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B02843 An antidote against the erroneous, or rather blasphemous, opinions of some people in this our corrupt age; concerning the true and real cause of man's falling into those gross and notorious sins, which do commonly prove his eternal ruine. : Made plain in a short discourse, being the substance of two sermons upon the 12, 14, 15. verses of the 1st chap. of St. James. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, &c. / By Samuel D'Assigny, a well-wisher to the Church of England's prosperity. D'Assigny, Samuel, b. 1673 or 4 1698 (1698) Wing D286; ESTC R171689 15,649 17

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The Preface Christian Reader HAving not in all my few labours and studies either heard of or met with any entire Treatise of this kind or nature and daily perceiving the Spirit of Dissention beyond Measure Operating amongst the generality of Mankind so that if it were possible he would beguile and seduce the very Elect I thought fit therefore upon a serious Consideration to endeavour to put a stop to the malicious Project of the Devil who is incessantly striving to draw men headlong into Eternal Perdition with himself especially by insinuating into them some blasphemous thoughts of the Almighty according to that which you 'll find mention'd in the following Discourse viz. That he has appointed some on purpose as it were for the endless Torments of Hell as well as others for the Enjoyment of Everlasting Bliss and that they being so voluntarily predestinated if they did use all imaginable means there can be no hopes or possibility of a repeal which in my opinion is a very great Blasphemy to think of so Wise and Merciful a God as ours is who did not only vouchsafe to send his only begotten Son Christ Jesus to be a Propitiatory Sacrifice for all our Sins but has left his plain written Word whereby if Men had but Grace to Read and Practice it they might be easily convinced of such wicked Imaginations He has also granted a Redemption and Deliverance from all Sins whatsoever except that against the Holy Ghost provided that Men will timely and sincerely perform the Conditions upon which they are pr●mised My Courteous Reader I shall not here trouble my self with a second Exposition but if you please diligently to peruse the following Treatise I hope through God's Grace you 'll find full satisfaction concerning the whole Point Besides you will find many other wicked conceits about the same Matter and all of them singly opposed and confuted by the plain Word of God Therefore I shall not here take time to reckon them up in their Order neither will I recommend it to the protection of any particular Person presuming that it may be material enough in it self to Challenge a Patronage from all those that are any way concerned for the Interest and Honour of their Maker Now my Christian Reader I have no more to add for the better offering of it to thy kind acceptation but only this seasonable Admonition viz. Be not too curious too inquisitive in searching after those things which God is not pleased to Communicate to any humane Capacity according to that excellent Maxim in Philosophy quae supra nos nihil ad nos But yet above all be careful and diligent to know and understand those things which especially belong to thy Spiritual and Eternal Welfare always remembring that no Man can be too circumspect in a business of so great a Moment which that you and I and all may do God of his infinite Mercy grant c. Farewel S. D. An Antidote against the Erroneous or rather Blasphemous Opinions of some People in this our Corrupt Age c. James 1st 13 14 15. Verses Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and entic●d Then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death ALthough all Scripture are inspired by one and the same Spirit of Truth yet have they an accidental difference according to the Nature of the Pen-men that did first indite them some being of a higher others of a lower Style some hard and intricate others more plain and easie to be understood And this I presume it was that occasioned St. Gregory to compare some Scriptures unto Jacob's hasty Rods which were partly peeled and partly covered others unto Acab's house of Ivory which was without any covering at all The Scripture which I have now mentioned unto you is of the former sort hard and difficult to be understood It craveth therefore your best attention whilst it is interpreted and your chiefest affection when it is applyed I will first briefly and plainly as I can lay down the general heads and afterwards come unto the particulars 1. We have here a full and compleat proposition viz. That God is not the mover unto evil nor the author of Sin Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God 2. The Apostle confirms and strengthens this proposition by two Arguments in the following Words The first whereof is drawn from the of God's divine Nature and is partly Negative and partly Affirmative 1. Negative He cannot be tempted with Evil. 2. Affirmative He tempteth no Man 2. The second Argument is drawn from the Corruption of Man 's own Nature arising out of the verse following where the Apostle setteth down the true and efficient Cause of Sin which is our own concupiscence and desire For every man is tempted when he is drawn by his own Lust and enticed And in the next place by a kind of gradation he proceeds further to shew us our Corruption in semine in germire in fructu in the seed in the bud in the fruit In the seed there is concupiscentia titillans pleasing concupiscence in the bud there is concupiscentia provocans willing concupiscence and in the fruit there is concupiscentia proveniens actual concupiscence And then follows the effect which this bitter Root doth produce and that is Death When Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin being finished bringeth forth Death and Destruction both to Body and Soul These are parts that I chiefly design to insist upon that I may thereby vindicate the Honour and Justice of God from the Blasphemous thoughts of wicked and obstinate People This Proposition is the first point that God is not the Mover unto Evil nor the Author of Sin A point I must needs confess very hard and intricate if rightly weighed and considered and if we take it in its full latitude it will bring us to understand if it were possible to be comprehended how far God hath a hand in the actions of sinning A point so high as the highest Heavens and dwelleth in Light as unsearchable as God himself covered with a Curtain of Sacred secresy which shall never be drawn aside for who is able to apprehend that hath his habitation here upon Earth and his dwellings amongst us Mortals how far the Council of God goeth in ordering and disposing of sinful actions The Manichees were here driven to such a strait that they fram'd two Gods unto themselves to the end that they might acquit one from being accessary unto Evil. 1. They called a good God the Father of Christ and the Author of the New Testament But the other they surmised to be Evil and the Author of the Old And this they say was he who is said to have hardened Pharoah's heart to bid Shemei curse David
the Earth was not then corrupted nor at that time infected the Corruption came afterwards through the fall of Adam when that curse of God was laid upon it by reason of Adams Sin Cursed is the Earth for thy sake Gen. 3.17 In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns also and Thistles shall it bring forth unto thee Before that Man was free and had a possibility to live for ever 2. For his Soul it was most divine and heavenly Divinâ particulâ Aurae being a spark of Divinity infused by God himself who breathed into Man the breath of Life and made it spiritual like unto himself It was not of the Essence of God for then it should have been equal with God but it was such a workmanship as did resemble him in true holiness and perfect integrity 3. As for the faculties of his Soul they were likewise pure his reason and understanding was clear without any blindness or imperfection at all His will was free from all Bondage Coaction or Compulsion whatsoever so that none but himself could have brought any inconveniencies or damage unto himself There 's no fault then upon Gods side possibly to be found no hard measure offer'd by him He gave unto Man all things necessary and commodious for a pleasant and an happy life he gave him liberty and freedom to stand what more could he desire It was miserable Man then that was the cause of his own ruine who abused that power which God had given him by suffering the Devil that great Enemy of Mankind who always Enveighed at his prosperity to beguile and poyson him with an Apple not by force but by deceit working on the Woman the weaker Vessel she being poysoned poysoneth her Husband and the poyson being contagious spreads it self through all the faculties both of Body and Soul and that deadly too For so God had said before in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2 17. Man was now after all this subject unto all infirmities his Body to the Temporal his Soul unto the Spiritual and eternal Death There is neither Disease of the Body nor Sickness of the Soul but what came in with Sin not unto Adam only but unto us his Offspring for though at first he only sinned yet we are culpable through his Fact and it is derived unto us both by imputation and propagation 1. By imputation so saith the Apostle Rom. 4 19. By one Man's disobedience many were made Sinners 2. By Propagation Ezek. 18 2. The Fathers have eaten sour Grapes and the Childrens Teeth are set on edge So that now our natures being corrupted the soundness and integrity of all the faculties therein are diseased the Image of God is wholly defaced the Soul is taken up with a Mass of Injustice and we are subject to a necessity of Sinning For as it was true of Man in the State of Innocency Potest non peccare he might if he would not have Sinned because God left him in the hands of his own Counsels and gave him liberty both ways either to Sin or not to Sin So now it is true in the State of Corruption non potest non peccare he cannot choose but sin the whole lump of his Nature being sour'd with that antient Leaven nor shall he ever be delivered from that Corruption whereunto he is Subject until he attains unto the State of glorification wherein it shall as certainly be verified non potest peccare he cannot Sin though he would corruption having put on incorruption both in Body and Soul Which necessity of Sinning in the mean time is not in any external cause but in the decayed Nature of Man upon the fall whereof cometh Vanity in the Mind and a frowardness in the Will to depart from the living God Thus then you see the immediate cause of Sin to be our own corruption and concupiscense which draweth us away from the rules of Reason and the right Paths of Gods commandments nor is this true only in the wicked and reprobate but even in the dearest Children of God They are not free from this Original infection they have many combats and conflicts in them There is Ishmael against Isaac the Flesh against the Spirit continually striving S. Paul himself complained hereof Rom. 7 23. He found one Law in his Mind another in his Members striving against the Law of his Mind and leading him from that which was true just and holy unto the contrary which he did not allow of Thus then we still see the former proposition to be very true viz. That God is not the mover unto Evil nor the Author of Sin but every Man is Tempted when he is drawn away by his own Lust and enticed For there is an absolute Antipathy betwixt God and Sin as being contrary to his divine Nature which is pure and holy Let no Man then say at any time when he is tempted unto evil God caused him to err for he hath no need of Sinful Man The Lord hateth all abomination of Errour and they that fear God love it not saith the Son of Syrach Eccles. 15.11 12. Again in the last Verse of that Chapter he hath Commanded no man to do wickedly neither hath he given any man a License to Sin In the last place this Doctrine may teach us all not to suffer our selves at any time to be drawn away by our own Lust and Concupiscence not to hearken to the dictates of our own corrupt Natures but to endeavour with all immaginable resistance to oppose those unruly Motions and evil inclinations which do daily tempt and solicite us to violate the sacred Laws of our Maker In a word whensoever the Devil shall assault us by any manner of Temptation let us I beseech you both remember and practise what S. Peter hath prescribed unto us 1. Peter 5.9 Whom resist stedfast in the Faith and by how much the De●●●●●●he more watchful for his Prey let us I beseech you be so m●●● the more watchful unto prayer to withstand him It is good Advice which the Wiseman gives viz. That we should giv● the water no Passage no not a little so we should give as small an entranc● unto Satan as possibly may be for let but one foul Spirit enter and rest 〈◊〉 while in thy Soul and by and by Legions will be there and then Satan wi●● be like the Centurions Servant in one part but not in the other bid his come and he comes presently but bid him go and he will not be gone without much ado for if you once give him an Inch he 'll be sure to take an Ell● Let us therefore obstare principiis withstand him in the beginning of hi● assaults and stifle our sins in their first conception before they are brough● forth into action for when once Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and si● when it is finished bringeth forth death death and destruction both to body and soul and a final rejection from God and all divine Mercies which man by sin hath justly deserved from the hand of his Creator I might indeed here enlarge a great deal more but I think it needless having made out the main points of the Text and answered all the objection● that might possibly have been brought to oppose it So I beseech all that bear the name of Christians to abandon every wicked conceit or opinion of their Maker and likewise not to be any way concerned for the non-apprehension of those sublime mysteries which he doth no● think either profitable or convenient for us to be acquainted with Bu● let us all unanimously joyn in the diligent fulfilling this most seasonable and excellent advice of S●lomon Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the Whole Duty of Man This is indeed the Will of God and th● end of all our obligations to him with which we are charged and to which w● are all enjoyned But as for the Books of God's Councils and secret Decrees which are clasped up that no man may read them let us leave them unto th● Lamb and blessed Trinity But those of Moses and the Prophets of Christ and his Apostles are written for our Instruction and for our Posteritie's after us These let us search and inquire into with all imaginable care and diligence and with reverence and submission let us with the Prophet David Meditat● upon them day and Night that hereby our Sinful Souls may be amended and saved finally in the day of our Lord Jesus Amen FINIS
and lastly to have delivered the Gentiles unto a reprobate sense Rom. 1.24 But alas foolish men they were deceived for the Apostle tells us plainly Eph. 4.6 That there is but one Lord and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all And St. James saith here in the Text that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that cannot be moved or tempted unto Evil But I will leave this Error of theirs and c●me nearer unto our selves There is a great Error about this point and I suppose it to be in two extreams The 1st is of those who maliciously ch●r●e God to be the Author o● Sin these are the sensual Libertines of our Age who rub their Filthiness and Licentiousness upon God's Purity 2dly The others are those who think that God doth only suffer and permit 〈◊〉 and so they make him like a King sitting upon a Scaffold to behold a Stratagem or as if his G●dhead were bound up and restrained like Sarr●●●'s Arms that he could not use it Either of th●se Opini●ns do seem r●ally to deny the Godhead it self the one destroying the Goodness and Divin● Justice of the Deity in that they charge God to be the author of Sin The other his Omnipotence and Providence in that they bereave him of a great part of his Honour The latter of these positions is very true that God doth permit sin and sound and Catholick enough if more were added unto it as you shall find in the explication of the point in hand But the other is filled to the brim with monstrous Impiety for if the very damned Spirits in Hell might be heard to speak against God what could they say to deprave him more than this Indeed the very best of us all no doubt have sinned and that most presumptuously too and have most highly violated the Sacred Laws of our Maker But that God caused us so to do is I say a most damnable and reprobate Thought that any Vessel of Clay can conceive of his Maker who is absolutely good and neither is nor can be tempted with evil And yet our Adversaries the Papists have not stuck to father the birth of this prodigious Monster upon our Church it self by affirming that we maintain it as a point of Doctrine that God is the Mover unto evil and so consequently the Author of sin I say our Church never affirm'd it and to redeem a thousand Deaths if more were due unto our sins we would not 'T is true this we say that whatsoever hath substance being and perfection in the action of sin God is the Author of it because it is good and proceedeth from him in whom we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 Our life our motion our being is from God he is Anima Mundi the very Life and Soul of the World A Poet of the Gentiles did first deliver it but now an Apostle of ours hath ratified it and sanctified it for a truth Our Life is God's whether we live to him as we ought to do or to the Lusts of the Flesh or after the pleasure of the God of this World the Prince of Darkness Our Motion is his whether we lift up our hands to Prayer or to Murther or to Stealth or any other Out-rage Our Essence is also God's the nature being and substance of man of reprobate Angels and others are from him and his good Creatures for he made all thin●s good and not evil So that still I say God thus s●r is a worker in Temptation or may be said to have a hand in Sinnin● for in sin you must know there is a positive and peccative port nature and corruption action and defect now God is the Author of the former but not of the latter As for Example in the striking of a jarring and untuned Instrument the playing and singering is from the Person but the jarring discord is in the Instrument So God is the Author of every acti●n but not of wickedness in any action But would you see it yet more plain by an example out of the Book of God then let Cain be the man Gen. 4.5 we read that because Cain's Sacrifice was rejected and his Brother 's accepted he was exceeding wrath his countenance fell and he had a purpose to slay his Brother Now Cain could never have thought of the death of Abel his eyes could never have seen any offensive thing in his accepted Sacrifice nor his heart have prosecuted with desire nor his hands have executed with power so unnatural a fact if God had not given him strength and activity to have used the service of all these faculties To think to desire to move the parts of the Body are the good Creatures of God and therein consisteth the action of God But to turn these gifts of God unto so wicked and vile a purpose as to murther his Brother was the sin of Cain himself the fault of the action proper to him alone And so in all our motions and actions God hath a hand in them as far as they are righteous and good but as they are evil and sinful they chiefly proceed from the impure fountains of our hearts for God can no way be touch'd with evil 2. God may be said to move unto Evil per p●ivationem gratiae suae by withdrawing his Grace and in this sence saith St. Chrisostome God is said to give over unto a reprobate sence to harden to blind to tempt unto evil Non quod haec a Deo siunt quippè cùm a pr●pria hominis m●lit●a provenient sed quià Deo justè homines deserente haec illis contingunt Not that these things are done by God himself for they proceed from the malice of men but because while he doth fully forsake men for their obstinacy and rebellion against him these things do commonly overtake them And to the same purpose is that of St. Austin Indurare dicitur Deus quèm mollire noluerit God is said to harden whom he will not mollisie Et ex●ae care quem illummare noluerit and to blind them whom he will not illuminate so he hardned Pharoah's heart and blinded the false Prophets Neither may we here arraign God of injustice because it is lawful for him to do what he pleaseth with his own He hath power over his Clay to make of it at his pleasure either in Judgement a vessel of Dishonour or in Mercy a Vessel of Honour And the Clay may not say to the Potter why hast thou made me thus or thus 3. God may be said to move unto evil by offering occasions and objects to try whether a Man will sin or not As for Example A Master suspecting his Servant to be false and thievish lays something of considerable value in his way to try if he will steal it which if he does the Master having found his theft will not only expose him to the world for a Rogue and Deceiver but will for ever