the sinnes of their Ancestors Arminius ought not to extend it to so many ages seeing the law doth not extend the visitation of the iniquity of the fathers vpon the children beyond the third and fourth generation And that because a man can scarce liue so long as to see his issue beyond the third or fourth generation For therefore are children punished their fathers beholding it that griefe might thereby increase to their parents and that the fathers might be punished by the misâ—ries of the children which is a cause to me of suspecting that this visitation of the sinne of the fathers vpon the children ought to be vnderstood of temporall and not of eternall punishments VII But to that which was said that the punishment was greater then the sinne because they which in Adam sinned onely in power are for his sinne punished in act it is easie to answere For wee so sinned in Adam in power that also the sinne was in vs in act neither doe we onely beare the punishment of anothers sinne but also of our owne nor is it any maruaile if God hath pardoned Adam and doth not pardon many of his posterity for Adam beleeued and repented but these refuse the grace of God offred and persist in impenitency CHAP. X. Of the propagation of the sinne of Adam to his posteritie where also of the traduction of the soule and of sinne it selfe WE haue already said that the sinne of Adam is conueyed to his posterity two manner of wayes by Imputation and Propagation Of imputation it hath been spoken now we are to speake of Propagation I. That the sinne of Adam hath infected all mankinde with an hereditary deprauation and that this contagion hath farre spred it selfe hath beene abundantly proued by those places by which we haue declared that euery man was conceiued and borne in sinne As by one man sinne entred into the World and death by sinne so death went ouer all in whom all men sinned Rom. 5. II. And if any one would exactly view the manner and circumstances of Adams sinne he shall finde that in euery man the character and no obscure image of that first sinne is deepely impressed for there is engrafted in euery man curiosity desire of knowing those thin gs which pertaine nothing to him and also a distrustfull haesitation and doubting of the word of God And as Adam laid the fault vpon his wife and his wife vpon the Serpent so is it naturall to euery man to couer his fault with anothers fault Also flight and trembling at the meeting of God lying dissembling and a sense of vndecent nakednesse are in all men by nature and are deriued into posterity from that fountaine and to these things we are not taught but made not instructed but infected To these things we doe not onely not need a master but contrary to the teaching of masters and to discipline all stayes and barres being broken wee returne to them nature being conqueror III. As therefore the egges of the Aspe are iustly broken and serpents new bred are iustly killed although they haue yet poysoned none so infants are rightly obnoxious and subiect to punishments For although they haue not yet sinned in act yet there is in them that contagious pestilence and that naturall pronenesse to sinne IV. But hence ariseth a question hard to be dissolued to wit by what meanes sinne is traduced from parents to their posterity and how mens soules may draw this deprauation For seeing all things that God doth are good it is not credible nor likely that God put Originall sinne into mens soules For how should he punish those soules which hee himselfe had corrupted And if he created the soule pure and iust but being included in the body it is defiled with the contagion other discommodities no whit lesse doe arise For to include a pure and innocent soule in a stinking prison and to thrust it as it were into a bridewell that it might bee corrupted there doth not seeme to agree with the iustice and goodnesse of God V. Hereto is added also that sin is the deprauation of the soule not of the body for sin is a spirituall thing a vice of the will the body therefore cannot giue that to the soule which it hath not And seeing the body doth not sinne but when the soule doth vse the body as an organ to sinne Rom. 6.13 it is manifest that sinne doth passe from the soule into the body and not from the body into the soule to which thing the very sinne of Adam is a cleere testimony to vs For Adam first sinned in will before hee stretched forth his hand to the forbidden Apple Caluin saw this who in the first chapter of the second booke of his Institutions hath these words This contagion hath not its cause in the substance of the flesh or of the soule but because it was so appointed by God that what gifts hee had bestowed vpon the first man he should haue them and also loose them both for himselfe and his VI. Here is a way that is obscure and slippery in which we must goe with wary steppes I doe not propound to my selfe to satisfie them that are braine-sicke and wickedly acute I will onely set downe those things which seeme to mee to be agreeable to the word of God and to reason whereunto that the way may be made plaine some things are to be spoken of the originall of the soule and of the traduction of it VII Origen following Plato was of opinion that all soules were at first created together with the Angels and afterwards put into bodies This hee disputes lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 7. Tertullian will haue the soule to be conueyed with the seede and the soule of the sonne to be from the soule of the father which is not to be marueiled at in him who doth contend that the soule is the body lib de anima Chap. 5. Saint Ierome in his Epistle to Marcellina and Anapsychia doth witnesse that the greater part of the west were of the same opinion Saint Austin hath writ foure bookes of the originall of the soule in which he leaueth this question vndecided neither dares hee rashly determine any thing And his second booke of retractations Chap. 56. doth witnes that hee continued in that doubt to his death Yet in his 157. Epistle hee doth debate with Tertullian and doth more incline to the contrary opinion VIII But we determin that the reasonable soule is infused into the * i e. The childe conceiued and not yet borne embryon but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come from without as Aristotle would haue it lib. 2. de generat animal Cap. 3. But we thinke that it is formed by God in the fruit and in the rudiment of mans body being led thereto by the authority of the Scripture whereunto reason and the nature of the soule it selfe doth agree IX Moses Numb 27.16 saith thus to God Let the Lord the
God of the spirits of all flesh set a man ouer the Congregation And the Apostle to the Hebrewes Chap. 12. v. 9. And if saith he wee had fathers of our bodies which corrected vs and we gaue them reuerence Shall we not much rather be in subiection vnto the father of spirits and liue It is not without consideration that God by a peculiar elegie and stile is called the father of spirits that he might be opposed to the fathers of the flesh for if the soule be by traduction those that are fathers of the flesh would also be the fathers of the spirits Neither should God by this title be distinguished from the fathers of the flesh if he wrought alike in both and did not forme mens soules otherwise then their bodies X. Wherefore Ecclesiastes Chap. 12. saith The body is dissolued to dust and the spirit returneth to God that gaue it which surely would not be aptly spoken if God should giue the spirit no otherwise then he giues the body Certainly by that word of returning of the soule to God Salomon doth insinuate that the soule came from God and doth returne thitherwhence she had her originall which cannot be said of the body XI The conception of Christ in the wombe of his mother doth adde credit to this opinion For seeing that according to the flesh he had not a father it is plaine that his soule was immediately created by God And if it be necessary that thou maist be sonne of Adam to haue thy soule traducted by thy fathers seede Christ could not be called the sonne of Adam nor of Dauid XII It is vnsauory which is brought out of the beginning of Exodus to proue the traduction of the soule Seauenty soules came out of the loynes of Iacob for the propriety of the Hebrew is well knowne that by soules are vnderstood persons XIII Also reason it selfe doth agree with the word of God 1. For the soule which is something which is aboue nature cannot be in a common condition generated with other naturall things 2. Because it is immateriall it cannot be brought forth by the power of any matter 3. If the soule were not generated vnlesse by the body it could not be without the body nor could it subsist by it selfe alone 4. They that would haue the soule to be traduced by the seede doe driue themselues into straights from which they cannot possible free themselues For why should not the soule of the mother be also traduced into the sonne or if the soule of the sonne be traduced as well from the soule of the mother as of the father it must needs be that two soules doe grow together are mingled into one 5. What will be come of so much seede that is lost which either fals from them that sleep or is vnhonestly lost or being receiued into the wombe doth not come to conception Will so many soules of men be lost or shall they be choaked in the wombe or shall they remaine alone without matter seeing it is certaine that they belong not to the number of men 6. Also it must neede be that eyther the whole soule of the father is traduced and so the father shall be made soule-lesse or else a portion and part of the soule and so the soule shall be diuisible Neither can the whole soule be transmitted as when light is kindled of light for such a propagation is made by the transmutation of the matter applyed vnto it and so the applyed matter of the begetting soule should be turned into the soule 7. If the definition of the soule laide downe by Aristotle Lib. 2. de anima Cap 1. and euery where conceiued be true by which he defineth the soule to be the first act of the naturall originall body hauing life in power I doe not see how the rationall soule can enforme and shape the seede in which there are no Organs XIV Neither is man therefore to be said not to beget man although he doth not beget the soule nor the soule be brought forth of the power of the seed yet is it sufficient for the generation of man that in generating although he doth not giue the whole substance yet he doth giue the subsistance of the person and doth not onely supply the matter of the infant but doth also minister dispositions and aptitudes to receiue that forme by which man hath his being For seeing that by the testimony of the Scripture the Virgin Mary is the mother of Christ although the extraordinary power of the holy-Ghost perfected his conception who neede doubt to affirme that commonly man doth beget man seeing all naturall things are done by ordinary meanes and rules These thornes being plucked vp the way to know the manner of the traduction of sinne from parents to their children is made playner XV. In the beginning I thinke I haue shewed by sure reasons that sinne doth not passe from the body into the soule And on the other side that God put into the soule this inclination to sinne it is a great wickednesse to beleeue And yet that originall sinne was in the soule God being vnwilling or being indifferent and permitting it with an idle permission cannot be spoken or beleeued without great offence For seeing Originall sinne is the punishment of the sinne of Adam he that saith that this punishment was inflicted onely by the permission of God and not by his will doth take away from God the office of a Iudge for Iudges doe not punish by permitting but by decreeing XVI For the explication of this Doctrine we lay downe these sixe propositions and foundations of the truth First Although we had not beene borne of Adam yet because hee had receiued supernaturall good things both in his owne and our name seeing he lost them by his owne fault wee are iustly depriued of them Euen as among many brethren one doth waste and consume that mony to his owne and brothers losse which hee receiued in his owne and brothers name Secondly God put into the soule these faculties Vnderstanding Will Sense Appetite which are naturally carried to things that are obuious known and not to things that are vnknowne and farre remoued Thirdly Man cannot know and loue supernaturall and diuine things without diuine and supernaturall enlightning Fourthly Neither could man vse those things that are obuious and naturall iustly and conueniently and to the glory of God vnlesse some supernaturall light did shine forth to him Fifthly God hath put into euery man for his owne preseruation a loue of himselfe which loue is naturally good but doth then beginne to be morally good when it doth accord to and helpe forward the loue of God Sixthly the manners of the minde doe for the most part follow the temper of the body XVII These things being laid down I say that God doth create the soules of men good but destitute of heauenly gilts and supernaturall light and that iustly because Adam lost those gifts for himselfe and
But seeing the regenerate doe afterward sinne whence are these sinnes but from their inward corruption For that being taken away the effects also which doe flow onely from this cause would be taken away IX And what shall we say to this that the best men beget their children tainted with this blot and therefore standing in neede of Baptisme Now if the parents begetting children were without originall sinne how could they send this blemish to their issue and giue that to their children which themselues haue not X. Therefore say you marriage is euill seeing by it children of wrath are begotten and sinne is propagated which ought rather to be pulled vp by the roote and to be choaked in the very seede I answere that marriage is more ancient then sinne and instituted by God himselfe the sinne that came vpon it doth not hinder but that marriage is naturally a good thing No otherwise then meate and drinke are things that are good and to be desired although thereby the life of wicked men is sustained Besides marriage doth bring forth sonnes to God and doth serue to fill vp the number of the Elect. I let passe that the faithfull couple doe ioyne their prayers doe stirre vp one another to good workes doe cure one anothers incontinency and in slippery places doe stretch forth the hand one to another Neither are there wanting examples of wicked men to whom by Gods benefit there haue happened good and godly children euen as God doth send seasonable raine on those seeds which were stollen and sowed by a theefe CHAP. VIII What Originall sinne is and whether it be truely and properly sinne I. ORiginall sinne is the deprauation of mans nature contracted and drawne from the very generation it selfe and deriued from Adam into all mankinde consisting of the priuation or want of originall righteousnesse and the pronenesse to euill II. These two things to wit the priuation or want of originall righteousnesse and the inclinablenesse to euill are in originall sinne For as sicknesse is not onely a priuation of health but also an euill affection of the body from the distemper of the humours so this hereditary blot is not onely the want of righteousnesse but also the inclinablenesse to vnrighteousnesse III. The last of these proceedes from the former For the soule which by originall sinne hath ceased to be good is necessarily euill and the soule being instructed by the will which cannot be idle holines and righteousnesse being lost must needes turne to the contrary part IV. This corruption brings blindnesse to the minde peruersenesse to the will perturbation to the appetites the losse of supernaturall gifts and the corruption of those that are naturall V. And although in Adam the minde was first stained with errour before the will was infected with peruersenesse yet is the corruption of the will farre worse and that blot more foule because wee are not made good or euill by the vnderstanding but by the wiâ—l for whatsoeuer euill is committed it is the sinne of the will the committing of wickednesse is a greater sinne then the ignorance of the truth VI. The guilt or obliging to punishment cannot be any part of the definition of Originall sinne Lombard lib. 2. dist 30. Thâ—mas t. 2 Quest â—2 art 3. seeing it is the effect of it VII Lombard and Thomas and the other schoolemen who say that originall sinne is concupiscence doe not attaine sufficiently to the nature of concupiscence For Originall sinne doth infect all the faculties of the reasonable soule and concupiscence is the disease of the will and appetite also concupiscence is contrary to one commandement of the Law and Originall sinne is contrary to the whole Law Neither by it doe men sinne more against the second table of the law then against the first What that concupiscence is forbidden by a proper law But I know not whether Originall sin may be said to be forbidden by the law for God doth not command that wee should be generated or begotten pure without sin for so God should speak to man before he were born Surely man is not bound to obey the law before he be man and seeing the law doth not speak but to them that heare are partakers of reason to think that the law commands a man that is growne to age to be born without sin is a ridiculous thing well nigh a dreame For so the law should command him to be born that is already born him to be begotten that is already grown a man The law doth not command but presuppose Originall righteousnes doth speake to man being considered in the state wherein he was before the fall requiring that old debt and naturall obedience Whence it is manifest that Originall sin is condemned by the law but not forbidden VIII Of this sinne although the Scripture speaketh so expressely and sense it selfe and experience doth abundantly testifie it yet there haue not beene wanting some who did deny this sinne and would not acknowledge mankinde from his first stock and originall to be infected with sinne Cyrillus Ierosolomytanus or whosoeuer else is the author of those Catechismes which goe vnder his name in his fourth part of his Catechisme hath these words Thou dost not sinne by generation thou dost play the adulterer by fortune And a little after Wee come without sinne but now we sinne by our owne election IX In Saint Austins age Pelagius Celestius did deny Originall sinne and did contend that sinne did passe from fathers to their issue onely by example and imitation They did deny that sinne was remitted to infants by Baptisme because they had none and did affirme that by it onely the kingdome of heauen was opened to them whose heresie is long agoe hissed out and strongly confuted by Saint Austin X. Saint Hierome or whosoeuer else is the author of those briefe comentaries vpon the Epistle of Saint Paule which are put in among Saint Hieromes works doth fauour Pelagius For those words of the Apostle Rom. 5. in whom all haue sinned he restraines to example and doth take them as spoken of the imitation of the sinne of Adam XI Saint Chrisostome in many places doth seeme to creepe into this error In his Homily vpon new Conuerts he denyeth Baptisme to be profitable only to the remission of sinnes For saith he wee Baptise infants although they are not polluted with sinne that holinesse and righteousnesse adoption and the inheritance c may be added to them And in his tenth Homisie vpon the Epistle to the Romanes expounding that of Saint Paule Rom. 5. By the disobedience of one many were made sinners by sinners hee would haue vs vnderstand those that are guilty of punishment and mortall and not those that are defiled by the blot of sinne XII Lombard lib 2. distinct 30. litera E. saith there were some that said Originall sinne was no vice in vs but onely the guilt of punishment euen of that eternall punishment which is
his posterity which he had receiued for himselfe and his posterity Not to giue supernatural light to the minde is not to put into the will although peruersenesle of will doth afterwards follow the blindenesse of the minde For the will being destitute of this light and of the knowledge of supernaturall good things cannot moue it selfe to things vnknowne but onely to things that are present and knowne such as are the pleasures of the body riches c. Which although they be naturally good yet they turne the will from the study and desire of supernaturall things Then also selfe-loue which is naturally good and necessary doth beginne to be morally euill because it doth inuade that place which is due to the loue of God Hence is that pronenesse to euill which is in that inordinate selfe loue which supernaturall illumination doth not direct which light God not giuing to the soule doth not therefore put sinne into it No otherwise then if one doth take away from the Traueller the light of the Sunne by putting darkenesse betweene be doth not force the Traueller to stragle nor doth turne him from the right way but onely he doth take away that without which the right way cannot be knowne XVIII The temper of the body doth increase this contagion For it is found by experience that sanguine men are bloudy and libidinous cholericke men are rash and angry melancholicke men are suspicious and stedfast in their purposes deepely hiding their malice blacke and yealow choller are as sparkes and tinder put to the appetite by which it catcheth flames and burnes And according to the temper of the body one laughes vnder the scourge another weepes with a blow The humours of the body therefore are not causes but prouocations of sinne neither doe they compell the will but allure it nor doe they impresse sinne on the soule but doe put forward the sinfull soule and there being may waies open to sinne they doe incline the soule hither rather then thither CHAP. XI Whether the power of beleeuing the Gospell is lost by the sinne of Adam I. IT is demanded whether by the sinne of Adam we haue lost the power of beleeuing the Gospell Arminius that maruailous artificer of deuising doth deny it For that he might proue that God is bound to giue to euery man power of beleeuing in Christ and obtaining faith he doth contend that Adam before his fall had not power of beleeuing in Christ nor was it needfull for him therefore we could not loose in Adam that which Adam himselfe had not He saith also that faith was not commanded by the law and therefore Adam was not bound to faith because onely the law was giuen to him he addeth also that no man can beleeue but he that is a sinner And if Adam did not receiue power wherby if he fell he might rise again he did not receiue power of beleeuing the Gospell by which we rise out of this fall II. Seeing these things tend thither that Arminius might make a way for himselfe to that impious and vngodly opinion whereby he affirmes that God is bound to giue to all men power of beleeuing and that God is prepared to giue faith to all men if they themselues will This question is of no small moment nor to be perfunctoriously and lightly handled III. We therefore contend against Arminius that mankinde by the sinne of Adam together with their originall purity and righteousnesse lost also the power of beleeuing in Christ For by the fall of Adam we lost the power of louing God and of obeying him Now saith doth include the loue of God and it is a certaine kinde of obedience IV. Adam indeede before his fall was not bound to beleeue in Christ because he was not declared to him neither then was there neede but he was bound to beleeue euery word of God whatsoeuer should afterward be this bond passed to his posteritie but it had not passed if Adam had not beene tyed to the like bond So the israelites in the time of Dauid were not bound to beleeue Ieremy foretelling the instant captiuity into Babylon because Ieremy then was not neither was it needfull for them to know this and yet the Iewes in contemning the prophesie of Ieremy violated that law by which the same people was held and bound in the time of Dauid Hee were a foole who would say that hee that hath lost his sight hath not lost the power of seeing that house which was built foure yeares after or that hee that is blinde by his owne fault hath not lost the faculty of seeing the collyria or plaisters which the Physitian bringeth him some moneths after Surely Adam before his fall had power of beleeuing in Christ after the same manner that he had then power of succouring and helping the sicke and miserable although before the fall there was no misery nor could there be Adam was in the remote power to beleeue the Gospell as a sound man is in the remote power to vse the remedies of a disease that will or may come But that he did not beleeue in Christ it was not because it did exceede the power giuen him by God but because it was not needefull Finally seeing Adam by his incredulity lost the power of beleeuing the word of God it must needes be that hee lost also the power of beleeuing that word by which God was to bring a remedy to this euill V. In vaine doth Arminius thinke that it is vnaptly spoken if it be said that Adam had power of beleeuing when hee had no neede which power was taken from him when hee began to haue neede of it For neither was the power of beleeuing wanting to Adam nor was it taken from him but hee willingly lost it when he lost the power of obaying God And God of his meere grace doth restore the same to whom he will not because we will but because he worketh in vs that we will VI. But that is ridiculous which Arnoldus cap. 14. doth say that Adam before his fall did not receiue power by which he might rise if he should fall For that power whereby men rise after the fall is not giuen before the fall seeing the power is lost by the fall but after the fall is repaired There is no doubt but that Adam before his fall had strength whereby he might rise againe if hee had not lost it by his fall Arnoldus therefore thus speakes as if I should say that hee to whom God hath giuen sound and cleare eyes hath not receiued power by which he might see with those eyes after he is made blinde VII Finally as many as are the posterity of Adam are bound to fulfill the law this is a naturall debt and the law commands vs to loue God and to obey him and therefore to beleeue him speaking Whensoeuer then Christ is preached the doctrine of the Gospell cannot be refused but with the contempt of the Gospell the law also is