"common end of all mankind. By man therefore, "that is by the act of man, came death, and by man the resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all "die, (as many as die,) so also in Christ shall all "be made alive 5, (as many as shall be made alive,) " 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. Who is there, that, reading the "words themselves, doth not presently see that this 66 place to the Corinthians exactly answers to that "to the Romans? Such a death therefore is here "meant, as is common to the posterity of Adam, and out of which they rise, whosoever do rise. Wherefore also comparing this place with that to "the Romans, we say that this is meant of Adam as 66 g See Rom. viii. 10, II. On which text St. Austin thus excellently discourseth. Puto quod non expositore, sed tantum lectore opus habet tam clara et aperta sententia. Corpus, inquit, mortuum est, non propter fragilitatem terrenam, quia de terræ pulvere factum est, sed propter peccatum; quid amplius quærimus? Et vigilantissime non ait mortale; sed mortuum. Nam antequam mutetur in illam incorruptionem, quæ in sanctorum resurrectione promittitur, poterat esse mortale, quamvis non moriturum, sicut hoc nostrum potest, ut ita dicam, esse ægrotabile, quamvis non ægrotaturum. Cujus enim caro est quæ non ægrotare possit, etiamsi aliquando casu priusquam ægrotet occumbat? Sic et illud corpus jam erat mortale, quam mortalitatem fuerat absumptura mutatio in æternam incorruptionem, si in homine justitia, id est, obedientia permaneret; sed ipsum mortale non est factum mortuum nisi propter peccatum. Quia vero illa in resurrectione futura mutatio, non solum nullam mortem quæ facta est propter peccatum, sed nec mortalitatem habitura est, quam corpus animale habuit ante peccatum, non ait, qui suscitavit Jesum Christum a mortuis, vivificabit et mortua corpora vestra, cum supra dixisset, corpus mortuum, sed vivificabit, inquit, et mortalia corpora vestra, ut scilicet jam non solum non sint mortua, sed nec mortalia, cum animale resurget in spiritale, et mortale hoc induet immortalitatem, et absorbebitur mortale a vita. De Peccatorum Merit. et Remiss. c. Pelagianos, c. 4, 5. "a sinner; for what is here said, by man, he there 66 66 66 66 saith, by sin. The animal condition of Adam is "above twenty verses after touched on by the apo"stle upon a quite different occasion: for here death "is opposed to the resurrection; but there the qualities of the body, as at first created, and then "as raised, are compared with each other; whereof “the one had, with the natural possibility of dying, "conjoined a possibility also of living through the "favour of God: but the other shall have life itself "after such a manner, that it shall have no natural possibility of dying at all. I cannot forbear here "to add the notable testimony of the most excel"lent author of the Book of Wisdom, which although "it be not in the Hebrew canon, is yet of venerable antiquity, and was always had in esteem amongst "Christians. Thus therefore he, For God made not "death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of "destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth: (for righteousness is immortal:) "but ungodly men with their works and words called it to them: for when they thought to have “it their friend, they consumed to nought, and made a covenant with it, because they are worthy to take part with it, chap. i. 13-16h. And presently "after, For God created man to be immortal, and "made him the image of his own propriety. Nevertheless, through envy of the Devil came death into the world and they that do hold of his side 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 h See Ecclesiasticus xxv. 24. i i Greek Ιδιότητος. "do find it, chap. ii. 23, 24. That the death here, "which God is said not to have created nor 66 willed, to wit, with a will antecedent to sin, is to "be understood of every kind of death, the ap@apoia 66 66 or incorruption opposed thereunto sheweth, unto "the hope whereof man is said to be created; and "that hope is not obscurely intimated to have been "part of the divine image, or at least a consequent thereof. Now incorruption excludes every kind of death, whether violent or not. And what the apostle said, that death entered by man and by "sin, this author had no less truly said, that death "entered by the envy of the Devil. For all these 66 66 66 speeches note the same fact, viz., the first sin of "man committed by the suggestion of the Devil. "Nor is that any hinderance, that the author here "notes a certain special effect of death in relation "to the wicked. For death entering by the first "sin, and having obtained a right over all men, "doth receive a certain peculiar force by the griev"ous and continual sins of particular men; in which "sense sin is said to be the sting of death, 1 Cor. xv. 56. Therefore they who dying are denied all passage to a better life, are justly called the con"federates of death, or the yielding captives (dedititii), and the proper possession of death. It were "most easy to demonstrate, if that were our business, that it was the constant opinion both of the "Jews and Christians, that every kind of death "whatsoever is the punishment of sin." Thus far Grotius. 66 66 66 66 I know these irrefragable arguments were afterwards nibbled at by Crellius the successor of Socinus and Smalcius in the chair at Cracovia; but the frivo lous and plainly ridiculous exceptions of the heretic are abundantly refuted by the famous Rivet, (who in this question happily proved the TeраσTIσтns of Grotius,) upon the second chapter of Genesis, Exercit. 21. whither I refer you for full satisfaction. I have dwelt the longer in asserting this great truth, that Adam should never have died if he had not sinned; because this foundation being once surely laid, it will appear that the whole superstructure of the catholic doctrine concerning the state of man in his integrity, and concerning man's fall by sin, which is to be measured by the former, is firmly built thereon: which is the reason why the Pelagians formerly, and the Socinians of late, have so strenuously opposed this verity. For let it be once granted, that man, if he had continued obedient, should have enjoyed an everlasting life, any man of reason, that shall more closely consider the matter, will presently collect, that this life should not, could not in any congruity be perpetuated in the earthly paradise, and therefore the man was in the design of God, after a certain period of time, to have been translated to a higher state, i. e. a celestial bliss. And from thence it will as readily follow, that man, being designed for such a supernatural end, must be supposed gradually at least to have been furnished by God with means proportioned thereunto, i. e. with certain supernatural gifts and powers, which we commonly call original righteousness: both which hypotheses you will see anon to have been the doctrine of the catholic church. In the mean time let us proceed in order. It is questioned by some, whether Adam, besides this positive law given to him, had also another law implanted in him, which the Hebrews call a "Pipn the statutes in the heart, we the law of nature. A man would think indeed, that no man in his wits should question this; yet Socinus not only questions, but flatly denies it, although the Remonstrants in their Apology (I know not with what design) endeavour to excuse and purge him from this error. But they wash the Ethiopian in vain; for any one that doubts may find this opinion professedly avowed and maintained by him in the third chapter of his Prælections. Besides, it is well known that Socinus taught that no man can by the light of nature (which it is certain he at least supposed to be the same in man before and since the fall) know that there is a God, and that this notion is due to God's revealing himself unto men. Nay, Episcopius himself, who penned that Apology of the Remonstrants, doth charge this error upon Socinus, and spends a learned and elaborate discourse in the refutation of it, so that I wonder he should so far forget himself. For if Socinus held, that no man can by the light of nature know that there is a God, then certainly he believed (or else maintained the grossest contradiction imaginable) that no man can by the mere light of nature discern any notion of religion whatsoever; seeing all notions of religion are manifestly founded on that first principle, that there is a God. This therefore is another famous specimen of the intolerable impudence of that heretic in contradicting both the Scriptures (which manifestly assert such a natural law, Rom. i. 19, 20. and chap. ii. 12, 14, 15.) and also the common sense and experience of mankind. For 1 Κἂν τῷ ποιεῖν νόμον δέδωκας αὐτῷ ἔμφυτον ὅπως οἴκοθεν καὶ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ ἔχοι τὰ σπέρματα τῆς θεογνωσίας. Sic Liturgia Clementis de Adamo. Const. Apost. VIII. 12. |