Chapter IV
An inclination and proneness to all sin is in every man s nature. What are the
causes which make every mans nature inclined to all sins ? The impression
of Adam s sin on all equally. The mind of man having lost the sight of its
true happiness, wanders, and seeks its happiness in a thousand false shapes. If all men have all lusts in them, uhat is the reason that some men are so
far from being inclined to some kinds of sin that they have some contrariety
in their temper to them f And how it is that a man who hat/i all lusts in his
nature is inclined to one sin more than another? The reason why men equally
corrupt in their natures are not equally wicked in their lives. Why all men
do not commit the sin against the Holy Ghost.
Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concu
piscence. ROM. VII. 8.
The general parts of man s inherent corruption thus despatched, as a
coronis to the second part of this discourse, there is one thing to be added more to make this complete. Every man is prone to all sin, and hath all
sins in him.
As a ground for this I have chosen this scripture, where you have an
instance, without exception, of one of the best unregenerate men that ever was in the world, Paul, who saith of himself that he was, as touching the
righteousness of the law, blameless, Phil. iii. 6, and in whom, when regene
rate, the grace of God was more strongly than in any other, mortifying his
lusts and corruptions ; and yet he tells us here that he, by woful experience, found that all concupiscence was wrought in him. So that, whether he
speaks of himself as regenerate or unregenerate, either is enough to convince us that the best of both have all lusts in them. But in this verse he seems
to speak of his former estate, and time past of unregeneracy, these words
being an exposition of his meaning of those words, ver. 5, whilst in the
flesh; that is, whilst unregenerate, as appears by Rom. viii. 9, But ye are
not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you ; where being in the flesh and in the Spirit are opposed. And it is all one
CO AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK II.
* Whilst
phrase with being in drink and in love; that is, overcome of both.
* the motions of sins, which were by the law, &c., which is a marriage phrase, that is, evil lusts stirred up and
in the flesh, saith he in Kom. vii. 5,
begotten by the law, as children by husband and wife, he comparing the heart to a woman, and the law to an husband : Rom. vii. 2-4,
* For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth ; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress : but if her husband be dead, she is
free from the law ; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Which law begets motions to sin, which because it would seem very harsh
to lay such a bastard brood at the law s door, and so this objection would
arise, that then the law is the cause of sin, therefore he denies it, ver. 7,
* What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, except the law had
said, Thou shalt not covet. Though he says, withal, that it did discover
* But, saith he, ver. 8, sin, taking occasion by the command
sin to him,
ment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. Which distinction is the same with that which we use in logic, causa per se, et causa per accidens. Sin took occasion by the command
ment, that is, the law was but the occasional accidental cause ; in the same sense that the sun, shining upon a dunghill, elevates the vapours, might be
said to be the cause of all the stinking vapours in it. The sun is not the
cause, for the vapours were there before ; the sun doth only stir them up, and itself remains pure. Or else, look as physic, that stirs the humours which lay in the body, it puts in no new, for it is an antidote against them, and would purge them out if nature were strong. And in this sense it is
that the law is said to work all concupiscence, which yet was in the heart
afore.
The point, then, which this text affords, being thus opened, is, that all
concupiscence is in every man s nature. Sin, he says here, that is, original
sin, wrought all concupiscence, and of that we are partakers all alike.
Even the very heathens, the most divine of them, the Stoics, had some
light into the truth. So Seneca out of them, Orniiia in omnibus vitia sunt* And, lib. 5, Et cupidi omnes, et ambitiosi et impii.-f And they give this
reason, because, vitia sunt conjuncta, they are tied of a knot, and hang on a
string ; there is a concatenation of them. As in falsehood, uno absurdo
dato, mille sequuntur, so in practice, one sin brings all with it : James
* For where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work. It is his rule, where envying and strife is (he instanceth but in
iii. 16,
that one, yet) there is confusion, uxaraffraaia, all out of order, and every evil
work, that is, his mind is apt to run into every evil work. And the reason
of that assertion is, because that which is the cause of one sin is the cause
of all, namely, self-love ; that having the highest room in the heart, is advanced into the throne of God s glory in the heart, being the next heir, when grace was deposed, and became lord paramount in the heart; and that
putting thee upon one sin, puts thee upon another, as occasion is to satisfy
itself. First, sets afloat one lust, pride, and then another, envy, &c. : 2 Tim.
iii. 1-4, Men shall be lovers of themselves. And what then ? It is the
general, and these that follow are its army
: Covetous, boasters, proud, * Seneca Benef. lib iv. p. 320. Ed. Lipsii, Antwerp, 1632. | Ibid. lib. v. p. 338.
CHAP. IV.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 61
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those
that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God ; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. No one sin can be, but where self-love is predominant ; and where it is, it
will put us upon any sin, break all bonds of nature, to parents, disobedient
to them, as it follows, and of friendship, unthankful; and of grace, too, unto
God, unholy, &c. And thus self-love, as gotten within the throne, is the
ground of all lusts ; as all affection is seated in love, so sin in self-love.
2. There are three demonstrations of the truth of it.
(1.) That which is universally contrary to every branch of the law of God,
is universally prone to all sin. Now whence is it that we oppose anything, but because we are desirous of its contrary, and look upon that as an
hindrance to our desires ? But the sinfulness of man s nature is in all
things contrary to the law ; as the text shews, that the law wrought all con
cupiscence. So as, tarn late quam patet lex in prohibendo, concupiscentia in
appetendo ; concupiscence is of as large extent in desiring as the law is in
forbidding. No duty commanded, but man s nature riseth against it; no
law forbidding sin, but our nature opposeth it, and will not be subject : Rom. viii. 7,
* Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It would be subject to
nothing ; yea, the light of the law is withheld in unrighteousness, because
it opposeth man s unrighteousness
: Rom. i. 18, For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
(2.) That which is universally contrary to all grace, and the acts of it, is
prone to all sin. Now, Gal. v. 17, it is said, the flesh lusteth against the
spirit, viz., in all the lustings of it; no good motions come, but our natures damp it; no good duty we perform, but our nature lames it and deads it, and fights against the exercise of the heart in it. Enmity to grace is still founded on proneness to sin : Acts xiii. 10, And said, full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord ? Full of all
readiness to evil, and an enemy of all righteousness, are joined there ; and
so in Col. i. 21, And you, that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. Enemies, having their minds set in evil works, so that enmity to grace proceeds from a proneness to sin.
(3.) There is no sin, but one man or other hath been by nature inclined
to it : Rom. i. 29-32, Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate,
deceit, malignity ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without under
standing, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerci
ful : who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them
that do them. He says, the Gentiles were filled with all unrighteousness ;
filled, even as trees with fruit. If not every particular man, with every one
in some part or other of his life, yet there was no cursed fruit of unright eousness, but had appeared in some one or other man s life among them. Now there can be no reason given why any man should be naturally prone to
any sin, but the same reason may be alleged why another man must be also ; for we have all the same nature, we are all begotten in the same image, Gen. v. 3. And therefore, Prov. xxvii. 19, As face answers to face in
02 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK II.
water, so the heart of man to man ; that is, as a man looking in water
(which was the looking-glass of elder times), as the same lineaments and
parts of the face in water answer to the real face, so the heart of man to man, there being the same image we are all begotten in. And therefore the word of God, which speaks against all sin, is resembled to the common
looking-glass of mankind, James i. 23, that represents every man s face to him. And as the parts of the face in every man are one and the same, so here in this case too ; and therefore you shall find in Rom. viii. 9, where the Scripture speaks of the general corruption of all men s nature, and says,
* all are under sin. To prove it, he quotes places where particular corrup tions of particular men are but mentioned ; as of Doeg out of Ps. cxl. 3. And what is spoken of the Jews, Isa. lix. 7, which the apostle brings as
instances to prove the common corruption ; and so manifestly implies, that the same sins that are in one, are in the nature of all, Rom. vii. 9 to 18. Let us next proceed to the grounds and causes of it ; for all truths are more clearly represented, and more amiable, when we see them in their
causes, and growing on their own stalks.
1. Adam and Christ are the only common roots of all sin and grace : Rom. v. 14-21, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also
is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead ; much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that
: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man s
sinned, so is the gift
offence death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of
grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to con demnation ; even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. For as by one man s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience by one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound : but where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound : that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. And now in ver. 14 Adam the one is made the
type of the other. Therefore look as Jesns Christ is the fountain of all
grace, so is Adam the fountain of all sin ; for Adam is made a type of
Christ in that respect, Rom. v. 14, and in respect of conveying his image, as
Christ of his : 1 Cor. xv. 49, And as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Which maxim, as it should have held of the pure state of Adam, so it doth of his corrupt state ; and as Christ conveys all grace to those that are begotten of him, then if Adam be a type of Christ, he must convey all sin to those that are of him. Now Christ hath all fulness in him : John i. 16, And of his fulness have we
* According as his
all received, and grace for grace. And 2 Peter i. 3,
divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godli
ness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Here Christ is said to give us all things belonging to life and holiness. Then
for Adam, we in like manner receive of him sin for sin. And Jesns Christ needed not to convey all grace, except Adam had conveyed all sin ; for
grace is nothing but the remedy foi sin ; and if there were not so many
sores, there needed not so many plasters; for every particular grace heals but a particular sin. The remedy needs be no larger than the
CHAP. IV.] IN EESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 63
disease. And therefore it is that it is called a body of sin ; Adam s image
* Mortify therefore your members which are
is so named in Col. iii. 5 :
upon the earth ; fornication, uncleanness, &c. Rom. vi. 6, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Why is it called a
body of sin ? Because it consists of many parts, which in that place of the
Colossians are called members ; and if any one member were wanting, it
could not be an image entire, but imperfect.
2. If we examine the reason why our nature is inclined to sin, all is and must be resolved into this, that it is the impression of Adam s first sin that made Judas s nature inclined to covetousness, the disciples to pre-eminence. Now Adam s sin hath the same and like impression upon all men s hearts, and therefore they are all prone to all these ; for the influence of it is not as
the influence of a voluntary, but a natural agent, which always works ad ultimum potentia, and therefore conveys the same image to all that it doth
to any, because it works to the utmost of its power. And indeed there is
this difference between the first and second Adam, that Christ, though he
conveys all grace, yet not to all alike for degrees, nor to all at a certain time, because his Spirit works it as a voluntary agent, when and how far he will : John iii. 8, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is
every one that is born of the Spirit. And it is communicated out of grace as a gift
: Rom. xv. 15, Because of the grace that is given to me of God. But with Adam it is otherwise, for it is said to enter upon the world, Rom. v. 12, via iiecessitatis, in a way of necessity, as a thing which cannot be kept out, and therefore hath equal and alike impression upon all men s
hearts.
3. If we consider the state every man s soul is left in by nature, we shall
find that it must needs be prone, and apt, and ready for every sin. For,
1st, It hath lost its right way to happiness, and can never find it, and hath
lost also its true guide, and so now walks in darkness, and knows not whither
to go, and so is apt and exposed to be led any whither. Therefore conver sion is called turning a sinner from the error of his way
: James v. 20, Let him know, that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. And unregenerate men are called darkness : Eph. v. 8,
* For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. And of such it is said, John xii. 35, that he that walks in darkness knows not whither he goes. And yet still the soul is bound for happiness, and is inquiring the way : Who will shew us any good ? Ps. iv. 6. Therefore, being thus wildered, any lust that promiseth to conduct it to happiness (as all do, therefore called deceitful lusts, Eph. iv. 22), it is content to follow, willing to take any guide, being like a wildered man in the dark, apt to follow any false fire, and to try every path, if finding not true happiness in one, it tries another. Men by nature are become children, as in regard of the doctrine of truth, so in regard of the way to happiness ; and therefore apt and ready to be carried away, and tossed jbo and fro with every wind of temptation, as the apostle intimates Eph. iv. 14. For this see also 2 Tim. iii. 6; speaking of silly women, he
* led away with divers lusts ; that is, taking any lust to be their guide. And because they find this or that lust leads not into the
says, they are
right way, therefore they try another; and when they find that brings them not to their journey s end, therefore they take another, and so are led by divers lusts, and indeed by any. And so in Titus iii. 3, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, &c. You shall find this reason I
64 AN UXREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BoOK II.
give now : men, saith he, are fools, avo^roi, injudicious, not able to discern what is the way to happiness ; and if they do, yet are disobedient and will not take it, and therefore are jrXas/ci/xgvo/, wanderers, and so therefore apt to take any lust for guides, and so serve divers lusts and pleasures. Now man
having lost the right course God set him in, Eccles. vii. 29, seeks out many inventions ; and every lust is a new projector; the heart not knowing whither
to go, and being deceived by every one, is still fit for any new invention that
shall be suggested to it.
2dly, As the understanding hath lost its true guide, so men s lusts are become boundless, being once turned out of their right channel, namely, God, and the pleasures in him. When man s desires did all run into God, then that channel was big enough to hold them ; but now they seek current
in other channels of sin, and the creatures, which are still too shallow, and not able to bound them. The pleasure of no one sin can do it, nor all plea sure of sin can put bounds to our desires, but they will still overflow ; and so they still are seeking new currents, and fare prone to any wickedness ; as water you know is, which of all elements is hardliest kept in bounds. It
is Isaiah s comparison, chap. Ivii. 20, But the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. So as by reason of the vastness of man s desires, he is still apt to new things, so that the same reason that is given why materia prima appetit omnes formas, why the first matter desires all forms, namely, because its appetite can be satisfied with no one form, but there is a privation and emptiness still ; and there
fore it still seeks new, till it meets with the form of the heavens, as our
philosophy doth inform us (and I make but an allusion of it), which fills and
satiates it. By the same reason is the soul of man apt for the pleasure of
any sin, because still none is able to fill it.
3dly, Whereas men s desires are thus boundless, there is nothing but the
law, and conscience possessed of that law, left to keep them in compass, and
keep them from overflowing, as a mighty bank opposed against them. But
so it is that the knowledge and conscience of this law doth by accident make
these lusts swell higher, as a dam doth a river ; and men having broke one
part of the law down, they are apt to break down another. For as it is in James ii. 10, 11, For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend
in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. He that breaks the law in one
point is guilty of all ; that is, by the same reason he will break all as one, so as, but that God says, as to the sea, Stay thy proud waves, still wicked
ness would in every man s heart and life overflow, and fill the earth with
violence.
But there are many difficulties and objections against this truth, that Adam s sin should convey his image alike unto all, and that all should have
all concupiscence in them.
1. As that some sins some men are not inclined unto; as some not to
drunkenness, yea, they have an antipathy against it.
2. There are some sins contrary one to another, as prodigality and covet-
ousness ; and it is impossible a man should be inclined to contraries at once.
3. There is some one sin which every man is inclined unto more than to
others, and therefore not to all alike.
4. Some men are naturally more wicked than others.
5. Then all should be prone to commit the sin against the Holy Ghost. For answer to these, though Adam s sin hath the same and alike influence
into all, yet it finds not the same subject to work upon. It lights not upon
CHAP. IV.] IN EESPECT OF SIN ANp PUNISHMENT. 65
alike constitutions either of body or mind, and therefore, accordingly, hath
not like effects ; for quicqnid recipitur, recipitur ad modnm recipients, what
ever is received is received according to the qualification of the receiver. For neither are the constitutions of men s bodies nor of their souls alike, which two are the. weapons or instruments of all sin : Rom. vi. 13, Neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin : but
yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. And hence it comes
to pass that some men are naturally more wicked than others, and that some are prone to some sins that others are not prone unto, or not so much as others.
1. The constitution of sinners bodies is not alike, which several constitu
tions are the tinder and fuel for sins to work in : as choler for anger, melan
choly for settled wrath and repinings, sanguine for uncleanness, excess, and intemperance ; so some are strong to drink, others are not. But now, though the soul must have instruments and organs, and a temperament of
the body to which it is confined to work by, yet because the first, and
original, and chief subject of all sin is the soul, therefore it is said the
soul of sinners shall die. And for this cause therefore it is now apart in
hell punished for all sins, without the body, till the day of judgment, for till then the body is not. It is the indweller in the house, that receives lust in
at the windows of the eyes, at the wickets of the ears, &c. Therefore every man is radically still inclined to all these, be the constitution of his body what it will, suppose never so indisposed to any of these sins ; so as put that soul into another body, it would be as notoriously inclined to them as
any other man is. As philosophers say of a man that is born blind, that
there is in him a polentia prima, a first power of seeing in his soul, as well
as of hearing, only the organ or instrument of sight is defective; there wants potentia secunda, a second power. So the devil, who is father of all
* He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning ; John viii. 44,
sin : 1 John iii. 8,
* Ye are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do : he was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own : for he is a liar, and the
father of it. Yet the devil, wanting a body, he is not inclined to intemper ance and uncleanness, as men are, and yet he delights in our commission of them ; witness his incubi and succnbi. So old men, whose bodies are dry, yet delight in unclean fancies, and envy the pleasure of adulterers ; their hearts go with them, and they delight in those who do such things
: Rom.
i. 32, Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them ; which argues the mind is that way disposed when the body is not.
Again, 2, the size of men s souls is not alike for the strength and large ness of their parts. Some men s understandings are greater, and their affec
tions and stomachs larger, and hence they naturally come to be more
wicked, though original sin be alike in all. For the more wit there is with out grace, the more wickedness is there too, and accordingly one devil comes
to be worse than another, as they are said to be ; Mat. xii. 45, Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. Put the same quantity of poison into wine and into water, it will work more violently and poison more speedily in the wine than the water ; though the poison be the same, yet the spirits that set the poison a-work are more in the wine.
VOL. x. E
66 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK II.
Men of lower understandings are given to lusts of body, but men of higher understandings to civility and formality, and a desire of honour and applause ; and still the more excellent the creature is, the finer food it desires. Chame
leons live upon air, and some men s lusts live upon more sublimated objects,
out of their wisdom contemning base lusts, and seeking for excellencies in
other things of an higher nature. And hence comes that great diversity that is in men s lives, though Adam s sin hath the same influence upon all men s hearts.
3. Some men have their sins drawn out more than others. Thus there
are many lusts in children which do not shew themselves whilst they are
children, yet when they are elder they do. Some men s callings draw out
their sins more, and the objects that they are conversant about sets their
: Luke viii. 13,
lusts on working, which is called a season of temptation
* And these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation
fall away, which is when there comes a fit object to draw out their heart. John xii. 4-6, Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred
pence, and given to the poor ? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. The ointment sold for three hundred pence was a fit object to draw out Judas his lust. So Josh. vii. 21, Achan said, When I saw among the
spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and
a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it ; and that drew out his lust. And it is for this reason holy Agur prays so, Prov. xxx. 8, 9, Remove far from me vanity and lies ; give me
neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for me : lest I be
full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord ? Or lest I be poor, and
steal, and take the name of my God in vain. So that several dispositions are drawn out according to our several conditions. And hence it was that John Baptist (Luke iii.) instanceth in this particular sins of their callings, and he says to the soldiers, Exact no more than your due. And the people that were covetous, to them he saith, He that hath two coats, &c. The
pharisees were oppressors, and sought honour one of another. Now because
poor men have a shorter tether and compass than great men, therefore it may be they have no occasion to have their lusts drawn out ; whereas
naturally they are as proud and as ambitious as other men, as covetous as
other men, though their lusts do not appear for want of opportunity, for, I
say, usually men s lusts are drawn out according to their callings.
4. God restrains men s lusts, either by wisdom, as is said of Haman, that he restrained his, Esther v. 10. Yea, many times one lust restrains
another, Eccles. iv. 8. He restrains himself (speaking of a covetous man), and bereaves his soul of good. One lust eats up another; yea, sometimes and often God doth restrain by the immediate work of his own Spirit, by the
gift of continence ; for there is a spirit put into every man by nature of moral virtues, by which the Lord restrains the corruptions of nature. And
though naturally men are filled with all unrighteousness, and every lust is as
a hole to let it out, yet God oftentimes stops and plugs up the holes as he
pleaseth, that they may not run out at every hole. God doth not broach
every lust in every man, yet so as in some man or other all corruption is
broached, some in one and some in another, and in all the barrel is no less
full. And though there be a sluice to keep in the water, though there be a
less stream, yet there is nevertheless water ; even so, though lusts be re
strained, yet there is nevertheless corruption within ; so that God s restrain-
CHAP. IV.] IN KESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 67
ing of men s lusts is no argument to prove that therefore they have not all
sin in them.
5. God broacheth sin in a methodical manner, making one sin the punish ment of another: 2 Thes. ii. 9-12, Even him, whose coming is after the
working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ; that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness. Rom. i. 21-24, 28-32, Because that, when they knew
God, they glorified him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness,
through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between
themselves. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient : being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors
of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful : who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of
death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. And sometimes when one lust is let out, and a man gives his heart full scope in
that, then it may be God lets out another to restrain that.
6. Corrupt nature is not in every man capable of committing the sin
against the Holy Ghost, unless there hath been some further qualification added that makes him capable of it, as enlightening, &c., yet there is the seed of it in every man s nature ; but a man never commits that sin without
having first had supernatural light, against which he hath sinned, which
light, therefore, except a man have, he is not capable of committing that sin. For it is not bare knowledge required to it, but knowledge with
: Heb. x. 26, For if we sin wilfully after
assent ; not yvuais, but evrfyvutng
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins. Therefore Christ says to the pharisees, John ix. 41, If
ye were blind, ye should have no sin ; but now ye say, We see ; therefore
your sin remaineth ; that is, that great sin against the Holy Ghost, which some of them did commit.
7. Whereas it is said that one lust is contrary to another, and therefore men are not prone to all sin ; I answer, that though men are not inclined unto every sin at all times and on all occasions, yet at several times they are drawn out to them. Oftentimes men that have been most prodigal in
their youth have proved most covetous in their old age ; and yet it may be said of such that radically they are inclined to both at once. As now, take a man that hath the disease of an ague upon him, or when his fit begins, there is heat and cold rooted at the same time in the disease ; there is a
radical disposition to violent heat and violent cold, which is rooted in the nature of the disease, but yet they cannot be let out both together, but suc
cessively, first the cold fit, then the hot fit. So take a man inclined to covetousness and prodigality, and they cannot both break out at once. So a man that is ambitious, sometimes he bows to the basest of men. And it
is often seen that by fits these contraries are let loose.
68 AN UNEEGENEEATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFOEE GOD, [EcOK II
Lastly, "Whereas it is objected, in some men there is an antipathy against some sins, as Saul hated witches, and Julian the apostate hated drunkards and plays, &c., and therefore all are not inclined to all sins ; I answer, this
antipathy is not moral but physical, either because their bodies will not bear
it, or for some other incommodity they find in it ; for we see that Saul went
to witches in a strait, whereby it appears that he did not hate the sin as it was a sin.