of creation God depriveth it of supernaturall gifts for Adams sin which though it putteth not evill into the soule yet evill necessarily followeth and hence is originall sin But neither can I see how this can stand for first if God deprives it so soone as it is made it should be not onely absurd but a vaine worke to doe and straight way to undoe againe Secondly It should be unjust neverthelesse for he had beene as good never to have given it goodnesse as presently to take it away againe Thirdly Seeing they say it is created in infusing and infused in creating they must needs grant that he creates it without supernaturall gifts unlesse it be infused with them which is worse and so they cannot say if is deprived of that which it never had Fourthly I answer that if God createth it without those gifts which are supernaturall to us he creates it evill for so are we without supernaturall gifts and a man may as well imagine a God without goodnesse as a good soule without such gifts Fifthly However it be for creation or privation naturall or supernaturall goodnesse if God so makes it as it must needs be evill as they say he makes it evill for what is it to make an evill one if not to make one that cannot be good yea that is the greatest evill for to be necessarily evill is not onely nought but worst of all Sixthly This were unjustly to punish the innocent for the guilty as wee heard before Lastly though all this might justly be yet wee are never the neerer to originall sin For this is not our sinning in Adam but our being made sinfull for Adam So that if the soule be created good we cannot possibly be thereby infected with originall sin In the last place therefore it will be said that it comes neither by the soule not the body Not by the union of both but by the union of both and that we are deceived if we suppose it to happen through any physicall touching but because in the union we become Adams sonnes he receiving and loosing both for himselfe and us his sin is thereby made ours Verily Calvin was a man of an excellent judgement Calv. Inst lib. 2. c. 1. who seeing the former grounds unanswerable flyes to this as the last refuge yet with reverence to so worthy an instrument I must seeke for better satisfaction True it is that originall sin is neither puddle nor stench yet it is a spirituall Leprosie hereditarily descending from Adam to all his naturall posteritie and infecteth the whole man both body soule with all the parts and powers of both And I would know how if the soule be pure and the body sinfull the infant at first is halfe holy and halfe corrupt which is absurd and if both be cleane at the first can the uniting of them make both uncleane can two goods as both are confessed apart make one evill 2. Goods cannot make one evill nay rather they are so much the better being conjoyned according to that common saying Vis unita fortior neither will it serve the turne to say it is imputed and so we are reputed corrupt for so it can be onely if it be imputed onely in this 2. Imputation insufficient Indeed Christs righteousnesse is really ours by imputation For a voluntary institution Obj. as it is a covenant of grace Ans differs from a necessary course of justice in the order of nature it being lawfull to shew kindnes without cause but not to inflict punishment as afterwards we shall see besides it cannot be justly imputed neither unlesse the whole man be propagated as was before and shall be againe more fully proved But we are not onely guilty of his sin but by him really corrupt our selves For is originall sin onely imputed corruption no it is a reall infection also and that is it whose originall I enquire for which if it be neither from the soule nor from the body nor the union of both it is not at all this way but seeing it is certaine both by Scripture experience that we have both certaine it is also that we have our whole corrupt nature both soule and body from Adam CHAPTER XIX That Originall sinne cannot passe but by propagation FRom the impossibility of the soules creation wee proceed now to the necessitie of the propagation thereof in respect of originall sin the former being not more contrary to the nature of God then this is agreeable to the course of nature For first as by Gods ordination originall sin passeth from one to all mankinde so by propagation all mankinde proceeds out of one Secondly As originall sin overspreads the whole man both soule and body so according to the course of nature the whole man both soule and body is propagated Thirdly As originall sin is seated chiefly in the soule according to the Scriptures so the soul especially is propagated according to the course of nature Wherefore that the truth of the one may appeare in Scriptures as well as the other is manifest in nature I will prove first that Originall sin cannot passe but by propagation secondly that it cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be 1. The necessitie of proving this The first that originall sin can no way justly descend to us but by propagation being the chiefest must chiefly be proved and so much the rather partly because this being granted the other two will follow alone and partly because some are of opinion that wee may justly be punished for Adams sin though we had never beene borne of him even as when one brother spends the estate which he received for himselfe and all the rest And so indeed all must hold that hold the immediate creation of the soule else there can be no originall sin which course being as I thinke unequall is as far from God as God is from injustice 1. The scriptures teach this and none others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First therefore this may appeare by the cleare testimonies of the Scripture for saith the Apostle death passed upon all men by one man in whom all men sinned or because all men sinned in him Whence it is manifest not onely Rom. 5.12 that Adam was then all men that is the stocke and roote of all men naturally in whom all men were and so sinned in him and with him but also that his sin is therefore imputed to his posteritie because they were in him For if the death threatned to him for sin passed upon all because all were in him it is plaine that the sin for which that death was threatned was imputed for the same cause namely because we were all in him Now for the same cause it was imputed to us then when wee were in him for the same cause it is imputed now that we are out of him and therefore as his sin was then ours because according to the course of nature we were in
like Purgatory was invented they be purged from this corporall contagion then they shall returne againe to heaveÌ„ from whence they came For thus doth Sathan seeke to obscure the truth with lies when he cannot put out all light of nature Not much unlike this and as it is like derived from it was the opinion of Origen 9. Origen who though he thought as the Scriptures teach that God created the soule of nothing and not of any caelestiall substance yet he saith that all soules were created together at the beginning of the world as Angels were and because they sinned in departing from God they are since put into divers bodies to be as it were their Jayles and fetters to imprison clog them more or lesse according to the diversitie of their sinnes And that for this cause the world was made that so these evill spirits might be bridled No lesse 10. â—â—thagoâ—â—â—â—s if not much more strange was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transmigration of soules which the Pythagoreans imagined viz. that they passed at death out of one mans body into another yea into fowles fishes plants without any difference exercising their power in them so far as in those natures could be manifested and that accordingly as they had lived in one body more or lesse vitiously so they were received at death into a worse or better body And it seemes the Jewes themselves were somewhat infected with this opinion by the Romans for they thought that Christ was John Baptist risen againe Mat. 14.2 16.13 14. or Eliah or Jarâ—â—â—ah Mar. 6.14 or some other of the old Prophets Luk. 9.7 8 11. Certaine Platonists or Pythagoreans Yea there have not beene wanting some heretickes of old who following the opinion of the Platonists have affirmed the soule to be of such a nature as it can never be quiet untill such time as it hath finished all manner of works whatsoever can be done in the world of what nature soever whether good or bad by passing out of one body into another through all sorts of creatures And untill then say they it can never be throughly purged or be at rest 12. Certaine Tertullianists Yet more some have maintained that at death those soules that live well are turned into Angels and those that have lived wickedly become devills as the Tertullianists c. And hence it is that we reade of conjurers who have killed men and children that they might have their soules as their imps and familiar spirits to command after their deaths and such an one it is said Simon Magus was 13. Every man 3 soules Neither is there more diversitie about the nature than the number of soules for some are of opinion that every man hath three soules a vegetative soule with plants a sensitive soule with beasts and a reasonable soule like unto the Angels although indeed they are but three faculties or sundry operations of one and the same soule in us 14. 2 Soules Other againe thinke there can be no lesse than two soules at the least one sensuall the other rationall the one mortall the other immortall the one propagated by the Parents and the other created by God And this Occam would prove from the diversity and contrariety of appetites and desires in one and the same man which he thinks cannot be in one and the same individuall nature 15. Maniches Some others yet more grossely have affirmed that every man hath indeed two soules the one made of the substance of God and the other of the substance of the devils These were the Maniches who held two beginnings a good God and an evill God 16. Averrois Contrary to these and yet no lesse unreasonable is the opinion of that great Philosopher Averrois that there is one onely soule of all men that ever were or shall be in the world Diversities of opinioÌ„s amongst Christians But leaving these Heathens and heretickes with their heathenish and hereticall conceits as not worthy the confuting let us heare the verdict of the learned Christians since Christ who all with one coÌ„sent affirme that the soules of men are either immediately created by God 1. Creation or else mediately propagated by man 2. Propagation yet herein also there is no small diversitie for in either of these there are two opinions each differing from other 17. Created out of the body Of those that maintaine the soule to be immediately created by God some think it is created without the body of nothing and then infused into it by God after the forming of the body of this mind was Hillary c. 18. Created within the body Others againe thinke it to be created within the body of the conceived fruit which hath first vegetative life then sensitive and lastly the reasonable soule is created therein and united therewith by the immediate power of God onely Both these have been countenanced by many of the best learned especially the latter which is most commonly received as the truth at this day 19. Propagated corporally Notwithstanding others contend that although God at first created Adams soule of nothing yet ever since they have beene naturally propagated from the parents together with the body so that as wee have our bodies from Adams body so our soule from Adams soule but so as it is immortall notwithstanding But of these some conceiting it to be a corporeall substance thought also that it was generated after a corporall manner which was worthily condemned by Austin and others 20. Propagated spiritually But those that held it to be a spirituall substance held also that it was propagated spiritually the soule of the soule as it were light of light And this heretofore was upholden by many of the most learned men amongst the Antients yea as St. Hierome witnesseth most of the Doctors of the Westerne Churches were of that minde So that it seemeth this opinion was as commonly received among them there as the other now amongst us Lastly 21. there were some that wavered between these two opinions not knowing which to take and of this minde was St. Augustine and Eucherius August Epist 157. who durst neither condemne those that thought it was spiritually propagated from the Parents nor yet those that held it to be immediately created by God Lib. 2. Cap. 56. The one professing in one of his Epistles that he could not finde any certainty of the soules Originall throughout the Canonicall Scriptures in which doubt he also continued to his death as appeareth plainly in his Retractations CHAP. IV. The state of the question propounded with the chiefe difficulties on both sides The censure and choise HEreby it appeareth sufficiently both how much difficultie is in this question of the soules originall and how imperfect our knowledge is therein But since all the rest are most absurd erronious and some blasphemous and two onely as most probable claime
sinfull but spirit that is pure and holy For whatsoever comes immediately from God he makes it pure good yea Gen. 1.3 all things very good But man from his very beginning is corrupt and sinfull because he is borne of flesh for saith our Saviour of the whole man that being borne of the flesh he is flesh Eph. 2.3 and therefore the whole man hath need of a second birth that he may be borne of the spirit Either therefore we must deny originall sin or else make God the Author of evill if the soule be immediately created by him But seeing it is manifest we are borne of flesh and are by nature children of wrath and it is impious blasphemy once to imagine that God is the Author of sin I feare not to conclude that the soule is not borne of the spirit I meane created by God but of the flesh that is propagated by man The conclusion of the divine Testimonies Thus then for divine testimonies we have produced no lesse than a whole Jury of witnesses first God himselfe then Adam Moses Job David Salomon Jeremy Zachary Peter Paul the Angell Gabrell and our Saviour Christ himselfe and if humane Testimonies would serve the turne it were not hard to shew more than twelve Legions of Saints learned and unlearned that have lived and dyed in this beliefe It being the received doctrine of the westerne Churches in Saint Hieromes time as was before declared but if these will not satisfie much lesse would those and therefore I omit them CHAPTER XV. The propagation proved from the Doctrine of Originall sinne Reasons proving the soules propagation BEsides the Testimonies of Scripture this mediate manner of the soules propagation may farther be demonstrated by reasons drawne from them whereof there are two onely most materiall and indeed necessary to be considered the one concerning the doctrine of originall sin and the other touching the incarnation of our Saviour which two being the maine difficulties in this question the one hindering the soules immediate creation the other the immediate propagatiō therof if these two can be cleared but especially if both doe agree together to confirme this doctrine there will remaine no more place of disputation about it and therefore I purpose to insist so much the longer in them both 1. Originall sinne And for the better clearing the first reason drawne from the Doctrine of Originall sin I will first make way to it by a generall description of these three things First Originall sinne Secondly Creation Thirdly Propagation and then apply it particularly to the proving of the point in hand l. From the nature of the sin descending 2. From the goodnesse of God in creating 3. From the course of nature in propagating Of all which I will speake as briefly and plainly as I can and according to that divine light which is revealed in the Scriptures First therfore it must be shewed out of the Scripture whether there be any originall sin or no and what it is For the first that the streame of mans being first poysoned in Adam the fountaine hath infected every man that comes into the world with sinne is manifest through the whole Scripture Proofes out of the Scripture By one man namely Adam sin entred into the world and death by n = a Rom. 5.12 sin in the day that he did eate of the forbidden fruit wee began to die the n = b Gen. 2 17 death yea n = c Rom. 5.14 even Infants that had not actually sinned yet were tainted with originall sin so that in Adam all dye n = d 1 Cor. 15.22 because in Adam all did sin n = e Rom. 5.12 Hence it was that by and by after all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were onely evill continually n = f Gen 6.5 yea evill even from his youth n = g Gen. 8.21 And now who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane n = h Iob 14.4 And what is man that he should be cleane n = i Iob 15.14 and he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous sayth Job Hence even David confesseth of himselfe I was borne in iniquitie and in sin did my n = k Psal 51.5 mother conceive me and of others he saith the wicked are estranged from the wombe n = l Ps 58.3 they goe astray as soone as they are borne Esay also calleth man a transgressor from the wombe n = m Isa 48.8 and Jeremy saith the heart of man is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked n = n Ier. 17.9 hence also it is that the Apostle saith Wee are by nature children of Wrath n = o Eph. 2.3 and by the offence of one the fault came upon all n = p Ro. 5.18 men to condemnation And to conclude our Saviour saith plainly that which is borne of the flesh is flesh n = q Ioh. 3.6 Ioh. 3.3.5 and except a man be regenerate and borne againe he cannot enter into nor see the Kingdome of God Reasons to prove it Besides Reason teacheth that like begets like as touching the substance and accidents proper to the kinde 1. according to the Rule Generatum sequitur naturam generantis Beasts bring forth beasts Serpents serpents and sinfull man a sinfull of-spring We cannot gather grapes of thornes Mat. 7.16 nor figges of thistles but an evill tree bringeth forth evill fruit and corrupt Adam sinfull men otherwise how could Infants justly be punished with death seeing death is the wages of sinne And why were Infants circumcized and women purified after child-birth under the law but to shew that all that commeth of mans seed is defiled with sin Againe cōmon experience sheweth the fruit of this bitter roote to bud forth in childrē even from their very cradles and that by inclination before they can learne by imitation The necessitie also of our regeneration proves it for if by our first birth we were not corrupt then should not the second be necessary to salvation Lastly the double grace which we receive from the second Adam Christ Jesus namely Justification Regeneration shews that there floweth a double evill from the first Adam namely the guilt and corruption of nature If we had not this double sinne we should not need this double remedy What originall sin is And now that we see we are thus infected let us inquire a little more narrowly into the nature of it It appeares by that which hath beene said already that all men are become sinfull through Adams sin having lost those now supernaturall gifts wherewith he and we with him were at first indued and in stead therof are all over infected with a venomous qualitie or inclination to all manner of evill causing ignorance and blindnesse in the minde stubbornesse and rebellion in the will disorder in the affections making the senses sensuall and beast-like all the members
of the soules of the parents or of his own essence they being neither bodies nor Angels but the latter is impossible and therefore it must needs be the former Againe the Prophet saith not without him as if it were first made and then infused but within him So that in saying the Lord formeth the spirit of man within him he doth evidently declare 1. Of matter that there is some matter within man whereof the Lord formeth the soule than which what in so few words can so fitly and fully expresse the manner of the soules propagation being formed in conception of the spirituall matter of the parents soules by the power and vertue of the seede in generation And yet not meerely by the power of nature for in the last place it is to be observed that he saith the Lord formeth it For he indeed is the externall efficient the nature of the soule being of that height that without an immediate act of his providence it cannot be produced Whence it is that in the production of the soule though it be not a creation it is as neere to a creation as can be and though it be by propagation yet it is not meerly by propagation but some way above it and so it is in a manner a kinde of meane betweene creation and propagation For according to these words of the Prophet the soule is formed of the spirituall matter of the parents soules within the conceived fruit not without the omnipotent power of God So that by all these testimonies it appeareth I thinke sufficiently that this doctrine went currant in the time of Adam Abraham Moses David and the Prophets and I beleeve never was once questioned in those first ages of the world CHAP. XIV Testimonies out of the new Testament proving the soules propagation THis doctrine is no lesse if not much more clearely revealed and fully confirmed in the new Testament also 1. S. Paul For first the Apostle Saint Paul saith as plainly as can be that all men in their whole persons both were in Adam and sinned in him Death saith he passed by one man upon all men in whom all sinned Where he maketh no such division of soule and body one from one place and another from another as men have now invented but he saith plainly the whole man Rom. 5.12 yea all men who consist of soules I am sure as well as bodyes were in Adam yea and sinned in him too which is absurd to say and impossible to be without soules What would we yea what can we have more plainly spoken Is it not then high presumption to say no worse of it for men thus to sever what God hath joyned together without apparent warrant from his word how much more then in this for which it is confessed there is no warrant there at all And yet least any man should be mistaken as thinking the whole man may well enough be said to be in Adam though not in other of our parents by I know not what imaginary imputation because he was the stocke of all mankinde or rather of the bodyes of all mankinde the holy Ghost I say foreseeing our aptnesse to erre to take away all exception saith the very same concerning other Fathers also The Author to the Heb. Heb. 7.1 as that Levi together with all his sonnes was yet in the loynes of his Father grandfather yea and great grand-father Abraham when Melchisedeck men him and which is more paid tithes in him So that by the testimony of the Apostle Vâ—rs â— Abrakam is to be reckoned in the number of those that did propagate the whole man soule and body together and for that cause paid tithes for his posteritie while they were yet in his loynes And if Isaaâ— Jacob and the whole tribe of Levi were once in the loynes of Abraham we need not doubt but we were all in like manner once wholly in Adam and consequently are now wholly propagated from him 2. The Angell Gabrell Againe that we may not deny it unlesse we will deny Christ and our owne salvation The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ as concerning his humanitie was the sonne of the virgin Mary and so of David his Father for so said the Angell Gabrell being sent unto her Luk 1.31 32. Thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and againe the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David Neither is it sufficient to say his body came from them for the Apostle plainly affirmeth Rom. 1.3 that he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh Where flesh is figuratively put for his whole humanity both soule and body as themselves confesse Per syâ—ocdochâ—n Neither can it be denyed for it is there opposed to his Divinitie as the words immediately following doe manifestly declare and all Interpreters acknowledge Whence it necessarily followeth that the soul of our Saviour was the seede of David even the fruit of his loynes as well as his body 3. S. Peter Act. 2.30 as St. Peter witnesseth for since the holy Ghost affirmeth it why should we feare to do it yea why should we not feare to doe otherwise Is it not safer to follow such a guide than to run a way by our selves for which we have no warrant And seeing as the Apostle elsewhere affirmeth Heb. 4.15 He was made like unto us in all things except sinne why should wee make any doubt but it is so with us also as it was with him Especially considering the whole currant and full streame of the Scriptures run this way even from the beginning And not onely concerning him as where it is said Gen. 3.15 22.18 the Seede of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 5.10.11 as we heard before but also all other places speaking of his or our generation comprehends both soule and body under the name of seede 1 Chron. 1 2 3 c. Mat. 1. Luk. 2. Mat. 19.6 without any exception making the soule no lesse the seede of man than the body and the body no more than the soule and neither of them more or lesse propagation than the other and this throughout the whole Scripture without any the least word to the contrary And therefore I say againe let no man dare to seperate what God hath so joyned together 4. Our Saviour himselfe Lastly Unlesse we will make God the Author of sin and consequently deny God that made us we must confesse the truth of this doctrine proved from those words of our Saviour where speaking both of the naturall and the new birth of man he saith Ioh. 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Whence I reason thus If the soule were immediately created by God it should not be flesh that is corrupt and
are sinfull from him onely as wee are from him Wherefore as if the whole man was not potentially in Adam the whole man did not sin in him so if the whole man did not proceed from him the whole man cannot have originall sin from him For it is impossible wee should be in him and sin in him in that respect wherein we neither were in him nor could sin in him that i◠without the whole man and therefore if the whole man neither was nor could be in him nor from him the whole man neither have nor can have fin in him or from him So that if we say we were in him in our bodyes onely then they onely and not wee sinned in him yea even they did not sin in him for bodyes simply considered cannot sin as wee heard before and therefore to say wee sinned in our bodyes onely is as much as to say we did not sin at all Besides The whol man is the subject of sin it is manifest that neither the body nor the soule alone is the subject of sin but the person or whole man For if according to the rule of reason that be the proper subject to which the accident properly cleaveth then either the whole man is the subject of sin or else the whole man is not properly sinfull Obj. And why else is the law given to the whole man and the whole man rewarded or punished Ans according to his vertuous or vitious manner of living If any object Obj. 2. that the soule cannot be punished alone after death Ans 2. I answer Neither is it simply as a soule but as the soule of a wicked man If they reply that so our soules sinned in Adam not as our soules but as the soules of-men I answer nay they must answer themselves that according to their doctrine the soule never was before and so had no being in nature no not potentially much lesse was it the soule of a man and least of all could it sin in Adam 5. Scriptures Seeing therefore I could not sin in Adam but as I was in him I sinned in him in my whole person consisting of soule and body and that not by I wot not what imaginary imputation but really and truly as I was potentially in him by the law of nature it necessarily followeth that I was naturally and really in him in my whole person both soule and body and so have proceeded from him And hereto serve the former Scriptures in him all men sinned and Rom. 5.12 1 Cor. 15.22 in Adam all dye speaking of the whole person and therefore so must wee For what is mortall man that he should contradict the holy Ghost or seeke a new way when God hath chalked out the old Wherefore I conclude that as none can partake of Christs righteousnesse unlesse the whole man be regenerated and borne againe by and from his grace Ioh. 3.3 so none can partake of Adams sin unlesse the whole person be generated by and from his nature CHAP. XXI That the whole man cannot be propagated unlesse the soule be 1. The whol cannot be without the essentiall parts IN the last place it remaines to prove that if the whole man doe the soule also must needs come from Adam for this must also be proved be it never so manifest because some seeing the former grounds unanswerable would make us beleeve that the whole man may be said to be in Adam though the soule comes from God I deny not but it may be said but I cannot see how it can be said truely For what can be more false and absurd than to say the whole was in Adam but not the essentiall parts whereof the whole consisteth And indeed such a manner of being must be an idle imagination or nothing for it is impossible to be either really or rationally But what is their reason man gives the subsistence to the person and the soule comes from Adam quoad existentiam though not quoad essentiam But I deny this too man does indeed something in the subsistence of the person but that as they say is onely to provide I know not what a body it should be without a form which at the most is but the least part and therfore not the whole nor halfe 2. The conjunction if it put them in one case cannot yet bring them from one place But they say man conjoynes both natures together whereby it doth subsist by it selfe as a person But neither is this true for the conjunction is they say no body knows how long after cōception and therefore not man but the woman must doe it alone And yet hot shee neither for they say God doth create it in the infusion and infuse it in the creating But say that God gave the soule to the parents and they did unite them would it follow that the conjunction of both makes both to come from Adam Why doe they not rather come both from God and not at all from Adam it were more reason the greater should draw the lesser than the lesse the greater that the baser should attend the more noble rather than the most noble to waite on the baser verily if the whole man may be properly said to proceed from Adam because the body doth much more may the whole man be said to proceed from God because the soule doth The vanitie of this reason that the whole man comes from Adam because the body doth may appeare by the like If a lame man should have a woodden leg joyned to his body Simile might it be said his whole body grew in the wood because his leg did nothing lesse And yet is not the woodden leg so much inferiour to the body as the body is to the soule Any childe therefore may take away these stilts from such a lame reason as this is 3. It could not be in Adams time nor ours And if any will still urge it in good earnest let him tell me when the whole man was in Adam since the former Scriptures say plainly it was it must needs be in Adams time or ours yea in both but according to this doctrine it could be in neither so not at all It could not be in Adams time for the whole man had not being in nature nor not potentially in respect of the soule many hundred yeares after neither could it be in our time for Adam was dead likewise many thousand yeares before we had any being especially in respect of the better part of the soule and so consequently never was contrary to those Scriptures and the doctrine of originall sin It must needs be therefore that the whole man as well soule body forme as matter even the whole compound was potentially in Adam as the whole tree in the roote or seede many graines of wheat in one and so being naturally propagated from him doth partake of his nature both in soule and body Else marke