sting into all Lastly This loss is incurable as to any humane or angelicall power The image of God is so lost as that by our own power we are never able to recover it again Insomuch that when God doth repair it in us it 's a new Creation and a spiritual Resurrection we could not further it in the least degree Let the Use then be deeply to humble us to break our hearts far this and yet still to break them more and more When Tamar was defloured she went with ashes upon her head weeping and saying I whither shall I go Oh do thou much rather mourn and sigh and pray We oh wretched we Whither shall we go What shall we do Call to the Angels they cannot help you Cry to the mountains they cannot hide you from Gods wrath Shall Saul seek for his lost Asses the woman for her lost Groat Micha for his lost gods and wilt nor thou bitterly lament the loss of the true God and his Image in thee CHAP. XV. Of the Positive Part of Original Corruption SECT I. JOH 3. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh THe Privative Part of original corruption being largely discovered we come now to the Positive Part of it For although many of the Papists deny it laying the whole nature of it in a meer want of original righteousnes yet not only the Protestants generally but Aquinas and some who follow him do plead for this Positive Part in original corruption as well as the Privative and is therefore called Flesh as here in the Text and in other places lust Of which in its due time We are not then to conceive of this birth-sinne as a meer privation of the Image of God but as including also therewith a propensity and inclination to all evil To the discovery of this Truth we shall find this Text pitcht upon will be very subservient and herein we are to take notice That it is part of that famous Colloquy and Conference Christ had with Nicodemus a Master in Israel wherein several things in the general are briefly obserable As First The Mercy that is to the Church in having this Discourse upon Record For by Nicodemus his carnal cavillings we see the necessity of Regeneration our Saviour is the more powerfull in his asseverations Verily verily I say unto you c. that hereby every one may see that though he be great rich wise learned ingenious yet he must be born again Secondly We may take notice of our Saviours wisdom that pitcheth upon this Subject rather than another to treat upon for herein Nicodemus did grosly erre Nicodemus had learning enough knew the Law of God and the Scriptures but was wholly ignorant of Regeneration Thirdly We therefore see That the work of Regeneration is a mystery even to wise and learned men Twice or thrice saith that great Doctor How can this be What poor and childish Objections doth he make against it and all because this is a thing spiritually discerned Lastly The great cause why Nicodemus did not know what Regeneration was or see the necessary of it was Because of his blindnesse about original sinne Had he believed how carnal and sinfull every one was born he would presently have bewailed his condition and said O Lord it is true I am all over polluted I find nothing of thy Spirit in me I am all over flesh and do therefore need thy Spirit to regenerate and quicken me But this was the root of his destruction from hence did arise that gross miscarriage about a new-birth because was so sensless and unacquainted with the pollution he was born in So that the Text is an Argument to prove the Doctrine of Regeneration and the necessity of it which Nicodemus did so carnally cavil against For although our Saviour did so vehemently assert the truth of it in these expressions twice geminated Verily verily I say into thee c. Yet because Nicodemus still asketh How can this be therefore our Saviour discovereth to him the root and fundamental cause of the necessity of this birth and that not of Nicodemus only but of every man Therefore he speaks generally Vnlesse a man be borne again c. The fundamental cause therefore of the necessity of Regeneration is from that universal Proposition laid down in the Text That which is born of the flesh is flesh which is also illustrated by the contrary That which is born of the Spirit is spirit The strength of the Argument lieth in this Every thing resembleth that it is produced of from a Serpent there cometh a Serpent from a Toad a Toad so from a Dove a Dove a Sheep a Lamb There being therefore two contrary effective principles in us The flesh and the Spirit The flesh that produceth what is flesh the Spirit what is spirit In the first Proposition we have the emphatical expression of this defilement 1. In the Vniversality of the Subject of Predication That which is born of the flesh is flesh There 's none exempted great men noble men Even Kings and Emperors they are flesh of flesh 2. There is the Vniversality of the Subject of Inhesion All is flesh that comes of flesh so that not only the body but the soul also is flesh in this sense for by flesh here as in other places is meant The whole man consisting of soul and body as he is unclean and impure and this appeareth by the opposition which is the Spirit of God and the effects thereof Another emphatical expression is In using the abstract for the concrete is flesh that is fleshly is spirit that is spiritual We see then here a Proposition affirmed concerning all mankind born in a natural way which no humane Philosophy could ever inform us in yea to which it is wholly contrary viz. That we all by nature both in soul and body are nothing but flesh for flesh is here put for the vicious and sinfull quality that is in us and so the mind the intellictual and choisest parts of the soul are thus condemned as well as the more gross and sensitive as in time is to be shewed This is a clear Text to prove our universal contagion by sinne yet upon what weak and poor grounds would the Remonstrants oppose it They therefore by flesh understand Man simply as man flesh and blood begotten in a fleshly and bodily manner not as sinfull and corrupted as if our Saviours Argument had been as what is born of man is man so what is born of the Spirit is spiritual But this is very unsound For what Argument would this be to prove Regeneration Must a man be new born meerly because he is a man Certainly had Adam continued in the state of integrity there would have been procreation of children yet then there would not have been a necessity of Regeneration Our Saviour therefore is giving a reason why there must be a new birth and that is from the sinfull pollution every one is born in And
immutabilis constituti And indeed if death were not the effect of sinne but consequent of mans nature it would be no evil whereas the Scripture accounteth it of that nature as Deut. 30. 15. See I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil SECT IV. Arguments brought to prove that Adam was made mortal answered THe next work to be done is to consider those Arguments which they bring to prove that Adam was made mortal and so had a proxim principle of death in him which would have taken effect if God did not provide some way against it and that which is used by all Adversaries to this truth is Because Adam was created in such a condition that be must necessarily eat and drink yea and was also to propagate children all which actions do contradict immortality For he that eateth and drinketh must by degrees have a decay in nature and our Saviour seemeth to prove immortality from this argument Luk. 20. 35 36. because in heaven they shall not marry so that to procreate children is not consistent with such a blessed estate But these Objections are easily answered if we remember the distinction at first given in this point that there is an immortality absolute and immutable or conditional and changeable upon supposition Now it 's true neither eating or marrying can consist with unchangeable mortality with immortality of glory But it may very well consist with conditional immortality that is in tendency to that which is absolute Eating and drinking in the state of integrity was a means subserving to keep up the state of immortality so farre was it from repugning of it This therefore is the root of his errour that men apprehend no other immortality but what is compleat that unless Adam had been made in the same estate that the glorified Saints are put into he could not be said to be immortal Secondly They say Adam is said to be earthly and of the earth to have a natural body and so opposite to that immortal body we shall have in heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. But first when the Apostle giveth those names to our bodies of vile corruptible and to be in dishonour this is to be understood of our bodies after the fall they are made so through sinne It would be derogatory to God to say they were made such at first It is true the first man is said to be earthy but that expression denoteth only the original of his body whence it was first made not the state he was created in as appeareth by the opposite the second man is said to be the Lord from Heaven It is one thing then to speak of Adam's body in respect of its original and another to speak of the whole person in respect of his condition Thirdly They say All the internal causes of death were in Adam while standing as well as fallen and therefore he was mortal as well as we To this we answer there were indeed the causes of death in him materially but not formally for the bodily humours were not peccant either in quality or quantity the natural heat would not have consumed the radical moisture so that in that estate there would never have been formally existent the proxim causes of death besides the adequate and principal causes of death are the Devils suggestions and mans transgression as you heard Fourthly They ask If man were not made mortal why should immortality be promised as a reward if he had it already Why should it be promised him upon his obedience The answer is easie Adam 's immortality was inchoate onely the consummation of it was promised as a reward to his obedience Lastly They object If death be the punishment of sinne then Christ hath freed believers from this death which is against experience But 1. The Socinians grant That a necessity of death is the fruit of sinne yet Christ hath not freed us from the necessity of it no more than the naturality of it 2. We must distinguish between an actual abolition of death and the right to do it Christ hath purchased for us a right to immortality yet the actual investing of us into it is to be done in its time Death will be swallowed up in victory and for the present the nature of death is changed as to a godly man it 's no more a curse to him the sting of death is taken away as when a Serpent or Wasp have lost their sting they can do no more hurt Thus to the godly it cannot do any hurt It is like Elijah's fiery chariot to carry them to Heaven It 's like passing through the red Sea into the Land of Canaan thus as the cloud was full of darkness to the Aegyptian but light to the Israelite so is death full of terrour and of curses to an ungodly man but pleasant and lovely to a godly man it is his gain to die To live in this world is his losse and disadvantage SECT V. Q. Whether Adam's sinne was only an occasion of Gods punishing all mankind resolved against D. J. T. I Shall conclude this Text with answering a two-fold Question The full discussing whereof may inform us about the most secret and mysterious truths that are in this point And First It may be demanded That suppose it be granted that by Adam we die may not this be understood any more than occasionally God was so displeased with Adam for his transgression that thereupon he insticts the curse threatned to him upon his posterity Even as we read often in Scripture that God for Magistrates sins or for parents sins doth take an occasion to punish a people or children for their own sinnes Thus it may be thought that God by occasion from Adam's transgression did impose on us for our sinnes the same curse that was denounced to Adam not that we were sinners in him not that we come into the world with any inherent sinne but because of our actual impieties God punisheth us with Adam's curse In this manner the late adversary to original sinne doth explicate himself An Answer to a Letter pag. 30 31 32. as if this were all the evil by Adam that for his sake our sinnes inherit the curse Insomuch saith he that it is not so properly to be called original sinne as an original curse upon our sinne That we may not be deceived in his meaning though it is very difficult to reconcile himself with himself For at another time he saith The dissolution of the soul and holy should have been if Adam had not sinned for the world would have been too little to have entertained the â—yriads of men which would have been born An Answer to a Letter p. 86 87 Now how Adam's sinne should bring in the sentence of death as he saith in another place Vnum Necessar cap. 6. sect 1. pag. 367. and yet he have died though he had not sinned is impossible to reconcile He giveth us two similitudes or parallel expressions which may
of Infants dying in their original sinne without Baptisme Lib. 6. de Amissione grat naming five several opinions some whereof are more rigid others more favourable That our opinions cannot at all alter or change the state of Infants so deceased The rigid opinion doth not hurt them neither doth a favourable opinion do them any good but the Word of God that will stand our favourable and pitifull opinions will not make the natural estate of any man the better yea when such Doctrines are found to be contrary to the Word of God they may do a great deal of hurt plunging of them into dangerous consequences that may flow therefrom Therefore to such Disputants we may well reply that which Acosta the Jesuite Lib. 5. de procur Indorum salute cap. 3. saith to some of his own Religion that held even Heathens might be saved without the knowledge of Christ and that the contrary Doctrine was inhumane and severe Non hic agitur saith he durumne hoc severum sit an benignum liberale sed utrum verum necne Secondly As we are not to attend to humane affections in this point so neither to humane and natural reasonings Why God should impute Adam's sinne to us and we all be accounted as sinners in him and from him the cursed root we the cursed branches do spring ariseth from the just proccedings of God though happily the causes the thereof be unknowen to us When therefore the Scripture of God doth plainly affirm such a sinful and cursed estate let not philosophical Arguments obstruct our faith lest if we do so in other mysteries of Religion as well as in this at last we fall into plain Atheisme Let us be content with our own measure of understanding not invading the secrets of God lest we herein betray notoriously our original sinne while we labour to deny it For Luther speaking against these Curislae and Quaeristae as he calleth them In Gen. whereby men will demand a reason of Gods proceedings and affect to be like God in knowledge as Adam did hath this expression Fieri Deorum est originale peccatum original sinne is the affection of a Deity Thirdly We are alwayes in this controversy to distinguish between the merit of condemnation and the actual condemnation it self It is unquestionably true that all by nature do deserve this eternal damnation but then concerning the actual damnation thereby there are different opinions Some have delivered positively that none is ever damned for original sinne only as some Papists and the Remonstrants yea there are many say that this actual condemnation by original sinne is universally taken off all mankind by Christ so that as by the first Adam all were put into a state of Gods anger so by the second Adam all are put into a state of actual reconciliation by Christ till by their actual sins they do refuse Christ and so procure to themselves damnatation not upon any account of Adam's sinne but their own voluntary transgresson Concerning Infants also dying in their infancy great Disputes there are Some concluding all that die so though of Unbelievers and Pagans that they are saved original sinne not damning any others they conclude otherwise but then they are divided into several opinions amongst themselves of which in time more is to be said For we are not as yet come to that point concerning the actual condemnation of any by original sinne meerly but the merit and defect of it what every man doth deserve by it as soon as he is born though every sinne deserveth 〈◊〉 yet this obligation to eternal punishment may be taken off yea and that while the sinne abideth as original sinne doth in some measure in a godly man There are indeed some who make the reatus poenae the guilt of punishment to be the forme of a sinne and if this were true then they could not be 〈◊〉 Others make it a proprium to sinne but this cannot be understood of actual guilt but potential guilt Every sinne and so original doth deserve that those who are infected therewith should perish in hell torments eternally but yet the actual obligation hereunto may be removed by the grace of God the sinne still remaining in some degree as the fire had a power to burn the three Worthies though the actual working thereof was hindered SECT VI. Arguments to prove that by Nature we are all as so many damned men That Damnation belongs to the Sinne we are borne in THis being premised let us now consider those Arguments which may firmly establish us in this truth That by nature we are all as so many damned men that of our selves we can expect no other and that though we were free from actual transgression It is the grace of God only that delivereth us All mankind is like that wretched Infant Ezek. 16. spoken of by the Prophet wallowing in bloud filthy and loathsome necessarily perishing unlesse the grace of God speak unto us to live we all lie like Ezekiel's any bones of whom we may say Can these live Can these be saved Not one unlesse God give life And First All deserve eternal damnation by original contagion Because it is a state of sinne and spiritual uncleannesse we are born in And therefore if once it be granted to be a sinne the wages thereof must be hell and damnation Insomuch that some Popish Writers are very absurd who disputing against Pelagians That our birth-sinne is properly and univocally sinne yet afterwards question Whether children dying therein do go to hell or no Some assign them a Paradise wherein they have a natural happiness as Catharinus Opusc de statu pucrorum c. Others as Bellarmine that they have poena damni but not sensus as if there were half an hell or that one might be shut out from the beatifical fruition of God and yet not be tormented with sensible pain This is certain if it be truly and directly a sinne as the Scripture so often calleth it then without the grace of God there is no possibility of escaping hell thereby why then should damnation because of it be thought so horrid when it is acknowledged to be a sinne Job you heard saith Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Job 14. 4. here we are all unclean Now what doth the Scripture pronounce of such Revel 21. 29. There shall not in any wise enter into the heavenly Jerusalem any thing that is unclean or that defileth No unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of heaven and if they do not enter in there they must enter into the kingdom of hell There is no middle place Qui inducis medium recede de medio as Austin The Scripture also calleth it sinne Psal 51. 5. Behold in sinne did my mother conceive me and what is the wages of sinne but death Rom 6. 23. not only bodily death but that eternal death which is opposite to everlasting life and the Apostle saith The sting of death is sinne 1
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
communicated to his posterity would have been truly and properly holiness An Infant new born would have been called righteous in a proper sense Therefore are we now born sinfull in a true and proper respect Argum. 8. This is a sinne properly Because it is against the Law of God We want that perfection which we ought to have we are bound not only to actual obedience but to do this from an holy and unspotted principle within Therefore it is truly said Original sinne is in some sense forbidden in every Commandment and original Righteousness is commanded in all but because this is so much vexed by Objections we are to speak more to it in answer to them We have brought in several Arguments to prove original sinne to be a sinne properly and truly so and this was the rather to be done because of some Papists but especially Socinians and Arminians with the Pelagians of old denying it to be so But from Scripture it is clear that it is as true a sinne as actual and therefore that division of sinne into original and actual is of an univocal genus into its species both the members of that division partaking in a proper manner of the nature of sinne It being therefore the foundation of this point and all our fabrick which in times shall be raised being bottomed of this we shall ex abundanti offer two or three Arguments more to prove that it is a sinne not in a large or a metonymical lense but rigidly and properly And the first in order is Argum 9. From the necessity of Infants in respect of a Saviour Those Infants that die in their Infancy and go to heaven cannot obtain this glorious benefit but by Christ If therefore Christ be a Saviour to some Infants then they are lost and undone in themselves But not for any actual sinnes Therefore for original This fully demonstrates every Infant though but a day but an hour old to be truly a sinner Why Because even they need Christ a Saviour if they had no sinne they needed not a Jesus And this must necessarily be confessed That either Infants cannot be saved and are not to be accounted of the people of God and of his Church or if they be that they have sinne from which they are to be cleansed and saved The former is rarely asserted and therefore the later must be granted And indeed when the Scripture saith Matth. 1. 21. Christ is called Jesus Because he shall save his people from their sinnes As also Ephes 5. 25 26. Christ is said to give himself for his Church that he may cleanse it so as to be without spot or wrinkle Either we must say Infants are none of Christs people they belong not at all to his Church or if they do they have true and proper sinne in them which the Scripture cals uncleanness and it is evidently applied to Infants in that sense Job 14. 4. Job 15. 14. who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean And who is is born of a woman that he should be righteous Where to be unclean is made directly opposite to be righteous Therefore when the Pelagians of old would evade this Argument saying Infants needed a Christ to bring them to the Kingdom of Heaven though they had no sinne Austin well urged That they divided those two names of our Saviour Christ and Jesus making him a Christ where he was not a Jesus Certainly to be a Saviour of Infants implieth in themselves they are lest Argum. 10. Hence in the next place The initial Sacrament which God hath appointed alwayes in his Church for Infants doth fully demonstrate they have sinne in a proper formal sense viz. Sinne to be remitted and to be abolished In the Old Testament every Infant eight dayes old was to be circumcised and that Sacrament did plainly declare the sinne and corruption that was in them though so young for Rom. 4. Circumcision was a Seal of the Righteousness by Faith which is a Gospel-righteousness by Christ whereas if they had no sinne within such a Seal would have been ridiculous and absurd As for Christ who though he had no sinne yet was circumcised and baptized that was upon another account for having voluntarily made himself subject to the Law it beloved him to fulfill all the Righteousness thereof but Infants have not that consideration If then Infants needed a righteousness through faith this plainly demonstrated they had nothing but sinne in themselves besides The cutting of the fore skin in the Sacrament of Circumcision did denote the throwing away of that inherent pollution of their Natures Deut. 10. 16. Therefore Deut. 30. 6. God promiseth to circumcise their heart which was to regenerate them of which Circumcision was a sign Hence Rom. 2. 28 29. the Apostle distinguisheth of a Circumcision of the flesh and a Circumcision of the spirit If then Infants needed a Circumcision of the Spirit If they needed that the sinfull fore-skin of their heart should be cut off of which their external Circumcision applied to them was a Seal it followeth unquestionably that they had an universal pollution all over them before they had committed any actual sinne Thus also for Baptism an initiating Sacrament in the New Testament that is to be applied to Infants For though Anabaptists do now deny it yet the Pelagians of old though so exceedingly pressed by this Argument That Infants were baptized for Remission of sinne but it could not be actual therefore it was original which was in them They never dared to deny their Baptism but ranne to other evasions I take it for a Truth at this time because so fully proved by those who have writ on this Subject That Infants are to be baptized and if so it 's also plain by Scripture That Baptism in the nature of it signifieth Remission of sinnes and Regeneration which priviledges if Infants want they must necessarily have that which is truly and properly a sin Argum. 11. Lastly Every Infant new born comes into the world with that which is truly and formally a sinne Because the Scripture makes it the peculiar Character and property of Christ that he was wholly without sinne Therefore the Angel in his discourse to Mary cals him the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that holy thing which shall be born of thee Luke 1. 35. And the Apostle telleth us It behoved us to have such an High priest who was tempted like us in all things sin only excepted Heb. 4. 15. These places do clear that Christ only was born without sinne and all others are polluted with it And the reason why Christ is exempted is because he was not of Adam Quoad seminalem rationem but corpulatam substantiam as the Schoolmen say He was not the sonne of Adam by natural generation but by a miraculous conception It is true The Evangelist Luke reckoning up Christs Genealogy ascends up to Adam as if he were the sonne of Adam but that is because he was the supposed
in his undertakings to be present with him and to direct him whereas his adversaries could not do so And indeed how can an Arminian or a Pelagian with any of those Naturists cordially pray for the grace of God to assist them while they write against grace and patronize free-will Let them sacrifice to their own nets to their own parts and abilities It 's from their will that grace is efficacious This arrogancy is like that of the Heathens whose saying was Ignavis opus est auxilio Dei It is only the sluggish that need the help of God Yea Tully argueth the case That we are not beholding to God for our vertue therefore saith he our ancestors have praised the gods for their success and outward advantages but never for their vertues Happily it is awe and reverence that men bear to the Christian Religion that keepeth them from such blasphemous expressions yet even in Christian Writers pleading for the power of nature instances might be given of proud and swelling expressions Thirdly It is good to observe That even in all those whose end avour hath been to advance the free-will of a man to what is truly good there hath appeared some guiltiness as it were in them therefore they have often changed if not their minds yet their words thus they have removed from the mountaines to the valleys The Pelagians did incrustate their opinions often and the Papists speak sometimes so plausibly that you would think Bellarmine and Calvin did imbrace each other Pelagius did at last come to use the word grace yea did anathematize such as should not hold the grace of God requisite to every good act by which crafty guiles he did deceive the Eastern Bishops and still in the serpents-skin do the Jesuites and Arminians appear They think it the greatest calumny that can be cast upon them to say they are against the grace of God hence they use the word of grace often as well as of free-will but all this ariseth from guilt they do use the word grace ad frangendam invidiam to decline envy to insinuate more into the hearts of credulous hearers so that men sacrilegiously advance the will of man ' make man to have the greatest praise in converting himself in saving himself and whereas Paul said Not I but the grace of God with me They will on the contrary affirm Not the grace of God but I yet for all this they would be thought to advance the grace of Christ but that is a true rule of Austins Gratia non est gratia ullo modo nisi sit gratuita omni modo Grace is not grace any way unless it be free and graâ—uitous every way Therefore the inconstancy the changes and shifts all such are put to who plead for this liberty of the will argue they are not in the Truth but like thieves do hate the light and change their garments often that they may not be discovered They are afraid of the Scripture and would more gladly have the controversie ended by Aristotle then by Paul so that this Pelagian error hath had Cain's curse as it were upon it a trembling lest every place of Scripture it does meet with should kill it Fourthly To maintain the slavery of the will to sinne and to deny any liberty to that which is holy and godly is a truth so unpleasing to flesh and blood doth so reproach as it 's thought mankind that it hath alwayes in the Church of God by some heretical persons or others been spoken against It hath been judged very scandalous and offensive as that which did lay the axe to the root of all Religion and holiness But yet experience hath taught us that none have expressed so much holiness in their lives as those who have had this truth of Christs grace incorporated into them and on the other side the Pelagian Doctrine hath left upon mens spirits like leaven à cornu tumorem a sowreness and bitterness as also a tumor and vaunting confidence in themselves So that if the denying of free-will and exalting the grace of God be so prophane an opinion in its genius and inclination as some calumniate it 's a miracle that from such a poisoned fountain such sweet streames should flow and from such thornes so pleasant grapes should grow But the reason of this offence to flesh and blood is the self-love and self-fullness that is in every man by nature spiritual pride and self-confidence do reign in all men by nature hence it is that though they be naked yet they are not ashamed of it which in Adam while innocent did come from his integrity but in corrupt man from his senslesness and stupidity No wonder then if this Doctrine of grace be not justified cordially and as it ought to be but by the sonnes of grace who have felt the power and efficacy of it upon their hearts who have experimentally found the grace of God freeing their will from all that bondage it was in to sinne and Sataen Fifthly From this it is that a gracious heart is required to study this point as well as a learned head Experience of regeneration of being made a new creature of the conflict between the flesh and the spirit will excellently direct in this controversie I wonder not to see a man though come out of Egypt loaden with Egyptian gold to make a molten-calf for a god and to worship it men of great learning and it may be of great external civility as they say of Pelagius if not humbled by the grace of God and throughlyu emptied of themselves how can they stoop and yeeld all up to Christ It was therefore Austin's wish That the Pelagians would turne their disputations into prayers for it is the heart as well as the head that is usefull in this point Though all Divinity be practical and practice is the end of knowledge yea in Scripture language Tantum scimus quantum operamur we are said to know no more then we do yet some truths have a more immediate influence into practice then others whereas some opinions do stand in the Court as it were others enter into the holiest of holiest Now this truth about the grace of God and free-will is practice practice as I may say what some do of the ultimate dictate of the understanding This truth lieth in the vitals of Religion and therefore the experience of all the godly is justly brought after Scripture arguments to confirme this great truth Therefore humble your selves more commune with your own hearts be much in prayer and self-emptiness and you will quickly find the light of this truth shining into your hearts Come and tast Come and see what you hear with your eares pray that God would grant you an experimental knowledge of grace and then you will quickly confess not unto your own free-will but to the free grace of God all praise and glory doth belong Sixthly This truth therefore being so contrary to flesh and blood It
original imputed sinne or of that inherent corruption which we have from our birth and both do admit of great aggravations It is true some Orthodox Writers doe deny the imputation of Adam's actual disobedience unto us as Josua Placeus who bringeth many Arguments Thes Salm. Dis de statu hominis lapsi ante gratiam but my work is not to answer them I suppose it for granted as a necessary truth Concerning Adam's sinne which is thus ours by imputation Bellarmine maketh the Question An sit gravissimum Whether it was the greatest of all sinnes And he concludeth following the Schoolmen that absolutely it is not only respectively Secundum quid in some considerations which he mentioneth Bonaventure saith It is the greatest sinne extensive not intensive But we are to judge of the hainousness of sinne as we see God doth who esteemeth of sinne without any errour Now it is certain there was never any sinne that God punisheth as he doth this The sinne indeed against the holy Ghost in respect of the object matter of it and the inseparable concomitant of unpardonablenesse is greater as to a particular person but this being the sinne of the common nature of mankind doth bring all under the curse of God So that we may on the contrary to Bellarmine say That it is absolutely the highest sinne against God but in some respects it is not I shall be brief in aggravating of that not at all touching upon the other Question which hath more curiosity in it Whether Adam's sinne or Eve's was the greatest then edification Because our proper work is to speak of original inherent sinne yet it is good to affect our souls with the great guilt thereof for some have been ready to expostulate with God Why for such a small sinne as they call it no more then eating the forbidden fruit so many millions of persons even all the posterity of mankind should thereby be made children of wrath and obnoxious to eternal damnation Doth not the Pelagian opinion that holdeth it hurteth none but Adam himself and his posterity onely if they willingly imitate him agree more with the goodnesse of God But if we do seriously consider how much evil was in this one sinne which Tertullian maketh to be a breach of the whole Law of God we will then humble our selves and acknowledge the just hand of God For First This is hainously to be aggravated from the internal qualification of the subject Adam who did thus offend was made upright created in the Image of God In his understanding he had a large measure of light and knowledge For though the Socinians would have him a meer I deot and innocent yet it may easily be evidenced to the contrary The Image of God consisteth in the perfection of the mind as well as in holiness of the other parts of the soul Neither did Elâ—phaz in his discourse with Job apprehend such ignorance in Adam when he saith Art thou the first man was born Wast thou made before the hils Dost thou restrain wisdom to thy self Job 15. 7 8. implying that the first man was made full of knowledge If then Adam had such pure light in his mind this made his sinne the greater yea because of this light some have proceeded so far as to make Adam's sinne the sinne against the holy Ghost but I shall not affirm that Certainly in that Adam had so great knowledge this made his offence the more evil hence because there was no ignorance in his mind nor no passions in the sensitive part at that time to disturb him his sinne was meerly and totally voluntary and the more the will is in a sinne the greater it is Hence Rom. 5. It is called expresly disobedience By one mans disobedience Yea learned men say That this was the proper specifical sinne of Adam eveâ— disobedience For although disobedience be in a large sense in every sinne yet this sinne of Adams was specifically disobedience for God gave him a positive command meerly that thereby Adam should testifie his obedience to him The thing in it self was not intrinsecally evil to eat of the forbidden fruit it was sinfull only because it was forbidden and by this God would have Adam demonstrate his homage to him but in offending he became guilty in a particular way of disobedience Secondly If you consider Adam in his external condition His fin is very great God placed him in Paradise put him into a most happy condition gave him the whole world for his portion Every thing was made for his use and delight now how intolerable was Adams ingratitude for so small a matter to rebell against God Therefore the smalness of the matter of the sinne doth not diminish but aggravate he might the more easily have refused the temptation so that this unthankfulness to God must highly provoke him Thirdly The sinne was an aggregate sinne It had many grievous sins ingredient into it It was a Beelzebub sin a big-bellied sinne full of many sins in the womb of it his sinne was not alone in the external eating of the forbidden fruit but in the internal causes that made him do so There was unbelief which was the foundation of all the other sinfulness he believeth the Devil rather then God There was pride and ambition He desired to be like God There was apostasie from God and communion with him There was the love of the creature more than of God and thereby there was the hatred of God Thus it was unum malum in quo omnia mala as God is unumbonum in quo omnia bona Lastly Not to insist on this because formerly spoken to There was the unspeakable hurt and damage which hereby he brought to his posterity Not to mention the curse upon the ground and every creature The damning of all his posterity in soul and body it the grace of God did not interpose It cannot be rationally conceived but that Adam knew he was a publique person that he was acquainted upon what terms he stood in reference to his posterity That the threatning did belong to all his as well as himself if he did eat of the forbidden fruit Now for Adam to be a murderer of so many souls and bodies to be the cause of temporal spiritual and eternal death to all mankind who can acknowledge but that this sinne is out of measure sinfull ¶ 2. The Aggravation of Original Sinne inherent in us OUr next work is to consider the aggravation of original sinne inherent in us and this is our duty to do that so being sensible of our own contagion we may not flatter our selves in the power of our free-will but fly alone to Christ who is a Phisitian and Saviour even to Infants as well as grown men and the rather we are to be serious and diligent in this because of all those prophane opinions which do either wholly deny it or in a great measure extenuate it Some Papists make it less then a venial sinne and many
and indeed who can deny but that as all the Angels did stand upon their own personal account The other Angels did not sinne in Lucifer as a common head though happily by imitation but they all stood upon their own bottom and so were condemned for their own personal iniquity so God also might have ordered about man that Adam's sinne should not have hurt his posterity what he did should be imputed to his own person only as it is now with parents in respect of their children Thus men might not have been subordinate to him but collateral in respect of a moral consideration though naturally they descended from him for the denying of original righteousness which is the consequent of Adam's sinne was wholly at his free pleasure only supposing the Covenant it doth become necessary to us to be deprived of it and it cannot be rationally thought how original righteousness upon Adam's standing could have been propagated to his posterity without this Covenant of God that it should be so So then if this foundation be surely laid this will abundantly quell all those calumnies whereby Gods proceedings are traduced in this point for whereas it is thought to be unheard of injustice and intollerable that we should not only be made miserable both temporally and eternally by another mans sinne but also sinfull by his sinne which is thought to be the greatest cruelty that can be imagined We are made sinners whether we will or no that we may be damned whether we will or no. This Proposition may serve to compose such distempered apprehensions not indeed but that we must admire in some respects at Gods holy and righteous proceedings which we are not fully to comprehend Austin is affected with the miris modis and occultis judiciis of God in these dispensations And he that will not leave to faith to apprehend where reason cannot comprehend doth deserve both ex congruo condigno to be accounted a Philosopher rather than a Christain and his Religion Reason rather than Faith For what point is there in those mysteries of faith which we believe wherein we are not to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh the depths Our oyster-shell cannot empty that Ocean as Austin is reported to have a vision of a young man attempting to do so while he was writing his book of the Trinity thereby informing him of humane incapacity to reach comprehensively to such things Again There is none saith that this sinfull condition and so by consequence miserable is brought upon Infants necessarily for although as to them it 's inevitable yet in Adam it was free and voluntary God had abundantly furnished him withall abilities to make mankind happy and none may presume of Adam's posterity that he would have done otherwise Who can say he would have done otherwise then Adam did seeing God did on purpose create man at first in such a furnished and qualified manner that as Austin observeth the world might see what the free-will of man could do that now we may see what the grace of Christ can do Furthermore Which consideration alone is able to overthrow the foundation of all the calumnies cast upon this Doctrine God when he made Adam thus the common trustee for mankind did herein consult our good It was for mans advantage that all this was done for him he intended original righteousness immortality and happinesse should descend from him to his posterity upon his perseverance so that no more evil is now inflicted upon Adam's off-spring then good was designed and provided for him if he had continued in obedience If sinne and misery come upon Infants now before actual knowledge so would original righteousnesse and happinesse have descended upon them before their consent and whereas happily many of Adam's posterity yea all if left to themselves would have revolted from God upon Adam's confirmation all would have been confirmed So that we see God doth not inflict more evil then he had provided good for us Again The known Enemy to the Doctrine of original sinne doth falsly and odiously represent this Doctrine as if Infants were innocents and yet we hold them guilty of eternal damnation and therefore having mustered many reasons together concludeth upon the account of them That it is safe to affirm that God doth not damn any one to hell for the sinne of another Vnum Necess cap. 6. Sect. 1. Now this is to make Chimera's of his own head for no Divine saith That an Infant deserveth hell meerly because Adam sinned nor is he obnoxious to the wrath of God meerly for that but because this corruption of Adams is also propagated to the child and so it is obnoxious to the wrath of God for that inherent derived pollution and the Scripture being as plain and clear in describing of such a natural estate of man by his descent from Adam as may possibly be desired We must not leave such evident Texts because we may subtilly dispute in a cavilling manner about Gods proceedings herein It is good Rule among the Schoolmen That in Philosophicis argumentum facit fidem but in Theologicis-fides facit argumentum In Philosophy the Argument worketh saith or assent but in Divinity saith worketh the argument So that we are to believe that one place if there were no more of David's confession Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shopen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceive me then all the curious presumptuous speculations of men who from reason would demolish this truth and as for their evasions and wrestings of that place they are so forced and irrational that a man may justly tremble to see men no more reverentially submit their thoughts to the Scripture Certainly the Psalmist intended that every one should have a special regard to this truth delivered there because of the Behold prefixed which is as I may so say the Asterisce of the holy Ghost or the Bibles nota benè as was formerly said in this Text. If further it be objected That it was not voluntary to Adam's posterity their consents were to be expected To this it is easily answered That seeing God had provided such a way for mankind as was for their good seeing the contrary good and more also to that evil we are now fallen into was intended for us in case of Adam's obedience how silly is it to say mans consent should be expected Not to adde further that the holy wisdom of God ordering it thus is enough to make us never to open our mouths more against this way and as for the involuntarinesse of this sinne we have several times spoken to that It was voluntary as farre as the nature of such a sinne did require even as habitual sinnes are not voluntary as actual are but are as farre as habitual ones do require It was voluntary effectivè This sinne did not arise from the nature or matter of man necessarily as the Materiarii and other Heretiques taught but by the voluntary transgression of Adam It is
also voluntary subjectivè for this corruption is chiefly seated in the will which ruleth the whole man and it is voluntary consecntivè by consequent for man naturally delighteth in this evil estate and till grace make a change we are not weary of this condition It is true this subsequent will whereby we delight in our original pollution doth not properly make original sinne to be ours for this is an actual sinne and floweth from that better root only it sheweth that this evil estate is so farre from being contrary to mans will naturally that it delighteth in it and doth contumaciously rebell against the grace of Christ that would deliver Lastly Whereas the 18th Chapter of Ezekiel is commonly objected against this truth where God by the Prophet at large declareth That the Sonne shall not die for the fathers sinne an innocent for a nocent but every one shall die in his own iniquity I have spoken something to this already neither am I to consider how that place is to be reconciled with the second Commandment wherein God is said To visit the iniquity of fathers upon their children to several generations Exod. 20. 3. and several instances of Scripture make it good To be sure the Proverb which gave occasion to this passage was a prophane one redounding to Gods dishonour Sanctius in locum the Papist thinketh that the Jews of old had used it and that because of Adam's fall imputed to his posterity but it seemeth rather at that time to be taken up while under the judgements of God especially for Manassehs his sins as appeareth Jer. 15. 4. where is observable that though Manasses had repented and his sinnes pardoned to him yet God visited them upon the Nation afterward So that it may not seem strange If it be affirmed That notwithstanding Adam repented and his sinne pardoned yet it may be visited upon all his posterity There are various thoughts about the interpretation of the place Some making it a promise under the Covenant of grace only as it seemeth probable if you compare it with Jer. 31. 29. where the same prophane Proverb is mentioned and this promise to the contrary whereas Adam was under the Covenant of works Others very probably say This is not to be extended to all times and places only God promiseth That in their particular condition at present they shall have no occasion to use it for such who did might be brought back from their captivity Thus Sanctius and Maldenate because say they it is plain That the Jews now are under their grievous calamity for their fathers sake who crucified Christ saying Let his blood be upon us and our children Mat. 27. 25. But however the Exposition be it doth not gain-say this Doctrine of original sinne for there it speaketh of children free from their parents sins we speak of children filled with inherent corruption themselves though derived from Adam and chiefly because there the Prophet speaketh of particular private parents whereas we say Adam was a publique appointed person by God himself so that that of Adam's is extraordinary even as Christ though innocent yet died for our sins which yet seemeth to contradict this place of Ezekiel and the Socinians bring it to prove it could not stand with Gods justice to punish Christ being innocent for our sins But in the close of all we may justly retort on those who oppose this truth that they attribute much injustice and cruelty to God which Austin doth frequently urge the Pelagians with for they make all the misery that many times falleth upon young Infants yea and that repugnancy and temptation that is within us against good to be from our primitive constitution that God made us so Those that will not acknowledge original sinne to be the cause of this misery must make God to be so and therefore as appeareth by Baronius Annal. Anno 418. The Emperors Edict made to banish Pelagians containeth this as one reason Proprer trucem inclementiam c. for the horrid and cruel inclemency they attribute to God passing a sentence upon man to die before he liveth But I shall hereafter when I come to speak of the Effects of original sin make it appear That the opposers of original sinne do more unjustly yea and blasphemously attribute many things to God in a farre more transcendent way then their adversaries are by them supposed to do How can it stand with the goodness mercy and love of God that so much evil and death it self should be upon mankind from mans Creation and not rather that it was introduced by Adam's sinne Let the Use of all this be to humble our selves under Gods righteous proceedings to say with Job chap. 40. 3 Behold I am vile I will lay my hand upon my mouth Yea mayest thou not admire at the wise ends of God revealed in Scripture why this should be This is to stop every mans mouth This is to make it appear That all the world is guilty before God This is to make it appear that Christ is necessary this is the way to make Christ more glorious and precious to those that do believe A TREATISE OF Original Sin The Fourth Part. Setting forth The immediate Effects of ORIGINAL SINNE By Anthony Burgess ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed in the Year 1658. A TREATISE OF Original Sinne. PART IV. CHAP. I. Of that Propensity that is in every one by nature to Sinne. SECT I. This Text explained and vindicated from Socinian Exceptions JOB 15. 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water THe last particular to be treated upon concerning original sinne is the immediate effects thereof which we now come to discover and whereas they are many some general and some particular as the paines inflicted upon women in child-bearing the general are the curses that are brought upon the whole world and every part thereof I shall limit my self only to those that belong to mankind and are inseparably annexed to every individium herein Now these effects they are either spiritual or temporal I shall begin with the spiritual and first pitch upon that propensity and vehement inclination which is in every one by nature to sinne This plainly demonstrateth there is a sinful and corrupted principle within else all mankind would not be so prone and inclining to evil as they are and this Text will abundantly confirme us of the ready and delightfull propensity that is in every man none exempted to that which is evil They are the words of Eliphaz one of Job's friends who taketh an Argument from this proneness in mans nature to sinne to humble Job and to make him more patiently silent under Gods heavy hand upon him Job indeed acknowledgeth this very truth Chap 14. 4. and doth from thence debase himself under Gods dealings with him but Eliphaz repeateth this again either because the most holy that are though they sometimes affect their hearts with divine truths and do make a blessed improvement
which would have redounded to the dishonour of God his maker neither could it so well be said By one man or by the Devil death came into the world as by God who is supposed to make man in such a mortal and frail estate But I proceed to a second Argument and that may be drawn from the commination made by God to Adam upon his disobedience compared with the execution of this sentence afterward which might be enough to convince any though never so refractory The threatning to Adam we have recorded Gen. 2. 17. where God prohibiting him to eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil confirmeth this Law with a penalty viz. That in the day he did eat thereof he should surely die dying thou shalt die The gemination is to shew the certainty as also the continuance or it So that Socinus and others who would not understand corporal death in this place as being from the natural constitution of a man and so would have been had there not been this commination doth joyn too much with the Devil in this business for his endeavour was to perswade the woman that this threatning was false and that she should not die death should not be the punishment of her transgression But what need we any clearer place then this divine commination Doth not this necessarily suppose that if Adam had not transgressed he should not have died and so by consequence have been immortal it being not possible for death to come in at any other door but that of sinne To threaten a mortal man with mortality had been absurd or to make his natral condition a punishment for then it would have been a punishment to be made a man if made mortal The Socinians therefore to elude this would not understand by death the separation of the soul and body but eternal death or as they say at other times a necessity of dying but a necessary death and eternal death are absurdly made parallel by them For beasts are under a necessity of death yet cannot be said to partake of eternal death especially the godly they cannot but die yet they are absolutely delivered from eternal death We must therefore take death for corporal death not but that the death of the soul by sinne here and eternal separation from God hereafter is to be included herein yet this temporal death is also a great part of the penalty here threatned which may be evinced by these three reasons 1. Moses is relating in an historical manner what was done to man in the beginning Now in an historical Narration we are not to go from the literal meaning unless evident necessity compel much lesse may we do so here when we have the Apostle acted by the same Spirit of God as Moses was in being Penman of the Scripture attributing our corporal death to Adam For no doubt when Paul wrote this Text In Adam we all die he had this historical relation made by Moses in his mind 2. The sentence and execution of it must be understood in the same manner Now it 's plain that in the execution of it mentioned Chap. 3. 19. corporal death is meant because Adam is thus told That dust he was and unto dust he should return 3. It must be meant of temporal death because this alone and not eternal death doth belong to all mankind For although at the day of judgement it is said some shall not die yet that suddain change made then upon them will be equivalent to death Thus you see the threatning made to Adam at first doth abundantly confirm this truth There is one doubt only to be answered If death be meant in that sentence how then is it that Adam did not immediately die How is it that he lived many hundred years afterwards To this some say That the restriction of time viz. the day is not to be made to the time of eating as if at that day he should die but to death as if the sense were thou shalt die one day or other thou shalt be in daily fear of death But if this be disliked then we may understand it of a state of death that day he did eat thereof he became mortal for every day is a diminution of our life As a man that hath received a deadly wound we say he is a dead man because though he did linger it out yet all is in a tendency unto death Now this will appear the more cogent if you take notice of the execution of this sentence mentioned Gen. 3. 17 18 19. where the ground is cursed and man also adjudged to labour and wearness all the dayes of his life even till he return to the ground out of which he was made But here the Socinian thinketh he hath an evasion Death saith he is not here made a curse but only it 's the term how long mans curse shall be upon him It is not poena but terminus saith he for it is said he should be under this labour till he did return to the ground but if we consider the sentence before-mentioned it is plain it is a curse So that in this place it is both a curse and a terme putting an end to all the temporal miseries of this life though to the wicked it is the beginning of eternal torments ¶ 3. THe third Argument for our mortality and also actual death by original sinne is taken from those assertory places which do in expresse words say so Not to mention my sext which hath said enough to this truth already We may take notice of other places affirming this And certainly that passage of Pauls Rom. 5 12. may presently come into every mans mind By one man sin entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned It is true we told you Calvin maketh the Apostle to speak of spiritual death here as in my Text of temporal death which the coherence also doth confirm but though that be principally intended yet not totally Even temporal death is likewise to be understood as being the beginning and introduction to eternal death if the grace of God doth not prevent We have then the Apostle attributing death not to mans creation at first but to his disobedience Neither is this death upon men because of their actual sinnes but because of Adam's disobedience by whom we are made sinners yea in whom we have sinned That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is diversly translated and much contention about it viz. whether it should be rendred in whom or causally for as much It is true the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as learned men observe is used in the New Testament variously sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 5. 5. sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 10. 9. sometimes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 3. 16. and otherwise but for ought I can observe it may very well be understood for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mark
us into a spiritual death if thereby we be deprived of all spiritual life How can it be avoided but that eternal damnation must foâ—â—ow thereupon by the desert thereof And as for the inseparable effects of it which are to carry us on necessarily to sinne in all that we do to make us utterly impotent and unable for any thing that is good What can this produce but everlasting misery to our souls Sixthly Original sinne is of a damnable nature because of that spiritual bondage and vassalag we are thereby put into even to the Devil himself For not being the children of God we are necessarily the children of the Devil And therefore to be children of Gods wrath in the Text is no more then to be the children of hell and of the Devil for which reason he is called The Prince of the World Seeing then the Devil hath power over all mankind they are in his bondage and Christ came as a Redeemer to deliver us from him This doth argue in what a wofull and dreadfull estate we are left in by this original filthinesse To have the Devil possesse our bodies how terrible is it But he possesseth the souls of every one by nature till Christ doth destroy him and cast him out Hence the Apostle celebrateth that powerfull grace of God whereby we are delivered from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Sonne Col. 1. 13. from which children are not to be excluded Seventhly That original sinne hath merit of demnation is plain Because by it we are in an unregenerate estate John 3. Whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh and therefore unlesse a man be born again of the Spirit and from above he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven yea none that are in the flesh can please God Rom. 8 8. If then no unregenerate man can be saved and by original sinne we come to be in that state of carnality it is plain that by nature we are prepared fuel for eternal flames in hell Eighthly That original sinne deserveth damnation appeareth in the consequents of it For when Adam fell into this spiritual death which is the same with original sinne in us though it could not be called so in him because he had not it from his first being neither was it derived to him from any other we may take notice of two sad and terrible effects thereof besides many others The first whereof was the terrour and fear upon his conscience when God called him by name saying Adam where art thou He then flieth from God and would have hid himself from his face How cometh Adam thus to be afraid thus to tremble who had such peaceable enjoyment of God before Was it not because he had now lost the Image of God And this impression is still upon all men by nature There is an inward terrour and fear of God knowing he is an holy just and omnipotent God who cannot but hate and punish sin and therefore we being conscious of that sinfulness and pollution which is in us are afraid of him dare not think of him or draw nigh to him horror is ready to surprize us when we think of God while in our natural estate The other consequent upon Adam's pollution was the casting him out of Paradise and in him all his posterity was likewise ejected Now this was a type as it were of our being cast out of Heaven This is like that solemn curse at the last day Depart from me ye cursed So that if all these Arguments be duly considered we cannot any longer resist the light of this truth That to us belongeth hell and damnation as soon as ever we are born even before we have committed any actual sinne at all SECT VII Some Conclusions deduceable from the Doctrine of the damnableness of Original Sinne. THe Doctrine of our native impurity and the damnable consequent thereof being thus established upon the Scripture rock which will dash in peices all errours that beat upon it I shall proceed to some Conclusions deduceable thence from As First That position of some though of different principles is wholly contrariant to the word of God that none are damned for original sinne For seeing this sinne hath the same damnable guilt with it as actual sinne hath there is no more reason for the non-damnation of persons in one more then in another neither can we conceive God obliged to forgive one more then another why then should it thus universally be acknowledged that for actual sinnes God may and doth damn men but not for original sinne It is true when we speak of persons growen up we cannot seperate their actual sinnes and original because original sinne is alwayes acting and conceiving putting it self forth into many divers lusts and thereupon we cannot say of any adult person that he is damned meerly for original sinne because to this original hath been superadded many actual transgressions and thereupon all impenitent persons dying so are condemned for both yea their condemnation is inhanced thereby for the desert of damnation by original and actual sinne both is greater then by original or actual severally Seeing then many die in the guilt of their natural and actual uncleanness it is an unsavoury Doctrine to affirm that no man is damned for original sinne It is true some men do dogmatize that original sinne in respect of the guilt of it is universally taken off all and that all mankind is put into a state of reconciliation by the second Adam as they were into a state of wrath by the first but this over-throweth the Doctrine of special election and doth confound nature and grace together yea it maketh Christ to have died in vain of which more fully in its time For the present seeing that so many die unconverted in their state of unregeneracy it must necessarily follow that many are damned both for their original and actual sinne also For shall the root be less damning then the branches or fruit actual sinnes demonstrate the effect and power or original sinne and the aggravation of the effect doth necessarily aggravate the cause As they said to Gideon desiring he should slay them Judg. 8. 21. As is the man so is his strength Thus it is here as a mans corrupt nature is so are his actions the one is actus primus and the other is actus secundus Thus as life though an actus primus yet is alwayes expressed in second acts and the effects thereof so it is with original sinne it is by way of a fountain in us yet alwayes emptying it self into streames It is then a subtle devise of Bellarmine who being unwilling to make damnation as it comprehends the punishment of sense to be the consequent of original sinne to say that one dying in his original sinne is not damned by reason of his original sinne but ratione subjecti it bringeth damnation because such a subject is destitute of spiritual life and grace But this is to
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
is the string to her feet This made Paul cry out of it as a weight lying upon him Rom. 7. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death yea Heb. 12. 1. it is called a weight now as that must needs be an impediment to any who run in a race no less burdensome is original sinne to a godly man in his way to heaven Fourthly It hinders the perfection of grace cooling and remitting the fervour and zeal thereof and herein chiefly the mischievous effect of original sinne is discovered it maketh the soul halt in his progress it allayeth the heat of grace it is like smoak to put out the fire The adversaries to this Truth say it is not intelligible how the Spirit can make us will one thing and the flesh another seeing a man hath but one will and he cannot velle nolle will and nill at the same time about the same object But they may know that by such expressions are chiefly meant That the hearrt of a man through this flesh within him is very faint and remiss in all its actions about that which is good when he doth will it it 's so inefficaciously so slluggishly so imperfectly that it may be called a nilling as well as a willing and this is the sad issue of original sinne it maketh us go halting to the grave it abateth that activity and zeal of spirit which ought to be in holy things Fifthly The flesh hindereth absolute compleatness of grace by soiling debasing and infecting our holy duties It is as some mud cast into a pure stream it is as some poison mingled with wine and for this it is that the most holy have prayed God would not enter into judgement with them because in his sight no flesh could be justified Psal 143. 2. For this the Scripture compareth even our righteous actions to a menstruous cloath Isa 30. 22. This is the frog that is drawen up with the pure water out of the well though our godly duties are not sinnes yet they are sinful they are damnable in themselves and therefore need the mercy of God to forgive the imperfections adhering to them Lastly The flesh is an hindrance in the way of grace by dividing and distracting of the heart In the stare of integrity when there was no such intestine warre then the whole strength of the soul emptied it self one way but now though grace hath for the main setled our hearts upon God yet the flesh interposeth that propoundeth other objects and thus because the pool runneth into divers streams it is not so full and plentifull so that it is impossible there should be any perfection where there is any distraction or division and therefore we may justly expostulate with all those who plead they are without sin Whether they never have so much as one wandring thought in any holy duty they go about If they should say they have not it is our duty to flee from such persons as are puffed up with such self-love and self-confidence that they know not or feel not what they are or do Such are like those distracted persons that conceit themselves Kings and Emperours when at the same time they are miserable and indigent Now by these several actings of the flesh within us the godly man may perceive what little cause he hath to trust in himself thou canst not be secure while in this mortal body the wound original sinne hath given thee is not wholly cured sometime or other this close secret enemy may rob thee of thy Pearls and Jewels if thou art not diligent in praying and watching over thy self In the next place I shall proceed to a second Proposition and therein shall answer such general Objections that may plausibly be urged against the actings of original sinne within us and thereby against the imperfection of regeneration for some have thought it no dangerous errour to plead for a perfection even in this life Therefore Arminius his heires Epistola dedecati ad cap. 7. ad Rom. say that the unseasonable and excessive urging of the constant imperfection of regenerate persons and the impossibility of keeping the Law in this life without adding what the godly might do by faith and the Spirit of Christ such a thought as this might easily enter into the hearts of the hearers that they can do no good at all and they adde the ancient Church thought not the question about the impossibility of the law to be reckoned among capital ones which is apparent say they from Austin which wisheth the Pelagians would acknowledge it might be performed by the grace of Christ and then there would be peace between them But certainly Austin may best explain himself De perfectione justitiae ad Caelestiam ad finem where he saith he knoweth some who hold there either have been or are some that were without sinne Quorum sententiam de bâc re non audeo reprehendere quanquam nec defendere valeam as he dared not reprove it so he could not defend it This is his modest expression but if Austin could not defend it I do not know who in that age could seeing Austin by the gloss in the Canon law hath justly the preheminence above all the Ancients for Disputations as Hierom for the Tongues and Gregory for Morals and certainly the places brought to prove this point do argue that no man is without sinne that none can be justified if God enter into judgement It was also Pelagins boast in that Epistle ad Demetriadem for it 's taken to be his That in the first place he doth enquire what men are able to do how farre their own power extendeth as if this foundation were not laid there could be no exhortation to godliness Hence the Pelagians charged it as a consequence upon the Doctrine of original sinne that it would work in men a despair about perfect righteousness lib secundo coutra Julianum in initio But of late Writers setting aside Papists Castellio for we must not call him Castalio seeing he bewaileth his pride Castel Defens page 356. for assuming that name to him from the fountain of Muses doth with the greatest earnestness propugn the perfection of regenerate persons and immunity from sinne understanding that prayer for pardoning of sinne like as that duty to forgive our enemies viz. when we have them This Writer calleth that question Whether a man may by the Spirit of God perfectly obey the law a very profitable question but addeth that the errour on the right hand viz. that we are able perfectly to fullfill it is farre less dangerous then the contrary for God will never find fault with that man who doth endeavour for a perfect obedience and that by the help of God De obedientiâ Deo praestandâ pag. 227 228. but his arguments are as weak as his affections are strong in this point ¶ 5. Objections against the Reliques of sinne in a regenerate man answered LEt us examine what
is usually objected against this truth And First The command of God requiring we should not lust and that we should love God with all our heart and all our soul and might From hence they argue if these two commands cannot be perfectly fullfilled why are they required of us To this it is answered that it must be granted no man living is able to answer the perfection and exactness of this law who can say he loveth God as much as the command requireth that he never faileth in the least degree who can say that he never finds any sinful motions any irregular workings of heart though he do not consent to them suppose that were alwayes true which is not to be granted yet such motions being in the heart the very having of them maketh us to fall short of the exactness of the law But yet these commands are necessary for the rule must alwayes be perfect not wanting or failing in any thing The command doth represent the perfect Idea of compleat righteousness as Statues that are erected up in high and eminent places are commonly of greater length then the ordinary stature of men is Thus it is one thing the righteousness commanded in the law and the participation of it in the subject that receiveth it according to its proper capacity The law then is perfect but we are imperfect true obedience and imperfect must not be confounded as Castellio most ignorantly doth and therefore abandoneth that opinion De Justificat pag. 46. which maketh imperfection a sinne but he calumniateth the orthodox when he saith we hold nothing a vertue but what is chiefest ibid. pag. 43. neither do we call that imperfection which may have a greater degree Adam was not imperfect because he had not so much holiness as the Angles have In heaven it may be judged that one Saint shall have more grace then another yet every one perfected in their measure and though it be so he that hath not so much holiness as the chiefest shall not be judged sinfully imperfect there is a negative imperfection and a privative this later is when the subiect doth not partake of what degrees it ought to do and then it is alwayes a sinne The starre hath not as much light as the Sunne but this is no privative imperfection because it is not bound to be the Sunne Now the command of God requireth of us the chiefest love that we can by grace put forth not the highest degree of love which is possible but what we are bound to do and any defect herein is a sinne We admit that all graces are not alike no more then all sinnes one may be more holy then another yet he that is the highest attainer doth not reach to the utmost of the command and therefore whatever falleth short of that is damnable deserving wrath of God Secondly When we say no man is able to fullfill the Law of God in this life because the flesh doth still abide in us We mean not as if this were so because God could not subdue it or sinne and the Devil were more potent then Christ but he hath in his Word declared that he will not give such a measure of grace in this life by the righteousness whereof we should be justified So that Castellio's exclamations in this case are ridiculous here is no injury done to the Spirit of God we do not make Christ a semi-Saviour for we readily grant That the Spirit of God could make us absolutely free from sinne in the twinkling of an eye In the hour of death we are immediately purged from all evil So that it 's plain the Spirit of God could make us thus compleat but he will not neither doth this tend to his dishonour no more than that we die that we are â—â—ck and carry about with us corruptible bodies For did not Christ die that we might have glorious bodies that we might be redeemed from this corruption Yet this is not done immediately Seeing then Christ hath assured us that both soul and body shall be made perfectly holy and happy in time though it be not done as soon as we would have it we are not to cavil herein but satisfie our selves with the wisdom of God who doth every thing beautifull in his season It is true Christ when he cured bodily diseases he did perfectly cure them but doth it therefore follow that he must do so in soul-diseases as Castellio urgeth No certainly but rather as Christ though he healed some perfectly of their diseases yet he did not take away their mortality from them So though by the grace of God we have strength to overcome gross sinnes yet we are not made impeccable as the glorified Saints in Heaven are but there remaineth the fuell of sinne still within us not but that God could remove it as he could have inabled the Israelites to have conquered all the Canaanites but because he will not God could have made all the world at once but he proceeded by degrees and thus he doth in our sanctification So that herein we are daily taught to be humble in our selves and to depend alone upon the grace of God It is true if all sinne were removed and we confirmed in a state of grace then there would be no danger of pride as there is not in those who are made glorious in Heaven But were were we made perfect and delivered from all sinne yet abiding still in a mutable condition we should quickly be drunken with the thoughts of our own excellencies so that perfection while we are in the way would not be so advantagious unto us unless to perfection God should also add confirmation and this would be to confound Heaven and earth together And thus much for the first Objection ¶ 6. I Shall onely name a second Objection made in the general against the reliques of original corruption in a man though regenerated and thereby the imperfection of our renovation because this doth more properly belong to another head in Divinity which is much disputed viz. De Perfectione Justitia Of the Perfection of righteousness in this life The Objection which is plausibly and speciously urged against this truth is That this Doctrine is an enemy to a holy life it is pernicious to godlinesse that it is a pleading for sinne and an encouragement to men to content themselves in their formal and sluggish way because they cannot be perfect Thus it is thought we bring up an ill report about the way to Heaven as those Spies did about Canaan we discourage people making their hearts faint because of great Gyants that we say are in the way In this manner Julian the Pelagian old of calumniated Austin that he did in naturae invidiam malae conversationis sordes refundere that he did Peccantibus metum demere quorum obscenitatum Apostolorum sanctorum omnium injuriis he did consolari because he made Paul to speak those words The evil that I hate that I do of his