there is repentance, and that thou wilt receive them that repent and turn unto thee.” Hence, also, they tell us, that upon the pardon of his sin he sang a song of praise unto the Lord on the Sabbath-day ; which is mentioned in the Targum on the Song of Solomon, chap. i. 1, as one of the songs in reference whereunto that of Solomon is
148 MESSIAH, THE DELIVERER FROM EVIL, [EXERCO. VIII.
called, OWN YY, “The Song of Songs,” or the most excellent of them. And although, indeed, that expression, MY Ni), “ Dying, thou shalt die,” according to the propriety of the Hebrew tongue, denotes only the certainty and vehemency of the death threatened, in which case it useth reduplications, yet some of them have not been averse to apprehend a twofold death, of the body and of the soul, to be intimated in that expression, as Fagius on the place well observes. Body and soul, they say, both sinned; and therefore both were to be punished : nn \>) nesy2 WEA yD mM Nba NBN Iwan IN SNN2 DNDIN OY IIIT JD Nos woy2 ON NIN; —“Tf the flesh sin with- out the spirit, why is the soul punished? Is it one thing that’ sins, and another that is punished? or rather is it not thus, that both sin together?” and so both are justly punished together.
7. Thus is the condition of the sin and punishment of our first parents themselves acknowledged by them; and the same is that of their posterity. What was threatened unto, what was inflicted upon, those who first sinned, they are all liable and obnoxious unto. Are they not all as subject unto death as was Adam himself? are the miseries of man in his labour, or the sorrows of women in child- bearing, taken away? is the earth itself freed from the effects of the curse? do they not die who never “sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression ?” The Jews themselves grant that all death is penal; »y xda py par xn Nba nv px;—<There is no death with- out sin, no punishment or correction without iniquity.” It is the saying of R. Ame in the Talmud, Tractat. Sabbat., cited in Sepher Ikharim, lib. iv. cap. xiii, And this principle Maimonides carries so high as to deny all AanN Sw yD, “ correction of love,” affirming none to be of that mind but some Geeonims, deceived by the sect of Muatzali, More Nebuch. pag. 3, cap. xvii. And they who die penally under the curse abide in no other estate than that mentioned. They acknowledge, also, the remainder of the curse on the earth itself on the same account: NOM DINY INN) OWT Sawa Nos woaa Nd yo phya AMwoew mn ANI ;—* The whole world,” says one of their masters, “was not created but for man; and therefore after man sinned, it came short of its first perfection.” But these things being of some use for their conviction, as also to discover the perverse obstinacy of some of their later masters, we may a little more particularly take them along with us.
8. First, They acknowledge that Adam was a common head unto all mankind. . So saith Manasseh Ben Israel, from their principles: “Cum itaque esset Adam futurus caput et principium humane naturs, necesse erat illi a Deo conferri omnem perfectionem et sci- entiam,” De Fragilitate, pag. 84;—“ Whereas Adam was to be the head and principle of human nature, it was necessary that God should endow him with all perfection of knowledge.” And this
SECT. 7, 8.] PROMISED OF OLD. 149
perfection of his knowledge Aben Ezra, on Gen. 11, proves from God’s bringing all creatures unto him, to give them names according to their nature. And the same author again, in his discourse, De Termino Vite: “Aben Ezra inquit, nominibus propriis in sacra Scriptura non preefigi Ayyn xn, He demonstrativum, quod tamen in voce Adam sit, Gen. ii. 22; ratio est quia in Adamo notantur omnes ejus posteri, et universa species humana designatur ;’—“ Aben Hizra says that ‘He Hajedia’ is not prefixed unto proper names in the Scripture, only it is so unto the word ‘ Adam,’ Gen. iii. 22; and the reason is, because in Adam all his posterity, the whole race of man- kind, is denoted and signified.” Now, this could not be but by virtue of some divine constitution; for naturally Adam could have no other relation to his posterity than every other man hath unto his own: and this was no other but that covenant which God made with all mankind in him; whose promises and threatenings, rewards and punishments, must therefore equally respect them with him.
Wherefore, secondly, they grant that on this account “ his sin was imputed unto all his posterity ;” that is, some of them do so, and those the most sober of them. So Rabbi Menahem Rakanatensis, in Sec, Bereshith, ete.; mm DIN Non Sy mond px ;—“ It is no wonder why the sin of Adam and Eve was engraven, and sealed with the signet of the King, to be propagated unto all following generations; for in the day that Adam was created, all things were finished, so that he was the perfection and complement of the whole workman- ship of this world. Therefore when he sinned, the whole world sinned; whose sin we bear and suffer, which is not so in the sin of his posterity.” To be “sealed with the signet of the King,” is their expression of God’s constitution.