THE

DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN,

STATED AND DEFENDED.

TWO

SERMONS,

By Mr. PETER GOODWIN, Minister of the Gospel.

SERMON I.

ROM. V. 19.

By one man's disobedience many were made sinners.

THE part allotted me in these exercises, is to endeavour to open and vindicate the doctrine of original sin; a doctrine of very great importance, and wherein we are all highly concerned: It is one of the fundamental truths of our Christian profession. It lies (says the excellent Dr Owen*) in the very foundation of all wherein we have to do with God, with respect to our pleasing him here, or obtaining the enjoyment of him hereafter. It has a very great influence upon the important truths concerning the person of Christ, his mediation, the fruits and effects of it, and all the benefits we are made partakers of thereby. Without a supposition of this, none of them can be truly known, or savingly believed: Accordingly, it is a doctrine that the Church of God was in full possession of, and was generally held and acknowledged for the four first centuries, till Pelagius, and his followers denied and disputed against it. But, notwithstanding this was an undoubted article of primitive Christianity, notwithstanding the great importance of it, and the great concernment we

Preface to his Treatise on Indwelling Sin.

all have in it, it is a doctrine that is greatly opposed, and treated with contempt, and profane banter and ridicule, by many in the age in which we live. And as it cannot therefore be deemed unseasonable, so it is highly becoming those who have the real interests of religion at heart, and a just zeal for the pure and uncorrupted doctrines of the Gospel, to stand up in the defence of it: Nor can any justly be offended at it, so long as we make use of no unwarrrantable methods, but only endeavour, in the pleading for what we apprehend to be the faith once delivered to the saints, to speak the truth in love.

This therefore, I shall now attempt: and as original sin consists of two parts, that which is imputed to us, and that which is inherent in us, and it is necessary we should be acquainted with both, that we may look after that two-fold righteousness we have in Christ, his righteousness imputed to us, in justification, and an inherent work of righteousnesss wrought in us, in sanctification, I shall consider each of these a little distinctly.

The former of these is a matter of pure revelation, and therefore we must regulate all our conceptions about it by, and look for the confirmation of it only in, the Scriptures. It was very agreeable to reason to suppose, that the Great and Holy God made man pure and upright, and placed him under a wise and equitable law for his conduct; but whence sin took its rise, and what was the origin of all that moral evil that is in the world, and that long train of miseries that attend it, was a question too puzzling for mere natural light to resolve. This we are wholly indebted to the Scriptures for; and it is, I think, very clearly expressed in the words of my text.

The Apostle having fully proved the doctrine of justification by faith, proceeds, in this excellent chapter, in the explication, illustration and application of that truth. He shews us the precious benefits and privileges that flow from justification: He acquaints us with the ground and foundation of it, the death of Christ;

and that he might affect his own heart and our's with that unspeakable love of God, which provided a Saviour, and sent his only begotten Son into the world, for that purpose, he considers the character and circumstances of the persons, for whom he appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, and laid down his life: They were not friends, and such as were able to oblige him; but "God herein commendeth his love, that when we were sinners," ungodly, enemies and without strength, either to help ourselves, or be serviceable to him, "Christ died for us," ver. 6, 7, 8. He illustrates it also from the consideration of the precious fruits of his death, ver. 9, 10, 11. And then further, to shew our obligations to him, he runs a parallel between the communication of sin and death by the first, and of righteousness and life by the second, Adam. This not only illustrates the great truth he is discoursing of, but tends very much to the commending the love of God, and the comforting the hearts of true believers,in shewing a correspondence between our fall and our recovery; and not only a like, but a greater, power in the second Adam to make us happy, than there was in the first to make us miserable. He compares them together as two public heads and representatives of men, and copiously enlarges upon and explains the parallel, ver. 11-21, and comprises the sum and substance of the whole, in the verse which is my text; "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous."

Our present concernment lies in the former clause, which acquaints us how mankind came to be involved in sin and misery, I say mankind, for that by many here we are to understand all Adam's posterity, tha descend from him, by ordinary generation, is universally acknowledged: But it does by no means follow from thence that the many in the latter clause are o an equal extent and latitude; for the design of the Apostle here, is not to treat of the extent of Christ's benefits, but to show the manner of their conveyance

to those who are happily admitted to share in them, whatever their numbers be; that Christ communicates grace and righteousness to all whom he represents, i. e. the elect, as Adam transferred sin and death on those whom he represented, which are all men: So that the great truth contained in the text, which I am to consider and improve is this;-By one man's disobidience all mankind are made sinners.

In speaking to which proposition. I shall, by Divine assistance, observe the following method.

I. I shall inquire what the one man's disobedience here intended is.

II. I shall shew in what sense all mankind are said, to be made sinners, by that one man's disobedi

ence.

III. I shall consider the ground of this dispensation. IV. I shall endeavour to vindicate the justice and equity of it.

I. Let us inquire what the one man's disobedience here intended is.

There is no doubt but by the one man, is meant the first man Adam, the father of us all: And it is, I think plain from the scope and diction of the Apostle, in the context, that by this one man's disobedience, is meant the first sin only; that first act of disobedience, in eating the forbidden fruit, by which man first cast off the allegiance that was due to his Creator. It is the sin of that one man, as he was a common person, the federal head and representative of mankind, and while he continued such; but he ceasing to be such upon his breach of the covenant, hence it is only that first sin, and not the sins he afterwards committed, by which the many are said to be made sinners. The paxon the disobedience, here is the same with the aμapria, the sin: that is, the first sin, which, entering into the world, rendering not only Adam himself, but all mankind liable and obnoxious to death, verse 12. It is the same likewise with the

To sаgáжTwμα, the offence, or the fall, as the first sin of Adam is generally called, by which many are dead, by which death has obtained dominion over us, and by which "judgment is come upon all men to condemnation," verses 15, 17, 18. The word is all along used in the singular number, implying, says a judicious writer, that judgment does not come upon all men to condemnation for all the sins that Adam committed, but for that one offence which was the first instance of sin in this lower world. And as this seems plain from the scope and reasoning of the Apostle, so some think it is expressly asserted by him; for what we read, "By the offence of one," may be read, "By one offence," di ivòs #aganτáμatos, "judgment came upon all men to condemnation," verse 18, and so our margin reads it. And there is a various lection in one place; for while most copies read, T T is agaπTÁμATI, "By one man's offence, death reigned by one;' which our translators follow in the text, there are some that read Tỡ ivì nagantáμatı, “by one offence;" which Beza follows, and our translation in the margin. Now, the disobedience, in my text, being the same with that one offence, or fall, mentioned before, it must be meant of that first act of disobedience, by which Adam fell from his original state of righteousness and happiness.

II. I shall inquire in what sense all mankind are said to be made sinners by that one man's disobedience; and this, I humbly conceive, is by imputation. I grant that we may be said to be made sinners by the first man, as we derive from him natures universally corrupted and depraved; of which, God willing, I shall speak afterwards: But I cannot help thinking, that the proper and direct intendment of the Apostle here is, that we are made sinners by the imputation of the guilt of the first sin to us.

This, I am very sensible, is denied by many. The Pelagians and Socinians agree in saying, that Adam's

• Mr Ridgely's doctrine of Original Sin.

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