A Golden Chain

yea in the very tenor of the covenant there is a distinction made of the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; which seed of the serpent is a ^apart of mankind, and it is excluded from the covenant. And whereas the Lord promised to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, the promise must not be understood of all men in every age, but of all nations in the last age of the world. And thus Paul hath cleared the text, Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith (which was done after Christs ascension) he preached before the Gospel to Abraham, In thee shall nations be blessed. Lastly, it may be objected, that if any man be ignorant of the doctrine of salvation by Christ, it is through his own fault: it is true indeed that all ignorance of the doctrine of salvation comes through mans fault & sin: but sin must be distinguished; it is either personal, or the sin of mans nature. Now in them that never heard of Christ, their ignorance in this point proceeds not of any personal sin in them, but only from the sin of mans nature, that is, the first sin of Adam common to all mankind, which sin is punished when God leaves men wholly to themselves. Now many things there be in men proceeding from this sin, which nevertheless are no sins, as the manifold miseries of this life: and so I take the ignorance of things above mans nature altogether unrevealed, to be no sin but a punishment of original sin.

yea in the very tenour of the couenant there is a distinction made of the seede of the woman and the seede of the serpent; which seede of the serpent is a ^apart of mankind, and it is excluded from the couenant. And whereas the Lord promised to Abraham that in his seede all the nations of the earth should be blessed, the promise must not be vnderstood of all men in euery age, but of all nations in the last age of the world. And thus Paul hath cleared the text, Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeing that God would iustifie the Gentiles through faith (which was done after Christs ascension) he preached before the Gospel to Abraham, In thee shall nations be blessed. Lastly, it may be obiected, that if any man be ignorant of the doctrine of saluation by Christ, it is through his owne fault: it is true indeede that all ignorance of the doctrine of saluation comes through mans fault & sinne: but sinne must be distinguished; it is either personall, or the sinne of mans nature. Now in them that neuer heard of Christ, their ignorance in this point proceedes not of any personall sinne in them, but onely from the sinne of mans nature, that is, the first sinne of Adam common to all mankinde, which sinne is punished when God leaues men wholly to themselues. Now many things there be in men proceeding from this sinne, which neuerthelesse are no sinnes, as the manifold miseries of this life: and so I take the ignorance of things aboue mans nature altogether vnreuealed, to be no sinne but a punishment of originall sinne.