to the EPHESIAN S. 117 ~ You !hall obferve this dilference bet~een convey!ng 4dam'1 Di!obedienoe, and ~ Chrift's Obedience: The one ( fpeakmg of Adams) ts exprefs d thus, By the offence of one, J11dgmcnt camcttpo~t. all Men to condemnati011 : But ~ fpeaking of Chrift's Obedience,) he calls tt, The free Gift of Rrghtco11foefs ; for tt was ameer voluntary AB:: So you have it in Ro111, 5· 18. But how is this made out ? Thus: Adam being the firft Man, he was the Receptacle of Man's Nature, the whole Ciftern of it ; he bad all the Blood of Mankind in him ; they mull all fetch it from that Fountain, at that Well-head; and Generation or Birth was the way by which he !hould propagate. Now the Law of Generation was, that he !hould beget in his own Image, whatever it !hould be ; and that (as I faid before) is the common Law of all Creatures elfe. Now add that to it, this Na– ture could not have been conveyed as finful, that is, that it !hould be a finful corrupt Nature, fuch as it was in him, unlefs we had been guilty of that AB: which he committed, of that AB:, which firft in him did infe{J; our Nature : Therefore now, if he !hould propagate his like; and if he did not, the Law of Nature !hould not be fulfilled, ( for that Law was to take place in him, as in other Creatures, namely, that he was to beget in his own Image,) of oeceility he muft be conftituted by a Law a common Perfon, that that AB: that corrupted his Nature, his Pofterity muft be guilty of. I fay, the Law of Natun; could not elfe have taken place, and it would not otherwife have beeri a finfu\ Image, but in relation to the guilt of fuch an Act, which was the caufe of it. Hence there– fore, if you will fuppofe him to convey by the Law of Nature his corrupt finful Image, of necellity the fame Law muft and cloth conftitute him to be a common Perfon, ·as in relation to that AB: that did firft defile him. So far, and in order to propagation of his like, if he f~ll, in refpetl of that All: that defiled him, it was neceffilry he !hould be conftituted ( for that firll AB:) to be a common Perfon. . You !hall fee, that his being a common Perfon was only upon this neceffary ground, to be exceeding clear by this one Inftance : For as foon as ever he had eaten the forbidden Fruit, as foon as he bad committed that fame one Sin, he cea– feth to be a common Perfon, he is then but as any ordinary Parent: And that is clear by this: For otherwife all the Sins he committed before he begat Cain, !hould have been imputed to Cain, as well as the firft Sin of all : And otherwif~ likewife, bad he continued a common Perfon after he committed that firft Sin, we had not been made Sinners~ that one difobedience, as the Text bath it in that Rom. ). and by that firft Act of difobedience, but we mnft have ipherited all the Sins that he committed. No,only that firft aB:: and the reafoo is-rliis,Becaufe when that was once done, when that Sin was committed, that firft aB: did call our Na• ture out of the Road of HolineiS, into the Road of Sin, corrupted our Nature. So tharit is clear, he was a common Perfoo, by virtue of that Law, that he !hould beget in his own likeneiS; for as foon as the corrupt Image was ftamped upon his Heart by that firft Sin, he ceafed to be a common Perfon. So thJt now it was not a meer aB: of Prerogative in God, as fome think, that Adam !hould be made a publick Perfon, in that aB: of difobedience ; but it is re– folved into that principle of the Law of Nature, that he muft beget his like; and it would not have been a finful likeneiS that he !hould beget, if be had not been a publick l?erfon in that firll AB: that !hould make his Nature fo. It is not by any pofitive Law, as that of Mofts was ; for that Law came after, and yet it wascharged upon us, (as I have before !hewed) and therefore it muft be founded upon, and refolved into a Law of Nature. And that's the difference betwixt Chrill and Adam. God did deal diftinB:ly with Chrift, he told him, he muft be a.!Jead, and undertake for thefe and thefe Perfons ; but you do not find, that Cod did propound it difiinB:ly to Adam, he never faid.to him, Look to yourfelf,. what you do it is for your Pofterity; and if you eat ofthe forbidden Fruit, not only you, but all that come of you, !hall die the Death. No, it needed not; for all Men being to come ofhim, he being to convey his !inful Image, (and that Image
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