A Brief View of the State of Mankind, Part 1
A BRIEF VIEW OF THE STATE OF Mankind, IN THE Firſt ADAM, and in the Second ADAM, Being the Sum of many larger Diſcourſes upon that Great Context of the Redemption, and Mediation of Jeſus Chriſt.
Rom. 5. 12. to the end.
By T Beverley.
Rom. c. 5. v. 12. to the End.
To you my Honoured and Truly Loved Hearers, I propoſe to preſent the Mediatorſhip, and Redemption of Jeſus Chriſt in this Context, in a Summary view of each particular, whereof I have diſcourſed at large, that you may have it always in Remembrance.
NOW the Apoſtle had in his foregoing Diſcourſe ſet out the abſolute Neceſſity, All Mankind have of a Mediator of Righteouſneſs, and Acceptance with God to Eternal Life, by way of Reconciliation, Propitiation, Attonement, and Redemption, to Reprize and Recover them: For All have ſinned and fallen ſhort of that Glory of God, and are run into Sin, Judgment, Death, and Condemnation, ſo as to have their Mouths stop'd, and to become Guilty before God.
He had with all expreſs'd at large the abſolutely perfect, and ſufficient Mediation of Jeſus Chriſt to all thoſe purpoſes of Life; and ſhewn, that the beſt of men, ſuch as Abraham and David, had truſted wholly to it. And upon good Reaſon, for therein Conſcience may forever ſit down in Peace with God, and reſt in hope of his Glory, and by no other way can they ſo do.
In this Context He doth both remove an Objection incident to what He had ſaid, and exceedingly amplifies the Mediatorſhip of Chriſt.
The Objection He removes is, That it may ſeem ſtrange to be juſtified before God, and accepted with Him by the Righteouſneſs of Another.
To this the Apoſtle ſupplies an Anſwer, That it was always ſo intended by God to justifie and accept Humane Nature, by a Common Head, or Mediator of it, ſtanding Righteous before Him; while it is always to be underſtood, that an Inward, Real, and Inherent Righteouſneſs, and Active Obedience, ſhould be conveyed from the Righteouſneſs of that Common Head or Mediator.
This the Apoſtle proves by ſtrong interwoven Aſſertions, that Adam was at firſt ſuch a Common Head, and Mediator; in whoſe Continuance to ſtand Righteous before God, this whole Poſterity of Humane Nature ſhould have alſo ſtood Righteous, and in Grace, and Favour with God, and have maintained an inward Righteouſneſs, and active Obedience to Him to Eternal Life. And therefore, when by Sin He fell, He became by the force of that Conſtitution, an unhappy Mediator of Sin, Judgment, Condemnation, and Death, and alſo of inward Ʋnrighteouſneſs and Diſobedience to an innumerable Train of actual Tranſgreſſions.
Therefore it follows the Conveyance of Righteouſneſs to Justification, and of the Power of Sanctification to the Reign of, and in Eternal Life by Jeſus Chriſt is much ſtronger, then the Conveyance of Righteouſneſs by Adam, (as if he had ſtood was intended) or of Sin and Death by his Fall, of which there is ſo long and ſad Experience.
But then further, the Apoſtle Aggrandizes and Amplifie… the Redemption, Headſhip, and Communication of Chriſt above that of Adam; in that He calls Adam but a Type or Figure of Him that was to come (or more ſignificantly, of Him that was to be, viz. the Common Head, or Mediator, whom God deſign'd in the foreſight at leaſt of Adams Fall, to be that Common Head, or Mediator of Righteouſneſs (though by way of Reſcue, and Recovery) to Humane Nature, and that unchangeably and irreverſably.
As therefore the Antitype or Perſon Figured excells the Type or Perſon Figuring, ſo Chriſt excells Adam as a Head, or Mediator of Righteouſneſs; And when Adam came to be a Head of Sin, and of Apoſtacy, the Communication of Life, and Righteouſneſs from Chriſt ſurmounts not only in the Quality, and Dignity of Things communicated, viz. Of Grace, Righteouſneſs, and Life, above Sin, Wrath, Death, and Condemnation, but in the Abundancy and Efficacy of the Communication, as is by the Apoſtle moſt magnificently diſplay'd, both in the Grand Propoſition, v. 18. and in the attending Parallels, or Compariſons double on each ſide of the Propoſition; as ſhall be ſeen in their juſt Order, and Places.
The only Limitation, and Reſtraint for the Right Underſtanding of the whole is.
That thoſe, to whom Chriſt is a Head of Communication, of what is in Him, muſt be in Him, as All Mankind was, and is deſcendingly from Adam, elſe there can be no Communication.
And yet, Though All men are univerſally, none excepted in Adam, and none but the truly Regenerate or Born again are in Chriſt, which are alas in Compariſon, but the Few of Mankind. Yet this does not prejudice or leſſen the Headſhip of Chriſt, or make it run lower in its ſurmount of Communicativeneſs, above the Communicativeneſs of Adams Sin and Guilt, and Death and Condemnation upon it.
This is the proſpect of the whole, to which every particular ſhall anſwer in its due Time and Place.
Propoſit. 1.
The Firſt point I begin with, is upon the Center of the Compariſon betwixt Adam and Chriſt, viz. That the First Adam is the Figure or Type of Him, who is to be the Second and Last Adam; for beyond Him there can be none.
The Firſt Adam Created by God in a Righteous and Holy Eſtate, and in a direct Line to Life was ordain'd by God, a Common Head, and Mediator of Humane Nature, and was, if He had ſtood to have Remained ſo, and to have conveyed indefeiſably his Excellent State to his Poſterity; But becauſe of his Fall, fore-ſeen by God, He was but a Figure, or Type of Jeſus Chriſt, the onelyonly perfect Adam, For in that He is the Second and the Last; It argues He is the onelyonly perfect; For if the Firſt had not been Found Fault with, There had been no place Found for a Second, and if there could any Fault have been Found with the Second, He might not have been the Laſt.
The Great Proof of this Propoſition, and of the whole Train, that here Follows upon it, Lyes in the Word of God.
It is True indeed, we muſt by the Line of Reaſon Aſcend to ſome Firſt Father of Mankind, who will in the very Nature of the Thing be a Trustee, or Common Perſon for his Poſterity, and when we muſt needs Believe, That Firſt Parent came perfect out of the Creatours Hand, and when we find the Remains, and mentions of ſuch a Perfection in our ſelves, in the Law written in our Hearts, we muſt therefore conclude; He by his Tranſgreſſion loſt that Perfection into a State of Sin and Death, wherein we Find our ſelves ſo far ingulph'd.
And when ſo Great a Second Adam, as the Son of God in our Nature is Reveal'd to us by the Goſpel. Reaſon muſt needs Aſſent, that It is a Recovery of Humane Nature, both moſt proper and moſt Illuſtrious, of which Grace of God, Nature hath ſome Light.
But the Greateſt Proof, I ſay, is the Word of God, which we have ſtrongeſt Reaſon to Believe, ſeeing we find thoſe moſt Intimate Principles ingraven on our Hearts, ſo Fairly written in that Word of God. And when we Find the Higheſt Accounts of Sin and Death, ſo ſenſibly and experimentally Known in the World to be moſt Rationably and Credibly Trac'd to their Original in the ſame Word, far beyond all in the World, that is written of them. We muſt needs have Greateſt force of Conviction of its Truth.
Now that the Firſt Adam was Intended by God to be ſuch a Figure of Him that is to Be, Beſides, that the Aſſertion is Seated here in the midſt of this weighty Diſcourſe of Redemption; It is alſo made the Center of as great a Diſcourſe of the Reſurrection. Theſe Two 1 Cor. 15. 45. 47.Adams, (call'd alſo Two Men, the Firſt and Second Man, as if there had been but thoſe Two Men at any Time in the World) and indeed there were never Any Two ſuch Men, Men each Comprehending whole Humane Nature within Themſelves; Heads each of the Nature, Communicating to it All in Themſelves; Two Perfect Men, at the Full dimenſions, Men, as Adam before the Fall, and Jeſus Chriſt for Ever: Theſe Two are made, One the Head of Death, the other of the Reſurrection.
Theſe Two Men then, I ſay, had the whole Nature of Man in them; Adam, Created the onelyonly Man in the World, and Eve, One Adam with Him, comprizing All the Nature to deſcend from Him.
Jeſus Chriſt hath this Nature, whole and entire in Him: He, as the Son of God, of an Eternal Perſonage in Himſelf, Embrac'd and Aſſum'd, not a Humane Perſon, but the Abſtract Humane Nature, by the Immediate Operation of the Divine Spirit, not deriving it from Adam in the way of ordinary Generation, and ſo not under Him, as a Head.
And yet the Firſt of theſe Two Common Heads, Adam paſſes under Headſhip of Jeſus Chriſt, which peculiarity of ſo doing is nothing to Any of Thoſe to whom He Communicates, as ſuch a Common Head, Humane Nature. For Adam by Faith came under Chriſt, as the Head of Recovery, of which none of Humane Nature deſcending from Him receive any Thing more than from any other man. For He did not that as a Common Head, but as one private man; For in that Act, He forſook his own Apoſtate Headſhip, chuſing rather to be under the ſaving Headſhip of Chriſt.
But Jeſus Chriſt by the infinitely wiſe Counſel of God, though He took the ſame common Nature of the Sons of Adam, yet he took it on a new Title; not from Adam as a Head; but as the Son of God from the Holy Spirit; and not under Adam's Covenant, ſo that while He derived his ſubſtance, his Nature as man, from Him, ſo as to be called the Son of Adam, and the Seed of the Woman; He was yet by the prerogative of his Immediate Conception from the Divine Spirit, the Son of God in a Higher Senſe then Adam was the Son of God; even in regard of his Humane Nature Chriſt was ſo the Son of God.
And while the Seed that are in Him Receives nothing from him of the old Humane Nature, but from Adam only; They yet receive from him a new Humane Nature, parallel by Regeneration to his miraculous Generation, in the Renovation of their Nature; And as Eve was taken out of Adam, ſo they are his Spouſe, taken as Epheſ. 5. 32.out of him by myſtical Communication from him; They are from him, alſo as Children from the ſecond Adam, Father of the World to come. They are conform'd to him, as the First born among many Brethren, ſoEſay. 9. 6. Rom. 8. 29. that all Types, all Relations meet in him.
Let us then ſettle this Firſt point; That Adam was made by God a common Perſon, a Head, a Root, a Mediator of Humane Nature, not of Interceſſion, but of Communication; ſo that if he had ſtood, He had held up Humane Nature, and herein he was primarily a Type of Chriſt.
Arguments of this.
1. Whatever Adam was made at firſt, In that he was made a Type of Him that was to be, viz. Chriſt. But GodGen. 1. 27. Eccl. 7. 29. Created him in his own Image at firſt, in Knowledge, Righteouſneſs, and True Holineſs; He made him upright.
Now if Adam in this State had not been a Type of Him, that was to be; It had been too late, (as I may ſo ſay,) when he had ſinned, and fallen to be made ſuch a Type, for that had been to enchain his Poſterity in Sin and Death, without any prevention; which can never be ſuppoſed to be done by God; He was then at firſt a Head of Life, and Righteouſneſs. And this is the firſt Senſe of his being a Type of Chriſt, who is to be, viz. in Communication of Life and Righteouſneſs. And by his Fall only a Head of Sin and Death, elſe he had been not a Type, but a Counter Head only.
But in being ſuch a Head, he is infinitely out-done by Chriſt; For the Firſt Adam was made a living Soul, He had the Breath of Life breathed into him. Gen. 2. v. 7. Adam might, as a Veſſel of Gold, have held that Life given him by God. But He was not a Spring that could ſtill ſupply it, that it could not be loſt, nor ſpring it again if loſt; He could not Riſe from the Dead, nor Raiſe the Dead.
This Chriſt can do, as the Laſt Adam, the Lord from Heaven, 1 Cor. 15. 45.a quickning Spirit, For as the Father hath life in himſelf; SoJohn 5. 25, 26. hath he given to the Son, to have life in himſelf; They therefore, that are dead ſhall hear the Voice of the Son of God, and Live, He is a Well of water c. 4. 14.ſpringing up to Eternal Life; Adam might Fall, becauſe he had not the Spring of Life; Chriſt cannot Fail; and can recover the Fallen, becauſe he is the Life it ſelf; Here is our own Hope.
2. Adam was in ſtate of Favor and Acceptance with God; As a Prince He went near unto Him, and declared to Him concerning the Creatures, Geneſ. 2. 19. 23.concerning Eve, he was not afraid of God till he ſinn'd.
This he was to have convey'd. For to convey the Wrath and Diſpleaſure of God, ſo as that his Children ſhould be Children of Wrath by Nature, Epheſ. 2.and not to have convey'd the Favor of God, had not been according to either the Juſtice or Goodneſs of God.
But being fallen into Diſpleaſure, he cannot, as the only begotten Son of the Father, Ma…. 3. 17.… higher than the Heavens; …he … in whom he is well pleas'…. I …ede or Mediate for Hi… ſelf, or his Poſterity; It is Chriſt onelyonly, who by his Spirit, even the Spirit of the Galat. 4. 6.Son ſent into their Hearts, reſtores his to the Crying Abba, Father.
3. Adam was in his Creation, and the Covenant made with Him upon it, to be a Head of Life, and of a Bleſſed Immortality, and to have conveyed it to All in Him; Of this the Tree of Life in the midſt of Paradiſe Geneſ. 2. c.was a Sacrament.
But not as the Son of God in our Nature, (as was before ſet out in the Life of Righteouſneſs) Chriſt is the Lord of Life and Glory the Reſurrection and the Life, which Adam could not be, but when that Life God Gave Him was Loſt, as He … not keep it, ſo He could not reſtore it; but in Adam All Dye, All in Chriſt are made Alive.1 Cor. 15. 21, 22.
But that we may …ther Underſtand the Great Wi…m of God, in making ſuch a Head as Adam was at firſt, who thereby became a Figure of Him that was to Be, and that It was to the Great Good of Mankind conſidered in it ſelf, will thus Appear.
1. God, who certainly Knows, what was Beſt for his own Creation, and particularly for the Humane Creation, diſpos'd it thus, (as moſt ſecure for it) under a Common Head and Mediator (therein Fore-ſhewing the Laſting Happineſs of Mankind in Chriſt) For thus no ſingle Perſon would be in danger to be Loſt, but the whole ſecur'd in One, viz. in one Common Head Anſwering for All.
2. This One was the Common Parent of all Mankind, and ſo had a Parental Love and Care ingrafted into Him by God for his Poſterity, the Remains of which we ſee now how ſtrongly It Acts among Men.
3. He was Accompliſh'd with All Powers of Standing, ſo that nothing lay upon Him, but to Hold what He Had, and to Live in the Conſtant Exerciſe and diſplay of it.
4. It was but One Inſtance, or Act of Obedience, upon which the whole Righteouſneſs and Happineſs of Man was ſuſpended; viz. His not Eating the Forbidden Fruit: the ſingular Teſt, and proof God put upon Him of his Love and Fidelity to Himſelf, and in which All his Holy and Excellent State, as by one unlooſeable Knot, if not Cut by Sin was kept ſtrait and entire; of which the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a Sacrament, and ſtanding Admonition.
5. It is moſt Reaſonable to believe, there was a certain determinate Time, and that but ſhort; wherein Adam's Obedience was to be Try'd, and if He had ſtood that Shock, and Reſiſted the Temptation, He and his Poſterity had been confirm'd for ever.
In him therefore Humane Nature had the fulleſt and faireſt View It could have, and the moſt ample Advantages for it ſelf to be Happy for ever; Adam therefore was thus every way Fit, and moſt Advantageouſly, and by the Infinite Goodneſs of the Creator plac'd as the Common Head of Mankind, as a Type of Chriſt.
The Application, and Uſe of this firſt Propoſition, is;
1. The Conſideration of Humane Nature Enſtated at firſt in its Common Parent, as its Head and Mediator, Furniſh'd with the Life of Righteouſneſs and Holineſs, in a State of Favor with God, and in the Aſſurance of a Bleſſed Immortality, and yet ſo wofully Fallen by our Firſt Parent, ſhould exceedingly Humble and Abaſe us before God, in a juſt Senſe of our Fallen Condition; as being the effect of our own diſloyalty in Adam, our Repreſentative, and in whom we may ſee our own Falſeneſs, and the great Faithfulneſs of God to us.
2. It Teaches us to Adore the Grace of God in Jeſus Chriſt, ſo Bleſſed a Mediator, who cannot fail us, to fly to Him, as our onelyonly ſecurity, both from the Ruine we are fallen into by Adam, and alſo from our own Falſe Righteouſneſs, that ſeems to remain to us, and from the Treachery and Falſeneſs of our own Hearts, and Reſolutions in Holineſs: All our Security is in Chriſt alone, and in dependency on Him.
3. We ſhould therefore look moſt diligently to this, that we are Found in the Second Adam, the Head of our Recovery, who ſo much excells the Firſt Adam, though he had not fallen; how much more, when he is Fallen, and become the Head of Ruine and Apoſtacy, For he onelyonly, who by being in the Son, hath the Son, He only hath Life, but who hath not the Son, hath not 1 John …. 12. John. 3. ….Life, but the Wrath of God abides upon Him.