Owen - BS2775 O8 1668

f rom f d of Old. 'hall ever bring ón the Works of his hands, are 'to be referred unto- this head. Other Original of them can noman affign. Secondly, The moralcorruption of the Natureofman, the Spring of allfin, the other head ofEvil proceeded Hence alto. For by this meads, thavhich before was good and upright,is become an inexhauftible treafure ofSin : And ?I'Mwas the Rateof things in the World, immediatelyupon the Fall andSin ofAdam. . Now the work which we affign unto the Mefah, is the Deliveran eof Mankind from this Stateand condition. Upon the Suppoítion and Revelation of this iurance of Sin,and the Evil that enfued thereon, is the whole Doctrine of his Office founded,, as (hall afterwards more largelybe declared. Andbecaute we contend again({ the Jews, that he was promifed and exhibited for a Relief in the Wifdom, Grace, and .Righte- oufitefs of God againft this finand mifery of mankind , as our Apoftle alfo exprelly proveth, Chap. a. ofhis Epiftle unto them, this being denyed by them, 'as that which wouldoverthrow all their fond imaginationsabout his Perlon and Office, we mull Confider what is their Senfe and Apprehenfion about thee things, with what may be thence educed for their own ConviEtiou, and then confirm the Truth of our Atfertion from thofe Teftimonies of Scripture which themfely wn and receive. The firft effh'. and confèquent of the fin ofAdam he punifhment wherewith it wasattended. What iswritten hereof iseo in the tptures the Jews neither can, not do deny. Deathwas in the commination given todeter him from his Tranfgref. fou. Nonno,Gen. 2. 19. Dying thou 'halt dye. Neither can it be reafonably pre tended to be finglyDeath unto his own Perlon which is intended inthat expref ion. The Event fiufficiently evinceth the contrary. What ever is , or might be Evil unto himfelfand his whole Pofterity , with thenrefidue of the Creation, fo far as he, . or they aright- be any way concerned therein , hath grown out of this commina- tion. And this isfufficiently manifelled in the firaExecutionofit, Gen. 3.16, 17,18,19. The Malediaion was but the Execution of theCommination. It was hot confitlentwith the Juítice of God to increafe the Penalty,, after the fin was committed. The threat- nint therefore wasthe Rule and meafure of theCurfe. But this is here extended by God himfelf, not only to all the miferiesof Man, f Adam and his whole Pofterity ) in 'this Life, in labour, difappointtnent, fweat and forrow, with Death under, and by vertue of the Curie, but to the whole Earth álio and confequently unto thofe fuperi- ourRegionsand Orbs ofHeaven, by whole influence, the Earthis as it were governed and difpofedunto the üie of Man. Hof. a. v. at, a2. It may be yet farther enquired, what was to be the duration and continuance of the. Punifhment to be infliE ed in the purfüit of this Comminationand Malediétion. Now there isnot any thing in the leaft to intimate that it Gould have a term prefixed unto it, wherein it Gould expire ; or that it Gould not becommenlurate unto the exiftence or being of the fnner. God layes.the Curfe on man, and there he leaves him, and that for ever, A miferablé life he wasto fpend, and then to dye under the Curfè of. God, without hopes ofemerging ,into a better condition. About his fubfrltence after this Life, we have nocontroverfie with the Jews. Theyall acknowledge the immortalityof theSoul ; forthe . Sec;( of the Sadducees is long line etttin&; neither arethey followed by théKar earls in their Athe- ifrical Opinions, as hath beendeclared. Some of them indeed enclineunto the Pythago-, rear Merempfuchofis, but all acknowledge the Souls Perpetuity. Suppofing then Adam todye paroallyunder the Curfe of God, as without extraordi- nary Relief hemuff have done, the Righteoufnefs andTruth of God being engaged for the Execution of the Threatning againfi him, I defier to know what Gould have been theState and condition of his Soul i Doth eitherRevelationor Reafon intimate that heGould not havecontinued for ever under the fame Penalty and Curfe, in a fiateof Death, or Separation fromGod ? And if he Gould have done fo, then was Death eter- nal in the Commination.. This is that which with refped unto the prefent effects in this life, and. the punifhment due to fin, is termed by our Apoftle, ,ï ;al ivoiriin, a Thff t. v. so. the Wrath to come, from whence the Wah is the Deliverer. Norwill the Jews themfelves contend that the guilt of any fin refpedis only tem- poral punifhment. TheEvent of Sin unto themfelves they take to be that only, ima- gining their ObfervationoftheLawofMofs, fuck as it is, to be a fufficient Expiation al"Punifhment eternal. But unto all ['rangersfrom the Law, all.that have not a Re= lief provided, they make every finmortal ; and Adam, as I fuppofe had not the Pri- viledge ofthe Prefent Jews toobferve Mofer Law. Whereforetheyall agree, that by Iris Repentance he-deliveredhimfelf from Death eternal, which if if were not duèunto his

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