extremely fumble and flubber over that great point Chap. 9. of Regeneration, for the most part confounding in ward Principles with outward Actions. Regenerari De Ver.Relig, ad vite mores & actiones referendum eft, faith Volkeli- lib. 4. cap. 4. us: Regeneration is to be referred to the manner and actions of the life. Ex Chrifto nafci nihil aliud eft De Servat. quam ejus fpiritus participem effe, Chrifti autem fpiritus pars 4. cap.6. voluntatis divinæ obedientia eft, faith Socinus: To be born of Christ, is nothing else but to be partakers of his Spirit; and his Spirit is obedience to the Divine Will. All is placed in outward actions; nothing is faid of those internal Principles of Grace which are the proper effect of Regeneration; and the Reason of this is, because denying Original fin, they know no otherRegeneration,but outward Reformation only. Much after the fame rate fpeak fome other Divines, who, not in exprefs terms denying Original fin, do yet leffen and diminish it; their difcourfes of Regeneration proportionable to their Principles, have but little favour or fpiritual relish in them: upon the whole matter, we fee that there is little need of Regeneration. Again, Chrift purchased Salvation, but there being no fuch thing as Original fin, Who shall be faved by him? Shall infants be saved by him? Indeed, of fuch is the Kingdom of Heaven,but what are they faved from? Is it from fin? There is no fpot in them; Christ came in the likeness of finful flesh, they do no more; they have no real flesh of corruption in them. Is it from wrath? There can be none due to finlefs creatures. Is it from Satan? He may come and find nothing in them, nothing belonging to his black Kingdom. Is it from the world? They are not yet mentally, morally entred into it, so as as to be capable of Hh fall Chap. 9 * falling into the fnares of it; there is therefore nothing at all for infants to be faved from. Hence the Fathers in the Council of Carthage do in their Epistle *Non eft quod to Pope Innocent tell us, That according to the Pein eis falvetur, lagians, there is nothing in Infants to be faved or revel tanto pre deemed; nothing vitiated or held under the power of nihil eft in eis the Devil; neither was blood fhed for their remiffion. tio redimatur, fub diaboli eis fufus eft peccatorum. Crab,Conc,Tom, I, fo, 470. fantilem æta gat effe Jefum. vitiatum, nihil Hence St. † Austin argues thus, He that faith, that Inpoteftate cap- fants have nothing to be faved from, denies Chrift to tivum, nec pro be a Jefus to them. What is Jefus? Jefus is by interfanguis in re pretation a Saviour, a Saviour is Jefus ; those whom miffionem he doth not fave, because they have nothing to be faved from, he is not to them a Jefus. Thus we fee, that there being no Original fin, Infants (which what +Qui dicit,in- Chriftian heart can bear?) are not faved by Christ. tem non ha- Shall the adult be faved by him? As I noted before, bere quod fal- they who are without Original fin, may live without vet Jefus, omnibus fidelibus actual; and fo, being void of all fin, are uncapable of infantibus being faved, because they have no fin to be faved Chriftum ne- from. It was the opinion of *Caffianus, That Christ Jefus quid eft? was, aliorum falvator, aliorum fufceptor, the Saviour Interpretatur of fome, the Sufceptor of others; the first were falvator eft le- drawn in by Grace, the fecond prevented Grace. fus ; quos non This made Profper fay, Huic fententia is poteft præbendo in eis bere confenfum, qui fe a Chrifto non vult esse salvatum, quod falvet, He may confent to this opinion, who would not be non eft illis faved by Christ. Caffianus denied Original fin; he Jefus. Auft, de Verb Apoft, thought, that in the first fin Adam only finned, that the Will in us is as free to good, as it was in Adam * Profper Contra Collat, before the fall; and hence he held, That the Church was particoloured, part of it was justified by Grace, part by Freewill. Thefe latter, whom nature advanced, were more glorious than thofe whom grace freed: These latter were uncapable of being faved, falvat, non ha Ser, 8, be because they had nothing to be faved from. Hence it Chap. 9. follows, That Chrift is not the Saviour of all his body, but of part of it; that he faves not all his people from their fins, but fome. We fee clearly by these things, that if Original fin be denied, much of Chrifts purchase will be made fruitless and of no effect. As therefore we would have a part in Christ and his pur chase, we must confefs our felves to be pieces of old Adam, and to have a fhare in his fin. It being certain, That there is corruption in us, we fhould reflect and take notice of it. This is that which depraves the whole man, and turns him into a man of fin: every faculty groans under the burden of it, every part hath its wounds and putrifying fores. The Understanding, a fpark of immortality, is dropt out of its orb, fallen from the first truth and fountain of light; darkness covers it, a black vail holds back its eyes from the glories and beauties of the fpiritual world. The Thoughts, which are the first-born of the mind, are vain empty things, like the Fools eyes in the ends of the earth, garifh and running up and down from one thing to another, having no more dependance than is in the broken words or fpeeches of distracted men; like Quickfilver never fixed, unless it be upon trifles or finful objects. The Will, the principle of liberty, turns away from the fupreme good; as a flave it lies in the chains of luft, impotent, and in it felf unable to lift up a choice or option towards happiness: its averfenefs to that good which would ennoble and beautifie it, reproaches it with the fall; its propensity to that evil, which foils and deturpates it, upbraids it as an apoftate from its original. The Affections have loft their wings, and Hh 2 fink Chap. 9. fink down to the lower world as their center; there they lye in the mire and turpitude of inordinate lufts, and without the elevations of Grace they cannot raise up * which, which, being imbraced, will corrupt and make us mi- Chap. 9. ferable for ever? May we here fpare our tears? Or can we do lefs than fill our felves with shame and felf-abhorrency? Paulinus would not let his Picture be drawn, because of the in-dwelling fin. Erubefco pingere quod fum, said he; I blush to paint what I am. St. Paul cryes out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! Rom. 7. 24. How fadly fhould we look upon that forlorn fpectacle, I mean our corrupt felves! How fhould we lothe our felves, and lye low at Gods feet, if peradventure he may give us a better nature! Of what vaft concern is it to wait upon God in Ordinances, and by ardent devotions to prefs into Heaven, that there may be a new-creation in us! And when that great work is wrought in us, How should we lift up free-grace, and fing Hofanna's to it for ever! How often should we have that in our mouths, What hath God wrought! We marred the first Creation, and he hath fet up a fecond. We lay in the ruines of the fall, and he came down thither to rear up his own image in us again. Graces are now growing there, where fin had its feat; the Holy Spirit now inhabits there, where Satan dwelt and reigned: And what an excellent change is this! Let us diftinguish our felves according to the two Adams. Whatever is vitious or defective in us, relates to the first Adam; whatever is gracious or perfective of ournature, relates to the fecond. Never can we be too humble under the sense of Original corruption which adheres to our nature. Never can we be too thankful for that fupernatnral grace which gave us a new nature. Because we have a Divine nature in us, we fhould |