this case is a thing that both he and we all are bound to understand and seriously beleeve and not only that but Gods ordination and dispensation to such an end as the manifestation of his honour and glory But why such playing with a thing so sacred As here 's nothing to provoke his spleen to indignation from an horrible decree of absolute necessitating and damning so neither can I see any thing that should move it to laughter or levity the Apostle himself defines what affection it is that should hence be raised We joy in God through our Lord Iesus Christ ver. 11. and well we may since the sufferance or entrance of Sin is here referred to the gracious purpose of Reconciling attoning and saving Is this the way of vindicating the glory of the Divine Attributes to make no more but a light jest at Christs honour in this kind still I say Wisdom is justified of all her Children Luk. 7. 34 39. this he himself spake when men imputed to him a carnal Dispensation with our actual Sins and so much may we say when any man will deprive him of that honour is due unto him from his spiritual dispensation in our Originals Neither let him say to us That the honour of our blessed Saviour does no way depend upon our imaginations and weak Propositions we will say so too and peradventure might say so more justly against him only we let him know right inferences are no imaginations neither are strong deductions weak propositions And if what I have drawn hence be not directly from the Text let him but be pleased to take the illative along with him and then inferr what he can otherwise or to the contrary I confess I would not in any wise have this illation thought redundant for that were to make the Scripture either impure and corrupt or or else idle and superfluous yet should I not have excepted at all if any following my Siriack Transletion had omitted it upon this consideration That it is a hard matter especially in a comparison betwixt Adam and Christ to define a cause or give a reason for Original Sins entrance into the world or descent upon posterity But then this should be observed withall if such a thing be hardly rendred it should not be rashly inquired into because our inquisitiveness in this case tends more to the dishonour than all our Resolution can to the honour of the Divine Attributes As by one Man Whom we may not amiss understand in an unity of name order person nature sex action and Type 1. Of name Adam which appellation comprehends also both the person the sex and the kind 2. Of Order sc. the first man Adam 1 Cor. 15. 45. and so the very Hebraism or Grecism of the cardinal for the ordinal would give it if need were 3. Of Person sc. in the individual in number singularly and precisely taken and so Original Sin properly derived from the prime and not from the proximate Parents or according to their pluralities 4. Of sex the male and not the female who though she was first in the transgression yet some will have him to be solely understood in this propagation But for my part I confesse I can see no cause for such an exception but that they may be understood one Flesh one in the Image one in the praevarication and so one in the Propagation 5. Of Nature as one not only in individuo but in specie one comprehending and representing the whole root and stock and seed and generation and nature and condition of Mankind so Adam is taken for the whole species of Men and the Beast singularly for the whole species of Beasts 6. Of Act namely one in the Dis-obedience or Offence For it was not the simple or meer nature that was the means of such a derivation but the offending and disobedient Nature by which causally and instrumentally this privation and depravatiou this stain and guilt descended upon all yea not only the Offence of one but one offence for it was his first Act that was imputed to us and none of the rest 7. Of Type for Adam is here said to be the Figure or Type of Christ under this notion of one as much as in any thing else he whole Comparison throughout Sin No great matter how many and various soever be the acceptions of Sin in the Scriptures since in this place it is defined by the Apostle to be Sin in the singular and not said plurally Sins as if he would precisely determine it of that one root of Sin distinct from those many following fruits Yea it may be thus rendred the Sin very Emphatically and is understood by almost all from antient to modern for no other but Original Sin simply so accepted as the only Sin which came by one Man singularly and entred into all the world universally whereas actual sins are by many men neither enter they into all the world in general but rather into these and those particulars therein yea it is Sin simply absolutely properly formally For as himself grants this Sin had its beginning by the disobedience of Adam and disobedience is a transgression of a Law and that 's the very formality of Sin and that law was the law of the Image or of perfect Nature Now see Sir I beseech you what is here but in the least shew whereby to collect this sin to be Metonymically so called or what kind of Metonymie would he have it is it a Metonymie of the cause put for the effect So it seems he would have it because it is the effect of one sin Surely that one sin was a proper and real cause how strange is it then That it should beget an effect like to it in no thing but in a Tropical or Tralatitious an equivocal and abusive name if by the cause for the effect be meant Sin but for the Punishment how contrary is that to St. Pauls express words Sin entred into the world and death by Sin so far is he from confounding them that in most express manner he distinguishes between them both in name and signification For should his words be made to signifie thus Death that is the punishment entered by Sin that is the punishment Death the punishment of the punishment I beseech you what sense were this yet we grant though it is not so to be argued from the word in this place Original Sin is both a Sin and a punishment too A sin from the humane injustice perverting a punishment from the Divine Justice deserting Or will he have it a Metonymie of the Effect put for the Cause for so his other words intimate because it is the cause of many sins and those many sins without doubt he means properly so called then seems it so much the more strange and almost prodigious that so many real effects should proceed from a poorly equivocal and transnominated cause Rhetoricians observe that such kind of Metonymies are usual in external causes
to follow the punishment and not rather the punishment to follow the sin But say his rule stood upon some right foot yet how follows his argument from it The Sin was imputed in proportion to the punishment but the punishment was proper and real not figurative and equivocal and therefore so must the Sin be too else who can tell what 's become of all this proportion Conseq. God was not finally angry with us nor had so much as any designs of eternal displeasure upon that account Inconseq The way to vindicate Gods Attributes is not to pry into them too curiously nor to determine upon them too peremptorily nor to aggravate them too severely nor to extenuate them too indulgently but to believe them and justifie them and magnifie them so as they are revealed God indeed was not finally angry with us his Elect neither upon our original nor upon our actual account And why because his wrath was so appeased by Christ satisfaction But was he not therefore so at the Sin simply and absolutely considered if he had no design of eternal displeasure upon that account then he sent Christ to die in vain For Christ died to prevent not the temporal but the eternal death Nor was that to redeem us from the mortality and condition of our Nature for he suffered it himself and left us to follow him in a conformity but from the depravation and damnation of it Conseq. This anger went no further than the evils of this life and therefore the imputation was not of a proper guilt for that might justly have past beyond our grave if the same had past beyond a Metonymie or a juridical external imputation Inconseq O rare consequent the punishment was but temporally inflicted and therefore the Sin was not properly imputed As if temporal punishments whether from God or men were the arguments of improper Sins only But O wonderfull vertue of a bare Trope or figurative locution to qualifie such a pravity extenuate such a provocation divert such a desert yea to regulate such a Justice or to restrain and limit such a power If his Metonymical imputation be the same with Iuridical and external then me thinks this proportion should be observed in the proceeding That as the Sin is imputed but only as it were in some shadow or resemblance of words so should the punishment be inflicted and not in any deed or substance For he that is found guilty but only in an imaginary Idea or picture ought not to be executed but only in conceit or as it were in effigie But I am forbidden to smile since it is a matter of fighing in regard the Divine Attributes are so stricken at For what provocation can there be for Gods universal and continual anger for such it is against the Fall and original sin without an mputation of a proper and participating guilt where the sin is properly imputed there he grants the punishment may justly goe beyond our Graves that is even to Hell But if there be no such imputation no such propriety no such participation I can see no cause why those evils should passe so far as this present life Eternal death is little enough if sin be properly and particularly imputed but if it be not so I cannot see but that even a temporal death to all mankind must be too much Conseq. That as no man ever imposed penance for it for original Sin so God himself in nature did never for it afflict or affright the Conscience Inconseq By penance surely he understands not private Repentance but publick Discipline or that of the Churches imposing say it were so the Churches power is to impose the penance for publike notorious scandalous and exemplary Crimes and offences it cannot take cognisance as no external Law or administration can of an inward secret unsearchable though worthily suspected Sin such as the Original is Besides whose should be the authority in such a cause or case where all are concluded and confest guilty alike As for the other part I ask of him did not God himself afflict and affright Adams Conscience for it when he was forced to say I heard thy voice in the Garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self Gen. 3. 10. And we all feel and must confesse this afflicting this affrighting was not of his person only but in his and our Nature also as woefull experience convinces us all to this very day Conseq. And why the conscience shall be for ever at so much peace for this sin that a man shall never give one groan for his share of guilt in Adams sin unlesse some or other scares him with an impertinent proposition Inconseq What the conscience shall be for ever is hard for him to say And for what it hath been hitherto he knows a Conscience is not always to be argued for pure and free because it is quiet and still But what says he to David did not he groan for it in that Poenitential of his Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin hath my Mother conceived me Psalm 51. 5. And to St. Paul is this no groaning Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7. 24. Nay shall we not beleeve what he but lately said of himself For my part I cannot but confesse that to be which I feel and groan under and by which all the world is miserable Let him look to his Conscience and see how his words agree first and last I hope he will not now say it was some impertinent proposition that scared him thereunto Conseq. Why the Conscience should not naturally be afflicted for it nor so much as naturally know it I confesse I cannot yet make any reasonable conjecture save this only that it is not properly a Sin but only Metonymically and improperly Inconseq Such a conjecture is not reasonable for if to deny a Sin to be such were sufficient because the Conscience naturally smiles not for it nor yet convinces of it so many actual sins might easily come to be denied A strange conjecture for a figurative appellation to save a Conscience I know the Conscience can Syllogize but I never knew that she could ever so Rhetoricate with her self such a conjecture is so far from being worth the sole preferring that it 's not worth the naming where better reasons are brought forth As namely That Original sin her self has blinded and bedulled the Conscience as touching the true and full apprehension of her self and of Original sin That the law and light of nature is exceedingly obscured to all Consciences since the Fall That most mens Consciences are insensible even of their actual and sensual sins how much more then of the Original and invisible That men have pulled and seared both their own and others Consciences as touching the true sense of Original Sin by dayly hatching and broaching such heresies and errors about it No marvel then that men are
words of the Article and then his own words in the Antithesis And so leave it to himself according to his own promised temper and measure to reconcile them Neither wil I so much as once imagine that he hath less zeal for our Church than my self that so I may spare him the labour of a fruitlesse vow in being all his life confuting me Let him but shew how his own sayings are conformable or not repugnant to what the Article saith which to me and many others seem so contrary and we two have done nay are as we were in Faith and love of Christians one But if he goe otherwise to work I must take the confidence to tell him he may be all his life confuting and not confute Article Original Sin standeth not in the following of Adam as the Pelagians do vainly talk Antithesis All actual Sins doe not proceed from this Sin of Adam pag. 47. liberty and not Adams Sin is the cause of all our actual pag. 49. From the first Adam nothing descended to us but an evil example page 80. not direct Sins to us in their natural abode but principles of Sin to us in their emanation pag. 81. who by imitation of his Transgression on the stock of their own natural choice did sin against God Article But it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is ingendred of the off-spring of Adam Antithesis The guilt of this Sin being imputed the same is conveyed to all their Posterity by ordinary generation this heap of errors pag. 29 30. Naturally it cannot be pag. 32. not that we bring it upon our shoulders into the world with us pag. 78. if God hath given us a Nature by derivation which is wholly corrupted c. pag. 96. that Adams Sin is ours Metonymically and impropeâ—rly pag. 127. Article Whereby man is very far gon from Original righteousness and is of his own nature inclined to evil so that the Flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit Antithesis The evil did so descend upon us that we were left in powers and capacities to serve and glorifie God pag. 16. That by this Sin our first Parents fell from their Original righteousness c. this heap of errors c. pag. 29 30. I can by no means approve that by this we are disabled and made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to all evil pag. 39. his nature was not spoiled by that Sin he was not wholly inclined to all evil pag. 40 46 47. Article And therefore in every person born into this world it deserveth Gods wrath and Damnation Antithesis Original Sin doth in its own Nature bring guilt upon the Sinner whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God c. this heap of Errors pag. 30. It cannot be just for God to damn us for being in a state of calamity to which state we entred no way but by his constitution and decree pag. 38. if it be intollerable to damn Children for the Sin of Adam then it is intollerable to say it is damnable pag. 59. Is it against Gods goodness that Infants should be damn'd for Original Sin c. pag. 67. It is against Gods Justice to damn us for the fault of another pag. 63. Children born in Christ and not in Adam c. pag. 74. born beloved and quitted from wrath c. pag. 75. born in the accounts of the Divine favour pag. 77. if God decrees us to be born Sinners c. if God does damn any for that c. pag. 94. if God does cast Infants into Hell for the Sin of others c. pag. 96. It is impossible that the greatest part of mankind should be left in the eternal bonds of Hell by Adam pag. 125. The Judgement which for Adams Sin came into the condemnation of the world was nothing but temporal death pag. 126. Article And this infection of Nature doth remain yea in them that are regenerated whereby the lust of the flesh c. Antithesis The corruption of nature remains in the regenerate c. this heap of errors pag. 29 30. I can by no means approve that our natural corruption in the regenerate still remains and is still properly a Sin pag. 39. That our natural corruption in the regenerate still remains and is still a Sin and properly a Sin I have I confesse heartily opposed it c. pag. 49. 52. Article And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized yet the Apostle doth confesse that concupiscence and lust hath of it self the nature of Sin Antithesis This will follow that Adam's Sinne hath done some mischief that the grace of Christ can never cure though it be pardoned and mortified yet still remains and is still a Sin is perfect Non-sense pag. 51. we are rescued from Adam before we were born else Adam's Sin prevailed really in some periods and by some effects for which God in Christ had provided no remedy pag. 74. It is a Sin Metonymically and just so in Baptism it is taken away pag. 103. Qui Ecclesiae renititur et restitit in Ecclesià se esse confidit Cyprian de simp. Praelat SIR BE pleased to know that all the errors which have been about Original Sin have risen chiefly through want of a perfect Definition or compleat Description of it some and they not the least Hereticks have contended against all definition others have been so various in defining and so incompleat in describing that they have administred but matter unto more contention I am perswaded that out of this place in the 5 to the Romans a perfect Definition or very compleat Description might be made and that such as might comprehend both the name and nature and subject and derivation and cause and effects and remedy My short time and shorter abilities will not now suffer me to venture upon it I have done my Task and I hope in some part answered my Title and your expectation such as I couâ—d or could so suddenly make it I send it humbly to your hands and through them if you think meet to the world All that I will now say of this Author is this That he hath erred learnedly far unlike the many senselesse and scurrilous Hereticks and Schismaticks of this our exulcerated age And I hope his own learning will let him see his Error Otherwise he must think others are not so unlearned as for him to impose upon them Rather than so I could most heartily wish one more learned in the Truth than my self may yet more particularly undertake him To you Sir I need say nothing you are known And for my self I need say as little to you you know Sir Your Minister Friend and Servant JOHN GAULE FINIS