For a close, then, of this chapter and discourse, let us also propose a few questions as to the matter under consideration; and see what an- swer the Scripture will positively give in to our inquiries: —
' " Quoestio est de iminortalitate hominis hujus concreti, ex anima et coifore conflati. Quando loquor de morte, de dissolutione hujus concreti loquor." — Socin. contra I'uc- cium, p. 228.
* Vid. Kivet. Exercit. iu Gen. cap. i. Exercit. 9.
152 VINDICI^ EVANGELICiE.
First, then, —
Ques. 1 . In what state and condition was man at first created ?
Ans. " God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them," Gen. i. 27. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good," verse 81. " In the image of God made he man," chap. ix. 6. " Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright," Eccles. vii. 29. "Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," Eph. iv. 24. " Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him," Col. iii. 10.
Q. 2. Shoidd our first parents have died had they not sinned, or were they obnoxious to death in the state of innocency ?
A. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying. Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," Gen. ii. 16, 17. " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," Rom. v. 1 2. " For the wages of sin is death," chap. vi. 28.
Q. 8. Are we now, since the fall, born with the image of God so enstaniped on us as at our first creation in Adam?
A. " All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," Rom. iii. 28. " Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright ; but they have sought out many inventions," Eccles. vii. 29. " So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God," Rom. viii. 8. "And you who were dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. ii. 1. " For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another," Titus iii. 8. " The old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," Eph. iv. 22.
Q. 4. Are we now born approved of God and accepted with him, as when tve ivere first created, or what is our condition noiu by nature? what say the Scriptures hereunto?
A. " We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,'' Eph. ii. 8. " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the king- dom of God," John iii. 8. " He that belie veth not the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him," verse 86. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh," John iii. 6.
Q. 4. Are our understandings by nature able to discern the things of God, or are they darkened and blind ?
A. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," 1 Cor. ii. 14. "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not," John
OF man's condition before and after the fall. 153
i. 5. " To preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the Wind," Luke iv. 18. " Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart," Eph. iv. 18. " Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord," chap. V. 8. " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6. " And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an under- standing, that we may know him that is true," 1 John v. 20.
Q. 5. Are we able to do those things now, in the state of nature, which are spir^itually good and acceptable to Qod 1
A. " The carnal mind is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be," Rom. viii. 7. " You were dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. ii. 1. " The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth," Gen. viii. 21. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil," Jer. xiii. 23. " For without me ye can do nothing," John xv. 5. "Not that we are sufficient of our- selves to think any thing as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5. " For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing," Rom. vii. 18.