"whom we have sinned? For they would not "walk in his ways, neither were they obedient "to his law. Therefore he hath poured upon "him the fury of his anger, and the strength "of battle; and it hath set him on fire round "about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. But now, saith "the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he "that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not; for "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by

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thy name; thou art mine. When thou 66 passest through the waters I will be with "thee," &c. Now would the reader, without looking to the heading of the xlii. and xliii. chapters of Isaiah-or could those who made the headings, if there had been no division of chapters intervening,—have imagined that the former, and the latter, part of this passage are addressed to two distinct sets of persons? that in the former God "reproveth the people "of incredulity," and in the latter "com"forteth the church with his promises?" Again, at the end of the very chapter of which I have here quoted the beginning, the division is equally absurd, and has produced the same effect. "I have profaned the princes of the tr sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse

"and Israel to reproaches; yet now hear, "O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom "I have chosen," &c. The headings tell us that, in the first clause of this sentence, God "reproveth the people as inexcusable;" and in the second, "comforteth the church with his promises." Accordingly the promises have been appropriated by "the church," even to the exclusion of "the people" to whom they were made; a thing which could scarcely have happened but for this cruel chopping, which is certainly anything, but “rightly dividing the word of truth."

Under this head I may just mention another point, which it is not worth while to place by itself; but which certainly does sometimes operate as an impediment to our receiving the full sense of Scripture. I mean familiarity with its language. We are familiarly accustomed to much of its peculiar phraseology, and many of its expressions have in fact become common, on account of their peculiarity. Thus they lose much of their force; and we are apt to pass them over without being so struck with them, as we should be if we saw them for the first time. This I believe to be a reason, why persons who have not received a religious

education, if they come seriously to study the Scriptures at mature age, not unfrequently hit upon things which have been passed over by those who had been much longer conversant with the Bible. With a view to remedy, or diminish, this evil, I would strongly recommend the reader, sometimes to read the Bible in any language beside his own. I think a few trials will shew him that I have not been wrong in suggesting this impediment; that many things, which he had not before particularly noticed, will arrest his attention, and many others, will be placed in a fresh or a clearer light.

ESSAY III.

MAN BEFORE THE FALL.

Moral state of man-image of God-relation to inferior animals-state of probation-if he had not sinned, would he have been translated?

MY reader will recollect that I have, in the first Essay, suggested that the great subject of the revelation which God has given us, is the fall and recovery of man, while that revelation does not profess, and was not intended, to give a full account of his history and destiny. If this idea is correct, we shall not be surprised to find a very short and imperfect account of the condition of man before the fall.

What was the state of man in Eden? He who takes his own imagination, or Milton's, for his guide, may say much on this subject; but he who confines himself to the Word of

God, will be obliged to confess that he can learn but little. Up to the fall (and I do not know that we have sufficient data to form any opinion as to the length of that period) history runs with astonishing rapidity; and it is not until after that event that any minute details are to be found. On some points, however, I think there can be no doubt. It was a state of happiness and enjoyment, a state in which a world of beauty and goodness, was governed by a being holding free intercourse with the God of Love, enjoying his favour, and placed in his stead with regard to the inferior orders of creation. All this seems to be beyond question; and it would be easy, were it to the purpose, to dilate so far as to shew, that it! must have been such a state of happiness as in our circumstances we cannot fully understand. I apprehend, however, that those who represent Adam before the fall as in a state of perfection, go beyond what they can prove, or have any right to assume. In one sense it may be said that man was created without sin, because some time must have elapsed after his creation before he could commit sin; but I know not how we can prove that his eating the forbidden fruit was "man's first dis