Light in the way to Paradise with other occasionals / by Dvdley the 2d late Ld. North.

OF Original Sin.

BEING very much perplexed in my own thoughts for a long time, about an imputation resting (as I conceived) upon the justice of our eternal Creator (where∣of we cannot be too tender) in the determi∣nations of our Christian Divines concerning Original Sin, I could not subsist without a restlesness of mind and continual revolution of mental discourses within my self, as also an outward consulting of Authours, to try if I could find satisfaction in the point, which at the last by God's especial grace, I have done, and am so delighted in it, as I should esteem it injurious to others not to set the bu∣siness down in writing, since perhaps the same arguments, which have satisfied me, may produce the like effect with others in a matter of so great importance. The scandal which I received, arose from this opinion,

That the Soul of man being a substance im∣material and immortal created by God and infused into a Body, wherewith it could not have any former cognation, is by that union exposed to an infallible eternal condemnation, not to be prevented by any endeavour of its own, and this includeth the greatest part of the world, and more particularly such Chil∣dren as dye before Baptism, not having in the least manner had the use of their reason or free-will, and in that respect they cannot be guilty of any disobedience. As I take it, this is the opinion of all Christian Divines, both Reformed and Roman, and to me it seem∣ed so opposite to the way of Justice declared in Scripture, and owned by wise men of all Ages, as for a while it made me take up the opinion of traduction of the Soul by the seed of Parents, but this could not long rest with me, since it were too strong an argument for its mortality as being generated; and since it is not conceivable how an immaterial sub∣stance should take its being from two distinct persons, by which it might be concluded to be partible, a thing no ways compatible with the nature of a Spirit. To justifie this gene∣ral comprehension under Original Sin, I find this Argument in Thomas Aquinas, whereup∣on he groundeth his solution, That all man∣kind participating of the same nature, is to be considered as a body natural; and all in∣dividual persons, past, present, and to come,

as parts of that body, and that by the trans∣gression of Adam (who then comprized all mankind) the whole Species is concluded in that sin, because every individual person may be understood to have consented to Adam's disobedience, though not by his own will apart, yet by the will of him his first Father, which moveth all those of his race Per motum generationis. He giveth instance in a Mur∣ther acted by the hand, which being part of man's body, and having no will being con∣sidered in it self, yet becometh guilty by con∣nexion with the Soul, which governeth the whole man. But this abstruse discourse will not be persuasive, as I conceive, for the hand alone cannot have guilt imputed to it; nei∣ther is the Soul of any of Adam's descendents a part of (or with) Adam, because created by God since his time, for parts (except parts of time) while they are parts, must have a coexistence with their whole, and it is most dissonant to common reason, that one man's will should be concluded by the resolutions of another. True it is that world∣ly Princes do deprive the children of Traytors of their inheritance, but this is only a temporal calamity, and is done rather for the deterring of others for the future from so great a crime, (being supposed to love their Posterity) than for the punishment of those who may have been altogether innocent; and that severity with just Princes never extendeth to the life

of the Traytors children: But the other way of proceeding produceth an everlasting con∣demnation of the whole Race for their Pa∣rents delinquency, which certainly is not the course of Divine Justice, if that be true which is delivered, Ezech. 18.4. Behold all Souls are mine, as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is mine; the soul that sinneth it shall dye, &c. And in the same Chapter, verse the 17th. He shall not dye for the iniquity of his Father, he shall surely live; As for his Father, &c. both which places seem to me clearly to evince a personal judgment relating only to personal good carriage, or transgression. And surely the Authour of the book entituled Solomon's Wisedom, did not understand Original Sin as we do, when Chapter 8.20. he saith, I was a witty Child, and had a good spirit, yea rather being good, I came into a body undefiled. Having thus declared my dissatisfaction, it is fit I should express how I became extricated out of the perplexity. I considered that brutes are un∣derstood to have their sensitive Soul by traduc∣tion from their Parents, if I may so call them. I considered also that mens chief exorbitances proceed from their affections, which belong to the sensitive part, as is clear, because beasts ne∣ver want them, as love, hate, concupiscence, anger, and I conceive I may add malice, &c. These being mere productions and improve∣ments of matter, are they that tumultuate with∣in

our breast, and being disposed to excess, excite us to rebel against all the rules of good∣ness as curbers of their liberty, and so being principal causes of sin in us (who only are capable of sinning, for beasts have no Law prescribed to them) may be termed sin dwel∣ling in us, or original sin; which rebellious inclination of our affections we may safely yield to have been contracted by the disobe∣dience of our first Parents, and to have been transmitted to us by the Seed, according to which supposition all St. Paul's Texts con∣cerning the effects of Adam's sin upon us, may receive a fit interpretation, and more es∣pecially a great part of Rom. the 7th. where∣in he speaks of himself, viz. his immortal soul, as a thing distinct from sin, viz. the sensitive part or his affections. And since brutes are never without the sensitive soul and affections, it becomes a necessary and inevitable conse∣quence that they are no proper emanations from the immortal soul, and therefore being distinct from it, are also separable, nor can they have power to constrain it, though they may be constrained by it, as being of a na∣ture so much purer and nobler than them∣selves. And as for the notion of a pure spi∣ritual substance, to become impure by being united with a material body, it is scarcely in∣telligible. Upon these grounds the difficulties may be easily resolved, for so the infused Soul

can have no harder measure by being placed in a body, than an eminent and able person hath, being put by his Prince to command an insolent and rebellious Nation, and first in∣vested by him with a full and sufficient power to govern and restrain them, by which means he hath opportunity, not only to exercise his own vertue, but to gain high favour from his Prince, and to be in the way of great advance∣ment. No such person would esteem this to be hard dealing, but rather on the contrary to be much indulgence and advantage. Yet if such a person should be so far from repres∣sing the peoples insolences, as that he encou∣rageth and joyneth with them therein, it is evident that he exposeth himself to the high∣est punishment, and is the only cause of his own destruction: And even so it is with the immortal Soul, being placed in command over the sensitive part of man. But in case this Hypothesis stand firm otherwise, it will be said that it hath no ground in Scripture, and that will be altogether new, and therefore ought not to be received in matter of Religion. As for the first, I take it to be very consonant to Scripture, for at the first creation of Man, mentioned Gen. 1. it is improbable that God created him with less perfection than Brutes, whom the earth and water brought forth with∣out any breathing of God upon them, yet they were indued with a sensitive Soul and its faculties, the affections, and the breathing of

God into him, whereby he became a living Soul, mentioned in the second Chapter, must be understood of the immortal Soul, as a di∣stinct addition in the way of perfection, and the living of his soul there mentioned, may be meant concerning a purer life in the way of Piety. But the Text of Thes. 5.23. And I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that which I chiefly insist upon, for it can hardly be understood in any other way than of the immortal Soul, the sensitive Soul, and the Body, and all three there specified as the integral parts of man. True it is, that most Interpreters un∣derstand by the Spirit, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or graces of the holy Spirit, which seemeth to me so improper, as it cannot be so intended, for those graces are never blameable, and so it were a strange Prayer that they may be found blameless. And this interpretation needs not to be wondred at, since the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or Spirit, signifieth the rational and immortal Soul in divers other parts of the New Testament, as Rom. 8.16. Gal. 6.18. with many more; and certainly the Text of 1 Cor. 15.50. that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God, and many others, where the flesh is mentioned in the worst sense, are best inter∣preted of disorderly affections unsubdued by the immortal Soul assisted by the holy Spirit, for we know that Enoch and Elias come not

within the rule of exclusion; and as for the novelty of the opinion, I may say, I think, no man ever yet affirmed that the whole Scri∣pture was fully understood by any man, or by any community of men whatsoever, and therefore there being so much room for new interpretations, no opinion should undergo the censure of condemnation only because it is new. Thus much I have said, to shew how I my self am satisfied in this point, and per∣haps this and much more would not be satis∣factory to others, but howsoever, I have ex∣onerated my self, not being willing to sup∣press any truth, the knowledge whereof may be either serviceable to God, or usefull to other men.