90 tJ/ Natur~. holy, hatmlefs, , feparate from finners,' Heb. vii. 26. And this article contains two claufes. 1. ' That he, as the fecond Adam, .fhould be con– ceived and born ~oly, for and in.fl:ead of them cor• rupted in their nature, conceived and born in fin.' There was a· holy nature _given to Adam as the root of mankind, to be by him kept and tranflnitted to his pofl:erity, in the way of natural generation. And up– on this ground, the law requires all men to be bora holy, pronouncing themunclean andchildren ofwrath in the contrary event, Job xiv. 4· Eph. ii. 3• But how could this dem·and be anfwered by finners ? They're born in fin : they cannot enter again into their mother's womb, and ,be bot"n a fecond time, without fin. · No, they cannot: yet the law will not bate off . that demand for life. Wher~fore, it was provided, that Chrifl: as. a publick perfon, r~prefenting his fpirit· ual feed, fhould be born perfeCtly holy : that where– as they brought a finful corrupt natu~e into the world, with them; he lhould bring a holy· human nature in• . to the world, with him. And fo he was the lafr .lldam, I Cor. xv. 45· holy an~ undefi!ed, Heb. vii. ·26. that holy thing born, Luke i. 35· And the effect thereof, . with , reflJeet· t(} that law-demand for life, is, that all believers are, in law-reckoning, born holy in the fe– cond Adarn, even as they were created holy in the firfi Adam. Hence, they are exprefl.y faid to be circum• cifed, in him. Col. ii . 11. which plainly prefuppof-· eth their being born in him. And it is in vi~tue of 1 their being legally barn holy in Chrifl:, when he was · born, that, being united to him in the time of lbves, ' they are really born again, and at length, perfeCl:~d ; even as in virtue of their being legally defiled in Adam when he finned, they are aCl:ually· and rea1ly defiled in their own perfons, coming into the world: the holy nature being actually communicated to them, ,from Chrifi their fpiritual Head, in whom they were legally born holy; even as ·the corJuption of nature ' ' i rp
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