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
lower region of thy soul but thy will thy mind thy conscience these also are become flesh and are wholly corrupted so that in thee by nature there remaineth no good thing at all SECT III. How carnal the Soul is in its actings about Spiritual Objects 3. IN that it is called Flesh there is discovered that a man in all the workings of his soul in religious things is carnal and meerly carried out wholly by the principle and instigation of flesh within him the Image of God was so glorious and efficacious in Adam that all his bodily and natural actions were thereby made spiritual his flesh was spirit as I may so say the body and bodily affections did not move inordinately against Gods will but having a divine and holy stamp upon them they were thereby made divine and spiritual But since this original corruption the clean contrary is now to be seen in us for even the spiritual workings of the soul are thereby made carnal and fleshly Adam's body was made spiritual and now our souls are made carnal Oh the said debasing and vilifying of us that is by this means If an Angel should become a worm it is not so much dishonour as for righteous Adam to become an apostate sinner Let us take notice how our souls do put themselves forth about spiritual objects and you shall find they are wholly carnal and fleshly in such approaches insomuch that in their highest devotions and religious duties they are onely carnal and fleshly all the while As First In the mysteries of Religion which are revealed unto in by a supernatural light The mind of man because it cannot comprehend of them in a carnal or bodily manner much more if not by natural reason though that be corrupt is ready to despise and reject all What was the reason that Christ crucified is such a foolish Doctrine to be believed by the learned Grecian but because it was not agreeable to natural reason When Peter made that Confession concerning Christ That he was the Sonne of the living God Christ tels him Flesh and blood had not revealed that to him Mat. 16. 17. And doth not this fleshly mind still effectually move in Atheists and Heretiques Is not this the bane of Socinan persons that they will make reason a judge of divine Mysteries whereas that it sâ—lt is corrupt and is it self to be judged by the word of God So that the power of original sinne as it is flesh manifests it self about all the supernatual Doctrines and Truths revealed in the Gospel We that are Pigmies think to measure these Pyramides we think to receive the whole Ocean in our little shell Hence it is that Paul 2 Cor. 8. 5 6. will have all our imaginations every high thought brought into captivity Thus you see That whatsoever a man doth in reference to God he is wholly carnal and fleshly in it he is not carried out with a sutable principle of the Spirit to that which is spiritual and this may be discovered in many branches it is also very usefull and profitable for hereby they shall see that the onely things which they relie upon as religious worship of God and the evidences of their salvation are so farre from being a true stay to them that like thorns they will pierce their hands If a mans spirituals be carnals How great are his carnals If his Religion if his devotion if the matters of his God be thus altogether flashly What will his sins and corruptions appear to be We have already instanced in one particular viz. The Doctrine to be believed and declared how carnal a man is in that We proceed further to illustrate this necessary Truth and therefore Secondly Every natural man in his religious worship is wholly carnal as well as in his Doctrine to be believed For if we consult the Scripture and observe what was the cause of all that Idolatry and spiritual abomination for which God did so severely punish the children of Israel was it not from a carnal fleshly mind within Therefore you heard Gal. 5. Idolatry is made a work of the flesh when they changed the glory of God into the similitude of an Ox that eateth bay Was not this to please the eye And so their goodly Altars their goodly Images which the Prophet mentioneth Were not all these because of their sutableness to a carnal mind We need not instance in Pagans or Heathens who are wholly in darkness without any supernatural light But if we take notice of the Christian Church in all the successive Ages thereof How potent and predominant have carnal principles been in all their Devotions And is not Popery to this day a full demonstration of this Truth So that that notable expression of our Saviour Joh. 4. 23 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth Yea that the Father seeketh such to worship him hath seldom had its due observation Whereas then Campian would prove All Monuments all Churches all Windows and Pictures therein to be a demonstration of their Religion This proveth indeed the superstition and carnality of it not the spirituality and truth of it and oh the dishonour done to God by this means This fleshly wisdom in Gods worship hath been one chief cause of most of the calamities which have fallen upon it Col. 2. 18. The Apostle attributeth the worshiping of Angels to a fleshly wisdom in men Thirdly A man is naturaly carnal in religious Ordinances Because he is apt to put trust in them to think he merits at Gods hands or maketh satisfaction for his â—ispasses This is not to be spiritual but carnal We have low carnal apprehensions of God when we think that by our righteousnesse though it were ten thousand times more perfect than it is that we are able to profit God therewith Thus those false Teachers with their followers they are said to make a fair shew in the flesh Gal 6. 12. and Phil. 3. 3. to have confidence in the flesh To worship God in the Spirit and to have no confidence in the flesh are two opposite things Now by flesh there is meant circumcision and all other Church-priviledges which Paul did eminently enjoy and while a Pharisee he wholly rested in them but when once the sonne of God was revealed to him then he renounced all confidence in these things judging himself to be only carnal in them But now little was Paul while a Pharisee and so exactly diligent in the discharge of them perswaded that all he did was rejected by God that he abhorred all that he was only carnal in those things It is therefore of great consquence to be spiritual in the particular for this is a secret sweet poison that is apt to undo us Therefore the Particular the formal the devout man who is ignorant of Regeneration while he abhorreth all bodily flesh-sinnes he may be highly guilty of soul flesh sinnes So that there is little cause for a
his service and all this while think a good intention will bear them out If you ask Why the Church of God hath not alwayes been contented with the simplicity of the Gospel why she hath not wholly kept her self to divine Institutions You will find this corrupt intention of the will to be the cause thereof A good intention brought in most of the superstituous and uninstituted Ceremonies that ever have been in the several ages of the Church Mat. 15 9. In vain do ye worship me teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men The Pharisees thought by their commands and Doctrines to teach men the fear and the worship of God This corrupt intention hath eaten out the very life and power of godliness men taking upon them a more excellent stay as they think then the Scripture hath revealed to teach reverence and devotion From whence are those frequent commands to the people of Israel That they must not go after the imagination of their own hearts That they must not do what is good in their own eyes That they must not adde to or take from the word of God By these straight and close injuctions we see that no intention whatsoever though never so seemingly pious and reverential will warrant a man to appoint any worship of God from his own head Vzzah had a good intention when he endeavoured to stay the Ark from falling but God was so displeased thereat that he struck him dead immediately now the reason was because Gods order was not kept about the Ark Vzzah's intention did not preserve him from Gods displeasure so neither will their devout intention justifie such who do superadde to Gods worship Some observe that expression of Eve's Gen. 3. 3. where she saith That God had said they should not eat of it nor touch it left they die We do not read that God forbad them to touch yet it's thought this was added by Eve for caution sake as if she were so carefull to keep Gods command about eating that she addeth they must not so much as touch it From whence Ambrose gathereth Nihil vel boni causâ addendum est precepto But oh how busie and active have many at all times been in the Church to bring in new worship new institutions of which there is no footstep in Gods Word as if they were more carefull of Gods honour and glory then he himself is But though with men this sinne be accounted small saying They cannot worship God too much they cannot be excessive in serving of him yet this is an high sinne in the Scripture account It being one of Gods royalties to prescribe what shall be his Worship Shall a servant take upon him to make Rules in his Masters house Let men that dote upon superstition and are inamoured with customs of devotion that have no command from Scripture Lay this very seriously to heart Oh how terrible will it be when thy Devotion and Religion will appear abomination God asking thee Who hath required this thing at thy hands The Ape is therefore the more deformed because so like a man and yet is not a man Thus all that worship which hath the greatest appearance of humility zeal and mortification which yet hath not its original from God is the more loathsome to such as are of a spiritual tast and judgement in heavenly things serving of God not in the way they chuse but in the manner he hath commanded And thus much for the act of Intention ¶ 6. The Pollution of the Will in its Acts of Election or Chusing WE shall in the next place consider those that relate to the means which lead to the end and I shall first begin with Election or Chusing because in that is contained either life or death For as the Election of God or his meer chusing of some to eternal life is the fountain of all the good which such persons partake of all their springs are in it So the election or choice of man is the womb wherein all happiness or misery is conceived If a man have right intentions and true ends yet if he chuse false sinfull and ungodly means he can never come to that end It is as if a man should intend his home or dwelling-place which is in the North and he chuse that road or way which leadeth into the South It is acknowledged by all That in every man there is an innate appetite to the chiefest good but as naturally all men do erre about the knowledge of it what it is so also about the means how to attain it But let us open this viper and see what a poisonous brood is in it As First Herein is the sinfulness of the wils choise manifested That it electeth and imbraceth such things as are pleasing to flesh and blood that are suitable to sense although there be never so many snares and temptations thereby to endanger the soul As it was with Lot Gen. 13. 10 11. when he beheld all the plain of jordan to be well watered and that it was like the garden of God he chose all that countrey and departed from Abraham But in what sad dangers did this unwise choice of his cast him into And thus it is with every man naturally he chuseth such conditions such wayes as are full of pleasure profit and advantages in the mean while not considering how quickly this honey is turned into choler that rugged and difficult wayes had been better then such sweet and pleasant wayes Whereas then Moral Philosophy maketh a three-fold good Vtile Jucundum and Honestum Profitable Pleasant and Honest or Virtuous and the later is properly and fully the object of the will that is so depraved that it chuseth only what is advantagious or pleasant Experience doth abundantly confirm this for what man naturally till regenerated doth chuse any thing but as it is connatural to and commensurated with that depraved appetite within David being enlivened with a supernatural life see what a choise he declareth that he had made Psal 119. 30 173. In both those verses he professeth He had chosen the Commandments of God Hence the Wiseman who knew what was fittest to be chosen saith Prov. 16. 16. That wisdome and understanding which is nothing but grace is to be chosen rather then gold or silver If then the will were truly sanctified it would not chuse a thing because it is delightsome and profitable but because it 's holy and commanded by God Isa 7. 15. it is made the description of a child That he knoweth not to refuse the evil and chuse the good Thus the child and a fool he will chuse his bauble before gold or silver such folly and simplicity is upon us The will is so perverted that it will chuse any thing rather then that which is indeed and solidly good Secondly The election of the will is grosly depraved In that it chooseth uncertain things before certain not only pleasant and profitable things before holy and honest but uncertain
yet because as you heard the mind acteth dependently upon the imagination therefore we conjoyn them together How polluted then must that fountain be which sends forth so many polluted streams Sinne as we told you may be a long while breeding here before it be compleatly formed and actuated yea and God beholdeth and taketh notice of thy sinnes thus prepared in thy imagination long before the commission of them We have a notable instance for this Deut. 31. 21. where Moses in the name of God testifying against the people of Israel that when they come into Canaan they do not fall off from God useth this expression For I know their imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them into the Land which I sware unto them God did before they come into Aegypt see what was working in their imaginations what they were making and fashioning in their hearts in which sense some expound that place of the Psalmist Thou knowest my thoughts afarre off Psal 139. 2. And this is good and profitable for us to consider we many times wonder to see how such gross and loathsom sinnes can come even from the godly themselves Alas marvel not at it these Serpents and Toads were a long while breeding in the imagination The pleasure or profit of such a sinne was often fancied before It was again and again committed in thy thoughts before it was expressed in thy life so that a man can never live unblameably in his life that doth not keep his imagination pure and clean Hence you have so often evil thoughts complained of as the root of all bitterness Jer. 4. 14. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge in thee Mark 15. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts As exhalations and vapours ascending from the earth which are scarce perceptible yet at last are congealed into thick and dismal clouds so those sins which while in the thoughts and imagination were scarce taken notice of do at last grow into soul and enormous transgressions SECT X. That many times sinne is acted by the Imagination with delight and content without any relation at all to the external Actings of sinne THirdly The sinfulness of the Imagination is further to be amplified In that many times sinne is acted with delight and content there without any relation at all to the external actings of sinne So that a man while unblameable in his life may yet have his imagination like a cage of unclean birds and this is commonly done when there are external impediments or some hinderances of committing the sinne outwardly The fear of mens laws outward reproach and shame want of opportunity may keep men off from the outward committing of some lust when yet at the same time their imaginations have the strong impressions of sinne upon them and so in their souls they become guilty before God The Adulterous man Is not his imagination full of uncleanness The proud man Is not his fancy lifted with high and towring conceits As the Apostle Peter speaketh of some whose eyes were full of adultery and that cannot cease from sinne 2 Pet. 2. 14. or as some read it according to the original Adulteresse imagination made them have her in their eyes continually though absent for if their eyes were their imaginations also must necessarily be because of the immediate natural connexion between them so then when there are no outward sores or ulcers to be seen upon a mans life yet his imagination may be a noisom dunghill what uncleanness fancied what high honours imagined that whereas thou art restrained from the actings of sinne yet thy heart burneth like an oven with lusts inwardly It is the emphatical similitude that the holy Ghost useth Hos 7. 8. They have made ready their heart like an oven The meaning is that as the oven heated is ready to bake any thing put therein so was the heart of those evil men prepared for any kind of naughtiness Some understand it of the adultery of the body only as if that were the sinne intended by the Prophet Others of the spiritual adultery of the soul by which name Idolatry is often called in Scripture Others referre it to both we may take it to be a proverbial expression denoting the readiness of a mans heart to commit any sinne that it lieth in the heart and the imagination day and night men highly sinning against God inwardly when outwardly they are restrained Know then that when the grace of sanctification shall renew thy spirit soul and body thou wilt then be very carefull to look to thy very imagination that no tickling fancies or conceits of any lust do defile thee thou wilt keep thy imagination as a precious Cabinet wherein precious pearls shall be treasured up not dirt and filth As we fitly use an expression concerning delight in sinne that it is the rolling of honey under the tongue so there is a rolling of sinne in the imagination with great titillation and pleasure when sinne cannot be committed in action we do it in our imagination Hence it is that by the imagination old men become guilty of their youthfull lusts when they have not bodies to be as instrumental to filthiness as they have been yet in their imaginations they can revive their by-past sinnes many years ago committed Thus men became as it were perpetual sinners in their imaginations Consider of this more seriously and pray for an holy chaste and pure imagination knowing thou hast to do with an omniscient God that knoweth what is working therein though it be hid from the world besides think not sinfull imaginations will escape the vengeance of God though no sutable operations of impiety do accompany them SECT XI It s Propensity to all evil both towards God and towards man NInthly Our Imagination is naturally corrupted Because of its propensity to all evil both towards God and towards man And First Towards God Let us take up that which was but glanced at before and that is How prone we are to provoke God in his worship declining from the true Rule and meerly because of our Imaginations The pleasing of them hath been the cause of all that displeasure which God ever had in his Church concerning the worshipping of him No sinne doth more provoke God then the corrupting of his worship to adulterate this is to meddle with the apple of his eye God beareth other sinnes a long while till his worship become to be corrupted and then he will endure no longer Now the original of all sinfulness in this kind hath been our imagination we have not attended to what God hath commanded we regard not his institutions but our own fancies the pleasing of them Hence when God promiseth a restauration to the people of Israel and a reformation from their former Idolatries he saith Neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart Jer. 3. 17. It was this Imagination carried them out to Idolatry whence came those goodly
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
The Apostle having strictly charged That women should not usurp authority over the man for two reasons 1. From the primitive Creation even before sinne Adam was first formed then Eve So that in the state of integrity the wife was to have been subject to her husband even as children to parents but it would have been without that difficulty and reluctancy which sinne hath now brought upon mankind The other reason is Because the woman was first in the transgression and thereby through her original sinne infected all Now lest this should afflict women too much and they conceive their estate desperate the Apostle mingleth honey with this gall he informeth them of comfortable considerations even from that very particular wherein they see the evident displeasure and wrath of God and that is the sorrows and pangs they bring forth children with She shall be saved in child-bearing How this is to be understood seemeth difficult For may not maids or such married persons that never have children be saved How shall they do that have no children if the woman be saved in child-bearing To this it is easily answered That the Apostle doth not speak of the meritorious cause of salvation which is Christ for in him all believers are one there is neither male or female Jew or Gentile married or unmarried that do differ as to justification and salvation through him Therefore the Apostle speaketh here only of such women as are married and have children Now because such might be discouraged because of the curse laid upon the woman at first in bringing forth of children he addeth That notwithstanding this she shall be saved Those pangs and sorrows do not exclude her from salvation therefore the Greek Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Rom. 2. 27. compared with 29. it doth not signifie she is saved by that as a cause For how many women are there who through their impenitency in wicked wayes will be damned though they be the mothers of many children It signifieth only the way and means wherein she may obtain salvation So that what was at first in it self a curse may now be sanctified and so prove no impediment to their salvation It is true some would have this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be meant of the Virgins bearing of Christ as if the meaning were She shall be saved by Christ born of a woman Erasmus on the place saith Theophilact mentioneth this but rejecteth it The late Annotatour mentioneth it with approbation but the Context doth no wise agree with this for he speaketh of every woman in the Church bearing her children therefore addeth If they abide in faith and charity neither can any argument be put upon the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the Apostle meant that signal and eminent bearing of a child when Christ was born for if this were so none but the Virgin Mary and no other woman could take comfort from this palce Heinsius by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understandeth marriage She shall be saved in the way of marriage which is called so saith he from the end of marriage which is to have children for as he affirmeth the Grecians have not one word to expresse marriage by and therefore in stead thereof they use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this hath no probability We adhere therefore to the former Exposition the sense whereof is That notwithstanding Eve did through original sinne bring a sad curse upon child-bearing yet to those women that are godly the curse is taken off yea and doth become a sanctified meanes of their salvation not of it self to every one for then no child-bearing woman could be damned but if they do walk in those wayes God hath commanded Therefore it followeth If they abide c. which denoteth the necessity of abiding and continuing in all holy duties Some indeed referre this to the children If the children continue in what is good And if it be said When a godly mother doth her duty she may have notwithstanding wicked and ungodly children and shall that prejudice her salvation To this they answer That for the most part the wickedness of children is laid upon the parents neglect but if it be not then God will accept of the mother faithfully discharging her duty though the children do wickedly miscarry but it is farre more probable to referre it to the woman And though the number be changed into the plural If they abide yet that is ordinary in Scripture especially when the word is a collective as in the 5th Chapter of this Epistle vers 4. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the singular number and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural relateth to it The qualification then that is necessary to all women that would find the curse in child-bearing taken away and original guilt accompanying that sorrow removed is to abound in all saving graces and to continue therein and then that woman who is a wife and a mother of many children let her not torment her self about the state of her children and the condition they are born in but quiet her soul with this Text of Scripture The last particular that may satisfie the souls of such parents who may be exercised in these particulars about original sinne is to remind themselves That the whole matter about original sinne in reference to Adam and all his posterity is not without the wise and holy appointment of God who would never have suffered this evil to be could he not have raised out thereby a greater good For although it be true That Adam did sinne from his meer internal liberty there being no decrees or execution thereof that did necessitate him to do so yet all this could not be without the Decree of God permitting as also wisely ordering all things for his own glory No doubt but God could have confirmed Adam in his holiness yea he might have so ordered it that every man and woman should stand or fall upon their personal account as the Angels did yet such was his will and Covenant that in Adam all his posterity should be involved and the same issue should attend both them and him This then being the appointment of a just wise and mercifull God we ought wholly to acquiesce knowing that the business of mans life and death his salvation and damnation could not have been ordered better otherwise though all the wisdome of men and Angels had been put together And therefore when thou who art a parent but tempted about the state of thy children thou hast brought forth art turmoiling thy self in these disputes shake off these vipers and conclude That God regardeth his own glory and honor more then thou canst do he hath taken that way wherein he will magnifie his own glorious Attributes And truly this should presently silence all thy disputations For wouldst thou have God lose part of his glory Wouldst thou have his honour in any