of the body instruments of unrighteousnesse and the whole man a slave to the devill and that from our first being even so farre as nature can reach as well potentially as actually ever since Adams sinne which groweth up with us from the wombe and in time if we live brings orth the fruits of unrighteousnesse in our thoughts words and actions by reason whereof we are not onely corrupt but guilty of Gods wrath and lyable to eternall damnation from our first being Now it is called Originall sin Why it is so called first because it was from the beginning even as soone as ever Adam sinned secondly because it is with us from the beginning even in conception as soone as we doe actually begin to be and thirdly because it is the beginning of all actuall sin whatsoever Howbeit in the Scripture it is called by other names Rom. 6.6 as The old man The body of sin Rom. 7.17.23 The sin that dwels in us The law of our members The sin that incloseth us on every side Heb. 12.1 Concupiscence Iam. 1.14 and the like And as we use the word it is sometimes taken more largely for the sin of Adam together with the guilt and corruption following it but usually more strictly for the corruption of nature onely consisting of the privation of goodnesse and inclination to evill before rehearsed These grounds being laid down we may make a full definition of it after this manner Definitie Originalis peccati Originall sin is the depravation of the whole nature of man consisting of the privation of originall righteousnesse and an inclination to all manner of evill derived from Adam to all his posteritie by naturall generation whereby they stand guilty of eternall death in which definition wee may see all the essentiall causes of originall sin the subject or materiall cause is the whole nature of man all men and every part of all men soule body understanding will memory affections senses and severall members of the body as they constitute the person of a man propagated from Adam The formall cause is the depravation of the same whereby every man is deprived of originall righteousnesse and prone to every sin that can be committed The efficient cause the sinning will of Adam the instrumentall cause naturall generation and the end and effect of it guilt and punishment misery and death here eternall damnation hereafter More briefly Originall sinne is by some defined to be the depravation of mans nature consisting of the privation of righteousnesse and inclination to evill contracted from the generation it selfe and derived from Adam to all his posteritie For as sicknesse is not onely a privation of health but also an evill affection of the body arising from the distemper of the humours so originall sin is not onely the want of righteousnesse but also an inclinablenesse to unrighteousnes arising from the sin of Adam and conveyed unto us by naturall propagation In a word it is our potentiall sinning in Adam whereby according to the law of nature we are both corrupt and guilty And so much for the generall nature of originall sinne Creation what it is Now for the second what Creation is we shall not need many words Improperly Creation is taken sundry wayes somtimes for the determination and decree of God to create as where Wisdome saith Ecclu 24. He created me in the beginning before the world that is he decreed to create and reveale me in the Church Sometimes for renovation changing not of the substance but the qualitie of a thing Ps 51.10 So David prayeth Create in me a cleane heart O God Sometimes for the naturall generation of the creatures Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Psal 104.30 and they are created And sometimes it is taken for the restauration of that which is destroyed Isa 65.17 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth But properly taken it either signifieth to make something of nothing or else to give formes to the matter unto which it hath no naturall power of it selfe And for that cause doe require an omnipotent hand to effect if so as creation properly taken belongs to God onely Neverthelesse for the most part it is used in the first sense and therefore creation is commonly defined thus Creatio est productio entis ex non ente or as Aquinas hath it Est productio rei secundum totam substantiam ex nihilo So that in the most proper sense a thing cannot be said to be created unlesse the whole substance be produced by the omnipotent power of God out of nothing and not at all unlesse at least he hath an immediate hand in the forming of it Propagation what it is Lastly For Propagation it is that most excellent and naturall faculty whereby a living creature by feede of generation begets his like for the continuation of the kinde It is a faculty commonly accounted a species of the vegetative faculty but is indeed the naturall perfection of a living creature whether vegetative sensitive or rationall and it is the most excellent and the most naturall faculty being ingrafted into nature with a speciall charge blessing from God in the creation and is therfore most desired and consequently most natural to all creatures that have life Gen. 1.22.28 whereby like begets like univocall which is most properly so called when as a creature brings forth the like to it selfe as a plant comes of a plant and a Lyon of a Lyon and aequivocall generation of unlike as when a plant or living creature is bred of putrefaction as Mice Flies Serpents and the like for the continuation of the kinde for nature aymeth at the highest perfection that can be even to continue all creatures for ever and therefore every creature naturally desires ever to be which because it cannot be effected in the individuals therefore it is done another way namely by propagation for to beget the like is after a sort to be ever And to conclude this is done by the seede of generation which as the faculty it selfe is most excellent so is the matter of it the perfection of mans nature as the seed of a tree the sap whereof hath passed through roote body branch leafe bud and all and so conteines the nature of the whole so is the seede of man the quintessēce of nature which having passed through all the degrees of concoction and conteining the whole kinde of man is reserved by nature in a place convenient for the procreation of another of the same kinde Now because this generation is the affection or rather perfection of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme a man cannot be said to propagate the matter alone but the whole creature so as to speake properly generatiō is not either of the matter or of the forme but of a certaine third thing consisting of matter and forme So that here it followeth that our propagation from Adam is
him so it is now ours because by course of nature wee are come out of him So that Adams sin is ours by imputation and by propagation but by imputation onely because by propagation yea so by this that the other may well loose the name For it is not the imputing of anothers sin to us which was not ours but by propagation that is made ours naturally which was before potentially onely And thus by the order of nature which is the rule we must goe by in this his sin is as truly ours we being potentially in him as his owne The Antithesis sheweth there can be no other This also farther appeareth by the Antithesis which the Scripture maketh betweene the first and second Adam Christ Jesus For saith the Apostle as in Adam all die 1 Cor. 15.22 so in Christ shall all be made alive And as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5.19 And againe If one dyed for all 2 Cor. 5.14 then are all dead Whence it appeareth that as Adam was the stocke of mankinde in whom all men were by nature so was Christ the head of the Elect in whom all they were by grace For this is that admirable way in consideration whereof men and Angels may stand amazed whereby God had from eternitie decreed to give his creatures a higher perfection by grace than he could possibly give them by nature for therein stands the opposition which alone well considered may happily put an end to this question that mistake being indeed the ground of this errour Mark this difference or rather similitude betweene grace and nature For they are deceived that thinke Adams sin to be imputed as Christs righteousnesse the one being by the ordinance of nature and the other of grace the one a voluntary institution of the creator the other a necessary operation of the creature the one a work of mercy wherein kindnesse must bee shewed without cause the other a work of justice wherein punishment ought not to be inflicted but upon due defect So that if we will here make a true Antithesis we must say that as in Christ wee fulfilled the Law suffered death and are now in the seate of salvation because we are in him as members of his body by grace so in Adam wee did eate of the forbidden fruit and are under the condemnation of hell because we were in him and are still members of his body by nature And thus Adams sin shall be as truely ours by nature as Christs righteousnes is by grace For as Christ derives his righteousnesse to his childrē by grace so Adam communicates his sin to his children by nature The meanes whereby Christ doth it is by spirituall regeneration Adam by naturall generation Now therefore I conclude that as Christs righteousnesse can be no way imputed unto us but by meanes of regeneration whereby wee are ingrafted into him and made members of his body by the ordinance of grace so Adams sin cannot be imputed to us or become ours but by generation whereby we descend from him as members of his body by the ordinance of nature The Law of Iustice required it Againe it is contrary to Gods law of justice that one should be punished for anothers fault yea even innocent children for their wicked parents much more many thrifty brethren for one prodigall Hence it was that the Lord abhorred that wicked proverbe of the Israelites Ezek. 18.2 3 4 The fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge as I live saith the Lord yee shall not use this proverbe c. the soule that sinneth it shall dye And againe he saith Vers 20. The son shall not beare the iniquitie of the father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne the righteousnesse of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall be upon himselfe True it is indeed the Lord will visit the sins of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation but himselfe saith it is of them that hate him Exod. 20.5 And not simply for their fathers sins but for their owne and the rather to afflict the parents who oft live to see the fourth generation Hence also the Lord made a law that the fathers should not be put to death for the children nor the children for the parents but every man should die for his own sin and it is indeed no lesse contrary to justice than to the Lords own practise Deut. 24.16 for who was ever more excellent than some that came of wicked parents who more wicked than some that came of good parents whereof not onely the Scriptures but also daily experience yeeld innumerable examples and perhaps the more to confute this errour On the other side what can be more just and naturall than that all things should be in their first principles and partake of their natures Mat. 7.17 nature teacheth that if the tree be evill so must the fruit be Rom. 11.16 and divinitie allowes that if the roote be holy so should the branches be And hence God is just in making this order might easily be cleared but neede not here to be disputed Christs righteousnes proves it Lastly The originall righteousnesse of Christs humane nature plainly proves it for he was freed from this corruptiō by his extraordinary generation and why should hee herein differ from us to free him from sinne if we be not hereby sinfull Againe if Adams sin be imputed unto us simply for that wee are men as Adam was because whatsoever he received or lost was for all mankinde as well as for himselfe it cannot be avoided but it must be imputed to Christ so far forth as he is man as well as unto us But God forbid that we shuld say Christ was sinfull Woe were us if this were true And yet true it must needs be if the being man will make us sinfull for that his sin is to be imputed to all men If I say the meere being man without being meere man will doe it We must therefore beware of this and hold that not the being a man as Adam was but our sinning in him and now being sinfully propagated from him is both the cause means whereby his sin is derived unto us from both which by his extraordinary generation Luk. 1.35 Christ is not onely free but sanctified from the womb and holy from his first conception as presently wee shall see CHAP. XX. That Originall sin cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be We sinned in Adam onely as we were in him IT being evident that originall sin cannot passe but by propagation I proceed now to prove that it cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be and this will easily follow upon the former grounds for as we sinned in Adam onely as wee were in him so we
of a part onely unlesse a woman may be a womā without a soule as some silly ones have foolishly imagined Fourthly Gen. 2.22 Zan. de operibus par 3. li. 1. c. 1 Gen. 2.23 those that hold the contrary opinion yet graunt that God did not onely take out the bare bone only out of Adams side but some flesh together with it which made Adam to say this is not onely bone of my bone but flesh of my flesh And it seemeth an unlikely thing that being done instantly by the almighty power of GOD he should take out a dry and dead bone onely and not the life spirit soule that was in it after the manner of the soules being in such a substance together with it Now it he tooke it thus whole together as it was the soule not being shut out of any part of the body how easie is it to conceive how God might miraculously in the first creation seperate the whole matter of her person from Adam onely and so of that bone as of a living body produce a new creature in a short time which now in longer time usc to be seperated from both sexes and so perfected by degrees in naturall generation yea why may not this originall affinitie between the two sexes give strength to the course of nature in producing more by uniting them againe in generation Fifthly This is the more probable because herein we have a clear type of Christs incarnatiō whose whole humanity as we shall herafter see was also miraculously made of the substance of the virgin onely as Eves onely of Adam a man of a woman onely as a woman of a man only both being insensible of it and as is probable both asleep◠when it was done Lastly when she was brought to Adam he confessed that shee was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh that is of the same humane nature that he himselfe was both for soule and body and also taken out or him Neither needed he to say soule or my soule for flesh is usually put for the whole person as where even in the same book it is said All flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6.12 which notwithstanding is chiefly in regard of the soule And least any should doubt of it he presently addes Shee shall he callea woman because shee was taken out of man where he plainly affirmes that her whole person was taken out of man and for that cause was named woman which cannot possibly be understood of the body onely I will therefore hereunto subjoyne the forgoing words of our Saviour Let no man seperate what God hath joyned together Mat. 19.6 and conclude that her whole person as well soule as body was taken out of man So that in this also that of the Apostle is true God hath made all of one blood even Adams Act. 17.26 Wherefore from this reason I also conclude the contrary that seeing in all probabilities Adams soule was of such a nature as thereon could be made another and ours are of the same nature that his was it is not absurd but very likely that others may be made of ours also The third and last reason of any weight is 3. that Christs soule was created of nothing and he is like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted ergo c. But first if it be necessary 1. From the creation of Christs soule that wee should be like unto him in all things except sin then it would follow that we should be conceived by the Holy Ghost as he was for that was without sinne especially if he might have been conceived without sin without that worke as by this doctrine it seemes he might as afterward wee shall see 2. Secondly it is not yet proved that Christs soule was immediately created of nothing yea it may be denied by the same reason for then wee should not be alike to him in all things except sin If it be said that if Christs soule had beene traduced by ordinary generation it must needs have beene sinfull I graunt it and therefore I say it was that his conception was extraordinary and supernaturall for it being impossible in nature for a Virgin to conceive without man therefore this was brought to passe by the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost who seperated a part of the Virgin for that purpose and supplied what was wanting in nature by supernaturall power which is signified in that it is said Shee was overshadowed by the holy Ghost But although he was not conceived after the manner that other men are that so he might be without sinne yet it followeth not from hence but his whole humanitie both soule and body might be made of the same matter that other mens are so as he be not corrupted with sinne Which how it may be we shall heare in the proper place where this also shall be brought as an Argument to prove the contrary so weake are objections against the truth Lastly Though it should be granted that Christs soule was immediately created by God as the first Adams was because it could not be propagated after the manner of mankinde without sinne yet it would not follow that all ours are therefore so as they collect Nay the contrary plainly appeareth for for the same cause that his must be created immediately to be without sinne ours must be mediately that they may be sinfull and tor the same cause he cannot be propagated without sinne we cannot be sinfull unlesse propagated And thus much for the Scripture and reasons drawne from them to prove the immediate creation of soules Whereby all men may see upon what weake grounds this opinion is fatherred upon the Scriptures And now I am to encounter with the other troope of Arguments taken from the impossibilitie of the soules propagation CHAP. VIII Whether propagation can stand with the spirituall nature of the Soule Objection ordered From the probabilitie of the Creation proceed wee now unto the impossibility of the propagation of the soule And indeed the reasons oppugning the soules propagation are very many and forcible and such as doe sufficiently prove that man cannot of himselfe alone without some more special work of God propagate his like as beasts doe theirs 1. From the nature of the soule The reasons that wee may not be confounded with the number of them are either such as do more specially respect the nature of the soule not without some respect to propagation or else such as doe more specially respect the nature of propagatiō not without some respect to the soule But before I come to the particulars the generall answer to all may be this 2. From the nature of propagation That all naturall reasons are taken from corporall generations and so doe onely prove that soules cannot be propagated as bodies are which is not denyed For neither doth the body propagate the soule neither yet is it propagated after a bodily manner but the whol
of creation God depriveth it of supernaturall gifts for Adams sin which though it putteth not evill into the soule yet evill necessarily followeth and hence is originall sin But neither can I see how this can stand for first if God deprives it so soone as it is made it should be not onely absurd but a vaine worke to doe and straight way to undoe againe Secondly It should be unjust neverthelesse for he had beene as good never to have given it goodnesse as presently to take it away againe Thirdly Seeing they say it is created in infusing and infused in creating they must needs grant that he creates it without supernaturall gifts unlesse it be infused with them which is worse and so they cannot say if is deprived of that which it never had Fourthly I answer that if God createth it without those gifts which are supernaturall to us he creates it evill for so are we without supernaturall gifts and a man may as well imagine a God without goodnesse as a good soule without such gifts Fifthly However it be for creation or privation naturall or supernaturall goodnesse if God so makes it as it must needs be evill as they say he makes it evill for what is it to make an evill one if not to make one that cannot be good yea that is the greatest evill for to be necessarily evill is not onely nought but worst of all Sixthly This were unjustly to punish the innocent for the guilty as wee heard before Lastly though all this might justly be yet wee are never the neerer to originall sin For this is not our sinning in Adam but our being made sinfull for Adam So that if the soule be created good we cannot possibly be thereby infected with originall sin In the last place therefore it will be said that it comes neither by the soule not the body Not by the union of both but by the union of both and that we are deceived if we suppose it to happen through any physicall touching but because in the union we become Adams sonnes he receiving and loosing both for himselfe and us his sin is thereby made ours Verily Calvin was a man of an excellent judgement Calv. Inst lib. 2. c. 1. who seeing the former grounds unanswerable flyes to this as the last refuge yet with reverence to so worthy an instrument I must seeke for better satisfaction True it is that originall sin is neither puddle nor stench yet it is a spirituall Leprosie hereditarily descending from Adam to all his naturall posteritie and infecteth the whole man both body soule with all the parts and powers of both And I would know how if the soule be pure and the body sinfull the infant at first is halfe holy and halfe corrupt which is absurd and if both be cleane at the first can the uniting of them make both uncleane can two goods as both are confessed apart make one evill 2. Goods cannot make one evill nay rather they are so much the better being conjoyned according to that common saying Vis unita fortior neither will it serve the turne to say it is imputed and so we are reputed corrupt for so it can be onely if it be imputed onely in this 2. Imputation insufficient Indeed Christs righteousnesse is really ours by imputation For a voluntary institution Obj. as it is a covenant of grace Ans differs from a necessary course of justice in the order of nature it being lawfull to shew kindnes without cause but not to inflict punishment as afterwards we shall see besides it cannot be justly imputed neither unlesse the whole man be propagated as was before and shall be againe more fully proved But we are not onely guilty of his sin but by him really corrupt our selves For is originall sin onely imputed corruption no it is a reall infection also and that is it whose originall I enquire for which if it be neither from the soule nor from the body nor the union of both it is not at all this way but seeing it is certaine both by Scripture experience that we have both certaine it is also that we have our whole corrupt nature both soule and body from Adam CHAPTER XIX That Originall sinne cannot passe but by propagation FRom the impossibility of the soules creation wee proceed now to the necessitie of the propagation thereof in respect of originall sin the former being not more contrary to the nature of God then this is agreeable to the course of nature For first as by Gods ordination originall sin passeth from one to all mankinde so by propagation all mankinde proceeds out of one Secondly As originall sin overspreads the whole man both soule and body so according to the course of nature the whole man both soule and body is propagated Thirdly As originall sin is seated chiefly in the soule according to the Scriptures so the soul especially is propagated according to the course of nature Wherefore that the truth of the one may appeare in Scriptures as well as the other is manifest in nature I will prove first that Originall sin cannot passe but by propagation secondly that it cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be 1. The necessitie of proving this The first that originall sin can no way justly descend to us but by propagation being the chiefest must chiefly be proved and so much the rather partly because this being granted the other two will follow alone and partly because some are of opinion that wee may justly be punished for Adams sin though we had never beene borne of him even as when one brother spends the estate which he received for himselfe and all the rest And so indeed all must hold that hold the immediate creation of the soule else there can be no originall sin which course being as I thinke unequall is as far from God as God is from injustice 1. The scriptures teach this and none others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First therefore this may appeare by the cleare testimonies of the Scripture for saith the Apostle death passed upon all men by one man in whom all men sinned or because all men sinned in him Whence it is manifest not onely Rom. 5.12 that Adam was then all men that is the stocke and roote of all men naturally in whom all men were and so sinned in him and with him but also that his sin is therefore imputed to his posteritie because they were in him For if the death threatned to him for sin passed upon all because all were in him it is plaine that the sin for which that death was threatned was imputed for the same cause namely because we were all in him Now for the same cause it was imputed to us then when wee were in him for the same cause it is imputed now that we are out of him and therefore as his sin was then ours because according to the course of nature we were in
thus I have finished my taske in proving this manner of the soules propagation both by divine and naturall reason CHAP. XXIX An answer to some objections against this manner of propagation BUt now me-thinkes I heare some call me backe saying I contradict my selfe in that I say and that even this meane way hath its extremities Having therefore shewed that the soule of man can neither be immediately created by God not yet meerely propagated by man and proved this middle way betweene both both by Scripture and naturall reasons I will now in the last place that there may remaine no just scruple to cavill at briefly answer some few Objections which I conceive may be made more directly even against this meane manner of the soules procreation and so conclude The Objections are these foure Objections First That the soule shall not be immortall if it may be resolved into a former principle namely Adams soule from whence all came Secondly God shall hereby still worke immediately in the creation of soules and so shall not yet have ended his worke and rest from his labours Thirdly Man shall still be inferior to beasts in that he cannot beget his like alone but must have more helpe from God than they Lastly God shall still be touched with sin in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules All which may be as easily answered as objected 1 Obj. That the soule must be mortall if it proceed from another For the first first although it is true that all mixt bodyes may be againe resolved into their former principles the elements whereof they are compounded and out of which they arise yet this is no impeachment to the soules immortalitie For the comparison is unequall and the causes nothing like unlesse wee should say that all bodyes must returne into Adams also whence they came as well as soules Secondly Mixt bodyes are not the simple elements but compounded of them where as our soules are of the same nature and no lesse simple than his was Thirdly If it were compounded yea even of the elements yet it would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall because corruption and death comes not onely nor so much from propagation or composition as from divine malediction for death is the wages of sinne without which even Adams body should have beene immortall as well as his soule Lastly To this objection I will oppose an infallible conclusion viz. that nothing can returne to nothing but by the same meanes whereby it receives the first being And hence it is that all creatures that are produced out of the elements by the power of nature doe by nature resolve into them againe but because mens soules cannot be propagated from their parents but by the immediate power of GOD concurring hence it necessarily followeth that neither can they be againe dissolved or annihilated but by the same omnipotent power This therefore doth invincibly prove so farre is it from disproving proving the soules immortalitie 2 Obj. That God still works in creating Soules For the second that God shall not yet rest from his labour but be still set aworke in the creation of soules I answer first here is no creation of any new kind of creature which they of the contrary part would have us to take for a sufficient answer Secondly Which is more here is no new substance created of nothing but onely produced out of former matter Thirdly It nothing oppugnes Gods resting to worke immediately in some things as by his holy Spirit in the hearts of Gods Elect Ioh. 5.17 in such things the Father worketh hitherto and the Sonne likewise Lastly This worke is no part of creation properly but of preservation which is ordinarily either mediate or immediate Mediate so all elementary creatures and individuall natures are preserved by God but by the meanes of nature or rather naturall meanes but now nature it selfe or as I may say the very nature or Symmetry of nature is preserved by his owne immediate power there being no nature above nature but onely his to preserve it And by the same immediate power it must needs be that the production of soule is conserved the excellency of whose nature is such as can have no naturall or mediate efficient cause and therefore of necessitie it must be his immediate providence onely and that even by course of nature 3 Obj. That ma◠shall still be inferiour to other creatures To the third objection that if mans generatiō requires more helpe from God than other creatures his nature shall therein be still inferiour to theirs I answer That no creature can propagate the like alone no more than he and that he doth as much in the generation of his like as any other creatures doe in theirs For it is well knowne that in generation besides the matter and forme which proceeds from the generators it is necessary that there should bee an efficient power comming from an externall cause which all grant to be the influence of the celestiall Orbes whence is that common Proverb amongst Philosophers Sol homo generant hominem now seeing man gives the matter and forme of the whole man soule and body though in regard of his soule he hath a more excellent efficient than they or rather the same efficient after a more excellent manner that is immediately this is so farre from disparaging that it exalteth mans nature above all other creatures in the world Neverthelesse if man did not give both matter and forme this were indeed justly objected and he should be herein according to the order of nature inferiour to all others as we heard before 4. Obj. That God shall still be touched with sin Lastly The last objection that God shall be touched with sinne in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules is easily answered for God is simply the efficient cause of the soule and not of sin but that comes from our corrupt parents who supply the matter of the whole man corrupt and sinfull like themselves It being Gods just ordinance in nature Rom. 11.16 that as the tree is so should the fruit be And thus sin is meerly accidentall in respect of God who as he made man at the first perfect so also this ordinance of generation whereby he should have begotten children perfect like himselfe but he by his fall corrupting himselfe hath likewise corrupted all his posteritie albeit God still performes his part as perfectly as ever in conferring of his efficient power for the producing of them Thus then we see how the generation of men which should have been perfect is become sinfull through out faults and not Gods and why then God did not make man new againe or stop sin there but continue his first institution might be sufficiently cleared but is not in this place to be disputed CHAP. XXX The Conclusion recapitulating the summe of the premisses Use of this Tractate IT is now time to
therefore by marriage God made them one flesh againe and for that cause others should be so united also besides divers other reasons alledged before which need not here to be repeated 4. The promised seed Fourthly When our first parents had committed sin before they had brought forth any children God made a comfortable promise to Eve Gen. 3.15 saying that the seed of the woman should breake the Serpents head Now the body it selfe being without reason what is it being compared to the Serpent Wherefore by seede in this place must needs be meant the whole nature of man which Christ tooke of the Virgin Mary For whole man was conceived and borne of her except sin onely as afterward we shall see Neither is this to prove one doubtfull thing by another for it is out of doubt that by seede is here meant both body soule unlesse we shall say that Christ redeemed us by a body without a soule And if this soule was received from Eve as her seede as well as his body I thinke there is none will make question of ours 5. Adams ofspring Gen. 5.3 Fifthly Very forcible also if it be well considered is that where Moses saith Adam gat a sonne in his owne likenesse after his owne Image Whence it appeareth manifestly that he was the parent of the whole nature and not of one part onely for this Image is opposed to the Image of God spoken of in Adam before which Image and likenesse was not in the body for then it Would follow that God had a body but in his soule in respect of his minde and reason and those other divine gifts whereby Adam excelled the rest of the creatures So that if we will make a true opposition it will follow from this place that as God made Adam in his innocency in his own Image and likenesse chiefly in regard of the soule and those divine gifts wherewith it was endued so Adam in his corrupted estate begat a sonne in his own Image and likewise not in regard of the body only but chiefly in respect of the soule and in that corrupt and sinfull like himselfe 6. Gods promise to Abraham Gen. 17.7 Sixthly Such is that place also where God made a promise to Abraham saying I will be thy God and the God of thy seede after thee Where by seede must needs be meant that which is borne of seede to wit whole man and not the body onely for that without the soule of it selfe is dead and as our Saviour speaks in another case Matth. 22.32 God is not the God of the dead but of the living And if God will not style himselfe the God of the dead unlesse the soule at least be still living much lesse will he call himselfe the God of a senslesse substance inferiour to the issue of brute beasts Obj. Either thorefore GOD must here promise to be the God of an unreasonable brute or else Abrahams seede must conteine more than a body yea extend in selfe as indeed it doth to the whole man as well soule as body that is to say persons consisting of both for to such onely is this promise made Ans Neither is it for any man here to except say that the whole man may be said to proceede from man though the soule comes from God because he prepares the body and gives the existence to the creature for besides that it is contrary both to nature and reason as afterwards we shall see that a man should be a father to that to which he gives onely the least part of the matter and nothing at all of the forme it cannot be avoided but the Scripture doth here plainly affirme that the whole man consisting of soule and body is the seed issue and of-spring of man consequently begotten born and brought forth by the seed of man 7. The souls that descēded from Jacob. Seventhly When the Scriptures doe expresly affirme that sixty-six soules descended from the loynes of Jacob doth it not plainly teach that the soules of children doe descend from their parents Neither can the force of this place be avoyded by saying that the soule is here by a Metonymy put for the body or by a Synecdoche the whole soule put for the vegetable and sensible part of the soule neither yet that it is only for that denomination is taken from the better part or for that man disposeth the matter of the body for the receiving of the soule The falshood of these conceits doth plainly appeare out of the Antecedent and consequent of the Text for a little before it is said these are the sonnes of Rachel which were borne unto Jacob fourteene soules in all and immediately after the sonnes of Joseph were two soules so that it is evident in the text the soules signifie sonnes viz. the whole person and nature of man Although therefore hereby is not meant soules onely but persons according to the proprietie of the Hebrew tongue yet why in this case should the holy Ghost speake of the whole person if onely the least part of him be thereby meant Neither can I thinke the Hebrew tongue so double or the holy penman so much mistaken as to say onely soules descended if bodyes onely did yea how absurd is it when by the rules of interpretation the proper litterall sense is alwayes to be retained unlesse some manifest falshood or absurditie doe necessarily follow upon it and When wee must fly unto some tropicall sense it must be fetched out of the Text it selfe if it may be here we should depart from both onely to confirme a fancy which hath no apparent warrant in the whole Scripture and that when in all other places we understand the whole to comprehend the parts yet in this case above when the Scripture speakes of the whole we must understand but the least part and when it names the soule yet it meanes the body onely 8. Scriptures that purposely speake of mans generation Eighthly As this doctrine is cleare by the testimony or Moses from the creation of the world and the first institution of nature so also from those Scriptures which doe purposely speake of the propagation of man according to the ordinary course of nature since the creation Two places there are especially where this matter is purposely handled in the Scripture in both which the soule is said to be conceived in the wombe and brought forth by the vertue of generation as well as the body The first wee finde in the booke of Job 1. Iob 10.8.10 11. where in making his moane to God he useth these words Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about Hast thou not powred me out as milke and curdled me like theese Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinewes The other we have in the Book of the Psalmes where David speaketh unto God in this manner Thou hast possessed my
can no more be the cause of sin than light can be of darknesse which cannot possibly be for light alwayes inlightens and no darknesse can proceed from light for though we reade that God commanded light to shine out of darknesse yet for darknesse to proceede from light is altogether impossible and even so it may stand with the nature of God to bring good out of evill but not evill out of good 4. There can be no evill God And for that sin is no positive thing but a privation of good hence it followeth also that there cannot be a summum malum as well as a summum bonum for the one is not and if it were the one should destroy the being of the other in as much as there cannot be two chiefes contrary to the devillish conceits of the Manichees of a good God and an evill God 5. It may be propagated Lastly Though it be an accident yea a privation yet it is not a meere negation though it be but an accident yet even an accident is his imperfection and sometimes the accident of a substance prevailes as much as the substance it selfe so that though it be but a privation yet it may have a being in nature Malum est in rerum naturâ etiamsi per se nihil est else Aristotle was much over-seene in making privation one of the principles of nature and if that be so necessary in generation why should we thinke this impossible to be generated and though it cannot hang in the ayre but must cleave to some subject yet it followeth not but it may be propagated together with the subject wherein it is 2. An inclination to evill But if this will not satisfie it is farther to be considered that originall sin is not onely a privation of goodnesse but also a corrupt qualitie and inclination to evill as appeares by the former description an◠the proofe of it and may farther be manifested by the punishment and consequents of the same For a meere privation of happinesse were a sufficient punishment for a meere privation of goodnesse but we know that Adam and all his posteritie have not only lost Paradise but gained a great deale of labour paine sorrow and misery Neither was the earth onely deprived of that excellent condition wherein it was created but in the place thereof hath succeeded a curse making it barren of good fruit and fruitfull of evill Gen. 3.17 18. thornes thistles and the like Teaching us that there is an evill qualitie in sin as well as a privation of goodnesse 3. Seated in the Soule Against this it is objected that if it be an evill qualitie it must cleave either to the soule or to the body or both If to the soule it cannot descend because such endowments of the mind as are not ingrafted into nature cannot be propagated according to the proverbe c. To which I answer Ans 1. first that even those arts which are least naturall are not altogether excluded in generation nay experience proves that children for the most part are like their parents even in such faculties as these whether they be inclined to Husbandry Horse-manship Merchandise Navigation or the liberall sciences howsoever they are often crossed in their inclinations Secondly 2. It is commonly seene that children are like their parents also in the faculties of the minde as in acutenesse of understanding firmnesse of memory soundnesse of judgement and the like Thirdly 3. It is well knowne that the affections of the soule which are yet neerer to the nature of sin are very commonly cōmunicated to posteritie whether concupiscible or irascible as covetousnesse wrathfulnesse mirth sadnesse feare boldnesse and the like whence is that other Proverbe Partus ventrem sequitur Lastly 4. It is manifest that sin cleaves to the will it selfe which is the fountain of the affections For as there are certaine naturall principles of knowledge as of good and evill which were at the first ingrafted into the understanding so there are certaine naturall inclinations in the will as of love and hatred which at first were carried to their proper objects and so were created good but now through mans failing and Gods curse upon it they are carried a contrary way by meanes whereof we are now corrupt and sinfull Now if sin cleaves thus to the will whence these affections proceede yea pierceth into the most inward and purest parts of the soule whence it spreads it self through the whole man it must needs be propagated much better or rather than the affections which are removed a degree farther from the soule and how much more then better than those externall acts which are not naturall but meere habits gotten by use and industry which neverthelesse in regard of naturall aptnesse unto them may also after a sort be propagated unto posteritie 4. Cleaving to the body Yet is not sin so seated in the soule as that it should not affect or rather infect the body also For though it cannot dwell in the body alone nor be propagated by it yet together with the soule the body is infected and by them both sin propagated Which may further appeare First if we consider that not the soule or body alone but the whole man or person is the subject of this sin especially for not parts but persons sinned and so were corrupted with sin in Adam and thu◠the body is sinfull not of it selfe but as a part of the person of man Secondly being a corrupt qualitie of the body though accidentall and not ingrafted into nature at the first yet why may it not be propagated as well as the gout leprosie whereunto sin is resembled in the Scripture especially considering these are no lesse accidentall unnaturall yea and contrary to created nature at the first and are not now common to all mankinde as sin is Lastly If it be granted that nature does alwayes follow the first institution notwithstanding externall accidents yet this is such an externall accident as it is also internall yea farther I affirme that sin is now no lesse ingrafted into our nature I meane the whole nature of man 5. Ingrafted into nature it selfe How sin is ingrafted into mans nature and propagated with it consisting of soule and body than if the first and yet without fault in God Which that I may plainly manifest and so cleare all in a word I would know of the adversaries of this doctrine whether that wisdome and holinesse which was at first in Adam was such as might and should have beene communicated to his posteritie if he had not sinned or no If yes as no reasonable man can deny it then it must follow by that rule of reason Contraria contrariorum sunt consequentia that so may sin and corruption now since the fall All that can be objected to the contrary is this Obj. that these vertues which were in Adam were good qualities created by God
which necessarily serves to make up the perfect person of a sinner and so much so is sinfull and must and shall be punished in it selfe or Christ Sixthly There is no law given to substances but to creatures not to parts but persons neither can any other be accused condemned or convicted of sin Now where no law is Rom 4.15 there is no transgression saith the Apostle not simple parts therefore but onely persons can be sinfull Seventhly It is manifest it could have no actuall sin and originall sin is not of that nature as was before shewed that it cannot come to us neither by the soule nor body nor union of both if it be created and by propagation onely if it be propagated for which cause Christ onely was freed from the ordinary course of propagation Lastly If meere substances be sinfull it cannot be shifted but Christ was infected with originall sin for his substance was in Adam in as much as he was his sonne and so by this doctrine must needs be sinfull This doctrine not so well cleared of old But this seemes to be graunted by Divines and therefore they say that the holy Ghost did in the same moment that it was assumed cleanse that masse whereof his body was made from sin and so it was sanctified from the first conception in the Virgins wombe Whereof we give this reason that it became not the eternall sonne of God personally to assume unto himselfe a nature stained defiled and polluted with sin And farther they say that indeed Mary was a sinner but the masse of flesh which was taken out of her substance was at the same instant sanctified by the operation of the holy Ghost So that it is graunted that the substāce wherof Christs humanitie was made was sinfull before it was assumed This point not being so well cleared hath much troubled the Church in former ages being assailed with divers dangerous errours why else did the Marcionites and Manichees hold that Christ had an incorporeall or heavenly body which was not takē from the Virgin but only passed through her and what else caused Apollinarius to hold that Christ had no humane soule but only a body which was insould with the deity but to free him from sin 2. If it had been sinfull it could never have been sanctified That we may therefore fully cleare this truth from all such phantasticall opinions I deny that it can be truly and properly said that Christs humanitie was ever sinfull And not onely for the former reasons but because if it had beene sinfull it could never have beene sanctifièd the Sonne of God could never have beene incarnate nor any man ever saved For who should have purged away that sin the holy Ghost nay there is one onely Mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 and it is through his blood that wee have redemption Eph. 1.7 even the forgivenesse of sinnes Col. 1.14.20 and it is the blood of his crosse that reconcileth all things 1 Pet. 1.2 And againe Heb. 9.22 it is the sprinkling of the blood of Christ that giveth power to the purging away of sin and therefore also it is said that without shedding of blood there is no remission So that the bloud of Christ onely cleanseth from sin Yea but the holy Ghost also sanctifies It is true Obj. Mat. 3.11 Ioh. 3.5 Rom. 8.14 the holy Ghost doth now sanctifie the elect purg out sin infuse grace but all by vertue of Christs redemption For if he had not first I meane in the order of nature takē away the guilt by his bloud no man could have been sanctified by the Spirit Now this he could not doe by his own humanitie for it was impossible that he shuld purge sin by that blood which he had not therfore if it had been necessary that Christ should have takē away the guilt corruption of his own nature which could not be but by the same nature taken before he tooke it it had been impossible that ever Christ could have bin incarnate Yea but God is omnipotent True Obj. 2. but his omnipotency cannot work cōtradictions such is this we must take heed therefore how we hold this lest at unawares we shut out Christ from being a Saviour and our selves and all other from salvation by him Now then if his substance was never sinfull the worke of the holy Ghost herein was not to cleanse it from sin but to seperate that which was not sinfull in it selfe from a sinfull creature that so being free it might be assured by the divine nature subsist in the person of the same CHAPTER XXIV How Christs Incarnation was free from corruption How Christ was free from sin THis ground being laid wee have a faire way opened for the freeing of our Saviour Christ from sin in every respect although his soule and body came from Adam as well as ours which we shall more fully conceive by shewing how it was 1. How free and why it was so 1. His person free For the first seeing neither the substance of soule or body can be sinfull as it is substance but as both together are a person for as much as Christs soule body is no person but as it is united with the divine nature he namely his person never was and so never could sin in Adam And thus is his person free If then it be said that though his person was not His humanitie free nor could sin in Adam yet seeing his humanitie was in him and came from him else he were not true man that must needs sin in him It cannot possibly be neither 1. From imputation For as is said his humanitie without the divinitie never was a person and not being a person but substance only 2. By propagation he is thereby exempted from the common condition of men and originall sin could not justly be imputed unto him 3. His substance in the Virgin free Neither could it be propagated because he was conceived after an extraordinary manner without man and thus is his humanitie free also If it be further said that though he be not sinfull as Christ nor yet as having the meer substance of man yet he must needs be sinfull as his substance was belonging to the person of corrupt Adam in whom it was and afterwards to the sinfull Virgin that cannot be neither For though it were sinfull as a part of their persons yet as it was so it was none of his Christ never assumed the person of the Virgin for one person cānot be another though sin were not but he tooke her nature or substance only which because it was good in it selfe though sinfull as hers the holy Ghost did seperate it by an unusuall course from belonging to her person and so being by it selfe it was sinlesse and then it was instantly assumed by the eternall Word and so made the
nothing else but the deduction of the whole man out of Adam according to the course of nature that is the turning of our potentiall being in him into act by naturall generation which is the onely meanes whereby Adams nature is derived unto us Difference betweene generatiō and creation And here to conclude it shall not be amisse to observe the differences between naturall generation and immediate creation the chiefe whereof are these First Creation is the worke of God by himselfe Generation is the worke of nature from God Secondly Creation is wrought onely by the word command of God by his onely becke and will generation is performed in a naturall order pre-ordeined of God Vide Polan Synt. lib. 5.6.2 Thirdly Creation is meerly of nothing not of any matter or substance but of nothing at all generation is of some matter pre-existing indeede old matter putting on new formes Fourthly Creation is done in a moment without any time being by an infinite vertue which is not capable of any time generation cannot be but in time being perfected by degrees and in succession of time Fifthly In Creation things are not made of the same substance with the creator but in generation that which is generated hath the same substance with the generator Sixthly Creation is performed without any motion or mutation but in generation there is both motion and mutation the same matter being varied into diversitie of formes Lastly the order of creation is one and of generation another for in creation the privation is before the habit power before act darknesse before light but in generation the habit is before the privation sight before blindnesse light before darknesse And so much for the generall description of Originall sin Creation and Propagation CHAP. XVI How the nature of the sin descending confirmes the soules propagation The nature of the sinne IT appeareth by the former description of Originall sinne which is proved by the scripture confessed by all that it is not onely a losse of originall righteousnesse but an hereditary infection or spirituall corruption which hath over-spread the whole nature of man which two as they are the maine things in originall sin so the one necessarily followeth the other For the soule ceasing to be good it must needs become evill and being turned out of the right way goes on in a wrong for it cannot stand still or be idle but must be doing either good or evill and therefore being deprived of goodnesse corruption follows as darknesse succeeds in the place of light The meanes of deriving it Whereas therefore some make originall sin to consist of guiltinesse corruption as the parts of it and to be derived from Adam by imputation and propagation guiltinesse by imputation and corruption by propagation it appeareth that guiltinesse is no part of originall sin but an effect of it and consequently that imputation is not properly the meanes of conveying it to us but an effect of the other And as that depravation or corruption onely is properly originall sin and guiltinesse comes onely by reason of corruption so propagation onely is properly the meanes whereby it is derived unto us and imputation is onely in regard of propagation For as we should not have beene guilty if we had not beene corrupt so sin should not have been imputed if it had not beene propagated And as we were potentially guilty in Adam because potentially corrupt so by like reason it followeth that it is now actually imputed to us because we are actually propagated from him I conclude therefore that the nature of this sin consists in the corruption of nature and the streame thereof runs in naturall propagation Objectiōs from the nature of sinne But here it will be objected that sin is such an accident as cannot by the course of nature be communicated to posteritie 1. It is nothing For if we consider the matter or substance of it it is indeed nothing it is non ens in rerum naturâ no substance for then it should be created by God but a meere of privation the want of that which should be and not any thing that should not be as darknesse is a privation of light not any thing that succeeds in the place of light For there is nothing in the dark night which was not in the day onely light is absent and such a manner of thing or nothing rather is sin said to be And if it should be grāted that it is somwhat more namely an evill qualitie besides that then it must needs be created of God as good qualities are it must needs be either in the soule or in the body yea in the soule and not in the body for sin is a spirituall thing if it be any thing 2. Not by the soule Now if it be a qualitie of the soule it cannot be conveyed to posteritie for such habits and indowments of the minde as are not engrafted into nature but happen from without as this did cannot be propagated according to the Proverbe Ex grammatico non nascitur grammaticus but they are gotten by art and industry and so they will grant that Adams sin may be derived to us by imitation but not by generation 3. Not by the body On the other side if it be a corporall and elementary qualitie besides that it cannot then be sinfull it cannot descend to posteritie neither because it is not inherent in the principles of nature but an externall accident which nature hath no sense of for what is nature the worse for Adams taking the forbidden fruit yea what if he had cut off his owne armes his children should not have bin borne without for nature followeth the first institution yea more if it had caused some distemper in the body yet it is not necessary it should be communicated to posteritie for all children have not the sicknesses of their parents how much lesse their sins then which are not naturall either to soule or body These things Ans I confesse have a shew of truth but I deny the power of it in them all for disproving originall sin not doubting to make it appeare that all these doe agree together to confirme this onely way of sinnes propagation 1. Privation of good For first let it be granted that sin in regard of substance is nothing but a privation of goodnesse then it will follow that it cānot subsist without some subject which must also be good because every substance is created by God It is in a good subject so that evill cannot be but in a good subject Againe being a privation it can have no efficient cause 2. Hath no efficient cause for to speake properly it is no effect but a defect rather And if evill can have no cause 3. It comes from a good God much lesse can it be caused by the chiefe good For God who is summum bonum being as the habit unto this privation