SECTON I. OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF MAN, IN MOSES'S PARADISE...
ON THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND ON THE TREE OF LIFE: WITH
SPECULATIONS ON THE DIVINE PROHIBITION TO MAN, NOT TO EAT OF THE FRUIT
OF THE FORMER OF THOSE TREES, INTERSPERSED WITH REMARKS ON THE MORTALITY
OF INNOCENT MAN.
The mortality of animal life, and the dissolution of that of the
vegetable, has been particularly considered in chapter three, section
four, treating on physical evils. We now proceed to make an application
of those arguments, in the case of our reputed first parents, whose
mortality is represented by Moses to have taken place in consequence of
their eating of the forbidden fruit.
Moses in his description of the garden of Eden acquaints us with two
chimerical kinds of fruit trees, which, among others, he tells us were
planted by God in the place appointed for the residence of the new made
couple; the one he calls by the name of "the tree of knowledge of good
and evil," and the other by the name of "the tree of life." And previous
to his account of the apostacy, he informs us, that God expressly
commanded the man and woman, saying, "be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth; and God said, behold I have given you every herb
bearing seed, which is upon, the face of all the earth, and every tree,
in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for
meat." Again, "and the Lord commanded the man saying, of every tree of
the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die." "And the Lord said, it is not good for
man to be alone, I will make him an help meet for him; and the Lord God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took out one
of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof, and the rib which
the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman."
Thus it appears from Moses's representation of the state of man's
innocency, that he was commanded by God to labor, and to replenish the
earth; and that to him was given the dominion over the creatures, and
that at two several times he was licensed by God himself to eat of every
of the fruit of the trees, and of the herbage, except of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil; and because it was not good that the man
should be alone, but that he might multiply and replenish the earth,
our amorous mother Eve, it seems, was formed, who I dare say well
compensated father Adam for the loss of his rib.
This short description of man's state and condition in innocency, agrees
with the state and circumstances of human nature at present. Innocent
man was required to labor and subdue the earth, out of which he was to
be subsisted; had a license to eat of the fruit of the trees, or herbage
of the garden, which pre-supposeth that his nature needed refreshment
the same as ours does; for otherwise it would have been impertinent to
have granted him a privilege incompatible with his nature, as it would
have been no privilege at all, but an outright mockery, except we admit,
that innocent human nature was liable to decay, needed nutrition by
food, and had the quality of digestion and perspiration; or in fine, had
the same sort of nature as we have; for otherwise he could eat but one
belly-full, which without digestion would remain the same, and is too
romantic to have been the original end and design of eating. And though
there is nothing mentioned by Moses concerning his drinking, yet it
is altogether probable, that he had wit enough to drink when he was
thirsty. That he consisted of animal nature is manifest, not only from
his being subjected to subdue the earth, out of which he was to be
subsisted, and from his eating and drinking, or his susceptibility of
nutrition by food, but also from his propensity to propagate his kind;
for which purpose a helpmate was made for him.
Nothing could more fully evince, that Moses's innocent progenitors of
mankind, in that state, were of a similar nature to ours, than their
susceptibility of propagating the species; and as they required
nutrition, their nature must have had the quality or aptitude of
digestion and perspiration, and every property that at present we
ascribe to an animal nature; from hence we infer, that death, or
mortality, must have been the necessary consequence. What would have
prevented them from having been crushed to death by a fall from a
precipice, or from suffering death by any other casualty, to which human
nature is at present liable? will any suppose that the bodies of those
premised innocent progenitors of the human race were invulnerable; were
they not flesh and blood? surely they were, for otherwise they could not
have been male and female; as it was written, "male and female created
he them:" and inasmuch as animal life has, from its original, consisted
of the same sort of nature, and been propagated and supported in the
same manner, and obnoxious to the same fate, it would undoubtedly, in
the premised day of Adam, required the same order in the external system
of nature, which it does at present, to answer the purposes of animal
life.
Was it possible that the laws of nature, which merely respect
gravitation, could be and were suspended, so as not to be influential on
matter, our world would be immediately disjointed and out of order,
and confusion would succeed its present regularity; in the convulsions
whereof animal life could not subsist. So that not only the laws which
immediately respect animal nature in particular, but the laws which
respect our solar system, must have been the same in man's innocency,
as in his whimsically supposed state of apostacy; and consequently, his
mortality the same. From hence we infer, that the curses, which Moses
informs us of in chapter three: as being by God pronounced upon man,
saying, "dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," could not have
been any punishment, inflicted as a penalty for eating the forbidden
fruit; for turn to dust he must have done, whether he eat of it or
not; for that death and dissolution was the inevitable and irreversible
condition of the law of nature, which wholly precludes the curse, of
which Moses informs us, from having any effect on mankind.
The story of the "tree of life" is unnatural. And there being but one of
the kind, it may be called an only tree, the world not having produced
another of the sort; the fruit of which, according to Moses, had such an
efficacious quality, that had Adam and Eve but eaten thereof, they would
have lived forever. "And now lest he put forth his hand and take also of
the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." To prevent which, they are
said to be driven out of the garden, that the eating thereof might not
have reversed the sentence of God, which he had previously pronounced
against them, denouncing their mortality. "So he drove out the man, and
he placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims, and a flaming
sword, which turneth every way to keep the way of the tree of life." A
bite of this fruit it seems would have reinstated mankind, and spoiled
priestcraft. Yet it is observable, that there are no travellers or
historians, who have given any accounts of such a tree, or of the
cherubims or flaming sword, which renders its existence disputable, and
the reality of it doubtful and improbable; the more so, as that part of
the country, in which it is said to have been planted, has for a long
secession of ages been populously inhabited.
Yet it may be objected, that the tree may have rotted down and consumed
by time. But such conjectures derogate from the character of the quality
of the tree. It seems, that so marvellous a tree, the fruit of which
would have preserved animal life eternally, would have laughed at time,
and bid defiance to decay and dissolution, and eternally have remained
in its pristine state under the protection of the flaming sword, as a
perpetual evidence of the divine legation of Moses, and the reality of
man's apostacy for ever. But alas! it is no where to be found, it is
perished from off the face of the earth, and such a marvellous fruit is
no more, and consequently no remedy against mortality remains.
SECTON II. POINTING OUT THE NATURAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF ALL AND EVERY...
OF THE DIVERSE SPECIES OF BIPED ANIMALS, COMMONLY TERMED MAN, TO
HAVE LINEALLY DESCENDED FROM ADAM AND EVE, OR FROM THE SAME ORIGINAL
PROGENITORS.
It is altogether improbable and manifestly contradictory to suppose,
that the various and diverse nations and tribes of the earth, who walk
upon two legs, and are included under the term man, have or possibly
could have descended by ordinary generation, from the same parents, be
they supposed to be who they will.
Those adventurers,-who have sailed or travelled to the several parts of
the globe, inform us, in their respective histories, that they find
the habitable part of it more or less populated by one kind or other
of rational animals, and that considered as tribes or nations, there
is evidently a gradation of intellectual capacity among them, some
more exalted and others lower in the scale of being; and that they are
specially diverse from each other with respect to their several animal
natures, though in most respects they appear to have one sort of nature
with us, viz: more like us that like the brute creation; as they walk
erect, speak with man's voice, and make use of language of one sort or
other, though many of them are more or less inarticulate in their manner
of speaking: and in many other particulars bear a general likeness to
us. They are nevertheless considered as distinct tribes or nations,
are of different sizes, and as to complexion, they vary from the two
extremes of white and black, in a variety of tawny mediums.
The learned nations can trace their genealogies, (though somewhat
incorrect) for a considerable time, but are certain to be sooner or
later lost in the retrospect thereon, and those that are of an inferior
kind, or destitute of learning or science have no other knowledge of
their genealogies, than they retain by their respective traditions,
which are very inconsiderable. They are likewise diverse from each other
in their features and in the shape of their bodies and limbs, and some
are distinguished from others by their rank smell and the difference
in their hair, eyes and visage, but to point out the distinctions would
exceed my design.
The Ethiopians, though of a shining black complexion, have regular and
beautiful features, and long black hair (one of those female beauties
captivated the affections of Moses) they differ very materially from
the negro blacks, so that it appears impossible that they should have
descended in a lineal succession from the same ancestors. They are
uniformly in their respective generations essentially diverse from each
other, so that an issue from a male and female of the two nations would
be a mongrel, partaking partly of the kind of both nations. So also
concerning the difference which subsists between us and the negroes;
their black skin is but one of the particulars in which they are
different from us; their many and very essential differences fully
evince, that the white nations, and they, could not according to the
law of their respective generations, have had one and the same lineal
original, but that they have had their diverse kind of original
progenitors.
It is true that the several nations and tribes of the earth,
comprehended under the general term man, notwithstanding their
diversity to each other in bodily shape and mental powers, bear a nearer
resemblance to one another than the brute kind, for which reason they
are known by one common appellation: though it is manifest that they
could never have lineally descended from the same first parents, whether
their names were Adam and Eve, or what not.
But inasmuch as our genealogies are wholly insufficient for the purpose
of explaining our respective originals or any or either of them, or to
give us or any of us, considered as individuals or nations, who fall
under the denomination of the term man, any manner of insight or
knowledge from whom we are lineally descended, or who were our
respective original ancestors, or what their names were: we must
therefore reason on this subject from the facts and causes now
existing, which abundantly evince, that we are of different kinds, and
consequently are not of the same lineage.
The acquaintance, which we have had with the negro nation in particular,
fully evinces the absurdity of supposing them to be of the same blood
and kindred with ourselves. But that there are some original intrinsic
and hereditary diversity or essential difference between us and them,
which cannot be ascribed to time, climate, or to mere contingence.
For that we and they are in nature inherently and uniformly diverse from
each other in our respective constitutions and generations, and have
been so time immemorial. So that the negroes are of a different species
of rational beings from us, and consequently must have had their
distinct lineal original; was it not so, there could be no such thing
as a mongrel or a mulatto, who is occasioned by a copulation between
the males and the females of the respective diverse species, the issue
partaking of both natures.
Had all the nations and tribes of the world, who are denominated
rational, been lineally descended from the same progenitors, mongrelism
could never have taken place among them, as in this case they would have
been all of the same kind: from hence we infer, that they have had their
respective original progenitors. The Dutch colony at the Cape of Good
Hope have enacted laws to punish with death such of their Dutch subjects
as may be convicted of copulating with the Hottentots: for that their
nature is adjusted to be of an inferior species to theirs, so that
mixing their nature with them would essentially degenerate and debase
their own.
SECTON III. OF THE ORIGIN OF THE DEVIL OR OF MORAL EVIL...
AND OF THE DEVIL'S TALKING WITH EVE; WITH A REMARK THAT THE DOCTRINE OF
APOSTACY IS THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Inasmuch as the devil is represented to have had so great and undue an
influence in bringing about the apostacy of Adam, and still to continue
his temptations to mankind, it may be worth our while to examine into
the nature and manner of his being and the mode of his exhibiting his
temptations.
John's gospel, verse 1 and 3, the Christian's God is the creator of the
devil and consequently the original cause of evil in heaven--and among
men he planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and knew at the
time he planted it of the awful consequences that would follow.
But if it be admitted, that the creature called the devil (who must
be supposed to be under the divine government, as much as any other
creature) could become inflexible, and perpetually rebellious and
wicked, incapable of a restoration, and consequently subjected to
eternal punishment (which to me appears to be inconsistent with the
wisdom and goodness of the divine government, and the nature, end and
design of a probationary agent) yet it would by no means follow from
hence, that so stubbornly wicked and incorrigible a creature would have
been permitted, by the providence of God, to tempt, ensnare or seduce
mankind, by plying his temptations to their weak side. One thing we are
certain of, viz. that the devil does not visit our world in a bodily or
organized shape, and there is not in nature a second way, in which it is
possible for him to make known himself to us, or that he could have done
it to our progenitors, nor could he ever have communicated to them or
to us, any temptations or ideas whatever, any otherwise than by making
a proper application to our external senses, so that we could understand
him, or receive the ideas of his temptations in a natural way. For
supernatural intercourse with the world of spirits or invisible beings
has been shown to be contradictory and impossible in the arguments
contained in the sixth chapter, to which the reader is referred. Those
arguments will hold equally good as applied to either good or evil
spirits, and are demonstrative of the utter impossibility of mankind's
holding any manner of intercourse or intelligence with them.
But should we premise, that, according to the history of Moses, it was
in the power of the devil to assume a bodily shape, and that he did in
very deed transform himself into the figure, likeness and organization
of a snake, yet by and with that organ he could not have spoken or
uttered the following articulate words, which Moses charged him with, to
wit, "And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die, for
God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, that your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil."
Who speaks the truth in the above passages, the devil, for neither the
man nor the woman died for many years after they are said to have eaten
of the forbidden fruit, for death is the annihilation of life, and they
did not die on the day they eat.
As the serpent is by nature incapable of speech, it must have put the
devil into the same predicament; admitting that he transformed himself
into the same figure or likeness, and consequently for want of the
proper and adequate organs of speech, he must necessarily have been
incapable of any other language than that of rattling his tail, and
therefore could never have spoken those recited words unto Eve, or
communicated any of his temptations unto her by language, while in that
similitude. However, admitting that the first parents of mankind were
beguiled by the wiles of the devil to transgress the divine law, yet of
all transgressions it would have been the most trivial (considered
under all the particular circumstances of it) that the mind of man can
conceive of.
Who in the exercise of reason can believe, that Adam and Eve by eating
of such a spontaneous fruit could have incurred the eternal displeasure
of God, as individuals? Or that the divine vindictive justice should
extend to their unoffending offspring then unborn? And sentence the
human progeny to the latest posterity to everlasting destruction? As
chimerical as Moses's representation of the apostacy of man manifestly
appears to be, yet it is the very basis, on which Christianity is
founded, and is announced in the New Testament to be the very cause why
Jesus Christ came into this world, "that he might destroy the works
of the devil," and redeem fallen man, alias, the elect, from the
condemnation of the apostacy; which leads me to the consideration of the
doctrine of imputation.