will be loved no longer nay it will look according to its own hue like a vile base deformed thing fit for nothing but to be hung upon a Cross there to die and expire Hence it appears that an holy Man as long as his Faith discovers a vanity and nothingness in the fairest prospects of the World must needs overcome the World and the lusts of it Again An holy Man according to that supernatural Consecration which is upon him surrenders up his Love and Joy and Delight to God and Christ and Heavenly things the stream of his Heart which before run out upon the lying vanities here below is now turned to the excellent things above his Conversation is in Heaven his Treasure and his Heart are both there and then what must become of Sin must it not needs die away and become as a Body without a Spirit in it It is the Love and the Joy and the Delight of Man which animate Sin but if these are not here any longer but risen and gone away into the upper World to place and center themselves upon the excellent objects which are there then Sin must needs languish and die away it hath nothing to animate or enliven it any more were this Divine surrender in perfection Sin could not so much as be and proportionably where it is but in truth only Sin must needs grow heartless and powerless Notable is that of the Apostle Walk in the Spirit i.e. in the Elevations of holy Faith and Love and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of Flesh Gal. 5.16 Sin shall grow weak and by little and little give up the Ghost To conclude this Character An holy Man which way soever he looks sees just reason to mortify Sin the rectitude of the Law saith It must die for its crookedness and ataxy the threatning of Death saith It must die or the Soul must die in the room of it The bleeding Wounds of our dying Lord say That the Crucifier must not be spared but die after that manner That excellent Guest the holy Spirit saith It is too vile a thing to live under the same roof with it self The precious immortal Soul saith The wounds and turpitudes of it are too intolerable to be endured any longer Heaven that blessed Region saith It is not to be tolerated by any who mean to enter into that place We must then mortifie the deeds of the Body that we may live Rom. 8.13 that we may live a Life of Holiness here and a Life of Glory in another World Sixthly An holy Life is not made up of the Exercise of this or that Grace in particular but of the Exercise of all Graces pro hic nunc as occasion serves St. Peter saith That we must add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Holy Men who are partakers of the Divine Nature spoken of immediately before have Grace upon Grace and must as occasion serves exercise one after another that there may be a Constellation of Graces appearing in their Lives to give the more full resemblance of the Perfections which are in their Father in Heaven our Saviour Christ in whom all Graces are set forth in lively and Orient colours and are really and practically exemplified to our view had this character justly given him he went up and down down doing good every step one odour of Grace or other brake forth from him Subjection to Parents or Magistrates or Zeal towards God or Humility in washing his Disciples feet or Meekness under false Accusations or melting Compassions letting out cures on the Bodies and Heavenly truths on the Souls of Men or admirable Patience under great sorrows and sufferings one glorious way of Holiness or other was always coming from him Proportionably an holy Man Who is a living Member of Christ must be in his measure holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which way soever he turn himself he must be holy in it he must have a respect to God at every turn this will best appear by the particular parts of his Life Take an holy Man in Divine Ordinances there he is holy He would first be sure that he is in a right Church and in a right Ordinance in a right Church for there the Lord commands the Blessing even Life for evermore in a right Ordinance for unless the Institution be from God the Benediction cannot be expected from him and then he would serve God in a right manner and sanctify his Name in his approaches when he comes to an Ordinance he hath high thoughts of God as being the Infinite Majesty of Heaven the Excellency of all Perfections one whom Angels adore and Devils tremble at accordingly he lies low before God he serves him with Reverence and godly Fear he draws nigh to him yet forgets not the infinite distance between them he blushes to think that he must go before so pure a Majesty with the dust of Mortality about him and again he blushes to think that he must do so in the spots and rags of many Infirmities which being in the Soul are much more abasive than those in the Body The Beams of the Divine Glory strike an holy awe into him and make him conclude That a Soul though entirely given up is to God but a little very little thing but as a Beam to the Sun or a drop to the Ocean and which is matter of more shame and abasement the Soul is much less in that the innate corruption holds back and the bewitching World steals away a great deal of it from God very little or rather nothing it is that we can give to him however the holy Man such is his Divine temper would not abate any thing but endeavour in Ordinances to give God his Spirit and highest Intention he knows that God is a Spirit and meer bodily worship is as nothing to him what is the bowing of the Knee when there is an Iron Sinew of Rebellion within or the lifting up of the Hands or Eyes when there is an earthly depression upon the affections towhat purpose is an open Ear when the Heart is deaf and shut up against holy Truths And what a shadow a meer lye in worship is the Body when the Mind is stole away and gone after Vanity He therefore sets himself to serve God in spirit and truth while God is speaking to him in his Sacred Word he would have no converse at all with worldly objects he bids these stand by and not interrupt his attention while he is speaking to God in prayer he would not only pour out words to God but his very Heart and Spirit if it were possible all of it without reserving so much as a glance or a piece of a broken thought towards carnal things a Duty to the Great God is a
Speculum Theologiae in Christo OR A VIEW OF SOME Divine Truths Which are either Practically Exemplified IN JESUS CHRIST Set forth in the GOSPEL Or may be reasonably deduced from thence By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esq LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCLXXVIII TO THE CHRISTIAN READER IT was anciently observed by St. Austin touching the Prophets under the Old Testament Non tantum lingua illorum hominum verum etiam vita fuit Prophetica They did not only prophesie or reveal the mind of God by words but by things done by or upon them Isaiah must walk naked and barefoot to shew the shame of the Egyptian captivity Jeremy must go down to the Potters House and there see the Vessel marred to give the Jews a pregnant demonstration that God could unmake and destroy them Ezekiel was to remove and bring forth his stuff to give them a lively representation of their captivity Above all this was eminently seen in our great Prophet Jesus Christ He did not only reveal the Gospel but he himself is the substance and marrow of it He is the very mirror of Divine Truths and Perfections His stile is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of the Fathers Glory As an eternal Son he is such in himself As incarnate he is such to us The Messiah say the Rabbins is facies Dei the face of God The Glory of God faith the Apostle is in the face of Jesus Christ The Divine perfections appear in him as beauty doth in the face The invisible one may here be seen the inaccessible Majesty may be approach'd unto Infinity to accommodate it self to our Model appears nube carnis in a Cloud of flesh that his glory might not swallow us up In our Emanuel we have a body of Theology an excellent Summary of Divine Truths in a very lively manner set forth to us The Atheist who owns not a God in Heaven might here if he had eyes of Faith see God in the flesh The Wisdom of God doth here appear not in the orders and harmonies of nature but in a plot much greater and more admirable God and Man infinite and finite Eternal and Temporal are met in conjunction that the human finite temporal nature in Christ might be the Theater for the Divine Infinite Eternal nature to shew its perfections in The Truth of God manifests it self illustriously in that no difficulty could hinder the early promise of the Messiah made immediately after the fall of man neither could any time bury it in oblivion He would be true in that which was the hardest thing for him to do in parting with his only begotten out of his bosom for us After many ages the Promise must bud and blossom and bring forth the Messiah We see here That God is the holy one his hatred of sin is writ in Red Characters in the blood and wounds of our dear Lord. His love to holiness was such that he would send his own Son in the flesh to recover holiness into the heart of man again We have here Providence accurately watching over our Saviour all-along first over his Genealogy then over his birth life death resurrection And lastly over the issue of all a Church raised up to sing Hosannah's to him for ever Omnia plena Sacramentorum saith an Ancient Every thing in Christ reads us a Lecture of Divinity He being the second Adam who brought in righteousness and life unto men we are sure that there was a first who brought in sin and death to them From his conception being an extraordinary one we may plainly gather what the Two states of Nature and Grace are By the common generation we are flesh of flesh unclean creatures By the power of the regenerating spirit overshadowing our hearts we become spirit of spirit holy new-creatures In his life and preaching we have miracles triumphing over nature and all the order of it Mysteries exceeding Reason and all its Acumen and a Samplar of humility Meekness Mercy Righteousness Holiness Obedience such as the Sun never saw In his death we have what the proud Socinian thinks impossible Infinite Mercy and Infinite Justice kissing and embracing each other Mercy was seen that God should give his only his dearly beloved Son for us Justice was seen that God should exact of him standing in our stead as much as would counterpoize the sin and suffering of a World in his glorious satisfaction We see what that is which justifies sinners and makes them stand before the Holy God In his excellent example we see how justified ones which are mystical parts and pieces of him ought to walk and tread in his steps These things are the subject matter of the ensuing Discourse may all who are called Christians study Jesus Christ The little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reason of Man is much cried up in this Age may we much more adore the Infinite Word and Wisdom of God The temper of St. Bernard may be recommended to all Si scribas non sapit mihi nisi legero ibi Jesum si disputes aut conferas non sapit mihi nisi sonuerit ibi Jesus The devout Father could not relish any thing but Jesus Christ may our hearts ever burn and be inflamed with love to him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg may we desire none but Christ Non aliud praeter illum non aliud tanquam illum non aliud post illum Nothing besides him nothing like him nothing after him This is the scope of my Book if it profit or do good to any it is enough and as much as is desired by him who is A Lover of Truth Edw. Polhill Jan. 21. 1677. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. A short View of Gods Allsufficiency and condescension in revealing himself p. 1 2. The various ways of manifestation In the making of the World and Man p. 3 4 5 6. After the fall in the Moral Law and in types and shadows p. 7. Lastly and above all in and by Jesus Christ p. 8. CHAP. II. Christ considered as a Prophet and a Speculum p. 9. The Divine Attributes shine in him particularly Wisdom p. 10. The obstacles of Redemption to be removed p. 11 12. The Son of God fit for the work p. 13. Many admirable conjunctions of God and Man of Justice and Mercy of Punishment and Obedience in Christs sufferings p. 14 15. Of Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law p. 16. Of Satisfaction and Merit p. 17. Of Merit and Example p. 18. All tending to our salvation ibid. The rare conquest of Sin Satan the World Death p. 19 20 21. Humility of mind necessary p. 21. The desperate issue of the pride of Human Reason p. 21 22. Need of Humility from the threefold state of Reason in Integrity after the Fall after Faith p. 23 24 25. CHAP. III. Holiness the glory of the Deity
Scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to dye But God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.7 8. Sometimes possibly though but rarely one may dye for a righteous good Man who is a blessing to the place where he lives But this was Christs Prerogative to dye for Sinners this was the supereminency of Divine Love to give him so to do Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15.13 Thus our Saviour A greater proof or effect of Love than death there cannot be but Love is then in an higher and more excellent degree when that death is as in our Saviours case it was for Enemies than it is when the death is for Friends Damon and Pythias two intimate friends were willing to dye one for another but Christ died for Enemies In Creation God overcame Nullity but in Redemption he overcomes Enmity it self and that in a wonderful way He assumes an humane Nature and in it pours out his precious blood to melt and break that horrible Enmity which was in us against him If we would see more of this Love let us turn our eyes upon the evils removed and the good procured by our Saviour Christ All evils are either Moral such as sin or which waits upon the other Physical such as punishment all of them are removed by our Saviour who saves from Sin and Wrath. Man was under the guilt of Sin and so under the Wrath of God Wrath in the threatning hung as an horrible Tempest over his head and within there was the dreadful Eccho of it in Conscience But the Sufferings of Christ were so satisfactory and meritorious for us that as soon as we return and believe on him all our guilt is done away It 's true the guilt in it self in the intrinsecal desert of punishment is perpetual because sin cannot cease to be sin but it doth no longer redound upon our persons to oblige us to punishment The heavy burden is now lifted off from Conscience the black Cloud of Wrath is dissolved the cursing Law hath nothing to say against us There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Rom. 8.1 It 's true afflictions may fall upon a Believer but there is no Condemnation there is not a jot of Wrath in them they are rather Castigatory than Penal managed in the hand of Mercy rather than Justice In the issue it appears that there was Love and Faithfulness in them that even in those afflicting paths Mercy and Truth are found all things shall work together for good unto the Believer Afflictions and all These serve for excellent purposes to fan off his Vanity melt away his Corruption alarm his spiritual Watch refine his golden Graces cast him into the Image of a meek suffering Christ unearth unself him and elevate his affections towards the everlasting rest which is above Affliction after it hath budded and blossomed with such precious fruits is no longer evil but an excellent good It 's true also that death Temporal will seize upon him but the curse is gone the sting out death which at first was a punishment now hath a blessing in it It was Originally introduced by sin but through the admirable Grace of our Saviour it carries away those reliques of sin which no Tears Prayers Watchings Pious endeavours could utterly extirpate whilest we are in the body it throws down the earthen walls into their mother-dust But who would not dye and with Hilarion bid his Soul Go out that he might be rid of sin There is indeed a passage out of a Temporal life but it is into an Eternal one The soul when it leaves its old friend the body flies into the blessed Region there to enjoy God in an immediate manner to read truth in its Original and taste goodness in the Fountain the body which at present dissolves into dust shall wake again and be made like to the glorious body of Christ Mortal shall put on immortality corruptible incorruption death shall be swallowed up in victory it is no longer an evil to the Believer Again Man was under the Power of Sin and so under the Tyranny of Satan Sin was a Lord a Ruler over him not only over his outward man whose members were the weapons of it but over the inward too It had strong-holds in his Reason and a throne in his Will he was a drudg a slave to his lusts hurried up and down by one Corruption or other wandring in error or swelling in pride or pining in envy or boiling in malice or burning in lust or drowning in sensual pleasures some way or other serving his Iniquity Satan the Ruler of darkness hath a Palace in his heart and keeps possession there upon all occasions he blows up Original Corruption into sinful motions motions into consents consents into acts acts into habits Thus he carries on the sinner in a circle of sinning till inevitable ruin overtake him but in and through Christ there is deliverance from this horrible servitude The Holy Spirit comes and rescues the sinner it opens his eyes to see himself standing as he doth at the brink of Hell and Death it melts him into tears and godly sorrows for sin it breaks down the strong-holds and throne of sin in the heart it casts out Satan and the hellish furniture it translates the poor sinner from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of Christ into a Region of Grace and Power where Sin and Satan cannot have the Victory Those precious Promises that sin shall not have Dominion that Satan shall be bruised under our feet are now sealed and experimented in the heart The poor Captive is now brought out of Bondage into the true liberty of Holiness and Obedience Here we see the matchless incomparable Love of God which delivered us from so many great Evils Hezekiah being rescued from Death made his acknowledgments O Lord thou hast in love to my soul delivered me from the pit of corruption or as the Original hath it Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of corruption Every Believer who hath tasted of the great Salvation may say Lord thou hast loved me from Sin Satan Death Hell by delivering me from all these evils Moreover as all evils were removed so all good things were procured by Christ Temporals were so the world owes its standing to him Justice but for his expiatory Sacrifice would have dashed it down about the sinners â—ears Sin but for the Cement of his blood would have unframed all things in nature that right to the Creature which we forfeited by our iniquity was restored again by his Merits The Believer shall now have so much of the world as infinite Wisdom and Mercy more competent Judges than humane Reason and Will shall think a fit portion for him and what he hath he shall have with the Love
foundation of the Law Dr. Li. Harm fol. 38. The words of the Scribes say they are more worthy than the words of the Law and more weighty than the words of the Prophets Thus departed they from the Scriptures and run themselves into a Labyrinth of Errors the power and vigor of Religion was evaporated into rituals and empty formalities if their Phylacteries were broad it was no matter how narrow the Law or Obedience to it were A clean outside would serve the turn though within there were nothing but hellish pollution Great vices might pass so as they were but sub umbrâ virtutis under a shadow of virtue their honesty was confined to those of their own Religion none else were neighbours with them they might lye or deal falsly with a stranger he was no neighbour if they did kill a stranger Seld. de sure Nat. Dr. Li. Harm fol. 46. they were not to dye for it by the sentence of the Sanhedrin he was no neighbour Nay and among themselves their Corban was able to untie the bonds of Nature and free them from Duty and Charity to their very Parents they seemed to be for cleansing the outside yet they fell into gross abominations The very Scribes and Pharisees their great Rabbies and Leaders from whom they were not to decline though they were told by them that their right-hand were their left would devour Widows houses and what but frauds and oppressions could be looked for among the ordinary sort Indeed among great and small ones there was a deluge of iniquity they had made their sins great and to fill up the measure they killed the Lord of life This was the fearful state of the Jews The Gentile World lay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5.19 in the evil one in the hand and power of the Devil or in that which is evil in wickedness corrupting as a dead man doth in his Grave It 's true within they had an implanted notion of a Deity without they had the Creatures proclaiming their Creator But alas They held the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 That little spark in their bosom which revealed a Deity was but a Captive it could not break out to give Glory to its Maker nor was it able to bear up the Honour of God in the World They could not but know God yet acknowledg him they would not though he made and bear up all things yet they owned him not no not in his own World They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed leasts and creeping things Rom. 1.23 And a little after They changed the truth of God into a lye and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Vers 25. They fell into all manner of Idolatries any thing might be God but the true one An high dishonour it was for them to prefer the vilest Creatures before the Optimus Maximus the best and greatest of Beings An horrible lye it was for them practically to say That a brute or a man or a star was a God or that a stock or a stone or a little dead matter in an Image did resemble the infinite Spirit Upon their Idolatry being an accursed departure from God the fountain of Goodness immediately followed a black train of abominations They were filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers back-biters haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventers of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant-breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful Rom. 1.29 30 31. They were in these things as in their Element acting out of sinful hearts and habits and so gratifying their first and second corrupt Nature both at once And for all this they seemed to have a Patent from Heaven in the Vices of their gods which their own Authors set before them they did but follow their Deities their sins were made Divine by the highest Example This was the state of the Gentiles And now what manner of Power was that which raised up an holy People to God out of so corrupted a World And how much work was there to be done about it The light was to be commanded out of darkness The blind minds were to be opened upon Divine Mysteries The Law was to come forth in its pure Spirituality The great necessity of Christ and Grace was to be inwardly felt Shadows were to be turned into substance Religion was to be brought back to the heart The musty Traditions were to vanish before the Word The old Idols to be cast to the Bats and the Moles those blind Creatures The fallen Nature was to be new-framed The sinful habits to be unravelled Sinners twice dead in sin were to be raised up into a Divine Life Here a very excellent Power was manifested Hence the Apostle prays for the Ephesians That they may have eyes to see it that they may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Eph. 1.19 20. The words are very magnificent Power mighty Power exceeding greatness of Power all working and in act as it was in the raising up Christ from the dead so great a work is it to bring home sinners to God! The Divine Power will yet be more illustrious in our Eyes if we look upon the state of the World in the great Men of it such as were great in Power or Wisdom The great men in Power the Emperors and Potentates of the World were utter Enemies to Christianity breathing out nothing but blood against the Professors of it Nero first kindled the furnace of Persecution against them he took occasion as pure malice uses to do from his own barbarous act first causing Rome to be set on fire and then casting the odium of that horrid act upon the Christians He set forth Edicts commanding to persecute them unto Death as Enemies of mankind which made Tertullian say That it was grande bonum Apol. cap. 5. some great good that Nero condemned Domitian first slew his Brother Titus and then blowed up the furnace of Persecution against the Christians He spent most of his time in catching of flies yet would not omit the Christians Trajan no Nero no Domitian but in esteem a pattern of uprightness carried on the bloody work he would not indeed have the Christians sought for yet if found he would have them punished Antoninus Philosophus was amiable to all others yet cruel to Christians Severus though illustrious in Moral virtues was stained with their innocent blood Afterwards Maximinus Si Tyberis ascendit in mania si Nilus non ascendit in arva si coelum stetit si terra movit si fames si lues statim Christianos ad leonem acclamatur Tert. Ap. cap. 39. Decius Valerianus
established by Grace Again The Power of God being revealed in a way of Grace How should we look up to him by Faith that he may do great things for us He who gave his own Son to come in the flesh can do every thing for us He can raise up Children to Abraham out of the very stones He can melt the Rocky heart into Repentance He can write his Law in the inward parts He can make us willing in the day of his Power He can subdue the most strong and inveterate lusts He can new-frame the heart and draw his own Image upon it He can make all Grace abound towards us and supply all our need according to his Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus Let us look unto him and be saved Let our Souls ever be in a posture of waiting and dependance upon him that the Divine Power which was so eminently manifested in Christ may in a measure be felt and experimented in us that we who are poor impotent Creatures in our selves may be able to do all things through Christ strengthning us CHAP. VII Chap. 7 The Truth of God manifested in Christ The Promise of the Messiah The Messiah is already come Jesus is the true Messiah All the other Promises are built upon him The truth of the Moral Law evidenced in him The Mandatory part proved by his active Obedience The Minatory by his Sufferings He is the substance of the Types and Sacrifices Somewhat in him answers to them and somewhat in him infinitely transcends them The truth of Worship set forth in him He unclogged it from Rituals opened the spiritual mode of it communicates Grace for it reveals the great Reward of Eternal Life HAving spoken of other Attributes I proceed in the last place to consider the TRUTH of God It was a notable speech of a Philosopher That Truth is so great a Perfection that if God would render himself visible unto men he would chuse Light for his Body and Truth for his Soul Indeed God is Ipsissima Veritas very Truth it self and can no more cease to be such than he can cease to be Himself He is true in his Essence Others are only gods by fancy or fiction but he is God by nature and essence He is true in his Promises he means what he promises and he doth what he means Promissa tua sunt Confes l. 12. c. 1â— quis falli timeat cum promittit veritas saith St. Austin He is true in his Commands these are the counterpanes of his Will he approves what he commands and rewards what he approves He is true in all his Works the Creatures have first an Ideal being in him before they have a real one in themselves they are therefore true because congruous to the first Truth He is so true that it is impossible that he should lye A lye which arises from weakness or wickedness can no more be found in him than Weakness can be found in Power or Wickedness in Sanctity it self The Truth of God doth in an excellent manner appear in Jesus Christ He is the Complement of the Law the Pearl of the Gospel The Truths of the Old Testament run unto him as to an Ocean to be swallowed up in his Perfection The Truths of the New meet in him as in the Center to receive all their strength and stability from him The Divine Truth is manifested in Jesus Christ several ways First It is manifested in him in that all the Promises and Predictions of a Messiah to come are accomplished and compleated in him Two things will clearly evidence this The one is this It is plain that the promised-Messiah is already come The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be saith Jacob Gen. 49.10 Shiloh is the Name of the Messiah the ancient Rabbins confess it Messiah saith one of them shall not come till there be a clean riddance of Judges and Magistrates in Israel The Jews had Kings in their own Land Heads or Princes of the Captivity in Babylon and after their return from thence they had Governours and Judges but now Government and Judiciary Power hath been for 1600 years departed from them The Messiah therefore is already come Again within the compass of the Seventy weeks mentioned in Dan. 9 many things were to come to pass The re-edifying the City and Temple of Jerusalem the coming and cutting off the Messiah the confirmation of the Covenant the cessation of the Sacrifices and after all these the universal destruction was to ensue However these weeks be computed yet it evidently appears that first the Messiah was to come and be cut off ver 26 and afterwards the Oblation and Sacrifice was to cease v. 27 this being the true order of things in the Text the Messiah must needs come whilst the Sacrifices were standing If the Sacrifices under this second Temple have for these 1600 years ceased as they have then the Messiah must needs be come many Centuries since Scho. Sacr. disput 10.72 73 74. Franzius used this argument to a learned Jew who only returned this answer Perhaps one week in Daniel might be one thousand years Franzius replied If that were admitted Yet if he thought that Daniel's weeks were not expired he would entreat him to shew where the Jews do now sacrifice seeing according to Daniel the Messiah was to come before the abrogation of the Sacrifices it must needs be that the Sacrifices must still stand in being if the Messiah were not yet come To this no answer at all was made the knot being indeed too hard to be untied Further the Messiah was to come while the second Temple was standing hence that of the Prophet The glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the former Hag. 2.9 The first Temple had more of outward glory and magnificence than the second Under the first there were as the Rabbins observe five things the Ark the Fire from Heaven the Majesty or Shecinah the Spirit of Prophecy the Vrim and the Thummim which were wanting under the second From whence then came that greater glory in the second The Prophet tells us God would shake the heavens and the earth that is do a very great work the Messiah the Desire of all Nations should come v. 6 7 His presence should put a greater glory upon the second Temple than was upon the first In the first there was the types and symbols of Gods presence but into the second the Lord himself came in our assumed nature Mal. 3.1 and so filled it with glory This is the only tolerable account can be given of that greater glory This second Temple being long since destroyed it must needs be that the Messiah did come before the fall of it The other is this Our Jesus the Son of Mary is the true Messiah he is that seed of the woman who broke the Serpents head Gen. 3.15
not Carentia justitiae debitae inesse a want of what ought to be in us it is not a privative want a want of what we once had in Adams righteousness and afterwards lost in his sin but it is a meer negative want a want of that we never had nor never forfeited Adams righteousness being not imputed to us we never had it Adams sin being not imputed to us we never forfeited it such a meer negative want is no sin What though there be a pravity and propensity to all manner of sin in us It is no sin in unfallen creatures it is no sin to be made or created it is no sin to be born or brought forth it is no sin if there be no cause or foundation of it in us and there can be no cause or foundation of it in us if we no way participate of Adams sin it may be called misery but it is no sin Hence that saying of St. Austin Nulla foret hominis culpa si talis a Deo creatus esset qualis nunc nascitur There would be no fault in man if he were created such by God as he is now born the pure primordials of nature cannot be culpable That man who is meerly what his Creator made him is as he ought to be The result of all is this Adams sin not being imputed to us there can be no such thing as original sin though this Doctrine hath been maintained in the Church in all ages yet there is no such thing neither is Adams sin imputatively ours nor yet is the natural pravity in us any sin If therefore we will acknowledg original sin we must acknowledg that Adams sin is ours by a just Imputation Thus much touching the first original thing in sin Adams sin is imputatively ours The other is this We have an inordination and inherent pravity in us this depends upon the former All habitual sin hath an essential relation to some actual sin precedent no man can can be a sinner habitually who is totally free from actual sin If we had not in some sense sinned in Adams sin we could not have been habitually vitiated by it At first man was an excellent creature sparkling with a divine image of knowledg and righteousness all was in harmony the rational powers of the Soul were subordinate to God their Creator the sensitive powers were subject to the rational in every part there was a just decorum But upon the fall which was interpretatively ours the Crown fell from our head the Glory of the Divine Image departed the Soul became naked the very shame of the body told it that the primitive rectitude was wanting darkness fell upon the Mind the once region of light bondage and impotency fell upon the Will the once seat of power and liberty all was out of frame The rational powers turned rebels to God the sensitive were all in a mutiny against the rational There was in us a pravity an horrible propensity to all manner of iniquity a Belial-heart such as is evil and only evil and that continually This pravity runs parallel with our being and humanity it overspreads the whole Fabrick of our nature and so adheres to it that even in the Saints it is not utterly extinct till the last breath nor totally cleansed away till the Clay-walls of the body fall into the grave This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the conceiving-lust the womb where all iniquity is formed This is the Grave or Sheol in man which in its unreasonable desires never hath enough This is that Concupiscence which as the Rabbins say doth aedificare inferos make and build an Hell for men Now that there is such an inordination and inherent pravity in us doth easily appear by the following Considerations 1. The Scripture doth abundantly testifie it Adam begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth Gen. 5.3 Adam was created in the likeness of God v. 1 but after his fall he begat a son in his own likeness When God created man in his likeness it was sanctus sanctum an Holy God created an holy man But when Adam begat a son in his likeness it was corruptus corruptum polluted Adam begat a polluted son and in the Text there are two words likeness and image to set the greater brand upon corrupt nature It is remarkable that the Text doth not here speak of Abel who dyed without issue nor of Cain all whose progeny was drowned in the flood but of Seth by whom all mankind hath hitherto been continued in the world which shews that none are exempted from it God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was only evil continually Gen. 6.5 and afterwards God saith that it was so from his youth Gen. 8.21 according to the original it is Every formation or figment of the heart all that was framed or effigiated there is only evil and that from his youth Where the Hebrew word used reaches in other Scriptures even to infancy Which shews that we are transgressors from the womb Hence one of the Jewish Rabbins being asked when the evil imagination was put into man answered From the hour that he is formed Hence that ancient saying Ipse ortus in vitio est Our first rise is iniquity Job speaking of mans birth saith Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 14.4 Man who is of unclean Parents must needs be unclean Nothing but supernatural grace can purifie such an one none but the Holy One can make us clean David cries out Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me in the Hebrew it is warm me Psal 51.5 He confesses that there was iniquity even in primo ardore in the first warmth of natural conception before he was born or saw the light he was polluted and unclean Antequam nascimur Apol. Dav. cap. 11. maculamur saith St. Ambrose Before we are born we are polluted Our Saviour speaking of Regeneration saith That which is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 In natural generation there is nothing but flesh or corrupt nature the Spirit or Divine nature is from Regeneration only St. Paul stiles this inward pravity a body of sin Rom. 6.6 It is a loathsome carkass made up of vile matter It is not so much one sin as virtually all other sins are parts and branches of it The weight and pressure of this body made even St. Paul cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Thus and much more doth the Scripture bear witness to this truth 2. No man who seriously looks into the frame of his own heart can want a proof of this truth Upon a faithful inspection into himself a sink of sin a Chaos of turpitudes and horrible irregularities will appear to be in him Reason was lighted up by God but it is now as a beam prodigiously cut off