The true doctrine of justification asserted and vindicated, from the errors of Papists, Arminians,…The true doctrine of justification asserted and vindicated, from the errours of Papists, Arminians,…

Neither secondly is to sin, to produce sin, as the proper and immediate terminus of our action, for sin being a privation, or at most a relation, it cannot be the immediate effect of any action. Sin is not indeed a mere pure privation, such as blindness is, but mixed and compounded, such as sickness is, which hath both the inordinacy, and want of a good temperament, and also the ill humours in it. So that a man sinneth by producing or doing that action, to which sin is annexed. And herein neither do they sufficiently clear Gods concourse about sin, in saying it goeth to the material act of sin, but not to the immediate obliquity of it. For so neither doth man, and indeed sin being a privation, or as some, a relation, it is impossible it should be produced any other way, but by that act unto which it is joined to, as theft is committed by doing that material action, to which that deformity is inseparably adjoined. Therefore to sin, is to do a thing deficiently from the Law of God, so that God in all those several acts of his about sin, whether they be permissive or ordinative, is gloriously vindicated, because he doth nothing deficienter, as falling from that eternal and immutable Law of righteousness; whereas the Angels and man did, missing or coming short of the rule, by which they were to be guided: but because this Discourse is more remote to our present matter of Pardon of sin, we come to that which doth more nearly concern it.

Neither secondly is to sin, to produce sin, as the proper and immediate terminus of our action, for sin being a privation, or at most a relation, it cannot be the immediate effect of any action. Sin is not indeed a meer pure privation, such as blindenesse is, but mixt and compounded, such as sicknesse is, which hath both the inordinacy, and want of a good temperament, and also the ill humours in it. So that a man sinneth by producing or doing that action, to which sin is annexed. And herein neither do they sufficiently clear Gods concourse about sin, in saying it goeth to the material act of sin, but not to the immediate obliquity of it. For so neither doth man, and indeed sin being a privation, or as some, a relation, it is impossible it should be produced any other way, but by that act unto which it is joyned to, as theft is committed by doing that material action, to which that deformity is inseparably adjoined. Therefore to sin, is to do a thing deficiently from the Law of God, so that God in all those several acts of his about sin, whether they be permissive or ordinative, is gloriously vindicated, because he doth nothing deficienter, as falling from that eternal and immutable Law of righteousnesse; whereas the Angels and man did, missing or coming short of the rule, by which they were to be guided: but because this Discourse is more remote to our present matter of Pardon of sin, we come to that which doth more nearly concern it.