second place there is the Universality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is more emphatical then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things not all men This expression is used to shew that not only all men but all their actions studies endeavours every thing belonging to them as it were is thus sinfull and damnable although Grotius maketh the Substantive understood to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the third place we have the Cause appointing and declaring of this and that is the Scripture It is usual to attribute those things which belong to God unto the Scripture because that is the sentence of God that declareth the will of God Thus Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture fore-seeing that God would justifie the Heathen c. that is God by his Word fore-telling what he would do Thus Rom. 9. 17. The Scripture saith unto Pharaoh For this same purpose have I raised thee up c. that is God by the Scripture manifested his will and purpose concerning Pharaoh So that in this place we are to conceive of God wisely and righteously ordering this way that all mankind shall fall into a stat of sin condemnation that so a way may be made open for the advancement of the grace of the Gospel Not that God did necessitate Adam to sinne or did infuse any evil into him but be falling by his own voluntary transgression and thereby plunging all his posterity into this wretched estate God who could have prevented this fall of Adam did not because not bound to it give him that grace which would actually have confirmed him although he bestowed on him grace sufficient enough to inable him to stand God I say did righteously and wisely permit this fall of his thereby to work out a greater good then the sinne of Adam could be an evil Thus God may be called the cause appointing and ordering of all this evil of mankind partly permissivè by leaving Adam to his own will and partly directivè and ordinativè being not a bare spectator or sufferer of this apostasie but also a righteous director and ordainer of it to blessed and heavenly ends Though therefore God is here said to shut up all mankind into this prison yet he is no more cause of the evil which brought this desolation then a Magistrate is of the wickedness of such a Malefactor whom he throweth into prison Yea Gods ordering of this fall of Adam unto such righteous ends doth therein demonstrate his Mercy and his Justice So that although sinne be evil yet the punishing of this is good as also the working of a better good then the evil is evil is a demonstration of the infinite wisdom of God As God doth it thus as the chief cause so the Scripture is said to shut us up under sinne instrumentally because that declareth the curse of God due unto us And that upon a two-fold account both because of the actual impieties all do commit as also because of that original filthiness and pollution we are born in Now it is my purpose to treat of Gods righteous dispensation towards mankind in this particular only because some do rise up with great zeal for the righteousness honour and glory of God in this point as if the Doctrine delivered by the Orthodox herein were altogether injurious and derogatory to him Hence the late known Adversary to this fundamental Truth about original sinne delivers himself thus Answer to a Letter pag. 23 24 To say that for Adam's sinne it is just in God to condemn Infants to the eternal flames of hell and to say that concupiscence or natural inclinations before they passe unto act could bring eternal condemnation c. are two such horrid propositions that if any Church in the world would expresly affirme them I for my part should think it unlawfull to communicate with her in the defence or profession of either and think it would be the greatest temptation in the world to make men not to love God of whom they speak such horrid things Thus he most horribly Now although these two Propositions are set down by him odiously and captiously not fully expressing the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches yet it is plain that he striketh at those Positions which are for the substance of them maintained by all Protestant Churches and doth thereby publiquely professe his separation from and non-communion with all Protestant Churches and particularly with the Church of England in that 9th Article which he doth so cruelly tear and mangle that it may not appear to be what indeed it is Our work therefore shall be from this Text to declare from Scripture-ground the holiness wisdome and righteousness of God in his proceedings thus with mankind for Adam's sinne For although all grown persons are shut up under actual sins as well as original yet here is comprehended both seeing it doth extend to all that may have salvation by Christ out of which number Infants are not to be excluded Therefore Bellarmine bringeth this Text amongst others to prove that there is an original sinne that all are born in And so we observe That God for righteous and wise ends manifested in the Scripture hath shut up all mankind in a state of sinne and damnation That God who could have preserved Adam in the state of happinesse and continued it to all his posterity so that thereby no sinne or condemnation would have come upon any one man for there would then none have done evil no not one hath ordered the contrary way suffering man to fall and thereby all mankind to be in a state of condemnation whereby also sin is so predominant that now there is none that doth good no not one The Scripture doth in other places with much exactnesse and diligence take notice of the proceeding of God in this way as Rom. 3. 9. The Apostle dividing all mankind into Jews and Gentiles sheweth that though there may be many differences in several respects yet as to a state of sin by nature and so a necessity of justification by Christ all were alike Therefore saith he We have before proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is very emphatical some make it to charge complain and in an heavy manner to accuse So that to be by nature of our selves in a state of wrath not being able without the grace of Christ to avoid this condemnation is the greatest guilt that we can be charged with It ought not to seem a light and contemptible thing that we come thus cursed in the world But because men may be accused falsly and the Pelagians charge us with laying a false curse upon mankind hence the Greek word signifieth more viz. so to charge a thing upon a man as by strong reasons to prove it to shew clearly the causes and grounds of it therefore our Translators render it We have before proved So that the Apostles meaning is We have not only said thus but we have proved A Metaphor say some from those who have cast up
the Sacrament what endlesse controversies hath it begotten And therefore it was the King of Navarr's counsel to the Divines when the Lutherans and Calvinists were upon pacification about the Sacrament that they should not De modo ultra modum disputare Now although this be good counsel yet when heretical and erroneous opinions have invaded the Modus then it is our duty to maintain not onely the truth of a thing but the manner of it also What is a greater mystery then the Sonne of God having his being from the Father He that will touch this mystery with meer natural reason doth as if the Smith should handle his live-coals with his hands and not the Tongs saith Chrysostome yet because of the Socinians who say He is onely a made God in time and hath his Deity by donation We are forced not to be content onely to believe that he is the Sonne of God but also how viz. By eternal Generation So in the great Controversie with the Arminians about the conversion of man It is not enough to say we are converted by grace but are necessitated also to expresse the manner How not by a moral suasion or per modum sapientiae onely but by invincible efficacy and power also Thus the manner of Christs presence in the Sacrament was necessarily to be determined against the Lutherans Thus it is in our point in hand we might well enough sit down with this Truth That original sinne is communicated to every sonne of Adam and enquire no further as the primitive Church did till Austin's time in a great measure But when Heretiques will deny the true Doctrine because the manner is difficult to expresse or when men will deny the Creation of the soul then it 's our duty in a sober manner to search into the way how we partake of it Neither doth the fore mentioned Text contradict this For though we know not how the bones grow in the womb exactly and punctually yet we know in the general that they do by virtue of generation So although we know not particularly how the soul cometh to have its being in the body yet in the general that it is by Creation we have had Scripture light fully to convince us therein This then premised Let us proceed to clear the Doctrine of the Propagation of original sinne and that by several Propositions which will be as so many steps and degrees to the main Truth SECT VII Propositions to clear the Doctrine of the Propagation of Original Sinne by the Souls Creation FIrst We lay this for a foundation That God doth create the soul of every man a spiritual substance This Proposition must be the foundation-stone to build upon That God doth create the soul immediately you have heard several Texts attesting thereunto So that Bellarmine was too dissident when moved it seemed by Austin doth wave all Texts of Scripture for the creation of the soul and so proceedeth to other Arguments Perierius on 2 Chap. of Genes vers 7. giveth a better censure of Austin for having produced some Texts for the Creation of the soul he saith Conatur Augustinus sed frustra hos locos elidere I shall adde one more fit for that purpose also The Text is 1 Pet. 4. 19. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto God as to a faithfull Creator Here the afflicted children of God are required as Christ did to commend their souls to God and the reason is Because he is a faithfull Creator of them So that Gods Creation of them is here made an engagement to God to keep them they being now sanctified and made holy Our souls then are created In the next place I say they are created Substances This is to obviate those that make the soul onely an accident or the crasis and temperament of the humours Galen as Cerda on Tertull de animâ alledgeth him in his second Book of prediction by the pulses hath this passage Hitherto I have doubted what should be the substance of the soul but by age and experience being made wiser I dare be bold to affirm it is no other thing then the temperament He was not made wiser but more absurd and foolish in this thing Yea there is one Dicaearchus much spoken of that said The soul was nothing it was but an opinion And the Mortalists they directly joyn with Galen's opinion Who would think that when we have the Scripture speaking so plainly about the soul that it is a spirit that it removeth when the body is killed that any should be delivered up to such licentious and abominable Doctrines Again I adde God createth it a spiritual substance This opposeth the Sadduces who denied any spirits It is plaine by Scripture that they are substances and spiritual ones because they subsist without the body Tertullian though he doth so acutely perstringe the Philosophers about the soul yet some of them were more sound then he Men saith he have thought about the soul either as Platonis honor Zenonis vigor Aristotelis tenor Epicuri stupor Heracliti maestor Empedoclis furor persuaserint It is true some of these thought the souls to be bodies and so doth Tertullian and happily he might have been excused by taking body largely for that which is not nihil in which sense he attributeth a body to God but that he saith the soul is not only a body but effigiated and shaped also yea that the souls differ in sex which is very irrational We may then conclude this with a saying of Numertus That if any souls are corporeal it is of those who say souls are corporeal A second Proposition is That though God doth create immediately the souls of all men spiritual substances yet they are not compleat and perfect substances as Angles are but the essential parts of men Upon this Proposition depends much weight of this Truth about the communicating of original sinne for we are apt to think God createth our souls like Angels perfect and having subsistency of themselves whereas they are created as parts of a man neither do they come from God any otherwise If God should create a soul to subsist of it self and not to be united to the body to constitute a man that soul would not be polluted But because every soul is created as an essential part of man and so hath its being Hence it is That it cometh into the world part of Adam and so obnoxious to that curse which he had deserved whatsoever then in its first being is part of man that is partaker of Adam's sinne and curse But the soul in its first instant of being is part of man therefore no wonder if it became polluted and cursed The example of that miraculous Resurrection of Lazarus and others may something clear this they were fully dead their souls and bodies union dissolved yet because their souls were not made perfect and pure without sinne and translated into Heaven but
extraordinary officer an Evangelist is not here to be disputed Paul writeth this Epistle to him concerning his end why he left him there and also exciteth him to a lively performance of his office especially in a sharp and severe rebuking of them because of their doting still about Jewish fables and ceremonies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clearly without ambiguities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Varinus or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Hesychius or cuttingly as it were to go to the bottom of the putrified sore that no unsound core be left behind so Illyricus And to evidence the crime of the Cretians the more he brings a testimony from Epimenides whom he cals their Prophet by way of conception for they esteemed him so sacrificing to him for he pretended in furious fits to be like one acted with a divine spirit and rapture Now this famous brand he stigmatizeth the Cretians with That they were alwayes liars c. And although Epemenides being a Cretian it might be retorted that he lied in saying The Cretians were lyars yet the speech is to be understood not of every one but of the general part and therefore the Apostle saith This witnesse is true From whence Aquinas gathereth That wheresoever there is any truth a Doctor in the Church may make his use of it because all truth is of God The use here is not so much for confirmation as conviction if you ask Why must these Cretians be so sharply rebuked for their Doctrine about Jewish Ceremonies seeing Rom. 14. The Apostle doth there prescribe another deportment to such viz. of for bearance and condescension The Answer is Those that are there spoken of were such as did erre out of infirmity and weaknesse but these in Crete were such as did obstinately and pertinaciously defend these false Doctrines therefore they must be severely dealt with yet the end of this censure is medicinal That they may be sound in the faith all errour is a sicknesse and a disease The Apostle having thus informed about Titus his duty he proceedeth to some Doctrinal Instruction about those erroneous opinions instancing in one which was greatly controverted in the Infancy of the Church and that is about the choice of meats and abstinence from them To obviate any corrupt Doctrine herein he layeth down this weighty Proposition To the pure all things are pure that is to such who are sanctified by the Christan saith and are righly instructed in Christian liberty all things viz. of this kind not adultery fornication or such sinnes are pure to them they may lawfully use them Every creature as the Apostle elswhere being sanctified by the Word of God and prayer This Truth he amplifieth by the contrary Proposition To the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure this is more then if he had said All things are unclean for that might have been limited as in the former to things of this kind but saying that nothing is pure to them is signified hereby that all is pitch as it were that the touch That like a Leper even good things do not purifie them but they defile them And then you have the cause and fountain of this Even their mind and conscience is defiled No wonder the streams are polluted when the fountains are By mind is meant the speculative part of our understanding by conscience the practical part and therefore having spoken of the pollution of the former we now proceed to the later This Text is deservedly brought by Protestant Authors to prove that all the actions of unregenerate persons and much more of Infidels are altogether sinne that there is not one truly-good action to be found amongst them and that because the mind and coscience is thus all over polluted The Popish Interpreters because they are for the Negative yea some going so farre as to plead for the salvation of Infidels though without the knowledge of Christ do limit the Text too much as if it were onely to be understood of those whose minds were not informed with true knowledge nor their consciences rightly guided in those Disputes about Judaical Ceremonies as if to such only all things were unclean but although these persons gave the occasion yet the Apostle maketh an universal Proposition and therefore he doth not onely say the defiled but unbehevers which comprehends all those that have no true knowledge of Christ and the reason is univocally belonging to every one for every mans mind and conscience without saith is polluted and cannot please God The Fountain thus cleared this streame of Doctrine floweth from it viz. That the consciences of all men by nature are polluted and defiled Even their mind and constience saith the Text signifying by that expression that there remaineth no hope as it were for them when the foundations are thus removed To this defiled conscience in Scripture is opposite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good conscience 1 Pet. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3. 9 a pure or clean and that by the bloud of Christ Heb. 9. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13. 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 24. 16. And this kind of conscience onely those that are regenerate have But an evil conscience is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Heb. 9. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 4. 2. There is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weak conscience but that the godly may have The conscience were are to treat upon is the defiled one and that not so much as made more impure and sinfull by voluntary impieties as what it is by nature in evey one And before we come to demonstrate the pollution of it it is good to take notice of the nature of it The New Testament useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about thirty times and that for conscience In the Old Testament the Hebrew word Madani is once rendred Eccles 10. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but most commonly that which in the New Testament is called conscience in the old is called Leb the heart of a man So Davia's heart is said to smite him apponere ad cor and redire and cor are nothing but the acts of conscience and thus sometimes in the New Testament 1 John 3. 20. If our heart condemn us It 's observed that the first signification of the word Leb is a conspersion or meal sprinkled with water Thus the heart of a man is a lump as it were watered and sprinkled with some common principles and apprehensions about God and what is good and evil As for the nature of conscience it self it is not good to be too nice in Scholastical Disputes about it remembring that of Bernard There was Multum seientiae but param conscientiae in the world It 's disputed Whether conscience be a power or an habit or an act onely that it is not a power Aquinas proveth because that can never be removed or laid aside or changed whereas conscience may
mercies to his Church all the severe judgements of God upon those that hate him should be kept in constant remembrance from generation to generation But who seeth not the sinfulnesse of our memory in this particular What liar remembreth Ananias and Saphira's judgement What unclean person Zimri and Cosbi What drunkard Belshazzar's hand-writing on the wall SECT IX Inferiour Objects of Memory WE are discovering the particulars Wherein the memory of man is so greatly polluted we have instanced in the Object of it which is God and the things immediately relating to God These things we constantly forget though God gave us a memory chiefly for these things In the next place there are Objects in the inferiour region as it were which the Scripture commendeth to our memory and about that also we shall finde our minds never exercised therein That I may not be infinite I shall select some few of those Inferiour Objects And First It is a duty often urged in Scripture To exercise cur memory about our sins past to bring them to mind and accordingly to humble our selves and repent But is not every mans memory naturally polluted herein How many sinnes are there committed many years ago How many youth sinnes which thou never hast a bitter remembrance of It is not wormwood and gall to thee to think of thy former vanities Thus the memory well exercised is the introduction to repentance A man can never repent that doth not first remember Can he humble himself for that which he hath forgotten Ezek. 16. 61 63 God there makes a gracious Covenant and promise of pardon and forgivenesse to the Israelites and then he sheweth that this fire of his love shall melt and thaw their hearts though like iron they shall be ashamed and confounded but how is all this done by remembring Then thou shalt remember thy waies and be ashamed so that it is impossible to set upon the work of repentance and conversion to God unlesse first thy memory be excited up unlesse thou look upon thy former life and remember this have I done and thus I have lived such sinnes and follies come into my mind yea in true repentance thy sinnes will alwayes be in thy memory when eating or drinking or walking thou wilt be thinking Oh the wretch that I have been Oh the beast and fool that I was in such and such impieties Thus Joh and David remembred the sinnes of their youth Psa 51. 3. David acknowledging that murder and adultery which he had committed a year before yet he saith My sinne is ever before me Thus you see in repentance the memory is wonderfully quickned bringeth those sinnes to mind that have been committed many years ago and therefore you have the expression 1 King 8. 47. of a people repenting If they shall bring back to their heart so it is in the original we render it If they shall bethink themselves By this we see that in true conversion there is a bringing back again of our sinnes to our hearts that whereas we had forgot this and that sinne which might be charged upon us Now we begin to arraign our selves and bring in a severe indictment against our own souls for such and such transgressions Oh then mourn bitterly for thy evil and wicked memory herein How many sinnes how many iniquities even like the sand on the sea-shore might come into thy mind and amaze thee giving thee no rest till thou hadst obtained the pardon of them But thou art so farre from this that rather thou strivest and labourest to put them out of thy memory If thy sinnes come to thy mind presently thou divertest thy thoughts turnest thy memory to other things and thus as the noise of the Cart-wheel because nearer to us maketh us not bear the noise of thunder at that time so other things more delightsome and pleasing being next in our memory we wholly forget what might turn to our salvation Hence it is that natural men love no good conference no reproof no powerfull preaching that may bring their sinnes to remembrance but say as the woman to Elisha 1 King 17. 18. What have I to do with thee O thou man of God Art thou come unto me to call my sinne to remembrance So that herein our desperate pollution is seen that we bring not our sinnes to our remembrance yea we voluntarily forget them use all the means we can that we may never have them in our minds Secondly The bad or good examples of others we should remember and accordingly imitate or avoid them All the examples of wicked and godly men should be so many Monuments so many Memorials to us The Inscription upon Senacherib his Tomb was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever looks on me let him be godly by remembring the wrath of God upon me for my evil wayes Our Saviour Luke 17. 32. commands us to Remember Lot's wife In her we have such an instance of Gods wrath that it ought never to be forgotten and therefore saith Austin turned into a pillar of falt that she might season us God had delivered her out of Sodom from the fire and brimstone ready to have consumed her and withall he chargeth her not to look back but she either out of curiosity or out of a worldly affection and desire to her goods that were left behind looketh back upon which God doth immediately punish her in this wonderfull and unheard manner Now our Saviour applieth this to every one who taketh upon him the profession of Christ leaveth off his former conversation but afterwards returneth to it again And is not this the condition of too many that do not onely with Lot's wife look back to Sodome but even go back into Sodome again How terrible will the later end of such be Remember this dreadfull instance you who for a while give over your prophanenesse and impiety but afterwards fall to it again such are not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven Thus also we should take notice of all the good examples we meet with in the holy Scripture what good men there were how they lived and how God blessed them Our memories should be a good treasury whereby we should be abundantly furnished to do the good and avoid the evil Lege Historiam ne fias Historia but rather remember Histories and examples lest God make thee an example Thus Heb. 13. 7. they are commanded to remember such who had been guides to them and to follow their faith considering the end of their conversation How holy blessed and comfortable it was the godly Ministers and holy Pastors God hath given to his Church you should diligently remember taking notice how God was with them in their Doctrine in their lives in their deaths This would much prevent that Apostasle of many into errors and following after heretical persons Do but remember how wonderfully God was in the spirits and lives of many holy Pastors in the Church who did bear witness against such errors as
his service and all this while think a good intention will bear them out If you ask Why the Church of God hath not alwayes been contented with the simplicity of the Gospel why she hath not wholly kept her self to divine Institutions You will find this corrupt intention of the will to be the cause thereof A good intention brought in most of the superstituous and uninstituted Ceremonies that ever have been in the several ages of the Church Mat. 15 9. In vain do ye worship me teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men The Pharisees thought by their commands and Doctrines to teach men the fear and the worship of God This corrupt intention hath eaten out the very life and power of godliness men taking upon them a more excellent stay as they think then the Scripture hath revealed to teach reverence and devotion From whence are those frequent commands to the people of Israel That they must not go after the imagination of their own hearts That they must not do what is good in their own eyes That they must not adde to or take from the word of God By these straight and close injuctions we see that no intention whatsoever though never so seemingly pious and reverential will warrant a man to appoint any worship of God from his own head Vzzah had a good intention when he endeavoured to stay the Ark from falling but God was so displeased thereat that he struck him dead immediately now the reason was because Gods order was not kept about the Ark Vzzah's intention did not preserve him from Gods displeasure so neither will their devout intention justifie such who do superadde to Gods worship Some observe that expression of Eve's Gen. 3. 3. where she saith That God had said they should not eat of it nor touch it left they die We do not read that God forbad them to touch yet it's thought this was added by Eve for caution sake as if she were so carefull to keep Gods command about eating that she addeth they must not so much as touch it From whence Ambrose gathereth Nihil vel boni causâ addendum est precepto But oh how busie and active have many at all times been in the Church to bring in new worship new institutions of which there is no footstep in Gods Word as if they were more carefull of Gods honour and glory then he himself is But though with men this sinne be accounted small saying They cannot worship God too much they cannot be excessive in serving of him yet this is an high sinne in the Scripture account It being one of Gods royalties to prescribe what shall be his Worship Shall a servant take upon him to make Rules in his Masters house Let men that dote upon superstition and are inamoured with customs of devotion that have no command from Scripture Lay this very seriously to heart Oh how terrible will it be when thy Devotion and Religion will appear abomination God asking thee Who hath required this thing at thy hands The Ape is therefore the more deformed because so like a man and yet is not a man Thus all that worship which hath the greatest appearance of humility zeal and mortification which yet hath not its original from God is the more loathsome to such as are of a spiritual tast and judgement in heavenly things serving of God not in the way they chuse but in the manner he hath commanded And thus much for the act of Intention ¶ 6. The Pollution of the Will in its Acts of Election or Chusing WE shall in the next place consider those that relate to the means which lead to the end and I shall first begin with Election or Chusing because in that is contained either life or death For as the Election of God or his meer chusing of some to eternal life is the fountain of all the good which such persons partake of all their springs are in it So the election or choice of man is the womb wherein all happiness or misery is conceived If a man have right intentions and true ends yet if he chuse false sinfull and ungodly means he can never come to that end It is as if a man should intend his home or dwelling-place which is in the North and he chuse that road or way which leadeth into the South It is acknowledged by all That in every man there is an innate appetite to the chiefest good but as naturally all men do erre about the knowledge of it what it is so also about the means how to attain it But let us open this viper and see what a poisonous brood is in it As First Herein is the sinfulness of the wils choise manifested That it electeth and imbraceth such things as are pleasing to flesh and blood that are suitable to sense although there be never so many snares and temptations thereby to endanger the soul As it was with Lot Gen. 13. 10 11. when he beheld all the plain of jordan to be well watered and that it was like the garden of God he chose all that countrey and departed from Abraham But in what sad dangers did this unwise choice of his cast him into And thus it is with every man naturally he chuseth such conditions such wayes as are full of pleasure profit and advantages in the mean while not considering how quickly this honey is turned into choler that rugged and difficult wayes had been better then such sweet and pleasant wayes Whereas then Moral Philosophy maketh a three-fold good Vtile Jucundum and Honestum Profitable Pleasant and Honest or Virtuous and the later is properly and fully the object of the will that is so depraved that it chuseth only what is advantagious or pleasant Experience doth abundantly confirm this for what man naturally till regenerated doth chuse any thing but as it is connatural to and commensurated with that depraved appetite within David being enlivened with a supernatural life see what a choise he declareth that he had made Psal 119. 30 173. In both those verses he professeth He had chosen the Commandments of God Hence the Wiseman who knew what was fittest to be chosen saith Prov. 16. 16. That wisdome and understanding which is nothing but grace is to be chosen rather then gold or silver If then the will were truly sanctified it would not chuse a thing because it is delightsome and profitable but because it 's holy and commanded by God Isa 7. 15. it is made the description of a child That he knoweth not to refuse the evil and chuse the good Thus the child and a fool he will chuse his bauble before gold or silver such folly and simplicity is upon us The will is so perverted that it will chuse any thing rather then that which is indeed and solidly good Secondly The election of the will is grosly depraved In that it chooseth uncertain things before certain not only pleasant and profitable things before holy and honest but uncertain
and death So that they conclude it injurious and contumelious to Paul reproachfull to the grace of the Gospel and a palpable incouragement to sinne and wickedness to interpret the 7th of the Rom. of a regenerate person But because this is a truth of so special concernement we shall take these things in a more particular consideration for it would be found an heavy sinne lying upon most orthodox Teachers in the Reformed Church if they have constantly preached such a Doctrine as is injurious to Gods grace and an incentive to sinne as also slothfulness and negligence in holy duties for the present this Text will bear us out sufficiently that where ever the Spirit of God is in persons while in the way to heaven they have a contrary principle of the flesh within them whereby they are more humbled in themselves and do the more earnestly make their applications to the throne of grace and that all have such a conflict within them may appear by these following Reasons yea we may with Luther say so farre is it that any do attain to such a measure of grace as to be without this combate that the more holy and spiritual any are the more sensible they are of it for they have more illumination and so discover the exactness and spiritual latitude of the law more then formerly they did and also their hearts are more tender whereby they grow more sensible even of the least weight of any sinful motion though never so transient It is true the godly do grow in grace they get more mastery and power over the lustings of sinne within yet withall they grow in light and discovery about holiness they see it a more exact and perfect thing then they thought of they find the Law of God to be more comprehensive then they were aware of and therefore they are ready to cry out as Ignatius when ready to suffer Nunc incipio esse Christians Oh me never godly but beginning to be godly I believe but how great is my unbelief This Paul declareth Phil. 3. 12. Not as if I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after c. Thus Paul is farre from owning such commendations which happily others may put upon him It is true indeed Amyraldus denyeth that any are absolutely perfect but yet he goeth beyond the bounds of truth in attributing too much to Paul or other Apostles which will appear First Because the most holy that are have used all meanes to mortifie and keep down the cause of these sinful motions If they did not continually throw water as it were upon those sparks within the most holy man would quickly be in a flame Even this Apostle Paul doth not he confess this of himself 1 Cor. 9. 27. I keep down my body and bring it into subjection c. He doth not mean the body as it is a meer natural substance for the glorified Saints will not keep down their bodyes but as it is corrupted and made a ready instrument to sin for though the Apostle call it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet these are not opposite but suppose one another as Rom. 6. 12. Let not sinne reign in your mortal body and it is a very frigid and forced Exposition of Amyraldus as if the Apostle did understand it of the exposing his body to hunger and thirst and all dangerous persecutioâ—s for the Gospels sake For this was not Paul's voluntary keeping down of his body those persecutions and hardships to his body were against his will though he submitted to them when by Gods providence he was called thereunto but he speaketh here of that which he did readily and voluntarily lest from within should arise such motions to sinne as might destroy him yea it is plain that even in Paul there was a danger of the breakings forth of such lusts because 2 Cor. 12. God did in a special manner suffer him to be buffetted and exercised by Satan that he might not be lifted up through pride neither is this any excuse to say with Amyraldus That such sinnes are apt to breed in the most excellent dispositions for it is acknowledged by all that such sinnes have more guilt in them then bodily sinnes though not such infamy and disgrace amongst men Luther calleth them the sublimia peccat the sublime and high sins such the Devil was guilty of and they were the cause of his final overthrow and damnation If then the most godly have used all means to mortifie sinne within them it is plain they found a combate and that if sinne were let alone it would quickly get the upper hand Secondly That there is a conflict of sinne appeareth in those duties enjoyned to all the godly that they watch and pray that they put on the whole armour of Christ Yea the Disciples are commanded to take heed of drunkenness and surfetting and the cares of this world Luke 21. 34. and generally Paul's Epistles are full of admonitions and exhortations to give all diligence in the wayes of holinesse especially that command is very observable 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirits perfecting holinesse in the fear of God Here you see both flesh and spirit that is the rational and sensitive part have filthiness and that those who are truly godly are to be continually cleansing away this filthiness and to perfect what is out of order What godly man is there that can say This command doth not belong to me I am above it I need it not No lesse considerable is that command of Peter 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the soul Not as if this were wholly parallel with my Text as Carthusian is said to bring it in thereby proving that by flesh is meant the body and by spirit the soul but onely it sheweth that no godly man in this life is freed from a militant condition and that with his own flesh his own self which maketh the combate to be the more dangerous For this cause David though a man after Gods own heart though Gods servant in a special consideration yet prayeth Psal 19. 13. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins which expression denoteth that even a godly man hath lust within him that would carry him out like an untamed horse to presumptuous sins did not the Lord keep him back But we need not bring more reasons to confirm that which experience doth so sadly testifie SECT III. A Consideration of that part of the seventh Chapter to the Romans which treats of the Conflict within a man Shewing against Amyraldus and others that it must be a regenerate person onely of whom those things are spoken ¶ 1. THe next Proposition that may give light to the weighty truth about the spiritual conflict that is in the most regenerate persons is this That besides the
in this matter Annotat in cap. 5. of the Romans for in his paraphrase on the 12 Verse he makes death and mortality to come upon all men by Adam's disobedience because all that were born after were sinners that is born after the likeness and image of Adam And again on Verse 14 death came on the world because all men are Adam 's posterity and begotten after the image and similitude of a sinful parent By this we see the cause of death is put upon that image and likeness we are now born in to our sinful parent which is nothing els but our original corruption Let not this consideration of our sinful soules and mortal bodies pass away before it hath wrought some affectionate influence upon our soules Cogita temcrtuum brevi moriturum Every pain every â—ch is a memento to esse hominem That is an effectual expression of Job cap. 17. 14. I said to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and sister You see your alliance and kindred though never so great it is your brother-worm your sister-worm Job giveth the wormes this title because his body was shortly to be consumed by them and thereby a most intimate conjunction with them would follow Post Genesim sequitur Exodui was an elegant allusion of one of the Ancients yea the life that we do live is so full of miseries that Solomon accounteth it better not to have been born and the Heathen said Quem Deus amat moritur juvenis which should humble us under the cause of this sinne SECT VI. Q. Whether Death may not be attributed to mans constitution considered in his meer naturalls I Proceed to the second and last Question which is May not death be attributed to mans constitution considered in his meer naturals Is there not a middle state to be conceived between a state of grace and sinne viz. a state of pure naturals by which death would have come upon mankind though there had been no sinne at all This indeed is the sigment of some Popish Writers who make Adam upon his transgression to be deprived of his supernaturals and so cast into his naturals although generally with the Papists this state of pure naturals is but in the imagination only they dispute of such things as possible but de facto they say man was created in holiness and after his fall he was plunged into original sinne Now the Socinians they do peremptorily dispute for this condition of meer naturals de facto that Adam was created a meer man without either sinne or holiness but in a middle neutral way being capable of either as his free will should determine him This state of meer nature is likewise a very pleasing Doctrine to the late Writer so oftern mentioned it helpeth him in many difficulties Death passed upon all men that is the generality of mankind all that lived in their sinne The others that died before died in their nature not in their sinne neither Adam's nor their own save only that Adam brought it upon them or rather lest it to them himself being disrobed of all that which could hinder it Thus he Answer to a Letter pag. 49. This is consonant to those who say as Bellarmine and others that man fallen and man standing differ as a cloathed and and naked man Adam was cloathed with grace and other supernatural endowments but when sinning he was divested of all these and so left naked in his meer natural Thus they hold this state of meer naturals to be a state of negation not privation God taking from man not that which was a connatural perfection to him but what was meerly gratuitous The late Writer useth this comperison of Moses his face shining and then afterwards the withdrawing of this lustre Now as Moses his face had the natural perfection of a face though the glorious superadditaments were removed thus it is with man though fallen he hath his meer naturals still and so is not in a death of sinne or necessity of transgressing the Law of God but though without the aid of supernaturals he cannot obtain the kingome of heaven yet by these pure naturals he is free in his birth from any sinful pollution saith the known Adversary to this truth Thus he that calleth original sinne a meer non ens he layeth the foundation of his Discourse upon a meer non entity Now if you ask what cometh to man by these meer naturals he will answer death Yea that which is remarkable is the long Catalogue of many sad imperfections containing three or four Pages that is brought in by him Vnum Necessar cap. 6. Sect. 7. a great part whereof he saith is our natural impotency and the other brought in by our own folly As for that which is our natural impotency man being thereby in body and soul so imperfect it is he saith as if a man should describe the condition of a Mole or a Bat concerning whose imperfections no other cause is to be enquired of but the Will of God who giveth his gifts as he pleaseth and is unjust to no man by giving or not giving any certain proportion of good things To the same purpose he speaketh also in another place further explicat pag. 475. Adam's sinne left us in pure naturals disrobed of such aides extraordinary as Adam had But certainly there are few Readers who shall consider what is by him made to be the natural impotency of man in soul and body but must conclude he is most injurious to the goodness wisdomè and justice of God in making man of such miserable pure naturals yea that it is a position worse then Manicheisme for the Manichees seeing such evils upon mankind attributed them to some evil principle but this man layeth all upon the good and most holy God It is Gods will alone not mans inherent corruption that exposeth him to so many unspeakable imperfections It is well observed by Jansenius who hath one Book only de statu purae nature opposing the Jesuites and old Schoolmen in their sigment upon a state of meer naturals that this opinion was brought into the Church of God out of Aristotle and that it is the principles of his Philosophy which have thus obscured the true Doctrine of original sinne I shall breifly lay down some Arguments against any such supposed condition of meer nature from whence they say we have ignorance in the mind rebellion against the Spirit and also death it self but without sinne And Arg. 1. The first is grounded upon a rule in reason That every subject capable of two immediate contraries must necessarily have one or the other A man must either be sick or well either alive or dead there is no middle estate between them thus it is with man he must either be holy or sinful he must either be in a state of grace or a state of iniquity The Scripture giveth not the least hint of any such pure naturals Indeed a man may in