is, in purity, holiness, and immortality. And accordingly he made man thus, and placed him in a garden abounding with all that the heart of man could wish, and promised him an endless life with all the blessings he had bestowed upon him, provided he abstained from eating of the fruit of a particular tree, called "the tree of knowledge.' "God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die." Gen. ii. 16.

This was God's covenant with Adam, as the head and representative of the whole human race, in which he promised him, and them, as in him, an endless life of happiness on condition of his obedience. But man remained not long in the image and likeness of God, but soon broke the covenant, and eat of the forbidden tree, and the moment he eat of it, he lost the immortal life promised as the reward of his obedience. He became a mortal creature, subject to a corporeal death, and he suffered a spiritual or moral death; for immediately on his committing sin, he lost his original righteousness in which he was created: the image of God in him became deformed; the powers and faculties of his soul were corrupted, and he became "dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. ii. 1. and he became subject to eternal death, which God had decreed should be "the wages of sin," Rom. vi. 23. Not only a separation from him and all that is good, but a state of endless sufferings in hell.

And let it be remembered, that in this transaction Adam sinned not as a private person, but as the covenant head of all mankind, and therefore they all fell with him. St. Paul says, "by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners," Rom. v. 19. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that (or, in whom) all have sinned," verse 12. “By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." verse 18.

No doubt God could have prevented the sin of Adam had he seen fit; even as he prevented Abimelech from sinning against him; and as he withheld Laban and Esau from hurting Jacob; and Balaam from cursing the people of Israel. He could have done the one as well as the other; but he suffered it to be so; for nothing can come to pass contrary to the will of God. As Judas and the Jews sinned freely, the one in betraying, and the other in putting Christ to death; so Adam sinned freely, without force or compulsion, for God had made him upright and in holiness, and left him a free agent to act as he would; and yet as what Judas and the Jews did to Christ, was, it is said, "according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God," Acts ii. 23. so was the sin of Adam. God was not an idle spectator of the affair; but permitted, or suffered, Adam to sin and fall, having determined to over-rule it for a great good, and as a mean of glorifying his justice and holiness in the punishment of the wicked, and his grace and mercy in the salvation of his elect.

Now as all mankind became sinners by Adam's fall; for when he sinned he stood as the covenant head of all mankind; so all men, descended from him by ordinary generation, inherit from him a corrupt nature. The scriptures abound with testimonies of this truth, that no man can be born pure or clean; that whatever is born of the flesh, or comes into the world by ordinary generation, is flesh, carnal and corrupt; that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are under the guilt, pollution, and dominion of sin; that "the imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil, and that continually." Reason confirms what the scriptures state; that if a tree is corrupt, it can bring forth no other than corrupt fruit; that if the root of mankind is unholy, the branches must be so too; that if the fountain is impure, the streams must be so likewise: and that if "God has made of one man's blood all nations that are upon the face of the earth," Acts xvii. 26. and that blood is tainted with sin; all that proceed from him by ordinary generation must have the same taint. And what the scriptures assert and reason confirms, experience also testifies; that no man has ever been exempt from this contagion and defilement of nature; and that of all the millions of men that have proceeded from Adam by ordinary generation, not one has been found without sin: the human nature of Christ indeed is an exception to this; but then he did not descend from Adam by ordinary generation.

Though we learn from scripture that all men, by or through Adam's transgression, are become outcasts from God; that they no longer bear his image by nature; but are become enemies to him, and are in a state of distance and alienation from him; cast out of his favour and fellowship; and have been, ever since the dark and cloudy day of Adam's fall, like sheep scattered abroad, and wandering out of the right way.

Though we learn this sad truth from scripture, yet we have good news drawn from the same source. We there learn, as our church puts it in her 17th article, that "before the foundations of the world were laid, God constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour." Yea, before the foundation of the world, God pitched his love upon a portion of mankind whom he did foreknow; and because he loved them, and for no other reason, and loved them because he would love them, he chose them in his Son, Eph. i. 4. that they might be preserved in him, Jude 1. notwithstanding their fall in Adam and he gave them all to him, and set him up, Prov. viii. 23. or ordained him to be their Saviour; and he united them all to himself, and they became "his body the church," of which he is the Head and they are the members. They were given to him, not only as his property and heritage, but for their safety; hence they are called "the sheep of his hand," because they are under his care. When they were committed to him, he had this charge given to him by his Father, "that of all that he had given him, he should lose

nothing;" not any one of them; they were told into his hands, and the full tale of them was expected to be returned; and they will all be preserved, and Christ will say at the last great day, "Behold I and the children which God hath given me," Heb. ii. 13. all kept safe and presented faultless: the whole number of the chosen vessels of salvation will be delivered up complete and perfect.

And the Father entered into covenant with the Son before the foundation of the world, in which all that related to the salvation of his chosen ones, was determined and agreed upon; that he should take upon him a body prepared for him by the Father; that he should suffer death, and shed his blood as an atonement for their sins, in their room and stead, as their head and representative; in order that they might be pardoned in a way consistent with the justice of God. And as by reason of their fall in Adam they would be weak and unable to obey God's law in all its spiritual requirements; it was agreed upon that he should obey the law, and fulfil all righteousness, as the head and representative of his chosen ones; that "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in them," Rom. viii. 4. and that thus they might be considered as righteous in him their head and representative, as if they had performed an unsinning obedience to the law themselves. Yea, it was settled in covenant, that as Adam through his fall would convey death and sin to all his natural descendants; so Christ, through the free gift of himself, should communicate grace, righteousness, and life to all his spiritual seed, the children which the Father had given him; and that he should have power over all flesh, and give eternal life to as many as the Father had given him. John xvii. 2. And the Son, in what is called "the fulness of time,” assumed the body prepared for him, and performed all the stipulated conditions of the covenant, as the head and representative of his people; and just before he quitted this lower world, and while suspended on the cross, he proclaimed his work a finished work. "It is finished," said he: that is, the whole work he was sent to do was finished, and the salvation of his people by that means secured; and accordingly he declared it as his will that they should be with him in glory. "Father, I will (said he) that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." John xvii. 24.

Now these persons whom the Father loved from everlasting, and chose in his Son before the foundation of the world, that they might be preserved in him from the ruin and destruction which Adam's fall has brought upon the rest of mankind, and for whom he came into this world, that they might have life, and have it more abundantly (John x. 10.) than they could have had, even if Adam had not sinned, even a spiritual life, and of faith and communion with him here, and a life of endless glory with him hereafter.-These persons inheriting from Adam a corrupt nature, and being placed in a state of distance and alienation from God, and become enemies to him, and deserving of his wrath even as others, and unfit by nature for communion with God here, or for the enjoyment of him hereafter; the Lord God hath

determined, and planned, and contrived that these outcasts should be gathered to Christ; gathered into his church militant, as a preliminary step to their translation to his church triumphant. It was his will, as St. Paul says, "in the dispensation of the fulness of time," Eph. i. 10. to gather together his elect in one, even in Christ; and he promised, which promise is recorded in Genesis xlix. that "unto Christ should the gathering of the people be." He promised too by his prophet Isaiah, that "Christ should stand as an ensign of the people," even as a banner or ensign set up, is for the gathering of soldiers together; that "he should set up an ensign for the nations, and should assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth," Isaiah xi. 10, 12.

Yea, and though multitudes of the Lord's people, outcasts from him by nature, have, according to this gracious promise, been already gathered to Christ through the ministration of the gospel, and been made willing in the day of his power to become his willing subjects, and acknowledged him as their king to rule over them; yet the gathering shall go on till the whole number of the elect shall be gathered in. "The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, yet will I gather others to him besides those that are gathered." Yea, all the spiritual seed of Christ, whom the apostle Paul speaks of as "the true Israel of God," they shall all be gathered, that not one of them be lost, for he engaged as their Surety, to look them up and bring them in; to seek and save that which was lost, and as Caiaphas prophecied of him, "to gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad," John xi. 52. in the dark and cloudy day of Adam's fall. Yea, and they shall increase as they have increased: "I will hiss for them, (says he) and gather them, for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased." Zech. x. 8. As the shepherds of ancient times called their sheep together by means of a pipe, made of a reed, which gave a hissing sound; so Christ will cry or call to his scattered ones by the gospel, which is his voice, a soft, sweet, melodious voice; a sound of love, and grace, and mercy, of peace, pardon, life, and salvation. He will gather them out of that state and condition they are in by nature, from among the men of the world, to himself as their Redeemer and Saviour; to himself for pardon and righteousness; into his church, and to communion with him there. And he will gather them, not in order that they may be redeemed, for that is a past act, done once for all; he has redeemed them from sin, and satan, and the law, and death, and hell, and every enemy, by his precious blood and sacrifice; and having redeemed them, he will see to it that he lose none of them, but hiss for them till all are gathered in. And as the number of sinners gathered have increased, for "the Lord adds to the church daily, such as shall be saved," Acts ii. 47. so he has promised that they shall increase as they have increased.

Yea, "it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall VOL. III.-No. 32.

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be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish." Isaiah xxvii. 13. when that day is come, fixed in the divine mind from eternity, for the conversion of any of God's elect people; when the "set time" is come for God to arise and have mercy upon Zion," Psalm cii. 13. that day, in which Matthew was found at the receipt of custom, and Zaccheus in a sycamore tree, and a jailor in the jail at Philippi, and Lydia by a river side, and a Eunuch travelling in his carriage; when that day comes for the gathering in of any of his scattered ones, "the Lord shall send the rod of his strength out of Zion." Psalm cx. 2. He shall send forth the gospel to them as a trumpet; called a great trumpet, because the author of it is the great God; and it is the effect of great love; and the produce of great wisdom; and proclaims great things, great promises, great truths, and a great salvation; and like a great trumpet it gives a great sound, for it has, and will again, go into all the world, and reach to the ends of the earth; and has been and will be attended with great power, and it shall reach the ears of those for whom it is designed, and God will unstop their deaf ears, that they may hear it; and they shall come to Christ as poor perishing sinners, and venture their souls upon him for life and salvation: they shall come to him when the gospel comes to them attended with the power and Spirit of God. They shall come to him in a way of believing, for pardon, and cleansing, and rest, and food, and righteousness, and life; and under all circumstances; for light when dark; for life when dead; for strength when weak; for healing when sick; for food when hungry; for comfort when disconsolate : and none ever came to him yet that were ashamed. "My people (says he) shall never be ashamed; they shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord their God, and none else, that hath dealt wondrously with them and my people shall never be ashamed." Joel ii. 26.

Yea, such as were given to Christ in eternal election, and the everlasting covenant of grace, shall hear the gospel in that day appointed by God; shall come to Christ as poor perishing sinners, to venture upon him for life and salvation as Esther ventured into the presence of king Ahasuerus saying, "If I perish I perish," Esther iv. 16. to flee to him as the strong tower into which the righteous run and are safe, Prov. xviii. 10. to lay hold on him, as Adonijah and Joab, when conscious of their guilt fled for safety, and laid hold on the horns of the altar, 1 Kings ii. 28. to retain him, as Jacob wrestled with the Angel and retained him till he had blessed him: to lean upon him, as the spouse leaned upon him when coming up out of the wilderness, Song viii. 5. to receive him joyfully, like Zaccheus, Luke xix. 6. It is not left to chance whether the outcasts of Israel are gathered to Christ or not; it is a needs be. Because it is his Father's will and pleasure that all that were given to him should come to him, according to his purposes and decrees, and because he as their Surety engaged to seek them out and bring them up. He who "walketh