cleansing and taking away of original sin derived to all the relative descendants of Adam is a supernatural doctrine absolutely necessary to bring mankind to beatitude that Christ taught this doctrine and that the same the Apostles and the Church by him planted received it from him immediately and that this Doctrine was ever conserved practiced and deliverd over from hand to hand by the Primitive best Fathers and Luminaries of that Church untill this very day without any interruption which to deny were not only most impious and heretical but most absurd to whosoever considereth the infinite goodnesse providence wisedom and omnipotency of the Almighty yet notwithstanding Pelagius a Welchman and is usually stiled Pelagius the Brittan to distinguish him from Pelagius the Samosatensian Bishop his name in Welch was Morgan which signifies the Sea This pernicious wretch lived in the time of the Emperour Theodosius the younger and Honorius about the year of our Lord 416. This man I say and his followers Julianus Celestius maintained damnable Heresies against Christs express doctrine for they taught Adams sin to be noxious to himselfe only and not to his posterity and theâ—e to be no original sin Lust and concupiscence being natural not to be evill but rather good and sin not to be propagaâ—ed by generation The former being granted children to have no original sin from their parents and children though not baptized to be saved See Pontanus Cath. Heretic This Pestilent Heresie was spread abroad in many places but chiefly in England because Pelagius being driven from Rome came thither and infected it with his execrable Erroâ—s But by the diligent travels and great zeal of one Germanus Altisidorensis and Palladius sent from Celestinus Pope both England and Scotland became free from those his Errors solemnly condemned in the Synod of Carthage An. 415. in which there were assembled 2â—7 Bishops in Numidia and in the Arausican in Franc. You may find his errors set down by August Hierome Ambrose Isidor Prosper and Fulgent yet notwithstanding in these our late Error-abounding dayes partly through the instigation and malice of Satan and partly through the power of the Almighties wrath punishing the contempt of his revealed truth those damn'd Heresies of Pelagius doth begin to be covertly revived by the crafty insinuating conveyance of one Dr. Taylor the great Luminary and Pillar of the Protestant Church in England the only Idol of the Nation and whose writings are generally cryed up and highly extoll'd by the unsteady multitude for no other reason that I can imagine but for his sympathizing correspondency with them in blindnesse inconstancy and ignorance yet he is a man that hath his senses or fantasie so depraved as to take imperfect and maimed impressions of outward objects and the powers of his understanding so weak and perverted as to make preposterous and disorderly collâ—ctions out of them and whose judgment is so misguided by pre-occupation of self affection or particular ends as himselfe becomes most lamentably deceived feeding his soul with falshood iâ— stead of truth blindly wading too far without and above his obscure capacity and low proportion of knowledg into particular uselesse subtilties doting about frivolous questions and logomachies whereof commeth no fruit other then presumption dissention railings dissolution â—vill surmisings conâ—empt of Christ of his Doctrine Sacraments and divine Ordinances leaving every man to the dictamens of his own private judgment according to the several tempers and circumstances that sway in every particular which leadeth on inevitably to Atheism and unchristianity and all this for sordid apprehensions of base commodity to himselfe having imployed the faculties of his understanding contrary unto their naturall inclinations to the maintaining of lyes and the deceiving of others expresly against Scripture and the generally received Doctrine of all the Orthodox Fathers in all Ages perspicuous and eminent in knowledge of tongues inâ—ight into Antiquity profoundnesse in Sciences Perfection and true Sanctity of life which have shined most rarely in them and none will deny but these are the likeliest meanes to gain a right intelligence of the true and deep sense of Scripture and not the vain dreams and deluding suggestions of the private spirit of any Taylor Sailer Cobler Body seller Tinker or such like swarm of Locusts which have so miserably invaded and infected this brave Island all pretending to have their commission and power derived from Jesus Christ with so much intemperate boldnesse as if they were the only persons employed and entrusted by him to doe oâ— undoe as they please But let them pretend what they will its manifest Christ concluded of such John 10. 1. He that entreth not in by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber Our Saviour himselfe was the door to his Apostles and his Apostles and their Successors the door to all that ever were admitted Shepherds in a regular and Apostolick manner Now if any desires to know who are the false Prophets false Teachers Dr. Taylor shall resolve him in his Doctrine delivered in his Episcopacy asserted where he holds forth that Christ did institute a government to order and rule his Church by his Authority and that this government was delegated to the Apostles by immediate substitution by Christ in traditione clavium inspiratione spiritus c. And he holds further that this power was not to expire with their personâ— for when the great Shepherd had reduced his wandering sheep into a fold he would not leave them without guides to govern them so long as the woolf might possibly prey upon them and that is till the last separation of the sheep from the goats and this Christ intimates in that his promise Eâ—vobiscnm not with your persons for they dyed long ago but vobiscum vestri similibus with Apostolical Successors of yours till the end of the woâ—ld anâ— therefore that the Apostolat might be perpetuall and successive Christ gave them a power of Ordination that by imposing hands on others they might impart thâ—t power which they received from Christ which was both ordinery and extraordinary as immediate Miâ—lion unlimited Jurisdiction and miraculous Operations It followes therefore that there must remain a power of giving faculty and capacity to persons successively for the execution of that in which he promised perpetuall assistance which were the Offices and Powers of Preaching Baptizing Consecrating Ordaining and Governing necessary for the perpetuating of a Church unlesse men could be Christians that were never Christned become Priests without Calling of God and Ordination have their sins pardoned without Absolution be Members Parts and Sons of a Church whereof there is no codunation no Authority no Governour It follows therefore out of this Doctrine that if Dr. Taylor or all other Proiestant Ministers Teachers or Preachers in England have not received lawful power mission Apostalical faculty or ordination by hand-imposition from true Apostolical Successors they all
infected all his posterity his weaknesse not able to deny that to his Wife which God reserved to himselfe and blindly have done for the love of a foolish woman what the eternal wisedom had so expresly forbidden him O disloyal Adam that gave more credit to a serpent that deceiv'd thee then to your Creator and Truth which can never faile Here through this act of disobedience in Adam we all fell and became under sin and death and all mankind were convicted and sentenced to the eternall and temporall death in the conviction and sentence that passed upon him Gen. 3. 6 11 17. 19. Rom. 5. 12 18. and this without the knowledge or motions of the individualls or particular persons that were to proceed from Adam yet so verily vertually really and indeed that all that came forth from him by propagation doe then and in that birth and there throughly partake of sin death and misery and in their several persons respectively bear the image of the first Adam as he was in his â—all see Gen. 5. 3. Rom. 17. 19. Job 4. 1 Psalm 51. 5. Rom. 9. 8. Eph. 2. 1 2. c Here we may find out the origin and source of all our evils hence our miseries dayly finds deplorable increase and hence the most shamefull portion of a most sad and disastrous inheritance is dayly transported to the poor children of Adam Now man being created for a determinate end and for a state convenient for his nature and able to satisfie the original appetences of his soule and no man by natural means able to arrive to the end and period of happinesse we must follow henceforward the conduct of a supernatural guide since nature quitteth us here having led us on as long as she was able We may consider that God when he created man did not assign him to remain in the state of pure nature but did out of his goodnesse confer original righteousnesse and grace upon him which exceeded the sphere of his nature for God being in his own Essence goodnesse it selfe cannot choose but doe unto whatsoever proceedeth from him all that good which the nature of it is capable of whether by natural or supernatural means and his wisedome can readily contrive the meanes to bring that to pass which his goodnesse disposeth him to doe and his omnipotency as easily acteth what his other two attributes have projected so that there wanting an infinite capacity of the soule and without which she must be eternally miserable it remaineth that he who gave that capacity must also afford the object and assign means how to compasse and gain it all which is out of the reach of nature to discern and therefore it followeth of consequence that the Author of nature must needs endow man with supernatural means if he be in a fit disposition to receive them which may bring him to the supernatural end he was created for And of the supernatural gifts the first and the ground and foundation of all the rest is faith for whereas that we cannot by any natural meanes attain to the knowledge of any object that may render us compleatly happy in the next life and yet such knowledge must be had to the end we may direct our actions to gain the fruition of that object Therefore there is no way left to compass this but by the instructions and discipline of some Master whose goodness and knowledge we can no wayes doubt of by which two perfections in him we may be secure that he neither can be deceived himselfe nor will deceive us Now the Doctrine that such a divine Master shall teach for such an end we call faith Now we must determine that this Master must be God and man and that the Author of that doctrine we must believe the instructer of the actions we must perform and the promiser of the happinesse we may hope for be God himselfe who only knoweth of himselfe what is said in matters of these natures and who only is neither liable to be deceived nor can deceive others as being the prime verity it selfe Therefore it was necessary Christ God and man should come into the world to teach us what to believe and what to do and preach unto us by his example and himself be our Leader in the way that he instructed us to take And we must determine that those unto whom Christ did immediately preach this faith and unto whom he gave Commission to preach it unto others and spread it through the world after he ascendeth to Heaven ought to be believed as firmly as he himselfe The reason of this Assertion is that their doctrine though delivered by secondary mouths yet it proceedeth from the same fountain which is God himselfe the prime verity that cannot deceive nor be deceived But all the difficulty herein is to know who had this immediate Commission from Christ and by what seale should we discern it to have been no forged one The solution of this ariseth out of the same Argument which proveth that Christ himself was God and that doctrine he taught was true and divine which is the miracles and wonders he did exceeding the power of nature which could not be effected by any but by God himselfe for he being truth it selfe cannot by any action immediatly proceeding from him witness and confirm a falshood In like manner the Apostles doing such admirable works and miracles as neither by nature nor by Art Magick could be brought to pass that must necessarily infer God himself co operated with them to justifie what they said It is evident that their doctrine not their own but received from Christ must be true and divine This Faith thus taught by Christ and propagated by the Apostles and necessary to mankind to believe dependeth intrinsecally upon the testimony of the Primitive Doctors Fathers and Councels in church Catholike and Apostolike which is ordained conserve and deliver it from age to age and this cannot be but either by the immediate preaching of Christ or else by the information either in writing or by word of mouth of them that learned it from him and their delivering it over to others and so from hand to hand But from Christs own mouth none could have it but those that lived in the age that he did therefore there remained no other means to have it derived down to after ages then by this delivery over from hand to hand of Fathers dispersed throughout the world to the whole congregation of sons or youngers which proveth that the Church Apostolike is the Conserver of the whole doctrine of Faith necessary for salvation and likewise of the divine Writ dictated by the holy Ghost and written by the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles which we are also bound to beleeve Hence we may deduce that into Christs Catholick Church no false doctrine in any age can be admitted or creep in that is to say no false proposition whatsoever can ever be received and embraced by the Catholique Church
and dreams leading to confusion death and perdiâ—ion dayly cryed up and entertain'd the Lords Prayer Apostles Creed all Sacraments and the 39. Articles antiquated and contemned pernitious doctrines in faith hourly accruing together with an inundation of vices and corrupted manners no faith cut fancy and opinion no hopâ— but presumption no charity but lust no God but an Idol as S. Auâ— said Ep. 64. Homini extra Ecclesiam Religio sua est cultus phantasinatum suorum aut error suus est Deâ—s suus Thus leaving the Dr. Tayl to the reclaiming and detestation of his confused doctrine I come to my main intendment CHAP. II. Of the dismall state of man of his Fall ADam the great Representative of Mankinde and the beginner of a temporal happy life in the first instance of his Creation amongst many other graces and singular endowments did receive from God Original righteousness which is not the same distributive justice one of the cardinal vertues neither that by which we are justified which is called the grace of remission of sins But this Original Justice in Adam is a certain kinde of rectitude in the whole man viz. of the body to the soule and of the sensitive appetite to reason meant by the Ecclesiast in these words Fecit Deus hominem rectum God made man upright and because this rare gift of righteousnesse has been receiv'd by Adam from God and was to be transmitted by original propagation to Adams Posterity if he had not sinned it s fitly called original By this original justice mans will was more firmly fastned to God then by grace for this unites us to our final end as a supernatural good but original righteousness unites to the same as both convenient and delectable and by this rectitude reason became subject to God the inferiour faculties to reason and the body to the soule the first subjection being the cause of the second and third for reason remained subject to God all the inferiour faculties must also remain subject which cannot be unlesse grace be conjoyn'd with original justice and this subjection of the body to the soule and of inferiour faculties to the superiour could not be a natural gift but rather a supernatural otherwise it would have remained in man after his fall whereas in damn'd soules all natural gifts doth still remaine By this supernatural gift superinduc'd Adam had a title and right to heaven which with nature was to be transfused to posteâ—ity if sin had not hindred it but the sin of Adam destroyed his original righteousnesse and lost it to us for ever it corrupted his nature and ours too and the consequent and saddest of all is by it we are borne enemies of God sons of wrath and heirs of eternall damnation carrying and deriving stil a natural pronesse afomes or nest of sin imprinted in our soules despoyled and devested by way of punishment of all the supernatural assistances which God put into our nature being left naked and in pure naturalls depriv'd of any title to heaven that is it hath in it neither strength to live a supernatural life nor title to a heavenly so as the sin which was committed in the original of mankinde by our first parent and which had a sad influence upon all his posterity brought upon Adam and us all that God threatned and no more which is eternal and temporal death with the proper effects and affections of mortality and thus we are formally and properly made sinners by Adam and in him by interpretation we all have sinned and God does truly and justly impute his to us to make us as guilty as he that did it and as much punished and liable to eternal damnation Whereas all the supernatural gifts and eudowments conferr'd on Adam were not conferr'd on him as he was an individual person but as he was a publick representative and common head of all humane nature to be transfused to posterity by a continual series of seminal generation whence original justice comes rightly so to be called neither Adam became obliged to transmit those preternatural gifts to his children by any precept or covenant other then by the same of not eating of the forbidden fruit for we are bound by no other precept to preserve grace then by the same by which we are obliged to observe Gods Law because the Author of nature had power to oblige all mankinde in Adam the fâ—â—st original and head thereof so as that he prevariting all his posterity should likewise be comprehended both in the sin and guilt thereof now the reason of original sin begins to appear But whereas Adam then has been not only all humane nature but also the seed and seminal root thereof in whose loyns all mankinde as in the original head fountain and seminary were comprehended involv'd and included though not formally yet originally radically representatively and seminally by his transgression of the first commandement impos'd under inevitable paine of eternal temporal death brought on himselfe and all mankinde both the guilt of sin and death as S. Aug. hyp art 2. saith Cum Adam peccavit natura in illo tota peccavit When Adam sinned in him all nature likewise have sinned the reason is because that sin was voluntary in order to us Adams posterity whereas for the preservatioâ— of that original righteousnesse besâ—owed upon all humane nature Adams will in a manner was accounted and reputed the will of all mankinde as a Kings will is accounted the will of the whole Kingdom and the will of a Civil Magistrate the will of all the Citizens manifestly expressed by Saint Paul in those words in quo omnes peccaverunt which words have their reference to the man not to the sin for the greek word is the masculine gender as S. Austust understood it lib. de peccatorum merit is cap. 10. his reason is Quia ait omnes homines fuerunt ille unus homo viz. Adam quod intellige non formaliter sed originaliter radicaliter seminaliter representativè quia viz. omnes homines in illo primo homine quasi radice parente principio suo contenti censi comprehensi fuerunt nam quidquid Adam fecit omnes ejus posteri fecisse censentur sicut Rex representat regnum Magistratus Civitatem Of this judgement was Origines Chrysost. Theoph. Occumen and for the most part all the Latine and Greek Fathers If you 'l ask why God was pleas'd that if Adam should sin we his posterity should contract the guilt of his sin I answer that it was done by the occult judgement and decree of God according to S. Aug. l. 5. contra Julia c. 3. S. Bernard Serm. â— de Dominica post oct. Epiphan. And if further you 'l ask why God did place our merit and demerit in the hand and will of Adam to the prejudice as it were of his dominion and power by which he could both doe and decree what ever he pleased I answer with