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frame-work of Adam could, or should, undergo any change, of any kind, from an acquaintance with the law of righteousness. We say, moreover, where is the proof, that the bodies of the men that have been formed since the time of Adam, are inferior, in their capacities and endowments, to that body which Adam possessed when he came fresh from the hands of his Maker? The only difference of which we read, regards the duration of the animal life of man. All the days of Adam were nine hundred and thirty years; above eight hundred of which, were subsequent to his acquisition of "the knowGen. v. 4, ledge of good and evil; " so that, his acquisition of this "knowledge," cannot be supposed to have shortened the duration of his earthly existence. The descendants of Adam, down to Noah, inclusive, of whom the duration of existence is recorded, lived about the same length of time; the average length of their lives, being above nine hundred years. We easily can understand, why, in the early period of man's history, human existence was prolonged beyond the term assigned to it in later ages; and we also see, that the subsequent curtailment of man's earthly career, had nothing whatever to do with any act of Adam.

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Where, then, we again ask, where is the proof that Adam, as he was originally formed by GoD, was in a state, either as regards his spiritual, or his bodily, condition, different from that in which he existed at any subsequent period; different from that which belongs to any of his posterity? There is no such proof; it is, no where, so asserted. Man is man, formed as he was originally formed; formed, as, in the eternal purpose of God, he was designed to be formed; the uniform condition of his spiritual and bodily nature, being an essential element in that mysterious scheme, which, "from the beginning," GOD had planned and determined. Man was made, to be "a stranger and pilgrim upon earth; made, incapable of establishing his own righteousness; made, and intended, to be justified, wholly, and solely, by the sacrifice of Christ the universal ran

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But, although it pleased GOD that man should exist, for a season, as a stranger and pilgrim upon earth, clothed with a body of flesh, by which his spirit, his immortal self, is burdened and overpowered, so that he cannot obey the law of righteousness in such a way as to establish his own justification; yet,

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has that law been, ever, more or less clearly, revealed unto him; either, directly by the Deity; or, through delegated angels or men; or, through the natural and intuitive perception, or conscience, of the spirit of man. For, although a large proportion of the human race has, ever, been suffered, in a greater or Acts xiv. less degree, “to walk in their own ways; yet, at no period of man's history, has GoD left any portion of the world in utter and entire blindness and ignorance with regard to Himself, His claims upon their homage, His law of righteousness; never has "He left Himself without witness; in that He did good, and gave" them "rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling" their "hearts with *-- 17. joy and gladness;" inasmuch as " that which may be known of GOD," all that man, in his present state, can conceive of His nature,

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was manifest in them, for GOD had shewed it unto them; for the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, even His eternal power and GODHEAD.”y Never has GOD left man without some knowledge of His law of righteousness, since the nations, which had not received the written law, had still the law of nature written in ii. 15. their hearts. An acquaintance with the law

of righteousness on the part of man, could not, as we have already seen, be necessary to give validity to the provisions of God's eternal scheme of justification through Christ, and through Him alone. But, without the knowledge of this law, no man, as has already been shewn, could be aware of the necessity of Christ's expiatory sacrifice, and of man's dependence on that, and on that alone, for justification. So that, without a knowledge of the law, no portion of mankind could have known anything of the scheme of Christianity; and we have seen, that it ever has been God's pleasure, that a portion of the existing human race, should be, more or less clearly, cognizant of His eternal purpose as regards man, and that every man has the law of righteousness, more or less legibly written in his heart. It may be, as we have already observed, that the spirit of man carries with it, of necessity, some cognizance of that law ; but, be this as it may, we read and observe, that man has, by nature, this law written in his heart. And, the knowledge of this law must, of necessity, carry with it the obligation to obey it; for that law, being eternal, fixed, immutable, cannot, as has already been shewn, be relaxed, or lowered in standard, to

a Rom. ii.

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meet the abilities of incarnate man. Whithersoever it reaches, wheresoever it is promulgated, it must demand perfect obedience; it cannot admit of any compromise with its eternal enactments, for it would not be law if it were not obligatory. Therefore, as it has pleased God that incarnate man should have a knowledge of this law, the injunction to obey that law necessarily accompanied that knowledge. And this knowledge, or intuitive perception of the law, thus carrying with it a sense of its obligatory character, keeps up in man a perpetual conflict between the spirit and its antagonist the flesh; the "conscience bearing witness, and the thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or excusing one another;' the "conscience," or consciousness of what is right, pointing to the law of righteousness, while the flesh so overpowers and fetters the Spirit, as to render it unable to render obedience to it. And to this perpetual conflict, GoD, in His eternal wisdom, has seen fit to subject the spirit of man, for a time, before it is admitted to the full benefits of Christ's redemption; before it is advanced to that state of spiritual exaltation, and perfectly spiritual existence, for which GoD created and designed it. The Deity has, in

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