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HIS enquiry is threefold; first, what fin is. Secondly, who are guilty of it, fo as to be properly called finners. Thirdly, whether one perfon may be guilty of the fin which is actually committed in and by the perfon of another.

First, To ufe St. John's definition, as in 1 John iii. 4. Sin is the tranfgreffion of the law; or to exprefs it more fully, fin is an irregular, diforderly, wicked act, either of the mind fingly, or of the mind and practice in conjunction; by which a perfon chufes to do what in reafon and juftice he ought not, or chufes to avoid what in reafon and juftice he ought to do.

Secondly, Such, and fuch only, are guilty of fin, fo as to be properly called finners, who tranfgrefs the law; or who chufe to do, or to avoid doing, as aforefaid.

Thirdly, When any perfon, by advifing, approving of, confenting to, or not ufing his endeavour to prevent the fin committed by another; or any other way makes himself an acceffory to another's crime, either before or after the fact, fuch a perfon may, in fome fenfe, be faid to be guilty of the fin which is committed in and by the perfon of another, because he becomes a partner with the criminal in his folly. Not, but properly speaking, every one in this cafe is guilty only of the part he bore in, or contributed to the fin committed; and is not guilty of the part which others bore in, or contributed towards it. Thus, if one man advises another to murder his neighbour, and another approves of, and juftifies the fact, after it is committed, the latter, in this cafe, will not be guilty of advifing to, nor of actually committing the murder, but only of juftifying and approving it, when done; which was the part he bore in this wickednefs,

If it be asked, may not one perfon be guilty of another's fin, except he is fome way or other acceffory to it? I anfwer, he cannot; for as guilt arifes from the irregularity and wickednefs of the act to which it cleaves, fo it cannot, in the nature of the thing, extend itself any farther than to the personal actor, and to all those that are fome way or other, in fome kind or degree, acceffory to it; for as it is altogether unreasonable, and unjust, to charge that upon a perfon which he did not act, nor was any way acceffory to, fo there can be no fuch thing in nature as a perfon to be guilty of a crime which was wholly out of his power to prevent, which he never confented to, or approved of, nor was any way acceffory to, either before or after the fact.

Objection, Tho in the nature of the thing the guilt of any act can extend no farther than the actor, and those who are fome way or other acceffory to it, yet as God is an abfolute and uncontroulable Being, who can difpofe of his creatures as he lifts, fo he can impute the guilt of one perfon's acts to another, tho the perfon he imputes it to be no way acceffory to that act. Thus God imputes the guilt of Adam's fin to all his pofterity, tho they were no way acceffory to his crime.

Anfwer, Tho God is abfolute and uncontroulable with relation to his creatures, and in that respect can do with them as he lifts, yet he is not fo with relation to himself; because he is influenced and governed by thofe divine perfections of wisdom and goodness, truth and righteousness, which dwell everlastingly in him. And tho God is under no restraint, with refpect to any thing without himself, yet he is fo far restrained (in all his dealings with his creatures) by the moral rectitude of his nature, as that he never will act contrary to the principles of wisdom, goodness, truth, and juftice; and confequently, to fay that he imputes the fin of one perfon to another, which was in no refpect acceffory thereto, is to impute unrighteousness and iniquity to the most holy God; than which there can be no greater flander or defamation. That to impute fin, as aforefaid, is contrary to the principles of juftice and equity is manifeft, not only from the nature and reafon of the thing, but alfo from the testimony of God, who hath declared it to be fo, in his holy word, as in Ezek. xviii. where, when God, by his prophet, had affured the people of Ifrael that, as all fouls were his, fo the foul that finned fhould die: and that if a good man had an evil son, the fon on ly, and not the father, should be chargeable with the guilt of his actions, and the like of a wicked father and a good fon; and that the father should not bear the iniquity of the fon, nor the fon the iniquity of the father; but that the righteoufness of the righteous fhall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked upon him: he then appeals to the judgment of thofe very Ifraelites who complained of the iniquity of his dealings with them, whether he did not govern himself in this respect by the principles of justice and equity, as at verse 25, 29. Hear now, O houfe of Ifrael, are not my ways equal? From hence I infer, that as the charging every man's fins upon himself, and not upon another, was just and equal in God's account, fo the contrary to this, viz. the charging or imputing one man's fin to another, that was no way acceffory thereto, is unequal and unjuft in his account alfo. And as God declared, by the mouth of his prophet,

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that he would deal equally with his creatures in this refpect, by charging the guilt of every man's fin upon himself, and not upon another; fo whoever afferts otherwife of God, is guilty of flander and falfe accufation against the moft High; confequently God will not impute Adam's fin to his pofterity.

If it should be here replied, that tho this is true with refpect to actual, yet it is not fo with refpect to original fin. Every common father fhall be chargeable only with the guilt of his own fin; but Adam was more than a common father, he being the head and reprefentative of all mankind, and therefore the guilt of this his fin is chargeable upon all his pofterity. Anfiver, if by original fin is here meant the fin of Adam in eating the forbidden fruit, this was as much an actual fin as any that hath been committed by any other man; and God is as much obliged, by the rectitude of his nature, to deal equally in charging the guilt of this fin upon no other than him that actually committed it, and thofe that were fome way or other acceffory to that crime, as he is obliged to deal fo with all other fins and finners. And if we confider Adam as a head and reprefentative to his pofterity, it makes no alteration in the cafe, because it was not his pofterity, but almighty God which conftituted that relation, and therefore his pofterity ought not, in juftice, to be fufferers by it. If the body of mankind had chofen Adam to be their head, and had given him power and authority to act in their stead, and had undertook to be accountable for all he did, then indeed they had been justly chargeable with his fault; but when he is made their head by another, with their confent, and acts without their appointment, his fault cannot with any colour of juftice and equity be charged upon them. How unequal muft it be for us to be chargeable with that guilt which was contracted five thousand years before we were born? If it should be farther replied, upon this fuppofition, that it is unjust in God to impute the fin of one perfon to another, which is no way acceffory to it, then God ftands convicted of injuftice in his own word, inafinuch as he is there reprefented as punishing with death all mankind for Adam's tranfgreffion, and that he destroyed the innocent babes of the old world by the flood, and those of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven, not only with, but for the fin of their wicked parents; and his dealing thus hardly with the children in the Babylonish captivity gave occafion for the ufe of that proverb in Ifrael, viz. the fathers have eaten fower grapes, and the children's teeth are fet an edge; as in Ezek. xviii. 2. Moreover, this was what God threatened he would do in the second commandment, viz. vifit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Anfwer, As God is the original fupreme caufe of all things, and fo is the original fountain of life, and of all other bleffings and comforts which every creature enjoys; fo the giving and continuing of life and of every other bleffing is wholly of his free grace, and not what he is in juftice obliged to, except he has any ways obliged himself by promise to them, which promife is also wholly of his free grace; fo likewife he may give and take away life, and every other bleffing, when, and in what way, and by what inftrument, and upon what motive he pleases, without the least injuftice to those that he gives them to,

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and takes them from; because he gives and takes but his own, and invades no one's right and property in fo doing. This being fo, I fay, that tho all man kind do die, becaufe Adam tranfgreffed God's command, and tho many thousand infants, which could not difcern between their right hand and their left, were drowned by the flood, and deftroyed by fire from heaven, and carried captive into Babylon, not only with, but because their wicked parents tranfgreffed God's laws; yet in this God did not act unjustly, by imputing the guilt of the parents to the children, and punishing the innocent for the guilty's fake; no, he only exercifed his pleasure in taking away those bleffings, which according to the principles of justice and equity, he might give and take, how, and whenfoever he pleafed. And tho the fin of the parents was the occafion of God's withdrawing those bleffings from the children, yet this, with respect to those children, was not a punishment for, but only a confequence of their parents folly. And tho Adam's fin introduced death, and death paffed upon all men, as a confequence of his folly, yet it is fo far from being to mankind a punishment for his fin, that on the contrary fometimes God haftens it in tender mercy to the perfons on whom he inflicts it. Thus when he intended to vifit Jeroboam, and his houfe, for their wickedness, he first removed by death good Abijah, because in him there was found fome good thing towards the Lord God of Ifrael, in the house of Jeroboam; as in 1 Kings xiv. 12, 13. Ifaiah lvii. 1. The righteous perisheth (dieth) and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none confidering that the righteous is taken from the evil to come. Nay, even those babes which were drowned by the flood, confumed by fire, and carried captive into Babylon, tho this was to them a confequence of their parents, and others folly, yet even death and captivity were a mercy to them; because as they were innocent, fo they were helpless; and for them to have been left, when their parents were destroyed, or carried captive, would have put them into a state, that as it would have been worfe, fo it would, according to the natural courfe of things, have ended in death; and therefore the removing them, with their pa rents, was an act of mercy to them.

As to the fecond commandment, I anfwer: if this was given as a law to individuals, confidered as fuch, and not confidered as a people or nation, then the threatening to vifit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, refers only to fuch children as follow their parents example in fin, and fo juftify their practice, and confequently become acceffory to their crimes, and fill up the measure of their iniquity; but as for thofe children that confider and turn from their fathers folly, and cleave ftedfaftly unto God, they are not at all concerned in this threat; and therefore it is expreffed in the command, that God will vifit upon those that hate him, and few mercy unto thousands of them that love him, and keep his commandments: and thus it was made good in the idolatrous houfe of Jeroboam, thofe of his children, which followed his example in fin, came under the divine threat, and God executed his difpleafure upon them; but good Abijah was fingled out from the reft (tho he was Jeroboam's fon) to be the object of God's love, because in him there was found fome good thing towards the Lord God of Ifrael, in the house of Jeroboam; as in 1 Kings xiv. 10-13,

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And thus this cafe is fairly ftated in the aforefaid 18th chapter of Ezek. But farther, I fay, if the ten commandments were given the children of Ifrael, confidered as a people or nation whom God had delivered out of the house of bondage, and had given them the land of Canaan, for an inheritance; then tho every individual was obliged to keep those laws, and was interested in the promifes and threatenings which God had given, as the arguments and motives to their obedience, yet these promises and threats were intended and made good to them, confidered as a people. Thus, the fifth commandment faith, Honour thy father and mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. These words St. Paul interprets to be a promife, and calls it the first commandment with promife; as in Eph. vi. 2. Now this promife was made good to them, not in every particular inftance of obedience, but when they, as a people, were obedient, that is, when the generality of youth did honour or were obedient to their parents, then they came under this gracious promife of living long in the land of Canaan, which the Lord their God had given them for a poffeffion; but as to every particular inftance of fuch obedience, the truth and juftice of God was not engaged to make good this promife thereon, because it was given to them as a people: and therefore thofe good youths, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, tho we have reason to hope that they made confcience of this, as well as of the rest of God's laws, yet they were not kept to live long in Canaan, but were carried captive into Babylon. So in like manner the threatening in the fecond commandment was given to them, confidered as a people, that when they, as a people, or nation, did revolt from God, and fet up another god to ferve in his ftead, then God would fo manifeft his displeasure against them, that the effects of that displeasure should defcend down to the third and fourth generation. This was made good in the Babylonish captivity. So then, upon the whole, I fay, that tho God oftentimes fo punished the fins of the parents, as that the effects of that punishment descended down upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation; and tho the fin of the parents may be an occafion of God's withdrawing his bleffing from their children; yet he never imputes the fin of the parents to the children, nor punishes the children for their parents faults; and confequently God hath not convicted himself of injustice in his holy word, as the objection reprefents him to have done.

If it should be farther objected, fuppofing it contrary to the principles of justice and equity, to impute the guilt of one perfon's actions to another, who was no way acceffory thereto, then God is chargeable with iniquity, or else St. Paul is chargeable with preaching falfe doctrine to the world; because in his epistle to the Romans, he hath declared that fin, and death, and condemnation have paffed from Adam to all his pofterity, and confequently to all those who did never perfonally tranfgrefs. Thus in chap. v. 12. As by one man fin entered into the world, and death by fin; and jo death passed upon all men, for that all have finned: and fo on to the end of that chapter.

Before I return an answer to this objection, I observe, that as reafon affures us that God is a righteous Being, and that he deals in all cafes with his creatures, upon the principles of justice and equity; fo he hath likewife declared

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