advantages, or are exposed to many miseries, according as this plenipotentiary manages his own and their affairs with prudence and faithfulness, or suffers himself to be governed by rash and foolish principles, by negligence or falsehood? Now if any, person who is not naturally the head and fountain of others, may be made their federal head or representative, much more may a natural head be appointed to represent them.

And if these things are so far from being charged with injustice in the common affairs of men, that they seem as it were necessary in some cases from the nature of things, why should it be reckoned unjust with God to deal with man in the same manner? And why may not all mankind with the same reason be said to fall into condemnation and ruin in their na tural and federal head, and yet the great God be just and righteous*?

QUEST. V.-Though the Justice of these Transactions may be granted in some Measure, where the Representative is chosen by the actual and free Consent of all those whom he represents, yet since this was not the Case between the First Man and all his Posterity, since they never consented that he should act for them, nor entrusted him to pass the Trial in their Stead, therefore why should they fall under the Penalty and Misery due to his Folly and Guilt?

To which I answer these several ways:-1. In one of the cases amongst men which was described before, viz. Where a nobleman by his treason exposes his latest posterity to disgrace and poverty, he was not chosen the representative of his offspring, and yet the disadvantages that come upon them through his treason are not reckoned unjustly inflicted, though the crime was committed some years or ages before they were born: And indeed, as I have intimated before, how can any person be supposed to be a more proper surety and representative of a large multitude than the common Father of them all, who has the obligation of parental love to take care of his offspring, and who may justly be supposed to be most worthy of that post of trust and honour.-2. There are a great many instances in scripture, in the common transactions of providence, and the government of God among men, where the children have been so far esteemed as parts of their parents, or as one with them, that they have been rewarded with considerable blessings, and that through several generations, upon the account of their fathers' piety or virtue; and they have been also deprived of

See an objection answered at the end of the eight question.

very great privileges, afflicted with sore diseases and calamities, and even punished with death itself, on the account of some criminal head of their family. So much has it been the way of God's dealing with men in many cases, that there seems to be something of a law of nature in it, that a parent should be a surety for his offspring, especially while children are not capable of acting for themselves.

And doubtless there is a justice in this manner of proceeding, which is well known to God, though not always so visible to us, for the Judge of all the earth must do what is right, he cannot, he will not do any wrong. The seed of Abraham were rewarded for the obedience of their father; Gen. xxii. 16-18. The Rechabites in their successive generations, have a promise of a long entail of blessings, because of the honour and obedience which they paid to their father Jonadab; Jer. Xxxv. 17-20. The Throne of Judah was continued in David's house for many generations, because of David's piety and zeal ; 2 Sam. vii. 16. Phineas had the promise of a long priesthood in his family, because of his zeal for God; Num. xxv. 12. And as blessings were thus conveyed, so were punishments. The seed of Ham were cursed with slavery, for their father's crime; Gen. ix. 25. All the children were swallowed up by an earthquake, for the rebellion of Corah, Dathan and Abiram their fathers; Num. xvi. 31.* Achan's family were stoned and perished with him for his theft and sacrilege; Jos. vii. 24. The children of the Canaanites were destroyed together with their parents for their abounding iniquities; Eeut. xx. 16-18. The leprosy was transmitted to the seed of Gehazi for his sin of covetousness and lying; 2 Kings v. 26, 27. Fathers in this case are made as it were the sureties and representatives or trustees for their children though the children do not actually and formally agree to it; yet surely God is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works; Ps. cxlv. 17.

And we see these events frequently in providence now-adays. Some families have as it were a manifest entail of bles sings upon them, and some an entail of diseases and miseries, poverty and disgrace, on the account of their parents' conduct. And I think this is not to be attributed merely to their natural descent from such parents, but in the government of God, parents are made and esteemed a sort of trustees for their children in the good or evil things of this life, which renders a succession of blessings or curses in their families more just and equitable.

3. Though all mankind were not actually present to consent

The scripture leads us to believe that most of their children perished with them; Num. xvi. 27. though some or all of Corah's sons might be absent and. escape, chapter Nam. xxvi. 11, Heb. Benei sone.

that their father should be their representative, yet the appointment is so just and so equitable in the Governor of the world, and also there is so much goodness in it, considering that they were to have enjoyed immortality and happiness if he had kept his innocence, that none of the race of Adam could reasonably have refused this proposal. For this father of mankind, as Í have shewn, is supposed to have as much wisdom and holiness, and love to himself, and resolution to maintain his own innocence and happiness, as any single person among them could have; and he would have the stronger motives of benevolence and fatherly pity to make him watch over his conduct, and to guard him from sin, having the whole concern of the happiness or misery of his offspring devolved upon him. The care of thousands, dear to him as his children, and whose peace or pain, whose life or death depend on his conduct, would naturally awaken all his watchfulness beyond the mere care of his single self. And if we suppose all his posterity to have been endowed with the clear reason and wisdom, the sagacity and solid judg ment, of innocent man, and to have had this question proposed to them, "whether they would each act for themselves in a dangerous state of trial, or have their common father appointed as a representative to act for them;" surely they must have chosen their common father to have been their representative: For their reason and wisdom would have assured them that their innocence and happiness were safer in his hands than in their own, in as much as the obligations that lay on him to secure it both for himself and for them, were much stronger than could lie on every single person acting only for himself.

Confirmation of this Scheme. To conclude: I think we may venture to say, that this universal mortality and death, which even our adversaries allow to be derived from Adam's sin, and all that long train of sorrows and miseries, which are come upon all mankind, young and old, must arise originally from some "federal transaction of the great God, as a governor, with their first parent, or parents ;" and some covenant made with him for their posterity, either expressed or implied, whereby they all justly fall under these evils and disadvantages: Or else it must arise from the sovereign arbitrary will and appointment of God himself, that upon our first parent's sin, all their posterity should become thus mortal and miserable as themselves. Now those who deny this our scheme or federal representation of things, are generally very tender and fearful of allowing any such hardships to come upon creatures by the mere arbitrary will and appointment of the Creator, lest they cast a blemish on the divine goodness and equity. And yet I cannot find any possible way to avoid this imputation on the equity and goodness of God, unless the universal misery and death of mankind be derived from some such

covenant or federal constitution, whereby they were all as it were included in one head, and he as their great moral representative acted for them all, and by his sin involved them all in one ruin: Whereas if this ruin be derived from their first parent, considered merely as their natural head, the charge or imputation will fall plainly upon the absolute and arbitrary will and sovereignty of God as Creator, who thus appointed it. And let it be ob served, that this would be such an instance of sovereignty too, which the posterity of this first man could never have wisely chosen nor consented to, as a thing beneficial to them; whereas this cannot be said concerning the original federal constitution of the first man to be the representative of his posterity, which was eligible by the wisest creature, as well as kindly, wisely, and equitably appointed by the Creator.

QUEST. VI.-Man is a Creature made up of two distinct parts, Soul and Body: Now if both these were derived from the Parents by a natural Propagation, then all Mankind may be said to derive their vicious Appetites and Passions, and sinful Inclinations from their first Parent, which had corrupted and spoiled his own Nature by Sin: But since it is generally agreed, that the Body only is propagated from the Parents, but the Soul of every Infant is immediately formed by God himself, and united to the Infant-body, how is it possible that the Soul should be defiled with sinful Principles, and partake of vicious Inclinations, when it is only the Body that properly comes into the World by Generation?

Answer I. As the soul of the first man by sinning against God, injured and violated the habits or principles of virtue and holiness that were in his nature, by boldly venturing to act contrary to them; so the vicious motions, or irregular appetites of the flesh, grew stronger in him daily, and prevailed more and more against his reason and his better powers; and these sinful ferments of animal nature, these irregular passions and appetites to unlawful objects, or excessive appetites or inclinations to things that were lawful, grew so strong in this first man, that the soul frequently complied with them, and committed new sins against the laws of his Maker.

II. These sinful ferments of the flesh, these irregular appetites, these motions of corrupt passion, so far as they are seated

*Let it be observed bere, that not the Calvinists only, who suppose the first man to be the legal representative of his posterity, are obliged to answer this question, and to solve tins difficulty; but almost every sect and party of christians, who allow any thing of original sin or degeneracy, are under equal obli gations to remove it.

in the flesh and blood, are conveyed down from the original sinner, in greater or less degrees*, to all his offspring in continual succession; and the soul, in its infant-state, is perpetually impressed and allured by these vicious motions, appetites and passions of the flesh; and it as readily complies with those that are accounted criminal, as with those that are innocent. It is true indeed, that in the mere infant-state, the soul has no knowledge of God, or his law, of virtue or vice, of its own duty or sin; and therefore, in its mere infant-state, the actions are not properly human or moral; nor can they be actually criminal in the sight of God, so as to contract actual guilt, till years of knowledge and understanding, and till the mind and will are capable of knowing, chusing and refusing moral good and evil; and at what time this is to be determined, the great God only knows: But when it is capable of exerting any actions of the will with understanding, and such as are properly human and moral, it contracts actual and personal guilt, by these sinful compliances with the flesh and animal nature. Thus original sin, especially that part of it which consists in the corruption of our nature, is evidently conveyed and communicated by the flesh; and thence it comes to pass, that the principles of sin in mankind, and the evil habits both in the soul and in the body, are so often called the flesh in scripture, because the flesh is the means of the propagation of sin, and because the vicious motions and ferments which are in the flesh, lead the soul astray to forbidden actions. It is granted, the soul has reasoning and reflecting powers, and is furnished with judgment and conscience, yet these are very young and feeble in childhood, and the soul seldom calls them into counsel to enquire or advise; for it finds it much easier to comply with every animal appetite

* Though original sin, so far as it is imputed, is equal in all the race of Adam, for it is the imputation of Adam's sin, or condemnation by it to suffer sorrow and death; yet original sin inherent, or the corruption of nature which is propagated from the first man to all his offspring, has various degrees in different persons. The very animal juices and ferments, in the formation of particular human bodies, may have more or less of the vicious tincture in them. And this may be partly owing to the virtues or vices of immediate parents, or other ancestors, or the particular tempers, humours and constitutions of the father or mother. Hence we say of some persons, they have more natural virtues than others, that is, good temper, compassion, moderation, temperance, &c. And others have more natural vices, such as, cruelty, envy, pride, drunkenness, wantonness, &c. The reason of this seems to be founded in the present nature of things, though we may not always descry the immediate and particular causes. But the general cause and ground of the propagation of particular vices to children, must be referred originally to their common interest in the guilt or coud muation of Adam's first sin. Without this I cannot vindicate the providence of God in the propagation of any particular vices by the appointed laws of nature. And if it be enquired, why some bave more native vices than others, since the ground or demerit of all, is one and the same: I answer, That it is owing to the mere mercy of God that every child has not as vile and corrupt and vicious a nature or temper, as the worst; and if every one were equally victons in their animal temper, the government of God would be justified in the permission of it.