74. c 4Declaration of the GbrimMy ST ERY I. The fiat promife, Gen.iii. r 5. truly called fIparrm,q)A,,v, was reveal- ed, propofed and given, as containing and expreffing the only means of delivery from that apoftafy from Gods with all the effe&s ofits under which our firft parents and all their pofleritywere caft by fin. The deftrudiun of fatan and his work inhis introdution of the ftate of fin, by a faviour and deliverer was prepared and provided for in it. Titis is the very founda tion of thefaith of the church, and if it be denied, nothing ofthe oeconony or difpenfationof God towards it from the beginning can be underflood. The whole do/trine and. ffory ofthe Old Teftament muff be rejected asufelefs, and no foundationbe left in the truth ofGod, for the introduelionof the new. a. It was the perfon ofChrift, his incarnation and mediation, that were promifed under the name of thefeedof the woman, and the work he fhould do in breaking thehead of the Serpent, with the way whereby he fliould do it, infuffering, by his power. The accomplilhment hereof was in God's fending his Son in the likenefs of finful flelh, in the fultlefs of time, made under the law, or by his manifeflation in the flefh to deftroy the works of the devil. So is this promife interpreted, Gab iii: to. chap. iv. 4. Heb. ii. lil, 15, r6. T. yobniii. 8. Thiscannot be denied but uponone of tltefe two grounds. (a.) That nothing is intended in that divine revelation, but Only a na- tural enmity that is between mankind and ferpents. But this is fo fooliflt an imagination, that the Jews themfelves, who conftantly refer this place to the Mefah, are not guilty of. All the whole truth concerning God's difpleafure on the fin ofour fiat parents, with what concernedr thenature and confequentsof that fin, is everted hereby. And whereas the founda- tion ofall God's future dealingwith them and theirpoflerityis plainly expref_ fed herein, it is turned into that which is ludicrous, andof very littlecon- cernment in humane life. For fuck is the inmiybetween mankind and fer- pents, whichnot one in a million kilowatt any thing of, or are troubled with. This is but to lay the Ax ofAtheifm unto all religion built on divine re- velation: Betides, on this fuppofition there is in the words not the leaft in- timationof any relief, that God tendred unto out parents for their delivery from the flare and condition whereinto they had raft theinfelves by their fin and apoftafy. Wherefore they muff be etteemed to be left abfolutely un- der the curfe, as the angels were that fell, which is to root all religion out ofthe world. For amongft them whoare abfolutelyunder the curfe without any remedy, there can be no more than is in hell. Or, (a.) It muff be, becaufe fo other way of deliverance and falvatión, and not that by Chrift, is here propofed and promifed. But whereas they were to be wrought by the feed ofthe woman, if this were not that Chrift in whomwe do believe, there was another promifed, and he is to be re- ¡died. And this is fairly at once to blot out the whole fcripture as a fable. For there is not a line of doctrinal truth in it, but what depends on the traduttionofChrifffrom this fiat promife. 3. This promife was confirmed, and the wayof the deliverance of the church by virtue of it declared in the inflitution of expiatory farrifices. Godin them and by them declared from the beginning, that without/bed dingofblood there was no remif lion; that atonement for fin was to he made by fu ftitution and fatisfa&ion. With refpe& unto them the Lord Chrif was called the lamb ofGod, 'even as he took away the fins of the world by the facrifice ofhimfelf, John i. 29. For we were redeemed with the preci- ousbloodofCbrifl, as ofa lambwithout bleinifb andwithout{doff, i Pet. i. rg. Wherein the holy fpirit refers unto the inftitution and nature óffacrifices from the beginning. And he is thence reprefented in heaven as a lamb that bad
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