this Law, it became notorious to our First parents and their unhappy Posterity, that both Good and Evil, whatever they may be in Speculation and abstracted Notions, yet as they concern us in the Practice of our Lives, are to be re∣solv'd ultimately into the Divine Authority; God is our Lawgiver, and nothing can be a Law to us but by His enacting, and what he enacts must be a Law to us; and of the same necessary indspensable Obligation, so far as he is pleased to enjoyn it, whether it be a Mo∣ral Precept, or only an indifferent Thing in its own Nature. It seems then that God was pleased to manifest his Soveraign Authority in this Commandment, and to shew that it is ab∣solute and independant upon Moral Good or Evil; and that tho' his infinite Holiness and Good∣ness would not permit him to Command any thing contrary to Moral Duties, nor suffer him not to command Moral Good, and forbid Moral Evil; yet his Authority is arbitrary o∣ver us, extending as far beyond all the Duties

of Morality as he pleases, which indeed are only Truths and Precepts, but not Duties to us but by Vertue of his Authority. This Com∣mandment therefore was given in Assertion of God's Authority, whom it is always and in every thing good to obey, and evil to disobey, as our First parents found by sad Experience. (n) 1.13 Maimonides observes, that they had the Knowledge of Truth and Falshood before, but Good and Evil became known to them by their Fall, whereby they understood the Value of that Good which they had lost, and were made sensible of the Misery of that Con∣dition, into which they had brought them∣selves: They perceived how good it was to obey God, and how evil to be disobedient to Him in any thing whatsoever.

(o) 1.14 Mr. Mede has observed that their Sin was Sacrilege. God had reserved that Tree as ho∣ly to himself in Token of his Dominion and Soveraignty, and appointed it to such uses as he had designed it for: and therefore it was a Sacrilegious Prophanation to eat of it; it was a Theft or Robbery, no less than the Robbing of God, as the Prophet stiles Sacrilege, and an Invasion of his Right. And the Lord God said, Behold the Man is become as one of us to know Good and Evil. Gen. iii. 22. which words are generally supposed to have been spoken by a severe Sarcasm, or with an upbraiding Anger and Indignation; but they seem to admit of an easier Sense, if they be thus interpreted;

The man is become as one of us, he has made himself as one of us; he has assumed to him∣self an equality with us. Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Phil. ii. 6. to be equal is there to claim an Equality; and so to become as one of us, is to challenge or pre∣tend to become as one of us, according to the Devil's Suggestion. Christ knew it to be no Injury or Presumption in Himself; who was in the Form of God, and was God as well as Man, to assume to Himself an Equality with the Father: But our First Parents, who were made in the Image of God and after his Like∣ness, were not contented with this, but affect∣ed something higher than the Perfections of a Creature, and aim'd at an independant State of Wisdom and Immortality, being seduced by the Serpent, who said unto the Woman, Ye shall not surely die, ye shall be as Gods, knowing Good and Evil. Gen. iii. 4, 5. This was a most heinous Crime to believe the Ser∣pent rather than God Himself, and to be se∣duced by him, and hope by his Advice to pro∣cure to themselves Divine Wisdom and Im∣mortal Happiness.

II. The Consequences of the Fall of our First Parents were answerable to their Crime, and were either upon themselves, or upon their Po∣sterity, or upon the Serpent and other Creatures.

I. The Curse upon the Serpent was by a visible Object and Representation, to denote that Curse and Punishment which was de∣nounced

against the Tempter himself, who as∣sumed the Body of a Serpent. The Serpent before had a freer and stronger Motion, and could lift up himself and reach the Fruits of the Trees, but is since confined to the Ground, and is forced to seek his Food in the Dust. And there being Relations of Serpents, which carry Part of their Body erect, this before the Curse might belong to the whole Kind of them in another manner, than it doth since to any one Sort. The Basilisk is said to go with his Head and Breast erect, and a Serpent call'd (p) 1.15 in Ceylon, the Noya, will stand with half his Body upright for two or three hours together. (q) 1.16 These may be for Monuments of the Truth of the Curse upon the rest; as some of the Race of the Giants were left in the Land of Canaan, till David's time, as a Me∣morial to the Israelites of the Miraculous Power of God in the Conquest of the Land by their Forefathers.

The Curse of the Ground was for a Punish∣ment to Adam and his Posterity, and can be considered no otherwise, nor be made matter of Objection, unless it be thought unreasona∣ble to inflict a Curse upon Mankind for this Offence of eating the Forbidden Fruit, by making the Earth less fruitful and pleasant to them. Tho' the Garden of Eden were the most delightful and happy Part of the Earth, yet the whole Earth before the Fall was very different from what it has been since. For if it

had continued as it was, the Curse and Pu∣nishment upon Mankind could not have been effected in that manner, in which it was de∣termined.

2. Our First Parents were turned out of Paradise, and not suffered to taste of the Tree of Life. They had been charged not to eat of the Fruit in the midst of the Gar∣den, and Threatned with Death, that is, that they should become Mortal, and be sure to die, if they would presume to eat of it. To be subject to Misery both in Body and Mind, so that the Body should decay, and at last be dissolved, and the Soul which could not Pe∣rish should be miserable after its separation from the Body, was the Original Notion of Death; and our First Parents, who had never feen what Natural dying was, understood Death no otherwise than as a Privation of Happiness, and consequently a State of Mise∣ry both in this Life and the next: The first was unavoidable, the latter to be avoided by Repentance, and a future Obedience thro' Faith in God's Mercy for Christ's sake.

They were hindred from tasting of that Tree which was to have been the Means and Instru∣ment of Immortality to them. For God who has given a Medicinal Vertue and a Power of Nourishment to other Fruits and Herbs, might convey a Power and Influence into this Tree, of rendring Men Immortal by preventing the decays of Nature, and Nourishing or Streng∣thning

them to an endless Life. How this should have been, we are now no more able to know than to become immortal here upon Earth: But this was God's Decree, that Im∣mortality should be annext to the tasting of that Tree, and therefore our First Parents, when they had incurred the Penalty of Death, were not suffered to taste of it, but were for∣ced out of Paradise, and it was just that they should be hindred from enjoying any longer the Delights of Paradise, for the Transgression of a Commandment, which wantonness only and a vain and criminal Curiosity, could make them disobey.

We are able to give little more Account, how the Food we now eat, can nourish and sustain us from time to time for Threescore and Ten, or Fourscore Years, than how the Fruit of the Tree of Life should have been a preservative to keep Men alive for ever; only this we have the Experience of, and so fancy we can tell how it comes to pass; but that is strange to us; and what is strange, Men wonder at, and will hardly believe it. But since God has en∣dued our ordinary Food with a power of Nou∣rishment, no man can reasonably doubt but that he might endue this Fruit with such a Vertue, that it should have made men immor∣tal to Taste of it, and have prevented that decay of Nature, which now still creeps upon us in the use of other Food. We may well suppose, that if they had once tasted of this Fruit,

they should have suffered no Decay, but have lived in constant Vigour here, tho' partaking afterwards only of other Nourishment, till they had been translated to Heaven. Or it might be design'd not as a Physical, but a Sa∣cramental Cause of Immortality, that is, as a Sign and Pledge of Immortality, God having decreed that upon the Tasting of this Fruit, Adam and his Posterity should have been im∣mortal. But the Forbidden Fruit being of a most delicious Taste, as well as pleasant to the Eyes, and containing a very fermenting Juice, might put the Blood and Spirits into great Disorder, and thereby divest the Soul of that Power and Dominion which it had before over the Body, and by a closer and more intimate Uni∣on with Matter, might reduce it to that mi∣serable Condition, which has been propagated and derived down to Posterity with the Hu∣mane Nature from our First Parents; as some Poysons now strangely affect the Nerves and Spirits, without causing immediate Death, but make such Alterations in the Body, as are never to be cured. And it could not be fitting that Man should become immortal in this Con∣dition, or that the Threatning of God, how∣ever, should not take place.

From what has been hitherto said upon this Subject, I hope it is evident, that there can be no necessity of running to Allegorical In∣terpretations to explain the Fall of our First Parents. And indeed all the Reason that can

be given, why it is represented under an Alle∣gory, will rather prove the Litteral Sense. For if the Simplicity, and the Customs, and Man∣ner of Life in the Beginning of the World did require, that the Fall of our First parents should be describ'd under an Allegory of this Nature; for the very same Reasons we may suppose that the Fall was in this manner. For what is it which makes it seem improbable, but only its being disagreeable, as some Men con∣ceit, to Reason? But if it be absurd to suppose that such a thing should have been in the Be∣ginning of the World, why is it not as absurd that such a thing should be represented to those, who liv'd at the beginning of the World, as if it had been? If this was then the most fitting and proper Representation of the Fall, why was it not the most likely manner for it to hap∣pen by? God's Dispensations are always fitted to the Capacities and Circumstances of those, who are most concern'd in them, and the Devil in his Temptations applies himself to the Cir∣cumstances of those, whom he would seduce: And it cannot be conceiv'd, that the most re∣markable Thing that ever has befaln Mankind (except the Redemption of the World by Christ) should so come to pass, as not to be told to Posterity, but in an Allegory. For if the Lit∣teral Truth had ever been known, it was im∣possible it should be forgotten in so few Gene∣rations, and that Moses should put an Allego∣ry in the room of it. Did the Children of Israel know the Historical Truth of the Fall,

or did they not know it? If they did, why should Moses disguise it under an Allegory, rather than the rest of the Book of Gene∣sis? If they did not know it, how could it be forgotten in so few Generations of Men, supposing it had ever been known to Adam's Posterity? If it were never known, but the Relation of it were always conveyed down in Metaphor and Allegory, then this Allegory must pass for Historical Truth in those Ages; and the Reason why it was delivered to them in Allegory, must be, because that manner of delivering it, was most suitable to that Age, and most credible, and every way most proper; and if it were most fitting that it should be thought to have happened so, this is a good Argument that it did really happen so, since there is nothing hinders, but it might so have happened, and it was most probable at least to the first Ages of the World, that it did so come to pass, or else it would not have been requisite to relate it in this manner.

3. The Fall of our First Parents brought a Curse upon their Posterity. And here it must be acknowledg'd, that God may bestow his infinite Grace and Mercies upon what Terms he pleaseth, and therefore he might ordain, that the Happiness or Unhappiness of their Posterity should depend upon the Obedience or Disobedience of our First Parents.

(1.) God might ordain that the Condition of their Posterity in this World should depend

upon it, so that they should have been im∣mortal upon their Obedience, and should be∣come mortal upon their Disobedience; that they should be made subject to Cares and Labours, to Diseases and Dangers by reason of the Fall of our First Parents, from which, o∣therwise they should have been exempt. This is esteem'd just in all Governments amongst Men, that Children should be reduced to Po∣verty and Disgrace by the Fault of their Pa∣rents, from whom Riches and Honour were to have descended upon them: And this way of Proceeding is just, both in Humane Laws and in the Dispensations of Providence; be∣cause God and our Country have an antece∣dent Right and Interest in us, superior to any Man's private Title or Welfare; and this they may justly make use of to restrain Men from those Crimes, out of Love and Concern for their Posterity, from which no consideration of themselves could have with held them. The Experience of the World has found this to be the most effectual Remedy with many Men, and therefore the wisest and justest Go∣vernments have made use of it, and the most wise and just God might think fit to deal in this manner with our First Parents, by repre∣senting to them, that the Happiness or Misery of their Posterity depended upon their Good or ill Behaviour in this one Instance of their Duty. We daily see that Children common∣ly inherit the Diseases of their Parents, and an

extravagant and vicious Father leaves his Son Heir to nothing but the Name and Shadow perhaps of a Great Family, with an infirm and sickly Constitution, and little or nothing to support and relieve it. Now if these Mise∣ries and Calamities had been entail'd upon all the Race of Mankind from Adam, the thing would have been the same in the Nature and Justice of it (for Numbers cannot alter the Nature of Things) as it is now, when they descend upon some, only from their imme∣diate Parents. And therefore it must be much rather just, that the Fall of our First Parents should make their whole Race only liable to such Calamities, but not involve All necessari∣ly in them.

(2.) The Communications of God's Grace, and the Favours and Blessings of his more im∣mediate Presence, might depend upon the Be∣haviour of the First Parents of Mankind. He might send them out of Paradise, and might withdraw his free and usual Communications of himself from them and their Posterity, up∣on this Forfeiture, by their Disobedience.

3. The Proneness which we cannot but ob∣serve in our selves to Sin might proceed from hence. We daily see and feel the corruption of our Nature, by whatsoever means we became subject to it. So that it is in vain to object, that it would be unjust that all Mankind should be involv'd in Adam's Sin. For the Condition which we are in, is matter of Fact,

of which no man doth or can doubt: The Question is only, how we come into this Con∣dition; and since we are born in it; and it is our Natural and Hereditary evil, the Justice and Goodness of God is cleared and vindicat∣ed, by assigning a Cause for it; from the Im∣putations of such as must acknowledge the same corruption of Nature, but will allow no Cause or Reason for it, except the arbitrary Will and Pleasure of the Creator. The Chil∣dren of vicious Parents are generally most en∣clin'd to Vice, and if Men may partake of the evil Dispositions and Inclinations of their more immediate Parents, why might not the Corruption of the Humane Nature in our First Parents descend upon all their Posterity?

(4.) The Happiness of Men in the next Life might depend upon the Obedience of our First Parents. For when God proposed to bestow upon Men Rewards of Glory and Happiness, which far surpass any Pretences of Desert or Claim of Right, that they in a State of Righteousness and Innocency could have been able to make, since the Promises were so great and the Happiness so far ex∣ceeding any thing to which Men could pre∣tend a Right; we must be very unreasona∣ble, unless we will confess that God might bestow his own Gifts upon his own Terms. He might therefore debar Men from Heaven upon the Transgression o•• our First Parents, because the Promise of Heaven was ••n act

of his free Bounty. For no Man can pretend that an Innocent Creature which preserves its Integrity, must, for that Reason, be advanced to the unspeakable Joys of Heaven. No Creature can be profitable to his Maker, and an unprofitable Servant can merit no such Re∣ward. And what God was not obliged to bestow, tho' Men continued in the State of In∣nocency, he might with all the Justice and Reason in the World refuse, when Men be∣came divested of their Innocency, and there∣by forfeited all pretences to that Happiness which was promised upon condition, that our First Parents had continued in their Primitive and Original State of Righteousness.

(5.) God might ordain that all Men should become liable to Eternal Misery by the Fall of our First Parents, and that those who would not accept of Means appointed of Sal∣vation by Faith in Christ, to rescue them from it, should perish eternally. We no sooner read of the Fall of Man, but Christ is forthwith promised, even before the Curse was denounced upon Adam and Eve for their Offence; the Seed of the Woman is immediately promised to bruise the Sepents Head, and after∣wards the Judgment is denounced, first up∣on Eve and then upon Adam for their Trans∣gression; and the Seed of the Womans brui∣sing the Serpent's Head, is to be understood of Victory over our Spiritual Enemies, and that Conquest which should be obtained over

Death and Hell by Christ. For the Tempo∣ral Punishment which was to befall Adam and Eve and their Posterity, is afterwards added, and therefore this Promise cannot be understood of a Deliverance from that, but from the wrath of God, and of Redemption from Sin upon Repentance under whatever condition of this Life.

The Consequence of the Sin of our First Parents is to entail Grief, and Trouble, and Labour, and Pain upon their Posterity, and a frail and infirm Nature, exposed to Tempta∣tions, and destitute of the Aids of Grace, and the presence of God in their Hearts, un∣capable of Heaven, and in no capacity of a∣voiding Hell without Christ's Merits. But Christ was at that very time promised to take away all the Curse and Vengeance con∣sequent upon the Transgression of our First Parents, nay, his Death was pre-ordained and determined beforehand. For Christ is the Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World, Rev. xiii. 8. Who verily was fore ordained be∣fore the Foundation of the World. 1 Pet. i. 20. He was Slain in the determinate Counsel, and fore-knowledge of God, even before the Fall of our First Parents came to pass: the whole Scheme and Design of Man's Salvation was laid from all Eternity in God's Counsel and Decree, he foresaw that Man would fall, and he determined to send his Son to redeem him, and this he had determined to do so long be∣force

the Fall of Man, even by an eternal Decree. So that the Goodness and Wisdom of God had effectually provided against the ill consequences, to the Salvation of Mankind by the Fall in all that obey him; and made it impossible that Adam's Posterity should be∣come eternally Miserable, and Tormented in Hell Fire, but through their own Fault. For tho' we learn from the Scriptures, that Infants are by Nature born in Sin, and the Children of Wrath, yet, whatever the Effects of that Wrath may be, we have no Ground to con∣clude, that any one shall be condemned, to the Flames and Pains of Hell, without his own Personal and Actual Guilt. The Re∣demption of the World by Christ was de∣creed from Eternity, and was actually promi∣sed before any Child of Adam was born, and even before the Curse was denounced upon our First Parents, and a Remedy was from the beginning provided against all that Mise∣ry, which was brought upon Mankind by their Transgression.

Notes

• (a) 1.1

  A. Bp, Tenison of Idolatry. Chap. 14.
• (b) 1.2

  Valer. Max. lib. 1. c. 6. Dio. lib. xivii. in••∣tio Vopise. in Aurelia∣no Ju••. ca∣pit. in Max∣im in. jun.
• (c) 1.3

  Pers. Stat. 1. Propert. lib. iv. E∣leg. 8.
• (d) 1.4

  Liv. lib. xxvi. c. 19.
• (e) 1.5

  Valer. Max lib. 1. c 8.
• (e) 1.6

  Clem. Alex. Ad∣monit. ad. Gentes. Max. Tyr. Dissert. xxxviii.
• (f) 1.7

  Apud Euseb. Constant. Orat. c. 18.
• (g) 1.8

  Orig∣coutr. Ceis∣lib. 6. & •• Spenceri •• not. ad lce.
• (h) 1.9

  Tertul. Praescript, 37.
• (k) 1.10

  Jos. Acost. lib. 5. c. 5.12.13. Martin. Hist. Sin. lib. 1. & 4.
• (l) 1.11

  Admo∣git. ad Gent.
• (m) 1.12

  Lib. 5
• (n) 1.13

  Maim. More New voeh. Par•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉. c. 2.
• (o) 1.14

  Lib. 1. Disc. xxvi••.
• (p) 1.15

  Kne∣xe's Hist. of Ceyl. Part 1. c. 7.
• (q) 1.16

  See Mr. Mede lib. 1. Dis•••• xli.