We see, then, the judgment of the Church of England upon this head. Let us now inquire into the scripture-account of this matter. The apostle Paul largely and designedly treats of this doctrine in Rom. v. he begins at the 12th verse, saying, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Sin entered into the world first, and death followed after; both these came in by one man, viz. Adam; but then death did not terminate upon him only, but infected and slew the whole race of mankind, who were included in him, ', in whom, (as it should be translated, and as we find it rendered in the margin,) all have sinned. All men were included in Adam, as the plant is contained in the seed, or the branches in the root; their wills were included in his will, their act in his act; hence his sin becomes their sin; they stand convicted of it, they are condemned for it, and suffer death as a punishment thereof. This seems to me the genuine meaning and purport of the sacred text, though I know some endeavour to understand it otherwise.. The followers of Samosatenus say, that that expression, ip, which the apostle uses, does not signify in whom, but, for that, or forasmuch as; which is so far from weakning, that it even confirms our opinion. For thus the reason is assigned why death passed upon all men, yea, upon infants themselves, ver. 14. to wit, because all sinned, namely, in that sin which entered into the world by one man. Now they did not sin that sin in their own person, be

cause they did not exist; therefore, they sinned it in Adam.*

The apostle prosecutes this argument through ver. 14. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression.-Death reigned over infants, who had never committed any actual sin, they, therefore, died upon account of original sin.-The apostle adjoins, who is the figure, or type, of him that was to come. Adam was a common head and representative of all mankind; he personated all his seed natural; and in this respect he was a type of Christ, who took human nature upon him, and represented all his seed spiritual. Agreeably to this Adam the protoplast is called the first Adam, and Christ the last Adam; the one is called the first man, the other the second man, 1 Cor. xv. 45. 47. for which no other reason can be assigned but this, Adam and Christ were both public persons and representatives; the one represented all mankind universally, the other was the representative of all true

Samosateniani qui dem illud iq' quo utitur Apostolus, significare aiunt non in quo, sed eo quod, vel quatenņus; verum id sententiam nostram adeo non debilitat, ut etiam confirmet. Nam sic causa redditur, cur mors in omnes homines, ipsos etiam infantes, ver. 14. pervaserit, nimirum, quia omnes peccarunt, peccato sc. illo quod per unum hominem, introiit in mundum. Jam non peccarunt peccato illo in sua persona, quia non extiterunt. Ergo peccarunt in Adamo. Altingius.

believers. Adam is the head, we are the members; now what the head does, the members are supposed to do; the sin, therefore, which Adam committed, all men are looked upon as having committed: so in the case of a representative, his actions are accounted theirs in whose stead he is constituted. Adam was our representative when he sinned against God; we, therefore, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression. His sin becomes ours by imputation, because God imputes Adam's actual disobedience to all his natural posterity; I say, imputes, because the act itself was a transient thing, nor did it cleave to us as it did to Adam; but it is most justly imputed to us, because we all sinned in him as our head and root. This the inspired writer declares again and again, in terms as clear as the light; so that one would wonder how any can avoid seeing it, unless they are wilfully blind. If through the offence of one many be dead-the judgment was by one to condemnation. By one man's offence, death reigned by one. By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. And by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, ver. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. They were constituted sinners, viz. in the divine order and appointment; for God was pleased to constitute Adam a head of the whole human race, and so upon his default charged all his posterity with the guilt of his sin. This chapter, therefore,

* Κατετάθησαν ἁμαρτωλοι.

is a sufficient proof, that Adam's first sin is reputed the common sin of all mankind.

This truth, we have again delivered in 1 Cor. xv. 22. As in Adam all die.But how could all die in Adam, unless all had sinned in him? To evade this, some persons of a Pelagian dye are pleased to say, that death was a punishment to Adam for his sin, but that it befals his posterity only as an accidental evil or calamity. But what saith the apostle? The Wages of sin is death, Rom. vi. 23. Death is the ɑ, the due desert, the exact stipend, or just wages of sin. By this, he informs us, that death is the proper punishment of sin. It passeth upon none but sinners, and for nothing but sin. Now, punishment implies and presupposes sin: all die, (saith the apostle,) i. e. suffer the punishment of death, and that in Adam; this, therefore, implies that all sinned in Adam, for else they could not consistently with the divine Justice die in him. And when the divine writer says all, he includes infants and adults; men, women, and children; all universally and unexceptionably : they all have the guilt of their forefather's sin upon their heads. And since they had no personal existence at the time he committed the offence, how could they sin in him any otherwise, than as they have his sin imputed unto them? Thus archbishop Usher explains this matter. "Q. What is sin imputed? A. "Our sin in Adam, in whom as we lived, so also we ❝ sinned: for, in our first parents, every one of us "did commit that first sin, which was the cause of

"all other; and so we all are become subject to the "imputation of Adam's fall, both for the transgres❝sion and guiltiness."* This, therefore, may fully satisfy us, that all the sons and daughters of Adam are partners with their great predecessor in his apostacy, as well as in the penal effects and consequences of his rebellion against God.

I know the mouths of natural men are wide open against this doctrine: they think it an hard saying, and cannot see how it is consistent with the divine Justice or Goodness to charge the sin of one man upon all men. This puzzles their natural reason, and, therefore, original sin is a difficult pill (as one calls it,) for them to swallow; and some of them absolutely reject it. But now to remove this scruple, and to show in some measure the reasonableness and equity of God's imputing Adam's sin to all his natural offspring, it may be considered.

First, All men were in the loins of Adam at the time of his fall, and so all fell in him, and are justly accountable for his sin. Levi is said to have paid tithes in Abraham, because he was in Abraham's loins when Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec, Heb. vii. 9, 10. In like manner, all men may be said to have sinned in Adam, because they were in the loins of Adam when he sinned against God.

* Substance of the Christian Religion.