Of Original Sin
Adam to steal fruit from that tree, which God had peculiarly enclosed for himself Sacrilege is double theft.
9. Murder: Adam was a public person, and all his posterity were involved and wrapped up in him, and he sinning, did at once destroy all his posterity, if free grace did not interpose. If Abel's blood did cry so loud in God's ears, Gen. 4:10., "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground," then how loud did the blood of all
Adam's posterity cry against him for vengeance!
10. Presumption: Adam presumed of God's mercy; he blessed himself saying, he should have peace; he thought, though he did transgress, he should not die, God would sooner reverse his decree, than punish him. High presumption; what an heinous sin then was
Adam's breach of covenant!
Use. One sin may have many sins in it. We are apt to have slight thoughts of sin, it is but a little one. How many sins were in Adam's sin? O take heed of any sin! As in one volume there may be many works bound up, so there may be many sins in one sin.
3dly. The dreadfulness of the effect: it hath corrupted man's nature.
How rank is that poison a drop whereof could poison a whole sea!
And how deadly is that sin of Adam, that could poison all mankind, and bring a curse upon them, till it be taken away by him who was
'made a curse for us.'
OF ORIGINAL SIN
QUEST. XVI. DID all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
ANS. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.
Rom. 5:12., "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin," &c. Adam being a representative person, he standing, we stood; and he falling, we fell. We sinned in Adam; so it is in the text, "In whom all have sinned." Adam was the head of mankind, and he being guilty, we are guilty, as the children of a traitor have their blood stained: Omnes unus ille Adam fuerunt, AUG. "All of us," saith
Austin, "sinned in Adam, because we were part of Adam."
OBJ. If when Adam fell, all mankind fell with him; why then, when one angel fell, did not all fall?
Ans. The case is not the same. The angels had no relation to one another; they are called morning-stars,—the stars have no dependence one upon another; but it was otherwise with us, we were in Adam's loins, as a child is a branch of the parent, we were part of Adam, therefore when he sinned, we sinned.
QUEST. How is Adam's sin made ours?
Ans. 1. By imputation. The Pelagians of old held that Adam's transgression is hurtful to posterity by imitation only, not by imputation; but the text confutes that, "In whom all have sinned."
A. 2. Adam's sin is ours by propagation. Not only is the guilt of Adam's sin imputed to us, but the depravity and corruption of his nature is derived to us as poison is carried from the fountain to the cistern. This is that which we call original sin, Ps. 51:5., "In sin did my mother conceive me." Adam's leprosy cleaves to us as Naaman's
leprosy did cleave to Gehazi, 2 Kings 5:27. This original concupiscence is called, 1. 'The old man,' Eph. 4:22. It is said to be the old man, not that it is weak as old men are, but for its long standing, and of its deformity.
In old age the fair blossoms of beauty fall; so original sin is the old man, because it hath withered our beauty, and made us deformed in God's eye.
2. Original concupiscence is called 'the law of sin,' Rom. 7:25.
Original sin hath vim coactivam,—the power of a law. A law binds the subject to allegiance. Men must needs do what sin will have them, when they have both the love of sin to draw them, and the law of sin to force them. In original sin there is something privative, and something positive.—1. Something privative. Carentia justiliæ debitæ, we have lost that excellent quintessential frame of soul which once we had. Sin hath cut the lock of original purity, where our strength lay.—2. Something positive. Original sin hath contaminated and defiled our virgin-nature. It was death among the Romans to poison the springs. Original sin hath poisoned the spring of our nature,—it hath turned beauty into leprosy,—it hath turned the azure brightness of our souls into a midnight darkness.
Original sin hath become co-natural to us. A man by nature cannot but sin; though there were no devil to tempt,—no bad examples to imitate,—yet there is such an innate principle in him, that he cannot forbear sinning, 2 Pet. 2:14. A peccato cessare nesciunt,—who cannot cease to sin, as a horse that is lame cannot go without halting.—In the original, sin is,—1. An aversion from good. Man hath a desire to be happy, yet opposeth that which should promote his happiness; he hath a disgust of holiness, he hates to be reformed. Since we fell from God, we have no mind to return to him.—2. A propension to evil. If,
as the Pelagians say, there is so much goodness in us since the fall, then why is there not as much natural proneness to good as there is to evil? Our own experience tells us that the natural bias of the soul hath a tendency to that which is bad. The very heathens by the light of nature saw this: Hierocles the philosopher said, "It is grafted in us by nature to sin." Men roll sin as honey under their tongue. They drink iniquity as water, Job 15:16. Like an hydropical person that thirsts for drink and is not satisfied: so they have a kind of drought on them, they thirst for sin. They sin, Eph. 4:19., though they are tired out in committing sin, yet they sin, Jer. 9:5., "They weary themselves to commit iniquity;" as a man that follows his game while he is weary, yet he delights in it, and cannot leave off. Though God hath set so many flaming swords in the way to stop men in their sin, yet they go on in sin; which all shews what a strong appetite they have to the forbidden fruit.
That we may further see the nature of original sin, consider, 1st. the universality of it; it hath, as a poison, diffused itself into all the parts and powers of our soul, Isa. 1:5., "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." Like a sick patient that hath no part sound,—his liver swelled,—his feet gangrened,—his lungs perished; such infected, gangrened souls have we, till Christ (who hath made a medicine of his blood) do cure us.
1. Original sin hath depraved the intellectual part. As in the creation "darkness was upon the face of the deep," Gen. 1:2., so the understanding,—darkness is upon the face of this deep. As there is salt in every drop of sea, bitterness in every branch of wormwood, so there is sin in every faculty; the mind is darkened, we know little of God. Ever since Adam did eat of the tree of knowledge, and his eyes were opened, we lost our eye-sight. Besides ignorance in the mind, there is error and mistake; we do not judge rightly of things; we put
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, Isa. 5:20. Besides this, there is much pride, superciliousness, and prejudice, many fleshly reasonings, Jer. 4:14., "How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?"
2. Original sin hath defiled the heart; the heart is mortiferum, deadly wicked, Jer. 17:9., it is a lesser hell. In the heart are legions of lusts, obdurateness, infidelity, hypocrisy, sinful estuations; it boils as the sea with passion and revenge. "Madness is in their heart while they live," Eccl. 9:3. The heart is, officina diaboli, the devil's shop or workhouse, where all mischief is framed.
3. The Will. Contumacy is the seat of rebellion. The sinner crosseth God's will to fulfil his own, Jer. 44:18., "We will burn incense to the queen of heaven." There is a rooted enmity in the will against holiness; it is like an iron sinew, it refuseth to bend to God. Where is then the freedom of the will, when it is so full not only of indisposition, but opposition to what is spiritual?
4. The affections. These, as the strings of a viol, are out of tune. These are the lesser wheels, which are strongly carried by the will, the master-wheel. Our affections are misplaced, set on wrong objects.
Our love is set on sin, our joy on the creature. Our affections are naturally as a sick man's appetite, he desires things which are noxious and hurtful for him; he calls for wine in a fever: so we have impure lustings, instead of holy longings.
2d. The adherency of original sin. It cleaves to us as blackness to the skin of the Ethiopian, we cannot get rid of it. Paul shook off the viper on his hand, but we cannot shake off this inbred corruption. It may be compared to a wild fig-tree growing on a wall, though the roots of it are pulled up, yet there are some strings of it in the joints of the stone-work which will not be eradicated but will sprout forth till the
wall be pulled in pieces. Original concupiscence comes not as a lodger, for a night, but as an indweller, Rom. 7:17., "Sin which dwelleth in me."—It is a malus genius,—an evil Spirit, that haunts us wheresoever we go, Gen. 13:7., "The Canaanite dwelt in the land."
3d. Original sin retards and hinders us in the exercises of God's worship. Whence is all that dulness and deadness in religion? It is the fruit of original sin: it is this rocks us asleep in duty, Rom. 7:19.,
"The good that I would, I do not." Sin is compared to a weight, Heb.
12:1. A man that hath weights tied to his legs cannot run fast. It is like that fish Pliny speaks of, a sea-lamprey, that cleaves to the keel of the ship, and hinders its progress when it is under sail.
4th. Original sin, though it lies latent in the soul, and be as a spring which runs under ground, yet oft it breaks forth unexpectedly.
Christian, thou canst not believe that evil which is in thy heart, and which will break forth suddenly, if God leave thee, 2 Kings 8:13, 15.,
"Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Hazael could not believe he had such a root of bitterness in his heart that he should rip up the women with child: is thy servant a dog? Yes, and worse than a dog, when that original corruption within was stirred up! If one had come to Peter, and said, "Peter, within a few hours thou wilt deny Christ,"—he would have said, "Is thy servant a dog?"
But alas! Peter did not know his own heart, nor how far that corruption within would prevail upon him. The sea may be calm and look clear; but when the wind blows, how doth it rage and foam! so though now thy heart seems good, yet, when temptation blows, how may original sin discover itself, making thee foam with lust and passion. Who would have thought to have found adultery in David, and drunkenness in Noah, and cursing in Job? If God leave a man to himself, how suddenly and scandalously may original sin break forth in the holiest men alive!
5th. Original sin doth mix and incorporate itself with our duties and graces.—1. With our duties. As the hand which is paralytical or palsied cannot move without shaking, as wanting some inward strength, so we cannot do any holy action without sinning, as wanting a principle of original righteousness. As the leper, whatever he touched became unclean,—if he touched the altar, the altar did not sanctify him, but he polluted the altar,—such a leprosy is original sin, it defiles our prayers and tears, we cannot write without blotting.
Though I do not say that the holy duties and good works of the regenerate are sins, for that were to reproach the Spirit of Christ by which they are wrought; yet this I say, that the best works of the godly have sin cleaving to them; only Christ's blood makes atonement for our holy things.—2. With our graces. There is some unbelief mixed with faith,—lukewarmness with zeal,—pride with humility. As bad lungs cause an asthma or shortness of breath, so original corruption, having infected our heart, our graces breathe now very faintly.
6th. Original sin is a vigorous active principle within us; it doth not lie still, but is ever exciting and stirring us up to evil; it is an inmate very unquiet; Rom. 7:15., "What I hate, that do I." How came Paul to do so? Original sin did irritate and stir him up to it. Original sin is like quick-silver, always in motion; when we are asleep, sin is awake in the fancy. Original sin sets the head a plotting evil, and the hands a working it; it hath in it principium motus, not quietis; it is like the pulse, ever beating.
7th. Original sin is the cause of all actual: it is fomes peccati,—it is the womb in which all actual sins are conceived. Hence come murders, adulteries, rapines; it is the Trojan horse, out of which a whole army of impieties come. Though actual sins may be more
scandalous, yet original sin is more heinous; the cause is more than the effect.
8th. It is not perfectly cured in this life. Grace, though it doth subdue sin, yet doth not wholly remove it. Though we are like Christ, having the first fruits of the Spirit, yet we are unlike him, having the remainders of the flesh. There are two nations in the womb. Original sin is like that tree, Dan. 4:28., though the branches of it were hewn down, and the main body of it, yet the stumps and root of the tree were left: Though the Spirit be still weakening and hewing down sin in the godly, yet the stump of original sin is still left. It is a sea that will not, in this life, be dried up.
QUEST. But why doth God leave original corruption in us after regeneration? He could quite free us from it, if he pleased.
Ans. He doth it, to shew the power of his grace in the weakest believer. Grace shall prevail against a torrent of corruption. Whence is this? the corruption is ours, but the grace is God's.
A. 2. God leaves original corruption, to make us long after heaven, where there shall be no sin to defile, no devil to tempt. When Elias was taken up to heaven, his mantle dropped off; so, when the angels shall carry us up to heaven, this mantle of sin shall drop off, we shall never more complain of an aching head, or an unbelieving heart.
Use 1st. If original sin be propagated to us, and will be inherent in us while we live here, then it confutes the Libertines and Quakers, who say they are without sin; they hold perfection; they shew much pride and ignorance, but we see the seeds of original sin remain in the best.
Eccl. 7:20., There is not a just man lives, and sins not. And St. Paul complained of a 'body of death,' Rom. 7:24. Grace, though it doth purify nature, it doth not perfect it.
OBJ. But doth not the Apostle say of believers, that their 'old man is crucified,' Rom. 6:6., and they are 'dead to sin?' Rom. 7:11.
Ans. They are dead, 1. Spiritually. They are dead as to the reatus,— the guilt of it; and as to the regnum,—the power of it; the love of sin is crucified.
A. 2. They are dead to sin legally. As a man that is sentenced to death is dead in law, so they are legally dead to sin; there is a sentence of death gone out against sin, it shall die and drop into the grave. But at the present, sin hath its life lengthened out; nothing but the death of the body can quite free us from the body of this death.
Use 2d. Let us lay to heart original sin, and be deeply humbled for it; it cleaves to us as a disease,—it is an active principle in us stirring us up to evil. Original sin is worse than all actual sin; the fountain is more than the stream. Some think, as long as they are civil, they are well enough; ay, but the nature is poisoned. A river may have fair streams, but vermin at bottom. Thou carriest an hell about thee, thou canst do nothing but thou defilest it; thy heart, like muddy ground, defiles the purest water that runs through it. Nay, though thou art regenerate, there is much of the old man in the new man. O how should original sin humble us! This is one reason God hath left original sin in us, because he would have it as a thorn in our side to humble us. As the bishop of Alexandria, after the people had embraced Christianity, destroyed all their idols but one, that the sight of that idol might make them loathe themselves for their former idolatry, so God leaves original sin to pull down the plumes of pride.
Under our silver wings of grace are black feet.
Use 3d. Let the sense of this make us daily look up to heaven for help, beg Christ's blood to wash away the guilt of sin, and his Spirit to mortify the power of it, beg further degrees of grace,—gratium