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I was naked; and I hid myself.' The Death following after, as the full Reward of Sin, was the natural Death of the Body with the Sting in it, and eternal Death in the confummate Mifery of Soul and Body for ever: 1 Cor. xv. 55. O death, where is thy fting? O grave, where is thy victory?' Matth. xxv. 41. Then fhall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' And this was comprehended in the exprefs Threatening of Death to accompany Sin; inafmuch as the one was a fure Pledge of the other, natively iffuing therein.

Queft. 13. Did our first Parents continue in the Eftate wherein they were created? Anf. Our firft Parents, being left to the Freedom of their own Will, fell from the Eftate wherein they were created, by finning against God.

EXPLICATION.

Our first Parents were Adam and Eve. The State wherein they were created, was a holy and happy State But they fell from it; and that by their finning against God: Gen. iii. 6. 7. 8.

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And when the woman faw 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; 'fhe took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and < gave alfo unto her husband with her; and he did < eat, &c.' The first that finned was the Woman: 1 Tim. ii. 14. "And Adam was not deceived, but

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'the woman being deceived was in the tranfgreffion.' And it was the Devil that infṇared her: Gen. iii. 13. And the woman faid, The ferpent beguiled me, and I did eat.' The Woman having finned, infnared Adam, verf. 6. forecited. But their being tempted to fin, did not excufe them; because it was of their own free Will that they finned. Freedom of Will is a Power in the Will, whereby it doth of its own accord, without Force upon it, chufe or refufe what is proposed to it by the Understanding. And Man hath this Freedom of Will in whatever State he be. But this Power of the Will is not of the fame Extent in all States. In the State of Innocence, it extended both to Good and Evil; that is to fay, Man had a Freedom of Will, whereby he could wholly turn, either to the one Side or the other, to Good or Evil, proposed by his Understanding: And that Man was created thus mutable, was fuitable to the State of Trial. Now, the fpecial Act of Providence about the Fall of our firft Parents, was that God left them to the Freedom of their own Will: And the Ufe they made of that, was, that they went freely, of their own accord, to the Side of Sin. But in the State of corrupt Nature, the Power of the Will extends only to Evil: Gen. 'And God faw that the wickednefs of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In the State of Grace, it extends partly to Good, and partly to Evil: Rom. vii. 23. But I fee another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of fin, which is in my members.' And in the State of Glory it extends only to Good: Heb.

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xii. 23. To the spirits of just men, made perfect.”

Queft. 14. What is Sin?

Anf. Sin is any Want of Conformity unto, or Tranfgreffion of, the Law of God.

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EXPLICATIO N.

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By Sin is meant Tranfgreffion of the Law of God; and therefore nothing can be Sin, but what one way or other is a Tranfgreffion of fome Law of God: 1 John iii. 4. Whofoever committeth fin, tranfgreffeth alfo the law for fin is the tranfgreffion of the law.' Tranfgreffion of the Law of God, is any Want of Conformity to it whatfoever, John iii. 4. forecited. So the least coming fhort of the Perfection required by the Law, is Sin; becaufe fo far there is a Want of Conformity to the Law: Matth. v. 48. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' Compared with 1 John iii. 4. above cited. Now, the Law of God requires a twofold Conformity to it in the reasonable Creatures; namely, a Conformity of their Natures to it, and a Conformity of their Lives to it: Pfal. xxiv. 3.4. 'Who fhall afcend into the hill of the Lord ? and who fhall ftand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his foul unto vanity, nor fworn de'ceitfully. Hence there are two general Kinds of Sin; namely, original Sin, and actual Sin: And each of them is a Want of Conformity to the Law of God. Original Sin is a Want of Conformity of our Natures to the Law of God. Actual

Sin is a Want of Conformity of our Lives to the Law of God, whether by Ömiffion or Commiffion. The chief Evil of Sin lies in the Filthiness of it. The Filthinefs of Sin is its being the quite contrary of God's Holiness expreffed in his Law; whence it is, in the Sight of God, the Object of his greatest Loathing and Abhorrence: Jer. xliv. 4. Howbeit, I fent unto you all my fervants the prophets, rifing early, and fending them, faying, "Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate !'

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Queft. 15. What was the Sin whereby our firft Parents fell from the Estate. wherein they were created?

Anf The Sin whereby our firft Parents fell from the Eftate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden Fruit.

EXPLICATION.

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The Sin whereby Man fell, was the eating the forbidden Fruit: Gen. iii. 6. And when the woman faw 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; he took of the 'fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave alfo unto 'her husband with her; and he did eat.' There was no Evil in the Fruit itfelf, for which it was forbidden: Gen. i. ult. And God faw every thing "that he had made, and behold, it was very good. The Evil of the Matter lay in Man's eating it aC

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gainst the exprefs Command of God. God for. bade it to be eaten, for the Trial of Man's Obe dience. And the Fitness of taking Trial of Man by that Mean, appears in that fo it was taken in an external Thing, in itself indifferent, wherein Man's Obedience behoved to turn precisely upon the Point of the Will of God. This Sin was then, in effect, Man's practical Declaration that he would not be ruled by God's Will, but by his own: And therefore it was not a little Sin, but a breaking of the whole Law at once: Fam. il 10. II. For whofoever fhall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. · For he that faid, Do not commit adultery; faid alfo, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a tranfgreffor of the law.'

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. 16. Did all Mankind fall in Adam Erft Tranfgreffion?

Anf. The Covenant being made with Adam, not only for hirfelf, but for his Pofterity; all Mankind, defcending from him by ordinary Generation, finned in him, and fell with him, in his first Tranfgreffion.

EXPLICATION.

Adam did not fall alone in this Tranfgreffion : But all Mankind, defcending from him by ordinaryGeneration, were involved with him in the Ruins

of

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