Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

and 0514'9ralWorks. perfon that we mean that Chrift fuffered in, buthis own. And we mean that he tookupon him the perfon ofa Sinner.himfelf, in as much ashe con- fented tofofferfor Sin. And foperfonating here is notmeant becoming any other man's perfon in Lawfenfè, fo as that other legally (offered what he did; But it is only his ownperfonsbecoming a fuferer in the Read of sinners for their sins : As the Apoftlefaith, He was made (infor uo, fo he might as truly have faid, He wasmade a innerfor us ; that is, fo far by Imputation, as that he undertook to Coffer as Sinners fuller, and fortheir fins. But besaufe wordycontroverfies teeming real, are the great troublers of theworld, left any fhould think that we differ more than indeed we do, I would fainbring the matter as far from under the ambiguity of wordsaspoflibly I can. To which end I,further add, r. That as we hold that Adamwas the Natural Root or Parent of Mankind ; fo alto that Chrift was the Federal Rootofall the faxed, and in feveral refpec`ts (though not all) a fecond Adam. a. Adam was but one fingleNatural perfon nor did God (by error or arbitrary reputation) efteemor account him tobe any other thanhe was. Noneofour perlons were diftinCt perfon in Adam, nor thole perlons that now they are : Therefore we were not fo perfonally in him at his fall : But all our perlons are in time and mediately by our Proge- nitors derived lineally fromhim (yet we deny not all Souls to be from God, and all Bodies anaccretion of the common Elements); not as having beenPerfonsexiftent inhim, but being Perfons caufed remotely by him. Our prefent Perfons were fminallyor virtually inhim; which is asmuch as to fay, that not thePerfon, but the Semen Perfone nel virtue caufalis was in him : Tobeonly Virtually,or Centrallyor seminally in Adam, is in proper fpeech for that Perkinnot really to have been in him : For Caufa non eft leases, &Virtuegenerativenonell Perfonagenerata-: Tobe onlyVirtually in Adam is terminiusdineinuens as toperfonal inexiftence, anddenyeth it. And as Dr. T'wiffe hath oft well afferted, It is our natu- ral relation toAdam fuppofed in Gods Law, which is the reafonofour participation in his Sin, and not any Will or Judgment ofGod, without or beyondour Natural intereft : Forelle itfhould beGod molt properly who by his arbitrary imputationfhould eithermake us Sinners,orrepute us loch when we are none. But yet when we become Perfons, it is by Derivation from Adam, and fothe effe& can be no better than thecaule, andas loon as we are Perkins we are Guilty perlons, having Guilt with perfonality from him, thoughwe werenot perlons in him. 3. SoChriff is, though not the Natural, yetthe Federal Adam or Root of Believers : when he fatisfied and merited, we were not in him either as in Adam feminally, as in a natural Generator, nor as exiftent Perfons; nor did God filly fo repute us to be : But he was then the Caufe (materially) or had that Virtue effetliva; which would Juftifie, and Sanaifie, and Glorifie us in due time. It was the Ñatureof Sinners, though not a finful Nature whichhe alfumed 5 But that Nature which heundertook was exiftent in his Individual perfon : and noother Indi- Vidual perfon was exiftent in hisexiftent perfonal Nature : So that when we fay it was thecommonNatureof Man, we mean only fpecificè, that Naturewhich is of the fame species withall other mens, but not that whichexiled individually in anybut himlelf; and a species extra indi= viduum is nothing but an ens rationis, or a notion. But it was indivi- dual Perfons in whofefleador place Chrift fuffered, and whom heunder- took to Juftifie, Santfifie, and Save; and gather into a holy Society to that

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