that he that runs may read a full satisfaction in it Use 3d. Reprove such as think it folly to be troubled with the sins of litle ones with their lying and swearing cursing and the like not considering that the very Originall sin of the Infant the sin of his nature before it doth thus break forth makes him odious to God and deserveth damnation much more wil these same cursed fruits do it See an example in this 2 King 2.23 where those forty that mocked the Prophet were devoured by Bears where youth was no excuse for the hainousnesse of their offence but were severely punished by the hand of God Vse 4. Let this then humble us in considering the sharp and severe judgments that oft light upon little ones yea and take them to heart and to be much affected with them as with most evident demonstrations of Gods wrath against sin even against the sin of our nature Our Saviour sighed Mark 7.34 to behold the judgement of God upon the deaf man as a sign of Gods anger upon him for sin how much more doth it become us to do so in this case The Lord in his judgements upon us that are of years may have other ends and respects but in those upon Infants he can have no other but onely to make known upon them his wrath against sin Oh that we could seriously in this case thus expostulate with our own souls If God be so angry with the sin of the infant alas what measure of wrath is due to me that besides the sin of my nature wherewith I am every whit as much defiled as it can be have so many actuall sins to answer for and have sinned in a far more odious manner then this infant hath done If this be done to the greene tree saith our Saviour Luk. 23.31 What shall be done to the drie surely this is enough if well considered to melt the hardest heart into tears throughly to bewaile the Originall corruption especially when they consider the next point following namely Doct. 2d That the sin which we are from our very infancie stained withall is conveyed by our Parents unto us T is Leprosie began in Adam and you ran over all successions of mankind Hence the Prophet acknowledgeth I was conceived in sin not meaning any particular sin of his Parents in the act of generation for he was begotten and born in lawful marriage but his hereditary sin whererof he was guilty in his mothers womb For though many causes may be assigned of actuall sins committed by men or women as either of themselves James 1.14 the world 1 John 2.16 or the devil Eph. 2.2 yet of original sin that is in Infants no other cause can be assigned no root no fountain but this that they received it from their parents Hence is that of Aug. per duos homines transisse peccatum Both saith Ambrose parentes ut generis sic et erroris This is agreable to the law of nature Partus sequitur ventrem If a free man get a child by a bond-woman the child shal be bond by the mother not free by the Father As sin entered into Paradise so it entered into the world for it is the same sin in us that was in them in them actually in us originally and the same sin must have the same beginning but it came into Paradise by them both therefore so into the world And therefore Gen. 5.3 it is said that Adam after his fall begat a son in his likenesse after his image sinful and corrupt as himselfe was and the Evangelist making an opposition between the causes from whence corruption and grace cometh saith John 1.13 The one cometh from bleod and from the wil of the flesh and from the wil of man but the other commeth from God alone Hence there was never any that had parents a Father to beget him and a Mother to conceive him that was free from this original sin and corruption of nature no not such as had the godliest Parents that ever lived as the the children of Noah Abraham Isaac David did stand in need of circumcision Gen. 21.4 which signifies the cutting away of the filthy fore-skin of their hearts this original corruption as the Prophet expounds it Jer. 4.4 wherefore Job 14.4 when he would give a reason why man every man young and old is not only subject to so many troubles in this life but also so filthy and sinful alledgeth no more but this Man that is born of a woman he is born of a woman and therefore must needs be so So again Iob 15.14 and 25.4 and though the Mother only be named by Iob and David yet is this corruption derived to the child not from the Mother only but from the father as much as from the mother The sin came by two and the Apostle saies it entered by one for they two made but one Two shal be one flesh By one it entered yet both sinned R. 1. Because all parents have been poysoned with sin wherâ—by their natures being infected doth convey this poyson unto their children As the brood of Vipers Toads and Spiders must needs resemble them and have poyson in them Hence is that of our Saviour Mat. 7.18 a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit for if the tree be not found the fruit will prove tainted and therefore saith Iob Iob 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one This reason our Saviour gieth why all that is in man by nature is flesh that is corrupt and sinfull because he that is born of the flesh that is of corrupt parents Iohn 3.6 is flesh that is sinful which is Job's meaning when he saith who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean that is no man can beget a child that is clean from sin himselfe being unclean For such as the fountain is such is the stream such as the ground is such is the corn such as the fuel is such is the fire such as the mine is such is the metal such as the parents are so are their children Obj. If the root be holy the branches are holy therefore the children of the Saints are holy and have not this sin conveyed to them by their parents Ans Parents beget children as men not as they are holy men Sanctus generat non regenerat filius carnis by generation they derive unto them their nature they cannot derive grace which is above nature we give them that which our earthy parents give us not what our Heavenly Father infuseth into us There is a wide difference betwixt infusion and propagation neither doth holinesse in this place signifie a freedome from sin or integritie or uprightnesse of nature Sanctitas est duplex fidei faederis sancti sunt non virtute nativitatis secundum carnem sed virtute Testamenti gratiae et promissionis dei Bulling but the prerogative and priviledge of Abrahams posteritie whereby God covenanting with him had appointed alwaies to
MANS INBRED MALADY OR The Doctrine of Original Sin maintained As also the necessity of Infants Baptism By GEORGE BURCHES B. D. late Rector of Wood-Church in Cheshire Eph. 4.14 Henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lie in wait to deceive Arausian Concil 2. c. 2. Si quis soli Adae praevaricationem suam non ejus propagini asserit nocuisse c. anathema London Printed by W. Wilson and are to be sold by Thomas Johnson at the Golden Key in Saint Paul's Church-yard 1655. TO HIS HIGHNES OLIVER Lord Protector of England Scotland and Ireland G. B. wisheth Eternall Honor and Happinesse MY LORD IT is observable in the Catalogue of antient worthies that such were accounted most eminent that arriving at the highest pitch of Honor did prove most humble Hence that famous Emperor Theodosius esteemed it a greater Honor to be called membrum Ecclesiae then to bee stiled Caput Imperij The servant of the Church then the Soveraign of an Empire Humility is that Grace that Eternizes the fame of all Gods worthies Hence Joshuah David and others are renowned for ever as most Eminent in fighting the Battels of the Great God whose undertakings were Crown'd with the greatest successe for the advancement of the Cause of God With no lesse Honor and successe hath it pleased the Almighty to own your Highnesses proceedings by many signall deliverances in Crowning your Highnesse endeavours with so many renowned Victories Upon whose Gracious temper I have presumed to present my weak endeavours which containes that subject which King David himselfe thought necessary to be searcht into And being the practise of so Holy a man as David I hope may prove acceptable to your Highnesse into whose Clemencie and goodnesse I cast my selfe and all at your mercifull Interpretation which if I were not in some measure assured of the place where these labours had their Birth should have been the place of their Buriall neither should they have gone any further then those walls wherein they were Enclosed and so have breathed forth their last where they had their first Being Presuming therefore on your Highnesse who is not onely the Patron but Protector of the Truth I shelter my poor labours under the wings of your Protection desiring a favourable construction and rest The least and unworthiest of yours and the Churches servants G. BURCHES To the Reader IT is not the thirst of Vain glory that makes me run the hazzard of the worlds censure neither am I fearfull of those venemous reproaches which either malice or ignorance can lay unto my charge in expressing my labours to the publick view Quiquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis I very well know Sermons and Trastates have their Dooms partly according to the capacities partly according to the affections of the Readers and Hearers Hence though some applauded Christ and said he was a good man others derided him and said he deceived the people It s no strange thing in this latter Age of the world to hear and see the most bitter invectives of malicious tongues spit out to blemish the most innocent persons Ne cibus ipse juvat morsu fundatus aceti Mar. Epigr. The breath of Hatred turne the most wholesome food into poyson and where the Bees the Saints of God gather Honey the most hurtfull creatures malicious persons conveigh all into poyson and become banefull too These like Lamia that Witch in the Fable whom Plutarch mentions put on their eyes when they go abroad are Eagle-sighted in condemning their brethren but lay them aside when they come home Sentiant dicant quid velint dum mea me conscientia non accusat coram Deo Aug. blind in perceiving their own faults For my own part I passe not the Worlds censure so long as I keep the peace of a good Conscience neither will I censure any that unjustly lies at my repuâ—e but rather will endeavour to requite their malice with forgivenesse who one day may be made sensible of their own folly And therefore all that I wâ—ll say unto the Reader shall be this If thou provest judicious and learned I respect and love thee If Criticall and but simple I slight thee If malicious and hateful I pitty thee If pious and charitable I prize and honor thee If Factious and Heretical I have here prescribed a remedie to cure the Crotchets and whimsies of thy brain and so farewell Errata PAge 11. l. 19. r. excellent p. 22. l. 14. dele a. p. 25. l. 7. r. any one man p. 30. l. 10. r. whole race p. 37 l. 23. r. that Adam p. 56. l. 4. r. that is and dele p. 76. l. 3. r. given p. 85. l. 7. r. their for the. p. 81. l. 20. for and r. which p. 82. l. 8. r. omit p. 98. l. 14. r. Be not like hills the higher the barrenner but like unto Diamonds the bigger the better The Doctrine of Originall sinne maintained Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceive me THis Psalm conteines a relation of the Royall Prophets recovery out of those foul and damnable sinns of Murther and Adultery And it is an exact description of Mans misery and Gods mercy shewing that as the one abounds the other superabounds both exemplified in and upon the person of David evidently manifesting and declaring that as sin had abounded by him so the Grace of God unto him and the power of Grace within him had abounded much more And it may be divided into six parts and reduced into six principall heads which may be called the degrees of true Conversion and Regeneration 1. The first means of Conversion is the Grace of God reproving the sinner for his iniquity and recalling him to repentance by the Ministry of the Prophets the Preachers of his word contained in the Title of the Psalm To him that excelleth 2. The power of Faith signified by the Prophets submission thereunto in the first and second verses Have mercy upon my O Lord and teaching us that when we are reproved and convicted of sin by the preaching of the Law not to wax furious and discontent through impatience or despair but in meeknesse and humility to seeke unto the Phycsiian and humbly to present our selves at the feet of Gods mercy 3. The Prophets ingenuous acknowledgement of the heinousnesse and hatefulnesse of his sin ver 3 4. For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me 4. Contrition which is a curious search and enquiry that he made into the ground and nature of his sin ver 5. 5. Hence the Prophet proceeds to the procuring of the remedy or the Application of the medicine which is the blood of Christ ver 7. Purge me with Hysop and I shall be cleansed c. 6. The perfection of Regeneration which by some is called
thing or object The object of righteousnesse being the Law it doth follow that the object of sin is the Law also but what Law Both the Law of nature which God had prescribed unto every thing in nature to be observed by them as being unto God most honorable and to themselves most proper and behoofefull Those rules and limitations those orders and prescriptions which the wisdome of God had proposed and imprinted upon all creatures either of the preservation of their being or the destruction of their sexes or the propagation of their kinds or the moderation of their power and manner of working or the manifestation of his own Almighty power wisdome and glory the same are termed Lawes So He made a Law for the rain said Job Job 2.8 And he gave a decree unto the Sea that the waves should not passe his commandment And by this Law it is that heavie bodies move downwards but light bodies ascend upward that the motion of the Heavens are circular and that every thing observes that manner of motion and working which is peculiar and proper unto his kind Now creatures having their several degrees of perfection and Law being as it were the several rules and spurrs thereof it will follow The persecter any creature is the more general and of larger excellency are those Laws by which the same is guided So we see that Minerals are of a perfecter constitution and being then simple bodies as Air or Water or Earth or Plants are perfecter then Stones and Beasts are more perfect then Plants and that Man is more perfect then all So that every one of these in their severall kinds have more or lesse notion motion belonging unto them and accordingly are subject to more or lesse Laws Now men being as it were a compendium or Epitome or abbreviature of all the creatures of God and participating of all the perfections hath so many actions and operations proper unto him as makes him subject to all the lawes not only to the part of natures law that concerns only his reasonable Soul and will and is therefore called the morall Law but likewise unto all the subordinate parts that may any waies concern his inferior parts and faculties so that not only the Soul the understanding but the senses and humors yea the very whole proportion and constitution of the body and every particular therein had their severall prescriptions and motions peculiar unto themselves which both for ability and power and end and all other circumstances they ought to have observed exactly and could not transgresse without sin So that first hearing of the subject of sin namely the law of nature That Law which Almighty God had prescribed universally unto all things in nature to be observed let us proceed unto the farther search thereof And therefore in the second place we say that the form of righteousnesse is the observation of this Law and hence we insert tanquam formale peccati that the transgression of the law is as it were the form of sin For so 1 John 3.8 defineth that sin is the transgression of the Law that it is an aberration and excursion out of the bonds and prescripts of Gods Law 1. John 3.4 3ly The materiall causes of Righteousnesse were the actions and operations faculties and parts of man and therefore we must propose them also tanquam materiale peccati as the matter and subject of sin For look how the parts and faculties both of Soul and body were ordered and framed and beautified and exercised in Righteousnesse So likewise the same parts and faculties both of Soul and body are confused distempered deformed and perverted by iniquity and sin For the efficient cause of righteousnesse being liberum arbitrium hominis the free will of man it must needs follow that the efficient cause of sin must needs be the same or else could not be said to be our sin for that which makes a work to be our work is because it proceeds from our own will for sin in the formes and abstracted nature thereof namely as it is the transgression of the Law may be and is in beasts and other creatures yet cannot be said to be the sin of the creature because it proceeds not from will in the creature for the creature is subject to vanity saith the Apostle Rom. 8.20 Neither is it sufficient to make a work ours unlesse it proceed freely from us without any necessity compelling us unto for then the act would be attributed as much yea principally to the necessity and we should be but as instruments thereof That therefore is the efficient of sin unto man which doth appropriate sin unto man and that doth appropriate sin unto him which is the principal facultie by which he worketh namely Liberum Arbitrium his free will Lastly the finall cause or effect of righteousnesse was joy and peace and comfort and contentation and perfection and all the happinesse which the soul and body of man was capable of So è contrario for rectum est Index sui obliqui we most still measure that which is crooked by that which is streight the final cause and effect of sin is sorrow affliction crosses and destruction and all the miseries in this life and in the life to come For as malum culpae was the privation of bonum morale so malum poenae is the privation of bonum delectabile As sin was the privation of righteousnesse so effect of sin is the privation of happinesse which is the fruit of righteousnesse For all the miseries and pains that hath or shal ever befal man are no positive thing but a meer privation of that goodnesse which was created in him As for example If sharp needles shall be thrust under the nails it is nothing but the violent disorder and disturbance of the frame of nature in those parts If our hands or feet should be dipt in boyling lead it were but the violent distemper of heat in these members and so of other torments which are all privations Neither did the eye see nor hath ear heard nor did ever possibly enter into the heart of man the joyes that are prepared for the righteous All things in the world are too low to expresse them So on the contrary it will follow that neither eye nor ear or heart hath either seen or can imagine those pains that are prepared for sinners all things in this world are too short to resemble them For as the choice and pretious stones mentioned Rev. 2. are there used to represent the new Jerusalem and the beauty and joyes thereof which are far more excellent and of an higher and transcendent qualitie So under reformation of better judgment I suppose that the fire which the spirit of God in the Scripture makes choice of to expresse the torments of Hel is not material fire but being the most violent and consuming element is used only as the fittest thing to represent those unconceivable pains For I conceive those
torments to be much more then any fire can inflict for the pains afflictions and crosses of this life are not to be spoken of in respect of those endless and infinite â—orrowes in the life to come That we suffer here is but a miserable passage to that we shal feel hereâ—fter and rather to be counted blessings then crosses being forcible means which God useth to humble us and as bridles to check our unruly and headstrong lusts yea as wormwood to wean our appetites from the desire of the worlds vanities For howsoever many doe account themselves happy that live in ease and abundance here on earth yet most certain it is that there can be no greater a curse or crosse befal any man in this life then to prosper in the course of sin and iniquity But to return from whence we digressed The miseries of sin shall be farre greater then any thing in this world can resemble when as by the power and just Iudgment of God there shal be such exact and exquisite distemper and pains inflicted upon every part and parcell of man that if all the most forcible torments that ever were invented by the most cruel Tyrants that ever lived were put together they were as nothing in respect of those infinite pains and tortures which man shal everlastingly suffer in hell where the humors shal be both inflamed benumed with unsufferable heat cold where the senses are infected with most loathsome and abominable stenches and savours their eyes terrified with gastly and fearfull spectacles when the affections shal find no refreshing but endlesse grief and afflictions when every joynt shall be disordered and racked in extensum as possibly it can bear when the glandules the muscles and all the fleshie parts shal frie in scorching heat where the entrals and bowels shall perpetually gnaw with continuall griping yea when these shall be filled with everlasting anguish and horror by being banished for ever from the presence of almighty God and the communion of his blessed Saints and Angels and instead thereof astonished with the deceitfull and hideous noise and wailing of wretched souls never to see hope for ease or end of such unspeakable miseries And lastly when those carnifices those damned executioners of Gods judgments the Divels being cast down from the glorious presence of God's Almightie Majesty and suffering the infinite and unsupportable burthen of his justly deserved wrath and anger shal execute their unspeakable malice and furious vengeance upon the miserable bodies and distressed Soules of reprobate and condemned sinners Nay to conclude if all their griefs and diseases all the anguish of mind whereunto the body and soul of men are subject and which all the men from the beginning of the world unto this day have suffered were in the extremity upon any other man and that the soules and bodies by the Almighty power of God were so fastned together and so perpetually conjoyned that there could be no dissolution yet all this must the sinner eternally endure besides infinitely more sorrowes and pains all unspeakable all unconceivable Hence from the causes we define the sin that it is A determinate and wilful transgression of Gods Law depriving all the parts and faculties both of Soule and body of all kind of goodnesse of all kind of righteousnesse in it self of all manner of happinesse which had been the effect and consequent thereof So that having pointed out the disease and considered what it is it remaines in the last place to search out the Original ground whence it springs and proceeds intimated in these words shaping and conceiving Behold I was shapen c. Peccato Originali saith Aug. nihil ad praedicandum notius nihil ad intelligendum secretius There 's nothing more commonly preached and yet nothing more obscurely to be understood then Original sin And iniquitie is a mysterie saies the Scripture neither of which doth imply an impossibilitie but only a difficulty of understanding the depth and secrets thereof and therefore as the search of the knowledge thereof requires deeper speculation so doth the delivery thereof deserve more heedful and serious attention I was shapen in iniquitie I may not now stand to dispute that question which is disputed in the works of some great Divines namely whether propagation and traducing of sin be from the Father or Mother Some collecting and affirming from that Rom. 5. As by one man sin entered into the world c. that sin proceeded only and is derived from the man and if the woman could conceive and bring forth without the man the child be without sin Others again inserting that 1 Tim. 2. That the man was not deceived but the woman was and was in the transgression And also from this of the Prophet in the Text In sin hath my Mother conceived me Inferring I say that it is probable that sin is principally derived from the Mother which question may easily be decided by acknowledging it both waies True that it descends from the man and the woman for under that phrase as by one man may be well implyed both sexes and certain it is that both being Parents and both sinfull they are as well the parents of the sin as of the child But to return to our purpose I was shapen in iniquitie saies the Prophet declaring thereby the original ground and cause of this disease the manner how it became sinful wherein it may be probably objected that in as much as the principal guilt of sin depends upon the efficient cause thereof namely Liberum arbitrium hominis the freewill of man in the wilful disobedience of Gods Law which David never had but was born as all other men captives to their lusts and could not obey the Law if he had been never so willing and which never man had but one Neither was sin in that extense and high nature which the free and malitious a version of the will perpetrated and committed by any one but by that one and that by a transient act many hundred years afore how then can the Prophet be said to be guilty of sin in that kind which onely properly undequaque completly is sin or justly assumâ— the last unto himselfe To which I answer that although the act of our first parents was transient yet the will of that act was permanent and remaineâ— and it is justly reputed unto the Prophet and unto all men that descend from their loyns It standing both with the rule of equitie and righteous judgment justly to attribute and impute that unto us which we as it were did in our progenitors for can any man be more just and equal then to charge every part by that which is committed by the whole for all the generations and successions of men make but one body and every one is member of that body and the whole lease of man is but as one tree whereof our first parents are the root and therefore that sprig which hath but newly sprouted
out this year proceeds Originally though by the mediation of the body and branches of that root which may be was planted many hundred years agoe If the root be corrupt struck and die it is likewise corrupt strucken and dies with it and why because it is a part of that body that is of the same nature qualitie and condition with the root Even so it is with all men that both have been and now are born they lineally descended by the mediation of the body the generations and successions of men they proceed from the first parent of mankind as from the root they participate of his nature qualities and properties and therefore if his condition be sinful damnable their 's likewise is sinful damnable because the guilt of what he did is justly imputed unto them as being then with him and now descending from his loyns and that according to the rule of natures Law according to the equitie of divine justice all the species the whole kind of man were potentially in Adam and by right of inheritance from sin are intituled to the priviledges of nature whatsoever belonged to him they may justly challenge that is all kind of sustenance for the preservation of their being as nature hath given unto us a being so it owes unto us a sustenance shall we challenge God for maintenance and preservation of life in right of our first parents shall not he as justly challenge us as guilty of sin subject to his wrath descending from him who wilfully transgressed disobeyed his Law shal we not partake of the good and evil whereunto we are intituled in right of our first parents surely both alike belongeth unto us and therefore even in our conception when we as it were first sprout out even then are we justly accounted guilty of wilfull disobedience and sin because we descend from the loins of him that did wilfully disobey and transgresse the Law of his mighty Creator So that all excuse by just imputation hereof being taken away by this means sin being appropriated unto us we made guilty thereof in the highest degree as proceeding from the intent disobedience of the reasonable will Let us proceed to consider out of the Prophets words the Original of sin when after what manner or in what measure we are made sinful hence implyed in this word Mother that is from the very act of generation for the first she takes upon her the office of Mother after what manner expressed in these two words shaping and conceiving and lastly in what measure implyed in this particle I that is not this or that part of me but I wholly that is every part and faculty in me In the former clause namely of the guilt of the imputation of our first parents sin we speak of sin only in relation to the efficient cause who did it and how it was actual In this we consider sin in the form thereof namely as it transgresseth the law how it is originally diffused over every part and faculty of us and so it becomes habitual I was shapen c. By shaping is understood the first framing and fashioning of us in the womb and by conceiving is meant the first being and breeding and growing up unto perfection in the womb for Tremel translats it in peccando fovet me mea Mater In sin hath my Mother cherished me up And so is our Hebraisme in our English margent In sin did my mother warm me which implyeth the same thing both importing that man both in his first beginning also in his continual grouth increasing is sinful that is every way exceeding sinfull If a man should be born having his face standing backward and his legs coming out where his armes should be and his armes out of his belly and his belly upon his head it would surely be esteemed an ugly monster fearful and prodigious and yet the deformity and obliquity of the Soul and body of man by sin is much more monstrous where every part and faculty is disordered where every particular is both extra and praeter intentionem naturae both besides and beyond the intention of nature as by the sequel shall appear Now perfect and compleat shaping doth imply two several acts First the exact temperature of internal qualities 2ly the due proportion of the externall parts and lineaments In both these there is sin formally which is the transgression of the law For God in the creation had set down a law also for things of this inferior quality and respect which could not be transgressed without sin in the first place prescribing unto every thing such a just and limited temper and mixture of primariâ— qualities of heat and cold of drienesse and moisture whereof all mixt bodies consist and was most behoofeful to the perfection and preservation of his being and Secondly squaring out such a due and excellent proportion and fashion in all the body as might best adorn it with most beautie and comlinesse thereby so manifesting his power and wisdome in all things that there was neither distemper inwardly nor deformitie outwardly in any thing that he hath made Both these laws are broken and transgressed in the shaping of men For first there is such a distemper of such unequal iniquity of the radical heat and radical moisture which are principia vitae as the Physicians call them the very principles and grounds of life that the healthiest man living is not perfectly in health though yet not sensibly and throughly sick but lives as it were in a neutrality betwixt both yet rather sick then wel because the disease is still growing though not ripe until the distemper thereof wax so strong and predominant that nature is so weakened and subdued thereby that it is not able without grief to resist the same 2ly In the outward framing and fashioning of the body there is no man that hath that exact proportion and comelinesse in the parts of the body then Adam had that was immediately created by God but there is in it some imperfection or blemish which doth some way either diâ—figure or deform him Nay I will say that which many perhaps will think strange that there is not in us the least joynt but sin is in it not only formally as there is a want of perfection in the composition and constitution thereof according to the law of God but also imputatively because it became so by the rebellion of our will that thereby we have transgressed the law defaced the workmanship of God within us deprived our selves of health and perfection and so justly become the subjects of Gods vengeance Nay I will say more that there is no grief nor pain that the beasts or other creatures in the world do suffer but it is sin formally a transgression of this Law Because God intended no such affliction to any of his creatures by the Creation but by his Law both established it and ordained it otherwise that namely the creatures
should live in that perfection and happinesse whereof by nature they were capable There is no imperfection in any creature but man is guilty thereof as being by his sin For cursed is the earth and all things therein for mans sake and why for mans sake but for sin and what is that cursing but the substraction and deprivation of the Lords protection and guidance of the creatures in the lawes and rules of natures law Rightly therefore saies the Prophet I was shapen c. And not only therein doth expresse the whole ground and Original cause of his disease but he adds also that in sin his Mother warmed and cherished him up both root and branches were sinful In consideration whereof it will appear that as the structure and composition of man is most admirable so the corruption of sin in man is most damnable as being a general disturbance of the whole course of nature a pestilent infection universally diffused over all the faculties both of Soul and body For as nature hath severall degrees of perfection and still the former is the ground of the latter so also have these degrees their degrees of infection and still the latter is enforced by the former 1. The first degree of natural perfection in man is esse consisting in the constitution and temperature of the body which is the ground of all motions and life 2. The second is Vegetare by receiving nourishment to encrease and grow to perfection in himselfe 3. The third is Sentire an abilitie to discern and know all outward and corporeal objects and their simple qualities 4. The fourth is ratiocinari by discourse of reason in the contemplation of outward things and to draw out such rules and directions for this life as are consonant to that law which God had established in all things 5. Secundum rationem agere to work and frame all his actions according to their destinated ends namely the preservation of natures perfection and the glory of natures God Now as these degrees of naturall perfection have their dependance the one upon the other in their order so likewise in the infection and diffusion of sin upon the natural qualities do the vital faculties depend upon the vital the animal upon the animal the rationall upon the rational the moral c. 1. For the first if there be an intemperate mixture of cold and heat in the natural constitution as hath been declared there is then do the vital faculties fail in the exercise of tâ—eir functions as too much heat doth inflame the blood encrease choler drie the braine too much cold doth beget melancholy augment flegme hinder digestion dul the spirits and such like 2. If the vital faculties be disordered the animal are distempered thereby as the over abundance of ill humors doth send up noysom and unwholesome fumes into the head which do stupifie the sense dul the imagination and hurt the memory so that if the fantasie and memory be any way impaired then in the third place the reasonable soul is greatly disabled in the exercise of her faculties And lastly if reason be absurd and defect in that it is not able to direct how then can the will execute or perform any thing that is agreeable to Gods Law Behold how great a flame a little fire kindleth for the natural temperature of the first qualities heat and cold c. though in mens ordinary imaginations they are things of small moment or respect and nothing so material and worthy as the superior faculties yet are they so necessary and of such force in the whole frame and constitution of man that upon their goodn sse doth the goodnesse of all the rest depend no otherwise then as the spring or poize in a curious clock which seems to be dull and of no great necessity and yet it is of the greatest power as that which moves all the rest of the wheels for the perfection of a clock is to keep its time and due howers but if the spring or poize be disordered all the rest is disordered if it be too strong then the howers are too short and if slack and loose then are they too long So the natural faculties if too cold then all the rest are dâ—stitute and too remiss if tooo hot then are they too violent and redundant for the disposition and perfection of the Soules working dependeth principally upon the bodies temperature For as the eye the intâ—rmedium that which is interposed betwixt the eye and the object be thick as in a mist it is obscured and the sight made imperfect So the Soul if the Organs those instruments by which it works be disordered and distempered is disabled in the exercise and use of its faculties As for example we see in a drunken man when the stomach is oppressed with a thick and strong moisture the heat of the liver by concoction and digestion rarifies the same there riseth such a fume no otherwise then we see in a boyling pot which ascending up into the head doth so stupifie and distemper the brain the Organ of the understanding imagination and discourse that man thereby that distempers himselfe doth quite lose the use of his reason and the chief faculty of his soul and becomes for the time if not worse even a very beast Even so every man by the distempered mixture of corrupted nature is made either more or lesse defective in the use of the soules vigour and power by how much more or lesse the instruments and organs by which the soul worketh are polluted and distempered From hence it is we see that some men are more quick and active of apprehension and conceit others likewise are stupid and of duller capacity which only proceeds from the good or evil disposition of the parts of the body yea the very best and purest that is begotten by the corrupt generation of man is infinitely farre short of that puritie and quicknesse of capacitie which man by his creation naturally was endued withall From hence therefore may appear the vanity of the Pelagians arguments intending to prove that sin is only learned by imitation because the body cannot work upon the Soul which is a Spirit for though the bodie cannot work upon the substance of the soul yet can it hinder and disorder the operations of the Soul which it is to perform in and by the body for by the bodies corruption and disordered distemper there is either irregularity or iniquity in the manner or confusion and ataxie in the order but especially excesse or defect in them sure of every facultie of and action of man As for example if we survey some particulars and first in those faculties which are called concupiscibles as hunger a natural appetite to create for sustenance and preservation of life and being cannot doe it without sin not that the desire of meat or action of eating is sinfull for it is natural and all that is natural is good as being the work of God but
the irregularitie and disorder of the desire and act is sin either we eat too much or are not contented with that which will suffice nature or desire that which is unwholsome or loath that which would best nourish us or in some measure and degree or other of gluttony the law that is those rules and limitations which God had prescribed in nature unto that facultie is transgressed So thirst becomes drunkennesse and that same cupiditas venerea is changed into lust and so by excesse is made sloth and so of the rest Secondly consider the faculties called Irascibiles and there we see that joy by excesse is turned into voluptuousnesse and sorrow into anxiety that fear becomes horror and anger is turned into fury â—nd hatred into malice 3. Proceed we unto the reasonable faculties and see how hope exceeds by presumption how mercy becomes foolish pitty how zeal runs into superstition and knowledge into heresie and so of all the faculties of man Neither do these only transgresse the law of God by exceeding their limits and prescriptions but also being defective in the measure and intention thereof so fear offends by security and anger by stupidity so hope oftentimes becomes despair and mercy is turned into crueltie so the defect of zeal is dulnesse of spirit and the defect of knowledge is ignorance so of all the rest which I may not now enumerate their inordinate motion is the transgression of the law either on the right hand or on the left either in excesse or defect of their functions and operations so vertue consists in medio as it is in the mean between them of the moderation of these excesses and the supplies of these desires are called vertues or graces by their several effidients vertues by moralists in so much as by education and by the light and strength of nature they are in some measure corrected and graces by Divines because by the power of Gods gratious spirit they are reformed So that to draw all into a sum we may reduce Original sin unto these three hâ—â—d 1. Reatus inobedient to guiltinesse of disobedience against Gods law 2. Defectus boni a defect or wâ—nâ— of all goodnesse in our selves 3. Proclivitas ad malum an inclination unto wickednesse in all things we go about to do The first in respect of the time past the second or the time present and the third of the time to come The one by imputation the other by inhaesion the last by inclination Being in the first place made guilty of sin by the just imputation of the willfull disobedience of our first Parents because we were then in their loins as parts of them that now descend from them and sprung out of them 2 Being thereby made deficient and deprived of all righteousnesse which God had created in us and that happinesse that was intended for us Lastly being then wickedly disposed there being in every part of us as well inferior of the body as superior of the soul a disposition or propensity an inclination or proclivity to erre from the rules of Gods Law wherby we our selves every one of us shall effect or bring to perfection our own finall overthrow or destruction unlesse by the mercy of God it be prevented This is the Catastrophe this is the universall Corruption and subversion of man being every way sinfull both in Semine in Embrione and in Homine Sinfull in his Conception and shaping sinfull in his growth and encreasing and also sinfull in his strength and perfection of being and that not in any mean or remisse degree but in every one of these sin being out of measure sinfull All this and much more then this was the sorrowfull and penitent soul of the Prophet strongly possest and afflicted with all in his deep meditation of sin in this place Where he saith I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me And thus having briefly run over the matter and unfolded the scope and sense of the Text as well as my understanding would serve and therein propounded onely matter of Instruction for the information of our understanding teaching us what we are to know It remains in the next place that we collect out of the precedent discourse such morall documents for the reformation of our lives as may direct us what we are to do Out of which though I may observe many yet I will pitch my thoughts onely upon those two 1. That the dearest Saints so well as the greatest sinners are in their Infancy Originally sinfull 2. That the sin which we are from our very infancy stained withall is conveyed by our Parents unto us Concerning the first Truth you have it here confirmed by the confession of one that is recorded to be a man after Gods own heart and thereby reputed to be a most dear Saint yet for all that pleads not immunity from sin in his very infancie but saith that he was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his mother conceive him Of the same mind with David the Father was Solomon the Son Prov. 22.15 where he laies it down as an undeniable Axiome That foolishnesse is bound up in the heart of a child By which phrase is meant nothing but wickednesse and finn which is on a child as a fardle or pack on a horse back which he can never of himself shake off And this is the ground why the Lord himself speaketh of the whole Nation of the Jewes which were then the onely Church hee had in the world Esay 48.8 Thou wast called a transgressor from the womb Though they were a people in Covenant with God yet in their infancy in the womb a transgressor yea out of the womb so visibly before Circumcision transgressors also According to that of Saint Paul Eph. 2.3 We are all by nature the children of wrath as wel as others Though the chosen of God yet herein can plead no more priviledge from the exemption of this inbred pollution then Judas himself could whom our Saviour calls no lesse then a Devill Ioh. 8.44 Have not I chosen twelve and one of them is a Devill Hence is that of Aug. damnati antequam nati And therefore by some Originall sin is concluded to be not onely a privation but a corrupt habit like unto a disease which beside the privation of health hath humores malé dispositos the humors ill disposed whence it cometh to passe that the imagination of mans heart as the Lord speaks Gen. 8.21 vs evill from his very youth there is a nature prone There is in him a naturall pronesse and disposition to every thing that is evill as there is in the youngest whelp of a Lion or Bear or a Woolfe to cruelty or in the very egge of a Cockatrice before it be hatched which is the comparison which the Holy Ghost useth Esay 59.5 whereupon saies Aug. Concupiscentia lex peccati cum parvulis nascitur Concupiscence which is the Law of sinne is even born with Children And