its nature If you look upon a Cain a Judas though his outside be so detestable yet his inwards are much more abominable so that a mans heart is like Peters great sheet which he saw in a vision Acts 11. 6. which was full of four-footed beasts and wild beasts and creeping things all unclean such a receptacle is mans soul of all impiety A man cannot tell what is in the sea what monsters are in the bottom of it by looking upon the superficies of the water which covers it so neither canst thou tell all that horrid deformity and wretchedness which is in thy heart by beholding thine outward impieties Oh then that you would turn your eyes inward as it were an introversion is necessary Then you will say O Lord before I knew the Nature of original sinne I was not perswaded of my vileness of my foulness Oh now I see that I am beyond all expression sinfull now I see every day I am more and more abominable O Lord formerly I thought all my sinne was in some words in some actions or in some vile thoughts but now I see this was the least part of all that evil that was in me Now I am amazed astonished to see what a sea of corruption is within me now I can never go to the bottom now I find something like hell within me sparks of lust that are unquenchable Fourthly Where there is not a true knowledge of this native corruption there our Humiliation and Repentance can never be deep enough for it 's not enough to be humbled for our actual sinnes unless also we go to the cause and root of all When a godly man would repent of his lusts of his unbelief or any other actual transgression he stayeth not in the confession of and bewailing those particular sins but he goeth to the polluted fountain to the bitter spring from whence those bitter streams flow and commonly this is a difference between an Ahabs Humiliation and a Davids Ahab humbleth himself only for his actual impieties and that because of judgments threatned and impending over him but David even when he heareth God had forgiven his iniquity yet hath great humiliation for his sinnes and Psal 51. thinketh it not enough to bewail his adultery and murder but to confess That in iniquity he was conceived his actual sinnes carried him to the original Thus Paul also Rom. 7 when he miserably complaineth of that impotency in him to do good that he could never do any good as perfectly fully purely and cheerfully as he ought to do presently he goeth to the cause of all this deordination the Law of sinne within him that original sinne which was like a Law within him commanding him to think to desire to do sinfully and obeyed it in all though against his will insomuch that he saith He was carnal and sold under sinne This the Apostle doth complain of as the heaviest burden of all So that an unregenerate man may by the light of nature bewail and complain of his actual impieties he may cry out Oh wretched man that I am for being such a beast such a devil so exorbitant and excessive but whether he can do this for the body of sinne within him as Paul did that may justly be questioned And therefore you see then the troubles and workings of conscience in some men to miscarry greatly They seem to be in pain and travails of soul but all cometh to nothing Oh how many in times of danger and under fear of death do sadly cry out of such sins they have committed Oh the promises and resolutions they make if ever God give them recovery again But all this passeth away even as mans life it self like a vapour like a tale that is told And one cause of the rottenness and defect of this humiliation is because it did not go to the bottom of the soare there was the inward and deep corruption of original sin that such never took any notice of and so in all his sorrow did omit that which is the most aggravating cause of all grief and trembling O Lord I have not only done this wicked thing but I had an heart an inclination of soul to carry me to it and therefore actual sinnes though ten thousands of them they pass away the guilt only remaining but this original pravity continueth in the pollution of it Fifthly Ignorance of original sinne makes us also mistake in the crucifying and mortifying of sinne No man can truly and spiritually leave a sinne unless he doth conquer it and subdue it in some measure in the original and root of it and this is a sure difference between a regenerate and unregenerate man about leaving or forsaking of sinne They both may give over their wonted actual impieties They both may have escaped the pollution of the world and that through the knowledge of the Gospel 2 Pet. 2. 20. but the one leaveth only the acts of sinne the other mortifieth it gradually though not totally in the cause and inclination of the soul Thus Paul Rom. 7. though he complain of those actual stirrings and impetuous motions of sinne yet withall he can truly say I delight in the Law of God in the inner man Now no hypocrite or unregenerate man can say so Though he be outwardly washed yet he hath a swinish nature still his inward parts are as loathsom as noisom as ever before Though there be a fair skinne drawn over the wound yet in the bottom there is as much corruption and putrefaction as ever before Samson's hair is only cut it 's not plucked up by the root so that it 's not enough to have given over thy former profaneness Thou thankest God thou art not the man once thou wert Oh but consider whether sinne in the root of it as well as in the branches of it doth wither and die daily A disease is not cured till the cause of it be in some measure at least removed As long as originall sinne is not in some degree mortified thy old sins or some other will break out as violently as ever here is the fountain and root of all within thee Sixthly He that is ignorant of the nature and extent of this natural defilement he must needs grosly mistake about the nature of conversion and be wholly ignorant of what regeneration is As you see in Nicodemus John 3. 6. though a master in Israel yet grosly mistaking about a new-birth and what was the reason of it That appeareth by our Saviours argument to prove the necessity of it Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh implying by this That if Nicodemus had known that by natural generation he was nothing but flesh that is sinne and evil his soul his mind his conscience all was flesh in this sense as well as his body then he would quickly have discerned the necessity of being born again then he would not have continued a day an hour a moment in such a dangerous condition And what
Ecclesiastical word only to call it a natural evil they did not presume for fear of the Marcionites who held That there was an evil Nature as well as the good And the Pelagians accused the Orthodox for Manicheism in this point because they held the propagation of this corruption by Nature Therefore they avoided the term of a Natural evil yet Austin at last did use it and indeed it is a very proper and fit name for it hereby differencing it from all actual voluntary and personal sinnes as also from sinne by imitation and custom for Aristotle makes a distinction of things that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib Ethic. 2. cap. 1. where he sheweth what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by nature as the stone to descend and the fire to ascend is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so according to him who knew nothing of original sinne we are neither good or evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by nature And withall this Text doth fully warrant the expression If we are by Nature sinnefull then there is a natural evil Not that God put it at first into our Natures or that it is our substantial Nature but we have it by Natural Propagation Let us therefore consider How much is implied in this expression SECT II. ANd first It may well be called Natural because it doth infect the whole Nature of Mankind It 's a defilement that followeth our specifical not individual being Even as we call death natural because it followeth all mankind Rich men die and poor men die learned men die and foolish None are exempted from it Thus also it is with this sinne All that are born in a natural way of mankind have this contagion The sonnes of Noblemen and Princes though they glory in their blood and their descent yet they are as full of sin and the children of wrath as well as the children of the basest so that though in civil respects they boast of their birth and are above others yet in a theological and divine respect all are alike yea the children of godly parents though they have a promise to their seed and in that respect their children are said to be holy 1 Cor. 7. yet they come into the world with inherent corruption in them They do not generate their children as godly men but corrupt men as Austin of old expressed it A circumcised man begat a child uncircumcised and the Husbandman though he soweth his seed out of the chaff and husk yet that brings up others with chaff and husk upon it Well therefore may we call it a natural sinne because it doth extend to the whole humane Nature as it is in every one that partaketh of it in a natural way So that as Divines do distinguish of infirmities and evils There are some that are specifical which follow the Species as death and some are accidental which follow the individual nature Thus there are some sinnes which follow the particular nature of a man and these are actual sinnes Every man is not a drunkard an adulterer but some are defiled one way some another but then there is a sinne which followeth the whole and universal nature of man and this is original sinne though every man be not guilty of such or such a particular sinne yet all are of original sinne And therefore the Schoolmen say Actual sinne doth corrumpere personam but original Naturam actual sins corrupt the person original the nature SECT III. WE are declaring the Naturality of this Original sinne not as if it were ingredient into or constitutive of our nature but an universal and inseparable pollution adhering to it as they say of death as though it be praeter Naturam or contra yet if we do regard the principles of mortality which are in every man so death is natural Come we therefore to a second demonstration of the Naturality of this evil and that is seen In that it is the inward principle of all the sinfull motions of the soul and that perâ—se not per accidens This is a great part of that definition which Aristotle giveth of Nature now we may in a moral sense apply it to our purpose First I say It 's the inward principle of all the sinfull motions and workings of the Soul For as the nature of the stone is the cause of its motion downward as the nature of the fire is the cause of the fires motions and operations Thus is original sinne the intrinsecal cause and root of all the actual evil we are guilty of It is farre from me to justifie Flacius his discourse or opinion of original sin making it the natural substance of a man and not an accident though he so expresseth himself that some think its his Logical and Metaphysical errour rather than Theological Only that which I aim at is to shew That this birth-sinne is naturally ours because from it doth flow all the sinnefull and evil operations of the whole man So that we may say as it is natural to the stone to descend to the sparks to flie upwards so it is natural to man to think evil to speak evil and to do evil Aristotle observeth Lib. 2. Ethic. cap. 1. this as one property of things by nature that there the principles are before the actions A man hath the power to see or hear before he can actually do either but in moral things the actions are before the habits As it is natural to the Toad to vent poison and not honey so when a man sinneth it 's from his own it 's natural to him but when inabled to do any thing that is good this is wholly of grace Now I say It 's an inward principle of all sinne within us to distinguish it from external cause viz. the devil or wicked men who sometimes may tempt and cause to sinne Therefore the devil is called The tempter Mat. 4. 3. Insomuch that it is made a Question Whether there be any sinne a man commits that the Devil hath not tempted unto but that I attend not to at this time This is enough that the Devil is but an outward cause of sinne and therefore were there not that original filth in us his sparks could never kindle a fire he cannot compell or force to sinne In somuch that whatsoever sinne we do commit we are not to lay the fault principally upon the Devil but our own corrupt hearts Though Ananias lied against the holy Ghost because the Devil had filled his heart And Judas betrayed Christ because Satan had entred into his heart yet the devil could not have come into their hearts had they not been of uncleane and corrupt Constitutions before it was an evil heart and therefore the devil took possession of it The Apostle James cap. 1. 14. doth notably discover the true cause and natural fountain of all the evil committed by us and that is The lust and concupiscence that is within
as vile and as enormous as any are For although this original corruption doth not deprive him of his understanding and will making of him an irrational beast yet it doth so captivate and inthrall the whole man That though to understand and to will be of nature yet this understanding and willing in a sinfull manner will alwayes be because it 's corrupted nature and therefore it would hurry every man even as the Devil did the Swine into the sea of perdition Every one would be a Cain a Judas if his corrupt nature were left to it self and if you ask Why then are not all men turned into so many beasts and Devils Why is not the whole world in consusion How comes there to be any civility or morality Why is not every place like an hell if all men are thus vile by nature It 's answered God hath a reforming and restraining grace If this later may be called Grace Now those that God reformeth and inwardly sanctifieth They are made to delight in the Law of God They have the fear of God put into their hearts and so they keep from sinne out of love to God but then there are others and God layeth a restraint upon them he puts a bridle in their mouths So that although they have an insatiable appetite to sinne and do not put forth the whole abundance of that evil which is within them yet they have a principle inclining thereunto only God stops them as he did Balaam whose heart was desirous to curse the people of Israel though he was restrained from it As it is with the sea by its own natural motion it would overthrow the whole world but that God hath put his bounds to it saying Hitherto shalt thou go and no further Thus God hath a supreme dominion even over the sinfull heart of man so that it cannot sinne when and how and as much as it listeth but it 's under the providence of God Cui nihil est malum as Austin said because he can turn it unto good But all this is no thanks or praise to man Say then with thy self If I runne not into the same excess of riot with others If I be not so abominable and loathsom as many others are It 's not because I have a better nature or come less polluted with original sin into the world but because God puts limits to me for as you see in the little Acorn is contained all the huge branches and boughes which by length of time it groweth up into Thus let man alone let him have opportunities to sinne let not God restrain him and you will quickly see him to be an incarnated Devil and the reason is because this evil being natural and withall the seed of all evil therefore he would be hurried on to the committing of it Even as Adam had in the image of God the seminals of every godly action so that none could say Adam had not a power to do such and such a gracious work Thus it is with original corruption succeeding in the room thereof it naturally defiles all over and so hath a womb as the Apostle James chap. 1. 14. alludeth thereunto wherein any monstrous and deformed sin may be conceived SECT VI. FIfthly It 's Natural Because it 's necessarily in every one we are necessarily thus defiled and stained And in this respect chiefly we call it Natural because it 's not voluntary it 's not subject to the exercise of free-will For although as was said the heart of man inclineth to the highest impieties yet the exercise of some gross impieties are subject to our power in some measure a man is not in this sense necessarily a drunkard or an adulterer but when we speak of this inward filthiness it 's so natural that it 's necessary Neither the being of it or the immediate motions of it are subject to our reason and will but they are in us antecedently to our own consent and this consideration doth greatly aggravate our guilt for we are not only habitually and actually or voluntarily sinfull but naturally and necessarily so Now as it is the great aggravation of Gods holiness that he is not only actually holy but naturally yet voluntarily So it must be our great condemnation that we are not only actually and voluntarily sinfull but even naturally and necessarily yet this necessity taketh not off from voluntariness and delight in sin It 's Ivy twisted about and eaten into our Nature whether we will or no So that it is ours not because we will it and make it ours by consent but because it 's inherently in us before the least deliberate actings of the soul Insomuch that as Suarez well observeth If a man grown up in years should by a personal formal and explicit consent agree to Adam's sinne yet that would only be a personal sinne in him it would not make Adam's sinne his And the reason is because this sinne doth now descend upon us by natural propagation not by voluntary agreement yet this necessity of it doth not at all abate from the delight and pleasure that we find in the actings thereof Neither is it such a natural necessity as hunger or thirst which are not culpable because they are not contrary to the Law of God neither were at first contracted by Adam's free choice but are a necessary concomitant of mans constitution in an animal life whereas this necessity is the issue of Adam's free-will and is subjectively in our will whereby a man is carried out at the same time to sinne both necessarily and yet voluntarily and so agreeth rather with those who have contracted an habit of sinne who sinne in some respect necessarily as the Prophet expresseth it Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil SECT VII WE proceed to further discoveries of this Truth viz. The Naturality of this evil And that In the sixth place will further appear In that it is more near to us than any actual or habitual sinne That it is nearer than any actual sinne is plain Because that is transient and abideth not in us But for habitual sinne that is constantly fixed in us when once setled there Now it may be thought that original sinne cannot stick closer than that an habit being a kind of second nature Insomuch that Aristotle makes such who have acquired habits of sinne to sinne necessarily and that there is not so much voluntariness in their offences as in other faults But now original sinne is more naturally and intimately in us than these acquired habits of sinne for we are not made thus originally filthy by frequent actings of sinne but we are born and bred so so that whereas habits of sinne as drunkenness uncleanness c. These are the product of many actions Frequent and often sinning begets such an habit that cannot be left off This original sinne is the cause of sinful actions
punishment the punishment of another Besides that it is sinne inherent in us and not only imputed appears by David's acknowledgement Psal 51. In sinne was I born and in iniquity did my mother conceive me But of this more in time You see by what hath been said That our original sinne is more than meer guilt or Adam's actual sinne imputed to us it denoteth withall an inherent contagion of the whole man Therefore it is absurdly and falsly said by that late Writer It may be called original guilt rather than original sin SECT V. IN the fourth place there are those yet who draw a more narrow line in this matter than the former For when this Question is put Whether original inherent sin be truly and properly a sin They then distinguish between Peccatum and Vitium It is vitium say they but not peccatum or when it is called peccatum it is in a large sense not strictly and properly For with these nothing is a sinne properly but some action repugning to the word of God and because original sinne cannot be an action therefore say they it 's not properly a sinne In which sense they deny habits of sinne to be peccata but only vitia Though this be to play with words seeing the same thing is intended And although Austin abstaineth much from the word peccatum as if that alwayes did suppose a reatus yet that is a needless scrupulosity men may use words as they please Therefore Hierom thought Vide Whitak de peccato orig lib. 3. cap 6. vitium was more than peccatum contrary to Austins notion when he said Some man might be found without vice but not without sinne They say indeed a thing may repugn the Law of God three wayes Either Efficienter so the Devils and wicked men do yet they are not sinnes 2. Materially and thus the act of every sinne doth 3. Formally and so the obliquity in the act only doth and this they make only truly and properly a sinne But whether this will stand good or no will be examined in the Objections As also that Assertion of a learned man Molinaus vide infra That original sinne is condemned by the Law but not prohibited it being absurd as he thinks to appoint a Law for one grown up that he should have been born without sinne It is true in assigning the proper notion of sinne to it hath some great difficulty Neither doth it become us to be over-curious in this point above what is written remembring that original sinne came in by desiring too much knowledge I shall therefore treat of it so farre as it may tend to edification not to satisfie curiosity For when Austin was puzled with such doubts he brings that known Apologie Epist 29. of one who fell into a deep pit and being ready to be suffocated he crieth out to one passing by to help him out The man asketh him How he came in Do not saith he stand disputing of that but help me out Thus saith he every man being fallen into this deep pit of original sinne it 's not for us to be curiously and tediously inquiting how we came in but speedily seek for the grace of God to deliver us our CHAP. VIII That the inward Contagion which we have from Adam's Disobedience is truly and properly a Sinne. THerefore in the fifth place This sinne whereby we are infected from Adam's disobedience is truly and properly a sinne we are truly and inherently made sinners by Adam A man is not more properly and really made a sinner by any actual transgressions he doth commit then he is by his original sinne he is born in Insomuch that though an Infant knoweth not what he doth nor is capable of acts of reason when he is born yet he is properly and formally a sinner and the discovery of this will make much for our humiliation and Christs Exaltation Now that it is truly and properly a sin appeareth by these Arguments Argum. 1. That the Scipture speaking of it doth constantly call it so and therefore we are not to recede from the proper interpretation unless some weighty reasons compelâ—us What a poor and weak thing is it to deny original sinne to be imputable to us or to have the proper essence of evil because with Aristotle none are blamed for those things they have by nature or are not in their own power For it 's plain Aristotle understood nothing of this original pollution and by his Philosophy we must also quit many fundamental points in our Christian saith It is enough that the Scripture speaking of it and that purposely doth call it sinne as Psal 51. this Chapter of Romans and Chap. 7. often It 's the Law of sinne working in us So that this want of Gods Image and an inclination to evil is not to be considered as a meer punishment or as a spiritual disease and weakness upon nature but no sinne at all For it 's as truly a sinne as an actual sinne yea in some respects it is a more grievous and heavy sinne than actual sinnes as is to be shewed For the cause hath more in it than the effect It is from this evil heart that all actual evils do flow Argum. 2. It 's truly and properly a sin Because thereby a man is made obnoxious to death and eternal condemnation The wages of sinne is death and by nature we are children of wrath If then for this inherent corruption we die we are subject to miseries to Gods wrath and the curse of the Law then it must necessarily follow that this is truly and properly a sin Argum. 3. That which is made opposite to Righteousness that is truly and properly sinne For not punishment and Righteousnesse but sinne and Righteousnesse are two immediate Contraries Now it 's plain That this inherent corruption makes us sinners so that we need to be made righteous by Christ Argum. 4. The Apostle distinguisheth Adam 's imputed sinne and inherent sinne as two sinnes and so they have a two-fold distinct guilt as is to be shewed though some think it hard to say so Thus the Apostle By one mans offence sinne entred into the world Therefore Adam's actual sinne and that sinne which entred thereby are two distinct sinnes and differ as the cause and the effect By imputed sinne we are said to sinne in him actually as it were because his will was our will but by inherent sinne we are made sinners by intrinsecal pollution Argum. 5. This original inherent sinne is truly and properly a sinne Because it is to be mortified to be crucified We are to subdue the reign of it in our hearts which could not be if it were not properly a sin Argum. 6. It is a true and proper sinne Because by this our persons are made unclean so that naturally we cannot please God We are corrupt fountains we are bad trees and all this before we commit any actual sin Argum. 7. If Adam had stood that which would have been
sonne of Joseph his father he was accounted his legal father though he was not his natural The Arminians think they only have found out the true reason why Christ contracted not original sinne from Adam nor was not in his loins For say they Christ was not is Adam as a common parent and so sinned not in him because he did not come of a woman by that first command Increase and multiply but by a new and singular promise which God made to Adam after his fall viz. That the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent But though it be granted That Christ was born of a woman by a singular promise yet that alone without the miraculous operation of the holy Ghost would not have cleansed the humane Nature of Christ from sinne especially if that be true which some learned men say That the Virgin Mary did in some measure concurre actively to the body of Christ and therefore Christ is called The fruit of her womb and is said to be of the seed of David 2 Tim. 2. 8. So that being the Virgin Mary her self was unclean till the holy Ghost over-shadowed her none could bring that which was clean out of her but God in a miraculous and extraordinary manner sanctifying that mass of which Christs body was made Besides we read of Isaac that he was born by the virtue of a singular promise Sarah's womb being as good as dead yet for all that he was not free from original sinne Therefore the holinesse of Christs humane nature and that in the very conception must be attributed to the wonderfull operation of the holy Ghost If then this was peculiar to Christ alone It followeth necessarily That all those who in a natural manner descend from Adam come into the world unclean and infected with this pollution Thus we have laid sure and firm foundations to maintain this Truth That original sinne is truly and formally a sinne deserving eternal condemnation as well as actual sinne CHAP. IX Objections Answered SECT I. I Am only demonstrating that it is sin and not what it is Therefore I proceed no further in the positive Explication of it but come to answer those Objections that are made by all sorts of persons against this sinne whether Pelagians some Papists Arminians or Socinians And when these Clouds are dispelled the light of the Truth will shine more evidently And First That which is a famous and obvious Objection owned by all the Adversaries to this Doctrine is The necessariness and involuntariness of it Object Every sinne say they must be voluntary This is a principle ingraffed as they conceive in the conscience of a man No man is to be faulted or blamed for that which is not in his power to prevent And they press that known Rule of Austins Vsque adeo voluntarium peccatum est malum quod non sit peccatum nisi voluntarium If it be not voluntary it cannot be any sinne at all Now say they this original sinne comes upon us by natural necessity it lieth no more in our power to prevent it then to hinder our being born Shall then we conceive God willing to damn a man especially an Infant for that sinne which never was in his power or his will to do This they think cannot be admitted Therefore though some of them grant Adam's actual sinne may be made ours because our will is interpretatively in his yet not this inherent corruption because this is a particular personal sinne and so requireth a personal actual will to make it a sinne And this seemeth to have some plausible colour while we attend only to principles of humane Reason and Arguments of Philosophy But let us see whether it will not be too light if weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary And Answ 1. We must understand in what sense any sinne at all can be called voluntary and that is not as if any man could will sinne no not he that sinneth maliciously as it is sin This is granted by all moral Philosophers That no man willeth sin as it is sin because bonum either real or appearing so is the adequate object of the will As in the understanding that cannot assent to any thing that is apparently false so neither doth the will choose any thing that is manifested to be evil as evil but when it imbraceth any sine there is some deceivable good or other which deceiveth the soul Thus Adam when he transgressed the command of God he did not will this as a sinne nor did he positively intend the damnation of his posterity For we suppose that he knew himself to be a common Parent and that he received a common stock for all mankind But he willed that action to which sinne was annexed And thus no wicked man when he sinneth doth will the damnation of his soul formally but consequentially by willing that to which this guilt doth belong Secondly Although it be granted That every sinne must be voluntary yet as Austin of old answered this sinne may be called voluntary as it is in Infants because their will is interpretatively in Adam and we therefore are all said to sinne in him Adam's will may be said to be our will two wayes 1. By way of delegation as if we had chosen him to be our common parent and had translated our wils over to him as amongst men it is usual in arbitrations and then they are said to will that which their Arbitrator hath done though it may be they dislike it and in this sense Adam's will is not our will for we had no actual being or existence in him Hence 2. Adam's will may be said to be ours interpretatively God appointing him to be the universal principle of mankind what he did is interpreted as if we had done it and the equity of making Adam's will ours ariseth from the instituting will and Covenant of God that would have it so But more especially because God then dealt with Adam in a Covenant of works which if broken and violated carrieth condemnation to all his off-spring as appeareth by the curses threatned in the Law This original sinne then is voluntary because committed by Adam's will which by Gods imputation is made ours so that as in Adam upon his actual disobedience the Image of God was lost and in stead thereof came an universal pollution of his whole man which was in him truly and properly a sinne So it is in every Infant descended from him Thirdly If it be granted That every sinne must be voluntary yet this also will hold good in Infants sinne for a thing may be said to be voluntarium in causa but involuntarium in se With moral Philosophers all habits of sinne are involuntary in themselves but voluntary in their cause those actions that did produce them And thus is original sin inherent in mankind it is voluntary in its cause which was Adam's sin Fourthly Austin himself who urgeth voluntariness in sinne yet afterwards considering
there is no love and also no hatred So that if we do not know how loathsom and vile this sinne is we are never able to bewail it and to humble our selves under it There are many Descriptions of it given by several Authors but that we may in a large and popular way comprehend all things in one Description that is necessary to understand the full nature of it we may take this delineation of it SECT II. ORiginal sinne is an horrid depravation and defilement of the whole man caused by the Devils temptation and our first Parents obedience thereunto and from them descending by propagation to all his Posterity being stript of Gods glorious Image whereby they are prone to all evil and so are under the bondage of the Devil and obnoxious to eternal wrath It is not my purpose in making this draught of it to attend unto the exact rules of Logick but so to compose it that every thing considerable to give the true knowledge of it may be comprized therein And First We say It 's a depravation and defilement which implieth the sinfulness of it that it is truly and properly a sinne And therefore sinne is truly and univocally divided into original and actual so that they who make it onely to be guilt without any inward contagion they do wholly erre from the Scripture they say not enough It is true Adam's sinne in the guilt of it is imputed unto us which made Ambrose of old say as Austin alledgeth him against the â—elagians Morinus sum in Adamo ejectus sum in Paradiso in Adamo c. I am dead in Adam I am cast out of Paradise in Adam But we are not disputing of original imputed sinne but original inhering Therefore original inherent sinne is truly and properly a defilement upon us against the Law of God and this sinfull estate of all by nature should be farre more terrible unto us then our miserable and mortal estate Again When we call it a defilement we oppose their opinion who make it only morbus and not truly a sinne As also those who say It is the substance of a man for if so then Christ could not have taken our nature without sinne neither could there be glorified bodies in Heaven without sinne for all these have the humane nature of a man Further we say It 's an horrid depravation This Epithete is necessary to be added to awaken pharisaical and self-righteous persons it being so dreadfull an evil that we are never able to go to the depth of it Never therefore think of speak of original sinne but let thy heart tremble and let horrour and amazement take hold of thee because of it and this is put in the Description to obviate those opinions that make it the least of all sinnes Some complain That we are too severe and tragical in the aggravation of it but enough hath been already spoken out of Scripture to shew that neither heart can conceive or tongue express the foulness of it This is the general part of the Description Secondly You have the Subject of it and because the Subject thereof is twofold of Inhesion and of Predication In this part we have the Subject wherein it is and that is totus homo and totum hominis the whole man and the whole of man there being no part free from this contagion so that it 's repletively and diffusively in all the parts of soul and body though eminently and principally in the mind and will and the whole heart It 's true sinne is not properly seated in the body the eyes or hand or in the sensitive part yet participatively and subordinately as they are instruments to the soul in its actings so they are said to be sinfull Thus there are lustfull eyes cursing tongues unclean bodies There are sinfull imaginations and fancies because these are the organs by which the soul putteth forth its wickedness So that the body is like a broken spoiled instrument of musick and the soul like an unskilfull Artificer playing on it which causeth horrid and harsh sounds for pleasant melody But as God is every where yet in Heaven after a more glorious and signal manifestation of himself So on the contrary though original sinne be a Leprosie infecting the whole man yet it 's most principally in the intellectual and immaterial parts of the soul It 's horrible darknesse in the mind aversnesse in the will to all that is good and contumacy in the heart to whatsoever is holy And this part doth directly oppose all those who grant indeed original sinne but yet grant it wholly in the inferiour and sensitive part as if our reason and mind were like the Heavens of a quintessential frame in respect of any unholy contagion whereas indeed because these eyes of the soul are dark therefore is the whole body dark Because the Sunne and Moon and Starres as it were of this little world of man are turned into bloud therefore every part else is also become blood defiled and loathsom and this is the reason why so few do either believe or know this natural corruption because it benummeth us yea it taketh away all spiritual life so that we cannot discern of it The declaration of the cause of it followeth in this description where we have the external efficient cause and the internal The external was the Devil after his all and apostasie he endeavoured being a murderer from the beginning to destroy man also and accordingly he did prevail and thus by the Devil sinne came into the world yet he is the external cause onely he could not force or compel our first parents to sinne he did onely perswade and entice them Therefore the internal cause was the freedom of their will God created them in whereby they might either imbrace good or chuse evil which mutability was the cause of their apostasie It is true the dispute is very curious How Adam being created perfect could yeeld to sinne Whether did the defect arise in his will or understanding first But seeing it 's clear by Scripture that he did sinne and we feel the wofull effect of it Let us not busie our heads in metaphysical curiosities although I see the soundest Authors make the beginning of his sinne to be in inadvertency for his soul being finite while he earnestly intended to one thing he did not attend to another and so sinne was inchoatively first in his understanding not by errour or ignorance for Adam's understanding was free from that but by not attendency to all considerations and arguments as he ought to do Although it must be confest that the root and foundation of his sin was the vertibility of his will for as he might not sin so also he might sin he had then a posse peccare in him and so a defectibility from the Rule Thus although efficient causes use not to be put into exact definitions neither hath sin so properly efficient as deficient causes yet in large descriptions it is
desired to number the people though Joab withstood it 2 Sam. 24. which might exceedingly have shamed David that a meer mortal man should see that sinfullness which he did not yet he will proceed and the people are numbered but assoon as David had done it then his heare smote him when it was done it smote him not while it was a doing the nine moneths were spent in numbring of the people Why not before then it had prevented the deaths of many thousands But thus it is conscience will not seasonably and opportunely bear witness against sinne Consider then the deceitfullness and falseness of thy conscience herein all the while thou art contriving sinne purposing yea and acting of sinne nothing doth trouble thee but at last when sinne is committed then it ariseth with horror and terror And do we not see this constant pollution of conscience in most dying persons when summoned by God and arraigned by death when the sentence of death is upon them Then their conscience flyeth in their faces taketh them by the throat oh send for the Minister let him pray for me let all that come to me pray for me Thus conscience is stirring now oh but how much better were it if in thy health time if in thy strength and power then conscience had been operative To have heard thee then cry out oh my sinnes oh I am wounded at the heart oh pray for me then there had been better grounds to hope thy conscience was awakened upon true and enduring considerations such as would continue alwaies living and dying whereas such are but sick-suddain fits of conscience and commonly turn into greater hardness of heart and obstinancy afterwards Secondly Conscience troubled doth naturally discover its pollution By the slavish servile and tormenting feares which do accompany it So that whereas the proper work of conscience is By Scripture-light to direct to Christ so that the troubles thereof should be like the Angels troubling of the pool of Bethesda and then immediately to communicate healing Now it is the clean contrary These wounds do fester and corrode more The conscience by feeling guilt runneth into more guilt so that whereas we would think and say Now there are hopes now conscience stirreth now he begins to feel his sinnes we see often the contrary an obortive or a monstrous birth after such travailles of the soul and wherein doth it manifest it self more then by tormenting teares about God So that if it were possible the conscience troubled would make a man runne from the presence and sight of God never to be seen by him Thus you see it was with Adam when he had sinned his conscience was awakened he knew what he had done and therefore was afraid at Gods voice and runne to hide himself such a slavish servile temper doth follow the conscience when wounded for sinne Now all such tormenting feares are so many manifest reproaches unto the goodness of God and his mercy revealed The hard thoughts the accusing imaginations that there is no hope for thee that thy sinnes are greater then thou canst bear or that God will forgive these dishonour the goodness of God these oppose his grace and mercy which he intendeth to exalt in the pardon of sinne Insomuch that the Atheist who denieth the Essence of God is in this respect less hainous then thou who deniest the good Essence of God He denieth his natural goodness thou his moral goodness as it were Is not the great scope of God in the Word to advance this attribute of his mercy especially in Christ he hath made it so illustrious and amiable that it may ravish the heart of a poor humbled sinner but a slavish conscience about sinne rob God of this glory So that although it may be the Spirit of God by the Word that convinceth thee of thy sinne and affecteth thy conscience yet the slavishness and servility of it that is the rust and moth which breedeth in thy own nature that is not of Gods Spirit Thirdly The troubled conscience discovereth its natural pollution By the proneness and readiness in it to receive all the impressions and impulses of the Devil That as in the secure conscience the Devil kept all quiet and would by no means molest So on the contrary in the troubled consience there be endeavours to heighten the trouble to increase the flame and he that before tempted thee to presumption that God was ready to pardon that sinne would easily be forgiven now he useth contrary engines provoketh to despair represents God as severe and one who will never forgive such trangressions that there is no hope for him that he is shut out of the Ark and so must necessarily perish Thus you see he wrought upon the troubled conscience of Judas and of Cain one goeth trembling up and down and cannot cast off the terrors and horrors which were upon him The other is so greatly tormented with anguish of soul that he hangeth himself In what whirlepooles of despair In what self-murders and other sad events hath a troubled conscience agitated and moved by the Devil cast many into Now all this ariseth because the wounded conscience being not as yet regenerated doth hearken more unto the Devil then unto Gods Spirit The Spirit of God through the Word of the Gospel speaks peace to the broken in heart offereth oil to be poured into such wounds holdeth out the scepter of grace but the troubled conscience heareth not this believeth not this but what the Devil that soul-murderer and Prince of darkness doth suggest and dart into the thoughts that is received and followed Hence it is that so many have been under troubles of conscience under terrors of spirit for sinnes for a season but all this pain in travel was only to bring forth wind and emptiness all hath either ended in tragical and unbelieving actions or in a bold and more hardened obstinacy and the great cause of this hath been the Devils moving in these troubled waters he hath presently interposed to marre this vessel while upon the wheel Know then that when thy conscience is awakened and grieved then is the Devil very busie then he tempteth he suggesteth but keep close to the Word see what the Spirit of God calleth upon thee to do get out of the crowd of those Satanical injections and compose thy self in a ferene and quiet manner to receive the commands of God in his Word for the Spirit of God that calleth to believe to come in and make peace with God but the Devil he presseth a final departure from God Fourthly The troubled conscience is internally polluted By that ignorance and incapacity in knowing of what is the true christian-liberty purchased by Christ I speak not as yet of that main and chief liberty which is freedome from the curse of the law through the bloud of Christ but in many doctrinal and practical things The Apostle Rom. 14. speaketh much of the weak conscience which hath not attained to
that is the cause of all thy bad fruit A regenerated will a sanctified will would make thee prepared for every good work It is for want of this that all preaching is in vain all Gods mercies and all judgements are in vain Why should not the hammer of Gods word break it Why should not the fire of it melt it but because the stubbornness of the will is so great that it will not receive any impression 't is called therefore a stony heart not an iron heart for iron by the fire may be mollified and put into any shape but a stone will never melt it will sooner break into many pieces and flie in the face Thus the will of a man hath naturally that horrible hardness and refractoriness that in stead of loving and imbracing the holy things of God it doth rather rage and hate with all abomination such things ¶ 7. The Enmity and Contrariety of the Will to Gods Will. IN the second place That imbred sinfull propriety of the will which accompanieth it as heat doth fire is The enmity and contrariety of the will to Gods will There is not onely a privative incapacity but a positive contrariety even as between fire and water Gods will is an holy will thine is unholy Gods will is pure thine is impure Gods will is carried out to will his own glory honour and greatness thine is carried out to will the dishonour and reproach of God Thus as Gods will is infinitely good and the cause of all good so in some sense thy will is infinitely evil and the cause of all that evil thou art plunged into Therefore when the Apostle saith That the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehends the actings of the will and the affections as well as of the mind It is enmity in the very abstract so that it is neither subject to God nor can be Oh that God would set this truth more powerfully upon our hearts for what tongue can express the misery of this that thy will should naturally have such irreconcilable opposition and implacable enmity to the Law of God that it should be diametrially opposite to Gods will which at first was made so amicable and compliant with Gods will that there was the Idem velle and Idem nolle Besides many other considerations there are two especially that may break and exceedingly humble our souls herein For 1. Gods will and his law which is his will objectively taken are absolutely in themselvs very good and therefore the proper object of thy will So that if thy will be carried out to any thing in the world it should be carried out to Gods Law above any thing This is to be willed above any created good what soever How is it that thou canst will pleasures profits and such created good things and art not more ravished and drawn out in thy desires after the chiefest good but to be in a state of opposition to this chiefest good to contradict and withstand it this is the hainous aggravation Could there be a Summum malum it would be in the will because of its direct opposition to the Summum bonum Herein mans will and the Devils will do both agree that they are with hatred and contrariety carried out against Gods will If therefore thou wert to live a thousand and thousands of years upon the earth and thou hadst no other work to do but to consider and meditate about the sinfulness and wretchedness of the will in this particular thou wouldst even then take up but drops in respect of the Ocean and little crums in respect of the sand upon the sea-shore But Secondly This contrariety of thy will is not only against that which absolutely in it self is the chiefest good but relatively it would be so to thee and therefore thy contrariety to it is the more unjustifiable What to be carried out with unspeakable hatred to that which would be thy blessedness and happiness who can bewail this enough To have a delight and a connaturality with those things that will be thy eternal damnation with much readiness and joy to will them and then to be horrible averse and contrapugnant to those things which if willed and imbraced would make thee happy to all eternity Oh miserable and wretched man thy condition is farre more lamentable then that of the beasts for they have a natural instinct to preserve themselves and to desire such things as are wholsom to them but thou art naturally inclining to will and imbrace all those things which will be thy eternal woe and misery What is the cause that thy will cannot imbrace the Law of God Why art thou so contrary to it Alas there is no just reason can be given but original sinne is like an occult quality in thy will making an Antipathy in it against the same so that thou doest not love what is holy neither art thou able to say Why only thou dost not love it yea there is the greatest reason in the world and all the word of God requireth it likewise that thy will should be subordinate and commensurated unto it but there is no other cause of this evil will then the evil of it It is evil and therefore cannot abide that which is good ¶ 8. The Rebellion of the Will against the light of the mind and 〈◊〉 slavery of it to the sensitive part in a man THirdly The original pollution of the will is seen in the rebellion of it against the light of the mind and the slavery of it to the sensitive part in a man to the carnal and sinfull affections therein Both which do sadly proclaim how the will is by nature out of all holy order and fallen from its primitive integrity For in the former respect therefore did God give us reason that by the light and guidance thereof the will should proceed to its operations So that for the will to move it self before it hath direction from the mind is like the servant that would set upon business before his master commands him like an unnatured dog that runneth before his master do set him on To will a thing first and afterwards to exercise the mind about it is to set the earth where Heaven should be But oh the unspeakable desolation that is brought upon the soul in this very particular The will staieth for no guidance expecteth no direction but willeth because it will what is suteable and agreeable to the corrupt nature thereof that it imbraceth be it never so destructive and damning God made the mind at first that it could say like the Centurion I bid the will go and it goeth the affections move and they move but now the inferior souldier biddeth the Centurion go and he goeth This then is the great condemnation of the will that though light come in upon it yet it loveth not the light but rebelleth against it and this sinfulness of the will is more palpably
hand out of his bosom he willeth and willeth but never doth effectually set himself upon working This man is like a reed that is tossed up and down with every wind Many more sinfull affections might be named for they are like the motes in the air or the sand upon the sea shore But let this suffice because more will then be discovered when we speak of the slavery of it to evil having no freedom to will what is good Only let this Truth be like a coal of fire fallen upon thy heart let it kindle a divine flame in thy breast consider this corrupt will is the root of all evil If thy will were changed if thy will were turned to God this would bring the whole man with it Oh pray to God to master thy will to conquer thy will Say O Lord though it be too hard for me yet it is not for thee Remember hell will be the breaking of thy corrupt will Thou that wouldst not do Gods will here shall not have thy will in any thing when in hell SECT V. Of the Natural Servitude and Bondage of the Will with a brief Discussion of the Point of Free-will ¶ 1. JOH 8. 35. If the Sonne therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed HItherto we have been discovering the vast and extensive pollution of the will in its Originals and Naturals both in the several operations and affections of it The next thing in order is To treat of the will in regard of its state as in freedome of servitude about which so many voluminous Controversies have been agitated And indeed a sound judgement in the point of Free will is of admirable consequence to advance Christ and the grace of the Gospel For whosoever do obscure the glory thereof they lay their foundation here They praise nature to the dispraise of grace and exalt God as a Creator to the prejudice of Christ as a Redeemer Although it is not my purpose to go with this Point as many miles as the Controversie would compel me yet because the Doctrine of Free-will is so plausible to flesh and bloud that in all Ages of the Church it hath had its professed Patrons And because the cause of Christ and the Gospel is herein interessed and further because it is of a great practical concernment to know what a slavery and bondage is upon the will of man to sin it will be necessary and profitable in some measure to inlarge upon it for there is scarce one in a thousand but is pussed up with his own power and strength so that he feeleth not the want of grace ¶ 2. This last mentioned Scripture opened THis Text I have pitched upon will be a good and a sure foundation for the superstruction of our future Discourse For Austin in his hot disputes with the Pelagians about the freedom of the will to what is good doth often flie to this Text as a sure Sanctuary And Calvin gravely upon this Discourse of our Saviour saith Eunt nunc Papistae we may adde Arminians and Socinians liberum arbitrium factuosè extollunt c. Let them presumptuously exalt free will but we being conscious of our own bondage do glory in Christ onely our Redeemer Though Maldonate is pleased to censure this expression of Calvin us Sententia digna verberibus vel igne Let us therefore take notice of the Coherence and we will go no higher then to the 30th verse where we have specified a blessed and fruitfull event upon Christs Discourse concerning his Person and Office For as he spake those words many believed on him not by their own natural ability and power but the Father did draw them by his omnipotent and efficacious grace Christ while he spake to the ear did also reach to the heart he did not onely preach but could inable the hearer also to believe herein exceeding all Pastors and Teachers that ever were in the Church of God Christ plants and watereth and giveth the increase likewise all of himself Yea Christ seemeth here to sow his seed upon the high way and among thorns and stones yet some seed cometh up and prospereth well Upon this we have the love and care of Christ mentioned to these new Converts he immediately watereth these plants and swadleth these new born Infants that they may not miscarry This is seen in the counsel suggested to them where you have The Duty supposed and the admirable Priviledge issuing from it The Duty supposed If ye continue in my Word It is not enough to begin unless there be perseverance It is not enough to receive Christ and his Word unless we abide therein and have our ears as it were boared never to depart from such a Master The neglect of this maketh all that dreadfull Apostasie and those sad scandals to Religion which in all Ages do terribly break forth Except ye abide in Christ as well as be in him we shall fall short in the wilderness and not be able to enter into Canaan It is also observable that Christ saith If ye abide in my Word it must be the true Doctrine of Christ it must be what he hath delivered which denoteth two things 1. That heresie and errour can no wayes make to our Christian-Discipleship they cannot set us at liberty from any lust or sinne and therefore no wonder if you see men of corrupt judgements at last fall into sinfull and corrupt practices For the word of God is only the instrument and instituted means of sanctification Sanctifie them by thy word Joh. 17. 2. Hereby we see the necessity of the Ministry of it by the preaching of Gods word they are first brought to believe and after that are continually to depend on it The Ministry is both for the begetting of grace and the increase of it Those that despise and neglect the Word preached do greatly demonstrate they never got any good by it The consequent Priviledge upon this continuance in the Word is to be Christs Disciples indeed From whence we have a distinction of a Disciple in appearance and shew or profession onely and a Disciple indeed There were many that became Christs Disciples in profession onely they followed him for a season but afterwards forsook him which caused our Saviour so much in his Parables and Sermons to press them upon a pure thorow and deep work of grace upon their souls The title without reality will be no advantage Musculus observeth That Christ useth the Present tense Then are ye my Disciples indeed From whence he gathers That Continuance or Perseverance in grace doth not make the truth of grace but the truth of grace maketh the perseverance they do continue and therfore are Disciples indeed but they are Disciples indeed therefore they continue in Christs Word But Beza maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in other places and if so then it must be thus understood That our Perseverance in grace doth not make grace to be true but doth demonstrate and
practical and operative means whereby he doth communicate life unto us And lastly Therefore God doth use Commands Because this way is suitable to man who is a rational Agent For although the work of grace is more than meerly swasive it is efficacious and really changing the heart so that the Spirit of God doth farre more in converting of a sinner then the Devil doth in tempting to sinne yet God dealeth suitably to the nature of a man We are not like stocks and stones to whom it is ridiculous to preach there being not in them a passive capacity of receiving the worke of grace Hence it is that the Word is preached Miracles are wrought powerfull Arguments are used to draw off the heart So that grace doth worke Ethicophysically as some expresse it Commands then and Threatnings are used because grace is wrought in us after a rational manner in an attempered manner to our constitution The understanding being first wrought upon that so the will and affections may more readily give up themselves Thirdly If liberty be the same with voluntariness and no more as many learned men do contend making voluntas and liberum arbitrium all one as that which is opposed to coaction and natural necessity yea if we adde Aurtelus his opinion to this that libertas was nothing but complacentia liberty is the complacency and delight of the will in its object then in this sense if rightly understood a man hath no freedom to what is holy It is true indeed the learned to shew that grace in converting doth not destroy the liberty of the will viz. the natural liberty no more then the will it self Grace doth not compel the will or put an inherent natural necessity upon it for if there could be coaction the velle would be nolle which is a contradiction and if a natural necessity could be imposed upon it it would not be appetitus rationalis a rational appetite so that though grace in converting of man doth insuperably and invincibly change the will making it of unwilling willing so that there is a necessity not natural but of immutability and unchangeableness The will doth most certainly give it self up to the grace of God mollifying and fashioning of it for that purpose This Iron as it were is put into the fire and then it is made pliable to receive any form or impression yet the essential liberty is not destroyed For the Question about Free-will is not An sit but Quid possit And herein lieth the difficult knot in this whole point about grace and the will of man How to assert the irresistible as many call it but others reject that expression though the sense of those who use it is very sound and significant enough work of grace insuperably determining the will to that which is good and yet to be free from coaction or such a necessity as is destructive to liberty The Quomodo How these two are to be reconciled is that which in all ages hath exercised the most learned and judicious insomuch that some have advised to rest in it by faith as in a mystery above our understanding even as we doe in many other Doctrines to be believed by us But I am not to ascend this mountain at this time This is enough for our purpose to shew That if liberty be said to consist in willing a thing freely from coaction and necessity even in this respect we have not thus farre liberty to good because it is God that worketh in us to will Indeed when we doe will we are not compelled by the Grace of God onely we cannot will till the Grace of God enable us thereto It is not of him that willeth but of God that sheweth mercy Neither are we born of the will of man but of God It is grace then onely that maketh us to will the good things tendered to us though the will in eliciting of this is not compelled but doth it freely yea grace giveth this freedome to it so that grace doth not destroy but give liberty And therefore Austin of old urged That they denied Liberum arbitrium who would not have it Liberatum They cannot hold free-will in a true sense that doe not hold free and efficacious grace which giveth the will all the strength it hath to what is good Thus liberty if it be the same with willingness we have it not of our selves till the grace of God bestow it upon us Fourthly If liberty consist in having dominion and power over our actions then also the will cannot be said to be free as to doe holy things For although the will when it doth will is the subordinate cause under God of its own action and as a cause so also may be said to have dominion over it yet because the actual willing of what is good doth not arise or exist by the strength of the will but by the grace of God therefore it is that in respect of good things the will cannot be said to have the dominion over them This Definition of liberty viz. to have a dominion over our own actions is by Jansenius asserted to be the true and proper meaning of Augustine that his judgement is then the will is said to be free when it hath dominion and power over what it doth and if so no wonder then the will be so often said to be captivated and enslaved that it hath no freedom to what is holy For what power can the will have over holy actions when it is corrupted and defiled that no holy thought or holy motion is under the power of it It was Ambrose his complaint of old That Cor nostrum non est in nostrâ potestate Our heart is not in our power but sinnefull and evil workings of soul rise up in us which we are no wayes able to extinguish Fifthly If liberty be as Anselme of old defined it to which some Neotericks doe adhere viz Facultas servandi rectitudinem propter rectitudinem ipsam That it is a power to observe that which is right for righteousnesse sake then this doth evidently proclaime That man hath no Free-will for to observe that which is holy and righteous for holinesse sake which must needs argue a man regenerated and borne again And indeed liberty in this sense is nothing but the Image of God repaired in a man and so is no more then to be like God himself And now that every man by nature hath lost this Image of God is so plain that the experience of every man concerning his distance from God may fully confirme it If to this be added Aquinas his Description That it is Vis electiva mediorum servato ordine ad finem A power to chuse means with a due order and respect to the end yet still freedome in the will to what is good cannot be found For as saith he The understanding which is an apprehensive faculty hath its simple and bare apprehension of a thing viz. of the first principles And
more predominant then the understanding It is with man the little world as the great world God made in this two great lights the Sunne and Moon one to rule in the day the other in the night Thus man hath two lights created in him which are to direct him in all his operations the Sunne that is the Understanding the Moon is like the Imagination which giveth a glimmering light and that onely in particular and corporeal things Now as it would be an horrible confusion in the world if the Moon should shut out the Sunne and take upon it to rule in the day time all the light the Moon hath let it be supposed it hath some of its own would not suffice to make a day Thus it is in man his fancy which hath not light enough to guide him in his actions to his true end yet that usurpeth upon the understanding and doth in effect command all Thus the inferiour light prevaileth over the superiour Oh what groaning should the new creature be in till it be delivered from this bondage See then to thy self and examine all things that passe through thy soul more narrowly and exactly It may be thy imagination is the cause of all thy Religion of all thy opinions It may be it is not faith but fancy It may be it is not conscience but imagination that instigateth thee Those expressions me thinks and I imagine so are not high enough or becoming those glorious actings of faith in the soul which the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. 1. The substance of things hoped for Aristotle opposeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those apparitions that are made in the air as the Rain-bow which hath no real subsistency and truly such are the conceits and apprehensions many have in Religion and Piety They are not of a solid true and well-grounded knowledge but are like meteors in the air Thus do their opinions flie up and down in their head We may observe it a very ordinary thing in controversies and polemical writings that both parties will often charge one another with their fancies and their imaginations that there is no such thing in Scripture or in reason but a figment in the brain Yea the Pelagians and Socinians call this very Doctrine of original sinne Austin's fancy as if it were an evil imagination to hold That the thoughts and imaginations of the heart are only evil and that continually Thus you see in what confusion we are in when sometimes the solid Doctrine of the Scripture is traduced for a meer imagination And again meer fancies applauded and earnestly contended for as sundamental pillars of Religion and Piety Seeing then our imaginations are so apt to get into the chair of the understanding and as Athaliah destroyed the seed royal that she might reign so fancy bolteth out all solid reasons and arguments that it alone may do all it behoveth us the more to watch over our hearts in this respect and to be sure they are the solid works of faith and not the fickle motions of the fancy that do guide thee and the rather because it is the perpetual custome of wicked and ungodly men to brand and stigmatize both the true faith and all solid piety with the reproach of a meer fancy Do not Papists Arminians Socinians and the like exclaim against the Protestant Doctrine as if it were but an Idol of Calvins and Luthers making when they condemned the blessed Martyrs to burn at the stake they concluded such suffered but for their fancies and their humours It being therefore the constant charge by all enemies to truth that it is not thy faith thou pleadest for thou sufferest for but thy meer fancy it behoveth thee to be the more diligent in Scripture knowledge and to pray that the Spirit of God may thereby quicken thee up to a found and sure faith Thus also it is in practicals Let a man set himself to the power of godliness walk strictly in opposition to the loosness and profaneness of the world Let his soul mourn for sinne and his heart grieve for his evil wayes what do carnal people presently say This is your fancy these are your melancholly conceits they judge it to be some distemper in your imagination that it is a kind of a madness Now that we may withstand such accusations it behoveth us to seek after and pray for such a thorough work of sanctification that we may be assured it is no more fancy then that we live or have our being that if to be godly if to be converted be a fancy onely then to be a man or to be a wicked man is only a fancy also Well though we must take heed of calling faith a fancy and the work of grace a melancholly conceit for that is a kind of blaspheming the holy Ghost yet experience doth evidence That many have not faith have not true piety but meer empty shadows and imaginations in Religion witness the Scepticism of many in these dayes who are of no faith and no Religion who change it often as they do their garments who have no rooting or immovable foundation but are as the water which receiveth every impression but retaineth none that are Reeds shaken with every wind and are clean contrary to Christ for they are not the same yesterday and to day and for ever Can you say this is the work of Gods Spirit Can we say this is the Scripture-truth No you read the Character of such who have true faith and that in a sanctified manner If it were possible to deceive the very elect Matth. 24. 24. Certainly the prevalency of the imagination above the understanding in religious things is one of the sore evils which original sinne hath brought upon all mankind SECT IX In the Imagination are conceived for the most part all Actual Impieties SEventhly This also doth greatly manifest the sinfulness of the Imagination That as in the affections so likewise in it are conceived for the most part all actual impieties The Imagination and the Affections joyned together are commonly that dunghill wherein these serpents lay their eggs yea sinne many times lieth a long while breeding in the imagination before it be brought forth into action yea many times it is never brought forth but the womb of sinne is also the tomb it lived and died in the imagination We may observe the Scripture attributing the greatest works of impiety to the imagination as the cause of it Psal 21. Why do the people imagine a vain thing All the opposition of wicked men and their carnal policy to overthrow the wayes of Christ flow from this imagining Thus Psal 38. 12. They imagine deceits all the day long Zech. 7. 10. All the injustice oppression and fraud that may be used to other men is attributed to this Let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart It is true this Imagination spoken of in the Text comprehends also acts of the mind
second place there is the Universality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is more emphatical then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things not all men This expression is used to shew that not only all men but all their actions studies endeavours every thing belonging to them as it were is thus sinfull and damnable although Grotius maketh the Substantive understood to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the third place we have the Cause appointing and declaring of this and that is the Scripture It is usual to attribute those things which belong to God unto the Scripture because that is the sentence of God that declareth the will of God Thus Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture fore-seeing that God would justifie the Heathen c. that is God by his Word fore-telling what he would do Thus Rom. 9. 17. The Scripture saith unto Pharaoh For this same purpose have I raised thee up c. that is God by the Scripture manifested his will and purpose concerning Pharaoh So that in this place we are to conceive of God wisely and righteously ordering this way that all mankind shall fall into a stat of sin condemnation that so a way may be made open for the advancement of the grace of the Gospel Not that God did necessitate Adam to sinne or did infuse any evil into him but be falling by his own voluntary transgression and thereby plunging all his posterity into this wretched estate God who could have prevented this fall of Adam did not because not bound to it give him that grace which would actually have confirmed him although he bestowed on him grace sufficient enough to inable him to stand God I say did righteously and wisely permit this fall of his thereby to work out a greater good then the sinne of Adam could be an evil Thus God may be called the cause appointing and ordering of all this evil of mankind partly permissivè by leaving Adam to his own will and partly directivè and ordinativè being not a bare spectator or sufferer of this apostasie but also a righteous director and ordainer of it to blessed and heavenly ends Though therefore God is here said to shut up all mankind into this prison yet he is no more cause of the evil which brought this desolation then a Magistrate is of the wickedness of such a Malefactor whom he throweth into prison Yea Gods ordering of this fall of Adam unto such righteous ends doth therein demonstrate his Mercy and his Justice So that although sinne be evil yet the punishing of this is good as also the working of a better good then the evil is evil is a demonstration of the infinite wisdom of God As God doth it thus as the chief cause so the Scripture is said to shut us up under sinne instrumentally because that declareth the curse of God due unto us And that upon a two-fold account both because of the actual impieties all do commit as also because of that original filthiness and pollution we are born in Now it is my purpose to treat of Gods righteous dispensation towards mankind in this particular only because some do rise up with great zeal for the righteousness honour and glory of God in this point as if the Doctrine delivered by the Orthodox herein were altogether injurious and derogatory to him Hence the late known Adversary to this fundamental Truth about original sinne delivers himself thus Answer to a Letter pag. 23 24 To say that for Adam's sinne it is just in God to condemn Infants to the eternal flames of hell and to say that concupiscence or natural inclinations before they passe unto act could bring eternal condemnation c. are two such horrid propositions that if any Church in the world would expresly affirme them I for my part should think it unlawfull to communicate with her in the defence or profession of either and think it would be the greatest temptation in the world to make men not to love God of whom they speak such horrid things Thus he most horribly Now although these two Propositions are set down by him odiously and captiously not fully expressing the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches yet it is plain that he striketh at those Positions which are for the substance of them maintained by all Protestant Churches and doth thereby publiquely professe his separation from and non-communion with all Protestant Churches and particularly with the Church of England in that 9th Article which he doth so cruelly tear and mangle that it may not appear to be what indeed it is Our work therefore shall be from this Text to declare from Scripture-ground the holiness wisdome and righteousness of God in his proceedings thus with mankind for Adam's sinne For although all grown persons are shut up under actual sins as well as original yet here is comprehended both seeing it doth extend to all that may have salvation by Christ out of which number Infants are not to be excluded Therefore Bellarmine bringeth this Text amongst others to prove that there is an original sinne that all are born in And so we observe That God for righteous and wise ends manifested in the Scripture hath shut up all mankind in a state of sinne and damnation That God who could have preserved Adam in the state of happinesse and continued it to all his posterity so that thereby no sinne or condemnation would have come upon any one man for there would then none have done evil no not one hath ordered the contrary way suffering man to fall and thereby all mankind to be in a state of condemnation whereby also sin is so predominant that now there is none that doth good no not one The Scripture doth in other places with much exactnesse and diligence take notice of the proceeding of God in this way as Rom. 3. 9. The Apostle dividing all mankind into Jews and Gentiles sheweth that though there may be many differences in several respects yet as to a state of sin by nature and so a necessity of justification by Christ all were alike Therefore saith he We have before proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is very emphatical some make it to charge complain and in an heavy manner to accuse So that to be by nature of our selves in a state of wrath not being able without the grace of Christ to avoid this condemnation is the greatest guilt that we can be charged with It ought not to seem a light and contemptible thing that we come thus cursed in the world But because men may be accused falsly and the Pelagians charge us with laying a false curse upon mankind hence the Greek word signifieth more viz. so to charge a thing upon a man as by strong reasons to prove it to shew clearly the causes and grounds of it therefore our Translators render it We have before proved So that the Apostles meaning is We have not only said thus but we have proved A Metaphor say some from those who have cast up
sinne finished because therein the evil of sinne doth most palpably demonstrate it self It is true Calvin doth by sinne finished or perfected mean not so much the acting of any grosse sinne as the customary continuance and perseverance in it and no doubt this sense is not to be excluded but the Text may very well be interpreted of any sinne though but once committed though it be not frequently iterated And thus we have this full and excellent Text largely explained From which we observe That original sinne is that lust within a man from whence all actual sinnes do flow That is as there is not a man or woman but he doth come from Adam Hence the Canonists have a saying That if Adam were alive he could not have a wise among all the women in the world because of their discent from him So it is true of every vain thought every idle word every ungodly action they all come from this original lust within a man and therefore the Devil with all his fiery darts could do us no hurt did not our lusts betray us Nemo se palpet de suo Satanas est said Austin Let no man flatter himself he is a Devil to himself from his own lust he is a tempter to himself This truth is of special use to humble us this will make us debase our selves crying out O Lord I even I alone am to be blamed it is from my own vile self that all this corruption doth thus overflow This our Saviour confirmed when he said Matth. 15. 19. One of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries c. So that whosoever would be kept free and unspotted from sinne he must watch over his heart more diligently there is the nest there is the spawn of all those noisome sins that may be seen in thy life SECT II. That Original Sinne is the cause of all Actual Evil cleared by several Propositions which are Antidotes against many Errors ¶ 1. VVE proceed to clear this Truth in several Propositions which also will be as antidotes for the most part against so many respective errors in this Point And First By lust here in the Text we are not to understand that particular libidinous disposition in men whereby they are carried out in a wanton or unclean manner as we in our English phrase do for the most part limit it For the Apostle doth comprehend farre more Rom. 7. in that command Thou shalt not lust or covet neither is this lust to be restrained only to the sensitive and carnal part of a man as if lust were not chiefly in the reason and the will of a man according to Scripture-language Lust doth comprehend the deordination of the sublime and rational part in a man Therefore those Papists who do limit lust only to the sensual part are wholly ignorant of the extension of original sinne and the diffusion of it self through the chiefest parts of a man Hence it is justly to be censured that the late Annotator on this Text doth in his paraphrase joyn with the most erroneous of the Popish party for by lust he understands our treacherous sensual appetite which being impatient of sufferings suggests some sensitive carnal baits and so by them enticeth him And in the verse following he agin paraphraseth When consent is joyned to the invitation of the sensual part against the contrary dictates of his reason and the Spirit then that and not the affliction or temptation begetteth sinne Thus he But we may meet with a more sound and orthodox explication I say not in Whitaker and other Protestant Authors who conflict with the Papists in this point but even in Estius the Papist who doth ingenuously acknowledge That because the Apostle is here speaking of the original of all sinne spiritual sinnes as well as carnal it cannot be limited to the sensitive appetite Do not the sins of the mind arise from our lusts within us Do not the Devils sinne from the lust within them and yet they have no sensitive appetite And when the Apostle Gal. 5. 17. speaketh of that remarkable lusting which is between the flesh and the Spirit he cannot mean the sensual inferiour part of a man only for the works of this flesh are some of them said to be Idolatry Heresies which must needs proceed from the rational part of a man It is therefore too evident that this lust which doth so greatly entice us is not only in the inferiour part of the soul but most predominantly in the superiour and hence the understanding hath its peculiar enmity to the holy truths of God and the will its proper obstinacy to the good duties which God hath commanded Therefore we read of that expression Col. 2. 18. Puft up with a fleshly mind So that heresie is a lust of the mind envy a lust of the mind for the Devil is full of envy though Philosophers referre envy to one of their mixed and compounded passions unbelief ambition vain-glory these are lusts of the rational part Think not then that thy affections only do lust against the Spirit of God but thy reason thy will also doth and these have the greatest evil in them they are the greatest enemies to the wayes and truths of Christ As the Publicans sinnes were from the lust of the flesh so the Pharises sinnes were from the lusts of the mind And thus the more superstitious erroneous and devout any are in false wayes of Religion the more dangerous are their lusts because the more spiritual and immaterial This kind of lusting followeth us in our prayers in our preachings in all spiritual performances So that whereas carnal and bodily lusts are easily discerned and are accounted very loathsome in the eyes of the world These spiritual lusts are very difficulty discovered and may then most reign over a man when he thinketh himself most free from them Propos 2. When we say original sinne is the cause of all the actual evil that is committed this is not to be understood as if it did proximly and immediately produce every actual impiety onely this is the mediate cause and the root of all It is true the learned Whitaker will not allow it to be called the remote cause of death and other miseries which Infants are obnoxious unto As the root cannot be said to be the remote cause of fruit because it doth nourish it though under ground and at a distance from it Or as he instanceth a fountain is a cause of that stream which is carried in a long course distant from the spring De peccat orig l. 2. c. 9. But we need not strive about words No doubt when men through custom have contracted habits of sin upon them habits are the immediate and proxim causes of the wicked actions such persons do commit but original sinne is the mediate yet because original sinne is the causa causae it may be called the causa causati it being the cause of the customs and habits of sins it may
be also the cause of the sins themselves But I see not why we may not call original sinne the remote cause only of some sins because that is the seed and spawn only of all evil there are many temptations and suggestions which do ripen and quicken this monster to bring forth So that although men have lust enough within them to make them so many Cains so many Judasses to be as abominable in wicked wayes as the vilest of men are yet Nemo repente fit turpissimus as the Poet said There is time required to grow up into such foul abominations This is like the Prophets little cloud which at first though no bigger than an hand yet did afterwards biggen till it covered the whole sky The Apostle you heard compareth the production of sinne to the child that is first conceived in the mothers womb and so through the warmth and nourishment thereof doth lust bring forth As it is with the Acorn that is at first but little in quantity yet being great in efficacy doth in time enlarge it self into a great Tree Conclude then all evil even the most enormious impieties which for the present it may be thy heart doth tremble at yet they are seminally and radically in thee there are the sparks of fire which if let alone will quickly set all on a flame Hence The third Proposition is That whosoever would by the grace of God be delivered from any actual sins the best remedy is to endeavour to quench the lust within He that would dry up the streams must look to the fountain to have that dried up He that would destroy the bad fruit of a Tree must lay the axe to the root of it And this is a very necessary Rule to be attended unto in practical Divinity Observe that the same way sinne comes to live the same way thou must take to kill it It beginneth at the heart first before it 's in the eyes or hands and therefore thou must look to crucifie it in the heart first Thus the Wiseman adviseth Prov 4. 23. Keep thy heart for out of it are the issues of life After this then he exhorteth to look to our mouth and lips to our eyes and feet but the foundation must be laid in the heart if the heart be good all is good And this sheweth the preposterous way of the Casuists and Confessionists in Popery from which the late Writer so often mentioned doth not much decline in his Treatise of Ecclesiastical Penance for with such Writers you have scarce one word to the penitent sinner about Regeneration whereas external duties of alms or restitution which in their way are necessary by Gods command must flow from a spiritual and supernatural life within as the foundation of all much lesse have you one icta or tittle about faith laying hold on Christ by whom alone our persons are justified and all our duties are accepted This I say is the great neglect and unskilfulness in such writers that they deal in externals but for faith by which the heart is purified and whereby we please God in Christ that they make no mention of at all But the Scripture is herein different from moral Philosophy and Aristotelical precepts which those Casuists are wholly captivated unto for that requireth yea and promiseth first a tender and holy heart a circumcised heart and then to walk in the wayes of God whereas moral Philosophers first begin with actions and then go to acquired habits Justè agendo sumus justs This then is a golden Rule and of perpetual use in Christianity for a Christian to be mortifying lust within to watch against the treacherous adversary in thy own breast and then when the foundation is destroyed the superstruction must needs fall to the ground Propos 4. Because man is thus tempted and enticed by lust within therefore it is that man fallen doth sinne farre otherwise then Adam did in the state of integrity We do not sinne now as Adam at first we have an internal cause and principle within us whereas Adam did sinne wholly from suggestion without neither was it lust within but his meer will that made him consent to such suggestions This Proposition is the more to be regarded because Pelagian and Socinian Writers they all agree in this That we at first sinne in the same manner as Adam did at first the sensitive part being enticed by sensible objects and so rebelling against the rational part But this is to be wholly ignorant of that holy estate and glorious Image wherein God created Adam at first Adam had all such external and internal helps so freed from all ignorance passion or lust that nothing could destroy him but the liberty and mutability of his will Whereas alas in man destitute of Gods Image there is a lusting principle within him carrying him out inordinately unto every object proposed It is therefore a false and an absurd Position which Molina the Jesuite one of the meer Naturalists affirmeth Quaest 14. Disput. 4. de Concord lib. Arb. where he saith Adam had Innatum appetitum excellentiae ac laudis quo ad intellectum voluntatem c. That he had this temptation within him viz. an innate appetite to his own excellency and praise For how could this consist with that holiness and righteousness God created him in Indeed he saith in another place of the same book Quaest 14. Disp 45. Ex contemplation rei amabilis c from the contemplation of any lovely object and which is of concernment to be obtained there doth naturally rise in the will a certain motion whereby the will is affected to it which motion is not a volition but an affection of the will to that object whose goodness it is allured with And this he maketh to be in men yea in the Angels before they fell But what is this but to say that in men and Angels even before their fall there was a concupiscential inclination to delightsome objects and so Adam and Angels must according to this Text be tempted away and enticed by their own lusts An horrible Position highly derogating from Gods honour who created them holy and righteous Therefore Adam and much more Christ when they were tempted by Satan it was not in the same way with us The temptation was only external not internal there was no inward lust within yea the very external temptation of Adam and Christ was different from ours in a further respect For the Devil had not power by his suggestions to move or disturb their phansie as he doth in us Though the Devil cannot force our wils yet he can make bodily commotions of the phantasie and so thereby man is the more easily carried away to evil But neither Christ or Adam had their imagination so disturbed For although they might understand by phantasmes yet all was at the command of deliberate judgement A mans imagination was then in his own power so that those inferiour faculties in their operation could not
object is to our corrupt hearts one way or other as the forbidden fruit was to Eve not that God doth forbid us to see or hear such things but because the soul cannot be excited by those objects and affected with them but it is in a sinful manner If then thy head were a fountain of teares it could not weep enough for the desolation that is upon thee Thy eye maketh thee sinne thy ear maketh thee sinne Thus thou art compassed about with sinne from evening and morning 2. These suddain motions of sinne sometimes arise from the imagination and fancy of a man And truly how often do displeasing and sinful imaginations disturb the peace and quiet of thy soul Is it not thy fancy thou complainest of how volatique and roving is that It stayeth no where it is not fixed in holy duties It is like a market place where there is a croud of people so that the imagination doth very often help this original lust and sinne to bring forth What a quiet srene and blessed life should a man live if his imagination could be kept in an holy fixed frame if he could bid it go and it goeth do this and it did it 3. The perturbation of the body by distempers that many times causeth this original sinne to be working in us Though the body be corporeal and the soul a spirit and so cannot act physically upon it yet because they are both the essential parts of a man immediately united together there is by sympathy an acting and affecting of one another especially the body being instrumental to the soul in many operations Hence it is when that is disturbed and indisposed the soul also is hindred in its operations and therefore from the distemper of the body we are easily moved to anger to sorrow to fear to lusts So that the motions of the soul are many times according to the motions of the body as Gerson instanceth Compend Theol. in a simile which he saith some use concerning the water when the Sunne-beams are upon it as the water moveth or danceth up and down so do the Sunne-beams which are upon the water Thus as the body is in any commotion so the soul which is more immediately united to the body then the beams of the Sunne are to the water doth work according as it finds this instrument disposed Fourthly This original lust is often stirred up to entice us by the sensitive appetite by the passions and affections that are in us This we told you some did limit lust to in the Text but very unsoundly yet it cannot be denied but because the affectionate part of a man is so prevalent and operative that very often sinne is committed here even without the consent of the will These affections doe suddenly transport us and we can no more command them to be quiet then we are able to compose the waves of the Sea Now though we would withstand and gain-say them yet they are our sinnes for all that as we see Paul sadly complaining herein Rom. 7. Austin delighteth De Trinit lib. 13. to expresse our manner of sinning by allusion to the first sinne When any object doth present it self to allure and affect us then the Serpent saith he sheweth us the forbidden fruit When the sensitive appetite of a man is drawn out to consent unto it then Eve doth eat of this forbidden fruit when the rational part of the soul is enticed likewise to consent to this sinne then Eve giveth of this fruit to Adam and he eateth Thus Reason is like Adam Eve like the sensitive part and as Eve when she did eat the forbidden fruit alone did thereby grow mortal and would have died though Adam had not consented to eat Thus the affectionate part of a man carrying us away to sinne though the superiour part of the soul will not agree thereunto yet this maketh us to be in a state of damnation This maketh the action to be damnable Lastly When none of these wayes doe stirre up original sinne then the thoughts and apprehensions of a man in the intellectual part they may And indeed the former provoking causes were most conspicuous in grosse and carnal sinnes but this is influential in spiritual sinnes from the minde come vain thoughts ambitious proud malicious thoughts from the mind arise blasphemous atheistical and unbelieving thoughts Thus you see how poor and wretched man is become in his soul as Laezarus was in his body all over with ulcers and sores no place is free from sinne Oh that God would deliver us from our blindnesse of minde from our self-fulnesse whereby we are so apt to fall in love with our selves so as to think we want nothing when we are without God without Christ without the Image of God without all holinesse and peace within either of soul or body How should it pity thee to see this glorious building thus lying in its own ruines and rubbidge Now from all these particulars thus joyned together you may observe how sinne carrieth us away in a pleasing enticing manner So that although we cannot but sinne yet this is very delightsome and satisfactory insomuch that man is drawn aside to sinne as he said Trahit sua quemque voluptas And this is more to be observed because the adversaries do so tragically exclaim against us in affirming that we lie under a necessity of sinning we cannot but sin Why then say they Why should God damn us for sinning any more than for being thirsty or hungry which do necessarily affect us But the Answer is two-fold 1. This necessity of sinning is voluntarily contracted and brought upon us it is not as hunger or thirst which were necessary properties of man at his Creation though without that grief and pain which now we feel And 2. This necessity is also voluntary and pleasing it seizeth upon the mind will affections and the whole man and therefore as we cannot help it so neither will we help it We love and delight to eat this poison Lastly There are these three degrees whereby it 's said Lust cometh to be accomplished Though some differ in their expressions herein The first is Suggestion and that is when any lust doth begin to arise in the soul This is very imperceptible and undiscerned but by those who are exact in the spiritual exercises of thier soul It is true some say this word Suggestion is not proper because that doth properly come from without the Devil or the world but this is internal arising of our selves But we need not strive about words The second is Delight From this motion the soul presently findeth some secret pleasure and accordingly thinketh of it with delight receiveth it with delight Lastly There is the consent unto these to will them to be joyned to them And thus when sinne hath made this progresse a man is an adulterer a murderer before God though not actually done in the eyes of men as our Saviour witnesseth Matth. 5. 28. for
in this matter Annotat in cap. 5. of the Romans for in his paraphrase on the 12 Verse he makes death and mortality to come upon all men by Adam's disobedience because all that were born after were sinners that is born after the likeness and image of Adam And again on Verse 14 death came on the world because all men are Adam 's posterity and begotten after the image and similitude of a sinful parent By this we see the cause of death is put upon that image and likeness we are now born in to our sinful parent which is nothing els but our original corruption Let not this consideration of our sinful soules and mortal bodies pass away before it hath wrought some affectionate influence upon our soules Cogita temcrtuum brevi moriturum Every pain every â—ch is a memento to esse hominem That is an effectual expression of Job cap. 17. 14. I said to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and sister You see your alliance and kindred though never so great it is your brother-worm your sister-worm Job giveth the wormes this title because his body was shortly to be consumed by them and thereby a most intimate conjunction with them would follow Post Genesim sequitur Exodui was an elegant allusion of one of the Ancients yea the life that we do live is so full of miseries that Solomon accounteth it better not to have been born and the Heathen said Quem Deus amat moritur juvenis which should humble us under the cause of this sinne SECT VI. Q. Whether Death may not be attributed to mans constitution considered in his meer naturalls I Proceed to the second and last Question which is May not death be attributed to mans constitution considered in his meer naturals Is there not a middle state to be conceived between a state of grace and sinne viz. a state of pure naturals by which death would have come upon mankind though there had been no sinne at all This indeed is the sigment of some Popish Writers who make Adam upon his transgression to be deprived of his supernaturals and so cast into his naturals although generally with the Papists this state of pure naturals is but in the imagination only they dispute of such things as possible but de facto they say man was created in holiness and after his fall he was plunged into original sinne Now the Socinians they do peremptorily dispute for this condition of meer naturals de facto that Adam was created a meer man without either sinne or holiness but in a middle neutral way being capable of either as his free will should determine him This state of meer nature is likewise a very pleasing Doctrine to the late Writer so oftern mentioned it helpeth him in many difficulties Death passed upon all men that is the generality of mankind all that lived in their sinne The others that died before died in their nature not in their sinne neither Adam's nor their own save only that Adam brought it upon them or rather lest it to them himself being disrobed of all that which could hinder it Thus he Answer to a Letter pag. 49. This is consonant to those who say as Bellarmine and others that man fallen and man standing differ as a cloathed and and naked man Adam was cloathed with grace and other supernatural endowments but when sinning he was divested of all these and so left naked in his meer natural Thus they hold this state of meer naturals to be a state of negation not privation God taking from man not that which was a connatural perfection to him but what was meerly gratuitous The late Writer useth this comperison of Moses his face shining and then afterwards the withdrawing of this lustre Now as Moses his face had the natural perfection of a face though the glorious superadditaments were removed thus it is with man though fallen he hath his meer naturals still and so is not in a death of sinne or necessity of transgressing the Law of God but though without the aid of supernaturals he cannot obtain the kingome of heaven yet by these pure naturals he is free in his birth from any sinful pollution saith the known Adversary to this truth Thus he that calleth original sinne a meer non ens he layeth the foundation of his Discourse upon a meer non entity Now if you ask what cometh to man by these meer naturals he will answer death Yea that which is remarkable is the long Catalogue of many sad imperfections containing three or four Pages that is brought in by him Vnum Necessar cap. 6. Sect. 7. a great part whereof he saith is our natural impotency and the other brought in by our own folly As for that which is our natural impotency man being thereby in body and soul so imperfect it is he saith as if a man should describe the condition of a Mole or a Bat concerning whose imperfections no other cause is to be enquired of but the Will of God who giveth his gifts as he pleaseth and is unjust to no man by giving or not giving any certain proportion of good things To the same purpose he speaketh also in another place further explicat pag. 475. Adam's sinne left us in pure naturals disrobed of such aides extraordinary as Adam had But certainly there are few Readers who shall consider what is by him made to be the natural impotency of man in soul and body but must conclude he is most injurious to the goodness wisdomè and justice of God in making man of such miserable pure naturals yea that it is a position worse then Manicheisme for the Manichees seeing such evils upon mankind attributed them to some evil principle but this man layeth all upon the good and most holy God It is Gods will alone not mans inherent corruption that exposeth him to so many unspeakable imperfections It is well observed by Jansenius who hath one Book only de statu purae nature opposing the Jesuites and old Schoolmen in their sigment upon a state of meer naturals that this opinion was brought into the Church of God out of Aristotle and that it is the principles of his Philosophy which have thus obscured the true Doctrine of original sinne I shall breifly lay down some Arguments against any such supposed condition of meer nature from whence they say we have ignorance in the mind rebellion against the Spirit and also death it self but without sinne And Arg. 1. The first is grounded upon a rule in reason That every subject capable of two immediate contraries must necessarily have one or the other A man must either be sick or well either alive or dead there is no middle estate between them thus it is with man he must either be holy or sinful he must either be in a state of grace or a state of iniquity The Scripture giveth not the least hint of any such pure naturals Indeed a man may in
hurled himself into hell yet though we cannot give any more than a privative cause there is also a positive propensity to all evil connoted As in a wicked action of murder or drunkenness if you go to give a reason why such actions are sinnes we must say from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in them that want of order which the Law requireth There is a privation of that rectitude the Law commands yet those sinnes do imply also the material and substrate acts as well as the obliquity In every sinne of commission there is that which is positive as well as privative Though the ratio formalis of the sinne be a privation and thus it is in original sinne the whole nature of it comprehends both a want of Gods Image and a constant inclination to all impiety Though the privative be the cause of the positive Indeed Rolloc De vocatione cap. 25. de peccat orig maketh a three-fold matter and a three-fold form in original sinne The three-fold matter he assigneth to be a defection from God a want of original righteousness and a positive quality which succeedeth in the room of holinesse To which three-fold matter he attributeth a three fold form or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which the nature of sinne consists Now these material parts of original sinne are so many entities being good in themselves and coming from God the Author of nature but how Apostasie and want of original righteousness can be positive entities and good of themselves I cannot understand or how carentia justitiae originalis should have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for its form when that it self is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so a form have a form seemeth irrational to conceive SECT II. THese two things thus premised the plain and obvious Objection is That if original sinne be positive then it 's good and so of God because omne ens est bonum every being is good and then as Austin Omne bonum est vel Deus vel à Deo all good is either God himself or of God Would it not then be blasphemy to make God the Authour of it and if it have a positive being then certainly it must come from God the Author of all being But to this several Answers may be returned First That though original sinne should be granted to be positive yet for all that God would not be made the Author of sinne Because as it's sinne it doth arise from man There are some great Schoolmen as Cajetan and others that hold sinnes of commission have a positive real being as sinnes They deny that the nature of such sinnes lieth formally in a privation but in a positive relative contrariety to the Law of God and when urged with this Argument That then such sinnes have their being immediately from God as all other created beings have They will answer That God is indeed the efficient of every being but not of every modus or relative respect of that being As for example when a man eateth and drinketh this eating and drinking they are from God but then take them under this relative respect as they are vital and formal actions of man so they cannot be attributed to God for then we might say God doth eat and drink yea in those gracious acts when we do believe and repent God is the efficient cause of them yet as they do formally and vitally flow from us so they are not to be attributed to God for God doth not repent or believe Thus it may be said That though God be efficiently the cause of all positive being yet as some being hath a relative respect to the second cause working so it cannot be attributed to God neither is this any imperfection but a perfection in God because Deus non potest supplers vicem materialis aut formalis causae Therefore saith Curiel a positive Doctor for the positive nature of sinnes of Commission Lectur 6. in Thom. pag. 300. That it may be granted the will is prima moralis causa peccati as we may say a man is the first cause of sight per modum videntis because he is not subordinate to any other cause which doth produce this sight viz. formally a sight and saith he the like is in all other vital actions But I need not run into this thorny thicket to hide my self from the force of this Objection Secondly There are some learned Protestants that do distinguish of ens or being That ens is either created as the works of the six dayes or generated as mankind and the animate creatures or made as artificial things or prepared as Heaven and Hell or introduced as sinne for it 's said of sinne that it's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that upon this distinction they will say That God is the cause of all made and created beings but not of introduced beings such as sinne is because that came in by Satans temptation and mans disobedience But this distinction hath scarce so much as a sandy foundation for though it be an introduced being yet because a being it is a creature and so must come from God the chief being according to that of the Evangelist John 1. All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made For that which is ens only by participation must be reduced to that which is ens per essentiam Therefore In the third place We must speak of original sinne as we do of vicious habits and of actual sinnes The material and substrate of them being a good of nature is of God but the vitiosity and obliquity that is of man when a man moveth his tongue to curse and swear or his hand to murder another As they are actions they are of God For in him we live and move and have our being but as evil adhereth to them so they are of man Thus it is in original sinne when we say there is a positive inclination in mans heart to all evil The meaning is That the understanding and will as they are faculties and as they do act thus farre they are of God but as they cannot but act sinfully and offend in every motion so it 's of Adam's disobedience to understand then to think to will to love these are of God but to love what is evil and contrary to Gods Word or to love excessively and immoderately that which we are to do in subordination only this is of our selves A second Objection is That if original sinne be like a vicious habit in a man then it cannot be transmitted unto posterity for habits they say are personal things No father doth communicate to his childe any habits either virtuous or vicious But to this it 's answered That original sinne is not an acquired habit of sinne but an innate and imbred one in us So that as if Adam had stood original righteousnesse which was like a concreated habit in man would have been communicated to all his posterity
purpose They detain the truth in unrighteousnesse they keep conscience a prisoner gladly would that do its duty but they imprison and shackle it now this weaknesse is come upon conscience by original sinne otherwise Samson like nothing could bind that but it would command the will and affections yea the whole man to obey it Oh the pitifull estate then of such men who are sinners against conscience prophane against conscience whose lusts are stronger then their conscience As it is with some poor prisoners they go up and down with their Keeper Thus do these men they go from place to place from company to company to commit their sins and conscience as their keeper followeth them up and down only they despise and contemn the dictates of it which will be wofull in the later end Thirdly Though conscience may apply Yet as it doth it weakly and faintly so also seldom and not constantly nor daily The Cock crew once or twice before Peter remembred himself Conscience may apply once or twice yet the noise of lusts drown the voice of it Therefore unlesse it speak frequently unless it be applying often as the Prophet did three times to the dead child there will not be any spiritual life procured Thus you have the consciences even of natural men in some fits under the expectations of some great and eminent judgements They finde the power of conscience upon them as Pharaoh Ahab and Felix who trembled under Paul's preaching but then this is a flash only it 's like a sudden clap of Thunder that terrifieth for the present but when past is presently forgotten Thus in fears of death under some powerfull Sermon thy conscience giveth a blow a sharp prick into thy heart for the while thou art in some agony in some terror but because conscience doth it not often never giving thee over till it hath recovered thee hence it is that thou returnest to thy old stupidity again Fourthly As conscience naturally doth not its duty in applying So neither in witnessing in bearing testimony to our actions which yet is one great end why conscience is put into a man It is ordinarily said Conscientia est mille testes conscience is a thousand witnesses and so indeed when it doth bear testimony to a mans action it 's more then a thousand it 's more then all the world yea it is not only mille testes but mille tortores a thousand tormentors but alas it 's so defiled that in many things if not in all things it faileth and giveth at least no true witness at all For if there were not this pollution upon it With what a loud voice would it cry to thee saying I know and God knoweth what are the sinnes that thou daily livest in What little regard this witness hath appeareth That if men can accomplish their impieties and none behold them if there be no witnesses to confirm it before men they matter not at all for the witness that conscience and God can bear against them Oh this vileness of thy heart that thou runnest from the eyes of men but not considerest the eyes of God and of thy own conscience that behold thee Though indeed thy conscience is for the most part mute and speechless le ts thee alone do what thou wilt it will not witness against thee but is bribed rather and speaks for thee and flattereth thee Bewail then the sinfulnesse upon conscience even in this very particular that it doth not bear witnesse to thy evil actions or when it doth it is so coldly and languidly that thou canst hardly hear the voice of it whereas as the Prophet which is like an external conscience in the Church is To lift up his voice like a Trumpet to inform of transgressions and not to spare Thus it should be with conscience in thee And as there is a woe to that people whose Pastor is a dumb dog no lesse is it to those whose conscience also is a dumb dog So that though the witnesses and testimonies of conscience against thy self and actions be troublesom and vexatious thou canst not eat or drink or sleep for them yet this is more hopefull and may be more preparatory to conversion then when thy conscience will say nothing or is corruptly bribed saying to thee in all thy actions as Absolom did to every one that came to him That his cause was good but above all these cold and soft whisperings of conscience as if that were afraid of thee more then thou of it are notoriously discovered in the actings of secret sinne For if thy iniquities be committed secretly though thou livest in secret uncleanness in secret thieving and cosening in thy dealings so that the world doth not know it thou thinkest all is well with thee Now how could this be if conscience did roundly bear witness to these secret sinnes This would as much shame affect and torment thee as if all the world did know what thou hast done in private Oh but this conscience is muzzled Or as was said of Demosthenei when he would not plead for a Clyent but pretended a Quinsie in his throat he did Argentanginam pati Thus thy conscience hath swallowed a Camel into its throat and so spareth thee and lets it alone Otherwise if conscience did his office thou who livest in secret sins wouldst be more molested and disquieted by its continual testimonies against thee then if all the Congregation had been spectators of thy private wickedness Therefore the pollution of the conscience by original sinne is fully proclaimed by all the hidden works of dishonesty by all the close secret sinnes committed in the world For were conscience ready to testifie it would follow thee as close as the shadow to the body as Asahel did Joah Oh then let such clandestine sinners be afraid for though conscience be now stupified yet this will one day be the gnawing worme in thee that will never die SECT IV. The Corruption of Conscience in accusing and excusing THe next particular is That in those actings of conscience which are said to be accusation and excusing even herein will appear wonderfull pollution It is as you heard grosly defiled in application and in bearing witnesse now we may hold it grievously wounded also in regard of these actings Rom. 2. 15. The Apostle speaking of conscience which is even in Heathens themselves he saith It beareth witnesse with them and thereupon their thoughts are accusing or excusing one another But if we do consider how naturally conscience behaveth it self in these workings we shall have cause to be astonished at all the evil which is come upon us For in the duty of accusing is it not wholly silent Do not men runne into all excess of riot Do they not imbrace any wickedness suggested Yet where is that Murmuratio and remorsus as they express it Where is that regreting that smiting of conscience which ought to be Oh how busie is the Devil as when he possessed some bodies to make
and that from this Text which because of the different thoughts of learned Interpreters doth deserve a diligent explication And For the Coherence of it you may take notice of the sad and bitter event described by the Evangelist of Christs coming as light into the world Though he came to his own and that as a Physician to the sick as a Saviour to such who were lost yet his own received him not Now lest it might be thought this rejection of Christ was universal he addeth Some did receive him and 〈…〉 dclareth the unspeakable benefit and priviledge vouchsafed to such So that in the words we may take notice 1. Of the Subject who are thus honoured and highly blessed by Christ Such as received him and what this is is explained viz. Such who believe on his Name In this is comprehended all our Evangelical Duty and that both inwardly and outwardly onely faith is expressed because this is virtually all This is the seed and the root the soul and life the salt that seasoneth the whole man 2. We have the Priviledge or Benefit which is said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the right or dignity of being the sonnes of God for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood and therefore Popish Disputes about the power of free-will in holy things from this place is wholly impertinent onely the difficulty is Quest How they who believe in Christ can be said to have this priviledge given them of Sonship seeing that they could not believe unlesse they were first born of God and so the sons of God Answ Some therefore do understand this Sonship in respect of that future glory which in Scripture is sometimes called Adoption and 1 John 3. 1. Then it will properly appear that we are sonnes of God But we may well enough understand it of our Adoption and Sonship even in this life and this is said to be obtained by faith because in our sense and feeling there must be believing before we come to know this priviledge doth belong to us or else though faith and Sonship be together in time yet in order of nature one precedeth the other Thus we have the Subject and the Priviledge But in the next place we have the Description of the efficient cause for it was not their own power and free-will that made them believe Therefore the efficient cause is set down first Negatively and then Positively Negatively by removing those false causes that men might imagine and we have a three-fold enumeration of them Not of blood not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man Divers Interpreters go divers wayes though much to the same sense Some think the Evangelist by blood doth not in the general mean natural generation and then afterwards distribute it into two particulars not of the will of the flesh that is of the woman Nor of the will of man that is not of the man Others supposing the general interpret the distribution thus Not of the will of the flesh that is not naturally Nor by the will of man that is not by humane adoption for so some are made legal sonnes amongst man Others they think all these enumerations are but to signifie one thing and therefore the opposition to all is God But we may not think the holy Ghost doth so industriously reckon up these several wayes but that some special thing is intended by every one Although as Erasmus observeth the emphatical Article is not in the original By blood therefore we understand any dignity or excellency of birth it's bloods in the plural number either by an Enallage and so an Hebraism as Maldenate Or else because of the long succession by birth And this may well oppose the carnal opinion reigning both with Jew and Gentile for all know how the Jew boasted in his birth because he was the seed of Abraham therefore he thought the favour of God necessarily annected to him And for the Gentile What a vanity and sinfull humour is in persons to be proud of their birth that they come of noble parents For although this be an outward civil dignity amongst men yet it maketh nothing at all to their spiritual dignity yea many times hindereth it according to that observation Heroum filiinoxae Regeneration then doth not come according to such civil and political respects 2. Not of the will of the flesh that is not of the natural will and choice of 〈◊〉 he hath no power or ability in him so much as to will a better condition then 〈◊〉 is in Lastly Not of the will of man that is not by the will of man though perfected and adorned with many acquired perfections Not by the will of a Plato or an Aristotle or a Seneca So that here is a two-fold will denied from efficacy in grace the will considered in its natural abilities or in its acquired abilities Thus 2 Pet. 1. 21. The prophesie in old time is said Not to come by the will of man but the will of God The will of man is there supposed to be in some raised and eminent ability above what it naturally hath and therefore opposed to the will of God in a more peculiar and extraordinary manner putting forth it self Thus we have all false causes removed and the true one affirmed which is God himself So that this Text doth plainly triumph over all the proud opinions of Pelagians Socinians Arminians and Papists who either give whole or part of the work of conversion to the will of man For the Evangelist is very diligent to exclude the will from any efficiency herein under any respect whatsoever Observe The will of every man is naturally so polluted that it cannot produce or cause our regeneration It is not by the will of the flesh or by the will of man that we are born again SECT II. Propositions concerning the Nature of the Will BEfore we come to lanch into this ocean of wormwood and gall for the polluted will polluteth all other things Let us say something to the nature of the will not enlarging our selves either as Philosophers or Divines do in this point but select only what is fit for our purpose First Therefore consider That God hath appointed and ordered in nature that every apprehensive power should have an appetitive power proportionable thereunto The apprehensive being like the eye to discern and discover the object The appetitive like the hand to imbrace it Thus the Angels as they have an understanding to know things so they have a will to desire them In beasts there is a sensitive apprehension by imagination and a sensitive appetite accordingly Now because man in his soul is like an Angel and in his body communicateth with beasts therefore he hath both a two-fold apprehension intellectual and sensitive understanding and imagination and also a two-fold appetite a rational one which is the will and a sensitive one which is the sensitive appetite in a man wherein the passions
be destroyed how can the building be established Let then your attention your thoughts and affections be greatly quickned while we anatomize all the evil of the will This is the most grievous and most dreadfull instance of all the pollution original sinne infecteth us with In the 7th place When we speak of the pollution of the will The wera will may be take ambigously for sometimes therby is denoted the power to will someomes again the very act of willing and somtimes the object that we do will is often called our will Thus when the Scripture speaketh of Gods will it doth sometimes mean the object willed and this is often called Gods will sometimes the act of willing thus if God will and sometimes that power whereby he doth will not that there is Potenis volendi properly in God for all power is Perfectibilis per actum whereas every thing in God is actum purus only we speak so of God according to our capacity Some indeed have questioned Whether we may porperly attribute the word will to God or metaphorically only but seeing that simply to will is Perfectio simpliciter simplex and absolute and most simple perfection therefore it is not to be denied to God for as the Psalmist saith He that maketh man know shall not be know Thus he that maketh man will shall not he will only will is not in God as it is in man for mans will is carried out to a good desired or not enjoyed In our will there is convenientia and indigentia First A convenience or sutebleness between the faculty and the object and therefore we will it And then there is an indigency or want of it Now Gods will being the same with his Essence is absolutely perfect and sufficient but the created will in man is otherwise and this will since mans fall whether taken for the power to will or the act of willing or the object willâ—d is altogether a corrupt and a diseased will there is nothing found or good in it Although our purpose is to speak of the will as a power in the soul yet prone to put it self immediately into actings In the eighth place The will having this great dominion over the whole soul and being the universal appetite of a man therefore it is that in it is seated obedience or disobedience to God Obedience or disobedience to God is not properly at least not primarily or radically in any part but in the will It is true all the other parts of the soul in regeneration are made holy and sanctified and thereby in their way conformable to the will of God yet obedience and disobedience are primarily acts of the will so that as the will is qualified so is a man said to be obedient to God A good will is the good tree that maketh the fruit good and a bad will is the bad tree that maketh the fruit bad As then all the evil or good of a tree cometh from the root so doth all the evil or good of a man come from his will For till this be sanctified till this be renewed nothing can be good in a man Therefore if you examine what is the cause of all the impiety and all the wickedness that most commit it is because their wills are corrupt their wils are rebellious Their minds their consciences many times tell them they ought to do otherwise only their wils are slubborn and contumacious Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life So in the Parable Mat. 21. 29. when the sonne was commanded to go and work in the vineyard he saith I will not It is then the will of man that is the desperate and implacable enemy to all the things of God men may delude themselves with reasons and fair glosses but it is their will and only their unsanctified will that maketh them continue in such opposition to God now the will is therefore the root of all obedience of disobedience in a man because that is like the Centurion in a mans soul whatsoever it biddeth this or that power of the soul do it doth what it bids the mind think it thinketh what it bids love to love it loveth what it bids the hand move to it moveth to for there are two acts of the will wherein it demonstrateth its dominion The Elicite acts and the Imperate Elicite are those which the will doth immediately produce as election intention consent c. and herein it hath full power yet so as that it 's in subordination to God The Imperate acts are those which are produced by other parts of a man yet from the command of the will so when we move our hands or our feet these are imperate acts of the will Thus when we turn our mind from one object and place it upon another this is an imperate act of the will The affections also they are in some measure under the command of the will but not so absolutely as the body and the motions thereof are By which you see that all things in a man are reduced to his will and therefore the more active and universal this is the greater is the defilement thereof In the ninth place The will in regard of its constitution at first hath for its object that which is good And in the state of integrity it was alwaies a true real good but in this state of revolt from God the will cannot indeed be carried out to any thing but what is good only it 's but an apparent good a disguised good it is a true and real evil As the object of the understanding is truth and it cannot give its assent to that which doth appear to be false so the object of the will is good neither can the will have any motion or tendency to any object which hath not the colour at least of some good As the Devil appeared in Samuel's cloaths and so was believed to be Samuel Thus doth all the evil in the world which doth at any time seduce and draw the will aside it hath the mantle and covering of good It being impossible that the will should desire evil as it is evil It is true some deny that bonnus is the object adiquate and general of the will but they say good is the object of the will as it is prosequntiva prosecuting and desiring but maluâ—â— is the object of the will as it is persequntiva and aversiva as it doth repel and dislike so evil is the object of the will For displicency and hatred are acts of the will and the objects of these is evil But we speak of the will now as it is a rational desiring appetite satisfying it self with love of some object and if this be not good either real or apparent the will can no more tend to it then the eye to musick or the car to colours onely by original sinne herein ariseth our unspeakable miserey that the good which the will doth now imbrace is
onely a counterfeit specious guilded good no true real good They are but seeming goods and real evils Like the Glow-worm that shineth in the night and is nothing but an earthly worm Like a rotten Post or Tree that in the night seemeth to be glorious but in the day we know what it is Thus if we could take off the visor the painting from those objects we place our wils upon we shall see nothing but damnable guilt and real abominable evils which will at last damne our souls Per falsa mala itur ad vera bona per falsa bona itur ad vera mala by that which is speciously good we come indeed to that which is truely evil and by that which is apparently evil we come to what is substantially good Lastly In the will according to those that are exercised in School-Divinity We are to conceive in it sutable and proportionable affections to those we call passions in the sensitive part Thus in the will as it is a rational appetite there are love joy desire fear and hatred This is plain because in Angels there are such affections so also in the soul separated there is love and joy earnest desire for the coming of Christ and its reunion to the body by which it appeareth evidently that besides those passions in a man which work by a corporal transmutation there are these spiritual and immaterial affections or rather actions and operations of the will So that the will loveth the will rejoyceth the will desireth c. This is the more to be attended unto because hereby this pollution of original sinne will appear the more extensive and diffusive The love of the will the desire of the will the joy of the will are become abominable SECT III. ¶ 1. The Corruption of the Will in all its several Operations THese Doctrinal introductions thus substracted Let us proceed to open this noisom Sepulchre this dead and defiled will which hath been spiritually dead not as Lazarus four dayes but ever since Adam's fall and therefore must needs be stinking and unsavoury to a spiritual discerning And let us First Take notice of its defilement in all its several operations which the will aboundeth with And we find them out of the Schoolmen thus marshalled The will say they may be carried out to good simply and absolutely as good and then it is only a bare volition which is either inefficacious and conditional called velleity or efficacious and absolute then it is volition in the general or else it may be carried out to good relatively as it is finis an end and then either this end is enjoyed and possessed which maketh the act of the will called fruition or else it is desired and purposed to be obtained which maketh another act of the will called intention In the next place The will may be considered as it operates about the means to its intended end And 1. There is a yeelding unto and imbracing of such a mean propounded to that end and this act in the will is called consent for the understanding that doth properly assent and the will consent This act of the will to consent unto a thing is of great importance in Casnistical Divinity for there may be suggestions and fiery injections of diabolical temptations but if the will doth not consent as you see Christs holy will did not in his combate with the Devil they do not become our sins Of this consent more in its time 2. If there be several means conducible to such an end then cometh another act of the will called Election or a choosing of one thing rather than another that which consulation is in the understanding Election is in the will Lastly When the Will hath thus intended the end and chosen efficaciously its means then is there the last act of the will which is called usus the use or the application of all the other powers of the soul to bring this end about It useth the understanding it useth the affections it useth the whole body to accomplish it Thus you see what are the several operations of the will It is now necessary to take all these singly by themselves to shew how grosly the will is disordered and by that you will be convinced that the corruption of the will is indeed the corruption of the whole man which made Austin frequently define sinne by a mala volunt as and that which is good by a bona volunt as because of the dominion the will hath in the whole man ¶ 2. The Corruption of the Will in its general Act which is called Volition FIrst therefore Let us begin with the general act which is called Volition the bare willing of a thing which you heard was either conditional and imperfect or efficacious for the former kind How much corruption is there in the will and that both about sin and also about good About sinne What secret wishes and wouldings are there in a man naturally that sinne were not sinne Vtinaâ—n hoc non esset peccare said he that thy pleasures were not sinnes that thy unlawfull profits were not sinnes there is this secret corruption in the will whereby it would have the nature of things changed vice to be virtue and virtue to be vice Some indeed dispute Whether there be any such actings of the will as may be called velleities and not volitions But experience teacheth there are so the Apostle Rom 9. 3. I could wish my self accursed there is an incompleat act of the will When the Psalmist saith The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Psa 14. 4. that is in his wish in his incompleat will for absolutely a man cannot will that which is impossible If then we do but observe the motions of the will in this respect we shall find the number of these sinnes to be like the sand upon the sea shore Oh the many secret ungodly wishes that do by swarms rise up in thy will which though thou takest no notice of yet God doth and will accordingly judge thee As thus the will is sinfull in one way by its incompeat acts so also when it cometh to what is good when it should in a powerful lively and efficacious manner be carried out to it it is very remiss and languid insomuch that they are but velleities they are the sluggards wishes that desireth and yet starveth himself because he never putteth out his hands to work Is not this half and faint willing of the things that are good the root and cause of most mens destruction Preach to them presse them about repentance about conversion to God and they promise you they will do it and God give us his grace to do it and no more is done whereas thou shouldst will what is good with all thy might and strength above gold and silver above life it self These wishers and woulders in Religion never make true converts But of this more in its time ¶ 3. The Corruption of the
a consequent from the former viz. The Privacy and Propriety of it For whereas by the primitive Institution our will is to be commensurated and regulated by the will of God now it naturally abhorreth and refuseth any such agreement as if our will were to take place of Gods will as if the prayer were that our will not Gods will might be done In this is an Abysse of all evil that our will naturally inclineth to be independent on Gods will we would have that a measure and rule even to Gods will that God should not will but what we would have Oh horrible blasphemy and confusion for the humane will of the Lord Christ was not a rule and measure of things to be done being the will of a creature therefore he prayeth Not my will but thy will be done Luk. 26. 39. If then Christs humane will was to be regulated by that superiour and increated will how much more is the will of a sinfull and corrupt man This then is that which maketh the whole soul like a Blackmoor This is the essence as it were of all sinne A mans own will not Gods will is regarded but a mans own proper will is wholly followed we would give Laws to God and not God to us Whensoever thy heart is carried out to lusts to any wickedness What is this but to exalt thy will and to depress the will of God Hath God said Be not proud thou wilt be proud Hath God said Swear not thou wilt swear Thus all sinne is nothing but a mans own will lifted up against the will of God No wonder then if one said Cesset voluntas propria non ardebit gâ—henna Let there be no longer our own will and there will be no longer any hell It 's this proper private will of ours that was the cause of hell Adam and Eve they preferred their will before Gods will and that brought in death and demnation Therefore regeneration is the writing of Gods Law in our hearts whereby we come to say as Christ I come to do thy will O God and Paul immediately upon his conversion saith Lord what wilt thou have me do he giveth up his will as a blanck on which God may write his will O Lord there shall not be any longer my will to persecute my will to oppose thy Church I will break this will of mine renounce this will of mine Thus as a vessel melted in the fire may be put into any forme or fashion the artificer pleaseth so was it with Paul's will This proper private will of thine likewise maketh all the trouble and misery thou meetest with it is thy own will that maketh thee to walk so heavily and discontentedly for were thy will resigned up into Gods were thou able to say in all things the will of the Lord be done I have no will but what God would have me to exercise this would keep thee in a quiet calm frame all the day long whereas now all the dispute and contention is whether thy will or Gods will must give place to each other Oh vain and wretched man how long shall this self-will of thine be thy ruine Is it not reason that the will of the creature should give place to the will of the Creator as the starres do not appear when the Sunne beginneth to arise ¶ 5. The Pride and Haughtiness of the Will THirdly The great and notable pollution of the Will Is the pride and haughtiness of it not only refusing subjection to the Will of God and to be under that as hath been shewed but in some remarkable particulars The first whereof is an affectation of equality with God himself Thus the will of a poor weak wretch that cannot turn a white hair into black whose breath is in his nostrils that hath the same originals for his body as a worm hath yet the aspireth after a Deity and would be like God himself As 1. in attempting to make gods and then to worship them What pride and vanity is in man to take upon him to make what he intends to worship so that what man pleaseth shall be a god and what pleaseth him not shall be none Deus non erit Deus nisi homini placuerit Thus whereas God at first made man after his image now man maketh God after his image Besides the horrible blindness that is upon the mind in this thing there is also pride and arrogancy of the will what is this but to assume superiority over their own gods which yet they worship and adore But 2. This pride of the will is more conspicuously manifested In affecting to be like the true God not to endure him to be a superior above us While our first parents had not any internal pollution at all upon them yet this sinne did presently insinuate them whereby they aspired after a Deity therefore the Devil tempted them with this sutable bait Ye shall be like Gods knowing good and evil That sinne of Adam hath still a more peculiar impression upon mankind Whence came that abominable and blasphemous custome into the world of deifying men which they called Daimons but from that inbred pride of the will desiring to be like God Ezek. 28. 2. Thus it was with that Prince of Tyrus he lifted up himself and said I am a god I sit in the seat of God thou hast ser thine heart as the heart of God What detestable and loath some arroganacy is here Oh the patience of God that doth not immediately consume such a wretch as he did Herod who sinned not so highly for he did not proclaim he was God only the people by way of flattering cryed out the voice of God and not of man which because he did not disclaim but secretly owned therefore was such a remarkable punishment inflicted upon him We see from these instances what pride lurketh in mans will there is the cockatrice egg which may quickly prove to be a flying Serpent This pride is thought also to be the sinne of the Devil whereby he was not contented with the station God had put him but was ambitious of a divine nature as if he with Christ might think it no robbery to be equal with God This unspeakable arrogancy did shew it self notoriously in some great Potentates of the world Caius Caesar especially for which cause Grotius though absurdly maketh him to be the Antichrist that did exalt himself above all that is called God This madness of pride was as visible in Alexander who though sometimes through the consciousness of humane imbecillity as when he was wounded and saw bloud fall from him would refuse such a thought yet at other times he did industriously affect to be related among the number of the Gods and to have divine worship performed to him and as the sonne of Jupiter Hammon would be pictured with hornes and Jupiters Preist meeting of him instead of that form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did purposely mistake saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Haile thou sonne of Jupiter yea he sends into Greece that by a publique Edict he might be acknowledged for a god which the Lacedemonians in scoff did without scruple admit saying Qundoquidem Alexander vult esse Deus Deus esto Seeing Alexander will be god let him be one But the Athenians being more scrupulous or at least of greater hatred against him punished Demades the Orator for advising them to receive him as god for he had said Look Oye Athenians Nè dum coelum custodies terram amittatis while ye keep heaven ye loose the earth This carnal counsel is admired as infallible policy almost by all the Potentates of the world Thus you see what pride is latent in the will of a man and how farre it may rise by temptations though the experience of humane imbecillities may quickly rebuke such mad insolencies yet some excuse or other they use to put it off as when it thundered one asked Alexander wheather he could do so he put it of and said he would not terrifie his friends if you say this corruption of the will is not in every man by nature I grant it for the degree but it is habitually and radically there Let any man be put in such temptations as Herod and Alexander were and left alone to this inbred pride and original pollution it would break out into as great a flame Original sinne needeth time to conceive and bring forth its loathsome monsters 3. This pride of the will is seen In the presumption and boldness of it to inquire into the consels of his Majesty and to call God himself to account for his administrations Rom. 9. 20 who art thou O man that disputest against God O man that is spoken to humble and debase him Wilt thou call God to an account Shall God be thought unjust because thou canst not comprehend his depths Certainly God hath more power over us then the Potter over his clay for the Potter doth not make the materials of that he only tempreth it wheras God giveth us our very beings and therefore it is intolerable impudency for us to ask God why he made us so yet how proud and presumptousis man to dispute about Gods precedings whereas the great Governors of the world will not allow any Subject to say why dost thou so to them The Psalmist complaineth of this pride in some men Psal 12. 4. Our lips are our own who is Lord over us Thus Pharaoh said to Moses who is the Lord that I should obey him This pride in the will whereby men will audaciously intrude into things they know not hath made these heretiques in judgements the Pelagians and Socinians Their will doth not captivate their understanding to Gods Ipse dixit for us the Schoolemen observe truly in every act of faith there is required pia affectio and inclinatio voluntatis and when that is refractory and unsubmitting it causeth many damnable heresies in the judgement for it is the pertinacy of the will that doth greatly promote the making of an heretique Lastly This pride of the will is seen In raging and rebellious risings up against God in his proceedings against us In this the pride of the will doth sadly discover it self what rage what fretting and discontent do we find in our hearts when Gods will is to chastise or afflict us If we could bind the armes of the Omnipotent to prevent his blowes how ready is presumptuous man to do it It is therefore a great work of regeneration to mollity and soften the will to make it sacile and ductile so as to be in what forme God would have us to be When David had such holy power over his will 2 Sam. 15. 26 that in his miserable flight from Absalom he could say If ye have no delight in me behold here I am let him do to me as seemeth good to him he could abound and want be rich and poor a king and no king all in a day this argued the great work of sanctification upon his will This iron was now in the fire and so could be molleated as God would have it Thus in the fore mentioned instance of Paul when he cryed out Lord what wilt thou have me to do Here was a tender humble resignative of the whole will to God without any conditions or provisoes But oh the pride and unruliness of the will if left to its natural pollution When God shall any wayes bring his judgements upon us how impatiently do we rise against God even as if we would be revenged of his Majesty As it is said of the Thracians when it thundereth and lightneth they shoot against heaven as if they would bring God to order Xerxes scourged the sea and sent a Bill of defiance against the hill of Athos Augustus being beaten with a tempest at sea defied their god Neptune and caused his image to be taken down from the place where the rest of their gods were Yea Charron speaketh of a Christian King who having received a blow from God swore be would be revenged and gave a commandment that for ten yeares no man should pray to him or speak of him I tremble to mention these dreadfull instances but they are usefull to demonstrate what pride and unsubdued contumacy is in the will of man even against God himself when he crosseth us of our wills Yea do not the godly themselves though grace hath much mollified their will and made it in a great measure obsequious to God yet do they not mourne and pray and groane under the pride of their will do they not complain oh they cannot bring their will to Gods will They cannot be content and patient under Gods dispensations they fret they mutter they repine Is not all this because the will is proud the will doth not submit Heavenly skill and art to order thy will would make thee find rest in every estate ¶ 6. The Contumacy and Refractoriness of the Will ANother instance of the native pollution of the will is The contumacy and refrractioness of the will it is obstinate and inpenetrable The Scripture useth the word heart for the mind will and conscience not attending to philosophical distinctions so that the stony heart the uncircumcised heart is the same with a stubborn and disobedient will Thus the Scripture putteth the whole cause of a man 's not conversion of his not repenting upon the resractory will in a man especially Levit. 26. 14. If ye will not hearken to me and will not do these Commandments vers 18. If ye will not for all this hearken to me vers 23. If ye will not be reformed but will walk contrary to me Observe how all is put upon the will so that if their will had been pliable and ready then the whole work of Conversion and Reformation had been accomplished So Matth. 21. 29. The disobedient sonne returneth this answer to his father I will not This contumacy therefore of the will may be called the bad tree
posse mori is known by all It is not then an absolute but a conditional immortality we speak of ¶ 3. Propos 3. ALthough we say that God made man immortal yet we grant that his body being made of the dust of the earth and compounded of contrary element it had therefore a remote power of death It was mortal in a remote sense only God making him in such an eminent manner and for so glorious an end there was no proxim and immediate disposition to death God indeed gave Adam his name whereas Adam imposed a name upon all other creatures but not himself and that from the originals he was made of to teach him humility even in that excellent estate yet he was not in an immediate disposition to death When Adam had transgressed Gods Law though he did not actually die upon it yet then he was put into a mortal state having the prepared causes of death within him but it was not so while he stood in the state of integrity then it was an immortal state now it is a mortal one I say state because even now though Adam hath brought sinne and death upon us yet in respect of the soul a man may be said to be immortal but then there was immortality in respect of soul and body the state he was created in did require it So that although death be the King of terrors yet indeed original sinne which is the cause of it should be more terrible unto us Now man by sinne is fallen the beasts could they speak would say Man is become like one of us yea worse for he carrieth about with him a sinfull soul and a mortal body ¶ 4. Distinctions about Mortality and that in several respects Adam may be said to be created mortal and immortal THe fourth Proposition is That from the former premisses it may be deducted that in several respects Adam may be said to be created mortal and immortal yet if we would speak absolutely to the question when demanding how Adam was created we must return Immortall Some indeed because mans mortalilty and immortality depended wholy upon his will as he did will to sinne or not to sinne so they have said he was neither made mortal or immortal but capable of either but that is not to speak consonantly to that excellency of state which Adam was created in for as Adam was created righteous not indifferent as the Socinians say neither good or bad but capacious of either qualification so he was also made immortal not in a neutral or middle state between mortal and immortal so that he had inchoate immortality upon his creation but not consummate or confirmed without respect to perseverance in his obedience for the state of integrity was as it were the beginning of that future state of glory Again Adam might be called mortal in respect of the orginals of his body being taken out of the dust of the earth but that was only in a remote power so God did so adorne him with excellent qualifications in soul and body that the remote power could never be brought into a proxime and immediate disposition much less into an actual death for a thin◠may be said to be mortal 1. In respect of the matter and thus indeed Adams body in a remote sence was corruptible 2. In respect of the forme Thus Philosophers say sublunary things are corruptible because the matter of them hath respect to divers formes whereas they call the heavens incorruptible because the matter is sufficiently actuated by one forme and hath no inclination to another and thus Adam might truly be said to be immortal for it was very congruous that a body should be united to the soul that was sutable to it for that being the form of a man and having an inclination or appetite to the body if man had been made mortal at first the natural appetite would in a great measure have been frustrated it being for a little season only united to the body and perpetually ever afterwards seperated from it Surely as an Artificer doth not use to put a precious Diamond or Pearl into a leaden Ring so neither would God at first joyn such a corruptible body to so glorious and an immortal soul 3. A thing may be said to be mortal in respect of efficiency and thus it is plain Adam was not made mortal for he might through the grace of God assisting have procured immortality to himself that threatening to Adam In the day he should eat of that forbidden fruit he should die the death Gen. 2 17. doth plainly demonstrate that had he not transgressed Gods command he should never have died 4. A thing may be said to be mortal in respect of its end Thus all the beasts of the field whatsoever Puccius thought are mortal because their end was for man to serve him so that it is a wild position to affirm as he doth that there shall be a resurrection of beasts as well as of men for they were made both in respect of matter form and end altogether mortal whereas Adam was made after the Image of God to have communion and fellowship with God and that for ever which could not be without immortality ¶ 5. Prop. 5. THe true causes of death are only revealed in Gods Word All Philosophers and Physitians they searched no further then into the proxim immediate causes of death which are either external or internal they looked no further and knew of no other thing but now by the Word of God we Christians come to know that there are three principal causes of death so that had not they been those intermedious and proxime causes of death had never been The first cause is only by occasion and temptation and that was the Devil he tempted our first parents and thereby was an occasion to let death into the world for this cause the Devil is called Joh. 8. 44. a murderer from the beginning it doth not so much relate to Cain as to Adams transgression yet the Scripture Rom. 5. doth not attribute death to the Devil but to one mans disobedience because Adams will was not forced by Satan he had power to have resisted his temptations only the Devil was the tempting cause The second and most proper cause of death was Adams disobedience so that death is a punishment of that sinne not a natural consequent of mans constitution The History of Adam as related by Moses doth evidently confirme this that there was no footstep of death till he transgressed Gods Law and upon that it was most just that he who had deprived himself of Gods Image which is the life of the soul should also be deprived of his soul which is the life of the body that as when he rebelled against God he presently felt an internal rebellion by lusts within and an external disobedience of all creatures whom he did rule over before by a pacifical dominion so also it was just that he who had deprived himself
of integrity 479 Nor is there sense or feeling of any such Conflict in a natural man 480 It 's in all that are sanctified 81 Conflict the several kinds 500 Conscience What Conscience is 223 Whence quietness of Conscience in unregenerate men 90 And whence troubles of Conscience in the regenerate ib. Erroneous Conscience ought to be obeyed 224 Conscience horribly blind and erroneous by nature 225 And senslesse 226 The defect of Conscience in its offices and actings 228 The corruption of Conscience in accusing and excusing 230 Of a counterfeit Conscience 233 Sinfull lust fancy and imagination custome and education mistaken for Conscience ib. Conscience severe against other mens sins blind about its own 236 Security of Conscience 237 The defilement of Conscience when troubled and awakened 238 The difference between a troubled and a regenerate Conscience 243 Causes of trouble of Conscience without regeneration ib. False cure of a wounded Conscience 245 Consent A two-fold Consent of the will expresse and formal or interpretative and virtual 287 Creation Christ had his soul by Creation and so we have ours 195 Creature Mans bondage to the Creature 317 D Damnation DAmnation due to all for original sinne 528 Death Death not natural to Adam before sin 31 115 Death and all other miseries come from sin 173 Devil The Devil cannot compell us to sinne 15 114 Difference Difference between original and actual sins 477 Difficulty Difficulty of turning to God whence 478 Doubtings Doubtings whence 241 Duties Imperfection in the best Duties 11 Of doing Duties for conscience sake 234 E Exorcisms EXorcisms used anciently at the Baptism of Infants 54 F Faculties SOme Faculties and imbred principles left in the soul after the fall 224 Mans best Faculties corrupted by sinne 139 Flesh Flesh and spirit in every godly man 11 How the word Flesh is used in Scripture 139 Flesh and spirit contrary ib. Forgetfulness Forgetfulness natural and moral 257 Forgetfulness of sin 260 Of usefull examples and former workings of Gods Spirit 261 Of our later end the day and death and judgement and the calamities of the Church 262 Freedom Several kinds of Freedom 306 Freedom from the dominion of sin whether it be by suppression or abolishing part of it 503 G Grace WHat sanctifying Grace is 20 Given not so much to curb actual sin as to cure the nature ib. Free Grace exalted by the Apostles 308 The Doctrine of free Grace unpleasing to flesh and bloud 310 The necessity of special Grace to help against temptations 314 H Habits THe Habits of sin forbidden and the Habits of grace required by the Law 45 Heathens Heathens how far ignorant of original sin 168 Condemn the lustings of the heart 169 Heresies Hereticks The Heresies of the Gnosticks Carpocratians Montanists and Donatists 225 The guilt and craft of Heretiques 303 I Jesus Christ JEsus Christ his conception miraculous 388 But framed of the substance of the Virgin 389 Why called the Son of God ib. Had a real body ib. Born holy and without sin 390 How he could be true man and yet free from sin 392 Ignorance A universal Ignorance upon a mans understanding 178 210 Image Gods Image in Adam not an infused habit or habits but a natural rectitude or connatural perfection to his nature 19 Why called Gods Image 21 The Image of God in man Reason and understanding one part of it 113 Holinesse and righteousnesse another part ib. Power to persevere in holinesse another part ib. A regular subordination of the affections to the rule of righteousnes another part 114 Primitive glory honour and immortality another part 115 Dominion and superiority another part yet not the only Image of God as the Socinians falsly ib. How man made in it 131 Imagination Imagination its nature 351 Its sinfulnesse in making Idols and conceits to please it self 352 And in its defect from the end of its being 353 By its restlesnesse 355 By their universality multitude disorder their roving and wandring their impertinency and unseasonablenesse 356 357 It eclipseth and keeps out the understanding 358 Conceiveth for the most part all actual transgressions 359 Acts sin with delight when there are no external actings 360 Its propensity to all evil 361 Is continually inventing new sins or occasions of sin 362 Vents its sinfulnesse in reference to the Word and the preaching of it 364 Mind more affected with appearances than realities 365 And in respect of fear and the workings of conscience 366 And its acting in dreams 367 Is not in subordination to the rational part of man 368 The instrument in Austins judgment of conveying sin to the child 368 Prone to receive the Devils temptations 369 Immortal How many wayes a thing may be said to be Immortal 509 Of Adams Immortality in the state of innocency 513 Impossibility Impossibility of mans loosing himself from the creature and return to God 371 Infants Infants deserve hell 7 Sinners 29 Cannot be saved without Christ 35 55 Infant-holinesse what it is 56 Infants defiled with original sin before born 62 Judgment Whence diversities of Judgment in the things of God 219 Justification Justification by imputed not inherent righteousnesse 29 K Knowing Known CVriosity and affection in all of Knowing what is not to be Known 184 Which comes from original sin 212 L Law THe Law impossible to be kept 10 A Law what 85 The Law requireth habitual holinesse 130 Forbids lust in the heart 156 Liberty Liberty of will nothing but voluntarinesse or complacency 132 Lust What Lust is 155 How distinguished 157 Lust considered according to the four-fold estate of man 160 Sinfull Lust utterly extirpated in heaven 161 M Man MAn by nature out of Gods favour 117 Man made to enjoy and glorifie God 132 133 How sin dissolved the harmony of Mans nature ib. Man unable to help himself out of his lost condition 153 Through sin it is worse with Man than other creatures 174 The nobler part of Man inslaved to the inferiour 175 Man utterly impotent to any spiritual good 177 By his fall became like the devil 183 Memory The pollution of it 247 What it is 250 A two-fold weaknesse of Memory natural and sinfull ib. The use and dignity of it 251 The nature of it 253 Discoveries of its pollution 253 Wherein it is polluted 257 Wherein it fails in respect of the objects ib. Hath much inward vitiosity adhering to it 263 Subservient to our corrupt hearts 265 Mind Whence the vanity and instability of the Mind 217 Ministry One end of the Ministry 255 N Natural EVery Natural man is carnal in the mysteries of Religion in religious worship in religious ordinances in religious performances 140 141 In spiritual transactions and religious deportment 142 143 Necessity What Necessity is consistent with freedom 312 O Original Sinne. THe necessity of knowing it 1 The term ambiguously used and how taken in this Treatise ib. That there is such a natural concontagion on all 2 Why called Original sin 5 Denial of