Goodwin - BX9315 G6 v2

94 Of th-e Creatures, and the Condition ~ caufo it bath the fame S0u_l , yet notwithfianding there is a wafting , fo there BooK ll. was in his.A Man eateth more in a year than h1s own Bulk over and over again: ~Why? becaufe he wafieth, and fpendeth: There is a partial alteration Hill; and fo it was in .>!dt~m, 4• Iristrue he was Immortal, as it is in Rom. 8. to, 11. The Body i4 dead btcau(e of _(lis; that is , the reafon why the Body fhall die, is, becaufe of fin: Had not Mao tinned, he ihould not have died; therefore .Adamhaving no fin, he was Immott•l. And it is clear he fpeaks of Natural Bodies in that place; 1"ill give) ou :wo reafons fot it, becaufe it is controverted: He fai<h the Body u de.td for fin, or becauje of fin; if he had fpoken of the Body of fin, he w0uld not have ufed that Phraie, It is dtad becuttje of fiJJ, for 1t felf was dead in fm; therefore he meaneth a Natutal Body, for the death cometh on– ly by fin: And that he fpeaks of the Natural Body, is clear alfo; for in vnj; 1 1. he fatth, 1/Mt God(hall qmcken, whtn he jhaUraife up our mortal Bodies; he fpeai<S therefore of the mortal Body. Now, my Brethren, the temper of the Elements in us are unequal; as we have warri~g in our Ltifls, (as James faith , 'J,,mu 4· •·) i11 ottr Sotz!s, fo there is a warrmg in the Elements i11 our Bodies : There are contrary factions in every Mans Body: There is Fire againfi Water, and Water againll Fire; (for we are made up ofthe Elements) and aKmgdom dividedwzthm it jet{cannot fland; and that is the re~fon why all men dye. Whereas inAdam's Body,in Innocency,the Elements were fo poif– that helhould never have died, God did fo temper them, fo poife ihem. We do find this in Experience in Monuments that have been diggcd up in thofe pla– ces where the Romans have died, that there have been Urns diggcd up, in which they have made a perpetual Lamp in a double Glafs, a continued Flame that was fed with Oyl,that hath lafied even to this day: Such a perpetual Lamp was theradical moifiure in Adam, and if Man was able to make a perpetual Flame, God was able to make it much more; and fo he did in Adam's Body. Yet though his Body was thus immortal , it was not immortal by virtue of its own Principles, his immortality was not natural to h,im; for he had the lour Ekmems in him,the one fighting againfi the other; and had it not been for a Promife tbat God would poife them, it would in the cod have wrought Old Age and Death. His Immortality was natural in'deed, as a natural due to fuch a Creature Created in Gods Image, while he fiood in that State; but it was not n~tural, as ariling from the Principles of Nature, and from thenatu· ral confiitution that was in his Body,b ut the contrary rather It was God' Pro– mife, 'Do thi< mid thou /halt live, and his Protection over him that made him Immortal. Our Divines ufe to fay this, That A dam had a;pof[e"'" mori, that he could not have died, but he had not a 11011 poffe .mori; that is, he had flOt fuch a Principle, as that no way he could die; for he might die and he might live, as he might fin, and he might not fin, he had but a conditiOnal Immortality; he was not indeed morztttrtJs, bilt he was Mortnle; he fhould not have died for the act, but rake the power, and he might have died. There was apo!Iibiliry of Adam's being kil'd, if he had faln off from on high, as well as any of us; only the Promife was, That Godwoutd kerp himby h" Provi– dmce; and therein lay his Immortality ; and he had the Tree of Life to ear of, for to repair nature, and foro live for ever, It is not natural to the Body of Man to live tor ever, for the contrary Elements would briog a Man to ruin; Nor was it in the Power of the Soulto keep the Body; it was not like Salt to l<eep the Body from Corruption ot Putrifaction ; but, as I faid afore , it was. t he promife that God did it, that if he did thus and thus he would prated him and keep him, he fhould live: And that it was by virtue of the Promifeof God, that he was thus Immortal, is clear by this, that theSacrament of the Tree of Life did feal up this Promife: He might eat of thet Tree of Life, and it was a'Sacrament to him that he lived by promife of God, that fa id, 'Do thi< a1Jdthot• Jha!t live, So as now if you ask whether Immortality was na· tural to Adam? I anfwer, it was natural in this refpect, it was a due to that Condition according to the Covenant of Works; it was a fuitable Pr?mife, and adue Promife to Man in that Condition: But it was not n.rural m 1hat refpea, as arifing out of the Principles of his own Nature; (or neither could the

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=