9. Murder: Adam was a public person, and all his posterity were involved and wrapped up in him, and he sinning, did at once destroy all his posterity, if free grace did not interpose. If Abel's blood did cry so loud in God's ears, Gen. iv. 10, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground," then how loud did the blood of all Adam's posterity cry against him for vengeance!

High presumption; what an heinous sin then was Adam's breach of covenant!

Use. One sin may have many sins in it. We are apt to have slight thoughts of sin, it is but a little one. How many sins were in Adam's sin? O take heed of any sin! As in one volume there may be many works bound up, so there may be many sins in one sin.

3dly. The dreadfulness of the effect: it hath corrupted man's nature. How rank is 10. Presumption: Adam presumed of that poison a drop whereof could poison a God's mercy; he blessed himself saying, he whole sea! And how deadly is that sin of should have peace; he thought, though he Adam, that could poison all mankind, and did transgress, he should not die, God would bring a curse upon them, till it be taken away sooner reverse his decree, than punish him. by him who was 'made a curse for us.'

OF ORIGINAL SIN.

QUEST. XVI. Did all mankind fall in old held that Adam's transgression is hurtful Adam's first transgression?

ANS. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.

Rom. v. 12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin," &c. Adam being a representative person, he standing, we stood; and he falling, we fell. We sinned in Adam; so it is in the text, "In whom all have sinned." Adam was the head of mankind, and he being guilty, we are guilty, as the children of a traitor have their blood stained: Omnes unus ille Adam fuerunt, Aug. "All of us," saith Austin, "sinned in Adam, because we were part of Adam."

OBJ. If when Adam fell, all mankind fell with him; why then, when one angel fell, did not all fall?

ANS. The case is not the same. The angels had no relation to one another; they are called morning-stars, the stars have no dependence one upon another; but it was otherwise with us, we were in Adam's loins, as a child is a branch of the parent, we were part of Adam, therefore when he sinned, we sinned.

to posterity by imitation only, not by imputation; but the text confutes that, "In whom all have sinned."

A. 2. Adam's sin is ours by propagation. Not only is the guilt of Adam's sin imputed to us, but the pravity and corruption of his nature is derived to us as poison is carried from the fountain to the cistern. This is that which we call original sin, Ps. li. 5, “In sin did my mother conceive me." Adam's leprosy cleaves to us as Naaman's leprosy did cleave to Gehazi, 2 Kings v. 27. This origi nal concupiscence is called,

1. 'The old man,' Eph. iv. 22. It is said to be the old man, not that it is weak as old men are, but for its long standing, and of its deformity. In old age the fair blossoms of beauty fall; so original sin is the old man, because it hath withered our beauty, and made us deformed in God's eye.

2. Original concupiscence is called 'the law of sin,' Rom. vii. 25. Original sin hath vim coactivam,-the power of a law. A law binds the subject to allegiance. Men must needs do what sin will have them, when they have both the love of sin to draw them, and the law of sin to force them. In original sin there is something privative, and something QUEST. How is Adam's sin made ours? positive.-1. Something privative. Carentia ANS. 1. By imputation. The Pelagians of justitiæ debita, we have lost that excellent

quintessential frame of soul which once we had. Sin hath cut the lock of original purity, where our strength lay.-2. Something positive. Original sin hath contaminated and defiled our virgin-nature. It was death among the Romans to poison the springs. Original sin hath poisoned the spring of our nature,—it hath turned beauty into leprosy,―lectual part. As in the creation "darkness it hath turned the azure brightness of our souls into a midnight darkness.

"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." Like a sick patient that hath no part sound,-his liver swelled, his feet gangrened, his lungs perished; such infected, gangrened souls have we, till Christ (who hath made a medicine of his blood) do cure us. 1. Original sin hath depraved the intel

Ever since Adam did eat of the tree of knowledge, and his eyes were opened, we lost our eye-sight. Besides ignorance in the mind, there is error and mistake; we do not judge rightly of things; we put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, Isa. v. 20. Besides this, there is much pride, supercilious

was upon the face of the deep," Gen. i. 2, so the understanding,-darkness is upon the Original sin hath become co-natural to us. face of this deep. As there is salt in every A man by nature cannot but sin; though drop of sea, bitterness in every branch of there were no devil to tempt,-no bad exam-wormwood, so there is sin in every faculty; ples to imitate, yet there is such an innate the mind is darkened, we know little of God. principle in him, that he cannot forbear sinning, 2 Pet. ii. 14. A peccato cessare nesciunt,-who cannot cease to sin, as a horse that is lame cannot go without halting. In the original, sin is,—1. An aversion from good. Man hath a desire to be happy, yet opposeth that which should promote his happiness; he hath a disgust of holiness, he hates to be re-ness, and prejudice, many fleshly reasonings, formed. Since we fell from God, we have no mind to return to him.-2. A propension to evil. If, as the Pelagians say, there is so much 2. Original sin hath defiled the heart; goodness in us since the fall, then why is the heart is mortiferum, deadly wicked, Jer. there not as much natural proneness to good xvii. 9, it is a lesser hell. In the heart are as there is to evil? Our own experience legions of lusts, obdurateness, infidelity, hytells us that the natural bias of the soul hath pocrisy, sinful estuations; it boils as the sea a tendency to that which is bad. The very with passion and revenge. "Madness is in heathens by the light of nature saw this: their heart while they live," Eccl. ix. 3. The Hierocles the philosopher said, "It is graft-heart is, officina diaboli, the devil's shop or ed in us by nature to sin." Men roll sin as workhouse, where all mischief is framed. honey under their tongue. They drink ini- 3. The will. Contumacy is the seat of requity as water, Job xv. 16. Like an hydro-bellion. The sinner crosseth God's will to pical person that thirsts for drink and is not fulfil his own, Jer. xliv. 18, "We will burn satisfied: so they have a kind of drought on incense to the queen of heaven." There is a them, they thirst for sin. They sin, Eph. iv. rooted enmity in the will against holiness; 19, though they are tired out in committing it is like an iron sinew, it refuseth to bend to sin, yet they sin, Jer. ix. 5, "They weary God. Where is then the freedom of the themselves to commit iniquity;" as a man will, when it is so full not only of indisposithat follows his game while he is weary, yet tion, but opposition to what is spiritual? he delights in it, and cannot leave off. Though God hath set so many flaming swords in the way to stop men in their sin, yet they go on in sin; which all shows what a strong appe-will, the master-wheel. Our affections are tite they have to the forbidden fruit.

Jer. iv. 14, "How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?"

That we may further see the nature of original sin, consider, 1st, the universality of it; it hath, as a poison, diffused itself into all the parts and powers of our soul, Isa. i. 5,

4. The affections. These, as the strings of a viol, are out of tune. These are the lesser wheels, which are strongly carried by the

misplaced, set on wrong objects. Our love is set on sin, our joy on the creature. Our affections are naturally as a sick man's appetite, he desires things which are noxious and hurtful for him; he calls for wine in a fe

ver: so we have impure lustings, instead of blows, how may original sin discover itself,

holy longings.

2d. The adherency of original sin. It cleaves to us as blackness to the skin of the Ethiopian, we cannot get rid of it. Paul shook off the viper on his hand, but we cannot shake off this inbred corruption. It may be compared to a wild fig-tree growing on a wall, though the roots of it are pulled up, yet there are some strings of it in the joints of the stone-work which will not be eradicated, but will sprout forth till the wall be pulled in pieces. Original concupiscence comes not as a lodger, for a night, but as an indweller, Rom. vii. 17, "Sin which dwelleth in me." —It is a malus genius,—an evil Spirit, that haunts us wheresoever we go, Gen. xiii. 7, "The Canaanite dwelt in the land."

3d. Original sin retards and hinders us in the exercises of God's worship. Whence is all that dulness and deadness in religion? It is the fruit of original sin: it is this rocks us asleep in duty, Rom. vii. 19, "The good that I would, I do not." Sin is compared to a weight, Heb. xii. 1. A man that hath weights tied to his legs cannot run fast. It is like that fish Pliny speaks of, a sea-lamprey, that cleaves to the keel of a ship, and hinders its progress when it is under sail.

making thee foam with lust and passion. Who would have thought to have found adultery in David, and drunkenness in Noah, and cursing in Job? If God leave a man to himself, how suddenly and scandalously may original sin break forth in the holiest men alive!

5th. Original sin doth mix and incorporate itself with our duties and graces.1. With our duties. As the hand which is paralytical or palsied cannot move without shaking, as wanting some inward strength, so we cannot do any holy action without sinning, as wanting a principle of original righteousness. As the leper, whatever he touched became unclean,-if he touched the altar, the altar did not sanctify him, but he polluted the altar,-such a leprosy is origi nal sin, it defiles our prayers and tears, we cannot write without blotting. Though I do not say that the holy duties and good works of the regenerate are sins, for that were to reproach the spirit of Christ by which they are wrought; yet this I say, that the best works of the godly have sin cleaving to them; only Christ's blood makes atonement for our holy things.-2. With our graces. There is some unbelief mixed with faith,lukewarmness with zeal,-pride with hu

6th. Original sin is a vigorous active principle within us; it doth not lie still, but is ever exciting and stirring us up to evil; it is an inmate very unquiet; Rom. vii. 15, "What I hate, that do I." How came Paul to do so? Original sin did irritate and stir

4th. Original sin, though it lies latent in the soul, and be as a spring which runs un-mility. As bad lungs cause an asthma or der ground, yet oft it breaks forth unexpect- shortness of breath, so original corruption, edly. Christian, thou canst not believe that having infected our heart, our graces breathe evil which is in thy heart, and which will now very faintly. break forth suddenly, if God leave thee, 2 Kings viii. 13, 15, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Hazael could not believe he had such a root of bitterness in his heart that he should rip up the women with child: is thy servant a dog? Yes, and worse than a dog, when that origi-him up to it. Original sin is like quicknal corruption within was stirred up! If one had come to Peter, and said, "Peter, within a few hours thou wilt deny Christ,"―he would have said, "Is thy servant a dog?" But alas! Peter did not know his own heart, nor how far that corruption within would prevail upon him. The sea may be calm and look clear; but when the wind blows, how doth it rage and foam! so though now thy heart seems good, yet, when temptation

silver, always in motion; when we are asleep, sin is awake in the fancy. Original sin sets the head a plotting evil, and the hands aworking it; it hath in it principium motus, not quietis; it is like the pulse, ever beating.

7th. Original sin is the cause of all actual: it is fomes peccati,-it is the womb in which all actual sins are conceived. Hence come murders, adulteries, rapines; it is the Trojan horse, out of which a whole army of impie

Use 3. Let the sense of this make us daily look up to heaven for help, beg Christ's blood to wash away the guilt of sin, and his Spirit to mortify the power of it, beg further degrees of grace,-gratium Christi eo obnoxius ambiamus. Though grace cannot make sin not to be, yet not to reign; though grace cannot expel sin, it can repel it; and for our comfort, where grace makes a combat with sin, death shall make a conquest.

Use 4. Let original sin make us walk with continual jealousy and watchfulness over our hearts. The sin of our nature is like ANS. They are dead, 1. Spiritually. They a sleeping lion, the least thing that awakens

it makes it rage. The sin of our nature, it flame forth into scandalous evils! Therethough it seems quiet, and lies as fire hid un-fore we had need always to walk watchfully, der the embers, yet if it be a little stirred and Mark xiii. 37, "I say to you all, Watch." blown up by a temptation, how quickly may | A wandering heart needs a watchful eye.

MAN'S MISERY BY THE FALL.

QUEST. XIX. What is the misery of that all the devil's drudgery. No sooner Satan estate whereinto man fell?

ANS. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.

1st. Private. By this first hereditary sin we have lost communion with God. Adam was God's familiar, his favourite; but sin hath put us all out of favour; when we lost God's image, we lost his acquaintance. God's banishing Adam out of paradise, hieroglyphically, it showed how sin hath banished us out of God's love and favour.

2d. Positive. In four things. 1. Under the power of Satan. 2. Heirs of God's wrath. 3. Subject to all the miseries of this life. 4. Obnoxious to hell and damnation.

tempts, but he obeys; as the ship is at the command of the pilot, he steers it which way he will, so is the sinner at the command of Satan, he may steer him which way he will; and he never steers the ship but into hell's mouth. The devil rules all the powers and faculties of a sinner.-1. He rules the understanding, he blinds men with ignorance, and then rules them; as the Philistines first put out Samson's eyes, and then bound him. Satan can do what he will with an ignorant man; He doth not see the error of his way, therefore the devil can lead him into any sin; you may lead a blind man any whither : omne peccatum fundatur in ignorantia.— 2. Satan rules the will. Though he cannot force the will, yet he can, by a temptation, draw it, John viii. 44, "The lusts of your father ye will do." He hath got your hearts, and him ye will obey, Jer. xliv. 17, “We will burn incense to the queen of heaven." When the devil spurs a sinner by a tempta tion, he will over hedge and ditch break all God's laws, that he may obey Satan. Where then is free will, when Satan hath such power over the will? "His lusts ye will do.” There's not any member of the body but is at the devil's service; the head to plot sin, the hands to work it, the feet to run the devil's errand. Grave jugum servitutis! CICERO. Slavery is hateful to a noble spirit. Satan is the worst tyrant; the cruelty of a cannibal, or Nero, is nothing to his. Other tyrants do but rule over the bodies, he over

1. The first misery is, By nature we are "under the power of Satan," who is called the prince of the power of the air,' Eph. ii. 2. Before the fall, man was a free denison,-now a slave; before, a king on the throne,—now in fetters. And who is man enslaved to? To one that is an hater of him. This was an aggravation of Israel's servi- the conscience; other tyrants have some tude, Ps. cvi. 41, "They that hated them pity on their slaves,-though they work in ruled over them." By sin we are enslaved to Satan, who is an hater of mankind, and writes all his laws in blood. Sinners before conversion are under Satan's command, as the ass at the command of the driver, he doth

the galley, they give them meat, let them have hours for rest,—but Satan is a merciless tyrant, he lets them have no rest. What pains did Judas take? The devil would let him have no rest till he had betrayed Christ