Doctor give me leave as a Brother though unworthy to give you this Christian Animadversion Call to mind whose doctrine it is which you stand up for and who they have been that have still done the same Pelagius Bellarmine c. I doubt not of your acquaintance with the many more But how cleerly this is against the Fathers of our Church and some of their owne Doctors I know you cannot be ignorant as Augustine Gregory Lactantius Ierome Bernard Anselme and all Moderne Divines except Bellarmines Fraternity I am sorry that Doctor Drayton should be contrary minded but they and we are all men I shall pray to God to discover our Errors and that in the end God may have glory his Church reap benefit and Christian brotherly love may be increased betwixt Doctor Drayton and his unworthy fellow labourer in the Lords Vineyard John Tendring 30. March 1657. Doctor Drayton 's second Letter To his honoured Friend Doctor Tendring These Reverend Sir I Did not desire to alter the State of the Questions nor have I either wittingly or willingly done it All errors in doctrine must come from hell and not from heaven Therefore if I prove the doctrines erroneous which I reproved you will I hope no longer quarrell the expression You say your doctrines are plaine and that you desire in the sincerity of your heart the glory of God and the good of souls neither of which can consist with the continuance of sinne in our mortall bodies nor doe I carry on any interest but what directly tends to the designe which you pretend to ayme at You further say you are not ignorant from whence our doctrines come but to that I crave leave to question for I am sure it came from heaven if the Prophets and Apostles had theirs to come from thence Nor who they are who have endeavoured to carry it on in this nation who doubtlesse were the best men that ever were in this or any other nation But I will with you take up Gamaliels counsell and conclusion si sit à Deo Good Sir forbeare the aspersions of the truth with the obloquies that have been cast upon any that have held it forth For the first Question I see no difference betwixt your first stating of it which I sent unto you in your own words and your last I shall therefore admit it in these new expressions That sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their souls have a being in these houses of Clay For the second I expressed my selfe again and again in the words which I sent unto you as all impartiall and understanding Auditors will attest But I will take it in your owne words so far as they are plaine viz. That you deny that any man by grace can in this life performe such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same I mentioned nothing concerning the work of Satisfaction nor shall that come into dispute unlesse by necessary consequence I thank you for your good advise I shall next after Scriptures avouch no other Authors but the Fathers of the Church and perhaps some of our owne Modern Divines of the best note and concluding with a note of your own prayer rest March 3. A servant and lover of the truth that is according to godlinesse and your Fellow-servant in Christ THO DRAYTON I pray you let me heare in a line or two whether we are now agreed upon the stating of the questions Doctor Tendring's Answer to Doctor Drayton's second Letter Reverend Doctor As the Questions are now stated I agree to them and doe hereby joyne Issue I require your Rejoynder and let it be at your pleasure whether I shall begin or you So I rest Yours in the Lord Iohn Tendring Send your Answer by this Bearer Doctor Drayton's Third Letter For his much honoured Friend Doctor Tendring These SIR I Am very glad that we are thus far agreed viz. about the state of the Questions I hope we shall goe on in the same correspondency if you please to begin because you are perhaps at better leisure and so will send one or both of the Questions with your respective Confirmation to Mr. Parker you shall soone after God willing receive mine who in the interim and I hope ad interitum shall remaine Your loving friend to serve you in the Lord Tho Drayton The Positions be these Posit 1 THat Sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their Soules have a being in these houses of clay Posit 2 That no man by grace can in this life performe such perfect obedience to the Law of God as not to offend against the same or to be thereby justified otherwise then in and through Christ of grace given NOw to the end that the er suing Discourse may be proper and profitable for the informing the judgments of the weak and for the establishing them in the faith of the truth which next to the glory of God and the advancement of his truth is the onely thing intended I shall observe this method First I shall define what Sin in generall is Secondly what the first sin waâ— Thirdly the causes of the first sinne Fourthly the effects thereof And lastly what Originall Sin is And so I shall proceed to confirmation of the first position And first of the first what Sin in generall is The word in Hebrew which is traâ—slâ—ted sinne signifi th properly misdoing or missing of the mark or way as in Judg. 20.6 it is said that the men of Benjamin could sling a stone at an nares breadth and not sin that is not misse And in Prov. 19.2 it is said that he that is hasty with his foot sinneth that is misseth or swerveth In Religion Gods Law is our mark or way from which when we swerve we sin and therefore Sin is defined to be the transgression of the Law as in 1 John 3.4 or whatsoever is repugnant to the Law that is a defect or inclination or action repugnant to the Law of God Which is the generall nature of sinne Or defect is this generall nature and inclinations or actions or rather the matter of sin The difference and formall essence of sin is as I said a repugnancy with the Law The property which eleaveth fast unto it is the guilt of the creature offending that is to say the binding of the creature to temporall and eternall punishments which is done according to the order of Gods Justice And hence it is that we commonly say there is a double formality or two-fold nature of sin Repugnancy with the Law and guilt Or that there are two respects of which the former is a comparison or dissimilitude with the Law the other an ordaining to punishment In the second place the fall or first sin of man was the disobedience of our first Parents Adam and Eve in Paradise or the eating of the apple and sruit forbidden Gen. 2.16 17. This Commandment of God
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
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
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
due to you for your sinnes in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for the merits and righteousnesse of Jesus Christ But some may here object and say The Righteousnesse is Christs and how can a man be justified by the justice of another I answer As sinne is ours by propagation so righteousnesse is ours by imputatiou and as Adam derived sinne by nature to our condemnation so Christ brought life by his obedience to our justification So if many be made sinners by the disobedience of one man Then how much more shall many be made righteous by the obedience of one man especially seeing the nature of Christ was farr more divine than the nature of Adam and thee fore more powerfull in ability to work this effect to justifie us than Adam's was to condemn us And in 1 Joh. 5.11 12. That eternall life which God giveth us that is that righteousnesse whereby he bringeth us to eternall life is in his Sonne And this the Apostle doth most excellently shew unto us when he saith that God made Christ to be sinne for us and as in the place before cited 2 Cor. 5.20 For as our sinnes were made the sinnes of Christ not by alteration of them inhesively into his own person but by assumption of them imputatively to make satisfaction for them as fully and as truly as if they had been his own inherent sinnes Even so the righteousnesse of Christ is as truly made ours by imputation as if we had most perfectly fullfilled the Law by our own actuall operation And therefore justification is a gracious and judiciall action of God whereby he judgeth the elect being in themselves liable to the accusation and condemnation of the Law to be just and righteous by faith in Jesus Christ through the imputation of his Justice to the praise of his glorious power and the eternall salvation of their souls Now for the Canses of justification they are especially first Efficient secondly Materiall thirdly Formall fourthly Finall and each one of these must be considered two wayes first Actively in respect of him that justifies us secondly Passively in respect of Man that is justified First The principall efficient Cause of this our justification actively considered is God freely purposing to send his sonne to be made man to work righteousnesse for men 1 Pet. 1.10 Gal 4 4. then in the fulnesse of time sending his son made of a woman made under the Law then revealing his son to us by the preaching of the Gospell and perswading us to believe the same and to lay hold on the sonne of God by the operation of his blessed Spirit and then accounting to us the obedience of his son for our righteousnesse To shew that he is the beginning the middle the end of our justification And to prove this the Lord himself saith Isay 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sinnes And the Apostle plainly saith Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth And the very Scribes that rejected Christ most impiously professed this most truly that none can forgive sinnes but God only And so Gregory saith It is meet that he should be the giver of Grace which was the author of nature Gregory in Psal poenitent pithily saith It is his office to absolve the guilty by whose justice he is made guilty Again The impulsive Cause that moved God to doe all this for man wee finde to be two fold first Internall secondly Eternall The first is The meer Grace and free Mercy of God towards man and that because he would be mercifull unto man Because we can ascribe none other Cause of Gods Will which is the cause of all things but only this Quia voluit because it pleased him And therefore St. Paul attributeth our Redemption to the Riches of hâ—â— Grace 1. Eph. 6 7. Rom. 3.24 and so likewise in 3. Tit. 4. he saith that after the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed in us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Whereby you see the Apostle maketh the Kindenesse and Love and Mercy of God to be the first efficient principal Cause or Motive that moved God to send Christ to be the means to save us And St. Aug. in Psal 30. Idoe de nat grat saith That it is the ineffable grace of God that a man guilty of sin should be justified from sin And especialy against the Pelagian Heresie that magnified nature to vilifie and almost to nullifie Grace He saith That the grace of God whereby Infants and men of years are saved is not procured by deserts but tendered freely without merits And so Anselmus in Rom. 12. saith That because all men are shut up under sin the Salvation of man commeth not in the Merits of men but in the Mercy of God The second is Christ God and Man which purchased by his Merits that we should be justified in the sight of God because the chastisement of our peace was laidupon him that we by his stripes might be healed Isay 55.5 Secondly The material Cause of our justification actively considered is Jesus Christ And the benefits we have by Christ are especially two First Redemption Secondly Propitiation First Redemption is a word borrowed from the use of warres and it signifieth freedome from captivity And thus Christ is our deliverance First From the wrath of God Because he is our reconciliation unto God through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Secondly From the Tyranny and Dominion of sinne Because That obeying from the heart the form of Doctrine which is delivered us that is the Gospell of Christ we are made free from sin and are become the servants of Christ which is our Righteousness Rom. 6 18 Thirdly From the punishment of sinne Because it is against Justice that the punishment should be inflicted when the sinne is pardoned For sinne being the cause of punishment it must needs follow that sublata causa c. the cause being defaced the effect must be abolished Object But against this it may be objected That the sinnes of the Elect are pardoned and yet they are continually afflicted and as the Prophet saith Psal 73.13 Chastised every morning And therefore how can it be that albeit he forgiveth the guilt of their sinnes yet as the Prophet saith Psal 99.8 he punisheth their inventions Sol. I answer That the miseries of men before the pardon of sinne are the punishments of sinne but the afflictions of the Saints after the remission of their sinnes are not to be reputed penalties from Gods anger but exercises of his Servants and arguments of his love For as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Rev. 3.19 Heb. 12.6 c. And that for a double end First principally for our Salvation that wee may
Adam and Moses by the wicked of the world and with it sin because sin hath no strength where there is no law Though men had not any such legible characters of Gods will in their nature as Adam had at first And therefore did not sin after the similitude of his prevarication Yet even from Adam to Moses did sinne reigne over all them even that sinne of Adam and that lust which that sinne contracted Secondly there is universality of men and in men universality of parts All men and every part of man shut up under the guilt and power of this sinne And both these the Apostle notes at large Rom. 3.9 19.23 What then are we better then they no in no wise for we have before proved both Jewes and Gentiles that they are all under sinne Now we know that what things soever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 11.32 for God hath concluded them all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all So also Gal. 3.21.22 If there had been a law given that could have given life verily righteousnesse should have been by the law but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin c. This shewes the universality of persons in the 3. to the Rom. 13.14.15.16.17 c. The Apostle addes their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues they have used deceit c. And the 6. Gen. 5. and the 8. and the 21. The imaginations of the heart are evill continually These particulars are enough to make up an induction and to inferre an universality of parts That from the understanding as it were the Crown of the head to the affections as it were the sole of the foot there is nothing but loathsomnesse A lively description whereof you may read in the 16. of Ezehiel In the understanding there is a sea of ignorance uncapable of good things but wise and witty in wickedness The conscience full of blind feares and terrors or else seared and senselesse The memory slippery to retaine good impressions but of a marble firmnesse to hold fast that which is evill The will pliable and obsequious to the devill in his hands as wax but as stiffe and hard as clay in Gods All our affections are inverted we love what we should hate and hate what we should love we are bold where we should feare and feare where we should be bold we remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember And so of all the rest c. Thus the whole frame of mans heart is evill continually The rout and rabble of impure and impious thoughts and desires are not to be expressed Thus we see how universall a corruption originall sinne is Therefore in scripture the whole man is called flesh Now because in carnall works we work secundum hominem when we are carnall we walk as men 1 Cor. 3.3 As our Saviour saith of the devill John 8.44 when he speaks a lye he speaks de suo of his own that is according to his own nature So when men walk after the flesh they work of their own they walk according to themselves For of our selves we can doe nothing as the Apostle speaks but only sinne 2 Cor. 3.5 when we doe any good it is by the grace of God 1 Cor. 15.10 But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vaine but I laboured more abundantly then they all yer not I but the grace of God which was with me Secondly consider the closenesse and adherency of this sin it cleaves as fast to our nature as blacknesse to the skin of an Ethiopian which cannot possibly be washed off And therefore the Apostle cals it an incompossing sin Heb. 12.1 A sin that will not easily be cast off that doth easily occupate and pâ—ssâ—ss all our members and faculties A men may as easily shake off the skin from his back or poure out his bowels out of his body as rid himself of this evill Inhabitant It is an evill that is ever present with us Rom. 7.21 evill is present with me see verse 23. It will be ever present with us to derive a deadnesse a damp a dulnesse and an indisposednesse upon all our services an iniquity upon our holiest things which we stand in need of a priest to beare for us Exod. 28.38 And herein appeares also the contagion of this sin Such a pestilentiall humour there is in it that it doth not only cleave inseparably to our nature but derives venome upon every action that comes from us Obser For although we doe not say that the good works of the regenerate are sinnes and so hatefull to God as our Adversaries doe belie and misreport us for that were to reproch the Spirit and the grace of Christ by which they are wrought yet this we affirme constantly That unto the best work that is done by the concurrence and contribution of our own faculties Such a vitiousnesse doth adhere and such stubbornnesse of ours it superinduced as that God may justly charge us for defiling the grace he gave and for the evill we mixe with them may turn away his eyes from his own gifts in us Thirdly consider the fruitfulnesse of this sin to beget to conceive to bring forth to multiply and to consummate actuall sinnes James 1.13,14,15 where the Apostle sets forth the birth and progresse of actuall sin Every man saith he is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed of his own lusts There lust is the father the Adulterer and lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin There lust is the mother too And there is no mention of any seed but the temptation of lust it self Mark The stirrings the flatteries and dalliances of the sinfull heart with it self And thus suddenly this sin brings forth like summer-fruit Esay 66.8 We may see in our children this sin shewing it self before they have haire or teeth Vanity Pride frowardnesse self-love revenge and the like I have seen Aug. in confes l. 1. c. 7. saith Augustins a sucking Infant that was not able to articulate a word look with a countenance even pale for envy upon his fellow suckling that shared with him in the same miâ—k upon which consideration the holy man breaks forth into this pious complaint Vhi Domine quando Domine Domine Where ever was the place O Lord when ever was the time O Lord that I have been an innocent creature Fourthly this sin breaks forth unexpectedly instance Hazaell 2 Kings 8.13 Is thy servant a dog that he should doe this great thing c. Instance also Peter Mat. 26.33.35 Who could have expected or feared Adultery from such a man as David after such communion with God Or impatience from such a man as Jeremy after such Revelation from God Or
Idolatry from such a man as Solomon after so much wisdome from God Or fretfulnesse or frowardnesse of spirit in such a man as Jonah after such deliverance from God Or fearfulnesse in such a man as Abraham after so much protection from God Or cursing from such a man as Job after so much patience and experience of God The Lord grant that in such examples we may learne our selves and feare our selves The Disciples could say Master is it I that shall betray thee Peter did not ask Master is it John nor John Master is it Thomas but every one said is is I As much as if they should have said I have a deceitfull flesh a revolting heart in my bosome such a traytor that it may be as soon I as another man See 6. to the Gal. and 1. verse If a man be overtaken in a fault c. Considering thy self that is doe not rejoyce against thy brother nor insult over him doe not despise him in thy heart nor exilt thy self thou art of the same mould thou hast the same principles with him That God which for a season hath forsaken him may forsake thee That temptation which hath overcome him may happen unto thee That enemy which hath â—â—â—â—â—d him may winnow thee And therefore in his fall learne compassion towards him and jealousie to thy self Restore him and consider thy self Strive we what we can our it fiâ—mities will incompâ—ss us and our corruptions will be about us so long as we carry flesh about us as we may see in the forenamed instances What shall I say but briefly this thorne will still be in out flesh our Canaanite in our side our twinnes in our womb our counterlustings and counterwillings though we be like unto Christ per primitias spiritus by the first fruits of the spirit Yet we are unlike him per reliquias vetustatis by the remainders of our flesh Not to sin is here only our law Mark but in heaven it shall be our reward All our perfection here is imperfect sin hath its deaths blow given it but yet like a fierce and implacable beast it never le ts goe its hold till the last breath Animamque invulnere ponit never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to be in us Who can say my heart is cleane I am pure from my sin Prov. 20 9. which interrogation is an emphaticall negation As affirmative questions commonly categorically turned meane negatively Cleanse thou me from my secret sinnes saith holy David Psal 19.12 So Paul 1 Cor. 4.4 Though I know nothing by my self yet am I not thereby justified and the reason is added he that judgeth me is the Lord. Which Saint John further unfolds 1 John 3.20 God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Which places although most dangerously perverted by these innovators with whom we have to deale doe yet in the experience of the holiest men that are or have been evince this truth That the lusts of the flesh will be in us and work in us so long as we carry our mortall bodies about us Againe Secondly this truth will appeare more fully if we consider the four-fold condition of mans freedome of will according to his four-fold state and condition First in statu confectionis In the state of innocency as he was Created The will was free to good and evill or freely to chuse good but so that it had ability of chusing evill So that it might persist in good God preserving it and might also fall into evill God forsaking it The former is proved from the perfection of the image of God in which man was created Gen. 1.27 The latter is too evident by the event of the thing it selfe and by the testimony of Scripture Eccles 7.29 God made man upright but man found out many inventions And the Apostle saith Rom. 11 32. God hath shut up all men in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all Where the Apostle testifieth that God of speciall Wisdome did not confirme the first man against the fall Neither did he allot him such a portion of ability that he might not be seduced by the devill and moved to sio But that he therefore permitted him to be seduced and fall into sin and death That as many as were saved out of the common ruine might be saved by his mercy alone This fall was not praeter voluntatem Domini That were to make a lame providence nec contra for that were to make a weak omnipotence but juxta voluntatem Domini As nothing is done without the Everlasting and most good counsell of God so neither can this fall be exempted from it though not as it was a sin to the ruine of the Creature but as a way to exercise the Justice and Mercy of the Creator His justice in punishing and his mercy in saving If in the world there had been no misery there had been no mercy no need of Christ If no sin no matter for his justice to shew its self And yet herein the crime and fault of sin neither can nor ought to be laid on God but on mans will only falling from the rule of his Creator albeit notwithstanding he fell from it by the eternall counsell of God God and man both willing the same matter but not after the same manner or to the same end God neither willing it with mans intent nor man with Gods intent Adams purpose being to be like God Gods purpose being to manifest his own glory It being necessary in respect of Gods decree but voluntary in respect of Adams will The purpose of the Creator did not take away the Creatures freedome for sin being no positive being hath not an efficient cause but a deficient cause that is the will of the Creature sailing in obedience So that notwithstanding God did hate the sin and therefore did neither absolutely will it nor cause it yet he justly suffered it to be done I say justly for whatsoever God doth is good and just and not disagreeing from his nature and law whether the reason thereof be known or unknown unto us I say suffered it to be done for the Creator was not bound unto his Creature to preserve him in his goodnesse neither doth the deniall of such grace disagree with the mercy and bounty of God God having willed this to be an occasion of bestowing a greater grace and benefit as it is apparent in the fall and the restoring of man againe For although it be mercy not to rejoyce in the ruine or destruction of the Creature yet mercy ought not to fight with justice It is most just that more regard should be had of the chief good which is God both by himself and by others then of all Creatures Wherefore very well doe agree together in God his mercy and his justice His mercy which will not the death of a sinner and his justice which suffereth man-kind to fall that thereby the goodnesse and severity of God may appeare