ARM,INIANISM. 45 have alLnow a power ofbelieving in Chrift, that is, Adam by his falI obtained a fppëï`, natural e:.dowment, far more excellent than any he had before ; and let themnot here' pretend the taiiverfality of the Ilere novel rant, : .161 they can prove it, and I am certain' it will be long e. gh fe it but this I fry, belongs of to this place only let us e, how from the f o`God We may overthrow the fo met odiousherely. God in the b a( rag ice. red reca in his own imams, Ge,. i. 26 that is, oriihs, L.cclef. vii. 29. le:d w'.qi a nature compote) to ab-dence and i linefs : that habitual grace, andoriginal riahtcoufitcfi, wherewithhe we, mvefìed i a§ ill 'imanner due unto' fiim, for re '.aini, g ó;..Jaat fingi -natural ei t vilereunto he was create&; and uni: verfal re£l.itude of ;di the faculties of his foul, advanced by fniperi animal grates, ena- bling him to the performa.;te ofaloft': duties whereunto they wete rugaired,ìs,' thatwhich wecall the íínincency ofour full parents. Our nature was then enclined to goodonly, and adornedwell al f fbole qualifications, s, that wee s eelfkl'y to make it accept able unto" God, and able to d-' what was required of us by the law, 'under the conditiomdfevef -' lofting happiets. . Nature, aid grace, or original righteoutisefs, before the fall, ought not to be fo clittinguifhed, as if the one were a thingprone to evil, refittedand.queiled by tlin ether for both comp' i lvent "unifin and harmony, toglf "tns along in theway ofcbedience to eternal b'.elpcdnefir; no coatentiOn between the' and the fpirit, but as all other thiigs at ;theirs, fo the whole man jointly aihièd at his anal chit feil gbod hr icgall .nears of attaining it in lais poser. " That there was then i o . linatso a to fin, no ceneupifcence ofthat which is evil, no repugnancy to the lawof'God in the pure nature ofman ;. is proved, b:tcaulè I. The fcripturedefcrib'ng the condition of our nature, at the firft creation there- of, intimatesno fuehpiopeufity to evil, but rather an holy perfeetioii quite excluding it : we were created in the image of Gal, tie a i. a7. In 16th a perfè£t uprightnefs, as rs oppofite to all eviliirvei.tiols, Erelef vii. 29. To which image, when we are again' in fame meafure renewed,. by the grace of Ghril, Loanj. üì. lo. We fee by the fish fruits, that it confifted in righreoufnefs and hollers ; in truth and perfect holinefe,- Ephef. iv. a4. .., 2. An inclinationtonsil, and a lofting after that which is forbidden, is that inòi di- nate concupifcen:ce, wherewith our nature is now infe£ fed, .which is everywhere in the' fcripturecondemned as a fin : St. Paul in the f venth to the 'Romans, adïrming exprefsly' that it is a fin, and forbidden by the law, ver. r. producing all manner ofevil, and hindering all that is good : a body ofdeath, ver. 24. and St. Janes maketh it even the womb of all iniquity,- amen i. rq, ,ry. Surely; our nasure.wa,s notat firft yokedwitb fach a troublefome inmate. Where is the upiightnefs and innocency ive have hitherto' conceived our fief} parents to have enjoyed before the fall? A repugnancy to the law muft needs bea thing fitful; an inclinatïcn to evil; to a thing forbidden, is an anomy, a deviation, and difcrepaacy from. the pure. and holy law of God, ; we mud fpeak no more then ofthe haie Ofinnocency, but only ofa fhort )pace whe'reiu rio outward a&ual fins were committed. Their proper root, if this he true, was concreated with our nature: is this that obediential harmony to all the commandments of Godw ch ' is necelfary for a pure andinnocent creature, that Lath a law preliribed unto hlin . py whichof the tea precepts is this inclination to'evil required ? Is it be the fah, rhea air not cover? Or by that fumof them all, thoufhalr live the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, &c. Is this all the happinefs of paradife, to be turmoiled ív ids a entire liivelling' wìtn abundance of vain defines ? And with a main fiream carried headlong toall iniquity, if its violent appetite be not powerfully kept inby the bit and bridle of original rigirte- oufuefs? (a) So it is we fee with children cow, and fo it fsould have been with them in paradife, if they were fùbje£t to this rebellious inclination to fin. 3. And principally, whence had our primitive nature this atfe£fion to thofe things that were forbidden it ; This rebellion, and repugnancy to the law, whichmud needs: be an anomy, ai,d to a thing fitful ? There was as yet no demerit, to deferve it as a punilhment, what fault is it to be created ? (b) The operation of any thing which hash' its original with the being:of the thing itfelf, mudneeds proceed from the fame caufe, as doth the effence or being it felf; as the fire's tending upwards, relates to the fame original with the fire : and therefore this inclination or alfe&ion can have no other au- (a) Vidi ego zelantem isarvulum qui nondnm loquebatar, & intuehatnr palfidus, amata afpetlu eolluftaneum. alum, Aug. , (b) Operario, quo; anal inc n cum cite rei, eft ei ab agente, a qno habeteffe, lenity moved Curtain inelt'igni a generánte, ¿Four. p. n99. O thor
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