Counsels edicts decrees of Emperours wherein that hereticall doctrine of denying this originall corruption is condemned cursed and exploded now amongst those many motives they had to proceed so severely against this heresie one especially inculcated deserves our consideration viz. That it overthrew the necessitie of Christs coming into the world to redeeme mankinde it is sinne onely that makes a Saviour necessary and shall Christians tollerate such an errour as by direct consequence inferres the coming of Iesus Christ into the world to be needlesse my purpose for the present is not to alleadge any testimonies of this kinde but holding my selfe close to my first intention to shew how farre in this Article as well as others the Arminians have Apostated from the pure doctrine of the word of God the consent of Orthodox Divines and the Confession of this Church of England In the ninth Article of our Church which is concerning originall sinne I observe especially foure things First that it is an inherent evill the fault and corruption of the nature of every man Secondly that it is a thing not subject or conformable to the Law of God but hath in it selfe even after Baptisme the nature of sinne Thirdly that by it we are averse from God and inclined to all manner of evill Fourthly that it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation all which are frequently and evidently taught in the word of God and every one denyed by the Arminians as it may appeare by these instances in someof them First That it is an inherent sinne and pollution of nature having a proper guilt of its owne making us responsable to the wrath of God and not a bare imputation of anothers fault to us his posteritie which because it would reflect upon us all with a charge of a native imbecillitie and insufficiency to good is by these self-idolizers quite exploded Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall saith Venator Neither is it all considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens and infidels for infants as infants have all the same innocency say they joyntly in their Apologie nay more plainly it can be no fault wherewith we are born in which last expression these bold innovators with one dash of their pens have quite overthrowne a sacred verity an Apostolike Catholike fundamentall Article of Christian Religion but truly to me there are no stronger Arguments of the sinfull corruption of our nature then to see such nefarious issues of unsanctified hearts let us looke then to the word of God confounding this Babylonish designe First That the nature of man which at first was created pure and holy after the image of God endowed with such a rectitude and righteousnesse as was necessary and due unto it to bring it unto that supernaturall end to which it was ordained is now altogether corrupted and become abominable sinfull and averse from goodnesse and that this corruption or concupiscence is originally inherent in us and derived from our first parents is plentifully delivered in holy writ as that which chiefly compels us to a self-deniall and drives us unto Christ Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me saith David Psal 51. 5. Where for the praise of Gods goodnesse towards him he begins with the confession of his native perversenesse and of the sinne wherein he was wrapped before he was born neither was this peculiar to him alone he had it not from the particular iniquitie of his next progenitors but by an ordinary propagation from the common parent of us all though in some of us Satan by this Pelagian attempt by hiding the disease hath made it almost incurable for even those infants of whose innocency the Arminians boast are uncleane in the verdict of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 7. 14. if not sanctified by an interest in the Promise of the Covenant and no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven The weaknesse of the members of infants is innocent and not their souls they want nothing but that the members of their bodies are not as yet ready instruments of sinne they are not sinfull only by an externall denomination accounted so because of the imputation of Adams actuall transgression unto them for they have all an uncleannesse in them by nature Iob 14. 4. from which they must be cleansed by the washing of water and the word Ephes 5. 20. their whole nature is overspread with such a pollution as is proper only to sinne inherent and doth not accompany sinne imputed as we may see in the example of our Saviour who was pure immaculate holy undefiled and yet the iniquity of us all was imputed unto him hence are those phrases of washing away sinne Acts 22. 16. of cleansing filth 1 Pet. 3. 21. Titus 3. 5. something there is in them as soone as they are borne excluding them from the kingdome of heaven for except they also be borne againe of the spirit they shall not enter into it Ioh. 3. 5. Secondly The opposition that is made between the righteousnesse of Christ and the sinne of Adam Rom. 5. which is the proper seat of this doctrine sheweth that there is in our nature an inbred sinfull corruption for the sinne of Adam holds such relation unto sinners proceeding from him by naturall propagation as the righteousnesse of Christ doth unto them who are borne againe of him by spirituall regeneration but we are truly intrinsecally and inherently sanctified by the spirit and grace of Christ and therefore there is no reason why being so often in this Chapter called sinners because of this originall sinne we should cast it off as if we were concerned only by an externall denomination for the right institution of the comparison and its Analogie quite overthrows the solitary imputation Thirdly All those places of Scripture which assert the pronnesse of our nature to all evill and the utter disabilitie that is in us to doe any good that wretched opposition to the power of godlinesse wherewith from the wombe we are replenished confirmes the same truth but of these places I shall have occasion to speake hereafter Fourthly The flesh in the Scripture phrase is a qualitie if I may so say inherent in us for that with its concupiscence is opposed to the spirit and his holinesse which is certainly inherent in us now the whole man by nature is flesh for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Ioh. 3. 6. it is an inhabiting thing a thing that dwelleth within us Rom. 7. 17. in briefe this vitiosity sinfulnesse and corruption of our nature is laid open First by all those places which cast an aspersion of guilt or desert of punishment or of pollution on nature it selfe as Ephes 2. 1 2 3. We are dead in trespasses and sinnes being by nature children of wrath as well as others being wholly incompassed by a sinne that doth easily beset us Secondly by them which fixe this
originall pravitie in the heart will minde and understanding Ephes 4. 18. Rom. 12. 2. Gen. 6. 5. Thirdly by those which positively decypher this naturall depravation 1 Corinth 2. 14. Rom. 8. 7. or Fourthly that place it in the flesh or whole man Rom. 6. 6. Gal. 5. 16. so that it is not a bare imputation of anothers fault but an intrinsecall adjacent corruption of our nature it selfe that we call by this name of originall sinne but alas it seemes we are too large carvers for our selves in that wherewith we will not be contented the Arminians deny all such imputation as to heavy a charge for the pure unblameable condition wherein they are brought into this world they deny I say that they are guiltie of Adams sinne as sinning in him or that his sinne is any way imputed unto us which is their second assault upon the truth of this Article of faith Adam sinned in his owne proper person and there is no reason why God should impute that sinne of his unto infants saith Boreus The nature of the first Covenant the right and power of God the comparison instituted by the Apostle between Adam and Christ the divine constitution whereby Adam was appointed to be the head fountaine and origen of all humane kinde are with him no reasons at all to perswade it For it is against equitie saith their Apologie that one should be counted guiltie for a sinne that is not his owne that he should be reputed nocent who in regard of his owne will is truly innocent and here Christian Reader behold plaine Pelagianisme obtruded on us without either welt or guard men on a sudden made pure and truly innocent notwithstanding all that naturall pollution and corruption the Scripture every where proclaimes them to be replenished withall neither is the reason they intimate of any value that their wils assented not to it and which a little before they plainly urge It is say they against the nature of sinne that that should be counted a sinne or be imputed as a sinne to any by whose own proper will it was not committed which being all they have to say they repeat it over and over in this case it must be voluntary or it is no sinne but I say this is of no force at all for first Saint Iohn in his most exact definition of sinne requires not voluntarinesse to the nature of it but only an obliquitie a deviation from the rule it is an anomie a discrepancie from the Law which whither voluntary or no it skils not much but sure enough there is in our nature such a repugnancie to the Law of God so that secondly if originally we are free from a voluntary actuall transgression yet we are not from an habituall voluntary digression and exorbitancy from the Law but thirdly in respect of our wils we are not thus innocent neither for we all sinned in Adam as the Apostle affirmeth now all sinne is voluntary say the Remonstrants and therefore Adams transgression was our voluntary sinne also and that in divers respects First In that his voluntary act is imputed to us as ours by reason of the covenant which was made with him on our behalfe but because this consisting in an imputation must needs be extrinsecall unto us therefore secondly we say that Adam being the roote and head of all humane kinde and we all branches from that root all parts of that body whereof he was the head his will may be said to be ours we were then all that one man we were all in him and had no other will but his so that though that be extrinsecall unto us considered as particular persons yet it is intrinsecall as we are all parts of one common nature as in him we sinned so in him we had a will of sinning thirdly Originall sinne is a defect of nature and not of this or that particular person whereon Alvarez grounds this difference of actuall and originall sinne that the one is alwayes committed by the proper will of the sinner to the other is required only the will of our first parent who was the head of humane nature Fourthly It is hereditary naturall and no way involuntary or put into us against our wils it possesseth our wils and inclines us to voluntary sins I see no reason then why Corvinus should affirme as he doth that it is absurd that by one mans disobedience many should be made actually disobedient unlesse he did it purposely to contradict St. Paul teaching us that by one mans disobedience many were made sinners Rom. 5. 19. Paulus ait Corvinus negat eligite cui credatis choose whom you will beleeve St. Paul or the Arminians the summe of their indeavour in this particular is to cleare the nature of man from being any way guiltie of Adams actuall sin as being then in him a member and part of that body whereof he was the head or from being obnoxious unto an imputation of it by reason of that Covenant which God made with us all in him so that denying as you saw before all inherent corruption and pravitie of nature and now all participation by any means of Adams transgression me thinks they cast a great aspersion on Almighty God however he dealt with Adam for his own particular yet for casting us his most innocent posteritie out of Paradise it seemes a hard case that having no obliquitie or sinne in our nature to deserve it nor no interest in his disobedience whose obedience had been the means of conveying so much happinesse unto us we should yet be involved in so great a punishment as we are For that we are not now by birth under a great curse and punishment they shall never be able to perswade any poore soul who ever heard of Paradise or the garden where God first placed Adam and though all the rest in their judgement be no great matter but an infirmitie and languor of nature or some such thing yet what ever it be they confesse it lights on us as well as him We confesse say they that the sinne of Adam may be thus farre said to be imputed to his posteritie inasmuch as God would have them all borne obnoxious to that punishment which Adam incurred by his sinne or permitted that evill which was inflicted on him to descend on them Now be this punishment what it will never so small yet if we have no demerit of our own nor interest in Adams sinne it is such an act of injustice as we must reject from the most holy with a God forbid farre be it from the Iudge of all the world to punish the righteous with the ungodly if God should impute the sinne of Adam unto us and thereon pronounce us obnoxious to the curse deserved by it if we have a pure sinlesse unspotted nature even this could scarse be reconciled with that rule of his proceeding in justice with the sonnes of men the soule that sinneth it shall
die which clearely granteth an impunity to all not tainted with sinne Sinne and punishment though they are sometimes separated by his mercy pardoning the one and so not inflicting the other yet never by his justice inflicting the latter where the former is not sinne imputed by it selfe alone without an inherent guilt was never punished in any but Christ the unsearchablenesse of Gods love and justice in laying the iniquitie of us all upon him who had no sinne is an exception from that generall rule he walketh by in his dealing with the posteritie of Adam so that if punishment bee not due unto us for a solely imputed sinne much lesse when it doth not stand with the justice and equitie of God to impute any iniquity unto us at all can we justly be wrapped in such a curse and punishment as wofull experience teacheth us that we lye under Now in this act of injustice wherewith they charge the Almightie the Arminians place the whole nature of originall sin We account not say they originall sin for a sin properly so called that should make the posteritie of Adam to deserve the wrath of God nor for an evill that may properly be called a punishment but only for an infirmitie of nature Which they interpret to be a kinde of evill that being inflicted on Adam God suffereth to descend upon his posteritie so all the depravation of nature the pollution guilt and concupiscence we derive from our first parents the imputation of Adams actuall transgression is all streightned to a small infirmitie inflicted on poore innocent creatures But let them enjoy their own wisdome which is earthly sensuall and devillish the Scripture is cleare that the sinne of Adam is the sinne of us all not only by propagation and communication whereby not his singular fault but something of the same nature is derived unto us but also by an imputation of his actuall transgression unto us all his singular disobedience being by this means made ours the grounds of this imputation I touched before which may be all reduced to his being a common person and head of all our nature which investeth us with a double interest in his demerits whilest so he was 1. as we were then in him and parts of him 2. as he sustained the place of our whole nature in the Covenant God made with him both which even according to the exigence of Gods justice require that his transgression be also accounted ours and Saint Paul is plaine not only that by one mans offence many were made sinners Rom. 5. 19. by the derivation of a corrupted nature but also that by one mans offence iudgement came upon all vers 18. even for his one sinne all of us are accounted to have deserved judgement and condemnation and therefore vers 12. he affirmeth that by one man sinne and death entred upon all the world and that because we have all sinned in him which we no otherwise doe but that his transgression in Gods estimation is accounted ours and the opposition the Apostle there maketh betweene Christ and his righteousnesse and Adam and his disobedience doth sufficiently evince it as may appeare by this figure Sicut sic ex Adamo Christo in omnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redundavit eis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per unū 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adami 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christi the whole similitude chiefly consists in the imputation of Adams sinne and Christs righteousnesse unto the seed of the one by nature and of the other by grace but that we are counted righteous for the righteousnes of Christ is among Protestants though some differ in the manner of their expressions as yet without question and therefore are no lesse undoubtedly accounted sinners by or guilty of the first sinne of Adam I shall not shew their opposition unto the truth in many more particulars concerning this Article of Originall sinne having beene long agoe most excellently prevented even in this very method by the way of Antithesis to the Scripture and the Orthodoxe doctrine of our Church by the famously learned Master Reynolds in his excellent Treatise Of the sinfulnesse of sinne where he hath discovered their errours fully answered their sophisticall objections and invincibly confirmed the truth from the word of God onely as I have shewed already how they make this we call originall sinne no sinne at all neither inherent in us nor imputed unto us nor no punishment truly so called so because our Church saith directly that it meriteth damnation I will briefly shew what they conceive to be the desert thereof First for Adam himselfe they affirme that the death threatued unto him if he transgressed the Covenant and due unto him for it was neither death temporall for that before he was subiect unto by the primarie constitution of his nature nor yet such an eternall death as is accompanied with damnation or everlasting punishment No Why then let us here learne some new Divinitie Christians have hitherto beleeved that whatsoever may be comprised under the name of death together with its antecedents consequents and attendants was threatned to Adam in this commination and Divines untill this day can finde but these two sorts of death in the Scripture as poenall unto men and properly so called and shall we now be perswaded that it was neither of these that was threatned unto Adam in must be so if we will beleeve the Arminians it was neither the one nor the other of the former but whereas he was created mortall and subject to a temporall death the sanction of his obedience was a threatning of the utter dissolution of his soule and body or a reduction to their primative nothing but what if a man will not here take them at their words but beleeve according to Saint Paul that death entred by sinne that if we had never sinned we had never died that man in the state of innocency was by Gods constitution free even from temporall death and all things directly conducing thereunto Secondly that this death threatned to our first parents comprehended damnation also of soule and body for evermore and that of their imaginarie dissolution there is not the least intimation in the word of God why I confesse they have impudence enough in divers places to begge that we would beleeve their assertions but never confidence enough to venture once to prove them true Now they who make so slight of the desert of this sinne in Adam himselfe will surely scarce allow it to have any ill merit at all in his posteritie Whether ever any one were damned for Originall sinne and adiudged to everlasting torments is deservedly doubted of yea we doubt not to affirme that never any was so damned saith Corvinus and that this is not his sole opinion he declares by telling you no lesse of his Master Arminius It is most true saith he that Arminius teacheth that it is
the life which all shall receive by the power of Christ at the last day is essentially a re-union of soule and body and therefore their separation is a thing we incurred by the sinne of Adam the same Apostle also Rom. 5. describeth an universall reigne of death over all by reason of the first transgression even diseases also in the Scripture are attributed unto sinne as their meritorious cause Iohn 5. 14. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Revel 2. 22. and in respect of all these the mercy of God doth not so interpose it selfe but that all the sonnes of men are in some sort partakers of them Thirdly the finall desert of originall sinne as our article speaketh is damnation the wrath of God to be poured on us in eternall torments of body and soule To this end also many praevious judgements of God are subservient as the privation of originall righteousnesse which he tooke and withheld upon Adams throwing it away spirituall desertion permission of sinne with all other destroying depravations of our nature as farre as they are meerely paenall some of which are immediate consequents of Adams singular actuall transgression as privation of originall righteousnesse others as damnation it selfe the proper effects of that derived sinne and pollution that is in us there is none damned but for their owne sinne when Divines affirme that by Adams sinne we are guilty of damnation they doe not meane that any are actually damned for his particular fact but that by his sinne and our sinning in him by Gods most just ordination we have contracted that exceeding pravitie and sinfulnesse of nature which deserveth the curse of God and eternall damnation it must be an inherent uncleanesse that actually excludes out of the kingdome of heaven Revel 21. 27. which uncleannesse the Apostle shewes to be in infants not sanctified by an interest in the Covenant in briefe we are baptized unto the remission of sinne that we may be saved Act. 2. 38. that then which is taken away by Baptisme is that which hinders our salvation which is not the first sinne of Adam imputed but our owne inherent lust and pollution we cannot be washed and cleansed and purged from an imputed sinne which is done by the layer of regeneration from that which lies upon us onely by an externall denomination we have no need of cleansing we may be said to be freed from it or justified but not purged the soule then that is guilty of sinne shall die and that for its owne guilt if God should condemne us for originall sinne onely it were not by reason of the imputation of Adams fault but of the iniquitie of that portion of nature in which we are proprietaries Now here to shut up all observe that in this inquiry of the desert of originall sinne the Question is not What shall be the certaine lot of those that depart this life under the guilt of this sin only but what this haereditary and and native corruption doth desrve in all those in whom it is for as Saint Paul saith we iudge not them that are without especially infants 1 Cor. 5. 13. but for the demerit of it in the justice of God our Saviour expresly affirmeth that unlesse a man be borne againe he cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven Iohn 3. and let them that can distinguish betweene a not going to heaven and a going to hell a third receptacle of soules in the Scripture we finde not Saint Paul also tels us that by nature we are children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. even originally and actually we are guilty of and obnoxious unto that wrath which is accompanied with fiery indignation that shall consume the adversaries againe we are assured that no uncleane thing shall enter into heaven Revel 21. with which hell-deserving uncleanesse children are polluted and therefore unlesse it be purged with the bloud of Christ they have no interest in everlasting happinesse by this meanes sinne is come upon all to condemnation and yet doe we not peremptorily censure to hell all infants departing this world without the layer of regeneration the ordinary means of waveing the punishment due to this pollution that is the Question de facto which we before rejected yea and two wayes there are whereby God saveth such infants snatching them like brands out of the fire First by interesting them into the Covenant if their immediate or remote parents have beene beleevers he is a God of them and of their seed extending his mercy unto a thousand generations of them that feare him Secondly by his grace of election which is most free and not tied to any conditions by which I make no doubt but God taketh many unto him in Christ whose parents never knew or had beene despisers of the Gospel and this is the doctrine of our Church agreeable to the Scripture affirming the desert of originall sinne to be Gods wrath and damnation to both which how opposite is the Arminian doctrine may thus appeare S. S. By the offence of one man iudgement came upon all to condemnation Rom. 5. 18. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners vers 19. Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me Psalme 51. 5. else were your chidren unclean but now they are holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. Who can bring a clean thing out of an uncleane not one Iob 14. 4. Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God Iohn 3. 3. That which is born of the flesh is flesh Iohn 3. 6. We were by nature the children of wrath even as others Ephes 2. 3. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned to wit in him Rom. 5. 12. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. In the day you eate thereof you shall surely die Gen. 2. 17. For as in Adam all die so 1 Cor. 15. 22. By nature children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Revel 21. 27. Lib. Arbit Adam sinned in his owne proper person onely and there is no reason why God should impute that sinne unto infants Borraeus It is absurd that by one mans disobedience many should be made actually disobedient Corvinus Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall Venator Neither is it considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens for all infants have the same innocencie Rem Apol. That which we have by birth can be no evill of sinne because to be borne is plainely involuntarie Idem Originall sinne is neither a sinne properly so called which should make the posteritie of Adam guilty of Gods wrath nor yet a punishment of any sinne on them Rem Apol. It is against equitie that one should be accounted guilty of a sinne that is not his owne that he should be iudged nocent who
perversly said that originall sinne makes a man guilty of death Of any death it should seeme temporall eternall or that annihillation they dreame of and he said true enough Arminius doth affirme it adding this reason because it is onely the punishment of Adams actuall sinne now what kinde of punishment they make this to be I shewed you before But truely I wonder seeing they are every where so peremptorie that the same thing cannot be a sin and a punishment why they doe so often nick-name this infirmity of nature and call it a sinne which they suppose to be as farre different from it as fire from water is it because they are unwilling by new naming it to contradict St. Paul in expresse termes never proposing it under any other denomination or if they can get a sophisticall elusion for him is it least by so doing Christians should the more plainely discerne their heresie or what ever other cause it be in this I am sure they contradict themselves notwithstanding in this they agree full well That God reiecteth none for originall sinne onely as Episcopius speakes and here if you tell them that the question is not de facto what God doth but de iure what such sinne deservers they tell us plainly That God will not destinate any infants to eternall punishment for originall sinne without their owne proper actuall sinnes neither can he doe so by right or in iustice so that the children of Turkes Pagans and the like Infidels strangers from the covenant of grace departing in their infancie are farre happier then any Christian men who must under-goe a hard warfare against sinne and Satan in danger to fall finally away at the last houre and through many difficulties entering the kingdome of heaven when they without further trouble are presently assumed thither for their innocency Yea although they are neither elected of God for as they affirme he chooseth none but for their faith which they have not nor redeemed by Christ for he died onely for sinners he saved his people from their sinnes which they are not guiltie of nor sanctified by the holy Ghost all whose operations they restraine to a morall swasion whereof infants are not a capable subject Which is not much to the honour of the blessed Trinitie that heaven should be replenished with them whom the Father never elected the Sonne never redeemed nor the holy Ghost sanctified And thus you see what they make of this originall pravitie of our nature at most an infirmitie or languor thereof neither a sinne nor the punishment of sinne properly so called nor yet a thing that deserves punishment as a sinne Which last assertion whether it be agreeable to holy Scripture or no these two following observations will declare First there is no confusion no disorder no vanitie in the whole world in any of Gods creatures that is not a punishment of our sinne in Adam That great and almost universall ruine of Nature proceeding from the curse of God overgrowing the earth and the wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven is the proper issue of his transgression It was of the great mercy of God that the whole frame of Nature was not presently rolled up in darkenesse and reduced to its primitive confusion Had we our selves beene deprived of those remaining sparkes of Gods Image in our soules which vindicates us from the number of the Beasts that perish had we beene all borne fooles and voyd of reason by dealing so with some in particular he sheweth us it had beene but justice to have wrapped us in the same miserie all in generall all things when God first created them were exceeding good and thought so by the wisedome of God himselfe but our sinne even compelled that good and wise Creator to hate and curse the worke of his owne hands Cursed is the ground saith he to Adam for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life thornes also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee Gen. 3. 17 18. hence was that heavie burden of vanitie that bondage of corruption under which to this day the whole Creation groaneth and travelleth in paine untill it be delivered Rom. 8. 21 22. Now if our sinne had such a strange malignant influence upon those things which have no relation unto us but onely as they were created for our use surely it is of the great mercy of God that we our selves are not quite confounded which doth not yet so interpose it self but that we are all compassed with divers sad effects of this iniquitie lying actually under divers pressing miseries and deservedly obnoxious to everlasting destruction so that Secondly death temporall with all its antecedents and attendants all infirmities miseries sicknesses wasting destroying passions casualties that are poenall all evill conducing thereunto or waiting on it is a punishment of originall sinne and this not onely because the first actuall sinne of Adam is imputed to us but most of them are the proper issues of that native corruption and pollution of sinne which is stirring and operative within us for the production of such sad effects our whole nature being by it throughly defiled hence are all the distortures and distemperatures of the soule by lusts concupiscence passions blindnesse of minde perversenesse of will inordinatenesse of affections wherewith we are pressed and turmoiled even proper issues of that inherent sinne which possesseth our whole soules Vpon the body also it hath such an influence in disposing it to corruption and mortality as it the originall of all those infirmities sicknesses and diseases which make us nothing but a shop of such miseries for death it selfe as these and the like degrees are the steps which leade us on apace in the road that tends unto it so they are the direct internall efficient cause thereof in subordination to the justice of Almighty God by such meanes inflicting it as a punishment of our sinnes in Adam Man before his fall though not in regard of the matter whereof he was made nor yet meerely in respect of his quickning forme yet in regard of Gods ordination was immortall a keeper of his owne everlastingnesse Death to which before he was not obnoxious was threatned as a punishment of his sinne In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die the exposition of which words given by God at the time of his inflicting this punishment and pronouncing man subject to mortalitie cleerely sheweth that it comprehendeth temporall death also dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne our returne to dust is nothing but the soules leaving the body whereby before it was preserved from corruption Further Saint Paul opposeth that death we had by the sinne of Adam to the resurrection of the body by the power of Christ for since by man came death by man also came the resurrection from the dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15. 21. 22.