For deciding or defining wherof weigh thes three conclusions 1. That a Beleever being in present state and use of holy means tending to salvation and out of tentation in the peace of a good Conscience through Faith in Christ may by the testimony of the Holy Ghost hav a comfortable assurance of Salvation which begets trusty fervent lov and thankfulnes to God specialy when he is neer the end of his race or point of death So S. Paul by inspiration saith I am now ready to be offred up I hav sought a good 2 Tim 4. 6 7 8. fight finished my cours and kept the Faith Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousnes This place Lutherans press against Papists who wil hav al by doubting and none certain of his present condition no not at best But he that hath right knowledg of God tru Faith stedfast Hope lifely Lov and awful Filial fear with an holy trade of Life he may rejoyce in God with comfortable confidenre and affiance of perseverance to the end 2. That for time to com specialy when we hav probably a long race to run and divers dangers of wild wonton Youth to pass we cannot hav infallible certitud of future or final persevering but must confide in Gods Grace 1 Cor. 10. 13. and Goodnes that he wil assist if we apply al our indevors to De Civ c. 11. 12 continu in it Hereof S. Austin speaks We cal them blessed whom we see liv wel with hope of future immortality and without such crimes as make shipwrack of Conscience who though they may rely on the reward of Pe severance yet are not sure of persevering For who knows certainly he shal continu in doing righteousnes to the end except he be assured by som revelation from him who is not pleased in his just secret judgment to inform al touching this point though he deceivs none S. Ambros thus David saith not I offer the sacrifice De bono moâ—â— c. 3. of Prais but wil offer shewing or signifying that to be a perfect sacrifice when every one freed from the fetters of this Body shal stand before the Lord and offer himself a Sacrifice For before death can be no perfect Prais nor can any be truly extold in this life when his latter times are so incertain S. Bernard Serm. 1 in Seâ— tuag also Who can say I am one of the Elect predestinat to Life or in the number of Sons sith we hav yet no certainty but we may be comforted with hopeful affiance and not tormented with despair or doubting for som signs or marks are given that such may be sure they are Elect which hav them for this caus 't is necessary to be stil in awful fear and humbled under Gods hand sith we know in part what we are at present but not what we shal be which is impossible to know therfore Let him that stands take heed lest he fal for presumption is so perilous as desperation 3. That certitud of salvation cannot be infallible in this life as S. Austin attests What De Cor. Gr. 13. Beleever so long as he livs in this fleshly Tabernacle can presum to be predestinat 't is needful to be conceled in this life wher puffing up is to be shunned sith so great an Apostle was buffeted by Satan lest he should be puf'd up Many such things are spoken for the usefulnes of this secret lest any shal presume for even he that runs wel may fear sith 't is hid whither he shal go Much more he vents to the same effect For Gods Promises in Christ are certain but made with conditions so that we may miss of the end if we fail in the means to fulfil our Covenants sith no Man shal be crowned til he fight it out and the battel ended triumph not before the victory Gods Decrees are known soly to himself but secret to us who must rely on the Promisses by performing the Covenants If we may be fully assured of tru Faith that it cannot fail but we shal infallibly persever to the end through al frailties and tentations then Gods Counsil is not secret to som nor his Decree unknown which is high presumption to arrogat or affirm sith we must stil work it out with fear and trembling This is a Cavaliers Creed or confidence in the point of final perseverance and salvations infallible certainty who holds the middle betwixt two extrems of despair and presumption but had rather be a meek humble Publican then a proud presuming Pharisee Lord be merciful to me a sinner and grant me Grace to continu in thy fear til the end 17. The last Judgment is the execution of al Divine Decrees 17 Last Judgment concerning Men For Predestination of the ends is a foreknowledg and approbation of the last Judgment to Life or Death which execution shews the Decree as a building being erected and finished declares the Architects plot or devise for this Judgment exhibits the consecution of thos ends So if we grant as we must that God proponed an end viz. the glory of his Mercy or Bounty in giving som life eternal and glory of his Power and Justice in inflicting eternal death on others he hath attained his end in the last Judgment So if we admit Note as we must that God prescribed means for Men to aspire or attain to eternal life or for lack therof to incur everlasting death thos ends are executed also in the same Judgment Rom. 6. 23 Howbeit if we grant as we doo that Life is given both as a 2 Tim. 4. 8. Rom 9 21. 22. Bounteous Gift and reward of Righteousnes as also that eternal Death is imposed both as the wages or punishment of sin and a demonstration of Gods soveraign dominion yet with Justice and Equity No ordinary understanding can conceiv how a Decree of thes things could be made from eternity without Prescience siâ—h Life is a reward and Death a punishment which no Justice can prepare without foreknowledg of good or evil deserved This is cald simple or natural Intelligence as Life is a Gift of Gods free goodnes and Death a Declaration of his dominion being both an attainment of his own glory Hence 't is cleer that Prescience which is Gods first highest simple Understanding is to be put in the definition of Predestination which too many separat or dis-join Let Prosper decide this point If we consider al Men together Epâ—gâ— 28. wherof som may be saved in Mercy others damned in Truth al the Lords wais are distinguâ—shed by the end but if we look only on the Saints thes wais are not discerned for Truth is not distinguished from Mercy nor contrarily sith the Saints beatitud is both from reward of Grace and retribution of Justice So he makes eternal Death a retribution of Justice which cannot eternaly be decreed without Prescience of sin which Calvinists ground on Gods pure pleasure as Lord over his
the day thou eatest thou shalt dy the death infolded an implicit Covenant for al his Posterity to be liable therto as Traitors Children are tainted Hereof Saint Paul saith As by one Rom. 5. 12. man sin entred into the World and death by sin so death went over al men sith al hav sinned viz. in him and by him for when the Parents eat sour grapes the Childrens teeth were set on edg and the whol race of man liable to duple death damnati S. Bernard antequam nati forlorn before born 3. The Soul sinned in consenting and lusting the Body in tasting and eating so both are guilty 4. Neither Soul nor Body apart is the adequat subject of sin but both united or the whol man the Body subjectum a quo of derivation the Soul in quo of inhesion the whol de quo of predication to whom al accidents of both parts are denominatly ascribed 5. It cannot properly be stiled sin til the Souls infusion becaus the Embryo is inanimat and imperfect but the rational Soul must first animat yet it can be stiled sin For whatever is not capable of Gods Image as seed is not is not liable to its privation becaus the habit and privation belong to the same subject 6. The Principium a quo is derived by seed from Parents begetting a depraved disposition in Man wherto a polluted womb ads more fuel which by the Souls union breaks forth into a flame and sets the whol hous on fire both parts together corrupting and being corrupted by a kind of emanation So before 't is infused we are said to contract sin from Parents as Infants draw diseases Stone Gowt Lepry c. that is the impression or inclination only 7. This sin is no simple privation as blindness which deprivs sight for ever but potential only including a positiv propension therto 8. Ther be three degrees of purity 1. Absolut of God 2. Subordinat according to the creatures capacity of Angels and Man in innocence 3. Comparat when being created pure they decline from it So our Souls being formed subordinatly pure soon degenerat by natural concupiscence being in respect of Adam and Angels less pure becaus procliv to sin 9. The maner of imparting it from Adam to al Posterity is rather to be beleeved saith Doctor Whitaker then inquired and better inquired then explored but easier explored then expressed For its nature is most arcane and the conveiance much more obscure 10. Parents Souls work to frame the whol compound Man not by giving being to the new Soul but by preparing a place to unite it with the Body So they may be said to concur in its production cuasaly by disposing the Body to receiv it not formaly by procreating it as Peter Lombard and his School Sectators define Thes are their curious Cautions and best bulworks of defens yet al too little To the Question Why God sends a pure Soul into a polluted prison They say becaus she hath a natural necessary pronenes therto being ordained to unite with a Human Body and both guilty of Adams sin For 't is not created a simple Spirit to subsist by it self but in the Body with relation to it which being derived from Adam draws the guilt of his sin by that preparation and union without carnal traduction so she becoms guilty both privativly and positivly yet God no Author Actor nor Abettor therin This sin then folows creation by accident for at Adams Souls infusion was mens sana in corpore sano but in every union since is sin So we must distinguish between Gods making and Adams marring for he creats every Soul in substance sound but concupiscence which S. John sais is not of the Father 1 Joh. 2. 16. creeps in instantly by Gods desertion sith every Soul even before 't is infused is virtualy guilty of Adams fal as he was Father and Fountain of al Mankind both in morals and naturals becaus God covenanted either explicitly as Cumel contests or implicitly as Sotus saith that he should stand or fal for himself and al his Of-spring by his proper power of unrestrained Free-wil The Schoolmen dissent diversly whether original sin be positiv privativ or mix'd If positiv whether Re or Ratione whether God doth necessitat the act or entity and Man the defect or obliquity whether he pacted explicitly with Adam or implicitly only but such subtle nicities shal be left to the Schools Zanchy the best Patron of Soul-creation ads mo Propositions 〈◊〉 2. de Hom. â—reat c. 5. 1. That God decreed al things eternaly to be executed in time and creats no mo nor fewer Souls then predecreed and as they becom stained by union 2. That his Decrees are just and immutable nor is it unjust to unite pure Souls with sin-tainted Bodies 3. Though he made al Decrees at once in respect of himself yet must they be effected or executed successivly in respect of the things as his decree to permit sin and deriv it by one to al Mankind subservs to the decree of Election and Reprobation 4. When Adam received integrity he had it as the root of al whence his righteousnes is stiled original and we were created in him just after Gods Image 5. His disobedience and fal was semblably ours becaus the Precept Thou shalt not eat belongs to al in him the Stock-father 6. His transgression being the Head is justly imputed to us as Members and the coruption of Nature or proclivity to evil inflicted as the penalty thereof This Saint Paul plainly proclaims in the Antithesis betwixt Adam and Christ whos Rom. 5. 15. righteousnes wherby we are justified hath two parts 1. The Grace or gift which with remission of sins by his obedience is imputed ours 2. Regeneration or Renovation of Nature as the effect So original sin is Adams disobedience imputed to us together with its guilt and corruption of Nature not only a sin but a punishment on al which sinned by his fal 7. When the Soul is said to be stained by union with the Body 't is not meant properly by any Physical impression but so soon as both are united a man is formed to whom the guilt of Adams sin is instantly imputed and by it a propension to al evil inevitably folows becaus the Command and Commination was given to al Mankind in Aâ—am Thus he is driven to decline sins inhesion inferring that the Soul is not infected by the Body as Wine by a muâ—y Cask but by union of both a Man is born Adams son to whom his disobedience is only imputed but the corruption or contagion imposed as a puâ—â—shment by divine decree and not by any action of the Body This is a kind of Gallimaufry how sound let Divines define but certainly original sin is inherent in the principles of Nature like Gehezais lepry in al Adams Progeny and not imputativ only Hinc lolium infoelix â—vae hinc oriuntur aâ—verbae Hence baleful tares doo sprout From hence
Animals but by Gods immediat power in maner aforsaid 9. The Soul being not produced simply by Natures power nor made of meer corporal matter transcends the common condition of al corporeal Creatures and is in it self immortal having God the extern efficient to produce it 10. The Soul being propagated from Parents is polluted with Natures stain contracted from Adams sin which is derived from Parents to Children with the whol Man as the adequat subject of it yet God in no fault sith our Souls are not corrupted by him but from our Parents and our selfs If any cannot conceiv how one Soul produceth another which is the hardest knot let him consider how it can be united to a Body and organized with it which wil allay the difficulty For if Angels hav aereal bodies as many Antients deem or at least are not pure Spirits compared to God muâ—h more may Mens Souls hav such a spiritual composure as meerly resembles Matter and form in Bodies which may wel accord with the maner of propagation prespecified and no way repugn the Souls divine essence If this way oppugn Reason yet 't is safer then that which repugns Religion By this Card our Author sailing betwixt Scilla and Charybdis Conclusion discovered Pachinus a middle Promontory in Sicil as Columbus did Cuba viz. that as the Sun is external efficient in the general generation of al Sublunars beside their internal particular principles so is God in the special production of every Mans Soul beside the peculiar Parents Souls working virtualy in the seed as his pretended premisses prov Which he farther confirms thus 1. Ther is no diametral Conformation difference between Soul and Body but they may be naturaly coupled together For though the Soul be not visible yet hath it a spiritual substance not simply pure but the lowest degree of Spirits prone to unite with corporeal natures and so may be propagated with them as united to them 2. Every Nature the more excellent 't is hath a neerer union with the first Being on which it depends and is more immediatly moved by it whence it folows that the Soul being more excellent and neerer to God then any corporal Creature in which he works more immediatly then others after they are made so he doth in the first production of it 3. Nothing is generated but hath som extern efficient Caus which in Coporeals is the Celical bodies whence 't is said the Sun and Man be get a Man as the Sun and Lion a Lion But the Soul being a Spirit and made at first by God can hav no other extern efficient sav the same immediat power So it may more truly be said God and Man generat the Soul God as efficient and Parents as his procreant instruments to produce what how and when he pleaseth according to his eternal Decree Nor is it absurd that Man hath two extern efficients but rather an honor that God and Nature concur to his generation 4. Mortality proceds not from natural generation but divine malediction for had not Man sinned his Body should be eviternal so wel as Soul Ergo if it were compounded and generated in a corporal way which is not so yet it folows not to make it mortal 5. Whatever hath being immediatly from God cannot be annihilated but by his immediat power which is the tru caus of immortality Hence the Body being produced soly by Natures power doth dy or perish yet the Soul produced by immediat act of the Deity can never dy but by the same power which gav it life Thus it appears that though the Soul be produced as aforesaid yet is it immortal sith 't is neither made of corporal matter nor generated in meer natural maner Nor is God faulty though we be sinful sith being wholy in Adam and actualy one with him our whol Nature is so defiled and Gods pure ordinance in producing Souls depraved that a total corruption passeth in the very conception and we stained with original sin at our very first being To cleer the Case he frames som objections against this middle way 1. Ob. If the Soul be resolved into a first principle of Adams Soul whence al are derived as Mixtils are into Elements it must needs be mortal as al such are Ergo 't is not so derived or els 't is mortal Sol. The comparison is unlike for Mixtils are compact of Elements into which they resolv but Mens Souls not compounded of Adams no nor Bodies nor one of another but of the same nature and so simple as his Nor doth it folow if the Soul be compounded like Elements it must inevitably be mortal for death and corruption coms not from composition or propagation but meerly from malediction for sin the wages wherof is death 2. Ob. If God cooperats with Man in producing Souls he no less rests from his works then in jugial creating them of nothing for the thing is the same and terms little differing Ergo this novity of a middle way to make God the external efficient is very vanity and of no validity Sol. Here is no creation of nothing but production of a thing from former principles Nor doth it repugn Gods creatifie rest to concur in other works of providence government and the Souls spiritual acts nor in assisting its production as an extern efficient which tends only to preserv Mankind specialy sith it hath no mediat maner in ordinary cours of nature sav only Gods immediat concurrence in extraordinary maner 3. Ob. If Man cannot generat his like without Gods special extraordinary help he is in this behalf inferior to Beasts as Traductists urge against Creation Ergo c. Sol. Not so for Beasts beget also by the Heavens help as exterior efficients If then Mans Soul for excellence hath a far sublimer supercelical efficient And he acts so much in generation of his like as other Creatures doo in theirs 't is rather a dignity abov al then any disparagement at al. So this exception holds against jugial creation wherin Man no whit concurs which may seem a derogation but not against natural propagation 4. Ob. If God be immediat extern efficient of our sin-polluted Souls by natural propagation he is Author or accessary to sin rather then by creation Ergo c. Sol. Nothing less for he is only external efficient of the Soul not of sin which coms from corrupt Parents who supply the internal matter of the whol Man wherin sin consists sith generation is not of Parts but Persons it being his just ordinance in nature That as the Tree is so shal the fruit be Sith then he made Man perfectly good at first to beget Children perfect like himself who prevaricated and polluted al his Progeny or Posterity God performs his part stil to confer his efficient power in the perpetual production of Mankind And as he first infused his Soul so he stil concurs in producing it though not in the same sort yet sin is meerly accidental in respect of
him who is neither Author nor accessary but 't is propagated in generation by the first Mans fal or fault through the loins of perpetual posterity one from another It rests to present som gleanings gathered from the said Corollary Treatis which tends to this Theory 1. Creation is a metaphysical production of a Thing out of Nothing immediatly by God so the first Chaos caled Heaven and Earth was made of meer nothing and the rest mediatly out of it but Adams Body of Earth mediatly and his Soul immediatly of nothing by a middle way of Production 2. Propagation is a Natural act or faculty wherby a living Creature begets his like for continuance of the Kind this is the proper perfection of every Animal Vegetant Sentient Intelligent being the most excellent faculty ingrafted in Nature by Gods special charge and blessing of Increas and multiply which is duple 1. Equivocal when Plants or Animals are bred of putrefaction as Weeds Magots Eeles c. 2. Univocal when ech Animat brings its like as Wheat Wheat Whale a Whale Eagle an Eagle Lion a Lion Man a Man This is doon by the seed of generation which contains the whol Nature to continu the Species for ever wheras Individuals are al mortal or momentany So Mans seed Natures quintessence containing the whol Kind is lodged in a place fit for propagation of another conspecifical which generation being Mans perfection he cannot be said propagat either part but the whol or a third consisting both of Form and Matter Hence our propagation from Adam is a deduction of the whol Man according to Natures cours in turning our potential being into act which derivs his Nature to us but if the Soul be fetch'd from Heaven and Body from Earth how shal both ends be brought together or what shal this mix'd action be caled Simple Creation it cannot be nor pure propagation but a Mungrel like a Mule For Creation and Propagation differ divesly 1. One is Gods work by himself of meer nothing wrought by his sole Word and Wil the other Natures of som preexistent matter according to ech Creatures kind by Gods ordinance setled in Nature 2. That is doon in an instant by an infinit essence which requires no time this by previous preparations or gradual perfections which take time tho the very conception is acted in a moment 3. One is performed without any motion or mutation but in the other the same matter is changed or varied into several forms 4. In the first things are not made of one substance with the Creator but in the last both hav the same substance 5. In Creation privation preceds the habit power act and darknes light but in Propagation contrary habit foregoes privation as sight blindnes act power and light darknes The Reasons that Mans Soul cannot be propagated by cours of Creation are thes 1. It impugns Gods Justice to put a 1. Reason pure innocent essence into a condition to be instantly damned for anothers sin which it must be if an Embryo dies before born and baptised To this 't is said the new Soul is guilty by union which is a greater aspersion on divine Justice but no salvo for if it be in no fault why shal it be guilty and punished for Adams fal If it be replied That God so eternaly Decreed this farther aggravats nor doth it appear that he so Decreed which to aver without warrant is most hainous for if he Decreed as Supralapsarians harshly hold that al should sin and suffer death in Adam 't is requisit to be by just means which if it may be doon by Traduction rather then Creation yea by that way and not this then is that to be counted Gods Decree Can Justice it self deal unjustly surely in equity is no iniquity God promiseth and proclameth that a faultless Child shal not suffer Ezek. 18. 20. for his Fathers guilt why then shal a good Soul be so deeply punished for anothers sin to whom it is scars kin sith Adam that sinned was no simple Soul but a Man 2. If the Soul be immediatly created pure it cannot be polluted by a Body which of it self is not the subject of sin nor can defile a spiritual substance being the first mover of al acts in the Body and it should rather sanctify that then be stained by it So it may better be defended that we hav original righteousnes becaus the Soul coms from God then original sin becaus the Body coms from Adam If it should be granted that the Soul is polluted by yeelding to bodily lusts yet this is actual sin not original corruption Nor can it com from a pure created Soul To this 't is said That at the instant of Creation God bereavs al supernatural gifts for Adams laps which though it put not evil into the Soul yet original sin necessarily flows or folows This seems uncouth that God shal at once doo and undoo or make and mar so soon as 't is made or giv goodness and take it away instantly Nay if it be created in infusing 't is void of supernatural gifts and so cannot be deprived of what it never had But if it be created without thos gifts which to us are supernatural he creats it evil as al Men are without such nor can a Soul be good without them If then God makes it so that it must needs be evil he makes it evil sith he makes it that it cannot be good Yet if al the premisses be conceded 't is never the neer to salv original sin sith this is not to sin in Adam but to becom sinful for him So it results that the Soul if created good cannot possibly contract Adams sin nor can al Mens wits or wiles cleerly shew how a Soul created pure can be polluted and al shifts hitherto devised are silly Cobweb Lawns pervious to every ey The last refuge that it coms neither by Soul nor Body but by union of both sith by it we becom Sons of Adam and so his sin made ours is Mr. Calvins curious conceipt but scars satisfactory For it is a spiritual Lepry which hereditarily infects the whol Man with al parts and powers If then the Soul at first union be pure and Body polluted the Child shal be half holy and half sinful Or if both be clean at first how can union make both or either unclean for when two good are conjoined both becom better Hence som say Adams sin is only imputed not inherent and so we only reputed corrupt Indeed Christs righteousnes is realy ours by imputation and a voluntary institution as a Covenant of Grace differs from ordinary Justice in cours of Nature sith 't is free to shew mercy without caus but not to punish without du desert Nor can this sin be justly imputed to al unles the whol Man be propagated for 't is a real infection of the whol Nature both Body and Soul 3. As by Gods Ordinance original sin passeth from one to al
Mankind so by propagation al Mankind proceds out of one and as that sin overspreads the whol Man so both parts being infected must needs be propagated Again as this sin is seated specialy in the Soul so 't is chiefly propagated according to Natures cours Hence three points rest to be proved 1. That original sin passeth only by propagation as Scriptures universaly testify By one man death passed upon al becaus al sinned in him and 't is imputed to his Posterity becaus al were in him as the Root or Stock and al descend out of him so his sin becoms ours both by imputation and propagation but by the first becaus of the last For 't is not anothers sin imputed which is not ours but that made ours by propagation actualy which before was only potentialy This is cleer by the Antithesis between the first and secund Adam as in one al dy so in Christ shal al be made aliv The one being Root of Mankind in whom al are by Nature the other Head of the Elect in whom they are al by Grace Such then are deceived as deem Adams sin only imputed like Christs righteousnes sith this last is the Creators voluntary Institution and work of meer Mercy but the first a necessary operation of the Creature and work of Justice So the Antithesis holds tru thus As in Christ we fulfilled the Law suffered death and attained salvation being members of his Body by Grace So in Adam we eat the forbiden fruit becam Satans bondslaves and were in state of damnation being al members of his Body by Nature So Christ derivs his righteousnes to his Children by spiritual regeneration as Adam did his sin to al Men by natural generation Ergo as Christs righteousnes is not imputed but by means of regeneration wherby we becom members of his Body So Adams sin cannot be imputed but by generation wherby we descend from him as his members If Adams sin be simply imputed becaus we are Men as he was who received or lost for himself and al Mankind then must it be imputed to Christ as Man so wel as to us which is not so for our sinning in him and being sinfully propagated from him makes us liable which Christ was not becaus sanctified in the womb by the holy Ghost at first conception but al els derived from him and his sin to us through one anothers loins 2. Original sin cannot be propagated unles the whol Man and both Parts be which necessarily flows from the premisses for except the whol Man descends from him the whol cannot be infected sith neither Soul nor Body alone is the subject of sin but the Person Or if the whol be not the subject 't is not properly sinful The Law likewise is given to the whol and the Person punished or rewarded 3. The whol Man cannot be propagated unles the Soul be sith the whol consists of its parts To say the Soul coms from Adam quoad existentiam unionem non quoad essentiam is sly Sophistry not real or rational for then Man contributs but the worst part not the whol nor half Nor is it tru that Adam is caus of the union but rather God if he creats the Soul Nor if the Soul be infused can any tel how long time after conception during which space the Woman works alone But if the whol Man be said properly to proced from Adam becaus the body doth much more may it be verified to com from God becaus the Soul doth so the union rather to be ascribed to God as the noblest suprem Agent then to Man the baser and inferior If then the whol Man and both parts be not propagated it results that we were in Adam wherin we are not viz. the Person that we sinned in him without that without which he could not sin viz. the Soul That the whol Man was in Adam yet never cam from him That we lost in him which we never had of him viz. original righteousnes That he shal stil be ful of Souls which he never had That the whol person proceds from him yet not that which makes the whol 4. Christs Soul was not created but his whol Humanity taken from the Virgin for his birth life death are curiosly and circumstantialy recorded by the Evangelists but no Soul creation which they would not omit being so pregnant a proof that he was without sin if it was created pure Nor is any Souls creation since Adams specified in Scripture Christ is caled the seed of the Woman and Davids seed according to the flesh which imports the whol Humanity as opposed to his Deity but if his Soul was created the imputation of Adams sin to al Men must be likewise lâ—able to him as Man Ad hereto That the Soul and Body as 't is in al others were conceived at once for the divine Nature being immediatly united to the Soul and by it to the Body the Soul must be produced in the moment of conception with the Body or els the Deity was first united to a brute Body which is brutish to imagin The truth is his Soul being united with the Body into one Nature at first conception becam one Person with the eternal Word by a miraculous working of the holy Ghost who purified the Womb that the Birth becam exempt from sin So his whol Humanity Soul and Body was deduced from Adam and separated from the Virgin by the holy Ghost But a Soul cannot be produced by Natures ordinary cours no more then a Body without concurrence of both Sexes Souls yet being performed by supernatural power 't is a tru Soul and so is the Body both which joined in one Person make a perfect Man as Eve was a very Woman though taken out of Man and Christ tru Man taken only out of Woman For in Mans quadruple production â—â— a duple concordance Adam made immediatly by God without Man or Woman Eve mediatly out of Man without Woman Christ immediatly out of Woman without Man but al els mediatly by both 'T is said the holy Ghost sanctified part of the Virgins substance assumed by the Godhead to make Christs Person which terms are tru if wel understood For by part of hir substance is meant the whol Nature or both parts not Body only whereof his Humanity was framed By sanctifying is not meant clensing that portion from sin but consecrating it to that holy purpos indowing it with gifts fit for so divine union yet was it free from sin or rather never sinful by reason of this union For al substances were created exceeding good and depend immediatly on God Nor is sin essential to Mans Nature but accidental cleaving to the person by Adams fal and not properly in the substance of Human Nature Nor are evil actions or affections stiled simply sinful but the Man sith sin consists not in any pravity of matter but in the corrupt Wil or intent of the dooer Nor is ther any Law to punish parts or substances
the natural power to nil by Sin both natural and supernatural power to wil wel is lost but to nil naturaly remains and to nil supernaturaly augmented By preventing Grace to wil is restored to nil both naturaly and supernaturaly remaining stil by assisting or recovering Grace both to wil and doo but to nil naturaly and work contrarily by augmented nilling by Grace of Regeneration to wil and doo more fully augmented but natural nilling remaining and augmented nilling diminished in state of Glory Man by the beatisic Vision wils and doth perfectly al nilling being removed Hence 't is cleer how Grace and Free-wil concur or cohere in Nature sound depraved renovated and glorified For Man under Nature corrupted without the Law hath his Mind bound Wil obstinat Life impure Conscience stupified being the most wretched Son of wrath yet not knowing his misery Man under the Law as it refers to Grace acknowledgeth his sin in Mind and hath compunction of Conscience by the spirit of fear being less miserable becaus conscious therof Man under Grace Caling preventing working learns by the Gospel the Mercies of the Father Merits of the Son Helps of the holy Ghost wherby he conceivs hope of salvation desiring as a sick Patient to be cured having no power to doo it Man under Grace of Regeneration being helped wils willing beleevs beleeving is justified and saved whos endevors are vain unles holpen but being heales takes up his bed and the Just livs by his Faith Man under protecting and perfecting Grace is joifully thankful for it received watchful over his wais strong to resist Satan fighting against tentations fervent in praier rooted in Faith and persevering in holines Lo thou art healed sin no more lest wors betide thee Obdurat Sinners whos Freewil resists divine Grace are of several sorts 1. Al such as be out of the Church uncaled of whom 't is said whom he wil Rom. 9. 18. Rom 2. 12. Deut. 29. 19. he hardens and thos that sin without the Law shal perish without the Law 2. Thos which harden their hearts against the Law who hide excuse or defend their sins presuming on peace and impunity 3. They that being wounded by the Law despair of Evangelical Mercy and commit al wickednes as Cain and Judas 4. Such as receiving hope of salvation by the Gospel abuse the riches of Grace to wantonnes and d fer repentance or conversion 5. Al that being ingrat for Grace received and given over to security or carnal lusts neglect praier or shaken with fear deny the Faith or tempted by Satan fal into hainous sins who are in danger of damnation unles they Ezek 18 26 27 return to God by a new act of Faith and Repentance to be justified by him In every of which degrees Gods severity hath just occasion to desert Man and not proced to procure his conversion or assist his Wil but if he doth 't is of superabundant Grace Here som doubts occur concerning Caling or Conversion what part a sinner to be converted bears in it Whether he is activ or passiv and how far Whether he can further or hinder it Who puts the difference God or Man To thes it is briefly answered 1. That he is passiv in having the Law and Gospel preached to him but activ in hearing or attending 2. That he is passiv in receiving impressions of fear by the Law and hope by the Gospel but activ in nourishing them by co-working with Grace or cashiring them from his heart by disobeying 3. He is passiv in admitting good thoughts holy desires power to wil but activ in ruminating on thos thoughts cherishing such desires and endevoring to exercise that power offred by Grace to assist his Wil. 4. He is stil passiv in praying yet a willing Patient thirsting after Repentance Lov or what els he prais for but activ by help in producing of the acts therof out of thos gifts and habits infused into him 5. He is both passiv under Gods power protecting him being a Beleever converted and activ in watching over himself with Gods Grace concurring to guard and defend him S. John saith he that is born of God keeps himself wheron S. 1 Jâ—h 5. 18. Austin descants he takes not away Freewil in saying keeps himself who keeps us but God yet he doth not keep the unwilling therfore when thou joinest thy Wil to God thou keepest thy self not of thy self but by him that coms to dwel in thee Somthing is ascribed to thee becaus thy Wil concurs but so that thou mayst stil say with David Lord be thou my helper If thou saiest be thou my helper thou must doo somwhat els how can he help Thus a sinner is never first but secund no leader but folower in every degree at entrance a meer Patient at next step a willing Patient in progress an Agent helped by Gods adjuvant and cooperant Grace saying like a sick Man sith you hav cured me lift me and I wil rise stay me and I wil stand lead me and I wil com God shield us from such madnes 〈◊〉 2. ad Bon. c. 9 as to make our selfs first and God last in his Gifts and Graces saith S. Austin to Pope Boniface 'T is a question when Quest two are equaly caled and one only converted both being supposed pâ—ssible who puts the difference God or Man The Answer is Man for God judgeth Mens acts not his own as Answ every just Judg finds differences betwixt Clients but makes none Cain and Abel were bred both alike in Religion but the difference was in themselfs that God accepted Abels sacrifice and rejected Cains Pharaoh and Nabuchadnezer were by Nature both Men by dignity Kings and held Gods People in bondage One then occasioned their desperat ends only that one sensible of Gods hand groned under the memory of his iniquity the other by his Free-wil fought against Gods merciful verity as S. Austin saith Who also puts a Case of two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 12. de civ c. 61. Equals tempted by one fair Woman wherof one yeelds to lust the other persists chast wher 's the difference sav that one would the other would not lose his chastity the Ninivets repented at Jonas preaching but the Jews refused at a greater then Jonas If God put it how shal they rise in judgment against thes yet S. Austin wrests S. Pauls words who makes 1 cor 4. 7. thee to differ from another or what hast thou which thou didst not receiv to Dona gratum facientiâ— as Faith Charity repentance Conversion which plainly intend Dona grat is data as Knowledge Eloquence Toungs For in Gifts necessary to Salvation God wils no difference between Beleevers and Unbeleevers but would hav al beleev and obey the Gospel So the defect proceds so much from the Unbeleevers disobedience wherof God is not the Author as from Beleevers obedience To want the Gifts of Toungs and Prophecying is no sin or shame sith they were
Christians Faith beside the exercise of wholsom Disciplin committed to the Churches chief Pastors and Rulers 3. It givs persons rightly Ordeined a real power derived from Christ which Mat. 28 20. 1 Tim. 5. 22. 2 Tim. 2. 2. none hath of himself as St. Paul bid Timothy lay hands suddenly on none but commit the things he had heard of him to faithful Men who shal be able to teach others also viz. by perpetual succession and public Commission 4. It binds the party Ordeined more strictly to discharge his duty by study praier conference meditation to keep and improv thos gifts or Graces for Gods glory and the Churches good 5. It givs tru Ministers comfort courage and confidence as sacred unction did to the Prophets and Christs solen Commission to the Apostles to preach not as popular Scribes or precarious Pharisees but as St. John Evangelist authorised by Christ whos Ministry like John Baptists was not of Men though transmitted by Men but from Heaven wherby they can rebuk with authority and doo al duties of their Ministry With this confident conscience they can speak boldly in the Lords name not fearing Mens faces no nor the force or fury of Devils nor wil forsake their Flocks when Wolfs com as Hirelings and Self-Intruders doo but in times of public persecution chus rather to be exemples of cheerful suffering in expectance of Christs promised assistance and reward 5. It conservs order and decorum in the Church fortifying their function with du respect or regard so that neither Person nor Office is easily despised when divine Ordination is duly performed For it conciliats much lov aw and reverence from al tru Christians raising a just vencration to duties rightly celebrated by thos of whom Christ saith He that receiveth you Mat. 10. 40. receiveth me and who so despiseth you despiseth me and him that sent me This makes them esteemed as Prophets Apostles or Angels sent of God yea Christ resents their injuries as his own and the very dust of their feet becoms a dreadful Witnes against proud contemners who deeming them to be but of civil courtesy make no bones to degrade them that they may prefer a rabble of their own Parasitical Preachers before any of Christs sending or the Churches ordeining Such are fittest for their sinister endâ— who wil act in a levelled way by the same insolent irreverent spirit of popularity which is most prevalent with the Enimies of Ministerial power and Ordination The Devil is best pleased with such pragmatic Preachers who doo Satans work under our Saviours livery which is to extirpat tru Ministry and al conscience of Religion that so having by thes Nimrods hunted out the race of antient holy Order and Succession he may erect a Babel of Confusion 7. It givs great satisfaction to al tru Beleevers in point of duty discharged and comfort obtained by holy Ministration when they are assured of the Ministers mission and officiating in Christs name which none can pretend to without a ly sav thos rightly ordeined but other impudent intruders hav no plea from Scripture or Church custom to justify their acts or perswad sober Christians to regard them The old Greec Liturgies praied at Ordination of Bishops and Presbyters that God would bestow on them such Gifts as the holy Ministry might be unblamed and unblemished for the Peoples comfort St. Paul asks How shal they Preach unles they be sent Which Rom. 4. 10 implies that none can cheerfully or comfortably doo it without du divine mission No Churches or Christians were ever eminent for sound knowledg Orthodox truth or holy Life except wher tru Ministry by right Ordination was countenanced and continued for the more defectiv or neglectiv they are therin the more overgrown they are with ignorance error Schism novity and licentiousnes when Men make themselfs or others Ministers in new waies To sum up al right Ordination confers no intern inherent Summary Grace or sanctity for Judas was an Apostle and Demas a Disciple yet both dissemblers but only outward gifts fit for that function to discern or distinguish them from common Christians having al their efficacy or authority from the first Fountain in the same way of subordinat succession which Christ prescribed the Apostles performed and al Churches practised nor can any Upstarts or Pretenders to new Lights claim the power of Ministry without du Ordination in the old way to which no Mans ostentation of Gifts or admiration of Auditors can contribut ought to eithers comfort but much to the sin and shame of both as perverters of Christs Ordinance and perturbers of public Peace Yet every ordeined Man in a meer outward form is not a tru worthy Minister for ther may be Hypocrits as Magus was who hav no real abilities nor honest purposes but aim only at base advantages as Intruders also doo The Ordeiners too may be deceived in judgment of charity or corrupted by human frailty which folows al Flesh more or less to pervert this holy Institution sith nothing is free from abuse but they can hav no comfort in that sacred caling unles they discharge their duty with honest hearts to Gods glory and salvation of Mens souls for unworthy Ministers unduly Ordered are like Ships slightly builded which caus their own loss and al that sail in them so disorders in ordeining are a great detriment or disparagement to Religion as unskilful cowardly Officers are in Armies Such Laics as in brutish violence or popular insolence arrogat undu power or abrogat wher 't is du commit more hainous sin then Simon Magus who modestly offered Mony for a part of Ministerial power but to wrest the Keis of Gods hous from his â—â—u Stewards to whom the chief Master committed them which Magus never essaied to doo is Cyclopic fury and Getiâ— barbarity much more to transmit them unto Bois Lacquies Meâ—hanics or base Buzzards who not conscious of any just Ministerial power can make no conscience to doo that duty being most unfit for it tho they presum to Preach and ordein whom they pleas both being fitter for Stocks and Prisons then to feed Flocks or frequent Pulpits Thus far Dr. Gauden but far more copiously and curiously in his learned lucubrations worthy of most piercing perusal wherof the quintessence only is here briefly presented For upshot It appeers that Episcopat was instituted by Conclusion Christ Analogicaly in his Apostles but apertly by them in such as they appointed to succed with precise rules of Ordination and jurisdiction over Presbyters and People committed to their charge which primitiv patern the Catholic Church through al ages in al places perpetualy prosecuted or practised til thes last worst times but single Presbytery and Lay-Elders specialy without any Bishop in chief is a lat devise set up for a shift in case of necessity as som of the Authors and Fautors acknowledg wishing they were so happy to hav Protestant Prelats as England injoyed about 100. yeers together