come and let him that is athirst come Revel 22 17. c. All these desires are the fruit of the Spirit He that comes to the first doth not come to the second at least not to the third or fourth degree However the whole course of Christianity is unum continuum sitis one continual succession of spiritual desires And in immediate opposition there is unum continuum auxilii an interchangable supply of auxiliary grace this latter answering the former as the one part of the deed doth answer the other So then though the Saints have no ability in themselves to supernatural duties yet they may have it from Christ and the freenesse of the promise These things I have drawn out more at large because I see as formerly it hath done to others So our doctrine doth seem to give great offence to our Authour It seemeth strange to him that we should exhort men to spiritual duties and yet teach that all mankind through the condition of the natural birth lye under a necessity of sinning Whereas if he did well understand the grand designe of the Gospel he should finde that all ability to do these things is to be had from Christ alone and that upon termes of beleeving desiring longing and waiting for them The Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other holy men have in their several times done their duties and served their generation But how not by any ability of their own but by the continual supply of the Spirit of Christ as the Scriptures and all experience do abundantly testifie Now we come to the next Section SECT 2. Consideration of the objections against the former Doctrine THE first Scripture which he insists upon is Gen 6. Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart are onely evil continually Here he doth end avour to frame sundry answers First it is true saith he they were so but it was their own fault not Adams for so it is said expressely All flesh had corrupted their way upon earth and the earth was filled with violence Repl. It was their own fault and Adams too It was their own as they corrupted their own wayes it was Adams as they were flesh for he brought them into that sinful condition by his fall So then the force of our argument stands thus First the thoughts of man were evil Secondly they were all evil Thirdly they were onely evil Fourthly they were continually evil Fifthly they were evil from his childhood Now such an universal effect cannot be without some universal cause from whence all this evil must necessarily spring And where shall we look for the cause but in the text it self My Spirit shall not alway strive with man because he is but flesh Because he is but flesh and borne in the sinne of the nature therefore the thoughts of his heart are evil from his childhood Secondly saith he if this corruption had been natural and unavoidable why did God punish all the world for it except eight persons Why did he punish those that could not help it and why did others escape that were equally guilty Repl. That which God did punish in the old world in ordinary men was the violence of their hands and in his own people was the breach of covenant Though these two did naturally flow from original corruption as all other evils do yet we cannot say that they are absolutely unavoidable for the act of violence and of marriage with the daughter of a strange god men have a liberty to forbeare the outward execution of these evils And for the lust of the heart though it is unavoidable by nature yet it is not simply unavoidable for God is so full of mercy that he is ready to help all those that flee to him in the sense of their own misery He hath declared himself to be a Physician ready to cure all broken-hearted sinners The men of Nineveh did turne from the violence of their hands and how ready was he to forgive them The people in the dayes of Ezra and Nehemiah did repent of their Idolatrous marriages and how did he passe by their iniquity Of all the Authors that ever I met with Luther in his Tract deservo arbitrio is most severe against the liberty of the will yet in the end of the treatise he bringeth in Erasmus thus speaking Why doth he command us any duty seeing all things are done by necessity His answer is he doth command that he may admonish and instruct us what we ought to do that being humbled in the sense and feeling of our own evil we may repair to his grace for help as we have abundantly spoken And as for the Lords punishing of those that could not help it We say in publick solemn and exemplary judgments he hath alway reserved a liberty for the exemple of others and the declaration of his justice and mercy It is true also that they that were equally guilty did not perish in the waters of the flood What of all this though they did escape that judgment they were lyable to the judgment of God Thirdly saith he God might have as well punished all the world for sleeping once in a day or for being hungry as for sinning if so to do be natural and unavoidable Repl. The cases are not equal mankind cannot live without meat and drink sleep and such other refections of nature when they were made in the beginning they were made in such an estate that they had need of these things I trow they had no need of sinne Againe for sinful acts though they come from the corruption of the flesh as the sparkes do out of the Chimney yet in externals man hath a liberty to commit or not commit such an evil Also for the lust of the heart that which is unavoidable by nature is avoidable by grace The guilt of sinne may be taken away by the blood of Christ the power of it by the Spirit of Christ and the very being of it when the Saints shall be made partakers of the adoption or the redemption of their bodies Fourthly if God in these words complained of their natural and original corruption why did he but then as if it were a new thing complain of it and repent that he made man since he proved so bad Repl. God did then complain of original corruption because in a most eminent degree it did put forth it self in oppression breach of covenant and other evils He did complain in those times because iniquity was then come to a ripenesse and the years of his patience was almost runne out Fifthly saith he this malice and corruption was such that God did send Noah a Preacher of righteousnesse to draw the world from it But no man supposes that it was fit to send a Preacher to dehort them from being guilty of original sinne Repl. So farre as we may gather Noahs message to the old world was the same in effect as that of Jonah's to Nineveh he was to exhort them to turn from
if he would as appeareth by the event Now that the libertie of Adam did stand between these two between the choosing of the good and the refusing of the evil it is clear from the signification of the two trees The Tree of life signified what happinesse he should enjoy if he stood the Tree of knowledge of good and evil what misery should attend him if he fell Therefore the liberty of Adam stood betwixt choosing of the good and refusing of the evil For your definition of free-will that it is a chearful issuing forth to action by vertue of abilities received this might in some sort be applied to the blessed Angels and Saints in the state of glory For though they be established and confirmed in their holy and happy estate that they cannot fall yet they do most freely voluntarily and chearfully put forth their abilities to the glory of God but Adams freedom was otherwise for the trial of his obedience He was made in a mutable and changeable condition in which he might stand or fall by his own free election not only because the Lord would be obey ed by a free choice but also that through his fall a door might-be opened to the sending of the Sonne and that salvation might be had upon termes of grace only to the fuller declaration of the glory of God CHAP. VIII How far God assisted Adam or assisteth other men that they might be such free-willers as hath been described TO the performance of duty you tell us that God doth give first a capacity to understand secondly ability to perform thirdly time fourthly he doth use exhortations and reproofs And then you adde that he giveth these rich accommodations as a sufficient means for all men to obey every one of his commands and he goeth no further for effecting any mans actions in the world ☞ page 42 43. In these words of yours you do plainly eliminate and extinguish Gods peculiar grace by and through which he doth infalliblie and certainly carry on his own people to salvation But that we may joyne issue with you we do freely yield that God giveth greater abilities and helps to men then they ordinarilie make use of Yet I know no reason in the world you have to confound the abilities that Adam had before the fall with the abilities that every man now hath in the state of nature Again if you look upon all men as lapsed or fallen how can you affirm that the abilities which the Lord giveth are equal to all Is not this contrary both to Scripture and experience you tell us how far God goeth with every man in the conferring and bestowing abilities upon him and then peremptorily and magisterially determine that he doth not go further to the effecting of any mans actions in the world Thirdly it is a point well worth the searching what you mean by these abilities Pelagius himself did stand much upon this that he was a patron and a great friend to the grace of God But how did he maintain it he had a clancular and a reserved sense he conceived the minde will and other natural abilities to be the gifts of God and called them by the name of his free grace This Augustine of old did acknowledge to be true in the general but he did blame him for his obscuring and darkning the inward special grace of God through which he doth effectually work upon the hearts of men And I would we had not too much cause given to us to judge the same of you For though you speak much of the ability which God doth give yet when all is done you go no further then the natural faculties Let any man consider what you have written concerning this point in the denial of Original sin in the advancement of the purity of nature in the emprovement of natural abilities in asserting that Adams ability was as good after the fall as it was before By the collation of all these let any man judge whether you do not advance nature and depresse the grace of God and whether in these assertions affirmations of yours you are not a downright Pelagian You cite that place Is 5 Judge I pray you now betwixt me and my vineyard what could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done From whence you infer Where are those disputers against God that will say be made a man able to oppresse and do unrighteously and left him destitute of ability and power to do those things which he commanded Because this text as formerly so now is much alledged by the Patrons of free-will I shall endeavour the more diligently to shew the meaning thereof I see no reason from the Lords peculiar bounty to the Jewish Church that we should conclude so generally that he gives the same ability to every man in the same degree and the same measure and that in point of Conversion and turning to God There is nothing in the parable but if the Scriptures rightly be compared you shall finde the truth of the thing will answer the emphasis of the words For that expression What could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done the truth of this will appear if you consider all along what God had done for them in chusing them above all the people of the world what he had done for them in Egypt in the wildernesse in bringing them into the land of Canaan how he had been present with them in all the times of the Judges and the Kings how he had delivered them from great dangers how he had taught them by afflictions how he had raised up Prophets in several successions of time to turne them from the evil of their evil ways and many such like passages of his grace and goodnesse to that people which plainly seal the truth of that saying What could I have done more to my Vineyard which I have not done This is true in particular of the Jewish Church set forth by the figure of the Vineyard but how doth it prove the question that doth lie before us your task is to shew the general assistance that God giveth to every man to make him a free-willer yet here I do in sense agree with Dr. Mayer and others upon the place that at seasons the Lord by sending in of light doth so loosen the will that is bound that then a man hath some power to will that which is good And hereupon they inferre ☜ that the fault is in man himself For although by nature he be not able to will the good yet when he heares outwardly and the Spirit moves inwardly he is able to go the next step and his condemnation is in this that he doth not act according to the ability administred As for that saying of yours that God giveth a man ability to oppresse but not to obey his Commands This is none of our positions but it is one of your calumnies We hold that God hath put
they should believe them and prepare themselves for the tryal upon the supposal of this what should a believer do living upon the borders of the Anti Christian desolation should he build the Church according to Gods general Command of preaching the Gospel or should he believe that the Church should be destroyed according to the Prophecies Here are two crosse wills in appearance yet it is certain that it is the duty of such a one to preach the Gospel according to the Commandment and to leave the vicissitudes and changes of time unto the Lord himself The Apostle saith We are a sweet savour in them that are saved and in them that perish 2 Cor. 2.15 And the Prophet Jeremy foreseeing the captivity of Babylon that it should certainly come to passe did himself believe it and blame the people for their incredulity Yet neverthelesse in the ordinary way he did exhort them to repent and to turn from their Idolatry and other sins that would be the cause of their captivity By all that hath been spoken I now leave to your own conscience to judge what cause you had to raise such tragical out-cries against the contrariety of the two wills and the inevitable misery of man which will soever he obeyed When wise men shall come to the hearing of the matter I believe they will judge that it is rather a pang of your ignorant and blind zeal then of right knowledge And such an horrid expression you have That if a man should study many years for a destroying Principle to dishonour his Creator he could not parallel this which is the sharpest Sword that ever was drawn against the righteousnesse of God pag. 80. Pray Sir be pacified there is no harm done As I have told you before so I say again leave it to God to reconcile his own wills and let us follow that which he hath revealed in his Word But you say The voice of this destroyeth all the testimonies which God giveth of himself What shall we do with those Scriptures where he saith he alters not if there be a secret will of his that controuls his revealed page 81. In this also you may hold your self content for the Scriptures which say God alters not are understood concerning his will of Decree which for the most part is secret to us But for his revealed will in the declaration of mercies and judgments he doth many times and upon sundry occasions alter his promises or threats For these are not made according to his absolute and eternal Decrees but are suspended upon outward conditions as in the case of the Ninevites Hezekiah forealledged In this case the outward revelations of the will of God are but subservient to his eternal Decree And though they seem to our understanding to differ yet they do excellently agree among themselves Now last of all you come to your chiefest argument You cannot see say you how such a wil can agree with the death of Christ and the general tenders of grace These are your words I fear me too many have a hand in nourishing and maintaining this opinion and then no marvail that so many cannot beleeve the record that God gave of his Son So when God sweareth by himself as he liveth he desireth not the death of him that dyeth and that he would have no man to perish but that he gave his Son a light unto the world that all men thorough him might beleeve for which purpose he tasted death for every man and not for the Saints onely but also for the sinnes of the whole world But these sayings are but the revealed will and the same people that hold this revealed will to be a guide to themselves do yet hold a contradiction in the wills of God saying it is true God saith so but his meaning is not so Now this sort of people should not beleeve the revealed will at all if they hold his secret will to be the Superiour pag 81 82. I say the same as formerly though the secret will of God be the Superiour yet we are to look to that which is revealed As for those who affirme that the Lord hath chosen a peculiar number of people from the beginning to salvation If you go to them man by man I think you will scarce finde any one of solid judgment that will tell you we must begin at the knowledge of the secret will of God They all say that you must begin first with the general threats and the general promises and when men are once brought thorough the convictions of the spirit to see their miserable and lost condition then they say they are sit auditors of the doctrine of the Gospel in the tenders and the offers of grace When the promise is apprehended by a true and a lively faitht he next work they say i to attain the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and full assurance of faith And then last of all after many experiences cometh the assurance of election In this method they proceed in the discovery of this mystery and not otherwise Though election be first in the Lords intention yet they hold that the assurance thereof is and ought to be the last in our feeling And so they expound the words of the Apostle give all diligence to make your calling and election su e 2 Pet. 1.10 And further though they maintain an assurance of election yet they do not hold an absolute certainty but such a one as is lyable to many temptations desertions and eclipses Neither do they hold such an immediate assurance as though the elect by intuition did look into the Decrees of God onely they stand for a mediate and discursive knowledge of the grace of election by the necessary effects and fruits thereof As you know the rising of the Sunne by the dawning of the day What other knowledge is this of the secret will of God but that which he himself hath first made discovery of by the fruits As for the secret will of God in the Decree of non-election though they do beleeve according to the Scriptures that there are a great multitude of men that the Lord doth intend to passe by yet if you come to singulars neither you nor any man living can shew who they are in special If you shall say that such and such a one is a notorious evil doer and therefore a reprobate Ananias thought but little better of Paul Lord I have heard of this man how much evil he bath done But the answer was go thy way I have made him a chosen vessel unto me Act. 9.14 If such a one hath continued many years under the means of grace and doth yet stand out in impenitency and hardnesse of heart this is no infallible argument of non-election for men may come into the Vineyard at all houres So farre forth as men live wickedly we may preach hypothetically and conditionally according to the revealed will of God that their courses are damnable and as long as
deserved it And so you lose your cause Thirdly the Apostle saith Lust when it hath conceived it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death Jam. 1.13 14. To avoid the force of this Scripture you tell us That sinne doth not bring forth death as lust doth bring forth sinne sinne is lusts natural seed but death hath no conceptions by any seed of sinne page 94. But Sir I would entreat you to leave all windings and shifts deale plainly with the words of the text The Apostle saith sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death I do here put it upon you to give a down-right answer seeing the words of the Apostle are so plain If sinne doth any way bring forth death then we must needs conclude that sinne is the cause of death and this is the true meaning of the Apostle But seeing you bind so much upon the Lords institution who hath threatned death to the sinner let us come to the original text In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death And here setting the Lords prohibition aside I do willingly yield that there was no evil in the tree of knowledge of good and evil if we go to evil in the intrinsecal nature thereof but the Lord having forbidden it it was evil to go against his Command In this sense I say though death was threatned by God yet Adams own personal sinne was the meritorious cause of death to himself and to all his posterity And this is the ground of the Apostles speech By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and death hath past over all men unto condemnation You labour in many pages together to prove that Adams sinne was no cause of his condemnation and when all comes to all This is your chief ground that the Lord in his institution did ordain to punish sin and sinners with death and therefore sinne is not the meritorious cause of death Good Sir may not both stand together as social causes what do you think of the two Malefactors that were hanged upon the Cross the one on the right hand and the other on the left hand of our Saviour Were they not both put to death by the sentence of the Law yet for all this they were the cause of their own condemnation The converted thief will tell you as much Doest thou not fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed justly suffer for we receive the due reward of our deeds Luke 23.40 41. In like manner I say though death was inflicted upon Adam as the just judgment of God yet Adams sinne was the cause of his own condemnation Now whereas you call death a righteous branch It is true if you look to the sentence of the just Judge who hath appointed death as the punishment of sinne yet if you look unto the nature of death he is an enemy The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death 1 Cor. 15.26 Further in the book of the Revelation we read that after the Beast the false Prophet and the Dragon were cast into the lake of fire then death it self was cast into the lake of fire Rev. 20.14 What is the meaning of this but that the Lord Christ is Head and King of the Church and will tread down all his enemies in the several and respective times appointed for their destruction and then last of all death it self shall come to be destroyed If death then be an enemy the last enemy and shall be destroyed as an enemy how can you affirme that it is a righteous Branch Further you argue That death cannot be the fruit of sinne seeing God hath pleased to punish sinne with death sinne and punishment for sinne agree no more than light and darknesse page 91. If this be your opinion I pray you tell me what do you think of that case where God doth punish one sinne with another He gave up the Gentiles to vile affections that they might receive in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet Rom. 1.23 24. If one sinne may be the punishment of another why do you put such a difference betwixt sinne and punishment as betwixt light and darknesse you have another evasion to help you our you say The very voice or death is enough to scare a sinner from his sinnes therefore death is not the natural fruit of sinne page 95. Give me leave to observe the same way of reasoning The Devil if he should visibly appear the very sight of him would be enough to scare a sinner from his sins Therefore a wicked sinner when he doth commit sinne doth not fulfill the lusts of his father the Devil which is to go point blank against the Scripture John 8.44 After this you come to answer a weak and incongruous objection of your own making you feign an adversary to reason in this wile If there had been no sinne there had been no punishment therefore pun shmext must be produced by sinne page 949. In this you deceive your self we do not argue so loosely to make every antecedent a necessary cause of that which cometh after for then by the like reason you might argue as you do If there had been no Law there had been no transgression therefore transgression is produced by the Law We say that sin doth not go before death as a meet antecedent or occasion only but as the meritorious cause of death the Apostle saith sinne bringeth forth death as the cause doth the effect and the wages of sinne is death when the work is done the wages is to be paid Last of all you come to the particular examples of Corah of Herod of Ananias and Sapphira and from thence you reason If death be the natural fruit of sinne why are not all Rebels punished as Corah all proud men as well as Herod all guilty of the sinne of equivocation as well as Ananias This is the substance of your argument page 99 100. To all which I make this answer unlesse they repent they shall meet with the same righteous judgment of God The Lord is free in the execution of judgment as upon those eighteen on whom the Tower in Siloah fel yet that it may appear to you that death is the natural fruit of sinne and that sinne is the meritorious cause of death our Saviour shuts up the matter with these words unlesse you repent you shall all likewise perish Luke 13.1 2 3 4 5. But you go on and strike still upon the same string If I should allow as much demerit in Adams disobedience to bring death as Christ had merit in his obedience both active and passive to bring life into the world yet it would not amount to such a pitch to be the onely cause For though the obedience of Christ was the cause of the coming of life into the world yet the appointment of God was as principal a cause as the obedience of Christ And so though sinne
interval between Adam and Moses And so we that live in the latter ages of the world shall have nothing to do with the Gospel nor the Gospel with us But of this I have formerly spoken in my answer to Mr. Everard and the Examiners There I have shewed the reason why the Apostle doth mention the reigne of death in the interval between Adam and Moses He goes on This death saith he was brought upon them by Adam that is death which was threatned to Adam only went forth upon them also who indeed were sinners but not after the similitude of Adams transgression that is who sinned not so capitally as be did Answ This expression death threatned only to Adam hath some ambiguity in it If he speaks of Adam as a particnliar person death was not only threatned to him for in the present case he is to be looked upon as the common roote of the nature when he fell all mankind fell in him from him death passed upon all not only as sinners in their own person but in that formality as made sinners or sinful by his disobedience Of infants it is true as well as others in Adam all dye and so death passeth upon all Next he telleth us what it is to sin like Adam To sin like Adam saith he is used as a tragicall and high expression so it is in the Prophet they like men have transgressed so we read it but in the Hebrew it is they like Adam have transgrest and yet death passed upon them that did not sin after the similitude of Adam Answ For the text in Hosea our English translation may well passe by an Enallage of the number They like man that is like fickle and inconstant men have transgrest my Covenant Or if this will not satisfie that of Tremellius may obtaine Tanquam hominis transgressi sunt faedus They have played fast and loose with me as if it were no other but a meer Covenant of man But let us take the words in the sence that is most propitious to him viz. that the Prophet here looks to Adam as the head of all Apostates and that the Israelites had sinned in as tragical a manner as Adam did what doth he infer from hence he tells us that death reigned from Adam to Moses over those that had not so tragically sinned as Adam had done Truely the old world that was drowned in the flood Sodom and Gomorrah that were burnt with fire the builders of Babel whose language was confounded these and such like sinners though they lived in the interval between Adam and Moses were none of the least But let us take it in his own sence that death reigned over Abel Seth Noah and others that did not sin so capitally as Adam did If this be well considered it doth make more for our purpose than it doth for his For these holy men that lived in the interval between Adam and Moses were under the reigne of death Here I demand how came they to be under this reigne If he will say their own sinne was the principal cause how will he answer the words of the Apostle who expressely tells us by one mans offence death reigned over all ver 17. Againe if he shall say they came under this power by the sinne of Adam then he makes good the interpretation given by us that by the sinne of Adam infants as well as others in all that interval between Adam and Moses came under the power and sovereignty of death He further addeth God saith he was so exasperated with mankind that being angry would still continue that punishment even to lesse sinnes and sinners which he only had first threatned to Adam and so Adam brought it upon them They indeed in rigour did themselves deserve it but if it had not been for that provocation by Adam they who sinned not so bad and had not been so severely and expressely threatned had not suffered so severely Answ By the tenour of the Doctrine we may understand that men by their own sins do deserve death as for the sin of Adam by this account it is only an aggravating circumstance and a cause meerly of the severity of the sentence Now if this be so how shall we expound the meaning of the Apostle By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and death passed upon all men He speaketh of the entrance of sinne of the entrance of death of the entrance of sin and death upon all by the sin and disobedience of one man Is all this only to make Adams sin a meer accessory or aggravating circumstance away with such a conceit The text doth pitch upon it as the principal and general cause of death Againe the Apostle saith by the offence of one death reigned by one If all men fall under the reigne of death by the offence of one then certainly his offence is not the cause alone why they are more severely dealt with but it is the very cause why they fall under the power and dominion of death it selfe Shall we make a circumstance of that which is the principal cause Further what is the reason that infants dye seeing personally and individually they are guilty of no sin of their own to deserve death in his answer to the Bishops letter he doth not shunne to affirme that death comes upon infants meerly by right of dominion But then saith he the evil of punishment may passe further than the action If it passes upon the innocent it is not a punishment to them but an evil inflicted by right of dominion yet by reason of the relation of the offlicted to him that sinned to him it is a punishment But if it passeth upon others that are not innocent then it is a punishment to both to the first principally to the descendants or relatives for the others sake his sinne being impured so far and more he hath to the same purpose pag. 43. Here he plainly delivers his opinion that death is inflicted upon others because they do partake with Adam in his sinne but it descends and comes upon infants meerly by way of prerogative and absolute dominion And if their death be a punishment it is so only to Adam in as much as they stand related to him as being his descendants and relatives Against this I have some things to oppose First in his Vnum necessarium pag. 403. He layeth down this as a sure axiom When Godnsing the power and the dominion of a Lord and the severity of a Judge doth punish posterity it must be so long as the Parents may live and see it and so out of Chrysostome he doth expound it to be to the third and fourth generation and no longer Now here I argue if God punisheth Adam in his infant children this is not to the third and fourth but to the hundreth generation Againe why should he be punished in his infant-children when he hath been dead many hundred nay certaine thousand years agoe
as long as so faire a probability may be extended to them in Christ God is a gracious God and he is able to shew mercy where the sin was the act and deed of another Of believers infants we have a more special ground of hope So then the matter will come to this issue Though infants may be miserable by Adam nay may be made eternally miserable through him yet here is the comfort that mercy may be extended to them in Christ He further addeth Thirdly when God inflicts a temporal evil upon the son for the fathers sin he doth it as a Judge to the father but as a Lord only to the son Answ Suppose this were granted it makes nothing to the purpose all other Parents in comparison are but private men but Adam as a publick person did represent the whole nature That may be asserted of him which cannot be of any other The Apostle expressely saith by the disobedience of one many were made sinners If they were made sinners only by the imputation of Adams sin this is enough to put a difference between him and other progenitours Againe in the fame place it is expressely said by one mans offence judgement came upon all men to condemnation If it came upon all men to condemnation all are under the sentence of the Judge for the sin of one man And whereas he saith If God inflicts a temporal evil upon the son for the fathers sin he doth it not as a Judge but as a Lord only to the son Upon this account I demand the Lord inflicting evil upon the sons of Adam for his sin doth he only inflict it in a prerogative way to the son then it will follow that Christ must dye and by shedding of his blood he must take away such evils from infants at least that are brought upon them in the way of prerogative This would be a strange sound to such eares that have alway heard and believed that we come to be sinners in Adam and Christ came to take away the guilt of that sin Fourthly God using saith he the power and dominion of a Lord and the severity of a Judge did punish posterity it was but so long as the Parents might live and see it as Chrysostome saith to the third and fourth generation and no longer Answ If this be so why do the Jewes at this day beare the burthen of that sin committed many hundred years ago why did God inflict judgements upon the house of Ely of Saul of Ahab of Jehu and of others when the Parents were dead Besides if God should have such a purpose to punish the Parents in the children that thereby the Parents themselves might be brought to repentance this is not a parallel case to that which we are upon God suffered Adam to fall and in falling to involve himselfe and his posterity under all miseries temporal and eternal that so a doore might be opened for the grace that comes by Christ In this regard the Apostle expressely tells us that the first man is the figure of him that is to come This must not nor cannot be said of our immediate Parents Fifthly he addeth this power and dominion which God useth was not in ordinary cases but in the biggest crimes only Answ Let this be admitted it doth abundantly confirme the truth of our assertion For the case of Adam was more than ordinary there is no such ensample like his from the beginning of the world He stood as a publick man as a root of the nature the whole stock was put into his hand he had but one only way by which he might fall and therefore he falling it is no such irrational thing to conceive that all his posterity should fall with him Sixthly saith he Although God threatned this and hath a right and a power to do this yet he doth not often use this right but only in such notable ensamples as were sufficient to all ages to consigne and testifie his great indignation against those things for the punishment of which he was pleased to use his right or rights of dominion Answ True there are some special ensamples of the Lords judgement upon whole families for their fathers sin this may be seen in the cases of Corah Achan Saul Jeroboam Ahab and others Neither do we doubt but the Lords end was to testifie to all ages his indignation against sin by such like instances of his severity But what is this to the purpose in hand the end wherefore the Lord did lay such an heavy burthen upon the sons of Adam was not so much that the children should take heed by the ensample of their father for there were some particulars that the children could not possibly imitate the father but a prime end of the misery of the sons of men by the fall of Adam is to open a door for the grace that comes by Christ The knowledge of the one contrary doth exceedingly conduce to the knowledge of the other Seaventhly saith he his goodnesse and graciousnesse grew quickly weary of this way of proceeding They were the terrours of the Law and God did not delight in them Therefore in the time of Ezekiel the Prophet he declared against them Answ This passage of Ezekiel the Prophet doth of all others singularly make for our purpose For though Adam did eate of the forbidden fruit and all his posterity did and do bear the burthen of his sinne yet they are not left in that state irrecoverably without all kinde of help A doore of grace is opened for the lost sonnes of men by the coming of Christ upon this ground the truth of Ezekiels speech is founded the soule that sinneth that soul shall die His meaning is the soul that sinneth and continueth in his sin through impenitency and unbelief that soul shall dye Eighthly saith he something extraordinary was then needful to be done to so vile a people to restrain their sinfulnesse but when the Gospel was published and hell-fire threatned to persovering and greater sinners the former way of punishment was quite left off And in all the Gospel there is not one word of threatning passing beyond the person offending Answ I marvell how it cometh to passe then that the Jewes do beare the burthen of their Ancestors sinne as we have formerlysaid Besides if we diligently look to the scope of the Gospel we shall finde that the Lord doth punish the posterity for the sinne of Adam that so thereby a way may be prepared for the grace that comes by Christ These things are not opposite or contrary but subordinate and subalternate the miseries by the fall do prepare the way for the grace that comes by Christ But he further addeth Either this evil saith he that falls upon us for Adams sin is inflicted upon us by way of proper punishment or by right of dominion if by proper punishment to us then we understand not the justice of it because we were not personally guilty Answ If we
every man is free in the committing of this or that particular sin though it be true in the General an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit It is possible that an healthy man by disorder may fall into great sicknesses but a man of frail and infirme constitution is wholly enclined to sicknesses and diseases As great nay a farre greater difference was between that liberty that Adam had before his fall and what we now have He had a freedome to choose the good and to refuse the evil so have not we now But to take away the force of this answer he further argueth That we can choose the good and as naturally love good as evil and in some instances more A man cannot naturally hate God if he knowes any thing of him a man naturally loves his parents he naturally hateth some sorts of uncleannesse Repl. We do not deny but by the general concurrence and assistance of God man since the fall hath some ability to choose and love the good But what kind of good that which is ethical and moral but not that which is spiritual In the very best actions that a natural man doth when he gives alms when he observes promises when he doth performe any good he sins in the manner because his actions do not proceed from sincere love neither are they directed to a right end The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart a good conscience and faith unfaigned 1 Tim. 1.5 Because a natural man wants these principles his best actions are stained with sinne As strange as this doctrine seemes to be there is none of us all but may finde a truth of it in our own experience For let us heare reade pray meditate give alms dispute for the truth reforme errours and abuses and do much good for the Church yet we can have no comfort if our conscience once tell us that we do not these things for God but for our selves This is the very case of every natural man besides the sinisterity of ends his actions do not proceed from right principles And whereas he argueth that a man cannot naturally hate God if he knowes any thing of him If he speak of the excellency of God and his holinesse In such a sense if men did know him they could not hate him For that they love him fear him obey him trust in him do all for him leave all for his sake this is grounded upon the right knowledge of that excellency and goodnesse that is in himself And therefore since the fall the blindnesse of minde is the cause of a great part of the mischief The will is perverse in her choice the affections are out of order because the judgment is not rightly informed In a lower sense we do acknowledge that men may know some things of God and their knowledge may be the ground of their hatred of God It may be with some wicked men as with the Devils they beleeve there is one God and tremble But as to the choice of spiritual good he further saith Neither was Adams case better than ours in this particular For that his nature could not carry him to heaven or indeed to please God in order to it seems to be confessed by them who have therefore affirmed him to have a supernatural righteousnesse Repl. If the collation be between state and state Adam had a power to understand that good which is spiritual tolove choose it more than we now have since the fall The wise man saith God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions Eccles 7. ult He must needs speak of a spiritual uprightnesse contrary to the deceits that are to be found amongst thousands of men and women And whereas he saith that Adams nature could not carry him to heaven If this be so God provided worse for him than for the rest of the creatures The rest of the creatures were made with such natures sutable to their ends If therefore God did not make Adam in a state someway fit for heaven why did he create him with an immortal soule This state plainly sheweth that had he stood or eaten of the tree of life he should have lived for ever But falling he did runne the hazard of the losse of that life that might have been had Lastly if Adam coald not have gone to heaven in that nature that God had made him the falling short of eternal life could not have been any fault of his own and the blame would have laid on the creation Were it rational for God to require Adam to go to heaven and yet no way to make him sutable or fit for such a condition This were to require the whole tale of bricks and to give no straw And for that Tenet of the Romish Doctors I wonder that he should stand upon it that Adam was endued with supernatural righteousnesse in that sense at least as they understand it for look what righteousnesse Adam had it was by creation The had stood he had propagated it to posterity The reliques of the image of God do plainly shew in what state he was made in the beginning In the creation of man it is said he made all things very good Hearbs Trees Birds Beasts Fishes all these may be good in their kinde though they were not made in a state fit to go to heaven But it is impossible that Adam could be made in a state very good but he must be some way fit for union with God in which all spiritual and eternal good doth consist Now he comes to the main objection and here he tells us that it is certain there is not only one but many common principles from which sin derives it self into the manners of all men This he undertakes to prove in opposition to our assertion who hold that the pravity and corruption of nature doth flow from the disobedience of the first man But let us heare him speak in his own words The first great cause saith he of an universal implety is that at first God had made no promises of heaven he had not propounded any glorious rewards to be as an argument to support the superiour faculty against the inferiour that is to make the will to choose the best to leave the worst and to be as a reward for suffring contradiction And going on he further addeth this to be the reason of the general corruption of the old world Because saith he there was no such thing in that period of the world therefore almost all flesh corrupted themselves excepting Abel Seth Enos and Enoch we finde not one good man from Adam to Noah and therefore the Apostle calls that world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world of the ungodly It was not so much wonder that when Adam had no promises made to enable him to contest his natural concupiscence he should strive to make his conditions by the Devils Promises Reply It is true the Apostle calleth the old world
to that which is spiritually good In this sence our Saviour saith He that commits sin is the servant of sin Joh. 8.36 While they promise themselves liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption 2 Pet. 2.19 But he further saith Men sometimes by evil habits and by choosing vile things along time together make it morally impossible to choose that which is good and to love that in particular which is contrary to their evil customes Heraclitus saith custome is that devil that bringeth in new natures upon us Answ It is most certaine true that many fall under the power of evil by long custome But the maine question is Whether is evil custome the whole and adequate cause of the evil This we deny men by ill custome may intend the habit of original sin as varnish may make colours more orient and God in his just judgement may justly harden men in their sin so that they may be worse than the ordinary sort of natural men This we do willingly confesse but then also we must consider that the bottome and the ground of all the evil doth lye in a sinful nature This doth naturally descend upon us all from Adam the root of corruption and is only to be done away by Christ the root of all grace life spiritual nature as the Scriptures do abundantly testifie Next he cometh to the testimony of the Philosophers Seneca saith nature doth not engage us upon a vice she made us entire she left us free but we make our selves prisoners and slaves by vicious habits Answ It is no way to be doubted but we make our selves slaves by vicious habits of our own acquiring But whereas Seneca saith nature hath made us free nature hath left us free these are those rudiments of the world of which the Apostle speaketh beware least any man spaile you through Philosophy Col. 2 7. If nature hath made us free what need is there of Christ of the freedome of the Spirit of the grace of regeneration of all those things that are held forth to us in the principles of baptisme and circumcision In this sence the Apostle is to be understood when he saith beware lest any man spoile you through Philosophy he doth not speak of the knowledge that the Philosophers have of the motions of the heavens and the measures of the earth and such like speculations but he speaks of Philosophy as it doth not hold Christ the Head and is contrary to the very principles of baptisme and circumcision as may be see by the context Of this kinde are those sayings of Seneca nature hath made us free nature hath left us free such doctrines are contrary to Christ the Head He further proceedeth The Saints saith he love God so fully that they cannot hate him or desire to displease him And in hell the accursed spirits so perfectly hate him that they can never love him But in this that is status viae a middle condition between both or a passage to one or the other it cannot be supposed to be so unlesse a man here also be already saved or damned Answ We do agree that the Saints in heaven do so perfectly love God that they cannot hate him and the damned spirits in hell do so absolutely hate him that they cannot love him But what of all this The case of sinners upon the earth is not all one with the damned in hell The damned in hell do absolutely and irrecoverably hate God but so do not sinners upon the earth Though they are borne in sin and lye under a natural necessity of sinning yet they do not hate God absolutely and irrecoverably but so far only as they are naturally corrupt and do remaine in their natural condition Though Ministers in the general do know that all shall not be saved yet personally and individually no Minister can say that this or that man shall not be saved They can say as long as men continue in such wayes they are in the way to damnation but cannot certainly and infallibly pronounce of the final and eternal estate of this or that particular man Now it is not so with the damned in hell But he further saith Men can choose that which is commanded and abstaine from that which is forbidden for if they could not they ought no more to perish for this than infants for that Answ Though we stand upon it that a man cannot naturally choose that which is spiritually good yet his case is not all one with the state and condition of an infant For an infant cannot actually understand will nill choose refuse but a natural man hath a power to will that which is in his own compasse he may performe many outward duties abstaine from many outward evils and fly many occasions of sin And for his willing the good that is spiritual though he cannot choose it so far forth as is natural yet doubtlesse his condemnation shall be that he did not go so far as he might go by the help of the Spirit At some seasons the Spirit doth convince accuse reprove terrifie and put him upon a way of judging and condemning of himself that so he might look after pardoning and healing mercy But his fault is that he will not see that which he may see and doth obstinately harden himselfe against the light But he further sheweth This is so necessary a truth that it is one of the greatest grounds and necessities of obedience and holy living and if after the fall of Adam it be not by God permitted to us to choose or refuse there is nothing left whereby a man can serve God or affer him a sacrifice Answ Though the Divines do maintaine a necessity of sinning and the losse of the liberty of the will to spiritual good at least they are not cast upon such a strait as our Author thinks they are Indeed some of them are more cleare and distinct and do give lesse offence than others do yet I know none do absolutely take away the power from the will to choose or refuse To what purpose then would exhortations admonitions and reproofes be given But leaving all others we will cite a testimony out of one of the chiefest of our Authors for he may serve as a patterne for the rest Mr. Calvin in his book of Institutions Lib. 2. Chap. 2. doth shew that the foundation of all sound learning is grounded upon the knowledge of a mans selfe But how not upon the knowledge of a mans own excellencies perfections natural liberties for so the Philosophers do vainly trifle But upon the knowledge of his own misery thraldome under sin and this he affirmes to be the bottome of all saving knowledge to bring men to Christ By the former kind of learning men are set up and by the latter they are pluckt down He speaks of two dangerous extreames to be avoided on either side some when they heare that a man hath no ability no freedome of will they give over all care of