certainly Therefore we must understand the Serpent to have crept in two senses before sin and after sin that he crept before sin naturally by the nature of his creation that he crept after sin according to the decree of God and by that condemnation which was onely in spirit So may we understand Adam to have dyed two manner of ways Naturally that he dyed naturally according to the first intention of his making before the Law Legally and after a spiritual manner after the Law by that decree and Law of condemnation which is spiritually conceiv'd Therefore we shall think that there is a twofold death in all men as we conceive to be in Adam Natural which happens naturally to all men by their own imbred nature which is corruptible and mortal A Legal one which smote all men that minute mystically when it was decreed against Adam A natural death by which men dyed naturally before the Law a Legal death which passed spiritually upon them after the Law by transgression of the Law A natural death which followed mans natural sin a Legal death caused by the legal sin of men from the sin of Adam A mystical cause of a mystical effect which onely by way of spirit and mystery is conceivable And truly as the Law of creeping ordain'd against Serpents in the Law of Adam did adde nothing to the reptile nature of Serpents but a condemnation meerly spiritual so the Law of death added nothing to the mortal nature of men except that condemnation of death which in thought and mystery is only conceiv'd Remember says David Psal 89. what is my substance And a little after What man is he that liveth and shall not see death which the Kingly Prophet understood of natural death the causes of which he ascrib'd to the substance and matter of men not to the sin of Adam adde to this what St. Paul hath written Rom. 8. Flesh savours of death and in the 6 Chap. of the same Epistle The wages of sin is death In which he meant natural sin and natural death because natural death is incorporate with natural sin being the sauce of which the flesh rellishes which is the nature and matter of sin Moreover by this distinction of natural and legal sin and natural and legal death easily appears the interpretation of that place of Numbers Chap. 27. where the daughters of Zelopheâ—ad speak unto Moses Our Father dyed in the desert and was not in that sedition which was stirred up against the Lord by Core but died in hâ—s sin They say that their father was dead not in that Judgement wherein Core was swallowed up who rebelled against the Lord but by the sin and fault of his nature which is the seed of sin and corruption and by that fate of nature by which death is the last period of all things subject to corruption They doe not say that he was swallowed up in that just Judgement wherein the lowest earth opened to swallow up those Conspirators but that he dyed a single death in the desert by that same natural Law by which all men owe themselves to death and by which simple natural death abides natural sin CHAP. IV. Men were in the beginning created according to the Image of God and very good Of the Image of God in the first creation Of the Image of God in the second creation Men were created upright in the beginning but of vâ—tious matter which could easily return to its own disposition IT seems not to agree with that which is set down in the 1 of Genesis That I said the Creation of man was evill and corrupt For there it 's said that God did create man according to his own Image and that all things which God created were very good whence Interpreters conclude and rightly that man being created according to Gods own Image was created perfect and upright And if all that God created was very good that man then who was the most excellent of the Creatures was exceeding good To this that I may answer I would first have it granted that the impression of Gods Image in the first creation is different from that in the second creation God expressed in the first Creation that first Image and copie of his wonderful art by which he made the World and all that therein is and by excellent wisdom compos'd and ponder'd them In his renewing which is the second creation God express'd the Image of his own nature wherein he communicated his love and bounty to the Wor'd God in his first creation shewed the out-side of his work but in the second he opened the bowels of his love The first creation expressed the Image of God which we may call the exterior the second creation presents us with the internal Image of God There was nothing besides which God did not communicate in the Image of that plat-form and of his admirable art which he exppress'd in all things which he created But he did not make all things partake of that Image of his nature loâ—e and bounty which be most worthily shewin men when he did regenerate or when he went about to regenerate them Furthermore whatsoever material or corporeal things ar created by the law of their own nature they ar created corruptible and mortal but whatsoever out of things corruptible and material are created a new by the Law of that second creation become incorruptible and immortal To say nothing of other material and corporeal things it is certain that men in the beginning were created according to the Image of God that Image of their Creator which we may call the Image of creation yea they were created according to such an Image of creation which above all other Images of creation is the most excellent amongst all the frames of the creatures which more expresly and more highly represented the Creator But we must confess that men were created at first according to the exteriour Image of God which is called nighest to God at a greater distance in comparison to the Image of the second creation It is true that men were created in the beginning perfect right and excellently good in as farr as men by force and vertue of their creation could be created perfect right and excellently good But no man ought to be ignorant that men were created from the beginning of corruptible matter which might easily be turn'd from perfect to imperfect from right to wrong from good to evil which the men which were first created did evidence by a strong and approved example since the nature of their composition and their own negligence carried them being upright made so far aside Therefore so often as I think of this That men being created according to the Image of God the Creator and according to the Image of the first plat-form perfect right and very good by a fault in them ingrafted by nature did degenerare from righteousness to wickedness from good to evil So often I fancy a Watch newly
here not of that death which is naturally riveted to mans corruption but of that only which follow'd the nature of Adams sin and which by mystical imputation passed from the death of Christ upon all men And Christs death was call'd a transient death as the sin of Adam was call'd a transient sin Death says the Apostle passed upon all men that he might intimate that he had nothing here to do with that death which by their natural corruption is naturally inherent to them and happens to them naturally but onely of that which in the expiation of Adams sin by the death of Christ passes upon all men But that you may yet have a clearer light shine into your eyes take good notice to what in the same place presently follows Death reign'd from Adam tâ—ll Moses Death reign'd from Adam and that Law which Adam brake until Moses and that Law which was in force from Moses till Christ Christ dying extinguish'd all Law both that of Adam and Moses his Law Blotting out says the Apostle Col. 2. the seal of the decree which was against us for it was contrary to us and taking it away nayl'd it to his crosse That bond or decree which was against us was the condemnation of death decreed by the Law and obligation against all men in the sin of Adam For judgement from one became condemnation as it is written Rom 5. For that condemnation hung over all mens heads and reign'd over them from Adam til Moses and that time layd a tie of Law upon all men Nor did death properly as I said before reign upon all men because no man properly dyed for the sin of Adam but properly the condemnation of death which reigned over them was that which by the death of Christ was blotted out taken away and nailed to the Crosse God appointed then Adam and Moses the known limits and times for Adams sin or to that death or condemnation of death which was decreed by that sin But the same God appointed no limits no times either to sin naturally inherent or to death which by natural default is inherent to all persons Sin naturally inherent was before the Law and Adam since the creation and beginning of things which is without beginning Natural sin reign'd after Moses and after legal death of Adam and Moses 〈◊〉 the same death reign'd and shall reign to the end of ages which cannot be numbred The same natural death St. Paul meant first to the Corinth chap 15. The last enemy that shall be destroyed says he is death Which death cannot be understood of death deserv'd by the sin of Adam For when Moses was dead that was destroyed Death reign'd upon Adam till Moses they must then be understood of a natural death the destruction of which God has deferr'd till the end of things The last enemy which shall be destroyed is death For natural and inherent death is not yet destroyed which follows the nature of its natural and inherent sin These two shall we force indivisibly till the end of time natural sin and natural death nor shall they be destroyed but when the world is destroyed Therefore the Apostle did not joyn these two which he handled apart and which the order of things set at a distance that is sin Imputed and sin Naturally inherent death reigning by the imputation of sin and death naturally following sin naturally inherent The one treatise was spiritual and mystical the other material and natural The Apostle â—ivides that spiritual and mystical subject from the material and natural to shew that there was no need of the traduction of Adam material and natural towards the imputation which was mystical and spiritual which he more openly declares Rom. 5. where he compares the obedience of Christ with the disobedience of Adam and the imputation which did abound from the sin of one Adam to the condemnation of death with the imputation of grace which is given from above of which is given to the satisfaction of life in the offering up of one Jesus Christ which are nothing material or natural but rellish altogether of spirit and mystery And that the compafison of Adam and Christ may be absolute Adam ought to be imputed to men after the same manner spiritually and mystically as Christ is imputed The best Divines confesse that Paul spoke properly in the 5 chapter to the Romans of the guilt and imputation of Adams sin and considered sin not as the fountain of humame corruption but as it involves Adam and in him all men in the same guilt For the Apostle did not write that men were corrupted in Adum but sinn'd in him That they sinn'd in Adam by imputation not since Adam by imputation That they sinn'd â—irtually in Adam not by vertue of seed but by vertue of imputation And Adam is ordained in that place the head of all men not naturally but mystically And one excellent Divine speaks very fitly to this place By natural reason says he It cannot be that all men who were not yet born sinn'd in Adam Unlesse Adam in his moral existence be supposed the Prince of all men For which cause the Apostle says in the same chapter not of those sins by which Adam was corrupted naturally and by which all men are naturally corrupted but of one offence one sin one disobedience which deserv'd a guilt to Adam and in him to all men and which not actually but by imputation pass'd upon all men By which means says Cardinal Bellarmin That disobedience might be communicated to all men And the famous Gamach of Sorbon We grant says he That the actual sin of Adam as actual was not in men but by imputatign The Law or the transgression of the Law caus'd the imputation of that sin Nature begat the real inherence of habitual sin which is wickednesse of Nature Nature and Law are quite different in the scheme of things God the Creator of all things produced nature The same God the restorer or second creator made the Law And as nature could not contract a guilt from anothers fault as the violation of the Law might doe so neither guilt by the violation of the Law and by anothers fault could corrupt Nature A moral cause such as was the disobedience of Adam could not produce a natural corruption Therefore much lesse could the imputation of that disobedience produce that corruption Thaâ— imputation which is an effect meerly spiritual oâ— that moral cause and a cause mystical arising from a moral Therefore the Apostle coupled not these things thus dis-joyned and which can no way agree one with another Nature and Law Sin by Nature and Guilt by Law in this Treatise which he here intended concerning that sin which in the transgression of Adam was imputed to all men Nay no where in St. Paul or in any other sacred author can be read or gather'd that the natural traduction of Adam did any way conduce not to say was necessary to the imputation of Adams sin CHAP. VI. How the sin of Adam was cause of mens salvation not condemnation Since the death of Christ no mans sin is
A THEOLOGICAL SYSTEME Upon that PRESVPPOSITION That MEN were before ADAM The first PART LONDON Printed in the Year 1655. THE PROEME IT is a natural suspition that the beginning of the world is not to be receiv'd according to that common beginning which is pitched in Adam inherent in all men who have but an ordinary knowledge in things For that beginning seems enquirable at a â—ar greater distance and from ages past very long before both by the most ancient accounts of the Chaldaeans as also by the most ancient Records of the Aegyptians Aethiopians and Scythians and by parts of the frame of the world newly discovered as also from those unknown Countries to which the Hollandeâ—s have sayled of late the men of which as is probable did not descend from Adam I had this suspition also being a Child when I heard or read the History of Genesis Where Cain goes forth where he kiâ—ls his brother when they were in the fields doing it warily like a thief least it should be discovered by any Where he flies where he fears punishment for the death of his Brother Lastly where he marries a a wife far from his Ancestors and builds a City Yet although I had this doubt in my mind yet durst I not speak any thing of it which did not rellish of that received opinion concerning Adam created first of all men till I met with the 12 13 14 verses of the 5 ch of the Epist of St. Paul to the Rom. which I have in hand and consider of now twenty years or thereabouts And as he who goes upon Ice goes warily where he cracks it being not well frozen or tender but where he finds it frozen and well hardned waâ—ks boldly So I dreaded first least this doubtfull dispute might either cuâ— my soles or throw me headlong into some deep Heresie if I should insist upon it But so soon as I knew by these verses of the Apostle that sin was in the world before it was imputed and when I knew and that certainly that sin began from Adam to be imputed I took heart and found all this dispute so solid that I pasâ—'d through it with lesse fear I found men who beyond that imputation of sin which had its original from Adam had indeed sinned but their sin was not imputed to them according to the similitude of Adam to whom first of all sin was imputed and so imputed that it was â—eputed a crime to him and to all men and turned to death But as the nature is of things that are firm in themselves the firmnesse of this Tenent appeared to me to be such that the more questions of Divinity I did turn it to and those the greater and most difficult so much the purer greater and solid Christian Religion shined forth to me Such as to Heaven So great as there she seems A tryal of which I put forth in that Essay which for that purpose I did compose for the clearing of those verses of the Apostle Nor considering the bulk of the work could I then make an end Now I intend still by way of Essay to open the body of Divinity it self by which the Doctrine of the Gospel upon presupposition of men before Adam may be laid open more at large and that it may appear that this Tenet is no ways disadvantagious to our faith which is in Christ nay that it unrevelled it from a great many niceties with which it 's entangled and does almost in every place make it clearer to our eyes and minds Which I promise without boasting Whether I do it and bring it to passe let the courteous Reader judge I doe not doubt but a great many persons who shall see the title and the intention of this book not reading the work it self with tongue and hand will streight fall upon this work as a new thing and streight draw their pens to fall upon that which they have not understood To all whom I now answer That whatsoe'r they write I shall not answer them But if there be any more calm and wise as I hope there will be a great many such who shall refrain themselves And if there be any thing in my writings which after diligent perusal shall offend them and shall admonish me in a civil and Christian way I shall yeeld my self wholly to them and affording them all respect shall endeavour to satisfie them But this especially and most exactly I promise If any man in a known case shall shew me my error that is to say that I contradict the History of Genesis in the least or any other place of the holy and Orthodox scripture which are contained in both the Testaments or step aside from them a nails breadth or from any head of Christian faith First I shall thank him for his teaching of me then I shall not be ashamed to set down my name nay I shall think it my greatest credit to fill it with capital letter in confessing my fault which I detest if any such I have committed For although I am my own greatest friend yet truth's more dear to me which I only professe My name I do not now mention for modesties sake not as conscious of any evil action For I fear lest I should abuse so noble a subject by the slendernesse of my Treatise and lest all which I shall study or frame upon such high matter should be far inferiour But let them account which know me what and how great have been my tossings up and down these thirty years and what chances have drawn me in that time forward and backward So that more by meditation than reading and serious study as was needfull I have at last finisht this ill compos'd and undigested work Therefore I intreat my Reader he will be pleased to take this beginning howsoever in good part The Contents of the Chapters in the first Book CHAP. I. THe verses of the Apostle Original sin in them is chiefly handled The Law there meant is the Law of Adam not the Law of Moses Of sin natural and legal imputed and not imputed As also of Death natural and legal Humane Laws were appointed for the governing of right reason They are bounded by men The Laws of God are above men Pag. 1 II. The natural sins of men are the very defaults of humane nature the causes of which are not to be ascribed to the sins of Adam Legal sin imputed to men by the sin of Adam is additional Conceiv'd spiritually and not propagated naturally 7 III. The natural death of meâ—arises from the nature of man which is mortal nor is caus'd by the condemnation of death decreed against Adam Which is the legal death And is meant spiritually not naturally 12 IV. Men were in the beginning created according to the Image of God and very good Of the Image of God in the first creation Of the Image of God in the second creation Men were created upright in the beginning but of vitious matter
of years that the Aegyptian Kings are said to have reign'd The Kings of the Aegyptians Gods Heroes and men 164 VII Of the Aegyptian Kings who were men Plato in Timaeus concerning the warriâ—rs of the Atlantick Ilands is cited The sons of this age wiser than the sons of light Of the prodigious account of the Chinensians according to Scaliger 171 VIII The most antient creation of the world is prov'd from the progress of Astronomy Theology and Magick of the Gentiles In this Chapter the fabrick of the sphere is handled 177 IX Of the antiquity of Astronomy 182 X. Of the antiquity of Astrologie 185 XI Of the antiquity of the Divinity and Magick of the Gentiles 192 The Contents of the fourth Book CHAP. I. ADam though fram'd perfect could not that hour he was made understand the Sphere Astronomy and Astrology But in progress of time might gain the knowledge of them Of holy Writ Many things copied not original 200 II. God made himself obscurely known to men God in a cloud Of the Bible copied out There were writers before Moses Genesis could not mention all He wrote not the history of the first men but the first Iews The Ark was not the first of ships The Vine planted by Noe was not the first Vine How Melchizedech is to be understood without father mother or original 210 III. Men err as often as they understand any thing more generally which ought to be more particularly taken The darkness at the death of our Saviour was over the whole Land of the Iews not over all the world The Starr which appear'd to the Wise men was a stream of light in the air not a Star in heaven 219 IV. In the miracle of Ezechiahs sicknesse the Sunne went not back in heaven but in the Dyal of Achaz 222 V. How the Sun stood still in Gabaon in the miracle of Joshua That long day should not extend it self beyond the Country of Gabaon 229 VI. Where the miracle is of the Iews garments not worn out in the Wilderness and the not wearing of their shooes 235 VII That the Flood of Noah was not upon the whole earth but only upon the Land of the Iews Not to destroy all men but only the Iews 239 VIII The same which was proved in the former Chapter by the Dove sent out by Noah and by the natural descent of waters 244 IX This same is proved by the history of the sons and posterity of Noah By Eusebius in his Chronicle There were particular deluges Aegypt never drowned Strabo of the Turdetanian Spaniards Scaliger and Servius concerning the Trojans are cited Solinus of the Indians Sanchoniato Jombal 248 X. Of Eternity before Eternity Of Eternity from Eternity 258 XI Of eternity beyond eternity Of eternity to eternity The Kingdom of Messias how eternal 261 XII Eternity uses to be understood in Scripture by the duration of the Sun Moon Of an age Of eternal times St. Paul expounded Eternity indefinite 265 XIII Of the ages of creatures described by Hesiod and Ausonius Why the Histories of the first men were not known Out of Plato By the change of the Epoche The Aboriginal Nations of the world are not known 271 XIV They are deceived who deduce the Originals of men from the Grand-children of Noah Grotius concerning the original of the Nations in America confuted 276 The Contents of the Chapters in the fifth Book CHAP. I. MEn behov'd to die to become immortal Men die in Christ They behov'd first to sin and be condemn'd in Adam Men dye in Christ spiritually mystically Of the fictions mysteries of the Law Of divine mysteries which were either fictions or parables or mystical similitudes We die spiritually according to the similitude of Christ We sinned spiritually according to the similitude of the sin of Adam 282 II. Of Original sin It is inherent It is imputed What it is to impute That is imputed which is joyned in a kind of communion with that to which it is imputed Of communions and conjunctions of things Physical Political and Mystical Christ the end of all mysteries Adam ought to be referred to Christ not Christ to Adam Adam ought to be imputed to men as Christ is imputed to them spiritually and mystically 287 III. Of the two chief in the two mystical imputations Adam and Christ Abraham in the middle betwixt them We passe from the sin of Adam to the Iustice of Christ by the faith of Abraham Punishments inflicted by mystical imputations are mystically and spiritually to be understood No man no not Adam himself dy'd for Adams sin Only Christ dyed for that sin All men are understood dead in Christ spiritually mystically 294 IV. The imputation of another mans sin is not conceivable but by some supposition in Law Adams sin was imputed to all men in a spiritual manner not by natural propagation Divines confuse nature and guilt which ought to be understood apart in original sin Nature is before guilt Guilt did not corrupt nature yea on the contrary corrupt nature caus'd guilt Which is prov'd by the example of Adam when he sinn'd 303 V. Those who think that the imputation of Adams sin was ingendred by traduction from Adam do gather it from thence in that they believe that Adam was the Father of all men The Apostle hath distinguish'd and not joyn'd sin naturally inherent and that which is imputed He hath distinguished and not joyn'd natural death with that which is inflicted by the Law Death which was by the sin of Adam began with Adam and ended with Moses and Christ Natural sin and natural death were before Adam and shall be after Moses and Christ to the end of all time 308 VI. How the sin of Adam was cause of mens salvation not condemnation Since the death of Christ no mans sin is imputed to another but every one bears his own sin 316 VII Why Adam who sinn'd in the nature of a head not was likewise punish'd in the nature of the head The sin of Adam was disobedience Natural and Legal sin was the two-fold barricado against men to shut them out of Paradise Christ dying broke the barr of the Law Christ rising again and sanctifying us shall also break the natural sin 327 VII All men have sinned according to the similitude of Adams sin Infants have sinned according to the same similitude 335 IX How the imputation of the sin of Adam was imputed backward and upon the predecessors of Adam by a mystery provided for their salvation How the predecessors of Adam could be sav'd 342 A SYSTEME OF DIVINITY Part I. Book I. CHAP. I. The verses of the Apostle Original sin in them is chiefly handled The Law there meant is the Law of Adam not the Law of Moses Of sin natural and legal imputed and not imputed As also of Death natural and legal Humane Laws were appointed for the governing of right reason They are bounded by men The Laws of God are above men I Will present
and perfectness but that they might be restrained within them Divine law will'd that men should not only continue in their righteousness and perfection but that they should be advanced above their own righteousness and perfection Humane lawes have provided that men like beasts should not be meerly turned to pasture The Divine law will'd that man should be carried upward to the sight and glory of immortal God Humane lawes were within the limits of men Divine lawes were above men Humane lawes restrained the nature of men Divine lawes resolv'd to alter humane nature Humane lawes grafted in nature help nature and savour of nature Divine lawes being placed above nature breath all Mysterie and Divinitie help nature that it may purifie it nay that it may turn humane nature into divine Let us here leave Humane lawes and onely talk of that which God gave to Adam And because by the mystical not the natural dispensation of that Law we become more than men and are transform'd into gods Which is the end of this Systeme of Divinity and Christianity Likewise we shall handle that legal sin which broke the Law of God I say that first Law of God which Adam the first man did transgress And which men were reputed to have violated in Adam CHAP. II. The natural sins of men are the very defaults of humane nature the causes of which are not to be ascribed to the sins of Adam Legal sin imputed to men by the sin of Adam is additional Conceiv'd spiritually and not propagated naturally THere are some persons who believe that Warrs Plagues Fevers and all the troop of natural corruptions invaded the Earth by that imputation of the sin of Adam which first transgressed the Law of God And much they stand for this not taking notice of the difference betwixt natural and legal sin For Warrs Plagues and Fevers and whatsoever else of this sort troubles and afflicts mankind are the consequences of natural sin which is the wickedness and imperfection of Nature This will easily appear to such who will suffer that antient cloud of prepossession to be remov'd which dulls their sight for who knows not that Warrs had their original from such whom either greedy desire of prey or cruel thirst after revenge or sacred ambition of Rule stirred up to take arms Then who hath not had experience of the breeding and inflammation of Plagues and Fevers either by the natural corruption of the air or by the corruption of our natural bodies We have as many witnesses of this observation and truth as we have Statesmen and Physicians whose approbations almost innumerable it is needless here to relate We shall therefore assert a double sin in Adam a natural and a legal A natural sin naturally inherent in Adam by the infirmity of his nature and that peccant matter whereof he was made Legal which hapned and was imputed to Adam by violation of the Law of God A natural sin which infected the natural sense matter and nature of Adam A legal mystical and spiritual which broke the Law mystical spiritual which only in spirit and reason could be conceived For who can conceive a tree of good and evil who can understand the eating of knowledge the eating of good and evil unless he conceive it intellectually and mystically Likewise we conceive a two-fold sin in all men as we assert a two-fold sin in Adam natural and legal A natural sin which being innate in every person by reason of his peccant nature is deeply and naturally rooted in their very bowels Which proceeds from the fat of them as is elegantly expressed in the 73 Psalm A legal sin which happen'd and was imputed to all men by the transgression of that Law which Adam did violate A natural sin which had an influence upon the natural sense and corporeal matter of all men Legal which pass'd upon all men spiritually and mystically by the legal sin of Adam We conceive that mystical and spiritual passing of legal sin upon all men by another sin which was Adams to have been by imputation by which we meant that it was imputed to all men that Adam had sinned With any else besides Divines imputation of anothers trespass is a meer supposition in Law but with Divines it is the form of the mysteries which I shall clear to you by a very part example Sedechias King of the Jews brake his allegeance to the King of Assyria That fault was imputed to all the Jews who were thought perjur'd in the perjury of the King by that supposition of the Law of Nations by which people are thought to commit a fault in the faults of their Kings God had entered into a Covenant with Adam and in him with all men as being the Governour Defender and Prince of all men That Covenant Adam broke and that failing of Adam was ascribed to all men by that divine way of mysterie by which all men are thought to be delinquents in the faults of their Governours Defenders or Princes Therefore I think not that the imputation of Adams sin did overthrow mans nature nor doe I again agree with those that will grant nothing to imputation I leave to things natural and mystical their own room Natural things I would have naturally taken Things mystical I would have mystically understood Corruption contracted from that matter of all men which is addicted to corruption was that which overthrew the nature of mankind The mystical imputation of the sin of Adam is that which infected all men with the mystical stain of condemnation I assert imputations without which the mysteries of Christianity would be subverted but these I restrain within their mystical limits lest they stray beyond their mysterie beyond conception spirit Therefore I think not from thence because the sin of Adam was imputed to all men that thence they came to be obnoxious to diseases but by reason of their corrupt and rotten nature The innate infirmity of men was the real and natural calamity of men And according to Ezekiel Chap. 28. There came a fire out of the midst of them to consume them than which there is nothing more true for it is a mans own nature which causes burnings in his heart which that I may the more evidently prove by examples It is not known that Adam who was the criminal and as they say the first fountain of so great evils was ever so much as troubled with the least disease all the Nine hundred and thirty years which he liv'd unless you will believe him who relates out of I doe not know what Author that Adam dyed of the Gout with which he was troubled and which he pretends that he had by succession from his Ancestors Did Cain fall sick when he slew his Brother Nay he was very strong and lusty he fled to the east of Eden got a company of wicked persons about him with whom he rob'd He married a Wife begot a Son and built a City And this is a continual
complaint of the Elect in the Scripture as it were accusing God that he shews all his power to heap prosperity upon the wicked that all things goe well with them that things which they wish for come to pass beyond their hopes and that no disasters blast their pleasures and their joyes Likewise the most excellent Poet falls out with his gods because his Mistress having sworn by them being perjur'd kept the same face which she had before that she being perjur'd had as long hair as before that she had the same Roses in her cheeks the same neat foot the same fair and clear eyes after she had injur'd the gods as she had before she swore Nay after she had tyed her self by so many execrations she became fairer and fairer And certainly the supposition of the Roman Law granted a great many who were prisoners with the Enemy dead in a civil sense who were notwithstanding in good health Therefore it is apparent that neither suppositions of Law nor intentions of mysterie could any jot indammage nature nor that the imputation of Adams sin which is altogether mystical and spiritual was the cause of Plagues Fevers and other diseases which Nature causes in men but that they happen by reason of vitious matter and the frame of their creation which is subject to corruption CHAP. III. The natural death of men arises from the nature of man which is mortal nor is caus'd by the condemnation of death decreed against Adam which is the legal death and is meant spiritually not naturally ANd it is the fashion of all Inconveniences that one draws another there are not those wanting who affirm That if Adam had not sinn'd men should never have dyed as if immortality which is aeternal life and which onely a new Creation could beget as only having the power of immortality in it could have been bestowed upon men by the force and vertue of the first Creation which by its nature is subject to corruption and death and that men should not have dyed who as the Schools say are naturally corruptible and were created mortal Nay say they God said to Adam Eat not of the tree of good and evil for on that day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Therefore gather they If death was given as a punnishment to Adam on that day wherein he transgressed the Law of God Adam should have never dyed if he had never sinn'd But that consequence is utterly denied for although they die which kill therefore they which do not kill are not immortal Those that are guilty and not guilty of blood come to a certain end by death This is the difference 'twixt both their deaths that those that are upright 〈◊〉 of good life die simply naturally those that dye by order of Law are said to dye a two-fold death naturally and legally a natural death and that which is can'd legal and civil by the condemnation of the Law Truly whether a man by the sentence of the Judge be strangled or be beheaded or dye upon the rack he is first to be thought dead a natural death as being dead by natural causes as stopping or cutting the passages of his breath Again because to this nature a condemnation by Law is added he is said for the way of his death to have dyed a second and a civil death The same is to be thought to have happened to Adam being condemned by the Law of God which happen'd to other men condemned by the Laws of men Adam should have dyed a natural death and by a cause meerly natural since he was made up of matter corruptible and mortal Adam dyed likewise a legal death by the condemnation of the Law at which time he broke the Law of God The natural death of Adam followed the natural sin of Adam and the infirmity of his corruption springing from the corruptible matter whereof he was made Legal sin made the legal death of Adam There was a mystical cause of that mystical effect which only could be conceiv'd by spirit and reason This shall be evidently prov'd by Adam himself God had said to Adam Whatsoever day then eatest thou shalt die the death Therefore Adam is thought to have died the very same day the very same minute wherein he transgressed the Law of God And yet Adam died neither naturally nor bodily that minute or that day For we know that he liv'd Nine hundred years after he sinned Therefore we shall understand that Adam dyed when he transgressed the Law of God a legal and a spiritual death which only could be conceiv'd in thought Adam dyed a legal spiritual death when he transgressed the Law of God Adam died a natural and a corporeal death when he had liv'd Nine hundred and thirty years and in that set hour where the natural bounds of his life was fixed But we shall more easily understand that Adam dyed the death and that a spiritual death was added to his natural if we review other condemnations decreed by God both against Adam and against Eve and against the Serpent after and for the transgression of Adam This punishment was decreed for Adam after his sin In labour shalt thou eat of the earth all the dayes of thy life But God had plac'd Adam before he sinned in Paradise that he might cultivate it Therefore that he might labour and manure the ground in Paradise before he sinn'd and that by his labour he might eat of it as he did labour and manure it and by his labour did eat of it after his sinne Observe here labour both before and after sin Labours before sin according to the nature of agriculture natural labours after sin by a mystical condemnation which only could be conceived in thought Such is that which the Lord said to Eve I will multiply thy sorrows and thou shalt bring forth with pain and shalt be in the power of thy husband and he shall be Lord over thee The Lord multiplyed the sorrows of the woman when according to the condemnation he added spiritual and mystical griefs to those which were natural by which a woman is naturally torn when she brings forth God multiplyed the subjection of the woman under the power of her husband when he added the condemnation by Law to that natural Law by which the nobler sex hath dominion over the inferiour But chiefly its worth taking notice of what God decreed against the Serpent and what punishment he appointed for him for tempting Eve with eating of the forbidden fruit Because thou hast done this saith the Lord to the Serpent thou shalt goe upon thy belly and shalt eat dust all the dayes of thy life but this was naturally in the Serpent at his creation to creep and crawl that the Serpent should goe upon his belly and eat the dust for God before sin nay the fifth day of the Creation created all manner of creeping things of which sort was the Serpent and chief of them
Chanel and easily commanded themselves to be corrupted Little they cared for any right way of living right or wrong good or bad they saw nothing but what pleased their own fancies and gave themselves the Liberty of all manner of sin Men fell through their own wickedness and that I may speak with Jeremiah Chapter 28. They gave free reigns to their own disposition as horses furiously rushing to the battel Men returned for this reason to their own inclination because in the first Creation it being only corrected and amended and the vitiousness of it not quite weeded out in the framing of man and the nature of him it was alwayes in possibility not being quite taken away to return into it self But whatsoever was good in man by the correcting of his faultiness or any perfection which he had by his Creation was quite lost in men being enslaved to their own wills but what was evil in their clay and composition still remained The uprightness of men perished and their sin defaced them being so well created And the fault which was left in their creation and not quite rooted out in the first creation of man was a leven in their hearts more powerfull than their Creation by which they were altogether swelled and depraved Besides those things are stronger which move us inwardly than those things which work upon us outwardly The perfection of the Creation of Men flowed from God and happened to man externally as a thing different nay quite contrary to the flesh and matter of men On the contrary the faultiness of the clay and composition cleaved to them more inwardly as a thing proper and natural to Men. Therefore men returned to their nature because they did according to their own disposition which was shown them from within As also because the faultiness of their inward nature did more strongly move them than the perfection of their creation outwardly conferred upon them yea because the flesh and matter of man was reprobate Earth the Mother of good seed and the Mother of ill weeds The step-mother of all Vertues which God in his creation had sown in the hearts of men and the mother of all Vices which naturally spring in them as in their native soyl and which like watred Herbs grow most plentifully The cursed step-mother hates her Sons-in-Law but like a very loving mother embraces and fosters her Children Hence it happened that nature and the flesh of man refused that tryed and choyce seed of perfection with which they were created and that by the same nature it returned again into it self when it found liberty And that in this regard it was far easier to do evil than good From thence the heart of man was over-run with the briers and thorns of all maner of Vices proceeding from their clay and composition This returning of man from the perfection of their creation to the wickedness of their nature and flesh is that natural sin which we mean whether we may call it natural because it is naturally inherent to us or as St. Paul sayes Because it dwells in us Because there is a Law in the members of men leading men captive to the Law of sin which is in their members Where note the Law of natural sin fixed in the members of men or the natural Law of sin inherent in the flesh and nature of men In which sense it is to be understood 7 Chap. to the Romans Or whether that may be called a natural sin because it was a declination from that nature Law of perfection in which men were created in the beginning For which cause and most properly it might be called a sin That there remains yet some foot-steps of this perfection in the hearts of men yea that men are struck with a natural and tacit conscience of it is manifest because all those who are formed of a better and more perfect mould are naturally more averse from all sin who seem by the sent to hunt and track that perfection to which they perceive themselves created and from which they are fallen by the study of vertue In which sense the Apostle is chiefly to be understood in such places as he sayes Men naturally accuse themselves and are to themselves a Law CHAP. VI. God restor'd men created upright and turn'd backward to the wickedness of their own nature into a better estate by a second creation and lifts them up from men to be Gods Of that which is produc'd and of that which is made Of mutable and immutable Of mortal and immortal Of the Spirit which is in God and of the Spirit of the world BUt God neither despis'd nor relinquish'd men fallen off from their creation and bestain'd with their sins Nor did he so farre suffer them to be restored into the former state of full perfection as they had been perfect men in the beginning but decreed to new create them and advance their perfection above the perfection of men Men were faln headlong from the splendor of their perfection to their filthiness which is also the loathsomness of Beasts God commanded men by a second creation to pass as I may so say from men to Gods to be carried from corruption to incorruption from death to eternal life And which was the chief blessing of God to man he commanded them of wicked evil and bemyred creatures to be exalted to the perfection of his holiness and glory to which they should as with a fiery Chariot be carried by the Spirit of Regeneration Nay if we rightly weigh the councel and decree of God we shall find it his second intention to create men mortal and corruptible but his first to create them incorruptible and immortal Creation was a thing divine Regeneration was a thing more excellent and divine according to that distance of proportion by which incorruptible is preferrible to corruptible and immortal preferrible to mortal But that I may rehearse from the beginning all the business as it concerns Christian doctrine we must know that two things occur in the creation and framing things worthy observation which are not demonstrated by their causes but are aym'd at in the Scriptures and appear by their effects One which immediately flow'd from God another created by God but mediatly One produc'd another made One spiritual another animal material carnal and corporeal One permanent stable eternal another mutable subject to vanity One incorruptible which purifies another corruptible which pollutes One which favours of life another which savours of death One which is able to endure that celestial Lightning with which God thunders and which shines in his sight like gold in the fire another which God consumes with his splendor and which melting at his rayes departs into froth smoak and ashes One thing which God loves another which he disdains One which he chuses another which he rejects One which St. Paul Cor. 1. chap. 2. calls The Spirit which is of God another which the same Apostle calls in that
head yet he was not punish'd as the head for his sin For if all sin and wickedness all feavers and plagues and eternal death it self as it is believ'd enterd into the world and pass'd upon all men Why was not Adam readiest to sin amongst all men being the head and cause of all sins by reason of his transgression Why was not he seized himself with troops and companies of all manner of plagues and fevers And why was not that author of eternal death himself given to eternal death Yea why did Adam if we will except his single transgression become famous for no other sin Yea why did he enjoy his health so well Why enjoyd he a long life nine hundred and thirty years Why has none of the Divines sent him to Hell that amongst the torments of the wicked and the damned he might be punisht with eternal death But if on the contrary no man was ever partaker or conscious with Adam of Adams sin yea if all men were purer from that sin then Children are free from sin as being not born when Adam dam sinn'd What was the reason thar men should become more wicked by that sin than Adam himself For it is certain that a great many men have been thought more famous for the sin of Adam then Adam himself were sore handled their life short and sickly and at last thrown down to hell there to die an eternal death This darkness from my supposition I will make as clear as day if we consider the sin of Adam either against the Law which was a legal sin or by default of his Nature subject to corruption which is a natural sin If we consider Adam sining by a legal sin or against the Law which is the same thing we shall conceive him not only as to himself but also in regard of all men and to all mankind whom he did represent by force and virtue of which representation he deserved the imputation of that sin to himself and all Mankind For as an Ambassadour who yeilds up a people to a conquering Prince in the name of his Country does not only bind in his rendition himself but all the people of the City whom the Ambassadour represents So Adam in regard that he did represent all mankind did not only bind himself but all mankind to the decree which went out against his sin and made them and himself partakers of the same sin And as in the businesse of rendition which the Ambassadour does in the behalf of his Country all are equally obliged to the Laws of it as well the Ambassadour as all men of the Country Just so in the businesse of Adams sin all mankind did equally fall into the imputation And as this rendition according to the School men is neither lesse nor more in one than another nor of all those that are yeilded none is more engaged to it than another Iust so the imputation of the sin of Adam admits not of a more or a lesse nor can the sin of Adam be thought to be imputed more or lesse to any man that ever was or is or shall be And Lucans expression might be very fit in this case It stains and equals all Yea Adam and all men that ever were made or shall be have suffered alike for that sin for all have equally endured the condemnation of death decreed against that sin and all those men were thought to be dead alike according to that legal spiritual and mystical death which ensued upon that legal spiritual and mystical sin If we consider Adam sinning in the default of his Nature given to corruption which is natural sin then we shall conceive him in regard of himself not in regard of all men And in that regard the more that Adam sinn'd to himself in that natural sin he gain'd himself more natural evil and punishment and so had fall'n into more grievous diseases And indeed because natural sin is receptive of more or lesse according to mans nature more or lesse corrupt as likewise all natural punishments admit of more or lesse and all natural evils which ensue upon that natural sin And as Adam beyond all other men was of a lesse corrupt nature by the prerogative of his creation which he had from God himself so sinn'd he lesse than other men in natural sin And was lesse punished for his natural sin and suffered fewer evils than other men suffered yea fewer than they for the self same sin now suffer Let us examine this businesse on the right ballance of reason that it may appear beyond all controversie that the sins of all men and all those evils and plagues which punish men and their eternal death which hinders them from eternal life to have flow'd from the fault of their own nature inherent to them and not from the sin of Adam Whence I pray that thirst of blood by which one man is a wild beast to another one man kills another is it not from black choler with which mans liver swells whence all those incestuous marriages contrary to Law whence unlawfull venerie and those wild lusts by which men run upon beasts rashly not from perverse and corrupt lust which is the itch of perverse and corrupt nature whence rapine and theft whence war and strife amongst you says St. James in his 4 Chapter of his Epistle are they not from your lusts And hence we chiefly gather that such vices are altogether tyed and addicted to the substance of men since the same substance is to men and beast and men and beast have the same vices Hence it is they call murtherers cruel persons Tigers Bears Lions Lustfull persons Goats Backbiters Dogs Thieves Kites and Eagles tallons Belly-gods hogs c. Because we believe that the sin of Adam was imputed to beasts and engendred such vices also in them Whence is it likewise that men have their health so that they are girt with the spleen as with a girdle whence have they the Kings evil whence bleer'd eyes their guts ake the roots of their hearts are perished whence have they these continual uncertain or Periodical Fevers whence so many sorts of the Gout and either the stone or gravel in the Kidneys which occasions a strangurie and other several sorts of diseases by which mens bodies are tormented are they not from the ill dispositions of mens bodies which are higher or lesse grievous in humane bodies as the badnesse of their affections is either lightned or remitted But certainly varieties of sins or health which make men either ill or diseased do plainly shew that all this vitiousness springs from our nature and from the substance of men which as it is diversly affected to divers by either lesse or more it is corrupted and troubled Neither could the legal sin of Adam ever bring any such thing to passe For it is but one and not vicious and passed not upon men either more intense or more remiss but made all men alike guilty and had made all
Publicans and sinners Both with the Jews are unlawful either to enter into the Gentiles or to receive them Publicans and sinners are put together in many places of the Gospel because the Publicans or Farmers of the Customes which the Jews paid to the Romans were Gentiles or sinners amongst the Gentiles We must likewise consider the answer which our Saviour gave to the Jews when they enquired of his Disciples why he sat and did eat with publicans and sinners I came not sayes he to call the just but sinners to repentance which is I came not to call the Jews but Gentiles to repentance For Christ did prophesie there should be a call of sinners and Gentiles of all such as would hear his voice and a rejection of the sinners and Gentiles of all such which would not hear his voice Like to this is that Mat. 26. The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners for the Son of man was betrayed into the hands of men or sinners or Gentiles which is the same that by the Romans who were Gentiles and not by the Jews he might be condemned and crucified Moreover by this observation of sins we excellently finde the meaning of that place to the Galathians Chap. 2. where you shall read this But if desiring to be justified in Christ we be found sinners is God the Author of sin c Which you must thus open and understand But if we Jews desiring to be justified in Christ for here he discourses of the Jews who would not live after the manner of the Gentiles If we Jews sayes he desiring to be justified in Christ the God of the Gentiles are found to be Gentiles that is to degenerate into sinful Gentiles shall Christ be the cause that we contrary to the Command of God have departed from being Jews to be Gentiles that leaving the Law of God we have turn'd to the Councel of the ungodly and walked in the way of sinners God forbid sayes the Apostle that we should think any such thing For Christ is not the cause of the Gentiles sins but of Faith which Gentiles who believe in Christ have in Christ Christ destroyes the sins of the Gentiles but is the Author of Faith to the Gentiles and wakens that Faith which he revealed to the Nations of sinners then in name but elected through Faith and called to the holiness of the Jews What then if we be called Gentiles so long as the Faith of the Gentiles is inherent in us and we are justified by Christ the God of the Gentiles CHAP. VIII Gentiles called children little ones and poor VVE must very attentively observe that which we read in the 9 of the Proverbs where Christ the wisdom of the Father speaks to the Gentiles whom being made a man he was afterwards to call in these words My speech unto the sons of men Understand ye little ones wisdom and ye foolish take heed Wisdom cried out standing in the streets and high-wayes speaking to the trivial commune and unclean Gentiles and who are here openly meant by the sons of men and by the unwise and likewise here called lutle ones That voice which was heard from Heaven which stirs up both Jews and Gentiles gathered into one Church Rev. 19. Give praise to God you his servants that fear him small and great did mean these same little ones that is praise the Lord both Jews and Gentiles as you were of old incorporal and unanimous or as Saint Paul translates and reherses it Romans 15. Rejoyce ye Nations with his people But of the agreement of the Jews and Gentiles in praising of God we shall speak more in its due place It is clear that the Gentiles are called little ones Psalm 64. The arrows of the little ones are made their wounds that is the Gentiles are wounded with the same Arrows which they shot against the Jews according to the 35 Psalm The snare which the Gentiles have laid for the Jews hath taken them and they are fallen into the same snare Wisdom cries out Chap. 1. Ye little ones how long will ye love childishness and ye fools those things that are hurtful to you and fools hate understanding The little ones fools and unwise in that place are the Gentiles who stammer like Infants who desire things hurtful to them and hate the knowledge which is of God Solomon calls those same little ones evil and wicked men Chap. 7. of the same Book where he sayes thus I looked out of my window through the casement and I see the little ones I observe the foolish young man who walks in the street by the corner walking in the dark when it 's almost night Understand those little ones here not such are borderers upon Infancy but those that are foolish of untam'd pleasure wicked men who apply themselves to whores which the following words do make appear The Gentiles are call'd little ones in regard of the Jews who are call'd the great Nation nor was there another Nation so great Deut. 4. And higher then other Nations Deut. 26. The Iews were called great and mighty and high not by reason of their stature for they seem'd to be locusts compar'd to the Canaanite whom they had view'd by their Spies and who Numb 13. were of the sons of Anac men of mighty stature and monsters in regard of the Jews who were but little men Therefore the Jews were great in that they were chosen and belov'd by God and because in that regard they excell'd all other Peoples and Nations On the contrary the Gentiles were neither chosen nor belov'd by God but for the contrary reason call'd low little small To this compare what is written in the 24 Rev. And I saw the dead great and small which ascribe not to the ages or statures of those that shall rise again but to the future resurrection of the Iews and Gentiles which St. Paul calls the 24 of the Acts the resurrection of the just and the unjust of which before Solomon gives the reason of this why the Gentiles should be call'd little and small in that Book to which they say he gave the the Title of Wisdom Chap. 12. Because they wander'd says he in the way of error esteeming those things Gods which were superfluous in beasts living like witlesse children for which cause God had given them a judgement as to foolish children In this sense understand these words which the Lord professes in the gospel Matth. 11. I praise thee O my Father that thou hast hidden these things from the prudent and wise and hast revealed them to little ones that is that Gospel which thou hast not reveal'd to the Jews thou hast made manifest to the Centiles For the Jews are called wise and prudent according to Exod. 4. Behold a prudent and a wise people The Little ones are understood the Gentiles For Christ did not come to the Jews whom he was not then rejecting because they believ'd not in him but to the
taken for a foolish and an ignorant person For a fool and an ignorant person hath nothing to say The Jews called the Gentiles foolish and ignorant because they knew not their Law nor thought they that any speech which spake not of the Law of God Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Straight the Prophet would have thought himself dumb if he had spoken any thing besides the praise of God his justice and his law which was the chief duty of the elected Jews whose lips therefore were said to be circumcised but the Gentiles were of uncircumcised lips And therefore were rightly call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Infants The Gentiles were call'd little ones for the same cause as they were esteem'd poor and because God had opend to them as to the Jews his treasures of election and grace Little small and poor the same as Servius upon that of Virgil Take from poor Micon Goddess in good part This wild boar's head these horns of an ag'd Hart. Little Micon that is poor Micon The Gentiles by the poor are chiefly meant by Authors in both Testaments There was not a poor man nor a beggar amongst the Jews because the Law did forbid it And those which begged within the Ports of the Jews were strangers and gentiles nor did the Lord so earnestly recommend the poor to the Apostles as they were meerly poor for the Apostles being likewise poor themselves how should they have holpen the poor but because the Gentiles were poor whom by his comming Christ call'd to the participation of election and grace which is by the Jews and to whom he open'd the door of his gospel CHAP. IX The Gentiles called the sons of wrath the enemies of God beasts and so esteemed by the Jews yea unclean beasts the opposite comparison betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles IN the Epistle to the Ephesians Saint Paul call'd the Gentiles the sons of wrath and reckoned himself amongst the Gentiles being the Apostle of the Gentiles when he sayes And we by nature are the sons of wrath whether we conceive them to be the sons of the first Creation whom the Lord abhors or whether we take them as opposite to the Jews who by the Nature of their Election are esteemed the sons of love The Gentiles likewise called the Enemies of God in as much as the first Creation which is Elesh is enmity with God or because the Gentiles by a narural imbred hatred are Enemies to the Jews Let all thy enemies perish did Deborah sing who had destroyed the Gentiles who were Enemies to the Jews and to God but concerning the Gentiles Enemies to God and the Jews more at large in its due place Furthermore that which is the chief disgrace of the Gentiles is that they are compared every where to Beasts in sacred Authors and are accounted Beasts beneath men by reason of that great opposition by which the Iews are accounted Gods The 22 Psa thus complains of the Nations who had assaulted Israel Many Bulls have encompassed me fat Bulls have beset me they opened their mouth upon me like a ravening and a roar-Lion Psalm 57. Deliver me from the Lion's whelps the sons of men whose teeth are weapons and arrows Yea the 74 Psalm called the Gentiles Beasts Give not the beasts souls that trust in thee that is Deliver not the Jews who acknowledge thee to be the God of the Iews to the Gentiles their enemies who neither know thee nor acknowledge thee to which apply that of Baruch Chap. 3. Where the Princes of the Nations shall have dominion over the beasts of the earth that is over the Gentiles their flocks and their people There is a remarkable place to this purpose in Isaiah Chap. 3. Thou are made honourable and glorious in my eyes said God to the people of the Jews I have loved thee I will give men for thee and Nations for thy soul That is I will expiate and redeem thee by the death of men and people that is of the Gentiles whom like Beasts I will sacrifice for thee There could be no thing granted to the Jews more honourable and glorious than that honour and glory to become honourable and glorious before the eyes of God As likewise the Gentiles are numbred among the Beasts and Creatures walking upon the Earth in the same Chap. Isaiah 24. So sayes the Lord who created the heavens giving breath to the people upon the earth and life to them that tread upon it The people walking there upon the earth is indifferently taken for men and beasts for which cause the Gentiles are called a people not a people Deut. 32. I will provoke you by a Nation which is not a Nation and a people which is not a people in which words Deuterònâ—my meant the Gentiles as also the men of the first Creation who were properly in flocks like Cattle nor made up in Cities and Civil Societies of men The Jews did not value men by their reason but by their understanding I say by that intellect by which the true knowledg of God is gained which is above reason by which the manifestation of the Divine Law was given to the Jews and by which the granting of the Spirit of Christ was revealed to the Jews Hence that famous promise to Israel Psalm 32. I will give thee understanding and inform thee in the way wherein thou shalt walk Then immediately after a Precept given to the Jews Be ye not like to horses and mules which have no understanding And cettainly Divine understanding makes all men quite different from brutes Which although men have excellent beyond horse and Mule yet have they it in a manner commune with horse and mule so really did the Jews believe that the Gentiles were not men because they thought them altogether destitute of the knowledge of God But you shall likewise finde the Gentiles reckoned amongst the unclean Beasts Mat. 15. It is not good to take the bread of the children and throw â—t to the dogs said the Lord to the Gentile a Caâ—aanitish Woman In which the Jews are the sons and the dogs the Gentiles The Lord meaning so likewise said to his Disciples Jews Gave not that which is holy to dogs nor cast your pearls before swine That is beâ—â—ow not that which belongs to the sanctified Jews upon the Gentiles whom the Evangelist here call dogs and swine It is meant that the Apostles ought to preach the Gospel to the Jews first before they addressed themselves to the Nations Lastly it is excellent which the Lord advises us Luke 12. God sayes he caeres not for the sparrows or the crows which are said of the Jews and the Gentiles whom God should esteem and care for without any difference is here meant by the unclean sparrowâ— the Jews the foul Crows the Gentiles The Gentiles are esteemed unclean by thâ— Jews Acts 10. where Saint Peter sayes thuâ— You know how abominable it is to a man who is a
likewise call the Jews the sons of Adam since they are also called the sons of Jacob the sons of Isaac the sons of Abraham I say for the same reason as Adam was the Father of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. The Jews by name are call'd the sons of Adam Psalm 58. If you truly speak justice and judge rightly ye sons of Adam for ye work wickednesse in your heart and your hands work injustice upon the earth The Kingly Prophet in this place reproves the Jews whom according to the Hebrew text he calls the sons of Adam because professing justice with their mouths they judg'd wickednesse and in their heart and affections wrought the wickednesse of the Gentiles Which reproach you shall often find cast upon the Jews Such is that of Isay 49. This people draw nigh to me with their lip but their heart is far from me and they have worship'd me according to the command of men and doctrine that is they have worship'd me according to the order commands and doctrine of the Gentiles The second reproach cast upon the the Jews in this Psalm is That their hands wrought wickednesse upon earth Which earth is to be understood that choice holy earth and Land of the Saints that is of the Jews Isa 26. It was a great crime in the Jews that they had wrought injustice but a greater crime that they had wrought it in the land of the Lord which was elect and holy which to fill with iniquity as Ezekiel 8 Chap. speaks was to provoke the Lord. Hence that laid upon the Church of the Iews Thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications and wickednesse which in another place he call'd to defile the earth Here the Iews are understood by the sons of Adam who spake justice with their mouthes but judg'd wickedly and wrought iniquities in their heart and fram'd injustice in the Land holy and elect which is as much to the Iews as to live like Gentiles And David to deterre the sons of Adam the Iews from such deeds of the Gentiles shows them what the Gentiles were and what punishment they were to expect for their wickednesse in the same Psalm and in the next words They erre say they being sinners from the womb they are sinners from their from their nativity they have spoken false things which read thus in that place That he meant they were sinners from the womb in the same sense as St. Paul speaks of the Gentiles Ephesians 2. Sons of wrath by nature for by nature is the same as from the womb It is added they have spoken lies which could be only ascribed to the Gentiles For the â—ons of Adam that is the Iews are here sâ—eaking justice and truly If you truly speak justice ye sons of Adam Yea truth was granted to the Iews according to that of Micah Chap. 20. Thou shalt give truth unto Jacob. That truth was the law and justice of God For which cause the Iews who had the Law of God were called a just Nation and observing truth On the contrary understand the Gentiles by those who spake lies according to that of the 5 Psal In the mouth of the Gentiles there is no truth And again Ye sons of men why wander ye in vanity and follow after lies And in the 62 Psalm The sons of men are vain and light in the ballance Vain and Lyars are joyn'd together And when St. Paul writes in the first of the Romans That all the creation is subject to vanity Understand the first creation which of it self is vain flying and like a first dream Wherefore Nature her self being bad made those of the first creation lyers and wicked Therefore the Iews who truly speak justice are the sons of Adam The sinners the Gentiles who spake lyes CHAP. XI The Jews are called by Moses the sons of Adam The 32. Chap. of Deut. is explained And Isaiah and Hoseas of Adam the first Father of the Jews The Gentiles called strangers the Jews a kinde of men distinct in species from the Gentiles The Gentiles earth-born The Psalm 49. is explained Abraham had servants born in his house and also bought who were not of his stock that is of Adam Who are the sons of men who is the son of man The difference 'twixt the brethren of the Jews and other strangers THere is a remarkableâ— place Deuteron 23. which is the song of Moses in which the Jews are prophetically restored into their Land and are separated from all the People and Nations but the people and the Gentiles separated from the Jews And whom the Jews being in the midst of them shall sometime separate are placed on this side and that side bordering upon the Jews where Moses sayes The most high divided the Nations when he separated the sons of Adam he appointed their bounds according to the number of Israel or which is the same according to the twelve Tribes of the Jews which is the number of the sons of Israel And in the 54 Chap. Behold a stranger shall come who was not with me and he who was a stranger to thee shal be joyned to thee The Gentiles shall adhere and be joyned to the Jews shall be neer to the Jews and neer to the borders of the Jews but shall not be mixed with them which observe for that was openly decreed and promised Deut. 33. Israel shall dwell with security and alone that is undefiled with the mixture of the Nations which is not yet but that it shall be we shall show in its due place Moses gave this reason of the separation of the Jews from the Gentiles in the same song and in the words immediately following His people are the inheritance of the Lord and his portion that is Although in that day the Lord bless all the Gâ—ntiles and in his second Election make them partakers of his inheritance although in that day according to the promise made to Abraham all the Nations be blessed in the seed of Abraham Notwithstanding the Jews who are the seed of Abraham blessed first and before the Gentiles shall be a better part and inheritance of the Lord and shall be accounted to God as a peculiar inheritance the most elect are set apart from the less elect as Saint Paul said that he himself was set apart for a most elect vessel for the Gospel of God Chap 1. Epist to Rom. Further these are applied to the Prophesâ—e of Isaiah and are expounded by it Chap. 19. In that day Israel shall be third 'twixt Egypt and Assyria a blessing in the midst of the earth which the Lord hath blessed Blessed be my people of Egypt and the Assyrian the work of my hands and Israel my inheritance Where note That Egypt is beyond Nile and the gulf of Arabia and Assyria beyond Euphrates placed on the one side and on the other borderers upon Israel that Israel is placed in the third plece betwixt Egypt and Assyria betwixt the Bounds of his Rivers I say observe that
of his Father Abraham Heb. 7. As also the Hebrews are said all to be taken by God in the hand of Abraham their Father Isay 41. There are both divine and humane Lawes for imputations ordain'd according to natural communion and similitude The divine by which God is said to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation And according to that here the fathers are said to eat the sowr grapes and the childrens teeth to be set an edge The humane law by which there is punishment decreed against the Children of the Traytors by the guilt of their Parents There are examples both divine and humane of imputation of the Fathers fault to the Children That amongst divine examples is eminent of the seven sons of Saul whom according to the command of God David gave the Gabaonites as an expiation because their Father before had broke his promise with the Gabaonites and cruelly slain many of them It s read of Alexander that after he had taken Tyre as if he had been the defender of the publique tranquility he crucified all the Tyrians who outlived the siedge who were born of those slaves their Ancestors who long before had destroyed the free people of Tyre together with their Masters cruelly by a conspiracy made against them God imputed to the Jews the numbring of the people which David had caus'd and consumed seventy thousand of them with the plague for their Kings offence For that communion and conjunction politique whereby the whole Kingdom is thought one and one entire body like a living creature whose head is their King And as a murther performed by the hand is not only imputed to the hand but the whole man So in a body politique that which the head doth as being head is imputed to the whole body It is the work of Iove says Hesiod to punish Cities promiscuously for the transgression of the Magistrate So because the Priest of Apollo was violated by Agamemnon the whole Army of the Greeks was almost destroyed by Pestilence And whatsoever the Prince did amisse the Greeks smarted for 't Nor only the act of the head of a City but also of another member makes the whole body liable to guilty So as it is read of Achan Who having taken of the accursed thing brought all Israel under a curse Josue 7. And which is also read of the Levites Concubine 19 Judges whom the Inhabitants of Gabea of the tribe of Benjamin swiv'd to death And whose wickednesse was so rigidly imputed to all the Tribe that all the Tribe for that wickednesse was almost destroyed and routed out Nor were the Heathens ignorant of such imputations As Hesiod says Many times says he the whole Country is destroyed And Horace Neglected Jove doth sometimes add In punishment the good to bad Those imputations which by politique Communion are contracted from the offences of others others of them are of the law of Nations others according to Civil law According to the Law of Nations the fault of Sedecias by perjury was imputed to the whole Nation for which cause being overcome and falling into the Enemies hands they were all carryed Captives to Babilon By the same Law of Nations whatsoever the Ambassadour transacts is imputed to the Commonwealth or the Nation as also 't is imputed to the pledges whatsoever is done by them who give the pledges By Civil law it is imputed to the whole people whatsoever the chief procurer does for the people and to the chief in Government whatsoever they doe in behalf of the people To the Colonie or Colledge whatsoever their Trustees shall do in their behalf To Pupils and Minors is imputed whatsoever shall be judged against them according to the consent of the Tutors or Overseers There are likewise mystical bodies which by their mystical Communion and similitude do engage imputations Such is that mystical body by which all men as it were by a mystical conglutination are joyned with him by reason of that similitude they have with Christ For God did not put on the shape of an Angel but the shape of a Man that he might become in all things like to men except Sin that he might be a fellow sufferer with men and be an expiation for them By that mystical Communion and society by which his death is imputed to all men Such is that mystical Communion and society by which the faith of Abraham is imputed to all the faithful And all the faithfull are call'd the Sons of Abraham not the Sons of Nature but the sons of Adoption and mystical similitude which did unite all things According to that same Communion and mystical society the sin of Adam was imputed to other men For although Adam was made by Gods hands by a peculiar and choice way of framing beyond other men yet God had fram'd him as in other places I took notice of the same clay of the same common earth and of the same matter subject to corruption in which all other men were created And in all things was Adam made like other men with sin also Yea even as fin was a natural imperfection to all inherent and proper to Adam himself and so to all men And likewise as all men by reason of that society of sinning were apt or suceptive of that guilt which came by the transgression of Adam It is commonly believ'd that the death of Christ was imputed to men because the sin of Adam was imputed to them They are deceived that think so Yea upon the contrary the sin of Adam was purposely imputed to men that the death of Christ might be imputed to them likewise For Christ ought not to be referr'd to Adam but Adam ought to be referr'd to Christ For all things tend towards their end for which they are made Christ was the end of all mysteries therefore were all mysteries meerly for Christ and not Christ for the mysteries Adam was a type of Christ But Christ was a prototype of Adam A type is referr'd to a prototype and not a prototype to its type Nor for any other cause was the sin of Adam imputed to men than that the death of Christ which appeals for all mens sins and regenerates them might be also imputed to them Therefore in Gods decree the imputation was first design'd in the death of Christ Secondly in the sin of Adam as you shall read it in the Revelations That Christ was a Lamb slain from the ordaining of the world Yea and that the mystery of shedding his blood was known and decreed before the ordaining of the world 1 Pet. chap. 1. Which you shall never find of Adam because Adam ought to be referr'd to Christ as the principle decree of God and his own first type But these things which were first in the decree and council of God were not also in order of the performance made first Hence also it happens that the sin of Adam went before the death of Christ And hence it
the forms of men and change them into new creatures Which could not be done but by mysterie by the vertue of which they might be thought dead in Christ whose bloud had sprinkled them and as the Dyers of red colours such garments as they intend of a crimson or scarlet dye they first work them rub them and stain them with woad that they may prepare a convenient reception for red colour that fastens to the woad which is the ground of it So it behov'd men by the imputation of Adami sin first of all as it were with woad or the first ground be wrought drench'd that they might more fully suck up the bloud of Christ and after the second colouring be of a more perfect dye Therefore the imputation of Adams sin was a preparative for the susception of justice which flow'd from the bloud of Christ by which preparation all men thirsting might more earnestly seize upon his justification and receive it inwardly And as scarlet dye added to the wool drenched in takes away the stain of the woad and extinguishes the woad it self so likewise the blood of Christ cast upon the ground of Adams imputation took away the imputation of sin and utterly extinguish'd the sin it self so that by the death of Christ there is no imputation of that sin Sin was before the Law but it was not imputed when there was no Law Ro. 5 For the strength of sin is the Law Cor. 1. Chap. 15. The Law adds strength and force to sin and so has doubled sin and of sin simply so call'd made a sin imputable by Law Christ took away that imputation by Law and the Law it self The Revelation tells us of a Beast with many heads whose one head was wounded as it were to death the rest of his heads remaining but his wounds unto death was cured Sin was the two-headed beast whose one head was before the Law the other after the Law Christ dying cut off that head of sin which was after the Law and that wound unto death was not cured for that head was quite cut off and pluck'd from its neck After the death of Christ there is another head which was before the Law That sin is extinguished in the death of Christ which was imputed to Adam and in him to all men by violation of the Law which sin I call legal Since the death of Christ that sin remains which was not imputed whilst the Law was not which naturally before the Law was inherent to all which I now call natural Christ then restor'd men to that condition wherein Adam had found them into the condion of sin not imputed by the Law and men became after the destruction of that Law the very same thing before the Law was given to Adam for another mans sin is not imputed to any since the death of Christ but every one bears his own sin It is not now said as under the Gospel The faithers have eaten a sowr grape and the childrens teeth are set on edge Jer. 31. Every one dies not for the sin of Adam but every one for his own sin Every one gives an account of himself to God Rom. 14. Of himself not of Adam of his sowr sin in his own behalf not of the strong sin of Adam which diligently observe Every one carries his own burthen Galat. 6. And every one obtains what he does in his own body Cor. 2. chap. 5. God under the Gospel judges the secrets of men Rom. 2. The secrets of men that is their proper faults their belov'd vices every ones own sin and no mans else imputed to them Since the death of Christ God imputes not sins done against the Law but ascribes to all men their natural sins which are not in the Law but in the flesh and which reap corruption according to the nature of corrupt flesh which savour of death in whom goodnesse dwells not but on the contrary evil cleaves to them and who not in regard of the Law but in regard of their corrupt and mortal nature can not possess the immortal and incorruptible kingdom of God The old Adam is crucified with Christ and our old legal man but our old natural man lives in us which is really ours and is not dead in the death of Christ but shall by the vertue of his resurrection sometimes be extinguished whâ—n God shall cloath us with full sanctification which shall be our full and perfect restoring and resurrection At which time our last enemy Death shall be destroy'd I saâ— natural death the reward of natural sin which so long as natural sin is in force is alwayes in men which also when the natural sin is extinguished tinguished must also be extinguished But in the mean time let it be our business continually to be in exercise of godliness and endeavouring of our sanctification that the old sin which adheres to our flesh may be extinguish'd and the justification of Christ may be reveal'd in us from faith to faith as it is written in the first of the Romans that is from sanctification to sanctification For sanctification is our true and solid faith in the concrete here meant by the Apostle not that idle and empty faith which some do urge in the abstract Let us not therefore sin because we are no more confin'd by the Law of Adam or by any punishment of death decreed since the Law of Adam after Christs death but because really and according to the nature of the business we barricado our way to eternal life and to the sight and glory of God if we indulge matter and our flesh and extinguish not sin bred in us No thought of cruelty then as to the Law of God nothing dissonant or inconvenient shall arise in our thoughts by the imputation of that legal sin of Adam which ensued upon that transgression if all this business according to my supposition be taken as a mystical institution that it might prepare a fit ground for the reception of the justice of Christ which is the sanctification and salvation of men and their chief happiness for according to this mystery any thing which might have seem'd in God cruel against mankind seems rather to have been design'd for the salvation of man CHAP. VII Why Adam who sinn'd in the nature of a head was not likewise punish'd in the nature of the head The sin of Adam was disobedience Natural and Legal sin was the two-fold barricado against men to shut them out of Paradise Christ dying broke the barr of the Law Christ rising again and sanctifying us shall also break the natural sin EXaminers use to be more severe in the punishing of the actor than in the punishing of the complices and partakers which all Lawes teach us both natural civil and Law of Nations Nor needs this any proof for it is already so often prov'd that it would be clouded to cite all proofs Only that Law held not in Adam who although he sinn'd as the