that such things as these should be made known to us that Heaven should open and let down such mysteries before our eyes What manner of persons ought we to be who live in the shining days of the Gospel who have so much of the Divine glory breaking out upon us let us a little sit down and consider how infinite is the malignity of Sin how deep the stain of it when God who cannot nugas agere made such ado about the expiation of it when nothing less than the Blood of his own Son could wash it out Now to have slight thoughts of it is to Blaspheme the great Atonement now to indulge it is to rake in the wounds of Christ and Crucify him afresh to our selves How precious should Christ be to us how altogether lovely what a Person is the Eternal Word what an Union is Immanuel God and Man in one what a Laver is his Blood what a sweet-smelling Sacrifice is his Death who can tell over the unsearchable riches of his merit or set a rate high enough upon that righteousness of his which refreshes the heart of God and Man what a Sponsor was he who satisfied infinite Justice for the Sin of a World and what an excellent head who makes his Righteousness reach down to every Believer in the World who would not now say that he is totus desideria altogether loves and desires what little things are Worlds and Creatures what Dross and Dung in comparison what a wretched thing is a dead and frozen heart which will not warm and take fire at so ravishing an Object Who would now live in the old Adam the head of Sin and Death any longer or content himself in any state short of an Union with Christ in whom Righteousness and Life are to be had O how should we act our Faith upon him and give him the glory of his Righteousness and Satisfaction by believing How should we venture our Souls what ever our Debts are upon the great Surety Who paid the utmost Farthing and had a total discharge in his Resurrection How we should hide our selves in the Clefts of the Rock in the precious wounds of Christ as in a City of refuge where the avenging Law satisfied therein can never pursue and overtake us How willing should we now be to have Christ reign over us What! hath he come from Heaven and in our flesh fulfilled all Righteousness and by his obedience unto Death even the death of the Cross satisfied for our sins and turned away the dreadful wrath due to the same and shall he not Reign over us Hath he bore the heavy end of the Law the sinless obedience which we could not perform and the curse which if we had been under would have sunk us down into Hell for ever and shall he not Reign over us when by a condescending Law of Grace suited to our frailty he calls for nothing from us but sincerity Oh! prodigious ingratitude who would be guilty of it or can be so that is a Believer indeed Let us therefore by Faith joyn our selves to Christ that we may be justified by his Righteousness and as a real proof of it let us resign up our selves in sincere obedience to him that having our fruit unto holiness we may have the end everlasting Life CHAP. XII Chap. 12 Touching an Holy Life It is not from Principles of Nature it is the fruit of a renewed regenerated heart it issues out of Faith and Love it proceeds out of a pure intention towards the Will and Glory of God it is humble and dependant upon the influences of Grace it requires a sincere mortification of Sin without any Salvo or exception it stands in an exercise of all Graces it makes a man holy in Ordinances alms prosperity adversity contracts calling there is such an exercise of graces as causeth them to grow The conclusion of the Chapter HAving treated of Justification I come in the Last place to speak of an Holy Life which is an inseparable companion of the other Where Grace justifies and pardons there it heals where Christ is made Righteousness there he is made Sanctification these Twins of Grace can never be parted but ye are sanctified but ye are justified saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.11 Justification and Sanctification are ever in conjunction as in God Justice and Holiness In Christ the Priestly and Kingly Offices in the Gospel the Promises and the Precepts and in the Sinner the Guilt and the Power of Sin are in Conjunction so in Believers Justification and Sanctification are in Conjunction Were this Conjunction dissolved the other could not well together consist the person being Justified and yet not Sanctified Gods Justice must spare him yet his Holiness must hate him Christ must satisfie and save him as a Priest yet not command him as a King The Promises must speak comfort to him yet are the Precepts broken by him the guilt of Sin must be done away yet the power and love of it must remain but none of these can stand together neither can Justification stand without Sanctification An Holy life is a life separate and consecrated unto God the life of Sense is common to bruits a life of Reason is common to Men but a life of Holiness is separate and consecrated unto God the Epicurean would frui carne enjoy the Flesh the Stoick would frui mente enjoy his Mind and Reason but the Holy Man would frui Deo enjoy his God The Jewish Doctors call God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 place and the holy Man makes him such he would not go out from God or seek any other Being but in him he would not dwell in the barren Region of Self or Creatures but in God the Fountain and Ocean of all goodness his works are all wrought in God his rest and center are only in his Will and Glory he is not his own any longer The great Titles of Creator and Redeemer proper to his God will not suffer him to be so it is no less than Sacriledge in his eyes to be his own or so much as in a thought to steal away ought from God to whom his Spirit Soul Body all is due his Reason is not his own as one who knows it to be a borrowed light he resigns it up to God the Father of lights to be illuminated by him and to the holy mysteries to be ruled by them without asking any why's or wherefores Those two words Deus Dixit God saith is Satisfaction enough to him his Will is not his own it is not a Rule or Law to it self God is indeed such to himself but the Holy man will not perversely imitate God or like the Prince of Tyrus Cum homo vult aliquid per propriam voluntatem Deo aufert quasi suam Coronam Ansel de simil cap. 8. set his Heart as the Heart of God Ezek. 28.2 He will not snatch at God's Crown or assume his Glory he knows that his Will was made to
Speculum Theologiae in Christo OR A VIEW OF SOME Divine Truths Which are either Practically Exemplified IN JESUS CHRIST Set forth in the GOSPEL Or may be reasonably deduced from thence By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esq LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCLXXVIII TO THE CHRISTIAN READER IT was anciently observed by St. Austin touching the Prophets under the Old Testament Non tantum lingua illorum hominum verum etiam vita fuit Prophetica They did not only prophesie or reveal the mind of God by words but by things done by or upon them Isaiah must walk naked and barefoot to shew the shame of the Egyptian captivity Jeremy must go down to the Potters House and there see the Vessel marred to give the Jews a pregnant demonstration that God could unmake and destroy them Ezekiel was to remove and bring forth his stuff to give them a lively representation of their captivity Above all this was eminently seen in our great Prophet Jesus Christ He did not only reveal the Gospel but he himself is the substance and marrow of it He is the very mirror of Divine Truths and Perfections His stile is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of the Fathers Glory As an eternal Son he is such in himself As incarnate he is such to us The Messiah say the Rabbins is facies Dei the face of God The Glory of God faith the Apostle is in the face of Jesus Christ The Divine perfections appear in him as beauty doth in the face The invisible one may here be seen the inaccessible Majesty may be approach'd unto Infinity to accommodate it self to our Model appears nube carnis in a Cloud of flesh that his glory might not swallow us up In our Emanuel we have a body of Theology an excellent Summary of Divine Truths in a very lively manner set forth to us The Atheist who owns not a God in Heaven might here if he had eyes of Faith see God in the flesh The Wisdom of God doth here appear not in the orders and harmonies of nature but in a plot much greater and more admirable God and Man infinite and finite Eternal and Temporal are met in conjunction that the human finite temporal nature in Christ might be the Theater for the Divine Infinite Eternal nature to shew its perfections in The Truth of God manifests it self illustriously in that no difficulty could hinder the early promise of the Messiah made immediately after the fall of man neither could any time bury it in oblivion He would be true in that which was the hardest thing for him to do in parting with his only begotten out of his bosom for us After many ages the Promise must bud and blossom and bring forth the Messiah We see here That God is the holy one his hatred of sin is writ in Red Characters in the blood and wounds of our dear Lord. His love to holiness was such that he would send his own Son in the flesh to recover holiness into the heart of man again We have here Providence accurately watching over our Saviour all-along first over his Genealogy then over his birth life death resurrection And lastly over the issue of all a Church raised up to sing Hosannah's to him for ever Omnia plena Sacramentorum saith an Ancient Every thing in Christ reads us a Lecture of Divinity He being the second Adam who brought in righteousness and life unto men we are sure that there was a first who brought in sin and death to them From his conception being an extraordinary one we may plainly gather what the Two states of Nature and Grace are By the common generation we are flesh of flesh unclean creatures By the power of the regenerating spirit overshadowing our hearts we become spirit of spirit holy new-creatures In his life and preaching we have miracles triumphing over nature and all the order of it Mysteries exceeding Reason and all its Acumen and a Samplar of humility Meekness Mercy Righteousness Holiness Obedience such as the Sun never saw In his death we have what the proud Socinian thinks impossible Infinite Mercy and Infinite Justice kissing and embracing each other Mercy was seen that God should give his only his dearly beloved Son for us Justice was seen that God should exact of him standing in our stead as much as would counterpoize the sin and suffering of a World in his glorious satisfaction We see what that is which justifies sinners and makes them stand before the Holy God In his excellent example we see how justified ones which are mystical parts and pieces of him ought to walk and tread in his steps These things are the subject matter of the ensuing Discourse may all who are called Christians study Jesus Christ The little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reason of Man is much cried up in this Age may we much more adore the Infinite Word and Wisdom of God The temper of St. Bernard may be recommended to all Si scribas non sapit mihi nisi legero ibi Jesum si disputes aut conferas non sapit mihi nisi sonuerit ibi Jesus The devout Father could not relish any thing but Jesus Christ may our hearts ever burn and be inflamed with love to him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg may we desire none but Christ Non aliud praeter illum non aliud tanquam illum non aliud post illum Nothing besides him nothing like him nothing after him This is the scope of my Book if it profit or do good to any it is enough and as much as is desired by him who is A Lover of Truth Edw. Polhill Jan. 21. 1677. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. A short View of Gods Allsufficiency and condescension in revealing himself p. 1 2. The various ways of manifestation In the making of the World and Man p. 3 4 5 6. After the fall in the Moral Law and in types and shadows p. 7. Lastly and above all in and by Jesus Christ p. 8. CHAP. II. Christ considered as a Prophet and a Speculum p. 9. The Divine Attributes shine in him particularly Wisdom p. 10. The obstacles of Redemption to be removed p. 11 12. The Son of God fit for the work p. 13. Many admirable conjunctions of God and Man of Justice and Mercy of Punishment and Obedience in Christs sufferings p. 14 15. Of Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law p. 16. Of Satisfaction and Merit p. 17. Of Merit and Example p. 18. All tending to our salvation ibid. The rare conquest of Sin Satan the World Death p. 19 20 21. Humility of mind necessary p. 21. The desperate issue of the pride of Human Reason p. 21 22. Need of Humility from the threefold state of Reason in Integrity after the Fall after Faith p. 23 24 25. CHAP. III. Holiness the glory of the Deity
it were out of the fire and breathes out a Death and a Curse against it It further appears when the Threatning comes forth in actual Judgments in which God falls upon his own creature the work of his own hands It more appears when Wrath comes down not upon this or that sinner but upon multitudes and not upon the offending persons only but upon their Infant-relations upon their fellow-creatures upon the very places where they acted their iniquities Adam sinned and Wrath fell upon the whole Race of mankind nay and a Blast and a Curse fell upon the Creation such as makes it groan and travel in pain with an universal Vanity The old World was drowned in sensualities and a Deluge sweeps away them and their fellow-creatures The Sodomites burned in their unnatural lusts and fire and brimstone was rained down upon them Korah Dathan and Abiram turned Rebels and the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up them and all that appertained to them These are notable Tokens of displeasure but a greater is yet behind The Eternal Son of God cannot assume our flesh and stand as a Sponsor for us but he must bear an infinite Wrath such as was due to the sin of a World Though he were the Wisdom of God he must be sore amazed and ready to faint away in a fit of horror Though the Fathers joy he must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surrounded with sorrows even unto death He bore up all things yet now under the burden of Wrath he must fall and grovel upon the ground He must pour out tears and strong cryes to God that the bitter Cup may pass He must be in an Agony a dismal conflict with the Wrath of God and sweat great dropt and clotters of blood under the pressure of it The blessed and beloved One of God he was yet he must be made a Curse and upon a tormenting Cross cry out My God! My God! why hust thou for suken me The Sun must now withdraw his light and the Earth quake in sympathy with their Creator Oh! What a spectacle of displeasure was here What is a Deluge or the groans of a dissolving World in comparison There meer creatures suffer but here God in the flesh The Marks of divine Wrath were now set upon that humane Nature which as assumed into an infmite Person is far above all the Greation Never was there so high a demonstration of Gods infinite hatred and antipathy against sin as there is here No created Understanding of Men or Angels could ever have found out such a wonderful Manifestation as this is Infinite Wifdom did it to make sin look like it self infinitely odious Moreover As it is the nature of Hatred to be a Murderer to seek the not being of the thing hated so it was the great Design of this Mysterie to extirpate sin out of the hearts of men For this purpose was the Son of God mantjested that he might the stroy the works of the devil 1 John 3.8 There are three things in sin the guilt the power and the being The aim of a crucified Christ was to extirpate there all Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us He did by his sweet-sinelling Satrifice fully fatisfie the Law and Justice of God And why did he do it but that the bonds of guilt might be broken off from us The strength of sin in binding us over to Death and Hell is the Law and the Law in its threatning of a Curse and Condemnation is the voice of vindictive Justice these two being fully satisfied in Christ the guilt of sin becomes powerless and unable to hold such sinners as by Faith and Repentance partake in that Satisfaction There was in Christs Sufferings not only a fulness of Satisfaction but a redundance of Merit Thereby he procured the Holy Spirit for us and why so but that the power of sin might be dissolved in us Our own spirit of it self could not would not do this but the divine Spirit which Christ hath procured doth in true Believers effect it Sin is no longer a prevailing-Law in the heart the Holy Spirit takes away its dominion that the Throne of Christ may be set there It is true as Saint Bernard saith Velis nolis infra fines tuos habitat Jebusaeus Sin hath a being in Believers but even that doth the holy Spirit in the Article of Death remove from them that their Souls may fly away into that pure Region where are the spirits of just men made perfect Thus God manirests his hatred of sin in that he laid in the Sufferings of Christ a design for the extirpation of it 4. Gods Holiness as it imports a love of holiness in man is here clearly seen in that when it was lost he did so much for the recovery of it Holiness that divine Life being by the Fall beaten out of the heart of man stood without in the letter of the Law but that it might be recovered into the heart of man again that his heart might be made a Sanctuary an holy Place for the divine Majesty to dwell and take pleasure in God hath done very much and been at a vast expence about it He hath not only wished for Holiness O that there were such an heart in them Deut. 5.29 but he hath sent his own Son into the flesh to be a rare Pattern and Samplar of it nay and to bleed and die upon a Cross that it might be revived in poor fallen man It could not be revived there without the holy Spirit and that could never have been had unless Justice were satisfied and Satisfaction could not be made without a Sacrifice of infinite value Christ therefore was made such an One that the holy Spirit might come and re-imprint Holiness in man again God died in the flesh that man might live in the Spirit One great end of Christs sufferings was Holiness He gave himself for us that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people Tit. 2.14 that he might have a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle Ephes 5.27 Rather than lose Holiness which is the Glory He would humble himself to the shame of a Cross rather than we should not be sanctified or consecrated to God in Holiness he would sanctifie and consecrate himself to be a sacrifice to Justice Oh! What a rate or value doth God set upon Holiness in man How highly must he delight and take pleasure in it when he will come in the flesh and die rather than suffer it to be extinct in the World a greater demonstration of Love to it than this cannot possibly be imagined Further Gods love to Holiness appears in this that he orders things so that no man can partake of Jesus Christ unless he subject himself to the holy terms of the Gospel he that names the Name of Christ must depart from iniquity What if Christ be a most glorious Saviour and Redeemer What though he fulfilled Righteousness and made Satisfaction What though he opened a
Scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to dye But God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.7 8. Sometimes possibly though but rarely one may dye for a righteous good Man who is a blessing to the place where he lives But this was Christs Prerogative to dye for Sinners this was the supereminency of Divine Love to give him so to do Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15.13 Thus our Saviour A greater proof or effect of Love than death there cannot be but Love is then in an higher and more excellent degree when that death is as in our Saviours case it was for Enemies than it is when the death is for Friends Damon and Pythias two intimate friends were willing to dye one for another but Christ died for Enemies In Creation God overcame Nullity but in Redemption he overcomes Enmity it self and that in a wonderful way He assumes an humane Nature and in it pours out his precious blood to melt and break that horrible Enmity which was in us against him If we would see more of this Love let us turn our eyes upon the evils removed and the good procured by our Saviour Christ All evils are either Moral such as sin or which waits upon the other Physical such as punishment all of them are removed by our Saviour who saves from Sin and Wrath. Man was under the guilt of Sin and so under the Wrath of God Wrath in the threatning hung as an horrible Tempest over his head and within there was the dreadful Eccho of it in Conscience But the Sufferings of Christ were so satisfactory and meritorious for us that as soon as we return and believe on him all our guilt is done away It 's true the guilt in it self in the intrinsecal desert of punishment is perpetual because sin cannot cease to be sin but it doth no longer redound upon our persons to oblige us to punishment The heavy burden is now lifted off from Conscience the black Cloud of Wrath is dissolved the cursing Law hath nothing to say against us There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Rom. 8.1 It 's true afflictions may fall upon a Believer but there is no Condemnation there is not a jot of Wrath in them they are rather Castigatory than Penal managed in the hand of Mercy rather than Justice In the issue it appears that there was Love and Faithfulness in them that even in those afflicting paths Mercy and Truth are found all things shall work together for good unto the Believer Afflictions and all These serve for excellent purposes to fan off his Vanity melt away his Corruption alarm his spiritual Watch refine his golden Graces cast him into the Image of a meek suffering Christ unearth unself him and elevate his affections towards the everlasting rest which is above Affliction after it hath budded and blossomed with such precious fruits is no longer evil but an excellent good It 's true also that death Temporal will seize upon him but the curse is gone the sting out death which at first was a punishment now hath a blessing in it It was Originally introduced by sin but through the admirable Grace of our Saviour it carries away those reliques of sin which no Tears Prayers Watchings Pious endeavours could utterly extirpate whilest we are in the body it throws down the earthen walls into their mother-dust But who would not dye and with Hilarion bid his Soul Go out that he might be rid of sin There is indeed a passage out of a Temporal life but it is into an Eternal one The soul when it leaves its old friend the body flies into the blessed Region there to enjoy God in an immediate manner to read truth in its Original and taste goodness in the Fountain the body which at present dissolves into dust shall wake again and be made like to the glorious body of Christ Mortal shall put on immortality corruptible incorruption death shall be swallowed up in victory it is no longer an evil to the Believer Again Man was under the Power of Sin and so under the Tyranny of Satan Sin was a Lord a Ruler over him not only over his outward man whose members were the weapons of it but over the inward too It had strong-holds in his Reason and a throne in his Will he was a drudg a slave to his lusts hurried up and down by one Corruption or other wandring in error or swelling in pride or pining in envy or boiling in malice or burning in lust or drowning in sensual pleasures some way or other serving his Iniquity Satan the Ruler of darkness hath a Palace in his heart and keeps possession there upon all occasions he blows up Original Corruption into sinful motions motions into consents consents into acts acts into habits Thus he carries on the sinner in a circle of sinning till inevitable ruin overtake him but in and through Christ there is deliverance from this horrible servitude The Holy Spirit comes and rescues the sinner it opens his eyes to see himself standing as he doth at the brink of Hell and Death it melts him into tears and godly sorrows for sin it breaks down the strong-holds and throne of sin in the heart it casts out Satan and the hellish furniture it translates the poor sinner from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of Christ into a Region of Grace and Power where Sin and Satan cannot have the Victory Those precious Promises that sin shall not have Dominion that Satan shall be bruised under our feet are now sealed and experimented in the heart The poor Captive is now brought out of Bondage into the true liberty of Holiness and Obedience Here we see the matchless incomparable Love of God which delivered us from so many great Evils Hezekiah being rescued from Death made his acknowledgments O Lord thou hast in love to my soul delivered me from the pit of corruption or as the Original hath it Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of corruption Every Believer who hath tasted of the great Salvation may say Lord thou hast loved me from Sin Satan Death Hell by delivering me from all these evils Moreover as all evils were removed so all good things were procured by Christ Temporals were so the world owes its standing to him Justice but for his expiatory Sacrifice would have dashed it down about the sinners â—ears Sin but for the Cement of his blood would have unframed all things in nature that right to the Creature which we forfeited by our iniquity was restored again by his Merits The Believer shall now have so much of the world as infinite Wisdom and Mercy more competent Judges than humane Reason and Will shall think a fit portion for him and what he hath he shall have with the Love
judicia tua The other is Maximilian who in the time of Pope Julius the second expressed his thoughts touching Providence thus Deus aeterne nisi vigilares quà m malè esset mundo quom regimus nos ego miser venator ebriosus ille ac sceleratus Julius There being a Divine Providence such as spreads it self over all things what acknowledgments and adorations should be paid to it it upholds and directs all things it stoops down to worms and hairs it governs the great things of the Church and the World it ascertains the most casual events it rules over the freest agents nay it reduces sin it self the most horrible of ataxies into order it brings light out of darkness order out of confusion good out of evil it leaves nihil inordinatum in universo nothing simply totally inordinate in all the World O how should we hang and depend upon it our purposes should all have that pious condition If the Lord will we will do this or that Jam. 4.15 Our motto should be nihil sine Deo nothing without Providence In all our ways we should look up and wait for the good hand of God to direct and prosper us without which vanity takes us and all comes to nothing In our converses with men we should look above them to him who sits at the stern and rules Do they do us good let us remember the fountain is above man is but the channel not the least good drops from them but what was distilled out of them by Providence Jacob saith That he saw Esaus face as the face of God Gen 33.10 Little of God was to be found in Esau yet in his kindness Jacob spied out a beam of the Divine Goodness and favour Do they deal ill with us let us consider no more of their malice or wrath can issue forth upon us than Providence will suffer the remainder shall be restrained and kept back in their verbal reproaches and obloquies let us say with David the Lord hath bid him curse In their real injuries and oppressions let us say with Job the Lord hath taken away still our eyes should be lifted up above instruments to that wise Providence which orders all In all the great affairs of the Church and the World let us still hold to this the Lord reigneth Psal 93.1 Providence governs the World and all in it heresies and bloody persecutions may break out as a flood yet Truth shall stand and the Church built upon it In a word seeing God is universal Governour we should fear him in every place eye him in every work submit to him in every event depend upon him in every estate and glorifie him in all his administrations This is indeed to confess his Kingdom which ruleth over all and practically to own his Providence which sweetly and strongly disposes all things to his own Praise and Glory CHAP. IX Chap. 9 The Doctrine of Original sin the great moment of it Adam's sin imputed to us The proof of it from Scripture Adam's capacity Adam's righteousness Objections answered Our inherent pravity The proof of it from Scripture The experience of our hearts The actual sins in the world The doctrine of Original sin manifested from Christs extraordinary Conception His Headship opposed to Adam's from the institution of Baptism The wickedness of the Jews in crucifying of Christ The purchase of Regeneration and Salvation made by Christ A short improvement of this Doctrine IN the next place I shall proceed to consider Original sin the Doctrine of which is very momentous The Psalmist in the fourteenth Psalm notably sets forth the corrupt estate of man by nature and again he sets it forth in the 53. Psal almost in the same words pointing out to us the great necessity and utility of this Doctrine Moll Com. in Psal 53. which admirably tends to undeceive and deliver us from that fascinating opinion of our own righteousness and worthiness which too much charms the hearts of all men and withal to prepare and make us ready to accept a cure from Christ and his regenerating Grace This is a most necessary fundamental Doctrine De peccat Or. lib. 2. cap. 24. St. Austin speaking of Adam and Christ saith In horum duorum hominum causa proprie fides Christiana consistit the Christian faith stands in the knowledg of those two men the one the spring of sin and death the other the spring of grace and life And speaking of the Pelagians as denying Original sin he charges them Epist 90 94. fundamenta Christianae fidei evertere to overturn the foundations of the Christian faith Without the knowledg of this sin that excellent rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy self becomes altogether unpracticable a man though near to his own soul is a stranger to it though he hath a reflecting faculty yet he cannot make a true inspection into his heart he sees only his outside within there is a deadly wound yet he feels it not a sink a chaos of corruptions yet he perceives it not that holy image which was the beauty and pure rectitude of his nature is departed and gone yet he is not concerned at it He is as Nazianzen speaks totus lapsus all fallen all out of order yet it seems to him as if all were well and in a due posture he is miserable and poor and blind and naked and yet insensible in all these according to that false or rather no-judgment that he hath of himself he is happy in his misery rich in his poverty seeing in his blindness beautiful in his shame and spiritual nakedness in the midst of straits and necessities he finds no need of Christ or regenerating grace the necessity and excellency of these appears in such proportion as the depth and breadth of that sin is apprehended to be Hence it is observable on the one hand Those who own Adam to be a fountain of sin and death do withal own Christ to be a fountain of righteousness and life Those who see the horrible ataxy and pravity in our nature see also the necessity and excellency of Grace in the repairing of it On the other hand the Pelagians and Socinians who deny Original sin are enemies to Grace it is in the power and will of man vel nitere flore virtutum vel sentibus horrere vitiorum Aust de Grat. Christ c. 18. to make himself beautiful with the flowers of virtue or horrid with the brambles of vice So Pelagius In nostra potestate situm est ut Deo obtemperemus Cap. 10. it is in our power to obey God So the Racovian Catechist And what room is there for Grace Aust ad Bonis lib. 1. cap. 21. when the power and free-will of man may do the work The Pelagians affirmed that before the Law men were saved by Nature afterwards by the Law Socin de Serv. pars 3. cap. 2. afterwards by Christ The Socinians say that under the Old Testament good men were
saved without any respect to Christ or faith in him and what need then was there of Christ or his satisfactory sufferings for us the great work might be done without him Hence it appears that to deny Original sin is to cast off Christ and Grace The Jewish Rabbins who made the evil figment in mans heart to be but a light matter small as a thread weak as a woman ruleable by the good figment of our own reason were very ignorant of that great point of Regeneration Hence Nicodemus a Master in Israel was startled and stood at a maze at our Saviours Doctrine about it How can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mothers womb and be born saith he Joh. 3.4 Such carnal and gross expostulations could never have dropt from him if he had had a true sense of Original sin but for want of that Regeneration was a strange and unintelligible mystery to him The Pagan Philosophers had some glimmerings of Original sin hence they complained that the soul had lost her wings and crept upon these lower things that it was in the body as a prison and there lookt out at the grates of sense that it was fallen from the happy Region and inclined to evil But because these were but glimmerings they did not so much as dream of Grace or Regeneration because they did not see the depth and venom of our Original wound they thought there was medicamentum in latere enough in the Power and Free-will of the soul to heal it self they reckoned all virtues to be among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things in our power and accounted the will to be such a mistress of it self that it might make it self good and excellent at its pleasure By all these instances we see plainly that the Doctrine of Original sin is very useful and momentous Original sin is set forth by many names in Scripture It is called Sin The sinning sin The sin that dwelleth in us The sin that doth easily beset us The Law of sin and death The Law in the Members The flesh and the old man The root of bitterness The plague of the heart in the Fathers it is called the paternal poyson The first radical sin The venom and stroke of the old serpent The contagion of the ancient death The weight of the ancient crime The injury of our Original And St. Austin that he might ascertain that in which he opposed the Pelagians called it Original sin from whence that name was afterwards frequent in the Church it was so called partly because we have it in our Original it is interwoven with our nature and may say to every one of us As soon as thou wert I am partly because it is derived to us from Adam the head and original of mankind * Non peccat iste qui nascitur non peccat ille qui genuit non peccat iste qui condidit per quas rima◠inter tot praesidia innocentiae peccatum fingis ingressum Aust de Nup. l. 2.28 Hence when Julian the Pelagian argued thus against Original sin He sins not who is born he sins not who begets he sins not who creates By what chinks or cranies among so many guards of innocence Quid quaerit latentem rimam cum habeat a pertissimam januam Per unum hominem ait Apostolus quid quaerit amplius do you feign that sin did enter St. Austin answers him thus Why doth he seek a chink or a crany when he hath an open gate By one man saith the Apostle what would he have more It is that one man Adam the original of mankind by whom sin entred into the world it is by him that it is derived to us That one Text touching the one man is enough to break and sweep away all the subtile cobwebs which the Pelagians and Socinians have spun out of their Wit and carnal Reason to oppose the Doctrine of Original sin Original sin consists in two things 1. In that Adams first sin is imputatively ours 2. In that we have an inordination and inherent pravity derived upon us from him The first thing is Adams first sin imputatively ours not that God reputes us to have done it in our own person not that it is imputed to us in the full latitude as it was to Adam We sinned not as the head and root of mankind we murdered not the whole humane nature we did not usher in sin and death upon the world no as the Apostle saith this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one Adam but as soon as any man becomes proles Adae in conjunction with him it is imputed to him pro mensura membri in such sort and proportion as is competent to him being a part and piece as it were of Adam 12. Quest 81. Art 1. Aquinas illustrates this by a notable instance Murder as a sin is not imputable to the hand in it self as distinct or separate from the body but as it is a Member in man and moved by his Will in like manner the sin of Adam is imputed to us not so properly as we are in our selves but as we are parts and pieces of him and derived our nature from him Adams sin was past before we were born It is therefore as Bellarmine well expresses it Nobis communicatur co modo quo communicari potest id quod transiit nimirum per imputationem De Amiss Grat. l. 5. c. 17. communicated to us in that manner as a thing past can be communicated namely by imputation we did not personally commit it It is therefore imputed to us in that measure as is fit and just for it to be imputed to those who are parts and members of Adam In that capacity it is constructively and interpretatively ours and accordingly God justly reckons and imputes it unto us That this is so I shall offer some Considerations 1. That of the Apostle is very pregnant by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him that is in Adam all have sinned Those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Relative Three things as St. Cont. 2. Epist Ptl. l. 4. c. 4. Austin observes are set down in this verse before Adam Sin and Death those words relate not to sin for Sin in the Greek is a Feminine nor to death for men do not sin in death but dye in sin therefore they relate to Adam in him all have sinned It 's true others take the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 causally for that all have sinned But I think that as I said before they are to be taken Relatively in him all have sinned Thus those three things which the Apostle conjoyned together in this verse that is the propagation of sin the original of death and the foundation of both very well cohere
together in this manner The first we have in those words By one man sin entred into the world The second in those Death passed upon all The third in those In him all have sinned Thus those phrases sin entred death passed have a plain explication Sin did not stay in Adam but it entred into the world But if Adams sin be not imputatively ours how did it enter It entred by Imitation say the Pelagians but how vain is this Sin entred upon all upon whom death passed and death passed upon all without exception But neither infants who sin not actually or after the similitude of Adams transgression nor those adult persons who sin actually but never so much as heard of Adams sin could have sin from Adam by Imitation We are all sinners and children of wrath not by Imitation but by nature Adams sin was not meerly his own but ours by Imitation Thus sin entred into the world and as a penal fruit of it death passed upon all it did not stay at Adam but passed upon all and if Adams sin became not ours how should that be The Apostle doth not barely set down sin and death but sets them down in their order and connexion First sin entred and then death passed and that not as a meer infelicity or misery but as a just punishment for sin Hence it is observable that the Text saith That death came by sin and so passed upon all The Particles by and fo shew that death passed upon all as a punishment If Adams sin were not all mens how could death pass upon infants who have no actual sin God is not cannot be unjust where there is no fault there is no room for punishment if infants in no sense transgressed the Command in Adam the death in the threatning cannot fall upon them De Incar c. 14. Quâ justitiâ parvulus subjicitur peccati stipendio si nulla est in eo peccati pollutio saith Fulgentius With what justice can an infant be subject to the wages of sin if the pollution of it be not in him May there be poena sine causa a punishment without a why or a wherefore It cannot be If therefore even Infants in Adam died as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 15.22 then in Adam all sinned as he tells us in the frequented Text. That this is the genuine meaning of it doth not only appear by the Text it self but by that which followeth By one mans disobedience many were constituted sinners v. 19. No. unimputed sin can do this If therefore Adams sin constitute us sinners it is imputed to us To say as the Socinians and some others do to constitute us sinners is only to make us obnoxious to death and so to be treated as sinners is a thing vain and repugnant to the Text. To be treated as a sinner is not to be constituted such To be treated as a sinner when a man is not such is very unjust and unequal To be a sinner is to be culpable or guilty of a fault and the proper signification must be retained The Apostle in this Chapter evidently distinguishes between sin and death transgression and condemnation and makes Adam the origine of both first of sin and then by sin of death Therefore Adam first makes us sinners and then obnoxious to death Thus the words being taken relatively In him all have sinned the conclusion is plain That Adams sin is imputed to us Nay if the words be taken causally for that all have sinned the conclusion is the very same If death passed upon all men because all have sinned then Infants because death passes upon them have sinned And how have they sinned Not in their own persons they are not capable of sinning actually but in Adam the root of mankind Not by an Imitation they are not capable of such a thing but by a participation of the first sin which by a just Imputation becomes theirs 2. The capacity which Adam was in is very considerable He was not considered as a meer individual person but as the Principle and Origine of Human nature The admirable endowments of righteousness and immortality were trusted and deposited in his hands not meerly for himself but for his posterity The command was not given to him as to a singular person but as the Root and Head of Mankind The Covenant made with him run thus If he did as he was able obey the command he should transfer innocency and life to his posterity If not he should transfer sin and death to it We were in him naturally as latent in his Joins and legally as comprized within the Covenant This is very clear because the death in the threatning annexed to the command given to him falls upon his posterity Had not the command extended to his children the threatning could not have reached them Had not they sinned in Adam their Head and Root death could not have faln upon them in such sort as it doth that is in a state of infancy void of any actual sin of its own This being the true state of things it is no wonder at all that Adams sin should be imputed to us as parts and pieces of him Adam was here considered as the Root and Origine of mankind his Person was the fountain of ours his Will the representative of ours Omnes nos unus ille Adam We were one with him and branches of him Hence we sinned in his sin and putrified in him as in the root These things if weighed give an easie solution to all the cavils and objections which the Pelagians and their followers make against the imputation of Adams sin to us First They say Deus qui propria peccata remittit non imputat aliena God who forgives us our own sins doth not impute to us another mans But here is a great mistake as if Adams sin were just nothing at all to us Adam was the Root and bore all mankind in himself we were seminally and legally in him His sin therefore was not alien altogether to us but in a sort our own We sinned in him as our Head We fell with him as the branches fall with the body of the Tree St. Austin saith Contr. Jul. l. 6 cap. 4. Though Adams sin were alien proprietate actionis yet it was ours contagione propaginis Gregory Nazianzen speaking of Adams sin cryes out pathetically O infirmitatem meam O my infirmity St. Serm. 1. Dom. 1. Post 8. Epiph Bernard notably expresses it Culpa aliena est quia in Adam omnes nescientes peccavimus nostra quia etsi in alio nos tamen peccavimus nobis justo Dei judicio imputabatur licet occulto Adams sin was alien to us because we ignorantly sinned in him yet it was ours because we sinned though in another and it was to us imputed by the just though secret counsel of God Again they say That which is properly sin in us is voluntary and an act of our will but Adams was
not such I answer The foundation of this Objection That all proper sin is voluntary or an act of our will is not universally true Vain thoughts are sin and such as are the objects of a good mans hatred much more of the hatred of the Holy One yet they are no acts of our will The first risings and stirrings of lust which antecede consent are sins and yet no acts of our will The mutinies and rebellions of the lower faculties against Reason are sins and yet no acts of our will But might this rule hold in actual sin yet surely it cannot in original for then there should be no such thing as original sin though Scriptures Fathers Councils assert it though the Church have been possessed of this truth in all ages yet it is an error there is really no such thing For neither was Adams transgression the act of our will neither is the inherent pravity in us such If then we confess original sin we must acknowledg that the rule extends not to it Thus when Julian objects That there is no sin in Infants because they have not the exercise of free-will St. Austin distinguishes thus Hoc recte dicitur propter proprium cujusque Contr. Jul. lib. 3. cap. 5. peccatum non propter primi peccati originale contagium Whatever may be said in actual sin it is not so in original Further Adams sin as to us may be said to be voluntary in two respects the one is this It was voluntary voluntate primi parentis in the will of Adam the Head of Mankind while he stood in his integrity He was the moral Head of Mankind and as Bellarmine speaks Totius humani generis gessit personam he sustained the person of all mankind his will therefore was interpretatively ours our will was virtually in his Murder is imputed to the hand because the will though it be not there is yet in that person of whom the hand is a part In like manner Adams sin is imputed to us because the will though it was not personally in us was yet in him of whom we are parts and members Thus that learned Professor Dr. De Peccat Or. 107. Ward Ex voluntate primi parentis ex quo tota posteritas derivatur peccatum illud in posteris velut in membris Adae voluntarium esse censetur The will of the first Parent from whom all the posterity is derived renders his sin voluntary in all men as being members of him The other respect is this it is voluntary in us in our own persons habitually there is in us an evil frame and disposition to sin and transgress as Adam did the act was his yet a seed of it is found in us Further they say It is against justice and equity that Adams sin should be imputed to us that we innocent in our selves should be guilty by a sin not our own I answer Adams capacity considered there is no injustice in it he was the head and root of mankind he was the common Trustee of righteousness and immortality for all the Covenant was made with him for himslf and for his posterity his sin therefore was not meerly his but ours neither are we born innocent but guilty If it were against justice and equity to impute his sin to us then it was against justice and equity to punish us for it with death temporal spiritual eternal But the latter is false so therefore is the former Death falls as a punishment upon Infants void of actual sin of their own Thus the Apostle lays it down clearly Sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men Rom. 5.12 Death was not a meer misery or infelicity but a just punishment Surely it consists not with justice and equity that proper punishment should fall on persons altogether void of guilt or that the threatning of death should seize upon those who no way transgressed that command to which it was annexed therefore the imputation of Adams sin to us is so far from being against justice and equity that without it the equity and justice of God in inflicting death as a punishment upon all men cannot be reasonably cleared I need add but one thing more God dealt with Adam the head of mankind upon terms of abundant equity for as Adam sinning was to transfer sin and death to us so Adam obeying was to transfer righteousness and immortality to us The terms were equal on both hands we were in him as our head as well for the obtaining of blessedness upon his obedience as for the incurring punishment upon his disobedience These objections being removed out of the way I conclude That the capacity which Adam stood in at first is a clear evidence that his sin is imputed to us 3. If Adams sin be not imputed to us then neither was his righteousness so then we never were righteous we never were esteemed such in Gods account then we are not fallen creatures we are meerly simply as God made us Then what need of renovation or regeneration An unfallen creature is uncapable of reparation Whence then or by what way could it possibly come to pass that there should be an innate inordination or proneness to evil in us Such things cannot be found in an unfallen rational creature yet doubtless they are found in us The Scripture tells us that we are naturally dark nay darkness it self That the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Nay the very Philosophers spied out this Hence Tully saith That man was brought forth into life not by nature as a Mother but as a Step-mother with a body naked frail infirm with a mind anxious in troubles low in fears soft in labours prone to lusts Upon which St. Austin glosses thus Contr. Jul. l. 4. cap. 12. Naturam accusavit rem vidit causam nescivit latebat eum cur esset grave jugum super filios Adam He accused nature the thing he saw the cause he knew not the grievous yoke on the sons of Adam was hid from him Nay the very Socinians though in the point of Original sin they are more blind and void of sense than Pagans confess thus much Homines ad peccandum sunt naturâ proni Volk de Rel. l. 1. c. 6. Men are by nature prone to sin Nay it is added sense and appetite draw them as it were with chains to vice Thus saith one of them Whence then is this natural inordination and pravity Is it from the fall We are not fallen creatures Is it from the Creator It is impossible Darkness cannot be from the Father of lights nor pravity from the fountain of infinite goodness Adams sin not being imputed to us no tolerable account can be given how it should ever come to exist among men But supposing what is most true That it is naturally in us yet unless Adams sin be imputatively ours it is not sin in us What though we want knowledg and righteousness It is
glory of God vers 23. If the description did not reach all men his conclusions drawn from thence would not hold the description might extend to some yet others at least little Infants might not be sinners or guilty and consequently might be justified by the Law as having nothing against them The Apostle therefore here by the actual sins of some proves original sin in all and upon that account proves all to be guilty under sin and unjustifiable by the Law because all have that inherent pravity which is the root of actual sins St. James tells us That every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Jam. 1.14 Lust or original concupiscence is the great tempter it doth not only entice as an object but by a kind of impetus and importunity it draws us away from God the infinite goodness to one creature-vanity or other by its motions and titillations it wooes for a consent and afterwards it brings forth the outward act of sin The world tempts outwardly but this is domesticus hostis a traitor within in our own bosom it tempts not objectively only but effectively really inclining us to sin it is a perpetual tempter Resist the Devil and he will fly from you Jam. 4.7 but make never so great a resistence against this lust it will not in this life fly from you neither can you fly from it This is that which conceives and brings forth all the actual sins in the world Nay it is that which distils sinfulness into the best actions of Saints all the crying abominations in the world and all the defects in the Church are the progeny of it This is the root of all bitterness the fomes peccati the nest and womb of all actual sins It may be thought perhaps that all this discourse is besides the intended scope original sin was not exemplified in Christ But I answer It was not indeed exemplified in him but the Doctrine of it may be undeniably drawn from him To this end I shall offer these particulars 1. The conception of Christ is very considerable He was conceived in the Virgins womb not in the ordinary way of nature not by the conjunction of man and woman but in a Divine and extraordinary manner in a way above all the power and law of nature Hence the Angel tells the Virgin Mary The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee Luk. 1.35 Hence it is said that she was found with child of the Holy Ghost Matt. 1.18 That is the body of Christ was formed by the infinite power and virtue though not out of the substance of the Holy Spirit The substance of Christs flesh was taken out of the Virgin and like unto ours but the structure and manner of framing of it was infinitely surmounting that of ours Hence his flesh is said to be a tabernacle not made with hands not of this building Heb. 9.11 It was not set up in the natural way of generation but in a miraculous supernatural manner and why was it thus but that his humane nature might as St. Luke speaks be an holy thing pure from the least tincture of sin All men who come from Adam in a natural way contract guilt and pravity in their original but his flesh was formed out of the substance of a Virgin in a miraculous and extraordinary manner that so he though like to us in all things might not be like to us in sin that he might partake of our flesh and blood in a pure and unspotted way here we see purity was his prerogative the common lot of our nature is corruption It 's true the Pelagians are not afraid to assert That Christ was free from all contagion of sin Aust ad Bon. l. 4. c. 2. Non excellentia propria gratia singulari sed communione naturae quae omnibus inest infantibus Not by any proper excellency and singular grace but by a communion of that nature which is in all Infants But this is in effect to say that the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the Virgin the overshadowing her by the power of the Highest were superfluous and vain all might have been as well in an ordinary way this is to rob Christ of his prerogative to bring down the Saviour to the common level of the saved which can never indeed come to pass There is a great difference between Christ and us in this point our bodies are formed in the ordinary course of nature but his was formed in an extraordinary supernatural way We were in Adam secundum rationem seminalem We descended from the seminal vertue in him But he was in Adam only secundum substantiam corporalem He took the materials of a body from the Virgin but the modus conceptionis the manner of framing of it was supernatural We come forth into the world by that common benediction Increase and multiply but he came into the flesh by that singular promise The seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head We see here a plain difference Hence it appears that purity was a singular priviledg in Christs birth and pollution is the common lot of ours 2. The capacity Christ stood in is to be noted He was set up to be a common head of righteousness and life and that tells us that before him there was another who by his fall was a common head of sin and death Famous is that place Rom. 5 If by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous We see here two heads Adam and Christ both are set before us the one cannot be well known without the other the Pagans know neither Christians must confess both If they say Christ is an head communicating righteousness and immortality to us they must also say Adam was an head communicating sin and death to us else the Apostles Parallel is vain and frivolous in that Christ who obeyed in a publick capacity is opposed to Adam who sinned only in a private one Both these heads must be admitted or neither if both then there is sin from Adam as well as righteousness from Christ Epist 190. Thus St. Bernard saith Alius qui peccatorem constituit alius qui justificat a peccato alter in semine alter in sanguine One Adam makes us sinners another makes us righteous the one by his seed the other by his blood if neither then the obedience of Christ is made fruitless and to no purpose Hence St. Austin saith De Nat. Grat. c. 6. 7. That the Doctrine of Original sin
can do it but Christ's Satisfaction The Quaere therefore is Whether that Satisfaction be our Righteousness in it self or only in its effects if in the effects only then something less than Christ's satisfaction viz. an effect is our Righteousness as to the Law and by consequence something less than that satisfies the Law I cannot imagine that one thing should satisfie the Law and another justifie against it one and the same satisfaction of Christ doth both There are but two sorts of Righteousness as to the Law the one a Righteousness in the idem a direct conformity to it the other a Righteousness in valor a full compensation or satissaction for the breaches of it a third cannot be found where there is neither such a conformity to the Law that all is done as it ought to be nor such a satisfaction to it that all that is done amiss is compensated there is no such thing as Righteousness a pardon or freedom from punishment there may be but a Righteousness there is not Because there is nothing done to the Law either by way of obedience or recompence and where nothing is done to the Law there cannot be a Righteousness Now a Sinner not being capable of a Righteousness of consormity his Righteousness must be that of a satisfaction or compensation not an effect of it but the thing it self no other thing can be a Sinners Righteousness It is observable in Scripture That Justification is so set forth that the Law is established in it Rom. 3.31 that its Righteousness is fulfilled Rom. 8.4 that it hath its end Rom. 10.4 And all this because in Christ's Satisfaction there is a full compensution made for sin such as comes in the room of a perfect conformity and supplies that defect of it which rises out of the suult committed This is done by the Satisfaction it self not by an effect of it Nothing less than it self could give the Law its end or establishment If that Satisfaction be our Righteousness not in it self but in its effects what is that effect Is it a Pardon that is God's act God's act may make or esteem us righteous but it is not the Righteousness it self it is a jus impunitatis that is not the Righteousness it self a Righteousness as to the Law must be either a perfect conformity or a satisfaction but a Jus impunitatis is neither of these as in Condemnation the Obligatio ad paenam is not the very culpa but a consequent of it So in Justification the Jus impunitatis is not the very Righteousness but a consequent of it A Jus impunitatis is opposite to the reatus paenae but a Satisfaction which is our true Righteousness is opposite to the reatus culpae as compensating the fault committed It remains therefore that Christ's Satisfaction is not in its effects but in it self our Righteousness which also further appears In that when we are to answer for our breaches of the Law our great Plea is to that no other than his Satisfaction Ostendo fide jussorem meum De Just hab 370. saith Bishop Davenant When the Law makes its demands against me I shew my Sponsor Christ who satisfied it Now if his Satisfaction be it self our Righteousness it must be made ours by Imputation for that which is not ours cannot be our Righteousness neither doth God who judgeth according to Truth esteem it such You will say Though it self be not ours yet it is that for which God doth justifie us To which I answer Though God justifie us for it yet unless it be ours it is no more our Righteousness than it is our Holiness when God sanctifies us for it no Man I think will call it our Holiness no more unless it be ours may we call it our Righteousness If it be ours by Imputation then it is more than a meritorious cause It is the very matter of our Justification neither can I tell how to think it less seeing a Sinner is capable of no other Righteousness as to the Law but a Satisfaction seeing so glorious a Satisfaction as that of Christ is is ushered into the World for that very end it is to me unimaginable that that Satisfaction should yet not be our Righteousness as to the Law but something less than it self should have the honour of it Thirdly Very momentous in this point is the collation of the two Adams Rom. 5. the first Adam was the Origen of Sin Christ the second Adam was the Origen of Righteousness and Life never were there in the World two such Heads as these uterque quod suumest cum suis communicat as the Learned Beza hath it Adam communicates Sin and Death to his Posterity Christs Righteousness and Life to his believing Seed in the parallel it is observable that Christ is as strong nay a stronger Head than Adam Adam was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Type of him that was to come and less then the Antitype who was more potent to rebuild the ruines of the fall than Adam was to make them Righteousness came as full from Christ as sin did from Adam nay more fully as the Apostle hints in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 15. and in the abundance and superabundance of Grace vers 17. 20. hence it appears that so far as Adam's sin was ours so far is Christ's Righteousness ours also Adam's sin was not ours in the full latitude as it was in him we did not eat the Fruit in our own persons we were not heads of Mankind we did not usher in Sin and Death upon the World no this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that one Adam neither was it ours in the effect only for then our innate pravity would be no sin as meerly proceeding from that first sin of Adam in which we participated not that in the Schools must needs be true peccatum habituale dicit essentialem ordinem ad praecedens actuale It s impossible that one should be a sinner habitually who in no sense was a sinner before hence that of St. Austin quoted by Dr. Ward Nulla foret hominis culpa st talis a Deo Creatus esset qualis nunc nascitur it remains therefore that Adam's sin it self is derived to each one of us pro ratione membri proportionably Christ's satisfaction is not ours in the full latitude as it was in him we satissied not God's Justice in our own Persons we were not Heads of the Church neither did we usher in Life and Righteousness into the World no it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that one Christ neither is it ours in the effect only for then the effect a thing less than the satisfaction it self should justifie or make us righteous against the Law which cannot be It remains therefore that it is it self derived upon each one of us pro mensurâ membri Again Adam's sin did first in order of Nature make us sinners by it self imputed and then by the inherent pravity consequent in like
crucified for us neither did it satisfie Justice on our behalf it is therefore Faith in its object that is Christ's Righteousness which justifies us against the Law that Faith which is counted for Righteousness is that which establishes the Law Vers 31. and that Establishment Faith makes not in it self but in its object Christ's Righteousness which established the Law by satisfying of it Faith therefore and its object must be taken together Hence the Apostle who mentions the Imputation of Faith Ver. 5. in the 4. Chapter mentions also the Imputation of Righteousness Ver. 6. It 's true both are but one in sence but in words the latter expresses the object of Faith as the former doth the Act Thus as I said before Faith in Conjunction with its object takes in the whole of Justification and then the after-words quoted out of the Psalm touching Remission do not describe the Imputation of Righteousness in its proper Nature but in its blessed Fruit viz. Pardon of sin which is not properly our Righteousness but a consequent upon it Another place is this Through this Man is preached unto you the Forgiveness of sin and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.38 39. Here it seems that what is called Remission in the first verse is called Justification in the next but I take it they are not the same in the 38. Ver. We have Remission in the offer or tender of the Gospel in the 39. we have Justification actual as it is in the Believer So they are not the same Justification here is not Remission but Justification by Sacrifice Justification by Christ's Sacrifice is opposed to Justification by the Legal ones Justification by these was typical and but in some cases the Law not allowing a Sacrifice in all but Justification by that is real and in all cases where Faith is not wanting here therefore Justification and Remission are not the same Another place is Luke 18. when the Publican penitentially prayed for Pardon God be merciful to me a Sinner he went home justified Vers 13 14. Justified is the same with Pardoned I answer This place shews that Justification follows upon true Repentance but not that Justification and Pardon are the same the Satisfaction of Christ justifies a Sinner a Pardon only frees him from punishment To name but one place more The Free-gift is of many offences to justification Rom 5.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Free-gift seems here to import Pardon as if Pardon and Justification were all one To this I answer The Apostle in this famous place sets down a Parallel between the two Heads Adam and Christ Adam's Sin and Christ's Righteousness Adam's Sin making us Sinners unto death and Christ's Righteousness making us righteous unto Life But the word Pardon or Remission is not so much as once named in all the Parallel by the Free-gift Vers 16. is not meant Remission but Christ's Righteousness This is clear upon a double account the one is this The Free-gift is opposed to Adam's sin and that which in this Parallel is opposed to Adam's sin must needs be Christ's Righteousness this appears throughout the whole Parallel in the 15 16. Vers Adam's Sin and the Free-gift are opposed in the 18. Vers Adam's Offence and Christ's Righteousness are opposed in the 19. Vers Adam's Disobedience and Christ's Obedience are opposed Hence it appears that what is the Free-gift in the 15 and 16. Vers is the Righteousness or Obedience of Christ in the 18. 19. Vers neither indeed can the Parallel stand if any other thing than Christ's Righteousness should be opposed to Adam's sin The other is this these words The Free-gift are put instead of Christ's Righteousness or Obedience this appears in that where the one is mentioned the other is omitted in the 15 16 17. Vers The Free-gift is mentioned but the Righteousness or Obedience of Christ is omitted in the 18 and 19. Vers the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ is mentioned but the Free-gift is omitted Indeed in our Translation we have the Free-gift Vers 18. but not in the Original Hence it appears that they are the same I suppose that in the 18. Vers should be otherwise supplied Thus it appears that the Free-gift is not Pardon Having seen the most material Texts I shall observe one thing more Justification is set forth in such a way in Scripture that it must needs be distinct from Pardon It is set forth so that the Law is established by it Rom. 3.31 but the Law is not established by a Pardon but by a Satisfaction You will say Our Pardon is upon a Satisfaction but if that Satisfaction do not justifie us if it be no Ingredient in our Justification then in our Justification the Law is not established as the Apostle speaks Justification is set forth so that the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us Rom. 8.4 But the Righteousness of the Law is not fulfilled in a Pardon neither is it fulfilled in our imperfect though sincere Obedience The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as Aristotle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. l. 5. cap. 7. Correctio injuriae Satisfaction for the injured Law but nothing is such but Christ's Righteousness The Apostle in the precedent Verse saith That sin was condemned in the Flesh of Christ and of this there is a double Fruit first Justification The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us that is Christ's Satisfaction becomes imputatively ours and then Sanctification we walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit This Interpretation harmonizes with the first Verse ther first we have Justification There is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ and then Sanctification We walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit as therefore Christ's Righteousness is the only thing which satisfies the Law so it is the only justifying matter against it Justification is so set forth that the Law hath its end Thus the Apostle Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to the Believer Rom. 10.4 as he is the end of the Law so he is for Righteousness he is not the end of the Law in a procured pardon but in a Satisfaction made and applied Justification therefore consists not in a Pardon but in a Satisfaction applied and made ours by Imputation Thus far out of Scripture Secondly Justification cannot be without a Righteousness that God who judgeth according to truth who is Just and a Justifyer doth not esteem or pronounce us righteous unless we are so a pardon is not our Righteousness for that is God's Act and God's Act though it may make or esteem us righteous is not it self our Righteousness neither is that which a pardon gives viz. an immunity from punishment such an immunity from punishment which is ex merâ indulgentiâ as in the case of a pardoned Malefactor is not such the Malefactor
imputed to the Members of the Body as being in conjunction with the Soul else the Body should not rise and suffer for it But how is it imputed what in the full latitude Doth God account that the sin properly did issue from the Members and reside there It is not true or possible yet in a lower and diminutive manner is it to them imputed nor according to Principles of Justice our sin and that as but now was proved not in the effect only but in some sence in it self was imputed to Christ and that upon Principles of Justice upon his Sponsion to satisfie for us our sin was imputed to him but what in the full latitude what to make as if there were a spot or turpitude in the Holy one as if he by his own sinful commissions had deserved penal sufferings No by no means but in the least respect that could possibly be in no other respect than this viz. So far as to render his sufferings penal Nor yet according to the Divine Constitution this is most proper to the present case And for this I must bring forth the Parallel of the two Adams because there never were any two such Heads as these Adam's sin as I have before proved was imputed to us but what in its full latitude Were we the Head of Mankind did we usher in Sin and Death upon the World as Adam did No This was by one Adam but in a lower measure and according to the capacity of Members it came upon us as Bellarmine well expresses it Eo modo quo communicari potest id quod transit nimirum per imputationem it came upon us ex post facto after the action done Interpretativè and by way of reception it only so far redounded upon us as by that sin to make us sinners Rom. 5.19 In like manner Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us but what in its full latitude were we the Saviours or Redeemers of the World did we usher in Life and Righteousness upon the Church No This was by one Christ but in a lower measure and according to the capacity of Members it comes upon us only by Imputation and Interpretativè it only so far redounds upon us as by that Righteousness to make us righteous against the Law Rom. 5.19 These things being laid down it appears that the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to us doth not imply that we are our own Saviours or Redeemers much less that we are such to the World we did not satisfie Divine Justice No This is as Bishop Davenant tells Bellarmine Ridicula illatio a thing which cannot be inferred from imputed Righteousness we do only as Members of Christ so far participate of his Satisfaction as to be thereby justified against the Law To say that his Satisfaction if imputed to us must become ours as amply as it is his is to say things impossible as if Imputation were as much as Action or the derivative could equalize the Primitive as if Head and Members because there is a communication between them must be confounded and become the same as if the Believer if once called into Communion with Christ as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 1.9 must become a Christ a Saviour or Mediator all which is meer confusion But in Imputation the proportion between Head and Members is kept inviolate Christ the Head communicates to Believers yet Salva praerogativâ capitis Believers receive from him but it is only in the measure of Members Object 3. If Christ's Righteousness be imputed to us then God reputes us to have made satisfaction and so errs in his Judgement which cannot be Ans God with out error imputes Adam's sin to us yet doth not repute us to be the very doers of it he without error imputes the internal sin of the Will to the Members of the Body yet doth not repute the Members to have done it Christ's Satisfaction is not imputed to us as to Agents but as to Participant Members and that truly because according to that Divine Constitution which made Christ an Head as strong to communicate Righteousness as Adam was to convey sin Object 4. If Christ's Righteousness be imputed to us then we are as righteous as Christ is Ans The Consequence is absurd and the Learned Chamier gives this Reason Fieri non posse ut tà m justus sit qui inhaerenter injustus imputativè justus est quà m qui inhaerentèr justus nam iste à se per se justus est ille tantùm precariò id est aliundè in alio Christ's Righteousness hath distinct respects as to himself it was the idem as to us the tantundem as it was inherent in him it was Justifying and Sanctifying too as it is imputed to us it is Justifying only it was Christ's in the Agency the glory of it is ours only by Participation Christ is the Author of the Satisfaction we are but the Receivers in the quality of Members it was his in the capacity of a Sponsor Saviour Redeemer Mediator Head it is ours only derivatively and as participant Members of him Object 5. Imputed Righteousness is the root of Antitinomianism this dissolves the Law as if it did no longer oblige us to Obedience Ans Christ's Righteousness is not imputed to us as it is the idem of the Law but as it is a Satisfaction made thereunto neither was that satisfaction meant to dissolve the Law-obligation so as that it should cease to be a Rule of Holiness in point of Sanctification but to dissolve it so as that the Law should demand from Believers no other matter but it self in point of Justification Did it cease to be a Rule of Holiness in Sanctification we must all be Antinomians Did it not cease to demand no more than it self in Justification we must all be undone it s further demand viz. Perfect Obedience from us in our Persons being impossible Justification and Salvation must be so also Christ's Satisfaction was made that we might be justifiable against the Law it is imputed that we may be actually justified against it If the Satisfaction imputed run into Antinomianism so doth the Satisfaction made which is indeed the Socinian out-cry Contr. Meisn 208. Quis nexus quae copula inter sidem quâ creditur Christum pro nobis Deo plenissimè satisfecisse inter bonorum operum studium So Schlictingius Quid causae est De Ver. Rel. l. 5. c. 22. cur is qui satisfactionem istam persuasam habens aliquid in repellendâ à se impietate justitiáque colendâ laboris sibi ponendum existimet So Volkelius Now what is answered on the behalf of Satisfaction made viz. That the Law is still a Rule of Holiness that Christ's Satisfaction is an inflammative to it that the just odium of sin is seen in the atoning Blood that that Blood is sprinkled only upon Believers with the like the same may be as truly answered on the behalf of Satisfaction imputed Object 6. If
die and in that other which is a kind of Commentary upon it Cursed is he that continueth not in all things These Threatnings which were the sanction of that eternal Law touching which our Saviour assures us that one jot or tittle of it shall not pass away are not to be confounded with those conditional Threatnings which are extant in Scripture and were by God used to induce men unto repentance Now that Truth might be salved there was in Christs Sufferings a conjunction of a Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law Indeed an execution of it in the rigour or strict letter of it there was not neither could that be but upon the Sinner himself yet there was a kind of execution of it in an equitable sense in our Sponsor Jesus Christ his Satisfaction though it was not the idem the very same which the letter of the Law called for yet in infinite Wisdom it was accommodated to the terms of the Law as far as the decorum of his Sacred Person could admit of in the threatning there was Death and a Curse and both these were in the sufferings of Christ hence the Apostle saith That sin was so condemned in his flesh that the righteousness of the Law was fulfilled Rom. 8.3 4. It was in a sort executed in our Surety that in the same sufferings there might be a satisfaction to Justice and a compliance with Truth He that considers these Conjunctions will have cause to cry out with the Psalmist Mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other Psalm 85.10 5. That poor lapsed man with his blind eyes and hard heart utterly uncapable in himself of Heaven may be made meet for it there was in Christs sufferings a conjunction of Satisfaction and Merit Justice was compensated and Grace impetrated Indeed the Socinians blind with their own corrupt reason cannot see how these two should stand together ubi est satisfactlo ibi non est meritum Satisfactio est solutio debiti de jure meritum autem opus indebitum Soc. Satisfaction being the payment of a just debt and Merit the doing of an undue work To which I answer It is true that when one pays a finite sum for his own debt there is not there cannot be a merit in it but when Jesus Christ paid down sufferings of an infinite value for us there cannot but be an immense merit in them Infinity is an Ocean and may run over in effects as far as it pleases those sufferings had a kind of Infinity in them enough to pay divine Justice and over and above by a redundance of merit to purchase all grace for us Hence the Apostle saith That the Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ Tit. 3.6 Christ ascended up to Heaven in the glory of his Merits and from thence poured down the Holy Spirit on men that their blind eyes might be opened upon the mysteries of the Gospel and their hard hearts might be melted into repentance Thus a fair way is opened to make fal'n man capable of Eternal Life 6. Because the inward vital principles of Grace in men must needs flourish most when there is an outward excellent pattern of Holiness set before them there was therefore in Christs sufferings a conjunction of Merit and Example the Merit procured the principles of Grace and the Example by its divine beauty drew them out into imitation Vix fieri posse videtur ut unâ eâdem re satisfiat simul exemplum relinquatur Socin Prael cap. 20. Socinus thinks that a Satisfaction and an Example can very hardly meet together in the same thing the like scruple may be made touching Merit and Example and the very truth is Satisfaction and Merit are a Cup which we cannot drink of a Sea in which we cannot trace or follow our Saviour Nevertheless infinite Wisdom laid one plot under another and under inimitable Satisfaction and Merit couch'd an incomparable pattern of Holiness for us We may clearly see in him how we are to mortifie corruptions bear afflictions learn obedience by sufferings and obey unto the death In these he hath left us an Example that we might follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 Having seen the contrivance in these rare Conjunctions let us now consider how the Divine Wisdom set Ambushments for our spiritual Enemies I mean Sin Satan the World and Death all which are in a very admirable manner overcome by Jesus Christ Sin which meritoriously was the bloody crucifier of the Son of God was crucified together with him when he suffered it was in his flesh condemned as an accursed thing worthy to die no sooner are we in him by Faith but it loses its kingdom and by a divine Virtue from his Cross it droops and languishes away in us Satan the arch-enemy at Christs death seemed to be a Conqueror that God Incarnate should be slain by his hellish Instruments that the whole Church should die in its Head looks like a mighty Victory when the Head shall die what shall the Members do when the Sun the great Globe of Light in the spiritual World shall be turned into blood what should remain but that darkness which Satan hath the power of Upon the death of the Duke of Guise Henry the Third broke out thus Nunc demum Rex sum Now at last I am King Upon the death of our Saviour Satan might suppose himself absolute Prince in the lower World a greater Adam than the first being fallen no man can probably stand before him But here infinite Wisdom shews forth it self Satan is taken in his own snare by that very death of Christ which was procured by his own Agents is he utterly overthrown Christ upon the Cross did spoil Principalities and Powers and triumph over them in it Col. 2.15 The satisfaction in his sufferings paid off divine Justice and the Merit in them procured that divine Spirit which is able to bind and cast out Satan from the hearts of men The Cross was now turned into a triumphant Chariot and as an Ancient hath it there were two affixed to it Du◠in cruce affixi sunt Christus visibiliter sponte ad tempus diabolus invisibiliter invitus in perpetuum Orig. Christ visibly freely for a time the Devil invisibly coactively for ever that Cross was a final Victory over him He was overcome not by a man only but by a man suffering bleeding dying upon a Cross the Lord reigneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Cross as some of the Ancients read that 10th verse in the 96 Psalm through death he destroyed him that had the power of death that is the devil Heb. 2.14 The Devil was destroyed by Death his own weapon and overcome in that which he had the power of The wicked World at the death of Christ triumphed and insulted even to blasphemy He saved others himself he cannot save Matth. 27.42 as if all his miraculous power were now
must be defended against the Pelagians Ne evacuetur crux Christi lest the Cross of Christ be made of no effect According to the tenour of that place one head cannot stand without the other If Adam derive not sin to us neither doth Christ derive righteousness both must be only patterns neither communicative heads which to say is utterly to overturn the scope of the place 3. Our Saviour Christ instituted Baptism and that for Infants but if there be no Original pollution in them What need a washing-ordinance for them The washing of their bodies whose pure innocent undefiled Souls are uncapable of spiritual washing is but a shadow without substance a Sacrament without internal grace a thing too insignificant for Christ the Wisdom of God to institute Hence when the Pelagians on the one hand granted the Baptism of Infants and on the other denied Original sin Contr. Jul. l. 3. c. 3. St. Austin saith that they spoke wonderful things In Sacramento Salvatoris baptizantur sed non salvantur redimuntur sed non liberantur lavantur sed non abluuntur In our Saviours Sacrament Infants are baptized but not saved redeemed but not delivered washed but not cleansed And a little after he asks If they are saved what was their sickness If delivered what their servitude If cleansed what their pollution Take away the Doctrine of Original sin and the Baptism of Infants seems to be a very ridiculous thing To avoid this absurdity the Pelagians asserted Aust de Pecc Orig. l. 2. c. 5. That the Baptism of Infants was necessary not because there was any Original sin in them but that they might be capable of the Kingdom of Heaven But I answer Where there is no defect there is all due perfection If Infants are pure and free from all sin then have they all the righteousness and rectitude which ought to be in them and if they have so they are without Baptism capable of Heaven or if they were not the baptismal-washing which imports pollution seems to be a ceremony very unfit and incongruous to be applied to them who are without spot or to render them apt for Heaven 4. In and about the death of Christ two things are considerable The one is the horrible wickedness of the Jews in crucifying him The other is The infinite merit which is in his death and sacrifice Both will manifest the Doctrine of Original sin First The horrible wickedness of the Jews in crucifying him will do it The rottenness of the root shews it self in the branches the malignity of Original sin appears in actual ones especially in those which are of a deeper stain than others are It was the aggravation of Solomons sin that his heart was turned from the Lord who had appeared to him twice 1 King 11.9 The more eminently God appears to us the more aggravated are our actual sins against him and the more aggravated those are the more vile and venemous doth the inward root of them appear to be When God appears to us in Reason which is a beam from him more precious than a world it speaks desperate corruption in men that the brutal part should usurp and rule over it that the vile sensual lusts should tread down that Divine spark and as it were annihilate it that nothing of God might have place in the heart When God further appeared in the Law and the Prophets to raise up a purer knowledg of himself than was to be found in Reason as it lay in the dust and rubbish of the fall it argues a greater pravity and malignity in men that they should murder his Prophets and trample his Sacred Laws the images of his holy Will under their impure feet this was in effect as much as in them lay to explode God out of his own world and practically to say that he should not reign there When God yet more eminently appeared when he sent his own Son very God of God to be manifest in the flesh whose glory broke forth most illustriously in excellent Doctrines and Miracles whose whole life among men was nothing but innocency purity mercy meekness goodness humility love zeal heavenliness holiness obedience and all manner of virtue in spotless perfection one might have thought that men would have reverenced the Son that the indwelling-corruption however it had rioted under other manifestations would here have made a pause and stood as one astonied and over-awed at so stupendious an appearance infinitely transcending all other For what is the little spark of Reason to the brightness of Gods glory Or the Law in the letter to incarnate Sanctity and Holiness Or what are all the Prophets to him who came out of the Fathers bosom and brought down supernatural Mysteries into the world Here it might have been expected that Iniquity should have stopt her mouth and held her hands that the Divine Majesty of this appearance should have made Corruption to retire and hide it self in the secret of the heart But alas the event was quite contrary Original Corruption here did its utmost and shewed forth all its malignity the wicked Jews cried out This is the heir come let us kill him They reviled raged blasphemed persecuted apprehended accused condemned buffeted and at last crucified the Lord of Glory Oh matchless wickedness never did Original sin so fully discover it self never did the Hell in the Belial-heart so desperately break forth as here We see here our Corruption in its true colours and malignity it is the root and fountain of the highest impieties Antichrist-like it opposes all that is called God it would have nothing of God remain it would trample down every appearance of him not in Reason or Laws only but in his own Son in God incarnate and were it possible it would even crucifie and annihilate the Deity it self rather than part with its dear lusts it would have God cease to be The next thing considerable is the infinite Merit in Christs death it procured two things for us Regeneration and Salvation First It procured Regeneration for us This is a most precious thing it new-frames and new-moulds us it produces a new spiritual being it draws the Divine image and likeness upon the heart it sets the soul into an holy order and rectitude and whence is it but from the Spirit Or how is that procured but by Christ and his sweet-smelling Sacrifice The Apostle tells us That the Holy Ghost which renews us is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.5 6. Through him it is that the Holy Spirit comes down and effects this excellent work in us Again it procured Salvation for us That we are saved from our spiritual enemies that we are at last crowned with life-eternal it is from Jesus Christ alone Hence the Apostle calls him the author of eternal salvation Heb. 5.9 not the Minister but the Author of it meritoriously procuring and efficaciously giving it to his people But now if there be no such
talents not in Mat. 13 for there it is accommodated to the Parable of the seed and given as an item to such as heard the Gospel nor yet in the 25th chap. for there the use of the talents is remunerated with eternal life ver 21 23 which is a Crown too rich to be set upon meer naturals There the talents upon abuse are taken away and by consequence if it were meant of naturals the abusers must lose their reason and become fools which experience denies But whatever the talents are in that promise it must be interpreted in eodem genere If of talents of Nature it runs thus He that useth naturals shall have more of them If of talents of Grace thus He that useth Supernaturals shall have more of them But to stretch this promise a genere ad genus from naturals to supernaturals as if Nature might per saltum be crowned with Grace is an interpretation very incongruous and directly contrary to that of the Apostle He hath called us not according to our works but according to his own grace The end of this promise is to excite men to the good use of talents But after such an unreasonable stretch of it as makes Grace the reward of Nature What can come of it Where shall the fruit of it be Not in the Church there they have the Gospel-grace already nor yet out of it there it is not revealed neither is it possible that those who want the Gospel should be stirred up by any promise in it to seek after it in the use of naturals Thus we see that the external call is not a debt to Nature but a meer gift of Grace Such as the great Gift is such is the Charter The great gift of Christ was purely totally gratuitous therefore the Charter of the Gospel which in the manifestation of it is the external Call is so also 2. The Internal call is of Grace And here because some oppose this call I shall first shew That there is such a call and then that it is meerly of Grace 1. There is such a thing as an internal call Pelagius at least in the first draught of his Heresy placed Grace only in libero arbitrio doctrina in Free-will and Doctrine Free-will being Nature not Grace Doctrine being Grace but not the all of it he left no room at all for an Internal call he allowed no Grace but that external one of Doctrine and in this he spake very consonantly to his other opinions denying Original sin as he did What need could there be of internal Grace There being no spot or sinful defect in the Soul Grace hath nothing to do within all is well and whole there and needs no Physitian all is in order and harmony there and nothing to be new-made or new-framed Therefore St. Austin observes that though Pelagius would sometimes talk of a multiform and ineffable Grace yet it was but to put a blind and cover over his heresy Quid juvat Pelagium quia diversis verbis eandem rem dicit ut non intelligatur in lege atque doctrina gratiam constituere de Grat. Christi cap. 9. De. serv pars 4. c. 12. Dial. de just fo 13. Still he meant no more than meer Doctrine and external Grace denying Original sin there was nothing within for Grace to do or rectify Socinus who with the Pelagians denies Original sin makes little or no account of internal Grace though in his Praelections he speak of an interius anxilium an inward aid yet he saith That Faith is generated potissimum per externa chiefly by externals and again That Faith is rather to be called Gods command than his gift But that there is such a thing as an Internal call and that distinct from the external I shall propose three or four things 1. All in the Church have an external call but some are not so much as illuminated it is not given to them to know the heavenly mysteries Those by the way-side heard the word and understood it not Christ was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks and both because he was not though outwardly proposed inwardly understood Christ the power of God if understood could not have been a stumbling block to the Jews who looked after signs Christ the Wisdom of God if understood could not have been foolishness to the Greeks who sought after Wisdom Mr. Pemble relates this Story An Old Man of above 60 years of Age a constant hearer of the Word was after all so grosly ignorant as upon Discourse to say that God was a good old Man Christ a towardly youth the Soul a great bone in the body and the happiness of man after death was to be put into a pleasant green Meadow Such poor blind Souls have indeed an external call but not so much as the first element of the internal one Illumination which is the initial thing therein is wanting in them 2. All in the Church have an external call but some are for their iniquity judicially hardned under the means the Word of Life is to them the savour of death Christ the Corner-stone a stumbling-block the light blinds them the melting ordinances harden them These men have an external call but nothing of an internal one it being impossible that the same persons under the same means should be illuminated and softened which are the effects of an internal call and at the same time should be blinded and hardened under the means which cannot but have in them an external one 3. Some under the Gospel have a wonderful work wrought in them their eyes are opened upon the Evangelical Mysteries their wills are melted into the Divine Will Gods Law is engraven in their heart his image is the beauty and glory of their souls A great work is done in them a new-creation appears within and how should this be or which way should it be effected but by that internal call which calls things that are not as though they were which in a glorious way calls Faith and other Graces into being Hence the Apostle saith That the Gospel came to the Thessalonians not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 Here 's the true internal call the word did not only outwardly sound to them no it was inwardly engrafted to the saving of the soul it was strongly and sweetly set home upon the heart so as to produce Faith and Love It was not in meer notions but it sprung up into a new-creature This is the internal call If a meer external one might have done it Pelagius in the rudest draught of his Heresie had been in the right He placed Grace in meer Doctrine and Free-will but to the framing of the new-creature an internal operation is requisite Hence St. Austin saith De Praedest l. 1. cap. 8. That believers have not only as others an outward Preacher but an inward one Intùs à patre
will be loved no longer nay it will look according to its own hue like a vile base deformed thing fit for nothing but to be hung upon a Cross there to die and expire Hence it appears that an holy Man as long as his Faith discovers a vanity and nothingness in the fairest prospects of the World must needs overcome the World and the lusts of it Again An holy Man according to that supernatural Consecration which is upon him surrenders up his Love and Joy and Delight to God and Christ and Heavenly things the stream of his Heart which before run out upon the lying vanities here below is now turned to the excellent things above his Conversation is in Heaven his Treasure and his Heart are both there and then what must become of Sin must it not needs die away and become as a Body without a Spirit in it It is the Love and the Joy and the Delight of Man which animate Sin but if these are not here any longer but risen and gone away into the upper World to place and center themselves upon the excellent objects which are there then Sin must needs languish and die away it hath nothing to animate or enliven it any more were this Divine surrender in perfection Sin could not so much as be and proportionably where it is but in truth only Sin must needs grow heartless and powerless Notable is that of the Apostle Walk in the Spirit i.e. in the Elevations of holy Faith and Love and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of Flesh Gal. 5.16 Sin shall grow weak and by little and little give up the Ghost To conclude this Character An holy Man which way soever he looks sees just reason to mortify Sin the rectitude of the Law saith It must die for its crookedness and ataxy the threatning of Death saith It must die or the Soul must die in the room of it The bleeding Wounds of our dying Lord say That the Crucifier must not be spared but die after that manner That excellent Guest the holy Spirit saith It is too vile a thing to live under the same roof with it self The precious immortal Soul saith The wounds and turpitudes of it are too intolerable to be endured any longer Heaven that blessed Region saith It is not to be tolerated by any who mean to enter into that place We must then mortifie the deeds of the Body that we may live Rom. 8.13 that we may live a Life of Holiness here and a Life of Glory in another World Sixthly An holy Life is not made up of the Exercise of this or that Grace in particular but of the Exercise of all Graces pro hic nunc as occasion serves St. Peter saith That we must add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Holy Men who are partakers of the Divine Nature spoken of immediately before have Grace upon Grace and must as occasion serves exercise one after another that there may be a Constellation of Graces appearing in their Lives to give the more full resemblance of the Perfections which are in their Father in Heaven our Saviour Christ in whom all Graces are set forth in lively and Orient colours and are really and practically exemplified to our view had this character justly given him he went up and down down doing good every step one odour of Grace or other brake forth from him Subjection to Parents or Magistrates or Zeal towards God or Humility in washing his Disciples feet or Meekness under false Accusations or melting Compassions letting out cures on the Bodies and Heavenly truths on the Souls of Men or admirable Patience under great sorrows and sufferings one glorious way of Holiness or other was always coming from him Proportionably an holy Man Who is a living Member of Christ must be in his measure holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which way soever he turn himself he must be holy in it he must have a respect to God at every turn this will best appear by the particular parts of his Life Take an holy Man in Divine Ordinances there he is holy He would first be sure that he is in a right Church and in a right Ordinance in a right Church for there the Lord commands the Blessing even Life for evermore in a right Ordinance for unless the Institution be from God the Benediction cannot be expected from him and then he would serve God in a right manner and sanctify his Name in his approaches when he comes to an Ordinance he hath high thoughts of God as being the Infinite Majesty of Heaven the Excellency of all Perfections one whom Angels adore and Devils tremble at accordingly he lies low before God he serves him with Reverence and godly Fear he draws nigh to him yet forgets not the infinite distance between them he blushes to think that he must go before so pure a Majesty with the dust of Mortality about him and again he blushes to think that he must do so in the spots and rags of many Infirmities which being in the Soul are much more abasive than those in the Body The Beams of the Divine Glory strike an holy awe into him and make him conclude That a Soul though entirely given up is to God but a little very little thing but as a Beam to the Sun or a drop to the Ocean and which is matter of more shame and abasement the Soul is much less in that the innate corruption holds back and the bewitching World steals away a great deal of it from God very little or rather nothing it is that we can give to him however the holy Man such is his Divine temper would not abate any thing but endeavour in Ordinances to give God his Spirit and highest Intention he knows that God is a Spirit and meer bodily worship is as nothing to him what is the bowing of the Knee when there is an Iron Sinew of Rebellion within or the lifting up of the Hands or Eyes when there is an earthly depression upon the affections towhat purpose is an open Ear when the Heart is deaf and shut up against holy Truths And what a shadow a meer lye in worship is the Body when the Mind is stole away and gone after Vanity He therefore sets himself to serve God in spirit and truth while God is speaking to him in his Sacred Word he would have no converse at all with worldly objects he bids these stand by and not interrupt his attention while he is speaking to God in prayer he would not only pour out words to God but his very Heart and Spirit if it were possible all of it without reserving so much as a glance or a piece of a broken thought towards carnal things a Duty to the Great God is a