ent _Power_, to
obtain Redemption from it, this Man is also under the _same
Obligation_ to keep the Law of God, as though his moral Powers had
never sustained any _Decay_ or _Loss_ in _Adam;_ and I dare affirm,
that in _no_ other Sense, can Man be accountable for the Pravity of
his Will. And let the Doctor observe this,--If it would be
unsuitable to the Mercy of God, in the Case of Infants not
committing actual Sin, to punish them eternally, _only because they
were born of this first Transgressor_, would it not be equally
unkind, to leave such as arrive at mature Age, under the Power of
those _restless_ and _irresistable_ Propensities to Evil, derived
from _Adam_, and to punish _them_ eternally, only because these
Propensities, derived in virtue of being born of the first
Transgressor, constantly, and _in spite_ of any thing we are able,
considered in a moral and natural Sense, to do to the contrary,
produce _Vice_ and _immorality?_ _All_ evil Actions, consequent upon
this Propensity, are, in fact, as necessary and unavoidable to us,
as the Propensity itself, _Where_ then, in point of Innocence, can
the Difference be, _between_ having imputed Guilt and this
Propensity, in Time of Infancy, and living long enough in this
World, to feel, and shew to others, its arbitrary Effects, in
producing Vice and Impiety whether we will or no? and where then is
the Reason, for such very different Treatment of Infants and adult
Persons? I must observe one Thing--The Doctor and his Brethren, as
they make the Work of Salvation, a very easy and agreeable Thing to
the Elect, on the one hand; so they assign the poor Sinner a very
_hard Task_, on the other: _He that offends in one Point is_, they
say, _guilty of breaking the whole Law_. Here is a _plain Instance_
of taking _Scripture_ in a literal Sense, when it can by no Means be
so understood. According to this, a Man, that only _steals_, may be
said to commit Murder, and be _punished_ as a Murderer as well as a
Thief; though we know he has not committed it.

In the main, we may conscientiously observe and keep God's Laws, and
yet in Time of _Temptation_ and _Weakness_ fall into some Evil,
will, God therefore _consider_ and _punish_ us as those who live in
the daily Breach and Contempt of all his Laws? No! For, on the
contrary, God ever waits to be gracious to all such, as through
Inadvertence fall into Sin, and are willing to forsake it. The View
and Intent of our Apostle, in these Word