of the nineteenth verse; "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." Concerning which I need not make use of the word Tooì, or many;' whom sometimes St. Paul calls Távraç, sometimes woλλoùç, ́all,' and 'many,' that is, all from Adam to Moses; but they are but many,' and not all' in respect of mankind; exactly answering to the all' that have life by Christ, which are only the πολλοὶ, or the πιστεύ OVTEC, those many that believe,' and are adopted into the covenant of believers; by this indeed it is perceivable, that this was not a natural title or derivation of an inherent corruption from Adam, for that must have included 'all,' absolutely and universally. But that which I here dwell and rely upon, is this:

15. Sin is often in Scripture used for the punishment of sin; and they that suffer, are called sinners, though they be innocent. So it is in this case. "By Adam's disobedience many were made sinners;" that is, the sin of Adam passed upon them, and sat upon their heads with evil effect, like that of Bathsheba; "I and my son shall be accounted sinners" that is, evil will befal us, we shall be used like sinners, like traitors, and usurpers. So, "This shall be the sin of Egypt," said the Prophet": this shall be the punishment so we read it. And Cain, complaining of the greatness of his punishment, said, " Mine iniquity is greater than I can bear." And to put it past all doubt, not only punishment is called sin in Scripture, but even he that bears it." Him that knew no sin, God hath made sin, that we might be the righteousness of God in him * :" and the prophet Isaiah, speaking of Christ, saith, "Posuit peccatum animam suam;" "He hath made his soul a sin," that is, obnoxious to the punishment of sin. Thus it is said, that "Christ shall appear the second time without sin," that is, without the punishment of sin, "unto salvation:" for of sin formally or materially, he was at first as innocent as at the second time; that is, pure in both. And if Christ who bare our burden, became sin for us in the midst of his purest innocence, that we also are by Adam made sinners, that is, suffer evil by occasion of his demerit, infers not that we have any formal guilt, or enmity against God upon that account. Facti peccatores' in St.

! Kings, i. 21.

u Zech. xiv. 19,

Isa. liii. 10.

x 2 Cor. v. 21.

z Heb. ix. 28,

Paul, by Adam we are made sinners,' answers both in the story and in the expression to Christus factus peccatum pro nobis ;' Christ was made sin for us,' that is, was exposed to the evil that is consequent to sin, viz. to its punishment.

16. For the further explication of which, it is observable that the word 'sinner' and 'sin,' in Scripture is used for any person, that hath a fault or a legal impurity, a debt, a vitioosity, defect, or imperfection. For the Hebrews use the word л for any obligation which is contracted by the law without our fault. Thus a Nazarite who had touched a dead body, was tied to offer a sacrifice Teρì àμaorías,* for sin ;' and the reason is added, ori nuaρTE TEρì fuxñs, that is, he had sinned concerning the dead body;' and yet it was nothing but a legal impurity, nothing moral. And the offering that was made by the leprous, or the menstruous, or the diseased, in profluvio seminis,' is called repì áμaprías, an offering for sin,' and yet it might be innocent all the way.

I

17. Thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said, that our blessed Lord, who is compared to the high-priest among the Jews, did" offer first for his own sins":"by which word it is certain that no sin properly could be meant, for Christ. was avaμáprηros, he knew no sin:' but it means, the state of his infirmity, the condition of his mortal body, which he took for us and our sins, and is a state of misery and of distance from heaven; "for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven;" whither Christ was not to go, till, by offering himself he had unclothed himself of that imperfect. vesture, as they that were legally impure, might not go to the, temple before their offering: and therefore when by death he quit himself of this condition, it is said " he died unto sin.b" Parallel to this is that of St. Paul in the fifth chapter to the Romans, where the state of infirmity is expressly called. sin. The high-priest" is himself also compassed with infirm ity; and by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself to offer for sins." This is also more expressly by St. Paul called Suoiwua rns σapкòs åμaprtas, ' the likeness of the sin of the flesh; and thus, concupiscence, or the first motions and inclinations to sin, is called sin, and said to have the nature of sin, that is, ouoiwμa τñs àμaprias, the like

с

of sin', or something by

ness,' it may be, the material part which sin is commonly known. And thus Origen observes, that an oblation was to be offered, even for new-born children, ὡς οὐ καθαρῶν ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας, “ as if they were not clean from sin.' But this being a usual expression among the Hebrews, bears its sense upon the palm of the hand, and signifies only the legal impurity in which the apriyɛyevnμévoi, the newborn' babes, and their mothers, were involved. Even Christ himself, who had no original sin, was subject to this purification. So we read in St. Luke: and" when the days of her purification were accomplished:" but in most books, and particularly in the King's MS. it is read, kalapioμov avтāv, the days of their purification.' But the things of this nature being called offerings for sins, and the expression usual among the Jews, I doubt not but hath given occasion to the Christian writers to fancy other things than were intended.

18. Having now explicated those words of St. Paul, which, by being misunderstood, have caused strange devices in this article, we may now, without prejudice, examine what really was the effect of Adam's sin, and what evil descended upon his posterity.

19. Adam's sin was punished by an expulsion out of Paradise, in which was a tree appointed to be the cure of diseases and a conservatory. of life. There was no more told as done but this, and its proper consequents. He came into a land less blessed, a land which bore thistles and briers easily, and fruits with difficulty, so that he was forced to sweat hard for his bread; and this also, I cannot say, did descend, but must needs be a condition of his children who were left to live so, and in the same place; just as when young Anthony had seized upon Marcus Cicero's land, the son also lost what he never had. And thus death came in, not by any new sentence or change of nature: for man was created mortal; and if Adam had not sinned, he should have been immortal by grace, that is, by the use of the tree of life; and now being driven from the place where the tree grew, was left in its own natural constitution; that is, to be sick and die without that remedy. Οἱ γεγονότες ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἀπὸ φθαρτοῦ φθαρτοι γεγό He was mortal of himself, and we are mortal from ναμεν : him. Peccando Adam posteros morti subjecit, et univer

sos huic delicto obnoxios reddit,' said Justin Martyr: " Adam by his sin made all his posterity liable to the sin, and subjected them to death." One explicates the other; and there fore St. Cyprian calls original sin," Malum domesticum, contagium mortis antiquæ prima nativitate contractum:" "His sin infected us with death, and this infection we derive in our birth;" that is, we are born mortal. Adam's sin was imputed to us unto a natural death; in him we are sinners, as in him we die. But this sin is not real and inherent, but imputed only to such a degree. So St. Cyprian affirms most expressly:" Infans recens natus nihil peccavit, nisi quòd, secundum Adam carnaliter natus, contagium mortis antiquæ primâ nativitate contraxit:" "An infant hath not sinned, save only that being carnally born of Adam, in his first birth he hath contracted the contagion of the old death.”

20. This evil, which is the condition of all our natures, viz. to die, was to some a punishment, but to others not so, It was a punishment to all that sinned both before Moses and since; upon the first it fell as a consequent of God's anger 'upon Adam (as I before discoursed); upon the latter it fell as a consequent of that anger, which was threatened in Moses's law. But to those who sinned not at all, as infants and innocents, it was merely a condition of their nature, and no more a punishment, than to be a child is. It was a punishment of Adam's sin; because by his sin human nature became disrobed of their preternatural immortality; and, therefore, upon that account they die; but as it related to the persons, it was not a punishment, not an evil afflicted for their sin, or any guiltiness of their own, properly so called.

21. We find nothing else in Scripture expressed to be the effect of Adam's sin: and beyond this, without authority, we must not go. Other things are said, but I find no warrant for them in that sense they are usually supposed,—and some of them in no sense at all. The particulars commonly reckoned, are, that from Adam we derive an original ignorance, a proneness to sin, a natural malice, a fomes,' or nest of sin imprinted and placed in our souls, a loss of our will's liberty, and nothing is left but a liberty to sin; which liberty upon the sum of affairs is expounded to be a necessity to sin: and the effect of all is, we are born heirs of damnation,

22. Concerning original or natural ignorance, it is true, we derive it from our parents, I mean, we are born with it; but I do not know that any man thinks, that, if Adam had not sinned that sin, Cain should have been wise as soon as his navel had been cut. Neither can we guess at what degree of knowledge Adam had before his fall. Certainly, if he had so great a knowledge, it is not likely he would so cheaply have sold himself and all his hopes, out of a greedy appetite to get some knowledge. But concerning his posterity; indeed it is true a child cannot speak at first, nor understand; and if, as Plato said, "all our knowledge is nothing but memory,' it is no wonder a child is born without knowledge. But so it is in the wisest men in the world; they also when they see or hear a thing first, think it strange, and could not know it, till they saw or heard it. Now this state of ignorance we derive from Adam, as we do our nature, which is a state of ignorance and all manner of imperfection; but wheit was not imperfect, and apt to fall into forbidden instances even before his fall, we may best guess at by the event; for if he had not had a rebellious appetite, and an inclination to forbidden things, by what could he have been tempted, and how could it have come to pass, that he should sin? Indeed this nature was made worse by sin, and became divested of whatsoever it had extraordinary, and was left naked, and mere; and, therefore, it is not only an original imperfection, which we inherit, but in the sense now explicated, it is also an original corruption. And this is all: as natural death by his sin became a curse, so our natural imperfection became natural corruption, and that is original sin. Death and imperfection we derive from Adam, but both were natural to ús; but by him they became actual, and penal, and by him they became worse, as by every evil act, every principle of evil is improved. And in this sense, this article is affirmed by all the doctors of the ancient church. We are miserable really, sinners in account or effect, that properly, this improperly; and are fallen into so sad a state of things, which we also every day make worse, that we did need a Saviour to redeem us from it. For in original sin we are to consider the principle, and the effects. The principle is the actual sin of Adam. This being to certain purposes by God's absolute dominion imputed to us, hath brought upon us a necessity of dying,