A brief view of the state of mankind in the first Adam and the second Adam being the sum of many larger discourses upon that great context of the redemption and mediation of Jesus Christ / by T. Beverley.

To you my Honoured and Tru∣ly Loved Hearers, I propose to present the Mediatorship, and Redemption of Jesus Christ in this Context, in a Summary view of each parti∣cular, whereof I have discour∣sed at large, that you may have it always in Remem∣brance.

NOW the Apostle had in his foregoing Discourse set out the absolute Necessity, All Mankind have of a Medi∣ator of Righteousness, and Ac∣ceptance with God to Eternal Life, by way of Reconciliation, Propitiation, Attonement, and Redemption, to Reprize and Recover them: For All have

sinned and fallen short of that Glory of God, and are run in∣to Sin, Judgment, Death, and Condemnation, so as to have their Mouths stop'd, and to be∣come Guilty before God.

He had with all express'd at large the absolutely perfect, and sufficient Mediation of Je∣sus Christ to all those purposes of Life; and shewn, that the best of men, such as Abraham and Da∣vid, had trusted wholly to it. And upon good Reason, for therein Conscience may forever sit down in Peace with God, and rest in hope of his Glory, and by no other way can they so do.

In this Context He doth both remove an Objection in∣cident to what He had said, and exceedingly amplifies the Mediatorship of Christ.

The Objection He removes is, That it may seem strange to

be justified before God, and ac∣cepted with Him by the Righ∣teousness of Another.

To this the Apostle supplies an Answer, That it was always so intended by God to justifie and accept Humane Nature, by a Common Head, or Mediator of it, standing Righteous before Him; while it is always to be understood, that an Inward, Real, and Inherent Righteous∣ness, and Active Obedience, should be conveyed from the Righteousness of that Common Head or Mediator.

This the Apostle proves by strong interwoven Assertions, that Adam was at first such a Common Head, and Mediator; in whose Continuance to stand Righteous before God, this whole Posterity of Humane Nature should have also stood Righteous, and in Grace, and Favour with God, and have

maintained an inward Righte∣ousness, and active Obedience to Him to Eternal Life. And therefore, when by Sin He fell, He became by the force of that Constitution, an unhappy Me∣diator of Sin, Judgment, Con∣demnation, and Death, and al∣so of inward Ʋnrighteousness and Disobedience to an innu∣merable Train of actual Trans∣gressions.

Therefore it follows the Con∣veyance of Righteousness to Ju∣stification, and of the Power of Sanctification to the Reign of, and in Eternal Life by Jesus Christ is much stronger, then the Conveyance of Righteousness by Adam, (as if he had stood was intended) or of Sin and Death by his Fall, of which there is so long and sad Expe∣rience.

But then further, the Apo∣stle Aggrandizes and Amplifie••

the Redemption, Headship, and Communication of Christ above that of Adam; in that He calls Adam but a Type or Figure of Him that was to come (or more significantly, of Him that was to be, viz. the Common Head, or Mediator, whom God de∣sign'd in the foresight at least of Adams Fall, to be that Com∣mon Head, or Mediator of Righteousness (though by way of Rescue, and Recovery) to Humane Nature, and that un∣changeably and irreversably.

As therefore the Antitype or Person Figured excells the Type or Person Figuring, so Christ excells Adam as a Head, or Mediator of Righteousness; And when Adam came to be a Head of Sin, and of Apostacy, the Communication of Life, and Righteousness from Christ sur∣mounts not only in the Quali∣ty, and Dignity of Things

communicated, viz. Of Grace, Righteousness, and Life, above Sin, Wrath, Death, and Con∣demnation, but in the Abun∣dancy and Efficacy of the Com∣munication, as is by the Apo∣stle most magnificently dis∣play'd, both in the Grand Pro∣position, v. 18. and in the at∣tending Parallels, or Compari∣sons double on each side of the Proposition; as shall be seen in their just Order, and Places.

The only Limitation, and Restraint for the Right Un∣derstanding of the whole is.

That those, to whom Christ is a Head of Communication, of what is in Him, must be in Him, as All Mankind was, and is descendingly from Adam, else there can be no Communi∣cation.

And yet, Though All men are universally, none excepted

in Adam, and none but the truly Regenerate or Born again are in Christ, which are alas in Comparison, but the Few of Mankind. Yet this does not prejudice or lessen the Head∣ship of Christ, or make it run lower in its surmount of Com∣municativeness, above the Com∣municativeness of Adams Sin and Guilt, and Death and Con∣demnation upon it.

This is the prospect of the whole, to which every parti∣cular shall answer in its due Time and Place.

Proposit. 1.

The First point I begin with, is upon the Center of the Com∣parison betwixt Adam and Christ, viz. That the First Adam is the Figure or Type of Him, who is to be the Second and Last Adam; for beyond Him there can be none.

The First Adam Created by God in a Righteous and Holy

Estate, and in a direct Line to Life was ordain'd by God, a Common Head, and Mediator of Humane Nature, and was, if He had stood to have Remain∣ed so, and to have conveyed indefeisably his Excellent State to his Posterity; But because of his Fall, fore-seen by God, He was but a Figure, or Type of Jesus Christ, the onely per∣fect Adam, For in that He is the Second and the Last; It ar∣gues He is the onely perfect; For if the First had not been Found Fault with, There had been no place Found for a Se∣cond, and if there could any Fault have been Found with the Second, He might not have been the Last.

The Great Proof of this Pro∣position, and of the whole Train, that here Follows upon it, Lyes in the Word of God.

It is True indeed, we must by the Line of Reason Ascend to some First Father of Man∣kind, who will in the very Na∣ture of the Thing be a Trustee, or Common Person for his Po∣sterity, and when we must needs Believe, That First Parent came perfect out of the Creatours Hand, and when we find the Remains, and mentions of such a Perfection in our selves, in the Law written in our Hearts, we must therefore conclude; He by his Transgression lost that Perfection into a State of Sin and Death, wherein we Find our selves so far ingulph'd.

And when so Great a Second Adam, as the Son of God in our Nature is Reveal'd to us by the Gospel. Reason must needs Assent, that It is a Recovery of Humane Nature, both most proper and most Illustrious, of which Grace of God, Nature hath some Light.

But the Greatest Proof, I say, is the Word of God, which we have strongest Reason to Believe, seeing we find those most Intimate Principles ingra∣ven on our Hearts, so Fairly written in that Word of God. And when we Find the High∣est Accounts of Sin and Death, so sensibly and experimentally Known in the World to be most Rationably and Credibly Trac'd to their Original in the same Word, far beyond all in the World, that is written of them. We must needs have Greatest force of Conviction of its Truth.

Now that the First Adam was Intended by God to be such a Figure of Him that is to Be, Besides, that the Assertion is Seated here in the midst of this weighty Discourse of Re∣demption; It is also made the Center of as great a Discourse of the Resurrection. These Two* 1.1

Adams, (call'd also Two Men, the First and Second Man, as if there had been but those Two Men at any Time in the World) and indeed there were never Any Two such Men, Men each Comprehending whole Humane Nature within Themselves; Heads each of the Nature, Communicating to it All in Themselves; Two Per∣fect Men, at the Full dimensi∣ons, Men, as Adam before the Fall, and Jesus Christ for Ever: These Two are made, One the Head of Death, the other of the Resurrection.

These Two Men then, I say, had the whole Nature of Man in them; Adam, Created the onely Man in the World, and Eve, One Adam with Him, com∣prizing All the Nature to des∣cend from Him.

Jesus Christ hath this Na∣ture, whole and entire in Him:

He, as the Son of God, of an Eternal Personage in Himself, Embrac'd and Assum'd, not a Humane Person, but the Abstract Humane Nature, by the Imme∣diate Operation of the Divine Spirit, not deriving it from Adam in the way of ordinary Generation, and so not under Him, as a Head.

And yet the First of these Two Common Heads, Adam passes under Headship of Jesus Christ, which peculiarity of so doing is nothing to Any of Those to whom He Communi∣cates, as such a Common Head, Humane Nature. For Adam by Faith came under Christ, as the Head of Recovery, of which none of Humane Na∣ture descending from Him re∣ceive any Thing more than from any other man. For He did not that as a Common Head, but as one private man;

For in that Act, He forsook his own Apostate Headship, chusing rather to be under the saving Headship of Christ.

But Jesus Christ by the in∣finitely wise Counsel of God, though He took the same com∣mon Nature of the Sons of Adam, yet he took it on a new Title; not from Adam as a Head; but as the Son of God from the Holy Spirit; and not under Adam's Covenant, so that while He derived his sub∣stance, his Nature as man, from Him, so as to be called the Son of Adam, and the Seed of the Woman; He was yet by the prerogative of his Immedi∣ate Conception from the Divine Spirit, the Son of God in a Higher Sense then Adam was the Son of God; even in regard of his Humane Nature Christ was so the Son of God.

And while the Seed that are in Him Receives nothing from him of the old Humane Na∣ture, but from Adam only; They yet receive from him a new Humane Nature, parallel by Regeneration to his miracu∣lous Generation, in the Renova∣tion of their Nature; And as Eve was taken out of Adam, so they are his Spouse, taken as* 1.2 out of him by mystical Commu∣nication from him; They are from him, also as Children from the second Adam, Father of the World to come. They are conform'd to him, as the First born among many Brethren, so* 1.3 that all Types, all Relations meet in him.

Let us then settle this First point; That Adam was made by God a common Person, a Head, a Root, a Mediator of Humane Nature, not of Inter∣cession, but of Communication;

so that if he had stood, He had held up Humane Nature, and herein he was primarily a Type of Christ.

Arguments of this.

1. Whatever Adam was made at first, In that he was made a Type of Him that was to be, viz. Christ. But God* 1.4 Created him in his own Image at first, in Knowledge, Righte∣ousness, and True Holiness; He made him upright.

Now if Adam in this State had not been a Type of Him, that was to be; It had been too late, (as I may so say,) when he had sinned, and fallen to be made such a Type, for that had been to enchain his Posterity in Sin and Death, without any prevention; which can never be supposed to be done by God; He was

then at first a Head of Life, and Righteousness. And this is the first Sense of his being a Type of Christ, who is to be, viz. in Communication of Life and Righteousness. And by his Fall only a Head of Sin and Death, else he had been not a Type, but a Counter Head only.

But in being such a Head, he is infinitely out-done by Christ; For the First Adam was made a living Soul, He had the Breath of Life breathed in∣to him. Gen. 2. v. 7. Adam might, as a Vessel of Gold, have held that Life given him by God. But He was not a Spring that could still supply it, that it could not be lost, nor spring it again if lost; He could not Rise from the Dead, nor Raise the Dead.

This Christ can do, as the Last Adam, the Lord from Heaven,* 1.5 a quickning Spirit, For as the

Father hath life in himself; So* 1.6 hath he given to the Son, to have life in himself; They there∣fore, that are dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God, and Live, He is a Well of water* 1.7 springing up to Eternal Life; Adam might Fall, because he had not the Spring of Life; Christ cannot Fail; and can recover the Fallen, because he is the Life it self; Here is our own Hope.

2. Adam was in state of Favor and Acceptance with God; As a Prince He went near unto Him, and declared to Him concerning the Crea∣tures,* 1.8 concerning Eve, he was not afraid of God till he sinn'd.

This he was to have con∣vey'd. For to convey the Wrath and Displeasure of God, so as that his Children should be Children of Wrath by Nature,* 1.9 and not to have convey'd the

Favor of God, had not been according to either the Justice or Goodness of God.

But being fallen into Dis∣pleasure, he cannot, as the on∣ly begotten Son of the Father,* 1.10 〈◊〉〈◊〉 higher than the Heavens; ••he 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in whom he is well pleas'••. I ……ede or Mediate for Hi•• self, or his Posterity; It is Christ onely, who by his Spirit, even the Spirit of the* 1.11 Son sent into their Hearts, re∣stores his to the Crying Abba, Father.

3. Adam was in his Creation, and the Covenant made with Him upon it, to be a Head of Life, and of a Blessed Immorta∣lity, and to have conveyed it to All in Him; Of this the Tree of Life in the midst of Pa∣radise* 1.12 was a Sacrament.

But not as the Son of God in our Nature, (as was before set out in the Life of Righteousness)

Christ is the Lord of Life and Glory the Resurrection and the Life, which Adam could not be, but when that Life God Gave Him was Lost, as He 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not keep it, so He could not restore it; but in Adam All Dye, All in Christ are made Alive.* 1.13

But that we may ……ther Understand the Great Wi••••••m of God, in making such a Head as Adam was at first, who there∣by became a Figure of Him that was to Be, and that It was to the Great Good of Man∣kind considered in it self, will thus Appear.

1. God, who certainly Knows, what was Best for his own Crea∣tion, and particularly for the Humane Creation, dispos'd it thus, (as most secure for it) under a Common Head and Me∣diator (therein Fore-shewing the Lasting Happiness of Man∣kind

in Christ) For thus no single Person would be in dan∣ger to be Lost, but the whole secur'd in One, viz. in one Common Head Answering for All.

2. This One was the Common Parent of all Mankind, and so had a Parental Love and Care ingrafted into Him by God for his Posterity, the Remains of which we see now how strongly It Acts among Men.

3. He was Accomplish'd with All Powers of Standing, so that nothing lay upon Him, but to Hold what He Had, and to Live in the Constant Exercise and display of it.

4. It was but One Instance, or Act of Obedience, upon which the whole Righteousness and Happiness of Man was suspen∣ded; viz. His not Eating the Forbidden Fruit: the singular Test, and proof God put upon

Him of his Love and Fidelity to Himself, and in which All his Holy and Excellent State, as by one unlooseable Knot, if not Cut by Sin was kept strait and entire; of which the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a Sacrament, and standing Admonition.

5. It is most Reasonable to believe, there was a certain de∣terminate Time, and that but short; wherein Adam's Obe∣dience was to be Try'd, and if He had stood that Shock, and Resisted the Temptation, He and his Posterity had been con∣firm'd for ever.

In him therefore Humane Nature had the fullest and fair∣est View It could have, and the most ample Advantages for it self to be Happy for ever; Adam therefore was thus eve∣ry way Fit, and most Advan∣tageously, and by the Infinite

Goodness of the Creator plac'd as the Common Head of Man∣kind, as a Type of Christ.

The Application, and Use of this first Proposition, is;

1. The Consideration of Hu∣mane Nature Enstated at first in its Common Parent, as its Head and Mediator, Furnish'd with the Life of Righteousness and Holiness, in a State of Fa∣vor with God, and in the Assu∣rance of a Blessed Immortality, and yet so wofully Fallen by our First Parent, should ex∣ceedingly Humble and Abase us before God, in a just Sense of our Fallen Condition; as be∣ing the effect of our own dis∣loyalty in Adam, our Repre∣sentative, and in whom we may see our own Falseness, and the great Faithfulness of God to us.

2. It Teaches us to Adore the Grace of God in Jesus Christ,

so Blessed a Mediator, who can∣not fail us, to fly to Him, as our onely security, both from the Ruine we are fallen into by Adam, and also from our own False Righteousness, that seems to remain to us, and from the Treachery and Falseness of our own Hearts, and Resolu∣tions in Holiness: All our Se∣curity is in Christ alone, and in dependency on Him.

3. We should therefore look most diligently to this, that we are Found in the Second Adam, the Head of our Recovery, who so much excells the First Adam, though he had not fallen; how much more, when he is Fallen, and become the Head of Ruine and Apostacy, For he onely, who by being in the Son, hath the Son, He only hath Life, but who hath not the Son, hath not* 1.14 Life, but the Wrath of God abides upon Him.

Notes

• * 1.1

  1 Cor. 15. 45. 47.
• * 1.2

  Ephes. 5. 32.
• * 1.3

  Esay. 9. 6. Rom. 8. 29.
• * 1.4

  Gen. 1. 27. Eccl. 7. 29.
• * 1.5

  1 Cor. 15. 45.
• * 1.6

  John 5. 25, 26.
• * 1.7

  c. 4. 14.
• * 1.8

  Genes. 2. 19. 23.
• * 1.9

  Ephes. 2.
• * 1.10

  Ma••. 3. 17.
• * 1.11

  Galat. 4. 6.
• * 1.12

  Genes. 2. c.
• * 1.13

  1 Cor. 15. 21, 22.
• * 1.14

  1 John ••. 12. John. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.