by such Means as the Life can receive or as can be communicated unto it because the Life is the Former of our Body as I have proved in the Considerations of B. Van Helmont concerning Man in § 34.35 36 37 38. Now to apply this to the Case in hand I say then that if Christ had not taken upon him that particular Humanity or the nature of that Man from which all men are descended he could not have restored unto all men the Image of God again but only unto that particular Man-hood alone unto which he was united and yet that all men must recover the Image of God again we shall shew hereafter Just as a Branch which is Ingrafted upon another Tree is thereby indeed amended but not the whole Tree from whence it was cut off It is a thing contrary to Nature that all the parts of any thing should be bettered any where save in their Original or Source Yea this is contrary to every even the very least thing in Nature For as much then as this is an universal truth in Nature therefore it must also needs be a truth in the bettering of Mankind because Mankind stands united and subjected to the same natural Order as all other things and without which Order man cannot produce any thing Therefore that Christ might reunite Sinners to himself he was to take upon him that individual Humanity or Manhood of which all men are descended And if we diligently examine the Argumentation which the Apostle holds Rom. 5. We shall find that the Apostle signifies that Christ did take upon him such a Manhood or humane nature as by which all men could be saved such as was that of Adam by whom all Men became Sinners For the Apostle shews not only Vers 10. that being reconciled we are saved by the Life of Christ. But also Vers 11. that we joy in God to wit that we are assured that God is our Father who will communicate unto us of his Glory and the cause of this our Joying is that we have received the Atonement by Christ But some will perhaps ask here how or on what wise could Christ reconcile us This Question the Apostle answers in V. 12. saying Wherefore that is on this wise as by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned that is to say just as by one man sin came into the World so on the very same manner is the Atonement made by one man to wit by Jesus Christ and that as by sin death so by the Atonement Life is received and as death is so passed upon all men so is the righteousness of Jesus come upon all men unto Justification of life And as death is passed upon all men because they all sinned In Adam For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot here signify for that as in our English but in whom as in the States Dutch Bible nor can it have any relation to any other but to that one Man Adam especially if you add unto it V. 18.19 So there is the very same reason of the Atonement of Christ For Christ has made the Atonement for all men because they are all justified in Christ Now this is plain seing the Apostle draws here a Parallel betwixt Adam Christ that that Parallel must hold so far as he makes it to go Let us then see how far this Parallel which he makes betwixt Christ and Adam v. 12 must go It is certain according to this saying of the Apostle That sin entred into the World by Adam and death by sin and so death passed upon all men because they all sinned in Adam that the true reason here rendered why all Men are Sinners is because they all sinned in Adam Now if they did all sin in Adam they must all have been in Adam and must all have depended upon him as upon their Head and Beginning or else they could not all have sinned in Adam Just thus must this Parallel hold also in Christ Righteousness is obtain'd through Christ and this Righteousness comes upon all because they are justified in Christ Now this must be as true in Christ as it was in Adam to wit that seing all men depended upon and were hid in Adam and therefore did sin with him so also must all men be dependent in Christ as on their Head that is they must depend on his humane Nature or manhood as well as on that of Adam if they are to be all justified in him For seing as § 76. nothing can be united to another except the Unitor and the thing united do meet in one and seing man cannot be restored to his former state except the image of God takes Manhood upon him According to § 77. it must needs follow that if the Image of God to wit Christ takes upon him such a Manhood as whereby all men are justified that that Manhood must be that of the first Man of whom all men are descended and have received their life because that otherwise all men could not be partakers of righteousness by the Manhood of Christ and for as much as all men descended of Adam and so do depend upon him as upon their beginning from whom they are Born so Christ could not justify all men in him except he took upon him Adams Mandhood of which all men are dependent And for further confirmation of what we say from that which the Apostle says to wit That Christ must needs have taken upon him the Manhood of Adam in the first place we must consider that the Apostle in the 14. V. saith That Adam was a Figure or Type of Christ and consequently Christ must be a man or must take upon him a Manhood as the Apostle affirms V. 15. where he calls Jesus Christ a Man 2d As death reign'd over all men by one to wit by Adam so life reigns over all Men by one to wit by Jesus Christ V. 17. Therefore the Antitype must also agree in this respect according to the saying of the Apostle that is Christ must be the Head of all men as well as Adam was and that the Apostle proves very strenuously V. 18.19 Because that as by the one transgression of Adam all men are made sinners so also by the one righteousness of Christ all men receive life If then all men do receive life by the one righteousness of Christ then Christ must be the head of all men as well as Adam was and all men must descend from him as well as from Adam because else Christs righteousness could not come upon all men which yet the Apostle does most expresly affirm V. 18. whence then does undoubtedly follow that seing Adam is the Head of all Mankind and seing Christ has done the same thing that Adam did to wit in the Antithesis that the Man Jesus Christ must needs also have been the Head of all Mankind And for as much as none but Adam
what God aimed at by him because God Created man after the most perfect manner From all which in then follows that the Sinner cannot be made perfect in another way but by receiving again that very Image of God which he lost by Sin § 64. Now that the Salvation of the Sinner consists in the recovering of this Image of God the Holy Scripture does so abundantly testify that there is nothing held forth unto us more in the Holy Scripture than that our Salvation does consist in the receiving of the Spirit and Image of God again as is manifest from the places by us already cited § 51.53 54 55. and of which Eph. 4. and Colos 3. c. do treat § 65. But now altho' we have discovered that the Sinner cannot attain unto Salvation unless he receive again the Image of God yet this difficulty still remains in the case to find out how and by what means the sinner can recover this Image of God again § 66. It is then an universal truth in Nature that nothing can be meliorated nor united with another thing so as to bring forth fruit thereby except there be a previous suffering dying or mortification To wit such a suffering death or mortification as tends to melioration not such a death as tends to putrefaction for there are these two sorts of Death as for Example the Seed passeth through a death in order to the bringing forth of Fruit and sometimes it dyes so that it remains in putrefaction out of which no new Seed but Worms are generated Now that such a dying or mortification must go before the Union is manifest in Trees whose Twigs or Buds when they are Ingrafted or Inoculated they dye as it were and wither before they can unite with the Tree in like manner can no Seed unite with the Earth so as to bring forth Fruit unless it first dyes and therefore it is that our Saviour saith with respect to the profit which was to accrue unto sinners by his Death Iohn 12.24 Except a grain of Wheat fall into the ground and dye it abideth alone that is it cannot then be united with the Earth to Multiply but if it dye it bringeth forth much fruit and 1 Cor. 15.36 That which thou sowest is not quickened except it dye § 67. Now to bring this Universal truth home unto faln Man how he fell we shall shew hereafter we shall find that the Scripture does expresly teach us that no man canattain to the Image of God again so as to bring forth Fruits of Righteousness but by a dying as our Saviour testifies Iohn 12.24 under the similitude of a grain of Wheat not only applying this unto himself that he must dye in order to acquire unto himself a Church or People but he also applys the same to them which will be his his Followers For Verse 25.26 Our Saviour saith He that loves his life shall loose it that is he that fears to follow me for fear of Death he shall dye without bringing forth Fruit and he that hateth his life in this World shall keep it unto life Eternal that is he that fears not death but will chearfully deliver up himself unto death for my name sake he shall by his death bring forth Fruit which shall not change but abide for ever And therefore Christ adds if any man will serve me let him follow me that is let him give himself chearfully up unto the death as I do now give my self up unto it And very expresly saith the Apostle Col. 3.3 Concerning the Faithful ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God And V. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon Earth c. Now because suffering and Death must go before Glorification the Apostle saith Act. 14.22 that we must enter into the Kingdom of God through much tribulation Moreover if we consider the manners of Speech used by the Apostles concerning the manner how the Sinner recovers the Image or Spirit of God again how emphatically do they represent unto us that no sinner can attain unto any fellowship with the Spirit except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God that is if a Man be not born of Water and of the Spirit as our Saviour there further declares Vers 5. Now this is certain that no body can be born again except he first die how this Regeneration is to be understood we shall shew hereafter in its proper place and Titus 3.5 he hath saved us by â—he washing of Regeneration and renewing of â—he holy Ghost which is 1 Peter 1.3 called 〈◊〉 being born again through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Now this is certain that if we be born again by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ we must first have been dead wherefore from all this it is manifest that no man can recover the Image of God again but through suffering and death § 68. But now for as much as no Sinner has any the least power to give unto himself Salvation according to the Testimony of the Holy Scripture an that every one finds in his own experience that he is nncapable of coferring upon himself any perfection it follows that that Being which restores him must be more perfect than the Sinner himself and yet such as can unite and have fellowship with man It must be more Perfect than the Sinner because if he had no greater Perfections than he he could not impart unto the Sinner that which he himself should want It must also be such as can be united and have fellowship with man because that which cannot be united or have fellowship with another thing cannot make the thing better or change its state for the better because all Melioration doth require the most close union that is a Spiritual union with the life of that thing which is changed for the Life being the worker of all our Actions and the former of its own body as is proved in the Observations of Bar. Van Helmont concerning Man § 34 35 36 37. it is necessary that this Union be with the life it self that so the life may come to change its former working § 69. Moreover This Being that should thus change the sinner must not only be perfecter than he but it must also be so perfect that it can give perfection unto other Beings Or else it would be of no use to the Sinner as for Example It is manifest that Gold has more perfection in it than Iron has but Gold cannot therefore communicate its perfection to the Iron while it self remains meer natural Gold because it has no more perfection that it self stands in need of to be Gold in like manner we say of all Creatures or Created Beings none excepted that altho' they had more perfection than the Sinner yet they cannot communicate their perfection to the Sinner because they possess no more perfection than just belongs to their own Beings Besides Seing Man is the head
Sin and so would not be without sin the more because Christ was born neither according to the Will of the Flesh nor according to the Will of Man and consequently had not the principle of Sin in him § 79. Seing then that Christ did take upon him the Manhood of Adam that so he might thereby redeem Sinners from their sins It was also necessary that Christ should suffer that for Sinners by which they were to beamended Now this amendment was to be through death as it is said Gen. 2.17 Dying thou shalt dye and Rom. 5.12 By Sin â—ame Death Now tho' death be the punishment and consequent of Sin yet doth this Punishment tend to the bettering of the Sinner For no punishment if duly administred can aim at any thing but the bettering of the Transgressor and the bringing of him off from his former ways Verily no Father will Punish his Child nor any equal Judge a Transgressor but with intent to Frighten him from his Wickedness and to make him the better for it If then a Worldly Judge does by Punishment aim at the reclaiming of Transgressors from their evil ways how much more then shall the most perfect Being which is Righteousness it self by punishing sinners design their amendment and the making â—hem to desist from their Unrighteousness 〈◊〉 Punishment then only in Order to the Conversion of the sinner from his sin and â—hereby to reunite him to the Image of God And is Christ the only one that â—n relieve Sinners according to § 73. â—4 And did he to that very end take Manâ—ood upon him according to § 77. and â—articularly that very Manhood from â—hence all Mankind are descended according to § 78. that so by his becoming man all men might be delivered from sin and reunited to the Image of God again then must Christ needs have undergone that by which the Evil must be amended and the sinner again be made one with theâ— Image of God unto which there is no coming but through Death according to § 66.67 Wherefore seing that Christ is the Saviour or the only one that can free us from sin he could do it by no other means or in no other way nor deliver us from the yoak and bondage of Sin but by suffering Death If now the Pious Reader well weighs what we have in this Chapter shewed concerning the Image of God where in it consists of what use and advantage it is unto man who this Image oâ— God is viz. Christ and that this Imagâ— of God alone is he who alone can free the sinner from Sin and that in Ordeâ— to it he was to take upon him thâ— Nature of Man and to suffer Death wâ— cannot in the least doubt but that hâ— will be fully satisfied and Believe noâ— from Tradition but from Knowledgâ— and Assurance that Christ alone anâ— none other but he is the only Saviour and that out of him there is no Salvation to be Obtained as also that so long as a Man has not recovered the Image of God so long darkness bears Rule in him CHAP. IV. Of the Soul or Life of Man § 80. AS Man in the state wherein he was Created by God had in him the Divine Image so God also bestowed upon him a Soul or Life which differs from the Image of God and cannot be taken for one and the same Essence For if we consider the Properties of the Spirit or Divine Image and what excellent Prerogatives and Advantages it affords Man as hath been shewed § 53 54 55 and 56. and on the other hand reflect how few at this day are possessed of the Image of God tho' they have a Soul or Life we shall not need any other Argument besides that of daily Experience to convince us that the Spirit or Image of God differs from the Soul or Life of Man according to what hath been declared § 39. § 81. In order therefore to our being informed what the Soul of Man is it will be necessary to enquire into the Properties of it Now the Properties of the Soul are that it Reasoneth or Discourseth Understandeth Willeth is self-Conscious and as long as it is joined to the Body doth uphold and continually guide and govern the same according to its Will and the like That these are the properties of the Soul every one finds in himself and is conscious of it if he be considerative and reflects upon his own Actions For as to Bodies they can neither Discourse nor move themselves as is visible in dead Cankasses So that these forementioned Qualities are no Properties of the Body but of the Soul because when the Soul Operates no longer in the Body these Properties cease also § 82. In Order therefore to make some Discovery of the Nature of the Soul from these its Properties it will be necessary that we consider every one of them apart that so from these we may be able to inferr or conclude what kind of Essence that is from whence they flow For as a Tree is known by his Fruit so may other things be known by their Effects In the first Place then The Property of the Soul is that She Discourseth and Vnderstands that is that the things that are present with her or represented to her from without are considered or weighed by her whether they be Good or Evil to her Profit or Loss and such like Moreover those things whereof the Soul Reasoneth or Discourseth must be either throughly known to her or in part for of things she is altogether ignorant of she cannot Discourse at all And if the things she Discourseth about be either throughly or in Part known by her then hath she also a Comprehension or Understanding of them and what she doth Comprehend she hath also an Image or Idea of as hath been shewed § 15. Now this Image or Comprehension and the Souls considering and Pondering of the same takes up no Room at all in her because a man comprehends many thousands of things without encreasing the bulk of his Body notwithstanding that the things he comprehends be much greater than it Whence it is evident that Reasoning and Understanding take up no space how great or ample soever the thing may be that is comprehended or understood But on the contrary that the Understanding can comprehend great things as well as little and consequently that she is neither great nor little Now that which is neither great nor small and yet comprehends things great and small cannot be Corporeal but Spiritual forasmuch as all Bodies are either great or small What hath been said here of Reasoning or Understanding the same may be said of the other Properties For to be self conscious is to reflect and be convinced that we have done or omitted these or the the other things Now this Conviction is not any thing that is Bodily but a Spiritual Being because there can be no Conviction without a Comprehension or Understanding of the Matter we are convinced of So