ར་

all men, as being members of him. The other refpe&t Chap. 9.. is this, it is voluntary in us, in our own perfons habitually; there is in us an evil frame and difpofition to fin and tranfgrefs as Adam did; the act was his, yet a feed of it is found in us. Further, they fay, It is against justice and equity, that Adams fin fhould be imputed to us; that we, innocent in our felves, fhould be guilty by a fin not our own. I anfwer, Adams capacity confidered, there is no injustice in it; he was the head and root of mankind, he was the common Trustee of righteousness and immortality for all; the Covenant was made with him for himself and for his pofterity; his fin therefore was not meerly his, but ours; neither are we born innocent, but guilty: If it were against justice and equity to impute his fin to us, then it was against justice and equity to punish us for it with death temporal, fpiritual, eternal: But the latter is false; fo therefore is the former. Death falls as a punishment upon Infants void of actual fin of their own: Thus the Apostle lays it down clearly, Sin entered into the world, and death by fin; and fo death passed upon all men, Rom. 5. 12. Death was not a meer mifery or infelicity, but a juft punishment. Surely it confifts not with juftice and equity, that proper punishment fhould fall on perfons altogether void of guilt; or that the threatning of death fhould feize upon those who no way tranfgreffed that com-mand to which it was annexed; therefore the imputation of Adams sin to us, is fo far from being against justice and equity, that without it, the equity and juftice of God in inflicting death as a punishment upon all men, cannot be reasonably cleared. I need add but one thing more, God dealt with Adam the

head

Chap. 9. head of mankind, upon terms of abundant equity: for as Adam finning, was to transfer fin and death to us; fo Adam obeying, was to transfer righteousness and immortality to us: The terms were equal on both hands; we were in him as our head, as well for the obtaining of bleffednefs upon his obedience, as for the incurring punishment upon his disobedience. Thefe objections being removed out of the way, I conclude, That the capacity which Adam ftood in at first, is a clear evidence, that his fin is imputed to

us.

3. If Adams fin be not imputed to us, then neither was his righteousness fo; then we never were righteous, we never were éfteemed fuch in Gods account; then we are not fallen creatures, we are meerly fimply as God made us: Then what need of renovation or regeneration? An unfallen creature is uncapable of reparation; Whence then, or by what way could it poffibly come to pafs, that there fhould be an innate inordination or proneness to evil in us? Such things cannot be found in an unfallen rational creature, yet doubtless they are found in us. The Scripture tells us, 'that we are naturally dark; nay, darknefs it felf: That the heart is deceitful above all things, and defperately wicked. Nay, the very Philofophers fpied out this. Hence Tully faith, That man was brought forth into life, not by nature as a Mother, but as a Step-mother; with a body naked, frail, infirm, with a mind anxious in troubles, low in fears, foft in labours, prone to lufts. Upon which St. AuContr. Jul. Lftin gloffes thus, Naturam accufavit, rem vidit, can4. cap. 12. fam nefcivit, latebat eum cur effet grave jugum fuper filios Adam. He accufed nature, the thing he faw, the

caufe

1. 1. c. 6.

cause he knew not, the grievous yoke on the fons of Chap. 9. Adam was hid from him. Nay, the very Socinians, though in the point of Original fin they are more blind and void of fenfe than Pagans, confefs thus much, Homines ad peccandum funt naturâ proni: Men are by volk. de Rel. nature prone to fin: Nay, it is added, fenfe and appetite draw them, as it were, with chains to vice. Thus faith one of them, Whence then is this natural inordination and pravity? Is it from the fall? We are not fallen creatures. Is it from the Creator? It is impoffible. Darkness cannot be from the Father of lights, nor pravity from the fountain of infinite goodnefs. Adams fin not being imputed to us, no tolerable account can be given, how it should ever come to exist among men. But fuppofing what is most true, That it is naturally in us; yet, unless Adams fin be imputatively ours, it is not fin in us: What though we want knowledg and righteoufnefs? It is not Carentia juftitiæ debita ineffe, a want of what ought to be in us; it is not a privative want, a want of what we once had in Adams righteoufnefs, and afterwards loft in his fin; but it is a meer negative want, a want of that we never had, nor never forfeited. Adams righteousness being not imputed to us, we never had it; Adams fin being not imputed to us, we never forfeited it; fuch a meer negative want, is no fin. What though there be a pravity and propensity to all manner of fin in us? It is no fin in unfallen creatures, it is no fin to be made or created, it is no fin to be born or brought forth; it is no fin, if there be no caufe or foundation of it in us; and there can be no cause or foundation of it in us, if we no way participate of Adams fin; it may be called mifery, but it is no

fina

Chap. 9.

pure

fin: Hence that saying of St. Austin, Nulla foret ko minis culpa, fi talis a Deo creatus effet, qualis nunc nafcitur; There would be no fault in man, if he were created fuch by God, as he is now born; the primordials of nature cannot be culpable. That man, who is meerly what his Creator made him, is as he ought to be. The refult of all is this: Adams fin not being imputed to us, there can be no fuch thing as original fin; though this Doctrine hath been maintained in the Church in all ages; yet there is no fuch thing, neither is Adams fin imputatively ours; nor yet is the natural pravity in us any fin. If therefore we will acknowledg original fin, we must acknowledg that Adams fin is ours by a juft Imputation. Thus much touching the first original thing in fin: Adams fin is imputatively ours.

The other is this, We have an inordination, and inherent pravity in us; this depends upon the former. All habitual fin, hath an effential relation to fome actual fin precedent; no man en can be a finner habitually, who is totally free from actual fin. If we had not in fome fenfe finned in Adams fin, we could not have been habitually vitiated by it. At first man was an excellent creature, fparkling with a divine image of knowledg and righteoufnefs; all was in harmony, the rational powers of the Soul were fubordinate to God their Creator; the fenfitive powers were fubject to the rational; in every part there was a juft decorum: But upon the fall, which was interpretatively ours, the Crown fell from our head, the Glory of the Divine Image departed, the Soul became naked, the very fhame of the body told it, that the primitive rectitude was wanting; darkness fell upon

the

the Mind, the once region of light; bondage and im- Chap. 9. potency fell upon the Will, the once feat of power and liberty; all was out of frame: The rational powers turned rebels to God; the fenfitive were all in a mutiny against the rational. There was in us a pravity, an horrible propensity to all manner of iniquity; a Belial-heart, fuch as is evil, and only evil, and that continually. This pravity runs parallel with our being and humanity; it overfpreads the whole Fabrick of our nature, and fo adheres to it, that even in the Saints it is not utterly extinct till the last breath; nor totally cleansed away, till the Clay-walls of the body fall into the grave. This is the ibuía sumaßiod, the conceiving-luft; the womb where all iniquity is formed. This is the Grave or Sheol in man, which in its unreasonable defires never hath enough. This is that Concupifcence, which, as the Rabbins fay, doth adificare inferos, make and build an Hell for men. Now that there is fuch an inordination and inherent pravity in us, doth eafily appear by the following Confiderations.

1. The Scripture doth abundantly teftifie it. Adam begat a fon in his own likeness (after his image), and called his name Seth, Gen. 5. 3. Adam was crea ted in the likeness of God, v. I; but after his fall he begat a fon in his own likeness. When God created man in his likeness, it was fanctus fanctum, an Holy God created an holy man: But when Adam begat a fon in his likeness, it was corruptus-corruptum, polluted Adam begat a polluted fon : and in the Text there are two words (likeness and image) to fet the greater brand upon corrupt nature. It is remarkable, that the Text doth not here fpeak of Abel, who dyed withFf

out