CHAP. I.
Of the happy state of man before his Fall.

ALmighty God, who is indepen­dent of all Beings, Immense in his extent, Eternal in his duration, infi­nite in all his perfections, immuta­ble [Page 2] and absolute over all creatures, and he who was without doubt the mystery hidden under the veile of that ancient Statute which bore for device, I am what is, what shall be, and what has been, whose cover no man hath taken off, seeing no ob­ject out of himselfe which could deserve his love; & besides this love, being incited by a holy desire of cōmunicating it self, it was requisite to frame a copy of the Intellectual Original which was in his Idea, and in his heavenly mind; and the world being but a lively vacu­um, but an universal privation of forms and qualities, was chosen as the blank Table whereon he re­solved to draw the first strokes of his goodnesse; and so all nature, as heavens, earth, sea, light, stars, trees, fishes, flashes, furnaces of fire and flames, vast extent of air [...], [Page 3] clouds, abysses, peecipices, all en­gendred out of it by the sole pow­er of the Divinity, by the com­mand of the Word and Love. What I pray doth remain after all these prodigies of power and rare works of love? The Angels are lost without Redemption, and the punishment their insolence hath merited, will pursue them with­out relaxation, term, or pity. It must therefore be concerning mans creation and redemption that a decree is past; it's on man the great God reflected; it's man who must be substitute in the place of Angels; without man all created works seem not sufficiently perfect Now God, the fountaine, cause, and origin of the Universe, the wise and all-knowing Workman, to whom all things possible, drew [...]ut of dirt, morter, and dust, man [Page 4] his master-piece and object of his favour, the Image▪ of his divine E [...]ence, the Accomplisher of his commands, and his Lieutenant up­on earth: It was only man that well deserved the last touches of his omnipotent hands, as the most glorious term of his power, the fa [...] ­rest peece of the Universe, a work so admirable, that it may rather beget admiration, then expressive words: whereas Plato cryes o [...]t, that man is the miracle of all visi­ble miracles, the Horison of all creatures, the all of all, and as it were, the soule of the World. Finally, Pyth [...]gora [...] looks upon man as the measure of all things, in whom are found the longitudes, latitudes, altitudes, and pro [...]ndi­ties of all beings; for its known he hath a being common with [...], a life common with plant [...], [Page 5] a sense common with beasts, and an understanding which equals him with Angels; but he excells them all, in that he was crea­ted from Gods Idea, as the most lively [...]resentation of his great Maker; what ever learned Au­tho [...]s did in general speak in the praise [...], it's certain, that of all the Encomions given to him, the most noble, most august, and most transcendent, is, that man is created to the Image of God, as a character of his Substance and Divinity. O great God, who hath incited thee to heap together in one vessell wrought so admirably out of clay and dust, all the trea­sures of wisedom, greatnesse, and sanctity? why so many sciences, so many knowledges, so many splendors in one mans [...] soul? and why in one single man so many [Page 6] superexcellent graces, perfections, and vertues, the primitive justice, original righteousnesse, a rare re­ctitude of the inner man, a just subordination of the inferiour fa­culties to the superiour [...] cleare light, and the Empire [...] [...]e U­niverse? Herehence Gods nature requireth homages, his Majestie, servitudes; his glory, a [...]iration; his goodness, all acknowledgments and affections of hearts; and though God is good and liberal, yet is he dread, just, and all fore­seeing: If then he foreseeth some danger and evill, let him provi­dently dissolve the occasion, and obstruct the wayes which lead man unto a precipice; let him not u­nite so many millions of mem­bers unto a head, which is able to corrupt them all in an instant, and leave unto the heart of man in de­pendency [Page 7] on created things, and cause efficaciously his affections to be still fastned unto his Creator, that so he alone may be the source of his motions and effects: No, no, the old Adam, our first Parent, must be created perfect; God saw every thing that he made, and behold it was very good; but mutable, for so it pleased God to prepare a way to the execution of his hidden de­cree: Adam must be the cause of our good and evill, and on his good or bad fortune ours must wholly depend: It was very con­venient, that God as absolute Lord and Master, should leave Adam some commandement; and it was likewise very reasonable that A­dam as his servant and creature, should be pliable and obsequious to so just a command and decree, as that of God, reserving the use of [Page 6] [...] [Page 7] [...] [Page 8] tree of the knowledge of good and evill, of which he expresly, and upon pain of death forbids A­dam to taste or gather any fruit amongst all the trees which God hath planted in Paradise: Notwithstanding Adam swallow­ed down that fatall bit, which hath since infected all his posteri­ty, his weaknesse not able to de­ny that to his Wife, which God reserved to himselfe, and blindly have done for the love of a foolish woman, what the eternal wisedom had so expresly forbidden him. O disloyal Adam! that gave more credit to a serpent that deceiv'd thee, then to your Creator, and Truth which can never faile. Here through this act of disobedience in Adam we all fell, and became under sin and death, and all man­kind were convicted and senten­ced [Page 9] to the eternall and temporall death, in the conviction and sen­tence that passed upon him, Gen. 3. 6, 11, 17. 19. Rom. 5. 12, 18. and this without the knowledge or motions of the individualls or particular persons that were to proceed from Adam, yet so veri­ly, vertually, really, and indeed, that all that came forth from him by propagation, doe then, and in that birth, and there throughly partake of sin, death, and misery, and in their several persons respe­ctively bear the image of the first Adam as he was in his [...]all; see Gen. 5. 3. Rom. 17. 19. Job 4. 1: Psalm▪ 51. 5. Rom. 9. 8. Eph. 2. 1, 2. &c, Here we may find out the o­rigin and source of all our evils: hence our miseries dayly finds de­plorable increase; and hence the most shamefull portion of a most [Page 10] sad and disastrous inheritance is dayly transported to the poor children of Adam.

Now man being created for a determinate end, and for a state convenient for his nature, and a­ble to satisfie the original appe­tences of his soule; and no man by natural means able to arrive to the end and period of happinesse, we must follow henceforward the conduct of a supernatural guide, since nature quitteth us here, ha­ving led us on as long as she was able We may consider that God, when he created man, did not as­sign him to remain in the state of pure nature, but did out of his goodnesse confer original righte­ousnesse and grace upon him, which exceeded the sphere of his nature; for God being in his own Essence goodnesse it selfe, cannot [Page 11] choose, but doe unto whatsoever proceedeth from him, all that good which the nature of it is capable of (whether by natural or super­natural means) and his wisedome can readily contrive the meanes to bring that to pass, which his good­nesse disposeth him to doe, and his omnipotency as easily acteth what his other two attributes have projected so that there wanting an infinite capacity of the soule, and without which she must be eternal­ly miserable, it remaineth, that he who gave that capacity, must also afford the object, and assign means how to compasse and gain it; all which is out of the reach of na­ture to discern; and therefore it followeth of consequence, that the Author of nature must needs en­dow man with supernatural means, if he be in a fit disposition to re­ceive [Page 12] them, which may bring him to the supernatural end he was created for.

And of the supernatural gifts, the first, and the ground and foun­dation of all the rest is faith; for whereas that we cannot by any na­tural meanes attain to the know­ledge of any object that may ren­der us compleatly happy in the next life; and yet such knowledge must be had, to the end we may direct our actions to gain the frui­tion of that object: Therefore there is no way left to compass this, but by the instructions and disci­pline of some Master, whose good­ness and knowledge we can no wayes doubt of; by which two perfections in him, we may be se­cure, that he neither can be decei­ved himselfe, nor will deceive us. Now the Doctrine that such a di­vine [Page 13] Master shall teach for such an end, we call faith: Now we must determine that this Master must be God and man, and that the Au­thor of that doctrine we must be­lieve, the instructer of the actions we must perform, and the promi­ser of the happinesse we may hope for, be God himselfe; who only knoweth of himselfe what is said in matters of these natures, and who only is neither liable to be deceived, nor can deceive others, as being the prime verity it selfe: Therefore it was necessary Christ, God and man, should come into the world to teach us what to be­lieve, and what to do, and preach unto us by his example, and him­self be our Leader in the way that he instructed us to take. And we must determine, that those unto whom Christ did immediately [Page 14] preach this faith, and unto whom he gave Commission to preach it unto others, and spread it through the world after he ascendeth to Heaven, ought to be believed as firmly as he himselfe: The reason of this Assertion is, that their do­ctrine, though delivered by secon­dary mouths, yet it proceedeth from the same fountain, which is God himselfe, the prime verity, that cannot deceive nor be decei­ved. But all the difficulty herein, is to know who had this immedi­ate Commission from Christ, and by what seale should we discern it to have been no forged one: The solution of this ariseth out of the same Argument, which proveth that Christ himself was God, and that doctrine he taught was true and divine, which is the miracles and wonders he did, exceeding the [Page 15] power of nature, which could not be effected by any but by God him­selfe; for he being truth it selfe, cannot by any action immediatly proceeding from him, witness and confirm a falshood. In like man­ner, the Apostles doing such ad­mirable works and miracles, as neither by nature nor by Art Ma­gick could be brought to pass, that must necessarily infer God himself co operated with them, to justifie what they said. It is evident that their doctrine (not their own, but received from Christ) must be true and divine: This Faith thus taught by Christ, and propagated by the Apostles, and necessary to mankind to believe, dependeth in­trinsecally upon the testimony of the Primitive Doctors, Fathers, and Councels in church Catholike and Apostolike, which is ordained [Page 16] conserve and deliver it from age to age; and this cannot be but either by the immediate preaching of Christ, or else by the information (either in writing, or by word of mouth) of them that learned it from him, and their delivering it over to others, and so from hand to hand: But from Christs own mouth none could have it but those that lived in the age that he did; therefore there remained no other means to have it derived down to after ages, then by this delivery o­ver from hand to hand of Fathers dispersed throughout the world to the whole congregation of sons or youngers; which proveth that the Church Apostolike is the Conser­ver of the whole doctrine of Faith necessary for salvation, and like­wise of the divine Writ dictated by the holy Ghost, and written by [Page 17] the Prophets, Evangelists, and A­postles, which we are also bound to beleeve. Hence we may de­duce, that into Christs Catholick Church no false doctrine in any age can be admitted or creep in; that is to say, no false proposition whatsoever can ever be received and embraced by the Catholique Church as a proposition of faith. For whatsoever the Church belie­veth as a proposition of faith, is upon this ground, that Christ taught it as such unto the Church he planted himself, and so left it in trust to be by it delivered over to the next age: And the rea­son why the present Church belie­veth any proposition to be of faith▪ is because the immediate prece­ding Church of the age before de­livered it as such; and so you may derive it on from age to age, untill [Page 18] you come to the Apostles and Christ: For to have any false pro­position of faith admitted into the Church in any age, doth sup­pose that all they of that age must unanimously conspire to deceive their children, telling them that they were taught by their Fathers to believe as of faith some proposi­tion which indeed was not; which being impossible (as it will evi­dently appear to any prudent per­son that shall reasonably ponder the matter) that so many men spread throughout the whole world, so different in their particular in­terests and ends, aud of such vari­ous dispositions and natures, should all agree together in the forgery of any precise lye, which is most im­possible; though any one man may be liable to be deceived, or out of some indirect end may be induced [Page 19] to deceive others: Whence I come to say that faith dependeth on these two propositions; First, that whatsoever God said is true Next, that God I said this, whatsoever it be that is delivered thus by the generall practice of the Church. And the primary original na­tural appetence of mans soule, is the love of truth, which it vehe­mently desireth, and is alwayes un­quiet and ardent in the search of it upon what occasion soever; and this acquisition of truth is that which the soule in every action na­turally aimeth at, and detesteth salshood. Therefore, although a­ny particular man, as Dr. Taylor, may have his sense or fantasie so depraved, as to take imperfect or maimed impressions of outward objects; or the powers of his un­derstanding so weak, as to make a [Page 20] preposterous and disorderly colle­ction out of them; or his judge­ment so misguided by preoccupati­on of any affection or particular end, as he may in himselfe be de­ceived, and feed his soule with falshood in stead of truth; or else that sinister respects and interests, or sordid apprehensions of com­modity to himselfe by the sensuall passions tyrannizing over him, a [...] [...]o cause him to swallow mortall baits, making him employ the fa­culties of his understanding, and the powers of his soul, contrary to their natural inclination, to the maintaining of a lye: Yet it is impossible that all mankinde, or such a vast multitude of men as contain in them all the variety of dispositions and affections inci­dent to mans nature, and that are dispersed through the world, so as [Page 21] they can have no communion to­gether whereby they might infect one another / nor can have finister ends common all alike to them all which should invite them to con­spire together to forge a falshood. It is impossible, I say, that such a company of Saints and Doctors should so degenerate from their own nature, which is to love truth, as they should invent a lye, and that (in so important a matter as faith is) they should concur to de­ceive the world of men that should come after them in things of such nature, as their deceit must of ne­cessity damn for all eternity both themselves and all them that shall receive that lye from them; and take it upon their credit. This ge­neral de [...]ection from truth in man­kind is as impossible, as that all one entire element, or any prim [...]geni­al [Page 22] nature should absolutely perish.

Thus I conceive I have made good the Assertion that hath be­gotten this discourse; which is, that Faith conserved and practised in the Catholick Church, and de­livered by perpetual Succession, is most certain, and most infallible: But all this is not enough, our dis­quifition must not rest here, we must not content our selves in this divine affair and supernatural do­ct [...]ine, with a certitude depending only upon natural causes: The wisedome of God proportioneth out congruent means to bring on every thing to their proper end; and mans obtaining beatitude, be­ing the highest end that any crea­ture can arrive unto, and altoge­ther supernatural, it requireth su­pernatural causes to bring us to that end, and a supernaural infal­libility [Page 23] to secure us in that journey: we must therefore not only have a supernatural way to travel in (which is faith) but also superna­tural assurance of the right way, which we may with an humble confidence expect and claim at Gods divine hands: God therefore hath given to his Church the con­tinual assistance of the holy Ghost, to confirm it in the true faith, and to preserve it from error, and to illuminate the understanding of it in right disce [...]ning the true sense of those mysteries of faith that are commited to the custody of it, and to work supe [...] natural effects of true devotion and sanctity in that Church: For Christs doctrine is practical, and aymeth at the wor­king of an effect, which is the re­duction of mankind to beatitude; and that this mankinde: conthre [...] [Page 24] prehendeth not only those that li­ved in that age when he preached, but also all others that ever were since, or shall be to the end of the world. It is apparent, that to ac­complish that end it was necessary Christ should so effectually imprint his doctrine in their hearts whom he delivered it unto, as it might upon all occasions and at all times infallibly expresse it self in action, and in the delivery of it over from hand to hand, should in vertue and strength of the first operation pro­duce ever after like effects in all others. Now unto these rational considerations, let us add the pro­mises which Christ made to his Church, that the gates of Hell should not prevail against it, that the true Doctrine of Christ is con­served, that it can never faile, but must infallibly continue until the [Page 25] end. Thus having produced that a supernatural doctrine is necessa­ry to b [...]ing mankind to beatitude, that Christ taught this doctrine, that from him the Church recei­ved it, and is the Sacrary in which it is conserved; that this Church planted by him in the delivery o­ver of his Doct [...]ine cannot erre, and that it is perpetual: And that if any particular man should goe about to introduce new doctrine of faith no [...] formerly heard of, or renew old damned er [...]ors, as Dr. Taylor doth, drawing the Argu­ments of confirmation thereof out of his own ratiotination and pri­vate discourse, that were enough to convince him of falshood, im­posture, and he [...]esie, since he should the [...]eby undertake to know what were impossible for him of him­selfe to attain to the knowledge o [...]; [Page 26] for herefie I count to be an opini­on repugnant to the grounds of Christian Faith, obstinately main­tained by any that professe the name of Christ. It remaineth now that I close up this discourse by applying the premisses to my purpose and matter at hand. It is an undeniable truth, that Baptism ordained for the cleansing and ta­king away of original sin, derived to all the relative descendants of Adam, is a supernatural doctrine absolutely necessary to bring man­kind to beatitude; that Christ taught this doctrine, and that the same the Apostles and the Church by him planted, received it from him immediately; and that this Doctrine was ever conserved, pra­cticed, and deliverd over from hand to hand by the Primitive best Fathers and Luminaries of that [Page 27] Church untill this very day with­out any interruption; which to deny were not only most impious and heretical, but most absurd to whosoever considereth the infinite goodnesse, providence, wisedom, and omnipotency of the Almigh­ty, yet notwithstanding Pelagius a Welchman, and is usually stiled Pelagius the Brittan, to distinguish him from Pelagius the Samosaten­sian Bishop; his name in Welch was Morgan, which signifies the Sea: This pernicious wretch li­ved in the time of the Emperour Theodosius the younger, and Hono­rius, about the year of our Lord 416. This man, I say, and his fol­lowers Julianus & Celestius, main­tained damnable Heresies against Christs express doctrine; for they taught Adams sin to be noxious to himselfe only, and not to his po­sterity, [Page 28] and the [...]e to be no origi­nal sin: Lust and concupiscence being natural not to be evill, but rather good; and sin not to be propaga [...]ed by generation: The former being granted, children to have no original sin from their pa­rents, and children, though not baptized, to be saved. See Ponta­nus Cath. Heretic. This Pestilent Heresie was spread abroad in ma­ny places, but chiefly in England, because Pelagius being driven from Rome, came thither and infected it with his execrable Erro [...]s: But by the diligent travels and great zeal of one Germanus Altisidorensis and Palladius, sent from Celestinus Pope, both England and Scotland became free from those his Errors, solemnly condemned in the Synod of Carthage, An. 415. in which there were assembled 2 [...]7 Bishops [Page 29] in Numidia, and in the Arausican in Franc. You may find his errors set down by August. Hierome, Am­brose, Isidor. Prosper, and Fulgent. yet notwithstanding in these our late Error-abounding dayes, part­ly through the instigation and ma­lice of Satan, and partly through the power of the Almighties wrath, punishing the contempt of his revealed truth, those damn'd Heresies of Pelagius doth begin to be covertly revived by the crafty insinuating conveyance of one Dr. Taylor, the great Luminary and Pillar of the Protestant Church in England, the only Idol of the Na­tion, and whose writings are ge­nerally cryed up, and highly ex­toll'd by the unsteady multitude, for no other reason that I can ima­gine, but for his sympathizing cor­respondency with them in blind­nesse, [Page 30] inconstancy, and ignorance; yet he is a man that hath his senses or fantasie so depraved, as to take imperfect and maimed impressions of outward objects, and the pow­ers of his understanding so weak and perverted as to make preposte­rous and disorderly coll [...]ctions out of them, and whose judgment is so misguided by pre-occupation of self affection or particular ends, as himselfe becomes most lamenta­bly deceived, feeding his soul with falshood i [...] stead of truth, blindly wading too far without and above his obscure capacity, and low pro­portion of knowledg, into particu­lar uselesse subtilties, doting about frivolous questions and logoma­chies, whereof commeth no fruit other then presumption, dissenti­on, railings, dissolution, [...]vill surmisings, con [...]empt of Christ, of [Page 31] his Doctrine, Sacraments, and di­vine Ordinances, leaving every man to the dictamens of his own private judgment, according to the several tempers and circumstances that sway in every particular, which leadeth on inevitably to A­theism and unchristianity; and all this for sordid apprehensions of base commodity to himselfe▪ ha­ving imployed the faculties of his understanding contrary unto their naturall inclinations, to the main­taining of lyes, and the deceiving of others, expresly against Scrip­ture, and the generally received Doctrine of all the Orthodox Fa­thers, in all Ages perspicuous and eminent in knowledge of tongues, in [...]ight into Antiquity, profound­nesse in Sciences, Perfection and true Sanctity of life, which have shined most rarely in them, and [Page 32] none will deny but these are the likeliest meanes to gain a right in­telligence of the true and deep sense of Scripture, and not the vain dreams and deluding sugge­stions of the private spirit of any Taylor, Sailer, Cobler, Body sel­ler, Tinker, or such like swarm of Locusts, which have so miserably invaded and infected this brave Island, all pretending to have their commission and power derived from Jesus Christ, with so much intemperate boldnesse, as if they were the only persons employed and entrusted by him to doe o [...] un­doe as they please: But let them pretend what they will, its mani­fest Christ concluded of such, John 10. 1. He that entreth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Our Saviour [Page 33] himselfe was the door to his Apo­stles, and his Apostles and their Successors the door to all that ever were admitted Shepherds in a re­gular and Apostolick manner. Now if any desires to know who are the false Prophets, & false Teachers, Dr. Taylor shall resolve him in his Do­ctrine delivered in his Episcopacy asserted, where he holds forth that Christ did institute a government to order and rule his Church by his Authority, and that this go­vernment was delegated to the A­postles by immediate substitution by Christ in traditione clavium, in­spiratione spiritus, &c. And he holds further, that this power was not to expire with their person [...]; for when the great Shepherd had reduced his wandering sheep into a fold, he would not leave them [Page 43] without guides to govern them, so long as the woolf might possibly prey upon them, and that is till the last separation of the sheep from the goats; and this Christ intimates in that his promise, E [...] ­vobiscnm, not with your persons, for they dyed long ago; but vobis­cum & vestri similibus, with Apo­stolical Successors of yours till the end of the wo [...]ld; an [...] therefore that the Apostolat might be perpe­tuall and successive, Christ gave them a power of Ordination, that by imposing hands on others, they might impart th [...]t power which they received from Christ, which was both ordinery and extraordinary; as immediate Mi [...]lion, unlimited Jurisdiction, and miraculous O­perations. It followes therefore that there must remain a power of giving faculty and capacity to per­sons [Page 35] successively, for the execution of that in which he promised per­petuall assistance, which were the Offices and Powers of Preaching, Baptizing, Consecrating, Ordain­ing and Governing, necessary for the perpetuating of a Church, un­lesse men could be Christians that were never Christned, become Priests without Calling of God and Ordination, have their sins pardoned without Absolution, be Members, Parts, and Sons of a Church whereof there is no co­dunation, no Authority, no Go­vernour: It follows therefore out of this Doctrine, that if Dr. Tay­lor, or all other Proiestant Mini­sters, Teachers, or Preachers in England, have not received lawful power, mission, Apostalical facul­ty, or ordination by hand-imposi­tion from true Apostolical Succes­sors [Page 43] [...] [Page 35] [...] [Page 36] they all are reduced to the Nonsuch of their Calling, become meer Laicks, and incapable of a­ny colourable pretence to any suc­cessive Ministerial Apostolical Or­dination or Mission derived from Christ and his Apostles, left as un­fit dispensers of the mysteries of the Kingdome: Then pray by what power or commission doth Dr. Tayler, and other such giddy pretending spirits, preach, teach, guide soules, plant Religion, in­terpret Scripture, and administer Sacraments, intruding themselves, and with a sottish arrogancy usur­ping those sacred Functions? sure the result of this his doctrine, is, that both he, and all other such Ministers, Preachers, Doctors, &c. of the now Protestant Church in Eng­land, must be Roman Catholicks, or claim not at all a pretence to a­ny [Page 37] true Apostolical successive ordi­nation or mission deriv'd from Christ, ex ore tuo te judico serve nequam. Thus you see the Doctor pledg'd in his own cup, and pro­ved a destroyer of his own Do­ctrine and pretended Ministery: I p [...]tty the soules of his misguided and deluded Proselytes▪ Notwith­standing this his Doctrine in his Episcopacy asserted, you shall find quite contradictory in his Epistle Dedicatory to his liberty of Pro­phesying, and all along in that his work, where he allowes an in­differency or countenance to all Sects and new Religions, teaching and encouraging varieties of Sects, and contradictions in opinions, & that men may be saved in any Re­ligion; what is this other then to o­verthrow all Successive Apostolical Ordination and Mission derived from the Apostles for Baptizing, [Page 38] Preaching, Consecrating, and ad­ministring Sacraments, allowed and taught by him in his Episcopa­cy asserted, and to open a wide gate, and make way for all Schism, irreverence, pride of understand­ing, and for a colluvies of Heresies, and by consequence destroy all Re­ligion: and for to justifie forsooth the new birth of his rebellious brain, the first stroke of his pen must be to lay a taint of ignorance and error upon the whole Current of ancient Fathers of the Church and General Councils, and to blast their authority, whose names and records ought to be sacred with po­sterity: and to settle a like beliefe in all men, he gives no general and certain rule, but leaving every man to the dictamen of his own private judgment; hence must result (as by dire experience may be seen) [Page 39] a variety of dayly new opinions as those dictamens of private spirits are different: for who is able to number all the divisions and sub­divisious of all the new Sects that these later dayes have hatch'd in England, occasioned by the large liberty of Prophesying and inter­preting Scripture, given by our new Dr. to all Laicks to preach, teach, guide souls, administer Sacraments, interpret Scripture, and invent new Religions▪ and what not? Oh times! oh manners! is this th [...] fr [...]t of the new wayes, fresh w [...]s, and dayly inventions, whereby the utter desolation is day by day con­summated? are these our new pre­tended Reformers and Lights? Sure they are but meer exhalations, sulphureous M [...]t [...]ors, igues fatu [...], good for nothing but to lead men into lakes and ditches.

[Page 40] If the Reader will but seriously consider and peruse with attention this loose and Independent doctrine of Dr. Tayler, he will finde him like the Chamelion, changing him­self unto all colours, and inventing a trick to min [...] this doctrine, as may be most serviceable to his particular Design and Interest; for sometimes he steers according to the expresse doctrine of Roman Catholick [...]s he so much declames against; sometimes according to the face of a rigid Presbyterian; sometimes according to the successe and atchievements of illiterate Anabaptists; sometimes according to the itch and inclina­tion of Independents; and finally, according to the genius of damned Pelagius, of whom Luther said that he was so called from Pelagus, the Sea; whereas his most impious er­ors, like the Sea, did in a manner [Page 41] overflow the world: Might not Dr: Tayler as well out of his name Tayler be, not unfitly, call'd cauda Draconis, the erring tail of the Dragon meant by S. John, Revel. 12. 4. who saw clearly in a Vision that a time would come when the tail of the Dragon should draw the third part of the stars from heaven: A man may think now the time to be i [...] which that Revelation is ful­filled in Dr. Tayler the posthumus he­reticorum filius & cauda; for doth not he vigorously endeavour to o­verthrow and quite abolish the effi­cacy of Baptism, made the Chara­cteristick note of a Christian from an Heretick, Jew, or Infidell, shewing himselfe to be of so strange and imperious a spirit, as that he would fain confine all the Wits in England to his particular erroneous fancy; so far mistaking [Page 42] himselfe, as to think his bare asser­tions, without competent proofe, should be received for Oracles: What is this but to aime from the blind tail of the people to advance himselfe to such a pitch of presum­ption, as to pretend to trample up­on the Head, Sacraments, and all the mystical body of Christ the u­niversal Redeemer, and bring con­sequently Religion, State and [...]all to ruine and confusion. Take f [...]om Plutarch to this purpose a story of a serpent whose tayl was disconten­ted that the head should have the power to govern and carry it which way soever it pleased; the tayle therefore petitioned that the same power might reside in it; which being unwarily granted upon grea [...] importunity, the tayl, a member o [...] a very active and stirring nature▪ but withall blind, carried the head, [Page 43] breast and body through many holes and crevises, untill at last [...] brought it selfe into such narrow straits that it could not stir, but both head, body, and tayle were all destroyed. This, though but a Fable, hath in it an important mo­rall truth, and may pertinently be applyed by the ingenious to Dr. Tayler. Doe but observe what a brave flourishing Island, most fa­mous for Learning, Piety, Sanctity, and true Religion, setled by Christ the divine Architect, has England been while soules were governed and ruled in the way to common salvation by the Head, viz. by the true Apostolical Doctors and Prea­chers, sent and authorised with di­vine Power, Ordination, and Com­mission, by fit and legal Ministers of the mysteries of the Kingdome, by Christs Emyassadors for Peace and [Page 44] Reconciliation: Then indeed th [...] saving doctrine purely extracted from the true Fountain, did at all times most perspicuously appeare against all avouch'd Heresies and in­tolerable Blasphemies. Then there has been seen a blessed harmonious union in all fundamental principles of Religion constantly maintain'd and preserv'd both in Church and State: But alas! since the planting of new fangl'd Religions, and the rule and government of soules has been by usurpation assum'd by the over-bufie, blind and erring tayle, viz. by Dr. Tayler, and other such like upstart subpedanean Divines, (made Ministers only according to the new model by humane ordina­tion, and now justly cast out of Church-government, and levelled to the rank of the unsteady vulgar) this gallant Nation is become in­glorious, [Page 42] the light and liberty of the Gospel extremely ecclips'd, if not quite extinguish'd; new inven­tions and dreams, leading to con­fusion, death, and perdi [...]ion, day­ly cryed up and entertain'd; the Lords Prayer, Apostles Creed, all Sacraments, and the 39. Articles, antiquated and contemned, perni­tious doctrines in faith hourly ac­cruing together with an inundati­on of vices and corrupted manners; no faith cut fancy and opinion; no hop [...] but presumption; no charity but lust; no God but an Idol; as S. Au [...]. said Ep. 64. Homini extra Ecclesiam Religio sua est cultus phan­tasinatum suorum, aut error suus est De [...]s suus. Thus leaving the Dr. Tayl to the reclaiming and detesta­tion of his confused doctrine, I come to my main intendment.

CHAP. II.
Of the dismall state of man of his Fall.

ADam the great Representative of Mankinde, and the begin­ner of a temporal happy life, in the first instance of his Creation, a­mongst many other graces and sin­gular endowments, did receive from God Original righteousness, which is not the same distributive justice, one of the cardinal vertues; nei­ther that by which we are justified, which is called the grace of remissi­on of sins: But this Original Ju­stice in Adam is a certain kinde of rectitude in the whole man, viz. [Page 47] of the body to the soule, and of the sensitive appetite to reason meant by the Ecclesiast in these words, Fe­cit Deus hominem rectum, God made man upright; and because this rare gift of righteousnesse has been receiv'd by Adam from God, and was to be transmitted by original propagation to Adams Posterity, if he had not sinned, its fitly called original. By this original justice mans will was more firmly fastned to God then by grace; for this u­nites us to our final end as a super­natural good; but original righ­teousness unites to the same as both convenient and delectable; and by this rectitude, reason became sub­ject to God, the inferiour faculties to reason, and the body to the soule: the first subjection being the cause of the second and third; for reason remained subject to God [Page 48] all the inferiour faculties must also remain subject; which cannot be unlesse grace be conjoyn'd with o­riginal justice; and this subjection of the body to the soule, and of in­feriour faculties to the superiour, could not be a natural gift, but ra­ther a supernatural; otherwise it would have remained in man after his fall, whereas in damn'd soules all natural gifts doth still remaine. By this supernatural gift superin­duc'd Adam had a title and right to heaven, which with nature was to be transfused to poste [...]ity if sin had not hindred it; but the sin of Adam destroyed his original righ­teousnesse, and lost it to us for ever; it corrupted his nature and ours too, and the consequent and saddest of all is, by it we are borne enemies of God, sons of wrath, and heirs of eternall damnation, carrying [Page 49] and deriving stil a natural pronesse afomes, or nest of sin imprinted in our soules, despoyled and devested by way of punishment of all the su­pernatural assistances which God put into our nature, being left na­ked and in pure naturalls, depriv'd of any title to heaven; that is, it hath in it neither strength to live a supernatural life, nor title to a hea­venly; so as the sin which was committed in the original of man­kinde by our first parent, and which had a sad influence upon all his posterity, brought upon Adam and us all that God threatned and no more, which is eternal and tem­poral death with the proper effects and affections of mortality; and thus we are formally and properly made sinners by Adam, and in him by interpretation we all have sin­ned, and God does truly and justly [Page 50] impute his to us to make us as guil­ty as he that did it, and as much punished and liable to eternal dam­nation. Whereas all the superna­tural gifts and eudowments con­ferr'd on Adam, were not conferr'd on him as he was an individual person, but as he was a publick representative and common head of all humane nature, to be transfu­sed to posterity by a continual se­ries of seminal generation; whence original justice comes rightly so to be called; neither Adam became ob­liged to transmit those preternatu­ral gifts to his children by any pre­cept or covenant other then by the same of not eating of the forbidden fruit; for we are bound by no other precept to preserve grace then by the same by which we are obliged to observe Gods Law; because the Author of nature had power to ob­lige [Page 51] all mankinde in Adam the f [...]st original and head thereof; so as that he prevariting all his posterity, should likewise be comprehended both in the sin and guilt thereof (now the reason of original sin be­gins to appear.) But whereas A­dam then has been not only all hu­mane nature, but also the seed and seminal root thereof, in whose loyns all mankinde as in the origi­nal, head, fountain, and seminary were comprehended, involv'd, and included, though not formally, yet originally, radically, representa­tively, and seminally, by his trans­gression of the first commandement impos'd under inevitable paine of eternal & temporal death, brought on himselfe and all mankinde both the guilt of sin and death; as S. Aug. hyp. art. 2. saith, Cum Adam peccavit natura in illo tota peccavit. [Page 52] When Adam sinned, in him all na­ture likewise have sinned; the rea­son is, because that sin was volun­tary in order to us, Adams posteri­ty; whereas for the preservatio [...] of that original righteousnesse bes [...]ow­ed upon all humane nature, Adams will in a manner was accounted and reputed the will of all man­kinde; as a Kings will is accoun­ted the will of the whole Kingdom and the will of a Civil Magistrate the will of all the Citizens, mani­festly expressed by Saint Paul in those words, in quo omnes peccave­runt; which words have their refe­rence to the man, not to the sin; for the greek word is the masculine gender, as S. Austust. understood it lib. de peccatorum merit is, cap. 10. his reason is, Quia ait omnes homi­nes fuerunt ille unus homo, viz. Adam quod intellige non formaliter, sed origi­naliter, [Page 53] radicaliter, seminaliter, & representativè quia viz. omnes homi­nes in illo primo homine quasi radice, parente, & principio suo contenti, censi, & comprehensi fuerunt: nam quidquid Adam fecit omnes ejus posteri fecisse censentur, sicut Rex representat reg­num, & Magistratus Civitatem. Of this judgement was Origines, Chry­sost. Theoph. Occumen, and for the most part all the Latine and Greek Fathers. If you'l ask why God was pleas'd that if Adam should sin, we his posterity should contract the guilt of his sin? I answer, that it was done by the occult judgement and decree of God, according to S. Aug. l. 5. contra Julia. c. 3. & S. Bernard Serm. [...]. de Dominica post oct. Epiphan. And if further you'l ask why God did place our merit and demerit in the hand and will of Adam, to the prejudice as [Page 52] [...] [Page 53] [...] [Page 54] it were of his dominion and pow­er, by which he could both doe and decree what ever he pleased? I answer with all the wise and lear­ned, The reason was, that Adam should be the t [...]pe and figure of Christ, in whose hand and will God was pleased to place our hap­pinesse and redemption, and that he for us may merit grace and glo­ry, as Adam brought upon us the guilt both of sin and punishment. Before Adam was created or preva­ricated. God from all eternity by a conditional omniscient know­ledge did foresee all future contin­gent things, and according to the same hath will'd and decreed to certain purposes, that both Adam and all his posterity should be in order to Christ, and to be as the type and true figure of Christ, and of all things that were to be brought [Page 55] to passe by Christ; for God was pleas'd to manifest in Christ all his power, wisedome and glory; and therefore ordain'd and decreed that he should be the origin, exemplar, and period, not only of all elects, but also of his works, as is clearly put down, Coloss. [...]. 15. So that there has been not only in the real execution, but also in the very di­vine decree of God a mutual con­tradependency or Anthithesis be­twixt Christ and Adam: Whereas Adam would not have been the first father, origin, and representative head of all men, for that reason onely, that he might transmit or convey either original righteous­nesse or sin to his posterity, unlesse it should have been to that end that he might be a true type and figure of Christ, who was to be the com­mon Father and Redeemer of all [Page 56] Gods Children. This compara­tive Analogy, and most rare and specious Antithesis betwixt God and man, twixt the Creator and cerature, twixt the two great re­presentative heads and beginnings of Sin and Grace, the first and se­cond Adam is made manifest by many reasons.

First, Even as the terrene Adam without any Father was framed from incorrupted earth; even so the Celestial Adam Christ was con­ceived and borne by the operation of the Holy Ghost from the ever­blessed Virgin Mary.

Secondly As Adam was the be­ginning of an animal and sinfull life; so Ch [...]ist was the true foun­tain and offspring of a pure spiri­tual life.

And thirdly, As Eve for the propagation of monkinde was e­dified [Page 57] from a rib of Adams side; even so in Christ, the saving Church his Spouse (which would dayly en­gender children for him by meanes of the great Sacraments the conduits of his blood) did flow from his sa­cred side on Mount Calvary: And as Adam by eating of the forbidden fruit did transgresse Gods com­mand, and therewith brought on all his posterity, even before we could know any thing of it, sin and death. Even so Christ on the fatal beam of the Crosse, obeying the commands of his Heavenly Fa­ther, redeemed and restored us fro [...] ▪ death to life. Finally, as through▪ Adams vi [...]iated seminal generation we are dayly borne children of wrath, and heirs of damation, the guilt of sin remaining still occult and hidden: Evenso through Bap­tism, institued by Christ, we are [Page 58] dayly regenerat [...]d, grace still re­maining hidden and occult.

CHAP. III.
Where the state of the question depending of the right under­standing of Original Sin, as touching the true sense and verball signification thereof, is held forth.

COncerning this; it will not be amisse in order to many good purposes, to observe that Original sin▪ may be considered in order to God, and so it may be call'd death, wrath, and enmity; for by it God was induced to punish both Adam and his posterity; and in this sense [Page 59] its calle [...] in Scripture ire or wrath; so S. Paul, Ephes. 2. said, that [...]e have been by nature childen of wrath; which Li [...]a expounds thus, we are borne in original sin. Secondly, It may be compar'd to the Vision Beatifical, which is true everlasting life, from which original sin doth avert and turn; fitly thus its cal­led death, as S. Paul, Rom. 5. By the death of one man many are dead, and by the sin of one man death reign'd. Thus original sin is truly call'd death, for that it averted from God true life. Thirdly, If original sin, considered as in order to the soule of man, may be call'd infirmity, whereas mans soule by it is rendred weak and infirme, hardly able to resist illegal and lustful motions and desires: This kind of infirmity the Royal Pro­phet complained of, and did ac­knowledge, [Page 60] when he said, Miserere mei Domine, quia infirmus sum. It may likewise not unfitly be called feditas, or macula, a stain, or im­perfection; for the soule by it is maculated and stain'd, according to Jeremi. 2. Si laveris te nitro ma­culata es in iniquitate tua coram me dicit Dominus. It may also be cal­led a pronenesse, or propension to evill, by reason that mans will, disrobed of original justice through sin, hath incurr'd an innate and genuine propension to sin and evill motions, Gen. 6. Cuncta cogitati [...] cordis intentae est ad [...]malum omni tempore. It may likewise be called a Vice, diminishing natural Ver­tues, whereas all men conceived in original sin doe feel g [...]eat reluctan­cy to godlinesse, &c. Finally, original sin considered according to its proper sense and meaning, [Page 61] hath two parts; the one, the ma­te [...]ial part, viz. Concupiscence, which is a kind of infirm and weak quality; the other the formal part, viz. the want or privation of ori­ginal justice due to nature; as in the actual sin of wilfull murder two things may be considered: a posi­tive thing in the soule, viz. a cer­tain deliberate act consented to by the will, as is velle occidere; this is intrinsecal, and is quid materiale, but the formal part is the privation or want of the righteousness which ought to be in that act, which if had been in it, the act could ne­ver be a sin: So in original sin is included both the guilt of sin and of punishment; the guilt of sin, because its a privation of original justice, a deformity, curuity, or obliquity in the soule; the guilt of punishment, which in Infants is [Page 62] term'd concupiscibility, and in the adults actual concupiscence: Hence we infer that original sin properly doth consist in the privation of ori­ginal justice due to humane nature received and lost in Adam; for sin' properly is injustice, and injustice nothing but the privation of ju­stice: Here we may consider, that of things some are positive, others privative; the positive are all reall substances, together with their pro­perties and passions, powers and fa­culties, imprinted by the Almigh­ty in their nature▪ the privative, are those that doth grant and pre­suppose the absence of some such reall entity as ought to be in the thing; and such is sin, which pro­properly is no existing, or real thing, or entity, but rather the ab­sence of some such substance which ought to be in the creature; and [Page 63] although it be inherent in positive things as a meer privation, yet it alwayes ought to be really distin­guished from them; so as that sin is no other then the very want, losse or privation of that good which God ingraff'd in the nature of his creature. For example: Original sin transmitted to Adams posterity, is but the privation or want of original justice and grace ingraffed in Adams nature, to be conveyed to his children; Si A­dam non posuissem demeritum & [...] ­bicem. We may further consider to our purpose, that a thing which in its proper nature is evill, in Gods eternal counsel is respe­ctively good, being ordered as the occasion, meanes, or way to man [...] ­fest Gods glory, his justice, good­nesse and mercy: For God per [...]i [...] ­teth evill by a certaine voluntary [Page 64] permission, in that he for saketh the second cause in working evil, ei­ther by withholding, or detracting the grace it had, or not bestowing that which is wanting; neither in this must we imagine God unjust, who is indebted to none: And that which is thus evill by Gods permission, may be deem [...]d good in order to his glory.

First, in that its a punishment for sin, and punishment is accoun­ted a moral good, it being the part or▪ office of a just Judge to punish sin and transgressions.

Or secondly, as a meer action; which if so considered. God is not only a bare [...]e [...]missive Agent in pro­ducing an evill work, but also a powerful effecter of the same, yet so as neither instilleth an aberrati­on, curbity, or obliquity in the act, neither yet supporteth or intendeth [Page 65] the same, but most freely suffereth evill, disposing it best to his owne greater glory; and so he doth not assist man with new grace for to stand, but for just causes forsaketh him, and so leaves him quite to fall from God. Thus we may consider Adam created perfect, yet changeable; for so it pleased God to prepare a way to the executi­tion of the decrees of his divine providence.

CHAP. IV.
Where Original Sin is clearly proved to be formally and pro­perly a sin, not figuratively, as Dr. Tayler doth dream with Pelagius his curs'd Symmist.

ORiginal Sin is attributed to Adams posterity, as relating to nature, & common to all mankind, not to any singular person; for whatever is attributed in respect of nature, is attributed to all men, as if they were all one single man; for Porphirus hath in praedic. de spe­cie, that Participatione speciei plures homines sunt u [...]us homo. As for ex­ample: To be rational, is not at­tributed [Page 67] to any particular or sin­gular person; as distinct from all others, but generally to all, as they are one man; because it is attributed to man in respect of all nature; for this, and that man, nay all men, as they are rational, they differ not one from another, but are counted specifice one ratio­nal man: So that even as actual sin is attributed to some man in re­spect of his individual person to whom it's proper to act; and sin, according to Aristotle in 1. Metaph. Suppo [...]rorum sunt actiones: Even so original sin, viz. the sin conveyed by origine or generation, is attri­buted to man in respect of nature; for whereas generation was ordai­ned for the conservation thereof, which nature is together with sin communicated to all individually; for even as the hand that commit­ted [Page 68] a murther (as is already said) is not culpable, for that it was not moved to the act precisely from it selfe, but by the command of the will; yet in as much as it is a mem­ber of that man that wilfully com­mitted the murther, its really and truly counted culpable, and is just­ly mutilated; even so, though e­very individual relative descend [...]nt of Adam be not, in respect of the person, culpable, yet every man, having received his nature from him that depraved and voluntari­ly maculated the same, is in a man­ner voluntarily become culpable, in just, and a sinner; so as that the original inordination, or natural sin in every natural person, is not voluntary by the will of that sin­gular person, but by the will of the first man, who as the first ori­gine, moved, communicated, and [Page 69] conveyed by way of generation, nature so infected and vitiated to posterity. For example: Adam, after the losse of original righte­ousnesse begat children, and con­sequently after he felt and had a rebellion in his flesh against his spi­rit, and an inordinate motion in his members, and so the act of ge­neration in him became mixt with lust and concupiscence; and this ever since the losse of original righ­teousnesse, by which he was to be ruled: And for this reason nature traduced or conveyed from him, is still found with sin and corrup­tion; and if you look for the narrow way, through which ori­ginal sin is conveyed, it is the in­fected slesh transmitted by concu­piscence, whereby the soule, crea­ted without any stain, is macula­ted: This is manifest from Saint [Page 70] Augustins answer to Julian the A­postates question: Quid quer [...] ti­ [...]am cum habens apertam [...]anuam? As if the Saint had said, Look for no other conveyance or cause but Adams sin, and the natural propa­gation of his infected flesh, which by a moral efficiency corrupted and stain'd the soule; neither this pro­pagation can absolutely be the cause, whereas this would have been in the state of innocency; but its lust, yet not lust absolutely, but the inordinate ardor of lust; so that the soule contracts original sin, be­cause the same is produced in the corrupt flesh, not Physically, but only Morally, by natural propaga­tion.

Original sin is no stain or spot in the flesh, neither a privation of a­ny such quality in the same, by which it should become subject or [Page 71] rebellious to the spirit, or the in­fe [...]iour faculties to the superiour: This is manifest, because sin is in­justice; but the flesh is incapable of justice or in justice; neither is original sin essentially concupis­cence, whether it be taken for the natural inclination to evil, or for the voluntary or involuntary mo­tion of concupiscence, because ha­bitual concupiscence is a sensitive appetite which is n [...]tural to man, and therefore no sin; neither can it be the inclination of the will, for that is natural, and a real po­sitive entity; neither is it a privation of any natural rectitude, but of a supernatural; neither is it only pu­nishment of sin, but hath in it the nature of sin essentially and formal­ly; and is called the sin of nature, because its derived by natural or seminal generation.

[Page 72] It's therefore most certain, that original sin is no vitious habit, no pronesse or concupiscence of the flesh, neither any infectious dis­ease, positive stain, or rust in mans soule, but it is a privation of ori­ginal justice which ought to be in our nature, as due to it, because received and lost in our first Father Adam: But concupiscence, by ma­ny Saints held to be original sin, may be two way [...]s considered; ei­ther as it is an act, habit, or a prone­nesse in the sensitive appetite, and neither of these is formally a sin; for sin is never in the sensitive part; or else this concupiscence is the pronesse in the rational appe­tite, viz. the will, exciting to the desire of things pleasing, and im­moderately convenient to the sen­sitive appetite to which it is con­joyned: And thus concupiscence [Page 73] considered is the material part in original sin, because the will, through the want of original ju­stice, is left prone to rebellion a­gainst reason.

That original sin is formally the want of original justice, is thus prov'd: Every sin formally is in­iustice; Ergo every sin is the privati­on of some justice or righteousness due, but the righteousness due to In­fants, is not actual but original: Er­go original sin is formally the want of original righteousnesse due to e­very individual.

Further, Even as actual sin is the want or losse of the righteousnesse and rectitude which ought to be in the consented act of the will; even so original sin is the privation of o­riginal justice and rectitude which ought to be in uature, which recti­tude is original righteousnesse; for [Page 74] as every act hath naturally annexed to it a proper rectitude, so humane nature was created by God with its proper natural and supernatural rectitude; whereas original justice as a special gift bestowed by God, not only on Adam, but also on all his relative descendants, was a kind of rectitude and justice due and belonging to nature, so as the loss▪ privation, or want thereof, became a vice or sin in nature; and thus the want of it is the want of due justice or righteousnesse, but the privation or want of it is a sin, not actual, because its not lost by any proper consented act of the will, but rather it is sin original that is contracted and derived to us day­ly through the actual disobedience of Adam.

Further, I say that by original Justice man was made acceptable [Page 75] and gra [...]eful to God; therefore by the losse or privation of original justice, man is out of Gods favour and grac [...]; and for this reason sin is counted the death of the soule, as grace is the life of it; for with­out habitual grace, which is equi­valent to original justice, none can become grateful to God, nor be capable of any title to Heaven: Whence we may infer children to be in God Almighties debt for o­riginal righteousnesse; for they all have received it in Adam from God, who giving the same to him by his antecedent will, gave it likewi [...]e to all his posterity; though it was not given by a consequent will, quia Adam posuit demeritum; which is the reason why God doth justly exact the same of us, and so we become in his debt in just and formally sinners: In this all the [Page 76] Ancient Doctors doe agree.

And although original sin con­veyed to posterity, cannot without special revelation be proved or e­vinced by any natural ratiotinati­on; (for how can it by humane dis­course be evidenc'd that Adam did receive f [...]r himselfe and his poste­rity the gift of original justice? or that Adam was appointed the great representative head in ess [...] morali of all humane nature? or that by him those principles of morally work­ing well, viz. grace, righteousness, innocency, &c. should be derived to his posterity? and that as the propagation of humane nature in esse naturali did depend of him, so should likewise the conservation or losse of that happy state in esse morali? or how can it appeare by natural reason, that Adam preva­ricating, all his posterity not exi­sting [Page 77] in rerum natura, should pre­varicate also?) which without the light of faith, and the beliefe of what is said, cannot be apprehen­ded; yet we may find out for the explicating of original sin, some congruent Theological reasons: The first is, that ever in Gods Church, from its very beginning, there has been not only in the law of nature, but also in the old and new, a special remedy, instituted for the cleansing of original sin from Infants; so its most manifest, that the Church held and taught that Infants doe contract original sin; for if they had not in them original [...]n to be wash'd away by Circumcision or Baptism, then the form of Circumcision and Baptism in them would prove false; but the consequent is absurd and here­tical, Ergo &c.

[Page 78] Now let us but further consider what reasons may induce us to sub­mit to this Doctrine of originall sin.

First, For the Antiquity of it: We finde some footsteps thereof under the Law, yea before the Law, though more darkly; but under the Law we may see the footsteps there­of more manifest, though not so perspicuous as under the Gospel, where truth appeares, as it were, with open face; for you may read Gen. 17. The uncircumcised man­child whose flesh is not circumcised, that soule shall be cut off from the people. The which Text Saint Au­gust. lib. 1 [...]. de Civitat. Dei c. 27. & lib. 2. de p [...]ccato originali, &c. 30. contra Coelestium, understands as relating to Infants not circumci­sed, and therefore liable to pu­nishment; which S. August. a [...] ­scribes [Page 79] to Adams prevarication, in which all Infants have prevarica­ted, and became sinners upon that account.

Secondly, You may read, Psalm 50. the Royall Prophet moaning that he was conceived in [...]niquity and sin, according to the Hebrew Text.

Thirdly, You may read in Ec­cles. 25. A muliere initium peccat [...] & per illam omnes moriuntur. And in Job, Pereat dies in quae na [...]us sum, & nex in qua dictum est con­ceptus est homo. And in the 14. Chapt. Quis potest facere mundum de imundo concep [...]um semine, &c. And Chap. 25. according to the 70 Interpreters, Nemo mundus a sor­de neque Infans unius diei: Whence John Baptist cryed out, Ecce Agnus Dei, [...]cce qui tellit peccata mundi. In the Greek Text we read peccatum [Page 80] mundi, which is Adams sin con­veyed to posterity. These are ve­ry plain; but more manifestly clear places you may read in the New Testament. First S. Paul to the Romans, C. 5. Sicut per unum homi­nem peccatum & per peccatum mors, &c. Which words, the Primitive Church and all the Ancient Fathers doe understand of original sin; which Interpretation is allowed and defin'd by many Councels. The second place is 2. ad Corinth. 4. Si u [...]us pro omnibus mortu [...]s est Christus &c. therfore all were dead, then Christ dyed f [...]r Infants: But they died, not by any actual sin; therefore it must be by original sin. The third place is that of S. Paul Ephes. 2. Eramus natura filii irae: From which place S. August. de pec­catorum merit. & remiss. c. 20. & in Serm. 14. de verbis Apost. Ex­poundeth [Page 81] these words, natura filii irae, originaliter, saying, filius au­tem irae is a sinner: So if we all have been by nature children of wrath, we all must by nature be sinners. And its observable, that Adams sin (as its revealed in holy Scripture) had two far different effects; the one proper and conna­ [...]ur [...]l to his offence, which was the infection of all his posterity, borne (by natural generation) with original sin; the other effect was also by occasion of that gene­ral infection of all mankind, but properly of the inexplicable good­nesse and mercy of God, ordain­ing for remedy of this universall infection, the Incarnation and death of our blessed Saviour Christ, by whose superabundant grace his faithfull children are cleansed from all sins original and actuall, and [Page 82] rendred far more exceeding grati­ous and glorious then otherwis [...] they should have been. Both which effects S. Paul teacheth, Rom. 8. v. 12, 13, 14. concluding this first pol [...] with an Appendix, that Ada [...] wa [...] a figure of Christ to come, signi­fying, that as by the sin of Adam we all dyed, so by the grace of Christ all his children doe live Touching the other effect, viz. a­bundance of grace by Christ, he addeth the great difference, say­ing, But not as the offence, so also the gif [...]. For if by the one, m [...]n [...] died; much more the grace of God, and the gift in the grace of one man Jesus Christ hath abounded upon ma­ny, v. 15. And not as by one sin, s [...] also the gift for judgement [...] of one [...]condemnation: but grace [...] of m [...]y offe [...]ces [...] justification, v. [...]. For if [...] the [...]ence of one, death [Page 83] reigned by one; much more they that receive the abundance of grace, and of the donation of justice [...] shall reign in life by one Jesus, vers. 17. Thus by S. Pauls▪ Do­ctrine in that place, and ver. 18, & 19. is verified that which the [...]ue Church so solemnly singeth in the great Festivity of our redempti­on: O certe necessarium. Adae pecca­catum quod Christs mirt [...] deletum est. And O [...] culpa [...] & [...]autum meritum hab [...]re [...]re [...]dempt [...] ­rem. Whereto agree many other passages in the rest of S. Paul [...] Do­ctrine; and the same is brie [...]ly com­prised in that which S. John Bap­tist denounc'd of our blessed Savi­our, saying. Behold the Lamb of God, behold him: that taketh away▪ the sin of the world. That is, principally Christ came to take away the gene­ral sin, which being actual in A­dam, [Page 84] is original in the whole world; and therefore is call'd the sin of the world. And the same is the general doctrine of S. John A­post. & Evangelist, saying, If wee walk in the light, as God also is in the light, and the blood of Jesus his son cleanseth us from all sin; first, from original, then also from actual. You may find moreover in S. Luke 10. v. 30. all mankinde devested of grace, and wounded in natural fa­culties by Adams fall; for our Savi­our in a Parable saith, How a cer­tain man went down from Jerusalem unto Jericho, and fell among the [...], who spoiled him, and giving him wounds, went away leaving him halfe dead. Of no particular man can this Parable be so properly expoun­ded, as of all mankinde in general, contained in Adam our first Parent, who being indued with all neces­sary [Page 85] gifts narural and supernatural, going from Gods commandement, yeelded to false imaginations of bettering his state, as it were des­cending from Jerusalem the Vision of peace to Jericho, signifying the Moon (which is unconstant and mutable) fell among theeves, the Devils, who spoyled and wounded him, and left him halfe dead; for Adam by sinning, and all men in him were spoyled of original ju­stice and all supernatural graces, and wounded in natural powers of understanding and f [...]e [...]will [...], not wholly deprived of all, but spoy­led of the best part, and wounded in the rest; spiritually dead, and sub [...]ect both to temporal and eter­nal death, [...] relicto, le [...]t halfe dead and halfe alive; though left without help by the Priest and Le­vi [...]e, the Sacrifices, and other Mini­steries. [Page 96] The result of all is this▪ Original sin is no inherent substan­tial thing in man, but a privation of original justice; and after the laver of Regeneration and Justifi­cation by Baptism, sin properly so called, is no longer remaining in the regenerate; yet still there re­maines an inclination unto sin, called concupiscence, out of which sin notwithstanding cannot be pro­duced but by our negligence and free consent: All this is affirmed by many Saints, and especially by S. Basil in oratione quod Deus non sit Author malorum. S. Epiphanius, S. Ambrose, Cyprian, S. Hierom, S. Hilarius, S. John Chrysostom, &c. This Doctrine was decreed in seve­rall general Councels, as hereafter shall appear. But that Infants were holy from their mothers wombe, and may be saved without Baptism, [Page 97] and that therefore there is no ne­cessity of the Laver of Regenera­on to wash away original sin, was the exprest heresie of Pelagi [...]s, this day held forth boldly, though co­vertly, by Dr. Tayler; which per­verse Doctrine was condemned by several Councels. First in the East, at the first Palestine Councel it was solemnly condemn'd. After in the West, in Efrick, in the Milevi­t [...] Councel it was decreed Can. 2: That whosoever deny Baptism to new-borne Infants, or aver that they contract not Original staine and sin from Adam, which need­eth a Regeneration, Anathe [...]ia sit. In the [...] Councel turned out of Greec [...] [...] Pisanus, and in the first Constantinople Coun­cel in Simbolo. This was decreed in the fourth Councel of Carthage, where there met 217. Prelates and [Page 98] most learned Doctors. And in the fifth Constantinople Councel, Zoara, S [...]us Monachus, Severus An [...]i­cher, Petrus Antichenus, and Anty­mus, were as Parabaptists condem­ned. You may read in the sixth Tolletan Councel, Can. 2. of the three Divine persons, onely the Son of God became man for the Redemption of mankind from the debt of sin originally contracted from Adams inobedience. In the second Araus [...]c [...]n Councel in France, Can. 2. you have what doth follow. If any man shall hold that Adams sin hurted him alone, and not his Posterity, or that only it brought corporal, [...] not eternal death, which is [...], the cause of temporal death upon all mankind, this man doth great in justice to God, and downright contradicts the Apostle S, Paul, who teacheth [Page 99] that by one man sin came into the world, and by sin death, and so death was derived to all men. I [...] the Maguntine Councel in Germany Can. 5. we read thus: The sin of our first Parent has been conveyed to all men by seminal propagati­on, and draweth along with it punishment, so as all men are guilty of Gods enmity and eternal damnation, and all are become prone to sin. All which Decrees were renewed in the two last gene­ral Councels Florentinum & Triden­tinum, which in literis vniouis tea­cheth thus; The soules of those that departed in actual or original sin only doth descend into hell there to be punished, though not all alike: Therefore neither our Dr. Tayler, nor the Anabaptists, can without impudent temerity renew or maintain this most pernicious [Page 100] venom of Heresie, so often and so solemnly condemned. From this uniform ancient Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers, Saints, and ho­ly Doctors, is discover'd that ma­nifest grosse error of Doctor Tay­ler, who doth acknowledge no in­l [...]ent sin but that which is com­ [...]tted by a real proper consent of the will, which is such another pitiful mistake, as that this word original sin was not used or menti­oned in Scripture or Fathers before by S. Augustine invented, which is notoriously false; whereas this is such another meer illusion as the same of the Arians, who denied ab­solutely the word homusion to be found in the Gospel: But just as those inveterate Hereticks were con­futed, and convicted, so is our mo­dern Dr. Tayler: For as in the Gos­pel we have these words, I and my [Page 101] Father, are one, comes to be the same in substance, as if homusion were expresly set down; for where the real thing in sense & substance is found, there the name is inclu­ded: Thus what is more clearly express'd in Scripture then that our first Parent Adam was created upright, viz. in a rectitude of vertues, grace, and faculties, by which he was left capable of attai­ning to that final supernatural end for which he was created; and like­wise all his Posterity had a just ti­tle thereunto, while Adam would have had continued in his obedi­ence to God; whence the word o­riginal justice is derived and e­vinced, which may be called inna­ted, connatural, native, and genu­ine Justice: Even so by S. Paul in many places, All men have sinned in Adam, and are denounc'd by [Page 102] nature children of wrath and per­dition; which in expresse signifi­cant terms is nothing else then that Adams actual sin has been the natu­ral, innated, hereditary, genuine, and lin [...]ally descending habitual sin of his posterity, contracted by seminal generation from him; which in effect is original sin super­induced and conveyed by natural generation by Gods occult decree.

CHAP. V.
The former Doctrine proved out of the Fathers, shamefully corrupted by Dr. Tayler.

IS it possible that a man that pre­tends not only to be a Christian, but a Minister, a Preacher of the Word, a Doctor, and such as is generally counted for a learned and spiritual writer among the Protestants, so far to forget him­selfe, as most shamefully to bring Antiquity it selfe for his Doctrine, and particularly those very Au­thors who were the greatest oppo­sers of his Pelagian Heresie, as Chrysostom, S. Ignat. Martyr, S. Am­brose, [Page 104] &c. Sure the Dr. cannot gain but dishonour and infamy, in al­ledging Authors for patronage of his Errors, the whole straine of whose writings are so directly op­posite unto him and his Doctrine; and in producing these Doctors as of his minde and judgement, he doth but abuse them, and they rightly understood, accuse him: For not one of the passages quoted out of the Fathers by him that give the least shadow of an appro­bation or countenance to any of those his heretical Assertions; nei­ther do I find, to my remembrance, throughout his whole Treatise of Original Sin one quotation, ta­ken either out of Scripture, Fa­thers, or modern Interpreters, per­tinently applied, nor any solid thing like an Argument to prove the thing he undertakes to shew, [Page 105] as the ingenious Reader shall clearly perceive; and that all his Allegations out of Scripture and Fathers help him not at all, but ra­ther expresly speak against him: Doe but take notice, with what Engines doth he draw his Conclu­sion from the premisses of S. Dio­ [...]is. Areopag. his doctrine; for no­thing doth he say that looks his way, but rather against him; here are his words, lib. de Ecclesiast. Hierarch. c. 3 p. 3. where he doth ascribe Adams sin to all humane nature, and at last giveth a reason for it, Quia natura humana cedens fraudibus Satanae vitale jugum ex­cussit. I refer the Reader to this place in the Author, where he will plainly finde all along the Doctor Tayler impugned; he brings S. Ig­natius his doctrine to agree with his; but its observable that in him [Page 106] there is no syllable to prove how or wherein; whereas in his Epistle ad Trallianos he hath thus. Christus dilexit nos dans semetipsum pro no­bis ut nos sanguine suo mundaret ab antiqua impietate. Here lieth the miserable mistake of the Doctor Tayle, taking impiety for tempo­ral death, which is most absurd and ridiculous: for impiety here by the Saint is taken for Adams sin conveyed to mankind, for which Christ died: S. Irenaeus; lib. 5. c. 17. hath these words: Delevit Chri­stus Chirographum, viz. debita nostra affigens illud cruci uti quema [...]modum per lignum facti sumus debitores Deo, per lignum accipiamus debiti remis­sionem. Are not these words ex­presly against the Doctors doctrine; for out of this Author every relative from Adam descendant has contra­cted a debt through Adams trans­gression; [Page 107] for every particular indi­vidual had obligation in Adam to preserve original righteousnesse; and because it was not preserv'd, but lost by Adam for him and us his posterity, every of us becomes indebted to God for the same, which in effect is original sin, the which is remitted by the sacred blood of Christ in his Sacrament of Baptism. The Reader may finde more to this purpose in this Author, l. 3. c. 20. and in S. Aug. lib. 1. contra Julianum, c. 2. Tertul­lian in his Book de anima, c. 40. hath Omnis anima eous (que) in Adam cense [...]ur donec in Christo recensea­tur, tamdiu imunda quamdiu re­censeatur; peccatrix autem quiae imunda. Is no [...] this to make eve­ry soule a sinner alwayes before Baptism, which taketh away the stain of original sin, contracted by [Page 108] and in Adam, quite contrary to Dr Taylors judgement. Origines hom. 8. in Leviticum, saith, Quae­cunque anima in carne nascitur, ini­quitatis & peccati sorde polluitur, propter quod dictum est nemo mun­dus a sorde, nec Infans cujus est u­ui [...] is diei vita super terram: By this Assertion every soule born from A­dams flesh is counted polluted with sin and iniquity, and every Infant is proved to have the same sin in­herent in him; which come quite opposit to Dr. Taylers deliration, in applying this iniquity and sin here meant by Origines, to effects of mortality. And S. Eyprian, quoted by the Dr. lib. 3. Epist. 8. ad Fi­dum, saith, Recens natus nil pecca­vit nisi quod secundum Adam carna­liter natus contagium mortis antiquae prima nativitate c [...]ntraxit; this Saint, and likewise all the rest, by [Page 109] ancient death, do mean, sin, and eternal death, whereas from sin came death; according to S. Paul, stipendium peccati mors, the wages of sin is death, sin the precedent cause to death, the subsequent ef­fect; quite contrary to the Do­ctors dream, mistaking temporal death for the eternal. I refer the ingenious Reader to S. Athanas. in his Sermon upon those words, Omnia mihi tradicta sunt, &c. and to S. Hilarius, in explicatione, Psal. 32. diligis misericordiam & judici­um: in which places Doctor Tay­lor is confuted and impugned most manifestly as a pernicious Impo­stor. The Doctor boldly avers that all Antiquity is on his side; set­ting down barely two or three broken ends of Sentences, ground­ing no Argument, as indeed he cannot, upon those passages for [Page 110] his opinion. The Doctor seems ra­ther ambitious to be accounted a­ble to reade a piece of the Fathers Writings, then able to understand them; he cited the Fathers most impertinently and imperfectly; endeavouring to make his owne face and impure Doctrine clean, by throwing dirt in great Saints fa­ces. He did not like an honourable Guest expect a meal from them, but like a beggar, their scraps aad fragments onely. I refer the Rea­der to fol 483. in his Explication of Original sin, where he cites S. Ambrose sor him: est & alia mors quae secunda dicitur, &c. there is an­otherdeath in hell, which is called the second death, which we suffer not for Adam's sin: this testimony of S. Ambrose is plain against the Doctor, for why doth he leave out that which goeth before, and [Page 111] which followeth? for the illumi­nated Doctor in his precedent words affirmed, that we all sinned in the masse of Adam; and his fol­lowing discourse clearly states the question, and declares down-right, that Adam's sin is derived to his posterity: these are his words in Apologia David, cap. 11. antequam nascimur maculamur contagio, an­tequam usuram lucis originis ipsius injuriam excipimus, in iniquitate con­cipimur, quid clarius: and a little after, merito David deploravit in se inquinamenta naturae quod prius inciperet in homine macula quam vi­ta: and further, lib. 1. de peniten­tia, c. 2. omnes homines sub peccato nascimur quorum ipse ortus in vitio est. See many more manifest places in S. August. lib. 1. in Jul. c. 2. & lib. de nuptiis & concupiscentia, c. 35. & lib. 1. ad Bonifacium, c. 11: Thus [Page 112] you see how manifestly Doctor Tay­lor doth set down some lose frag­ments of the Saints, as it we [...]e for him, and conceals the rest that declares the Saints minde and tru [...] sense▪ which he doth break and pitifully mangle; not understand­ing what he reades or writes from Authou [...]s against his conscience and truth. And the Authour Co­mentar▪ in Epistolas Pauli, which are attributed to S. Ambrose, Coment. in c. 5. ad Romanos holdeth forth thus, Manifest [...] est omnes in A­dam peccasse ut in m [...]ss [...], Doctor Taylor leaves out stolidly that which follows, because it makes expresly against his Doctrine. What doth follow is this, Ipse enim (meaning Adam) per peccatum corruptus, quos genuit, omnes nati sunt in pec­cato, ex eo igitur peccatores quia [...] ipso sumus omnes. Here S. Ambroseo [Page 113] doth expresly teach Original sin derived from Adam to all his rela­tive descendants; so that I can­not but wonder at the new Doctors frontless boldness, in averring that all Antiquity is for him: when the Reader doth manifestly see all the ancient Doctors and Fathers rather against him. S. Chrysostom hom. 10. in Roman is quoted by the Doctor most maimedly and shamefully pag. 484. it seems to have in it no small question that it is said, that by the disobedience of one man many becau [...]e sinners; for sinning and be­ing made mortal, it is not unlike­ly that they which spring from him should be so too: but that an­other should be made a sinner by his disobedience, what agreement or consequent can it have? &c. here the Saint makes many interiogati­ons, all which are expressed by [Page 114] our Modern Doctor; but leaves out quite the ancient Doctors an­swer, minde, and sound conclusi­on: these words are omitted, quod aut [...]m in questionem cadit est qua de causa id factum est? the Saint in­quires the cause of the punishment of death derived from Adam to all mankinde, qua de causa nondum addidit exquirit mortis radicem [...] quae igitur est mortis radix? suppli­cinm ex uno in omnes derivatum fu­isse Paulus ostendit: quae radix mor­tis? the Saint answers and resolves his own quaere, that it was sin. Propterea art ut sicut regnaverat peccatum in mortem it a & gratia re­gnaret per justitiam ad vitam eter­nam per Christum; hoc dixit osten­dens peccatum loco Regis fuisse, mor­tem autem loco militis sub peccato in acies tantem & ab illo armatam: now comes in the Saints Conclusi­on [Page 115] expresly against D. Taylor: Ergo s [...]peccatum mortem armavit clarum est quod justitia per gratiam ad ve­cta que peccatum toll [...]t & mortem spo­liat & dissolvit. And a little after he saith, Quod igitur Christi Crux & Sepulchrum hoc nobis Baptisma fuit; ille enim carni & nortuus & se­pultus; nos autem peccato & mortui & sepulti ubi peccatum ibi mors nam & suplicio liberati sumus & vitium deposuimus & de integro regenerati sumus & resurreximus, sepulto vetere homine, & redempti & sanctificati & adopti Filii & justificati, & Fratres effecti in eandem corporis unitatem redacti & ut corpus capiti fic illi u­niti sumu [...]. Hence the ingenious Reader may infer, how that the Saint doth alleadge that temporall death is the effect of sin; and that if we derive no sin from Adam, death we cannot derive, which is [Page 116] the punishment of sin: and for this reason it was decreed in the Aravsican Councell, Can. 2. Non posse mortem sine peccato ad hominem transire nisi injustitia Deo daretur & contra dicatur Apostolo dicenti per unum hominem peccatum intravit in mundum. I deliver it in English thus: Temporall death (allowed by D. Taylor) cannot be conveyed as punishment to Adam's children without sin, unless great injustice be offered to God, and a contra­diction to S. Paul's Doctrine, v [...]z. By the sin of one man death entred, &c. This is the express down­right Doctrine of S. John Chryso­stom, who vigorously holds forth Baptisme as a laver and sepulcher of sin; saying, Peccato mortui & sepulti, &c. and that beside the bare imputation and communication of Adam's sin, d [...]eam'd of by Dr. [Page 117] Taylor, there is in every Infant newly born Original sin inherent, which is a privation of Originall justice, a guilt of eternall death, a stain, spot, enmity with God, the guilt of punishment: which is an obligation or ordination to pu­nishment: where the Saint con­demns Dr. Taylor's folly in aver­ring that Original sin is nothing other then Adam's actual sin bar [...]ly imputed to his Posterity. For fur­ther declaration hereof, S. Cirillus Herosolimitan, Cathechesi 2. hath most important Doctrine, to him I remit the Reader—S. Gregory Na­zian, Orat. 3. de pace, saith to our purpose, Totus lapsus sum atque ex primigenii hominis inobedientia & diaboli fraude condemnatus sum: S. Herom. in Commentario Oseae, c: 6. in paradiso omnes prevaricati sunt in similitudinem prevaricationis Adam, [Page 118] non enim est mirum quod in parente precessi [...] hoc in fi [...]is condemnetur [...] this Doctor and S. Cyprian doth admonish Infants to be baptized. The Reader may finde much more to our purpose in S. John Chrysostom in homilia ad Neop [...]tos. Look Ru­finus in Comentario in Psal. 20. S. Si­ricius in E [...]ist. 1. ad Himer. cap. 2. with many more in S. August. lib. [...]. in [...]ulianum.

CHAP. VI.
That Original sin is properly and not metonimically a sin, proved by Reason; and Dr. Taylor's contrary Doctrine prov'd heretical.

HEresie is an adhesion to some private and singular opinion or errour in faith, contrary to ho­ly Scripture, and the generall ap­prov'd Doctrine of the Church: but to hold, That Originall sin is not properly and formally, but onely metonimically a sin, is ex­presly contrary to holy Scripture, and the generall approv'd Do­ctrine of the Church; Ergo, &c. [Page 120] That it is contrary to the generall approved Doctrine of the Church, is already proved out of the Do­ctrine of the primitive Fathers, maintained by Beza, de justifie, lib. 1. cap. 13. where he saith, Omnes homines plane reos nasci, contracta jam inde à primo par [...]nte culpa: and Calvin hath these expresse words, Peccato Adae non per solam imputationem damnamur [...]sed ideo quia & culpae sumus rei, quatenus natura nostra in illo vitiata iniquita­tis reatu constringitur. That it is contrary to Scripture, any man that is not purblinde may see, in many places; especially in S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, c. 5. v. 18, 19. Verse 18. As by the offence of one sin came on [...]all men to condemna­tion: so by the justifying of one, the benefit abounded towards all men, to the justification of life. And v. 19. [Page 121] For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners: so by the obedi­ence of one shall many also be made righteous. The conclusion of Saint Paul's most profound Doctrine concerning his comparison be­twixt Christ and Adam, begun from the twelfth Verse, is fully contained in these two Verses, 18 and 19. and his Divine Apostoli­call Antithesis perfectly ended and compleated; which Apostolicall Antithesis our D. Taylor doth abo­minably endeavour to cross, cor­rupt, and quite overthrow; in holding that Original sin convey­ed to Adam's Posterity, is only fi­guratively a fin: for S. Paul saith expresly, that by one mans disobedi­ence many were made sinners; which word made sinners cannot be un­derstood figuratively by any solid unbias'd iudgement, but rather [...] [Page 164] tisnate. And the second Milivetan Councel, in the fift age, c. 2.

CHAP. VII.
The Objections against the for­mer Doctrine waved.

FIrst objection. S. Chrysostome in some place averreth that none by the sin of our proto- parents can be made a sinner excluded from Heaven, nor liable to eternal dam­nation: I answer that the Saint did not here exclude absolutly the sin conveyed to mankinde, through the transgression of Adam; but only did advertise that Adam's po­sterity were not made sinners upon that account onely, that our first [Page 561] parents have committed actual sins, but that their posterity also in A­dam, and along with him have sinned, whereas all by the partici­pation of humane nature were one man with Adam; and as nature to them is conveyed, so is the vice and corruption in nature by them participated: for if they had not really sinned in Adam in whom as in the original and seminal root they were vertually involved; they could not be made sinners by A­dam's actual sin: Nullus enim (ut recte ai [...] Chysosto.) ex alieno peccato & a se non participato peccator exi­stit. & Deus in regenerationis lavacro mentem gratia tang it, radicale pec­catum evellit & hominem illustri [...] ­rem reddit; here the Saint calls Original sin, washed away by bap­tismal regeneration, radicale pec­cotum— [Page 166] Objection 2. S. August lib. 16. de Civit. dei c. 18. saith, we are not properly but originally onely born sinners: I answer, that S. August. is to be understood so as that we are not born sinners by a consented act of our will properly, but by the sinful act of Adam's inobedi­ence which had a moral influence on all mankinde to bring on them the guilt of sin.

Objection 3. Until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not im­puted where there is no Law; yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that have not sinned after the similitude of A­dam's actual transgression, who is the figure of the Messias: This place is ignorantly interpreted by our Doctor thus. Death reigned upon them whose sins therefore would not be so imputed as Adam's [Page 167] sin was, because there was no Law with an expresse threatning given to them as it was to Adam. I answer, the same Law that was given with expresse threatning to Adam in Paradise, was likewise by interpretation given in him to all his posterity; and because A­dam transgressed that Law, all his posterity with him have trans­gressed; according to those words of S. Paul, In quo omnes peccaverunt: Hence our Doctor's mistake is de­tected in not indeavouring to un­derstand how that the same Law that was given to Adam did extend it self to his relative descendants, and that not only temporal, but also eternal death was threatned both to him and his posterity.

Objection 4. Taken out of those words of S. Paul, By one mans dis­obedience many were made sinners, [Page 168] &c. Whence the Dr. Tayler doth strive to prove that if Adam's sin were imputed to his posterity as a guilt of an inherent sin, then it should extend to all his posterity but out of this place it doth onely extend to many, not to all: Erg [...] not Original sin, but temporal death is absolutely derived. I answer, that the B. Apostle doth use both words, many, and all; whereas in the preceding Chapter he expresly averred that Adam's sin, and Christs righteousnesse was derived and conveyed to all A­dam's posterity; and in this verse 19. he avers that only many were made sinners by Adam's inobedience; and that by Christs righteousness many also are maderighteous. Now I ask who be those that are born sinners from Adam? and who be those that are regenerated in [Page 169] Christ through baptisme? these are understood to be both all and many. They were not all abso­lutely because Christ and Evae were not made sinners by Adam, neither Infidels are by Christ justi­fied; but those onely that are in Christ regenerated, and those only that are borne by seminal gene­ration from Adam, are here meant by the B. Apostle: After this manner we may understand those words in Gen. 17. Patrem multarum gentium constitui te, & in semine tuo bene­dicentur omnes gentes, c. 22. Where it's most manifest, that those who are promised to Abraham as chil­dren are counted in one place many, and all, in an other; because they all are in some sense understood, yet not absolutely all, if considered in order to all humane kinde.

5. Object. From the 18th. of Ezekel. [Page 170] The childe shall not beare the iniqui­ty of the father. To this may be opposed another place in Exod, the 20. I am a zealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the chil­dren, &c. I thus reconcile both these places in answer to the Objection: that temporal punishment, as the losse of meanes and estates, banish­ment, infamy, and such like; chil­dren as being secundum corpus pars patris, may justly suffer by the Law for the sins of their parents: but eternal punishment of the guilt of sin, and an exclusion from Heaven, is onely inflicted on them that are properly and really made sinners propria voluntate or ali [...]nae, by in­terpretation whereas secundum ani­mam, the son is not pars patris. Furthermore I answer, that the childe shall not beare the fathers sin, if the childe become not parta­ker [Page 171] of his fathers sin; as when the childe imitates his fathers sin, or when the son's will and consent be implicitely involved in the fa­thers will: as it was with Adam, in whose will all the wills of all his posterity are ever by interpre­tation and by Gods secret decree involved.

6. Object. From S. August. and S. Fulgent. who averreth that In­fants are punished by eternal flames of hell fire: I answer, that there is an infernal place where in never ending flames the damned soules are eternally punished in their senses; and the holy fathers are of opinion that though unbaptized Infants are in this infernal place, yet are not tormented or punished at all by that fire as the wicked are.

7. Object. It seems horrid to im­pute [Page 172] to the goodnesse and justice of God to be Author of so great calamity to innocents as to be damned even to the eternal losse of the sight of Gods glorious face, for this cannot be inflicted upon Infants because they are not capa­ble of a Law when they had no life, no consent, no act of under­standing nor of will, &c. which argument, what sense, what piety or what probability it can have in it needs not much inquiery: such a weake friend of God to plead for his justice and goodnesse as Doctor Taylor pretends to be, may very well be answered as Job did answer his mistaken comforters, Job 13. Doth God stand in need of your lye? I wish you would al­together hold your peace, and it would be your wisedome; though this weake and disingenious argu­ment [Page 173] is to satisfaction solued in many places of the preceding Chapters; yet [...] add what follow­eth, Gods mercy and goodnesse is abundantly shewn in that he hath provided gracious remedies suffi­cient for all men to be saved, of which remedies if any be deprived through default either of them­selves or others, or by chance; then is their being so deprived to be ascribed accordingly either to themselves, or to other men, or to chance, and not to any defect of Gods infinite mercy, goodnesse or justice; and indeed if circumci­sion and baptism had not been in most divine and merciful provi­dence instituted by Christ for the salvation of Infants, then Doctor Taylor might justly charge him with in justice and cruelty.

The Doctor bringt a great deal [Page 174] of ridiculous stuff concerning con­cupiscence to be originall sin: Its true S. Austin called it a sin, viz. the material part or substract signifi­cation of sin; and as the naturall instrument of generation proving onely concupiscence thus to be pre­judicial to us, and an evil, against Pelagius who denied the rebellion of the flesh to be an effect of sin, but rather naturale bonum. Read Saint Austin, contra Julian. And its ob­servable that whosoever will be at the pains to compare Dr. Taylers obsolet doctrine with that of Pela­gius▪ Julian, and other such horrid wretches, in whom the spirit of the worst Heresies did rage, shall finde that all his late arguments borrow­ed from them, are both weak, im­pertinent, and increased to a great number, as the same body put in many divers habits and needlesse [Page 175] variation of shapes—

Thus the Ingenuous Reader hath the misterious question of the pre­sent subject rightly stated; Christ as universal Saviour, and the re­vealed truth of his Sacraments vin­dicated; the horrid impostures odious falshood and latent venome of the pernitious assertions of an aiery and blind Enthusiast unmas­lied and accurately refuted. As for my particular, pure zeal I assure you was the motive and prevailing argument that set my brain and pen awork about this subject, for the undeceiving of the missed; I hope I have done my duty, having sincerely produced Scripture-rea­son, and the best authority for to secure the interests and advantages of piety, Gods justice, goodnesse, and truth, and of the lives and salvation of many. I expect [Page 176] from all the wiser seriously to exa­mine whether this Orthodox Do­ctrine, or the contrary of Doctor Tayler in his Vnum Necessarium doth better agree or explicate the truth with greater reason and to better purpose against the patro­nizing sin and damnation of in­nocent souls. Let not I pray sordid prejudice forstal the moderate Readers judgement, nor envious passion supplant his reason: For if this short Treatise be perused di­ligently, compared exactly, and the verdict given uprightly in presence of the all seeing eye: then I doubt not but the Reader seeking, shall find; and finding shall confesse that the truth of Christian Reli­gion, ever holy, ever victorious, though ever oppos'd by the wic­ked, is still the same; for the confir­mation of which God ingaged his [Page 177] own faith by oath: aud that Do­ctor Tayler's confused doctrine is Doctrina mendaciorum non desursum descendens, sed terrena, animalis, & diabolica; and that he is wor­thy of all contempt and unhap­pinesse for peremptorily distrusting and odiously confounding this eternal divine verity.