OF THE WOMAN, eminently fo called. I own, indeed, when the feed of the woman is oppofed to the feed of the ferpent, and between both an enmity established, both feeds are to be understood collectively that by the feed of the ferpent, all the wicked are intended, who Mat. ii. 7. are called the generation of vipers; by the feed of the woman, elect believers, together with Chrift their head; yet it is without all doubt, that, in this feed, there is fome eminent one, to whom that name does chiefly belong, and by whofe power the reft of the feed may perform the things that are here foretold. Juft as the feed of Abraham is fometimes to be understood more largely, at others more strictly; fometimes denoting his pofterity by Ifaac and Jacob, as Gen. xvii. 8. "I will give unto thy feed the land wherein thou art a ftranger:" fometimes more especially believers of his pofterity, who walk in the fteps of the faith of their father Abraham, and to whom the promife of the inheri tance of the world, by the righteoufnefs of faith, is made, Rom. iv, 12, 13: fometimes, moft efpecially, that eminent one in the feed of Abraham, who was to be the fpring of every bleffing, as Gen 21. 18. in thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed; which is Chrift," Gal. 16. Thus allo the things here faid are, in their meafure, common to all be lievers; but then fome effects are primarily and principally to be ascribed to him, who, in this feed, is the eminent one, namely, Chrift as the Apostle alfo diftinguishes the feed that fanctifieth, and that which is fanctified; both which are of one, Heb. ii. II. XVII. But the reafons, for which Chrift is called the feed of the woman, feem to be chiefly these two: one peculiar to Chrift, the other common to him with other men. That which is common, is his being of the fame blood with us, that we might know him to be our brother and next kinfman. For, men, in Scripture-language, are called, " born of a woman,” Job xiv. 1. and Job xv. 4; and xxv. 4: " born of women, Mat. xi. II. But then, we muft add that which is peculiar to himfelf, that though Chrift, indeed, had a woman for his mother, being "made of a woman," Gal. iv. 4. yet he had no man for his father, being " without father," Heb. vii. 3. See Jer. xxxi. 22. a woman fhall compass a man." For, though this laft reafon holds not in believers, who are likewife called the feed of the woman, for another reafon, to be explained directly; yet, feeing Christ holds the principal place in this feed, as he bruifes the head of the devil in one fenfe, and believers in another; fo therefore he is called the feed of the woman in a different sense from from them. The fame words are indeed, ufed of both; but because, Chrift is far more excellent than they; therefore when they are applied to Chrift, they have a much more illuftrious meaning. XVIII. It. is indeed true, that Chrift is the feed of Adam whose fon he is called, Luke iii. 38. alfo the feed of Abraham, and the son of David, because he was born of a virgin, who defcended from them. Yet there was great reafon, why he fhould be here called the feed of the woman, rather than of Adam. For, Adam, in Scripture, is reprefented as the origin of fin and death. Eve, indeed, was firft in the tranfgreffion: but as it was not Eve, but Adam, who was exprefsly conftitued the federal head of all mankind; fo fin and death are faid to have entered into the world by Adam, Rom. v. 12, 14. Wherefore he who delivers us from fin and death, ought not to be confidered as fubordinate to Adam, and as his fon: but, as the fecond Adam, and the head of another family, oppofed to Adam. However, as he was to be our kinsman and brother, it was neceffary he fhould be born of a woman; and that Adam, as his fon by the spirit and by faith, should be subordinate to him. For, fince God fays here, that he would put enmity between the woman and her feed, and between the ferpent and his feed, without any mention of Adam: it must be, that either Adam is excluded this promife, or comprized under the feed of the woman. The refpect and regard we ought to have for our parent, who was the author and teacher of the true religion to his pofterity, forbids our faying the firft. Nor do I think we fhould fay the fecond: because it is agreeable to reason, that the woman fhould be comprized under, and accounted in the man; hot, on the contrary, the man under the woman. It therefore remains, we fay the third; namely, that Adam, as he was the origin of fin and death, is oppofed to Chrift; as himself was faved, is to be accounted to the feed of the woman, whofe head is Chrift, and fo to be fubordinate to Chrift. Chrift therefore is called the feed of the woman, because, being the origin of a better stock, he is oppofed to Adam as the root of a corrupt race. And it is hinted, that Adam himself owes his falvation to the woman, on account of her feed. XIX. Paul, if I mistake not, leads us to this, 1 Cor. xi. 11, 12. "Neither is the man without the woman, neither the wo man without the man in the Lord. For, as the woman is of 'the man, even fo is the man alfo by the woman: but all things of God." I do not remember to have feen a fuller explication of this place, than what I fhall give from the Thefes of a cer tain tain very learned perfon. That the man and the woman may BE IN THE LORD, partakers of the grace and redemption purchafed by Christ, they are mutually indebted to one another, for fomething common to both, which the one neither had, nor could have obtained without the other. For, as the woman is ix To avogos OF THE MAN, from whose rib she was formed, and who could not have been in the Lord, had it not been for the man, without whom she could not have so much as existed: fo the man is in the Lord διά τῆς γυναικός BY THE WOMAN, for the woman was appointed to be the first enemy of the ferpent, and the Meffiah is called the feed of the woman: but the man obtains the fame happiness by the woman, as by faith he lays hold on the Meffiah, who was to defcend from her in virtue of the promife. The woman is OF THE MAN, materially and naturally: not fo the man of the woman (which yet might be faid; if we only mean ordinary generation, according to the manner that children are of a woman, Mat. i. 3, 5, 6. and Christ himself,Gal.i.4.) But BY THE WOMAN; because not materially, but spiritually and fupernaturally, by grace and faith. Thus therefore the man is the origin of being to the woman, the woman of well being to the man. But to prevent pride on either hand on this account, and their arrogating any thing to themselves, it is added, but all things are of God: by whofe wifdom and moft free difpofal it was ordained, that the woman should derive her natural origin from the man; the man his fupernatural from the woman; and become mutually debtors to one another: but the glory of both these privileges to remain entirely to God alone, the fupreme cause. XX. Hence it is evident, fuch a Saviour is promised, who was to be man, and the Son of man. But feeing he is defcribed as stronger than the devil, who, by fin, had acquired a right over man; it follows, that he is also true God. For the bruifing of the ferpent's head is afcribed to him: and this he does, ift, By the merit of his fatisfaction; and therefore he must have been of such dignity, as to be able to pay a fuitable ransom for all the elect. 2dly, By the efficacy of his Spirit, which gradually abolisheth every power of the devil, and so fhews himself to be ftronger than the ftrong man.. XXI. God declares the MANNER in which this Saviour was to purchase salvation, by saying to the ferpent, thou shalt bruife his heel. In which words there is, ift, A denunciation. of fufferings, to be inflicted on Chrift by the devil and his inftruments, whereby he would be thrown down for a time. While he himself bruises with his foot the ferpent's head, and strips him of all his power; the serpent by his envenomed sting, will grievously wound his heel, and constrain him to stagger and fall. For a man in an upright posture, stands on his heels, which being grievously wounded he is thrown down. 2dly, A prophecy of his refurrection. For his head will not be bruifed, nor his heart wounded, nor any vital part grievously affected; but only his heel hurt; nay, not both but only one. Though he was therefore thus to be thrown down, yet he was foon to rife again, on refuming ftrength, and fhew himself a conqueror to the whole world. XXII. The sufferings here denounced are not only WARLIKE, as a certain author calls them, with which the ferpent together with his feed, from a hatred to holiness and righteousness, affaulted Christ; but even JUDICIARY being inflicted by the most righteous fentence of God on the Son the furety, to fhew his righteousness by which he could not pardon fin without a due fatisfaction. For God here perfonates a judge: pronounces fentence against the devil, declaring his deftruction at the appointed time. But the fame fentence alfo condemns the furety of men to undergo thofe vexations of the devil, which, as a conqueror, he could have inflicted on finful men. He had indeed acquired his dominion over man by evil practices. Yet after man, by forfaking God, his lawful Lord, had enslaved. himself to the devil, the juftice of God in every respect, required his being fubject to the devil, as God's jailor and executioner, for his torment, punishment, and condemnation. In which fenfe the devil is faid to "have the power of death," Heb. ii. 14. and that even by virtue of the law and sentence of God: for the fting of death is fin; that is, fin introduced death, and the inftruments of it, and made them sharp, mortally to wound man but the [strength] power of fin is the law; that is, the power that fin has of putting man to death, is in virtue of the divine law, which threatened the finner with death, 1 Cor. xv. 56. Whence it follows, that the power of the devil over finners of mankind is fo far lawful, because the devil obtains the power of death over man, but death its power from fin, and fin from the law. But as that law is moft righteous, life cannot be granted to the finner in prejudice thereto. It is therefore neceffary, that fatisfaction be made to it from fome other quarter; and that the devil should exercise that power of death, which he had acquired by fin, either on the finner himfelf, or on his furety. Yet in fuch a manner, that, while he puts * Some have obferved, that this expreffion of bruising Chrift's heel, was not altogether an obfcure reprefentation of his death on the cross, to which his feet were nailed. puts the furety to death, he lays violent hands upon himself, and lofes all his dominion over the elect; for full fatisfaction is made, by the death of the furety, to that divine justice by which the devil had obtained power over the finner. These words therefore fhew, how the devil in a way agreeable to divine juftice, may be deprived of all that power over the elect, which juftice had granted him over finners: namely, because the devil was to exercife that power over the furety of men, by biting his heel, or putting him to death. So that thofe fufferings, which was here foretold to endure, are in the highest degree, judiciary or fatisfactory. Compare thefe things with what we have faid, Book II. Chap. VI. Sect. 23, 24. the XXIII. The HEIRS of thofe benefits or bleffings, are, ift, The woman herself, w, with the demonftrative particle he, namely, that woman whom the ferpent had firft attracted and conquered. She is here mentioned, but not in exclufion of her husband; but because fhe, having been enticed by the flatteries of Satan, feemed to have contracted a greater famili arity with him; and therefore her enmity to the devil was to be a moft admirable effect of divine power and goodness. But then it was also a remarkable contempt put upon the proudest of spirits, that he fhould be vanquifhed not by the man, but woman, that very woman, whom he had fo eafily fubdued by his delufions. In fine, from this it moft clearly appears, that the whole work of our falvation is owing to divine grace. For if Adam had here been exprefsly fet in oppofition to the ferpent, because he was ftronger and more prudent by nature, and was laft overcome by the devil; this thought might by degrees have eafily gained upon mankind, that by the remains of virtue and wisdom, which were in Adam, he had undertaken a new combat with the ferpent and with better fuccefs. But feeing the commencement of the enmity is afcribed to Eve, the woman, who was both weaker by nature and firft overcome, it is clearer than noon-day, that the grace of God alone is here all in all. XXIV. 2dly, The feed of the woman. By which is fignified not all mankind but elect believers; as appears from that dif tinction, by which that feed is oppofed to the feed of the ferpent. For it is evident, that wicked men, who "are of their father the devil," John viii. 44. 1 John iii. 8. and "the children of the wicked one," Mat. xiii. 38. are the feed of the ferpent. The feed of the woman therefore, is the godly pofterity of Eve: namely, the children of the promife, who are counted for the feed," Rom. ix. 8. And perhaps this is the reason why |