confused and generall notion they had that it was from man himselfe How little did the Manichees understand of this whose irrationall absurd conceptions of this tell us they infinitely mistook the truth It was a foule mistake of the Pelagians too which they formerly and others of late have fancied touching the irruption of sin into the world That which cruciated Augustin so much Quoniam Deus fecit omnia haec bonus bona majus quidem summum bonum minora fecit bona sed tamen creans creata bona sunt omnia unde malum confess l. 7. c. 5. § 2. which place he bestowes on the disputes which were ordinary in this matter concluding nothing there but else where he concludes Non erat exitus quaerebam aestuans unde malum quae illa tormenta parturientis cerdis mei qui gemitus Deus meus l. 7. conf c. 7. § 1. This I say which so troubled him was undiscovered to them without the Church they could not and it is much undiscerned by naturall men within the Church because they will not see the truth so when Pelagians might have known the originall of sin from Rom. 5.12 they chose rather to corrupt the text as Chemnit observes Chemnitius Loc. de peccat orig p. 213. b. et p. 214 a fol. edit 1653. and so hath Pighius declined from the truth in this point as who will may observe in his controversy de Peccat origin passim And the Papists know not or else they would professe it sure for right knowledge of such a truth in a councell and gathered for such an end as a councell should be would have engaged them to own the truth and openly declare it What ever they think of it I know that God and our Lord Jesus who will be ours and their Judge will account such knowledge to be no knowledge In a word the Endlesse disputes of men who enquire into this beyond what is necessary and in the enquiry lose what knowledge they seemed to have had and grow either sceptickes or hereticks are sull proofe that they cannot with best improved naturall parts discover the spring and fountaine of that sinfulnesse which is in our nature But 6. The best improved naturall men could never discover the finfull frame of bea rt in its deserts 6. Lastly though I might adde more the best improved naturall man never did or ever could he discover the desert of this sinfull frame of his heart it was a thing they never could perswade themselves to believe that such a punishment might be justly inflicted on them so soone as ever they were borne into the world Indeed on their principles it was impossible they should discover this for they acknowledged not the sinfulnesse of nature or else that this was not great and therefore no obligation to punishment or but to a small punishment It is an unquaestioned part of Justice to proportion the penalty to the crime and true state of it ut in parvis leviora in magnis graviora supplicia irrogentur Justitiae distributivae est suū cuique tribuere So that they who accounted this a small fault could not think it worthy of so sore a punishment as we know it deserveth if you should hear a Philosopher reading a lecture of the innocency of man of the blamelesse though weake state of an infant and it should be told him that yet there were who held this opinion that such might be justly condemned for ever and cast into that place of misery where offenders suffer for their offences he would dispute the case and denie the justice of the proceedings Thus doe very many within the Church view the Schoolmens determination that infants shut out of Heaven lie under the Punishment of losse not sense that they onely misse of the enjoyment of God but fall not under a punishment of Paine and Griefe a determination which savours much of a nescience and ignorance of the desert of indwelling lust on the same generall mistake doe Both Socinians Remonstrants and Anabaptists deny that any are or justly may be punished for that sin we call originall sin or ingenite lust which dwell's in us hence they load the orthodoxe with many reproachfull exclamations of curelty and injustice and brand the truth with unheard of harshnesse with incredible severity and Adamantine mercilesnesse against poore innocents such like charges we know are laid upon the teachers of the Doctrine touching the demerit of our sinsull nature it is no wonder for they judge by the mistaken nature of the cause and erring in their apprehensions of the merit of the cause do as widely erre in their assigning the punishment due to it But we who are taught by the Law and enlightned by the spirit of God so that we can see and do know that we are all transgressors of that Covenant which promised life to perfect obedience threatned death to the first sin which is ours and brought death into the world that we are children of wrath Eph. 2.3 Under the curse having not continued in all things written in the Law to doe them Gal. 3.10 that in Adam we all died 1 Cor. 15.22 that we are borne so that * Joh. 3.3 unlesse we be new born we cannot enter into the kingdome of Heaven we who are instructed by the spirit in such truths as these which are confessedly above the reach of the best naturall eye do see that desert of hell and eternall separation from the presence of God which is due to this sinfull nature of ours though others do not discover it nor will believe it we see that by reason of this Lust our life is sull of sin and our persons from the wombe obnoxious to the wrath of God SERMON II. Rom. 7. v. 7. latter part For I had not knowne Lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not Covet 4 Generalls propounded viz. a Rational account of this truth I Now come to the Fourth Generall proposed viz a rationall account of this truth However proud selfe-admiring men do thinke that Wisedome is with them And such perfect wisdome too that a matter of such import and weight as this cannot be hid from them yet certainly if they will consider and duely weigh what reason suggesteth in such like cases they will see that as truth affirmes they cannot so reason shews us why they cannot discover this Sin For Looke what reason suggesteth a cause of difficulty or impossibility hindering us in the enquiry and fearch after the full discovery very of what we do but imperfectly and obscurely know in things of another nature The same proportionably applyed to this businesse in hand will evidently manifest the Difficulty of Getting any considerable measure and the impossibility of attaining any full and perfect knowledge of this sinne by the best improved Naturall man in the world And this I hope to make Good to you Reas 1. Because a Naturall man makes use of a crooked
hominum nibil aliud dicendum venit vult deus ut homo pro suo ipsius arbitrio non minùs improbus quà m probus esse possit Cum posseÌ„t dagitiosè vivere virtuti studere maluerunt Soc. 2 Ep. ad Dudith And here he speaks of the fallen state of men affirming it in their power to be Good and as easily if they will themselves as to be bad and devolving all the goodnesse of those who are good in a bad world to this That when they could have lived Flagitiously rather chose to follow vertue And as the Master so the Scholar Valent Smalcius both in his Racovian Catech c. 10. at once denies all the vitiousnesse which we affirme to be in us proudly averring PeccatuÌ„ originis nulluÌ„ pror sus est resp ad 2 Quaest there is not any such thing as Originall sin and that this hath not depraved our Free will And in his Disputations against Frantzius 2. disput which is de peccato Originis calling it Commentum humanum peccatum confictum so pag. 60. where by the way he seemes to intimate what he thought to be in us instead of that Originall sin which we affirme viz. Proclivitas quaedam ad peccatum I adde quaedam for this Author supposeth it to be such as yet possibly a man may not actually sin though he be prone to sin Potest fieri ut is qui ad peccandum proclivis est ramen non peccet Whosoever hath such apprehensions of our inhaerent proclivity to sin hath not a full acquaintance with nor discovery of the sinfulnesse of the frame of the naturall man's heart Nor any who dare as these men do assert 1. That the will of man is not vitiated by the fall or else who dare to contend 2. That what is now a more vehement was before the fall a more moderate inclination to evill as these and others who are Roman Catholicks Becanus opusc 6. de institiâ operum 3. That Concupiscence is not properly a sin or not after Baptisme or a very little sin as some in the Schooles and many among the Romanists Now these and such like disputes and assertions do plainly bespeak these men unacquainted with the great sinfulnesse of a naturall heart and the universall opposition which is in the flesh to the spirit Catholici docent concupiscentiam in actu primo non esse peccarum originis sed natura eÌ„ quandam pronicatem quae pet se enlpabilis non sit Becanus opusc 6. de justit operum and yet they are men of great parts and great learning within the Church but discerne not because they are naturall this sin which the spirit of God convinceth of and which is not discerned till the soule be enlightned with more than common illumination But next 2. The best Improved naturall man cannot discover the sinfulnesse of the first secret unpublished and unformed â—…tions of this corrupt nature The best Improved naturall man cannot discover the sinfulnesse of the first secret unpolished and unformed motions of the corrupt nature The sinfulnesse of those motions which by the Schoolmen are called primo primi was never discovered by all the light that nature and education have at any time afforded to the most quick sighted of Adam's offspring They never did detect the sinfulnesse of the first ebullitions and anomalous workings of that Lust which dwells in us Indeed when this corrupt sountaine hath so stirred that some of the grosser vapours have risen up with a stench offensive to the naturall conscience they have discovered and acknowledged an uncleanuesse in the fountaine and in these grosser eruptions of lust If the irregular passions did obtaine from the will an assent or approbation to somewhat that was dissonant to the more sober and resined precepts of reason and if these motions were so farre formed that either a convenient opportunity or an assurance of impunity would immediately and with ease midwise them into the world by an actuall patration of that which Passion had suggested the will had somented and Reason had disliked then they would perhaps as many have acknowledg the irregularity of them and be troubled at it though mostly the trouble was this That convenience of executing did lesse favour their desires and you may write on the doores of this nursery Lateat malim dum tempera dentur latitiae mistos non habitura metus Ovid Epist Paridead Helen But alas all this is farre from a right sight of these first motions in their sinfulnesse farre from a sight of hatred against them repentance for them opposition to them destruction and mortifying of them and cleansing the heart from them farre from such a sight as convinced them that death was due for these first motions that they defiled and rendred best actions sinfull and such as need pardon this they have not seen I doubt this is too true of these men the knowledg of sin in the motions and passions of the mind That if at any time a word hath dropt from them which seemed to condemne the extravagancy of their thoughts it is to be referred Either to Thoughts perfected and consented to Or To a Rhetoricall eloquence which shewed us how well they could speak not how well they did think Neither were they the onely men thus perswaded of the innocency of these first motions of a depraved heart but also that generation of men the scribes and Pharisees were so perswaded whose traditions made the Law of God void whose dictates and expositions of the law never did endanger or affright a secret lust with a probability of discovering it the speculative Murtherer the lascivious wanton fancy never did fall under the lash of their Sermons on those command 's which forbid murther and Adultery None of their doctrines were shuts to the eye that it should not behold nor checks to the fancy that it should not hover about or sit hatching this Cockatrice It was one of the Rabbines who did bewray the prevalency of his secret speculative uncleannesse In that speech he delighted to contemplate handsome women that he might praise God a faire excuse for his foul fault and I cannot perswade my charity to mistake the man so much as to thinke he spake the whole truth Besides this sort of men The generality of the Schoolmen making to themselves an inadequate uncertaine rule or standard for the measuring of sin have also inevitably entangled themselves in a great mistake and grosse ignorance of the sinfulnesse of the first motions of concupiscence For laying aside the Law of God or at least interpreting it according to their own apprehensions and applying it onely to what may voluntarily be done by us have at last shifted aside the Law and substituted voluntarium into its place by which they will measure and judge of sin both determining what is sin by what is voluntary and how great sin is by how much of voluntarinesse there is in
knowledge and opposition of this sin do equally thrive and grow it is not so with the unregenerate his knowledge is greater then his opposition of it if he be acquainted with the power or wisedome of this sin and if he do apprehend it an enemy to be opposed yet he thinketh it enough to represse and abate it he intends not an exterminating and destroying of it Whereas the regenerate soule presently proclaimes an open warre and maketh it a mortall warre a bellum internecinum which shall end upon no other termes then the utter ruine of one party sin this sinning sin shall have no capitulation no termes of peace whereas a truce is soone granted by the naturall man how learned or how well improved soever and if a divided kingdome will satisfy this sinning sin there is presently a reconciliation and peace between them if this sin will content it selfe with those limits and bounds which either a naturall conscience of what is honest and to be done or of what is evill and to be avoided prescribeth or with those bounds which a more civill education and happyer improvement of reason hath prescribed if this sin will neither breake out waste the peaceable possessions which naturall conscience would willingly maintaine nor make an inroade and spoile the beauty and glory of his credit nor demolish the stately structure of his externall visible seeming Piety he is content that the Kingdome be sin's The unregenerate improved man is ever on the defensive warre and careth onely to keep this sin within the limits and bounds which he willingly allotteth it Now it is noâ— so with the regenerate soule he is ever engaged in an offensive warre against this sin and though he cannot cast it out of his soule yet he will be sure to cast it out and keep it out of the throne though he knowes it will have a footing in him yet it shall not keep this footing but with danger of loseing it by the continuall attempts which grace maketh upon it it will dwell here with us while we dwell in houses of clay but it dwelleth in the unregenerate as the master in a family with respect and rule but it dwels in the regenerate as an unwelcome guest who shall receive no favour nor beare any sway in him when this sinne prevaileth or is likely to foyle him he cryeth out as Paul who shall deliver me Not as a carnall man what termes of peace how should I satisfie this or that Lust A man who knoweth this sin as Paul knew it taketh thought how he may destroy it a man that knowes it as an unregenerate man doth â—ast about with himselfe how he may patch it up The one laboureth to cast out that rottennesse and loathsomnesse which lyeth hid in the Sepulchre the other contriveth and studyeth rather how to bedeck the sepulchre and paint the outside that it appeare not not offend the eye of more refined morality In a word all the opposition the unregenerate make is against the violent excursions of this sin not against the Being of it And their aime is to mannage these passions of this indwelling sin as a Horseman would mannage an unruly colt which he curbeth and aweth with bit and voice that he may readily safely and with delight use him The regenerate mans opposition is like that of a man against a devouring Lion which he knoweth cannot be brought to good service and is harmelesse but onely when he is dead therefore he knowes the sinfulnesse and determines the death of this sin at once 6th Difference A Regenerate man hateth the sinfull frame of heart so doth not an unregenerate man Another difference between the Knowledge of these men is this The one knoweth and hateth this sinfull frame of heart the other knowes but neither doth exert any true perfect hatred of it nor doth he see or believe there is any such cause to hate it The unregegenerate man thinketh that it 's connate close and inseparable manner of Being in him may be good excuse for his not hating it Hatred where ever it s terminated to that which it cannot utterly destroy is no better then a selfe disturbing vanity and weaknesse is the thought of a naturall man and in many cases it proveth true that he doth disquiet and torment himselfe who hateth what he can by no meanes rid himselfe of And on these principles he judgeth it unreasonable to professe or entertaine hatred against this sin he is perswaded it will adhere to him so long as he liveth and therefore will contentedly permit it to live The regenerate man doth perfectly hate it and makes that very reason one incitement to more perfect hatred of it which the unregenerate would have accounted a good reason to represse or abate his hatred Indeed here is seen the most absolute and irreconcileable hatred which a created Being can exert on just grounds because it doth so soon defile our persons and so soon render us unfit and unworthy of communion with God who is our life so soon rob us of our onely treasure make us beggars so soon as men therefore we in reason ought to hate it and the sanctified soule doth abhorre it Because it so closely adheres to us that whither so ever we go it is our troublesome attendant which we cannot shift our selves of its company is most unwelcome to us yet most unavoidable and this moves our Indignation against it because it is so inseparable from all we undertake and ingage in for performance of our Duty and service due to our God because what we most heartily wish we could that we most certainly find we shall not be rid of because in our best performances when we are best prepared for them and hope to be imployed without much disturbance from this enemy to all good because then we find it cannot be cast off it will not be so dispossessed of its hold or suppressed in its actings we do the more irreconcileably hate it for these and such like considerations heighten the regenerate man's hatred of this sin whereas the Naturall improved man rather hence resolves not to trouble himselfe for that he could not prevent nor spend his thoughts on that he cannot remove He accounts it scarce prudence to be troubled at that he cannot be handsomely eased of what cannot be cured must be endured Just like a man that will rather expresse a seeming welcome to a troublesome guest then let him know he is a debtour for that only which could not be with holden from him But now the frame and disposition of a regenerate soule and his behaviour is quite contrary he hates the more for this inseparable close adhesion of this sin This may be evidently seen in St Paul Rom. 7.15 who hated that which he did and surely if he hated what he had done he could not do lesse then hate that which had already and continually would put him upon doing the same When a man reflects on what