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SERMON III.

ADAM OUR FEDERAL HEAD.

ROM. V. 12-19.

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. For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift; for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the right. eousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

This is the only passage in the Bible which draws such a complete parallel between Adam and Christ; and therefore the extent of the parallel is to be learned from this passage chiefly. This is, I believe,

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the only passage which clearly states that the condemnation of mankind to temporal death, carries in it full evidence of their condemnation to spiritual and eternal death. It is the only passage which teaches that the posterity of Adam are, in any sense, condemned to eternal death for his sin. Not that any are condemned before they are personally sinners and deserving of condemnation on their own account: but a race of infants, whom the omniscient eye sees to be worthy of eternal death, but whose hearts cannot be expressed by their own conduct so as to become the declared ground of condemnation, are publicly condemned, not for the wickedness of Adam's heart, but for an outward act of his, which, by fixing, disclosed their hearts as much as any act of their own could have done. The only points that we shall have to leave among the hidden things of God, are, that infants are allowed to come into the world depraved, either on account of Adam's sin or otherwise, and that they are condemned to eternal death for their own depravity.

Before entering on the consideration of the text, I wish to bring up what information I can gather, on the general subject, from other parts of Scripture. I will therefore divide the labor into two parts, and will,

I. Present the light which other parts of the Bible cast on this general subject.

II. Consider the federal headship treated of in the text.

I. I will present the light which other parts of the Bible cast on this general subject.

1. Several things which God originally said of Adam and to Adam, but which had no immediate connexion with the covenant made with him, were obviously meant of his whole posterity. For instance: "God said, Let us make man in our image, -and let them have dominion over-all the earth.— And he said" to the first created pair "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it."

2. It was said to Adam, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." He ate, and incurred all the evil which sin deserves; viz: death spiritual, (or abandonment to confirmed and total depravity,) death temporal, and death eternal.

3. In consequence of the plan of grace which was immediately introduced, no other sentence was formally and expressly pronounced on Adam than condemnation to temporal pain and death. This sentence however was intended publicly to denote a just exposure to spiritual and eternal death.

4. In this sentence of condemnation to temporal pain and death, both Scripture and experience show that the posterity of Adam share. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou

shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." Who does not see that this sentence was pronounced on the whole human family, by being pronounced on Adam their federal head? By this sentence it was "appointed unto men" in general "once to die.” That the transgression of Adam and Eve entailed on their posterity the temporal calamities contained in this sentence, is taken for granted in Paul's first Epistle to Timothy.* In his first Epistle to the Corinthians, he draws a parallel between Adam and Christ, so far as relates to their respective influence on the body; saying that "as in Adam all die” a natural death, "even so in Christ shall all be made alive," or delivered from natural death in the resurrection. He states also in the same chapter,‡ that 66 as we have," in the fashion of our bodies, "borne the image of the earthy," or the first Adam, so in the resurrection the bodies of the saints will "bear the image of the heavenly," who is expressly called "the last Adam."

That the posterity of Adam share in this condemnation of their federal head to temporal death, our text most explicitly asserts. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them

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