-- CHAPTER VII: The objections answered which are made against the doctrine:
any ordinance wherein God is manifested, as in Job 21:14, 'We desire not the knowledge of thy ways.'
CHAPTER VII:
The objections answered which are made against the doctrine:
1. That those excellent qualities and endowments of mind which are in men unregenerate evidence that their natures are not destitute of all good. 2. That there are in the natural conscience of men principles of good directing them, and in their wills some inclining dispositions to what the law of God commands, and therefore that man's nature is not utterly empty of all goodness.—In answer to the first, that though there is a natural goodness in such endowments', yet being seated in the corrupt nature of man, they are tainted and infected by it, which spoils all that goodness which otherwise is in them.—In answer to the second objection, that the light of natural conscience hath not the same real goodness as the law hath, but is only a picture and shadow of it; that those principles of morality and honesty in the conscience do not result from nature, but are owing to a higher cause; that God, for the preserving of order in the world, hath instilled them into man; and that this is a common benefit of his mediation We have seen how full of ungodliness the heart and nature of man is.
Now against this truth there is much objected, how that much good may be found mingled with the natures of men unregenerate. I will ascend in the objection by degrees.
Obj. 1. Not only many excellent abilities and endowments of mind concerning things natural and political (which I will not much insist on, yet mention), such was the wisdom of Ahithopel, whose counsel in matters of state was as the oracle of God, 2 Sam. 16:23. Such is
still in manual trades, whereof wicked men have been inventors, as Gain and Tubal-Cain, the first inventors of tillage and working in brass, &c. Gen. 4:22. All which being gifts from God, for he teacheth men direction to till the ground, Isa. 28:26, 28. They plough (as I may allude to it) with his heifer, and his spirit fills men with wisdom to work on brass, which was Tubal-Cain's invention; and he gives wisdom to statesmen to rule monarchies and kingdoms, 1 Kings 3 from 9 to 13. All these, I say, being gifts from him, most needs be granted to be good: 'Every good and perfect gift comes from above,'
James 1:17. These, therefore, are good, and yet they have place in wicked men's hearts.
Ans. But the answer to this is easy, and therefore I will not insist on it, namely:
1. That indeed these are good things, and are therefore ornaments to corrupt nature; but yet they are good only, but as every creature is said to be good, 1 Tim. 4:4, with a natural created goodness, but which reacheth no higher. Now many such good things we grant to be in men, though devils by nature, as the substance and faculties of their souls; and so these good endowments which are superinducted and infused by the Spirit of God for the good of men, whilst these live in societies together, without these several endowments the world could not stand, nor a city be inhabited. But when it is said there is no good in the nature of man, such a goodness is meant as, in Rom.
7:12, is attributed to the law, which is there said to be 'just, holy, and good;' so that a spiritual holy goodness is denied to be in man's nature, such as might make us acceptable to God. We deny not but there is much natural created goodness, such as is in other creatures, which yet God hath no pleasure in, when they are not found in the way of righteousness, that is, joined with holiness and righteousness.
'He hath no pleasure in man's legs,' Ps. 147:10, that is, by a synecdoche, in no outward enjoyment of body or mind; they are all but as gold rings in a swine's snout, as Solomon speaks of the beauty of the body without grace, Prov. 11:22. So these beauties of the mind
are but as pearls in a toad's head, and so lose their excellency, or are but as flowers stuck on a dead corpse.
2. So as though in themselves these endowments have this natural goodness in abstracto, or abstractedly considered, as they are in their own nature, yet take them in concreto, as they are seated in a corrupt mind, they are unclean and abominable things in the sight of God.
For why? All these gifts are poisoned and infected, yea, and make the source of sin the greater, and to work the more strongly. As wine when it is poisoned, though the wine be good, yea, and good against poison, yet when poison is in it, it adds strength to the poison, and makes it work more violently and speedily; so all wisdom and good gifts that are in them make them the more wicked. The wisdom of the flesh is 'enmity against God,' Rom. 8:7. God therefore looks upon all these as things that make his enemies stronger against him; and therefore you that are scholars, and have good gifts, natural and acquisite, yet you wanting grace, these make you so much more abominable in God's eyes. God looks upon you as stronger enemies, and so you will prove; as Agur says of himself, having gifts in him,
Prov. 30:2, that he was by nature 'more brutish than any man,' than others that had not so large parts. The finest, freshest tempers are aptest to take the plague or small-pox, and be fullest of boils and sores when these diseases doth take them, and the purest clothes take greatest and deepest stains; so the finest and most acute wits are capable of the fullest* and greatest sins. Do not then think that God will spare thee for them; thou thinkest it pity so fine, so green a wit, having such workmanship bestowed upon it, should be burned; nay, but thy green wit makes the fire the hotter.
Obj. 2. But yet the objection which in this point presseth us most is, that in man's nature there are not only such things as these which are naturally good, but which seem to participate of a higher kind of goodness, even a conformity in some measure to the law; and such a kind of goodness, is found both in men's minds and wills.
Ans. 1. In the mind and conscience there are principles and seeds of divine light and of the truth of the law sown, which have the same effects in them that the law hath: Rom. 2:14, 'The Gentiles do by nature the things of the law, and shew the effect (or work) of the law written in their hearts.' For doth the law condemn sin? So doth this light, and fights against it. Doth the law take part with what is good?
So doth this also, and cannot be bribed or hired to do otherwise; so that eadem præstal officia, this light hath the same effects in the heart which the law hath, as appears from Rom. 1:18, 'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.' It is called truth, and that such as opposeth unrighteousness, and therefore men imprison it; and it is not a principle of natural truth only, whereby we know the works of God, but such as whereby we know the divine truth, and many parts of the will of God, and therefore it must needs be good; for verum et bonum, truth and goodness, are twins. What is true is good; yea, and look what kind of truth anything hath in it, such a kind of goodness. Now this being more than natural truth, must needs have more than natural goodness in it; having the truth of the law in it, it must needs have the goodness of the law, and so be holy as the law is, and just and good. 2. There is in every man some part of this truth; it is in all more or less, both in good and bad; for the wrath of God is said to be revealved against all men for detaining this truth. The Gentiles had it written in their hearts, Rom. 2:14, and therefore some holy thing is in the nature of man. Yea, 3, as it should seem by nature also; for he says, 'the Gentiles do by nature the things of the law,' &c. And Jude
10, speaking of ungodly men that sin against their light grossly, he says, they 'corrupt themselves in things they know naturally;' that is, commit such foul sins (for that is to corrupt themselves, Deut. 14:15,
25) as are against the natural knowledge of their minds. And doth not nature teach you the contrary? says Paul, 1 Cor. 11:14. Yea, 4, this abides there, dwells there, for it is written in their heart; so as Augustine* saith, Non ipsa iniquitas delet, sin razeth it not out.
2. Answerable to these sparks of truth in the mind, there are also inclinations, dispositions, stamps, and impressions upon the will to some good, conformable to the law, that same ἔυφυία, bona indoles, the philosophers observe and speak so much of, those good dispositions, of ingenuity, modesty, love to those that love them, as Christ says of the Gentiles, Luke 6:32, the characters of which appearing in the young man, made Christ love him, Mark 10:21; and these are indeed not transient, but habitual dispositions, as was of justice in Cato, of whom it is said, Cum rectè fecerit, aliter facere non potuit; and therefore continency, as a common thing to good and evil men, is called a gift, 1 Cor. 7:7.
This seems to be a great difficulty, for much of this is true which hath been spoken; it requires therefore a large digression to give answer thereunto, for which we will consider and inquire into these four things concerning this light of conscience and moral virtues.
I. What kind of goodness is in their true and proper nature, abstractly considered.
II. Their original and spring, whence they came to be in man's nature, whether as the endowments of nature, so as they may justly be called ours.
III. Their manner of inhering in man's nature, how entertained therein; for quicquid recipitur, recipitur ad modum recipientis.
IV. Their manner of working therein, whether their acts be properly and truly good.
All which will clear the point, that there is no such good dwelling there as seems to be objected.
I. Take this light at its best, abstractedly considered in its own true, naked, real, abstracted nature and essence; and though I acknowledge it a creature of God's, and therefore good with a natural kind of goodness, yet I deny it to be good with that kind of goodness
which the law hath in it, Rom. 7:12, whatsoever hath been said to the contrary notwithstanding.
To examine which, let us have recourse to the places alleged. We shall find, and it is observable to this purpose, that the apostle calls not this light, Rom. 2:15, 'the law written in the heart,' but only τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου γραπτὸν, 'the written work of the law;' that is, something which produceth many effects, which the law also hath, but yet it is not of the same nature with the law, for it is proper only to the works of regeneration to have the law written in the heart; that is, such a light and disposition which hath the same holy and spiritual nature that the law hath, as grace in a godly man's heart is said to have; therefore, Jer. 31:33, 'But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.' Thus to 'write the law in the heart,' is said to be from the new covenant, &c. To illustrate this by a similitude (which, though it doth not omnibus quadrare, as none do, yet will explain the thing), we see that in some beasts that are sagaciores, of quicker fancies, there are some things more than sense, which are umbræ rationis, as we use to call them, as in elephants, &c. Yea, also, quædam umbræ of some virtues, as of chastity, &c., both which are so called, because by virtue of these they do many works of reason and above sense; that is, the same things which reason in men produceth; yet these shew not a true principle of reason written there, but only τὰ ἔργα, the works of reason; that is, some effects answering to it. So in men's unregenerate minds there is extant also umbra legis, a shining and glimmering of the law, a light that is the image of it, as lumen est lucis, as splendour is of light, or which rather we may call the picture of it (the true real light of which is only written in the regenerate), whereby they do τὰ του νόμου, things of the law, that is, some things about the law, or which the law commands, the outwards of it; or as Beza hath it, eadem officia præstat, quæ legis sunt facit: as it forbids sin, so doth this light; as it condemneth for sin, so also doth this light condemn them for sinning.
Now, to prove that this light that is thus in them is but as it were a shadow or picture of the law, and therefore not of the same nature with the law, that word used, Rom. 2:20, is observable: 'An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.' Speaking of the light of the law in a learned Jew, being unregenerate, he says he hath μόρφωσιν, a form of knowledge, and of the truth of the law, which, as it signifies the system of the law in his brain, or the object of his knowledge, so also doth withal intimate the slightness of his knowledge for the kind of it, that it is but a form, a picture, an idea of it, and this he speaks of in comparison to the real thing itself and power of it; for so in 2 Tim.
3:5. the word μόρφωσις is used, and this so in respect of those answerable tinctures and impressions of piety and virtue which in the objection are said to be in the will. 'Having a form of godliness,' says the apostle, 'but denying the power of it,' that is, the thing itself, and the powerful effects of it. As that goodness which is in their wills is there said to be but a form and picture of true godliness, so in this place of Rom. 2:20 the light in their understanding is said to be but 'a form of knowledge.' The word is the same. Now if the light that is engendered and lighted, as it were, immediately from the law itself, be but μόρφωσις, a picture of the truth, then much more is the weak divine light of nature, that is but a weak resemblance or shadow of the law. And that it is no more, and not of the same real nature with the law, appears by the weak effects of it, for in ver. 21, 22, 23 all this knowledge did not enable them to keep the law, but they broke it notwithstanding. But though it should be granted to do the same things which the law doth, yet the powerful energy of it is wanting, which is to sanctify the heart, which, when the real light of the law itself, the truth itself, comes into the heart, it doth sanctify: John
17:17, 'Sanctify them through the truth: thy word is truth.' But here the very conscience itself it is seated in remains (as I shall shew more fully afterwards) still impure: Titus 1:15, 'Their consciences are defiled.' And this is not said of it in part only (as if in part only it remained defiled), for it is spoken in opposition to a regenerate man, whose conscience remains defiled but in part, but this wholly; whereas, had it a real contrariety to sin, as grace and true holiness
hath,—Gal. 5:17, 'These are contrary,'—it could not come to reside in man's nature till sin were in part mortified, and the conscience purified by grace, which in an unregenerate man it is not, for both this light and those moral dispositions are symbolical with our natural defilement, and are compatible with it in the conscience not yet emptied of sin.
Obj. If it be objected that this light fights against sin as an enemy, and likewise men's unrighteous natures against it, and therefore they are contrary, I answer, that it being but the picture of the law, it is contrary to sin, representativè, representatively, not essentialitèr, essentially. It hath a verbal testimonial contrariety in speaking against it, but not a real natural contrariety to work against it, as one contrary doth against another, so as to expel and overcome sin, for it is but the form of truth, it wants the power of it. And no wonder that though it be not the real law men yet hate it, for as grace makes a man hate the appearance of sin, so sin hates this shadow and appearance of truth and goodness; as it is said of the panther, that it hates a man so deadly that it seizeth and preys not only upon a man but the picture of him. This ground thus laid, the answer to the former objection is clear; for whereas, Rom. 1:18, it is called truth, I expound it by this
Rom. 2:20, that is, but as it were a form of the truth, the picture of the truth which was in the heart of our first parents. And if you ask why hath it the same name, I answer, because that pictures used to have the same name given them that the persons they represent have. You say, that is the king, that the queen, speaking of their pictures, and therefore I acknowledge in the same sense it is said to be truth, wherein also it is called goodness, but being but the form of truth it is also but the form of goodness. And so, Hos. 6:4, the light tinctures of good that were wrought in Ephraim, which yet soon vanished, are called goodness: 'Thy goodness is but as the morning cloud,' &c., yet is really but the umbra of it thus expressed; not but that these moral dispositions and light of conscience are a real thing created by God, but that, being compared with the light of a
regenerate man's mind, they are but the picture of it, as aurichalchum is a real metal, yet but the resemblance of gold, and so called false gold.
And whereas it was objected that it is more than simply natural truth, and therefore hath more than a natural goodness as other creatures have;— I answer, confessing it hath, but yet still felling short of the truth and goodness that is in the law, and pure light of conscience in a godly man; for as in a picture there is a double truth and goodness, the one natural in the colours which are laid on, when they are true and good, and the other artificial as it is a picture, which is by so much the more said to be true and good by how much it is more like him it was made for, but yet it cannot be said to have the goodness which is in the man himself, so this form of truth hath not only a natural goodness which is in all creatures, but also a further goodness which you may call moral, or what you please, so you do not attribute the goodness of holiness to it, which is attributed to the law, whereof this is but the picture. And consider withal, what things of the law they are the resemblance of. As pictures represent but the outward lineaments, so this but the letter of the law; not the law itself comprehensively taken, but τά του νόμου, some things about the law, outward acts, and such light reacheth no farther. Therefore that Jew
Paul speaks of he says was partaker of the 'letter' of the law, Rom.
2:27, as the Gentiles only of τὰ του νόμου, that is, the outward rind of the precepts of it, in what is to be done for the matter, the corpse of it, as I may so speak, for, 2 Cor. 3:6, the law is said to have been to them only the ministration of the letter, and therefore St Paul says of himself, that when he was a pharisee, Rom. 7:6, that he 'served God according to the oldness of the letter, not in newness of the spirit.'
Now, the letter of the law, severed from the spirit of it, cannot be said to be holy or good in that sense the law is (for, ver. 12, 'the law,' says he, 'is holy, spiritual, and good'), no more than the body of a man can be said to be living when the soul is gone, for when the performance of any duty is severed from the right end, and from right motives, to
God, it is but 'bodily exercise, not 'godliness,' 1 Tim. 4:8, and therefore this light not directing unto, nor expressing the spirit of the law, and not exciting a man upon right motives, nor raising up all in man to God, it is not so much as the picture of the holiness of the law, but only of the letter, which, severed from the spirit is not holy, for the law is not totum homogeneum, but heterogeneum, consisting of letter and spirit, body and soul, and therefore quicquid dicitur de toto, non dicitur de qualibet parts, what is said of the whole together is not said apart of every part. And suppose it did express the inwards of the law, yet still it is but the picture comparatively with the light in a godly man, which Christ calls 'the light of life,' John
8:12, that is, the living real spiritual law, whereas the other is but dead and lifeless, and can be said no more to be holy than the letters wherewith the holy and spiritual law was written in upon the stones can have that name, which comparison the scripture seems to allude to: Jer. 31:32, 33, 'I will take away the heart of stone' (alluding to the stone the law was written in), 'I will write the law in your hearts, and make them hearts of flesh,' sanctified, altered, and made spiritual and holy as the law is.
Or, suppose it be the real law, as it may seem in troubled consciences it is by the real effects of it; Rom. 7:9, 'For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.'
When it kills and condemns, yet this is only the literal effects of it; so as still these effects may be called but literal effects, and occasional effects of it, for it is the letter that kills; the holy spiritual effects of it are to raise the heart up to God, to sanctify the heart, and these this light wants, 2 Cor. 3:6.
Therefore, to conclude, this light of conscience and those moral dispositions are no more acceptable to God, or good in his sight, than a Jew in the latter was to him, Rom. 2:29. When the spirit in him was wanting, his praise is of men, not of God, and therefore, as the opposition shews, was not approved of by God. Nay, further, these appearing good dispositions, in regard of the persons they are in, may be said to be abominable: Prov. 21:27, 'The sacrifice of the
wicked' (because a wicked man) 'is abominable,' much more 'when he brings it with an evil heart.'
Use. These truths, though they seem but notions, yet they much serve and tend to practice; for do not these acts of enlightened and natural conscience deceive many therefore to think they have grace?
Many, because they have been troubled for sin, therefore conceive their estate good, or because conscience checks and fights against sin, so as the light which God sets up as a candle to 'search the chambers of the belly,' Prov. 20:27, to find out their sinfulness, occasionally deceives them; but let them consider that this argues no holiness or sanctification, for you see it falls short of it.
But especially men do think their estates good, if they follow their conscience in anything that is right; but consider that we may do so, and yet not be holy men; for the sampler cannot be better than the copy; no man's actions are better than his light which is the rule of them; they may be, and are, worse. The light itself you see is not holy, suppose your actions were framed exactly to it, as some think St Paul's were, by that speech, Acts 23, yet as he did sin in all he did, for all he kept to the rules of his conscience, yea, he says, he was the greatest of sinners; so may you be. Therefore content not yourselves with that light, and practice answerable, as civil men do, but get the light of life, the law written in the heart, and to be transformed in your minds, to prove what is the acceptable will of God; get the newness of the spirit, that you may serve God, who is a Spirit, in spirit and truth.
And for those shows of moral virtues, consider, you may be garnished with them, and swept by the light of conscience from gross sins, and yet remain empty of grace; as it is said in the parable, Mat.
12:44. And therefore many that trusted in them are in the end given up to gross sins, and then all these washy, slight virtues, not being rooted in the heart by the the Spirit of sanctification, are washed off; for, Luke 8:18, it is said, 'From him shall be token away that which he seemed to have.'
II. Having discovered that this light of natural conscience falls short of true holiness in the nature and kind of it, let us, in the second place, inquire into the tenor of its conveyance to us, whether as a legacy bequeathed by nature, or as a mere endowment bestowed from some other good hand, pitying our poverty and nakedness. And herein that the mind, and the faculty in which this light is received, is a natural faculty, and an appurtenance of nature, must not be denied; but yet whether this light itself be in man as an appurtenance that goes by the tenor of nature, with our natures, as the faculty of the soul, and corruption or flesh now doth, is questioned by some; yea, and they are denied to be so much as the ruins of the former image left unextinguished by Adam's sin, so to be derived to us by birth, and the right thereof, and it may be some more than probable demonstration of it.
First, That the experience both of the partiality of this light in all, and the unequal division and distribution of it to Adam's posterity, may seem to give in some evidence to this, that it is not of nature's inheritance, but moveable, and so lost, and restored again by a new gift.
For if it was left as relics of the former image to be derived to us, as unextinguished by Adam's sin, 1. What reason can be given why there should be left a light to see some kind of sins to be sins, rather than to discern others, which are as gross? Jude 10, it is said of evil men, that' they speak evil of things they know not;' and 'in what they know naturally, they corrupt themselves,' which implies they know but some things naturally, and others not. Now there can be no reason given why Adam's sin extinguished light concerning some sins, but the same reason may as strongly be urged, that it is of itself a ruined and razed out light concerning all sins, if, de nove, it was not some way repaired.
2. Why are these sparks of light so unequally shared and parted if they had been left in Adam's soul to have been derived to us? Some
of the heathens had more, as Socrates, some less; some are in a manner as brute beasts, others have more noble and elevated minds.
Other gifts of knowledge and understanding in the mind, being personal, may therefore come to be unequally distributed; but this light, if it was natural, and left as the ruins of the former image, it would surely be much more alike in all than we see it is; for Adam begat in his own image, that is, of what was left in him, Gen. 5:3.
Secondly, The Scriptures may further incline us thus to think, as that place (1.) In the 3d of John, 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh;' that is, all that is derived to man by virtue of his birth is possessed and filled with nothing but flesh and corruption, both substance and faculties; so that if those sparks of literal light (as I choose with the Scriptures to call it) be more than flesh, as is objected, and will easily be granted, then I affirm that they are not derived, as raked up in the ashes of out nature, and so by birth, but struck in by some external hand, which fetches this fire from heaven, as of old the poets feigned, which discovers the nakedness of our grandmother Eve's nature, and grandfather Adam's, to the full and utmost; so that now take the faculties of the soul, with their bare birthright-dowry only, and there is not only no good thing that is holy, but not so much as these shadows of what is good derived to us as native indwellers; but as nature brings us forth naked in our bodies, and covered all over with menstruous blood, so (as the allusion is in Ezek. 16:5) also in our souls it would not have left so much as those fig-tree leaves, either of literal light or moral virtues, to cover us withal: 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh.'
(2.) That phrase, Rom. 2:14, proves the same thing, where this light is said to be written in men's hearts, for writing is opus artificis, non naturæ, a work of art, not of nature. These characters are written, not born with us; we by nature have but abrasas tabulas, tables in which everything is razed out; It is the new work of some second hand hath took the pains to write them there; and therefore the Syriac calleth
conscience tira, from a word that signifies formavit, pinxit, hath formed or drawn anything in picture, because it is the table on which these principles are written.
And if the question be, By what means this light should come to be de novo derived unto us?
(3.) For a third ground, let us consider that place, John 1:9, where he says, that Christ 'enlighteneth every man that comes into the world.'
To understand which place, let us view the frame of the chapter, from ver. 1 to 15.
First, He shews what Christ is in himself and in his person.
Secondly, What he is and hath been in his dispensation towards the world.
1st, Before the fall, what he was both to all creatures, they were made by him, ver. 3; especially to man, that life and light of grace which was in man in innocency was from him, ver. 4.
2dly, What he is to men since the fall.
First, When that light in man and the image of God was extinguished and turned into darkness, he is become the light of the world, and shines into that darkness which else would want all light: ver. 5, 'And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not;' so as all light is now from him, renewed and dispensed by him, which he shews more particularly, going over all the degrees of light which now shines to men.
(1.) That common light in all mankind: ver. 9, 'He is the true light, that lighteth every man that comes into the world.'
(2.) That especial light of the knowledge of the law and gospel, which he had dispensed to his own kinsmen and countrymen the Jews, ver.
10, who yet received him not. But then,
(3.) In those that did believe he comes with a further light than both these: ver. 12–17, 'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ;' yet so as even that natural light (which I may so call in comparison of the other) 'which lighteth every man that comes into the world,' ver. 9, is also from Christ, the second Adam, as a fruit of his mediation; here we light all our lights, which otherwise would be cæca lumina, but blind lights.
Now, that that speech is spoken of that common light vouchsafed to all mankind appears, 1. That he says not only in general, that it is a light that 'enlighteneth every man,' which is general enough, but further adds, 'which cometh into the world;' that is, every man that is born into the world; and this is in opposition to that saving light, which only those that are born of God receive, ver. 13.
Then also the series of those three degrees of light afore mentioned, argues this to be meant of common light vouchsafed to Jews and Gentiles.
2. He speaks of this light as restored by him since the fall in man's nature corrupted; therefore, First, When he speaks of the light given man in innocency, he says in the time past, 'He was the light of men;' but now of this light he speaks in the present tense, which shines and enlighteneth.
Secondly, That in verse 5 he says this light shines in darkness, not comprehending or embracing it. It is evident he speaks of man's nature now as corrupted, and not as created at first, nor as
regenerated by grace, there being nothing but darkness covering the deep heart of man, as once that deep, Gen. 1:2, till Christ says, 'Let there be light,' by a new work, and as a common print* of his mediation.
Thirdly, That this is spoken especially of that light whereby we understand bonum et malum, good and evil, and not of that only whereby we understand verum et falsum, truth and falsehood
(though I think it true of that also), appears in that it is such a light as the darkness of man's sinful nature comprehends or receives not, but labours to avoid, as discovering their darkness unto them (which it doth), not the knowledge of natural truths.
Fourthly, This light must either be understood of light in natural truths, or moral, or both. If of that in natural, then I argue, If light of understanding to discern of other things be from Christ, then much more to descry those which are moral; and hence now it comes so unequally to be divided and dispensed to men that 'come into the world,' as all common benefits of his death are; and yet the Scripture for all this calls it natural, as in Rom. 2:14. St Paul expresseth it in opposition to that other light which is vouchsafed from the preaching of the word, which is not a privilege vouchsafed to all, as this is to every man that comes into the world; and therefore that term of natural light is distinguished from the other, as being in men wanting the light of the word, left to mere nature, and as being the common privilege to men, and 'every man that comes into the world.'
And of this light, brought thus de novo into the dark lanthorn of man's mind, may that place be understood, Prov. 20:27, where
Solomon says, that 'the spirit that is in man is the candle of the Lord, searching the chambers of the belly,' or the heart,—so it is in the original,—which is not meant of the natural faculty of reason in common, for it is described by a peculiar office of looking and searching into a man's own heart; and therefore surely it peculiarly means this light of conscience, whereby a man reflects upon himself.
And the meaning seems to me to be, that whereas a man hath many
rooms or chambers in his soul, several faculties, upper and higher rooms, understanding, will, and affections, and all filled and taken up with something or other; all which rooms now are in the state of corruption, Adam having left them in the dark, and as bare walls ungarnished; so also without light, though not in regard of seeing what is done within them, in ordine nature, that is, materially, what thoughts and desires are there (for so a man differs from a beast, 1
Cor. 2:12), but in regard of what is good or evil in those thoughts and desires in ordine moris. And thus though a man had a reflecting faculty left, as in order to the first, yet in regard of discerning the good or evil of what was done or acted in these chambers, a man should be still in darkness, if God did not set up a candle of a seminal light, a spirit or disposition inspirited, therefore called spirit; as Job
32:8, 'There is a spirit in man, and this is the inspiration of the Almighty which gives understanding,' that is, quickness and ability, which is as a candle of the Lord's, not innate, but brought in anew, as such lights that are by a new inspiration from the Almighty.
Fourthly, To evince that these are not the appurtenances of nature derived by birth, let us consider the end for which this light is appointed, and brought thus in by Christ; and thus it may seem to be
(as also moral virtues are) a means to curb and restrain, control and rebuke, corrupt nature, and the swelling forms of it. It is not there as a native inhabitant, but as a garrison planted in a rebellious town by the great Governor of the world, to keep the rebellion of the natives within compass, who else would break forth into present confusion.
In the 14th Psalm, David, speaking of the corruption of man by nature, vers. 1–3, after this question, Whether there be not some knowledge to discover their evil doings to them? yes, says he, 'have they no knowledge,' ver. 4, 'which eat up my people as bread?' Yes; and therefore, ver. 5, 'they are often in fear,' God having placed this there to overcome them with fear, and by that to restrain them from many outrages against God's people, whom in their desires, and sometimes practice, they eat up as bread. Therefore this knowledge is put in as a bridle to corrupt nature, as a hook was put into Sennacherib's nostrils, Isa. 37:29, to rule and tame men, and
overcome them with fear. That as it is said of the horse and the mule, Ps. 32:9, David there compares our nature, for the outrageous fury of it, if left to itself, without this understanding as the bridle of it: 'Be not as the horse, and mule, that have no understanding; whose mouth,' says he, 'must be held in by bit and bridle, lest they come near thee;' that is, kick and fling, and hurt thee. So would man's nature, there would be no Ho with them, no man could come near another. If they had no knowledge, they would eat up one another, and the church, as bread: but there is their fear, says he, that is, thence it comes to pass they are kept in awe. God puts in knowledge and conscience as a bridle; which, as a bridle that curbeth a horse, is no part of the nature of it, it being to break its nature; so also this infused light; only by nature we have a tender part or faculty of mind, as a horse hath a mouth which is sensible of the guides of this bit or light when God holds the reins hard, as sometimes he doth.
First, You have seen how this light of conscience, suppose it had been derived by nature, yet it is not holy.
But, secondly, that it is not only not holy, but that it is not there from nature.
III. Now, consider what inherency this light hath in the mind, or what entertainment it hath, and you will see it cannot be said to dwell there. It never becomes naturalised, as I may speak, in man's nature, into a subject suitable to it; but as it is a stranger by birth, it hath a stranger's entertainment, and is not admitted or incorporated into the society of man's heart; not enfranchised, or as a naturalised free denizen, only it crowds in there by force of arms, and so holds residence; for it comes thus to judge and reprove only, and men entertain it, as the Sodomites did Lot, saying, Gen. 19:9, 'This fellow comes in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge.' Nay, the heart of man deals more unrighteously, imprisoning it in unrighteousness, κατεχών, Rom. 1:18, affording it not a dwelling-house, but a prison, to be in; so as it dwells not there, but is imprisoned rather. The Scripture tells us that the darkness in man receives it [not], John 1:5;
nay, puts it away, not willing to entertain it: 1 Tim. 1:19, 'Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck.' Ἀπωσάμενοι, putting away a good conscience, so as it cannot properly be called theirs, it being neither from nature, nor owned by or received as a nature in their hearts; whereas true grace and light in a godly man, though it be not in him by nature, is made a new nature in him; therefore he being partaker of it, is said to be 'partaker of a divine nature,' 1 Peter 1:4, there being such a connection between him and grace and the light of it, as is between natural dispositions and the subject they are in. But it is not so in an unregenerate mind, as to the light that is in it, and therefore for all this light the conscience still remains defiled; for as it takes away no inherent sinfulness, but restrains it only and curbs it, so it cannot be said to dwell there.
IV. Suppose this light had such an admittance, and was naturalised, yet by that inherence or admittance it hath in the subject of natural conscience it would be defiled, for, Titus 1:15, 'Unto the impure all things are impure, because their minds and consciences are impure.'
Mark it, he instanceth in the best part of them, their conscience, which defiles all that come near it, as well as any faculty else, and worse, for, as in the old law, if an unclean thing did but touch a thing, otherwise in itself clean, yet it was defiled by it, Hag. 2:14. So (says
God) are this people, and therefore all that belongs to them; so now in the present case, if this light but comes into their consciences and becomes theirs, it is polluted. And indeed nature in other things shews as much, for, quicquid recipitur, recipitur ad modum recipientis. What is more pure than the light of the sun, which shines on a dunghill and is not defiled, because it admits of it not at all? But if it shines on a thing that can receive it, as on a red glass, it presently is dyed red, the shine of it hath the tincture of the glass; so this light, either it is beaten back by the darkness which receives it not, and then it is not theirs, or if it be received, yet their conscience being impure, it becomes impure; therefore, Mat. 6:22, the eye of man, that is, which is in man, which gives light to the whole and is his guide, is called evil, and darkness, that is sinful, though mixed with some
light: Mat. 6:23, 'But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.'
Use 1. See then the mercy and goodness of God and Christ now to the darkened condition of man; consider, he lights a candle, and holds it there in your hearts for you to see to work by, without which a man would be as a horse and mule, yea, as a wild ass, Job 11:12, so man is born; which, as it is the most stupid of creatures, empty of those shadows of reason other creatures have, so are we of those shadows of goodness, and therefore of ourselves we would be wild and ravenous, eating up one another, but that God hath put a bit into our tender part, our consciences. All fierce creatures have still some tender part left, without which they could not be ruled, as a horse a mouth to put in a bit, a bear a snout to put in a ring, else none might come near them; so hath man a conscience. And that which shews
God aimed at the good of mankind in it appears by this, that the light of those principles which tend most to the preservation of mankind are most deeply impressed and set on; as against murder, for which, of all sins else, their consciences use most to trouble them, &c., insomuch as Dionysius Halicarnasseus says that within the walls of Rome, for 620 years, none were found killed by a private hand; and therefore this sin and the guilt of it affrights the conscience most, because it is most against the good of mankind.
And consider, if God had not put this viceroy into the heart, what villanies would the world be filled with! Our case would be as the case of Israel when they had no king—'Everyman did what was good in his own eyes,' Judges 17:6.—So, if there was not this king and viceroy, this garrison in man, whose voice is vox Dei, every man would do what is good in his own eyes; but God hath put it in to tame men, and hereby cuts short even the spirit of princes, takes off their edge and fury, Ps. 76:11, by terrifying their consciences. Hereby
Herod's malice against John was restrained, for he feared him being holy, Mark 6:20; hereby God kept Abimelech from defiling Sarah,
Gen. 20.
Use 2. See the corruption of man's nature, that admits not, but as it were by constraint, so much as of the light of conscience, though it be but a picture. As it is one of the utmost expressions of holiness, to 'avoid the appearance of evil,' so it is a sign of the sinfulness of man's nature to hate the appearance of God. As the hatred of the panther is argued to be greater because it seizeth not on a man only, which other beasts do, but it will seize also on the image of a man, which no other beast will; so it argues the wildness of man's nature, that it hates not the law and grace only, which is the image of God, but even this truth, which is but the picture of this image.
Use 3. Is the light of conscience a work of Christ? Then take heed how you deal with it. It was put into you if possible to keep you from hell, or that you might be kept from sins, and so have the less punishment; but it occasions the aggravation of all your sins by men abusing it. But consider, that to imprison this truth in unrighteousness, what a sin it is, Rom. 1:18, which men do when they will not suffer it to break forth into practice. Of all Herod's sins this is made the greatest, that he put John in prison, who preached to him to instruct him, Luke 3:20. And so this is that which God took so heinously at the Gentiles' hands, and for which his wrath is therefore to be revealed against them, that they imprisoned the light of their consciences, Rom. 1:18. And if to resist the power of a magistrate is to resist the power of God, then to resist the conviction of conscience, which is placed as a viceroy for the good of them that do well, and to be a terror to the wicked, is to resist God, for the judgment of conscience is the Lord's. And this also is to change the truth of God into a lie, for a man's actions being the interpreter of his mind, when that truth which is within is not discovered in our actions, we tell a lie; and though things done erroneously are sins, and therefore errors and ignorances were sacrificed for in the old law, yet if against light it is much more sin; and yet how do men sin even against light till they be past feeling, as those in Eph. 4:18, 19, who lived in unnatural uncleanness, oppression, contrary to the common light of nature, which, therefore, is made the aggravation of their sinfulness,
Jude 10, to 'corrupt themselves in what they know naturally.'