terity. He was created UPRIGHT, holy as it was possible for a creature to be holy, and thus both able and inclined to obey the will of his Lord. He was formed after the image of God in KNOWLEDGE: he had sufficient light in his understanding to discriminate between moral good and evil; to apprehend his Creator's character and perfections, and thus form a just estimate of the excellence of his love and the terrors of his wrath; he did not require, as man does in his depraved state, any outward revelation in order to discover what might be acceptable to God; this was intuitively obvious to him by that knowledge which he originally possessed. Adam was created after the image of God in RIGHTEOUSNESS; his will perfectly corresponded with the divine will; whatever his understanding dictated as agreeable to the law of his God, that his upright will cheerfully assented to perform. No reluctance then existed in his pure, uncorrupted soul towards what was spiritually good; while his understanding unerringly pointed to his duty, his will as promptly performed it. Such was the character of Adam when the Lord God appointed him our representative in the covenant of works, and as the station was dignified and responsible he was amply qualified for filling it.*

See Note in 79th page.

His inclinations were all pure, all spiritual, and a law assigned him which it was equally his delight, and duty, and glory, to obey.

2. The appointment of Adam to be our federal head appears reasonable when we reflect that he was not only qualified for the undertaking, but constrained by every possible consideration to execute it with fidelity. He was bound by a reverence for Jehovah, who was a Being infinitely glorious; possessing every possible perfection, and entitled to the homage of all rational creatures. As the majesty of the Eternal might have awed him, his bounty might have constrained him most promptly and cheerfully to obey whatever was commanded. Ten thousand arguments arising from the divine munificence might naturally have presented themselves to the mind of

NOTE.

*This sentiment is expressed in language both scriptural and sublime by the prince of poets.

"So fell

"He and his faithless progeny; Whose fault?
"Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
"All he could have; I made him just and right,
"Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall,
"Such I created all th' etherial powers

"And spirits, both them who stood and them who

fail'd;

"Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.”

Milt. Par. Lost. book iii. line 97.

our first Father, exciting his gratitude, and perpetuating his obedience. The Lord God had lately called him into existence; had promoted him to an exalted rank among rational beings; had ordained him Lord of the lower world; had placed him in Paradise, the most delightful part of creation, where all was beauty to the eye, all was music to the ear, all was fragrance to the smell. All these outward enjoyments were inconceivably heightened by the most intimate communion of his God. Add to these considerations that immediate, infinite interest which he had in fulfilling the condition ot the covenant. He knew that a single transgression would expose to a forfeiture of all privilege, whether temporal or spiritual: He knew, on the other hand, that by a course of obedience for a limited time, he would secure these and incomparably greater privileges not only to himself, but to an offspring more numerous than the stars of heaven. Is it possible for imagination to conceive a transaction more gracious on the part of heaven? In it Jehovah stoops to be a party-contractor with the creature of his hand, and on the condition of his personal obedience for a time, promises glory and blessedness to innumerable beings through the ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it possible to conceive a situation more dignified or desirable for Adam? Was it not a singular honor coferred on him, that when

the whole human kind was embarked on one bottom, even the covenant of works, he should be appointed pilot, and placed at the helm? Is it possible to conceive a transaction more advantageous for mankind than to have their interests entrusted with their common Father; especially when we consider that his interests and theirs were inseparably connected? What child could hesitate to confide in a parent thus happily situated, to advance its real interests? It is no arrogance to affirm that if the countJess millions of the human family had been present in one great congregation, they must have shouted their amen to the Justice and condescension of the scheme; they would have most cordially acquiesced in it as ordered in all things and sure.

3. There is another consideration which eminently displays the condescension of God, and may fully reconcile us to this part of his procedure: No sooner was the first covenant broken, than a new, and a more glorious dispensation was introduced.When the first Adam had violated his trust, and involved us in the curse, lo! the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, instantly interposes, and more than repairs the injury sustained; he brings glory in the highest to his Father, peace and good will to our perishing world. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; and as sin reigned unto death, grace now reigns through right

eousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Our nature, united to the divine in the person of Immanuel, is promoted to a degree of glory beyond the very angels who were confirmed in their primitive state; and a happiness more abundant is communicated through the mediation of Jesus than man could have enjoyed, had he fulfilled the covenant of works. May not this consideration silence every objection which can be entertained against that dispensation ?Are we not constrained to conclude that our interests were inconceivably dear to our Creator, when upon the breach of one plan ordained for life, a second was devised:When, upon the failure of our first representing head, his only begotten, and beloved Son was appointed the second.

This feeble attempt to vindicate the divine procedure in the appointment of Adam to be our federal head, I shall conclude with the remarks of two authors equally eminent for their talents, natural and acquired; the one a distinguished ornament of the state, the other a singular light in the church.-"God made man righteous at first, and gave him a righteous law; and in as much as man owed an infinite subjection to the author of his being, he owed an exact obedience to this law of his Maker: Yet God was pleased to give him this law, not only as the rule of his obedience, but as a covenant of life and death, wherein the first man made a stipula