547. Death: Prerogative. and moment have funk down intoDeath. Whereas thewords in theText are ílill; defuturo, To duff thou (halt return : yea, we readGen. 5, 5, And allthe dayes that Adam lived,nereninehundredand thirtyyear¡,andhedied Jofhuah's was a long day, made up oftwocoupled together,without anynight interpofed,whilft the Sunflood Hill ; but here was anextensive day,indeed bitingwell nigha thoúfand years. é-dnfwer. Some pleafe themfelbes in returning thisanfwer, which to me feemeth a witty fooli/h one, though by fome highly approved ; it is Paid, fay they, Pfal,9oi4. Fsr a thoúfand years in eby fight, are but asyefferdar whenit is pall, andas awatch in the night. Thus takingone thoufdnd fearsfor one day, (according to the computation, 'tile Del) Adam, died its the fameday hefinned, as whofe life thoughexceeding the ninth century, never attained to a full thoufand. But this by föme is fatty cenfurcd not for expounding, but abujing the word of God: Firff Anfwer: Waving therefore this moc&-anfwer, I prefent two follid ones to the readers choice,to preferwhichhe pleafeth,or, (if fo difpofed) to twift themboth together; the firft is, that fentence ofGod, Gen. z r7, is notdefirtitsve, bat comminatory parallel to that, Jonah 5. 4. reffortydayes and7 ineweb (hall be defirojed ; fuck comminatory fentences alwayes run with a claufe of revocation, (concealed though not exprelfed) in cafe God conceiveth the contrary móre conducingto' his dory ; I fay thefe comminatory fentences,done adterroreni,are not fo conclu- five, but that they ire Hill coinclufive, admitting ofa revocation at Gods pleafure and mans repentance, as our firft parents no doubt were truePenitents for their offence. SecondAnfuer. Adam became mortalfrom that very inftant, that he eat the forbidden fruir. Sicknefs then arrefted him, though he was not imprisoned in the grave till many years after, before his full natural beat and radical arosfiure, knew and kept their refpeâive bounds in his body, without the lcall natural encroachment, fnce his fall they are turned fierce foes, lying at the catch and waiting advantages to invade one.another: fnce the very minute ofhis prevarication, his body ficknefs-proof before, was fubjeE' tobe drowned with the Dropfre, burnt by the Fever, fwelled by the Gout, fhrivelled by the Confumption : In a word, he carried in his Soul the feeds ofall fins, in his body ofall difeafes. In common difcourfe we date a MalefaEtor dead (though not naturally, legally) from the fentence ofcondemnationpalled upon him ; It isbut a deadlife which he Íleads after that time, fuch being the Chancery, as I may fay of CommonLaw, to I allow him a few dayes to difpofc himfelf for death ; in the fame fenfe we behold ¡Adam, as no manofthis world, as Deadanddefunli, (though refpited and reprieved Ifor fotee years) from thetime that he at the forbidden fruit. e mutt not forget that St. Rierome, inwhofe mouthing languages (departing confufedly from Babel) met methodically then in any other Father, highly corn- mendeth the tranflationof Siloam, reading thefe words, Gen.a. 17 iihforieriy i thou shalt die ; Mortalis eris, thou (halt be mortal : herein ifhe rendrednot the letter like an exact Tranflator thereof, he bathgiven in the true fence of theword, as a judicious commentator thereon. And nowwe may march on with becoming confidence, tocollcet tome Doctrines from the words,being fecured from any ambush tofurprize us on our backs. We may fay with Ifaac, Gen. z6. zz Rehoboth, now the Lordbath made room for us. There two grand objeftions thus fatisfied, come we no re to the place, whence all man-kind ltarteth, Duff thou art, Do£lrine,
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