To talk as some do, of our existing in _Adam_ at the Time of his Transgression, is very absurd, when, as _intelligent_ and _free Creatures_, it is evident, we did not exist at all. _Sin is a Transgression of some Law, which we have at the same time Power to keep_. God never requires Impossibilities. He that made Man, knows best what he is capable of and hath undoubtedly taken care to proportion the _Duties_ he requires of Man, to the _Powers_ he hath bestowed on him. The contrary would be very hard dealing indeed--If a Law be dispensed to me, I must in the first Place have Understanding sufficient to judge of its Authority, and the Obligations it lays me under; and, in the second Place, I must also have Power to keep it, otherwise it can never be a Law suitable to me; and a Man's _Age_, _Complexion_, _Stature_, and _Circumstances_, are as just Causes for Damnation, as the Breach of a Law which lies beyond the Reach of his Knowledge and Abilities. But supposing, in the last Place, that God did make such a Covenant with _Adam_, &_c_. (though I think I have shewn it to be impossible) let us see how the Doctrines of _Election_ and _Preterition_ will turn out _then_. I have already endeavoured to make it appear, that God does not act in that arbitrary Manner, which these Gentlemen teach; that though he is indeed governed by no Law without, or accountable to any for what he is pleased to do, yet his own Rectitude of Mind, is to him an invariable Rule of Righteousness, equally secure to all Intents and Purposes of a written Law without: and this argues the adorable and incomparable Excellency of his Being who, though by Nature he is infinitely above all Power and Authority whatever, yet his moral Perfections continually prompt him to promote the Happiness of the meanest of his Creatures. It was _sovereign Goodness_ (rather than _sovereign Pleasure_) which prompted the Almighty to create Man, in order to communicate Happiness to him; and if _Adam's_ Posterity might be said to fall in him, yet God must at least look on them in a more favourable Manner, than if they had actually sinned themselves; and consequently it could never suit with his Goodness to punish eternally _any one_ under this Circumstance, without _first giving_ him an Opportunity of recovering from his lapsed State; nor could he ordain the Means on Purpose to _save some_ by _electing Grace_, without _saving all_. God does nothing without sufficient Reason: he could save none under this Circumstance, but as they were _in themselves_ Objects of his Pity and Mercy; and if ever there was an Object of Mercy, here it is, an immortal Soul condemned, for the Fault of _another_, which it could by no Means hinder or prevent, to suffer eternal Torment. There is something greatly moving in such an Object as this; and as _all Adam's_ Posterity were equally involved in his Guilt, all are Objects of Mercy _precisely the same_, and therefore there is not the least