Conclusion from the former Discourse Some have read the words preceptively as if the sense were As we have born the Image of the first Adam so let us bear the Image of the heavenly But the most solid Interpreters read it affirmatively as in the Text we render it and this seemeth to be more consonant because the Apostle is still in the Didactical and Doctrinal point about our Resurrection The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for the and so better translated illatively Therefore The Text then affirmeth two things 1. That all bear the Image of Adam who came from him 2. Those who are of Christ shall bear his Image Having therefore treated of original sin the Quod sit and the Quid sit we come to that which is deservedly thought the most difficult and hard to conceive and explain in this point Which is the manner of propagating it and this shal be soberly and modestly discussed out of these words For from the 45th verse Austin takes an occasion to dispute as Paraeus relateth about the souls traduction from Adam as well as the body Although to speak the truth that which is principally and apparently affirmed by the Apostle here is That we have mortal bodies propagated to us from Adam which is easier to conceive of then to have also sinfull souls from him yet because the Text speaketh of Adam's Image in us and that doth necessarilly suppose a sinfull soul as well as a mortal body We shall therefore declare the truth as of them conjoyned together Observe That all who come of Adam do thereby bear his Image Our natural descension from him maketh us to be wholly like him when he was corrupted That as those who are of Christ are renewed after his Image in righteousness and true holiness so all of Adam are corrupted in sin and ungodliness SECT IV. WHat this Image is you have heard already at large our main work is to examine How we come to be made partakers of it Yet it is good summarily to say something of this Image of Adams we all bear about with us And First Man who was not only made after the Image of God Gen. 1. 26. but is said absolutely to be the Image of God 1. Cor. 11. 7. by his apostasie became not only like the beasts that perish but also like the Devils that are damned Insomuch that now this glorious Image of God being defaced If you ask Whose Image and Superscription he beareth We answer of corrupted sinfull and mortal Adam an Image we are to be ashamed of and to mourn under all the dayes of our life Who can look upon man but may behold sinne and misery folly and mortality Now this Image of the first Adam comprehended the things of the soul and the body In the body we have pains diseases and a necessity of death at last In the soul there is horrible blackness and confusion upon it that as devils are represented in the most horrid and black manner that can be such things are our souls now become Although therefore the Text speaketh of Adam's Image in the bodily part that we are thereby corruptible and mortal and so need a Resurrection to make us happy yet I shall chiefly speak of this Image in the soul as it is infected and polluted with sinne from him This is the Image we bear but there is exceeding great comfort to the godly that they being in Christ the second Adam they shall be made perfectly conformable to him they shall bear that heavenly Image and at last shall have no cause to complain that their souls are bowed down with sinfull earthly and heavy affections weighing us down to the ground were it not for hope of this at our Resurrection the Doctrine about Adam's fall and our hurt thereby would utterly discourage us but there is a second Adam as well as a first if he had been the first and last too that no Adam would have answered him in the way of righteousness and life as he was in the way of sinne and death nothing but horrour and damnation could have taken hold of us Let us be more deeply affected with the first Adam and so shall we come more highly to prize and esteem the second Adam Secondly Adam 's Image as it is sinfull in the general is not only born by us but there seemeth to be a stamp and impression upon us of those very sins he committed As those women who have inordinate desire after some things do sometimes leave marks and impressions thereof upon the body Thus it is spiritually Those very sins which Adam particularly committed in eating the forbidden fruit all men seem most universally to incline unto As 1. A curiosity and affectation of knowing that which is not to be known An inordinate desire was in Eve to eat of the Tree of knowledge because the Devil told her It would make her wise therefore she must eat of it And is not this a very natural sinne in all a curiosity in knowledge Do not all desire to eat of the Tree of knowledge but few of the Tree of life especially Scholars and such who are busied in learning What an incurable itch is there to be wise above Scripture and to know such things God hath hidden And this is a good Item to us to content our selves with sobriety in questioning How Adam's sinne can be ours How the soul can come to be polluted To desire to know this is like the eating of the forbidden fruit While thou art thus curious remember Adam's sinne that thou art acting it while thou enquirest how we are guilty of it A second thing remarkable in the first sinne was Their mincing about the word of God yea plainly lying that God had said they should not touch it which though some say is put for eating Others that Eve did say so for caution sake Whence Ambrose hath a good saying Nihil quod bonum videtur c. we must adde nothing to Gods precept though it seem very good and make much for godliness yet others make Eve plainly to lie and so to accuse God as if he envied them further knowledge Now this sinne of lying how natural is it We see it in children before they can move their feet to go their tongues can stir to lie as if they had been taught they are so subtil in it 3. Adam did excuse and cover his sinne as much as may be putting it off from himself to others and herein also we have a natural resemblance of him for how prone are we to clear our selves to lay the fault any where rather than on our selves Thus we bear Adam's Image CHAP. XXIII The various Opinions Objections and Doubts about the manner how the Soul comes to be polluted SECT I. THe next work is to consider of the manner how we come to bear this Image As for the body to have a mortal and a corruptible one from Adam is easily to be conceived because the body
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
from Paradise lest he should eat of that tree For it was just that he who had incurred the sentence of death by his transgression should be deprived of all the signs of life and symbols of Gods favour Furthermore this tree of life was not it self immortal Would that alwayes have continued Was not that subject to alterations as well as other trees How then can mans immortality be attributed to that Seeing then there is so much uncertainty amongst Schoolmen upon what to place Adam's immortality the Orthodox do consonantly to Scripture put it upon these things concurring as causes to preserve him from death The first is That excellent constitution and harmony of his body whereby there could not be any humour peccant or excessive So that from within there would not have sprung any disease And although in Adam's eating and drinking being nourished thereby there would necessarily have been some alteration in him by deperdition and restauration which is in all nourishment yet that would have been in part onely not so as to make any total change upon his body 2. The second cause was That original righteousnesse which God made him in For seeing sinne only is the meritorious cause of death while Adam was thus holy and absolutely free from all sinne death had no way to enter in upon the body 3. There was the providence of God in a special manner preserving of him so that death could not come by any extrinsecal cause upon him No doubt but Adam's body was vulnerable a sword if thrust into his heart would have taken away his life but such was the peculiar providence of God to him in that condition that no evil or hurtfull thing could befall him Lastly and above all Gods appointment and divine ordination was the main and chief cause of his immortality For if the Scripture say Deut. 8. 3. in the general That man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that cometh from the mouth of the Lord then this was also true in Adam And if we read of Elias that he went fourty dayes in the strength of a little bread that he did eat Is it any wonder that the appointment of God should work such immunity from death in Adam Whereas then there are three things about death considerable the potentia or power the actus or death it self and the necessity Adam was free from all these unlesse by power we mean a remote power for if he had not had this power of dying then he could not have fallen into the necessity of death Thus you see the excellent constitution of his body original righteousness a divine providence and Gods order and decree therein did sufficiently preserve Adam not only from actual death or the necessity of death or death as a punishment but also from any disposition or habitual principle within him of death and it may be from this state of immortality Adam was created The Poets by 〈◊〉 obscure tradition had their figments of some meats and drinks which made men immortal as their Nectar called so say some because when drunk did make them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 young again or as others from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that which did not suffer them to die There was also their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as sine mortalitate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is mortalis They had also their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luctus because it did expell all sorrow and grief But to be sure when we compare our mortal sinfull and wretched estate we are in with this glorious estate of Adams What cause have we to humble our selves to see the sad change that is now come upon us By this we may see how odious that first transgression was unto God that for the guilt thereof hath made this world to be a valley of tears to be like a great Hospital of diseased and miserable men SECT III. Arguments to prove that through Adam's sinne we are made sinners and so mortal ¶ 1. LEt us proceed to prove our Doctrine That through Adam sinning we are made sinners and so mortal which necessarily supposeth that Adam was made immortal and that death had nothing to do with mankind till sinne came into the world The first Argument is From that glorious condition Adam was made in and also the excellent end he was created for All which would have been horribly obscured if death or mortality had then been present The fears and thoughts of death are a bitter herb in the sweetest dish that is when of any comfort we have we may say as the young Prophets to their master there is mors in ella death in the pot death in this or that mercy thou enjoyest this doth greatly abate our delight Therefore we read of one of the Kings of France a Lewis that forbad all those who attended him ever to make any mention of death in his ears that prophane man thought such a speech would damp his delights Seeing then Gods purpose was to make a man such an excellent and blessed creature can we think he was made mortal and that it might have been said to him This night thy soul shall be taken away and then whose shall this Paradise and all these goodly enjoyments be It is the Scriptures designe to aggravate the goodness of God towards man and to shew the excellency and honour God put upon him Whereas the Socinians directly oppose this purpose of Gods Spirit and would make man as miserable as may be Hence they say he was created like a meer innocent that he had not much more knowledge than an Infant that he had no original righteousness that he was made mortal Yea Socinus Resp. ad Puc cap 14 pag. 106. cavils at the explication of that place Genes 2. 8. which is owned by all Interpreters about the garden in Eden which God placed Adam in he would not have any such place of pleasure or delight understood thereby But although the word may be retained as a proper name Eden for so our English Translators do yet because it cometh of a word that signifieth to delight Gen. 18. 12. The Church of God hath alwayes intepreted it of a place of delight yea that Heaven is called Paradise allusively thereunto and therefore it 's horrible impudency in Socinus to say that place was not called Eden when God planted it at first but in following ages it received that appellation Thus whereas the Psalmist doth admire the goodness of God for the honour put upon man at the Creation This Heretique laboureth to debase and diminish it as much as may be ¶ 2. ANd if Adam had been made so righteous and glorious yet subject to death he would have been like that building Paul supposeth 1 Cor. 3. Whose foundation was of gold and precious stones but the superstructure hay and stubble Or like Nebuchadnezzar's Image which was partly of gold with other additaments and partly of clay all
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
and thereby avoid the temptation to be transported by curious and unnecessary Questions but above all this will prepare to exalt Christ in his Mediatory Office This will be the foundation to build the free and unsearchable riches of Gods grace upon Insomuch that the whole summe of Religion doth consist in the cause of the first and second Adam I shall trouble thee no further only my desire is That the Reader would pass by candidly the Errata he will often meet with in the printing by reason of my distance from the Press as also the mispointings which many times obscure the sense Now the Father of Spirits mould and fashion our hearts according as every divine Truth requireth and make us to gather and hive up Honey from every Flower in his Garden that so our Christianity may not be speculative and from Books only but experimental and savourily affecting the heart which only bringeth hope of eternal life is the prayer of Thine in Christ Jesus ANTHONY BURGESSE Sutton Coldfield Aug. 19. 1658. To the Reader AS for making the Table and prefixing the Contents before the Chapters Sections and Paragraphs of this Book the Reverend Author committed that task to a Friend who desireth the Reader to pardon any failings that he shall discover in them ERRATA PAg. 62. l. 24. for Gnanon r Gnavon p. 68. l. 36. for strictly for r. strictlyâ— largely for p. 69. l. 26. for quantum libet praeferimus r. quantumlibet profecimus l. 27. for cogitate r. cogitata p. 71. l. 40. for because r. â—e because p. 72. l. 18. for are r. were p. 73. l. 14. for reservantur r. reservatur p. 80. l. 13. for ad r. and. p. 82. l. 31. for vorti cordis r. vorticordis p. 85. for coactivum r. coactivam p. 88. l. 27. for Echineips r Echineis p. 92. l. 30. for balbutiri r. balbutire l. 34. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 94. l. 41. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 45. dele to p. 95. l. 16. for is r. it is p. 97. l. 10. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 107. l. 10. for outward r. outwardly p. 121. l. 28. for 〈◊〉 r. ne p. 122. l. 6. for fabula r. tabula l. 8. for imitation r. mutation p. 219. l. 32. for Monasterii Anabaptis r. â—unster Anabaptists p. 221. l. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 225. l. 12. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 286. l. 27. for rei r. 〈◊〉 p. 307. l. 34. for thereby r. there The Analysis of this Book This Treatise of Original Sinne shews 1. That it is by pregnant Texts vindicated from false Glosses 2. What it is both Name especially the Scripture names Thing Privative and Positive 3. How it comes to be communicated with a consideration of the original of the Soul 4. It s Subject of Inhesion General the whole man In particular The Mind Conscience Memory Will. Affections Imagination Body Predication Every one Christ excepted 5. Its Qualities or Adjuncts The greatnesse Of Adam's Actual transgression which is our original imputed sinne Of our Original Sinne inherent in us The Propriety in every one The Activity The Equality in all A Justification of Gods shutting up all under sinne for the sin of Adam 6. The Immediate Effects of it Propensity to Sinne. The Cause of all Actual sins The Combate between the flesh and Spirit in the godly Death Eternal Damnation THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK PART I. PRoving the total and universal Pollution of all Mankind inherently through Sinne. CHAP. I. The first Text to prove Original Sinne improved and vindicated viz. Ephes 2. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath as well as others CHAP. II. Of the Name Original Sinne and of the Utility and Necessity of being clearly and powerfully informed about this Subject CHAP. III. Demonstrations of the Naturality of this sinne that we have it by Natural Propagation CHAP. IV. Objections against the Naturality of Original Sinne answered CHAP. V. A second Text to prove Original Sinne opened and vindicated viz. Rom. 5. 19. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners c. CHAP. VI. Whether we are sinners by Natural Propagation or by Imitation CHAP. VII Of the Souls inward filth and defilement by Original Sinne. CHAP. VIII That the inward Contagion that we have from Adam's Disobedience is truly and properly a sinne CHAP. IX Objections Answered CHAP. X. A third Text to make good this Fundamental Point improved and vindicated viz. Job 14. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one SECT II. A three-fold Uncleanness SECT III. A Comparison between mans moral Uncleanness and Levitical Uncleanness SECT IV. What is comprehended in this expression Uncleanness SECT V. Objections against mans Natural Uncleanness answered CHAP. XI A fourth Text to prove Original Sinne opened and vindicated viz. Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceive me SECT II. Objections answered SECT III. More Advantages accruing from the Belief and Meditation of this Truth SECT IV. That we are to bewail this Original Sinne all our dayes SECT V. Which needed not to have been if Adam had stood SECT VI. We must be humbled for a two-fold Original Sinne and seek from Christ a two-fold Righteousnesse SECT VII The different opinions of men about humiliation for Original Sinne. SECT VIII Repentance may be taken either largely or strictly SECT IX The Difference between godly Sorrow for Original Sinne and for Actual SECT X. Reasons why we must be humbled for Original Sinne. The Contents of the Second Part. SHewing that Original Sinne is and how it is communicated CHAP. I. Of the Name Old-man given to Original Sin Rom. 6. 6. Knowing this that if our old-man be crucified with Christ c. SECT IV. Why it is called Man SECT V. Why it is called Old-Man CHAP. II. Of the Name Law of Sin given to Original Sinne. Rom. 7. 25. But with the flesh the Law of sinne SECT III. Original Sinne compared to a Law in five Respects CHAP. III. Of the Name The Sinne that dwelleth in us given to Original Sinne. Rom. 7. 17. It is no more I but sinne that dwelleth in me CHAP. IV. Of the Epithete Evil is present with us given to Original Sinne. Rom. 7. 21. That when I would do good evil is present with me CHAP. V. Of that Name The Sin that doth so easily beset us given to Original Sinne. Hebr. 12. 1. And the sinne that doth so easily beset us SECT II. What is implied in that expression SECT III. How many wayes Original Sinne is a Burden and an Hinderance unto us CHAP. VI. Of the Name Evil Treasure of the Heart given to Original Sinne. Matth. 12. 35. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things SECT II. How Original
Comparison I am only to take notice of the Protasis or Proposition which is That by one mans disobedience many were made sinners So that in the words we are to consider the Subject or rather the cause of mankinds sinfulness and that is described in the Nature of it and the Author The Nature of it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words do denote the hainousness of it Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and Adams sinne is called disobedience yea some learned Divines shew That the proper specifical nature of this sinne was disobedience there were also many sins ingredient thereunto this the Apostle doth to aggravate the hainousness of it Insomuch that Peltan the Jesuite doth wickedly accuse the Protestants for aggravating the guilt of it so much Apud illos saith he omnia sunt quasi tragica infernalia De pecc orig They have nothing but tragical expressions and proclaim hell and damnation because of this pollution For this is the Apostles scope in this place to heighten the consideration of it that so Christ may be the more magnified Even as an Historian who would make a parallel between two great Generals yet intending to preferre one before another doth in the first place amplifie the gallantry the warlike power the military stratagems of the one that so he may the more advance that other General whom he intends to preferre above him Thus doth the Apostle here he makes original sinne to be exceeding sinfull that so the grace of Christ may be exceeding rich and precious grace Adams sinne then which is imputed and made ours as you heard is disobedience SEC II. SEcondly You have the Author of this disobedience and that is said to be by one man Though Eve was the first in transgression yet Adam is named as the chief and therefore Adam is sometimes used collectively both for man and woman as when God said Let us make man after our Image Here then we have Paul informing us of that which all Philosophy was ignorant of viz. The imputation of Adams sinne to us and our natural pollution flowing from it Yea Paul guided by the Spirit of God finds out that mystery which none of us ever could discover by reading the History of Mans Fall related by Moses For there indeed we could see the cause of death how that came upon all mankind but that Adams sin was ours That we all sinned in him that hereupon we were all involved in sin and misery for this we are to bless God for Paul who hath so largely discovered it SECT III. IN the next place We have the Effect of this disobedience with the Extent of it The Extent is to many that is to all born naturally of Adam For many is not here opposed to all but to one the original from that one many even all are made sinners Therefore it 's a dangerous Exposition of Theodoret as Sixtus Senensis relateth which affirmeth Not all but some only to be infected with Adam 's sinne exempting Abel Noah and others from this pollution For 1 Cor. 15. the Apostle saith In Adam all die and in this Chapter at vers 12. All have sinned in Adam But the Effect that is more dreadfull and worthy of all meditation We are made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is more then when all were said to sin in him for this doth denote the habitual depravation of all the parts of the soul as also a readiness to commit all actual sins Therefore the word is sometimes applied to signifie great and hainous sinners as Mary Magdalen is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sinner So then you see that by Adams disobedience all are made sinners CHAP. VI. Whether we are Sinners by Natural Propagation or by Imitation THere remaineth one great Doubt Whether we are so by Natural Propagation because born of him or by occasion only and imitation because he sinned We are not say some made sinners as soon as we are born but when by free-will we come to consent to sinne and choose it Thus Pelagians of old and Socinians of late with many others Erasmus though he saith he holds Original sinne yet useth all his strength to enervate the Orthodox Interpretation SECT I. That Adam's Disobedience makes us Sinners by Propagation BUt there are cogent Reasons to understand it thus That Adam 's Disobedience makes us sinners by natural Propagation As First Because the Apostle still chargeth our guilt and sinfulness upon Adam only upon that one man and upon that one offence whereas if it were by example and imitation only it might be upon our parents and others and upon their transgressions So that the Apostle might have said By many men and many disobediences we are made sinners but still he chargeth it on one man and one offence Secondly If Imitation be taken strictly then a man must know and have in his eye that which he doth imitate but how many thousands are there that runne into all excess of wickedness and never heard of Adam much less could not propound his sin for a patern to follow So that even in the Pelagian sense to be sinners by Imitation cannot be properly used in this Controversie Thirdly If the Apostle understood sin only by Imitation or occasion not Propagation then as Austin of old well urged it might be more properly fastned upon the Devil as the Original for it was not by Adam but the Devil that sin came into the world in this sense and so death by sinne Hence the Devil is said to be a man-slayer from the beginning Joh. 8. 44. or a murderer and that both of souls and bodies In somuch that the Devil was the occasion of all the wickedness and death the consequent thereof And hence our Saviour speaking of wicked men Joh 8. saith They are of their Father the Devil and what they see him do that they do So that the Devil is made to be the original of sinne by imitation to wicked men and not Adam Fourthly Adams sinne must be made ours by natural Propagation not Imitation Because death is made the necessary consequent of it all that 〈◊〉 have sinned Adam 's sinne But now death is propagated naturally Hence Infant die which yet according to the best Divines have not actual sinne why 〈◊〉 it that they die yea they are not only subject to death but to exquisite torments and pains yea Infants have been grievously possessed with the Devils and tormented by them Now this could not be if they were not guilty of sia If therefore death be by natural Propagation then sinne the cause of it must also be in that manner Fifthly This comparison made between the first Adam communicating sin and the second communicating Righteousness doth fully evince this For we are made righteous by Christ not only as if he were a patern and example of Righteousness unto us but by
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
Our Saviour speaks to this twice as it 's mentioned by the Evangelist Matthew Chap. 5. 30 18. 3. It is better saith he to go halt and blind into life than with two hands and eyes to be cast into everlasting fire Think then whether will be more burdensom to leave the pleasures of sinne here or hereafter to be tormented to all eternity Thirdly Original sinne may be called a Body To shew the reality of it that it is not a meer fancy or humane figment as some call it or a non ens as the late Writer D. J. T. Answ to a letter We know the Scripture and so our use of speech opposeth a body to a shadow The Legal Rites are called a shadow and Christ the body Thus original sinne it is not the shadow or the notion of a sinne it liveth and moveth as well as actual it provoketh God it curseth and damneth as well as actual sins So that we are not to flight it or to be fearless of it but rather to tremble under it as the fountain of all our evil and calamity The word Body is sometimes taken for that which is substantial and real in which sense some have excused Tertullian and others that attributed a body to God and Angels as if they intended nothing but a real substance as the aâ—iome of the Stoicks was Omne quod est est corpus Hence they made Virtues and the Arts Bodies But whatsoever their intentions might be the expression is dangerous for God is a Spirit but there is no danger to call original sinne a Body thereby to express the full and real nature of it and thus farre Illyricus his intention was good though his opinion was absurd to amplifie those terms the Scripture giveth to original sinne in opposition to Popery wherein they speak so coldly and formally of it only that he should therefore make it to be more than an accident even the substance of a man in a theological consideration hence he did overthrow all Philosophy and Divinity So that properly the Lutheran Poet cannot be excused when he saith Ipse Deo eoram sine Christo culpa scelumque Ipse ego peccatum sum proprieque vocer In a figurative expression it may pass but he intended Flaccianism hence Contzen speaks of Illyricus by scorn Cujus vel substantia est peccatum Yet thus much we must take notice of That the Scripture doth not in vain use such substantive names about our natural defilement for hereby it doth aggravate it and would have us also know the greatness and vileness of it For how few are there till sanctified and enlightned by the Spirit of God that do bewail this as an heavy burden They can complain of the pains the aches the troubles of their natural body but do not at all regard this body of sin whereas to a spiritual tender heart this body of sinne is farre more grievous than any bodily diseases or death it self yea death is therefore welcome to them because that alone will free from this body of sinne so that they shall never be molested with it more Fourthly Original sinne is called the Body of sinne Because it is a mass of sin a lump of all evil It is not one sinne but all sinne seminally And this seemeth to be the most formal and express reason why the Apostle giveth it this name calling it a Body and attributing members to it for as a body is not one member or one part but the whole compounded of all Thus is original sinne it is not the defilement or pollution in one part of the soul but it diffuseth it self through all It is a body of sinne and herein it doth exceed all actual transgressions and for this reason we ought the more to grieve and mourn under it The body is heavier than one part why are actual sins a load upon thee but this which is the cause of all and comprehends all thou art never affected with O pray more for the Spirit of conviction by the Word Look oftner into the pure glass of the Law Compare thy universal deformity with that exact purity It is for want of this the pharisaical and the natural man is so self-confident trusteth so much in his own heart doth so easily perswade himself of Gods love whereas if we come to a Christian like Paul complaining of this Law of sinne within him finding it captivating and haling of him whither he would not then we have much a do to comfort such an one all our work is to make him have any hope in Christ he thinketh none are so bad as he that the very devils have not worse in them than he feeleth in himself and all this is because original sinne is such a loathsom dunghill in his brest that as those who have putrified arms or other parts of their body they cannot endure themselves they would flie from themselves Thus it is with them because of this original pollution Fifthly Original sinne may be called a Body Because it inclineth onely to carnal earthly and bodily things not at all savouring the things of God and his Spirit Hence it is called so often the flesh because it only carrieth a man to fleshly things being contrary to God and full of enmity to his will as Rom. 8. And doth not experience confirm this Take any man till renewed by grace and all the bent and impulse of his soul are to such things alone that are earthy and sensual Jam. 3. 17. The Apostle James doth there excellently describe the nature of all natural wisdom It is earthy sensual and devilish Every one by nature is both beastly and devillish This body of sinne presseth him down to the earth and hell Insomuch that you may as soon see a worm flying in the air like a bird as a man abiding in this natural pollution having his conversation in heaven So that being made thus bodily and carnal all the spiritual things of God are both above our apprehension and contrary to our affections Now this very particular if there were no more is as deep as the Sea and containeth unspeakable matter of humiliation viz. That by this natural pollution we are destitute of Gods Spirit Spiritual things are no more apprehended by us than melody by the deaf ear Do ye not see wise men learned men yea great Scholars when you come to discourse with them about spiritual things they are very fools and are as blind as moles that live wholly in the earth But of this more in the effects of original sin Lastly In the Scripture Body is used sometimes for the strength and power of a thing And thus original sinne is the body as that which giveth life and motion to all actual sins Let the Use be greatly to humble thee under this notion Gods word gives original sinne This sinfull body It troubleth thee thou hast a mortal body a corruptible body but above all this body of sinne should be a burden to
of men had committed some crimes for which they were adjudged to bodies as unto prisons and dungeons How comes it about that the rational part of a man which was made to be the guide and called by Philosophers the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it should follow after the inferiour lusts of the soul That this candle should be put not under a bushel but a dunghill That the elder should serve the younger That the tail should lead the head we are not carried out to what reason by the word of God commands but by what every sinfull affection doth suggest Those that say this rebellion between the mind and affections was from the Creation that God made man with this contrariety in himself must needs make God the author of sin but God saw every thing that he had made and it was exceeding good If then thou doubtest whether this universal pollution be upon thee look into thy self observe the rebellion the repugnancy there unto all light whether natural or supernatural and this will make thee readily confess it SECT VI. 6. THe incurvation of the soul unto all earthly and worldly objects this also makes it plain we came with original sin into the world The very making of the body different from other creatures who look downwards doth denote that therfore God created us that both soul and body should look upwards But is not every mans soul till rectified by grace bowed down to these earthly vanities no more able to soar up to Heaven than the worm can flie Now this is a plain sign of thy sinful apostate condition It is one of Hippocrates his rules That when a sick man catcheth inordinatly at the feathers of his pillow or at straws and any such light matter it is a sign of death and truly to see men by nature so immoderatly snatching and catching at these worldly things argue thou art a dying a perishing man unless Gods grace doth interpose As the Sun though with its beams it shine upon the earth yet it is not thereby defiled So man ought though he meddle in all outward affairs though he marry though he buy and sell and use this world yet he ought not in the least manner to soil and pollute his soul thereby But as the body deprived of the soul fals prostrate on the ground thus doth man deprived of Gods Image so that he is never able to get above the creatures but is vassaliz'd to them SECT VII THe work remaining is to give further reasons the Scripture being first laid as a foundation to demonstrate this truth That we are by nature originally defiled For though man be unwilling to be found thus a sinner and the entertaining of this truth seemeth to strike down all the hopes and comforts that a naturall man hath Believe this and all men as in respect of defect are so many damned men so that flesh and blood must needs deny cavill distinguish and turn it self into a thousand shapes ere it will acknowledge it yet look we into our selves diligently and compare our selves with the glass of Gods Word we cannot but say That all we have heard by the Ministers all that Sermons and Books tell us come not up to what we feel in our selves So that as the Apostle when he said This corruption shall put on incorruption he did cutem tangere did lay his hand upon his body as Tertullian thought so do thou strike upon thy thigh and smite upon thy breast and say within this body lieth a soul covered all over with sinne and damnable guilt To assure us more herein these further discoveries may be added First That spirituall death in sinne which we are all plunged into whereby we do become altogether senseless and stupid as to any spirituall concernement The death threatned upon Adam's trangression was spirituall as well as corporall and therefore Ephes 2. We are said to be dead in sinnes till Christ quicken us by his power Now this is a full discovery that we have lost Gods Image and all spiritual life otherwise why should not spirituall life be as quick active and moving towards spirituall objects as our naturall and corporall life is to corporall things Why is it that when any do threaten corporall death and outward misery we are afraid and will give all we have for this corporall life But when the Devil tempts and the world tempts so that we are in danger of loosing eternal life we have no trembling or horror taking hold upon us Nebuchadnezzar made a law that whosoever would not worship his Image should be cast into a fiery furnace and unless the three Worthies none refused so great a matter is the fear of a naturall death But hath not God threatned hell which is ten thousand times more dreadfull then that fiery fornace to every one that goeth on wickedly yet none trembleth because of this Is not this plain then that thou art a dead man in sinne Further concerning our corporall life how sollicitous are we about the preserving of it what carking and caring for meat and raiment what labour for the back and the belly Is not the greatest imployment in the world for these two things and all this is that our frail perishing life may yet be continued But do men naturally manifest any such thoughts and diligence about the meanes of a spirituall life The preaching of the Word the Ordinances these God hath appointed to be spirituall food by these our heavenly life is maintained these are the oyl to keep that lamp burning But do not all men by nature loath these are they not a burden to them do they ever pant and thirst or hunger after these things as men do for meat or drink now why is all this but because we have no spirituall life in us So that if you do consider the insensibleness and stupidity of every naturall man as to things of an heavenly aspect you need no more to perswade you that Gods Image is lost and we are dead in sinne When the body needeth food needeth raiment all is supplyed but so thy soul needeth Christ needeth grace and there is not the least thought to have a supply yea we are not only dead in sinne but have been a long while thus dead and if she said of Lazarus Joh. 11. 39. Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four dayes How much more may we say this in a spirituall sense of thee who it may be hast been dead fourty or fifty years Secondly This may be further inlarged by a consectary from the former will not this abundantly declare we are all over sinfull Because heavenly things are not such objects of delight and pleasure to us as carnall and worldly things are This is a palpable demonstration of our wretched pollution That we cannot feel any sweetness any pleasure or joy in those things which immediately concern God Adam in his state of integrity was like Jacob's ladder the foot whereof
furnace and house of bondage did cry and groan for a Redeemer but this is the unspeakable evil of this soul-bondage that we delight in it that we rejoyce in it all our indeavour and care is that we may not be set at liberty and have these chains taken off us From this explication observe That no man hath any liberty or freedom of will to what is good till Christ by his grace hath made him free We do not by freedom of will obtain grace but by grace we obtain freedom of will So that by the Scripture we have not any true ground for a liberum arbitrium but a liberatum in spiritual things There is no such thing as a free-will but a freed will in a passive sense and tunc est liberum when it is liberatum as Austin Then it 's actively free when it is first passively made free Rom. 6. 16. Being made free from sinne He doth not say you have made your selves free but ye are made frre by the grace of Christ And again vers 22. Ye are now made free from sinne and Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sinne and death By which expressions is implied 1. That all men till sanctified are in an absolute vassalage and thraldom to sinne And 2. That it is onely the grace of Christ that doth deliver from this bondage It is Christ not our own will that maketh us free ¶ 3 Of the several Kinds of Freedome which the Scripture speaketh of TO enter into the depths of this Doctrine Consider What kinds of freedome the Scripture speaketh of and which is applicable to our purpose The Schooles have vast disputes about liberty and free-will What it is whether a compounded faculty or a simple one and whether a faculty or habit or act especially they digladiate about the definition of free-will what it is but if any thing shall be thought necessary to be said in this point it may be pertinently brought in when we shall answer such Objections as the Patrons of nature do use to bring in the behalf of Free-will only it is good to know that in the Scripture we find a civil liberty and a spiritual liberty spoken of a civil liberty Thus bond and free are often opposed Ephes 6. 8. Col. 3. 11. 1 Cor. 7. 22. But this is not to the Text nor to our purpose Therefore the Scripture speaketh much of a spiritual freedome and that is First In the translating of us out from the dominion of sinne and Satan into a gracious state of holiness and this is called by Divines Libertas gratia or as Austin libertas à peccato The freedome of grace of which those Texts speak that we mentioned before Secondly There is the Evangelical and Christian liberty whereby we are freed from many things of the law not only the curse of the moral law and the spirit of bondage which did accompany the legal administration thereof but also from the obligation unto and exercise of the ceremanial This Evangelical liberty is often commended in the Scripture as the glorious priviledge of the Christian Church which the legal Church wanted of this legal servitude and Evangelical freedome the Apostle Gal. 4 doth largely and most divinely treat This Christian liberty also from Jewish rites The Apostle Gal. 5. 1. â—â—horteth us to stand fast in as being purchased for us by the death of Christ as a glorious priveledge only the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 2. 16 giveth good advice That we turn not our liberty into licentiousness It is true the Apostle doth once use the word free abusively and improperly Rom. 6. 20 where the servants of sinne are said to be free from righteousness or to righteousness now this is improperly called a freedome for as the service of God is the truest freedome so freedome from holiness is the greatest slavery Although Austin doth from this Text make a division of liberty into two kinds which he maketh perpetual use of Libertas à peccate and Libertas a justitiâ The godly man hath the former liberty the sinner hath the latter but this latter is improperly called liberty Lastly There is a spiritual freedome mentioned by the Scripture as the utlimte and complete perfection of all when the soul shall be freed not only from the dominion of sinne but the presence of it all the reliques and remainders of it and the body shall be freed from death pain and all corroptibility Rom. 8. 2. This is called the glorious liberty of the sons of God and for this every godly man is to groan and mourn even as the woman in travel to be delivered This is called by Divines libertas gloriae and libertas à miserià But we are to speak of the liberty of grace and herein we are not to admire the Free-will of man but the free grace of God man hath no free-will to do that which is spiritual and holy Free-will is an Idol which the corrupt heart of man is apt to advance he is unwilling to be brought out of himself to be beholding to the grace of Christ only therefore Austin observed well That this truth is to be found out by prayer and supplication sooner then by disputation Did men commune with their own hearts did they observe the Abyss and depth of all evil that is in their corrupt will how intangled and in slaved to the creature they would quickly fall from disputation to humiliation and turne arguments into prayers ¶ 4. The Names which the Scripture expresseth that by which we call Free-Will THe next thing in our method that will be explicating of the Doctrine is to take notice of What names the Scripture useth to express this thing by that we call Free-will for free-will is not a Scripture name but Ecclesialsical yet the sence of it is in the Scripture for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used in the Scripture to will and that in such things wherein freedome is necessarily supposed Luk. 22. 9. Where wilt thou that we prepare a place Joh. 9. 27. Wherefore would ye hear it again will ye also be his Disciple Act 7. 28 wilt thou kill me also c. and in many other places hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for the free-will of a man 1 Cor. 7. 37 and indeed it is disputed whether to do a thing voluntariè and liberè voluntarily and freely be not all one and so libertas and voluntas only voluntas denoteth the power and liberty the qualification of it in its working Jansenius is most consident that in Austin's constant dispute with the Pelagians liberum arbitrium is no more then voluntas and that to do a thing freely is no more then to do it voluntarily this he maintaineth against the Jesuites and withall wonders at a late Writer of their own whom he nameth not which writeth that the word servum arbitrium was not heard in the Church of God
not naturally offer up our bodies a sacrifice to sinne and to the Devil For meerly a natural man serveth sinne and the Devil with all the parts of his body Therefore the Apostle speaking to persons converted Rom. 7. 19. saith As ye have yeelded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity so now yeeld your members servants to righteousness Thy eye was once the Devils and sinnes thy tongue was thy ear was by all these sinne was constantly committed so now have a sanctified body an holy eye a godly ear an heavenly tongue a pure body And indeed we need not runne for Texts of Scripture experience doth abundantly confirm the preparedness and readiness of the body to all suitable and pleasing iniquity Consider likewise that pregnant place Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water As the heart must be cleansed from all sinnes that our consciences may condemn us for so our bodies likewise must be washed with pure water it is an allusive expression to the legal custom which was for all before they drew nigh to the service of God to sprinkle themselves with pure water to take off the legal uncleanness of the body And thus we must still in a spiritual way that so the body may be fitted for Gods service As it is said of Christ Heb. 10. 5. A body thou hast prepared for me because the Spirit of God did so purifie that corpulent mass of which Christs body was made that being without all sinne he was thereby fitted for the work of a Mediator For as for the Socinian Interpretation who would apply it to Christs body made immortal and glorious as if it were to be understood of Christ entring into Heaven the Context doth evidently confute it that which the Apostle following the Septuaginnt in the original calleth Preparing the body out of which it is alledged Ps 40. 6. It is my ears hast thou opened aliuding to the Jewish custom who when a servant would not leave his Master his ears were to be boared and so he was to continue for ever with him The ears were boared because they are the instrument of hearing and obedience and thereby was signified that he would diligently hearken to his Masters commands Thus it was with Christ his ears were opened his whole body prepared to do the will of God Now as it was thus with Christ so in some respect it must be with us God must prepare and fit a body for us till grace sanctifie and polish it there is no readiness to any holy duty The seeing eye and the hearing ear God is said to make both Prov. 20. 12. By these instances out of Scripture you see what a Leprosie of sin hath spread over the body as well as the soul Oh that therefore we were sensible of these sinfull bodies that are such clogs to us such burdens to us in the way to Heaven But let us proceed to shew the sinfulness thereof in particulars SECT IV. The Sinfulness of the Body discovered in particulars ¶ 1. It is not now Instrumental and serviceable to the Soul in holy Approches to God but is a clog and burden FIrst The Body is not now instrumental and serviceable to the soul in holy approaches to God but is a clog and burden whereas to Adam abiding in the state of innocency the body was exceeding usefull to glorifie God with The body was as wings to the soul or as wheels to the chariot though weighty in themselves yet they do ableviate and help to motion They are both Onera and adjumenta oneranda exonerant Thus did the body to Adam's soul but now such is the usefulness yet the hinderance of the body to the souls operations that the very Heathens have complained of it calling it Carcer animae and Sepulchrum animae the prison of the soul the very grave of the soul as if the soul were buried in the body How much more may Christianity complain of this weight of the body while it is to runne its race to Heaven Mezenius is noted for a cruel fact of binding dead bodies to live men that so by the noisom stink of those carkasses the men tied to them might at last die a miserable death Truly by this may be represented original sinne not fully purged away by sanctification The godly do complain of this body of sinne as a noisom carkass joyned to them and with Paul cry out Wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this bondage ¶ 2. It doth positively affect and defile the Soul SEcondly The bodies sinfulness doth not only appear thus privatively in being not subservient and helpfull to the soul But it doth also positively affect and defile the soul not by way of any phisical contact for so a body cannot work upon a spirit but by way of sympathy for seeing the soul and body are two constituent part essentially of man and the soul doth inform the body by an immediate union hence it is that there is a mutual fellowship one with another there is a mutual and reciprocal acting as it were upon one another the soul greatly affected doth make a great change upon the body and the body greatly distempered doth also make a wonderfull change upon the mind and if thereby man fall into madness and distractions why not also into sinne and pollutions of the mind Thus the corrupt soul maketh the body more vile and the corrupt body maketh the soul more sinful and so they do advance sinne in a mutual circle of causality Even as vapours cause clouds and clouds again dislolving do make vapours Thy sinful soul makes thy body more wicked and thy sinful body heightens the impiety of thy soul ¶ 3. A man acts more according to the body and the inclinations thereof then the mind with the Dictates thereof THirdly Herein is the pollution of the body manifested In that a man doth act more according to the body and the inclinations thereof then the mind with the dictates thereof He is body rather then soul for whereas in mans Creation the soul had the dominion and the body was made only for the use of the soul now this order is inverted by original sinne the body prevaileth over the soul and the soul is enslaved to the propensities thereof Even Aristotle said that homo was magis sensus quam intellectus more sence then understanding and so more corporeal then spiritual man is compounded of two parts which do in their nature extraemly differ from each other the body that is of dust and vile matter and such materials God would have man formed of even at first he did not make mans body of some admirable quintessential matter as Philosophers say the heavens are made of but of that which was most vile and contemptible to teach man humility even in his very original and most absolute
original imputed sinne or of that inherent corruption which we have from our birth and both do admit of great aggravations It is true some Orthodox Writers doe deny the imputation of Adam's actual disobedience unto us as Josua Placeus who bringeth many Arguments Thes Salm. Dis de statu hominis lapsi ante gratiam but my work is not to answer them I suppose it for granted as a necessary truth Concerning Adam's sinne which is thus ours by imputation Bellarmine maketh the Question An sit gravissimum Whether it was the greatest of all sinnes And he concludeth following the Schoolmen that absolutely it is not only respectively Secundum quid in some considerations which he mentioneth Bonaventure saith It is the greatest sinne extensive not intensive But we are to judge of the hainousness of sinne as we see God doth who esteemeth of sinne without any errour Now it is certain there was never any sinne that God punisheth as he doth this The sinne indeed against the holy Ghost in respect of the object matter of it and the inseparable concomitant of unpardonablenesse is greater as to a particular person but this being the sinne of the common nature of mankind doth bring all under the curse of God So that we may on the contrary to Bellarmine say That it is absolutely the highest sinne against God but in some respects it is not I shall be brief in aggravating of that not at all touching upon the other Question which hath more curiosity in it Whether Adam's sinne or Eve's was the greatest then edification Because our proper work is to speak of original inherent sinne yet it is good to affect our souls with the great guilt thereof for some have been ready to expostulate with God Why for such a small sinne as they call it no more then eating the forbidden fruit so many millions of persons even all the posterity of mankind should thereby be made children of wrath and obnoxious to eternal damnation Doth not the Pelagian opinion that holdeth it hurteth none but Adam himself and his posterity onely if they willingly imitate him agree more with the goodnesse of God But if we do seriously consider how much evil was in this one sinne which Tertullian maketh to be a breach of the whole Law of God we will then humble our selves and acknowledge the just hand of God For First This is hainously to be aggravated from the internal qualification of the subject Adam who did thus offend was made upright created in the Image of God In his understanding he had a large measure of light and knowledge For though the Socinians would have him a meer I deot and innocent yet it may easily be evidenced to the contrary The Image of God consisteth in the perfection of the mind as well as in holiness of the other parts of the soul Neither did Elâ—phaz in his discourse with Job apprehend such ignorance in Adam when he saith Art thou the first man was born Wast thou made before the hils Dost thou restrain wisdom to thy self Job 15. 7 8. implying that the first man was made full of knowledge If then Adam had such pure light in his mind this made his sinne the greater yea because of this light some have proceeded so far as to make Adam's sinne the sinne against the holy Ghost but I shall not affirm that Certainly in that Adam had so great knowledge this made his offence the more evil hence because there was no ignorance in his mind nor no passions in the sensitive part at that time to disturb him his sinne was meerly and totally voluntary and the more the will is in a sinne the greater it is Hence Rom. 5. It is called expresly disobedience By one mans disobedience Yea learned men say That this was the proper specifical sinne of Adam eveâ— disobedience For although disobedience be in a large sense in every sinne yet this sinne of Adams was specifically disobedience for God gave him a positive command meerly that thereby Adam should testifie his obedience to him The thing in it self was not intrinsecally evil to eat of the forbidden fruit it was sinfull only because it was forbidden and by this God would have Adam demonstrate his homage to him but in offending he became guilty in a particular way of disobedience Secondly If you consider Adam in his external condition His fin is very great God placed him in Paradise put him into a most happy condition gave him the whole world for his portion Every thing was made for his use and delight now how intolerable was Adams ingratitude for so small a matter to rebell against God Therefore the smalness of the matter of the sinne doth not diminish but aggravate he might the more easily have refused the temptation so that this unthankfulness to God must highly provoke him Thirdly The sinne was an aggregate sinne It had many grievous sins ingredient into it It was a Beelzebub sin a big-bellied sinne full of many sins in the womb of it his sinne was not alone in the external eating of the forbidden fruit but in the internal causes that made him do so There was unbelief which was the foundation of all the other sinfulness he believeth the Devil rather then God There was pride and ambition He desired to be like God There was apostasie from God and communion with him There was the love of the creature more than of God and thereby there was the hatred of God Thus it was unum malum in quo omnia mala as God is unumbonum in quo omnia bona Lastly Not to insist on this because formerly spoken to There was the unspeakable hurt and damage which hereby he brought to his posterity Not to mention the curse upon the ground and every creature The damning of all his posterity in soul and body it the grace of God did not interpose It cannot be rationally conceived but that Adam knew he was a publique person that he was acquainted upon what terms he stood in reference to his posterity That the threatning did belong to all his as well as himself if he did eat of the forbidden fruit Now for Adam to be a murderer of so many souls and bodies to be the cause of temporal spiritual and eternal death to all mankind who can acknowledge but that this sinne is out of measure sinfull ¶ 2. The Aggravation of Original Sinne inherent in us OUr next work is to consider the aggravation of original sinne inherent in us and this is our duty to do that so being sensible of our own contagion we may not flatter our selves in the power of our free-will but fly alone to Christ who is a Phisitian and Saviour even to Infants as well as grown men and the rather we are to be serious and diligent in this because of all those prophane opinions which do either wholly deny it or in a great measure extenuate it Some Papists make it less then a venial sinne and many
whereby he doth delight in Gods Law I will not say that the inward man doth alwayes signifie the regenerate man and so is the same with a new-creature For although some understand that place so 2 Cor. 4. 16. The outward man perisheth but the inward man is renewed daily yet happily the context may enforce it another way yet here it must be understood of the mind as regenerated because it is opposite to the flesh and so signifieth the same with the hidden man of the heart in which sense a Jew is called one inwardly because of the work of grace upon his soul Fifthly The sad complaint he maketh concerning his thraldom doth evidently shew that it is a regenerate person O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death If we take body for the material body which is mortal and so sinfull or else for that body of sinne which abideth in the godly it cometh much to one point It argueth that the person here spoken of feeling this weight this burden upon him is in sad agonies of soul judgeth himself miserable and wretched in this respect and thereupon doth earnestly groan for a total redemption he longs to be in heaven where no longer will evil be present with him where he shall do all the good and as perfectly as he would It is true a godly man cannot absolutely be called a wretched and miserable man but respectively quoad hoc and comparatively to that perfect holiness we shall have hereafter So we may justly account our selves miserable not so much from external evils as from the motions and stirrings of sinne within us that do press us down and thereby make our lives more disconsolate Hence it is that Austin calleth this Gemitum saactorum c. the sighs and groans of holy persons fighting against concupiscence within them Sixthly The affectionate rejoycing and assured confidence that he hath about the full deliverance of him from this bondage expressed in those words I thank God through Jesus Christ doth greatly establish this exposition also of a regenerate ate person It is true there is variety about reading of this passage however this plainly cometh from an heart affected with assurance of Gods grace to give him a full redemption though for the present he lie in sad conflicts and agonies This is so palpable a conviction that some of the Dissentients will make Paul here to speak in his own person as if he did give God thanks for that freedome which the person spoken before had not obtained Neither is it any wonder to see such a sudden change in Paul from groaning under misery presently to break forth into thanks and praises of God For we may often observe such ebbings and flowings in David's Psalms that we would hardly think the same Psalm made by the same man at the same time one verse speaking dejection and disconsolateness the next it may be strong confidence and rejoycing in God Lastly The conclusion which Paul maketh from this excellent experimental Discourse is fully to our purpose So then I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sin To serve God and to serve the Law of God is all one and this none but a godly man doth Yea to serve him with the mind and the spirit is a choice expression of our grace But because this is not perfect and compleat he addeth He serveth also the flesh and the law of sin It is true None can serve God and mammon Christ and sin but yet where there is not a perfect freedom from thraldom to sin there though in the principal and chief manner we are carried out to serve God yet the flesh retardeth and so snatcheth to it some service you heard contraries might be together while they are in fight Neither is our redemption from sin full and total It is to be done successively and by degrees that so we may be the more humbled and grace exalted Besides that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is emphatical this is used when Paul expresseth himself in some remarkable manner I the same and no other man as it is used in other places 2 Cor. 10. 1. Now I Paul my self beseech you c. 2 Cor. 12. 13. except it was because I my self was not burdensom to you Rom. 9. 3. I could wish that myself were accursed c. which is enough to convince such as are not refractory ¶ 3. Objections Answered I Shall now consider what is objected against this Interpretation and shall not attend to the general objections such as that That who are Christs and regenerated have higher things attributed to them They have crucified the flesh they have mortifiedeth old man c. As also this seemeth to be injurious to Gods grace it will encourage men in slothfulness and negligence c. for these shall be answered in the general I shall therefore only pitch upon two objections which the Adversaries insist upon The first is That this person here spoken of is said to be once without the Law which say they is the description of a Gentile in Paul 's language therefore he assumeth some other person then his own for Paul alwayes lived under the Law Austin indeed expounds it thus I did live once without the Law that is saith he when he was a child before he had the use of reason This is too harsh Therefore it is better answered The person here spoken of is not said to be without the Law which is indeed the description of a Gentile but that he was alive without the Law once that is he as all the Pharisees understood the Law of God as forbidding only external sins and Paul living unblameably as to that respect thought to have life and righteousness by the Law but when the commandment came in power to him and he was convinced that it did prohibit not only outward sins but inward lustings of heart then he began to find himself a greater sinner than he was aware of then he found the Law to be death to him so that he lived without the Law because he was not affected with the full and exact obligation therof The second thing much insisted upon is That the person here spoken of is said to be carnal and sold under sinne which they say is made by the Scripture a certain property of a wickedman Thus it is said of Ahab Thou hast sold thy self to do wickedly 1 Kin. 21. 10. yea of all the children of Israel 2 Kin. 17. 13. They caused their children to pass through the fire and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord. But first Calvin doth grant that this is spoken of Paul while unregenerate and therefore beginneth his Exposition at the 15th verse of a sanctified person yet that cannot well be because there the Apostle beginneth to alter the tense There he saith I am carnal I am sold under sinne whereas before he had used the
is the string to her feet This made Paul cry out of it as a weight lying upon him Rom. 7. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death yea Heb. 12. 1. it is called a weight now as that must needs be an impediment to any who run in a race no less burdensome is original sinne to a godly man in his way to heaven Fourthly It hinders the perfection of grace cooling and remitting the fervour and zeal thereof and herein chiefly the mischievous effect of original sinne is discovered it maketh the soul halt in his progress it allayeth the heat of grace it is like smoak to put out the fire The adversaries to this Truth say it is not intelligible how the Spirit can make us will one thing and the flesh another seeing a man hath but one will and he cannot velle nolle will and nill at the same time about the same object But they may know that by such expressions are chiefly meant That the hearrt of a man through this flesh within him is very faint and remiss in all its actions about that which is good when he doth will it it 's so inefficaciously so slluggishly so imperfectly that it may be called a nilling as well as a willing and this is the sad issue of original sinne it maketh us go halting to the grave it abateth that activity and zeal of spirit which ought to be in holy things Fifthly The flesh hindereth absolute compleatness of grace by soiling debasing and infecting our holy duties It is as some mud cast into a pure stream it is as some poison mingled with wine and for this it is that the most holy have prayed God would not enter into judgement with them because in his sight no flesh could be justified Psal 143. 2. For this the Scripture compareth even our righteous actions to a menstruous cloath Isa 30. 22. This is the frog that is drawen up with the pure water out of the well though our godly duties are not sinnes yet they are sinful they are damnable in themselves and therefore need the mercy of God to forgive the imperfections adhering to them Lastly The flesh is an hindrance in the way of grace by dividing and distracting of the heart In the stare of integrity when there was no such intestine warre then the whole strength of the soul emptied it self one way but now though grace hath for the main setled our hearts upon God yet the flesh interposeth that propoundeth other objects and thus because the pool runneth into divers streams it is not so full and plentifull so that it is impossible there should be any perfection where there is any distraction or division and therefore we may justly expostulate with all those who plead they are without sin Whether they never have so much as one wandring thought in any holy duty they go about If they should say they have not it is our duty to flee from such persons as are puffed up with such self-love and self-confidence that they know not or feel not what they are or do Such are like those distracted persons that conceit themselves Kings and Emperours when at the same time they are miserable and indigent Now by these several actings of the flesh within us the godly man may perceive what little cause he hath to trust in himself thou canst not be secure while in this mortal body the wound original sinne hath given thee is not wholly cured sometime or other this close secret enemy may rob thee of thy Pearls and Jewels if thou art not diligent in praying and watching over thy self In the next place I shall proceed to a second Proposition and therein shall answer such general Objections that may plausibly be urged against the actings of original sinne within us and thereby against the imperfection of regeneration for some have thought it no dangerous errour to plead for a perfection even in this life Therefore Arminius his heires Epistola dedecati ad cap. 7. ad Rom. say that the unseasonable and excessive urging of the constant imperfection of regenerate persons and the impossibility of keeping the Law in this life without adding what the godly might do by faith and the Spirit of Christ such a thought as this might easily enter into the hearts of the hearers that they can do no good at all and they adde the ancient Church thought not the question about the impossibility of the law to be reckoned among capital ones which is apparent say they from Austin which wisheth the Pelagians would acknowledge it might be performed by the grace of Christ and then there would be peace between them But certainly Austin may best explain himself De perfectione justitiae ad Caelestiam ad finem where he saith he knoweth some who hold there either have been or are some that were without sinne Quorum sententiam de bâc re non audeo reprehendere quanquam nec defendere valeam as he dared not reprove it so he could not defend it This is his modest expression but if Austin could not defend it I do not know who in that age could seeing Austin by the gloss in the Canon law hath justly the preheminence above all the Ancients for Disputations as Hierom for the Tongues and Gregory for Morals and certainly the places brought to prove this point do argue that no man is without sinne that none can be justified if God enter into judgement It was also Pelagins boast in that Epistle ad Demetriadem for it 's taken to be his That in the first place he doth enquire what men are able to do how farre their own power extendeth as if this foundation were not laid there could be no exhortation to godliness Hence the Pelagians charged it as a consequence upon the Doctrine of original sinne that it would work in men a despair about perfect righteousness lib secundo coutra Julianum in initio But of late Writers setting aside Papists Castellio for we must not call him Castalio seeing he bewaileth his pride Castel Defens page 356. for assuming that name to him from the fountain of Muses doth with the greatest earnestness propugn the perfection of regenerate persons and immunity from sinne understanding that prayer for pardoning of sinne like as that duty to forgive our enemies viz. when we have them This Writer calleth that question Whether a man may by the Spirit of God perfectly obey the law a very profitable question but addeth that the errour on the right hand viz. that we are able perfectly to fullfill it is farre less dangerous then the contrary for God will never find fault with that man who doth endeavour for a perfect obedience and that by the help of God De obedientiâ Deo praestandâ pag. 227 228. but his arguments are as weak as his affections are strong in this point ¶ 5. Objections against the Reliques of sinne in a regenerate man answered LEt us examine what
say Christus resurrexit Christ is risen For this end Christ is called The first fruit of them that slept vers 20. As the first fruits did sanctifie the whole harvest of corn that was afterwards to be gathered So did Christ rising all his members by his Resurrection assuring them of theirs Hence it is that the Apostles Arguments are not to prove the Resurrection of wicked men for they arise upon another account but onely of the godly who are his members and have an interest in his mediation It is indeed a Dispute Whether even wicked men do not rise by the virtue of Christs merit and his Resurrection Baldwine for determining the negative in locum is traduced by another Lutheran for Popery and Calvinism as introducing that Doctrine of the particularity of Christs death But certainly The wicked mans resurrection is not to be accounted in the number of any mercies and therefore not merited by Christ Hence it followeth necessarily that they rise not by any relation to Christ but by the power and justice of God because of that immutable and unchangeable Decree that every sinner unrepenting shall die both temporally and eternally which later could not be accomplished unlesse the bodies of wicked men were raised up to life again out of the dust Now our Apostle to prove Christ the cause of our Resurrection draweth an Argument from a comparison between Adam and him making them two originals and fountains but of contrary effects the one of death the other of life For as in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive Not that all men universally shall be saved by Christ but the universal particle must be limited according to the subject matter in hand All that are in Christ all that are his members shall be made alive by him And therefore in the next verse it is so limited Christ the first-fruits and afterwards they that are Christs at his coming So that the sense is That as all Adams posterity die because of him so all that are Christs seed shall live by him For the expression in Adam and in Christ do denote a causality in them the one of death the other of life Therefore we must not think that the Apostle doth here only make a bare similitude and comparison shewing that as by Adam we die so by Christ we shall be made alive but it 's an Argument from the power and causality that is in one to the other The Apostle doth in the fifth of the Romans make the like comparison only there is this difference as Calvin observeth In that place the Apostle maketh the comparison chiefly in respect of spiritual effects death as it brings condemnation and life as it is accompanied with justification here and glorification hereafter This Text is greatly agitated in the controversie between Puccius and Socinus Vide Disput de statu primi hominis ante lapsum The former holding truly though he superaddeth many gross errors that Adam was not made mortal and that death came in only by sinne only he goeth absurdly beyond his bounds when he holdeth the beasts were also made immortal The later on the contrary he holdeth That Adam was made mortal that death in natural that though by sinne we are under a perpetual necessity of death which is an ambiguous phrase he useth yet death it self is natural He granteth That immature and violent death cometh by sinne but death as it is a meer dissolution of a person so it is from his primitive creation and constitution Therefore be would have this difference between the Text I am upon and Paul's Discourse in the fifth of the Romans viz. That there indeed he speaketh of the sinne of Adam by which we come to die But here he would have the Apostle consider Adam as he is by Creation and that being mortal from the beginning we also are mortal from him But who can perswade himself that these passages concerning the change of the body hereafter to what it is now It is sown in corruption it 's raised in corruption it is sowen in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sowen in weaknesse it is raised in power are to be understood of our bodies as at the first Creation and not as they are now by Adam's fall Our bodies are made corruptible and vile bodies by reason of sinne We must then understand the Apostle as speaking of Adam sinning though sinne be not here named So that the fifth of the Romans will excellently illustrate this place and that maketh the sense to be That Adam sinning by his sinne death entered upon all mankind so that death is not natural neither doth it arise from our first constitution but it cometh in wholly by sinne SECT II. Death an Effect of Original Sinne explained in divers Propositions HAving then heretofore spoken of some spiritual effects of original sinne and more might be named such as a necessity to sinne an impotency to all good senslesness and stupidity therein the aldom to Satan but I shall pass them by as being very proper to the Common-place of Divinity which is of the grace of God and mans free-will and shall proceed to the effects of original sinne that are of another nature and that is temporal and eternal death The former effects did so slow from original sinne as that also they are sinfull properties in a man but these are meerly punishments It is not our sinne that we are sick that we die but it is the effect From the words then we observe this truth and doctrine That death cometh upon all mankind because of our sinne we have originally from Adam It is true the Socinian will say We put more in the Doctrine then is in the Text but you heard the comparison used by the Apostle in the fifth of the Romans compared with this doth necessarily suppose death to be because of Adam's sinne not only as imputed unto us but because thereby we are made inherently sinfull This truth is of a very vast compasse but I shall consine my self within as narrow bounds as may be I shall follow my usual method to explicate this in several Propositions ¶ 1. FIrst This controversie about mans mortality is very famous in the Church and hath been of old solliciously disputed The Pelagians as they denied original sinne so consonantly to that falshood they affirmed That death was not the punishment of sinne but did arise by the necessity of our natural constitution Which Assertion was condemned by some Councils and the Laws of Emperours as injurious to God the Creator of men For this experience that Infants new born are subject to many miseries and death it self was a thorn in their sides which they could not endure in nor yet possibly pull out Sometimes with the Stocks they would deny death to be an evil Sometimes they would say Children in the womb are guilty of actual sinnes for which they deserved death but that which they did most constantly adhere
posse mori is known by all It is not then an absolute but a conditional immortality we speak of ¶ 3. Propos 3. ALthough we say that God made man immortal yet we grant that his body being made of the dust of the earth and compounded of contrary element it had therefore a remote power of death It was mortal in a remote sense only God making him in such an eminent manner and for so glorious an end there was no proxim and immediate disposition to death God indeed gave Adam his name whereas Adam imposed a name upon all other creatures but not himself and that from the originals he was made of to teach him humility even in that excellent estate yet he was not in an immediate disposition to death When Adam had transgressed Gods Law though he did not actually die upon it yet then he was put into a mortal state having the prepared causes of death within him but it was not so while he stood in the state of integrity then it was an immortal state now it is a mortal one I say state because even now though Adam hath brought sinne and death upon us yet in respect of the soul a man may be said to be immortal but then there was immortality in respect of soul and body the state he was created in did require it So that although death be the King of terrors yet indeed original sinne which is the cause of it should be more terrible unto us Now man by sinne is fallen the beasts could they speak would say Man is become like one of us yea worse for he carrieth about with him a sinfull soul and a mortal body ¶ 4. Distinctions about Mortality and that in several respects Adam may be said to be created mortal and immortal THe fourth Proposition is That from the former premisses it may be deducted that in several respects Adam may be said to be created mortal and immortal yet if we would speak absolutely to the question when demanding how Adam was created we must return Immortall Some indeed because mans mortalilty and immortality depended wholy upon his will as he did will to sinne or not to sinne so they have said he was neither made mortal or immortal but capable of either but that is not to speak consonantly to that excellency of state which Adam was created in for as Adam was created righteous not indifferent as the Socinians say neither good or bad but capacious of either qualification so he was also made immortal not in a neutral or middle state between mortal and immortal so that he had inchoate immortality upon his creation but not consummate or confirmed without respect to perseverance in his obedience for the state of integrity was as it were the beginning of that future state of glory Again Adam might be called mortal in respect of the orginals of his body being taken out of the dust of the earth but that was only in a remote power so God did so adorne him with excellent qualifications in soul and body that the remote power could never be brought into a proxime and immediate disposition much less into an actual death for a thin◠may be said to be mortal 1. In respect of the matter and thus indeed Adams body in a remote sence was corruptible 2. In respect of the forme Thus Philosophers say sublunary things are corruptible because the matter of them hath respect to divers formes whereas they call the heavens incorruptible because the matter is sufficiently actuated by one forme and hath no inclination to another and thus Adam might truly be said to be immortal for it was very congruous that a body should be united to the soul that was sutable to it for that being the form of a man and having an inclination or appetite to the body if man had been made mortal at first the natural appetite would in a great measure have been frustrated it being for a little season only united to the body and perpetually ever afterwards seperated from it Surely as an Artificer doth not use to put a precious Diamond or Pearl into a leaden Ring so neither would God at first joyn such a corruptible body to so glorious and an immortal soul 3. A thing may be said to be mortal in respect of efficiency and thus it is plain Adam was not made mortal for he might through the grace of God assisting have procured immortality to himself that threatening to Adam In the day he should eat of that forbidden fruit he should die the death Gen. 2 17. doth plainly demonstrate that had he not transgressed Gods command he should never have died 4. A thing may be said to be mortal in respect of its end Thus all the beasts of the field whatsoever Puccius thought are mortal because their end was for man to serve him so that it is a wild position to affirm as he doth that there shall be a resurrection of beasts as well as of men for they were made both in respect of matter form and end altogether mortal whereas Adam was made after the Image of God to have communion and fellowship with God and that for ever which could not be without immortality ¶ 5. Prop. 5. THe true causes of death are only revealed in Gods Word All Philosophers and Physitians they searched no further then into the proxim immediate causes of death which are either external or internal they looked no further and knew of no other thing but now by the Word of God we Christians come to know that there are three principal causes of death so that had not they been those intermedious and proxime causes of death had never been The first cause is only by occasion and temptation and that was the Devil he tempted our first parents and thereby was an occasion to let death into the world for this cause the Devil is called Joh. 8. 44. a murderer from the beginning it doth not so much relate to Cain as to Adams transgression yet the Scripture Rom. 5. doth not attribute death to the Devil but to one mans disobedience because Adams will was not forced by Satan he had power to have resisted his temptations only the Devil was the tempting cause The second and most proper cause of death was Adams disobedience so that death is a punishment of that sinne not a natural consequent of mans constitution The History of Adam as related by Moses doth evidently confirme this that there was no footstep of death till he transgressed Gods Law and upon that it was most just that he who had deprived himself of Gods Image which is the life of the soul should also be deprived of his soul which is the life of the body that as when he rebelled against God he presently felt an internal rebellion by lusts within and an external disobedience of all creatures whom he did rule over before by a pacifical dominion so also it was just that he who had deprived himself
of spiritual life should also be divested of his natural life Hence it is that the Apostle informeth us of that which all the natural wise men of the world were ignorant of Rom 5. 12. That by one mans sinne death entred into the world where the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is observed to have its peculiar Emphasis pertransiit sicut lues even as the rot doth destroy an whole flock of sheep and therefore at the 14th Verse the Apostle useth another emphatical expression Death reigned and that upon those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression Seeing then by Adams transgression death cometh thus to reign over all mankind and there would be no justice to have 〈◊〉 inflicted where there is no sinne it followeth necessarily that every child becometh inherently sinful because internally mortal and corruptible Thirdly The third and last cause is the anger of God justly inflicting this punishment of death upon us death may be considered in respect of the meritorious cause and so it is not of God but of sinne Secondly in respect of the decreâ—ing and punishing cause and this death is from God as an evil justly inflicted upon man for his sinnes God inflicts the sentence of death upon us but sinne deserveth it not that death can properly be caused by God for that is a privation but by removing life God in taking away life is thereby said to cause death Even as when the Sunne is removed from our Hemispere then darkness doth necessarily follow These then are the causes of death but oh how little are they attended untoâ— men attributing death to many other causes besides this ¶ 6. Prop. 6. VVHen we say that death cometh by original sinne in that we comprehend all deseases pains and miseries which are as so many inchoate deaths yea all labour and weariness for so God threatned Adam Gen. 2 17. Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken In this sentence there is matter enough to humble us there is not a thistle in thy corn not a weed in thy garden but it may put thee in mind of original sinne yea there is not the least pain or ach of thy body but this may witness it to thee so that Austin saith truly we do circumferre testimonium c. We carry about with us daily full evidence to confirme this Doctrine of original sinne for such evils and calamities as do necessarily follow our specifical nature accompanying us as men they cannot be attributed unto any other cause but original sin which consideration viz. of mankind being universally plunged into miseries and not knowing the cause thereof made the Platonists and some Heretiques conclude that the soules of men had sinned formerly and by way of punishment were therefore adjudged to these mortal and wretched bodyes Though death be only mentioned because that is most terrible and all other miseries tend thereunto yet they are necessarily included Some ask the Question Why God did not threaten hell rather then death but no doubt eternal death is understood in this commination for temporal and eternal death are the wages of sinne only death is mentioned as being most terrible to sense men being more affected with that then with hell which is believed by faith The Scripture then mentioning death only how absurd and preposterous are the Socinians who in that threatning will comprehend any thing but death death they say cometh from the necessity of that matter we are constituted of but sickness labour and such miseries as also eternal death these are the proper fruit of sinne Thus men delivered up to errour are hurried from one dangeous precipice to another But let Christians in all deseases miseries and death it self look higher then the Philosopher or the Physitian Let them acquaint themselves with original sinne and thereupon humble themselves under Gods hand ¶ 7. The several Grounds assigned by Schoolmen of Adam's immortality rejected and some Causes held forth by the Orthodox Propos 7. ALthough it be agreed upon by all except Socinians and their adherents that Adam was made immortal at least by grace and the favour of his Creator yet there is difference among the Popish Writers upon what to fasten the ground of his immortality What was the cause of it therein they disagree Some place it in a certain vigor and excellency that was then in the soul whereby it was able to preserve the body from death Molina liketh not this De opere sex dierum Disput 28. and therefore he doth affirm that the body of Adam was made immortal and impassible by an habitual gift bestowed upon it which he saith was a corporeal quality extended through the whole body Because saith he this immortality was not a transient thing but an enduring gift sutable to that state and God is used to give permanent gifts not immediately but by some inherent principle Even as the glorified bodies are made immortal by some intrinsecal quality accommodated to that state yea and the bodies of the damned also though they are immortal yet they are not impassible because they are tormented in the flames of hell fire But Suarez Lib. 3. de hominis Creatione cap. 14. doth upon good grounds reject any such supposed corporeal quality as being without any foundation from the Scripture and introducing a miraculous way without necessity For who can think that Adam had such an intrinsecal quality in his body that fire would not burn him that if he went upon the waters his body would not sink Others they attribute his immortality to the tree of life that was say they both alimentum medicamentum as it was both nourishment so it preserved life and as it was medicinal so it did repair that partial abating of natural strength in concoction which would otherwise in time have come upon man But this opinion taketh that for granted which yet is greatly controverted viz. that it was called the tree of life as if there had been some active physical power in the fruit thereof to continue a mans life either for a long time as some think or for ever as others whether indeed once eating of it or constant eating was necessary as opportunity did require is also debated by curious Authors for some make it to be called a tree of life onely Symbolically as being a signe of eternall life which Adam should have enjoyed had he continued in obedience And truly though it should be granted that there was such a virtue in the tree yet when Adam had sinned it would no wayes have helped him or preserved him from death because the wages of sinne is death and therefore would not have produced that in him which it is supposed that it might have had in Adam's obedience yet God would cast him out
2. 4. Luke 2. 25. The Scripture useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for quatentus as Rom. 11. 13. And indeed this is most consonant to the Apostles scope for why should Adam's sinne be brought in rather than other parents Were it not that we were considered in him under a common respect as one with him It is true Erasmus saith he doth not remember that ever he read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a Dative case but Heb. 9. 17. may confute him And among prophane Authors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 26. 50. be said by most men to signifie in as much For as De Dieu observeth the postpositive is for the demonstrative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Art thou come for this as the other Evangelists Dost thou betray the sonne of man with a kisse Although if we should render it causaâ—ly as the adversaries contend it would no wayes prejudice the truth we plead for seeing that the sinne here charged upon all mankind is because of Adam And therefore if we will make any rational coherence in the Apostles discourse it must be after this manner As by one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men as much as all have sinned that is all sinned in that one man for what sense it is to say That by one man sinne and death entred upon all because all sinned in themselves This would be a contradiction to lay the death of mankind upon Adam's sinne and upon all mens actual sinnes likewise Yea it is wholly repugnant to the Apostles scope who is comparing Adam and Christ not simply as two originals and beginnings but as two causes of death and life Indeed I would not much contend with any that would render the word causally and so make the verse an whole entire proposition in it self without any defective expression at all so that we understand all mens sinning to be interpreted of that which they are guilty of in Adam It is not worth time to take notice of the wild Divinity imposed upon this Discourse of Pauls by the late Writer Vnum Necessar pag. 365 who would have Death come upon mankind occasionally onely by Adam's sinne and that but till Moses his time and after Moses to come upon a new account by the Law promulged through his ministry The mentioning of this is confutation enough for here in this Text the Apostle doth make all mankind to die because of Adam And why may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text. Another Text witnessing this truth is Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sinne is death Here death is not taken only for eternal death as the Socinians say because the opposite unto it is made eternal life but for both kinds of death eternal and temporal temporal death being the in-let of eternal and so contrary to eternal life Neither is that cavil of their worth any thing who would make the wages of sinne to be the Subject and not the Predicate because the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put to it but that is no sure Rule Sometimes the Article is put to the Predicate for some emphasis sake and not the Subject as I Cor. 9. 1. Are not ye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my work in the Lord Are ye not that eminent and conspicuous singular work of mine in the Lord We see then what it is that sinne deserveth even temporal and eternal death it cometh not from mans primitive constitution but Adam's transgression Therefore it is that we deserve many thousand deaths if it were possible for original sinne deserveth death every actual sinne deserveth death yea and hell also Oh how miserable is man who thus deserveth to die and to be damned over and over again Therefore the Apostle useth the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie the manifold evils that are in this death The word properly signifieth that meat which was allowed souldiers for their service in warre We see then how fearfull we all are to be of sinne What wages wilt thou have for every pleasant every profitable sinne even death temporal and eternal The last Text I shall mention is that which Austin so much urgeth in this point Rom. 8. 10. The body is dead because of sinne which is chiefly to be understood of our mortal body now he saith it's dead because of the sentence of death passed it so that there is no way to escape it It is sinne then that maketh the body in a state of death that deserveth the whole harmony and good temperament of the body should be dissolved and therby follow a dissolution of the whole man For though sinne deserve death yet there must be thereby some ataxy or disorder made in the body of a man otherwise death would not follow So that though sinne be the meritorious cause yet several diseases the effect of sinne do actually cause death Not that sinne maketh a substantial change in a man but an accidental only Thus you see the Scripture constantly attributing death yea and our mortality and corruptibility to sinne onely and not to our natural constitution Therefore those are strange positions we meet with Vnum Necessar cap. 6. Sect. 1. pag. 371 372. That death came in not by any new sentence or change of nature for man was created mortal and that if Adam had not sinned he should have been immortal by grace that is by the use of the tree of life That to die is a punishment to some to others not It was a punishment to all that sinned before Moses and since upon the first it fell as a consequent of Gods anger upon Adam upon the later it fell as a consequent of that anger which was threatned in Moses Law but to those who sinned not at all as Infants and Ideots it was meerly a condition of their nature and no more a punishment then to be a child is But seeing he professeth himself to be of the same judgement with his incomparable Grotius let him consider how these positions agree with him who doth against Socinus industriously and solidly prove Defens fid de satisfac cap. 1. pag. 19 20 21. that death hath alwayes some respect of a punishment instancing in the Texts I have mentioned using such words Quidclarius Quis vel verba legens non videat hanc sententiam and Corinthians the words of my Text and an ad anussim respondereisti ad Romanos Yea he concludeth That it were easie to prove that it was the perpetual judgment of the ancient Jews and Christians that death of whatsoever kind it be viz. whether with violence or without violence was the punishment of sinne adding that the Christian Emperors did deservedly condemn beside other things this opinion of Pelagians that they held mortem non ex insidiis fluxisse peccati sed exegisse eam legem
immutabilis constituti And indeed if death were not the effect of sinne but consequent of mans nature it would be no evil whereas the Scripture accounteth it of that nature as Deut. 30. 15. See I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil SECT IV. Arguments brought to prove that Adam was made mortal answered THe next work to be done is to consider those Arguments which they bring to prove that Adam was made mortal and so had a proxim principle of death in him which would have taken effect if God did not provide some way against it and that which is used by all Adversaries to this truth is Because Adam was created in such a condition that be must necessarily eat and drink yea and was also to propagate children all which actions do contradict immortality For he that eateth and drinketh must by degrees have a decay in nature and our Saviour seemeth to prove immortality from this argument Luk. 20. 35 36. because in heaven they shall not marry so that to procreate children is not consistent with such a blessed estate But these Objections are easily answered if we remember the distinction at first given in this point that there is an immortality absolute and immutable or conditional and changeable upon supposition Now it 's true neither eating or marrying can consist with unchangeable mortality with immortality of glory But it may very well consist with conditional immortality that is in tendency to that which is absolute Eating and drinking in the state of integrity was a means subserving to keep up the state of immortality so farre was it from repugning of it This therefore is the root of his errour that men apprehend no other immortality but what is compleat that unless Adam had been made in the same estate that the glorified Saints are put into he could not be said to be immortal Secondly They say Adam is said to be earthly and of the earth to have a natural body and so opposite to that immortal body we shall have in heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. But first when the Apostle giveth those names to our bodies of vile corruptible and to be in dishonour this is to be understood of our bodies after the fall they are made so through sinne It would be derogatory to God to say they were made such at first It is true the first man is said to be earthy but that expression denoteth only the original of his body whence it was first made not the state he was created in as appeareth by the opposite the second man is said to be the Lord from Heaven It is one thing then to speak of Adam's body in respect of its original and another to speak of the whole person in respect of his condition Thirdly They say All the internal causes of death were in Adam while standing as well as fallen and therefore he was mortal as well as we To this we answer there were indeed the causes of death in him materially but not formally for the bodily humours were not peccant either in quality or quantity the natural heat would not have consumed the radical moisture so that in that estate there would never have been formally existent the proxim causes of death besides the adequate and principal causes of death are the Devils suggestions and mans transgression as you heard Fourthly They ask If man were not made mortal why should immortality be promised as a reward if he had it already Why should it be promised him upon his obedience The answer is easie Adam 's immortality was inchoate onely the consummation of it was promised as a reward to his obedience Lastly They object If death be the punishment of sinne then Christ hath freed believers from this death which is against experience But 1. The Socinians grant That a necessity of death is the fruit of sinne yet Christ hath not freed us from the necessity of it no more than the naturality of it 2. We must distinguish between an actual abolition of death and the right to do it Christ hath purchased for us a right to immortality yet the actual investing of us into it is to be done in its time Death will be swallowed up in victory and for the present the nature of death is changed as to a godly man it 's no more a curse to him the sting of death is taken away as when a Serpent or Wasp have lost their sting they can do no more hurt Thus to the godly it cannot do any hurt It is like Elijah's fiery chariot to carry them to Heaven It 's like passing through the red Sea into the Land of Canaan thus as the cloud was full of darkness to the Aegyptian but light to the Israelite so is death full of terrour and of curses to an ungodly man but pleasant and lovely to a godly man it is his gain to die To live in this world is his losse and disadvantage SECT V. Q. Whether Adam's sinne was only an occasion of Gods punishing all mankind resolved against D. J. T. I Shall conclude this Text with answering a two-fold Question The full discussing whereof may inform us about the most secret and mysterious truths that are in this point And First It may be demanded That suppose it be granted that by Adam we die may not this be understood any more than occasionally God was so displeased with Adam for his transgression that thereupon he insticts the curse threatned to him upon his posterity Even as we read often in Scripture that God for Magistrates sins or for parents sins doth take an occasion to punish a people or children for their own sinnes Thus it may be thought that God by occasion from Adam's transgression did impose on us for our sinnes the same curse that was denounced to Adam not that we were sinners in him not that we come into the world with any inherent sinne but because of our actual impieties God punisheth us with Adam's curse In this manner the late adversary to original sinne doth explicate himself An Answer to a Letter pag. 30 31 32. as if this were all the evil by Adam that for his sake our sinnes inherit the curse Insomuch saith he that it is not so properly to be called original sinne as an original curse upon our sinne That we may not be deceived in his meaning though it is very difficult to reconcile himself with himself For at another time he saith The dissolution of the soul and holy should have been if Adam had not sinned for the world would have been too little to have entertained the â—yriads of men which would have been born An Answer to a Letter p. 86 87 Now how Adam's sinne should bring in the sentence of death as he saith in another place Vnum Necessar cap. 6. sect 1. pag. 367. and yet he have died though he had not sinned is impossible to reconcile He giveth us two similitudes or parallel expressions which may
of integrity 479 Nor is there sense or feeling of any such Conflict in a natural man 480 It 's in all that are sanctified 81 Conflict the several kinds 500 Conscience What Conscience is 223 Whence quietness of Conscience in unregenerate men 90 And whence troubles of Conscience in the regenerate ib. Erroneous Conscience ought to be obeyed 224 Conscience horribly blind and erroneous by nature 225 And senslesse 226 The defect of Conscience in its offices and actings 228 The corruption of Conscience in accusing and excusing 230 Of a counterfeit Conscience 233 Sinfull lust fancy and imagination custome and education mistaken for Conscience ib. Conscience severe against other mens sins blind about its own 236 Security of Conscience 237 The defilement of Conscience when troubled and awakened 238 The difference between a troubled and a regenerate Conscience 243 Causes of trouble of Conscience without regeneration ib. False cure of a wounded Conscience 245 Consent A two-fold Consent of the will expresse and formal or interpretative and virtual 287 Creation Christ had his soul by Creation and so we have ours 195 Creature Mans bondage to the Creature 317 D Damnation DAmnation due to all for original sinne 528 Death Death not natural to Adam before sin 31 115 Death and all other miseries come from sin 173 Devil The Devil cannot compell us to sinne 15 114 Difference Difference between original and actual sins 477 Difficulty Difficulty of turning to God whence 478 Doubtings Doubtings whence 241 Duties Imperfection in the best Duties 11 Of doing Duties for conscience sake 234 E Exorcisms EXorcisms used anciently at the Baptism of Infants 54 F Faculties SOme Faculties and imbred principles left in the soul after the fall 224 Mans best Faculties corrupted by sinne 139 Flesh Flesh and spirit in every godly man 11 How the word Flesh is used in Scripture 139 Flesh and spirit contrary ib. Forgetfulness Forgetfulness natural and moral 257 Forgetfulness of sin 260 Of usefull examples and former workings of Gods Spirit 261 Of our later end the day and death and judgement and the calamities of the Church 262 Freedom Several kinds of Freedom 306 Freedom from the dominion of sin whether it be by suppression or abolishing part of it 503 G Grace WHat sanctifying Grace is 20 Given not so much to curb actual sin as to cure the nature ib. Free Grace exalted by the Apostles 308 The Doctrine of free Grace unpleasing to flesh and bloud 310 The necessity of special Grace to help against temptations 314 H Habits THe Habits of sin forbidden and the Habits of grace required by the Law 45 Heathens Heathens how far ignorant of original sin 168 Condemn the lustings of the heart 169 Heresies Hereticks The Heresies of the Gnosticks Carpocratians Montanists and Donatists 225 The guilt and craft of Heretiques 303 I Jesus Christ JEsus Christ his conception miraculous 388 But framed of the substance of the Virgin 389 Why called the Son of God ib. Had a real body ib. Born holy and without sin 390 How he could be true man and yet free from sin 392 Ignorance A universal Ignorance upon a mans understanding 178 210 Image Gods Image in Adam not an infused habit or habits but a natural rectitude or connatural perfection to his nature 19 Why called Gods Image 21 The Image of God in man Reason and understanding one part of it 113 Holinesse and righteousnesse another part ib. Power to persevere in holinesse another part ib. A regular subordination of the affections to the rule of righteousnes another part 114 Primitive glory honour and immortality another part 115 Dominion and superiority another part yet not the only Image of God as the Socinians falsly ib. How man made in it 131 Imagination Imagination its nature 351 Its sinfulnesse in making Idols and conceits to please it self 352 And in its defect from the end of its being 353 By its restlesnesse 355 By their universality multitude disorder their roving and wandring their impertinency and unseasonablenesse 356 357 It eclipseth and keeps out the understanding 358 Conceiveth for the most part all actual transgressions 359 Acts sin with delight when there are no external actings 360 Its propensity to all evil 361 Is continually inventing new sins or occasions of sin 362 Vents its sinfulnesse in reference to the Word and the preaching of it 364 Mind more affected with appearances than realities 365 And in respect of fear and the workings of conscience 366 And its acting in dreams 367 Is not in subordination to the rational part of man 368 The instrument in Austins judgment of conveying sin to the child 368 Prone to receive the Devils temptations 369 Immortal How many wayes a thing may be said to be Immortal 509 Of Adams Immortality in the state of innocency 513 Impossibility Impossibility of mans loosing himself from the creature and return to God 371 Infants Infants deserve hell 7 Sinners 29 Cannot be saved without Christ 35 55 Infant-holinesse what it is 56 Infants defiled with original sin before born 62 Judgment Whence diversities of Judgment in the things of God 219 Justification Justification by imputed not inherent righteousnesse 29 K Knowing Known CVriosity and affection in all of Knowing what is not to be Known 184 Which comes from original sin 212 L Law THe Law impossible to be kept 10 A Law what 85 The Law requireth habitual holinesse 130 Forbids lust in the heart 156 Liberty Liberty of will nothing but voluntarinesse or complacency 132 Lust What Lust is 155 How distinguished 157 Lust considered according to the four-fold estate of man 160 Sinfull Lust utterly extirpated in heaven 161 M Man MAn by nature out of Gods favour 117 Man made to enjoy and glorifie God 132 133 How sin dissolved the harmony of Mans nature ib. Man unable to help himself out of his lost condition 153 Through sin it is worse with Man than other creatures 174 The nobler part of Man inslaved to the inferiour 175 Man utterly impotent to any spiritual good 177 By his fall became like the devil 183 Memory The pollution of it 247 What it is 250 A two-fold weaknesse of Memory natural and sinfull ib. The use and dignity of it 251 The nature of it 253 Discoveries of its pollution 253 Wherein it is polluted 257 Wherein it fails in respect of the objects ib. Hath much inward vitiosity adhering to it 263 Subservient to our corrupt hearts 265 Mind Whence the vanity and instability of the Mind 217 Ministry One end of the Ministry 255 N Natural EVery Natural man is carnal in the mysteries of Religion in religious worship in religious ordinances in religious performances 140 141 In spiritual transactions and religious deportment 142 143 Necessity What Necessity is consistent with freedom 312 O Original Sinne. THe necessity of knowing it 1 The term ambiguously used and how taken in this Treatise ib. That there is such a natural concontagion on all 2 Why called Original sin 5 Denial of
Fourth Part. TReating of the Effects of Original Sinne. CHAP. I. Of that Propensity that is in every one by Nature to sinne Job 15. 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water SECT I. The Text explained and vindicated from Socinian Exceptions SECT II. How much is implied in this Metaphor Man drinketh iniquity like water SECT III. Some Demonstrations to prove that there is such an impetuous Inclination in man to sinne SECT IV. The true Causes of this Proneness and the false ones assigned by the Adversaries examined CHAP. II. The second immediate Effect of Original Sinne is the Causality which it hath in respect of all other sins Jam. 1. 14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed SECT I. The Text explained setting forth the generation of Sinne. SECT II. That Original Sinne is the Cause of all Actual Evil cleared by several Propositions which may serve for Antidotes against many Errours ¶ 2. Of the Motions of the heart to sinne not consented unto as an immediate Effect of Original Sinne. ¶ 3. How many wayes the Soul may become guilty of sinne in respect of the Thoughts and motions of the heart CHAP. III. Of the Combate between the Flesh and the Spirit as the Effect of Original Sinne so that the Godliest man cannot do any holy Duty perfectly in this life Gal. 5. 17. For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would SECT I. The Text explained and vindicated from corrupt Interpretations SECT II. Several Propositions clearing the truth about the Combate between the Flesh and Spirit in a Godly man SECT III. A Consideration of that part of the seventh Chapter to the Romans which treats of the Conflict within a man Shewing against Amyraldus and others that it must be a regenerate person only of whom those things are spoken ¶ 4. The several wayes whereby Original Sinne doth hinder the Godly in their Religious Progress whereby they are sinfull and imperfect ¶ 5. Objections against the Reliques of Sin in a regenerate man answered ¶ 8. The several Conflicts that may be in a man ¶ 10. How the Combate in a Godly man between the Flesh and Spirit may be discerned from other Conflicts ¶ 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 CHAP. IV. Of Death coming upon all men as another Effect of Original Sinne. 1 Cor. 15. 22. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive SECT II. Death an Effect of Original Sinne explained in divers Propositions ¶ 2. How many wayes a thing may be said to be Immortal and in which of them man is so ¶ 4. Distinctions about Mortality and that in several respects Adam may be said to be created Mortal and Immortal ¶ 7. The several Grounds assigned by Schoolmen of Adam's Immortality rejected and some Causes held forth by the Orthodox SECT III. Arguments to prove That through Adam's sinne we are made sinners and so Mortal SECT IV. Arguments brought to prove That Adam was made Mortal answered SECT V. Whether Adam's sinne was onely an occasion of Gods punishing all mankind resolved against D. J. Taylor SECT VI. Whether Death may be attributed to mans constitution considered in his meer Naturals against D. J. Taylor and the Socinians CHAP. V. Eternal Damnation another Effect of Original Sinne. Ephes 2. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath as well as others SECT I. What is meant by Wrath in this Text. SECT II. What is meant by Nature SECT III. That by nature through the original sinne we are born in all are heirs of Gods wrath all are obnoxious to eternal damnation SECT IV. What is comprehended in this Expression Children of wrath SECT V. Some Propositions in order to the proving That the wrath of God is due to all mankind because of Original Sinne. SECT VI. Arguments to prove it SECT VII Some Conclusions deduceable from the Doctrine of the damnableness of Original Sinne. SECT VIII A Consideration of their Opinion that hold an Universal Removal of the Guilt of Original Sinne from all mankind by Christs Death Answering their Arguments among which that from the Antithesis or Opposition which the Apostle maketh Rom. 5. between the first Adam and the second Adam 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 A TREATISE OF Original Sinne. PART I. CHAP. I. The first Text to prove Original Sinne improved and vindicated SECT I. EPHES. 2. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath as well as others THE true Doctrine of Original Corruption is of so great concernment that Austin thought De Peccato Orig. contra Pelag. Celest 2. cap. 24. the Summe of Religion to consist in knowing of this as the effect of the first Adam and also of Christ the second Adam with all his glorious benefits Though therefore Coelestius of old thought it to be but Recquaestionis not fides Ibidem cap. 4. And others of late have wholly rejected it as Austin's figment yet certainly the true way of Humiliation for sinne or Justification by Christ cannot be firmly established unless the true Doctrine of this be laid as a Foundation-stone in the building Now because original sinne is used ambiguously by Divines sometimes for Adam's first sinne imputed unto us for Omnes homines fuerunt ille unus homo he was the common Person representing all mankind as is in time to be shewed And this for distinction sake is called Originale originans or Originale imputatum And sometimes it 's taken passively for the effect of that first sinne of Adam viz. The total and universal pollution of all mankind inherently through sinne which is called Originale originatum or inherens I shall treat of it in this later acception as being of great practical improvement many wayes SECT II. ANd because in Theological Debates two Questions are necessary The An sit and the Quid sit Whether there be such a thing and What it is and in both these the truth of God meeteth with many adversaries I shall first insist on the Quod sit That there is such a natural and cursed pollution upon every one that is born in an ordinary way The first Text I shall fasten this Truth upon is this I have mentioned which deservedly both by Ancient and Modern Writers is thought to have a pregnant and evident demonstration That there is such a natural contagion upon all To understand this the better take notice of the Coherence briefly The Apostles scope is to incite the Ephesians to Thankfulness by the consideration of that great love and infinit mercy vouchsafed to them by God and because the Sunne is most
welcome out of a dark gloomy cloud one contrary doth more illustrate another He compareth their present state of Grace with their pristine condition of misery and wretchedness which is summarily expressed That they were dead in sinnes and trespasses a farre more dreadfull estate than if they had been dead and rotting in their graves This internal corruption is amplified from a twofold external cause 1. The course aud custom of the world 2. The power and efficacy of the Devil the Prince of the power of the Air working in them Now lest this should be thought true only of the Ephesians because Gentiles he brings in himself also and the Jews equal with them both in actual sinnes 1. We all had our conversation in times past in lusts of the flesh c. 2. For original sinne both Jew and Gentile were all plunged in the same original gulf of misery And this Proposition is asserted in the words read SECT III. IN which words are considerable the Subject and the Predicate with the Manner of its attribution The Subject is We that is we all as in the beginning of this verse For seeing the Jews were Abraham's children in which they so much boasted and therefore are called Jews by nature Gal. 2. 15. and the natural branches Rom. 11. 21. They might easily think others indeed were by nature sinfull yet for themselves they would think that glorious discent they had from Abraham might be a priviledge to them but here it is true though Jews by nature yet sinners by nature as the Gentiles were 2. There is the Predicate Children of wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an Hebraism and signifieth one wholly exposed to wrath as if wrath were the mother and gave them their whole being Thus the children of Belial and the sons of death are often in Scripture By wrath is meant Gods wrath Now because Gods wrath is just and doth alwayes presuppose sinne Hence is inevitably deducted That we are also by Nature full of sinne So that though wrath be immediatly the misery here spoken of yet sin is supposed as the necessary antecedent 3. There is the Manner how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by nature We have it by our birth it 's not by imitation and action or custom but by Nature This word doth clearly pass a sentence of condemnation upon every one while in the swadling-cloaths though as yet guilty of no actual transgression But because the strength of our Argument for Original sinne lieth on this word and the Adversaries to it especially the Socinians would weaken this Testimony Let us remove their exceptions SECT IV. ANd first Gretius rejects this Interpretation of Original sinne as nothing to the Apostles meaning and therefore saith the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly and indeed opposite to what is in opinion and esteem comparing this place with Gal. 4. 8. Which by nature are no gods In this following Pelagius his Exposition of old as if he would take his errour by imitation as Pelagius said we did sinne from Adam This interpretation of Pelagius taking prorsus for the same with nature Austin refuseth for the novelty of it Lib. 6. contra Julia cap. 4. and indeed nothing now is more ordinary then such an Exposition with the Adversaries to original sinne as Castellio and others But this Exposition is not opposite it 's only subordinate we will grant that the word will bear this sense That we are truly and wholly the children of wrath but this is not all we are so because we have this misery by nature and the parallel instanced in will abundantly convince it for therefore they were not truly and indeed Gods because they were not so by nature So that the Text makes against him and not for him Besides the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being used about twelve times in the New Testament doth alwayes signifie that which is nature or according to natural inclination or what we have by natural birth For nature so 1 Cor. 11. 14. Doth not nature teach you And Jam. 3. 7. Rom. 1. 26. For natural principles and inclinations so the Gentiles Rom. 2. 14. are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To do the things of the Law or by natural descent Rom. 2. 27. Vncircumcision is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Rom. 11 21 24. The natural branches are called the Jews descending of Abraham and thereby enjoying Church-priviledges and Gal. 2. 15. Jews by Nature Insomuch that it is a manifest falshood to say the word never signifieth that which we have by birth And indeed as is well observed by Zanchy The phrase Children by Nature must necessarily imply by descent as the sonne of a man supposeth descent from him Adam was a man but not the son of a man he had it not originally from another whereas we are by nature children of wrath and so have it from our parents Hence it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth relate to our nativity and in the original it is more emphatical than in our Translations for there it is not by nature children of wrath but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children by nature of wrath So that children by nature is opposite to children by Custom Imitation Adoption or any other way Thus the first exception is removed Object In the next place The Socinian puts in his Caveat after this manner That must be understood by the phrase Children of wrath by nature which the Ephesians were now by the grace of God freed from for the Apostle speaks in the time past You were by nature children of wrath but now are quickned by the grace of God therefore the Ephesians were now freed from that estate But according to the Doctrine of those who maintain Original sinne that abideth in every man though regenerated and is not abolished but by death Answ But this stone is easily removed For although original sinne abide in the godly yet the guilt of it is not imputed So that though by nature we were obnoxious to the wrath of God through its guilt yet when grace cometh this guilt is taken away so that though it be in us yet it is not imputed to us Object Lastly They object It must be understood of actual sins for the Apostle spoke of such before and to be a sonne of a thing denoteth the quality inherent in a man as given to such a way so in the former verse the Children of disobedience that is those who voluntarily give themselves to such rebellion Answ But to this it is answered That in the former expression is not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that the Apostle doth here lay the Ax to the root of the Tree and because the Jews might be thought by the priviledges they enjoyed as soon as born to excell the Gentiles Therefore he demonstrateth the Fountain and Well-head of their iniquity though secret and under-ground as
Free-will and so the praise shall be given partly to our selves and partly to God But above all he that doth either deny or diminish the guilt and contagion of this sinne can never exalt Christ in all his Offices as he ought to do He that denieth the disease must needs derogate from the Physician The whole need not the Physician saith our Saviour Matth. 9. 12. And therefore it 's of great consequence to be fully perswaded about the depth breadth and length of this sinne that thereby we may be able to comprehend the dimensions of Christs love to us Not that Christ came only to take away the guilt of original sin as some Papists affirm but because this is the womb wherein all other sins are conceived This is the wound of the whole nature actual sins only infect the person of a man We may then easily see the necessity of being truly informed about this Subject for this is like miscarriage in the first concoction which cannot be amended by that which followeth And therefore this consideration should quicken you up in a diligent attention to the whole Doctrine which shall be delivered about it SECT III. IN the next place we are to shew you of what practical advantage it is for all to be fully informed about this native contagion and leprosie we bring with us into the world And First He that doth truly believe in this point will quickly silence all those impatient if not blasphemous complaints that are uttered by many against nature because as they say it is such an hard step-mother to mankind Non tam editi quum ejecti said the Heathen I call them blasphemous complaints because what is spoken against Nature redounds upon God the Author of Nature Hence in the Scripture what Nature doth God is said to do Now then if we consider what impatient expostulations the Heathens have made why man of all creatures should be by Nature most miserable No true answer could ever be given to satisfie but this because man comes sinfull into the world The young ones of beasts and birds are not so miserable as our Infants because not corrupted with evil in their Natures as they are So that if we see our very Infants which yet as the Scripture saith cannot discern between the right hand and left and have not done actual good or evil subject to grievous diseases and death it self Wonder not at this for they have in themselves through their native sinfulness a desert not only of this pain but eternal torments in hell Hence it is that the Scripture instructs us in that which all Philosophy could never inform us viz. the cause and original of all those diseases and pains yea of death it self which reigneth over all mankind Insomuch that thereby we see though there were not one actual sinne in the world though all men had no more sinne upon them then what they had in the womb and in the cradle yet there was demerit enough of that vengeance of God which upon mans transgression was threatned in the Word Gen. 6. 5. The main cause why God brought that universal deluge upon the whole world was not so much their actual wickedness as such but because it came from a polluted fountain which would never be wholly cleansed Their hearts were so many shops wherein were constantly formed all manner of impieties yea by this we see not only the miseries upon man but all the bondage an vanity that is upon the whole world That there are any barrenness any famines that the ground brings forth thorns and thistles that the woman brings forth with so much labour and forrow all these things come by original sinne God did not at first create things in such disorder and confusion If therefore thou wouldst quiet thy heart under all tumults and vexing thoughts to see the manifold mischiefs and miseries mankind is subject unto This Grave jugum super filios Adam as Austin often out of Ecclesiasticus this heavy yoke upon the sons of Adam have recourse to a serious meditation about original sin Secondly The true knowledge of this natural defilement will also satisfie us in those doubtfull Questions which some have greatly tormented themselves with viz. How sinne comes to be in the world And whence it is Austin in his seventh Book of his Confessions and fifth Chapter doth there bewail before God the great agonies and troubles of mind he was in about the beginning of sinne whence it did arise For seeing every thing that God made was exceeding good this exceedingly puzzled him to know how evil should be Yea this knot was so hard to unty in some mens judgments that it made many of the Marcionites heresie who because they saw men commit evil as soon as they were born and yet withall being convinced That God was good and could not be the beginning of evil They therefore maintained two principles of all things the one good of all good things The other evil of evil things Thus men have wonderfully plunged themselves into boggs and quagmires of danger and destruction because not acquainted with this main Truth of Original sin Thirdly For want of knowledge herein that main duty so much commended both by Scripture and the Heathens viz. To know our selves can never be put in practice The Heathen said è Coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as for the Scripture How often is it required That we should search and try our hearts That we should examine our selves and commune with our own hearts and be still Psal 4. Now these duties can never be effectually done without a firm belief of that desperate pollution which is in our heart And till we acknowledge with Jerem. 17. The heart is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked Who can know it Yea we see David Psal 19. 13. though a godly man and much enlightned thereby being enabled to make deep search into his soul and having the Sun beams could discern those atoms and motes of sinne which man in the dark could not do yet he crieth out Who can understand his errors Cleanse me from secret sins that is such sins that lie latent and lurking in my heart that never yet I could find out If then this duty be so great of knowing our selves that some make all Religion to be in these two things The knowledge of our selves and of God then how necessary is it that we should be thorowly acquainted with this heart and nature-sinfulness for without this we can never know how vile and loathsom we are Our actual impieties though never so gross and numerous do not demonstrate our loathsomness so much as this bitter and sour leven within These are the stream that is the fountain These are the effects that is the cause Therefore the greatest strength of our wickedness lieth in a defiled Nature as you see in a Serpent or Toad that venom it sends forth at any time is nothing to the venom in
its nature If you look upon a Cain a Judas though his outside be so detestable yet his inwards are much more abominable so that a mans heart is like Peters great sheet which he saw in a vision Acts 11. 6. which was full of four-footed beasts and wild beasts and creeping things all unclean such a receptacle is mans soul of all impiety A man cannot tell what is in the sea what monsters are in the bottom of it by looking upon the superficies of the water which covers it so neither canst thou tell all that horrid deformity and wretchedness which is in thy heart by beholding thine outward impieties Oh then that you would turn your eyes inward as it were an introversion is necessary Then you will say O Lord before I knew the Nature of original sinne I was not perswaded of my vileness of my foulness Oh now I see that I am beyond all expression sinfull now I see every day I am more and more abominable O Lord formerly I thought all my sinne was in some words in some actions or in some vile thoughts but now I see this was the least part of all that evil that was in me Now I am amazed astonished to see what a sea of corruption is within me now I can never go to the bottom now I find something like hell within me sparks of lust that are unquenchable Fourthly Where there is not a true knowledge of this native corruption there our Humiliation and Repentance can never be deep enough for it 's not enough to be humbled for our actual sinnes unless also we go to the cause and root of all When a godly man would repent of his lusts of his unbelief or any other actual transgression he stayeth not in the confession of and bewailing those particular sins but he goeth to the polluted fountain to the bitter spring from whence those bitter streams flow and commonly this is a difference between an Ahabs Humiliation and a Davids Ahab humbleth himself only for his actual impieties and that because of judgments threatned and impending over him but David even when he heareth God had forgiven his iniquity yet hath great humiliation for his sinnes and Psal 51. thinketh it not enough to bewail his adultery and murder but to confess That in iniquity he was conceived his actual sinnes carried him to the original Thus Paul also Rom. 7 when he miserably complaineth of that impotency in him to do good that he could never do any good as perfectly fully purely and cheerfully as he ought to do presently he goeth to the cause of all this deordination the Law of sinne within him that original sinne which was like a Law within him commanding him to think to desire to do sinfully and obeyed it in all though against his will insomuch that he saith He was carnal and sold under sinne This the Apostle doth complain of as the heaviest burden of all So that an unregenerate man may by the light of nature bewail and complain of his actual impieties he may cry out Oh wretched man that I am for being such a beast such a devil so exorbitant and excessive but whether he can do this for the body of sinne within him as Paul did that may justly be questioned And therefore you see then the troubles and workings of conscience in some men to miscarry greatly They seem to be in pain and travails of soul but all cometh to nothing Oh how many in times of danger and under fear of death do sadly cry out of such sins they have committed Oh the promises and resolutions they make if ever God give them recovery again But all this passeth away even as mans life it self like a vapour like a tale that is told And one cause of the rottenness and defect of this humiliation is because it did not go to the bottom of the soare there was the inward and deep corruption of original sin that such never took any notice of and so in all his sorrow did omit that which is the most aggravating cause of all grief and trembling O Lord I have not only done this wicked thing but I had an heart an inclination of soul to carry me to it and therefore actual sinnes though ten thousands of them they pass away the guilt only remaining but this original pravity continueth in the pollution of it Fifthly Ignorance of original sinne makes us also mistake in the crucifying and mortifying of sinne No man can truly and spiritually leave a sinne unless he doth conquer it and subdue it in some measure in the original and root of it and this is a sure difference between a regenerate and unregenerate man about leaving or forsaking of sinne They both may give over their wonted actual impieties They both may have escaped the pollution of the world and that through the knowledge of the Gospel 2 Pet. 2. 20. but the one leaveth only the acts of sinne the other mortifieth it gradually though not totally in the cause and inclination of the soul Thus Paul Rom. 7. though he complain of those actual stirrings and impetuous motions of sinne yet withall he can truly say I delight in the Law of God in the inner man Now no hypocrite or unregenerate man can say so Though he be outwardly washed yet he hath a swinish nature still his inward parts are as loathsom as noisom as ever before Though there be a fair skinne drawn over the wound yet in the bottom there is as much corruption and putrefaction as ever before Samson's hair is only cut it 's not plucked up by the root so that it 's not enough to have given over thy former profaneness Thou thankest God thou art not the man once thou wert Oh but consider whether sinne in the root of it as well as in the branches of it doth wither and die daily A disease is not cured till the cause of it be in some measure at least removed As long as originall sinne is not in some degree mortified thy old sins or some other will break out as violently as ever here is the fountain and root of all within thee Sixthly He that is ignorant of the nature and extent of this natural defilement he must needs grosly mistake about the nature of conversion and be wholly ignorant of what regeneration is As you see in Nicodemus John 3. 6. though a master in Israel yet grosly mistaking about a new-birth and what was the reason of it That appeareth by our Saviours argument to prove the necessity of it Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh implying by this That if Nicodemus had known that by natural generation he was nothing but flesh that is sinne and evil his soul his mind his conscience all was flesh in this sense as well as his body then he would quickly have discerned the necessity of being born again then he would not have continued a day an hour a moment in such a dangerous condition And what
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
not the effect of it Because we are thus sinful and polluted by nature therefore all our actions are likewise so polluted Now then if the Scripture make it such an impossible thing for a man accustomed only to evil to become a changed man that impossibility lieth upon a man who is naturally so For though custom be called a second Nature yet certainly the first Nature is more implanted and so more active in a man This particular therefore may greatly humble a man in that sinne is so deeply rooted in him it 's worse than an habit or custom of sinning It goeth as neer to thy very essence and substance as it can do and yet not be thy substance Therefore the Scripture cals it Flesh and blood The members of a man The Law of sinne in his flesh If a man hath a thorn in his flesh how restless and pained is he Paul compared that heavy temptation he grapled with to a Thorn in the flesh but although by nature we have this thorn not only in our sides but even all over the whole man yet we can lie down in ease and live in pleasure as if nothing ailed us but this is one deadly effect of original sinne that it takes away all sense and feeling whether there be any such thing or no. Oh then let the thoughts of this sinne go as deep into thee as the sinne it self Sinne is got into thy heart let sorrow get thither Sinne hath entred into thy bowels and filled the whole man brimme full as we say Oh let shame and holy confusion be as deep and as complete in thee SECT VIII SEventhly This naturality will appear If we consider that original righteousness which God created man in For our original sinne comes in the place thereof and such a perfection as that was to the soul such a defect is this to us Now the Orthodox do maintain against Papists That that original righteousness was not a supernatural perfection superadded to mans nature but a due and natural perfection concreated with him For as Adam being made to glorifie God was thereby to have a rational soul so also such perfection in that soul which might make him capable of his end otherwise man would have been created in a more imperfect and ignoble condition than any creature It is true indeed That Righteousness and Holiness Adam had which the Scripture cals Gods Image did not flow from the principles of nature neither was it a natural consequent thereof but yet it was a moral condition or perfection due to Adam supposing God created him to such an end and therefore we are not to conceive of that Image of God as an infused habit or habits which were to rectifie and guide the natural faculties and affections of the soul which otherwise would move in repugnancy and contrariety to one another but as a natural rectitude and innate ability of those powers and affections of the soul to move regularly and subordinately to Gods will Though therefore in respect of God that Righteousness Adam had might be called supernatural because it was his gift yet in respect of man the subject so it was connatural and a suitable perfection to his nature This being taken for a sure Truth then it will exceedingly help us to the true understanding of the naturality of this evil for original sinne succeeding in the stead thereof is not as some Papists affirm like the taking of cloaths from a man and so leaving him naked or like the taking away of a bridle from an horse all which are superadded and external helps as it were but it 's like death that takes away the life of a man in respect of what is holy and godly and like an heavy disease that doth much hinder and debilitate even the natural operations This original sinne then is like the spoiling of an instrument of Musick or the deordination of a Clock or Watch when not able to perform their proper service they were made for So that original sinne is partly the want of this original Righteousness that was so connatural and partly thereby a propensity and inclination to all evil For as when the harmony of the humours is dissolved presently diseases arise in the body Thus when that admirable rectitude which was at first in the whole man was broken then all inordinacy all perversness and crookedness presently began to possess the whole man As then original Righteousness was not as an infused habit but the faculties of the soul duly constituted whereby they did regularly move in their several wayes so original sin is not to be conceived like some acquired habit polluting the powers of the soul but as the internal defect and imperfection that is cleaving to them Even as the paralitical hand whensoever it moveth doth it with feebleness and trembling wanting some strength within If therefore we would truly judge of the horrible nature of this sinne we must throughly understand the excellency and wonderful nature of that original Righteousness which is now lost then all things in the soul were in an admirable subordination to that which is holy and although the sensitive appetite was then carried out to some sensible object yet it was with a subordination to the understanding so that in that state of integrity there did not need as the Papists say Righteousness as a bridle to curb in the passions and affections which otherwise would be inordinate for this were to attribute a proneness to sinne in us to God himself for he is the author of every thing which is natural in us but all the affections and sensitive motions were then subjected to the command of reason so that Adam had power to love when and as long and in what measure he pleased All the affections of his soul were both quoad originem gradum and progressum under his dominion Even as the Artificer can make his Clock strike when and as many times as he pleaseth But wo be unto us all this excellent harmony and subordination is now lost and our affections they captivate and rule over our judgments and all this is because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there wants something within as he said of his Image that he could not make stand because it wanted life within SECT IX EIghthly That this original sinne is a natural evil appeareth From the work of grace sanctifying which is the proper remedy to cure this imbred defilement For the grace of Regeneration is chiefly and principally intended to subdue sinne as it did corrupt the nature and so by consequence as we were personally corrupted Therefore the tree must first be made good ere the fruit can be good as the tree is in its nature evil and then it brings forth evil fruit So that God in vouchsafing of this grace of Regeneration doth not principally intend to make thee leave thy actual sinnes for that is by consequence only but to make thy nature better to repair his Image in thee
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
make death that dissolution ariseth from sinne We do not say That sinne is natural to us constitutivè or consecutivè but transitivè and inhaesivè it doth not constitute our Being neither is it an internal consequence of it but it descends with our Nature and is inherent in everyone Those only do give God his due glory and vindicate him against all sinful complaints who do maintain original sinne For it was the ignorance of this made the Heathens utter such impatient complaints against Nature or rather the God of it because they were not informed of this they thought God dealt more unkindly with man than any other creature Thus Austin taketh notice of Cicero who greatly complained of Nature Rem saith he vidit causam nescivit Lib. 4. contra Julian cap. 12. latebat enim cur grave jugum esset super filios Adam and this was Because saith Austin not being instructed out of the Scripture he was ignorant of original sinne So that there is no such remedy against those damnable Doctrines of the Marcionites and Manichees as by acquainting of our selves with the Truth in this point for hereby we are inabled upon just and solid grounds both to justifie God and condemn our selves SECT III. LAstly They that hold Adam was at first created with a pronity to sinne and that it was natural in him to have the sensitive appetite rebel against the rational and therefore original Righteousness was given as a bridle to curb and keep the inferiour faculties in subordination to the superiour These I say do hold that Doctrine which makes God to be the Author if not of sinne yet of inclination to it For as the Socinians say That death was natural to man in his first Creation only sinne made it necessary end by way of a curse So the Papists say That even in Adam at his first Creation there would have been a rebellion between his appetite and reason had not there been grace superadded to regulate it For say they this is natural and it abideth in all men still and is not a sin But we shall in time God willing shew the falshood of this and prove the inclination of the sensitive appetite to any suitable object as it was in Adam was not irregular but in us it is in all things excessive we not being able to move regularly because we have lost that inward strength we were created in As you see in the Palsie member that moveth very fast not from strength but from weakness so is it with us now in all our motions to any object but God There is a paralitical affection we cannot love or fear but we do it too much Now to say it was thus in Adam would be to dishonour God and to make him the Author of that ataxy and confusion which is now in man SECT IV. AS for the other two particulars of Gods Injustice and Cruelty supposed to be in the depriving of us of that original Righteousness we may speak more hereafter But for the present this may stop the mouth of any caviller though it be as wide as a Sepulchre 1. That as God was not necessitated to create man neither did he make man out of need of him so when he had made him he being supreme Lord and Sovereign might deal with him upon what terms he pleased It pleased him therefore to covenant with Adam not as a single person but as a common head and universal person as appeareth Rom. 5. by the collation that is made between the first Adam and the second Adam as two universal principles Therefore secondly God taking such a way all the good Adam should have had upon his continuance in obedience would not have been in himself only but to all his posterity Then in him we had all obeyed By his obedience we had been all made righteous and by him life would have entred into the world so that it 's great Justice in God to transmit all the evils of Adams transgression to his posterity who would have communicated all the good promised to them upon his obedience And thus we have answered that Objection which is brought against the Naturality of it SECT V. THe other Objections will come in seasonably from other Texts I shall therefore dismiss this Verse and Doctrine with a vehement intreaty not to let the meditation of this Truth go out of your hearts till it hath humbled you in the dust till you look upon your selves as filthy and abominable worse than any Toads or Serpents What is it a light matter to have a nature that is all the day long either in thought word or deed offending God Your natural evil is more to be deplored in some sense than all your actual evil for as long as this spring is there will alwayes be polluted streams Many things may humble and debase us as men but this is the Goliahs Sword none like this to pierce and cut at the very heart even that we are naturally evil CHAP. V. A Second Text urged and vindicated SECT I. ROM 5. 19. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners c. THis later part of the Chapter is the Common-place and proper seat of the Doctrine of original sinne but the understanding of it is very difficult for there are Textual and Grammatical obscurities by the Hyperbatons Anantapodotons and defective expressions which are usual in Paul whose matter runneth like a torrent and cannot be so well bounded by words And as the Grammatical expression makes it doubtfull so also the profundity and depth of that admirable matter which is here delivered addeth to the difficulty of it For Austin of old said truly Antiquo peccato nihil ad praedicandum notius nihil ad intelligendum secretius It 's easily known that there is such a thing but what it is is a great mystery and secret Insomuch that Salmeron though a Jesuite upon the consideration of the difficulties in this Discourse of the Apostle spake gravely Non tam Thesei filo quam Spiritu Sancto lumine quo conscripta est c. We do not need Theseus his twine of thred but the holy Ghost and that light by which this Epistle was wrote to guide us Not therefore to speak much of the Coherence which is so much vexed by learned men in the Dispute of original imputed sinne especially that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which in time I shall take notice In the words we have a further and clearer Declaration of that Collation made between Adam and Christ Insomuch that this doth clear what was formerly more obscurely spoken describing two Originals or common Fountains the one of Sinne and Death the other of Grace and Life For whereas in the verse before he said Condemnation came upon all by Adam Lest God should be thought unjust in this he sheweth withall That sinne is propagated so that there is the Demerit of this condemnation in every one of us In this Collation or
an hidden and secret infusion of holiness into our souls whereby we are made new creatures and said to be partakers of the Divine Nature For whereas the Papists would argue as they think very strongly for our Justification by inherent Righteousness from the parallel made between Adam and Christ As say they we are made sinners not by imputation onely but by inherency through Adam's disobedience so we must be made righteous by Christ not by imputation but inherently We retort the Argument and say Because Adam's sin is imputed tous wherby we are made sinners so Christs obedience is made ours whereby we are constituted righteous Yet we grant further That by Christ we are made inherently righteous though by that we are not justified and this inward renovation comes not from Christ by example but a powerfull and secret transformation of the whole man so that as to partake of Adam's sinne we must be born naturally of Adam For if God should create some men in an extraordinary manner not by natural descent from him they would not have this natural contagion cleaving to them so to partake of Christs Righteousness it 's necessary we must be new born by the Spirit of God Thus you see many Reasons compelling us to understand the manner how by Adam 's disobedience we are made sinners to be by natural Propagation For if this foundation be not laid sure the whole fabrick will quickly fall to the ground We come then to the Observation which is SECT II. THat all mankind by Adam 's disobedience are truly and properly made sinners The Text is so clear that we would wonder any should be so deluded as to confront the Truth contained therein Every one that is naturally born of Adam is thereby and in that respect made a sinner though he should have no actual transgessions of his own An Infant that liveth not to be guilty of any actual evil yet because Adam's seed is thereby made a sinner and so a child of Gods wrath Certainly the Apostle would not have been so large and industrious in affirming this Truth But because of the evident necessity to know it and the great utility that may come to us if duly improving this knowledge To be sure he layeth this as a foundation to exalt and magnifie the grace of God by Christ So that they who deny this original contagion must needs rob Christ and his grace of the greatest part of that glory due to him CHAP. VII Of the Souls inward filth and defilement by Adam's Sinne. SECT I. TO explain this profound and weighty Truth consider that expression in the Doctrine That we are by Adam 's disobedience made truly and properly sinners For there are those that hold we receive much hurt Yea some say we are guilty by Adam's disobedience but not made truly and properly sinners they deny there is any inward pollution upon the soul of man When I had proceeded farre in this Discourse of Original Sinne there cometh out an English Writer Dr J. Taylor Vnum Neces in a triumphing and scornfull style like Julian of old peremptorily opposing this Doctrine of inherent pollution by nature He is not meerly Pelagian Arminian Papist or Socinian but an hotchpotch of all So that as there were a Sect of Philosophers as Laertius reports Proem in fin that was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they would chuse out some opinions from all the Sects that were So doth this man most unhappily sometimes select what is most deformed in those several parties With this Writer we shall encounter as often as we find him throwing earth into the pure springs Although the word Sinner in some places is as much as to be an offender to be obnoxious to punishment yet in this place we must understand more as is to be shewed For there are three things we are subject to by Adam's disobedience First There is a participation of the very actual transgression of Adam that very sinne he committed is imputed to us Secondly There is the guilt of this sinne whereby Adam was obnoxious to death and eternal condemnation this also we partake of Lastly There was the deprivation of Gods Image the loss of that upon Adam's transgression so that his soul which was before full of light and a glorious harmony upon this disobedience became like a chaos and confusion And in this state we are born not succeeding Adam in the Image of God he once had but in that horrible confusion and darknesse he was plunged into These three things then we partake of by Adam's disobedience but that which is chiefly intended here and which also my purpose is to treat of chiefly is That inward filth and defilement we are fallen into by Adam 's sin SECT II. 1. THerefore when it is said That we are made sinners by Adam this is not all as if thereby we were put into a necessity of dying or that death is now made a curse to us For thus much the Socinians grant That Adam's sinne did hurt us thus farre That although death was natural to Adam even in the state of integrity yet it was not made necessary nor penal but upon Adam's disobedience But 1. This is false That death would have been natural to Adam though he had not sinned as is to be shewed And In the second place Death as a curse or as made necessary is not all that we are obnoxious unto by Adam's sinne for the Apostle makes that a distinct effect of his disobedience for he sheweth That by Adam's offence sinne did first pass over the whole world and after sin death So that to be a sinner is more than to be obnoxious to death for the Apostle distinguisheth these two Besides why should death fall upon all mankind for Adams sin if so be that that offence was not made every mans and all had not sinned in him Indeed Chrysostom of old expounds this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to punishment and death as if to be sinners were no more than to be mortal Though Chrysostom in some places seemeth not to hold original sinne yet in other places he is expresly for it This Interpretation of Chrysostoms is received by the English Author above-mentioned with much approbation as if to be a sinner were to be handled and dealt with as an offender But the Apostle maketh sinne and death two distinct things the one a consequent from the other because we are sinners we do become mortal Besides to be a sinner is opposite to be righteous in the Text If then that signifie an inherent qualification denominating truly righteous this must also an inherent corruption whereby we are truly made sinners So that this Interpretation hath no probability Yea from Chrystom himself on the place we may have a Consutation of this Exposition For saith he one to be made mortal by him of whom he is born is not absurd but by anothers
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
punishment the punishment of another Besides that it is sinne inherent in us and not only imputed appears by David's acknowledgement Psal 51. In sinne was I born and in iniquity did my mother conceive me But of this more in time You see by what hath been said That our original sinne is more than meer guilt or Adam's actual sinne imputed to us it denoteth withall an inherent contagion of the whole man Therefore it is absurdly and falsly said by that late Writer It may be called original guilt rather than original sin SECT V. IN the fourth place there are those yet who draw a more narrow line in this matter than the former For when this Question is put Whether original inherent sin be truly and properly a sin They then distinguish between Peccatum and Vitium It is vitium say they but not peccatum or when it is called peccatum it is in a large sense not strictly and properly For with these nothing is a sinne properly but some action repugning to the word of God and because original sinne cannot be an action therefore say they it 's not properly a sinne In which sense they deny habits of sinne to be peccata but only vitia Though this be to play with words seeing the same thing is intended And although Austin abstaineth much from the word peccatum as if that alwayes did suppose a reatus yet that is a needless scrupulosity men may use words as they please Therefore Hierom thought Vide Whitak de peccato orig lib. 3. cap 6. vitium was more than peccatum contrary to Austins notion when he said Some man might be found without vice but not without sinne They say indeed a thing may repugn the Law of God three wayes Either Efficienter so the Devils and wicked men do yet they are not sinnes 2. Materially and thus the act of every sinne doth 3. Formally and so the obliquity in the act only doth and this they make only truly and properly a sinne But whether this will stand good or no will be examined in the Objections As also that Assertion of a learned man Molinaus vide infra That original sinne is condemned by the Law but not prohibited it being absurd as he thinks to appoint a Law for one grown up that he should have been born without sinne It is true in assigning the proper notion of sinne to it hath some great difficulty Neither doth it become us to be over-curious in this point above what is written remembring that original sinne came in by desiring too much knowledge I shall therefore treat of it so farre as it may tend to edification not to satisfie curiosity For when Austin was puzled with such doubts he brings that known Apologie Epist 29. of one who fell into a deep pit and being ready to be suffocated he crieth out to one passing by to help him out The man asketh him How he came in Do not saith he stand disputing of that but help me out Thus saith he every man being fallen into this deep pit of original sinne it 's not for us to be curiously and tediously inquiting how we came in but speedily seek for the grace of God to deliver us our CHAP. VIII That the inward Contagion which we have from Adam's Disobedience is truly and properly a Sinne. THerefore in the fifth place This sinne whereby we are infected from Adam's disobedience is truly and properly a sinne we are truly and inherently made sinners by Adam A man is not more properly and really made a sinner by any actual transgressions he doth commit then he is by his original sinne he is born in Insomuch that though an Infant knoweth not what he doth nor is capable of acts of reason when he is born yet he is properly and formally a sinner and the discovery of this will make much for our humiliation and Christs Exaltation Now that it is truly and properly a sin appeareth by these Arguments Argum. 1. That the Scipture speaking of it doth constantly call it so and therefore we are not to recede from the proper interpretation unless some weighty reasons compelâ—us What a poor and weak thing is it to deny original sinne to be imputable to us or to have the proper essence of evil because with Aristotle none are blamed for those things they have by nature or are not in their own power For it 's plain Aristotle understood nothing of this original pollution and by his Philosophy we must also quit many fundamental points in our Christian saith It is enough that the Scripture speaking of it and that purposely doth call it sinne as Psal 51. this Chapter of Romans and Chap. 7. often It 's the Law of sinne working in us So that this want of Gods Image and an inclination to evil is not to be considered as a meer punishment or as a spiritual disease and weakness upon nature but no sinne at all For it 's as truly a sinne as an actual sinne yea in some respects it is a more grievous and heavy sinne than actual sinnes as is to be shewed For the cause hath more in it than the effect It is from this evil heart that all actual evils do flow Argum. 2. It 's truly and properly a sin Because thereby a man is made obnoxious to death and eternal condemnation The wages of sinne is death and by nature we are children of wrath If then for this inherent corruption we die we are subject to miseries to Gods wrath and the curse of the Law then it must necessarily follow that this is truly and properly a sin Argum. 3. That which is made opposite to Righteousness that is truly and properly sinne For not punishment and Righteousnesse but sinne and Righteousnesse are two immediate Contraries Now it 's plain That this inherent corruption makes us sinners so that we need to be made righteous by Christ Argum. 4. The Apostle distinguisheth Adam 's imputed sinne and inherent sinne as two sinnes and so they have a two-fold distinct guilt as is to be shewed though some think it hard to say so Thus the Apostle By one mans offence sinne entred into the world Therefore Adam's actual sinne and that sinne which entred thereby are two distinct sinnes and differ as the cause and the effect By imputed sinne we are said to sinne in him actually as it were because his will was our will but by inherent sinne we are made sinners by intrinsecal pollution Argum. 5. This original inherent sinne is truly and properly a sinne Because it is to be mortified to be crucified We are to subdue the reign of it in our hearts which could not be if it were not properly a sin Argum. 6. It is a true and proper sinne Because by this our persons are made unclean so that naturally we cannot please God We are corrupt fountains we are bad trees and all this before we commit any actual sin Argum. 7. If Adam had stood that which would have been
how the Pelagians made use of it he answereth That this is to be understood of actual sinne not original sinne Every actual sinne must be voluntary it 's not necessary original sinne should be personally and formally so Again he limits that Rule to such sins as are meerly sins not punishments also but original sin is both a sin and punishment Lastly He grants this to be true amongst the Laws of men and therefore cals it politica sententia And no wonder if Philosophers required a formal will in every sin else not to make it imputable because they were wholly ignorant of this Truth But in the last place our Divines do deny that voluntariness is requisite to every actual sinne for there are sinnes of ignorance for which Sacrifices were to be offered And David prayeth to be cleansed from secret sins which he did not know and if so they must be involuntary yea Paul expresly cals that a sin Rom. 7. which yet was against his will although it may be granted that even in these there is some kind of voluntarines For a thing may be voluntary either in its cause or in it self or absolutely involuntary but comparatively voluntary as when we do things for fear or there may be a mixture of voluntarines and involuntarines which Paul seemeth to acknowledge in himself yet still the proper notion of a sinne lieth in the contrariety of it to the Law of God Therefore John defineth sinne by that whether it be voluntary or not he doth not take notice of This is acknowledged by some Scholastical Writers especially Holkot De imputabilitate peccati answereth this Objection fully to our purpose where he positively affirmeth That sinne is not therefore imputable unto us because it was in the power of the will but as righteousness is therefore praise-worthy because it is righteousness so unrighteousness is therefore culpable and damnable because it is unrighteousness that is if I may interpret him because it 's against a Law Hence he proceedeth to shew That a thing is not righteous or vnrighteous meerly because it was in the power of the will for the will of a child would have been made righteous by God sine proprie motu without any proper motion of the childs will And then why may it not as well be sinfull without any such voluntary motion in an Infant So that he concludeth It 's as proper to original sinne to be naturally contracteâ— or derived from another without any proper act of the will as it is to an actual sinne to have the will one way or other consenting to it Even as in the state of integrity original righteousness in Infants would have been propagated but actuall Righteousness voluntarily performed And these things may satisfie this first Objection yet hereafter we shall speak more to this SECT II. THe second Objection is in effect to this sense What is a punishment cannot be a sinne But the deprivation of Gods Image in man upon Adam's disobedience is a punishment And therefore it cannot be a sinne Original sinne if not totally yet principally consists in the losse of that original Righteousnesse and rectitude which God made man in Seeing therefore the privation of this came upon man by way of punishment when Adam transgressed We cannot conceive it say they to be a sinne also for a punishment and a sinne are wholly contradictory a sinne must be voluntary a punishment involuntary a sinne is an action and a punishment is a passion a sinne is an evil and God cannot be the author of it a punishment is good and an act of Justice so that God cannot be said to permit that but to inflict it This Argument at the first view hath likewise some colour but upon the examination of it it will quickly vanish I shall not answer in a large dispute about that famous Question Whether the same thing may be a sin and a punishment Or whether God doth punish one sin with another but shall speak as much briefly as is convenient for this Objection And First You must know that Arminius began to dislike this Doctrine of original sinne Respons ad Artic. 31. which was mentioned in their publique Catechism upon this very reason because it was a punishment and he gave this Reason to the Minister then conferring with him Because if God did punish Adam's sinne with this sinne then he must punish this with another and that other with another and so there must be a processus in infinitum But his followers the Remonstrants in their Apology for their Confession contra Censuram seem to disclaim this opinion That our original corruption is either malum culpae or poenae properly so called Because where there is an evil of punishment it must be for some sinne But Infants have committed no voluntary sinne and therefore could not deserve such a punishment So that they profess themselves to be of Zuinglius his mind whether he retracted it or not afterwards they are not certain viz. That it is a morbus a vitium a languor an imbecillity of nature but neither the evil of sinne or punishment Some Papists as Pighius Catharinus Mayro and some Scotists hold That native pollution to be no sinne because it 's a punishment and that for Adam's sinne imputed to all concluding on this That it cannot be a sinne because it 's a punishment The Socinians they say The necessity of dying with other punishments is the punishment of Adam's sinne and therefore that repugnancy and contrariety which is between the flesh and the Spirit is from our very Creation The sensitive appetite rebels against the rational from the very first Creation of man and would have been whether Adam had sinned or no yea it was from this vehement opposition of the appetite to reason that he did sin I shall consider the strength of their Objection as it lieth in this The same thing cannot be a sin and a punishment too The Remonstrants affirm this and Papists likewise but with some explication And 1. It is confessed That there are some punishments of sinne which are not sinne as when God for Adam's disobedience hath made man obnoxious to miseries to sickness and death These are not sinnes It comes from sinne to have pain and to die but they are not sinnes and the Reason is Because these are malum naturale not morale they are a natural evil not a moral In the second place Austin saith and he saith it truly from Scripture That original inherent sinne which he calleth concupiscence is both a sinne a punishment of sinne and a cause of sin Even as blindness of mind or hardness of heart is both a sinne a punishment and a cause of further sinne Lib. 5. contra Juhan cap. 3. That it is a sinne appeareth by the many Texts already brought And Austin's Reason in that place is very cogent Quia inest illi inobedientia contra dominatum mentis There is in it a disobedience against the dominion of
with it a guilt of conscience is contracted upon every sinne Thus some expound that known saying of Austin Jussisti Domine sic est ut omnis animus inordinatus sit sibi ipsi poena O Lord thou hast so commanded and thus it is that a soul immoderate any way should be a punishment to it self Thus as the moral Philosophers say Virtus est sibiipsi praemium so peccatum est sibiipsi poena Virtue is a reward to it self because it brings sweetness and comfort of conscience so a sinne is a punishment to it self because it brings terror and fear with it Lastly The same thing may be both a sinne and a punishment both poena damni and poena sensus a punishment of loss and so every sinne in that it is a sin depriveth the soul of that spiritual good and glory which it ought to have and so is a kind of disease or death it self and then in some sins they are a punishment of sense as in envy and anger Thus when Ahitophel and Judas hanged themselves their self-murder was both a sinne and a punishment of loss and sense also SECT III. IN the third place it is objected If original inherent sinne be made a distinct sin from Adam's imputed sinne we do needlesly make two guilts and so multiply sins without necessity for all the guilt that is in Adam's sinne imputed the corruption of Nature which floweth immediately from it doth not make a new sin but makes the former more hainous As if say they a man should by some sin lose his eyes that act whereby he put out his eyes was a sinne but then it 's not a new distinct sin in him to be without eyes Or if a Commander who had a Castle to keep upon which depended the good of a Town adjacent if he prove persidious and give it up to the enemy his perfidious act at first is all the sinne if the Town adjacent have much misery thereby it is an aggravation of his sin but it doth not make him guilty of two sins This hath made some think That our original pollution as distinct from Adam's sinne imputed is not a sinne and that whensoever the Fathers call it a sinne they understand it as connexed with Adam's sinne Thus the learned Vossius in his Pelagian History But the truth no doubt is on their side who hold a twofold distinct guilt That Adams sinne imputed to us and that inherent are two distinct sins though one doth necessarily imply an order to another and the later is alwayes to be looked upon as a relative to the former Neither doth that similitude of a man wilfully putting his eyes out make to this purpose For when a man hath lost his eyes there is a natural impotency ever to have them again Neither is there any obligation or Law binding him thereunto But besides the guilt of imputed sinne we are bound to have that inherent rectitude we once lost and therefore being defective in that we ought to have it 's truly a sinne The loss of a mans eyes is malum naturale this is morale And thus Aristotle determined that a drunken man who committed any sin worthy of punishment was to be twice punished both for his drunkenness and the other sinne committed Thus Rivet also in the matter of Lot's Incest which he committed while he was so drunk that he could not tell what he did inclineth to their opinion who say That Lot's Incest was not only a punishment of his drunkenness and so an aggravation of his sinne but truly and properly Incest so that he had two sins and was twice guilty Some learned men do determine That if a man commit such a sin upon which other sins do usually follow though while they do them they cannot avoid them not knowing what they do yet those subsequent sins are to be charged upon them besides the first that was the cause of all as murder is to be charged as a distinct sin upon a drunkard though happily in his drunkenness he knew not that he committed such a sin SECT IV. ARe we all guilty of sinne as soon as we are born This should teach us Humiliation and Patience under the death or miseries of our Infants we are ready to say Why are such poor Innocents exposed to such calamities The knowledge of original sinne will stop thy mouth herein When Titus the Emperour was dying who for his good and sweet Government was called Deliciae generis humani he quarrelled with the gods because he thought they did eripere vitam immerenti he deserved not to die he thought death was a wrong to him but had he understood original sinne he would have seen his desert of it though he had never committed any actual impiety Pliny likewise if he had known this would not have uttered that foolish complaint That homo was animal infaeliciter natum which did cum suppliciis vitam auspicari unam tantum ob culpam quia natum est that did begin his life with miseries and punish us for this fault only because he was born No The Scripture would have informed him it was because he was born in sinne This is the rise and spring of all mans calamity SECT V. I Shall at this time conclude this famous and noble Text wherein we have the Doctrine of original sinne so evidently asserted notwithstanding all the fogs and mists that some have indeavoured to bring upon it The remaining work is to dissolve some further Objections that are laid in the way as stumbling-blocks which when removed we shall proceed to the practical improvement of it In the next place therefore this is thought a powerfull weapon against this Truth viz. It cannot be truly and properly a sinne because it is not against any Law The Apostle makes contrariety to the Law to be of the essence of sinne If therefore Infants new-born or before they are born are not under a Law then they are not capable of any sinne and truly it hath a seeming absurdity to say Infants are commanded by Gods Law to be born without sinne seeing that is no more in their power than to be born This consideration did press that learned Divine Molinaus Enodatio graviss Quaest de peccato origin pag. 130. to acknowledge That no such Law was upon Infants and therefore he saith That the Law doth condemn original sinne but not prohibit it But this seemeth very strange For how can the Law condemn a thing but because it is against it And how can it be against it but because it doth prohibit If therefore the meaning of that learned man be that original sinne is not immediately and proximely forbidden that is readily granted for so only actual sins are but mediately and remotely both the habits of sinne and original must necessarily be prohibited if they be condemned The learned Vossius also affirmeth That original sinne is not forbidden by the moral Law though he confesseth it is by
education or to be candidates of the true faith is not enough but both are requisite as Tertullian of old mentioned both seminis praerogativa and institutionis disciplina Though therefore children of both or one believing parent are in this sense clean and holy yet by nature they are unclean neither doth this external holiness deliver them from inward contagion Yea suppose some should be regenerated in the very womb as John Baptist was yet this Text holdeth true in him for he was by nature unclean he had not the holy Ghost by natural descension from his parents for then all children should be so sanctified but it was Gods grace and power that made him clean of unclean John Baptist therefore was conceived in sinne and by nature a child of wrath but the grace of God made him clean yet not totally and perfectly as if no uncleanness was in him for even Job though in so high a degree sanctified yet speaks this truth in the Text to himself as then and at that time considered not to what he was once before his conversion but even in that renewed estate he was in if God should cast his eyes upon him and judge him with severity he would find much uncleanness adhering unto him The second Objection is propounded by Socinus who saith It cannot be conceived that one actual transgression of Adam should infect the whole nature of man one Act cannot contract an habit of sinne So then he saith It 's impossible that one sinfull act should all ever defile Adam and make him totally sinfull much lesse that it should infect the whole nature of man And the Remonstrants they pursue this Argument If say they Apolog pro Confessione exam Cens cap. 7. pag. 85. that one act of sinne did expel all grave in Adam then it did it either quatenus peccatum as it was a sinne and if so then every little sinne the godly man commits much more grosse sinnes would cast him out of all grace would root out the seed of God in him which yet say they the Calvinists will in no wise endure Or it cometh so from some peculiar ordination and divine appointment of God If so they bid us bring out that order and manifest such an appointment that one sinne onely should deprive a man of the whole Image of God when now one sinne doth not or cannot extirpate the habit of grace but every godly man hath sinne and grace also in him To this many things are to be answered First That it is a vain and an absurd thing to give leave to our humane reasonings that such a thing cannot be when the event discovers it is so It is plain That upon Adam's actual transgression he was deprived of the Image of God he was created in Adam therefore having lost that spiritual and supernatural life we need not curiously dispute how one stab as it were of sin could kill him Certainly even the least sin is present poison and would kill immediately if Gods grace did not prevent Secondly That one sinne may suddenly deprive the subject of all Grace it hath appeareth plainly in those Apostate Angels Did not the first sinne which was in them a thought or an act of the will what it was it is disputed Did not that immediately throw them out of their divine and blessed Habitations And by that one and first sinne was not a glorious Angel made immediately a black Devil It is true indeed We cannot say the Devils have original sinne In this sense As if because when the first Angel sinned all the rest sinned in him as if all their wils were bound up in him No They all stood upon their own bottom they all sinned personally and voluntarily by their own actual transgression though happily it might be by imitation and consent to him that first sinned yet for all this we see plainly that in every Apostate Angel one sinne was enough to deprive him of all the good he had and to fill him with such inveterate enmity to all goodness That the Devil though of such natural light in his conscience yet is not able to do one good work or have the least holy thought Thirdly Sinne doth expel grace both formally or as some call it efficiently and meritoriously also it expels it formally as darkness doth light as diseases do sickness or death life and meritoriously deserving that God should deprive us of all holiness and deny any further grace to us The Remonstrants they call this folly and absurdity to say Sinne expels grace actually and meritoriously also For if it do actually what need is there of meritoriously If a man actually put out his eyes it 's absurd to say he deserveth by that to have them put out Or if a man wilfully throw away his garments making himself naked that he deserveth to be naked But these instances do no wayes enervate this Truth for in that sinne doth thus actually and meritoriously also deprive us of grace we see the hainousness of it one sheweth how sinne is in it's own self like poison that presently kils and the other how odious it is to God that if it did not of it self deprive us of spiritual life yet it doth so provoke God that because of it God would not continue his daily grace to us Besides though sinne doth formally expel the grace that is inherent in us yet Gods grace without us his preventing cooperating and continuing grace without which we could not abide a moment in the state of grace that it chaseth away meritoriously only So that Adam in his first sinne did both chase away the Image of God in him and deserve that God should withdraw his assisting and preserving grace without which he could not have continued in his good estate yea sinne doth so meritoriously expel grace that could Adam by his own power have immediately recovered himself and instated himself into the condition he was in yet he deserved for that former transgression that God should have outed him of all As they say A man that hangeth himself if it were possible 〈…〉 to live presently again the Law would adjudge him to death for 〈…〉 of himself Therefore in the last place you see why every sinne in a godly man no 〈◊〉 it be a gross sinne doth not immediately deprive him of all grace as we see it did in Adam and the Apostate Angels Not that sinne in it self would not do so in them as well as in those but because God entred into a gracious Covenant and Promise with every believer through Christ to perpetuate his interest and union with him so that if he fall he shall have grace to recover himself neither will every spark of grace within him be suffered wholly to be extinguished although in Adam there was a peculiar reason why his sinne did infect all mankind because as Aquinas saith well Adam in quantum fuit principium 〈◊〉 naturae habuit rationem causae universalis ex
up against it makes him rage at it as the Apostle doth abundantly testifie in this Chapter he tels us This Law of sinne did warre and fight against the Law of God it did lead him captive it conquered and subdued him against his will If then a godly man find this Law of sinne so powerfull and operative in him No wonder if men wholly carnal and natural they finde the Law of sinne as fully prevailing over them as the Devils did on the herd of Swine which they hurried violently into the sea without any resistance As then the Devil when he possessed some bodies provoked and moved them to many violent and sudden actions which they could not gainsay Thus doth the Law of sinne in men naturally it provoketh it instigateth it turneth the soul upside down it is continually pressing and enclining to evil which makes the Scripture say Gen. 6. That the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart is only evil and that continually Thirdly Original sinne is a Law because by this a man is bound and captivated to the lusts thereof there is an indissoluble union till death Thus the Apostle argueth from the Law of an Husband and his Wife she cannot marry another while her Husband lives Neither can we be married to Christ while this is predominant yea we must die ere we be wholly freed of it Fourthly Original sinne is called a Law of sinne within us because of the injurious command and rule it hath in every man by nature And this indeed is the most explicite and formal reason why it is called a Law for to a Law there is not onely required a directive power for so counsels and admonitions have which are no Laws but there must be also a preceptive and commanding power so that a Law hath vim coactivum a compelling force to have a thing done and in this respect the Apostle gives it this Title of a Law of sinne within us for even in the person of a regenerate man What sad complaints doth he make of this tyrannical power of sinne within him He is not his own man he cannot do what he would yea he doth what he would not insomuch that he cals himself carnal and sold under sinne These expressions are so great that therefore some have thought they could not be applied to a godly man For it is said of Ahab as a sure Character of his wickednesse That he sold himself to do evil 1 Kings 21. 20. but Ahab did that willingly Paul is here passive he is sold against his will because sinne hath such tyranny over him Therefore the afflicted Israelite did not more groan to be delivered from his oppression than Paul crieth out to be delivered from this body of sinne Well therefore may this birth-pollution be called The Law of sinne within us for it ruleth all it commands the whole man what sinne bids us think we think what it bids us do we do No natural man can do othewise The Apostle speaks peremptorily They that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8. 7 8. And the carnal minde is not subject to God neithe indeed can be Oh the miserable and unhappy estate we are all then in by this original sinne We cannot but sinne we do not love that which is good neither can we The Law of sinne hath wholly enslaved us Though all the curses of the Law be denounced against us yet we cannot but sinne As venemous creatures cannot vent that which is sweet but necessarily that which is poison yet as Bernard of old said well This necessity in sinning doth not take off from voluntarinesse and delight in it neither doth the delight take off from the necessity Lastly It may be called The Law of sinne saith Aquinas Because it 's that effect of Gods penal Law inflicted upon mankind because of Adam's transgression So that upon Adam 's sinne God hath so ordered that it should be by way of a punishment upon us to be prone unto all evil For as you heard this original sinne is both a sinne and a punishment So that as God hath appointed that every man should die it is a Law that shall never be repealed so likewise that every one born of man in a natural way should be unclean and have a fountain within him daily emptying it self into poisonous streams Vse To be informed whence it is that thy heart is so out of all measure evil whence it is that no godly thing is pleasing to thee whence it is that upon searching into thy heart thou findest a noisom dunghill there that thou art never able to go to the bottom whence it is that lust is so ready at hand alwayes that sinne alwayes appeareth first in thy soul All this is because original corruption is by way of a Law in thee That teacheth to sinne that instigateth to sinne yea that commands and imperiously puts thee on to all manner of evil If you do not feel this heavy thraldome and pressure upon you it is not because it is not there but because thou art dead in sin and hast no feeling of it Solemon speaking of a good woman hath this notable expression Prov. 31. 26. The Law of kindnesse is in her lips The Law of kindnesse she cannot but be loving and friendly in all she saith Now on the contrary The Law of sinne is all over thee The Law of sinne is in thy heart the Law of sinne is in thy mind the Law of sinne is in thy eyes in thy tongue thou canst not but sinne in and by these CHAP. III. Of the Name The Sinne that dwelleth in us given to Original Sinne. SECT I. Of the Combate between the Flesh and Spirit ROM 7. 17. Now then it is no more I that do it but sinne that dwelleth in me THis excellent Chapter which containeth the heart and life of the Doctrine of Original Sinne so that it may be called the Divine Map thereof describing all the parts and extents of it will afford us many testimonies for the confirmation of it We therefore proceed to another name that we find here described to us in this Text viz. The sinne that dwelleth in us The Apostle you heard as we take for granted doth here speak in his own person and so of every regenerate man that there is a conflict and a combate between the flesh and the Spirit In all such there are two Twins strugling in the womb of the soul which causeth much grief and trouble of heart which the Apostle doth in a most palpable and experimental manner relate in this passage vers 15. That which I do I allow not for what I would that I do not but what I hate that I do Now you must understand this aright lest it prove a stumbling blâ—ck For First The Apostle speaks not this as a man meerly convinced but yet carried away with strong corruptions This is not to patrocinate those who live in sinnes against their conscience but have some
in some persons hath a notable expression Psal 5. 9. Their inward part is very wickednesse or wickednesses as in the Hebrew Their inward part is nothing but wickednesse Now although therefore habitual sinnes may truly be called sinnes dwelling in us yet the Apostle doth not speak here of such habitual sinnes for he speaks all along of one sinne as the mother as the fountain and root of all And besides Paul speaking in the person of a regenerate man could not complain of the acquired habits of sinne within him for in Regeneration there is an expulsion of all habitual sinne and in this sense Those that are born of God are said not to sinne viz. habitually and customarily as wicked men do although some actual sins and those of a very hainous nature may consist with the work of grace yet habites of sinne and habits of grace can no more consist together than light and darkness It is evident then that the Apostle not meaning habitual sinne must understand original in the immediate actings and workings of it for this will alwayes be a troublesome and molesting inmate This is not conquered but with the last enemy death it self SECT III. Why Original Corruption is called The Inherent or In-dwelling Sinne. THis premised Let us consider why original corruption is called the Inherent and In-dwelling Sinne and that even in a godly man And first The Apostle cals it the sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because of the propriety and proper right it hath to us As a man is said to dwell in his house because he hath a right to it and it is his own This original sinne is in every man as in its proper place as the stone doth rest in its center and will not move further So that as hell is said to be the proper place of Judas He went saith the Text to his own place Thus is the heart and soul of a man the proper and fit subject for all the natural impiety that cleaveth to us and therefore though the Devil be also said To rule in the hearts of wicked men he dwels also in them as well as sinne for which he is compared to an armed man keeping the house yet this is more extrinsecal and from without The Devil could not find a room ready swept and garnished for him but because of this native pollution Hence the Apostle doth not in this Chapter complain of the Devil but sin dwelling in him He doth not say I would do good but the Devil hinders me though that be sometimes true but sin dwelling in him Secondly This expression of sinne dwelling in a man denoteth The quiet and peaceable possession it hath in man by nature it dwels there as in its own house nothing to disturb or molest it Hence it is That all things are so quiet in a natural man there is nothing troubles him he is not disquieted in his conscience he feeleth no such burden or weight within him as Paul here complaineth of so that you would think many civil and natural men in a more holy condition than Paul They will thank God They have a good heart and all is quiet within them but this is not because original sinne doth not dwell and live and work in them but because they are sensless and stupid sinne is in its proper place and so there is no trouble and restlesness in their conscience Therefore it s thy want of experimental discoveries that makes thee question original sinne otherwise thy own heart would be in stead of all books to thee in this particular Indeed in godly men though sinne dwelleth in them yet it hath not peaceable possession it is as a tyrant in them Therefore the regenerate part maketh many oppositions and great resistances There is praying watching and fasting against it They are as sollicitous to have it quite expelled as some were to have Christ cast out the Devils from their possessed friends otherwise in the natural man original sin prevaileth all over and there is no noise no opposition yea great delight and content there is in subjection thereunto so that they resist Grace and the Spirit of God by the Word which would subdue sinne in them So that there is a great difference between the Inâ—dwelling of original sinne in a natural man and a regenerate In the former it dwelleth indeed but as the Jebusites in Canaan upon hard terms as the Gibeonites were in subjection to the Israelites It is true Arminius In Cap. 7. ad Rom. pag. 696. from this expression of sinne dwelling in Paul doth think a firm argument may be drawn to prove that he discourseth of an unregenerate person Because saith he the word to dwell doth in its proper signification and in the use of the Scripture signifie a full and powerfull dominion and therefore rejecteth that distinction of Peccatum dominans or regnans which is said to be in wicked men and inhabitans which is in the godly he would have it called inexistens not inhabitans But we have shewed That sinne is said to dwell in a man not because of its dominion in a godly man but because of its fixed inseparability and from this word a servant who hath no rule in an house is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Pet. 2. 18. Thirdly The word doth denote permanency and a fixed abode in us it is not for a night or year but our whole life dwelling in us So that sinne is not in a mans heart as a pilgrim as a stranger that is presently to remove but it hath taken up a fixed abode in us here it dwels and here it will dwell you see our holy Apostle sadly complaining of this inseparability of it from him as long as he lâ—veth Actual sinnes they are committed and so passe away yea when pardoned it is as if they had never been but original sinne is like Samson's hair though cut it will grow again and be as strong as ever till it be plucked up by the roots Fourthly In this expression is denoted the latency also and security of it it dwels in us and it 's called The Law in our members The chief actings and stirrings of it are in the inward man Therefore it is that the natural man the Pharisaical and hypocritical man know nothing of it Paul while a Pharisee and so zealous against grosse sinne abounding in external obedience yet knew not lust to be a sinne neither was he so sensible of such a load and burden within him Vse 1. Of Instruction not to think imputed original sinne or Adam's actual transgression made ours to be all the original sin we have No you may see there is an in-dwelling sinne an inherent corruption from whence floweth all that actual filth which is in our lives And why is it that we hear no more groaning and labouring under it Is it not because the spiritual life of grace is not within them Oh why are all things so still and peaceable within thee
full as ever Thus it is with this treasure of original sinne all the sins that have come from it to this day have not at all diminished the fountain it 's as full and as overflowing as ever yea as sudden showrs make the rivers fuller causing a flood Thus do all actual and customary sins they make this original corruption like Nebuchadnezzar's fornace seven times hotter than it was before Fourthly In that it is called a treasure we thereby see the delight and pleasure that we naturally take in what is sinfull Our Saviour saith Where a mans treasure is there his heart is also how much more when this treasure is his heart when his heart and treasure is all one Therefore this expression doth denote the futable and pleasing nature of sinne to us it sheweth that what water is to the hydropical man as Job 15. so is sinne to a man by nature Hence Heb. 11. they are called The pleasures of sinne Who would think so you would rather think we might as well say The pleasures of hell and the pleasures of damnation that a man would be as willing to be damned as to sinne But thus sweet and pleasing is sinne to every man by nature because his heart is upon it it is a treasure to him That as the godly account Gods will sweeter than the honey-comb so do they the will and lusts of sinne Do ye not pity such who are so distempered in their palate that they cannot forbear eating those things which will be their death at last How much more miserable is man to whom nothing is so pleasant so much sought after as that which will prove his eternal damnation And certainly if sinne be not such a delight to thee naturally how cometh it about that no threatning no fear of hell all the curses in the Law denounced against thee cannot make thee forbear If you regard sinne in its own nature so the Scripture represents it most irksom and loathsom comparing it to gall to a bitter root to mire to vomit And who can desire to swallow down these things But because original sinne hath infected all hath made us like so many beasts therefore what is in it self abominable to our corrupt natures is become exceeding pleasant Fifthly Because it 's a treasure therefore it is that every day there cometh from us some new corruption or other some new sinne or other to be matter of condemnation to us That when we might think if once we had got our hearts to such a frame if once we could subdue such a corruption then we hope we should be at some ease but no sooner have we obtained such desires but this treasure of evil poureth out new matter of sorrow corruptions rise fresh again when we began to hope all were dead So that the soul begins to be even hopeless crying out O Lord how long When shall this bloudy flux be stopped When shall it once be that I may be quiet and free from this molesting enemy within But it is with thy heart as with the sea when one wave is over presently there cometh another and again another and it cannot be otherwise as long as this treasure is in us as Job saith Chap. 14. A Tree though the boughes of it be cut yet the root will spring again and be as big as ever if suffered to grow Thus original sin though it may be mortified and crucified in some measure though there may be much stopping and abating the strength of it by grace yet because the root is there still it will quickly sprout again Hence are the godly put upon those duties of crucifying and mortifying the flesh because they will have this work to do as long as they live there is a treasure and so out of this as the good Scribe cut of his good treasure Mat. 13. 52. doth bring out new and old thus doth he old lusts and new Vse Of Instruction Have we all by nature an evil treasure in our hearts then see why it is that thou art alwayes sinning that thou art never weary that all the world cannot change thee or make thee of another mind Is it not this evil treasure within As it is a treasure of sinne so it is of wrath and punishment Rom. 2. some are said To treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and this is thy case and never do thou flatter thy self because thou dost not feel and perceive any such evil upon thee for therein art thou the more miserable Treasures use to be hidden and secret therefore in the Scripture called hidden treasures and thus is this treasure of evil in thy heart it is hidden from thee thou dost not know it till God open thy eyes till he give a tender heart CHAP. VII Of the Name Body given to Original Sinne. SECT I. ROM 8. 13. But if ye through the Spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live I Come now to the last Name I shall insist upon that the Scripture giveth original sinne and that is a Body For although the most famous and notable name is flesh yet because that will most properly be considered when we speak of the Nature and Definition of it I shall put it off till that time Only we must necessarily take notice of this Title given to it here and elswhere viz. a Body Not that this word is to foment the Illyrican absurdity That original sinne is not an accident but a substance but hereby is manifested the real and powerfull efficacy of it upon the whole man For the coherence of the words the Apostle at vers 12. from that glorious and precious Doctrine of Justification by Faith and also Sanctification begunne in us doth inferre this Exhortation by way of Conclusion That therefore we are not Debtors to the Flesh we have received such great and unspeakable favours from God that we owe all to him as for sinne called here the Flesh we owe nothing at all to that sinne will not justifie us sinne will not save us Neither hath the Devil shewed that love to us which Christ hath done By this then we see That though Justification and Gospel-mercies be not for any works or merits of ours yet Believers are to study and abound in holiness as that which Christ aimed at by the work of Redemption as well as our Justification Now for this reluctancy against and mortification of sinne the Apostle useth several Arguments as in the Text the danger that will accrew even to the godly If they live after the flesh they shall die that is eternally The godly need this goad to prick them forward they must not please themselves as if because they were elected justified they may live as they list and walk after the flesh No if they do so they shall surely be damned SECT II. What is implied by the word Mortifie BUt on the contrary If they mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit they shall
the repugnancy and rebellion of the sensitive appetite to the reason ariseth from the very internal constitution of a man And therefore the Papists they make original righteousness to be the bridle only to curb this appetite or an antidore to prevent this infection And as for the Socinian he denieth that Adam had any such righteousness at all and therefore they say he sinned Because his sensitive appetite did prevail against the rational Thus they make man even while he was in honour and before his fall to be like the beast that perisheth and to have no understanding comparatively even in that place of Paradise But this errour is so dangerous that we are not to give place to it no not for a moment In that holy estate the soul commanded the body and all the affections They did goe when he bade them goe and stood still when they were commanded Oh but now in what a warre in what a confusion and distraction are we plunged now we cannot be angry but we sinne now we cannot grieve or love but we sinne Thou that deniest original sinne let the exorbitancy of thy passions the inordinacy of thy affections convince thee Is thy heart in thy own power Canst thou have every thing stirre and move in thy soul how and when thou pleasest Canst thou say in respect of thy heart and all the stirrings of thy soul as the Centurion did of his servants that were at his command How is experience a mistress of us fools in this particular Wherein doth our weakness our sinfulness more appear than in our passions and affections As Alexander when his flatterers exalted him as a God he derided at it when he saw blood come from his body Thus when men cry up free-will power to do what is good deny original sinne and make us in our birth free from all evil With what indignation mayest thou reject it when thou seest the Chaos and confusion that is in thy soul when thou findest not any affection moving in thee but it overfloweth it's banks presently Whereas original righteousness gave Adam as much power over those as he had over all the beasts of the field but as the ground hath now thorns and thistles in stead of those pleasant herbs and plants it would have produced of its own self Thus also man now hath all his heart and affections grown wild and luxuriant so that Solomons observation in other things in here made true Servants ride on hors-back and Princes go on foot Fifthly This Image of God was partly in respect of the glory honour and immortality God created him in Adam was made after the Image of God not only in holiness but also in happiness he was not subject to any fears or tears nothing from within or from without could cause pain and grief to him Hence death by which is meant all kind of evil and misery was threatned unto him as a reward of his disobedience but Adam did not beget Seth after this Image we are now made dust and in a necessity of dying which is the effect of our original sin Lastly The Image of God doth consist by way of consequence in dominion and superiority The Socinians indeed because when it 's said God made man after his own Image Gen. 1. 26. it 's added And let him have dominion over the beasts of the field c. make it the only thing wherein it doth consist But we are to believe the Apostle Ephes 4. Col. 3. expounding this Image of God more than they who applieth it to righteousness and true holiness yet it cannot be denied but from this Image of God did flow that Dominion and Sovereignty which the woman also was created in for though she was made in subjection to her husband and so is called The Image of her husband as the husband is the Image of God yet in respect of the creatures so she had power over them and they were subject to Eve as well as to Adam Thus you see what this Image of God in a brief manner is the next work is to amplifie our losse of it is taken away both meritoriously and efficiently meritoriously our Apostasie deserved that God of a Father and a friend should become a Judge and an Adversary to us it deserved that we should be children of wrath by nauture who were children of love by Creation What tongue of men and Angels can express the dreadfulness of this condition viz. of coming into the world under Gods wrath and vengeance God is not to us what he was in the state of integrity not that any change is in God but in us Again This friendship and love of God is expelled efficiently for fallen man hath no suitableness and fitness no proportion or ability to have communion with God Darkness cannot delight in light neither bitterness in sweetness The swine cannot love pearl and precious flowers man corrupt cannot love or delight in the enjoyment of God so that the guilt of sinne did presently make Adam afraid of God so as to runne from him SECT IV. 4. THis privation of Gods Image is more than like the spoiling of a man of his cloaths or like the taking of a bridle from the horses mouth or removing the bonds and chains a man might be in Which when taken off he can walk well enough For the Popish party though they grant Man fallen hath much hurt by Adam yet they make the privation of original righteousnesse to be no more than the spoiling of a man of his garments so that as a man without his cloaths is a man still though naked and exposed to many difficulties Thus they say man still hath his naturals though he hath lost his supernaturals Original righteousness was like an antidote or a bridle against the inferiour parts of the soul they say so that what man is deprived of is only what was supernatural and meerly superadded to humane nature By these subtilties of theirs a mans losse is made to be far lesse than indeed it is Hence they do so often apply that Parable of the man going to Jericho that was wounded and left half dead to Adam fallen to all mankind in him as if we were but dangerously wounded and not throughly dead But the scope of that Parable is wholly to a different purpose Original righteousness is not to be conceived as a supernatural excellency bestowed upon man after his Creation but as a concreated perfection in all the parts of his soul So that the losing of this is not like the losing of some accidental glory and ornaments but even those concreated perfections in the soul are also lost The misunderstanding of this breedeth a dangerous errour as if by original sinne we onely had lost these superadded ornaments but did retain our pure naturals still as they call it which are indeed altogether impute Eccl. 7. God made man right Even as all other creatures were exceeding good Now God had made man the more
glorifie and honour God all his whole work and life is now to dishonour him and reproach his holy Name Herein then lieth the misery of this losse of the Image of God that we are fallen from our end we are of our selves salt that hath lost its favourinesse we are fit for nothing but eternal torments SECT III. The Harmony and Subordination in Mans Nature dissolved by the loss of Gods Image IN the second place This losse is to be aggravated because of the Nature of it which is the deordination and dissolution of all that Harmony and Subordination which was in mans nature That admirable and composed order which was in the whole man is now wholly broken so that the mind and will is against God and the affections and passions against them A three-fold Subordination there was in man The first of the intellectual and rational part unto God The mind clearly knowing him and the will readily submitting unto him The second was A regular Subordination of all the passions and affections unto the mind so that there did not from the sensible part arise any thing that was unbeseeming and contrary to the rational Hence it was that the Scripture taketh notice of Adam and Eve in their privitive Condition that though naked yet they were not ashamed There being a full purity and simplicity in their natures whereby nothing could arise to disturb all those superiour operations At sin expresseth it well Even saith he as Paradise the place wherein Adam was created had neither heat or cold but an excellent temperament excluding the hurtfull excess of either so also the soul of Adam was without any excessive passion or inordinate motion but all things did sweetly and amicably concur in obedience to the mind The third and last Subordination was of the body both to the rationall and sensitive principles There was a preparednesse in the body of Adam as there was in Christ whereby he did readily do the Will of God and sound the body not obstructing or weighing of it down Now let us consider this three-fold cord which did bind Adam's whole man unto that which is good which was easily broken and then as when the flood-gates are open the streams of water violently rush forth hurrying all away Thus it is with mankind This order being dissolved the whole heart of man is as unruly as the Sea and whereas that hath its natural bounds Hitherto it shall go and no further The heart of man is boundlesse and hath no stops of it self only the infinite God of Heaven he ruleth and ordereth it as he pleaseth Consider the first breach and mourn under that Is it nothing to have the mind of man which hath as many thoughts almost as there are sands upon the Sea shore and yet not to have one of these rise in the soul with subordination to God What a sad bondage is this that our thoughts are no more under our command than the flying birds in the air Do not either sinfull thoughts or if good come in so unseasonably upon thee that they carry away thy soul prisoner Oh this losse of the obedience of the mind to Gods Law in all the thoughts thereof ought to be no mean matter of debasement Not to find one good thought of all those Iliades Chiliades and Myriades of thoughts which thou hast but to have rebellion in them against God What sad impression should it make on thee In the will also those motion and incompleat velleities yea acts of consent in the will which arise in the soul as so many swarms of flies in the air Are not these also so many armies of lusts against God whereas in the state of integrity there would not have risen the least distemper The second breach Is not that also as terrible and powerfull For are not all our affections and passions like so many dogs to Action like so many Locusts and Caterpillers in Egypt like so many flies and hornets till by grace they are crucified What man is there in whom if God should let any one passion or affection have dominion over him that it would not immediately destroy him So that the power of original corruption is more manifested in the affections and passions than any subject else Lastly The disorder which is in the body in respect of its instrumental serviceablenesse unto God can never be enough lamented Do not pains and diseases in the body much indispose in holy things Do not dulnesse drousinesse and wearinesse hinder a man so that when he would religiously serve the Lord this body will not let him Now all this evil and misery is come upon us because we have lost the Image of God As God in nature doth not suffer any vocuum or redundans so neither did he in respect of the frame of the soul at the first There was nothing defective and nothing excessive SECT IV. The Properties of this Losse THirdly This losse by original corruption of Gods Image is exceeding great in the properties of it For 1. It is a spiritual losse principally and chiefly The loss of Gods favour of all holiness is wholly spiritual and did tend to make a man spiritually happy So that if you should compare all the temporal losses that ever have been in the world with this first and spiritual one it would be but as the mole-hill to an high mountain If then our eyes were opened if we were able rightly to judge or losses for this we should mourn more than for any evil that ever befell us or others 〈◊〉 messengers that came with such sad tidings one upon another is nothing to this message that we bring thee But who will believe this report 2. As it is a spiritual loss so it is an universal loss The whole world is in a lost state by losing this Image of God Every creature hath lost in this universal losse The earth hath lost its fruitfulness yea the whole Creation groaneth and is in bondage subject to vanity because of this Thus all the creatures they lose by it yea every thing in man loseth The mind its light the will its holiness the affections their order and the body its soundness and immortality If all the creatures were turned into tongues they would proclaim the loss of their primitive glory and beauty because of this sinne 3. It 's not only universal But it 's the cause of all the temporal losses that we have For death in which is comprehended all kind of evil came in upon the loss of this Image So that if we are sensible of any temporal loss How much more of this spiritual one which is the cause and root of all Therefore is the body pained therefore it dieth because this Image of God is lost therefore do we loose parents and children therefore is the whole world a valley of tears because of this losse If then any private losse be so bitter unto thee how much more ought this to be which putteth a
that whereas in some the fleshly mind of man runneth out into superstitious and excessive wayes of devotion which God never required so in others again it acteth the clean contrary way pretending to Enthusiasts Revelations and strange raptures and impulses of soul and herein they think they are the only spiritual men and that all others are in the flesh but strong delusions under the pretence of Revelations Apparitions and visions have been no new thing in the Church of God neither are we to stagger in our saith because of these things for the flesh excited by the Devil may vent it self in these extasies and raptures as well as in superstitions yea which is further to be observed a man may be altogether fleshly while he pretends to an high spiritual way of subduing and keeping down the flesh Col. 2. 23. Those who were puft up in their fleshly minds about Angel-worship yet are said to have a shew of humility in not sparing the body and this we may say to those deluded Papists who macerate and excruciate the flesh of the body it would be better if they did cast out at the same time their fleshly mind Seventhly A natural man in his most religious deportment is only fleshly Because whatsoever he doth in these things he is furthered only by natural strength For being without the grace of God either in his understanding or his will hence it is that he can rise no higher than natural reason natural conscience and natural will doth enable him unto and these being altogether polluted by sinne in stead of furthering they are an hindrance and opposition to him If therefore you ask From what principles and by what strength doth a natural man draw nigh to God The answer is only by that power which he hath of himself The grace of God which alone can elevate the soul to God that he is wholly destitute of And although it must be granted that there are some common principles and dictates in all about God and moral good things yet these are never improved any otherwise but from carnal principles and to carnal ends And thus much may suffice for this branch viz. The carnality of a man by original sinne in his most religious offices and duties In the last general place Man may justly be said to be all over sinfull and flesh only Because all his care his thoughts are only for his body and sensible things in the mean while neglecting God and his immortal soul I shall conclude with this because all else comprehended in this name will come in at some other seasonable time By nature we are in the flesh we walk after it we make provision for it so that we willingly lose God and our souls to save and preserve that Who is there that will believe our Saviour saying What will it profit a man to winne the whole world and lose his own soul Mat. 16. 26. What complaints and accusations may the soul make against us when the body hath said Feed me Cloath me you have done it But when the soul hath famished and been perishing you have not heard the cries of it Oh men only flesh and utterly devoid of all spiritual power CHAP. XVI Reasons demonstrating the Positive Part of Original Sinne. SECT I. HItherto we have been informed out of this Text what is comprehended in the word Flesh attributed to every one that is in a natural way born of mankind We now proceed to that Truth for which it was designedly pitcht upon viz. That Original sin is not only a Privation of Gods Image but doth cannote also a Positive inclination and an impetuous propensity to every thing that is evil For this Question is agitated between some Papists and the Protestants They asserting That the whole nature of original sinne lieth in the privation of Gods Image But the Orthodox they say That although original sinne is privative yet it is not meerly privative but doth include in it as the materiale that habitual crookedness and perversnes which is in all the faculties of the soul And thus the Protestants do almost in effect say the same with Aquinas who calleth original corruption a corrupt habit not a meer privation for privations are of two sorts either simple that imply onely a privation as blindnesse and death or compounded and mixed which besides the meer privation do denote some materiale or substratum with it Thus Aquinas compareth original sinne to a sickness or disease which doth not only signifie a privation of health but also the humours excessively overflowing and thereby dissolving the due temperament of the body Such a privation is original sinne a mixt or compounded privation that besides the absence of what righteousness is due denoteth also a propensity and violent inclination unto that which is evil It is true indeed if we come punctually to examine how the will is disobedient and how the affections are so disorderly we cannot resolve into any thing but this privation the understanding is therefore darkness and erroneous because without its primitive light The will is crooked and perverse because without its primitive rectitude So that Calvin saith well He that cals it the privation of Gods Image saith the whole nature of it yet when we speak of the privative part of it only we do not so fully and significantly expresse the dreadfull pollution of it Even as concerning vicious habits in morality intemperance injustice it is not enough to say they are the privation of those virtues which are immediately contrary to them but they do denote also such an inclination in a man that thereby he is carried out to those vicious of such habits constantly and with delight SECT II. Why Divines make Original Sinne to have its Positive as well as Privative Part. THe Reason why our Divines make original sinne to have its Positive as well as Privative part is to obviate that errour of the Papists who supposing original righteousness to be only by way of a bridle in Adam to curb and subjugate the inferiour part to the superiour of the soul when Adam lost this they conceive mankind hath not any further pollution upon it but that meer losse Insomuch that they say Man is now as if God had created him in his pure naturals without any supernaturals The Socinians likewise they deny any such pollution and make us to be born in the same condition Adam was created in death as a punishment only accepted meerly without either sinne or righteousnesse like Aristotles Obrasa Tabula in a neutral indifferent way Now to confront such dangerous opinions we say That by our birth-sinne we are not only deprived of Gods Image but are in an habitual inclination to all evil which is also active and repugnant to all good SECT III. Reasons to evince the Positive part of Original Sinne. NOw that we are to judge of it thus will appear from Scripture upon these grounds First The names that the Scripture attributeth to
know lust to be sinne that is not so clearly so fully so experimentally as now he did since the grace of God had both enlightned and sanctified him How many have with great orthodoxy maintained this Truth against Pelagians and all the enemies of Gods grace shrouding themselves under the praise of nature but it is rare to see those that do not onely theoretically believe it but practically walk with broken and contrite hearts under it Examine then thy self Doest thou believe this is Gods Truth that thou camest into the world all over polluted Doest thou think that thou as well as any other though never so civil and unblameable in respect of actual sinnes art by nature a child of the Devil prepared fuel for the eternal flames of Hell And doest thou not onely believe this to be thy particular case but withall thou art so affected with an holy fear and trembling thou hast no quietnesse or rest in thy soul because of it then thou art come to a true and right knowledge of it For the end of our preaching on this Subject is not onely to establish your minds in this Truth against all errours therein but also to mollifie and soften your hearts that you may all your life time loath your self and advance the fulnesse of Christ And seeing that natural light is dimme and confused in this matter keep close to the Word and not only so but implore the Spirit of God that in and through the Word this Truth may enter like a two-edged sword into thy bowels knowing that without this foundation laid there cannot be any esteem of Christ CHAP. XXI That Reason when once enlightned by the Scripture may be very powerfull to convince us of this Natural Pollution SECT I. A Clear and full knowledge of original sinne can be obtained onely by Scripture light Although as you heard some Heathens have had a confused apprehension about it My work at this time shall be to shew That even Reason where once enlightned by the Scripture may be very powerfull to convince us of this natural pollution So that when Scripture Reason and Experience shall come in to confirm this Truth we may then say there needeth no further disquisition in this point And First This may abundantly convince us That the hearts of men are naturally evil Because of the overflowing of all wickednesse in all ages over the whole world How could such weeds such bryers and thorns grow up every where were not the soil bad It 's true in some ages some kind of sinnes have abounded more than others and so in some places But there was never any generation wherein impiety did not cover the earth as the waters do the Sea Insomuch that if we should with zeal undertake to reprove them according to their desert Non tam irascendum quà m insaniendum est as Seneca of the vices of his time Erasmus in his Epistle to Othusius complaineth That since Christ's time there was not a more wicked age then that he lived in Christ saith he crieth I have overcome the world but the world seemeth as if it would say shortly I have overcome Christ because of the wickedness abounding and that among those who profess themselves the salt and light of the world Now how were it possible that the whole world should thus lie in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19 as the Apostle affirmeth but that all mankind by nature is like so many Serpents and Toads of which there is none without poison If this wickedness did abound only in some places we might blame the Clymate the Countrey or their Education but it is in all places under the Equator as well as the Tropick in all ages former times as well as later have been all groaning under ungodliness and whereas you might say The world is in its old age now and the continual habituated customary wayes of wickedness have made us drink the dregs of impiety yet the Scripture telleth us That not long after the Creation of the world when we might judge greater innocency and freedom from sinne to have been every where yet then all flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6. 12. which provoked God to bring that wonderfull and extraordinary judgement of drowning it with water as if it were become like a noisom dunghill that was to be cleansed And lest you should think this was only because of their actual impieties we see God himself charging it upon this because the imaginations of a mans heart were only evil and that from his youth up So that there is no man who considers the wayes and manners of all the inhabitants of the world but must conclude had there not been poisonous fountains within there had never been such poisoned streams The warres the rapines the uncleannesses and all the horrid transgressions that have filled the earth as the vermine did Aegypt do plainly declare That all men have hearts full of evil And lest you might think this deluge of impiety is only in the Heathenish Paganish and bruitish part of the world The Psalmist complaineth of that people who were the Church of God and enjoyed the light of the Word That there was none righteous that there was none that did good no not one Psal 14. 3. So that as graves and dead mens bones the Sepulchres and monuments every where do fully manifest men are mortal no lesse do the actual impieries that fill all Cities Towns and Villages discover that all are by nature prone to that which is sinfull SECT II. SEcondly This original sinne may be proved by reason yea and experience thus If you consider all the miseries troubles and vexations man is subject unto and at last death it self and that not only men grown up who have actual sinnes but even new born Infants will not this plainly inform us That all mankind hath sinned and is cast out of the favour of God How can it enter into any mans heart to think that God the wise Creator so full of goodness to man that he made him little lower than Angels should yet make him more miserable than all creatures It was Theophrastus his complaint when he lay a dying That man had such a short time of life prefixed him who yet could have been serviceable and by long age and experience found out many observable usefull things when Crows and Harts and other creatures of no consideration have a long life vouchsafed to them Yea all the Heathens even the most learned of them complained much concerning this Theme of mans misery being never able to satisfie themselves in the cause of it But now by the Scripture we see it 's no wonder the race of mankind is thus adjudged to all misery seeing it 's all guilty of sinne before God so that if there had been no actual sinnes committed by the sonnes of men yet the ground would have been cursed to bring forth bryers and thorns man would have been miserable and mortal So that this doth
pledge of theirs The second Reason which is pertinent to my matter in hand is from the Collation between Adam and Christ As Adam was the common root and principle of death to all that come from him so is Christ the common Head of Salvation and Life to all who are of him The Apostle Rom. 5. maketh such a Comparison between Adam and Christ as two common Principles and Heads but to another purpose there it is in respect of spiritual death viz. Sinne by one and Righteousnesse by the other but here it is principally in respect of temporal Death and Resurrection by Christ The Apostle having thus cleared this Truth he then enters into a second Debate viz. itâ—â—eth â—â—eth a corruptible body but it shall be raised an incorruptible one It dieth a natural body but it shall be raised a spiritual Last this Distinction of a natural and spiritual body should seem uncouth and very absurd he asserteth and confirmeth it by Scripture And here again in the second place he taketh up a Collation between the first Adam and the second and therein we have them compared 1. In regard of their Condition and State 2. In respect of their Originals And 3. In respect of their Qualities and Properties This illustration the Apostle is large in because the strength of his Argument lieth in this Such as the Principles are such are the Effects Such as the Root is such are the Branches Now all men have from Adam earthly mortal bodies which will die Therefore all that are Christs shall have from him heavenly and spiritual bodies Let us diligently open the particulars wherein we have this Collation between Adam and Christ made for from hence we shall have a fair occasion to examine How from Adam we come thus to have his Image upon us which is the great difficulty in the Doctrine of original sinne SECT II. THe first particular therefore wherein they are compared is Adam's estate is proved from Scripture ver 5. As it is written The first man Adam was made a living soul we have this related Gen. 2. 7. where God is said Adam's body being made out of the dust and formed thencefrom was yet without life and motion therefore God did with him farre otherwise than with bruit beasts for He breathed into him the breath of life This is spoken after the manner of men in a figurative way we are not to think God took on him the form of a man and so breathed life into Adam Neither may we say This was a particle or part of the divine Essence which God communicated to man But the meaning is God inspired into him his soul which gave life and sense and motion to the body by which he becoming a living soul that is a living creature This is Adam's condition But as for Christ who is here called the last Adam Adam because a common Person and last because there is no more to succeed him This last Adam is said To be made a quickening Spirit not but that Christ was man yea and had such an humane Nature as Adam had like to him in all things Sinne onely excepted But this is spoken of Christ principally after his Resurrection For Christ while he lived on earth had an animal body he needed food and rest but after his Resurrection then he had a spiritual body so that it is in reference to this that Christ is called a Spirit but with this Epithete A quickning Spirit that is which giveth life to others He hath not only life in himself but he giveth it also to others and therefore no wonder if he raise those that belong to him But seeing Christ is thus a quickening Spirit it may be said Why then have the people of God their natural bodies still If they be in the second Adam Why are they not as he is To this the Apostle answereth verse 46. That which is natural is first and afterwards that which is spiritual It is the will and appointment of God that the imperfect things should be first and afterwards that which is more perfect In the next place The Comparison is made between the two Adams in respect of their Originals The first was of the earth earthly his body was made of the dust of the earth The Aegyptians had some confused knowledge of this and therefore defined man to be Animal terrenum è limo natum Hence in their Feasts they offered unto their gods an herb that grew in their lakes to signifie what man was But the second man is the Lord from Heaven This place hath an appearance of some difficulty for from this Text did some Anabaptists who revived an old Heresie viz. That Christ had not his body of the Virgin Mary indeavour to prove That Christ had his body from Heaven else say they what opposition could there be made to Adam's body Christs body was in the Virgin Mary but not of her as they affirm But this is grosly to mistake For the Apostle doth not intend to make a comparison in the Materials of which both bodies were compounded but the Originals from whence they are The one is from Earth the other from Heaven being the Lord of Heaven and Earth Some indeed have said That Christ is therefore said to be from Heaven because though it was materially of the Virgin Mary yet because the Conception was in an extraordinary manner by the holy Ghost therefore it might be said to be from Heaven This may have some truth yet Adam was in an extraordinary manner and that in respect of his body formed by God called therefore the Sonne of God yet he cannot be said to be from Heaven So that the most solid Interpretation is to understand it of the Person of Christ and so he is wholly of Heaven being the true and eternal God in which respect John 3. 13. he is said to be The Sonne of man which is in Heaven John 6 38 41. he is said To come from Heaven So that although his body was of the Virgin Mary yet as God in which respect he hath his personality so he is from Heaven The third and last Collation is in respect of their qualities and properties The first man is of the earth earthy in a three fold respect 1. Because his affections are only to earthly things 2. Because the place where he is to be is the earth 3. Because of his mortality he is to return to dust again But the ' second Adam is heavenly in a three-fold contrary respect 1. He is heavenly in regard of his life and conversation 2. In regard of the place where now he is sitting in Heaven at the right hand of God and thus all Christs members shall be heavenly for they likewise shall be in Heaven for ever with the Lord. 3. Heavenly Because of his immortality for he shall never die more SECT III. THus we have the Apostles elegant opposition between the first and second Adam and my Text is a
then that its necessary to have a sound judgement about the original of the soul for the Mortalists have fallen into that deep pit of heresy because they erred in this first It is with men as they say of Fishes they begin to putrify in the head first and so commonly men fall into loose opinions and then into loose practises But this rule must be acknowledged That whatsoever depends upon matter in being doth also depend upon it in existency It 's Aquinas his rule as you heard Quicquid dependet à materiâ in fieri depend quoad esse et existere That is the reason why the souls of all beasts are mortal because they depend upon the matter in being They cannot be produced but dependently on that and therefore their souls cannot subsist without their bodies As it is plain the souls of men do after death till the resurrection So that this Doctrine is injurious and derogatory to our spiritual and immortal souls Fifthly If souls were not by immediate Creation but by natural propagation from the parents then either from the mother alone or from the father alone or from both together This Argument Lactantius of old as Cerda in Tertull. alledgeth him formed to himself and answers it 's neither of those waies but from God Not from the Father alone because David doth bewail his mothers co operation hereunto Psal 51 Iniquity did my Mother conceive me Not the Mother alone because the Father is made the chief cause of conveighing this original sinne by the Apostle he layeth it upon Adam more then Eve though Eve is not excluded Not from both together for then the soul must be partible and divisible part from the Father and part from the Mother and so it cannot be a simple substance Under this Argument Meisuer doth labour and confesseth it is inexplicable how the soul should come from the parents though he assaieth to give some satisfaction Lastly There is something even of nature implanted in us to believe our soules come from God who hath not almost some impression upon his conscience to think that he had not his soul from his parents even nature doth almost teach us in this thing Hence the wisest Heathens have concluded of it as Plato and also Aristotle who confuteth the several false opinions of Philosophers about the soul for it was a doubt as Tertullian lib de animâ expresseth it whether Aristotle was parasior sua implera aut aliena inantre and affirmes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come from without and that it is a divine thing Thus it was with some Heathens though destitute of the Light of Gods Word yet in somethings they did fall upon the truth as saith Tertullian The Pilot in a tempestuous black night puts into a good haven sometimes prospero errore and a man in a dark place gropeth and finds the way out sometimes caecâ quâdam felicitate Thus did some Heathens in some things SECT IV. IF you aske What Arguments have they who hold the traduction of the Soul I answer There is none out of Scripture that is worth the answering The two things they urge are First If the soul be not propagated then man doth not beget a man as a beast doth a beast and he is more imperfect then other creatures but this is to be answered hereafter The other is Because original sinne cannot else be maintained but this is to be answered in the Explication how we come to pertake of it Let us proceed to the Uses Vse 1. Doth God create the soul then he must know all the thoughts all the inward workings and motions of thy soul As he that maketh a Clock or a Watch knoweth all the motions of it Therefore take heed of soul-sinnes of spirit-sinnes What though men know not your unclean thoughts your proud thoughts your malicious thoughts yet God who made thy soul doth and therefore this should make us attend to Gods eie upon us Vse 2. Did God make and create the soul then he also can regenerate it and make it new again he made it as a Creator and he only in the way of regeneration can make it again This may comfort the godly that mourn and pray Oh they would have more heavenly holy souls They would not have such vain thoughts such sinnefull motions Remember God made thy heart and he can spiritualize it 3. Doth God create the souls then here we see that it 's our duty to give our souls to him in the first place John 4. God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit This hath been alwaies a complaint men have drawed nigh to God bodily but their hearts have been farre from him God made thy soul more then thy body and therefore let that be in every duty Lastly If Parents do not make our souls then here we see Children must obey Parents but in the Lord Should thy Parents command thee to doe any sinfull action to break the Sabbath you must not obey you may say My father and mother they help me but to my body God doth give me my soul and therefore they are but parents of your bodies not of your conscience and souls SECT V. The Authors Apologie for his handling this great Question THe false wayes which some have wandered in to maintain the Propagation of Original Corruption to all mankind being detected our work is now to explicate that Doctrine which seemeth most consonant to solid Reason and Scripture But before we essay that we are to informe you of one sort of learned Authors who because of the difficulty attending this Point Whether we hold the Traduction or Creation of the soul have thought it the most wife and sober way to acknowledge the Propagation of original Sinne But as for the manner How there to have a modest suspense of our judgement to professe a learned ignorance herein to believe That it is though How it is so we know not And Tertullian concerning the original of the soul Lib. de Animâ hath this known saying Praestat per Deum nescire quae ipse non revelaverit quà m per hominem scire quae ipse praesumpserit In this way of suspense Austin continued as long as he lived thinking that this might be one of those Truths we shall not know till we come into the Academy of Heaven and to this modest silence we have one place of Scripture which might much incline us Eccles 11. 5. As thou knowest not the way of the Spirit nor how the bones doe grow in the womb c. This Text should teach us not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to venture too farre but to observe the light of the Scripture as they did the Pillar and Cloud in the wildernesse to stand still where that stands still And indeed the Disputes about the Modes of things is very intricate The known saying is Motum sometimes Modum nescimus the manner of Gods working in conversion The manner of Christs presence in
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
desired to number the people though Joab withstood it 2 Sam. 24. which might exceedingly have shamed David that a meer mortal man should see that sinfullness which he did not yet he will proceed and the people are numbered but assoon as David had done it then his heare smote him when it was done it smote him not while it was a doing the nine moneths were spent in numbring of the people Why not before then it had prevented the deaths of many thousands But thus it is conscience will not seasonably and opportunely bear witness against sinne Consider then the deceitfullness and falseness of thy conscience herein all the while thou art contriving sinne purposing yea and acting of sinne nothing doth trouble thee but at last when sinne is committed then it ariseth with horror and terror And do we not see this constant pollution of conscience in most dying persons when summoned by God and arraigned by death when the sentence of death is upon them Then their conscience flyeth in their faces taketh them by the throat oh send for the Minister let him pray for me let all that come to me pray for me Thus conscience is stirring now oh but how much better were it if in thy health time if in thy strength and power then conscience had been operative To have heard thee then cry out oh my sinnes oh I am wounded at the heart oh pray for me then there had been better grounds to hope thy conscience was awakened upon true and enduring considerations such as would continue alwaies living and dying whereas such are but sick-suddain fits of conscience and commonly turn into greater hardness of heart and obstinancy afterwards Secondly Conscience troubled doth naturally discover its pollution By the slavish servile and tormenting feares which do accompany it So that whereas the proper work of conscience is By Scripture-light to direct to Christ so that the troubles thereof should be like the Angels troubling of the pool of Bethesda and then immediately to communicate healing Now it is the clean contrary These wounds do fester and corrode more The conscience by feeling guilt runneth into more guilt so that whereas we would think and say Now there are hopes now conscience stirreth now he begins to feel his sinnes we see often the contrary an obortive or a monstrous birth after such travailles of the soul and wherein doth it manifest it self more then by tormenting teares about God So that if it were possible the conscience troubled would make a man runne from the presence and sight of God never to be seen by him Thus you see it was with Adam when he had sinned his conscience was awakened he knew what he had done and therefore was afraid at Gods voice and runne to hide himself such a slavish servile temper doth follow the conscience when wounded for sinne Now all such tormenting feares are so many manifest reproaches unto the goodness of God and his mercy revealed The hard thoughts the accusing imaginations that there is no hope for thee that thy sinnes are greater then thou canst bear or that God will forgive these dishonour the goodness of God these oppose his grace and mercy which he intendeth to exalt in the pardon of sinne Insomuch that the Atheist who denieth the Essence of God is in this respect less hainous then thou who deniest the good Essence of God He denieth his natural goodness thou his moral goodness as it were Is not the great scope of God in the Word to advance this attribute of his mercy especially in Christ he hath made it so illustrious and amiable that it may ravish the heart of a poor humbled sinner but a slavish conscience about sinne rob God of this glory So that although it may be the Spirit of God by the Word that convinceth thee of thy sinne and affecteth thy conscience yet the slavishness and servility of it that is the rust and moth which breedeth in thy own nature that is not of Gods Spirit Thirdly The troubled conscience discovereth its natural pollution By the proneness and readiness in it to receive all the impressions and impulses of the Devil That as in the secure conscience the Devil kept all quiet and would by no means molest So on the contrary in the troubled consience there be endeavours to heighten the trouble to increase the flame and he that before tempted thee to presumption that God was ready to pardon that sinne would easily be forgiven now he useth contrary engines provoketh to despair represents God as severe and one who will never forgive such trangressions that there is no hope for him that he is shut out of the Ark and so must necessarily perish Thus you see he wrought upon the troubled conscience of Judas and of Cain one goeth trembling up and down and cannot cast off the terrors and horrors which were upon him The other is so greatly tormented with anguish of soul that he hangeth himself In what whirlepooles of despair In what self-murders and other sad events hath a troubled conscience agitated and moved by the Devil cast many into Now all this ariseth because the wounded conscience being not as yet regenerated doth hearken more unto the Devil then unto Gods Spirit The Spirit of God through the Word of the Gospel speaks peace to the broken in heart offereth oil to be poured into such wounds holdeth out the scepter of grace but the troubled conscience heareth not this believeth not this but what the Devil that soul-murderer and Prince of darkness doth suggest and dart into the thoughts that is received and followed Hence it is that so many have been under troubles of conscience under terrors of spirit for sinnes for a season but all this pain in travel was only to bring forth wind and emptiness all hath either ended in tragical and unbelieving actions or in a bold and more hardened obstinacy and the great cause of this hath been the Devils moving in these troubled waters he hath presently interposed to marre this vessel while upon the wheel Know then that when thy conscience is awakened and grieved then is the Devil very busie then he tempteth he suggesteth but keep close to the Word see what the Spirit of God calleth upon thee to do get out of the crowd of those Satanical injections and compose thy self in a ferene and quiet manner to receive the commands of God in his Word for the Spirit of God that calleth to believe to come in and make peace with God but the Devil he presseth a final departure from God Fourthly The troubled conscience is internally polluted By that ignorance and incapacity in knowing of what is the true christian-liberty purchased by Christ I speak not as yet of that main and chief liberty which is freedome from the curse of the law through the bloud of Christ but in many doctrinal and practical things The Apostle Rom. 14. speaketh much of the weak conscience which hath not attained to
24. So that this supposeth even the memories of the most godly to be as it were dull and sleepy very heavy and negligent about what they ought to be diligently exercised with But yet the Apostle hath not said all his mind herein for vers 15. he professeth this care of his for the good of their memories shall extend even after his death I will endeavour that after my decease you may have these things alwayes in remembrance Now that would be done by these very Epistles they would be as continual memento's to them See then here the godly zeal and faithfull diligence of a godly Pastor it extends to the future as well as the present he is afraid after his decease all he had preached should be forgotten And doth not experience sadly confirm this After the death of a godly Minister How quickly are all his labours all whose precious truths he had made known forgotten as if they never had such a Preacher amongst them However if these soul-saving truths be forgotten Peter will take care that the sinne should not lie at his door he will be faithfull to do his duty And Chap. 3. 1. take notice how again he taketh up this profession of his care and zeal to help their memories He wrote both these Epistles to stirre up their pure minds by way of remembrance Their pure minds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are discovered and tried as it were by the Sunne-beams the least more any vain thoughts or sinfull motions are discovered and abandoned yet though they have such pure minds he writeth Epistle upon Epistle to stirre them up by remembrance and as if all this were not enough to quicken up their memory the Apostle Jude writing to the same persons doth almost write the same things verbatim which the Apostle Peter had written in this second Epistle and vers 4. he proclaimeth this to be his end To put them in remembrance though once they knew this It was for their memories sake by way of exhortation not for their understandings by way of instruction Now from all this we may gather That such is the weaknesse and sinfulnesse of the memory and that even in the regenerate that they need daily divine helps to provoke it to its duty And whereas the sinfulness of our memory may be two wayes either actually by a wilfull forgetting of holy things and a carelesse neglect of them or original whereby the memory through Adam's fall as well as the other parts of the soul are become all over unsanctified and hath no sutablenesse or proportion to divine objects and holy duties I shall speak of this later though as expressing and emptying it self into actual and wilfull forgetfulnesse for of this original and native pollution of the memory must we understand this Text in a great measure which the Apostle by frequent filing would get off as so much rust seeing he writeth to those that are sanctified and as also he speaketh of this as a permanent and an abiding weaknesse in them Now in the regenerate all contracted habits of sinne are expelled by vertue of the new birth And as for actual sinnes they are transient so that there remaineth no other defilement but original and the reliques or immediate products thereof If then the most holy do need quickning helps to their memory because of the dulnesse and slownesse in it about holy things It is plain the memory as well as the other faculties of the soul is depraved by original sinne and if in the sanctified person the memory hath this partial and gradual sinfulnesse in the unregenerate and natural man it must be all over polluted and made unsavoury about any good thing Observe That the memory of every man by nature is wholly polluted by original sinne It cannot perform those offices and acts for these holy ends as it was at first inabled to do in the state of integrity It will be very usefull and profitable to anatomize the sinfulnesse of the memory as we have done of the other intellectual powers for it is from the pollution of this part that all wickednesse is committed The Scripture makes this the character of all wicked men That they forget God Psal 9. 17. implying That if we did remember God his Greatnesse his Power his holy Will we should not fall into any sinne Insomuch that we may in some sense say All they evil is committed because of thy evil and sinfull memory hadst thou remembred such and such threatnings such and such places of Scripture they would have preserved thee from this impiety SECT II. What we mean by Memory TWo things must be premised before we enter into the main matter First What we mean by the memory Aristotle wrote a little Book about Memory and Remembrance De Memoriâ Reminiscentiâ and from him many have taken up large and uselesse Disputes herein It is not my purpose to teach you with these thorns it is enough that there is acknowledged a sensitive memory which is common to men with beasts and an intellective though that be questioned but against all reason for the soul separated doth remember as appeareth in that Parable where Abraham said to Dives Sonne remember thou hast received the good things of this life Luk. 16. 25. Angels also must necessarily remember because all things are not present to them therefore past things they cannot know but by way of memory God is said in the Scripture often to remember but that cannot be properly because to him all things past and future are as present so that he cannot be said to remember properly no more then to fore-know onely such expressions are used by condescension to our capacity Aristotle distinguisheth between Memory and Remembrance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this he saith as farre as is yet observed no creature can do but man When therefore I shall speak of the Memory I shall understand it as it is Remembrance and as it is Intellectual for in man we may say his memory is in a great part the understanding knowing things as they are past Therefore Austin and the Master of Sentences following him though this be disclaimed by many that came after make three powers or faculties in the rational part of a man his Vnderstanding his will and Memory which they call the created Trinity and by it they say is resembled the blessed and increated Trinity But I shall not dispute this for I shall speak of Memory as the same with the understanding onely in this particular as it is carried out to things that are past for that is the necessary object of Memory that it must be past we do not remember a thing present or a thing future SECT III. A two-fold weaknesse of Memory IN the second place While we speak of the weaknesse of the Memory about good things we must take notice of a two-fold weaknesse a Natural weaknesse and a sinfull weaknesse a Natural weaknesse is that which ariseth from the
constitution of the body and unfit temperature of the brain for though the actions of the understanding be immaterial to know and to remember yet they require the body as the Organ and the Instrument So that as the most artificial Musician cannot discover his skill upon an Instrument whose strings are out of order so neither can the understanding of a man put forth its noble actions when the body is out of order Hence we read that some diseases or other events have deprived men of their memory so that they have forgot their own name By this we see That the soul doth act dependently upon the body being the form informing of a man and giving his being and operations to him Now it 's usefull to know this distinction for many good people especially when grown in year do much complain that their memory is gone They cannot carry away so much of a Sermon or from good Books as once they did and this doth much grieve them they look upon themselves as drones and not Bees that carry home honey from every flower but this may support them that this is a natural affect in the memory not a sinfull one For as Aristotle observeth Lib. de Memoriâ Reminiscentiâ neither in children or in old men is there such a capacity for memory in children because of the too much moisture And therefore it is saith he as if a man should imprint a Seal in the water which because of its fluid nature would receive no impression nor in old men is there such a capacity of memory because of their drinesse and siccity as if a man should imprint a seal upon a dry peice of wood it would not receive any forme or character If then in thy old age thy memory faileth know this is a natural imbecillity as sickness and pain is not a sinne Others again they abuse this distinction for when they are urged to holy duties called upon to remember what hath been preached then they excuse themselvs with their bad memory God help them they have an ill memory but if thou hast a memory for other things jests and merry tales or businesses of profit and no memory for holy things This is thy sinne thou hast no memory in the these good things because thou hast no heart no delight about them as is more to be shewed Yea I must adde that though a natural weaknesse in the memory be not a sinne yet it is the fruit of sinne and so ought deeply to humble thee for thy memory would have had no such defects and weaknesses if Adam had not fallen As therefore diseases and death though they be not sinne yet are the effects of sinne and therefore we are to humble our selves under them so thou art to do under thy imperfect memory though sicknesse or old-age hath much impaired it SECT IV. OUr work is to discover the sad and universal pollution of the Memory And by the Memory we mean only the mind as it extends its actions to things that are past And thus the Scripture speaketh 2 Pet. 3. 1. To stirre up your pure minds by remembrance Tit. 3. 1. Put them in mind to be subject c. Mind is there for memory Thus Austin also maketh memory in a man to be either the soul or the power and faculty of the soul Thus the Latine Etymologers make Memini reminiscere to come of Mens yea Minerva made the goddesse of learning is Quasi Mineriva à memini And common speech amongst us maketh mind and memory all one as when we say It was quite out of my mind c. So that both the Scripture and the judgement of the learned yea and the use of the vulgar will allow us to speak of the memory as nothing else but the mind considering of things as past SECT V. The great Usefulnesse of the Memory BUt before we speak to the discovery of this Memory it is good to take notice of what use and consequence it is that so when we shall consider the dignity and serviceablenesse of the memory we may then bewail the sinfulnesse thereof for when that is made sinfull it is as if a fountain were poisoned of which all must drink or as the air pestilential which all must receive in their nostrils if the memory be corrupted then all is corrupted Hence as you heard all wicked men are said to forget God Memory is of so great use as the Heathens made a goddesse of it yea they make it to be the mother of the Muses of all Arts of all Wisdome and Prudence No tongue can either expresse the serviceablenesse of it or the nature of it not the serviceablenesse of it For if there were no memory there could be no discourse no civil society if there were no memory a man could not take heed of any danger or prevent any mischief hence they attribute it to the forgetfulnesse and stupidity of the Flie that when it is flapt off from the meat and was in danger of death yet it will immediately flie to it again Thus would man without memory plunge himself into all misery If there were no memory there could be no learning no humane sciences for memory is made the mother of them Yea if there were no memory there would be no Religion no Worship of God or service of him Thus both the natural civil and religious life of a man would be destroyed were there not a memory So that we are infinitely bound to praise God for this power left in us and as deeply to humble our selves that it is so corrupted that it cannot do its proper acts in a spiritual way at last thereby to promote our happinesse our memory helpeth to damn us not to save us SECT VI. Of the Nature of it ANd as for the Nature of memory though Aristotle and others after him have undertaken to say much about it yet Austin doth much bewail the ignorance and weaknesse of a man in this thing l. 10. conf calling it the unsearchable recesses and vast concavities of the memory saying It is in vain for a man to think to understand the nature of the Heavens when he cannot know what his memory is Under this difficulty he saith he did labour and toil and yet could not come to any sure knowledge This is certain that the things we remember are not in our souls themselves when we remember such a tree or stone the tree or stone is not really in us Hence saith Austin we may Doloris laeti reminisci and Laetitiae dolentes reminisci Remember with joy former sorrow or with sorrow former joy Yea he saith we may Oblivionis reminisci we may remember our forgetfulnesse Now if these things were really in us it could not be but that sorrow remembred would make us sorrowfull or forgetfulnesse remembred make us forgetfull The objects then remembred are in us by way of Species or Images the Phantasmata are there conserved and when by them we come to
many now are led aside with Who would not desire to live the lives and die the deaths of such holy gracious men Thirdly Another object of our memory commended in Scripture is The former works of Gods Spirit which happily have been upon us but we have decayed and revolted This were alone necessary for many a man and especially in these times Remember what love thou didst once bear to the Ordinances Remember what delight and sweetness thou didst once find in them but now thou hast cast them off Thus the Apostle remindeth the Galatians Gal. 4. 15. Where is the blessedness you once spake of Once they did so rejoyce in Paul's Ministry accounted it a blessing of an eminent nature but now began to slight it There are also many who have formerly been zealous and active for good things they manifested their good desires about the things of God to all the world but now they are become like so many clods of earth they have forsaken the better part which with Mary once they did chuse and are either turned dissolute or earthly crawling upon the ground like so many worms Thus these flourishing trees are quite withered having neither fruit or leaves Thus the Church of Ephesus guilty of partial Apostasie Revel 2. 5. is injoyned To remember from whence she is fallen and this counsel is to be given to many persons Remember it was otherwise with thee once Remember it was not so with thee as it is now The time hath been thy heart hath been much affected with the word of God preached The time hath been thou hadst family-duties and daredst not to neglect the family-worship of God But now What is become of all this Religion You that began in the Spirit do you not end in the flesh Especially your memories are often to be stirred up and quickned who have been under many fears and dangers who have been at the point of death Oh what thoughts what resolutions have you made against sinne What bitter thoughts and apprehensions had you about your former evil wayes But alas how quickly are all those agonies of soul forgotten In this your memories are very much polluted that all your vows all your promises to God all your fears and terrors are forgotten Thou that art now imbracing of thy lusts entertaining thy Dalilah's again Oh remember what thou didst think of these things when thou didst look upon thy self as a dying man Oh remember what woes and wounds were upon conscience What confident expressions if ever God did recover thee again if ever thou wert delivered again all the world should see thy repentance and Reformation These things thou shouldest remember and shame thy selfe yea be confounded and never able to open thy mouth to excuse thy self Fourthly The Scripture doth propound to our memory as a special object never to slip out of it The consideration of our later end the day of death the day of Judgement these things are to be constantly in our memory The neglect of this is made by the Prophet Jeremiah a bitter instance in his Lamentations concerning the people of Israel Lam. 1. 9. She remembred not her later end therefore she came down wonderfully Here the forgetting of her later end is made the cause of all those strange and wonderfull judgements which come upon them Thus Isa 47. 7. Babylon is there arraigned for her pride and arrogancy And she did not lay the judgements of God to heart neither did she remember the later end of it And how pathetically is Gods desire expressed Deut. 32 29. Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their later end Here you see the summe of all godliness is expressed in considering our later end No wonder then if men who forget their death and the day of Judgement be violently carried on to all excess of riot For what should stop or stay them in their paths Whereas didst thou remember as Solomon adviseth his young man That for all this thou must die thou must be brought to judgement This would bind him as it were hand and foot Quicken then up thy memory whatsoever thou forgettest do not forget that thou art a mortal dying man that the day of judgement is coming upon thee which thou canst not avoid The memory of this would make thee flie from every enticing sinne as Joseph did from his mistress Lastly The Scripture requireth That we should remember the desolation and troubles that are upon others especially the Church of God So that although it be never so well with us though God give us our hearts desire yet the remembrance of the afflictions and straits of others should make us mourn and pray for them Thus Col. 4. 18. Paul calleth upon them to remember his bonds So Heb. 13. 3. Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them What an hard and great duty is this yet if thou art not a dead member in the body if spiritual life be in thee thou wilt remember the sad condition the afflicted estate of many of Gods children when thou enjoyest all thy soul longeth for It was thus with good Nehemiah he was in the Princes Palaces he wanted nothing for his own advantage yet he mourned and was sad from day to day because he remembred how it was with Jerusalem See how impossible a thing almost David maketh it to forget Jerusalem Psal 137. 5. If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I remember thee not let my tongue cleave to the rooff of my mouth If I preferre not Jerusalem above my chief joy here is a gracious worthy spirit see what David resolveth shall be in his memory more then the chiefest good in this world he will forget his own friends his own joyes yea his own self sooner then the Churches good now may not even a godly man bewail his forgetfullness herein Thou mindest thy own estate thy own family seekest thy own self but how little is thy memory about the affaires of the Church Thou dost not remember how many afflicted Joseph's how many impoverished Lazar's there may be in the Church of God how many exiles and banished persons how many desirous to take up the crums that fall from thy table Did we remember the afflictions and straights of others it would put us more upon prayer for them and it would also make us walk more thankfully and humbly for our mercies then we do And thus you see though the memory be a vast treasure though it hath infinite recesses and capacious receptacles yet the Scripture hath prescribed matter enough to fill every corner as it were and if the memory were thus frighted if it were such a good store-house how happy would it be whereas naturally it 's like a cage of unclean birds and a den of thieves I proceed therefore to shew as it was to Ezekiel about the Jewes still more abomination in this memory of ours SECT X. The
by their own strength reformed their lives and have abounded in justice fortitude and chastity even to admiration Is not that instance of Polemon famous who though a drunkard yet coming to hear Xenocrates his Lecture about temperance was so immediately perswaded thereby that he presently forsook that beastly sinne In this Argument Julian the Pelagian did often triumph But Austin's answer was good and justifiable by Scripture That when they left one sinne they fell into another they did cure one lust by another lust a carnal one by a spiritual one for when they did abstain from such sinnes it was not in reference to God and from faith in Christ but it was either from vain glory or to be sure a sinfull confidence and resting upon themselves and therefore even the Stoicks who pretended the highest viz. That we were to do virtuous actions for virtues sake yet they came too short of the right mark for virtue is not to be loved ultimately for virtues sake but that thereby we might draw nearer to God and be made happy in enjoying of him Therefore the Stoicks opinion did teach a man nothing but self-confidence and self fulness which sinnes are forbidden by the Word of God as well as Epicurean and grosse sinnes Oh then the unspeakable bondage of the will to sinne That as the bird in a net the more she striveth to get out the more she intangleth her self Thus it is with the natural man the more he striveth of himself to come out of this mire the faster he sticketh in Thou then who art a natural man though such a sinne and such a sinne be left yet see if when the Devil was cast out a worse did not come in the room thereof See if it be not with thee as in that representation to the Prophet Thou hast broken a woodden yoke and an iron one is made in stead thereof Thou hast cured a carnal sinne by a spiritual one For you must know That not onely grace doth expell sinne but sometimes one lust may expel another as the Pharisees spiritual pride and self-righteousness did make them abhorre the Publicans sinnes so that even then the natural man cannot but sinne while he is casting off sinne Therefore though unregenerate persons may do that which is materially good and for the substance of the act yet they can never do that which is formally so or as Austin expressed it of old we must distinguish between the Officium the Duty it self and Finis the end of the Duty Now the end of all till regenerated can never be right or pure it never ascends high enough even to God himself because they want faith So that though Aristides was just yet he was not the Scriptures just man that liveth by faith None of the renowned Heathens were chaste by faith charitable by faith temperate by faith and therefore their glorious actions were only splendid glistering sinnes they had a pompous appearance but were indeed real vices which were so farre from profiting them as to eternal happiness that they were an hinderance to them for hereby they trusted in themselves The Epicurean he said It is good for me frui carne To enjoy the body The Stoick he said It was good for me frui mente But David he said It was good for him to draw nigh to God ¶ 13. The more Means of Grace to free us the more our Slavery appears FIfthly Herein is our miserable bondage to sinne manifested That the more we have the means of grace to set us at liberty the more doth our slavery discover it self So that whatsoever good and holy thing we meet with it draweth out our corruption the more This the Apostle complaineth of as part of that captivity he groaned under Rom 7. That the Law which was for good wrought in him all manner of evil Thus the Gospel yea Christ preached is the occasion of more wickedness and impiety in unregenerate men then otherwise they would be guilty of And if this be so though our heads were fountains of water yet we could not weep enough for the guilt and wretchedness we are in by this means for our remedies make our diseases greater light increaseth our darkness life causeth death Insomuch that did not God work by his own power mightily in the use of these means they might be no longer the means of grace but of anger and judgement and the preaching of the Gospel because of the sad effects which it hath through the wilfull indisposition of many who hear it might be as much trouble to us as the presence of the Ark was to the Philistims Therefore the clearer light the more powerfull means of salvation a people do enjoy the more is the impiety and wickedness of such whom grace doth not convert daily increased insomuch that the Gospel shining upon such men is like the Sunne shining upon a noisome dunghill which maketh it the more loathsome How then can there be free-will in a man to good when if left to himself all helps are an hindrance to him and all remedies are more destructive Hence the Scripture calleth it making of the heart fat Isa 6. an allusion to beasts which are prepared to destruction by their best pastures ¶ 14. The Necessity of a Redeemer demonstrates our thraldome to sinne LAstly That the will is inthralled irrecoverably unto sinne appeareth In the necessity of Grace and of Christ as a Redeemer if we were not in bondage what need we have a Redeemer Let not then the common expression in the Schooles be liberum arbitrium but liberatum which is a phrase we seldome meet within them It is good to know the full latitude of that glorious title of our Saviour viz. a Redeemer he is so called not only because he redeemeth us from the curse of the law and the guilt of sinne but also because we were under the power and dominion of sinne and Satan daily fulfilling the works of the flesh so that his death was not only to obtain remission of sinnes but to make us a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 1. 14. And hence also he is said to offer himself a sacrifice that he might present to God a Church without spot or wrinckle Eph. 5. 27 which will be compleatly perfected in heaven To set up free-will then is to pull down our Redeemer as much as we give to that we deny to Christ we make him but a half-Saviour and an half-Redeemer while we maintain that we set our selves at liberty from the power of Satan Oh then let the name of a Redeemer for ever make thee blush and ashamed to speak of a free-will ¶ 15. An Examination of the Descriptions and Definitions of Freedome or Liberty of Will which many give it Shewing that none of them are any wayes competent to the Will unsanctified WE proceed therefore to make a further discovery of the bondage of the will to sinne and that it hath no liberty no power or
to excessive anger What torments and vexations doth it work making thy soul like an hell for the present if to excessive fear and sorrow Will not these be like rottennesse in thy bones immediately In how many particulars may thy condemnation arise Thy love may damn thee thy fear may damn thee thy anger may damn thee or any other affection which yet do continually work in thy soul SECT III. How the Affections are treated of severally by the Philosopher the Physitian the Oratour and the Divine THirdly These affections may be treated of in several respects but what is most advantagious to the soul is to handle them as a Divine enlightned and directed by the Word of God 1. The Natural Philosopher he is to treat of them while he writeth De animâ of the soul and certainly the nature of them is as necessary to be known as any other part of men Hence it is said Aristotle did write a book of these nature affections but it is lost The Philosopher he discourseth of them but as to their natural being not at all regarding the holy mortifying of them and therefore a man may be an excellent Philosopher but yet a slave to his corrupt affections 2. The Physitian he also treateth of the affections Galen wrote a Book concerning the curing of them but he also considers them onely as they make for or against the health of the body they attend not to the souls hurt how much the salvation of that is indamaged thereby onely they treat of them as they are hurtfull in the body Erasistratus discovered the inordinate love of a great man by his pulse Amnon did pine and consume away by his inordinate affection to Tamar Therefore the Physitian he considers them no further then how they may be cured that the health of the body may be preserved And indeed this is also a good Argument in Divinity to urge that you must take heed of the sinnes of the passions for they torment the body indispose the body they kill they body Worldly sorrow worketh death so doth worldly anger and worldly fear But of this hereafter 3. The Rhetorician and Oratour he also writeth of the affections as Aristotle in his Rhetoricks Now the Oratour he discourses of them no further than as they may be stirred up or composed by Rhetorical speeches how to put his Auditors into love anger fear and grief as he pleaseth for it is a special part in Oratory to bow the affections This was represented in Orphens harp which is said to make beasts follow him yea very trees and stones that is Oratory doth civilize and perswade the most rude and savage Now although those who write of the method of preaching do much commend this gift in a Minister of the Gospel to be able to stirre up and quicken the affectionate part yet the grace of God is required to go along herein For it is easie for a Tully or Demosthenes to stirre up the affections of their Auditors when they declaimed about such civil and temporal matters that they saw themselves deeply concerned in The very principles of nature did instigate them to this but we preach of supernatural things and the matters we press are distastfull and contrary to flesh and bloud therefore no wonder if men hear without affection and go away without any raised affection at all 4. There is the Moral Philosopher and he looketh upon it as his most proper work to handle the affections for what hath moral virtue to do but to moderate the affections that we do not over-love or over-fear This is the proper work of the Moral Philosopher but neither is this handling of them high enough for a Divine The curing and ordering of them which Moralists do prescribe is but to drive out one sinne with another so that their virtues were but vices if you regard the principles and ends of their actions Therefore In the last place The Divine or Minister of God he is to preach of them and he only can do it satisfactorily having Gods Word to direct him for by that we find they are out of all order by that we find they are to be mortified by that we find only the Spirit of Christ not the power of nature is able to subdue them The true knowledge therefore about the pollution of them will greatly conduce to our humiliation and sanctification SECT IV. The Natural Pollution of the Affections is manifest in the Dominion and Tyranny they have over the Understanding and Will ¶ 1. SOmething being already premised about the nature of the Affections we shall in the next place consider the horrible and general depravation of them and that originally First The great pollution of them is evidently and palpably manifested in the dominion and tyranny they have over the understanding and will which are the superiour magistrates as it were in the soul Thus the Sunne and Starres in the souls orbs are obscured and obnubilated by the misty vapours and fogs which arise from this dung-hill A man doth now for the most part reason believe and will according to his affections and passions Aristotle observed this That Prout quisque affectus est it a judicat As every man is affected so he judgeth They are sinfull affections which make the erroneous and heretical judgements that are they are sinfull affections which make the rash corrupt and uncharitable judgements that are Thus the vanity may be observed in the soul which Solomon took notice of to be sometimes in the world Princes go on foot and servants ride on horsback God did at first implant affections in us for great usefulness and serviceableness that thereby we might be more inflamed and quickned up in the service of God They were appointed to be hand-maidens to the rational powers of the soul but now they are become Hagars to this Sarab yea they are become like Antichrist for they lift themselves up above all that is called God in the soul The understanding and conscience is made to us as God appointed Moses to Pharaoh it is ordained as a god to us but these passions will be exalted above it and so man is led not by reason not by conscience but by affections This is the very reason why either in matters of faith towards God or in matters of transactions with men our judgements are seldome partly and sincerely carried out to the truth but some affection or other doth turn the balance in all things Therefore as Abraham was to go out of his own Countrey and so to worship God in a right manner Thus if we would ever have a sound faith a right judgement we must come out of all affections that may prepossess us What a wofull aggravation of our sinfull misery is this that our affections should come thus boldly and set themselves in the throne of the soul that they should bid us judge and we judge that they should bid us believe and we believe So that we
thousand of us How much more may we say to God his glory his honour his truth is worth all our estates all our lives yea such ought to be our affections to Gods honour that we ought to preferre it above our own salvation so although through the goodnesse of God his honour and our salvation are so inseparably joyned together that one cannot be parted from the other yet in our mindes we are to esteem of one above the other Gods glory above our own happinesse But the highest degree of grace in this life doth hardly carry a man to this much lesse can nature elevate him thus high The second particular wherein the privacy of our affections is to be lamented is in respect of the publique good we are not onely to preferre the glory of God above our selves but also The publique good of the Church yea the publique good of the Commonwealth above our particular advantages What a notable demonstration of this publique affection do we find in Moses and Paul which may make us ashamed of all our self-affections We have Moses his self-denial mentioned Exod. 32. 32. where he desireth to be blotted out of the book of life then that the sins of the people should destroy them he had rather be undone in his own particular then have the general ruined and when God profered to make him a great name by consuming the Israelites he would not accept of it It was Tullie's boast That he would not accept of immortality it self to the hurt of the publique but this was breath and sound of words only Moses is real and cordial in what he saith As for Paul's publique affections to the salvation of others viz. his kinsmen after the flesh Rom. 9. 3. they break out into such flaming expressions that great are the disputes of the learned about the lawfulness of Paul's wish herein however we find it recorded as a duty that we ought to love our brethren so much that we are to lay down our lives for them 1 Joh. 3. 16. Now how can this ever be performed while these selfish-affections like Pharaoh's lean kine devour all things else Groan then under these streightned and narrow affections of thine thou canst never preferre Jerusalem above all the joy while it is thus with thee SECT XVII The hurtfull Effects of the Affections upon a mans body THirdly The sinfulnesse of our affections naturally is perceived by the hurtfull and destructive effects which they make upon a man Therefore you heard they were called passions These affections immoderately put forth do greatly hasten death and much indispose the body about a comfortable life 2 Cor. 7. 10. The sorrow of the world is said to work death Thus also doth all worldly love all worldly fear and anger they work death in those where they do prevail If Adam had stood they would not have been to his soul as they are to us nor to the body like storms and tempests upon the Sea They would not have been passions or at least not made any corruptive alteration upon a man whereas now they make violent impressions upon the body so that thereby we sinne not onely against our own souls but our own bodies also which the Apostle maketh an aggravation in the guilt of fornication 1 Cor. 6. 18. Instances might be given of the sad and dreadfull effects which inordinate passions have put men upon and never plead that this is the case onely of some few we cannot charge all with this for its only the sanctifying or restraining grace of God that keepeth in these passions of thine should God leave thee to any one affection as well tempered as thou thinkest thy self to be it would be like fire let alone in combustible matter which would presently consume all to ashes of thy own self having nomore strength than thy own and meeting with such temptations as would be like a tempestuous wind to the fire thou wouldst quickly be overwhelmed thereby SECT XVIII The sad Effects they have upon others FOurthly The sinfulness of these affections are seen not only in the sad effect they have upon our selves but what they produce upon others also They are like a thron in the hedge to prick all others that passe by Violent affections do not only disturb those that are led away with them but they do greatly annoy the comfort and peace of others The Prophet complained of living among scorpions and briars and truly such are our affections if not sanctified they are like honey in our gall they imbitter all our comforts all our relations They disturb families Towns yea sometimes whole Nations so unruly are our affections naturally Why is it that the tongue Jam. 2. is such an unruly member that there is a World of evil in it It is because sinfull affections make sinfull tongues SECT XIX They readily receive the Devils Temptations LAstly In that they are so readily receptive of the Devils temptations Herein doth appear the pollution of them The Devil did not more powerfully possess the bodies of some men then he doth the affections of men by nature Are not all those delusions in religious wayes and in superstitious wayes because the Devil is in the affections Hath not the Devil exalted much error and much fals-worship by such who have been very affectionate Many eminent persons for a while in Religion as Tertullian have greatly apostatized from the truth by being too credulous to such women who have great affections in Religion So that it is very sad to consider how greatly our very affections in religious things may be abused how busie the Devil is to tempt such above all into errour because they will do him the more service affections being among other powers of the soul like fire among the elements They are the Chariot-wheels of the soul and therefore the more danger of them if running into a false way The Devil hath his false joy his false sorrow and by these he doth detain many in false and damnable wayes Hence the Scripture observeth the subtilty of the Devils instruments false teachers how busie they are to pervert women as being more affectionate and so the easilier seduced Matth 23. 14. The Pharisees devoured widows houses by their seeming devotions Thus false teachers 1 Tim. 3. 6. did lead captive filly women by which it appeareth how dangerous our affections are what strong impressions Satan can make upon them So that it is hard to say whether the Devils kingdome be more promoted by the subtilty of learned men or the affections of weak men CHAP. VI. The Sinfullnesse of the Imaginative Power of the Soul SECT I. This Text explained and vindicated against D. J. Taylor Grotius the Papists and Socinians GEN. 6. 5. And God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was only evil and that continually WE have at large discovered the universal pollution of the Affections which we have by nature and handled them in this order though the
former particular our bodies had some kind of efficiency and working in those sinnes but here it is passive as it were an object that doth allure and draw out the soul inordinately to it so that we mind the body look to the body provide for the body more than the soul so that whereas the soul is farre more excellent and worthy than the body so that our thoughts and studies should be infinitely more zealous to save that then the body yet till grace doth sanctifie and life us up to the enjoyment of God who doth not look after his body more than his soul which yet is as if saith Chrysostom a man should look to his house to see that be repaired and that be in good order but neglect his own self The soul that is properly a man the body is but his house and a vile one also is an house of clay it is but a garment to the soul and a ragged tottered one Now it is good to take notice in what particulars our bodies are thus objectively a cause of sinne to us And First It is evident in that diligent and thoughtfull way of car we have about the feeding and cloathing of it Doth not our Saviour even to his very Disciples prohibit this perplexing care Matth. 6. 25. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat nor for your body what ye shall put on but how faulty are we here comparatively to our souls we that have so many thoughts to provide for the body how few have we about the soul Is not the body well fed when the soul is starved Is not the body well cloathed when the soul is naked How justly may thy soul cry out murder murder for thou art destroying and damning that every day Will not thy soul witness against thee at the day of judgement the body was taken care for the body was looked to but I was neglected Will it not cry out in hell Oh if I had been as diligently attended unto as the body I had not been roaring in these eternal torments The second particular wherein the body doth objectively and occasionally tempt the soul to sinne is about the adorning and trimming of it not only the care to provide for it but the curiosity to adorn it doth provoke the soul to much sinni And whereas our very garments should put us in constant mind of our original pollution for there was no shame uponnakedness till that first transgression and thereby greatly humble us we now grow proud and vain from the very effect of the first disobedience Every morning we put on our garments we should remember our original sinne The body before sinne was not exposed to any danger by cold and other damages neither was the nakedness thereof any cause of blushing but all this and more also is the fruit of the first sinne and if so how inexcusable is it to be curious and diligent in trimming up and adorning our bodies by those very garments the thoughts whereof should greatly debase us but this is not all The great attendance to the glory of the body doth wholly take off from the care of the soul How happy were it if persons did take as much pains to have their souls cloathed with the robes of righteousness to have them washed and cleansed from all filth as they do about their bodies one spot one wrinkle in the garment is presently spied out when the soul at the same time though full of loathsomness is altogether neglected as if our souls were for our bodies and not our bodies for our souls The Platonists indeed had such high thoughts of the soul and so low of the body that their opinion was Anima est homo the soul is the man they made the body but a meer instrument as the Ship is to the Pilate or musical instruments to an Artificer This is not true in Philosophy though in a moral sense it may have some affinity with truth but if we do regard the affections and actions of all by nature we may rather say The body 〈◊〉 man Yea the Apostle goeth higher he maketh it some mens God Phil. 3. 19. Whose belly is their God Why their God Because all they look at in Religion all they mind is only to satisfie that The Monks belly in Luther's time was their god When then a man liveth his natural civil and religious life onely to have his belly satisfied this man maketh his belly his god And again there are persons whose backs are their god For never did Heathens or Papists bestow more cost upon their Idols and Images to make them glorious then they do on their backs little remembring that we came naked into the world and that we shall not carry any thing out with us If this care were for soul-ornaments if thou didst spend as much time in prayer to God and reading the Scriptures whereby thy soul might be made comely and beautifull as thou doest about thy body this would prove more comfortable If thou didst as often look into the glass of Gods word to find out every sinne thou doest commit and to reform it as thou doest into the material glasse to behold thy countenance and to amend the defilements there thou wouldst find that the hours and day so spent will never grieve thee whereas upon the review of thy life spent in this world thou wilt at the day of judgement cry out of and bewail all those hours all that time in unnecessary adorning of the body The Apostle giveth an excellent exhortation 1 Pet. 3. 3 Whose adorning let it not be of plating the hair or of wearing of gold but let it be the hidden men of the heart in that which is not corruptible The Apostle doth not there simply and absolutely forbid the wearing of gold in such who by their places and calling may do it for Isaac gave Rebâ—ccah earings of gold but he speaketh comparatively rather look to the adorning of the soul then of the body spend more time about one then the other It is a known History of that Pambo who seeing a woman very industriously trimming her self to please that man with whom she intended naughtinesse wept thereupon because he could not be as carefull to dresse up his soul in such a posture as to please God Oh then look to thy body hereafter Let it not steal so much time from thee as thereby to neglect thy soul and to lose those opportunities thou mayest have of humbling thy self before God! Thirdly The body doth objectively draw out sinne from the soul In that the fear of any danger to that especially the death thereof will make us damne our soules and greatly offend God which doth plainly discover that our bodies are more to us then God or heaven or our soules are Therefore we have our Saviour pressing his Disciples against this fear if fear about hurt to the body may insnare the godly and keep them from their duty no wonder if
it totally prevail with the natural man Mat. 10. 28. Luk. 12. 4. I say to you may friends fear not them which can kill the body only but fear him who can cast both body and soul into hell But what Apostacies what sad perfidiousness in religion hath this love to the body caused the inordinate fear of the death thereof hath made many men wound and damne their soules Times then of dangers and persecutions do abundantly discover how inordinate men are in their love to their bodies looking upon bodily death worse then eternal damnation in hell although our Saviour hath spoken so expresly What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul Mark 8. 36. It is the Scriptures command that we should glorifie God in soul and body which are Gods our body is Gods that is bought with a price as well as your soul so that it ought to be our study how we should glorifie God by our eies by our ears by our tongues It is not enough to say thou hast a good heart and an honest heart if thou hast a sinful body now though there be many wayes wherein we may glorifie God by our bodies yet there is none so signal and eminent as when we do willingly at the call of God give our bodies to be disgraced tormented and killed for his sake then God saith to thee as he did to Abraham upon his willingness to offer up his son Isaac Now I know thou lovest me Thus you have Paul professing Gal. 6. 17. I bear in my body the marks of the Lords Jesus The Greek word signifieth such markes of ignominy as they did use to their servants or fugitives or evil doers now though in the eies of the world such were reproachfull yet Paul gloryed in them and therefore he giveth this as a reason why noue should trouble and molest him in the work of the Ministery this ought to be a demonstration to them of his sincerity and that he seeketh not himself but Christ hence also he saith Phil. 1. 20. Christ shall be magnified in his body whether by life or by death By this it is evident that we owe our bodies to Christ as well as our souls and that any fear to suffer in them for his sake argueth we love our bodies more then his glory ¶ 6. The Bodies indisposition to any service of God a Demonstration of its original Pollution BUt let us proceed to another particular wherein the original pollution of the body may be manifested and that is by the indisposition that is in the body to any service for God though it may be the soul is willing and desirous The drousinesse dulnesse and sleepinesse of the body doth many times cause the soul to be very unfit for any approaches unto God Our Saviour observed this even in his very Disciples when he said The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Matth. 26. 41. when our Saviour was in those great agonies making earnest prayer unto God and commanding his Disciples To watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation yet they were heavy and dull and therefore were twice reproved for their sleep and this sleepinesse of theirs was at that time when if ever they should have been throughly awakened but thus it falleth out often that in those duties and at those times when we ought most to watch and attend then commonly the body is most heavy and dull Hence is that drousinesse and sleepinesse while the Word is preached whereas at thy meals or at thy recreations and in wordly businesses there is no such dulnesse falleth upon thee This ariseth partly from the soul and partly from the body The soul that is not spiritual and heavenly therefore it doth not with delight and joy approach unto God and then the body is like an instrument out of tune as earth is the most predominant element in it so it is a clog and a burden to the soul Therefore bewail thy natural condition herein Adams body was expedite and ready he found no indisposition in his body to serve the Lord but how often even when the heart desireth it yet is thy body a weight and trouble to thee Nazianzene doth excellently bewail this How I am joyned to this body I know not saith he how at the same time I should be the Image of God and roll in this dirt so he calleth the body It is a kind enemy a deceitfull friend How strange is this conjunction Quod vereor amplector quod amo perhorresco Doth not God suffer this wrestling of the body with the soul to humble us that we may understand that we are noble or base heavenly or earthly as we propend to either of these Orat. de pauperum curâ This should also make thee earnestly long for the coming of Christ when all this bodily sinfulnesse shall be done away Oh what a blessed change will there then be of this vile heavy dull and indisposed body to an immortal glorious and spiritual body then there will be no more complaints of this body of thine then that will cause no jarre or disturbance in the glorious service of God ¶ 7. How easily the Body is moved and stirred by the passions and affections thereof FOurthly The body is from the original defiled in that it is easily and readily moved and stirred by the passios and affections thereof It cannot be denied but that Heathens and Heretiques have declamed against and reviled the body of man as appeareth by Tertul de Resurrect Carmi. as if it were an evil substance made from some evil principle hence it is written of Piotinus the great Platenist that he was ashamed his soul was in a body and therefore would by no means yeeld to have the picture of it drawn neither would he regard parents or kindred or countrey because his body was from them but we proceed not upon these mens account we follow the Scripture-light and by that we see the body consociated with the soul in evil whereof this of the passions is not the least The passions they are seated in the sensitive and material part of a man and therefore have an immediate operation upon the body being therefore called passions because they make the body to suffer they work a corporal alteration Hence anger is defined from its effect an ebullition or bubling forth of bloud about the heart and thus grief because it is so immediately seated in the body is therefore said to be rottennesse to the bones and it is said to work death 2 Cor. 7. 10. But it was not thus with the body from the beginning Adam indeed had such passions as do suppose good in the object such as love and delight though they were bounded and did not transgresse their limits but then he was not capable of those passions which do suppose evil and hurt as anger fear and grief for these would have repugned the blessed estate he was created in
an humane way hath brought in several errours into the Church for it was because of this in part that the Marcionists denied Christ to have a true real body they thought it ignominious to him to be born as other children are and so in Popery there are marvellous legends and wonderfull miracles feigned about Christ while an Infant The surest way then to honour Christ is to keep close to his Word and we see how one error begetteth another for from the opinion that she was without original sinne they have proceeded to horrible Idolatry attributing that which is proper to Christ unto her she is called the Mediatrix she is called their hope There is a Roman Psaltery full of blasphemy in this kind turning Dominus into Domina what is said of the Lordunto her the Lady It is true we do as she fore-told acknowledge her blessed among women There was an high dignity bestowed upon her in being the mother of Christ but she was more happy in having Christ in her heart by faith then conceiving him bodily in her womb It is well observed by Cartwright in his Harmony That whereas the parents of John the Baptist are highly commended as righteous before God walking in all the Commandments of the Lord Luk. 1. 6. there is nothing recorded of the holiness of the Virgin Mary that hereby she rather then other women had this priviledge vouchsafed to her as if thereby the holy Ghost would prevent that horrible Idolatry which he foresaw would creep into the Church concerning her As the Papists so the Turks they do fondly and foolishly boast of the impeccability of their Mahomet insomuch that one of their learned men was forced to flie for his life because he held Mahomet might have sinned a venial sinne if he would Vide Hornbeek summa cent de Mahumedisme And although they do not say Mahomet was born without sinne yet they have a prodigious fable concerning him That when he was a child of four years old some Angels laid hold on him and carried him into a mountain where they diffected him washed his guts clean took out a black drop which they say is in every man as the seed of the Devil and all this without any grief and by this meant he was freed from sinne It is most dreadfull to consider what impieties and impostures are in that Mahumetan Religion and yet how greatly the propugners thereof have prevailed and that where Christian Churches were plantâ—â— They have also their religious persons which they call Nefesogli that they held are without sinne yea that they are not born in an humane way of generation of whose extasies they do relate very stupendious things by which we see how greatly the Devil can prevail by bodily devotions and such extatical raptures as well as by traditional superstitions The Devil doth not only by heresi and Idolatry but also by devotions and strange bodily raptures prevail and inlarge his Kingdom But these are so fabulous they are not worth insisting on Theodoret as Sixtus Senensis relateth Annot. in c. 5. Rom speaketh as if Seth Euceh Noah and such eminent men were free from original sinne as the Rabbins of Beaz and others that they were without evil concupiscence But though these had the grace of God regenerating them yet they were by nature full of sinne and although when it is said That the imaginations of mans heart were only evil from the youth it is said of Noah But he was a righteous man and feared God and so found favour with him This doth not inferre that by nature his imaginations were not as evil as others but only by the grace of God he had obtained a mighty change and translation from that natural condition SECT V. How absurd it is to exempt any from this Natural Pollution upon any ground whatsoever THirdly Original sinne being thus a sinne of the nature as it is absurd to exempt any from it upon Theological considerations so likewise from any Philosophical niceties For there are some that bring forth strange and paradoxal opinions about the nature of man and these will not have all men involved in Adam's sinne for there is an anonimous Author truly nullius nominis hath a written book De praeadomitis his whole scope is to shew that there were men before Adam though the Scripture doth not mention them and he saith A negative argument in matter of fact doth not hold There were none because the Scripture doth not name them no more then we can say Melchizedech had no father or mother indeed because they are not mentioned But Moses relateth what was in the beginning and thereby doth exclude any before Adam yea in the Scripture Adam is expresly called the first man 1 Cor. 15. 45. There are others and they would from Philosophy prove That all men are not of the same kind no more then birds and beasts and therefore they did not all come from Adam They instance in the Antipodes in those that are in the other world or Hemisphere The ancient Clement in his Epistle to the Corinthiant pag. 29. speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worlds beyond the sea But these all come from Adam for Act. 17. 26. it is expresly said That God hath made of one blend all Nations of men that dwell on the earth Therefore we need not matter these fancies no more then those that hold a world in the Moon and men there Paracelsus that gloried he would reform Luther as Luther had the Pope Vidâ— Ludev Crec Syntag. cap. 28. pag. 811. telleth us of men found in mines and that there are Marini homines and Satyrs who are capable of blessedness and that Christ died for them as a certain Satyr is said to the famous Ermit Anthony Some also speak of men begotten in that unnatural way with beasts that are beasts and men have these original sinnes But we are to despise all these niceties Neither are fancies to be minded against the clear Doctrine of the Scripture wheresoever there is the nature of man in a natural way there the Scripture pronounceth all obnoxious to this sinne The last Proposition is That this original sinne is communicated to all mankind although they have not sinned after the similitude of Adam 's transgression For you may happily think it is indeed just with God to punish all such who sinne like Adam that imitate him in his wickedness But as for others how doth that appear becoming the righteousness and mercy of God Now for this we have a clear attestation Rom. 5. 14. Death reigned over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression But what is meant by this description is controverted Those that leave out the negative making it to runne affirmatively viz. Who sinned after the transgression of Adam and also those who read it thus Death reigned after the similitude of Adams transgression upon those who did not sinne As Verstius following Erasmus and Chrysostom are not to be
regarded neither is that Exposition to be endured of that late Writer with whom we have so often to do As if the Apostle meant That death relatively to Adams sinne had no effect further then to Moses and there it ceased for this doth palpably contradict the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 22. where by Adam all are said to die Therefore by those who sinne not after the similitude of Adams transgression Some understand it thus viz. not so capitally and atrociously as he did for he sinned against an express Law but the Apostle speaketh of such who sinned without such a declared Law as Hos 6. 7. They like men have transgressed in the original like Adam Many Expositors make it the proper name of Adam hereby the Prophet aggravating their sin That as Adam in Paradise did voluntarily transgress Gods Law So the Jews in the good Land God had given them did treacherously against him But Mercer rejecteth this because in the Hebrew it is not Câ—hadam with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emphatical as it is commonly applied to Adam There is such an expression in Job which some understand of Adam Job 31. 33. where it is translated If I covered my transgressions as Adam or as in the margin After the manner of men This interpretation may be admitted as part but 2. we are to understand it more largely of all those who sinne without a Law revealed for the Apostle had said That sinne is not imputed viz. to a mans conscience where there is no Law men are apt to be secure in sinne when there is no Law expresly threatning them Now saith the Apostle let none think so For as death so sinne was in the world before Moses his time though there was not such severe precepts against it and therefore those who had not such an express command as Adam had yet death and sinne was imputed to them So that by this is understood That all those who live out of the Church all Heathens and Pagans who have not the revealed will of God to walk by even those who never heard of Adam and so could not imitate him in sinning are in this clause comprehended Lastly By this also is declared That all Infants though they cannot actually sinne yet because of original sinne death reigneth over them likewise Though Calvin think the former sort chiefly aimed at yet he confesseth Infants are herein included Thus we have finished this Text the Doctrine whereof should make the world a valley of tears in respect of godly humiliation as it is indeed in respect of miseries As the shadow followeth the body so should holy sorrow the truth of this point Believe it and tremble for it is every ones case she out of thy self to that Saviour who delivereth from original sinne as well as actual This is most properly the sinne of the world CHAP. IX The Qualities or Adjuncts of Original Sinne. SECT I. The Text explained GEN. 8. 21. And the Lord said in his heart I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth I Have formerly treated on that parallel Text to this Gen. 6. 5. but wholly to another purpose Though therefore this be of great affinity with the former yet I shall deliver altogether new matter from it From the two-fold Subject of original sinne of Inhesion and Predication I proceed to the consideration of the Qualities and Adjuncts of it and begin with this Text which containeth a gracious promise from God never to bring such an universal deluge or any other general judgement upon the world for mans sake any more This promise is made a consequent of Gods Reconciliation with Noah upon whose Sacrifice it is said God smelled a sweet savour speaking after the manner of men not that God did regard the material Sacrifice for the smell of that must needs be distastfull and unsavoury but because Noah did it with a pure and holy heart and withall chiefly because this Sacrifice of Noah was typical of Christs sacrificing himself in time by whom alone God becometh propitious For Christs offering up of himself is said to be Ephes 5. 2. A Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour which was chiefly in the Eucharistical Sacrifices not that Christs death is compared to them only as the Socinians would have it but principally and chiefly to the Expiatory Sacrifices as appeareth in the Epistle to the Hebrews only in Christs death there was that which was in Eucharistical Offerings a sweet savour unto God whereby he became propitious unto mankind God being thus graciously pleased we have this promise of God declared in the Text wherein is considerable First The Cause of it and that is Gods Deceree The Lord said in his heart that is an expression after the manner of men For you must not conceive of God as changing his mind or altering his purposes upon better considerations or as if he took up a contrary resolution to that when he intended to destroy the world but this is wholly spoken to our capacity By this is meant no more then Gods purpose and secret Decree which yet he manifested to the comfort of Noah and therefore we have Moses recording of it Secondly There is the object matter of this promise and that is two-fold I will not curse the ground neither will I smite any more every living thing as I have done God cursed the ground at first upon Adam's fall but this is meant of the Deluge as appeareth by the other particular for by that general floud it is conceived the ground was made worse then before The meaning then is That God will not bring any more universal judgement not but that particular Towns or Nations may be consumed by water or other punishments but there shall not be such a general one by water any more no nor any general punishment For what comfort would it have been to Noah if that the world should be preserved only from drowing if it might have been destroyed any other way Therefore when at the Day of Judgement the whole world shall either be destroyed or renewed by fire that will not be so much by way of punishment to the inhabitants as to change its use and to prepare for the great alteration that God is then to make Thirdly There is the aggravation of this mercy God will do this Though the imagination of mans heart be evil This clause is to be considered first as a Reason then Absolutely in it self If as a reason then here is the difficulty taken notice of how it can be made the ground why God will not destroy the world seeing formerly Chap. 6. 5. it is there made the only reason why he would destroy it can it be the motive for two contrary effects Some therefore do not make it a reason at all but part only of the description of Gods promise he will not destroy the earth again for this sinfull disposition but
there must necessarily be some reason either expresly or tacitly implied for God is here declaring his purpose to take a more gracious and mercifull way now that he had given such a dreadfull demonstration of his justice and anger against sinne already Some then make the reason to be ab incommdo that if God should destroy the world because of mans original corruption breaking forth daily there would never be an end we should have flouds upon flouds Therefore as the Psalmist saith He remembreth that we are but dust he knoweth our frame Psal 103. 14. therefore he will not alwayes pour cut his wrath Thus say they it is here and this is probable Others make it an Argument ab aeqno to which Pererius inclineth as if God did hereby declare That being man is thus originally polluted and incurably sinfull as to his own power therefore God would pity him so that though formerly God looked upon it as the matter of his wrath now as the matter of pity being sinne maketh us miserable so some think David Psal 51. urgeth his natural corruption as an Argument to move God to pity him but this is not so probable because this doth directly contradict Gods former proceedings when his wrath was poured out on the world because of this sinne breaking forth into actual rebellions I rather therefore go with those that take the particle Ci adversatively Although God would not again destroy the world although mankind was of such a corrupt frame and thus it is to be taken in many places the neglect whereof hath caused many Disputes about some Texts of Scripture whereas the rendring of this particle adversatively would easily have cleared it as might be shewed if it were to my purpose Vide Tarn Exerc. In the next place we are to consider the words absolutely and they are very emphatical the Heart the Imagination and is evil In the former place Chap. 6. 5. there is a greater aggravation Every Imagination and only evil and all the day long but one supposeth the other here in this Text in stead of continually or every day as in the Original we have From the youth and therefore doth more palpably demonstrate the original filth or all men by nature Neither can the Adversaries to this Doctrine of original sinne put in the exception to this place as they did to the former for there they would evade by saying it was spoken of those evil and wicked men who had in a more notorious manner corrupted all their doings But how can they open their mouth against this place for God speaketh this as true at that present of all mankind by nature when yet the great prophane ones were destroyed and Noah with his family was preserved So that this is a perpetual and inseparable qualification from the nature of man more than actual death For Enoch and Elijah did not actually die yet they were born with original sinne As for some Expositors who would limit to the time of youth when a man is past his Infantia and Pueritia his infancy and childhood arrived at his Adolescentia his youth that is not to be admitted for the word is to be applied to his whole time since he was born The word Nagnar doth signifie one cast or shut out and properly belongeth to a new born Infant and so doth signifie the tender Infancy of a child although we grant that it is sometimes extended to the youth as Genes 37. Joseph is called Nagnar a youth when he was seventeen years old feeding the flock So 1 Kings 3. sometimes it 's applied to a Disciple or Servant because they were ordinarily young 2 King 9. Isa 37. which the Septuagint render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is applied to Christ and therefore whereas Acts 4. 27. it is rendred Thy holy child Jesus Some think it better according to the use of the word by the Septuagint Thy holy servant for so Christ is sometimes in respect of his Mediatory Office called the servant of God But it is plain that children are capable of sinne before their youth and therefore we are not to limit it but to expound if of their very first being in original sinne which doth vent it self actually in after years Some make the Plural number to be observable they render it à pueritiis as containing the whole age of a man from his tender years till he be grown up Hence Grotius will extend it to the very time from the womb but then runneth to his Socinian Hyperbole which hath been sufficiently confuted To determine the time indeed when Infants begin to be capable of actual sinnes is very difficult but that is not my work here Now though it is said to be evil from the youth yet that is some limitation It is not evil from Gods first creation of mans heart not from its original being and therefore the essence of a man is not evil So that it is an horrible calumny of Tirinus the Jesuite upon this place to say That from this Text Luther and Calvin do inferre That the heart of a man is essentially evil Illyricus his dotage is sufficiently disowned by them As then the Leprosie got into the wals of the house and that could not be scraped off there was no way to get it out but by demolishing the wall yet was not to be attributed to the Artificer that made the wall but to some other supervenient cause So likewise neither is original sinne though now so closely adhering to mans nature to be attributed to God who first created mankind but to Adam's voluntary Apostasie from God The Text thus explained there are two Doctrines contained in it First Original sinne is an heavy and grievous sinne Secondly That there is a particular original sinne in every one which breaketh out into its actings betimes From which we shall take occasion to discourse of the equality and inequality of original sinne in every man Let us begin with the first Original sinne is a most grievous and heavy sinne In the Text is put an Although upon it God will not destroy the world although this sinne be in man implying the infinite mercy of God that is not provoked by this utterly to cut of mankind Hic est insiguis locus de peccato originali c. saith Luther on the place This is a famous place concerning original sinne which whosoever extenuateth saith he like blind men in the Sunne they do truly erre and do not see what they daily doe and may have experience of It is from our senslesnesse and stupidity or rather from our self-love and pharisaical disposition that we do not more afflict our selves under the apprehension of it for this is the highest offence the like whereof said Luther unless in the Devils cannot be found SECT II. The Aggravaiions of Original Sinne. ¶ 1. Of Adam's Actual Transgression NOw for the aggravation of original sinne we may speak either of Adams actual iransgression which is our
under his power though there were no actual sinnes committed by us then let us not matter the speculations of Philosophers nor the Political sentences of Civil Magistrates for by these nothing is accounted culpable but what is voluntary by our own personal will Hence Austin explained that assertion of his when dealing against the Manichees Vsque adeò peccatum est voluntarium c. Voluntariness is so necessary to the being of a sinne that it cannot be any sinne if this be wanting in this saith he all Laws all Nations all Governours c. do agree The Pelagians commended this of Austin and improved it against him but in his explication of himself he calleth it Politica sententia This is true according to the political Laws of Governours and withall agreeth to actual sins But the truth about original sinne meerly by revelation we need not then regard what Aristotle and other Philosophers say in this matter who as they knew nothing of the creation of Adam so neither of his fall and this caution is necessary to every one that would not be deceived in this point Secondly Although in one particular respect this sinne may not be so hainous as others yet in many other respects it doth farre exceed and they are abundantly compensative for that one consideration It is true This sin hath nothing of our own personal voluntariness yea if a man should now consent to this birth-defilement and even rejoyce because he was born thus estranged from God this subsequent will would not make original sin to be a voluntary sin unto him for this is an actual sinne committed a new by the personal will of a sinner But though this be granted yet there are many other respect which do exceedingly aggravate it even those we have mentioned before Hence a learned Schoolman Dela Rua contra Theolog. cont 2. speaking of the comparisons made by Aquinas and others of original sinne with venial ones excuseth them saying They must not be understood in that respect as original sinne is a mortal one for so it doth infinitely exceed any venial one but in that respect as original sinne is not contracted by our own proper action but by Adam in whose will our wils were contained What then though in one particular this sinne may not be so hainous as others yet look upon the many other respects wherein it doth exceed all other hainous sinnes and then you will be compelled to acknowledge the weightinesse thereof Thirdly The chiefest and highest aggravation of a sinne is from the contrariety of it to the Law of God for seeing the Apostle doth define sinne 1 John 3. 4. to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The transgression of the Law then the more irregularity there is in sinne the greater is that sinne Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is either habitual or actual and if habitual sins are greater then actual because of the greater dissonancy to Gods Law then must original be more then habitual and so greater then all sins if then we compare original sinne with the Law we shall find it contrary to it in the highest manner that can be For Gods Law doth not require only actual obedience but such obedience flowing from a pure and holy heart and holiness in the heart is more answerable to the Law then holiness in actions Thus on the contrary sinne in the habitual inclination of a man is more opposite to Gods holy Law then the expression of it in several actings If then the Apostle define a sinne by the contrariety of it to Gods Law not by knowledge or voluntariness then where there is the greatest obliquity and declension from this rule though there be not so much voluntariness there is the greater evil So that this respect may silence all those cavils and disputes which are usually brought in to diminish the guilt of this sinne still have recourse to the Law of God and there thou wilt find that whereas actual sins are respectively against respective commands this is against every Law It is against the whole Law and therefore hath as much evil in it in some sense as the Law hath good So that the Use is To exhort every one who would have his heart deeply affected in this point who would be humbled greatly because his sinne is great to take off his thoughts from all those Philosophical or humane arguments which are apt to lessen it Because a Magistrate will not put a man to death unless where he is guilty by some voluntary personal act of his own do not thou therefore think it cruel and unjust with God if he condemn for that sinne wherein though we have not own proper will ingredient yet by imputation it is voluntary But of this more when we are to justifie God in these proceedings against cavilling Sophisters SECT III. That every one by Nature hath his peculiar proper Original Sinne. THe second Doctrine offereth it self in the next place to be considered of which is That every one by nature hath his peculiar proper original sinne which doth betimes vent it self into actual evil For the Text speaketh universally there is not any to be exempted It is made a Question in the Schools Whether there be many or one original sinne onely Aquinas bringeth two Arguments for more original sinnes than one The one is from the Text according to the Vulgar Translation Psal 51. 5. where it is rendred In sinnes did my mother conceive me in the Plural number And then the second from Reason because there being many actual sinnes it cannot seem rational that one original sinne should incline to them all seeing many times these sinnes flow from contrary principle How may it be thought this one sinne should carry a man out concupiscentially to so many contrary lusts Therefore that this truth may be fully demonstrated let us consider these Propositions First That such who deny any original inherent corruption and make Adam 's actual sinne to be ours onely by imputation as Pighius and Catharinus they will say That there is but one original sinne which is by imputation made every mans Even as by the light of one Sunne every man seeth or as some Philosophers say there is one common Intelleotus agens by which all men are inabled to understand So that by this opinion every man hath not his peculiar inherent defilement but that one actual transgression by imputation is made the one common sinne of mankind Now although this is to be granted That Adam's actual sinne is made ours which Chamier and some French Protestants following him do dangerously deny yet the Texts heretofore brought in this point do evidently convince That every one hath his peculiar native defilement that he is born in So that original sinne though it may be called one in specie and proportione yet when we come to every particular man he hath his numerical and individual original sinne in him Although therefore there be as many original sinnes
that did tare in pieces two and fourty of them They were but little children and you would think none would regard what they said but behold the heavy judgement of God upon them Therefore let Parents be more deeply affected with the lies and sinfulness of their children then commonly they are The wicked man is said Job 20. 11. to have his bones full of his puerilities or as we translate it the sinne of his youth because sinne acted in the youth doth cleave more inseperably then other sins even as he who had been possessed with a Devil from his youth was more difficultly cured therefore the Text addeth Those sins lie down in the dust with him Thy youth-sins will go to the grave with thee if grace make not a powerfull change SECT VI. Whether Original Sinne be alike in All. THe last thing to be treated on is to answer that Question Whether original sinne be alike in all Do we not see some even from the very womb more propense to iniquities then others And if it be equal in all Why should not all be carried out to the same sins alike Why is not every one a Cain a Judas To this we answer these things 1. If we take original sinne for the privative part of it viz. the want of Gods Image so all are alike Every one hath equally lost this glorious Image of God none hath any more left of it in them then another Even as it is concerning those that are damned in hell They are all equal in their punishment in respect of the poena damni they lose the presence of the same God and are all alike cast out from his presence but there is a difference in respect of the poena sensus some have greater torments then others 2. Original sinne is alike in all in the positive part if you do respect the remote power of sinne that is there is in all equally an habitual conversion to the creature Even as all have the same remote power of dying alike though for the proxim power some die sooner and some later The seed then of all evil is alike in all all are equal in respect of the remote power of sinning 3. By original depravation all are alike in respect of the necessity of sinning There is no man in this lost estate but he doth necessarily sinne quoad specificationem as they say whatsoever he doth he sinneth though not quoad exercitium this sinne or that sinne one is more ingaged unto then another Neither is this necessity of sinning like the necessity of hunger and thirst for these are meer natural and not culpable but this necessity of sinning is voluntarily brought upon us and though it be necessary yet is voluntary and with delight also As Bernard expresseth it The voluntariness taketh not off from the necessity nor the necessity from the voluntariness and delight Lastly Original sinne is equal in all in respect of the merit and desert it deserveth death it deserveth hell There is none cometh into the world thus polluted but he is obnoxious to death and an heir of Gods wrath For although some are freed from hell yea and one or two have been preserved from death yet is wholly by the grace of God The desert of original sin is equal in all But then you will say How cometh it about that some are more viciously given then others some more propense to one sinne then another I answer 1. From the different complexions and constitutions of the body with their different temptations and external occasions of sinne as they meet with Though the remote power be equal in all yet the immediate and proxim disposition is the bodies complexion and other concurring circumstances For original righteousness being removed then a man is carried out to sinne violently according as his particular torrent may drive him Even as if the pillars or supporters of an house should fall to the ground every piece of wood would fall to the ground more heavily or lightly as the weight is or as you heard Aquinas his similitude when the mixt body is dissolved every element hath his proper motion the air ascends upward the earth downwards and this is the cause of the divers sins in the world and some mens particular inclinations to one sinne more than another And then 2. The grace of God either sanctifying or restraining doth also make a great difference It is God that saith to the sea of that corruption within thee Hitherto thou shalt go and no further Think not that thou hadst a better nature or lesse original sinne than Judas or Cain but God doth either change thy nature or else he doth several wayes restrain thee that thou canst not accomplish all that actual wickedness thy heart would carry thee unto CHAP. X. A Justification of Gods shutting up all under Sinne for the Sinne of Adam in the sense of all the Reformed Churches against the Exceptions of Dr J. T. and others SECT I. GAL. 3. 24. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sinne that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe THe Apostle having made an Objection against himself vers 21. Is the Law then against the promises of God He answereth it 1. With a detestation God forbid 2. He sheweth wherein the Law is so farre from being contrary that it is subservient to the Gospel Only we must distinguish of the use of the Law which is per se and which is per accidens The use of the Law per se is to give eternal life to such who have a perfect conformity thereunto but per accidens when it meeteth with lapsed man who must needs be cursed by it because he is so farre from continuing in all the duties thereof that he is not able to fulfill perfectly one iota or tittle thereof therefore it provoketh us to seek out for a Saviour as a man arrested for debt enquireth for some friend or surety to deliver him Now this subservient use of the Law is expressed in the Text mentioned wherein you have the condition of mankind declared viz. That they are shut up under sinne 2. The Universality All. 3. The Cause appointing and declaring of this The Scripture 4. The final Cause That the promise c. Let us briefly open the particulars And First The Condition of man is said to be shut up under sinne or concluded it is a Metaphor from those malefactors that are shut up in a prison and cannot come forth So that the word implieth partly the condemnation that is upon all mankind and partly the impossibility to escape it and then whereas it is said under sinne that denoteth both the guilt of it and the dominion of it and that both original sinne and actual for both are comprehended herein else Infants would be excluded from having an interest in Christ for whosoever are brought to Christ are necessarily supposed to be in a state of sinne Hence In the
how much more should the command of God and Christ when we can say here Christ hath commanded us to enquire no further It is not therefore with divine truths as it is with philosophical for with the latter though we know Aristotle saith so yet we may enquire into the truth of it but in Theological things if it appear God hath said this then we must not judge but believe so that it is a learned ignorance when we affect not to know above what is written It is a good resolution of Luthers In cup. Genes 6. I follow saith he alwayes this rule that I may avoid those Questions which may draw me up to the throne of Gods supreme Majesty Melius tutius est ad praesepe Christ hominis consistere It is better and safer to stand at the manager of Christ as man For this end we have Elihu and God himself at last humbling Job who had disputed the righteous proceedings of God too presumptuously by the consideration of Gods transcendent greatness to mans capacity yea by these natural things convincing him of his infirmity which we see very day as the rain and thunder c. Now certainly if we cannot behold a starre much less the Sunne if we cannot find out the reason of Gods proceedings in natural things how much more in supernatural Therefore Fourthly This is alwayes to be laid down as a foundation there is no unrighteousness with God whatsoever he doth is very just though many times this is secret and hidden to us Even as David while estuating in his soul and perplexed about Gods dispensations in this world thinking that equality of administrations to those that were not equall was inequallity yet least this sour leaven should imbitter him too much he layeth down as a sure principle and foundation and that in the very beginning Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Psal 73. 1. And the Apostle in those sublime mysteries about Election and Reprobation doth check the presumptuous Disputations of men Who will contend with God in such cases Rom 9. And Elihu argueth against Job Chap 34. 18. Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly he meaneth of such whose righteousness and integrity is universally approved of for the Prophets did many times rereprove ungodly Kings and informe them of their impieties though we are to do our duties even to such with acknowlengement of their eminent place Then how much more unsufferable is it concerning God of whom all men have this inbred notion that he is optimus as well as maximus for any if God do thus and thus when yet the Scripture declareth that he doth so to accuse it for unrighteousness Our work then is to shew that such Truths are revealed in Scripture That God taketh such and such wayes in his dealings with mankind and when this is established then let us say God is true and every man is a liar Then let us proclaime the righteousness of God though we cannot satisfie every curious Objection yea our duty were to pass them by with contempt and silence did not the importunity of the Adversaries provokens so that we are to answer a fool in his solly lest he be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26. 5. And indeed excepting one particular there is not any thing scarce of any moment that may make a man so much as doubt about the righteousness of God in this Doctrine of original sinne as it is delivered by Protestant Writers who follow the pattern in the Mount which that it may appear in its harmony and not judge of a piece by it self but in its compleat proportion I shall proceed to adde further Propositions Hence In the fourth place observe God made made man at first perfect both in soul and body as his body was not subject to diseases and death so neither his soul to ignorance and passions God made him right Eccles 7. yea in his own image righteousness and true holiness not as the Socinians say that he was created in a meer innocency that is indifferency to good or evil not being made righteous till man should make himself Man with simplicity in his understanding and childishness as if he differed but a little from an Ideot it is wonder they do not also say he was created blind as Suarez reporteth Disput de statu innocentiae of some who held so because it is said after his fall That their eyes were opened Certainly the Image of God he was created in and with such a peculiar expression which the Scripture taketh notice of Let us make man after our own Image Gen. 1. 26. doth denote nothing but excellency and perfection in him both for natural and spiritual things and shall we think that God who made his body perfect and in full stature would not do the like for his soul The end also for which God made him necessarily presupposeth him indued with all wisdom and holiness for he was made the head of mankind he was made to be the Governour and Lord of the world he imposed names on the beasts which argued both his knowledge and superiority he was made to glorifie and praise God to have constant communion with him and enjoyment of him and who can think God created him for such a sublime end without proportionable ability thereunto and the rather considering how God created every thing in its kind as good yea very good Every creature was made perfect by its natural operations to attain its natural end and shall man only be made imperfect So that we are fully to believe this good and glorious estate that God made Adam in for Pelagian and Socinians begin to erre here This is the first step to all their future abominations Prop. 5. God did not only create man thus with an internal sufficiency of ability to persevere in this holy and blessed estate but did also vouchsafe all other auxiliaries of grace that might inable him to hold out Even Adam in the state of integrity could do no good thing without the help of God and therefore though whole yet he needed the Physician not indeed to heal him or recover him but to preserve him from falling and no wonder Adam needed this grace of God seeing the very Angels likewise did So that the very difference why some did fall and the others stand was the grace of God insomuch that that of Paul may be applied even to Angels as well as men 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who made thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received Hence the Scripture maketh their election the cause of their standing being therefore called the elect Angels 1 Tim. 5. 21. Adam then was created thus sufficient within and wanting nothing without either of directing or preserving grace to continue him in this blessed estate and which is the greater aggravation of that full and sufficient estate God created him
also voluntary subjectivè for this corruption is chiefly seated in the will which ruleth the whole man and it is voluntary consecntivè by consequent for man naturally delighteth in this evil estate and till grace make a change we are not weary of this condition It is true this subsequent will whereby we delight in our original pollution doth not properly make original sinne to be ours for this is an actual sinne and floweth from that better root only it sheweth that this evil estate is so farre from being contrary to mans will naturally that it delighteth in it and doth contumaciously rebell against the grace of Christ that would deliver Lastly Whereas the 18th Chapter of Ezekiel is commonly objected against this truth where God by the Prophet at large declareth That the Sonne shall not die for the fathers sinne an innocent for a nocent but every one shall die in his own iniquity I have spoken something to this already neither am I to consider how that place is to be reconciled with the second Commandment wherein God is said To visit the iniquity of fathers upon their children to several generations Exod. 20. 3. and several instances of Scripture make it good To be sure the Proverb which gave occasion to this passage was a prophane one redounding to Gods dishonour Sanctius in locum the Papist thinketh that the Jews of old had used it and that because of Adam's fall imputed to his posterity but it seemeth rather at that time to be taken up while under the judgements of God especially for Manassehs his sins as appeareth Jer. 15. 4. where is observable that though Manasses had repented and his sinnes pardoned to him yet God visited them upon the Nation afterward So that it may not seem strange If it be affirmed That notwithstanding Adam repented and his sinne pardoned yet it may be visited upon all his posterity There are various thoughts about the interpretation of the place Some making it a promise under the Covenant of grace only as it seemeth probable if you compare it with Jer. 31. 29. where the same prophane Proverb is mentioned and this promise to the contrary whereas Adam was under the Covenant of works Others very probably say This is not to be extended to all times and places only God promiseth That in their particular condition at present they shall have no occasion to use it for such who did might be brought back from their captivity Thus Sanctius and Maldenate because say they it is plain That the Jews now are under their grievous calamity for their fathers sake who crucified Christ saying Let his blood be upon us and our children Mat. 27. 25. But however the Exposition be it doth not gain-say this Doctrine of original sinne for there it speaketh of children free from their parents sins we speak of children filled with inherent corruption themselves though derived from Adam and chiefly because there the Prophet speaketh of particular private parents whereas we say Adam was a publique appointed person by God himself so that that of Adam's is extraordinary even as Christ though innocent yet died for our sins which yet seemeth to contradict this place of Ezekiel and the Socinians bring it to prove it could not stand with Gods justice to punish Christ being innocent for our sins But in the close of all we may justly retort on those who oppose this truth that they attribute much injustice and cruelty to God which Austin doth frequently urge the Pelagians with for they make all the misery that many times falleth upon young Infants yea and that repugnancy and temptation that is within us against good to be from our primitive constitution that God made us so Those that will not acknowledge original sinne to be the cause of this misery must make God to be so and therefore as appeareth by Baronius Annal. Anno 418. The Emperors Edict made to banish Pelagians containeth this as one reason Proprer trucem inclementiam c. for the horrid and cruel inclemency they attribute to God passing a sentence upon man to die before he liveth But I shall hereafter when I come to speak of the Effects of original sin make it appear That the opposers of original sinne do more unjustly yea and blasphemously attribute many things to God in a farre more transcendent way then their adversaries are by them supposed to do How can it stand with the goodness mercy and love of God that so much evil and death it self should be upon mankind from mans Creation and not rather that it was introduced by Adam's sinne Let the Use of all this be to humble our selves under Gods righteous proceedings to say with Job chap. 40. 3 Behold I am vile I will lay my hand upon my mouth Yea mayest thou not admire at the wise ends of God revealed in Scripture why this should be This is to stop every mans mouth This is to make it appear That all the world is guilty before God This is to make it appear that Christ is necessary this is the way to make Christ more glorious and precious to those that do believe A TREATISE OF Original Sin The Fourth Part. Setting forth The immediate Effects of ORIGINAL SINNE By Anthony Burgess ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed in the Year 1658. A TREATISE OF Original Sinne. PART IV. CHAP. I. Of that Propensity that is in every one by nature to Sinne. SECT I. This Text explained and vindicated from Socinian Exceptions JOB 15. 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water THe last particular to be treated upon concerning original sinne is the immediate effects thereof which we now come to discover and whereas they are many some general and some particular as the paines inflicted upon women in child-bearing the general are the curses that are brought upon the whole world and every part thereof I shall limit my self only to those that belong to mankind and are inseparably annexed to every individium herein Now these effects they are either spiritual or temporal I shall begin with the spiritual and first pitch upon that propensity and vehement inclination which is in every one by nature to sinne This plainly demonstrateth there is a sinful and corrupted principle within else all mankind would not be so prone and inclining to evil as they are and this Text will abundantly confirme us of the ready and delightfull propensity that is in every man none exempted to that which is evil They are the words of Eliphaz one of Job's friends who taketh an Argument from this proneness in mans nature to sinne to humble Job and to make him more patiently silent under Gods heavy hand upon him Job indeed acknowledgeth this very truth Chap 14. 4. and doth from thence debase himself under Gods dealings with him but Eliphaz repeateth this again either because the most holy that are though they sometimes affect their hearts with divine truths and do make a blessed improvement
is described by the immediate effect from this cursed cause being thus abominable and filthy what doth necessarily flow from hence even to drink iniquity like water This expression sheweth the vehement inclination in man to sinne and that with delight as a man who is greatly thirsty doth earnestly desire to drink that the heat within may be refrigerated Of this expression more in the Doctrine This is enough to shew how it is with man relatively to sinne even as with a feavourish or hydropical person that is continually calling for some drink to cool the heat within Thus this Text sheweth us what is one immediate and inseperable effect of mans nature through original corruption that it doth propend and incline with all greediness to evil and only evil continually Yet although this be so pregnant and clear a place Socinians have laboured to obscure it And 1. They say It is an Hyperbole This is their constant refuge whensoever the Scripture saith any thing to exalt Christ or debaâ—e man they make it an Hyperbole but how can that be accounted an Hyperbole which experience doth confirme And the Adversaries to original sinne grant that mankind is very prone to sinne and all are very ready to offend though they attribute this to other causes rather then original sinne This Answer of theirs hath been fully consuted when we treated on Psal 51. 2. They say Such an impurity is noted to be in man as is in the Angels and the Heavens but they have no original sinne The Answer is That there is more attributed to man how much more abominable is man So that the Argument is taken from the less to the greater 3. They say These words are not to be taken universally or understood of every man but the expression is universal it excludeth or exempteth no man man and born of a woman are universals not particulars 4. They say These are the words of Eliphaz one of Jobs friends and they did not alwayes speak right It is true they did not alwayes rightly apply the Doctrine they spake they mistook about Job but the Doctrine it self in the general was true and therefore we see that quoted in the new Testament as the word of God which Eliphaz spake as that passage 1 Cor. 3. 13. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness is Eliphaz his speech Job 5. 13. but for this particular truth you have heard Job also as well as Eliphaz confirming of it Job 14. 3. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Which is not to be understood of bodily filthiness as the Pelagians of old but spiritual uncleanness as appeareth by the opposite to it in other places which is unrighteousness for it is worth our observing that this natural pollution and sinfulness of man is mentioned four times in this Book of Job with the aggravation of it The first is Chap. 4. 18 19. Behold he put no trust in his servants c. how much less on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust c. This special truth Eliphaz saith he had in a Vision and by special revelation from God and therefore it was the more to be attended unto if Angels are not able to stand in the presence of God but cover even their very faces the noblest part as conscious of their imperfection comparatively to God then no wonder if sinful mortal man be affected with his distance from yea and contrariety to God In the next place We have this truth witnessed unto by Job and that on purpose to debase himself under God that if God do search into him he cannot find any thing but what is filthy and unclean Chap. 14. 4. of which we have largely treated The third time we meet with is here in my Text where Eliphaz repeateth it again making use thereof to Job that he should acknowledge impurity and uncleanness adhering unto every thing he doth though never so holy And The fourth or last time is Chap 25 45 6. Where Bildad agreeth both with Job and Eliphaz in this truth How can hâ— be clean that is born of a woman The starres are not pure in his sight how much less man that is a worme c. Thus you see in the mouth of three witnesses we have this Doctrine assured to us that man of himself is very abominable and filthy we might think such clear Texts might for ever convince men that they should not speak of such a thing as natural is quaedem sanctitas and probitas a natural kind of holiness and probity no though it were among deaf men the matter is so abominable and grossely repugnant to Scripture-light The last exception put in against this place by the pure Naturalists is That this Text speaketh of actual sinne and therefore it maketh nothing for original To drink down iniquity like water is say they nothing but the 〈◊〉 exercising of impiety But this is readily granted for we bring this Text to declare the immediate issue of original sinne because man is thus abominable by nature therefore he drinketh down iniquity like water he doth not speak here of men who by custom have habituated themselves in an evil way which is become like a second nature to them but of man originally and nakedly in himself till the grace of God make a change upon him So that as to drink though an action doth denote thirst a natural appetite within Thus the acting of iniquity with delight and content doth necessarily suppose a corrupted and perverted principle within from whence all actual evil doth flow Thus the Text being fully explained and vindicated from all exceptions we may observe That man being originally corrupted is therefore prone to all sinne with delight Because he is abominable and filthy therefore he swalloweth down iniquity like water As in every mans body there is a mortal and corruptible principle within which exposeth to diseases and at last death it self So in the soul there is a vehement inclination unto every thing that is evil it 's most sutable and connatural to him As the feavourish man with greedinesse and delight doth swallow down cold liquour thinking he never hath enough Thus it is with man by nature That there is in all mankind a propensity to sinne not onely the Adversaries to original sinne but even Heathens have acknowledged and bewailed and we have the Scripture Rom. 3. at large describing of it Now if it were not by original sinne How and whence should a sinfull inclination be in all men if there were an innocency and neutrality meerly in man to good or evil yea an inclination rather to good because as they say the seeds of vertue are naturally in all How cometh it about that the greater part of mankind is not good rather than evil Why should it not be that to sinne is difficult but to do good is easie But besides experience and many Texts of Scripture that may confound this
time of the cause of such evil customs and examples How came they at first Whence did they arise but from polluted originals This will not answer the Text in hand for that speaketh of the first age before the drowning of the world which yet is called the world of the ungodly 2 Pet. 2. 5. It was the world of ungodly in the first age and still in the later ages it is the world of ungodly Yea this is still applied to that remnant of mankind which escaped the deluge when there were but eight persons Gen. 8. It 's there said That the imagination of mans heart was 〈◊〉 his youth It is strange therefore that if good seed was naturally sown in 〈◊〉 that nothing but tares should come up every where in stead thereof But let us take notice of another place of Scripture confirming the universal overslowing of iniquity and that is David's complaint which he so sadly poureth forth calling upon God to help and to redress it Psal 12. 1. Help Lord for the godlyman ceaseth the faithfull fail from among the children of man They speak vanity every one with his neighbour It is true here are some supposed to be godly and faithfull but they are few comparatively to the ungodly as flowers to the weeds as jewels to the sand on the seashore and those that were so it was not from nature but the grace of God that sanctified and prepared them But if you do regard the general the Psalmist is so affectionately moved with the overflowing of evil that he seeth no help but in God himself and this is the more to be aggravated because the people of Israel were the Church of God they had the Prophets of God they had Gods wonderfull presence amongst them and yet for all that this garden so planted and dressed by God did become a wildernesse If then where there are many external and powerfull means to subdue and conquer that innate corruption yet it break out so violently What if man were left to himself How abominable and vile would he prove And was not this the perpetual complaint of all the Prophets successively that every one did turn aside to their evil wayes that they did preach in vain that there was no soundnesse amongst them a sinfull Nation a seed of evil-doers The more they were stricken the more they revolted The whole head was sick and the whole heart faint as Isaiah most affectionately bewalleth it Chap. 1. 4 5. What a strong demonstration then is this of the imbred corruption of mankind that under all the means of grace doth yet overflow in impicties I shall not mention any more Texts for this purpose The whole scope of the Scripture being to declare mans sinfulness and extoll Gods grace Secondly This universal propensity to sinne in all mankind is likewise attested unto even by the very Heathens It 's true they knew nothing of Adams tall nor of the propagation of this hereditary pollution yet the sinfulness it self they perceived and groaned under it Even Grotius himself who would elude the pregnant Texts of Scripture for original sinne by the Rhetoricians trope of Hyperbole yet doth bring in many passages out of the Heathens acknowledging such a depravation of mans nature out of Heriocles the Philosopher Jamblichus that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it 's implanted and ingraffed in us to sinne Comment in Luc. cap. 2. ver 22. as also De Jure botli as paci lib. 2. Yea out of Aristotle who held this indifferency in mans nature he brings that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is imbred in a man to gain-say reason Thus the very Heathens though they knew not the cause yet could not but confess that vitium ingenita infirmitatis the vitious imbred infirmity that is in every man Yea their Poets have acknowledged better Divinity then some later writers in the Church witness those sayings Quantuns mortalia peceatora coecae noctis habent and another Vitiis neme sine nascitur A third Terras Astraeae reliquit fergning our originals to be of stones Inde genus duri sumus Homines suâ naturâ sunt malis as Plato We might be large also in bringing the witnesses of others Nihil homine miserius superbius said Pliny simul atque ediâ—i sumus and Tully In omni continuò pravitate versamur c. And what is that saying Humanum est errare but according to Divinity Humanum est peccare Thus the light of nature though but like that of the Owl to the Sunne could perceive something in this kind Now this testimony is the more to be regarded because it is so imbred a desire in us to make our selves as lovely as may be and to hide every thing that is deformed Thirdly 〈◊〉 principle also in all Nations to have Magistrates and Laws to have prisonâ—â—â—gibbets whereby punishment may be inflicted upon offenders doth palpably demonstrate what a pronenesse there is in man to sinne For those provisoes do suppose that man doth restrain himself from evil only for fear of punishment If so be that there were such a natural purity in man Why should there be such jealousies such fears of man Homo homini lupus Why are there provided such severe punishments to awe wicked men but that mans nature is out of credit it is supposed to do all the evil it can if it have any impunity Certainly it is not for good that Mastives are tied up that Bears and Lions are kept up in grates This argueth how cruel they would be if let loose Thus also it is with mankind all the severe Laws and punishments which are in all estates established do demonstrate how wild and outragious man is if left alone to himself In his younger yeares he hath the rod when growne up prisons and gallows and in his old age death and hell to awe him against sinne Fourthly The necessary of Education and Chastisement to young children doth also declare that they are prone to vice It cannot be denied but supposing Adam had continued in integrity and procreated children they would have needed instruction and information but then withall it must be granted that this was a meer innocent nesciency in them and therefore as the body had been prepared so the soul without any difficulty would with all aptnesse and readinesse have received all the good seed sown into it whereas now in young ones there is a difficulty to understand holy things they are unteachable and untractable yea there is also a contrariety and an aversnesse to that which is good Now if they were in a meer purity of nature as the Adversaries suggest it they were in such an equal indifferency and capacity of virtue or vice Why should not they need education and Masters to teach them evil as well as good Yea why should they not be more ready to good then evil seeing they say there are igniculi virtutum sparks of virtue lying
at the beginning endeavoured to clear himself and to charge his sinne upon God The woman thou gavest me And happily some even in the primitive times by mis-understanding some places of Scripture wherein God is said to give men up to their lusts to harden and blind men in their sinnes might occasion such a detestable Position And although the Papists do ordinarily charge this damnable Doctrine upon the Calvinists yet there needeth no more to justifie Calvin in this particular then what he doth most excellently and solidly deliver upon this very Text. The truth is our learned men shew expressions from the Papists yea from Bellarmine himself more harsh and incommodious then I believe can be found in any Protestant Writer But this by the way The Apostle being to inform us of the true cause of all the sinne we do commit and that not God no nor Devils or wicked men are to be blamed comparatively but our own selves sheweth that all this evil cometh from that concupiscential frame of heart we have within us And as for God the Apostle expresly instanceth concerning him prohibiting any one to think or say it is from God that they do sinne Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God and he giveth two reasons whereof one is the cause of the other If you ask How is it that God is said to tempt no man seeing he tempted Abraham and the Israelites Austin's distinction is made use of that there is a temptation probationis and seductionis of probation or tryal or of deceiving and enticing to sin God indeed doth often tempt his people the former way not but that he knoweth what is in the heart of every man but that hereby a godly mans graces may be the more quickned as also a man have more experimental knowledge of himself As for the other temptation of seduction God doth not thus tempt that is he doth not encline or enrice to sinne It is true we read the Prophet Jeremiah saying O Lord I am deceived and thou hast deceived me Jer. 20. 7. But that is spoken unadvisedly and rashly by the Prophet who thought because what he had prophesied was not as yet fulfilled and therefore his adversaries derided and scorned him that therefore it would not at all be fulfilled and so by consequence that God had deceived him Secondly Divines distinguish temptation into external and internal External are afflictions and troubles called often so in Scripture and these temptations are from God 2. Internal which do immediately incline to sinne and with these God doth not tempt Now although the Apostle had in the former part spoken of external temptations yet now he speaks of internal ones though some think he continueth his discourse of externals because these many times draw out hearts to sinne but this ariseth not from God The reason why God cannot tempt to sinne is from the infinite perfection of holiness which is in God he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He cannot be tempted by evil It is true men are said to tempt God many times and so ex parte hominu there is done what man could do even to make God deviate from his own holy nature and Law but the Apostle meaneth ex parte Dei that God is of such absolute purity and transcendent holiness that there cannot arise any motion in his nature to make him sinne For so we expound the Greek word in a passive sense Estius himself granting that the use of it in an active signification can hardly be found though Popish Interpreters plead for the active sense but then there would be no distinction of this from the following words Neither tempteth he any man The original word is used only here in the New Testament The strength then of the Argument lieth in this God doth not tempt any man to sin because he hath no inward temptation or motion in his own nature to sin for that is the reason why the Devil is so impetuous and forward in tempting us to sin because his nature is first carried out to all evil so there is no man that doth draw on another to sin but because he in his own heart is drawn aside with it before The Apostle having thus justified God and removed all cause of evil from him In my Text he directeth us to the true internal and proper cause of all the sinne that we do commit and therein doth most excellently shew the several steps and degrees of sinne whereby of an Embryo as it were at first it cometh to be a compleated and perfected sinne This Text is much vexed by Bellarmine and Popish Authors to establish their distinction of a venial and mortal sinne though they cannot find any true aid from the Text. Let us consider the particulars of this noble Text The Cause of a mans sinne is said to be lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the same with original sinne the corruption of all the powers of the soul whereby it is inordinately carried out to all things Of which more in the Doctrine This is described from the note of propriety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His own lust This expression is used that we may not lay all upon the Devil or other men for this is ordinarily brought by men to excuse themselves It is true I was in such a fault I have sinned but the Devil moved me or such wicked companions they enticed me or I did it because men compelled me and terrified me all this will not serve thy turn It is thy own lust within not men without that hath made thee thus to sinne And this sheweth That every man hath his own proper original sinne by way of a lust within him 3. This is further amplified from the Vniversality of the Subject wherein this lust is seated Every man so that no man but Christ who was God and man is freed from this incentive to evil 4. There is the Manner How this lust doth tempt us to sinne and that is expressed in two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drawn away that is as some from God from heavenly objects because in all sinne there is an aversion from God and a conversion to the creature or else as others Drawn aside form the consideration of hell of the wrath of God of eternal death and damnation For we sinne continually as Eve did at first The Devil perswaded her she should not die and then when this fear was removed she presently falleth into the transgression and thus before men fall into the pit of any sinne they are drawn aside from those serious thoughts This will offend God this will damn me The other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Metaphor either from birds or fishes which have baits to allure them and thereby are destroyed Thus lust appeareth with a bait but the hook doth not appear In the next place This original sinne is illustrated in the issue of it the Apostle sheweth how sinne Ã
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
deliberate and to consider about the sinfulness and wickedness of them how much God is offended how loathsom and abominable they are in his eyes and yet we suffer them to lodge there the greater is our condemnation Lastly The Intention and end of such thoughts is to be considered for alwayes cogitatio mali is not mala cogitatio the thought of evil is not an evil thought When men think of sinne to repent of it to detest it to reform it sinne is in their mind then but because there are no delightfull motions to it therefore it is not evil So if a Minister preach against adultery or any other sinne he cannot but think of the nature of it and what it is yet because his intention in thinking of it is to make men abhorre and leave it therefore it is good and lawfull So that meer thoughts about sinne are not alwayes sinne but when accompanied with some affections and inclinations thereunto Onely it is good to inform you That such is our deceitfulness of heart that many times we think it lawfull to rejoyce and delight in some profit and emolument that may come by another mans sinne or some evil upon him when indeed we are glad of the sin or evil it self If a man by telling a lie should save thy estate or life How hard is it not to delight in the sinne because thou hast profit by it Thus unnatural children may rejoyce in the death of their parents whereby they come to inherit their estates and yet please themselves that they not rejoyce in their death but the profit that cometh thereby to them There are many practical instances in this case and therefore we must look our hearts do not deceive us therein For it is very difficult to have any advantage by another mans sinne or evil and not to have a secret and tacit will thereof And thus much for the Rules about delightfull motions to sin We proceed to a third particular whereby we may sinne against God by these motions of sinne within us and that is When we are carelesse and negligent about them they trouble us not they grieve us not How many are there that regard the thoughts and motions of their soul no more then the fowls that flie over their heads It argueth an unregenerate heart an heart not acquainted with the power of godliness that doth not mourn and grieve under them How greatly was the Apostle Paul Rom. 7. afflicted by them This made him long for Christ and Heaven where he should be annoyed with them no more This negligence about them is that which maketh thee also careless to repress and conquer them They may lodge whole dayes and nights in thy soul and thou never seekest to expel them out Thus thy heart is like the sluggards field full of bryars and thorns Oh that God would give you seeing eyes and tender hearts then you would find that even an hair hath its shadow even the least motion to sinne hath its sting and bitterness with it and above all sinfull motions look to those that arise in thee because good things are urged and commanded to thee For this is the desperate incurable evil our souls that good things stirre up sinfull lusts within us not indeed properly and directly but occasionally and by accident Thus the Apostle bewaileth the motions of lusts within him from this account Rom. 7. 8. Sinne taking occasion by the commandment wrought all manner of concupiscence within him Thus the good and spiritual Law made him more carnal and sinfull And what is more often then to have powerfull preaching godly and wholsome reproofs stirre up the evil motions of men against them Thus the more remedies are applied to us the more corrupt we grow We might be voluminous in this soul-searching point but we must conclude Let the Use be Seeing that a man is thus tempted from his own lust within him we cannot lay the cause on the Devil himself though he be a Tempter then it 's our duty to look to what is within Those embers within us will quickly set all on fire Say not this or that moved me blame not this or that estate but thy corrupt lust within This is as Luther said in Genes Chap. 13. to be like the fool that stood in the Sunne bowed down and then complained his shadow was crooked It is not thy riches nor thy poverty not thy health or sickness no condition or temptation whatsoever but the true proper cause is this maternal lust which lieth in our bosoms How little is this truth attendeth unto with the Pharisees we more regard to cleanse the outside than the inside Mat. 23. 25. The mistake herein brought those many rigid and ausiere disciplinary wayes in Popery as if from the externals we must cure the heart and not by curing the heart thereby cleanse the outwards The Franciscan will not so much as touch silver The Carthusians will not eat a bit of flesh though their lives depend upon it What folly is this Meat and money are the good creatures of God if we do abuse them they are not to be blamed but our corrupt lusts within If a whorish woman wear gold and precious stones to allure others they are in themselves good though she abuse them to an ill end And thus all the comforts and mercies we enjoy are Gods good gifts and it is not the actual abdication of the use of them but the mortifying of our lust within that will make us please God CHAP. III. Of the Combate between the Flesh and the Spirit as the Effect of Original Sinne so that the Godliest man cannot do any holy Duty perfectly in this life SECT I. The Text explained and vindicated from corrupt Interpretations GAL. 5. 17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would THe Apostle in the verses before admonished them about the use of their liberty that it should not be turned into licentiousness but that they make love the Rule thereof For though in respect of the right of my Christian liberty my conscience is to regard none but God yet the use and exercise of it must be regulated by love and prudence according as the edification of our brother doth require As a remedy therefore to refrain from all excess therein he giveth us an excellent precept with an emphatical Introduction thereunto This I say then that is This is the summe the main the all in all in these cases Then you have the Antidote it self Walk in the Spirit The only way to prevent all those importunate temptations of the flesh is to give up your selves to the Spirit to obtain the direction and illumination thereof as also the inclination and powerfull operation of it whereby we may be established in that which is good To know what is good and then to be inabled to do it
and death So that they conclude it injurious and contumelious to Paul reproachfull to the grace of the Gospel and a palpable incouragement to sinne and wickedness to interpret the 7th of the Rom. of a regenerate person But because this is a truth of so special concernement we shall take these things in a more particular consideration for it would be found an heavy sinne lying upon most orthodox Teachers in the Reformed Church if they have constantly preached such a Doctrine as is injurious to Gods grace and an incentive to sinne as also slothfulness and negligence in holy duties for the present this Text will bear us out sufficiently that where ever the Spirit of God is in persons while in the way to heaven they have a contrary principle of the flesh within them whereby they are more humbled in themselves and do the more earnestly make their applications to the throne of grace and that all have such a conflict within them may appear by these following Reasons yea we may with Luther say so farre is it that any do attain to such a measure of grace as to be without this combate that the more holy and spiritual any are the more sensible they are of it for they have more illumination and so discover the exactness and spiritual latitude of the law more then formerly they did and also their hearts are more tender whereby they grow more sensible even of the least weight of any sinful motion though never so transient It is true the godly do grow in grace they get more mastery and power over the lustings of sinne within yet withall they grow in light and discovery about holiness they see it a more exact and perfect thing then they thought of they find the Law of God to be more comprehensive then they were aware of and therefore they are ready to cry out as Ignatius when ready to suffer Nunc incipio esse Christians Oh me never godly but beginning to be godly I believe but how great is my unbelief This Paul declareth Phil. 3. 12. Not as if I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after c. Thus Paul is farre from owning such commendations which happily others may put upon him It is true indeed Amyraldus denyeth that any are absolutely perfect but yet he goeth beyond the bounds of truth in attributing too much to Paul or other Apostles which will appear First Because the most holy that are have used all meanes to mortifie and keep down the cause of these sinful motions If they did not continually throw water as it were upon those sparks within the most holy man would quickly be in a flame Even this Apostle Paul doth not he confess this of himself 1 Cor. 9. 27. I keep down my body and bring it into subjection c. He doth not mean the body as it is a meer natural substance for the glorified Saints will not keep down their bodyes but as it is corrupted and made a ready instrument to sin for though the Apostle call it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet these are not opposite but suppose one another as Rom. 6. 12. Let not sinne reign in your mortal body and it is a very frigid and forced Exposition of Amyraldus as if the Apostle did understand it of the exposing his body to hunger and thirst and all dangerous persecutioâ—s for the Gospels sake For this was not Paul's voluntary keeping down of his body those persecutions and hardships to his body were against his will though he submitted to them when by Gods providence he was called thereunto but he speaketh here of that which he did readily and voluntarily lest from within should arise such motions to sinne as might destroy him yea it is plain that even in Paul there was a danger of the breakings forth of such lusts because 2 Cor. 12. God did in a special manner suffer him to be buffetted and exercised by Satan that he might not be lifted up through pride neither is this any excuse to say with Amyraldus That such sinnes are apt to breed in the most excellent dispositions for it is acknowledged by all that such sinnes have more guilt in them then bodily sinnes though not such infamy and disgrace amongst men Luther calleth them the sublimia peccat the sublime and high sins such the Devil was guilty of and they were the cause of his final overthrow and damnation If then the most godly have used all means to mortifie sinne within them it is plain they found a combate and that if sinne were let alone it would quickly get the upper hand Secondly That there is a conflict of sinne appeareth in those duties enjoyned to all the godly that they watch and pray that they put on the whole armour of Christ Yea the Disciples are commanded to take heed of drunkenness and surfetting and the cares of this world Luke 21. 34. and generally Paul's Epistles are full of admonitions and exhortations to give all diligence in the wayes of holinesse especially that command is very observable 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirits perfecting holinesse in the fear of God Here you see both flesh and spirit that is the rational and sensitive part have filthiness and that those who are truly godly are to be continually cleansing away this filthiness and to perfect what is out of order What godly man is there that can say This command doth not belong to me I am above it I need it not No lesse considerable is that command of Peter 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the soul Not as if this were wholly parallel with my Text as Carthusian is said to bring it in thereby proving that by flesh is meant the body and by spirit the soul but onely it sheweth that no godly man in this life is freed from a militant condition and that with his own flesh his own self which maketh the combate to be the more dangerous For this cause David though a man after Gods own heart though Gods servant in a special consideration yet prayeth Psal 19. 13. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins which expression denoteth that even a godly man hath lust within him that would carry him out like an untamed horse to presumptuous sins did not the Lord keep him back But we need not bring more reasons to confirm that which experience doth so sadly testifie SECT III. A Consideration of that part of the seventh Chapter to the Romans which treats of the Conflict within a man Shewing against Amyraldus and others that it must be a regenerate person onely of whom those things are spoken ¶ 1. THe next Proposition that may give light to the weighty truth about the spiritual conflict that is in the most regenerate persons is this That besides the
reasons formerly produced and many others which might be named there are two famous places of Scripture which do most signally and eminently declare such a combate in the most holy men The first is this of my Text which hath sufficiently been explained and vindicated from corrupt Interpretations And truly the light of this Text shineth so clearly that there are very few who are not convinced that this speaketh of the fight which regenerate persons find in themselves between those two contrary principles of the Spirit and flesh which are within them The second place which doth so firmly establish such a conflict in those who by grace are made new creatures is Rom. 7. from v. 14. to the end of the Chapter where we have a most palpable delineation of this duel that is fought in the inwards of a godly man but that place is not so freely consented unto as this Text I am upon Now because the clearing of that is of special use and because it is of such affinity with my Text I shall inlarge my self for I will not call it a digression in the full explication of that part of the Chapter shewing How that it must be a regenerate person and him only of whom those things are there spoken And you will find that the distinct opening of that portion of Scripture will afford us many necessary things both for Instruction Consolation and Admonition and all immediately adhering to this point I am now upon This I intend to dispatch in several particulars which will be as so many branches growing from the flock of that Proposition I have already named And First You are to know that the Discourse which Paul there useth concerning the combate within himself is by some interpreted as if Paul though he name himself Yet doth not mean himself while regenerated but while unregenerated So that say they Paul doth therein take upon himself the person of one that is not yet in the state of grace This they conceive must necessarily be so because such a person is said to be carnal and sold under sinne The flesh is alwayes said to have the better whereas regenerate persons they have crucified the flesh and the Spirit And the Law of the Spirit of life hath freed them from the Law of sinne and death Rom. 8. 2. Onely when they expound it of an unregenerate person they distinguish of such 1. One who is grosly ignorant and prophane wallowing in his sinnes in a most senslesse and stupid manner whose conscience are wholly dead within them and such are carried out to sinne with all impetuousness having no check or remorse of conscience within them of such the Apostle doth not speak But 2. There are others who are in a Legal state under the powerfull convictions and operations of the Law as Amyraldus expresseth it Men who besides the meer knowledge of the Law have by the efficacy of Gods Spirit the convincing power of it so set home that now their inlightned minds do greatly incline them to that which is good but because their hearts are not sanctified their affections are not mortified therefore these lusts do hurry them away against those legal convictions that are upon them or as Arminius expresseth it in cap. 7. ad Rom. not in a much different way the Apostle speaketh of one who is in some preparatory way to conversion By the Law he is so farre wrought upon that he is afraid because of his sinnes he cryeth out of them mourneth because of them hath many wishes and desires Oh that I could leave these lusts I do not like or consent to such evil things that I do Thus this person is supposed to have a servile fear which is initial to the work of conversion And this frame of spirit although it be not regeneration yet is to be reckoned among the good and spiritual gifts of God This say they is the direct case of that person who is here described by Paul and it cannot be denied but that many of the Ancients and some later Writers have expounded it of a man under such legal convictions And although the Pelagians boasted That all Ecclesiastical Writers did interpret it of such a person yet Austin opposeth them therein instancing in some who did understand it of a person regenerated It is true Austin himself while younger did expound it of an unregenerate person I understood it saith he in that manner or rather I did not understand it But when he came to be elder and more exercised in the Scripture other Writers then he was compelled to yeeld to the truth and to interpret it of a person regenerate so that they caluminate Austin who make him flie to this Interpretation out of the heat of his Disputations with Pelagians taking this sense though formerly he had done the other as being more subservient to his present interest for he attributeth his change of mind to the truth of God in other Scriptures as also to the light he had from the tractates of other learned men Especially those places compelled and forced him as he saith viz Now I no longer do it but sinne within me and I delight in the Law of God in the inward man He that delighteth doth it not for fear of punishment but love of righteousness Vide August lib. 1. Retract c 23. c. 26. l. 3. contra Julianum c. 26. lib. 6. contra Julianum cap. 11. We grant indeed that there is such a legal state in which some men are that there are some who are miserably divided between their enlightned consciences and their corrupt lusts so that they do the they would not do Yea the godly themselves though they have a superiour and more subline combate yet because they have an unregenerate part within them therefore they sometimes have even this conflict between their consciences and some importuning corruptions but this is not remarkable in them comparatively to the other In the second place There are others who do zealously contend that that discourse cannot be applied to any but a regenerate person and to understand it otherwise would be to plunge the godly in a deep gulph of discouragements and to attribute such things to unregenerate persons which those that are truly sanctified cannot go beyond And this way Austin and others of old do willingly go Yea most of the Popish Interpreters Estius Contzen Pererius Sasbâ—lt c. Tolet is taken notice of as the most eminent dissenter The Lutherans also generally and the Calvinists yea most Protestant Writers Even Musculus whom the adversaries of this Interpretation do so much alledge in this point and labour to decline all suspicion by his name yet doth clearly and fully expound it of a man truly regenerated and converted but in the lowest degree and initials of grace although in the lowest form yet sanctified and regenerated he confesseth him to be Arminius and Amyraldus have indeed in a peculiar manner set themselves against this
unto was That Adam was made mortal and would have died if he had not sinned death being a necessary consequence as they say from a mans corporal constitution The Papists especially the Schoolmen of old and the Jesuites of late to whom Jansenius doth vehemently oppose in this point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek expression is say That Adam was indeed by nature mortal but by grace and superadded favour he was immortal So that both Papists and Protestants agree in this That Adam was made immortal in his Creation Only the difference is Whether as original righteousness so immortality may be said to be natural or supernatural to Adam We say it 's natural they say it 's supernatural and yet Bellarmine De gratiâ primi Hom. lib. cap. 5. in his explication of himself in this point cometh very near us or at least speaketh contradictions to himself For he saith if natural be taken for that which was put into man from his nativity if natural be taken for that which was to be propagated to Adam's posterity if natural be taken for that which is convenient to perfect and prepare a man for his end then they say original righteousness and so by consequence immortality would have been natural to Adam's posterity but if we take natural for that which doth internally constitute nature or necessarily flow from the principles of nature then they say immortality was supernatural even as original righteousnesse But the Protestants when they call original righteousnesse natural they doe not meane effectivè as if it were not the gift of God bestowed upon us as if it did flow from the principles of nature but subjectivè that is original righteousnesse and immortality were not supernatural to Adam as they are now to us being we are corrupted but connatural or a due perfection to man supposing God created him for such an end as to enjoy himself So that it is due not so much to the nature of man as to Gods Order and Decree concerning man Thus as in birds supposing God would have them to flie it was necessary they should have wings though they come from a natural principle so in man supposing God made him for communion with and enjoyment of himself it was necessary that he should be indewed with holiness Though flowing not from nature but concreated by God with man Thus that which is the gift of God and cometh only from him may be in respect of the subject a due perfection It was thus with Adam in respect of his soul that was created immediately by God it did not flow from any natural causes yet supposing God would make him a rational creature then this became a due perfection to him Adam then was immortal by nature in a well-explained sense as he had a reasonable soul by nature But however it be Protestants and many Papists agree in the thing that he was made immortal only they differ in the manner How Now the Socinian differeth from all for he dogmatizeth That Adam was made mortal that death was natural and denieth any original righteousnesse or immortality that was bestowed upon Adam any way It is true sometimes he saith That though Adam was made mortal yet God might have preserved him from actual death by some way or other only that he was made immortal that he denieth So that what the Papists dream about their imaginary pure naturals saying God might have created man so Socinians affirm defacto it was so The late Writer Dr. T. is also positive for Adam's mortality by nature That Adam was made mortal by nature saith he is infinitely certain and proved by his eating and drinking c. Further Explicat pag. 453. instancing in those Arguments the Socinians use to bring All which Assertions do directly and evidently oppose the word of God ¶ 2. How many wayes a thing may be said to be Immortal and in which of them man is so SEcondly When we say God made Adam immortal and that upon his transgression both himself and his posterity are subjected to a necessity of death We must rightly understand in what sense he is said to be so For 1. A thing may be said to be immortal absolutely and essentially having no principles of death within nor cannot be destroyed by any cause without Thus 1 Tim. 6. 16. God is said only to have immortality This is that comfortable attribute which the people of God make use of under all changes and vicissitudes God is alwayes the same Though father die though mother die yet God doth not as one in the Ecclesiastical Story said when word was brought him that his father was dead Desine saith he blasphemias loqui pater enim meus immortalis est Cease to speak blasphemy for my father is immortal 2. That may be said to be immortal which is so by some singular dispensation of God either in respect of mercy or of justice and thus it is with the glorified bodies of the Saints and the damned bodies of wicked men for the Saints their vile bodies shall be made like Christs glorious body they are raised to incorruptibility and glory and as for the bodies of damned persons though they be raised to reproach and dishonour yet by Gods justice they are preserved immortal so that the fire cannot consume them to ashes neither shall length of time ever destroy them For if God could make the Israelites cloaths and shoes to last so many years without being consumed no wonder if he do a greater matter upon the bodies of men 3. That may be said to be immortal which by the will of the Creator is so constituted that being separated from all matter it hath no principles of dissolution from within And thus the Angels are immortal they have no principle of corruption within yet they are annihilable by the power of God should God withdraw his preservation of them they would cease to be but from within they have no cause of dissolution The Devils also in this sense are immortal and that is the reason though many wicked and bloudy persecutors of Gods Church have died yet the Devil being immortal hath stirred up new ones which made a good man say to one who did greatly rejoyce at the death of a cruel persecutor At diabolus non moritur but the Devil doth not die Lastly A thing may be said to be immortal Conditionally supposing such and such conditions he performed and in this sense only we say God made Adam immortal for 〈◊〉 had a power to sinne and so a power to die he had a power to stand and to a power to be freed from death So that we do not say Adam had such an immortality as the glorified bodies have that cannot die but conditionally onely As he had in him power to sinne so he had a power to deprive himself of all happinesse and immortality which fell out also to our utter undoing Autin's expression of Posse non mori and Non
demonstrate how it stands between Adam and as The first is Psal 106. 32 33. They angred him also at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes Because they provoked his Spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips Here was saith he plainly a traouction of evil from the Nation to Moses their relative for their sakes he was punished but yet forasmuch as Moses himself had sinned But surely we may here say Behold a new thing under the Sunne This was scarce ever heard of before in the Church of God so that it 〈◊〉 too much honour to it to confute it yet something must be said lest words prevail and similitudes when reasons cannot Not to meddle with any large explication of that passage in the Psalm If we consult with Bellarmize and Genebrard this place will no wayes serve his turn For Bellarmine inlocum would have the 33. verse not to contain any sinne of Moses as it he spake unadvisedly with his lips but referreth that to Gods Decree or Purpose pronounced by his mouth which was to destroy the Nations as it followeth in the next verse which they did not do affirming the Hebrew word cannot be applied to an unadvised speaking or as it is rendred by some ambiguous and doubtfull Neither is it in the Text that God punished Moses for their sakes but as our Translators It went ill with Moses for their sakes And this translation Genebrard taketh notice of as following the Hebrew adding that some expound it not of any punishment God inflicted upon Moses but of that vexation trouble and grief which he had because of their murmurings and rebellings against him And it this be so then here is not so much room for his opinion as to set the sole of its feet But let it be granted That Moses was occasionally punished by the Israelites rebellion for his own sinne For who can deny but that God doth sometimes take an occasion from some mens sinnes to punish others for their own sinnes as the Hebrews have a saying especially when related to one another That in every punishment they undergo there is an ounce of that Calf which Aaron made as if God did from that take an occasion to punish the Israelites for their other transgressions yet this is no parallel to our case in hand for here the Israelites were an occasion to make Moses sinne for which God was so angry with him that he was not suffered to enter into the Land of Canan But we are now speaking of men who are punished by death that yet never were occasioned to sinne by Adam in the Adversaries sense For the people of Israel were present with Moses and by their froward carriages did provoke him to that sinfull passion but Adam hath been dead some thousands of years since Who can say It is Adam that stirreth me up it is Adam that will not let me alone but compelleth me to sinne Yea how can Heathens and Pagans be said to sinne occasionally by Adam when they happily never heard that there was such a man in the world Besides Infants they are subject to death What actual sinne doth Adam produce the occasion of to them If then Adam were now alive and Infants could be tempted to actual sinnes as Meses was by the Israelites then there had been more probability of his instance But it may be his second example will be more commensurated to our purpose and that is from 1 King 14 16. where it 's said God would give Israel up because of the sinnes of Jeroboam who did sinne and made Israel to sinne Thus saith he alluding to the words of the Apostle By one man Jeroboam sinne went out into all Israel and the curse captivity or death by sinne and so death went upon all men of Israel inasmuch as all men of Israel have sinned But this is wholly to give up the cause to Pelagians whose glosse yet of imitation he utterly rejecteth though much more that which affirmeth we are made properly and formally sinners by him Answer to a Letter pag. 54. For how did Jereboam make all Israel sinne was not by his example and in the fame sinne of Idolatry as he did Now do we follow Adam in eating of the for bidden fruit and so offend God in the same sinne as he did So that this was wholly by imitation and therefore one generation did transmit this sinne to anotherly example till at last there was no more mention of it But did Adam thus offend and then Cain and others follow him in the like sinne He cannot then wash his hands from the Pelagian Doctrine of original sinne from Adam only by imitation if he adhere to this inftance Again Jeroboam is said to make Israel sinne for some time only while his memory and example had some influence and it was the sinne of the Israelites only for many separated themselves from him and went into the kingdom of Judah that so they might not be polluted with that worship as appeareth 1 Chron. 11. 14. 16. whereas Adam's sinne bringeth death upon all mankind and this will endure to the end of the world for the Apostle saith in the Text In Adam all die Besides This Author gresly contradicts himself for at one time he saith God was sâ— angry for Adam's sinne that he indeed punished men with death yet but till Moses his time and then death came upon a new accout At other times he makes it a punishment of all men because of Adam's sinne And indeed the Text we are upon doth evidently enforce this Furthermore Death is said to reign over all markind to passe on all and are not Infants part of the world It is true he saith Children and Ideots that cannot commit actual sinnes death is no punishment to them they die in their nature but if there had been no sinne how could there have been ideots and children that die in their Infancy Certainly that must be an immature death Now although it be said That death is a conlequent of nature yet immature death must needs be a punishment of sinne for so this Auther answereth that Text Death is the wages of sinne The Apostle saith he primarily and â—terally means the solemnâ—â—es and causes and infelicines and 〈◊〉 of temporal death and not meerly the dissolution which is direct no evil but an in let to a better state Answ to a Letter pag. 87 〈…〉 this discourse of the occasionality of death by Adam 's sinne is 〈…〉 meer non-us and fancy of his own will appear by the opposite to Adam 〈◊〉 comparision with Christ What was Christ onely the occasion of our righteousness and life Did God from Christs obedience take the occasion only 〈…〉 us for our own obedience who seeth not the absurdity of this Though therefore he doth superâ—â—â—usly overlook Calvin Knox and the Scoich Presbyterics in this point yet I suppose he will bearken with more reverence to what the late Annotatour saith
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
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
soul the rational the irascible and the concupiscible which he calleth indignativum concupiscentivum In the irascible he speaketh of a good indignation and an evil one applying this Text to the later Cerda his Commentator illustrating this saith Tertullian's meaning is That we are by nature children to our passions we are not at our own disposing we are under their power adding That Paul mentioneth wrath rather than any other affection because of that anger and fury by which he once persecuted the Church of God Thus he mentioning also another Exposition That by anger is to be understood the Devil who may so be called because of the cruelty he exerciseth upon men but this is so improbable that it needeth no refutation The wrath then is Gods wrath which like himself is infinite and the effects thereof intollerable So that it is as much as to be Children of hell children of everlasting damnation even whatsoever the wrath of God may bring upon a man in this world and the world to come SECT II. What is meant by Nature THe second Question is What is meant by Nature As for those who would have it to signifie no more then prorstus and vere altogether or indeed we have heretofore confuted yet granting that this is part of the lease but not the principal For we are to take nature here for our birth-descent as appeareth partly because the Apostle useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth more properly relate to our nativity whereas before he calleth the children of disobedience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partly because the Apostles order is observable for in the original it is We were children by nature of anger that is natural children opposed to adopted ones and partly because the Iews pretended holiness by their nativity because they were the seed of Abraham which pride the Apostle would here abate making them equal herein to the Heathen Idolaters Neither by nature are we to understand custome only as if the Apostle meant by it the constant custome of our actual iniquities which useth to be called a second nature we are made children of wrath for the Apostle doth no where use the word so no not in that place 1 Cor. 11. 14. Doth not nature 〈◊〉 you c. For nature is taken both for the first principles and also the immediate conclusions deduced from them which later the Apostle doth call nature Therefore it is matter of wonder that the late Annotator in his paraphrase on Ephes 2. should take in the orthodox sense viz. And were born and lived and continued in a damning condition as all other Heathens did observe that born in a damning condition should yet referre to his notes on 1 Cor. 11. where he seemeth to contradict any such birth-damnation from this of the 2d to the Ephesians For he would understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the national custome of Idolatry amongst the Heathens and if so then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to relate to our nativity or birth as some translate it which he also noteth in the margin But though custome may be called nature yet there is commonly some limiting expression as when he quoteth out of Galen that customs are acquired natures or out of Aristotle custome is like nature Here are restrictive expressions whereas Paul speaketh absolutely And as for that instance which the learned Annotator hath out of Suidas which the late Writer maketh use of for the corrupting of this Text Vnum Necessar cap. 6. Sect. 2. it doth very fairly make against them For Suidas upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inlarging himself and particularly making it to signifie the principle of motion and rest of a thing essentially and not by accident alluding happily to Aristotles definition doth after this adde But when the Apostle saith we we were by nature the children of wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth not speak of nature in this sense because this would be the fault of him that created us All which is very true and doth directly oppose Manicheism We do not say there is any evil nature or that the primordials of our nature were thus corrupted They that hold pure naturals cannot answer this reason of Suidas it doth militate against them But we affirm this corruption of our nature came in by Adam's voluntary transgression So that in this sense we call it naturale malum as Austin and quodammod◠naturale as Tertullian So Suidas his meaning seemeth to be That the wrath of God is not naturally due to us as the creatures have their natural principles of motion and rest within them but that Suidas doth not by nature wholly mean an evil custome appeareth in that he saith two things are implied in this expression The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an in dwelling abiding evil affection by which we may very genuinely understand that innate corruption in us that sinne which dwelleth in us And The second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A continual and wicked custome These are not to be confounded as the same thing but one is the cause of the other Original sinne is that evil in-dwelling affection from whence proceedeth evil customs in sin But it is not worth the while to examine what the opinion of Suidas was in this particular Varinus doth better discourse upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making it to be the individual property of a thing as the fire to burn and saith it differeth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this is the essence of a thing and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power or efficacy of a thing and thus from him we may say original sinne is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though still we must remember that it is not a primordial but a contracted property It 's made so upon Adam's transgression SECT III. That by nature through the original sinne we are born in all are heirs of Gods wrath all are obnoxious to eternal damnation NOw my purpose is to insist chiefly upon the Predicate in ths Propositon We are children of Wrath and that by nature even of Gods wrath So that thus Text doth contain the heavy doom of all mankind For it 's observed to be the form of speech which the Jewish Judges used when they passed sentence upon any capital offenders to pronounce That such were the sons of death From hence we may observe That by nature through the original sinne we are born in all are heirs of Gods wrath all are obnoxious to eternal damnation This is the most bitter herb in all this discourse of original sinne Here all the adversaries to it seem to be most impatient when you utter such words as these by nature deserving damnation as soon as ever we are born before any actual sinne committed it is just with God to throw us into hell that every Infant is obnoxious to
such who are lest Neither is that any better than Adam's fig-leaves to cover his nakedness which the Pelagians of old and others of late would runne unto That Infants indeed need Christ to carry them to Heaven though they have no sinne in them for this they suppose without the grace of Christ though that they distinguished into nature at last was not of it self able to bring to Heaven though it had no sinne in it yet it had imperfection say they But this is to make Christ a Christ to whom he was not a Saviour for he is a Saviour Because he did save his people from their sinnes Mat. 1. 21. If then he bringeth Infants to eternal glory he must do it as a Christ not as a Saviour which distinction can no wayes be founded upon Scripture 5. From this wrath of God there ariseth an obligation to eternal damnation For you may say If God be angry with man thus by nature doth it follow therefore that man must be obliged to eternal death Will not temporal death and the miseries of this life be enough No from Gods wrath thus against us there is a debt and obligation lying upon us to everlasting misery And the reason is Because this corruption we are born in is truly and properly a sin and to every sin there is adhering the merit of utter destruction So that the Schoolmen and some Papists who dispute Whether original sinne deserve everlasting damnation in hell and concluding upon the negative that it hath some lesse punishment is frivolous and absurd For if it have truly and properly the nature of sinne in it then it cannot be denied according to Scripture-grounds but hell is the proper reward of it Lastly This wrath may be considered either immanently as it is in God viz. his will abhorring all sinners or transiently in the effects thereof For that it is of great use in Divinity to distinguish between the Attributes and Effects of them for the Attributes as they are in God cannot receive any intension or remission but the effects may and do Now the godly they were the children of wrath by nature as the Apostle speaketh here but they are not so now For though original sinne doth still abide in some measure yet it is not imputed unto a godly man so that they are not for the present under Gods wrath though once they were not that any change is made in God but in man who is the object The effects of this wrath are partly in the temporal miseries of this life and partly in those eternal torments which shall be in the world to come The child cometh weeping into the world as prognosticating it's misery thus it is miserable before it hath any actual sinne So that whereas the Infant cannot without teaching learn to speak or go of it 's own self it inclineth to weep Cerda upon Tertullian De animâ lib. 3. cap. 19. speaketh of some that thought Infants by these complaints did accuse our first parents and that the male children cry A as if they intended Adam and the females E as if they meant Eve though he saith others attribute it to their different strengths of nature But this is a foolish and ridiculous fancy It is certain that these weepings and complaints do argue the misery of our natures though but new born and so by consequence the sinfulness of them The other effect is eternal damnation in hell which God might inflict upon every child new born so that he might go weeping hence into that place of weeping in hell of which we have many more things as yet to speak SECT V. Some Propositions in order to the proving That the wrath of God is due to all mankind because of Original Sinne. NOw because this curse seemeth cruell and unjust to humane reason till by actual sinnes men have procured wrath upon their own heads It is good to establish it upon Scripture-grounds which is so sure a rock that though the stormes and tempests of mens rage do arise against it yet it will abide immoveable But before we do that we are to premise something by way of Observation tending thereunto As First In deciding of the doctrinal truths of Religion we are not to attend to our own humane affections but meerly to the voice of God in the Scriptures Gods dispensations are not to be regulated according to our pitifull affections most of the Arminian Tenents are suited to humane compassions rather then commensurated to Scripture-regulations But if men will give way to that why shall not Origen's position of the salvation of all the damned yea Devils and all at last be received as most commending of Gods mercy and most suitable to our pittifull affections And why should not all embrace the pleasing and pitiful Doctrine of one Georgius Siculus mentioned by Crakanthorpt Defens Eccles Anglic. contra Spalat cap. 37. by whose Books he saith many were bewitched His opinion was that neither this or that particular man was predestinated to salvation but that God had appointed a time when he would save the whole world and quicquid de pradestinatione tradimus philosophicâ tantum argutiâ niti and what was delivered by learned orthodox men as we must suppose was grounded onely upon philosophical niceties Is not this absolute salvation of all men very agreeable to humane desires and affections yea and why doth not God vouchsafe not only the immediate offers of grace to all men and effectually bless the same to all so that all men shall be converted and saved for he can as easily save all men as one if he please Nay if we do consult with our own pitifull estates how offensive would several passages of Gods providence in many outward temporal judgements be unto us As in the drowning of the world where many children had not corrupted their wayes as men of the world had yet they were all miserably destoyed thus also in the terrible destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah all the little children therin who could not be guilty of such hainous transgressions as the Sodomistes were yet did partake of that dreadful judgment wheras at another time God in his conviction of Jonah why he would not destroy that great City of Nineveh useth this Argument Jonah 4. 11. to spare that place because there were more then sixscore thousand persons that could not discern between their right hand and lest If then a man should give liberty to his humane affections to expostulate why these tender babes that knew nothing of their fathers sinnes should be involved in such sad calamities with their ungodly parents how hardly would he keep within the bounds of sobriety and modesty Thus it is about this Doctrine of original sinne whereby we are all in our very birth exposed to eternal damnation Some call it a rigid and cruel Doctrine and all because they judge of God according to their own affections But as Bellarmine well observeth in the dispute about the state
of Infants dying in their original sinne without Baptisme Lib. 6. de Amissione grat naming five several opinions some whereof are more rigid others more favourable That our opinions cannot at all alter or change the state of Infants so deceased The rigid opinion doth not hurt them neither doth a favourable opinion do them any good but the Word of God that will stand our favourable and pitifull opinions will not make the natural estate of any man the better yea when such Doctrines are found to be contrary to the Word of God they may do a great deal of hurt plunging of them into dangerous consequences that may flow therefrom Therefore to such Disputants we may well reply that which Acosta the Jesuite Lib. 5. de procur Indorum salute cap. 3. saith to some of his own Religion that held even Heathens might be saved without the knowledge of Christ and that the contrary Doctrine was inhumane and severe Non hic agitur saith he durumne hoc severum sit an benignum liberale sed utrum verum necne Secondly As we are not to attend to humane affections in this point so neither to humane and natural reasonings Why God should impute Adam's sinne to us and we all be accounted as sinners in him and from him the cursed root we the cursed branches do spring ariseth from the just proccedings of God though happily the causes the thereof be unknowen to us When therefore the Scripture of God doth plainly affirm such a sinful and cursed estate let not philosophical Arguments obstruct our faith lest if we do so in other mysteries of Religion as well as in this at last we fall into plain Atheisme Let us be content with our own measure of understanding not invading the secrets of God lest we herein betray notoriously our original sinne while we labour to deny it For Luther speaking against these Curislae and Quaeristae as he calleth them In Gen. whereby men will demand a reason of Gods proceedings and affect to be like God in knowledge as Adam did hath this expression Fieri Deorum est originale peccatum original sinne is the affection of a Deity Thirdly We are alwayes in this controversy to distinguish between the merit of condemnation and the actual condemnation it self It is unquestionably true that all by nature do deserve this eternal damnation but then concerning the actual damnation thereby there are different opinions Some have delivered positively that none is ever damned for original sinne only as some Papists and the Remonstrants yea there are many say that this actual condemnation by original sinne is universally taken off all mankind by Christ so that as by the first Adam all were put into a state of Gods anger so by the second Adam all are put into a state of actual reconciliation by Christ till by their actual sins they do refuse Christ and so procure to themselves damnatation not upon any account of Adam's sinne but their own voluntary transgresson Concerning Infants also dying in their infancy great Disputes there are Some concluding all that die so though of Unbelievers and Pagans that they are saved original sinne not damning any others they conclude otherwise but then they are divided into several opinions amongst themselves of which in time more is to be said For we are not as yet come to that point concerning the actual condemnation of any by original sinne meerly but the merit and defect of it what every man doth deserve by it as soon as he is born though every sinne deserveth 〈◊〉 yet this obligation to eternal punishment may be taken off yea and that while the sinne abideth as original sinne doth in some measure in a godly man There are indeed some who make the reatus poenae the guilt of punishment to be the forme of a sinne and if this were true then they could not be 〈◊〉 Others make it a proprium to sinne but this cannot be understood of actual guilt but potential guilt Every sinne and so original doth deserve that those who are infected therewith should perish in hell torments eternally but yet the actual obligation hereunto may be removed by the grace of God the sinne still remaining in some degree as the fire had a power to burn the three Worthies though the actual working thereof was hindered SECT VI. Arguments to prove that by Nature we are all as so many damned men That Damnation belongs to the Sinne we are borne in THis being premised let us now consider those Arguments which may firmly establish us in this truth That by nature we are all as so many damned men that of our selves we can expect no other and that though we were free from actual transgression It is the grace of God only that delivereth us All mankind is like that wretched Infant Ezek. 16. spoken of by the Prophet wallowing in bloud filthy and loathsome necessarily perishing unlesse the grace of God speak unto us to live we all lie like Ezekiel's any bones of whom we may say Can these live Can these be saved Not one unlesse God give life And First All deserve eternal damnation by original contagion Because it is a state of sinne and spiritual uncleannesse we are born in And therefore if once it be granted to be a sinne the wages thereof must be hell and damnation Insomuch that some Popish Writers are very absurd who disputing against Pelagians That our birth-sinne is properly and univocally sinne yet afterwards question Whether children dying therein do go to hell or no Some assign them a Paradise wherein they have a natural happiness as Catharinus Opusc de statu pucrorum c. Others as Bellarmine that they have poena damni but not sensus as if there were half an hell or that one might be shut out from the beatifical fruition of God and yet not be tormented with sensible pain This is certain if it be truly and directly a sinne as the Scripture so often calleth it then without the grace of God there is no possibility of escaping hell thereby why then should damnation because of it be thought so horrid when it is acknowledged to be a sinne Job you heard saith Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Job 14. 4. here we are all unclean Now what doth the Scripture pronounce of such Revel 21. 29. There shall not in any wise enter into the heavenly Jerusalem any thing that is unclean or that defileth No unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of heaven and if they do not enter in there they must enter into the kingdom of hell There is no middle place Qui inducis medium recede de medio as Austin The Scripture also calleth it sinne Psal 51. 5. Behold in sinne did my mother conceive me and what is the wages of sinne but death Rom 6. 23. not only bodily death but that eternal death which is opposite to everlasting life and the Apostle saith The sting of death is sinne 1
Cor. 15. 56. which Austin expounds in this sense as that by sinne death is caused as that is called Poculum mortis a cup of death which causeth death or as some say The Tree of life is called so because it was the cause of life If then original sinne be a sinne it must have a sting and this sting is everlasting death So that if we attend to what the Scripture speaketh concerning us even in the womb and the cradle that we are in a state of sinne we must conclude because it is a sinne therefore it deserveth damnation Hence you heard the Apostle Rom. 5. expresly saith Judgement came by one to condemnation and Rom. 3. That the whole world is guilty before God Secondly The Scripture doth not only speak of this birth-pollution as a sinne but as an hainous sinne in its effects whereby it doth admis of many terrible aggravations as you have heard It is the Law in our members it 's the flesh tho body of sin the sin that doth so easily beset us the sin that warreth against the mind and the Spirit of God that captivateth even a godly man in some measure which maketh Paul groan under it and cry out of his miserable condition thereby so that it is not meerly a sinne but a sinne to be aggravated in many respects and therefore necessarily causing damnation unlesse God in his mercy prevent Let Bellarmine and others extenuate it making it lesse then the least sinne that is of which more afterwards let them talk of venial sinnes that do not in their own nature deserve hell yet because all sinne is a transgression of Gods Law the curse of God belongeth thereunto therefore it hath an infinite guilt in respect of the Majesty of God against whom it is committed and they who judge sinne little must also judge the Majesty of God to be little also What shall one respect of involuntariness which is in original sinne make it lesse then others when 〈…〉 so many other respects some whereof do more immediately relate to the nature of sinne then voluntariness can do farre exceed other sinnes Thirdly Original sinne must needs deserve damnation because it needeth the bloud of Christ to purge away the guilt of it as well as actual sins Christ is a Saviours to Infants as well as to grown men and if he be a Saviour to them then they are sinners if he save them then they are lost As for that old evasion of the Pelagian Infants need Christ not to save them from sinne but to bring them to the Kingdom of Heaven it 's most absurd and ridiculous for the whole purpose of the Gospel is to shew That Christ came into the world to bring sinners to Heaven through his bloud his death was expiatory and by way of atonement therefore it did suppose sinne hence he is sad to be the Lamb of God that taketh away the sinne of the world John 1. 29. which is both original and actual Fourthly That eternal damnation belongeth to the sinne we are born in appeareth by those remedies of grace and Ordinances of salvation which were appointed by God both in the Old and New Testament for the taking away of this natural guilt Circumcision in the Old Testament did declare that by nature the heart was uncircumcised and that every one was destitute of any inherent righteousnesse hence circumcision is called The seal of the righteousnesse which is by faith Rom. 4. 11. To this Baptism doth answer in the New Testament the external never whereof with the formal Rite of Administration doth abundantly convince us of our spiritual uncleanness as also the need we have of the bloud of Christ and also of his Spirit for our cleansing Now because the known Adversary to this truth affirmly That he knoweth of no Church that in her Rituals doth confesse and bewail original sinne As also that we might see the Judgement of our first Reformers in England about Baptism as relating to original sinne It is good to observe what is set down in the Publique Administration of Baptism as by the Common-Prayer-Book was formerly to be used there the Minister useth this Introductory Forasmuch as all men be conceived and born in sinne adding from hence That none can enter into the kingdom of Heaven unlesse he be born again It is the sinne he is born in not pure Naturals as the Doctor saith that inferreth a necessity of regeneration Again In the Prayer for children to be baptized there is this passage That they coming to thy holy Baptism may receive remission of sins Now what sinnes can children have but their original It is spoken in the plural number because more than one child is supposed to be baptized Again in the same Prayer we meet with this Petition That they being delivered from thy wrath What can more ashame the Doctors opinion then this That which he accounteth so horrid is here plainly asserted That children are born under Gods wrath therefore prayer is made that they may be delivered from it Lastly In another Prayer after the Confession of Faith we have this Petition That the old Adam in these children may be so buried that the new man may be raised up in them Why doth he not seoff at this expression saying as he doth upon another occasion That they change the good old man with these things that he never thought of No doubt but he will force these passages by some violent Interpretation as he doth the 9th Article but certainly it would be more ingenuity in him to flie to his principles of liberty of prophesying rather then to wrest these publick professions of original sinne It is true the Ancients and so the Papists put too much upon Baptism For Austin thought every child dying without Baptism yea and without the participation of the Lords Supper was certainly damned But of this extream more afterwards It is enough for us That Christs Institution of such a Sacrament and that for Infants doth evidently proclaim our sinfulnesse by nature and therein our desert of eternal wrath Fifthly To original sinne there must needs belong eternal wrath because of the nature of it and inseperable effects flowing from it The nature of it is the spiritual death of the soul by this a man is alienated from all life of grace and therefore till the grace of God appear it 's true of all by nature as followeth in the Chapter where this Text is vers 12. Without Christ alient from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world Thus Davenant upon that Text Dead in sinne Col. 2. 13. saith All the sons of Adam are accounted dead first because they lie in a state of spiritual death having lost the Image of God and partly because they are under the guilt of eternal death being obnoxious to the wrath of God for by nature we are the children of wram If then original sinne put
us into a spiritual death if thereby we be deprived of all spiritual life How can it be avoided but that eternal damnation must foâ—â—ow thereupon by the desert thereof And as for the inseparable effects of it which are to carry us on necessarily to sinne in all that we do to make us utterly impotent and unable for any thing that is good What can this produce but everlasting misery to our souls Sixthly Original sinne is of a damnable nature because of that spiritual bondage and vassalag we are thereby put into even to the Devil himself For not being the children of God we are necessarily the children of the Devil And therefore to be children of Gods wrath in the Text is no more then to be the children of hell and of the Devil for which reason he is called The Prince of the World Seeing then the Devil hath power over all mankind they are in his bondage and Christ came as a Redeemer to deliver us from him This doth argue in what a wofull and dreadfull estate we are left in by this original filthinesse To have the Devil possesse our bodies how terrible is it But he possesseth the souls of every one by nature till Christ doth destroy him and cast him out Hence the Apostle celebrateth that powerfull grace of God whereby we are delivered from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Sonne Col. 1. 13. from which children are not to be excluded Seventhly That original sinne hath merit of demnation is plain Because by it we are in an unregenerate estate John 3. Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh and therefore unlesse a man be born again of the Spirit and from above he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven yea none that are in the flesh can please God Rom. 8 8. If then no unregenerate man can be saved and by original sinne we come to be in that state of carnality it is plain that by nature we are prepared fuel for eternal flames in hell Eighthly That original sinne deserveth damnation appeareth in the consequents of it For when Adam fell into this spiritual death which is the same with original sinne in us though it could not be called so in him because he had not it from his first being neither was it derived to him from any other we may take notice of two sad and terrible effects thereof besides many others The first whereof was the terrour and fear upon his conscience when God called him by name saying Adam where art thou He then flieth from God and would have hid himself from his face How cometh Adam thus to be afraid thus to tremble who had such peaceable enjoyment of God before Was it not because he had now lost the Image of God And this impression is still upon all men by nature There is an inward terrour and fear of God knowing he is an holy just and omnipotent God who cannot but hate and punish sin and therefore we being conscious of that sinfulness and pollution which is in us are afraid of him dare not think of him or draw nigh to him horror is ready to surprize us when we think of God while in our natural estate The other consequent upon Adam's pollution was the casting him out of Paradise and in him all his posterity was likewise ejected Now this was a type as it were of our being cast out of Heaven This is like that solemn curse at the last day Depart from me ye cursed So that if all these Arguments be duly considered we cannot any longer resist the light of this truth That to us belongeth hell and damnation as soon as ever we are born even before we have committed any actual sinne at all SECT VII Some Conclusions deduceable from the Doctrine of the damnableness of Original Sinne. THe Doctrine of our native impurity and the damnable consequent thereof being thus established upon the Scripture rock which will dash in peices all errours that beat upon it I shall proceed to some Conclusions deduceable thence from As First That position of some though of different principles is wholly contrariant to the word of God that none are damned for original sinne For seeing this sinne hath the same damnable guilt with it as actual sinne hath there is no more reason for the non-damnation of persons in one more then in another neither can we conceive God obliged to forgive one more then another why then should it thus universally be acknowledged that for actual sinnes God may and doth damn men but not for original sinne It is true when we speak of persons growen up we cannot seperate their actual sinnes and original because original sinne is alwayes acting and conceiving putting it self forth into many divers lusts and thereupon we cannot say of any adult person that he is damned meerly for original sinne because to this original hath been superadded many actual transgressions and thereupon all impenitent persons dying so are condemned for both yea their condemnation is inhanced thereby for the desert of damnation by original and actual sinne both is greater then by original or actual severally Seeing then many die in the guilt of their natural and actual uncleanness it is an unsavoury Doctrine to affirm that no man is damned for original sinne It is true some men do dogmatize that original sinne in respect of the guilt of it is universally taken off all and that all mankind is put into a state of reconciliation by the second Adam as they were into a state of wrath by the first but this over-throweth the Doctrine of special election and doth confound nature and grace together yea it maketh Christ to have died in vain of which more fully in its time For the present seeing that so many die unconverted in their state of unregeneracy it must necessarily follow that many are damned both for their original and actual sinne also For shall the root be less damning then the branches or fruit actual sinnes demonstrate the effect and power or original sinne and the aggravation of the effect doth necessarily aggravate the cause As they said to Gideon desiring he should slay them Judg. 8. 21. As is the man so is his strength Thus it is here as a mans corrupt nature is so are his actions the one is actus primus and the other is actus secundus Thus as life though an actus primus yet is alwayes expressed in second acts and the effects thereof so it is with original sinne it is by way of a fountain in us yet alwayes emptying it self into streames It is then a subtle devise of Bellarmine who being unwilling to make damnation as it comprehends the punishment of sense to be the consequent of original sinne to say that one dying in his original sinne is not damned by reason of his original sinne but ratione subjecti it bringeth damnation because such a subject is destitute of spiritual life and grace But this is to
confront the Scripture which attributeth condemnation and 〈…〉 to this sinne because of the intrinsecal evil and hainousness thereof The essence is of one to condemnation saith the Apostle Rom 5. and the Text saith we are by nature the children of wrath Besides this is a ridiculous and absurd 〈◊〉 for original sinne is nothing but the spiritual death of the soul and doth wholly destroy that respect and habitude which the soul had unto God Father this Popish evasion is of no strength with us who hold no venial sinnes in their sense For they say a man may be damned in hell for venial sins not because they of their own nature deserve so but because of the subject sometimes who may die destitute of all grace and then his venial sinnes encrease his condemnation But this Doctrine of a venial sinne in the Popish sence is immediately opposite to Scripture and contrary to the Majesty of the most holy God Conclus 2. In that original sinne is thus meritotious of eternal damnation Those learned men who hold the corrupt Mass of mankind to be that state out of which God chooseth some to eternal life leaving others in this wretched and sinfull condition they have by Adam do thereby affirm nothing injurious to God or any thing that may justly be complained of by sound reason It is not my intent to launch into that vast Ocean of the dispute about the object of election and reprobation no not as it is confined among the orthodox they themselves disputing whether it be Massa para or Massa corrupta from whence ariseth that distinction of Supralapsarians and Sublapsarians It is enough at the present to affirm that if the corrupt Mass of mankind be made the object of election and reprobation the justice of God is abundantly cleared against all Papists Arminians and others in this particular because original sinne doth deserve eternal damnation This was the opinion of Austin and many moderate learned men think this opinion less obnoxious to cavils and more consonant to Scripture then that of those who hold Gods decrees herein to be supposing Massa pura or man considered as man meerly in a common sense Thus God speaketh of hating Esau and loving Jacob in respect of his purpose according to election and that before they had done good or evil Rom 9 11. which relateth to their actual evil Yea this was Calvins opinion as appeareth Lib 1. de eterna Dei predestinatione contra Pighium alledged by Crakanthorpe Defens Eccles Anglic. cap. 37. where Calvin saith when we treat of predestination Vnde exordiendum esse semper docui atque bodie doceo jure in morte relinqui omnes reprobos qui in Adam mortui sunt damnati jure parice qui naturâ sunt filii irae ita nemini causam esse cur de nimio Dei rigore quâ—ratur quando reatum in se omnes inclusum gestant Thus Calvin And how orthodoxly and vehemently doth Crakanthorpe though of the Episcopal judgement defend this Potestne quisquam saith he te Spalâ—to quisquam ex vestris Dei justitiam in damnandis reprobis luenlentiùs asserere In Adamo in massâ perditirei omnes mortis eorum alios ex istâ Massâ per misericordiam liberat alios in eâdem Massâ per justitiam damnandos relinquit For Gods election and reprobation is about Infants as well as Adult persons neither may we think it any cruelty or injustice of God if he leave an Infant in his natural impure estate seeing grace is free if it be grace and God is not bound to adde a new favour where the former is lost and although such an Infant had no voluntary personal acting to this corrupt estate he is born in for which God eternally passeth him by with a negative preterition as some Divines express it yet because sinnes in the Scripture-language are called debts that which is just between man and man may be much more between God and man who cannot be any wayes obliged to shew favour to him and that is amongst men children are liable to their parents debts and what their parents did wickedly and voluntarily contract by their prodigality and luxury that the children stand engaged to pay though they had no influence into those supposed debts Thus all mankind stands engaged for Adam's debt I mean as the consequent corruption of his nature by his voluntary disobedience doth hereditarily descend to all his posterity and the rather because it is both aliena and nstra culpa as Bernard both Adam's debt and our own also No wonder then if mankind lying in this bloud God spake to some to live and leaveth the restin their undone estate but I must not enlarge on this When that mutable Euripus and miserable Ecebolius though not crying out afterwards as he did Culcate me insipidum salem Spalatensis had objected this as a puritanical opinion and also the Doctrine of the Church of England That Infants dying with Baptisme may yet be damned Crakanthorpe defendeth the Church of England herein Defens cap. 40 yet with such assertions that cannot please the late Antagonist of original sin Vbi è Scripturis habes Infantes morientes cum Baptismo non posse damnari saith he An tu à Dei consiliâ—s es ut sine Scripturâ hoc scias ut scias tales omnes Infantes electos esse You see he putteth their salvation upon election that are saved concluding indeed that in the judgement of charity we think such may be saved but as for a judicium certitudinis veritatis he doth leave that to God but you must remember he speaketh not of all Infants though of Infidels SECT VIII A Consideration of their Opinion that hold a Universal Removal of the Guilt of Original Sinne from all mankind by Christs Death Answering their Arguments among which that from the Antithesis or Opposition which the Apostle maketh Rom. 5. between the first Adam and the second Adam THirdly In that original sinne is meritorious of eternal condemnation yea and doth produce this effect actually in some Hence that Doctrine so confidently avouched by some that by Christ the guile of original sinne is wholly taken off stom all mankind and every one by nature is now born in a state of Gods love and reconciliation till by actual sinnes be doth exclude himself from this mercy is also an unsavoury opinion and contrary to the Word of God But because this Doctrine is very plausible and hath had confident avouchers of it let us throughly search into all the recesses of it And First We may take notice that Puccius wrote a book for this purpose to prove that as by Adam we were truly properly and de facto put into a state of sinne and wrath and that antecedently to our knowledge or consent so by the second Adam all mankind in the same latitude is put into a state of savour and reconciliation with God properly actually and de facto and that antecedently to any faith or knowledge
that they have Christ but as Adam's sinne was efficacious in men as men quatenus homines to their condemnation so was Christs obedience efficacious for their justification to all men as men This opinion he proveth by an hundred and twenty Reasons and concludeth with excessive confidence of truth on his side that he hath it by the Spirit of God and that though for the present it seemeth not to be approved yet he is confident the whole world will at last entertain it Insomuch that his boastings and presumptions are such that you would think not much learning but much pride had made him mad This man considering the diversity of Sect and Opinions in Religion for two and twenty years wandered up and down to Jews Manumetans Arians and others that having knowledge of all kind of opinions he might at last judge which was the true Religion but this is not the way to find the truth God rather in just judgement leaveth such to errors In this universal road Jacobus Andraas and Hubeâ—ius are said also to go though with some little variation The man foundation they all build up 〈◊〉 is the comparison made by the Apostle Rom. 5. between the first and second Adam wherein the extent of justification to life by Christ seeme 〈◊〉 to be as universal as that of condemnation by Adam the Apostle using the same words of many and all This opinion saith Puccias is most consonant to that 〈◊〉 of God which the Scripture commends and removeeth from God 〈◊〉 all suspicion of cruelty and injustice By this instance we may see there is no stop or bounds can be put to mens errours when once they will judge of Gods love and mercy according to humane compassionate principles And therefore let such who deny original sinne or extenuate it pleading the awe they have in their hearts respectively to God that men may have no hard thoughts of him Let such I say consider whether Puccius and his followers do not farre transcend them in this kind yea whether by their principles they must not necessarily come off to his way For although he doth assert original sinne yet he maketh it wholly taken away by Christs death and that to all mankind so that now we are not born in a state of wrath and enmity against God Secondly There are others that do not receive this opinion of Gods gracious love in Christ to men as they are men but as they are believers that yet affirm The guilt of original sinne wholly taken away by Christ as to all mankind so that no man lieth under this guilt and thereupon conclude That all Infants though of Heathens and Pegans are certainly saved for having no actual sinne and their original being removed the doore is set open for them to enter into Heaven which is afterwards to be considered Thirdly There are yet some who deservedly are reputed as more honourable for learning and orthodoxy then the former who though they hold original sinne and Gods special election of some persons to eternal glory do yet withall maintain a possibility of salvation to every one lying in the corrupt masse of mankind Thus Crocius Duodâ—c Dissert Dissert 1a. de peccato origin although he denieth the Huberian way of assuming all men into a state of favour so that no man is obnoxious to damnation by original sinne yet affirmeth That none is necessarily damned for it without the accession of new sins and that therefore there is a way of possibility of salvation for every one This opinion hath many learned Abettors but if it be throughly pursued it must either fall into the old known orthodox way or empty it self into the Arminian chanel Yea it seemeth to be of so brittle subtilty that it doth not avoid any of those inconvenâ—ercies which they labour to do neither doth it practically give any comfort to a man rationally doubting in his conscience about his interest in Christs death or stirre up and provoke to obedience unto those Commands and Exhortations that are pressed upon us But this Controversie belongeth not so properly to my subject I shall conclude against the former opinions mentioned That by original sinne we are children of Gods wrath yea and for that as well as their actual sinnes some are eternally condemned which Doctrine hath received witness and testimony to its truth from the most eminent Guides and Pastors in Gods Church in all Ages Insomuch that Fulgentius cometh with his Firmissime tene nullatenus dubita c. Believe most firmly and doubt not in the least manner but that every one by nature is obnoxious to the wrath of God that person cannot be saved It is true he addeth without the Sacrament of Baptism of which opinion in its time De incarnatione ad Petrum Diacon The Synod of Dâ—ri also rejecteth the errour of such who teach All men are assumed into a state of reconciliation so that none is either damned or obnoxous to eternal damnation for original sinne but all are free from its guilt which opinion they adde repugneth the Scripture affirming us to be by nature children of wrath Acta Synod Dordrâ—ct cap. 2 de morte Christi reject Erro 5. But let us consider What Arguments are brought to prove this universal removal of the guilt of original sinne from all mankind by Christs death And First They urge the love of God to mankind so often mentioned in the Scripture Insomuch that they say it doth not stand with the 〈◊〉 and mercy of God when man is plunged thus into an undone estate there to leave him and not deliver him out of it But to this many things may be said As First We grant that notwithstanding our original sinne yet God loveth mankind and demonstrateth much mercy to men even because they are his creatures And it must be granted That the Scripture doth often celebrate this mercy of God to man though in a sinfull condition But then we must distinguish between the general love of God and his special love between his love of benevolence and love of complacency as some express it God doth love all mankind with a general love or love of benevolence so as to do good in a liberal manner to them This love of beneficence is demonstrated both to the good and the bad yet this doth not remove the guilt of sinne we may be children of wrath for all this Therefore there is the other special love and grace of God a love of complacency and acceptance of us in Christ and this is only to some of mankind as the Scripture in many places doth shew And yet we must adde that when any are damned we cannot say it is for any defect of Gods particular love and grace as if the fault were to be laid there but upon the original and actual sinfulness of the person so condemned for every mans perdition is of himself Secondly It is no injustice in God if he let men alone in their lost
Kingdom of Heaven who yet they said received no poluâ—◠〈◊〉 hurt by Adam but how much more shall the grace of God abound through Christ to many The how much more lieth not in the number but in the nature of these gracious effect which come by Christ though to some onely for that the Apostle doth not intend an excess of Chriss grace in respect of the number it is plain because that had been impossible there could have been but an equality at most If it should be granted That Christ hath reconciled all those that Adam lost this would be an equality only we could not say Christ redeemed more than Adam destroyed for that could not have been therefore it is plain that the superabundance attributed by the Apostle to Christ in respect of Justification is to be understood intensively not extensively in respect of the nature of those blessed effects we receive by him and so indeed there is a great transcendency in Christ in respect of Adam For 1. By Christ we have vivification and quickning to grace and glory whereas by Adam we have sinne and condemnation Now it is farre easier to occasion the damnation of many then to procure the salvation of one To justifie and save one man is more than to destroy all mankind As we see amongst men it 's easier to destroy a thing then to build it up one man may kill many men but yet the same man cannot bring any one of those to life again If therefore Christ had saved but one of all mankind he was infinitely to be exalted above Adam by whose disobedience mankind was plunged into a perishing estate So that if we do compare Death with Life Heaven with Hell Damnation with Salvation and that the one cometh from a deficient cause the other from an efficient we must necessarily conclude that Christ hath infinitely the preheminence above Adam 2. There are some that distinguish between the sufficiency and worth that is in Christs mediation and the actual application of it Now say they the second Adam was infinately more able to save then Adam to destroy and that if we respect the number of men for Christ is able to save a thousand of worlds besides this if there were so many and therefore if we speak of Christ in respect of his sufficiency Adam in a destructing way is no more comparable to Christ in a saving way then a drop to the ocean or a sinite to an infinite For the obedience of Christ is the obedience of God and man Now though this answer may in a good explained sense be received yet I shall not so much avouch it partly because the distinction is made use of to a farre other end then the Orthodox do intend and then partly because the Apostle doth not here attend in his comparison so much to what is sufficient in Christ as to what is actual not so much to what he is able to do as what he will do It 's efficacy not sufficiency the Apostle aimeth at therefore we stick to the former answer though in many other respects the excellency of the second Adam to the first night be declared which are not here to be repeated only that one the Apostle instanceth in is not to be passed over which is that it is but one offence to condemnation whereas the grace of Christ extendeth to the abolishing of many offences that one sinne is enough to damn but the grace of Christ appeareth not only to the abolition of that but also all offences that do actually flow from it Thus every godly soul may comfortably improve this truth that there is more in Christ to save then is in all sinne whether original or actual to damn Christ is more able to justifie then Adam is to condemn Therefore some Schoolmen deny that Adam's sinne did demerit the death and damnation of all mankind it deserved his own damnation and his own death only All other mens deaths and other mens damnation have for their meritorious cause their original sin inherent in them Adam did not meritoriously deserve these but when fallen then his posterity descending from him did naturally fall into such a corrupted estate as he himself was plunged into and the reason they give of this is because no meer man can either mâ—rerâ—â— or demereri for the whole nature of mankind if Adam had stood all his posterity would have been holy and happy but we cannot say Adam would have merited this for all mankind for that is a peculiar thing to Christ only which is incommunicable to a meer man to merit for the whole race of mankind And although there is a great difference between merit and demerit a man may put himself into a demerit of eternal glory but not into a merit yet in this they are alike This reasoning of some Schoolmen admitted which seemeth very plausible then it necessarily followeth that Christs power to save is superlative more than Adams to destroy Lastly That Christ in his efficacy of grace doth exceed Adam in his condemning guilt appeareth In that at last he will utterly remove original sin from all that are his members and so totally vanquish it that it shall not remain in the least spot thereof Although Christ came into the world to take away all sin yet some Schoolmen conclude that principally it was to deliver us from original sin Because saith Suarez De Incar Christi this is the cause and the root of all actual iniquities It is not enough for Christ to purge us from our actual impieties but he also intends to heal our natures Now because original sin infecteth the nature chiefly as it is in persons so also doth Christ principally intend the sanctification of our natures And although this be not presently and immediatly done yet it wil at last be done in that good time he hath appointed for that end Those indeed that limit the efficacy of Christs grace to original sin only as if actual sins were to be removed by our voluntary penances and satisfaction they make Christ but a same Saviour and a semi mediator But yet it may well be affirmed because this original corruption is the pollution of the nature and is the cause of all actual defilements therfore the bloud of Christ doth in the most principal place cleanse from this And therefore this should exceedingly comfort the godly who groan under the reliques of this defilement upon them that Christ will never leave them till he hath restored them perfectly to their primitive integrity for this end he came into the world so that he would be but an impefect Saviour if he should not at last cure thee of this nature-defilement for this lieth upon him to do that he bring al things to their former yea a better perfection that so all may admire the goodness wisdom and mercy of God in Christ and that all cavillers may stop their mouths who usually demand Why did God suffer Adam to fall
that this man hath for this errour is because the Scripture useth substantive expressions it is called an evil heart a stony heart c. But this is because of the corruption adhering to it As we say a rotten tree or a poisoned fountain The heart as it is a fleshly substance is not evil but as it is the principle of our motions and actions not in a physical but moral sense It is true we say That through original sinne man cometh short of his end And so as the hand when its dead cannot do the works of an band or salt when it hath lost its seasoning is good for nothing Thus it is with man in regard of any supernatural actions yet he hath not lost any thing that was substantial and essential Only the power of the soul want the primitive rectitude they once had and therefore whensoever they act it is with deordination Indeed we will grant That Illyricus his adversary Victorinus Strigelius did not fully express original corruption in the Disputation between them who compared a man to a Loadstone of which they say when rubbed with Garlick it will not draw iron but if that be wip'd off by Goats bloud it will be as attractive as before For this similitude is not full enough because original sin doth not only hinder the doing of good actions but infecteth the very powers and principles of them It is true there are those as Contzen in Rom. 5. that say because the Calvinists hold That concupiscence is sinne they cannot avoid Flaccianism but that is a meer calumny We alwayes distinguish between the nature and substance of a man and the ataxy and disorder that doth now accompany it Neither when we call it an accident do we thereby extenuate the nature of original sinne for we do not make it a light superficial one but which is inbred with us and doth diffuse it self over all the parts and powers of the soul Neither do we say it is a transient temporary accident but that which is fixed and permanent in us Thus we see in what sense there may be excessive expressions about original sinne otherwise we cannot say enough to affect our hearts with the loathsomness of it provided we keep close to the Scripture directions herein Thus at last by the good hand of God we are come out of these deeps into the haven we have waded through all the several parts of this vast Subject and are now come to the shore It remaineth as a duty upon every one to hasten out of this captivity and bondage not to stay a day or hour in this damnable estate and above all things to take heed of such opinions that do either lessen or nullifie this sinne for this is to erre in the foundation Christ and grace and regeneration can never be built thereupon This Doctrine hath stood as a firm 〈◊〉 in all ages upon which the contrary errors have dashed and broken themselves and without this we are never able to performe those two necessary duties To know our selves and to know Christ This hath alwayes been the Catholique Doctrine of the Church of God Neither did the Fathers before Austin's time generally speak otherwise as late Writers would make us believe Even as the Socinians say the Ancients affirmed otherwise about Christ than after Athanasius his time and the Council of Nice was usually done in the Church Scripture the Consent of the Church and every mans own experience doth proclaim this truth Quis ante prodigiosum diâ—cipulum Pelagii Coelestium reatu praevaricationis Adae omne genus humanum negavit astrictum Lyr. cont Haeres c. 24. FINIS AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE A Actions MEns best Actions carnal pag. 139 Bad Actions are not justified by good intentions 280 The will hath not power over all its Actions 323 Adam Adam had full power over himself 20 Made upright 23 Yet free and changeable ib. 114 He sinned not after the same manner that we sinne against Socinians ib. A common head 25 His sin was disobedience 27 His sin imputed to all ib. His disobedience makes us sinners by propagation not by imitation 28 He had power to stand 114 And to repent and believe while in innocency transcendently ib. Deprived by his fall of more then was meerly supernatural 118 And of supernaturals also ib. Had free-will to good before his fall not after 119 Had faith 120 128 Loved God above all before his fall ib. And delighted in him 121 Not made in a neutral indifferent state 123 How original righteousnesse was natural to him 125 What was supernatural to Adam 127 Had all graces either actually or habitually 128 129 Had his affections subject to his mind 134 A comparison between the first and second Adam 181 Affections The pollution of them 325 The nature of them 327 How variously they may be considered 328 Their tyranny over the understanding and will 329 Sinfull in their first motions 330 And in their progress and degrees 331 And in their duration and in respect of their objects 332 And in respect of their end and use 333 And in their motion to lawfull objects 334 And in respect of their opposition to one another 336 Affections polluted in respect of the conflict between them and natural conscience 336 And in their distracting us in duties 338 And in their contrariety to the example of God ib. How they are in God 339 Their dulness toward good 340 Drawn to holy duties from corrupt motives 341 Zealously drawn out to false wayes 342 Inlets to all sin 343 The privacy of the Affections 345 The hurtfull effects on our own bodies 346 And others 347 They readily receive temptations ib. All. All sinfull that come of Adam sinfull by nature though the children of the most godly 394 And how absurd to exempt any 400 God justified for shutting up All under sin for the sin of Adam 421 Amyraldus Amyraldus and other sense upon the conflict in Rom. 7. examined 483 Angels Angels not generated 196 Appetite Of the three-fold Appetite in man 158 B Beleeve NO man can Beleeve by the power of nature 315 Blasphemies What devilish Blasphemies have been received 219 Body Body of man defiled with sin 372 Is not serviceable to the soul in holy approaches but a clog 376 Doth positively affect and defile the soul 377 Man acts more according to the inclinations of the Body then the dictates of the mind ib. It s a tempter and seducer 378 Doth objectively occasion much sin to the soul 381 Its indisposition to serve God 392 Easily moved by its passions 384 When sanctified it is the temple of God 385 C Children CHildren suffer for parents sinnes 46 Arminians make the Children of Heathens and believers alike 67 How soon a Child may commit actual sin 416 Christ Whether upon Christ's death there be a universal removal of the guilt of original sinne 539 Combate Combate between the flesh and the spirit 474 Conflict No spiritual Conflict in the state
it the mother of many errors 6 The cause of all miseries 7 Worse than actual 8 Ignorance thereof the cause why men understand not the work of conversion 9 Inseparably adheres to the best 11 A natural evil and how with the several names it hath had 13 The difilement of our specifical being 14 The inward principle of all sinfull motions ib. Flacius his opinion concerning it ib. Is alwayes putting it self forth 16 Neerer to us than actual or habitual sin 18 What it is 19 20 Why compared to death 21 Objections answered 22 Pelagians and Socinians opinion of it 28 Propagated ib. Is an internal and natural depravation of the whole man 32 Adams sin imputed to us is not all our Original sin ib. Of that opinion that Original sinne is vitium but not peccatum 33 Truly and properly a sin 34 Against the Law 35 How voluntary 39 Arminius and the Remonstrants disagree about Original sin 40 Arminius Remorstrants Zuinglius Papists Scotists and Socinians opinions of it 40 A sin a punishment and a cause of sin 41 Original inherent sin and Adams imputed sin are two distinct sins 43 Against the Law and how 44 45 Acknowledged in Old Testament times 48 Remonstrants confess it may be proved by two or three places of Scripture ib. Compared to a leprosie 51 Makes us leathsom to God as soon as born 52 Why called uncleanness ib. Should make us vile in our own eyes ib. Put a man by nature into worse condition than beasts 53 Makes us like the Devils ib. Pollutes our duties and makes us unfit and unworthy to draw nigh to God in duties 54 Makes us to be in the most immediate contrariety to God that can be ib. The denial of it charged upon Calvinists by the Lutherans 56 Acknowledged by the Rabbins and Fathers 62 Meditation thereon wherein advantagious 64 Not one universal thing of general influence but a particular thing in particular men 65 To be bewailed even by those that are regenerate ib. A two-fold Original sin 66 The different opinions of men about humiliation for it 67 In what sense it is to be repented of 68 Papists against sorrow for it 69 Several opinions concerning the pardon of it 67 68 69 Wherein repentance and the pardon of Original and actual sin do differ 70 It is an universal defilement 71 And an universal guilt ib. And the fountain and root of all actual sin ib. And the greatest sin 72 Inseparable from our natures while we live 73 Of the Scripture names of it 79 Not the essence or substance of the soul ib. Why called the old man 80 Improperly called a Law 83 Why called a Law 84 Instructs a man in all evil ib. Inclineth and provoketh to all evil ib. Compelleth to all evil 85 Why called the inherent or in-dwelling sin 90 How it dwels in the regenerate ib. Active and ever stirring 94 Is of an insinuating and contaminating nature 95 Depriveth both of power and will to do good 97 98 Inclines the heart to the creature 98 Resisteth all profers of grace 99 Weakens the principles of grace 100 Why called a treasure 102 An inexhausted stock 103 The cause of all pleasure in sin 104 Called a body and why 105 107 Shews it self outwardly in all our actions 107 Cannot be mortified without pain ib. A reality yet not a substance 108 Not a single sin but a lump of all evil ib. Inclineth only to carnal earthly and bodily things 109 Seth born in Original sinne 110 111 Deprives of more than external happiness and immortality against Socinians 117 Many Papists deny the positive part of it 136 Hath infected all men 137 Positive as well as privative 144 And the reasons thereof 145 Produceth positive sinfull actions 146 Sticks closer then vicious habits ib. Not a pestilential quality in the body 149 Is properly concupiscence or lust 157 And in what sense 159 And why so called 162 It is ignorant also ib. Defined 164 The whole man and the whole of man the subject thereof ib. Propagated and communicated to all Adams posterity 165 Truly known only by Scripture-light 167 How farre Heathens were ignorant thereof 168 The propagation thereof by the souls creation 199 Hath fill'd us with errour 211 And with curiosity 212 And vanity 213 And folly 214 Polluting the conscience how and wherein 221 Polluteth the memory 249 Polluteth the will 268 The affections 325 The imagination 348 The body of a man 392 And every one of mankind 387 Not the children of the most godly or the Virgin Mary excepted but only Christ 387. to 401 Original sin imputed the aggravations of it 405 Inherent the aggravation of it 407 It defiles all the parts of the soul is the root and cause of all actual sin is incurable taketh away all spiritual sense and feeling is habitual radicated in the soul 407. to 410 Objections against the hainousnesse of this sin Every one hath his proper Original sin 412 Vents it self betimes 415 Is alike in all 419 The immediate effects of Original sinne are mans propensity to sin 437. to 455 Is the cause of all other sine 455 Evil motions not consented unto and lusts consented unto 464 The combat between the flesh and spirit 474 Death 505 Eternal damnation 526 P Pray A Natural man cannot Pray 314 Pride Pride the cause of most heresies 218 Propagation Propagation of sin 397 Punishment The same thing may be a Punishment and a sin 41 R Redeemer THe necessity of a Redeemer demonstrates our thraldom to sin 319 Reformation A carnal mans Reformation is but the avoiding of one sin by another 318 Regenerate A sure difference between a Regenerate and unregenerate man 9 Regeneration Three sorts of mistaken Regeneration 10 Reliques Reliques of sin 474 Remember Whence is it that we Remember things when we would not 266 Righteousness Original Righteousness not given to Adam as a curb to the inferiour faculties 25 The difficulty of Rom. 5. 26 Original Righteousness the privation of it a sin 130 We were deprived of it by Adam 131 Vniversally lost 135 The losse of it the cause of all temporal losses ib. The privation of it doth necessarily inferre the presence of all sin in a subject susceptible 202 S Sacraments ONe end of the Sacraments 255 Sanctification Sanctification two fold 391 Satan All by nature in bondage to Satan 370 Scripture Scripture discovers us to our selves better then light of nature or Philosophy 161 168 The end of its being written 253 Self-knowing Self knowing a great duty and the hinderance of it 8 Sensless We are altogether Sensless as to any spiritual concernment 176 Sin A man naturally can do nothing but sin 15 16 The reason why all men do not commit all Sins though inclinable thereto 17 Men lie under a necessity of sinning yet this necessity is consistent with voluntarinesse 18 Sin delightfull to men 21 How Sin is natural to us 24 Christ only born without Sin and how 37. 390 Sin is what
sense voluntary 38 When a punishment how from God 42 One Sin may suddenly and formally deprive the subject of all grace yet it doth not so alwayes 58 Three sorts of Sin original habitual and actual 89 The first motions of the heart though never so involuntary and indeliberate are sinfull 94 All Sin is potentially and seminally in every mans heart 103 Every man would commit all Sin if not restrained 147 Sin rightly divided into original and actual 164 Whence it comes to passe that men commit known Sins 227 Why men chuse Sin rather than affliction 283 Every man lieth under a necessity of sinning 311 Sinners To be made a Sinner by Adam is more than to be made subject to death as a curse 31 And more than to be obnoxious to eternal wrath ib. All mad truly and properly Sinners by Adam 31 34 Every man Christ excepted 387 393 Socinians Wherein Socinians do make God the author of sin 66 Socinians and Papists blasphemy 114 Socinians deny both original sin and original righteousnesse 121 The rocks they stumble at ib. 122 Soul The arguments of those that hold the Souls traduction 197 Souls not by eduction or traduction but creation and introduction 191 Soul not generated 189 Souls created 194 Origen and Plato's opinion of the Soul 186 Confuted 187 The Soul cannot be neutral 130 Inclined to earthly objects 175 Souls not created before the bodies 187 Souls come not into the world pure and holy ib. Souls not perfect substances 200 The Soul infused by creating and created by infusing 21 How it comes to be infected 393 T Taylor A Character of Doctor J. Taylor 30 He is answered in these places 62 398 407 409 422 430 449 450 452 461 476 485 518 520 521 522 523 524 525 527 528 534 535 V Vanity OF the natural Vanity of our minds 213 Virgin Virgin Mary born in original sin 398 Uncleanness A three-fold Uncleanness corporal ceremonial and moral 50 Understanding Our Understandings very weak in respect of natural things 179 219 And uncapable of holy and spiritual things 212 Voluntariness Voluntariness not requisite to every sin 39 W Wickedness OF the extream Wickedness of the world 172 Will. Willeth No man Willeth sin and damnation as such 38 Adams Will how ours 39 The Nature of the Will 270 The difference between the Will and understanding 271 Will taken ambiguonsly 272 The Will the seat of obedience and disobedience 273 Good is the proper object of the Will. ib. The several operations of the Will 274 The difference between a wicked mans and a good mans doing what he allows not 88 Free Will how far we are deprived of it 116 The corruption of the Will in volition 275 And in efficacious Willing a thing 276 And in fruition 277 And in its act of intention 279 And in election 282 Whence it is that the Will is backward to to follow the understanding 284 The pollution of the Will in its act of consent 286 The first motions of the Will are evil ib. The pollution of the Will in its affections and properties 289 The degeneracy of the Will 293 The Will wholly perverted about the ultimate end ib. The Will naturally inclineth to be independent on God 295 The contumacy and refractoriness of the Will 297 The enmity and contrariety of the Will to Gods will 298 The rebellion of the Will against the light of the mind and the slavery of it to the sensitive part 299 The mutability and inconstancy of the Will 300 The bondage of the Will and of free will 302 No man before grace hath free will to good 305 The Will impotent to spiritual things 313 Free will how call'd in Scripture 307 Exalted by erroneous persons 308 The different effects of free will and free grace in mens lives 310 The difficulty of the question 311 Demonstrations against it ib. The definitions and descriptions of it 320 Doth not consist in an active indifferency to good or evil 321 FINIS TO THE READER A Digressive Epistle concerning Justification by Faith alone excluding the Conditionality of Works in that Act either begun or continued Tending to a friendly debate between a Reverend Learned and godly Brother and my self in that Point THe Doctrine of Original sinne and Justification by Faith alone are not altogether heterogeneous Yea Stapleton maketh the former the Mother and the latter the Daughter as they are avouched in the Protestant way I shall therefore here take the occasion to lay down severall Propositions that may conduce to the further discovery of the Contents of that amicable collation between my learned Brother and my self in this particular Not that my purpose is to vindicate those Arguments I have formerly in a Treatise of Righteousness produced against conditionality of Works in the Act of Justification from the Exceptions and Answers he hath pleased lately to give in unto them for I shall venture their credit and strength notwithstanding all that he hath said to the contrary with the intelligent and impartiall Readers till I am advised by the judicious and Learned there is a necessity of rescuing them from his assaults The generation of Divines which shall arise that knew Joseph who are aquainted with the Doctrine and Spirit of the first Reformers in this matter they will not take up their perswasions from one or two English Writers in this case It is true Aristole saith lib. 1. Rhetor. cap. 11. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contentions are pleasant and Conqest in them sweet But that is true in reference to the Philosophers and Oratours of old who were animals of glory and had a libidinous appetite after applause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Justin Martyr alludeth and the Oratours so insatiable after praise that rather then want it they would hire their Laudicenes to applaud them with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But in Theologicall contests we ought to have more mortified and sanctified hearts for when we have watched over our souls with the greatest diligence we can yet we have cause to pray that God would forgive us our Book-sins and preserve us from loosing the comfortable sense and enjoyment of Justification while we dispute about it Not therefore from a spirit of contention or opposition to my learned Brother whom I highly honour but love to that precious and antient Truth as I judge it to be which through infirmity is opposed by him happily inclined thereunto by his laudable Zeal against Antinomian dotages I proceed to lay down severall Propositions which when I have done my thoughts are to say Ite missa est The Reformers in their first Conflicts with the Popish Adversaries about Justification among the controversall Points therein judged this none of the least The Meanes or Manner how we are justified Indeed Justification being the heart as it were of Religion a little prick therein is dangerous It being the eye of Christianity a little
to act therein And 3. Of cruelty that God who is so ready to forgive us our own sinnes yet should impute to us Adam's But these are fig leaves only and cannot cover the Objectors nakedness SECT II. FOr First We do not say That the Nature of man as it was created first had this imbred pollution in it No it came out of Gods hands pure and clean Eccles 7. ult God made man upright It was after Gods own Image that he made him he had no experimental knowledge of any evil within him But as it was with the earth after mans fall it brought forth bryars and thorns being cursed which as it is thought it would not have done so before Thus upon Adams transgression then and not till then was his soul cursed spiritually to bring forth nothing but bryars and thorns such lusts as were fit combustible matter for hell fire Therefore every Infant almost may understand this That the maintaining of this Truth doth not at all redound to Gods dishonour for we see the like in the Devils Are not they become wicked spirits Is there not an utter impossibility in a Devil to do any thing that is good Are they not called the spiritual wickednesses in high places Ephes 6. 12. as if they were nothing but all over wickedness yet the Devil though so vile and abominable was made a glorious creature None of this poison was at first infused into him but the Apostle Jude ver 6 layeth it wholly upon themselves That they kept not their first estate but left their own habitation The Devils then though so full of wickedness yet are not a reproach to God their Maker but it was through their own wilfulness they became such Apostates Hence in the second place Adam when he first transgressed that command of God and thereby involved all mankind in darkness and misery did it from a voluntary free principle within there was no internal or external necessity compelling him to sinne for he was made with the image of God in him and that matter wherein he did transgress he might easily have attained from God giving him liberty to eat of all other trees so that it was meerly and solely from Adams own will that he undid himself and all his posterity It is true God if he had pleased could have prevented his sinning he could have confirmed him in such grace as we see he did the other Angels that fell not whereby he would certainly have been preserved from all sinne but God is the supreme Sovereign and is not tied up as men are to inferiour Laws It is true he is an eternal Law of Righteousness to himself whereby he cannot do any thing but what is just and righteous yet he hath also an absolute Dominion over all things and may dispose of his creatures as he pleaseth and from this it was that he created man with power to fall as well as to stand making him mutable and changeable whereas the glorified Saints in Heaven shall be delivered from such mutability and there shall not be in them a posse peccare a power to sinne so greatly shall their souls be perfected in Heaven So that still you see God is freed and mans destruction is of himself Hence also in the third place when Adam sinned at first it was not after the same manner as we sinne for when we sinne this floweth from a corrupted nature within Jam. 1. 17. Every one is tempted and drawn aside with the lust that is within him But in Adam there was no such vicious principle It is therefore a false and dangerous position of the Socinians That we sinne in the same manner that he did That we have no more corrupted Nature in us then he had but as he had a free-will by which he chose either good or evil so it is with us But this speaketh open defiance against the Scripture For was Adam by nature the child of wrath Were the imaginations of his thoughts only evil and that continually Could Adam say He found a Law of sinne in his Members warring against the Law of his mind Adam's sinne therefore came from the meer mutability and changeableness that was in his will there being no antecedent corruption in him Insomuch that it hath greatly exercised learned Divines to shew how Adam could sinne and wherein the imperfection did first break forth he being made after the Image of God but in us our sinfulness ariseth from a necessity contracted by the first voluntary transgression and so have a corrupt nature which inclineth to all corrupt actions Adam was in some sense a good Tree and yet did bring forth bad Fruit a sweet Fountain and yet did send forth bitter Streams Here we might say a Vine brought sorth Thorns and a Fig Thistles but we are bad Trees poisoned Fountains Briars and Thorns only from the paralleling of our selves with Adam we may conclude our incurableness as also the danger we are in by every temptation For if Adam though without any corrupt principle within him though without the least spark of any lust was yet so easily inflamed by a temptation What may we expect who have the seed of all evil within us If the green Ivy shall take fire so soon what will the dry Tree do Oh take heed of coming near any occasion of sinne As our Saviour said Remember Lots wife so do thou Adams wife yea and Adam himself These though created holy though without any lustful inclination yet did presently yeeld to the temptations of sinne What then wilt not thou do If Samson with his strength cannot resist the Philistims much less when that is gone can he withstand them But of this difference between Adam and us in sinning more in its time In the fourth place God is to be justified though we be born full of sinne because we are to distinguish between nature it self and the corruption cleaving to it We say our Nature our Essence and Substance our Souls and Bodies in respect of their natural Being are the work of God and we are with David to admire the curious workmanship of God in respect of our Bodies The excellent composition of all the bodily parts did convince even Galen though otherwise an Heathen God therefore as a Creator is to be praised and glorified by us only as Austin of old we must not so praise Deum Creatorem as to make Superfluum Servatorem We must not so celebrate the name of God as a Creator that thereby we should make a Saviour superfluous and unnecessary Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae under the praises of Nature the enemies of Grace hide themselves and so under the praises of God as a Creator the enemies of Christ as a Saviour shelter themselves Nature then we say is good our Substance and Being is of God onely the defilement annexed inseparably thereunto is of man Even as in our bodies the substance of them is of God but God did not
sinne finished because therein the evil of sinne doth most palpably demonstrate it self It is true Calvin doth by sinne finished or perfected mean not so much the acting of any grosse sinne as the customary continuance and perseverance in it and no doubt this sense is not to be excluded but the Text may very well be interpreted of any sinne though but once committed though it be not frequently iterated And thus we have this full and excellent Text largely explained From which we observe That original sinne is that lust within a man from whence all actual sinnes do flow That is as there is not a man or woman but he doth come from Adam Hence the Canonists have a saying That if Adam were alive he could not have a wise among all the women in the world because of their discent from him So it is true of every vain thought every idle word every ungodly action they all come from this original lust within a man and therefore the Devil with all his fiery darts could do us no hurt did not our lusts betray us Nemo se palpet de suo Satanas est said Austin Let no man flatter himself he is a Devil to himself from his own lust he is a tempter to himself This truth is of special use to humble us this will make us debase our selves crying out O Lord I even I alone am to be blamed it is from my own vile self that all this corruption doth thus overflow This our Saviour confirmed when he said Matth. 15. 19. One of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries c. So that whosoever would be kept free and unspotted from sinne he must watch over his heart more diligently there is the nest there is the spawn of all those noisome sins that may be seen in thy life SECT II. That Original Sinne is the cause of all Actual Evil cleared by several Propositions which are Antidotes against many Errors ¶ 1. VVE proceed to clear this Truth in several Propositions which also will be as antidotes for the most part against so many respective errors in this Point And First By lust here in the Text we are not to understand that particular libidinous disposition in men whereby they are carried out in a wanton or unclean manner as we in our English phrase do for the most part limit it For the Apostle doth comprehend farre more Rom. 7. in that command Thou shalt not lust or covet neither is this lust to be restrained only to the sensitive and carnal part of a man as if lust were not chiefly in the reason and the will of a man according to Scripture-language Lust doth comprehend the deordination of the sublime and rational part in a man Therefore those Papists who do limit lust only to the sensual part are wholly ignorant of the extension of original sinne and the diffusion of it self through the chiefest parts of a man Hence it is justly to be censured that the late Annotator on this Text doth in his paraphrase joyn with the most erroneous of the Popish party for by lust he understands our treacherous sensual appetite which being impatient of sufferings suggests some sensitive carnal baits and so by them enticeth him And in the verse following he agin paraphraseth When consent is joyned to the invitation of the sensual part against the contrary dictates of his reason and the Spirit then that and not the affliction or temptation begetteth sinne Thus he But we may meet with a more sound and orthodox explication I say not in Whitaker and other Protestant Authors who conflict with the Papists in this point but even in Estius the Papist who doth ingenuously acknowledge That because the Apostle is here speaking of the original of all sinne spiritual sinnes as well as carnal it cannot be limited to the sensitive appetite Do not the sins of the mind arise from our lusts within us Do not the Devils sinne from the lust within them and yet they have no sensitive appetite And when the Apostle Gal. 5. 17. speaketh of that remarkable lusting which is between the flesh and the Spirit he cannot mean the sensual inferiour part of a man only for the works of this flesh are some of them said to be Idolatry Heresies which must needs proceed from the rational part of a man It is therefore too evident that this lust which doth so greatly entice us is not only in the inferiour part of the soul but most predominantly in the superiour and hence the understanding hath its peculiar enmity to the holy truths of God and the will its proper obstinacy to the good duties which God hath commanded Therefore we read of that expression Col. 2. 18. Puft up with a fleshly mind So that heresie is a lust of the mind envy a lust of the mind for the Devil is full of envy though Philosophers referre envy to one of their mixed and compounded passions unbelief ambition vain-glory these are lusts of the rational part Think not then that thy affections only do lust against the Spirit of God but thy reason thy will also doth and these have the greatest evil in them they are the greatest enemies to the wayes and truths of Christ As the Publicans sinnes were from the lust of the flesh so the Pharises sinnes were from the lusts of the mind And thus the more superstitious erroneous and devout any are in false wayes of Religion the more dangerous are their lusts because the more spiritual and immaterial This kind of lusting followeth us in our prayers in our preachings in all spiritual performances So that whereas carnal and bodily lusts are easily discerned and are accounted very loathsome in the eyes of the world These spiritual lusts are very difficulty discovered and may then most reign over a man when he thinketh himself most free from them Propos 2. When we say original sinne is the cause of all the actual evil that is committed this is not to be understood as if it did proximly and immediately produce every actual impiety onely this is the mediate cause and the root of all It is true the learned Whitaker will not allow it to be called the remote cause of death and other miseries which Infants are obnoxious unto As the root cannot be said to be the remote cause of fruit because it doth nourish it though under ground and at a distance from it Or as he instanceth a fountain is a cause of that stream which is carried in a long course distant from the spring De peccat orig l. 2. c. 9. But we need not strive about words No doubt when men through custom have contracted habits of sin upon them habits are the immediate and proxim causes of the wicked actions such persons do commit but original sinne is the mediate yet because original sinne is the causa causae it may be called the causa causati it being the cause of the customs and habits of sins it may