die which clearely granteth an impunity to all not tainted with sinne Sinne and punishment though they are sometimes separated by his mercy pardoning the one and so not inflicting the other yet never by his justice inflicting the latter where the former is not sinne imputed by it selfe alone without an inherent guilt was never punished in any but Christ the unsearchablenesse of Gods love and justice in laying the iniquitie of us all upon him who had no sinne is an exception from that generall rule he walketh by in his dealing with the posteritie of Adam so that if punishment bee not due unto us for a solely imputed sinne much lesse when it doth not stand with the justice and equitie of God to impute any iniquity unto us at all can we justly be wrapped in such a curse and punishment as wofull experience teacheth us that we lye under Now in this act of injustice wherewith they charge the Almightie the Arminians place the whole nature of originall sin We account not say they originall sin for a sin properly so called that should make the posteritie of Adam to deserve the wrath of God nor for an evill that may properly be called a punishment but only for an infirmitie of nature Which they interpret to be a kinde of evill that being inflicted on Adam God suffereth to descend upon his posteritie so all the depravation of nature the pollution guilt and concupiscence we derive from our first parents the imputation of Adams actuall transgression is all streightned to a small infirmitie inflicted on poore innocent creatures But let them enjoy their own wisdome which is earthly sensuall and devillish the Scripture is cleare that the sinne of Adam is the sinne of us all not only by propagation and communication whereby not his singular fault but something of the same nature is derived unto us but also by an imputation of his actuall transgression unto us all his singular disobedience being by this means made ours the grounds of this imputation I touched before which may be all reduced to his being a common person and head of all our nature which investeth us with a double interest in his demerits whilest so he was 1. as we were then in him and parts of him 2. as he sustained the place of our whole nature in the Covenant God made with him both which even according to the exigence of Gods justice require that his transgression be also accounted ours and Saint Paul is plaine not only that by one mans offence many were made sinners Rom. 5. 19. by the derivation of a corrupted nature but also that by one mans offence iudgement came upon all vers 18. even for his one sinne all of us are accounted to have deserved judgement and condemnation and therefore vers 12. he affirmeth that by one man sinne and death entred upon all the world and that because we have all sinned in him which we no otherwise doe but that his transgression in Gods estimation is accounted ours and the opposition the Apostle there maketh betweene Christ and his righteousnesse and Adam and his disobedience doth sufficiently evince it as may appeare by this figure Sicut sic ex Adamo Christo in omnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redundavit eis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per unū 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adami 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christi the whole similitude chiefly consists in the imputation of Adams sinne and Christs righteousnesse unto the seed of the one by nature and of the other by grace but that we are counted righteous for the righteousnes of Christ is among Protestants though some differ in the manner of their expressions as yet without question and therefore are no lesse undoubtedly accounted sinners by or guilty of the first sinne of Adam I shall not shew their opposition unto the truth in many more particulars concerning this Article of Originall sinne having beene long agoe most excellently prevented even in this very method by the way of Antithesis to the Scripture and the Orthodoxe doctrine of our Church by the famously learned Master Reynolds in his excellent Treatise Of the sinfulnesse of sinne where he hath discovered their errours fully answered their sophisticall objections and invincibly confirmed the truth from the word of God onely as I have shewed already how they make this we call originall sinne no sinne at all neither inherent in us nor imputed unto us nor no punishment truly so called so because our Church saith directly that it meriteth damnation I will briefly shew what they conceive to be the desert thereof First for Adam himselfe they affirme that the death threatued unto him if he transgressed the Covenant and due unto him for it was neither death temporall for that before he was subiect unto by the primarie constitution of his nature nor yet such an eternall death as is accompanied with damnation or everlasting punishment No Why then let us here learne some new Divinitie Christians have hitherto beleeved that whatsoever may be comprised under the name of death together with its antecedents consequents and attendants was threatned to Adam in this commination and Divines untill this day can finde but these two sorts of death in the Scripture as poenall unto men and properly so called and shall we now be perswaded that it was neither of these that was threatned unto Adam in must be so if we will beleeve the Arminians it was neither the one nor the other of the former but whereas he was created mortall and subject to a temporall death the sanction of his obedience was a threatning of the utter dissolution of his soule and body or a reduction to their primative nothing but what if a man will not here take them at their words but beleeve according to Saint Paul that death entred by sinne that if we had never sinned we had never died that man in the state of innocency was by Gods constitution free even from temporall death and all things directly conducing thereunto Secondly that this death threatned to our first parents comprehended damnation also of soule and body for evermore and that of their imaginarie dissolution there is not the least intimation in the word of God why I confesse they have impudence enough in divers places to begge that we would beleeve their assertions but never confidence enough to venture once to prove them true Now they who make so slight of the desert of this sinne in Adam himselfe will surely scarce allow it to have any ill merit at all in his posteritie Whether ever any one were damned for Originall sinne and adiudged to everlasting torments is deservedly doubted of yea we doubt not to affirme that never any was so damned saith Corvinus and that this is not his sole opinion he declares by telling you no lesse of his Master Arminius It is most true saith he that Arminius teacheth that it is
perversly said that originall sinne makes a man guilty of death Of any death it should seeme temporall eternall or that annihillation they dreame of and he said true enough Arminius doth affirme it adding this reason because it is onely the punishment of Adams actuall sinne now what kinde of punishment they make this to be I shewed you before But truely I wonder seeing they are every where so peremptorie that the same thing cannot be a sin and a punishment why they doe so often nick-name this infirmity of nature and call it a sinne which they suppose to be as farre different from it as fire from water is it because they are unwilling by new naming it to contradict St. Paul in expresse termes never proposing it under any other denomination or if they can get a sophisticall elusion for him is it least by so doing Christians should the more plainely discerne their heresie or what ever other cause it be in this I am sure they contradict themselves notwithstanding in this they agree full well That God reiecteth none for originall sinne onely as Episcopius speakes and here if you tell them that the question is not de facto what God doth but de iure what such sinne deservers they tell us plainly That God will not destinate any infants to eternall punishment for originall sinne without their owne proper actuall sinnes neither can he doe so by right or in iustice so that the children of Turkes Pagans and the like Infidels strangers from the covenant of grace departing in their infancie are farre happier then any Christian men who must under-goe a hard warfare against sinne and Satan in danger to fall finally away at the last houre and through many difficulties entering the kingdome of heaven when they without further trouble are presently assumed thither for their innocency Yea although they are neither elected of God for as they affirme he chooseth none but for their faith which they have not nor redeemed by Christ for he died onely for sinners he saved his people from their sinnes which they are not guiltie of nor sanctified by the holy Ghost all whose operations they restraine to a morall swasion whereof infants are not a capable subject Which is not much to the honour of the blessed Trinitie that heaven should be replenished with them whom the Father never elected the Sonne never redeemed nor the holy Ghost sanctified And thus you see what they make of this originall pravitie of our nature at most an infirmitie or languor thereof neither a sinne nor the punishment of sinne properly so called nor yet a thing that deserves punishment as a sinne Which last assertion whether it be agreeable to holy Scripture or no these two following observations will declare First there is no confusion no disorder no vanitie in the whole world in any of Gods creatures that is not a punishment of our sinne in Adam That great and almost universall ruine of Nature proceeding from the curse of God overgrowing the earth and the wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven is the proper issue of his transgression It was of the great mercy of God that the whole frame of Nature was not presently rolled up in darkenesse and reduced to its primitive confusion Had we our selves beene deprived of those remaining sparkes of Gods Image in our soules which vindicates us from the number of the Beasts that perish had we beene all borne fooles and voyd of reason by dealing so with some in particular he sheweth us it had beene but justice to have wrapped us in the same miserie all in generall all things when God first created them were exceeding good and thought so by the wisedome of God himselfe but our sinne even compelled that good and wise Creator to hate and curse the worke of his owne hands Cursed is the ground saith he to Adam for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life thornes also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee Gen. 3. 17 18. hence was that heavie burden of vanitie that bondage of corruption under which to this day the whole Creation groaneth and travelleth in paine untill it be delivered Rom. 8. 21 22. Now if our sinne had such a strange malignant influence upon those things which have no relation unto us but onely as they were created for our use surely it is of the great mercy of God that we our selves are not quite confounded which doth not yet so interpose it self but that we are all compassed with divers sad effects of this iniquitie lying actually under divers pressing miseries and deservedly obnoxious to everlasting destruction so that Secondly death temporall with all its antecedents and attendants all infirmities miseries sicknesses wasting destroying passions casualties that are poenall all evill conducing thereunto or waiting on it is a punishment of originall sinne and this not onely because the first actuall sinne of Adam is imputed to us but most of them are the proper issues of that native corruption and pollution of sinne which is stirring and operative within us for the production of such sad effects our whole nature being by it throughly defiled hence are all the distortures and distemperatures of the soule by lusts concupiscence passions blindnesse of minde perversenesse of will inordinatenesse of affections wherewith we are pressed and turmoiled even proper issues of that inherent sinne which possesseth our whole soules Vpon the body also it hath such an influence in disposing it to corruption and mortality as it the originall of all those infirmities sicknesses and diseases which make us nothing but a shop of such miseries for death it selfe as these and the like degrees are the steps which leade us on apace in the road that tends unto it so they are the direct internall efficient cause thereof in subordination to the justice of Almighty God by such meanes inflicting it as a punishment of our sinnes in Adam Man before his fall though not in regard of the matter whereof he was made nor yet meerely in respect of his quickning forme yet in regard of Gods ordination was immortall a keeper of his owne everlastingnesse Death to which before he was not obnoxious was threatned as a punishment of his sinne In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die the exposition of which words given by God at the time of his inflicting this punishment and pronouncing man subject to mortalitie cleerely sheweth that it comprehendeth temporall death also dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne our returne to dust is nothing but the soules leaving the body whereby before it was preserved from corruption Further Saint Paul opposeth that death we had by the sinne of Adam to the resurrection of the body by the power of Christ for since by man came death by man also came the resurrection from the dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15. 21. 22.
the life which all shall receive by the power of Christ at the last day is essentially a re-union of soule and body and therefore their separation is a thing we incurred by the sinne of Adam the same Apostle also Rom. 5. describeth an universall reigne of death over all by reason of the first transgression even diseases also in the Scripture are attributed unto sinne as their meritorious cause Iohn 5. 14. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Revel 2. 22. and in respect of all these the mercy of God doth not so interpose it selfe but that all the sonnes of men are in some sort partakers of them Thirdly the finall desert of originall sinne as our article speaketh is damnation the wrath of God to be poured on us in eternall torments of body and soule To this end also many praevious judgements of God are subservient as the privation of originall righteousnesse which he tooke and withheld upon Adams throwing it away spirituall desertion permission of sinne with all other destroying depravations of our nature as farre as they are meerely paenall some of which are immediate consequents of Adams singular actuall transgression as privation of originall righteousnesse others as damnation it selfe the proper effects of that derived sinne and pollution that is in us there is none damned but for their owne sinne when Divines affirme that by Adams sinne we are guilty of damnation they doe not meane that any are actually damned for his particular fact but that by his sinne and our sinning in him by Gods most just ordination we have contracted that exceeding pravitie and sinfulnesse of nature which deserveth the curse of God and eternall damnation it must be an inherent uncleanesse that actually excludes out of the kingdome of heaven Revel 21. 27. which uncleannesse the Apostle shewes to be in infants not sanctified by an interest in the Covenant in briefe we are baptized unto the remission of sinne that we may be saved Act. 2. 38. that then which is taken away by Baptisme is that which hinders our salvation which is not the first sinne of Adam imputed but our owne inherent lust and pollution we cannot be washed and cleansed and purged from an imputed sinne which is done by the layer of regeneration from that which lies upon us onely by an externall denomination we have no need of cleansing we may be said to be freed from it or justified but not purged the soule then that is guilty of sinne shall die and that for its owne guilt if God should condemne us for originall sinne onely it were not by reason of the imputation of Adams fault but of the iniquitie of that portion of nature in which we are proprietaries Now here to shut up all observe that in this inquiry of the desert of originall sinne the Question is not What shall be the certaine lot of those that depart this life under the guilt of this sin only but what this haereditary and and native corruption doth desrve in all those in whom it is for as Saint Paul saith we iudge not them that are without especially infants 1 Cor. 5. 13. but for the demerit of it in the justice of God our Saviour expresly affirmeth that unlesse a man be borne againe he cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven Iohn 3. and let them that can distinguish betweene a not going to heaven and a going to hell a third receptacle of soules in the Scripture we finde not Saint Paul also tels us that by nature we are children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. even originally and actually we are guilty of and obnoxious unto that wrath which is accompanied with fiery indignation that shall consume the adversaries againe we are assured that no uncleane thing shall enter into heaven Revel 21. with which hell-deserving uncleanesse children are polluted and therefore unlesse it be purged with the bloud of Christ they have no interest in everlasting happinesse by this meanes sinne is come upon all to condemnation and yet doe we not peremptorily censure to hell all infants departing this world without the layer of regeneration the ordinary means of waveing the punishment due to this pollution that is the Question de facto which we before rejected yea and two wayes there are whereby God saveth such infants snatching them like brands out of the fire First by interesting them into the Covenant if their immediate or remote parents have beene beleevers he is a God of them and of their seed extending his mercy unto a thousand generations of them that feare him Secondly by his grace of election which is most free and not tied to any conditions by which I make no doubt but God taketh many unto him in Christ whose parents never knew or had beene despisers of the Gospel and this is the doctrine of our Church agreeable to the Scripture affirming the desert of originall sinne to be Gods wrath and damnation to both which how opposite is the Arminian doctrine may thus appeare S. S. By the offence of one man iudgement came upon all to condemnation Rom. 5. 18. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners vers 19. Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me Psalme 51. 5. else were your chidren unclean but now they are holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. Who can bring a clean thing out of an uncleane not one Iob 14. 4. Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God Iohn 3. 3. That which is born of the flesh is flesh Iohn 3. 6. We were by nature the children of wrath even as others Ephes 2. 3. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned to wit in him Rom. 5. 12. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. In the day you eate thereof you shall surely die Gen. 2. 17. For as in Adam all die so 1 Cor. 15. 22. By nature children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Revel 21. 27. Lib. Arbit Adam sinned in his owne proper person onely and there is no reason why God should impute that sinne unto infants Borraeus It is absurd that by one mans disobedience many should be made actually disobedient Corvinus Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall Venator Neither is it considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens for all infants have the same innocencie Rem Apol. That which we have by birth can be no evill of sinne because to be borne is plainely involuntarie Idem Originall sinne is neither a sinne properly so called which should make the posteritie of Adam guilty of Gods wrath nor yet a punishment of any sinne on them Rem Apol. It is against equitie that one should be accounted guilty of a sinne that is not his owne that he should be iudged nocent who
their abettors have troubled the Church about the death of Christ may be reduced to heads First concerning the object of his merit or whom he died for Secondly concerning the efficacie and end of his death or what he deserved procured merited and obtained for them for whom he died in resolution of the first they affirme that he died for all and every one of the second that he died for no one man at all in that sense Christians have hitherto beleeved that he laid downe his life and submitted himselfe to beare the burden of his Fathers wrath for their sakes It seemes to me a strange extenuation of the merit of Christ to teach that no good at all by his death doth redound to divers of them for whom he died what participation in the benefit of his suffering had Pharaoh or Judas doe they not at this houre and shall they not to eternitie feele the waite and burden of their owne sinnes had they either grace in this world or glory in the other that they should be said to have an interest in the death of our Saviour Christians have hitherto beleeved that for whom Christ died for their sinnes he made satisfaction that they themselves should not externally suffer for them is God unist to punish twice for the same fault his owne Sonne once and againe the poore sinners for whom he suffered I cannot conceive an intention in God that Christ should satisfie his justice for the sinne of them that were in hell some thousands of yeeres before and yet be still resolved to continue then punishment on them to all eternitie no doubtlesse Christ giveth life to everyone for whom he gave his life hee looseth not one of them whom he purchased with his blood The first part of this Controversie may be handled under these two questions First whether God giving his Sonne and Christ making his soule a ransome for sinne intended thereby to redeeme all and every one from their sins that all and every one alike from the beginning of the world to the last day should all equally be partakers of the fruits of his death and passion which purpose of theirs is in the most frustrate Secondly whether God had not a certaine infallible intention of gathering unto himselfe a chosen people of collecting a Church of first borne of saving his little flocke of bringing some certainly to happinesse by the death of his onely Sonne which in the event he doth accomplish The second part also may be reduced to these two heads first whether Christ did not make full satisfaction for all their sinnes for whom he died and merited glory or everlasting happinesse to be bestowed on them upon the performance of those conditions God should require Secondly which is the proper Controversie I shall chiefly insist upon whether Christ did not procure for his own people a power to become the Sonnes of God merit and deserve at the hands of God for them grace faith righteousnesse and sanctification whereby they may be enabled infallibly to performe the conditions of the new Covenant upon the which they shall be admitted to glory To the first Question of the first part of the Controversie the Arminians answer affirmatively to wit that Christ died for all alike the benefit of his Passion belongs equally to all the posteritie of Adam and to the second negatively that God had no such intention of bringing many chosen sonnes unto salvation by the death of Christ but determined of grace and glory no more precisely to one then to another to Iohn then Iudas Abraham then Pharaoh both which as the learned Moulin observed seeme to be invented to make Christianitie ridiculous and expose our Religion to the derision of all knowing men for who can possibly conceive that one by the appointment of God should die for another and yet that other by the same justice be allotted unto death himselfe when ones death onely was due that Christ hath made a full satisfaction for their sinnes who shall everlastingly feele the waight of them themselves that he should merit and obtaine reconciliation with God for them who live and die his enemies grace and glory for them who are gracelesse in this life and damned in that which is to come that he should get remission of sinnes for them whose sinnes were never pardoned in briefe if this sentence be true either Christ by his death did not reconcile us unto God make satisfaction to his justice for our iniquities redeeme us from our sinnes purchase a kingdome an everlasting inheritance for us which I hope no Christian will say or else all the former absurdities must necessarily follow which no rationall man will ever admit Neither may we be charged as straitners of the merit of Christ for we advance the true value and worth thereof as hereafter will appeare farre beyond all that the Arminians ascribe unto it we confesse that that blood of God Acts 20. 28. of the Lambe without spot or blemish 1. Pet. 1. 19. was so exceedingly precious of that infinite worth and value that it might have saved a thousand beleeving worlds Iohn 3. 16. Rom. 3. 22. his death was of sufficient dignitie to have beene made a ransome for all the sinnes of every one in the world and on this internall sufficiencie of his death and passion is grounded the universalitie of Evangelicall promises which have no such restriction in their own nature as that they should not be made to all and every one though the promulgation and knowledge of them is tied onely to the good pleasure of Gods speciall providence Matth. 16. 17. as also that Oeconomie and dispensation of the new Covenant whereby the partition wall being broken downe there remaines no more difference betweene Iew and Gentile the utmost borders of the Earth being given in for Christs inheritance so that in some sense Christ may be said to die for all and the whole world first in as much as the worth and value of his death was very sufficient to have beene made a price for all their sinnes secondly in as much as this word All is taken for some of all sorts not for every one of every sort as it is frequently used in the holy Scripture so Christ being lifted up drew all unto him Iohn 12. 32. that is beleevers out of all sorts of men the Apostles cured all diseases or some of all sorts they did not cure every particular disease but there was no kinde of disease that was exempted from their power of healing so that where it is said that Christ died for all it is meant either first all the faithfull or secondly some of all sorts thirdly not onely Iewes but Gentiles For Secondly the proper counsell and intention of God in sending his Sonne into the world to die was that thereby he might confirme and ratifie the new Covenant to his elect and purchase for them all the good things which are contained in the tenure of that
the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. thereby reconciling us unto God vers 19. he died to reconcile us unto God in the body of his flesh through death that we might be holy and unblameable Colos 1. 21 22. to purge our sins Heb. 1. 3. to obtaine an everlasting redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. so that if Christ by his death obtained what he did intend he hath purchased for us not only a possibilitie of salvation but holinesse righteousnesse reconciliation with God justification freedome from the guilt and condemning power of sin everlasting redemption eternall life and glory in heaven Thirdly I appeale unto the consciences of all Christians First whether they doe not suppose the very foundation of all their consolation to be stricken at when they shall finde those places of Scripture that affirme Christ to have died to take away our sins to reconcile us unto God to put away or abolish our transgressions to wash and regenerate us perfectly to save us and purchase for us an everlasting redemption whereby he is become unto us righteousnesse and redemption and sanctification the Lord our righteousnesse and we become the righteousnesse of God in him to be so wrested as if he should be said only to have done something which these things might happily follow Secondly whither they thinke it not a ready way to impaire their love and to weaken their faith in Christ when they shall be taught that Christ hath done no more for them then for those that are damned in hell that be their assurance never so great that Christ died for them yet there is enough to be laid to their charge to condemne them that though God is said to have reconciled them unto himselfe in Christ Colos 1. 19 20. yet indeed he is as angry with them as with any reprobate in the world that God loveth us not first but so long as we continue in a state of enmitie against him before our conversion he continues our enemy also so that the first act of friendship or love must be performed on our part notwithstanding that the Scripture saith we were reconciled unto God being enemies Romanes 5. vers 10. Thirdly Whither they have not hitherto supposed themselves bound to beleeve that Christ died for their sins and rose for their justification do they not thinke it lawfull to pray that God would bestow upon them grace and glory for Christs sake and to beleeve that Iesus Christ was such a Mediatour of the new Covenant as procured for the persons Covenanted withall all the good things comprehended in the promise of that Covenant I will not further presse upon this prevarication against Christian Religion only I would desire all the lovers of Iesus Christ seriously to consider whether these men doe truly ayme at his honour and advancing the dignitie of his merit and not rather at the crying up of their own indeavours seeing the sole cause of their denying these glorious effects of the blood of Christ is to appropriate the praise of them unto themselves as we shall see in the next Chapter These charges are never to be waved by the vanitie of their sophisticall distinctions as of that of impetration and application which though it may be received in an Orthodox meaning yet not in that sense or rather non-sense whereunto they abuse it viz. As though Christ had obtained that for some which shall never be imparted unto them that all the blessings procured by his death are proper to none but pendent in the aire for them that can or will catch them whereupon when we object that by this means all the efficacie of the merit of Christ is in our own power they readily grant it and say it cannot otherwise be let them that can receive these monsters in Christianitie for my part in these following contradictory assertions I will choose rather to adhere to the authoritie of the word of God then of Arminius and his sectaries S. S. He made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might become the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. He loved his Church and gave himselfe for it that he might present it unto himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such things Ephes 5. 26 27. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe 2 Cor. 5. 19. When thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53. 10. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant iustifie many for he shall beare their iniquities vers 11. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb. 9. 28. By his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption for us vers 12. He hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable Colos 1. 22. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins c. that he might be iust and the iustifier of him that beleeveth in Iesus Rom. 3. 25 26. Who his own selfe bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse by whose stripes we are healed 1 Peter 2. 24. Lib. Arbit The immediate effect of the death of Christ is not the remission of sins or the actuall redemption of any Armin. Christ did not properly die to save any one Grevinch A potentiall and conditionate reconciliation not actuall and absolute is obtained by the death of Christ Corvin I beleeve it might have come to passe that the death of Christ might have had its end though never any man had beleeved Corvi The death and satisfaction of Christ being accomplished yet it may so come to passe that none at all fulfilling the condition of the new covenant none might be saved idem The impetration of salvation for all by the death of Christ is nothing but the obtaining of a possibilitie thereof that God without wronging his iustice may open unto them a gate of mercy to be entred on some condition Rem Coll. Hag. Notwithstanding the death of Christ God might have assigned any other condition of salvation as well as faith or have chosen the Iews following the righteousnesse of the law Grevin Why then the efficacie of the death of Christ depends wholly on us true it cannot otherwise be Rem Apol. CHAP. X. Of the cause of faith grace and righteousnesse THE second part of this controversie is in particular concerning grace faith and holinesse sincere obedience to the precepts of the new Covenant all whose praise we appropriate to the most high by reason of a double interest First of the merit of Christ which doth procure them for us Secondly of the holy Spirit which works them in us the death of Christ is their
Covenant to wit grace and glory that by his death he might bring many yet some certaine children to glorie obtaining for them that were given unto him by his Father that is his whole Church reconciliation with God remission of sinnes faith righteousnesse sanctification and life eternall that is the end to which they are to be brought and the meanes whereby God will have them attaine it he died that he might gather the dispersed children of God and make them partakers of everlasting glory to give eternall life to all that God gave unto him Iohn 17. 2. And on this purpose of himselfe and his Father is founded the intercession of Christ for his elect and chosen people performed partly on the earth Iohn 17. partly in heaven before the Throne of grace which is nothing but a presentation of himselfe and his merits accompanied with the prayers of his Mediatour-ship before God that he would be pleased to grant and effectually to apply the good things he hath by them obtained to all for whom he hath obtained them his intercession in heaven is nothing but a continued oblation of himselfe So that whatsoever Christ impetrated merited or obtained by his death and passion must be infallibly applied unto and bestowed upon them for whom he intended to obtaine it or else his intercession is vaine he is not heard in the prayers of his mediatourship an actuall reconciliation with God and communication of grace and glory must needs betide all them that have any such interest in the righteousnesse of Christ as to have it accepted for their good the sole end why Christ would so dearely purchase those good things is an actuall application of them unto his chosen God set forth the propitiation of his blood for the remission of sinnes that he might be the iustifier of him that beleeveth on Jesus Rom 3. 25 26. But this part of the Controversie is not that which I principally intend onely I will give you a briefe summe of those reasons which overthrow their heresie in this particular branch thereof First the death of Christ is in divers places of the Scripture restrained to his people and elect his Church and sheepe Matth. 1. 21. Iohn 10. 11 12 13. Acts 20. 28. Ephes 5. 25. Iohn 11. 52. Rom. 8. 32 33. Heb 2. 10. 13. Revel 5. 9. Dan. 9. 27. and therefore the good purchased thereby ought not to be extended to dogges reprobates and those that are without Secondly for whom Christ died he died as their sponsor in their roome and turne that he might free them from the guilt and desert of death which is cleerely expressed Rom. 5. 6 7 8. He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Isa 53. 5 6 c. He hath redeemed us from the curse being made a curse for us Galat. 3. 13. He made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne 1 Cor. 5. 21. Evidently he changeth turnes with us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him yea in other things it is plaine in the Scripture that to die for another is to take his place and roome with an intention that he should live 2 Sam 18. 33. Rom. 5. So that Christ dying for men made satisfaction for their sins that they should not die now for what sins he made satisfaction for them the justice of God is satisfied which surely is not done for the sinnes of the reprobates because he justly punisheth them to eternitie upon themselves Matth. 5. 26. Thirdly for whom Christ died for them also he rose againe to make intercession for them for whose offences he was delivered for their iustification he was raised Rom. 4. 25. and Chap. 5. 10. He is a high Priest to make intercession for them in the holiest of holies for whom by his bloud he obtained everlasting redemption Heb. 9. 11. 12. Those two acts of his Priesthood are not to be separated it belongs to the same Mediator for sinne to sacrifice and pray our assurance that he is our Advocate is grounded on his being a propitiation for our sinnes he is an Advocate for every one for whose sinnes his blood was a propitiation 1 Iohn 2 1 2. But Christ doth not intercede and pray for all as himselfe often witnesseth Iohn 17. He maketh intercession onely for them who come unto God by him Heb. 7. 24. He is not a Mediatour of them that perish no more then and Advocate of them that faile in their suits and therefore the benefit of his death also must be restrained to them who are finally partakers of both we must not so dis-joyne the offices of Christs Mediatorship that one of them may be versated about some towards whom he exerciseth not the other much lesse ought we so to separate the severall acts of the same office For whom Christ is a Priest to offer himselfe a sacrifice for their sinnes he is surely a King to apply the good things purchased by his death unto them asb Arminius himselfe confesseth much more to whom he is a Priest by sacrifice he will be a Priest by intercession and therefore seeing he doth not intercede and pray for every one he did not die for every one Fourthly for whom Christ died he merited grace and glory faith and salvation and reconciliation with God as I shall shew hereafter but this he hath not done for all and every one many doe never beleeve the wrath of God remaineth upon some the wrath of God abideth on them that doe not beleeve 1 Iohn 3. 16. To abide argueth a continued uninterrupted act now to be reconciled to one and yet to lie under his heavie anger seeme to me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that will scarce consist together the reasons are many I onely point at the heads of some of them Fifthly Christ died for them whom God gave unto him to be saved Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me Ioh. 17. 6. He layeth downe his life for the sheepe committed to his charge Iohn 10. 11. But all are not the sheepe of Christ all are not given unto him of God to be brought to glory for of those that are so given there is not one that perisheth for he giveth eternall life to as many as God hath given him Iohn 17. 2. No man is able to plucke them out of his Fathers hands Chap. 10. 28 29. Sixthly looke whom and how many that love of God embraced that was the cause of sending his Son to redeeme them for them and so many did Christ according to the counsell of his Father and in himselfe intentionally lay downe his life now this love is not universall being his good pleasure of blessing with spirituall blessings and saving some in Christ Ephes 1. 4 5. which good pleasure of his evidently comprehendeth some when others are excluded Matth. 11. 25 26. yea the love of God in giving
Christ for us is of the same extent with that grace whereby he calleth us to faith or bestoweth faith on us for he hath called us with an holy calling according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Iesus Christ 2 Tim. 2. 9. which doubtlesse is not universall and common unto all Innumerable other reasons there are to prove that seeing God hath given his elect onely whom onely he loved to Christ to be redeemed and seeing that the Sonne loveth onely those who are given him of his Father and redeemeth onely whom he loveth seeing also that the holy Spirit the love of the Father and the Sonne sanctifieth all and onely them that are elected and redeemed it is not our part with a preposterous liberality against the witnesse of Christ himselfe to assigne the salvation attained by him as due to them that are with out the Congregation of them whom the Father hath loved and chosen without that Church which the Sonne loved and gave his life for it nor none of the members of that sanctified body whereof Christ is the Head and Saviour I urge no more because this is not that part of the Controversie that I desire to lay open I come now to consider the maine Question of this difference though sparingly handled by our Divines concerning what our Saviour merited and purchased for them for whom he died and here you shall finde the old Idol playing his prankes and quite devesting the merit of Christ from the least ability or power of doing us any good for though the Arminians pretend very speciously that Christ died for all men yet in effect they make him die for no one man at all and that by denying the effectuall operation of his death and ascribing the proper issues of his passion to the brave indevours of their owne Pelagian Deitie We according to the Scriptures plainly beleeve that Christ hath by his righteousnesse merited for us grace and glory that we are blessed with all spirituall blessings in though and for him that he is made unto us righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption that he hath procured for us and that God for his sake bestoweth on us every grace in this life that maketh us differ from others and all that glory we hope for in that which is to come he procured for us remission of all our sinnes an actuall reconciliation with God faith and obedience yea but this is such a desperate doctrine as stabs at the very heart of the Idol and would make him as altogether uselesse as if he were but a figgetree logge what remaineth for him to doe if all things in this great worke of our salvation must be thus ascribed unto Christ and the merit of his death Wherefore the worshippers of this great God Lib. Arbit oppose their engines against the whole fabricke and cry downe the title of Christs merits to these spirituall blessings in the behalfe of their imaginarie Deity Now because they are things of a two-fold denomination about which we contend before the king of heaven each part producing their evidence the first springing from the favour of God towards us the second from the working of his grace actually within us I shall handle them severally and apart especially because to things of this latter sort gifts as we call them enabling us to fulfill the condition required for the attaining of glory we lay a double claime on Gods behalfe First as the death of Christ is the meritorious cause procuring them of him Secondly as his free grace is their efficient cause working them in us they also producing a double title whereby they would invest their beloved darling with a sole proprietie in causing these effects First in regard that they are our owne acts performed in us and by us secondly as they are parts of our dutie which we are enjoyned to doe so that the quarrell is directly betweene Christs Merits and our owne free-will about procuring the favour of God and obtaining grace and righteousnesse let us see what they say to the first They affirme that the immediate and proper effect or end of the death and passion of Christ is not an actuall oblation of sinne from men not an actuall remission of iniquities iustification and redemption of any soule that is Christ his death is not the meritorious cause of the remission of our sins of redemption and justification the meritorious cause I say for of some of them as of justification as it is terminated in us we confesse there are causes of other kindes as faith is the instrument and the holy Spirit the efficient thereof But for the sole meritorious procuring cause of these spirituall blessings we alwaies took it to be the righteousnesse and death of Christ beleeving plainely that the end why Christ died and the fruit of his sufferings was our reconciliation with God redemption from our sinnes freedome from the curse deliverance from the wrath of God and power of hell though we be not actuall partakers of these things to the pacification of our owne consciences without the intervening operation of the holy Spirit and faith by him wrought in us But if this be not Pray what is obtained by the death of Christ Why a potentiall conditionate reconciliation not actuall and absolute saith Corvinus But yet this potentiall reconciliation being a new expression never intimated in the Scripture and scarce of it selfe intelligible we want a further explanation of their minde to know what it is that directly they assigne to the merits of Christ wherefore they tell us that the fruit of his death was such an impetration or obtaining of reconciliation with God and redemption for us that God thereby hath a power his iustice being satisfied and so not compelling him to the contrary to grant remission of sinnes to sinnefull men on what condition he would or as another speaketh it There was by the effusion of Christs blood a right obtained unto and settled in God of reconciling the world and of opening unto all a gate of repentance and faith in Christ But now whereas the Scripture every where affirmeth that Christ died for our good to obtaine blessings for us to purchase our peace to acquire and merit for us the good things contained in the promise of the Covenant this opinion seemes to restraine the end and fruit thereof to the obtaining of a power and libertie unto God of prescribing us a condition whereby we may be saved but yet it may be thus much at least Christ obtained of God in our behalfe that he should assigne faith in him to be this condition and to bestow it upon us also No neither the one nor the other after all this had it so seemed good unto his wisedome God might have chosen the Iewes and others following the righteousnesse of the law as well as beleevers because he might have assigned any other condition of salvation besides faith in Christ saith
Grevinchovius Notwithstanding then the death of Christ for us we might have beene held to the old rule Doe this and live but if this be true I cannot perceive how it may be said that Chrid died to redeeme us from our sins to save our soules and bring us unto glory neither perhaps doe they thinke this to be any great inconvenience for the same Authour affirmeth that Christ cannot be said properly to die to save any one And a little after he more fully declares himselfe That after Christ had obtained all that he did obtaine by his death the right remained wholly in God to apply it or not to apply it as it should seeme good unto him the application of grace and glory to any man was not the end for which Christ obtained them but to get a right and power unto God of bestowing those things on what sort of men he would which argues no redemption of us from our sinnes but a vindication of God from such a condition wherein he had not power to forgive them not an obtaining of salvation for us but of a libertie unto God of saving us on some condition or other But now after God hath got this power by the death of Christ and out of his gracious good pleasure assigned faith to be the meanes for us to attaine those blessings he hath procured himselfe a libertie to bestow Did Christ obtaine this faith for us of him if it be a thing not in our own power No Faith is not obtained by the death of Christ saith Corvinus so that there is no good thing no spirituall blessing into which any man in the world hath any interest by the death of Christ which is not so great an absurditie but that they are most ready to grant it Arnoldus confesseth that he beleeves that the death of Christ might have enioyed its end or his merit it s full force although never any had beleeved and againe the death and satisfaction of Christ being accomplished it might come to passe that none fulfilling the condition of the new Covenant none should be saved so also saith Grevinchovius Oh Christ that any pretending to professe thy holy Name should thus slight the precious worke of thy death and passion surely never any before who counted it their glory to be called Christians did ever thus extenuate their friends the Socinians onely excepted the dignitie of his merit and satisfaction take but a short view of what benefit they allow to redound to us by the effusion of his precious blood and you may see what a pestilent heresie these men have laboured to bring into the Church neither faith nor salvation grace nor glory hath he purchased for us not any spirituall blessing that by our interest in his death we can claime to be ours it is not such a reconciliation with God as that he thereupon should be contented againe to be called our God it is not justification nor righteousnesse nor actuall redemption from our sinnes it did not make satisfaction for our iniquities and deliver us from the curse onely it was a meanes of obtaining such a possibility of salvation as that God without wronging of his iustice might save us if he would one way or other so that when Christ had done all that he could there was not one man in the world immediately the better for it notwithstanding the utmost of his endeavour every one might have beene damned with Iudas to the pit of hell for he died as well for Simon Magus and Iudas as he did for Peter and Paul say the Arminians Now if no more good redound to us by the death of Christ then to Simon Magus we are not much obliged to him for our salvation Nay he may be rather said to have redeemed God then us for he procured for him immediately a power to redeeme us if he would for us onely by vertue of that power a possibilitie to be redeemed which leaves nothing of the nature of merit annexed to his death for that deserveth that something be done not onely that it may be done the workman deserveth that his wages be given him and not that it may be given him And then what becomes of all the comfort and consolation that is proposed to us in the death of Christ but it is time to see how this stubble is burned and consumed by the word of God and that established which they thought to overthrow First It is cleare that Christ died to procure for us an actuall reconciliation with God and not only a power for us to be reconciled unto him for when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne Rom. 5. 10. we enjoy an actuall reconciliation unto God by his death he is content to be called our God when we are enemies without the intervening of any condition on our part required though the sweetnesse comfort and knowledge of this reconciliation doe not compasse our soules before we beleeve in him Againe we have remission of sinnes by his blood and justification from them not a sole vindication into such an estate wherein if it please God and our selves our sinnes are pardonable for we are justified through the redemption that is in Iesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sinnes Rom. 3. 24 25. Yea he obtained for us by his death righteousnesse and holinesse He gave himselfe for his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it Ephes 5. 26. That he might present it unto himselfe a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle that we should be holy and without blemish vers 27. Where first we have whom Christ died or gave himselfe for even his Church secondly what he obtained for it holinesse and righteousnesse a freedome from the spots and blemishes of sinne that is the grace of justification and sanctitie he made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might become the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. And lastly he died to purchase for us an everlasting inheritance Heb. 9. 15. So that both grace and glory are bestowed on them for whom he died as the immediate fruits of his death and passion Secondly see what the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresly assigneth as the proper end and immediate effect according to the purpose of God and his owne intention of the effusion of the blood of Iesus Christ and you shall finde that he intended by it to take away the sinnes of many to make his soule an offering for sinne that he might see his seed that the counsell of God might prosper in his hand Isaiah 53. to be a ransome for many Matth. 20. 28. to beare the sins of many Heb. 9. 28. he bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we should live unto righteousnesse 1 Pet. 2. 24. that we might become
and that powerfully by the effectuall operation of his holy Spirit to which the Arminians oppose a seeming necessitie that they must needs be our owne acts contradistinct from his gifts because they are in us and commanded by him the head then of this contention betwixt our God and their Idol about the living child of grace is whether he can worke that in us which he requireth of us let us heare them pleading their cause It is most certaine that that ought not to be commanded which is wrought in us and that cannot be wrought in us which is commanded he foolishly commandeth that to be done of others who will worke in them what he commandeth saith their Apologie O foolish Saint Prosper who thought that it was the whole Pelagian heresie to say That there is neither praise nor worth as ours in that which Christ bestoweth upon us foolish Saint Augustine praying Give us O Lord what thou commandest and command what thou wilt foolish Benedict Bishop of Rome who gave such a forme to his prayer as must needs cast an aspersion of folly on the most high O Lord saith he teach us what we should do shew us whither we should goe worke in us what we ought to performe O foolish Fathers of the second Arausican Councel affirming that many good things are done in man which he doth not himselfe but a man doth no good which God doth not so worke that he should doe it And againe as often as we doe good God worketh in us and with us that we may so worke In one word this makes fooles of all the Doctors of the Church who ever opposed the Pelagian heresie in as much as they all unanimously maintained that we are partakers of no good thing in this kinde without the effectuall powerfull operation of the Almightie grace of God and yet our faith and obedience so wrought in us to be most acceptable unto him yea what shall we say to the Lord himselfe in one place commanding us to feare him and in another promising that he will put his feare into our hearts that we shall not depart from him is his command foolish or his promise false the Arminians must affirme the one or renounce their heresie but of this after I have a little farther laid open this monstrous errour from their owne words and writings Can any one say they wisely and seriously prescribe the performance of a condition to another under the promise of a reward and threatning of punishment who will effect it in him to whom it is prescribed this is a ridiculous action scarce worthy of the Stage that is seeing Christ hath affirmed that whosoever beleeveth shall be saved and he that beleeveth not shall be damned Matth. 16. 16. whereby faith is established the condition of salvation and unbeleefe threatned with hell If God should by his holy Spirit ingenerate faith in the hearts of any causing them so to fulfill the condition it were a meere mockery to be exploded from a Theater as an unlikely fiction which what an aspersion it casts upon the whole Gospel of Christ yea on all Gods dealling with the children of men ever since by reason of the fall they became unable of themselves to fulfill his commands I leave to all mens silent judgements well then seeing they must be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things inconsistent that God should be so righteous as to shew us our dutie and yet so good and mercifull as to bestow his graces on us let us heare more of this stuffe faith and conversion cannot be our obedience if they are worught in us by God say they at the Hague and Episcopius That it is a most absurd thing to affirme that God either effects by his power or procureth by his wisedeme that the elect should doe those things that he requireth of them So that where the Scripture cals faith the gift and worke of God they say it is an improper locution in as much as he commands it properly it is an act or worke of our owne And for that renowned saying of Saint Augustine that God crowneth his own gifts in us that it is not to be received without a graine of salt That is some such glosse as wherewith they corrupt the Scripture the summe at which they aime is that to affirme that God bestoweth any grace upon us or effectually worketh them in us contradicteth his word requiring them as our dutie and obedience by which means they have erected their Idol into the throne of Gods free grace and mercy and attribute unto it all the praise due to those many heavenly qualifications the servants of God are endowed withall for they never have more good in them no nor so much as is required all that they have or doe is but their dutie which how derogatorie it is to the merit of Christ themselves seeme to acknowledge when they affirme that he is no otherwise said to be a Saviour then are all they who confirme the way to salvation by preaching miracles martyrdome and example so that having quite overthrowne the merits of Christ they grant us to be our owne Saviours in a very large sense Rem Apol. fol. 96. All which assertions how contrary they are to the expresse word of God I shall now demonstrate There is not one of all those plaine texts of Scripture not one of those innumerable and invincible arguments whereby the effectuall working of Gods grace in the conversion of a sinner his powerfull translating us from death to life from the state of sinne and bondage to the libertie of the sonnes of God which doth not overthrow this prodigious error I will content my selfe with instancing in some few of them which are directly opposite unto it even in termes First Deuter. 10. 16. The Lord commandeth the Israelites to circumcise the fore-skin of their hearts and to be no more stiffe necked so that the circumcising of their hearts was a part of their obedience it was their dutie so to do in obedience to Gods commands and yet in the 30. Chapter vers 6. he affirmeth that he will circumcise their hearts that they might love the Lord their God with all their hearts So that it seemes the same thing in divers respects may be Gods act in us and our dutie towards him and how the Lord will here escape the Arminian censure that if his words be true in the latter place his command in the former is vaine and foolish ipse viderit let him plead his cause and avenge himselfe on those that rise up against him Secondly Ezek. 18. 31. Make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die O house of Israel The making of a new heart and a new spirit is here required under a promise of a reward of life and a great threatning of eternall death so that so to doe must needs be a part of their dutie and obedience
as doth Grevinchovius I make my selfe saith he differ from another when I doe not resist God and his divine predetermination which I could have resisted why may I not boast of this as of mine own that I could is of Gods mercy endowing his nature with such an abilitie as you heard before but that I would when I might have done otherwise is of mine power Now when after all this they are forced to confesse some Evangelicall grace though consisting only in a morall perswasion by the outward preaching of the word they teach Thirdly That God sendeth the Gospel and revealeth Christ Iesus unto men according as they well dispose themselves for such a blessing Sometimes say they in their Synodicall writings God calleth this or that nation people citie or person to the communion of Evangelicall grace whom he himselfe pronounceth worthy of it in comparison of others So that whereas Acts 18. 10. God encourageth Paul to preach at Corinth by affirming that he had much people in that citie which doubtlesse were his people then only by vertue of their election in these mens judgements they were called so because that even then they feared God and served him with all their hearts according to that knowledge they had of him and so were ready to obey the preaching of Saint Paul strange doctrine that men should feare God know him serve him in sinceritie before they ever heard of the Gospel and by those means deserve that it should be preached unto them this is that pleasing of God before faith that they plead for Act. Synod fol. 60. That preparation and disposition to beleeve which men attaine by the Law and vertuous education that something which is in sinners whereby though they are not iustified yet they are made worthy of iustification for conversion and the performance of good works is in their apprehension a condition prerequired to iustification for so speake the children of Arminius which which if it be not an expression not to be paralelled in the writings of any Christian I am something mistaken the summe of their doctrine then in this particular concerning the power of Free-will in the state of sin and unregeneration is That every man having a native inbred power of beleeving in Christ upon the revelation of the Gospel hath also an abilitie of doing so much good as shall procure of God that the Gospel be preached unto him to which without any internall assistance of grace he can give assent and yeeld obedience the preparatory acts of his own will alwayes proceeding so farre as to make him excell others who do not performe them and are therefore excluded from further grace Which is more grosse Pelagianisme then Pelagius himselfe would ever justifie wherefore we reject all the former positions as so many monsters in Christian Religion in whose roome we assert these that follow First That we being by nature dead in trespasses and sinnes have no power to prepare our selves for the receiving of Gods grace nor in the least measure to beleeve and turne our selves unto him Not that we deny that there are any conditions pre-required in us for our conversion dispositions preparing us in some measure for our new birth or regeneration but we affirme that all these also are the effects of the grace of God relating to that alone as their proper cause for of our selves Without him we can do nothing Ioh. 15. 15. We are not able of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3. 5. much lesse doe that which is good in respect of that every one of our mouthes must be stopped for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 5. 19. 23. We are by nature the children of wrath dead in trespasses and sins Ephes 2. 1. Rom. 8. 9. our new birth is a resurrection from death wrought by the greatnesse of Gods power and what abilitie I pray hath a dead man to prepare himselfe for for his resurrection can he collect his scattered dust or renew his perished senses If the Leopard can change his spots and the Aethiopian his skin then can we doe good who by nature are taught to doe evill Ierem. 13. 23. we are all ungodly and without strength considered when Christ died for us Rom. 5. 6. wise to do evill but to doe good we have no strength no knowledge Yea all the faculties of our soules by reason of that spirituall death under which we are detained by the corruption of nature are altogether uselesse in respect of any power for the doing of that which is truly good our understandings are blind or darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in us because of the blindnesse of our hearts Ephes 4. 18. whereby we become even darknesse it selfe Chap. 5. 8. so voide is the understanding of true knowledge that the naturall man receiveth not the things that are of God they are foolishnesse unto him 1 Cor. 2. 14. nothing but confounded and amazed at spirituall things and if he doth not mocke can doe nothing but wonder and say what meaneth this Act. 2. 12 13. Secondly we are not only blind in our understandings but captives also to sinne in our wils Luk. 4. 18. Whereby we are servants to sinne Iohn 8. 34. Free onely in our obedience to that Tyran Rom. 6. Yea thirdly all our affections are wholly corrupted for every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evill continually Genes 6. 5. While we are in the flesh the motions of sinne doe worke in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Rom. 7. 5. These are the endowments of our nature these are the preparations of our hearts for the grace of God which we have within our selves Nay Secondly there is not onely an impotencie but an enmitie in corrupted nature to any thing spiritually good The things that are of God are foolishnesse unto a naturall man 1 Cor. 2. 14. And there is nothing that men doe more hate and contemne then that which they account as folly They mock at it as a ridiculous drunkennesse Act. 2. 13. And would to God our dayes yeelded us not too evident proofes of that universall opposition that is betweene light and darkenesse Christ and Beliall Nature and Grace that we could not see every day the prodigious issues of this in-bred corruption swelling over all bounds and breaking forth into a contempt of the Gospel and all wayes of godlinesse So true it is that the carnall minde is enmitie against God it is not subiect unto his law neither indeed can it be Rom. 8. 7. So that Thirdly as a naturall man by the strength of his owne free-will neither knoweth nor willeth so it is utterly impossible he should doe any thing pleasing unto God Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then can he doe good Ieremy 13. An evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit