sinfull but spirit that is pure and holy For whatsoever comes immediately from God he makes it pure good yea Gen. 1.3 all things very good But man from his very beginning is corrupt and sinfull because he is borne of flesh for saith our Saviour of the whole man that being borne of the flesh he is flesh Eph. 2.3 and therefore the whole man hath need of a second birth that he may be borne of the spirit Either therefore we must deny originall sin or else make God the Author of evill if the soule be immediately created by him But seeing it is manifest we are borne of flesh and are by nature children of wrath and it is impious blasphemy once to imagine that God is the Author of sin I feare not to conclude that the soule is not borne of the spirit I meane created by God but of the flesh that is propagated by man The conclusion of the divine Testimonies Thus then for divine testimonies we have produced no lesse than a whole Jury of witnesses first God himselfe then Adam Moses Job David Salomon Jeremy Zachary Peter Paul the Angell Gabrell and our Saviour Christ himselfe and if humane Testimonies would serve the turne it were not hard to shew more than twelve Legions of Saints learned and unlearned that have lived and dyed in this beliefe It being the received doctrine of the westerne Churches in Saint Hieromes time as was before declared but if these will not satisfie much lesse would those and therefore I omit them CHAPTER XV. The propagation proved from the Doctrine of Originall sinne Reasons proving the soules propagation BEsides the Testimonies of Scripture this mediate manner of the soules propagation may farther be demonstrated by reasons drawne from them whereof there are two onely most materiall and indeed necessary to be considered the one concerning the doctrine of originall sin and the other touching the incarnation of our Saviour which two being the maine difficulties in this question the one hindering the soules immediate creation the other the immediate propagatiō therof if these two can be cleared but especially if both doe agree together to confirme this doctrine there will remaine no more place of disputation about it and therefore I purpose to insist so much the longer in them both 1. Originall sinne And for the better clearing the first reason drawne from the Doctrine of Originall sin I will first make way to it by a generall description of these three things First Originall sinne Secondly Creation Thirdly Propagation and then apply it particularly to the proving of the point in hand l. From the nature of the sin descending 2. From the goodnesse of God in creating 3. From the course of nature in propagating Of all which I will speake as briefly and plainly as I can and according to that divine light which is revealed in the Scriptures First therfore it must be shewed out of the Scripture whether there be any originall sin or no and what it is For the first that the streame of mans being first poysoned in Adam the fountaine hath infected every man that comes into the world with sinne is manifest through the whole Scripture Proofes out of the Scripture By one man namely Adam sin entred into the world and death by n = a Rom. 5.12 sin in the day that he did eate of the forbidden fruit wee began to die the n = b Gen. 2 17 death yea n = c Rom. 5.14 even Infants that had not actually sinned yet were tainted with originall sin so that in Adam all dye n = d 1 Cor. 15.22 because in Adam all did sin n = e Rom. 5.12 Hence it was that by and by after all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were onely evill continually n = f Gen 6.5 yea evill even from his youth n = g Gen. 8.21 And now who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane n = h Iob 14.4 And what is man that he should be cleane n = i Iob 15.14 and he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous sayth Job Hence even David confesseth of himselfe I was borne in iniquitie and in sin did my n = k Psal 51.5 mother conceive me and of others he saith the wicked are estranged from the wombe n = l Ps 58.3 they goe astray as soone as they are borne Esay also calleth man a transgressor from the wombe n = m Isa 48.8 and Jeremy saith the heart of man is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked n = n Ier. 17.9 hence also it is that the Apostle saith Wee are by nature children of Wrath n = o Eph. 2.3 and by the offence of one the fault came upon all n = p Ro. 5.18 men to condemnation And to conclude our Saviour saith plainly that which is borne of the flesh is flesh n = q Ioh. 3.6 Ioh. 3.3.5 and except a man be regenerate and borne againe he cannot enter into nor see the Kingdome of God Reasons to prove it Besides Reason teacheth that like begets like as touching the substance and accidents proper to the kinde 1. according to the Rule Generatum sequitur naturam generantis Beasts bring forth beasts Serpents serpents and sinfull man a sinfull of-spring We cannot gather grapes of thornes Mat. 7.16 nor figges of thistles but an evill tree bringeth forth evill fruit and corrupt Adam sinfull men otherwise how could Infants justly be punished with death seeing death is the wages of sinne And why were Infants circumcized and women purified after child-birth under the law but to shew that all that commeth of mans seed is defiled with sin Againe cōmon experience sheweth the fruit of this bitter roote to bud forth in childrē even from their very cradles and that by inclination before they can learne by imitation The necessitie also of our regeneration proves it for if by our first birth we were not corrupt then should not the second be necessary to salvation Lastly the double grace which we receive from the second Adam Christ Jesus namely Justification Regeneration shews that there floweth a double evill from the first Adam namely the guilt and corruption of nature If we had not this double sinne we should not need this double remedy What originall sin is And now that we see we are thus infected let us inquire a little more narrowly into the nature of it It appeares by that which hath beene said already that all men are become sinfull through Adams sin having lost those now supernaturall gifts wherewith he and we with him were at first indued and in stead therof are all over infected with a venomous qualitie or inclination to all manner of evill causing ignorance and blindnesse in the minde stubbornesse and rebellion in the will disorder in the affections making the senses sensuall and beast-like all the members
right therein proceed wee now to their titles and so if it be possible to find out the truth in this most intricate questioÌ„ viz. whether the soul be naturally propagated from Adam or supernaturally created by God Not generated If we say the first it must needs be generated of the soule or of the body if of the body then it will follow that it is by nature corruptible and so not immortall And if we say it is spiritually produced of the soule that seemeth contrary to reason unlesse we should overthrow the excellent nature of the soule for if it be a spirituall and immateriall substance indivisibly subsisting by it selfe how can it be that one should ingender another Besides many other inconveniences would follow thereupon as afterward we shall see Not created Now if on the other side we say that they are daily created by God of nothing besides the oppositioÌ„ that this hath to Gods first institution of nature whereby all things were setled in a course to increase and multiply of themselves and God hath rested from the works of creation ever since it is no lesse opposite to divinitie For if this be true it cannot be conceived how there can be any originall sin without impeachment to Gods Justice Originall sin denied by some of the Ancients Whenee it is that not onely the old Anabaptists the Pelagians and our new Pelagians the Anabaptists holding that the soule is immediately created by God deny that there is any originall sin otherwise then by imitation but even divers of the antient Fathers seeme to be of the same minde and not onely Hierome and Chrysostome Zan. de operibus par 3. li. 2. c. 5. thes 1. but as Zanchy wintnesseth this was the chiefe reason that moved the chiefest Divines and most famous Doctors of those times to choose rather to hold the propagation of the soule than to fall into so many absurdities as follow upon â—he former Doctrine And as â—hey could not see how these two could stand together so neither can I see how it can be seene Not cleared by our moderne Divines Nay I dare say farther themselves that hold this opinion themselves cannot see it clearely neither can they herein satisfie either themselves or others As appeareth plainly first 1. because throughly urged they put it off by accounting it a curious question and so restraine diligent searching under a colour of modesty 2. Secondly they plainly confesse they cannot satisfie such 3. Thirdly they urge exhort us to faith without reason 4. Lastly they turne us from searching after the originall to make a good end with it and that indeed is good counsell but in the meane while if this opinion be contrary to the truth and staineth God by consequence they must give others leave to doubt and to dissent For as it is ridiculous folly to neglect quenching to finde out who fired our house so it is a great wickednesse to lay it upon him that did it not 1. Not by the soule For if the soule comes immediately from God the question is how we come to be defiled with originall sin this infection cannot proceed from the soule for if God created it he maketh it exceeding good and it is not good to say God forsakes it before it sinnes or it sinnes before it comes into the body or God punisheth for anothers fault a good soule for a mans sin 2. Not by the body Againe it cannot be polluted by the body for neither can the body be sinfull without the soule nor yet if it could could the divine nature of the soule be corrupted by the body and if it could be yet not with originall sin 3. Not by union Neither can it be by the union of both for that is done by God And how can it possibly stand with Gods Justice to put a new created soule that is good and without sin into such a condition as wherein it shall be straight way liable to eternall damnation for the fault of another that doth nothing perteine unto it or how can it belong to a good soule newly created of nothing that not a soule but a man some thousand yeares since sinned Neither will it availe any thing to say it is created in the infusion and infused in the creation for that is all one as if we should say in plainer word It s made in the marring and marred in the making for being a spitituall substance and nature distinct from the body if it come from another principle it must have a proper existence of its owne before it can be made part of another and if not in time yet in nature I am sure it must first be before it can be united to the body Neither can it helpe to say it is Cods decree for that cannot be proved and being unjust is most justly disproved 4. By neither by law of Iustice insufficient But the last and best refuge is that originall sin passeth neither by the soule nor by the body but by the offence of our first parents who standing in the roome of all their posteritie as looke what gifts they ieceived was no lesse for their posteritie than for themselves so what they lost they lost also for their posteritie And therefore in the instant that God createth souls although he creates them good yet for Adams sin he deprives them of those supernaturall gifts which otherwise they should have had which deprivation although it putteth no evill into the soule yet evill necessarily followeth and hence is Originall sin The reason why This indeed comes somewhat nearer the matter for if it be granted that the soule is not propagated from Adam it must be granted withall that we are not guilty of Originall sin simply because wee proceed from Adam but by some other means as namely because he stood in our roomes and we are men as he was but yet this will not serve the turne neither For first it stands not with the Justice of God that Adams sin should be imputed to us any other way then as it is our own 1. It must be our owne that is as we sinned potentially in him it being Gods just ordinance in nature Rom. 11.16 that all things should be potentially in their principles and pertake of their natures secondly 2. Not by imputation onely it is confessed as the truth is that originall sin is not onely by implication as this is but also by propagation yea I will say more and yet according to the truth that it is not by imputation 3. Chiefly by pâ—opagation but onely in respect of propagation For if wee could be without sin of our owne as a new created Soule is his sinne could not justly hurt us True it is that God may justly punish all mankinde for the sin of Adam yet this is and must be his posteritie onely neither they for his sin properly
Ezek. 18.20 for the son shall not beare the iniquitie of the Father but because by his sin they are made sinfull or rather sinned in him and so for their owne sin are justly subject to the same punishment So that in truth propagatiō is the main if not the onely streame of originall corruption Now if wee receive onely the least parts of our selves that is our body from Adam which cannot be the subject of sin not onely because it wants the soule but because not parts but whole persons sinned in Adam how can this satisfie any reasonable man that it is possible for us to be guilty of Originall sinne if the soule comes immediately from God CHAPTER V. The meane chosen and the question resolved Further satisfaction needfull THis therefore is a most profound question full of wonderfull difficulties this is that intricate Meander and that endlesse Maze wherein St. Augustine wandered all his life long and could finde no issue and to conclude this is that wherein Divines to this day have rather shewed their modesty in not searching than their judgement in determining the truth If not rather too much searing least they should seeke too farre they have thereby failed in finding But how soever it is very commendable to walk soberly herein yet we may not through too much modesty leave a gap open to be trodden downe by the feet of beastly Atheists and therefore notwithstanding it is a Labarinth where it is hard to wade out safely yet we may and must indeavour to give satisfaction in such a needfull question The Authors apologie for this singularitie And here I most humbly crave leave to step a little out of the cōmon path or rather to make the same path straight which as to me it seemeth is a little crooked in this place bearing out against Philosophy on the one hand and Divinitie on the other and if force of reason doe not prove my assertion I will willingly beare the blame that is due which yet I hope cannot be much though I should erre First because it is a most difficult point wherein the greatest Clearkes can scarce tell which way to turne themselves Secondly because the premisses being confessed it can be no fundamentall errour Thirdly being in the meane it must needs be confessed neerer the truth at least them that which hath yet beene maintained by the most wise and godly of the antient Fathers in former ages Fourthly those opinions which I oppose were never maintained as necessary doctrines but onely as probable opinions Lastly I am not peremptory much lesse obstinate but willing to submit to better judgements and propound this onely by way of tryall as one that would gladly be a means to find out the truth How man propagates man That we may therefore saile even between this Scylla Charibdis seeing we see it can neither be meerely propagated by man nor yet immediately created by God my conclusion is that it is partly from both That is to say that the whole man consisting of soule and body doth propagate a creature like himselfe consisting of the same parts by vertue of that efficacious word of God in the beginning increase and multiply and the concurrence of his own immediate power therewith And that therefore God hath set a stedfast law in nature for the generation of mankind both soule and body as well as other creatures But yet partly mediately and partly immediately Mans propagation naturall himselfe having a more peculiar worke in this than in any other For besides this generall providence in conseiving the naturall order that himselfe hath instituted as the nature of the soule is more excellent Gods act in the production of the soule so answerable thereunto the act of his providence is more immediate therein than in any other creature whatsoever And thus the soule may be propagated as well as the body after a manner convenient to either nature God having so much in it as to make it immortall and man so much as to make if sinfull yet not as if there were any separation in their generation Soule and body not to be divided the body of the body onely and the soule of the soule onely for this is but to multiply difficulties without end no man being able to say directly here it is either for the one or the other but the whole of the whole generation being not of parts but of persons For nature it selfe teacheth that neither soule nor body can properly be said to be generated but the creature consisting of soule and body neither is there any thing that seemes to me more absurd than that when God and nature hath thus conjoyned them the Scripture alwayes speaking of the generation of the whole man and nature we see alwayes bringing forth the whole we should notwithstanding make a seperation fetching one part from heaven and another from earth and then vainely tyre our selves to bring both ends together againe How the soule is propagated of the soule Now if the soule and body may not be seperated in this case much lesse should we take upō us to assigne the proper cause of every effect herein and yet because such is the curiositie of mans nature that it will not otherwise rest satisfied if we must needs in reason distinguish what in nature cannot be severed I should thus determine The essentiall causes distinguished That the parents by Gods immediate assistance doe out of their owne spirituall nature informe their issue with a reasonable soule in the instant of conception for the preservation of humane kinde So that I conceive the power of God to be the externall efficient cause 1. Efficient who as he made the first soule immediately of nothing so by reason of the purity of it it can have no other externall efficient cause but his owne immediate power The procreating cause is the parents 2. Procreant who are as instruments in Gods hand to bring forth what how and when he please according to his own eternall decree The materiall cause is the spirituall matter of the parents souls 3. Materiall It will be said the soule is immateriall be it so then I say the soule is made of that matter which is immateriall For though it be not corporeall yet it is spirituall and being a spirit and not a body it is rather an act than a matter Mark this mystery so that according to the course of nature I confesse more is to be ascribed to the efficient cause yea so much that the latter is almost extinguished in the former And hence it is that though the soule be congenerated with the body yet by reason of the pure nature of it God being the efficient it is as neere to a creation as possibly it can be and as it were a meane between creation and propagation 4. Formall Touching the formal cause as it selfe is the forme of the body or rather
of the body instruments of unrighteousnesse and the whole man a slave to the devill and that from our first being even so farre as nature can reach as well potentially as actually ever since Adams sinne which groweth up with us from the wombe and in time if we live brings orth the fruits of unrighteousnesse in our thoughts words and actions by reason whereof we are not onely corrupt but guilty of Gods wrath and lyable to eternall damnation from our first being Now it is called Originall sin Why it is so called first because it was from the beginning even as soone as ever Adam sinned secondly because it is with us from the beginning even in conception as soone as we doe actually begin to be and thirdly because it is the beginning of all actuall sin whatsoever Howbeit in the Scripture it is called by other names Rom. 6.6 as The old man The body of sin Rom. 7.17.23 The sin that dwels in us The law of our members The sin that incloseth us on every side Heb. 12.1 Concupiscence Iam. 1.14 and the like And as we use the word it is sometimes taken more largely for the sin of Adam together with the guilt and corruption following it but usually more strictly for the corruption of nature onely consisting of the privation of goodnesse and inclination to evill before rehearsed These grounds being laid down we may make a full definition of it after this manner Definitie Originalis peccati Originall sin is the depravation of the whole nature of man consisting of the privation of originall righteousnesse and an inclination to all manner of evill derived from Adam to all his posteritie by naturall generation whereby they stand guilty of eternall death in which definition wee may see all the essentiall causes of originall sin the subject or materiall cause is the whole nature of man all men and every part of all men soule body understanding will memory affections senses and severall members of the body as they constitute the person of a man propagated from Adam The formall cause is the depravation of the same whereby every man is deprived of originall righteousnesse and prone to every sin that can be committed The efficient cause the sinning will of Adam the instrumentall cause naturall generation and the end and effect of it guilt and punishment misery and death here eternall damnation hereafter More briefly Originall sinne is by some defined to be the depravation of mans nature consisting of the privation of righteousnesse and inclination to evill contracted from the generation it selfe and derived from Adam to all his posteritie For as sicknesse is not onely a privation of health but also an evill affection of the body arising from the distemper of the humours so originall sin is not onely the want of righteousnesse but also an inclinablenesse to unrighteousnes arising from the sin of Adam and conveyed unto us by naturall propagation In a word it is our potentiall sinning in Adam whereby according to the law of nature we are both corrupt and guilty And so much for the generall nature of originall sinne Creation what it is Now for the second what Creation is we shall not need many words Improperly Creation is taken sundry wayes somtimes for the determination and decree of God to create as where Wisdome saith Ecclu 24. He created me in the beginning before the world that is he decreed to create and reveale me in the Church Sometimes for renovation changing not of the substance but the qualitie of a thing Ps 51.10 So David prayeth Create in me a cleane heart O God Sometimes for the naturall generation of the creatures Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Psal 104.30 and they are created And sometimes it is taken for the restauration of that which is destroyed Isa 65.17 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth But properly taken it either signifieth to make something of nothing or else to give formes to the matter unto which it hath no naturall power of it selfe And for that cause doe require an omnipotent hand to effect if so as creation properly taken belongs to God onely Neverthelesse for the most part it is used in the first sense and therefore creation is commonly defined thus Creatio est productio entis ex non ente or as Aquinas hath it Est productio rei secundum totam substantiam ex nihilo So that in the most proper sense a thing cannot be said to be created unlesse the whole substance be produced by the omnipotent power of God out of nothing and not at all unlesse at least he hath an immediate hand in the forming of it Propagation what it is Lastly For Propagation it is that most excellent and naturall faculty whereby a living creature by feede of generation begets his like for the continuation of the kinde It is a faculty commonly accounted a species of the vegetative faculty but is indeed the naturall perfection of a living creature whether vegetative sensitive or rationall and it is the most excellent and the most naturall faculty being ingrafted into nature with a speciall charge blessing from God in the creation and is therfore most desired and consequently most natural to all creatures that have life Gen. 1.22.28 whereby like begets like univocall which is most properly so called when as a creature brings forth the like to it selfe as a plant comes of a plant and a Lyon of a Lyon and aequivocall generation of unlike as when a plant or living creature is bred of putrefaction as Mice Flies Serpents and the like for the continuation of the kinde for nature aymeth at the highest perfection that can be even to continue all creatures for ever and therefore every creature naturally desires ever to be which because it cannot be effected in the individuals therefore it is done another way namely by propagation for to beget the like is after a sort to be ever And to conclude this is done by the seede of generation which as the faculty it selfe is most excellent so is the matter of it the perfection of mans nature as the seed of a tree the sap whereof hath passed through roote body branch leafe bud and all and so conteines the nature of the whole so is the seede of man the quintessēce of nature which having passed through all the degrees of concoction and conteining the whole kinde of man is reserved by nature in a place convenient for the procreation of another of the same kinde Now because this generation is the affection or rather perfection of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme a man cannot be said to propagate the matter alone but the whole creature so as to speake properly generatiō is not either of the matter or of the forme but of a certaine third thing consisting of matter and forme So that here it followeth that our propagation from Adam is
nothing else but the deduction of the whole man out of Adam according to the course of nature that is the turning of our potentiall being in him into act by naturall generation which is the onely meanes whereby Adams nature is derived unto us Difference betweene generatiō and creation And here to conclude it shall not be amisse to observe the differences between naturall generation and immediate creation the chiefe whereof are these First Creation is the worke of God by himselfe Generation is the worke of nature from God Secondly Creation is wrought onely by the word command of God by his onely becke and will generation is performed in a naturall order pre-ordeined of God Vide Polan Synt. lib. 5.6.2 Thirdly Creation is meerly of nothing not of any matter or substance but of nothing at all generation is of some matter pre-existing indeede old matter putting on new formes Fourthly Creation is done in a moment without any time being by an infinite vertue which is not capable of any time generation cannot be but in time being perfected by degrees and in succession of time Fifthly In Creation things are not made of the same substance with the creator but in generation that which is generated hath the same substance with the generator Sixthly Creation is performed without any motion or mutation but in generation there is both motion and mutation the same matter being varied into diversitie of formes Lastly the order of creation is one and of generation another for in creation the privation is before the habit power before act darknesse before light but in generation the habit is before the privation sight before blindnesse light before darknesse And so much for the generall description of Originall sin Creation and Propagation CHAP. XVI How the nature of the sin descending confirmes the soules propagation The nature of the sinne IT appeareth by the former description of Originall sinne which is proved by the scripture confessed by all that it is not onely a losse of originall righteousnesse but an hereditary infection or spirituall corruption which hath over-spread the whole nature of man which two as they are the maine things in originall sin so the one necessarily followeth the other For the soule ceasing to be good it must needs become evill and being turned out of the right way goes on in a wrong for it cannot stand still or be idle but must be doing either good or evill and therefore being deprived of goodnesse corruption follows as darknesse succeeds in the place of light The meanes of deriving it Whereas therefore some make originall sin to consist of guiltinesse corruption as the parts of it and to be derived from Adam by imputation and propagation guiltinesse by imputation and corruption by propagation it appeareth that guiltinesse is no part of originall sin but an effect of it and consequently that imputation is not properly the meanes of conveying it to us but an effect of the other And as that depravation or corruption onely is properly originall sin and guiltinesse comes onely by reason of corruption so propagation onely is properly the meanes whereby it is derived unto us and imputation is onely in regard of propagation For as we should not have beene guilty if we had not beene corrupt so sin should not have been imputed if it had not beene propagated And as we were potentially guilty in Adam because potentially corrupt so by like reason it followeth that it is now actually imputed to us because we are actually propagated from him I conclude therefore that the nature of this sin consists in the corruption of nature and the streame thereof runs in naturall propagation Objectiōs from the nature of sinne But here it will be objected that sin is such an accident as cannot by the course of nature be communicated to posteritie 1. It is nothing For if we consider the matter or substance of it it is indeed nothing it is non ens in rerum naturâ no substance for then it should be created by God but a meere of privation the want of that which should be and not any thing that should not be as darknesse is a privation of light not any thing that succeeds in the place of light For there is nothing in the dark night which was not in the day onely light is absent and such a manner of thing or nothing rather is sin said to be And if it should be grāted that it is somwhat more namely an evill qualitie besides that then it must needs be created of God as good qualities are it must needs be either in the soule or in the body yea in the soule and not in the body for sin is a spirituall thing if it be any thing 2. Not by the soule Now if it be a qualitie of the soule it cannot be conveyed to posteritie for such habits and indowments of the minde as are not engrafted into nature but happen from without as this did cannot be propagated according to the Proverbe Ex grammatico non nascitur grammaticus but they are gotten by art and industry and so they will grant that Adams sin may be derived to us by imitation but not by generation 3. Not by the body On the other side if it be a corporall and elementary qualitie besides that it cannot then be sinfull it cannot descend to posteritie neither because it is not inherent in the principles of nature but an externall accident which nature hath no sense of for what is nature the worse for Adams taking the forbidden fruit yea what if he had cut off his owne armes his children should not have bin borne without for nature followeth the first institution yea more if it had caused some distemper in the body yet it is not necessary it should be communicated to posteritie for all children have not the sicknesses of their parents how much lesse their sins then which are not naturall either to soule or body These things Ans I confesse have a shew of truth but I deny the power of it in them all for disproving originall sin not doubting to make it appeare that all these doe agree together to confirme this onely way of sinnes propagation 1. Privation of good For first let it be granted that sin in regard of substance is nothing but a privation of goodnesse then it will follow that it cānot subsist without some subject which must also be good because every substance is created by God It is in a good subject so that evill cannot be but in a good subject Againe being a privation it can have no efficient cause 2. Hath no efficient cause for to speake properly it is no effect but a defect rather And if evill can have no cause 3. It comes from a good God much lesse can it be caused by the chiefe good For God who is summum bonum being as the habit unto this privation
ingrafted into him at his first creation whereas our vices are neither such qualities Obj. 2. nor so ingrafted into our nature in the beginning and therefore though they might have been propagated yet it will not follow that these may To the first I answer Ans 1. that his vertues were no more qualities created by God than our vices are For God did onely so rectifie the will of Adam in his first creation that it had a disposition and inclination to good by the exercise whereof those habits of the minde are in time gotten which wee call vertues and contrarily from the evill disposition of the will proceeds those evill customes which wee call vices So that if I conceive right neither the one nor the other are qualities created by God Ans 2. And concerning the second the ingrafting of them into our nature at the first I answer that as God made Adam simply good by giving him an inclination unto good without evill so he gave him a free will to evill though he were good Neither was he at the first endued either with vertues or habits save onely that same habitu◠inchoatus which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a disposition or inclination wherby he was carried to good Adam had evill in power and goodnesse in act yet not so strongly but he could as freely will evill also whereby it came to passe that he had evill in power as well as goodnesse in act So that the seede and power of the one was ingrafted into his nature no lesse than the act of the other even in the beginning which power also we see soone after came into act as well as the other For if Adam had alike freewill to either it must needs follow that the one was as naturall to him as the other and consequently as easie to be propagated For however some conceive of it for my part I see no reason to perswade me that Adam was ever more inclined or had more power to good than to evill but that God made him as Ecclesiasticus saith Ecclus. 7.29 right that is as I understand it in equall condition either to stand or to fall to continue good or become naught which as it was the perfection of his nature and that innocent cōdition in which he was created so that it might appeare it pleased God so to order the matter that he fell from it by so small an inticement as an apple Now so farre forth as he had naturall power to sin by creation so farre sin might be derived by propagation all will confesse and why then when Adam through his owne folly and Gods just wrath upon him for the same had lost the former freedome together and brought upon himselfe a necessitie of sinning should not the corruption be propagated much more being so much more increased To conclude therfore it followeth by just consequence in reason and is manifest by the rules of nature that his corruption may and must be propagated to his posteritie now he is fallen as well and as much as his goodnesse might should have been if he had not fallen yea so much more by how much goodnesse more properly belongs to the nature of God and evill to the nature of the creature Wherefore having thus proved even from the nature of the sin it sell that it is most agreeable to the course of nature that originall sin should descend by propagation I proceed now to prove that it is most contrary to the justice of God that it should descend by a course of creations CHAP. XVII That a new created soule cannot justly be united to a sinfull body THe necessitie of the soules mediate propagation will farther appeare if wee consider the impossibilitie of the immediate creation thereof without injustice in God in respect of Originall sin seeing a soule new created can neither be justly united It justly united nor corrupted when it is united with the body for touching the former first I would know how it can agree with the goodnesse and justice of GOD to put an innocent soule as he createth it before it hath sinned into such a condition as wherein it shall he lyable straight my to eternall torments yea and perhaps presently damned for anothers fault Obj. it will be said that it is not lyable before faulty for so soone as it is united to the body it is guilty of Adams sin Ans 1. I answer first it must be shewed how a soule newly created very good can be in the fault of his sin otherwise it is unjust that it should be made guilty and much more punished for anothers fault Secondly 2. I must aske why then God makes such an union as whereby it shall be both lyable and faulty Obj. 2. If it be said that it was the eternall decree of God It was the decree of God which neither needed nor could be reversed for Adams sin and so the evill is not from God but from the vertue or rather vitiousnesse of the union which Adam caused by his sin whereby it cōmeth to passe that so soone as they are conjoyned both are guilty which is meerly accidentall in respect of God Ans 1. It cannot be proved that it is To this I answer First that wee cannot thus hide our selves under Gods decree for it cannot be proved that it is thus and therefore neither that it is the decree of God Indeed God did decree that all men should be corrupt and sinfull through Adams sin yet this must be by some just meanes which if it be by this course of propagation onely and not by creation then this not that is to be accounted the decree of God Now it appeareth by that which is and shall be said that this is the onely just and naturall way of sins conveyance for which cause God would have all men to proceed from one and not that other which for ought yet said seemeth to be an unjust course of mans devising And as it cannot be proved that it is Ans 2. It may be proved that it is not so it is easie to prove that it is not Gods decree because it is contrary to his word For if the soule be created good it must needs be unwilling to enter into this sinfull condition else it should even therein sin and none I hope will say now as some did of old that it sinned before it came into the body and being unwilling to enter It shall be inforced to sin God cannot justly force it into the body nor punish it for doing that which himselfe caused Now God forbid that wee should once imagine such a thought of him Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the world doe righteously Zeph. 3.5 Can Justice it selfe deale unjustly No verily in equitie it selfe there can be no iniquitie Againe 2. It shall be unjustly punished Ezek. 18.20 Take it the most favourable way
that can be and it must needs be and is granted by all that for a good soule to be thus united and set into such a condition is a punishment of Adams sin Now since Gods justice very nature proclaimes that the innocent child shall not be punished for the fathers offence how can a good soule be punished in so high a degree for the sin of another who was not the father of it no nor of the same kinde for Adam was not a soule but a man without injustice yea cruelty in God how justly might such a poore soule complaine of God in this case to be so farre from mercy as to be unjust and how justly may the unjust Anabaptists cry out of us as they doe that we make God the Author of sin The Lord hath taughtus in his word that he abhorres such courses for my part therefore I am so farre from beleeving this doctrine that I quake to thinke of it CHAP. XVIII That a soule newly created by God cannot be infected with Originall sinne 2. Not justly corrupted AS the soule cannot be justly united so being united it cannot be justly corrupted if it be immediately created For whence should the corruption come it must be either from the body or the soule or the union of both but it can be from none of these It is manifest it cannot be from the body for that alone cannot be corrupt and if it could it cannot corrupt the soule and if it could corrupt the soule yet not with originall sin 1. Not by â—he body That the body alone cannot be corrupt and sinfull may easily appeare by many reasons 1. It cannot be corrupt First even the thing it selfe declares that the simple substance of the body is no more capable of vertue or vice than a stone for sin can be onely in a subject that hath power to understand will and move of it selfe which the body of it selfe cannot doe but onely by reason of the reasonable soule So that the body cannot make the soule but it is the soule that makes the body sinfull Rom. 6.13 and so the Apostle also implyeth that our members are the soules instruments of sinne Although therefore the body may be cholericke melancholy c. all the world know that elementary qualities humors and affections are not of themselves sinfull but naturally good and so rather dispose to good than to evill Againe The body hath nothing in it of spirituall nature but onely that which is bodily and therefore cannot have sin which is of spirituall nature it being a spirituall evill even as obedience to God is a spirituall good Moreover if neither plants having life nor bruites having both life sense cannot be said to be sinfull because they want reason much lesse can the body the senslesse and livelesse body of man be infected with sin without the soule Lastly That which the body hath not first with that it cannot infect the soule in being united with it but the body hath not first in it ignorance unbeliefe c. in which the soules tainture originally consisteth and therefore cannot infect the soule thereby in being united with it and consequently not with originall sin neither 2. It cannot corrupt the soule But let it be granted contrary to all reason and truth that the body is first infected with originall sin can the body fasten the same upon the soule Nothing lesse And not onely because it is a spirit and bodies can work onely corporally according to their natures so as the impuritie of the body can neither affect nor infect the purest spirituall soule but also because the soule is the first mover and commander of all actions in the body Now if mens soules be created sound and sincere free from the contagion of sin every way absolute as were the soules of our first parents and so joyned unto their bodies why doe they not by vertue of that divine nature restore the ruine of that building which was defiled by the sin of Adam why doe they not clense and cleanse and purge the blots and filth of the body seeing they doe sit as Judges in the body and rule and guide it according to their owne pleasure If it be said that sin sometimes Obj. begins in the body as Davids eye when he saw Bathsheba bathing of her selfe it is easily answered For Ans 1. first the eye as a bodily part seeth not but the soule by the eye Oculus non videt sed anima per oculum Secondly His sin was not at all in seeing her but in lusting after her in his heart soule which lust conceiving I am 1.14 by consent brought forth death in act and therefore in his confession he ascends by this streame to the originall fountaine Psal 51.5 namely that originall sin wherein he was conceived Wherefore if the soule be created good and so infused into the body there is more reason that it should sanctifie the body than that the body should corrupt it and according to this doctrine it may much better be maintained that all men have originall righteousnesse because the soule comes from God than that we have originall sin because the body comes from Adam 3. It cannot corrupt it with originall sin But let this also be granted that the soule is corrupted by yeelding obedience to the body as Adam did to Eve yet we cannot have originall sin ever the more for this for the souls yeelding obedience to the body and following the sinfull motions thereof if any such there be is actuall sin and not that originall corruption wherewith the whole man is infected by descending from the loynes of Adam in whom as the Apostle saith We all sinned Rom. 5.12 and which onely was before proved to be originall sinne Not actually to commit something against the will of God is originall sin but that in-bred home-bred breathing of sin which is the spawne of all sin which if it be seated in the body how it can corrupt that new created pure soule without any provocation or inticement to sin cannot possibly be imagined Againe if Originall sin most properly consisteth in ignorance of minde aversenesse of will and perversenesse of affections none of which can be immediately in the body how can it give these things to the soule and that originall sin consists mainly in these besides the testimony of Scripture and all orthodox Writers it is manifest in reason for that from which actuall sin commeth in that doth originall sin consist now all actuall sin springs from ignorance unbeliefe c. and therefore therein especially originall sin must needs consist To conclude seeing the body alone cannot possibly have originall sin nor give that which it hath not Originall sin cannot possibly come by the body 2. Not by the soule Neither can it proceed from the soule if it be created good but it will be said it may for in the instant
of creation God depriveth it of supernaturall gifts for Adams sin which though it putteth not evill into the soule yet evill necessarily followeth and hence is originall sin But neither can I see how this can stand for first if God deprives it so soone as it is made it should be not onely absurd but a vaine worke to doe and straight way to undoe againe Secondly It should be unjust neverthelesse for he had beene as good never to have given it goodnesse as presently to take it away againe Thirdly Seeing they say it is created in infusing and infused in creating they must needs grant that he creates it without supernaturall gifts unlesse it be infused with them which is worse and so they cannot say if is deprived of that which it never had Fourthly I answer that if God createth it without those gifts which are supernaturall to us he creates it evill for so are we without supernaturall gifts and a man may as well imagine a God without goodnesse as a good soule without such gifts Fifthly However it be for creation or privation naturall or supernaturall goodnesse if God so makes it as it must needs be evill as they say he makes it evill for what is it to make an evill one if not to make one that cannot be good yea that is the greatest evill for to be necessarily evill is not onely nought but worst of all Sixthly This were unjustly to punish the innocent for the guilty as wee heard before Lastly though all this might justly be yet wee are never the neerer to originall sin For this is not our sinning in Adam but our being made sinfull for Adam So that if the soule be created good we cannot possibly be thereby infected with originall sin In the last place therefore it will be said that it comes neither by the soule not the body Not by the union of both but by the union of both and that we are deceived if we suppose it to happen through any physicall touching but because in the union we become Adams sonnes he receiving and loosing both for himselfe and us his sin is thereby made ours Verily Calvin was a man of an excellent judgement Calv. Inst lib. 2. c. 1. who seeing the former grounds unanswerable flyes to this as the last refuge yet with reverence to so worthy an instrument I must seeke for better satisfaction True it is that originall sin is neither puddle nor stench yet it is a spirituall Leprosie hereditarily descending from Adam to all his naturall posteritie and infecteth the whole man both body soule with all the parts and powers of both And I would know how if the soule be pure and the body sinfull the infant at first is halfe holy and halfe corrupt which is absurd and if both be cleane at the first can the uniting of them make both uncleane can two goods as both are confessed apart make one evill 2. Goods cannot make one evill nay rather they are so much the better being conjoyned according to that common saying Vis unita fortior neither will it serve the turne to say it is imputed and so we are reputed corrupt for so it can be onely if it be imputed onely in this 2. Imputation insufficient Indeed Christs righteousnesse is really ours by imputation For a voluntary institution Obj. as it is a covenant of grace Ans differs from a necessary course of justice in the order of nature it being lawfull to shew kindnes without cause but not to inflict punishment as afterwards we shall see besides it cannot be justly imputed neither unlesse the whole man be propagated as was before and shall be againe more fully proved But we are not onely guilty of his sin but by him really corrupt our selves For is originall sin onely imputed corruption no it is a reall infection also and that is it whose originall I enquire for which if it be neither from the soule nor from the body nor the union of both it is not at all this way but seeing it is certaine both by Scripture experience that we have both certaine it is also that we have our whole corrupt nature both soule and body from Adam CHAPTER XIX That Originall sinne cannot passe but by propagation FRom the impossibility of the soules creation wee proceed now to the necessitie of the propagation thereof in respect of originall sin the former being not more contrary to the nature of God then this is agreeable to the course of nature For first as by Gods ordination originall sin passeth from one to all mankinde so by propagation all mankinde proceeds out of one Secondly As originall sin overspreads the whole man both soule and body so according to the course of nature the whole man both soule and body is propagated Thirdly As originall sin is seated chiefly in the soule according to the Scriptures so the soul especially is propagated according to the course of nature Wherefore that the truth of the one may appeare in Scriptures as well as the other is manifest in nature I will prove first that Originall sin cannot passe but by propagation secondly that it cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be 1. The necessitie of proving this The first that originall sin can no way justly descend to us but by propagation being the chiefest must chiefly be proved and so much the rather partly because this being granted the other two will follow alone and partly because some are of opinion that wee may justly be punished for Adams sin though we had never beene borne of him even as when one brother spends the estate which he received for himselfe and all the rest And so indeed all must hold that hold the immediate creation of the soule else there can be no originall sin which course being as I thinke unequall is as far from God as God is from injustice 1. The scriptures teach this and none others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First therefore this may appeare by the cleare testimonies of the Scripture for saith the Apostle death passed upon all men by one man in whom all men sinned or because all men sinned in him Whence it is manifest not onely Rom. 5.12 that Adam was then all men that is the stocke and roote of all men naturally in whom all men were and so sinned in him and with him but also that his sin is therefore imputed to his posteritie because they were in him For if the death threatned to him for sin passed upon all because all were in him it is plaine that the sin for which that death was threatned was imputed for the same cause namely because we were all in him Now for the same cause it was imputed to us then when wee were in him for the same cause it is imputed now that we are out of him and therefore as his sin was then ours because according to the course of nature we were in
him so it is now ours because by course of nature wee are come out of him So that Adams sin is ours by imputation and by propagation but by imputation onely because by propagation yea so by this that the other may well loose the name For it is not the imputing of anothers sin to us which was not ours but by propagation that is made ours naturally which was before potentially onely And thus by the order of nature which is the rule we must goe by in this his sin is as truly ours we being potentially in him as his owne The Antithesis sheweth there can be no other This also farther appeareth by the Antithesis which the Scripture maketh betweene the first and second Adam Christ Jesus For saith the Apostle as in Adam all die 1 Cor. 15.22 so in Christ shall all be made alive And as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5.19 And againe If one dyed for all 2 Cor. 5.14 then are all dead Whence it appeareth that as Adam was the stocke of mankinde in whom all men were by nature so was Christ the head of the Elect in whom all they were by grace For this is that admirable way in consideration whereof men and Angels may stand amazed whereby God had from eternitie decreed to give his creatures a higher perfection by grace than he could possibly give them by nature for therein stands the opposition which alone well considered may happily put an end to this question that mistake being indeed the ground of this errour Mark this difference or rather similitude betweene grace and nature For they are deceived that thinke Adams sin to be imputed as Christs righteousnesse the one being by the ordinance of nature and the other of grace the one a voluntary institution of the creator the other a necessary operation of the creature the one a work of mercy wherein kindnesse must bee shewed without cause the other a work of justice wherein punishment ought not to be inflicted but upon due defect So that if we will here make a true Antithesis we must say that as in Christ wee fulfilled the Law suffered death and are now in the seate of salvation because we are in him as members of his body by grace so in Adam wee did eate of the forbidden fruit and are under the condemnation of hell because we were in him and are still members of his body by nature And thus Adams sin shall be as truely ours by nature as Christs righteousnes is by grace For as Christ derives his righteousnesse to his childrē by grace so Adam communicates his sin to his children by nature The meanes whereby Christ doth it is by spirituall regeneration Adam by naturall generation Now therefore I conclude that as Christs righteousnesse can be no way imputed unto us but by meanes of regeneration whereby wee are ingrafted into him and made members of his body by the ordinance of grace so Adams sin cannot be imputed to us or become ours but by generation whereby we descend from him as members of his body by the ordinance of nature The Law of Iustice required it Againe it is contrary to Gods law of justice that one should be punished for anothers fault yea even innocent children for their wicked parents much more many thrifty brethren for one prodigall Hence it was that the Lord abhorred that wicked proverbe of the Israelites Ezek. 18.2 3 4 The fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge as I live saith the Lord yee shall not use this proverbe c. the soule that sinneth it shall dye And againe he saith Vers 20. The son shall not beare the iniquitie of the father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne the righteousnesse of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall be upon himselfe True it is indeed the Lord will visit the sins of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation but himselfe saith it is of them that hate him Exod. 20.5 And not simply for their fathers sins but for their owne and the rather to afflict the parents who oft live to see the fourth generation Hence also the Lord made a law that the fathers should not be put to death for the children nor the children for the parents but every man should die for his own sin and it is indeed no lesse contrary to justice than to the Lords own practise Deut. 24.16 for who was ever more excellent than some that came of wicked parents who more wicked than some that came of good parents whereof not onely the Scriptures but also daily experience yeeld innumerable examples and perhaps the more to confute this errour On the other side what can be more just and naturall than that all things should be in their first principles and partake of their natures Mat. 7.17 nature teacheth that if the tree be evill so must the fruit be Rom. 11.16 and divinitie allowes that if the roote be holy so should the branches be And hence God is just in making this order might easily be cleared but neede not here to be disputed Christs righteousnes proves it Lastly The originall righteousnesse of Christs humane nature plainly proves it for he was freed from this corruptiō by his extraordinary generation and why should hee herein differ from us to free him from sinne if we be not hereby sinfull Againe if Adams sin be imputed unto us simply for that wee are men as Adam was because whatsoever he received or lost was for all mankinde as well as for himselfe it cannot be avoided but it must be imputed to Christ so far forth as he is man as well as unto us But God forbid that we shuld say Christ was sinfull Woe were us if this were true And yet true it must needs be if the being man will make us sinfull for that his sin is to be imputed to all men If I say the meere being man without being meere man will doe it We must therefore beware of this and hold that not the being a man as Adam was but our sinning in him and now being sinfully propagated from him is both the cause means whereby his sin is derived unto us from both which by his extraordinary generation Luk. 1.35 Christ is not onely free but sanctified from the womb and holy from his first conception as presently wee shall see CHAP. XX. That Originall sin cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be We sinned in Adam onely as we were in him IT being evident that originall sin cannot passe but by propagation I proceed now to prove that it cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be and this will easily follow upon the former grounds for as we sinned in Adam onely as wee were in him so we
are sinfull from him onely as wee are from him Wherefore as if the whole man was not potentially in Adam the whole man did not sin in him so if the whole man did not proceed from him the whole man cannot have originall sin from him For it is impossible wee should be in him and sin in him in that respect wherein we neither were in him nor could sin in him that i◠without the whole man and therefore if the whole man neither was nor could be in him nor from him the whole man neither have nor can have fin in him or from him So that if we say we were in him in our bodyes onely then they onely and not wee sinned in him yea even they did not sin in him for bodyes simply considered cannot sin as wee heard before and therefore to say wee sinned in our bodyes onely is as much as to say we did not sin at all Besides The whol man is the subject of sin it is manifest that neither the body nor the soule alone is the subject of sin but the person or whole man For if according to the rule of reason that be the proper subject to which the accident properly cleaveth then either the whole man is the subject of sin or else the whole man is not properly sinfull Obj. And why else is the law given to the whole man and the whole man rewarded or punished Ans according to his vertuous or vitious manner of living If any object Obj. 2. that the soule cannot be punished alone after death Ans 2. I answer Neither is it simply as a soule but as the soule of a wicked man If they reply that so our soules sinned in Adam not as our soules but as the soules of-men I answer nay they must answer themselves that according to their doctrine the soule never was before and so had no being in nature no not potentially much lesse was it the soule of a man and least of all could it sin in Adam 5. Scriptures Seeing therefore I could not sin in Adam but as I was in him I sinned in him in my whole person consisting of soule and body and that not by I wot not what imaginary imputation but really and truly as I was potentially in him by the law of nature it necessarily followeth that I was naturally and really in him in my whole person both soule and body and so have proceeded from him And hereto serve the former Scriptures in him all men sinned and Rom. 5.12 1 Cor. 15.22 in Adam all dye speaking of the whole person and therefore so must wee For what is mortall man that he should contradict the holy Ghost or seeke a new way when God hath chalked out the old Wherefore I conclude that as none can partake of Christs righteousnesse unlesse the whole man be regenerated and borne againe by and from his grace Ioh. 3.3 so none can partake of Adams sin unlesse the whole person be generated by and from his nature CHAP. XXI That the whole man cannot be propagated unlesse the soule be 1. The whol cannot be without the essentiall parts IN the last place it remaines to prove that if the whole man doe the soule also must needs come from Adam for this must also be proved be it never so manifest because some seeing the former grounds unanswerable would make us beleeve that the whole man may be said to be in Adam though the soule comes from God I deny not but it may be said but I cannot see how it can be said truely For what can be more false and absurd than to say the whole was in Adam but not the essentiall parts whereof the whole consisteth And indeed such a manner of being must be an idle imagination or nothing for it is impossible to be either really or rationally But what is their reason man gives the subsistence to the person and the soule comes from Adam quoad existentiam though not quoad essentiam But I deny this too man does indeed something in the subsistence of the person but that as they say is onely to provide I know not what a body it should be without a form which at the most is but the least part and therfore not the whole nor halfe 2. The conjunction if it put them in one case cannot yet bring them from one place But they say man conjoynes both natures together whereby it doth subsist by it selfe as a person But neither is this true for the conjunction is they say no body knows how long after cōception and therefore not man but the woman must doe it alone And yet hot shee neither for they say God doth create it in the infusion and infuse it in the creating But say that God gave the soule to the parents and they did unite them would it follow that the conjunction of both makes both to come from Adam Why doe they not rather come both from God and not at all from Adam it were more reason the greater should draw the lesser than the lesse the greater that the baser should attend the more noble rather than the most noble to waite on the baser verily if the whole man may be properly said to proceed from Adam because the body doth much more may the whole man be said to proceed from God because the soule doth The vanitie of this reason that the whole man comes from Adam because the body doth may appeare by the like If a lame man should have a woodden leg joyned to his body Simile might it be said his whole body grew in the wood because his leg did nothing lesse And yet is not the woodden leg so much inferiour to the body as the body is to the soule Any childe therefore may take away these stilts from such a lame reason as this is 3. It could not be in Adams time nor ours And if any will still urge it in good earnest let him tell me when the whole man was in Adam since the former Scriptures say plainly it was it must needs be in Adams time or ours yea in both but according to this doctrine it could be in neither so not at all It could not be in Adams time for the whole man had not being in nature nor not potentially in respect of the soule many hundred yeares after neither could it be in our time for Adam was dead likewise many thousand yeares before we had any being especially in respect of the better part of the soule and so consequently never was contrary to those Scriptures and the doctrine of originall sin It must needs be therefore that the whole man as well soule body forme as matter even the whole compound was potentially in Adam as the whole tree in the roote or seede many graines of wheat in one and so being naturally propagated from him doth partake of his nature both in soule and body Else marke
what absurdities will farther follow Absurdities That wee were in Adam in that wherein we were not 1. 2. we sinned without that without which wee could not sin 3. the whole man was in Adam and yet never came from him 4. and we left that in Adam which we never had in him viz. our soules 5. Then also Adam shall be still full of soules which yet he never had 6. and that I may not be endlesse in that which is needles who can abide a speech so contrary to it selfe the whole was in Adam but not that which is the whole All which are rather wholly to be laughed at than confuted in any part CHAP. XXII That the whole humanity of Christ was taken from the Virgin The use and order of handling this questiōn HAving thus shewed out of the Scriptures the necessity of the souls propagation by reason of originall sin I proceede now to prove it from the incarnation of Christ which yet is accounted the maine let why it cannot be propagated for because the Scripture saith He is like unto us in all things Heb 4.15 sin onely excepted and it is taken for granted that his soule was created of nothing this is used not onely as one of the chiefe weapons to maintaine the creation of ours but also as a shield to defend them from the force of many other Arguments which cannot otherwise possibly be avoided It is very necessary therfore fully to cleare this point and to shew both that it was mediately though extraordinarily produced from Adam as well as ours and how so it could be free from sin No Scripture for it That the soule of our Saviour was not immediately created of nothing may appeare first because it is more than is in the Scripture 1. The holy Ghost in the description of Christs incarnation saith nothing of any such thing no notwithstanding it is thought to be such a notable yea such a necessary way to cleare him from sin 2. And who dare say or think the holy Ghost should omit one of the most principal things in the mightiest matter that ever was revealed to men or Angels yea how contrary to all reasō is it 3. that when the foure Evangelists were so carefull to set forth every materiall circumstance touching his birth life death c. so as that which is wanting in one is supplied by another yet in this alone which is the chiefe of all they should all forget to mention it if there had been any such matter And why then should we thrust in our conceits of such things as never were heard of in the Scriptures For from the beginning of the world since Adam it was never heard that a soule was created of nothing and shall wee then father our imaginations upon the Scripture yea why or how dare man speake where the holy Ghost is silent know Deut. 14.2 that cursed is he that addeth ought to the word of God Scriptures against it But not onely doe the Scriptures not speake it but they plainly affirme the contrary as where it saith Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed 22.18 Where by seede is meant the whole nature of man which Christ tooke and how can it be denied then but his soule as well as his body was their seede Againe Christ was made of the seede of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 that is his whole humanity for it is there opposed to his divinitie As also where it is said God raised up Christ Act. 2.30 of the fruit of his loynes according to the flesh And how else can he be in all things except sin like unto us who as is abundantly proved before are mediately traduced from Adam both soule and body 3. Then Adams sin must be imputed to him Againe If his and all soules be immediately created by God then the imputation of Adams sin to all men must lay hold on Christ as man Neither is it sufficient to say that he is more than a man for if Adams sin be imputed unto all men eo nomine even because they are men it cannot be avoided but it must light upon him also so far forth as he is man And thus they must needs fall into that which they so much feare the making of Christs humane nature sinfull so slippery is it to walke out of the right way though never so warily 4. His soule and body conceived together This appeareth also in that his soule and body were conceived together both at once and not after the perfecting of the vegetative and sensitive soules as they say it is with us For this is generally confessed because the divine nature is immediately united to the soule and by the soule to the body so that unlesse we should say that his body did subsist by it selfe out of the divine nature before it was assumed or else that the divine nature was united with a brute body or unformed un-informed Embrio which no man I beleeve is so brutish to affirme it must of necessitie be granted so forcible is the truth that however it is with us his soule and body was conceived together Which being so it followeth by the same reason that if he be like unto us and we like unto him in all things except sin our soules and bodyes also conceived together as his was And if it be graunted that all souls are present at the first conception there will be small reason to thinke they come by immediate creation 5. His miraculous cōception Besides it is manifest from the manner of his conception for if his soule had come immediately from God he might have beene begotten after the common manner of men without sin but this could not be and therefore the former is not The connexion of the proposition is manifest for if his and all soules doe come immediately from God Originall sin cannot possibly come by propagation but either because God bereaves it of supernaturall gifts whereby it becomes evill or by the union with the body at the instant whereof it is guilty of Adams sin because the soule of man But seeing Christs soule so soone as it was was together with the body one person with the eternall word he must needs be exempted from the common condition of men and so even by their doctrine neither could be bereaved of those gifts nor guilty of Adams sin being more than a man Neither can it be said Generation not evill that there is evill in the act of generation for that is naturally good 1. and the soule they say is not then present 2. and the body alone is not capable of sin no though the soule were present if as they say man propagate the body onely Wherefore if his soule had been immediatly created by God
which necessarily serves to make up the perfect person of a sinner and so much so is sinfull and must and shall be punished in it selfe or Christ Sixthly There is no law given to substances but to creatures not to parts but persons neither can any other be accused condemned or convicted of sin Now where no law is Rom 4.15 there is no transgression saith the Apostle not simple parts therefore but onely persons can be sinfull Seventhly It is manifest it could have no actuall sin and originall sin is not of that nature as was before shewed that it cannot come to us neither by the soule nor body nor union of both if it be created and by propagation onely if it be propagated for which cause Christ onely was freed from the ordinary course of propagation Lastly If meere substances be sinfull it cannot be shifted but Christ was infected with originall sin for his substance was in Adam in as much as he was his sonne and so by this doctrine must needs be sinfull This doctrine not so well cleared of old But this seemes to be graunted by Divines and therefore they say that the holy Ghost did in the same moment that it was assumed cleanse that masse whereof his body was made from sin and so it was sanctified from the first conception in the Virgins wombe Whereof we give this reason that it became not the eternall sonne of God personally to assume unto himselfe a nature stained defiled and polluted with sin And farther they say that indeed Mary was a sinner but the masse of flesh which was taken out of her substance was at the same instant sanctified by the operation of the holy Ghost So that it is graunted that the substāce wherof Christs humanitie was made was sinfull before it was assumed This point not being so well cleared hath much troubled the Church in former ages being assailed with divers dangerous errours why else did the Marcionites and Manichees hold that Christ had an incorporeall or heavenly body which was not takē from the Virgin but only passed through her and what else caused Apollinarius to hold that Christ had no humane soule but only a body which was insould with the deity but to free him from sin 2. If it had been sinfull it could never have been sanctified That we may therefore fully cleare this truth from all such phantasticall opinions I deny that it can be truly and properly said that Christs humanitie was ever sinfull And not onely for the former reasons but because if it had beene sinfull it could never have beene sanctifièd the Sonne of God could never have beene incarnate nor any man ever saved For who should have purged away that sin the holy Ghost nay there is one onely Mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 and it is through his blood that wee have redemption Eph. 1.7 even the forgivenesse of sinnes Col. 1.14.20 and it is the blood of his crosse that reconcileth all things 1 Pet. 1.2 And againe Heb. 9.22 it is the sprinkling of the blood of Christ that giveth power to the purging away of sin and therefore also it is said that without shedding of blood there is no remission So that the bloud of Christ onely cleanseth from sin Yea but the holy Ghost also sanctifies It is true Obj. Mat. 3.11 Ioh. 3.5 Rom. 8.14 the holy Ghost doth now sanctifie the elect purg out sin infuse grace but all by vertue of Christs redemption For if he had not first I meane in the order of nature takē away the guilt by his bloud no man could have been sanctified by the Spirit Now this he could not doe by his own humanitie for it was impossible that he shuld purge sin by that blood which he had not therfore if it had been necessary that Christ should have takē away the guilt corruption of his own nature which could not be but by the same nature taken before he tooke it it had been impossible that ever Christ could have bin incarnate Yea but God is omnipotent True Obj. 2. but his omnipotency cannot work cōtradictions such is this we must take heed therefore how we hold this lest at unawares we shut out Christ from being a Saviour and our selves and all other from salvation by him Now then if his substance was never sinfull the worke of the holy Ghost herein was not to cleanse it from sin but to seperate that which was not sinfull in it selfe from a sinfull creature that so being free it might be assured by the divine nature subsist in the person of the same CHAPTER XXIV How Christs Incarnation was free from corruption How Christ was free from sin THis ground being laid wee have a faire way opened for the freeing of our Saviour Christ from sin in every respect although his soule and body came from Adam as well as ours which we shall more fully conceive by shewing how it was 1. How free and why it was so 1. His person free For the first seeing neither the substance of soule or body can be sinfull as it is substance but as both together are a person for as much as Christs soule body is no person but as it is united with the divine nature he namely his person never was and so never could sin in Adam And thus is his person free If then it be said that though his person was not His humanitie free nor could sin in Adam yet seeing his humanitie was in him and came from him else he were not true man that must needs sin in him It cannot possibly be neither 1. From imputation For as is said his humanitie without the divinitie never was a person and not being a person but substance only 2. By propagation he is thereby exempted from the common condition of men and originall sin could not justly be imputed unto him 3. His substance in the Virgin free Neither could it be propagated because he was conceived after an extraordinary manner without man and thus is his humanitie free also If it be further said that though he be not sinfull as Christ nor yet as having the meer substance of man yet he must needs be sinfull as his substance was belonging to the person of corrupt Adam in whom it was and afterwards to the sinfull Virgin that cannot be neither For though it were sinfull as a part of their persons yet as it was so it was none of his Christ never assumed the person of the Virgin for one person cānot be another though sin were not but he tooke her nature or substance only which because it was good in it selfe though sinfull as hers the holy Ghost did seperate it by an unusuall course from belonging to her person and so being by it selfe it was sinlesse and then it was instantly assumed by the eternall Word and so made the
conclude this so difficult a doctrine which as in the beginning it seemed so hard that no words could sufficiently explaine it so now me thinkes it is so plaine and easie that I feare nothing more than that I have insisted too long in the proofe of that which I thinke no man can or will deny yet considering that such is the curiositie of some in this age that are wittily acute and such also the difficultie and necessitie of understanding this doctrine aright that a mans life were well bestowed in giving full satisfaction therein this short discourse I hope will not seeme over-long to the judicious 1. The originall of the Soule I conclude therefore as before first that the soule is neither immediately created by God of nothing nor yet meerly propagated by man without his immediate power but that he hath instituted a naturall order whereby the whole man begets the whole man both soule and body and as well the one as the other Not the soule the body nor the body the soule neither the soule the soule alone nor the body the body alone yet in this order the soule the soule onely immediately but mediately by the body and the body the body onely immediately but mediately by the soule And thus in man the whole propagation the whole as concerning matter and forme as well as other creatures albeit in the one the immediate power of GOD concurreth as an efficient cause and naturall meanes onely in the other 2. â—he imâ—â—ortaliâ—â— of the â—â—â—le From this naturall yet divine beginning I also conclude the immortall nature and everlasting continuance of the soule For seeing it is not produced by the power of nature alone nor yet made of any corporall matter but spirituall both for matter manner wherein it excelleth all other creatures though united through Gods institution to the naturall generation it must needs transcend the condition of all corporall creatures as well in the end as in the originall and so can be no lesse than immortall though we goe no higher than the rules of nature 3. Originall sinne Hence also I conclude that all Adams off-spring are infected with that staine of nature which he contracted to himselfe by sin which is propagated from parents to children together with the whole man the subject thereof and that without any fault in God it being our act and not his our sinfull soules proceeding not from him but our sinfull parents and so not being corrupted by him but by our selver in Adam 4. Christs incarnation And lastly hereby also appeareth the puritie of Christs incarnation who though he were true man like unto us and made of the same substance both for soule and body yet was not propagated after the common manner of men to avoide that infection of sin which wee receive in propagation Reasons to beleeve without reason Now if any cannot conceive through the subtle conceit they have of it how the soule should minister any matter to the producing of another which I confesse is hardest yet considering that most of the most learned ancient Fathers and Schoolmen in former times have allowed aêreall bodyes even to the Angels themselves it cannot be thought absurd that I ascribe such a spirituall composition to soules as hath such a neere resemblance unto corporall matter and forme as may well stand both with this manner of propagation and the divine nature of the soule And if thus much be not granted it cannot appeare in nature neither how it can be united with the body the one being in my conceit as hard to conceive as the other But seeing I see the one is I beleeve the other may be And further I adde that that though this did seeme to disagree with reason yet wee ought rather to beleeve it than the other which we plainly see doe disagree with Religion But to conclude seeing wee see the reason why wee cannot see the reason let us not be so vainely curious to enquire of that which we know certainly we cannot certainly know let us content our selves a while not heathenishly to reason but Christianly to beleeve and shortly after this life Phil. 3.15 all these things shall be revealed unto us FINIS A Compendious Table of matters concernable in this TREATISE THE possibilitie of knowing the Souls originall 2 Cautions in searching it 6 What knowledg men have of spirits 14 Soules knowledge of it selfe 15 How the soule knowes inferior natures how superior 17 Angels know not our thoughts 21 How farre may be knowne of the soule 23 Twenty-one opinions of the soules originall 25 A censure of the opinions and the choice made 35 Of Originall sinne 39 How man propagates man 46 Gods act in the soules production what 47 How the soule is propagated of the soule 49 Soule and body be at once propagated 50 Soules double union 52 Causes of immortalitie 55 How man is sinfull and yet immortall 56 Texts of Scripture answered and explained 60 Reasons from the Scripture answered 75 From the creation of Adams soule 75 From the creation of Christs soule 85 Of propagation of spirits 91 How the soule is immateriall 93 Its incorruption 95 Its selfe-subsistence 97 It cannot be hurt by the body 99 It worketh inorganically 100 Whether losse of seede be losse of soules 100 How one soule proceeds from two ibid. Whether parents loose part of their soules 101 Of imperfect conceptions 104 Of the soules seed how generated 111 Spirits may be communicated and not diminished 121 That the soule is perfect in conception 230 Of Eves Creation 144 Testimonies of Scripture to prove the soules propagation what 181 The nature of Originall sinne 186 In it is nothing positive 188 Body cannot corrupt the soule 130 Originall sin it propagable 241 The whole man is received from Adam 158 Christs humanitie taken from the Virgin 259 Christs soule and body conceived together and how 263 How Christ was free from sin 279 Why the truth of propagation of soule hid so long time 284 Naturall reasons to prove propagation 285 Man can father no more than he begets 292 No father without giving the form 293 The faculty of propagation seated in the soule 306 The soules work in the Embrio 308 Rarenesse of conception 312 Of unnaturall copulations 317 Soules infused in adultery 318 Objections removed and cleared 324 Conclusion of all 331 FINIS
THE TRVE ORIGINALL OF THE SOVLE Proving both by divine and naturall reason that the production of mans Soule is neither by creation nor propagation but a certain meane way between both Wherein the doctrine of originall sinne and the purity of Christs Incarnation is also more fully cleared then hath been heretofore published By H. W. B. D. PSAL. 139.14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marveilous are thy workes and that my soule knoweth right well LONDON Printed by T. Paine and M. Symmons 1641. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE WILLIAM FENIS Viscount Say and Sele Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries and one of his Majesties most Honourable privie Councell SO great is the unhappinesse of our times right Honourable wherein men have been rather led by affection than judgement that a bare ipse dixit hath with most men casily gained the authoritie of a truth Hereby able wits have been discouraged Arts have lost much lustre and the World more light This ensuing Treatise being a poore Orphant that it might be secured from such prejudice the Epidemical distemper of our times I thought best humbly to shrowd under your Honours protection to the intent also that they who will not receive a naked truth for it selfe may embrace it for the beauty it shall derive from so noble a Patron Vouchsafe then Right Honourable as to accept it together with this my humble and thankfull acknowledgement the best coine I have of all your favours toward my selfe stock whence I sprang so to pardon my boldnesse in interrupting you The God of the spirits of all flesh blesse your Lordship your honourable Lady hopefull of-spring in the fatnesse of the earth and dew of heaven and after lead you to that place where the spirits of just men made perfect take sanctuary which shall be the daily prayer of Your Honours in all humility to be commanded ELIAS PALMER To the Reader WHether this Treatise composed by Mr Henry Woolnor were to satisfie himselfe rather or the curious world I cannot say He was early arrested by sudden death that sent him hence a prisoner to his grave These papers containing his Essay of the Soules originall were brought to mine hands for their birth all the interest I shall challenge therein A discourse that may be as profitable as it is desireable though in itselfe very sublime and remote from the senses yet levelled to the plainest capacitie that none I hope will depart it unresolv'd To speake any thing of this subject definitively is as farre beyond mine intentions as my businesse but shall as best becomes me humbly submit to the censure of the learned whose counsels and encouragements gave not only being but lengthned out mine intentions toward the Pressè As for others whose indigested notions cannot admit of such a speculation nor can therfore be competent Judges in a matter beyond their sphaere let them be sober as God distributes to every one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—om 12. a measure of or in the faith Farewell ELIAS PALMER The Contents of the severall Chapters handled in this Treatise Chapter 1. THE Vse of this Treatise and how it is to be handled Chapter 2. Whether the originall of the soule may be perfectly knowne in this life Chapter 3. Diversitie of opinions about the nature and the originall of the soule Chapter 4. The state of the question propounded with the chiefe difficulties on both sides Chapter 5. The meane chosen and the question resolved Chapter 6. Scriptures to prove the soules immediate creation answered Chap. 7. Reasons from the Scripture for the soules immediate Creation answered Chap. 8. Whether propagation can stand with the spirituall nature of the Soule Chap. 9. Whether the losse of seede be the losse of soules Chap. 10. How one soule can proceede from two soules Chap. 11. How the soule can be propagable and yet indivisible Chap. 12. How the manner of conception can stand with the soules generation Chap. 13. Testimonies out of the old Testament proving the soules propagation Chap. 14. Testimonies out of the new Testament proving the soules propagation Chap. 15. The propagation proved from the Doctrine of Originall sin Chap. 16. How the nature of the sin descending confirmes the soules propagation Chap. 17. That a new created soule cannot justly be united to a sinfull body Chap. 18. That a soule newly created by God cannot be infected with Originall sinne Chap. 19. That Originall sinne cannot passe but by propagation Chap. 20. That Originall sin cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be Chap. 21. That the whole man cannot be propagated unlesse the soule be Chap. 22. That the whole humanitie of Christ was taken from the Virgin Chap. 23. That Christs humanitie was never clensed from sinne Chap. 24. How Christs Incarnation was free from corruption Chap. 25. Naturall reasons proving the soules propagation Chap. 26. Reasons from the nature of generation Chap. 27. Reasons from the nature of the soule Chap. 28. Reasons from other considerations Chap. 29. An answer to some objections against this manner of propagation Chap. 30. The Conclusion recapitulating the summe of the premisses A TREATISE PHILOSOPHICALL Containing The true Originall of the SOULE Wherein is laboured to prove both by divine and naturall reason that the production of mans Soule is neither by Creation nor Propagation but a certaine meane way betweene both CHAPTER I. The use of this Question and how it is to be handled The difficulty and necessitie of this doctrine AMong the many intricate questions wherein the Church of God hath almost lost it selfe in this last age of the world there is none more difficult to know and more necessary to be knowne than that which concerneth the Soules originall The difficulty appeares in that so many worthies who have entered into this Labyrinth could never yet finde a cleare way out of it againe The necessitie in that there are so many necessary points in divinitie depending upon this which cannot be well cleared without it especially the doctrine of originall sinne and the immortality of the soule which are two of the maine principles of Christian Religion The possibilitie of knowing it But some perhaps will say who then shall undertake that which no man ever yet could performe It is true indeed I say so too and so in a manner say all And thus under a colour of modesty and humilitie wee are all hindered from seeking that which happily might otherwise be found I reply therefore on the coÌ„trary why should we not attempt it They are not alwayes the learnedst men that find out the greatest mysteries neither are they alwayes the greatest men by whom God bringeth the greatest things to passe Sure I am the promise is made to the godly Ioh. 7.17 not to the great it is Gods usuall course to produce the greatest effects by the most unlikely instruments that the power and praise may be of God 2 Cor. 4.7 and
of a part onely unlesse a woman may be a womā without a soule as some silly ones have foolishly imagined Fourthly Gen. 2.22 Zan. de operibus par 3. li. 1. c. 1 Gen. 2.23 those that hold the contrary opinion yet graunt that God did not onely take out the bare bone only out of Adams side but some flesh together with it which made Adam to say this is not onely bone of my bone but flesh of my flesh And it seemeth an unlikely thing that being done instantly by the almighty power of GOD he should take out a dry and dead bone onely and not the life spirit soule that was in it after the manner of the soules being in such a substance together with it Now it he tooke it thus whole together as it was the soule not being shut out of any part of the body how easie is it to conceive how God might miraculously in the first creation seperate the whole matter of her person from Adam onely and so of that bone as of a living body produce a new creature in a short time which now in longer time usc to be seperated from both sexes and so perfected by degrees in naturall generation yea why may not this originall affinitie between the two sexes give strength to the course of nature in producing more by uniting them againe in generation Fifthly This is the more probable because herein we have a clear type of Christs incarnatiō whose whole humanity as we shall herafter see was also miraculously made of the substance of the virgin onely as Eves onely of Adam a man of a woman onely as a woman of a man only both being insensible of it and as is probable both asleep◠when it was done Lastly when she was brought to Adam he confessed that shee was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh that is of the same humane nature that he himselfe was both for soule and body and also taken out or him Neither needed he to say soule or my soule for flesh is usually put for the whole person as where even in the same book it is said All flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6.12 which notwithstanding is chiefly in regard of the soule And least any should doubt of it he presently addes Shee shall he callea woman because shee was taken out of man where he plainly affirmes that her whole person was taken out of man and for that cause was named woman which cannot possibly be understood of the body onely I will therefore hereunto subjoyne the forgoing words of our Saviour Let no man seperate what God hath joyned together Mat. 19.6 and conclude that her whole person as well soule as body was taken out of man So that in this also that of the Apostle is true God hath made all of one blood even Adams Act. 17.26 Wherefore from this reason I also conclude the contrary that seeing in all probabilities Adams soule was of such a nature as thereon could be made another and ours are of the same nature that his was it is not absurd but very likely that others may be made of ours also The third and last reason of any weight is 3. that Christs soule was created of nothing and he is like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted ergo c. But first if it be necessary 1. From the creation of Christs soule that wee should be like unto him in all things except sin then it would follow that we should be conceived by the Holy Ghost as he was for that was without sinne especially if he might have been conceived without sin without that worke as by this doctrine it seemes he might as afterward wee shall see 2. Secondly it is not yet proved that Christs soule was immediately created of nothing yea it may be denied by the same reason for then wee should not be alike to him in all things except sin If it be said that if Christs soule had beene traduced by ordinary generation it must needs have beene sinfull I graunt it and therefore I say it was that his conception was extraordinary and supernaturall for it being impossible in nature for a Virgin to conceive without man therefore this was brought to passe by the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost who seperated a part of the Virgin for that purpose and supplied what was wanting in nature by supernaturall power which is signified in that it is said Shee was overshadowed by the holy Ghost But although he was not conceived after the manner that other men are that so he might be without sinne yet it followeth not from hence but his whole humanitie both soule and body might be made of the same matter that other mens are so as he be not corrupted with sinne Which how it may be we shall heare in the proper place where this also shall be brought as an Argument to prove the contrary so weake are objections against the truth Lastly Though it should be granted that Christs soule was immediately created by God as the first Adams was because it could not be propagated after the manner of mankinde without sinne yet it would not follow that all ours are therefore so as they collect Nay the contrary plainly appeareth for for the same cause that his must be created immediately to be without sinne ours must be mediately that they may be sinfull and tor the same cause he cannot be propagated without sinne we cannot be sinfull unlesse propagated And thus much for the Scripture and reasons drawne from them to prove the immediate creation of soules Whereby all men may see upon what weake grounds this opinion is fatherred upon the Scriptures And now I am to encounter with the other troope of Arguments taken from the impossibilitie of the soules propagation CHAP. VIII Whether propagation can stand with the spirituall nature of the Soule Objection ordered From the probabilitie of the Creation proceed wee now unto the impossibility of the propagation of the soule And indeed the reasons oppugning the soules propagation are very many and forcible and such as doe sufficiently prove that man cannot of himselfe alone without some more special work of God propagate his like as beasts doe theirs 1. From the nature of the soule The reasons that wee may not be confounded with the number of them are either such as do more specially respect the nature of the soule not without some respect to propagation or else such as doe more specially respect the nature of propagatiō not without some respect to the soule But before I come to the particulars the generall answer to all may be this 2. From the nature of propagation That all naturall reasons are taken from corporall generations and so doe onely prove that soules cannot be propagated as bodies are which is not denyed For neither doth the body propagate the soule neither yet is it propagated after a bodily manner but the whol