Of the original depravation of our nature we have treated so far as is needful unto our present purpose; yet some things must be added concerning the effects of that depravation, which will conduce unto the right understanding of the way and manner whereby the Spirit of God proceedeth for the healing and removal of it, which we have now under especial consideration. And we may observe, —
First, That the corrupt principle of sin, the native habitual in- clination that is in us unto evil, worketh early in our natures, and for the most part preventeth all the actings of grace in us. Though some may be sanctified in or from the womb, yet in order of nature this native corruption hath first place in them ; for a clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean, but "that which is born of the flesh is flesh:" Ps. Iviii. 3, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." It is to no purpose to say that he speaks of wicked men, — that is, such Avho are habitually and profligately so; for, whatever any man may afterward run into by a course of sin, all men are morally alike from the womb, and it is an aggravation of the wickedness of men that it begins so early, and holds on an uninterrupted course. Children
CHAP. VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 339
are not able to speak from tlie womb, as soon as they are born ; yet here are they said to speak lies. It is, therefore, the perverse act- ing of depraved nature in infancy that is intended; for every thing that is irregular, that answers not the law of our creation and rule of our obedience, is a lie. And among the many instances collected by Austin of such irregular actings of nature in its infant state, one is peculiarly remarkable: Confess, lib. i. cap. 6, "Paulatim sentie- bani ubi essem, et voluntates meas volebam ostendere eis per quos
implerentur, et non poteram Itaque jactabam membra, et
voces, signa sunilia volimtatibus meis, pauca quje poteram, qualia poteram; et cum mihi non obtemperabatur, vel non intellecto, vel ne obesset, indignabar non subditis majoribus, et liberis non servien- tibus, et me de illis flendo vindicabam." This again he repeats, cap. 7: "An pro tempore ilia bona erant, flendo petere etiam quod noxie daretur; indignari acriter non subjectis hominibus, liberis et majoribus, bisque a quibus genitusest; multisque prseterea prudenti- oribus, non ad nutum voluntatis obtemperantibus, feriendo nocere niti, quantum potest, quia non obeditur imperils quibus perniciose obediretur? Ita imbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens est, non animus infantium." Those irregular and perverse agitations of mind, and of the will or appetite, not yet under the conduct of rea- son, which appear in infants, with the indignation and little self-re- venges wherewith they are accompanied in their disappointments when all about them do not subject themselves imto their inclina- tions, it may be to their hurt, ' are from the obliquity of our nature, and effects of that depraved habit of sin wherewith it is wholly pos- sessed. And by the frequency of these lesser actings are the mind and will prepared for those more violent and impetuous motions which, by the improving of their natural capacities, and the incita- tion of new objects presented unto their corruptions, they are exposed unto and filled withal. God did not originally thus create our nature, — a condition worse than and inferior unto that of other creatures, in whose young ones there are none of these disorders, but a regular compliance with their natural instinct prevails in them. And as the dying of multitudes of infants, notwithstanding the utmost care for their preservation, whereas the young ones of other creatures all generally live, if they have whereby their nature may be sustained, argues the imputation of sin unto them, — for death entered by sin, and passed upon all, inasmuch as all have sinned, — so those irregu- lar actings, peculiar unto them, prove sin inherent in them, or the corruption of their nature from their conceptions.
Secondly, With the increase of our natural faculties, and the strengthening of the members of our bodies, which by nature are become ready " instruments of unrighteousness unto sin," Rom. vi.
8-10 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III.
13, this perverse principle acts itself with more evidence, frequency, and success in the production of actual sin, or inordinate actings of the mind, will, and affections. So the wise man tells us that *' childhood and youth are vanity," Eccles. xi. 10. The mind of man, in the state of childhood and youth, puts itself forth in all kinds of vain actings, in foolish imaginations, perverse and froward appetites, falseness in words, with sensible effects of corrupt inclina- tions in every kind, Austin's first book of Confessions is an excel- lent comment on that text, wherein the " vanity of childhood and youth" are graphically described, with pathetical self-reflecting com- plaints concerning the guilt of sin which is contracted in them- Some, perhaps, may think light of those ways of folly and vanity wherein childhood doth, or left alone would, consume itself; — that there is no moral evil in those childish innocencies. That good man was of another mind. " Istane est," saith he, " innocentia puerilis? non est. Do mine, non est, oro te, Deus mens. Nam hoec ipsa sunt quse a psedagogis et magistris, a nucibus et pilulis et passeribus, ad prsefectos et reges, aurum, praedia, mancipia, hsec ipsa omnino quae succedentibus majoribus astatibus transeunt [sicuti ferulis majora supplicia succeduntj," lib. i. cap. 19. This is not innocency ; it is not so. The same principle and habit of mind, carried over unto riper age and greater occasions, bring forth those greater sins which the lives of men are filled withal in this world. And who is there, who hath a serious reverence of God, with any due apprehension of his holiness, and a clear conviction of the nature of sin, who is not able to call over such actings in childhood, which most think meet to con- nive at, wherein they may remember that perversity whereof they are now ashamed? By this means is the heart prepared for a farther obduration in sin, by the confirmation of native obstinacy.