A Son of God, united with, and born in, our nature, that his nature may be produced in us; an holy Spirit, breathing in our souls, ♦quickening the dead in sin, is the letter and spirit of the apostles writings: grounded upon the plain letter of our Lord’s own words, that unless we are born again of water, and the Spirit we cannot see the kingdom of heaven. ♦ “quickning” replaced with “quickening” Again: Is not the plain letter of scripture, that _Adam_ died the day that he did eat of the earthly tree? Have we not the most solemn asseveration of God for the truth of this? Was not the change which _Adam_ found in himself, a demonstration of the truth of this fact? Instead of the image and likeness of God which he was created, he was stript of all his glory, afraid of being seen, and unable to see himself uncovered; delivered up a slave to the rage of all the elements of this world, not knowing which way to look, or what to do in a world, where he was dead to all that he formerly felt, and alive only to a new and dreadful feeling of heat and cold, shame and fear, and horrible remorse of mind, at his said entrance in a world, whence God and his own glory, was departed. Death enough surely! Death in its highest reality, a much greater change, than when an animal of flesh and blood is only changed into a cold lifeless carcase. A death, that in all nature has none equal to it, none of the same nature with it, but that which the angels died, when, from angels of God, they became living devils, and slaves to darkness. Say that the angels lost no life, that they did not die a real death, because they are yet alive in the horrors of darkness; and then you may say, with the same truth, that _Adam_ did not die when he lost God, and the first glory of his creation, because he ♦afterwards breathed in a world which was outwardly, in all its parts, full of the same curse that was within himself. But farther, not only the plain text, and the change of state which _Adam_ found in himself, demonstrated a real death to his former state; but the whole tenor of scripture requires it; all the system of our redemption proceeds upon it. For what need of redemption, if _Adam_ had not lost his first state? What need of the Deity to enter again into the human nature, not only as acting, but being born in it? What need of all this mysterious method to bring the life from above again into man, if the life from above had not been lost? It is true indeed that _Adam_, in his death to the divine life, was left in the possession of an earthly life. But ’tis wonderful that any man should imagine _Adam_ did not die on the day of his sin, because he had as good a life left in him as the beasts of the field have. ♦ “aftewards” replaced with “afterwards”