Mary Magdalenes Tears Wiped Off, Objection 16 – Objection 17
OBJECTION. XVI.
But how then is my Nature changed, where is that new Creature, created after God in Righteouſneſs and true Holineſs? What Renovation by the Spirit, if ſuch Motions to Sin as theſe, croud in upon the Soul of a regenerate Chriſtian? I cannot but be perſwaded it was much otherwiſe with the Apoſtle, and is ſo ſtill with Holy men, though not with me.
SOLUTION.
22. THe Anatomy of every, or any ſingle Chriſtians Soul, with the true ſtate and poſture of his Mind you cannot certainly know, unleſs the perſon may be preſumed, not only to ſpeak truth, but throughly to underſtand his own condition in this point, even as St. Paul did. But certain enough it is, that Holy men extraordinarily inſpired by God, have grievouſly complained of the guilt of Sin, and of their exceeding great troubles for it, even to diſtraction, Pſ. 88.15. neither of which could poſsibly happen unto them, (the later being the fruit and effect of the former) with theſe precedaneous motions to fin.
Beſides, let the Thoughts, Words, and Deeds of the holyeſt perſon which you would inſtance in, be ſifted to the bottom, and ſome bran will be found in them, ſome chaff will be winowed out of the heap of his converſation; even ſince that time, that he hath had ſome comfortable aſſurance of his good Eſtate: but all this is not only tryable by experience, but by Rules and Grounds of Divinity, which have proportion with the Analagy of Faith.
23. The new Creature, or the Regenerate man who doth ſincerely endeavour to perfect Holyneſs in the fear of God, doth not paſs into this eſtate, by any phyſical and natural, but by a ſpiritual and moral change; the principles of Motion and Operation in him, continuing not only the ſame, but ſtill lyable to the ſame Errors in working as before; otherwiſe (as we have already ſaid) his ſtate muſt be a ſtate of Impeccability, which was never in our earthly Tabernacle but once, when Chriſt Jeſus took our nature upon him: in whom, though the humane nature was lapſible, becauſe otherwiſe he had not been made in all things like unto us, Sin only excepted, Heb. 2.17. (which lapſability is not,) yet by reaſon of the hypoſtalical union of the Humane and Divine nature in his Perſon; he could not only not fall but feel no Motion to the leaſt ſin, neither was Guile found in his mouth.
So then, by reaſon the faculties in the Soul remain the ſame, after, as before converſion, (as that man doth will Vertue with the ſame Individual will, wherewith before he did will Vice: he doth love God with the ſame natural power of affecting, wherewith before he loved the World.) It muſt follow, that the Soul and her Appetites, as well concupiſcible as iraſcible, being ſtill phyſically the ſame; the change is only in theſe 3 things eſpecially, the 1. cauſe, 2. manner, and 3. end of their operation. The Moral cauſe, (if I may ſo term it) by the efficiency whereof the Will and her Appetites are in a Regenerate man moved to act, upon the propoſal of any object, is that Tincture of Grace, which is caſt into the Soul by the bleſſed Spirit of God: which is a kind of Principium motus & quietis in Moral, as Nature is in things Natural, mingling it ſelf into every faculty of the Soul, apprehending in the Intellectual, willing or nilling in the Elective power, governing and guiding the Affections in all their Operations, both of averſation and deſire, being ſo perfectly aſsimilated to the nature of the Soul, that (as is the Soul in which it dwells) Grace is better apprehended by her operation in Regenerate men, than defined in its eſſence: ſomething there is that moves them to Act, not only ſo contrary to others, but even to themſelves whilſt unregenerate, Rom. 6.21. (as the contrary effects of Glory and Shame in the ſame Perſons, flowing from the ſame Acts, though under a different ſtate doth evidence) but to define what this is, whether a ſubſtance or a quality, whether an Act, or any Aſsiſtant form, may (poſſibly) appear a difficulty ſo much the greater, by how much the more ſolidly it is inquired into.
As for the manner of a Regenerate mans working by Grace, it is regular, according to that order which God himſelf hath fixt in our Nature, Reaſon being the Judge of all our Actions, uncorrupted by any prepoſſeſſion, paſſion, or intereſt, which are the cauſes of all diſorderly Actions of the Soul, invading by force or ſtratagemme, the more noble and rational faculties, whereby Unregenerate men are carried (vertiginouſly) about with divers Luſts, as well as with every wind of Doctrine, Eph. 4.14. which is a luſt in the Underſtanding, and ſo the more dangerous, as are Diſeaſes that fix themſelves in the vital parts, and in circular motion, we know that each part of the Orbe hath a viciſſitude of Superiority: but in the Soul of man Reaſon ought to be fixt in the higheſt ſeat, the deepeſt myſteries of Faith no way depoſing this Queen Regent from her Dignity, but only exacting from her that Homage and Fealty which is due to Divine Revelations, and the Aſsiſtances of the Spirit acting herein ſpiritual and heavenly things.
And laſtly, for the change that is wrought in the end of a Regenerate mans Actions, that which he now ultimately and chiefly aims at, is the manifeſtation of Gods Glory: and the ſubordinate end of all his Endeavours, is his own, and the ſalvation of other mens Souls: but with men of unchang'd Natures, as Nature in a ſtate of Corruption is the Principle from which they work, and their Manner wholy enormous; ſo is their end ever their ſelf, even in that worſer ſenſe, wherein an obedience; and captivity to all, or ſome kinds of carnal Luſts, for ſatisfaction of the unreaſonable and brutiſh part in them is ſignified, in oppoſition to that manual of Goſpel-Duties, (as I may call it) abridged into that moſt comprehenſive Notion of Self-denyal.
Briefly then, if you will but obſerve the Principal efficient of your moral Actions, the manner and end of doing them, I truſt you will be able to ſee ſo great a contrariety betwixt thoſe of the Unregerate, and Regenerate life, that you will without any juſt cauſe of doubt as freely aſſert the ſpiritual Life you lead, from the vigour and energy of that New Nature in you; as you do the Natural life you live, by the power of the Old Nature, in a phyſical ſenſe.
OBJECTION. XVII.
But me thinketh [ſay you] I may and ought to be a much better Chriſtian than I am.
SOLUTION.
24. NO moral duty (like Mathematical proportions) doth conſiſt in an indiviſible point. That which we judge to be the worſt may yet be worſer, and that which we take to be the beſt may yet be better, if done by any Creature not impeccable. Eſchue Evil, and do Good is the rule of holy living, Pſ. 34.13. which he that ſincerely doth, needeth not be ſcrupulous and critically inquiſitive into every ſingle Action of his Life, though he may not be remiſs and ſupine in doing any the moſt inconſiderable, whilſt it is in doing.
25. There is no Divine, that will aſſert the neceſſity of perfect and unſinning obedience under the Goſpel: his own experience without the Authority of Saint John, will confute ſuch Magiſterial Theologie, e're it run from a pen, held by a hand of fleſh and blood. All humane Actions muſt needs carrie a proportion to the nature of the Agent by which they are effected: in all moral Actions, the intermediate Agent betwixt the Spirit of ſanctification, and the material part of the Action is the Soul of Man, in which, and by which, as by a natural and voluntary Inſtrument, the bleſſed Spirit doth work: ſo that all moral productions muſt needs receive ſome impreſsions from the next, and immediate cauſe of their being: an Artificer never ſo skilfull, yet the defects and ineptitude of the Inſtrument by which he works, may ſomewhat abate of the excellency of the work, unleſs he can ſuppoſe the Soul of Man in all her faculties to be not only regular, but inerrable; that tranſpiercing Eye will ſind ſome flaw in the moſt orient moral Action, which a ſtate of Separation and Bliſs might have rendered that Action free from; our very Prayers and Prayſes are (undoubtedly) not ſo perfect in this, as in the other life: and this is one reaſon, why till the day of Judgement Christ doth not deliver up the Kingdom to the Father: his Melcheſidekian Prieſthood continuing in (my opinion) till that time, both for the Quick and Dead, that they may have their Perfect Conſummation and bliſs in everlaſting glory: this the Church prayes for, and for what the Body prayes, the Head doth undoubtedly intercede.