Page089

Page089

VOL. I.


, .


THE PR. A. CTICA. L, € HRISTIAN.'


De" t'oted to Truth and Righteousness.


MENDON, l\ IASS., APRIL 1, 1841.


,


No. 23.


EXPOSITION 01' I'AlTH.


THE PBACTJ: CAL CHBJ: STJ: AH


Is pultlished twice every calendar month- at


One Dollar per annum, payable always in advance


- no credit beyond No, 2 of each volume . Per­sono


responsible for six copies receive the seventh


I: r& ti.. No subscription received for less than one


year.


Rotular Contributors to the \ Vork,- ADIN


BALLOU, ( Editor and Publisbing Agentj) DAVID


R. l. AMSON. GI.: ORGE W. STACY, D.~ NIEL S.


\ VHITNEY. WILLIAM H. FISH. SAMUEL J.


IIIAY:


All letters, remittances and eommnnications to


be sent ( post paid) to ADIN BALLOU, Mention,


M"~ . '


' Vo love all, but can flaUer none. Therefore


we solicit . no peroon to sabscribe who is IIOt willing


we should utter all our moral convictions ao freely


•• the wind. blow and the waters rUII. ' 1' 0 all


such, of whatsoever name or persuasion, we rnakq


our respectful salutation, and would say " Corne


and see ifany good thing can come out of Naza­eeth.


..


J. What was the primeval state of our first


pnrents? I have said that' it was a state of


purity, innocence, and bliss. By purity I


mean freedom from all sirrful, vicious, irregu­lar


desires, lusts, passions and propensities of


body or mind. All the properly natural 01' ­petites,'


passions, and faculties oftflliir , nllture


were in healthful, regular and harmonious ex­ercise.


There was no discord, no disorder,


no irregularity, no inordinate morbid uction in


any part of the moral, intellectual and physi­cal


system. The 1II0rni sent imcnts were in


their place on the throne j the intellectual


powers stood next iu their sphere; and \. he au­irnal


affections cheerfully obeyed lind enjoyed.


There was no consciousness ofII will to th wort


the divine will in order to procure an inter­dieted


good. This was purity of spirit, soul


and body. God could dwell in lind commune


with such heings. By innocence I menu free­dom


from all crime, gil ilt and remorse, By


bliss, of" course, I mean unalloyed happiness-stnnt


sense of pence nnrl joy. I 1II0y he


ked if I believe thut Adum and Eve were


immortal. I must an swer, no. They were


I f• ee frorn diseuee anrl from the Meedsof disso­.....


I ;"' IOU. They were cundidntes lind probation­......._


I ers lor immortality without the pains nud ter­I


rors of death j for the tree of life was nccessi­nre


10 them. lf'rhey luul persevered ill their


_ ." I pn mevm fidelity tll God, it is probable they


I WllUlt1 nave uhirnntely heen transhued , hy a


- I painless UUd glorious chunge, to II higher state


nf' nv;•• euce , Dis eas e mill death would never


I '"-:: ;:~~ llIeu the. lII: But ( need not he por-neu


ter in rlescrihing whnt would probahly


I ....~ 1,""' 1 their s'late without sin- siuce they


, p " ~ unly ::~::, I ,10 not believe them to


I : ruv e been immortal, Strictly sp eaking, they


I were neither inuuortul nOI' mortal, but in 1\ ,


" I smte to become either; uy a right · or u wrong


use of' their free mornl agency. I mny nlso be


, '''' ked if' ! ' p o!,... ,; J •• p " t l. , ' t. , h n~. " .,. ..~


i Iy holy? I must answer no. For absolute


holiness is the deeirled conscious preference of


I right rn wrong iu the fill: e OflemplnticlII. They


I were pure, iuuol: p. nt oud hurmless, III' to tllll


I 1II0meut of their Kreul temptlltion, Jf they


I 118,\ becn ahsoltllely holy~ pelject in holillf&!


• I - 110 tellllHntion coultl IlU\- e swer\, cII thelll. ­I


Whelher they previously resisted IIny tempta­!


tin us we 110 not Icurtl. It is · not illHJrobnhle


I lloul they did. Iflhey hud, they were so fau'


I holy. But whether they hud or not, they were


I innocent; ' rhcre is this difference. hetween


I muocence nnd holiness. Innocence is sillll'ly


I freedom froIII guilt. HoUneu is posilive prel:


erell(~ e ofgood to evil, of right to wrong,. of


.. ! duly to all pOllsible gratification. A child he­I


tirre or- tuul lrllusgression is innocenl, but 1\ saint


I confil'llletl in the love ofright ' is holy. So then


I Alillm and Eve \ vere lit leust innocenl, till they


as modified by cir- I sinned.


No\." was this really the condition of our


i first pnreuts hefore ~ heir fall? Were they


Ilure. iunocelll, and happy. according to the


i descl'iption above given? Or were they mere


I savages, like the low'est of" the humon spedes,


I existing in a rude, uncivilized, disordered lllote


- from which their Ilescendants IllIve, some of


I Ihem. risen to n · heller condition? Or were


i tloey mid- WilY hetwcen the lowest ond highest


i of their posterity? HIVe were to follow the


I 8peeulntions ofcertoin philosophers, lVeshould


I come to Ihe conclusiol1thatthe whole ' necount


I of the filII is II liction; nnclthat Adam and Eve


w"' re only 0 Iiule elevated above th e monkey


tribes. BIIt what shall we say as helievers in


the' Bihle- as Christians! Without referring


immediately to the ' sa cred record. let us in­'


lllire of enlightenell reRson. Man wns Goel's


la8t lind nohlest work- his maIIter. piece, so far


us respects this lower world. He lIIade him n


Iiule lower than the augels, crowned hi~ with


:; Iory 8nd honol", allli set him over t. he works


ot his 11lind~. Is it reasonable to suppose that


thi! piece of divine workmanship callie from.


the hand of the Artificer unfinished, detiJctive,


disease « !. impure, " inful, miserable- a rude,.


I ferocious savage f Is it reasonable to suppose


that alier all the disorders of nges, men nnd


, women are now born into the world with few­I


er physical, intellectunl amI moral defects thun


bling and shrinking before that very Fa'iher


whom hitherto he had rejoiced to commune


with. The whole affnir was brought into


judgment, the sentence was pronounced on


the gu, iltJ', mixed with all the mercy which the


' nnture of the case admitted. The sentence


was ~ oo n after executed. The lately happy


pair " ere banished from Paradise and ahue


out from all access to the tree of life.


" They hand in hand, with wandering ateps aod


slow ,


ThrcughEden took their solitary way .'~


From this general repreaentation must we


not conclude that their fallen . state wo~ one of


alienation from God, condemnation and death?


True, God was compasslonnte to them iu their


outcast condition, and besides alleviating their


present distresses, gave them promise ofa res­torntion,


True also, death did not immedi­ately


cbnsummate its work. But nevertheless.


it was lurking within them, a living, _ gnawing


worm that could die save only with their dis­solution.


Some IUIVe contended that the terms


of the original threatening- c- vln the day that


thou entest thereof thou shalt surely die"-::- re­quire


1I~ either to allow that God did not ful­fil


his word, or else thnt the whole should he


understood in some spiritual sense. But this


does not follow. ' The original words render­ed


" shalt surely die," arc literally rendered


" llying thou shalt die." The threatening then


would read thus- lliu the « lily that thou eatest


thereof / Iying thou shalt die;" which necessa ­rily


implies no more thun thnt they should


from that moment become the victims ofrem­ediless


disease- should he suhject to all the


ills of that mortality, the end ofwhich isrleoth :


Adam and Eve from the m() m~ ntof transgres­sion


became the subjects ofdisease. mortality


and dis solution, It WIIS true of them, thllt


dying they should die. The sentence was ir­revoenhle,


It seems to me very plain, that in


their lilllen state the purentlll head of the hu ­miili'roce


\ Verir'll~ n~ tert . r1" MI ": GmHlr~ i- nd ~


oppressed with remorse of eonselence, subjecr ,


to grcnt irregulurities of feeling. to flisordered'


pU!'!' ions, to fntal diseaso, ond finally to denth.


, Whatever mercies : md blessings, gracious in­fluences


and consolntioD3, counteracting mor­nl


lendencies a'lId religious ordinances were


gl" Rllted th em in th ei.. fnllen Rtate ( which


dotlhtleSl! were- many ond exreJlent) theBe were


the general chllracleristies of their eOllflition


nfter lhe great tranllgressio'n. It rnny here lm


osltell if ( do not relll'esent their faillen st'!. te alS


one incompotible with free moral ageney. ­By


no means. I do not represcllt them a~ to­tally


depraved. Fnllon as they were. they


were yet capnble ofgreat and noble efforts for


goorl- copahle in their changed condition of


, exercising repentance, fnilh and Jove- of reo'


turning with contrition to God, and of profit­


· ing by his counsels. They could not indeed


undo the mischiefs of their disobedience. ­They


\ vere not free to escnpe the curse which'


they hod deliherntely incurred. But in I'espect


_ to whot wns left- a vnst field- they were ! Itill


free mornlngel1ts ; just as we flOW are. WfJ


are not aule to escape natural death. We are


not able to silence our strong propensities to


evil. But \ ve are able to do the duties now


enjoined npoll nll, especiolly by the help vouch­safed


' us from heaven. They had their , dnties


after therull, , a ppro pria te to their condition,


and were cllpahle within that sphere both of


good lind evil.


3. \ Vhat were the permonent effects oftheir


· filll- on humon nllture at large?


Their entire posterity have succeeded by he­reditary


descent to all the evils of their fallen


state. This is only saying that all the fOuntain


of human nature was after UII fall, such t. fllm­lially


nre ull ils streams. This is regarded by


sOllie as nllogether a chimerical and incredi­.


ble doctrine. But I do not see how we CItO


avoid it:, In the first place we kno'D that ,1111


mnukind are horu into the world frail, disorder­ed,


filII ofirregular pn8sions and propenllities.


suhject to 8icknes. q. pain, and death. Jnfitntll,


it is true, are . " in less till they come to kn'rlw


the Inw, and being innoceot in thill lIense ar8


not subjects of punishment. But who does


, not see that infants lire lIuhJect to all tbe, 8~ ill

Page 89 of Volume 1 from The Practical Christian 1840-1841

Ballou, Adin

1840