second man is the Lord from heaven So though Adam was the first man a living man yet it was not a living soul that proveth that Adam had a quickned Spirit page 12◠But in this you do miserably soobisticate For though the Apostle doth draw a parallel between both the Adams If you do well ponder the Scripture you shall finde that the parallel doth not stand so much between Adam before his fall as between the first Adam the second after the fall 2ly upon good consideration you shall finde that the Apostle in this Scripture doth not speak so much concerning the Spirit of God in the soules of the Saints as concerning the spirituality of their bodies that shall be at the resurrection It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body There is a natural body and there is aspiritual body 1 Cor. 15.43 44. If then you will needs conclude Adam to be a carnal man before his fall because his body was not made a spiritual body by the same reason you must conclude all the Saints that have ever been since the creation of the world to be carnal men and absolutely destitute of the work of the Spirit For the bodies of the Saints are yet carnal and must abide in their incarnality till the resurrection of the dead But whereas you build so strongly upon that expression the first man Adam was made a living soul the last man Adam was made a quickning Spirit verse 45. This doth not prove the first man to have been meerely carnal or absolutely void of the Spirit before his fall For it is not the scope of the Apostle in this Scripture to speak of the excellency of man made after the image of God but onely of the corruptible state of the body as it standeth in immediate relation to that immortal condition which it shall have at the resurrection of the dead And whereas it is said the second man was a quickning Spirit this is meant principally of the divinity of Christ by and thorough which he will raise the dead So then if you will build upon this ground and argue from hence that the first man was a meere carnal man because he was not a quickning Spirit by the same principle you must conclude that all the Saints living are carnal men For of what one of them may it be affirmed that he is a quickning Spirit who by his power and divinity is able to raise the dead But if you will make a right analogy let us compare the things that ought to be compared First let us consider what the first man was before his fall and what the Saints are as renewed by grace Secondly let us compare what the first man might have been if he had eaten of the tree of life and what the Saints shall be at the resurrection of the dead For the first of these if you speak of the Saints as renewed by grace though their bodies be natural they are spiritual in respect of the inward man The same may be said of Adam before his fall though his body was made of the dust yet by grace and special favour he did carry the image of God For the second if you shall affirme that all the bodies of the Saints shall be made immortal and spiritual at the resurrection consider what the body of Adam might have been if he had continued in his obedience and eaten of the tree of life If you would make a right collation between state and stat ethe parallel should runne in these termes But because you stand so strongly upon this expression that the first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from heaven seeing you will have all this to be applied to Adam before his fall I pray you resolve me this question seeing the Apostle saith as we have born the image of the earthy so shall we bear the image of the heavenly Who are they that bear the image of Adam before his fall I think if you were put to it you could not produce any one instance in all Europe Asia Africa or America that ever stood up after this similitude The scope of the text is onely concerning man after the fall and how the resurrection of the dead doth take away that death which is brought in by the fall In the close of the Chapter you propound this question whether was not Adam to have dyed an eternal death for eating of the forbidden fruit For the clearing of the question let us distinctly set down how the three kinds of death did seize upon Adam and how they come upon all his branches First for spiritual death it is evident that he died this death as soon as he did eat of the forbidden fruit For the temporal death he fell under the reign of it the same day he sinned And for eternal death though according to the truth of the commination Adam and his posterity should have dyed the Lord Christ stepping in did set a stop to the sentence And therefore for the cause of the condemnation of man it is now principally and immediately for the neglect of the grace of God that should lead him to repentance But you adde further I can safely say that if Adam was to have dyed an eternal death and that by the appointment of God then Christ neither would nor could have stept in nay he could not have lifted up his little finger to have helped Adam or his posterity page 125. I answer If God had decreed in his secret purpose that Adam and all his posterity should have dyed the death in such a case Christ neither would nor could have stept in to cross the Decree of God but Sir who is the man that doth maintain that position For my part I take the Decree of God to be one thing and the outward denunciation of judgment to be another For the Decree that cannot be changed but the sentence may recieve alteration according to divers outward circumstances and conditions that may occurre Besides if you should build never so strongly upon the letter of the text we can easily reconcile the truth of the commination in saying that Adam might dy the death the same day he sinned ☞ though the Lord was not pleased presently to inflict death in all its kinds From all which we do conclude if the Lord Christ came to free men from the reign of death Heb. 2.14 15. We may easily gather that Adam brought himself and all his posterity under the dominion of that syrant and so he and all his should have dyed that kind of death if the Lord Christ had not stepped in But you go about to deface this speech in the end of the Chapter for if in case that Christ had not stepped in there had been no recovery this were to exclude all other means and to limit
10 Suppose all this be granted that Adam was not to beleeve a Saviour because he was not in a lapsed or fallen condition how doth this prove that he was absolutely carnal and destitute of the Spirit He was to beleeve the Father as Lord Creator he was bound to love him to delight in him and how could he possibly do all this but he must have some measure of Spirit Therefore Adam had the Spirit and was a spiritual man before his fall You go on and say whatsoever qualifications the children of God have attained unto in and through Jesus Christ their Lord by remission of sinne or the hope of a resurrection and the attainment of a better life Adam was not capable of To this I answer though the difference may be in circumstances the substance is the same For if you reckon all that Adam had in present possession and all that he might have had if he had stood if you compare his whole state with the state of the Saints with that which they have and that which they shall have you shall finde an excellent correspondence betwixt both For what if Adam was not capable of remission of sinne by Christs blood it is all one if he be made in a state free from sinne What if he was not capable of regeneration because he had no pollution of nature yet he was created with a pure and spiritual nature in original righteousnesse What if he was not capable of the resurrection from the dead because he died not a natural death yet he was capable to eate of the tree of life to keep himself from death and so to live for ever Your whole way of reasoning is meerly fallacious because Adam had not spiritual life every way the same in circumstance therefore he had not the spirit in the substance and being thereof You go on and tell us If men will hold this opinion that righteousnesse and true holinesse is the Image of God which the Lord created man in and is not to be found there residing then it is very requisite that this holinesse and righteousnesse be released But how do you prove that this holinesse and righteousnesse did not reside in Adam If you shall say that he was not capable of such Evangelical holinesse as is set forth in the second Covenant what of all this notwithstanding the difference in circumstance he may have the same in substance Saint Paul saith I delight in the Law of the Lord after the inward man Rom. 7.22 He had the same spiritual delight in the Law by Renovation which Adam had before his fall by Creation where then is the difference Adam had no rebellion no law of the flesh warring against the law of his minde as Saint Paul had There was the same spirit of love in both but in the one it was with the love of the flesh and with conflict with the love of the flesh but the other was absolutely free He did not know by experience what it was to have the flesh rebel against the spirit Because the Law requires entire obedience of bodie and soule inward and outward throughout all the parts of our life because it is spiritual it self and requires that the thoughts words and deeds be spiritual we must necessarily conclude that the first man must be spiritual in a large degree seeing the Law was tempered and proportioned in the beginning to that ability he had But you have another evasion you say that at the Creation Adam was not made conformable to the Image of the Sonne seeing he had no such lawes to be conformable to Here you still harp upon the same string Because Adam was not conformable in the same manner therefore he had not the conformity to the Image of Christ in substance I pray you tell me the meaning of this Scripture Come let us make man after our own Image Is not this the speech of Father Sonne and Holy Ghost You cannot deny it No more can you deny that Adam was made after the Image of Christ as Lord Creator In this point we must necessarily say that Adam had the same Image of God and the same spirit in the general nature of it as the Saints have in the state of Regeneration only the difference lies in some circumstances He might also have the same faith in the general nature of faith though it was impossible for him in that state he stood to have justifying faith Seeing he was absolutely without the guilt of all sin he needed no pardon by Christs blood Suppose all this be granted that Adam was not to beleeve in a Saviour because he was not in a lapsed or fallen condition yet all this doth not prove him to be a carnal man or absolutely destitute of the Spirit before his fall He might beleeve in God the Father as Lord Creator to prevent that misery which should ensue by the fall And to such a kind of faith it is necessary that he should have some measure of spirit Upon this ground also we may conclude him to be spiritual and to have the Spirit before his fall But whereas the Scripture saith That God made man righteous you put off all with this shift That God made Adam without any stain or blemish in the beginning page 13. This we willingly confesse to be true but it is not the whole nor the principal part of truth For uprightnesse in the Scripture-language doth not only signifie a freedome from evil but also a positive habit of righteousnesse and holinesse and in this state did God make man in the beginning But admit that be granted What do you gather from hence you say If those that would have holinesse and righteousnesse to be entituled the Image of God and shall mean by it a condition without sin simply so considered then the whole Creation of God might be said to bear the Image of God page 13. Answ Your consequence will not hold That Adam was without sin at the time of his Creation it was from hence that God made him a holy creature after his own Image That other creatures are without sin is meerly from incapacity seeing they have neither an understanding to know the Law of God nor a will to embrace good or evil therefore they cannot sinne For that speech of yours page 14. It will appear that the Image which Adam did bear wherein he represented God lieth in some other place where none of the creatures are in acapacity to come it being beyond them all Though in the general I do acknowledge this to be a solid truth yet you do not rightly apply it What think you of that saying of our Saviour There are some Eunuches that are so borne from their mothers wombe and there are some made Eunuches of men and there are some that have made themselves Eunuches for the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.12 Here are three sorts of Eunuches but one sort only is so made by grace and the mortifying work of
same spiritual drink for they drank of that rock which followed them and that rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 5. Further after the fourty years pilgrimage were ended the Lord doth promise that their Convoy should not leave them but that he should go before them and drive out the Canaanites because it was not in their own power to bring the land into subjection This is the Lords promise and therefore in sense and substance the Angel must do the whole work Secondly let us consider what is the duty of the people and that is contained in these words Beware of him obey his voice provoke him not c. Because they did wholly depend upon him for all therefore they should be careful to observe him and to follow him in his leadings The force of the reason is the same in the words of the text work out your salvation with fear and trembling because God works in you the will and the deed because his Spirit is all in all the cause of mans salvation to carry on the work because his Spirit doth convince reprove teach comfort seal and guide the Saints therefore they should walk tenderly and carefully toward him The Apostle saith grieve not the Spirit of grace by which ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption Ephes 4.30 In case they do with him as disobedient children do with their parents when they give them good counsel the Spirit will neither comfort nor seal them any more but will leave them to a state of darknesse and discomfort And this is the true meaning of the text We may hereby understand how God doth carry on the whole work of salvation and this doth no way impair or diminish the endeavour of man In the close of all you tell us Let us say with the Apostle in our hearts that we desire to strive with dayly labourings according to the mighty workings whereby he worketh in us Col. 1.29 And do not say any more it is God that worketh our actions but be thankful to him that giveth us sufficient means Page 63. You have heard before that the Lord doth work in us the will and the deed and therefore the spirituality of the action is wholly from God though we are free workers by the help of his grace But let us take your words in the fairest construction If you will stand firmly to this principle that God gives sufficient means by a power working in us you need not fly to the purity of nature to natural free-will and to such like beggerly rudiments to salve the endevour of man In this place you seem to speak for grace when elsewhere through your whole treatise you drive the bargain altogether for the natural abilities of the will But seeing you have offered this text to our consideration we will endeavour to draw from it the concord betwixt the grace of God and the endeavour of man The words are these Whereunto I also labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily The Apostle speaketh of the work of the Ministery whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdome that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I labour according to the mighty workings that he worketh in us Here it is plain that the Apostle did work in teaching and instructing every one and it was not so much his work as the work of the Spirit in him and by him When he was at Athens his Spirit was stirred up in him when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry Why are not the like excitations of spirit in men in there dayes who travell to Constantinople to Ligorn to Rome seeing hose people are wholly given either to Mahumetan superstition or Popish Idolatry The reason is manifest the same spirit doth not work so mightily in the hearts of men as it did sometime in the heart of Paul because he was filled with the Spirit he did shew abundant sympathy and bowells of affection towards all the lost sonnes of men But to come to instances in these last times when the Gospel was plucked down and the Mass was set up in Queen Maries dayes the Martyr being in a journey declared his intention that he would preach in his charg the next Lords day and when he that journeyed with him told him then he would certainly be cast into prison his answer was I am in prison till I am in prison He was bound in his spirit to preach the Gospel to the soules which he had taken charg of he could have no peace otherwise then in the discharge of his duty He did labour freely yet so as his labour was by the inward moving of the Spirit But of all other places that passage of our Saviour is most used by the Enthusiasts Ye shall be brought before Kings and Princes for my sake but when they shall deliver you up take no thought how or what you shall speak for it shall be given to you in that houre what you shall speak For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you Mat. 10.18 19 20. Though this promise is made to the Martyrs and Confessors in times of persecution yet it is not made to them in that manner as to extinguish and drown all endeavour of their own as though God would do all and they should be discharged of their duty The promise is only made to such as should engage themselves for Christ and should humbly in the use of the means depend upon him for the supply of his Spirit And thus we see that the Spirit does all and yet in the most spiritual actions man himself is a free-worker It shall be given you in that houre what you shall speak This expression what you shall speak sheweth plainly that the Saints are free Agents Let us now consider that place Ephes 2.8 9. For by grace ye are saved through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God ☜ Here you yield that salvation as purchased by Christ is the gift of God but you will not have faith it self to be the gift of God you grant one part of the text to deny another If you consider the words you shall finde that not onely salvation but also faith it self is Gods free gift If this be not so how could the Ephesians come to beleeve The Apostle saith that they were dead in trespasses and sinnes they walked according to the course of the world they fulfilled the lusts of the flesh and of the mind Therefore they could not come to beleeve by any natural ability but meerly by the quickning work of the Spirit Further this expression is added ver 10. We are his work manship created of God unto good works By nature they were dead in trespasses and sinnes and if that now they could perform any spiritual act they were made able to do this by the new creation or workmanship of God Further if faith be not the
shall be sufficient for thee my strength shall be seene in thy weaknesse 2 Cor. 12.7.8 9 But the way to come by this ability is not in your method to set up nature but to die to a mans self and to be emptied of all natural abilities Most gladly therefore will I glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me 2 Cor. 12.9 The Authors of the Confession do seeme to speak more fairly for the grace of God then you do They do not shun to affirme that we have all from Christ and that of our selves we have not ability to think a good thought and much to the same purpose But by this affirmation of theirs how can they possibly agree with their own principles of the purity of nature For where there is no depravation of the natural birth what need or what use is there of the grace of regeneration They conceale themselves and you openly professe your judgment they seeme to speak more fairly but you are more true to the principles and positions of the Separate Churches CHAP. III. Whether righteousnesse and holinesse be Gods Image HEre you endeavour to prove the Negative to wit that righteousnesse and holinesse in man was not the image of God in the first creation Because this is not your own single opinion but also the doctrine of the thirty Congregations who place the image of God onely in dominion over the creature we will debate the point more fully And so much the rather because you did urge me at Earle-Shilton in Leicestershire Anno 1650. Decem. 26. before a multitude of people to answer this question what place of Scripture have you to prove that Adam had the Spirit of God or that he was a spiritual man before his fall I did then cite three several texts the natural sence and import of all which is to shew that God made man after his own Image and that this Image did principally consist in spiritual and inward holinesse For that place Gen. 1.26 Come let us make man after our Image in our own likenesse There is none doth doubt but this is the speech of the three persons in Trinity Onely the question is wherein did this Image principally consist The separate congregations and you also affirme that it did appear onely in Dominion and Lordship over the creature these words do immediately follow in the text let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the fowle of the aire and over the cattel and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth But herein both they and you are deceived for primarily and properly the Image of God was resplendent in the conformity of the soule to the spiritual Law of God Secondarily the Image of God was resplendent in that external priviledge of rule and dominion over the creature Now that it may appear that the principal part of the Image of God is in inward holinesse and that the soule so inwardly and spiritually endowed doth more lively expresse his similitude for this reade that Scripture Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.10 Here note what it is that the Apostle would have the Colossians to put on Put on the new man By this he doth mean the Christ-like and spiritual disposition set in immediate opposition to the old carnal disposition of the flesh which they had already in good measure begun to put off Secondly the word renewed doth note a repaire or renovation of that which formerly was decayed So the Psalmist prayeth Create in me a clean heart and renew within me a right spirit Psal 51.10 He doth pray for the returne of the same spirit which formerly he had but now seemingly had lost So thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Psal 103.5 As much in sense as that he makes thee vigorous like an Eagle who by casting her beak and feathers renews her former agility And so in the present case wherein it is said Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge this noteth the repaire and renovation of that spiritual disposition which Adam had but lost it by his fall Thirdly for the matter of the renovation venewed in knowledge doth signifie spiritual knowledge in the nature thereof and that which comes from the Spirit of God as the cause Fourthly for the pattern of the renovation it is expressely said after the image of him that created him Therefore the first man must be made in a state of spiritual knowledge and holinesse If this be not so how could the beleeving Colossians be renewed after this example as the Prototype Let us go to the next Scripture that ye put on the new man which after God is created in rigteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4.24 This Scripture also doth plainly shew that Adam had the Spirit of God before his fall For first why is it said be renewed in the spirit of your minde This implieth that we were sometimes such Secondly the expression of righteousnes and true holinesse is opposed to feigned and hypocritical sanctity Thirdly the whole tenour of the speech is to this end that the Ephesians should put off the old Adam-like disposition with all the deceitful lusts thereof and that they should put on the Christ-like nature which is renewed after the similitude and pattern of the image of God in man before the fall The argument is thus grounded upon the text What the Saints are by renovation such Adam was by creation But by renovation the Saints are just and holy From all which we do conclude that Adam was a spiritual man and had the Spirit of God before his fall Now to the Scriptures let us adde a few reasons First it is a Maxime generally received that the Law was made for man before his fall Now how the first man could be conformable to so spiritual and divine a Law and he himself be destitute of the Spirit it is not within the compasse of my understanding to discerne If we will argue a posteriori from the event we must necessarily conclude that he must not only be spiritual but also have a great measure of spirit to keep such a divine and spiritual Law Secondly the Apostle saith you hath he quickned that were dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephes 2.1 2. If all be dead in trespasses and sinnes this spiritual death must begin at the fall and so by consequence the first man must have the spirit and spiritual life before his fall For what is spiritual death but a privation of the life of the Spirit of God These and many more reasons might be brought to prove Adam to be a spiritual man as long as he stood in that state in which God had placed him Now let us hear your arguments to the contrary You say that Adams righteousnesse and holinesse was not in beleeving a Saviour because be was not in a lost condition pag.
the Spirit So in the present case the creatures were free from sin as well as Adam but their freedom was meerly from incapacity because they were not able to receive a spiritual Law And Adams freedome was from the holinesse of that state in which the Lord had made him Therefore in the point of nontransgression Adam was put into such a state as none of the creatures could come to Next you enquire Whether the Image of God did consist in light These are your words If the light that Adam had was the Image then it must be a light spiritual or natural or both Now that it was not the light of the Gospel that Adam had is clear there being neither malady nor remedy which were in being in the time of this light page 15. Though there was neither malady nor remedy at that time yet he might have spiritual light in the substance thereof and the Image of God might principally consist in this The Apostle speaking of the regenerate hath this expression renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.10 This sheweth plainly that man in the beginning was created after the Image of God and that Image did chiefly consist in the spiritual light that was in the understanding But because there is a great controversie between the Arminians and us about the nature of this light viz. Whether Adam had a power before his fall to beleeve in Christ and because this is a point pertinent to our purpose I will briefly recite three Arguments used by Corvinus in his Answer to Du Moulin First saith he Adam was not bound to beleeve in Christ therefore he did not receive ability to beleeve in him such an ability would be unnecessary and unprofitable where there was no use of it at all Chap. 11. sect 4.5 page 156. Answ The Argument doth not hold God did not require Adam to beleeve the Stories written in the five Books of Moses the Books of Josbua Judges Samuel c. But will any man be so void of reason to argue that he had no power to beleeve these Stories in case they had been revealed to him so God did not require Abraham to beleeve in Christ as he was revealed and exhibited in the last dispensation of the promise shall we therefore argue that he had not ability to beleeve or that he had not the same spirit in substance which the Saints now have He that doth so judge let him answer the meaning of this Scripture We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I beleeved and therefore have I spoken we also beleeve and therefore speak 2 Cor. 4.13 It is clear from hence that the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles had all of them the same spirit of faith in substance yet all of them have not the same revelation of the promise in the circumstances thereof Secondly Corvinus saith that before the fall the Gospel was not credible because in the Gospel a sinner is commanded to believe himself to be a sinner and that by himself and his own works he cannot be saved and that all salvation is placed in Christ the Mediatour And further he addeth It was so far from man to be able to believe all these things that he was then bound rather to believe the contrary to wit himself to be upright and that he should be blessed if he did persist in his uprightnesse p. 154 162 164 165. Answ To this we willingly agree That the way to salvation as now it is doth differ very much from that state wherein Adam stood But the question is not concerning the diversitie or contrariety of the states but concerning the power and ability that Adam had whether it be one and the same in substance with that which the Saints now have White and black are two contrary colours yet the same eye doth see both Heat and cold are two qualities in the extream yet they are tangible objects to one and the same sense of seeling So in the like case though the Word of the Law and the Word of the Gospel are two contrary wayes to salvation yet there is nothing doth exclude but they may be apprehended by one and the same spirit of faith The Word may be one and the same in the general notion and nature of the Word and it may be apprehended by one and the same spirit of faith yet it may differ in circumstance But because the force of the Argument doth lie in the contradictory nature of the two states we will come to instance in a case or two Adam before his fall could not shew mercie if we look to the outward act or the performance of the duty for where there is no misery what mercy can be shewed shall we therefore argue that he had no such affection in him as mercy So in the like case it is not compatible with the state of the blessed Angels to beleeve in a Christ to recover them out of their fall for they that never fall have no need of a recovery what then shall we say that they have no ability to understand the Mysterie of the Gospel This cannot be for so the Apostle reasoneth By them which have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 Though the blessed Angels have no need of salvation by grace held out in the Gospel yet they have ability to understand it they have a desire to pry and gaze into it So in the like case though Adam had no need of salvation before his fall by the Mediatour yet he might have ability to understand that way of salvation in case it had been revealed Thirdly Corvinus saith that greater abilities are required to faith in Christ then that ability which Adam bad before his fall Answ I cannot see possibly how he can consist with his own principles For seeing he doth stand upon it in his Treatises against Moulin page 159.165 that God doth proportion abilities to commands and seeing also he saith that God did promise life to Adam under the condition of most perfect and absolute obedience By the position of these two he must necessarily affirme Adams abilities to be exceeding great before his fall For seeing the work required was to yield such a perfect obedience as none else can perform since the fall but Christ alone it must necessarily follow that Adam must have a large portion of spirit fitted for such an employment As in some Monuments of Antiquity we do argue how strong such a Prince was that died many hundred yeares ago from the greatnesse and weight of his sword so from the spirituality of the Law given to Adam before his fall we do infer his abilities to have been exceeding great And thus much out of Corvinus his own principles Now Mr. Everard let us return back again to you And here to deal plainly with you and the Churches that do
depend upon your Institution I must tell you that neither Arminius nor Corvinus nor any other of that party to my knowledge did ever spin such a course thread as you do For though they stand upon it that Adam had not abilities to beleeve in Christ to raise himself from his fal yet none of them do utter such speeches as these that Adam was altogether destitute of the Spirit of God and that he was a meer carnal man before his fall This to my understanding doth cast a blurre upon the Creator himselfe Now I would intreat you to shew some further reason wherefore the Image of God did not stand in spiritual light You say it remaineth yet to prove that Adam had a supernatural light Which they will never be able to do unlesse they will prove that he was set about some spiritual employments For God giving light suitable to the employment he sets his creature about so suitably God proportions his light that it might be just suitable for his works and no more page 16. And for the works wherein Adam was employed you tell us what they were p. 17. He was to look after the Garden to dresse and keep it and to settle names and titles upon every creature to eat and drink with such like works as also to bear rule and dominion over the creatures But Sir in this point you are wonderful fallacious For first what warrant have you to take the height length and breadth of Adams abilities from his present employments There is many a true Christian man in these times that doth beleeve some truths who hath ability to receive more if it would please the Lord to reveal them So we may say in the like case concerning Adam he was able to receive more truths if they had been revealed and to do more duties if he had been commanded We are not absolutely to tie and confine mens abilities to their present employments Further what ground have you to affirm that Adams employment was only in those externals of keeping the Garden and giving names to all cattel c Will you argue because you reade of no more that therefore he had no more employment Thirdly suppose it should be granted to you that Adam was wholly taken up in these outward actions this doth not prove that he was destitute of spiritual abilities When the Apostle speaks to servants to obey their Masters according to the flesh Eph. 6.5 There is no man doubts but he speaks of an outward work but when he saith that they should do it with singlenesse of heart as unto the Lord Christ and not unto men Here is the performance of an outward service in a spiritual manner Even so Adam might be spiritually employed in those works of his of dressing the Garden and of giving names to all cattel c. And thus we have tried your Reasons how far you are able to prove that the Image of God in Adam did not consist in righteousnesse and true holinesse and that he was not a spiritual man before his fall This also is the doctrine of the Thirty Separate Congregations who place the Image of God only in Lordship and dominion over the creature Next you come to enquire Whether the Image of God in dam did consist in degrees of light And here say you if this be admitted upon such a supposition not one in all the world can tell what it is to beare the title for how can they tell of what height length and breadth this knowledge should be of page 17.18 To ease you of all the pains of searching out the several degrees of longitude or latitude I say precisely at that time when a man doth receive the true light of the Spirit he doth resume more or lesse that Image of God which Adam lost And look by how many degrees this light doth increase by so many degrees proportionably this Image of God is renewed The Apostle speaketh very properly to the purpose We all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.19 Here these foure things are to be noted First the pattern or the Idea we are changed into the same Image to wit into the Image of the Lord Christ himself Secondly the degrees or the several stages we are changed from glory to glory Thirdly the mean or the instrument of the change we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of Christ revealed in the Gospel by prying into it and gazing upon it we are altered and translated into the same image Fourthly the principal cause of the transmutation even as by the Spirit of the Lord by the inward work of the Spirit men come to be enlightned and so more and more to put on the Image of God From these several particulars it is clear that the Regenerate are renewed after the Image of Christ and the excell noy thereof doth stand in spiritual light And this light in substance we say that Adam had before his fall They are the words of the Apostle as we have formerly said renewed in knowledge after the Image of him who created him Further you endeavour to shew that the Image of God did not stand in holinesse You say If it had layen in holinesse never so Evangelical and spiritual surely the woman that beleeved in the Lord Jesus would not have been deprived of that title but the Apostle expostulateth the cause of the difference 1 Cor. 11.7 where he clearly ascribeth that title scil the Image of God to reside only in preheminence page 23. But this will not serve your turne neither for when God created the woman in the beginning she was not only created after his Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse but she was also created in a state to have Lordship over the creature These are the words of the Text So God created man in his own Image in the Image of God created be him male and female created he them And God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea Genes 27.28 These words were not only spoken to the first man but to the first woman also and to all mankinde whether male or female that should come of them that they should people the world and bring it in subjection If this be so the man and the woman were both created in that state to have preeminence over the Creation And for the words of the Apostle they do not deny the woman to be made after the Image of God though this Image was more immediately and fundamentally in man the head and lord of the Creation If you look narrowly into the text you shall finde a reason wherefore man doth more immediately bear the Image of God and is a more lively representative of his Majesty because the woman was
this let us consider that text I am perswaded that he who hath begun a good work in you will performe it to the day of Christ Phil. 1.6 Here the Apostle speaks of a work that is spiritually and theologically good Secondly concerning the person that doth begin the work Thirdly the persons who they are in whom this good work is begun Fourthly the accomplishment and performance thereof I am perswaded that he who hath begun a good work in you will performe it unto the day of Christ Here some may say if the Apostle had that persuasion that the work of grace would go on in the Philippians hearts whether they did eat or drink sleep or play why did he not bid them be secure and refer all to God He had no such meaning for when he saith I am perswaded that he who hath begun a good work in you will performe the same he doth speak in relation to his own prayer in the words immediately going before Alwayes in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now In relation to this prayer and their particular striving and looking after further degrees of grace he was confident that the Lord who had begun the work would bring the same to perfection Let us consider the words in the following chapter ver 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Here the Apostle doth attribute the whole work of mans salvation the will and the deed to the powerful working of the Spirit of God And that which is more he doth ascribe it to his good pleasure to work when he will how he will and upon what termes he will If any shall say seeing God doth all what is here left for man to do doth not this utterly drown and extinguish endeavour No for upon this ground he exhorteth them to work out their salvation with feare and trembling seeing they have no natural ability and free-will of their own but must meerly depend upon the grace of God for the supply of his Spirit to carry on the work therefore they must walk humbly with him and take the season of grace as it is offered Because the husbandman cannot make the Sunne to shine and the raine to fall at his own pleasure therefore he doth wait upon God for the seasons Even so because in the work of mans salvation the will and the deed doth meerly depend upon Gods good pleasure to work it when he will and how he will we are to apply our selves to him only When he administers the grace we should be careful to make use of the season seeing the matter is wholly in his hands we should walk humbly with him And thus Mr. Everard you see that though the action is mans yet the ability to will and to do is only from God and nothing from man And so the natural ability which you endeavour to set up is nothing at all Now let us see what you gather from the parable of the talents I observe say you that Christ sets no man on work whom he hath not enabled to perform it for he giveth out his work answerable to abilities Matth. 25.25 Comparing himself to a Merchant he straight way went from home as if he had said I have so ordered my family that I have seen my servants furnished such a course have I taken to give every one employment not exceeding their abilities And what could I have done more for them do but name it Is it not sufficient that I have made men and women fit for my work I gave them light to direct them and they wanted for no materials for time they had enough They had my commands and persuasions and also threats in case they did neglect page 48. These collections of yours from the parable of the Talents I might let passe seeing I have some way hinted at these things before But because the Pelagians Arminians and you of the Separation do so triumph in the words of this Scripture I will take the more pains to clear the meaning of the text And I will do it the rather because of one particular passage which if it were clearly understood would break the great design of all those who endeavour to set up the will of man They would quickly perceive that they have no such colourable ground from the words of this Scripture First I do willingly agree that the command doth stand in proportion to abilities but how not in proportion to natural abilities not in proportion to abilities of grace in present possession but in proportion onely to the supply of the Spirit as it shall please the Lord to administer to them that shall work out their owne salvation and by the prayer of faith wait upon the Lord for the performance of the promise Now whereas the slothful servant did complaine against the Master for requiring more then he gave him ability to do the Lord tells him plainly though he had no ability of his own to husband the talent yet he might have put the money to the exchanger The force of which words is thus much that though in these supernatural works which men have to do in and toward the working out of their salvation they have no ability of their own they may go to the exchangers to the word of promise to the prayer of faith and to the continual supply of the Spirit of Christ As the ability did lie in Adam before the fall so now all ability is to be had from Christ onely To him therefore all that are weary and heavie laden must go for help And the Apostle when he had exhorted the beleeving Ephesians to the performance of many duties for matter of ability he shutteth up all with this conclusion Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can aske or thinke according to the power that worketh in us Ephes 3 20. Here it is plaine that Christ giveth forth work answerable to abilities but these abilities are not inherent in men or in the natural power of mans own will but they are wholly to be had from the supply of the Spirit of Christ They who pray seek and aske they onely shall receive We come now to your second reason Reason 2. Secondly say you If God giveth us these good actions which we performe by confequence this will make void all the commands of God page 49. Answer In this I am of your judgment for if any shall say that the Lord doth all by the inward working of the Spirit and doth not leave so much to man as to be a free agent by the power of grace received to what purpose are counsels commands and direct one given to him who is to perform the work This may properly be applied to the Enthusiasts but it doth not any way extend
mans part seeing God hath already decreed and promised to do the work himself ☞ Answ Though God doth resolve certainly to bring a thing to passe in his decrees and purposes though he doth promise also that it shall be certainly done yet this doth not hinder the endeavour of man seeing it is his manner to bring things about by mans endeavor as the chief mean or instrument As for example when Saint Paul and his company were in danger of shipwrack the Lord did tell him by night in a vision that there should not be the losse of any mans life but of the ship onely Acts 27.22 Here was a certaine promise and thereupon the Apostle did certainly conclude that they should all come safe to land You will say then did not the certainty of the promise especially seeing God would performe it by power hinder their endeavour No For when they came into a place where two seas did meet and the ship did stick fast in the sand every man did shift for his own life some by swimming and some upon broken pieces of the ship God had promised that there should not be the losse of any mans life ☜ and this he did effect by making every one of them careful to preserve his own life So in the case of those men which God doth intend to bring to eternal salvation he will first or last sooner or later and that by his own power make them careful of their own salvation As in the words of the text he first promised to give a new heart that is the spirit of love into the heart and when this is done then they shall keep his commandments So then it is cleare that the infallibility of the decree of election and the certainty of the promise of God do not make void the free obedience of that people which he doth intend to bring to salvation But thirdly they object Though he doth give a new heart it is not absolutely necessary that he should give it cum effectu with the effect He may give it with great efficacie yet neverthelesse the grace may be resisted by the malignity of the will of man Answ It is confessed that God may give grace and men may resist and by resisting may lose the grace that is offered But the question is whether the new heart or the new spirit may finally be resisted ye or no If any man beleeve that it may let him answer the words of that promise Jer. 31.31 32. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel not according to the Covenant which I made with their fathers when I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which Covenant they brake But this is the Covenant that I will make after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people In the present case then the writing of the Law in the heart must be meant only of an effectual inscription if this be not so where will be the difference betwixt the old the new Covenant betwixt the Covenant that God made with the people when he brought them out of the Land of Egypt and the Covenant that he will make in the latter days For the covenant that he made with them at their coming out of Egypt they brake but the new Covenant shall not be broken when the Lord shal write his Law in their hearts then all shall know him from the greatest to the least Therefore if we go to the manner of the thing the work of conversion may be wrought with efficacie and infallibility on Gods part and yet there be no detriment or dammage to mans obedience Master Everard I have stayed the longer upon this point to to shew you the inequality of your similitude as though God did deale with his elect in forcing a purse of gold upon them and then call that their obedience We say the contrary God may infallibly work upon the hearts of his people and by his necessary and infallible workings bring them on to a free and a chearful obedience Their free endeavour must needs stand with a subordination under his decrees and workings Now let us go to the harder case of the Non-elect and here the decree of God and the certainty thereof doth not any way free men from being the children of disobedience Let us take a view of that Scripture What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9.22 From hence it is cleare that there are none destroyed but such as are prepared and fitted for destruction and for the preparation the Lord in the ordinary way doth endure men first with much long-suffering For the clearing of this let us consider that passage of the Apostle 1 Pet. 3.19 20. By which spirit also he went and preached to those spirits that are in prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah Therefore let the decree of non-election be what it will be in the purpose of God yet we are sure in the ordinary way it is not put in execution ☞ but the Lord doth endure men first with much long-suffering We may proceed with this gradation None are destroyed but those that are made fit for destruction None are made fit for destruction but such as he hath endured with much patience and there is none that he hath endured with much patience but he hath striven with them from time to time with convictions of his Spirit and they have shewed many acts of disobedience against such inward motions and workings Therefore the decree of non-election as it is to be put in execution may well stand and consist with the disobedience of man so that he himself shall be the cause of his own condemnation If this be so I know no just cause you have to complaine for say you I wonder how they can call it our duty while they affirme that God never intended that we should do that work and so never furnished us to that purpose page 55. If you apply these things to us and our doctrine as it is probable you do then I must tell you that you heap up calumnies we do not maintaine any such position that the Lord doth not surnish the non-elect with abilities there is none of them all but he hath more ability then he useth And for the temporary beleever we hold that he hath very great qualifications and is able to go very sarre Here onely lies the point of the difference that the Lord doth not give him such abilities as will infallibly carry him on unto salvation This is his peculiar dealing with the elect as may be proved from divers Scriptures ☜ But here perhaps will
Lords gift the believing Ephesians must be supposed to have it from their own ability If this be so how shall we agree with the scope of the Apostle who saith in expresse termes You are saved by grace through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Truly Sir if your faith be not Gods gift it will be of your self and you will have cause of boasting as though you did make your self to differ from other men and what is this else but to go point blanck against the scope of the Scripture And though I do plead this truth against you in affirming faith to be the gift of God yet I say also it is the act of man God gives the grace and man beleeves These two are not so parted asunder but that they may be joyned together For your third Scripture concerning the striving for the faith given to the Saints which S. Jude speaks of this is not meant of the grace or habit of faith in the heart but of the doctrine of faith onely That men should strive to preserve the Gospel in its purity and integrity against the heresies of the times But you go further to shew the absurdities that will follow upon the holding of that position that obedient actions are the gift of God you say If God should give the actions as sure as he giveth means to act then a mans conscience might and would as well accuse him for want of means to act as for want of action But I never heard say you that any mans conscience accused him for want of means to performe his actions but because be made not use of the means In this passage of yours as ther eare some things which I allow as true and sound so there are others which I do reject as false and unsound For as I have said before they who deny a man to be a free Agent I cannot see by the tenor of their doctrine how their conscience can accuse them for non-performance of action seeing they hold that both the act the means to act are onely from God and man is meerly passive So far you I are agreed but whereas you oppose the carrying on of the work of salvation by the power the grace of God in this you contradict the Scriptures and by name that place of the Apostle We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 That the Saints do persevere it is mainly from the power of God who carries on the work But how not without their own endeavour Ye are kept by the power of God through faith Men must apply the promise of God and that will engage his power to carry them on to salvation And yet further God speaketh of his elect I will put my Spirit in them that they shall keep my Commandments and do them But most plainly in that place 2 Thes 2.13 We are bound to give God thanks for you brethren that he hath chosen you from the beginning to salvation thorough the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth In the Words going before he doth speak of the great Apostacy that should be in all Anti-Christian times that because men did not receive the truth in the love of it that they might he saved therfore God should deliver them over to strong delusions to believe lies By way of opposition to these Apostates the Apostle comforts the beleeving Thessalonians with the infallibility and certainty of their salvation But how would he bring them to salvation thorough the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth These two means he doth name to shew that God will bring none to salvation as the end but he will first justify and sanctifie them in the use of the means Though he will carry on the work by his own power infallibly and certainly in the hearts of his people yet their act endeavour and obedience shall go along with the working of his grace Many such like places might be brought to shew that the infallible workings of God may stand with the endeavours of his own people Secondly whereas you affirme That you never heard any mans conscience accuse him for want of means but for want of using the means Oh Sir in what corner of the world were you brought up that the fame of this never came to your eares I think it is a truth well known in the Church of God that mens consciences do accuse them not onely because they made no use of the means but also because thorough their own default the means are not administred to them or that they are taken from them If it had been your lot to visit men in trouble of conscience in agonies and gripes upon their sick-beds there you should have heard such words as these again and again repeated Had I sought God had I prayed in faith of his promise had I walked humbly with him had I fruitfully used the grace administred to me as a good and profitable Steward I had never wanted the means to subdue the power and rage of such and such corruptions It is meerely from mine own defect that there is such a strangenesse betwixt the Lord and me These are the ordinary complaints of men who neglect the day of their salvation and you tell us you never heard any mans conscience accuse him for the want of the means when the talent was taken from the unprofitable servant he was deprived of the means but was not that deprivation through his own fault but you further add If conscience be so well informed that it must and wil bear witness then of whom shal it bear witnesse against God No marvail that there be so many corrupt sayings if God had given me abilities powers and actions then I would have done it Nay do not many say I must be contented to stay Gods time Hath God commanded you before his time Nay do not you discharge your self of duties in saying it is not his time page 72. Such a dextrous faculty you have in cavilling against the main truths of Christianity But when I read this and such like passages thorough your whole Treatise I cannot but compare the state of the Church in these times to the ship that carried Saint Paul to Rome the forepart of it stuck in the sand and the hinder part of it was broken with the waves Into such desperate extreams are we now fallen For if we speak of actions of obedience if the power be not placed chiefly in the will of man you and the whole nation of the Free-willers do tell us that we be discharged from duty seeing we are cast upon a necessity of waiting when the matter is not in our own hand On the other side there is sprung up a generation of fanatical men which are so opposite to the freedome of will that they think the Spirit must do all they will not give thanks
his two sinnes of murder and adultery David when he had committed those sinnes did look to the fountain of his misery as it did lye in the pollution of the natural birth I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceive me Hereupon he did pray unto the Lord that he would create in him a new heart Even so Adam after his fall was able to see his miserie when his eyes were opened but he was not as you suggest like a burned child able of himself to take heed of the fire All the ability that he had was by looking to the promise and the same ability we now have to help us out of our natural corruption Our Saviour told the Jewes if the Sonne will make you free ye shall be free indeed Joh. 8.36 By freedome we are to understand not such a civil immunity as Emperors and Kings do give but a freedome from the bondage and vassalage of corruption And therefore when the Jewes made him this answer that they were Abrahams children and never in bondage to any man his reply was he that committeth sin is the servant of sin v. 33 34. The slavery of sin is the bondage that is here meant and there is no other way to be freed but by Christ onely Further you say we cannot prove that Adam did subject himself to any temptation after the fall pag. 143. What if we do not read in so many letters and syllables that he did subject himself to temptation can you therefore probably collect that he was free from all sinne and that he did resist all temptations Again suppose that after his fall he did resist many temptations yet as the strongest Christian may fall when God doth leave him and the weakest may stand when the Lord will uphold him with his supporting grace Even so Adam being without all original sinne being left to himself to try what free-will could do might fall in a state of natural purity And being supported by the Spirit to shew what grace could do might be able to stand in a state of natural corruption Therefore all that you have said doth not any way inforce an equality of the states or that a mans ability was as great after as it was before the fall Now let us go to the third Scripture and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2 3. Here to support the purity of nature and to avoid the force of this text you have many evasions and shifts let us hear them as they come in their order There are say you natural men that discern not the things of God neither can do for a man cannot go East and West at one and the same time neither serve two Masters to be true to them both page 145. I confesse it is true that a man cannot go East and West at one and the same time but our question is whether any natural man meerely as natural without the inspiration of the Spirit can go any other way but that which is meerely enmity against God The Apostle saith the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishnesse to him neither can he perceive them because they are spiritually to be discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 He speaketh this of the Philosophers and other Grecians who had improved nature to the highest To these the preaching of the Crosse was foolishnesse They could discern the wisedome of Plato and the depth of Aristotle but the wisedome of Christ they were not able to discern Hereupon in the three first Chapters of the Epistle the Apostle doth largely dispute that the knowledge of these things doth meerely come by the inward teaching and revelation of the Spirit And then he shutteth up the dispute with this coronis If any man seem to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise A fool is one that hath no wit he is not able to speak for himself or to help himself The way then to know Christ is not by the advancement of natural abilities but rather by the true sight of inability and the lost condition we are fallen into Aristotle was a Philosopher of great name amongst the Grecians yet of all the books that he wrote of all the speeches that he spake in none of them all he came nearer to God than in that speech which he is reported for to speak O ens entium miserere mei O thou being of beings have mercy upon me The first step to salvation doth beginne with the sight of misery and the next is to looke after the free grace and mercie of God But you go on and tell us nature simply so considered as it is created of God cannot oppose any spiritual light but comply with those things which God holds forth unto it page 146. Here we desire you to keep to the state of the question we are not upon the debate of nature in its purity but of nature as it is since the fall If you speak of nature created in the beginning nature is good nature cannot oppose any spiritual light and it is serviceable to those ends for which God made it But as strictly as both you and the Examiners stand for such a natural purity I would entreat you to shew the man in all Asia Africa Europe or America that hath this purity this integrity of nature But if you speak of nature vitiated and corrupted the Scriptures do every where make mention of such a nature that it is enmity against God that it is not subject to the Law of God nor can be And therefore when the Examiners in the Chapter of free wil do plead so strongly that there are some good things in natural men as in Herod and Balaam and that all natural men are not equally corrupt what of all this this doth not prove the goodnesse of nature For that some natural men have some inward workings in them it is from the convictions of the Spirit and that some are lesse evil then others it is from the bar of restraining grace Otherwise take a natural man as meerly natural he is not subject to the Law of God nor can be Rom. 8.7 As it may be seen in this familiar instance When men are enemies to the State and will not have them to reign over them all the money horses armour Cities Castles that they can get into their power are employed to set up another Law and to supplant the power that is over them So all the endeavours of a natural man all his principles and his reasonings are to pluck down Christ and to set up his own excellency And therefore the natural mind is enmity against God Next you cite two Scriptures concerning sins against nature Backbiters haters of God despitefull proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding Covenant-breakers without natural affection Rom. 1.30 31. 2 Tim. 3.3 From hence you draw this conclusion to be
natural say you were to have acted such actions as might have testified to the world that they had been lovers of God because those actions were wanting they are said to be unnatural So it may appear that nature was not improved to those ends to which God assigned it page 146. It is true that in these Scriptures the word nature is taken in the better sense yet not in such a sense as will furnish your intention First I do acknowledge that God hath left reliques or remainders of his Law in the hearts of the Gentiles This is commonly called the Law of nature and by this men know that God ought to be worshipped that parents ought to be honoured and that every man is to have his own c. Secondly I yield also that they who go against this Law may rightly be called unnatural because they go against the dictates or principles of of nature Thirdly they who do thus deviate from natural principles do not improve nature to those ends which God hath made it All these things I do allow so far I wil go along with you But how do you prove from hence the purity of nature and that a meer natural man as such is able to understand the things of the Spirit of God You do in the next page distinguish natural men into two kinds these are your words Who requireth no other way to be glorified but by those principles that he had furnished them withal And because they opposed their own nature resusing the counsel of God they are called unnatural because they imployed their nature wholly to satisfie their lusts Such natural men percieve not the things of God The same matter in substance is spoken by the Examiners in the Chapter of free will for the Synod having rightly determined according to the Scriptures that a natural man being altogether averse from that good and dead in sinne he is not able by his own strength to convert himself or prepare himself thereunto Against this passage the men take great offence and as their manner is accuse the Synod for their defects and falshoods For their defects they blame them because they do not distinguish the several kinds of natural men and for their falshoods they accuse them for saying that the fallen man hath lost all ability to spiritual good They distinguish also several kinds of will and tell us in the third place as the will of our first parents so of all men else doth stand in a kind of aequilibrium pag. 128.129 130. Now to take off these several Objections I would entreat both you and them to consider these two points First if you look to the better sort of natural men to those who are no Backbiters no Covenant-breakers c. Whether may not many of these in the most essential vital and spiritual parts of the Law be great enemies against God and be lovers of themselves more than lovers of God If the most refined natural men may be secret enemies why do you and they speak of pure nature and of the improvement of natural abilities when it is certain that men can do no good without the help of the Spirit Natural men may be distinguished into a thousand kinds according to the different circumstances of time and place yet all of them do agree in this that they are natural and without the help of the Spirit they are not able to judge of the things of God Secondly when the Apostle speaketh of the Gentiles who having no Law do by nature the things contained in the Law their thoughts in the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Romans 2.14 When the Gentiles do make use of the Law written in their heart as they do at certain seasons to judge themselves doth not this proceed from the general convictions and workings of the Spirit If the act of self-judging be from the conviction of the Spirit this is no praise to natural abilities but the glory belongs to the grace of God And the words of the Confession are very sound that a natural man cannot convert himself or prepare himself thereunto In which words they do distinguish between conversion it self and the antecedaneous works before conversion In neither of these they say that a natural man is able to do any thing of himself but all his ability is from the help of the Spirit I wonder then what reason the Examiners had given them to cavil at such an innocent expression But if you shall stand upon the letter of the text that the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law Here you may observe that the Apostle doth onely oppose the natural Law to the Law written in tables of stone and communicated to the Church by revelation He never meant that any of the Gentiles meerly by their own strength were able to keep that Law which was made known to them Only at seasons the Spirit did excite and stirre up strong convictions in their consciences to apply those principles and dictates which they had by the light of nature The most common and universal maxime of all men in the world is this that there is a God Why then doth the consideration of the Godhead so forcibly and powerfully awake at some intervals of time more than at others We can give no other reason but this that the truth in the hearts of the Gentiles is like a cinder in the Smiths forge which by the operations and stirrings of the Spirit is enlivened and being once enlivened men have more power to judge themselves and to look after God in those seasons than at others And from hence also we might take occasion to answer that great difficulty in the Epistle to the Romans The Apostle in the first Chapter speaking of the knowledge of the Gentiles and how naturally they hold the truth in unrighteousnesse and that for this cause the Lord doth give them up to a reprobate sense yet in the next Chapter he doth shew that the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law and do shew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work of the Law written in their hearts when their thoughts do at sundry times accuse or excuse one another To the resolution of the difficulty we say that the Gentiles so farre forth as they are principled by the corruption of nature are prone to no other but to imprison the light but as they are under and do submit unto the convictions of the Spirit they are helped sometimes to go so farre as to judge themselves and to cry out in their misery O being of beings have mercy upon us The main drift of the Apostle is to shew that Jewes and Gentiles are both under sinne and how by the sight of the misery of nature such of them as are saved come to be saved onely by looking after the grace and the free-mercy of God If this be the meaning of the Spirit what shall we think of pure nature or
and the depravation of his nature as afterwards shall be shewed Next he seemeth to speak more fairely Man being left in the state of pure naturals could not by his own strength arrive to a supernatural end for eternal life being an end above our natural proportion cannot be acquired by any natural means Answ In this and such like passages of his he doth seem to me to crosse his whole undertaking One chief end of entitling his book as may appear by the preface The Doctrine and Practice of repentance rescued from popular errours is the scandal offence that he seemes to take at our Doctrine of original sinne For thinks he if the nature be depraved a necessity of sinning will be introduced and the natural liberty of the Will will be taken away and therefore in much compassion and tendernesse he seemeth to himself at least to vindicate the truth to make Religion more reasonable and intelligible and to rescue the Schooles and Pulpits from the rigour and austerity of the doctrines of such a nature But when all is done he speaks the same in effect that we do For if man being in his natural condition by his own strength cannot arrive to a supernatural end but needs the help of the Spirit This being suppos'd I will put it upon him seriously to consider whether the same Spirit that helps a man out of this imaginary deficiency privation and imperfection is not as able also to rescue him from that inherent defilement pravity and corruption of the natural birth The Spirit can do as much in the one as in the other And exhortations will be as useful in the one case as in the other What need then hath our Authour to raise up all this dust But he further addeth What gifts and graces or supernatural endowments God gave to Adam in his state of innocency we know not God hath no where told us Answ Though he hath no where told us in so many letters yet by collation of circumstances we may gather that Adam had the Spirit and was a spiritual man before his fall In the creation it is expressely said come let us make man after our own image Gen. 1. The Apostle doth declare wherein this image doth consist That concerning the former conversation ye put off the Old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts and that ye be renewed in the Spirit of the mind and that ye put on the New man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Ephes 4.22 23 24. In these words there are four particulars that seem to speak faire for Adam that he had the Spirit and was a spiritual man before his fall First it is said that they should put off the Old man corrupt according to deceitful lusts Corruption is of a different nature according to the condition of the subject-matter there is a corruption of seeds of graines of metals of the members of a mans body but here the Apostle must needs speak of the corruption of that which is spiritual From whence we collect that the Old man or the disposition of the flesh is but the corruption of that holy and spiritual state n which Adam was made Secondly it is said be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds The word renewed doth import the restoring of a thing to that perfection which sometime it had in its first institution An house is renewed not when it is built new from the ground but when it is amended When an infant is born into the world it is not proper to say that he is renewed but a man doth renew his strength when he doth recover it by degrees after a long sicknesse So in the present case when the Apostle saith be renewed in the spirit of your mind he speaketh of the renovation of that knowledge holinesse and righteousnesse that Adam sometimes had but lost it by his fall Thirdly it is said after the image of him that created him Though this is specially meant of the new creature yet it is with respect also to that passage in the old creation let us make man after our own image For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 secundum Deum according to God is as much in effect as after the likeness similitude and image of God who upon this account must needs be the pattern in both creatio'ns Fourthly to put all out of question it is expressely said which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse What difference soever there may be between Adam in innocency and the Saints in the state of regeneration certain it is that holinesse and righteousnesse must needs be the morality of the Law and none can rationally deny but that Adam was endued and invested with these two before his fall By his righteousnesse he was enabled to deale justly with man and by his holinesse he was carried out to know God to love him to delight in him to fear him and to take him as his chiefest good All these particulars expressing the spirituality and purity of the Law do signifie to us that Adam had the Spirit and was a spiritual man before his fall Now let us go on Receiving more by the second Adam than we lost by the first the sons of God are now spiritual which he never was that we can finde Answ That which he writes here doth manifestly contradict what he speaks elswhere for page 383. He plainly sheweth that original righteousnesse in Adam and habitual righteousnesse in the Saints are all one These are his own words if one sinne saith he could naturally and by a physical causalty destroy original righteousnesse then every ones sinne in the regenerate can as well destroy habitual righteousnesse because that and this differ not but in their principle not in their nature and constitution And why should not a righteous man as easily and as quickly fall from grace and loose his habits as Adam did naturally it is all one so farre he To which we answer Adam fell from original righteousnesse because he stood onely by the covenant of workes the Saints do not fall from habitual righteousnesse because they have their standing by the covenant of grace But as to the point in hand original righteousness in Adam and habitual righteousnesse in the Saints he tells us that both are one and the same in essence and constitution and then again he tells us the sons of God are spiritual which Adam never was that he could finde So great a faculty he hath to blow hot and cold in the same breath Now he comes to explicate that Scripture by one man sin entred into the world Rom. 5. c. That sinne saith he entred into the world by Adam is therefore certaine because he was the first man It must needs enter in him because it first comes in by the first Answ It is true that sinne entred into the world by Adam as the first man but it is not the whole truth for in such
come and let him that is athirst come Revel 22 17. c. All these desires are the fruit of the Spirit He that comes to the first doth not come to the second at least not to the third or fourth degree However the whole course of Christianity is unum continuum sitis one continual succession of spiritual desires And in immediate opposition there is unum continuum auxilii an interchangable supply of auxiliary grace this latter answering the former as the one part of the deed doth answer the other So then though the Saints have no ability in themselves to supernatural duties yet they may have it from Christ and the freenesse of the promise These things I have drawn out more at large because I see as formerly it hath done to others So our doctrine doth seem to give great offence to our Authour It seemeth strange to him that we should exhort men to spiritual duties and yet teach that all mankind through the condition of the natural birth lye under a necessity of sinning Whereas if he did well understand the grand designe of the Gospel he should finde that all ability to do these things is to be had from Christ alone and that upon termes of beleeving desiring longing and waiting for them The Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other holy men have in their several times done their duties and served their generation But how not by any ability of their own but by the continual supply of the Spirit of Christ as the Scriptures and all experience do abundantly testifie Now we come to the next Section SECT 2. Consideration of the objections against the former Doctrine THE first Scripture which he insists upon is Gen 6. Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart are onely evil continually Here he doth end avour to frame sundry answers First it is true saith he they were so but it was their own fault not Adams for so it is said expressely All flesh had corrupted their way upon earth and the earth was filled with violence Repl. It was their own fault and Adams too It was their own as they corrupted their own wayes it was Adams as they were flesh for he brought them into that sinful condition by his fall So then the force of our argument stands thus First the thoughts of man were evil Secondly they were all evil Thirdly they were onely evil Fourthly they were continually evil Fifthly they were evil from his childhood Now such an universal effect cannot be without some universal cause from whence all this evil must necessarily spring And where shall we look for the cause but in the text it self My Spirit shall not alway strive with man because he is but flesh Because he is but flesh and borne in the sinne of the nature therefore the thoughts of his heart are evil from his childhood Secondly saith he if this corruption had been natural and unavoidable why did God punish all the world for it except eight persons Why did he punish those that could not help it and why did others escape that were equally guilty Repl. That which God did punish in the old world in ordinary men was the violence of their hands and in his own people was the breach of covenant Though these two did naturally flow from original corruption as all other evils do yet we cannot say that they are absolutely unavoidable for the act of violence and of marriage with the daughter of a strange god men have a liberty to forbeare the outward execution of these evils And for the lust of the heart though it is unavoidable by nature yet it is not simply unavoidable for God is so full of mercy that he is ready to help all those that flee to him in the sense of their own misery He hath declared himself to be a Physician ready to cure all broken-hearted sinners The men of Nineveh did turne from the violence of their hands and how ready was he to forgive them The people in the dayes of Ezra and Nehemiah did repent of their Idolatrous marriages and how did he passe by their iniquity Of all the Authors that ever I met with Luther in his Tract deservo arbitrio is most severe against the liberty of the will yet in the end of the treatise he bringeth in Erasmus thus speaking Why doth he command us any duty seeing all things are done by necessity His answer is he doth command that he may admonish and instruct us what we ought to do that being humbled in the sense and feeling of our own evil we may repair to his grace for help as we have abundantly spoken And as for the Lords punishing of those that could not help it We say in publick solemn and exemplary judgments he hath alway reserved a liberty for the exemple of others and the declaration of his justice and mercy It is true also that they that were equally guilty did not perish in the waters of the flood What of all this though they did escape that judgment they were lyable to the judgment of God Thirdly saith he God might have as well punished all the world for sleeping once in a day or for being hungry as for sinning if so to do be natural and unavoidable Repl. The cases are not equal mankind cannot live without meat and drink sleep and such other refections of nature when they were made in the beginning they were made in such an estate that they had need of these things I trow they had no need of sinne Againe for sinful acts though they come from the corruption of the flesh as the sparkes do out of the Chimney yet in externals man hath a liberty to commit or not commit such an evil Also for the lust of the heart that which is unavoidable by nature is avoidable by grace The guilt of sinne may be taken away by the blood of Christ the power of it by the Spirit of Christ and the very being of it when the Saints shall be made partakers of the adoption or the redemption of their bodies Fourthly if God in these words complained of their natural and original corruption why did he but then as if it were a new thing complain of it and repent that he made man since he proved so bad Repl. God did then complain of original corruption because in a most eminent degree it did put forth it self in oppression breach of covenant and other evils He did complain in those times because iniquity was then come to a ripenesse and the years of his patience was almost runne out Fifthly saith he this malice and corruption was such that God did send Noah a Preacher of righteousnesse to draw the world from it But no man supposes that it was fit to send a Preacher to dehort them from being guilty of original sinne Repl. So farre as we may gather Noahs message to the old world was the same in effect as that of Jonah's to Nineveh he was to exhort them to turn from
conversation of evil customes of evil acts of evil desires he must come to an evil nature that lies at the bottome and that which is worst of all he will find it to be the very root and cause of the the mischief The Apostle doth very elegantly call all lusts the works and effects of the flesh because they are the effects that the flesh doth produce in opposition to the effects and fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.19 20 21. This ground being laid let us come to his exceptions as they follow in their order First saith he I know Saint Paul reckons concupiscence to be one of the works of the flesh and consequently such as excludes from heaven Col. 3.5 Evil concupiscence concupiscence with something superadded but certainly that is nothing that is natural for God made nothing that is evil and whatsoever is natural and necessary cannot be mortified Repl. That which is natural and necessary by creation we confesse cannot nor ought not to be mortified Of this kind is the lust after meat drink sleep c. but that which is natural and necessary by corruption ought chiefly to be mortified nay it is the prime work of Christianity to put off the Adam-like and by degrees to put on the Christ-like disposition Gal. 5.24 He proceedeth I come saith he to consider that by concupiscence either must be meant the first inclinations to their object or the proper acts of Election which are the second acts of concupiscence If the first inclinations be meant then certainly that cannot be a sinne which is natural and necessary Repl. We do willingly admit such a distinction concupiscence is sometime taken for the habit or the root it self and sometimes for those second acts that do flow from the root Now in such a case it is to me a great wonder that any should own the second acts of concupiscence to be sinne and yet own no sinfulnesse in the concupiscence that is more radical and fundamental Acts do flow from the nature and therefore where acts be bad the nature cannot be good It is our Saviours own argument Men do not gather grapes of thornes nor figs of thistles And whereas he stands upon this subtilty that the first inclinations are unavoidable therefore they are not sinful If he means that they are absolutely unavoidable this we deny For that which is unavoidable by nature may be avoided by grace The guilt of concupiscence may be taken away that it be not imputed the power of it may be broken by the Spirit and the remainders of it may be clean extinguished in the life of glory Now he proceedeth To desire that to which all men tend naturally is no more a sin than to desire to be happy is a sin Desire is no more a sin than joy or sorrow is Repl. If he speak of the natural tendency of desire as it is by creation We willingly subscribe and so it is no sinne to desire to eat drink or to long after an happy estate But if he speak of natural desires as they are now since the fall The desires of the flesh do wholly rend to evil The flesh lusteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Spirit and the works of the flesh are manifest adultry fornication c. Gal. 5.18 c. He further argues Then there can be no reason told why it is more a sin to will evil than to understand it and how doth that which is moral differ from that which is natural For the understanding is first and primely moved by his object Rep. The Scripture doth testifie of the blindnesse of the minde and the perversity of the judgement as well as of the pravity of the will Not to go far for an instance the words of the text are plaine The Ephesians are said to be the children of wrath under this title and formality because they did fulfill the lusts of their minde or according to the original the wills of their cogitations and their reasonings They are tearmed the wills of the cogitation because the choise of the will and the disorder of that choise doth arise commonly from the blindnesse of judgement As for his question how doth that which is natural differ from that which is moral We need not trouble our selves in the businesse For the blindnesse of the judgement and the perversity of the will are natural and moral both They are natural so far forth as they come by propagation from the first root they are moral in respect of the anomy and irregularity as being contrary to the spiritual holy and pure law of God He goeth on I cannot but wonder saith he why men are pleased where-ever they finde the word concupiscence in the new Testament presently to dreame of original sinne and make that to be the summe total of it whereas concupiscence if it were the product of Adams fall is but one small part of it Rep. There is a double reason may be given as I conceive where men finde mention made of concupiscence they do thereby understand original sinne First because that sinne is commonly called by the title of concupiscence Secondly Those derivative concupiscences as I may so say which are by choice and election do all flow from the mother concupiscence and do exceedingly symbolize with her As in that famous passage of the Apostle Every man is drawn away with his own lust and enticed and lust when it hath conceived it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death Jam. 1.14 15. By sinne he must needs meane the open act of sinne as it is in the publick view of man After this he speaks of finishing of sinne when men have filled the measure of their iniquity then death comes at last as the wages of sin Though this be so in the end yet at the first all sin is brooded in the lust of the heart All secondary acts of concupiscence do spring from the original concupiscence which is the cause of all Upon these grounds The sinful disposition of the nature may well passe under the name and notion of concupiscence because the operations within do chiefly consist in lusting and all the acts of sinne do flow from the lust of the heart within Concupiscence saith he is but one of the passions and in the utmost extension of the word it can be taken but for one halfe of the passions for not only all the passions of the concupiscible faculty can be a principle of sinne but the irascible doth more hurt in the world that is more sensual this more devilish pag. 94. Rep. It is true in moral Philosophy the usual distinction is into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the irascible and concupiscible faculty but what need is there of such a difference in the case that we now speak for the Apostle reckons up the lusts of the flesh adultery fornication uncleannesse hatred variance emulation c. Gal. 5.19 There is no man will
doubt but in this list or catalogue he hath respect as well to things that belong to the irascible as to the concupiscible faculty yet all is contained under the notion and name of concupiscence For in the verses immediately going before he exhorteth walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh According to the original it is ye shall not accomplish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the concupiscence of the flesh In the present case then when the Galathians did live in malice envy hateful and hating one another they did fulfill the concupiscence of the flesh And so by this account the lusts both of the concupiscible and the irascible faculty are comprehended more generally under one name and title of concupiscence And all his contrary reasoning is just nothing at all Now let us come to his last Scripture The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishnesse to him 1 Cor. 2.14 Here he bestows much paines to weaken the force of the text An animal man saith he that is a Philosopher or a rational man such as were the Greeke and Roman Philosophers upon the stock and account of the learning of all the Schooles could not discern the excellency of the Gospel-mysteries as of God incarnate Christ dying the resurrection of the body and the like Rep. It s true that the Philosophers aforementioned were such natural or animal men but it is not the whole truth For they that come to Church and publickly professe may be animal men also and in their animality may be far from receiving the things of the Spirit A schoole-boy that is able some way to make a Gramatical construction of the Greek of Euclide and Ptolomy is not presently capable of the mysteries of Geometry and Astronomy That requireth the skill of an Artist as well as of a Gramarian And if the laws of the land were translated into English I think we should not be all Lawyers out of hand So in the present case though all may outwardly own and some may preach the Doctrine and mysteries of salvation this doth not presently entitle them to that kinde of learning that comes only by the teaching of the Spirit Many may speak much of the love of Christ that never had the feeling of it in their hearts Moses tells the people in his time ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day Deut. 29.24 They did see and they did not see they did outwardly see the works but they did not inwardly believe the truth wisedome goodnesse and power of God For had they seen these things as they ought they could not but have loved the Lord their God and have lived in obedience to his laws So then not only the Greek Philosophers but many Christians also may be called natural or animal men He further sheweth what animality is Animality which is a reliance upon natural principles without revelation is a state privatively opposed to the Spirit and a man in that state cannot be saved because he wants a vital part he wants the Spirit Rep. What he saith here and in the words immediately following is the same in substance that we speak and is extreamly contrary to the designe that he derives at For if in the state of animality a man cannot be saved because he wants the Spirit the chief vital of salvation Why doth he to make religion intelligible deny original sin plead for the freedome of the will and establish the purity of the natural birth We say because a man is borne in original sin and dead in trespasses and sinnes therefore he cannot be saved without the infusion of a new life He saith that a man in his animality cannot go to heaven without the Spirit the chiefe vital of salvation Let a wise man now judge where we and he do differ But to blind the businesse he hath a subtle distinction between carnality and animality Carnality saith he or the state of being in the flesh is not only privatively opposed but contrarily also to the spiritual staee of grace Rep. This expression of his might passe well enough were it not for that which followeth First speaking of the state of animality and then of carnality afterwards he hath these words The first is only an imperfection and a want of supernatural aides the other is indeed a direct state of sin and hated by God but superinduced by choice and not discending naturally Rep. In this expression of his there are two things that need a better enquiry First how doth he prove that the state of animality is only a state of meer imperfection and no more St. James tells us the wisdome from beneath is earthly sensual devilish or according to the original earthly animal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devilish I think none will say that the animality of this wisdome is a bare imperfection and no more It s positively opposed to the wisdome that is above and can there be a greater enemy to the wisedome above then that which is beneath The Apostle St. Jude also saith that Mockers should come walking after their ungodly lusts These are they that separate themselves sensual not having the Spirit ver 18 19. the word is they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animal not having the Spirit Now in this case will any man be so void of understanding to affirme that these in their animality were meerly defective and that they were not in a direct state of enmity against God I think none will easily assert it Sure I am many ensamples may be brought to prove the distinction between animality and carnality to be a meer non-ens or nullity Secondly we agree that the state of carnality is a state of sin and hated of God but whereas he saith that it is only superinduced by choice as also that it doth not naturally descend Herein we crave liberty to depart from him The Scriptures all along specially the writings of St. Paul speak of the flesh in opposition to the Spirit Now will he or any man else assert that this is a state meerly superinduced and that men come to be flesh purely by the choice of their own will If this be so how do all come to agree in one and the same choice All do not agree to be Souldiers to be Scholars to be Merchants to be Mariners yet all are flesh before they come to be sanctified by the Spirit Seeing he will not have this state naturally to descend let him assigne some general cause how all do agree to be carnal Necessarily some general cause must lye at the bottome but he further saith Adam did leave us all in an animal state but this is not a state of anmity of direct opposition to God but a state insufficient and imperfect Rep. This state of meer imperfection which he speaks so
much of both here and else-where is only a notion of his own commenting For when God made man in the beginning he made him in a state very good but when he fell he left all his posterity not only in an imperfect but in a sinful condition As for that middle state of deficiency which he imagins I know not where it is to be found unlesse it be in the Atlantis of Plate Besides if animality be only a state of deficiency why doth the Apostle so plainly tell us that the animal man receives not the things of the Spirit they are foolishnesse unto him This cannot be a state of meer imperfection but a state of direct opposition the principles of animality diametrally opposite to the things of the Spirit Michal scoft at Davids dancing before the Ark. Lot seemed to his sons-in-law to be as one that mockt when he told them of the destruction of the City the preaching of the crosse seemed to be very meane matter to the Philosophers and learned Grecians Now shall we say that all these were only in a state of animality or imperfection and no more I think none will easily believe it But in the close of all he hath these words In the state of animality saith he a man cannot go to heaven but neither will that alone carry them to hell and therefore God doth not let a man alone in that state for either God suggests to him that which is spiritual or if he doth not it is because himselfe hath superinduced something that is carnal Rep. We are told here of a state that carries neither to heaven nor to hell and I beleeve if we go to men of ripe years there is no man lives in this estate in all Asia Africa Europe and America Why then doth he trouble us with that which is not Further we do agree that the Lord doth at seasons suggest something that is spiritual to animal men by this they are enabled to see their own misery and to judge themselves Now this doth rather strengthen the force of the argument for if an animal man could purely of himselfe perceive the things of the Spirit what need had he of the suggestion of the Spirit But for that which he addeth that the animal man doth superinduce something that is carnal I think this cannot reasonably be denyed and therefore I do not see but the state of animality and carnality both are equal estates of enmity against God Thus have I been more large in clearing those Scriptures which concerne the maine of the question in others of lesse moment I will be more briefe SECT 3. How God punisheth the Fathers sin upon the children THe end wherefore he is so willing to dispute this point he himselfe doth expresse pag. 40â— Vpon this account alone saith he it must be impossible to be consented unto that God should still under the Gospel after so many generations of vengance and taking punishment for the sinne after the publication of so many mercies and so infinite a graciousnesse that is revealed to mankind in Jesus Christ after so great provisions against sin even the horrible threatnings of damnation still to persevere to punish Adam in his posterity and the posterity for that he never did Rep. In this passage of his he doth shew how much he doth mistake the scope of Scripture for it is the chiefe designe of the holy Ghost to amplifie the sin of Adam and all the evil that comes thereby to the end that all might be humbled and that they might come to Christ as to a Sovereigne remedy to help them in their misery And in very deed whatsoever he thinks to the contrary the Doctrine of the Gospel cannot be so clearly preached without the knowledge of that misery that came by the fall The knowledge of the one doth as it were open a doore to the knowledge of the other Againe in the whole processe of the discourse he is very faliacious Suppose ordinarily God doth not now punish the fathers sin upon the children is this a good argument to prove that the sin of Adam is not rightly imputed to posterity Other Parents comparatively are but private persons and their sins are but the sins of private men but Adam was the root of the nature and his sin was the sin of the whole kind As on the other side the suffering of Christ upon the crosse was not the suffering of a private person but the suffering of the whole humane nature By this the lost sons of men have a doore of grace opened the tender of grace is made to all and the great condemnation is for unbelief Now we will consider what the rules are which he doth lay down First saith he God may and doth very often blesse children to reward the Fathers piety as it is notorious in the famous descent of Abrahams family But the same is not the reason of favours and punishments Answ Here we would entreat him to observe that it is true that for a long descent God did shew kindnesse to the family of Abraham but if he well observe the matter this kindnesse was extended not so much for Abrahams piety as for the Lords own promise and for his truth in keeping the promise Againe whereas he saith There is not the same reason of favours and punishments let him shew why the Jewes are cast away why they have been little better than out-casts of the Covenant now above one thousand five hundred years Questionlesse as God will magnifie his mercy in their call so for many ages together they have stood and do yet stand under the burthen of that heavy curse which they did wish upon themselves his blood be upon us and our children c. Secondly saith he God never imputes the sin to the son or relative formally making him guilty or being angry with the innocent eternally Answ Though we should say the sin of Adam is imputed to all his relatives and that also to their eternal damnation this in the whole were no hard assertion as long as we teach that a second man is provided for eternal salvation We willingly yeild as the case now standeth the great condemnation is for the neglect and the contempt of that salvation mercy and grace that is to be had by Christ If men run out the years of the patience and long-suffering of God if they continue in unbelife and hardnesse of heart if they resist the convictions and operations of the Spirit as they are administred in their respective seasons I think it is but just that they should fall not only under the guilt of their own actual sins but under the eternal damnation also that was brought upon them by the sin of Adam the root of the nature All the hurt of such a position if it be a hurt is more vigorously to drive men to Christ As for infants though they are fallen into all kinds of miserie temporal and eternal by Adams sin what harme
to that which is spiritually good In this sence our Saviour saith He that commits sin is the servant of sin Joh. 8.36 While they promise themselves liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption 2 Pet. 2.19 But he further saith Men sometimes by evil habits and by choosing vile things along time together make it morally impossible to choose that which is good and to love that in particular which is contrary to their evil customes Heraclitus saith custome is that devil that bringeth in new natures upon us Answ It is most certaine true that many fall under the power of evil by long custome But the maine question is Whether is evil custome the whole and adequate cause of the evil This we deny men by ill custome may intend the habit of original sin as varnish may make colours more orient and God in his just judgement may justly harden men in their sin so that they may be worse than the ordinary sort of natural men This we do willingly confesse but then also we must consider that the bottome and the ground of all the evil doth lye in a sinful nature This doth naturally descend upon us all from Adam the root of corruption and is only to be done away by Christ the root of all grace life spiritual nature as the Scriptures do abundantly testifie Next he cometh to the testimony of the Philosophers Seneca saith nature doth not engage us upon a vice she made us entire she left us free but we make our selves prisoners and slaves by vicious habits Answ It is no way to be doubted but we make our selves slaves by vicious habits of our own acquiring But whereas Seneca saith nature hath made us free nature hath left us free these are those rudiments of the world of which the Apostle speaketh beware least any man spaile you through Philosophy Col. 2 7. If nature hath made us free what need is there of Christ of the freedome of the Spirit of the grace of regeneration of all those things that are held forth to us in the principles of baptisme and circumcision In this sence the Apostle is to be understood when he saith beware lest any man spoile you through Philosophy he doth not speak of the knowledge that the Philosophers have of the motions of the heavens and the measures of the earth and such like speculations but he speaks of Philosophy as it doth not hold Christ the Head and is contrary to the very principles of baptisme and circumcision as may be see by the context Of this kinde are those sayings of Seneca nature hath made us free nature hath left us free such doctrines are contrary to Christ the Head He further proceedeth The Saints saith he love God so fully that they cannot hate him or desire to displease him And in hell the accursed spirits so perfectly hate him that they can never love him But in this that is status viae a middle condition between both or a passage to one or the other it cannot be supposed to be so unlesse a man here also be already saved or damned Answ We do agree that the Saints in heaven do so perfectly love God that they cannot hate him and the damned spirits in hell do so absolutely hate him that they cannot love him But what of all this The case of sinners upon the earth is not all one with the damned in hell The damned in hell do absolutely and irrecoverably hate God but so do not sinners upon the earth Though they are borne in sin and lye under a natural necessity of sinning yet they do not hate God absolutely and irrecoverably but so far only as they are naturally corrupt and do remaine in their natural condition Though Ministers in the general do know that all shall not be saved yet personally and individually no Minister can say that this or that man shall not be saved They can say as long as men continue in such wayes they are in the way to damnation but cannot certainly and infallibly pronounce of the final and eternal estate of this or that particular man Now it is not so with the damned in hell But he further saith Men can choose that which is commanded and abstaine from that which is forbidden for if they could not they ought no more to perish for this than infants for that Answ Though we stand upon it that a man cannot naturally choose that which is spiritually good yet his case is not all one with the state and condition of an infant For an infant cannot actually understand will nill choose refuse but a natural man hath a power to will that which is in his own compasse he may performe many outward duties abstaine from many outward evils and fly many occasions of sin And for his willing the good that is spiritual though he cannot choose it so far forth as is natural yet doubtlesse his condemnation shall be that he did not go so far as he might go by the help of the Spirit At some seasons the Spirit doth convince accuse reprove terrifie and put him upon a way of judging and condemning of himself that so he might look after pardoning and healing mercy But his fault is that he will not see that which he may see and doth obstinately harden himselfe against the light But he further sheweth This is so necessary a truth that it is one of the greatest grounds and necessities of obedience and holy living and if after the fall of Adam it be not by God permitted to us to choose or refuse there is nothing left whereby a man can serve God or affer him a sacrifice Answ Though the Divines do maintaine a necessity of sinning and the losse of the liberty of the will to spiritual good at least they are not cast upon such a strait as our Author thinks they are Indeed some of them are more cleare and distinct and do give lesse offence than others do yet I know none do absolutely take away the power from the will to choose or refuse To what purpose then would exhortations admonitions and reproofes be given But leaving all others we will cite a testimony out of one of the chiefest of our Authors for he may serve as a patterne for the rest Mr. Calvin in his book of Institutions Lib. 2. Chap. 2. doth shew that the foundation of all sound learning is grounded upon the knowledge of a mans selfe But how not upon the knowledge of a mans own excellencies perfections natural liberties for so the Philosophers do vainly trifle But upon the knowledge of his own misery thraldome under sin and this he affirmes to be the bottome of all saving knowledge to bring men to Christ By the former kind of learning men are set up and by the latter they are pluckt down He speaks of two dangerous extreames to be avoided on either side some when they heare that a man hath no ability no freedome of will they give over all care of