things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned No Sir it is the peculiar work of the Spirit to regenerate and convert Lydia's heart was opened Acts 16. Mat. 13.3 Rom. 1.16 before she so diligently attended to Pauls words The word of God that brought forth fruit did not make the ground good but it was so before by the special working of that Spirit The word which is the power of God to salvation doth not make believers but God first makes them so by sanctifying of their natures and giving them to believe Phil. 1.29 The word of God in Regeneration hath no greater force or power then the word of the Prophets and Apostles had in raising of the dead which had no other operation then to be tanquam signum as a sign of the thing done or as a moral instrument for there is no lesser power requirable in the recovery of a poor soul from a spiritual death to a spiritual life then there is from a natural death to a natural life And therefore as it is Gods peculiar to raise from death to life natural so it is his alone prerogative to raise from a spiritual death to a spiritual life The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Ioh. 5.25 Yea the same power is exerted in the work of Regeneration or the new creation as was at first in the work of the old creation 1 Cor. 4.6 no less then an hand of omnipotency in them both and therefore not communicable to any creature From all of which I shall hence infer that if it be Gods peculiar work to regenerate and not the word in the hearing of it and that Regeneration is principally necessary to give us ingress into heaven Joh. 3.3 Mat. 5.8 God may then as well regenerate infants by his secret power unsearchable to us though they neither hear nor understand as he doth those that are of riper years by so weak an instrument as the word and Gospel is which hath no such inherent power in and of it self Secondly this your assertion labours of another sickness viz. a false supposition that nothing but actual sins expose men to the danger of being cast into the lake of fire whereas the truth is That original sin or that hereditary pravity we brought with us into the world deriving it from our parents Psal 51.5 who conceived us in sin hath so much of filthiness and uncleanness in it that God may justly cast a new-born infant into the lake of fire for it unless it be washed clean by the blood of Jesus who is the alone way the truth the life Joh. 14.6 and through whose alone merits we have an access into the Holy of Holies into which place are admitted onely these whose names are written in the Lambs book of life Rev. 21.27 Luke 10.20 Rev. 20.15 whose names are written in heaven registred there in the eternal immutable decree of Gods election unto life all the rest whose names are not there recorded infants as well as others are cast into the lake of fire which is the second death But enough of this at present I shall be sure to meet you again more about this when you lay out your strength against original sinne Another thing which you give out in the nature of a reason why infants cannot be damned is viz. for that their not having of faith will never be charged upon them as sin Sir suppose I grant so much and so likewise what you produce out of Rom. 4.15 as a confirmation or rather as a reason of your reason for where no law is there is no transgression both may be very true as set disjunctively but as you have woven them both into one sentence they may not be true nor applicable to your purpose for herein you vary your terms that which you write takes notice of sin the text speaks of transgression wherein I conceive sin and transgression are not terms convertible for though every transgression of the law be a sin yet every sin is not a transgression of the law as in the case now before us for original sin though it be a sin properly and really yet it is not a transgression of the law as personally acted in and by the infants but as imputatively and as a defect of original righteousness So what you further say by way of illustration that there can be no law to infants as such and sin is not imputed where there is no law I grant you as to infants now in existence which law might require the exerting or putting out of any act or duty which their minority is uncapable to receive or to perform But I must withall tell you that as Adam as a publick person as a root and stock received Grace righteousness and holiness for him and his even for those in his loins so he received a law to him and his even the Covenant of works do this and live which law was incumbent not onely on Adam himself but likewise on all those that were in his loins So that infants now are born under a law and their want of original righteousness and that for the defect thereof their being conceived and born in sin and uncleanness shall be a deserving cause of their just condemnation What you bring forth in evidence to what you here aim at viz. Rom. 5.13 sin is not imputed where there is no law is so far from answering your desire that it cuts the throat of your assertion For the clearing whereof its expedient to search into the mind of the Spirit by the scope of the place The Apostle in this Chapter is prosecuting that grand point of Justification by faith in Christ and ver 11. laies down this that we have received attonement by him whence he makes this corollary ver 12. that as by the first Adam sin and death entred into the world so by Iesus Christ righteousness and life are restored to us But ver 13. he meets with an objection that sin is not imputed where there is no law where he argues after this manner If all have sinned in the loins of Adam then those likewise have sinned who lived before the law was given by Moses but before the law was given there could be no sin because where there is no law there is no transgression as Chap. 4.15 and therefore all have not sinned in Adam Now here the Apostle denies the assumption or minor proposition affirming the contrary that sin was before the law given by Moses constantly affirming that howsoever it was not imputed i. e. reckoned or accounted or reputed to be sin yet indeed and in truth sin was then in the world and this being of sin in the world before the law ver 14. he proves by the effect viz. death was then in the world and that all had sinned because that
actually saved for if in Christ 1 Cor. 15.22 all are made alive that are alive and that he that is alive liveth unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 then as Christ himself such dye no more sin hath no more dominion over them Rom. 6.9 for they live unto the Lord Rom. 14.8 and 1 Joh. 3.9 his seed remaineth in him Being born again 1 Pet. 1.23 not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Next And Christ rendreth the light of the Spirit of Grace to every man in the world It s true we have some expressions Ioh. 1.9 that Christ lighteth every man that cometh into the world but that is to be understood of the common light of nature or the actings of reason as the two next following verses do evince for the world knew him not and his own received him not they had not the spirit of grace and faith for 2 Thes 3.2 all men have not faith But how doth Christ tender the light of the Spirit of grace to every man surely after that ordinary manner that God hath sanctified to wit the preaching of the Gospel for Rom. 10.14 faith cometh by hearing and how shall they hear without a Preacher then that is apparently false for it is too well known that there are many thousand thousands in the world yea divers nations which never enjoyed the blessing to hear of Christ or the Spirit of grace but Ephes 1.12 lived without a God in this world and at last shall go Psal 49.19 unto the generations of their fathers and never see light If the meaning be that Christ tendreth the light of the spirit of grace inwardly and after an extraordinary manner this is but petitio principii as they say in the Schooles a plain begging of the question without any proof of Scripture or probability in common reason Nay it is flat against the Scripture for Luke 16.19 they have Moses and the Prophets they are to hear them Esa 8.26 to the law and to the testimony c. 2 Pet 1.19 We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place Next God also giveth a Talent to every man and power to improve it but man not improving it when received with a power is the cause of mans destruction Now what weight this talent bears with this Dictator or what power is given unto frail men to improve it and how far and to what or whom either of these talents or power is extended when he hath better studied the point and comes to understand his own meaning if he please then to communicate it he shall be sure to receive a further answer but in the mean time by way of Anticipation if his sense be as I conjecture through his clouded and dark expressions That God hath afforded sufficient means of grace and power to improve that means to every man whereby they may come to the knowledge of the truth and so be saved then I utterly deny it and my ground of such denial rests upon these ensuing Arguments 1. Arg. If God do purposely for the raising of his own glory harden some blind others and make fat the hearts of many then a sufficient means of salvation nor power to use the same is administred to all indifferently But God doth blind some hardens others and makes fat Therefore The major or first proposition is undeniable because blinding hardening and making fat is destructive to the use of means The minor or second proposition is proved from these express texts Ex. 4.21 and 7.3 and 14.4 Rom. 9.18 whom he will he hardeneth Ex. 9.16 and Rom. 9.17 even for this same purpose have I raised thee up Ioh. 12.40 he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts c. Esa 6.9 Rom. 11.7 election hath obtained it the rest are blinded Esa 6.10 make the hearts of this people fat 2. Arg. If God willingly suffers Nations to walk in their own wayes and winkes at or lets them alone in their sins and ignorance then God doth not exhibite a sufficiency of means nor inables them with a power of acceptation of life and salvation But the first is true therefore the latter For the proof of the major is unnecessary for the minor see Acts 14.16 and 17.30 3. Arg. If the preaching of Christ crucified in the doctrine of the Gospel be the onely ordinary sufficient means to bring men to life and to salvation and that many nations never enjoyed that means then God hath not afforded a sufficiency of means to all men but the first is true therefore the latter That the Gospel is the onely ordinary means Rom. 10.14 How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard c. Acts 4.12 there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Ioh. 14.6 No man cometh to the Father but by the Son 1 Ioh. 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Tim. 2.5 One mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus Now that many nations want this means t is too evident and therefore no sufficiency The Seventh Position That Christ hath redeemed all men from the first transgression and crost the score of Adams sin I cannot well interpret what this dreamer means for if his sense should be by way of limitation in all men to all the elect of men then I imbrace his Position and should much enlarge it But I suspect worse that he covertly denies the being of original sin secretly insinuating that the death of Christ hath blotted out Col. 2.14 that hand-writing that was against us from any further imputation of Adams sin or obligation unto punishment onely the guilt and pollution thereof still remains inherent in us However it is I will shoot at rovers and adventure an argument or two in defence of the truth 1. Arg. That unto which the Scripture doth apply the name and nature of sin deserving punishment that without controversie must be sin indeed But unto original sin both the name and nature of sin are applyed in the Scripture Therefore For proof hereof see Psal 81.7 Rom. 5.12 14 16 19. Ioh. 3.6 Rom. 7.7 8. and 8.13 Iam. 1.14 2. Arg. If temporal death hath been the lot of every one which yet hath not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression then there is original sin still in being in respect of punishment for Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death and every sin is either actuall or originall but temporal death hath been the lot of many who yet have not sinned actually Rom. 6.14 and this we may see instanced in the death of Infants which die without actual sin Therefore The last Position is Christ hath laid his life and shed his bloud for
all in their several generations had tasted of death and for a more full manifestation hereof he distinguisheth mankind into infants and those of ripe years wherein he affirms by the effect that not onely those that were of ripe years had died who had sinned in their own persons but even infants who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression i. e. who had committed no actual sins in their own persons for which they should suffer death which is the wages of sin even they likewise had died Rom. 6.23 as having brought into the world with them the guilt of Adams transgression and therefore it could not be denied but that sin was likewise in them So that you that undertake to be a Proctor for all infants for ought you have proved from this text you will leave them all in a sad condition if a more sufficient Advocate may not be found to to plead their cause Another reason there is which you would fain have to be received from the authority of Christ himself Luke 18.16 Of such is the kingdom of God for the salving whereof I must open the words which do evidence that the Disciples had a prejudice and a cruell one too against infants thinking as the Anabaptists do that they understood nothing of Christ nor of the kingdom of Grace but Christ rebukes them and instates infants of believing parents as members of the visible Church Of such is the kingdom of God Now we cannot think that Christs meaning is of such as such is the kingdom of God as if all infants whether Jew or Gentile Turk or Pagan belonged as subjects to the visible Church for then the infants of all the heathens should be covenanted members of the Church visible and yet their parents are without the viâ—â—ble Church and when they should grow to age they should without any scandal be excommunicated which were monstrous to affirm much less can the invisible kingdom of God be of such as if all infants because infants were actually saved but all that our Saviour intends is Of such i. e. of such in covenant-relation is the kingdom of God of such subjects i. e. infants as well as others So that our Saviour did herein hold forth the common interest of the whole species of infants within the visible Church their common interest in Christ that he is a Saviour of them as well as a Saviour of the aged But to conclude thence of such Therefore all such is an unheard of non sequitur We find salvation entailed upon qualifications of Graces but not upon any age or period of life But that whether it be for matter of election or of reprobation young as well as old are lookt upon as in the corrupt lump and out of which some are elected the rest are left and so not elected which is to be Reprobated You have one reason more for the defence of your assertion that no child dying in infancy c. And that I conceive you offer by way of anticipation to what might be objected from Rom. 5.15 2 Cor. 5.10 16 17 18 19. concerning the imputation of Adams sin to all his posterity and thus you state it that when all shal appear before the judgement seat of Christ every one shall receive according to what he hath done in his body but not to receive any thing as a punishment for what hath been acted in the body of another And I pray Sir tell me you that are so accurate the reason of your limitation why none shall receive any thing as a punishment of that which hath been acted in the person of another but that we may receive a reward for the good which hath been acted in the person of another where if the text by you cited 2 Cor. 5.10 be that rule you walk by it should hold for good as well as bad But perhaps you foresaw the instance that would be given in against you in that man Christ Jesus from the acting of whose person in his own body all other bodies that do expect or hope for any reward of all their labours of love they do participate Joh. 1. Ezek. 16.14 for of his fulness have we all received and we all are made perfect through his comliness that he shall put upon us and by his obedience shall those that are justified be made righteous And therefore my good friends this is but gratis dictum Rom. 5.19 and you do herein grosly suborn and abuse that place of the Apostle to serve your base ends this sure is no better then the devils juggle Matth. 4. to mince so much of a text as will serve his turn and to leave out the rest so to delude the Readers I pray use fairer play in your next and deal above board The next thing I observe of your alike fair dealing is about that text 1 Cor. 15.22 that all die and go to the dust in the first Adam in that all have sinned or in whom all have sinned Rom. 5.12 and here sure the dust so flies in your eyes that all the skil and labour you can take will never wipe it away For first you do confess that all Infants as well as others sinned in Adam and why should you not alike confess from that very place Rom. 5.18 that therefore judgement upon all to condemnation should pass upon infants as well as others but probable it is that here your meaning is that Adams first transgression whereon I shall have occasion more fully to answer when I come to examine and resolve your postscript of Queries till when I shall dismiss this paradox and shall apply my self to enquire into the mind of God in that text by you cited Ezek. 18.20 the soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father c. Upon which your comment is by death in this place is meant eternal death that which is the portion of the wiâ—ked for their wickedness for as for the temporal or natural death that is the portion as well of the righteous as unrighteous and therefore from this place you suppose it clear that no soul shall eternally be cast into the lake for the sin of another i. e. for Adams sin But I pray Sir what think you first of the sufferings of Christ both in his soul and body â—am 1.12 Isa 53.3 there was no sin inherent in himself neither of original nor actual sins yet was there never any sorrow or sufferings like unto his and therefore called a man of sorrowes which though they were not eternal in respect of duration yet were they eternal according to the nature and essence of them and in respect of the dignity of the person being God-man they were equivalent to any or all of those sufferings which are eternal for time and continuance and yet all this was undergone not for the satisfaction of any sin in himself but for what sins were acted in the
by a comparison of our righteousness and life received by Jesus Christ with sin and death contracted from Adam that as by the disobedience of Adam we were made sinners viz. sinners by imputation his sin being laid upon our account as much as if we our selves had eaten of the forbidden fruit So by the obedience of Christ we are made righteous i. e. righteous by imputation God being so pleased to accept of Christ his righteousness as though we in our own persons had fulfilled all righteousness either in doing or in suffering See for further satisfaction 1. Cor. 1.30 and 15.22 and 2 Cor. 5.15 The second thing considerable in original sin is a privation of the Image of God the glory of God or original righteousness of this see Rom. 3.23 Eccles 7.29 Ephes 4.24 which uprightness had been hereditary had man kept his first station but he failing in the breach of the holy law of God he lost that righteousness both to himself and all his posterity So that there unavoidably succeeding a defect of conformity to the law of God which sinless nature did enjoy necessarily must it draw with it the sin of that nature which it voluntarily had contracted viz. Original unrighteousness Whence I reason thus Every transgression of the law of God takes along with it the true and proper name and nature of sin and to have eternal death as the reward thereof 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 3.23 But every defect of conformity with the law of God is such a transgression Therefore c. The Minor is proved from those places 1 Cor. 2.14 and 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 3.10 and Rom. 7.18 cum multis aliis The third thing considerable is a proneness aptitude and bentness to sin not by imputation but by inclination As the young Lion and the young Serpent have not the bloudy and stinging nature of the old Lion and the old Serpent by imputation but by natural and intrinsecal inherencie so it is with men from the womb they are sinners from the birth bringing into the world a body of sin and death Whence I argue thus Every evill concupiscence or proneness in man to sin or rebellion to the law of God or enmity to God carries with it the name and nature of sin But original sin Synecdochically taken for the habit of original unrighteousness is that evil Concupiscence or proneness to sin c. Therefore For the Major I presume none dare question it and for the Minor that is confirmed abundantly and that in a special manner in the greatest part of Rom. 7. where the nature of original sin is most lively represented and the Apostle not onely for himself but for all others bemoanes their sad estate in respect of the natural inherency of that depravation of our nature And whereas you Sir were pleased to supply me with places to prove what I intended as to original sin I must tell you it was not for want of stock that I had then in store but onely because I would not then in so short an epitome be tedious and troublesome to such dissatisfied persons for whose alone satisfaction I composed that breviary but never intending it should have been exposed to publick view it was onely your pleasure to bring it into the sun light naked and bare as it was And therefore that you may see that the subject is not any wayes lame or defective for want of sufficient authority to support it take these texts of Scripture ex abundanti for the confirmation of it Gen. 6.5 and 8.21 Iob 14.5 Psal 57.7 Isa 64.10 Ier. 17.9 Matth. 15.12 Ioh. 3.6 Rom. 5.12 c. and 6.16 c. and 8.6 7. c. Eph. 2.3 and 4.22 Col. 3.9 11. Tit. 3.3 Heb. 12.1 Iam. 1.14 15 c. For what you conclude this paragraph with that if sinners should repent confess and forsake their sins they should find mercy And if the elect should continue in sin and not repent c. they should be equally lyable to the decree of Reprobation I say Sir though to affirm this doth utterly interfere with your first position where you affirm that the elect cannot become reprobates neither can reprobates become elect And yet there is some truth in it according to the Gospel manner of expressions but this hath been fully spoken to already Your next encounter is to answer a place by me quoted where you write thus But yet lest it should be thought that there is some weight in that Scripture which he quoteth out of Ephes 2.1 2 3. Children of wrath even as others to prove that reprobation to the second death is for that sin in Adam or that infants dying in infancy should be cast into the lake of fire for the same I doubt not but by the help of my God I shall make it appear that there is no such thing in it for first consider that these words in ver 1. you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins cannot relate to their being in the corrupt mass or lump of Adams transgression for that is but one being in the singular number but that which is there spoken of is in the plural number or more than one to wit trespases and sins Secondly it doth appear that it doth not relate to that sin they had as they were new born infants because it relateth to their conversation or course of life as they had a being in this world ver 2.3 wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world amongst whom we all had our conversation in times past c. By which it doth appear that he doth not speak to the Ephesians of what they were as they first came into the world as Infants for they could not upon that account be said to walk according to the course of this world neither can new born Infants as such be said to have their conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh of the mind and therefore they were not children of wrath upon that account but the Apostle there speaketh of that course of life or conversation in which they lived in time past as they were grown persons in the lusts of the flesh and the mind fulfilling the desires thereof and being by nature the children of wrath even as others Answ What man are you so confident of this first fruits of your brain as to think that you have answered all things of weight in what I have formerly written to your positions Truly Sir if I have any judgement at all there is not one parcel of all that I have delivered that you have given the least colour of satisfaction to But let us examine the reasons you give in why those words were the children of wrath even as others cannot prove reprobation to the second death or expose infants to a desert of the lake of fire Your first reason is because those words ver 1. you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins cannot
who gave up themselves as a sacrifice for the testimony of the truth as it is in Jesus Or what make you of those nearer within our own cognisance as of Jewel Bilson Morton Usher Hall Davenant the glorious Lights of this Nation in their Generation and the splendor of Europe to all succeeding ages Can your goose quill dash out their lustre and make their memorials to rot No I cannot endure that such a mushrome as you are should detract from their learning piety and intergrity for as Learning hath no greater enemy than a Dulman or an Ignoramus so piety and honesty find no greater adversaries than a prophane walker or licentious liver For your second Reason doubtless it is the Prerogative Royal of Jesus Christ to rule in the Consciences of men alwaies provided they be consciences orderly regulated and that instead of Jesus Christ in the conscience the strong man armed Luk. 11.21 2 Cor. 11.14 that is the devill be not there who often transforming himself into an angel of light pleads conscience when alas in many it is nothing else but wilfulness or affectation of singularity and then he ought to be unroosted and the man reduced to conformity notwithstanding his plea of conscience It is not every pretender to Conscience that is to be indulged with an immunity from coaction or coercion For suppose a man irregular in his course and conversation or that in other things he hath a Cheverill conscience and can swallow down a Camell shall this mans plea of conscience be accepted in case of Religion Or suppose a man in the opinion that he holds or practices that he useth making a plea of conscience for his so opining and doing shall yet be imperious scornfull proud turbulent self-conceited these are strong presumptions of what spirit that man is of No such who have a just plea and title to conscience and priviledges thereof they are meek lowly humble jealous over their own hearts thinking others better than themselves And that with all he fasts praies hears reads using all possible means better to inform him that so if it be possible he may keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace That Text of Scripture which you bring to evidence what you would have makes but little for your purpose if without inforcement it may speak the mind of Christ wherein though I might say that parabolical argumentations prove no more than for what they were first spoken Yet to take our Saviours interpretation the tares are children of the wicked one i.e. the devill and then from thence with as much strength of argument we may conclude that no thief nor murtherer nor adulterer nor any other malefactor is to be punished or removed before the end of the world any more than he that blasphemes the name of the high God give a reason against it he that can why a Heretike should receive any more indulgence from that Text than a notorious Malefactor But doubtless the scope of our Saviour in that parable is to signifie unto us the lot and condition of the Church of God in this life and that there can be no expectation of an universall purity in this life but that there will be still tares amongst the wheat bad men will be intermingled amongst the good neither can they be totally rooted out till the end of the world And as that Text doth not inhibite reproofs from the ministry towards evill workers Rom. 13. so neither doth it restrain punishment from the Magistrate for he beareth not the sword in vain And one thing is remarkable that Christ who forbad the plucking of the tates up did not yet forbid the Magistrate to hinder the sowing of them but that in his wisdome and godly care he may put a restraint both upon the Pulpit and Press from such incendiaries that promote and propagate such uncouth doctrines and opinions without any prejudice to the liberty of conscience And thus from your Text I come to your Conclusion whiâ—h is And therefore they have tolerated all Religions that 〈◊〉 peaceably in the Common-wealth except Popery and Preâ—â—â—y whose principles and actions also have been made appear to be against the present Government They have as you say tolerated such Religions and I wish from my soul that they may not repent too late of such Toleration for if we may judge of things by the issues and events there were never heard of the like hideous and horrid blasphemies in any age of the world more than since Toleration was on foot They might perhaps whisper them before but now they speak them with a full mouth So that England which not long since was accounted as an immaculate Virgin and so the glory of the world for soundness of Doctrine and purity of Conversation is now lookt upon as a Babell and confusion of opinions and the sink of all Heresies And one thing I cannot let slip without some observation that such are concerned in this Toleration who live peaceably in the Common-wealth and whose principles and practices are not inconsistent with the present Government I am much amazed then how it comes to pass that your sect of all others the Anabaptists I mean should come to have any share in this indulgence since that of all heresies that ever I have read or heard of there is not any one that carries such a diametricall opposition and direct antipathy against the publike peace of a Common-wealth as do the principles and practises of the Anabaptists I would not willingly if I know mine own heart bear false witness against my neighbour no though mine own interest were concerned in it much less against a society of men and that especially in the case of God And therefore what I write are either collections from your own Authors or from men who are of unquestionable authority and fidelity in their relations And first for their principles and therein I shall give you only but a taste as 1. That it is not lawfull for a Christian to bear the office of a Magistrate with the safety of a good conscience now in the times 〈◊〉 the New Testament if he do they put the question whether such a one can be saved 2. That the office of a Magistrate extends only to the duties of the second Table 3. That it is not lawfull for a Christian to go to warfare nor to have imposed upon them any watches or wardings 4. That it is not lawfull for a Christian to bear any arms offensive or defensive either for the defence of his Country or himself or to offend his enemy 5. That it is not lawfull to go to law 6. That it is not lawfull to take an oath before a Magistrate 7. That it may be lawful to have more wives than one at one time 8. That it is not lawfull to punish any Malefactor with death 9. That there ought to be a community of goods I willingly overslip their other more horrid opinions as
person of another Next what think you of those infants that were drowned in the flood Gen. 19. Num. 16.17 or those infants which suffered in the destruction of Sodom or those infants in the conspiracy of Corah where the little children are said to be swallowed into the pit Now all of these infants were not born within the compass of the Covenant and out of that there is no salvation and actual sin they had committed none in their own persons and therefore their suffering must needs be for the sins acted by another But to come more close to the text The scope of that Chapter is this The Jews in Babylon meeting with much hardship in their captivity instead of being humbled for their sins took up an unjust complaint against God and charged him that he dealt unjustly with them taking up this Proverb amongst them that The fathers had eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth were set on edge i. e. that their fathers had sinned and they who were their children suffered for their sin implicitly pleading their own innocency but in a downright way accusing God for afflicting them for their fathers iniquities Now this false charge God vindicates and clears himself from in this Chapter ver 4. and so ver 20. The soul that sinneth it shall dye By soul here is meant the person the principal part being put for the whole by a Synecdoche as Lev. 7.18 20 21. By dying here more properly is understood a metaphorical death viz. afflictions wars judgements plague famine captivity loss of comforts formerly enjoyed So it is taken Exod. 10.17 2 Cor. 1.10 and 2 Cor. 11.23 Else by dying is meant suffering of punishment putting to death so the words to dye do signifie Deut. 17.12 and 18.20 and 24.7 and 1 Sam. 14.39 and 2 Sam. 12.5 Take it of whether of these two you will The words import thus much that the man which sinneth what ever he be he shall suffer and be cut off for his sin himself and not any other shall bear the burden of it and beyond this to extend the words to eternal or second death or to be cast into the lake is not with any right reason to be forced from this place For the words are to be understood as a direct answer unto the Jews charge and crimination now we do not find that any one of them did complain that they suffered this second death or that they were cast into the lake you speak of but onely their complaint and charge was for a bodily personal suffering here in this life as some of those by me formerly mentioned the utmost was a death of the body by what violence soever inflicted beyond which they had no present experience to know or judg for how could they know which of their Fathers went into that lake or suffered the second death And therefore if we may as we ought to do suppose the answer of God to be ad idem and not impertinent to their cavil and charge then the construction of these words must necessarily be confined to temporal afflictions as war famine c. or at worst to death temporal or natural And then what becomes of all this waste stuff of yours by your quibling with the words all must dye i. e. go to the dust whether righteous or unrighteous c. T is true all the righteous dye as well as the unrighteous but there is a vast difference in the circumstances of their deaths It is to the righteous a thing desired a bridge whereby they pass from Egypt to Canaan Christ hath by his death sanctified it and sweetned it so to them that they desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 Mat. 24.8 But to the wicked it is the beginning of sorrows This might be enlarged but to him whose eyes are not blinded through prejudice t is very intelligible that the utmost of the Prophets scope can be extended no further then this temporal death if it be marked what the people laid to the charge of God and supposing God likewise to have made a direct answer unto their charge without any equivocation or mental reservation And so I leave all this that you have said in the dirt and proceed to what you further say And again if this man be of the same mind with some of his brethren as he doth in some measure discover himself so to be by his words which seem to imply that Infant children have faith although not the use of faith which conceit of theirs is usually grounded upon Matth. 18.16 These little ones that believe in me from which words some of them do infer that because Christ called a little child unto him to set before his disciples as a pattern of humility to them therefore he speaketh of such little children in respect of nonage in ver 6. and if that be so then they must needs conclude that little children as such cannot be reprobated for saith Christ ver 14. It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish But this I do to see how the opinions of those men will hang together for I do believe that the little ones he speaketh of ver 6. and ver 14. are his disciples which are born from above converted and in conversation in respect of innocency and humility become as little children whose qualifications in respect of these things are such as the Lord Christ requireth the best of his people to be but such Answ Sir to what you say that I discover my self to imply that Infants may have faith although not the use of faith T is very true I do so and shall be at all times ready not onely to speak it implicitly but explicitly and to justifie such an assertion faith they may have in actu primo but not in actu secundo as the Schools distinguish they may have it in the root habit and seed but not in the second acts of knowledge assent and application but of this I have enlarged my self sufficiently before pag. 127. whereto I shall refer the Reader for further satisfaction But for what you write that this opinion is grounded on Math. 18.6 and thereupon infer a strange exposition framed by some as you say I pray Sir find out those men that create such an interpretation as you speak of and when you have found them indite such another learned polemical pamphlet against their opinion as you have here done against me and if they can let them defend themselves and their private glosses and I will promise you that for my part I will not interpose between you nor have I any thoughts to vindicate it as conceiving it probable that you your self have forged this construction out of the anvile of your simple brain and now that you endeavour to refute it You make your close to this absurdiry thus And thus we owne the later of the two which he calleth absurdities
a can or a will I mean power or desire that there is neither of them in professed Christians Phil. 2.13 but what is of Gods own working who giveth both to will and to do according to his good pleasure And as for the heathen instead of doing or any desires thereunto as to good there is nothing but backwardness indisposition aversness yea an enmity against any thing that is really good at least in a saving way But alas what persons or cause is there in the world that are so base and degenerate that cannot suborne some luxuriant tongues to plead their case though never so abominable I have now done with this and so proceed to hear what you can speak for your selfe in the defence of the position from the third absurdity which is this The third absurdity If the foresight of sin should be the cause of reprobation then the elect should be equally lyable to the decree of reprobation as the reprobates themselves they all being alike in the corrupt mass and lump of Adams transgression Answ See how he minceth his argument that he may bring forth absurdities from his own expressions and then father them upon us In the front of his argument he putteth in unbelief and the rejecting of the means but leaveth out the word continuing and now he hath thrust out all except it be this one single term Sin that he may bring reprobation to eternal destruction to the narrow scantling of Adams transgression but that shall never be granted by me until I see a better proof for it than he hath yet brought and I can allow him more Scriptures then he hath set down to his argument Iob 14.4 and 15.14 Psal 51.5 all which together with the Scriptures he bringeth do I confess prove that the whole lump of mankind is polluted with Sin and I deny not but that this pollution or corruption is in a measure from Adams transgression but that any ones being reprobated to everlasting destruction in the lake of fire which is the second death is for Adams transgression I deny for although all the fruits and effects of that sin in the first Adam do accompany us untill we come to the dust from whence we were taken which is Gen. 3.16 17 18 19. Womens sorrow being multiplyed and their conception and bringing forth children in sorrow together with the curse that is upon the ground for mans sake so as that man must eat of it in sorrow all the dayes of his life eating bread in the sweat of his face being accompanied with pain and sickness which are the companions of death till he return to the ground for out of it was he taken for saith God dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return and this was the sentence of that condemnation that God hath pronounced against the first Adam or 1 Cor. 15.27 earthy man and we being then in him when the sin was committed and the sentence pronounced we have our part with him in these things as our portion in this life for the original sin or first transgression But the holy Spirit in Scripture doth no where declare as I could ever yet find nor as any one could ever yet shew me that mans reprobation to the second death is for being in Adams sin nor for sin in their own persons no nor yet for unbelief simply so considered but for continuing in sin and unbelief For if they do repent confess and forsake their sins they shall find mercy and be saved as hath been already proved and if the elect should continue in sin and unbelief and not repent and believe or imbrace the means of Salvation they should be equally lyable to the decree of Reprobation as the reprobates themselves and there would be no difference but they in repenting believing and embracing the means of salvation fall under the unchangeable decree of Gods election so as they cannot miss of salvation as hath been already shewed Answ Truly Sir before this I did not rightly apprehend where the shooe did wring but now I find that it is Original sin that pinches you so sore that you cannot well endure the name of it which had I foreseen I would not have minced any thing in the Argument no not so much as the continuing in sin for howsoever it is that we affirm that Original sin is an hereditary disease which every soul brings with it into the world yet it leaves not a man suddenly no not when he is regenerate but continues to the end of a mans dayes It is the very last enemy of ours that death destroyes so that in respect of this Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet dici beatus Now what you have to say against our doctrine of Original sin I find not much in this your discourse for this you grant First that the whole lump of mankind is polluted with sin and which pollution as you say flows from Adams transgression And secondly that all the fruits and effects of that sin do accompany us till death there is onely then your bare denial that eternal death is not the reward or wages of this sinful pollution the contrary whereof is incumbent on me to prove to make my charge good against you with that third absurdity Now to prove that the first sin of Adam was ours not because he is our father by nature though that be a ground of the imputation also but because he is such a father by Covenant and law the law and Covenant of works being laid in pawn in his hand we are to understand that there be three parts in Original sinne 1. First a partaking of the first sin of Adam we all sinned in him Rom. 5.12 14 15. 2. Secondly the want of the Image of God Rom. 3.23 called the glory of God or original righteousness 3. Thirdly Concupiscence or a bentness or proneness of nature unto sin Rom. 7.7 14 17 23 24. As to the first Adams sin is ours really and truly not so much because it is ours as because it is imputed to be ours by God who so contrived the law of works as that it should be made with Adam not as a single father or person but with Adam as a publique person representing all mankind and having our common nature as a father both by nature and law which came from the meer free-will of God He was as the root and stock of all mankind Rom. 5.19 By one mans disobedience many were made sinners i. e. morally and legally but not physically and personally the fruit and effect of which is death and damnation for Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death not onely temporal or natural death but as the Apostles Antithesis necessarily carries it spiritual and eternal death in opposition to eternal life acquired by Jesus Christ the second Adam Yea and the whole series and purport of the Apostles discourse Rom. 5.12 to ver 19. carries this clear that every mouth may be stopped