thy sweetest mercy Amen Amen Amen CHAP. VI. Of Concupiscence and Original sin and whether or no or how far we are bound to repent of it §. 1. ORiginal sin is so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or figuratively meaning the sin of Adam which was committed in the Original of mankinde by our first Parent and which hath influence upon all his posterity Nascuntur non propriè De civit lib. 16. c. 18. sed originalitèr peccatores So S. Austin and therefore S. Ignatius cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the old impiety Epist ad Trallian that which was in the original or first Parent of mankinde This sin brought upon Adam all that God threatned but no more A certainty of dying together with the proper effects and affections of mortality was inflicted on him and he was reduced to the condition of his own nature and then begat sons and daughters in his own likeness that is in the proper temper and constitution of mortal men For as God was not bound to give what he never promised viz. an immortal duration and abode in this life so neither does it appear in that angry entercourse that God had with Adam that he took from him or us any of our natural perfections but his graces onely Man being left in this state of pure Naturals could not by his own strength arrive to a supernatural end which was typified in his being cast out of Paradise and the guarding it with the flaming sword of a Cherub For eternal life being an end above our natural proportion cannot be acquir'd by any natural means Neither Adam nor any of his posterity could by any actions or holiness obtain heaven by desert or by any natural efficiency for it is a gift still and it is neque currentis neque operantis neither of him that runneth nor of him that worketh but of God who freely gives it to such persons whom he also by other gifts and graces hath dispos'd toward the reception of it What gifts and graces or supernatural endowments God gave to Adam in his state of Innocence we know not God hath no where told us and of things unrevealed we commonly make wild conjectures But after his fall we finde no sign of any thing but of a common man And therefore as it was with him so it is with us our nature cannot goe to heaven without the helps of the Divine grace so neither could his and whether he had them or no it is certain we have receiving more by the second Adam then we did lose by the first and the sons of God are now spiritual which he never was that we can finde But concerning the sin of Adam tragical things are spoken it destroyed his original righteousness and lost it to us for ever it corrupted his nature and corrupted ours and brought upon him and not him onely but on us also who thought of no such thing an inevitable necessity of sinning making it as natural to us to sin as to be hungry or to be sick and die and the consequent of these things is saddest of all we are born enemies of God sons of wrath and heirs of eternal damnation In the meditation of these sad stories I shall separate the certain from the uncertain that which is reveal'd from that which is presum'd that which is reasonable from that which makes too bold reflexions upon Gods honour and the reputation of his justice and his goodness I shall doe it in the words of the Apostle from whence men commonly dispute in this Question right or wrong according as it happens By one man sin came into the world That sin entred into the world by Adam Rom. 5.12 is therefore certain because he was the first man and unless he had never sinn'd it must needs enter by him for it comes in first by the first and Death by sin that is Death which at first was the condition of nature became a punishment upon that account just as it was to the Serpent to creep upon his belly and to the Woman to be subject to her Husband These things were so before and would have been so for the Apostle pressing the duty of subjection gives two reasons why the woman was to obey One of them onely was derived from this sin the other was the prerogative of creation for Adam was first formed 1 Tim. 2.13 then Eve so that before her fall she was to have been subject to her husband because she was later in being she was a minor and therefore under subjection she was also the weaker vessel But it had not been a curse and if any of them had been hindred by grace and favour by Gods anger they were now left to fall back to the condition of their nature Death passed upon all men That is upon all the old world who were drowned in the floud of the Divine vengeance and who did sin after the similitude of Adam And therefore S. Paul addes that for the reason In as much as all men have sinned If all men have sinned upon their own account as it is certain they have then these words can very well mean that Adam first sinned and all his sons and daughters sinned after him and so died in their own sin by a death which at first and in the whole constitution of affairs is natural and a death which their own sins deserved but yet which was hastned or ascertained upon them the rather for the sin of their progenitor Sin propagated upon that root and vicious example or rather from that beginning not from that cause but dum ita peccant similiter moriuntur If they sin so then so shall they die so S. Hierome But this is not thought sufficient and men doe usually affirm that we are formally and properly made sinners by Adam and in him we all by interpretation sinned and therefore think these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forasmuch as all men have sinned ought to be expounded thus Death passed upon all men In whom all men have sinned meaning that in Adam we really sinn'd and God does truly and justly impute his sin to us to make us as guilty as he that did it and as much punish'd and liable to eternal damnation And all the great force of this fancy relies upon this exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signify in him Concerning which there will be the less need of a laborious inquiry if it be observed that the words being read Forasmuch as all men have sinned bear a fair and clear discourse and very intelligible if it be rendred In him it is violent and hard a distinct period by it self without dependence or proper purpose against the faith of all copies who do not make this a distinct period and against the usual manner of speaking 2. This phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in 2 Cor. 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not for that we would be unclothed and so it is
used in Polybius Suidas and Varâ—nu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is eâ condition for that cause or condition and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad quid ades are the words of the Gospel as Suidas quotes them 3. Although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom or in him yet it is so very seldome or infrequent that it were intolerable to do violence to this place to force it to an unnatural signification 4. If it did alwayes signifie the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in him which it does not yet we might very well follow the same reading we now do and which the Apostles discourse does infer for even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does divers times signifie forasmuch or for that as is to be seen in Rom. 8.3 and Heb. 2.18 But 5. supposing all that can be and that it did signifie in whom yet the sense were fair enough as to the whole article for by him or in him we are made sinners that is brought to an evil state of things usually consequent to sinners we are us'd like sinners by him or in him just as when a sinner is justified he is treated like a righteous person as if he had never sinned though he really did sin oftentimes and this for his sake who is made righteousness to us so in Adam we are made sinners that is treated ill and afflicted though our selves be innocent of that sin which was the occasion of our being us'd so severely for other sins of which we were not innocent But how this came to pass is told in the following words For untill the law sin was in the world V. 13 14. but sin is not imputed when there is no law Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression who is the figure of him that was to come By which discourse it appears that S. Paul does not speak of all mankinde as if the evil occasion'd by Adams sin did descend for ever upon that account but it had a limited effect and reach'd onely to those who were in the interval between Adam and Moses This death was brought upon them by Adam that is death which was threatned to Adam onely went forth upon them also who indeed were sinners but not after the similitude of Adams transgression that is who sinn'd not so capitally as he did For to sin like Adam is used as a Tragical and a high expression Hos 6.7 So it is in the Prophet They like men have transgressed so we reade it but in the Hebrew it is They like Adam have transgressed and yet death pass'd upon them that did not sin after the similitude of Adam for Abel and Seth and Abraham and all the Patriarchs died Enoch onely excepted and therefore it was no wonder that upon the sin of Adam death entred upon the world who generally sinn'd like Adam since it passed on and reigned upon less sinners * It reigned upon them whose sins therefore would not be so imputed as Adams was because there was no law with an express threatning given to them as was to Adam but although it was not wholly imputed upon their own account yet it was imputed upon theirs and Adams For God was so exasperated with Mankinde that being angry he would still continue that punishment even to the lesser sins and sinners which he onely had first threatned to Adam and so Adam brought it upon them They indeed in rigour did themselves deserve it but if it had not been for that provocation by Adam they who sinn'd not so bad and had not been so severely and expresly threatned had not suffer'd so severely * The case is this Jonathan and Michal were Sauls children it came to pass that seven of Sauls issue were to be hanged all equally innocent equally culpable David took the five sons of Michal for she had left him unhandsomely Jonathan was his friend and therefore he spar'd his son Mephibosheth Here it was indifferent as to the guilt of the persons whether David should take the sons of Michal or of Jonathan but it is likely that as upon the kindeness which David had to Jonathan he spar'd his son so upon the just provocation of Michal he made that evil to fall upon them of which they were otherwise capable which it may be they should not have suffered if their Mother had been kinde Adam was to God as Michal to David But there was in it a further design for by this dispensation of death Adam was made a figure of Christ So the Apostle expresly affirms who is the figure of him that was to come that as death pass'd upon the posterity of Adam though they sinn'd less then Adam so life should be given to the followers of Christ though they were imperfectly righteous that is not after the similitude of Christs perfection But for the further clearing the Article depending upon the right understanding of these words these two things are observable 1. That the evil of death descending upon Adams posterity for his sake went no further then till Moses For after the giving of Moses law death passed no further upon the account of Adams transgression but by the sanction of Moses law where death was anew distinctly and expresly threatned as it was to Adam and so went forward upon a new score but introduc'd first by Adam that is he was the cause at first and till Moses also he was in some sense the author and for ever after the precedent and therefore the Apostle said well In Adam we all die his sin brought in the sentence in him it began and from him it passed upon all the world though by several dispensations 2. In the discourse of the Apostle those that were nam'd were not consider'd simply as born from Adam and therefore it did not come upon the account of Natural or Original corruption but they were consider'd as Sinners just as they who have life by Christ are not consider'd as meerly children by title or spiritual birth and adoption but as just and faithful But then this is the proportion and purpose of the Apostle as God gives to these life by Christ which is a greater thing then their imperfect righteousness without Christ could have expected so here also this part of Adams posterity was punish'd with death for their own sin but this death was brought upon them by Adam that is the rather for his provocation of God by his great transgression There is now remaining no difficulty but in the words of the 19 verse By one mans disobedience many were made sinners Concerning which I need not make use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or many whom sometimes S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and many that is all from Adam to Moses but they are but many and not all in respect of
what comes between And as many men of the Roman perswasion will rather choose Purgatory then suffer here an inconsiderable penance or do those little services which themselves think will prevent it so they choose venial sins and hug the pleasures of trifles warming themselves at phantastick fires and dancing in the light of the glo-worms and they love them so well that rather then quit those little things they will suffer the intolerable pains of a temporary Hell for so they believe which is the testimony of a great evil and a mighty danger for it gives testimony that little sins can be beloved passionately and therefore can minister such a delight as is thought a price great enough to pay for the sufferance of temporal evils and Purgatory it self But the evil is worse yet when it is reduc'd to practise For in the decision of very many questions the answer is It is a venial sin that is though it be a sin yet there is in it no danger of losing the favour of God by that but you may do it and you may do it again a thousand thousand times and all the venial sins of the world put together can never do what one mortal sin can that is make God to be your enemy Lib. 1. de amiss gratiae cap. 13. §. alterum est So Bellarmine expresly affirms But because there are many Doctors who write Cases of Conscience and there is no measure to limit the parts of this distinction for that which is not at all cannot be measured the Doctors differ infinitely in their sentences some calling that Mortal which others call Venial as you may see in the little Summaries of Navar and Emanuel Sà the poor souls of the Laity and the vulgar Clergy who believe what is told them by the Authors or Confessors they choose to follow must needs be in infinite danger and the whole body of Practical Divinity in which the life of Religion and of all our hopes depends shall be rendred dangerous and uncertain and their confidence shall betray them unto death To bring relief to this state of evil and to establish aright the proper grounds and measures of Repentance I shall first account concerning the difference of sins and by what measures they are so differenc'd 2. That all sins are of their own nature punishable as God please even with the highest expressions of his anger 3. By what Repentance they are cur'd and pardon'd respectively §. 2. Of the difference of sins and their measures 1. SIns are not equal but greater or less in their principle as well as in their event It was one of the errours of Jovinian which he learned from the Schools of the Stoicks that all sins are alike grievous Nam dicunt esse pares res Horat. Serm. l. 1. Sat. 3. Furta latrociniis magnis parva minantur Falce recisuros simili se si sibi regnum Permittant homines For they supposed an absolute irresistible Fate to be the cause of all things and therefore what was equally necessary was equally culpable that is not at all and where men have no power of choice or which is all one that it be necessary that they choose what they do there can be no such thing as Laws or sins against them To which they adding that all evils are indifferent and the event of things be it good or bad had no influence upon the felicity or infelicity of man they could neither be differenc'd by their cause nor by their effect the first being necessary and the latter indifferent * Against this I shall not need to oppose many Arguments for though this follows most certainly from their doctrine who teach an irresistible Decree of God to be the cause of all things actions yet they that own the doctrine disavow the consequent and in that are good Christians but ill Logicians But the Article is sufficiently cleared by the words of our B. Lord in the case of Judas whose sin as Christ told to Pilate was the greater because he had not power over him but by special concession Mat. 23.24 Luk. 6.41 in the case of the servant that knows his Masters will and does it not in the several condemnations of the degrees and expressions of anger in the instances of Racha and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Ira festuca est odium verò trabs Aug. Thou vain man or Thou fool by this comparing some sins to gnats and some to Camels and in proportion to these there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Luke many stripes a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. James a greater condemnation * Ira festuca est odium verò trabs Aug. Thus to rob a Church is a greater sin then to rob a Thief To strike a Father is a higher impiety then to resist a Tutor To oppress a Widow is clamorous and calls aloud for vengeance when a less repentance wil vote down the whispering murmurs of a trifling injury done to a fortune that is not sensible of smaller diminutions Nec vincit ratio tantundem ut peccet idémque Qui teneros caules alieni fregerit horti Vt qui nocturnus Divûm sacra legerit He is a greater criminal that steals the Chalice from a Church then he that takes a few Coleworts or robs a garden of Cucumers But this distinction and difference is by something that is extrinsecal to the action the greatness of the mischief or the dignity of the person according to that Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet quanto major qui peccat habetur 2. But this when it is reduc'd to its proper cause is because such greater sins are complicated they are commonly two or three sins wrapt together as the unchastity of a Priest is uncleanness and scandal too Adultery is worse then Fornication because it is unchastity and injustice and by the fearful consequents of it is mischievous and uncharitable Et quas Euphrates quas mihi misit Orontes Me capiant Nolo furta pudica thori So Sacrilege is theft and impiety And Apicius killing himself when he suppos'd his estate would not maintain his luxury was not onely a self-murtherer but a gluttonous person in his death Nil est Apici tibi gulosius factum Lib. 3.22 Epign Mart. So that the greatness of sins is in most instances by extension and accumulation that as he is a greater sinner who sins often in the same instance then he that sins seldome so is he who sins such sins as are complicated and intangled like the twinings of combining Serpents And this appears to be so because if we take single sins as uncleanness and theft no man can tell which is the greater sin neither can they be differenc'd but by something that is besides the nature of the action it self A thought of theft and an unclean thought have nothing by which they can excel each other but when you clothe them
S. Austin represents himself as a sad instance of this particular I was afraid lest God should hear me when I prayed against my lust As I fear'd death Lib. 8. Confess c. 7. c. 5. so dreadful it was to me to change my custome Velle meum tenebat inimicus inde mihi catenam fecerat constrinxerat me Quippe ex voluntate perversâ facta est libido dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudini non resistitur facta est necessitas The Devil had made a chain for him and bound his will in fetters of darkness His perverse will made his lust grow high and while he serv'd his lust he superinduc'd a custome upon himself and that in time brought upon him a necessity For as an old disease hath not onely afflicted the part of its proper residence and by its abode made continual diminution of his strength but made a path also and a channel for the humours to run thither which by continual defluxion have digg'd an open passage and prevail'd beyond all the natural powers of resistance So is an habitual vice it hath debauch'd the understanding and made it to believe foolish things it hath abus'd the will and made it like a diseased appetite in love with filthy things it is like an evil stomach that makes a man eat unwholsome meat against his Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's a sad calamity when a man sees what is good and yet cannot follow it nay that he should desire it and yet cannot lay hold upon it for his faculties are bound in fetters the habit hath taken away all those strengths of Reason and Religion by which it was hindred and all the objections by which it was disturbed and all that tenderness by which it was uneasie and now the sin is chosen and believ'd and lov'd it is pleasant and easie usual and necessary and by these steps of progression enters within the iron gates of death seal'd up by fate and a sad decree And therefore Simplicius upon Epictetus speaking of Medea seeing and approving good things by her understanding but yet without power to do them sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is to no purpose for us to think and to desire well unless we adde also deeds consonant to those right opinions and fair inclinations But that 's the misery of an evil habit in such as have them all may be well till you come to action Their principles good their discoursings right their resolutions holy their purposes strong their great interest understood their danger weighed and the sin hated and declaimed against for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have begun well and are instructed but because of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their intemperance and softness of spirit produc'd by vile customes there is as Plutarch observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fatal bestiality in the men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch they sin and can neither will nor choose They are driven to death and they see themselves crown'd with garlands for the Sacrifice and yet go to their ruine merry as the Minstrels and the temptations that entertain and attend those horrid rites Trinummus Scibam ut esse me deceret facere non quibam miser said he in the Comedy I knew it well enough how I should comport my self but I was so wretched that I could not do it Now all this being the effect of a vicious habit and not of sinful actions it being the product and sad consequent of a quality introduc'd first by actions so much evil cannot be caused and produc'd immediately by that which is innocent As the fruit is such is the tree But let us try further 3. A vicious habit makes our recovery infinitely difficult our vertues troublesome our restitution uncertain In the beginnings of his return it is most visible For even after we are entring into pardon and the favour of God we are forc'd to fight for life we cannot delight in Gods service or feel Christs yoke so easie as of it self it is For a vicious habit is a new Concupiscence and superinduces such contradictions to the supernatural contentions and designs of grace it calls back nature from its remedy and purifications of Baptism and makes such new aptnesses that the punishment remains even after the beginning of the sins pardon and that which is a natural punishment of the sinful actions is or may be morally a sin as the lust which is produc'd by gluttony And when a man hath entertain'd a holy sorrow for his sins and made holy vows of obedience and a new life he must be forc'd to contend for every act of duty and he is daily tempted and the temptation is strong and his progression is slow he marches upon sharp-pointed stones where he was not us'd to go and where he hath no pleasure He is forc'd to do his duty as he takes Physick where reason and the grace of God make him consent against his inclination and to be willing against his will He is brought to that state of sorrow that either he shall perish for ever or he must do more for heaven then is needful to be done by a good man whose body is chaste and his spirit serene whose will is obedient and his understanding well inform'd whose temptations are ineffective and his strengths great who loves God and is reconcil'd to duty who delights in Religion and is at rest when he is doing God service But an habitual sinner even when he begins to return and in some measure loves God hath yet too great fondnesses for his enemy his repentances are imperfect his hatred and his love mixt nothing is pure nothing is whole nothing is easie So that the bands of holiness are like a yoke shaken upon the neck they fret the labouring Ox and make his work turn to a disease and as Isaac he marches up the hill with the wood upon his shoulders and yet for ought he knows himself may become the Sacrifice S. Austin complains that it was his own case He was so accustomed to the apertures and free emissions of his lust so pleas'd with the entertainments so frequent in the imployment so satisfied in his minde so hardned in his spirit so ready in his choice so peremptory in his foul determinations that when he began to consider that death stood at the end of that life he was amaz'd to see himself as he thought without remedy and was not to be recover'd but by a long time and a mighty grace the perpetual the daily the nightly prayers and violent importunities of his Mother the admirable Precepts and wise deportments of S. Ambrose the efficacy of truth the horrible fears of damnation hourly beating upon his spirit with the wings of horrour and affrightment and after all with a mighty uneasiness and a discomposed spirit he was by the good hand of God dragg'd from his fatal ruine
hates as to condemne the innocent He will by no means acquit the guilty It was part of his Name which he caused to be proclaimed in the Camp of Israel And if this could be otherwise a man might be in the state of sin and the state of grace at the same time which hitherto all Theology hath believ'd to be impossible 7. This whole Question is clear'd by a large discourse of S. Paul For having under the person of an unregenerate man complain'd of the habitual state of prevailing sin of one who is a slave to sin Rom. 7.14 sold under sin captive under a law of sin that is under vile inclinations and high pronenesses and necessities of sinning so that when he is convinc'd that he ought not to doe it yet he cannot help it though he fain would have it help'd 19 c. yet he cannot obey his own will but his accursed superinduc'd necessities and his sin within him was the ruler that and not his own better choyce was the principle of his actions which is the perfect character of an habitual sinner he inquires after a remedy for all this which remedy he cals a being delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the body of this death The remedy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace of God through Jesus Christ for by Christ alone we can be delivered But what is to be done the extermination of this dominion and Empire of concupiscence the breaking of the kingdome of sin That being the evil he complains of and of which he seeks remedy that is to be remov'd But that we may well understand to what sense and in what degree this is to be done in the next periods he describes the contrary state of deliverance by the parts and characters of an habit or state of holiness which he cals a walking after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 c. opposed to a walking after the flesh It was a law in his members a law of sin and death Now he is to be made free by a contrary law the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus That is as sin before gave him law so now must the Spirit of God whereas before he minded the things of the flesh now he minds the things of the spirit that is the carnal-mindedness is gone and a spiritual-mindedness is the principle and ruler of his actions This is the deliverance from habitual sins even no other then by habitual graces wrought in us by the spirit of life by the grace of our Lord Jesus And this whole affair is rarely well summ'd up by the same Apostle Rom. 6.19 As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness If ye were servants before so ye must be now it is but justice and reason that at least as much be done for God as for the Devil It is not enough morally to revoke what is past by a wishing it had not been done but you must oppose a state to a state a habit to a habit And the Author of the Book of Baruch presses it further yet Baruch 4.28 As it was your minde to go astray from God so being returned seek him ten times more It ought not to be less it must be as S. Chrysostome expresses it In Act. 4. hom 10 A custome against a custome a habit opposed to a habit that the evil may be driven out by the good as one nail is by another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vandalic â—1 said Procopius In those things where you have sinned to profit and to increase and improve to their contraries that is the more comely way to pardon 8. Either a habit of vertue is a necessary disposition to the pardon of a habit of vice or else the doctrine of mortification of the lusts of the flesh of all the lusts of all the members of the old man is nothing but a counsel and a caution of prudence but it contains no essential and indispensable duty For mortification is a long contention and a course of difficulty it is to be done by many arts and much caution and a long patience and a diligent observation by watchfulness and labour the work of every day the employment of all the prudence and all the advices of good men and the whole grace of God It is like the curing of a Hectick feaver which one potion will not doe Origen does excellently describe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a word is strengthened and nourished by care and assiduity and confirmed by opinions and wise sentences or near to confirmation it masters all oppositions and breaks in pieces the concupiscence This is the manner of mortification there must be resolutions and discourses assiduity and diligence auxiliaries from reason and wise sentences and advices of the prudent and all these must operate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto a confirmation or near it and by these the concupiscence can be master'd But this must be a work of time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Menander To dissolve a long custome in a short time is a work indeed but very hard if not impossible to be done by any man A man did not suddenly come to the state of evil from whence he is to arise Nemo repentè fuit turpissimus S. Basil homil 9. But as a man coming into a pestilential air does not suck in death at every motion of his lungs but by little and little the spirits are poysoned and at last enter into their portion of death so it is in a vicious custome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stob. The evil is not felt instantly it begins from little things and is the production of time and frequent actions And therefore much less can it be supposed that we can overcome our filthy habits and master our fortified corruptions by a sudden dash of piety and the ex tempore gleams of repentance Concerning this S. In regul fusiùs disput q. 6. 55. Basil discourses excellently Sicut enim morbi corporis inveterati c. For as the old diseases of the body are not healed without a long and painful attendance so must old sins be cured by a long patience a daily prayer and the sharpest contention of the spirit That which is died with many dippings is in grain and can very hardly be washed out Sic anima sanie peccatorum suppurata in habitu constituta malitiae vix ac multo negotio â—â—ui potest So is the soul when it is corrupted with the poyson of sin and hath contracted a malicious habit it can scarce but not without much labour be made clean Now since we say our nature is inclined to sin and we feel it to be so in many instances and yet that it needs time and progression to get a habit of that whither we too naturally tend we have reason to
contracted the habit of a sin especially of youthful sins unless the habit of vertue be oppos'd to the instance of his sin he cannot be safe nor penitent For while the temptation and fierce inclinations remain it cannot be a cure to this to doe acts of Charity he must doe acts of Chastity or else he will fall or continue in his uncleanness which in old persons will not be Here the sin still tempts by natural inclination and commands by the habit and therefore as there can be no Repentance while the affections remain so neither can there be safety as long as the habit hath a natural being The first begins with a moral revocation of the sin and the same hath also its progression perfection and security by the extinction of the inherent quality 4. Let the penitent seek to obstruct or divert the proper principles of evil habits for by the same by which they begin commonly by the same they are nursed up to their ugly bulke There are many of them that attend upon the Prince of Darkness and minister to the filthy production Evil examples Natural inclinations false propositions evil prejudices indulgence to our own infirmities and many more but especially a cohabitation with the temptation by which we fell and did enter into death and by which we use to fall * There are some men more in love with the temptation then with the sin and because this rushes against the Conscience rudely and they see death stand at the end of the progression therefore they onely love to stand upon Mount Ebal and view it They resolve they will not commit the sin they will not be overcome but they would fain be tempted If these men will but observe the contingencies of their own own state they shall finde that when they have set the house on fire they cannot prescribe its measures of burning * But there is a secret iniquity in it For he that loves to stand and stare upon the fire that burnt him formerly is pleas'd with the warmth and splendour and the temptation it self hath some little correspondencies to the appetite The man dares not fornicate but loves to look upon the beauties of a woman or sit with her at the wine till his heart is ready to drop asleep He will not enter into the house because it is infected with the plague but he loves to stand at the door and fain would enter if he durst It is impossible that any man should love to abide by a temptation for a good end There is some little sensuality in being tempted And the very consideration concerning it sometimes strikes the fancy too unluckily and pleases some faculty or other as much as the man dares admit * I doe not say that to be tempted is always criminal or in the neighbourhood of it but it is the best indication of our love to God for his sake to deny its importunity and to overcome it but that is onely when it is unavoidable and from without against our wils or at least besides our purposes * For in the declination of sin and overcoming temptation there can be but these two things by which we can signify our love to God 1. To stand in a temptation when we could not avoid it 2. And to run from it when we can This hath in it more of prudence and the other of force and spiritual strength and we can best signify the sense of our weakness and our carefulness by avoiding the occasions but then we declare the excellency of our purposes and pertinacious love to God when we serve him in hard battels when we are tempted as before but fall not now as we did then Indeed this is the greatest trial and when God suffers us so to be tried we are accepted if we stand in that day and in such circumstances But he that will choose that state and dwell near his danger loves not to be safe and either he is a vain person in the confidences of his own strength or else he loves that which is like a sin and comes as near it as he dare and very often the event of it is that at last he dies like a flie about a candle But he that hath fallen by such a neighbourhood and still continues the cause may as well hope to cure his feaver by full draughts of the new vintage as return to life upon that account * A vicious habit is maintain'd at an easie rate but not cur'd without a mighty labour and expence any thing can feed it but nothing can destroy it if there be any thing near it whereby it can be kept alive If therefore you will cure a vicious habit dwell far from danger and tempt not death with which you have been so long in love 5. A vicious habit never could have come to that state and period but by impunity If God had smitten the sinner graciously in the beginning of his evil journey it is likely that as Balaam did he also would have offered to goe back Now when God does not punish a sinner early though it hath in it more of danger and less of safety yet we may in some measure supply the want of Divine mercy smiting and hindring a sinner by considering that impunity is no mark of innocence but very often it is an indication of Gods extremest and final anger Therefore be sure ever to suspect a prosperous sin For of it self prosperity is a temptation and it is granted but to few persons to be prosperous and pious The poor and the despised the humble and necessitous he that daily needs God with a sharpness of apprehension that feeds upon necessity and lives in hardships that is never flatter'd and is never cheated out of vertue for bread those persons are likely to be wise and wary and if they be not nothing can make them so for he that is impatient in want is impotent in plenty for impatience is pride and he that is proud when he is poor if he were rich he would be intolerable and therefore it is easier to bear poverty temperately then riches Securo nihil est te Naevole pejus Epigr. l. 4. ep 84. eodem Sollicito nihil est Naevole te melius and Passienus said of Caligula Nemo fuit servus melior nemo Dominus deterior He was the best Servant and the worst Master that ever was Poverty is like a girdle about our loyns it binds hard but it is modest and useful But a heap of riches is a heap of temptations and few men will escape if it be alwayes in their hand what can be offered to their heart And therefore to be prosperous hath in it self enough of danger But when a sin is prosperous and unpunished there are left but few possibilities and arguments of resistance and therefore it will become or remain habitual respectively S. Paul taught us this secret that sins are properly made habitual upon the stock of impunity Rom.
thinkest that vices are born with us No they are superinduc'd and come in upon us afterwards And by this we may the better understand the following words I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake Gen. 8.21 for the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth Concerning which note that these words are not two sentences For this is not the reason why God gave over smiting because man was corrupt from his youth For if this had been the reason it would have come to pass that the same cause which moved God to smite would also move him to forbear which were a strange Oeconomy The words therefore are not a reason of his forbearing but an aggravation of his kindness as if he had said Though man be continually evil yet I will not for all that any more drown the world for mans being so evil and so the Hebrews note that the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somtimes signifies although But the great outcry in this Question is upon confidence of the words of David Behold Psal 51.5 I was shapen in wickedness and in sin hath my mother conceived me To which I answer that the words are an Hebraism and signify nothing but an aggrandation of his sinfulness and are intended for an high expression meaning that I am wholly and intirely wicked For the verification of which exposition there are divers parallel places in the holy Scriptures Thou wert my hope when I hanged yet upon my mothers breasts and The ungodly are froward even from their mothers womb as soon as they be born they goe astray and speak lies which because it cannot be true in the letter must be an idiotism or propriety of phrase apt to explicate the other and signifying onely a ready a prompt a great and universal wickedness The like to this is that saying of the Pharises Joh. 5.34 Thou wert altogether born in sin and doest thou teach us which phrase and manner of speaking being plainly a reproach of the poor blinde man and a disparagement of him did mean onely to call him a very wicked person but not that he had derived his sin originally and from his birth for that had been their own case as much as his and therefore S. Chrysostome explaining this phrase says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is as if they should say Thou hast been a sinner all thy life time * To the same sense are those words of Job Job 31.18 I have guided her the widow from my mothers womb And in this expression and severity of hyperbole it is Isa 48.8 that God aggravated the sins of his people Thou wast called a transgressor from the womb And this way of expressing a great state of misery we finde us'd among the Heathen Writers for so Seneca brings in Oedipus complaining Infanti quoque decreta mors est Thebaid Fata quis tam tristia sortitus unquam Videram nondum diem jam tenebar Mors me antecessit aliquis intra viscera Materna lethum praecocis fati tulit Sed numquid peccavit Something like S. Bernards Damnatus antequam natus I was condemn'd before I was born dead before I was alive and death seised upon me in my mothers womb Some body brought in a hasty and a too forward death but did he sin also An expression not unlike to this we have in Lucian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pardon me that I was not born wicked or born to be wicked 2. If David had meant it literally it had not signified that himself was born in original sin but that his father and mother sinn'd when they begat him which the eldest son that he begat of Bathsheba for ought I know might have said truer then he in this sense Lib. 3. Strom. extrem And this is the exposition of Clemens Alexandrinus save onely that by my mother he understands Eva 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though he was conceived in sin yet he was not in the sin peccatrix concepit sed non peccatorem she sinn'd in the conception not David And in the following words he speaks home to the main article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them tell us where an infant did fornicate or how he who had done nothing could fall under the curse of Adam meaning so as to deserve the same evil that he did 3. If it did relate to his own person he might mean that he was begotten with that sanguine disposition and libidinous temper that was the original of his vile adultery and then though David said this truly of himself yet it is not true of all not of those whose temper is phlegmatick and unactive 4. If David had meant this of himself and that in regard of original sin this had been so far from being a penitential expression or a confessing of his sin that it had been a plain accusation of God and an excusing of himself As if he had said O Lord I confess I have sinn'd in this horrible murder and adultery but thou O God knowest how it comes to pass even by that fatal punishment which thou didst for the sin of Adam inflict on me and all mankinde above 3000. years before I was born thereby making me to fall into so horrible corruption of nature that unless thou didst irresistibly force me from it I cannot abstain from any sin being most naturally inclin'd to all In this sinfulness hath my mother conceived me and that hath produc'd in me this sad effect Who would suppose David to make such a confession or in his sorrow to hope for pardon for upbraiding not his own folly but the decrees of God 5. But that David thought nothing of this or any thing like it we may understand by the preceding words which are as a preface to these in the objection Against thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou art judged He that thus acquits God cannot easily be supposed in the very next breath so fiercely to accuse him 6. To which also adde the following words which are a sufficient reproof of all strange senses in the other In sin hath my mother conceived me But loe thou requirest truth in the inward parts as if he had said Though I am so wicked yet thy laws are good and I therefore so much the worse because I am contrary to thy laws They require truth and sincerity in the soul but I am false and perfidious But if this had been natural for him so to be and unavoidable God who knew it perfectly well would have expected nothing else of him For he will not require of a stone to speak nor of fire to be cold unless himself be pleased to work a miracle to have them so But S. Paul affirms Ephes 2.2 3. that by nature we were the children of wrath True we were so when we were dead in sins and before we were
the throne of Grace For it is remarkable that Gods justice is in some cases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exact full and severe in other cases it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of equity gentleness and wisdome making abatement for infirmities performing promises interpreting things to the most equal and favourable purposes So Justice is taken in S. John If we confess our sins he is righteous or just to forgive our sins that is Gods justice is such as to be content with what we can doe and not to exact all that is possible to be imposed He is as just in forgiving the penitent as in punishing the refractary as just in abating reasonably as in weighing scrupulously such a justice it is which in the same case David cals Mercy For thou Lord art merciful for thou rewardest every man according to his works And if this were not so no man could be saved Lib. 6.13 Mortalis enim conditio non patitur esse hominem ab omni maculâ purum said Lactantius For in many things we offend all and our present state of imperfection will not suffer it to be otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De agriculturâ said Philo. For as a runner of races at his first setting forth rids his way briskly and in a breath measures out many spaces but by and by his spirit is faint and his body is breathless and he stumbles at every thing that lies in his way so is the course of a Christian fierce in the beginnings of repentance and active in his purposes but in his progress remiss and hindred and starts at every accident and stumbles at every scandal and stone of offence and is sometimes listless and without observation at other times and a bird out of a bush that was not look'd for makes him to start aside and decline from the path and method of his journey But then if he that stumbles mends his pace and runs more warily and goes on vigorously his error or misfortune shall not be imputed for here Gods justice is equity it is the justice of the Chancery we are not judged by the Covenant of works that is of exact measures but by the Covenant of faith and remission or repentance But if he that fals lies down despairingly or wilfully or if he rises goes back or goes aside not onely his declination from his way but every error or fall every stumbling and startling in that way shall be accounted for For here Gods justice is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exact and severe it is the justice of the Law because he refused the method and conditions of the Gospel 5. Every sinful action that canpretend to pardon by being a sin of infirmity must be in a small matter The imperfect way of operating alone is not sufficient for excuse and pardon unless the matter also be little and contemptible because if the matter be great it cannot ordinarily be but it must be considered and chosen He that in a sudden anger strikes his friend to the heart whom he had lov'd as passionately as now he smote him is guilty of murder and cannot pretend infirmity for his excuse because in an action of so great consequence and effect it is supposed he had time to deliberate all the foregoing parts of his life whether such an action ought to be done or not or the very horror of the action was enough to arrest his spirit as a great danger or falling into a river will make a drunken man sober and by all the laws of God and Man he was immur'd from the probability of all transports into such violences and the man must needs be a slave of passion who could by it be brought to goe so far from reason and to doe so great evil * If a man in the careless time of the day when his spirit is loose with a less severe imployment or his heart made more open with an innocent refreshment spies a sudden beauty that unluckily strikes his fancy it is possible that he may be too ready to entertain a wanton thought and to suffer it to stand at the doors of his first consent but if the sin passes no further the man enters not into the regions of death because the Devil entred on a sudden and is as suddenly cast forth But if from the first arrest of concupiscence he pass on to an imperfect consent from an imperfect consent to a perfect and deliberate and from thence to an act and so to a habit he ends in death because long before it is come thus far The salt water is taken in The first concupiscence is but like rain water it discolours the pure springs but makes them not deadly But when in the progression the will mingles with it it is like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or waters of brimstone and the current for ever after is unwholesome and carries you forth into the dead Sea the lake of Sodom which is to suffer the vengance of Eternal fire But then the matter may be supposed little till the will comes For though a man may be surprised with a wanton eye yet he cannot fight a duel against his knowledge or commit adultery against his will A man cannot against his will contrive the death of a man but he may speak a rash word or be suddenly angry or triflingly peevish and yet all this notwithstanding be a good man still These may be sins of Infirmity because they are imperfect actions in the whole and such in which as the man is for the present surpris'd so they are such against which no watchfulness was a sufficient guard as it ought to have been in any great matter and might have been in sudden murders A wise and a good man may easily be mistaken in a nice question but can never suspect an article of his Creed to be false a good man may have many fears and doubtings in matters of smaller moment but he never doubts of Gods goodness of his truth of his mercy or of any of his communicated perfections he may fall into melancholy and may suffer indefinite fears of he knows not what himself yet he can never explicitely doubt of any thing which God hath clearly revealed and in which he is sufficiently instructed A weak eye may at a distance mistake a man for a tree but he who sailing in a storm takes the Sea for dry land or a mushrome for an oak is stark blinde And so is he who can think adultery to be excusable or that Treason can be duty or that by persecuting Gods Prophets he does God good service or that he propagates religion by making the Ministers of the Altar poor and robbing the Churches A good man so remaining cannot suffer infirmity in the plain and legible lines of duty where he can see and reason and consider I have now told which are sins of infirmity and I have told all their measures For as for those other false opinions by which
mankinde exactly answering to the All that have life by Christ which are onely the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those many that believe and are adopted into the Covenant of believers by this indeed it is perceiveable that this was not a natural title or derivation of an inherent corruption from Adam for that must have included All absolutely and universally But that which I here dwell and relie upon is this Sin is often in Scripture us'd for the punishment of sin and they that suffer are called sinners though they be innocent So it is in this case By Adams disobedience many were made sinners that is the sin of Adam pass'd upon them and sate upon their heads with evil effect like that of Bathsheba I and my son shall be accounted sinners 1 Kings 1.21 that is evil will befall us we shall be used like sinners like Traytors and Usurpers So This shall be the sin of Egypt Zech. 14.19 said the Prophet This shall be the punishment so we reade it And Cain complaining of the greatness of his punishment said Mine iniquity is greater then I can bear * And to put it past all doubt not onely punishment is called sin in Scripture but even he that bears it Him that knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 God hath made sin that we might be the righteousness of God in him and the Prophet Isaiah speaking of Christ saith Posuit peccatum animam suam Isa 53.10 He hath made his soul a sin that is Heb. 9.28 obnoxious to the punishment of sin Thus it is said that Christ shall appear the second time without sin that is without the punishment of sin unto salvation for of sin formally or materially he was at first as innocent as at the second time that is pure in both And if Christ who bare our burthen became sin for us in the midst of his purest innocence that we also are by Adam made sinners that is suffer evil by occasion of his demerit infers not that we have any formal guilt or enmity against God upon that account Facti peccatores in S. Paul by Adam we are made sinners answers both in the story and in the expression to Christus factus peccatum pro nobis Christ was made sin for us that is was expos'd to the evil that is consequent to sin viz. to its punishment For the further explication of which it is observable that the word sinner and sin in Scripture is us'd for any person that hath a fault or a legal impurity a debt a vitiosity defect or imperfection For the Hebrews use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for any obligation which is contracted by the Law without our fault Thus a Nazarite who had touch'd a dead body was tied to offer a sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for sin and the reason is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he had sinn'd concerning the dead body and yet it was nothing but a legal impurity nothing moral And the offering that was made by the leprous or the menstruous or the diseased inprofluvio seminis is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an offering for sin and yet it might be innocent all the way Thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said that our blessed Lord who is compared to the High-Priest among the Jews did offer first for his own sins Heb. 7.27 by which word it is certain that no sin properly could be meant for Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he knew no sin but it means the state of his infirmity the condition of his mortal body which he took for us and our sins and is a state of misery and of distance from heaven for flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of Heaven whither Christ was not to go till by offering himself he had unclothed himself of that imperfect vesture as they that were legally impure might not go to the Temple before their offering Rom. 6.10 and therefore when by death he quit himself of this condition it is said he died unto sin Parallel to this is that of S. Paul in the fifth Chapter to the Hebrews where the state of infirmity is expresly called sin Ver. 2.3 The High-Priest is himself also compassed with infirmity and by reason hereof he ought as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins This is also more expresly by S. Rom. 8.3 Paul called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the likeness of the sin of the flesh and thus Concupiscence or the first motions and inclinations to sin is called sin and said to have the nature of sin that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the likeness it may be the material part of sin or something by which sin is commonly known And thus Origen observes that an oblation was to be offered even for new born children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they were not clean from sin But this being an unusual expression among the Hebrews bears its sense upon the palm of the hand and signifies onely the legal impurity in which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new born babes and their Mothers were involv'd Even Christ himself who had no Original sin was subject to this purification So we reade in S. Luke Luke 2.22 and when the days of her purification were accomplish'd but in most books and particular in the Kings MS. it is read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dayes of their purification But the things of this nature being called offerings for sins and the expression usual among the Jews I doubt not but hath given occasion to the Christian Writers to fancy other things then were intended Having now explicated those words of S. Paul which by being misunderstood have caused strange devices in this Article we may now without prejudice examine what really was the effect of Adams sin and what evil descended upon his posterity Adams sin was punish'd by an expulsion out of Paradise in which was a Tree appointed to be the cure of diseases and a conservatory of life There was no more told as done but this and its proper consequents He came into a land less blessed a land which bore thistles and briars easily and fruits with difficulty so that he was forc'd to sweat hard for his bread and this also I cannot say did descend but must needs be the condition of his children who were left to live so and in the same place just as when young Anthony had seis'd upon Marcus Cicero's land the Son also lost what he never had And thus death came in not by any new sentence or change of nature for man was created mortal and if Adam had not sinned he should have been immortal by grace that is by the use of the Tree of life and now being driven from the place where the Tree grew was left in his own natural constitution that is to be sick and die without that remedy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Cyril adv Anthrop He was mortal of himself and we are mortal from him Dial. adv Tryph. Peccando Adam posteros morti subjecit universos huic delicto obnoxios reddit said Justin Martyr Adam by his sin made all his posterity liable to the sin and subjected them to death One explicates the other Lib. 3. Ep. 8. and therefore S. Cyprian calls Original sin Malum domesticum contagium mortis antiquae primâ nativitate contractum His sin infected us with death and this infection we derive in our birth that is we are born mortal Adams sin was imputed to us unto a natural death in him we are sinners as in him we die But this sin is not real and inherent but imputed onely to such a degree So S. Cypriam affirms most expresly .... infans recens natus nihil peccavit nisi quòd secundum Adam carnalitèr natus contagium mortis antiquae primâ nativitate contraxit An infant hath not sinn'd save onely that being carnally born of Adam in his first birth he hath contracted the contagion of the old death This evil which is the condition of all our natures viz. to die was to some a punishment but to others not so It was a punishment to all that sinn'd both before Moses and since upon the first it fell as a consequent of Gods anger upon Adam as I before discours'd upon the latter 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 Innocents it was meerly a condition of their nature and no more a punishment then to be a childe is It was a punishment of Adams sin because by his sin humane Nature became disrob'd of their preternatural immortality and therefore upon that account they die but as it related to the persons it was not a punishment not an evil afflicted for their sin or any guiltiness of their own properly so called We finde nothing else in Scripture express'd to be the effect of Adams sin and beyond this without authority we must not go Other things are said but I finde no warrant for them in that sense they are usually suppos'd and some of them in no sense at all The particulars commonly reckoned are that from Adam we derive an Original ignorance a proneness to sin a natural malice a fomes or nest of sin imprinted and plac'd in our souls a loss of our wills liberty and nothing is left but a liberty to sin which liberty upon the summe of affairs is expounded to be a necessity to sin and the effect of all is we are born heirs of damnation Concerning Original or Natural ignorance it is true we derive it from our Parents I mean we are born with it but I do not know that any man thinks that if Adam had not sinn'd that sin Cain should have been wise as soon as his Navel had been cut Neither can we guess at what degree of knowledge Adam had before his fall Certainly if he had had so great a knowledge it is not likely he would so cheaply have sold himself and all his hopes out of a greedy appetite to get some knowledge But concerning his posterity indeed it is true a childe cannot speak at first nor understand and if as Plato said all our knowledge is nothing but memory it is no wonder a child is born without knowledge But so it is in the wisest men in the world they also when they see or hear a thing first think it strange and could not know it till they saw or heard it Now this state of ignorance we derive from Adam as we do our Nature which is a state of ignorance and all manner of imperfection but whether it was not imperfect and apt to fall into forbidden instances even before his fall we may best guess at by the event for if he had not had a rebellious appetite and an inclination to forbidden things by what could he have been tempted and how could it have come to pass that he should sin Indeed this Nature was made worse by sin and became devested of whatsoever it had extraordinary and was left naked and meer and therefore it is not onely an Original imperfection which we inherit but in the sense now explicated it is also an Original corruption And this is all As natural death by his sin became a curse so our natural imperfection became natural corruption and that is Original sin Death and imperfection we derive from Adam but both were natural to us but by him they became actual and penal and by him they became worse as by every evil act every principle of evil is improv'd And in this sense this Article is affirmed by all the Doctors of the ancient Church We are miserable really sinners in account or effect that properly this improperly and are faln into so sad a state of things which we also every day make worse that we did need a Saviour to redeem us from it For in Original sin we are to consider the principle and the effects The principle is the actual sin of Adam This being to certain purposes by Gods absolute dominion imputed to us hath brought upon us a necessity of dying and all the affections of mortality which although they were natural yet would by grace have been hindred Another evil there is upon us and that is Concupiscence this also is natural but it was actual before the fall it was in Adam and tempted him This also from him is derived to us and is by many causes made worse by him and by our selves And this is the whole state of Original sin so far as is fairly warrantable But for the other particulars the case is wholly differing The sin of Adam neither made us 1. Heirs of damnation Nor 2. Naturally and necessarily vicious 1. It could not make us Heirs of damnation This I shall the less need to insist upon because of it self it seems so horrid to impute to the goodness and justice of God to be author of so great a calamity to Innocents that S. Austins followers have generally left him in that point and have descended to this lesser proportion that Original sin damns onely to the eternal loss of the sight of Gods glorious face But to this I say these things 1. That there are many Divine which beleeve this alone to be the worm that never dies and the fire that never goeth out that is in effect this and the anguish for this is all the hell of the damned And unless infants remain infants in the resurrection too which no man that I know affirms or unless they be sensless and inapprehensive it is not to be imagined but that all that know they are by way of punishment depriv'd of the glorious face of God must needs have a horrible anguish of soul to eternal ages And this argument besides the reasonableness of the thing Lib. 6. in Julian c. 4. hath