A COMMENTARY Upon the Three First CHAPTERS OF The First Book of Moses Called GENESIS By that Reverend Divine JOHN WHITE Late Preacher of Gods Word at Dorchester in the County of Dorset Search the Scriptures For in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me John 5.39 For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me For he wrote of me But if ye believe not his Writings how shall ye believe my words John 5.46 47. LONDON Printed by John Streater and are to be sold by George Calvert at the Sign of the Half-Moon and Joseph Nevill at the Plough in the New Buildings in Paul's Church-Yard 1656. TO The HONOURABLE DENZEL HOLLIS Esq Honourable Sir IT being the purpose of the deceased Authour my Father having some thoughts in his Life-time upon the Earnest sollicitation of some friends of exposing this Treatise unto publick view had not the continuance and increase of our then general distractions altered his resolution at that time and induced him to defer it for a more seasonable opportunity to dedicate it unto your self being one of his Hearers as an acknowledgment of your great friendship and the severall Courtesies he had received from you I thought my self bound by duty as not any longer to deprive the Church of God of so profitable a Work so to present it being now at last after some considerable delay by the death of a faithfull friend into whose hands it was intrusted for that purpose made publick to recommend it unto no other hand but yours not doubting of your favourable acceptance in what duty binds me unto If it may be any way profitable unto your Self and the Church of Christ as the Authour shall receive the fruit of his Labour so it may be an Encouragement unto the Publisher to commit some other Treatise of the Authours unto the Presse which may be of general use That God would give you more and more to discern his Wisdome Power and Goodnesse in his Works both of Creation and Providence and lay open before you the Wiles and Depths of Satan so as you may shun and avoid them unto both which this Small Treatise may through the blessing of God afford You with others some Light is and shall be the Prayer of Him who is devoted To Honour and Serve You John White Mr. Stephen Marshals Letter to Mr. John White in Commendation of these Labours of the Deceased Authour his Father My Dear Friend SAlutations in Christ premised I have according to the Authours and your Desire read over this Treatise Briefly I shall tell you my Thoughts of it it 's a most Excellent Learned Judicious and Holy Piece worthy of Mr. White his Heart and Pen the farther I proceeded in it the more I was delighted the Exposition solid the Observations most of them clearly raised strongly proved excellently applyed I think I should have been at the Cost of transcribing it but that I doubt not you will get it Printed which I desire you would hasten it 's pity the Church should want it One onely Observation I stick at not the matter of it but the raising of it it 's upon Chap. 3. Observation 13. I made a mark at it I cannot consent to have Satans practice propounded as a Direction I onely desire you to consider of it it may be my sticking at it is but needlesse Once again I desire you to get it Printed speedily The Great Bishop of our Soules guide you and prosper your great Work which he hath done and I hope will do Your Loving Brother Stephen Marshall Ipswich December 12. 1653. To the READER Good Reader IT is not unfitly said by †Id verum quodeunque primum et adulterum quodcunque posterius est Tertull. ad Praxeam Tertullian That is truest which is most Ancient for though in the course of Nature the Night be before the Day yet in matters of a Moral Concernment the method is quite otherwise Innocency is before Sin and Truth before a Lie for a lye is the corruption of truth now among the blind Gentile World there is no true piece of Antiquity to be found * Pat. apud Plat. in Timaeo One of their own said that The Greeks were alwaies Children as being utterly ignorant of the state of the truly Ancient World and darkning all things with fables of their own devising Certainly a Clear Light into the Old World is a great satisfaction to the understanding but it is no where to be had but in the Writings of Moses who had this knowledge not by Tradition onely but Divine Inspiration the Originals of Nature and Nations are every where else very obscure Plutarch Sympos lib. 2. quaest 3. Plutarch a wise Heathen hath a Dispute which is first the Hen or the Egge Or the Egge or the Hen which as to their light was indeterminable but in the Church by Divine Revelation all is clear and open and a Boy out of a Catechisme can give a better Solution to that Question †Heb. 11.3 How the World was made than the great Doctours of the Gentiles by their profound Researches and Study of Nature for surely in this Case it is most true That Philosophy seeketh after Truth but Divinity only findeth it The most Ancient Monâ—ment and Record of our Religion are the Books of Moses which if they were more Studied and Considered by us Atheisme would not be so rife and common for thereby we may not onely discern the Sweet Harmony of this part of Scripture with all the rest but come to understand how the state of that Religion which we do professe was at first laid and what Accessions and growth it received by a clearer manifestation in every Age. But chiefly the Three first Chapters of the Book called Genesis deserve to be considered by us as delivering that fundamental doctrine concerning the Creation of the World the Fall of Man and the Promised Seed who should be our Restorer upon which all the rest of Scripture is built In Opening these Chapters many have laboured Worthily and among the rest this Our Authour hath his Peculiar Excellency for whiles some deserve esteem for clearing the letter and phrase for vindicating the doctrine therein contained in a Controversal Way Others by other wayes of Illustration and giving Light to the Text That praise which was reserved for our Authour was besides a solid Exposition of the Text The deducing of Apt and pertinent Observations together with fit and proper Reasons to each Point which with what Judgment and Acutenesse it is performed I leave to the Reader to judge To speak of the Worth of the Authour is needlesse his praise being already in all the Churches onely I must professe my sorrow that he being a Person of so much Eminency and Note none hath as yet Collected the Memorable passages of his Life If his * Mr. Ben of Dorchester Reverend Colleagve that was so intimately acquainted
with him would do something in this kind it could not but be very acceptable to the godly of this Nation For surely the Long and Various Experiences of such a Captain in the Lords Hoasts such a Veterane in Christs Service must needs yield much matter of Comfort and Profit when we shall come to the notice of them If this Book had proceeded from a meaner and more obscure hand it s own Worth would have sufficiently pleaded for its esteem and the Observations with their Prosecutions being every where so Solid and Judicious could not but be very Savoury to a gracious appetite but coming from such an Hand and as the product of some years Serious Meditations certainly it will find much acceptance with Christians abroad As much of it as my leisure would permit me to peruse gave me such refreshing as I could not but heartily desire the publication of it and doubt not but it will be judged as usefull a Tractate as hath been set forth in these last years This being signified I subscribe my self Thine in the Lords Work Tho Manton A COMMENTARY UPON THE FIRST CHAPTER Of the First BOOK OF MOSES called GENESIS THe Hebrews give the name unto this as they do likewise unto the other four Books of Moses that follow from the first words wherewith the book begins in their Language and call it Bereshith which in our Tongue we render In the beginning As for the name Genesis it was given by the Greeks and signifies Generation or Begetting pointing at the Most eminent Subject which the Book handles the Creation or Generation of the World From the Author that penned it it is called Moses his Book as our Saviour in like manner calls Exodus his book Mark 12.26 And because Moses is the Author of the four next Books that follow for distinctions sake this is called his first Book This Title of the Book challengeth our best Attention 1. From the Authour Moses graced 1. with the honour to be the first Pen-man of holy Scripture 2. with the priviledge to be Gods familiar with whom he was pleased to confer mouth to mouth Numb 12.4 3. With the Title of the first Instrument employed by God for the founding of the Church and State of the Jewes And for that cause of so honourable a name and memory amongst that people that God thought fit to conceal his Grave for the preventing of Idolatry in succeeding Ages as most Interpreters conjecture out of Deut. 34.6 2. From the subjects which the Book handles being the most eminent and remarkable in themselves and most nearly concerning men to know and the most difficult to be found out of all things that can come within the compasse of humane knovvledge Namely the Creation of the World the Fall of Man and his Restitution by Gods goodnesse vvith the Estate into vvhich he is restored the propagation of mankind and peopling of the World the Founding the Church and the Infancy thereof things unheard of and unknovvn amongst the Heathen described and recorded in no other Writings in the World but onely in this Sacred History Of the Authority of Moses his Writings IT cannot be denyed that the Writings of Moses have the same Authority with the rest of the holy Scriptures being delivered as the rest of them were by the same Divine inspiration of the Holy Ghost And yet withall these Five Books of Moses may in some respects be conceived to gain some kind of praeeminence above the rest of the Scriptures seeing that they are not only the first in order but in some sort the Fountain containing the summe of those holy Writings that follow For the histories of the Old Testament are for the most part but as so many instances of the fulfilling of the several Sanctions of the Law delivered by Moses as well in Judgment as in Mercy And the Writings of the Prophets are but applications of the Law and the Sanctions thereof to particular places times and persons interlaced with divers Promises the Heads whereof we find in these five Books And the Books of the New Testament contain for the greatest part the relation of those promises of Grace first recorded and set out by Moses and after repeated and enlarged by the Prophets to which use our Saviour applyeth them both Luke 24.27 44. together with a clear and full unfolding of that state of Grace into which we are restored by Christ shadowed out in a great part by Types in the Law of Moses Hence it is that in many of the Writings of the Prophets and much more in those of the Evangelists we have the Books of Moses so often cited and thereby the Authority of them the more fully established and confirmed Now as concerning the Means by which Moses might get the knowledge of the things which he relates in this First book of his whereof all were acted before his time and some as namely the Creation of the World before all mens times if we suppose he had no help of any Records to inform him which the Church might then have though they be now lost or if we make no great account of the Tradition of the Fathers whose memories were the Registers of the Church before the Scriptures were written Notwithstanding it sufficeth that the same Spirit that guided his hand in writing withall informed him fully and infallibly of those Truths which he was to leave upon record to posterity And yet we must take notice that all that is contained in the four Books following except the histories of his own Life and Death were confirmed unto him by his own knowledge and experience his own eyes and eares being witnesses of all that he writes A circumstance from which some of the Evangelists and Apostles justly challenge credit unto that which they deliver Luke 1.3 1 Joh. 1.1 The Division of this Book of Genesis THis Book of Genesis contains as it evidently appears by casting up the particulars of the times mentioned therein an history of 2368 years Namely from the Creation of the World to the Flood 1656 years from the Flood to the Birth of Abraham 252 years and from Abraham's birth unto Joseph's death which closeth up the Book 360 years And it seems naturally to divide it self into Two unequall parts containing in them the Histories 1. Of the Creation of the World Cap. 1. 2. Of the Administration and Government of it especially of the Church of God therein unto the end of the Book The Government of the Church is described unto us in a twofold estate of Mankind 1. In the state of Innocency before mans fall Cap. 2. 2. In the state of Corruption In and After his fall And that also 1. Before the Flood unto the end of Cap. 6. 2. In and After the Flood and that likewise of the same Church 1. Scattered over the whole World to the end of Cap. 11. 2. Founded in Abraham's Family and Posterity till Joseph's death to the end of the Book CHAP. I.
We may 3. Observe The Clouds and Rain are Gods works and are raised up only by his Power Observ 3 HE prepareth the rain for the earth and covers the heaven with clouds Psal 147.8 and carrieth them about by his counsel Job 37.12 and maketh small the drops of water Job 36.27 which have no other Father Job 38.28 neither can any of the vanities of the Gentiles give them Jer. 14.22 Acknowledge both the Rain and the fruitfulnesse of the earth to him only as his blessings 1. By seeking them at his hand with Elijah Jam. 5.17 As we are directed to do 1 King 8.35 2. By returning thanks to him and holding our selves engaged by such mercies to his fear and service the neglect whereof is taxed Jer. 5.24 as blessings of inestimable value the want whereof in one year might ruine the world VERSE 8. ANd God called What is to be understood by that phrase see ver 3. The Firmament Heaven The Original Shammajim signifying as much as there be waters is taken in Scripture 1. For the lower part of the Ayr wherein the birds flye the clouds are carried and the winds blow Gen. 8.2 2. It is taken for the place where the Sun Moon and Stars are settled Gen. 1.17 3. It signifies the dwelling of the Saints and blessed Angels Matth. 22.2 called the Third Heaven 2 Cor. 12.2 If we comprehend All or only the two first under this name the work is of vaste extent as we have seen already which if we compare with the means by which it was raised and stretched out and fixed in the place which God assigned to it which was only his VVord VVe may 1. Observe The glorious and vaste frame of the heavens was raised up and settled only by the Word of God Observ 1 PSalm 33.6 9. God spake and it was done the Heavens and all the host of them by his VVord and by the breath of his mouth and according to his Ordinance they are settled and continue to this day Psal 119.89 91. See the Second Observation on the Third and the First on the Sixth verse The Evening and Morning keep their course as they did the first day and so do they all the dayes ensuing yea as we see even to this time as they shall do to the worlds end VVhence 2. Observe Whatsoever God hath once Settled doth and shall continue for ever in that Order that he hath appointed Observ 2 HE laid the foundations of the Earth that it should not be moved for ever Psal 104.5 bounded the Sea by a perpetual decree Jer. 5.22 set the Sun and Moon a constant course which they still observe Psal 104.19 Yea appointed earing and harvest Summer and VVinter to continue as long as the earth remaineth Gen. 8.22 which continue all of them according to his Ordinance Psal 119.91 Reason 1. Because the same power that Created them continues the same for ever to uphold them Heb. 1.3 12. And the same Wisdome orders and directs them still which at the first determined and decreed them 2. Because God that appointed and made them is capable neither of Errour nor Inconstancy James 1.17 and therefore there is neither cause for him to alter his mind nor any disposition in him to alter it without cause wherefore his counsel must of necessity stand for ever and the thoughts of his heart throughout all Generations Psal 33.11 Let all men then depend upon that which God hath once setled and decreed as a foundation that cannot fail As we do in the course of natural causes so much more in the decrees of his Word which is firmer then heaven and earth Matth. 5.18 VVhether it publish unto us the Covenant of Grace established with his servants Jer. 31.35 33.20 Isa 54.10 or the decrees of vengeance upon the wicked Exod. 17.24 In both which Gods honour is most manifested and advanced and unto the execution of them both he is necessarily and freely carried on by the righteousnesse of his unchangeable Nature for the manifesting of his Truth in making good both his mercies promised and his Judgments threatned VERSE 9. ANd God said After he had disposed the waters above the Firmament he now takes order with those which are here below gathering them into one place within their Channels for the cause afterward expressed Some there are that imagine the work of gathering the water into their channels and discovering the dry land thereby to be a part of the work of the Second day As well because they conceive it likely that when God began to dispose of the waters he made an end of that whole work at once and did it not by halves part on one day and part on next As also because that unlesse these two verses be taken into the history of the second daies work the work of that day wants Gods Approbation which we find annexed to the works of all the other daies both before and after And besides if we make these two verses part of the description of the third daies work we have a double approbation of the work of that day which we find in none of the rest although there seeme to be as great or a greater occasion of doubling that approbation uppon the sixth daies work than there is here But whether upon these conjectures it be fit to allow an inversion of the order of the Text although upon manifest and undeniable reasons we are inforced to do it in some other places let the Reader judge Few Interpreters follow this opinion Let the Waters be gathered Which before covered the face of the earth as by nature they should seeing the earth being heavier then the waters must necessarily sink into them and so be covered by them How they were gathered into one place it is needlesse to dispute He that was able to make them by his Word could more easily gather them together by the same word Many conceive this work to be described Psal 104.7.8 Into one place Called One place comparatively because before God thus gathered the waters into the Sea they covered every place Although if we set aside the rivers and lakes which are scarce worth the naming in comparison of the Ocean the Sea may justly be accounted but one great body branched out into divers limbs so the place or Channel thereof may not improperly be said to be One although the bounds thereof be extended as far as the world is wide in compasse And let the dry land appear That was indeed the Principal although not the sole end of gathering the waters together without which the earth could not be made habitable either for man or beast or yield any fit nourishment or food for either the one or the other Thus we see the waters are put from the place which they possessed before at the Lords Commandement for the furthering of the common good and brought down into their Channels the place whereunto God had confined them there to abide and continue as they
finde the wowan allured by the view of the fruit forbidden and to fall to the eating of it assoon as she had consented to the sinne we may upon good ground conclude that the place was not only Paradise but the very midst of Paradise where it is most likely the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood not far from the Tree of Life The devil as it may be guessed forbearing to presse the temptation till it might be strengthened by the view of that pleasant fruit to the eating whereof he intended to allure our first Parents The rather because all his hope of prevailing stood in the suddennesse of the assault by which the woman being surprised unawares and at an instant overlaid with all the Art and Power which Satan could use before she could recollect her selfe might be overtaken and conquered unto which how much the view of that pleasant object conduced appears by the ensuing Narration Verse 1. Now or But as some others render it for although that particle Va very frequently signifies And yet in this place it seemes rather to be if not an Adversitive yet at least a Discretive then a Conjunctive particle as it is also taken in the first verse of the former Chapter As if Moses had said Thus we see how God had every way manifested his Goodnesse and Bounty towards man not ceasing to heap upon him blessings upon blessings till he had made him perfectly happy And thus man continued in a blessed condition till he was perverted by Satan to his own destruction But how he fell away from God to the utter ruine of himself and his posterity unlesse the Lord out of his abundant mercy and compassion had restored him again will appear in the ensuing Narration Thus when the Holy Ghost had represented God acting his part in Holinesse Mercy and Truth he brings in the Divel on the Stage walking contrary to God in a course of malice subtilty and falshood to overthrow and pervert the order of all that God had made The Serpent The Hebrew name coming from a word which signifies to observe subtilly or wittily might be applied indifferently either to the beast it selfe or to Satan that spake by it But the comparing of the Serpent with other beasts of the field in this place and the kinde of the curse which was laid upon him afterwards discover him to be a true Serpent indeed of which creature why the Devil made choice above the rest we shall see anon For the present it may justly be enquired why Moses names only the Serpent and makes no mention of the Devil at all who was the principal Agent and made use of the Serpent only as the Instrument in this designe The reason hereof we may guesse to be twofold First because there had been hitherto no mention made of the Creation of those invisible spirits or of their Fall the intention of Moses being as it seemes to relate only the History of the Visible World the name of the Divel is not mentioned here because nothing had been spoken of him before and the rather because though he be not named yet he must necessarily be supposed to be the Author of this whole Discourse between the Serpent and the Woman which could not possibly be framed by an irrational creature And seeing Satan is called in other places as namely Rev. 12.15 and 20.2 by the name of a Serpent we may in this place under that name Serpent understand both the Beast and the Devil who used him as his Instrument seeing both are called in Scripture by the same name Secondly Moses his intention being principally to clear God of having any hand in Adams sinne thinkes it fittest to lay before us only the visible passages of the temptation as namely what was uttered and by whom as being most manifest in themselves and consequently the strongest evidences for the clearing of that truth leaving the secret passages which could not so easily be discovered by sense to our guesse as the invisible Author of the temptation the motions of the womans heart against God and the several thoughts which affected her minde which being not subject to outward observation might be easily affirmed but hardly proved More subtile The Serpents subtilty is mentioned elsewhere both in Scripture and in other Authors which some conceive might have been greater before Adams fall then now it is supposing that besides the general decay which came upon all creatures thereby God might justly take away or at least impaire the natural abilities of this creature above the rest being employed by Satan for mans destruction But suppose the Serpents subtilty to be never so great yet seeing it could not be a reasoning or discoursing subtilty which way could Satan make use of that for the perswading of a reasonable creature If there were any Authour of such an opinion or if the word in the Original did any way favour it a man might probably guesse that the Serpents subtilty here mentioned was only his aptnesse to slide and convey himselfe closely into Paradise unespied of Adam or his wife till a fit opportunity presented it selfe to give the onset for we call them subtile men who walk secretly and unseen in all their wayes But that we leave unto the Readers consideration rather proposing this as a guesse then prescribing it to be embraced as a certain truth And he said That is Satan by him if under the name Serpent we understand both the Agent and the Instrument seeing it is out of question that the Devil framed both the voice and the discourse as God did afterwards when he spake to Balaam by his Asse Notwithstanding the voice is ascribed to the Serpent because no other Authour of it appeared to the woman But why doth the Devil make use of a creatures voice when he might have suggested all that the Serpent speakes without a voice as he did to David 1 Chron. 21.1 and doth ordinarily to Gods children as well as to wicked men and by that meanes hath been lesse discovered Whatsoever Satans policy was therein we may probably conceive that God purposely over-ruled him in his way to the end that the whole course of the temptation being carried on openly and made subject to sense it might be made manifest to the world that this suggestion came neither from God nor from any evil disposition of minde that God created in man but only from the malice and subtilty of Satan who having fallen away from God himselfe desired to draw in man to be a party with him in his rebellion partly out of envie against God and partly out of malice to man Withal it cannot be denied but that the weaknesse of so contemptible an instrument must needs discover mans infirmity who was mastered by so base an enemy and withal aggravate his sinne in obeying the voice and believing the word of one of the meanest of his own vassals against the peremptory Command and faithful Promise of
at the hurt which men and Serpents either do unto or receive one from the other Because this combate is not said to fall out between the Serpent and all men in general but between him and the womans seed by which as we shall see hereafter is meant both Christ and the holy seed such as are members of him So that in this expression the Lord representing especially the combate between Christ and Satan thinks fit to borrow a metaphor from the fight between men and Serpents Shadowing out Satan under the name of the Serpent and the combate between Christ and him under the fimilitude of the Serpents fight And I will put enmity That is deadly and irreconcileable hatred which God is said to put between them partly by decreeing and permitting the hatred of Satan and his instruments against the godly and partly by infusing into the hearts of the holy seed a perfect detestation and hatred of Satan and all his followers Thus because familiarity between Satan and the woman had given him advantage to seduce and deceive her to her own destruction God to prevent that mischief for time to come so stirs up the spirit both of her and her seed against him hereafter that she should hate him as unfeignedly as he hated her so that she should henceforth avoid him and hearken no more unto his counsel This work God takes into his own hand as is implied in those words I will put c. that from thenceforth mans estate might stand firme when it should not be in his power to do what he would as it was before seeing when he had power in his own hand either to stand or fall he was quickly and easily overthrown But God should reserve the power in his own hand to settle him in such a condition that man should not be able to alter if he would Between thee and the woman We have here three paires of combatants matched in opposition one against the other The first the Serpent against the woman The second the Serpents seed against the seed of the woman The third paire are the Captaines on both sides Christ and Satan Wherof the first begin the second continue and the third end the quarrel The beginning is in hatred and enmity the continuance in fighting and wounding and the end in the final conquest of Satan who began the quarrel Now the putting of this enmity between man and Satan is both a part of Gods curse upon him and withal not the least but the greatest portion of the blessing promised to man Of Satans curse that he should be alwayes kicking against the pricks hating and persecuting the womans seed without cause to his own destruction at the last And of mans blessing whose safety and duty is to hate Satan with a perfect hatred whereby though he be not wholly freed from yet he is the lesse endangered by his snares especially seeing he resists in a sort by Gods power and not by his own for so much seemes to be implied in that phrase I will put enmity As if God had said It shall be no longer in mans choice to accord with Satan or to hate him but I will so guide and over-rule his heart by my spirit that he shall persist constantly in this hatred and warre against him till that enemy be troden under his feet Thus God seeing how soon man had wasted that stock of grace that he had put into his hand resolves to provide better for him in time to come and to keep his heart and will in his own hand guiding it by his own Spirit that he might not hazard his estate any more nor be cheated of it by Satan any more as he had been So that in mans restitution after his fall his state was indeed impaired in respect of the perfection of it in this present life for he must be bruised in the heele by divers temptations and slips into sin thereby but is much bettered in respect of the firmnesse of it as God implies in that promise Jer. 32.40 It may be demanded why the woman only is mentioned in taking up this enmity against Satan whereas the promise belongs as well and equally to the man But it seemes to be done upon a double ground First that the promise might be the firmer for if Satan could not prevaile against the woman being the weaker vessel it was very unlikely that he should prevaile against the man which was the stronger It may be withal that God mentions the woman because she was the first in the transgression and besides the seducer of her own husband Now if God would pardon the woman much more might the man assure himself of the recovery of his favour whose sin admitted the more excuse because he was drawn in by the example and allurement of his wife Another ground upon which God mentions the woman and not the man may be upon two other respects either because she most needed comfort that had most cause to be humbled Or rather because the seed mentioned afterwards which was to continue the war and at last to obtaine the conquest over Satan must specially be meant of Christ who was made of a woman Gal. 4.4 and not immediately of man wherefore because he was more properly the seed of the woman then of the man it was more fit to call him her seed then the seed of the man And between thy seed Seed signifies properly that in any creature by which the kinde thereof is propagated here and in many other places of Scripture it signifies persons begotten and propagated of that seed So that the womans seed are her children the men and women that were to come and be begotten of her body Now though Satan to speak properly can have no such seed that is can have none that come of him by natural generation of which spirits are altogether uncapable yet because the rest of the devils are of the same nature with their Prince and all wicked men that are corrupted by him are of the same disposition beare his image and resemble him as children usually do their parents therefore all wicked men and the rest of the devils are called his seed by this name wicked men are called 1 Joh. 3.10 seeing they are of him as our Saviour speaks John 8.44 not by natural but by spiritual generation that is by receiving such false principles as Satan infuseth into their hearts by which they become like him in affection and disposition and serve him as a child doth a parent Mal. 1.6 And her seed Not all that are so by natural generation but such as are her seed according to the spirit as well as according to the flesh And they onely are called her seed because the rest degenerating are no better then bastards and the seed of Satan By this seed of the woman then we are to understand the whole body of the Church whereof Christ is the head who is principally intended in this name as