convert some of his posteritie and to give them inward holiness so that here is meant not any inherent internal qualitative personall holinesse but an external relative faederal holinesse Hence is that of Grotius Non loquitur Apostolus de sanctitate naturali et naturae liberorum inhaerente sed de sanctitate adhaerente its extrinsice i. e. de sanctitate faederis credentium liberi faedere gratiae comprehensi sunt et eatenus sancti adeo censentur This Text shews that children are stil in covenant with their parents but proves nothing at all that they are freed from original sin R. 2. Because this sin proceeds causally from the flesh though subjectively and formally it is in the Soul as sicknesse comes of corrupt meats as the cause yet not the meats but the body is the subject of sicknesse They that live in a smoakie house must needs be smuâ—ched and contract some of the blacknesse if you put the whitest wool into the Die-fat of Oade it will come out blew So here a pure soul in an impure body cannot but infect it with impuritie this then is an hereditary disease as a leprous father begets a leprous son the disease being in the blood runs through the whole progenie which verifies that of Isa 18.2 The Fathers have eaten sour grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge And therefore saies the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.46 That was not first which was spiritual but that which was natural and afterwards that which was spiritual The first man was of the earth earthy and so begat children like himselfe sinful and corrupt which was the ground of this original contagion which was sprung in our parents by their offence and so by the same it is conveyed to posteritie Obj. If sin be conveyed by the parents to the children it passeth to them either by the body or by the soul but by neither it cannot be in the body till the soul come and in the soul it is not because that is immediately created pure of God Ergo unlesse the soul be traduced from the parents where place you original sin Ans The consequence and coherence of the major is to be denyed because in it there is not a sufficient numeration of the parts by which original sin passeth for it passeth neither by the body nor by the Soul but by the offence of our parents in regard whereof God whilst he createth men souls bereaves it of originall righteousnesse which he gave on that condition to our first parents that they should continue or lose them to posteritie according as themselves either kept or lost them which privation of righteousnesse in respect of God for mans offence is not a sin but a just punishment though in respect of the parents which draw it unto themselves and their posteritie it be a sin which through the conjunction of both is conveyed from the parents unto their children so neither the body alone nor the soul is to be respected but as they joyntly make one man Vse 1. This may meet with the proud hearts of men who are ready to advance themselves in respect of their birth and parentage which if they did truly consider this Doctrine would rather humble them seeing nothing is derived from them but basenesse and corruption their natures being vile contaminats their posteritie and instead of making them honourable doth make them odious in the pure eyes of God yea and most miserable for ever if they be not born again Iohn 3.3 if we got not a better birth then that which we had from our parents it may be said of us as it was said of Iudas it had been better for us that we had never been born Mat. 26.24 It is reported of Diogenes that he told Alexander the great that he could know no difference betwixt the bones of King Philip and other men what he spake of dead men lying in the ground holds true of all men living so long as they lie in the grave of sin there is no difference betwixt the greatest and the meanest for all are by nature sinful and this sin of our nature is conveyed from the fathers to the children so that here is no cause of boasting but rather matter of abasement whereby the best may be humbled upon the sense of this their condition The greatnesse of birth through thy corruption makes thee more uncapable of grace then those of meaner degree You see your calling brethren saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.26 and surely so may we now how that not many great men not many noble are called Even greatnesse of birth nobility is a bar oftentimes to keep men from salvation and life eternal though blessed be God some great men are called yet there are but few not many saies the Apostle O what madnesse then is it to rest and glory in our birth in that we were born of such parents and never seek to be born of God This is that which makes men truly honorable when they become truly gratious Hence 1 Sam. 2.30 They that honor God them will God honor As they of Berea Acts 17.11 were more noble then they of Thessalonica shewing the fruits of grace in receiving the word with all readinesse of mind And thus if our nobilitie appears we may take comfort in our estate otherwise we may be abased for the sadnesse of our condition Be not then like the bigger the better hills the higher the barrener but like unto a Diamond Use 2. This may serve to humble all parents in the consideration of those sins that break forth in their childrens lives their pride and stubbornnesse their aversenesse from God and prophannesse all which is by them the cause of great sorrow and humiliation Hence is that of Solomon Prov. 10.1 A foolish Son is the heavinesse of his mother And 17.25 A foolish Son is a grief to his father and bitternesse to her heart that bare him For the root from whence all this evill springeth they had from their Parents the plague-sore of sin was conveighed by them and this they were infected with from their very birth In the time of the plague we count it a great affliction to bring the infection into our houses and set it upon our children and yet we have all done worse to our children then this we have set upon them a farre more dangerous and deadly disease which doth not only slay the body but overthrow the Soul and that everlastingly if God look not in mercy upon them 1 If the Lord was angry with the Serpent and had laid a curse upon it because it was but an instrument used by the Devil for the corrupting of our first parents though it were no cause of it Gen. 3.14 how much more reason hath he to be angry with us that have not only been instruments to convey this cursed contagion of nature into our children but the principall agents and causes of it Oh consider then this you that forget God that have
torments to be much more then any fire can inflict for the pains afflictions and crosses of this life are not to be spoken of in respect of those endless and infinite â—orrowes in the life to come That we suffer here is but a miserable passage to that we shal feel hereâ—fter and rather to be counted blessings then crosses being forcible means which God useth to humble us and as bridles to check our unruly and headstrong lusts yea as wormwood to wean our appetites from the desire of the worlds vanities For howsoever many doe account themselves happy that live in ease and abundance here on earth yet most certain it is that there can be no greater a curse or crosse befal any man in this life then to prosper in the course of sin and iniquity But to return from whence we digressed The miseries of sin shall be farre greater then any thing in this world can resemble when as by the power and just Iudgment of God there shal be such exact and exquisite distemper and pains inflicted upon every part and parcell of man that if all the most forcible torments that ever were invented by the most cruel Tyrants that ever lived were put together they were as nothing in respect of those infinite pains and tortures which man shal everlastingly suffer in hell where the humors shal be both inflamed benumed with unsufferable heat cold where the senses are infected with most loathsome and abominable stenches and savours their eyes terrified with gastly and fearfull spectacles when the affections shal find no refreshing but endlesse grief and afflictions when every joynt shall be disordered and racked in extensum as possibly it can bear when the glandules the muscles and all the fleshie parts shal frie in scorching heat where the entrals and bowels shall perpetually gnaw with continuall griping yea when these shall be filled with everlasting anguish and horror by being banished for ever from the presence of almighty God and the communion of his blessed Saints and Angels and instead thereof astonished with the deceitfull and hideous noise and wailing of wretched souls never to see hope for ease or end of such unspeakable miseries And lastly when those carnifices those damned executioners of Gods judgments the Divels being cast down from the glorious presence of God's Almightie Majesty and suffering the infinite and unsupportable burthen of his justly deserved wrath and anger shal execute their unspeakable malice and furious vengeance upon the miserable bodies and distressed Soules of reprobate and condemned sinners Nay to conclude if all their griefs and diseases all the anguish of mind whereunto the body and soul of men are subject and which all the men from the beginning of the world unto this day have suffered were in the extremity upon any other man and that the soules and bodies by the Almighty power of God were so fastned together and so perpetually conjoyned that there could be no dissolution yet all this must the sinner eternally endure besides infinitely more sorrowes and pains all unspeakable all unconceivable Hence from the causes we define the sin that it is A determinate and wilful transgression of Gods Law depriving all the parts and faculties both of Soule and body of all kind of goodnesse of all kind of righteousnesse in it self of all manner of happinesse which had been the effect and consequent thereof So that having pointed out the disease and considered what it is it remaines in the last place to search out the Original ground whence it springs and proceeds intimated in these words shaping and conceiving Behold I was shapen c. Peccato Originali saith Aug. nihil ad praedicandum notius nihil ad intelligendum secretius There 's nothing more commonly preached and yet nothing more obscurely to be understood then Original sin And iniquitie is a mysterie saies the Scripture neither of which doth imply an impossibilitie but only a difficulty of understanding the depth and secrets thereof and therefore as the search of the knowledge thereof requires deeper speculation so doth the delivery thereof deserve more heedful and serious attention I was shapen in iniquitie I may not now stand to dispute that question which is disputed in the works of some great Divines namely whether propagation and traducing of sin be from the Father or Mother Some collecting and affirming from that Rom. 5. As by one man sin entered into the world c. that sin proceeded only and is derived from the man and if the woman could conceive and bring forth without the man the child be without sin Others again inserting that 1 Tim. 2. That the man was not deceived but the woman was and was in the transgression And also from this of the Prophet in the Text In sin hath my Mother conceived me Inferring I say that it is probable that sin is principally derived from the Mother which question may easily be decided by acknowledging it both waies True that it descends from the man and the woman for under that phrase as by one man may be well implyed both sexes and certain it is that both being Parents and both sinfull they are as well the parents of the sin as of the child But to return to our purpose I was shapen in iniquitie saies the Prophet declaring thereby the original ground and cause of this disease the manner how it became sinful wherein it may be probably objected that in as much as the principal guilt of sin depends upon the efficient cause thereof namely Liberum arbitrium hominis the freewill of man in the wilful disobedience of Gods Law which David never had but was born as all other men captives to their lusts and could not obey the Law if he had been never so willing and which never man had but one Neither was sin in that extense and high nature which the free and malitious a version of the will perpetrated and committed by any one but by that one and that by a transient act many hundred years afore how then can the Prophet be said to be guilty of sin in that kind which onely properly undequaque completly is sin or justly assumâ— the last unto himselfe To which I answer that although the act of our first parents was transient yet the will of that act was permanent and remaineâ— and it is justly reputed unto the Prophet and unto all men that descend from their loyns It standing both with the rule of equitie and righteous judgment justly to attribute and impute that unto us which we as it were did in our progenitors for can any man be more just and equal then to charge every part by that which is committed by the whole for all the generations and successions of men make but one body and every one is member of that body and the whole lease of man is but as one tree whereof our first parents are the root and therefore that sprig which hath but newly sprouted
satisfaction by others vivification The power and practise of Religion consisting in holinesse and newnesse of life set forth in the rest of the Psalm These are the waies wherein we must walk these are the true meanes and works of Conversion the want of any of which doth frustrate all our hopes and makes all the rest ineffectuall to us Now if we make Examination and enquiry in which of these we are most defective it will appear without all question to be that which of all other is most crosse and troublesom to flesh and blood most irksom to nature and is therefore most neglected of all sorts of men and that is true and unfeigned contrition a diligent search and inquisition in the Original ground and causes of our sin a thing of all other most necessary as being the chiefest and most principal part of repentance the truest part of mortification without the which there can be no other certain assurance of Grace nor sincerity of Religion And therefore in survey and meditation of this Psalm I make choice to speak of this subject before the rest as being by the strange neglect and ignorance of men therein the most needfull to be urged and pressed upon the conscience of all sorts that flatter and delude themselves only with a superficiall and shallow acquaintance and conformity with the external exercise of Religion without any true power and practise thereof the subject whereof is excellently and substantially proposed in the words of the Text Behold I was shapen c. Which Text give me leave to tearm Mans inbred malady 1. The designation of the Prophets disease the cause of the miserie and complaint the subject whereof he intendeth to speak in this particle Behold 2. The disease it self set forth by these two words Sin and Iniquity 3. The original ground from whence it sprung and proceeded intimated also in these words Shaping and Conceiving Behold I was shapen c. All of them affording both intellectuall instructions for the information of our understanding and also moral documents for the reformation of our lives the one teaching us what we are to know the other directing us what we are to do and therefore of them all briefly in their order And first of the designation of the Prophets disease or the cause of his complaint and surely it is such a designation as doth imply wonder and therefore it is exprest with this particle of admiration Behold For it is a Doctrine strange and obscure and of great difficulty such as few men truly know and understand and fewer thoroughly weigh and consider A Doctrine so full of depth and also of such necessity that it requires most serious attention and consideration a Doctrine so grounded in truth and likewise so full of terror as of all other it is most powerfull and effectuall to magnifie the justice and mercy of God as also to humble the insolence of the proud heart of man and therefore it is intit'led and stiled with an Ecce Behold As indeed wheresoever we find in scripture such an inscription it should prepare us to an expectation of high mysteries of matter of such great consequence as doth expect from us our best endeavours and diligence to know and our willingnesse and forward readiness to obey which is in this particular plainly verifyed For in the whole course of Divinity there is no point either more obscure in it selfe to know or more unpleasing to our nature to learn and yet nothing more profitable or behoofefull to our reformation nothing more necessary to be discussed for our edification without the knowledge of which all the rest are in vain it being the ground of all The subject of his justice and the object of his meâ—cy The last principle which the wise sages of the world prescribed unto their scholars to studie and the first wholesome document which all the Divine Prophets of God have proposed to their Disciples So that briefly having pointed out the disease whereof the Prophet complaines let us in the next place set our eyes upon it and consider what it is and wherein it doth consist Behold c. All things that are both are in themselves and also demonstrable what they are by their causes those principles of which their nature and essence doth consist and whereby they are distinguished from all other things which things we cannot doe in demonstrating the nature of sin because it is nothing for every thing that hath any being or existence in nature was created by God and all things that were created were exceeding good Whence it is that Ens bonum are convertibilia That every thing that hath a Being is good and every thing that is good hath a being in it selfe Since therefore being evil is nothing and of nothing there can be no causes proposed by which we may demonstrate the same so properly and exactly as of things that have natural existence and being in themselves And yet by the way to prevent the ignorant mistaking whereunto vulgar conceits are subject we are not to think that because sin is said to be nothing we are therefore to set light by it and to esteem it as we say as a thing of nothing For there is a difference to be put betwixt non ens et nihil Between non ens privativum non ens negativum Between that nothing which is no being at all and that which is only the privation of that good which is in that which is good As for example there is a difference betwixt no eyes at all which is nothing negatively and blindnesse which is nothing privatively which is nothing but the want of sight in the eye the one importing an utter vacuitie of any thing at all the other destruction of that which hath a being the privation of the goodnesse of all things wherein it is and the very blemishing and disfiguring of that eye-lent character of Beauty which the wisdome of God hath imprinted upon the comely face of nature as it was first created Now in discovering of this we are I say not able to make any certain demonstration because there can be no certain and univocall causes prescribed thereof only we may analogically by way of resemblance by reflecting our cogitations and comparing sin with the habit whereof it is the privation illustrate and after a sort demonstrate the same For cognitio privationis praesupponit cognitionem habitus et sine ea acquiri non potest The knowledge of the privation of any thing doth presuppose the knowledge of that Habit whereof it is the privation without which it cannot be attained unto It is therefore necessary that in searching out of the knowledge of sin we compare it with righteousnesse being that habit whereof sin is the privation To proceed therefore Privatio et Habitus dicitur cicra idem aliquid saith the Oracle of Nature in his book of praedicaments Both the privation and Habit are conversant about the same
thing or object The object of righteousnesse being the Law it doth follow that the object of sin is the Law also but what Law Both the Law of nature which God had prescribed unto every thing in nature to be observed by them as being unto God most honorable and to themselves most proper and behoofefull Those rules and limitations those orders and prescriptions which the wisdome of God had proposed and imprinted upon all creatures either of the preservation of their being or the destruction of their sexes or the propagation of their kinds or the moderation of their power and manner of working or the manifestation of his own Almighty power wisdome and glory the same are termed Lawes So He made a Law for the rain said Job Job 2.8 And he gave a decree unto the Sea that the waves should not passe his commandment And by this Law it is that heavie bodies move downwards but light bodies ascend upward that the motion of the Heavens are circular and that every thing observes that manner of motion and working which is peculiar and proper unto his kind Now creatures having their several degrees of perfection and Law being as it were the several rules and spurrs thereof it will follow The persecter any creature is the more general and of larger excellency are those Laws by which the same is guided So we see that Minerals are of a perfecter constitution and being then simple bodies as Air or Water or Earth or Plants are perfecter then Stones and Beasts are more perfect then Plants and that Man is more perfect then all So that every one of these in their severall kinds have more or lesse notion motion belonging unto them and accordingly are subject to more or lesse Laws Now men being as it were a compendium or Epitome or abbreviature of all the creatures of God and participating of all the perfections hath so many actions and operations proper unto him as makes him subject to all the lawes not only to the part of natures law that concerns only his reasonable Soul and will and is therefore called the morall Law but likewise unto all the subordinate parts that may any waies concern his inferior parts and faculties so that not only the Soul the understanding but the senses and humors yea the very whole proportion and constitution of the body and every particular therein had their severall prescriptions and motions peculiar unto themselves which both for ability and power and end and all other circumstances they ought to have observed exactly and could not transgresse without sin So that first hearing of the subject of sin namely the law of nature That Law which Almighty God had prescribed universally unto all things in nature to be observed let us proceed unto the farther search thereof And therefore in the second place we say that the form of righteousnesse is the observation of this Law and hence we insert tanquam formale peccati that the transgression of the law is as it were the form of sin For so 1 John 3.8 defineth that sin is the transgression of the Law that it is an aberration and excursion out of the bonds and prescripts of Gods Law 1. John 3.4 3ly The materiall causes of Righteousnesse were the actions and operations faculties and parts of man and therefore we must propose them also tanquam materiale peccati as the matter and subject of sin For look how the parts and faculties both of Soul and body were ordered and framed and beautified and exercised in Righteousnesse So likewise the same parts and faculties both of Soul and body are confused distempered deformed and perverted by iniquity and sin For the efficient cause of righteousnesse being liberum arbitrium hominis the free will of man it must needs follow that the efficient cause of sin must needs be the same or else could not be said to be our sin for that which makes a work to be our work is because it proceeds from our own will for sin in the formes and abstracted nature thereof namely as it is the transgression of the Law may be and is in beasts and other creatures yet cannot be said to be the sin of the creature because it proceeds not from will in the creature for the creature is subject to vanity saith the Apostle Rom. 8.20 Neither is it sufficient to make a work ours unlesse it proceed freely from us without any necessity compelling us unto for then the act would be attributed as much yea principally to the necessity and we should be but as instruments thereof That therefore is the efficient of sin unto man which doth appropriate sin unto man and that doth appropriate sin unto him which is the principal facultie by which he worketh namely Liberum Arbitrium his free will Lastly the finall cause or effect of righteousnesse was joy and peace and comfort and contentation and perfection and all the happinesse which the soul and body of man was capable of So è contrario for rectum est Index sui obliqui we most still measure that which is crooked by that which is streight the final cause and effect of sin is sorrow affliction crosses and destruction and all the miseries in this life and in the life to come For as malum culpae was the privation of bonum morale so malum poenae is the privation of bonum delectabile As sin was the privation of righteousnesse so effect of sin is the privation of happinesse which is the fruit of righteousnesse For all the miseries and pains that hath or shal ever befal man are no positive thing but a meer privation of that goodnesse which was created in him As for example If sharp needles shall be thrust under the nails it is nothing but the violent disorder and disturbance of the frame of nature in those parts If our hands or feet should be dipt in boyling lead it were but the violent distemper of heat in these members and so of other torments which are all privations Neither did the eye see nor hath ear heard nor did ever possibly enter into the heart of man the joyes that are prepared for the righteous All things in the world are too low to expresse them So on the contrary it will follow that neither eye nor ear or heart hath either seen or can imagine those pains that are prepared for sinners all things in this world are too short to resemble them For as the choice and pretious stones mentioned Rev. 2. are there used to represent the new Jerusalem and the beauty and joyes thereof which are far more excellent and of an higher and transcendent qualitie So under reformation of better judgment I suppose that the fire which the spirit of God in the Scripture makes choice of to expresse the torments of Hel is not material fire but being the most violent and consuming element is used only as the fittest thing to represent those unconceivable pains For I conceive those
out this year proceeds Originally though by the mediation of the body and branches of that root which may be was planted many hundred years agoe If the root be corrupt struck and die it is likewise corrupt strucken and dies with it and why because it is a part of that body that is of the same nature qualitie and condition with the root Even so it is with all men that both have been and now are born they lineally descended by the mediation of the body the generations and successions of men they proceed from the first parent of mankind as from the root they participate of his nature qualities and properties and therefore if his condition be sinful damnable their 's likewise is sinful damnable because the guilt of what he did is justly imputed unto them as being then with him and now descending from his loyns and that according to the rule of natures Law according to the equitie of divine justice all the species the whole kind of man were potentially in Adam and by right of inheritance from sin are intituled to the priviledges of nature whatsoever belonged to him they may justly challenge that is all kind of sustenance for the preservation of their being as nature hath given unto us a being so it owes unto us a sustenance shall we challenge God for maintenance and preservation of life in right of our first parents shall not he as justly challenge us as guilty of sin subject to his wrath descending from him who wilfully transgressed disobeyed his Law shal we not partake of the good and evil whereunto we are intituled in right of our first parents surely both alike belongeth unto us and therefore even in our conception when we as it were first sprout out even then are we justly accounted guilty of wilfull disobedience and sin because we descend from the loins of him that did wilfully disobey and transgresse the Law of his mighty Creator So that all excuse by just imputation hereof being taken away by this means sin being appropriated unto us we made guilty thereof in the highest degree as proceeding from the intent disobedience of the reasonable will Let us proceed to consider out of the Prophets words the Original of sin when after what manner or in what measure we are made sinful hence implyed in this word Mother that is from the very act of generation for the first she takes upon her the office of Mother after what manner expressed in these two words shaping and conceiving and lastly in what measure implyed in this particle I that is not this or that part of me but I wholly that is every part and faculty in me In the former clause namely of the guilt of the imputation of our first parents sin we speak of sin only in relation to the efficient cause who did it and how it was actual In this we consider sin in the form thereof namely as it transgresseth the law how it is originally diffused over every part and faculty of us and so it becomes habitual I was shapen c. By shaping is understood the first framing and fashioning of us in the womb and by conceiving is meant the first being and breeding and growing up unto perfection in the womb for Tremel translats it in peccando fovet me mea Mater In sin hath my Mother cherished me up And so is our Hebraisme in our English margent In sin did my mother warm me which implyeth the same thing both importing that man both in his first beginning also in his continual grouth increasing is sinful that is every way exceeding sinfull If a man should be born having his face standing backward and his legs coming out where his armes should be and his armes out of his belly and his belly upon his head it would surely be esteemed an ugly monster fearful and prodigious and yet the deformity and obliquity of the Soul and body of man by sin is much more monstrous where every part and faculty is disordered where every particular is both extra and praeter intentionem naturae both besides and beyond the intention of nature as by the sequel shall appear Now perfect and compleat shaping doth imply two several acts First the exact temperature of internal qualities 2ly the due proportion of the externall parts and lineaments In both these there is sin formally which is the transgression of the law For God in the creation had set down a law also for things of this inferior quality and respect which could not be transgressed without sin in the first place prescribing unto every thing such a just and limited temper and mixture of primariâ— qualities of heat and cold of drienesse and moisture whereof all mixt bodies consist and was most behoofeful to the perfection and preservation of his being and Secondly squaring out such a due and excellent proportion and fashion in all the body as might best adorn it with most beautie and comlinesse thereby so manifesting his power and wisdome in all things that there was neither distemper inwardly nor deformitie outwardly in any thing that he hath made Both these laws are broken and transgressed in the shaping of men For first there is such a distemper of such unequal iniquity of the radical heat and radical moisture which are principia vitae as the Physicians call them the very principles and grounds of life that the healthiest man living is not perfectly in health though yet not sensibly and throughly sick but lives as it were in a neutrality betwixt both yet rather sick then wel because the disease is still growing though not ripe until the distemper thereof wax so strong and predominant that nature is so weakened and subdued thereby that it is not able without grief to resist the same 2ly In the outward framing and fashioning of the body there is no man that hath that exact proportion and comelinesse in the parts of the body then Adam had that was immediately created by God but there is in it some imperfection or blemish which doth some way either diâ—figure or deform him Nay I will say that which many perhaps will think strange that there is not in us the least joynt but sin is in it not only formally as there is a want of perfection in the composition and constitution thereof according to the law of God but also imputatively because it became so by the rebellion of our will that thereby we have transgressed the law defaced the workmanship of God within us deprived our selves of health and perfection and so justly become the subjects of Gods vengeance Nay I will say more that there is no grief nor pain that the beasts or other creatures in the world do suffer but it is sin formally a transgression of this Law Because God intended no such affliction to any of his creatures by the Creation but by his Law both established it and ordained it otherwise that namely the creatures
should live in that perfection and happinesse whereof by nature they were capable There is no imperfection in any creature but man is guilty thereof as being by his sin For cursed is the earth and all things therein for mans sake and why for mans sake but for sin and what is that cursing but the substraction and deprivation of the Lords protection and guidance of the creatures in the lawes and rules of natures law Rightly therefore saies the Prophet I was shapen c. And not only therein doth expresse the whole ground and Original cause of his disease but he adds also that in sin his Mother warmed and cherished him up both root and branches were sinful In consideration whereof it will appear that as the structure and composition of man is most admirable so the corruption of sin in man is most damnable as being a general disturbance of the whole course of nature a pestilent infection universally diffused over all the faculties both of Soul and body For as nature hath severall degrees of perfection and still the former is the ground of the latter so also have these degrees their degrees of infection and still the latter is enforced by the former 1. The first degree of natural perfection in man is esse consisting in the constitution and temperature of the body which is the ground of all motions and life 2. The second is Vegetare by receiving nourishment to encrease and grow to perfection in himselfe 3. The third is Sentire an abilitie to discern and know all outward and corporeal objects and their simple qualities 4. The fourth is ratiocinari by discourse of reason in the contemplation of outward things and to draw out such rules and directions for this life as are consonant to that law which God had established in all things 5. Secundum rationem agere to work and frame all his actions according to their destinated ends namely the preservation of natures perfection and the glory of natures God Now as these degrees of naturall perfection have their dependance the one upon the other in their order so likewise in the infection and diffusion of sin upon the natural qualities do the vital faculties depend upon the vital the animal upon the animal the rationall upon the rational the moral c. 1. For the first if there be an intemperate mixture of cold and heat in the natural constitution as hath been declared there is then do the vital faculties fail in the exercise of tâ—eir functions as too much heat doth inflame the blood encrease choler drie the braine too much cold doth beget melancholy augment flegme hinder digestion dul the spirits and such like 2. If the vital faculties be disordered the animal are distempered thereby as the over abundance of ill humors doth send up noysom and unwholesome fumes into the head which do stupifie the sense dul the imagination and hurt the memory so that if the fantasie and memory be any way impaired then in the third place the reasonable soul is greatly disabled in the exercise of her faculties And lastly if reason be absurd and defect in that it is not able to direct how then can the will execute or perform any thing that is agreeable to Gods Law Behold how great a flame a little fire kindleth for the natural temperature of the first qualities heat and cold c. though in mens ordinary imaginations they are things of small moment or respect and nothing so material and worthy as the superior faculties yet are they so necessary and of such force in the whole frame and constitution of man that upon their goodn sse doth the goodnesse of all the rest depend no otherwise then as the spring or poize in a curious clock which seems to be dull and of no great necessity and yet it is of the greatest power as that which moves all the rest of the wheels for the perfection of a clock is to keep its time and due howers but if the spring or poize be disordered all the rest is disordered if it be too strong then the howers are too short and if slack and loose then are they too long So the natural faculties if too cold then all the rest are dâ—stitute and too remiss if tooo hot then are they too violent and redundant for the disposition and perfection of the Soules working dependeth principally upon the bodies temperature For as the eye the intâ—rmedium that which is interposed betwixt the eye and the object be thick as in a mist it is obscured and the sight made imperfect So the Soul if the Organs those instruments by which it works be disordered and distempered is disabled in the exercise and use of its faculties As for example we see in a drunken man when the stomach is oppressed with a thick and strong moisture the heat of the liver by concoction and digestion rarifies the same there riseth such a fume no otherwise then we see in a boyling pot which ascending up into the head doth so stupifie and distemper the brain the Organ of the understanding imagination and discourse that man thereby that distempers himselfe doth quite lose the use of his reason and the chief faculty of his soul and becomes for the time if not worse even a very beast Even so every man by the distempered mixture of corrupted nature is made either more or lesse defective in the use of the soules vigour and power by how much more or lesse the instruments and organs by which the soul worketh are polluted and distempered From hence it is we see that some men are more quick and active of apprehension and conceit others likewise are stupid and of duller capacity which only proceeds from the good or evil disposition of the parts of the body yea the very best and purest that is begotten by the corrupt generation of man is infinitely farre short of that puritie and quicknesse of capacitie which man by his creation naturally was endued withall From hence therefore may appear the vanity of the Pelagians arguments intending to prove that sin is only learned by imitation because the body cannot work upon the Soul which is a Spirit for though the bodie cannot work upon the substance of the soul yet can it hinder and disorder the operations of the Soul which it is to perform in and by the body for by the bodies corruption and disordered distemper there is either irregularity or iniquity in the manner or confusion and ataxie in the order but especially excesse or defect in them sure of every facultie of and action of man As for example if we survey some particulars and first in those faculties which are called concupiscibles as hunger a natural appetite to create for sustenance and preservation of life and being cannot doe it without sin not that the desire of meat or action of eating is sinfull for it is natural and all that is natural is good as being the work of God but
Saint Paul saies as much Rom. 7.18 I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing And 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our suffiencie is of God The reasons of which Doctrine are these R. 1. Because of that guilt which Infants stand in Adam In whom saith the Apostle Rom. 5.12 for so is that place rendred all have sinned For Adam was not then as one particular person but as the Common stock and root of all mankind Whereupon by this sin all his posterity which had been in sin as in the root becomes equally sinfull Hence is that of our Saviour Mat. 7.18 A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good â—ruit And he gives the reason Ioh. 3.6 Because that which is born of the flesh is flesh that is of the corrupt Parents is sinfull which is Jobs meaning where he saith no man can beget a child that is clean from sin himself being unclean This treason committed by Adam runs through the whole blood this leaven infecteth the whole lump this poison is diffused into all mankind And since it comes to passe that man is disabled from acting that which is good For wee know that water can rise no higher then the Fountain is Nature will give it leave to go no higher the fire giveth heat onely within a certain compasse and distance and no farther Nothing can work beyond the sphere of its own reach and activity So it is impossible to corrupt nature to elevate it self to supernaturall grace or to do any action preparing bending or inclining the will to it For as water being cold by nature cannot be made hot until an higher principle be first insused into it no more can mere nature do any thing tending to saving grace untill it be raised up by an higher influence For the guilt of Adams offence lies heavie upon all his posterity so that there being not left strength in them as of themselves to remove it it disables them from either thinking or acting any thing that is good and though they may be Saints yet in their Infancy are not freed from sin and therefore the state of infancy it selfe hath been severely punished as appears 1 Sam. 15.3 God commanded Saul to slay the very Infants and Sucklings of the Amalekites and forbad to spare or shew pitty unto any of them And Psalms 137.9 the Lord pronounceth him happy that shall take the little ones of the Babylonians and dash out their brains against the stones And Gen. 19.25 we shall find that in the destruction of Sodom none of the inhabitants were spared no not the Infants and sucklings but God rained down fire and brimstone upon them The like you shal find Numb 16 27. where from the Tabernacle it is said that Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the doore of their Tents and their wives and their sons and their little children all which were swallowed up by the earth ver 32. as Moses said and so went down quick into the pit Now there can be no punishment inflicted but where sin is presupposed neither can there be any sin in Infants thought on but what is originally in their natures and therefore to cleer the justice of God in punishing the Doctrine of the Text is evident that being originally sinful they suffer most justly by the hand of God Obj. But these be most lewd men and God forbid but that there should be a difference betwixt them and the godly Ans The Infant of the best Christian is by nature no better then the infant of a Sodomite as appears Ephes 2.3 and the sin those Infants was guilty of was the cause why God did thus deal with them for Rom. 5.12 God is no respecter of persons and therefore hates sin as well in them as in us for hath not the infants of Gods own people been born fools natural or deaf or blind as we may see John 9.1 hath not many of them been smitten with many and grievous and strange diseases as Davids child was 2 Sam. 12.15 And what is this but a witnessing of Gods wrath against them as well as others for how can a most pure God love any thing that is polluted This is contrary to his nature whose pure eyes cannot behold iniquity and therefore it is as easie for light and darknesse to agree together as the most pure Creator and impure creature to love each other This I speak not to abridge Gods mercy how in his favour he may look upon Infants in his Son but how God in himselfe may behold them in their original sin being children of wrath and so may become the fit objects of his wrath to be severely punished with their Parents 2ly Because of that filth which is conveyed from their Parents unto them And therefore by Isa 48.8 are said to be transgressors from the womb whose hearts are evil from their very youth Gen. 8.11 Hence is that of Ambrose who is just in the sight of God whereas an Infant of a day old cannot be clear from sin every thing that is born carrieth with it the nature of that which bare it as touching the substance and accidents proper to that speciall kind But we are all born of corrupt and guilty parents hence by nature in our birth we draw their guilt and corruption and by this means we have the spawn and seed of all sin within us so that every imagination becomes evil only evil and continually evil Gen. 6.6 as God himselfe sets us out in our natural condition Ob. The 1 Cor. 7.14 the children of the faithful are said to be holy therefore without Original sin and pollution Ans They have not this Holiness from carnal propagation for it is said Rom. 9.11.13 when they had neither done good nor evil I have loved Jacob and hated Esau But they are said to be holy in respect of the external fellowship of the Church that is to say they are to be accounted members of that body the Church whereof Christ is the head and so also for the chosen and sanctified of God which place doth not any way infringe or prejudice this truth for the natures of the best mens children are sinful though their persons in respect of the external fellowship of the Church be reputed holy therefore Parents by nature derive not unto their posteritie righteousness which is freely imputed but unrighteousnesse and damnation unto which themselves by nature are subject and the reason is this because their posteritie are not born of them according to grace but according to nature neither is grace and justification tyed to carnal propagation but to the most free election of God so that though Infants be by the Apostle said to be holy yet it is not to be understood in respect of their natures for that appears to be sinful and filthy but in regard of that stipulation and covenant which is made between God and the faithful
that he that runs may read a full satisfaction in it Use 3d. Reprove such as think it folly to be troubled with the sins of litle ones with their lying and swearing cursing and the like not considering that the very Originall sin of the Infant the sin of his nature before it doth thus break forth makes him odious to God and deserveth damnation much more wil these same cursed fruits do it See an example in this 2 King 2.23 where those forty that mocked the Prophet were devoured by Bears where youth was no excuse for the hainousnesse of their offence but were severely punished by the hand of God Vse 4. Let this then humble us in considering the sharp and severe judgments that oft light upon little ones yea and take them to heart and to be much affected with them as with most evident demonstrations of Gods wrath against sin even against the sin of our nature Our Saviour sighed Mark 7.34 to behold the judgement of God upon the deaf man as a sign of Gods anger upon him for sin how much more doth it become us to do so in this case The Lord in his judgements upon us that are of years may have other ends and respects but in those upon Infants he can have no other but onely to make known upon them his wrath against sin Oh that we could seriously in this case thus expostulate with our own souls If God be so angry with the sin of the infant alas what measure of wrath is due to me that besides the sin of my nature wherewith I am every whit as much defiled as it can be have so many actuall sins to answer for and have sinned in a far more odious manner then this infant hath done If this be done to the greene tree saith our Saviour Luk. 23.31 What shall be done to the drie surely this is enough if well considered to melt the hardest heart into tears throughly to bewaile the Originall corruption especially when they consider the next point following namely Doct. 2d That the sin which we are from our very infancie stained withall is conveyed by our Parents unto us T is Leprosie began in Adam and you ran over all successions of mankind Hence the Prophet acknowledgeth I was conceived in sin not meaning any particular sin of his Parents in the act of generation for he was begotten and born in lawful marriage but his hereditary sin whererof he was guilty in his mothers womb For though many causes may be assigned of actuall sins committed by men or women as either of themselves James 1.14 the world 1 John 2.16 or the devil Eph. 2.2 yet of original sin that is in Infants no other cause can be assigned no root no fountain but this that they received it from their parents Hence is that of Aug. per duos homines transisse peccatum Both saith Ambrose parentes ut generis sic et erroris This is agreable to the law of nature Partus sequitur ventrem If a free man get a child by a bond-woman the child shal be bond by the mother not free by the Father As sin entered into Paradise so it entered into the world for it is the same sin in us that was in them in them actually in us originally and the same sin must have the same beginning but it came into Paradise by them both therefore so into the world And therefore Gen. 5.3 it is said that Adam after his fall begat a son in his likenesse after his image sinful and corrupt as himselfe was and the Evangelist making an opposition between the causes from whence corruption and grace cometh saith John 1.13 The one cometh from bleod and from the wil of the flesh and from the wil of man but the other commeth from God alone Hence there was never any that had parents a Father to beget him and a Mother to conceive him that was free from this original sin and corruption of nature no not such as had the godliest Parents that ever lived as the the children of Noah Abraham Isaac David did stand in need of circumcision Gen. 21.4 which signifies the cutting away of the filthy fore-skin of their hearts this original corruption as the Prophet expounds it Jer. 4.4 wherefore Job 14.4 when he would give a reason why man every man young and old is not only subject to so many troubles in this life but also so filthy and sinful alledgeth no more but this Man that is born of a woman he is born of a woman and therefore must needs be so So again Iob 15.14 and 25.4 and though the Mother only be named by Iob and David yet is this corruption derived to the child not from the Mother only but from the father as much as from the mother The sin came by two and the Apostle saies it entered by one for they two made but one Two shal be one flesh By one it entered yet both sinned R. 1. Because all parents have been poysoned with sin wherâ—by their natures being infected doth convey this poyson unto their children As the brood of Vipers Toads and Spiders must needs resemble them and have poyson in them Hence is that of our Saviour Mat. 7.18 a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit for if the tree be not found the fruit will prove tainted and therefore saith Iob Iob 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one This reason our Saviour gieth why all that is in man by nature is flesh that is corrupt and sinfull because he that is born of the flesh that is of corrupt parents Iohn 3.6 is flesh that is sinful which is Job's meaning when he saith who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean that is no man can beget a child that is clean from sin himselfe being unclean For such as the fountain is such is the stream such as the ground is such is the corn such as the fuel is such is the fire such as the mine is such is the metal such as the parents are so are their children Obj. If the root be holy the branches are holy therefore the children of the Saints are holy and have not this sin conveyed to them by their parents Ans Parents beget children as men not as they are holy men Sanctus generat non regenerat filius carnis by generation they derive unto them their nature they cannot derive grace which is above nature we give them that which our earthy parents give us not what our Heavenly Father infuseth into us There is a wide difference betwixt infusion and propagation neither doth holinesse in this place signifie a freedome from sin or integritie or uprightnesse of nature Sanctitas est duplex fidei faederis sancti sunt non virtute nativitatis secundum carnem sed virtute Testamenti gratiae et promissionis dei Bulling but the prerogative and priviledge of Abrahams posteritie whereby God covenanting with him had appointed alwaies to
no care in the education and bringing up of your children in the knowledge of the waies oâ— God ye have much to answer for at the Tribunal seat of Christ that having conveyed poyson into your children at their birth you seek not after the antidote to prevent their eternal ruine wil you be instruments to wound their souls and never seek after a Chyrurgeon to heal them shall you be the cause of giving a deadly potion that will work their undoing and never have recourse to the Physician in their behalfe to cure them Oh here 's a cursed neglect Be abashed therefore in the thoughts of this and lâ—â— not your soules be so secure as to endanger your own eternal welfare by neglecting the dutie in preventing your childrens woe but be humbled for them your selves being the cause of their inbred maladie which by you were conveyed unto them Use 3d. Exhort to stir up parents to do their utmost to work grace in their children and so to cure that deadly poyson and infection that they have conveyed into them Now for the better enforcing so necessary a dutie I will set down 1. Certain motives that may provoke them to this care 2. Discover the means that they must use to this purpose Mot. 1. Because of that natural affection that we bear to our children whereby we are moved to love them hence bowels of pitty and compassion appears towards them when we see them in any miserie And therefore the Lord hath been pleased to set forth his mercy and compassion towards his children by the compassion of a Mother Isa 4.15 Can a Mother forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb And by the compassion of a Father Psalm 103.13 Like as a Father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him He is worse then a beast that pittieth not his children and grieves not to see them in miserie Lam. 4.2 Even the Sea-monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young ones Yea where there is not natural affection there the very light of nature is extinguished and such in the just judgment of God are given up unto a reprobate mind Rom. 1.31 Now what love can we bear to our children if we have no care of their souls the nature of Christianity is to seek the good 〈◊〉 their souls whom we love as Abraham expressed his love to Ishmael Gen. 17.18 O that Ishmael might live in thy sight which should be the desire of all godly parents Oh that my children might live in thy sight that they might fear thee and know thee and learn truly to serve thee this is the greatest portion that can be given them the largest possessions we can desire to leave them as that they may live in the sight of God For godlinesse is the greatest gain and hath the promises of this life and of a better 1 Tim. 4.8 Strive then to make your children godly and let the bent of your affections towards them lie that way and if they become once sincerely to love God then â—â—ve you shewed natural affection in the highest degree towards them which at the last will bring not only grace to them but glory for ever to your selves 2d Mot. Because the rule of justice requires that we should make them amends for the wrong we have done them if we injure any man in body goods or good name we are bound in conscience to make him satisfaction See the equitie of Gods Law in this point Exod. 21.19 He that smote him shal pay for the loss of his time and shal cause him to be thoroughly healed how much more are we to be careful to cure the inbred maladie of our children and to heal that filthy dissease which from our selves have been conveighed unto them Shal we be the causes of their miserie and not use our best endeavours to cure them It is through us that they become odious assoon as they are born in the sight of God and shal not we seek to make them amiable and lovely in his presence shall we be the progenitors of their evil and not the promoters of their good Oh far be it from us to be so forgetful of our own dutie and so neglectful in not using all means for their good This was that which good Hezekiah meant in his prayer Isa 38.18 19. The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee the living shal praise thee and who among the living the Father to the children shal make known thy truth Hence is that of the Apostle Epb. 6.9 Ye fathers bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And so Psal 78.5 He established a Testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known unto their Children Let all parents therefore think of this seriously and consider that it will be a most heavy reckoning one day they must give for the neglect of their childrens souls those especially that instead of reforming them do tolerate them in most sinful courses as in lying swearing Sabbath-breaking and the like these are far from Abraham's practise Gen. 18.19 and Josuah's resolution Jos 24.15 that instructed their families and brought their children to fear the Lord. Consider then this motive you that desire to serve the Lord remember it is but justice to seek after all means to doe your children good you have wrong'd them greatly â—ow recompence that wrong you have done them by seasoning their tender years with the knowledge of Jesus Christ 3d. Because the propagation of Religion dependeth principally in the education of our children To this purpose you have a notable example of this care in the two Tribes and the half that had their possessions given them beyond Jordan Iosuah 2.24 25. we have done it set up this Altar for fear of this thing saying In time to come your Children might speak to our Children saying what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel so shall your Children make our Children cease from fearing the Lord. Concerning which you must understand that there is no man doth so much desire to have a posterity and to provide for posterity as the Lord doth And surely the meanes whereby the Lord may have a posterity raysed and preserved is to derive Religion unto them when Parents are not onely Religious themselves but be careful to provide that their Children may be so also This is that Seminary of Gods Church Here was the cause of that Commandment Deut. 4.9 Take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart from thy heart all the daies of thy life but teach them thy son and thy sons sons This is made by the Prophet Malachi 2.15 to have been the cause why the Lord at the first institution of marriage appointted but one woman for one man and did so
hard to be removed which by timely prevention of frequent acts in the practise of holinesse may be hindred It is therefore a seasonable advice given by Solomon Eccles 12.1 Remember thy creator in the daies of thy youth Youth being that spring time wherein should appear the hopeful blossomes of goodnesse if not blasted through the parents neglect for want of timely instruction It 's a rare character which God gives of Abraham Gen. 18.19 and takes notice of him on this score in that he knew he would instruct his children in the fear of his name Happy then are those parents that herein imitate faithful Abraham timely to acquaint their children with the knowledge of God God will own such as he did Abraham and give them the blessings of his right hand with the greatest joy and comfort Hence we may say with David Psal 127.3 Lo children are an heritage of the Lord. And verse 5. Happy is the man that hath his quiver ful of them they shal not be ashamed but they shal speak with their enemies in the gate 3. Cause them to frequent the publick worship of God when you have the spouts of grace powring forth incomparable sweetnesse and comfort on the soules of all such as shall attend and wait upon it We find Exod. 10.9 that Moses told Pharaoh that they must have the little ones with them to solemnize the worship they were to perform to God in the wildernesse It cannot but add much joy to the parents to hear their children sing the song of Sion before they have known the ditties of sin and to speak plainly the language of Canaan before they have been corrupted with the expressions of Ashdod Cause them therefore to frequent the publick worship where the presence of Christ doth most gloriously appear not only in the tender of his grace and mercy for our childrens good but in the choice embracings of their â—â—ligious endeavours who have been educated in the fear of his holy name It is a practise much to be condemned in many parents in that they are carelesse of their childrens good in causing them to frequent the publick worship of God they doe rather tolerate them to stay at home to be nursed in prophanenesse and ignorance then to cause them to frequent the publick worship of God where they may be directed to walk in the comfortable paths of grace and holinesse it is to be feared that such children one day will have cause to curse their parents indulgency yea their very parents for this neglect may expect that those darlings of theirs when they should become their greatest comforts to prove the greatest crosses and grief of heart unto them Be advised then you parents that are herein guilty remember the doctrine you have read that you conveigh nothing but corruption to your children and will you add fuell to the fire be guilty of more injury in keeping your children from the publick worship of God let this be far from you so to doe but rather endeavour as to acquaint them betimes with the knowledge of God so to cause them to frequent his publick worship where they shal find great comfort and sweetnesse administred unto their souls Fourthly Give good exâ—mple to them that by your light they may shine in a continued light of holinesse and pietie This made David Psalm 101.2 resolve to walk in his house with a perfect heart And Job Job 11.14 to say let not wickednesse dwel in thy Tabernacles The loose lives of parents do too often prove much injurious to thâ—ir childrens souls so that we may observe in the childrens practice the fathers guilt of their impietie Hence you have it in the proverb that when the child swears the Chicken crows but as it hears the old Cock and if the father reprove the child is ready to say Medice cura teipsum Father reform thy selfe if thou hadst brought me up better I had learned to be better this is the fruits of a bad example which parents must learn to avoid if they desire either to discharge their own dutie or to save their poor childrens souls Learn then Oh parents to cull out the best examples for your children be ye followers of Christ that they may follow you in the waies of Christ let your light so shine in the presence of God before them that they may see your good works to glorifie their father in heaven Do not with Samson pull down those pillars of goodnesse by your sins that shall not only quash your selfe but be the ruine of your children your facts become examples those examples laws and it is natural for your children to follow the law of fact before the law of faith a visible pattern rather then a meer audible Doctrine 5. Examine your children how they profit by the means of grace this is the means to sharpen and whet them on your children use in this case makes perfect and the more fit for the practise of holinesse A pious education is a great prevention of those gross evils which their natures are prone to commit Examination is the tryal which by grown experience encourages their practise in old age hence are they ready to praise God for the care and zeal their parents had in their education and considering the progresse they have made in the waies of Christ under God they are readie to acknowledge it from their Parents care which must needs cause great comfort to them 6. Lastly be earnest to God by prayer for them Solomons Mother Prov. 31.2 calleth him the Son of her youth She was wont to pray much for him what greater comfort can arise to the child when grown in years then to consider he was the Son of his Parents prayers they begg'd him of God and God gave a returne to their prayers in giving grace unto him There are too many herein faulty in the neglect of their duty both for themselves and their children yea they are so farre from praying for them as that they are too ready upon the least occasion to curse them bitterly What comfort can these expect from the hands of God either for themselves or children but that the Lord might justly plague them in their ofspring in suffering their children to prove the greatest crosses whom otherwise had yielded the greatest comforts Let us then with Hannah pray for our children and with Monica pray for the salvation of them prayer is requisite that we may be new born in grace and that being so born wee may grow in grace Prayer it is the Key to open the gates of Heaven and let grace out and prayer is a lock to fasten our hearts and keep grace in Let all Parents therefore be exhorted to bee earnest to God by prayer for their children So shall they wash away those stains wherewith they have polluted their childrens souls and take away that guilt they have brought upon them by conveying their corruption unto them That whereas by nature they are the children of wrath and heirs of Hell God hearing their prayers in their childrens behalf will make his promise not onely to be their God but the God of their seed in making them the sons of God and children of light to shine as starres in the firmament of glory To which he bring both us and our children for his sake who hath so dearly bought us even Jesus Christ the righteous To whom with the Father and blessed spirit three persons but one God be ascribed all glory and honor now and for ever Amen Imprimatur Edm. Calamy FINIS