"Seeing then the phrase all are made sinners' hath been demonstrated to signify, all are subjected to death by a judicial sentence; and seeing the apostle's whole argument turns on this point, that all men die through the one offence of Adam: who can doubt, but all have sinned, means the same with all are made sinners ?" (p. 53, 54.) I do not doubt it; but I still deny that either phrase means no more than all are in a state of suffering.

16. In order fully to clear this important text, I shall here subjoin some of Dr. Jennings's remarks.* "The apostle having treated in the preceding chapter of the cause and manner of a sinner's justification before God, namely through the merits of Christ, and by faith in his blood; and having spoken of the fruits of justification in the former part of this chapter: he proceeds in the verses before us, to illustrate our salvation by Christ, by comparing it with our ruin by Adam. He compares Adam with Christ, and shows how what we lost by the one, is restored by the other with abundant advantage. He makes Adam to be a figure or type of Christ: considering them both as public persons, representing, the one all his natural descendants, the other all his spiritual seed: the one, Adam, all mankind, who are all guilty before God:' the other, Christ, all those who obtain the righteousness of God, which is by faith, to all them that believe.'

"Concerning the consequences of Adam's sin upon his posterity, we have here the following particulars:

I. "That by one man sin entered into the world: that the whole world is some way concerned in Adam's sin. And this indeed is evident, because

II. "Death, which is the wages of sin, and the very punishment threatened to Adam's first transgression, 'entered by sin, and passed upon all men;' is actually inflicted on all mankind. Upon which it is asserted in the next words,

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III. "That all have sinned: Even so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' All men then are deemed sinners in the eye of God, on account of that one sin, of which alone the apostle is here speaking.

And

IV. "Not only after, but before, and until the law,' (given by Moses,) sin was in the world;' and men were deemed sinners, and accordingly punished with death, through many generations. Now 'sin is not imputed where there is no law;' nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses: plainly showing, that all mankind, during that whole period, had sinned in Adam and so died, in virtue of the death threatened to him. And death could not then be inflicted on mankind for any actual sin, because it was inflicted on so many infants, who had neither eaten of the forbidden fruit, nor committed any actual sin whatever, and therefore had not sinned' in any sense, ‘after the similitude of Adam's transgression.' Therefore, V. "It was through the offence of one that many are dead.' (ver.

Vindication of the Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, page 18-35.

15.) By one offence death reigned by one.' (ver. 17.) And seeing the sin of Adam is thus punished in all men, it follows,

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VI. "That they were all involved in that sentence of condemnation, which God passed upon him. The judgment was by one to condemnation.' (ver. 16.) By one offence judgment came upon all men to condemnation.' (ver. 18.) And since it is so plain, that all men are actually punished for Adam's sin, it must needs follow,

VII. "That they all sinned in Adam. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners.' They were so constituted sinners by Adam's sinning as to become liable to the punishment threatened to his transgression.

"Between Adam and Christ, the type and the antitype, St. Paul draws the parallel in the following particulars.

I. "Both have done something by which many others are affected, who either lose or gain by what they did: "Through the offence of one many are dead: by one the gift of grace hath abounded to many.' (ver. 15.)

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II. That which the first Adam did, by which many, i. e. all men, receive hurt, was sin, offence, and disobedience: they all suffer by one that sinned. (ver. 16.) By the offence of one, by one man's disobedience.' (ver. 18, 19.) That which the Second Adam did by which many, that is, all who believe, receive benefit, is righteousness and obedience: By the righteousness of one, by the obedience of one.' (ver, 18, 19.)

III." The detriment which all men receive through Adam is, that they are made sinners:' that judgment is come upon them to condemnation;' in consequence of which, death, the wages of sin, is inflicted on every one of them. The benefit which all believers receive through Christ, is grace or the favour of God, justification, righteousness, or sanctification, and eternal life. The grace of God, and the gift by grace, hath by one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men (who receive it) to justification of life. By the obedience of one many are made righteous.' (ver. 15. 18, 19.)

"Thus the apostle shows the parity between the effects of Adam's sin, and of Christ's righteousness. Only in two instances he shows, that the effect of the latter, vastly exceeds the effect of the former.

I. "It removes many sins, besides that one sin of Adam, which so affected all his posterity. If through one offence many be dead, much more the grace of God by Jesus Christ hath abounded to many. The judgment was by one to condemnation; but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.' (ver. 15, 16.)

II. "Christ raises believers to a far happier state than that which Adam enjoyed in Paradise. Much more they who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life, by one, Jesus Christ." " (ver. 17.)

17. Your paraphrase on the text, (p. 55-64,) being only a repetition of what you had said over and over before, does not require any separate consideration. Only I must observe a few mistakes

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which have not occurred before. "The resurrection is the first and fundamental step in the gospel-salvation." (p. 61.) No: 'he shall save his people from their sins;' this is the first and fundamental step. 2. You have very grievously mistaken the meaning of four texts in the 6th of St. John. This is the Father's will, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.' (v. 39.) This is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.' (ver. 40.) 'No man can come to me, except the Father draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.' (ver. 44.) Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.' (v. 54.) Now you cite all these texts as relating to the general resurrection: whereas not one of them relates to it at all. They are all, promises make to true believers only; and relate wholly and solely to the resurrection of the just.

18. It remains then, all that has been advanced to the contrary notwithstanding, that the true and rational way of accounting for the general wickedness of mankind, in all ages and nations, is pointed out in these words. In Adam all die. In and through their first parent, all kis posterity died in a spiritual sense: and they remain wholly dead in trespasses and sins,' till the Second Adam makes them alive. By this one man sin entered into the world and passed upon all men.' And through the infection which they derive from him, all men are and ever were by nature entirely 'alienated from the life of God, without hope, without God in the world.'

1. Your appendix to the first part of your book is wholly employed in answering two questions. "One is, How is it consistent with justice, that all men should die by the disobedience of one man? The other, How shall we account for all men's rising again, by the obedience of another man, Jesus Christ ?" (p. 65.)

You may determine the former question as you please, since it does not touch the main point in debate. I shall therefore take no farther pains about it, than to make a short extract of what Dr. Jennings speaks on the head. (Vind. p. 36, &c.)

2. "As to the first question Dr. Taylor gets rid of all difficulty, that may arise from the consideration of God's justice, by ascribing it wholly to his goodness, that death passed upon all men. Death, he tells us, is upon the whole a benefit.' It is certain, that believers in Christ receive benefit by it. But this gentleman will have death to be an "original benefit, and that to all mankind: merely intended to 'increase the vanity of all earthly things, and to abate their force to delude us." He afterward displays the benefit of shortening human life, to its present standard: that death being nearer to our view might be a powerful motive to regard less the things of a transitory world: but does the nearer view of death, in fact produce this effect? Does not the common observation of all ages prove the contrary? Has not covetousness been the peculiar vice of old age? As death is nearer to the view, we plainly see,

that men have more and more regard for the things of a transitory world. We are sure therefore that death is no such benefit to the generality of men. On the contrary, it is the king of terrors to them, the burden of their lives, and bane of their pleasures. To talk therefore of death's being a benefit, an original benefit, and that to all mankind, is to talk against the common sense and experience of the whole world."

"It is strange death should be originally given by God as a benefit to man, and that the shortening of man's life afterwards should be designed as a farther benefit: and yet that God should so often promise his peculiar people long life as the reward of obedience, and threaten them with death as a punishment of disobedience!

"But the Scripture, he says, affirms, that sufferings are the chastisements, of our heavenly Father, and death in particular. But does not every chastisement suppose a fault? Must he not be a cruel father, who will chasten his children for no fault at all? If then God does but chasten us for Adam's sin, the fault of it must some way lie upon us. Else we suppose God's dealings with his children to be unreasonable and unrighteous."

3. I would only add two or three obvious questions. 1. Did God propose death as a benefit in the original threatening? 2. Did he represent it as a benefit in the sentence pronounced on Adam, Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return? 3. Do the inspired writers speak of God's bringing a flood on the world of the ungodly,' as a benefit or a punishment? 4. Do they mention the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as designed for a benefit to them? 5. Is it by way of benefit, that God declares, The soul that sinneth, it shall die;' Certainly this point is not defensible. Death is properly not a benefit, but a punishment.

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4. The other question is, How shall we account for all men's rising again, by the obedience of another man, Jesus Christ? (p. 70.) "To set this in a clear light, I ask another question, What was it that gave the glorious personage, emblemized by the Lamb, (Rev. v. 1, &c.) his superior worthiness, his prevailing interest in God, beyond all others in heaven and earth? It was his being slain, that is, his obedience to God, and good-will to men: it was his consummate virtue. Thou art worthy-Why? Because thou hast exhibited to God such an instance of virtue, obedience, and goodness. Thou hast sacrificed thy life in the cause of truth, and hast redeemed us, by that act of the highest obedience." (p. 71, 72.)

With what extreme wariness is this whole paragraph worded! You do not care to say directly, "Jesus Christ is either a little God, or he is no God at all." So you say it indirectly, in a heap of smooth, la- ` boured, decent circumlocutions. Yet permit me to ask, was "that act of obedience, the original and sole ground" of his prevailing interest in God, and of his worthiness, not only to open the book, but to receive from all the armies of heaven, the power, and the wisdom, and the riches, and the strength, and the honour, and the glory, and the blessing?" (Rev. v. 12.) And is this act the original and the sole VOL. 9.-U

ground, why all men must honour him even as they honour the Father? Yea, and why every creature which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all that are in them, say, To him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb, is the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the power, for ever and ever!' (ver. 13.) ·

To him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb:-Does that mean, to the great God and the little God? If so, when all creatures in heaven and earth,' all throughout the universe, thus honour him even as they honour the Father,' are they not doing him too much honour? My glory,' saith the Lord, I will not give to another.' How comes it then to be given to the Lamb?

5. You proceed, "The worthiness of Christ is his consummate virtue, obedience to God, and benevolence to his creatures." Is this the only ground of his worthiness to be honoured even as the Father? Is it on this ground alone, that all the angels of God are to worship him? Or rather, because in the beginning,' from everlasting, he was with God, and was God.'

"Virtue is the only price which purchaseth every thing with God. True virtue, or the right exercise of reason is true worth, and the only valuable consideration which prevails with God." (p. 73.)

Do you then conceive this to be the exact meaning of St. Paul, when he says, Ye are bought with a price? And that where the speaks of the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood,' he means, with his own virtue? Agreeably to which, Thou hast redeemed us by thy blood,' must mean, By "the right exercise of thy reason!" Well then might father Socinus say, "Tota redemp tionis nostræ per Christum Metaphora, The whole metaphor of our redemption by Christ." For on this scheme, there is nothing real in it.

"It was not the mere natural power or strength of the Lamb, but his most excellent character."-Sir, Do you honour the Son, even as you honour the Father? If you did, could you possibly talk of him in this strain?

However, all this does not affect the question: but it still remains an unshaken truth, that all men's dying in Adam is the grand cause, why the whole world lieth in wickedness.

NEWINGTON, Jan. 18, 1757.

1. In your second part you profess to "examine the principal passages of Scripture, which divines have applied in support of the doctrine of original sin: particularly those cited by the Assembly of Divines in their larger Catechism." (p. 87, 88.) To this I never subscribed but I think it is in the main, a very excellent composition. Which I shall therefore cheerfully endeavour to defend, so far as I conceive it is grounded on clear Scripture.

But I would first observe in general, with Dr. Jennings, that there are two kinds of texts in the ensuing collection: some that directly prove, others that properly illustrate the doctrine of original sin. And there are so many, in which it is either directly spoken of, or evidently implied, that the author might well have spared his observation,