IX. ART. to a tolerable degree of knowledge, and an ordinary meafure of virtue, fhews that these are not natural to us: whereas floth and vice do grow on us without any care taken about them: fo that it appears, that they are the natural, and the other the forced growth of our fouls. Thefe ill difpofitions are fo univerfally spread through all mankind, and appear fo early, and in fo great a diverfity of ill inclinations, that from hence it feems reasonable and juft to infer, that this corruption is fpread through our whole nature and fpecies, by the fin and difobedience of Adam. And beyond this a great many among ourfelves think that they cannot go, in afferting of original fin. But there is a farther step made by all the difciples of St. Austin, who believe that a covenant was made with all mankind in Adam, as their first parent: that he was a perfon conftituted by God to reprefent them all; and that the covenant was made with him, so that if he had obeyed, all his pofterity fhould have been happy, through his obedience; but by his difobedience they were all to be efteemed to have finned in him, his act being imputed and transferred to them all. St. Auftin confidered all mankind as loft in Adam, and in that he made the decree of election to begin: there being no other reprobation afferted by him, than the leaving men to continue in that ftate of damnation, in which they were by reason of Adam's fin; fo that though by baptifm all men were born again, and recovered out of that loft ftate, yet unless they were within the decree of election, they could not be faved, but would certainly fall from that ftate, and perish in a state of fin; but fuch as were not baptized were fhut out from all hope. Those words of Chrift's, John iii. 3, Except ye be born again of water and of the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God, being expounded fo as to import the indifpenfable neceffity of baptifm to eternal falvation; all who were not baptized were reckoned by him among the damned: yet this damnation, as to thofe who had no actual fin, was fo mitigated, that it feemed to be little more than an exclufion out of heaven, without any fuffering or mifery, like a state of sleep and inactivity. This was afterwards dreffed up as a divifion or partition in hell, called the Limbo of Infants; fo by bringing it thus low, they took away much of the horror that this doctrine might otherwife have given the world. 5. It was not easy to explain the way how this was propagated: they wished well to the notion of a foul's pro pagating IX. pagating a foul, but that seemed to come too near crea ART. tion; fo it was not received as certain. It was therefore thought, that the body being propagated defiled, the foul was created and infused at the time of conception : and that though God did not create it impure, yet no time was interpofed between its creation and infusion: fo that it could never be faid to have been once pure, and then to have become impure. All this, as it afforded an eafy foundation to establish the doctrine of abfolute decrees upon it, no care being taken to fhew how this fin came into the world, whether from an abfolute decree or not, so it seemed to have a great foundation in that large difcourfe of St. Paul's; where, in the fifth of the Romans, he compares, the bleffings that we receive by the death of Christ, with the guilt aud mifery that was brought upon us by the fin of Adam. Now it is confeffed, that by Christ we have both an imputation or communication of the merits of his death, and likewife a purity and holinefs of nature conveyed to us by his doctrine and fpirit. In oppofition then to this, if the comparison is to be closely pursued, there must be an imputation of fin, as well as a corruption of nature, transfufed to us from Adam. This is the more confiderable as to the point of imputation, because the chief defign of St. Paul's difcourfe feems to be levelled at that, fince it is begun upon the head of reconciliation and atonement: upon which it follows that as by one man fin entered into the world, and Rom v. 12, death by fin, and death paffed upon all men, for that (or, as to the end. others render it, in whom) all have finned. Now they think it is all one to their point, whether it be rendered, for that, or in whom: for though the latter words feem to deliver their opinion more precisely, yet it being affirmned, that, according to the other rendering, all who die have finned; and it being certain, that many infants die who have never actually finned, thefe muft have finned in Adam, they could fin no other way. It is afterwards faid by St. Paul, that by the offence of one many were dead: that the judgment was by one to condemnation: that by one man's offence death reigned by one. That by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation: and that by one man's difobedience many were made finners. As thefe words are pofitive, and of great importance in themselves, fo all this is much the ftronger, by the oppofition in which every one of them is put to the effects and benefits of Chrift's death; particularly to our juftification through him, in which there is an imputation of the merits and effects of his death, that are thereby transferred to us; fo IX. ART. fo that the whole effect of this difcourfe is taken away, if the imputation of Adam's fin is denied. And this explication does certainly quadrate more entirely to the words of the Article, as it is known that this was the tenet of those who prepared the Articles, it having been the generally-received opinion from St. Auftin's days downward. 29. But to many other divines this feems a harsh and unconceivable opinion; it feems repugnant to the juftice and goodness of God, to reckon men guilty of a fin which they never committed, and to punish them in their fouls eternally for that which is no act of theirs and though we eafily enough conceive how God, in the riches of his grace, may transfer merit and bleffing from one person to many, this being only an economy of mercy, where all is free, and fuch a method is taken as may best declare the goodness of God: but in the imputation of fin and guilt, which are matters of ftrict justice, it is quite otherwife. Upon that head God is pleased often to appeal to men for the juftice of all his ways: and therefore no fuch doctrine ought to be admitted, that carries in it an idea of cruelty, beyond what the blackest tyrants have ever invented. Befides that in the Scripture fuch a method as the punishing children for their Jer. xxxi. fathers' fins, is often difclaimed, and it is pofitively affirmed, that every man that fins is punished. Now though, in articles relating to the nature of God, they acknowledge it is highly reasonable to believe, that there may be mysteries which exceed our capacity; yet in moral matters, in God's foederal dealings with us, it seems unreasonable, and contrary to the nature of God, to believe that there may be a mystery contrary to the clearest notions of justice and goodness; fuch as the condemning mankind for the fin of one man, in which the rest had no fhare; and as contrary to our ideas of God, and upon that to fet up another mystery that shall take away the truth and fidelity of the promises of God; juftice and goodness being as infeparable from his nature, as truth and fidelity can be fuppofed to be. This feems to expofe the Chriftian religion to the fcoffs of its enemies, and to objections that are much fooner made than anfwered: and fince the foundation of this is a fuppofed covenant with Adam as the reprefentative head of mankind, it is ftrange that a thing of that great confequence thould not have been more plainly reported in the hiftory of the creation; but that men fhould be put to fetch out the knowledge of fo great and fo extraordinary a thing, only by fome remote confequences. IX. confequences. It is no fmall prejudice against this opi- ART. nion, that it was fo long before it first appeared in the Latin Church; that it was never received in the Greek; and that even the Western Church, though perhaps for fome ignorant ages it received it, as it did every thing elfe, very implicitly, yet has been very much divided both about this, and many other opinions related to it, or arifing out of it. As for those words of St. Paul's, that are its chief, if not its only foundation, they fay many things upon them. Firft, it is a fingle proof. Now when we have not a variety of places proving any point, in which one gives light, and leads us to a fure expofition of another, we cannot be fo fure of the meaning of any one place, as to raife a theory, or found a doctrine upon it. They fay farther, that St. Paul feems to argue, from that opinion of our having finned in Adam, to prove that we are justified by Chrift. Now it is a piece of natural logic not to prove a thing by another, unless that other is more clear of itself, or at leaft more clear by its being already received and believed. This cannot be faid to be more clear of itself, for it is certainly lefs credible or conceivable, than the reconciliation by Chrift. Nor was this clear from any special revelation made of it in the Old Teftament: therefore there is good reafon to believe, that it was then a doctrine received among the Jews, as there are odd things of this kind to be found among the Cabbalifts, as if all the fouls of all mankind had been in Adam's body. Now when an argument is brought in Scripture to prove another thing by, though we are bound to acknowledge the conclufion, yet we are not always fure of the premises; for they are often founded upon received opinions. So that it is not certain that St. Paul meant to offer this doctrine to our belief as true, but only that he intended by it to prove our being reconciled to God through the death of Chrift; and the medium by which he proved it might be, for aught that appears from the words themfelves, only an opinion held true among thofe to whom he writes. For he only fuppofes it, but fays nothing to prove it: which it might be expected he would have done, if the Jews had made any doubt of it. But farther they fay, that when comparisons or oppofitions, fuch as this, are made in Scripture, we are not always to carry them on to an exact equality: we are required not only to be holy as God is holy, but to be per- 1 Pet. i. 15p fect as he is perfect where by the as is not to be meant a true equality, but fome fort of refemblance and conformi ty. 16. Mat. v. 48. IX. ART. ty. Therefore those who believe that there is nothing imputed to Adam's pofterity on the account of his fin, but this temporary punishment of their being made liable to death, and to all thofe miferies that the fear of it, with our other concerns about it, bring us under, fay that this is enough to justify the comparison that is there ftated: and that thofe, who will carry it on to be an exact parallel, make a ftretch beyond the phrafeology of the Scripture, and the ufe of parables, and of the many comparisons that go only to one or more points, but ought not to be stretched to every thing. Ex. xxxii. 10. and through Mat. iii. 7. 16. 40. These are the things that other great divines among us have opposed to this opinion. As to its confonancy to the Article, thofe who oppofe it do not deny, but that it comes up fully to the highest fenfe that the words of the Article can import: nor do they doubt, but that those who prepared the Articles, being of that opinion themfelves, might perhaps have had that fenfe of the words in their thoughts. But they add, that we are only bound to fign the Articles in a literal and grammatical sense: fince therefore the words, God's wrath and damnation, which are the highest in the Article, are capable of a lower fenfe, the whole temporary judgments being often fo expreffed in the ScripOld Tefta- tures, therefore they believe the lofs of the favour of ment. God, the fentence of death, the troubles of life, and the 1 Theff. ii. corruption of our faculties, may be well called God's wrath and damnation. Befides, they obferve, that the Luke xxiii. main point of the imputation of Adam's fin to his pofteri1 Cor. xi. ty, and its being confidered by God as their own act, not being exprefsly taught in the Article, here was that moderation obferved, which the compilers of the Articles have fhewed on many other occafions. It is plain from hence, that they did not intend to lay a burthen on men's confciences, or oblige them to profefs a doctrine that seems to be hard of digeftion to a great many. The laft prejuRom. xiv. dice that they offer against that opinion is, that the foftening the terms of God's wrath and damnation, that was brought in by the followers of St. Auftin's doctrine, to fuch a moderate and harmless notion, as to be only a lofs of heaven, with a fort of unactive fleep, was an effect of their apprehending that the world could very ill bear an opinion of fo ftrange a found, as that all mankind were to be damned for the fin of one man: and that therefore, to make this pafs the better, they mitigated damnation far below the reprefentation that the Scriptures generally give of it, which propose it as the being adjudged to a place of torment, and a state of horror and mifery. 29. 1 Pet. iv. 17. Rom. xiii. 2. 2 Cor. vii. 3. Joh. viii. 23. Thus |