should stand than that any of us should; and, therefore, it was more for our interest that he should act for us, than we for ourselves: But if we had been put to act singly for ourselves, under such a constitution, it had been much better than to be left in a state of pure nature, and so we should have had great cause of thankfulness to God for his condescension and goodness; but to have Adam appointed to act for us, was, in the nature of the thing, still more to our advantage; on the account of which, we have, therefore, still greater cause of thankfulness to the good Governor of the world. It is infinite wickedness, therefore, to fly in the face of Almighty God, and charge him with unrighteousness, for appointing Adam our head and representative. We ought rather to say, " The constitution was "holy, just, and good-yea, very good; but to us belongs "shame and confusion of face, for that we have sinned."

OBJ. But God knew how it would turn out-he knew Adam would fall, and undo himself and all his race.

ANS. When God called Abraham, and chose him and his seed for his peculiar people, to give them distinguishing advantages and privileges, and that professedly under the notion of great kindness and unspeakable goodness; yet, at the same time, he knew how they would turn out-how they would be a stiff-necked people, and would kill his Prophets, his Son and Apostles, and so be cast off from being his people. He knew all this beforehand; yet that altered not the nature of the thing at all-did not diminish his goodness, nor lessen his grace. And the Jewish nation, at this day, have reason to say," The "Lord's ways have been ways of goodness, and blessed be his "name; but to us belong shame and confusion of face, for "that we have sinned."

OBJ. Yes, but God decreed that Adam should fall.

ANS. He did not decree that Adam should fall, any more than he did that the seed of Abraham should turn out such a stiff-necked, rebellious race. He decreed to permit both to do as they did; but this neither lessens his goodness, nor their sin: for God is not obliged to put his creatures under such cir

cumstances as that they shall never be tempted nor tried; and when they are tried, he is not obliged to keep them from falling; it is enough that they have sufficient power to stand, if they will ;-which was the case with Adam. Besides, God had wise ends in permitting Adam to fall; for he designed to take occasion therefrom, to display all his glorious perfections in the most illustrious manner: So that we may say of it (and should, if we loved God above ourselves) as Joseph does of his brethren's selling him-Ye meant it for evil, but the Lord meant it for good: So here, satan meant it for evil, but God meant it. for good; even to bring much glory to his great name: therefore be still, and adore his holy sovereignty-and, at the same time, acknowledge that the constitution, in its own nature, was holy, just, and good-yea, very good. These things being considered, I proceed to add,

(4.) That, in such a case, God, as supreme Lord and sovereign Governor of the whole world, had full power and rightful authority to constitute Adam, our common head and public representative, to act in our behalf; for, as the case stood, there could be no reasonable objection against it. Adam was not held up to hard terms: The threatening, in case of disobedience, was strictly just: The constitution, in its own nature, was vastly for the interest of Adam and of all his race. Adam was already constituted the natural head of all mankind; for God blessed him, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.... Gen. i. 28. All his race, had they then existed, would, if they had been wise for themselves, readily have consented to such a constitution, as being well adapted to the general good: (So men are wont to do when their estates lie at stake, or their lives; if they think that an attorney is likely to manage the case for them better than they can for themselves, they will choose him, and venture the case with him, rather than with themselves): So that the only question is, whether God had, in so unexcep. tionable a case, full power and rightful authority to constitute Adam a public head, to stand as a moral representative for all his race, and act in their behalf, so that they should stand or fall

with him: Or, in other words, (for it all comes to the same thing), whether, in any case whatsoever, God has full power and rightful authority to appoint one to stand and act in the room of another, so as to lay a foundation for the conduct of the one to be so imputed to the other, as that both shall stand and fall together: And so it is as much of a question, whether God had power and authority to constitute the second Adam a public head as the first. If God had not full power and rightful authority to appoint the first Adam to be our public head and moral representative, to stand and act in our behalf, so as to lay a foundation for his conduct to be so imputed to us, as that we should stand and fall with him, then he had not full power and rightful authority to appoint the second Adam to be a public head, and moral representative, to stand and act in the room of a guilty world, so as to lay a foundation for his righteousness to be so imputed to them that believe in him, as that they should be justified and saved through it: For, if God has not power to constitute one to stand and act in the room of another, in any case whatsoever-and if, on this footing, we say he had not power to appoint the first Adam, it is plain that, on the same footing, he had no power to appoint the second. I suppose it will be readily granted, that if God has power, in any case whatsoever, to constitute one to stand and act in the room of another, in the manner aforesaid, then he had in these two instances of Adam and Christ, which are doubtless, on all accounts, in themselves, most unexceptionable: But if God, in no case whatsoever, has power to appoint one thus to stand and act in the room of another, then both these constitutions are effectually undermined, and rendered null and void. We can neither be guilty of Adam's first sin, so as justly to be exposed to condemnation and ruin therefor; nor can the righteousness of Christ be so imputed to us, as to entitle us to justification and life. One man's disobedience cannot constitute many to be sinners, nor the obedience of one constitute many to be righteous. We can neither be ruined by the first Adam, nor redeemed by the second. Under the Jewish dispensation, it was ordained (Lev. xvi.) that Aaron

should lay both his hands upon the head of the live-goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And (says God) the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities, unto a land not inhabited. We used to think this scape-goat was designed by God to typify Christ: And the scripture has taught us, in express language, that the iniquities of us all were laid on him....that he bore our sins....that he was made a curse for us....that by his obedience many are made rightcous....Isai. liii. 6-Pet. ii. 24-Gal, iii. 13-Rom. v. 19.But if God has not authority to constitute one to stand and act in the room of another, this must all be void and of none effect: And thus, while men are disputing against the original constitution with Adam, they, unawares, undermine this second constitution, which is the foundation of all our hopes. Eager to avoid Adam's first sin, whereby comes condemnation, they render of none effect Christ's righteousness, whereby comes justification: And if Christ did not stand and act as a public person....if our sins were not laid upon him....if he did not bare them on the tree....if he was not made a curse for us, and if we are not to be pardoned through his atonement, and justified through his righteousness, then the gospel is all a fable, and the whole scheme of our salvation, therein revealed, is wholly overthrown: What remains, therefore, but deism and infidelity? But in as much as we have full evidence to the truth of the Christian revelation, and may be assured that it is from God, we may, therefore, be confirmed in it that Jesus Christ has been, by God, the great Governor of the world, appointed a public person, to stand and act....to obey and suffer in our room, that, through his obedience and sufferings, we might have pardon and eternal life: And, from this fact, we may be assured, that God has full power and rightful authority to constitute one to stand and act in the room of another: and, if he has such authority, nothing hinders but that he might constitute Adam to be our public head, as has been said.

Besides, if we consider the nature of the thing itself, it is plain that God had power to constitute Adam our public head; for God, as moral Governor of the world, and sovereign Lord of alk things, has power to make any constitution whatsoever, which does, in its own nature, agree to the eternal fitness of things, or, in other words, which is agreeable to his own perfections: But all will grant, that constitution is agreeable to his own perfections, which, in its own nature, is suited to the glory of God and good of the creatures. Now this constitution with Adam was, in its own nature, suited to the general good of mankind, because the welfare of mankind was, in the nature of the thing, safer and better secured upon such a footing, than if every single child of Adam had been left in a state of pure nature, without any constitution at all, or than if they had every one been put to act singly for himself-as has been before proved: And it was well suited to the glory of God, because in that constitution,considered in its own nature, God eminently appeared to be what he was: For in it he appeared as the MOST HIGH GOD-the SUPREME LORD, and SOVEREIGN GOVERNOR of the whole world-for in it he acted as sovereign Lord of his creatures...as being, by nature, God, and as having an absolute right to and authority over the works of his hands. And when God acts so, as by his conduct to show what he is, then are his doings suited to his own glory; for nothing is more to his glory, than to appear to be what he is: And in as much as the constitution itself was well suited to the general good of mankind, God did, in making of it, act a kind and tender part towards the human race, to the honor and glory of his goodness. And while eternal life was promised to perfect obedience, and eternal death threatened to disobedience, God's infinite love to virtue, and infinite hatred of vice, were manifested, to the glory of his holiness and justice. Since, then, that constitution was thus, in its own nature, suited to our good and God's glory, there is no doubt but the sovereign Lord and Governor of all things had full power and rightful authority so to appoint: for, in so doing, he would act agreeably to his own perfections, and the eternal fitness of things.