thing is certain, from that moment he could receive no favour but by grace; for grace is favour to the ill-deserving. No divine influence could from that moment work holiness in his heart without being an operation of grace, or favour to the ill-deserving. If such an influence was necessary, he must have remained utterly destitute of holiness till it was given him by grace. To all then who believe that God is the source of holiness, otherwise than by creating rational beings and leaving them to themselves, it must be apparent that the fallen Adam was totally depraved till restored by the dispensation of grace.

(2.) Adam transmitted to his posterity the nature which he possessed immediately after the fall, not the nature which he received by grace. The moment he broke covenant by one offence, he had done all that he could do to fix the character and fate of his offspring.* He was their federal head in his fall, but not in his reascent. He left them there, to be raised, not by him, but by Christ. The idea that he became restored, and propagated that restored nature to his seed, is making him the federal head in the restoration of the world,-is putting him exactly in the place of the Second Adam. But the experience of a hundred generations proves that grace is not hereditary.

It is then apparent that the posterity of Adam, viewed as existing immediately after the fall, were

* Rom. v. 12-21.

totally depraved: and if any or all of them were to be restored to the lowest degree of holiness, or even to a neutral state, it was to be accomplished by Christ under the dispensation of grace. Let us then,

(3.) Inquire whether the race were so restored by Christ at the time of the first promise in Eden, that they come into the world in successive generations otherwise than totally depraved. To this question I answer,

[1.] That there is not a particle of evidence that Adam's posterity were at all affected by his sin, except what is contained in those declarations and facts which apply to them exclusively after they come into existence. Cast your eye over the texts on which all our knowledge of the connexion between Adam and his posterity depends, and you will find them uniformly referring to a posterity in actual existence, and no other. The notion that greater evils were antecedently denounced against that posterity than they actually find at their entrance on existence, is a fancy unsupported by a single hint in the whole Bible.

[2] This opinion has arisen from two mis

takes:

First, from the idea that infants are born pure. This has been shown to be an errour; but if it were not, it would not justify the notion of an antecedent restoration. If infants are born pure, as they cannot draw pollution from Adam afterwards, they never derive depravity from him. Those

texts then which relate to Adam's posterity must not be understood to import that an existing posterity are tainted by his fall. But no other posterity are referred to in any text in the Bible. We are left then without a particle of proof that the posterity of Adam fell with him in any sense. But if they did not fall they could not be restored. Thus take away the depravity of infants, and you find no occasion for this autecedent restoration; admit their depravity, and it is manifest they are not restored.

Secondly, this opinion has arisen from the idea that the lapsed powers of man needed to be repaired to fit him for a state of probation. Lapsed powers repaired! What powers had lapsed? Not the natural powers. Who will prove that Satan himself has not as vigorous an understanding as he had in heaven? Will and affections he also has, and is a complete moral agent, and is blamed and punished for sins committed since his fall,-for seducing our first parents, and for all his enterprises against Christ and His Church. Nothing is necessary to turn that apostate into an angel of light but a new heart. And what powers had men lost that needed to be restored to fit them for a state of probation? They still possessed understanding, will, and affections. They still were complete moral agents, with full ability to perform their whole duty if rightly disposed. All that had befallen them was, their hearts were inclined to evil. But how could this

be remedied except by making them holy? And was it absolutely necessary to make them holy before putting them on probation? The very object of the probation was to decide whether they would be holy. What powers could they want for this trial but enough to render them moral agents? These they had; what more could they possess?

The fancy of an antecedent restoration being thus removed, we revert to the conclusion that mankind are born into the world as they were left by the fall of Adam, in a state of Total Depravity.

III. In this state they continue till by a second creation or birth they are united to the Second Adam, and become partakers of His holiness.

In this position two ideas are contained; that the new creation or birth first unites them to Christ, and that till then they remain destitute of holiness; both of which are proved by analogy and Scripture.

As they are united in depravity and condemnation to the first Adam by the first birth or creation, analogy requires that they should be united in holiness and justification to the Second Adam by the second creation or birth. As they do not share in the depravity of the first Adam till they are born or created, analogy requires that they should not share in the holiness of the Second Adam till they are created or born anew. As they do not share in the depravity of the first Adam earlier than they partake of his condemnation, (whatever that con

demnation is,) analogy requires that they should not partake of the holiness of the Second Adam till that union to Him by which they become completely justified. In a word, analogy requires that the new creation or new birth should be that great revolution by which mankind become first united to Christ in holiness, and completely united to Him in justification.

What is thus suggested by analogy is abundantly confirmed by Scripture. That teaches us that men are first united to Christ by the new creation: "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature"; (then there is no union to Christ before the new creation:) "We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works"; (then there is no new creation earlier than a union to Christ.) That teaches us that until the new creation and union to Christ the old nature remains entire, and that a nature altogether new is then imparted: “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are past away, behold ALL things are become new." "They that are Christ's, [of course none but they,] have crucified the flesh." By flesh is meant all that man is by the first birth : “That which is born of the flesh is flesh." None therefore but they who are united to Christ have begun to crucify the old nature. None begin to "put off the old man" till they begin to "put on the new :" but to "put on the new man" is to become "a new creature." As might therefore be expected, the two births are represented as the two sources, if I