Idolatry from such a man as Solomon after so much wisdome from God Or fretfulnesse or frowardnesse of spirit in such a man as Jonah after such deliverance from God Or fearfulnesse in such a man as Abraham after so much protection from God Or cursing from such a man as Job after so much patience and experience of God The Lord grant that in such examples we may learne our selves and feare our selves The Disciples could say Master is it I that shall betray thee Peter did not ask Master is it John nor John Master is it Thomas but every one said is is I As much as if they should have said I have a deceitfull flesh a revolting heart in my bosome such a traytor that it may be as soon I as another man See 6. to the Gal. and 1. verse If a man be overtaken in a fault c. Considering thy self that is doe not rejoyce against thy brother nor insult over him doe not despise him in thy heart nor exilt thy self thou art of the same mould thou hast the same principles with him That God which for a season hath forsaken him may forsake thee That temptation which hath overcome him may happen unto thee That enemy which hath â—â—â—â—â—d him may winnow thee And therefore in his fall learne compassion towards him and jealousie to thy self Restore him and consider thy self Strive we what we can our it fiâ—mities will incompâ—ss us and our corruptions will be about us so long as we carry flesh about us as we may see in the forenamed instances What shall I say but briefly this thorne will still be in out flesh our Canaanite in our side our twinnes in our womb our counterlustings and counterwillings though we be like unto Christ per primitias spiritus by the first fruits of the spirit Yet we are unlike him per reliquias vetustatis by the remainders of our flesh Not to sin is here only our law Mark but in heaven it shall be our reward All our perfection here is imperfect sin hath its deaths blow given it but yet like a fierce and implacable beast it never le ts goe its hold till the last breath Animamque invulnere ponit never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to be in us Who can say my heart is cleane I am pure from my sin Prov. 20 9. which interrogation is an emphaticall negation As affirmative questions commonly categorically turned meane negatively Cleanse thou me from my secret sinnes saith holy David Psal 19.12 So Paul 1 Cor. 4.4 Though I know nothing by my self yet am I not thereby justified and the reason is added he that judgeth me is the Lord. Which Saint John further unfolds 1 John 3.20 God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Which places although most dangerously perverted by these innovators with whom we have to deale doe yet in the experience of the holiest men that are or have been evince this truth That the lusts of the flesh will be in us and work in us so long as we carry our mortall bodies about us Againe Secondly this truth will appeare more fully if we consider the four-fold condition of mans freedome of will according to his four-fold state and condition First in statu confectionis In the state of innocency as he was Created The will was free to good and evill or freely to chuse good but so that it had ability of chusing evill So that it might persist in good God preserving it and might also fall into evill God forsaking it The former is proved from the perfection of the image of God in which man was created Gen. 1.27 The latter is too evident by the event of the thing it selfe and by the testimony of Scripture Eccles 7.29 God made man upright but man found out many inventions And the Apostle saith Rom. 11 32. God hath shut up all men in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all Where the Apostle testifieth that God of speciall Wisdome did not confirme the first man against the fall Neither did he allot him such a portion of ability that he might not be seduced by the devill and moved to sio But that he therefore permitted him to be seduced and fall into sin and death That as many as were saved out of the common ruine might be saved by his mercy alone This fall was not praeter voluntatem Domini That were to make a lame providence nec contra for that were to make a weak omnipotence but juxta voluntatem Domini As nothing is done without the Everlasting and most good counsell of God so neither can this fall be exempted from it though not as it was a sin to the ruine of the Creature but as a way to exercise the Justice and Mercy of the Creator His justice in punishing and his mercy in saving If in the world there had been no misery there had been no mercy no need of Christ If no sin no matter for his justice to shew its self And yet herein the crime and fault of sin neither can nor ought to be laid on God but on mans will only falling from the rule of his Creator albeit notwithstanding he fell from it by the eternall counsell of God God and man both willing the same matter but not after the same manner or to the same end God neither willing it with mans intent nor man with Gods intent Adams purpose being to be like God Gods purpose being to manifest his own glory It being necessary in respect of Gods decree but voluntary in respect of Adams will The purpose of the Creator did not take away the Creatures freedome for sin being no positive being hath not an efficient cause but a deficient cause that is the will of the Creature sailing in obedience So that notwithstanding God did hate the sin and therefore did neither absolutely will it nor cause it yet he justly suffered it to be done I say justly for whatsoever God doth is good and just and not disagreeing from his nature and law whether the reason thereof be known or unknown unto us I say suffered it to be done for the Creator was not bound unto his Creature to preserve him in his goodnesse neither doth the deniall of such grace disagree with the mercy and bounty of God God having willed this to be an occasion of bestowing a greater grace and benefit as it is apparent in the fall and the restoring of man againe For although it be mercy not to rejoyce in the ruine or destruction of the Creature yet mercy ought not to fight with justice It is most just that more regard should be had of the chief good which is God both by himself and by others then of all Creatures Wherefore very well doe agree together in God his mercy and his justice His mercy which will not the death of a sinner and his justice which suffereth man-kind to fall that thereby the goodnesse and severity of God may appeare
Man through the perswasion of the Devil transgressed and hence is our corruption and misery derived Thirdly the first sin of man sprang not from God but from the instigation of the Devill and from the free will of man For the Devill provoked Man to fall away from God Man yeelding to the enticeing allurements of the Devil freely revolted from God and wilfully forsook him Fourthly the effects of mans first sin are first guiltinesse of death and privation of Gods image in our first Parents Secondly originall sin in us their posterity that is to say the guilt of eternall death and the corruption and aversnesse of our whole nature from God Thirdly actuall sinnes which are sprung of originall for quod est causa causae est causa causati That which is the cause of the cause is also the cause of the effact But the first finne in man is the cause of his originall and originalâ— sinne is the cause of his actuall sinne Fourthly all the evills of punishment are inflected for sinnes Therefore the first sinne of man is the cause of all other his sinnes and punishments Fifthly originall sinne is a want of originall righteousnesse which should be in us for originall righteousnesse was not only a conformity of our nature with the law of God but also it comprehendeth in it Gods acceptation and approbation of this righteousnesse Now by the fall of man instead of conformity there succeeded in mans nature deformity and corruption and guiltinesse instead of approbation And thus much briefly by way of explication what sinne in generall is The generall nature of sinne the difference or formall essence of sinne and the property which cleaveth fast unto it What the first sinne was the causes of it the effects of it and what originall sinne is Come we now to prove the position That this sinne originall sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their souls have a being in these houses of clay And thus we prove it First that the spirit by the law intitleth us to Adams sin as a derivation from the root to the branches as poyson is carried from the fountaine to the Cisterne and as the children of traytors have their blood tainted with their fathers treason and the children of bondslaves are under their parents condition John 3.5 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh c. Rom. 5.12 16 17 18 19. Wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all bad sinned and not as by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reigne in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made finners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous 1 Cor. 15. 37 48 49. The first man is of the Earth earthy c. By nature we are the children of wrath 2 Ephes 3.14 Job 4. Who can bring a cleane thing out of an unclcane 51 Psal 5. In sin was I conceived c. I called thee a transgressour from the womb Isa 48.8 G. p. 8. 21. The imaginations of a mans heart are evill from his youth We were all one in Adam In uno universi and with him saith S. Augustine In him legally in regard of the stipulation and covenant between God and him We were in him paries in that covenant had interest in the mercy and were liable to the curse which belonged to the breach of the covenant and in him naturally and therefore unavoidably subject to all that bondage and burthen which the humane nature contracted in his fall And herewith agree most of the Fathers Adde we hereunto these two Arguments First every thing which is borne carrieth with it the nature of that which bare it as touching the substance and the accidents proper to the speciall kind But we are all born of corrupted and guilty parents We therefore all draw by nature in our birth their corruption and guilt Secondly by the death of Christ who is the second Adam we receive a double grace justification and regeneration Therefore it followeth that out of the first Adam there issued and flowed a double evill I meane the guilt and corruption of our nature otherwise we had not stood in need of a double grace and remedy This then is the first charge of the Spirit upon us Participation with Adam in his sin Adams person being the fountaine of ours and Adams will the representative of ours Secondly In this sin there is universall corruption which hath in it two great evills First a generall defect of all righteousnesse and holinesse in which we were at first created And Secondly an inherent deordination evill disposition disease propension to all mischief antipathy and aversation from all good which the Scripture calls the flesh The wisdome of the flesh the body of sin Earthly members the law of the members the works of the devill the lusts of the devill the hell that sets the whole course of nature on fire John 3.6 Rom. 8.6.7 James 3.15 Ephes 4.22 Col. 3.5 Rom. 7.23 1 John 38. And this is an evill of the through malignity whereof no man can be more sensible and distinctly convinced as in the evidence of that conviction to cry out against it with such strange and bitter complaint then Paul himself Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Untill his understanding was opened to conceive the spiritualnesse penetration and compasse of that holy law which measureth the very bottome of every action and condemneth as well the originalls as the acts of sin Luke 24.25 Rom. 7.14 Heb. 4.12 Psal 119.96 Luke 10.27 But for more cleare satisfaction let us consider the universality of this sin First the universality of times from Adam to Moses even when the law of Creation was much defaced and they that sinned did not sin after the similitude of Adam against the cleare Revelation of Gods holy will for so I take the meaning of the Apostle in these words Rom. 5.13 14 20 21. For untill the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law Neverthelesse death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression who is the figure of him that was to come further see 20. and 21. Vntill the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law verse 13. Though the law seemed quite extinct between
is not such righteousnesse as may stand before God according to the Psal 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord c. Secondly they who are converted can no further retaine good inclinations thoughts affections or purposes to persevere and goe forward therein then as the holy Spirit worketh and preserveth these in them for if he guide and rule them they judge and doe aright but if he withdraw they are blind and wander and slip and fall yet so as they parish not if so be they were ever truly converted according to these places 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou hast not received c. 1 Philip. 4. and 2 Philip. 13. and John 15.5 and 1 Cor. 1.8 1 Cor. 10.13 and 1 Pet. 1.5 In the fourth estate after glorification after the end and consummation of this present life In this liberty the wil shal only be free to chuse good and not to chuse evil and this shal be the perfect liberty of our will by which we shall not only not sin but shall abhorre nothing more than sin and also shall not be able to sin any more No place shall be for ignorance or for error or any doubting of God or for the least stubbornnesse against God Because in the mind shall shine perfect knowledge of God and his will In the will and heart a most perfect and exceeding inclination to obey God an exceeding love of God a joy and resting in God and an agreeablenesse and conformity with God so much and in such manner as such Created vessells are capable of And this shall continue for all eternity they shall be continually ruled by the holy Ghost in all their actions So that it cannot possibly be that any of their actions there should once swerve from righteousnesse and therefore it is said they are as the Angels of God in heaven Mat. 22.30 The liberty of the will shall be truly conformed and perfected to chuse only good to obey and love God with unexpressible alacrity for ever And thus having laid down the four-fold state of man and the four-fold liberty of will answerable to his four-fold state it may serve for one ground to confirme the point in hand That sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as they are here Their renewed state upon earth being but begun not perfected their state being but a growing in grace and profitting more and more and prevailing in mortifying their corruptions but not attaining in this mortall life to have grace consummate nor corruption abolished but sin in part remaines and will remaine till they lay down the body and be compleatly sanctified in the state of glory And for farther confirmation I shall lay you downe the testimony of the Scripture the Confession of the Fathers and some Reasons grounded upon and backed with the Word of God First for Scriptures see Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation c. In which words we may observe the Apostle doth not say that there is no sinne to them that are in Christ but he saith there is no condemnation to them In the fore-going Chapter he had confessed that he did the evill which he would not doe and that he saw a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind But now he rejoyceth in Christ that sin in him is not able to condemn him But here I expect from my friend either Cajetan or Aquinas false exposition or that of Mr. Parker that the Apostle spake this when he was a Babe in grace But I desire withall that they will acquaint us what state it was when the Apostle acknowledgeth himselfe the chief of finners 1 Tim. 1.15 The glorious Gospel was then committed unto him enabled by Jesus Christ counted Faithfull and put into the Ministery as you may see in the fore-going verses And yet then saith he notwithstanding all this This is a true and faithfull saying JESUS CHRIST came into the World to save sinners Whereof I am chief Mark the present-tense not preterperfect-tense he doth not say whereof I have been but whereof I am Nay I pray see the second Epistle 1. from 6. to the 13. was all this when he was a babe in grace I would faine know how long it was between the time of writing these Epistles to Timothy and his Epistle to Philemon 1. for there verse 9. he was then Paul the aged But these Jesuiticall Cavillings and reasonings are too well known They never doe nor never shall prevaile against Gods truth Againe in the second verse for the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and death Here we may observe that the Apostle saith not that we are fully freed from sinne in this life but from the law of sinne That is both from the commanding and condemning power of sinne Sinne doth not now reigns in our mortall bodies neither now hath it any more power to detaine us under death But as for temptations of sin Christian experience teacheth that there is no sort of men more troubled with them then they whom God hath begun to deliver from the law of sinne For Sathan being impatient of his losse seeks dayly to recover his former dominion By which it may appear That Our deliverance from sin is but begun now not perfected But we know our God is faithfull by whom we are called he shall also confirm us to the end Phil 1.6 even He who hath begun a good work in us Blessed be the Lord where before we were Captives of sin now the case of the Battell is altered and changed Sin is become our Captive through Christ It remains in us not as a Commander but as a Captive of the Lord Jesus The bolts of sin are yet upon our hands and feet to admonish us of our former miserable condition We draw the chains of our sins after us which makes us indeed goe forward the more slowly But they are not able to detein us in that bondage wherein we lay before We are delivered from the law of sin whilest we live and the nature of death the wages of sin is so changed That it is not the death of the man but the death of sin in the man mors est Sepultura vitiorum saith Ambrose Death is the buriall of all vices and as Chrysostome saith As the Worm which is bred in tho Tree doth at last consume it So death which is brought out by sin doth at last consume and destroy sin in the Children of God sin will remain though not raign Again in the 13. verse If ye mortifie the deeds of the body whereby the Apostle sheweth That after regeneration by Grace and before glorification Grace is not consummated nor is corruption wholly abolished For although the Apostle affirmed before in the 9. verse that these godly Romans were not in the flesh yet now he exhorts to a further mortification of the lusts of the flesh which exhortation
were superfluous if there were no lusts in them that needed to be mortified Where we see cleerly that which we also feel in our selves that so long as We live in the body there is ever some remanent life of sin which we had need to mortifie and put out Our life is therefore called a warfare Bellum est non triumphus saith August And in this battell we must fight without intermission till we have gotten the victory for who can say that he hath in such sort cut away his superfluities that there remains nothing in him which hath need of reforming When they are once quenched they kindle again Whatsoever he be unlesse he dissemble he shall alwaies finde within himself something that hath need to be subdued Velis nolis infra fines tuos habitavit Jebuseus will thou nill thou the Jebusite shall dwell within thy border subjugari potest ex termina non potest he may be subdued but cannot be rooted out saith holy Ambrose it is impossble for a man to lead a Christian life without a continuall battell Again in the 17. of Jeremy 9. verse The heart of man is deceitfull above all things and evill continually who can know it which is not only spoken of a wicked mans heart But the deceiptfulnesse is attributed to all men indifferently Christ only excepted in whose mouth or heart there was no guile By nature all our hearts are alike Procreation is an naturall act though propagation be not from the instrument but from the author Adam begat a sonne in his likenesse men beget children as they are men not as they are regenerate and holy men Nature with its corruption is derived but not Grace for that is supernaturall And the change that Grace makes in this life is not such but that in some sort the hearts of the best are deceitfull Christ indeed gave Nathaniell that praise that there was no guile in his heart and David saith the like of every justified man Psalm 32.2 But this is true only of the Spirit of the new or young man that is created by God in the regenerate And not of that flesh that old man that by reason of his age is often too hard for the young man Though the young man increasing daily at length gets the victory So that thus the best expositors read this Text. The heart of man is deceitfull even the whole heart of the wicked because it is wholly flesh And part of the heart of the godly namely the unregenerate and fleshly part The heart of the wicked is deceitfull with a full strong and raigning deceitfullnesse But the deceitfulnesse that is in the heart of the godly is weaker as being discerned of them and stroven against by them The heart of the wicked shews its deceitfulnesse in the whole course of their lives The godly only in some particular actions as it is said of David his heart was upright in all things save only in the matter of Vriah the generall currant of his life was farre from deceitfulnesse though not the particular action Naturally the heart of the wicked may be upright in some particular actions as Abimilech in taking of Sarah Gen. 20.6 I know saith God thou hast done this in the uprightnesse of thy heart yet not in the main of their lives For every regenerate man is partly flesh and partly spirit whereupon ariseth that war in their hearts like the strugling of the two children in Rebeckahs wombe and that continuall wrestling between the flesh and the spirit so that their sinnes are but passing away not passed already And their newnesse of life is but renewing and not wholly renewed because they are like the ayre at the dawning of the day wherein darknesse and light are mixed together And though the regenerate may be like a cup of Wine mingled with water that is not half water and half Wine but wholly Wine and wholly water Even as a Vessell filled with equall proportion of hot and cold water is not half hot and half cold but wholly luke warm that is partly hot and partly cold in all the parts of it For the regenerate man is not half old and half new but old throughout and new throughout That is partly holy and partly unholy in all the parts and powers both of his body and soul although the denomination of a regenerate is alwaies given him in the Scriptures a parte praestantiori from his better and more noble part And therefore no Saint on earth is voyd of sinne his heart being deceitfull as I have shewed you by Gods own testimony Again the Lord who made the heart and searcheth all hearts and to whom all the imaginations of the thoughts before they are are only known as in Psal 139.2 pronounceth us all guilty of sin Gen. 6.5 And shall we not give credence to Gods assertion Again Rom. 3.3 every man is a lyer and in the 9. and the 19. verrse the Apostle testifieth that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin and according to the Psalmist there is none righteous no not one And remarkable is that the 59. Esay to this purpose and in the Revel 3.20 and Gal. 2.16 by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified And in the 1 Kings 8.46 there is no man that sinneth not Again for Job 9.2 in the 20. verse of the 8. chap. Bildad applying Gods just dealings to Job saith that God will not cast away a perfect man the which Job affirmeth and acknowledgeth in the 2. of the 9. chap. I know saith he it is of a truth but how should man be just with God mark in 30. and 31. vers If I wash my self with snow water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and my own cloths shall make me to be abhorred So Psalm 130.3 If thou Lord shouldest mark what is amisse who might stand c and in 143. Psal 2. enter not into Judgement with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified that is by his own righteousnesse which is but as filthy rags Esay 64.6 No man living saving He whom God hath made to be sinne for us who know no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God by him 2 Cor. 5.21 Mark he doth not say actively that we should make or work our own righteousnesse but positively that we should be made the righteousnesse of God and that not by by our selves least we should glory in our selves but by another even Jesus Christ the righteous blessed for evermore Again Job 14.4 who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one and in Pro. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne Rom. 8 7. Pro. 24.16 Eccles 9.3 If my friends could produce but one such man and prove it I would yeeld the Buckler No Caietan one of their own fraternity saith that damnatum est peccatum non extinctum sinne is
condemned but not extinguished for in many things we offend all James 3.2 Again hereunto besides many these and many more testimonies of Scripture that might be alledged the suffrages of pure Antiquity in a sweet harmony doth agree I will quote some few of the Fathers it was the prerogative of Christ alone to know no sinne and to be found solus in hominibus qualis quaerebatur in peccoribus alone such amongst men as was sought amongst the beasts an immaculate Lambe without spot and all we like sheep have gone astray Esay 53.6 Gal. 3.22 optat l. 2. Aug. cont Relag l. 2. C. 32. so Gregory l. 3. in Reg. 6. saith There is no man which hath not in him some corruption which he may and should lament So Lactantius cont Gent. l. 6. cap. 13. No man can be without sinne so long as he is burthened with the garment of the flesh So Hierom. cont Jovin li. 2. No man is clean from sinne though he live but one day on earth So Bernard in Cant. Serm. 23 non peccare Dei justitia est not to sinne is the justice and property of God but the remission of sinnes is the justice of man And therefore as the Ivy will not dye untill the Oake be hewn down so our sinne will not dye as long as we live neither will it ever be abolished untill death ends the conflict betwixt the flesh and the spirit Again Ambrose de poenitent li. 1. cap 6. It is not saith he the voyce of thy family I am whole and need not a Physitian but heal me O Lord and I shall be healed Also he spake thus to the Novatian Hereticks of his time and it may fitly be turned over to the Jesuits of our time Darest thou O Jesuit call thy self clean and holy albeit thou wert clean in regard of thy work this one word were enough to make thee unclean With him agrees Aug. Serm. 29. de verb. Apost Sunt quidam inflati viri spiritu electionis pleni non magnitudine ingentes sed superbiae morbo tumentes ut audeant dicere invenire homines absque peccato There are saith he some that be like unto Vessels blown up with wind filled with a haughty spirit not sollidly great but swelled with the sickness of pride Who dare be bold to say that men are found on earth without sinne Of such as these saith he I demand What saiest thou then that art just and holy this Prayer Forgive us our sinnes Whether is this a Prayer to be said by Chatechists only or to be said of such as are believers and converted Christians Surely it is the prayer of regenerate men yea it is the prayer of the Sons of God for they call God their Father in heaven Where then are your just and holy ones in whom are no sins If the Regenerate and Sons of God have need to crave remission of sinnes What are you who say you have no sinne Liars saith the Apostle 1 John 1.9 And our blessed Saviour Luke 10.17 When you have done all you can yet say c. But against this they have a silly subterfuge albeit say they we were never so righteous yet for humility sake we should say we are unprofitable I answer them as Aug. answered the same objection in his time Propter humilitatem ergo mentiris then saith he for humilities sake thou liest But it is certain Christ never taught man to lie for humility This is but one of their old forged falshoods Again Bernard in Annunciat Mariae who lived in a very corrupt time yet retains this truth Quis meliori Propheta saith he de quo dixit Deus inveni virum secundùm cor meum tamen ipse necesse habuit dicere Deo Ne intres in Judicum cum servo tuo Who better than the Prophet David of whom the Lord said I have found a man after mine own heart and yet he had need to say Enter not into judgement with thy servant Bernard in Cant. Ser. 23. saith It sufficeth me for all unrighteousness to have him reconciled unto me whom I have only offended To be without sinne is the righteousness of God Mans righteousness is Gods indulgence pardoning his sinne We conclude therefore with him In serm contr vitium ingrat Wo to the miserable Generation to whom their own insufficiency seems sufficient for who is it that hath so much as aspired to that perfection which the holy Scripture commands us I grant that in some sence godly men are called perfect in holy Scripture in the 3 to the Phillip about the 14. it is written Let as many as are perfect be thus minded He moves the question seeing he had said immediately before that he was not perfect How doth he now rank himself amongst those that are perfect How agrees these two that he was perfect and not perfect Aug. in Ser. 38. answers he was perfect secundùm intentionem non secundùm preventionem perfect in regard of his intention and purpose but not in regard of prevention and obteining his purpose And hereunto agrees that of Bernard in Cant. serm 49. That great chosen Vessel saith he grants perfection that is a going forward but denies perfection for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not only he who hath come to the end but he also is walking to-towards it We are so perfect in this life that we are yet but walking to perfection Therefore St. Ambrose in Rom. 8.9 Apostolus aliquando quasi perfectis loquitur aliquando perfecturis aliquando laudat aliquando commonet The Apostle speaketh unto Christians sometimes as unto men that are perfect other times as unto men who are perfect in that which is required of them that is some-sometimes he praises them for the good they have done and otherwhiles he admonishes them of the good they have to doe And as for that place Luke 1.6 where it is said that Zacharias and Elizab. walked in the Commandements of God without blame The Jesuits of Rhemes wrest this to confirm their error this making not for them August hath two reasons whereby he proves out of the same Scripture That Zacharie was not without sinne First because he was a Priest and was bound to offer as well for his own sinnes as for the sinnes of the people Heb. 5.3 Secondly in that the Evangelist saith he walked in the commandements of God c. It is an argument he had not attained to the mark for they that are at their journeys end sit still To the which we may add a third out of that same place the dumbnesse inflicted upon him for his misbelieving evidently proves that he was not so perfect as to be without sin Besides this the Apostle constantly distinguishes betwixt peccatum crimen betwixt sinne and crime that is some grievous offence that gives slaunder and is worthy of crimination We affirm saith August That the life of holy men may be said to be without crime but not without sin And again he saith Men
to desire good things and eschew hurtfull things is not sinne because it is a thing made of God but such is Concupiscence Sol. To the Major the Appetites and motion of nature are good in themselves as they are meerly motions not as they are inordinate motions and are carryed to such objects as God hath forbidden as all motions and appetites of corrupt nature are Because either they affect not such objects as they ought or affect them not in such sort and to that end which they ought And therefore are all vicious and very sinnes Mat. 7.18 An evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit To desire the fruit of a tree was naturall but to desire it contrary to Gods expresse commandement as it was desired of Eve was a motion in its own kinde and nature corrupt and very sinne Ob. 2 That which is not in our power to cause either to be in us or not to be in us is no sinne Concupiscence is so in us that it is not in our power to shake and put off therefore it is no sinne Sol. The Major is false for sinne is not to be esteemed by the liberty or necessity and bondage of our nature But by the Will and Law of God whatsoever disagreeth here with is no sinne whether men have power to avoyd it or no. And God requiring of us impossible things doth not injure us because he commanded them when they were possible Though we have now lost our ability of performing yet God hath not lost his right of requiring that of us which he left with us Ob. 3 Sinne maketh men obnoxious to the wrath of God but Concupiscence doth not make the regenerate obnoxious to the wrath of God for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus therefore Concupiscence at least in the regenerate is no sinne Sol. There is a fallacy of Accident in the Minor for it is but by Accident that Concupiscence doth not make the regenerate obnoxious to Gods wrath that is by reason of the Grace of God not imputing it to the faithfull But this commeth not thereof as if Concupiscence were not sinne For neither doe other sinnes condemn the regenerate not because they are no sinnes but because they are remitted by Christ Ob. 4 In Baptism originall sinne is taken away therefore Concupiscence is not sinne in those that are baptized Sol. To the Antecedent originall sinne is taken away in Baptism not simply but as touching the guilt of it But corruption and inclination to sinne remaineth in them that are baptized And this is it that the Schoolmen say the formall of sinne is taken away and the materiall remaineth Rep But they say where the formall is taken away there also the thing it self is taken away because the form of every thing is the cause of the being of it But in Baptism the formall of origall sinne is taken away therefore originall sinne in it self is taken away in Baptism Sol. Here is a fallacy taking that to be generally meant of the whole which is spoken but in part The formall of sinne is taken away not simply but as touching the guilt of it For there is double formall of sinne First a repugnancy with the Law and an inclination to sinne Secondly the guilt which is the ordaining of it to punishment the guilt is taken away but the inclination abideth Rom. 7.23 I see another Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my minde c. And this you see that although originall Concupiscence is not a free and voluntary transgression of Gods Law and so not sinne as actuall sinnes be but an inbred perversity of nature that opposeth the Law of God and makes us apt to transgresse the same it being like a fiery furnace so hot though it yeeld no flames yet it is ever ready to burn every combustible substance that lights upon it Yet it is most apparent that it is a sinne and that prohibited in the tenth Commandement This I hope may suffice in answer to these objections which have been so fully confuted in former ages that were not these men past all shame they would never goe about to revive such Heresies that we had hoped had long since been buried amongst us But so long as there is a Devill in Hell and a Pope at Rome we must never expect to be free from such disturbers of our peace Come we now to the Scriptures which they alledge and wrest to maintain their errors and against the truth of our position that sinne will have a being in the best of men so long as their Souls have a being in these houses of clay The first Scripture that we may take notice that they cite may be that in the Rom. 6.6 we that are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death That the whole body of sinne might be destroyed From whence they conclude That the corruption of old Adam is quite abolished and that they are perfectly quitted from sinne and perfectly renewed by Grace Unto this I answer as in part before that the guilt of sin which the Schools term the form of sin this is taken away in baptisme Secondly the corruption of sin which they call the matter of sin and this is likewise to be considered two wayes First in respect of the dominion of sin and thus the matter of sin is taken away from the elect because sin in them is not like a Prince that ruleth over them but like a Slave that rebelleth against them Secondly in respect of the being of sinne and thus the matter of sinne is not taken away from Gods Saints because St. Paul saith The flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5.17 and as he saith of himself Rom. 7.23 And therefore seeing the Apostle saith not let not sin be in your mortal bodies but let not sinne reign If no sin did remain there were no danger of reigning And as Aug. hath well observed it is apparent that sinne and concupiscence is taken away in Baptisme Non ut non sit sed ut ne obsit not as touching the being of it that we should be without sin but as touching the rule of sin that it should not hurt us nor hinder us to attain unto everlasting happinesse And so Anselme saith in Rom. 6.6 That the body of sinne is destroyed Not that our inbred corruption should on the sudden be consumed in our flesh that liveth but that it may not be imputed to him that is dead though it was in him while he lived Because sin is destroyed not from having a being in us while we are alive but that we should not be compelled to serve it in our life and that it should not deprive us of eternall life Script 2 Rom. Rom. 6.2 cap. 7.4 1 John 3. 6.2 We are dead to sinne dead to the Law free from sinne And they that are born of God that is regenerated and sanctified doe not sin And that our old man that is all the corruption
not doe it being a doctrine that shews us the way of life but doth not minister grace unto us to walk therein But all these which the Law could not doe Jesus Christ by whom commeth grace and life hath done unto us Therefore there is no life to be found in the observance of the Law It being impossible for the Law to give They therefore that seeke life only in the observance thereof shall never find it Again the Apostle in another place calls the Law the Ministery of death and condemnation and that because it instantly bindes men under death for every transgression of her Commandements So that he that hath eyes to see what an universall rebellion of nature there is in man to Gods holy Law Yea what imperfections and discordance with the Law are remanent in them who are renewed by grace may easily espy the blinde presumption of those who seek life in the ministry of death Yet so universall is this error that it hath overgone the whole posterity of Adam Nature teaching all men who are not illuminated by Christ to seek salvation in their own deeds that is to stand to the covenant of works But the Supernaturall doctrine of the Evangelist teacheth us to transcend nature to goe out of our selves and to seek salvation in the Lord Jesus And so to use the Law not that we seek life by fulfilling it which here is impossible but as a School-master to lead us unto Christ in whom we have remission of our sin sanctification of our nature acceptance of our imperfect obedience benefits which the Law could never afford us Thus you see it is impossible for us in our own persons to fulfill the Law of God no such grace being given from above as I shewed you before or if we could yet it is not possible for the Law to save us not in respect of any desert or imperfection in the Law For the Law is just good and holy Rom. 7.12 But in regard of the corruption of our nature which is not able to yeeld such perfect obedience unto the Law as the Law requireth Nay I say further that although the Law be good yet it is not good to this end neither was it ordained of God for this purpose For the Law was given to a double end First common to all men Secondly proper to two sorts of men First to the Elect and Reprobates First in respect of all men the Law was given First to shew unto all men what was sin for by the Law commeth the knowledge of sin Rom. 3. and I had not known that lust had been sin had not the Law said thou shalt not lust Secondly to shew the wrath of God for sinne and by the transgression thereof to make all men see how justly they be worthy of eternal death And therefore the Apostle saith in 1 Cor. 3. that the Law causeth wrath and is the ministry of condemnation because it sheweth unto us how justly we deserve wrath and condemnation Thirdly to be a rule of righteousnesse to restrain all men from sin and to retein them in a civill course of living for the common good of humane society Secondly the Law was given to these two proper ends First in respect of the Reprobate to make them without excuse because the Law teacheth them what should be done and what should be left undone And therefore it leaves them without excuse if they leave the one and commit the other Secondly In respect of the elect the Law was given to be a means by the sight of their sinnes to seek out a Saviour that should deliver them from their sinnes And in this respect As he that informeth us of some dangerous disease doth tacitly advise us to seek for some expert Physitian So is the Law said to be our Schoolmaster to teach us by the manifestation of our sinnes to seek unto Christ for our deliverance But the Law was never intended to that end that it should justifie us and of it self bring us to eternall life For first if eternall life had been promised only to them that keep the Law then the promise had been made vain because it was impossible for our corrupt nature to perform it Secondly if righteousnesse could have come by Law then Christ had died in vain because it was superfluous for him to dye for us when as we might procure life by the works of the Law And therefore it is apparent that by the works of the Law no flesh living can be justified Thirdly For hypocriticall Gospellers such as seem Saints in ostentation that they may play the Divels without supicion which say they have Faith but shew no works that are not vayled with hypocrisie and intended to wrong ends let Esayas tell you how acceptable these works are to God Esay 1. and whether they be like to justifie them before God or not For the Lord complayneth that he is weary of them that his Soul hateth them and biddeth them to bring no more such sacrifice unto him Fourthly For the true Christians that are born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh but of God If any works could justifie it must needs be that their works wrought in them and thorow them by the Spirit of God should justifie them And yet we say that the best works of the best regenerate men cannot justifie them before God And thus we prove it First Because all the Graces that we receive in this life are but in part given unto us as I shewed in the proof of the other position and so imperfect Graces Not that the Spirit of God works imperfectly but that he means not here to inrich us with any Grace while we are conversant with sinfull men in this vale of misery but only so farre forth as he seeth fit to bring us to the Kingdome of perfection where that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.10 and therefore our inherent justice being but as our knowledge in part and therefore imperfect it is impossible that it should perfectly justifie us before God Secondly Because that although our good works are perfect in respect of Gods Spirit which effecteth them Yet seeing as fair water is defiled by running through a dirty Channell so our best works are tainted when they passe through us that are so subject to sinne and so many times polluted with so many iniquities It is unpossible we should be justified before him in whosepresence nothing in the least manner polluted can stand uncondemned and therefore as the Prophet saith all our righteousnesse is as astained clothe Esay 64.6 And as Gregory saith Moral lib. 21. cap. 15. lib. 5. cap. 7. All mens righteousnesse should be found unrighteousnesse if God should strictly Judge it And Aug. Wo to the most laudable and best life of man If God laying aside his mercy should discusse the same in the strictnesse of his Justice for alas who knoweth not that God is a God of
So that briefly in statu confectionis Adamus acceperit posse si vellet he received a power to be if he would sed non habuit velle quod posset but he had not power given him to will that he might be Which first power having willingly cast away man now can challenge no more but what God will give for God owes no Creature any thing If he gives it is of his free grace if he withholds he doth no man wrong In the second state in man fallen born of corrupt parents and yet not regenerate Although man hath lost that first grace of liberty to be if he will yet the will doth work freely but it is carried to evil only and can doe nothing else but sinne And the reason is because the privation of the knowledge of God in the understanding ensued on the fall together with the want of inclination in the heart and will to obedience Instead where of blindnesse and aversenesse from God succeeded the which man cannot shake off unlesse he be regenerate Briefly it is the fitnesse and pronenesse in man after his fall being unregenerate to chuse only evill Of this blindnesse and corruption of mans nature after the fall it is said All the thoughts of man are evill c. Gen. 6.5 and can the Ethiopian change his skin Jer. 13.23 And a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.28 and dead in sinnet by nature the sonnes of wrath Ephes 2.1.3 and we are not able of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 With these testimonies concurreth every mans experience and the weary conscience which proclaimeth that we have no liberty or pronenesse of will to doe that which is good but too great freedome and readinesse to practise evil unlesse we be regenerate as it is said Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted c. Wherefore there is no love of God in us by nature and therefore we have by nature no readinesse to obey God From whence it comes to passe that the enmity between God and man is not in God but in man who will not now rank himself in the roome of a subject and yield to the Lord the place of a Commander There is only now this question between God and man Whose will should be done The Lord craves that man should subject his will to Gods will But man aspires to make his own will the rule of his actions and in this miserable state lives every man not renewed by grace he sets up within himself a will contrary to Gods most holy will And this is the fruit of Adams apostasy for in his Creation he had a perfect conformity to the law or will of God and had power to yield exact obedience to the same But now onely a readinesse to doe evill But no power of it selfe to doe good Thirdly in the third state Take a man as he is renewed we deny against all our adversaries that our will is a co-worker with grace by the force of nature But we say it worketh by grace with grace We deny that grace doth enable the will of it self to doe good works if it please But we say that grace worketh in the will to please and to doe such offices as God requires at our hands God doth not hang his work upon the suspended If of our will but he worketh in us to will and causeth us to doe the things that he commandeth to doe as in Ezekiel 36.27 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and doe them We will indeed saith Augustine but God worketh in us to will we work but God worketh in us to work we walk but God worketh in us to walk we keep his commandements but God worketh in us to keep them according to that in the Philippians 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure So that in this estate the cause for which the will beginneth to work well is this Because by the singular grace or benefit of the holy Spirit mans nature is renewed by the word of God there is kindled in the mind a new light and knowledge of God in the heart new affections in the will new inclinations agreeing with the law of God And the will effectually moved to doe according to these inclinations and so it recovereth both that power of willing that which God approveth and the use of that power and beginneth to be conformed and agreeable to God and to obey him Deut. 30.6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed c. and Ezekiel 36.26 a new heart will I give you c. and 16. Actâ— 14. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia and 1 Cor. 3.7 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty And yet notwithstanding we must know first in this life the renewing of our nature is not perfect neither as concerning out knowledge of God neither as concerning our inclination to obey God And therefore in the best of men while they live here doe remaine sinnes both originall and others And Secondly that the regenerate be not alwayes ruled by the holy Spirit but are sometimes forsaken of God God withdrawing himself for a season either to try them that is to make their weaknesse without God known to themselves as in Peter or to chastise or humble them but yet are recalled to Repentance that they perish not Of the first the Aposte testifieth Rom. 7.18 I know that in me that is my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but I find no means so performe that which is good And in Marke 9.24 Lord I believe help my unbeliefe Of the second it is said Take not thy holy spirit from me and Esay 63.17 It is said O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy wayes and hardened our heart from thy feare Return for thy servants sake the Tribes of thine inheritance and in the 1 Kings 8.57 The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers let him not leave us or forsake us And therefore the regenerate in this life doth alwayes goe either forward or backward neither continueth in the same state Here then are deduced these two conclusions First as man corrupted before he be regenerate cannot begin new obedience pleasing and acceptable to GOD so he that is regenerate in this life although he begin to obey God that is hath some inclination and purpose to obey according to all his commandements and that unfeigned though yet weak and strugling with evill inclinations affections and desires and therefore there shine in his life and manners a desire of piety towards God and his neighbour yet he cannot yeild whole and perfect obedience to God because neither his knowledge nor love to God is so great and sincere as the law of God requireth And therefore it
live well if they live without crime But he who thinks he can live without sin doth not thereby make himself free of sin but debars himself of the pardon of his sinnes There is a two fold perfection or righteousnesse first Imputed which is by way of relation and doth perfectly justifie us befor God Secondly Infused by way of inhesion subjectively in us and this is but inchoated and imperfect and therefore cannot justifie us in the sight of God Or I say with Zanchius that the perfection within the holy Scriptures or writings of the ancient fathers is ascribed unto the Saints of God for their righteousnesse and good works is either Extrinsecall or Intrinsecall First the Extrinsecall or adventitious is that perfection of condonation when our imperfection is freely pardoned for the death and passion of Jesus Christ according to that saying of August All the Commandements of God are reputed as done when that is remitted which is left undone And this righteousnesse consisteth rather in the remissions of sinnes than in the perfection of vertue Secondly the Intrinsecall is that perfection of inhesion and this is said to be either absolute or comparative First it is said to be absolute when our hearts are sincere and simple free from hypocrysie and double dealing with God so Job was a perfect man and David was a man according to Gods own heart Because his heart was ever seeking after God and sincere towards him though through his infirmity he sinned against him Secondly Comparative in respect of others so Noah is said to be perfect Gen. 6.9 but observe it was in generationibus suis that is in respect of all others that lived in those Godlesse daies And so St. Paul meaneth 1 Cor. 2.7 We speak wisdome amongst them that are perfect that is amongst those that have greater measure of knowledge and understanding than the rest of men have And for any other absolute perfection St. Paul is absolutely against it when he professeth of himself that he had not attained unto it as in the place before quoted Philip. 3. And saith Bernard super Cant. Serm. 50. Who dares arrogate that to himself which St. Paul denyeth Or I say that the intrinsecall perfection is two fold First of Parts Secondly of Degrees First the former is when a man hath respect as the Prophet David saith unto all the commandements of God and alloweth not in his heart the breach of any of them Secondly the latter is when a man exactly performeth all that the Law in its full rigour requireth And he that is perfect in the first sense may fitly be resembled to a weak and feeble child that hath omnes partes integrales but not integraliter all the integrall and perfect parts of a man yet not integrally or perfectly But he that is perfect in the second sense is like a strong and full grown man that hath all his parts in their perfection And we confesse that the true servants of God in this life may have the perfection of parts Because that in some measure they may love every good and hate every evill though not continually as touching the exactnesse of performance Yet habitually as touching a constant resolution But that a man should have the perfection of degrees we utterly deny because that he can neither love the good nor hate the evill as he should doe And as for those Testimonies of Scripture that the Jesuits Bellarm. Becanus and others doe wrest against us to prove the perfection of the Saints in this life We answer with August First That some of those places are exhortations shewing us what we should doe not proving what we can doe for admonitions doe not shew ut tantum praestari possit quantum suadetur that so much can be performed which is enjoyned but they shew us quousque conari oportet how earnestly we should strive to preserve them though we be not able perfectly to observe them Secondly That many of those places doe shew us not what we are now in via in the way but what we shall be hereafter in patria at the end of our pilgrimage when we shall be freed from the imperfection of our flesh and cloathed with the Garment of perfect righteousness Thirdly That the Scripture in many places terms them perfect and immaculate which have defiled their Garments or polluted their Consciences Mark not with no sinnes which is impossible with no gross sinnes or damnable enormities which as I said before is commendable When they fashioned not themselves unto the world nor suffered sin to reign in their mortall bodies Fourthly The Scripture pronounceth men perfect blameless and blessed not because they have no sinnes but because their sinnes are not imputed unto them as Psal 32.1 And therefore though the Saints are called righteous and perfect not only in regard of the imputative righteousness and perfection of Christ but also in regard of that inherent righteousness which is wrought in them by the spirit of Christ Yet we must understand in what sense they are thus inherently called righteous For we must not think them to be so perfectly righteous as to be void of sin or to be justified in the sight of God Because that together with the sanctification of the Saints there is still in them a remainder of originall corruption by the touch and stain whereof their best works are corrupted and defiled and therefore we say that although the Saints and holy men of God may and have lived sine scandalo without offence and sine querela without reproof or without complaint on mans part by the observance of all outward precepts Yet it is imposible that the best of them should live and die sine peccato without sin 1 John 1.8.10 and that remarkable place in 4. Rom. 2. If Abraham had to glory it was not before God We grant that the Saints of God in this life may be called righteous or perfect in a four fold respect First Intentionally because they aim at and desire perfection for resting in a good condition is contrary to grace Grow in grace Secondly Inchoatively because they begin and goe on more and more in the works of righteousness Thirdly Comparatively because that in respect of other mens unrighteousness they may very well be termed righteous Fourthly Acceptatively because God accepteth them though not as absolutely just in themselves by reason of their manifold sinnes and defects yet in Christ and for Christ his sake through whom all their imperfections are pardoned as just and righteous men And thus you see how the Saints and true Servants of God may be called righteous and perfect But still we deny that they are therefore without sin or that they are thereby justified in the sight of God The best perfection of man in this life is to finde and to acknowledge himself to be imperfect as August speaketh In the next place I shall lay you down some reasons for the confirmation of this position That sin will
have a being c. And then I shall answer some objections and their wresting of some Scriptures for the maintenance of their Error And the first reason may be this because there is not any amongst the Saints of God mentioned in Scripture that the spirit of grace hath not charged with some sinne the most perfect in their generations were not without their failings and that after their long walking with God as Noah drunk Lot incestuous Abraham had some diffidence when he consented to unlawfull means in going into Hagar for bringing about Gods purpose Sarah lied and distrusted when she laughed at the promise of a Sonne Moses and Aaron were barred out of Canaan for dishonouring God by diffidence and passion Hezekiah lifted up with pride Job impatient and humbled for it David had foul sinnes and secret sinnes which he repented for and prayed against Jehosaphat and Asa reproved Vzziah and Zachariah punished for sinne the one by untimely death the other dumb And yet these are reported in Scripture to have served God with all their heart with a perfect heart and to have been faithfull And therefore August against the Pelagians bids them examine all the Saints and all will confess that whilest they lived here they were not without sinne And again the perfection we have is such that we daily need to pray forgive us our trespasses If any Saint on earth had to glory it was with men but not with God for saith the Apostle in that Rom 4.2 If Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God Now if this were the state of the best men how may it be expected that it should be otherwise The best of men did still strive to grow in grace and to be better neither doe we read of any that did so stand but that they fell into some sinne and had defects in their best performances What needed else that prayer of godly Nehemiah 13.12 who when he desired that his good service might be remembred with Gods reward he also prayed it might be remembred with Gods forgiveness So also we read that the high Priests offered for their own sins and did typically bear the sins of the holy things noting that our best workes want Christs attonement to make them acceptable They came not from such a pure principle of grace as doe exactly fill the Soul but some corruption remaining stayns them with some defects there being in the principle of grace some defects and the works flowing from it some imperfection Because in this life it is not consummate as I have shewed and shall further shew And therefore sin dwelleth in us and is not wholy abolished God reserves the consummation of grace for the state of glory Grace is glory begun glory is grace consummate Glory inchoat here grace perfected hereafter The spirits of just men made perfect are in heaven Heb 12.23 All our graces are imperfect in this life To speak of those three divine Graces Faith Hope Charity First Faith is not perfect in this life because Faith must be grounded upon knowledge For how shall they believe in him whom they doe not know But the Apostle tells us That we know but in part 1 Cor. 13.12 and therefore we believe but in part So that our Saviour may say of the best of us as once to his Disciples O yee of little faith Matt. 8.26 And the best of us may say unto him with him whose child was possessed Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help my unbelief Again Faith is not simply perfect in this life because that which is perfect admitteth no increase nor addition But there is no man that liveth in this life which can say that he believeth so perfectly as that he hath not need continually to pray Lord increase our faith Therefore there is no man can say his faith is perfect and yet his faith shall be perfect hereafter For it is absurd to say there is no Faith in heaven because Faith is tam apparentium quam non apparentium as well of things seen as of things not seen according to our common saying I believe mine own eyes Surely we must believe the continuance of that happinesse which we have in heaven and therefore there is a perfect Faith in heaven because it is grounded upon a certain knowledge Secondly Our hope in this life is imperfect for although the Apostle compares it to an Anchor yet that doth no wayes prove the perfection of Hope but yeeldeth a great consolation unto us that although we should feel our hope wavering and reeling sometimes to and fro yet it is sure enough to stay us and preserve us against all the windes and stormes of Sathan Thirdly Charity is not perfect in this life First Because as I proved before We know but in part and therefore we can love but in part It is a Maxime amongst Divines that tantum scimus quantum diligimus imperfect knowledge cannot produce perfect charity Quod latet ignotum est ignota nulla cupido Ovid. Things unknown cannot be loved and according to our knowledge and acquaintance with any one so is our affection towards that one Bernard saith We can neither desire what we know not nor enjoy what we love not We love things according as we know them and therefore seeing in heaven we shall know God so perfectly as such Creatures are capable of knowing him many degrees better than we know him now We shall in like manner love him far otherwise than we love him now Secondly Perfect Charity expels fear 1 John 4.18 but there is no Saint on earth without feare therefore no Saint here indued with pefect Charity Thirdly Perfect Charity expelleth sin for love is the fulfilling of the Law in Rom. 13.10 And perfect love is the perfect fulfilling of the Law and where the Law is fulfil'd there is no sin committed because sinne is the transgresion of the Law Gal. 5.14 1 John 3.4 But in many things we offend all James 3.2 And therefore there is no man indued with perfect Charity Greater love can no man have saith our Saviour than to lay down his life for his friend and yet this is not perfect for they may doe it out of vain-glory pride and ambition for a vain-glorious reputation as many have done for the safety of their Common-wealth They may doe it for many other sinister ends yet this cannot prove a perfection of Charity There cannot be a greater argument and signe yet our Saviour doth not bring this to prove the perfection of our love Which we cannot judge of because their ends intentions and many other circumstances which are requisite for the perfection of any thing are unknown But to shew the greatnesse of his love by the surest argument that he could make unto them so far as might be understood by outward apprehension And as for the testimony of St. John 15.14 that is an hypotheticall proposition that can never prove the perfection of charity
of Adam is destroyed and passed away and all things are become new Quia Christianus renevatus est per omnia because a regenerate man is renewed in all things throughout in every part and power both of body and soul and therefore the Regenerate are quite free from all corruption of sinne and indued with all perfection of grace Resp I answer that it is not the meaning of the Holy Ghost in those or the like places to shew that sin is quite abolished and grace perfected in the Saints no otherwise then I shewed unto you before Inchoative non perfective by way of inchoation not perfection But the spirit of God by these formes or phrases would give us to understand two special things First To assure us that now sin is like a serpent crushed in the head according as God said Gen. 3.15 That the promised seed should bruise the Serpents head and therefore can never recover his former strength nor any wayes hurt the regenerate man but only to bruise his heel that is by the wrigling of her tail to cause some temporary affliction to light upon them Secondly to signifie unto us that this should be the main scope of all Saints to strive continually to mortifie the deeds of the flesh and to doe their best endeavors to be clean rid of them and for to perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 And this is plainly intimated unto us in all the exhortations of the Scriptures as where we are advised to abstain from filthy lusts and mortifie the deeds of the flesh and the like For if there were no lusts no deeds of the flesh in us to what end are we bidden to mortifie them Script 3 1 John 3.9 quoted before He that is born of God sinneth not therefore say they the regenerate sin not Answ First He sinneth not to death For they doe not wholy forsake God albeit they may sin against their Consciences but they retein still some beginnings of true godlinesse by which as by sparks they are stirred again to repentance as David Peter and others Secondly He sinneth not as he is regenerated but he sinneth as long as he abideth in this life sin not reigning in him and yet sometimes reigning too as he is regenerated but in part and in part carnall For regeneration or renewing us to the Image of God is not perfected in an instant but is begun only in this life as I have formerly shewed you and in the life to come is at length finished for so doth John himself pronounce of himself and all the Saints in this life 1 John 1. If we say c. And if we acknowledge our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forigve us our sinnes this therefore is the meaning of St. John that the regenerate indeed doe sinne but yet not so as that they make much of their sinne Or doe so at any time yeeld and assent to evill desires that they cast away all love of godlinesse and repent not For alwayes in the regenerate there remaineth some remnant of a regenerate nature Which causeth either a strife against sinne or else true repentance that is it suffereth them not to sinne to everlasting destruction Or thus more briefly He that is born of God makes not a trade of sinning he lives not in his sinne he lies not in his sinne he delights not in his sinne he sinnes not with purpose with pleasure with malice with perseverance sinne raigneth not but as the Apostle saith the evill that I doe I would not doe c. Object It is said His seed remaineth in him neither can he sinne because he is born of God Sol. The Spirit of God remaineth in him so that he cannot sinne a sinne unto death he cannot come under the power of sinne Script 4 1 Pet. 1.23 Bring born a new not of mortall seed but of immortall by the word of God who liveth for ever If therefore say they the seed of Gods word never dieth in them that are born a new they ever remain regenerate and ever retain Grace neither ever fall into sinne Answ I answer first that the regenerate may loose and doe often loose Grace and the holy Spirit as concerning some guifts sometimes more somtimes fewer although they loose it not if we respect all the guifts For still there abideth in them some beginning or print of true Faith and conversion which although when they yeeld to evill inclinations or desires it is so oppressed and darkened that it neither can be known of others neither confirm them of the Grace of God and their own Salvation for the present yet it suffereth them not wholly to forsake God and the known Truth and to cast away their purpose of embracing by Faith the Merits of the Sonne of God So David prayeth Psal 51.10 11. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me and restore me to the joy of thy Salvation He had lost therefore cleanness of Heart rightness and newness of Spirit and the joy of Salvation which he beggeth of God to be restored unto him and yet he did not wholly want them for otherwise he would not have asked neither would he have looked for from God this renueing and restoring Secondly The Seed of God that is the Word of God working true Faith and Conversion in the Elect abideth and dyeth not in the regenerate as concerning their coversion and finall perseverance how ever they may fall often grievously and foully before their end If they had been of us they would have continued with us saith the Apostle 1 John 2.19 Script 5 A good tree cannot bring forth evill fruit Answ I answer it cannot as it is good which shall so come to passe in the life to come But if it be partly good and partly evill such is the fruit also whereof we have sufficient tryall and experience in this life Script 6 Eph. 5.25 26 27. This shews us how Christ in this life by the Word Sacrament and the operation of Grace doth cleanse us that in the state of glory we may be perfectly holy without spot or wrinkle and that the words are to be understood of the state of glory I shall prove by these ensuing Reasons Reas 1 First Reason Because here we are absent from Christ and know but in part and so although we love inchoatively yet we love not perfectly Reas 2 Second Reason Because otherwise there would be no distinction between the state of Glory and the state of Grace if Grace were consummate in this mortall life Reas 3 Third Reason Because the Saints on Earth have sinne remaining in them and they that deny it are lyars and no truth in them And we shall finde that all the Fathers against the Novatians and Donatists so understand the place The Church Triumphant without spot or wrinkle and not the Church Militant Script 7 2 Tim. 4.7 Paul had fought a good fight and finished his course And