of theirStatebyCreation , 49 2. rr in that iiate he flood, he wasnot ordained to ic, though it was a high- ~ er perfection , and fo, dcurable ; yet 1t had been an unlawful and an inordi- Chap.6•. nate deure in h1m, 1f ever he had put 1t forth: Even as that ambition of his~ was to be as God: AAd as that of the Angels that fell, was, when they affect~d and afpired to a higher flat ion than God had fet them in. Had /Umz dcored this kind of Happinefs, he had gone out of his Rank, and fate quite bclidc the Cufhion. And whaf Angel, or Saint in Heaven dares delire the Hypoflatical Union (the mofl rranlcendent of all• Perfections), .even to be joyned to the Godhead, as the Manhood of Chrifl was 3 And yet they arc capable of it ( fay fame!·· Thof!' things wh1ch we know by God's Ordinance to imponible, wc are not to affect; nor dq we dclire them, when we conce1ve they are fuch. Who among the crowd of common People, has any vehement delire tobe a King, when be looks upon himfelf, as one fo inferiour to, and far oft' from fuch a ihte? · 3. Neither had he been miferable, or his Blcffcdriefs at all leffaned by the want of ir. He had not been in flatu violent a, had he not had it; bur in Nu– turrJ/i in his Natural Condition,wherein he had all things fuited to his Natural D cord. He had refled as a Stone in its Centcr, which delires not to go up– ward, His flare had been perfeCl:; and though not fo abfolutely pcrtcct as t heirs in Heaven, yet in its own Sphere it had been fuch. His Happinefs had been fuirable to his Condition on Earth, as ours fhall be to the Heavenly Con– dition of our Souls and Bodies in Heaven. He had been perfect, Perfdtioue competenti, though not a~Jotuta; with a Perfection fuitable and fit for him, though not with a Perfection tranfcendent and abfolute. And as a higher de– gree of Glory leffens not the Blefl'ednefsof any Saint inferiour, in Heaven it felf (for He is full): So, nor would, nor ought this higher Order of Bleffed– nefs have at alldiminifhed that competent Happinefs which he enjoyed; for it was full unto him, whilfl in that Earthly flare-. · So that, (to conclude) as .A– dam's Covenant was FredUf Naturre; fo his Happintfs fhould have been a per– fect contentment in God, enjoyed per mod111n 111;turre; not in God himfelf im– mediately : Neither fhould he have tafled this Heavenly Contentment by Faith (which is a prelibation of Heaven, and of its Beatifical Vioon); but only in effeCls. The Creatures fhould have revealed God unto him, arid been as Te– fiimonies of his Favour; which he fhould have apprehended as juflifying and approving him in a Covenant of Works; which apprehenlion would llave wrought peace ofConfcienc~, joy, ana fecuriry therein, through well-doin~, fo far as the perfwafion ol God's love, which Confcience and his own Spirit be– gat in him, ( whleh wa$ his Comforter) could work. And this Love appre– hended was but hypothetical, and in a way of cotnmon Providence, namely ; whilfl he fhould continue in his good behaviour. The Creator and Authot of Nature in thatrelation loving him, as being made righteous by him; he had not an affurance of a peculiar, unchangeable, and everla!ling love, without Ifs and .Ands; he had not the tafle and earnefl of Heaven by Faith Supernatu– ral; which is that Heavenly Gift that gives a Tafle of what it is to enjoy God in himfelf, which .Adam did not : Neither had he the Teflimony of the Spirit working in himj'!jl tstljpeakabte andgtorioUf, in the hope of Heaven. H CHAP.
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