Direa. V. ofSanEt cation. 9 t falvation ; fo that we are not to expect any aifrftance from God to make us holy in it, but rather to deli- ver us from it. Seventhly, This doth not at 211 difcharge thofe that are in a natural ftate from obligation to holinefs of life, nor render them excufeable for their fins at the tribunal ofGod's juftice. For " Godhath made man " upright, but they fought out many inventions," Ecci. vii. 29 Ooferve well the words of this text, and you will find that all they who have fought out many inventions, rather than upright walking, are comprehended in man that was at firft made upright. And man, in the text, fignifieth all mankind. The firft Adamwas all mankind, as Jacob and Efau were two nations in the womb of Rebecca, Gen. xxv. 23. God made us all, in our firft parent, according to his own image, able and inclined to do his law; and, in that pure nature our obligation to obedience was firft laid upon us, and the firft wilful tranfgreffion, whereby our firft parent bereaved himfelf of the i- mage ofG4. d, and brought upon himfelf the fen tenet' of death, was our fin as well as his ; for, " in one man, Adam, all have finned, and fo death is pafr- " ed upon all," Rom. v. r z. becaufe all mankind were in Adam's loins, when the firft fin was com- mitted; even as Levi may be Paid to have paid tithes in Abraham before he was born; becaufe, when his father Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, he was yet in his loins, Heb. vii. 9, ro. That the promife of God, that he will not charge the iniquities of pa rents upon their children, is a promife belonging to the new covenant confirmed in the blood of Chrift; and it is yea and amen to us only inChrift, in whom we have another nature than that which our parents conveyed to us; fo that we cannot juftly claim the benefit of it in our old natural ftate, Jer. xxxi. 29, 30, 3r. and 2 Cor. i. 20. [hofe that account the impotency a fufhcient plea to excufe themor others, thew that they were never truly humbled for thaç 4
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=