ted in the image of God, which is in Christ, as I have shown in my first chapter, even so the new born babe in Christ, as being created anew in him the image, if he shall depart from that simplicity, and seeks to clothe himself with fig-leaf aprons of self righteousness, then it is evident that such person has been climbing up into the tree of self dependence through the instability of carnal wisdom. As did the first pair in the garden of Eden, so do they who place confidence in their own works, so that in proportion as man ever did or shall be tempted to, and grow into self confidence, his confidence in God is diminished; which amounts to what is meant by unbelief. Hence unbelief is the root and essence of origi nal sin, in Adam: the origin of which sin, was man's intellectual faculty being blended with his animal powers, in formation; so that the clay was marred in the hands of the potter. For the man's created reasoning powers of mind, being a little seasoned with animal passions, conceived and brought forth the serpent, even that wis dom from beneath, which St. James says is, " Earthly, sensual, devilish."

However, the serpentine figure, in itself considered, is only used to signify wisdom, and not so much to determine the nature of wisdom as to goodness: therefore may sometimes be used to imply as a type, that wisdom from above. For instance; Christ who was preached thisisdom of God, was prefigured by the brazen serpent in the wilderness of Sinai.

St. John 3. 14. "As Moses lifted up the serpent n the wilderness, even so must the sun of than be lifted up. But there is a remarkable instance recorded (Esodus 7. 10, 11, 12, 13.) directly to my purpose, in which both the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of man are signified by serpents. In this record it appears that Aaron the servant of the Lord, was commanded to cast down his sacred rod before Pharaoh and he did so, and it became a serpent, upon which the king called for the wise men of Egypt, and those inagicians, cast down ev. ery man his rod, and they became serpents. Therefore Pharaon was tempted by the wisdom of Egypt, to trust

to his own strength, and his heart was hardened in unbelief against the God of Israel, and he would not let the people go; notwithstanding Aaron's rod, transformed into a serpent by the wisdom of God, swallowed up the rods of the cunning Egyptians, as a token, that the wisdom of God will in the end bring to nought the wisdom of men. So then no device practiced against the plan of infinite wisdom shall prosper; but in the end, as not one Egyptian serpent was left being all swallowed up by the token of wisdom from above, even so God will be all in all at last.

Now it is very easy to see how Pharaoh was tempted by serpentine wisdom from beneath, even the scientific ingenuity of his wise men. He looking on the skill they had already displayed in his sight, and judging from this source that he and his vassals would be able to effect all he wished, independent of God, and thus he was lifted up in vain ambition, and tempted-not to obey God. Man is liable to glory in himself while viewing his own abilities that God hath given him: although they are but finite yet as their judgment is finite, they áre often tempted to believe, they can do more than belongs to man; and such an imperfect mode of reason. ing appears to be the nature of the temptation in the origin of sin.

I think St. Paul's words fitly apply to the subject Rom. 1. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 "Because that, when they, knew God they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but because vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing them. selves to be wise, they became fools.-&c. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever, Amen." Yes certainly it was so, for when man reasoned himself into the belief, that although he should disobey yet he would not die as God had foretold; he then in the most direct manner changed the truth which God had told him, into a lie; a full manifestation of unbelief and want of love to God: for had he loved he would have believed and obeyed. However, man's own

deceitful reason tempted him to believe God was not his friend, but delighted in keeping man in ignorance, therefore it appears his wicked heart conceived the idea of becoming wise and knowing as Gods, by acting independent of the will of his maker; this was the origin of sin or transgression.

CHAPTER 5.

THE STATE OF MAN IN THE DAY OF TRANSGRESSION, OR ON DEATH BY SIN EXPERIENCED.

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"FOR in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 3. 9, 10, 11, 12. " And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And he said, I did eat." v. 13, " And the woman said, I did eat."

Ans.

It appears to me, that if man had answered to the interrogation," where art thou ?" "Where am I, why I This answer would am dead according to thy word " have been true according to what God foretold him, saying, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This supposes man to become dead at the ve ry time he eat; in the same day, he experienced a change of condition, as certainly as the word, death, always implies nothing less than a real change. But what is the nature of this change, called death? As when the body dies by disease, it is changed from an active state in earthly things, to an inactive state in the same, even so, when in the day of transgression, man died, it implies his mind became inactive in heavenly things, he experienced a change from one state of mind to another; from a state of innocence to an unhappy condition of guilt; his eyes were opened to see his own nakedness before God; he had no robe of innocence to cover his guilty soul. So that man saw his own nakedness in this respect, and his guilty soul was tormented with slavish fear, and this induced him to go to work in fortning up garments of self-righteousness, figuratively

signified in the sacred history by fig-leaf aprons, but all his sham works were to no purpose. For when the still small voice of God was heard, walking in the garden of his soul in the cool of the day, (which implies in the time of serious reflection,) he was then afraid, and sought to hide himself amongst the trees of the garden, allegorically signifying, man strove to hide himself in crime, ander covert of the flesh. as too many do in this degenerate age of the world. Whereas, it is the mind or soul which is guilty, and not the tree that springs from the dust. The intellect alone is amenable to the law of God, as has been shown in the third chapter of this book. Therefore, mankind are unwise in supposing the trees of the garden will receive the blow of punishment for crime, in being cut down, and turning again to the dust as they were before formation. In this place let us remember, that when the blind man's scales fell from his eyes, he said, "I see men as trees walking." What did he see as trees walking? Surely not the spirits of men, but the earthy forms which intellectualists inhabit. Now as it is the spirit in man to which the inspiration of God gives the understanding of the law and not to the animal body, and as "Where no law is there is no transgression," Adam and Eve were very foolish in thinking they could hide themselves from crime amongst the earthy forms of the garden. Because, as certain as the law was never given to those trees, just so sure, no transgression could be justly charged to their account. For where no law is given, there is no transgression, and therefore, no punishment could possibly be due to the earthy formation. Hence it will fol low, that natural death makes no part of the punishment for sin, but it comes in consequence of the natural constitution of the body as formed at first of perishable matter: this agrees with the reasons God gives why it must return to the dust. "For out of it (the ground) thou wast taken: For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return." Gen. 3. 19. Here are two reasons given why man as relating to his earthy form, will return to the dust. But sin is never made the cause of natural