The Fading of the Flesh and Flourishing of Faith, Chapter 3
CHAP. III. The Reaſons of the Doctrine, Mans Corruptibility, Gods fidelity, and Mans Apoſtacy from God.
Reaſons of the Doctrine.I Shall onelyonly lay down in the explication of the point two or three Reaſons, and then proceed to that which will be practical.
1 Man corruptibility.The firſt ground of the Doctrine is, the corruptibility of mans body; Its called in Scripture an houſe of clay, Job 4.18. and an earthly Tabernacle, 2 Cor. 5.1. The body of man at beſt is but a clod of clay, curiouſly moulded and made up. The Greek Proverb hath a truth in it foreign, Man is but an earthen Veſſel. Some indeed are more painted then others in regard of dignity, and place; others are ſtronger Veſſels then the reſt, in regard of purity of conſtitution,Profecto omni moda vanitas Iun but all are earthen, Surely every man at his beſt eſtate is altogether vanity, Pſa. 39. All Adam, is all Abel, Man, nay every man, when moſt high in regard of his hopes, and moſt firm in regard of his foundation, is even then the next door to, and but one remove from corruption. What the great Apoſtle ſaid in a proper, every one may ſay in a common ſenſe, I die daily. We carry our bane every moment about us. The very food which preſerveth our lives, leaves that be hind it, which will force our deaths. Its holden for certain (ſaith one) that in two Years ſpace, The Netherland curethere are in the body of man, as many ill humours ingendred, as a Veſſel of a hundred ounces will contain. Ipſa ſuis augmentis vita ad detrimenta impellitur, & inde deficit unde proficere creditur. Greg.Againſt ſome, theſe enemies appear in the open field, often skirmiſhing with them, but againſt all others they lye in ambuſh, and wait for an opportunity to fall on and deſtroy them. In the beſt timbered body they are but like fire raked under the aſhes, and reſerved to another day when they will flame out and burn it down. We are all like the Apples of Sodom, quae contacta cinereſcunt, Tertul. Apol. cap. 40.which being touched crumble into duſt, or as the Spawn of Locuſts, which being handled diſſolveth,Ariſt Hiſt. Animal. according to the Philoſopher. God needs not bring out his great Artillery to batter down the building of mans body, a ſmall touch will tumble it down; nay its every moment decaying, and will at laſt fall of it ſelf; There is rottenneſs at the core of the faireſt fruits, Our fleſh is no match for the Father of ſpirits. An ordinary Beſome will ſweep down the Spiders Web. Though it hath accurate weavings, and much curioſity, yet it hath noſtability. As it was with the Gourd of Jonah, ſo it is with the Children of men, we breed and feed thoſe Worms which will devour and deſtroy us. Every Mans paſſing Bell hangs in his own Steeple.
The ſecond Reaſon is, Gods fidelity. 2 Reaſ: Gods fidelityThe righteous and gracious God hath threatned eternal pains to the wicked, as the wages of their ſins; and hath promiſed endleſs pleaſures to the godly, as the reward of Chriſts ſufferings; now the place of payment where theſe threatnings and promiſes ſhall be accompliſhed, is the other world, to which death is the paſſage. Man dieth that Gods Word may live, and falleth to the earth, that Gods Truth might ſtand.
Sin, though it be finite in regard of the ſubject, as being the act of a limited creature;In peccaeto duo ſunt; Quo cum unum eſt averſio ab immutabili bono, quod eſt infinitum, unde ex hac parte peccatum eſt infinitum. Aliud quod eſt in peccato eſt inordinata converſio ad immutabile bonum & ex hac parte peccatum eſt finitum. Ex parte averſionis reſpondet peccato poena damni, quae enim eſt infinita. Eſt enim a miſſio infiniti boni ſcilicet Dei. En parte converſionis reſpondet poena ſ…nſus. Aquin. 1, 2, queſt: 87. Act: 4. yet its infinite in regard of the Object, as being committed againſt a boundleſs Creator; therefore its puniſhed with the abſence of all good, which is an infinite loſs; and the preſence of all evill, which is infinite in duration, though not in intenſion, becauſe of the incapability of the ſinner. The infernal pit is the place of thoſe puniſhments, into which by the ladder of death men deſcend, Matth. 7.23. and 25.41. Mark 9.49. Death is but the ſinners trap door into Hell. The Engliſh capital malefactors when caſt are carried into a Dungeon, and from thence to the Gallows. Ungodly men being caſt by the Law of God, and not ſuing out their pardon from the Goſpel (which is an office ſet up for that purpoſe) do go through the Dungeon of death, to the place of their dreadful and everlaſting execution.
God hath alſo engaged to beſtow on the members of Chriſt, an incomparable and unchangeable Crown; It is your Fathers pleaſure to give you a Kingdom; but Death is the young Prophet that anointeth them to it, and giveth them actual poſſeſſion of it. They muſt put off their rags of mortality, that they may put on their robes of glory, It is in the night of Death that Saints go to their bleſſed and eternal reſt. The corn muſt firſt die before it can ſpring up freſh and green; Iſrael muſt die in Egypt before he can be carried into Canaan. There is no entrance into Paradiſe but under the flaming ſword of this Angel Death, that ſtandeth at the gate. The ſoul muſt be delivered out of the priſon of the body, that it may enjoy the glorious liberty of the ſons of God. This bird of Paradiſe will never ſing merrily, nor warble out the praiſes of its Maker in a perfect manner, till it be freeed from this cage.
The ſinner dieth, that according to Gods word he might receive the bitter fruits of his evil ways. Death is to him as the gate through which condemned and piacular perſons paſs to their deſerved deſtruction. The Saint dieth that according to Gods promiſe he may enjoy the purchaſed poſſeſſion. Death to him, is as the dirty lane through which Chryſoſtom paſſed to a feaſt, a dark ſhort way through which he goeth to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. His body is mortal, that his ſins and ſufferings might not be immortal.
The third Ground of the point,3 Reaſ: Mans apoſtacy from God may be Mans apoſtacy from God; Death broke in upon man by reaſon of mans breaking the commands of God. We had never fallen to duſt, if we had not fallen from our duties. Sickneſs had never ſeiſed on our bodies, if ſin had not firſt ſeized on our ſouls.Mors eſt conditio naturae non peccati argumentum vel poena. Son. Suaſ: 7.
The Pelagians and Socinians ſay, That death is not a conſequent of ſin, but a condition of nature. The blaſphemous Jews tell us, that Adam and his poſterity were therefore condemned to dye, becauſe there was one to come out of his loyns who would make himſelf a God, meaning Chriſt; but the God of truth hath reſolved the genealogy of death into another cauſe, even the firſt Adams aſpiring to be like God, and ambition to cut off the entail, and hold onelyonly from himſelf, Gen. 3.15. Rom. 5.12. As a Lethargy in the head diffuſeth univerſal malignity through the whole body, and thereby corrupteth and deſtroyeth it:Ideo factum eſt par peccatum non mortale quod erat, ſed mortuum quod non fieret niſi peccaret L…mb: Sent: lib: 2. diſt. 19. The apple which Adam did eat was poiſoned, which entred into his bowels and being; the venome of it is tranſmitted all along like Gehazi's leproſie to his ſeed. Some tell us that he would often turn his face toward the Garden of Eden and weep, reflecting upon what he had done. Sure I am, it was not without cauſe, for we all got the infection from him, and by him it is that the whole world is tainted and turned into a peſt-houſe. Whatſoever delight he had in the act, there was death in the end.
Vide Voſſium Diſputat. Theol: de peccat: pr: hom, quaeſt: 3. p 43.It ſeemeth unqueſtionable, that man in his eſtate of innocency had a conditional, though not an abſolute immortality. Tis true, he was mortal, ratione corporis, being a compound of corruptible Elements; but immortal, ratione foederis, being free from the Law of death by vertue of the covenant. As before he fell he had a poſſe non peccare, a poſſibility not to have ſinned, but ſince a non poſſe non peccare, a neceſſity of ſinning; So in his eſtate of purity he had a poſſibility of not dying, but in his eſtate of Apoſtacy, a neceſſity of it. If he had ſtood, he ſhould, like Enoch, have been tranſlated that he ſhould not ſee death; he ſhould have entred into his Fathers houſe, but not have walkt thither through the dark entry of death.
Pſa. 90.7 Rom. 8.The fleſh faileth us, becauſe ſin hath defiled it. Mans fleſh at firſt was fly-blown with pride, and is ever ſince liable to putrefaction. Sin is therefore called a body of death, becauſe it cauſeth the death of the body. When one asked who ſet up the ſtately Edifices in Rome; it was anſwered, The ſins of Germany (meaning the money which the Popes Agents received for Pardons granted to the Germans) If it be demanded, Who pulleth down the goodly building of mans body; it may be anſwered, The ſins of man. It is ſin which turneth ſuch coſtly curious houſes into confuſed ruinous heaps. Draco the Lawgiver, appointed death the puniſhment of every offence (for which cauſe his Laws are ſaid to be written in blood) and being demanded the reaſon, he gave this anſwer, that though when crimes were unequal, he ſeemed to be unjuſt in making all equal in puniſhment, yet herein his juſtice appeared, that the leaſt breach of the Law deſerved death. The light of Nature taught them, that thoſe that ſin are worthy to die, Rom. 1.32. The eſtate of all ſinners lyeth in the valley of the ſhadow of death. Whereſoever ſin hath but a finger, death will have a hand: Sin though never committed, but onelyonly imputed, did put to death the very Lord of life. It is like that wilde Caprificus, which if it get but rooting, though in the ſubſtance of a ſtone in the wall, it will break it aſunder.