this we answer we must distinguish of the Major The Parents indeed convey not to their posterity that which by nature they have not But they are freed from the guilt of sinne not by nature but by grace and benefit of Christ wherefore Parents derive unto their posterity not righteousness which is freely imputed but unrighteousness unto which themselves by nature are subject And the cause why they derive their guilt unto them and not their righteousness is this Because their posterity is not born of them according to grace but according to nature Neither is grace and justification tyed to carnal propagation but to the most free election of God as Rom. 9. Esau and Jacob. Again the death of Infants prove they have sinne because God being most just inflicts not this punishment but for sin stipendium peccati mors Death went over all men for as much as all men have sinned Although Infants doe neither good nor evill nor offend not after the similitude of Adams transgression yet they have sinne in them for which death reigneth over them They want not the faculty of will though in act they will not sin yet they will it by inclination and corrupt inclinations are sinnes Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust to be sinne unlesse the Law had said thou shalt not lust And thus saith Ireneus and Chrysostome Adams sinne was no personal offence in uno universi Adam stood at the root of all mankinde His sinne was his hand writing by which he made all his posterity debtors unto God even for that sinne though themselves should have sinned no more Secondly They say concupiscence without consenting to it is no sinne and to maintain this error they bring Thomas Aquinas who saith the first motion of the lust of Adultery is not sinne because it is an imperfect act but if consent be given to it then it is a perfect act and is sinne So Coster in his little Enchiridion affirmeth that concupiscence proceeds from sin and tendeth unto sinne but is not sinne and this he labours to expresse by this similitude He that heares saith he another man speaking filthy language and consents not to it but rather is angry at it and reproves it sinneth not but merits a greater reward Even so when our concupiscence sends out any sinfull motion if we consent not we sinne not And the Fathers of that Councell of Trent which have as many Curses as Canons have decreed in this manner Concupiscence which sometimes the Apostle called sin the holy Synod declares that the Catholique Church did never understand it to be called sinne as it is truly and properly sinne in the Regenerate But because it commeth from sinne and inclineth to sinne But for answer We say that the Apostle in 7. Rom. towards the latter end condemneth concupiscence for sinne even when consent is not given unto it For he protests of himself that he resisted these motions of sin but was oftentimes sore against his will captivated by them He condemnes them as evill albeit he gave no consent unto them For the Law doth not only condemn sinne in the branch but also in the root There shall not be in thee any evil thought against the Lord thy God Resp I will lay you down a reason to confirm this truth Consent in its own nature is a thing indifferent If that whereunto I consent be good my consent is good but if it be evill my consent is evill If the first motion of sinne be not an evill in it self as they say then it is not an evill thing to consent unto For that which is not evill in it self by my consenting cannot become evill It is not then the consent following that makes the preceding motion to be evill but it is the preceding evill motion that makes the subsequent consent evill Now as for Coster his similitude it makes plainly against himself For it is true indeed that he who heareth evill spoken and reproves it is worthy of praise But it is also true that he who spake the evill hath sinned Even so albeit we doe well when we consent not to the motions of concupiscence in us Yet concupiscence is not the lesse to be condemned because it hath sent out into the eare of our Soul the voyce of a filthy deslre which is not agreeable to Gods most holy Law And of this Judgement with us are also the ancient Fathers Aug. Ser. de temp 45. When I lust saith he albeit I consont not to my lust yet that is done in me which I will not and which also the Law will not And again thy desire should in such sort be unto God that there should not be in thee at all so much as concupiscence which hath need of resistance for thou resistest and by not consenting thou overcomest but it were better not to have an enemy than to overcome him With him agrees also Bernard That kinde of sinne saith he which so often troubles us I mean Concupiscence and evill desires may and should be repressed by the Grace of God so that it reigns not in us and that we give not our Members weapons of unrighteousnesse to sin and that way there is no damnation to them who are in Christ yet it is not cast out but in death From all which it is evident that the motions of Concupiscence are evill and sinfull even when they are repressed and no consent given unto them The Pelagians denyed Concupiscence to be sinne but the Law saith the contrary Thou shalt not covet and Rous. 7.7 Paul saith I know no sinne but by the Law c. The Pelagians were condemned in many Councells summoned and gathered together for confutation of Pelagius and Celestius their heresies about the year 420. and sometime after as in the Milevitan Councell the fifth Councell of Carthage and the Councell of Palestina in the East I shall lay you down one or two of their main Objections Ob. Naturall things are not sin Concupiscence which is a propension to those things which are forbidden by the Law is a naturall thing therefore it is no sinne Sol. There is a fallacy in the Accident in the Minor for inordinate Concupiscence was not before the fall but happened unto our nature after the fall So then it is naturall not of it self but by Accident to wit in as much as since the fall it is born and bred with us As it is naturall that is an evill accident inseparably cleaving to a nature good in it self Secondly there are severall termes in the Syllogisme by reason of the ambiguitie of the word naturall for in the Major it signifieth a good thing created of God in nature to wit mans Appetite before the fall which was not contrary to the Law and Will of God In the Minor it signifieth a thing which we have not by Creation but which we have purchased unto us after the fall Rep. But say they An affection or appetite even in nature now corrupted
Man through the perswasion of the Devil transgressed and hence is our corruption and misery derived Thirdly the first sin of man sprang not from God but from the instigation of the Devill and from the free will of man For the Devill provoked Man to fall away from God Man yeelding to the enticeing allurements of the Devil freely revolted from God and wilfully forsook him Fourthly the effects of mans first sin are first guiltinesse of death and privation of Gods image in our first Parents Secondly originall sin in us their posterity that is to say the guilt of eternall death and the corruption and aversnesse of our whole nature from God Thirdly actuall sinnes which are sprung of originall for quod est causa causae est causa causati That which is the cause of the cause is also the cause of the effact But the first finne in man is the cause of his originall and originalâ— sinne is the cause of his actuall sinne Fourthly all the evills of punishment are inflected for sinnes Therefore the first sinne of man is the cause of all other his sinnes and punishments Fifthly originall sinne is a want of originall righteousnesse which should be in us for originall righteousnesse was not only a conformity of our nature with the law of God but also it comprehendeth in it Gods acceptation and approbation of this righteousnesse Now by the fall of man instead of conformity there succeeded in mans nature deformity and corruption and guiltinesse instead of approbation And thus much briefly by way of explication what sinne in generall is The generall nature of sinne the difference or formall essence of sinne and the property which cleaveth fast unto it What the first sinne was the causes of it the effects of it and what originall sinne is Come we now to prove the position That this sinne originall sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their souls have a being in these houses of clay And thus we prove it First that the spirit by the law intitleth us to Adams sin as a derivation from the root to the branches as poyson is carried from the fountaine to the Cisterne and as the children of traytors have their blood tainted with their fathers treason and the children of bondslaves are under their parents condition John 3.5 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh c. Rom. 5.12 16 17 18 19. Wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all bad sinned and not as by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reigne in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made finners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous 1 Cor. 15. 37 48 49. The first man is of the Earth earthy c. By nature we are the children of wrath 2 Ephes 3.14 Job 4. Who can bring a cleane thing out of an unclcane 51 Psal 5. In sin was I conceived c. I called thee a transgressour from the womb Isa 48.8 G. p. 8. 21. The imaginations of a mans heart are evill from his youth We were all one in Adam In uno universi and with him saith S. Augustine In him legally in regard of the stipulation and covenant between God and him We were in him paries in that covenant had interest in the mercy and were liable to the curse which belonged to the breach of the covenant and in him naturally and therefore unavoidably subject to all that bondage and burthen which the humane nature contracted in his fall And herewith agree most of the Fathers Adde we hereunto these two Arguments First every thing which is borne carrieth with it the nature of that which bare it as touching the substance and the accidents proper to the speciall kind But we are all born of corrupted and guilty parents We therefore all draw by nature in our birth their corruption and guilt Secondly by the death of Christ who is the second Adam we receive a double grace justification and regeneration Therefore it followeth that out of the first Adam there issued and flowed a double evill I meane the guilt and corruption of our nature otherwise we had not stood in need of a double grace and remedy This then is the first charge of the Spirit upon us Participation with Adam in his sin Adams person being the fountaine of ours and Adams will the representative of ours Secondly In this sin there is universall corruption which hath in it two great evills First a generall defect of all righteousnesse and holinesse in which we were at first created And Secondly an inherent deordination evill disposition disease propension to all mischief antipathy and aversation from all good which the Scripture calls the flesh The wisdome of the flesh the body of sin Earthly members the law of the members the works of the devill the lusts of the devill the hell that sets the whole course of nature on fire John 3.6 Rom. 8.6.7 James 3.15 Ephes 4.22 Col. 3.5 Rom. 7.23 1 John 38. And this is an evill of the through malignity whereof no man can be more sensible and distinctly convinced as in the evidence of that conviction to cry out against it with such strange and bitter complaint then Paul himself Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Untill his understanding was opened to conceive the spiritualnesse penetration and compasse of that holy law which measureth the very bottome of every action and condemneth as well the originalls as the acts of sin Luke 24.25 Rom. 7.14 Heb. 4.12 Psal 119.96 Luke 10.27 But for more cleare satisfaction let us consider the universality of this sin First the universality of times from Adam to Moses even when the law of Creation was much defaced and they that sinned did not sin after the similitude of Adam against the cleare Revelation of Gods holy will for so I take the meaning of the Apostle in these words Rom. 5.13 14 20 21. For untill the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law Neverthelesse death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression who is the figure of him that was to come further see 20. and 21. Vntill the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law verse 13. Though the law seemed quite extinct between
So that briefly in statu confectionis Adamus acceperit posse si vellet he received a power to be if he would sed non habuit velle quod posset but he had not power given him to will that he might be Which first power having willingly cast away man now can challenge no more but what God will give for God owes no Creature any thing If he gives it is of his free grace if he withholds he doth no man wrong In the second state in man fallen born of corrupt parents and yet not regenerate Although man hath lost that first grace of liberty to be if he will yet the will doth work freely but it is carried to evil only and can doe nothing else but sinne And the reason is because the privation of the knowledge of God in the understanding ensued on the fall together with the want of inclination in the heart and will to obedience Instead where of blindnesse and aversenesse from God succeeded the which man cannot shake off unlesse he be regenerate Briefly it is the fitnesse and pronenesse in man after his fall being unregenerate to chuse only evill Of this blindnesse and corruption of mans nature after the fall it is said All the thoughts of man are evill c. Gen. 6.5 and can the Ethiopian change his skin Jer. 13.23 And a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.28 and dead in sinnet by nature the sonnes of wrath Ephes 2.1.3 and we are not able of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 With these testimonies concurreth every mans experience and the weary conscience which proclaimeth that we have no liberty or pronenesse of will to doe that which is good but too great freedome and readinesse to practise evil unlesse we be regenerate as it is said Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted c. Wherefore there is no love of God in us by nature and therefore we have by nature no readinesse to obey God From whence it comes to passe that the enmity between God and man is not in God but in man who will not now rank himself in the roome of a subject and yield to the Lord the place of a Commander There is only now this question between God and man Whose will should be done The Lord craves that man should subject his will to Gods will But man aspires to make his own will the rule of his actions and in this miserable state lives every man not renewed by grace he sets up within himself a will contrary to Gods most holy will And this is the fruit of Adams apostasy for in his Creation he had a perfect conformity to the law or will of God and had power to yield exact obedience to the same But now onely a readinesse to doe evill But no power of it selfe to doe good Thirdly in the third state Take a man as he is renewed we deny against all our adversaries that our will is a co-worker with grace by the force of nature But we say it worketh by grace with grace We deny that grace doth enable the will of it self to doe good works if it please But we say that grace worketh in the will to please and to doe such offices as God requires at our hands God doth not hang his work upon the suspended If of our will but he worketh in us to will and causeth us to doe the things that he commandeth to doe as in Ezekiel 36.27 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and doe them We will indeed saith Augustine but God worketh in us to will we work but God worketh in us to work we walk but God worketh in us to walk we keep his commandements but God worketh in us to keep them according to that in the Philippians 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure So that in this estate the cause for which the will beginneth to work well is this Because by the singular grace or benefit of the holy Spirit mans nature is renewed by the word of God there is kindled in the mind a new light and knowledge of God in the heart new affections in the will new inclinations agreeing with the law of God And the will effectually moved to doe according to these inclinations and so it recovereth both that power of willing that which God approveth and the use of that power and beginneth to be conformed and agreeable to God and to obey him Deut. 30.6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed c. and Ezekiel 36.26 a new heart will I give you c. and 16. Actâ— 14. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia and 1 Cor. 3.7 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty And yet notwithstanding we must know first in this life the renewing of our nature is not perfect neither as concerning out knowledge of God neither as concerning our inclination to obey God And therefore in the best of men while they live here doe remaine sinnes both originall and others And Secondly that the regenerate be not alwayes ruled by the holy Spirit but are sometimes forsaken of God God withdrawing himself for a season either to try them that is to make their weaknesse without God known to themselves as in Peter or to chastise or humble them but yet are recalled to Repentance that they perish not Of the first the Aposte testifieth Rom. 7.18 I know that in me that is my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but I find no means so performe that which is good And in Marke 9.24 Lord I believe help my unbeliefe Of the second it is said Take not thy holy spirit from me and Esay 63.17 It is said O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy wayes and hardened our heart from thy feare Return for thy servants sake the Tribes of thine inheritance and in the 1 Kings 8.57 The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers let him not leave us or forsake us And therefore the regenerate in this life doth alwayes goe either forward or backward neither continueth in the same state Here then are deduced these two conclusions First as man corrupted before he be regenerate cannot begin new obedience pleasing and acceptable to GOD so he that is regenerate in this life although he begin to obey God that is hath some inclination and purpose to obey according to all his commandements and that unfeigned though yet weak and strugling with evill inclinations affections and desires and therefore there shine in his life and manners a desire of piety towards God and his neighbour yet he cannot yeild whole and perfect obedience to God because neither his knowledge nor love to God is so great and sincere as the law of God requireth And therefore it
to desire good things and eschew hurtfull things is not sinne because it is a thing made of God but such is Concupiscence Sol. To the Major the Appetites and motion of nature are good in themselves as they are meerly motions not as they are inordinate motions and are carryed to such objects as God hath forbidden as all motions and appetites of corrupt nature are Because either they affect not such objects as they ought or affect them not in such sort and to that end which they ought And therefore are all vicious and very sinnes Mat. 7.18 An evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit To desire the fruit of a tree was naturall but to desire it contrary to Gods expresse commandement as it was desired of Eve was a motion in its own kinde and nature corrupt and very sinne Ob. 2 That which is not in our power to cause either to be in us or not to be in us is no sinne Concupiscence is so in us that it is not in our power to shake and put off therefore it is no sinne Sol. The Major is false for sinne is not to be esteemed by the liberty or necessity and bondage of our nature But by the Will and Law of God whatsoever disagreeth here with is no sinne whether men have power to avoyd it or no. And God requiring of us impossible things doth not injure us because he commanded them when they were possible Though we have now lost our ability of performing yet God hath not lost his right of requiring that of us which he left with us Ob. 3 Sinne maketh men obnoxious to the wrath of God but Concupiscence doth not make the regenerate obnoxious to the wrath of God for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus therefore Concupiscence at least in the regenerate is no sinne Sol. There is a fallacy of Accident in the Minor for it is but by Accident that Concupiscence doth not make the regenerate obnoxious to Gods wrath that is by reason of the Grace of God not imputing it to the faithfull But this commeth not thereof as if Concupiscence were not sinne For neither doe other sinnes condemn the regenerate not because they are no sinnes but because they are remitted by Christ Ob. 4 In Baptism originall sinne is taken away therefore Concupiscence is not sinne in those that are baptized Sol. To the Antecedent originall sinne is taken away in Baptism not simply but as touching the guilt of it But corruption and inclination to sinne remaineth in them that are baptized And this is it that the Schoolmen say the formall of sinne is taken away and the materiall remaineth Rep But they say where the formall is taken away there also the thing it self is taken away because the form of every thing is the cause of the being of it But in Baptism the formall of origall sinne is taken away therefore originall sinne in it self is taken away in Baptism Sol. Here is a fallacy taking that to be generally meant of the whole which is spoken but in part The formall of sinne is taken away not simply but as touching the guilt of it For there is double formall of sinne First a repugnancy with the Law and an inclination to sinne Secondly the guilt which is the ordaining of it to punishment the guilt is taken away but the inclination abideth Rom. 7.23 I see another Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my minde c. And this you see that although originall Concupiscence is not a free and voluntary transgression of Gods Law and so not sinne as actuall sinnes be but an inbred perversity of nature that opposeth the Law of God and makes us apt to transgresse the same it being like a fiery furnace so hot though it yeeld no flames yet it is ever ready to burn every combustible substance that lights upon it Yet it is most apparent that it is a sinne and that prohibited in the tenth Commandement This I hope may suffice in answer to these objections which have been so fully confuted in former ages that were not these men past all shame they would never goe about to revive such Heresies that we had hoped had long since been buried amongst us But so long as there is a Devill in Hell and a Pope at Rome we must never expect to be free from such disturbers of our peace Come we now to the Scriptures which they alledge and wrest to maintain their errors and against the truth of our position that sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their Souls have a being in these houses of clay The first Scripture that we may take notice that they cite may be that in the Rom. 6.6 we that are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death That the whole body of sinne might be destroyed From whence they conclude That the corruption of old Adam is quite abolished and that they are perfectly quitted from sinne and perfectly renewed by Grace Unto this I answer as in part before that the guilt of sin which the Schools term the form of sin this is taken away in baptisme Secondly the corruption of sin which they call the matter of sin and this is likewise to be considered two wayes First in respect of the dominion of sin and thus the matter of sin is taken away from the elect because sin in them is not like a Prince that ruleth over them but like a Slave that rebelleth against them Secondly in respect of the being of sinne and thus the matter of sinne is not taken away from Gods Saints because St. Paul saith The flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5.17 and as he saith of himself Rom. 7.23 And therefore seeing the Apostle saith not let not sin be in your mortal bodies but let not sinne reign If no sin did remain there were no danger of reigning And as Aug. hath well observed it is apparent that sinne and concupiscence is taken away in Baptisme Non ut non sit sed ut ne obsit not as touching the being of it that we should be without sin but as touching the rule of sin that it should not hurt us nor hinder us to attain unto everlasting happinesse And so Anselme saith in Rom. 6.6 That the body of sinne is destroyed Not that our inbred corruption should on the sudden be consumed in our flesh that liveth but that it may not be imputed to him that is dead though it was in him while he lived Because sin is destroyed not from having a being in us while we are alive but that we should not be compelled to serve it in our life and that it should not deprive us of eternall life Script 2 Rom. Rom. 6.2 cap. 7.4 1 John 3. 6.2 We are dead to sinne dead to the Law free from sinne And they that are born of God that is regenerated and sanctified doe not sin And that our old man that is all the corruption
were superfluous if there were no lusts in them that needed to be mortified Where we see cleerly that which we also feel in our selves that so long as We live in the body there is ever some remanent life of sin which we had need to mortifie and put out Our life is therefore called a warfare Bellum est non triumphus saith August And in this battell we must fight without intermission till we have gotten the victory for who can say that he hath in such sort cut away his superfluities that there remains nothing in him which hath need of reforming When they are once quenched they kindle again Whatsoever he be unlesse he dissemble he shall alwaies finde within himself something that hath need to be subdued Velis nolis infra fines tuos habitavit Jebuseus will thou nill thou the Jebusite shall dwell within thy border subjugari potest ex termina non potest he may be subdued but cannot be rooted out saith holy Ambrose it is impossble for a man to lead a Christian life without a continuall battell Again in the 17. of Jeremy 9. verse The heart of man is deceitfull above all things and evill continually who can know it which is not only spoken of a wicked mans heart But the deceiptfulnesse is attributed to all men indifferently Christ only excepted in whose mouth or heart there was no guile By nature all our hearts are alike Procreation is an naturall act though propagation be not from the instrument but from the author Adam begat a sonne in his likenesse men beget children as they are men not as they are regenerate and holy men Nature with its corruption is derived but not Grace for that is supernaturall And the change that Grace makes in this life is not such but that in some sort the hearts of the best are deceitfull Christ indeed gave Nathaniell that praise that there was no guile in his heart and David saith the like of every justified man Psalm 32.2 But this is true only of the Spirit of the new or young man that is created by God in the regenerate And not of that flesh that old man that by reason of his age is often too hard for the young man Though the young man increasing daily at length gets the victory So that thus the best expositors read this Text. The heart of man is deceitfull even the whole heart of the wicked because it is wholly flesh And part of the heart of the godly namely the unregenerate and fleshly part The heart of the wicked is deceitfull with a full strong and raigning deceitfullnesse But the deceitfulnesse that is in the heart of the godly is weaker as being discerned of them and stroven against by them The heart of the wicked shews its deceitfulnesse in the whole course of their lives The godly only in some particular actions as it is said of David his heart was upright in all things save only in the matter of Vriah the generall currant of his life was farre from deceitfulnesse though not the particular action Naturally the heart of the wicked may be upright in some particular actions as Abimilech in taking of Sarah Gen. 20.6 I know saith God thou hast done this in the uprightnesse of thy heart yet not in the main of their lives For every regenerate man is partly flesh and partly spirit whereupon ariseth that war in their hearts like the strugling of the two children in Rebeckahs wombe and that continuall wrestling between the flesh and the spirit so that their sinnes are but passing away not passed already And their newnesse of life is but renewing and not wholly renewed because they are like the ayre at the dawning of the day wherein darknesse and light are mixed together And though the regenerate may be like a cup of Wine mingled with water that is not half water and half Wine but wholly Wine and wholly water Even as a Vessell filled with equall proportion of hot and cold water is not half hot and half cold but wholly luke warm that is partly hot and partly cold in all the parts of it For the regenerate man is not half old and half new but old throughout and new throughout That is partly holy and partly unholy in all the parts and powers both of his body and soul although the denomination of a regenerate is alwaies given him in the Scriptures a parte praestantiori from his better and more noble part And therefore no Saint on earth is voyd of sinne his heart being deceitfull as I have shewed you by Gods own testimony Again the Lord who made the heart and searcheth all hearts and to whom all the imaginations of the thoughts before they are are only known as in Psal 139.2 pronounceth us all guilty of sin Gen. 6.5 And shall we not give credence to Gods assertion Again Rom. 3.3 every man is a lyer and in the 9. and the 19. verrse the Apostle testifieth that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin and according to the Psalmist there is none righteous no not one And remarkable is that the 59. Esay to this purpose and in the Revel 3.20 and Gal. 2.16 by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified And in the 1 Kings 8.46 there is no man that sinneth not Again for Job 9.2 in the 20. verse of the 8. chap. Bildad applying Gods just dealings to Job saith that God will not cast away a perfect man the which Job affirmeth and acknowledgeth in the 2. of the 9. chap. I know saith he it is of a truth but how should man be just with God mark in 30. and 31. vers If I wash my self with snow water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and my own cloths shall make me to be abhorred So Psalm 130.3 If thou Lord shouldest mark what is amisse who might stand c and in 143. Psal 2. enter not into Judgement with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified that is by his own righteousnesse which is but as filthy rags Esay 64.6 No man living saving He whom God hath made to be sinne for us who know no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God by him 2 Cor. 5.21 Mark he doth not say actively that we should make or work our own righteousnesse but positively that we should be made the righteousnesse of God and that not by by our selves least we should glory in our selves but by another even Jesus Christ the righteous blessed for evermore Again Job 14.4 who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one and in Pro. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne Rom. 8 7. Pro. 24.16 Eccles 9.3 If my friends could produce but one such man and prove it I would yeeld the Buckler No Caietan one of their own fraternity saith that damnatum est peccatum non extinctum sinne is
of Adam is destroyed and passed away and all things are become new Quia Christianus renevatus est per omnia because a regenerate man is renewed in all things throughout in every part and power both of body and soul and therefore the Regenerate are quite free from all corruption of sinne and indued with all perfection of grace Resp I answer that it is not the meaning of the Holy Ghost in those or the like places to shew that sin is quite abolished and grace perfected in the Saints no otherwise then I shewed unto you before Inchoative non perfective by way of inchoation not perfection But the spirit of God by these formes or phrases would give us to understand two special things First To assure us that now sin is like a serpent crushed in the head according as God said Gen. 3.15 That the promised seed should bruise the Serpents head and therefore can never recover his former strength nor any wayes hurt the regenerate man but only to bruise his heel that is by the wrigling of her tail to cause some temporary affliction to light upon them Secondly to signifie unto us that this should be the main scope of all Saints to strive continually to mortifie the deeds of the flesh and to doe their best endeavors to be clean rid of them and for to perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 And this is plainly intimated unto us in all the exhortations of the Scriptures as where we are advised to abstain from filthy lusts and mortifie the deeds of the flesh and the like For if there were no lusts no deeds of the flesh in us to what end are we bidden to mortifie them Script 3 1 John 3.9 quoted before He that is born of God sinneth not therefore say they the regenerate sin not Answ First He sinneth not to death For they doe not wholy forsake God albeit they may sin against their Consciences but they retein still some beginnings of true godlinesse by which as by sparks they are stirred again to repentance as David Peter and others Secondly He sinneth not as he is regenerated but he sinneth as long as he abideth in this life sin not reigning in him and yet sometimes reigning too as he is regenerated but in part and in part carnall For regeneration or renewing us to the Image of God is not perfected in an instant but is begun only in this life as I have formerly shewed you and in the life to come is at length finished for so doth John himself pronounce of himself and all the Saints in this life 1 John 1. If we say c. And if we acknowledge our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forigve us our sinnes this therefore is the meaning of St. John that the regenerate indeed doe sinne but yet not so as that they make much of their sinne Or doe so at any time yeeld and assent to evill desires that they cast away all love of godlinesse and repent not For alwayes in the regenerate there remaineth some remnant of a regenerate nature Which causeth either a strife against sinne or else true repentance that is it suffereth them not to sinne to everlasting destruction Or thus more briefly He that is born of God makes not a trade of sinning he lives not in his sinne he lies not in his sinne he delights not in his sinne he sinnes not with purpose with pleasure with malice with perseverance sinne raigneth not but as the Apostle saith the evill that I doe I would not doe c. Object It is said His seed remaineth in him neither can he sinne because he is born of God Sol. The Spirit of God remaineth in him so that he cannot sinne a sinne unto death he cannot come under the power of sinne Script 4 1 Pet. 1.23 Bring born a new not of mortall seed but of immortall by the word of God who liveth for ever If therefore say they the seed of Gods word never dieth in them that are born a new they ever remain regenerate and ever retain Grace neither ever fall into sinne Answ I answer first that the regenerate may loose and doe often loose Grace and the holy Spirit as concerning some guifts sometimes more somtimes fewer although they loose it not if we respect all the guifts For still there abideth in them some beginning or print of true Faith and conversion which although when they yeeld to evill inclinations or desires it is so oppressed and darkened that it neither can be known of others neither confirm them of the Grace of God and their own Salvation for the present yet it suffereth them not wholly to forsake God and the known Truth and to cast away their purpose of embracing by Faith the Merits of the Sonne of God So David prayeth Psal 51.10 11. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me and restore me to the joy of thy Salvation He had lost therefore cleanness of Heart rightness and newness of Spirit and the joy of Salvation which he beggeth of God to be restored unto him and yet he did not wholly want them for otherwise he would not have asked neither would he have looked for from God this renueing and restoring Secondly The Seed of God that is the Word of God working true Faith and Conversion in the Elect abideth and dyeth not in the regenerate as concerning their coversion and finall perseverance how ever they may fall often grievously and foully before their end If they had been of us they would have continued with us saith the Apostle 1 John 2.19 Script 5 A good tree cannot bring forth evill fruit Answ I answer it cannot as it is good which shall so come to passe in the life to come But if it be partly good and partly evill such is the fruit also whereof we have sufficient tryall and experience in this life Script 6 Eph. 5.25 26 27. This shews us how Christ in this life by the Word Sacrament and the operation of Grace doth cleanse us that in the state of glory we may be perfectly holy without spot or wrinkle and that the words are to be understood of the state of glory I shall prove by these ensuing Reasons Reas 1 First Reason Because here we are absent from Christ and know but in part and so although we love inchoatively yet we love not perfectly Reas 2 Second Reason Because otherwise there would be no distinction between the state of Glory and the state of Grace if Grace were consummate in this mortall life Reas 3 Third Reason Because the Saints on Earth have sinne remaining in them and they that deny it are lyars and no truth in them And we shall finde that all the Fathers against the Novatians and Donatists so understand the place The Church Triumphant without spot or wrinkle and not the Church Militant Script 7 2 Tim. 4.7 Paul had fought a good fight and finished his course And