Temptations, Part 1 · Chapter 4 · Section 2
SECT. II.
Of Tentations which come from our ſelves.
I Confeſſe it is but now and then, that Satan if he may bee ſuffered doth not joyne iſſue with us when wee doe deceive and tempt our ſelves: but yet the thing I urge is, that there is no ſin that is committed, but might bee committed if Satan were dead and buried. Could one kill the Divell? Yet you cannot name the ſinne, that Originall luſt would not draw and entice a man unto. It is agreed on, that Originall ſin is (virtually) every ſinne; neither would God have forbidden all ſins to man, if mans nature had not in it ſeminally ſinnes of all ſorts and ſizes, and ſo much we have from Chriſts own mouth,Mat. 15. 19. Out of the heart proceeds evill thoughts, murthers, adulteries, &c. That, is all evill thoughts, what ſinne worſe than murther and adultery? and may we not think that the holy Ghoſt ſaith not murther but murthers, not adultery but adulteries? to ſhew that all ſorts, and ſo the worſt ſorts of murthers came out of the heart of man, yea, ſelfe murthers and all. Neither ſtands our heart, that is, our luſt, free from higheſt impieties againſt God; and therefore thoſe blaſphemies, that is, all ſorts, kinds, and degrees of blaſpheming are ſaid to proceed out of the heart; Sathan need not put them in, there they are, though he draw them not out thence, they will ſpout out of themſelves; ſo that though the divell did not owe men a ſpight, yet the luſt of man may marre all, and will make ſome ſinne all manner of ſins whatſoever. I thinke the divell hath great wrong done him, when men to excuſe themſelves derive their ſins from him; when perhaps, Satan hath not to doe in the provoking them to ſin thoſe things. He is not truly acquainted with the depth of Originall ſinne, nor ſoundly humbled, who thinkes he had never done thoſe faults, except the divell had tempted him; for a man hath in him all ſins that be, (at leaſt potentially:) Indeed we read not of any mention made in the old Teſtament of the ſinne againſt the holy Ghoſt not that original ſin had not this ſinne hid in it then, but I think there was not the occaſion then of finiſhing and acting this ſin; for ſin this ſuppoſeth greater light, as touching CHRIST IESUS in the Goſpell, than was ſet a foot under the Old Teſtament, and therefore I ſay that in luſt then it was, but it was not drawne forth. How can it come into the heart now, if it were not there from the very firſt? Is there a new Originall ſin? or a new kind and ſpecies added unto it? was not the heart of man onelyonly evill and prone to all evill ever ſince the fall?Peccatum non infunditur de novo, ſed elicitur & educitur de potentia peccati Originalis. Out of the heart ſaith Chriſt proceedeth blaſphemies: What? ſome, or all, if not all; which are excepted? and why thoſe rather than theſe? if all, as truth is: then blaſphemies againſt the holy Ghoſt, comes out of the motions of mans heart; all this is to ſhew that there is no new ſinne which hath not ever bin radically in our luſt and nature, elſe we are more in Adam than ever all men have bin; but all have equally ſinned in Adam, and therefore Originall luſt is equall in all;Rom. 5. 12. perhaps by our default we doe ad new ſtrength to Originall ſin in us,Aquin. 1. 2. q. 82. a. 4. but for the kindes of it,Scot. 4. Sentent. D. 14. q. 1. Originall ſin is equall in all, and there is no ſin but luſt had it in ever; and my concluſion is, that a man doth carry fire in his boſome, which hath enough in it to kindle any ſin, though the divell ſhould ſtand by and ſay nothing. We all read that the heart of man is deceitfull above all things,Ier. 17. 9. yea, above the divell, why? Becauſe Satan doth not ſo know the thoughts of our hearts as wee our ſelves doe: as alſo for that Satan cannot come within us to deceive us, except (as I have ſaid) our hearts doe give ſome way unto him; how true is that then, that every one is tempted when hee is drawne aſide, and enticed by his owne Concupiſcence.