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But the human pair was endowed with still nobler capacities and designed for higher purposes , i . e . the moral and religious , which must now be called forth and fulfilled . The great end and perfection of every rational and religious creature is to maintain a continual deep and governing sense of its dependence on God , and to become habituated to submission to his authority and
obedience to his commandments . In order to form the first pair to this character and these attainments , it was necessary that they should first be instructed in the knowledge of the origin of all things , and of themselves from God , that all their enjoyments flowed from his bounty , all their dependence was on his favour , and that the way to secure it was by obedience to his injunctions .
That some such general instructions in the fundamental principles of religion were given them , seems not only p robable to suppose , but even to be intimated in the book of Job , ch . xxvih ., towards the end ; where , after Job had described the divine constitution of the air and its meteors in wisdom , he adds , ver . 28 , And to man ( oin ? to Adam ) he said . Behold the fear of the Lord , that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understanding . If this admonition was really addressed first to Adam , it seems to have had like success with him , as that which the frequent repetitions of it since have had on his posterity .
And now we may suppose the religious affections and passions to have awoke in the hearts of our first parents . But instruction only in the great principles of religion , or a simple conviction of the understanding concerning their truth and importance , is not sufficient to impress on the heart of man a deep and governing sense of dependence on God ; it must be effected by often-repeated serious consideration ; bat
for this all men must be left to themselves . The habits of submission to the government and obedience to the laws of God are not to be gained by a single resolution , but by oft-repeated acts of submission and obedience . That the first pair , therefore , might have an opportunity to acquire these habits , it was necessary to put them to a trial and require them to y ield obedience to a law or laws given them . But then it was fit also that this law , or these laws , should be suited to their capacities and circumstances . Should the whole
system of moral and religious duties required from us have been enjoined on them ? But then the whole system of our knowledge and experience ought to have been imparted to them likewise , which there seems no reason to imagine was the case . Besides , how small a part of our system of duties could possibly have been either observed or violated when there were only two persons on the face of the earth , and they so situated , so circumstanced ! I own , the account which the historian gives us of the law enjoined on Adam and Eve , and of the trial of obedience to which they were subjected
thereby , seems to me much more consonant to Divine Wisdom , as much better suited to their capacities and circumstances , to that infantile state of human nature , if I may be allowed to call it so . Two trees were pitched upon in the midst of the garden wherein they were placed : one of them was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; this they were forbidden to eat of , or to touch it , on pain of death . Whether the fruit of it had naturally any pernicious qualities tending to destroy or
otherwise prejudice the human constitution , we are not told , nor is it material . The other was called the tree of life : perhaps its fruit might have some salu <* tary virtue to preserve and perpetuate life . However , it was an appointed visible symbol of divine favour and assurance of the continuance of life to them , so long as they maintained their obedience . Of the fruit of this tree , as well as of the rest of the trees of the garden , the first only exeepted , they were allowed a free use . Will it be objected , that it seems scarcely consonant to the wisdom of God to place the trial of the obedience of rational creatures upon so indifferent a thing ? What moral good or evil could there be in abstaining from or eating an apple ? How then can we suppose God to have made a law attended with
Untitled Article
Correspondence between T . Amory , Esq ., and Rev . IV . Turner . 9 \
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1827, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1793/page/11/
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