LECTURES ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES-ADDRESSED

TO YOUTH.

LECTURE XVII.

(Concluded from p. 483.) Having shown that Adam was the covenant head of his posterity, and likewise considered the equity of this appointment, it may be proper to say a few words on the manner in which a corrupt or depraved nature has been transmitted from one generation of man to another from Adam to the present time. Nothing that I have ever seen on the subject and much has been written on it has appeared to me so pertinent as the following remarks of Dr. Witherspoon; and I only regret that he has not given more expansion to the few important and judicious observations which I shall now repeat-He says" As to the transmission of original sin, the question is to be sure difficult, and we ought to be reserved upon the subject. St. Agustine said, it was of more consequence to know how we are delivered from sin by Christ, than how we derive it from Adam. Yet we shall say a few words on this topick. It seems to be agreed by the greatest part, that the soul is not derived from our parents, by natural generation; and yet it seems not reasonable to suppose that the soul is created impure. Therefore it should follow, that a general corruption is communiVOL. III-Ch. Adv.

cated by the body; and that there is so close a union between the soul and body, that the impressions conveyed to us through the bodily organs, do tend to attach the affections of the soul to things earthly and sensible. If it should be said that the soul, on this supposition, must be united to the body as an act of punishment or severity: I would answer, that the soul is united to the body as an act of government, by which the Creator decreed that men should be propagated by way of natural generation. And many have supposed that the souls of all men that ever shall be, were created at the beginning of the world, and gradually came to the exercise of their powers, as the bodies came into existence to which they belong."

Agreeing, as I do fully, with what is here stated, I shall do nothing more than enlarge a little, on the ideas suggested in the quotation. You will carefully observe then, that it is stated, that this is a difficult point in theology, and of course that we ought to be reserved in speaking upon it. Wherever scripture is silent, it is best for us either to be silent too, or else to speak with great diffidence and caution; and to lay down nothing that we would propose as a matter of faith, even to our own minds; but only as a speculation, in which the mind may indulge, as offering a solution of some difficulty, and which we may receive as probable,

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but not as certain. Now, I think the scripture is entirely silent on this very point. It offers us, as we have seen, abundant evidence of the fact, that guilt has been transmitted; that a depraved nature has descended from Adam to us, and will continue to be transmitted to the end of time. But I am not able to recollect a single passage of scripture, which professes to explain the mode, or method, in which this depravity is transmitted; or to give any clear information on the subject, beyond what has been already mentioned, that the posterity of Adam resemble their first parents-How the moral, or rather immoral tendencies of our nature, are communicated from parents to children, is a point scarcely, if at all, touched upon in the sacred volume. If it be alluded to in a passage which I shall presently cite, it is not explained. This, then, is another point, of the same character with several heretofore mentioned; in regard to which it would seem to be the plan, or system of the Bible, not to speak. It always speaks plainly and fully in relation to facts and duties; but it rarely says any thing in explanation of abstruse theories, or of the manner in which things of this sort take place. Facts and duties we need to know, that our hearts and lives may be influenced by them. Theories principally serve to gratify curiosity; and to such gratification inspiration seldom ministers. Frequently, no doubt, it is silent on such topicks, because we either are not capable, at present, of understanding an explanation, or it is best that we should not have it.

Again-Although the scripture does not tell us how the depravity of man is transmitted from parents to their offspring, it says enough, I apprehend, to show, agreeably to the remark of the author quoted, that the soul is not derived from our parents, like the body,-that the soul is not created impure.

The scripture gives us abundant and unequivocal evidence, that the soul may and will exist, separately from the body-Of course, the soul is immaterial in its nature, and therefore can be no part of that material organization which we derive from our parents-On the whole, as you have heard in a former lecture, and as the quotation recited intimates, if we must speculate and form a theory on this subject, the safest and most rational is, to suppose that all souls were created at the beginning of the world; that they remain in a quiescent state, till the bodies which they are to inhabit are formed; that on union with these bodies, they receive all their original impressions by means of the external senses; that the whole system of the bodily appetites and propensities, with the fancy or imagination which is closely connected with them, having become irregular, excessive and perverted, by the fall, do unavoidably corrupt the soul, and enslave it to sin. This appears to me safe as a theory, and far more rational than either the system of the materialists, or that which supposes the unceasing creation of souls. So far as it relates to the manner in which the soul is corrupted by the body, it seems to me to coincide with the numerous expressions of St. Paul-perhaps to be countenanced by those expressions-in which a carnal or fleshly mind, is put for human depravity. By this apostle, the whole embodied principles of sin are emphatically denominated the flesh" The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." For some reason or other, the flesh is here represented as the source and seat of sin.

It now only remains to consider that part of the answer before us, which affirms that "all mankind sinned with Adam," as well as "fell

with him," in his first transgression. The meaning of this is, that each individual of the human race stands charged, in the sight of God, with having transgressed the divine law in Adam's first sin, as really as if each individual had himself committed that sin. This, indeed, naturally and unavoidably follows, from Adam being a covenant head. The very essence of that relation consisted in this very thing, that his act was to be considered and treated, as the act of each of those whom he represented. You will be careful, however, to remark and remember that this relates only to the first sin of Adam, in eating the forbidden fruit. By that sin he transgressed the covenant of his God, and thenceforward he was no longer the covenant head of his posterity; and of course, all his subsequent sins had no more relation to them, than the sins of any other individual. But in his first sin-in eating the forbidden fruit -he was the representative of his race. We do not indeed, by any means say, that Adam's personal act, or sin, was our personal act, or sin. This would be unintelligible, or impossible. What we say is, that in the personal act and sin of Adam, in eating the forbidden fruit, he acted not only for himself, but for each individual of his posterity; and hence, that the guilt of this act, is charged, or reckoned, to each individual, of whom he was the covenanted representative. To this, many objections, we know, have been made; but all the answer which I think necessary to return to them, has been made already, in showing that it was an equitable, yea, to us, a favourable dispensation, to constitute Adam the federal head of his posterity;-for his being a federal head consisted, as just now remarked, in this very thing. It stands on the same ground-and it is so represented by the apostle-as our justification by the imputed righteousness of

Christ. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners: so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." In the first Adam we were losers, in the second our gain is infinite.

As to the fact, that every individual of the human race is accounted a partaker of Adam's guilt, it is expressly taught in that often repeated passage-" By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." There is really no avoiding the point in question, in construing these words in connexion with their context. The very scope, pith, and force, of the apostle's whole argument is, that all men die because all have sinned-and sinned in Adam. The case of infants, "who have not sinned after the si militude of Adam's transgression," is distinctly stated and considered. They die before they are capable of actual sin; and they die because they sinned in Adam.

And truly, my young friends, if we reject this doctrine, the difficulty remaining will not be less, but greater. That infants do often suffer the most agonizing pain and distress, ending in death, is just a stubborn fact, which no one can deny. Now, it is agreed on all hands, that they have no actual sin. If, then, they do not suffer in consequence of their connexion with a sinful progenitor, why do they suffer? They must suffer without any fault, either personal or federal: That is, their Maker subjects them to these agonies, without any moral delinquency-without any just cause. To say this, is a direct impeachment of the justice and goodness of the ever blessed God. It is, therefore, far the less, of the two difficulties-if a difficulty it be esteemed-to believe that they are considered and treated as having sinned in Adam, than to believe that they are treated thus, without any moral stain, either of their own.

contracting, or derived from their parents. To say that they derive only a suffering and dying nature from Adam, and must submit to the law of the nature which they now possess, affords no explanation, or relief at all: For this suffering and dying nature is itself the fruit of sin, the very bitter fruit of which we are speaking, and of which, on this supposition, they are made to taste, in a most distressing manner, without defection or culpability of any kind whatsoever.

You see, then, that the scripture doctrine, that every individual of the human race sinned in Adam, is not only true in itself, but less difficult than any other. I speak this, my young friends, most deliberately. I have examined the subject before us, long and closely-And I assure you, on full conviction, that if you turn blank infidels, and throw away your Bibies; or if you turn hereticks, and deny altogether the doctrine of original sin, you will not only act wickedly, but you will then have more formidable and insolvable difficulties to dispose of, than are found in the creed of any orthodox Christian. The orthodox faith is in this, as in many other particulars, not merely the safest

it is the easiest and most rational faith.

In conclusion, then, I exhort

you

1. To fix and settle your faith on the point you have now heard discussed, on those grounds of scripture to which I have pointed your attention. Fix and settle it here, and then cease to muse on the difficulties which you may find attendant on the truth. To be constantly poring on these, is as unprofitable as it is unpleasant-That we are sinners is incontrovertible. The scripture tells us how our sinfulness originated. Let us receive what it tells, and here let our speculations end. Yet

2. Let not your concern in regard to this subject, by any means,

end with your speculations. No, assuredly-but lay it closely and solemnly to heart, that in your na tural state, you are depraved throughout. I would to God, my dear youth, that you did all feel, as you ought to feel, on this subject. It would neither make you careless, nor sink you into despondency. It would make you anxious and earnest, to have your natures renewed and sanctified, by the almighty energy of the Holy SpiritTo be "created anew in Christ Jesus unto love and to good." Here is the only, and blessed be God, it is an effectual remedy, for the deep pollution, the entire depravity, of our fallen ace. Betake yourselves, therefore, without delay, to this remedy. Seek the renewing influences of divine grace; that being washed and justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, you may be delivered from all the ruins of the apostacy, and be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

LETTERS FROM AN AGED MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL TO HIS SON, ON THE DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.

LETTER XV.

tual furniture of a minister of the My dear Timothy-The intellecderived from books. He ought, as I gospel must, in a great measure, be have heretofore shown, to consider a fervently pious heart as the first and essential qualification. But next to this, his desire and aim should be to have a well furnished head-to possess a store of information on a variety of subjects, but chiefly on theology. Among the negatives of the ministerial character, as given by the pen of inspiration, we find this"not a novice;" and among the express and pointed injunctions of the Apostle Paul to his "own son in the faith," we have seen that one is"give attendance to reading." I know not what is thought or said of