QUESTION VIII. 311 his youth. So universal and so early a corruption must be sup- posed to spring from an universal and early cause, that is, their propagation from a sinful original. That the ancient Jews were acquainted with this doctrine, and that this was the sentiment which they had derived from their reading the Old Testament, will sufficiently appear to any one from the apocryphal writings, which were the product of some wise and knowing men among them ; See 2 Esdra iii. 21. For thefirst Adam bearing a wicked heart, transgressed andwas over- come, and so be all they that be born of him. Thus infirmity was made permanent, . and the láro also in the heart of the people, with the malignity of the root*, so-that the good de- parted away, and the evil abode still. , 2 Esdra iv. 30. For the grain of evil seed bath been sown in the heart of Adam front the beginning, that is, by the devil ; and how much ungodli- ness bath it brought up unto this time ? and how much shall tt yet bring forth till the time, of threshingshall come ? 2 Esdra 11. When Adam transgressed my statutes, then was de- creed what is now done: Then were the entrances of this world made narrow, that is full of pain as the Hebrew im- ports, in which language probably this was first written : they are but few, and evil, full of peril and very painful: For the entrances of the elder world were wide and sure, and brought immortal fruit ; that is, in the world of innocency, men would have been born without pain and lived to immortality. Verse 40. It had been better, that is, happier for man not to have given the earth to Adam, or else when it was given him, to have restrained him from sinning : For what profit is it for men now in this present time to live in heaviness, and after death to look for punishment ? O thou, Adam, what hast thou done ? For though it was thou that sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee. Ec. stl. 1. Great travail is created for every man and a heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that theygo out of their mother's womb till the day that they return to the mother of all things, that is, to earth. These were the sentiments of the ancient Jews. St. Paul mentions his sentiments on this subject in his epis- tle to Rome and Corinth, which shall be cited immediately ; for hehad well learned this doctrine. Nor do I think that text; Ephes. ii. 1 -4. can be well dismissed from the service of this argument, where the apostle tells the Ephesians, you " Gentiles * The meapingseems to be this, though the Ian, orrule of duty still remains written in the hearts of men, yet there is such a malignity, or sinful tendency derived fromAdam our root, that the principle of obedience is departed and the principle of transgression abides, while the conscience preserves the rule of duty in man's heart or soul, and.yet he has a propensity or inclination to dis- obey it.
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