primo ad ultimum cometh to be accomplished So that as in other places we read of the generations of men the generations of Adam of the Israelites so here is the generation of sinne described Now it is good to observe that in this whole discourse the Apostle doth proceed metaphorically comparing original sinne to a woman like that whore in the Proverbs alluring and enticing man to sinne or as Adam was at first tempted to sinne by Eve so still we are drawn aside to sinne by this original corruption which is like an Eve or like a Daeliah and a Joseph's mistress importunately solliciting of us to what is evil and as with the woman there is pleasure in conception but pangs and sorrows in bringing forth so it is with sinne while we do at first entertain it there is pleasure and delight but afterwards it leaveth a terrible sting in a man depriving him of all comfort day and night We may therefore observe the several steps and degrees of sinne before it cometh to be consummated 1. There is the mother or root of all and that is called lust which must not only be extended to the carnal sensual appetite of a man but principally to the rational part for there original sinne hath its chiefest dominion that is the metropolis as afterwards is to be shewed 2. There are the motions to sinne and titillations or delectations about it this is implied in the word enticed taken from the bird who is allured by the bait the meat it leeth but observeth not the snare Thus in man there are sudden motions and delights arising in the soul towards sinfull objects which do antecede all deliberation and consultation There are pleasing motions towards sinne and secret titillations of the soul before the will doth give its perfect and full consent I say perfect consent for it may be in all the tickling motions to sinne though never so sudden there may be some imperfect consent The third step or degree to the compleating of sinne is expressed vers 15 When lust hath conceived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is applied to women conceiving Luke 1. 24. Luke 1. 31. and by this is meant that consent and imbracement which the soul giveth to sinne For as it was with Joseph though his mistress did so violently sollicit him yet he not consenting fled away from her So it falleth out sometimes with the godly that though original sinne in the immediate motions thereof may tempt may delight and secretly please yet grace being strong may refuse to consent and then these Babylons brats are immediately killed before they grow up Thus many sinnes to the godly prove abortive original sinne hath a miscarrying womb for by grace they are inabled to resist those temptations and so sinne is killed as soon as ever it hath any life Not but that these motions to sinne though not consented unto are truly and properly sins but being withstood by grace they are not imputed And thus farre we admit that saying of Bernard Non nocet sensus ubi deest consensus These motions and stirrings of lust within us if resisted and refused shall not be able to condemn us but in all natural men for the most part lust doth conceive no sooner doth it entice but presently there is consent given to it No sooner doth it knock at the door but presently it is opened to receive this lust in and now when this consent is given then as to the eyes of God the iniquity is fully committed then a man is a murderer and an adulterer before God as appeareth Mat. 5. 28. Yet the Apostle addeth The fourth step and that is Lust thus consented unto bringeth forth sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still continuing in the metaphor By sinne is meant actual sinne expressed in words and actions so that sinne is first in the heart in motions in secret consents and imbracements before it cometh to be expressed actually But why doth not the Apostle give it the name of sinne till it be compleated in action The Papists greedily lay hold on this and would therefore conclude from hence that the motions of the heart to sinne if not consented unto that the lusts which rise up in us to our grief and trouble are not truly and properly sins But 1. They themselves do acknowledge that sinne consented unto lusts yeelded unto though in the heart only are truly and properly sinnes that those are damnable though never actually committed whereas this Text if they rigidly urge it would prove as well that such lusts are not sin Besides Though the Apostle James doth not here call such motions sinnes yet Paul Rom. 7. doth very often give them that name and accounteth himself miserable in respect of his captivity to them though he doth utterly disallow them Therefore the Answer is That the Apostle taketh sinne here strictly for only actual sinne because this is onely visible to the eyes of the world and because though motions consented unto yea and unconsented unto are truly and proper sinnes yet because these are in a tendency to actual sinnes actual sinne is the terminus ad quem as it were they are not fully compleated in the utmost of their iniquity till actually committed No wonder if that be called only sinne not by way of exclusion to the motions within but by way of aggravation to shew that then sinne when it s actuated hath gone to its utmost Lastly Here is the last step and utmost end of sinne and that is sinne thus finished Bringeth forth death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now all the pleasure is turned into bitterness in death in the torments of hell all the delights of sinne will be forgotten as the whorish woman in her pangs and troubles when she labours to bring forth and cannot doth then forget all her former wanton lusts The damned in hell will cry out then Oh if they had remembred into what doom the short pleasures of sinne have brought them how that all their honey is now turned into bitter gall they would never have given way to these evil lusts So that we may metaphorically apply that to such sinners at the day of Judgement which our Saviour did to some because of the day of Jerusalem's destruction Woe be to those that are with child and give suck that thus conceive and bring forth in those dayes And here again you may ask Why is it said that sinne thus finished bringeth forth death if sin be entertained in the heart though it go no further It is not mortal and damnable The Papists therefore they would from hence also establish their distinction of venial and mortal sinne But this Text will not help them for as was said they acknowledge that adultery in the heart is a mortal sinne though not outwardly committed and if these motions be truly and properly a sinne as we shewed then eternal death must needs be the wages of them Rom. 6. 23. Therefore death is attributed to
in this matter Annotat in cap. 5. of the Romans for in his paraphrase on the 12 Verse he makes death and mortality to come upon all men by Adam's disobedience because all that were born after were sinners that is born after the likeness and image of Adam And again on Verse 14 death came on the world because all men are Adam 's posterity and begotten after the image and similitude of a sinful parent By this we see the cause of death is put upon that image and likeness we are now born in to our sinful parent which is nothing els but our original corruption Let not this consideration of our sinful soules and mortal bodies pass away before it hath wrought some affectionate influence upon our soules Cogita temcrtuum brevi moriturum Every pain every â—ch is a memento to esse hominem That is an effectual expression of Job cap. 17. 14. I said to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and sister You see your alliance and kindred though never so great it is your brother-worm your sister-worm Job giveth the wormes this title because his body was shortly to be consumed by them and thereby a most intimate conjunction with them would follow Post Genesim sequitur Exodui was an elegant allusion of one of the Ancients yea the life that we do live is so full of miseries that Solomon accounteth it better not to have been born and the Heathen said Quem Deus amat moritur juvenis which should humble us under the cause of this sinne SECT VI. Q. Whether Death may not be attributed to mans constitution considered in his meer naturalls I Proceed to the second and last Question which is May not death be attributed to mans constitution considered in his meer naturals Is there not a middle state to be conceived between a state of grace and sinne viz. a state of pure naturals by which death would have come upon mankind though there had been no sinne at all This indeed is the sigment of some Popish Writers who make Adam upon his transgression to be deprived of his supernaturals and so cast into his naturals although generally with the Papists this state of pure naturals is but in the imagination only they dispute of such things as possible but de facto they say man was created in holiness and after his fall he was plunged into original sinne Now the Socinians they do peremptorily dispute for this condition of meer naturals de facto that Adam was created a meer man without either sinne or holiness but in a middle neutral way being capable of either as his free will should determine him This state of meer nature is likewise a very pleasing Doctrine to the late Writer so oftern mentioned it helpeth him in many difficulties Death passed upon all men that is the generality of mankind all that lived in their sinne The others that died before died in their nature not in their sinne neither Adam's nor their own save only that Adam brought it upon them or rather lest it to them himself being disrobed of all that which could hinder it Thus he Answer to a Letter pag. 49. This is consonant to those who say as Bellarmine and others that man fallen and man standing differ as a cloathed and and naked man Adam was cloathed with grace and other supernatural endowments but when sinning he was divested of all these and so left naked in his meer natural Thus they hold this state of meer naturals to be a state of negation not privation God taking from man not that which was a connatural perfection to him but what was meerly gratuitous The late Writer useth this comperison of Moses his face shining and then afterwards the withdrawing of this lustre Now as Moses his face had the natural perfection of a face though the glorious superadditaments were removed thus it is with man though fallen he hath his meer naturals still and so is not in a death of sinne or necessity of transgressing the Law of God but though without the aid of supernaturals he cannot obtain the kingome of heaven yet by these pure naturals he is free in his birth from any sinful pollution saith the known Adversary to this truth Thus he that calleth original sinne a meer non ens he layeth the foundation of his Discourse upon a meer non entity Now if you ask what cometh to man by these meer naturals he will answer death Yea that which is remarkable is the long Catalogue of many sad imperfections containing three or four Pages that is brought in by him Vnum Necessar cap. 6. Sect. 7. a great part whereof he saith is our natural impotency and the other brought in by our own folly As for that which is our natural impotency man being thereby in body and soul so imperfect it is he saith as if a man should describe the condition of a Mole or a Bat concerning whose imperfections no other cause is to be enquired of but the Will of God who giveth his gifts as he pleaseth and is unjust to no man by giving or not giving any certain proportion of good things To the same purpose he speaketh also in another place further explicat pag. 475. Adam's sinne left us in pure naturals disrobed of such aides extraordinary as Adam had But certainly there are few Readers who shall consider what is by him made to be the natural impotency of man in soul and body but must conclude he is most injurious to the goodness wisdomè and justice of God in making man of such miserable pure naturals yea that it is a position worse then Manicheisme for the Manichees seeing such evils upon mankind attributed them to some evil principle but this man layeth all upon the good and most holy God It is Gods will alone not mans inherent corruption that exposeth him to so many unspeakable imperfections It is well observed by Jansenius who hath one Book only de statu purae nature opposing the Jesuites and old Schoolmen in their sigment upon a state of meer naturals that this opinion was brought into the Church of God out of Aristotle and that it is the principles of his Philosophy which have thus obscured the true Doctrine of original sinne I shall breifly lay down some Arguments against any such supposed condition of meer nature from whence they say we have ignorance in the mind rebellion against the Spirit and also death it self but without sinne And Arg. 1. The first is grounded upon a rule in reason That every subject capable of two immediate contraries must necessarily have one or the other A man must either be sick or well either alive or dead there is no middle estate between them thus it is with man he must either be holy or sinful he must either be in a state of grace or a state of iniquity The Scripture giveth not the least hint of any such pure naturals Indeed a man may in
Ecclesiastical word only to call it a natural evil they did not presume for fear of the Marcionites who held That there was an evil Nature as well as the good And the Pelagians accused the Orthodox for Manicheism in this point because they held the propagation of this corruption by Nature Therefore they avoided the term of a Natural evil yet Austin at last did use it and indeed it is a very proper and fit name for it hereby differencing it from all actual voluntary and personal sinnes as also from sinne by imitation and custom for Aristotle makes a distinction of things that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib Ethic. 2. cap. 1. where he sheweth what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by nature as the stone to descend and the fire to ascend is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so according to him who knew nothing of original sinne we are neither good or evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by nature And withall this Text doth fully warrant the expression If we are by Nature sinnefull then there is a natural evil Not that God put it at first into our Natures or that it is our substantial Nature but we have it by Natural Propagation Let us therefore consider How much is implied in this expression SECT II. ANd first It may well be called Natural because it doth infect the whole Nature of Mankind It 's a defilement that followeth our specifical not individual being Even as we call death natural because it followeth all mankind Rich men die and poor men die learned men die and foolish None are exempted from it Thus also it is with this sinne All that are born in a natural way of mankind have this contagion The sonnes of Noblemen and Princes though they glory in their blood and their descent yet they are as full of sin and the children of wrath as well as the children of the basest so that though in civil respects they boast of their birth and are above others yet in a theological and divine respect all are alike yea the children of godly parents though they have a promise to their seed and in that respect their children are said to be holy 1 Cor. 7. yet they come into the world with inherent corruption in them They do not generate their children as godly men but corrupt men as Austin of old expressed it A circumcised man begat a child uncircumcised and the Husbandman though he soweth his seed out of the chaff and husk yet that brings up others with chaff and husk upon it Well therefore may we call it a natural sinne because it doth extend to the whole humane Nature as it is in every one that partaketh of it in a natural way So that as Divines do distinguish of infirmities and evils There are some that are specifical which follow the Species as death and some are accidental which follow the individual nature Thus there are some sinnes which follow the particular nature of a man and these are actual sinnes Every man is not a drunkard an adulterer but some are defiled one way some another but then there is a sinne which followeth the whole and universal nature of man and this is original sinne though every man be not guilty of such or such a particular sinne yet all are of original sinne And therefore the Schoolmen say Actual sinne doth corrumpere personam but original Naturam actual sins corrupt the person original the nature SECT III. WE are declaring the Naturality of this Original sinne not as if it were ingredient into or constitutive of our nature but an universal and inseparable pollution adhering to it as they say of death as though it be praeter Naturam or contra yet if we do regard the principles of mortality which are in every man so death is natural Come we therefore to a second demonstration of the Naturality of this evil and that is seen In that it is the inward principle of all the sinfull motions of the soul and that perâ—se not per accidens This is a great part of that definition which Aristotle giveth of Nature now we may in a moral sense apply it to our purpose First I say It 's the inward principle of all the sinfull motions and workings of the Soul For as the nature of the stone is the cause of its motion downward as the nature of the fire is the cause of the fires motions and operations Thus is original sinne the intrinsecal cause and root of all the actual evil we are guilty of It is farre from me to justifie Flacius his discourse or opinion of original sin making it the natural substance of a man and not an accident though he so expresseth himself that some think its his Logical and Metaphysical errour rather than Theological Only that which I aim at is to shew That this birth-sinne is naturally ours because from it doth flow all the sinnefull and evil operations of the whole man So that we may say as it is natural to the stone to descend to the sparks to flie upwards so it is natural to man to think evil to speak evil and to do evil Aristotle observeth Lib. 2. Ethic. cap. 1. this as one property of things by nature that there the principles are before the actions A man hath the power to see or hear before he can actually do either but in moral things the actions are before the habits As it is natural to the Toad to vent poison and not honey so when a man sinneth it 's from his own it 's natural to him but when inabled to do any thing that is good this is wholly of grace Now I say It 's an inward principle of all sinne within us to distinguish it from external cause viz. the devil or wicked men who sometimes may tempt and cause to sinne Therefore the devil is called The tempter Mat. 4. 3. Insomuch that it is made a Question Whether there be any sinne a man commits that the Devil hath not tempted unto but that I attend not to at this time This is enough that the Devil is but an outward cause of sinne and therefore were there not that original filth in us his sparks could never kindle a fire he cannot compell or force to sinne In somuch that whatsoever sinne we do commit we are not to lay the fault principally upon the Devil but our own corrupt hearts Though Ananias lied against the holy Ghost because the Devil had filled his heart And Judas betrayed Christ because Satan had entred into his heart yet the devil could not have come into their hearts had they not been of uncleane and corrupt Constitutions before it was an evil heart and therefore the devil took possession of it The Apostle James cap. 1. 14. doth notably discover the true cause and natural fountain of all the evil committed by us and that is The lust and concupiscence that is within
Even as when the Prophet Elisha would make the waters sweet he threw salt into the spring and fountain of them Thus because it 's from a polluted nature that all our actual sinnes flow therefore grace regenerating is principally ordered to take away or conquer that by degrees which is the cause of all If this be so then let us consider What this grace is which doth inable us to do any thing after a godly and holy manner This is a supernatural gift of God and an insused quality into the soul whereby it 's inabled to work above its own proper and natural operations If then to do any thing that is good be wholly of grace it 's Gods gift then to sin is natural and proper to thee The Scripture is copious and plentiful in affirming this That Christ as our head is the cause of all our supernatural actings We receive of his fulness and so are inabled by him Grace then being supernatural to love God to repent of sin to do any thing spiritually being thus wholly above nature it necessarily followeth that when we sin and do evil that we do it naturally SECT X. NInthly The Nature of a thing if compounded and not simple is the complex of the whole The nature of a man is not his hands or his eyes only but his soul and his whole body Thus the nature of original Righteousness was not the perfection of one single faculty the understanding only the will only but it was the complete harmonical rectitude of the whole man called therefore the Image of God Now as the Image of a man is not one limb or member but the pourtraiture of the whole So neither was the Image of God in Adam one grace or some few graces but the perfection of every part Light in the mind holiness in the will order and regularity in the affections Thus it is on the contrary with original sinne it 's called The old man and it 's said to have mâ—mbers by which is implied that it 's not any single sinne or a defect and pollution in one faculty of the soul but it 's universal over all Hence our Saviour saith John 3. Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh it is wholly corrupted it is all over sinful So then when we say it 's natural this implieth That it is a Leprosie all over us as farre as our physical being extends Thus also in a moral sense doth our sinful Being inlarge it self Therefore our natural estate is not compared only to a blind man or a deaf man what wants the use of some faculties but unto death it self that depriveth of the use of all The naturality then of this sinne doth denote both the inward inheston as also the universal diffusion of it nothing within a man being free from this contagion SECT XI LAstly The Naturality of this evil doth appear In the great easiness promptitude and delight a man naturally finds to sin This is a way to discover what is natural if the actions be easie ready and with delight This discovers they flow from Nature but what is of art that is with difficulty and much observation We need not hire or teach a man to eat or drink these are natural actions and are accompanied with delight And thus the Naturality of this birth-sinne is notably manifested with what ease pleasure and inward readiness is a man carried out to sinne from his youth up Eliphaz speaks notably of this Job 15. 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water like a Leviathan that is said to drink up the river and hasteth not You see he cals every man by nature abominable and filthy which is discovered by this He drinketh iniquity like water as a dropsie or feavorish man that is scorched with heat within doth with greediness and delight pour down water and the more he drinketh the thirstier he is and he never saith he hath enough Thus it is with filthy and corrupted man he doth with earnestness and delight fulfill the lust of the flesh he is never satisfied Every man in the world hath a Sheol within him that is alwayes craving and saying Give Give as hell hath unquenchable sparks of fire such an hell is in every mans heart As our Saviour said It 's my meat and drink to do my Fathers will Thus it is every mans meat and drink by nature to be doing the Devils will Do ye not see it in children how of themselves they are prone to any impiety but call them to learn or to be instructed then there is much aversness All this ariseth from the natural evil within us CHAP. IV. Objections against the Naturality of Original Sinne answered SECT I. THe Naturality of original sinne hath been in divers respects asserted I shall therefore conclude this Text with answers to some Objections that are made against this Doctrine I do not mean against original sinne it self for they are various so unwilling is man to be convinced that he is wholly sinful but against the Naturality of it which this Text doth affirm Neither shall I take in all Objections of this kind because they will be met with on some other Texts only I shall pitch upon one or two whereby your understandings may be more fully cleared in this point and so I shall part with this Text. First therefore it hath been enviously of old objected against this Truth That if there were such a natural pollution adhering to all mankind this would redound to the dishonour of God who is the Author of man This Argument the Pelagians of old insulted with If say they any man hold God is the maker of man presently he is called a Pelagian for thus they flourished If there be original sinne either the parents that beget or the children that are begotten or God the Creator of the soul and in a peculiar manner forming all the parts of our body must be the cause of this sinne This Objection they thought unanswerable unless we should charge God with being the Author of this original defilement Hence it is that they charged Manâ—cheism upon the Orthodox as if they thought that Nature it self was evil Five things there were that these Hereticks did usually commend Nature Marriage the Law Free-will and Holiness none of which they thought could be maintained unless we deny original sinne But when these Arguments are fully searched into there will appear no matter of boasting Let us call the first to account and examine Whether the Doctrine of original corruption doth charge God foolishly or no Whether hereby all the sinne in the world will be laid upon God Now there is a three sold charge drawn up against this Truth as it relateth to God 1. That it makes him the Author of this sinne 2. That it makes him unjust imputing that sinne of Adam to us and punishing us because of it when we had no being or any will of our own
disobedience to be made a sinner What congruity is there in that Now what justice is there that one should be made mortal by another mans sinne unless he partake of his sinne Yea he saith a little before For one to be punished for another mans sinne it hath no reason and yet all along the Chapter affirmed That by Adam 's sinne we are all made subject to death This is no good Harmony SECT III. IN the second place To be a sinner is more than some others have likewise explained it which say It 's to be obnoxious to the eternal wrath of God This way go Piphius Catharinus and Salâ—â—eroâ—s inclineth much that way though in some things different Yea Arminius and the Remonstrants they conceive that to be a sinner by Adam's disobedience implieth these two things and no more First That Adam 's actual sinne is truly and properly made ours and thus farre they say the truth But then secondly they affirm That this is all the original sin we have They grant that by this there is a reatus a guilt upon all but not any thing inherent that hath truly and properly the notion of sinne They will therefore yeeled That we are by nature the children of wrath But say they not for any inherent pollution but because of Adam 's sinne imputed to us But though these two must necessarily be granted viz. the imputation of Adam's sinne and the participation of that guilt thereby yet this is not all that the Apostle meaneth when he saith We are by his disobedience made sinners for he intends besides this the internal and natural depravation of the whole man which now in ecclesiastical use is for the most part called original sinne And there are these Reasons to evince it First That it 's more than guilt or an obnoxious condition to eternal wrath because the Apostle having spoken of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that judgement to condemnation which cometh upon all he doth in this verse declare the inward cause and demerit of this in our selves and thereby declareth the justice of God For if we had no sinne in our selves inherent but that only imputed the justice of God would not be so manifest in condemning of us It is true we must not separate or dis-joyn this inherent sinne from that imputed sinne yet we must not confound them or make imputed sinne all the sinne we have by nature The Apostle therefore doth in this Text give a reason of that condemnation which hath passed on all because there is sin inwardly adhering to all Secondly To be a sinner is more than to be onely guilty Because as you heard of the opposition made between the first Adam and Christ Now the Righteousness that we are invested with by Christ is truly and properly a Righteousness It 's not only a claim or title to eternal happiness it is not only a freedom from guilt but an inherent conformity to the Law of God So that as in and by Christ there is an imputed Righteousness which is that properly that justifieth and as the effect of this we have also an inherent Righteousness which in Heaven will be completed and perfected Thus by Adam we have imputed sin with the guilt of it and inherent sin the effect of it Thirdly If this should be granted That we are only guilty by Adam's transgression and not inherently sinfull then it would follow that we had free-will to what is good that we are not dead in sinne That the natural man might perceive the things of God For by this opinion Though we are made guilty by Adam's transgression yet not inherently sinfull And thus while they avoid Pelagianism in one sense they are deeply plunged into it in another sense We must therefore necessarily conclude That original sin is more than guilt it denoteth also an inward contagion and defilement of soul SECT IV. IN the third place Adam's sinne imputed to us is not all our original sinne for this is also affirmed by many That Adam's actual transgression is made every mans sinne So that there is but that one original sinne common to all and every one that is born hath not a particular proper original sinne to himself This opinion they think is only able to withstand those strong Objections that are brought against the imputability of any thing inherent in us as truly and properly sinne while we are Infants and cannot put forth any acts of reason or will Yea hereby they say that intricate and perplexed discourse about the propagation of original sinne will be wholly needless so that they conclude on this opinion as labouring with the least inconveniencies and difficulties Their Assertion is That Adam 's actual sinne is made ours by imputation and that is all the original sinne we have an Infant new born having nothing in it that is truly and properly a sinne it hath they say many things that have rationem poenae but not culpae a proneness to sinne when it groweth up is not a sinne but a punishment it is the effect of original sinne not the sin it self Though this may seem specious and plausible yet this will not satisfie the Scripture expressions which besides that original imputed sinne doth plainly acknowledge an inherent one And First When we have plain Texts that do assert any Divine Truth we are ininseparably to adhere to that though the wit of man may raise up such subtil Objections that it may seem very difficult to answer them Is not this seen in the Doctrine of the Trinity of the eternal Deity of Christ of the Resurrection of the Body of Justification by Faith alone In all or most of these points heretical heads have raised up such a soggy mist before our eyes that sometimes it is hard to see the Sunne that should guide us And thus it is confessed That in maintaining of original inherent sinne as truly and properly a sinne there are some weighty difficulties but yet not such as should preponderate or weigh down clear Scripture And therefore Austin doth sometimes confess That though he were not able to answer all the Objections could be brought against this original defilement yet we were to adhere to the clear places of Scripture Hence it is that by Epistles he consulted with Hierom in this case acknowledging the many straits he was intangled in In the second place there are clear Texts of Scripture affirming this inward pollution in all and that as sinne for the Apostle in this discourse of his doth distinguish sinne and punishment yet both these he saith come by Adam's sinne If then by sinne were meant only punishment as some would have it then the Apostle in saying Death came by sinne should mean that God punished punishments with punishments for one punishment he should inflict another Thus whereas the Adversaries make it absurd that a sinne should be a punishment of a former sinne they fall into a greater absurdity making one
depriving us of all spiritual sense and feeling So that by it we are put into this sad perpiexity for none need or are bound more to bewail this sinne than an unregenerate man and yet he cannot send forth the least sigh and groan because of it So that hereby we have contracted such an unavoidable exigency upon us that we cannot turn our selves any way mourn and cry we must for this pollution yet mourn and cry we cannot because this is one inseparable effect of it to take away all tendernesse and mourning Hence the stony heart mentioned by Ezekiel Chap. 11. 18. is in a great measure original sinne Till therefore we are regenerated as we see in David Job and Paul we cannot truly mourn under it Lastly This is a work to do as long as we live Because it 's inseparable from our natures while we live in this world God indeed could in our life time wholly free us from it as well as at death but he lets these reliques continue that our tryumph at the Day of Judgement may be the greater Vivum captivum reservantur ad tryumphum Captives are preserved alive for the greater trymph And the rather God doth this that so even his very Pauls his most eminent and choicest servants may have matter of debasement within themselves and more earnestly groan for a day of Redemption A TREATISE OF Original Sin The Second Part. SHEWING VVhat ORIGINAL SINNE is AND How it is Communicated By Anthony Burgess ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed in the Year 1658. A TREATISE OF Original Sinne. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Name Old-man given to Original Sinne SECT I. ROM 6. 6. Knowing this that our Old-man is crucified with Christ c. IN the beginning of the Chapter the Apostle informeth us That no Gospel priviledges or Evangelical grace amplified to the highest may encourage to sinne for the Apostle maketh an Objection himself from the Doctrine he delivered If grace abound where sinne doth abound then why may not we sinne more that grace may abound more Thus there have alwayes been some who have turned bread into stones and fish into serpents making the grace of God to exclude our duty and a tender care against sinne But the Apostle as if blasphemy were in this Objection tryeth out God forbid You see with what indignation and detestation we should look upon all those Doctrines which under pretence of advancing Grace do cry down Duties and an holy life making it a legal and a servile thing Now the Apostle bringeth an Argument against indulgence in sinne notwithstanding Gods grace Because we are dead to it and then how can we live to it Would it not be a monstrous and an afrighting sight to see dead men come out of their graves to live and walk amongst us Thus also it ought to be no less wonderfull yea terrible to see a Christian give himself to any evil way And that we are dead to sinne he proveth by our Baptism concerning which he speaks admirable and sublime matter So that if we consider what great things are here spoken of it we may wonder to see how cold and rare our meditations are about it for he makes it to be that Sacrament in the right use whereof we put on Christ yea that thereby we are ingraffed and implanted into him Hence ver 5. he useth that word of being planted into him a metaphor from the Husbandman who by planting his Science into another stock doth thereby make it partake of the life or death of the Tree if the Tree liveth that liveth if the Tree dieth that dieth so it is with us and Christ By the phrase then is intended no more than our communion with and interest in Christ and that both in his death and his resurrection For you must know that the Scripture doth not only make Christs death and resurrection to be the cause of the death of our sins and of our spiritual resurrection to holiness but also makes them types and resemblances of such things in us That as Christ died in his passible body so we should die to sinne and as Christ after his death did rise again to glory and immortality thus we should rise out of sinne to walk in newness of life and both these are signified in Baptism 1. Our Communion with Christ in the efficacy of his death and resurrection 2. The Representation of this that what was corporally done to Christ should be spiritually fulfilled in us and therefore some think that the Apostle doth allude to that primitive Rite and Custom which was in baptizing when the baptized party was first put under the water for a little season which represented Christs burial and our death to sinne 2. There was the emersion or rising again out of the waters which signified Christs Resurrection and also our rising again to holiness and godliness This is the Summe of the Apostles discourse concerning Baptism in its sacramental signification which he amplifieth further in my Text and that as a reason why we should not live to sinne who were baptized into Christ viz. Because our Old man is crucified with Christ Both because Christ in being crucified did subdue thereby the dominion of sinne and also we are to do to the body of sinne within us what was done to Christs body to crucifie it and thereby to destroy it There is nothing more to be enquired into in the Text but what is meant by our Oldman They limit it too much that understand it only of the habit or acquired custom of sinne which we live in before Regeneration as Grotius seemeth to understand But we are to take it as both Popish and Protestant Commentators do interpret it for that vicious and corrupt nature which we all derive from Adam putting it self forth into several lusts and ungodly actions wherby there is an habituated inveterated custom at last in sin so that although we may understand lusts and actual impieties with long custom therin under the phrase of the Old man yet principally and chiefly we are to interpret it of that polluted nature we have from Adam and this will easily appear to be so if you consider the other two places where this expression is used Ephes 4. 22. That ye put off the Old man c. and that ye put on the New man Col. 3. 9 10. Ye have put off the Old man with his deeds and have put on the New man Where 1. You see the Old man is distinguished from the effects and deeds of it which are actual sins And then 2. Old man and New man are made two immediate opposites now the New man is plainly expressed by the Apostle what it is viz. not so much actual holiness as the Image of God repaired in us so that as the New man is the Image of God and that holy nature repaired in us so the Old man is the contrary to this viz. a deprivation of that Image of God and and an universal
inferior Judge God and the Scripture are superior to it so that when conscience prescribeth any thing and we come to know it is against Gods Word then we are to reject it as the inferior Magistrates command is made void when the superior doth countermand but while the practical dictate of conscience doth abide and we know not that God doth forbid it then we must not go against it and the reason is because it witnesseth to our apprehension with God and therefore to go against it though it may not be materially a sinne because in an error and in a delusion yet formally it is because we contemne God and his Authority over us The very Heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conscience is a God to every man It is true that Atheistical Writer lib de Cive As he doth most prophanely determine That it is a seditious opinion to hold faith and holiness are supernaturally infused and inspired so also to hold that to discern between good and bad just and unjust is a duty belonging to the conscience of private men in what they are to act What is this but to reach men Atheism by art and precepts As Logick and Philosophy are taught and doth it not condemne the whole Doctrine of the Gospel as being incompatible with obedience to Magistrates Seeing then that conscience is thus left in a man with so great power and authority seeing by it good is to be done and sinne avoided the pollution of it will be the more dreadfull and lamentable what hope is there of mans power to convert himself to God when the conscience is thus wasted by sinne If the watchman be blind if the witness be dumb if the judge be corrupted How can any saying reformation be upon us If the falt be unsavoury which is to season other things what is it good for but to be cast away this shipwrack of a good conscience which all made in Adam will undo us for ever were not grace interposing SECT II. A more particular Discovery of the Pollution of every Mans Conscience by Original Sinne. THe work next in order is to discover the pollution of every mans conscience by original sinne And First There is naturally a blindness and a veil upon it whereby it horribly misjudgeth and so deserveth the Prophets woe calling evil good and good evil light darkness and darkness light Take the conscience of an Heathen not inlightned by Gods Word and what darkness covereth the face of it how inthralled to Idols as if they were a god that could either damne of save yea the consciences of some Hereticks have had such Aegyptian darkness upon them that they have thought they have served God by doing most abominable and unnatural things Insomuch that had not some of the Ancients worthy of credit delivered such things about them we could never have believed that the conscience of a man could be so farre blinded as to think such things lawful much less a worship of God The Gnosticks taught That fornications and uncleaness were frequently to be exercised so as to avoid all conception and if a child did follow they would draw it from the womb beat it in a â—â—rter season it with honey and pepper and so eat it saying That in this manner they did celebrate the great Passover The Carpocratians also affirmed That every one was bound to commit sinne and that the soules were put into the bodies till they did fullfill the measure of their iniquities applying that in the parable to this purpose Thou shalt not go out till thou hast paid the last farthing So the Montonists made a sacrifice of the bloud of an infant a year old which they did with needles in a most cruel manner prick to death These also said That it was as great a sinne to pull a leaf off the tree as to kill a man The Donatists would throw themselves from steep mountaines and drown themselves in waters to make themselves Martyrs what horrid blindness was here upon their consciences It is true indeed these were not suddenly made thus abominable Therefore here was a voluntary contracted blindness upon their conscience and a judicial one inflicted upon them God giving them up to blindness yet had there not been such imbred error upon the conscience such natural blindness upon it it could never be improved to such height of impiety Oh then groan under this blindness that is naturally upon thy conscience That which should be the Pilot to guid the ship of thy soul and body to an eternal haven that knoweth no Compass beholdeth no Starre but being practically blinded carryeth thee to hell while thou art thinking thou art failing to heaven That which should be the rule to thy actions is all over crooked and perverted Thus every mans conscience is naturally in the dark and maketh us fall into every ditch because the blind leadeth us so that while the foundation is thus destroyed there is no hope either of conversion or salvation Thou that wallowest in thy sinnes thou that art upon the brinks of hell and yet rejoycest and makest thy self blessed Oh that thy conscience were inlightened Oh that the Lords candle within thee did give any light what a terrour and an amazement wouldst thou be to thy self thou art no better then a bruit till this conscience in thee is able to informe and direct thee Secondly Conscience is naturally polluted not only by the blindness but also by the senselessness and stupidity that is upon it This is the evil polluted conscience lying in every mans breast fast asleep so that though one sinne be committed after another Though lusts as so many thieves come to steal thy soul away yet this dog doth not so much as give one bark Doth not experience abundantly confirme this see you not most men going on in all evil and wickedness so that you would think they dare neither eat or drink or sleep lest so many Devils should come and carry them quick to hell yet they have a stupified conscience it never giveth them one blow or a check for it how cometh this serpent in thy breast to be thus benummed that it doth not give one hiss The expression you heard of an evil conscience was a feared one That is as some expound it a senseless hardened one like any part of the body that by burning is made insensible Others say That as a putrified part of the member of the body by incision is cut off so they say it 's a conscience cut off from a man that he hath none at all Others they allude thus it 's a conscience that is branded and noted by all whereby he is made infamous and a reproach where he liveth All these explications may well be taken in and although the Apostle speaketh there of some enormous wicked men more vile then ordinary yet as Paul Rom. 3. doth apply to all men by nature what the Psalmist had spoken of some
to say so But Austin answereth It 's therefore called two wils or therefore it is said to will and nill because it doth will sickly and faintly It 's not so throughly and totally carried out to God as it ought to be and this halting like that of Jacobs thigh will go with us to the grave Thus we are as weak men that are partly well and partly sick as the twy-light when it is partly light and partly darkness or as wine mingled with water not that in such a mixture we are able to say this part is water and the other part is meer wine So we must not think that in a regenerate man one part is meerly spiritual the other meerly carnal but the corruption in a man doth adhere to every part that is sanctified and therefore as the principle is mixed so are the actions which flow from it But it is time to hasten to the last Proposition which is ¶ 10. Of the Regenerates Freedome from the Dominion of sinne And whether it be by the Suppression of it or by the Abolishing part of it THat though original sinne be in a regenerate person yet it is not in its dominion there it is in part abolished For there are these things to be considered in this inbred defilement there is 1. The Guilt 2. The Dominion and both these are removed in a regenerate person 3. There is the sense or presence of it and that is not taken away but by death 4. Some adde the Root of it and that they say is not destroyed till the body be consumed to ashes For although it be true that death putteth an end to all sinne yet that must be understood of an ultimate and final death otherwise if it be a dispensatory death as it was to Lazarus and some others as that did not put a period to their bodily miseries when they lived again so neither did it to sinfulness in their souls But even Lazarus and such like persons raised upon a special economy were regenerated but in part and this conflict of flesh and Spirit was in them and so they needed to pray for forgiveness of sinne But though we must acknowledge that original sinne hath not the power in a godly man it once had All the difficulty is Whether it be by suppression of it onely or abolishing part of it and if original sinne be in part diminished How can the whole of it be propagated to the child Or why may not the last part of it be consumed in this life It may be this Question may be more subtil then profitable Scotus as Pererius alledgeth him in Rom. cap. 7. thinketh that in a godly man original sinne is not at all abated onely grace is every day augmented and so that cannot weigh us down as it did before As saith he if an Eagle should have any weight upon her but the strength of her wings be increased then though the weight were not diminished yet because her strength is increased it would not hinder her in flying But to answer this Question we must conclude that in regeneration original sinne is more then suppressed there is a qualitative change and so a diminishing of darknesse in the mind by light of evil in the will by holinesse So that the encreasing of these graces do necessarily argue the decreasing of original sinn And For this purpose the Scripture useth those termes of crucifying and mortifying onely when we say original sinne is diminished You must not understand it hath quantative parts as if they were cut off by degrees but potestative that is the power and efficacy of original sinne is not so lively so vehement as it was once yet where it is thus weakned a regenerate person begetteth a sonne in an unregenerate estate because he is the sonne of Adam fallen and is not a father as he is godly but as he is a man Now though it doth thus tenaciously adhere unto us yet death will give it a final and full blow not death meerly as it is a dissolution in a natural way so that Castellio doth absurdly endeavour to perplex this Doctrine with curious interrogatories but as the nature of it is altered by Christ the Spirit of God putting forth its greatest efficacy at that time Yea though a godly man should be so overcome by a disease that he were not able to act faith in Christ at that time for the utter subduing of sinne in him yet his faith formerly put forth on Christ for that purpose and the promise of God at that time will effectually conquer all This being so how ought the godly gladly to submit to death The terrible vizour of it is now taken away No vain thoughts no wordly or distempered affections shall ever molest thee more It is not death to thee but to thy sinne It is not a death to thy graces and comforts but to thy corruptions Miseria non home moritur said the Martyr when he was to die It is misery not man that dieth CHAP. IV. Of Death coming upon all men as another Effect of Original Sinne. SECT I. The Text explained 1 COR. 15. 22. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive THe chief scope of the Apostle in this Chapter as was formerly declared from the 49th verse is to establish that fundamental and necessary Article of the Resurrection of the dead which because of the incredibility of it to meer humane reason was much derided by the Heatheus and Paul for the preaching thereof was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 17. 18. A trifling babler Hence because of the difficulty to receive this truth Synesius was ordained Bishop though as yet not perswaded of the Doctrine which afterwards by the grace of God towards him he did acknowledge Yea it 's observed That the Philosophers when made Christians received this as the last Article of their Christian faith because so contrary to those Philosophical principles they had been accustomed unto The Sadduces also denied this main Article but they might be supposed to do it upon corrupt grounds futable to their lusts for being though not so numerous nor so applauded for piety by the people as the Pharisees were yet for the most part the richest and most wealthy they imbraced that opinion which denied the Resurrection as being more convenient for their carnal hearts and that they might with more delight and security give themselves up to this present world But the Apostle doth here most industriously and powerfully confirm this Doctrine which if not true all our Christian Religion would be in vain The principal Argument to prove this Doctrine is from the Resurrection of Christ For the rising as our Head it necessarily followeth his members should also rise to such glory and immortality So that Christs Resurrection doth necessarily inferre outs which made the primitive Christians so affected with it that in their ordianry salutations whenmeeting with one another they did use to
which would have redounded to the dishonour of God his maker neither could it so well be said By one man or by the Devil death came into the world as by God who is supposed to make man in such a mortal and frail estate But I proceed to a second Argument and that may be drawn from the commination made by God to Adam upon his disobedience compared with the execution of this sentence afterward which might be enough to convince any though never so refractory The threatning to Adam we have recorded Gen. 2. 17. where God prohibiting him to eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil confirmeth this Law with a penalty viz. That in the day he did eat thereof he should surely die dying thou shalt die The gemination is to shew the certainty as also the continuance or it So that Socinus and others who would not understand corporal death in this place as being from the natural constitution of a man and so would have been had there not been this commination doth joyn too much with the Devil in this business for his endeavour was to perswade the woman that this threatning was false and that she should not die death should not be the punishment of her transgression But what need we any clearer place then this divine commination Doth not this necessarily suppose that if Adam had not transgressed he should not have died and so by consequence have been immortal it being not possible for death to come in at any other door but that of sinne To threaten a mortal man with mortality had been absurd or to make his natral condition a punishment for then it would have been a punishment to be made a man if made mortal The Socinians therefore to elude this would not understand by death the separation of the soul and body but eternal death or as they say at other times a necessity of dying but a necessary death and eternal death are absurdly made parallel by them For beasts are under a necessity of death yet cannot be said to partake of eternal death especially the godly they cannot but die yet they are absolutely delivered from eternal death We must therefore take death for corporal death not but that the death of the soul by sinne here and eternal separation from God hereafter is to be included herein yet this temporal death is also a great part of the penalty here threatned which may be evinced by these three reasons 1. Moses is relating in an historical manner what was done to man in the beginning Now in an historical Narration we are not to go from the literal meaning unless evident necessity compel much lesse may we do so here when we have the Apostle acted by the same Spirit of God as Moses was in being Penman of the Scripture attributing our corporal death to Adam For no doubt when Paul wrote this Text In Adam we all die he had this historical relation made by Moses in his mind 2. The sentence and execution of it must be understood in the same manner Now it 's plain that in the execution of it mentioned Chap. 3. 19. corporal death is meant because Adam is thus told That dust he was and unto dust he should return 3. It must be meant of temporal death because this alone and not eternal death doth belong to all mankind For although at the day of judgement it is said some shall not die yet that suddain change made then upon them will be equivalent to death Thus you see the threatning made to Adam at first doth abundantly confirm this truth There is one doubt only to be answered If death be meant in that sentence how then is it that Adam did not immediately die How is it that he lived many hundred years afterwards To this some say That the restriction of time viz. the day is not to be made to the time of eating as if at that day he should die but to death as if the sense were thou shalt die one day or other thou shalt be in daily fear of death But if this be disliked then we may understand it of a state of death that day he did eat thereof he became mortal for every day is a diminution of our life As a man that hath received a deadly wound we say he is a dead man because though he did linger it out yet all is in a tendency unto death Now this will appear the more cogent if you take notice of the execution of this sentence mentioned Gen. 3. 17 18 19. where the ground is cursed and man also adjudged to labour and wearness all the dayes of his life even till he return to the ground out of which he was made But here the Socinian thinketh he hath an evasion Death saith he is not here made a curse but only it 's the term how long mans curse shall be upon him It is not poena but terminus saith he for it is said he should be under this labour till he did return to the ground but if we consider the sentence before-mentioned it is plain it is a curse So that in this place it is both a curse and a terme putting an end to all the temporal miseries of this life though to the wicked it is the beginning of eternal torments ¶ 3. THe third Argument for our mortality and also actual death by original sinne is taken from those assertory places which do in expresse words say so Not to mention my sext which hath said enough to this truth already We may take notice of other places affirming this And certainly that passage of Pauls Rom. 5 12. may presently come into every mans mind By one man sin entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned It is true we told you Calvin maketh the Apostle to speak of spiritual death here as in my Text of temporal death which the coherence also doth confirm but though that be principally intended yet not totally Even temporal death is likewise to be understood as being the beginning and introduction to eternal death if the grace of God doth not prevent We have then the Apostle attributing death not to mans creation at first but to his disobedience Neither is this death upon men because of their actual sinnes but because of Adam's disobedience by whom we are made sinners yea in whom we have sinned That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is diversly translated and much contention about it viz. whether it should be rendred in whom or causally for as much It is true the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as learned men observe is used in the New Testament variously sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 5. 5. sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 10. 9. sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 3. 16. and otherwise but for ought I can observe it may very well be understood for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mark
a metaphysical manner have abstracted thoughts of man neither considering him as good or evil in which sense it is disputed between Junius and Arminius whether man in his meer naturals or in a common consideration as man neither looked upon as good or evil be the object of predestination but if we speak of existency then there never was or will be a man but either must be a good tree or bad for in such a susceptive subject one of the immediate contraryes must needs inexist Secondly The Scripture speaketh of mans condition since Adam's fall as a state of privation not negation When David confessed he was born in sinne Credo saith learned Davenant on Col. cap. 2. 2. hac verba non ferent commentum Jesuiticum in pur is naturalibus conceptus sum c. for the Word of God describeth us as blinded in our mind that we are dead in sinne that we have a stony heart all which argue that we have only impure naturals Thirdly To hold death diseases and soul miseries such as grief ignorance difficulty to do good c. consequentiall of nature is to attribute cruelty and injustice to God This Austin of old urged the Pelagians with How can an Infant new born be exposed to such miseries if there be no sinne deserving of it What God may do to an innocent creature how farre he may afflict him per modum simplicis cruciatus though not poenae by his sovereign dominion is not here to be disputed It is certain all these miseries of mankind are by the Scripture attributed to sinne and shall we have such hard thoughts of God that the world shall be full of miseries before sinne 4. Man as he is a man hath an inward desire to be happy and God onely can be the happiness of a rational soul There is by nature an imbred desire to an ultimate end and therefore that God at first planted in man such an appetite vouchsafed him also a power to obtain this end So that as we cannot conceive a man made at first without an inclination to this happiness so neither without inherent qualifications that would dispose him thereunto and this maketh any such state of pure naturals to be an impossible thing for then God would not be the ultimate end of such a man And whereas the Schoolmen have brought in a distinction of finis naturalis and supernaturalis of amor naturalis and supernaturalis that God is the natural end but not supernatural that he may be loved with a natural love or supernatural These are meer cobwebs and niceties for God is the ultimate end of man from his creation and as the creatures were made for man so man for God neither can man love God but by the help of Gods Spirit even Adam in his integrity was inabled to love God by his grace assisting of him and he that doth not love God upon such motives as the Scripture requireth sinneth and so this amor naturalis is no more than a sinne it is cupiditas not charitas it is not a loving of God as he ought to be loved Lastly This opinion of a third estate of meer naturals between holiness and sinne must necessarily infer a third place after death that is neither heaven or hell For I would ask this Writer whether one dying in his nature doth go to Heaven he cannot for he hath no holiness to hell he cannot because he hath no sin This puzzleth him exceedingly Furth Explic. p. 471. for though he is favourable to that opinion of a third place yet he dare not determine of any such thing To be sure the Scripture is clear enough that there are only two places after a mans death that are our receptacles either heaven or hell This may suffice to inform our judgements herein Let us hear something from this that may affect our hearts for more is to be spoken to this point in the ensuing Discourse Is all mankind thus sentenced to death Are we as so many dead corpse This should humble us and make us low in our eyes though a rich man though a great man yet a mortal man Xerxes that potent King looking from an high hill upon his numerous Army fell a weeping while he thought that within an hundred years there would not be one of them left Oh saith Hicrom in allusion to this that we could get up into some high Tower and behold all the Kingdoms and Nations in the world with every Inhabitant therin and then consider that within a short time there will not be one left Mankind runneth in a torrent one generation passeth away and another succeedeth yet how do these Ants busie themselves upon the earth as if they were immortal As men in a ship whether they sit or stand they are still drawing nigh to the haven Thus it is with us whether eating drinking buying or selling we are hastening to the grave Hence In the second place prepare and provide for death happy is that man upon whom it may be said he doth patienter vivere delectabiliter mori live patiently but die with delight Think every day yea hour that is said to thee which was to Hezekiah Set thy house and much more thy soul in order for thou shalt die and not live for though we die yet our sins nor our good and holy works die not but will go to the grave with us will go to hell or to Heaven with us CHAP. V. Eternal Damnation another Effect of Original Sinne. SECT I. What is meant by Wrath in this Text. EPHES. 2. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath as well as others AS I began this Subject of original sinne with the Text in hand so I shall conclude with it My purpose in re-assuming of it is to treat of the last and most dreadfull effect of our native pollution which is The desert of everlasting damnation From this alone had we no actual sins we are made heirs of Gods wrath as this verse doth fully evince I shall not insist upon the Coherence and Explication of the words that work is done already I shall only adde some observable particulars that were not formerly taken notice of and that will be done in answering of two Questions 1. What is meant by wrath here And 2. What is meant by nature For the first no doubt we are to mean Gods wrath Therefore Tertullian's Exposition of this place is singular and much forced he understands wrath here subjectively as if it were mans wrath making the sense to be We are all by nature subject to passions especially that of anger is predominant When it is said Lib. 3. de anima cap. 16. saith he that we were by nature the children of wrath â—rationale indignativum suggillat c. he reproveth that irrational anger we are subject to which is not nature as it cometh from God but of that which the Devil hath brought in Tertullian affirming these three parts or powers of the
hath made thee a child of such special favour and mercy SECT IX Of the state of Infants that die in their Infancy before they are capable of any Actual Transgressions and that die before Baptisme THe next particular in order to be treated upon is concerning the state of those Infants who die in their Infancy before they are capable of any actual transgression These having only original sinne upon them what may we conclude about their final estate for we will take for granted that the Doctrine of the Lutherans is to be exploded who hold that Infants have actual sinnes and that some do partake of actual grace this is repugnant to reason and experience Now to proceed more orderly in this point we are to take notice of these ensuing particulars First That it is one thing to be a child of wrath by nature and another thing to be reprobated for ever by God never to be admitted into his favour When the Apostle calleth us children of wrath the meaning is not as if there were a final and total rejection from all grace for then the meaning would be that all men are damned which is manifestly contradicted by many places in Scripture Though therefore all Infants are by nature the children of wrath yet all are not reprobated though all deserve to be damned yet all are not actually damned Secondly We are to know that those who hold some Infants dying in their original sinne to be damned do yet acknowledge that it is as Austin calleth it mitissima omnium poena the mildest of all punishments because they have no actual sinnes joyned with their original to encrease the torments of hell It is true we told you original sinne in the nature of it is very great and hainous even so great that none are able to express the loathsomness thereof yet because it hath this diminishing circumstance that it is not voluntary personally in an Infant therefore we may conclude that they have lesser torments in hell then Adult persons For that there are degrees of torments in hell some punished more extreamly then others is acknowledged by all though some learned men question whether there be any degrees of glory in heaven Thirdly As for the Doctrine of the learned about the state of Infants dying in their Infancy there are several opinions Some hold that all Infants dying so whether in the Church or out of the Church whether of believing or unbelieving parents are saved They think this opinion doth most suit with the goodness and mercy of God of this opinion are not only the Heterodox Doctors but even learned Junius in his answer to Puccius Zuinglius also is alledged for this Others they make a distinction of Infants dying in their Infancy For either they die without Baptisme or with Baptisme if without Baptisme then they conclude of their damnation and in this rigid way Austin went and many follow him yea Austin thought that if they died without the Sacrament of the Lords Supper also for at that age it was generally held that both the Sacraments were necessary to salvation and therefore both to be applyed to Infants But then for these Infants who die partakers of Baptisme they concluded undoubtedly of their salvation this being their Doctrine that Baptisme doth wash away original sinne The Papists they all agreeing in this likewise that Baptism is necessary necessitate medii to salvation either really or in voto in desire and because an Infant dying without Baptisme cannot have a desire thereunto Hence they conclude of eternal death as a punishment unto such yet Elisius a Papist in his piorum clypeus c. Quest 10. Art 3. is very bold saying that opinion which many Divines and the Church holdeth concerning the state of Infants dying without Baptisme according to the ordinary law est saâ—â—dura onerosa is very hard and burdensome and not conformable to the precepts of Christ which are sweet and easy and therefore he alledgeth Gerson and Cajetan for this opinion which he is so farre from judging heretical that he calls it pietati conformis but generally the Papists go otherwise But then they differ amongst themselves Some of them as Catharinus place Infants so dying in a terrestrial Paradise where they have a natural though not a supernatural happiness Opus de statu parv Others make their condition more miserable viz. that they have the privative part of eternal death though not the positive they have the poena damni the punishment of loss though not of sense they are shut out from enjoying God but yet they say this will not work any sorrow in them because they know that they were not in a capacity for enjoying the face of God as say they a Country Peasant is not grieved because he is not a King because he never was in any probability for such a dignity But as a Popish Writer Flor. Conrius Archip. Thuani observeth confuting his own party and rigidly following Austin in a Tractate joyned to Jansenius his Works These Infants saith he knowing that they are shut from the face of God must needs be exceedingly grieved because in Adam they had a capacity to enjoy God even as a poor man may mourn that he is not a King when his ancestors had a right to it but sinfully lost it and this is the case of all Infants so that it is a meer figment that many Papists have to make an half hell and a semi-damnation as if we might be deprived of Gods favour and not be positively damned It is true here also the Papists are divided Bellarmine maketh five divers opinions concerning the state of dying Infants and he joyneth with those that hold they have inward sorrow in that eternal death but yet not so great as to be called hell fire or the worm of conscience For this end they write and speak so much of a limbus Infantum a border or fringe as it were in hell where Infants are all disposed being without the Vision of God yet not tormented with boddy pain but there is no Scripture for such a place and therefore we leave this limbus to these limbatis pontificiis who love to enlarge their limbos and simbrias as one saith Lastly There are others and they distinguish of Infants dying either they are such as are within the Covenant and are of believing parents and of such they conclude their salvation for they look upon their federation as an external sign of their election but then for all such as die without the Covenant the children of Pagans they say that by the Scripture they cannot conclude of any hope of salvation for them Thus you see into how many divers wayes they go who handle this Question I might adde another opinion mentioned by Vorstius Anti Bellar. in Quâ—rt Tom. Censur ad Thes Duodes of some who affirm Infants do wholly perish as beasts but saith he these are not to be accounted inter Evangelicos amongst the Evangelical Churches
Conversion Mr Hezekiah Woodward Of Education of Youth or The Childs Patrimony The Lives and Acts of the good and bad Kings of Judah A Treatise of Fear A-Thank-offering Mr Samuel Fisher A Love-Token for Mourners being two Funeral Sermons with Meditations preparatory to his own expected Death in a time and place of great Mortality Mr Herbert Palmer and Mr Daniel Cawdry A Treatise of the Sabbath in 4 parts Memorials of Godliness and Christianity in seven Treatises 1. Of making Religion ones Business With an Appendix applied to the Calling of a Minister 2. The Character of a Christian in Paradoxes 3. The Character of visible Godliness 4. Considerations to excite to Watchfulness and to shake of spiritual Drowsiness 5. Remedies against Carelesness 6. The Soul of Fasting 7. Brief Rules for daily Conversation and particular Directions for the Lords-day His Sermon entituled The Glass of Gods Providence toward his faithfull ones His Sermon entituled The duty and Honours of Church-Rest Mr William Barton His Psalms His Catalogue of Sins and Duties implied in each Commandement in verse Mr Vicars Chronicle in four parts Mr Samuel Clark A generall Martyrology or A History of all the great Persecutions that have been in the world to this time Together with the Lives of many eminent Modern Divines His Sermon at the Warwickshire mens Feast entituled Christian God fellowship Mr Kings Marriage of the Lamb. Mr Shorts Theological Poems The French Alphabet Jus Divinum Ministerii by the Provincial-Assemly of London Mr Thomas Blake His Answer to Blackwood of Baptism Birth-Priviledge Mr Cook His Font uncovered Dr John Wallis His explanation of the Assemblies Catechism 〈◊〉 Austin's Catechism 〈◊〉 Vicar's Catechism Mr Pagit's Defence of Church-Government by Presbyterial Classical and Synodal Assemblies Mr Tho Paget A Demonstration of Family-Duties Mr Anthony Burgess Vindiciae Legis or A Vindication of the Law and Covenants from the Errors of Papists Socinians and Antinomians A Treatise of Justification in two Parts Spiritual Refining Part 1. or A Treatise of Grace and Assurance Handâ—ling the Doctrine of Assurance the Use of Signs in Self examination how true Graces may be distinguished from counterfeit several true Signs of Grace and many false ones The Nature of Grace under divers Scripture Notions viz. Regeneration the New Creature the Heart of Flesh Vocation Sanctification c. Spiritual Refining the Second Part or A Treatise of Sinne with its Causes Differences Mitigations and Aggravations specially of the Deceitfulness of the Heart of Presumptious and Reigning Sinnes and of Hypocrisie and Formality in Religion All tending to unmask Counterfeit Christians Terrifie the ungodly Comfort doubting Saints Humble man and Exalt the Grace of God His CXLV Sermons upon the whole 17th Chapter of St John being Christs Prayer before his Passion The Difficulty of and Encourageâ—â—â—â— to Reformation a Sermon upon Mark. 1. vers 2 4. before the House of Commons A Sermon before the Court Marshal Psal 106 30 31. The Magistrates Commission upon Rom. 13. 4. at the Election of a Lord Maior Romes Cruelty and Apostasie upon Revel 19. 2. preached before the House of Commons on the 5th of November The Reformation of the Church to be endeavoured more then the Commonwealth upon Judg. 6. 27. 28 29. preached before the House of Lords Publique Affections pressed upon Numb 11. 12. before the House of Commons Self judging in order to the Sacrament with a Sermon of the Day of Judgment A Treatise of Original Sinne. Mr Richard Baxter Plain Scripture-proof of Infant Baptism The Right Method for getting and keeping Spiritual Peace and Comfort The unreasonableness of Infidelity in four Parts 1. The Spirits Intrinsick witness to the truth of Christianity with a Determination of this Question Whether the Miracles of Christ and hic Apostles do oblige those to believe who never saw them 2. The Spirits Internal witness of the truth of Christianity 3. A Treatise of the Sin against the holy Ghost 4. The Arrogancy of Reason against Divine Revelation repressed The Christian-Concord or The Agreement of the Associated Ministers of Worcestershire with Mr Baxters Explication of it A Defence of the Worcestershire Petition for the Ministry and Maintenace The Quakers Catechism An Apology against Mr Blake Dr Kendal Mr Lodovicus Molineus Mr Aires and Mr Crandon His Confession of Faith The Saints Everlasting Rest The safe Religion a piece against Popery Hiâ—â—â—esent Thoughts about Perseveran◠〈…〉 Practice of Godliness Mr Langly His Catechiâ—◠〈…〉 A Treatise 〈…〉 Dr Teate His 〈…〉 at the Funeral of Sr. Charles Cooâ— Mr Dury The desires of forrain Divines of a Body of Divinity from English Divines with an Essay of a Modell Ford. Three common mistakes about the work of Grace Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Doct. Observ Obj Answ Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Origen and Plato's opinion The Jews Some Papists Arg. 3. Arg. 4. Arg. 5. Argum. 6. It 's covered over with the veil of Blindness Vid. Cerd iâ— Tert. de presc II. With Senslesness and Stupidity Superiour objects 1. God 3. The Scripture 4. The works of God 1. Sinne past 2. Examples of others 3. The former work of Gods Spirit upon us 4. Our end and the day of Judgement 5. The afflictions of others 〈…〉 Apol. Confes c. de Trin. Propos 2. Quest Answ Prop. 4. Prop. 1. Cathol Refor Controv. 4. Cap. 1. Exam. Concil Trid. de fide Justific Prop. 2. Sex sessiois Antidot Prop. 3. Prop. 4. Prop. 5. Prop. 6. Spalat de Repub. Eccl. lib. 7. cap 11. Vindic. Grat. lib. 1. pars tertia vol. Mai. pag. 218. Prop. 7. Prop. 8. Aphorismes of Justification pag. 300.