notorious and most ungodly enemies of the Church because the seed and root of these is in all so we may appropriate this feared conscience to every man naturally whereby a man commits gross and foul sinnes and yet finds not one prick or stab at his heart for it What made David when he had numbered the people to have his heart smite him presently but because his conscience was sanctified and made tender by God whereas thou canst a thousand times fall into the same gross-sinnes and thy conscience giveth thee not one lash for it Is not this because thy conscience is stupified so that it hath made thee in all thy sinnes as Lot was when made drunk by his daughters He knew not in the morning what he had done Thus with the same stupidity and sottishness dost thou act sinne it cometh from thee as excrements from a dying person and thou hast no apprehension of them as in sleep the stomack doth digest that meat which if waking would so molest it that there would be no ease till exonerated Thus while conscience is asleep those things are committed which if it were tender it would with fear and trembling fly from O men bitterly to be lamented and mourned over Conscience which is set as a schoolemaster to direct and reproove thee is become a flatterer or rather lieth stark dead within thee that the Devil and sinne in all the lusts thereof may hurry thee whether they please and conscience doth not contradict so that you may as well offer light to the blind speech to the deaf wisedome to the bruit beast as publish the great truths and commands of God to them while conscience is thus stupified within them Therefore in conversion the first work of grace is to make this tender and sensible even of the least sinne SECT III. The Blindness and Stupidity of Conscience discovered in the several Offices and actings of it THirdly Because this pollution of the conscience is expressed in the general viz. blindness and stupidity Let us examine how this sinfullness is seen in the several offices and actings of conscience for which God hath placed it in the soul And 1. One main work of conscience is to apply what we read in the Scripture as generally spoken conscience is to apply it in particular When it readeth the threatnings and cursings of the law to such sinnes as thou art guilty of then conscience is to say This belongeth to me This curse This burden is my curse it 's my burden Because David did not let his conscience do its duty in application David could condemne sinne in general His wrath is kindled against such sinners as himself in the general Nathan was forced to be in stead of conscience to him saying Thou art the man Thus conscience if not polluted when it heareth any woe denounced against such and such sinnes then that stands up and saith Thou art the man hence God giveth the commands by particular application Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal that conscience may say This Commandment belongs to me As natural bodies they act by a corporal contact so the Scripture worketh upon the soul by a spiritual contact and that is the application of conscience Insomuch that if we do a thousand times read over the Scriptures if we hear Sermons upon Sermons all our life if conscience doth not apply all becomes ineffectual And this may answer that Question How it cometh to pass that a man can commit those sinnes which he knoweth to be sinnes which his conscience tells him are sinnes Who are there so much stupified and besotted by sinne that do not in the general know that the waies they live in are wicked that they provoke God that they ought not to do so How then is it possible that they should close with those sinnes that they know to be so seeing the will cannot will evil as it is evil Now the Answer is This ariseth from the defect of conscience she doth not particularly make such a powerfull application pro hic nunc as it ought to do There is therefore a general knowledge an habitual knowledge of such things to be sinnes yea it may be a particular apprehension that they are now sinning and offending God but this is onely a speculative apprehension it 's not a practical one produced by conscience in thee Oh therefore that all our Auditors were delivered from this original pollution of conscience for therefore we preach in vain and you hear in vain because no application is made to your own hearts None brings the truth the command the threatning to his own soul saying This is my portion none so guilty as I am in this particular and thus as she said to the Prophet Thou hast brought my sinnes to my mind or as the woman of Samaria concerning Christ He had told her of all that she had done Thus faith the applying conscience This Sermon brings my sinnes to my mind This Sermon tels me of the wickednesse at such a time committed by me It was the Prophets complaint of his hearers None said What have I done They did not make a particular application Therefore till the grace of God quicken the conscience making thee to cry out What shall I do I have sinned Gods Word hath found me out It is me the Law condemneth It is me that the curses belong to as if I were mentioned and named as if I had heard a voice from Heaven saying Thou Thomas Thou John here is thy sin here is thy doom Till I say this be done all thy knowledge in the general all the Texts of Scripture in thy memory they have no influence at all Secondly Herein is the corruption of the conscience naturally seen That though it doth apply yet it is in so weak and cold a manner that it hath lost its activity and predominancy over the affections and the will of a man insomuch that though conscience do speak do rebuke do apply yet a man careth not for it The affections and the will are not kept in awe by it Thus although conscience in many doth not so much as stirre it is stark dead yet in many it doth sometimes apply bringing home the Word of God to the heart so that he cannot but confesse if he doth thus and thus he sinneth but then conscience is too weak affections and passions like Amnon to Tamar are too strong and consuperate her whether she will or no Is not this the dreadfull condition of many who frequent our Congregations whose consciences condemn them daily Thou art such a sinner thy wayes are damnable but they slight and despise these applications of conscience as rude Scholars the authority of their Master what care they for the Monitor in their breast Like Balaam they will press forward to their wickedness though conscience stand like an Angel with a sword in his hand to stop in the way Rom. 1. 18. The Apostle speaketh excellently to this
God and therefore they cry out to have such usages still and all because custome hath prevailed over them These and such like things may appear like conscience in a man so that our conscience must be greatly polluted when the very subject it self is not known when we cannot discern whether it be conscience or corruption that doth instigate thee when we cannot Sentire illam quae facit nos sentire Conscience that maketh us perceive other things that it self is difficulty perceived for that it is not conscience but some other corrupt principle that moveth a man will easily appear in that it is mutable and changeable according to outward advantages that which was thy conscience one moneth is not the next because there are outward changes When Shechem would be circumcised it was not for conscience but for Dinah's sake whom he loved When Jeroboam erected an Altar it was not for conscience sake but carnal policy So that the mutability of thy soul turning as advantages do this argueth it 's not conscience but some other corrupt principle in thee as when they cried Hosannah to Christ and afterwards Crucifie him SECT VI. The Pollution of Conscience discovered in many more particulars ALthough much hath been said to the discovering of every mans polluted conscience by nature yet because conscience is such an Abyssus a deep Sea wherein are creeping things innumerable many depravations and defilements our work shall be still to make a further searching and diving into it Whereas therefore the last particular mentioned of the natural pollution of conscience was in regard of the multiformity of it and divers resemblances of conscience which yet were not conscience indeed this bringeth in another particular defilement of some affinity with it And that is First Suppose that it be not lust or humour but conscience indeed that putteth thee upon duties and those commanded yet how hardly are they done for conscience sake It 's not any lust but conscience maketh many men pray hear and perform such duties yet it is not conscience that is the motive it is some other sinister and unlawfull reason that insinuateth it self so that the same duties may be done out of conscience to God by some and from corrupt sinfull motives by others The Apostle Rom. 13. 5. pressing obedience to Magistrates because it might be thought that Christian liberty freed them from any such yoke he urgeth it Not onely for fear but for conscience sake So that if it had been onely fear to lose their estates to lose their lives and not out of conscience to Gods Ordinance though they did obey yet it was sinfull and ungodly in them because of their motive thereunto This also the Apostle Peter speaketh of 1 Pet. 2. 19. whence he instanceth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A conscience of God or as we render it A conscience towards God as 1 Pet. 3. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not to be understood subjectively as if God had a conscience for although God have infinite knowledge and in that sense may be said to be conscious with our hearts of all the evil we have done yea knoweth more sin by us then we do by our selves yet we cannot attribute conscience to God because the notion of that is to denote the sense and aw of some superior who beareth witnes of our evil actions and is able to condemn for them conscience therfore is in Angels because they have a superior they are not to be a rule to themselvs and Christ also had an holy undefiled conscience which yet because of our sins was greatly afflicted with the sense of Gods wrath but God having no Superiour therefore he hath indeed infinite knowledge but not conscience Hence when the Apostle cals it conscience of God that is objectively a conscience which doth respect the will and authority of God that doth not look to men to their applause and praise but unto God So that herein will appear an universal pollution naturally upon the consciences of all men that the good things they do the evil things they abstain from is not from meer conscience to God but because of humane and earthly considerations How many come to our Congregations How many frequent Ordinances Is it because of conscience to God they have a reverential fear of him they dare not displease him No but only the Laws of the Land or some outward constraint maketh them do so it 's not pure conscience Thus also there are many devoted sonnes of Belial to all prophanenesse that would with all their hearts runne into all excesse of rioting into drunkennesse and uncleannesse but they dare not they are kept off as a dog from the bone with a whip All their desire is towards it but the penalty and justice which the Civil Magistrate will inflict upon him this maketh him forbear it 's farre from any conscience towards God that doth restrain them Oh then bewail the corruption of man in this kind never in any duties carried out for conscience sake never abstaining from sin for conscience sake but because of punishment and the judgment of others Therefore in private though God seeth thee as well as if it were at the Market-crosse they can runne into all leudnesse Oh if it were conscience to God thou wouldst â—ake heed of heart-sinnes as well as of bodily thou wouldst be afraid to sinne in secret as well as in publique because God is every where and knoweth all things and thou hast a conscience towards him And no wonder if conscience be thus predominantly polluted in natural men for even in the godly themselves how often do they find proud vain self-seeking thoughts insinuate into them So that it 's not only out of conscience to God they do their best duties Do not some vain-glorious thoughts like so many thieves secretly creep into the heart and are ready to rob thee of thy treasure It is true indeed to the gracious heart these are a burden and therefore with Abraham they drive away these flies from the Sacrifice yet they come again They do Repellendo tenere and tenendo repellere as Tertullian in another case they beat them back and yet they hold them also they strive with them and yet imbrace them Thus many a sinfull motion and vain thought is like Bernard's unclean suggestion which he found Blande onerosa displicendo placens and Placendo displicens kindly troublesom and coming in with a displeasing pleasure Insomuch that the godly themselves find the weight of original corruption upon their consciences in this respect even till their last hour They do not they cannot find their consciences so purely and sincerely drawn out to God in the duties they perform as they do desire Paul indeed 2 Cor. 1. 12. saith Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdome we had our conversation in the world And again 2 Cor. 2. 17. As of God
and affections are seated The will then is in a man his rational appetite following the proposition and manifestation of the understanding For if a man did know what was good or what is evil and no appetite to imbrace the one or avoid the other he would be no better than a stone or a statue for all his reason We see then why God hath placed such a power in the soul as the will is It is that the good which the understanding manifesteth may be imbraced and entertained and the evil it doth discover may be shunned Whether this will be distinct really from the soul it self and from the understanding is a Philosophical Dispute and will not tend to your edification Secondly Though it be the appetite in a man yet it is a rational appetite it is subjected in the rational soul There is a three-fold appetite 1. Natural which is in the motion of inanimate things as in the stone to descend downwards this is called an appetite though properly it is not so because it doth not follow knowledge but is consequent upon the forme immediately 2. There is the sensitive appetite which moveth upon the knowledge of sense and this is both in beasts and also in men yea naturally we live and desire even all the motions of the soul are according to sense and so in this respect man is become like the bruit beast But of this afterwards 3. There is the rational appetite and that is called the will and this is in man onely a beast hath not properly any will no more then he hath understanding so that the will of a man is a noble and high faculty in him appointed to follow reason and to be regulated by it in all things and therefore Austin saith Voluntas tantum est in bonis The will is only in good things If a man love evil or desire evil this is not voluntas saith he but cupiditas It doth not deserve the name of the will but of lust but common speech is otherwise there is a bad will a corrupted will as well as a good will only when we say the will is a rational appetite that must not be understood formaliter but participativè as they say that is the will doth not know doth not reason but is directed thereby therefore it is called coeca potentia a blind power and if you say it is blind How then can it see the good proposed I answer it followeth the good proposed not because it knoweth it but because of its essential subordination to the understanding Hence it is that to have a good will it is so requisite to have a sound mind Ignorant and blind minds are alwayes accompanied with corrupt and polluted wils There cannot be a sanctified will where there is not an enlightened mind This should make the ignorant and stupid to tremble in their estate they live in This should make you prize knowledge above gold and pearls as also to wait upon the Ministery with diligence seeing that by knowledge the will cometh to be made holy Fourthly we are the more to inform our selves about its depravation by how much the more noble and excellent it is It is hotly disputed between the two factions of Thomists and Scotists which is the more excellent faculty the understanding or the will The Thomists are for the understanding the Scotists for the will but these two cannot absolutely and in every respect be commended before each other only in respect of power and efficacy the will is more eminent for the understanding it self in respect of its exercise is subject to the dominion of the will and the will also is properly the original and fountain of all good or evil in a man for though the understanding hath actual sinfulnesse and the affections yet this is because of the will either directly or indirectly so that to an actual deliberate sinne there is required some kind of voluntarinesse either expresly or interpretatively either in se or in causâ Original sinne you heard was voluntary in some sense although we need not judge of that by Aristotle's rules who was ignorant of any such thing Therefore Julian the Pelagian triumphed in his Aristotelical Philosophy against original sinne despising his Ecclesiastical Judges as not knowing Aristotle's Categories as if saith Austin he desired a Synod of Peripateticks rather than Judges in the Church but though original sinne with the indeliberate motions thereof have not the actual personal will of a man yet all other sinnes have so that the pollution of the will is in effect the pollution of the whole man Hence In the fifth place There is this difference between the understanding and the wil in relation to its objects The understanding doth receive the species of the object to it self not the objects themselves and therefore when we know or understand evil as an object this doth not defile the understanding but is a perfection of it Thus Godknoweth all the evil committed in the world yet his knowledge is not polluted thereby Scire malum non est malum but the will that goeth out to the objects as they are in themselves and thereby loving of them is what the object is Thus if we will sinne it is sinne and not if we know sin because the will goeth out to a sinfull object as it is in it self so that above all keepings we are to keep the will for what that is placed upon it presently becomes like it If thou lovest the world or earth thou art earth thou art of the world Hence all the while sinne is kept out from the will though it be in thy mind though it be by suggestion to thee yet because there is no consent it is not thy sinne but thy misery I speak not of the motus principatus which are antecedent to our will but of suggestions only offered from without but when the will yeeldeth when that consencs it becometh thy evil immediately as poison while it is in the remote parts of the body may not kill but when it striketh to the heart then it is mortall Thus sinne in temptation sinne in suggestion doth not destroy till the will receive it so great a matter is it to look to this power of the soul For In the sixth place Because of this rule and dominion the will hath therefore it is called the universall appetite of the whole man We see all the other powers of the soul have their peculiar and proper inclination The eye to see the ear to hear the understand to know but the will is to will the good for the whole person therefore it is not limited to one good object more then another but bonum in communi the good in general is the object of it so that the will is the universall appetite and inclination of the whole man now if this great wheel that moveth all be irregular and out of order what good can be expected in the less wheeles if the foundation
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
under his power though there were no actual sinnes committed by us then let us not matter the speculations of Philosophers nor the Political sentences of Civil Magistrates for by these nothing is accounted culpable but what is voluntary by our own personal will Hence Austin explained that assertion of his when dealing against the Manichees Vsque adeò peccatum est voluntarium c. Voluntariness is so necessary to the being of a sinne that it cannot be any sinne if this be wanting in this saith he all Laws all Nations all Governours c. do agree The Pelagians commended this of Austin and improved it against him but in his explication of himself he calleth it Politica sententia This is true according to the political Laws of Governours and withall agreeth to actual sins But the truth about original sinne meerly by revelation we need not then regard what Aristotle and other Philosophers say in this matter who as they knew nothing of the creation of Adam so neither of his fall and this caution is necessary to every one that would not be deceived in this point Secondly Although in one particular respect this sinne may not be so hainous as others yet in many other respects it doth farre exceed and they are abundantly compensative for that one consideration It is true This sin hath nothing of our own personal voluntariness yea if a man should now consent to this birth-defilement and even rejoyce because he was born thus estranged from God this subsequent will would not make original sin to be a voluntary sin unto him for this is an actual sinne committed a new by the personal will of a sinner But though this be granted yet there are many other respect which do exceedingly aggravate it even those we have mentioned before Hence a learned Schoolman Dela Rua contra Theolog. cont 2. speaking of the comparisons made by Aquinas and others of original sinne with venial ones excuseth them saying They must not be understood in that respect as original sinne is a mortal one for so it doth infinitely exceed any venial one but in that respect as original sinne is not contracted by our own proper action but by Adam in whose will our wils were contained What then though in one particular this sinne may not be so hainous as others yet look upon the many other respects wherein it doth exceed all other hainous sinnes and then you will be compelled to acknowledge the weightinesse thereof Thirdly The chiefest and highest aggravation of a sinne is from the contrariety of it to the Law of God for seeing the Apostle doth define sinne 1 John 3. 4. to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The transgression of the Law then the more irregularity there is in sinne the greater is that sinne Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is either habitual or actual and if habitual sins are greater then actual because of the greater dissonancy to Gods Law then must original be more then habitual and so greater then all sins if then we compare original sinne with the Law we shall find it contrary to it in the highest manner that can be For Gods Law doth not require only actual obedience but such obedience flowing from a pure and holy heart and holiness in the heart is more answerable to the Law then holiness in actions Thus on the contrary sinne in the habitual inclination of a man is more opposite to Gods holy Law then the expression of it in several actings If then the Apostle define a sinne by the contrariety of it to Gods Law not by knowledge or voluntariness then where there is the greatest obliquity and declension from this rule though there be not so much voluntariness there is the greater evil So that this respect may silence all those cavils and disputes which are usually brought in to diminish the guilt of this sinne still have recourse to the Law of God and there thou wilt find that whereas actual sins are respectively against respective commands this is against every Law It is against the whole Law and therefore hath as much evil in it in some sense as the Law hath good So that the Use is To exhort every one who would have his heart deeply affected in this point who would be humbled greatly because his sinne is great to take off his thoughts from all those Philosophical or humane arguments which are apt to lessen it Because a Magistrate will not put a man to death unless where he is guilty by some voluntary personal act of his own do not thou therefore think it cruel and unjust with God if he condemn for that sinne wherein though we have not own proper will ingredient yet by imputation it is voluntary But of this more when we are to justifie God in these proceedings against cavilling Sophisters SECT III. That every one by Nature hath his peculiar proper Original Sinne. THe second Doctrine offereth it self in the next place to be considered of which is That every one by nature hath his peculiar proper original sinne which doth betimes vent it self into actual evil For the Text speaketh universally there is not any to be exempted It is made a Question in the Schools Whether there be many or one original sinne onely Aquinas bringeth two Arguments for more original sinnes than one The one is from the Text according to the Vulgar Translation Psal 51. 5. where it is rendred In sinnes did my mother conceive me in the Plural number And then the second from Reason because there being many actual sinnes it cannot seem rational that one original sinne should incline to them all seeing many times these sinnes flow from contrary principle How may it be thought this one sinne should carry a man out concupiscentially to so many contrary lusts Therefore that this truth may be fully demonstrated let us consider these Propositions First That such who deny any original inherent corruption and make Adam 's actual sinne to be ours onely by imputation as Pighius and Catharinus they will say That there is but one original sinne which is by imputation made every mans Even as by the light of one Sunne every man seeth or as some Philosophers say there is one common Intelleotus agens by which all men are inabled to understand So that by this opinion every man hath not his peculiar inherent defilement but that one actual transgression by imputation is made the one common sinne of mankind Now although this is to be granted That Adam's actual sinne is made ours which Chamier and some French Protestants following him do dangerously deny yet the Texts heretofore brought in this point do evidently convince That every one hath his peculiar native defilement that he is born in So that original sinne though it may be called one in specie and proportione yet when we come to every particular man he hath his numerical and individual original sinne in him Although therefore there be as many original sinnes
know lust to be sinne that is not so clearly so fully so experimentally as now he did since the grace of God had both enlightned and sanctified him How many have with great orthodoxy maintained this Truth against Pelagians and all the enemies of Gods grace shrouding themselves under the praise of nature but it is rare to see those that do not onely theoretically believe it but practically walk with broken and contrite hearts under it Examine then thy self Doest thou believe this is Gods Truth that thou camest into the world all over polluted Doest thou think that thou as well as any other though never so civil and unblameable in respect of actual sinnes art by nature a child of the Devil prepared fuel for the eternal flames of Hell And doest thou not onely believe this to be thy particular case but withall thou art so affected with an holy fear and trembling thou hast no quietnesse or rest in thy soul because of it then thou art come to a true and right knowledge of it For the end of our preaching on this Subject is not onely to establish your minds in this Truth against all errours therein but also to mollifie and soften your hearts that you may all your life time loath your self and advance the fulnesse of Christ And seeing that natural light is dimme and confused in this matter keep close to the Word and not only so but implore the Spirit of God that in and through the Word this Truth may enter like a two-edged sword into thy bowels knowing that without this foundation laid there cannot be any esteem of Christ CHAP. XXI That Reason when once enlightned by the Scripture may be very powerfull to convince us of this Natural Pollution SECT I. A Clear and full knowledge of original sinne can be obtained onely by Scripture light Although as you heard some Heathens have had a confused apprehension about it My work at this time shall be to shew That even Reason where once enlightned by the Scripture may be very powerfull to convince us of this natural pollution So that when Scripture Reason and Experience shall come in to confirm this Truth we may then say there needeth no further disquisition in this point And First This may abundantly convince us That the hearts of men are naturally evil Because of the overflowing of all wickednesse in all ages over the whole world How could such weeds such bryers and thorns grow up every where were not the soil bad It 's true in some ages some kind of sinnes have abounded more than others and so in some places But there was never any generation wherein impiety did not cover the earth as the waters do the Sea Insomuch that if we should with zeal undertake to reprove them according to their desert Non tam irascendum quà m insaniendum est as Seneca of the vices of his time Erasmus in his Epistle to Othusius complaineth That since Christ's time there was not a more wicked age then that he lived in Christ saith he crieth I have overcome the world but the world seemeth as if it would say shortly I have overcome Christ because of the wickedness abounding and that among those who profess themselves the salt and light of the world Now how were it possible that the whole world should thus lie in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19 as the Apostle affirmeth but that all mankind by nature is like so many Serpents and Toads of which there is none without poison If this wickedness did abound only in some places we might blame the Clymate the Countrey or their Education but it is in all places under the Equator as well as the Tropick in all ages former times as well as later have been all groaning under ungodliness and whereas you might say The world is in its old age now and the continual habituated customary wayes of wickedness have made us drink the dregs of impiety yet the Scripture telleth us That not long after the Creation of the world when we might judge greater innocency and freedom from sinne to have been every where yet then all flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6. 12. which provoked God to bring that wonderfull and extraordinary judgement of drowning it with water as if it were become like a noisom dunghill that was to be cleansed And lest you should think this was only because of their actual impieties we see God himself charging it upon this because the imaginations of a mans heart were only evil and that from his youth up So that there is no man who considers the wayes and manners of all the inhabitants of the world but must conclude had there not been poisonous fountains within there had never been such poisoned streams The warres the rapines the uncleannesses and all the horrid transgressions that have filled the earth as the vermine did Aegypt do plainly declare That all men have hearts full of evil And lest you might think this deluge of impiety is only in the Heathenish Paganish and bruitish part of the world The Psalmist complaineth of that people who were the Church of God and enjoyed the light of the Word That there was none righteous that there was none that did good no not one Psal 14. 3. So that as graves and dead mens bones the Sepulchres and monuments every where do fully manifest men are mortal no lesse do the actual impieries that fill all Cities Towns and Villages discover that all are by nature prone to that which is sinfull SECT II. SEcondly This original sinne may be proved by reason yea and experience thus If you consider all the miseries troubles and vexations man is subject unto and at last death it self and that not only men grown up who have actual sinnes but even new born Infants will not this plainly inform us That all mankind hath sinned and is cast out of the favour of God How can it enter into any mans heart to think that God the wise Creator so full of goodness to man that he made him little lower than Angels should yet make him more miserable than all creatures It was Theophrastus his complaint when he lay a dying That man had such a short time of life prefixed him who yet could have been serviceable and by long age and experience found out many observable usefull things when Crows and Harts and other creatures of no consideration have a long life vouchsafed to them Yea all the Heathens even the most learned of them complained much concerning this Theme of mans misery being never able to satisfie themselves in the cause of it But now by the Scripture we see it 's no wonder the race of mankind is thus adjudged to all misery seeing it 's all guilty of sinne before God so that if there had been no actual sinnes committed by the sonnes of men yet the ground would have been cursed to bring forth bryers and thorns man would have been miserable and mortal So that this doth
Memory is polluted in respect of its inward vitiosity adhering to it SEcondly As the memory is thus defiled about its proper objects so there is much inward vitiosity adhering to it And this we may take notice of as a main one The dullness sluggishness and stupidity of it especially as to heavenly things who can give any other reason why good things holy things should not be remembered as well as evil and sinfull things but only the native pollution of the memory And from hence it is that there is such a lethargy as it were upon the memory for if Peter 2 Pet 3. 1 writing to those who were sanctified and that had pure minds yet he thought it meet to stirre them up a metaphor as you heard from men asleep who need to be awakened how much more doth the memory of a natural man need stirring and exciting There is then a wonderfull stupidity and sleepiness as it were upon the memory it is even rusty as it were and unfit for any use men do not exercise and put their memories upon practice little do they know what they could remember if they did mind it and exercise themselves to remember what is good Thou complainest of a bad memory of a slippery memory No it is thy laziness it 's thy bad heart it 's thy want of diligence Thy memory would be as good and as active for holy things as it is for earthly things if you did put it in practice more but the memory being naturally dull and stupid thou lettest it alone thou never improvest it never awakenest it and so through thy forgetfullness thou comest eternally to perish This lethargy upon thy memory though a sad disease yet might be cured if thou wert real and industrious about it much praying and much practising of it in holy things would make it as expedite and as ready about good things as ever it was in any evil things In the third place The memory is naturally unsanctified in this particular that wherein it can or doth remember there it produceth not suteable operations nor doth it obtain its end The end of remembring what is good is to love it to practise it and to imitate it The end of remembring evil is to loath it bitterly to repent of it and to fly from it Now herein our memory is grosly polluted that it never obtaineth this blessed and holy end whereas if our memories were never so admirable as that of Symonides or Appelonius Thyaneus when he was about an hundred yeares old yet if our memory be not effectual and operative to make us more holy and heavenly this is a sinfull and defiled memory And for this reason it is that wicked men are said to forget God because though they do remember him yet they do not performe those duties to which their memory should be subservient For as the end of knowledge is action so the end of memory also is to be doing and as it is said If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them so when ye remember these things it 's a blessed thing to put them in practise But how often do we see by experience that where the memory is naturally very good there morally it is very bad and sinfull Do you not meet with many that can remember the Scripture remember Sermons yet never remember the practice of them whereas God hath given us memory for the same end he hath given us a knowledge which is to direct and help us in our operations That as in beasts they have a sensitive memory in them to preserve their natural being The Oxe remembreth his Masters crib the bird remembreth her seasons and all this for natural preservation The Bee remembereth the place of her hive The Ant her nest though some Philosophers because of the great siceity of the constitution of those creatures attribute it to a natural instinct rather then memory so this should be much more true in men therefore doth God bestow on us an intellectual memory that thereby he might spiritually preserve himself making use of that which is advantagious to his soul and avoiding all that which is destructive As then we are not to know only that we may know or to know thereby making ostentation that others may take notice of it so neither are we to remember that we may remember only or to brag of our memory that others may wonder to see what a strong and retentive memory we have but that thereby we may be more promoted and advanced in heavenly things Let all such tremble under this consideration who have very quick and sure memories about the Scripture and the Sermons they hear yet are very ungodly in their lives and walk in a contrary way to all that they do remember This argueth thy memory is not a sanctified memory that it carrieth not on the work of grace in thee for which end only it ought to be imployed It is observed that two sorts of men need a good memory First The lyar Oportet mendacem esse memorem now every professing Christian living wickedly is a lyar for with words he acknowledgeth him butin workes he denieth him insomuch that thou who lyest thus to God shouldst remember thy professions and obligations the second sort is of greatest accomptants such who have great summes to cast up and to be accountable for these also had need of great memories and such is every man Oh the vast and numberless particulars of which he is one day to give an account to God! Oh what a proficient in holiness might thou have been if all the good things thou remembrest were in a practical manner improved if thou couldst give a good account to God of thy memory for that you are to do as well as of the improvement of other parts of the soul As God at the day of judgement will have an account of every talent he hath given thee of thy understanding of thy will how these have been employed so likewise of thy memory What is that good that holiness thy memory hath put thee upon and this also you who are young ones and servants living in godly Families are diligently to attend to for you think this is enough if you can remember a Sermon or Catechistical heads so as to give an account to your Governors if you can satisfie them you think this is enough but thou art greatly deceived for therefore art thou to remember that thou maist do accordingly Thou art never to forget this or that truth that so it may be ready at hand to direct thee in all thy wayes and this is indeed a divine act of memory There are those who teach the art of memory and give rules to perfect a man therein but divine and holy operation is the end of the Christian art of our memory Fourthly The pollution of our memory is seen In that it is made subservient to the corrupt frame and inclination of our hearts We
Images those glorious Altars and many other superstitious wayes of worship but because the fancy was pleased herein what is pleasing to the senses is also carried with delight to the Imagination Insomuch that those Heathens Numa and others who would have no Images to adore their gods by thinking it unbeâ—eeming their greatness were carried by reason and did not give way to the Imagination and this is a very necessary truth for all such who are so difficulty taken off from their Idolatries and Superstitions for what is it but thy fancy thou wouldst have satisfied thou doest not look upon Ordinances and the worship of God as spiritual means to quicken thy faith and to make thee more spiritual but as that whereby thou wouldst have thy Imagination take some corporeal refreshment and satisfaction Even Aristotle saw the vanity of this and therefore would not have any musical delights in the worship of their Heathenish gods And Aquinas following him herein is against musical instruments in the service of God what God appointed in the Old Testament cannot be brought as an argument for any such custome in the New Secondly Towards man here the imagination is as full of evil as the sea of water Prov. 6. 16. One of the seaven things that are there said to be an abomination unto the Lord An heart that deviseth wicked abominations How crafty and subtle is the abomination of man to devise wicked and malicious purposes This is the forge of all those malicious bloody and crafty designes that ever have been acted in the world Read over prophane and sacred Histories and there you will admire what subtle foxes men have been sometimes what cruel lyons they have been at other times all which doth arise from this sinful imagination which is prone to find out all manner of wayes to vent the wickedness that is bound up in the heart so that we need not exclaim on the Devil as if he put this into their hearts for though no doubt sometimes he doth as in Judas yet the heart of it self is ready for any evil SECT XII It continually invents new Sinnes or occasions of Sinnes ALthough much hath been said concerning the original pollution of mans imagination yet still more is to be discovered so that there is a very 〈◊〉 resemblance between mans imagination and those chambers of imagery which Ezekiel beheld in a Vision upon the walls thereof were pourtrayed the forme of creeping things and abominable beasts and all the Idols of the house of Israei Ezek. 8. 9 12. Thu is every mans imagination a table as it were whereon are pictured all the formes and shapes of all kind of evil It may well be called the chamber of mans imagery where are images of jealousy daily created such formes received that do provoke God to wrath and jealously Let us therefore proceed Tenthly In this we have an open field wherein mans imagination doth act numberless evils because of its invention it is continually inventing new sinnes or occasions of sinnes As if the old sinnes and trespasses which had filled the world were not enough What new wayes of impiety are invented new fancies in evil wayes For although invention be indeed principally an act of the understanding yet because as you heard the understanding in its operations hath recourse to the imagination and that is subservient and under-agent to it therefore we may attribute the same things to both especailly the things of invention because a mans imagination hath a peculiar influence therein Now in this respect if there were no other the sinnes of the imagination will encrease like the sands upon the sea-shore It were possible to shew by going over every particular Commandment that the imagination of man doth constantly invent new sinnes against them the Apostacy of man from his first rectitude is emphatically described by the Scripture in this as the general and summe of all that he sought out many inventions Eccles 7. 29. where the wise man having declared that amongst men and women though less amongst women one not so much as good in an ethical and moral sense could be found for in a spiritual sence there is not one man amongst a thousand no not in all mankind that is good but the speaketh of external and moral enquiring then after the cause why such an universal corruption should overflow all mankind insomuch that there is not one amongst a thousand that deserveth the name of a man not such an one as the primitive righteousness did require but not so much as reason judging rightly by ethical Rules would commend he doth clear God from being the Author of this And because this truth is of such great consequence he useth a word of attention Lo Ecce Consider it diligently And secondly he telleth you how he came to the knowledge of it I have found it viz. in the Word of God where you see this Doctrine concerning original corruption is not to be investigated by humane reason as it is discovered by divine revelation I have found it after much and diligent study Oh that those corrupt teachers who deny this original pravity could with Solomon say They have at last after much study found out this truth also Now the Doctrine found out is That God made man right full of righteousness and holiness not onely negatively without sinne but positively full of righteousness but they that is Adam and Eve which are called the man Adam in the words preceding Sought out not being contented with that measure of knowledge and happiness God created them in affecting to be like God Many inventions that is found out many wayes of sinning when they once forsook the strait Rule they diverted and wandered into many crooked paths The Hebrew word Chishbonoth is very emphatical it is used but once more in the Old Testament and that is 2 Chron. 26. 15. where it is said Vzziah used engines invented by cunning men to shoot arrows and great stones withall So that by this word is denoted that subtilty and great artifice which is in mans Imagination to invent any evil way sinnes that never were acted before are found out Every age almost hath new sinnes and whence is this but from the subtilty of mans Imagination to find out new wayes of sinning Hence Rom. 1. 30. one character in the Catalogue of those sinnes attributed to the Heathens is to be Inventers of evil things And certainly here the Imagination of man is very prone that whereas to learn Trades or the Arts there they must have teachers and much time must be allowed them to learn In the invention of evil things there men are taught of their own corrupt hearts to do so We might instance in divers things wherein the sinfull Imagination of man is discovered about inventing of evil new sinnes new oaths new blasphemies new wayes of cheating and dishonesty especially in those new wayes for nourishing pride and wantonness Which is the ridiculous absurd and uncivil
even as Rebeckah when her twinnes did strive in the womb this was an extraordinary prognostick caused in a supernatural way by God And although Calvin on the place saith That it is natural to the fruit of the womb to leap or move when the mother is moved with joy yet he acknowledgeth that Luke doth here note some extraordinary thing and that this leaping was by the secret motion of the Spirit of God which doth detect the horrible impudence and slander of Maldonate who is not ashamed to say That Calvin doth own nothing besides what is natural in this for which in derision he calleth him pius autor we see by this how little we may trust such men We must then conclude even the babe at that time was affected with joy upon the Virgin Mary's coming to his mother and this supposeth that the child also was filled with the Holy Ghost yea v. 15. it is expresly said of John That he should be filled with the holy Ghost from the womb But if this be granted then it is greatly controverted Whether the babe did this with sense and knowledge that Christ was present or whether it was by the motion of the Spirit of God in the child that knowing nothing at all There are probable arguments on both sides The Lutherans they do greedily imbrace that opinion that maketh the child while in the womb to have actual faith and knowledge of Christ and from thence they do peremptorily conclude That Infants have actual sinnes and that they may have actual faith and other graces but this is against experience and if we do grant that John had such actual knowledge of Christ yet this was extraordinary and miraculous and must no more be attributed to all children then speaking to all Asses because Balaam's once did Many Authors conclude that John did rejoyce with some sense and apprehension and for this reason he is said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and joy must arise from some knowledge and apprehension neither say they will it follow from hence that he did not loose this actual knowledge afterwards but had it alwayes while an Infant for we see the Prophets though men grown up yet had not the spirit of prophecy at all times But come we to our business Let it be granted that John had actual faith that he was filled with the Holy Ghost that doth not hinder but that by nature he was a child of wrath and full of sinne for this grace is bestowed upon him when by nature sinfull and doth no more argue he had no sinne in him before then persons grown up have not when the Holy Ghost was poured on them And although it be said He was filled with the Holy Ghost that doth not imply that all sinne was wholly taken out of him no more then the Apostles and all others were quite purged from sinne when they are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost Besides the Scripture as Calvin considereth well doth not say John was filled with the Holy Ghost in the womb but from his mothers womb which he thus expounds That John the Baptist did betimes even from his Infancy manifest what an excellent Prophet he was like to be because the Spirit of God did even then give many Demonstrations thereof and thus though not so extraordinarily God sometimes doth give to some his sanctifying Spirit even from the cradle almost they begin betimes to put forth many excellent signs of that grace which will flourish more in their elder yeares Timothy from a child is said to have the knowledg of the Scriptures from a Child 2 Tim. 3. 15. And some have the fear of God planted so early in their hearts that they cannot know any remarkable time of their conversion yea they cannot remember but that alwayes they had such a tenderness about sinne and love to good things yet we must not think for all this they were not born in sinne we must not say of them as was said of Bonaventure for his hopefullness in his youth In hoc homine non peccavit Adam No these have by nature the same seed of all impiety and their younger yeares would have demonstrated this poison as well as it doth in others but the grace of God doth prevent Oh let such Obadiah's that can say They feared God from the youth admire the goodness of God to them he might have suffered that original sinne in thee to make thee wallow in such mire and filthy lusts as other young persons do Oh take heed of thinking thou hast a better nature then they that thou hast not so much original sinne in thee as others but walk humbly lest God sometime or other leave thee to let thee see what is in thy heart that all the sparkes of original sinne are not put out and then though to thy great grief thou be convinced there is a such a thing in thee SECT III. IT is the peculiar and incommunicable prerogative of Christ alone in respect of his humane nature to be exempted from original sinne as you have heard And therefore it 's an inseparable and inevitable property following every one of mankind As it is said of Justification by Christ Bond and free Jew and Grecian all are out Gal. 3. 28. So there is neither rich or poor Christian or Heathen Noble or ignoble civil or prophane male or female but all are one in original sinne because all are of Adam by natural generation and thereby original sin is propagated to all which Doctrine is to be explicated in more propositions And First Though our natural generation from corrupted Parents be the means by which we all are born polluted and depraved yet this doth not exclude the justice of God and his righteous Decree that from a sinfull fountain shall arise such polluted streams from such a bitter root also bitter fruit but doth necessarily presuppose it So that the just judgement of God in punishing of all mankind for Adam's first transgression must alwayes be acknowledged and we must not separate the natural propagation of sinne from the sentence and Decree of God For if this were the only reason that we became guilty of Adam's sinne because in his lions then all Adam's other sinnes should be made ours as well as that first act of disobedience in eating of the foridden fruit and the sinnes of our immediate parents in whose loines we were should be transmitted to us as well as Adam's yea happily if this were so then the longer original sinne hath been propagated it would still grow more evil and thereby men in the later age of the world become more polluted with original sinne then men in the former age but Cain and Abel who were the immediate off-spring of Adam were as deeply plunged in this native defilement as any are now Therefore some learned men though in this Controversie they do allow the phrase of the Propagation of original sinne because commonly used yet would gladly have