John Trapp on Job 14:4

Verſe 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.] q. d. I confeſs I am unclean: but what can I do withal? or how can I do otherwiſe, ſith I do but my kind? But was this a ſufficient plea? David was of another mind, when he alledged this as a great aggravation of his blood-guiltineſſe, Behold, I was ſhapen in iniquity, and in ſin did my mother conceive me, Pſalm 51.5. q. d. I have not only fallen into theſe foul ſins, but I have done it out of the venemouſneſſe and vitioſity of my nature, commonly called original, and by the Apoſtle inhabiting ſin, Rom. 7.17. as by the Schools peccatum peccans, the ſinning ſin, as that which is the ſource and ſeminary of all actual diſobediences. And becauſe this uncleanneſſe is natural to us, therefore it maketh us as loathſome to God, as a toad is to us, becauſe poiſon is in the nature of it. Papiſts ſay, (but not truly) that Original ſin is the ſmalleſt of all ſins, not deſerving any more of Gods wrath then only a want of his beatifical preſence; and that too without any pain or ſorrow of mind from the apprehenſion of ſo great a loſſe. They hold alſo thoſe motions of the heart not conſented to, to be no ſins, but neceſſary conditions, ariſing from our conſtitution, and ſuch as Adam had in his innocency. Contrary-wiſe, Job here grants a birth-blot upon all, and layes his hand upon it as the cauſe of the length of mens troubles, and ſhortneſſe of their lives: only he forgetteth himſelf (ſaith Mercer here) when hee pleadeth that hee ſhould rather bee pitied, then thus ſharply puniſhed, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Ethic. lib. 3. cap. 5. becauſe hee was naturally enclined to ſinne, and cannot avoid it. For as Aristotle ſaith of drunkards, that they deſerve double puniſhments; firſt, for their drunkenneſſe, and then for the ſin committed in and by their drunkenneſſe: ſo do all men deſerve double damnation; firſt, for the corruption of Nature (ſignified by thoſe legall pollutions, by bodily iſſues) and then for the curſed effects of it, Gen. 6.5. Rom. 7.8. But it may bee Job here had an eye to that promiſe made to Noah after the flood, Gen. 8.21. where the Lord moveth himſelf to mercy by conſideration of mans native corruption, even from his child-hood, for he knoweth our frame &c. Pſalm 103.14. that is (as the Chaldee Paraphraſt explaineth it) he knoweth our evill figment or thought which impelleth to ſin: hee knoweth it, and weigheth it. See the like Iſa. 48.8, 9. Wee may beſeech the Lord to ſpare us when we act ſin, becauſe our natures are ſinful: but let not any go about either to palliate or extenuate their acts of ſinne by the ſinfulneſs of their natures; as thoſe doe, who being told of their evil pranks and practiſes, plead for them, ſaying, Wee are fleſh and blood, &c.

Not one] Fortes creantur fortibus & bonis; but no meer man can bring forth a clean child out of unclean ſeed. Adam begat a ſon after his own image (Gen. 5.3.) Corruptus corruptum, That which is of the fleſh is fleſh, John 3. Sin is propagated, and proceedeth from the union of body and ſoul into one man. That phraſe Warmedin ſinne, Pſalm 51.5. is meant of the preparation of the body, as an inſtrument of evil, which is not ſo actually till the ſoul come. But we ſhould not be ſo inquiſitive how ſin came in, as how to be rid of it; like as when a fire is kindled in a city, all men are more careful to quench it, then to queſtion where, and how it began. Now there is one only way of ridding our hearts of ſinne, viz. to run to Chriſt, and to believe in him: For if the Son make you free, ye ſhall [illegible: 1 word] indeed: and hereunto, both the Chaldee Paraphraſt had reſpect (likely) when he rendred this text, Cannot One? that is, Cannot God? As alſo the Vulgar Latine, Nonne tu qui ſolus es? Canſt not thou alone? ſc. by thy merit and Spirit, according to that of the Apoſtle, 1 Cor. 6.11.