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
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
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
if that day he was made he had perfectly known all arts and sciences Therefore he understood them not Let us grant that the world was made with Adam it will not therefore follow that all sciences and arts were fram'd with Adam Truly in the beginning the prime causes and means of all sciences were in God but the seeds of them were only sowed in Adam which could not arise but by meditation reasoning with himself by cultivating and time Adam might attain all arts and sciences but not for that cause he attained to them that minute he was born Besides Adam could not understand any thing of things past or judge of things to come as a man though most perfect unlesse by knowledge or conjecture or rather by consideration of things present according to the common phrase that there can be nothing in the knowledge or intellect of the most perfect man which is not first his sense For Example then Adam could not subdivide the regions of heaven which is the knowledge of the Sphere but that he first must find out the regions of the earth unlesse he had first travel'd about the world and view'd it But such a thing could not be perform'd but by daily journeys meditation and comparing according to the Psalm One day â—elates to another and one night preaches knowledge to another In which place the day signifies the apprehension of things which is signified by the sight the most noble of the senses The night the recollection of those things apprehended by consultation and meditation But if Adam as a man yea in the integrity of his perfection or before sin which is the same thing could not but by little and little and succession of time gain all sciences arts and disciplines Certainly he must be far longer time in gaining them after his fall especially according to their supposition who think that his mine was darkned and dulld by ignorance of all things Besides according to them there is so short a time betwixt the framing of Adam and his sin that Adam could know nothing but what cost him travel enough yea the same travel and rate as all disciplines are sold for to sinful men Those which are scrupulously addicted to thâ— books of Moses use to referre the inventions oâ— all arts sciences and disciplines either to Adaem or his posterity because in Moses there is no man read of before Adam This they believe upon the same score as they believe that all antiquities both in natural and humane historie are rontained in holy Writ especially in Moses I intend not God forbid I should either diminish the authority of the Scriptures or doubt the truth of them I will tell you ingenuously what 's my opinion 〈◊〉 if I be mistaken let it be upon my self 〈…〉 and will still hold That there is as much in the Bible as God has granted us to know either of the Original of the World of Prophecies Divine mysteries or our salvation Those things which belong meerly to our Salvation consist but in a few things And in them the holy Spirit has bestow'd so much pains and clearnesse as belongs to humane capacity Those things which concern other things are set down more at large And concerning them I shall openly declare that which all know but most are loath to speak That so great things are written with so great carelessness and obscuritie that sometimes nothing can be more obscure nothing more intricate Seeking with my self what should be the reason of this I answered thus in reason to my self as any one would have done That God who would have himself known by men hid himself and would not be perfectly seen For that he professed concerning himself to the Jews That he would dwell in a cloud And therefore in the Old Testament open'd himself unto them not always under one name And in the Gospel hinder'd the Devils and the Spirits from divulging who he was Besides whatsoever he said was a Parable and by divers circumlocutions he delay'd his auditors But if God speaking face to face spoke intricately and aenigmatically it is not unlike that the Scriptures remitted to posterity should be more knottie and intricate Hence those unusual apparitions which we read to have been seen by holy Writers set down in unusual and strange ways of expression But howsoever who will make it good although all we have received be knotty and intricate that those are the Originals which we now have Certainly it cannot be denyed but the Books of Josuah Chronicles and Kings have been copied out and I shall make it appear The miracle of Joshua at whose command the Sun and Moon stood still is manifestly copied out For it is written in the 10th Chapter of that book And the Sun and Moon stood still till the people were avenged of their enemies Is it not written in the books of the just This miracle then is taken out of the books of the just that is out of the books of the Jews who were called just as I observ'd before I say taken out of another book whether it were the Original or no. And nothing more frequent in other books Behold they are written in the books of Nathan or in the books of Gad or in the books of the remembrances of the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Judah or in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani or in the words of Hosea the Prophet or in the Prophet Isay every one of them having their own History to which it had relation now lost Whatsoever is read in the Kings or Châ—onicles are gather'd out of the books of Nathan Gad Jehu Hosea Isay c. Whence they are taken and gather'd as is found by the confession of the authors who wrote them I know not by what author it is found out that the Pentateuch is Moses his own copy It is so reported but not believ'd by all These Reasons 〈…〉 believe that those Five Books are not the Originals but copied out by another Because Moses is there read to have died For how could Moses write after his death They say that Josuah added the death of Moses to Deuteronomic But who added the death of Josuah to that book which is so call'd and which being written by Josuah himself is reckon'd in Moses his Pentateuch Besides we read in the 1. Cha. of Deut. These are the words which Moses spake beyond Jordan Which if Moses had spoken he had said on this side Jordan For Moses had not pass'd Jordan nay he never pass'd it but he that writes Deuteronomy sayes beyond Jordan because it was in the holy Land and because that place in the plains of Moab where Moses last spoke to the Israelites was beyond Jordan And this beyond Jordan you shall find repeated often by the same Moses It being to him on this side Jordan There is also a passage cited out of a Book whose Title was The Warrs of the Lord. The words in Numbers are these Whence
deriv'd to his own time We know certainly That the Phoenicians had the use of Letters long before Moses and that the Phoenicians spake the same language as the Hebrews did A clear proof of which Samuel Petit hath given us in his Miscellanea and the famous Bouchard in his Phaleg But if the Phoenicians learn'd to speak from the Hebrews Why should not we think they learn'd likewise to write from them Therefore the Hebrews wrote before Moses But what should the Hebrews rather write than their own historie and what hinders us to believe that Moses receiv'd the Jewish Chronicle from them which he wâ—ot Truly I think that Moses whose end it was to write chiefly his own History and the History of the times wherin he liv'd wrote very briefly all the things which were before his own time especially such things as concern'd the first creation And those which were the gatherers of Copies touch'd a great deal more briefly the heads of the Jews and the universal creation And hence I think it has come to passe that the creation of the world is ended in one in the first Chapter of Genesis and that afterward the framing of Adam and building of Eve are a little more particularly set down and that after all that time which was betwixt Cam and Noah is run over in the 4. and 5. Chap. Let any reasonable man judge whether or no in those 4 and 5 Chapters which are very short and full of Genealogies all could be comprehended which was acted or invented upon the face of the earth for a thousand six hundred yeares and more And whether in any reason we can deny such things as without violation of Mysteries of Faith by natural and right demonstrations can be made appear only for this cause because these two short Chapters make no mention of them Thus I seriously considering and diligently weighing all those things which I at large have spoken concerning those most antient times both out of prophane and sacred history as also which I shall speak hereafter of that Eternal age since which the world is said to have been framed by the Prophets and Apostles I doubted not to recall the creation of the first men to the beginnings of things long before Adams time Nor does it trouble me that Genesis makes â—o mention of those men Yea I thought it enough that it had not expreâ—ly denyed such men Yet although Genesis have so briefly nothing more brief gone over the originals of things yet we may gather from the same book that the creation of the first men was far different which is hinted at in the first Chapter from the fashioning of Adam the first father of the Jews which is more largely set down in the second Chapter They argue ordinarily We hear no men named before Adam in Genesis Therefore there were none before Adam And yet we deny that that there was no men before Adam because there are none nam'd in Genes's For it is well known that all things are nor â—et down in Genesis nor that all things must be denyed which Genesis mentions not whose intention it was not to write the History of the first men but of the first Jews only On the same account they affirm that the Ark of Noah was the first of all ships because we read of never another in Genesis As if Adam who according to their supposition was taught all arts at his making should have been ignorant of Navigation the most excellent of all arts and most necessarie for the societie of men They also tell us the same story of Noahs planâ—ing the first Vine because Moses tells us of no Vine planted before it as if the earth when it it was created in the youth of the world had not brought forth any Vines the giver of mirth and restorer of youth Adam being an excellent Husbandman should have neglected the planting of Vines the sweetest part of agriculture and abandon'd wine which according to the Scripture glads God and man But they talk of a Man-monster not of a man who think that Melchisedech was really without Father or Mother or without Original neither having any beginning of dayes nor end of life only for that reason because Moses in no place makes mention either of the Parents birth or death of Melchisedech They doe not mind that which Iohn Cameron a most learned and acute Divine has observ'd That these things were by Moses mystically pass'd over and mystically observ'd by Moses to shew that the Priesthood of Melchisedech was eternal according to the Priesthood of Christ not temporal like the Legal and Mosaical Priesthood which beginning from Fathers begat sonnes in the same order and taking its rise from Moses ended in Christ But Melchisedech's Priesthood neither came from the Fathers of it which were Priests nor was deriv'd upon the Sons which were Priests but such a one it was as had no known beginning and was like to have no known ending Reason and Faith perswade us to understand these things so least the mysterie of silence should pervert the order of nature according to which Melchisedech who had both Father and Mother might naturally beget children and naturally have an original and an end But say they Genesis does not set these things down so Nay these things are not against Genesis these agree with Faith and Reason And these things show that Genesis wrote mysteries not monstrous things Therefore these things are so because so to be understood And with like negligence they believe that there was no men before Adam because there is none before him read of in Moses Nor is it taken notice of that the design of Moses in setting down Adam was not to mention the first of mankinde but the Father of the Jews whose peculiar Historie he wrote and not the History of all Nations Truly the beginning of the Jews in Moses and in Josephus both is with Adam After that Moses has told us the beginning of men and of the Gentiles in the first Chapter with the beginning of the world and has set down the Gentiles different in stock and original from the Jews The Gentiles I say the births of divine creation from the beginning and the Jews the sons of divine architecture in Adam CHAP. III. Men erre 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 Jews not over all the world The Star which appear'd to the Wise men was a stream of light in the ayr not a star in heaven THere is great errour in reading the Scripture many times when that is taken more more generally which ought to be particularly understood as that of Adam whom Moses made first Father of the Jews and whom we hyberbolically call the first Father of all men That which is believ'd of the darknesse in the death of our Saviour is of the same strain For the
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
sin CHAP. 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 own bears his own sin THat question which is commonly disputed concerning original sin is intricate dark and difficult upon presupposition that all men were born of Adam Upon my supposition if God give me leave I will make it so plain and open that we shall never have any difficulty There are some that throw hatred upon God according to the first supposition in saying that his Law was too rigid and cruel in that he imputed that which was done by Adam without the knowledge of men before they had a being to all mankind and in that the punishments for that sin were so heavy that the whole nature of man was over-run with punishments and plagues For by no humane Laws was there ever any successors appointed of others crimes Let Children says Plato not suffer for the wickedness of their Parents It seem'd a cruel and pernicious president to the Senate of Rome to destroy Cassius's children when Cassius the Offender himself was destroyed people who did endeavour to settle such ways of punishment seemed to do things worthy the hatred of men and the anger of the Gods But this seems to exceed all kind of cruelty that after a miserable and tormenting life men should be cast into a burning lake and give their enlivened liver again to be gnawn by worms and there in weeping and gnashing of teeth to die and never die for ever and beyond eternity To which inconveniences that from my supposition I may briefly and clearly answer and stop every mouth speaking irreverently of God It is before sufficiently shown that the imputation of Adams sin added nothing to the nature of man given to corruption which is meerly mystical and is only conceived in spirit therefore as to nature that imputation added no new businesse We must here consider what damage men receiv'd in this according to mystery We must first resolve that the Apostle Paul where he says in the 10 to the Romans That Christ is the end of the Law Meant that Christ was the end of all mysteries both which were commanded by the Law and contained in the books of the Prophets In which signification the Law is very frequent and is taken for the whole Bible Let it be so saith the Lord to St. John refusing to baptize him for thus it becoms us to fulfill all-truth Truth in that place is the mysterie For Christ fulfilled all mysteries which he perfected and accomplished the ends of them Besides mystery is called truth because all mysteries ordain'd by God lead to truth Nor is mysterie an empty name and a bare title or fiction without its reallity and species Yea it accomplishes the chiefest thing of all in that it begets truth salvation and immortality to men which shall be cleared in its own place Christ was the chief end of that mysterie by which the sin of Adam was imputed to men that to them the justice of Christ which is the death of Christ might be imputed You must also take notice that Christ is Jesus who is the Saviour to whom the destroyer is oppos'd and that is Antichrist the destroyer of men Jesus came to save men not to destroy them But as Christ was ordained the end to the salvation of man their were mediums appointed to bring them to that end for the accomplishment of the forementioned salvation The imputation then of the sin of Adam which brought us to that end was the cause of our salvation not our destruction Therefore that dispensation of the divine Law was first of meeknesse and bounty not of wrath and crueltie by which men not knowing and being not yet born had the guilt of Adam imputed to them For the sin of Adam was imputed to them without their knowledge that the justice of Christ might be likewise imputed to them without their knowledge which is the salvation of the Lord Sin begat Justification by the same miracle as darknesse is said to have produced light and death raised up life They are much deceiv'd who think that eternal death ensued that condemnation of death which was decreed upon the sin of Adam For I think it is sufficiently clear'd out of the Apostle Paul to the Romans whom to this purpose I cited in the former chapter that the condemnation was not eternal but bounded with some limits That it was born with Adam and ended with Moses Death reign'd from Adam to Moses says the Apostle For that death followed the fate of sin and of the father of it who begat it The sin of Adam began to reign from the transgression of the Law which I therefore call a legal sin Legal sin liv'd as long as the Law liv'd and when the Law was extinct that was likewise extinguished That legal death reign'd as long as the Law reign'd and behoved to die also when the Law died Eternity also is indefinite Legal death had its certain limits Adam and Moses beyond which it could not remain Therefore that death could not confer an eternity upon men which it self had not What then shall we sin because we are not under the Law and because there is now no condemnation remaining by the Law which may hinder our design of sinning Far be it says the Apostle And that this objection may be quite satisfied I think I shall doe very well to discover the whole mystery in order and what I have spoken apart to set down together and represent it altogether to the view Reason and holy Writ witnesses that all things are corruptible and mortal which are composed of mortal and corruptible matter And that men being made of matter mortal and corruptible by virtue of their mortal and corruptible creation could not ascend up to an incorruptible and immortal God to become themselves immortal and incorruptible God is incorruptible but men from their flesh which is their matter reap corruption Galat. 6. God is immortal The flesh savours of death Rom. 8. God is good it self Goodnesse dwels not in the flesh of man but evil is continually with it Rom. 7. Men that are in the flesh cannot please God For the flesh is enmity to God Is not subject to the Law of God nor can be And a thousand such things we read in the Scripture By which it appears the vitiousnesse of the flesh matter and creation of man ought to be redrest and that men ought to be transformed to new creatures that of evil they might become good of corruptible incorruptible of mortal immortal and possesse the Kingdom of God Which flesh and blood which is corruption cannot possesse Cor. 1. Chapter 15. Men that were to be transform'd and new created behov'd to die as we have shown you before And God decreed that they should all die in his Christ who in forming a humane body and dying for them by proxie might alter
men alike evil and alike bad and had put all men in the same kind and condition for sin and death if the sins and diseases of men had taken their originals from that one and one kind of sin It is objected to this that Adam when he transgressed the Law did sin naturally for he naturally desired the forbidden fruit and naturally did eat of it Therefore the sin of Adam was natural not legal only And therefore not only by mystical and spiritual imputation but by Nature also and traduction from Adam it passed upon all men I answer that Adam did not therefore sin because he naturally desired the fruit and naturally did eat it but because he desired it against Gods command and eat it contrary to his Law The Apostle calls the sin of Adam disobedience moral not natural or as there was a formality not a materiality in that sin I say a formality morality and mystery which alone was imputed to Adam and to all men and for which he gained death to himself and to all men The nature and materiality of that sin was properly no sin For of it self and naturally it was no sin to covet and eat that fruit which was fair to the eye and good to eat as Moses witnesses of it The force of that sin consisted only in the transgression and disobedience of Adam which was the formality and morality of that sin Besides that sin was two manner of ways imputed to Adam Either in that by his corrupt mind and will he transgressed the Law of God or in so much as corporally or by eating he broke it In so far as Adam by his corrupted mind and will broke the Law which was the formality and the spirituality of his sin he deserv'd that condemnation ordained by the Law of God so dyed the death a moral and a spiritual death which Christ really and in his body suffered for Adam In so far as Adam in his body transgressed he was in his body thrust out of Paradise lest perhaps says Genesis he should put out his hand and take the tred of life and live for ever Both these happened to Adam by this transgression death and thrusting out of Paradise but both significatively parabolically and by similitude All men dyed by the sin of Adam by the same spiritual and mystical death by which Adam dyed All men were thrown out of Paradise not actually and corporally as Adam was but significatively and mystically The nature of Man corrupt and subject to death debarr'd men of the Paradise of God which is eternal life The Law given to Adam did double barricado the way to this Paradise and added strength to that sin as says the second Epistle to the Corinthians which that sin brought to passe making it exceeding sinfull as the Epistle to the Rom. speaks And man had two stops to eternal life the default of his nature and the rigour of Gods Law which was drawn and offered the sharp edge to all that should offer to enter into Paradise The nature of men given to corruption was the first and material stop their own impediment which hindered mans entrance into immortality The Law violated by Adam was the second and the spiritual hindrance not an innate but an impediment by another which shut up Paradise and which not naturally nor by traduction from Adam but which by imputation spirit and meer fiction of divine mysteries was objected to all men that upon the same account they might lose eternal life Christ dying for us took away the second spiritual hindrance which by Adams sin was against us The first natural and material stop yet remains and shall be removed by Christ also when he shall arise again and sanctifie us All that are dead and are mortal are thrown out of Paradise and shut out of eternal life by the sin of Adam mystically and parabolically that by the resurrection of the same Christ they might enter into the same Paradise and enjoy eternal life not mystically nor Parabolically but truly and really all I mean that should be chosen to it CHAP. VIII All men have sinned according to the similitude of Adams sin Infants have sinned according to the same similitude THe Apostle writes that Adam was a type of Christ Christ was then a prototype of Adam but by way of similitude of Adam with Christ his prototype And in regard as Christ who was to restore what Adam had lost was not the last of all men to comprehend men that were only past in his grace and justification no more needed Adam to be the first of all men to involve all men that were after him only in the imputation of his sin And as the death of Christ the prototype was imputed to all men both who liv'd in Christs time and who were from all time before him and those that have been since Christ and shall be born to the end of all time by the same type and similitude of the Prototype the sin of Adam was imputed to all men those who liv'd in the dayes of Adam and who were born before Adam and shall be born to eternity and the one sin of Adam caus'd all men both since and before to be condemned And that was it which the Apostle spoke very palpably in the same chapter 15. Rom. where he says That death reign'd from Adam unto Moses upon those also that had not sinned according to the similitude of the transgression of Adam Upon those who had not sinn'd which words are no doubt to be understood of those men that were born before Adam Men that were born before Adam did sin The men that were born after him sinn'd Men that were sinners according to the similitude of the transgression of Adam born before Adam Men that were born after Adam sinn'd acording to his similitude Which to open up in order we must observe that never no man sinned actually as Adam sinned but that it was actually imputed to all for no man as I said before did actually eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil which according to the common opinion no mortal men ever saw nor could see for the tree was remov'd from the sight of all men so soon as Adam was thrust out of Paradise But if no man could actually sin as Adam did and yet all sinn'd as Adam did it remains that all sinn'd according to the similitude of that sin by the imputation of it Certainly all Orthodox Divines agree upon what I said before That to impute to any one anothers sin is to esteem him as the committer of it In which it is requisit that one of the persons have not committed it otherwise not another mans sin but his own shall be imputed to him And it is certain that the adventitious sin of Adam was imputed to all men We must therefore think that all men were esteem'd in the same condition as if they had perform'd that sin not actually for then no mans sin