A Brief View of the State of Mankind, Part 2
I have under the foregoing Propoſition given a Sum of the whole Context, and laid the Foundation, I ſhall now go on to give the Sum of every Propoſition ariſing from it.
Propoſ. 2.
ADAM hath conveyed a Law of Righteouſneſs to All his Poſterity, engrafted into their Hearts, and It is ſo inſeparable from Humane Nature, that one cannot paſs without the other; but he hath not conveyed a Nature anſwerable and agreeable to that Law, but ſunk down from it into Sin, which is the trueſt Account of Original Sin, however It cannot be ſearch'd in all the particulars in ſo ſhort a ſummary; but thus he hath conveyed Sin, and Death to all his Poſterity; and thus theRom. 5. 13, 14. Apoſtle proves the Common Headſhip of Adam. There cannot be Death without Sin, there cannot be Sin without a Law, there cannot be a Law without the giving that Law, there was no univerſal Law till Moſes; There was univerſal Death of all Mankind, even of Infants before Moſes, there muſt be therefore univerſal Sin, and therefore alſo there muſt have been an univerſal Law given; Such a Law being no way ſo Given, till Moſes, but by that Law written in Mens Hearts; Hereby it neceſſarily ariſes, Adam muſt be a Head conveying an Ʋniverſal Law; But not conveying an univerſal Nature, ſuitable to it, as Righteous, Holy, and Good, asRom. 7. 12. that Law is, He hath conveyed Sin, and Death, Univerſally.
1. Adam was entruſted with a Nature perfectly agreeable to this Law; but falling from it, under the Juſtice of God, He conveys this Law with the diſagreeable Nature, on which follows Sin and Condemnation. He was in the beſt Circumſtances any Man could be to have preſerved the one with the other; and as the Common Father of All the moſt obliged, to look well to it, and much ſtronger, then if every ſingle man had been to preſerve it only for himſelf, ſeeing the Care of an Univerſal Parent muſt needs be in Nature the higheſt Care, and our daily Unfaithfulneſs to our ſelves in what is in our Power, ſhews, how little Reaſon there is to complain, as if we would have done better, each man for himſelf, then Adam for us All.
Herein how does Chriſt excell Adam, as a Common Head or Mediator. For He conveys a Law indeed, but it is a Law of the Spirit of Life, as to Juſtification, and that carries with it an Efficacious Law to Sanctification, as ſhall be ſhown.
Adam conveying a Law, but not conveying a Fountain of Action agreeable, hath convey'd a Law of Sin and Death, becauſe the Law condemns the Nature; but Chriſt conveys nothing but Grace, Righteouſneſs, and Life to All in Him. Thus different a Head he is from Adam, both ways, who was a Figure and not a Figure of Chriſt who is to be that Head; a Figure in conveying, but not a Figure in conveying Sin and Death inſtead of Life and Righteouſneſs, as he was at firſt appointed.
2. What Adam conveys, hePſal. 51. 5. Epheſ. 2. … c. 4. 22. conveys by Natural Generation, and ſo eſpecially by the Body; as all evidence of Scripture aſſure us, too many to need pointing to; Hence Children of Wrath by Nature, by Conception in Sin, the Natural States call'd the Old Man a Body, and Members of Sin, The Soul coming with a Law of Righteouſneſs engraven upon it immediately by Gods Creation into ſuch a Body, and ſinking into its Corruption, as deſcending from Adam, and not keeping up to its Law of Creation, ſinks into Sin and Death.
But Chriſts Regeneration by his Spirit dwells as a higher1 Cor. 6. 19. Rom. 8. 10, 11. Spirit in the Regenerated Spirit, and from thence making a Temple of the Body, gives preſent Life to that Spirit by Righteouſneſs, when ever it ſeparates from the Body; and a Reſurrection to the Body after Death.
3. The Law of conveyance of Sin and Death is unrepealable upon All, that is of Apoſtate Adam; The Spirit or higheſt Soul of all the Children of Adam, cemented with the Body, is till recover'd by Chriſt under Condemnation, notwithſtanding It was given by Creation from God: It cannot be renewed perfectly, ſo as to be Life till ſeparated from the Body by the Death of the Body. The Body till it be a Body of the Reſurrection, is under Death; and All this by vertue of that Decree upon Adam the Head. But in Chriſt the head of recovery All is in its own order recovered into the Reign of Life; the Spirit beginningly now, perfectly at Death, becomes Life. The Body as the Temple of the Holy Ghoſt dwelling in the Soul ſhall be certainly rais'd by the Spirit of Chriſt dwelling in the Soul, and by it in the Body alſo.
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All which teaches us to look to this, that we be found in the Second Adam, out of whom there is in from the Firſt Adam, as a Common Head, nothing but Sin, Death, and Condemnation.
Propoſition 3.
Adam by his Fall, andObſerve the whole Context from verſe to verſe. Conveyance of a Law of Holineſs, and of a Nature not agreeable to that Law of Holineſs, hath been a Head, Common Perſon, or Mediator of abundance of Sin, Diſobedience, Offence, Tranſgreſſion, Condemnation, Death, and the Reign of Death, to the Poſterity of Mankind; The Law of Righteouſneſs publiſhed in a fairer, fuller, clearer Edition in Scripture, then as it is in the Heart of Man, ſince the Fall, hath made the Offence and the Death upon it much more to abound and Reign, by the clearer Knowledge, and more manifeſt Diſcoveries of them.
1. Adam notwithſtanding his Fall, ceaſed not to be the prolifick, and fruitful Head of millions of Mankind that have been, and are yet to be.
2. To All theſe He conveys the Nature of Men in all its vigour of Thoughts, Words, and Actions, according to the variety of Degrees, of Action, whereunto the ſeveral Tempers, Educations, Stations, and Ages of Men give them Opportunity.
3. He hath no leſs conveyed that Law of Righteouſneſs to be the Rule of the numberleſs Perſons of Mankind, and their far more numerous Actions, of which the Fiery Law of God in Scripture now gives the cleareſt Beams.
4. Hereupon by Reaſon of the unanſwerableneſs of their Natures, and Powers of Action, and ſo of their Actions themſelves to this Law, a kind of Infinity of Actual Sin hath flown in upon the World, much more diſcovered and aggravated by that Fiery Law.
5. From thence Death in all its various ſhapes in this preſent World, and the unſheathingRev. 20. 14, 15. of Death in the Second and Eternal Death, of which the preſent Death is but the ſheath, or Scabbard, hath had and muſt have a wonderful, and triumphant Reign on the World; of which all the Threats in the Word of God are a notorious Evidence.
6. Beſides the Evidence of the Word of God, all the Experience, all the Laws, all the Writings, all the common and ordinary Diſcourſe in the World, are the moſt known, and familiar Aſſurances of the Abundance of Sin and Death.
7. The cloſe Attendance of Reaſon, and its Enquiries will neceſſarily lead us to the Firſt man, as the original of both; but the unqueſtionable Demonſtration of it is this Word of God which beſt knows, how Mankind began, which hath given the moſt convictive Accounts of Sin, and Death, and which our own Sentiments of Mind moſt conſpire with; and ſo is moſt to be believ'd in the Original of them.
8. In all this ſo abundant Communication of Sin, and Death, of which Adam by the accident of his own Sin is become a Head, He is by that accident alſo yet the Figure of him, who is to be the Second Adam in regard of the Exuberancies of Communication, though not in regard of the Things Communicated as contrary and oppoſite, one to another, as Sin, and Death are contrary to Righteouſneſs and Life.
But to All that are in Chriſt,Obſerve the much more along the Context. Chriſt is a Mediator as much excelling Adam in the Power and Triumph of Communication of Righteouſneſs, Life, and the Reign of it, as the Antitype excells the Type, (as was before ſaid) and that not only in the Excellency of the Things Communicated, but in the Richneſs, and Plenty of the Communication.
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How Neceſſary is it we ſhould All behold our ſelves in the Firſt Adam, in whom we certainly are by Natural Generation, and that thereupon we ſhould be filled with the Shame, Horror, Sorrow, and Humiliation flowing from ſuch a lost Nature, and our innumerable Actual Tranſgreſſions upon it; And that thereupon we ſhould haſten into the Second Adam by Faith, and Regeneration, who is the Head of Life, and Recovery.
Propoſition 4.
Jeſus Chriſt is brought inOne Man, One Jeſus Chriſt is oppos'd to One Man Adam throughout the Context. by God, the Second, Laſt, perfect Adam, the moſt Excellent One Man, the Common Head, and Mediator of Humane Nature the Antitype to the Type, the Firſt Adam.
The First man, Adam was before his Fall a Perſon of Great Value, of Great Sufficiency, when He was appointed a Mediator by God: But by his own Sin He ſunk, and Fell, and is become to all his Poſterity a Head of Ruine.
Chriſt therefore comes as a Perſon of infinitely Greater value into the Humane Nature, and into Adams Station to Raiſe, Recover, and Boy it up.
He came into the Nature ſo, as to embrace the whole Nature in Himſelf without a Humane Perſon, and ſo was more perfectly a Man then Adam, not a Great Man, but The Man 1 Tim. 2. 5.Chriſt Jeſus.
As the Son of God He was Creator, and Lord of the Nature, and ſo had Right to Recover it, as his own. As thePhil. 2. v. 6. 8. Son of Man He bore the abſtracted Humane Nature, not limited to a Humane, but united to the Divine Perſon, and ſo was incomparably beyond Adam, fit to be the Common Head; becauſe he had all the Nature ſo abſtracted, not bounded (as in Adam) by a Humane Perſon, that muſt look to it ſelf, as well as to the Nature. So All he did, and ſuffer'd, ran out wholly to the Nature; but He is the Head moſt properly, eſpecially to the Renewed, Humane Nature, entire in Him; being conceived into it by the Holy Spirit, Adam therefore left his publick Station, and privately, as a private Perſon retired into this Head, looking (as I ſaid) to Himſelf, and not to the Nature in this Action.
The Ends of Gods Conſtituting this One Man as a Common Head, even his Son our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, are;
1. That He might have in Humane Nature an Adoption of many Sons to Glory in this Great Son of God and Son of Man, Heb. 2. 10.
2. There is a Redundancy of Benefit; Common Grace, and other Advantages upon all parts of Humane Nature in preſerving ſo much of the Remains of Conformity to the Law of Righteouſneſs in the World, which would only condemn as in Hell, and not guide to any Thing Good, but turn the World into a Hell, were it not for Chriſt; in whom alſo ſo much of Patience, and Bounty is vouchſafed to men in outward Bleſſings, eſſaying their Return to God by Repentance,Rom. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. in hopes of his Mercy, to which this Patience, and Bounty give ſo Great Encouragements.
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This ſhews the admirable Congruity to our Caſe, to have our Help laid upon ſo mighty, and near a Mediator, as Emmanuel, God with us.
Propoſition 5.
Jeſus Chriſt is a Mediator ofCompare v. 15. and v. 19. the double parallel, lying on each ſide the Propoſition. v. 18. the Grace of God, and of the Free Gift of Righteouſneſs by Grace in its Great Abundance, even as Adam was of the Offence and its Abundance: yet ſo as that He is a Mediator of Righteouſneſs in his own Obedience alſo.
The Grace of God is the Higheſt Manifeſtation of the Divine Glory, and Goodneſs to us; How High therefore is the Honour of Chriſt to be the Mediator of it?
Adam was at firſt intended to be the Mediator of Righteouſneſs, and of the Benignity of the Creator to his Creatures, according to a Covenant of Works, and Debt, and proportionablyRom. 4. 4. by his Fall He becomes a Mediator of the Juſtice of God upon Sin, and Sinners; For Sin, were it not for that Juſtice, were only the Impotency, and weakneſs, and defect of a Creature, made to be ſo Righteous, not bearing up to Righteouſneſs, that Juſtice makes Sin ſo ſtrong. 1 Cor. 15. 56.
Chriſt as a Mediator of Free Grace hath infinite Advantages in regard of us, above a Mediator of Righteouſneſs only. [for Righteouſneſs walks by ſevere Rules and exact Steps.]Pſal. 145. 17. Adam being ſo, and ſinning could never Recover by Himſelf; Nor any of his Poſterity by any Power Receiv'd from Him, who entailed Sin and Death. But Grace is unlimimited,Epheſ. 1. 6, 7. 11. c. 2. 7, 8, 9. and unbounded in all its motions, having no Cauſe, but it ſelf, no bound but it ſelf, viz. Its own Wiſdom, and Holineſs; ſo is infinitely more potent then Sin.
It is True, Justice in God is Infinite, as Grace, for in God They are one: Grace therefore provides an infinite Satisfaction to Juſtice in the Obedience of Chriſt conſtituting Righteous, Rom. 5. 19. of which being ſecure, It triumphs as it pleaſes; and Sin vaniſhes before it, for the ſtrength of Sin is the Juſtice of God in his Law. That ſatisfied, Sin is weak, and is blotted out as a Cloud; is ſought for, and not found, Corruption dyes, vanquiſhed as Grace pleaſes.
That the Mediatorſhip of Chriſt may be more fully underſtood in its being a Mediatorſhip of Grace, ſeeing Juſtice is infinite in God, and his Grace and his Juſtice One in Him; which Juſtice Judges, acts, and proceeds according to number, weight, and meaſure. The Apoſtle hath joyn'd in an oppoſite parallel on the other ſide of the propoſition, v. 18. the Obedience of Chriſt; ſo full and ſo perfect; that he plainly aſſerts, that even as by the Diſobedience of one many were made or conſtituted, that is judg'd and determin'd Sinners; ſo by the Obedience of One many were not only pardoned, and ſo accepted as Righteous, but They are, and ſhall be conſtituted, decreed, determined, and juſtly judged to be Righteous, by this Righteouſneſs of Chriſt infinite in number, weight, and meaſure becoming theirs.
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This Obedience therefore is to be conſidered in the Mediator of it, truly higher then the duplicate page duplicate page Heavens, deeper in ſufferings in their value and vertue, then the lowest Hell, broader then the Perſons, and Sins of All, over whom and over which Adams Sin can extend it ſelf, in thoſe, for whom as in Chriſt It is accepted; and longer then the whole Line of Adams Sin, beginning with Time, and running on for ever if not cut off by this Righteouſneſs of Christ, which is eternal, or from Everlaſting to Everlaſting, and nothing beyond it.
And thus was the Obedience of Jeſus Chriſt (an Obedience of infinite Purity, and of unfathom'd ſufferings of the Son of God, a Prieſt for ever, without beginning of Days, or end of Life) Eternal.
Propoſ. 6.
Upon this full, and compleatverſe 16. compared with 20. Satisfaction to Juſtice, although the one Sin of Adam becomes Legions of Legions by Actual Tranſgreſſions, and are ſeen in every Atom, every aggravating Circumſtance in the Beams of that Fiery, Law, yet the Free Gift of Grace in, and upon this Righteouſneſs blots them all out of this Light of Gods Countenance; And this Righteouſneſs, and Obedience is as the Ark of Noah, that was not overwhelm'd by the ſwelling of the Floods, but Rode above them, and the higher they were, the higher the Ark was; ſo the Soul enclos'd and ARKED in this Righteouſneſs of Grace, and the Free Gift Rides above all the ſurges of raging Guilt, whether from juſt fears of Gods Righteous Judgment; from the Turmoils of Conſcience, or the ſoming Accuſations from Hell; and ſtands Righteous (notwithſtanding All) before God; before Angels, and to the Conſternation, and ſilence of lost Spirits. For where Sin abounds, Grace does much more abound, and the Free Gift is of many, never ſo many Offences to Juſtification.
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Behold then by way of Adoration, and Holy Confidence the ample Reſt of Conſciences waſh'd in the Blood of Jeſus.
Propoſition 7.
The Great Queſtion now ariſing will bee; How can it be ever reconciled to Divine Juſtice, or to Natural Conſcience, that the Righteouſneſs of one ſhould be made the Righteouſneſs of ſo many; To this the Apoſtle hath laid the Anſwer in the Center, and even ballance of the whole Diſcourſe; As by the Offence of one Judgment came upon All to v. 18.Condemnation; ſo to the Righteouſneſs of one to the Juſtification of Life.
The infinite Righteouſneſs, and Truth of God hath determin'd the Caſe; One Perſon may communicate to Many, and to All in Him, for the Many, who are alſo the All in One Adam (in whom the Man Chriſt Jeſus was not) fall under Judgment from Him to Condemnation; So the Many, even the All in Chriſt (in whom All Ʋnbelievers and Impenitent are not) receive Righteouſneſs to the Justification of Life. All therefore, who being cut out of the old ſtock of Apostate Adam, and are engrafted into the New, Second, Last Adam, by Humiliation, Faith, Repentance, the New Creation are ſo one Spirit, and one Body with Him, that his Righteouſneſs overflows them All, as naturally, as what is the Heads flows down on all the Members; as the Root is the Branches, the Husbands Glory, and Riches the Wifes, the Parents the Childrens, or the Things of a Mans ſelf the Things of his whole ſelf.
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Look well then to this Implantation into Chriſt, and Ʋnion with Him, that it be as real, as our Being in Adam.
Propoſition 8.
To the Great Difficulty, thatThe Reign of Grace, Righteouſneſs, and Life, above the Reign of Sin and Death on both ſides the Propoſition. v. 17. v. 21. may Ariſe to Conſciences concerning the Impoſſibility of this Implantation to Chriſt by any Faculties, or Powers of our own, the Apoſtle hath inſinuated Great Conſolation in thoſe two Forms of ſpeaking. As Judgment by the Offence of one to Condemnation; ſo by the Righteouſneſs of one to the Juſtification of Life; ſignifying, that as Judgment burſt out from Adams Sin, ſo from the Second Adams Righteouſneſs, Justification of Life is even in Pain, and violent to break out. Whoever therefore in another Expreſſion, v. 17. Receives its Abundance, It flows amain upon him. If we had therefore but the Heart, the Mind, the Soul to Receive it, It could not but be ours. A Heart ſet upon Chriſt, and his Grace according to thoſe Expreſſions, c. 8. v. 6. &c. of Solomons Song, ſhall certainly have it; Thus free is the way of having this free Gift. It is True; It muſt be a full and compleat deſire, like that to the Pearl of Great Price, Matt. 13. 45. ſo it is fit It ſhould be for ſuch a Pearl.
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Oh how do we periſh for want of deſire to Chriſt, for want of will to come to Him, that we may have Life. He juſtly periſhes, who will not deſire ſuch a Good with a deſire anſwerable to it.
Propoſition 9.
But ſeeing there is a multitude of Mankind in Adam, who periſh; How can the Grace of Chriſt be commenſurate to, and equal, much leſs ſurmount Adams Offence? To this it may be anſwered, the Holy Seed are the whole Subſtance of Mankind. All elſe being not of the Renewed Humane Nature of Christ, are not accounted His All, or any of His, or for his Seed, but ſink down firſt into Earth, or meer Body; then into ſenſitive Soul, a Nature more below Chriſts Humane Nature, then the brutal below the rational Humane Nature; And at laſt the higher Souls, or Spirits of Men not Partakers of the Divine Nature by Chriſt, and in Chriſt, become of the kind and ſpecies of Devils or fallen Angels, according to James 3. 15, 16, 17. and carry the whole man with them.
Yet is the number of the ſaved in Chriſt an incomprehenſible great Number, a number that no one can number, andRevel. 7. 9. Jeſus Chriſt at the Head of that General Aſſembly with the innumerable Company of Angels, makes them as far beyond the Account of the Loſt, as ſubſtantial Heb. 12. 23Figures are beyond never ſo innumerable Cyphers. Theſe are the First Born who have the Inheritance.
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Be not therefore diſcouraged, but ſtrive the more; Be in an Agony to enter; forLuc. 13. 24. though many ſtrive to enter, and are not able; yet the Truer, more ſubſtantial number, the Jewels, the Veſſels unto Honour, the precious Gold and Silver, the Wheat are ſav'd, which are alſo beyond number; The Droſs, the Refuſe, the Chaff, the Tares, the Veſſels to Diſhonour are only the Loſt. And if a Man purge Himſelf from theſe, He ſhall be a Veſſel 2 Tim. 2. 21.unto Honour, Sanctified, Meet for the Masters Ʋſe, ready to every good Work.
Propoſition 10.
The Reign in, and unto Eternal Life in Chriſt is ſo much above the Reign of Death from Adam, that it infinitely ſurpaſſes, and ſurmounts the whole Condemnation, and Death by Adam.
The Bleſſedneſs of ſeparate Spirits before the Reſurrection.
The incomparable Glory of the Firſt Reſurrection, and of a part in it, in the Paradiſe of God, in the New Jeruſalem, in the Reſtitution of All Things, in the New Heaven, and the New Earth, in the Glorious Kingdom of Chriſt.
The Bleſſedneſs of Saints being with Chriſt, and beholding the Glory he had with the Father, who loved him before the World was, and being ſo embraced into this Love, that this Love is in the Saints, and Chriſt in them in the pure and perfect Eternity, when God ſhall John 17. 24. 26.be All in All.
All theſe are ſo beyond All that Eye hath ſeen, or Ear hath heard, or that hath entred into the Heart of Man to conceive, that we cannot know it; For we ſhall be like Him, and ſee Him, as He is; This ſwallows all Objection from the Fewneſs of the ſav'd, and ſhews the Reign of Grace to Life, above Deaths Reign.
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But Let Him that hath this Hope, purifie Himſelf, even as He is pure. And that no Man may think this a Licencious Doctrine, let him conſider the Doctrine of Goſpel Sanctification, flowing from, and along with this Doctrine of Grace by Chriſt the Mediator, in whom All Dye to Sin, Riſe to Righteouſneſs in and with Him, have part for part, Grace for Grace, anſwering to his Righteouſneſs in inward Righteouſneſs, of which the Apoſtle treats in the following Chapters, and wherein by Gods Grace my Diſcourſe ſhall follow Him.
End of the text · Thomas Beverley, A Brief View of the State of Mankind (1690)