to the EPHESIANS. be guilty of that Afr. that Adant committed, that this tbould be by Nature, and ~ by the Law of Nature too, (which yet to me clearly the Apofl:le holds forth, Serm. VIII. not fimply, by a Prerogative Law of God, but by a Law of Nature,) this feems ~ ·difficult. Thefe two things therefore I would open to you, tho briefly, yet fo as to clear the Point. I will begin with the firft. Fzrfi; To fpeak in general, when we fay, the Guilt of an Afr. is conveyed by Birth, by Nature : . . . . 1. It is not (as fome would have 1t) the Sm of the Afr. of Generauon m the Parents it is not that which is conveyed to the Child. Some would have that the mea'"ning ofthat ofDavid, in Pfa!. 51.5. In Sin my Mother conceived me; as if the Guilt which cleaves to fuch Afr.ions, were that which David intended. But that cannot be his meaning: for it is !!loll: certain, that when Adamdid firfl: beget his Son Cain, he did not convey to htm the Sm of that Afr. of begettmg, for the Act it felf is lawful, and whatfoever Sin cleaves unto it, is not that which is con– veyed ; but it was his firfl: Sin, the Guilt of that, which he conveyed to him. Now if Adam himfelf did not convey the Gutlt of the Afr. of begetting, then certainly other Parents do not; and David would never have humbled himfelffo for his Mother's Sin in conceiving of him ; but it was that Sin he was guilty of, and that pollution of Nature that arofe from thence. 2. It is not fimply the coming as from Adam, which doth thus defile our Na– tures, or by which we contrafr. the Guilt of that Afr. of his : For if you could fuppofe, that a Man or a Woman had been made out of Adam after his Fall, as Eve was made out of him before his Fall; mark what I fay, if God had taken a Rib from Adam, after he fell, and made a Man or a Woman out of it, this Man or Woman would not have been finful. The Infl:ance of Chrifl: is clear ; for he is direfr.ly called the Son of Adam, Luk! 2. in reipefr. of the Matter he was made of, and made in the Womb too; yet becaufe he came not into the Law of Generation and Conception in the natural way, therefore he was excepted, and Sin could not feize upon him. So that it goes by Birth, and by Nature, by Ge– neration, that is certain. Secondly ; Therefore to thew you, how the inherent Corruption is derived, ( for thefe are but the two Generals to both,) that defilement of Nature, that Fletb that is feated in us. r. It is not founded"fimply upon thi•, that there is a participation of like from like ; that is not all the ground; it is a partial Caufe, but it is not a total Caufe : It is a Caufe, and therefore 1ob faith, Can a M.tn fitch a clean thing out of an IJn– clean ? But yet it is not the whole caufe; why? becaufe then every Father, ac– )Ording to the.proportion of that inherent Sinfulnefs that is in his Nature, tbould beget a Child in the like proportion: I fay, if that Tradufr.ion were the total Caufe, of like in the Parent, and like in the Child; if this were the Rule fimply and wholly, then take a wicked Man, that begets Children in his elder years, when he is more wicked, and hath more Corruption of Nature in him ahundred times than when he was young; thofe Children would be proportionably more wicked than his elder Children ; and the more wicked Men would frill have the more wicked Children. Therefore it mufl: be by fome other !l:anding Law of Nature, that is equal ; and the franding Law of Nature, it doth not beget like in a gradual, but in a fubfl:antial way. Yet, 2. It is the common Law of Generation, that like from like is the ground of t~e propagation of inherent Corruption; and it was the jufl:eft Law of Nature t¥rcould ~e made: For God did put this difference between Angels and Men : Angels; tliey llioUia all be fingle Perfons, by and of themfelves, they were all im– mediatly created by God himfelf, as Adamwas; but that which tbould convey the Nature ofMan, the very fubftance ofhis Nature unto Man,it tbould be Gene– ration,the fame that tbould convey the fubftanceof the Nature of Beaftsto Beafl:s ; tho I do not fay, (as the Soul ofthefe !all: is propagated, we tball open that a little afterwards); but I fay, that which tbould make them Men, is the common Law of Generation ; and Man, if he will have his Nature from Man, he muft be fub– jefr.e.d to the common Law of Generation, which ell tho refi .of the Creatures are.
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