having this power, a power of chufing Good or Evil, he chofe the latter; he chofe Evil. Thus Sin entered into the world, and Pain of every kind preparatory to Death.

2. This plain, fimple account of the Origin of Evil, whether Natural or Moral, all the wifdom of man could not difcover, till it pleafed God to reveal it to the world. Till then Man was a mere enigma to himself, a riddle which none but God could folve. And in how full and fatisfactory a manner, has he folved it in this chapter? In fuch a manner, as does not indeed ferve to gratify vain curiofity, but as is abundantly fufficient to answer a nobler end; to

"Juflify the ways of God with men."

To this great end, I would First, briefly confider the preceding part of this chapter, and then Secondly, more particularly weigh the folemn words, which have been already recited.

I. 1. In the first place, let us briefly confider the preceding part of this chapter. Now the ferpent was more fubtil, or knowing, than any beaft of the field which the Lord God had made, ver. 1. Endued with more understanding than any other animal in the brute creation. Indeed there is no improbability in the conjecture of an ingenious man, That the ferpent was then endued with that Reafon, which is now the property of man. And this accounts for a circumftance, which on any other fuppofition would be utterly unintelligible. How comes Eve not to be furprifed, yea ftartled and affrighted, at hearing the ferpent Speak and reafon? Unless she knew that Reason, and Speech in confequence of it, were the original properties of the ferpent? Hence, without fhewing any furpiife, fhe immediately enters into the converfation with him. And he faid unto the woman, yea, hath God faid, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? See how he

The late Dr. Nicholas Robinfon.

who

who was a liar from the beginning mixes truth and falfehood together? Perhaps on purpose, that fhe might be the more inclined to fpeak, in order to clear God of the unjust charge. Accordingly the woman faid unto the ferpent, (ver. 2.) We 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 faid, Ye shall not eat of it: neither fhall ye touch it, left ye die. Thus far fhe appears to have been clear of blame. But how long did fhe continue fo? And the ferpent faid unto the woman, Surely ye fhall not die. For God doth know, in the day ye eat thereof your eyes fhall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil, ver. 4, 5. Here fin began, namely, Unbelief. The woman was deceived, fays the Apoftle. She believed a lie: fhe gave more credit to the word of the devil, than to the word of God. And Unbelief brought forth actual fin. When the woman faw that the tree was good for food, and pleafant to the eyes, and to be defired to make one wife, fhe took of the fruit and did eat, and fo compleated her fin. But the man, as the Apostle obferves, was not deceived. How then came he to join in the tranfgreffion! She gave unto her husband, and he did eat. He finned with his eyes open. He rebelled against his Creator, as is highly probable,

"Not by ftronger Reafon moved,

But fondly overcome with female charins."

And if this was the cafe, there is no abfurdity in the affertion of a great man, "That Adam finned in his heart, before he finned outwardly, before he ate of the forbidden fruit," namely, by inward Idolatry, by loving the creature more than the Creator.

When he loft his In

2. Immediately Pain followed Sin. nocence, he loft his Happiness. He painfully feared that God, in the Love of whom his fupreme Happiness before confifled He faid (ver. 10,) I heard thy voice in the garden;

and

and I was afraid. He fled from Him, who was till then his defire, and glory, and joy. He hid himself from the prefence of the Lord God, among the trees of the garden? Hid himself! What, from the all-feeing eye? The eye which, with one glance, pervades heaven and earth? See how his Underftanding likewife was impaired! What amazing folly was this! Such as one would imagine very few even of his posterity could have fallen into. So dreadfully was his foolish heart darkened by fin, and guilt, and forrow, and fear! His innocence was loft; and at the fame time, his happiness and his wisdom! Here is the clear, intelligible answer to that queftion, How came evil into the world?

3. One cannot but obferve, throughout this whole narration, the inexpreffible tendernefs, and lenity of the Almighty Creator, from whom they had revolted; the fovereign against whom they had rebelled. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and faid unto him, Where art thou? Thus graciously calling him to return, who would otherwife have eternally fled from God. And he faid, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked. Still here is no acknowledgment of his fault, no humiliation for it. But with what aftonishing tenderness does God lead him to make that acknowledgment? And he faid, Who told thee that thou waft naked? How cameft thou to make this discovery? Haft thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldft not eat? And the man said (flill unhumbled, yea indirectly throwing the blame upon God himself,) The woman whom thou gaveft to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God, ftill endeavouring to bring them to repentance, faid unto the woman, What is this that thou haft done? v. 13. And the woman faid, nakedly declaring the thing as it was, The ferpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God faid unto the ferpent, to teftify his utter abhorrence of fin, by a lafting monument of his difpleafure, in punishing the creature that had been barely the inftrument of it, Thou art VOL. V..

Ff

curfed

curfed above all the cattle, and above every beast of the field.And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy feed and her feed: it fhall bruife thy head, and thou shalt bruife his heel. Thus in the midst of judgment, hath God remembered mercy, from the beginning of the world! Connecting the grand promife of falvation, with the very fentence

of condemnation.

4. Unto the woman he faid, I will greatly multiply thy forrow, (and, or in) thy conception, in forrow or pain, thou shalt bring forth children, yea, above any other creature under heaven: which original curfe we fée is intailed on her lateft pofterity. And thy defire fhall be to thy husband, and he fhall rule over thee. It feems, the latter part of this fentence, is explanatory of the former. Was there till now any other inferiority of the woman to the man, than that which we may conceive in one angel to another? And unto Adam he faid, Becaufe thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and haft eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, faying, Thou shalt not eat of it; curfed is the ground for thy fake.Thorns and thifles fhall it bring forth unto thee; useless, yea and hurtful productions: whereas nothing calculated to hurt or to give pain, had at first any place in the creation. And thou shalt eat the herb of the field, coarse and vile, compared to the delicious fruits of paradife. In the fweat of thy face fhalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it waft thou taken. For duft thou art, and unto duft thou fhalt return.

II. 1. Let us now in the fecond place, weigh thefe folemn words, in a more particular manner. Duft thou art. But how fearfully and wonderfully wrought, into innumerable fibres, nerves, membranes, muscles, arteries, veins, vessels of various kinds! And how amazingly is this duft connected with water, with inclofed, circulating fluids, diversified a thoufand ways, by a thoufand tubes and ftrainers! Yea, and how wonderfully is air impacted into every part, folid, or

fluid, of the Animal Machine! Air not elaftic, which would tear the Machine in pieces, but as fixt as water under the pole! But all this would not avail, were not ethereal Fire intimately mixt both with this Earth, Air, and Water. And all thefe Elements are mingled together in the most exact proportion: fo that while the body is in health, no one of them predominates in the least degree over the others.

2. Such was Man, with regard to his corporeal part, as he came out of the hands of his Maker. But fince he finned, he is not only duft, but mortal, corruptible duft. And by fad experience we find, that this corruptible body preffes down the foul. It very frequently hinders the Soul in its operations, and at beft ferves it very imperfectly. Yet the foul cannot dispense with its service, imperfect as it is. For an imbodied spirit cannot form one thought, but by the mediation of its bodily Organs. For thinking, is not (as many fuppofe,) the act of a pure Spirit: but the act of a Spirit connected with a body, and playing upon a fet of material keys. It cannot poffibly therefore make any better Mufic, than the nature and state of its inftruments allow it. Hence every dif order of the body, especially of the parts more immediately fubfervient to thinking, lay an almost infuperable bar, in the way of its thinking juftly. Hence the maxim received in all ages, Humanum eft errare & nefcire. Not Ignorance alone. (That belongs more or lefs to every Creature in Heaven and Earth: feeing none is omnifcient, none knoweth all things, fave the Creator) but Error is intailed on every child of man. Mistake as well as Ignorance, is in our prefent flate, infeparable from Humanity. Every child of man is in a thousand mistakes, and is liable to fresh mistakes every moment. And a mistake in judgment may occafion a mistake in practice, yea, naturally leads thereto. I mistake, and poffibly cannot avoid mistaking, the character of this or that man. I suppose him to be what he is not; to be better or worse than he really is. Upon this wrong fuppofition I behave wrong to