then that its necessary to have a sound judgement about the original of the soul for the Mortalists have fallen into that deep pit of heresy because they erred in this first It is with men as they say of Fishes they begin to putrify in the head first and so commonly men fall into loose opinions and then into loose practises But this rule must be acknowledged That whatsoever depends upon matter in being doth also depend upon it in existency It 's Aquinas his rule as you heard Quicquid dependet à materiâ in fieri depend quoad esse et existere That is the reason why the souls of all beasts are mortal because they depend upon the matter in being They cannot be produced but dependently on that and therefore their souls cannot subsist without their bodies As it is plain the souls of men do after death till the resurrection So that this Doctrine is injurious and derogatory to our spiritual and immortal souls Fifthly If souls were not by immediate Creation but by natural propagation from the parents then either from the mother alone or from the father alone or from both together This Argument Lactantius of old as Cerda in Tertull. alledgeth him formed to himself and answers it 's neither of those waies but from God Not from the Father alone because David doth bewail his mothers co operation hereunto Psal 51 Iniquity did my Mother conceive me Not the Mother alone because the Father is made the chief cause of conveighing this original sinne by the Apostle he layeth it upon Adam more then Eve though Eve is not excluded Not from both together for then the soul must be partible and divisible part from the Father and part from the Mother and so it cannot be a simple substance Under this Argument Meisuer doth labour and confesseth it is inexplicable how the soul should come from the parents though he assaieth to give some satisfaction Lastly There is something even of nature implanted in us to believe our soules come from God who hath not almost some impression upon his conscience to think that he had not his soul from his parents even nature doth almost teach us in this thing Hence the wisest Heathens have concluded of it as Plato and also Aristotle who confuteth the several false opinions of Philosophers about the soul for it was a doubt as Tertullian lib de animâ expresseth it whether Aristotle was parasior sua implera aut aliena inantre and affirmes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come from without and that it is a divine thing Thus it was with some Heathens though destitute of the Light of Gods Word yet in somethings they did fall upon the truth as saith Tertullian The Pilot in a tempestuous black night puts into a good haven sometimes prospero errore and a man in a dark place gropeth and finds the way out sometimes caecâ quâdam felicitate Thus did some Heathens in some things SECT IV. IF you aske What Arguments have they who hold the traduction of the Soul I answer There is none out of Scripture that is worth the answering The two things they urge are First If the soul be not propagated then man doth not beget a man as a beast doth a beast and he is more imperfect then other creatures but this is to be answered hereafter The other is Because original sinne cannot else be maintained but this is to be answered in the Explication how we come to pertake of it Let us proceed to the Uses Vse 1. Doth God create the soul then he must know all the thoughts all the inward workings and motions of thy soul As he that maketh a Clock or a Watch knoweth all the motions of it Therefore take heed of soul-sinnes of spirit-sinnes What though men know not your unclean thoughts your proud thoughts your malicious thoughts yet God who made thy soul doth and therefore this should make us attend to Gods eie upon us Vse 2. Did God make and create the soul then he also can regenerate it and make it new again he made it as a Creator and he only in the way of regeneration can make it again This may comfort the godly that mourn and pray Oh they would have more heavenly holy souls They would not have such vain thoughts such sinnefull motions Remember God made thy heart and he can spiritualize it 3. Doth God create the souls then here we see that it 's our duty to give our souls to him in the first place John 4. God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit This hath been alwaies a complaint men have drawed nigh to God bodily but their hearts have been farre from him God made thy soul more then thy body and therefore let that be in every duty Lastly If Parents do not make our souls then here we see Children must obey Parents but in the Lord Should thy Parents command thee to doe any sinfull action to break the Sabbath you must not obey you may say My father and mother they help me but to my body God doth give me my soul and therefore they are but parents of your bodies not of your conscience and souls SECT V. The Authors Apologie for his handling this great Question THe false wayes which some have wandered in to maintain the Propagation of Original Corruption to all mankind being detected our work is now to explicate that Doctrine which seemeth most consonant to solid Reason and Scripture But before we essay that we are to informe you of one sort of learned Authors who because of the difficulty attending this Point Whether we hold the Traduction or Creation of the soul have thought it the most wife and sober way to acknowledge the Propagation of original Sinne But as for the manner How there to have a modest suspense of our judgement to professe a learned ignorance herein to believe That it is though How it is so we know not And Tertullian concerning the original of the soul Lib. de Animâ hath this known saying Praestat per Deum nescire quae ipse non revelaverit quà m per hominem scire quae ipse praesumpserit In this way of suspense Austin continued as long as he lived thinking that this might be one of those Truths we shall not know till we come into the Academy of Heaven and to this modest silence we have one place of Scripture which might much incline us Eccles 11. 5. As thou knowest not the way of the Spirit nor how the bones doe grow in the womb c. This Text should teach us not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to venture too farre but to observe the light of the Scripture as they did the Pillar and Cloud in the wildernesse to stand still where that stands still And indeed the Disputes about the Modes of things is very intricate The known saying is Motum sometimes Modum nescimus the manner of Gods working in conversion The manner of Christs presence in
hid in the soul which by education and instruction are blown up into a flame So that the Schools which are generally provided for youth do declare That the nature of man of it self will bring forth weeds but there must be much plowing and sowing much cost and labour ere any good seed will grow up That known Text of Scripture will for ever bear record against these patrons of nature Folly is bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of correction will drive it away Prov. 22. 15. No lesse powerfull is that counsel Prov. 23. 13. With-hold not correction from the child if thou beat him with the rod he shall not die if thou beat him c. thou shalt deliver his soul from hell Doth not this proclaim that every child is set to damn it self if left alone It is not more prone to runne into the fire then it is to fall into hell and this maketh chastisement so necessary How necessary is it for parents to consider this either education or hell either chastisement or damnation And whence is all this but because of the impetuous nature in every child unto evil As the horse and mule need the bridle being carried out only by sense Thus doth the child need admonition being unteachable and untamable of himself even like the wild Asses colt Job 11. 12. Let parents then take heed of remisness lest their children roaring in hell do continually curse them for their negligence It 's a known example of a young man carried to the place of execution that cried out Non Praetor sed Mater mea duxit ad furcam It was not the Judge but his mother brought him to that shamefull death There was in the Tabernacle Aarons Rod and the Manna which some would have allegorically to signifie the sweetness and benefit of Discipline Iniquity then breedeth within us all the wisest and severest education can no more free a child from its inherent filthiness then Paracelsus could make himself immortal as he fondly boasted if he had had the first ordering and dieting of his body Hence the duty of parents is set down Ephes 6. 4. To bring up their children in the nature and admonition of the Lord. And Solomon who was so tender and onely beloved in the sight of his mother yet his parents were continually distilling wholsome precepts into him as Prov. 4. 3 4 5 implying thereby that none is without ignorance without a proneness to evil therefore is godly instruction so necessary So that the Doctrine of original sinne should greatly provoke fathers and mothers to their duties Every mother should be a Monica to her Austin that we may say It is not possible that Filius tot lachrymarum pereat a sonne of so many prayers and tears should perish Fifthy The difficulty that is acknowledged by ali to do that which is good and holy doth also manifest our propensity to what is evil We cannot apply the Text to that which is good and say Man drinketh down that like water The very Heathens could say Facilis discensus averni and Virtus in arduo sita est Virtue was placed upon an high mountain it was hard climbing up unto it but it was easie to tumble down it is easie to fall down the hill Sinne then being so easily committed and that which is good so hardly performed Doth not this speak plainly that we are corrupted by nature For certainly if the word of God neither in the threatnings or in the promises of it can make us decline from evil and do good when neither hell can terrifie us nor the glorious joyes of Heaven invite us This argueth we are immovably fixed in a way of sinning Is there any command for holy duties Is there any Law enjoyning us to leave our lusts of which we do not say It is an hard saying who can bear it Hence it is that the wisdome of the flesh is said to be enmity in the very abstract against God Rom. 8. 7. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is either in mind or affections is wholly opposite to the pure Law of God So that this is an evident demonstration of mans vehement inclination to sinne that though God hath set so many fiery flaming swords in the way to stop us from sinne Though Heaven in the glory of it be on one side discovered and hell in all the horrible and dreadfull torments of it on the other side Though many Ministers of God meet thee at the Angel did Balaam to stop thee in the way to sinne yet for all this thou doest despirately and obstinately proceed This maketh it appear that there is a more flagrant appetite to sinne then to any thing else like Rachel crying Give me children else I die so let me have my lusts satisfied else no life no condition is comfortable Sixthly The necessity of Gods grace both for the beginnings progresse and consummation in every good work doth evidently prove our polluted nature We need grace to make us new creatures of spiritually dead to quicken us and enliven us we need grace to breath in the very first desires and groans after any thing that is good Now why is there such a necessity of a Physician if we be not sick Christ is in vain grace is in vain if original sinne with the effects thereof be denied And therefore Austia said Pelagians were but nomine tenus Christiani Christians only in name for they do in effect exclude Christ and evacuate grace Indeed the pure Naturalist Vnam Necessarium Chap 6. pag. 413. affirmeth That the necessity of grace doth not suppose our nature to be originally corrupted for beyond Adam's meer nature something else was necessary and so it is in us This Position is bottomed upon that false and absurd Doctrine invented at first by some Philosophers brought into the Church by Pelagions much insisted upon by Papists That there is a middle state a state of pure nature between sinne and grace That Adam was created in such a condition God superadding the glorious ornaments of grace which upon his fall he was deprived of and so fell into his state of pure nature again and in this middle estate every Infant is now born a state indeed they say of imperfection but not of sinne we need grace to carry us to those sublime and high things which are above nature but otherwise there is no sinne is 〈◊〉 So that it 's the Papists expression That Adam standing and Adam fallen 〈◊〉 only as a man that was cloathed and naked or as the late Author as Moses face while the light did shine upon it and when it was removed As Moses face did remain with its naturals though it had not the super-added lustre Thus say they man is in his state of nature not sinfull neither godly But this is a monstrous figment and he that saith Those who dispute of original sinne do dispute De non ente How much rather may we say that
The Apostle having strictly charged That women should not usurp authority over the man for two reasons 1. From the primitive Creation even before sinne Adam was first formed then Eve So that in the state of integrity the wife was to have been subject to her husband even as children to parents but it would have been without that difficulty and reluctancy which sinne hath now brought upon mankind The other reason is Because the woman was first in the transgression and thereby through her original sinne infected all Now lest this should afflict women too much and they conceive their estate desperate the Apostle mingleth honey with this gall he informeth them of comfortable considerations even from that very particular wherein they see the evident displeasure and wrath of God and that is the sorrows and pangs they bring forth children with She shall be saved in child-bearing How this is to be understood seemeth difficult For may not maids or such married persons that never have children be saved How shall they do that have no children if the woman be saved in child-bearing To this it is easily answered That the Apostle doth not speak of the meritorious cause of salvation which is Christ for in him all believers are one there is neither male or female Jew or Gentile married or unmarried that do differ as to justification and salvation through him Therefore the Apostle speaketh here only of such women as are married and have children Now because such might be discouraged because of the curse laid upon the woman at first in bringing forth of children he addeth That notwithstanding this she shall be saved Those pangs and sorrows do not exclude her from salvation therefore the Greek Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Rom. 2. 27. compared with 29. it doth not signifie she is saved by that as a cause For how many women are there who through their impenitency in wicked wayes will be damned though they be the mothers of many children It signifieth only the way and means wherein she may obtain salvation So that what was at first in it self a curse may now be sanctified and so prove no impediment to their salvation It is true some would have this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be meant of the Virgins bearing of Christ as if the meaning were She shall be saved by Christ born of a woman Erasmus on the place saith Theophilact mentioneth this but rejecteth it The late Annotatour mentioneth it with approbation but the Context doth no wise agree with this for he speaketh of every woman in the Church bearing her children therefore addeth If they abide in faith and charity neither can any argument be put upon the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the Apostle meant that signal and eminent bearing of a child when Christ was born for if this were so none but the Virgin Mary and no other woman could take comfort from this palce Heinsius by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understandeth marriage She shall be saved in the way of marriage which is called so saith he from the end of marriage which is to have children for as he affirmeth the Grecians have not one word to expresse marriage by and therefore in stead thereof they use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this hath no probability We adhere therefore to the former Exposition the sense whereof is That notwithstanding Eve did through original sinne bring a sad curse upon child-bearing yet to those women that are godly the curse is taken off yea and doth become a sanctified meanes of their salvation not of it self to every one for then no child-bearing woman could be damned but if they do walk in those wayes God hath commanded Therefore it followeth If they abide c. which denoteth the necessity of abiding and continuing in all holy duties Some indeed referre this to the children If the children continue in what is good And if it be said When a godly mother doth her duty she may have notwithstanding wicked and ungodly children and shall that prejudice her salvation To this they answer That for the most part the wickedness of children is laid upon the parents neglect but if it be not then God will accept of the mother faithfully discharging her duty though the children do wickedly miscarry but it is farre more probable to referre it to the woman And though the number be changed into the plural If they abide yet that is ordinary in Scripture especially when the word is a collective as in the 5th Chapter of this Epistle vers 4. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the singular number and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural relateth to it The qualification then that is necessary to all women that would find the curse in child-bearing taken away and original guilt accompanying that sorrow removed is to abound in all saving graces and to continue therein and then that woman who is a wife and a mother of many children let her not torment her self about the state of her children and the condition they are born in but quiet her soul with this Text of Scripture The last particular that may satisfie the souls of such parents who may be exercised in these particulars about original sinne is to remind themselves That the whole matter about original sinne in reference to Adam and all his posterity is not without the wise and holy appointment of God who would never have suffered this evil to be could he not have raised out thereby a greater good For although it be true That Adam did sinne from his meer internal liberty there being no decrees or execution thereof that did necessitate him to do so yet all this could not be without the Decree of God permitting as also wisely ordering all things for his own glory No doubt but God could have confirmed Adam in his holiness yea he might have so ordered it that every man and woman should stand or fall upon their personal account as the Angels did yet such was his will and Covenant that in Adam all his posterity should be involved and the same issue should attend both them and him This then being the appointment of a just wise and mercifull God we ought wholly to acquiesce knowing that the business of mans life and death his salvation and damnation could not have been ordered better otherwise though all the wisdome of men and Angels had been put together And therefore when thou who art a parent but tempted about the state of thy children thou hast brought forth art turmoiling thy self in these disputes shake off these vipers and conclude That God regardeth his own glory and honor more then thou canst do he hath taken that way wherein he will magnifie his own glorious Attributes And truly this should presently silence all thy disputations For wouldst thou have God lose part of his glory Wouldst thou have his honour in any
uncleannesses We read Levit. 12. That a woman upon her bringing forth a child was guilty of Insomuch that in the legal dispensation every woman that brought forth a child was to be separated so many dayes as unclean to be kept from the publick worship of God and at last to bring an offering for to cleanse her Now it 's disputed why God appointed such a law about a womans uncleanness and purification in bringing forth children Although some as Bonfretius and Grotius make it to no more signification than of other impurities that were legall yet Austin of old and Calvin are very positive that this was to informe them of the cursed and sinnefull estate that the child was brought into the world with The father and mother saith Calvin by this ceremony were taught with what humiliation and sorrow they ought to look upon that natural pollution the infant was born in and in his comment on the place he insinuateth two Answers to those two Objections that are made against the typifying of original sinne thereby as that this uncleanness and so purification did belong to the child as well as the mother For the Objectors say It could not denote original sin because it related to the mother only and not to the child but Calvin saith it belongeth to both and that by Luk. 2. 22. it may be proved And Grotius preferreth those Copies which have the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their purification relating to the child as well as the mother But Junius doth more probably think it belonged only to the mother Another Objection is That the mother was longer unclean by a female than a male which if it were for original sinne would argue the female had more of it than the male To this Calvin giveth this conjecture That therefore there might be so much spiritual signification to the female that so the defect in circumcision the females not being to be circumcised might be made up this way But the difference of time is commonly attributed to a physical consideration Howsoever these Answers be yet Junius as well as Calvin doth acknowledge This was done because of original sinne though he had actual sins also As for the Virgin Mary who offered according to the Law when her time of purification was expired Luke 2. 22. if it did relate to the child as well as the mother that did not argue Christ to be born in sinne no more than circumcision argued a duty of putting off the foreskin of the heart in him but it was to fulfill all righteousness he being now made subject to the Law Not that such a ceremonial uncleanness is still under the Gospel-times as some ignorant superstitious women think for all such ceremonial Rites were abolished by Christs coming into the world onely in the general that Ceremony in the Jewish Church did teach us the nature of birth-pollution 3. There is a moral uncleanness and that is sinne which is a pollution of the soul making it abominable and loathsom in the eyes of God and this uncleanness is upon every Infant though but a day or an hour old and of this uncleanness the Text speaketh SECT III. A Comparison between Mans Moral Uncleanness and Levitical Uncleanness TO understand the foulness of it let us first compare our spiritual uncleanness with the worst legal uncleanness in the Law even that of Leprosie and we shall see how fitly they agree For 1. The legal unclean especially the Leper he was to keep aloof off from all men and company even his wife and children only such as were to provide necessaries for them and to cry He was unclean unclean In what a sad and miserable condition did such an unclean person apprehend himself to be no body to come near him none to have any civil commerce with him but to sit pining and mourning alone Thus ought every man in this original pollution for by it he hath deserved to be deprived of every comfort he is now cursed by the Law with all curses thereof so that no creature in the world might give him any creature The whole creation began to groan as soon as man fell Hence it is that though we truly say Every man though in his natural condition hath a civil right to the comforts he enjoyeth yet he hath not an holy and sanctified right being not in Christ so that what is our due by nature as soon as we are born is hell and damnation the wrath and anger of God Though we should beg here as Dives did in hell for a drop of water it might be denied us Oh miserable then and unclean man who is thus to stand aloof off from all creatures and comforts saying Wo unto me for I am unclean 2. The legal unclean person did make unclean every thing that be touched whatsoever he laid his hand upon that was presently made unclean yea as appeareth Hag. 2. If he did touch any holy thing he made that unclean the holy thing did not sanctifie him Now is not this too true in every man who is by nature spiritually unclean The Apostle speaks this with evident conviction to all that will not wilfully shut their eyes Tit. 1. 15. Vnto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure So then what a loathsom Leprosie of sinne is upon every one by nature that he defileth all he medleth with if he eat he makes it unclean eating if he work he makes it unclean working yea if he prayeth if he heareth he makes it unclean and impure praying and hearing to him Oh what a thunder-bolt should this be in our ears What a polluted wretch am I that in all places at all times in every thing I do have this uncleanesse upon me The uncleanness every man is born in hath been partly considered and a comparison made between every man in his natural estate and the ceremonial unclean person in the old legal constitution Now that we may be the more affected with this lamentable and wofull condition we are all born in Let us consider it absolutely in it self The uncleanness in the Text is not a natural or ceremonial but moral uncleanness For although with us in our common speech and sometimes in the Scripture uncleanness is taken more strictly for the pollution of the body in any unlawfull way yet it is here taken largely for sinne in the general and therefore to be righteous is the opposite to it as Job 15. In this sense it is used Zech. 13. 1. where a fountain is said to be set open for sinne and uncleanness Seeing therefore the holy Ghost doth pronounce us all by nature to be unclean yea so unclean that no power either humane or Angelical can make us clean but it is God alone that maketh grapes to grow of these thorns or rather turns thorns into vines Let us examine what is comprehended in this expression unclean SECT IV. What is comprehended in this Expression Uncleanness FIrst There is evidently
of it or like one Intellectus agens as some Philosophers dreamed but it is in every man that cometh in the world every one that is born hath his birth-corruption Therefore David doth not speak of that iniquity as it is in all mankind but as it was his case and as he was born in it So that it is not enough for you to say It is true it cannot be denied but that all are sinfull by nature but you must come home to your own heart you must take notice of the dung-hill and hell that is in your own hearts Thus the Apostle Paul as you heard Ephes 2. 3. to humble them and to lay them low that they might see all the unworthiness and guilt that was upon them before the grace of God was effectual in them he informeth them not onely of those grosse actual impieties they had walked in but that they were by nature the children of wrath But you may see this duty of bitter and deep humiliation because of original sinne notably expressed in Paul Rom. 7. most of that Chapter is spent in sad groans and complaints because of its still working and acting in him It was the sense of this made him cry out Oh miserable man that I am Dost thou therefore flatter thy self as if there were no such law of sinne prevailing upon thee when thou shalt see Paul thus sadly afflicted because of it Therefore it is that I added in the Doctrine We are to bewail and acknowledge it all our lives For Paul speaks here whatsoever Papists and Arminians say to the contrary in the person of a regenerate man Who did delight in the Law of God in the inward man and yet these thorns were in his side Original sinne in the lusts thereof was too active whereby he could not do the good he would and when he did he did it not so purely and perfectly as he ought So that you see the work you are to do as long as you live Though regenerated though sanctified you are to bewail this sinne yea none but the truly godly do lay it seriously to heart Natural men they either do not believe such a thing or they have not the sense of it which would wound them at the very heart Therefore we read only of regenerate men as David Job and Paul who because of this birth-pollution do humble themselves so low under Gods hand But let us search into this truth SECT V. Which needed not to have been if Adam had stood FIrst Take notice That had Adam stood in the integrity God made him in had he preserved the Image of God for himself and for his posterity then there had been no occasion no just cause for such self-abhorrency as doth now necessarily lie upon us Adam did not hide himself and runne from God neither was he ashamed of himself till sinne had made this dreadfull breach In that happy time of mans innocency there was no place for tears or repentance There was no complaining or grieving because of a Law of sinne hurrying them whither they would not then Adam's heart was in his own power he could joy and delight in God as he pleased but since that first transgression there hath become that grievous ataxy and sad disorder and confusion under which we are to mourn and groan as long as we live for as we necessarily have corruptible bodies which will be pained and diseased as long as we are on the earth so we have also defiled and depraved soules which will alwaies be matter of grief and sorrow to every gracious heart so that they must necessarily cry out Oh Lord I would fain be better I desire to be better but this corrupted heart and nature of mine will not let me The Socinians who affirm That Adam even in the first Creation had such a repugnancy planted in him and a contrariety between the mind and the sensible part that this prevailing made him thereby to commit that transgression do reproach God the maker of man and make him the Author of sinne So then this necessity of confession and acknowledgment of our native pollution was not from the beginning but upon Adam's transgression SECT VI. We must be humbled for a two-fold Original sinne and seek from Christ a two-fold Righteousness SEcondly When we say That original sinne is to be matter of our humiliation and sorrow we must understand that two-fold Original sinne heretofore mentioned viz. Adam 's actual sin imputed to us and that inherent or in-dwelling sin we are born in For seeing the guilt of both doth redound upon our persons accordingly ought our humiliation and debasement to be Yea Piscator thinketh David confesseth both these in this verse In the first place In iniquity was I shapen or born as he interprets it viz. in Adam's iniquity And in the second place in or with for so some render it sinne did my mother conceive me which is to be understood of that imbred pollution howsoever it be here it is plain Rom. 5. that the Apostle debaseth and humbleth us under this two-fold consideration first That we all sinned in him there is the imputed sinne And secondly That by his disobedience we are made sinners there is our birth-sin So that those who would hunger and thirst after Christ finding a need of him must seek for a two-fold benefit by Christ answering this two-fold evil First the grace of Justification to take away the guilt of all sinne and then of Sanctification in some measure to overcome the power of it that as we have by the first Adam imputed and inherent sinne so by the second Adam imputed and inherent righteousness SECT VII The Different Opinions of Men about Humiliation for Original Sinne. THirdly There are those who make such an humiliation and debasement as David here professeth altogether needless and superfluous but they go upon different grounds For First All such who do absolutely deny any such thing they must needs acknowledge all such confessions to be lies and falshoods that it is but taking of Gods name in vain when we confess such a thing by our selves if it be not indeed in us For if Adam should have said Behold God created me in iniquity and formed me in sinne would not this have been horrible lying to God and blaspheming of his Name No less is it If their Position be true That we are born in the same condition and estate that Adam was created in derogatory to God and a bold presumptuous lie for men in their prayers to acknowledge such a sinne dwelling in them when indeed it doth not So then if this be true That we are not born in original sinne then David doth in this penitential Psalm fearfully abuse the Name of God speaking that which is a lie and a most abominable untruth But whose fore-head is so hardned as to affirm this Yet all such who deny there is any birth-sinne they must also say there is no confession to be made
have no more proportion or sutablenesse with spiritual and supernatural objects then the eye hath with immaterial substances so that as the eye cannot see a spirit neither can material affections terminate upon immaterial objects But the Answer is That the affections being implanted in us as hand maids to the rational parts and subjected to them by an essential subordination therefore it is when those superiour parts of the soul do strongly imbrace any spiritual good the affections also by way of concomitancy are stirred up therein onely as it is with the will though that be made to follow the understanding and as some say doth necessarily yeeld to the ultimate and practical Dictate thereof yet the will doth need a peculiar sanctification of its own nature neither is the illumination of the mind all the grace the will wanteth So it is with these affections although they be appointed to follow the directions and commands of the mind and will yet they must be sanctified and enlivened by the peculiar grace of God else they move no more than a stone Now this necessity of enlivening and quickning grace upon the affections the godly are experimentally convinced of How often doe they complain they know Christ is the chiefest good they know eternal glory is an infinite treasure Oh but how barren are their hearts no affections no cordial stirrings of their soul when they think of these things Doe the children of God complain of any thing more than their want of affections in holy things They have them as hot as fire for the things of the world but are clods of earth in spiritual duties This maketh them cry so often with the Church Draw us and we will runne after thee This maketh them pray Arise O Southwind and blow O North upon the garden of my soul that the flowers thereof may send forth a sweet fragrancy Thus that saying is true Citò prevolat intellectus tardus sequitur affectus If therefore there were no other pollution upon the affections then their dulnesse and senslesnesse as to holy things This may make the godly go bowed down all their life time Their affections are green wood much fire and frequent blowing will hardly inflame them and hence it is that the godly are so well satisfied and do so thankfully acknowledge the goodnesse of God to them when they find their affections stirring in any holy thing Insomuch that they judge that duty not worth the name of a duty which is not an affectionate duty That prayer not worthy the name of prayer which is not an affectionate prayer But how dull and heavy are these till sanctified as to any holy object Yea such is the perverse contrariety that is now come upon the superiour and inferiour parts of the soul that when the more noble parts are intensively carried out to any object the inferiour are thereby debilitated and wholly weakned so that many times the more light the lesse heat the more intellectual and rational the lesse affectionate Now this is contrary to our primitive creation for then the more knowledge of heavenly things the more affections also to them did immediately succeed But now experience doth confirme That those men whose understandings are most deeply ingaged in finding out of truths their affections are at the same time like a barren wildernesse Hence you may often find a poor inconsiderable believer more affectionately transported in love to Christ and holy things than many a great and learned Scholar That as natural fools have a greater stomack to meat and can digest better than wise men whose animal spirits are much tired and wearied out So it is here the lesse disputative the lesse head-work a godly man hath many times he hath the better heart-work Oh then bewail this in thy self as a most degenerating thing from primitive rectitude when thou findest thy knowledge thy controversal Disputes dry up thy affections So that truth is indeed earnestly sought after but the goodnesse of it doth not draw out thy affections When David commended the word of God above the honey and the honey-comb it was evident he found much experimental sweetnesse of the power of it upon his affections SECT XIII The Affections being drawn out to holy Duties from corrupt Motives shews the Pollution of them THirdly Herein also is apparent the original pollution of our affections That when they are moved and stirred up in any holy duties yet it is not a spiritual motive that draweth them out but some corrupt or unlawfull respect Thus there is a world of guile and hypocrisie in our affections we think it is the love of God that affecteth us when it is love to our selves to our own glory to accomplish our own ends Thus in our sorrow we think it is for sinne that we grieve when it is because of temporal evil or some outward calamity Insomuch that this very consideration of the hypocrisie and deceitfulnesse of our affections may be like an Abysse or deep to swallow us up when the heart is said to be so desperately wicked and that none can know it but God by that is meant in a great part our affections none knoweth the depths of his love of his fear of his sorrow How often doth he blesse himself when he finds these things moving in him especially in holy duties Whereas alas it is not any consideration from God any heavenly respect moveth him but some earthly consideration or other You may observe this in Jehu what ardent and burning affections did he shew in the cause of God destroying Idolatry and executing the judgements of God upon his enemies But what moved his affections all this while It was not the glory of God but self-respects self-advancement Oh this is the treacherous deceitfulnesse of our affections we may find them very strong in preaching in publick prayer with others and the fire to them be onely vain-glory Yea our affections may be blown up with our own expressions and delight in them so that as it is a long while ere thou canst get thy affections up to any holy duty so it is as difficult to search out What is the cause of them Why they rise up Those in Mat. 7. 21. that would cry Lord Lord did by the ingemination of the word demonstrate lively affections yet they were such whom God would bid depart as not knowing of them Here therefore is the misery of man that as all the speculative knowledge in the world unlesse it be also accompained with an affectionate frame doth not at all commend us to God so all hot and strong affections do not presently suppose the truth of grace within Experience doth sadly confirm this that many who have had great affections and workings of heart in the profession of godlinesse have yet desperately apostatized and become at last a senslesse and as stupid about heavenly things as any prophane ones are The Jews are said for a while to rejoyce in Johns light Joh. 5. 35.
would not have been any privation of such light as was necessary but it would have been meer nesciency and so no sinne and therefore such a nesciency was in Christs humane nature while and Infant Luk. 2. 52. He encreased in wisdome and stature as also Isa 7. 15. Butter and honey shall be eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good that is he should eat on childrens usuall food till he did encrease in knowledge but all this was without sinne This Proposition may satisfie that Infants cannot have any actual sinne while meerly so because the want of use of reason in them is no sinfull imperfection neither are they under the commands of God to beleive and know him as also to love him with all their soul Therefore it is absurd in the Lutherans to say that these commands of actual knowledge fear or love do bind them while thus under a natural nesciency that floweth from their very nature as nature not as vitiated and defiled Prop. 3. The reason why Infants have not the actual use of reason as soon as they are born ariseth not from their soult but the constitution of their bodies As in natural fools mad men or men in sleep there is no defect in their souls but in the body which is the organical instrument of the soul Therefore when Infants die as soon as ever their souls are seperated from the body they have perfect knowledge and reason but the want of the use of reason ariseth from the abundance and overflowing of humours whereby the sensitive powers of the soul are make indisposed for their operations Prop. 4. Seeing therefore that the soul cometh to work rationally by the successive alteration of the complexion of the body as the organs are disposed which in some is sooner in some later it is impossible to give not only the metaphysical indivisible instant but even the moral time wherein a child doth first begin to have an actual sinne As we cannot observe it in our selves when we first had any use of reason so neither can we in another and therefore the limiting of the works of understanding to the fourth sixth or seven years is altogether uncertain only we are to conclude That children sinne long before they know what sinne is or can understand what it is to offend God for those peevish 〈◊〉 vexations which are in little ones even while sucking are not to be freed 〈◊〉 some kind of guilt for such things would not have been in the state of innocent◠And if you say Why should we think those are sins seeing they do not flew from the use of reason and free-will Therefore The fifth Proposition is That contrariety to the Law of God is of the essence of a sinne not voluntariness in actu secundo as they say as if immediately elicited by the will For habitual sins are not voluntary in that but because they are the effect produced by voluntary acts of sinning that did precede therefore they have as much voluntariness as is required to make an habitual sinne and thus original sinne with the immediate effects that flow thence have as much voluntarness as is required to make them sinnes for as habitual sinnes are therefore sins because contracted by our own personal will so original sinne is voluntary because descending upon as by his will who was our Head both quoad esse naturale and morale as it is in time more to be explained Therefore that Position of Socinians and others That nothing can be a sinne which is not committed by the voluntary consent of our own personal will is to be rejected as that false foundation upon which they build so many erroneous Doctrines The sixth Proposition is That even young children very early have imperfect workings of understanding and will So that those obscure actings of a rational soul begin farre sooner to put themselves forth then many do think Hence it is that they know and love those that give them suck we must then consider that there are imperfect workings of reason and perfect formed ones These later indeed are not so soon but the former are very early Lapide in Psal 25. speaketh out of Gregory of a child but five year old guilty of blasphemy And certainly Austin in his Confessions doth much bewail his sins while he was a child he was but tantillus puer yet tantus peccator a little boy but a great sinner This truth is very usefull not only to confute Pelagiant and Socinians who make in a child an indifferency to good or evil or with Aristotle a blank table to receive any impression but especially to quicken up Parents to their duty in diligent admonition and institution of them For Solamon wiser than any Pelagian saith Prov. 22. 15. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child The word signifieth is close bound to his soul as if it were with ropes Now if besides this natural folly there be wicked education and evil example this will be such a three-fold cord that will not easily be broken Oh then do not think it is no matter what children do their sins are but sports and jests you will not have them displeased or corrected for this is contrary also to Solomon's counsel Prov. 22. 5. Train up a child in the way he should go c. Some render it dedicate some instruct it cometh all to one sense but who must be thus trained Even a child in the Hebrew it is Gnal pene super es viae which causeth divers Interpretations Some understand it of the very first beginnings of a childs course when he in bivio whether he shall take to virtue or vice Some for the very time that any entrance can be made upon them for children are to learn many things by meer memory before they have understanding neither is that though in holy things a taking of Gods name in vain but a serving of God according to their capacity Some understand it according to the capacity of the child as a vessel with a narrow mouth must have liquour poured into it by degrees all these senses tend to the same purpose viz. that Parents should not put off the instruction of their children or to think because they are children therefore their sins are not to be much regarded for you have Job sharply bewailing these Job 13. 23. What were those iniquities for which God did so severely chastice Job Why did God write such bitter things against him it was because of the sins of his youth the same word in the Text And Psal 25. 7. David in great affection prayeth God would not remember the sins of his youth the same word also in the original as is in my Text And certainly we have a dreadfull example of Gods anger even against the sins of little children 2 King 2. 23. for such came out of the City and mocked the Prophet saying Go up thou bald head and there presently came two she-bears
Cor. 11. This is not to eat the Lords Supper yea unworthy receivers eat and drink their own salvation Thus the Scripture when it attends to mens either resting upon them as if they could save or the sinful abuse of them by not attending to the grace signified doth speak in an undervaluing way of them But then at other times when it doth respect the institution of Christ and the effects thereof then glorious and great things are spoken of them yet though the Scripture commends and commandeth them as the institution of Christ for supernatural effects notwithstanding that old Rule is to be received that not the privation but the contempt of Sacraments doth damn so that the after ages of the Church which came to idolize Baptisme and to put so much vertue even in the very external act done can no wayes be justified yea so greatly did superstition grow in this kind that they thought Baptisme did also work some wonderfull temporal effects for whereas there is a traditon though it be justly reckoned among the vulgar errours that the Jewes have by way of punishment an offensive smell or stink inflicted upon their body they instance in Jewes baptized that therby were cleansed from this filthiness The Poet Fortunatus said Sanct. Comment in Jer. 31. 29. Abluitur Judeus odor Baptismate divo Thus absurd did many grow in their thoughts about the efficacy of Baptisme but the truth is That although Baptism be an Ordinance appointed by God for the sealing of the remission of original sinne yet it hath not this effect in all neither is the benefit of Baptisme to be limited to that time only but it extendeth it self to our whole life so that we are daily to make an improvement of it both for duty and comfort And thus much may suffice for the deciding of this Question with sobriety and modesty Now if any shall say upon the hearing of this damnable estate that we are plunged into by sinne as the Disciples in another case It is good not to marry yea that it is good to have no children it is good to be no Parents because our Infants do thus come into the world upon worse terms then the young ones of bruit beasts because they are the children of Gods wrath whereas the creatures are not the creatures of Gods wrath To such as shall thus conclude I shall propound these ensuing particulars First That it is just and righteous with God to continue the propagation of mankind though man hath thus corrupted his nature Because Adam fell and so all his postcrity would be propagated in a damnable estate shall he therefore destroy the whele species of men and raze out every individuum Seeing then its Gods will that men should increase and multiply that there should be parents and children for which end he hath instituted marriage we are to regard the will of God in this way more than the adherent corruption and the rather because this damnable guilt doth adhere to our natures not from Gods primitive Institution but by Adam's voluntary transgression It being then a duty to some to marry it being by God appointed a remedy against sinne for thee to abstain from that way and to desire no children under pretence of original sinne is a meer delusion Secondly You are to know That though children be born in this defiled and cursed estate yet they are in themselves mercies and comforts which mace our Saviour say That a woman because of the joy that a man child is born she forgetteth all her sorrow and pangs that she was in John 16. 21. So that at the same time they may be by nature children of wrath and yet in another respect comforts and mercies in themselves for which end God promiseth children as a mercy and threatneth it as a punishment to be barren and childless Thirdly Thou that art a believing parent and hast thy child dying in its infancy thou hast cause to assure thy self of the mercy of God to thy child because he taketh parents and children into the same promise Oh but I know not that God hath elected him So neither canst thou thy own à priori I you must begin at the lower round of the ladder in Gods Election The effects and fruits thereof And now what greater pledge and argument canst thou have of his salvation then being born under the Covenant of grace You cannot expect actual expressions of regeneration and grace from a dying Infant therefore thou must runne to the Covenant of grace whereby God doth receive such as his members yea thou hast cause to admire the goodness of God to thy child and his mercy when so many thousands and thousands of Pagans children dying have no visible way of salvation we cannot by the Scripture as you heard see any Ark provided for them as God in mercy hath done for thee Fourthly The consideration of Gods just and severe proceedings against Pagans and their children may make thee the more admire the grace of God in saving of thee For how many Heathens perish in hell who it may be never committed such gross and soul sins in their life time as thou hast done To be sure their Infants never committed such actual inquities as thou hast done yet they appear according to Gods ordinary way of proceedings to be left in that lost estate of nature And therefore that is a good quickning meditation which Vedâ—lius 〈◊〉 Hilar. cap 3. pag. 119. To make a godly man thankfull for Gods grace seeing by nature we deserve otherwise Ah quot sunt erunt in inferno miselli infantuli c. Ah how many little Infants are and shall be in hell who never had the knowledge of good and evil and might not God have left thee in the same misery This I say is a pious meditation Though that scoffing Remonstrant prefix this expression amongst others in the front of his Book as if it were no lesse then blasphemy Vedel Rhapsod Fifthly Thou who art a parent exercised with this temptation about thy children it grieveth thee to think thou bringest them forth to be Gods enemies and the Devils children Let not this discourage thee but provoke thee the more earnestly to be much in prayer for them and to be more carefull in their education Let them be the children of thy prayers and tears the children of thy care and godly discipline and thou mayest comfort thy self that such shall not perish however thou hast done thy duty and so art to leave all to the wise and righteous God who is not accountable to man for any of his proceedings That the encouragement and hopes of parents are great in the faithfull discharge of their duties notwithstanding the guilt of original sinne may further appear as to the woman in that famous and noble Text 1 Tim. 2. 14 15. But the woman being deceived was in the transgression Notwithstanding she shall be saved in child-bearing if they continue in the faith c.