because if so, he must have made it on purpose to cause all the sin and evil, that has ever existed in the world, by taking the source and origin from it. Considering the attributes of God, he being omniscient, he must have known before he made it that his commands would be transgressed and all the works of his hands destroyed, and the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, and every thing else that followed even to everlasting punishment, must have been known to him before the tree was made or planted, in such case, where can be the Divine wisdom, goodness, or holiness of God, in making such a tree as the author of evil, and a grief to himself; this is sufficient proof that he made no such kind at all, if not let any person ask and answer himself the following questions, First, If there was such a natural tree bearing fruit directly it was made, who made and planted it, and pronounced it good and blessed it, and how comes it evil afterwards, when heaven and earth should pass away rather than his words should pass away, or one jot or tittle of them to fail? Secondly, did not God by his omniscient wisdom know before it was made, that it would be the fall of man, and the destruction of heaven and earth, and every thing else besides? Thirdly, could not God by his omnipotent power and wisdom, prevent it being made or causing or allowing it to be made or planted, well knowing the evils that would follow? Fourthly, was and is not God omnipres-, sent, and consequently present when it was made and planted, and knew it would be done, and present when his commands was violated, and had power to save, and being present, and allwise, knowing the evil, could he not have withstayed the making or commanding what he knew would be destroyed? Fifthly, is not God allwise, just, kind, good, merciful, true, and full of divine love, and holiness, surpassing all comprehension? Sixthly, if God has omniscient wisdom, did he not know what would follow the making such a tree, and was God just in making man, to transgress through it, to punish him eternally in fire, or being Almighty, where was his goodness or love in planting, to cause by preordination, evil, sin, and death, upon man? Seventhly, where was any holiness, kindness, or truth, or mercy, in commanding man to die if he touched it, knowing he would do so, or granting rewards unto man, if he did good, if man had no free will to accomplish it, or were was there any goodness in placing temptation in the reach of man that could be for no other purpose whatever? Lastly, how can we class such

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procedings as an act of mercy, or forgiveness. Whoever believes in the existing sin entering the world in the manner it as ever been understood by eating the fruit of a vegetable tree, that passeth into the belly, and from thence into the draught, falsifies Christ and all the holy attributes of Deity, and casteth all the sin in the world upon him, for making or causing to be made any such tree, or tempter, which is equally the same, as it is the centre point of evil, thus making God foolish instead of wise omniscience, the author of sin instead of holiness, cruel and unkind, instead of loving, merciful, and good. Whosoever believes in such theory as sin entering into the world in this manner is a debtor to his maker for all his faith at a woeful cost, for he may depend that the eating of any fruit, or disobedience of commands, did not change the offspring sons of God, to be by nature children of wrath, or what can man hope for who transgresseth a thousand times more than was the sin of Adam. Then what was the sin of Adam? God declares unto man that he will punish the sins of the fathers upon their children unto the third and forth generations, of them that hate Him, then Adam's sin amounts to more than hate, for it is visited upon all generations from him. If Adam had committed murder, he would only require blood for blood, he would not require it upon all his race. Was the sin of Adam only one of simple disobedience? Such doctrine cannot be; let God be right if all the world wrong; we must draw aside the veil and see, for if the sins of the fathers is visited upon the children unto the third and forth generations, how could Abel be a righteous man, being of the first descent from Adam?

Genesis ii, v. 17

THE FIRST DEATH.

God

"For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." having at the beginning made dust into a form, and that form a living soul, by breathing into the nostrils the breath of life, which was the enlightenment of that form, it is necessary to know how it became a dead soul, so that the enlightenment of man which was the life of God, cannot understand the word of God, the life-spring of man's knowledge as sure as God spoke the words, "For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." So surely did he die (although he lived nine

hundred and thirty years,) for heaven and earth we are told should pass away rather than his words should pass away, or one jot or title to fail. And this is the first death, the dark misconception of nature, the reversion of what was before sin, when the breath of God was the life of man, he being made a living soul, the son and offspring of God; this is the death that Adam was forewarned of, the sentence of death of returning unto earth again was afterwards. The first death he had then fell into, making the second sentence necessary. "In the midst of life we are in death." And in the midst of this death we are liable suddenly to die, and what is worse, to die in darkness, mystery and doubt, unregenerated from the death of nature, the already condemned state, as Saint Paul tell 66 us, we are by nature children of wrath." If God had made man so, (which is imposible, because man received the breath of God,) then Adam would have been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth with children of wrath in a natural state of generature. This is not the will, wisdom or pleasure of the Most High; it is evident that it is the nature reversed from the created position, for when the Saviour of man was calling his Disciples, he said, "Let the dead bury their dead, follow thou me." If he had said, let the corpses bury their corpses, it would appear as a folly. If he had said, let the living bury their dead it would be naturally understood. But that was not what he wished to convey, as let the dead bury their dead shows the natural dead state of man until regeneration is perfected in him; until then he must remain in the position that his nature holds him, which is contrary to that God formed him in, he being formed and finished in the exact image and model of Jesus Christ, in wisdow and works. St. Paul describes him as the second Adam, which shows what the first was. Are we to suppose that man has a vital, unchanging, undying principle of God within him? This thought and profession is one of the worst sins man can be guilty of. This is debasing the Deity to the common level of sinful man, because the life acting faculties of his nature is the power and strength of sinning. Man never received anything but breath from his Creator, which is the life that man abuseth, not knowing better, being dead. naturally, so that man should not say his spirit does not die, for it is dead already, as in that case we might say that Adam was better off by sinning, his spirit having taken flight to holier regions. The spirit is nothing more than the enlightenment of the form of dust in receiving

the breath of God, which was lost by sin entering into nature, driving the man forth from the tree of life, thus placing the flaming sword that turneth every way, keeping the now polluted form of dust from any other communion with his maker, and the Paradise of all holy communion lost; then was man as before or rather considered as no more than "Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." Thus was it that man having fallen into the first death, made the second sentence necessary. Oh! Great Babylon, no wonder thou in all climes, and under all creeds and professions, proclaimeth the scripture to be mystical and past finding out; it is veiled from your understanding by the dark, dead, and vain miscomprehension of your natural death, a blind leading the the blind. To what low level would thou not stoop; to what depth of misery and shame would you not descend; to what beastly principles art thou not changed; how barbarous and tyrannical are your propensities sunk; lower in depravity than any other created work of God's hands. What cannot be laid to thy charge? An adulterous generation, a world of iniquity, a cage of unclean and every hateful bird, an habitation of devils, your natural desires envious and beastly in every inclination and selfishness, dead as the dust you tread upon, without even knowing better than to profess that the vital action of your anatomy is part and parcel of holiness, placed within you, and forms the sole moving cause of your every faculty, and that your only fault is the commitment of disobedience through the intrigues of a vile tempter, over whom you had no control. Can this be? or is it blasphemy and the highest treason against the holy and divine majesty of God? What does David say? “In sin hath my mother conceived me." How is this? Born in sin and shapen in iniquity." Does the Deity shapen man in iniquity? How is he born in sin, when copulation is a command, a duty and a blessing so to do, having his nature placed within him, and commanded to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth? Is it a sin to be born? A sin to heget? Was man commanded to multiply this sin? Is the conceivement a sin at the first moment of conception? Then what is the actual commitment of sin? Is not all this the dead state of man's mind, the non-understanding of the word of God through the dead state of our existence? We are conceived in sin, born in sin, and shapen in iniquity, and condemned already, so that we may exclaim like St. Paul, "Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of

this death?" He thanks Jesus Christ for it. Had it not been through original sin, which changed the ance living soul as made by God into a dead soul, the very day that God said he should surely die, man would not have been conceived in sin, and born in sin, and shapen în iniquity but would have generated living souls under no power of death, but all would have been sons and offsprings of God, in his image and likeness, perfect in wisdom and holiness, and in every principle of godliness, except power and substance of the Deity. But can we suppose that we have a portion of that as a vital action of anatomy or principle of life ? If so, then is man in a natural state of salvation, and cannot sin, being in unison with God's intentions, and need not ask for the holy spirit to, guide and teach him. Such was Adam when made and blessed, not cultivated or educated by signs invented to communicate instruction or knowledge. Adam needed no such communicative inventions, he had ears to ear, a tongue to speak, an omniscient mind, and every member obeyed their natural laws, according as the wisdom of God prescribed them, who made every organ perfect, being the pattern of his own self, an offspring of God, possessing his holy attributes in every wit and particular. Is man like this now? Has man the spirit of God and yet cannot understand him or his holy word, written for our especial instruction, which information is of the most vital importance for us to know. In fact it is what we must know, and can know, and God is most willing for us to know it, and was the first to communicate unto us the holy writings, for the purpose of teaching us and leading us to a just contemplation of ourselves. Had it not been for sin and death, there would have been no necessity to know or enquire, or the scriptures to have been written, for mankind would have had a continual communication with their maker, who is described as the Tree of Life. This is the First Death, or Paradise Lost; this is the being driven forth from the Tree of Life, and holding no further communion with the Deity. Sin and holiness could not exist together and all communion ceased, and the man was as dead as the dust he came from, and his mind that was after the likeness of God, became a chaos of darkness, superstition and death, bound in adamantine chains of mystery and fear; the prison bound souls that Christ came to preach unto, and to set such captives free by giving enlightenment unto them that sit in darkness. This is of course redemption, regeneration and baptism, (which subjects we will