A Treatise of Original Sin, Part 2 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
Of the Name Old-man given to Original Sinne,
SECT. I.
ROM. 6. 6.
Knowing this, that our Old-man is crucified with Chriſt, &c.
IN the beginning of the Chapter, the Apoſtle informeth us, That no Goſpel priviledges, or Evangelical grace amplified to the higheſt, may encourage to ſinne, for the Apoſtle maketh an Objection himſelf from the Doctrine he delivered; If grace abound where ſinne doth abound, then why may not we ſinne more, that grace may abound more? Thus there have alwayes been ſome who have turned bread into ſtones, and fiſh into ſerpents, making the grace of God to exclude our duty, and a tender care againſt ſinne. But the Apoſtle, as if blaſphemy were in this Objection, tryeth out, God forbid; You ſee with what indignation and deteſtation we ſhould look upon all thoſe Doctrines, which under pretence of advancing Grace, do cry down Duties and an holy life, making it a legal and a ſervile thing.
Now the Apoſtle bringeth an Argument againſt indulgence in ſinne, notwithſtanding Gods grace, Becauſe we are dead to it, and then how can we live to it? Would it not be a monſtrous, and an afrighting ſight, to ſee dead men come out of their graves, to live and walk amongſt us? Thus alſo it ought to be no leſs wonderfull, yea terrible, to ſee a Chriſtian give himſelf to any evil way. And that we are dead to ſinne, he proveth by our Baptiſm, concerning which he ſpeaks admirable and ſublime matter: So that if we conſider what great things are here ſpoken of it, we may wonder to ſee, how cold and rare our meditations are about it; for he makes it to be that Sacrament, in the right uſe whereof▪ we put on Chriſt, yea that thereby we are ingraffed and implanted into him: Hence ver. 5. he uſeth that word of being planted into him; a metaphor from the Husbandman, who by planting his Science into, another ſtock, doth thereby make it partake of the life or death of the Tree; if the Tree liveth, that liveth; if the Tree dieth, that dieth; ſo it is with us and Chriſt. By the phraſe then is intended no more than our communion with, and intereſt in Chriſt, and that both in his death, and his reſurrection: For you muſt know, that the Scripture doth not only make Chriſts death and reſurrection to be the cauſe of the death of our ſins, and of our ſpiritual reſurrection to holineſs, but alſo makes them types and reſemblances of ſuch things in us, That as Chriſt died in his paſſible body, ſo we ſhould die to ſinne; and as Chriſt after his death did riſe again to glory and immortality, thus we ſhould riſe out of ſinne, to walk in newneſs of life, and both theſe are ſignified in Baptiſm.
1. Our Communion with Chriſt in the efficacy of his death and reſurrection.
2. The Repreſentation of this; that what was corporally done to Chriſt, ſhould be ſpiritually fulfilled in us; and therefore ſome think, that the Apoſtle doth allude to that primitive Rite and Cuſtom which was in baptizing; when the baptized party was firſt put under the water for a little ſeaſon, which repreſented Chriſts burial, and our death to ſinne. 2. There was the emerſion, or riſing again out of the waters, which ſignified Chriſts Reſurrection, and alſo our riſing again to holineſs and godlineſs.
This is the Summe of the Apoſtles diſcourſe concerning Baptiſm in its ſacramental ſignification, which he amplifieth further in my Text, and that as a reaſon, why we ſhould not live to ſinne who were baptized into Chriſt, viz. Becauſe our Old man is crucified with Chriſt; Both becauſe Chriſt in being crucified did ſubdue thereby the dominion of ſinne, and alſo we are to do to the body of ſinne within us, what was done to Chriſts body, to crucifie it, and thereby to deſtroy it. There is nothing more to be enquired into in the Text, but what is meant by our Oldman?
They limit it too much that underſtand it only of the habit, or acquired cuſtom of ſinne, which we live in before Regeneration, as Grotius ſeemeth to underſtand; But we are to take it, as both Popiſh and Proteſtant Commentators do interpret it, for that vicious and corrupt nature, which we all derive from Adam, putting it ſelf forth into ſeveral luſts and ungodly actions, wherby there is an habituated, inveterated cuſtom at laſt in ſin; ſo that although we may underſtand luſts and actual impieties with long cuſtom therin, under the phraſe of the Old man, yet principally and chiefly we are to interpret it of that polluted nature we have from Adam; and this will eaſily appear to be ſo, if you conſider the other two places, where this expreſſion is uſed, Epheſ. 4. 22. That ye put off the Old man, &c. and that ye put on the New man. Col. 3. 9, 10. Ye have put off the Old man with his deeds, and have put on the New man. Where,
1. You ſee the Old man is diſtinguiſhed from the effects and deeds of it, which are actual ſins. And then
2. Old man and New man are made two immediate oppoſites; now the New man is plainly expreſſed by the Apoſtle, what it is, viz. not ſo much actual holineſs, as the Image of God repaired in us, ſo that as the New man is the Image of God, and that holy nature repaired in us, ſo the Old man is the contrary to this, viz. a deprivation of that Image of God, and and an univerſal pollution of all the whole man: So that whereas ſometimes the word Old is uſed abſolutely, as the old Serpent (there is no new Serpent) which is the Devil; So here its uſed comparatively, and called Old in reſpect of the New man, the work of grace ſucceeding therein.
SECT. II.
HAving therefore hitherto ſhewed the Quod ſit of original ſinne, That there is ſuch a thing, maugre all adverſaries, and that by the mouth of two witneſſes out of the New Teſtament, and two out of the Old (not but that there are many more, only I ſhall (God willing) treat on them upon ſome different notions.) I now come to inform you of the Quid ſit, What it is; for here is much oppoſition likewiſe; And becauſe in knowing what a thing is, there is the Quid nominis, and Quid rei, what the name is, and what the thing is.
I ſhall firſt beginne with what the Name is, for that way Socrates did uſe to commend, from the name to go to the nature of a thing: And whereas this native-pollution hath Scripture names, Eccleſiaſtical, uſed by the Fathers, and Scholaſtical uſed by the Schoolmen, yea the Rabbins ſay, it hath ſeven names in the Old Teſtament. I ſhall only pitch on the Bible names, and that not univerſally, but upon ſome eminent and chief ones, which it hath in the Scripture, from which alone we ſhall be beſt able to diſcern the nature of it.
The firſt whereof is here in the Text, wherein it is called the Old man; From whence obſerve,Obſerv.
That the natural or birth-pollution we are barn in, is called by the Scripture, The Old man that is in us.
Several names indeed the Scripture giveth it, and ſome are applied to it by Divines, of which, yet ſome queſtion may be made; as when Chriſt is ſaid, to be the Lamb that takes away the ſinne of the world, John 1. 29. By that they ſay is meant original ſinne, for that is not ſo much my ſinne or thy ſinne, as the ſinne of the world, and therefore he ſpeaketh in the ſingular number, The ſinne, not the ſins of the world; but this is not ſo probable, for Chriſt came into the world to take away not only original ſinne, as ſome Papiſts have thought, but actual alſo. Others apply that of Heb. 10. to it, The ſinne that doth ſo eaſily beſet us; And indeed that is a very proper word to explain original ſinne; but whether the Apoſtles ſcope be ſo immediately to point at that, may be further enquired into. I ſhall therefore take only ſome few clear and undoubted Titles, that the Scripture giveth to it, of which this in the Text is a notable one, The old man; And before we inform you, how comprehenſive this is, let us remove a twofold miſtake, or erroneous apprehenſion that may be about it.
SECT. III.
Two Miſtakes removed.
THe firſt is that of Flaccius Illyricus, who becauſe the Scripture uſeth ſuch concrete and ſubſtantive terms about original ſinne, calling it a man, a body, therefore he erred in a contrary extremity to the Pelagians; and ſome Pontificians, making original ſinne not to be an accident, but the eſſence and ſubſtance of the ſoul; but of this more when we come to ſearch out the nature of it; only you muſt know, that original ſinne is not the ſubſtance of a man, but an univerſal diſeaſe adhering to it; as the Leproſie in a Leper, it's not his body, it's not his corpulent eſſence; the body is one thing, the Leproſie is another thing; and thus in man, his ſoul and body are one thing, his original corruption is another thing: Though as in an univerſal Leproſie, you cannot touch one part of the body, but it is infected; ſo neither can we name one part of the ſoul, but it is polluted; we muſt therefore diſtinguiſh between nature and ſinne, to avoid Flaccianiſm; yet we muſt not ſeparate or divide one from the other, to avoid Pelagianiſm; but of this more in its time.
Secondly, We muſt not conceive that it's called the Old man, becauſe of any impotency or weakneſs, as if it were not able to put forth into vigorous acts and lively luſtings of ſinne, as old men have all their natural ſtrength and vigour decaying: No, though it be called the Old man in us, yet it's conſtantly working, drawing aſide, captivating and enflaming of us, yea making warre daily againſt any thing of God within us.
Theſe things premiſed, let us conſider, why the Scripture giveth it ſuch a name, for it might ſeem a very harſh expoſition, to call that which is an accident or a quality in a man, by the name of an Old man.
SECT. IV.
Why Original Sinne is called Man.
THerefore let us ſee the reaſon, why it's called Man, and then the Old man; original ſinne may be called a Man,
Firſt, Becauſe that ſo farre as we are men, quanti ſumus, we are all over polluted; So that the old man is the whole man polluted in this ſinne before he be regenerated: Inſomuch that this phraſe may ſadly and deeply humble us, that the Scripture gives the name of man to ſinne, as if that were all we are: Hence (as you have heard) to walk as a man, to ſpeak as a man, is to do a thing ſinfully, as farre as thy humanity reacheth, ſo farre thy pollution reacheth; So that the very calling of thee a man may greatly debaſe thee; for though thou art a rich man, a great man, yet this Old man doth infect thee.
Secondly, In that original ſinne is called a Man, there is implied the Subject of it to be every man, as well as every part of man, Totus homo, and totum hominis, yea ad omnis homo, not one exempted that is by natural propagation: So that every little Infant hath this Man in it; Every one that needeth a Chriſt, that wanteth a Saviour, hath this Old man abiding in him.
Thirdly, It's called Man, Becauſe of the heap or collection of all ſinne that is in it; For as a man is not one part of the body, the finger, the eye, or the hand, but the whole Compages and Fabrick of all the parts united together. Thus original ſinne is not one particular ſinne, but the maſs or ſpawn of all; It's not a ſtream, but the ocean, and therefore this ſheweth the horridneſs alſo of it, that it is the womb wherein all ſinne is conceived; Let a man be totally cleanſed from this, as the glorified Saints in Heaven are, and then no actual ſin can come from him.
Laſtly, It's called a Man, Becauſe of the intimate and tenacious adheſion of it to the whole man, there being no way to ſever our Natures and that, while we abide in theſe mortal bodies: So that it ſuppoſeth ſinne to be in us, as fire in the iron when it is red hot (though there is ſome diſſimilitude alſo) that we cannot ſee the colour and ſubſtance of the iron for the fire, nothing appeareth but fire; Iron though of it ſelf black and cold, yet by the fire in it is altered; ſo the ſoul of a man; yea the whole man that was at firſt made upright and holy; now through this pollution manifeſts nothing thereof, yea the clean contrary; in ſtead of the Image of God, there is the image of the Devil, there appeareth nothing but of the ſinne and the Devil in a man; for if Paul could ſay, He no longer lived, but Chriſt in him, Gal. 2. 20. when yet grace was not full and complete in him, How much rather may we, while abiding in our natural eſtate ſay, We no longer live, but ſinne in us, for ſinne moveth all, and doth all, having full dominion over us?
SECT. V.
Why it is called Old-man.
IN the ſecond place, It may be called the Old man; Firſt, Becauſe it came from Adam the firſt man, and moſt antient: Thus it is a ſinne of great antiquity, it hath been in the world ever ſince Adam's tranſgreſſion; Moſt things have had their times and their ſeaſons, but this hath been alwayes; There was never any age, wherein men were not born ſinfull, though ſome actual ſins have abounded more at one time than another, though Adam be dead thouſands of years ago, yet the ſin liveth and is propagated.
2. It is Old, Becauſe it is from every mans particular beginning: Thou canſt not think of the number of thy years, or how old thou art, but thou mayeſt with groans remember alſo that ſinne is juſt as old as thou art; Haſt thou lived to threeſcore or an hundred years, even thus old ſinne is? Alas we are apt to complain of old age, to count it a diſeaſe; we ſay, Alas now our beſt time is gone, we are weak old men: Oh but there is an old man within that is more to be lamented!
3. It's the Old man, Becauſe of the craſt and ſubtil wayes that this ſinne hath within us: Inſomuch that Jeremiah complaineth Chap 17. None can find out the depth of ſinne, none but God can ſearch thy heart: This is the old ſubtil fox within thee, and therefore it's ſaid to deceive and to tempt us.
4. It's the Old man, Becauſe it is to be renewed; That which is old (ſaith the Apoſtle) is to vaniſh away. The Old Teſtament was removed that the New might ſucceed. Thus the Old man is to die, is to continue no longer, that the New may be eſtabliſhed in us.
Laſtly, It's called the Old man, Becauſe there is no lovelineſs or comelineſs in it; For old age is like winter, making the bloſſoms of beauty to fall: Thus the name Old man argueth the uncomelineſs of it.
Vſe. Of Inſtruction, To acquaint your ſelves with this Old man in you, young and old, rich and poor, all have this Old man, that will at laſt betray and damn you: Oh conſider you carry your own bane about with you, out of thy own bowels, thy own heart, will ariſe that which will deſtroy thee, and this Old man is in every one; The Phariſees told the blind man, He was wholly born in ſinnes; They thought it was the condition of ſome miſerable afflicted people to be ſo born, but it is the condition of all, and therefore expect no heaven or ſlavation, till this Old man be crucified, and the New man repaired in thee.