“14. Thus it was, that _Adam_ lost the _light_ of the Son of God, and the breath of the Holy Spirit. And this was the _immediate death_ that he died in paradise, a death much more grievous than that which is to bring us all to our graves. It was a death that extinguished all that was divine and holy in human nature, just as the sin of angels turned them into devils. Now in looking at _this death_, we have the clearest view, of what our regeneration by the _second Adam_ means. For what can it be, but the restoration of that divine life which was lost in _Adam_ the _first_? For will any one say, that Christ is not in as high a degree, the _restorer_ of our nature, as _Adam_ was the _destroyer_ of it? Now tho’ this great truth, seated in the very heart of the Christian religion, speaks at once the whole nature of regeneration; yet many learned men either not seeing or not _loving_, or being afraid _to own_ it, have been forced, not only to mistake, but wholly to sink the most glorious article of the Christian faith? And instead of telling us the height and depth of the blessing of having the nature and life of Christ derived into us, they can only teach us, what kind of word regeneration is――that it is a figurative expression――and that our Saviour may be justified, for having made use of it. What learned pains do people take, to root up the belief of our having a new life in Christ? They run from _book_ to _book_, from _language_ to _language_; they consult all ♦critics, search all lexicons, to shew us, that according to the rules of true criticism, regeneration _need signify_ no more than the _federal_ rite of baptism. Nay, what is still worse, they appeal to the poor notions of the blind, infatuated Jews! They produce the opinions which they had of a regeneration talked of, and a baptism used amongst them, when they rejected and crucified our Saviour, to teach us, what we are to understand by our divine birth in Christ Jesus! But if this be the use of learning among ourselves, we need not look at _Rome_, or the ancient Rabbies of the _Jewish Sanhedrim_, to see what miserable work learning can make with the holy scriptures. For it is sure the true Messiah is not _rightly owned_, nor the Christian religion _truly known_, till the soul is all love, and faith, and hunger, and thirst after this new _life_, and real formation of Jesus Christ in it: till without fear of _enthusiasm_ it seeks, and expects all its redemption from it. But to return.
♦ “criticks” replaced with “critics” for consistency
“15. Man, thus dead to the divine life, thus destitute of the Son, and _Holy Spirit_, thus fallen into an _earthly nature_, under the dominion of an earthly world, which would afford him for a while a miserable life, and then leave him to a more miserable death; could do no more to replace himself in paradise, or to regain his first nature, than the devil could do to restore himself to his lost glory.
“16. But in this state the _infinite mercy_ of God met him. That love which at _first breathed_, a holy and divine soul into him, now again breathed a spark, or ray of divine light into him in the declaration of a _serpent bruiser_: which spark of life should in time do all that which _Adam_ should have done; that is, should bring forth a _generation_ of men, that should become _Sons of God_, and take possession of that kingdom from which the angels had fallen.
“17. Here began the merciful mystery of man’s redemption; for this seed of divine life, was the Holy Jesus, who from that time, stood in the place of the first man.
And from that time it may be said in a true sense that the _incarnation_ of the Son of God began; because he was from that time entered again into the human nature, as a seed of its salvation, tho’ not made manifest, till he was born in the Holy Virgin _Mary_. And in this sense St. _John_ says of him, _that he was the true light, which lighteth every man, that cometh into the world_. Because every man has from him this light, which if it is duly attended to, is our certain guide to Christ, born in the fulness of time, and sacrificed for us upon the cross.
“18. What we want from Christ, as our Redeemer, is manifest by that which he gives to us, namely a redemption from the _hell_ that is in our souls, and from the death and corruption that is in our bodies.
“19. We are no more created to be in the sorrows, and anguish of an _earthly life_, than the angels were created to be in the _darkness_ of hell. It is as contrary to the _will_ of God towards us, that we are out of paradise, as it is contrary to the design of God towards the angels, that some of them are _out_ of heaven, prisoners of darkness.