Chapter IV
How great every man s sin-fulness is in having the guilt of Adam s first trans
gression imputed to him,. How far we are all guilty of his sin. Wkat the
aggravations of Adam sfirst sin were. Whether they also, as well as the sin, are charged upon us.
For as by one man s disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the obedience
of one shall many be m,ade righteous. Moreover, the law entered, that the
offence might abound: but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
Ron. V. 19, 20.
Before I come to what I mean to speak of out of these verses, I will
briefly recapitulate what I delivered out of ver. 12 concerning the derivation
24 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK I.
of the guilt of Adam s first sin, and that corruption of nature following thereupon.
1. I shewed you that the conduit-pipe, or means and way of conveying both these, was only this, coming from him by natural generation ; for to
this condition the conveying of sin is limited ; for otherwise Christ, who came from Adam, was his son, had his matter from him, should have sin pro pagated to him, as well as we. Yet, 2. Understanding this so as though it be the conduit-pipe, and means and condition to carry to all from him, yet not sufficient ground or full reason alone why it should ; for then, why should not other parents, from whom we
are thus naturally generated, as well as from him, convey their sin also, which God hath said should not be ? Ezek. xviii. 20,
< The soul that
sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Therefore, 3, there is some further ground of this, which holds peculiarly in Adam, not in them, which is a covenant struck with him, he being the
first man, the common cistern, or rather spring of human nature ; such a
like covenant (in respect of being a common head and fountain of derivation) as was made with Christ for those that should come of him by a second
birth, the fifteenth verse telling us Adam was therein a type of Christ. By virtue of which covenant,
4. We were all one in him (as also Christ s members are in him), and
that two ways, which in other parents holds not.
(1.) Representative. As the tribes in the heads of them, or as one bur
gess in parliament represents all the borough, so did Adam all men, as Christ
also all his members, therefore styled in 1 Cor. xv. 47, the one, the first; the other,
* the second man ; God looking upon all as severally represented in these two, as if there had been no more men in the world. As Christ was the head of his body, and they one man in him, so were all as one man
in Adam, the type of Christ therein.
(2.) We were one in him, tanquam in primd oricfine et radice, in the same sense that two whole nations are said to be in Jacob and Esau whilst in the womb, Gen. xxv. 23. Even as the root and the branches make one tree, so he the root, we the branches, one man ; as Christ also is, John xv. 1, Rom. vi. 5. By virtue of which union thus made by covenant, and that founded in
nature,
5. It comes to pass that most justly, and by the right of all kind of law
ordinarily in force with men, and the law of nature, both the guilt of his
sin, and the corruption of his nature, should be derived unto us.
(1.) The guilt of his disobedience, by virtue of the first ways of our being one with him, is derived. For it is a law in force with us, and in all nations, that what a person representing doth, the persons represented are likewise
said to do. It is also the law of nations and nature, that if the head doth
plot, or the tongue speak treason, the whole man is truly said to do it also. And,
(2.) The corruption of his nature is derived by virtue of the latter way of our being one with him, and that even by the general law of nature ; for every root brings forth according to its kind, so Adam in his image, Gen. v. 3.
Only, 6, this covenant comes to be examined, whether justly struck and
imposed or no? And for that I answered,
CHAP. IV.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 25
(1.) That God out of his sovereignty might make it, and impose it with
out injustice, especially man being innocent, whenas God imposed the like
in the case of sinful Achan upon the whole nation of the Jews, Achan s sin
* Bat the children of
becoming the sin of the whole camp
: Joshua vii. 1,
: for Achan, the son of
Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing
Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the
: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children
accursed thing
of Israel. Arid this was by virtue of a covenant made with every one for them all : Joshua vi. 18, And you, in any wise keep yourselves from the
accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed when ye take of the accursed
thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
(2.) Yet here is a further equity ; for it is an equal condition, that if we
should have received good from him if he obeyed, we should receive evil also
if he disobeyed, especially when all the good itself was given by God him
self, the maker of this covenant, and the obedience he required was due in
itself. If a king should raise a favourite out of nothing, give him all his honours for himself upon condition of obedience, yet so as if he rebelled, not only he, but his house should perish, he dealt not only equally in this, but bountifully both with him and his.
And yet (3.) there was a farther conveniency in it, and a good provision made ; for better it was that all our estates should be ventured into a
father s hands, the most perfect man that ever was to come, he himself
being a venturer also ; and so after a while of obedience (viz., after he had
put our nature once out of his hands, as is probable), then all to be con firmed in grace, than for every man to be left to himself, and after many
years obedience left to a possibility of falling away by the least error and
swerving.
7. And, lastly, if you think much that yourselves did not choose him that should thus stand for you, I answer you, (1.) That God made as good a choice as you could have done, took the best and perfectest of men. And
(2.) I ask, Who chose Jesus Christ to be a covenant for his people? Why might not God choose in the one as well as the other ? And if you yet think it harsh that another s sin should thus be put upon you, I answer you, God offers the righteousness of another to be imputed to you, which you never performed ; and lest all men should perish, hath ordained Christ to be in like manner a common person for multitudes of mankind ; and Adam was his type herein.
You see how Adam s sin becomes all ours. We cannot deny the debt we
inherit from him ; God hath a bond, a covenant to shew for it at the latter
day.
It is fit now we search what the debt is, how much it comes to, how far we are liable to pay it. Now the abounding greatness this sum swells to, the apostle intimates in this 20th verse, and shews us the arithmetic we must use to cast it up by, the law, which God taught man to this end, and
brought this new art into the world, that man might by the rules thereof see the greatness and multitude of his sins : The law enters that the offence might abound. Now in that he says the offence (TO crapck-rw/za, that
offence), though he means generally the sinfulness of man, yet especially, as by the coherence seems evidently to me, he points at that first sin of Adam which he had spoken so often of in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th verses under the same name. And having shewed how by that offence, and by that one only, which seems, and hath seemed to many, so small a matter, that God should condemn all the world for eating of an apple, as one of the
popes blasphemously said ; to prevent this, and to shew the end of the law
26 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK I.
also, he brings in these words in this sense, if we did but know what an
aboundingly heinous and evil sin, even the least, is, and in particular what an abounding offence that was, we would not think so. Now that men
might see it, and acknowledge, and be humbled under it, therefore God sent the law into the world, not to make sin to abound the more in itself, but to discover the abounding sinfulness of it, and of that particular offence as well
as of others, as a glass that discovers spots and deformities in itself causeth none.
I design to shew what an abounding sin that one offence of Adam was, where
of we are all guilty.
In the inquiry now into old Adam s debt, three questions are to be dis
cussed.
1. Whether only that offence be imputed, and no more, and why ? For we would be charged with as few as we can, the guilt of the least circumstance
in a sin being more than ever we shall be able to pay.
2. How far we are guilty of it, whether of all aggravations considerable
in it?
. 3. How great the guilt of it was, as it extends to us ? It
* abounds, the
text says ; and this latter is the main thing in the text, the former makes but way for it.
1. For the first, we are guilty only of that first disobedience in eating of
the forbidden fruit, and not of his other sins afterwards committed, though never so great or many. For still, in ver. 15, 16, &c., it is called
* the
* judg ment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences to
* the disobedience, and in ver. 16, it is expressly said, that
offence,
justification; where by one he means not one man but one offence, as the
opposition, many offences, in the next words shew ; his scope being to shew
the abounding of the gift of grace through and above Adam s sin. He com
pares not persons only, but things conveyed ; but one offence God lays to our charge, no more ; but in Christ abundance of righteousness for many sins. But the guilt of one sin is conveyed by Adam, but through Christ there is a justification of us from multitude of offences. And so in
ver. 17 also, For if by one man s offence death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteous ness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. And there is this demon
stration to confirm it, for he could convey sin for no longer time than he stood a public person; and when that office and relation was laid down, then he became a private person again, and then sinned for himself alone. Now when the second covenant and promise of the second Adam was published, which was presently after the fall, then it is evident he was put out of office, for otherwise his faith in the promise must have been imputed also to his
seed ; now God says, Hab. ii. 4, The just shall live by faith. And withal, mark the reason why he remained no longer a public person after the first sin accomplished ; for the end of his being appointed thus a
public person for us was but to cast our condition either into an estate of
sin or righteousness, for our estate was laid as it were at the stake in him, and he was to cast the dice, as I may so say, either for the winning or losing of all ; and though indeed, to have won all, many righteous throws were re
quired, it may be, yet one bad throw lost the game as well as twenty, cast it which way it should go ; and therefore God looked at no more, the covenant then ended. And if men think that unequal, being to cast but one bad throw, so to lose all, we must consider this too, that he had an inclination to what was good, none to evil, only a possibility or potentia remota. And to give another similitude : as he was made the fountain of natural life for us, 1 Cor.
CHAP. IV.] IN EESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 27
xv. 45, &c., so also of our spiritual. Now for him to have conveyed natural
life to us, it was necessary he should not live one or two days, but perform the continued actions of life, even till he should heget a seed, for had his
natural life been extinguished before by one death, we had all died in him, one death would have been enough. So for the conveying our spiritual life, and preserving and continuing the life of grace to us, it was necessary he
should go on in all the actions of righteousness and obedience ; but one sin
ful deadly blow of sin was enough to extinguish all, and so cause us to be
born dead in sin, as we all are ; so that it is clear, that though he should have stood longer as a public person if he had continued righteous, yet this
ceased upon the first sin.
2. To the second question, how far we are guilty of it ; I answer, that
though the guilt of the whole act be imputed to us, and we counted sinners
by it, as truly guilty of the whole act as he, yet not with so much guiltiness as doth arise to him himself, and his share who was the actor. Something there is that doth redound to Adam s person therein more than to us. For,
(1.) There is a personal guiltiness, in that he did the fact, which is more
than barely to have it imputed, and to be accounted to have done it; though we be as truly guilty of the whole act, yet the manner lessens the blame. There in ver. 14, speaking of children, who die only for the imputed guilt of
that sin, and corruption^ of nature inherent, he speaks as diminutively of
their guilt in comparison of his ; for, says he, death reigned over those who sinned not after the similitude of Adam s transgression, though as truly
guilty as he ; for they died, yet not like to him, which is a diminution and
a lessening, as it were ; as if he had said, though they actually and person
ally did it not, or any other sin, sinned not like to him, yet they died. For
example, to clear this by the second Adam, of whom this was a type, though we have his whole righteousness, active and passive, as truly accounted ours
as it is his, yet it is said to be his, with this peculiar prerogative, that it is
personally his, as light is the sun s, the stars but borrow it. So as in all
: Col. i. 18, And he is the head of the
things he retains a pre-eminence
body, the church ; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that
in all things he might have the pre-eminence.
(2.) There is this difference, as in the manner, which makes it, as hath been said, a deeper guiltiness in him, so in this peculiar aggravation, that he may be said to be guilty of the overthrow of the whole world by it, and
this is peculiarly his ; for none of us, though we be truly guilty of the act,
yet not of this circumstance, can be said to be the overthrowers of the world, as he might. This also may be cleared from the former instance of the
second Adam, for though a believer hath all Christ s righteousness com municated to him, and enjoys the fruits of it, yet this glory he gives to none, that they should be saviours of the world, that is his alone.
That distinction in logic, concerning the genus communicating its whole
nature to the species, illustrates both these to scholars ; for it is truly said
that iota natura generis communicator singular speciei, but not natura generica ;
it makes not the species a genus as itself.
3. Now the third thing follows, namely, what a great sin that first sin
was, as the guilt of it is extended to us, that so we may be humbled under it. In all great sins there are two things to be considered :
First, the substance ; secondly, the circumstance of the act.
First, for the substance of the act, it hath inwards and outwards, an inside and an outside. There was an outward act committed, and inward acts as
the principles of it.
28 AN UNREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK I.
The outward act seems small ; as it hath usually been said, it was but the
eating of an apple, stealing of a little fruit. Yet consider,
(1.) The smallness of the matter or thing forbidden often aggravates the
offence. To dare to offend the great God in a small matter is not a small
disobedience. I may allude in this to the speech of Naaman s servant to him : 2 Kings v. 13, And his servants came near and spake unto him, and
said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it ? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean ? So in this case. If God had forbidden doing some great
thing, should he be obeyed ? how much more when he forbids so small a
thing ? Cogita (says Augustine) quanta fidt iniquitas in, pcccando , cum tanta
facililas non peccandt. He gave them leave to eat of all the trees in the gar den, forbade them but that one, even by Eve s confession, Gen. iii. 2, 3, And
the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the
garden : but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Thus Nathan aggravated David s sin : 2 Sam. xii. 3, 4, But the poor man had
nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up
: and it grew up together with him, and with his children ; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he
spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the way
faring man that was come unto him ; but took the poor man s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. He had many lambs of his own flock, and yet took that one of another s. Adam had fruit enough, yet these would not content him, but he must be tasting forbidden fruit.
(2.) Sin is to be measured by the law that is given ; for sin being in the nature of it, transgressio legis, the more urgent or greater the law is, the
greater the transgression. Now that some laws are greater than others, Christ implies, when he saith, Mat. xxiii. 23, Woe unto you, scribes and
! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith :
pharisees, hypocrites
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Now, of all laws this was the greatest given to Adam.
1st, It being given only as a trial and testimony of his obedience in all
the rest, called therefore symboliciim praceptum, as being a profession of
his subjection to God in all the rest ; such as is doing homage by a vassal
to the lord of the soil, which, though it consists in some petty small rite or
acknowledgment, the neglect of which (though the least of all to perform), or
denying to do it, is the loss of what they hold of him, as being the breach and highest kind of more than other acts, and greater neglect in other things.
2dly, The more expressly the will of the lawgiver is manifested in a law, the greater the enforcement and obligation is to that law. Now, God s will was more expressly manifest in that than any other written in his heart.
1. His will was more in it, in that there was no reason for it, but the will
of the lawgiver only ; stelit pro ratione voluntas. Other laws Adam might see a reason for ; of this none but God s will trying his obedience.
2. More expressly, for none else were delivered viva voce but this, as being an especial charge above all the rest. Other instructions he had only writ
ten in his heart, but this was given by mouth as an especial charge.
3. None else so expressly threatened with death but it ; yea, that other
law had its sanction in that threatening given to this. So God s will ap
peared to be more in it, because backed with so severe a threatening, a sign he was more earnest in it.
CHAP. IV.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 29
Secondly, Let us look to the inside of Adam s sin. Now, though the laws
of men examine not the inwards of an action, as not in murder, not how much or little malice or cruelty was in the fact, so it be proved by circum
stances it was in any degree wilful murder ; but the law of God looks most
hereto. And so a sin, which for the outward act is small, may in regard of
the inwards of it be a great one. As that act of the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, a small thing in appearance, to get a few sticks to make
a fire ; but he doing it in contempt of Moses, so as to put Moses into a
strait, since if for so small a thing he executed or inflicted any punishment, he would have been thought a cruel governor by all the people ; but, on the
other side, if he should pass it by, he opened a way to have the Sabbath broken ; so as it was done in high contempt both of (rod and Moses, and
this God took notice of especially. And it is in sins as in duties ; a man then performs duties best when God is most sanctified in his heart. If you would know when you pray best, it is then when you sanctify God in your hearts most, with most sanctified apprehensions of him, his greatness, good
ness, all-sufficiency, working a sense of what it is to offend him. So a man then sins most when he dishonours God most in his heart.
Now, then, for the inwards of this action, the sinful acts of his mind in
it, they were principally ill opinions of God, which \\yre the principles of it, which provoke most, and dishonour most. 1st, 111 opinions of a person provoke most, for we see men then most provoked when they see they are
meanly or badly thought of: this incites, and inflames, and blows anger up to its height ; and men are angry at ill words given them by other men, but
so far as they are expressions of their evil opinions of them in their hearts.
2dly, And ill opinions of a person dishonour most, for all true honour lies
: so much greater is the honour as the opinion is greater. Honos
in opinion
therefore is said to be in lionorante ; and so on the contrary it is as to dis honour. And God is therefore then dishonoured most when we have dis honourable thoughts of him. Now, they were low and mean under-conceits
of God that first crept into Adam s heart, and are necessarily to be supposed to have been the foundation of this sin in his heart.
1. He undervalued the Lord in his heart, ceasing to think him any longer to be the chiefest good. He would never have done it had he not thought he could better his condition without God, and better his condition by that
means, by the virtue of an apple, whereby he should come better to know what was good and evil, than by keeping God s command, which is only true wisdom ; and so he thought to be as gods therein. The text expressly affirms this was the main motive, and is set down therefore last, which the woman had, Gen. iii. 6. She thought it to be desired to make one wise,
which, but that the Scripture affirms, a man would scarcely have imagined, much less believed, of our first parents, for no wise man now would think an apple to have, or that it could have, any virtue in it, such as to make a man wise. To better the temper of his body one might imagine it to have
a virtue, but it was extra sphwram the capacity of such a creature to give wisdom to the mind. Besides, they might easily think that if it had any such virtue in it God had put it in, and then that all wisdom comes from him alone, as James says, chap. i. 5, 17, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, &c. And, besides (which aggravates their sin), they had
already tasted of the goodness and excellency of God, having had some com munion with him. Now, then, to leave a certain infinite good now enjoyed, for
so uncertain, so unlikely an one, this aggravates his sin above what is in our own sins now in our natural condition, for, alas, we never knew, or at least
never tasted better; therefore, no wonder if we go after the creatures : but
80 AN UNEEGENEKATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK I.
he knew and had tasted. And this aggravates in like manner a regenerate man s sin, because he hath had communion with God ; and then to forsake
him, and go after the creature, how sinful is it !
2. Another ill opinion they had of God was, that God was not faithful and
true. God had said, Ye shall die the death; the devil had said, No; and
to hear a creature affirm this confidently, and to be, and exist, and still to reason the case, they thought there might be something in it, and this stag gered their faith. Now, to conceive thus of God of all other was the worst,
foulest, and most dishonourable conceit ; for is God such an one that he should lie (saith Samuel, 1 Sam. xv. 29),
* or as a man, to repent ? Nay, even men, who are all themselves but a lie and deceitful, yet value their truth and faithfulness as their greatest jewel ; and though they acknowledge want
of excellency other ways, yet they will say they are true, &c. Therefore to
call God s truth into question, was worse than undervaluing his other excel
lencies ; yea, men that are profane will wipe off the disgrace of a lie given them with their dearest blood. And then add to this, their believing the
devil, contradicting the Lord merely by his own authority, so as his word should sway more than God s. This was greater than the prophet s sin in
believing the old prophet (for which yet God slew him by a lion, 1 Kings
xiii.), for the old prophet pretended he had a contrary revelation himself, having the reputation of a prophet as well as himself. He opposed not his bare word and authority to God s, as the devil in this, but pretended a new
commission, bearing date since, from God himself.
3. There were jealousies engendered in their hearts, of unworthy designs and ends, that God had in prohibiting them; for so the devil suggested, God knows that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened, and
you shall be as gods; as if he should have said, God knowing what virtue
there is in the apple, hath purposely forbidden it, because he would not have
you be so happy ; which believed, must needs engender these thoughts, that God loved them not so well as they imagined, for he prevented their prefer ment, and so far hated his creature, in not only not wishing it, but keeping
it from that good it was capable of; which must needs engender hatred
of God in their hearts again, or that perhaps they should imagine he envied
their happiness, which must argue that they thought that God feared to be
equalled or matched by them if they should know as much as he, and be as God in the knowledge of good and evil. All which thoughts, or any one of them to entertain of God, what more dishonourable ? Whilst they seek to be as gods, they would make God as base as the devil, for malice and envy are his two sins.
4. He sinned against the sovereignty of God, for what was the thing that hooked him in ? It was to be as gods ; nothing else could have moved them; and so they thought to be independent of God, no longer under him; and though they should sin against him, that they should yet be able to make
their party good with him. These to have been the thoughts that drew on the sin, is argued from the temptation which suggested these things, and did
engender them, and in the issue prevailed.