Man through the perswasion of the Devil transgressed and hence is our corruption and misery derived Thirdly the first sin of man sprang not from God but from the instigation of the Devill and from the free will of man For the Devill provoked Man to fall away from God Man yeelding to the enticeing allurements of the Devil freely revolted from God and wilfully forsook him Fourthly the effects of mans first sin are first guiltinesse of death and privation of Gods image in our first Parents Secondly originall sin in us their posterity that is to say the guilt of eternall death and the corruption and aversnesse of our whole nature from God Thirdly actuall sinnes which are sprung of originall for quod est causa causae est causa causati That which is the cause of the cause is also the cause of the effact But the first finne in man is the cause of his originall and originalâ— sinne is the cause of his actuall sinne Fourthly all the evills of punishment are inflected for sinnes Therefore the first sinne of man is the cause of all other his sinnes and punishments Fifthly originall sinne is a want of originall righteousnesse which should be in us for originall righteousnesse was not only a conformity of our nature with the law of God but also it comprehendeth in it Gods acceptation and approbation of this righteousnesse Now by the fall of man instead of conformity there succeeded in mans nature deformity and corruption and guiltinesse instead of approbation And thus much briefly by way of explication what sinne in generall is The generall nature of sinne the difference or formall essence of sinne and the property which cleaveth fast unto it What the first sinne was the causes of it the effects of it and what originall sinne is Come we now to prove the position That this sinne originall sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their souls have a being in these houses of clay And thus we prove it First that the spirit by the law intitleth us to Adams sin as a derivation from the root to the branches as poyson is carried from the fountaine to the Cisterne and as the children of traytors have their blood tainted with their fathers treason and the children of bondslaves are under their parents condition John 3.5 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh c. Rom. 5.12 16 17 18 19. Wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all bad sinned and not as by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reigne in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made finners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous 1 Cor. 15. 37 48 49. The first man is of the Earth earthy c. By nature we are the children of wrath 2 Ephes 3.14 Job 4. Who can bring a cleane thing out of an unclcane 51 Psal 5. In sin was I conceived c. I called thee a transgressour from the womb Isa 48.8 G. p. 8. 21. The imaginations of a mans heart are evill from his youth We were all one in Adam In uno universi and with him saith S. Augustine In him legally in regard of the stipulation and covenant between God and him We were in him paries in that covenant had interest in the mercy and were liable to the curse which belonged to the breach of the covenant and in him naturally and therefore unavoidably subject to all that bondage and burthen which the humane nature contracted in his fall And herewith agree most of the Fathers Adde we hereunto these two Arguments First every thing which is borne carrieth with it the nature of that which bare it as touching the substance and the accidents proper to the speciall kind But we are all born of corrupted and guilty parents We therefore all draw by nature in our birth their corruption and guilt Secondly by the death of Christ who is the second Adam we receive a double grace justification and regeneration Therefore it followeth that out of the first Adam there issued and flowed a double evill I meane the guilt and corruption of our nature otherwise we had not stood in need of a double grace and remedy This then is the first charge of the Spirit upon us Participation with Adam in his sin Adams person being the fountaine of ours and Adams will the representative of ours Secondly In this sin there is universall corruption which hath in it two great evills First a generall defect of all righteousnesse and holinesse in which we were at first created And Secondly an inherent deordination evill disposition disease propension to all mischief antipathy and aversation from all good which the Scripture calls the flesh The wisdome of the flesh the body of sin Earthly members the law of the members the works of the devill the lusts of the devill the hell that sets the whole course of nature on fire John 3.6 Rom. 8.6.7 James 3.15 Ephes 4.22 Col. 3.5 Rom. 7.23 1 John 38. And this is an evill of the through malignity whereof no man can be more sensible and distinctly convinced as in the evidence of that conviction to cry out against it with such strange and bitter complaint then Paul himself Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Untill his understanding was opened to conceive the spiritualnesse penetration and compasse of that holy law which measureth the very bottome of every action and condemneth as well the originalls as the acts of sin Luke 24.25 Rom. 7.14 Heb. 4.12 Psal 119.96 Luke 10.27 But for more cleare satisfaction let us consider the universality of this sin First the universality of times from Adam to Moses even when the law of Creation was much defaced and they that sinned did not sin after the similitude of Adam against the cleare Revelation of Gods holy will for so I take the meaning of the Apostle in these words Rom. 5.13 14 20 21. For untill the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law Neverthelesse death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression who is the figure of him that was to come further see 20. and 21. Vntill the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law verse 13. Though the law seemed quite extinct between
this we answer we must distinguish of the Major The Parents indeed convey not to their posterity that which by nature they have not But they are freed from the guilt of sinne not by nature but by grace and benefit of Christ wherefore Parents derive unto their posterity not righteousness which is freely imputed but unrighteousness unto which themselves by nature are subject And the cause why they derive their guilt unto them and not their righteousness is this Because their posterity is not born of them according to grace but according to nature Neither is grace and justification tyed to carnal propagation but to the most free election of God as Rom. 9. Esau and Jacob. Again the death of Infants prove they have sinne because God being most just inflicts not this punishment but for sin stipendium peccati mors Death went over all men for as much as all men have sinned Although Infants doe neither good nor evill nor offend not after the similitude of Adams transgression yet they have sinne in them for which death reigneth over them They want not the faculty of will though in act they will not sin yet they will it by inclination and corrupt inclinations are sinnes Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust to be sinne unlesse the Law had said thou shalt not lust And thus saith Ireneus and Chrysostome Adams sinne was no personal offence in uno universi Adam stood at the root of all mankinde His sinne was his hand writing by which he made all his posterity debtors unto God even for that sinne though themselves should have sinned no more Secondly They say concupiscence without consenting to it is no sinne and to maintain this error they bring Thomas Aquinas who saith the first motion of the lust of Adultery is not sinne because it is an imperfect act but if consent be given to it then it is a perfect act and is sinne So Coster in his little Enchiridion affirmeth that concupiscence proceeds from sin and tendeth unto sinne but is not sinne and this he labours to expresse by this similitude He that heares saith he another man speaking filthy language and consents not to it but rather is angry at it and reproves it sinneth not but merits a greater reward Even so when our concupiscence sends out any sinfull motion if we consent not we sinne not And the Fathers of that Councell of Trent which have as many Curses as Canons have decreed in this manner Concupiscence which sometimes the Apostle called sin the holy Synod declares that the Catholique Church did never understand it to be called sinne as it is truly and properly sinne in the Regenerate But because it commeth from sinne and inclineth to sinne But for answer We say that the Apostle in 7. Rom. towards the latter end condemneth concupiscence for sinne even when consent is not given unto it For he protests of himself that he resisted these motions of sin but was oftentimes sore against his will captivated by them He condemnes them as evill albeit he gave no consent unto them For the Law doth not only condemn sinne in the branch but also in the root There shall not be in thee any evil thought against the Lord thy God Resp I will lay you down a reason to confirm this truth Consent in its own nature is a thing indifferent If that whereunto I consent be good my consent is good but if it be evill my consent is evill If the first motion of sinne be not an evill in it self as they say then it is not an evill thing to consent unto For that which is not evill in it self by my consenting cannot become evill It is not then the consent following that makes the preceding motion to be evill but it is the preceding evill motion that makes the subsequent consent evill Now as for Coster his similitude it makes plainly against himself For it is true indeed that he who heareth evill spoken and reproves it is worthy of praise But it is also true that he who spake the evill hath sinned Even so albeit we doe well when we consent not to the motions of concupiscence in us Yet concupiscence is not the lesse to be condemned because it hath sent out into the eare of our Soul the voyce of a filthy deslre which is not agreeable to Gods most holy Law And of this Judgement with us are also the ancient Fathers Aug. Ser. de temp 45. When I lust saith he albeit I consont not to my lust yet that is done in me which I will not and which also the Law will not And again thy desire should in such sort be unto God that there should not be in thee at all so much as concupiscence which hath need of resistance for thou resistest and by not consenting thou overcomest but it were better not to have an enemy than to overcome him With him agrees also Bernard That kinde of sinne saith he which so often troubles us I mean Concupiscence and evill desires may and should be repressed by the Grace of God so that it reigns not in us and that we give not our Members weapons of unrighteousnesse to sin and that way there is no damnation to them who are in Christ yet it is not cast out but in death From all which it is evident that the motions of Concupiscence are evill and sinfull even when they are repressed and no consent given unto them The Pelagians denyed Concupiscence to be sinne but the Law saith the contrary Thou shalt not covet and Rous. 7.7 Paul saith I know no sinne but by the Law c. The Pelagians were condemned in many Councells summoned and gathered together for confutation of Pelagius and Celestius their heresies about the year 420. and sometime after as in the Milevitan Councell the fifth Councell of Carthage and the Councell of Palestina in the East I shall lay you down one or two of their main Objections Ob. Naturall things are not sin Concupiscence which is a propension to those things which are forbidden by the Law is a naturall thing therefore it is no sinne Sol. There is a fallacy in the Accident in the Minor for inordinate Concupiscence was not before the fall but happened unto our nature after the fall So then it is naturall not of it self but by Accident to wit in as much as since the fall it is born and bred with us As it is naturall that is an evill accident inseparably cleaving to a nature good in it self Secondly there are severall termes in the Syllogisme by reason of the ambiguitie of the word naturall for in the Major it signifieth a good thing created of God in nature to wit mans Appetite before the fall which was not contrary to the Law and Will of God In the Minor it signifieth a thing which we have not by Creation but which we have purchased unto us after the fall Rep. But say they An affection or appetite even in nature now corrupted
is not such righteousnesse as may stand before God according to the Psal 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord c. Secondly they who are converted can no further retaine good inclinations thoughts affections or purposes to persevere and goe forward therein then as the holy Spirit worketh and preserveth these in them for if he guide and rule them they judge and doe aright but if he withdraw they are blind and wander and slip and fall yet so as they parish not if so be they were ever truly converted according to these places 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou hast not received c. 1 Philip. 4. and 2 Philip. 13. and John 15.5 and 1 Cor. 1.8 1 Cor. 10.13 and 1 Pet. 1.5 In the fourth estate after glorification after the end and consummation of this present life In this liberty the wil shal only be free to chuse good and not to chuse evil and this shal be the perfect liberty of our will by which we shall not only not sin but shall abhorre nothing more than sin and also shall not be able to sin any more No place shall be for ignorance or for error or any doubting of God or for the least stubbornnesse against God Because in the mind shall shine perfect knowledge of God and his will In the will and heart a most perfect and exceeding inclination to obey God an exceeding love of God a joy and resting in God and an agreeablenesse and conformity with God so much and in such manner as such Created vessells are capable of And this shall continue for all eternity they shall be continually ruled by the holy Ghost in all their actions So that it cannot possibly be that any of their actions there should once swerve from righteousnesse and therefore it is said they are as the Angels of God in heaven Mat. 22.30 The liberty of the will shall be truly conformed and perfected to chuse only good to obey and love God with unexpressible alacrity for ever And thus having laid down the four-fold state of man and the four-fold liberty of will answerable to his four-fold state it may serve for one ground to confirme the point in hand That sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as they are here Their renewed state upon earth being but begun not perfected their state being but a growing in grace and profitting more and more and prevailing in mortifying their corruptions but not attaining in this mortall life to have grace consummate nor corruption abolished but sin in part remaines and will remaine till they lay down the body and be compleatly sanctified in the state of glory And for farther confirmation I shall lay you downe the testimony of the Scripture the Confession of the Fathers and some Reasons grounded upon and backed with the Word of God First for Scriptures see Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation c. In which words we may observe the Apostle doth not say that there is no sinne to them that are in Christ but he saith there is no condemnation to them In the fore-going Chapter he had confessed that he did the evill which he would not doe and that he saw a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind But now he rejoyceth in Christ that sin in him is not able to condemn him But here I expect from my friend either Cajetan or Aquinas false exposition or that of Mr. Parker that the Apostle spake this when he was a Babe in grace But I desire withall that they will acquaint us what state it was when the Apostle acknowledgeth himselfe the chief of finners 1 Tim. 1.15 The glorious Gospel was then committed unto him enabled by Jesus Christ counted Faithfull and put into the Ministery as you may see in the fore-going verses And yet then saith he notwithstanding all this This is a true and faithfull saying JESUS CHRIST came into the World to save sinners Whereof I am chief Mark the present-tense not preterperfect-tense he doth not say whereof I have been but whereof I am Nay I pray see the second Epistle 1. from 6. to the 13. was all this when he was a babe in grace I would faine know how long it was between the time of writing these Epistles to Timothy and his Epistle to Philemon 1. for there verse 9. he was then Paul the aged But these Jesuiticall Cavillings and reasonings are too well known They never doe nor never shall prevaile against Gods truth Againe in the second verse for the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and death Here we may observe that the Apostle saith not that we are fully freed from sinne in this life but from the law of sinne That is both from the commanding and condemning power of sinne Sinne doth not now reigns in our mortall bodies neither now hath it any more power to detaine us under death But as for temptations of sin Christian experience teacheth that there is no sort of men more troubled with them then they whom God hath begun to deliver from the law of sinne For Sathan being impatient of his losse seeks dayly to recover his former dominion By which it may appear That Our deliverance from sin is but begun now not perfected But we know our God is faithfull by whom we are called he shall also confirm us to the end Phil 1.6 even He who hath begun a good work in us Blessed be the Lord where before we were Captives of sin now the case of the Battell is altered and changed Sin is become our Captive through Christ It remains in us not as a Commander but as a Captive of the Lord Jesus The bolts of sin are yet upon our hands and feet to admonish us of our former miserable condition We draw the chains of our sins after us which makes us indeed goe forward the more slowly But they are not able to detein us in that bondage wherein we lay before We are delivered from the law of sin whilest we live and the nature of death the wages of sin is so changed That it is not the death of the man but the death of sin in the man mors est Sepultura vitiorum saith Ambrose Death is the buriall of all vices and as Chrysostome saith As the Worm which is bred in tho Tree doth at last consume it So death which is brought out by sin doth at last consume and destroy sin in the Children of God sin will remain though not raign Again in the 13. verse If ye mortifie the deeds of the body whereby the Apostle sheweth That after regeneration by Grace and before glorification Grace is not consummated nor is corruption wholly abolished For although the Apostle affirmed before in the 9. verse that these godly Romans were not in the flesh yet now he exhorts to a further mortification of the lusts of the flesh which exhortation