A TREATISE OF Original Sin The First Part. PROVING That it is by pregnant Texts of Scripture vindicated from false Glosses By Anthony Burgess ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed in the Year 1658. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER READER THe Doctrine of Original Corruption is as extensive in the usefulnesâ—â— of it â—as the sinne it self is diffusive in the contagion thereof so that as there is none born in a natural way who can plead an immaculate conception either is there any who doth not need profitaâ—â—e information herein for the deep and radical Humiliation of himself before God As for the Doctrine of it it 's easie and difficult easie because we palpably and evidenâ—ly finde the effects thereof Difficult because the exact knowledge of it being chiefly be divine Revelation Noâ—onder if those who attend to Aristole more than Paul and desâ—â—â— be â—ationales rather than fideles have groâ—â—ely 〈◊〉 in the darke they walke in It is the old known saying of Austin Antiquo peccato nihil ad praedicandum notius nihil ad intelligendum secrâ—â—â— Hence it is that as a Popish Writer well observeth Elisim piorum Clyp Quest 12. Artic. 1. When we have heard what any learned men can say yet still we desire to know more about it Nil de eo legitur quin amplius de eo legi desideratur By enquiring our appetites are not so much satisfied as provoked â—et the light of the Scripture is sufficient as to all necessary saving Knowledge about it And as for Curiosities and needlesse Subtilties which are a shell in the Controversie we may throw them them away and eat the Kernel It is acknowledged both by Papists and Protestants that the Controversies about Original Sinne are of very great importance Stapleton chargeth us Proleg Disput de peccat Originali with two capital maternal Errours the one about the Scriptures the other about Original Sinne as if these two were the Joachin and Bâ—â—z our Temple is built upon as if these were the two breasts from which all other erroneous Doctrines suck their pestiferous nature We again on the other side do propugn these two Principles the former whereof we may call Principium cognoscendi and the later principium essendi as the two fountaines of Doctrinal and Practical Piety so that to destroy any of these is to lay the ax to the root of the tree that so no more fruit in Religion may grow thereupon The Pontificians and Protestants are generally agreed in this for some Papists but few dissent from their own Party herein that there is such a thing as Original Sinne and that it is truly properly and univocally a Sinne only they complain of us as too direfully and tragically amplifying the nature of it Hence Hoffmeister Eccius Cassander grant a consent in this onely they think the Protestants words and expressions are capable of a perfective alteration The expresse Adversaries therefore to this Doctrine were the Pelagians of old the Socinians and some Anabaptists of late and more particularly a late English Writer Dr. Taylor Unum Necessarium and in other little Pieces Proh nefas like a second Julian in triumphing language hath with much boldness and audacity decried it as if it were but a non ens and the Disputes needless about it For although sometimes he would make the world believe he holdeth Original Sinne yet these are but words ad frangendam invidiam as Pelagius of old would use the word Grace for when it cometh to the explication he meaneth no more than an Original Curse or else the meer Naturals that he speaketh of complying with Pelagius and some Jesuites in that notion whereby having lost the gratuitals our nature was at first crowned with it is cast into an unfitness for the Kingdom of Heaven What learning and abilities the Author may have I doe not detract from only it 's greatly to be lamented that he should contrary to Cyprian and others take the Gold he had in Jerusalem and carry it into Egypt to build an Idol there He hath fully improved his liberty of Prophesying and waving reverence to the Scriptures Councils and Fathers yea and the Church of England in whose Obedience he doth so glory in as appeareth by the 9th Article and the Order of Administration of Baptism by a sceptical and academical disposition he is fallen into this Heresie for so the denial of Original sinne hath alwayes been accounted Neither let this Writer think that his industrious affectation of words and language will make falshood to be truth There is great difference between skin and bone words and arguments in any Theological Discourse Neither are Tractates veriores quia disertiores there is ambitiosum eloquentiae mendacium And as Austin expressed it arma non vulnerant quia fulgentia â—ed quia fortia It is true if this VVriter hath no Original sinne in him and his Adversaries have then he must needs dispute with great advantage for ignorance and imperfection doth not adhere to his intellectuals as we acknowledge doth to ours and that by Original sinne But it must be confessed he betrayeth much of Original sinne even while he writeth against it and his Arguments as I may so say materialiter prove it while formaliter against it His greatest honour is that a Papist hath written against him One might doubt whether really or by collusion it is done so slightly and calculated wholly according to the Popish Meridian and yet in some respects it is his great disparagement that one of Babylon should appear at least in some measure for an ancient Truth while at the same time one pretending to be of Sion should oppose it But enough of this troublesom matter I now come to acquaint the Reader with the Method I propound in this Book which is first to handle the An sit of Original Sinne Secondly The Quid sit which done I proceed to the two-fold Subject of it mentioned by the Learned The Subject of Inhesion And herein I shew particularly and largely how every power of the Soul is infected by this Leprosie which accomplished I passe to the Subject of Predication shewing That it is in every one naturally born of a woman That omnis homo and totus homo is thus corrupted and then close with the consideration of the Properties and Effects of it All which I have endeavoured to manage practically as well as doctrinally knowing the great and excellent improvement in a spiritual way that may be made of this truth as I experimentally found by the attestation of godly hearers in the preaching thereof and I doubt not but if the Ministers of Christ did more largely insist on this Point they would finde very good success thereby for the through Humiliation of their people the information about Regeneration and the Nature of it it would awaken not only the prophane but the civil and externally moralized persons This would keep a man serious in the wayes of God attending to the treacherous enemy within
Even as when the Prophet Elisha would make the waters sweet he threw salt into the spring and fountain of them Thus because it 's from a polluted nature that all our actual sinnes flow therefore grace regenerating is principally ordered to take away or conquer that by degrees which is the cause of all If this be so then let us consider What this grace is which doth inable us to do any thing after a godly and holy manner This is a supernatural gift of God and an insused quality into the soul whereby it 's inabled to work above its own proper and natural operations If then to do any thing that is good be wholly of grace it 's Gods gift then to sin is natural and proper to thee The Scripture is copious and plentiful in affirming this That Christ as our head is the cause of all our supernatural actings We receive of his fulness and so are inabled by him Grace then being supernatural to love God to repent of sin to do any thing spiritually being thus wholly above nature it necessarily followeth that when we sin and do evil that we do it naturally SECT X. NInthly The Nature of a thing if compounded and not simple is the complex of the whole The nature of a man is not his hands or his eyes only but his soul and his whole body Thus the nature of original Righteousness was not the perfection of one single faculty the understanding only the will only but it was the complete harmonical rectitude of the whole man called therefore the Image of God Now as the Image of a man is not one limb or member but the pourtraiture of the whole So neither was the Image of God in Adam one grace or some few graces but the perfection of every part Light in the mind holiness in the will order and regularity in the affections Thus it is on the contrary with original sinne it 's called The old man and it 's said to have mâ—mbers by which is implied that it 's not any single sinne or a defect and pollution in one faculty of the soul but it 's universal over all Hence our Saviour saith John 3. Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh it is wholly corrupted it is all over sinful So then when we say it 's natural this implieth That it is a Leprosie all over us as farre as our physical being extends Thus also in a moral sense doth our sinful Being inlarge it self Therefore our natural estate is not compared only to a blind man or a deaf man what wants the use of some faculties but unto death it self that depriveth of the use of all The naturality then of this sinne doth denote both the inward inheston as also the universal diffusion of it nothing within a man being free from this contagion SECT XI LAstly The Naturality of this evil doth appear In the great easiness promptitude and delight a man naturally finds to sin This is a way to discover what is natural if the actions be easie ready and with delight This discovers they flow from Nature but what is of art that is with difficulty and much observation We need not hire or teach a man to eat or drink these are natural actions and are accompanied with delight And thus the Naturality of this birth-sinne is notably manifested with what ease pleasure and inward readiness is a man carried out to sinne from his youth up Eliphaz speaks notably of this Job 15. 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water like a Leviathan that is said to drink up the river and hasteth not You see he cals every man by nature abominable and filthy which is discovered by this He drinketh iniquity like water as a dropsie or feavorish man that is scorched with heat within doth with greediness and delight pour down water and the more he drinketh the thirstier he is and he never saith he hath enough Thus it is with filthy and corrupted man he doth with earnestness and delight fulfill the lust of the flesh he is never satisfied Every man in the world hath a Sheol within him that is alwayes craving and saying Give Give as hell hath unquenchable sparks of fire such an hell is in every mans heart As our Saviour said It 's my meat and drink to do my Fathers will Thus it is every mans meat and drink by nature to be doing the Devils will Do ye not see it in children how of themselves they are prone to any impiety but call them to learn or to be instructed then there is much aversness All this ariseth from the natural evil within us CHAP. IV. Objections against the Naturality of Original Sinne answered SECT I. THe Naturality of original sinne hath been in divers respects asserted I shall therefore conclude this Text with answers to some Objections that are made against this Doctrine I do not mean against original sinne it self for they are various so unwilling is man to be convinced that he is wholly sinful but against the Naturality of it which this Text doth affirm Neither shall I take in all Objections of this kind because they will be met with on some other Texts only I shall pitch upon one or two whereby your understandings may be more fully cleared in this point and so I shall part with this Text. First therefore it hath been enviously of old objected against this Truth That if there were such a natural pollution adhering to all mankind this would redound to the dishonour of God who is the Author of man This Argument the Pelagians of old insulted with If say they any man hold God is the maker of man presently he is called a Pelagian for thus they flourished If there be original sinne either the parents that beget or the children that are begotten or God the Creator of the soul and in a peculiar manner forming all the parts of our body must be the cause of this sinne This Objection they thought unanswerable unless we should charge God with being the Author of this original defilement Hence it is that they charged Manâ—cheism upon the Orthodox as if they thought that Nature it self was evil Five things there were that these Hereticks did usually commend Nature Marriage the Law Free-will and Holiness none of which they thought could be maintained unless we deny original sinne But when these Arguments are fully searched into there will appear no matter of boasting Let us call the first to account and examine Whether the Doctrine of original corruption doth charge God foolishly or no Whether hereby all the sinne in the world will be laid upon God Now there is a three sold charge drawn up against this Truth as it relateth to God 1. That it makes him the Author of this sinne 2. That it makes him unjust imputing that sinne of Adam to us and punishing us because of it when we had no being or any will of our own
lower region of thy soul but thy will thy mind thy conscience these also are become flesh and are wholly corrupted so that in thee by nature there remaineth no good thing at all SECT III. How carnal the Soul is in its actings about Spiritual Objects 3. IN that it is called Flesh there is discovered that a man in all the workings of his soul in religious things is carnal and meerly carried out wholly by the principle and instigation of flesh within him the Image of God was so glorious and efficacious in Adam that all his bodily and natural actions were thereby made spiritual his flesh was spirit as I may so say the body and bodily affections did not move inordinately against Gods will but having a divine and holy stamp upon them they were thereby made divine and spiritual But since this original corruption the clean contrary is now to be seen in us for even the spiritual workings of the soul are thereby made carnal and fleshly Adam's body was made spiritual and now our souls are made carnal Oh the said debasing and vilifying of us that is by this means If an Angel should become a worm it is not so much dishonour as for righteous Adam to become an apostate sinner Let us take notice how our souls do put themselves forth about spiritual objects and you shall find they are wholly carnal and fleshly in such approaches insomuch that in their highest devotions and religious duties they are onely carnal and fleshly all the while As First In the mysteries of Religion which are revealed unto in by a supernatural light The mind of man because it cannot comprehend of them in a carnal or bodily manner much more if not by natural reason though that be corrupt is ready to despise and reject all What was the reason that Christ crucified is such a foolish Doctrine to be believed by the learned Grecian but because it was not agreeable to natural reason When Peter made that Confession concerning Christ That he was the Sonne of the living God Christ tels him Flesh and blood had not revealed that to him Mat. 16. 17. And doth not this fleshly mind still effectually move in Atheists and Heretiques Is not this the bane of Socinan persons that they will make reason a judge of divine Mysteries whereas that it sâ—lt is corrupt and is it self to be judged by the word of God So that the power of original sinne as it is flesh manifests it self about all the supernatual Doctrines and Truths revealed in the Gospel We that are Pigmies think to measure these Pyramides we think to receive the whole Ocean in our little shell Hence it is that Paul 2 Cor. 8. 5 6. will have all our imaginations every high thought brought into captivity Thus you see That whatsoever a man doth in reference to God he is wholly carnal and fleshly in it he is not carried out with a sutable principle of the Spirit to that which is spiritual and this may be discovered in many branches it is also very usefull and profitable for hereby they shall see that the onely things which they relie upon as religious worship of God and the evidences of their salvation are so farre from being a true stay to them that like thorns they will pierce their hands If a mans spirituals be carnals How great are his carnals If his Religion if his devotion if the matters of his God be thus altogether flashly What will his sins and corruptions appear to be We have already instanced in one particular viz. The Doctrine to be believed and declared how carnal a man is in that We proceed further to illustrate this necessary Truth and therefore Secondly Every natural man in his religious worship is wholly carnal as well as in his Doctrine to be believed For if we consult the Scripture and observe what was the cause of all that Idolatry and spiritual abomination for which God did so severely punish the children of Israel was it not from a carnal fleshly mind within Therefore you heard Gal. 5. Idolatry is made a work of the flesh when they changed the glory of God into the similitude of an Ox that eateth bay Was not this to please the eye And so their goodly Altars their goodly Images which the Prophet mentioneth Were not all these because of their sutableness to a carnal mind We need not instance in Pagans or Heathens who are wholly in darkness without any supernatural light But if we take notice of the Christian Church in all the successive Ages thereof How potent and predominant have carnal principles been in all their Devotions And is not Popery to this day a full demonstration of this Truth So that that notable expression of our Saviour Joh. 4. 23 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth Yea that the Father seeketh such to worship him hath seldom had its due observation Whereas then Campian would prove All Monuments all Churches all Windows and Pictures therein to be a demonstration of their Religion This proveth indeed the superstition and carnality of it not the spirituality and truth of it and oh the dishonour done to God by this means This fleshly wisdom in Gods worship hath been one chief cause of most of the calamities which have fallen upon it Col. 2. 18. The Apostle attributeth the worshiping of Angels to a fleshly wisdom in men Thirdly A man is naturaly carnal in religious Ordinances Because he is apt to put trust in them to think he merits at Gods hands or maketh satisfaction for his â—ispasses This is not to be spiritual but carnal We have low carnal apprehensions of God when we think that by our righteousnesse though it were ten thousand times more perfect than it is that we are able to profit God therewith Thus those false Teachers with their followers they are said to make a fair shew in the flesh Gal 6. 12. and Phil. 3. 3. to have confidence in the flesh To worship God in the Spirit and to have no confidence in the flesh are two opposite things Now by flesh there is meant circumcision and all other Church-priviledges which Paul did eminently enjoy and while a Pharisee he wholly rested in them but when once the sonne of God was revealed to him then he renounced all confidence in these things judging himself to be only carnal in them But now little was Paul while a Pharisee and so exactly diligent in the discharge of them perswaded that all he did was rejected by God that he abhorred all that he was only carnal in those things It is therefore of great consquence to be spiritual in the particular for this is a secret sweet poison that is apt to undo us Therefore the Particular the formal the devout man who is ignorant of Regeneration while he abhorreth all bodily flesh-sinnes he may be highly guilty of soul flesh sinnes So that there is little cause for a
they are brought to believe they are brought out of the bondage of sinne only Justification and such Gospel-priveledges are actually bestowed upon none till they do beleive we have not time to proceed in the discovery of other waies and opinions of the learned to answer this doubt only thus much we have heard that may make us therefore to bewail original sinne that we are in such a dark ignorance that we do but grope about the propagation had Adam continued in integrity he would not have only communicated righteousness to his posterity but they would also have certainly known the manner how but now we are wholly miserable and know not exactly the manner how we know little about the soul so that the soul which only is knowing in man knoweth very little of it self of its nature of its original like the eie that seeth other things but not it self Let us then be more sollicitous about our going out of the world then how we came into it Be more desirous to come out of this pit then to stand wondring how thou didst fall into it dost thou not observe more ready to inquire curiously about the one then daily to pray about the other SECT V. HItherto the expedients thought upon to ease that great difficulty about the propagation of original sinne have appeared very improbable and in some respect very absurd like unwise Chyrurgians not healing but vexing the wound worse We shall now proceed to some more probable ones and dispatch them with convenient speed lest you should think these are such 〈◊〉 upon which no grapes can grow of more difficulty then usefulness although you shall find that even in this wilderness we may meet with Mâ—ona The truth discussed will not only be for doctrinal Information 〈◊〉 doctrinate Application The next therefore that I shall instance in is 〈…〉 of those who hold The soul is not by the immediate Creation of God but 〈◊〉 or multiplication and this they are so confident in That they 〈◊〉 Doctrine of original corruption cannot be maintained unless we affirme so Thus you heard Austin affirming That neither by reading praier or disputing could he find out how one could be defended without the other It is true Bellermine saith That the opinion of the traduction of the soul from the parents doth no way at all either advantage or incommodate the Doctrine of original sinne but that the difficulty will still be as great so also Arminius Thes pri de primo peccato maketh the dispute about the original of the soul in the matter of the propagation of this hereditary defilement unusefull and needless But certainly the clearing of the souls original is very influential into this point especially because we are forced to it by the adversaries of this truth for it seemeth very probable that Austin would readily have believed the immediate creation of every of every soul but that the dispute about original corruption was the remora for he regarded not any other Objection This opinion then That the soul cometh originally from the parents as well as the body hath had its grave and learned abettors Tertullian of old who wrote a book De animâ And as for Austin it is true he did not defend this opinion neither did he deny it he wrote four Books De origine animae against one Vincentius Victor who blamed Austin for his hesitancy in this point and in those Austin doth still persist in the same doubt and doth answer those Arguments which are usually brought out of the Scripture yet so as that he doth not determine against the souls Creation but desired stronger Arguments and therefore doth rebuke that young man for his bold presumption in determining that controversie so confidently Austin also in his tenth Book upon Genesis ad literam doth shew the same doubting mind within him as also in his Epistle to Hierom wholly about the original of the soul wherein he doth earnestly desire of Hierom that he would teach him and satisfie him in this point by strong and sure evidence likewise he maketh the original of the soâ—â— the subject of this Epistle to Optatus It appeareth that Austin did more incline to hold the Creation of the soul therefore he saith to Hierom That although none can by wishing make a thing to be true yet if it could he would by wishing have the Doctrine of the Creation of the soul to be the truth No wonder that Austin thus doubted seeing Hierom saith the greatest part of the western Doctors were for the traduction of the soul But the eastern the greek Fathers they did generally hold the immediate Creation of it In the latter daies of the Church since the Reformation there have also been eminent and able Divines asserting the traduction of the soul from the parents and thereby original sinne Vostius mentioneth Johnius and Marnixius The Lutheran Divines seem generally to be of this opinion as appeareth by Brechword and Meisner The latter whereof relateth of Luther that he should say He would never trouble the Church about any opinion about the original of the soul yet his private opinion was that it was not by Creation and they do pitch on this as holding it most convenient to remove all doubts although Meisner confesseth there are even unanswerable Objections if they do hold the generation of it from the parents But I must tell you that those who affirm the soul to be from the parents as well as the body differ amongst themselves for some say it is by eduction out of the matter that it is generated as the body Others they say by traduction that the soul is not corporally begotten but the parents soul doth multiply the infants soul even say they as you see one candle doth inlighten another In the confession of the Aethiopick Faith as Hornebeck summa Cont. de Gracis relateth it is affirmed Omnes sine ullâ hesitantiâ in hâc sententiâ versamur c. All of us are in this opinion without any hesitancy that all our souls come of Adam as well as our flesh and that we are all Adam's seed both in flesh and soul CHAP. XXIV That the Soul is neither by Eduction or Traduction but by Introduction or immediate Infusion proved by Texts of Scripture SECT I. BUt whatsoever learned men have thought therein we may say That it is against Scripture and true reason that the soul is either by Eduction or Traduction but by Introduction or immediate Infusion and that by God himself And I shall instance in some Texts of Scripture to which though they give exceptions yet I suppose the Truth stands immoveable neither do you think this work needless for it 's worth the while if there were no other use but to informe you against a dangerous sect that are called Mortalists who hold the soul is nothing but the temperament of the body and that it is mortal to which abominable opinion the Socinians also do strongly incline The first Text
discovered under the means of grace and the light of the Gospel then under the light of nature meerly for such are said comparatively to sit in darkness and to have no light The more then the light of the Gospel doth appear the more any beams of truth do gloriously shine into thy breast and thou for all this gain-sayest them livest against them the more is thy will in a sinne This then doth greatly aggravate the polluted nature of the will that it can contradict the powerfull arguments of the soul when it was made subordinate to knowledge then to become tyrannical and usurping over it this argueth the will hath a peculiar infection in it insomuch that if it had never so much light yet that would be evil because it will be evil I know there are many learned men that say The will cannot but follow the practical dictate of the understanding There is say they a natural connexion between them so that if the will at any time offend it is because the light and conviction of the mind is faint and inefficacious But this opinion doth greatly retract from the nature of grace and the nature of our original sinne from grace as if that did sanctifie the understanding and affections only and from original sinne as if that were not seated in the will but in the other parts only whereas the will of a man may be called the throne of wickedness because from it properly all sinnes have their rise and being Do we not see this plainly in the Devils who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greatly knowing and understanding yet no Devil is able to will what is good but willeth to sinne alwayes and cannot resrain it How cometh this about They do not want knowledge they are not capable of sinnes of ignorance and yet with what irreconcilable enmity is the Devil set against that which is good insomuch that he cannot all the day long but will those things that are offensive to God Although they know this is to their eternal torment By which you see how depraved and poisoned without Christ the will is though the understanding meet it like an Angel to stop this Balaam in wicked and unjust wayes Never then plead ignorance or plead passions for it is the defect and wickedness of the will that makes thee so vile But as the will in the upper region as it were is so much polluted so in the lower region also for if we consider it as bordering upon the affections there we shall find as horrible a sinne daily committed as when Gods Law sorbids a woman to fall down before a beast for when the will which is in it self a rational appetite shall make it self like one of the vile affections and passions what is this but a spiritual and unclean lust with a beast Lay then this more to heart than thou doest Think how horrid a sight it would be if thy body should become like a beasts and thou go on the ground as that doth what would then become of that Os sublime And is not this as bad when thy will is made a vassal to every inordinate affection Thou willest what thy passions call for yet thus it is with every one till grace doth elevate the will and set it in its proper throne ¶ 9. The Mutability and Inconstancy of the Will FOurthly The mutability and inconstancy of the will about what is holy is a great part of the original desolation upon it It is true Adam's will was mutable at the first Creation though he had full power and perfection to stand yet because his will was changeable therefore he fell from his holy estate and no wonder that Adam's will was mutable for the will of the Angels so greatly transcending man in glory was also vertible and changeable so that to have the will confirmed in what is good that it cannot fall into the contrary condition is a blessed and gracious priviledge vouchsafed by God alone Therefore there are no men though never so much sanctified but their wils would make them fall off from God did not God outwardly support him This natural mutability is in the will because it 's the will of a creature onely the will of God is immutable and unchangeable and this is onely a negative imperfection it is not a sinne but the inconstancy and changeablenesse that I now mention is a sinfull and corrupt one This mutability of the will and instability discovers it self in these particulars 1. In some great fears or judgements of God upon a man then though he hath no more but nature yet his will doth sometimes seem to yeeld and to melt before God Thus Pharaob's will Ahab's will did abate of their contumacy while the heavy rod of God was upon them but how quickly did they lick up their vomit again When the iron was taken out of the fire it grew as cold as ever And is not this inconstant will the ruine of many Oh that thou hadst such a will alwayes as thou hadst in such straits in such extremities then how happy wouldst thou be 2. This inconstancy of thy will appeareth to thy undoing When in some Ordinance the Word preached the Sacrament administred or reproof applied to thee then thou beginnest to yeeld then thou sayest I will do it I will be so no more I will become new but these April showrs hold for a season the winter will come when all will be frost and snow Mat. 21. 29. One of those sons who said to his father I go sir seeming to be very willing whereas on the other side I will not did quickly falsifie his Word So that he who refused at first proved better then he that seemed so forward and thus truly it falleth out sometimes that the later end is farre better of some who for a long while say they will not that are stubborn and rebellious but God afterwards maketh them to will then of such who give many fair promises now they will and then they will in such sickness they will in such a powerfull motion they will but afterwards they will not 3. The sinfull inconstancy of the will about holy things is When after a ready and willing profession of Christ in times of temptation and great extremities then they fall off and their fall is great This is because the will was not resolved and fixed that whatsoever should fall out yet they would not treacherously depart from God Act. 11. 23. Barnabas exhorted the Disciples That with purpose of heart they should cleave to God otherwise if the will be not stedfast and resolved every temptation is able to drive it back Lastly The lazy sluggish and half-desires of the will about good things manifest the inconstancy of it Jam. 1. A double-minded man and so a double-willed man is inconstant in all his wayes when the will is divided between the creature and the Creator or when like the sluggard he desireth meat but will not put forth his
evidence the Truth such will appear to be starres indeed fixed in the firmament when others like blazing Comets will quickly vanish away But this is not all the Priviledge there is a two-fold mentioned in the next verse First Ye shall know the truth when they did at first believe the Word they did know the Truth in some measure but now their knowledge should be more evident clear and encreasing And indeed the godly they do so grow in knowledge about heavenly things that they account their former knowledge even nothing at all The second Priviledge is The truth shall make them free Every man till regenerated is in bondage and captivity to blindness in his mind to lust in hiswill And there is nothing can set us at liberty from this dungeon and prison but the grace of God by the Word preached But no sooner is this Priviledge spoken of then it stirreth up the Cavils and Objections of some that heard it They answered him We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man How then doest thou say Ye shall be made free Some think That those who are said to believe did argue thus But this seemeth very harsh Therefore no doubt some others that were in the multitude that did not believe they were offended at this speech of our Saviours and therefore dispute against it arrogating to themselves both a Native freedom We are Abrahams seed and also an actual one We were never in bondage to any man This expression exerciseth Interpreters very much for whether by We they mean their Ancestours or Themselves living at that time It is plain at first they were in bondage in Aegypt afterwards in Babylon and at that present in bondage to the Roman Empire How then could they affirme such a notorious lie that they were never in bondage to any man Some say They mean of such vassals and slaves as sometimes in warre are taken and sold to others Now though the Israelites were often conquered and brought under the power of others yet they were never sold slaves and so not in bondage in that sense Others say They doe not speak of a Civil or Publique and State-Liberty but as it were a religious and holy freedome For though they were in civil bondage yet they glorified in Abraham's seed and the religious freedome thereby in respect of Gods favour So Hensius in his Aristarchus Sacer. upon this place They saith he who spake this did attend to the Law and Covenant for such who obeyed the Law they called free Hence they had a paradoxal Proverb None unlesse he exercise himself in the study of the Law is to be accounted a free man And Qui observat legem esse Regem even as the Stoicks say of their wise man Sixtus Senesis maketh these words to be spoken by some of the Galileans who would never owne any forreign power but did chuse rather to die then to make such an acknowledgement That which many pitch upon is That the Jewes speak this to Christ from their pride and arrogancy not willing to take any notice of their external subjection but so that they may oppose Christ care not what they say though never so contrary to Truth Although Calvin well addeth They might have a pretence for what they said as if the Roman power did by force reign over them and therefore that they were de jure free But our Saviour speaking of one kind of freedome and slavery and they of another he doth in the next verse more particularly open his meaning and withall layeth a foundation to prove That though they boasted and gloried in their freedome yet they were indeed servants and slaves This he proveth by that universal Proposition Whosoever committeth sinne is the servant of sinne You must lay an Emphasis in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not to be understood of every actual committing of sinne but of the wilfull habitual and constant committing of it And thus though great men may boast in their Sovereignty they have over many others though they may glory in multitude of servants yet if they be overcome by any one vice they be the vilest slaves and vassals of all Quot vitia tot Domini so many vices so many Lords Now original sinne that is a Lord and Master to every one that reigneth over all mankind some actual sinnes enslave one man and some another but original sinne doth every man yea though the godly are in some measure freed from the dominion of it yet it keepeth up a tyrannical dominion over the most holy as appeareth Rom. 7. by that complaint of Paul He could not doe the good he would because he was sold under sinne This foundation then being laid our Saviour shewing the difference between a servant and a sonne doth in my Text suppose 1. A necessity of every one till sanctified to be made free 2. The Manner how And 3. That this is freedom indeed The Necessity supposed is If the Sonne make them free Though he speaketh this to those Jews who were in a two-fold bondage to sinne original and actual natural and voluntary yet this is to be applyed to every man that is not in the state of regeneration He hath no liberty or freedome of will to do what is good but is a vassal to all sinne sinne is the lusts thereof do prevail-over him so that he hath neither will or power to come out of this bondage 2. There is the Manner how or the Person by whom we obtain true liberty If the Sonne make you free In some Cities the elder brother had power to adopt sonnes and so to make free however Christ is therefore called the Redeemer because he doth obtain spiritual freedome for his people and that not onely in respect of the guilt of sinne freeing from that which grace of Christ the Pelagians did acknowledge and would constantly interpret my Text in this sense onely but also the power of sinne by inherent Sanctification and Renovation of the whole man and of this freedom the Text doth here principally speak not so much the freedom from the guilt of sinne by justifying grace as from the power of sinne by sanctifying grace 3. You have the Commendation of this spiritual liberty it is called freedome indeed implying that though they had never so much civil freedom never so much dominion and power yet if servants to sinne they were in the vilest bondage that could be Civil freedom is thought to be so great a good that it can never be prized enough Therefore the Rabbins have a saying That if the Sea were ink and the world parchment it would never serve enough to contain the praises of liberty The Scripture informeth us how great an honour it was accounted to be free of Rome but if all this while men are captivated either to personal sinnes or to sinnes of the nature they remain in worse bondage then ever any Gally-slaves were in The people of Israel in their iron
Kingdom of Heaven who yet they said received no poluâ—◠〈◊〉 hurt by Adam but how much more shall the grace of God abound through Christ to many The how much more lieth not in the number but in the nature of these gracious effect which come by Christ though to some onely for that the Apostle doth not intend an excess of Chriss grace in respect of the number it is plain because that had been impossible there could have been but an equality at most If it should be granted That Christ hath reconciled all those that Adam lost this would be an equality only we could not say Christ redeemed more than Adam destroyed for that could not have been therefore it is plain that the superabundance attributed by the Apostle to Christ in respect of Justification is to be understood intensively not extensively in respect of the nature of those blessed effects we receive by him and so indeed there is a great transcendency in Christ in respect of Adam For 1. By Christ we have vivification and quickning to grace and glory whereas by Adam we have sinne and condemnation Now it is farre easier to occasion the damnation of many then to procure the salvation of one To justifie and save one man is more than to destroy all mankind As we see amongst men it 's easier to destroy a thing then to build it up one man may kill many men but yet the same man cannot bring any one of those to life again If therefore Christ had saved but one of all mankind he was infinitely to be exalted above Adam by whose disobedience mankind was plunged into a perishing estate So that if we do compare Death with Life Heaven with Hell Damnation with Salvation and that the one cometh from a deficient cause the other from an efficient we must necessarily conclude that Christ hath infinitely the preheminence above Adam 2. There are some that distinguish between the sufficiency and worth that is in Christs mediation and the actual application of it Now say they the second Adam was infinately more able to save then Adam to destroy and that if we respect the number of men for Christ is able to save a thousand of worlds besides this if there were so many and therefore if we speak of Christ in respect of his sufficiency Adam in a destructing way is no more comparable to Christ in a saving way then a drop to the ocean or a sinite to an infinite For the obedience of Christ is the obedience of God and man Now though this answer may in a good explained sense be received yet I shall not so much avouch it partly because the distinction is made use of to a farre other end then the Orthodox do intend and then partly because the Apostle doth not here attend in his comparison so much to what is sufficient in Christ as to what is actual not so much to what he is able to do as what he will do It 's efficacy not sufficiency the Apostle aimeth at therefore we stick to the former answer though in many other respects the excellency of the second Adam to the first night be declared which are not here to be repeated only that one the Apostle instanceth in is not to be passed over which is that it is but one offence to condemnation whereas the grace of Christ extendeth to the abolishing of many offences that one sinne is enough to damn but the grace of Christ appeareth not only to the abolition of that but also all offences that do actually flow from it Thus every godly soul may comfortably improve this truth that there is more in Christ to save then is in all sinne whether original or actual to damn Christ is more able to justifie then Adam is to condemn Therefore some Schoolmen deny that Adam's sinne did demerit the death and damnation of all mankind it deserved his own damnation and his own death only All other mens deaths and other mens damnation have for their meritorious cause their original sin inherent in them Adam did not meritoriously deserve these but when fallen then his posterity descending from him did naturally fall into such a corrupted estate as he himself was plunged into and the reason they give of this is because no meer man can either mâ—rerâ—â— or demereri for the whole nature of mankind if Adam had stood all his posterity would have been holy and happy but we cannot say Adam would have merited this for all mankind for that is a peculiar thing to Christ only which is incommunicable to a meer man to merit for the whole race of mankind And although there is a great difference between merit and demerit a man may put himself into a demerit of eternal glory but not into a merit yet in this they are alike This reasoning of some Schoolmen admitted which seemeth very plausible then it necessarily followeth that Christs power to save is superlative more than Adams to destroy Lastly That Christ in his efficacy of grace doth exceed Adam in his condemning guilt appeareth In that at last he will utterly remove original sin from all that are his members and so totally vanquish it that it shall not remain in the least spot thereof Although Christ came into the world to take away all sin yet some Schoolmen conclude that principally it was to deliver us from original sin Because saith Suarez De Incar Christi this is the cause and the root of all actual iniquities It is not enough for Christ to purge us from our actual impieties but he also intends to heal our natures Now because original sin infecteth the nature chiefly as it is in persons so also doth Christ principally intend the sanctification of our natures And although this be not presently and immediatly done yet it wil at last be done in that good time he hath appointed for that end Those indeed that limit the efficacy of Christs grace to original sin only as if actual sins were to be removed by our voluntary penances and satisfaction they make Christ but a same Saviour and a semi mediator But yet it may well be affirmed because this original corruption is the pollution of the nature and is the cause of all actual defilements therfore the bloud of Christ doth in the most principal place cleanse from this And therefore this should exceedingly comfort the godly who groan under the reliques of this defilement upon them that Christ will never leave them till he hath restored them perfectly to their primitive integrity for this end he came into the world so that he would be but an impefect Saviour if he should not at last cure thee of this nature-defilement for this lieth upon him to do that he bring al things to their former yea a better perfection that so all may admire the goodness wisdom and mercy of God in Christ and that all cavillers may stop their mouths who usually demand Why did God suffer Adam to fall
to be confuted most properly when we come to speak of that immediate effect of original sinne which is to make a conflict and rebellion in man between the mind and sensitive appetite in natural men and between the flesh and spirit in regenerate men Fifthly That which the Orthodox following the light of the Scripture assign as a cause of that deluge of impiety amongst mankind is the original depravation of every mans nature through Adam 's transgression From this unclean principle none can bring forth that which is clean and truly the Scripture is so evident going alwayes to this head making the lust within a man a cause of all impiety flowing from us that they seem to deny the Sunne at noon-day who will not acknowledge this But let us in the next place examine What causes ef this universall propensity in mankind to sinne are given by the late Heterodox Writer for the weight of this Objection presseth him and therefore he doth industriously set himself to answer it Vnum Necessar Chap. 6. Sect. 4. It is certain saith he that there are many common principles from which sinne deriveth it self into the manners of all men The first mentioned is That at first God made no promises of heaven he had propounded not glorious rewards to be as an Argument to support the superiour faculty against the inferiour because there was no such thing in that period of the world therefore almost all flesh had corrupted themselves for want of this Adam fell and all the world followed his example and most upon this account till it pleased God after he had tryed the world with temporal promises and found them also insufficient to finish the work of his graciousness and to cause us to be born anew by the revelations and promises of Jesus Christ Thus he but I had almost said Oh monstrum horrendum cui lumen ademptum Now the Socinian appeareth in his own ugly and deformed colours let us see whether there be any validity in this reason or no. And First It is very frivolous ridiculous and absurd for we are asking for a reason of the general inclination of all men in all ages to evil and he would assign one for that speciall age of the world before Christ Is it not still true even since Christs coming that the heart of a man is desperately and incurably set upon evil till the grace of God doth sanctifie it So that though in the New Testament the glory of heaven and the torments of hell are evidently and powerfully demonstrated yet still there is the same torrent of impiety in the manners of men Secondly This reason cannot be acquitted from blasphemy in some sense against God for the cause of overflowing impiety in the Old Testament times is reduced hereby to God himself May not all the prophane ones in that age of the world take up this mans Argument to defend themselves O Lord it is from thee we are thus universally wicked Had the joyes of heaven been promised to us in wel-doing had the torments of hell been manifested unto us we had then been awakened so that we are now wicked because we wanted such efficacious meanes to prevent our impiety that afterwards were vouchsafed to the world so that the Israelites might have replyed to the Prophet Hosea Chap. 13. 9. that he spake falsly their destruction is not of themselves but of God who did not give them sufficient incouragements Had the Asserters of original sinne affirmed any such thing that might so hainously have redounded to the dishonour of Gods justice his mercy and goodness what tragical exclamations would have been raised up immediately But thus it falleth out alwayes that those who out of a preposterous fear sometimes to hold such things that have but an apparent tendency to dishonour God do fall into such abominable positions that do really reproach God and his wayes as may more be shewed in this point Lastly The very inward part of this reason is very wickedness and falshood it self for this Proposition That heaven and hell were not used as Arguments in the Old Testament but that temporall mercies and jugements were the only spurres and curbes in their conversation is being reserved as the peculiar and proper glory of Christ to reveal the promises of eternal life is that notorious pure impure Socinianisns which our learned Writers do so evidently profligate This saith Smalcius De Div Jes Christi c. 7. is so clear a truth that they want no little thing to the true knowledge of Christ and his Office who are ignorant of it or doubt of it yea he addeth Vnde appareat c. from whence it may appear that our Congregations though they are said to blaspheme Christ yet do more rightly acknowledge Christ in this particular Quam omnes alios Christiani nominis professores then all other professors of Christs name Thus they tryumph in this enormious error as their greatest glory because they make it peculiar to Christ to reveal and promise eternal glory It is not my intent to enlarge on this point That eternal life was promised to Adam as also to those who lived in the Old Testamentary dispensation That the tree of life was a Sacramental symbole of eternal life appeareth by that expression Rev 2. 7. And certainly if the Jewes did not discover the resurrection of the dead and eternal life it was because they did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as our Saviour telleth them Mat. 22. 29 30. and that is remarkable which is said Joh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life That same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye think is not spoken as if it were a false perswasion to look for eternal life out of those Scriptures but because they boasted in their own interpretation of them excluding Christ thereby It is therefore a detestable position which Smalcius in the same place hath That the promise of eternal life was wholly hidden from men for those ages which were before Christ neither did it clearly appear to any one that such a thing would be bestowed upon mortal men for doth not Job proclaim the clean contrary Job 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth he shall stand at the later day upon the earth It is true the learned Mercer would apply this to that temporal and blessed restitution of his external happiness which God vouchsafed to him but the Context doth necessitate us to understand it of a more glorious condition We read also Heb. 11. 13 14 15. That the Patriarchs acknowledged themselves pilgrims in this earth and did declare plainly they sought an heavenly country It is not worth the while to examine the suggestions of Schlitingius the Socinian on those Texts who would so miserably wrest them to his own purpose and that the day of judgement was used as an Argument to bridle men from sinne appeareth Eccles 11. 9. as also Chap. 12. 14. The Book concludeth with this
as a truth to stick in our mind alwayes That God will bring every work unto judgement and thus much for his first reason His second reason is no less nocent The cause of iniquity is not because nature is originally corrupted but because Gods Lawes command such things which are a restraint to the indifferent and otherwise lawfull inclinations of nature Idem ibidem pag. 415 so that our unwillingness and averseness cometh by occasion of the law coming cross upon our nature not because our nature is contrary to God but because God was pleased to superinduce some Commandments contrary to our nature if God had commanded as to eat the best meats and drink the richest wines as long as they could please us I suppose original sinne would not be thought to have hindered us from obedience Thus he in a most prophane and unsavoury manner For First Here again God is made the occasion of all the universal impiety in mankind man may plead my nature is good my inclinations are lawfull but God hath superinduced austere commands he maketh those things sinnes which would not have been sinnes Thus this man doth directly teach the world to lay all their wickedness upon God he is an hard master he is too severe otherwise our natures would do well enough But Secondly He betrayeth much ignorance or concealeth his knowledge that he will not distinguish between moral precepts and meer positive ones or as Whitaker out of Hugo Pracepta Naturae and Praecepta Disciplinae De pecato orig lib. 1. cap. 14. commands of Natural Duties and prohibitions of Intrinsecal evils or such as are meerly Positive and for Discipline-sake Some things we grant are indeed meerly evil because prohibited some things are evil and therefore prohibited Although this must be remembred That a man doth never break a positive command but thereby also he doth a moral command likewise Now let this Patron of Nature answer to this Question Why is there in man-kind such inclinations to those sins that are morally and intrinsically evil Is he of that opinion that nothing is good or evil internally But as Mayro the Schoolman saith God might have made a Law that whosoever should praise him should be damned and whosoever should dishonour him should be saved On monstrous Divinity that maketh virtue and vice nothing in it self If God had pleased vices might have been virtues and virtues vices It is from God that maketh such things to be sins that otherwise would be lawfull This symbolizeth with Diagoras the Atheist first called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his opinion was That a wise man might as time served give himself to theft or adultery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesych de viris illustribus Titulo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for none of such things were in their nature filthy if you take away popular opinions But I will not charge this opinion on the Author only he should not have spoken so confusedly If this be true it is not a vain wish with him who addicted to a sinne cryed out Vtinam hoc non esset peccare Lastly Even those inclinations that are in men to lawfull things are vitiated and corrupted No man desireth to eat to drink no man desireth health or wealth naturally as he ought to do I doubt this Author as all the Pelagians formerly do not attend to the exactnesse of a good work They forget Austin's old Rule grounded upon Scripture That duties are to be esteemed not by the acts but by their ends Is there any man eateth or drinketh or inclineth to do these things for the glory of God as we are commanded 1 Cor. 9. 31. Lastly He runneth to evil examples the similitude of Adams transgression as if that moved those to sinne who happily never heard of him errour false principles c. And from the enumeration of many particulars applieth that of Job Chap. 14. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean which Text might justly have affrighted him in what he delivereth for there Job speaks of one in his very first birth and as is added Ne infans unius diei not an Infant a day old is free from this uncleannesse What can evil examples and wicked customs do to pollute a child new born It is true the Socinians grant That where parents are habituated in evil customs the children may derive from them an inclination also unto sinne But if so then this very thing will puzzle them as much as they endeavour to perplex the Orthodox with difficulties about the transmission of original sinne For How do Parents accustomed to sinne convey this evil disposition either by the soul or by the body And what they would answer themselves in such an asserted propagation the same we may for all mankind in general But 2. This is no sufficient answer for still the Question is not satisfied Men say they are thus inclinded to evil because of wicked customs and examples But how came these customs Cain had no example before him of murder yet he committeth it These evill examples then and wicked customs seeing they must have an original to come from it cannot be any thing else but the depraved nature of mankind And certainly the Apostle James doth attribute all evil committed to that lust which is within a man Jam. 1. 14. So that if there were no other occasion or temptation this is enough to set the whole course of the soul on fire And this is the next particular to be considered which I shall handle as a second Immediate Effect of original sinne CHAP. II. The second Immediate Effect of Original Sinne is the Causality which it hath in respect of all other Sinnes SECT I. The Text explained setting forth the Generation of Sinne. JAM 1. 14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed THe next Immediate Effect of Original sinne which cometh under consideration is The Causality that it hath in respect of all other sins This is the dunghill in which the whole serpentine brood of all actual sinnes is conveived and brought forth Insomuch that when you see all the abominable impieties that fill the whole world with irreligion to God and injustice to man If you ask whence ariseth this monster How cometh all this wickedness to be committed The Answer is easie from that original concupiscence that hot Aetna which is in a man that never ceaseth from sending forth such continual flames of iniquity Now this truth will excellently be discovered from the Text in hand for it is the Apostles scope in this and the adjacent verses to take off all men from that wicked way they are so prone unto viz. to lay the blame of their iniquities and to ascribe the cause of them to any yea to God rather than to themselves They will rather make God then themselves the Author of all that evil they do commit We have this from Adam who