314 RUIN AND RECOVERY, a CC. and surety for all his posterity, " In the day thou sinnest thou shalt die !" II. Observe that the apostle carries this argument yet far- ther : Sin was imputed, and death reigned or was executed even upon those that had not sinned 'after the similitude of Adam's transgression; that is, who had not sinned personally against an express and positive command given to themselves as Adam had done. Now this must include children or infants, if it does notchiefly refer to them ; for death reigned over them, death was executed upon them ; and this must be by some law or constitution, by which sin was in some respect imputed to them who had not committed actual sin ; for without some such law or constitution sin would never have been imputed, nor death execu- ted on children. Yet further, III. Let, us consider that death does not come upon those who had not'sinned actually and personally as a mere affliction, or as a necessary and natural effect or mere consequent of their father Adam's sin and death ; but it was at first the threatening of the law, and now it is a proper and legal punishment of sin : For it is said, that this sin " brought condemnation upon all men ;" verse 18. Now this is a legal term, and spews us that death is not only a natural but a penal evil, and comes upon infants considered as accounted guilty and condemned; not for their own sins for they liad none; but for the sinof Adam their legal head, or representative, and surety according to this constitution, or law, or covenants. In this eighteenth verse, the expression is very strong: =r by theoffence of one, judgment came upon all men to con. demnation." It is true the words "judgment came" are not in the original; but ifthese words be not supplied, you must ne- cessarily supply some other word of equal importance to make sense, or you must repeat the word offence or sin, or guilt; and say, " by theoffence or sinof one man, sin came upon all men," who are the seed of Adam, er it was imputed to them to con- demnation. And it . is possible this may be the most proper way of supplying that elliptical way of speaking, viz. by repeating the word sin or offence. And so in the following part of the verse, " by the righteousness of one, not the free gift, " but perhaps it should be, " righteousness came The author has read what opposition has been made to thisnatural and obvious exposition of this argumentas handfed by the apostle in this epistle, and he finds such perverse distortions of the scriptures from their plain sense, and such absurd consequences rising from this opposition, that be leaves what he has here said as sufficient to justify his exposition, to the understanding of a sincere and honest reader, notwithstanding all the boasting pretences to scripture and solemn exhortations to attend to it, which are introduced ass the other side.
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