infected all his posterity his weaknesse not able to deny that to his Wife which God reserved to himselfe and blindly have done for the love of a foolish woman what the eternal wisedom had so expresly forbidden him O disloyal Adam that gave more credit to a serpent that deceiv'd thee then to your Creator and Truth which can never faile Here through this act of disobedience in Adam we all fell and became under sin and death and all mankind were convicted and sentenced to the eternall and temporall death in the conviction and sentence that passed upon him Gen. 3. 6 11 17. 19. Rom. 5. 12 18. and this without the knowledge or motions of the individualls or particular persons that were to proceed from Adam yet so verily vertually really and indeed that all that came forth from him by propagation doe then and in that birth and there throughly partake of sin death and misery and in their several persons respectively bear the image of the first Adam as he was in his â—all see Gen. 5. 3. Rom. 17. 19. Job 4. 1 Psalm 51. 5. Rom. 9. 8. Eph. 2. 1 2. c Here we may find out the origin and source of all our evils hence our miseries dayly finds deplorable increase and hence the most shamefull portion of a most sad and disastrous inheritance is dayly transported to the poor children of Adam Now man being created for a determinate end and for a state convenient for his nature and able to satisfie the original appetences of his soule and no man by natural means able to arrive to the end and period of happinesse we must follow henceforward the conduct of a supernatural guide since nature quitteth us here having led us on as long as she was able We may consider that God when he created man did not assign him to remain in the state of pure nature but did out of his goodnesse confer original righteousnesse and grace upon him which exceeded the sphere of his nature for God being in his own Essence goodnesse it selfe cannot choose but doe unto whatsoever proceedeth from him all that good which the nature of it is capable of whether by natural or supernatural means and his wisedome can readily contrive the meanes to bring that to pass which his goodnesse disposeth him to doe and his omnipotency as easily acteth what his other two attributes have projected so that there wanting an infinite capacity of the soule and without which she must be eternally miserable it remaineth that he who gave that capacity must also afford the object and assign means how to compasse and gain it all which is out of the reach of nature to discern and therefore it followeth of consequence that the Author of nature must needs endow man with supernatural means if he be in a fit disposition to receive them which may bring him to the supernatural end he was created for And of the supernatural gifts the first and the ground and foundation of all the rest is faith for whereas that we cannot by any natural meanes attain to the knowledge of any object that may render us compleatly happy in the next life and yet such knowledge must be had to the end we may direct our actions to gain the fruition of that object Therefore there is no way left to compass this but by the instructions and discipline of some Master whose goodness and knowledge we can no wayes doubt of by which two perfections in him we may be secure that he neither can be deceived himselfe nor will deceive us Now the Doctrine that such a divine Master shall teach for such an end we call faith Now we must determine that this Master must be God and man and that the Author of that doctrine we must believe the instructer of the actions we must perform and the promiser of the happinesse we may hope for be God himselfe who only knoweth of himselfe what is said in matters of these natures and who only is neither liable to be deceived nor can deceive others as being the prime verity it selfe Therefore it was necessary Christ God and man should come into the world to teach us what to believe and what to do and preach unto us by his example and himself be our Leader in the way that he instructed us to take And we must determine that those unto whom Christ did immediately preach this faith and unto whom he gave Commission to preach it unto others and spread it through the world after he ascendeth to Heaven ought to be believed as firmly as he himselfe The reason of this Assertion is that their doctrine though delivered by secondary mouths yet it proceedeth from the same fountain which is God himselfe the prime verity that cannot deceive nor be deceived But all the difficulty herein is to know who had this immediate Commission from Christ and by what seale should we discern it to have been no forged one The solution of this ariseth out of the same Argument which proveth that Christ himself was God and that doctrine he taught was true and divine which is the miracles and wonders he did exceeding the power of nature which could not be effected by any but by God himselfe for he being truth it selfe cannot by any action immediatly proceeding from him witness and confirm a falshood In like manner the Apostles doing such admirable works and miracles as neither by nature nor by Art Magick could be brought to pass that must necessarily infer God himself co operated with them to justifie what they said It is evident that their doctrine not their own but received from Christ must be true and divine This Faith thus taught by Christ and propagated by the Apostles and necessary to mankind to believe dependeth intrinsecally upon the testimony of the Primitive Doctors Fathers and Councels in church Catholike and Apostolike which is ordained conserve and deliver it from age to age and this cannot be but either by the immediate preaching of Christ or else by the information either in writing or by word of mouth of them that learned it from him and their delivering it over to others and so from hand to hand But from Christs own mouth none could have it but those that lived in the age that he did therefore there remained no other means to have it derived down to after ages then by this delivery over from hand to hand of Fathers dispersed throughout the world to the whole congregation of sons or youngers which proveth that the Church Apostolike is the Conserver of the whole doctrine of Faith necessary for salvation and likewise of the divine Writ dictated by the holy Ghost and written by the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles which we are also bound to beleeve Hence we may deduce that into Christs Catholick Church no false doctrine in any age can be admitted or creep in that is to say no false proposition whatsoever can ever be received and embraced by the Catholique Church
as a proposition of faith For whatsoever the Church believeth as a proposition of faith is upon this ground that Christ taught it as such unto the Church he planted himself and so left it in trust to be by it delivered over to the next age And the reason why the present Church believeth any proposition to be of faith is because the immediate preceding Church of the age before delivered it as such and so you may derive it on from age to age untill you come to the Apostles and Christ For to have any false proposition of faith admitted into the Church in any age doth suppose that all they of that age must unanimously conspire to deceive their children telling them that they were taught by their Fathers to believe as of faith some proposition which indeed was not which being impossible as it will evidently appear to any prudent person that shall reasonably ponder the matter that so many men spread throughout the whole world so different in their particular interests and ends and of such various dispositions and natures should all agree together in the forgery of any precise lye which is most impossible though any one man may be liable to be deceived or out of some indirect end may be induced to deceive others Whence I come to say that faith dependeth on these two propositions First that whatsoever God said is true Next that God I said this whatsoever it be that is delivered thus by the generall practice of the Church And the primary original natural appetence of mans soule is the love of truth which it vehemently desireth and is alwayes unquiet and ardent in the search of it upon what occasion soever and this acquisition of truth is that which the soule in every action naturally aimeth at and detesteth falshood Therefore although any particular man as Dr. Taylor may have his sense or fantasie so depraved as to take imperfect or maimed impressions of outward objects or the powers of his understanding so weak as to make a preposterous and disorderly collection out of them or his judgement so misguided by preoccupation of any affection or particular end as he may in himselfe be deceived and feed his soule with falshood in stead of truth or else that sinister respects and interests or sordid apprehensions of commodity to himselfe by the sensuall passions tyrannizing over him aâ—â—o cause him to swallow mortall baits making him employ the faculties of his understanding and the powers of his soul contrary to their natural inclination to the maintaining of a lye Yet it is impossible that all mankinde or such a vast multitude of men as contain in them all the variety of dispositions and affections incident to mans nature and that are dispersed through the world so as they can have no communion together whereby they might infect one another nor can have finister ends common all alike to them all which should invite them to conspire together to forge a falshood It is impossible I say that such a company of Saints and Doctors should so degenerate from their own nature which is to love truth as they should invent a lye and that in so important a matter as faith is they should concur to deceive the world of men that should come after them in things of such nature as their deceit must of necessity damn for all eternity both themselves and all them that shall receive that lye from them and take it upon their credit This general deâ—ection from truth in mankind is as impossible as that all one entire element or any primâ—genial nature should absolutely perish Thus I conceive I have made good the Assertion that hath begotten this discourse which is that Faith conserved and practised in the Catholick Church and delivered by perpetual Succession is most certain and most infallible But all this is not enough our disquifition must not rest here we must not content our selves in this divine affair and supernatural doctâ—ine with a certitude depending only upon natural causes The wisedome of God proportioneth out congruent means to bring on every thing to their proper end and mans obtaining beatitude being the highest end that any creature can arrive unto and altogether supernatural it requireth supernatural causes to bring us to that end and a supernaural infallibility to secure us in that journey we must therefore not only have a supernatural way to travel in which is faith but also supernatural assurance of the right way which we may with an humble confidence expect and claim at Gods divine hands God therefore hath given to his Church the continual assistance of the holy Ghost to confirm it in the true faith and to preserve it from error and to illuminate the understanding of it in right disceâ—ning the true sense of those mysteries of faith that are commited to the custody of it and to work supeâ— natural effects of true devotion and sanctity in that Church For Christs doctrine is practical and aymeth at the working of an effect which is the reduction of mankind to beatitude and that this mankinde conthreâ—â— prehendeth not only those that lived in that age when he preached but also all others that ever were since or shall be to the end of the world It is apparent that to accomplish that end it was necessary Christ should so effectually imprint his doctrine in their hearts whom he delivered it unto as it might upon all occasions and at all times infallibly expresse it self in action and in the delivery of it over from hand to hand should in vertue and strength of the first operation produce ever after like effects in all others Now unto these rational considerations let us add the promises which Christ made to his Church that the gates of Hell should not prevail against it that the true Doctrine of Christ is conserved that it can never faile but must infallibly continue until the end Thus having produced that a supernatural doctrine is necessary to bâ—ing mankind to beatitude that Christ taught this doctrine that from him the Church received it and is the Sacrary in which it is conserved that this Church planted by him in the delivery over of his Doctâ—ine cannot erre and that it is perpetual And that if any particular man should goe about to introduce new doctrine of faith noâ— formerly heard of or renew old damned erâ—ors as Dr. Taylor doth drawing the Arguments of confirmation thereof out of his own ratiotination and private discourse that were enough to convince him of falshood imposture and heâ—esie since he should theâ—eby undertake to know what were impossible for him of himselfe to attain to the knowledge oâ— for herefie I count to be an opinion repugnant to the grounds of Christian Faith obstinately maintained by any that professe the name of Christ It remaineth now that I close up this discourse by applying the premisses to my purpose and matter at hand It is an undeniable truth that Baptism ordained for the
sin because the will through the want of original justice is left prone to rebellion against reason That original sin is formally the want of original justice is thus prov'd Every sin formally is iniustice Ergo every sin is the privation of some justice or righteousness due but the righteousness due to Infants is not actual but original Ergo original sin is formally the want of original righteousnesse due to every individual Further Even as actual sin is the want or losse of the righteousnesse and rectitude which ought to be in the consented act of the will even so original sin is the privation of original justice and rectitude which ought to be in uature which rectitude is original righteousnesse for as every act hath naturally annexed to it a proper rectitude so humane nature was created by God with its proper natural and supernatural rectitude whereas original justice as a special gift bestowed by God not only on Adam but also on all his relative descendants was a kind of rectitude and justice due and belonging to nature so as the loss privation or want thereof became a vice or sin in nature and thus the want of it is the want of due justice or righteousnesse but the privation or want of it is a sin not actual because it s not lost by any proper consented act of the will but rather it is sin original that is contracted and derived to us dayly through the actual disobedience of Adam Further I say that by original Justice man was made acceptable and graâ—eful to God therefore by the losse or privation of original justice man is out of Gods favour and gracâ— and for this reason sin is counted the death of the soule as grace is the life of it for without habitual grace which is equivalent to original justice none can become grateful to God nor be capable of any title to Heaven Whence we may infer children to be in God Almighties debt for original righteousnesse for they all have received it in Adam from God who giving the same to him by his antecedent will gave it likewiâ—e to all his posterity though it was not given by a consequent will quia Adam posuit demeritum which is the reason why God doth justly exact the same of us and so we become in his debt in just and formally sinners In this all the Ancient Doctors doe agree And although original sin conveyed to posterity cannot without special revelation be proved or evinced by any natural ratiotination for how can it by humane discourse be evidenc'd that Adam did receive fâ—r himselfe and his posterity the gift of original justice or that Adam was appointed the great representative head in essâ— morali of all humane nature or that by him those principles of morally working well viz. grace righteousness innocency c. should be derived to his posterity and that as the propagation of humane nature in esse naturali did depend of him so should likewise the conservation or losse of that happy state in esse morali or how can it appeare by natural reason that Adam prevaricating all his posterity not existing in rerum natura should prevaricate also which without the light of faith and the beliefe of what is said cannot be apprehended yet we may find out for the explicating of original sin some congruent Theological reasons The first is that ever in Gods Church from its very beginning there has been not only in the law of nature but also in the old and new a special remedy instituted for the cleansing of original sin from Infants so it s most manifest that the Church held and taught that Infants doe contract original sin for if they had not in them original â—n to be wash'd away by Circumcision or Baptism then the form of Circumcision and Baptism in them would prove false but the consequent is absurd and heretical Ergo c. Now let us but further consider what reasons may induce us to submit to this Doctrine of originall sin First For the Antiquity of it We finde some footsteps thereof under the Law yea before the Law though more darkly but under the Law we may see the footsteps thereof more manifest though not so perspicuous as under the Gospel where truth appeares as it were with open face for you may read Gen. 17. The uncircumcised man-child whose flesh is not circumcised that soule shall be cut off from the people The which Text Saint August lib. 1â— de Civitat Dei c. 27. lib. 2. de pâ—ccato originali c. 30. contra Coelestium understands as relating to Infants not circumcised and therefore liable to punishment which S. August aâ—scribes to Adams prevarication in which all Infants have prevaricated and became sinners upon that account Secondly You may read Psalm 50. the Royall Prophet moaning that he was conceived in â—niquity and sin according to the Hebrew Text Thirdly You may read in Eccles. 25. A muliere initium peccatâ— per illam omnes moriuntur And in Job Pereat dies in quae naâ—us sum nex in qua dictum est conceptus est homo And in the 14. Chapt. Quis potest facere mundum de imundo concepâ—um semine c. And Chap. 25. according to the 70 Interpreters Nemo mundus a sorde neque Infans unius diei Whence John Baptist cryed out Ecce Agnus Dei â—cce qui tellit peccata mundi In the Greek Text we read peccatum mundi which is Adams sin conveyed to posterity These are very plain but more manifestly clear places you may read in the New Testament First S. Paul to the Romans C. 5. Sicut per unum hominem peccatum per peccatum mors c. Which words the Primitive Church and all the Ancient Fathers doe understand of original sin which Interpretation is allowed and defin'd by many Councels The second place is 2. ad Corinth 4. Si uâ—â—us pro omnibus mortuâ—s est Christus c. therfore all were dead then Christ dyed fâ—r Infants But they died not by any actual sin therefore it must be by original sin The third place is that of S. Paul Ephes. 2. Eramus natura filii irae From which place S. August de peccatorum merit remiss c. 20. in Serm. 14. de verbis Apost. Expoundeth these words natura filii irae originaliter saying filius autem irae is a sinner So if we all have been by nature children of wrath we all must by nature be sinners And its observable that Adams sin as it s revealed in holy Scripture had two far different effects the one proper and connaâ—urâ—l to his offence which was the infection of all his posterity borne by natural generation with original sin the other effect was also by occasion of that general infection of all mankind but properly of the inexplicable goodnesse and mercy of God ordaining for remedy of this universall infection the Incarnation and death of our blessed