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
which requireth not only pure streames but a pure fountain also therefore they are truly culpable and so damnable Let then a man observe whether Egypt was once fuller of flyes then thy heart is of inordinate motions for as the pulse in the body is alwayes beating so the will is alwayes in action it 's alwayes moving to some object or other and being naturally corrupted it doth alwayes tend either to an object unlawfull or if lawfull in an unlawfull and immoderate way But in the second place Besides these indeliberate motions there are those which are deliberate to which the will doth give free and full consent and these are greater sinnes then the former because the more voluntary and certainly the will of a man is as full of sinfull consents as the Sea is of water Whensoever any lust any sinne cometh to tempt thee How easily and quickly is thy consent obtained Indeed outwardly to commit the sinne that is many times hardly accomplisht there may want the opportunity fear or shame may restrain men but to consent to sinne yea that which is most abominable may be a thousand times over committed by the will in a little space Now that the wils consent to a sinne is a sinne if it be kept within onely and not expressed in the outward act is difficulty believed even as they think their thoughts so also the desires of their will are free in this particular Yea it seemeth to be the constant Doctrine of the Pharisees That if a man did externally obey the Law of God though in his heart he did will the contrary yet the Law did not condemn him Hence it is that Matth. 5. our Saviour doth expound the Law so exactly and spiritually and that it seemed a great Paradox to the received Traditions at that time for our Lord doth there shew That if a man doth lust after a woman in his heart it is adultery and so of all other grosse sinnes If then thou doest will in thy heart desire and consent in thy heart to any sinne though thou canst not or darest not commit it Here God looketh upon thee as such a sinner for as in holy things God accepteth the will for the deed so in evil things the will to do it the consent to do it is as if thou hadst done it Tantum fecimus quantum volumus even Seneca could say What thunder and lightning is in this truth if rightly understood Goe and search thy will make strict examination about it and thou wilt find sparks doe not flie faster from the forge then sinfull consentings doe issue from thee all the day long No sooner doth any voluptuous ambitious or profitable object appear in thy soul but thy will hath secretly consented to it and imbraced even before thou canst tell what thou hast done Now this sinfull temper of the will is the more pernicious and dangerous because these consentings inwardly to sinne are so sudden and imperceivable that thousands of them came from the soul almost in a twinkling of an eye and the heart feeleth them not Doe not then thinke to justifie thy selfe because thou canst with the Pharisee thank God that thou art no adulterer no drunkard no Publican for if thou hast at any time a secret consent to these things if thy heart imbrace them though thou darest not externally commit them The holy and spiritual Law of God will find out these sins in thee and condemn thee for them In the next place Consider also that there is a two-fold consent to a sinne Expresse and Formal or Interpretative and Virtual an expresse consent is when the will doth actually yeeld it self up to any lust that doth tempt it Thus Cain expresly consented to the murder of Abel Judas to the betraying of Christ But a virtual consent is when we yeeld to that from which such a sinne will either necessarily or probably follow although we do not expresly think of the sinne Thus a man that is voluntarily drunk if in his drunken fits he kill any or commit any other grosse impiety he may be said interpretatively to will all that wickednesse though for the present he knoweth not what he doth Thus the best Casuists doe determine and the reason is because such a man doth voluntarily expose himself to the cause of all such evils and he who willeth the cause of a sinne may be justly said to will the sinne that is the effect Know then thy consent to sinne may extend further then ever thou thoughtest of Such sinnes may lie at thy door ready to arraign thee because though thou didst not expresly will them yet by consequence thou didst Therefore Matth. 25. 44. when those workers of iniquity plead They never saw Christ hungry or in prison and did not minister to him Our Saviour replieth That because they did not such things to his Disciples they did them not to him Lastly This consent of the will is not onely to the evil that we doe in our own persons commit but also to that which others are guilty of And here now might be a large field wherein the sinfulnesse of our corrupt will may be discovered and this consent of the will to other mens sinnes may be as Divines shew many wayes but I must not enlarge therein It is enough for the present to know the will is so corrupt that as if it were too little to consent to its own sinne it 's frequently yeelding to the sinnes of others whereby the sinnes of other men are made ours and so at the day of Judgement shall stand arraigned both for our own and other mens sinnes also The last act of the will is That which they call usus the application of the other parts of the soul and body to bring about the evil desired In this also the will because of the universal dominion it hath doth demonstrate the vast extent of its sinfull kingdome This sinfull will commands the body in a despicable manner to be instrumental to sinne It bids the eye look upon wanton objects and it doth it it commands the tongue to speak obscenely wantonly to lie or curse or swear and it doth it all thy bodily sinfulnesse is committed because the will commandeth it to be done And although the affections are not under such an absolute command by the will but rather they sometimes subjugate and keep that under them yet at other times the will causeth them to arise men love and hate because they will Melâ—cthon is said to write thus to Calvin Judicas prout amas aut odio habes amas vero aut odio habes prout vis The will of a man is that which sometimes stirreth up all the passions of the soul Hence is that usual expression I will have my will whatsoever it cost me Yea the understanding though it be a light yet the will many times putteth it under a bushel yea it will command the minde to divert its thoughts Hence men will not understand will
hand out of his bosom he willeth and willeth but never doth effectually set himself upon working This man is like a reed that is tossed up and down with every wind Many more sinfull affections might be named for they are like the motes in the air or the sand upon the sea shore But let this suffice because more will then be discovered when we speak of the slavery of it to evil having no freedom to will what is good Only let this Truth be like a coal of fire fallen upon thy heart let it kindle a divine flame in thy breast consider this corrupt will is the root of all evil If thy will were changed if thy will were turned to God this would bring the whole man with it Oh pray to God to master thy will to conquer thy will Say O Lord though it be too hard for me yet it is not for thee Remember hell will be the breaking of thy corrupt will Thou that wouldst not do Gods will here shall not have thy will in any thing when in hell SECT V. Of the Natural Servitude and Bondage of the Will with a brief Discussion of the Point of Free-will ¶ 1. JOH 8. 35. If the Sonne therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed HItherto we have been discovering the vast and extensive pollution of the will in its Originals and Naturals both in the several operations and affections of it The next thing in order is To treat of the will in regard of its state as in freedome of servitude about which so many voluminous Controversies have been agitated And indeed a sound judgement in the point of Free will is of admirable consequence to advance Christ and the grace of the Gospel For whosoever do obscure the glory thereof they lay their foundation here They praise nature to the dispraise of grace and exalt God as a Creator to the prejudice of Christ as a Redeemer Although it is not my purpose to go with this Point as many miles as the Controversie would compel me yet because the Doctrine of Free-will is so plausible to flesh and bloud that in all Ages of the Church it hath had its professed Patrons And because the cause of Christ and the Gospel is herein interessed and further because it is of a great practical concernment to know what a slavery and bondage is upon the will of man to sin it will be necessary and profitable in some measure to inlarge upon it for there is scarce one in a thousand but is pussed up with his own power and strength so that he feeleth not the want of grace ¶ 2. This last mentioned Scripture opened THis Text I have pitched upon will be a good and a sure foundation for the superstruction of our future Discourse For Austin in his hot disputes with the Pelagians about the freedom of the will to what is good doth often flie to this Text as a sure Sanctuary And Calvin gravely upon this Discourse of our Saviour saith Eunt nunc Papistae we may adde Arminians and Socinians liberum arbitrium factuosè extollunt c. Let them presumptuously exalt free will but we being conscious of our own bondage do glory in Christ onely our Redeemer Though Maldonate is pleased to censure this expression of Calvin us Sententia digna verberibus vel igne Let us therefore take notice of the Coherence and we will go no higher then to the 30th verse where we have specified a blessed and fruitfull event upon Christs Discourse concerning his Person and Office For as he spake those words many believed on him not by their own natural ability and power but the Father did draw them by his omnipotent and efficacious grace Christ while he spake to the ear did also reach to the heart he did not onely preach but could inable the hearer also to believe herein exceeding all Pastors and Teachers that ever were in the Church of God Christ plants and watereth and giveth the increase likewise all of himself Yea Christ seemeth here to sow his seed upon the high way and among thorns and stones yet some seed cometh up and prospereth well Upon this we have the love and care of Christ mentioned to these new Converts he immediately watereth these plants and swadleth these new born Infants that they may not miscarry This is seen in the counsel suggested to them where you have The Duty supposed and the admirable Priviledge issuing from it The Duty supposed If ye continue in my Word It is not enough to begin unless there be perseverance It is not enough to receive Christ and his Word unless we abide therein and have our ears as it were boared never to depart from such a Master The neglect of this maketh all that dreadfull Apostasie and those sad scandals to Religion which in all Ages do terribly break forth Except ye abide in Christ as well as be in him we shall fall short in the wilderness and not be able to enter into Canaan It is also observable that Christ saith If ye abide in my Word it must be the true Doctrine of Christ it must be what he hath delivered which denoteth two things 1. That heresie and errour can no wayes make to our Christian-Discipleship they cannot set us at liberty from any lust or sinne and therefore no wonder if you see men of corrupt judgements at last fall into sinfull and corrupt practices For the word of God is only the instrument and instituted means of sanctification Sanctifie them by thy word Joh. 17. 2. Hereby we see the necessity of the Ministry of it by the preaching of Gods word they are first brought to believe and after that are continually to depend on it The Ministry is both for the begetting of grace and the increase of it Those that despise and neglect the Word preached do greatly demonstrate they never got any good by it The consequent Priviledge upon this continuance in the Word is to be Christs Disciples indeed From whence we have a distinction of a Disciple in appearance and shew or profession onely and a Disciple indeed There were many that became Christs Disciples in profession onely they followed him for a season but afterwards forsook him which caused our Saviour so much in his Parables and Sermons to press them upon a pure thorow and deep work of grace upon their souls The title without reality will be no advantage Musculus observeth That Christ useth the Present tense Then are ye my Disciples indeed From whence he gathers That Continuance or Perseverance in grace doth not make the truth of grace but the truth of grace maketh the perseverance they do continue and therfore are Disciples indeed but they are Disciples indeed therefore they continue in Christs Word But Beza maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in other places and if so then it must be thus understood That our Perseverance in grace doth not make grace to be true but doth demonstrate and
the cup of gold in Benjamin's sack and therefore this must greatly debase us Thirdly We are not able of our selves to have the least desire or longing after grace and a state of holinesse Not only Pelagianism but Semi-pelagianism is a dangerous rock to be avoided The later made our desires to begin and then Gods grace to succeed and accomplish But there is not so much as the least groan the least desire can arise in thy heart Oh that God would change me Oh that I were in the state of those that do truly fear God! And the reason is because the Scripture describeth us by nature to be dead in sinne and compareth the work of grace to a spiritual resurrection Oh how great is thy bondage which doth so farre oppress thee that thou canst not so much as long for any freedom Oh hopeless and wretched man if left to himself Fourthly From this followeth the next demonstration of our vassalage and spiritual impotency That we cannot pray to God that he would deliver us out of this misery No natural man can pray it is the grace of God that doth inable thereunto he may utter the words of prayer he may repeat the expressions but alas he doth not he cannot pray as God requireth and so as he will accept of it The Apostle is clear for this Rom. 8. 26. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought Is not this unspeakable misery who needeth to pray more then thou and yet thou canst not pray Thou art sinning thou art dying thou are damning and yet canst not pray Is not thy heart like an adamant if this break thee not Fifthly Such is our impotency and bondage That we are not able to affect our selves with the fear and terrour of the Law thereby to be convinced and humbled in our selves If we cannot do the preparatories for grace much lesse grace it self if we cannot do the lesse How shall we do the greater Now one great preparatory work is To have a divine and powerfull fear in our souls by reason of the Law whereby we are afraid of hell of the day of Judgement and cannot have any rest in our spirits because of this Now this is wrought by the Spirit of God in a preparatory way Rom. 8. 15. It is called The Spirit of bondage And Joh. 14. The Spirit doth convince the world of sinne So that in and through the preaching of the Law and discovery of sinne the Spirit of God doth awaken and terrifie the conscience of a man maketh him afraid that he cannot eat or drink or take the delight he used to do It is true the slavish sinfulness of this fear the Spirit of God doth not work but the heart being like a mudded pool when it is moved such slavish fears will arise likewise But how farre is every natural man from this he is secure and jolly blessing and applauding himself crying peace peace all is at quiet within him because the strong man doth keep the house It is the voice of the Lord only that can make these mountains to quake and melt Sixthly Such is our weakness That we cannot barden or soften our hearts in the least manner but they remain obdurate and like brasse and iron Thy heart is like a stone within thee and thou art no wayes able to mollifie it Therefore God maketh it his work and he graciously promiseth I will take away the heart of stone Ezek. 11. 19. and give an heart of flesh As if God had said I know this work is above you you are not able to do it And certainly if the godly themselves because of the remainders of original corruption doe complain of the hardnesse of their hearts cannot mollifie or soften them as they desire Is it any wonder if the wicked man be not able to remove the stone from him Seventhly A man cannot by the power of nature believe no not so much as with an historical faith till grace prepare the heart therein Now faith is the first foundation-stone Heb. 11. He that cometh to God must believe he is and so he must believe the truth about Christ But we see by the Pharisees who heard Christ preach saw the wonderfull miracles he did yet in stead of believing in him did deride and oppose him so that all the acts of faith whether dogmatical or saving we are enabled unto only by the grace of God Matth. 13. 11. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven but not to them Thus Act. 18. 27. the Disciples are said to believe through grace faith then is the gift of God not the work of mans free-will And if he cannot do this it is plain he cannot move one foot of himself towards Heaven Lastly Such is our impotency That when grace is offered and tendered to us the will of it self hath no power to consent to it or make improvement of it It can and oft doth resist and refuse grace but of it self it cannot imbrace it It is true Papists and Arminians plead hard for this power of the will but this is to give more to mans will then to Gods grace this is to make man to differ himself from others It might be thought that the will indeed cannot chuse Christ or receive him as a Lord because there is no revelation or manifestation of a Christ They are a people happily who sit in darkness and have no light and therefore though they may have an inward power to see yet for want of light to actuate the medium they cannot so that the defect ariseth not from the power within but the manifestation of the object without And this indeed is gratly to be considered whether an Infidel or Pagan for example doth not believe because there is no proposition of the object in the Ministry otherwise if he enjoyed that then he had power over his own to assent to it Now even the Pelagians themselves and their followers yea even all that give not grace its full due yet thus farre they do acknowledge there must be a doctrinal revelation by the Spirit of God of the truths to be acknowledged and when this light is set as it were upon the Candlestick then a man of his own self is able to see but such is the corruption of man that not only grace must bring in the light but it must also give the eye to see So that the work of Gods grace is both objective and subjective objective in revealing the object and subjective in preparing and fitting the subject It being the Lord who doth give the seeing eye and the hearing ear Prov. 20. 12. Yea the Arminians go further acknowledging that grace doth irresistibly work upon the understanding of a man for it being a passive faculty it cannot withstand its illumination but the will that retaineth its indifferency when grace hath done all it will do This therfore is granted That without the
grace to sanctifie them and prepare them for any heavenly duty Prov. 20. 12. The hearing ear and seeing eye the Lord hath made even both of them Let the Use be even to amaze and astonish thee with the thoughts of this universal pollution upon thee the soul in all the parts thereof the body in all the members thereof Nothing clean and pure but all over leprous and ulcerous How canst thou any longer delight and put confidence in thy self Why doest thou not with Job sit abhorring of thy self and his indeed were ulcers of the body only and they were a disease but not sinne whereas thou art all over in soul and body thus defiled and that in a proper sinfull way Oh that the Spirit of God would convince all of this sinne The Prophet Isaiah was to cry All flesh is grasse and the floâ—rer thereof fadeth away to prepare for Christ but in that was chiefly comprehended All flesh is sinne and the fruit thereof damnation What though this be harsh and unpleasing to flesh and bloud What though many erroneous spirits deny it or extenuate it yet seeing the Scripture is so clear and evident with which every man that hath experience of his own heart doth also willingly concurre Believe it seriously and humble your selves deeply think not transient and superficial thoughts will prevail as the weighnness of the matter doth require If ever thy heart can be broken and softned let it be discovered here rise with the thoughts of it walk with the thoughts of it and leave it not till thou find the belief thereof drive thee out of thy self with fear and trembling finding no rest till thou art interessed in Christ CHAP. VIII Of the Subject of Predication Shewing that every one of Mankinde Christ onely excepted is involved in this common sinne and misery SECT I. The Text opened and vindicated LUKE 1. 35. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Sonne of God WE have at large though not according to the desert thereof described and amplified the subject of original sinne wherein it is seated By which it appeareth that man all over is become corrupted both the totus homo and the totum hominus the whole man and the whole of man The next thing to be considered is the omnis homo or the Subject of predication as Divines call it The former being called the Subject of Inhesion Our work then is to shew That Christ onely excepted every one of mankind is involved in this common sinne and misery there is none that can plead any exemption from it For seeing it is made the peculiar priviledge of Christ to be so born because conceived after a miraculous manner it therefore necessarily followeth that all others are comprehended under this guilt Though you may see some men from the youth up lesse vicious then others more ingenuous and civil then others yet even these are by nature all over sinfull so that there is no such thing as a natural probity and goodness of which the Socinians dispute as in time is to be shewed That it is the prerogative of Christ only to be freed not only from all actual sinne but also original and birth-sinne is evident by this Text which containeth an answer of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary who with some trouble and amazement had questioned how she should conceive a Sonne who knew not a man The Angels answer consisteth in the information of the manner how it shall be and the consequent issue and event thereof The Manner is expressed in the efficient cause and his efficacy The Efficient cause is said to be the holy Ghost and the power of the Highest A person not the vertue only of God as the Socinians blaspheme as appeareth â—n that we are baptized into the name of the holy Ghost who is reckoned one of the three with the Father and Sonne as also by the personal operations and characters attributed to him which cannot be cluded with the figure of a Proso 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some endeavour It is true The works of God ad extra are common to all the three Persons yet there is a peculiar order and appropriation and therefore the preparing and forming of Christs body out of the Virgin Mary is peculiarly ascribed unto the holy Ghost The Efficacy is set down in two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to be understood of the operation of the holy Ghost not his essence for that is every where The like expression though to another purpose is Acts 1. 8. The second word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning which there is more difficulty The word in the New Testament is applied to a Cloud covering a man with a Dative Case though Favorinus and Stephanus make it to have usually an Accusative Matth. 17. 5. Mark 9. 7. and Acts 5. 15. such an overshadowing as they expected virtue and efficacy thereby So Heysichius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Old Testament by the Septnagint it is often rendreed for defence and protection because in these hot Countreys the shadows of trees were a great preservation against the extream scorchings of heat And in this sense rather then in any other we take the word in the Text that the holy Ghost should protect and defend her not only in the inabling of her against nature to conceive without a man but also against all accusations and dangers she was to be exposed unto by this means Thus Virgil used the word Et magnum Reginae nomen obumbrat Others which may be additional to the former render it The holy Ghost shall fill her with glory therefore she is said to be highly favoured And thus also among Poets the word is said to be used Olympiacis umbratur tempora ramis Stat. Some make it to be as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the meaning were the holy Ghost should as it were pourtray and draw the lineaments of the body Others make it an allusion to the hen which by covering her egg doth by the heat thereof produce a live young one to which also the Scripture is said to allude Genes 1. 2. when it is said The Spirit moved or was incumbent as the water Thus by the power of the holy Ghost in an unspeakable manner the body of Christ was formed of the mass and fleshly substance administred by the Virgin Mary But this we are to take heed of lest the mind of man should apprehend any indecent thing in this great mystery Therefore Smalcius the Socinian his assertion is to be rejected with great abomination that feared not to affirm That by this expression is secretly and modestly implied the work of the holy Ghost as supplying the place of a man his blasphemous and abominable expressions I shall not relate Smal. refut Smigl cap. 17 18 19. We shall then keep to the first interpretation understanding it of Help and Protection in this wonderfull work The
not the effect of it Because we are thus sinful and polluted by nature therefore all our actions are likewise so polluted Now then if the Scripture make it such an impossible thing for a man accustomed only to evil to become a changed man that impossibility lieth upon a man who is naturally so For though custom be called a second Nature yet certainly the first Nature is more implanted and so more active in a man This particular therefore may greatly humble a man in that sinne is so deeply rooted in him it 's worse than an habit or custom of sinning It goeth as neer to thy very essence and substance as it can do and yet not be thy substance Therefore the Scripture cals it Flesh and blood The members of a man The Law of sinne in his flesh If a man hath a thorn in his flesh how restless and pained is he Paul compared that heavy temptation he grapled with to a Thorn in the flesh but although by nature we have this thorn not only in our sides but even all over the whole man yet we can lie down in ease and live in pleasure as if nothing ailed us but this is one deadly effect of original sinne that it takes away all sense and feeling whether there be any such thing or no. Oh then let the thoughts of this sinne go as deep into thee as the sinne it self Sinne is got into thy heart let sorrow get thither Sinne hath entred into thy bowels and filled the whole man brimme full as we say Oh let shame and holy confusion be as deep and as complete in thee SECT VIII SEventhly This naturality will appear If we consider that original righteousness which God created man in For our original sinne comes in the place thereof and such a perfection as that was to the soul such a defect is this to us Now the Orthodox do maintain against Papists That that original righteousness was not a supernatural perfection superadded to mans nature but a due and natural perfection concreated with him For as Adam being made to glorifie God was thereby to have a rational soul so also such perfection in that soul which might make him capable of his end otherwise man would have been created in a more imperfect and ignoble condition than any creature It is true indeed That Righteousness and Holiness Adam had which the Scripture cals Gods Image did not flow from the principles of nature neither was it a natural consequent thereof but yet it was a moral condition or perfection due to Adam supposing God created him to such an end and therefore we are not to conceive of that Image of God as an infused habit or habits which were to rectifie and guide the natural faculties and affections of the soul which otherwise would move in repugnancy and contrariety to one another but as a natural rectitude and innate ability of those powers and affections of the soul to move regularly and subordinately to Gods will Though therefore in respect of God that Righteousness Adam had might be called supernatural because it was his gift yet in respect of man the subject so it was connatural and a suitable perfection to his nature This being taken for a sure Truth then it will exceedingly help us to the true understanding of the naturality of this evil for original sinne succeeding in the stead thereof is not as some Papists affirm like the taking of cloaths from a man and so leaving him naked or like the taking away of a bridle from an horse all which are superadded and external helps as it were but it 's like death that takes away the life of a man in respect of what is holy and godly and like an heavy disease that doth much hinder and debilitate even the natural operations This original sinne then is like the spoiling of an instrument of Musick or the deordination of a Clock or Watch when not able to perform their proper service they were made for So that original sinne is partly the want of this original Righteousness that was so connatural and partly thereby a propensity and inclination to all evil For as when the harmony of the humours is dissolved presently diseases arise in the body Thus when that admirable rectitude which was at first in the whole man was broken then all inordinacy all perversness and crookedness presently began to possess the whole man As then original Righteousness was not as an infused habit but the faculties of the soul duly constituted whereby they did regularly move in their several wayes so original sin is not to be conceived like some acquired habit polluting the powers of the soul but as the internal defect and imperfection that is cleaving to them Even as the paralitical hand whensoever it moveth doth it with feebleness and trembling wanting some strength within If therefore we would truly judge of the horrible nature of this sinne we must throughly understand the excellency and wonderful nature of that original Righteousness which is now lost then all things in the soul were in an admirable subordination to that which is holy and although the sensitive appetite was then carried out to some sensible object yet it was with a subordination to the understanding so that in that state of integrity there did not need as the Papists say Righteousness as a bridle to curb in the passions and affections which otherwise would be inordinate for this were to attribute a proneness to sinne in us to God himself for he is the author of every thing which is natural in us but all the affections and sensitive motions were then subjected to the command of reason so that Adam had power to love when and as long and in what measure he pleased All the affections of his soul were both quoad originem gradum and progressum under his dominion Even as the Artificer can make his Clock strike when and as many times as he pleaseth But wo be unto us all this excellent harmony and subordination is now lost and our affections they captivate and rule over our judgments and all this is because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there wants something within as he said of his Image that he could not make stand because it wanted life within SECT IX EIghthly That this original sinne is a natural evil appeareth From the work of grace sanctifying which is the proper remedy to cure this imbred defilement For the grace of Regeneration is chiefly and principally intended to subdue sinne as it did corrupt the nature and so by consequence as we were personally corrupted Therefore the tree must first be made good ere the fruit can be good as the tree is in its nature evil and then it brings forth evil fruit So that God in vouchsafing of this grace of Regeneration doth not principally intend to make thee leave thy actual sinnes for that is by consequence only but to make thy nature better to repair his Image in thee
Is it not because sin doth all in thee and flesh will not fight against flesh Vse 2. Why is it that even the most holy are to walk humbly to go out of themselves to lay fast hold on Christ and his righteousness is it not because they have such a treacherous enemy within that hindereth them in every holy duty Why also is there such a necessity of watching praying of holy fear and trembling Is not all this because of that secret deceitfull adversary within our own brests CHAP. IV. Of the Epithete Evil is present with us given to Original Sinne. SECT I. ROM 7. 21. I finde then a Law that when I would doe good Evil is present with me I Shall not for the present say any more in the general the may relate to the Explication of this Chapter especially of that conflict and combate mentioned therein as also in whose person he describeth it for all will be fully considered when we come to speak of the fruit and immediate effects of original sinne To come therefore immediately to the Text You may easily perceive that it is part of that paroxysme and spiritual agony Paul is in between the principles of good and evil working in him therefore he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I find that is by experience As for Grotius who makes this no more than the combat of conscience with corruption which may be in natural men alledging places out of the Poets and Epictetus where some have said in the like manner they knew it was evil they did and they do not allow it but yet their frail flesh compelleth them to do it so that they do not what they would and what they would not that they do As also bringing in a Pagan out of Lactantius saying That he sinneth Non quia velo sed quia cogor the flesh being so strong in him These are but low and philosophical notions arguing the ignorance of the work of Gods Spirit in a man and the repugnancy thereunto by the unregenerate part But of this more in its time It is enough for the present to take notice that Paul saith of himself That he findeth this in him In the next place There is the object matter of this experimental discovery which in the Greek is something intricate and hath so tormented Interpreters that there are eight Expositions given to make the grammatical connexion Yea Erasmus is so bold that unless we receive the supply of that Ellipsis or defect he thinketh in Paul's speech which he giveth that we must confess Paulum balbituri but as Beza well saith Erasmus doth ineptire in saying so our Translators render it smooth enough I find a Law and then followeth the specifical description of it for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken many times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is this That when I would do any good I cannot do it so fully so perfectly so freely because evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is present with me it 's adjacent and pressing upon me it doth not signifie a meer presence of sense but the activity and vigorous motions of it Beza thinketh it an allusion to that which was spoken to Cain Gen. 4. 7. Sinne lieth at the door it is at hand upon all occasions in the punishment thereof to lay hold on a sinner howsoever if the simple word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not signifie a bare simple nearness but that which is a burdensom destructive approximation as when it 's said Matth. 3. 10. The ax is laid to the root of the tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original and so also some expound that 1 Tim. 1. 9. The Law is not made for the righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a burden imposed upon him by constraint for he hath a voluntary principle within If I say the simple word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be used so then much more the compound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are called ' Diabolicae praepositiones because they do so intend the signification Paul then finds sinne alwayes at hand when his heart is ready to do any good to pull him back to press him down and so he is like the bird tied in a string which assaying to flie up to heaven immediately is plucked back again Now this sinne thus present is not actual habitual or an accustomed sinne Though Gratius relateth it to the custom of sinne even as he doth Lib. 2. de Jure belli cap. 12. 26. expound that of the Apostle By nature the children of wrath making nature to be custom saying The Apostle doth not so much speak of his own person as of the Romans amongst whom he then lived For Regeneration delivers from the custom of sinne but it is that original sinne that corrupt nature which doth alwayes cleave to us as the shadow doth the body or rather as the Ivy the Tree secretly consuming it From whence observe That original sinne is the adjacent sinne or the sinne that is alwayes troublesomly present with as So that whereas we may go from one company to another from one place to another yet we can never go from this original sinne but we carry it about with us at all times in all places in all duties and that even the most holy do whereby it is that they are kept so low and humble in themselves Why is it that when we are regenerated we should not be like Saints in Heaven without any spot or blemish Why should we not delight in God and heavenly things more than in earthly Why should there he the least difficulty and unwillingness in us to any thing that is good Is not all this because this sinne is thus readily present with us it lieth not at the door but in the very heart of us all But let us explain What is comprehended in this Epithete given original sinne That it is present with us SECT II. What is implied in that Epithete FIrst It implieth That this sinne putteth it self forth first in the soul The motions and thoughts of sinne arise first in us before grace can prevent them The Schoolmen speak of the motus primò primi the very immediate and first stirrings of the Soul before the will gives any consent or the mind hath any deliberation and these are sinnes because contrary to the Image of God But whence come they Even from this womb of original corruption So that it is like a furnace alwayes sending forth sparks The Scripture expresseth it notably Gen. 6. 5. where every imagination of the thought of the heart is said to be only evil and that continually Valentia Analysis Dis de peccato originali and other Papists complain That we aggravate originall sinne too much we speak too tragically about it and indeed the Subject is very distastfull to every man how unwilling is he to bear that he is all over thus sinfull This is to make them like Devils and
strengthen and inable it to be more vigorous and operative we may put more wood to this fire and so make it more dreadfull Even as these Pharisees though they were by nature the Serpents seed yet because of their voluntary and contracted malicious disposition in them superadded to the former our Saviour calleth them Generation of vipers Now although the Pharisees had this two-fold evil heart naturally and voluntarily yet I shall of the former onely and so handle it not as relating to the Pharisees but as it is a general Truth to be affirmed of every one till renewed by grace that he hath an evil treasure an evil heart within him And from thence observe That original sinne is the evil treasure that is in a mans heart Sometimes the heart it self is said to be evil to be desperately wicked but then it 's not taken physically as it 's a corpulent substance in a man but morally or theologically as it is the seat and principle of all evil For as the Sea hath all the Rivers in it from which they come and to which they return again so the heart is the fountain of all evil and all evil is seated in it coming from the heart and going back again to it But let us open this treasure which is not like the opening of that Alablaster Box which perfumed the whole house but like the opening of a noisom Sepulchre or dunghil from whence cometh only what is loathsome Therefore it 's not called a treasure in a good sense as commonly the word is used for we do not use to treasure up vile and loathsom things but because in a treasure there is plenty and fulness therefore is this evil heart this original pollution called a treasure and that very properly for these resemblances SECT II. How Original Sinne resembles a Treasure FIrst A treasure hath fulness and abundance A poor man that hath only money enough to discharge his daily expences is not said to have a treasure for that denoteth abundance more than enough Thus is original sinne deservedly called a treasure because it 's a fulness of wickedness As in Christ the treasures of wisdom are said to be in him Col. 2. 3. So in every man there is a treasure of folly and wickedness so that every man is rich enough to sinne let him be never so poor never so straitned not a morsel of meat to eat not a farthing to buy any thing with yet he hath a rich heart a full heart to sinne he is never destitute of plenty and power to do that which consideration should greatly humble thee to think in stead of that good treasure which God once put into my heart being throughly furnished with every grace now there is a treasure of evil now darkness is where all that light was evil and nothing but evil where all that good was Though thou art a rich man and a great man glorying in thy treasures of wealth yet the treasures of evil in thy heart may make thee fear and tremble Secondly Here is denoted in this expression That all sinne is potentially and seminally in our hearts For it 's not said to be an evil heart in some respect and as to some actings but indefinitely and generally an evil treasure of the heart Hence Rom. 3. 14 15. There are in man by nature crimson actual sins of the greatest guilt viz. The poison of Asps is under their tongues their mouth is full of cursing their feet are swift to shed blood c. These sins which some few of mankind only and those the worst of men do ordinarily commit yet they are attributed to every man by nature And why because there is the treasure of these in his heart you cannot name the vilest actions that are though for the present like Hazael thou wouldst defie such things saying Am I a dog a devil that I should do them yet did not God bind up this treasure of evil in thee as he doth the clouds that are his treasures of rain thou wouldst quickly be overwhelmed with them what trembling should this make in a mans heart when he shall consider there is not the vilest and most prophane atheistical man breathing but thy heart would carry thee out to do the like did not God say to this sea of corruption within thee Hitherto thou shalt go and no further It is because of this that David and other eminent godly men have fallen into such gross and loathsom sins that you would have thought they had not been in the least danger of that they were as farre from as the East from the West yet how quickly could these materials for sinne in their hearts ripen and break out into a flame How quickly did even the green Tree burn What then would the dry Tree do Look then upon thy self as the vilest sinner in the world in respect of thy principles and propencity to all sin Say it is not because I have a better nature I have less original sin in me but because God is pleased to put a restraint upon me Certainly if this will not make us like Job abhorre our selves as it were upon the dunghill what will Thirdly In that original sinne is compared to a treasure there is denoted the inexhausted nature of it though we sinne never so much yet the stock of sin is not quite spent As God because he hath a treasure of mercy and therefore said to be rich in grace though he sheweth never so much mercy and vouchsafeth never so much grace yet his treasure is not impoverished thereby he is as fully able to bestow fresh grace and new mercy to thee as if this were the first time that ever he began to be mercifull Thus though with great disproportion it is with a man that hath this evil treasure in his heart Though he sinne all the day long though from this abundance his mind thinketh his tongue speaketh his hand acteth that which is evil yet still his corruption is not abated yea it is the more strenghned and increased As it is with poisonous creatures though they vent never so much poison yet they cannot cast out the root and cause of it as long as they live So though a natural man be all the day long sending forth nothing but sinne and folly yet his heart is as full as ever this fountain is not dried up Therefore although it may fall out that many bodily sinnes cannot be any longer committed because the body groweth old and infirm yet this original sin is never weakned while a man is unregenerated but in a natural man though an hundred years old yet it is as vigorous and active as in youthfull sins It is reported of a liberal Emperour who was much in free munificence that he would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Draw from me as from the River Nilus meaning that he would never be weary that he was like a fountain of which all travellers might drink yet he be as
noble creature worse than other creatures if he had not created him with such perfect and suitable qualifications as would inable him to obtain true blessedness for every creature else had an implanted ability in it to accomplish his end and why then should God do lesse bountifully with man one of the chiefest instances of his glorious workmanship But of this I must necessarily speak more because of the Socinian who cals this Doctrine of original righteousness Faetida fabula an old stinking fable SECT V. 5. ORiginal sinne is a privation not only of that righteousness which was a natural perfection due to him upon supposition of his Creation for the enjoyment of God but also of whatsoever supernatural and gracious favour Adam had We do not say That Adam had nothing supernatural in him for assisting and co-operating 〈◊〉 supernatural as also that prophetical light he had concerning 〈…〉 God did superadde many glorious ornaments which were 〈…〉 and which he did not absolutely need as means to make him 〈…〉 and such likewise were those consequents of holinesse mentioned before 〈◊〉 to be the Sonne of God and to be the Temple of the holy Ghost Now all these gratuita are lost as well as the naturalia we are no more the children of God or the Temple of God but our souls are possest with Satan and he ruleth in our hearts as in his proper possession Some Divines call original righteousnesse the absolute Image of God and our sonship and filial relation to God for Adam is called the Sonne of God Luke 3. ult the relative Image now whether absolute or relative Image all is lost and therefore that assisting grace which was then ready at hand for Adam to enjoy that thereby he might bâ—â—nabled to do any good action we are naturally without Oh then the 〈◊〉 and undone estate we are in being without inberent grace dwelling in us and assisting grace from God without us without eyes and the light of the Sun also Who can think that God at first made us such sinfull mortal and wretched creatures It would be much against the wisdom and goodness of God he would then have done worse with man than with any flie or worm SECT VI. What are the most excellent and choice parts of that Original Righteousness that we are deprived of BUt because the greatest part of the privative way of original corruption is in losing that Image of God and concreated holinesse and we have onely spokan in the general of that that we may be the more affected with it and the losse thereof may pierce to our very hearts Let us consider what are the most excellent and choice parts of this original righteousnesse that we are deprived of that so we may not only see our losse in the bulk but be able to account of every particular in this and that we have lost And the first particular to be insisted on is that great dignity God put on man making him with a Free will to do what is holy Free-will is a great perfection though the mutability in it as in Adam was a negative Imperfection this was admirable in Adam that he had power if he willed to doe any holy action whatsoever There was not in him any clog any impediment to stop the exercise of this Free will but as he had dominion over all creatures so also over hiâ— whole soul and indeed if God had not created him with this dominion over his actions his obedience had not been so eminent nor his disobedience so culpable But this flower is withered this Crown is fallen to the ground Man hath now no free will no power to do any thing that is holy He hath power to eat and drink he hath power to do civil moral actions he hath power to do actions externally religious to come to the Congregation to hear but for those things that are internally holy to love God to believe on him to repent of sin This the Scripture doth in many places deny to him making him to be dead in sinne and untill born again by the Spirit unable to do any holy duty This Raymundus Theol. Natur. de lapsu hominis doth well urge That the soul as to spiritual actions and in reference to God is wholly dead so that as a dead man is not able to produce any vital actions so neither can any natural man spiritual actions and because man being dead is not sensible of this losse therefore doth the same man compare him to a mad man that knoweth not how it is with him yea he much pursueth that similitude of wine degenerated into vinegar saying That as vinegar retaineth nothing of the sweetnesse or goodnesse it had when it was wine Thus neither doth man retain any thing of that light in his mind or love in his heart which once he had Man saith he is not become of good wine bad which though bad retaineth some taste and hath a little relish of the nature of wine but he is as when Wine is degenerated into vinegar which hath all clean contrary to what is had when once wine This comparison he the rather urgeth Because saith he man doth not or cannot discern in himself the difference between his created condition and his fallen therefore he must see how it is with him in similitude by other things We may adde to this similitude another of the body of man while living and an instrument of the soul with it self when dead and separated from it that body then though formerly never so beautifull and comely never so lively and active now is loathsome and hath the clean contrary qualities Such a thing is man now fallen if compared with his Creation SECT VII A Second instance of a particular in this Image of God which we have lost is Faith and dependance upon God as a Father As God made Adam his son in holinesse so Adam had a filial dependance and belief on him resting alone in Gods protection and preservation and thereby was not subject to any fears grief or troublesom dejections of mind about his soul or body This was an excellent pearl in that Crown of glory which God set on mans head but how totally is this lost Every man by this original sinne may justly go up and down trembling like a Cain fearing that every thing should not only kill him but damn him Yea whence is it that the Sea is not fuller of monsters than thy heart is of unbelieving doubting and diffident thoughts about God Why art thou so fearfull suspicious and despairing about God naturally Is not this because God and thy soul are separated Doth not thy conscience secretly suggest to thee that God is offended with thee Is not this a plain discovery of thy losse of God and his Image that thou hast naturally fears and doubts within thy self Thou thinkest of God and art troubled as Adam when he heard Gods voice ran and hid himself All the natural tremblings and
thus it is no wonder if original sinne which doth so tenaciously and inwardly adhere to all natures be transmitted to every one born in a natural way The last Objection is That there is no necessity of supposing such an habitual vitiosity in a man It 's enough say they that a man be deprived of the Image of God and when that is lost of it 's own self man's nature is prone to evil It needs no habitual inclination to weigh him down as if a wild beast be tied in cords and chains lose him unty him and of himself he will runne into wild and untamed actions But to answer this First The Papists they cannot consequentially to their principles say thus For they hold That if this Image of God be removed he doth continue in his pure naturals there is no sinne inhering in him upon the meer losse of that For they confesse That although by acting from his pure naturals he could not deserve Heaven or love God as a supernatural end yet in an inferiour way as the ultimate natural end so he might love God and that above all other things But secondly That is granted This positive inclination to all evil followeth necessarily from the removal of this Image of God from us If the Sunne be removed then necessarily darknesse doth cover the face of the soul If the loco-motive faculty be interrupted then there is nothing but halting and lamenesse Disturb the harmony and good temperament of the humours and then immediately diseases and pains do surprize the whole man It cannot therefore be avoided that when this disorder is come upon the soul but that our lusts break out as at a flood-gate and we are in a spiritual deluge all over covered with the waters of sin but then here is a positive as well as a privative Besides It is not for us to be curious in giving a reason of such positive corruption in a man by nature it is enough that Gods word is so clear and full in the discovery of it that he must needs wilfully shut his eyes that will not be convinced by the light of Gods word herein And this may suffice to dispel that darknesse which some would have covered this Truth with and as for what knowledge about this positivenesse of original corruption is further necessary We shall then take notice of it when we speak of original sinne as it is called lust or concupiscence SECT III. LEt therefore the Use from the former Doctrine delivered be To affectus and wound us at the very heart that we are thus all over covered with sin that we have not an understanding but to sin a will but to sin an heart but to sin May not this be like a two edged sword within thee What will fire thee out of all thy self-confidence thy self-righteousnesse if this doe not What delight what comfort canst thou take by beholding thy self by looking on thy self thus corrupted and depraved And the rather let this consideration go to the very bottom of thy soul Because First Thy propensity and inclination is to that onely which God onely hateth which God onely loatheth and hath decreed to punish with his utmost wrath to all eternity Consider that sinne is the greatest evil All the temporal evils in the world are but the effect of it that is the cause Now can it ever humble thee enough to think that the whole bent and constant tendency of thy soul is unto that which is the most abominable in the eyes of God Thou canst not do that which is more destructive to thy own soul and more dishonouring unto God then by committing sinne and yet thou canst do nothing else thou delightest in nothing else Thy heart will not let thee do any thing else Look over thy whole life take notice how many years thou hast lived and yet if not regenerated and delivered in some measure from the power of original corruption thou hast done nothing but sinned Every thought hath been a sinne every motion a sinne within thee and yet sinne is the greatest evil and that alone which God hateth Secondly If yet thy heart be hard and nothing will enter take a second naile or wedge to drive into thee and that is being thus all over carried out to sinne not the least good able to rise in thy heart that hereby the very plain Image of the Devil is drawn over thee Hence it is that wicked men are said to be of their Father the Devil and he is said to rule in the hearts of the children of disobedience Ephes 2. What a wofull change is this to be turned from a Sonne of God to become a Devil While Adam retained the Image of God God abode with him and in him there was a near union with God but upon his Apostasie the Devil taketh possession of all and so now man is in a near union with the Devil Every mans soul is now the Devils Castle his proper habitation The Spirit of God is chaced away and now thy heart is made an habitation for these Satyrs Thy soul is become like an howling wildernesse wherein lodge all beastly lusts whatsoever Thou that wouldst account it horrible injury to be called beast and Devil yet thy original sinne maketh thee no lesse Thirdly This further may break thy heart if it be not yet broken enough that hereby thou art utterly impotent and unable to help thy self out of this lost condition For how can a dead man help himselfe to live again How can thy crooked heart be ever made straight unlesse a greater power than that subdue it If thou didst judge thy condition an hopelesse one as to all humane considerations then thou wouldest tremble and have no rest in thy selfe till God had delivered thee out of it Lastly Let this also further work to thy Humiliation that being thus positively inclined to all evil not onely proper and sutable temptations draw out thy sinnes but even all holy and godly remedies appointed by God they do increase this corruption the more And is not that man miserable whose very remedies make him more miserable Doth not the Apostle complain sadly of that Law of sinne in him even in this respect that by this means the Law wrought in him all evil The more holy and spiritual the Law was the more carnal and sinfull was he thereby occasioned to be Oh then What wilt thou do when good things make thee evil spiritual things make thee more carnal CHAP. XVIII A second Text to prove Original Sinne to be Positive opened and vindicated SECT I. ROM 7. 7. For I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet WE are discovering the Nature of original sinne in the Positive part of it For although Corvinus the Remonstrant cavilleth at the Division of original sinne into two parts therein gratifying the Papists as it were yet we see the Scripture speaking of it fully as having these two parts And whereas
there is no love and also no hatred So that if we do not know how loathsom and vile this sinne is we are never able to bewail it and to humble our selves under it There are many Descriptions of it given by several Authors but that we may in a large and popular way comprehend all things in one Description that is necessary to understand the full nature of it we may take this delineation of it SECT II. ORiginal sinne is an horrid depravation and defilement of the whole man caused by the Devils temptation and our first Parents obedience thereunto and from them descending by propagation to all his Posterity being stript of Gods glorious Image whereby they are prone to all evil and so are under the bondage of the Devil and obnoxious to eternal wrath It is not my purpose in making this draught of it to attend unto the exact rules of Logick but so to compose it that every thing considerable to give the true knowledge of it may be comprized therein And First We say It 's a depravation and defilement which implieth the sinfulness of it that it is truly and properly a sinne And therefore sinne is truly and univocally divided into original and actual so that they who make it onely to be guilt without any inward contagion they do wholly erre from the Scripture they say not enough It is true Adam's sinne in the guilt of it is imputed unto us which made Ambrose of old say as Austin alledgeth him against the â—elagians Morinus sum in Adamo ejectus sum in Paradiso in Adamo c. I am dead in Adam I am cast out of Paradise in Adam But we are not disputing of original imputed sinne but original inhering Therefore original inherent sinne is truly and properly a defilement upon us against the Law of God and this sinfull estate of all by nature should be farre more terrible unto us then our miserable and mortal estate Again When we call it a defilement we oppose their opinion who make it only morbus and not truly a sinne As also those who say It is the substance of a man for if so then Christ could not have taken our nature without sinne neither could there be glorified bodies in Heaven without sinne for all these have the humane nature of a man Further we say It 's an horrid depravation This Epithete is necessary to be added to awaken pharisaical and self-righteous persons it being so dreadfull an evil that we are never able to go to the depth of it Never therefore think of speak of original sinne but let thy heart tremble and let horrour and amazement take hold of thee because of it and this is put in the Description to obviate those opinions that make it the least of all sinnes Some complain That we are too severe and tragical in the aggravation of it but enough hath been already spoken out of Scripture to shew that neither heart can conceive or tongue express the foulness of it This is the general part of the Description Secondly You have the Subject of it and because the Subject thereof is twofold of Inhesion and of Predication In this part we have the Subject wherein it is and that is totus homo and totum hominis the whole man and the whole of man there being no part free from this contagion so that it 's repletively and diffusively in all the parts of soul and body though eminently and principally in the mind and will and the whole heart It 's true sinne is not properly seated in the body the eyes or hand or in the sensitive part yet participatively and subordinately as they are instruments to the soul in its actings so they are said to be sinfull Thus there are lustfull eyes cursing tongues unclean bodies There are sinfull imaginations and fancies because these are the organs by which the soul putteth forth its wickedness So that the body is like a broken spoiled instrument of musick and the soul like an unskilfull Artificer playing on it which causeth horrid and harsh sounds for pleasant melody But as God is every where yet in Heaven after a more glorious and signal manifestation of himself So on the contrary though original sinne be a Leprosie infecting the whole man yet it 's most principally in the intellectual and immaterial parts of the soul It 's horrible darknesse in the mind aversnesse in the will to all that is good and contumacy in the heart to whatsoever is holy And this part doth directly oppose all those who grant indeed original sinne but yet grant it wholly in the inferiour and sensitive part as if our reason and mind were like the Heavens of a quintessential frame in respect of any unholy contagion whereas indeed because these eyes of the soul are dark therefore is the whole body dark Because the Sunne and Moon and Starres as it were of this little world of man are turned into bloud therefore every part else is also become blood defiled and loathsom and this is the reason why so few do either believe or know this natural corruption because it benummeth us yea it taketh away all spiritual life so that we cannot discern of it The declaration of the cause of it followeth in this description where we have the external efficient cause and the internal The external was the Devil after his all and apostasie he endeavoured being a murderer from the beginning to destroy man also and accordingly he did prevail and thus by the Devil sinne came into the world yet he is the external cause onely he could not force or compel our first parents to sinne he did onely perswade and entice them Therefore the internal cause was the freedom of their will God created them in whereby they might either imbrace good or chuse evil which mutability was the cause of their apostasie It is true the dispute is very curious How Adam being created perfect could yeeld to sinne Whether did the defect arise in his will or understanding first But seeing it 's clear by Scripture that he did sinne and we feel the wofull effect of it Let us not busie our heads in metaphysical curiosities although I see the soundest Authors make the beginning of his sinne to be in inadvertency for his soul being finite while he earnestly intended to one thing he did not attend to another and so sinne was inchoatively first in his understanding not by errour or ignorance for Adam's understanding was free from that but by not attendency to all considerations and arguments as he ought to do Although it must be confest that the root and foundation of his sin was the vertibility of his will for as he might not sin so also he might sin he had then a posse peccare in him and so a defectibility from the Rule Thus although efficient causes use not to be put into exact definitions neither hath sin so properly efficient as deficient causes yet in large descriptions it is
know lust to be sinne that is not so clearly so fully so experimentally as now he did since the grace of God had both enlightned and sanctified him How many have with great orthodoxy maintained this Truth against Pelagians and all the enemies of Gods grace shrouding themselves under the praise of nature but it is rare to see those that do not onely theoretically believe it but practically walk with broken and contrite hearts under it Examine then thy self Doest thou believe this is Gods Truth that thou camest into the world all over polluted Doest thou think that thou as well as any other though never so civil and unblameable in respect of actual sinnes art by nature a child of the Devil prepared fuel for the eternal flames of Hell And doest thou not onely believe this to be thy particular case but withall thou art so affected with an holy fear and trembling thou hast no quietnesse or rest in thy soul because of it then thou art come to a true and right knowledge of it For the end of our preaching on this Subject is not onely to establish your minds in this Truth against all errours therein but also to mollifie and soften your hearts that you may all your life time loath your self and advance the fulnesse of Christ And seeing that natural light is dimme and confused in this matter keep close to the Word and not only so but implore the Spirit of God that in and through the Word this Truth may enter like a two-edged sword into thy bowels knowing that without this foundation laid there cannot be any esteem of Christ CHAP. XXI That Reason when once enlightned by the Scripture may be very powerfull to convince us of this Natural Pollution SECT I. A Clear and full knowledge of original sinne can be obtained onely by Scripture light Although as you heard some Heathens have had a confused apprehension about it My work at this time shall be to shew That even Reason where once enlightned by the Scripture may be very powerfull to convince us of this natural pollution So that when Scripture Reason and Experience shall come in to confirm this Truth we may then say there needeth no further disquisition in this point And First This may abundantly convince us That the hearts of men are naturally evil Because of the overflowing of all wickednesse in all ages over the whole world How could such weeds such bryers and thorns grow up every where were not the soil bad It 's true in some ages some kind of sinnes have abounded more than others and so in some places But there was never any generation wherein impiety did not cover the earth as the waters do the Sea Insomuch that if we should with zeal undertake to reprove them according to their desert Non tam irascendum quà m insaniendum est as Seneca of the vices of his time Erasmus in his Epistle to Othusius complaineth That since Christ's time there was not a more wicked age then that he lived in Christ saith he crieth I have overcome the world but the world seemeth as if it would say shortly I have overcome Christ because of the wickedness abounding and that among those who profess themselves the salt and light of the world Now how were it possible that the whole world should thus lie in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19 as the Apostle affirmeth but that all mankind by nature is like so many Serpents and Toads of which there is none without poison If this wickedness did abound only in some places we might blame the Clymate the Countrey or their Education but it is in all places under the Equator as well as the Tropick in all ages former times as well as later have been all groaning under ungodliness and whereas you might say The world is in its old age now and the continual habituated customary wayes of wickedness have made us drink the dregs of impiety yet the Scripture telleth us That not long after the Creation of the world when we might judge greater innocency and freedom from sinne to have been every where yet then all flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6. 12. which provoked God to bring that wonderfull and extraordinary judgement of drowning it with water as if it were become like a noisom dunghill that was to be cleansed And lest you should think this was only because of their actual impieties we see God himself charging it upon this because the imaginations of a mans heart were only evil and that from his youth up So that there is no man who considers the wayes and manners of all the inhabitants of the world but must conclude had there not been poisonous fountains within there had never been such poisoned streams The warres the rapines the uncleannesses and all the horrid transgressions that have filled the earth as the vermine did Aegypt do plainly declare That all men have hearts full of evil And lest you might think this deluge of impiety is only in the Heathenish Paganish and bruitish part of the world The Psalmist complaineth of that people who were the Church of God and enjoyed the light of the Word That there was none righteous that there was none that did good no not one Psal 14. 3. So that as graves and dead mens bones the Sepulchres and monuments every where do fully manifest men are mortal no lesse do the actual impieries that fill all Cities Towns and Villages discover that all are by nature prone to that which is sinfull SECT II. SEcondly This original sinne may be proved by reason yea and experience thus If you consider all the miseries troubles and vexations man is subject unto and at last death it self and that not only men grown up who have actual sinnes but even new born Infants will not this plainly inform us That all mankind hath sinned and is cast out of the favour of God How can it enter into any mans heart to think that God the wise Creator so full of goodness to man that he made him little lower than Angels should yet make him more miserable than all creatures It was Theophrastus his complaint when he lay a dying That man had such a short time of life prefixed him who yet could have been serviceable and by long age and experience found out many observable usefull things when Crows and Harts and other creatures of no consideration have a long life vouchsafed to them Yea all the Heathens even the most learned of them complained much concerning this Theme of mans misery being never able to satisfie themselves in the cause of it But now by the Scripture we see it 's no wonder the race of mankind is thus adjudged to all misery seeing it 's all guilty of sinne before God so that if there had been no actual sinnes committed by the sonnes of men yet the ground would have been cursed to bring forth bryers and thorns man would have been miserable and mortal So that this doth
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
as easie to understand Epicurus his Atoms Pythagoras his numbers Plato's Aristotle's Entelechias as Illirieus his Homo theologicus in the way he layeth it down denying all along that original sinne is an accident This opinion made a great rent among the Lutherans whereof some were called Substantiarii others Accidentarii as Coceius the Papist relateth Coccius Thes de peccato but this is to be refused with great indignation Original sinne is most intimately cleaving to us inseparably joyned to the nature of man yet it is not the nature of man for then Christ could not have taken our nature without sin Though therefore it be seated in the soul and that most tenaciously yet it is not the essence of a man But of this more in its time Secondly It is also a great Dispute among the Schoolmen Whether original sinne be immediately and proximely seated in the essence of the soul or in the powers of it Whether because it is first in the essence of the soul therefore the understanding and will are corrupted Or Whether these powers are first polluted and infected by it But this is founded upon a philosophical Dispute Whether the soul and the faculties thereof are distinguished And therefore I shall not trouble you with it Thirdly Some Papists have limited original sinne onely to the affections to the inferiour and sensitive part of a man as if sinne were not in the understanding and reason at all but in the affections and fleshly part onely But the more learned of the Papists gainsay this and do acknowledge that the mind as well as other parts is polluted with this leprosie SECT IV. Wherein Original Sinne hath infected the minds of all men THese things premised Let us consider Wherein original sinne hath infected the minds of all men so that in respect thereof that is to be renewed And First Horrible ignorance of God and the things of salvation doth cover the soul of every man by nature even as darknesse was upon the face of the deep Thus Rom. 3. you heard the Apostle pronounceth generally There is Rome that understandeth or seeketh after God No not one Hence also Ephes 5. 8. unconverted persons are said to be darknesse in the very abstract and that both because of their original and acquired blindness of mind upon them What could the wisest and most learned of the world do in respect of any knowledge of Christ if this were not revealed for this cause it is called the Ministery and the Gospel is constantly compared to light and all the world is said To sit in darkness till this doth arise so that our minds are by nature wholly ignorant about our selves about God and Christ which made our Saviour say to Peter upon his confession That flesh and blend had not revealed this to him whereas then in the state of integrity our minds were as gloriously filled with all perfections and abilities as the firmament with slarres there was sapience in respect of God science in respect of all natural things to be known and prudence in respect of all things to be done now our eie is put out and like Sampson the Philistims can do what they please with us for this respect it is that every creature is better then man they have a natural instinct whereby they know what is proper for them Opera natura sunt opera artis or intelligeniae They have as much knowledge sensitive I mean as they were made with at first even the least creatures and most despicable yea God is maximus in minimus most wonder full in the least things which made Austin preferre Fly before the Sunne and that he did more admire Opera Formicarum then Onera Camelorum the wise workes of the Ant before the heavy burdens of Camels Thus all creatures have a suteable knowledge for their end in their way only man is in horrible darkness and is absolutely ignorant about God or his own happiness Therefore those opinions of some who attribute a possibility of salvation to Heathens by the natural knowledge they have do in effect make void Christ and the Gospel Secondly Original sinne doth not only deprive us of all knowledge of God in a saving way but also filleth us with error and positive mistakes whereby we have not only unbelief but misbelief our condition were not so universally miserable if so be our mindes were only in a not knowing or meer privative ignorance about God but oh the gross soul and absurd perswasions men have naturally about God! The Atheisme naturally that is in us either denying or doubting about God but especially the false and absurd representations of God to us It is from the error in mans mind that Polytheisme hath so abounded perswading themselves of many gods yea the idolatry that hath filled the pagarish world and under subtile distractions hath invaded the Church also doth abundantly proclaim original ignorance and error in us about divine things yea the wiser men as the Apostle observeth Rom. 1. They became the more foolish in their imaginations turning the image of God into the likeness of the vilest creatures But before we proceed we must answer an Objection that may be made to the Doctrine delivered for it will easily be said That the corruption hitherto mentioned in the understanding is actual sinne rather then original Ignorance Atheisme I dolatrical thoughts of God these must necessarily be judged actual and if it be so Why do we ascribe this to original And indeed this Objection is commonly made by Papists against the Positions and Confessions which the Protestants have made about original sinne for when they discribe the nature of it they usually instance in particulars as horrible ignorance Atheism and dissidence in the mind c. To this the Papists reply saying We confound actual and original sinne yea when we bring that famous place Gen. 5. 6. The imaginations of the thoughts of the heart are onely evil and that continually to prove original sinne they reply the same thing to that Text also Therefore to clear this we are to know that it is true Atheisme ignorance these are actual sinnes as they are put in exercise but yet when we ascribe them to original sinne we do not so much mean the actual exercise of these evils as the Proneness and propensity of the heart to them So that our meaning is The heart of it self is prone to all these actual wickednesses Therefore though we name these as actual yet you must understand them habitually and seminally there being an inclination to all that impiety Only the reason why we describe original sinne thus as if it were actual pollution it is Because that it is a principle alwaies acting it never ceaseth the sparkes of this lust are like those of hell which never go out as the heart of a man naturally never ceaseth its motion so neither doth the evil heart of a man This difficulty being removed let us proceed to discover
Some say therefore it 's an habit others as Aquinas and Dr Ames answering Mr Perkins his Objection Why it cannot be an act that it is an act But certainly as scientia is sometimes taken for that which is by way of a principle or habit in man and sometimes for that which is by way of act So also it is with conscience it taketh into its nature both that practical habit called by Aristotle Intellectus or the habit of first principles and also the actual application of them for if conscience were not habitual as well as in act There were no conscience in men when they are asleep which yet cannot be denied unto regenerate persons So that as in Scripture saith and love are taken sometimes for the habit of those graces sometimes for the acts of them so also conscience is taken both for the principle and the act it self For to the acting of conscience there is required as all observe a practical Syllogisme Thus Whosoever is a fornicator a drunkard a curser cannot inherit the kingdom of God But I am such a sinner Therefore I cannot inherit the kingdom of God Or on the contrary To him that believeth and is of a broken contrite heart pardon of sinne is promised But I believe and am of a broken heart Therefore to me pardon of sinne is promised Thus conscience is well called the practical understanding for whereas the speculative hath for its object that which is meerly true this looketh upon it as ordinable to action as such a truth is to be brought into particular application To every acting then of conscience compleatly there is required a Syllogisme either interpretative or formal And as Dr. Ames saith well Conscience in the major Proposition is Lex in the Assumption it is Testis in the Conclusion it is Judex In the first Proposition there it is by way of a Law dictating such a thing to be true In the Minor it is a Witnesse bearing witness either against or for our selves And lastly it is a Judge passing sentence according to the premisses And in that it is called conscience it doth relate to another a knowledge with another that is either our selves so that conscience in its actings is conceived as a person as it were distinct from us and so that witnesseth with our hearts what we are and what we have done Hence if a mans conscience lay a sinne to his charge though all the world free him yet he beareth guilt and terrour about with him Quid proderit tibi non habere conscium habenti conscientiam or else which is more probable it is called conscience or knowledge with in respect of God So that in the actings of conscience there is a sense and apprehension of the knowledge of God and his presence Therefore conscience doth alwayes bear some aspect to God this God will see this God will punish this God hath forbidden and therefore let me betime take heed how I do it So that while conscience hath any stirrings and vigorous actings there is some hope in a man Although it be thus generally received by all that conscience belongs to the understanding yet Durand makes it something probable Lib. 2. Distinct 39. Quast 4. That if it be not the will yet the will is necessarily included in the workings of conscience so that conscience doth denote understanding and will also For that act of conscience which is called remordere to bite and sting a man to make him grieve and be sad upon the committing of sinne must flow from the will Secondly Although man hath lost the Image of God and be thus all over polluted Yet he hath not lest neither his soul or the faculties thereof with some imbred principles both speculative and practical which can no more be separated from the soul then the beams from the Sunne Hence that habit of practical principles such as that there is a God that he is to be worshipped that Parents are to be honoured is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à conservando because these are kept and preserved still or rather as Martinius in his Lexicon out of Hierom because these do instigate and incline to keep us from sinne in our actions The Scholmen commonly call it Synderisis and say It is as much as con-electio but this is because of their ignorance of the Greek tongue These Reliques of Gods Image are lest in us still even as after some great fire of a stately Pallace there remain some sparks long after or in the demolishing of glorious Towns there will some rudera some remnants appear of such a building It is true This is questioned by some Illyricus out of his vehement desire to aggravate sinne denieth there is any sense or knowledge of a God left in a man more then in a bruit and endeavoureth to answer those places of Scripture which are brought to prove those common principles or implanted knowledge in a man by nature The Socinians also though plowing with another heifer do deny any implanted knowledge by a God but that it comes by same and tradition On the other side Pelagians Arminians and some Papists fall into another extream for they hold such principles about God and what is good that they may be light enough to guide us to salvation It is not my work now to examine either of these for the truth is between these two There are some implanted practical notions in us about God and what is good agaist those that erre in the defect and yet they are no wayes able to conduct to eternal happiness against those that erre in the excesse To prove this will be to anticipate my self in the protract of this Discourse about original sinne Therefore here only we take it for granted That there are such principles as also a conscience to discern between good and evil which though it be greatly polluted Yet this candle of the Lord as it is called Prov 20. 27. searching the inward things of a man is not quite extinct Whether these common principles are naturally propagated as the body is as the Lutherans say who hold the Traduction of souls from parents or whether they are De Novo created in the creation of the soul as the dissentient party from that opinion must hold is not here to be debated we may conclude That the soul hath a natural testimony in it self about God and therefore in sudden calamities doth immediately cry out to him which made Tortullian say O anima naturaliter Christiana Thirdly Because conscience doth thus witnes with God and as it were in Gods stead Hence it is That is hath such a command and power over a man that we must not go against conscience We may go against our wils against our affection but we must not go against our consciences no not when they are erroneous and though they dictate sinne as Rom. 14. ult Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne and be that doubteth is condemned conscience is but an
in the sight of God we speak in Christ Here was conscience and pure conscience as to any fundamental deficiency yet not perfectly pure for Gal. 5. he saith The flesh lusteth against the Spirit so that wheresoever the Spirit is there the flesh in some measure lusteth against it Oh them let even the most holy bewail original sinne in their consciences even in this respect That councel given by Paul to godly servants Colos 3. 17 18. That what they did they should do it in singlenesse of heart fearing God They should do it heartily as unto God not unto men The same are all the people of God bound to do in their service to God Oh how unworthy is it in religious duties to have an eye to man who will praise or dispraise if conscience were the motive thou wouldst neither care for good or bad report And this pure conscientious working is especially to be attended unto by such who are in publick Office The Civil Magistrate if he punish an offender not because he deserveth it but from malice or other sinister respects Though he cry out and pretend conscience and justice a thousand times over yet God looketh upon him as an unjust Magistrate though the thing he doth is just Thus it is also in the Ministers of the Gospel if they preach the Word diligently and constantly but yet the principal motives are either vain glory or a mereenary respect unto the profit and temporal advantage more then the soules of people and the glory of God here also that is done which conscience requireth but not upon conscientious motives we doe not these things as of God in the sight of God But I must not be too long in this particular although indeed we can never say enough herein it is such a close insinuating sinne into all mens breasts Secondly The natural conscience is grievously polluted by original sinne in regard of the limited and partial conviction or illumination that it is apt to receive Conscience will receive light but at a little cranny or hole it will be convinced to doe some things especially if of no great consequence but the greater and more weighty things they are apt to neglect This dough-baked conscience that is hot on one side and cold on the other is the temper of most men How seemingly religious and zealous in some particulars And then for dutâ—ies of greater concernment they are like clods of earth Our Saviour charged this partial conscience upon the Pharisees Luke 11. 42. They tished mint and rue but the things of mercy and judgement they neglected The Chief-priests also they were afraid of defiling themselves by entring into the common-hall and yet had no scruple about shedding the innocent bloud of our Lord Christ And what is more ordinary then this May ye not observe many persons as much moved with rage upon the removal of any needlesse or superstitious Ceremonies as the Athenians were about their Diana and yet for grosse prophanenesse and all manner of excessive riot they are never moved at that they have no zeal for God's glory though iniquity abound in every place Doth not all this discover the hypocrisie and rottennesse of such a conscience Take heed then thy conscience is not like some creatures begotten of putride matter that in their former part have life but in their later have nothing but earth or slime So in some part thy conscience is alive and in other things it is dead If thy conscience tell thee It 's thy duty to pray to hear to keep up Family-duties and yet withall suffereth thee to do unjust unclean and other dishonest things of impiety This is not right it is not regenerated as yet So on the other side If conscience bid thee Be just and upright in all thy dealings be mercifull and tender to fit objects of charity and herein thou art ready but thy conscience doth not at all presse thee to the duties of the first Table to sanctifie the Sabbath to keep up Family-duties to walk contrary to the sinfull course of the world then it is plain that as yet thy conscience is in the gall of bitternesse it hath but some partial conviction not a total and plenary one Thirdly The conscience of a natural man in this also is greatly polluted In that it is very severe and easily accusing of other mens sinnes but it is blind about its own it seeth no evil in it self while it can aggravate the sinnes of others Thus conscience as in other respects so in this also is like the eye which can see all other things but not it self Matth. 7. 3. Such a corrupt conscience likewise our Saviour chargeth upon the Pharisees when he calleth them Hypocrites and biddeth them Pull out the beam in their own and then the more in other mens The Apostle also Rom. 2. 1. beginneth that Chapter Therefore thou art inexcusable O man who judgest others and doest the same things thy self What is more ordinary then this to be Eagle-eyed to spie out the faults and sinnes of others and as blind as a mole about thy self David was very zealous against that injurious man Nathan represented in a Parable and in the mean while did not think that he was the man that this was his sinne Judah also was severe against Tamar who had played the whore till she sent him the staff and bracelets that he might see he was the man Thus you see even godly men are greatly blinded about themselves no wonder then if the natural man be wholly in darknesse Oh then pray and again pray for light to shine into thy own heart Let conscience turn its eyes inward once more know the worst by thy self Think with Paul I am the greatest of all sinners with Tertullian Peccator sum omnium natorum a sinner with the brand and mark of all sins on me at least in motion and inclination say I see those sins in my self which the world doth not none can judge and condemn me more then I can do my self but the contrary is in every mans natural conscience he thinketh himself better then others he blesseth himself in his good heart and is a severe censurer of other mens sinnes Thus he hath those Lamiae of eyes that he taketh up when he goeth abroad and layeth aside when he cometh home Fourthly The conscience naturally is defiled Because of the ease and security it hath though if it were awakened and could do its duty it would not let thee have any rest day or night And this is one of the main particulars wherein original sinne discovers it self in the conscience all life all spiritual tendernesse and apprehension is taken away that whereas conscience is especially seen in the reflex acts of the soul To know our knowledge to judge the actions of the mind and the heart yea and to judge those judgments now we can no more do these things then very beasts do and by reason of this there is a great
if nothing aâ—led them many yeares after when they were in anguish of mind by Joseph's severe carriage towards them Gen. 42. 21. Then they said one to another We are very guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us so that some unexpected calamity may be to us as the hand-writing on the will to Belshazzar making conscience to tremble within us 3. God as a just Judge can command these Hornets and Bees to arise in thy conscience It is plain Cain when he set himselfe to build Townes thought to remove that trembling which was upon him but he could not do it how many have set themselves with all the might they could to be delivered from this anguish of conscience and could not because God is greater then our conscience if he command terror and trembling none can expell it This troubled conscience is threatned as a curse to such who did break the Law of God Deut. 29. 65 67. The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and sorrow of mind In the morning thou shalt say would God it were day for the fear of thy heart Here we may observe that God can when he pleaseth strike the heart of the most jolly and prophane sinner with such a trembling conscience that he shall not have rest day or night and when God after much patience abused doth smite the soul with such horror and astonishment many times This never tendeth to a gracious and Evangelical humiliation but as in Cain and Judas is the beginning even of hell it self in this life So fearfull a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God when provoked Heb. 10. 31. For in such as ver 27. there is a certain fearfull looking for the indignation and wrath of God which will devour the adversaries 4. This troubled conscience may and doth often come by the Spirit of God convincing and reprooving by the Word especially the law discovered in the exactness and condemning power of it Joh. 16. 8. The Spirit of God doth reproove or convince the world of sinne Now conviction belongs to the conscience principally and indeed this is the ordinary way for the conversion of any Gods Spirit doth by the Law convince and awaken conscience making it unquiet and restless finding no bottome to stand upon it hath nothing but sinne no righteousness to be justified by the law condemneth justice arraigneth and he is overwhelmed not knowing what to doe This is the worke of Gods Spirit and of this some do expound that place Rom. 8. 15. Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but of adoption It is the same spirit which is called the spirit of bondage and of Adoption onely it 's called so from different operations It 's the spirit of bondage while by the Law it humbleth us filleth the conscience with fear and trembling not that the sinfulnesse or slavishnesse of these fears opposing the way of faith are of the Spirit but the tremblings themselves and it is the Spirit of Adoption when it rebuketh all tormenting fears giving Evangelical principles of Faith Love and Assurance Now these fears thus wrought by the Spirit of God in the Ministry of the Word though they be not alwaies necessary antecedents of conversion yet are sometimes ordained by God to be as it were a John Baptist to make way for Christ Lastly These troubles of conscience may arise through Gods permission from the Devil For when God leaveth thee to Satan's kingdome as it was the case of the incestuous person to be buffeted by him tempted by him you see he did so farre prevail with him that he was almost swallowed up with too much grief Therefore when God will evangelically compose the conscience by faith in Christs bloud he taketh off Satan again and suffereth him not to cast his fiery darts into us any longer The false wayes that the wounded Conscience is prone to take THese things explained Let us return to consider the pollution of natural conscience in the two particulars mentioned whereof The first is That the wounded conscience for sinne is very ready to use false remedies for its cure These stings he seeleth are intollerable he cannot live and be thus he taketh no pleasure in any thing he hath but he cometh not to true peace for either they go to carnal and sinfull wayes of pleasure so to remove their troubles or to superstitions and uncommanded wayes of devotion thinking thereby to be healed The former too many take who when troubled for sinne their hearts frequently smite them they call this Melancholly and Pusillanimity Tush they will not give way to such checks of conscience but they will go to their merry company they will drink it away they will rant it away or else they will goe to their merry pastimes and sports Thus as Herod sought to kill Jesus as soon as he was borne so do these strive to suffocate and stifle the very beginnings and risings of conscience within them Oh wretched men prepared for hell torments Though now thou stoppest the mouth of conscience yet hereafter it will be the gnawing worme It 's this troubled conscience that makes hell to be chiefly hell It 's not the flaming fire it 's not the torments of the body that are the chiefest of hels misery but the griping and torturing of conscience to all eternity This is the hell of hels Others when none of these means will rebuke the stormes and waves of their soul but they think they must perish then they set themselves upon some superstitious austere waies as in Popery to go on Pilgrimage to enter into some Monastery to undertake some bodily affliction and penalty and by these means they think to get peace of conscience but Luther found by experience the insufficiency of all these courses That all their Casuists were unwise Physicians and that they gave gall to drinke in stead of honey In the next place therefore This pollution of a troubled conscience is seen In it's opposition to Christ to an Evangelical Righteousnesse and the sway of believing Conscience is farre more polluted about Christ and receiving of him then about the commands and obedience thereunto for naturally there is something in conscience to do the things of the Law but the Gospel and the Doctrine about Christ is wholly supernatural and by revelation Hence although it is clear That the conscience truly humbled for sinne ought to believe in Christ for expiation thereof Yet how long doth the broken heart continue ignorant of this duty Their conscience troubleth them accuseth them for other sins but not for this of not particularly applying Christ to thy self for comfort whereas thou art bound in conscience to believe in Christ as well as repent of sinne I say thou art bound in conscience and if thou doest not by particular acts of faith receive Christ in
God implying That the Sunne and the night can no more stand together then the remembring of God and carnal confidence can the ambitious man the voluptuous man remembring God would find it to be like thunder and lightning upon the soul This would immediately stop him in his waies of iniquities Thus 2 Sam. 14 11. that suborned woman of Tekoah in her disguised Parable to David complaining of some that would rise up against her to destroy her sonne she desireth the King to stop the revengers wrath by this Argument Let the King remember the Lord thy God Thus when thou art sollicited inticed to any evil way Remember thou God the infinite God the just God the omniscient God the dreadfull and terrible God in all his wayes of anger Nehemiah also maketh use of this Argument to quicken up the Jews against sinfull fear and cowardise in Gods work Nehem. 4. 14. 1 said to the Nobles and Rulers of the people be ye not afraid of them but remember the Lord which is great and terrible This God complaineth of Isa 57. 11. Thou hast not remembred me nor laid it to thy heart and therefore were they so propense to all their abominations These Texts may suffice to inform that our memories ought constantly to be fixed upon God and no sooner do we let him out of our mind but immediately some sinne or other is committed But how unspeakably is the memory of every man naturally polluted herein When is God in their thoughts Amongst those millions and millions of objects which thou dost remember when is the great God the just God the holy God thought on May you not see it by the bold impiety and undaunted wickednesse of all unregenerate men that they remember not God Yea the godly themselves finde in part this pollution upon their memory Whence arise those carnal feares those dejected thoughts Is it not because you forget the greatnesse and goodnesse of God Bewail thy memory-sinfulnesse as well as other sins 2. As the Scripture prescribes the object of our memory viz God himself so it doth instance in one time more then at another Though at all times God is to be remembred yet in one time of our age though there be greatest cause yet our lusts and desire after other things do greatly hebetate our memory We have the injunction from Solomon himself Eccl 12. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth Here you see who is to be remembred when he is to be remembred God is to be remembred and that in the time of our youth But do not the strong effects of original sin heightned also by actual sins discover herein most palpable impiety in young persons they remember their lusts their pleasures in the dayes of their youth and God is never in all their thoughts Oh where may we find a young Timothy that was acquainted with the Scripturee from his infancy Where an Obadiah That feared God from the youth Do not most young persons live so negligently about holy things as if they were allowed to be dissolute as if the things of Heaven and eternity did not belong to them as if Solomon had said the contrary Do not remember God in the dayes of thy youth be not so strict and precise but follow thy pastimes and pleasures Thus the very memory of God and holy things is a burden to young persons They think Solimon spake farre better Chap. 11. 9. when he saith Rejoyce O young man in thy youth let thy heart cheer thee and walk in the wayes of thy heart remove sorrow and evil away They like this well This is good but there is a sting in that which followeth Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement This will quickly damp all thy youthfull jollities Let then young persons especially bewail the sinfulnesse and forgetfulnesse of their memory herein This is the best and most flourishing time for your memory now it is put upon to learn either Mechanical Trades or the Liberal Arts your memories are most drawn out in inferiour things but take the advantage to imploy it more about holy things You hear old persons complain they have lost their memory they grow forgetfull therefore fix your memories upon good things while you may 3. The Scripture commends the Word of God likewise as the object of our memory Timothy had learnt the Scripture from his Infancy The word of God was for this end amongst others as you heard committed to writing that so we might the more readily have it in our memories Mal. 4. 4. the Prophet commands them to remember the Law of Moses with the statutes and judgments yea they were to have such a ready and familiar knowledge of the Word of God that when they were rising or walking they were to be speaking of them Deut. 6. 7 8 9. we may there see what care is taken that the Law of God should be alwayes in their mind but do we not evidently behold the cursed and wretched pollution of mans memory in this particular Why is it that little children will remember any Songs sooner then the principles of Religion Why is it that many persons who are not able to remember any thing of the Scripture or the Sermons they have heard yet can remember Ballads and Songs they can remember their youthfull pranks and talk of them with delight but they cannot give any account of the good truths that in their younger years were preached to them When do ye hear such say Such a Sermon wounded me at heart it sticketh still upon me I shall never forget it Now is not the sinfulnesse of the memory greatly to be bewailed in this particular If it were holy and sanctified it would take more delight and joy to remember Scripture-truths then any thing else whereas now thy memory is like a sieve that lets the corn and weighty grain fall through but the light refuse stuff that it retaineth Thus what is solid and would do thy soul good that quickly passeth away Oh that we could not fay our Sermons passe away as a tale that is told for those you do remember and you will carry a long while in your mind empty frothy things those abide long with you Would you not judge it madnesse in the Husbandman if he should pluck up and hinder the growth of his corn and let cockle and tare with other weeds flourish Thus thou dost about thy memory throw away the flours and keep the weeds whereas thy memory should be like the holiest of holies nothing but what is select and sanctified should enter therein 4. That I may not be too long in these instances The works of God whether in his mercy or in his wrath they are to be the object of our memory Thus the Scripture speaketh often of remembring his marvellous works Matth. 16. 19. Christ reproveth his Disciples because they did not remember the miracle of the loaves All the great
Memory is polluted in respect of its inward vitiosity adhering to it SEcondly As the memory is thus defiled about its proper objects so there is much inward vitiosity adhering to it And this we may take notice of as a main one The dullness sluggishness and stupidity of it especially as to heavenly things who can give any other reason why good things holy things should not be remembered as well as evil and sinfull things but only the native pollution of the memory And from hence it is that there is such a lethargy as it were upon the memory for if Peter 2 Pet 3. 1 writing to those who were sanctified and that had pure minds yet he thought it meet to stirre them up a metaphor as you heard from men asleep who need to be awakened how much more doth the memory of a natural man need stirring and exciting There is then a wonderfull stupidity and sleepiness as it were upon the memory it is even rusty as it were and unfit for any use men do not exercise and put their memories upon practice little do they know what they could remember if they did mind it and exercise themselves to remember what is good Thou complainest of a bad memory of a slippery memory No it is thy laziness it 's thy bad heart it 's thy want of diligence Thy memory would be as good and as active for holy things as it is for earthly things if you did put it in practice more but the memory being naturally dull and stupid thou lettest it alone thou never improvest it never awakenest it and so through thy forgetfullness thou comest eternally to perish This lethargy upon thy memory though a sad disease yet might be cured if thou wert real and industrious about it much praying and much practising of it in holy things would make it as expedite and as ready about good things as ever it was in any evil things In the third place The memory is naturally unsanctified in this particular that wherein it can or doth remember there it produceth not suteable operations nor doth it obtain its end The end of remembring what is good is to love it to practise it and to imitate it The end of remembring evil is to loath it bitterly to repent of it and to fly from it Now herein our memory is grosly polluted that it never obtaineth this blessed and holy end whereas if our memories were never so admirable as that of Symonides or Appelonius Thyaneus when he was about an hundred yeares old yet if our memory be not effectual and operative to make us more holy and heavenly this is a sinfull and defiled memory And for this reason it is that wicked men are said to forget God because though they do remember him yet they do not performe those duties to which their memory should be subservient For as the end of knowledge is action so the end of memory also is to be doing and as it is said If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them so when ye remember these things it 's a blessed thing to put them in practise But how often do we see by experience that where the memory is naturally very good there morally it is very bad and sinfull Do you not meet with many that can remember the Scripture remember Sermons yet never remember the practice of them whereas God hath given us memory for the same end he hath given us a knowledge which is to direct and help us in our operations That as in beasts they have a sensitive memory in them to preserve their natural being The Oxe remembreth his Masters crib the bird remembreth her seasons and all this for natural preservation The Bee remembereth the place of her hive The Ant her nest though some Philosophers because of the great siceity of the constitution of those creatures attribute it to a natural instinct rather then memory so this should be much more true in men therefore doth God bestow on us an intellectual memory that thereby he might spiritually preserve himself making use of that which is advantagious to his soul and avoiding all that which is destructive As then we are not to know only that we may know or to know thereby making ostentation that others may take notice of it so neither are we to remember that we may remember only or to brag of our memory that others may wonder to see what a strong and retentive memory we have but that thereby we may be more promoted and advanced in heavenly things Let all such tremble under this consideration who have very quick and sure memories about the Scripture and the Sermons they hear yet are very ungodly in their lives and walk in a contrary way to all that they do remember This argueth thy memory is not a sanctified memory that it carrieth not on the work of grace in thee for which end only it ought to be imployed It is observed that two sorts of men need a good memory First The lyar Oportet mendacem esse memorem now every professing Christian living wickedly is a lyar for with words he acknowledgeth him butin workes he denieth him insomuch that thou who lyest thus to God shouldst remember thy professions and obligations the second sort is of greatest accomptants such who have great summes to cast up and to be accountable for these also had need of great memories and such is every man Oh the vast and numberless particulars of which he is one day to give an account to God! Oh what a proficient in holiness might thou have been if all the good things thou remembrest were in a practical manner improved if thou couldst give a good account to God of thy memory for that you are to do as well as of the improvement of other parts of the soul As God at the day of judgement will have an account of every talent he hath given thee of thy understanding of thy will how these have been employed so likewise of thy memory What is that good that holiness thy memory hath put thee upon and this also you who are young ones and servants living in godly Families are diligently to attend to for you think this is enough if you can remember a Sermon or Catechistical heads so as to give an account to your Governors if you can satisfie them you think this is enough but thou art greatly deceived for therefore art thou to remember that thou maist do accordingly Thou art never to forget this or that truth that so it may be ready at hand to direct thee in all thy wayes and this is indeed a divine act of memory There are those who teach the art of memory and give rules to perfect a man therein but divine and holy operation is the end of the Christian art of our memory Fourthly The pollution of our memory is seen In that it is made subservient to the corrupt frame and inclination of our hearts We
remember what our hearts are set upon what our affections are earnest for whereas our memory should precede and go before them for the intellective memory is the same with the mind and understanding of a man for although to remember be not properly an act of knowledge yet this intellective memory we make the same with the mind of a man as it extends to things that are past The memory then is to make way for the heart and the affections to be directive to them whereas now for the most part it is made a slave to the corrupt heart for if the understanding in it all 's hegemonical and primary actions hath lost its power how much more is this true in the memory For the most part therefore the badness of the heart makes a bad memory and a good heart a good memory men complain they cannot remember when indeed they will not remember their hearts are so possessed and inslaved to earthly things that they remember nothing but what tendeth thereunto This is the ground of that saying Omnia quae curant senes meminerunt Old men remember all things their hearts are let upon all things they do earnestly regard They can remember their bonds the place where their money lieth because their hearts are fixed upon these things but no holy or good things can lodge in their memories The rule is Frigus est mater obiivionis Coldness is the mother of oblivion as is partly seen in old men and thus it is even in old and young their hearts are cold earthly lumpish even like stones about holy things and therefore it is no wonder if they remember them no better so that we may generally conclude That the cause of all they blockishness and forgetfullness about divine things is thy sinfull and corrupt heart if that were better thy memory would be better We have a notable place Jer. 2. 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten me daies without number Can a bride forget her attire and ornament it is impossible because her delight and affections are upon it but saith God My people have forgotten me daies without number Why so because I am not that to them which ornaments are to a bride saith God if they delight in me rejoyce in me if they did account me their glory then they would never forget me By this you see that therefore we forget God and his wayes because our hearts are not in love with him Can he that is powerfully conquered by love of a friend forget his friend Doth he not alwaies remember him Is not a friend alter ego Is not the lovers soul more where it loveth then where it animateth Thus it would be also with us in reference unto God therefore we have bad memories because bad hearts It is true some natural causes may either deprive us wholly of or greatly enervate the memory Thus Messalla that famous Orator judged to be more elaborate then Tully two yeares before his death forgot all things even his own name Hermogenes also that famous Rhetorician who wrote those Rhetorical institutions which are read with admiration of all and this he did when he was but eighteen years old and some six yeares after grew meerly stupid and sensless without any evident cause of whom it was said that he was Inter pueros senex inter senes puer Thucidides as Vostius reporteth Orat. institut lib. 6. speaketh of such an horrible pestilence that those who did recover of it grew so forgetfull that they did not know their friends neither remembred what kind of life or profession they once followed So that natural causes may much weaken the memory but if we speak in a moral sense then nothing doth so much corrupt the memory about holy things as a sinfull and polluted heart Fifthly The pollution of the memory is seen In that it is not now subject in the exercise of it to our will and power We cannot remember when we would and when it doth most concern us whereas in the state of integrity Adam had such an universal Dominion over all the powers of his soul that they acted at what time and in what measure he pleased Thus his affections were subject to him in respect of their rise progress and degree and so for his memory he had all things in his mind as he would Some indeed question Whether Adam did then Intelligere per Phantasmata But that seemeth inseparable from the nature of man while upon the earth and living an animal life though without sinne No doubt his soul being the form of the whole man did act dependently upon the instrumentality of the body though such was the admirable constitution of his body that nothing could make the operations thereof irregular Adam then had nothing which could either Physically or Morally hinder the memory but all was under his voluntary command whereas such an impotency is upon us that if we would give a world we cannot remember the things we would Hence we are force to compel our selves by one thing after another to bring to our minds what is forgotten for in remembring there is some dependance of one thing upon another as rings if tied together are more easily taken hold of then when they lie singly and loosly And this Austin lib. 10. confes maketh to be the Etimology of the word Cogito Cogito à cogo as Agito ab ago Factito à facio as if to cogitate were to force and compell things into our minds Let us then mourn and humble our selves under this great pollution of nature that those things which are of such infinite consequence which are as much as our salvation and eternal happiness are worth yet we do not we cannot remember Hence in the sixth place The memory being not under our command it falleth out that things come into our minds When we would not have them yea when it is a sinne to receive them How often in holy duties in religious performances do we remember things which happily we could not do when the fit season and opportunity was for them Do not many worldly businesses come into our minds when we are in heavenly approaches to God that as Job 1. when the sonnes of God came and appeared before God then Satan came also and stood with them Thus when thou art busie to remember all those Scripture-arguments which should humble thee in Gods presence which should exalt and life up thy soul to God How many heterogeneous and distracting thoughts do croud in also so that this worldly business and that earthly imploiment cometh into thy remembrance Insomuch that the people of God though their memories are sanctified and so cleansed in much measure from original filth in the dominion of it yet do much groan under this importante and unseasonable remembring of things for hereby our duties have not that united force and power as they should have neither is God so
The word signifieth more then ordinary affections even such as to make them trepidate and leap for joy yet this was but for a season So Mat. 13. there are some hearers who yet had not root enough that did receive the Word with joy By these instances it is plain That our affections are full of deceit full of falshood we know not when to trust them It is hard to tell what it is that draweth them out even in our holy duties and if the godly though in some measure regenerated find the power of this deceit upon their affections certainly the natural man he is all over cosened his affections are altogether a lie to him he saith he loves God with all his heart he saith he is grieved for all his sins when all the while his affections are moved from other respects SECT XIV Also they are more zealously carried out to any false and erroneous way then to the Truths of God FOurthly Herein also is manifested the great pollution of our affections That they are more earnestly and zealously carried out to any false and erroneous way then to the truths of God Let a man be in an heretical way in a superstitious way in any deluded way of Religion and you will find such to be more affectionate in their way then the godly can be in a true way and the reason is because our affections have more sutablenesse with what is corrupt and false then with what is true and of God Observe all the false religions that are in the world may you not admire at the zeal at the pains they take for the propagation of their opinions how restlesse they are Which certainly may exceedingly shame the children of the truth that men should be more active for the Devil then they can be for God Our Saviour observed it of the Pharisees how they compassed sea and land to make proselytes And Paul speaking of the Jews Rom. 10 2. He beareth them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge The more affection in a wrong way the more dangerous it is It is good to be zealously affected saith the Apostle in a good thing Gal. 4 18. This he speaketh because the false apostles did appear with a great deal of affection none seemed to manifest such passionate bowels to people as they did but saith Paul they zealously affect you but not well It is not from spiritual and heavenly motives that they are thus affectionate towards you Well then this is sadly to be bewailed that our affections will vehemently runne like a torrent down any false or erroneous way whereas to that which is truth indeed we can hardly raise them up Wonder not then if you see the Papist in his superstitious way the erroneous person in his false way to be so full of affections and devotion in his perswasions for alas it is easie falling down the hill error and supersition is agreeable with the corrupt nature of man When we read what some Monks and Hermites have done in solitary places afflicting themselves macerating their bodies we may admire how their affections in that way could hold out so long but mans heart like the earth will bring forth nettles and weeds of it self but it cannot corn or flowers without diligent managing of it Let us then mourn for this evil that is come upon our affections look upon all the superstitious and false wayes in the world See with what greedinesse and vehemency they are carried out to them but as for thee whom God preserveth in the truth and keepeth in his wayes thou art quickly weary in well-doing Oh be afraid lest all the pains and diligence of man in false wayes do not rise up to condemn thee for thy slothfulnesse in Gods wayes SECT XV. They are for the most part inlets to all sinne in the Soul HErein are these motions of the soul greatly depraved In that they are inlets for the most part of all sinne into the soul They are the weakest part of the wall and therefore Satan doth commonly begin his batteries there this is as it were the thatcht part of the building and so any spark of lusts falling upon it doth immediately set the whole building on fire It is true the senses they are the out-works and porches as it were of the soul and therefore temptations begin there but then the affections are the second Court as it were so that for the most part the mind and the will are carried on to sinne because the affections are first corrupted these lye as Saul's men did all asleep while his enemies had the opportunity to take away not only his spear but his life Now it is good to know that the order and method of the souls motions to any outward objects in its first creation was very rational and commensurate to the true rule for then the understanding did first apprehend and take notice of the objects to be loved which it did consider without any ignorance or error upon this clear proposition of the object The will did readily receive and imbrace it and when this was all done then the affections were subsubsequent they immediately followed without any delay so that Adam had this perfect method in all his actions before his apostacy reason did begin and affections did end but what confusion and disorder is now brought upon us affections do now begin not the eies but the feet do lead the Devil and sinne get their first entrance into the soul by the affections so that as the Philosophers say in a natural way Quicquid est in intellectâ— prius fuit in sensu whatsoever is in the understanding was first in the sence so may we say morally Quicquid est in voluntate prius fuit in appetitu sensitivo whatsoever is in the will was in the affections and no wonder it is so now seeing that the Devil did bring sinne into the world by beseiging the affections at first and thereby corrupting the understanding for as Satan did first tempt Eve the weaker vessel and so beguiled Adam whereupon the woman is said to be first in the transgression so even in man he did first begin with the affectionate part the Eve as it were and by that did overcome the rational part which was like the Adam Eve then was tempted to sinne although she had no corrupt principles within her meerly because the bait laid for her was sutable to her sense and affections how much more then do affections like so many thieves open all the doors and let iniquity come in every where when reason and grace have no command over them Sit down then and well consider this particular That thy affections do first beatray thee Thy ruin doth begin in them and therefore whosoever would keep any sinne from taking the Castle of the soul he must watch over his affections he must be sure to put out every spark of their fire as it were Job made a
in the world as there are men and women yet in one man or one woman there is but one original sinne Thus David Psal 51. 5. confessed his particular birth-sinne not that it was his case alone not that any other ought not say so as well as David but because this consideration doth most humble and affect a man for what is it to hear that in the general there is such a thing as original sinne unless a man make particular application to himself unless he bring it home to his own heart unless he cry out Ah wretched and undone sinner I even I am the man that am thus born in sinne even though there were no other men in the world yet I should be by nature the child of wrath And truly this is one reason of our large discoursing upon this point that you might at last bring this coal of fire as it were into your bosome to kindle there not only to think of the undone estate of mankind in the general but to think this is true of thee I am the man of whom all this evil is spoken Believe thy self to be such a Toad such a Devil Hearken to the Word more then to these flattering and soothing suggestions which thy own deluded heart or corrupt teachers may obtrude upon thee Secondly That although this original sinne be commonly called the sinne of the nature yet that is not to be so understood as if it were not also existent in the person and so a personal sinne Catharinus Opusc casu hominis confesseth he doth not understand how original sinne can be called the sinne of the nature for the nature is an abstract and it is a Chymerical sigment to say an universal nature is capable of sinne because Actiones sunt suppositorum and the late known Enemy to this truth doth as it were triumph in his Arguments against this expression when it is called The sinne of our Nature Further Explicat of the Doctrine of Orig. pag. 493. For while he is wresting and wrecking the miserable 9th Article of the Church of England adding and detracting Procrustus-like to make it commensurate to his prepossessed imagination although he should remember that according to the Civil Law no credit is to be given to confessions extorted upon the rack he positively dictates that sin is an affection of persons not of natures The humane nature cannot be said to be drunk or commit adultery Actiones sunt suppositorum and sin is a breach of the Law to which persons not natures are obliged This Argument I remember is urged also by some against Christs obedience that the Law did not bind his humane nature because it was not a person and therefore the command did not reach to him as he was man to do this or that But the answer is very obvious That although the Law doth immediately bind the persons yet mediately it doth also the nature Who can deny but that the Law to love God though immediately it be commanding the person Thou shalt love the Lord c yet thereby the soul of a man is also reached unto so that hatred of God in the soul as it is there inherent is forbidden mediately Otherwise there could be no habitual sins or graces because the command or threatning did no wayes reach to them In the next place to our purpose in hand concerning original sinne it is ignorantly objected That Actiones sunt suppositorum For we doe not say Original sinne is an action it is in the nature of habits So that this ariseth from a gross mistake That a child doth actually sinne in partaking of this nature-defilement We say it doth contrahere peccatum or receive this pollution with its nature not that it doth actually sinne in the reception of it But then 3. When it 's called the sinne of our nature it is not meant as if this nature did universally exist any where that indeed would be a meer Chimera or as if mans nature were any where but in a person But that wheresoever the nature of a man is any where subsistent in individuums there is also this corruption Even visibility and mortality are the universal properties of the nature of man There is no man but hath these affections So also is original sinne thus inseparably annexed to the nature of man wheresoever it doth particularly subsist To this purpose Julius Sirenius a Scholastical Writer Promptu Theolog. lib. 20. 22. When we say Original sinne is a siane of the humane nature Non ita velim intelligas quasi naturae per se considerata actio aliqua convenire possit c. do not understand it as if any action could agree to nature considered in it self for not the action which is of the suppositum but the modus agendi belongeth the nature existent in the suppositum for sin is not an action but the mode or rather the defect of the mode in an action The Sum is this A man is born thus in sin not because he is this or that person but because he is a man descending from lapsed Adam So that by this we see that it is the sin of our nature and yet so as it is the sin of every person new born but we are necessitated to call it the sin of our corrupt nature to distinguish it from all actual and habitual sinnes which are the sinnes of one person that they are not necessarily the sinnes of others Every man is not necessarily a proud man an unclean man but every one is thus a defiled man destite of the Image of God only this must alwayes be remembred That it is not our nature-sinne as we had it from Creation but as vitiated by Adam's voluntary transgression and if he would put it in the definition of man that he was animal rationale mortale we may adde ad peccata prenum prone and inclming to sinne for we must consider man otherwise in Divinity and by Scripture-light then we do in Philosphy Hence to be a man or to walk as a man in Scripture-phrase sometimes is to be sinfull and to do a thin sinfully You see then that upon good grounds original sinne is called the sinne of our natures and that as in actual sinnes the person doth defile the nature So on the contrary in original sinne the nature defileth the person for the humane species was in Adam as we say the whole species of the Sunne is in the Sunne though with some dissimilitude Hence it is that according to the Exposition of some learned men it is called The sinne of the world not my sinne or thy sinne but the sinne of the world John 1. 29. For this Rule is given that wheresoever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used with the emphatical Article in the Singular number as in this place there we must alwayes understand original sinne but perhaps that is no more true then another Rule viz. where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath the Article 〈◊〉
time of the cause of such evil customs and examples How came they at first Whence did they arise but from polluted originals This will not answer the Text in hand for that speaketh of the first age before the drowning of the world which yet is called the world of the ungodly 2 Pet. 2. 5. It was the world of ungodly in the first age and still in the later ages it is the world of ungodly Yea this is still applied to that remnant of mankind which escaped the deluge when there were but eight persons Gen. 8. It 's there said That the imagination of mans heart was 〈◊〉 his youth It is strange therefore that if good seed was naturally sown in 〈◊〉 that nothing but tares should come up every where in stead thereof But let us take notice of another place of Scripture confirming the universal overslowing of iniquity and that is David's complaint which he so sadly poureth forth calling upon God to help and to redress it Psal 12. 1. Help Lord for the godlyman ceaseth the faithfull fail from among the children of man They speak vanity every one with his neighbour It is true here are some supposed to be godly and faithfull but they are few comparatively to the ungodly as flowers to the weeds as jewels to the sand on the seashore and those that were so it was not from nature but the grace of God that sanctified and prepared them But if you do regard the general the Psalmist is so affectionately moved with the overflowing of evil that he seeth no help but in God himself and this is the more to be aggravated because the people of Israel were the Church of God they had the Prophets of God they had Gods wonderfull presence amongst them and yet for all that this garden so planted and dressed by God did become a wildernesse If then where there are many external and powerfull means to subdue and conquer that innate corruption yet it break out so violently What if man were left to himself How abominable and vile would he prove And was not this the perpetual complaint of all the Prophets successively that every one did turn aside to their evil wayes that they did preach in vain that there was no soundnesse amongst them a sinfull Nation a seed of evil-doers The more they were stricken the more they revolted The whole head was sick and the whole heart faint as Isaiah most affectionately bewalleth it Chap. 1. 4 5. What a strong demonstration then is this of the imbred corruption of mankind that under all the means of grace doth yet overflow in impicties I shall not mention any more Texts for this purpose The whole scope of the Scripture being to declare mans sinfulness and extoll Gods grace Secondly This universal propensity to sinne in all mankind is likewise attested unto even by the very Heathens It 's true they knew nothing of Adams tall nor of the propagation of this hereditary pollution yet the sinfulness it self they perceived and groaned under it Even Grotius himself who would elude the pregnant Texts of Scripture for original sinne by the Rhetoricians trope of Hyperbole yet doth bring in many passages out of the Heathens acknowledging such a depravation of mans nature out of Heriocles the Philosopher Jamblichus that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it 's implanted and ingraffed in us to sinne Comment in Luc. cap. 2. ver 22. as also De Jure botli as paci lib. 2. Yea out of Aristotle who held this indifferency in mans nature he brings that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is imbred in a man to gain-say reason Thus the very Heathens though they knew not the cause yet could not but confess that vitium ingenita infirmitatis the vitious imbred infirmity that is in every man Yea their Poets have acknowledged better Divinity then some later writers in the Church witness those sayings Quantuns mortalia peceatora coecae noctis habent and another Vitiis neme sine nascitur A third Terras Astraeae reliquit fergning our originals to be of stones Inde genus duri sumus Homines suâ naturâ sunt malis as Plato We might be large also in bringing the witnesses of others Nihil homine miserius superbius said Pliny simul atque ediâ—i sumus and Tully In omni continuò pravitate versamur c. And what is that saying Humanum est errare but according to Divinity Humanum est peccare Thus the light of nature though but like that of the Owl to the Sunne could perceive something in this kind Now this testimony is the more to be regarded because it is so imbred a desire in us to make our selves as lovely as may be and to hide every thing that is deformed Thirdly 〈◊〉 principle also in all Nations to have Magistrates and Laws to have prisonâ—â—â—gibbets whereby punishment may be inflicted upon offenders doth palpably demonstrate what a pronenesse there is in man to sinne For those provisoes do suppose that man doth restrain himself from evil only for fear of punishment If so be that there were such a natural purity in man Why should there be such jealousies such fears of man Homo homini lupus Why are there provided such severe punishments to awe wicked men but that mans nature is out of credit it is supposed to do all the evil it can if it have any impunity Certainly it is not for good that Mastives are tied up that Bears and Lions are kept up in grates This argueth how cruel they would be if let loose Thus also it is with mankind all the severe Laws and punishments which are in all estates established do demonstrate how wild and outragious man is if left alone to himself In his younger yeares he hath the rod when growne up prisons and gallows and in his old age death and hell to awe him against sinne Fourthly The necessary of Education and Chastisement to young children doth also declare that they are prone to vice It cannot be denied but supposing Adam had continued in integrity and procreated children they would have needed instruction and information but then withall it must be granted that this was a meer innocent nesciency in them and therefore as the body had been prepared so the soul without any difficulty would with all aptnesse and readinesse have received all the good seed sown into it whereas now in young ones there is a difficulty to understand holy things they are unteachable and untractable yea there is also a contrariety and an aversnesse to that which is good Now if they were in a meer purity of nature as the Adversaries suggest it they were in such an equal indifferency and capacity of virtue or vice Why should not they need education and Masters to teach them evil as well as good Yea why should they not be more ready to good then evil seeing they say there are igniculi virtutum sparks of virtue lying
all those voluminous disputations of this state of pure nature is wholly De non ente there being not the least title in Scripture to establish any such opinion upon it It is true the Author mentioned is often affirming and dictating Magisterially concerning such an estate but never yet hath any Scripture-proof been brought for it some philosophical arguments happily may be Now being this is the foundation upon which many of the Adversaries to original sinne do build I shall in its time and order God assisting raze up this foundation and lay the Axe against the root of the Tree proving that it is both against Scripture and solid reason Lastly That there is such an inclination naturally in a man to sinne and repugnant to what is good a mans own experience may teach him were there no Bible no Orthodox Teachers a mans own heart may convince him of such a perversnesse within him though by natural light he could never discover the spring of it Doth not Paul even while regenerated complain of this Law of sinne within him Rom. 7. Nazianzen maketh sad complaining verses about this constitution of his soul Carmen quartum pag. 69. The conflict with the flesh and spirit which in a most excellent and affectionate manner he doth there bewail And certainly if the Adversaries to this Doctrine find not such a pronenesse in them it is because they are blinded they are benummed within as the Pelagians of old bragged That a man might be without passions and sinfull commotions That they did not pati they felt none of these things but herein they were either horrible hypocrites or stupidly hardened SECT IV. Of the Causes or Fountain of the vehement proneness and inclination to sinne that is in all men by nature and of the false Causes assigned by the Adversaries THus you see this Text hath sufficiently informed us of this Truth That there is in all men by nature a vehement proneness and inclination to sinne To which we have also added many other Demonstrations of this Truth not so much that it is doubtfull and needeth to be proved For the Adversaries do confess it as that thereby we might the more deeply humble our selves under the consideration of it If then there be such constant muddy streames we are to enquire what is the fountain of them And although this Text and many others of the like nature do evidently proclaim it to be that corrupt and unclean heart of a man within that he hath hereditarily and by natural propagation yet because the Adversaries to original sinne will by no meanes assent to this let us consider what are the causes they assign and herein we shall find they do not so much speak falshood as blasphemy against God But before we come to the particular causes specified by them let us in the general consider How many wayes this propensity in mankind may be imagined to proceed for some gave one head or spring to it Others another so that there is not more dispute in Philosophy about the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the sea or about the rise and spring of Nilus that famous river in Egypt then there is about the original of this impetuousness in man to sinne The effect is acknowledged by all but the dispute is about the cause thereof In the first place therefore Some do assign this inclination to sinne to the souls operations before the body was made For they conceit that the soul had a being before the body and according to the evil or good they had they were adjudged to proportionable bodies and thereby it cometh to pass that some have better tempered bodies then others according to that Rule gaudeant bâ—â—è nati They are to rejoyce that have good and kindly constitutions This was the opinion of the Platonists and Origen who was justly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the monstrous opinions he brought into the Church did proâ—â—â— absurd fancy Yea it is thought that this opinion was amongst the Jewes as seemeth to be implyed in that Question propounded by the Disciples to our Saviour concerning the man born blind Did this man sinne or his parents Joh. 9. 2. as also a passage in the Apocryphal Writer inclineth thereunto Wiâ—â— 8. 20. And being good I came into a body undifiled which Grotius understands of the pre-existency of the soul adding that Synesius though made Bishop yet did not retract this errour But this being so gross a figment it 〈◊〉 not any confutation and the rather because it is a wonder that no such pre-existent soules should behave themselves well for which they should have assigned to them undefiled and immaculate bodies for we believe not the 〈◊〉 mentioned Author in that boast he there maketh A second opinion of the Manichees who feigned two principles of good and evil and this evil principle they made the cause of man whereupon they condemned marriage as unlawfull and made man to be opus Diaboli the work of the Devil This Manicheism the Pelagians have alwayes endeavoured to fasten upon such as do affirme original sinne but it is done maliciously and ignorantly for we say this evil came not into man at first by nature but by the free and voluntary consent of Adam and since man is fallen we do not say sinne is his nature or his substance but that it is a vitious quality adhering thereunto as leprosie to the body 3. There are others who may be reduced to the Manichees and they were Heretiques called Materiaris who feigned an eternall matter that was so evil that the wisdome and power of God could not subdue it but that this malignancy did adhere to it whether God will or no. And this they make the cause of that vicious inclination in man It is say they from the evil matter man is made off which is inseperable from it but this doth grosly contradict the History of the Creation as recorded by Moses Wherein it is said God made every thing exceeding good Gen. 1. 31. Fourthly The Pelagian many Papists and the late Socinian Writers all these attribute it to mans Creation and constitution at first at least in part for they tell us of a state of pure naturals that man hath whereby the appetite doth rebell against the mind for man confisting of a soul and a body hereby say they do necessarily arise contrary inclinations The soul enclineth one way and the body another way and this conflict they are not afraid to say was in Adam himself and therefore God gave him grace as a supernatural and superadded ornament yea and as a remedy to keep the inferior appetite in its order now man being fallen he hath lost those superadditionals but continueth in his meer naturals and these being weak and imperfect are easily carried out to sinne wanting the grace of God to elevate them This is the mystery of their iniquity This is the fountain of all their poisonous impieties and therefore God assisting is
at the beginning endeavoured to clear himself and to charge his sinne upon God The woman thou gavest me And happily some even in the primitive times by mis-understanding some places of Scripture wherein God is said to give men up to their lusts to harden and blind men in their sinnes might occasion such a detestable Position And although the Papists do ordinarily charge this damnable Doctrine upon the Calvinists yet there needeth no more to justifie Calvin in this particular then what he doth most excellently and solidly deliver upon this very Text. The truth is our learned men shew expressions from the Papists yea from Bellarmine himself more harsh and incommodious then I believe can be found in any Protestant Writer But this by the way The Apostle being to inform us of the true cause of all the sinne we do commit and that not God no nor Devils or wicked men are to be blamed comparatively but our own selves sheweth that all this evil cometh from that concupiscential frame of heart we have within us And as for God the Apostle expresly instanceth concerning him prohibiting any one to think or say it is from God that they do sinne Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God and he giveth two reasons whereof one is the cause of the other If you ask How is it that God is said to tempt no man seeing he tempted Abraham and the Israelites Austin's distinction is made use of that there is a temptation probationis and seductionis of probation or tryal or of deceiving and enticing to sin God indeed doth often tempt his people the former way not but that he knoweth what is in the heart of every man but that hereby a godly mans graces may be the more quickned as also a man have more experimental knowledge of himself As for the other temptation of seduction God doth not thus tempt that is he doth not encline or enrice to sinne It is true we read the Prophet Jeremiah saying O Lord I am deceived and thou hast deceived me Jer. 20. 7. But that is spoken unadvisedly and rashly by the Prophet who thought because what he had prophesied was not as yet fulfilled and therefore his adversaries derided and scorned him that therefore it would not at all be fulfilled and so by consequence that God had deceived him Secondly Divines distinguish temptation into external and internal External are afflictions and troubles called often so in Scripture and these temptations are from God 2. Internal which do immediately incline to sinne and with these God doth not tempt Now although the Apostle had in the former part spoken of external temptations yet now he speaks of internal ones though some think he continueth his discourse of externals because these many times draw out hearts to sinne but this ariseth not from God The reason why God cannot tempt to sinne is from the infinite perfection of holiness which is in God he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He cannot be tempted by evil It is true men are said to tempt God many times and so ex parte hominu there is done what man could do even to make God deviate from his own holy nature and Law but the Apostle meaneth ex parte Dei that God is of such absolute purity and transcendent holiness that there cannot arise any motion in his nature to make him sinne For so we expound the Greek word in a passive sense Estius himself granting that the use of it in an active signification can hardly be found though Popish Interpreters plead for the active sense but then there would be no distinction of this from the following words Neither tempteth he any man The original word is used only here in the New Testament The strength then of the Argument lieth in this God doth not tempt any man to sin because he hath no inward temptation or motion in his own nature to sin for that is the reason why the Devil is so impetuous and forward in tempting us to sin because his nature is first carried out to all evil so there is no man that doth draw on another to sin but because he in his own heart is drawn aside with it before The Apostle having thus justified God and removed all cause of evil from him In my Text he directeth us to the true internal and proper cause of all the sinne that we do commit and therein doth most excellently shew the several steps and degrees of sinne whereby of an Embryo as it were at first it cometh to be a compleated and perfected sinne This Text is much vexed by Bellarmine and Popish Authors to establish their distinction of a venial and mortal sinne though they cannot find any true aid from the Text. Let us consider the particulars of this noble Text The Cause of a mans sinne is said to be lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the same with original sinne the corruption of all the powers of the soul whereby it is inordinately carried out to all things Of which more in the Doctrine This is described from the note of propriety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His own lust This expression is used that we may not lay all upon the Devil or other men for this is ordinarily brought by men to excuse themselves It is true I was in such a fault I have sinned but the Devil moved me or such wicked companions they enticed me or I did it because men compelled me and terrified me all this will not serve thy turn It is thy own lust within not men without that hath made thee thus to sinne And this sheweth That every man hath his own proper original sinne by way of a lust within him 3. This is further amplified from the Vniversality of the Subject wherein this lust is seated Every man so that no man but Christ who was God and man is freed from this incentive to evil 4. There is the Manner How this lust doth tempt us to sinne and that is expressed in two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drawn away that is as some from God from heavenly objects because in all sinne there is an aversion from God and a conversion to the creature or else as others Drawn aside form the consideration of hell of the wrath of God of eternal death and damnation For we sinne continually as Eve did at first The Devil perswaded her she should not die and then when this fear was removed she presently falleth into the transgression and thus before men fall into the pit of any sinne they are drawn aside from those serious thoughts This will offend God this will damn me The other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Metaphor either from birds or fishes which have baits to allure them and thereby are destroyed Thus lust appeareth with a bait but the hook doth not appear In the next place This original sinne is illustrated in the issue of it the Apostle sheweth how sinne Ã
be also the cause of the sins themselves But I see not why we may not call original sinne the remote cause only of some sins because that is the seed and spawn only of all evil there are many temptations and suggestions which do ripen and quicken this monster to bring forth So that although men have lust enough within them to make them so many Cains so many Judasses to be as abominable in wicked wayes as the vilest of men are yet Nemo repente fit turpissimus as the Poet said There is time required to grow up into such foul abominations This is like the Prophets little cloud which at first though no bigger than an hand yet did afterwards biggen till it covered the whole sky The Apostle you heard compareth the production of sinne to the child that is first conceived in the mothers womb and so through the warmth and nourishment thereof doth lust bring forth As it is with the Acorn that is at first but little in quantity yet being great in efficacy doth in time enlarge it self into a great Tree Conclude then all evil even the most enormious impieties which for the present it may be thy heart doth tremble at yet they are seminally and radically in thee there are the sparks of fire which if let alone will quickly set all on a flame Hence The third Proposition is That whosoever would by the grace of God be delivered from any actual sins the best remedy is to endeavour to quench the lust within He that would dry up the streams must look to the fountain to have that dried up He that would destroy the bad fruit of a Tree must lay the axe to the root of it And this is a very necessary Rule to be attended unto in practical Divinity Observe that the same way sinne comes to live the same way thou must take to kill it It beginneth at the heart first before it 's in the eyes or hands and therefore thou must look to crucifie it in the heart first Thus the Wiseman adviseth Prov 4. 23. Keep thy heart for out of it are the issues of life After this then he exhorteth to look to our mouth and lips to our eyes and feet but the foundation must be laid in the heart if the heart be good all is good And this sheweth the preposterous way of the Casuists and Confessionists in Popery from which the late Writer so often mentioned doth not much decline in his Treatise of Ecclesiastical Penance for with such Writers you have scarce one word to the penitent sinner about Regeneration whereas external duties of alms or restitution which in their way are necessary by Gods command must flow from a spiritual and supernatural life within as the foundation of all much lesse have you one icta or tittle about faith laying hold on Christ by whom alone our persons are justified and all our duties are accepted This I say is the great neglect and unskilfulness in such writers that they deal in externals but for faith by which the heart is purified and whereby we please God in Christ that they make no mention of at all But the Scripture is herein different from moral Philosophy and Aristotelical precepts which those Casuists are wholly captivated unto for that requireth yea and promiseth first a tender and holy heart a circumcised heart and then to walk in the wayes of God whereas moral Philosophers first begin with actions and then go to acquired habits Justè agendo sumus justs This then is a golden Rule and of perpetual use in Christianity for a Christian to be mortifying lust within to watch against the treacherous adversary in thy own breast and then when the foundation is destroyed the superstruction must needs fall to the ground Propos 4. Because man is thus tempted and enticed by lust within therefore it is that man fallen doth sinne farre otherwise then Adam did in the state of integrity We do not sinne now as Adam at first we have an internal cause and principle within us whereas Adam did sinne wholly from suggestion without neither was it lust within but his meer will that made him consent to such suggestions This Proposition is the more to be regarded because Pelagian and Socinian Writers they all agree in this That we at first sinne in the same manner as Adam did at first the sensitive part being enticed by sensible objects and so rebelling against the rational part But this is to be wholly ignorant of that holy estate and glorious Image wherein God created Adam at first Adam had all such external and internal helps so freed from all ignorance passion or lust that nothing could destroy him but the liberty and mutability of his will Whereas alas in man destitute of Gods Image there is a lusting principle within him carrying him out inordinately unto every object proposed It is therefore a false and an absurd Position which Molina the Jesuite one of the meer Naturalists affirmeth Quaest 14. Disput. 4. de Concord lib. Arb. where he saith Adam had Innatum appetitum excellentiae ac laudis quo ad intellectum voluntatem c. That he had this temptation within him viz. an innate appetite to his own excellency and praise For how could this consist with that holiness and righteousness God created him in Indeed he saith in another place of the same book Quaest 14. Disp 45. Ex contemplation rei amabilis c from the contemplation of any lovely object and which is of concernment to be obtained there doth naturally rise in the will a certain motion whereby the will is affected to it which motion is not a volition but an affection of the will to that object whose goodness it is allured with And this he maketh to be in men yea in the Angels before they fell But what is this but to say that in men and Angels even before their fall there was a concupiscential inclination to delightsome objects and so Adam and Angels must according to this Text be tempted away and enticed by their own lusts An horrible Position highly derogating from Gods honour who created them holy and righteous Therefore Adam and much more Christ when they were tempted by Satan it was not in the same way with us The temptation was only external not internal there was no inward lust within yea the very external temptation of Adam and Christ was different from ours in a further respect For the Devil had not power by his suggestions to move or disturb their phansie as he doth in us Though the Devil cannot force our wils yet he can make bodily commotions of the phantasie and so thereby man is the more easily carried away to evil But neither Christ or Adam had their imagination so disturbed For although they might understand by phantasmes yet all was at the command of deliberate judgement A mans imagination was then in his own power so that those inferiour faculties in their operation could not
hinder the superiour Whether Adam in the state of integrity would have had dreames is uncertain but if he had learned men conclude they would alwayes have been good and not without the present use of reason as Rivet thinketh in cap. 3. Genes However this is enough for our purpose to shew that we are tempted to sinne in a different way from Adam Hence the fifth Proposition is That because there is such an internal Insting principle within a man is carried out to sinne though there be no external temptations by Satan or wicked men But even as the Devil who sinned first had no tempter but was carried out by his meer free-will to evil So much more must man who hath this corrupt principle within him be carried out to sinne though there be no Devil to tempt us or wicked men Hence the Apostle doth in this Text name lust onely as the inward cause not mentioning Devils or wicked men But yet it is disputed That although the lust of a man within be a sufficient cause and principle to carry a man out to all evil whether for all that the Devil also doth not help to the committing of every sinne They question Whether original lust be the cause only and that the Devil also doth not excite and stirre this up Some think because wicked men are said to do what they see their father the Devil do and because he is called the tempter 1 Thess 3. 4. That therefore though we sinne alwayes of our selves yet it is by the instigation of the Devil but because the Scripture maketh the imagination of mans heart to be only evil Gen. 8. 21. And because our corruption within is generally said to be the cause of a mans sinne therefore we cannot say that the Devil tempteth to every evil action that we do commit although in some particular hainous sins as in Judas and Ananias and Sapphira he entered into their hearts and filled them with his temptations but at that very time observe how Peter doth reprove Ananias for letting Satan have such admission into his heart Acts 5 3. Why hath Satan filled thy heart So that the Devil doth not compell any man to sinne it will be no excuse to say Satan tempted me for this could not be if thy lust did not consent to him and entetain him he throweth his fiery darts and thy heart is like thatch or straw that quickly is inflamed The last Proposition is That the effects of this inhereâ—t lust within us are of two sorts immediate and mediate Immediate are those first motions and workings of soul to any evil object though not consented unto yea it may be abhorred and humbled for The mediate effects are lusts consented unto in the heart and many times externally committed in our lives For that original sinne hath an influence into grosse sinnes appeareth by David's confession Psal 51 when he bewails his birth-pollution in his penitential humiliation for those foul sins committed by him But I shall enlarge my self only concerning those sinfull motions and stirrings of the heart unto evil which though the ungodly man taketh no notice of yet the constant and perpetual work of a godly man is to conflict with as appeareth Rom. 7. They are those perpetual restlesse workings of his heart inordinately one way or other that make his condition so bitter and therefore it is good to consider what may be said for our information herein ¶ 2. Of the Motions of the Heart to sinne not consented unto as an immediate Effect of Original Sin THe last Proposition we mentioned contained a division of the effects of original sinne within us which were either immediate such as the motions of the heart to sinne with the pleasures therof not consented unto Or mediate which are lusts consented unto and the external actings of sinne thus imbraced I shall only enlarge my self upon the former and for your information therein take these considerations First That these motions to sinne may be divided according to the subject they are in Now the powers of the soul are usually divided into the apprehensive and appetitive the cognitive and affective that is either such as know or understand or such as are carried out by love and desire These are the Jachin and Beaz as it were the two pillars of the temple of the soul and respectively to these two so are the stirrings of sinne within us In the mind or knowing part of the soul the workings of sinne are by apprehensions and thoughts In the affective part by way of delight and love And in both these the heart of a godly man is many times sadly exercised For thoughts How many vain idle foolish ones do arise in his soul like the sand upon the sea-shore The flies and Locusts in Aegypt did not more annoy then these do molest and trouble a gracious heart These thoughts come like so many swarms upon thee before thou hast time to recollect thy self They are got into the souls closet before they were ever perceived knocking at the door Nay these thoughts are not only roving wandring and restlesse but sometimes horrid black ones blasphemous atheistical diabolical which put the soul into an holy trembling and they know not what to do they think none like them no such vile wretches in the world as they are Indeed there are blasphemous injections of Satan such as are suggested to the soul importunately by him to which the soul giveth no consent but like the maid in the judicial Law that was ready to be ravished cryeth out against them or as the people when they heard Rabshakeh rail and blaspheme the God of Israel so horribly They answered him not a word Thus the people of God in such temptations give no consent or approbation to them now these are afflictions not sinnes they are sad exercises but not our corruptions because they are wholly external and cast in upon us as if we were in a room where we could not get out hearing men curse and blaspheme this would torment our souls but they do not make us guilty They are compared to the Cup in Benjamen's sack it was found there but it was not his fault it came there without his knowledge and consent And although they be foul and loathsom to a gracious heart yet God usually keepeth his people hereby humble and lowly yea he maketh them more spiritual and fruitfull as the black and noisom dung maketh the field more fertile and fruitfull but I speak not of these The thoughts we are treating of are such as arise from our own hearts for seeing original sinne is the seed of all evil the most erroneous and flagitious that can be therefore atheistical blasphemous lascivious and other evil thoughts may come out of our own hearts It is indeed a special part of heavenly skill and wisdom experimentally to make a difference between what thoughts are our own and what are meerly of diabolical â—â—jections to discover when our own corrupt
that they have Christ but as Adam's sinne was efficacious in men as men quatenus homines to their condemnation so was Christs obedience efficacious for their justification to all men as men This opinion he proveth by an hundred and twenty Reasons and concludeth with excessive confidence of truth on his side that he hath it by the Spirit of God and that though for the present it seemeth not to be approved yet he is confident the whole world will at last entertain it Insomuch that his boastings and presumptions are such that you would think not much learning but much pride had made him mad This man considering the diversity of Sect and Opinions in Religion for two and twenty years wandered up and down to Jews Manumetans Arians and others that having knowledge of all kind of opinions he might at last judge which was the true Religion but this is not the way to find the truth God rather in just judgement leaveth such to errors In this universal road Jacobus Andraas and Hubeâ—ius are said also to go though with some little variation The man foundation they all build up 〈◊〉 is the comparison made by the Apostle Rom. 5. between the first and second Adam wherein the extent of justification to life by Christ seeme 〈◊〉 to be as universal as that of condemnation by Adam the Apostle using the same words of many and all This opinion saith Puccias is most consonant to that 〈◊〉 of God which the Scripture commends and removeeth from God 〈◊〉 all suspicion of cruelty and injustice By this instance we may see there is no stop or bounds can be put to mens errours when once they will judge of Gods love and mercy according to humane compassionate principles And therefore let such who deny original sinne or extenuate it pleading the awe they have in their hearts respectively to God that men may have no hard thoughts of him Let such I say consider whether Puccius and his followers do not farre transcend them in this kind yea whether by their principles they must not necessarily come off to his way For although he doth assert original sinne yet he maketh it wholly taken away by Christs death and that to all mankind so that now we are not born in a state of wrath and enmity against God Secondly There are others that do not receive this opinion of Gods gracious love in Christ to men as they are men but as they are believers that yet affirm The guilt of original sinne wholly taken away by Christ as to all mankind so that no man lieth under this guilt and thereupon conclude That all Infants though of Heathens and Pegans are certainly saved for having no actual sinne and their original being removed the doore is set open for them to enter into Heaven which is afterwards to be considered Thirdly There are yet some who deservedly are reputed as more honourable for learning and orthodoxy then the former who though they hold original sinne and Gods special election of some persons to eternal glory do yet withall maintain a possibility of salvation to every one lying in the corrupt masse of mankind Thus Crocius Duodâ—c Dissert Dissert 1a. de peccato origin although he denieth the Huberian way of assuming all men into a state of favour so that no man is obnoxious to damnation by original sinne yet affirmeth That none is necessarily damned for it without the accession of new sins and that therefore there is a way of possibility of salvation for every one This opinion hath many learned Abettors but if it be throughly pursued it must either fall into the old known orthodox way or empty it self into the Arminian chanel Yea it seemeth to be of so brittle subtilty that it doth not avoid any of those inconvenâ—ercies which they labour to do neither doth it practically give any comfort to a man rationally doubting in his conscience about his interest in Christs death or stirre up and provoke to obedience unto those Commands and Exhortations that are pressed upon us But this Controversie belongeth not so properly to my subject I shall conclude against the former opinions mentioned That by original sinne we are children of Gods wrath yea and for that as well as their actual sinnes some are eternally condemned which Doctrine hath received witness and testimony to its truth from the most eminent Guides and Pastors in Gods Church in all Ages Insomuch that Fulgentius cometh with his Firmissime tene nullatenus dubita c. Believe most firmly and doubt not in the least manner but that every one by nature is obnoxious to the wrath of God that person cannot be saved It is true he addeth without the Sacrament of Baptism of which opinion in its time De incarnatione ad Petrum Diacon The Synod of Dâ—ri also rejecteth the errour of such who teach All men are assumed into a state of reconciliation so that none is either damned or obnoxous to eternal damnation for original sinne but all are free from its guilt which opinion they adde repugneth the Scripture affirming us to be by nature children of wrath Acta Synod Dordrâ—ct cap. 2 de morte Christi reject Erro 5. But let us consider What Arguments are brought to prove this universal removal of the guilt of original sinne from all mankind by Christs death And First They urge the love of God to mankind so often mentioned in the Scripture Insomuch that they say it doth not stand with the 〈◊〉 and mercy of God when man is plunged thus into an undone estate there to leave him and not deliver him out of it But to this many things may be said As First We grant that notwithstanding our original sinne yet God loveth mankind and demonstrateth much mercy to men even because they are his creatures And it must be granted That the Scripture doth often celebrate this mercy of God to man though in a sinfull condition But then we must distinguish between the general love of God and his special love between his love of benevolence and love of complacency as some express it God doth love all mankind with a general love or love of benevolence so as to do good in a liberal manner to them This love of beneficence is demonstrated both to the good and the bad yet this doth not remove the guilt of sinne we may be children of wrath for all this Therefore there is the other special love and grace of God a love of complacency and acceptance of us in Christ and this is only to some of mankind as the Scripture in many places doth shew And yet we must adde that when any are damned we cannot say it is for any defect of Gods particular love and grace as if the fault were to be laid there but upon the original and actual sinfulness of the person so condemned for every mans perdition is of himself Secondly It is no injustice in God if he let men alone in their lost
record this day against you that I have set before you life and eath cursing and blessing therefore choose life Observe what should direct us in choosing viz. That which the servants of God deliver from the Word and so that which the mind of a man enlightned from thence doth declare to us and for defect herein it is that we choose evil and death for how often doth the Minister of the Gospel yea thy own conscience it may be within thee obtest and adjure thy will as herein the Text Moses did the people of Israel I call heaven and earth to witness saith conscience that I have shewed thee the good thou wert to do I have terrified and threatned thee with hell and that vengeance of God which will follow thee upon the commission of such sinnes Therefore look to thy election see again and again what it is that thou choosest But though all this be done yet the will will choose what affections say what sense suggesteth dealing herein like Rehoboam who would not hearken to the advice and direction of the ancient grave and wise counsellors thou plus valet umbrasenis quam gladius juvenus as the expression is in the civil law but he gave his ear to the yong men that flattered him and were brought up with him which proved to his desiruction Thus the will in its choice it maketh listneth not to what the mind doth with deliberation and prudence direct to but what the inferior appetite doth move unto that it followeth And this is the foundation of all those sad and unsuccesfull choices we make in the world this layeth work for that bitter repentance and confusion of soul which many fall into afterward Oh that I had never choosen this way Oh that I had never used such meanes Oh me never wise Oh foolish and wretched man that I am Especially this bitter bewailing and howling about what we have chosen will be discovered in hell what will those eternal yellings and everlasting roarings of soul be but to cry out Oh that I had never chosen to commit such sinnes Oh that I had never chosen such companions to acquaint with Thus the foolish and sinnefull choice thou makest in this life will be the oil as it were poured into those flames of fire in hell to make them burne seven times hotter Secondly The other particular wherein this corrupt frame of the will in election is seen is That in the meanes it doth choose it never considereth how just and lawfull and warrantable the meanes are but how usefull and therefore though God be offended though his Law be broken yet he will choose to do such things whereas we must know that God hath not only required the goodness of an end but also the lawfulness and goodness of the meanes and the sanctified will dareth not use an unlawfull medium to bring about the most desired good that is but the carnal heart taketh up that rule of the Atheistical Politian Quod utile est illud justum est That which is profitable that is just and righteous That famous act of the Athenians being provoked to it by Aristides the Just may shame many Christians when Themistocles had a stratagem in his head against their enemies telling the people he had a matter of great weight in his mind but it was not fit to be communicated to the people The people required him to impart it to Aristides who being acquainted with it declareth it to the people That Themistocle's counsell was utile but injustum profitable but unjust by which meanes the people would not pursue it Here was some restraint upon men by the very principles of a natural conscience but if the will be left to it self and God neither sanctifying or restrayning it it looketh only to the goodness and profitableness in means never to the lawfulness of them Some have disputed Whether it be not lawfull to perswade to use a less evil that a greater may be avoided They instance in Lot offering his daughters to the Sodomites to be abused by them rather then commit a more horrid impiety by abusing themselves with mankind as they thought those strangers to be but the Scripture rule is evident and undeniable We must not do evil that good may come of it Rom. 3. 8. Neither doth a less evil cease to be an evil though compared with a greater and therefore as in a Syllogisme if one of the premises be false there cannot be inferred a true conclusion è falso nil nisi falsum so also è malo nil nisi malum from an evil meanes there can never come but that which is evil though indeed God may by his omnipotent Power work good out of evil know then that it cometh from the pollution of thy will that thou darest make choice of means not because just or righteous but because profitable for that end thou desirest ¶ 8. The Pollution of the Will in its Acts of Consent VVE proceed to another act of the Will as it is exercised about the meanes which is called Consent for though in order of nature this doth precced election yet because I intend not to say much about it at this time because more will be spoken to it when I shall treat of the immediate effects of original sinne I therefore bring it in in this place And for to discover the sinfulness hereof we must know That the will hath a two-fold operation or motion in this respect for there are motus primo primi the immediate and first stirrings of the will antecedently to any deliberation or consent The natural man being wholly carnal cannot feel these no more then a blind man can discern the motes in the air when the Sunne-beames do enlighten it but the godly man as appeareth Rom. 7. he findeth such motions and insurrections of sinne within him and that against his will Now although it be true when there are such motions of the will but resisted and gainsayed they are not such sinnes as shall be imputed unto us and thus far Bernards expression is to be received Non necet sensus rei deest consensus yet they are in themselves truely and properly sinnes The Papists and Protestants are at great difference in this point The Romanists denying all such indeliberate motions antecedent to our consent to be properly sinnes but the Reformed do positively conclude they are and that because the Apostle Rom. 7. calleth them often sinnes and sinnes that are against the law and which ought to be mortified It is true we further adde when the sanctified soul doth withstand them cry out to God for aid against them as the maid in danger to be defloured if she called out for her help the Law of God did then free her so God also will through Christ forgive such sinfull motions of thy soul which appear in thy heart whether thou wilt or no yet for all this these stirrings of the will being inordinate and against the Law of God