Confequence of his lofing Paradife; for when he was banished from the Tree of Life, he could have no Remedy nor Preservative againft Death. Now I fuppofe, no Man will question, but God might very juftly turn Adam out of Paradise for his Difobedience, and then he must die, and all his Pofterity die in him: For he being by Nature mortal, muft beget mortal Children; and having forfeited the Tree of Life, he and his Pofterity who are all fhut out of Paradife with him, muft neceffarily die: Which takes nothing from them, to which anyMan had a Right, (for no Man had a natural Right to Paradife, or the Tree of Life) but only leaves them to those Laws of Mortality, to which an earthly Creature is naturally fubject. God had promised Paradife and the Tree of Life to no Man, but to Adam himself, whom he created and placed in Paradife; and therefore he took nothing away from any Man, but from Adam, when he thruft him out of Paradise. Children indeed muft follow the Condition of their Parents. Had Adam preferved his Right to the Tree of Life, we had enjoyed it too; but he forfeiting it, we loft it in him, and in him die: We loft, I fay, not any Thing that we had a Right to, but fuch a fupernatural Privilege, as we might have had, had he preferved his Innocence: And this is a fufficient Vindication of the Juftice of God in it. He had done us no Injury; we are by Nature mortal Creatures, and he leaves us in that. mortal State: And to withdraw Favours upon a reasonable Provocation, is neither hard nor unjuft.

II. For we must confider farther, when Sin was once entered into the World, an immortal Life here became impoffible, without a conftant Series

of Miracles. Adam had finned, and thereby cor

rupted his own Nature, and therefore muft neceffa

rily propagate a corrupt Nature to his Pofterity: His earthly Paffions were broke loose, he now knew Good and Evil, and therefore was in the Hands of his own Counfel, to refufe or chufe the Good or Evil: And when the Animal Life was once awakened in him, there was no great Dispute which Way his Affections would incline: To be fure it is evident enough in his Pofterity, whofe boisterous Paffions act fuch Tragedies in the World. Now fuppose in a State of Innocence, that the Tree of Life would have preferved Men immortal, when no Man would injure himself nor another; when there was no Danger from wild Beasts, or any intemperate Air, or poisonous Herbs; yet, I fuppofe, no Man will fay, but that even in Paradife itfelf, (could we fuppofe any fuch Thing) Adam might have been devoured by a Beaft, or killed with a Stab at the Heart; or had there been any Poison there, it would have killed him, had he eaten or drunk it, or else he had another Kind of Body in Paradife than we have now, for I am fure that these Things would kill us: Confider then how impoffible it is, that in this fallen apoftate State, God fhould preferve Man immortal, without working Miracles every Minute: Mens Paffions are now very unruly, and they fall out with one another, and will kill one another if they can; of which the World had a very early Example in Cain, who flew his Brother Abel; and all thofe Murthers and bloody Wars fince that Day put this Matter out of Doubt: Now this can never be prevented, unless God fhould make our Bodies invulnerable, which a Body of Flesh and Blood cannot be without a Miracle: Some die by their own Hands, others by wild Beafts, others by evil Accidents; and there are fo many Ways of destroying these brittle Bodies, that it is

the

the greatest Wonder that they last fo long. And yet Adam's Body in Paradife was as very Earth and as brittle as our Bodies are ; but all this had been prevented, had Men continued innocent; they would not have died by their own Hands, nor drank themfelves into a Fever, nor over-loaded Nature with riotous Exceffes; there had been no wild Beafts to devour, no infectious Air, or poifonous Herbs, and then the Tree of Life would have repaired all the Decays of Nature, and preferved a perpetual Youth; but in this State we are now, the Tree of Life could not preferve us immortal if a Sword or Poifon can kill which fhews us how impoffible it was, but that Sin and Death came into the World together: Man might have been immortal, had he never finned; but brutish and ungoverned Paffions will deftroy us without a Miracle. And therefore, we have no Reafon now to quarrel at the Divine Providence, that we are mortal, for in the ordinary Course of Providence, it is impoffible it should be otherwife.

III. Confidering what the State of this World neceffarily is, fince the Fall of Man, an immortal Life here is not defirable: No State ought to be immortal, if it be defigned as an Act of Favour and Kindness, but what is completely happy; but this World is far enough from being fuch a State. Some few Years give wife Men enough of it, tho' they are not oppreffed with any great Calamities and there are a great many Miferies which nothing but Death can give Relief to: This puts an End to the Sorrows of the Poor, of the Oppreffed, of the Perfecuted; it is a Haven of Reft after all the Tempèfts of a troublefome World; it knocks off the Prifoner's Shackles, and fets him at Liberty; it dries up the Tears of the Widows and Fatherless;

it eases the Complaints of a hungry Belly, and na ked Back; it tames the proudeft Tyrants, and reftores Peace to the World; it puts an End to all our Labours, and fupports Men under their prefent Adversities, efpecially when they have a Profpect of a better Life after this. The Labour and the Mifery of Man under the Sun is very great, but it would be intolerable, were it endless: And therefore fince Sin entered into the World, and fo many neceffary Miferies and Calamities attend it, it is an Act of Goodness, as well as Juftice in God, to fhorten this miferable Life, and tranfplant good Men into a more happy as well as immortal Siate.

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IV. Since the Fall of Man, Mortality and Death is neceffary to the good Government of the World: Nothing elfe can give Check to fome Mens Wickedness; but either the Fear of Death, or the Execution of it; fome Men are so outragiously wicked, that nothing can put a Stop to them, and prevent that Mischief they do in this World, but to cut them off: This is the Reafon of capital Punishments among Men, to remove thofe out of the World, who will be a Plague to Mankind while they live in it. For this Reafon God destroyed the whole Race of Mankind by a Deluge of Water, excepting Noah and his Family, because they. were incurably wicked: For this Reafon he fends Plagues and Famines, and Swords, to correct the exorbitant Growth of Wickednefs to leffen the Numbers of Sinners, and to lay Reftraints on them: And if the World be fuch a Bedlam as it is under all thefe Reftraints, what would it be, were it filled with immortal Sinners!

Ever fince the Fall of Adam, there always was, and ever will be, a Mixture of good and bad Men in the World: and Juftice requires that God fhould reward

reward the Good, and punish the Wicked: But that cannot be done in this World; for these present external Enjoyments are not the proper Rewards of Virtue. There is no compleat Happiness here; Man was never turned into this World, till he finned, and was flung out of Paradife which is an Argument that God never intended this World for a Place of Reward and perfect Happiness; nor is this. World a proper Place for the final Punishment of bad Men; becaufe good Men live amongst them: And without a Miracle bad Men cannot be greatly punished, but good Men must share with them; and, were all bad Men punished to their Deserts, it would make this World the very Image and Picture of Hell, which would be a very unfit Place for good Men to live and to be happy in. As much as good Men fuffer from the Wicked in this World, it is much more tolerable, than to have their Ears filled with the perpetual Cries of fuch miferable Sinners, and their Eyes terrified with fuch perpetual and amazing Executions. Good and bad Men must be feparated, before the one can be finally rewarded, or the other punished; and fuch a Separation as this cannot be made in this World, but must be reserved for the next.

So that confidering the fallen State of Man, it was not fitting, it was not for the Good of Mankind, that they should be immortal here. Both the Wisdom and Goodness, and Juftice of God required that Man fhould die; which is an abundant Juftification of this Divine Decree, That it is appointed for Men once to die.

V. As a farther Juftification of the Divine Goodness in this, we may obferve, that before God pronounced that Sentence on Adam, Duft thou art, and to Duft thou shalt return; he exprefsly promised,