that children and life are made blessings certainly to be kept in a prison or adjudged thereunto is a curse not a blessing But Secondly This opinion doth not at all heal the wound that the mentioned Objection giveth for the doubt is how our souls are infected because of Adam if they were not causally in him And this speaketh to another matter that they sinned before they were incarnated and therefore have such a troublesome and noisome lodging Again this contradicts the Apostle and doth indeed take away the subject of the question for Rom. 5. The Apostle maketh Adam's disobedience to be the cause of all the sinne that we have as soon as we are born It is not then the souls sinning before its union to the body but Adam the first man and the common head in whom we all sinned and seeing the souls of men were 〈◊〉 Adam as their bodies are the stone still remaineth unremoved In the next place Therefore there are those of a later hatch but few yet would be if not in the number of the first worthies yet of the second Papists I mean Pighius and Catharinus against whom the Papists do as largely dispute in this controversie of original sinne almost as they do against the Protestants These lay down their opinion in two things First That the soul of a man cometh into the world pure and holy without any inherent filth of sinne and that till there be actual sinnes there is nothing in man but what is of God and for this they bring all the Arguments which the Pelagians of old use to do But then In the second place That they may not be anathematized as pelagianizing They say Adams actual disobedience is made our sinne by imputation so that they deny any original sinne inherent in us only all the original sinne we have is Adams first sinne of disobedience which is made ours hence they deny that every one hath his proper original sinne as if there were as many original sinnes as persons born but they say Adams actual disobedience being made ours is the one original sinne of all mankind Thus as one sun serveth to inlighten all the starres and as some Philosophers say that there is one intellectus agens common and universal to all men so they make one original sinne to be common to all and this only Adams posterity is guilty of This opinion they press as hereby making every thing easie and clear Then there needeth no disputation about the original of the soul or how it can be infected if this be true say they then here is no occasion for these intricate disputes about the propagation of original sinne To which the most learned are never able to give a satisfactory Answer Although this opinion of imputation doth no waies remove the doubt about the Creation of the soul for if the soul be by Creation how cometh Adam's sinne to be imputed to man born of Adam if his soul was never causally in Adam so that the difficulty doth still continue as great notwithstanding this opinion But as this opinion hath some truth in it so also much more error and therefore though it be sweet in the mouth yet it proveth wormewood in the belly The truth is this That Adams actual sinne is made ours by imputation this must be constantly affirmed because denied by those who also deny the imputation of Christs righteousness as if thereby we were justified we grant therefore that Adams one sinne is made all mankinds Hence the Apostle doth still speak of one man though there be many immediate parents by whom we are not only made sinners but in whom also we did sinne and this doth arise wholly from Gods ordination and appointment of it for although Scoto and others do call the Covenant in this respect fabula a meer fable yet Suarez doth confess the necessity of it and indeed it must be for though Adam had a thousand times over wilâ—ed that his sinne should be the sinne of all his posterity yet they could not have been guilty of it had not that Covenant involved them so that if the patrones of this imputation had not stayed here but acknowledged also an inherent pollution they would not have been so justly censured But we have already proved by Scripture reason and experience that mankind is involved in an inherent pollution of their own as well as guilty of imputed sinne and indeed how could man be obnoxious to eternal wrath if there were not damnable matter within as well as without can they go to hell with souls pure and holy But if this imputation be granted then the pelagians Objection seemeth to be of force That as Adams sinne could hurt those that have not actually sinned so Christs righteousness may profit those that do not believe This Objection 〈…〉 rather to be answered because the Antinomian thinketh from hence 〈…〉 answerable argument to prove that we are justified before we 〈…〉 That the elect are accepted of having their sinnes pardoned 〈◊〉 they do repent yea before their sinnes are committed because we are in 〈◊〉 the second Adam To this Argument Austin answered of old the Pelagians That Christs righteousness did not profit any but believers and therefore Infants they were saved alienâ side by the faith of their Parents Even as we are condemned alieno peccato by the sinne of another although it be so alienum as that it is also proprium but this is not satisfactory Therefore to the Antinomian we answer That although we are all said to sinne in Adam and his disobedience is imputed to all yet the condition or the medium by which we come to partake of this imputation is naturall generation and therefore till we have an actual being we cannot be said to sinne in him potentially indeed we may but natural generation supposing Gods Covenant as the reason of the conveighance of it in this way Even as in the state of integrity the Covenant would have been the cause of transmitting original righteousness to Adams posterity though natural generation would have been the way of communicating of it is that only which maketh us actually to participate of his guilt Therefore it is a feeble thing in a late writer Eire to oppose the natural generation or discent from Adam to the Covenant for both are requisite the latter as the cause the former as the medium And thus it is in regard of Christs righteousness that is the cause of our justification in Christ we are made righteous as in Adam sinners yet the medium to apply this and to make it ours is faith so that none are justified till they do believe as none are condemned for Adams sinne till they have an actual being faith is the same in a supernatural way to partake of Christ as natural propagation and discent from Adam is to be made a sinner in him Although we may say truly that Christ doth profit the non-believers who belong to grace for by him
mind and spirit therefore the Spirit lusteth against it That it is a punishment is manifest by the event for upon Adam's disobedience he lost Gods Image and so hath blindness in mind perversness in his will and a disorder over the whole man in which dreadfull and horrible estate we all succeed him and this the Text in hand speaketh to That it is the cause of sinne is manifest Gen. 6. 5. for from that corrupt heart of man it is That the imaginations of a mans heart are only evil and that continually This is a furnace red hot which alwayes sends forth those sparks Thus you see that original sinne is all these three a sin a punishment and a cause of sin 3. It is very clear and plain by Scripture that God doth punish one sinne by another So that when a man hath committed one sinne he is justly given up by God to commit more Amongst the many instances that may be given I shall pitch on two only 2 Thess 2. 10 11. where you have a sinne mentioned that God will punish viz. They received not the truth of God in love A sinne that is very ordinary But then observe how dreadfully God punisheth this God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie This is their punishment a spiritual punishment more than any corporal one and that this is a sinne as well as a punishment is plain Because to believe a lie is a sinne to take falshood for truth the delusions of the Devil for the voice of Gods Spirit This is a sinne and a very hainous one The other instance is Rom. 1. 21. where you have the Heathens sinnes mentioned Because that when they knew God they glorified him not c. There you have their punishment to be given up to uncleanness to all vile lusts and sins against nature None can deny but these were sinnes and that they were a punishment for corrupting their natural light implanted in them is plain for the Apostle vers 24 26 28. saith For this cause or therefore God gave them up to these lusts and vers 27. the expression is observable That they received in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet Hearken to this with both ears and tremble all you who live under Gospel light if natural light corrupted bring such heavy soul-judgments no wonder if supernatural And therefore if you see men notwithstanding all the preaching of Gods word yet given up to be beastly sots or obstinate malicious men in their wickedness Wonder not at it for they receive in themselves a just recompence for the abusing of that light God hath vouchsafed to them Many other instances there are wherein it is plain That God makes one sinne a punishment of another Yea it 's said That every sinne since the first is both a sinne and a punishment Therefore the want of Gods Imagine us as soon as we are born with a proneness to all evil may be the punishment of Adam's actual disobedience and yet a sinne in us 4. As for the distinction assigned between sinne and punishment the one voluntary and an action the other involuntary and a passion Though there be learned men both Papists and Protestants viz. Vasquez and Twisse who disprove this by instances yet if it be granted it will not hinder or enervate our Position That original inherent sinne is both a sinne and a punishment also For when the learned say That sinne may be a punishment of a sinne they do not mean sin quâ sinne peccatum quâ peccatum for that is wholly of man but peccatum quâ poena as a judgment it is of God To understand this therefore take notice That in sinne there is the Obliquity and the Action to which this Obliquity is annexed Now sinne in the Obliquity of it so it is not a punishment but in the action or materiale of it to which it doth adhere As for instance Those vile and unclean lusts the Heathens were given up unto were a punishment of their rebellion unto the light Now as they were sinnes in their formality so they were onely permissivè and ordinativè of God but take the Actions substracted to that Obliquity which was in them so they were efficienter of God and he gave them up to their lusts 2. When God doth punish one sinne with another the meaning is not as if he did infuse this wickedness but only he denieth that mollifying and softning grace which if a man had he would resist the temptations of sinne as in this particular of original sinne You must not conceive of God in the Creation of the soul as if a man were pouring poison in a vessel so he did put sinne into our natures but he denieth to give and continue that Righteousness Adam had and then our souls do necessarily receive the clean contrary darkness for light Atheism for faith disorder for order Even as if God should withdraw the Sunne at noon-day continue the light thereof no longer to us it would upon that subduction be immediately dark there needed no other cause to introduce it Thus it is here upon Adam's fall God denying to continue his Image and original righteousness in us original sinne without any other positive cause cometh in the stead thereof and therefore we are not as Austin of old well observed to seek after the causa efficiens but deficiens peccati sin hath no efficient but deficient cause Therefore thirdly In this original sinne we may consider that which is peccatum and so it 's evil and that which is poena and so it 's good For as you look-on it being the deprivation of that rectitude which ought to be in a man so it is a sinne but as you consider it to be the denying of that holiness on Gods part which once we had so it 's poena or rather punitio The denying of this Image o◠God at first was punitio but this loss continued is poena so that the want and loss of that righteousness which once we enjoyed if considered on Gods part who continueth his denial of it is a just punishment and a good thing ordained by God but if you consider it as inherent in man who hath deserved this at Gods hand so it 's an evil and properly a sin in him 4. The same thing may be a sinne and a punishment also in divers respects As it may be a sinne in respect of a sinner but a punishment in respect of others Thus Absolom's sinne was a sinne in respect of himself but a punishment in respect of David So Parents sinnes may be sinnes in respect of themselves but punishments in respect of their children and we are especially to take heed of such sinnes as are not our sinnes onely but others punishments such are passions and unmortified anger this is a sinne to thee and a punishment to others 5. Every sinne is a punishment in this respect That it brings anxiety terror and fear
Comparison I am only to take notice of the Protasis or Proposition which is That by one mans disobedience many were made sinners So that in the words we are to consider the Subject or rather the cause of mankinds sinfulness and that is described in the Nature of it and the Author The Nature of it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words do denote the hainousness of it Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and Adams sinne is called disobedience yea some learned Divines shew That the proper specifical nature of this sinne was disobedience there were also many sins ingredient thereunto this the Apostle doth to aggravate the hainousness of it Insomuch that Peltan the Jesuite doth wickedly accuse the Protestants for aggravating the guilt of it so much Apud illos saith he omnia sunt quasi tragica infernalia De pecc orig They have nothing but tragical expressions and proclaim hell and damnation because of this pollution For this is the Apostles scope in this place to heighten the consideration of it that so Christ may be the more magnified Even as an Historian who would make a parallel between two great Generals yet intending to preferre one before another doth in the first place amplifie the gallantry the warlike power the military stratagems of the one that so he may the more advance that other General whom he intends to preferre above him Thus doth the Apostle here he makes original sinne to be exceeding sinfull that so the grace of Christ may be exceeding rich and precious grace Adams sinne then which is imputed and made ours as you heard is disobedience SEC II. SEcondly You have the Author of this disobedience and that is said to be by one man Though Eve was the first in transgression yet Adam is named as the chief and therefore Adam is sometimes used collectively both for man and woman as when God said Let us make man after our Image Here then we have Paul informing us of that which all Philosophy was ignorant of viz. The imputation of Adams sinne to us and our natural pollution flowing from it Yea Paul guided by the Spirit of God finds out that mystery which none of us ever could discover by reading the History of Mans Fall related by Moses For there indeed we could see the cause of death how that came upon all mankind but that Adams sin was ours That we all sinned in him that hereupon we were all involved in sin and misery for this we are to bless God for Paul who hath so largely discovered it SECT III. IN the next place We have the Effect of this disobedience with the Extent of it The Extent is to many that is to all born naturally of Adam For many is not here opposed to all but to one the original from that one many even all are made sinners Therefore it 's a dangerous Exposition of Theodoret as Sixtus Senensis relateth which affirmeth Not all but some only to be infected with Adam 's sinne exempting Abel Noah and others from this pollution For 1 Cor. 15. the Apostle saith In Adam all die and in this Chapter at vers 12. All have sinned in Adam But the Effect that is more dreadfull and worthy of all meditation We are made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is more then when all were said to sin in him for this doth denote the habitual depravation of all the parts of the soul as also a readiness to commit all actual sins Therefore the word is sometimes applied to signifie great and hainous sinners as Mary Magdalen is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sinner So then you see that by Adams disobedience all are made sinners CHAP. VI. Whether we are Sinners by Natural Propagation or by Imitation THere remaineth one great Doubt Whether we are so by Natural Propagation because born of him or by occasion only and imitation because he sinned We are not say some made sinners as soon as we are born but when by free-will we come to consent to sinne and choose it Thus Pelagians of old and Socinians of late with many others Erasmus though he saith he holds Original sinne yet useth all his strength to enervate the Orthodox Interpretation SECT I. That Adam's Disobedience makes us Sinners by Propagation BUt there are cogent Reasons to understand it thus That Adam 's Disobedience makes us sinners by natural Propagation As First Because the Apostle still chargeth our guilt and sinfulness upon Adam only upon that one man and upon that one offence whereas if it were by example and imitation only it might be upon our parents and others and upon their transgressions So that the Apostle might have said By many men and many disobediences we are made sinners but still he chargeth it on one man and one offence Secondly If Imitation be taken strictly then a man must know and have in his eye that which he doth imitate but how many thousands are there that runne into all excess of wickedness and never heard of Adam much less could not propound his sin for a patern to follow So that even in the Pelagian sense to be sinners by Imitation cannot be properly used in this Controversie Thirdly If the Apostle understood sin only by Imitation or occasion not Propagation then as Austin of old well urged it might be more properly fastned upon the Devil as the Original for it was not by Adam but the Devil that sin came into the world in this sense and so death by sinne Hence the Devil is said to be a man-slayer from the beginning Joh. 8. 44. or a murderer and that both of souls and bodies In somuch that the Devil was the occasion of all the wickedness and death the consequent thereof And hence our Saviour speaking of wicked men Joh 8. saith They are of their Father the Devil and what they see him do that they do So that the Devil is made to be the original of sinne by imitation to wicked men and not Adam Fourthly Adams sinne must be made ours by natural Propagation not Imitation Because death is made the necessary consequent of it all that 〈◊〉 have sinned Adam 's sinne But now death is propagated naturally Hence Infant die which yet according to the best Divines have not actual sinne why 〈◊〉 it that they die yea they are not only subject to death but to exquisite torments and pains yea Infants have been grievously possessed with the Devils and tormented by them Now this could not be if they were not guilty of sia If therefore death be by natural Propagation then sinne the cause of it must also be in that manner Fifthly This comparison made between the first Adam communicating sin and the second communicating Righteousness doth fully evince this For we are made righteous by Christ not only as if he were a patern and example of Righteousness unto us but by
hurled himself into hell yet though we cannot give any more than a privative cause there is also a positive propensity to all evil connoted As in a wicked action of murder or drunkenness if you go to give a reason why such actions are sinnes we must say from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in them that want of order which the Law requireth There is a privation of that rectitude the Law commands yet those sinnes do imply also the material and substrate acts as well as the obliquity In every sinne of commission there is that which is positive as well as privative Though the ratio formalis of the sinne be a privation and thus it is in original sinne the whole nature of it comprehends both a want of Gods Image and a constant inclination to all impiety Though the privative be the cause of the positive Indeed Rolloc De vocatione cap. 25. de peccat orig maketh a three-fold matter and a three-fold form in original sinne The three-fold matter he assigneth to be a defection from God a want of original righteousness and a positive quality which succeedeth in the room of holinesse To which three-fold matter he attributeth a three fold form or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which the nature of sinne consists Now these material parts of original sinne are so many entities being good in themselves and coming from God the Author of nature but how Apostasie and want of original righteousness can be positive entities and good of themselves I cannot understand or how carentia justitiae originalis should have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for its form when that it self is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so a form have a form seemeth irrational to conceive SECT II. THese two things thus premised the plain and obvious Objection is That if original sinne be positive then it 's good and so of God because omne ens est bonum every being is good and then as Austin Omne bonum est vel Deus vel à Deo all good is either God himself or of God Would it not then be blasphemy to make God the Authour of it and if it have a positive being then certainly it must come from God the Author of all being But to this several Answers may be returned First That though original sinne should be granted to be positive yet for all that God would not be made the Author of sinne Because as it's sinne it doth arise from man There are some great Schoolmen as Cajetan and others that hold sinnes of commission have a positive real being as sinnes They deny that the nature of such sinnes lieth formally in a privation but in a positive relative contrariety to the Law of God and when urged with this Argument That then such sinnes have their being immediately from God as all other created beings have They will answer That God is indeed the efficient of every being but not of every modus or relative respect of that being As for example when a man eateth and drinketh this eating and drinking they are from God but then take them under this relative respect as they are vital and formal actions of man so they cannot be attributed to God for then we might say God doth eat and drink yea in those gracious acts when we do believe and repent God is the efficient cause of them yet as they do formally and vitally flow from us so they are not to be attributed to God for God doth not repent or believe Thus it may be said That though God be efficiently the cause of all positive being yet as some being hath a relative respect to the second cause working so it cannot be attributed to God neither is this any imperfection but a perfection in God because Deus non potest supplers vicem materialis aut formalis causae Therefore saith Curiel a positive Doctor for the positive nature of sinnes of Commission Lectur 6. in Thom. pag. 300. That it may be granted the will is prima moralis causa peccati as we may say a man is the first cause of sight per modum videntis because he is not subordinate to any other cause which doth produce this sight viz. formally a sight and saith he the like is in all other vital actions But I need not run into this thorny thicket to hide my self from the force of this Objection Secondly There are some learned Protestants that do distinguish of ens or being That ens is either created as the works of the six dayes or generated as mankind and the animate creatures or made as artificial things or prepared as Heaven and Hell or introduced as sinne for it 's said of sinne that it's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that upon this distinction they will say That God is the cause of all made and created beings but not of introduced beings such as sinne is because that came in by Satans temptation and mans disobedience But this distinction hath scarce so much as a sandy foundation for though it be an introduced being yet because a being it is a creature and so must come from God the chief being according to that of the Evangelist John 1. All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made For that which is ens only by participation must be reduced to that which is ens per essentiam Therefore In the third place We must speak of original sinne as we do of vicious habits and of actual sinnes The material and substrate of them being a good of nature is of God but the vitiosity and obliquity that is of man when a man moveth his tongue to curse and swear or his hand to murder another As they are actions they are of God For in him we live and move and have our being but as evil adhereth to them so they are of man Thus it is in original sinne when we say there is a positive inclination in mans heart to all evil The meaning is That the understanding and will as they are faculties and as they do act thus farre they are of God but as they cannot but act sinfully and offend in every motion so it 's of Adam's disobedience to understand then to think to will to love these are of God but to love what is evil and contrary to Gods Word or to love excessively and immoderately that which we are to do in subordination only this is of our selves A second Objection is That if original sinne be like a vicious habit in a man then it cannot be transmitted unto posterity for habits they say are personal things No father doth communicate to his childe any habits either virtuous or vicious But to this it 's answered That original sinne is not an acquired habit of sinne but an innate and imbred one in us So that as if Adam had stood original righteousnesse which was like a concreated habit in man would have been communicated to all his posterity
God I answer The Meritorious cause is Adam's disobedience by his transgression he demerited this for all that should come of him And if you say Who putteth the sinne in I answer There is no efficient cause that putteth it in It is enough that God doth justly refuse to give or continue his Image And this being denied the soul because a subject either of holinesse or sinne when wanting one must necessarily fall into the other Thus it is with the souls being polluted as it is with night there is no efficient cause of the night only the withdrawing of the Sunne necessarily maketh it So God doth nothing positively to make the soul sinfull but according to his just appointment at first denieth that righteousnesse which Adam wilfully put away from himself and his posterity So that we may as easily conceive of every childs souls pollution by sinne as of Adam and Eve themselves God made them righteous but upon their transgression they became unclean and sinfull How was this God in justice denied the continuance of this holinesse to them any longer so that they became sinfull not because God infused evil but denied him that righteousnesse to them This may fully satisfie the sober and modest minded man Therefore the last Proposition is That we cannot say the soul being pure in it self cometh into the body and so is insected As if some wine should be put in a poisoned vessel for the soul and the body do mutually infect one another not physically by contact but morally For the soul being destitute of the Image of God in all its operations is sinfull and so all the bodily actions are polluted And then again the body that having lost the properties it had before the fall is a clod and a burden to the soul Thus they doe mutually help to damne one another the soul polluteth the body and the body that again polluteth the soul And thus those two which at first God put together in so near an union to make man happy are now so defiled that both from soul and from body the matter of his damnation doth arise It is true we may say inchoatively Sinne it in the body before enlivened by the soul in which sense David bewailed his being conceived in sinne but explicitely and formally it cannot be and therefore we are not to conceive sinne in the body before the soul be united or in the soul before the body be joyned to it but as soon as they both became man then they are under the just curse of God and the soul being blind and the body same they both fall into that eternal pit of damnation if the grace of God deliver not I may in time shew how many wayes the soul defileth the body and the body againe infecteth the soul viz. in a moral sense and therefore let this suffice for the present Onely from what hath been said let us turn our Disputation into Deploration Let the head busied to argue be now as much exercised to weep Jeremiah wished his head was a fountain of tears for the slain of his people and that was but a temporal death and that of one Nation only How much more may we desir so for the spiritual death and that of all in the world Say unto all Heretical Teachers Get ye behind me Satans you hinder and trouble me in my humiliation Is not the Infant new born swadled and bound up hand and feet and so lieth crying A sad representation that so God might bind every one and send him crying to Hell Thus original sinne opened Hell kindled the fire of Hell there was no Hell till this was committed Oh grievous necessity and unhappy condition we are all born in Antequam peccemus peccato constringimur antequam delinquimus delicto tenemur This even this seriously considered should make us have no rest till we be put into the second Adam in whom we have Justification and Salvation A TREATISE OF Original Sin The Third Part. HANDLING The Subject of ORIGINAL SINN IN What Part it doth reside and what Powers of the Soul are corrupted by it By Anthony Burgess ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed in the Year 1658. A TREATISE OF Original Sinne. PART III. CHAP. I. Of the Pollution of the Mind with Original Sinne. SECT I. EPHES. 4. 23. And be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind COncerning our Subject of Original Sinne these particulars have been largely treated on viz. That it is What it is and How it is communicated The next thing therefore in our method to be considered is The Subject of Inhesion wherein it is in what part it doth reside and what powers of the soul are corrupted by it There is indeed made by Divines a two fold Subject of original sinne 1. Of Predication the persons in whom it is affirmed to be and that is in all who naturally come of Adam Christ only is excepted And in this there is not much controversie onely the Francisean Papists opposing the Dominicans do hotly contend that the Virgin Mary was by special priviledge exempted from original sinne Scotus seemeth to be the first that made it received as a kind of an Ecclesiastical opinion whereas formerly it was but thought doubtfull or at most probable It is not worth the while to trouble you with this and I may have occasion ere the subject be dispatched to say what will be necessary to it I shall therefore proceed to that which is more practical and profitable even to search into the seat and bowels of this original sinne that we may be fully informed no part of the soul is free from this pestilence To which truth the Text in hand will contribute great assistance And For the Coherence of it briefly take notice that the Apostle at the 17th verse giveth a short but dreadfull Description of a Gentile conversation or the life of one without the knowledge of Christ wherein you may observe a three-fold ignorance or blindness upon all such so impossible is it that of themselves they should ever come to see There is a natural blindness a voluntary contracted blindness and a Judicial one inflicted on them by God for abuse of natural light These there are mentioned in the 18th verse And in this vers 19. we have the formidable consequence declared That being past feeling no remorse of conscience in them They give up themselves to all wickednesse with greedinesse Oh that this were only among Pagans But how many have this natural voluntary and judicial blindness and obstinacy upon them under the light of the Gospel Yea their eyes are more blinded and hearts more hardned where the means of grace have been contemned then in the places where the name of Christ hath not been known This black condition of Heathens being described he compareth those of Christians with it and so we have darkness and light here set together And this the Apostle declareth vers 20. But ye have not so learned Christ Christ
and that from this Text which because of the different thoughts of learned Interpreters doth deserve a diligent explication And For the Coherence of it you may take notice of the sad and bitter event described by the Evangelist of Christs coming as light into the world Though he came to his own and that as a Physician to the sick as a Saviour to such who were lost yet his own received him not Now lest it might be thought this rejection of Christ was universal he addeth Some did receive him and 〈…〉 dclareth the unspeakable benefit and priviledge vouchsafed to such So that in the words we may take notice 1. Of the Subject who are thus honoured and highly blessed by Christ Such as received him and what this is is explained viz. Such who believe on his Name In this is comprehended all our Evangelical Duty and that both inwardly and outwardly onely faith is expressed because this is virtually all This is the seed and the root the soul and life the salt that seasoneth the whole man 2. We have the Priviledge or Benefit which is said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the right or dignity of being the sonnes of God for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood and therefore Popish Disputes about the power of free-will in holy things from this place is wholly impertinent onely the difficulty is Quest How they who believe in Christ can be said to have this priviledge given them of Sonship seeing that they could not believe unlesse they were first born of God and so the sons of God Answ Some therefore do understand this Sonship in respect of that future glory which in Scripture is sometimes called Adoption and 1 John 3. 1. Then it will properly appear that we are sonnes of God But we may well enough understand it of our Adoption and Sonship even in this life and this is said to be obtained by faith because in our sense and feeling there must be believing before we come to know this priviledge doth belong to us or else though faith and Sonship be together in time yet in order of nature one precedeth the other Thus we have the Subject and the Priviledge But in the next place we have the Description of the efficient cause for it was not their own power and free-will that made them believe Therefore the efficient cause is set down first Negatively and then Positively Negatively by removing those false causes that men might imagine and we have a three-fold enumeration of them Not of blood not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man Divers Interpreters go divers wayes though much to the same sense Some think the Evangelist by blood doth not in the general mean natural generation and then afterwards distribute it into two particulars not of the will of the flesh that is of the woman Nor of the will of man that is not of the man Others supposing the general interpret the distribution thus Not of the will of the flesh that is not naturally Nor by the will of man that is not by humane adoption for so some are made legal sonnes amongst man Others they think all these enumerations are but to signifie one thing and therefore the opposition to all is God But we may not think the holy Ghost doth so industriously reckon up these several wayes but that some special thing is intended by every one Although as Erasmus observeth the emphatical Article is not in the original By blood therefore we understand any dignity or excellency of birth it's bloods in the plural number either by an Enallage and so an Hebraism as Maldenate Or else because of the long succession by birth And this may well oppose the carnal opinion reigning both with Jew and Gentile for all know how the Jew boasted in his birth because he was the seed of Abraham therefore he thought the favour of God necessarily annected to him And for the Gentile What a vanity and sinfull humour is in persons to be proud of their birth that they come of noble parents For although this be an outward civil dignity amongst men yet it maketh nothing at all to their spiritual dignity yea many times hindereth it according to that observation Heroum filiinoxae Regeneration then doth not come according to such civil and political respects 2. Not of the will of the flesh that is not of the natural will and choice of 〈◊〉 he hath no power or ability in him so much as to will a better condition then 〈◊〉 is in Lastly Not of the will of man that is not by the will of man though perfected and adorned with many acquired perfections Not by the will of a Plato or an Aristotle or a Seneca So that here is a two-fold will denied from efficacy in grace the will considered in its natural abilities or in its acquired abilities Thus 2 Pet. 1. 21. The prophesie in old time is said Not to come by the will of man but the will of God The will of man is there supposed to be in some raised and eminent ability above what it naturally hath and therefore opposed to the will of God in a more peculiar and extraordinary manner putting forth it self Thus we have all false causes removed and the true one affirmed which is God himself So that this Text doth plainly triumph over all the proud opinions of Pelagians Socinians Arminians and Papists who either give whole or part of the work of conversion to the will of man For the Evangelist is very diligent to exclude the will from any efficiency herein under any respect whatsoever Observe The will of every man is naturally so polluted that it cannot produce or cause our regeneration It is not by the will of the flesh or by the will of man that we are born again SECT II. Propositions concerning the Nature of the Will BEfore we come to lanch into this ocean of wormwood and gall for the polluted will polluteth all other things Let us say something to the nature of the will not enlarging our selves either as Philosophers or Divines do in this point but select only what is fit for our purpose First Therefore consider That God hath appointed and ordered in nature that every apprehensive power should have an appetitive power proportionable thereunto The apprehensive being like the eye to discern and discover the object The appetitive like the hand to imbrace it Thus the Angels as they have an understanding to know things so they have a will to desire them In beasts there is a sensitive apprehension by imagination and a sensitive appetite accordingly Now because man in his soul is like an Angel and in his body communicateth with beasts therefore he hath both a two-fold apprehension intellectual and sensitive understanding and imagination and also a two-fold appetite a rational one which is the will and a sensitive one which is the sensitive appetite in a man wherein the passions
Doctrine about the sinfulnesse of the Imaginative power should have preceded because they have such an immediate connexion with the will belonging to the appetitive part of a man The next seat of original sinne in man I shall consider of is the Fancy which we shall find to be instrumental to great iniquities because in it self it is polluted sinfully To which truth this Text will give in a full and pregnant testimony To open which you must understand that we have here related the Cause of that universal and dreadfull judgement which God brought upon the whole world The cause was that universal and desperate wickednesse whereby all flesh had corrupted their wayes The long-suffering of God would bear no longer especially they being so often admonished by Noah the preacher of righteousnesse Thus the general actual impieties every where abounding on the face of the earth is the proxim and immediate cause of drowning of the world Secondly We have the remote and mediate cause which is internal and that is the universal sinfulnesse of every mans heart by nature which is alwayes emptying it self into sinfull thoughts and lusts so that it is never quiet or like a fountain sealed up but diffusing it self into poisonous streams There are always sparks flying out of this furnace Now this natural pollution is described in the most emphatical manner that can be There are some who complain that we are too tragical in explaining the nature of original sinne that we aggravate it too much but if we consider the scope of the holy Ghost in this place we will easily be perswaded that none can say enough in this particular For 1. Here is the heart said to be evil that which is the very life of man and is the fountain of all actions and motions Not the eyes or the tongue but the heart which is the whole of man which implieth also that he sinneth not by example and outward temptation only but from an inward principle 2. In this heart that is said to be evil which we would think is not capable of sinne at least of very little the thoughts not onely the affections or the will the appetitive parts of the soul but the sublime and apprehensive 3. He doth not only say the thoughts but the imagination the very first rising and framing of them It is a Metaphor from the Potter who doth frame his vessels upon a wheel in what shape he pleaseth Thus the heart of man is continually shaping and effigiating some thoughts or other Now these are not onely sinfull when formed and it may be consented unto but the very first fashioning of them even as they rise immediately from the heart are sinfull If we explain it as others do who observe this word signifieth to frame a thing with curious art and industry then it aggravateth likewise informing of us that those thoughts which are polished by us in the most accurate manner they are altogether evil 4. Here is the Vniversality Every Imagination In those millions and millions of thoughts which arise in a man like the motes in the air there is not one good thought all and every imagination 5. Here is not onely the extension of this sinne to every thought but the intention likewise It is onely evil there is no good at all in it Godly men in their best actions have some sinfulnesse adhering to them There is some water in their best wine but here is all drosse and no gold at all only evil Lastly Here is the Aggravation of it from the perpetuity It is thus only evil and that continually Thus the holy Ghost which is truth it self represents our Blackmore natures to humble and debase man as also to justifie God under any effects of his wrath and vengeance that he may bring upon us How wretched then are the attempts of some Writers who lay out the utmost of their power and wit to make this sinne nothing at all as Doctor Taylor and as Papists or to have very little guilt in it If you say This Text speaketh of actual sinnes of evil imaginations I grant it but as flowing from original pollution it speaketh of bitter fruit but as flowing from that bitter root within And 〈…〉 the Scripture use to speak of this sinne commonly as putting it self 〈…〉 immediate evil motions because though original sinne be not peccatum 〈◊〉 yet it is peccatum actuosum as hath been said It is an acting and an active sinne though not actual Pererius would evade this Text by having it to be an hyperbole or else to be true only of some particular wicked men the Gyants in those dayes As for the hyperbole which both Papists and Socinians so often flie unto when the Scripture doth intend to exagerate this sinne we shall easily in time convince of the falshood and vanity of such an exception And as for the second particular we will readily grant That the actual impiety of all men generally was exceedingly heightned so that this gave the occasion to mention that internal corruption which is upon all mankind but yet we must necessarily say that besides those actual impieties original sinne is also aimed at as being the cause of them for the scope of Moses is to give an universal cause of that universal judgement seeing therefore the deluge drowned Infants as well as grown persons and they could not be guilty of actual impieties it remaineth that the native pollution they were born in was the cause of their destruction and indeed original sinne did greatly aggravate those actual wickednesses for hereby was demonstrated the incurableness of their natures No patience no mercy would do them any good for they are not only evil but their hearts the fountain of all was evil likewise and then how could grapes ever grow from such thorns Neither may we limit it as some would to particular great sinners who then lived because Chap. 8. 21. we have the same sentence in effect repeated when yet the wicked men of the world were destroyed when those eight persons onely were alive and preserved God giveth this character of mans nature Besides it is spoken indefinitely the imagination of mans heart not of those men or of such particular men Why this very reason should be used Gen. 8. 21. that God would not destroy the world any more which is in this Text brought for the destruction of it is to be shewed when we come to treat of the effects of original sinne In the mean time Let us consider what a late Writer Doctor Jer. Taylor of Repent Chap. 6. who useth to sharpen his weapons at the Philistims forges the Papists and commonly the worst of them as also the Socinians with whom we reckon Grotius from these I say he delivereth his poisonous assertions First It is pretended That the Scripture maketh this their own fault and not Adam's because vers 12. it is said All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth But This is very feeble
Images those glorious Altars and many other superstitious wayes of worship but because the fancy was pleased herein what is pleasing to the senses is also carried with delight to the Imagination Insomuch that those Heathens Numa and others who would have no Images to adore their gods by thinking it unbeâ—eeming their greatness were carried by reason and did not give way to the Imagination and this is a very necessary truth for all such who are so difficulty taken off from their Idolatries and Superstitions for what is it but thy fancy thou wouldst have satisfied thou doest not look upon Ordinances and the worship of God as spiritual means to quicken thy faith and to make thee more spiritual but as that whereby thou wouldst have thy Imagination take some corporeal refreshment and satisfaction Even Aristotle saw the vanity of this and therefore would not have any musical delights in the worship of their Heathenish gods And Aquinas following him herein is against musical instruments in the service of God what God appointed in the Old Testament cannot be brought as an argument for any such custome in the New Secondly Towards man here the imagination is as full of evil as the sea of water Prov. 6. 16. One of the seaven things that are there said to be an abomination unto the Lord An heart that deviseth wicked abominations How crafty and subtle is the abomination of man to devise wicked and malicious purposes This is the forge of all those malicious bloody and crafty designes that ever have been acted in the world Read over prophane and sacred Histories and there you will admire what subtle foxes men have been sometimes what cruel lyons they have been at other times all which doth arise from this sinful imagination which is prone to find out all manner of wayes to vent the wickedness that is bound up in the heart so that we need not exclaim on the Devil as if he put this into their hearts for though no doubt sometimes he doth as in Judas yet the heart of it self is ready for any evil SECT XII It continually invents new Sinnes or occasions of Sinnes ALthough much hath been said concerning the original pollution of mans imagination yet still more is to be discovered so that there is a very 〈◊〉 resemblance between mans imagination and those chambers of imagery which Ezekiel beheld in a Vision upon the walls thereof were pourtrayed the forme of creeping things and abominable beasts and all the Idols of the house of Israei Ezek. 8. 9 12. Thu is every mans imagination a table as it were whereon are pictured all the formes and shapes of all kind of evil It may well be called the chamber of mans imagery where are images of jealousy daily created such formes received that do provoke God to wrath and jealously Let us therefore proceed Tenthly In this we have an open field wherein mans imagination doth act numberless evils because of its invention it is continually inventing new sinnes or occasions of sinnes As if the old sinnes and trespasses which had filled the world were not enough What new wayes of impiety are invented new fancies in evil wayes For although invention be indeed principally an act of the understanding yet because as you heard the understanding in its operations hath recourse to the imagination and that is subservient and under-agent to it therefore we may attribute the same things to both especailly the things of invention because a mans imagination hath a peculiar influence therein Now in this respect if there were no other the sinnes of the imagination will encrease like the sands upon the sea-shore It were possible to shew by going over every particular Commandment that the imagination of man doth constantly invent new sinnes against them the Apostacy of man from his first rectitude is emphatically described by the Scripture in this as the general and summe of all that he sought out many inventions Eccles 7. 29. where the wise man having declared that amongst men and women though less amongst women one not so much as good in an ethical and moral sense could be found for in a spiritual sence there is not one man amongst a thousand no not in all mankind that is good but the speaketh of external and moral enquiring then after the cause why such an universal corruption should overflow all mankind insomuch that there is not one amongst a thousand that deserveth the name of a man not such an one as the primitive righteousness did require but not so much as reason judging rightly by ethical Rules would commend he doth clear God from being the Author of this And because this truth is of such great consequence he useth a word of attention Lo Ecce Consider it diligently And secondly he telleth you how he came to the knowledge of it I have found it viz. in the Word of God where you see this Doctrine concerning original corruption is not to be investigated by humane reason as it is discovered by divine revelation I have found it after much and diligent study Oh that those corrupt teachers who deny this original pravity could with Solomon say They have at last after much study found out this truth also Now the Doctrine found out is That God made man right full of righteousness and holiness not onely negatively without sinne but positively full of righteousness but they that is Adam and Eve which are called the man Adam in the words preceding Sought out not being contented with that measure of knowledge and happiness God created them in affecting to be like God Many inventions that is found out many wayes of sinning when they once forsook the strait Rule they diverted and wandered into many crooked paths The Hebrew word Chishbonoth is very emphatical it is used but once more in the Old Testament and that is 2 Chron. 26. 15. where it is said Vzziah used engines invented by cunning men to shoot arrows and great stones withall So that by this word is denoted that subtilty and great artifice which is in mans Imagination to invent any evil way sinnes that never were acted before are found out Every age almost hath new sinnes and whence is this but from the subtilty of mans Imagination to find out new wayes of sinning Hence Rom. 1. 30. one character in the Catalogue of those sinnes attributed to the Heathens is to be Inventers of evil things And certainly here the Imagination of man is very prone that whereas to learn Trades or the Arts there they must have teachers and much time must be allowed them to learn In the invention of evil things there men are taught of their own corrupt hearts to do so We might instance in divers things wherein the sinfull Imagination of man is discovered about inventing of evil new sinnes new oaths new blasphemies new wayes of cheating and dishonesty especially in those new wayes for nourishing pride and wantonness Which is the ridiculous absurd and uncivil
Tertullian faith Perhaps same did deceive Aristotle in that report yet his dreams had been meerly natural not having the least connexion of any sinne or any disquieting with them But how greatly is confusion brought upon us in this very respect Insomuch that what the Devil cannot tempt to while waking he doth allure unto while dreaming Indeed it is folly and superstition as many people do to regard dreams so as to make conjectures and prophesies thereby but so to observe them as to take notice of the filthiness and sinfulness of them that is a duty for although the reason and the will do not operate at that time yet there is sinne in our dreams because they are the effects of the sinfull motions of thy soul sometimes or other Let it then be thy care to have pure and sanctified imaginations both dreaming and waking and do nothing that may provoke the Spirit of God to leave thee to the defilements thereof SECT XVII It is not in that orderly Subordination to the rational part of man as it was in the Primitive Condition 15. THe imagination is hereby deprived That it is not now in that orderly subordination to the rational part of man as it was in its primitive condition Every thing in Adam was harmonical he was not infested with needless and wandering Imaginations Even the birds of the air as well as the beasts of the field God brought to Adam that he should give names to them The birds though flying in the air yet come and submit to him so it was in his soul Those volatique Imaginations and flying thoughts which might arise in Adam's soul they were all within his power and command neither did any troublesomly interpose in his holy meditation but now how predominant is thy imagination over thee How are good thoughts and bad thoughts conjoyned as there were clean and unclean beasts at the same time in the Ark Especially doest thou not labour and groan under thy wandring imaginations even in thy best duties and when thy heart is in the best frame Is not this the great Question thou propoundest to thy self How may I be freed from wandering thoughts and roving Imaginations in my addresses to God Oh that I were directed how to clip the wings of these birds for they are my burden and my heavy load all the day long Surely the experience of this in thy self may teach thee what a deep and mortal wound original sinne hath given every part of thee Hadst thou the Image of God in the full perfection of it as Adam once had as Christs humane nature had and as we shall have when glorified in Heaven then there would not be one wandring thought one roving imagination left as a thorn in thy side to offend and grieve thee This imagination being of such a subtil and quick motion doth presently flie from one thing to another runneth from one object to another so that hereby a great deal of sinne is committed in the very twinkling of an eye The soul indeed being sinite in his essence cannot think of all things together but not to consider that which it ought to do or to rove to one object when it should be fastned on another This is not a natural but a sinfull infirmity thereof SECT XVIII It is according to Austin's Judgement the great Instrument of conveying Original Sinne to the child 16. THe Imagination is so greatly polluted That according to Austin 's judgement it is the great instrument of conveying original sinne to the child For when he is pressed to shew how original sinne cometh to be propagated how the soul can be infected from the flesh though this be not his chief answer yet he doth in part runne to this viz. the powerfull effect of the imagination The vehement affection and lust in the parent is according to him the cause of a libidinous disposition in the child hereupon he instanceth in the fact of Jacob who by working upon the imagination of the females did by the parti-coloured sticks produce such a colour in their young ones Yea one thinketh that this instance was by a special providence of God chiefly to represent how original sinne might be propagated from parents to children And it cannot be denied but that many solid Philosophers and Phisitians do grant that the imagination hath a special influence upon the body and the child in the womb to make great immutation and change Austin instanceth lib 5. contra Julian cap. 9 in the King of Cyrus who would have a curious picture of exquisite beauty in his chamber for his wife to look upon in the time of her conception Yea Histories report strange and it may be very fabulous things herein therefore we are not to runne to this of the imagination when we would explain the traduction of this sinne It is true some imbre qualities are many times transfused from parents to children parents subject to the Gout and Stone have children also subject to such diseases and blackmores do alwaies beget blackmores and so no doubt but in the conveighing of original sinne there is a seminal influence but how and in what manner it is hard to discover but though the corrupt imagination cannot be the cause yet it may in some sense dispose for the propagating of it SECT XIX How prone it is to receive the Devils Impressions and Suggestions LAstly The imagination is greatly polluted In that it is so ready and prone to receive the Devils impressions and suggestions When we lost original righteousness which is the image of God not only original sinne like an universal leprosie did succeed in the room thereof but the Devil also did thereupon seize upon us as his owne our souls and all the parts and powers thereof are his habitation he reigneth in the hearts of all by nature we are all his captives so that as a man is said to dwell in his own house it is his home he may do what he will such a right and claim hath the Devil to a mans soul by nature he dwells in it he moveth and reigneth in it Now the imagination is that room of the soul wherein he doth often appear Indeed to speak exactly the Devil hath no efficient power over the rational part of a man he cannot change the will he cannot alter the heart of a man neither doth he know the thoughts of a man so that the utmost he can do in tempting of a man to sinne is by swasion and suggestion only but then How doth the Devil do this even by working upon the imagination Learned men make this his method that he observeth the temper and bodily constitution of a man and thereupon suggests to his fancy and injects his fiery darts thereinto by which the mind and will come to be wrought upon for it is Aristotl's rule That Phantasmata movent intellectum sicut sensila sensum so that as the object of sense being present doth presently move the sense so
of them yet at other times when the temptation is violent they need to have the same truths suggested to them again by others or else though Job was convinced that man being thus unclean he might well be moral and subject to diseases yet happily he did not see the righteousness of God in inflicting extraordinary judgements such as his were upon a godly man delivered from the dominion of this original pollution and walking with all integrity of heart as Job was perswaded he did Eliphaz therefore maketh use of this Truth about mans sinfulness still to bring Job lower in his own eyes and to make him exalt God and indeed there is no truth so greatly accommodated to bring a man off yea though godly in an high degree from all self-confidence as also all repinings and murmuring under the severity of God as this about original sinne Now Eliphaz to aggravate this the more doth at the 14. Verse speak interrogatively What is man that he should be clean and then exegetically explaining this he addeth and he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous So that by cleanness is meant righteousness and there is also the reason given why none is righteous even because born of a woman So that it is plain all this sinfulness cometh by natural descendency from our parents The first Hebrew word signifieth that a man hath no innocency so that he hath not any cause to complain or murmure under Gods judgments be they never so heavy and the other denoteth that he hath no righteousness whereby he is able to answer God if called to his Tribunal and the word for man signifieth him a miserable wretched man incurably wretched This proposition is aggravated à majori Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the heavens are not clean in his sight By Saints some have understood the godly Patriarches of old but if we compare this with Job 4. 18. It is plain he meaneth Angels and if we understand it of evil Angels it is plain they proved Apostates there was no trust in them they forsook their habitation as if they did contemne it and were weary of it or if of good Angels then it is plain that God neither did put any trust in them as of themselves for it was the power and grace of God which did confirme them so that of themselves they would have apostatized as well as the rest Eliphaz addeth for amplification sake The heavens are not clean in his sight By heavens we are to understand metonymically the Angels who dwell therein and these are said to be not clean in his sight comparatively to the purity and holiness of God for as the being of the most noble creature is even nothing at all to his infinite Essence so also is their righteousness some understand the heavens without any Trope as if they were said to be not clean because they are subject to vanish away because they shall wax old as a garment Psa 102. 27. and there shall be made new heavens 2 Pet. 3. 7. Cajetan as Pineda in loc observeth from this place and many others alwayes taketh occasion to broach his opinion That the heavens are animated and subject to sinne but that opinion is rejected as absurd though it seemeth to be Aristotle's opinion that caelum est animatum If then it be thus with Angels who are such glorious spirits and and have not the least blemish in their natures comparatively to God no wonder that my Text is brought in with an how much more abominable is man c. wherein we have man described from his property and â—â—ition be is in by nature And secondly the effect as a sign demonstrating of this The property is two-fold abominable even as a carkass is abominable that hath lost the soul which did animate it so is man being made carnal and natural having lost the Spirit of God and his image Abhominable that denoteth such loathsomeness that we cannot endure to behold or come near the object loathed that we cannot endure the sight of it such a thing is man naturally in the eyes of God the Hebrew word for man is the strongest man or the most famous and best of men naturally and indeed this is to be applyed even to regenerate men also so farre as original corruption hath still any vigorous actings in them for so some think Job was not sensible enough though otherwise godly of the contaminating power of original sinne in him whereby his best duties had some impurity and so God might justly bring all that evil upon him he did Thus man is abominable and loathsome in the eyes of God and he ought to be so in his own eyes to his own self a natural man should not be able to bear or endure himself because of that loathsome sinfulness that doth adhere to him how much are Pelagian-Doctrines that cry up a purity in mans nature contrary to this Text Oh that God would mercifully do that to such corrupt Doctors which God threatens in anger to the prophane secure sinner Psal 50. 21. I will reprove thee and set in order before thy eyes the original doth not name what the translator addeth his sinnes some adde thy own self which cometh all to one I will set thy self before thy self and all thy sinnes in the several kinds and grievous aggravations of then The Hebrew word is military and taken from setting a battell in aray against another Thus God said he would do and what a mercy is it to a man when all our self-love self-flattery and self-fullness shall be removed and God shall set our selves in all our loathsomeness and deformity before our selves What burdens would we be to our own selves but this is Gods work humane speculations and moral instructions have no efficacy herein The second propercy attributed to man is filthy The Hebrew word is only used here and Psal 14. 3. and Psal 53. 3. concerning the root of it there is no certainty only it is generally translated that which is putrid rotten and stinking and because rotten and putrifying things are unusefull and unprofitable Hence it is that Rom. 3. 12. the word out of the Psalmist is rendered unprofitable Thus man having lost the Image of God is become like unsavoury salt as he is noisome in Gods eyes so he is unfit for any good thing he is in a state of sinne and so hath no ability to what is good neither can he by any power abiding in him ever recover out of this lost estate so that man is now become like Ezekiel's Vine Ezek. 15. 2 3 4. It will not serve for any work not so much as to make a pin of it to hang a vessel upon it but is only suel for fire Thus unusefull and unserviceable a man is become in respect of the least good whereby the glory of God may be exalted Thus we have the properties describing man by his natural principles In the next place he
from Paradise lest he should eat of that tree For it was just that he who had incurred the sentence of death by his transgression should be deprived of all the signs of life and symbols of Gods favour Furthermore this tree of life was not it self immortal Would that alwayes have continued Was not that subject to alterations as well as other trees How then can mans immortality be attributed to that Seeing then there is so much uncertainty amongst Schoolmen upon what to place Adam's immortality the Orthodox do consonantly to Scripture put it upon these things concurring as causes to preserve him from death The first is That excellent constitution and harmony of his body whereby there could not be any humour peccant or excessive So that from within there would not have sprung any disease And although in Adam's eating and drinking being nourished thereby there would necessarily have been some alteration in him by deperdition and restauration which is in all nourishment yet that would have been in part onely not so as to make any total change upon his body 2. The second cause was That original righteousnesse which God made him in For seeing sinne only is the meritorious cause of death while Adam was thus holy and absolutely free from all sinne death had no way to enter in upon the body 3. There was the providence of God in a special manner preserving of him so that death could not come by any extrinsecal cause upon him No doubt but Adam's body was vulnerable a sword if thrust into his heart would have taken away his life but such was the peculiar providence of God to him in that condition that no evil or hurtfull thing could befall him Lastly and above all Gods appointment and divine ordination was the main and chief cause of his immortality For if the Scripture say Deut. 8. 3. in the general That man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that cometh from the mouth of the Lord then this was also true in Adam And if we read of Elias that he went fourty dayes in the strength of a little bread that he did eat Is it any wonder that the appointment of God should work such immunity from death in Adam Whereas then there are three things about death considerable the potentia or power the actus or death it self and the necessity Adam was free from all these unlesse by power we mean a remote power for if he had not had this power of dying then he could not have fallen into the necessity of death Thus you see the excellent constitution of his body original righteousness a divine providence and Gods order and decree therein did sufficiently preserve Adam not only from actual death or the necessity of death or death as a punishment but also from any disposition or habitual principle within him of death and it may be from this state of immortality Adam was created The Poets by 〈◊〉 obscure tradition had their figments of some meats and drinks which made men immortal as their Nectar called so say some because when drunk did make them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 young again or as others from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that which did not suffer them to die There was also their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as sine mortalitate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is mortalis They had also their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luctus because it did expell all sorrow and grief But to be sure when we compare our mortal sinfull and wretched estate we are in with this glorious estate of Adams What cause have we to humble our selves to see the sad change that is now come upon us By this we may see how odious that first transgression was unto God that for the guilt thereof hath made this world to be a valley of tears to be like a great Hospital of diseased and miserable men SECT III. Arguments to prove that through Adam's sinne we are made sinners and so mortal ¶ 1. LEt us proceed to prove our Doctrine That through Adam sinning we are made sinners and so mortal which necessarily supposeth that Adam was made immortal and that death had nothing to do with mankind till sinne came into the world The first Argument is From that glorious condition Adam was made in and also the excellent end he was created for All which would have been horribly obscured if death or mortality had then been present The fears and thoughts of death are a bitter herb in the sweetest dish that is when of any comfort we have we may say as the young Prophets to their master there is mors in ella death in the pot death in this or that mercy thou enjoyest this doth greatly abate our delight Therefore we read of one of the Kings of France a Lewis that forbad all those who attended him ever to make any mention of death in his ears that prophane man thought such a speech would damp his delights Seeing then Gods purpose was to make a man such an excellent and blessed creature can we think he was made mortal and that it might have been said to him This night thy soul shall be taken away and then whose shall this Paradise and all these goodly enjoyments be It is the Scriptures designe to aggravate the goodness of God towards man and to shew the excellency and honour God put upon him Whereas the Socinians directly oppose this purpose of Gods Spirit and would make man as miserable as may be Hence they say he was created like a meer innocent that he had not much more knowledge than an Infant that he had no original righteousness that he was made mortal Yea Socinus Resp. ad Puc cap 14 pag. 106. cavils at the explication of that place Genes 2. 8. which is owned by all Interpreters about the garden in Eden which God placed Adam in he would not have any such place of pleasure or delight understood thereby But although the word may be retained as a proper name Eden for so our English Translators do yet because it cometh of a word that signifieth to delight Gen. 18. 12. The Church of God hath alwayes intepreted it of a place of delight yea that Heaven is called Paradise allusively thereunto and therefore it 's horrible impudency in Socinus to say that place was not called Eden when God planted it at first but in following ages it received that appellation Thus whereas the Psalmist doth admire the goodness of God for the honour put upon man at the Creation This Heretique laboureth to debase and diminish it as much as may be ¶ 2. ANd if Adam had been made so righteous and glorious yet subject to death he would have been like that building Paul supposeth 1 Cor. 3. Whose foundation was of gold and precious stones but the superstructure hay and stubble Or like Nebuchadnezzar's Image which was partly of gold with other additaments and partly of clay all