Chapter X
We are to be humbled for this sin, as the original of all our sins, as that which
tempts us and draws us to sin, more than the devil doth. It produceth such
sins in us, unto which the enticements of sense and Satan s temptations could
not extend any influence. This sin of our nature is always fruitful, to bring
forth evil incessantly. To humble ourselves for it, we are to consider that our
evil nature might have produced more evil than it hath done, and that it hath
that sinfulness in it, which will be productive of all our sins to come.
Let us now improve the consideration hereof, to humble ourselves as to
this sin. If but one lust, or but one branch of original corruption, when it becomes a root of evil, is so cried out upon by the apostle,- 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10, The love of money is the root of all evil ; which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows ; if he brands one lust with this, as the height of its aggravation, that
it is the root of all evil ; as the apostle James in like manner doth strife and
contention, Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil
work, then have you not cause to be humbled for that root, which is an
universal root of all sins whatsoever, of any kind thou didst ever commit ?
It may be said of this universal corruption, as to all other sins whatsoever, that they bear not the root, but the root them, Rom. xi. 18.
Secondly, It is compared to a womb, and mother of all (and we shall see how that may be improved to our humiliation also). The place is James
* Every man is tempted, says he, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth
i. 14, 15:
sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. To open this now,
is my purpose in hand.
1. By lust here, that conceiveth and bringeth forth, inherent corruption and original sin is meant, because it is that which is the conceiver. Con
ception, you know, is the first production of a living creature into being. Now the very first conceptions of sin, that are productive of outward acts, are attributed to this sin of lust ; and the first drawings on, or enticing motions and suggestions (which are the first acts of our actual sin), are all
attributed to this lust, so as that which is the conceiver is not actual sin, but inherent sin, that sin in the womb, whereof all other sins are conceived. And that it is compared to a mother, that is clear ; for he speaks both of con
ception, and of bringing forth. Temptation, and occasion, and the devil, and wicked companions, may be as the midwife to help to bring forth, but this
is the mother.
Then again, in the second place, it is the immediate mother of every such
sin ; neither is it the mother only by descent, as in a succession afar off, as Eve is the mother of all living, as great great grandmothers are of children that never lay in their own wombs, only they beget these that bring forth others ; but this is the immediate womb itself in which all lay. Stapleton VOL. x. A a
370 AN UNREGENEEATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
objects, that it is not the cause of all sin, because one sin is punished with another ; yet so as still this is the immediate cause of both, the sin by which and for which we are so punished ; and this is that which inclines us as well to the sin the punishment, as it did unto the sin which is the meri torious cause of that punishment ; only God is pleased to give up or let forth that inherent inclination, actually to bring forth that whereby another sin is
punished in way of a curse, and which else he would not have given the heart unto. Only in letting out corrupt nature, God observeth a method, and lets out one lust after another, as the curse of a former, yet so as inherent cor
ruption is the cause of both the one and the other.
8. It is the principal cause or tempter. Although there be other causes of our sinnings also, yet this is the chief; and therefore that alone is men
tioned, so as though the world tempts, and the devil tempts, yet they tempt but as tempters that are without us, and propound but the objects. But
this is a pondus natures, it is the poise and swing of nature ; and all things move as from a natural weight or poise weight within them. In Heb. xii. 1, he speaks of this sin in saying, Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Amor meus pondus meitm, says Austin, what my love is, that is my weight that sways me. Stones move downward, air
upward, as their poise is.
The demonstration of this its causation of sinning may be amplified by these farther particulars, whereby we may discern that no sin is to be ex
empted from its efficiency.
1. That many times it begins to be the mother of sins, and draws us away ere ever the devil or the world do tempt us, or the actual knowledge of the law provokes us to it (of whose provocation of corrupt nature to sin you read, Rom. vii.), as it is seen in infants, who begin to sin before the devil or world can tempt them, in envy, frowardness, &c. ; they go astray from the womb, being drawn aside only by the natural pondus of their own corruption
: Gen. vi. 5,
* God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man s heart was only evil continually from his youth up. In which place original sin
is compared to a mould, which casts and shapes within itself all and the very figmenta or conceptions of the heart, into such or such a sinful fashion ; and
it is from their youth, yea, infancy. Children bring forth sin before they
bring forth teeth or hair, and then when they are incapable of Satan s sug
gestions, or of outward temptations from the world.
2. In that it is the cause of such sins, as neither the world nor devil can reach to tempt us to, no, not after we are grown up to reason. My brethren, you that are spiritual Christians find such sins and contrarieties in you unto what is good, such secret reluctancies, damps, heartlessness unto what is
holy, as arise from the mere enmity, deadness that is in your natures unto what is good
* that when I would do
: I find a law, an inward disposition,
good, evil is present with me. You find mere spiritual oppositions present, that oppose spiritual motions and inclinations to good, from their first rising, and are up in their warrings against you as soon as the good motions are. These last rise as do the other ; they are purely pure spiritual motions, as
ingenuities unto God, strains of love towards him ; these rise, and the con
trary motions to check and resist them are up in arms as soon. And as
the heart grows more spiritual, so corrupt nature will be sending forth its
contrarieties against the holiest actings of grace in the heart towards God, and not damping them only, but contradicting them, and as a weight pulling them down to the earth when they offer to arise, and, besides, will be mixing
self-interest with the good. Now these contrarieties are neither from Satan
nor from the world ; the devil hath not power to know such, because they
CHAP. X.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 371
secretly and closely work, and are transacted in the spirit of the mind ; and
beside, the devil could not be so quick in contrary suggestions, for these
oppositions rise in the same instant with the good ; the law of the flesh is
still contrary to the law of the mind, and sends out its acts and dictates even
* When I would do good, evil, says he, is present with me. He complains there of
as soon as the other. This Paul was sensible of in Rom. vii. 21 :
the corruptions of his heart. And not in these cases only, but take all or
any kind of sin whatever, and it is a mother that could conceive alone of
itself, within itself. The mother earth (as we call it) must have seed cast
into it for many kinds of fruit : all animal creatures have their male and female that must concur to their procreation ; but actual sin needs not to have a male to be a father. This female womb is sufficient to bring forth all
conception, though now, when fallen, there was no devil to tempt ; it is
seed, and womb, and prolific virtue, and all. At first, indeed, Eve had not
fallen if the devil had not tempted her ; nor could Adam have eaten the for bidden fruit, but that both the devil indiscernibly and Eve both did tempt him. But now we should easily fall into sin though the devil were absent ;
although he also is by God s curse let loose upon us as the tempter, and is
in many respects termed the father of lies ; but this mother could and would conceive without a father. Nay, 3. It is so pregnant of wickedness that even the good and holy law made known to it provokes it to conceive the sin that is contrary to it, and there
* The motions, or
fore the law is compared to an husband : Rom. vii. 5,
* of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But in so doing the law is but a mere occasional cause-mover unto sin, as it is in the following eighth verse of that chapter
passions,
this inherent sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all
concupiscence. It was this sin was the sole worker directly, the command ment but indirectly ; that when the commandment, by the light and motion of it, would still beget good upon the heart, this sinful wicked womb, enraged thereby, doth, uterino furore, bring forth the clean contrary.
4. It is a womb that is never barren. By a continual ploughing and sow
ing of the earth, you may get the heart of it out, and then it must lie fallow a while before it will bring forth again. Other mothers of animal creatures
bring forth children to such or such an age, but then cease childing, yea, and live a long while after and have no children ; they have when old done
teeming. But this, the longer it lives and continues, and the more sin it
brings forth, the more it may, unless the Lord takes away the dominion of
it by grace
: Job xiv. 7, 8, says he, There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not
cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof
die in the ground ; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth
boughs like a plant. I know he applies this similitude otherwise, but I
apply it to this, take sin when it is old, it will bring forth ; if a scent of water come near it, if temptation come, it presently sprouts again. 5. Some females and mothers go long with their brood before they bring
forth, and carry it loi)g in their womb to ripen it ere it comes to the birth, as a woman goes nine months, an elephant three years ; and the stronger the creatures are the longer they go, and the weaker they are the sooner they
: Hosea vii. 6, They have made ready their heart like an oven, &c., their baker sleepeth all the night, in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. You go quietly to bed, and in all appearance free of such or such a lust and sinful disposi tion stirring ; but you wake in the morning with some base lust or other
bring forth, as mice, &c. But this sin brings forth presently
872 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
that hath overgrown the heart in the night. Lite Jonah s gourd, it grows up in a night, nay, in a moment, upon occasion of temptation.
6. This womb brings forth continually. It was the excellency of the tree
of life of the new Jerusalem, Kev. xxiL, that it brings forth fruit every month ; but this is a conceiving and hatching of evil every moment, and never hath
any interruption of conceiving one sin or another: Gen. vi. 5, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination ,of
the thoughts of the heart was evil continually. It cannot cease from sin. How oft is this spoken of wicked men in the Scriptures ! And shall not these things deeply humble us for this sinning sin that is such a mother, and the mother of all sin, and which hath a far nearer and more intimate causation, and deeper hand in all sinnings than the devil has "?
that is, .as to us, and as in us sin is wrought. It is true, the devil bath the denomination of being that evil one, xar
1 s^o^v, and the tempter, and the
father of lies, John viii. 44, and so of all other sins ; and all sins of ours ara
by descent from him. And in 1 John iii. 8, all sins are called his works,
* He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the be
ginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. The devil is thus called the first father of
sin, both because he was the first that brought up that cursed invention of
sinning, the first founder and original of sin ; and in that respect called the father
of sin, as the first inventors of music and working in brass are termed the
fathers of them that do follow them in those trades, Gen. iv. 20, 21. As
also, further, for that influence and hand he hath upon us, in causing us to
sin .by continual tempting of us. And it is true that the guilt which redounds on him personally is far deeper for his tempting us, than what falls to our
share, who are .the tempted, for acting what he tempts us to. But the sin
of -him therein is proper to himself, and he shall .answer for it all at the last
day ; when the angels shall be judged, he must bear the load of it. And it
is moreover true that there is a guilt lies on us, both on the father s side and on the mother s side, and we are to humble ourselves for both ; on the
father s side for our entertaining his temptations, and thereby espousing his
interest (as sin is his more than ours), and thereby making ourselves chil dren of the devil, as Christ speaks; and again, John viii. 44, You are of
your father the d^vil, and his lusts you will do, though we little discern it, and mind it not. But yet there is this difference between what guilt descends upon us on
the mother s side from what on the father s. That this mother is the inward, immediate, natural cause of all sin in us ; Satan is to us but the outward cause and mediate, and cannot tempt us, and persuade our wills but by and from the native corruption that is indwelling ; and the descent of sin from him to us is accordingly but outward, not as from a natural father; his father hood is but political, and by a metonymy, and we, as it were, but his adopted children only, not natural. Yea, that guilt of our yielding unto him in his
temptations must be laid upon that very indwelling sin that is in us. That mother inwardly falls in love, and closeth with the outward temptation of
this cursed father, so as the great blame of all will lie upon this mother, without whose being allured and enticed this father would not allure or per suade us. It is the mother, the mother, our corrupt wills that betray us, and yield us to this father ; and therefore Christ lays the blame on us and our
lusts, that we are of our father the devil. And the apostle devolves our
* When ye are tempted, ye are
guilt in being tempted upon our own lusts :
tempted of your own lust, James i. 14 ; that is the tempter far greater than
the devil. This sin of your mother is naturally yours, and all the cursed
CHAP. X.J IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 873
children she brings forth in you are her natural children r and she is your
very nature and intrinsic constitution. And when you sin by her tempta
tions, you may be said to sin of your own, as well as the devil doth of his own malicious propension, as Christ speaks of him. It is inand by the womb of this mother that sin is conceived within you ; in that womb it is
fostered, and by the strength of it it is brought forth ; and the sinfulness
therefore hereof is properly yours, in that the mother of it is in you, even as
the devil s guilt in your sins is properly his. Oh, therefore, above all humble
yourselves for this, that you carry such a mother or womb of sin within
yourselves. You read of Rome (whose guilt is next the devil s)) what a
heavy punishment in Rev. xviii. lies threatened against her when she is to
be destroyed i ver. 5, Her sins have reached up to heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities-: reward her double according to her works. And what is the reason of all this ? What is it puts God upon this ? Look
chap. xvii. 5, you see the title of her accusation to be Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth. The mother of all :
they came from her by genealogy and descent, and are maintained by her to
this day. All nations were made drunk with her cup, and in her are found
* In her was found the blood
the souls of men, as there: and chap, xviii. 24,
of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. And for this her being the mother of all, the mother of abominations, you see what a doom she is adjudged unto. If we should remain in our natural
condition, and be found therein, then shall a bill and indictment of all the
actual sins be read. Yea, but where is the mother of them all ? and what
sin will God judge and reward most ? Even your original indwelling sin.
This, this is the mother of abominations-, the great beldame, the great witch and whore, in whom will be found all the sins that ever thou hast done.
And that you may enlarge, and make the meditation hereof more pungent and impressive by another parallel contemplation, though utterly contrary,
look, as Christ at the latter day, when he comes to judge, what will be his
glory then ? Even this, he shall present himself, and all saints about him, and say to his Father, Lo, here am I, and the children which thou hast
given me. And then again, All their fruit isfound in me, and all their
graces, and all their righteousness. So,, if thou be found unregeneirate, then
to thy everlasting confusion, shall all thy sins be set in order before God and
thine own conscience, as in Ps. 1. 20, and this great beldame shall be brought forth with all her brood. Lo, here are all the children which this great mother and my cursed will have brought forth together, and they will judge this great whore as she stands in relation to her children ; and it shall be
said, Cursed be the womb that bare you, and the paps that gave you suck ; and because God will pass this judgment as concerning us then r let us there
fore, accordingly, judge ourselves in this manner beforehand, that we be not condemned with the world ! There be other weighty considerations might be added and enlarged upon to exaggerate the sinfulness of this sin, in the like way of comparison as
hitherto hath been used.
As, first, that thou art not only to make the comparison with all thy sins
actually past and done hitherto, and to make that the sole measure of thy humiliation for the iniquity of it, but further, both from what actual sins this
thy corrupt nature might have brought forth, but hath not, as also from what
itself (if left to itself) may and would bring forth for the future. This hath two branches,
1. What it might have brought forth, but hath not.
2. What it may, and would of itself, for the future.
374 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IX.
These, although they admit distinct considerations, yet they have this com mon to both, that God measures not the sinfulness of this sin only by the
acts it hath produced, but by the potentiality of it, or the power it hath to
produce, if left to itself. Will you take but an instance from God ? We don t measure God s power by what he hath done, or will do, but by all he can do; we consider entia possibilia, things possible to be done by him; we
say, though God doth not will, or do all things, yet he is omnipotent, and
accordingly do adore him for it. And here divines rightly say that there is
scientia simplicis intelliyentiaj in God, a knowledge whereby he views thou
sands and thousands of millions of worlds and creatures he never did nor
will bring forth ; and that there is scientia visionis, a foreknowledge of what he purposes to do ;
* Known to God are all his works from the beginning, Acts xv. 18. Thus also there are a world of sins thy heart did never bring
forth, which yet it might and would have done if left to itself. In this sin
they are as in the seed ; and God knowing this, reckons accordingly, as the instance of the men of Keilah shews, 1 Sam. xxiii. 11, 12, where God, upon David s inquiry, telleth him what the men of Keilah would have done, even delivered him into Saul s hands, though they never did.
This premised, I come to the two branches mentioned.
1. Thou art to measure the iniquity of this sin by what thou mightest have committed, if thou hadst been left to the swing of thy sinful nature and
inclinations. And for a right estimate of this, cast thine eye upon all the
sorts and kinds of sins committed in the world by any other of the sons of men, and not only upon what thyself hath hitherto
{ acted. In Rom. i. you have a black catalogue of sins, which read over, it is but a comment on this
text, the sin in thine own heart. And why ? All sin in the world is through lust: 2 Pet. i. 4, Having escaped the corruptions which are in the world
through lust. All the corruptions in the world are through this original and inherent lust, and thou hast the same that are in the hearts of any in the
world, and therefore wouldst perpetrate the same. There went but a pair of
shears between thy nature and others; thy heart is made of the same stuft :
it wrought all concupiscence in Paul ; indeed not outward acts, for in those
respects he professeth a blamelessness; but by the same reason it brought forth concupiscence towards any acting, it would have brought forth the out ward act itself in him. It is a great thing to be considered that the stoics should discern this, and that Seneca* should thus utter it, Omnia in omnibus insunt vitia, all vices are in all ; Sed omnia in omnibus non extant, but all are not extant in all ; Et cupidi omnes, et maligni omnes, et ambitiosi omnes, et
vitiosi, we are all covetous, ambitious, malicious, vicious, &c.
Again, consider, that though thou canst act but one sin at once, sensu
diviso, yet in the nature of this corruption there is an aptness to act a multi tude of sins sensu composite ; nay, contrary sins would thy heart, thy root,
carry thee to, and any other sin as well as what thou didst commit. Consider, moreover, what it hath been that kept thee, and that it is from God s re
straining of thee that thou hast not committed infinitely greater and more
grievous sins : as the case of Abimelech shews, Gen. xx. 7, 9, and the last
verses compared. God acknowledgeth a kind of integrity, in that he did
* For I kept thee, or
not know Sarah was another man s wife ; yet adds,
restrained thee, and in that God punished him for what he had done, ver.
18, it argues that God s meaning was, Had I not restrained thee, thou wouldst have done it, although thou hadst known her to have been another man s wife. Besides, take any act of sin that ever thou didst commit, yet
still there is more evil in that sin in thy nature, than ever thou didst draw * Lib. iv. de Benef., page 320.
CHAP. X.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 375
forth into act : Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, Mat.
xii. 34. There is more in the heart than the mouth utters : also, ver. 35,
it is styled the treasure of the heart. Now, there is far more treasure in
the warehouse than is vended in the shop ; and so no man ever pours forth
all his sin.
2. The second branch respects sins for time to come. Thou art at pre sent to humble thyself for this sin, as which hath that sinfulness in it, as
will be the productive concurrent cause, with thine own will, of all the sins thou shalt yet commit ; yea, and take this sin, in the prepense inclinations
of it, to be such as would produce far greater and more grievous sins than
as yet thou hast committed.
My brethren, there is to be this difference between our humiliation for
actual sins, barely considered as such, and for this indwelling sin as it relates
to our actual, that we are not obliged to humble ourselves for any supposed actual sins, considered abstractly as actual, until they have been actually committed by us ; and so in that respect a man is only to view what sins
are already past ; for as simply considered actual, they are not in themselves
actually hitherto existent, and so are as if they were not. Nor do I know but God may out of restraining grace keep me from committing such or such
sins ; but that is God s doing and merciful prevention, and not mine. But the case will prove otherwise, if I will look upon this root sin within me, as
it stands in my heart, in a readiness to commit any sin in this respect. I may say of it, that an infinity of sins to come are potentially existent in it
as in the root ; as we say of flowers in winter time, that although there be not a rosebud growing on the rose tree, yet we say that in the root there
are many rosebuds that will come into existence in summer. And thus, as God in his heart, through the infinite foreknowledge which is therein, sees
thoughts afar off, and so views what that root will produce, thus we may
see, in the principles of our own sinful hearts, though not what individual
sins they shall be which our wills will commit, yet that an infinity of sins
will one way or another sprout forth from out of our hearts, if not cut off by death, or otherwise restrained and prevented. And as they are there at
present, as in their root, so we are to humble ourselves at present for the
sinfulness of that root, as that which will bear them and bring them forth.
I say, at present we are to do thus, for it is that indwelling corruption at
present remaining in thee, which will be the cause of them ; and therefore humble thyself at present in the forethought of this. And God that sees our
thoughts afar off, and things to come as if they were, he says of thee at pre
sent, The root of all these is there in thee at the present, and he loathes thee
for it ; and therefore do thou at present humble thyself before that God who thus sees and judges. And like as we adore God s power, not only for what
creatures he hath actually produced, or works of providence we see he hath
brought forth, but for his power that can bring into being infinite worlds which he never means to make ; and we measure and esteem him omnipo
tent, in respect unto those that possibly he could produce, as well as for what actually he hath made or doth make ; in like manner are we to humble
ourselves, not only for the potentiality of this sin in sinning, in respect unto what sins we have already acted, but what we shall, yea, even for new worlds of sinnings our nature would put forth and exert. Nor art thou to measure the sinfulness hereof by what in probability, according to the course hitherto
held, thou art likely or art subject to commit, but by sins thou didst never
so much as dream of, or imagine thou wouldst commit. It would be a de
ceiving rule to go by, if thou judge of this only by what hitherto this sin hath brought forth. No; this womb breeds monsters, and extraordinary
376 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFOEE GOD, [BOOK IX.
births of sinnings, which thou thoughtest impossible to have been in thy nature to produce. Did Hazael think his nature would turn so barbarous, so cruel as it did ?
* Am I a dog to do this, said he unto the prophet, so inhuman ? Little thought Peter, that that heart of his, so resolved to stand
by Christ, as he judged it to be, when he said, If all forsake thee, I will
not; he could not have imagined that ever it would have been so profanely vile and unchristian as to deny his endeared Lord and Saviour thrice, and
at one of those times with such horrid oaths and execrations, whilst his Lord was in the room, and present, and overheard him, as he was man. Did David ever think he should perpetrate adultery, and add murder thereunto ; that that heart that was once in such an holy frame, and so
magnified God for his covenant and promise made, 2 Sam. vii., should hatch and contrive within itself such abominations ?
I might here yet further add, that thou art not to judge of the potentiality of this sin, and what for the future it might produce, by what thou wouldst or mightst in this life only commit, but by what unto eternity thou wouldst commit, if we could suppose thy life extended thereunto. This womb would never cease teeming, but grow still more and more wicked unto everlasting ages without end.
If all these be not perspectives clear enough to discover to thee this ex
panse or extensive sinfulness of this sin in the propense inclinations of it, as either by what thine own individual sins have been, or in the several sorts or species and kinds of sins that have been found in their varieties in the hearts and lives of mankind from the beginning of the world to this day, then go down to hell and compare thine own nature with what is the genius of the devils themselves. Thy nature is but the image of theirs in a smaller
letter. All the difference, and that but in this life, is, that we are tame
devils through God s mere restraint, but they wild outrageous devils, wild
fire and gunpowder, left to the full swing and the utmost career which the
violence of their lusts do carry them to. Now, it is certain we have the seeds and capacities of sinning all the sins they headlong run into. This in
respect of our souls. And we are, besides, inclined to many more sorts of
sins than they are addicted to, as all the lusts of the flesh, seated in the
body and outward man, which in the body the soul is subjected unto, besides those other proper to the soul itself, together with those spirits. Satan hath
in his nature no lust of uncleanness, adultery, drunkenness, &c., so as thy nature hath all manner of sins the devils have, and a multitude of other sins
besides, to outvie them on that account.
And all this heavy charge I have laid unto this sin, the mother of sins, is not to be understood as spoken of a matter or thing distinct from yourselves, which is the case of all actual sins ; yourselves are one thing, and your actions
another. Yea, but this sin I have aggravated all this while, is no other than your very selves ; and so all that hath been said of it is all one as to
say that yourselves are thus sinful, and are in verity this very sin. Indeed, the substance of you differs from this sin inherent as subject and adjunct ; and thus logically you may (if you please) distinguish yourself from this sin ; but know that theologically, or (which is more) in God s holy sight and
esteem, this sin is thyself, as I said at the first entrance. It is in Scripture language (which is God s) the very definition of a man s nature : That which is born of the flesh is flesh. It is a regenerate man only is able to
say, It is not I, but sin that dwells in me, and so distinguish himself from
it, for he hath a divine nature which is himself. An unregenerate man must
take it wholly upon him, that it is, he himself, and say of it, It is I, as the
seventh of the Komans hath distinguished them. ,
CHAP. I.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 377