though He had said, In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely become mortal, or liable to death,-comes up to the meaning or force of the expression used by Moses. The threatening seems to import immediate death; and immediate death seems to have been the consequence of his transgression. For, consider, death does not mean the end of our existence, but the end of a certain mode of existing. By death in the ordinary sense of the word, we do not mean a ceasing to exist, but the ceasing of our present life: we die, indeed, to this world, but we acquire the life of the next world.

GOD had given to Adam a life, a [living] soul, such as to His wisdom seemed best. He threatened him with, or cautioned him against, the fatal consequence of eating of the fruit of a certain tree, which was poison and destruction to his nature. If GOD threatened Adam, He undoubtedly executed His threat. If He cautioned him, He certainly cautioned him according to truth. And we, in fact, find that the effect of this fruit was immediate. The eyes of them both were opened, and they saw that they were naked. They perceived that they had divested themselves of the heavenly nature of Paradise, with all its holy tempers and dispositions; and that they had gotten a new nature, even this mortal, animal flesh and blood, with which we are now incumbered, together with its evil passions, and lusts, and appetites; and they were ashamed. Nay, more; misery, horror, and dismay took hold upon them: they fled from the presence of their all-bountiful, ever-loving Creator, and foolishly endeavoured to hide themselves among the trees of the Garden.

Adam, therefore, really and truly died the very day he transgressed. He killed that nature and life which he received. from GOD, and acquired a new nature and life, in which all his posterity have been born. He put an end to that perfect and holy state in which God created him; and he obtained, in the room of it, a state of error, and vice, and sin.* A period was made to the bliss and happiness which he enjoyed, and he fell into misery, horror, and despair.

Consider, now, what is necessary to be done for his redemp

* He lost his spiritual nature.

tion. That life which he acquired by his fall must be made to cease, and that life which he lost by his fall must be revived in him. That state of error, vice, and sin [into which he fell must be corrected and done away; and that state of holiness and perfection which he lost must be renewed. That misery, horror, and despair, which became his wretched portion, must be remedied and removed; and he must be restored to that state of bliss and happiness which he had lost. And whatever was necessary to be done for Adam in this case, was also necessary to be done for his whole posterity.

Here the goodness of GOD prevented even his wishes. One property of the Divine Nature is to bring good out of evil. Another property is to overrule, and stop the progress of evil, as much as is possible to be done; that is, as much as is consistent with that freedom of will, which all intelligent creatures must be endowed with.-No sooner had man sinned, than GOD was in CHRIST, reconciling the world-human natureunto Himself.

GOD had made the world by His Son He had created man in the likeness of His Son; for He made man in His own Image; and the Image of the Father is the Son: the Son is also the Preserver and upholder of the Universe. And now the Son became his Redeemer; that in all things-or among all -He might have the preeminence.-The seed of the woman, said GOD, shall bruise the Serpent's head.

If nothing more was meant by this expression, than that some great punishment should be inflicted upon the old Serpent who had beguiled Adam, it would have had little or no influence upon the recovery of mankind. Something wanted to be done within man,—in the very centre of his being, in order to save him. [He had] gotten a crooked, perverse, and serpentine nature, which required to be bruised, crushed, brought to nothing in him; that the holy, heavenly nature which he had lost might be renewed in him.

Every word of God is attended with power. He that said,"Let there be light, and there was light,"-He now, as I take it, imparted to Adam, and consequently to his whole posterity

a new principle, or sensibility of goodness, called the Seed of the Woman; something of the holy nature of CHRIST, in order to make it possible for Adam to recover again that holy nature. which he had lost. This shows how CHRIST was the Saviour of men before He personally appeared in the world; because He was in them the Bruiser of the serpent, the Corrector of their evil tempers and passions, and the Author and Finisher of all the virtue and goodness that showed itself among men.

To cultivate and bring to perfection this Principle of goodness, which was in man like a seed in the earth, was the end and design of all the laws and religious institutions, which in different ages GOD gave to mankind, and which have varied according as their exigencies required; till, in the fulness of time, that is, when His infinite wisdom saw best, He sent His Son really and visible to take the fallen human nature upon Him, in order to accomplish its redemption.

Hitherto we have considered GoD as the particular Creator and loving Father of every individual descendant of Adam; and who will, undoubtedly, do everything that His wisdom sees best, to promote the highest, that is, the eternal happiness of every individual. But truth will oblige us to consider GOD, also, as the common Creator, Lawgiver, and Governor of all mankind. Under this character, open and public obedience is due to Him, as well as inward reverance.

It is of the utmost consequence to any government, that its laws be obeyed; because it is to be presumed that they all tend-especially the laws of an all-perfect, all-gracious GODto the general happiness of the whole. When the laws are broken, evil must of consequence happen to the community. And if the laws are suffered to be broken with impunity, the government is brought into contempt. Open and public reparation must, therefore, be made for every breach of the laws, or open and public punishment must be inflicted, that others may be afraid to offend. For the authority of government must be maintained, in order to secure the benefits and blessings of it.

By the transgression of Adam, public dishonour was done to GOD, and the good effects of His moral government of the world in a great measure frustrated. The same thing in some

degree happens, by every transgression of his descendants. Neither Adam nor his posterity were able to make reparation for the dishonour thus brought upon the Governor of the Universe, any otherwise than by submitting to the consequences of their transgressions,-everlasting misery.

Love, and goodness, and mercy are the nature of GOD. In love, and goodness, and mercy He provided this temporal state in which we now live, in order to give mankind a space, an opportunity to have the ruinous consequences of the Fall. repaired, that they might become again capable of happiness with Him. And He provided a Substitute or Representative for them: One that was able to make sufficient satisfaction and reparation for the dishonour that had been brought upon Himself as Governor of the Universe; that His lenity to men might not encourage other intelligent beings to disobey the laws of their Maker.

In this sense, I take it, the death of CHRIST was an atonement to GOD; a satisfaction to the Divine Justice for the sins of the world. And in this sense are all those expressions of the Scriptures to be understood, which speak of His dying in our stead; of His bearing our sins; of His being the Propitiation for our sins; of His being made sin-that is, a sin-offeringfor us.

Other benefits there are which accrue to us from the death of CHRIST, and which shall by and by be taken notice of. But, before we depart from this point, it will be best to examine whether this vicarious satisfaction be just and reasonable in itself; and whether it will answer the end proposed,secure reverence and obedience to the laws of GOD.

If the Substitute is willing to submit to the terms, and, by doing so, brings no inquiry upon any other being;-if the Party offended be willing to accept the satisfaction of a substitute, the thing is just.

If a greater good can be obtained by this vicarious satisfaction, than could be obtained by exacting the full penalty upon the offenders personally, it is reasonable.

Now, the willingness of CHRIST to become [such a] Substi tute, and of GOD to accept His satisfaction, are supposed as the foundation of this procedure. It does not appear that

any injury can thereby accrue to any other being. It is also certain that the eternal happiness, even of part of the human species, is a greater good than the everlasting misery of the whole species.-The only thing that is doubtful is, whether the authority of Almighty GoD, the Governor of the Universe, can be sufficiently secured in this way.

I will, in few words, state the case, and let reason determine. —Adam sinned, and involved himself and his whole posterity in misery, the natural, as well as threatened consequence of his sin. The Son of GOD became his substitute, and made satisfaction to the Divine Justice for him; and he and his posterity were put into a state, or under a method, by which they may again recover what they had lost.-Would any reasonable being argue from hence in this manner? "There can be no great danger in disobeying of GOD. Adam has sinned, and is redeemed: I, therefore, may safely sin, because I shall certainly be redeemed."-Would he not rather reason thus? "I see that God will exact the penalty of disobedience. Rather than suffer His government to be brought into contempt, He hath permitted Innocence to bear the penalty of the guilty. Fortunate, indeed, hath Adam been in finding a Redeemer but, if I sin, where shall I find one that will die for me? I must therefore obey, or be miserable."

Besides, many of the consequences of Adam's sin still lie heavy upon us, even all the evils which we suffer in this world, and all that we dread [in the] next. This, joined to the foregoing consideration, will, I think, effectually secure the honour and authority of GOD, as Governor of the Universe, among all the different orders of intelligent beings.

(To be continued.)