118 cv{n Expoftion of the Epifile ~; could not be conveyed, except he become.guilty ~:>f a finful al.'c,) he mufl: needs . ~ know that his Pofl:erny mufi b~ gmlty of Jt, If h1s Image were conveyed. So that it was neccifarily refolved mto the Law of Nature, altho it was mixed it was by God's appointment alfo that it !hould be fo. ' Prop. 1. Prop. 2. Prop. 3· So that now to fum up this Bufinefs: Still, we fee, we are Childrett ofWrath by nature: Whether we refpefl: the corrupt finful Habit, which we have inherent in us, conveyed to us by Birth; or whether we refpel.'c the guilt of that al.'c : it is fl:ill refolved mto the Law of Nature, and Generation or Birth is but the channel to convey it, and our immediate Parents are but the.Irif{ruments ofcon– veying it, the Caufes indeed, without which itwould not be conveyed; but itis the gmlt of that firfl: aCt of Adam, upon whom by Nature and Generation we all depended, and it is that firfi al.'c of his, that to the end of the World makes us Sinners. And fo now I fhall, in a word or two, gather up in a few Propofitions what I havefaid, and fo pafs over this Point. The Sum of ~U I !ban refolve into thefe three Propofitions. Firft; That Generation is not the phy!lcat Caufe of our being finfut, that is, it is not becaufe a Man hath Sin propagated in the matter that comes from his Parents; that is not it : But it is the common Law, that lies upon all Creatures, and that lies upon Man alfo, that like !hall beget like: Whether his Soul be created by God, or whatever it be ; yet notwithf'canding, I fuy,. it: is the Law of Generaticn that doth it. Secondly ; Generation is but the channel; it is the ACt ofAda!Jls Sin, and the firfl: aCt of Adam's Sin, whilfl: he fiood a common Perfon, being imputed to us, charged upon us, that makes us finful. Only if you ask, who they are that !hall be made finful ? Only thoG: that come of Adam by generation, becaufe it is by virtue of the Law ofGeneration, that like !hall beget like. So that it is not, I fuy, that the Childten have an impure Nature from an impure Nature of the next Parents;. this is not fimply it. Whether the Soul be from the Parents, as fame hold, or immediatly from God, it is all one, becaufe it is the aCt of Adam's Sin, feizing upon a Man, he being made a Son of Ada!Jr, that pollutes him. By one Man's difobedience we are made finful. If the Soul be made immediatly by God, yet it being at the fame infl:ant that it is made united to the Body, hence the guilt ofAdam's Sin, by virtue of that Law of Nature, feizeth upon it ; and the guilt of it feizing thus upon that Soul in this Body, which is now made a Son of A'dam, the Lord making of it, withdraws his Spirit from it, from giving Grace. Not that God is the Author of it, but that Sin cometh in between, and cutteth off the Influence which God would have upon it ( according to the original Law of Nature) to make it holy : And as Sin cau[ed God to withdraw his Spi– rit out of .Adam ; fo it preventeth, .that God fhould befl:ow Holinefs up6n this Soul, which is made a Man as Coon as made a Soul. So that you need not trouble your felvesabout thofe Qyefl:ions, whether the Soul be ex traduce, &c. For all thofe Qyefl:ions fuppofe, that the matter of our Nature is corrupted from our Parents, and fo is derived unto us : But it doth not lie in that, but in the guilt of Adam's Al.'c, and that is it which. makes Sinners to the end of the World. Thirdly ; That .Adam, he was by the Law of Nature a common Perfon, and therefore we come to be guilty of that firfl: Al.'c, by which our Nature was defiled. And fo now I have explained this thing, as far as to me the Scripture doth give leave, as briefly as I could. Let
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