QUESTION IT. 279 being of such infinite goodness, should by a powerful law and order of creation, which is now called nature, appoint young intelligent creatures to come into being in such unhappy anddege- nerate ,circumstances, liable to such intense pains and miseries, and under such powerful tendencies and propensities to evil by the mere law of propagation, as should almost unavoidably expose them to ten thousand actual sins as they grow up, if they were not born under some judicial sentence of God as a gover- nor on the account of moral evil or sin ; which moral evil must be before committed, either by themselves or by some represen- tative. It is hard to suppose, that the creating power and decree of God, or his law of nature for propagation, should place mankind in sucha situation as to render them unavoid-, ably sinful and miserable in a degree, before they have any personal sin Or guilt to deserve it, unless you suppose them tobe some way- interested or involved in something of guilt or sin, which was derived from a common head, surety or represen- tative, who might be appointed by some wise and righteous con- stitution to act for them. VI. Upon the whole view of things therefore, I know not how to resolve this difficulty, but by supposing this universal sinfulness and misery of our whole species, to arise from the sin and guilt of some person, who was both a primitive parent or natural fountain of our race, and who was also set up as a com- mon head or legal representative of all mankind : And that he by sinning against his Maker, lost his own principles of virtue and goodness, exposed himself and his posterity, whom he natu- rally produced, and whom he legally represented, to the dis- pleasure of his Maker, and so brought sin and misery into the very nature of man, and spread or conveyed this sin or misery through all Isis offspring. I must confess I am not fond of such a scheme or hypothesis, of deriving some sort of guilt from a surety or representative, though I know it has been embraced by a considerable party of christians ancient and modern. No ; I would gladly renounce it, because of some great difficulties attending it, if I could find any other way to relieve the much greater difficulties and harder imputations upon the conduct of divine providence, which will attend this enquiry, if we follow any other track of sentiments. es If it could be well made out, that the whole raceof mankindare par takers of sinful inclinations and evil passions and biasses to vice, and also are exposed to many sharp actual sufferings, and to death, merely and only by the original divine law of their propagation from their parents who bad sinned; and if thejustice and goodness of God could be vindicated to making and maintaining sucha dread fill law or order of propagation through six thousand years; we have no need of further enquiries, but might here he at rest. But if such a scheme be 'lb injurious to the goodness and equity of God, as it seems to he, then we are constrained to seek a little further for a satisfactory account of this universal degeneracy and misery of mankind.
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