are an equal balance to all those temptations the prefent conftitution of things unavoidably leads him into; and which capacity will, in reafon and equity, render him inexcufable if he mifcarries. I fay, man confidered as above, has a right, by the laws of common equity, to fuch a capacity; because if the cafe be otherwife, then he is unfairly and. unequally dealt with. And if the prefent conftitution of things be otherwife than what I have fhewn it ought to be, fuch a conftitution is manifeftly wrong, by being unequal and repugnant to reafon. It is as unequal in this cafe, as the requiring bricks without affording materials for the making them: It is the fame, as laying a heavy burthen without giving ftrength to bear it; and punishing without a fault: all which are contrary, to reafon and equity, and therefore most certainly ought not to be. And what a horrid imputation is this upon the great Maker and Governor of the world! as if he wanted either under ftanding or difpofition to have made and conftituted things better, or to have dealt fairly and equitably with his creatures; which furely is very difhonourable to him, as it fuppofes him grofsly defective, either in his natural or in his moral capacity. And,

The injuftice in this cafe, is fo plain and evident, even to the loweft understanding, as not to need many words to fhew it to be fo: it being evidently unequal and repugnant to reafon, for God to call a fpecies of crea

tures

1

tures into being, to make them accountable for their actions, and to reward or punish them in another world, according as they behave themselves in this; and yet, not to furnish them with a capacity or power fufficient to answer the purposes of fuch creatures: I fay, fuch a procedure is fo unequal and nreafonable, as that the bare propofing the cafe, plainly fhews it to be fo, to every person that will but attend to it. And from hence it evidently follows, that if this be the truth of the cafe, then God must have been very defective either in his natural or his moral capacity; that is, he must have wanted either understanding, or difpofition, to have made and conftituted things better. And it will likewife as evidently follow, that reafon either is, or that it ought to be, a fufficient guide in matters of religion, which is the point I undertook to make good.

If it fhould be urged, that man, as origi nally conftituted, was endowed with fuch a capacity or power, as I have before defcribed; but that by Adam's eating the forbidden fruit, this capacity was loft to him, and to ail his pofterity:

I anfwer; this does not at all help the cafe, because the inequality of the prefent conftitution of things is the fame to mankind, whether Adam had originally fuch a power, or not. And as our fpecies was no way acceffary to Adam's tranfgreffion; fo it is very unreafonable and unequal, that they fhould be

fuch

fuch fufferers by it, as the prefent argument fuppofes. That is, it is very unequal and unreasonable, that mankind should still be accountable for their actions, and should be rewarded or punished in another world, according as they have behaved themselves in this; when they loft in Adam the capacity to dif cover what it is they are accountable for; and what it is which renders them the proper objects of God's favour or displeasure; and likewife what those motives to a right behaviour are, which would be an equal balance to all the temptations, that the present conftitution of things unavoidably leads them into. Befides, fuch a conftitution of things would be wrong. That is, it would be apparently wrong for things to be fo conftituted, as that the capacities of a whole fpecies of agents (which capacities are of the utmost confequence to them) fhould be thus hazarded upon one fingle fact only; and that it should be left to the will and pleasure of Adam, whether this power, upon which our all depended, fhould remain to his numberless pofterity, or not. So that, I think, the cafe muft and will stand as I inferred above, viz. that either reason is, or else that it ought to be, a fufficient guide in matters of religion.

If it fhould be farther urged, that as Adam was originally endowed with such a capacity or power, as I have before described, To this capacity was not funk, or totally loft to him and his pofterity, by his tranfgreffi

on;

on; but only, that thereby it became fo weakned and impaired, as rendered it infufficient to aniwer the purposes for which it was intended; and that hereupon, mankind are not unfairly dealt with, neither is the prefent conftitution of things unequal; becaufe God will deal with, and judge every man, according to the ability he has, and not according to what he has not.

To this I anfwer; first, it does not appear from the history, that Adam's difcerning faculty fuffered juch a change by his tranfgreffion, as is here fuppofed; but that the contrary is rather declared, as in Gen. iii. 6, 7. And when the woman jaw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be defired to make one wife; Jhe took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave alfo unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, &c: Verfe 22. And the Lord God faid, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, &c. Here we fee, that Adam's difcerning faculty was fc far from being weakned and impaired, that, on the contrary, it is reprefented as being rather improved by his tranfgreffion. And, if Adam's fin had no fuch effect upon himself, as to weaken and impair his own underftanding, but had rather a contrary effect; why then should it be prefumed, that his fin had fuch a phyfical effect upon the difcerning faculties of

all

all his pofterity, as is here fuppofed; feeing there is nothing in the hiftory, nor in philoSophy, nor experience, to ground fuch a prefumption upon? And as what is here prefumed, ought not in reafon to be admitted in argument; fo it may more juftly be prefumed, that what is urged above, upon this head, is falfe and groundless. Again,

I anfwer, fecondly, fuppofing Adam's fin had such a phyfical effect upon all his pofterity (tho' it had no fuch effect upon himfelf) as that their difcerning faculties became weakned and impaired thereby; then the proper queftion will be, whether the weakness which our fpecies are fallen under by Adam's tranfgreffion does not, or whether it does, render us incapable of knowing and doing enough to make us the proper objects of God's favour; and to render us, in juftice and equity, inexcufable if we mifcarry. If the former be the cafe; that is, if the weaknefs which Adam's fin brought upon our fpecies, does not render us incapable of knowing and doing, as aforefaid, which feems to be implied in the objection (in which it is faid, that mankind are not unfairly nor unequally dealt with, in and by the present conftitution of things, and that God will deal with and judge every man, according to the ability they have, and not according to what they have not;) then, I fay, that reafon is a fufficient guide in matters of religion; and that it is fufficient (notwithstanding Adam's