Book II
An unregenerate mans guiltiness before God, in respect of that corruption of nature with which all mankind is infected, and the whole nature of every man is polluted and depraved.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. JOHN III. 6.
CHAPTER I.
The words of the text explained An enumeration of the several errors concern ing original sin. Pelagius denied that there was any such thing. Pighius, and some of the schoolmen, though they acknowledge some guilt to accrue to us from Adam s first sin, yet deny any corruption of nature to be derived from it. The papists make it wholly to consist in the want of original righteous ness, excluding concupiscence from being any part, and consequently deny what they call the motus primi, to be sins. Others say that this corruption hath not infected all the faculties of the soul. To refute these errors, several propositions asserted and proved. That to every man born into the world there is more derived than the guilt of Adam s first sin. That there is a corruption inherent in his nature. That this corruption is the predominant principle of all his actions. That man s nature is thus totally corrupted, demonstrated.
MY scope in choosing this text is to proceed in discovering the abounding sinfulness of man by nature, whereof already I have shewn you out of Rom. v. 12, the spring and source at which sin first entered upon all mankind, by one man, and one offence : by Adam our first father, whose first sinfulness we, as his heirs, appointed by a just and necessary covenant, do inherit, as we should have done his righteousness, the particulars of whose debts, and the immense vastness of them, I have begun to search into, out of the 20th verse of the same chapter, and shewing the abounding sinfulness of that sinful act and offence, whereof I proved we were all guilty, which was the spring and flood-gate at which sin entered.
The next thing which in order I am come to, is to sound that abound ing gulf, bottomless sea, and lake of that corruption and sinfulness of nature within all our hearts (the miserable vessels and cisterns of it), this first act of sin, as the original spring and source, through the channel and conduitpipe of natural generation, empties itself into and determines in.
For as I intimated before, and this scripture will more fully inform us, we are arrested not only as guilty of that first cursed act which he person ally performed, and so in regard of it are termed sinners, and exposed liable to God s wrath, but also as guilty of an universal, total, sinful defilement, spread over all faculties of soul and body, containing in it a privation or
CHAP. I.] IN EESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 41 want of all good, and an inclination to all evil (which our Saviour Christ here, and the Scripture elsewhere, calls flesh), which is traduced unto us by birth and fleshly generation, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and which infects all mankind, even all that is said to be born of flesh, all that is in man : that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that this is Christ s meaning here, appeareth by the coherence of the words, for his scope is to convince Nicodemus of the necessity of regenera
a spiritual man, as the word spirit may be interpreted tion, whereby a man is to be made, and all in man,
* spirit, or
But he that is: 1 Cor. ii. 15, spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man ; and a man is thus made spiritual by the work of the Holy Ghost. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit ; and he convinceth him by this reason, because all that is born in man by the first birth is nothing but flesh, that is, a thing contrary (as the opposition to spirit shews) to that which the Holy Ghost works. It is a mere lump and mass of sin inhering and sticking in man s nature, as you shall hear afterwards when I come to open what this flesh is.
Before I do that, let me present to your view a link and chain of the con trary errors about original sin, with the doctrines and deductions I shall make hence, which will evidently refute those errors, as being diametrically opposed unto them.
All which errors have not been so much in going too far, or in making too great a matter of it, but diminishing and extenuating it rather, thereby to make way for the extenuating withal, more or less, according as this is ex tenuated, even of the superabounding grace of Christ ; for as long as that stands true that is said, Rom. v. 20, that the more man s sinfulness abounds, the more God s grace superabounds, grace being but the remedy or medicine of sin, so long it will be charged on those that extenuate and lessen man s natural sinfulness, that so far as they do extenuate it, they ex tenuate and make void, and take from the grace of Christ; for he that lessens the disease disparageth the virtue of the medicine.
View but the errors in their several degrees of detracting from it, begin ning at the lowest step or stair.
First, Pelagius at one stroke dasheth out all the debt, and says that we stand bound to God for nothing by reason of it. He denies any communi cation of the guilt of Adam s fact, or corruption of nature thence traduced, and says that all the harm Adam did was to bring in a bad example, which we all follow, and in no other sense did sin enter upon the world. Suitable to which conceit of man s sinfulness is that of Socinus, concerning Christ s righteousness and grace through him, that all that Christ did was to give a good example, and to shew the way to heaven.
Secondly, Pighius and some few of the schoolmen they further acknow ledge guilt and binding over all to death by reason of being guilty of the first sinful act indeed ; but corruption of nature thence traduced, they acknow ledge not. That look as the papists do acknowledge sanctification or in herent righteousness, but without Christ s righteousness imputed, and so diminish from the abounding of grace, so, on the contrary, these acknow ledge condemnation indeed for Adam s offence, but without inherent corruption conveyed, and so detract from man s corruption and sinfulness.
Thirdly, Some other more secret entrenchments upon the boundless limits of God s grace, acknowledge indeed a true and real imputation of the guilt of Adam s sin, yea, and also a want of original righteousness, a corruption also and disease of nature inherently derived, which is here called flesh, yet they circumcise the sinfulness of it, as you shall hear afterwards.
Fourthly, The papists, though they further acknowledge in this point more
42 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK II. than those others, viz., that that corruption which is thus in us is a sin, yet half the debt they strike out of the account; for making it only to consist in the want of original righteousness, they cut off the grossest and greatest part of it, denying concupiscence to be a part of it.
Fifthly, Both they -and others do exclude some of the faculties of the soul from being infected with it, making fewer debtors in man obliged to death by reason of it than indeed there are : so to maintain their detraction from the sanctifying grace of Christ in conversion in this, as in the former they did from the justifying grace of Christ.
Against all which, in my following discourse, I shall (God assisting) oppose and make good these several propositions, diametrically opposite.
Against the first, that which hath been delivered out of Bom. v. 12 may suffice.
Against the other, out of this text, and other scriptures compared with it, take these ensuing conclusions.
I. That there is something inherently derived to us by birth, called here flesh, which is more than simply the guilt of Adam s sinful act committed by him.
II. Which I will prove to be a corruption of our nature ; which, put to gether with the former, contradicteth Pighius his error.
III. That it is properly a sin ; which contradicts the third error. And in shewing the great sinfulness of it, that it is, IV. More than a want of righteousness, and also a positive inclination to all evil ; which is against the fourth error. V. That also it is seated in each particular faculty of soul and body
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, there is not one thing in man but is infected with it ; which is opposite to the last erj-or.
I. The first is that, by birth, there is more derived than the guilt of Adam s sin, something else that sticks in our natures ; for it is here said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and for the meaning of the words, when he says of flesh, he means, of man after a fleshly manner; but by the latter, is flesh, he means not flesh and blood, the substance of man, but inherent corruption. For as in the next words, * that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, spirit, which is the thing begotten, and differs from the Spirit which is the begetter, and notes out the new creature of holiness wrought in the soul, and inherent there, and therefore is called the seed of God remaining in him, 1 John iii. 9, so likewise flesh notes out inherent corruption, which is derived by generation, which also is evident from Gal. v. 17, For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other. Flesh and spirit there are put as two inherent qualities, conveyed by these two several births, and so are there opposed ; I say, inherent qualities, sticking in man s nature ; for the flesh is said to have works or fruits, in Gal. v. 19 : Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : adultery, for nication, &c. Whence it appears that this flesh is a rooted thing in man s nature, whence operations flow, as buds from a root, which though they be transient, yet the root sticks in the earth ; and so it is as to this flesh in man s heart.
Secondly, The scope of Christ shews it, for it is to shew what need, yea, necessity, there is of regeneration, which is nothing else but a working of new spiritual dispositions in the whole man, called here spirit, without which no man shall enter into heaven ; for says Christ, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, whereby therefore he must needs mean the clean contrary to the spirit of holiness, which is to be wrought in the soul. Now, then, if
CHAP. I.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT
only a guilt from Adam was derived, and no corruption inherent in the soul, we should need only justification, which is properly a doing away of the guilt of sin ; but Christ says there is a work of regeneration also required, which is a renewing the nature of man, making it of flesh, spirit, regenera tion being a work upon the soul ; therefore flesh notes out a corruption sticking in the soul.
Thirdly, The manner of the predication here used shews it ; for flesh is predicated of man (as he is first born) in the abstract, which if it noted out only the act of Adam s sin, could not be.
So that the first doctrine I propound in these terms, which I will severally explain, is this, That in every man s nature, that is born into the world, there is a mass of corruption that inheres or sticks in him, which is the principle of all his actions, whence they proceed; yea, which is in some sense the nature of man, as being the predominant quality, which is in all, and guides all. And this is directly contrary to the error of those that say Adam s sin is only conveyed. This I will particularly explain.
1st, I say it is corruption; for so this, which is called here flesh, is called in Eph. iv. 22, the old man, which is corrupt, &c. Now, then, corrup tion must needs be of something which was good before ; and even so it is. God made man righteous, now he is depraved and defiled, his nature is corrupted; and instead of being a living body, he is now become as a dead body, that hath in it nothing but corruption and putrefaction. I first call it corruption, because it is a distinct thing to prove it to be a sin, which I will shew afterwards, against such as deny concupiscence to be a sin.
2dly, It is a corruption which I say sticks or cleaves to a man s nature, * dwell in a man, Rom. vii. 17, 18. for so it is said to do expressly, to * Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. So a man hath not only acts of sin which are transient, which but come from him and so away, but he hath a root and spring of sin dwelling and residing in him, and not only adjacent to him, but inhabitant in him; it is not maoaxii/juzvov, <zagdxsira,i, but r, oixwaa, a/nagr/a, peccatum habitans ; and not only so, but encompassing about, and so to be resisted on all hands : Heb.xii. 1, 1 Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great cloud of wit nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. It is suvioiff Tarov aftupriav, peccatum facile circumstans. Now all this implies more than acts.
8dly, It is a corruption which is the principle, predominant of all his actions, whence all his works proceed, as appears from Gal. v. 19, Now the works of the flesh are manifiest, which are these : adultery, fornication, &c. The flesh is said to have works and fruits, as being a root in man s nature, and so it is called: Deut. xxix. 18, Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood ; Heb. xii. 15, * Lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble you, and thereby may be defiled. A root it is which brings forth gall and wormwood, that is, bitter fruits of sin, and which is therefore said to be an energetical thing, which works in our members, and brings forth fruit to death : Rom. vii. 5, * For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death. Bitter fruits : Jer .ii. 19, Thine own wicked ness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee : know therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, &c. Grapes of gall, and clusters that are bitter: Deut.
44 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK II. xxxii. 32, For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah : their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.
4thly, I say, there is a bundle or mass of this corruption, and therefore it is called a body that hath multitude of members : Col. ii. 11, In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. It is a body of the sins of the flesh, of abounding dimensions, a body that hath inwards and outwards, gross and more sensible dispositions to fleshly lusts, that war in the members, and also secret entrails of atheism, contempt of God, distrust and hatred of God, not discernible to a man, till God s Spirit doth cut this anatomy up. And so also Solomon says of it, that there is a bundle of folly in the heart of a child, till the rod fetch it out, Prov. xxii. 15. There is a pack or bundle wrapped up in his heart, a pack of rotten andacorrupt wares which sticketh there ; for the rod, through God s Spirit working, is said to fetch it out ; and this in the heart of a child, even before the pack be opened, and all the wares be brought to light by actual sins ; for they are said to be bound up there till then ; and therefore Augustine says, Imbecillitas membrorum infautium innocens est, non animus infantium. Yea, and this in the very conception ; therefore David says, Ps. li. 5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive me. He means more than barely a guilt of Adam s sin, for he says, he was conceived in sin, which notes out more than Adam s one sin, spoken of in Rom. v. 18. And that he means sin sticking to his inward parts, appears by the next words, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts; as if he had said, I have not only committed this sinful act of adultery, but there is even in my inward parts sin sticking from my very conception ; whereas thou requirest, Lord, says he, in the inward parts, truth ; and David s scope is to con fess the spring from whence that his great act of sin sprung, even from the sin wherein he was conceived.
5thly, This corruption is, as it were, the very nature of man, and there fore is predicated in the abstract, and implies more than an ordinary quality, even such an one as doth explain what the very nature and definition of man is ; for it is not said to be fleshly, but flesh, as if it was a thing that doth ingredi essentiam et definitionem, as if divinity had found out another..and a further definition of man, that philosophy falls short of. Philosophers define man to be animal rationale, Christ defines him to be flesh, that is, sin and corruption, contrary to grace, this being his very nature, as divinity con siders him now as fallen. And in that it is made the definition of man s nature, as it were in the abstract, it argues it is a thing inherent in us. But to enlarge a little on this notion.
1. Definitions are taken from things which are insita naturd, bred in nature ; none but essential properties are ingredients in definitions. And 2. Definitions are taken from the most predominant qualities where the essence is unknown ; so flesh or sinful corruption being a,more predomi nant principle in man s nature than reason itself, for it doth not only guide all, and even reason itself (as reason doth all in a man byway of influence), but which is more, it resides in all of a man, which reason doth not. It is, as it were, another form in man s nature, tota in toto ; therefore, says he, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. It cleaves to all the faculties as the seat and subject of it, whereas reason hath a seat by itself in the soul, distinct from other faculties, though it rules them. Year and 3, which is more, this corruption it is so essential and predomi nant, and so universally diffused and seated in the whole man, that there is a mutual predication, as it were, between man and it, and both in the
abstract. And as here you see man s nature, and all that is in it, is called flesh, so, Eph. iv. 22, this corruption is called the man, put off the old man ; that is, not the substance of man s nature, because then Christ had not assumed the same nature with us ; and besides, can a man run away from himself, or put off himself as he doth his clothes ? No. Therefore by the old man is meant the corruption that we have from Adam, called therefore old, and the old man, because it is seated in, and guides, and is the nature of the whole man, for so it follows, which is corrupt, &c. It is also a corruption you see this old man is which is born by the first birth, and there fore also a thing sticking in a man, else why is it said to be put off, as being res adjacens, and hanging about him ? Therefore also, 1 Cor. iii. 3, to be carnal and to be a man is made the same thing, Are ye not carnal and fleshly, and walk as men ? that is, according to your kind and nature, and those carnal properties that stick in you ; not that this corruption is the substance of man, for then Christ, being without sin, should be erego jfftog ; so that this first deduction is every way clear out of the text.
Now, that man s nature is become thus corrupt, and turned flesh, and a bundle of folly and corruption, and that it is their nature, I will give you, first, some demonstrations of it ; secondly, reasons.
I. The first demonstration is taken,
1. From experience taken from all mankind.
First, All men sin from their youth. The first act that discovers reason in a child hath sin also mingled with it. Take any child and observe him, and watch him when the first springings forth and dawnings of reason begin to appear, and they are corrupt ; they express reason only in sinning, as in readiness to please themselves by doing harm to others, or excusing them selves by lying, and in pride of apparel ; and also their natural inclination to revenge is seen, because they are often quieted by seeing the thing beaten that hath offended them ; hence the poet of the child, Iram colligit, et ponit temere.
And this the Scripture, upon God s general observation, tells, Gen. viii. 21, that they are evil from their youth, from the first thought to the last, which argues it is nature in them. If the tree be known by the fruit, much more by the first fruits.
Secondly, All men sin continually ; not only their first actions are such, but all are continually such, which shews it is nature, for quod convenit semper, est naturale ; and this God upon the like experience says, Gen. vi. 5, that * thoughts were evil continually. their Thirdly, It is thus not with a few, but with all men, not one excepted, which argues it to be a nature also, for quod convenit omni, est naturale ; and so, Gen. vi. 12, it is said that all flesh hath corrupted their ways.
Fourthly, They do all this of their own accord, as the devil is said to sin of his own ; they slide into these actions sine impulsore, without example or precept ; therefore Solomon, the wise searcher into the cause of things, found the original of all iniquity to be this, that they of their own accord sought out many inventions, Eccles. vii. 29. So likewise in the Proverbs, A child left to himself puts his mother to shame, Prov. xxix. 15. You need not teach him to sin, but only leave him to himself, and he will soon shame his mother. Now things that are not natural must have teachers and practice before we can learn them ; as take a man that did never swim in his life, and he must be taught to swim before he can do it. Though there is in man some remote power to it by nature, yet use must be added ; but take a beast, or take a little whelp, and throw him into the water, and he will
46 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK II. swim presently, because nature hath taught him. Even so it is in the soul to anything which is more than nature, it must have a teacher.
Fifthly, And not only thus left to themselves do they run into evil, but the pondus et impetus natura can hardly be restrained by the best means that art or education can afford. That which cannot be restrained is natural ; Naturam expellas/urca, tamen usque recurrit:* if it be bred in the bone, it will never be got out of the flesh. Since you see also that sin is natural, for it cannot be expelled, all good means of education, admonition, &c., will not keep your children from sinning. Though you should bray a fool in a mortar, yet he would be a fool still. Indeed, Solomon saith, the rod of correction will drive it out ; but it is not in the means themselves, but in the blessing of God upon them, and sanctifying them to that end ; all which shews that it is natural, even as the natural spring which is the fountain of all these corrupt actions.
2. This is confirmed also by testimonies, that man by nature is corrupt.
1st, By the testimonies of the Gentiles themselves, who knew this out of observation and experience, and yet they wanted the light of the law and gospel to tell them that whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh. So ^Esop compared nature to a garden, that is, mater vitiis, virtutibus noverca ; and Plato, lib. ii. de Rep. homines naturd malos esse, et adduci non posse, ut justitiam colant.
2dly, All the world do suppose so much, for there are several offices in the world that imply so much by general appointment ; for to what end are magistrates appointed in all kingdoms and in all ages, if there had not been this corruption of nature to be bridled and restrained ?
Again, upon this supposition that nature is corrupt, all nations made their laws, which were not only to restrain the corruptions then in act and raging, but to be left as legacies to posterity, as remedies and medicines, which they would not have done had they not conceived the nature that they propa gated unto them to be hereditarily corrupted. Medicina supponit morlum, physic was not found out before diseases ; multitudo legum et medicorum cegrotam arguit rempublicam, et immensa ilia volurnina legum, quid nisi publicce corruptionis tabulae, f
If you should come into a town, and see many physicians there, you would presently conclude that it were a diseased place, or else what should so many physicians do there ? So if you see so many laws and offices to suppress sin and corruption, this argues, cegrotam esse rempublicam, that the government is sickly. And in that they were made and appointed for after-times, it must needs shew that they did presuppose it should be to the end of the world.
Again, the calling of the ministry doth argue that men are corrupt, and that they will be so to the end of the world, in that Christ hath ordained ministers to the end of the world. Now the calling of the ministry is for no other end but to watch over men s souls, to exhort them, &c., and by all means to keep them from sin, and to beget men to God by the immortal seed of the word, which argues that men are corrupt, for in heaven there shall need no preaching.
3dly, The law of God given to us by God, sheweth us no less, for the law is not given to a righteous man, 1 Tim. i. 9 ; for man being righteous at first, was a law to himself; he had no law written, but only the law writ ten in his heart ; and therefore the laws given to us are tabula; nostrce corrup tionis, tables and ensigns of our corruption ; and in that also the law is given negatively, as that, Thou shalt have none other gods but me ; Thou * Horatius.
CHAP. II.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 47
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, &c. : this shews that man s nature falls cross with the law, and is opposite to it, for every negative is founded upon an shalt not make to thyself any graven image ; affirmative. Therefore, because man s nature is turned cross to God s law, therefore the law is turned cross to it ; and the Lord saith, Thou shalt not do this or that, which argues that man s nature is wholly corrupt, and so apt to do contrary to that which the law commands.
4thly, The gospel also tells us as much ; for, 1, Christ was made like to us in all infirmities but sin : Heb. iv. 15, * For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (speaking of his human nature). 2. The gospel offers Christ to you, not only to justify, but also to sanctify you ; and therefore it is said, 1 Cor. i. 30, But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. From whence is plainly inferred, that all men by nature are corrupt ; for if the gospel reveal Christ, not only to convey a blessed righteousness, whereby we may appear holy and righteous before the Lord, but also an inherent righteousness to sanctify our nature, then the first Adam brought upon us, not only the guilt of his sin, but also the cor ruption of our nature, and there is this reason for it, because as it is, Rom. v. 13, the first Adam was a type of him that was to come, so that, if the second Adam brought righteousness imputed and inherent, then the first Adam brought not only guilt, but the corruption of nature also.
Again, in that Christ is made unto us sanctification, it argues thus much ; for if there were no corruption, what needed sanctification ? And what need infants, that cannot commit actual sin, to be said to be sancti fied from the womb, as some are ? What need it, I say, if there had been no defilement ?
Again, the remedy must be proportioned to the disease; and if only Adam s sin were conveyed to us, then our justification only were sufficient ; but there must be sanctification also, and therefore there is a defilement of nature also. And therefore the sacraments of circumcision and baptism were ordained even for infants ; and baptism is called a washing away of the filth of the flesh, in respect of this natural corruption, 1 Pet. iii. 21. All which argues that all men by nature are wholly corrupt.
Therefore we are hence to take notice, that we are all, as we came into the world, corrupt, and our nature is defiled. What is grace, then ? It is not only an imputation of the righteousness of Christ, but as you look to be saved by Christ s righteousness, so you must look also to get inherent right eousness from Christ, for every remedy must be proportioned to the disease ; and therefore if you look to be justified by Christ, you must be sanctified also ; and thou that lookest to be saved by thy good works, I tell thee thou must have grace within, a root within, which the stony ground wanted ; thou must have oil in thy vessels with thy lamps, which the foolish virgins had not. Therefore consider whether thou hast a new frame of heart within/and art made a new creature.