.,. . 92 Rtfjhteoufmfs of Life. ail mankind in him, a law to be obeyed in all points; not only in virtue of the tie of natural duty, but in virtue of the bond of a covenant for life: but it was · never fulfilled by them. The firft .Adam began i~deed the courfe of obedience, but he quickly fell ·o1f . from it, witli all his natural feed in him. Now, it be– ing inconfi!l;ent with the honour ,of the law, that the prize, to wit, eternal life, .fhould be obtain'd, without the race was run ; it fiill infified, faying, ' If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,' Matth. xix.. 17. Howbeit, we were weak, mave]efs, without flrength for running that race. Wherefore it was fettled as another conditionary article of the covenant, . '• That Chrifi as a public Perfon, reprefenting thefe he contraCted for, ,fhould begin and perfeCt: the courfe of obedience to the law, in righteoufnefs of life.' And accordingly he became obedient unto death,Philip. ii.8. The law, which was the rule of this obedience ex• acted ofhim, was the fame law of the ten commands, that was given to Adam, and binding on us as under it: for he was 'made under the law,to redeem them that were u·nder the law,' Gal. iv. 4, 5· It extended to all Divine infiitutions, which the fecond Adam found in' being, whether obliging men as men, or as members ·· "'f the ehurch of God on earth : ·even as the rule of the firft .Adam's obedience, extended to the pofitive law touching the forbidden fruit, which was in being, when he was fet to fulfil h_is covenant-obedience. That we may the more difiind:ly comprehend·this . article, it may be obferved to bea_r thefe three things following. I. ' That he, as the fecon'd Adam, fl1ould obey the whole law, in the name of thefe he reprefented/ This . was a debt owing by .them alJ ; and was required of them, by the law, as a condition of life. Gal. iii. Io• . , ' Curfed is every one that continueth not inall things ' which are written in the book of-the law to do them.' But the anfwerlng of this demand, was quite beyond their
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=