to prove the Creation of the soul shall be from Eccl. 12. 7. Then shall dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to God who gave it This seemeth to be very clear for he speaketh of every man that dieth he considers the two essential parts of man his body which he calleth dust because it was made of dust and then his soul which he cals a spirit because of its simple and incorporeal nature again which strengthens the Argument he compareth these two in their contrary or divers originals The body returneth to the earth the Spirit unto God that gave it Though we would think this might satisfie yet Austin of old and those that are Traducians they say God indeed giveth the soul by propagation as well as by Creation God giveth two wayes by Creation or by Propagation as saith Austin God is said 1 Cor. 15. 38. to give every several grain its body yet it is by seminal propagation and God is often in the Scripture said to give us our eyes and our ears and our bodies yet they are by natural generation or if this will not serve then they say This is true onely of Adam not his posterity because Adam's body was only made of the dust not ours and God did breath a soul into him at first But every one may see these are weak exceptions as for the later it 's plain he doth not speak of Adam but every man that dieth For having advised the young man to improve his youth for God he tels him old-age is coming and then death then shall he return How can this be applied to Adam who had returned to the earth many hundreds of years before that was spoken And whereas it is said That only Adam's body was made of dust The answer is easie That though our bodies be of flesh and bone immediately yet the remote principle is dust and therefore Abraham though his body was not made as Adams yet he said 〈◊〉 was but dust and ashes Thus this Text stands firm for the immediate Creation of the soul Though let me by the way give you rightly to understand that later clause The spirit returneth to him that gave it The meaning is not as if the soul of every man was saved but that it goeth into the hands of God as a Judge to dispose of it according to what hath been done in the flesh As for the next exception that will be answered in the following Argument only in the general this may be said That if God gave the soul onely mediately by propagation then the body might be said to return to him as well as the soul SECT II. WE will proceed to a second and that is from Zech. 12. 1. The Lord which stretcheth forth the Heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him Here we see the Lords power described by a three-fold effect the making of the Heavens the laying of the earths foundation and making the spirit of man Now it is plain that the two former were by Gods immediate Creation therefore the later must be So that the Context doth evidently shew That Gods making of the soul of a man within him is no lesse wonderfull then the making Heaven and earth This Text was also of old agitated by Austin in this controversie and to answer it he runneth to his old refuge of forming a thing immediately and by natural propagation God is not to be excluded saith he from having a special hand in giving being to the soul yet it doth not follow that therefore it must be by creation out of nothing To this purpose they bring that of Job Chap. 10. 10 11. where Job attributeth the making and forming of his body to God Hast thou not poured me out like milk c Thou hast cloathed me with skin and flesh So Psal 139. 13 14 15. where David acknowledgeth the wonderfull wisdom and power of God in making his body Then hast curiously wrought me As the curious needle-woman doth some choice piece now we cannot from hence prove that therefore the body is of God by immediate Creation But this cannot weaken the Text for we told you That the Argument is not meerly from that expressing of forming the spirit of man within him but from the upper two Attributes Besides the Scripture tels us plainly of what materials the body is formed of whereas they who hold the propagation of the soul are extreamly streightned and difficultated to say what the soul is made of They say it is not ex animâ but ab animâ not of the soul but from the soul of the Parent but then are divided amongst themselves when they go to explicate how the soul hath its being if not from Creation Some say it hath its being by a corporal seminal manner but then it must be a body which Austin would constantly deny for he dissents from Tertullian in that though both held the natural Traduction of the soul Austin I mean only suppositively but Tertullian positively yet he professeth his dissent from Tertullian who made it a body This therefore being thought absurd others they tell us of an incorporeal and immaterial seed from the soul of the Parents which causeth the soul of the child To this purpose Tertullian in his book de animâ distinguisheth of semen animale which cometh from the soul and semen corporeum which cometh from the body But this may easily be judged as absurd as the former If therefore the Scripture when it speaketh of the forming of mans spirit within him had discovered the materials of which it is formed as well as when it speaketh of the forming of the body there would have been some pretence for the Argument But calling it a spirit and as you see in the Text comparing the forming of it with the making of the Heavens and the Earth this makes the creation of the soul more than probable Tarnavius the Lutheran would likewise avoid this place Comment in loc by saying the Hebrew word Jahac doth most commonly signifie not an immediate creation out of nothing for so the Hebrew word Barah doth for the most but a mediate out of some prejacent matter yet indisposed but this Rule being not universal it hath no strength in it Besides the Hebrew word is in the Present tense who formeth so that it cannot relate to the making of Adam's soul at first Indeed the fore-named Tarnavius doth from the participle Benani draw an Argument against us saying It doth not alwayes signifie actum secundum but habitum and potentiam and so maketh the sense to be God who hath this power immediately to create the soul if he will but all will confess this to be forced That is more considerable when he saith As God in stretching out the Heavens and laying the foundation of the earth is not thereby declared to create new Heavens and a new earth every day so neither is it
its nature If you look upon a Cain a Judas though his outside be so detestable yet his inwards are much more abominable so that a mans heart is like Peters great sheet which he saw in a vision Acts 11. 6. which was full of four-footed beasts and wild beasts and creeping things all unclean such a receptacle is mans soul of all impiety A man cannot tell what is in the sea what monsters are in the bottom of it by looking upon the superficies of the water which covers it so neither canst thou tell all that horrid deformity and wretchedness which is in thy heart by beholding thine outward impieties Oh then that you would turn your eyes inward as it were an introversion is necessary Then you will say O Lord before I knew the Nature of original sinne I was not perswaded of my vileness of my foulness Oh now I see that I am beyond all expression sinfull now I see every day I am more and more abominable O Lord formerly I thought all my sinne was in some words in some actions or in some vile thoughts but now I see this was the least part of all that evil that was in me Now I am amazed astonished to see what a sea of corruption is within me now I can never go to the bottom now I find something like hell within me sparks of lust that are unquenchable Fourthly Where there is not a true knowledge of this native corruption there our Humiliation and Repentance can never be deep enough for it 's not enough to be humbled for our actual sinnes unless also we go to the cause and root of all When a godly man would repent of his lusts of his unbelief or any other actual transgression he stayeth not in the confession of and bewailing those particular sins but he goeth to the polluted fountain to the bitter spring from whence those bitter streams flow and commonly this is a difference between an Ahabs Humiliation and a Davids Ahab humbleth himself only for his actual impieties and that because of judgments threatned and impending over him but David even when he heareth God had forgiven his iniquity yet hath great humiliation for his sinnes and Psal 51. thinketh it not enough to bewail his adultery and murder but to confess That in iniquity he was conceived his actual sinnes carried him to the original Thus Paul also Rom. 7 when he miserably complaineth of that impotency in him to do good that he could never do any good as perfectly fully purely and cheerfully as he ought to do presently he goeth to the cause of all this deordination the Law of sinne within him that original sinne which was like a Law within him commanding him to think to desire to do sinfully and obeyed it in all though against his will insomuch that he saith He was carnal and sold under sinne This the Apostle doth complain of as the heaviest burden of all So that an unregenerate man may by the light of nature bewail and complain of his actual impieties he may cry out Oh wretched man that I am for being such a beast such a devil so exorbitant and excessive but whether he can do this for the body of sinne within him as Paul did that may justly be questioned And therefore you see then the troubles and workings of conscience in some men to miscarry greatly They seem to be in pain and travails of soul but all cometh to nothing Oh how many in times of danger and under fear of death do sadly cry out of such sins they have committed Oh the promises and resolutions they make if ever God give them recovery again But all this passeth away even as mans life it self like a vapour like a tale that is told And one cause of the rottenness and defect of this humiliation is because it did not go to the bottom of the soare there was the inward and deep corruption of original sin that such never took any notice of and so in all his sorrow did omit that which is the most aggravating cause of all grief and trembling O Lord I have not only done this wicked thing but I had an heart an inclination of soul to carry me to it and therefore actual sinnes though ten thousands of them they pass away the guilt only remaining but this original pravity continueth in the pollution of it Fifthly Ignorance of original sinne makes us also mistake in the crucifying and mortifying of sinne No man can truly and spiritually leave a sinne unless he doth conquer it and subdue it in some measure in the original and root of it and this is a sure difference between a regenerate and unregenerate man about leaving or forsaking of sinne They both may give over their wonted actual impieties They both may have escaped the pollution of the world and that through the knowledge of the Gospel 2 Pet. 2. 20. but the one leaveth only the acts of sinne the other mortifieth it gradually though not totally in the cause and inclination of the soul Thus Paul Rom. 7. though he complain of those actual stirrings and impetuous motions of sinne yet withall he can truly say I delight in the Law of God in the inner man Now no hypocrite or unregenerate man can say so Though he be outwardly washed yet he hath a swinish nature still his inward parts are as loathsom as noisom as ever before Though there be a fair skinne drawn over the wound yet in the bottom there is as much corruption and putrefaction as ever before Samson's hair is only cut it 's not plucked up by the root so that it 's not enough to have given over thy former profaneness Thou thankest God thou art not the man once thou wert Oh but consider whether sinne in the root of it as well as in the branches of it doth wither and die daily A disease is not cured till the cause of it be in some measure at least removed As long as originall sinne is not in some degree mortified thy old sins or some other will break out as violently as ever here is the fountain and root of all within thee Sixthly He that is ignorant of the nature and extent of this natural defilement he must needs grosly mistake about the nature of conversion and be wholly ignorant of what regeneration is As you see in Nicodemus John 3. 6. though a master in Israel yet grosly mistaking about a new-birth and what was the reason of it That appeareth by our Saviours argument to prove the necessity of it Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh implying by this That if Nicodemus had known that by natural generation he was nothing but flesh that is sinne and evil his soul his mind his conscience all was flesh in this sense as well as his body then he would quickly have discerned the necessity of being born again then he would not have continued a day an hour a moment in such a dangerous condition And what
Comparison I am only to take notice of the Protasis or Proposition which is That by one mans disobedience many were made sinners So that in the words we are to consider the Subject or rather the cause of mankinds sinfulness and that is described in the Nature of it and the Author The Nature of it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words do denote the hainousness of it Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and Adams sinne is called disobedience yea some learned Divines shew That the proper specifical nature of this sinne was disobedience there were also many sins ingredient thereunto this the Apostle doth to aggravate the hainousness of it Insomuch that Peltan the Jesuite doth wickedly accuse the Protestants for aggravating the guilt of it so much Apud illos saith he omnia sunt quasi tragica infernalia De pecc orig They have nothing but tragical expressions and proclaim hell and damnation because of this pollution For this is the Apostles scope in this place to heighten the consideration of it that so Christ may be the more magnified Even as an Historian who would make a parallel between two great Generals yet intending to preferre one before another doth in the first place amplifie the gallantry the warlike power the military stratagems of the one that so he may the more advance that other General whom he intends to preferre above him Thus doth the Apostle here he makes original sinne to be exceeding sinfull that so the grace of Christ may be exceeding rich and precious grace Adams sinne then which is imputed and made ours as you heard is disobedience SEC II. SEcondly You have the Author of this disobedience and that is said to be by one man Though Eve was the first in transgression yet Adam is named as the chief and therefore Adam is sometimes used collectively both for man and woman as when God said Let us make man after our Image Here then we have Paul informing us of that which all Philosophy was ignorant of viz. The imputation of Adams sinne to us and our natural pollution flowing from it Yea Paul guided by the Spirit of God finds out that mystery which none of us ever could discover by reading the History of Mans Fall related by Moses For there indeed we could see the cause of death how that came upon all mankind but that Adams sin was ours That we all sinned in him that hereupon we were all involved in sin and misery for this we are to bless God for Paul who hath so largely discovered it SECT III. IN the next place We have the Effect of this disobedience with the Extent of it The Extent is to many that is to all born naturally of Adam For many is not here opposed to all but to one the original from that one many even all are made sinners Therefore it 's a dangerous Exposition of Theodoret as Sixtus Senensis relateth which affirmeth Not all but some only to be infected with Adam 's sinne exempting Abel Noah and others from this pollution For 1 Cor. 15. the Apostle saith In Adam all die and in this Chapter at vers 12. All have sinned in Adam But the Effect that is more dreadfull and worthy of all meditation We are made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is more then when all were said to sin in him for this doth denote the habitual depravation of all the parts of the soul as also a readiness to commit all actual sins Therefore the word is sometimes applied to signifie great and hainous sinners as Mary Magdalen is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sinner So then you see that by Adams disobedience all are made sinners CHAP. VI. Whether we are Sinners by Natural Propagation or by Imitation THere remaineth one great Doubt Whether we are so by Natural Propagation because born of him or by occasion only and imitation because he sinned We are not say some made sinners as soon as we are born but when by free-will we come to consent to sinne and choose it Thus Pelagians of old and Socinians of late with many others Erasmus though he saith he holds Original sinne yet useth all his strength to enervate the Orthodox Interpretation SECT I. That Adam's Disobedience makes us Sinners by Propagation BUt there are cogent Reasons to understand it thus That Adam 's Disobedience makes us sinners by natural Propagation As First Because the Apostle still chargeth our guilt and sinfulness upon Adam only upon that one man and upon that one offence whereas if it were by example and imitation only it might be upon our parents and others and upon their transgressions So that the Apostle might have said By many men and many disobediences we are made sinners but still he chargeth it on one man and one offence Secondly If Imitation be taken strictly then a man must know and have in his eye that which he doth imitate but how many thousands are there that runne into all excess of wickedness and never heard of Adam much less could not propound his sin for a patern to follow So that even in the Pelagian sense to be sinners by Imitation cannot be properly used in this Controversie Thirdly If the Apostle understood sin only by Imitation or occasion not Propagation then as Austin of old well urged it might be more properly fastned upon the Devil as the Original for it was not by Adam but the Devil that sin came into the world in this sense and so death by sinne Hence the Devil is said to be a man-slayer from the beginning Joh. 8. 44. or a murderer and that both of souls and bodies In somuch that the Devil was the occasion of all the wickedness and death the consequent thereof And hence our Saviour speaking of wicked men Joh 8. saith They are of their Father the Devil and what they see him do that they do So that the Devil is made to be the original of sinne by imitation to wicked men and not Adam Fourthly Adams sinne must be made ours by natural Propagation not Imitation Because death is made the necessary consequent of it all that 〈◊〉 have sinned Adam 's sinne But now death is propagated naturally Hence Infant die which yet according to the best Divines have not actual sinne why 〈◊〉 it that they die yea they are not only subject to death but to exquisite torments and pains yea Infants have been grievously possessed with the Devils and tormented by them Now this could not be if they were not guilty of sia If therefore death be by natural Propagation then sinne the cause of it must also be in that manner Fifthly This comparison made between the first Adam communicating sin and the second communicating Righteousness doth fully evince this For we are made righteous by Christ not only as if he were a patern and example of Righteousness unto us but by
with it a guilt of conscience is contracted upon every sinne Thus some expound that known saying of Austin Jussisti Domine sic est ut omnis animus inordinatus sit sibi ipsi poena O Lord thou hast so commanded and thus it is that a soul immoderate any way should be a punishment to it self Thus as the moral Philosophers say Virtus est sibiipsi praemium so peccatum est sibiipsi poena Virtue is a reward to it self because it brings sweetness and comfort of conscience so a sinne is a punishment to it self because it brings terror and fear with it Lastly The same thing may be both a sinne and a punishment both poena damni and poena sensus a punishment of loss and so every sinne in that it is a sin depriveth the soul of that spiritual good and glory which it ought to have and so is a kind of disease or death it self and then in some sins they are a punishment of sense as in envy and anger Thus when Ahitophel and Judas hanged themselves their self-murder was both a sinne and a punishment of loss and sense also SECT III. IN the third place it is objected If original inherent sinne be made a distinct sin from Adam's imputed sinne we do needlesly make two guilts and so multiply sins without necessity for all the guilt that is in Adam's sinne imputed the corruption of Nature which floweth immediately from it doth not make a new sin but makes the former more hainous As if say they a man should by some sin lose his eyes that act whereby he put out his eyes was a sinne but then it 's not a new distinct sin in him to be without eyes Or if a Commander who had a Castle to keep upon which depended the good of a Town adjacent if he prove persidious and give it up to the enemy his perfidious act at first is all the sinne if the Town adjacent have much misery thereby it is an aggravation of his sin but it doth not make him guilty of two sins This hath made some think That our original pollution as distinct from Adam's sinne imputed is not a sinne and that whensoever the Fathers call it a sinne they understand it as connexed with Adam's sinne Thus the learned Vossius in his Pelagian History But the truth no doubt is on their side who hold a twofold distinct guilt That Adams sinne imputed to us and that inherent are two distinct sins though one doth necessarily imply an order to another and the later is alwayes to be looked upon as a relative to the former Neither doth that similitude of a man wilfully putting his eyes out make to this purpose For when a man hath lost his eyes there is a natural impotency ever to have them again Neither is there any obligation or Law binding him thereunto But besides the guilt of imputed sinne we are bound to have that inherent rectitude we once lost and therefore being defective in that we ought to have it 's truly a sinne The loss of a mans eyes is malum naturale this is morale And thus Aristotle determined that a drunken man who committed any sin worthy of punishment was to be twice punished both for his drunkenness and the other sinne committed Thus Rivet also in the matter of Lot's Incest which he committed while he was so drunk that he could not tell what he did inclineth to their opinion who say That Lot's Incest was not only a punishment of his drunkenness and so an aggravation of his sinne but truly and properly Incest so that he had two sins and was twice guilty Some learned men do determine That if a man commit such a sin upon which other sins do usually follow though while they do them they cannot avoid them not knowing what they do yet those subsequent sins are to be charged upon them besides the first that was the cause of all as murder is to be charged as a distinct sin upon a drunkard though happily in his drunkenness he knew not that he committed such a sin SECT IV. ARe we all guilty of sinne as soon as we are born This should teach us Humiliation and Patience under the death or miseries of our Infants we are ready to say Why are such poor Innocents exposed to such calamities The knowledge of original sinne will stop thy mouth herein When Titus the Emperour was dying who for his good and sweet Government was called Deliciae generis humani he quarrelled with the gods because he thought they did eripere vitam immerenti he deserved not to die he thought death was a wrong to him but had he understood original sinne he would have seen his desert of it though he had never committed any actual impiety Pliny likewise if he had known this would not have uttered that foolish complaint That homo was animal infaeliciter natum which did cum suppliciis vitam auspicari unam tantum ob culpam quia natum est that did begin his life with miseries and punish us for this fault only because he was born No The Scripture would have informed him it was because he was born in sinne This is the rise and spring of all mans calamity SECT V. I Shall at this time conclude this famous and noble Text wherein we have the Doctrine of original sinne so evidently asserted notwithstanding all the fogs and mists that some have indeavoured to bring upon it The remaining work is to dissolve some further Objections that are laid in the way as stumbling-blocks which when removed we shall proceed to the practical improvement of it In the next place therefore this is thought a powerfull weapon against this Truth viz. It cannot be truly and properly a sinne because it is not against any Law The Apostle makes contrariety to the Law to be of the essence of sinne If therefore Infants new-born or before they are born are not under a Law then they are not capable of any sinne and truly it hath a seeming absurdity to say Infants are commanded by Gods Law to be born without sinne seeing that is no more in their power than to be born This consideration did press that learned Divine Molinaus Enodatio graviss Quaest de peccato origin pag. 130. to acknowledge That no such Law was upon Infants and therefore he saith That the Law doth condemn original sinne but not prohibit it But this seemeth very strange For how can the Law condemn a thing but because it is against it And how can it be against it but because it doth prohibit If therefore the meaning of that learned man be that original sinne is not immediately and proximely forbidden that is readily granted for so only actual sins are but mediately and remotely both the habits of sinne and original must necessarily be prohibited if they be condemned The learned Vossius also affirmeth That original sinne is not forbidden by the moral Law though he confesseth it is by
some kind of confused knowledge about this as in time may be shewed for they had a custom with them of expiating and cleansing of their Infants as being unclean Fifthly This expression of uncleanness doth denote our unfitness and unworthiness to come into Gods presence or to perform any holy duty no more than a person full of his vomit or loathsomness or a man with the noisom plague fores is fit to come into the presence of a great King As the legal unclean person was not to come into the Temple or to touch any holy things And this was typified in Adam when he was cast out of Paradise and flaming swords set to keep him out all this denoted That God had excommunicated Adam and as it were all mankind in him so that now they have no fitness or decency no worth or suitableness to any holy duty And certainly this should deeply humble us yea at this our hearts should tremble and move out of their places to consider that though none need God more than we do none have more need to pray incessantly to him yet such is our pollution that we are not fit to pray or to draw nigh to God yea our duties while performed by us in this our original condition are a provocation to God and they become new sinnes for if no clean thing can be brought out of an unclean then no clean prayer no clean holy duty can come from thee who art unclean It is true though we are thus polluted it is our duty to pray by our original Apostasie we are not freed from Gods commands we are bound to pray and to pray with as holy and heavenly frame of heart as Adam in his integrity but though it be our duty yet we have lost all power and ability Yea and besides this there is an unfitness and unworthiness even as when the frogs crept into Pharaoh's chamber And to this Bernard aâ—luded when he called himself Ranuncula repens in conspectu Dei How dare such a loathsom frog as he creep into the presence of so holy a God Certainly if the Angels though without any such blemish yea not having the least spot do yet not cover their feet but their faces the noblest part as it were because of the glorious and holy Majesty of God how much more must sinfull and unclean man Isa 6. When the Prophet had beheld God in his glory he crieth out though a regenerated man Woe be unto me for I am of pollutea lips This made him afraid to make mention of God How then may every natural corrupt man cry out Wo be to me for I am not only a man of polluted lips but also of a polluted mind and heart Sixthly This title of being naturally unclean maketh us to be in the most immediate 〈◊〉 to God that can be To say Man that is born of woman had been miserable frail subject to dangers and outward evils would not have denoted any immediate opposition to God but calling him unclean and unholy This sheweth that we are by nature in direct contrariety to what he is for he is by nature pure and holy yea it is that glorious Attribute which makes all others glorious because his Wisdom is holy Wisdom because his Power is holy Power therefore it 's admirable Wisdom and Power Hence those Angels Isa 6. of all the Attributes of God single out that to celebrate when they cry out Holy holy holy Now man is born unclean and unholy being herein directly contrary to God So that though man be indowed with many natural perfections yet this original uncleanness defileth them all he hath reason but it 's unclean reason he hath an understanding but it is an unclean understanding he hath a will but it 's an impure and unclean will So that of all the several Arguments which man hath to humble him he may chuse out this as the chiefest of all crying out unclean unclean unclean why is it that upon the discovery of this contrariety to God we do not more abhor our selves Seventhly This attribute of uncleanness proclaimeth the absolute necessity of Gods grace and of Christs blood for these only can make us clean Did a man truly consider how it is with him in regard of his birth-estate he would tremble to stay an hour in it he would neither eat drink or sleep till he be delivered out of it for being wholly unclean he can never while so enter into the kingdom of Heaven So that as no legal uncleanness was removed but with some sprinkling and washing much less can any moral uncleanness be washed away without Christs bloud therefore that is said to cleanse us from all our sinnes 1 Joh. 1. 7. and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sinne Heb. 9. 22. Oh then this natural uncleanness should teach us highly to esteem Christs blood for we could never weep water enough though our heads were fountains to wash us nothing can get out this spot but Christs blood and this every Infant though but a day old needeth Christs bloud then must purifie us else we perish and with this also there is requisite grace both justifying and sanctifying for these also tend to the cleansing of us Justification that is partly a cleansing and awashing away of our iniquities as God promiseth Zech. 13. 1. He would set open a fountain for sinne and uncleanness a fountain so that there is plenty and fulness of grace to wash away this filthiness Thus also Ezek. 36. 25. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness Besides this there is also grace sanctifying necessary and this is a formal internal cleansing of us so that because of this work of grace we are made clean yet not so but that we need some washing daily as Joh. 13. 10. He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet for this uncleanness will not in this life be quite taken away but is like that of the Leprosie which stuck so to the wals of the house that though it were scraped off yet it would rise again and so could not be removed till the very house was demolished Thus while death lay this house of clay in the grave there will alwayes be some uncleanness adhering to thee Vse Of Instruction Can none bring a clean thing out of an unclean Then this sheweth That those who from the youth up have lived civil ingenuous and chaste lives are not to rest in this for thy nature is foul and loathsom as well as of all others though thy life may be cleaner The Snake hath a glistering skinne though she hath a poisoned body Thus thou hast a defiled soul an heart full of filthiness though thy outward conversation be unblameable Certainly if an Infant but a day old be thus unclean and needeth the bloud of Christ to cleanse it Doest thou flatter thy self with ingenuity and civility Thou hast not lesse sinnefulnesse and guilt in
that whereas in some the fleshly mind of man runneth out into superstitious and excessive wayes of devotion which God never required so in others again it acteth the clean contrary way pretending to Enthusiasts Revelations and strange raptures and impulses of soul and herein they think they are the only spiritual men and that all others are in the flesh but strong delusions under the pretence of Revelations Apparitions and visions have been no new thing in the Church of God neither are we to stagger in our saith because of these things for the flesh excited by the Devil may vent it self in these extasies and raptures as well as in superstitions yea which is further to be observed a man may be altogether fleshly while he pretends to an high spiritual way of subduing and keeping down the flesh Col. 2. 23. Those who were puft up in their fleshly minds about Angel-worship yet are said to have a shew of humility in not sparing the body and this we may say to those deluded Papists who macerate and excruciate the flesh of the body it would be better if they did cast out at the same time their fleshly mind Seventhly A natural man in his most religious deportment is only fleshly Because whatsoever he doth in these things he is furthered only by natural strength For being without the grace of God either in his understanding or his will hence it is that he can rise no higher than natural reason natural conscience and natural will doth enable him unto and these being altogether polluted by sinne in stead of furthering they are an hindrance and opposition to him If therefore you ask From what principles and by what strength doth a natural man draw nigh to God The answer is only by that power which he hath of himself The grace of God which alone can elevate the soul to God that he is wholly destitute of And although it must be granted that there are some common principles and dictates in all about God and moral good things yet these are never improved any otherwise but from carnal principles and to carnal ends And thus much may suffice for this branch viz. The carnality of a man by original sinne in his most religious offices and duties In the last general place Man may justly be said to be all over sinfull and flesh only Because all his care his thoughts are only for his body and sensible things in the mean while neglecting God and his immortal soul I shall conclude with this because all else comprehended in this name will come in at some other seasonable time By nature we are in the flesh we walk after it we make provision for it so that we willingly lose God and our souls to save and preserve that Who is there that will believe our Saviour saying What will it profit a man to winne the whole world and lose his own soul Mat. 16. 26. What complaints and accusations may the soul make against us when the body hath said Feed me Cloath me you have done it But when the soul hath famished and been perishing you have not heard the cries of it Oh men only flesh and utterly devoid of all spiritual power CHAP. XVI Reasons demonstrating the Positive Part of Original Sinne. SECT I. HItherto we have been informed out of this Text what is comprehended in the word Flesh attributed to every one that is in a natural way born of mankind We now proceed to that Truth for which it was designedly pitcht upon viz. That Original sin is not only a Privation of Gods Image but doth cannote also a Positive inclination and an impetuous propensity to every thing that is evil For this Question is agitated between some Papists and the Protestants They asserting That the whole nature of original sinne lieth in the privation of Gods Image But the Orthodox they say That although original sinne is privative yet it is not meerly privative but doth include in it as the materiale that habitual crookedness and perversnes which is in all the faculties of the soul And thus the Protestants do almost in effect say the same with Aquinas who calleth original corruption a corrupt habit not a meer privation for privations are of two sorts either simple that imply onely a privation as blindnesse and death or compounded and mixed which besides the meer privation do denote some materiale or substratum with it Thus Aquinas compareth original sinne to a sickness or disease which doth not only signifie a privation of health but also the humours excessively overflowing and thereby dissolving the due temperament of the body Such a privation is original sinne a mixt or compounded privation that besides the absence of what righteousness is due denoteth also a propensity and violent inclination unto that which is evil It is true indeed if we come punctually to examine how the will is disobedient and how the affections are so disorderly we cannot resolve into any thing but this privation the understanding is therefore darkness and erroneous because without its primitive light The will is crooked and perverse because without its primitive rectitude So that Calvin saith well He that cals it the privation of Gods Image saith the whole nature of it yet when we speak of the privative part of it only we do not so fully and significantly expresse the dreadfull pollution of it Even as concerning vicious habits in morality intemperance injustice it is not enough to say they are the privation of those virtues which are immediately contrary to them but they do denote also such an inclination in a man that thereby he is carried out to those vicious of such habits constantly and with delight SECT II. Why Divines make Original Sinne to have its Positive as well as Privative Part. THe Reason why our Divines make original sinne to have its Positive as well as Privative part is to obviate that errour of the Papists who supposing original righteousness to be only by way of a bridle in Adam to curb and subjugate the inferiour part to the superiour of the soul when Adam lost this they conceive mankind hath not any further pollution upon it but that meer losse Insomuch that they say Man is now as if God had created him in his pure naturals without any supernaturals The Socinians likewise they deny any such pollution and make us to be born in the same condition Adam was created in death as a punishment only accepted meerly without either sinne or righteousnesse like Aristotles Obrasa Tabula in a neutral indifferent way Now to confront such dangerous opinions we say That by our birth-sinne we are not only deprived of Gods Image but are in an habitual inclination to all evil which is also active and repugnant to all good SECT III. Reasons to evince the Positive part of Original Sinne. NOw that we are to judge of it thus will appear from Scripture upon these grounds First The names that the Scripture attributeth to
of men had committed some crimes for which they were adjudged to bodies as unto prisons and dungeons How comes it about that the rational part of a man which was made to be the guide and called by Philosophers the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it should follow after the inferiour lusts of the soul That this candle should be put not under a bushel but a dunghill That the elder should serve the younger That the tail should lead the head we are not carried out to what reason by the word of God commands but by what every sinfull affection doth suggest Those that say this rebellion between the mind and affections was from the Creation that God made man with this contrariety in himself must needs make God the author of sin but God saw every thing that he had made and it was exceeding good If then thou doubtest whether this universal pollution be upon thee look into thy self observe the rebellion the repugnancy there unto all light whether natural or supernatural and this will make thee readily confess it SECT VI. 6. THe incurvation of the soul unto all earthly and worldly objects this also makes it plain we came with original sin into the world The very making of the body different from other creatures who look downwards doth denote that therfore God created us that both soul and body should look upwards But is not every mans soul till rectified by grace bowed down to these earthly vanities no more able to soar up to Heaven than the worm can flie Now this is a plain sign of thy sinful apostate condition It is one of Hippocrates his rules That when a sick man catcheth inordinatly at the feathers of his pillow or at straws and any such light matter it is a sign of death and truly to see men by nature so immoderatly snatching and catching at these worldly things argue thou art a dying a perishing man unless Gods grace doth interpose As the Sun though with its beams it shine upon the earth yet it is not thereby defiled So man ought though he meddle in all outward affairs though he marry though he buy and sell and use this world yet he ought not in the least manner to soil and pollute his soul thereby But as the body deprived of the soul fals prostrate on the ground thus doth man deprived of Gods Image so that he is never able to get above the creatures but is vassaliz'd to them SECT VII THe work remaining is to give further reasons the Scripture being first laid as a foundation to demonstrate this truth That we are by nature originally defiled For though man be unwilling to be found thus a sinner and the entertaining of this truth seemeth to strike down all the hopes and comforts that a naturall man hath Believe this and all men as in respect of defect are so many damned men so that flesh and blood must needs deny cavill distinguish and turn it self into a thousand shapes ere it will acknowledge it yet look we into our selves diligently and compare our selves with the glass of Gods Word we cannot but say That all we have heard by the Ministers all that Sermons and Books tell us come not up to what we feel in our selves So that as the Apostle when he said This corruption shall put on incorruption he did cutem tangere did lay his hand upon his body as Tertullian thought so do thou strike upon thy thigh and smite upon thy breast and say within this body lieth a soul covered all over with sinne and damnable guilt To assure us more herein these further discoveries may be added First That spirituall death in sinne which we are all plunged into whereby we do become altogether senseless and stupid as to any spirituall concernement The death threatned upon Adam's trangression was spirituall as well as corporall and therefore Ephes 2. We are said to be dead in sinnes till Christ quicken us by his power Now this is a full discovery that we have lost Gods Image and all spiritual life otherwise why should not spirituall life be as quick active and moving towards spirituall objects as our naturall and corporall life is to corporall things Why is it that when any do threaten corporall death and outward misery we are afraid and will give all we have for this corporall life But when the Devil tempts and the world tempts so that we are in danger of loosing eternal life we have no trembling or horror taking hold upon us Nebuchadnezzar made a law that whosoever would not worship his Image should be cast into a fiery furnace and unless the three Worthies none refused so great a matter is the fear of a naturall death But hath not God threatned hell which is ten thousand times more dreadfull then that fiery fornace to every one that goeth on wickedly yet none trembleth because of this Is not this plain then that thou art a dead man in sinne Further concerning our corporall life how sollicitous are we about the preserving of it what carking and caring for meat and raiment what labour for the back and the belly Is not the greatest imployment in the world for these two things and all this is that our frail perishing life may yet be continued But do men naturally manifest any such thoughts and diligence about the meanes of a spirituall life The preaching of the Word the Ordinances these God hath appointed to be spirituall food by these our heavenly life is maintained these are the oyl to keep that lamp burning But do not all men by nature loath these are they not a burden to them do they ever pant and thirst or hunger after these things as men do for meat or drink now why is all this but because we have no spirituall life in us So that if you do consider the insensibleness and stupidity of every naturall man as to things of an heavenly aspect you need no more to perswade you that Gods Image is lost and we are dead in sinne When the body needeth food needeth raiment all is supplyed but so thy soul needeth Christ needeth grace and there is not the least thought to have a supply yea we are not only dead in sinne but have been a long while thus dead and if she said of Lazarus Joh. 11. 39. Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four dayes How much more may we say this in a spirituall sense of thee who it may be hast been dead fourty or fifty years Secondly This may be further inlarged by a consectary from the former will not this abundantly declare we are all over sinfull Because heavenly things are not such objects of delight and pleasure to us as carnall and worldly things are This is a palpable demonstration of our wretched pollution That we cannot feel any sweetness any pleasure or joy in those things which immediately concern God Adam in his state of integrity was like Jacob's ladder the foot whereof
Conclusion from the former Discourse Some have read the words preceptively as if the sense were As we have born the Image of the first Adam so let us bear the Image of the heavenly But the most solid Interpreters read it affirmatively as in the Text we render it and this seemeth to be more consonant because the Apostle is still in the Didactical and Doctrinal point about our Resurrection The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for the and so better translated illatively Therefore The Text then affirmeth two things 1. That all bear the Image of Adam who came from him 2. Those who are of Christ shall bear his Image Having therefore treated of original sin the Quod sit and the Quid sit we come to that which is deservedly thought the most difficult and hard to conceive and explain in this point Which is the manner of propagating it and this shal be soberly and modestly discussed out of these words For from the 45th verse Austin takes an occasion to dispute as Paraeus relateth about the souls traduction from Adam as well as the body Although to speak the truth that which is principally and apparently affirmed by the Apostle here is That we have mortal bodies propagated to us from Adam which is easier to conceive of then to have also sinfull souls from him yet because the Text speaketh of Adam's Image in us and that doth necessarilly suppose a sinfull soul as well as a mortal body We shall therefore declare the truth as of them conjoyned together Observe That all who come of Adam do thereby bear his Image Our natural descension from him maketh us to be wholly like him when he was corrupted That as those who are of Christ are renewed after his Image in righteousness and true holiness so all of Adam are corrupted in sin and ungodliness SECT IV. WHat this Image is you have heard already at large our main work is to examine How we come to be made partakers of it Yet it is good summarily to say something of this Image of Adams we all bear about with us And First Man who was not only made after the Image of God Gen. 1. 26. but is said absolutely to be the Image of God 1. Cor. 11. 7. by his apostasie became not only like the beasts that perish but also like the Devils that are damned Insomuch that now this glorious Image of God being defaced If you ask Whose Image and Superscription he beareth We answer of corrupted sinfull and mortal Adam an Image we are to be ashamed of and to mourn under all the dayes of our life Who can look upon man but may behold sinne and misery folly and mortality Now this Image of the first Adam comprehended the things of the soul and the body In the body we have pains diseases and a necessity of death at last In the soul there is horrible blackness and confusion upon it that as devils are represented in the most horrid and black manner that can be such things are our souls now become Although therefore the Text speaketh of Adam's Image in the bodily part that we are thereby corruptible and mortal and so need a Resurrection to make us happy yet I shall chiefly speak of this Image in the soul as it is infected and polluted with sinne from him This is the Image we bear but there is exceeding great comfort to the godly that they being in Christ the second Adam they shall be made perfectly conformable to him they shall bear that heavenly Image and at last shall have no cause to complain that their souls are bowed down with sinfull earthly and heavy affections weighing us down to the ground were it not for hope of this at our Resurrection the Doctrine about Adam's fall and our hurt thereby would utterly discourage us but there is a second Adam as well as a first if he had been the first and last too that no Adam would have answered him in the way of righteousness and life as he was in the way of sinne and death nothing but horrour and damnation could have taken hold of us Let us be more deeply affected with the first Adam and so shall we come more highly to prize and esteem the second Adam Secondly Adam 's Image as it is sinfull in the general is not only born by us but there seemeth to be a stamp and impression upon us of those very sins he committed As those women who have inordinate desire after some things do sometimes leave marks and impressions thereof upon the body Thus it is spiritually Those very sins which Adam particularly committed in eating the forbidden fruit all men seem most universally to incline unto As 1. A curiosity and affectation of knowing that which is not to be known An inordinate desire was in Eve to eat of the Tree of knowledge because the Devil told her It would make her wise therefore she must eat of it And is not this a very natural sinne in all a curiosity in knowledge Do not all desire to eat of the Tree of knowledge but few of the Tree of life especially Scholars and such who are busied in learning What an incurable itch is there to be wise above Scripture and to know such things God hath hidden And this is a good Item to us to content our selves with sobriety in questioning How Adam's sinne can be ours How the soul can come to be polluted To desire to know this is like the eating of the forbidden fruit While thou art thus curious remember Adam's sinne that thou art acting it while thou enquirest how we are guilty of it A second thing remarkable in the first sinne was Their mincing about the word of God yea plainly lying that God had said they should not touch it which though some say is put for eating Others that Eve did say so for caution sake Whence Ambrose hath a good saying Nihil quod bonum videtur c. we must adde nothing to Gods precept though it seem very good and make much for godliness yet others make Eve plainly to lie and so to accuse God as if he envied them further knowledge Now this sinne of lying how natural is it We see it in children before they can move their feet to go their tongues can stir to lie as if they had been taught they are so subtil in it 3. Adam did excuse and cover his sinne as much as may be putting it off from himself to others and herein also we have a natural resemblance of him for how prone are we to clear our selves to lay the fault any where rather than on our selves Thus we bear Adam's Image CHAP. XXIII The various Opinions Objections and Doubts about the manner how the Soul comes to be polluted SECT I. THe next work is to consider of the manner how we come to bear this Image As for the body to have a mortal and a corruptible one from Adam is easily to be conceived because the body
then that its necessary to have a sound judgement about the original of the soul for the Mortalists have fallen into that deep pit of heresy because they erred in this first It is with men as they say of Fishes they begin to putrify in the head first and so commonly men fall into loose opinions and then into loose practises But this rule must be acknowledged That whatsoever depends upon matter in being doth also depend upon it in existency It 's Aquinas his rule as you heard Quicquid dependet à materiâ in fieri depend quoad esse et existere That is the reason why the souls of all beasts are mortal because they depend upon the matter in being They cannot be produced but dependently on that and therefore their souls cannot subsist without their bodies As it is plain the souls of men do after death till the resurrection So that this Doctrine is injurious and derogatory to our spiritual and immortal souls Fifthly If souls were not by immediate Creation but by natural propagation from the parents then either from the mother alone or from the father alone or from both together This Argument Lactantius of old as Cerda in Tertull. alledgeth him formed to himself and answers it 's neither of those waies but from God Not from the Father alone because David doth bewail his mothers co operation hereunto Psal 51 Iniquity did my Mother conceive me Not the Mother alone because the Father is made the chief cause of conveighing this original sinne by the Apostle he layeth it upon Adam more then Eve though Eve is not excluded Not from both together for then the soul must be partible and divisible part from the Father and part from the Mother and so it cannot be a simple substance Under this Argument Meisuer doth labour and confesseth it is inexplicable how the soul should come from the parents though he assaieth to give some satisfaction Lastly There is something even of nature implanted in us to believe our soules come from God who hath not almost some impression upon his conscience to think that he had not his soul from his parents even nature doth almost teach us in this thing Hence the wisest Heathens have concluded of it as Plato and also Aristotle who confuteth the several false opinions of Philosophers about the soul for it was a doubt as Tertullian lib de animâ expresseth it whether Aristotle was parasior sua implera aut aliena inantre and affirmes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come from without and that it is a divine thing Thus it was with some Heathens though destitute of the Light of Gods Word yet in somethings they did fall upon the truth as saith Tertullian The Pilot in a tempestuous black night puts into a good haven sometimes prospero errore and a man in a dark place gropeth and finds the way out sometimes caecâ quâdam felicitate Thus did some Heathens in some things SECT IV. IF you aske What Arguments have they who hold the traduction of the Soul I answer There is none out of Scripture that is worth the answering The two things they urge are First If the soul be not propagated then man doth not beget a man as a beast doth a beast and he is more imperfect then other creatures but this is to be answered hereafter The other is Because original sinne cannot else be maintained but this is to be answered in the Explication how we come to pertake of it Let us proceed to the Uses Vse 1. Doth God create the soul then he must know all the thoughts all the inward workings and motions of thy soul As he that maketh a Clock or a Watch knoweth all the motions of it Therefore take heed of soul-sinnes of spirit-sinnes What though men know not your unclean thoughts your proud thoughts your malicious thoughts yet God who made thy soul doth and therefore this should make us attend to Gods eie upon us Vse 2. Did God make and create the soul then he also can regenerate it and make it new again he made it as a Creator and he only in the way of regeneration can make it again This may comfort the godly that mourn and pray Oh they would have more heavenly holy souls They would not have such vain thoughts such sinnefull motions Remember God made thy heart and he can spiritualize it 3. Doth God create the souls then here we see that it 's our duty to give our souls to him in the first place John 4. God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit This hath been alwaies a complaint men have drawed nigh to God bodily but their hearts have been farre from him God made thy soul more then thy body and therefore let that be in every duty Lastly If Parents do not make our souls then here we see Children must obey Parents but in the Lord Should thy Parents command thee to doe any sinfull action to break the Sabbath you must not obey you may say My father and mother they help me but to my body God doth give me my soul and therefore they are but parents of your bodies not of your conscience and souls SECT V. The Authors Apologie for his handling this great Question THe false wayes which some have wandered in to maintain the Propagation of Original Corruption to all mankind being detected our work is now to explicate that Doctrine which seemeth most consonant to solid Reason and Scripture But before we essay that we are to informe you of one sort of learned Authors who because of the difficulty attending this Point Whether we hold the Traduction or Creation of the soul have thought it the most wife and sober way to acknowledge the Propagation of original Sinne But as for the manner How there to have a modest suspense of our judgement to professe a learned ignorance herein to believe That it is though How it is so we know not And Tertullian concerning the original of the soul Lib. de Animâ hath this known saying Praestat per Deum nescire quae ipse non revelaverit quà m per hominem scire quae ipse praesumpserit In this way of suspense Austin continued as long as he lived thinking that this might be one of those Truths we shall not know till we come into the Academy of Heaven and to this modest silence we have one place of Scripture which might much incline us Eccles 11. 5. As thou knowest not the way of the Spirit nor how the bones doe grow in the womb c. This Text should teach us not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to venture too farre but to observe the light of the Scripture as they did the Pillar and Cloud in the wildernesse to stand still where that stands still And indeed the Disputes about the Modes of things is very intricate The known saying is Motum sometimes Modum nescimus the manner of Gods working in conversion The manner of Christs presence in
furnace and house of bondage did cry and groan for a Redeemer but this is the unspeakable evil of this soul-bondage that we delight in it that we rejoyce in it all our indeavour and care is that we may not be set at liberty and have these chains taken off us From this explication observe That no man hath any liberty or freedom of will to what is good till Christ by his grace hath made him free We do not by freedom of will obtain grace but by grace we obtain freedom of will So that by the Scripture we have not any true ground for a liberum arbitrium but a liberatum in spiritual things There is no such thing as a free-will but a freed will in a passive sense and tunc est liberum when it is liberatum as Austin Then it 's actively free when it is first passively made free Rom. 6. 16. Being made free from sinne He doth not say you have made your selves free but ye are made frre by the grace of Christ And again vers 22. Ye are now made free from sinne and Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sinne and death By which expressions is implied 1. That all men till sanctified are in an absolute vassalage and thraldom to sinne And 2. That it is onely the grace of Christ that doth deliver from this bondage It is Christ not our own will that maketh us free ¶ 3 Of the several Kinds of Freedome which the Scripture speaketh of TO enter into the depths of this Doctrine Consider What kinds of freedome the Scripture speaketh of and which is applicable to our purpose The Schooles have vast disputes about liberty and free-will What it is whether a compounded faculty or a simple one and whether a faculty or habit or act especially they digladiate about the definition of free-will what it is but if any thing shall be thought necessary to be said in this point it may be pertinently brought in when we shall answer such Objections as the Patrons of nature do use to bring in the behalf of Free-will only it is good to know that in the Scripture we find a civil liberty and a spiritual liberty spoken of a civil liberty Thus bond and free are often opposed Ephes 6. 8. Col. 3. 11. 1 Cor. 7. 22. But this is not to the Text nor to our purpose Therefore the Scripture speaketh much of a spiritual freedome and that is First In the translating of us out from the dominion of sinne and Satan into a gracious state of holiness and this is called by Divines Libertas gratia or as Austin libertas à peccato The freedome of grace of which those Texts speak that we mentioned before Secondly There is the Evangelical and Christian liberty whereby we are freed from many things of the law not only the curse of the moral law and the spirit of bondage which did accompany the legal administration thereof but also from the obligation unto and exercise of the ceremanial This Evangelical liberty is often commended in the Scripture as the glorious priviledge of the Christian Church which the legal Church wanted of this legal servitude and Evangelical freedome the Apostle Gal. 4 doth largely and most divinely treat This Christian liberty also from Jewish rites The Apostle Gal. 5. 1. â—â—horteth us to stand fast in as being purchased for us by the death of Christ as a glorious priveledge only the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 2. 16 giveth good advice That we turn not our liberty into licentiousness It is true the Apostle doth once use the word free abusively and improperly Rom. 6. 20 where the servants of sinne are said to be free from righteousness or to righteousness now this is improperly called a freedome for as the service of God is the truest freedome so freedome from holiness is the greatest slavery Although Austin doth from this Text make a division of liberty into two kinds which he maketh perpetual use of Libertas à peccate and Libertas a justitiâ The godly man hath the former liberty the sinner hath the latter but this latter is improperly called liberty Lastly There is a spiritual freedome mentioned by the Scripture as the utlimte and complete perfection of all when the soul shall be freed not only from the dominion of sinne but the presence of it all the reliques and remainders of it and the body shall be freed from death pain and all corroptibility Rom. 8. 2. This is called the glorious liberty of the sons of God and for this every godly man is to groan and mourn even as the woman in travel to be delivered This is called by Divines libertas gloriae and libertas à miserià But we are to speak of the liberty of grace and herein we are not to admire the Free-will of man but the free grace of God man hath no free-will to do that which is spiritual and holy Free-will is an Idol which the corrupt heart of man is apt to advance he is unwilling to be brought out of himself to be beholding to the grace of Christ only therefore Austin observed well That this truth is to be found out by prayer and supplication sooner then by disputation Did men commune with their own hearts did they observe the Abyss and depth of all evil that is in their corrupt will how intangled and in slaved to the creature they would quickly fall from disputation to humiliation and turne arguments into prayers ¶ 4. The Names which the Scripture expresseth that by which we call Free-Will THe next thing in our method that will be explicating of the Doctrine is to take notice of What names the Scripture useth to express this thing by that we call Free-will for free-will is not a Scripture name but Ecclesialsical yet the sence of it is in the Scripture for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used in the Scripture to will and that in such things wherein freedome is necessarily supposed Luk. 22. 9. Where wilt thou that we prepare a place Joh. 9. 27. Wherefore would ye hear it again will ye also be his Disciple Act 7. 28 wilt thou kill me also c. and in many other places hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for the free-will of a man 1 Cor. 7. 37 and indeed it is disputed whether to do a thing voluntariè and liberè voluntarily and freely be not all one and so libertas and voluntas only voluntas denoteth the power and liberty the qualification of it in its working Jansenius is most consident that in Austin's constant dispute with the Pelagians liberum arbitrium is no more then voluntas and that to do a thing freely is no more then to do it voluntarily this he maintaineth against the Jesuites and withall wonders at a late Writer of their own whom he nameth not which writeth that the word servum arbitrium was not heard in the Church of God
former particular our bodies had some kind of efficiency and working in those sinnes but here it is passive as it were an object that doth allure and draw out the soul inordinately to it so that we mind the body look to the body provide for the body more than the soul so that whereas the soul is farre more excellent and worthy than the body so that our thoughts and studies should be infinitely more zealous to save that then the body yet till grace doth sanctifie and life us up to the enjoyment of God who doth not look after his body more than his soul which yet is as if saith Chrysostom a man should look to his house to see that be repaired and that be in good order but neglect his own self The soul that is properly a man the body is but his house and a vile one also is an house of clay it is but a garment to the soul and a ragged tottered one Now it is good to take notice in what particulars our bodies are thus objectively a cause of sinne to us And First It is evident in that diligent and thoughtfull way of car we have about the feeding and cloathing of it Doth not our Saviour even to his very Disciples prohibit this perplexing care Matth. 6. 25. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat nor for your body what ye shall put on but how faulty are we here comparatively to our souls we that have so many thoughts to provide for the body how few have we about the soul Is not the body well fed when the soul is starved Is not the body well cloathed when the soul is naked How justly may thy soul cry out murder murder for thou art destroying and damning that every day Will not thy soul witness against thee at the day of judgement the body was taken care for the body was looked to but I was neglected Will it not cry out in hell Oh if I had been as diligently attended unto as the body I had not been roaring in these eternal torments The second particular wherein the body doth objectively and occasionally tempt the soul to sinne is about the adorning and trimming of it not only the care to provide for it but the curiosity to adorn it doth provoke the soul to much sinni And whereas our very garments should put us in constant mind of our original pollution for there was no shame uponnakedness till that first transgression and thereby greatly humble us we now grow proud and vain from the very effect of the first disobedience Every morning we put on our garments we should remember our original sinne The body before sinne was not exposed to any danger by cold and other damages neither was the nakedness thereof any cause of blushing but all this and more also is the fruit of the first sinne and if so how inexcusable is it to be curious and diligent in trimming up and adorning our bodies by those very garments the thoughts whereof should greatly debase us but this is not all The great attendance to the glory of the body doth wholly take off from the care of the soul How happy were it if persons did take as much pains to have their souls cloathed with the robes of righteousness to have them washed and cleansed from all filth as they do about their bodies one spot one wrinkle in the garment is presently spied out when the soul at the same time though full of loathsomness is altogether neglected as if our souls were for our bodies and not our bodies for our souls The Platonists indeed had such high thoughts of the soul and so low of the body that their opinion was Anima est homo the soul is the man they made the body but a meer instrument as the Ship is to the Pilate or musical instruments to an Artificer This is not true in Philosophy though in a moral sense it may have some affinity with truth but if we do regard the affections and actions of all by nature we may rather say The body 〈◊〉 man Yea the Apostle goeth higher he maketh it some mens God Phil. 3. 19. Whose belly is their God Why their God Because all they look at in Religion all they mind is only to satisfie that The Monks belly in Luther's time was their god When then a man liveth his natural civil and religious life onely to have his belly satisfied this man maketh his belly his god And again there are persons whose backs are their god For never did Heathens or Papists bestow more cost upon their Idols and Images to make them glorious then they do on their backs little remembring that we came naked into the world and that we shall not carry any thing out with us If this care were for soul-ornaments if thou didst spend as much time in prayer to God and reading the Scriptures whereby thy soul might be made comely and beautifull as thou doest about thy body this would prove more comfortable If thou didst as often look into the glass of Gods word to find out every sinne thou doest commit and to reform it as thou doest into the material glasse to behold thy countenance and to amend the defilements there thou wouldst find that the hours and day so spent will never grieve thee whereas upon the review of thy life spent in this world thou wilt at the day of judgement cry out of and bewail all those hours all that time in unnecessary adorning of the body The Apostle giveth an excellent exhortation 1 Pet. 3. 3 Whose adorning let it not be of plating the hair or of wearing of gold but let it be the hidden men of the heart in that which is not corruptible The Apostle doth not there simply and absolutely forbid the wearing of gold in such who by their places and calling may do it for Isaac gave Rebâ—ccah earings of gold but he speaketh comparatively rather look to the adorning of the soul then of the body spend more time about one then the other It is a known History of that Pambo who seeing a woman very industriously trimming her self to please that man with whom she intended naughtinesse wept thereupon because he could not be as carefull to dresse up his soul in such a posture as to please God Oh then look to thy body hereafter Let it not steal so much time from thee as thereby to neglect thy soul and to lose those opportunities thou mayest have of humbling thy self before God! Thirdly The body doth objectively draw out sinne from the soul In that the fear of any danger to that especially the death thereof will make us damne our soules and greatly offend God which doth plainly discover that our bodies are more to us then God or heaven or our soules are Therefore we have our Saviour pressing his Disciples against this fear if fear about hurt to the body may insnare the godly and keep them from their duty no wonder if
it totally prevail with the natural man Mat. 10. 28. Luk. 12. 4. I say to you may friends fear not them which can kill the body only but fear him who can cast both body and soul into hell But what Apostacies what sad perfidiousness in religion hath this love to the body caused the inordinate fear of the death thereof hath made many men wound and damne their soules Times then of dangers and persecutions do abundantly discover how inordinate men are in their love to their bodies looking upon bodily death worse then eternal damnation in hell although our Saviour hath spoken so expresly What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul Mark 8. 36. It is the Scriptures command that we should glorifie God in soul and body which are Gods our body is Gods that is bought with a price as well as your soul so that it ought to be our study how we should glorifie God by our eies by our ears by our tongues It is not enough to say thou hast a good heart and an honest heart if thou hast a sinful body now though there be many wayes wherein we may glorifie God by our bodies yet there is none so signal and eminent as when we do willingly at the call of God give our bodies to be disgraced tormented and killed for his sake then God saith to thee as he did to Abraham upon his willingness to offer up his son Isaac Now I know thou lovest me Thus you have Paul professing Gal. 6. 17. I bear in my body the marks of the Lords Jesus The Greek word signifieth such markes of ignominy as they did use to their servants or fugitives or evil doers now though in the eies of the world such were reproachfull yet Paul gloryed in them and therefore he giveth this as a reason why noue should trouble and molest him in the work of the Ministery this ought to be a demonstration to them of his sincerity and that he seeketh not himself but Christ hence also he saith Phil. 1. 20. Christ shall be magnified in his body whether by life or by death By this it is evident that we owe our bodies to Christ as well as our souls and that any fear to suffer in them for his sake argueth we love our bodies more then his glory ¶ 6. The Bodies indisposition to any service of God a Demonstration of its original Pollution BUt let us proceed to another particular wherein the original pollution of the body may be manifested and that is by the indisposition that is in the body to any service for God though it may be the soul is willing and desirous The drousinesse dulnesse and sleepinesse of the body doth many times cause the soul to be very unfit for any approaches unto God Our Saviour observed this even in his very Disciples when he said The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Matth. 26. 41. when our Saviour was in those great agonies making earnest prayer unto God and commanding his Disciples To watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation yet they were heavy and dull and therefore were twice reproved for their sleep and this sleepinesse of theirs was at that time when if ever they should have been throughly awakened but thus it falleth out often that in those duties and at those times when we ought most to watch and attend then commonly the body is most heavy and dull Hence is that drousinesse and sleepinesse while the Word is preached whereas at thy meals or at thy recreations and in wordly businesses there is no such dulnesse falleth upon thee This ariseth partly from the soul and partly from the body The soul that is not spiritual and heavenly therefore it doth not with delight and joy approach unto God and then the body is like an instrument out of tune as earth is the most predominant element in it so it is a clog and a burden to the soul Therefore bewail thy natural condition herein Adams body was expedite and ready he found no indisposition in his body to serve the Lord but how often even when the heart desireth it yet is thy body a weight and trouble to thee Nazianzene doth excellently bewail this How I am joyned to this body I know not saith he how at the same time I should be the Image of God and roll in this dirt so he calleth the body It is a kind enemy a deceitfull friend How strange is this conjunction Quod vereor amplector quod amo perhorresco Doth not God suffer this wrestling of the body with the soul to humble us that we may understand that we are noble or base heavenly or earthly as we propend to either of these Orat. de pauperum curâ This should also make thee earnestly long for the coming of Christ when all this bodily sinfulnesse shall be done away Oh what a blessed change will there then be of this vile heavy dull and indisposed body to an immortal glorious and spiritual body then there will be no more complaints of this body of thine then that will cause no jarre or disturbance in the glorious service of God ¶ 7. How easily the Body is moved and stirred by the passions and affections thereof FOurthly The body is from the original defiled in that it is easily and readily moved and stirred by the passios and affections thereof It cannot be denied but that Heathens and Heretiques have declamed against and reviled the body of man as appeareth by Tertul de Resurrect Carmi. as if it were an evil substance made from some evil principle hence it is written of Piotinus the great Platenist that he was ashamed his soul was in a body and therefore would by no means yeeld to have the picture of it drawn neither would he regard parents or kindred or countrey because his body was from them but we proceed not upon these mens account we follow the Scripture-light and by that we see the body consociated with the soul in evil whereof this of the passions is not the least The passions they are seated in the sensitive and material part of a man and therefore have an immediate operation upon the body being therefore called passions because they make the body to suffer they work a corporal alteration Hence anger is defined from its effect an ebullition or bubling forth of bloud about the heart and thus grief because it is so immediately seated in the body is therefore said to be rottennesse to the bones and it is said to work death 2 Cor. 7. 10. But it was not thus with the body from the beginning Adam indeed had such passions as do suppose good in the object such as love and delight though they were bounded and did not transgresse their limits but then he was not capable of those passions which do suppose evil and hurt as anger fear and grief for these would have repugned the blessed estate he was created in
there must necessarily be some reason either expresly or tacitly implied for God is here declaring his purpose to take a more gracious and mercifull way now that he had given such a dreadfull demonstration of his justice and anger against sinne already Some then make the reason to be ab incommdo that if God should destroy the world because of mans original corruption breaking forth daily there would never be an end we should have flouds upon flouds Therefore as the Psalmist saith He remembreth that we are but dust he knoweth our frame Psal 103. 14. therefore he will not alwayes pour cut his wrath Thus say they it is here and this is probable Others make it an Argument ab aeqno to which Pererius inclineth as if God did hereby declare That being man is thus originally polluted and incurably sinfull as to his own power therefore God would pity him so that though formerly God looked upon it as the matter of his wrath now as the matter of pity being sinne maketh us miserable so some think David Psal 51. urgeth his natural corruption as an Argument to move God to pity him but this is not so probable because this doth directly contradict Gods former proceedings when his wrath was poured out on the world because of this sinne breaking forth into actual rebellions I rather therefore go with those that take the particle Ci adversatively Although God would not again destroy the world although mankind was of such a corrupt frame and thus it is to be taken in many places the neglect whereof hath caused many Disputes about some Texts of Scripture whereas the rendring of this particle adversatively would easily have cleared it as might be shewed if it were to my purpose Vide Tarn Exerc. In the next place we are to consider the words absolutely and they are very emphatical the Heart the Imagination and is evil In the former place Chap. 6. 5. there is a greater aggravation Every Imagination and only evil and all the day long but one supposeth the other here in this Text in stead of continually or every day as in the Original we have From the youth and therefore doth more palpably demonstrate the original filth or all men by nature Neither can the Adversaries to this Doctrine of original sinne put in the exception to this place as they did to the former for there they would evade by saying it was spoken of those evil and wicked men who had in a more notorious manner corrupted all their doings But how can they open their mouth against this place for God speaketh this as true at that present of all mankind by nature when yet the great prophane ones were destroyed and Noah with his family was preserved So that this is a perpetual and inseparable qualification from the nature of man more than actual death For Enoch and Elijah did not actually die yet they were born with original sinne As for some Expositors who would limit to the time of youth when a man is past his Infantia and Pueritia his infancy and childhood arrived at his Adolescentia his youth that is not to be admitted for the word is to be applied to his whole time since he was born The word Nagnar doth signifie one cast or shut out and properly belongeth to a new born Infant and so doth signifie the tender Infancy of a child although we grant that it is sometimes extended to the youth as Genes 37. Joseph is called Nagnar a youth when he was seventeen years old feeding the flock So 1 Kings 3. sometimes it 's applied to a Disciple or Servant because they were ordinarily young 2 King 9. Isa 37. which the Septuagint render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is applied to Christ and therefore whereas Acts 4. 27. it is rendred Thy holy child Jesus Some think it better according to the use of the word by the Septuagint Thy holy servant for so Christ is sometimes in respect of his Mediatory Office called the servant of God But it is plain that children are capable of sinne before their youth and therefore we are not to limit it but to expound if of their very first being in original sinne which doth vent it self actually in after years Some make the Plural number to be observable they render it à pueritiis as containing the whole age of a man from his tender years till he be grown up Hence Grotius will extend it to the very time from the womb but then runneth to his Socinian Hyperbole which hath been sufficiently confuted To determine the time indeed when Infants begin to be capable of actual sinnes is very difficult but that is not my work here Now though it is said to be evil from the youth yet that is some limitation It is not evil from Gods first creation of mans heart not from its original being and therefore the essence of a man is not evil So that it is an horrible calumny of Tirinus the Jesuite upon this place to say That from this Text Luther and Calvin do inferre That the heart of a man is essentially evil Illyricus his dotage is sufficiently disowned by them As then the Leprosie got into the wals of the house and that could not be scraped off there was no way to get it out but by demolishing the wall yet was not to be attributed to the Artificer that made the wall but to some other supervenient cause So likewise neither is original sinne though now so closely adhering to mans nature to be attributed to God who first created mankind but to Adam's voluntary Apostasie from God The Text thus explained there are two Doctrines contained in it First Original sinne is an heavy and grievous sinne Secondly That there is a particular original sinne in every one which breaketh out into its actings betimes From which we shall take occasion to discourse of the equality and inequality of original sinne in every man Let us begin with the first Original sinne is a most grievous and heavy sinne In the Text is put an Although upon it God will not destroy the world although this sinne be in man implying the infinite mercy of God that is not provoked by this utterly to cut of mankind Hic est insiguis locus de peccato originali c. saith Luther on the place This is a famous place concerning original sinne which whosoever extenuateth saith he like blind men in the Sunne they do truly erre and do not see what they daily doe and may have experience of It is from our senslesnesse and stupidity or rather from our self-love and pharisaical disposition that we do not more afflict our selves under the apprehension of it for this is the highest offence the like whereof said Luther unless in the Devils cannot be found SECT II. The Aggravaiions of Original Sinne. ¶ 1. Of Adam's Actual Transgression NOw for the aggravation of original sinne we may speak either of Adams actual iransgression which is our
original imputed sinne or of that inherent corruption which we have from our birth and both do admit of great aggravations It is true some Orthodox Writers doe deny the imputation of Adam's actual disobedience unto us as Josua Placeus who bringeth many Arguments Thes Salm. Dis de statu hominis lapsi ante gratiam but my work is not to answer them I suppose it for granted as a necessary truth Concerning Adam's sinne which is thus ours by imputation Bellarmine maketh the Question An sit gravissimum Whether it was the greatest of all sinnes And he concludeth following the Schoolmen that absolutely it is not only respectively Secundum quid in some considerations which he mentioneth Bonaventure saith It is the greatest sinne extensive not intensive But we are to judge of the hainousness of sinne as we see God doth who esteemeth of sinne without any errour Now it is certain there was never any sinne that God punisheth as he doth this The sinne indeed against the holy Ghost in respect of the object matter of it and the inseparable concomitant of unpardonablenesse is greater as to a particular person but this being the sinne of the common nature of mankind doth bring all under the curse of God So that we may on the contrary to Bellarmine say That it is absolutely the highest sinne against God but in some respects it is not I shall be brief in aggravating of that not at all touching upon the other Question which hath more curiosity in it Whether Adam's sinne or Eve's was the greatest then edification Because our proper work is to speak of original inherent sinne yet it is good to affect our souls with the great guilt thereof for some have been ready to expostulate with God Why for such a small sinne as they call it no more then eating the forbidden fruit so many millions of persons even all the posterity of mankind should thereby be made children of wrath and obnoxious to eternal damnation Doth not the Pelagian opinion that holdeth it hurteth none but Adam himself and his posterity onely if they willingly imitate him agree more with the goodnesse of God But if we do seriously consider how much evil was in this one sinne which Tertullian maketh to be a breach of the whole Law of God we will then humble our selves and acknowledge the just hand of God For First This is hainously to be aggravated from the internal qualification of the subject Adam who did thus offend was made upright created in the Image of God In his understanding he had a large measure of light and knowledge For though the Socinians would have him a meer I deot and innocent yet it may easily be evidenced to the contrary The Image of God consisteth in the perfection of the mind as well as in holiness of the other parts of the soul Neither did Elâ—phaz in his discourse with Job apprehend such ignorance in Adam when he saith Art thou the first man was born Wast thou made before the hils Dost thou restrain wisdom to thy self Job 15. 7 8. implying that the first man was made full of knowledge If then Adam had such pure light in his mind this made his sinne the greater yea because of this light some have proceeded so far as to make Adam's sinne the sinne against the holy Ghost but I shall not affirm that Certainly in that Adam had so great knowledge this made his offence the more evil hence because there was no ignorance in his mind nor no passions in the sensitive part at that time to disturb him his sinne was meerly and totally voluntary and the more the will is in a sinne the greater it is Hence Rom. 5. It is called expresly disobedience By one mans disobedience Yea learned men say That this was the proper specifical sinne of Adam eveâ— disobedience For although disobedience be in a large sense in every sinne yet this sinne of Adams was specifically disobedience for God gave him a positive command meerly that thereby Adam should testifie his obedience to him The thing in it self was not intrinsecally evil to eat of the forbidden fruit it was sinfull only because it was forbidden and by this God would have Adam demonstrate his homage to him but in offending he became guilty in a particular way of disobedience Secondly If you consider Adam in his external condition His fin is very great God placed him in Paradise put him into a most happy condition gave him the whole world for his portion Every thing was made for his use and delight now how intolerable was Adams ingratitude for so small a matter to rebell against God Therefore the smalness of the matter of the sinne doth not diminish but aggravate he might the more easily have refused the temptation so that this unthankfulness to God must highly provoke him Thirdly The sinne was an aggregate sinne It had many grievous sins ingredient into it It was a Beelzebub sin a big-bellied sinne full of many sins in the womb of it his sinne was not alone in the external eating of the forbidden fruit but in the internal causes that made him do so There was unbelief which was the foundation of all the other sinfulness he believeth the Devil rather then God There was pride and ambition He desired to be like God There was apostasie from God and communion with him There was the love of the creature more than of God and thereby there was the hatred of God Thus it was unum malum in quo omnia mala as God is unumbonum in quo omnia bona Lastly Not to insist on this because formerly spoken to There was the unspeakable hurt and damage which hereby he brought to his posterity Not to mention the curse upon the ground and every creature The damning of all his posterity in soul and body it the grace of God did not interpose It cannot be rationally conceived but that Adam knew he was a publique person that he was acquainted upon what terms he stood in reference to his posterity That the threatning did belong to all his as well as himself if he did eat of the forbidden fruit Now for Adam to be a murderer of so many souls and bodies to be the cause of temporal spiritual and eternal death to all mankind who can acknowledge but that this sinne is out of measure sinfull ¶ 2. The Aggravation of Original Sinne inherent in us OUr next work is to consider the aggravation of original sinne inherent in us and this is our duty to do that so being sensible of our own contagion we may not flatter our selves in the power of our free-will but fly alone to Christ who is a Phisitian and Saviour even to Infants as well as grown men and the rather we are to be serious and diligent in this because of all those prophane opinions which do either wholly deny it or in a great measure extenuate it Some Papists make it less then a venial sinne and many
how much more should the command of God and Christ when we can say here Christ hath commanded us to enquire no further It is not therefore with divine truths as it is with philosophical for with the latter though we know Aristotle saith so yet we may enquire into the truth of it but in Theological things if it appear God hath said this then we must not judge but believe so that it is a learned ignorance when we affect not to know above what is written It is a good resolution of Luthers In cup. Genes 6. I follow saith he alwayes this rule that I may avoid those Questions which may draw me up to the throne of Gods supreme Majesty Melius tutius est ad praesepe Christ hominis consistere It is better and safer to stand at the manager of Christ as man For this end we have Elihu and God himself at last humbling Job who had disputed the righteous proceedings of God too presumptuously by the consideration of Gods transcendent greatness to mans capacity yea by these natural things convincing him of his infirmity which we see very day as the rain and thunder c. Now certainly if we cannot behold a starre much less the Sunne if we cannot find out the reason of Gods proceedings in natural things how much more in supernatural Therefore Fourthly This is alwayes to be laid down as a foundation there is no unrighteousness with God whatsoever he doth is very just though many times this is secret and hidden to us Even as David while estuating in his soul and perplexed about Gods dispensations in this world thinking that equality of administrations to those that were not equall was inequallity yet least this sour leaven should imbitter him too much he layeth down as a sure principle and foundation and that in the very beginning Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Psal 73. 1. And the Apostle in those sublime mysteries about Election and Reprobation doth check the presumptuous Disputations of men Who will contend with God in such cases Rom 9. And Elihu argueth against Job Chap 34. 18. Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly he meaneth of such whose righteousness and integrity is universally approved of for the Prophets did many times rereprove ungodly Kings and informe them of their impieties though we are to do our duties even to such with acknowlengement of their eminent place Then how much more unsufferable is it concerning God of whom all men have this inbred notion that he is optimus as well as maximus for any if God do thus and thus when yet the Scripture declareth that he doth so to accuse it for unrighteousness Our work then is to shew that such Truths are revealed in Scripture That God taketh such and such wayes in his dealings with mankind and when this is established then let us say God is true and every man is a liar Then let us proclaime the righteousness of God though we cannot satisfie every curious Objection yea our duty were to pass them by with contempt and silence did not the importunity of the Adversaries provokens so that we are to answer a fool in his solly lest he be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26. 5. And indeed excepting one particular there is not any thing scarce of any moment that may make a man so much as doubt about the righteousness of God in this Doctrine of original sinne as it is delivered by Protestant Writers who follow the pattern in the Mount which that it may appear in its harmony and not judge of a piece by it self but in its compleat proportion I shall proceed to adde further Propositions Hence In the fourth place observe God made made man at first perfect both in soul and body as his body was not subject to diseases and death so neither his soul to ignorance and passions God made him right Eccles 7. yea in his own image righteousness and true holiness not as the Socinians say that he was created in a meer innocency that is indifferency to good or evil not being made righteous till man should make himself Man with simplicity in his understanding and childishness as if he differed but a little from an Ideot it is wonder they do not also say he was created blind as Suarez reporteth Disput de statu innocentiae of some who held so because it is said after his fall That their eyes were opened Certainly the Image of God he was created in and with such a peculiar expression which the Scripture taketh notice of Let us make man after our own Image Gen. 1. 26. doth denote nothing but excellency and perfection in him both for natural and spiritual things and shall we think that God who made his body perfect and in full stature would not do the like for his soul The end also for which God made him necessarily presupposeth him indued with all wisdom and holiness for he was made the head of mankind he was made to be the Governour and Lord of the world he imposed names on the beasts which argued both his knowledge and superiority he was made to glorifie and praise God to have constant communion with him and enjoyment of him and who can think God created him for such a sublime end without proportionable ability thereunto and the rather considering how God created every thing in its kind as good yea very good Every creature was made perfect by its natural operations to attain its natural end and shall man only be made imperfect So that we are fully to believe this good and glorious estate that God made Adam in for Pelagian and Socinians begin to erre here This is the first step to all their future abominations Prop. 5. God did not only create man thus with an internal sufficiency of ability to persevere in this holy and blessed estate but did also vouchsafe all other auxiliaries of grace that might inable him to hold out Even Adam in the state of integrity could do no good thing without the help of God and therefore though whole yet he needed the Physician not indeed to heal him or recover him but to preserve him from falling and no wonder Adam needed this grace of God seeing the very Angels likewise did So that the very difference why some did fall and the others stand was the grace of God insomuch that that of Paul may be applied even to Angels as well as men 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who made thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received Hence the Scripture maketh their election the cause of their standing being therefore called the elect Angels 1 Tim. 5. 21. Adam then was created thus sufficient within and wanting nothing without either of directing or preserving grace to continue him in this blessed estate and which is the greater aggravation of that full and sufficient estate God created him
whereby he doth delight in Gods Law I will not say that the inward man doth alwayes signifie the regenerate man and so is the same with a new-creature For although some understand that place so 2 Cor. 4. 16. The outward man perisheth but the inward man is renewed daily yet happily the context may enforce it another way yet here it must be understood of the mind as regenerated because it is opposite to the flesh and so signifieth the same with the hidden man of the heart in which sense a Jew is called one inwardly because of the work of grace upon his soul Fifthly The sad complaint he maketh concerning his thraldom doth evidently shew that it is a regenerate person O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death If we take body for the material body which is mortal and so sinfull or else for that body of sinne which abideth in the godly it cometh much to one point It argueth that the person here spoken of feeling this weight this burden upon him is in sad agonies of soul judgeth himself miserable and wretched in this respect and thereupon doth earnestly groan for a total redemption he longs to be in heaven where no longer will evil be present with him where he shall do all the good and as perfectly as he would It is true a godly man cannot absolutely be called a wretched and miserable man but respectively quoad hoc and comparatively to that perfect holiness we shall have hereafter So we may justly account our selves miserable not so much from external evils as from the motions and stirrings of sinne within us that do press us down and thereby make our lives more disconsolate Hence it is that Austin calleth this Gemitum saactorum c. the sighs and groans of holy persons fighting against concupiscence within them Sixthly The affectionate rejoycing and assured confidence that he hath about the full deliverance of him from this bondage expressed in those words I thank God through Jesus Christ doth greatly establish this exposition also of a regenerate ate person It is true there is variety about reading of this passage however this plainly cometh from an heart affected with assurance of Gods grace to give him a full redemption though for the present he lie in sad conflicts and agonies This is so palpable a conviction that some of the Dissentients will make Paul here to speak in his own person as if he did give God thanks for that freedome which the person spoken before had not obtained Neither is it any wonder to see such a sudden change in Paul from groaning under misery presently to break forth into thanks and praises of God For we may often observe such ebbings and flowings in David's Psalms that we would hardly think the same Psalm made by the same man at the same time one verse speaking dejection and disconsolateness the next it may be strong confidence and rejoycing in God Lastly The conclusion which Paul maketh from this excellent experimental Discourse is fully to our purpose So then I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sin To serve God and to serve the Law of God is all one and this none but a godly man doth Yea to serve him with the mind and the spirit is a choice expression of our grace But because this is not perfect and compleat he addeth He serveth also the flesh and the law of sin It is true None can serve God and mammon Christ and sin but yet where there is not a perfect freedom from thraldom to sin there though in the principal and chief manner we are carried out to serve God yet the flesh retardeth and so snatcheth to it some service you heard contraries might be together while they are in fight Neither is our redemption from sin full and total It is to be done successively and by degrees that so we may be the more humbled and grace exalted Besides that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is emphatical this is used when Paul expresseth himself in some remarkable manner I the same and no other man as it is used in other places 2 Cor. 10. 1. Now I Paul my self beseech you c. 2 Cor. 12. 13. except it was because I my self was not burdensom to you Rom. 9. 3. I could wish that myself were accursed c. which is enough to convince such as are not refractory ¶ 3. Objections Answered I Shall now consider what is objected against this Interpretation and shall not attend to the general objections such as that That who are Christs and regenerated have higher things attributed to them They have crucified the flesh they have mortifiedeth old man c. As also this seemeth to be injurious to Gods grace it will encourage men in slothfulness and negligence c. for these shall be answered in the general I shall therefore only pitch upon two objections which the Adversaries insist upon The first is That this person here spoken of is said to be once without the Law which say they is the description of a Gentile in Paul 's language therefore he assumeth some other person then his own for Paul alwayes lived under the Law Austin indeed expounds it thus I did live once without the Law that is saith he when he was a child before he had the use of reason This is too harsh Therefore it is better answered The person here spoken of is not said to be without the Law which is indeed the description of a Gentile but that he was alive without the Law once that is he as all the Pharisees understood the Law of God as forbidding only external sins and Paul living unblameably as to that respect thought to have life and righteousness by the Law but when the commandment came in power to him and he was convinced that it did prohibit not only outward sins but inward lustings of heart then he began to find himself a greater sinner than he was aware of then he found the Law to be death to him so that he lived without the Law because he was not affected with the full and exact obligation therof The second thing much insisted upon is That the person here spoken of is said to be carnal and sold under sinne which they say is made by the Scripture a certain property of a wickedman Thus it is said of Ahab Thou hast sold thy self to do wickedly 1 Kin. 21. 10. yea of all the children of Israel 2 Kin. 17. 13. They caused their children to pass through the fire and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord. But first Calvin doth grant that this is spoken of Paul while unregenerate and therefore beginneth his Exposition at the 15th verse of a sanctified person yet that cannot well be because there the Apostle beginneth to alter the tense There he saith I am carnal I am sold under sinne whereas before he had used the
unto was That Adam was made mortal and would have died if he had not sinned death being a necessary consequence as they say from a mans corporal constitution The Papists especially the Schoolmen of old and the Jesuites of late to whom Jansenius doth vehemently oppose in this point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek expression is say That Adam was indeed by nature mortal but by grace and superadded favour he was immortal So that both Papists and Protestants agree in this That Adam was made immortal in his Creation Only the difference is Whether as original righteousness so immortality may be said to be natural or supernatural to Adam We say it 's natural they say it 's supernatural and yet Bellarmine De gratiâ primi Hom. lib. cap. 5. in his explication of himself in this point cometh very near us or at least speaketh contradictions to himself For he saith if natural be taken for that which was put into man from his nativity if natural be taken for that which was to be propagated to Adam's posterity if natural be taken for that which is convenient to perfect and prepare a man for his end then they say original righteousness and so by consequence immortality would have been natural to Adam's posterity but if we take natural for that which doth internally constitute nature or necessarily flow from the principles of nature then they say immortality was supernatural even as original righteousnesse But the Protestants when they call original righteousnesse natural they doe not meane effectivè as if it were not the gift of God bestowed upon us as if it did flow from the principles of nature but subjectivè that is original righteousnesse and immortality were not supernatural to Adam as they are now to us being we are corrupted but connatural or a due perfection to man supposing God created him for such an end as to enjoy himself So that it is due not so much to the nature of man as to Gods Order and Decree concerning man Thus as in birds supposing God would have them to flie it was necessary they should have wings though they come from a natural principle so in man supposing God made him for communion with and enjoyment of himself it was necessary that he should be indewed with holiness Though flowing not from nature but concreated by God with man Thus that which is the gift of God and cometh only from him may be in respect of the subject a due perfection It was thus with Adam in respect of his soul that was created immediately by God it did not flow from any natural causes yet supposing God would make him a rational creature then this became a due perfection to him Adam then was immortal by nature in a well-explained sense as he had a reasonable soul by nature But however it be Protestants and many Papists agree in the thing that he was made immortal only they differ in the manner How Now the Socinian differeth from all for he dogmatizeth That Adam was made mortal that death was natural and denieth any original righteousnesse or immortality that was bestowed upon Adam any way It is true sometimes he saith That though Adam was made mortal yet God might have preserved him from actual death by some way or other only that he was made immortal that he denieth So that what the Papists dream about their imaginary pure naturals saying God might have created man so Socinians affirm defacto it was so The late Writer Dr. T. is also positive for Adam's mortality by nature That Adam was made mortal by nature saith he is infinitely certain and proved by his eating and drinking c. Further Explicat pag. 453. instancing in those Arguments the Socinians use to bring All which Assertions do directly and evidently oppose the word of God ¶ 2. How many wayes a thing may be said to be Immortal and in which of them man is so SEcondly When we say God made Adam immortal and that upon his transgression both himself and his posterity are subjected to a necessity of death We must rightly understand in what sense he is said to be so For 1. A thing may be said to be immortal absolutely and essentially having no principles of death within nor cannot be destroyed by any cause without Thus 1 Tim. 6. 16. God is said only to have immortality This is that comfortable attribute which the people of God make use of under all changes and vicissitudes God is alwayes the same Though father die though mother die yet God doth not as one in the Ecclesiastical Story said when word was brought him that his father was dead Desine saith he blasphemias loqui pater enim meus immortalis est Cease to speak blasphemy for my father is immortal 2. That may be said to be immortal which is so by some singular dispensation of God either in respect of mercy or of justice and thus it is with the glorified bodies of the Saints and the damned bodies of wicked men for the Saints their vile bodies shall be made like Christs glorious body they are raised to incorruptibility and glory and as for the bodies of damned persons though they be raised to reproach and dishonour yet by Gods justice they are preserved immortal so that the fire cannot consume them to ashes neither shall length of time ever destroy them For if God could make the Israelites cloaths and shoes to last so many years without being consumed no wonder if he do a greater matter upon the bodies of men 3. That may be said to be immortal which by the will of the Creator is so constituted that being separated from all matter it hath no principles of dissolution from within And thus the Angels are immortal they have no principle of corruption within yet they are annihilable by the power of God should God withdraw his preservation of them they would cease to be but from within they have no cause of dissolution The Devils also in this sense are immortal and that is the reason though many wicked and bloudy persecutors of Gods Church have died yet the Devil being immortal hath stirred up new ones which made a good man say to one who did greatly rejoyce at the death of a cruel persecutor At diabolus non moritur but the Devil doth not die Lastly A thing may be said to be immortal Conditionally supposing such and such conditions he performed and in this sense only we say God made Adam immortal for 〈◊〉 had a power to sinne and so a power to die he had a power to stand and to a power to be freed from death So that we do not say Adam had such an immortality as the glorified bodies have that cannot die but conditionally onely As he had in him power to sinne so he had a power to deprive himself of all happinesse and immortality which fell out also to our utter undoing Autin's expression of Posse non mori and Non
posse mori is known by all It is not then an absolute but a conditional immortality we speak of ¶ 3. Propos 3. ALthough we say that God made man immortal yet we grant that his body being made of the dust of the earth and compounded of contrary element it had therefore a remote power of death It was mortal in a remote sense only God making him in such an eminent manner and for so glorious an end there was no proxim and immediate disposition to death God indeed gave Adam his name whereas Adam imposed a name upon all other creatures but not himself and that from the originals he was made of to teach him humility even in that excellent estate yet he was not in an immediate disposition to death When Adam had transgressed Gods Law though he did not actually die upon it yet then he was put into a mortal state having the prepared causes of death within him but it was not so while he stood in the state of integrity then it was an immortal state now it is a mortal one I say state because even now though Adam hath brought sinne and death upon us yet in respect of the soul a man may be said to be immortal but then there was immortality in respect of soul and body the state he was created in did require it So that although death be the King of terrors yet indeed original sinne which is the cause of it should be more terrible unto us Now man by sinne is fallen the beasts could they speak would say Man is become like one of us yea worse for he carrieth about with him a sinfull soul and a mortal body ¶ 4. Distinctions about Mortality and that in several respects Adam may be said to be created mortal and immortal THe fourth Proposition is That from the former premisses it may be deducted that in several respects Adam may be said to be created mortal and immortal yet if we would speak absolutely to the question when demanding how Adam was created we must return Immortall Some indeed because mans mortalilty and immortality depended wholy upon his will as he did will to sinne or not to sinne so they have said he was neither made mortal or immortal but capable of either but that is not to speak consonantly to that excellency of state which Adam was created in for as Adam was created righteous not indifferent as the Socinians say neither good or bad but capacious of either qualification so he was also made immortal not in a neutral or middle state between mortal and immortal so that he had inchoate immortality upon his creation but not consummate or confirmed without respect to perseverance in his obedience for the state of integrity was as it were the beginning of that future state of glory Again Adam might be called mortal in respect of the orginals of his body being taken out of the dust of the earth but that was only in a remote power so God did so adorne him with excellent qualifications in soul and body that the remote power could never be brought into a proxime and immediate disposition much less into an actual death for a thin◠may be said to be mortal 1. In respect of the matter and thus indeed Adams body in a remote sence was corruptible 2. In respect of the forme Thus Philosophers say sublunary things are corruptible because the matter of them hath respect to divers formes whereas they call the heavens incorruptible because the matter is sufficiently actuated by one forme and hath no inclination to another and thus Adam might truly be said to be immortal for it was very congruous that a body should be united to the soul that was sutable to it for that being the form of a man and having an inclination or appetite to the body if man had been made mortal at first the natural appetite would in a great measure have been frustrated it being for a little season only united to the body and perpetually ever afterwards seperated from it Surely as an Artificer doth not use to put a precious Diamond or Pearl into a leaden Ring so neither would God at first joyn such a corruptible body to so glorious and an immortal soul 3. A thing may be said to be mortal in respect of efficiency and thus it is plain Adam was not made mortal for he might through the grace of God assisting have procured immortality to himself that threatening to Adam In the day he should eat of that forbidden fruit he should die the death Gen. 2 17. doth plainly demonstrate that had he not transgressed Gods command he should never have died 4. A thing may be said to be mortal in respect of its end Thus all the beasts of the field whatsoever Puccius thought are mortal because their end was for man to serve him so that it is a wild position to affirm as he doth that there shall be a resurrection of beasts as well as of men for they were made both in respect of matter form and end altogether mortal whereas Adam was made after the Image of God to have communion and fellowship with God and that for ever which could not be without immortality ¶ 5. Prop. 5. THe true causes of death are only revealed in Gods Word All Philosophers and Physitians they searched no further then into the proxim immediate causes of death which are either external or internal they looked no further and knew of no other thing but now by the Word of God we Christians come to know that there are three principal causes of death so that had not they been those intermedious and proxime causes of death had never been The first cause is only by occasion and temptation and that was the Devil he tempted our first parents and thereby was an occasion to let death into the world for this cause the Devil is called Joh. 8. 44. a murderer from the beginning it doth not so much relate to Cain as to Adams transgression yet the Scripture Rom. 5. doth not attribute death to the Devil but to one mans disobedience because Adams will was not forced by Satan he had power to have resisted his temptations only the Devil was the tempting cause The second and most proper cause of death was Adams disobedience so that death is a punishment of that sinne not a natural consequent of mans constitution The History of Adam as related by Moses doth evidently confirme this that there was no footstep of death till he transgressed Gods Law and upon that it was most just that he who had deprived himself of Gods Image which is the life of the soul should also be deprived of his soul which is the life of the body that as when he rebelled against God he presently felt an internal rebellion by lusts within and an external disobedience of all creatures whom he did rule over before by a pacifical dominion so also it was just that he who had deprived himself
of spiritual life should also be divested of his natural life Hence it is that the Apostle informeth us of that which all the natural wise men of the world were ignorant of Rom 5. 12. That by one mans sinne death entred into the world where the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is observed to have its peculiar Emphasis pertransiit sicut lues even as the rot doth destroy an whole flock of sheep and therefore at the 14th Verse the Apostle useth another emphatical expression Death reigned and that upon those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression Seeing then by Adams transgression death cometh thus to reign over all mankind and there would be no justice to have 〈◊〉 inflicted where there is no sinne it followeth necessarily that every child becometh inherently sinful because internally mortal and corruptible Thirdly The third and last cause is the anger of God justly inflicting this punishment of death upon us death may be considered in respect of the meritorious cause and so it is not of God but of sinne Secondly in respect of the decreâ—ing and punishing cause and this death is from God as an evil justly inflicted upon man for his sinnes God inflicts the sentence of death upon us but sinne deserveth it not that death can properly be caused by God for that is a privation but by removing life God in taking away life is thereby said to cause death Even as when the Sunne is removed from our Hemispere then darkness doth necessarily follow These then are the causes of death but oh how little are they attended untoâ— men attributing death to many other causes besides this ¶ 6. Prop. 6. VVHen we say that death cometh by original sinne in that we comprehend all deseases pains and miseries which are as so many inchoate deaths yea all labour and weariness for so God threatned Adam Gen. 2 17. Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken In this sentence there is matter enough to humble us there is not a thistle in thy corn not a weed in thy garden but it may put thee in mind of original sinne yea there is not the least pain or ach of thy body but this may witness it to thee so that Austin saith truly we do circumferre testimonium c. We carry about with us daily full evidence to confirme this Doctrine of original sinne for such evils and calamities as do necessarily follow our specifical nature accompanying us as men they cannot be attributed unto any other cause but original sin which consideration viz. of mankind being universally plunged into miseries and not knowing the cause thereof made the Platonists and some Heretiques conclude that the soules of men had sinned formerly and by way of punishment were therefore adjudged to these mortal and wretched bodyes Though death be only mentioned because that is most terrible and all other miseries tend thereunto yet they are necessarily included Some ask the Question Why God did not threaten hell rather then death but no doubt eternal death is understood in this commination for temporal and eternal death are the wages of sinne only death is mentioned as being most terrible to sense men being more affected with that then with hell which is believed by faith The Scripture then mentioning death only how absurd and preposterous are the Socinians who in that threatning will comprehend any thing but death death they say cometh from the necessity of that matter we are constituted of but sickness labour and such miseries as also eternal death these are the proper fruit of sinne Thus men delivered up to errour are hurried from one dangeous precipice to another But let Christians in all deseases miseries and death it self look higher then the Philosopher or the Physitian Let them acquaint themselves with original sinne and thereupon humble themselves under Gods hand ¶ 7. The several Grounds assigned by Schoolmen of Adam's immortality rejected and some Causes held forth by the Orthodox Propos 7. ALthough it be agreed upon by all except Socinians and their adherents that Adam was made immortal at least by grace and the favour of his Creator yet there is difference among the Popish Writers upon what to fasten the ground of his immortality What was the cause of it therein they disagree Some place it in a certain vigor and excellency that was then in the soul whereby it was able to preserve the body from death Molina liketh not this De opere sex dierum Disput 28. and therefore he doth affirm that the body of Adam was made immortal and impassible by an habitual gift bestowed upon it which he saith was a corporeal quality extended through the whole body Because saith he this immortality was not a transient thing but an enduring gift sutable to that state and God is used to give permanent gifts not immediately but by some inherent principle Even as the glorified bodies are made immortal by some intrinsecal quality accommodated to that state yea and the bodies of the damned also though they are immortal yet they are not impassible because they are tormented in the flames of hell fire But Suarez Lib. 3. de hominis Creatione cap. 14. doth upon good grounds reject any such supposed corporeal quality as being without any foundation from the Scripture and introducing a miraculous way without necessity For who can think that Adam had such an intrinsecal quality in his body that fire would not burn him that if he went upon the waters his body would not sink Others they attribute his immortality to the tree of life that was say they both alimentum medicamentum as it was both nourishment so it preserved life and as it was medicinal so it did repair that partial abating of natural strength in concoction which would otherwise in time have come upon man But this opinion taketh that for granted which yet is greatly controverted viz. that it was called the tree of life as if there had been some active physical power in the fruit thereof to continue a mans life either for a long time as some think or for ever as others whether indeed once eating of it or constant eating was necessary as opportunity did require is also debated by curious Authors for some make it to be called a tree of life onely Symbolically as being a signe of eternall life which Adam should have enjoyed had he continued in obedience And truly though it should be granted that there was such a virtue in the tree yet when Adam had sinned it would no wayes have helped him or preserved him from death because the wages of sinne is death and therefore would not have produced that in him which it is supposed that it might have had in Adam's obedience yet God would cast him out
which would have redounded to the dishonour of God his maker neither could it so well be said By one man or by the Devil death came into the world as by God who is supposed to make man in such a mortal and frail estate But I proceed to a second Argument and that may be drawn from the commination made by God to Adam upon his disobedience compared with the execution of this sentence afterward which might be enough to convince any though never so refractory The threatning to Adam we have recorded Gen. 2. 17. where God prohibiting him to eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil confirmeth this Law with a penalty viz. That in the day he did eat thereof he should surely die dying thou shalt die The gemination is to shew the certainty as also the continuance or it So that Socinus and others who would not understand corporal death in this place as being from the natural constitution of a man and so would have been had there not been this commination doth joyn too much with the Devil in this business for his endeavour was to perswade the woman that this threatning was false and that she should not die death should not be the punishment of her transgression But what need we any clearer place then this divine commination Doth not this necessarily suppose that if Adam had not transgressed he should not have died and so by consequence have been immortal it being not possible for death to come in at any other door but that of sinne To threaten a mortal man with mortality had been absurd or to make his natral condition a punishment for then it would have been a punishment to be made a man if made mortal The Socinians therefore to elude this would not understand by death the separation of the soul and body but eternal death or as they say at other times a necessity of dying but a necessary death and eternal death are absurdly made parallel by them For beasts are under a necessity of death yet cannot be said to partake of eternal death especially the godly they cannot but die yet they are absolutely delivered from eternal death We must therefore take death for corporal death not but that the death of the soul by sinne here and eternal separation from God hereafter is to be included herein yet this temporal death is also a great part of the penalty here threatned which may be evinced by these three reasons 1. Moses is relating in an historical manner what was done to man in the beginning Now in an historical Narration we are not to go from the literal meaning unless evident necessity compel much lesse may we do so here when we have the Apostle acted by the same Spirit of God as Moses was in being Penman of the Scripture attributing our corporal death to Adam For no doubt when Paul wrote this Text In Adam we all die he had this historical relation made by Moses in his mind 2. The sentence and execution of it must be understood in the same manner Now it 's plain that in the execution of it mentioned Chap. 3. 19. corporal death is meant because Adam is thus told That dust he was and unto dust he should return 3. It must be meant of temporal death because this alone and not eternal death doth belong to all mankind For although at the day of judgement it is said some shall not die yet that suddain change made then upon them will be equivalent to death Thus you see the threatning made to Adam at first doth abundantly confirm this truth There is one doubt only to be answered If death be meant in that sentence how then is it that Adam did not immediately die How is it that he lived many hundred years afterwards To this some say That the restriction of time viz. the day is not to be made to the time of eating as if at that day he should die but to death as if the sense were thou shalt die one day or other thou shalt be in daily fear of death But if this be disliked then we may understand it of a state of death that day he did eat thereof he became mortal for every day is a diminution of our life As a man that hath received a deadly wound we say he is a dead man because though he did linger it out yet all is in a tendency unto death Now this will appear the more cogent if you take notice of the execution of this sentence mentioned Gen. 3. 17 18 19. where the ground is cursed and man also adjudged to labour and wearness all the dayes of his life even till he return to the ground out of which he was made But here the Socinian thinketh he hath an evasion Death saith he is not here made a curse but only it 's the term how long mans curse shall be upon him It is not poena but terminus saith he for it is said he should be under this labour till he did return to the ground but if we consider the sentence before-mentioned it is plain it is a curse So that in this place it is both a curse and a terme putting an end to all the temporal miseries of this life though to the wicked it is the beginning of eternal torments ¶ 3. THe third Argument for our mortality and also actual death by original sinne is taken from those assertory places which do in expresse words say so Not to mention my sext which hath said enough to this truth already We may take notice of other places affirming this And certainly that passage of Pauls Rom. 5 12. may presently come into every mans mind By one man sin entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned It is true we told you Calvin maketh the Apostle to speak of spiritual death here as in my Text of temporal death which the coherence also doth confirm but though that be principally intended yet not totally Even temporal death is likewise to be understood as being the beginning and introduction to eternal death if the grace of God doth not prevent We have then the Apostle attributing death not to mans creation at first but to his disobedience Neither is this death upon men because of their actual sinnes but because of Adam's disobedience by whom we are made sinners yea in whom we have sinned That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is diversly translated and much contention about it viz. whether it should be rendred in whom or causally for as much It is true the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as learned men observe is used in the New Testament variously sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 5. 5. sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 10. 9. sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 3. 16. and otherwise but for ought I can observe it may very well be understood for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mark
immutabilis constituti And indeed if death were not the effect of sinne but consequent of mans nature it would be no evil whereas the Scripture accounteth it of that nature as Deut. 30. 15. See I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil SECT IV. Arguments brought to prove that Adam was made mortal answered THe next work to be done is to consider those Arguments which they bring to prove that Adam was made mortal and so had a proxim principle of death in him which would have taken effect if God did not provide some way against it and that which is used by all Adversaries to this truth is Because Adam was created in such a condition that be must necessarily eat and drink yea and was also to propagate children all which actions do contradict immortality For he that eateth and drinketh must by degrees have a decay in nature and our Saviour seemeth to prove immortality from this argument Luk. 20. 35 36. because in heaven they shall not marry so that to procreate children is not consistent with such a blessed estate But these Objections are easily answered if we remember the distinction at first given in this point that there is an immortality absolute and immutable or conditional and changeable upon supposition Now it 's true neither eating or marrying can consist with unchangeable mortality with immortality of glory But it may very well consist with conditional immortality that is in tendency to that which is absolute Eating and drinking in the state of integrity was a means subserving to keep up the state of immortality so farre was it from repugning of it This therefore is the root of his errour that men apprehend no other immortality but what is compleat that unless Adam had been made in the same estate that the glorified Saints are put into he could not be said to be immortal Secondly They say Adam is said to be earthly and of the earth to have a natural body and so opposite to that immortal body we shall have in heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. But first when the Apostle giveth those names to our bodies of vile corruptible and to be in dishonour this is to be understood of our bodies after the fall they are made so through sinne It would be derogatory to God to say they were made such at first It is true the first man is said to be earthy but that expression denoteth only the original of his body whence it was first made not the state he was created in as appeareth by the opposite the second man is said to be the Lord from Heaven It is one thing then to speak of Adam's body in respect of its original and another to speak of the whole person in respect of his condition Thirdly They say All the internal causes of death were in Adam while standing as well as fallen and therefore he was mortal as well as we To this we answer there were indeed the causes of death in him materially but not formally for the bodily humours were not peccant either in quality or quantity the natural heat would not have consumed the radical moisture so that in that estate there would never have been formally existent the proxim causes of death besides the adequate and principal causes of death are the Devils suggestions and mans transgression as you heard Fourthly They ask If man were not made mortal why should immortality be promised as a reward if he had it already Why should it be promised him upon his obedience The answer is easie Adam 's immortality was inchoate onely the consummation of it was promised as a reward to his obedience Lastly They object If death be the punishment of sinne then Christ hath freed believers from this death which is against experience But 1. The Socinians grant That a necessity of death is the fruit of sinne yet Christ hath not freed us from the necessity of it no more than the naturality of it 2. We must distinguish between an actual abolition of death and the right to do it Christ hath purchased for us a right to immortality yet the actual investing of us into it is to be done in its time Death will be swallowed up in victory and for the present the nature of death is changed as to a godly man it 's no more a curse to him the sting of death is taken away as when a Serpent or Wasp have lost their sting they can do no more hurt Thus to the godly it cannot do any hurt It is like Elijah's fiery chariot to carry them to Heaven It 's like passing through the red Sea into the Land of Canaan thus as the cloud was full of darkness to the Aegyptian but light to the Israelite so is death full of terrour and of curses to an ungodly man but pleasant and lovely to a godly man it is his gain to die To live in this world is his losse and disadvantage SECT V. Q. Whether Adam's sinne was only an occasion of Gods punishing all mankind resolved against D. J. T. I Shall conclude this Text with answering a two-fold Question The full discussing whereof may inform us about the most secret and mysterious truths that are in this point And First It may be demanded That suppose it be granted that by Adam we die may not this be understood any more than occasionally God was so displeased with Adam for his transgression that thereupon he insticts the curse threatned to him upon his posterity Even as we read often in Scripture that God for Magistrates sins or for parents sins doth take an occasion to punish a people or children for their own sinnes Thus it may be thought that God by occasion from Adam's transgression did impose on us for our sinnes the same curse that was denounced to Adam not that we were sinners in him not that we come into the world with any inherent sinne but because of our actual impieties God punisheth us with Adam's curse In this manner the late adversary to original sinne doth explicate himself An Answer to a Letter pag. 30 31 32. as if this were all the evil by Adam that for his sake our sinnes inherit the curse Insomuch saith he that it is not so properly to be called original sinne as an original curse upon our sinne That we may not be deceived in his meaning though it is very difficult to reconcile himself with himself For at another time he saith The dissolution of the soul and holy should have been if Adam had not sinned for the world would have been too little to have entertained the â—yriads of men which would have been born An Answer to a Letter p. 86 87 Now how Adam's sinne should bring in the sentence of death as he saith in another place Vnum Necessar cap. 6. sect 1. pag. 367. and yet he have died though he had not sinned is impossible to reconcile He giveth us two similitudes or parallel expressions which may
Kingdom of Heaven who yet they said received no poluâ—◠〈◊〉 hurt by Adam but how much more shall the grace of God abound through Christ to many The how much more lieth not in the number but in the nature of these gracious effect which come by Christ though to some onely for that the Apostle doth not intend an excess of Chriss grace in respect of the number it is plain because that had been impossible there could have been but an equality at most If it should be granted That Christ hath reconciled all those that Adam lost this would be an equality only we could not say Christ redeemed more than Adam destroyed for that could not have been therefore it is plain that the superabundance attributed by the Apostle to Christ in respect of Justification is to be understood intensively not extensively in respect of the nature of those blessed effects we receive by him and so indeed there is a great transcendency in Christ in respect of Adam For 1. By Christ we have vivification and quickning to grace and glory whereas by Adam we have sinne and condemnation Now it is farre easier to occasion the damnation of many then to procure the salvation of one To justifie and save one man is more than to destroy all mankind As we see amongst men it 's easier to destroy a thing then to build it up one man may kill many men but yet the same man cannot bring any one of those to life again If therefore Christ had saved but one of all mankind he was infinitely to be exalted above Adam by whose disobedience mankind was plunged into a perishing estate So that if we do compare Death with Life Heaven with Hell Damnation with Salvation and that the one cometh from a deficient cause the other from an efficient we must necessarily conclude that Christ hath infinitely the preheminence above Adam 2. There are some that distinguish between the sufficiency and worth that is in Christs mediation and the actual application of it Now say they the second Adam was infinately more able to save then Adam to destroy and that if we respect the number of men for Christ is able to save a thousand of worlds besides this if there were so many and therefore if we speak of Christ in respect of his sufficiency Adam in a destructing way is no more comparable to Christ in a saving way then a drop to the ocean or a sinite to an infinite For the obedience of Christ is the obedience of God and man Now though this answer may in a good explained sense be received yet I shall not so much avouch it partly because the distinction is made use of to a farre other end then the Orthodox do intend and then partly because the Apostle doth not here attend in his comparison so much to what is sufficient in Christ as to what is actual not so much to what he is able to do as what he will do It 's efficacy not sufficiency the Apostle aimeth at therefore we stick to the former answer though in many other respects the excellency of the second Adam to the first night be declared which are not here to be repeated only that one the Apostle instanceth in is not to be passed over which is that it is but one offence to condemnation whereas the grace of Christ extendeth to the abolishing of many offences that one sinne is enough to damn but the grace of Christ appeareth not only to the abolition of that but also all offences that do actually flow from it Thus every godly soul may comfortably improve this truth that there is more in Christ to save then is in all sinne whether original or actual to damn Christ is more able to justifie then Adam is to condemn Therefore some Schoolmen deny that Adam's sinne did demerit the death and damnation of all mankind it deserved his own damnation and his own death only All other mens deaths and other mens damnation have for their meritorious cause their original sin inherent in them Adam did not meritoriously deserve these but when fallen then his posterity descending from him did naturally fall into such a corrupted estate as he himself was plunged into and the reason they give of this is because no meer man can either mâ—rerâ—â— or demereri for the whole nature of mankind if Adam had stood all his posterity would have been holy and happy but we cannot say Adam would have merited this for all mankind for that is a peculiar thing to Christ only which is incommunicable to a meer man to merit for the whole race of mankind And although there is a great difference between merit and demerit a man may put himself into a demerit of eternal glory but not into a merit yet in this they are alike This reasoning of some Schoolmen admitted which seemeth very plausible then it necessarily followeth that Christs power to save is superlative more than Adams to destroy Lastly That Christ in his efficacy of grace doth exceed Adam in his condemning guilt appeareth In that at last he will utterly remove original sin from all that are his members and so totally vanquish it that it shall not remain in the least spot thereof Although Christ came into the world to take away all sin yet some Schoolmen conclude that principally it was to deliver us from original sin Because saith Suarez De Incar Christi this is the cause and the root of all actual iniquities It is not enough for Christ to purge us from our actual impieties but he also intends to heal our natures Now because original sin infecteth the nature chiefly as it is in persons so also doth Christ principally intend the sanctification of our natures And although this be not presently and immediatly done yet it wil at last be done in that good time he hath appointed for that end Those indeed that limit the efficacy of Christs grace to original sin only as if actual sins were to be removed by our voluntary penances and satisfaction they make Christ but a same Saviour and a semi mediator But yet it may well be affirmed because this original corruption is the pollution of the nature and is the cause of all actual defilements therfore the bloud of Christ doth in the most principal place cleanse from this And therefore this should exceedingly comfort the godly who groan under the reliques of this defilement upon them that Christ will never leave them till he hath restored them perfectly to their primitive integrity for this end he came into the world so that he would be but an impefect Saviour if he should not at last cure thee of this nature-defilement for this lieth upon him to do that he bring al things to their former yea a better perfection that so all may admire the goodness wisdom and mercy of God in Christ and that all cavillers may stop their mouths who usually demand Why did God suffer Adam to fall
of integrity 479 Nor is there sense or feeling of any such Conflict in a natural man 480 It 's in all that are sanctified 81 Conflict the several kinds 500 Conscience What Conscience is 223 Whence quietness of Conscience in unregenerate men 90 And whence troubles of Conscience in the regenerate ib. Erroneous Conscience ought to be obeyed 224 Conscience horribly blind and erroneous by nature 225 And senslesse 226 The defect of Conscience in its offices and actings 228 The corruption of Conscience in accusing and excusing 230 Of a counterfeit Conscience 233 Sinfull lust fancy and imagination custome and education mistaken for Conscience ib. Conscience severe against other mens sins blind about its own 236 Security of Conscience 237 The defilement of Conscience when troubled and awakened 238 The difference between a troubled and a regenerate Conscience 243 Causes of trouble of Conscience without regeneration ib. False cure of a wounded Conscience 245 Consent A two-fold Consent of the will expresse and formal or interpretative and virtual 287 Creation Christ had his soul by Creation and so we have ours 195 Creature Mans bondage to the Creature 317 D Damnation DAmnation due to all for original sinne 528 Death Death not natural to Adam before sin 31 115 Death and all other miseries come from sin 173 Devil The Devil cannot compell us to sinne 15 114 Difference Difference between original and actual sins 477 Difficulty Difficulty of turning to God whence 478 Doubtings Doubtings whence 241 Duties Imperfection in the best Duties 11 Of doing Duties for conscience sake 234 E Exorcisms EXorcisms used anciently at the Baptism of Infants 54 F Faculties SOme Faculties and imbred principles left in the soul after the fall 224 Mans best Faculties corrupted by sinne 139 Flesh Flesh and spirit in every godly man 11 How the word Flesh is used in Scripture 139 Flesh and spirit contrary ib. Forgetfulness Forgetfulness natural and moral 257 Forgetfulness of sin 260 Of usefull examples and former workings of Gods Spirit 261 Of our later end the day and death and judgement and the calamities of the Church 262 Freedom Several kinds of Freedom 306 Freedom from the dominion of sin whether it be by suppression or abolishing part of it 503 G Grace WHat sanctifying Grace is 20 Given not so much to curb actual sin as to cure the nature ib. Free Grace exalted by the Apostles 308 The Doctrine of free Grace unpleasing to flesh and bloud 310 The necessity of special Grace to help against temptations 314 H Habits THe Habits of sin forbidden and the Habits of grace required by the Law 45 Heathens Heathens how far ignorant of original sin 168 Condemn the lustings of the heart 169 Heresies Hereticks The Heresies of the Gnosticks Carpocratians Montanists and Donatists 225 The guilt and craft of Heretiques 303 I Jesus Christ JEsus Christ his conception miraculous 388 But framed of the substance of the Virgin 389 Why called the Son of God ib. Had a real body ib. Born holy and without sin 390 How he could be true man and yet free from sin 392 Ignorance A universal Ignorance upon a mans understanding 178 210 Image Gods Image in Adam not an infused habit or habits but a natural rectitude or connatural perfection to his nature 19 Why called Gods Image 21 The Image of God in man Reason and understanding one part of it 113 Holinesse and righteousnesse another part ib. Power to persevere in holinesse another part ib. A regular subordination of the affections to the rule of righteousnes another part 114 Primitive glory honour and immortality another part 115 Dominion and superiority another part yet not the only Image of God as the Socinians falsly ib. How man made in it 131 Imagination Imagination its nature 351 Its sinfulnesse in making Idols and conceits to please it self 352 And in its defect from the end of its being 353 By its restlesnesse 355 By their universality multitude disorder their roving and wandring their impertinency and unseasonablenesse 356 357 It eclipseth and keeps out the understanding 358 Conceiveth for the most part all actual transgressions 359 Acts sin with delight when there are no external actings 360 Its propensity to all evil 361 Is continually inventing new sins or occasions of sin 362 Vents its sinfulnesse in reference to the Word and the preaching of it 364 Mind more affected with appearances than realities 365 And in respect of fear and the workings of conscience 366 And its acting in dreams 367 Is not in subordination to the rational part of man 368 The instrument in Austins judgment of conveying sin to the child 368 Prone to receive the Devils temptations 369 Immortal How many wayes a thing may be said to be Immortal 509 Of Adams Immortality in the state of innocency 513 Impossibility Impossibility of mans loosing himself from the creature and return to God 371 Infants Infants deserve hell 7 Sinners 29 Cannot be saved without Christ 35 55 Infant-holinesse what it is 56 Infants defiled with original sin before born 62 Judgment Whence diversities of Judgment in the things of God 219 Justification Justification by imputed not inherent righteousnesse 29 K Knowing Known CVriosity and affection in all of Knowing what is not to be Known 184 Which comes from original sin 212 L Law THe Law impossible to be kept 10 A Law what 85 The Law requireth habitual holinesse 130 Forbids lust in the heart 156 Liberty Liberty of will nothing but voluntarinesse or complacency 132 Lust What Lust is 155 How distinguished 157 Lust considered according to the four-fold estate of man 160 Sinfull Lust utterly extirpated in heaven 161 M Man MAn by nature out of Gods favour 117 Man made to enjoy and glorifie God 132 133 How sin dissolved the harmony of Mans nature ib. Man unable to help himself out of his lost condition 153 Through sin it is worse with Man than other creatures 174 The nobler part of Man inslaved to the inferiour 175 Man utterly impotent to any spiritual good 177 By his fall became like the devil 183 Memory The pollution of it 247 What it is 250 A two-fold weaknesse of Memory natural and sinfull ib. The use and dignity of it 251 The nature of it 253 Discoveries of its pollution 253 Wherein it is polluted 257 Wherein it fails in respect of the objects ib. Hath much inward vitiosity adhering to it 263 Subservient to our corrupt hearts 265 Mind Whence the vanity and instability of the Mind 217 Ministry One end of the Ministry 255 N Natural EVery Natural man is carnal in the mysteries of Religion in religious worship in religious ordinances in religious performances 140 141 In spiritual transactions and religious deportment 142 143 Necessity What Necessity is consistent with freedom 312 O Original Sinne. THe necessity of knowing it 1 The term ambiguously used and how taken in this Treatise ib. That there is such a natural concontagion on all 2 Why called Original sin 5 Denial of