avouches did believe on him, vers. 30. or by some other By-standers, hath
been discuss'd in a Sermon lately delivered, which by Gods assistance shall
be annexed to the Discussions following, which better befit the Press or the
Schools, then the Pulpit. So that I must take my Rise from our Saviours
Rejoynder to that former sawcy reply, vers. 34. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whosoever committeth sin, &c. The fore-cited sentence of Cyprian, doth
here again opportunely interpose it self; Vt Deum cognoscas, teipsum prius cog∣nosce:
That thou mayest know God aright, first learn to know thy self. The
advice is as true and fitting to our present purpose, Vt Christum cognoscas,
teipsum prius cognosce: There is no better way or Method to know Christ as
He is in speciall our Lord God and Redeemer, then by knowing or understand∣ing
our selves to be servants, and wherein that servitude consists, from which
we are redeemed. That we are by nature servants unto sin, you will require
no further proof, nor can there any other be found better, then our Saviours
own Authority: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the
servant of sin. The Assertion is Emphatical, and as peremptory as plain. But
concerning the Extent or Limitation of it, there may be some Question made,
or Scruple cast in by the ordinary Hearer or Reader. For seeing as Solomon
long ago hath taught us Ex cathedra, There is no man that sinneth not: and our
Apostle to like purpose: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and
there is no truth in us: Then if it be universally true which our Saviour here
saith [whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin:] the very Redeemed of
the Lord, the best of his Saints here on earth may seem concluded to be
servants to sin; seeing he that sinneth, doth commit sin. The Argument is
somewhat captious and would be stronger, if To commit sin were a verb of the
present Tense, and were to be no further extended. But the word in the Ori∣ginal,
is not a verb, but a participle of the present Tense 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,
not, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. And participles of that Form (as every young Stu∣dent
in the Greek tongue, Ecclesiastick especially, well knows) are according
to Hebraisms most frequent in the Greek Testament, fully Equivalent to Latin
Verbals. Vinum appetere, that is, to call for a cup of wine, any ordinary man may
without impeachment to his sobriety, or censure of temulency: But to be
Homo appetens vini, is in the Latin Tongue, a full Character or expression of a
Wine-bibber or a Drunkard. So that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is as much, as if he
had said in Latin, Operarius iniquitatis▪ which is the best expression of the He∣brew:
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Not every one that committeth a sin, or more sins then
one; but every one that is a Committer of sin, or a Worker of Iniquity is the
Servant of sin. And such all of us are by Nature, and so continue until we be
redeemed by the Free Grace of Christ, from the Dominion of sin and Tyrannie
of Satan. But before we can come to know the manner how we are made Free
by the Son of God: we must (as hath been intimated before) first know,
wherein our servitude to sin doth consist. And this we cannot well know with∣out
some prenotion, or description at least, of the properties or conditions of sin
especially original. To omit the distinction of sins of Omission and Commission,
there be of sin generally or indefinitely taken (I dare not say divers kinds, but)
divers stems, roots, or branches. The First root of sin, was the sin of the First
man, which was both an Actual and Habitual sin in him: The second is, Sin
Original, which is more then an Habit; an hereditary disease of our Nature,
altogether incurable, save only by the Free Grace of the Son of God. Over
and above both these roots or stems, there be other branches, as some Sins Ha∣bitual,
which are acquired or produced by such precedent Actual sins as we
freely and frequently commit, without any necessity imposed upon us, by the
inhabitation of Sin Original in our Nature.