Chapter IV
What are the acts of repentance which we are to exercise concerning our guilt
of Adam s first sin. We are to judge ourselves guilty, and to condemn
ourselves for it. We should also bewail the misery of that condition into which it hath brought us. And we must also acknowledge our own share in
the guilt of it, with the greatest sorrow and grief.
These things having been premised as introductory ; and we now taking
it for supposed, that a soul is convicted thereof by the operation of the Holy Ghost ; I proceed on to set forth those penitential acts which do and are
to follow upon this conviction.
And hereunto I must yet go farther, and premise this short aviso also in the general, that I take and understand repentance, not in the vulgar accepta tion that heathens and commonly mankind take it only in, which we know
is properly of what a man s conscience hath an inward remorse for, as having been perpetrated by a man s self; but we are to inquire into such acts of
repentance as, according to the Scripture s acceptation of repentance, we find
set forth to us therein, that may be applicable to the thing before us, or which the soul may and ought to put forth upon the conviction of this sin ; and thus even Bellarmine * himself acknowledgeth, that repentance (in this
argument) is to be understood by us.
Repentance in the Scripture sense hath two principal parts. 1. Looking backward to an act of guilt as gone and past :
2. Looking forward to time to come, in turning unto God for the future, upon the consideration of such a guilt that is past.
Let us now inquire what acts of repentance of either sort, which are truly
penitential, are applicable to our guilt of Adam s fact that is past.
* Non tarn sequenda est etymologia in nomine pcenitentice, quod usus ScripturaB in vera significatione verborum assequenda. Bellarmine de Pcenitentid, lib. ii. cap. vii.
341 AN UNREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
A soul convicted of this guilt as its own sin, though not of its own com
mitting, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, may and ought,
First, To judge itself for this sin, or pronounce a sentence of condemna
tion upon itself for it ; and we find repentance is expressed in Scripture to
us, to be an act of judging ourselves, that we be not judged with the world :
1 Cor. xi. 81, 32, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world ; as also 1 Peter iv. 6. And the reason why we
are thus to judge ourselves for this act is, what God judgeth us for, we are
to judge ourselves for also before him, for in so doing we do but take part with God, and conform our minds unto his judgment and will, and thereby also prevent God s judging of us, as in the place last cited. And that God
judgeth us for this sin, there is this express scripture, Rom. v. 16, The
* As by the offence
judgment is by one unto condemnation ; and ver. 18,
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the right eousness of one [the gift of righteousness*] came upon all men unto justifica tion of life. Where (1) by One came judgment, ver. 16, he means, that one first offence of Adam, ver. 14, whom he calls him that sinned, as in
the words afore : for that One is opposed unto Many offences that are
pardoned, in the following words of that verse. (2) By those words, judg ment came upon all men to condemnation, he manifestly means, that upon Adam s so sinning, there issued forth from God, the judge of all the world, a judgment, pronouncing all men criminally guilty of sin, which ended and determined in a sentence of condemnation unto death, as the demerit of
that guilt in them.f And that this judgment unto condemnation (xefpa rig
xardxgij&a) is to be understood, appears ; for,
1st, Judgment is mentioned as the cause, and condemnation as the effect, even as one s being judged guilty or criminal first, is the only cause of a
sentence of condemnation unto death ; and it is guilt of a sin that only is
the cause of condemnation.
2dly, By its opposite, these are paralleled in the words following, ver. 18.
Wherein, 1, the righteousness of one, namely, Christ s righteousness acted
in and by himself, is opposed unto that one offence of Adam that personally sinned. 2. Judgment, or xgl/j,a, on us by that one sin is opposed to justifica
tion, or God s accounting us righteous, and so imports God pronouncing us
guilty or sinners by that one offence. 3. Condemnation, or xardx.%ifj,a, is
opposed unto justification of life, and so a condemnation unto death is there
by intended, and that death such as is opposite unto that life, which follows
upon justification, and therefore eternal death, as the other is eternal life. Now what guilt God as a judge pronounceth on us, in and by virtue of that one offence, and sentenceth death thereupon, that we as poor guilty creatures
ought to take upon ourselves, and judge of ourselves (as in ourselves) there
by. And,
Secondly, We are to judge ourselves so far, as that an act of fear and
trembling before our holy God should arise in our souls that profess to fear
this God (one of whose characters it is, to tremble at God s word, Isa.
Ixvi. 2), for it, as for any other sin, especially in souls in their first conver-
* Compare for this insertion ver. 16. t Et non inquit sicut per unum hominem peccantem, ita est et donum. Nam judicium quidem ex uno in condemnationem, gratia autem ex multis delictis in justificationem. Ex uno ergo quid, nisi delicto ? Quia sequitur gratia, smtem ex multis
delictis. Dicant isti quomodo ex uno delicto in condemnationem, nisi quia sufficit ad condemnationem etiam unum originale peccatum, quod in omnes homines pertransiit.
Augustine ad Valerium, lib. ii. c. xxvii. page 184; torn. vii.
-, Op. Ed. Par. 1571 ; and epistle Ixxxix. page 83. torn. ii. Oper.
CHAP. IV.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 5315
sions. So far as the hammer of the law may break the heart with threaten-
ings for any other sin, so far for this also, at least so far as Christ gave command : Mat. x. 28, I say to you, my friends, fear him that can
destroy body and soul in hell. For the Scripture hath not said in vain, Eph. ii. 3, that we are children of wrath by nature, that is, by reason of the guilt of this birth-sin, God is not in jest but in earnest with us whilst he speaks it. And as it is said of the magistrate, Rom. xiii. 3,
* Be afraid
(for having done evil), for he bears not the sword in vain, so God is not wrathful for this sin in vain. For whatever sin we are obnoxious to wrath
for, we are to fear before God in that respect, as having deserved it at his
hands; and therefore we are to humble ourselves before that God, and humbly to seek pardon for the averting or turning away of that wrath for this
sin as well as for any other sin. Yea, and the conscience of the best is capable of chastisements of wrath, or withdrawings by God for this sin, though but
imputed. For if Christ having our sins made his, but by his voluntary assumption and God s imputation, yet was made to cry out, Mat. xxvii. 46,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? surely for the guilt of
this act so justly imputed, we might fear that God might deservedly separate us from himself for ever.
Thirdly, We may lament and bewail ourselves for it, and the woful con
dition that ourselves and all men are under by reason of it, and for the
consequents thereof that come upon us and them. It is eminently observable
that there was a solemn bewailment hereof, as in a common concernment to
mankind, traduced and delivered down to the very heathens that were of
Japhet s posterity, for three thousand years after and upwards. Thus the Grecians in Oryiis Bacchi, bruising serpents, and carrying them on their
heads, used to cry, EVA ! EVA ! which pointed clearly at that mischief the serpent and Eve did us, in his first tempting to, and her eating the for bidden fruit ; the serpent beguiled her, and his head was to be bruised. And
for the proof of this old heathen custom, we have several testimonies, as of
Demosthenes, Virgil,* Propertius, and Catullus. And besides, Clemens
Alexandrinus,t that lived in heathenish times a while, gives this account of it : They set out, being crowned with serpents, and howling out the name of Evah ; and adds this interpretation of it, that Eve, by whom sin or error, and all kinds of evils flowing thence, have followed in the world, is hereby lamented by them. And so Plutarch J in the life of Alexander the Great,
* .... Evantes orgia circum Ducebat Phrygias. Virgil, jEneid, lib. vi. v. 517. And so Propertius
Egit ut evantes Dux Ariadna choros.
Lib. xi. page 172, Ed. Jos Sea tig. Par. 1577. And Catullus, page 50
Evoe bacchantes Evoc capita inflectentes. And a little after-
Pars sese tortis serpentibus incingebant.
y ^towo-ov f&xivoXtiv o^yiiH^ouffi BKX%OI, u^o^ctyice. rnv itj>eftaviotv eiyovrt;, xai rs>.iffxavfi rxf
xoitavnft iaf ruv tfiovuv a.vtffrtp.[jt.lvoi rat; oQtfftv tvoXoXv^ovrts Eutxv, Evav Ixiivyv, Si /) v <rXavt
rajJwx.oXoueqfft, xai ff^ftt7ov opytuv Hax%ix.uv b fiis iff} nrtXto f/.svo;. Avrtxx yovv
xa<ra. ryv
uxgifiri ruv Efit>aiuv $uvrt v TO ova/tot, rou Evia. ^affvvbfJLtvov i^unvtutrxi o ifn; ft 6rl Xua,. Clemens Alcxandrimis Admonit. ad Gentes, page 9, ed. Paris, 1629.
I Plutarch in Vita Alexandri, page 1221, Ed. H. S. And in the same manner the ceremony is described by Nonnus; Dionys. lib. ix. page 256. Ed. Lubini ; Hanov.
^vrttvra. xa.ro, %too; tj-^iv lfjt.tt.vra. tiXixoti: it d^dxuv -rioi o/irXtt,xa fjt,ir^r,i.
346 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
reports how Olympias, Alexander s mother, performing these Bacchanalian
rites, o<pe/s psyaXovg ^i^dstg spsiXxero ro?g ^iaffoig, that is, she did wind great tamed serpents about the Thiasi or mystical fans of Bacchus. And these
things though they did blindly, the first impress of the true intent of it being worn out, yet in that the practice was thus continued in these so ancient
mysteries of worship, argues, that in times nearer the fall (as in Japhet s
time, the father of these, when the memory of this was fresher), it was in tended for a bewailing that first sin and fall, and the miseries and evils which the sin of Eve by the serpent s malice brought on all mankind. Yea, and further, the Right Reverend Archbishop of Armagh is bold to cast in this
conjecture, as touching that great fast of the Jews, so called by way of
eminency, celebrated among them but once a year, which was the day wherein the high priest (the type of Christ, our second Adam, his entering into heaven for us) went into the holy of holies with the propitiatory blood and incense ; which day he conjectures to be the very day anniversarily that the first Adam fell and sinned in, and whereon he was driven out of
paradise. His words in the second page of his Chronology I shall give you
* It is very probable that Adam was turned out of paradise upon the 10th day of the world, answering to our first of November (according to the
supposition of the Julian period), upon which day also, in remembrance of so remarkable a thing (as in all reason, says he, it should seem), was
appointed the solemnity of expiation or atonement, and the yearly fast
spoken of, Acts xxvii. 9, termed more especially by the name, the fast ; wherein as well strangers as home-born people were commanded to afflict their souls with a most severe intermination (or threatening) that every soul which should not afflict itself, should be destroyed from amongst his
people, Lev. xvi. 29, and xxiii. 29. * Thus he carries it, that that fast had a special and eminent aim, reflection, and eye at Adam s first sin, and his be
ing turned out of paradise ; when this sin was expiated by Christ s blood, and the other Adam s fall repaired and made up by our high priest s entering into
paradise, heaven itself (which illustrates the parallel of the two Adams). And so, according to his notion, the duty of that day took into it, not the
sins of all the year past only (as Heb. x.), but this great sin especially, as the
flood-gate that first let in all other sins ; and therefore their souls were to be humbled for it, as well as any other sins whatsoever. And these notions and interpretations about the practices both of Jew and Gentiles in their sacred mysteries, do serve to that which is my proposal, that as a bewailment of this sin and fact was held up thereby both among Jews and Gen
tiles (and both laid together, do somewhat conduce to confirm this conjec ture about either) ; and even in that very Levitical law, all strangers were commanded to afflict their souls, as well as they of their own country, as the word is, Levit. xvi. 29, as both therein concerned ; that, therefore, it is our
duty to lament it, and to be humbled for it.
Fourthly, The fourth act is, to make a confession of our guilt in this sin, and to humble ourselves with spiritual mourning, and godly sorrow for our share in it, which is yet a farther thing than to bewail ourselves for the
* For the foundation of his conjecture, why the first day of the creation began October 23, and so that this fast being appointed the 10th day after, and so on the 4th day anniversary after man s own creation ; for this I refer the reader unto his
Chronology, the first two pages of it, and his epistle prefixed to the Chronology. But then the Sabbath (upon which day that both men and angels stood, the argument is
strong from Exod. xxxi. 17), and if so, there were but two days more between that and the fall, supposing it on Nov. 1. These falling so near together, and all things so
suiting in the three, makes it very probable that day to have been the day of man s
fall, and of the Jewish fast.
CHAP. IV.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 347
miseries it hath brought upon us. The heathens did bewail the miseries
that flowed from it, but they knew not the cause, nor the imputation of the
guilt thereof; but we that are enlightened by the word, and convicted hereof
by the Spirit, are in this manner to mourn for it, as well as any sins of our own. Let Suarez and other papists excuse themselves by a speculative affec
tion expressed to God, or grieving that mankind offended God in their first
parent (as in the preface I cited him), that is, in the general condole one an other for it, as we say, as a common condition ; and yet he speaks that but with a possiunus dolere, we may thus grieve, that is, if we list, or have a mind to it, as if it were a matter but left at our liberty, which we also may let alone.* But we have not learned old Adam thus. I say, practically we
ought to do it, and with application to ourselves in particular, as if no other
in the world were guilty of it but ourselves ; for this maxim doth and will
follow us throughout all these acts to be exercised, that it \sproprium peccatum, our own sin, though not proprue opemtionis, of our own proper committing ;
yea, this is also our first sin. And it will everlastingly follow from thence, that then we are to lay it to heart in particular as our own, and to mourn prac
tically, particularly, and truly, and properly, for our guilt of it. David, we
see, when he was in his month (as I may with the prophet so speak, of the juncture of time wherein he penned that 51st Psalm), puts his mouth in the dust before God : Behold, I was brought forth in this sin, and I was con
ceived. He mentions not all mankind ; he loads himself with it, land Z, and
puts the confession of it among the rest of his own actual sins, and seeks a per sonal pardon for it afresh together with the rest ; yea, and the load thereof,
together with the rest of his own actual sins, did contribute to work that brokenness of heart in him, which, as a sacrifice, he presents unto God, ver. 17, for all the sins he had before confessed, one as well as another (of which more specially afterwards). And certainly if the Jews were to afflict
their souls on that their fast-day for their sins, and that that day was chosen
by God for it, the day whereon Adam committed this sin, the significancy of it
was, that they should afflict their souls for this sin, in relation to the com mission whereof that day was singled out. And the condition requisite in
that fast was, that every man should afflict his own soul in particular for his own sins, and therefore for this sin, as well as any other sins of his in parti
cular, yea, for this specially as the foundation-sin of all the rest, which the
intent of the day minded them of. However, to be sure this afflicting their
souls was to be done for all the sins which Christ (who was typified out by the high priest) should procure the pardon of by his sacrifice and interces
sion in heaven ; both which acts of high-priesthood were performed by the the high priest, as in a shadow of Christ, whilst the people without were
afflicting their souls for all or any of those sins, which by that sacrifice were
expiated or interceded for that day. And if the common Jew, out of igno rance, omitted to do it for this sin, yet, however, it teacheth us (of whom, in
their worship and significances hereof, they and these were types, and upon whom the ends of the world are come), it teacheth, I say, us, that know and are enlightened, to take upon us the guilt of this foundationsin, and which we expect to be, and to have been expiated and forgiven by the blood
of Jesus, carried into the holy of holies by him, and his there interceding for us. It becomes us, I say, and it is our duty (whilst we stand on earth
without) to afflict ourselves for this sin, if we look for pardon for it, as of
any other.
* Speculative consideranclo et possumus dolere, quod humanum genus in primo parente Deum offenderit. Suarez in loco supra citato.
348 AN UNREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
Now what was it, or is it, to afflict our souls for any sin, but a particular
laying it to heart, as being our own, to mourn and to be in bitterness for it?
* Be afflicted, mourn, and weep, are there joined to
Thus, James iv. 9,
gether. And this is not to be done by us only before God, but with sorrow
according to God : as in 2 Cor. vii. 9, Now L rejoice, not that ye were made sorrow, but that ye sorrowed to repentance : for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. He
speaks of what kind of mourning is to be for all sin, according to God (so in
the original) ; that is, according to God s concernments that are found to be
in a sin, and reflections upon him in that sin, which have cast dishonour and
a shadow upon the glory and honour of God any way. And upon search we may find many high and great ones of such reflections upon God to have been in the substance of that first act of Adam s sinning, that did touch
nighly upon God (whereof I have summed many before*), as that it was a de
posing God, a jealousy that God envied and kept them from happiness in for
bidding that fruit, &c. There are infinite many of such in that first sin that had
a malign aspect unto God ; and for these we ought to mourn, if we will mourn
at all. And truly, if we consider how in this place to the Corinthians (ere we go off from it) that it was but the sin of one man among them, and so
originally (as I may so speak) but another s sin, which yet had occasioned and broached that godly sorrow in them, upon the apostle s having reproved them for, not having done it, 1 Cor. v. This sin, though the sin of another, committed by one of their society, yet they, as being one body together with
him, ought to have laid it to heart, and to have mourned for it as committed
amongst them ; yea, and that they should have done also, under the con
sideration of God s concernment therein, according to God, which respect had unto that man s sin as their own, that passage in ver. 10 doth clearly
* clear in
point at, you have approved yourselves (by that their mourning)
this matter, viz., about that man s sin committed amongst you ; although also this his sin had likewise become their own sin by their having omitted
to mourn for it, as their duty was to have done, as in the former epistle he had told them: 1 Cor. v. 2, Ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, &c : by defect of which they had involved themselves in the guilt of that man s sin, which otherwise had singly remained his own, though now in that
7th chapter of the second epistle they had, by a godly sorrow for it, approved themselves clear and sincere in that matter.
Now, to bring this somewhat farther home to the point in hand, I urge it
thus :
If the sin of one man, committed in a body and society of men in church
relation, was to be the object of confessing it, and mourning by the whole of
that body, and each person of it, both publicly and privately, which if they had not omitted to have done had not become their sin (the like in many cases holds about the sins of a nation), then much more this first sin ought to be the object of our mourning, this first sin committed by our first father and head of mankind, to which we all had that near relation (which our
divines out of the Scriptures use to urge), and which sin becomes ours, not
by a mere omission of mourning for it as having been the sin of an ordinary
parent, but even by our being involved in the very acting and perpetration of it by our first father, and so as the fact itself becomes our own sin. This was not the Corinthians case ; the Corinthians did not sin in the incestuous
person s sinning, as we all are said to have done in that one man Adam.t If,
therefore, these Corinthians found that relation of theirs in that fact, and
that concernment of God s dishonour in it, and his interest, such as they * Book I. chap. iv. t Rm. V. 12.
CHAP. 1Y. IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 319
mourned according to God for it, and ought so to have done, then certainly thou being convinced that this act of Adam s is thy sin (on the account fore-
specified), and then coming before God to afflict thy soul for other sins of
thine ; and being to deal with God about sin, and all sin, and this being thy
sin, which thou art sensible that (as in thyself) thou standest guilty before
this holy God for, then surely thou art to mourn for it. For how are we to
deal with God about any sin which occurs to our thoughts, and which we
are found guilty of before him ? Or how to manage ourselves in his pre sence under the apprehension of our guiltiness thereof, but by falling down
before him, and to put our mouths in the dust, with a true and bitter humi
liation for it ? And therein (if it be our sin) to search out the aggravations of it, and what the concernments of God are in it (and in this sin we may find many), as matter of this humbling, and to move us to mourn according to God, and all this to the end to return an honour to God by our debase ment of ourselves, and in confessing the aggravation of it, deeply breaking our hearts, and causing them to mourn. And in this case, it is not only as the mourning of a traitor s son for his father s having committed such or so
high a treason against his prince and country, as hath brought ruin upon both, but as of one who is enwrapped in the very act of his father. Thus here it is reckoned thy treason as well as thy father s, by thy being in Adam s
loins, as the first father and head of mankind. The like reason whereto holds not of any other father and child, as not of any national or church-
relation since.
I add this further, to set this duty home upon our hearts, of mourning for
this sin, drawn from the Corinthians instance ; that it being our own sin
already, whether we mourn for it or not, by our neglecting to mourn for it when we ought, we incur the guilt of it anew, and so draw a double guilt thereof upon ourselves, as the Corinthians also did. And I can conclude with this, that as we are and do receive Christ s righteousness, when im
puted through faith, with joy, Rom. v. 1, 2 and Rom xv. 13, and are filled with joy and peace upon our reception and laying hold of that his right eousness as ours ; so surely may we by conviction apprehend ourselves
guilty of this sin imputed, entertain the apprehension of it with like godly sorrow.
Fifthly, A fifth act is contrition or brokenness of heart, which is indeed the top and highest disposition and act in repentance ; and therefore David, of all other, specifies and presents that to God, A broken and a contrite
heart, God, thou wilt not despise, in this 51st Psalm, ver. 17, and he
speaks it at, yea, and as the very close and winding up of all his confessions and mournings (for the rest of the psalm is a prayer for the church) ; and
certainly coming in thus, as that which he breathed forth as his last sigh, ultimus singultus, and as a deposition left with God at his farewell, and his
breaking off all his confessions (unto which brokenness of heart hath an immediate relation), it must needs include all and every of those sins he had been confessing afore in the psalm, as those for which and at the men
tion of every of which his heart had been a-breaking and a-melting all along; and having now his full load, his heart so broken as he could go no farther on in that strain, he therefore makes a stop there, and diverts to another
key. And what then, shall we leave out of the comprehension of this his
* I was brought forth
brokenness, that sin which he had confessed, ver. 5,
in iniquity ? &c. Certainly no ; nay, his heart breaks to an Elah, to a Behold in that, to a jSo^g/a, a crying out (as Heb. iv. 16 the word is) when he came to that sin ; and if any would go about to exclude and except this
as having no part or share in breaking his heart, he must give a reason of
350 AN UNEEGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
difference (and it had need be a great one) why, he having confessed this among those other sins, it yet must be understood that his broken heart
only was for and had an eye to those other sins, not this. David s heart (I
believe) felt not nor found any such distinction. I pray, therefore, take this
in with the rest, both this of his birthsin,"as those of his own committing, for he had equally confessed both, yea, that original sin with a Behold above the rest ; take it, I say, into your thoughts, and be convinced that the
guilt of the act of Adam s sin is as just and full a ground and matter of true brokenness of heart, truly and rightly understood, and according to the
Scripture notion, as any other guilt.
True contrition and brokenness brings the creature unto nothing in itself, in its own humblings of itself, it causeth it to descend, as to the dust of death and hell, so even to nothing. In Isaiah, chaps. Ivii. and Ixvi., a broken and
a contrite heart is set in full aspect to the infinite highness, sovereignty and
greatness of God. So chap. Ivii. 15, Thus saith the high and lofty One
that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy
place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, &c. And the humble and contrite heart there, imports an heart made in the deepest manner apprehensive and sensible of its infinite distance from God as God, and of its own being emptiness and nothing, both as a creature at its best, and as a sinner at its worst. This heart (in Isaiah) is made low and humble in both respects, as well before God as the high and lofty one, as
before God as the holy one ; and a soul when brought low in both these
respects is the fittest match or companion to choose for God to fill and dwell
in ; and both these (besides whatever else) doth that poverty of spirit cause which Christ made the first promise of blessedness unto, Mat. v. 3. For what is that poverty, but a mere and perfect emptiness in a man s own view, and depression of spirit ?
Now, the conviction and sense of a man s being guilty of this first sin,
brings a man s soul to this nothingness in some respects more than any other, sin in regard of both these.
1. That it doth this in respect of his being made a sinner by it, the heinous-
ness of this sin (set forth by many enhancing circumstances) above any other
will shew ; which I here insist not on.
2. That the recognition hereof should humble and bring the soul to a
nothingness, as we are creatures, before this high and lofty one, is manifest
upon such considerations as are more proper to the guilt of this sin than to
any other sins of our own committing, since we have been first made sinners
by this first sin. For he that will to the full humble himself for this sin, must first put himself, in his faith and the supposition of his mind, into a
state of perfect holiness and righteousness, by considering himself to have been such once in Adam. He must first understand himself to have been
exactly and completely holy and righteous, and also to have stood and con
tinued such, as Adam was, and did unto the very moment of his sinning ; and then may the soul say, Oh, but yet I fell and sinned in him. Look as when we come to be justified by God, we are to look upon ourselves as un
godly persons, as, the apostle says, our father Abraham did long after his
conversion, Rom. iv. 5, even after his having been made godly thereby ; which tendeth to the deepest emptiness of ourselves, that God should for
ever justify [us] as such, that is, as ungodly ; and this we are to do, because of
ourselves we are such, having been such once, though now we are and have been upon a new grace truly sanctified. Just thus when thou comest to humble thyself for this sin (that thou mayest thoroughly do it, and to the
bottom) look (on the contrary) first upon thyself, as once to have been so
CHAP. V.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 351
and so perfectly upright and holy, by and from thy creation. And then
thereupon thy considering how thou didst fall from that condition, will more
effectually read to thy soul those humbling lectures and admonitions, to
annihilate thee, or bring thee to nothing as a creature, than any other of thy sins since.
1st, It will humble thee not only for the sinfulness of that act, but also
for the mutability, vanity, fickleness, and unstability of thee in falling from such a perfect state, the most perfect that man by creation was any way capable of.
2dly, It will instruct thee, that if thou thyself had been in Adam s stead when he was thus in perfect holiness (as he was in thine and all the world s
stead), that thou wouldst have served him and us all so, even as he served us (or rather God), and have fallen as foully and as ruinously as he did. Thou wilt easily therefrom conclude it with thyself, by taking the measure from that standard, that if the holiest man that ever was (but the second man
Christ, personally united to the Son of God), chosen out by God on purpose as the perfection of his creation, eldest born of the sons of men for strength and ability to stand, betrusted with his own and all mankind s interests and
future happiness, &c., if he thus failed, that even so should I have done, wilt thou think. God, I see, might truly say, as in Job, I can put no trust in any of my creatures standing on their bottom. Nor could I (mayest thou say) have any confidence in myself by which to have undertaken to stand, if I had been set down in Adam s circumstances, and with his apprehensions about me, more than he did. And this will instruct a man wholly to give up his creature estate to Go.d. And this is a great lesson ; yea,
3dly, The consideration of this will teach and instruct thee, as never to
put confidence in any free-will grace, that is, grace committed to the conduct and menage of man s free will ; so nor in renewed grace, that is, if God should now set us up again upon a new stock, make us as holy as we were at first, and then leave us to a creature-like management of ourselves (such as at first we had), we should fall with all that our new repair and stock of holiness, it would not keep us a moment ; and in this emptiness and nothingness of our
selves, the guilt of the first act of sin perpetrated by a pure creature (as Adam
was) instructs us in such a manner as no other sin of our own, now when we are corrupted, would or could have taught us ; for that was acted out of
pure freedom, or rather arbitrariness of man s will, as not then biassed or inclined unto evil, but furnished with the contrary ; whereas now our wills are spoiled and corrupted by that sin, and have a weight depressing them, and a bribe in their right hand ; so that we now sin, tempted by our own
lust (as the apostle says, James i. 14), as well as out of a freedom of will.