no care in the education and bringing up of your children in the knowledge of the waies oâ— God ye have much to answer for at the Tribunal seat of Christ that having conveyed poyson into your children at their birth you seek not after the antidote to prevent their eternal ruine wil you be instruments to wound their souls and never seek after a Chyrurgeon to heal them shall you be the cause of giving a deadly potion that will work their undoing and never have recourse to the Physician in their behalfe to cure them Oh here 's a cursed neglect Be abashed therefore in the thoughts of this and lâ—â— not your soules be so secure as to endanger your own eternal welfare by neglecting the dutie in preventing your childrens woe but be humbled for them your selves being the cause of their inbred maladie which by you were conveyed unto them Use 3d. Exhort to stir up parents to do their utmost to work grace in their children and so to cure that deadly poyson and infection that they have conveyed into them Now for the better enforcing so necessary a dutie I will set down 1. Certain motives that may provoke them to this care 2. Discover the means that they must use to this purpose Mot. 1. Because of that natural affection that we bear to our children whereby we are moved to love them hence bowels of pitty and compassion appears towards them when we see them in any miserie And therefore the Lord hath been pleased to set forth his mercy and compassion towards his children by the compassion of a Mother Isa 4.15 Can a Mother forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb And by the compassion of a Father Psalm 103.13 Like as a Father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him He is worse then a beast that pittieth not his children and grieves not to see them in miserie Lam. 4.2 Even the Sea-monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young ones Yea where there is not natural affection there the very light of nature is extinguished and such in the just judgment of God are given up unto a reprobate mind Rom. 1.31 Now what love can we bear to our children if we have no care of their souls the nature of Christianity is to seek the good 〈◊〉 their souls whom we love as Abraham expressed his love to Ishmael Gen. 17.18 O that Ishmael might live in thy sight which should be the desire of all godly parents Oh that my children might live in thy sight that they might fear thee and know thee and learn truly to serve thee this is the greatest portion that can be given them the largest possessions we can desire to leave them as that they may live in the sight of God For godlinesse is the greatest gain and hath the promises of this life and of a better 1 Tim. 4.8 Strive then to make your children godly and let the bent of your affections towards them lie that way and if they become once sincerely to love God then â—â—ve you shewed natural affection in the highest degree towards them which at the last will bring not only grace to them but glory for ever to your selves 2d Mot. Because the rule of justice requires that we should make them amends for the wrong we have done them if we injure any man in body goods or good name we are bound in conscience to make him satisfaction See the equitie of Gods Law in this point Exod. 21.19 He that smote him shal pay for the loss of his time and shal cause him to be thoroughly healed how much more are we to be careful to cure the inbred maladie of our children and to heal that filthy dissease which from our selves have been conveighed unto them Shal we be the causes of their miserie and not use our best endeavours to cure them It is through us that they become odious assoon as they are born in the sight of God and shal not we seek to make them amiable and lovely in his presence shall we be the progenitors of their evil and not the promoters of their good Oh far be it from us to be so forgetful of our own dutie and so neglectful in not using all means for their good This was that which good Hezekiah meant in his prayer Isa 38.18 19. The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee the living shal praise thee and who among the living the Father to the children shal make known thy truth Hence is that of the Apostle Epb. 6.9 Ye fathers bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And so Psal 78.5 He established a Testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known unto their Children Let all parents therefore think of this seriously and consider that it will be a most heavy reckoning one day they must give for the neglect of their childrens souls those especially that instead of reforming them do tolerate them in most sinful courses as in lying swearing Sabbath-breaking and the like these are far from Abraham's practise Gen. 18.19 and Josuah's resolution Jos 24.15 that instructed their families and brought their children to fear the Lord. Consider then this motive you that desire to serve the Lord remember it is but justice to seek after all means to doe your children good you have wrong'd them greatly â—ow recompence that wrong you have done them by seasoning their tender years with the knowledge of Jesus Christ 3d. Because the propagation of Religion dependeth principally in the education of our children To this purpose you have a notable example of this care in the two Tribes and the half that had their possessions given them beyond Jordan Iosuah 2.24 25. we have done it set up this Altar for fear of this thing saying In time to come your Children might speak to our Children saying what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel so shall your Children make our Children cease from fearing the Lord. Concerning which you must understand that there is no man doth so much desire to have a posterity and to provide for posterity as the Lord doth And surely the meanes whereby the Lord may have a posterity raysed and preserved is to derive Religion unto them when Parents are not onely Religious themselves but be careful to provide that their Children may be so also This is that Seminary of Gods Church Here was the cause of that Commandment Deut. 4.9 Take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart from thy heart all the daies of thy life but teach them thy son and thy sons sons This is made by the Prophet Malachi 2.15 to have been the cause why the Lord at the first institution of marriage appointted but one woman for one man and did so
torments to be much more then any fire can inflict for the pains afflictions and crosses of this life are not to be spoken of in respect of those endless and infinite â—orrowes in the life to come That we suffer here is but a miserable passage to that we shal feel hereâ—fter and rather to be counted blessings then crosses being forcible means which God useth to humble us and as bridles to check our unruly and headstrong lusts yea as wormwood to wean our appetites from the desire of the worlds vanities For howsoever many doe account themselves happy that live in ease and abundance here on earth yet most certain it is that there can be no greater a curse or crosse befal any man in this life then to prosper in the course of sin and iniquity But to return from whence we digressed The miseries of sin shall be farre greater then any thing in this world can resemble when as by the power and just Iudgment of God there shal be such exact and exquisite distemper and pains inflicted upon every part and parcell of man that if all the most forcible torments that ever were invented by the most cruel Tyrants that ever lived were put together they were as nothing in respect of those infinite pains and tortures which man shal everlastingly suffer in hell where the humors shal be both inflamed benumed with unsufferable heat cold where the senses are infected with most loathsome and abominable stenches and savours their eyes terrified with gastly and fearfull spectacles when the affections shal find no refreshing but endlesse grief and afflictions when every joynt shall be disordered and racked in extensum as possibly it can bear when the glandules the muscles and all the fleshie parts shal frie in scorching heat where the entrals and bowels shall perpetually gnaw with continuall griping yea when these shall be filled with everlasting anguish and horror by being banished for ever from the presence of almighty God and the communion of his blessed Saints and Angels and instead thereof astonished with the deceitfull and hideous noise and wailing of wretched souls never to see hope for ease or end of such unspeakable miseries And lastly when those carnifices those damned executioners of Gods judgments the Divels being cast down from the glorious presence of God's Almightie Majesty and suffering the infinite and unsupportable burthen of his justly deserved wrath and anger shal execute their unspeakable malice and furious vengeance upon the miserable bodies and distressed Soules of reprobate and condemned sinners Nay to conclude if all their griefs and diseases all the anguish of mind whereunto the body and soul of men are subject and which all the men from the beginning of the world unto this day have suffered were in the extremity upon any other man and that the soules and bodies by the Almighty power of God were so fastned together and so perpetually conjoyned that there could be no dissolution yet all this must the sinner eternally endure besides infinitely more sorrowes and pains all unspeakable all unconceivable Hence from the causes we define the sin that it is A determinate and wilful transgression of Gods Law depriving all the parts and faculties both of Soule and body of all kind of goodnesse of all kind of righteousnesse in it self of all manner of happinesse which had been the effect and consequent thereof So that having pointed out the disease and considered what it is it remaines in the last place to search out the Original ground whence it springs and proceeds intimated in these words shaping and conceiving Behold I was shapen c. Peccato Originali saith Aug. nihil ad praedicandum notius nihil ad intelligendum secretius There 's nothing more commonly preached and yet nothing more obscurely to be understood then Original sin And iniquitie is a mysterie saies the Scripture neither of which doth imply an impossibilitie but only a difficulty of understanding the depth and secrets thereof and therefore as the search of the knowledge thereof requires deeper speculation so doth the delivery thereof deserve more heedful and serious attention I was shapen in iniquitie I may not now stand to dispute that question which is disputed in the works of some great Divines namely whether propagation and traducing of sin be from the Father or Mother Some collecting and affirming from that Rom. 5. As by one man sin entered into the world c. that sin proceeded only and is derived from the man and if the woman could conceive and bring forth without the man the child be without sin Others again inserting that 1 Tim. 2. That the man was not deceived but the woman was and was in the transgression And also from this of the Prophet in the Text In sin hath my Mother conceived me Inferring I say that it is probable that sin is principally derived from the Mother which question may easily be decided by acknowledging it both waies True that it descends from the man and the woman for under that phrase as by one man may be well implyed both sexes and certain it is that both being Parents and both sinfull they are as well the parents of the sin as of the child But to return to our purpose I was shapen in iniquitie saies the Prophet declaring thereby the original ground and cause of this disease the manner how it became sinful wherein it may be probably objected that in as much as the principal guilt of sin depends upon the efficient cause thereof namely Liberum arbitrium hominis the freewill of man in the wilful disobedience of Gods Law which David never had but was born as all other men captives to their lusts and could not obey the Law if he had been never so willing and which never man had but one Neither was sin in that extense and high nature which the free and malitious a version of the will perpetrated and committed by any one but by that one and that by a transient act many hundred years afore how then can the Prophet be said to be guilty of sin in that kind which onely properly undequaque completly is sin or justly assumâ— the last unto himselfe To which I answer that although the act of our first parents was transient yet the will of that act was permanent and remaineâ— and it is justly reputed unto the Prophet and unto all men that descend from their loyns It standing both with the rule of equitie and righteous judgment justly to attribute and impute that unto us which we as it were did in our progenitors for can any man be more just and equal then to charge every part by that which is committed by the whole for all the generations and successions of men make but one body and every one is member of that body and the whole lease of man is but as one tree whereof our first parents are the root and therefore that sprig which hath but newly sprouted
the irregularitie and disorder of the desire and act is sin either we eat too much or are not contented with that which will suffice nature or desire that which is unwholsome or loath that which would best nourish us or in some measure and degree or other of gluttony the law that is those rules and limitations which God had prescribed in nature unto that facultie is transgressed So thirst becomes drunkennesse and that same cupiditas venerea is changed into lust and so by excesse is made sloth and so of the rest Secondly consider the faculties called Irascibiles and there we see that joy by excesse is turned into voluptuousnesse and sorrow into anxiety that fear becomes horror and anger is turned into fury â—nd hatred into malice 3. Proceed we unto the reasonable faculties and see how hope exceeds by presumption how mercy becomes foolish pitty how zeal runs into superstition and knowledge into heresie and so of all the faculties of man Neither do these only transgresse the law of God by exceeding their limits and prescriptions but also being defective in the measure and intention thereof so fear offends by security and anger by stupidity so hope oftentimes becomes despair and mercy is turned into crueltie so the defect of zeal is dulnesse of spirit and the defect of knowledge is ignorance so of all the rest which I may not now enumerate their inordinate motion is the transgression of the law either on the right hand or on the left either in excesse or defect of their functions and operations so vertue consists in medio as it is in the mean between them of the moderation of these excesses and the supplies of these desires are called vertues or graces by their several effidients vertues by moralists in so much as by education and by the light and strength of nature they are in some measure corrected and graces by Divines because by the power of Gods gratious spirit they are reformed So that to draw all into a sum we may reduce Original sin unto these three hâ—â—d 1. Reatus inobedient to guiltinesse of disobedience against Gods law 2. Defectus boni a defect or wâ—nâ— of all goodnesse in our selves 3. Proclivitas ad malum an inclination unto wickednesse in all things we go about to do The first in respect of the time past the second or the time present and the third of the time to come The one by imputation the other by inhaesion the last by inclination Being in the first place made guilty of sin by the just imputation of the willfull disobedience of our first Parents because we were then in their loins as parts of them that now descend from them and sprung out of them 2 Being thereby made deficient and deprived of all righteousnesse which God had created in us and that happinesse that was intended for us Lastly being then wickedly disposed there being in every part of us as well inferior of the body as superior of the soul a disposition or propensity an inclination or proclivity to erre from the rules of Gods Law wherby we our selves every one of us shall effect or bring to perfection our own finall overthrow or destruction unlesse by the mercy of God it be prevented This is the Catastrophe this is the universall Corruption and subversion of man being every way sinfull both in Semine in Embrione and in Homine Sinfull in his Conception and shaping sinfull in his growth and encreasing and also sinfull in his strength and perfection of being and that not in any mean or remisse degree but in every one of these sin being out of measure sinfull All this and much more then this was the sorrowfull and penitent soul of the Prophet strongly possest and afflicted with all in his deep meditation of sin in this place Where he saith I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me And thus having briefly run over the matter and unfolded the scope and sense of the Text as well as my understanding would serve and therein propounded onely matter of Instruction for the information of our understanding teaching us what we are to know It remains in the next place that we collect out of the precedent discourse such morall documents for the reformation of our lives as may direct us what we are to do Out of which though I may observe many yet I will pitch my thoughts onely upon those two 1. That the dearest Saints so well as the greatest sinners are in their Infancy Originally sinfull 2. That the sin which we are from our very infancy stained withall is conveyed by our Parents unto us Concerning the first Truth you have it here confirmed by the confession of one that is recorded to be a man after Gods own heart and thereby reputed to be a most dear Saint yet for all that pleads not immunity from sin in his very infancie but saith that he was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his mother conceive him Of the same mind with David the Father was Solomon the Son Prov. 22.15 where he laies it down as an undeniable Axiome That foolishnesse is bound up in the heart of a child By which phrase is meant nothing but wickednesse and finn which is on a child as a fardle or pack on a horse back which he can never of himself shake off And this is the ground why the Lord himself speaketh of the whole Nation of the Jewes which were then the onely Church hee had in the world Esay 48.8 Thou wast called a transgressor from the womb Though they were a people in Covenant with God yet in their infancy in the womb a transgressor yea out of the womb so visibly before Circumcision transgressors also According to that of Saint Paul Eph. 2.3 We are all by nature the children of wrath as wel as others Though the chosen of God yet herein can plead no more priviledge from the exemption of this inbred pollution then Judas himself could whom our Saviour calls no lesse then a Devill Ioh. 8.44 Have not I chosen twelve and one of them is a Devill Hence is that of Aug. damnati antequam nati And therefore by some Originall sin is concluded to be not onely a privation but a corrupt habit like unto a disease which beside the privation of health hath humores malé dispositos the humors ill disposed whence it cometh to passe that the imagination of mans heart as the Lord speaks Gen. 8.21 vs evill from his very youth there is a nature prone There is in him a naturall pronesse and disposition to every thing that is evill as there is in the youngest whelp of a Lion or Bear or a Woolfe to cruelty or in the very egge of a Cockatrice before it be hatched which is the comparison which the Holy Ghost useth Esay 59.5 whereupon saies Aug. Concupiscentia lex peccati cum parvulis nascitur Concupiscence which is the Law of sinne is even born with Children And
manifest their visibilitie of membership in the Church of Christ which thing maketh greatly for the confirmation of the strength of their Parents for the present and their future comfort afterwards that as they are by nature so filthy and loathsome in the sight of God so the Lord hath in the blood of Jesus Christ whereof the water in Baptisme is a sign and seal provided a laver to wash and clense them in even the laver of regeneration which as Saint Paul cals it Tit. 3.5 yea a fountain opened as the Prophet speaks Zach. 13.1 for sin and for uncleannesse sufficient to clense them of all this filthinesse and corruption of their nature But here perchance may some object Obj. If Baptisme be so necessary what ground or precept have you for it out of Gods word Ans I answer this will appear unto us Mat. 28.19 where Christ commands his Disciples and in them all Ministers successively unto the end of the world to go and disciple all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which words of our saviour are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teach but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is make Disciples which is by by being admitted into Christs School their parents giving their names to Christ both for themselves and their families And in Christs precept teaching doth not go before but follow baptizing ver 20. teaching them to observe all things c. which is punctually observed in the children of the faithfull who after they are baptized when they come to years of discretion are taught to observe all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded Obj. Though this be the command of Christ for the institution of Baptisme yet there is not one word of Infants nor any command giving for baptizing them Ans I answer a thing may be said to be commanded in Scripture two waies 1. Literally Syllabically terminis terminantibus in expresse termes 2. Implicitely by way of implication by good consequence though in the former sense Infant-Baptisme is not commanded yet in the latter it appears to be by promises proportions example and considerations of the like grounds and causes comparing Scripture with Scripture and look what can be thus proved is as strong and valid as though it were commanded in so many syllables and letters What command is there for women to partake of the Lords supper yet the proportion of the Lords Supper with the Passeover makes it lawfull What expresse command is there for a Sabbath in the new Testament yet by consequential grounds it doth appear to be so The least filings of gold is gold as well as the whole tag so whatsoever is drawn out of Scripture by just consequence and deduction is as well the word of God as that which is an expresse commandement or example in Scripture Tombes exam p. 110. 111. yea a learned Anabaptist doth confesse that a command by way of implication is equivalent to a command Now that Infants are thus included will appear in the word Nations and Them whereof Infants being an essential part without whom a Nation cannnot subsist are inclusively and collectively under the comprise of Christs command Yea 1 Cor. 10.1 2. to the 7th there you shall find a clear place à Typo ad veritatem from the type to the truth from the signes in the Law to the thing signified in the Gospel Aug. in Johan tract 26. sacramenta illa fuerunt in signis diversa in rebus quae significabantur paria that Infants are to be baptized For saies the Apostle all our Fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea c. which cloud and seawere types of our baptism and did shadow it out unto us and by this all is meant all our Fathers which synechdochically is to be understood of all the people of Israel both young old men women and children they all were baptized unto Moses 1. under the conduct or guidance of Moses or into the Doctrine or law of Moses even the children as well as the parents as will appear Exod. 12.37 for we cannot imagine them so unnatural as to leave their children behind them in the wildernesse so that it appears plainly their Baptisme being the same in substance and signification as ours was that even children by name are within the compasse of Christs command Obj. How can such be baptized that are not capable of baptism who have not understanding to know any benefit by it Ans There is a two-fold incapacitie 1. Total Capaces sunt spiritus fidei per quem animos accipiunt esse spirituale ac supernaturale e. as in stocks and stones which have no life nor reasonable soul for the spirit to work upon as Infants have 2. Partial or a proximate incapacitie which are in Infants who though for the present are uncapable of actual faith and repentance yet not of the principal and root of both as they have in them a principal and root of reason though for the present they cannot act it Besides they are capable of Baptism as well as Circumcision under the law since they are meerly passive in both For what is circumcision but the same in substance with baptisme which the Apostle calls the seal of righteousnesse which is by faith Shall then the Gospel put them in a worse condition then they were before this were to abridge the mercie of Christ and draw it into a narrower compasse then he intended who to shew his mercy to Infants did take them into his armes and blessed them Mark 10.14 If then they were capable of blessing when they were not able to go but must be brought to Christ being such as of whom peculiarly the Kingdome of God consists Mat. 10.6 What then hinders but that they may be capable of the early charitie of the Church in bringing and admitting them to baptisme though they doe not understand the vow and receive benefit and advantage by partaking of it and rather when it is remembered that Christ baptized not at all and so thought not to baptize these did yet afford the ceremonie to them and in the antient Church was preparatorie and antecedent to baptisme viz. imposition of hands and blessing them which they being capable of shews them to be in as great a capacity of baptisme it being a passive ordinance when the person baptized is a meer patient as in the case of circumcision But to admit all further objections for the clearing of this truth it being already manifest from the capacity of Infants and the command of Christ it is sufficient to justifie the practise of Apostolicall Ministers in the advancement of this Ordinance for the good of them If any desire to be further satisfied hee may confer with the learned worthies of these times as Reverend Featly Reverend Baxter learned Hamond who have so clear'd this truth
that he that runs may read a full satisfaction in it Use 3d. Reprove such as think it folly to be troubled with the sins of litle ones with their lying and swearing cursing and the like not considering that the very Originall sin of the Infant the sin of his nature before it doth thus break forth makes him odious to God and deserveth damnation much more wil these same cursed fruits do it See an example in this 2 King 2.23 where those forty that mocked the Prophet were devoured by Bears where youth was no excuse for the hainousnesse of their offence but were severely punished by the hand of God Vse 4. Let this then humble us in considering the sharp and severe judgments that oft light upon little ones yea and take them to heart and to be much affected with them as with most evident demonstrations of Gods wrath against sin even against the sin of our nature Our Saviour sighed Mark 7.34 to behold the judgement of God upon the deaf man as a sign of Gods anger upon him for sin how much more doth it become us to do so in this case The Lord in his judgements upon us that are of years may have other ends and respects but in those upon Infants he can have no other but onely to make known upon them his wrath against sin Oh that we could seriously in this case thus expostulate with our own souls If God be so angry with the sin of the infant alas what measure of wrath is due to me that besides the sin of my nature wherewith I am every whit as much defiled as it can be have so many actuall sins to answer for and have sinned in a far more odious manner then this infant hath done If this be done to the greene tree saith our Saviour Luk. 23.31 What shall be done to the drie surely this is enough if well considered to melt the hardest heart into tears throughly to bewaile the Originall corruption especially when they consider the next point following namely Doct. 2d That the sin which we are from our very infancie stained withall is conveyed by our Parents unto us T is Leprosie began in Adam and you ran over all successions of mankind Hence the Prophet acknowledgeth I was conceived in sin not meaning any particular sin of his Parents in the act of generation for he was begotten and born in lawful marriage but his hereditary sin whererof he was guilty in his mothers womb For though many causes may be assigned of actuall sins committed by men or women as either of themselves James 1.14 the world 1 John 2.16 or the devil Eph. 2.2 yet of original sin that is in Infants no other cause can be assigned no root no fountain but this that they received it from their parents Hence is that of Aug. per duos homines transisse peccatum Both saith Ambrose parentes ut generis sic et erroris This is agreable to the law of nature Partus sequitur ventrem If a free man get a child by a bond-woman the child shal be bond by the mother not free by the Father As sin entered into Paradise so it entered into the world for it is the same sin in us that was in them in them actually in us originally and the same sin must have the same beginning but it came into Paradise by them both therefore so into the world And therefore Gen. 5.3 it is said that Adam after his fall begat a son in his likenesse after his image sinful and corrupt as himselfe was and the Evangelist making an opposition between the causes from whence corruption and grace cometh saith John 1.13 The one cometh from bleod and from the wil of the flesh and from the wil of man but the other commeth from God alone Hence there was never any that had parents a Father to beget him and a Mother to conceive him that was free from this original sin and corruption of nature no not such as had the godliest Parents that ever lived as the the children of Noah Abraham Isaac David did stand in need of circumcision Gen. 21.4 which signifies the cutting away of the filthy fore-skin of their hearts this original corruption as the Prophet expounds it Jer. 4.4 wherefore Job 14.4 when he would give a reason why man every man young and old is not only subject to so many troubles in this life but also so filthy and sinful alledgeth no more but this Man that is born of a woman he is born of a woman and therefore must needs be so So again Iob 15.14 and 25.4 and though the Mother only be named by Iob and David yet is this corruption derived to the child not from the Mother only but from the father as much as from the mother The sin came by two and the Apostle saies it entered by one for they two made but one Two shal be one flesh By one it entered yet both sinned R. 1. Because all parents have been poysoned with sin wherâ—by their natures being infected doth convey this poyson unto their children As the brood of Vipers Toads and Spiders must needs resemble them and have poyson in them Hence is that of our Saviour Mat. 7.18 a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit for if the tree be not found the fruit will prove tainted and therefore saith Iob Iob 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one This reason our Saviour gieth why all that is in man by nature is flesh that is corrupt and sinfull because he that is born of the flesh that is of corrupt parents Iohn 3.6 is flesh that is sinful which is Job's meaning when he saith who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean that is no man can beget a child that is clean from sin himselfe being unclean For such as the fountain is such is the stream such as the ground is such is the corn such as the fuel is such is the fire such as the mine is such is the metal such as the parents are so are their children Obj. If the root be holy the branches are holy therefore the children of the Saints are holy and have not this sin conveyed to them by their parents Ans Parents beget children as men not as they are holy men Sanctus generat non regenerat filius carnis by generation they derive unto them their nature they cannot derive grace which is above nature we give them that which our earthy parents give us not what our Heavenly Father infuseth into us There is a wide difference betwixt infusion and propagation neither doth holinesse in this place signifie a freedome from sin or integritie or uprightnesse of nature Sanctitas est duplex fidei faederis sancti sunt non virtute nativitatis secundum carnem sed virtute Testamenti gratiae et promissionis dei Bulling but the prerogative and priviledge of Abrahams posteritie whereby God covenanting with him had appointed alwaies to
convert some of his posteritie and to give them inward holiness so that here is meant not any inherent internal qualitative personall holinesse but an external relative faederal holinesse Hence is that of Grotius Non loquitur Apostolus de sanctitate naturali et naturae liberorum inhaerente sed de sanctitate adhaerente its extrinsice i. e. de sanctitate faederis credentium liberi faedere gratiae comprehensi sunt et eatenus sancti adeo censentur This Text shews that children are stil in covenant with their parents but proves nothing at all that they are freed from original sin R. 2. Because this sin proceeds causally from the flesh though subjectively and formally it is in the Soul as sicknesse comes of corrupt meats as the cause yet not the meats but the body is the subject of sicknesse They that live in a smoakie house must needs be smuâ—ched and contract some of the blacknesse if you put the whitest wool into the Die-fat of Oade it will come out blew So here a pure soul in an impure body cannot but infect it with impuritie this then is an hereditary disease as a leprous father begets a leprous son the disease being in the blood runs through the whole progenie which verifies that of Isa 18.2 The Fathers have eaten sour grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge And therefore saies the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.46 That was not first which was spiritual but that which was natural and afterwards that which was spiritual The first man was of the earth earthy and so begat children like himselfe sinful and corrupt which was the ground of this original contagion which was sprung in our parents by their offence and so by the same it is conveyed to posteritie Obj. If sin be conveyed by the parents to the children it passeth to them either by the body or by the soul but by neither it cannot be in the body till the soul come and in the soul it is not because that is immediately created pure of God Ergo unlesse the soul be traduced from the parents where place you original sin Ans The consequence and coherence of the major is to be denyed because in it there is not a sufficient numeration of the parts by which original sin passeth for it passeth neither by the body nor by the Soul but by the offence of our parents in regard whereof God whilst he createth men souls bereaves it of originall righteousnesse which he gave on that condition to our first parents that they should continue or lose them to posteritie according as themselves either kept or lost them which privation of righteousnesse in respect of God for mans offence is not a sin but a just punishment though in respect of the parents which draw it unto themselves and their posteritie it be a sin which through the conjunction of both is conveyed from the parents unto their children so neither the body alone nor the soul is to be respected but as they joyntly make one man Vse 1. This may meet with the proud hearts of men who are ready to advance themselves in respect of their birth and parentage which if they did truly consider this Doctrine would rather humble them seeing nothing is derived from them but basenesse and corruption their natures being vile contaminats their posteritie and instead of making them honourable doth make them odious in the pure eyes of God yea and most miserable for ever if they be not born again Iohn 3.3 if we got not a better birth then that which we had from our parents it may be said of us as it was said of Iudas it had been better for us that we had never been born Mat. 26.24 It is reported of Diogenes that he told Alexander the great that he could know no difference betwixt the bones of King Philip and other men what he spake of dead men lying in the ground holds true of all men living so long as they lie in the grave of sin there is no difference betwixt the greatest and the meanest for all are by nature sinful and this sin of our nature is conveyed from the fathers to the children so that here is no cause of boasting but rather matter of abasement whereby the best may be humbled upon the sense of this their condition The greatnesse of birth through thy corruption makes thee more uncapable of grace then those of meaner degree You see your calling brethren saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.26 and surely so may we now how that not many great men not many noble are called Even greatnesse of birth nobility is a bar oftentimes to keep men from salvation and life eternal though blessed be God some great men are called yet there are but few not many saies the Apostle O what madnesse then is it to rest and glory in our birth in that we were born of such parents and never seek to be born of God This is that which makes men truly honorable when they become truly gratious Hence 1 Sam. 2.30 They that honor God them will God honor As they of Berea Acts 17.11 were more noble then they of Thessalonica shewing the fruits of grace in receiving the word with all readinesse of mind And thus if our nobilitie appears we may take comfort in our estate otherwise we may be abased for the sadnesse of our condition Be not then like the bigger the better hills the higher the barrener but like unto a Diamond Use 2. This may serve to humble all parents in the consideration of those sins that break forth in their childrens lives their pride and stubbornnesse their aversenesse from God and prophannesse all which is by them the cause of great sorrow and humiliation Hence is that of Solomon Prov. 10.1 A foolish Son is the heavinesse of his mother And 17.25 A foolish Son is a grief to his father and bitternesse to her heart that bare him For the root from whence all this evill springeth they had from their Parents the plague-sore of sin was conveighed by them and this they were infected with from their very birth In the time of the plague we count it a great affliction to bring the infection into our houses and set it upon our children and yet we have all done worse to our children then this we have set upon them a farre more dangerous and deadly disease which doth not only slay the body but overthrow the Soul and that everlastingly if God look not in mercy upon them 1 If the Lord was angry with the Serpent and had laid a curse upon it because it was but an instrument used by the Devil for the corrupting of our first parents though it were no cause of it Gen. 3.14 how much more reason hath he to be angry with us that have not only been instruments to convey this cursed contagion of nature into our children but the principall agents and causes of it Oh consider then this you that forget God that have
restrain promiscuous lust that he might seek a seed of God that is that he might provide for the continuance of his Church And that is one principall end Psal 22.29 30. in converting of us Gentiles unto the Gospell and men of all sorts amongst us poor and rich that our seed might serve him and might be accounted unto the Lord for a generation that God might have a posterity and a people to serve him when wee are gone How should then this encourage us in the education of our children seeing the propagation of Religion doth thus greatly depend upon it How should wee seek to train them up in the fear of God and so season their tender years with the knowledge of Christ that they may be instruments to glorifie the God of their Fathers and to continue faithfull in their service to him all the daies of their life If Parents were but carefull in this then should they find that of the wise man to prove true Prov. 17.6 That their Childrens Children would be a crown of old age and be an enlargement of the greatest comforts unto their souls whereas on the contrary if Parents be neglective in this it will adde to the store of their confusion 4. Because of that heavie charge God hath given Parents concerning their children For this they must know that their children are not their own but the Lords Hence Ezek. 16.20 The Lord saies thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast born unto me thou hast taken and sacrificed And as we have begotten and born them for him so hath he charged us to educate and bring them up for him And that with such a charge as the Prophet telleth Ahab in a parable that he had received for the keeping of a man committed to his trust in the battell 1 King 20.39 If by any means he be missing thy life shall be for his life If the childs soul perish through the Parents default whom God put in trust to keep and look to it the Parents soul must die for it For this is the righteous sentence of God against them whom he hath charged with the soules of others Ezek. 3.18 He shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thy hand but some will here say this charge concernes the Ministers not the Parents I answer that every Parent is as deeply charged by God with the souls of his children as any Pastor with the soules of his flock and more deeply too Exod. 13.8 Thou shalt shew thy son the meaning the end and use of the Sacrament of the passover and Deut. 6 6 7. These words which I command thee this day thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children which place discovers expresly the care that Parents should have towards their childrens soules that they might not be carelesse in their duty in their behalf to instruct and teach their children according to the command of God Oh the shamefull neglect that Parents herein are guilty of how do they suffer their children to run into all manner of wickednesse and never seek to restrain or reform them in the least measure Surely the doom will lie heavie one day on their soules for this horrible neglect of their duty in failing to instruct their Children Oh consider this betimes all you that God hath given the blessings of Children unto remember that those sweet babes are but lent to you from God that you might bring them up in his fear that they may become babes of grace and let it be your endeavours so to instruct them as that God may have the glory and your souls reap the comfort in thus discharging your duty And for further direction let us be carefull to use these means which will further us in the discharge of our duty towards curing that inbred maladie which is conveyed from our selves to our children 1. Let us seek to instruct them in the fear of God this God hath appointed to prepare their hearts and make them more capable of Grace Hence Prov. 4.3 4. Solomon saith when he was young and tender his Father taught him yea and his Mother too Prov. 31.1 yea hee oft putteth Gods people in mind not onely of the instruction and charge they receive from their Fathers but also of the Law and Doctrine of their Mothers Prov. 19.6.26 which sheweth plainly it was the practise of the Church of God then that even Mothers were teachers of their Children Hence that direction comes seasonable to Parents Prov. 22 6. Train up a child in his way saies Solomon that is that way that is fit for him according to his capacity as hee is able to receive it by little at once as pouring out liquor into narrow mouth'd bottles to move beyond the sphere of their activity is to prejudice their capacity and therefore we must be tender of their condition lest we hinder their reception of instruction Young children are like the twiggs of trees which being young wil bend to our minds but if much bowed will break in pieeces So if we do not much oppresse the memory of children they will bee ready to receive the instructions we give them but if herein wee burden them they will grow dul and weary in wel doing we must then be careful of the measure of instruction that so giving them according to their capacity they may receive comfort and benefit by it To this end we must acquaint them with the practise of religion as reading the Word and Prayer giving of thanks at their meat and singing of Psalmes We shall find Mat. 21.15 That the little children had learned of their parents to sing Hosanna part of the hundred and eighteen Psalm to the praise of Christ yea more then this parents should endeavour to restrain their children from evil and to breed in them a conscience of sin even while they are young to bring them to the publick worship of God and to examine them how they profit under the means of grace to wit how they understand plain what they hear and to make it to them and in thus doing they wil learn in time to know the wil of God and in knowing of it to come to the practise of the same to the glory of God and their own eternal comfort 2. Acquaint them betimes with the knowledge of Gods word for this is life eternal to know Christ as he is revealed in his word It is a true saying which though the expression be homely we have our children as we breed them if we suffer them to lye swear and dishonour God in their Infancy we shal see the fruits of it in riper years but if we season their tender years with the knowledge of God in his word we shal see the comfortable fruits of this in our lives the tender plants are pliable to bend Quo semel est imbutea recens servabit odorem testadiu Habitus difficulter mobiles which once grown trees become inflexible An habit in sin is
hard to be removed which by timely prevention of frequent acts in the practise of holinesse may be hindred It is therefore a seasonable advice given by Solomon Eccles 12.1 Remember thy creator in the daies of thy youth Youth being that spring time wherein should appear the hopeful blossomes of goodnesse if not blasted through the parents neglect for want of timely instruction It 's a rare character which God gives of Abraham Gen. 18.19 and takes notice of him on this score in that he knew he would instruct his children in the fear of his name Happy then are those parents that herein imitate faithful Abraham timely to acquaint their children with the knowledge of God God will own such as he did Abraham and give them the blessings of his right hand with the greatest joy and comfort Hence we may say with David Psal 127.3 Lo children are an heritage of the Lord. And verse 5. Happy is the man that hath his quiver ful of them they shal not be ashamed but they shal speak with their enemies in the gate 3. Cause them to frequent the publick worship of God when you have the spouts of grace powring forth incomparable sweetnesse and comfort on the soules of all such as shall attend and wait upon it We find Exod. 10.9 that Moses told Pharaoh that they must have the little ones with them to solemnize the worship they were to perform to God in the wildernesse It cannot but add much joy to the parents to hear their children sing the song of Sion before they have known the ditties of sin and to speak plainly the language of Canaan before they have been corrupted with the expressions of Ashdod Cause them therefore to frequent the publick worship where the presence of Christ doth most gloriously appear not only in the tender of his grace and mercy for our childrens good but in the choice embracings of their â—â—ligious endeavours who have been educated in the fear of his holy name It is a practise much to be condemned in many parents in that they are carelesse of their childrens good in causing them to frequent the publick worship of God they doe rather tolerate them to stay at home to be nursed in prophanenesse and ignorance then to cause them to frequent the publick worship of God where they may be directed to walk in the comfortable paths of grace and holinesse it is to be feared that such children one day will have cause to curse their parents indulgency yea their very parents for this neglect may expect that those darlings of theirs when they should become their greatest comforts to prove the greatest crosses and grief of heart unto them Be advised then you parents that are herein guilty remember the doctrine you have read that you conveigh nothing but corruption to your children and will you add fuell to the fire be guilty of more injury in keeping your children from the publick worship of God let this be far from you so to doe but rather endeavour as to acquaint them betimes with the knowledge of God so to cause them to frequent his publick worship where they shal find great comfort and sweetnesse administred unto their souls Fourthly Give good exâ—mple to them that by your light they may shine in a continued light of holinesse and pietie This made David Psalm 101.2 resolve to walk in his house with a perfect heart And Job Job 11.14 to say let not wickednesse dwel in thy Tabernacles The loose lives of parents do too often prove much injurious to thâ—ir childrens souls so that we may observe in the childrens practice the fathers guilt of their impietie Hence you have it in the proverb that when the child swears the Chicken crows but as it hears the old Cock and if the father reprove the child is ready to say Medice cura teipsum Father reform thy selfe if thou hadst brought me up better I had learned to be better this is the fruits of a bad example which parents must learn to avoid if they desire either to discharge their own dutie or to save their poor childrens souls Learn then Oh parents to cull out the best examples for your children be ye followers of Christ that they may follow you in the waies of Christ let your light so shine in the presence of God before them that they may see your good works to glorifie their father in heaven Do not with Samson pull down those pillars of goodnesse by your sins that shall not only quash your selfe but be the ruine of your children your facts become examples those examples laws and it is natural for your children to follow the law of fact before the law of faith a visible pattern rather then a meer audible Doctrine 5. Examine your children how they profit by the means of grace this is the means to sharpen and whet them on your children use in this case makes perfect and the more fit for the practise of holinesse A pious education is a great prevention of those gross evils which their natures are prone to commit Examination is the tryal which by grown experience encourages their practise in old age hence are they ready to praise God for the care and zeal their parents had in their education and considering the progresse they have made in the waies of Christ under God they are readie to acknowledge it from their Parents care which must needs cause great comfort to them 6. Lastly be earnest to God by prayer for them Solomons Mother Prov. 31.2 calleth him the Son of her youth She was wont to pray much for him what greater comfort can arise to the child when grown in years then to consider he was the Son of his Parents prayers they begg'd him of God and God gave a returne to their prayers in giving grace unto him There are too many herein faulty in the neglect of their duty both for themselves and their children yea they are so farre from praying for them as that they are too ready upon the least occasion to curse them bitterly What comfort can these expect from the hands of God either for themselves or children but that the Lord might justly plague them in their ofspring in suffering their children to prove the greatest crosses whom otherwise had yielded the greatest comforts Let us then with Hannah pray for our children and with Monica pray for the salvation of them prayer is requisite that we may be new born in grace and that being so born wee may grow in grace Prayer it is the Key to open the gates of Heaven and let grace out and prayer is a lock to fasten our hearts and keep grace in Let all Parents therefore be exhorted to bee earnest to God by prayer for their children So shall they wash away those stains wherewith they have polluted their childrens souls and take away that guilt they have brought upon them by conveying their corruption unto them That whereas by nature they are the children of wrath and heirs of Hell God hearing their prayers in their childrens behalf will make his promise not onely to be their God but the God of their seed in making them the sons of God and children of light to shine as starres in the firmament of glory To which he bring both us and our children for his sake who hath so dearly bought us even Jesus Christ the righteous To whom with the Father and blessed spirit three persons but one God be ascribed all glory and honor now and for ever Amen Imprimatur Edm. Calamy FINIS