A treatise of original sin ... proving that it is

SECT. V.

How absurd it is to exempt any from this Natural Pollution upon any ground whatsoever.

Thirdly, Original sin being thus a sin of the nature, as it is absurd to exempt any from it upon Theological considerations, so likewise from any Philosophical niceties; For there are some that bring forth strange and paradoxical opinions about the nature of man, and these will not have all men involved in Adam's sin, for there is an anonymous Author (truly nullius nominis) hath a written book De praeadomitis, his whole scope is to show, that there were men before Adam, though the Scripture doth not mention them, and he saith, A negative argument in matter of fact doth not hold; There were none, because the Scripture doth not name them; no more then we can say, Melchizedek had no father or mother indeed, because they are not mentioned, But Moses relateth what was in the beginning, and thereby doth exclude any before Adam, yea in the Scripture Adam is expressly called the first man, 1 Cor. 15. 45. There are others, and they would from Philosophy prove, That all men are not of the same kind, no more then birds and beasts, and therefore they did not all come from Adam; They instance in the Antipodes, in those that are in the other world or Hemisphere. The ancient Clement in his Epistle to the Corinthiant, pag. 29. speaketh of [Greek or Hebrew], worlds beyond the sea. But these all come from Adam, for Act. 17. 26. it is expressly said, That God hath made of one blend all Nations of men that dwell on the earth; Therefore we need not matter these fancies, no more then those that hold a world in the Moon, and men there; Paracelsus that gloried he would reform Luther, as Luther had the Pope (Vid Ludev. Crec. Syntag. cap. 28. pag. 811.) telleth us of men found in mines, and that there are Marini homines and Satyrs, who are capable of blessedness, and that Christ died for them, as a certain Satyr is said to the famous Hermit Anthony. Some also speak of men begotten in that unnatural way with beasts, that are beasts and men, have these original sins; But we are to despise all these niceties; Neither are fancies to be minded against the clear Doctrine of the Scripture, wheresoever there is the nature of man in a natural way, there the Scripture pronounceth all obnoxious to this sin.