A treatise of original sin ... proving that it is, by pregnant texts of Scripture vindicated from false glosses / by Anthony Burgess.

SECT. VIII.

A Consideration of this Concupiscence in reference to the four-fold Estate of man.

5. VVE are to consider this concupiscence or concupiscibili'y (for we speak of the principle of lusting, not actual lusting) according to several states that man may be looked upon in: AS

First, There was his Natura instituta, his instituted nature at first, and that was right and holy; There was concupiscence and desiring of the several powers of his soul, but in a good and orderly way; It was not then as now, the Superi∣ora did not turpiter servire inferioribus, or the inferiora contumaciter, rebel against the superiour parts, as is to be shewed in the next place; In Adam there was no concupiscence in this sense; The inferiour parts, though they did desire a sensible object, yet it was wholly in subordination, and under the command of the supe∣riour. It's true indeed Eve did look upon the forbidden fruit, and saw it was good and pleasant, whereupon she was tempted to eat of it, but this did not arise from any original lust in her, but from the mutability of her will, being not confirmed in what was good: Even as we see the Angels before their Apostasie, had sinfull desires in their will, through pride and affectation to be higher than they were, yet this did not arise from original lust in them. Although therefore both Socinians and some Papists, do acknowledge man made with such a repug∣nancy of the sensitive appetite to the rational; yea, the former making it to be in Christ himself, yet this is highly to dishonour God in the Creation of man: Oh happy and blessed estate, when there was such an universal harmony and due proportion in all the powers of the soul, but miserum est illud verbum snisse, may all mankind cry out in this particular.

Secondly, There is Natura infecta and destituta, infected Nature, stript and de∣nuded of all former holiness and excellency, and here concupiscence is not onely in us, but it doth reign and predominate over the whole man; The harmony is totally dissolved, and now the choice and sublime parts of the foul, are made pro∣strate to the affectionate part, as loathsom and abominable, as when the Law for∣biddeth to lie with a beast. Now the mind and understanding is wholly set on work to dispute and argue for the carnal part: Now the motions of the soule beginne in the carnal part, and end in the intellectual, whereas in the state of integrity, the beginning and rise would first have been in the intelle∣ctual, and so have descended to the sensitive part. The motions thereof ante∣cede all deliberation in the mind, and a rectified choice in the will; Thus the feet they guide the head, and in this little world of man, the earth moveth, and the Heavens they stand still, as some fancied in the great world; now lust is by way of a Law ruling and commanding all things: This is the unspeakable misery and bondage we are now plunged into.

Thirdly, There is Natura restituta, repaired nature by grace, which the re∣generate

attain unto, and these, though they have not obtained concerning lust, ne sit, yet that ne regnet in them, as Austin expresseth it, though they cannot perfectly fulfill that command ne concupiscas, yet they obey another, post concu∣piscentias ne ••as; hence it is because of the actings and workings of original sinne still in the godly, they are in a continual conflict, they cannot do any thing per∣fectly, they feel a clogge pressing them down, when they are elevating themselves, as Paul, Rom 7. doth abundantly manifest, The good he would do he cannot do. Original sinne is like that Tree in Daniel, Chap. 4. 23. Though there was a watcher from Heaven coming down to cut it down, yet the stumps and root of the Tree were left with a band of iron and brass, to denote the firm and immovable abiding of it: Thus though the grace of God be still mor∣tifying and subduing the lusts of the flesh, yet the stumps seem to be bound with brasse and iron to us, we are never able in this life wholly to extin∣guish it.

Lastly, If you consider the perfected and glorified estate of the godly in Heaven, then there will be a full and utter extirpation of this original sin. The glorified bodies in Heaven, though naked, shall not be subject to shame and confusion, as Adam and Eve were after their fall; And among other reasons, therefore doth the Lord suffer these reliques of corruption to abide in the most holy, that so we may the more ardently and zealously long after that kingdom of glory, when we shall be delivered from this sinfull soul and mortal body; Then this command Thou shalt not lust, will be perfectly accomplished, whereas in this life it is a perpetual hand writing against us; The Papists indeed do confess our lusts to be against this command, but not ut praecipienti, but ut indicanti, as if God did not so much command us what we should do, as by Doctrine inform what is good and excellent in it self. Thus rather than they will be found guilty by this Law, they will make it no Law, and turn it from a precept into a meer doctrinal infor∣mation: But seeing one end of the Law is to convince us, and aggravate our sin∣fulness, to make us see our desperate, diseased estate, that thereby we may flie to Christ, as the malefactor to the City of refuge; let it be farre from us to ex∣tenuate or to lessen our sinfulness: The Pharisees of old, and all their successors in endeavouring to establish a righteousness by the Law, have split themselves on this rock, as if the Law had not holiness enough to command them, but they were able to do more than that required: But whence doth this Blind presumption arise? Even from the ignorance of the power of original siane in us.