a true Miracle which is above the order of created Nature and so above the reach of any created power whether it be in the good Angels or in the Evil. As for those b 1 Sam. 28.12 13. Acts 8.9 11. Diabolical impostures then wherewith Satan doth delude the sight and deceive the fancy however they may seem c 1 Sam 28.13 Acts 8.9 10. prodigious operations yet are they indeed but airy apparitions The punishment of the evil Angels 1. Of loss 2. Of sense § 29. The Evil Angels by their Apostacy incur a double punishment of loss and of sense Their punishment of loss in being a Luke 10.18 2 Pet. 2.4 cast out of Heaven their punishment of sense in being b Mat. 25.4 tormented in Hell which torment is not only that of inward anguish made more accurately griping by horrid despair but also that of outward flames made more horridly dreadful c 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude 6. by utter darkness Luke 10.18 And the Apostate Angels though Spirits become tormented with scorchings from the infernal flames How tormented with the infernal sire as the souls of men though Spirits become affected with pain from their distempered bodies The manner is wonderful the measure inconceiveable the Truth real And seeing that among contraries as the reason so the faith of the one doth cleer and confirm the reason and faith of the other therefore we may conclude How the Doctrine concerning Devils helps to confirm the faith of God That if there be a Devil there certainly is a God and if Evil Angels to serve the Devil then sure good Angels to attend that God And if there be an Hell of torment for the wicked then sure there is an Heaven of joy for the godly CHAP. X. Concerning the estate of Man before his Fall § 1. By the common works of creation is manifested the will and power of the God-head THAT a Jer. 51.15 efficient vertue whereby the world was made and which in the b Psal 19.1 world as in its effect is manifested and declared doth not relate to the subsistence and Persons but to the essence and c Rev. 4.11 will of the Deity therefore though by the common work of creation is made d Rom. 1.20 known Gods eternal power and Godhead yet e Mat 16.16 17 not the mystery of the Trinity Not the mystery of the Trinity But when God doth form man to denote the excellency of his creature That clearly manifested this darkly presented in mans creation and to declare somwhat of the Mystery of the Trinity in the plurality of the persons he cals a councel as it were for mans creation and proposeth himself as the pattern of his Being Let us saith God f Gen 1.26 27. even Father Son and Holy Ghost Let us make man in our image after our likeness Created in Gods image thereby imprinting in man a conformity to the Divine nature yea some resemblance of the Personal subsistences § 2. Wherein the Image of God in man did consist This conformity unto the Divine Nature wherein man was created as the image of God did appear most of all in the Soul much in the body in the person and in the state of man before his fall Mans Soul in its nature did in some proportion or analogy represent God in his essence 1. In respect of his soul as being a substance a Gen. 2.7 Luke 23.46 Acts 7.59 spiritual and b Psal 49.15 Mat. 10.28 22.32 Phil. 1.23 1 Pet. 3.19 immortal as God is endued and adorned in his understanding with c Col. 3.10 perfect knowledg in his will with d Eccles 7.29 liberty in his affections with purity and in all his faculties with e Eph. 4.24 Luke 3.38 holiness and righteousness § 3. 2. In respect of his body That conformity in man to Divine Nature in respect of his body did consist in a a Rom. 5.13 secret harmony not visible shape of the parts and in an b Gen. 2.25 excellent beauty not external figure of the whole such was the beauty of the body from the vertuous lustre of the soul as is the light of the lantern from the bright shining of the candle Yea the members of mans body represent unto us the attributes of Gods nature and therefore as the parts of the Jews Tabernacle did c Heb 8.5 9.23 24. bear the image of heavenly mysteries so do the parts of mans body bear the image of the divine attributes so that we say the d 2 Chro. 16.9 Psal 11.4 Jer. 32.19 Eye of God to denote his wisdom and knowledg the e Deu. 33.27 Exod. 6 6. arm of God to intimate his power and strength the f Psal 139.10 145 16. hand of God to signifie his protection and providence 3. In resâ—ct of his person § 4. That part of Gods image in man which relates unto his person doth consist in that Sovenaignty and dominion given a Gen. 1.26 1 Cor. 11.7 him of God over the creatures being b Gâ—n 2.8 placed in Paradice as his royal seat the c Gen. 2.19 beasts of the Earth there made subject to him And such is the excellency of this representation of God in Soveraignty and Dominion that d Psal 82.6 Kings and Judges of the earth are therefore called Gods This pecular to man above the woman And this part of Gods image is peculiar to man e 2 Cor. 11.8 9 above the woman who in all particulars else is equal to the man having her Original being correspondent to her Conjugal condition Woman othe wise equal to the man being f Gen 2 22. 1 Cor. 11.8 taken out of man not from the head or feet but the side and so to be not his Mistris or his Hand-maid but his g Gen. 2.18 Eph 5 22 23. Associate h Gen. 2.23 24 Eph 5.28.33 neer in relation and dear in affection each to other 4. In respect of his estate § 5. Thus man who was spiritual and immortal in his soul who had knowledg and wisdom in his understanding liberty and uprightness in his will integrity and moderation in his affections an harmony and soundness in his members Soveraignty and dominion in his person must needs have a felicity and blessedness of estate and so be in his proportion and measure a compleat a Gen. 9.6 image of God In all man a compleat image of God who could not know misery b Gen 2.17 Rom 6.23 till he knew sin and so not cease to be happy till he did cease to be holy § 6. Besides this Image of God in a conformity to his divine nature What the resemblance of the Trinity in man there is in man some likeness of the Trinity in a resemblance of the personal subsistences Which may be found either in those three
faculties of the Soul the Understanding Memory and Will which three faculties have but one soul and the soul is one and the same in all the three faculties or else in the frame and order of mans intellectual nature and operation for that in one and the same spiritual Being the understanding doth beget the Word of the minde the image of it self in which it knows and from both issues a Dilection in the Will whereby it loves which is some likeness though no perfect Image of the Trinity § 7. Wherefore when God saith What most properly meant by those words of God is the creation of man After our likeness a Gen. 2.26 Let us make man in our own image after our likeness those words After our likeness we understand aright 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of exposition to those words In our Image and so they intimate unto us what this image is not of identity but of analogy not of essence but of quality that being b 2 Cor. 4.4 Col. 1.15 H b 1.3 John 14.9 1 Tim. 3.16 proper unto Christ this common unto c Job 1.6 Mat. 22.30 Angels and d Gen. 9.6 1. Cor. 11.7 Man Man then being made in Gods image and after his likeness doth denote a distance of diversity as well as declare a nearness of similitude Indeed Christ and Christ alone is the perfect and equal image of God being coessential and coeternal with the Father so that Gods image is in Christ as that of the King in his connatural Son by generation but in man as that of the King in his publick Coyne by impression § 8. It is an inseparable property of Mans soul in its analogical conformity to Gods nature The souls immortality not lost by the fall to be immortal which could not be lost by the fall for that in man degenerated by Sin as in man regenerated by Grace What the change in man by his fal the change is real but not essential it is in a Col. 3 10. Eph. 4 24. qualities but not in substance it is in the gifts and habits of the minde and thereby in the excellency not in the essence of the soul And as not in the souls essence so nor in its essential powers and properties man by his fall doth become indeed b Jer. 10.14 brutish but not a brute c Psa 49 12 20 Like the beasts in sensuality but not a beast in real truth Why the soul is immortal § 9. The soul then in all men continuing to be immaterial it must needs be immortal which otherwise could not be capable of an a 2 Cor. 5.1 Rom. 2 7. 1 Pet. 1.4 eternal reward in the godly or an b Mat. 25.4 Mark 9.43 44. eternal punishment in the wicked and needs must the soul be immortal which is spiritually begotten of c 1 Pet. 1.4 immortal seed and nourished by d John 6.51 incorruptible food which together with our whole Christian faith would become e 1 Cor. 15.13 14 vain yea perish in the souls mortality So that we cannot profess the Religion of Christ if we deny the immortality of the soul When the soul is created and infused into the body § 10. The soul is not a Rom. 9.11 pre-existent in its self before it is united unto the body by inspiration from God but as in the b Gen. 2.7 primitive being of the soul in Adam so in the successive beings of souls in all men The c Num. 16.22 Zech. 12.1 Col. 1.17 Job 5.17 soul is then infused by Creation and created by infusion when the body is prepared by a fit * Exod. 21.22 organization of the parts What its principal seat and how it informs the body made capable to receive it Whose Royal seat is in d Deu. 5.29 65. 30.14 Prov. 23.26 Heb. 8.10 the heart and by its analogically omnipresent power and infinite essence in its little world it actuates e 1 Cor. 12.14 c. the whole body and each member according to the several dispositions of the Organs And the soul thus inspired or infused it is not de Deo of God in his essence but f Rom. 11.36 a Deo from God in his power How the soul is the off-spring of God and so it is g Acts 17.28 Heb. 12.9 his off-spring by way of efficiency in a conformity of divine habits in its qualification not by an identity of divine substance in its Constitution § 11. In mans primitive integrity How possest of all vertues in its integrity Reason being subordinate unto God and the inferior faculties subordinate unto Reason Man was in a proportion possest of all vertues some in habit though not in act some both in act and in habit Those vertues which did imply an imperfection in mans estate were in him onely according to their habits and not their acts as mercy and repentance which implies misery and sin Those vertues which did imply nothing repugnant to mans created perfection were in him both according to their habits and their acts as Faith Hope and Charity Justice Temperance and Chastity and the like § 12. The souls of men not propagated Seeing the soul doth receive its being by a Eccles 12.7 Isa 57.16 1 Pet. 4.9 creation it cannot be extraduced propagated by generation as if the soul were from the soul as light is from light or the body from the body for then sure Adam would have said b Gen. 2 23. of Eve that she was spirit of his spirit as well as flesh of his flesh And why neither can that be by natural generation which is incorruptible in its nature yea simple and indivisible in its substance now such is the c Luke 23.46 Hâ—b 12 9. soul of man § 13. Yea Especially proved from their immortality the soul being an immaterial and immortal substance subsisting in its self and so a Heb. 12.23 Rev. 6.10 having the operations of life without the body it cannot be by Generation but must have its being by Creation otherwise as it begins its being with the Body generated it should cease to be with the Body corrupted and thereby could not be immortal Wherefore to say the soul is propagated by carnal Generation were to deny its immortality and therewith overthow the Faith and destroy our Christianity What the immortality of humane nature § 14. Besides the immortality of the soul in its spiritual substance man in his primitive estate had an immortality of humane nature not whereby he had no power to dye and from whence but whereby he had a power not to dye from his Original righteousness he had a power not to sin and from thence did flow that his primitive immortality in a power not to dye and how lost a Gen. 1.17 Rom 6.23 death being a punishment and so a consequent of sin §
Jer. 31.35 36. 33 20. Job 38.33 to all generations The immediate Creation what and of whom § 4. Of the Works of Creation some by an immediate creation were made out of a Heb. 11.3 nothing to be of a perfect and compleat existence immortal and incorruptible by the Will of God made subject to no essential change or utter dissolution such the Angels and the highest Heaven b Gen. 1.1 2.1 John 38.7 Mat 24.36 created together on the first day of the Creation The mediate Creation what and of whom Others of the c Gen. 1.6.9.11.14 20.24 creatures upon the whole visible part of the World were form'd by a mediate creation of matter pre-existent and so by nature d Psal 102 25 26. 2 Pet. 3.11 corruptible subject to an essential change and utter dissolution of their being The e Isa 34.4 Luke 21 33 2. Pet. 3.10 12. Rev. 6.13.14 Heavens themselves which are visible being liable to that final dissolution of the last day § 5. Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man's partaking of both the little world as the compendium of the whole Creation partakes of both those kindes as consisting of body and soul he pertakes of a mediate creation with the corruptible creatures in his body a Gen. 2.7 1 Cor. 15.44 Gen. 18 27. form'd of the dust also he pertakes of an immediate creation with the creatures incorruptible in his soul b Gen. 2.7 Zech. 12.1 Heb. 12 9. breathed of God and therefore in his body he is by nature c Isa 2.22 1 Cor. 15.53 corruptible and in his d Mat. 10 28. Eccles 3.21 12.7 soul immortal § 6. Man is aptly called the lesser world How and why call'd the lesser world having in him something of affinity with and participation of the several parts of the greater world He hath an affinity with the Angels in his soul as being spiritual invisible intelligent and immortal and affinity with the heavenly bodies in the excellency of his constitution and harmony of his parts and affinity with the four Elements in the substance of his body and material part of his composition the superiour Elements being predominant in their vertue the inferiour more abounding in their matter whereby man is said to be a Gen. 2.7 formed of the dust of the earth § 7. The invisible and highest Heaven What the first Heaven is that Saint Paul calls the a 2 Cor. 12.2 third Heaven the first b Gen. 1.1 7 8 9 20. 7.11 Psal 148.4 Heaven being that space of the Elementary Region from the surface of the Earth to the concave of the Moon The second Heaven c Gen 1 14.15 16 17 18. What the second Heaven that expansion of the Aetherial Region from the lowest Orbe that of the Moon What the third Heaven to the highest of the invisible Heavens the Firmanent The third Heaven that is d 1 King 8.27 the Heaven of Heavens e Ephes 4.10 far above all the visible heavens whither f Mark 16.19 Eph. 1 20.21 Acts 1.11 Eph. 4.10 Christ ascended and where God hath g Psal 103.19 set his Throne and made his h Isa 5 7. 66.1 John 14.1 Habitation with the Blessed i Mat. 18.10 1 Cor. 13.12 where he manifests himself in his glorious presence to the k Psal 16.11 perfect joy and felicity of l Heb. 12.22 Dan. 7.10 Angels and Saints What the influences § 8. In the visible parts of the world the a Job 38.31 32 Ephes 6.12 heavenly bodies have their influences upon the earthly b Judg. 5.20 powerfully to encline not c Job 38.33 forcibly to necessitate them in their constitutions and operations They are also appointed certainly d Gen. 1.14 Jer. 33.20 25. to distinguish the Seasons And what the predictions of the heavenly bodies not e Isa 47.11 12. infallibly to fore-tell events so that from their powerful disposing there may be made some conjectural predictions but seeing they cannot necessitate there can be f Deut. 18.10 Isa 47.13 Jer 10.2 Acts 1.7 Prov. 27.1 Jam. 4 14. made no infallible Prognostications The creation of man and the forming of woman § 9. Man the last part of the Creation and chief of the visible creatures consisting of a Gen. 2.7 body and soul was made b Gen. 1.26 9 6. in the Image and after the likeness of God And out of man thus created c 1 Cor. 11.7 the image and glory of God God d Gen. 1.27 2.12 1 Cor. 11.8 formed woman the glory of the man to be e Gen. 2.18 1 Cor. 11.9 an help meet for him by which two hath been f Gen. 1.28 49.25 Psal 113 9. propagated through his blessing the g Acts 17.26 off-spring of mankinde to a replenishing the whole earth Thus God having h Gen. 2 2. John 5.17 finished his work of Creation in six daies he resteth the seventh day How God rested the seventh day where Rest hath not any proper respect unto God as the Creator in his working but unto the works of the Creation in their producing as ceasing to create any new Species or kindes of creatures but not to preserve what was created or to produce and preserve new individuals according to the several Species of the Creation And what strange kindes have since been produc'd different from those several Species had their first i Eccl. 1.9 10. principle of being in the active powers of the first ceatures and so were casually in the works of the six daies creation § 10. The glory of God's Wisdom is excellent in the Order of his Creation God's wisdom in the Order of his Creation He first a Gen 1.11 12 forms the grass herbs and trees before he b Gen. 1.14 15 c. makes the Stars lest any should think they had their first production from whence they have their after c Gen 1 14. Job 38 31 32. growth and generation And in the inferiour part of the visible world God first creates those things which have d Gen. 19 10. onely being next those things which besides being have e Gen. 1.12 life and life vegetative after these those things which have f Gen. 1.20 21 24 25. being life and sense and lastly g Gen. 1.26 and 2.7 man who hath being life sense and reason Thus God first makes ready the habitation and then h Gen. 1.28 c. and 2 8. brings in the inhabitant he first provides food and then forms the feeder he first prepares what is useful for man and then creates man to use them to his Makers glory § 11. Every thing created perfect in it's kinde God creates every thing a Gen. 1.4 31. perfect in it's kinde and it implies a contradiction to say that God might have created the
What meant by that saying The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father whereas then it is said that c Ezek. 18.20 the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father it is meant of those sins whether in Adam or others as are meerly personal not of that disobedience which Adam committing as our representative doth therefore become ours by imputation nor of that corruption which being seated in humane nature doth therefore become common to Adam with his posterity as his natural branches § 10. It is not then by a Rom. 5.14 actual imitation How orignal sin is propagated but by b Gen. 5.3 Ephes 2.3 natural generation that we become partakers of Adams sin and therefore liable to Gods wrath yea in the regenerate themselves How it remains even in the regenerate How they propagated it to their children though Original Sin be c Rom. 8.1 remitted in its guilt yet it d Rom. 7 23. Gal. 5.17 remains in its pollution and so becomes propagated in generation So that the children which descend of pious parents do partake of Original sin because they are children by e John 1.13 3.6 carnal not spiritual generation begotten not according to the operation of grace but propagation of nature For that the regenerate beget children in their likeness is according to the flesh as men and the sons of Adam not according to the Spirit as Saints Illustrated by apt similitudes and the Sons of God Sanctified parents f Mat. 8.9 10. beget children sinful by nature even as the circumcised Jewes beget children uncircumcised in the flesh or as the wheat cleansed from the chaff when sown doth bring forth wheat with its chaff again § 11. How the children of Beleevers are said to be holy Wherefore when the children of Beleevers are said to a Rom. 11.16 1 Cor. 7.14 be holy it is to be understood as spoken of a political or civil or of a sanctifying and saving holiness even such a federal holiness as consists in a capacity of right and a priviledge of claim b Gen. 17.7 Acts 2.29 unto the promises of life and glory made of God in Christ unto his Church And thus it is in the Christian Church Illustrated by a fit allusion much like as it was in the Roman State As in the Roman State a Consul did beget a son in a political right to the Cities priviledges which son was not born a Consul though politically free thus in the Christian Church a Saint doth beget a child in a federal right to the Churches promises which child is not born a Saint though federally holy What is the subject of Original Sin § 12. The Subject of Original sin cannot be the body or the soul alone but both together in the whole and perfect nature of man And though true it is that in the knowledg of Original sin it is more profitable to seek how we may evade it in its punishment then to examine how it doth invade us in its guilt yet somewhat to inform mens judgments though not fully to satisfie their curiosity we teach That to conceive when and how man doth become the subject of original sin it must be observed When the human nature is perfect that the humane nature is not perfect till the a Gen. 2.7 union of the soul with the body Now the soul that is b Zech. 12.1 infused by creation and created by infusion and in the same instant that the soul is infused into the body by creation the body is also united to the soul in that infusion to the making up of both into one entire Composition of humane nature and When the subject of Original Sin which humane nature in the first instant of its being is the subject of original sin How the human nature in man becomes infected with Original Sin § 13. Now that humane Nature in the first instant of its being doth become the subject of original Sin is not from the body infecting the soul as the musty vessel doth the sweet liquor nor yet from the souls infecting the body as the musty liquor doth the sweet vessel but by a secret and ineffable resultancy from the inherence in them both The depraved inclination unto evil inseparably accompanying and indeed necessarily flowing from the evil deprivation of righteousness which deprivation of righteousness is the proper effect of Adams sin though the necessary consequent of Gods wrath who doth make this a just punishment of Adams disobedience even to withhold from his posterity that treasure which he had prodigally wasted that grace which he had wilfully lost that image which he had wickedly defac'd And seeing by a just imputation we are partakers of his Sin it is by a just dispensation that we become partakers also of his punishment And thus no sooner do we partake of Adams Nature but we partake also of Adams curse and so by an immediate and inseparable consequence we become defil'd with Original Sin § 14. That Original sin is propagated by carnal generation appears by its antithesis of spiritual regeneration That Original Sin in the image of God defac'd is propagated by carnal generation appears by that which in an apt antithesis is opposite unto it even the image of God renewed by spiritual regeneration which the Apostle tells us is through the a Jam. 2.18 1 Pet. 1.23 incorruptible seed of Gods word yet that Original sin is propagated by carnal generation is not by vertue of any seminal power How propagated by vertue of divine ordination but by vertue of divine ordination it being the just ordination of God that Adams Posterity who were legally guilty of disobedience in him b 1 Cor. 15.22 as their Head should be legally deprived of righteousness c Rom. 5.15 from him as his members which deprivation of Original righteousness being inseparably accompanied with a pollution of natural uncleanness it was further the just ordination of God that Adam having corrupted his nature in propagating his nature should propagate his corruption and so we being d Rom. 5.12 Heb. 7.9 10. naturally in him as our root do become as men so e Rom. 5.19 sinnâ—â—s too from him as his branches § 15. The sum of what concerns original sin Thus Original Sin is not seated in the substance of the body or of the soul single but in the humane nature upon the union of both and doth consist in the imputed guilt of Adams disobedience and the propagated corruption of Adams nature conveyed in carnal generation by vertue of the Divine ordination of Gods justice which propagated corruption in the regenerate is destroy'd according to the a Rom. 6.6 8.1 condemning and b Rom. 6.12 Gal 5.16 raigning power thereof but doth remain in its c Rom. 7.18 24 inhering and d Rom. 7.23 Gal 5.17 infecting nature which becomes more
though grace in the regenerate be powerful enough to d Gal. 5 16 24 suppress these inordinate motions yet that doth not excuse reasons being defective in its duty to prevent them They ought to be kept down by Reasons watchfulness and therefore cannot arise but in sins guilt What makes any act to be sin And whereas it may be pleaded that they are involuntary and so cannot be Sins we say How the motions of concupiscence are voluntary through the wils defect before they rise though not consented to when râ—ised it is e 1 Iohn 3 4. repugnancy to Gods law which makes the sin and that though it be against the wil that these inordinate lustings should be fulfilled yet it is from the will that these lustings in their inordinacy are not prevented the will neglecting or failing in her primitive powerful command to keep under what is rebellious How concupiscence it self is voluntary Besides concupiscence is voluntary as flowing from Adams wilful disobedience For in mortality quod ex voluntario causatur pro voluntario reputatur what is caused by a voluntary act is reputed voluntary in the acting The motions of concupiscence prov'd to be sinful by an infallable argument drawn from the indifferent nature of the wills consent § 11. Further yet That those motions of concupisence are sins when fully consented to by the will doth infallibly prove them to be sinful before the will doth give yea though the will doth not give its full consent For the consent of the will is a thing indifferent in it self neither good nor evil but according to its object If any thing be good it is not the consent of the will that makes it evil and if any thing be evil it is not the consent of the will can make it good but according to the nature of the object such is the act of the will whether it be in good or whether it be in evil wherefore if the first motions of concupiscence were not sinful in themselves they could not be made sins by the consenting of the will But seeing by the confession of all parties they are sin when the will doth give its consent therefore they must be sinful before the consent of the will be given What the Specifical distinction of sin into spiritual and carnal is § 12. Whereas Sin in respect of the Subject is specifically distinguished into spiritual and carnal Sins the distinction is taken from the end a 2 Cor. 7.1 Spiritual Sins being perfected in spiritual delight as pride vain-glory and the like b Rom. 8.1 Gal. 5.19 but carnal Sins in carnal delight How all sin is carnal as gluttony luxury and the like True it is all sin is carnal as arising from the flesh as flesh in Scripture is taken for Original Sin in mans corrupt nature and how Spiritual and all sin is spiritual as affecting the Soul in the commission and defiling the spirit of man with guilt What the true difference betwixt both But when spiritual and carnal Sins are contradistinguished as several and specifical sorts of sin by Spiritual Sins are meant those which affect and defile the soul immediatly in the body by carnall sins are meant those which affect and defile the soul immediatly by the body § 13. Sin in respect of the object What the specifical distinction of sin into that against God against our neighbours and against our selves How all sin is against God How said to be against our neighbours and our selves is specifically distinguished into sins a 1 Sam. 2.25 Luke 15.28 18.2 Acts 24.16 Tit. 2.12 against God against our Neighbour and against our selves For though it is common to all sin that it is against God as being formally a violation b Rom. 4.13 1 John 3.4 Jam. 2.9 of his eternal law and so properly the offence of his sacred Majesty yet sin materially considered in respect of the injury and dammage which accompanies it it may be against mans self or his neighbour Indeed all sins as they are inordinate actions do imply an acting something to the breach of Order The three-fold order which God hath established amongst men And seeing God hath establish'd among men a threefold order there are three kinds of sin according to their three-fold inordinacy The three-fold Order is 1. That of the inferior faculties unto reason in mans naturall constitution 2. That of one man in a politicall constitution unto another 3. That of all men in a religious constitution unto God Now the inordinacy which makes a breach of any of these orders is a sin against God as the c Exod. 20.2 Jam. 2 13. supreme Law-giver but in comparing one with another that sin sin which immediatly breaks the order of Religion as Blasphemy Heresie Infidelity and the like is said The threefold inordinacy in breach of this order making three kinds of sin to be a sin against God Again that sin which immediatly breaks the order of policy as theft oppression murder and the like is said to be a sin against our neighbour Lastly that sin which immediatly breaks the order of Nature in man as drunkenness gluttony and the like is said to be a sin against our selves yea some sins there are at once against our selves and our neighbours as d 1 Cor. 6.18 fornication adultery c. and some against God our neighbours and our selves as the e Rom. 12.19 prosecuting unjust revenge the persecuting Gods Church c. What the distinction of sin into that of infirmity of ignorance and of malice From whence this distinction is taken What is the inordinacy of the sensitive appetite What the inordinacy of the understanding What the inodinacy of the will § 14. That sin in respect of the efficient is distinguish'd into sins of infirmity of ignorance and of malice is taken from the three principles of all actions and so consequently of all actuall sins in man the sensitive appetite understanding and will which as they are the principles of all actions in their natural Beings so are they the principles of all actuall sins in their preternatural inordinacies The inordinacie of the sensitive appetite is in being irregular and immoderate in its affections the inordinacy of the understanding is in not knowing what it ought or in not actually dictating what it habitually knows the inordinacy of the will is in subjecting it self to the sensitive appetite or in following the understanding in its erroneous dictates or in opposing it in its right judgement Now when the will becomes inordinate through the sudden a Gen. 9.21 2 Sam. 11.2 3 4. Matth. 26.70.72 74. surprize and eager importunity of the sensitive appetite When a sin of infirmity is the sin is the sin of infirmity again when the will becomes inordinate through the defect of b Gen. 19.33.35 Lev. 5.17 Lev. 4.2 Psal 19.12 judgement in the understanding
free and necessary No compelling force of Providence in necessary causes Sec. 13. Contingency in secondary causes illustrated Sec 14. How Gods Providence is equal and how unequal The Providence of God general special and peculiar The law of Nature and how executed in Gods general Providence Sec. 15. What a miracle is and how one greater then another Sec. 16. Wherein miraculous effects exceed the strength of nature Sec. 17. Gods special Providence over Angels and men How over Angels How over men Sec. 18. Gods peculiar Providence over the Church of his Elect The dispensation hereof committed to Christ and how performed Sec. 19. Gods Providence particularly applied and how Sec. 20. This aptly illustrated Sec. 21. Why Gods Providence doth not admit Annihilation of the creatures CHAP. IX Concerning the Angels Elect and Apostate Sec. 1. WHat the nature of the Angels is Sec. 2. How and when created Sec. 3. Why and how immortal Sec. 4. The trial of Angels The obedience and confirmation of the good Angels Sec. 5. In what the confirmation of the good Angels Sec. 6. How and why from grace and not from nature Sec. 7. This grace in the understanding Sec. 8. And in the will made perfect by Christ Sec. 9. The fall and punishment of the evil Angels Sec. 10. The service of the good Angels in behalf of Christs Church the use and malice of the evil Angels in respect of the wicked Sec. 11. Gods glory manifested in both No fear to the good no hope to the evil Angels Sec. 12. What the orders and names of the good how given and constituted Sec. 13. How they assum'd bodies in their ministrations with men What the actions they performed in those bodies Sec. 14. What their Knowledge how increased and perfected Sec. 15. Yet know not all things not the secrets of the heart This Gods prerogative How they know the mysteries of Grace Sect. 16. How they admonish and perswade yet cannot savingly enlighten or convert This also Gods prerogative Sec. 17. How the Angels enjoy Gods presence in their ministrations to the Church Aptly illustrated Sec. 18. What honour we give the good Angels as their due What we may not give as not being due Not make them our mediators not invocate them and why Sec. 19. Their manner of working and of utterance not known what we beleeve of both What meant by the tongues of Angels Sec. 20. What Reason dictates concerning the speech of Angels Sec. 21. How different and how agreeing with that of Men. Sec. 22. How the same with that of the souls separate Sec. 23. What the sin of the Apostate Angels Satans malice against Christ and how especially prosecuted Sec. 24. What the knowledge of the Apostate Angels How encreased how not foretel events how foretel them The end of all diabolical predictions why not to be allowed of Sec. 25. What the power of the evil Angels how exercised Sec. 26. What their names and how proper and common Gods Glory manifested in all Sec. 27. The wonderful working of Satan Why not true miracles all miracles are from God such the miracles of Christ Sec. 28. Why not such the workings of Satan Sec. 29. The punishment of the evil Angels 1 Of loss 2 Of sense How tormented with the infernal fire How the Doctrine concerning Devils helps to confirm the faith of God CHAP. X. Concerning the estate of Man before his Fall Sec. 1. BY the common work of creation is manifested the wil and power of the God-head not the mystery of the Trinity That clearly manifested this darkly presented in mans creation Created in Gods image Sec. 2. Wherein the image of God in man did consist 1 In respect of his soul Sec. 3. 2. In respect of his body Sec. 4. 3. In respect of his person This peculiar to man above the woman Woman otherwise equal to the man Sec. 5. 4. In respect of his estate In all man a compleat image of God Sec. 6. What the resemblance of the Trinity in man Sec. 7. What most properly meant by those words of God the creation of man After our likeness Sec. 8. The souls immortality not lost by the fall What the change in man by his fall Sec. 9. Why the soul is immortal Sec. 10. When the soul is created and infused into the body What its principal seat and how it informs the body How the soul is the off-spring of God Sec. 11. How possest of all vertues in its integrity Sec. 12. The souls of men not propagated and why Sec. 13. Especially proved from their immortality Sec. 14. What the immortality of humane nature and from whence and how lost Sec. 15. How some bodies said to be incorruptible and how the bodies of our first Parents Sec. 16. What and how great things God did that Man should not sin and what he would have done that Man should not dye Sec. 17. What original righteousness was and how to have been transmitted to Adams posterity Sec. 18. Why said to be a connatural endowment Sec. 19. The wil the chief seat of original righteousness What its essential liberty is What the liberty of contrariety is and why not essential to the will Sec. 20. What that of contradiction is and why not essential to the wil In what it is necessary that the will have a liberty of contradiction Sec. 21. What is the liberty of will in God in Christ in the Angels and in the Blessed what in the Devils and in the wicked what in man in the state of innocence and of grace CHAP. XI Concerning the Covenant of Works and the Fall of man Sec. 1. ADam had a knowledg of Gods will perfect in its kinde What the Law to Adam How the same with the Decalogue Sec. 2. What the covenant of Works What the seal of of Covenant Sec. 3. The trial of mans obedience Sec. 4. Man left to the use of his free-wil Tempted by Satan Transgresseth in eating the forbidden fruit Sec. 5. Satans bait to catch man The subtilty of Satans temptation His order and progress in it The Tree of knowledg of good and evil why so called Sec. 6. Wherein the hainousness of Adams transgression doth consist how a violation of the whole Law Sec. 7. What was mans first sin is doubtful and so difficult to determine What the first internal principle of evil in man Adams sin was from himself freely without force Sec. 8. Adams sin incurs Gods curse of death upon himself and his posterity why upon his posterity Sec. 9. Adam propagates the curse and the sin too and this in propagating his nature Sec. 10. Gods goodness justified in giving Man a freewil though he knew the Devil would thereby enter and destroy man how it was necessary that man should have a will and that will a liberty to good and evil Sec. 11. To have made a rational creature without a will or a will without its liberty doth imply a contradiction Sec. 12. The mutability of estate in Angels
1.15 God is not to be imagined like any thing that is visible and bodily CHAP. III. Concerning God in the Trinity of Persons What the knowledg of God from a natural sight § 1. THE Knowledg of God which is from the a Rom. 1 19 20 light of Nature doth take it's rise from sense and can ascend no higher then it is supported nor go any further then it is led by sensible objects which give us no clearer Knowledg of God then the effects do of their cause namely that He is and that He is not such as they are but far excelling them in Essence and in Attributes as not being compounded not depending not finite not mutable and the like But the Knowledg of God which is from a Supernatural light What from a light Supernatural that is meerly by divine b Joh. 1.18 Exod. 33.23 Revelation as that God is the c Eph. 1.2 3. Mat. 6.9 Father of Christ and of his Church the d Gen. 15.1 Heb. 11.6 Reward of the Faithful the e Psal 68.20 Isa 12.2 Jer. 3.23 Salvation of Israel and the like Yea such is our Knowledg of God through the apprehension of Faith in the Glorious Mystery of the Blessed Trinity whereby we beleeve the same God which is f Deut. 6.4 Isa 45.5 1 Cor. 8.4.6 One in nature or being Who are the three Persons and what a Person is is also g Gen. 1.26 and 11.7 8. Isa 6.3 63. ver 7 9 10. Mat. 3.16 17. and 28.19 2 Cor. 13 14. 1 John 5.7 Three in Persons or manner of subsisting Father Son and Holy Ghost which Three Persons do not divide the Unity into parts but distinguish the Trinity by their properties § 2. A finite Vnderstanding not possiby able to comprehend this infinite mystery And here we acknowledg it impossible that a finite understanding should comprehend that mystery which is infinite in its Glory and therefore when the minde soars high to conceive the truth of the Unity it is dazled with the glory of the Trinity and when it would conceive the mystery of the Trinity it is overcome with the glory of the Unity And to illustrate this mystery with instances is to shadow out the light with colours Not to be illustrated by any Instances though the instances are that of the same Sun in its body beams and light the same water in its fountain spring and river yea the same soul in its understanding memory and will § 3. This is as high as Reason will reach The highest pitch of Reason's apprehension God is an infinite being having in himself a power to be which begets a Knowledg that he is and from both proceeds a love of that knowledg and power of being This infinite Being is equal and one in all these Relations yet the Relations distinguish'd in themselves as distinct manners of the Beings subsistence Thus the Father Son and Holy Ghost three distinct subsistences of one infinite Essence three distinct Persons of one eternal Godhead the Father as the power of the Godhead begets the Son the Son as the wisdom of that Godhead is begotten of the Father and the Holy Ghost as the Love of both proceeds from the Father and the Son And as that power never was without that knowledge nor that power and knowledg without that love so nor ever was the Father without the Son nor the Father and the Son without the Holy Ghost And as that Knowledge is equal to the Power and the Love equal to both so the Son is equal to the Father and the Holy Ghost equal to the Father and the Son § 4. Now though Reason cannot instruct us to know what is hid Reason directing to Faith yet it doth direct us to beleeve what is revealed concerning this mystery For what more reasonable then this that what we cannot attain by a Natural Knowledge we should receive by a Divine Faith when revealed unto us by God in his Word Which Word teacheth us What and how a Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of the Godhead that the three Persons in the Godhead are not three parts of God but c John 10.30 1 Tim. 1.17 One onely God The d Eph. 1.3 1 Pet. 1.3 Father God the e John 1.1 Heb. 1.2 3. 1 John 5 10. Son God and the f Acts 5.3 4. Holy Ghost God and yet not g Isa 6.3 Rev. 4.8 three Gods but one God all the three Persons being h Gen. 1.26 John 5.18 Phil. 2.6 Coessential and Coequal § 5. That the Son is God The Son God and the Holy Ghost God firmly proved and the Holy Ghost is God is made evident to the eye of Faith from these testimonies of sacred Scriptures which give them the a Jer. 23.6 1 John 5.6 Rom. 9 5. Acts 28.25 Tit. 2.13 1 Cor. 3.16 Proper Names the b Isa 9.6 Heb. 9.14 Phil. 3.21 Psal 13.9 7. John 21.17 1 Cor. 2.10 11 Essential Attributes 2 Cor. 13 14. the c Heb. 1 23. Job 26.13 and 33.4 Eph. 4.8.11 1 Cor. 12.11 Mat. 12.28 John 6.54 Rom 8.11 Divine operations and the d H b 1.6 1 Cor 6.19 Psal 2.12 Eph. 4.30 Mat 28.19 Holy worship of God § 6. In this Trinity the Godhead is not divided How the Persons are distinguished but the Persons are distinguished the Godhead is not divided in it's essence but the a Isa 61.1 John 8.16 17 18. John 14.26 and 15.26 Persons distinguished by their properties The b Psal 2.7 Heb. 1.5 Father begetting the c John 1.14 Heb. 1.6 Son begotten and the d John 15.26 Gal. 4.6 Holy Ghost proceeding which properties do not make them different Beeings but one and the same Being in a diverse manner of subsisting God begetting is the Father God begotten is the Son and God proceeding is the Holy Ghost Again the Father is God begetting the Son the Son is God begotten of the Father and the Holy Ghost is God proceeding from both the Father and the Son § 7. Though the Word Trinity and Person are not found literally exprest How Trinity and Person are found in Scripture yet are they found plainly implyed in Text of a Mat. 28.19 John 14.16 Ephes 2.18 sacred Scripture Yea seeing St. John doth tell us of God that he b 1 John 5.7 is Three the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost who shall question the word Trinity numerus numeratus in the abstract who reads the word Three numerus numerans in the concrete Which Three bearing record most firm it is by a Trinity of testimonies which doth plainly intimate a Trinity of subsistences What a Subsistence is and what a subsistence is St. Paul resolves us when he saith of the Son that he is c Heb. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the express Image of his Fathers Subsistence where the word Subsistence doth truly and fully
light in the Angels that what they know is not apprehended in parts by a discursive reasoning but comprehended at once in a e 1 Cor. 13.12 present intuition of their understanding and this so perfect and clear as is without any the least mixture of falsehood or mist of Errours Yet know not all things not the secrets of the heart § 15. But though the Angels are so excellent in knowledg yet do they not know all things no not the a 1 Cor. 2.11 secret thoughts of man's heart but as they are either revealed by Gods Spirit or discovered by mans self he manifesting his affections by their effects his thoughts by their signes whether internal in the soul This Gods prerogative or external in the body To b Jer. 17.10 Rev. 8.27 be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the searcher of hearts is the Prerogative of God alone How they know the mysteries of Grace And if the Angels know not the c 1 Cor. 2.11 secrets of man's heart much less can they know the secrets of Gods counsel but when revealed so that the Misteries of Grace are not known to the Angels but by Revelation from God How they admonish § 16. The blessed Angels as a Mat. 2.20 3 19. Acts 27.23 our Spiritual Counsellors they may by presenting truth to the minde internally admonish as our Heavenly friends b Heb. 1.14 they may by secret instigations privately perswade and perswade yet cannot savingly enlighten or convert this also Gods prerogative but they cannot by any saving enlightnings illuminate the minde or by any effectual operation move the will for he who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the searcher of the heart he and he alone c Prov. 21.1 Jer. 31.18 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Converter of the heart § 17. When the holy Angels are busily employ'd in their Ministery How the Angels enjoy Gods presence in their ministrations to the Church for the service of Gods children they still behold the face of God by vertue of his omnipresence and though their Ministry be on Earth yet are they said to be in Heaven though not in respect of place yet in respect of the beatifical vision for that as wheresoever the Royal person of the King is there is the Court so wheresoever the glorious presence of God is Aptly illustrated there is Heaven Wherefore as the Labourer hewing wood in the Sun-shine so plies his work as that withal he enjoyes the light cheered with the warmth of the refreshing beams so the Angels performing their Ministry in Gods presence so discharge their office as that withal they enjoy their blessedness encompassed with the glory of the beatifical vision § 18. What honour we give the good Angels as their due We allow the holy Angels a due proportion of our love our a 1 Cor. 11.10 reverence and our b Mat. 6.10 imitation but may not robb c 1 Tim. 2.5 Christ of the glory of his mediation by making d Col. 2.18 them our Mediators And seeing that Invocation of Prayer is a main e Psal 50.15 72.15 Part of Divine worship What we may not give as not being due Not make them our Mâ—diators not invocate them and why it must be f Isa 42.8 appropriate unto God and therefore it cannot g Judg. 13.16 Rev. 19.10 without Idolatry be applied unto Angels who are our fellow creatures though far above us in the glory of their creation We may not invocate any but him who is the h Mal. 3.1 Angel of the Covenant Christ Jesus from whom i Gen. 48.16 Jacob having received deliverance himself beggs a blessing upon Joseph's sons § 19. Their manner of working and of utterance not â—nown What is the manner of working whereby the Angels exercise and actuate their power and what their manner of Utterance whereby they signifie and communicate their thoughts we cannot determine because it is not revealed only this the former we beleeve to be a 2 Kin. 19.35 Psal 103.20 wonderfully effective What we beleeve of both the later to be b 1 Cor. 13 1. cleerly significant and both exceeding quick and speedy in the performance So that when the Scriptures tell us of the Tongues of Angels What meant by the tongues of angels they are Metaphorically to be understood of that Angelical Utterance whereby they outwardly manifest what they inwarldly conceive What reason dictates concerning the speech of Angels § 20. Thus much Reason dictates to us That the Will being Empress of all the faculties doth move the Understanding in it's intellectual operation by whose actual knowledg if the Will confines within the limits of the minde a man by that inward word of the mental conception a Mat. 9.3 4. speaks unto himself But if the Will requires it to be manifested without and expos'd to open view by the outward word of voice or b Luke 1.22 hand or eye or other external sign a man speaks unto another But in that language or rather Manifestation of the inward thoughts which is Angelical one Angel speakes unto another having no Obstacle of bodily substance and so no need of external sign by the onely act of the Will as willing what he knows or desires himself to be made known and manifest unto another How different and how agreeing with that of Men. § 21. With men the secrets of their heart are kept hid by a double obstacle that of the Will and that of the Body so that the thoughts of the heart which a man wils not to be reveal'd at all are kept hid from the Angels as lockt up by the will and when a man wils his thoughts to be known if he declare them not they are kept hid from Men as vail'd with the Body for though the minde be neer so open as unlockt by the will yet not being express'd by some sensible sign such is the thick wall of flesh that we see it not But with the Angels being spiritual substances the onely door to shut in or let out the secrets of the Mind is the Will so that no sooner doth one Angel will that another know but the other presently knows what that Angel wils § 22. It is consonant then to Reason How the same with that of the souls separate that the speech of Angels is the same with that of Souls when separate from their Bodies even an act of the Will ordering the conceptions of the Minde to be manifested to another For that remove the wall of flesh and the soul then needs no door of the mouth for the minde to come forth at by voice to shew its self the Will ordering the conceptions to be manifested is language enough to speak the intentions of the minde for others whether Angels or Souls separate to apprehend This then is the voice and language of an a 1
Cor. 13.1 Jude 9. Angel even a willing another to know what he wills by him to be known § 23. The Sin of the Apostate Angels What the sin of the Apostate Angels which was the cause of their fall we cannot particularly discern because the Scriptures do not plainly discover We suppose it to have been a sin immediately against the Son of God accompanied or rather compleated with the a Mat. 12.24 31.32 Sin against the Holy Ghost in an irreconcileable hatred and enmity against that truth of which they were in conscience so fully convinc'd Upon b Isa 14.12 13 14 15. Satans pride and envy at Christs person did follow his malice and c John 8 44. hatred of Christs Truth even the d John 14.6 Rev. 14 6. eternal Gospel of his Incarnation as ordained of God in humane nature e Eph. 1.22.23 to be the head of the Angels f Eph. 1.10 united to the body of his Church Satans malice against Christ â—nd how especiâ—lly prosecuted Which malice and hatred of Christ and his truth Satan hath ever since prosecuted by bloody persecutions rais'd against his Church by horrid blasphemies and Heresies vented against his person in his Divinity his Humanity and the offices of his Mediation § 24. What the knowledg of the Apoâ—tate Angels Though the evil Angels are a Mat. 13.19 16.25 Eph. 6.12 spoil'd of grace by their sin and b 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude 6. involv'd in darkness by c Luke 10.18 their fall yet are they eminent in d 2 Cor. 2.11 11.3 Eph. 6.11 Jam. 2.19 knowledg by their Nature How increas'd and this much e Eph. 6.11 12. heightned by long experience in the world and from divine f Mat. 4.6 8 29. Jâ—m 2 19. revelations in the Scriptures yea by g Jude 9. frequent contests with the good Angels yet can they not h Isa 4.23 foretel future events How not foretel events by any light of foreknowledg in and from themselves but what they do foretel are either such things as they finde foretold by the holy Prophets How foretel them or prepared in natural Causes or such things as they know already design'd being privy to the good and i assistants to the wicked designs of men or such things as by some evident signs they conjecture or by some seeming probabilities they presume The end of all diabolical predictions but whatsoever it the prediction or revelation from the evil Angels is is intended to k Mark 1.36 Acts 16 17.18 deceive and seduce to mischief and destroy and therefore l 1 Kin. 22 21 22. l Deut. 13 1 2 3. Eph 6.11 neither is to be sought for Why not to be allowed of nor to be allowed of all complyance with Devils being a m 2 Cor. 6 14 15. Ephes 5 11. renouncing of God and thereby a ruin to the soul What the power of 〈◊〉 evil 〈◊〉 § 25. As the Evil spirits are eminent in knowledg so are they also a Mat. 12.29 Ephes 6.12 migty in power yet a power b Job 1.12 2 6. 1 Pet. 5.8 limited and restrained God holding them fast in the Chain of his Providence so that when made executionors of his wrath they are kept c Mat. 8.32 Rev 7.2 3. subject to the command of his will How exercised By Divine Permission and Providential ordination it is that the Evil spirits exercise their d Job 1.12.16.19 Ephes 2 2. Rev 7. â— 3. power in the fire in the air in the waters and on the earth upon trees upon beasts and upon men Some e Luke 8.30 Mat. 8.16 men they actually possess some they f Luke 22.3 Acts 5.3 Ephes 2.2 wickedly pervert some they g Zech. 3.1 1 Thes 2.18 eagerly oppose but all they h 1 Pet. 5.8 2 Tim. 2.26 daily tempt and with the i 1 Chro. 21.1 Luk 22.31.57 best they often prevail though not so as k Gen 3.15 Psal 5.1 Luk 22.61 62. Rom. 16.20 fully to overcome and finally to destroy What their names and how proper and common § 26. The Prince of the Apostate Angels is called by those a Mat. 25.41 Luk. 10.17 names in an eminency of Evil which will fit all the rest in their proportion of Evil. He is called sometimes the b John 8.44 1 John 3.8 Devil the c Rev. 12.10 Accuser with lies reproches and calumnies accusing God unto man and man unto God Somtimes the d Mat. 4.3 1 Thes 3.5 Tempter by evil suggestions still soliciting unto sin Sometimes the e Mat. 13.19 Ephes 6.16 wicked one being full of iniquity himself and ever prompting others unto wickedness Sometimes f Luke 10.18 Acts 26.18 Satan the Adversary setting himself against God and Christ the good Angels and holy men raising and promoting enmity and contentions Somtimes the g Mat. 13.25 Luke 10.19 Enemy and the h 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. Destroyer raising i Rev. 20.8 seditions and wars to destroy nations k 1 Sam. 16.14 dissentions and divisions to ruin families Gods glory manifâ—sted in all l Mat. 13.25 Rev. 12.12 13 17 persecutions and Heresies to infest the Church In all which God doth manifest the riches of his wisdom and greatness of his power to the glory of his mercy and the advancement of his Justice in m Mat. 24.24 Luke 21.18 the gratious salvation of his chosen and the n Rev. 9.11 just condemnation of the wicked § 27. The wonderful working of Satan By his subtilty and power Satan doth work his a 2 Thes 2.9 lying wonders deceitful in themselves and intended by him for the deceiving of others yea sometimes he doth work b Deut. 13.1 2. Mat. 24.24 true signes yet thereby aims he at the destruction of truth which true signes though they seem wonderful Why not true miracles yet are they not such wonders as are truly c Acts 8.13 called Miracles For they cannot be any supernatural Effects being onely the events of some Natural Causes d Exod. 7.12 8.7 which Satan by a secret subtilty doth compact not by any proper power doth produce Every supernatural Effect must needs be the issue of a supernatural Cause â—ll miracles are from God which is God and e Psâ—l 72. â—8 136.4 he alone who did wonderfully create the world without matter pre-existent can powerfully create wonders without means cooperating Such the miraâ—les of Christ and such were the f Joh. 10.25 Act. 2.22 glorious Miracles of Christ whereby he did testifie the Divine power of his God-head § 28. â—hy not such the workings of â—aâ—an Wherefore if the Devil could work true Miracles to perswade false Doctrines then were Miracles a weak and insufficient a Mat. 16.17.20 argument to confirm the true faith Besides that is
Why God did neither positively will nor properly nill mans fall so nor did he properly nill mans fall for if God had wil'd that man should fall man falling must have derogated from his goodness and holinesse and if God had will'd that man should not fall man falling must have derogated from his Wisdom and Power but God neither willing nor nilling but permitting and disposing mans fall doth manifest the glory of all his Attributes in the advancement of his mercy and justice his mercy in that a Eph. 1.8 9 10. grace he vouchsafeth by Christ to his Church and his justice by b Psal 9.16 Rom. 9.22 23. those judgments he executeth upon sin in the world § 17. Why God ordered man to be tempted left him and permitted him to be overcome God ordered man to be tempted for his triall left him in that temptation to himselfe for his conviction and permitted him to be overcome for his punishment In the triall he proves mans obedience in the conviction he discovers mans weaknesse and in the punishment he doth correct his a Jer. 17.5 vain confidence his vain confidence in trusting to his own strength Adam lost the assistance of God by not seeking it in prayer and not seeking by prayer the assistance of God who as he gave Adam a power in his Nature whereby he might have obeyed if he had willed would also have given him a further power in his triall whereby he had wil'd that he might have obeyed What strength Adam had by creation and What he might have had by prayer b 1 Chron. 28.9 Psal 9.10 if he had sought it of God And thus having obtained so much grace by creation as to have a power whereby if had wil'd he might not have sinned he had certainly obtained more grace by prayer so as to have had a power whereby he neither might have sinned nor have will'd it being approved in his triall and confirmed in his conquest and so established in grace and made perfect in happiness Why God cannot be said to be the cause of mans fall § 18. God cannot properly be the cause of what he doth not positively will Seeing then he did not positively will mans sin he cannot properly be the cause of mans fall His determining to permit and decreeing to order mans sin and mans fall doth declare his wisdom and power without the least impairing of his holiness and justice it doth speak him in his providence an all wise Disposer Why he permits sin not an unjust Author of sin for that his a ◠Psal 145.9 1 John 1.5 infinite goodness is such as would not permit evill in the world were not his infinite power such as out of that b Rom. 6.20 2 Cor. 4.6 evill to bring a world of good CHAP. XII Concerning the Author Cause Nature and Adjuncts of Sin Why God cannot be the Author and cause of sin Its first Originall in the Devill § 1. THe a Psal 99.97 145.1 Isa 26.7 Jer. 12.1 Rev. 15 3. Just and Holy God who doth b Psal 97.10 Heb. 1.9 Rev. 2.6 hate c Exod. 20 3 c. Levit. 11.44 forbid and d Exod. 34.7 Jer. 9.8 9. Amos 3.2 John 5.14 punnish Sin cannot possibly be the e 1 John 1.5 2.16 Jam. 1.13.18 cause and Author of Sin which indeed had its first f John 8.48 1 Iohn 3.8 birth and being from the Divell and unto which Adam g Eccles 7.29 voluntarily betrayed himself in the exercise and abuse of his free-will How by him in Adam by h Gen. 3.6 Matth. 4.3 consenting to the Divels suggestions which had in themselves no power to force though permission from God to perswade How the fountain and cause of sinne is in our selves fallen in Adam § 2. And thus by Adam sin a Rom. 5.12 entred into the world upon whose fall we find the Originall fountain and efficsent or more properly deficient cause of sinne to be in our selves for having lost that harmony and broken that subordination of the appetite to the will of sense to reason of the body to the soul and of all to God man is become even in his best and highest faculties b Jer. 10.14 Rom. 1.21 7.14 sensuall and carnall so that sense overcoming reason and the appetite overswaying the will the will doth over-rule all to a leading the whole man c Rom. 7.14.23 captive into sin And thus the true cause of mans sinne is in mans self for that How actuall sin is brought forth d Jam. 1.14.15 Lust conceiving in the e Matth. 5 28. will 's confenting actuall sin is brought forth § 3. It is not then any coaction or constraint of necessity in Fate any force or fore-sight of Providence in God or any compulsion or power of Temptation in Satan but the perversnesse and consent of a Psa 32.5 51.3 Acts 5.3 Ephes 2.3 will in man which is the proper cause of his sin What those Scriptures intimate in their truth which wicked men wrest to make God the Author of sin in their blasphemy Wherefore all those places of sacred Scriptures which wicked men do wrest against truth and blasphemous mouthes retort upon God to the making him the Author of sin doe all declare and chiefly intimate that wonderfull wisdom and infinite goodnesse of the Almighty who as a powerfull Disposer not a bare Spectator doth order the evill actions of the wicked to his glory yet not any way partaking of the evill b Jer. 51.20 John 19.11 though powerfully assisting in the action § 4. God restrains from sin doth not prompt to sin God it is who a Gen. 31.29 Num. 22.22 2 Tim. 3.8.9 1 Pet. 5.8 restrains the wicked from sin so farre is he from prompting them for ward unto wickednesse but as the Lion let loose from his chain of his own cruell nature doth devour and spoile The wicked rush into sin when not restrained How the same actions are holy in respect of God yet sinfull in respect of the wicked so the b 1 Sam. 16.14 1 King 22.23 Ezek. 14.9 2 Thes 2.11 12 wicked let loose by Divine Providence for the execution of Gods wrath c Rev. 20.7 8. of their own corrupt dispositions they rush into mischief and sin d Gen 50.20 Isa 47.6 7. Acts 2.23 3.14 15. yea the same Actions are good and holy in respect of God as ordered to a good end even the advancing his Justice and Mercy which yet are sinfull and abominable in respect of man as contrived to an evill end even the satiating their malice and fury And thus when e 2 Sam. 12.11 Isai 47.6 7. Acts 2.23 3.14 15. wicked men are raised up to be a scourge for the punishment of others it is from Gods most just and holy will but the malice covetousness cruelty and other
the sin is the sin of ignorance When a sin of ignorance and when the will becomes inordinate through its own perversness c Mat. 13.15 John 15.22.23 24. Matth. 3.56 Acts 7.5.7 opposing and repulsing the right judgement of the understanding When a sin of malice the sin is the sin of malice and against conscience § 15. When the sensitive appetite doth beget an inordinacy in the will How the sensitâ—ve appetite do h begâ—t an inordinacy in the will it is by way of distraction with-drawing it from its proper function in the exercise of its free choice and chief command for seeing all the faculties are radicated in the essence of the Soul by how much the operations of the inferior faculties are the more intended by so much the functions of the superior whether understanding or will are the more remitted The sensitive appetite then being vehemently intent upon its object the rationall faculty becomes but weakly imploy'd if not altogether hindred in its duty Besides the a 2 Sam. 11.2 3 4. Matth. 26.70 c. imagination being disturbed by the affections the understanding becomes darkened by the imagination and the understanding being darkened misguides the will Which are the sins of infirmity whereby it becomes inordinate to a sin of infirmity by sudden passion And as sudden passion so b Mat. 6.12 Prov. 24.16 1 John 1.8 Jam. 3.2 Rom. 7.19 20. likewise all inordinate motions vain thoughts sins of fly surreption and of daily incursion and are all sins of infirmity § 16. What sins of suddun and inordinate passion are said to be sins of infirmity Inordinate a Matth. 8.17 Isai 1.5 passions are the sicknesses of the soul and therefore as the members of the body disabled by distemper so the powers of the soul disturbed by passion not performing their proper functions are said to be b Rom. 15.1 Heb. 12.12 13. 1 Cor. 8.11 12. infirm and weak And thus when the sensitive appetite by its vehement and sudden passions doth invade the rational faculties to the disturbing the understanding and disabling the will in their operations we truly though figuratively say The soul is sick and the sins which issue from this impotency of reason through distemper of passion are properly call'd sins of weaknesse and infirmity § 17. What passions do excuse wholly from sin and what do not Those passions which totally abolish the use of reason totally excuse from the guilt of sin committed in those passions as in the cases of frenzie and madness unless those passions were a 1 Sam. 19.9 10. voluntary in their beginnings or in their causes for then they become imputed as sins themselves and so the evils committed in those passions must needs be sins too but those b Prov. 14.16 29.22 passions which doe not wholly intercept the use of reason cannot wholly excuse from the guilt of sin because reason remaining How Reason ought to moderate passion ought to moderate and order passion either by diverting it self to other thoughts or by hindering the effectuating of those obtruded upon it The more of passion there is in the sin the lesse there is in the sin the less there is of reason and so the less is the sin and the more of reason there is in the sin the more there is of will and the more voluntary the more sinful What is the office of the understanding § 18. The office of the understanding in respect of its own proper object being this to enquire and find out truth and in respect of the inferior powers to direct and conduct them aright according to truth if the understanding doe not know all the truth When guilty of that Ignorance which is sin it is both able and ought to know it becomes defective in its duty and thereby guilty of a Acts 17.30 Rom. 1.21 22. that ignorance which is sin and if the understanding dictate amisse to the wil and when guilty of those sins which are of Ignorance bringing inordinate commands upon the subordinate powers or after deliberation had doth not check their exorbitancies it becomes thus also defective in its duty and thereby guilty of those b Num. 15.28 Lev. 4.13 27. Acts 3.17 sinnes which are of ignorance What ignorance doth not and what ignorance doth make the sin § 19. In the sins of ignorance then it is not every ignorance that makes the sinne It is not the ignorance of a pure negation but that of a a Eph 4.18.19 1 Pet. 1.4 depraved disposition It is not the negative ignorance being a meer nescience a not knowing what is needless or not possible to be known but the privative ignorance a not knowing what we are able and ought to know There are many things which a man is capable of knowing What things a man is capable of knowing but not bound to know What things a man is neither bound to know nor capable of knowing In all these ignorance rather a nescieâ—â—e is not sinfull which yet by no divine law he is bound to know as many Mathematicall theorems in Philosophy many particular contingencies in Nature yea there are many things which as a man is not bound to know so he is not capable of knowing as b Mat. 24.36 John 16.12 many Mysteries not yet revealed many secret truths not yet communicated by Christ unto his Church Ignorance of these is not sinfull and so whatsoever consequent effect proceeds from this ignorance cannot be a sin but an ignorance of those truths which we are capable of and concern'd in which is vincible by the use of means this ignorance is it selfe sin and the consequent evils thereof are said to be sins of ignorance § 20. In any inordinate act What ignorance doth excuse from sin it is not that ignorance which is concomitant with it or consequent of it but antecedent to it which doth excuse from sin Which ignorance being antecedent to it becomes accidentally a Lev. 5.15 1 Cor. 2.8 1 Tim. 1.13 the cause of it as excluding that knowledge which would have restrained from the sinne And though this ignorance doth always somwhat excuse b Gen. 38 15 16 c. yet not always wholly acquit Somewhat excuse not wholly acquit Illustrated by Instance For should a man going forth with an intent to kill a man unwittingly kill his Father though such an ignorance may excuse from patricide yet not from homicide For had he known the man to be his Father though haply he might have been restrained by that knowledge from killing him yet not altogether from killing from that kind not from all kinds of sin or of murder § 21. Yea When sin cannot be excused by any ignorance that sin cannot be excused by any ignorance where there is an inclination or resolution in the will to commit it notwithstanding all knowledge as for instance should a man
have a disposition or purpose to kill another though he knew it were his Father if killing the man he knows him not to be his Father which yet after proves to be his Father it is not the ignorance that shall excuse but the depraved disposition and wicked purpose which shall make guilty of patricide For though ignorance had its Concomitancy with it yet it hath not any efficiency in it and so the malefactor cannot be said to offend out of ignorance but being ignorant For there What an affected ignorance is and how it aggravates the sin when a man will be a Ezek. 12.2 Zech. 7.11 12. 1 Cor. 14.38 ignorant on purpose that he may not suffer controll in his sin but have the greater scope to offend this ignorance is affected and becomes directly b Iob 22.14 2 Pet. 3.5 voluntary because it is wil'd upon design and for ends and therefore doth rather inhance then any way abate the guilt of the sin What ignorance is indirectly voluntary § 22. But that a Hos 4.1.6 1 Cor. 15.34 ignorance which comes by negligence in a sloathfull carelesnesse or through unnecessary imploiments not indevouring to attain that knowledge which a man ought and is able to attain and that ignorance which comes by b Gen. 19.32 33. intemperance in a sottish drunkenness a man being rob'd of his discretion or the use of it such an ignorance is truly though indirectly wilfull seeing he that wils the cause doth indirectly and by consequence will the effect and this ignorance thus wilfull c 2 Thess 1.8 Rom. 8.2 3. becomes it self a sin How it self sin yet the sins which issue from this ignorance d Luke 23.24 Acts 3.17 13.27 are lessened in their guilt having the less of reason and will in their act for seeing the understanding cannot pass a right judgement yet the sins issuing from it lessened in their guilt and why the will cannot be said to give a direct consent so that though the ignorance may be aggravated by circumstances yet is the consequent sin in it self lessened by the ignorance How the sin of malice is rightly discerned § 23. To discern aright what the sin of malice is we must know that though the will be determined by a Psal 142. Prov. 2.11 the understanding in the specification of its object yet hath the will this liberty intire in it self in the exercise of the act freely to chuse what is presented as good and freely to reject what is presented as evill So that though the will doth alwayes follow the last practical judgement of the understanding How men are said to sin wilfully and against conscience yet this last judgement being often after the right judgement and the right judgement first given by the understanding and repuls'd by the will b Exod. 8.10.15 19 28 32. 9.13 14.27 28 34 35 c. 1 Sam. 15.1 2.3 9 11 13 15 18 19 22 c. virtually remaining in the act of sin and even then actually renew'd by the checkes of Conscience men are hereby said to sin winfully on set purpose and against conscience which is the true nature of that we call the sin of malice § 24. That the will doth not necessarily follow the right judgment of the understanding clearly proved That the will doth not necessarily follow the right judgement though it doth the last judgement of the understanding is apparent in the Divels reprobate in the sin against the holy Ghost and in sins against conscience And indeed if the will did necessarily follow the right judgment of the understanding Especially from the work of Regeneration the whole work of Regeneration were perfected in the act of illumination and God needed not a 2 Cor. 5.17 1 Thes 5.23 throughly sanctifie fully to enlighten were sufficient for the new birth and the new man But this is altogether dissonant from the truth of Christ which tells us the b Eph. 4.23 24. Phil. 2.13 will is renewed In which the will is renewed as well as the understanding enlightned as well as the c Eph. 1.17 18 Col. 3.10 understanding enlightned in the work of regeneration The d Phil. 1.9.10 11. understanding is enlightned to give a right judgement to the will and the will renewed to follow that right judgment of the understanding to the bringing forth the works of holiness and of righteousness § 25. How we may distinguish sins of infirmity from sins of malice By this we may distinguish sins of infirmity from sins of malice In sins of infirmity this a Psal 40.8 Acts 11.23 Gal. 6.1 Matth. 26.33 Luke 22.33 purpose and intention of the heart to please God in all things remains sincere so that though for a time the wil suffer a violation of her integrity an interruption of her resolutions through some b 2 Sam. 11.2.4 inordinate affections c Luke 22.56 c. violent passion or d 1 Chro 21.1 Luke 22.31 32 prevailing temptation yet after a while she returneth to her former good purposes by e Psal 51. Luke 22 61 62 1 Chron. 21.8.17 Prov. 24.16 repentance But in sins of malice the heart is f Jer. 13.23 Psal 10.4 Rom. 3 18. 1 John 3.8 habitually inclined unto wickedness the will is evill disposed in respect of the end There are not any sincere purposes of holiness no true aims at Gods glory and therefore the infection of the sin is the more permanent and destructive to the soul in a g Luke 7.30 Acts 7.51 stronger opposition of the good Spirit of grace in the work of repentance and faith § 26. What the distinction of sin into that of mortal and venial is The last distinction of sin is in respect of the effect into sins * 1 John 5.16 17. mortall and veniall we say in respect of the effect no sin being veniall in its nature For No sin veniall in its nature and why that any sin is pardoned doth denote an a Exod 18.20 Gal. 3.10 act of divine mercy which in b Exod. 34.67 severity rigor of Justice God might have not done But for any sin to be in its nature veniall as expiated by temporall punishment were to destroy this pardoning mercy of God and after temporall punishment to oblige him to an improperly called forgiveness lest he be tax'd with cruelty and injustice All sin is directly against no any meerly besides the law Which incurring the guilt of eternall death cannot be expiated by temporall punishment Yea c Rom. 4.15 1 John 3.4 whereas all sin is directly against not any meerly besides the law and that the violation of Gods eternall law doth incurre a guilt of d Ezek. 18.20 Rom 6.23 1 Cor. 15.56 eternall death There is no sin that can be expiated by temporall punishment but either it must be by e John 1.29
still and freely exercise it in willing what is evill How God doth turn and incline the wills of men § 16. God himself a Prov. 1.21 who as he hath the hearts so hath he the wills of all men in his hands and when he b 1 Kin. 10.26 Jer. 31.18 turns and bends inclines and moves them as he wils without any forcible compelling he doth it not by forcibly compelling but either by c Phil. 2.13 graciously renewing or by d Gen. 9.24 fairly perswading or by e Pro. 21.1 wisely disposing them And this indeed is the wonder of Gods working i Psal 19.7 Jer. 23.29 Jam. 1.18 21. that as a f Psal 115.3 135.6 free Agent he doth freely what he wils yet offers no violence to the wills of men but that in all that they doe will Why the exhortations c. of Gods word are not in vain in respect of the wicked they will freely Yea b Eph. 4.19 1 Tim. 4.2 and from hence it is that the exhortations threatnings and promises of Gods word are not in vain in respect of the wicked being the g Heb. 4.12 appointed means effectuall through the common enlightnings of the Spirit to h Num. 22.18 1 King 21.27 restrain from sin and through the sanctifying power accompanying his word to convert unto righteousness By multiplying his sin man aggravates his punishment and how in spirituals § 9. But man rejecting Gods Word and transgressing his Law doth by his a Lev. 26.18 multiplication of sin beget a further aggravation of punishment in that contracting an habituated custom to an a Lev. 26.18 hardness of heart his soul is inseparably attended with an c Rom. 2.5 Heb. 10.27 utter despair to an horror of conscience And thus man being d Acts 26.18 Eph. 2.2 Col. 1.13 2 Tim. 2.26 subjected to Satans power he is by Satan inslaved unto the e 1 Joh. 2.15.16 John 8.23 Gal. 1.4 world and f John 8.34 Rom. 6.12.16 c. 1 John 3.8 sin and thereby brought under bondage unto g Isai 5.14 Luke 16.23 Rom. 8.15 1 Cor. 15.56 Heb. 2.15 Death and Hell What the corporall death and how begun § 10. This spirituall death which especially seizeth the Soul is inseparably accompanied with corporall death which especially surprizeth the body being begun in a Deut. 28.21 22 27 28. Matth. 9.2 sicknesses and b Gen. 3.16.17 Job 21.17 sorrows c Deut 28.36 4.48 c. servitude and slavery d Gen. 3.19 Eccl. 2.22 23. weariness and toyl e Deut. 28.25 26 53 c. calamities and f Deut. 28.39 40 48 c. wants the very Creatures intended for Mans use being g Gen. 3.17.18 Eccl. 1.2 Rom. 8.22 cursed for Mans sake § 11. How and when finished When death at last doth put a period to mans dayes it doth add a a 1 Cor. 15.42 43. complement of his temporall miseries and begin the anguish of eternall torments The body being laid in a grave of corruption the soul is b Luk. 16.22 23. Luk 12.5 hurried to an hell of perdition where they remain till death spiritual and corporal be swallowed up in death eternall § 12. What the eternall death The dead a Joh. 5.28 29 Acts 24.15 body at the last day being raised from the grave to an immortall death shall by an b Mat. 25.41 irrevocable sentence of the last judgement be c Mat. 10.28 22.13 25.30 Rev. 21.8 cast with the soul into hell the d Luke 16.23 26 1 Pet. 3.19 place and prison of the damned In its punishment of losse and of sense where they shall suffer together an unsufferable and eternall punishment of losse and of sense that privative this positive § 13. The punishment of loss What the punishment of loss is that doth consist in a a Luke 13.27 28 Matth. 22 13 25.41 2 Thes 1.9 totall and finall separation from the b Psal 139.8 Psal 16.11 36.8 9. grâ—cious presence of God and from all the c joy blisse and glory which doth accompany the beatificall vision and full fruition of him § 14. What the punishment of sense is The punishment of sense doth consist especially in that a Isai 66.24 Mark 9.44 worm of an evill conscience which ever gnaweth with uncessant tortures and in that b Mark 9.44 Luke 16.23 24. fire of hellish flames which ever scorcheth with uncessant torments which cause endless easeless and remediless c Luke 13.28 Matth. 13.42 weepings and wailings and gnashings of teeth § 15. This punishment as it is eternall How the punishment of the damned is infinite as well as eternal so it is infinite infinite in respect of that privative part the punishment of loss not in respect of that positive part a Mat. 11.22 24 23.14 15 Luk. 12.47 48 the punishment of sense And therefore in Hell there are different measures of punishment proportionable to the different degrees of sin yet the least measure as it shall be then b Isa 33.14 intollerable so it is now c Matth. 22 13 unconceiveable § 16. That wrath which comes by originall sin is aggravated by mans actuall transsgression The full measure is at the day of judgement and how Thus man having the wrath of God abiding on him for a Rom. 5.18 originall Sin he increaseth his sin and thereby b Rom. 2.5 aggravateth that wrath by his actuall transgression treasuring up to himself wrath against the day of wrath that is the c Jude 6.14 15. day of judgement which shall be at the d Mat 24.3 end of the world to the e John 5.29 finall condemnation f 2 Pet. 2.2 full punishment and g 2 Pet 3.7 utter perdition of the ungodly The estate of man fallen summarily described § 17. Wherefore seeing this is the estate of man fallen a captive to the Prince of darkness sold a Rom. 7.14.23 under the power of sin b Rom. 6.23 Gal. 3.10.23 involv'd in the curs of death c Rom. 3.19 Jer. 7.29 made subject to the judgement of wrath d Rom. 5.18 Mat. 25.41 liable to the condemnation of Hell certain it must needs be No salvation by the law or first covenant of works that by the e Rom. 3.20 Gal. 2.16 3.21 law or first covenant of works no flesh can be saved So that unlesse God in the unsearchable riches of his wisdom unconceivable tenderness of his mercy So that without Redemption by a Mediator Adam and his posterity must inevitably perish in their sin had decreed from all eternity and in fulnness of time wrought recovery and redemption by a f 1 Tim. 2.5.6 Acts 4.12 Mediator Adam and all his posterity must inevitably have perish'd in their sin FINIS