latter is the grand Principle of the Gospel, affirmed by THE SON OF GOD himself, and confirmed by figns and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghoft, Heb. ii. 3, 4. The former he proves in ver. 13, 14.

VER. 12. By one man fin entered into the world, and death by fin; and so, that is, in Confequence of his Sin, death palled, or came upon all men. This must be true; for

VER. 13. If we turn our Thoughts to the long Period of Time, before the Law was given by Mofes, it must indeed be allowed that Sin was then in the World; that is, Men were guilty of various Sorts of Sin: But it is alfo true, that Sin is not imputed when there is no Law, or, un or vous, when LAW is not in being. LAW, threatening Sin with Death, is the only Conftitution which fubjects Men to Death for the Sins they commit. Therefore the Sins of Mankind were not imputed, were not tax'd with the Forfeiture of Life, or charg'd upon them as capital, as fubjecting them to Death, because the Law, which fubjects the Tranfgreffor to Death, was not then in Being. For it was abrogated upon Adam's Tranfgreffion, and was not again in force till reviv'd by Mofes at Mount Sinai.

VER. 14. But for all that Death reigned all the long Space from Adam to Mofes, even

over them who had not finned after the fimilitude of Adam's tranfgreffion. That is, had not finned against Law, making Death the Penalty of their Sin, as Adam did. For during that Period Mankind were not under LAW, but under GRACE. And therefore, though Sin in its feveral Branches was, during that Space, committed by Mankind, yet they were not fubjected to Death for their Tranf greffions. It remains then, that Death was univerfally inflicted upon Mankind in Confequence of Adam's one Tranfgreffion*.

VI.

*ORSERVE, the Apoftle here ufes LAW (as he frequently doth) in a peculiar, emphatical Senfe, namely, as denoting a Rule of Duty with the Penalty of Death annexed as due to the Tranfgreffor from God. And according to him 'tis LAW which flays the Sinner, 1 Cor. xv. 56. The Sting of Death is Sin, and the Strength of Sin is the Law. The Law is the Force by which Sin, the Sting of Death, is plung'd into the Sinner's Vital: For (Rom. vii. 8.) without LAW Sin is dead, and unable to flay the Sinner. See this more fully explain'd Supplem. SECT. VI. § VI. This therefore, upon further Thoughts, I take to be the Force of the Apoftle's Argument, viz. Tho' Men were Sinners during the Period between Adam and Mofes, yet they were not fubjected to Death, or made mortal by their Tranfgreffions; becaufe LAW, the only Conftitution which fubjects the Tranfgreffor to Death, was not then in Being. But yet Men through that long Tract were all fubject to Death; therefore they must be included in the Sentence, Gen. iii. 19. and their Mortality must be the Confequence of Adam's one Offence. Enoch's Exemption from Death, and the Cafe of the Antediluvians and Sodomites, who died for their own Sins, are no Objection against the Apostle's Argument. Because extraordinary

VI. THE Confequences of Adam's Sin upon us, and the Confequences of Christ's Obedience, are not in every Refpect of the fame Extent; for fo the Apostle faith exprefsly, ver. 15, &c. He had faid, ver. 14. that Adam was a Figure, a Type of him that was to come; that Adam and Chrift do answer and correfpond to one another: but not in every refpect; very far from that.

VER.

Interpofitious come under no Rule but the Will of God. The Law given to Noah, Gen. ix. 6. Whofo fheds Man's Blood, by Man fhall his Blood be fhed, makes Death the Penalty of Murder; but it is given as a Rule for Magiftrates in executing Juftice, and not as a Declaration. of the Penalty of Sin to be inflicted by God himself. Nor was it enacted till the Year of the World 1657. And as for those few who might be put to Death upon that Law, or those greater Numbers who perifhed for their own Sins in the Deluge, and the Overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, although they died for their own particular Sins, yet they were not made mortal by those Sins. For, according to the Apoftle's Argument, had they not committed thofe Sins they would have dy'd. Every Man is mortal from the Moment he receives Life and Being; and Death paffes upon all men indifferently (yea upon Infants) without Refpect to their Virtues or Vices. Therefore, if a Man by his own Crimes brings Death upon himself, fuch Death is only an Anticipation of that Death which, in a few Years, he would certainly have died in common with all Mankind; and the Life he forfeits is not immortal Life, but a few Days or Years of that Life which was loft to all Mankind in ADAM, and shall be restor❜d to all Men in CHRIST. See Locke upon Rom, v. 15,

VER. 15. But not as the offence (of Adam) fo alfo is the free gift (of God in Chrift ;) For if, through the offence of one, the many be dead; MUCH MORE the grace [the Favour] of God, and the gift [the Benefits that are] by grace which is by one man, Jefus Chrift, bath ABOUNDED unto the many. That is, he hath in Chrift bestowed Benefits and Bleffings upon Mankind of his mere Favour, far exceeding, and abounding bevond, the Confequences of Adam's Sin. He hath not only taken off thofe Confequences, but over and above hath conferred a rich Overplus of Grace, in erecting a new Difpenfation, furnished with a glorious Fund of Light and Truth, Means and Motives,

VER. 16. And not as it was by one that finned, fo is the gift for the judgment was by ONE [Offence] to condemnation; but the free gift is of MANY offences unto juftification: That is, the Grace of God in Chrift, not only dif charges Mankind from the Confequences of Adam's ONE Offence, but alfo hath Relation to their own MANY perfonal Offences, in order to accomplish the moft perfect Juftification, by fetting them quite to Rights with God, both as to a Conformity to the Law, and as to the Bleffing, eternal Life.

VER. 17. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; MUCH MORE they which re

ceive the ABUNDANCE of grace †, the Overflowings of Grace fpoken of, ver. 15. and the gift of righteoufnefs, the free Grant of a Right to Life and Salvation, fhall reign in Life by one Jefus Chrift.

THIS makes it clear, That the Confequences of CHRIST'S Obedience the Grace of God founded upon, or communicated through, his Obedience, do extend, abound, and overflow far beyond the Confequences of Adam's Sin, or what God thought fit to adjudge Mankind unto, upon Occafion of his Sin.

"

REFLECTIONS.

"HENCE it followeth,

tr I. THAT the ABOUNDING or overflowing of GOD's Grace, and of the Gift, "or Benefit and Bleffings by that Grace, doth "not refpect the Confequences of Adam's

Sin, hath no Reference to his TRANS"GRESSION, but to a nobler, oppofite Cause, namely, the GRACE of GOD, and the "OBEDIENCE of CHRIST: and that Chrift came to redeem us, not only from "that which came upon us by Adam's Tranf

+ It should rather have been tranflated, the A BOUND: ING of Grace: meaning that Part of God's Grace, which aboundeth and overfloweth beyond the delivering us from the Confequences of Adam's Tranfgreffion.