to the E PH ESI AN S. In the third place, the caufe and the ground why we are tnade finful, it is not Mf-, , fimply that we are born ofimmediate Parents that are finful, that's not the whole ~ Caufe neither: but as Generatton IS but as the Chanel, fo the Immediate Parents are but the Inllruments of conveying it. My meaning is this; the ground why a Man is born finful, is not fimply becaufe his next Parents, Father and Mother, are fuch: They are Caufesfine q11ibw non ofSin, that is, if it could be fuppofed they are not finful, the Child would not·be finful : they are but inflruments of con· veying it. And that they are inllruments of conveying it, is clear by what D"'!'id faith, Pfai.5J. 5· ......;..m Szn dzd my Mother conrerve 1Jie. And by what Job f:nth, chap.14. 1. Man ~orn ofa Woman, isJinfi•l and ab1minable. But yet they are Caufes fine q11ibm non, without which Sm would not be. There are two great Evidences to me ofthis Truth ; The one is a Negative one, the other a Pofitive. The Negative one is this : The Lord bath expreOy (,id, He bath a whole Chap· ter about it, Ezek,. 18. That the Childjba/1 not bear the Iniquity ofthe Father, And ou~ Saviour Chrill faith, Joh.9. 3· that it wa< not for the fin ofthe Parents that the M.m >PM born blind. So that it is not put upon the fin of the ordinary Parents. Nay, I !ball give you a further inllance of it, why it is not to be put fimply upon the im· mediate Parents: For although we come of Eve, yet notwithllanding the Cor• ruption that we have, and the Sin which we have by Nature, is not put upon Eve now, it is put upon Adam, and that throughout the whole Scriptur~. Tho Eve did firll corrupt our Nature, for !he was full in the tranfgreffion ; though we all come ofher as well as of Ada~J, and have a fhare as from her and that uy Gene· ration alfo; yet notwithllanding,read Rom. 5· 12. 'By one Man Sin entered into the World: which was the type ofChrill's conveying Obedience and Righteouli1eiS. I will not difpute that nice Qyellion, which fome Divines have, Whether, if that Eve had not fallen, tho AdmJJ had fallen, we lhould have been corrupted or no? No, for we mull all acknowledge that !he was caufa _(i11e qua non. Had not her Nature been corrupted, we had not had Sin derived to us. All Divines do attri· bute a fecondary Caufe to her, but !till the primary to the Man. The Pofitive ground is this; That the Scripture doth afcribe it to our coming ofAdam, and that by Birth, coming ofthat firll Man; and therefore what is here faid in the Text to be by Nature, ifyou confult other Scriptures, you !hall find it to be becaufe we come ofAdam, that one Man, becaufe we come by Generation from him. Mark it, fo I put it; Tho Parents are the Inflrumental Caufe ofcon· veying it, Generation is the Chanel, yet it i•becaufe we fetch our nature fi·om that · Fountain. I !hall give you Scripture exprefs for it. Not only that in '1.?!111. 5· 12. which yet is very clear: for otherwife Eve had been made the Type ofChrill as well as Adam: but the Text there you fee cloth only put it upon Adam, as being the Type or Figure of Him that was to come, fo ver. 14. And ver. I8. by the of– fe~tce ofone, and, by one ma1ls difobedience, ver. 19. It is not only for one Offence, as fome ofthofe Texts have it, but other Texts run, ofone Ma11; fo v.12. Where– fore Mby [one Ma11] Sin entred into the World. But befides this Scripture, look into I Cor. I 5· 47, 48. and there you !hall fee this Truth clear. The Apollle there puts it upon the fir([ Man, The firft Man, faith he, is ofthe Earth, earthy. As is the earthy, jitch are they that are earthy. As we have bol'n the image ofthe Earthly (name· ly, ofthis firll Man, as he had call'd him) fa wejha/1 bear the image ofthe Heavenb'· And, as the New Tellament affirms this, fo the Old too. I !hall give you but that one Scripture in lfa. 43· 27. Thy jirft Father h•th linnet!, and thy Teachers (or thy Interceffors) have tran.J!,rejfed againfl me, fpeaking_'to the Nation of the Jews. Thy firft Father hath.jnned, and thy lnterventores, as juniw tranOates it; that is, thofe that come between me and thee, they have all finned. What's the reafon God objeCl:eth this? Why in the words before he llands upon the confounding ofthem againll all their carnal Pleas and Jullifications ofthemfelves, and he rips up their Sin from the firll. Come, faith he, v.26. let w plead together: declare thou, that tholl mayeft bejttftified, iftho11 haft a11J thing to fay. Befides all the Wickednefs that is in thy felf, whatfoever thou canfl trull in, I can eafily anfwer it; Thou do([ trufr in thy F>ther Abraham, and thou thinkell bccaufe thou art of the feed ofAbraham thou·fhalt befaved: I tell thee 'thou hall an older F~ther than .Abra• lunJ, thy firll Father Adamhath finned. But thou wilt fay unto me, that thou "P halt
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=