it is said in the book of the warrs of the Lord. As he did in the red sea so shall he do in the brooks of Arnon But that Book of the Wars of the Lord could not be cited by Moses in which there could be mention made of those things which were done at Arnon in the very place where Moses perform'd this exploit Truly I believe that Moses made a Diarie of all those wonderfull things which God did for the people of Israel under the conduct of Moses From which collections the books of the wars of the Lord might afterwards be taken Which for that cause was neither the Original nor the Original of the Original but indeed a Copy from a Copy That which we read in the third Chapter of Dentronomy does manifest that they are written long after Moses Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the Country of Argob and it is call'd after his name Basan Hanoch Jair to this day Moses could never have said to this day For Jair scarcely had possession of his own Villages at that time when Moses is brought in so speaking And hence it manifestly appears that the author intended to shew whence according to the most antient and first original that City was call'd Jair deriving the cause from Moses to his own time and therfore as was fit call'd it Jair from that antient Jair unto this day The like we read in the same Deuteronomy in the same Chapter Only Og King of Basan was remaining of the race of the Giants His iron bed is shown which is at Rabbath of the children of Ammon For what needed Moses to have said to the Jews that his bed was shown at Rabbath of the children of Ammon that they might learn the bignesse of the Giant Why I say needed he to send the Jews to another place to see the bed of the Giant who had seen him in his own Land and overcome him and measur'd him as he lay along in the fields of Basan It is a great deal more likely to think that this Writer to gain credit to what he wrote concerning the King and Giant Ogâ— of whom he made mention spake of his iron bed as a testimony of the wonderfull spoils of that terrible Giant which were not at that time to be seen at Basan where Og lay but in Rabbath of the children of Ammon the succession of ages having changed the place We read also in the 2. of Deuteronomy The Horraeans first dwelt in Seir whom the children of Esau driving out dwelt there as Israel did in the Land of his possession which the Lord gave him In these words it is said That the Idumeans who are the Sons of Esau inhabited Mount Seir driving out the Inhabitants of those Mountains And that the Jews again inhabited this Mount Seir and gain'd Mount Seir as a possession driving out and destroying those Idumaeans Yet it is most certain that the Idumaeans according to Moses himself were not thrown out in his time as it is in Deutronomy in the same Chapter And the Lord said to me saith Moses You shall pass through the confines of your brethren the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir and they shall be afraid of you Therefore take heed you move not against them for I will not give you of their Land one foot for I have given Mount Seir in possession to Esau Therefore Idumaea was not given to the Jews in the dayes of Moses but long time after as David Prophesies Psalm 108. Over Edom will I cast out my shooe that is I will extend my possession over Idumaea For possession is taken by setting down of the foot and the shoe in this place is the foot the thing containing for that which is contained And David made also good his prophecie 1 Chro. chap. 18. where we read that David consecrated silver and gold Which he had taken from 〈◊〉 Nations Edom Moab and Ammon And befides in the same place Abishai the son of Zervia smtoe Edom in the valley of salt eighteen thousand and put a Garrison in Edom that Edom might serve David Therefore in the time of Davâ—d and not of Moses Edom became a land of possession to Israel as God had promis'd as being a lot and part of the Holy Land And hence it is gather'd that these essayes of Deutronomie were written long after Davids time a great while after Moses I need not trouble the Reader much further to prove a thing in it self sufficiently evident that the five first books of the Bible were not written by Moses as is thought Nor need any one wonder after this when he reads many things confus'd and out of order obscure deficient many things omitted and misplaced when they shall consider with themselves that they are a heap of Copie confusedly taken Those things which we read concerning Lamech Gen. 4. are defective Because I have slain a man to my hurt and a young man to my grief For there is no mention made of that young man whom Lamech slew That History which is related in the fourth book of Moses concerning the circumcision of the son of Moses is desicient and is conjectur'd to be deficient because we see clearly what it should be The The 20 Chapter of Genesis of Abrahams sojourning with Abimelech King of Gerar is misplaced For it is not likely that the King would lust after Sarah who was an old woman and with whom it left off to be according to the manner of women and who was not capable of pleasure As also Genesis 26. the same is to be thought of Rebecca Nor must we think that the King was then in love with Rebecca Jacob and Esau being thâ—n of age That which we read in the 10 of Deuteronomy is misplac'd The Children of Israel remov'd their camp from Beeroth of the sons of Jacan where Aaron dyed And in the same place He separated the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant Though long before the death of Aaron the Levites were seperated to look to the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant according to Gods command often iterated both in Leviticus and Numbers Yea whilst Aaron himself was alive yea still after that the Tabernacle was perfected the Levites carried the Ark as often as the Children of Israel remoâ—ed their Camp And if the Reader will take pains let him but run over this tenth Chapter of Deut. and he shall find the death of Aaron preposterously inserted in that Narration having nothing there to do and nothing beâ—onging to the buâ—nesse Yea he shall find it contrary to the computation of time whilst they were talking of the delivery of the Law of Sinai long before Aarons death You shall likewise find that passage in the 18 of Exodus misplaced And Jethro came the Father-in-law of Moses and his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped by Joâ—dan For how could Jethro come to Moses hiâ— son-in-law after the going
unto you again these same Verses of the Apostle 5 to the Romans because they are boundaries of this Systeme 12. As by one man sin entred into the world and by sin death even it so passed upon all men because all men had sinned 13. For until the Law sin was in the world but sin was not imputed when there was no Law 14. But death reigned from Adam till Moses likewise upon those who had not sinned according to the similitude of the transgression of Adam who is a type of the future First we must observe that this is a singular place where he intends to speak of that sin commonly called original which passed from Adam upon all men nor is there any other observed in the whole Bible through the whole Old and New Testament where clearly and openly this sin of Adam is handled Hence it is proved that Adam is meant by that man of whom the Apostle speaks by whom sin entred into the world and by sin death by whom also death passed upon all men as in him all men had sinned But for the same reason that the Apostle spoke of that sin of Adam which brought guilt upon all men it follows that he likewise meant that Law in this place the transgression of which caused the sin of Adam as likewise that Law be understood to be the Law of Adam which is to be thought to be given to all men just so as all men in Adam are thought to have transgressed it Therefore we will banish hence the Mosaical Law which had nothing to doe with Original sin because it was not given to Adam nor to all men in Adam and therefore the transgression of it could not be imputed to Adam nor to all men in Adam And certainly the Mosaical Law was only given and publisht to the Jews and not to other men the transgression of which ought only to have been imputed to the Jews and not to the rest of the Nations which were not of the kinred and family of Jews who were not held nor tyed by any bond or Covenant He gave his words to Jacob and his testimonies to Israel He did not so to all Nations nor did he manifest his judgements to them as sung the Prophet in the 148 Psalm and many such are read in holy Authors which for brevities sake I omit If the Apostle meant here the Law of Adam not the Law of Moses sin was in the world until the Law of Adam by the same Apostle and therefore before the Law of Adam and it must be that these men come to my presupposition which sinned before the Law of Adam or before Adam which is the same Besides it is clearer than clear fire That the Apostle in this place sets down two sorts of sins in time and quality different Different in time where he mentions sin after the Law and sin before the Law Different in quality where he meant That sin before the Law was not imputed sin following the Law was imputed For sayes Paul Sin until the Law was in the world but sin was not imputed or is not imputed as some translate it when there was no Law But if sin was in the world until the Law it was also before the Law And that sin which did violate the Law was without doubt after the Law You see here sins designed before and after the Iav different in time Again if sin be not imputed when the Law is not who will say that that sin was imputed which was before the Law or which was committed before the Law But if on the other part that was the transgression of the Law which caused imputation we shall call that sin imputable which broke the Law and so was after the Law You see here sins distinct in quality Sin that was not imputed before the Law we may call Natural since it depended upon no prohibition of the Law but had its original from the meer ill disposition of humane nature Sin which was imputed after the Law because it had its original from the meer transgression of the Law let us call it Legal And let us again call that death which upon my supposition ensued Natural sin Natural death and that Legal death which punished Legal sin Which that it may appear more clearly we must first know That humane nature is considered two manner of wayes right and perverse Right which had the image of innocence and perfection in so farr as man could be created right and perfect Perverse which turned away from the righteousness of that perfection which I call natural We must know secondly That the Law was appointed not to make men perfect but to reduce men to their perfection which were depraved and corrupted Not to make perfect but to teach and prescribe perfection And those whom shame of transgression could not deter from misdemeanour fear of punishment might keep them within the rules of honesty The Perfection of men is directed by Law and right reason Right reason is natural and born with us The Law is a stranger and prescribed to us But that was born before this was written and was constituted not by opinion but by nature The Law teaches us that which we have forgotten by the corruption of our Nature and Right reason for we should not know what were sin if the Law had not taught us And hence it is that the Law simply so called is styled a School-master by the Apostle and all other Laws are called Instructions Commands Precepts in both Authors sacred and prophane Men sinned only with a natural sin before the Law and till the Law as oft as they fell from that perfection to which by the nature of their creation they were born and as oft as they erred from that right reason which guided them to their perfection All men sinned two manner of ways after the Law and after the Law was given to them For first they sinned against that perfection of their nature They sinned secondly against the prescript and ordination of the Law which called them back into the right way And this is that which I call legal sin and which St. Paul Rom. 7. thinks to be the highest sin against the Law that is to be a sin against the Law a degree higher than the sin against nature And whatsoever sin there is be it natural or legal hath its own natural or legal punishment attending it And death is the inseparable wages of every sin whether you ascribe it to Nature or to the Law Natural death which is begotten by natural corruption never fails sooner or later to overtake depraved nature which is before it Legal death sits behind the Law-breaker as an avenger And Legal sin is as it were grafted into natural sin and legal death added to the natural Legal death added to the natural causes a civil death which in imagination and spirit is conceivable Humane lawes have provided that men should not stray without the limits of right
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
and many other such things as were able to tyre one who would rehearse them These antient Priests esteemed Man to be best compos'd of all creatures and therefore that he was called the Microcosm as participating of the creation of all things And therefore that some by Saturn become sullen others by Jove are mirthful some are red-colour'd by Sol others Iascivious by Venus some are cheaters by Mercury some imperfect by Luna Nay that some bray like Asses â—ome like Dogs others like Swine others ravenous like Lions some like Doves others like Serpents according to the various dispositions similitudes and sympathies of participation which men have been said to have with all things created But likewise the Scripture hath taught us that Spirits have profess'd the pleasures of men have been given to men to some lying spirits to some sleeping spirits to others spirits of giddiness then that there are cozening seducing and lying spirits it appears because Christ warns his disciples that they should trust no spirit yea and rebuk'd them because they knew not by what spirit they were led And it is likewise witnessed in the Gospel that the mother-in-law of St. Peter was troubled with a feverish spirit Who will wonder then that men being left by God after their creation in their own power and turn'd over to so many Spirits Gods and Lords who set them a work did appoint and worship so many several sorts of Gods under so many divers shapes of things created if he consider the almost innumerable affinities and sympathies which men are found to have with these Spirits Gods and Lords as also with all things created in heaven and in earth God abborr'd those Spirits and Gods fallen off from the uprightness and perfection of their creation to their own changeable condition with such an abomination as the most upright and best must needs hate that which is evil and wicked Therefore you shall hear these Gods in Scripture call'd wicked Spirits wickednesses spirits of error evil spirits and very evil spirits as in that 9th Chapter of the Judges God sent a very evil spirit betwixt Sichem and Abimelech call'd likewise vain and lying spirits curses deceitfull Idols abominations uncleannesses pollutions whorings dung the sleep and the anger of the Lord as is that in Samuel 1. chap. 26. The sleep of the Lord had fallen upon Saul and his people The sleep of the Lord is the same in this place with the evil spirit from the Lord in the 16 Chapter of the same Book where you shall read that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him Such also is that Sam. 2. Chap. 24. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel which the first Book of the Chronicles speaking of the same thing expresses in these words And Satan rose up against Israel where Satan is the same with the anger of the Lord or anger from the Lord. As also the holy Scriptures are clear witnesses that those Spirits Gods and Lords by the Law of their creation which is changeable and corruptible are mortal and that they are condemned to eternal death where wicked and perverse men are called The sons of Belial Sam. 1. Chap. 2. As also Nabal a perverse man is branded with that name in the same book Chap. 25. As also the same son of Belial is called The sonne of death Sam. 2. Chap. 12. And in the same Book Cha. 23. the flouds of death are called the flouds of Belial where David says in his Song The pangs of death compast me about the flouds of Belial made me afraid In which places Belial is not only called mortal but mortality it self for being Prince of all Spirits which were his ministers both mortal and condâ—mned to a death from whence there is no resurrection Who will not believe that those Spirits are destined to eternal death since God himself hath said that at that latter judgement of all corruptible things they shall be condemned and cast with the Reprobates into eternal fire CHAP. VIII Men being misled by evil spirits fell from their right estate wherein they were created into the wickedness of their own nature Being restor'd by the Spirit of Regeneratinn who only proceeds from God they know God whom flesh and blood knows not They obtain holiness which they could not have in their first creation and recompence their natural death with a supernatural immortality THe Apostle deduces the stain of all sins which overthrew men chiefly from this Chap. 1 Epist to the Romans because they had left God the Creator and had given themselves over to those Gods Lords and unclean Spirits Hence their minds were blinded and given over to their own lusts were set on fire with wicked and unlawful desires contrary to nature and so receiv'd in themselves the rewards of their sin and thence open'd such a wide door to wickedness and filthiness that at last they fell into all manner of sin And as they preferr'd their own lust to the knowledge of God so on the contrary he gave them up to a reprobate sense that being men they should doe things not beseeming men Hence they became evil wicked fornicators avaricious given to lewdness full of envy and blood brawlers deceitfull despightfull whisperers back-biters hatefull to God contumelious proud arrogant inventers of wickedness disobedient to Parents foolish madd without affection truth or compassion Truly men being misled by those Spirits being thrust forward by the violence of their own appetite according to the affection and sympathie which they have with those Spirits I say men oprest with the weight of their own sin and drownd in sticking clay might have despaird of any salvation nor ever have pluckt out their feet for thence if God had not helped them and stretched out his powerful hands from heaven to draw theÌ„ thence But God was not of that mind as most men are who rid an unhappy person from his present calamity and are never sollicitous afterwards to advance their condition God dealt better and more freely with men first he wash'd them drawn out of the puddle with his own living waters then advanc'd them being now clean and white by his own free merit and lastly from their foul wallowings receiv'd them into the glory of heaven and made them partakers of divine knowledge sanctity and immortality which is in his most happy vision And this he did by vertue and force of that Spirit which is of God and who is God himself by a second and new creation out of his own free will largeness of his bounty abundance of his love and meer grace which therefore is call'd the gift of God and his only free grace Therfore let all those who desire to know themselves here make a stand and endeavour to be free in their thanks to God Let them tast and see how sweet the Lord is Let them remember by how great mercies beyond their desert he has
are and are simply called the sons of men and have nothing in their Nature to seek or reach God The Prophet mean'd the Gentiles in that Psalm as it appears by the following Verse VVill they not all know who work iniquity who devour my people as one would eat bread Which could not be understood but of the Gentiles devouring the Jews I know that Saint Paul did cite this Psalm to shew that both the Jews and Gentiles were involved in sinne but it is to be observed that the Apostle in that Chapter did take the Jews not as they were elected but as they were simply men as they were of the same peccant matter and subject to be defil'd with the same sin The Psalm calls the Gentile here foolish which the Psalm 92 calls a fool The foolish man shall not know and the fool shall not understand these things Wherefore the Lord threatens the Jews he would provoke them with the foolish Nation Deut. 32. Which foolish Nation are the Gentiles taken for a Nation opposite to the Jews which is call'd a wise Nation The Gentiles are call'd in this place wicked abominable in their iniquities Whom Sam. 2. Chap. 7. you may hear called The sons of iniquity The sons of inquity shall not afflict the Jews as before This is written in the 1 of Chron. Chap. 17. The sons of iniquity shall not tread upon them as at the beginning By which it is meant that the Jews shall sometimes shake off the yoke of the Nations For the sons of iniquity are in that place the Gentiles So understand that in the 24 of Acts where Paul says this of himself to the Jews Having sayes he hope in God whom they also expect the resurrection of the just and the unjust By the just understand the Jews By the unjust the Gentiles for so meant the Apostle of the Gentiles that the Gentiles should be partakers of the blessings of the Jews according to the faith of the Jews and they should be partakers also of the resurrection of the Jews according to the belief of the Pharisees Which the Pharisees did expect and which St. Paul according to the doctrine of the Gospel foretold should be common to both Jew and Gentile You shall hear the Jews standing on the bottom of their election for a different reason not call'd wicked but the worshippers of the true God not unwise and foolish but wise holy and uncorrupt just not abominable in their iniquities in all holy writ CHAP. VII That the Gentiles are called Sinners IT is likewise common in both the Testaments that the Gentiles are are call'd Sinners by way of opposition as the Jews are call'd holy and just This was Gods intention that the Jews might be turn'd away from the fellowship and customs of the Gentiles Therfore David calls him Blessed which had not gone into the councel of the ungodly and had not stood in the way of sinners but whose will was in the Law of the Lord. That is to say he thought that Jew blessed who had not betaken himself to the Gentiles but had stood close in his estate of Jewish election and sanctity who was a Jew not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit and was constant in the meditation of Gods Law For a Jew in this place is he who is addicted to Gods Precepts Gentiles called those who were wicked and sinners every where in the same Kingly Prophet Psa 37. The sinner watches the just man And a little after The sinner watches the just man and seeks to put him to death That is to say the Gentile lies in wait for the Jew For the sinner is the Gentile and the just man is the Jew yea understand this whole Psalm of the Jews and Gentiles for there is a perpetual opposition betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles There is a remarkable place in the 85 Psalm of that mix'd cup which God in revenge of the Jews shall give at the end of time to the Nations to drink and which the Revelation speaks of Chap. 14 18. All the sinners of the earth says the Psalmist shal drink the dreggs of it Which in its own place I shall show to be understood of the Gentile and in most places of the holy Scripture The Psalm 109. is likewise sung of the last rejection and curse of the people of the Jews where you shall read among other things Appoint thou a sinner over him that is put the Gentile over the Jew and let the Jew be the tayl who was before the head The New Testament hath more expresly taken notice of the Gentiles for sinners especially St. Paul in the second to the Galatians where he says concerning himself and Saint Peter We says he by nature are Jews and not sinners of the Gentiles which were by nature and original Jews not Gentiles To this adde what our Saviour says Luke 6. speaking to the Iews If you do well by them which do so by you what thanks have you for sinners doe that likewise Sinners in that place are Gentiles for it belongeth to a Gentile and to humane nature to do good to such as doe good to them Yea it is common to all other creatures to return a like for a like which is a natural retaliation The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib Isaiah 1. It is a natural thing therefore to return thanks and one good thing for another but it is a supernatural blessing to return a good deed for a bad And God to this supernaturality invites his Jews To these adde that which follows in the same Saint Luke in the same Chapter If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive what thanks have you for sinners lend to sinners that they may receive alike but love you your enemies Which is the same as if the Lord had said The Gentiles lend to their Friends for usury and benefit but O you Jews my men do not lend upon use to the Gentiles but lend them freely and without use and hope of gain Yea let all thy things be common to him as to thy Friend which is your duty as being holy and elected in the Lord and to whom it were base and shameful to emulate the deeds of the Gentiles who were neither elected nor holy The Jews thought Christ a Gentile not a Jew because he had healed a blinde man on the Sabbath day in the Gospel of Saint John Chap. 9. This man say they is not from God who regards not the Sabbath but a sinner Which is as much as if he had said This man is not a Jew but a Gentile for the man from God or of God as we said before is the Jew the sinner the Gentile It is likewise known the Jews were wont to reckon Christ amongst Eaters and gluttons of the Gentiles because he was a Friend of Publicans and sinners and because he came into their houses and sat with them as also because he received
Israel is placed in the third place betwixt the Egyptians the Assyrians as also that he is a blessing in the midst of the earth that Holy earth which God is said here to have blessed Therfore we may here see the Egyptian and Assyrian placed on this side and that side according to the number of the Sons of Israel and placed neer the banks of the Tribes of the Jews That the Sons of Adam or the Jews were separated from the Egyptians and the Assyrians betwixt whom being placed they are parted from them by the Rivers Nilus and Euphraies is briefly set down in that Geographick Table which is inserted in the third Chapter of this Book Therefore the Sons of Adam are set apart in the Song of Moses The Nations divided by interposition of the Jews are the Egyptians and Assyrians Gentileâ— The Jews are called the sons of Adam upon the same account as Adam is called the father of the Jews Isaiah 43. God reproâ—ing Israel in that Chapter for their sin objects this to him Thy father sinned first Which the Prophet meant of the father of the Jews and not of the Gentiles for he spake onely to Israel and for that reason he said Thy father O Israel who was not likewise the father of the Gentiles that first father of the Jews is without doubt Adam because there was no sinner before him nor none after him can be understood But let us hear Hosea the Interpreter of Isaiah in the sixth Chapter of his Prophesie where God layes the same reproach against the Jews They sayes he have transgressed my Covenant as Adam did Adam then as he was the Father of the Jews so was he the Prototype of the Jews sin according to whose example the Jews were sinners begotten a sinful by father transgressed the Covenant of God and as Adam is the first Father of the Jews so the Jews are all the sons of Adam as likewise Adam was the son of God and derived from God Wo be to the Nations that riseth up against my kinred Judah sung when he had overcome the Nations Wo be to the Gentiles who rise up against the Jews On the contrary The Gentiles were called strangers who did not derive themselves from God and Adam to which strangers and Gentiles it was not lawful for the Jews to approach Act. 10. It is abominable to a Jew to be joynedor draw nigh to a stranger that is to a Gentile besides they were called by the Jews strangers unknown because they were aliens not onely from the Nation but family of the Jews nor were not onely received as brothers into the Holy Cities Ephes 7. The sons of strangers shall build the walls Isaiah 60. and in the 61 Chap. And strangers shall stand up and feed their cattel and the sons of strangers shall be labourers and dressers of vines Which ought to be understood of the servants of the Iews or their hirelings to which adde six hundred such which you may every where finde in holy Writers But not onely by kinred and exposition of kinred did God distinguish the Iews from the Gentiles but would have them different in the species it self He chused it for his inheritance the kinred of Iacob whom he loved Psalm 47. Where observe that the kin of the Iews is distinguished from the kin of the Gentiles whom God did neither love nor chuse for his inheritance Certainly the Philosophers make the brures a distinct species from men and with the holy Writers the species of the Iews is distinct from that of the Gentiles whom you shall every where read confusely mentioned with beasts and esteemed beasts in regard of the Iews who by excellency are called men or by a more excellent title are called the men of God You shall finde the species of the Iews peculiarly made and formed by God in Adam you shall finde the species of the Gentiles promiscuously created with the rest of the creatures in the same day of Creation which is diligently to be observed that a day did not distinguish them whom the nature of their Creation did not distinguish The Iews were properly and apart from all other things created the frame and work of the second Creation in Adam the Gentiles properly were the promiscuous buds of the first Creation together with all things else created and the off-spring of that earth which likewise brought forth other creatures Therefore did David call upon all Nations in these words Hear all you Natious hearken all you inhabitants of the earth and ye sons of men David spoke palpable to the Gentiles sons of men the Inhabitants of all the earth whom he likewise calls born upon the earth to distinguish them from the Jews who were not born upon the earth or born from the earth as the Gentiles who were not created in the beginning of things but form'd out of the clay in Adam Furthermore the Psalmist comparing here the Gentiles to foolish beasts sayes They were made like to them who like beasts were allotted to death to eternal death from which they should not return to life their graves are their houses for ever sayes the Psalm as also in the same place they shall not see light for ever likewise David distinguishes the Jews from them in the same Psalm in which he exhorts them not to fear those beasts born upon the earth who should sometime be governed by the Jews The just shall have power over them in the morning the just are the Jews of whom we spoke before that power of the Jews upon the Nations as also that morning shall be expounded in their own places This Psalm has given us a reason why the Iews ought not to fear these earth-born Gentiles of the first Creation in the words following immediately Their help shall grow old in the grave from their glory but God shall redeem my soul from hell David mixes his soul with the souls of the Iews none of the Gentiles sayes he shall redeem his soul God shall redeem the souls of the Iews when he shall receive the Iews or at such time as he shall receive the ejected Iews the Gentiles shall rise to eternal death or which is the same they shall die eternally by the fate of their Creation the Iews shall rise again to eternal life or which is the same they shall live eternally by the prerogative of their regeneration Therefore let the Jews who shall receive eternal life little regard the Gentiles destind to eternal death So farre were the Gentiles different in relation and kindred from the Jews as those divers species of creatures in unknown Countries are from those which we know so likewise were there more Nations unknown to the Jews than were known that is to say in those Countries which the Jews knew not Nor were these Nations only unknown to the Jews but likewise to their Fathers I say to their Fathers who were deriv'd from Adam Which God having a regard to threatens the Jews
needs return through a great many signs of the Zodiack and return pass'd moneths yea seasons of the year which were past in the minute of one hour which were an horrid confusion and absurdity But how much are they gone backward not to say from truth or from any probable conjecture who think that the whole heavens went back that the shadow of the Dyal might goe back That were to disturb all nature to make a difference in the tenour and order of all things to confuse the rising and setting of stars to destroy all Ephemerides and Astronomical tables and to make a confusion in all Astronomy But who ever heard of any such confusion who ever heard of this back supersant for the memory of things which past in the days of Ezechiah is yet extant among the Gentiles But why should there be a greater miracle in the sicknesse of Ezechiah than in the death of the Lord. There was darknesse only about Jerusalem in the death of the Lord and should the Sun shine longer to the world in the sicknesse of Ezechiah Christ died Ezechiah was only sick Christ in his death was perfecting the redemption of the World Ezechiahs sicknesse only concern'd himself and his people How ill such compariâ—ons shew let the miracle be placed in the Dyal not in heaven and all things will be very agreeable with that Dyal for the life of man is very well compared to a shadow yea to the shadow of a Dyal The last period of a mans life and of his Dyal is called the last hour Again the life of the King is well compared to a Kingly Dyal The shadow went back which was descending in the Dyal which Achaz had made The life of Ezechâ—ah who was dying whom Achaz had begotten went backward likewise nor could Ezechias have any more convenient sign of his recovery than this miracle which therefore was given as a particular sign to Ezechias Chron. 2. chap. 32. Ezechias was sick unto death and God gave him a sign he gave it to him not to all And this sign was seen in the land of Iudah not in all lands which is to be observed is proved by the same place of the Chron. That their was Ambassadors sent from Babilon who came to enquire of the sign which had happened not in the heaven which take notice of but upon the earth meaning the land of Iudah Nor had the Babilonians needed to have enquired of the Iews concerning the miracle if it had happened in Babilon or if the Sun had gone back in the Firmament for they themselves had seen it Therefore this miracle must be reduced to the Dyal of Achaz yea the holy Scripture expresly meaned so and directly sets it down in both places of Esay and of the Kings if the words of both places be well weigh'd as is fit The words in Kings are these The Lord brought back the shadow by the lines by which it had gone down in the Dyal of Achaz Observe here that the miracle is expresly signified in the Dyal of Achaz The words of Isay are And the Sun returned ten lines by the degrees it had gone downe In these places the bringing back of the shadow and the Sun are the same because the shadow could not return unlesse the Sun returned nor the Sun return but the shadow must return And that is it which Esay says in the words immediatly before Behold I will make the shadow of the lines return by which it is gone down in the dyal of Achaz in the Sun or with the Sun which is the same The Sun is not there taken for the Sun it self but for the light which it throws upon any superfice whereon it shines which it throws upon all dyals and such a one as you may believe it cast upon the dyal of Achaz Moreover those lines of which the Kings and Isaiah here speak were drawn out upon the dyal of Achaz according to the shadow of the Gnomon which according to art is plac'd in the middle of the dyal There were twelve chief ones of these marked upon the dyal to shew so many degrees or hours of the dyal whilst the shadow of the Gnomon in the mean time over-running the whole superfice of the dyal cast out a great many other lines by which it design'd the smallest minute of every one of these degrees and hours But these lines are hâ—re promiscuously call'd the shadow and the Sun because they are really set down and composed in all dyals by the Sun and shadow without prejudice to the principles of Geometry who define their lines pure not compounded longitudes Nor can I call those precisely shadows or precisely the Sun but rather the extremities or individual distinctions of the Sun and shadow for in them the last part of the Sun is the first of the shadow but the last of the shadow is not the first of the Sun But what Mathematician ever imagined such lines in the heaven if the words of the Kings and Esay are taken here for the Sun it self and the light it cast upon the dyal of Achaz Take notice that Esay here calls that indifferently the shadow and the Sun which the Kings simply in that place calls the shadow never the Sun Wilt thou have the shadow to ascend ten lines or go down ten lines And Ezechiah said It is easie for the shadow to grow ten lines let it not be so but let it go back ten lines And Isaiah call'd upon the the Lord and he brought back the shadow ten lines by which it had gone down in the dyal of Achaz It seems all this miracle was within the compasse of the dyal of Achaz For Ezechiah said It was easie to make the shadow to come forward Not that it was indeed so easie for a shadow to come forward ten degrees in a minute which could not be done but in ten hours but because it seem'd more easie for a shadow to goe forward than to turn backward he requir'd that which seem'd harder and a greater miracle that it might run back ten lines Certainly the force of this miracle was altogether in the dyal of Achaz according to the intention of sick Ezechiah and according to his Prayer For Isa had ask'd him Wilt thou that it go forward or turn backward Let it turn backward says Ezechiah and the shadow of the dyal was brought back According to the intention of Ezechiah and the Prayers of Isaiah there was herâ— nothing to do with the turning back of the Sun in heaven but the turning back of the shadow upon the dyal and the miracle according to the will of the King and prayers of the Prophet was perform'd really not in the heaven but in the dyal Nor had it been a miracle that the shadow was turn'd back in the dyal if the Sun had turn'd back in heaven for the shadow follows the motion of the Sun in the dyal not bâ— miracle but by nature And it is certain too that
against God when that fervour which was within them the corruption of their imperfect nature forc'd them headlong from the perfection of their creation to the imperfection of their matter For no guilt could be imputed by God no lawfull condemnation pronounced no death justly inflicted upon men meerly for that backsliding by which men who were of their own disposing turn'd from the uprightnesse of their creation into the wickednesse of their own creation According then to that mysterie that God would have all men to die in one God-man according to that same mysterie he resolv'd that all should sin and by one man be condemn'd a man I say simply so and not a God God would have all men die in Christ and sinne in Adam The vertue of the most high according to the great power of God over-shadowed a Virgin untouched and of her Christ was born in whom all men should die a pure sacrifice of a pure Virgin and of the stock of the Jews That so by the Jews and by the seed of the Jews Jesus Christ all men might receive salvation God fram'd Adam the Father of the Jews of common and impure earth corruptible to whom he gave his Law which if he did violate all men should be guilty in him and condemned by that Law That so likewise condemnation might come upon all men by Adam the father of the Jews But there was no need that men should by traduction be born of Christ that in him they migâ—â— die nor needed all men to be born of the descent of Adam that in him all men might die All that mysterie of salvation and condemnation of men in Christ and Adam made up the body of the mystery that is the spiritual and divine way above nature and which is ingendred in all men by intellect and mysterie and not by nature Whosoever understands the ways of Supposition in Law shall easily conceive the force of that mysterie by vertue of which men suffered losse of degree were chang'd or restor'd unto their estates and by which things only agreed upon were ratified and by formality of which they did obtain in antient time and yet obtain the lordship of most things All these things might have compass'd their effects and shown their natural force by bare Covenant or consent without any supposition But the Lawgivers did imagine ingrafting in these things which were naturally acted the legalities of their art to have added a better understanding to them As choice plants grow better when they are planred in Crab-tree stocks and such as grow wild God resolving to restore man that had fallen from his creation would not perfect the work in that direct and natural order as many things are done amongst men but by crooked windings of mystery by applications and spiritual graftings he thought best to perform the whole work Such mysteries seem to me very well to be titled Holy draughts Parables or Similitudes as the Apostle call'd them in that place of the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews where Isaac is presuppos'd as a figure of Christ to have laid down his life under the knife and according to that Parabolical death resembling the death of Christ he is presupposed to rise according to the similitude of the resurrection of Christ Where Abraham I say is presupposed to have sacrificed his son Isaac and to have received him again in Parable or similitude of resurrection which the Apostle purposely and very subtilly observed The Apostle Paul hath taught us that men die in the death of Christ according to parable and similitude of his death 6 Chap. to the Rom. In which place he directly tels us that by Baptism there is ingendred in us not only a similitude of his death but that there is engrafted in them by that same Sacrament a similitude of his resurection For if we be engrafted in him in his death so shall we be also in his resurrection And the Apostle taught us that all men sinn'd were guiltie and were condemn'd in Adam who sinned according to the similitude of his transgression According to the similitude of the transgression of Adam For that is to be understood a similitude and a Parable no propagation of nature as all men died in Christ Which that we may the better understand we must more at large handle the sin of Adam which is commonly called Original sin CHAP. II. Of Original sin It is inherent It is imputed What it is to impute That is imputed which is joyn'd 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 referr'd to Christ not Christ to Adam Adam ought to be imputed to men as Christ is imputed to them spiritually and mystically WHat I shall speak first concerning Original sin is asserted by all Orthodox Divines That sin is consider'd two manner of ways either as sin or as a guilt as a sin so it is inherent as it is a guilt it is adventitious and pass'd from Adam upon them all The one is proper to all men the other a stranger and call'd the sin of Adam The first is the formality the second is the materiality of the sin The material sin is proper and inherent an hereditary disease or blemish in which all men are conceiv'd and born according to that of the Psalmist In sin hath my Mother conceiv'd me A formal sin which is anothers and is become a guilt which was the disobedience of Adam imputed to all men according to that of the Apostle By the disobedience of one many became sinners The materiality of sin which is the proper fault and infection inherent in all by propagation of the matter and nature of men subject to corruption The formality of sin which is a stranger and transient had its beginning from imputation by the transgression of the Law which Adam did violate To impute to any one the sin of another is to esteem him in the same condition as if he had committed the fault himself Otherwise it is not anothers fault but his own which is imputed to him Beside the fault of one uses to be imputed to another which has some communion or conjunction with him as having some manner of corporal societie and similitude with him For as smoke coming near the fire takes fire by reason of the similitude and aptitude is has to flame so things that have a communion and conjunction betwixt them are apt or susceptive one of anothers imputations Communions and conjunctions of things fit for imputation by reason of their similitude are three-fold Physical Political and Mystical The fault of their Fathers is imputed to the Children by reason of that common and natural similitude by which sons begotten of their fathers are naturally joyn'd to them The sons are said to have sinn'd in the loyns of their Fathers as Levi is said to be taken for tithe in the loyns
dead Not that the sins of men were imputed to men but that by the damage of such things which were profitable to men those errours which they had committed might be more imputed to them so we read that for the sin of men all things that were upon the face of the earth were destroyed from men to beasts as well creeping things as the fowls of heaven Moreover for the wickednesse of the Sodomites both their Towns and themselves were destroy'd What shall I mention that for the wickedness of the Jews their earth was made iron that the heaven became brasse and fires were kindled to burn every tree both dry and green That became common by the mystical imputation of the sin of Adâ—m For the earth was curs'd for the rebellion of Adam The Serpent was accurs'd among all creatures and beasts of the field He was commanded to goe upon his belly and commanded to ear dust all the days of his life and those things which were joyn'd in no societie with Adam endur'd the condemnation of that fault This was the difference betwixt inflicting of punishments in Physical and punishments ordain'd upon the Mystical imputation of the sin of Adam That those punishments were Physical and real according to their Physical and real imputations the other Mystical and spiritually understood according to the spiritual and mystical imputation of the sin of Adam Certainly the sin of Adam added nothing to the sinfull nature of man but a meer guilt which ought mystically to be understood Nor did the punishment ordain'd against him from the imputation of sin add any thing to the corruption and natural condition of men but a mysticall condemnation which could only be imagin'd in the understanding The punishment decreed against the Serpent added nothing to the reptile nature of the Serpent besides a condemnation meerly spiritual and mystical For according to the reptile condition of his nature and his creation the Serpent was to creep upon his belly and to eat dust all the dayes of his life which I shew'd before and thought fit here to rehearse The punishment decreed against the earth to bring forth Thorns and Thistles added nothing to the condition of the earth but the meer imagination of condemnation For the earth is properly called the mother of thorns and thistles The punishment pronounced against men that in the sweat of their brows they should eat their bread added nothing to the natural destinie of men but a bare mysterie of condemnation For a man is born to labour and a fowl to fly And it is as natural for a man to labour as to a fowl to flie And the same is to be thought of the pains of women in child-birth Nor did the condemnation of death pronounced against Adam adde any thing to the natural death by which Adam and all men according to the Law of their creation ought to die besides the mystical condemnation consisting in mysterie and spirit Adam is understood to be dead according to that condemnation and all men are understood to be dead in Adam by that mysterie and mystical way of imputation by which the death of Christ ought to be apply'd to Adam and to all men Nor did Adam really die nor man ever dy'd really by the decree of that condemnation one Christ alone who was the expiation for all sin both ought to doe and did that and dy'd for Adam and all men and repeal by his death that condemnation which was gone out against Adam and all mankind Yea Christ himself who was slain before the world was ordaind and to whom was allotted the task of expiating Adams sin succeeded in Adams place at the very minute when Adam sinn'd and in the place of all men who were esteem'd to sin in Adam And God sustain'd the punishment for Adam and for all men who ought to have dyed for Adam and who from that very minute wherein Adam dy'd were understood dead not really and actually for they could not because they had no being as yet but by the force of mysterie and that mystical imputation which was in force after the death of Christ and before the death of Christ upon men not as yet born CHAP. 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 IT is a most certain truth of which no Orthodox Divine makes any question That God in a secret way and by a marvellous mysterie imputed to all men the sin of one man And that all mankind had a being in one man not truly and properly but mystically which is so to be understood by a certain presupposition in the Law of God according to the words of no ordinary Divine The whole nature of man sayes he was in one man Adam as in the head And all we not truly and properly for that time truly and properly we were not in being but potentially and virtually or by a certain supposition in Gods Law in the act of Adam broke the Law of God and transgressed his Covenant as sayes the Scriture And truly if we take diligent heed there is no imputation from anothers fault whether Physical Political or Mystical or any other kinde which is any other than imaginary or can any other way be conceived than by imagination which is chiefly to be thought of mystical imputations which are lesse corporeal and more spiritual and therefore more apt for fiction That is according to imputation mystical which the Apostle says Rom. 2. That uncircumcision is reputed to them that keep the Law for circumcision But how could the uncircumcised be thought circumcised but by that supposition which being corporeal is conceived in spirit and thought The sin of Adam was made the sin of all men by imputation and that same supposition of mystery by which all men that are that were that shall be are imagined to have plucked that forbidden fruit with their own hands at the same time when Adam did snatch it and to have eaten it at the same time when Adam swallowed it and by which supposition the numerical sin of Adam is thought to be numerically the sin of all men he in whom all men are thought to have been in him all men are said to have sinn'd and so have deserved death Nor were all men really and actually in Adam nor are they to be thought to have sinn'd really and actually nor did they really and naturally deserve death by that sin but by force of mystery which I have often repeated interpretatively and imputatively as the Divine says which was meerly by supposition And since these things are undoubted and believed firmly I see nothing that
Law which was not imputed because sin is not imputed where there is no Law And there was first an inbred corruption in Adam before that imputation which was caus'd by the transgression of that Law Therefore the imputation of sin was the Mother of his inbred corruption which begat the imputation of sin Sin naturally inherent ought to be first before sin which was imputed as nature was before imputation or mystery As also sin naturally inherent was not imputed according to Law there being no Law nor was there any legal guilt by that sin for guilt and imputation are the same things Nor could it be said that under the Law legal imputation and imbred corruption were indivisibly joyn'd and made up but one guilt of two Under the Law legal imputation of Adams sin and imbred corruption joyn'd But therefore were not so indivisibly closely joyn'd that they made the least confusion of guilts for there was never any guilt of anothers sin by imbred corruption The legal imputation of Adams guilt flow'd from the transgression of the Law by Adam which passed upon all men from imbred corruption flow'd sin naturally inherent not anothers sin but every mans own sin proper and particular to himself which is not imputed by the Law and by the adventitious sin of Adam but the very nature of the sin inherent from ones imbred corruption is naturally ascribed to all men that they may undergo death which is according to nature nor attain to immortality which is above nature CHAP. 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 ONe opinion as it is usual is begotten by another They who think that men took their Original first from Adam because it is no opinion but a reality that the first imputation of all sin sprung from Adam believe likewise that innate corruption and the imputation of sin were so indivisibly joyn'd in one man that that imputation could no other ways passe upon all men but by way of propagation the original of which they bring from Adam who first sinn'd and the act of which sin say they was in all men by imputation and the quality of the sin really inherent since that act which was not to interpret the matter but entangle it not to unrevel it but tie faster Furthermore this opinion as I said thence took its beginning because Adam is thought the Original of all men And that opinion again hence is imagin'd because they think that Moses spoke of Adam as the first Father of all men because there is no other man named in Moses Books before Adam as if there never had been nothing in nature nor in the world which Moses had not mention'd But Moses tels us no where that which St. Paul first declar'd That sin enter'd into the world by the sin of Adam and that death by that sin pass'd upon all men although Moses said no such thing yet he no where denyed it And no where hath he said that which St. Paul expresly declares That sin was in the world until the Law or before the Law which is the same thing I say that first and first-born Law as the best Divines call it and which is here to be understood as being the first of all Laws which God gave to Adam and from which proceeded the imputation of sin Nor did Moses deny that which Paul affirmed Therefore it is better to assert it since the Apostle affirms Moses does not deny it that there were men before Adam As it was never the intention of the Apostle to derive the original of all men from Adam so also the Apostle never intended so to joyn sin naturally inherent with sin imputed and certainly it is as clear as Noon-day That the Apostle never made any mixtures of these sins Rom. 5 where he manifestly writes concerning the sin which in Adam was imputed By one man sayes he sin entred into the world That by one man St. Paul afterwards explains not by traduction from one man and natural propagation but by his disobedience which is moral and spiritual By the disobedience says he of one man many became sinners He did not then joyn that which is moral and spiritual with that which is material and naturally propagated But that man by whom sin entred into the world is without doubt Adam whose sin was the sin of the whole world The sin I say which by the transgression of the Law was imputed to the whole world The Apostle adds in pursute of his argument Till the Law sin was in the world that is till that man Adam sin was in the world At the same time as sin enter'd into the world through the Law by Adams sin there was another 〈◊〉 in the world as the Apostle witnesses 〈…〉 and Adam which is the same thing Not the sin which was imputed by transgression of the Law but sin which was naturally inherent and was not imput dâ—whilst there was no Law Nor did the Apostle joyn â—n which was before the Law with that which was after the Law and had its original from the Law which in this Chapter he only hâ—ndles By one man sin extord â—nto the world and by sin death the Apostle adds in that place Where observe the death which the Apostle here meanâ— is not intended the natural death which was deeply rooted in the bowels of meir by innate corruption and by the depraving of his â—â—â—ation but the spiritual and mystical death is here to be understood which follow'd the spiritual and mystical imputation of Adams sin Which that you may the more clearly know remember what I said before That no man ever dyed for the sin of Adam but one Christ alone in whom according to mystical imputation all men are thought dead as all men are thought to have sinn'd in Adam They are I say thought dead in Christ by similitude parable and fiction mystically as Isaac was supposed kill'd by his father as before out of the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews That death then of which here the Apostle speaks was mystical fictitious and Parabolical which ensued upon Adams mystical fictitious Parabolical sin Which death no man ever actually suffer'd in Christ as no man actually or really ever sinn'd in Adam The Apostle spoke in this place not of that sin which was naturally inherent to all men but only of that which by mystical imputation pass'd upon all men from the sin of Adam The Apostle spoke likewise
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