.- The Principle of tl;e Aflignationof:Divine Honour,&c. 1 37 Parents, and all their Pofrerity were cafi by fin. The De jlruflion of Satan and his work in his introduCtion ofthe fiate of fin, by a Sa·viour and Deliverer was prepared and provided for, in it. This is the very Foundation of the Faith of the Church, and if it be denied, nothing of the Oeconomy or Dif– penfation of God towards it from the beginning can be un– derfiood. The whole Doctrine and Story of theOld T~fia· ment mufi be rejected as ufelefs, and no Foundation be left in the Truth ofGod, forthelntroducrion of the New. - 2· It was the Perfon of Chrifl, . his Incarnation and Media– tion, that were promifed under the name of thefeed of the woman, and the work he 1l10uld do in breaking the Head of the Serpent, with the way whereby he ihould do it, in fuffer– ing, by his Power. The accomplifhment hereof was in God,s fending his Son in the likenefs of finful tleili, in the fulnefs of time, made under the Law, or by his manifeftation in the fleih, to defiroy the works of the Devil. So is this Promife interpreted, Gal. ~· ro. chap. 4- 4· Heb. 2. r4, r ), r6. r ]oh. 3· 8. This cannot be denied but upon one of thefe two grounds. (r.) That nothing is intended in that Divine Re– velation, but only a natural Enmity that is between Man– kind and Serpents. But this is fo fooli1l1 an Imagination, that the Jews themfelves, who conil:antly refer this place to the Me.ffiah, are not guilty o£ All the whole Truth concerning God's difpleafure on the fin of our firH Parents, with what concerneth the nature and confequents of that fin, is everted hereby. And whereas the Foundation of all God,s future _dealing with them and their Pofierity is plainly expreifed .her~in, it is turned into that which is ludicrous, and of ve– ry little concernment in Humane Life. For fnch is the En~ .miy between Mankind and Serpents, which not one in a milJion know any thing ot~ or are troubled with. TJ:is is but to lay the Ax , of'Athezfm unto aH Religion built on DiT ' vine
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=