Chapter II
The exposition of the text proved, that David expresseth humiliation and repent
ance for his original sin, and that he humbles himself in. the sense of his
guilt by the imputation of Adanrs first sin, and the sinfulncss of his own
nature.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou hast made me to know wisdom. Ps. LI. 5, 6.
My intended subject is the demeanour and exercise of an humbled penitent soul in point of original sin towards God. It is not the doctrine of original sin (of which I have already discoursed), but what humiliation and repentance the soul, convinced of it, is to put forth about it. And truly it is an useful
point of practice as any other, and conducing greatly to glorify God, which
yet is much out of use, I fear, in the private intercourses of Christians between God and their own souls, which therefore I shall endeavour to revive in your
spirits.
My ground and warrant for this is David s frame and exercise of spirit here in these two verses, this being the most proper scope of them, and this
the eminent penitential psalm of all the other seven, in the common repute of antiquity ; and wherein David as a penitent, upon occasion of this murder and adultery, and other gross actual sins, humbles himself deeply for this
his original sin as the cause and spring of all ; and therefore I do found the
treating hereof upon this his practice. And that I may with more advan-
CHAP. II. j IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 881
tage urge and direct you in and to this exercise of spirit and soul about it, and lay a sure and proper foundation for my whole discourse concerning this
the practical part (as I style it), I shall in the first place open the words, and David s heart as it lies enclosed in them, the sum of which I reduce unto two
principal heads, to which I add a third.
I. David s confession of this sin, or David s brokenness of heart for it; by opening which I shall clear that the scope and intention of his soul was
deeply to humble himself for this sin, &c.
II. David s own reflection upon God s working this in him, and having discovered and set upon his soul this sin, he blessing God highly for this in
the close of that his confession in those words : ver. 6, And in the hidden
part thou hast made me to know wisdom.
III. There is a third head serving to open the words, which is, that whereas
there are two parts or branches of original sin ; 1, Adam s first transgres sion imputed; 2, inherent corruption thence flowing; I shall give some account that each of these are included distinctly in the words, according to
the opinion of some interpreters, which will make the exposition of these words complete, and will also afford a foundation for two parts concerning each of these, which I have propounded to myself to handle in this discourse, as in the sequel will appear.
I. First, For the clearing of the first of these heads. Some would elude
this place by saying, it is his mother s sin, supposed to have been in her in
the act of generation, which he confesseth here, and not at all any that was
his own, in which by her he should have been conceived. Whereas, on the
contrary,
1. All his acknowledgments in that psalm run upon his own iniquity; his
heart was filled and possessed with his personal sins. So all along hitherto,
* my sin, ver. 2; I ac
1 my transgressions, ver. 1; my iniquity, and
knowledge my transgressions, my sin is ever before me, ver. 3 ; Against
thee, thee only have / sinned, ver. 4. And shall we think that here he
diverts to the sin of his mother, when he was in the full heat and career of
confessing his own ?
2. His grief for his own sins was so intense, both afore these words and
after, as must needs leave little heart for him to run out upon his mother s
sin, and leave off the pursuance of his own. He is not in Jeremiah s or Job s frame, to curse the day of his birth, and his mother that brought him
forth. No ; we find him too deeply broken to do so. And to what purpose should it be for him to say, My mother sinned in conceiving me, whilst he
lays so deeply to heart his murder and lying with another man s wife ? What had his mother s sin in conceiving him to do with his having committed the murder of Uriah, and defiling his wife Bathsheba ?
3. Nor did his mother sin in that act of conceiving him more than in other
actions the godly do, and as indeed in all actions we all do. He might have
said that in eating and drinking, whereby she nourished him in the womb, she had sinned, as well as in this of conceiving him. His mother was a
godly woman, as that speech shews : Ps. cxvi. 16, Lord, truly I am thy servant ; I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid ; and he the
issue of lawful marriage, whereof the bed was undefiled, Heb. xiii. 4, yea,
sanctified, 1 Cor. vii. 14. And shall David, then, upon occasion of defiling another man s wife, and begetting a bastard, or a child unclean, reflect upon his parent s lawful act, yea, an act sanctified by God ? No. Besides, David was now at the bottom of hell, acknowledging his sins, ver. 3, and it is
utterly contrary to the genius of such a soul to mention the sins of others in such a case.
332 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
Secondly, If it was bis-own sin he so cries out of, then certainly his having himself been conceived in sin, and so his own conception-sin and birthsin
(which we call original sin) was it which he so much bewails, and it could be no other ; and take our doctrine about it, which teacheth it is derived by conception, &c., and there could not be more manifest words to signify it. And that this should be his very heart and meaning is every way so con
gruous. For,
3 . It holds some order and equipage with former confessions in other
psalms. He had confessed the sins of his youth in Ps. xxv., and here the
grosser acts of his more elder years. He had said, Ps. Iviii. 2, that the wicked go astray from the womb ; and here himself goes farther, and de scends to the source of all : Behold, I was brought forth in sin, yea, and
* conceived in it, &c. And, 2, that upon occasion of these so foul miscarriages, he takes a new
survey of the sins of his whole life, and examining himself to the bottom, should arrive at this ; even as in going along by a river, we come at last to the well-head, the fountain of all those streams, so here. And this is natu
ral and coherent, and there was a full rise for this ; and it is no other but
perfectly correspondent with what the apostle long after instructs us in, Col.
iii. 9, even to join inherent corruption and its deeds together, as cause and
effects. And David speaks apparently to the like purpose ; here this I have done (in the former words), for thus I was conceived in sin, and behold, these deeds are the cursed issue of that sin. He yokes, you see, the old man and his pranks together ; yea, upon this examination of the matter, he found this the cause of these, and of all sins whatever. And therefore, 3. He sets, you may observe, the behold upon the matter of this confes sion above all the former. He sets not the behold upon those actual sins, or his this have I done ; yea, he translates the wonder from off his having committed these, although so foul sins, and puts it over the head of this his
conception-sin, as that which bears the account of all ; and so it is as if he had said, No wonder if I have thus foully transgressed, having the principles
of these and all sins in me ; the wonder rather lies in this, that I have not
formerly so sinned, and filled my life with such defilements.
Thirdly, The issue and close, in his inserting and intermingling the con
fession of this sin with that of those grosser sins, was every way suitable and
becoming a broken soul, which I shall farther draw out in these four parti culars, which will both help us to take up what David s heart was in, and
also discover this, wherein the very practice or exercise of a penitent soul
consists as touching this sin.
1. It was thereby to humble himself greatly, and thereby the more for those actual sins, by joining this and those his deeds together. His scope was not to extenuate the matter in those actual sins, which the next verse
clears, as Calvin hath observed, but to aggravate and aggrandise them ; and
it is as if he had said to God (for unto God it is he utters this and all the
rest), I have been guilty of this evil which I have done in thy sight, this my murder and adultery, as likewise of infinite other transgressions in the course
of my life, but above all, I humble myself for this my conception-sin. For
I that have committed these grosser evils, am further in my nature a mass and lump of all sin, altogether corrupt, and would of myself have committed
those, and all sins else, as other men do, and am ready (if left to myself) to commit a thousand more such like. And if we do further attentively con
sider the great import of his behold, affixed upon this sin s head, and not
upon those other of his grossest sins, it will promptly and pregnantly give us to understand how deeply sensible his soul was, and how greatly humbled
CHAP. II. j IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 333
for this sin above the other. We may observe how he forbore to set it over
his confession of those his actual sins, though the grossest, but reserves his behold for this. He said not,
* Behold, this evil have I done, ver. 5, but, Behold, I was conceived in sin, &c. He says not. Behold, 7, David, a
king, that have received such and such mercies from God, who would have
given me more (as God told him), who had that entire communion with him, and graces from him, I, even I, have done this evil. No ; he keeps it in till he came to this, and then his heart could hold no longer
: Oh, behold, I was conceived in sin. His debasement was at its auge here. And to whom
is it he utters this behold ? What, to man ? No; his meaning is not to call on men, q. d. Oh, all ye sons of men, behold ! That is but his secondary aim, arising out of his having penned it, and delivered it unto the church ; but when he uttered it, it was to God, or rather afore God, and yet not as
calling on God to behold, for that needed not. David had elsewhere said, God looked down, &c., and beheld the sons of men, when speaking of
this very corruption. He therefore knew God beheld it sufficiently; but he
utters it afore God, or, as spoken of himself between God and himself, thereby to express his own astonishment and amazement at the sight and conviction of this corruption, and at the sight of what a monster he saw himself to be
in the sight of God in respect of this sin. It was a behold of astonishment
at himself, as before the great and holy God ; and therefore it was he seconds and follows it with another behold made unto God :
* Behold, thou
requirest truth in the inward parts. And it is as if he had said in both, Oh, how am I every way overwhelmed, whilst with one eye cast on myself I see how infinitely corrupt I am in the very constitution of my nature ; and with the other eye I behold and consider what an infinite holy God thou art in
thy nature and being, and what an holiness it is which thou requirest. I am utterly overwhelmed in the intuition of both these, and am able to behold no more, nor to look up unto thee, holy God ! This is the first particular, humbling himself.
2. His scope is to clear God. So in the coherence with verses 4 and 5,
* Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive me. I have done this evil ; I who have such a nature, conveyed together with my very being, which, Lord, will utterly clear thee, that when thou comest to judge, thou mayest be justified, who art an holy God,
temptest no man to evil, and hadst nothing to do with these sins of mine ; but it was I myself alone, out of the proneness of my nature and birthsin, who have done these evils, it was my own lust that tempted me. And this the scope of ver. 6 doth farther shew : Behold, thou requirest the contrary, truth, that is, holiness in truth, in the inward parts.
3. In the third place, he being upon the fresh guilt of these actual sins upon his knees suing forth a pardon, he confesseth this conception-sin with
them, to the end to obtain his pardon for his actual sins, and this also alto
gether. He who is suing out of a pardon of special grace from a prince, and hath the liberty to draw it up himself, will be sure to put into it all and
every one of his crimes, one as well as another. And prisoners at the bar do desire to have all indictments brought in, to the end they may be
thoroughly discharged. And in the like manner David here confesseth this
his birth-sin upon occasion of these his other sins ; and not only in respect of the influence and causation specified, which that first sin had into these
acts, but that it being a great sin, a sin still remaining in him, comprehen
sively takes it in to have it pardoned with the rest. That as the apostle in
334 AN UNBEGENEBATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFOBE GOD, [BOOK IX.
a doctrinal way, Col. ii. 13, first specifying the sin of the uncircumcision of
their flesh, which they were born in, together with all other actual sins,
comprehensively concludes of all, that God had forgiven them all their tres
: And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
passes
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all tres
passes ; so doth David here in a practical way, in his suing out a pardon
for sin ; and it is as if he had said, Lord, take in and forgive altogether, both the old man and his deeds together, the whole of my sinfulness, root and branch. And this comprehensive intention of his, all those vehement
loud cries for mercy, both before these words and after, in the following, do
manifest. (1.) Before, have mercy, &c., saith he, ver. 1 ; Wash me
throughly, ver. 2 ; that is, both inside and outside, the guilt and stain, the acts of sin and the inward corruption. (2.) The word after, Purge me
with hyssop, wash me, make me clean ; and he is principally therein in
tent upon the sin in his inwards ; for, ver. 6, he sets another behold upon
this, thou requirest truth in the inward parts, which is spoken in a perfect relation to the matter of this his confession, in ver. 5, Behold, I was
brought forth in iniquity.
4. His scope is to provoke and to whet his soul on to seek true inward
sanctification, or a new frame of spirit, such as is seated in the heart, and
: ver. 10, Create in me a clean heart ; for thou requirest truth in the inward parts, and I am wholly corrupted there, which new
not in acts only
creation, without the sight of original sin, a man will never do, nor come to
understand the necessity of. Compare with this Col. iii. 6-10, For which
things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. In
the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these ; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communica
tion out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off
the old man with his deeds ; and have put on the new man, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
II. The second head I propounded for the opening this text, was David s own reflection thereupon in the close, in these words, And in the hidden
part thou hast made, or makest me to know wisdom. Which in plainer words is, his blessing of God, who had upon this occa
sion of his murder and adultery discovered this first sin unto him, had set
it upon his heart, and had humbled him for it more than ever ; and also it
is a recommending the knowledge of this, and the demission of our souls
for it (according to this his own experience and example), as of a great and
deep wisdom in the hidden, and shews the high valuation and price David puts upon this discovery of God s to him, and setting on of this sin
upon him.
Our translators read it in the future tense, Thou shalt make me know ; but multitudes of other translators * in the time past or present, Thou hast made, or,
* Thou makest, &c. For it is a known rule, verbs of the
future tense are in Hebrew often put to import the preterperfect or present tense.
Now, of those interpreters that read it in the time past, Thou hast made
me, &c., the most of them do carry the drift unto this, that David should
still proceed on to heighten those his gross sins, and that it is a new aggra vation of them as to this sense, That I whom thou hadst instructed in the most secret wisdom of matters of godliness, and made me wiser than my teachers, should yet thus sin against such and so much light
* So Calvin, Hildersham, Vatablus, Pagnin, Tremellius, Hammond.
CHAP. II.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 835
But Piscator, in his annotations on this psalm, puts this sense upon it,* that David should bless God for having made him to know this special wis dom in this hidden thing or matter, and had brought the knowledge thereof
home, as a point of saving wisdom, to the hidden man of his heart, so as to
see fully and clearly this native corruption as the cause of all sin, and on
that account to cause him lay it to heart ; and that God had made this dis
covery, and this his deep humiliation for it, to be the issue of those foul sins, in such a manner as he had never been sensible of it before ; and so, that
withal his scope should be to commend the wisdom herein to all men else.
And truly, to me this gloss and interpretation of it seems very fair and
genuine, both because that other of aggravating his sin comes in after an
interruption, and so remotely, whereas this latter comes in in immediate coherence with, and upon his confession of original sin, and indeed is the
close of that part, and so seems rather to belong thereto, as this interpreta tion doth make it to do. And upon many other accounts it seems very apt and congruous. For, 1, this is in itself a great point of wisdom ; for
* The heart of man is
deceitful, who can know it ? says the prophet, Jer. xvii. 9. And, therefore, to have a divine light in the hidden man of the heart from God, who alone must and doth give this, experimentally to see into and guage this gulf, must needs be an eminent part of wisdom. And indeed it is to dive into and arrive at the bottom of true humiliation, and fathom the utmost depth of sin ; it is also in itself an hidden thing. There are two hidden wisdoms : the one of that in God s heart towards us in Christ ; the other, which is next to it, as Christ said of the second table, is to know what is in our hearts, and to have a thorough and bottom light into the sins thereof, into the inward rooted spiritual contrarieties therein unto grace and holiness, and that truth
in the inward parts which God requireth.
And, 2, it is, when made operative, a practical wisdom in us, and then it
is that knowledge that doth become a wisdom, whereby a man s soul is broken and made contrite, and all a man s affections stirred at the sight of
it ; and it proves also as true a sign of grace, and piece of the wisdom of the
just, as the Baptist calls it, as any other ; yea, and David seems to esteem
it so; for having had this insight and illumination about this sin, as the
issue of those his sins, he took it as a pawn and a good handsel that God would do him good, and vouchsafe all those other mercies, which in the
following verses he pursues after, namely, of God s washing, purging, re
storing him, creating in him a clean heart and a right spirit, &c. ; in that God had begun so good a work in him as this was, that therefore he would
perfect it.
3. It were easy to shew how this wisdom lays the foundation in the soul
for its seeking justification through faith by Christ alone ; and that the soul that is deeply convinced and instructed in this, will never be quiet in any other thing but Christ s righteousness. How also it directs and points the soul unto that which is the true spiritual sanctification, and worshipping of God in spirit and truth, and not to rest in any outward, moral, formal, yea,
* Per sapientiam in occulto intelligit agnitionem vitiositatis naturae, unde nascitur animi demissio corarn Deo. Piscator in locum. Alting also in his preface to his discourse about this sin in his Theologia Elenchtica, loco vii. Psaltes ille Regius, Ps. li. v. 8, praedicat ut rarum ac singulare Dei beneficium quod occultam illam sapientiam ipsi revelare fuisset dignatus. Sapientiam vocat ag nitionem naturse corrupts ejusque vitiositatis, quse inde a primo conceptu atque origine inhseret. Occultam dicit, quia licet per omnes partes diffusa, et variis motibus et actionibus sese prodat, vix tamen, aut ne vix quidem, observetur ac deploretur. Alting, TheoL Elenct. loc. vii.
33G AN UNREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
or imperfect work on the heart ; for such a soul sees by its contrary what truth in the inward parts God requireth. And look how deep the sense of
this is, so high will our aims and desires rise, both after what, and what manner of grace it is wherein true sanctification lieth. The conviction of this
also being grown into a wisdom, perfectly lays the creature at God s feet, as
is David here, and causeth it to justify and clear God and condemn itself;
it cuts off also all opinion of what a man is apt to think he is of himself, and in his own ability, for any good as of himself.
Lastly, It is no wonder that David should thus highly value it ; for, be sides the former consideration, it is also a wisdom rare, especially in the Old Testament ; and perhaps himself had not so intensively and thoroughly considered this sin before now ; few in comparison had arrived at this, or were sensible of it. And as David the father, so Solomon the son expresseth a like value for it, as a singular point of wisdom : Eccles. vii. 29, Lo, this
only have I found, that God hath made man upright ; but they have sought out many inventions. ^
I beseech you therefore carry this home with you, that to see into, and
to be sensible of, and humble one s self deeply for this conception-sin, even
to a Behold, is an eminent point of wisdom. It is not the knowledge of the doctrine about this sin ; you may have that and perish, and not be humbled ; but it is the wisdom of it in the hidden man of the heart, as some understand
it, or in this hidden thing, as others, practically seated in the inward man, so as to be affected and acted accordingly. This is the wisdom I mean, and do exhort unto. I have therefore set this as the title over this discourse, which urgeth and directs unto this : wisdom in the hidden. This for the second head in the exposition.
Obj. It hath been said by some, that David confessed this for himself in
particular ; and what is this to the rest of mankind to argue, that therefore
they all are so conceived in sin? &c. Ans. 1. Because, as the apostle saith of himself and all the Jews, W were by nature children of wrath as well as others; that is, all others of mankind. The argument therefore holds good from David, Paul, and the
Jews, to all others.
2. Because the Holy Ghost, by the same apostle, hath since pronounced the very same of all, in whom all have sinned, Rom. v. 12 ; yea, having
first quoted words out of our psalmist for the universal overspreading of this
corruption over all mankind, not one excepted, Rom. iii., from the 10th
* Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law ; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. And ver. 23, All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God they were created in.
verse to the 18th, he concludes, ver. 19,
3. How otherwise can it be supposed David s case should be a singular case ? Yea, or how should himself come to know that this had been his
peculiar condition at his conception, if he had not measured himself at that common standard and rule of all mankind else, as in the word of God he found the condition of all mankind to be set out in the conviction, of which he
applieth and speaks of it himself ? I may say, as they to our Saviour, though to a different sense, What special sin, before his conception, had he more than
any others committed ; or his parents, in begetting and conceiving him, that he should be born in sin, not others ?
III. The third head I propounded to complete the exposition, and as in
troductory to the two following parts of the discourse, is, that whereas there
are two parts of original sin,
CHAP. II. j IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 337
1. The first act of disobedience imputed to us ; 2. Inherent corruption thence flowing. That truly I could not pass over in silence, what, in searching into David s
meaning in these words, I found in Piscator s Annotations, viz. that David should have had each of these two distinctly in his eye in this his confession,
ver.5, which I read thus, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in siii did my mother conceive me.
That here are two distinct sentences, wherein he makes confession of this
his original sin, and differing in the words of them, that is manifest.
For, 1, there are two words used to express the sin hereof, by |fly and Nftn ; an^ there are likewise two different verbs, vV^IT translated in the
first sentence shapen, and ^JlQn translated conceived.
2. In the first sentence, the verb ^n doth signify, and is by divers* rendered brought forth or born, which word sometimes denoteth simply the
first bringing forth of any creature into being or existence ; for it is used of God s forming the earth in the beginning, Ps. xc. 2, and also to express the
* Wast thou made before the hills ? And again, sometimes the bringing forth by the dam with pains, as Job xxix.
beginning of a man s being
: Job xv. 7,
2-4, Ps. xxix. 9, and of a child by its mother, Isa. xlv. 10. And being thus understood in this comprehensive meaning, it imports both (1.) That David, from the very beginning of his being, or having been
brought forth into being, even the first moment wherein he existed a man or son of man, that it was together with iniquity or in sin. (2.) That from
the birth, or when I was brought forth with pain by my mother, it was with the guilt of iniquity together with it. Now Piscator, f though indeed he
* I was born or brought forth in iniquity, to be especially intended of (the first part of original sin) the guilt of Adam s fact, Quam admisi in lumbis ejus. And then the second sentence, I was conceived in sin, he takes to intend in herent corruption ; and if so, then in the first saying David doth confess, that as soon as he was made a man, or son of Adam, by union of soul and
takes the latter sensejof that word, yet understands this first sentence,
body together, that he was also made a sinner ; as Rom. v. 19, speaking of Adam s fact in that chapter, the apostle doth in terminis affirm of all men. And that then further, David should likewise point to the time of his birth
into the world, when he was visibly brought forth a man, and owned to be a man, from which time, therefore, all men do generally date their being men. And thus accordingly David enters his name into the canon -register of mankind, as if he had said, born into this world David a sinner, when his mother brought him forth with pain, which was a manifest token of her bringing forth a sinner,
* born to sorrow, as the sons of fire that fly upward ; those sor rows also having been laid as a curse on her for her share in tempting Adam, the first man, unto that first act of iniquity, which brought sin and misery upon all her and his posterity. This as to the first part of original sin, out of the interpretation of the first clause or sentence, ver 5.
Then that second sentence which follows, And in sin did my mother con ceive me, or
* warm me, may and doth as fitly, and in as special a manner, refer unto that inherent corruption or vitiosity of nature, which the apostle terms the sin that dwells in us, Rom vii. 17, contracted from our guilt of that
first act of sinning, which seizing on us at the beginning of being man (as was
said) defiles our nature, as the guilt of that act did Adam s ; J and so that
word, my mother warmed me, expresseth both (1.) his mother s first con- * See Hildersham on the words. J See Piscator, ibidem. t See Piscator s Scholia on Ps. li. 6. VOL. X. Y
AN UNREGENEKATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
ception of him, by which he was made a son of Adam ; and also (2.) her
nourishing him all that while in the womb, in which signification the word
is used, Gen. xxx. 38, 39, 41 ; and thus taken, it doth most properly and more especially respect that part of original sin, corruption of nature in herent (as that which was the sin he was conceived in, and thus warmed), which word imports not only how, at the first moment of conception, that small tare or seed, that had the reasonable soul shot then into it, became the seat of corruption from that instant ; but, as Calvin *
indigitates it, was nourished and fostered whilst we lay in the womb ; that is, that corruption was still extended, and did go on to leaven and ferment that mass or bulk
still as the child did grow bigger and bigger in the womb. And look as the soul diffuseth itself more and more, as the bulk of the members do increase, so withal original corruption. And this interpretation brings forth this notion with it, that look as the body and soul, by conception united together, grow more ripe and mature, and the members, organs, and faculties of the soul more fitted to bring forth actual sin, so together with that growth (though the growth itself is natural) this inherent corruption was, whilst in the womb, diffused and enlarged, and grew up with it towards a ripeness and ability for actual sin, against the time of the buddings and springings forth thereof. And the words being understood in this latitude of sense, do comprehend the whole that may be spoken of this original sin ; as,
1st, The parts of it :
(1.) Guilt of Adam s fact ; and,
(2.) Inbred corruption.
2dly, For the time when he was made, or else declared guilty of these :
1. When he was made a man, or brought forth into being, or beiDg man ; which,
2. Was at his first conception, that then he became guilty of both these :
yea, and,
3. Continued guilty of the act, and the inherent corruption did withal
grow greater all along the time he was warmed in the womb ; and then,
4. When at birth with pains he was openly and visibly to men found to be a man, and owned as such ; and thus the whole of time, and the progress of it from first to last, is intended and involved.
And this for the third head of exposition. So, then, from the words thus fully opened and interpreted, do arise two main assertions to be prosecuted, the last whereof is the main I aim at.
The first merely doctrinal, viz. that there are two parts of original sin :
1. A guilt of the act in Adam and Eve s loins ; 2. The inherent corruption thence contracted and growing up to a vigour, as the body and soul do increase, &c.
The second is wholly practical, or the use of the doctrine of these two,
viz. that a penitent soul, in humbling itself for sins and confessing of them, should take in his sinfulness of original sin in both these parts, as matter of
humiliation to him ; for David, we see, with a Behold, &c., hath an eye to each
of these in his confession here, according to interpretation given.
For the first of these assertions, my scope is not to prosecute it largely, it
being merely matter of doctrine ; nor yet should I have founded the two
following parts of this treatise, viz. for a distinct humbling ourselves for each
of these apart, merely and alone upon this text, or the latter head of expo sition now given (although I think it most genuine), did not other scriptures in the New Testament more expressly and clearly set forth both these as
* Mihi videtur propheta significare velle foveri nos et calefieri in peccato quamdiu in visceribus matrum latemus. Calvin on Ps. li. 5, upon that word.
CHAP. II. J IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 339
distinct parts of that our sinfulness ; and that being so clearly in a doctrinal
way done, I have proposed this interpretation comprehending both (being not
alone in it), and this text as a ground for these two parts of our humiliation, the first for the guilt of the one, the second for the existency of the other in
us, after David s example here, the interpretation being suitable to the ana
logy of faith, and our common doctrine about original sin. And yet it will be necessary for me briefly to add some further evidence of these two out of
those other scriptures.
1. We all have the guilt of the act of Adam from him : Rom v. 12, In whom all have sinned, or, In that all have sinned, for in whom should
they have sinned but in him, that one man specified in the forepart of the
verse ? Infants and all, who in themselves he denies to have sinned, ver.
14, after the similitude of Adam s transgression ; that is, by actual sin,
yet had sinned in him. And in what act of his, but that one offence of his, which ver. 15, 17, 18 indigitate, TO Kagairrupa, that total ruin of his in that
fall, or sin in eating the forbidden fruit : from which one offence, when it was consummated or finished, both sin and guilt, or judgment, as ver. 12,
16, entered and came upon all the world of mankind unto condemnation, and thereby they were made or constituted sinners, ver. 19. Nor speaks he
these things in that place of inherent corruption derived, but of our being made sinners, whence condemnation and judgment came upon us, as justifi cation doth from Christ s obedience, as the parallel is, ver. 16, 18. And look
as he treats of our sanctification by Christ in the sixth chapter, apart from
this of justification by Christ s obedience, which he doth in this fifth chap ter apart ; so in the like method he speaks of the inherent corruption, or
sin that dwelleth in us, that follows upon the guilt of this disobedience, apart likewise in chap. vii. 17, and so on. And the word he useth to express our
being made sinners by that one offence, ver. 19, as also made righteous by Christ s obedience, is not a word serving any way to express the impressing any qualification inward, whether of corruption or sanctification, but to con
stitute (as the word used there) which notes out the act of an external power or authority whereby a man is made such or such, and so comports with a
forensical constituting us sinners or being justified, or pronouncing us guilty, and this alone ; so as the derivation of the guilt of that act is the sole scope of what the apostle speaks of there, and of this of David also in the first sentence here, Ps. li. 5.
2. But there is a second thing from Adam also conveyed with, and by reason of the guilt of his fact imputed to us, and that is his sinful image, or mass of corruption inbred and sticking in our nature, which is styled Adam s
image, Gen. v. 3, in perfect opposition unto that image of God consisting in holiness (as Eph. iv. 24), which God created man in, as in Gen. i. 26, 27. And bring unto all these places that speak of both, Col. iii. 9, 10, and the
apostle s own interpretation gives light to all ; whereby we may easily see that what in Gen. v. Moses termeth Adam his image, that the apostle in
Col. iii. styleth the old man, as being derived from the old man Adam, though to an infant but new born. And, on the contrary, God s image he created man in, which Moses speaks of, Gen. i., the apostle terms the new man, in these words, After the image of him that created him, namely, at
first, in Gen. i. 27. Which places thus together compared, evidence not
only an inherent corruption (called therefore the man) overspreading our whole man, called therefore the man, to be in us, but also that we have it from Adam, called therefore the old man, as that which is that his image, Gen. v., which he begat in us, contrary to God s image he was created in. And in these places he speaks not of the act of Adam s sin, as in Rom. v. he
8J.O AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
does, and not of this corruption there at all ; and so these are the two dis
tinct parts of our original sin.
As in the last head of the foregone exposition we found two distinct parts of original sin confessed by David, ver. 5, which we have briefly confirmed from other scriptures, so answerably thereunto I shall divide this practical discourse about this sin into two parts.
First, The first discussing what humiliation or repentance is due from us
for our guiltiness of the act of Adam s sin imputed.
Secondly, The second, what humiliation or acts of repentance we are ob
liged unto for that inbred sinful corruption which is derived therefrom to us, and dwelleth in us.