Of Free-will. í o5 on to.Matth. 23. 38. [on this Generationfhall come allthe righteous blood, &c.] And [His bloodbeon us, andon our children,] with all the Pro- miles to theSeed of the Righteous only, and Threatning to theHoules and Seedof the Wicked, with thereafon of Infant-Baptifm it felt, I-4'or. 7. [Elie were your Children unclean, but now are they holy ]; will loon be convinced that we are born under moreguilt and/us/tip/meat than what wederive fromAdam. 3. And evenAdam's fin could not be, or is not madeours immediate- ly, but as we derive it from ournearer Parents : For our nature is no otherwife from him. Why am I guiltyof what Adam did, but becaufe I have a nature that was feminally in him ? And wasit not proximately in mynearer Parents? And can they convey their partof Adam's guilt and pravity tome, and no other ? 4. And few fober men can deny, but that the Children of forceGlut- tons, Drunkards, Fornicators, &c. derive extraordinary dífeafed, and vitioufly-inclined temperaments fromtheir neareft Parents. 5. And no peculiar reafon can truly be given for our guilt or pravity from Adam, which reacheth not toprove the derivationof the like from our nearer Parents, fave only, r. That. Adam only was the Original. 2. And inAdamwe finned under a Covenant that gave no pardon: But now under a Covenant of Grace. A. " If thin hold, it will make eafie the Doctrine ofOriginal Sin, which " I confefr to you that I have been inclined to doubt of, by your Divines "Aliening all uponGods Arbitrary Imputation, rather thanfrom the CM- " drossfeminalin-being.. B. Doubtlefs theyhave much tempted Arminius, Epifcopius, Arnal- do Carvings, Bifhop jer..Taylor, andothers, to fay fo much againft Ori- ginal Sin as they have done , by feigning an ( unproved) arbitrary Covenant of Godmade withAdam andhis Pofterity,which was no Law ofNature,nor is made toany other lince, (according to the changeofthe Covenant) and by which God imputeth Adam's fin to us,not becaufe we were in his Loins ( for then it would extend toothers) , but becaufe itwas his Willto do fo ; As if it had been God andnot Adam that defiled our Natures, and made us all Sinners, by an unneceffary, ifnot un-t 'grounded imputation. By which alfo they have kept men from know-. ing their fecondary birth-fin. * The Church of England prayeth not Dr. hrWe frequently tly for the Dead, but for the Living, when it faith,, Remember not our Ini- quity reafon ofthe imputation , nor the Iniquity of our fore- Fathers: And Nehemiah and Daniel of Adam'sfin.j wereof the fame mind. A. " But they fay that then our Sins would increafe asAges go on, and, " the le Age wouldbe themoflPanful. B. 'Men will fayalmoft any thing in their partiality, while they 'loó1ç, but on one fide. r. The Covenant is now changed which men fin under: Not foas not to extend to Children : But it is now a pardoning Covenant; And when the finsof the Fathers are pardoned to themfelves, they are pardoned to their Infants dedicated to God in the fame Covenant, even_ by thefame. 2. But where they areunpardoned, there is a certainfort: and degree of guilt increafed on the Pofterity 5 and fö no wonder if many Kingdomsof Heathens and Infidels feel it. 3. But as it is not fo much to havea nature effentially derived from Parents, and to be femi- nally in them, as it is tobe afinning perfon, fo the guilt proportionably differeth. 4. And there is a pardon of force temporal punifhments which God giveth fame badmen in this life. : 5. And as to the punifh- ment in Hell, there is acertain degree, that God will not exceed in his P exe-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=