for it Besides all this Misery that is inflicted upon the poor Body in this Life if it be not brought within the compass of a share in the Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ at the morning of the Resurrection it must be reunited to the Soul and sentenc'd to share with the Soul in eternal Misery having been a sharer with it in a course of Sin in this Life Thirdly I shall shew the Misery that Adam brought upon all his Offspring by the Fall Adam stood not before God as a single Person but as one that had all his Offspring in him They being all in him and to proceed from him by Generation became sharers with him in that state which he fell into Gen. 5.3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a Son in his own Likeness after his Image and called his Name Seth born to the same Misery that his Father Adam was in and a sharer with him in it Adam received Light from the eternal Creator and a holy rectitude of Soul and was under no necessity of giving way to a Temptation there being nothing in him while in his state of Innocency to fasten a Temptation upon so that his Fall was a voluntary going off from God He receiving those excellent Endowments of Soul and Body as a publick Person by his Transgression Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation Rom. 5.14 Nevertheless Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam 's Transgression For from Adam to Moses we do not read that after the Fall God ever treated with Adam or with his Offspring by an outward trial upon the terms of Do and live Besides Death then reigned and doth still reign over little Children whose Infant-state makes them uncapable of being put to the trial of their Obedience How doth daily Experience shew us that poor Infants are many times arrested as soon as gotten into the World by grievous Distempers as the Convulsions and such like which keep them in grievous Misery for several days together before the Soul be separated from the Body which is a sufficient Testimony that they have another's Sin imputed to them by which their very Nature is defiled upon which defiled Nature Death feeds until it hath brought it to Dissolution as to their Bodies but their Souls I desire to leave to that rich and free Grace which flows to Sinners through a second Adam the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Spirit 's applying of it to them without any outward means Having gone through this third Chapter which contains the misery of the first Adam and his Offspring before thou leavest it make some Application of it to thy own Soul Look back my Soul and see what thou wast in an unconverted state thou spentst twelve Years in gross darkness without the least knowledg of that God from whence thou receivedst thy being thou wast wholly given up to the ways of Sin without the least consideration what bitter Fruit it did produce that the way of it led to the Chambers of Death and the Pit of eternal Misery How many times wast thou while in this state nigh the Dissolution of thy Body the Grave both to thy self and others seeming to open its Mouth to receive thee What could have been thy state in eternity if thou hadst been then removed Dos not the holy Scripture fully declare that those who spend their days in Sin and in Satan's slavery shall he eternally miserable with him O my Soul tho thou couldst not pity thy self because of that gross darkness that was upon thee yet that God that gave thee thy being pitied thee and extended sparing Mercy to thee It is he that hath delivered thy Soul from Death thine Eyes from Tears and thy Feet from falling Thou now groanest in an unredeemed Body but thou viewst by Faith a redeem'd one Doth the Creation groan by reason of that weight of Sin that is upon it Thy Lord Jesus's Return draws very nigh his Coming will bring with it a removal of the Curse and times of Refreshing shall come with him he will renew the Earth and in it shall dwell nothing but Righteousness CHAP. IV. Of the Image of God that was upon the Heart of the first Adam how it discovers it self in the Hearts or Souls of his fallen Children The nature of the leadings of that first Covenant-light and the Condition of those that stand under the highest Attainment of it THat Adam was a publick Person and that the great Creator enter'd into Covenant with him upon the terms of Obey and live hath been proved in the foregoing Chapter and shall by the help of the Spirit of God be more fully demonstrated in this That all his Offspring as descending from him by Generation are under the same Covenant have some remaining Impressions of the same Law upon their Souls and Light from the Creator answering the terms of that first Covenant I shall First clear up from Scripture Secondly from the Sayings of many famous Gentiles Thirdly from common Experience of all Persons that do take notice of the dealings of God with their Souls And First to prove it from Scripture Deut. 30.11 12 13 14 15. For this Commandment which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off it is not in Heaven that thou shouldst say Who shall go up for us to Heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldst say Who shall go over the Sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the Word is very nigh unto thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that thou mayest do it I have set before thee this day Life and Good and Death and Evil. Compared with Rom. 2.14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law that is in the outward letter are a Law unto themselves Which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts their Conscience also bearing witness and their Thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another From which Scriptures it is evident that the Law delivered at Sinai and written in Tables of Stone was but a Copy of this inward Law which was ingraven in the Soul of Adam and on the Souls of all his Offspring It doth further appear that Adam's Offspring as they descend from him are under the same Covenant with himself from their dealing with God and his with them according to the terms of that first Covenant Gen. 4.5 6 7. But unto Cain and his Offering he had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his Countenance fell and the Lord said unto Cain Why art thou wroth and why is thy Conntenance fallen If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well Sin lieth at the
wherein consisted true Wisdom and heavenly Knowledg 2. The Memory a holy remembrance of such things as we ought 3. The Will a liberty of choosing or refusing 4. The Affections wherein lay the strength of the desire after God 5. The Conscience wherein lay Man's Integrity or Uprightness in walking with God And that the Soul might not be any ways deficient the Impress of the Law of the Creator was ingraven upon it which consisted in our Duty to God and to one another Adam wanted not Light to see the Excellency of the state wherein he was created which Light if followed would lead him to the Creator as the Spring from whence this his immortal Soul did come He was under the greatest Obligations that were possible of loving his Creator with all his Heart with all his Mind and with all his Strength and his Neighbour as himself both which parts of the Law he broke in going from his Duty to his Creator and by offering Violence to all his Offspring which were then in his Loins he being made their Representative and the Root from whence they were all to proceeed which I shall treat of more at large in the next Chapter and return now to speak of the Excellency of the Soul and of its immortal Nature 1. From the Scripture 2. From Experience in our viewing of dying Persons And 3. From the Sayings of many Gentiles First From the Scripture Eccles 12.7 Then shall the Dust return to the Earth and the Spirit return to God who gave it As it received Life from God without the Body so being separated from the Body it ceaseth not to be but goeth unto God its Creator to be disposed of by him see Phil. 1.21 I might also mention the Promise of Christ to the penitent Thief on the Cross I say to thee This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise and that of the Parable of the rich Man and Lazarus See also 2 Cor. 5.1 Secondly In our viewing of dying Persons How great Testimony have we of the Excellency of the Soul in its being immortal in that when the Body is languishing and under its last minutes drawing to a Dissolution the Soul is more active and quick than ever striving as it were to be gone from it Again the Excellency of the Soul in the Immortality of it doth appear in the dying Hopes of the Saints and the dying Fears and Terrors of the Wicked I my self have seen some who in their dying hours have carried the greatest Evidences of their Souls being immortal and that they were going to the eternal Enjoyment of God that was possible to be given enough to satisfy the most daring Atheist even a meeting of Death with the greatest sweetness and composedness of Spirit Give my Love saith one to me to such and such Friends and tell them by such a time my Soul will be in eternal Rest Their Souls have given forth the greatest Unconcernedness that was possible to part with those things that had been most delightful unto them by being brought to see into the Emptiness of all these inferiour things having received a view of the full Enjoyment of God to be had and that their Souls when separated from the Body were capable of such an enjoying of him Not many Months since I my self went to visit a dying Friend who at that time seem'd to me to be further from her Dissolution than she really was she seem'd to be exceeding chearful I said to her I hope you may recover you are better than you have been she answered I hope I shall not to which I replied Why do you hope so She answer'd My Evidences are clear for Heaven and I long to have the Enjoyment of it Again What an Evidence doth the dying Fears of unconverted Sinners carry with it of the Excellency of the Soul and of the Immortality of it for altho that part of the Image of God in their Souls which contained their Duty to God and to one another be defac'd and the Faculties of the Soul have lost that Rectitude and Order in which they were created yet the Evidences of the Excellency of it in being immortal and capable of an eternal Enjoyment of God have remained What Concernedness hath filled the Souls of dying unconverted Sinners about their eternal loss of God and how have they been seiz'd with the sad apprehensions of an eternal exclusion from him See Mr. Wadsworth on the Soul's Immortality and Dr. More Thirdly A third Evidence of the Immortality of the Soul and of the Excellency of it doth appear from the words of many famous Gentiles as quoted by William Penn in his Christian Quaker Chapter the 14th of Gentile Divinity of the Immortality of the Soul To which might be added the Sayings of divers Heathen Writers 1st Pythagoras The Soul is incorruptible it never dieth for when it goeth out of the Body it goeth into the other World the pure to God the impure bound by Furies in indissolvable Chains 2dly Heraclitus If my Body be over-press'd it may descend to the destinate place nevertheless my Soul shall not descend but being a thing immortal shall fly up on high to Heaven 3dly Socrates The Body being compounded it dissolved by Death the Soul being simple passeth into another Life incapable of Corruption The Souls of the good after Death are in a happy state united to God in a blessed inaccessible place the bad in convenient places suffering condign Punishment The same Socrates being condemned to die by Poison Crito one of his Followers ask'd him How wilt thou be buried As you think good saith he if you can catch me and if I give you not the slip Then with a smile applying himself to those that stood by him I cannot perswade Crito saith he that I am any more than the Carcase you will anon behold and therefore he takes care for my Interment It seems that what I even now told him that as soon as I have taken the Poison I shall go to the Joys of the Blessed hath been to little purpose From what hath been said it doth appear that the Soul of Man is of an excellent frame or make How happy was the first Adam while in the state of Innocency when every Faculty of the Soul stood in that Rectitude and Order wherein it was placed by the wise Creator and the Impressions of what was required of him ingraven upon his Heart For if that Law which is call'd the Law of Nature carry such Beauty in it now what Beauty had it in it before it was defac'd by Sin Adam while in the state of Innocency had no Corruption in him for to fasten the Temptation upon his Will was free and at liberty to join with or refuse the Temptation when presented to him and to incourage him in his Obedience he had the continuance in this his happy state promised to him for as the threatning if he disobey'd God carried Death with it so it must be
manifest it self it leads the Administrator unto a chearful administring the Ordinance to such Persons And he Peter commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord. Those that do lay aside the Supper-Ordinance do say that Christ is come and therefore the Supper-Ordinance is of no longer continuance But if such Persons would seriously consider what the coming of Christ is which they speak of they would do well for if by coming inwardly into the Soul and the Holy Ghost's manifesting him in the Soul by the Glass of the Gospel be meant this is the Qualification to come to the Ordinance and so he is come to every sincere Christian 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Compared with Ephes 3.17 That Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith This dwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ by Faith is the inward discerning of him in his Sufferings which being wholly wanting in those that do partake of the outward part of the Ordinance they eat and drink Damnation to themselves not discerning the Lord's Body But if by being come they intend such a coming as to exclude the Expectation of the second Personal Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ Whom the Apostle tells us Acts 3.21 the Heaven must receive until the Restitution of all things then they destroy one of the Articles of the Christian Faith The Saints in this day do in a measure witness with the Apostles the inward Enjoyment of him by Faith and by the same Faith that they liv'd in do expect the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ The Apostle John speaks fully to this in 1 Joh. 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is They could not be brought into the state of Children without the inward Enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ by Faith for this is the Evidence of Sonship and it doth not yet appear what we shall be in Eternity we do but as in a Glass behold the Glory that the Children shall there be made partakers of but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Not alone we know that he is ours but we know that he will hold and keep us till we enjoy eternal Glory with our Head the Lord Jesus Christ at his second personal Appearance then shall our vile Bodies be changed like his glorious Body and we be ever with the Lord. The next thing to be treated of is that the way of administring the Ordinances be kept to according to the Rule of the Word and that is as to the Ordinance of Baptism a burial of the Body in Water in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Buried with him by Baptism into Death Leigh in his Note upon the words of Rom. 6.4 The Apostle saith he alludes to the manner in which Baptism was then administred which was to plunge the Baptized in the Water after which they put on new Garments whence those manners of speaking used in Scripture to put on Christ to put off the old Man and put on the new Mr. Perkins agrees with Leigh as to the manner of Administration of the Ordinance of Baptism in the Primitive Church and tells us that it was altered from plunging of the Body under Water to sprinkling in the Face by reason of the Coldness of this Northern Climate but from whence the Power is derived to make any alteration in the Ordinance from its Primitive Institution this that holy Man shews not as if the Elements were not subject to the Power of God and he were not sufficient to preserve his Children in their Obedience to him in his own Appointments Secondly The way of administring the Supper-Ordinance we have set down by the Lord Jesus who was the first Administrator Mat. 26.26 27 28. And as they were eating that is the Passover Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to his Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body The Bread put for the thing signified by it which was the Body of Christ Ver. 27. And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it Ver. 28. For this is my Blood that is a Sacrament or figure of his Blood poured forth of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of Sins This leads me to the next thing What the Ordinances do hold forth when administred according to the Rule of the Word I shall first treat of the Ordinance of Baptism which consists of two parts the one outward the other inward the outward part I have spoken to already which is a Burial of the Body in Water the inward part figured out by the outward is the Burial and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 6.4 5. Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection As the outward Declaration of the Gospel is the instrumental Means in the hand of the Holy Ghost to convey that which is held forth by it which is the Lord Jesus Christ unto the Soul so is the Ordinance of Baptism the Means appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ and made use of by the Spirit to convey that which is held forth by it The outward of it self conveys nothing it is only made use of by the holy Spirit to set before the Soul what is figured out by it The Burial of the Body holds forth the Burial of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Benefits which we receive by it which is a discharge from the Penalty of Sin and our rising out of the Water his Resurrection and the Benefits which we receive by it which is to walk with God in newness of Life by Power received from the Father through the Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ The holy Spirit accompanying the Ordinance doth let the Soul see what Christ hath gone through to free it from Hell and to procure for it the Enjoyment of Heaven which inward sight by Faith knits the Soul to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ The Apostle calls it a being planted into the likeness of his Death and into the likeness of his Resurrection The Believer is let into Christ so as to draw that spiritual Life by which he lives unto God from the Lord Jesus Christ he not only lives in the Enjoyment of the Father but doth likewise convey of that spiritual Life unto all his Members in a measure For
lies Man's chief Happiness Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life 2. The things that concern the outward Man are through the Inlightnings of the holy Spirit beheld as of less Concern and Worth altho they do lie next to Sense and the Hearts of the Saints have been inabled to get above them and to part with them when they stood in Competition with the sincere performance of those Duties which God call'd them to The Inlightning of the Spirit doth concern it self for the outward Man but it is that Nature may be satisfied and not Lust gratified it is that such a Supply may be given as Nature may be kept from Temptations not that we may run into Temptations Remove far from me Vanity and Lies give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with Food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain While the Heart is without the Inlightnings of the Spirit it is made a Servant to those things that are most obvious to Sense Daily Experience shews us that the Heart of every unconverted Sinner doth place its Satisfaction in the enjoyment of these things altho they end in Death so that the Inlightnings of the holy Spirit are absolutely necessary in the Duty of Prayer 3. The holy Spirit gives inward Life and Motion to the Faculties of the Soul that so the Soul may be ingag'd in the Duty Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered That is the Spirit follows the Inlightnings with inward Life and Motion by which the Heart is set a working after God for the removal of that which stands in the way of Communion with him and for the obtaining of it there is an inward sensibility doth accompany the Matter which we present unto God in Duty not only the things we pray for are presented unto God as those we have need of but the Heart goes along with them that our Heavenly Father may see we are in earnest with him Psal 25.1 Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my Soul Compared with Psal 119.20 My Soul breaketh for the longings that it hath to thy Judgments at all times The holy Spirit draws out the Heart with such earnestness unto God as if there were a Separation going to be made betwixt the Soul and the Body 4. The holy Spirit doth lead the Soul in the way by which Entrance is obtain'd into Heaven We must distinguish betwixt the Spirit 's Intercession in us and the Son's Intercession for us The Spirit 's Intercession in us is that supplicating begging frame which the holy Spirit doth inable the Soul to express it self in when it appears before God yet this through the weakness of the Creature is attended with a great deal of Imperfection But the Intercession of the Son for us as Mediator the Church's Head is that upon which our admittance into Heaven is granted His Prayer is a perfect Prayer and carries Incense along with it to perfume ours Rev. 8.3 And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given him much Incense that he should offer it with the Prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne This Angel is the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus Christ as Mediator and the Church's Head the Censer is his holy glorified Body the Man Christ the Incense is his Divine Nature the Perfume of which perfuming the Supplications or Prayers of the Saints and ascending with them before God gains acceptance That Spirit that would assume a right of giving Salvation by Man's Obedience to it its Work is as opposite to the leadings of the Holy Ghost as Light and Darkness For as the Declaration of the Gospel leads to the Lord Jesus Christ as God-Man in one Person our Emanuel as Redeemer and as Mediator who is able to save all those that come to God by him so with this doth the Holy Ghost agree in his inward Witness in the Souls of the Saints Joh. 15.26 27. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testify of me And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning This is that new and living way which the Apostle speaks of which gives Boldness in our approaching before God Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh The Holiest that is into Heaven of which the Sanctum Sanctorum under the Law was a Type by a living way that enlivens the Person that walks in it boldness or a holy freedom being given to plead with God which yet causeth great Humility in the Soul its acceptance with God being grounded upon the account of another's Worthiness which by Faith the Soul is inabled to behold and not upon the account of its own Worthiness This is the Way that meets the Experience of the Saints that are now upon the Earth this is the Way that the Flock walk'd in who are gone to Heaven before us we may say we are compassed about with a Cloud of Witnesses The second part of this Head of the Duty of Prayer is to shew the necessity of the continuance of it while we are on this side Eternity 1st Because we have a multitude of Temptations attending of us outwardly And 2dly Because the Soul doth too readily join with the Baits that gratify corrupt Nature First I shall shew you that we have a multitude of Temptations attending of us outwardly The World is gotten to a very high pitch of Atheism and Profaneness Christianity as to the Power of it is not only removed but Persons have lost that Morality that former Ages did enjoy You can hardly deal in the World now but you are in danger every moment to be carried away with the Stream the Difficulties of getting an outward Support for the Body being great Satan takes the advantage of it to draw out the Corruptions of Mens Hearts after these things so as to hurry them forward in their Endeavours to keep and to gain a share in this fading World without any Consideration Where is the Person that hath the Fear of the Almighty before him and an inward Tenderness lest he should offend him Did David take up this Complaint Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tenths of Kedar My Soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth Peace What cause have we every day to take up the same Complaint if we look upon the
implied that his Obedience should continue Life to him But stop my Soul and take a view of what thou hast been treating in this Chapter Was Adam so happy in having his Soul created in the Image of God Did his Understanding consist in true Wisdom Was his Memory sanctified with the remembring or meditating upon divine things Was the Will at liberty of chusing or refusing Were the Affections taken up with the desire of enjoying Communion with the Creator Was the Conscience upright in walking with God Consider my Soul that the Children of the second Adam who are gotten to the Souls of just Men made perfect in Glory have this Image fully restored to them again and in many respects are in a better condition than the first Adam enjoy'd in Innocency for his State was brought to the trial whether he could be able to stand before a Temptation or not their Condition is eternally fixt and never more subject to trial by any Temptation O my Soul art thou interested by Faith in this second Adam Dost thou witness a recovery of the same Excellency of the Image of God upon thee in a good measure which the first Adam enjoy'd in his Innocency by the powerful workings of the Spirit of God upon thee Then wilt thou behold more and more of the Beauty of it the more thou experiencest of the recovery of this holy Image in thee the stronger will be thy Cries after a full recovery of it the more thou seest of inward Corruption by which this blessed Image is defac'd the stronger will be thy Cries unto God against this Corruption and that thou mayst be brought to that blessed place where the Souls of the Children of the second Adam are made perfect CHAP. III. Of the Fall of Adam The miserable change of his Condition by the Fall and how all his Offspring were included in it THE great and glorious Creator that he might shew forth his Soveraignty over that curious Creature Man whom he had created in his own Image and that he might shew unto Man that he did require a perfect Obedience from him was pleased to try his Obedience by prohibiting of him to eat of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die This Tree was to be as a warning to them of their Mutability for altho the state wherein they were created was a most glorious state nevertheless it was such a state as was liable to be lost the Creature enjoying of it upon the terms of a perfect Obedience not that the Tree could give Knowledg but by tasting of if the terms upon which Adam and Eve stood in the favour of God were broken on Man's part and so they came to have the experimental knowledg of Evil in themselves which before they had of Good only But altho God had no hand at all in Satan's Temptation or in Adam and Eve's Sin yet we may safely own God to be concerned in the Fall of Adam and Eve to far as to give them up into the hands of the Tempter and giving the Tempter power over them to try them whether they would willingly go from their Obedience to God or no he having afore by his eternal Decree determined to magnify his Power Justice and Mercy For being able to bring Good out Evil as Light out of Darkness he ordereth in his Wisdom the Fall of Man to the setting out of the Glory of his Mercy in those that shall be saved in Christ and of his Justice on those that shall perish for their Sins out of Christ Satan being fallen from a glorious Angel through his Pride into the depths of Ruin was fill'd with Melice against God and with Envy at the happy state of Adam and Eve and endeavours to bring them into the like Misery with himself and so is rightly call'd a Murderer from the beginning Joh. 8.44 He was a Murderer from the beginning and abode not in the Truth because there is no Truth in him When he speaketh a Lie he speaketh of his own for he is a Liar and the Father of it He gains upon Eve by first questioning her concerning what God had commanded Gen. 3.1 Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of Every Tree of the Garden And finding by her Answer that he gain'd upon her she not answering to his Question as God had spoken that surely they should die but by a term of doubting lest ye die he proceeds in his Temptation to a flat denial of the truth of the Threatning Gen. 3.4 5. And the Serpent said unto the Woman Ye shall not surely die For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Hereby endeavouring to beget in Eve's Mind hard thoughts of God as if his prohibiting them to eat of that Tree was to keep a future good from them and begetting Pride in her Mind in not being satisfied with that happy state and condition that she was then in Thus through Unbelief in God and Pride to be like unto God did Sin enter into Eve and through Eve's Prevalency with her Husband Sin enter'd into him Thus we may see the nature of Sinners is to draw others to the same Condemnation they are in as Satan Eve and Eve her Husband even those who are nearest them whose good they should procure Having cleared up how Adam and Eve were brought into their fallen State I proceed to shew the miserable state that they were fallen into and how their Offspring were included in it and I shall treat of it under these three Heads I shall first shew the miserable change that was brought upon their Souls Secondly The miserable change that was brought upon their Bodies And Thirdly The miserable state they brought upon all their Posterity The Sentence threaten'd against Adam and Eve for their Disobedience in eating the forbidden Fruit did not reach to a Dissolution of the Soul as to its being for the Soul remains immortal after Sin enter'd as it was before but the Sentence reached to a Dissolution of that Union that was betwixt the great Creator and the Soul the Soul by Sin being changed from that happy state in which it was created into a state of Misery the Faculties of the Soul being put out of that Rectitude and Order in which at first they were placed The Understanding wherein consisted true Wisdom and the knowledg of heavenly things is now become blind and dark ignorant of God and of his Will 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned compared with Ephes 4.17 18 19. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their Minds having the Vnderstanding darkened being alienated from the Life of