All men are born into the world with sinful natureâ— now this defilement of our natures though sinful no man can help therefore it is not their sin but their affliction Here is a sinful nature a sinful defilement of nature and yet no sin but an affliction only Let such confusion be the â—ot of all that oppose Gods sacred truth Can the nature of man be defiled and sinful and yet he not a sinner yea but no man can help it therefore it is not their sin I answer This defilement of humane nature came by that sin that man might not have committed he might have helped it if he would Yea moreover Original sin is habitually in the Will as the subject thereof as well as other faculties of the Soul and therefore is voluntary and every particular person is to be accounted and truly is the immediate principle as well as the subject the Author as well as the possessor of his own individual Original sin or corruption of nature even as a man is of his natural faculties or acquired habits or as Adam himself was of â—his Original Sickness or Disease in his own person as the Learned Voetius asserts in his first Book of Select Disputations p. 1105. And it is by reason of this defilement of nature that we are by nature the Children of wrath which could not be if it were not our sin Eph. 2. 3. And on this ground the Lord Christ asserts the necessity of regeneration and that without it none can see the Kingdom of God Joh. 3. 5 6 7. Mr. C saith farther And cause we have to bewail it as our affliction but not as our sin so the Apostle doth Rom. 7. 24. It is consenting to it which is the sin v. 15 16 Jam. 1. 14 15. when persons consent to covetous and worldly lusts to proud envious and disobedient lusts this is the sin that will usher in the second death Original guilt and stain only brings under the first death but not not the second as distinct from consent Original sin may be considered either in the unregenerate in whom it reigns and is wholly unmortified or as remaining in the regenerate though mortified and spoiled of its reigning power The unregenerate are under the power thereof in all the faculties of their Souls It is blindness and vanity in their minds hatred of God and obstinacy in their wills c. and they are content to be commanded by this principle and the first moral acting of the Soul is influenced thereby Psal 58. 3. and in them the lustings of the flesh are never resisted from any true hatred of their sinfulness though on other accounts as they are apprehended destructive to themselves one way or other they may be so in some particular actings thereof But in the regenerate there is a contrary principle even the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus that sets them free from the Law of sin and death so that they obey not the flesh in the Lusts thereof and these as they are by the power of the spirit of Grace delivered from the service of sin so are they also by the efficacy of Christs bloud saved from the condemning power thereof There is no condemnation to them Rom. 8. 1. But it is not because in-dwelling sin deserves none But because Jesus saâ—eth them from the wrath to come Now such an one is personated by Paul Rom. 7. unto whom all sin is an afflicting burthen and the lustings of in-dwelling sin which wâ—re opposed by the new Creature he complains of as his greatest affliction bâ—t not as his affliction only as outward trouble and persecution was but as his sin also Nay therefore it was his affliction because his sin and so he calls it about ten times in that Chapter and as such bitterly bewails it Lâ—t the Text be consulted for proof hereof In me saith he that is in my flesh in me so far as not renewed by Grace dwells no good thing Now sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— privation of that Good and Holiness that the Law requires and this saith the Apostle is in me and yet Mr. C. supposeth he acknowledgeth no sin but this may be in a rational Creature and he not a sinner Yea the Apostle confesseth that he was greatly hindered in his duty by the working of his corruption and at last flies to Christ for deliverance therefrom and yet shall we say he owneth no fault all this while As for Jam. 1. 14 15. The evident scope of the Apostle is not to teach men to justifie the wicked lustings of their hearts as Mr. C. doth but to prove that the spring of all the wickedness of man is in his own Breast and it will be in vain for him to think of shifting off the blame to any other It is granted indeed that the Apostle saith Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and that this conceiving of sin is by the consent of the will agreeing to the Commission thereof but by sin here it is evident that actual transgression is intended and what saith the Apostle of this Lust verily That it tempteth draweth away the Soul from God and enticeth it to sin and that it worketh thus as a principle in the Soul it is a mans own lust Shall we then suppose actual transgression to be a sin and the working of that principle in a mar that disposeth to it not to be so Hath God no regard to the hearts and principles of men and the habits of their Souls do not they come under his Law or is not the habit of Grace Grace as well as the exercise thereof and a man denominated Gracious therefrom and here â—ppositorum par ratiâ— In plain terms to suppose the lustings of a corrupt heart after all wickedness is no harm unless they be fully consented to is impious As to that which he adds concerning Infants and Idiots To suppose them no way concerned in sin as he doth and so well enough without Christ is like the rest of his Doctrine This I say because the Scripture saith it which declares all to be under sin even those that have not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression viz. actually and all sin to deserve wrath That neither Infants nor Idiots can stand before God without a Mediator They have sin enough to damn them but there is Grace enough in God and Merit enough in the bloud of Christ to save them unto which and not their own innocency they must be beholding for salvation The 5th thing he insists on to prove his opinion is Gods expostulating with men to convince them of the equality of his ways That the ways of God towards the Sons of men are full of Equity and Grace is evident from what I have already proved in opposition to his errours and to his harangue about it I shall only say There is no need for him to speak wickedly for God His righteousness is
Believe slays my heart It is my duty I confess and ever to be admired is Grace that found out such a remedy But oh my unbelief I am shut up under it what shall I do whether shall I flee Lord Faith is thy Gift and by thine Almighty power it hath been wrought in some such as I am Oh magnifie Grace in me a lost Creature even me also renew my Soul change my Heart make me a Believer work in me both to will and to do of thy good pleasure else I may as â—â—â—n reach Heaven with my finger as Believe my impotency my blindness the perverseness of my heart is so great I must confess O Lord thou art just if thou damn me but oh pity and save a Soul without might that is now sinking under thy wrath if free free Grace prevent not by working in me what thou requiâ—â—st of me I return to Mr. C. who will now give us instances to illustrate his former assertion and that he may take this opportunity to let out more of his poisonous Doctrine chiefly insists on original sin which he endeavours to perswade men is an harmless thing and of it self lays them under no more guilt then doth a fit of sickness or any other affliction of the like kind that no man can help c. only thus much he grants It s true the first death is come on all men by Adams transgression they having the same original nature of sin and death it s come into all men as a Judgement for the first transgression but not as a sin to the second death Although it may not be easie to find out any good sense of these words the Original nature of sin and death yet it is easie to understand what is the drift of his discourse which he also farther explains anon and which I before touched And therefore to prevent him before I examine what he saith I will briefly propose the truth concerning this point as it is taught in the Scriptures Rom. 5. and other places viz. Job 14. 4. Psal 51. 5. Joh. 3. 6. c. From whence I gather 1. That Adam in his primitive state was to be considered as a publick person in whom all mankind that in an ordinary way of generation came of him were and in whom they sinned and fell when he fell And they are to be considered in him legally and naturally 1. Legally as he was according to the terms of the Covenant in which he stood related to God their representative and so received his perfections or original righteousness for them as well as for himself and they as well as he lost it by the fall 2. Naturally as he was the root of all mankind which were virtually in his Loins when he fell So then 2. Original sin is either Imputed or Inherent The imputation of Adams sin to his posterity by which they are most justly accounted to have sinned in him who was the root and both generative and faederal principle of mankind is in some sort the meritorious cause of the inherent pravity of the humane nature derived from him which is diffused through all the parts of the Soul and is a just punishment for the first offence by which we are turned away from God and disposed to all wickedness it being the root seed and principle of all actual transgressions and sins and is therefore so frequently by the Apostle Paul called sin in a way of emphasis and the flesh of which all the abominations that are in the world are the proper fruit and off-spring and are so represented by him Rom. 7. 8 c. ch 13. 14. Gal. 5. 19. Col. 2. 11. Eph. 2. 3. 3. When therefore we affirm with the Apostle Rom. 5. 18. That by the offence of one Judgement came upon all men unto condemnation neither doth the holy Ghost in that Text nor we intend to assert that any are actually damned for Adams particular fact but That by his sin and our sinning in him by Gods most just ordination we have lost original righteousness and so as darkness necessarily is where light is taken away or denied and sickness where health is not contracted that exceeding pravity and sinfulness of nature which deserveth the curse of God and Eternal damnation and it is inherent uncleanness that actually excludes out of the Kingdom of God From what hath been said it is easie to gather how pernicious Mr. C's doctrine is who teacheth that Original sin exposeth only to temporal or bodily not Eternal death The Apostle constantly affirms Rom. 5. that it is the death and condemnation that Christ saveth his people from which surely is the second not the first death only which by our fall in Adam we were exposed to and guilty of But why doth not Original sin deserve the second death Is it because Adams transgression was but trivial certainly the aggravations of his sin were exceeding great There was contempt of God dis-belief of his word pride breach of Covenant Theft Murther c. all combined in that one sin so that a greater the sin against the holy Ghost excepted and â—ore 〈…〉 ex evi 〈…〉 e of the Sons of â—â—n were ever guilty of But if 〈…〉 had 〈…〉 n There 〈…〉 in in â—â—s own nature so small but ratione obj 〈…〉 in that it is â—â—ainst an infinite Majesty it deservâ—â— Eveâ—lasting p 〈…〉 shment a◠〈…〉 ry one that fears God and knows his teâ—rour 〈…〉 Is it because â—â—e corruption of our nature derived from Ad 〈…〉 â—t a small thing who trembles not at such a thought that haâ—â—â—ot cast off all sense of a Deity and the holiness thereof We havâ— before proved That it is the spring of all the evil that is done â—â—der the Sun it is in its own nature a principle of enmity to Gâ—d that from whence the heart of man is denominated to be decâ—i 〈…〉 above all things and desperately wicked If there be any thing therefore in what he saith besides his bold affirmation it is only this Because it is a Judgement for the first transgression â—t cannot be a sin to the second death But he may learn from the Scriptures that God oft-times punisheth sinners by giving them up to sin and yet that sin which hath also in it a punishment of former transgression will sink a Soul under divine wrath as well as any other Lâ—t him take for instance Rom. 1. 21. ad finem 2 Thâ—s 2. 10 11 12. I thought in my reply to this and what followeth to have shewed how Mr. Collier in some things takes the Pelagian notion of Original sin in effect plainly enough denying it and also how in asserting the defilement of our nature not to be ouâ— sin he agrees with Bellarmine and other Jesuites in their opposition to the Protestant Doctrine in this point But I must be brief and shall therefore content my self only to shew his repugnancy to the truth of God in the Scripture Thus he goes on
Eph. 2. 8 9 10. 3. The meritorious cause of our Justification is the Obedience of Christ both passive and active and our actual Voet. Select Disput pars 5. p. 281. Justification is the effect or consequent of the imputation thereof unto us Justification in the formal reason thereof doth speak two things 1. A discharge from condemnation or the remission of sins which was purchased by the death and blood-shedding of Christ Gal. 3. 13. Eph. 1. 7. The benefit of which purchase râ—dounds to us because of Gods reckoning upon our account or imputing to us what our surety suffered in our stead Isa 53. 6. 11. 2. The adjudging of us to be Heirs of and so inrighting us in Life and Glory for the sake of Christs active Obedience imputed to us in like manner Rom. 3. 22. ch 4. 4 5. 5. 19. Gal. 2. 15. ch 3. 11 12. 4. True and lively Faith whereby we receive Christ and his benefits freely given of God to us and rest on him and his Righteousness is the instrument of our Justification Joh. 1. 12. Rom. 5. 17. So that Faith alone justifieth though justifying Faith is never alone but worketh by love and that Righteousness for the sake of which we are justified before God was wrought out and fulfilled only by Christ who was made sin for us although he knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him And therefore in the business of Justification Faith is opposed to all good works as exclusive of them from any influence into the obtaining of our pardon and acceptance with God Rom. 3. 20 21 22. v. 28. chap. 4. 4 5. Gal. 2. 16. ch 3. 11 12. The first mention of this Article that I meet with in Mr. Colliers Book is ch 1. p. 12. where after some boasting of his clear stating the matter in his Body of Divinity he thus writes If any persons dare to maintain that any are justified before God without Faith and Holiness as the terms thereof though not the deserving cause I must leave them to their own understanding without all Scripture grounds for my own part I fully on good grounds believe the contrary Notwithstanding Mr. Colliers swelling words of vanity and contempt of the understanding of others I must tell him even these words are not so clear and scriptural but that they give just occation to suspect his own understanding to be dark and his judgement to be unsound For although true and justifying Faith is pregnant with good works and whosoever is justified is sanctified also and that Faith considered as a Grace inherent in us belongs to our sanctification yet doth not the Scripture any where allow good works the same influence into our Justification as it doth unto Faith which is a clear evidence that it is not the act of believing â—â—r any other holy duty for which we are justified but that in this business Faith is to be considere as relative to Christ and that it is the object of Faith apprehended thereby on the account of which its said to justifie And this Mr. Collier cannot but own if he understands what is asserted by himself in his Bodâ— of Div. concerning the imputation of Christs Righteousness unto us in order to our Justification before God For if we are justified freely by Grace and are presented without spot before God in an imputed Righteousness then can our good works have no interest in the reason of our acceptance with him And indeed if this were not so we could not be justified at all forasmuch as the Lord is of purer eye then to behold iniquity and our sanctification is imperfect so that if all our Righteousnesses so far forth as ours be examined in strictness of justice they will be found but filthy raggs a Covering too narrow and a Bed too short Yea if those that plead mosâ— for the interest of good works in our Justification would seriously consider what themselves dare abide by before the tremendous tribunal of the great Judge they must all fly to Bellarmines tutissimum est and put an end to this controversie by acknowledging that they dare not venture into Gods sight nor pass out of the World to his Judgement-seat in their own Righteousness But indeed there is another principle laid down once and again by Mr. C. in those Chapters of his Book already examined which if true renders all discourses of deliverance from wrath to come by Christ needless and without ground It is this That the penalty of the breach of the first Covenant was only temporal death and Eternal damnation is inflicted on men only for sinning against the Gospel the Law of Faith Now if this were true Besides that in some respects it renders the condition of those that never heard of Christ more eligible then those who live under the sound of the Gospel 1. If there be no Law threatning Eternal death Ferg Differ of Moral Virtue Grace p. 107. but the Law of Faith then there is no such thing as forgiveness and remission of sin in the World For the Gospel denounceth damnation only against final impenitency and unbelief and as these are not pardoned nor pardonable so on the other hand if there be no Law threatning Eternal death besides the Gospel then is there no other sin we need forgiveness of 2. If this be true Then Christ never dyed to free any from wrath to come which yet is plentifully asserted in the Scriptures wherein we read also that his death was for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Covenant Heb. 9. 15. For it is non-sense to say that he hath freed us from the curse of the Gospel yea it is a repugnancy unless you will introduce another Gospel to relieve against the terms of this nor will that serve the turn unless you likewise find another Mediator to out-merit this Thus Mr. Ferguson in answer to one of Mr. Colliers mind So then if Mr. C. will abide by this notion and the just consequences thereof his sense of our Justification must either be contradictory to himself or else very corrupt and unsound Another passage that hath a bad aspect this way you meet with Addit Word p. 50. where he gives this reason why his supposed deliverance of the damned will not extend to any degree of Glory but only a deliverance from pain and misery For they are under no promise of reward of Good works because they had none That God will graciously reward the good works of Believers is granted so that besides that joy and glory that all Saints have an immediate right to by virtue of their interest in Christ every one shall receive a superadded Crown according as his work shall be which layeth a foundation for our believing the enjoyment of different degrees of Glory among the blessed in another world But to suppose as Mr. C. here doth That the admission of persons into the Kingdom of
5. which if admitted gives this interpretation of the place That although by Christ believers are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses yet in the Gospel is there no remedy provided for them that sin against the holy spirit but that transgression remains unpardonable both under the Law and under the Gospel Nay moreover if we allow Mr. C. that forgiveness in the world to come is in these words inâ—imated yet neither will this relieve him for the Apostle speaks of the blotting out of the sins of Believers at the coming of Christ and it is certain that then the sentence by which they are now absolved will be published before men and Angels and they possessed of the utmost advantages accruing to them by their pardon so then declaratively they are forgiven in another world But none have or can have an interest in this forgiveness but those that have repented and been converted in this world Act. 3. 19 20 Indeed if we allow Mr. C. this notion That sinners shall be forgiven after they are damned we must grant him more then what he yet openly pleads for viz. That they shall not only be delivered from the positive part of their punishment but the negative also For he whose sins are forgiven is a blessed man and certainly interested in the favour of God But it is in vain to expect that notions so opposite to truth as Mr. Colliers are should be brought to any consistency In p. 48. Mr. Collier forms and answers this Objection This Scripture only supposeth that on repentance all such sins may be forgiven not that they shall be forgiven without repentance In his answer hereunto he grants That we may not suppose the forgiveness of sin first or last to be without repentance It seems then that the forgiveness in another work which Mr. Collier dreams of is attainable on the same terms on which it is offered in this and no other which is not only repentance but also faith in the Lord Jesus So that according to his principles after the Judgement is past sinners are still upon the same terms with God as they are now in the day of his patience Then which supposition nothing can be more false and repugnanâ— to the Scripture Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation And if poor sinners do not seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near Isa 55. 6. it will be too late in another world for then although they call upon him he will not answer they may seek him early but cannot find him See Prov. 1. 24-31 When death hath once turned us off the stage of this world our day is past and the night is come wherein no man can work Joh. 9. 4. Eccl. 9. 10. There will be no more repentance unto life then or possibility of changing our state but every man must Eternally reap the fruit of what he hath sown in this life And as there is no promise for the damned to hope in or Gospel to be preached to them so neither shall they have any more a call to repentance or tender of mercy for ever He adds And that there may be forgiveness and acceptance after death seems farther to appear else what means 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. with chap. 4. 6. In chap. 3. 19 20. it s said By which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient c. Thus far Mr. C. repeats the words but omits the rest which are when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight Souls were saved by Water Mr. C. is here quite started from the thing in Question viz. Whether the damned may be released from their torment after the day of Judgement and instead of proving that talks of forgiveness after death before that day come which is short of the task undertaken by him though as contrary to the whole tenour of Scripture The meaning of the words wrested by him so far as concerns the business in hand is That Christ by his spirit in Noah for thereby were the Prophets of old acted 1 Pet. 1. 11. who was a preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 5. went and preached to the old world whose spirits for their disobedience were now in prison reserved to the Judgement of the great day But against this two things are objected by Mr. C. 1. It is said he went i. e. Christ not his spirit only by Noah The Text saith indeed He went but fully explains also the manner how he went viz. by his spirit as God is frequently said to speak to those unto whom he sent his Prophets so is Christ here said to preach to the old world by his spirit in Noah 2. He does not say he went by Noah to the people of the old world but he went and preached to the spirits not persons in prison Noahs preaching was to persons living this to the spirits in prison The former part of this Objection is answered already and the scope of the Text doth inforce the sense I have given of it and whereas Mr. C. saith this preaching was to the spirits not persons in prison c. it is a meer quibble for the Apostle speaks of them according to their present condition when he wrote this He doth not say they were spirits in prison when preached to but that the spirits of thâ—se persons were now in prison unto whom Noah preached while they lived in the world And therefore that suggestion of Mr. Colliers is utterly groundless That it s greatly doubtful whether this be it which is here intended But however if it were only doubtful to him it leaveâ— him inexcusable in his bold adventure to pervert it as he doth Certainly if the time of the preparation of the Ark was tâ—e time of Gods long-suffering towards them unto whom Noah preached by the spirit of Christ there was no pardon to be expected for them or offered to them after that time Neither can any reason be given why this should be restrained to those that were disobedient in the days of Noah if ever the pardon of sinners after death had come into the Apostles mind for we may not suppose that these were priviledged above all others that dyed in their sins And although Mr. C. saith a little after That this doth â—ot justifie the descending of Christs Soul into Hell as some hold yet it must necessarily infâ—r That Christ in person descended into Hell which is as absurd if not more 3. And especially compare this with ch 4. 6. which seems to be the same with this For for this cause also was the Gospel preached to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit Where the Apostle states these things 1. That the Gospel was preached to