as fallen in Adam that he views us, and as inheriting a depraved nature that he abhors us *".]
2. From collateral evidence —
[Whence was it that God appointed the painful and bloody rite of circumcision to be administered to infants of eight days old, but to shew that they brought into the world with them a corrupt nature, which it was the bounden duty of all who were in covenant with him to mortify and subdue ? Whilst, on the one hand, it sealed to them the blessings of the covenant, it inti- mated to them, on the other hand, that they needed to have " their hearts circumcised, to love the Lord their God."
Again, how comes it that" everij child, from the first moment that he begins to act at all, manifests coirupt tempers and dispo- sitions P If only some, and those the children of wicked men, evinced such depravity, we might be led to account for it in some other way : but when, with the exception of one or two who were sanctified from the womb, this has been the state of every child that has been born into the world, we are constrained to ac- knowledge, that our very nature is corrupt, and that, as David tells us, " we are estranged from the womb, and go astray as soon as we are born'."
Further, How can we account for the si/fferings and death of iifaiits, but on the supposition, that they are partakers of Adam's guilt and corruption ? Sufferings and death are the penalty of sin : and we cannot conceive that God would inflict that penalty on millions of infants, if they were not in some way or other ob- noxious to his wrath. St. Paul notices this, as an irrefragable proof that all Adam's posterity fell in him, and through him are partakers of guilt and misery''.
Once more ; Whence is it that all need a Saviour P If children are not in the eye of God transgressors of his law, they cannot need to be redeemed from its curse. But Christ is as much the Saviour of infants as of adults. We find no intimation in the Scriptures that any are saved without him : on the contrary, it is said, that, " as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive." In the temple shewn to Ezekiel, there was one door for the prince : it was the door by which the Lord God had entered ; and was to be for ever closed to all except the prince'. So Christ alone enters into heaven by his own merits : to all be- sides him that door is closed : and Christ alone is the door by which we must enter in ; he is the only way to the Father ; nor, as long as the world shall stand, shall any child of man come unto the Father, but by him™.
These
'• The subject does not lead us to notice Adam as a federal head; and therefore we confine ourselves to what lies immediately before us. ' Ps. Iviii. 3. "^ Rom. V. 12, 14. ' Ezek. xliv. 2, 3. * John X, 9. & xiv. 6.