caufe of their fpiritual fickness, their forrow and mifery. Hence the Pfalmift prays, with respect to the enemies and perfecutors of the Church; "Put them in fear, O LORD, that the nations may "know themselves to be Enos, miferable men. Enos feems to have recollected the meaning of his own name, when he gave one to his fon Cainan; for this may be rendered mourning or lamentation. The grandfon of Cainan was called Jared; which may be tranflated defcending, and has been understood as referring to the defcent of the fons of God from that state of feparation from the pofterity of Cain, in which they had hitherto continued P. In different places of Scripture, the fame word denotes the effects of fin;-as in Jer. xlviii. 18. "Come down from thy glory:" Lam. i. 9. "She remembereth not her laft end; "therefore fhe came down wonderfully." The name Methuselah has been rendered by fome, " He dies, " and it is fent ;" by others, "He dies, and the "dart cometh." According to either translation, the name is viewed as having a prophetical reference to the deluge, which was fent that very year in which this good man died. Enoch, we know, was a prophet; and it would appear that in giving a name to his fon, he foretold the flood pearly a thousand years before it came. Methufelah called his fon Lamech, that is, poor, mude low, or one who is ftruck.

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o Pfal. ix. 20. Sce Ainfw. on Gen. iv 26.

P Heidegger. Hiftor. Sac. Vol. i. Ex. vi. S. 32.

v. The

v. The corruption of our narure appears from the dominion which death hath exercised over children. The apostle Paul, in proving the existence of a law previous to that given from Mount Sinai, and the condemnation of men by this law, obferves, "that death reigned from Adam to Mo❝fes, even over them that had not finned after "the fimilitude of Adam's tranfgreffion 9;" that is, over children, who had never finned in their own perfons. That death indeed reigned over thefe, or exercised its full power on them, is evident from the Scripture-hiftory. Vaft multitudes of children must have perished in the deluge. The deftruction of the cities of the plain extended to perfons of every age. Many thousands, who had never actually finned, muft have fuffered in the plague of the first-born. The command of God, with refpect to the extermination of the Amalekites, and other devoted nations, included children as well as adults. But, to use the language of Abraham, when interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah, as God" will not deftroy the " righteous with the wicked," we may be affured that the children, over whom death was permit ted to reign, were not viewed by him as righteous. "Who ever perifhed, being innocent?" They "had not finned after the fimilitude of Adam's "tranfgreffion." They could be viewed as guilty, therefore, only as having finned in that common parent, who, as a public representative, "the figure of him that is to come "."

"is

q Rom. v. 14.

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r Rom. v. 12. 14. comp.

To pretend that the death of infants is to be confidered as a mercy rather than a judgment, as taking them away from the evils of this life; is to beg the queftion in a very ridiculous manner, by fuppofing that they indifcriminately make a change to the better, or, in other words, that they' muft of neceffity be free from future punishment, as being free from fin. This affertion alfo flatly denies the veracity of God in the threatening and fentence of the law for it reprefents that as a bleffing, which he denounces as a curfe. It is equally repugnant to all the feelings of our na ture. For we ftill view death as in itself, not a benefit, but a calamity. However great the fufferings of life, it is a very rare cafe, if men do not recoil from death with horror and for reconciling the mind to it, all the confolations of religion are requifite.

VI. The Scripture-history includes a variety of circumstances which evidently allude to the man-ner in which fin is tranfmitted. The first dictate of fhame, as felt by the parents of our race, in confequence of the entrance of fin, was to con'ceal thofe parts which are the inftruments of generation. All the members of the body are employed as the inftruments of unrighteousness; but fhame is especially excited by the nakedness of thefe; as if God would fet a fpecial mark of dishonour on them, to remind us that in this way fin, the parent of fhame, is tranfmitted from one generation to another; and that the human race

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is continued, and fin communicated, by the very

fame means,

The ordinance of circumcifion had a fimilar reference. Being a painful rite, it intimated that fin merits fuffering, and that man is fubjected to this by the fentence of his Judge. Was this rite performed in the way of excifion? It fignified that the whole man deferves to be cut off from the fellowship of God. From the language frequently used in Scripture, it is evident that this ceremony denoted that the heart is depraved and polluted by fin. Therefore we read of the uncircumcifion of the heart, and of its being neceffary that this fhould be circumcifed by divine grace. As it was a feal of the covenant of grace, and of "the righteouinefs which is by

faith;" it refpected man's condemnation by the first covenant, and proclaimed his need of juftification and falvation by another. It was to be performed on the eighth day, that is, as foon as the child could be fuppofed able to bear it without danger, or be cleanfed; to declare that man is corrupted, that he is fubjected to fuffering, that his heart is depraved, and that he needs to be regenerated and juftified, even from the womb.

The hereditary curfe to which woman is fubjected, is a striking indication of the manner in which fin is tranfmitted. "Unto the woman "God faid, I will greatly multiply thy forrow "and thy conception," that is, "thy forrow in "conception; in forrow thou fhalt bring forth 66 children,"

s Lev. xavi. 41.; Jer. ix. 26.; Deut. x. 16.; xxx. 6.

"children t." Had this fentence been confined to Eve herself, it might have been viewed as merely the punishment of her perfonal guilt. But it is entailed on her daughters. It fubfifts in its full force, although it is nearly fix thoufand years fince it was pronounced. Individuals, indeed, in almost every region, from fome peculia, rity of frame, and even the females in general belonging to fome nations, feel the effect of the latter part of this fentence in a very inferior degree, having little pain in child-bearing. But this no more forms an objection to the general law, than does the great fertility of fome parts of the earth to the curfe pronounced on it for the fin of man. Sorrow in conception and child-bearing is the common lot of women in every age and for what end, but to remind mankind, in their fucceffive generations, of the manner in which fin entered into the world; to teach them also that they were "conceived in fin," and that it is impoffible that "he who is born of a "woman fhould be righteous ?" This hereditary forrow, which is the native fruit of fin, proclaims to the woman, every time the conceives or bears a child, that fhe "travaileth with iniquity, hath conceived mifchief, and brings forth "falfehood."

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It alfo deferves notice, that forrow in these refpects is confined to our nature. It is unknown to all other animals, in any fimilar degree, except in peculiar cafes, or as proceeding from fome accidental

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t Gen. iii. 16.