not be cited as an argument in the discussion of this controversy. Nevertheless, even he is called “the seed of the woman,” "the seed of David according to the flesh," that is, undoubtedly, according to his human nature. There seems, therefore, no reason why the soul of man should be made an exception to the general law of creation. For as has been shown before, God breathed the breath of life into the other living beings, and blended it so intimately with matter, that the propagation and production of the human form were analogus to those of other forms, and the proper effect of that power which had been communicated to matter by the Deity. CHAPTER II. OF THE FALL-SIN-ITS CONSEQUENCES-DEATH-GUILT-FEAR -SPIRITUAL DEATH-BODILY DEATH-THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN NOT A NATURAL RESULT-NOT A SEPARATION OF SOUL AND BODY-THE WHOLE MAN DIES-EACH PART ALSO, SOUL, BODY AND SPIRIT. THE Providence of God, as it regards the fall of man, is observable in the sin of man, and the misery consequent upon it, as well as in his restoration. Sin, as defined by the apostle, is avouía, anomia, or "the transgression of the law," 1 John iii. 5. By the law is here meant, in the first place, that rule of conscience which is innate, and engraven on the mind of man; secondly, the special command which proceeded out of the mouth of God, (for the Law written by Moses was long subse quent,) Gen. ii. 17, “Thou shalt not eat of it." Hence it is said, Rom. ii. 12, “As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law." After sin came death, as the calamity or punishment conse quent upon it. Gen. ii. 17," in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Rom. v. 12, "Death entered by sin.” Rom. vi. 23, "the wages of sin is death." Rom. vii. 5, "the motions of sin did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." Under the head of death, in Scripture, all evils whatever, together with everything which in its consequences tends to death, must be understood as comprehended; for mere bodily death, as it is called, did not follow the sin of Adam on the self same day, as God had threatened.* Hence divines, not inappropriately, reckon up several degrees of death. The first, as before said, comprehends all those evils which lead to death, and which it is agreed came into the world immediately upon the fall of man, the most important of which I proceed to enumerate. Gen. In the first place, guiltiness; which, though in its primary sense it is an imputation made by God to us, yet it is also, as it were, a commencement or prelude of death dwelling in us, by which we are held as by a bond, and rendered subject to condemnation and punishment ... Rom. iii. 19, "that all the world may become guilty before God." Guiltiness, accordingly, is accompanied or followed by the terrors of conscience. iii. 8, "they heard the voice of God.... and Adam and his wife hid themselves.... and he said, I was afraid." Rom. viii. 18," Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear." Heb. ii. 15, “Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. x. 27, "A certain fearful looking for of judgment." It is attended likewise with the sensible forfeiture of the divine protection and favor; whence My sole command Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die, From that day mortal; and this happy state 66 results a diminution of the majesty of the human countenance, and a conscious degradation of mind. Gen. iii. 7, "They knew that they were naked." Hence the whole man becomes polluted: Titus i. 15, “ Even their mind and conscience is defiled:” whence arises shame. Gen. iii. 7, “They sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons." Rom. vi. 21, “ What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.” 66 The second degree of death is called spiritual death; by which is meant the loss of divine grace, and of that innate righteousness, wherein man in the beginning lived unto God. Eph. ii. 1, "who were dead in trespasses and sins." Eph. iv. 18, "alienated from the life of God." Col. ii. 13, "dead in your sins." Rev. iii. 1, "thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead." And this death took place not only on the very day, but at the very moment of the fall. They who are delivered from it are said to be "regenerated," to be "born again," and to be "created afresh;" which is the work of God alone. The third degree of death is what is called the death of the body. To this all the labors, sorrows, and diseases, which afflict the body, are nothing but the prelude. Gen. iii. 16, 17, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow .... in sorrow shalt thou eat of it." Job v. 7, "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." All nature is likewise subject to mortality and a curse on account of man. Gen. iii. 17, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake." Rom. viii. 20, 21, “The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly. Even the beasts are not exempt. Gen. ii. 14; vi. 7, So "the first born of beasts" in the land of Egypt perished for the sins of their masters, Exod. xi. 5. The death of the body is to be considered in the light of a punishment for sin, no less than the other degrees of death, notwithstanding the contrary opinion entertained by some. v. 13, 14, "until the law sin was in the world reigned from Adam to Moses." 1 Cor. xv. 21, "Since by man .... Rom. death came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead; therefore that bodily death from which we are to rise again, originated in sin, and not in nature; contrary to the opinion of those who maintain that temporal death is the result of natural causes, and that eternal death alone is due to sin. The death of the body is the loss or extinction of life. The common definition, which supposes it to consist in the separation of soul and body, is inadmissible. For what part of man is it that dies when this separation takes place? Is it the soul? This will not be admitted by the supporters of the above definition. Is it then the body? But how can that be said to die, which never had any life of itself? Therefore the separation of soul and body cannot be called the death of man. Here then arises an important question, which, owing to the prejudice of divines in behalf of their preconceived opinions, has usually been dismissed without examination, instead of being treated with the attention it deserves. Is it the whole man, or the body alone, that is deprived of vitality? And as this is a subject which may be discussed without endangering our faith or devotion, whichever side of the controversy we espouse, I shall declare freely what seems to me to be the true doctrine, as collected from numberless passages of Scripture; without regarding the opinion of those, who think that truth is to be sought in the schools of philosophy, rather than in the sacred writings. Inasmuch then as the whole man is uniformly said to consist of body, spirit and soul, (whatever may be the distinct provinces severally assigned to these divisions,) I will show that, in death, first the whole man, and secondly, each component part suffers privation of life. It is to be observed, first of all, that God de.. nounced the punishment of death against the whole man that sinned, without excepting any part. For what could be more just, than that he who had sinned in his whole person, should die in his whole person? Or, on the other hand, what could be more absurd, than that the mind, which is the part princi pally offending, should escape the threatened death; and that the body alone, to which immortality was equally allotted, before death came into the world by sin, should pay the penalty of sin by undergoing death, though not implicated in the transgression. 66 It is evident that the saints and believers of old, the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, without exception held this doctrine. Jacob, Gen. xxxvii. 35, I will go down into the grave unto my son, mourning." Gen. xlii. 36, “Joseph is not." So also Job, iii. 12–18, “As an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light." Compare Job, x. 21, Job, xiv. 10-13, "Man giveth up the ghost and where is he? 66 man lieth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more." Job, xvii. 13, 15, 16, "If I wait, the grave is mine house." "Where is now my hope?" "They shall go down to the bars of the pit." See also many other passages. .... .... The belief of David was the same, as is evident from the reason so often given by him for deprecating the approach of death. Psal. vi. 5, "For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Psal. lxxxviii. 10-12, "Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? Psal. xv. 17, "The dead praise not Jehovah." Psal. xxxix. 13, "Before I go hence and be no more." Psal. cxlvi. 2, "While I live I will praise Jehovah." Certainly if he had believed that his soul would survive, and be received immediately into heaven, he would have abstained from all such remonstrances, as one who was shortly to take his flight where he might praise God unceasingly. It appears that the belief of Peter respecting David was the same as David's belief respecting himself. Acts ii. 29, 34, “Let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both |