Obj. Adam was to believe he should certainly die; For so was the threatening, Gen. 2.17. if he should sin, or then we must say, that Adam was to believe he should not actually die, the latter cannot be said, for then he was to believe the contradicent of the Lords true threatening; which was the lie of the Serpent, Gen. 3. Ans. 1He was to believe neither of the twain according to the event, for there are two sort of threatenings, some pure and only threatenings, which reveal to us, what God may, in Law, do, but not what he hath decreed and intended, actu secundo & quoad eventum, to do, and bring to pass; These threatenings contain some condition, either expressed in other Scripture, or then reserved in the mind of the Lord. 1. Because the Lord so threatened Adam, as he remained free and absolute either to inflict the punishment, or to provide an Evangelic remedy, even as Solomon, 1 King. 2.37. saith to Shimei (in the day thou passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt surely die) that is, thou shalt be guilty of death, reus mortis: 2Yet it cannot be denied, but Solomon reserved his own Kingly power, either to pardon Shimei, or to soften, or change the sentence. 2. The words of the Law do reveal, what the Magistrate may do, jure, and what the guilty deserves by the Law, but do not reveal the intention and absolute decree of the Law-giver, and what punishment actually, & quoad eventum shall be inflicted upon the guilty, and what shall come to pass as a thing decreed of the Lord: So, Gen. 9.6. the Murderer shall die by the Sword of the Magistrate, and Exod. 22.18, 19, 20. the Witch, the man that lies with a beast, he that sacrifices to a strange god, shall die the death jure, merito, and by Law-deserving, but it followeth not, but such as commit these abominations, do live, as is clear in the Kings of Assyria, Chaldea, and many of Israel, who were not put to death, but lived quoad eventum, though contrary to the Word of God. 3. The express Precepts of the Decalogue, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, &c. Thou ⟨p. 5⟩shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, &c. do show what in Law we ought not to do, but not what actually shall come to pass: For there be not a few who do actually, & quoad eventum, worship strange gods, kill, and steal.3
Obj. Adam was to believe he should certainly die; For so was the threatning, Gen. 2.17. if he should sin, or then we must say, that Adam was to beleeve he should not actually die, the latter cannot be said, for then he was to believe the contradicent of the Lords true threatning; which was the lie of the Serpent, Gen. 3. Ans. 1He was to beleeve neither of the twain according to the event, for there are two sort of threatnings, some pure and only threatnings, which reveal to us, what God may, in Law, do, but not what he hath decreed and intended, actu secundo & quoad eventum, to do, and bring to passe; These threatnings contain some condition, either expressed in other Scripture, or then reserved in the mind of the Lord. 1. Because the Lord so threatned Adam, as he remained free and absolute either to inflict the punishment, or to provide an Evangelick remedy, even as Solomon, 1 King. 2.37. saith to Shimei (in the day thou passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt surely die) that is, thou shalt be guilty of death, reus mortis: 2Yet it cannot be denyed, but Solomon reserved his own Kingly power, either to pardon Shimei, or to soften, or change the sentence. 2. The words of the Law do reveal, what the Magistrate may do, jure, and what the guilty deserves by the Law, but do not •eveal the intention and absolute decree of the Law-giver, and what punishment actually, & quoad eventum shall be inflicted upon the guilty, and what shall come to pass as a thing decreed of the Lord: So, Gen. 9.6. the Murtherer shall die by the Sword of the Magistrate, and Exod. 22.18, 19, 20. the Witch, the man that lyes with a beast, he that sacrifices to a strange god, shall die the death jure, merito, and by Law-deserving, but it followeth not, but such as commit these abominations, do live, as is clear in the Kings of Assyria, Chaldaea, and many of Israel, who were not put to death, but lived quoad eventum, though contrary to the Word of God. 3. The expresse Precepts of the Decalogue, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, &c. Thou ⟨p. 5⟩shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, &c. do shew what in Law we ought not to do, but not what actually shall come to passe: For there be not a few who do actually, & quoad eventum, worship strange gods, kill, and steal.
