doth sealing bespeake any Grace in us but a peculiar improvement of the Grace bestowed on us So that 4. We refuse the Answer suggested by Mr Goodwin That Sealing depends that is in his sence upon Believing as to the first grant of it but not as to the continuance therof and reject his supposall of one that hath truly Blieved making shipwrack of his Faith as to importune a crye or begging of that which it is evident cannot be proved I shall adde only that Mr Goodwin granting here the continvance of Faith to be a thing uncertaine which is a word to expresse a very weak probability of a thing is much fallen off from his former confident expression of the only remote possibility of Believers falling away That their falling away should be scarsly possible and yet their continuance in the Faith very uncertaine is somewhat uncouth But this is the foundation of that great Consolation which Mr Goodwins Doctrine is so pregnant and teeming withall that it even grones to be delivered Their continuance in Believing is uncertaine therefore they must needs rejoyce and be filled with Consolation But he Answers farther 1. I Answer farther by way of exception that the Sealing we speake of is neither granted by God unto Believers themselves upon any such termes that upon no occasion or occasions whatsoever §. 31. as of the greatest and most horrid sins commited and long continued in by them or the like it should never be interrupted or defaced for this is contrary to many plaine Texts of Scripture and particularly uuto all those where either Apostates from God or evill doers and workers of iniquity are threatned with the losse of Gods Favour and of the inheritance of Life such as Heb. 10. c. Ans. 1. It is the intent and purpose of God that the Sealing of Believers shall abide with them for ever whence comes it to passe that his Purposes doe not stand and that he doth not fulfill his pleasure It is not that he changeth but that men are changed that is the beginning of the change is not in him Occasion of it is administred unto him by men When his Sealing is removed from Believers doth God still purpose that it shall continue with them or no If he doth then he puposeth that shall be which is not which it is his will shall not be and he continues in his vaine Purpose to Eternity Or if he ceases to purpose how is it that he is not changed Such things speake a change in the sonnes of men and we thought had been incompatible with the Perfection of the Divine Nature even that he should Will Purpose one thing at one time and another yea the cleane contrary at another Yea but the Reason of it is because the men concerning whom his Purposes are do change This salves not the Immutability of God Though he doth not change from any new consideration in himselfe and from himselfe yet he doth from obstructions in his way and to his thoughts in the Creatures yea insteed of salving his Vnchangeablenesse this is destructive to his Omnipotency 2. This whole Answer is a supposall that God may alter his Purposes of confirming men in Grace if they be not confirmed in Grace or that though Gods Purpose be to seale them to the day of Redemption yet they may not continue nor be preserved thereunto and then Gods Purpose of their continuance ceaseth also This is 3. More evident in his second Answer by way of exception which is made up of these two parts First a begging of the maine and upon the matter only thing in question by supposing that Believers may fall into the most horrible sinnes and continue in them to the end so proving with greate Evidence and perspicuity that Believers may fall away because they may fall away And 2. A suggestion of his owne Judgement to the contrary And his supposall that it is confirmed by some Texts of Scripture which God assisting shall be delivered from this Imputation hereafter And these two do make up so cleare an Answer to the Argument in hand that a man knowes not well what to reply let us take it for granted that Believers may fall away and how shall we prevent Mr Goodwin from proving it But he adds farther Believers are said to be sealed by the Holy Spirit of God against or untill or for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of Redemption because that Holinesse which is wrought in them by the Spirit of God qualifies them puts them into a present and actuall Capacity of partaking in that Joy and Glory which the Great day of the full Redemption of the Saints that is of those who lived and dyed and shall be found such shall bring with it and it is called the Earnest of their Inheritance Ans. How 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes to be against or for or to denote the matter spoken of and what all this is to the purpose in hand he shewes not The ayme of him the words are spoken of and the uninterrupted continuance of the worke mentioned to the end expressed seemes rather to be intended in the whole Coherence of the words Neither is the use of Sealing to prepare any thing for such a time but to secure and preserve it thereunto He that hath a Conveyance Sealed unto him is not only capacitated for the present to receive the estate conveyed but is principally assured of a Right Title for a continued enjoyment of it not to be reversed It is not the nature of this worke of the Holy Ghost wherein it is coincident which other acts of his Grace but the particular use of it as it is a Sealing and Gods intendment by it to confirme us to the day of Redemption that comes under our Consideration If it were a season to inquire wherein it consists I suppose we should scarce close with Mr Goodwin's description of it viz. That it is a quallifying of men and putting them in an actuall capacity to partake of Joy c. He is the first I know of that gave this description of it and probably the last that will do so Of the Earnest of the Spirit in its propper place What he addes in the last place namely §. 32. if the Apostles intent had been to informe the Ephesians that the gift of the Holy Spirit which they had received from God was the earnest of their inheritance upon such termes that no unworthinesse or wickednesse whatsoever on their parts could ever hinder the actuall collation of this inheritance upon them he had plainly prevaricated with that most serious Admonition wherein he addresses himselfe to them afterwards For this ye know that no Whore-monger c. hath any inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ This I say is of the same alloy with what went before For 1. Here is the same begging of the Question as before and that upon a twofold account 1. In supposing that Believers may fall into
performances And how comes that about saith the Psalmist it is by Gods satisfying my mouth with good things he satisfyed his mouth with good things or answered his prayers What these good things are which the Saints pray for and wherewith their mouthes are satisfied our Saviour tells us your Father saith he knoweth how to give good things to them that aske them of him which expressing in another place he saith your Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that aske him of him He is given us and he renewes our strength as the Eagles making our soules which were ready to languish prompt ready cheerefull strong in the wayes of God To this purpose is that Prayer of the Spouse Cant. 4. 6. Awake O North wind and come thou South and blow upon my Garden that the savour of my spices may flow out let my beloved come into his Garden that he may eate of the fruit of his precious things Shee is sensible of the withering of her Spices the decayes of her Graces and her disability thereupon to give any suitable entertainment unto Jesus Christ Hence is her earnestnesse for new breathings and operations of the Spirit of Grace to renew and revive and set on worke againe her Graces in her which without it could not be done All Graces are the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 25 26. The fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Kindnesse Goodnesse Faith Gentlenesse Temperance if the Root doe not communicate fresh juyce and sappe continually the fruit will quickly wither were there not a continuall communication of new life and freshnesse unto our Graces from the Indwelling Spirit we should soone be poore withered Branches this our Saviour tells us Ioh. 15. 4 5. abide in mee and I in you as the branches cannot bring forth fruit of themselves unlesse they remaine in the Vine no more can yee unlesse ye abide in mee I am the Vine yee are the Branches he who abideth in mee and I in him he bringeth forth much fruit for separate from mee ye can doe nothing Our Abiding in Christ and his in us is as was declared by the Indwelling of the same Spirit in him and us Hence saith Christ have you all your fruit-bearing vertue and unlesse that be continued to us we shall wither and consume to nothing David in his spiritually declined condition intangled under the power and guilt of sinne cries out for the continuance of the Spirit and the restoring him as to those ends and purpose◠in reference whereunto he was departed from him Ps 51. 21 22. This the Apostle praies earnestly that the Ephesians may receive Ch. 3. 16 17. I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he will give unto you according to the riches of his Glory that ye may be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith that yee being rooted and grounded in Love c. The inward Man is the same with the new Creature the new principle of Grace in the Heart This is apt to be sick to faint and decay the Apostle prayes that it might be strengthened how is this to be done how is it to be renewed increased enlivened It is saith he by the mighty power of the Spirit and then gives you particular instances in the Graces which flourish and spring up effectually upon that strengthening they receive by the might and power of the Spirit as of Faith Love Knowledge and Assurance the increasing and establishing of all which is ascribed there unto him He who bestowes these Graces on us and workes them in us doth also carry them on unto perfection Were it not for our inflowings from that spring our Cisternes would quickly be dry therefore our Saviour tells us that he the Spirit is unto Believers as Rivers of living water flowing out of their bowels Ioh 7. 38 39. A never failing fountaine that continually puts forth living waters of Grace in us This may a little farther be considered and insisted on being directly to our main purpose in hand It is true indeed it doth more properly belong unto that which I have assigned for the Second Part of this Treatise concerning the Ground or Principle of the Saints abiding with God for ever but falling in conveniently in this order I shall farther presse it from Ioh. 4. 14. whosoever saith our Saviour shall drink of the water which I shall give unto him shall not thirst for ever but the water which I shall give unto him shall be in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternall life The occasion of these words is known §. 29. they are part of our Saviours Colloquie with the poore Samaritan Harlot having told her that he could give her another manner of water and infinitely better then that which she drew out of Jacobs well for which the poore Creature did almost contemne him and askt him whence he had that water whereof he spake how he came by it or what he made of himselfe Did he think himselfe a better man then Iacob who dranke of that well which shee was drawing water out of to convince her of the Truth and reality of his Promise he compares the water that he would and could give with that which she drew out of the Well especially as to one eminent effect wherein the water of his Promise did infinitely surmount that which she so magnifyed for v. 13. he tells her for that water in the well though it allayed thirst for a season yet within a little while she would thirst againe and must come thither to draw but saith he whosoever drinketh of the Water I shall give him thirsts no more and this he proveth from the Condition of the Water he giveth it is a well of Water not a drought not a Pitcherfull as that thou carryest away but it is a Fountaine a Well yea perhaps in it selfe it is so a Fountaine or Well but he that drinkes of it he hath but one draught of that water Nay saith Christ it shall become a Well in him not a Well whereunto he may goe but a Well that he shall carry about in him He that hath a continuall spring of living water in him shall doubtlesse have no occasion of fainting for thirst any more This our Saviour amplifies and clears up unto her from the nature and energy of this Well of water it springeth up unto everlasting life in these last words instructing the poore sinfull Creature in the use of the Parable that he had used with her Having taken an occasion to speake to her of heavenly things from the nature of the employment that she was engaged in at present Two or three things may be observed from the words to give Light unto their tendency to the Confirmation of the Truth we have under consideration First §. 30. the Water here Promised by our Saviour is the Holy and Blessed Spirit this
Rom. 5. 1. and Justified by Faith to have Peace with him which as to his present condition the Adversaries of the Doctrine of Perseverance acknowledge that he may attaine though how upon their principles I understand not consider a little how he can safegard his Peace for a moment and deliver himselfe from perplexing thoughts and feares renouncing any interest in the ingagement of the Love and Faithfulnesse of God for his preservation He may say within himselfe I am for the present in some good state and condition but were not the Angels so that are now Devills in Hell were not they in a farre better and more excellent state then I am and yet they are now shut up under chaines of everlasting darknesse to the judgment of the great day Adam in Paradise had no lust within him to tempt and seduce him no World under the curse to intangle and provoke him and yet being in that honour he had no understanding he abode not but became like the beast that perisheth was it not in their power to persevere in that condition if they would Did they want any meanes that were usefull thereunto And what hope is there left to me Rom. 7. in whom there dwelleth no good thing who am sold under the power of sinne and encompassed with a world of temptations that I shall endure unto the end I see thousands before mine eyes partakers of the same heavenly calling with my selfe of the same Grace in Jesus Christ every day falling into irrecoverable perdition There is not any Purpose of God that I should be preserved nor Promise that I shall never depart from him no prayer of Christ that my Faith may not faile but I am rolled upon mine own hand and what will be the end of this whole undertaking of mine in the wayes of God I know not Let I say a man be exercised with such thoughts as these and then try if any thing under heaven can bring his soule to any possible composure untill it be cast into the mould of that Doctrine which hath been delivered But of this more directly afterwards when we come to treat of the Consolation which from the breast of it doth flow 2. §. 11. It is exceedingly suited to the deliverance of the Soules of the Saints from all such hard thoughts of God as are apt to impaire and weaken their Love towards him and delight in him so setting the two principles of all their Obedience Faith and Love at liberty and free from their intanglements to act in the duties they are called unto He that had hard thoughts of his absent Lord as an austere man though he was not excused in his disobedience by it yet he was evidently discouraged as to his Obedience When men shall be taught that God takes no more care of his Children in his family but that the Divell may enter in among them and and take them away making them Children of Hell when he might with the greatest Advantage of Glory and Honour to himselfe imaginable prevent it That the Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepheard of the Sheep takes no more care of his flock and fold but that the Lion Beares and Wolves may enter in and make havocke and spoile at their pleasure May they not think that God is little concerned in the Salvation of his and that all that which is so Gloriously expressed of his peculiar and speciall Love carries nothing but an empty noise the burthen of their preservation being thrown soly upon their owne shoulders And are not such thoughts fitte only to cast water upon their flames of Love to God and insensibly to weaken that delight which they ought alwayes to take in the riches of his Grace and Love Is there any thing possible more indearing to the heart of a Creature then to heare such a testimony as that Zeph. 3. 17. concerning the stability of the Love of God and its excellency The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his Love he will joy over thee with singing Gods resting in his Love towards his Saints fixes their soules in their Love to him 3. §. 12. It puts high and unspeakable Obligations on the Saints to live to God and to perfect Holinesse in the feare of the Lord Saints we suppose to have their Birth from above to be begotten of the Will of God through the immort all seed of the Word and to be quickened with a Noble Child-like Ingenuity befitting the family of God Neither is any thing more injurious to the worke of God's Grace then to suppose that those whom God calls Children Friends Heirs of Heaven and Glory his Crowne his Diadem Brethren of his only Sonne are to be dealt withall or that God deales with them as if they were wholly acted by a servile slavish Principle and were wholly under the power of such an unworthy disposition There are two things usually spoken to the prejudice and disadvantage of § 13. the Truth we have under Consideration much insisted on by Mr Goodwin Cap 9. As 1. That a perswision of the certaine continuance of the Love of God to any one is a ready way to make them carelesse negligent and to give up themselves to all manner of abominations But what Vipers Snakes and Adders do such men suppose the Saints of God to be that their new nature their Heavenly Principles for what the flesh in them is prone unto we now consider not should conclude that it is good to sinne that Grace may abound that because God Loves them with an Everlasting Love therefore they will hate him with a perpetuall hatred that because he will assuredly give them Grace to serve him with reverence Goâ—ly fear therefore they will despise him and trample on all his Goodnesse because he will never forsake them that they will no more abide with him What is in the inner man what is in the new Creature what is in the nature of any Grace wherewith they are indowed that is apt or inclinable to make such hellish Conclusions If we heare of any such thing among the Sonnes of men if we see a Child or a servant resolving to be profligate wicked stubborne prodigall because his Father or Master is kind loving and will not disinherit him or put him away we looke upon him as a monster in nature and think that it would be good service to the interest of mankind to take him off from the face of earth And yet such monsters are all the Saints of God supposed to be who if their Father once give them the least Assurance of the Continuance of his Love they presently resolve to doe him all the dishonour despite and mischeife they can I appeale to all the experience of all the Saints in the world whethâ—â— if any such thought at any time arise in them that they may continue in sinne because Grace
of the weakenes of Grace rather then of the flesh which yet it is not able to do for if there be no Promise to the contrary why may not the principle which carrieth men forth to lesser carry them also forth to greater more provoking sinnes what boundaries will you prescribe unto these sinnes of infirmitie The pretension from the strength of the flesh yea from the weakenesse of it holdeth good against the Saints establishment in Peace and Assurance upon the account of their being destitute of any Promise of preservation by God 2. If the Saints be willing saith he to strengthen the Spirit in them §. 22. and make him willing proportionably to the meanes prescribed and vouchsafed unto them by God for such a purpose this will fully ballance the weakenesse of the flesh prevent the miscarriages breaking out hereof This I say then saith the Apostle walke in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh and againe If you be lead by the Spirit you are not under the Law and consequently are in no danger of loosing the Favour of God or of perishing for such sinnes which under the conduct of the Spirit you are subject unto Ans. But that all now must be taken in good part and nothing called strange or uncouth since we have passed the pikes in the last Section I should somewat admire at the Doctrine of this Paragraph For 1. Here is a willing in reference to a great Spirituall duty supposed in men antecedent to any Assistance of him who worketh to will and to do of his owne good pleasure What he worketh he worketh by the Spirit But this is a willing in us distinct from and antecedent to the appearing of the Spirit for the strengthning thereof 2. That whereas we have hitherto imagined that the Spirit strengthneth the Saints and that their supportment had been from him as we partly also before declared at least we did our minde to be so perswaded it seemeth they strengthen the Spirit in them and not he them How or by what meanes or by what principles in them it is that so they do is not declared Besides what is here intended by the Spirit is not manifested If it be the Holy and Blessed Spirit of God be hath no need of our strengthning he is able of himselfe to make us meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light If it be the gracious principles that are bestowed upon the Saints that are intended the new Creature the inwardman called the Spirit in the Scripture in opposition to the flesh if our strengthning this Spirit be any thing but the acting of the Graces intended thereby in us I know not what you meane Especially in what is or consists their acting to make the Spirit willing proportionably to the meanes we do receive am I to seeke to say that we receave outward meanes of God for so they must be being distinguished from the Spirit and thereupon of our selves do make the Spirit willing and strengthen him to the performance of God surely holdes out a very sufficient power in Spirituall things inbred in us and abiding with us whereof there is not the least Line or appearance in the whole Booke of God nor in any Author urged by Mr Goodwin to give countenance to his perswasion neither 2. Is the summe of all this Answer any other but this If we are willing will prevent all miscarriages from the weakenesse of the flesh we may But how we become willing so to do and what Assurance we have that we shall be so willing seeing all in us by nature John 3. 6. as to any Spirituall duty is flesh is not intimated in the least This is strenuously supposed all along that to be willing unto spirituall good in a spirituall manner is wholly in our owne power and an easie thing it is no doubt The plea in hand is that such is the strength of indwelling sinne in the best of the Saints and so easily doth it beset them that if they have not some Promise of God to assure them that they shall have constant supply of Grace from him and by his power be preserved it is impossible but that they must be filled with perplexing feares that they shall not hold out in giving him willing Obedience to the end Their Will being in an especiall manner entangled with the power of sinne It is answered If men be but willing c. they need not feare this or any such issue i. e. If they do the thing which they feare and have reasons inviucible to feare that they shall not they need not feare but that they shall do it which is nothing but a most absurd begging of the thing in Question Nether is there any thiug in the Scripture that will give a passe to this Begger or shelter him from due correction The Apostle indeed saith that If we walke in the Spirit we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh And good Reason there is for it for as he told us these are contrary to one an â—ther and opposite to one another bring forth such divers contrary fruits in them in whom they are that if we walk in the one we shall not fullfill the lusts of the other But what assurance have we that we shall walke in the Spirit if it be not hence that God hath promised that his Spirit shall never depart from us And if we are lead by the Spirit we are not under the Law Which by the way letteth us see that the Spirit leadeth us that is maketh us willing and strengtheneth us not we him But on what account shall or dare any man promise to himselfe that the Spirit will continue so to do if God hath not promised that he shall so do Or if his leading of us be only on condition that we be willing to be lead how shall we be in the least assertained supposing us in any measure acquainted with the power of indwelling sinne that we shall be alway so willing let then this passe with what was said before as nothing to the thing in hand 3. It is answered then 3 ly and lastly there is no such aptnesse or pronenesse unto sinne §. 23. sinnes I meane of a disinheriting import in Saints or true Believers as is pretended But on the contrary a strong propension or inclination unto Righteousnesse raigneth in them we heard formerly from the Apostle 1 John 3. 9. That he that is borne of God cannot sinne and also from the 1 John 5. 3. From these suppositions with many other of like import it is evident that there is a pregnant strong over powring propension in all true Believers to walke Holily and to live Righteously so that to refraine sinning in the kind intended is no such great mastery no such matter of difficulty unto such men and that when they are overcome and fall into sinne it is through a meere voluntary neglect and thus
a man professing the Doctrine of the Gospell that inke should staine paper with such filth cast upon the Spirit and Grace of God The Feare of Hell ere-while was suited to the use of the Flesh but now it seems it serves to keep the Love of God it selfe in order that otherwise would wax wanton fleshly and foolish Foolish Love that will attempt to cast out this tormenting Feare not being able to preserve it selfe from folly without its assistance Sect 15. is spent in an Answer endeavoured to an Objection placed in the beginning of it in these words If it be farther demanded But doth it not argue servility in men to be drawn by the Iron cord of the Feare of Hell to doe what is their duty to doe Or doth any other Service or Obedience become Sonnes and Children but only that which is free and proceedeth from Love Hereunto you have a threefold Answer returned First That God requires that it should be so which is a downeright begging of the Question Secondly He puts a difference between the Obedience of Children to their Parents and of the Saints unto God The discourse whereof discovering some mysteries of the new Doctrine of Grace much pressed and insisted on take as followes There is a very different consideration of the Obedience of Children to their Naturall Parents of the obedience of the Children of God unto their Heavenly Father The Obedience of the former is but by the Inspiration of Nature and is an act not so much raised by Deliberation or flowing from the will by an interposure of judgment and conscience to produce the Election as arising from an innate propension in men accompanying the very constituting principles of their Nature and being Whereas the latter the Obedience of the Children of God is taught by Precepts and the Principle of it I mean that Rationall frame of Heart out of which they subject themselves to God is planted in the soules of men by the ingagement of Reason Judgement and Conscience to consider those grounds arguments and motives by which their Heavenly Father judgeth it meet to work and fashion them unto such a frame So that though the obedience of Naturall Children to their Naturall Parents be the more genuine and commendable when it flowes freely from the pure instinct of Nature and is not drawn from them by feare of punishment yet the Obedience of the Children of God is then most genuine and commendable and like unto it selfe when it is produced and raised in the soule by a joynt influence and contribution not of one or of some but of all those Arguments Reasons Motives Inducements whatsoever and how many soever they be by which their Heavenly Father useth to plant and work it in them for in this case and in this only it hath most of God of the Spirit of God of the Wisdome of God of the Goodnesse of God in and upon this account it is likeliest to be most free uniforme and permanent The summe of this Answer amounts to these three things First that there is an Instinct or inspiration of Nature in Children to yeild Obediedce to their Parents Secondly that there is no such Spirituall Instinct or inclination in the Saints to yeild Obedience to God Thirdly that the Obedience of the Saints ariseth meerely and solley from such Considerations of the Reason of that Obedience which they apprehend in contradiction to any such genuine principles as might incline their hearts thereunto For the first That the obedience of Children to their Parents though it be a prime dictate of the Law of Nature wherewith they are indued proceedeth from a pure Instinct any otherwise than as a principle suiting inclining them to the Acts of that Obedience so as to exclude the promoting and carrying of it on upon the Morall condsideration of Duty Piety c. it is in vaine for Mr Goodwin to goabout to perswade us unlesse he could not only corrode the Word of God where it presseth that Obedience as a Duty but also charme us into beasts of the feild which are acted by such a bruit instinct not to be improved stirred up or drawne forth into exercise by Deliberation or Consideration There is it is true in Children an impresse of the power of the Law of nature suiting them to Obedience which yet in many hath been quite cast out and obliterated being not of the constituting principles of their Nature which whilst they haue their being as such cannot be throwne out of them and carrying them out unto it with Delight Ease and Complacency as habits do to suitable actings but withall that this principle is not regulated and directed as our Obedience to God by a Rule and stirred up to exert it selfe and they in whom it is provoked by Rationall and Conscientious considerations to the performance of their duty in that Obedience is so contrary to the experience I suppose of all sharers with us in our Mortality that it will hardly be admitted into debate But Secondly the worst part of this Story lyes in the middle of it in the exclusion of any such Spirituall principle in Believers as should carry them out unto Obedience at least to any such as is not begotten in their minds by Rationall considerations What ever may be granted of acquired habites of Grace which that the first should be that a Spirituall habit should be acquired by naturall actings is a most ridiculous fiction all infused Habits of Grace that should imprint upon the soule a new naturall inclination to Obedience that should fashion and frame the hearts of men into a state and Condition suited for and carry them out unto Spirituall Obedience are here decryed All it seemes that the Scripture hath told us of our utter Insufficiency Deadnesse Disability indisposednesse to any thing that is good without a new Life and principle all that we have apprehended and Believed concerning the new Heart and Spirit given us the new Nature new Creature divine Nature inward man Grace in the Heart making the Roote good that the Fruit may be so All that the Saints have expressed concerning their Delight in God Love to God upon the account of his writing his Laws in their hearts and Spirits is a meere delusion There is no principle of any Heavenly Spirituall Life no new Nature with its bent and instinct lying towards God and Obedience to him wrought in the Saints or bestowed on them by the Holy Spirit of Grace If this be so we may even fairely shut our Bibles and go learne this new Gospell of such as are able to instruct us therein Wherefore I say Thirdly that as in Children there is an instinct an inclination of nature to induce them and carry them out to Obedience to their naturall Parents which yet is directed regulated provoked and stirred up and they thereby to that Obedince by Motives and Considerations suited to worke upon their Minds and Consciences to prevailewith them thereunto so also
Conscience doth however it tumultuate rebuke chide perswade trouble cry and the like whatever conviction of the guilt of sinne may shew into the judgement yet sinne hath the consent of the whole soule Every thing that hath a reall influence into operation consents thereto originally and radically how ever any principle may be dared by Conscience To take off any thing from full consent there must be something of a spirituall Repugnancy in the mind and will which when Lust is thus enthroned there is not Secondly That sinne reigneth in such persons Many have been the inquiries of Learned men about reigning of sinne As What sinnes may be said to reigne §. 8. and what not Whether sinnes of ignorance may raigne as well as sinnes against knowledge What little sinnes may be said to reigne as well as great Whether frequent relapses into any sinne prove that sinne to be reigning Whether sinne may reigne in a Regenerate person Or whether a Saint may fall into reigning sinne whereabout Divines of great note and name have differed all upon a false bottome and supposall The Scripture gives no ground for any such inquiries or disputes or Cases of Conscience as some men have raised hereupon And indeed I would this were the only instance of mens creating Cases of Conscience and answering them when indeed and in truth there are no such things so insnaring the Consciences of Men and intangling more by their Cases than they deliver by their Resolutions The truth is there is no mention of any reigning sinne or the Reigning of any sinne in the whole Book of God taking sinne for this or that particular sinne But of the Reigne of this Indwelling originall Lust or fountaine of all finne there is frequent mention Whilest that holds its power and universality in the soule and is not restrained nor straitned by the Indwelling spirit of grace with a new vitall principle of no lesse extent and of more power than it be the Actuall sinnes few or more knowne or unknowne little or great all is one sinne reignes and such a person is under the power and dominion of sinne so that in plain termes to have finne reigne is to be unconverted and to have sinne not to reigne is to be converted to have received a new principle of Life from above This is evident from the 5. and 6. Chapter of the Epist. to the Romans the seate of this Doctrine of reigning sinne The opposition insisted on by the Apostle is between the Reigne of Sinne and Grace and in pursuit thereof he manifests how true Believers are tanslated from the one to the other To have sinne reigne is to be in a state of sinne to have Grace reigne is to be in a state of Grace So Chapter 5. 21. % As sinne reigned unto death so Grace reignes through Righteousnesse unto eternall Life by Jesus Christ our Lord The sinne he speakes of is that whereof he treates in all that Chapter the sinne of Nature the Lust wherof we speake this by nature reigneth unto Death but when Grace comes by Jesus Christ the soule is delivered from the power thereof so in the whole 6. Chap. It is our change of state and Condition that the Apostle insists on in our delivery from the reigne of sinne and he tells us this is that that destroyes it our being under Grace v 14. Sinne shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the Law but under Grace Plainely then there are two Lords and Rulers and these are Originall or Indwelling sinne and Grace or the Spirit of it The first Lord the Apostle discovers with his entrance upon his Rule and Dominion Chap. 5. and this all men by nature are under The second he describes Chap. 6. which sets out the Rule reigne of Grace in Believers by Jesus Christ. And then Thirdly the place that both these Lords have in this life in a Believer Cap. 7. This then is the only reigning sin in whomsoever it is in its power compas as it is in all unregenerate men in them in them only doth sin reigne every sin they commit is with full consent as was manifested before in exact willing Obedience to the soveraigne Lord that reignes in them Fourthly §. 9. observe that the Grace new Creature Principle or Spirituall Life that is Given to bestowed on and wrought in all and only Believers be it in the lowest and most remisse degree that can be imagined is yet no lesse universally spread over the whole soule than the contrary habit and principle of Lust and sinne whereof we have spoken In the Understanding it is Light in the Lord in the Will Life in the Affections Love Delight c. those being reconciled who were alienated by wicked workes Where ever there is any thing the least of grace there something of it is in every thing of the soule that is a capable seat for good or evill habits or dispositions He that is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor 5. 17. not renewed in one or other particular he is a new Creature Fiftly that where ever true Grace is in what degree soever §. 10. there it bears Rule though sinne be in the same subject with it As sinne reignes before grace comes so Grace reignes when it doth once come And the reason is because sinne having the first Rule and Dominion in the heart abiding there there is neither Roome nor place for Grace but what is made by conquest Now who ever enters into a possession by right of Conquest what resistance soever be made if he prevaile to a Conquest he reignes In every regenerate man though Grace be never so weake and Corruption never so strong yet properly the Soveraignty belongs to Grace Having entered upon the soule and all the powers of it by Conquest so long as it abides there it doth reigne So that to say a Regenerate man may fall into reigning sinne as it is commonly exprest though as we have manifested no sinne reignes but the sinne of Nature as no good Act reigneth but the spirit and habit of Grace and yet continue Regenerate is all one as to say he may have and not have true Grace at the same time Now from these considerations §. 11. some farther inferences may be made First That in every regenerate person there are in a spirituall sence two Principles of all his actings Two Wills There is the Will of the Flesh and there is the Will of the Spirit a Regenerate man is spiritually and in Scripture expression two men a new man and an old an inward man and a body of Death and hath two Wills having two Natures not as Naturall faculties but as Morall principles of operation and this keepes all his actions as Morall from being perfect absolute or compleate in any kind He doth good with his whole heart upon the account of sincerity but he doth not good with his whole heart upon the account
import any such thing as is aimed at from the Text nor the word abide but to the whole proposition the seed of God abideth in him as produced to confirme the former assertion of the not sinning of the Persons spoken of there is nothing spoken at all I shall therefore briefely confirme the Argument in hand by the strength here communicated unto it by the Holy Ghost and then consider what is answered to any part of it or objected to the interpretation insisted on That he that sinneth not neither can sinne in the sence explained shall never fall away totally or finally from God is granted That Believers sinne not nor can sinne so or in the manner mentioned besides the Testimony of the Holy Ghost worthy of all acceptation in the cleare assertion of it we have the Reason thereof manifested in the discovery of the causes of its truth The first Reason is Because the seed of God abideth in them A tacite grant seemeth to be made that fruit sometimes may not visibly appeare upon them as the case is with a Tree in winter when it casts its leaves but its seed remaineth Grace may abide in the habit in and under a winter of Temptation though it doth not exert its selfe in bearing any such actuall fruit as may be ordinarily visible The Word of God is sometimes called seed incorruptible seed causatively as being an instrument in the hand of God whereby he planteth the seed of Life and holinesse in the heart That it is not the outward word but that which is produced and effected by it through the efficacy of the Spirit of God that is by seed intended is evident from the use and nature of it And it is abiding in the Person in whom it is Whatever it is it is called seed not in respect of that from whence it cometh as is the cause and Reason of that appellation of other seed but in respect of that which it produceth which ariseth and insueth upon it and it is called the seed of God because God useth it for the Regeneration of his Being from God being the principle of the Regeneration of them in whom it is abiding in them even when it hath brought forth fruit and continuing so to doe it can be no other but the New Creature New Nature inward Man new principle of Life or habit of Grace that is bestowed upon all Believers whence they are Regenerate quickned or borne againe of which we have spoken before This seed saith the Holy Ghost abideth §. 67. or remaineth in him Whatever falling or withering He may seeme to have or hath this seed the seed of God remaineth in him The principle of his new life abideth some exceptions are made as we shall see afterwards to the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remaineth and instances given where it signifyeth for to be and denoteth the essence of a thing not its duration That to abide or remaine is the proper signification of the word I suppose will not be questioned That it may in some place be used in another sence is not dispuited All that lyeth under consideration here is whether the word in this place be used properly according to its genuine and first signification or no It supposeth indeed to be also but properly signifieth only to abide or remaine Now if nothing can be advanced from the Text ot context from the matter treated on or the paralell significancy of some expression that is in conjunction with it that should inforce us to carry it from its proper use and signification the instancing of other places if any such be wherein it is restrained to denote being and not duration is altogether impertinent to the businesse in hand When an Argument is urged from any place of Scripture to pick out any word in the Text and to manifest that it hath been used improperly in some other place and therefore must be so in that is a procedure so farre from an ingenious Answer that it will scarce passe for a tolerable shift or evasion To remaine then or to abide is the proper signification of this word nothing is in the least offered to manifest that it must necessarily in this place be diverted from its proper use According to the import of the word the seed of God remaineth in Believers now that remaining of the seed is the cause of their not sinning that sinne or in that manner as the Apostle here denyeth them to be liable to sinne For that is the Reason he giveth why they cannot sinne even because the seed of God remaineth in them Mr Goodwin granteth that this seed remaineth in Believers alwayes unlesse they sinne by a totall defection from God Of not sinning the sinne of totall deâ—ection from God the remaining or abiding of this seed is the cause Whilst that abideth they cannot sinne that sin for it is an unquestionable cause uncontrouleable of their not so doing This seed therefore must be utterly lost and taken away before any such sinne can be committed Now if the seed cannot be lost without the commission of the sinne which cannot be committed till it be lost neither can the seed be lost nor the sin becommited The same thing cannot be before and after its selfe He that cannot go sucha journey unlesse he have such a horse cannot have such a horse unlesse he go such a journey is like to stay at home In what sence the words cannot sin are to be taken was before declared That there are sins innumerable whereinto men may fall notwithstanding this seed is confessed Under them all this seed abideth so it would not do under that which we cannot sin because it abideth but because it abideth that sin cannot be committed The latter part of the Reason of the Apostles assertion §. 68. is for he is borne of God which is indeed a driving on the former to its head and fountaine What it is to be borne of God we need not dispute It was sufficiently discovered in the mention that was made before of the seed of God God by his Holy Spirit bestowing on us a new Spirituall Life which by nature we have not and in respect of whose want we are said to be dead is frequently said to beget us James 1. 14. And we are said to be borne of God He is the Soveraigne disposer dispenser and supreme fountaine of that Life which is so bestowed on us which we are begotten againe unto and are borne with and by And Jesus Christ the Mediatour is also said to have this Life in himselfe Joh 5. because he hath received the spirit of the father to give to his for their quickning who taketh of his and thereby begeteth them a new And this Life which Believers thus receive and whereby indeed radically they become Believers is every where in Scripture noted as Permanent and abiding In respect of the originall of it it is said to be from above
will destroy them and separate them from God and that by Obedience they shall come to the Greatest Good Imaginable where upon it is in their Power so strongly to incline their hearts unto Obedience that they shall be in no more danger of departing from God then a Wise and Rationall man is of killing or willfully destroying himselfe The first part whereof may be performed by them who are no Saints the latter not by any Saint whatsoever And is not this noble Provision for the Security and Assurance of the Saints enough to make them cast away with speed all their interest in the unchangeable purposes Gracious and Faithfull Promises of God Intercession of Christ Sealing of the Spirit and all those Sandy and triviall supports of their Faith which hitherto they have rejoyced in And what ever experience they have or Testimony from the Word they doe recieve of the Darkenesse and Weakenesse of their Minds the stubbornesse of their Wills with the strong inclinations that are in them to sinne and falling away what ever be their Oppositions from aboue them Ephes. 6. 12. Heb. 12. 1. Rom. 7. 17. about them within them on the right Hand and on the Left that they have to wrestle withall let them give up them selves to the hand of their owne manlike Considerations and weighing of things which will secure them against all danger or Probability of falling away For if they be but capable First of seeing and knowing Secondly of pondering and considering and that rationally it matters not whether these things are Fruits of the Spirit of Grace or no nay 't is cleare they must not be so that such and such evill is to be avoided and that there is so and so Great a Good to be obtained by continuing in obedience they may raise and worke inclinations in themselves answerable in strength vigour and power to any degree of goodnesse which they apprehend in what they see and ponder The whole of the Ample sufficient Meanes §. 40. afforded by God to the Saints to inable them to Persevere branching it selfe into these two heads First The rationall considering what they have to doe Secondly Their vigorous Inclination of their Hearts to act suitably and answerable to their Considerations I shall in a word consider them apart 1. First the Considerations mentioned of Evill to be avoided and Good to be attained I meane that which may put men upon Creating those strong inclinations For such considerations may be without any such Consequence as in her that cryed video meliora proboque deteriora sequor are either Issues and products of mens owne naturall faculties and deduced out of the power of them so that as men they may put themselves upon them at any time or they are Fruits of the Spirit of his Grace who worketh in us to will and to doe of his owne good Pleasure 2 Pet. 1. 3 4. If they be the latter I aske seeing all Grace is of Promise whether hath God promised to give and continue this Grace of selfe-consideration unto Believers or noe If he hath whether absolutely or conditionally If absolutely then he hath promised absolutely to continue some Grace in them which is all we desire If Conditionally then would I know what that Condition is on which God hath promised that Believers shall so consider things mentioned And of the Condition which shall be expressed it may farther be enquired whether it be any Grace of God or only a meer Act of the Rationall Creature as such without any immediate Inworking of the Will and Deed by God Whatsoever is answered the Question will not goe to Rest untill it be granted that either it is a Grace Absolutely promised of God which is all we desire or a pure Act of the Creature contra-distinct thereunto which Answers the first inquiry Let it then be granted that the Considerations intimated are no other but such as a Rationall man who is inlightened to an assent to the Truth of God may so exert and exercise as he pleaseth then is here a Foundation layd of all the Ground of Perseverance that is allowed the Saints in their owne indeavours as men without the Assistance of any Grace of God Now these Considerations be they what they will must needs be beneath one single good thought for as for that we have no sufficiency of our selves yea Vanity and nothing for without Christ we can doe nothing yea evill and displeasing to God 2 Cor. 3. 3. Ioh. 15. 5. Gen. 8. 21. as are all the thoughts and imaginations of our Hearts that are only such I had supposed that no man in the least acquainted with what it is to serve God under Temptations and what the worke of Saving Soules is but had been sufficiently convinced of utter the insufficiency of such Rationall Considerations flowing only from Conviction to be a solid Foundation of abiding with God unto the end If mens Houses of profession are built on such Sands as these we need not wonder to see them so frequently falling to the ground 2. Secondly §. 41. suppose these Considerations to act their parts upon the stage raised for them to the Greatest Applause that can be expected or desired yet that which comes next upon the Theater will I feare foully miscarry and spoyle the whole Plot of the Play That is mens vigorous inclination of their hearts to the good things pondered on to what height they please For besides that 1. First it is liable to the same Examinations that passed upon it's Associate before or an inquiry from whence he comes whether from Heaven or Men upon which I doubt not but he may easily be discovered to be a Vagabond upon the earth to have no Passe from Heaven and so be rendred liable to the Law of God 2. Secondly it would be inquired whether it hath a Consistency with the whole designe of the Apostle Rom. 7. and therefore 3. Thirdly it is utterly denied that Men the Best of Men have in themselves and of themselves arising upon the account of any Considerations whatsoever a Power Ability or Strength vigorously or at all acceptably to God to incline their Hearts to the performance of any thing that is spiritually good or in a Gospell tendency to walking with God All the Promises of God all the Prayers of the Saints all their Experience the whole designe of God in laying up all our stores of Strength and Grace in Christ joyntly cry out against it for a counterfeit pretence In a word that men are able to plant in themselves Inclinations and Dispositions to refraine all manner of Sinne destructive to the safety of their soules fuller of Energie Vigor Life Strength Power then those that are in them to avoid things Apparantly tending to the destruction of their naturall lives is an Assertion as full of Energy Strength and Vigor Life and Poyson for the destruction and eversion of the Grace of God in Christ as any can be
Judgement Loving-kindnesse and Mercies and Faithfulnesse whose efficacy also in reference unto their abiding with him whom he doth betroth to himselfe he mentioneth in the close of v 20. thou saith he shalt know the Lord. I shall not insist on the particular importance of the severall Expressions whereby the Lord hath set forth himselfe and his goodnesse here unto us It is plaine that they are all mentioned to the same end and purpose namely to give Assurance unto us of the Unchangeablenesse of this worke of his Grace and to prevent the objections which the fears of our unbelieving hearts from the consideration of our weaknesse wayes and walkings temptations trialls and troubles would raise upon it The Lord when he betroths us to himselfe sees and knows what we are what we will be and how we will provoke the eyes of his Glory He sees that if we should be left unto our selves we would utterly cast off all knowledge of him and obedience unto him Wherefore saith he I will betroth thee unto me in Righteousnesse and Judgment allowing full measure for all thy weaknesses that they shall not dissolve that union I intend As if a Prince should goe to take to him in Marriage a poore deformed Beggar who being amazed with his kindnesse and fearing much least he should be mistaken and account her otherwise then indeed shee is which when it is discovered will be her ruine she plainly telleth him she is poore deformed and hath nothing in the World that may answer his expectation and therefore she cannot but feare that when he knoweth her throughly indeed he will utterly cast her off But he thereupon replieth Feare no such thing what I doe I doe in Righteousnesse and Judgement knowingly of thee and thy Condition and so as that I will abide by it Perhaps as some think by this betrothing us in Righteousnesse the Lord may intimate his bestowing upon us Righteousnesse yea his becoming in Jesus Christ our Righteousnesse to supply that utter want Isa. 45. 24. which is in us of that which is acceptable unto him Now because we are not only unmeet to be at first accepted into any such termes of alliance with the Lord but also shall certainly in the carrying of it on behave our selves foolishly and frowardly unanswerable to his loving-kindnesse so that he may justly cast us off for ever he telleth us farther that he betroths us to himselfe in Loving-kindnesse and Mercies knowing that in entring into this alliance with us he maketh worke for his tenderest bowels of Compassion his pitty and pardoning mercy In his continuance in this Relation whatever his Kindnesse Patience and Pardoning mercy can be extended unto that he will accomplish and bring about But will not the Lord when he pardons once and againe at length be waried by our innumerable provocations so as to cast us off for ever No saith he this will I doe in Faithfulnesse He doubleth the expression of his Grace and addeth a Property of his nature that will carry him out to abide by his first Love to the utmost I will saith he even betroth thee unto my selfe in Faithfulnesse His firmenesse constancie and truth in all his waies and promises will he use in this work of his Grace Deut 32. 4. But perhaps notwithstanding all this the heart is not yet quiet yet it feareth it selfe and its own treachery least it should utterly fall off from this gracious Husband wherefore in the close of all God undertaketh for them also that no scruple may remaine why our soules should not be satisfied with the sincere milke that floweth from this breast of Consolation Thou shalt saith he know the Lord This indeed is required that under the Accomplishment of this gracious Promise you know the Lord that is believe and trust and obey the Lord and saith he thou shalt doe it I will by my Grace keep alive in thy heart as a fruit of that Love wherewith I have betrothed thee to my selfe that Knowledge Faith and Obedience which I require of thee This then is some part of that which in this Promise the Lord holdeth out unto us and assureth us of notwithstanding his Rejection of the carnall Jewes yet for his elect both the Jewes and Gentiles he will so take them into a Marriage Covenant with himselfe that he will continue for ever a Husband unto them undertaking also that they shall continue in Faith and Obedience knowing him all their dayes and of all this he effectually assureth them upon the account of his Righteousnesse Judgement Loving-kindnesse Mercy and Faithfulnesse I cannot but adde that if there were no other place of Scripture in the whole Book of God to confirme the Truth we have in hand but only this I should not doubt the Lord assisting to close with it upon the signall Testimony given unto it thereby notwithstanding all the specious Oppositions that are made thereunto For the Close §. 32. I shall a little consider that leane and hungry Exposition of these words which is given in the place before metioned Ch. 11. Sect 8. pag. 229. I will betroth them unto me in Righteousnesse and in Judgement and in Loving-kindnesse and Mercy so the words are expressed in a different Character as the very words of the Promise in the Text. 1. Thee that is the Church is changed into Them that is the Jewes and their Children or carnall seed as a little before was expressed and then that emphaticall expression for ever is quite thrust out of the Text as a stubborne word not to be dealt withall upon any faire termes Let us see then how that which remaineth is treated and turned off I will betroth thee that is I will engage and attempt to insure both them and their affections to mee by all variety of waies and meanes that are proper and likely to bring such a thing to passe But who knoweth not that this is wooing and not betrothing we need not goe farre to find out men learned in the Law to informe us that to try and attempt to get and assure the affections of any one is not a Betrothment This then is the first part of this Exposition I will betroth that is I will wooe and essay attempt and endeavour to get their affections which besides the forementioned absurdity is attended with another sore oversight to wit that God promiseth to doe this very thing in the last words of v. 20. which is affirmed that he doth but attempt to doe To proceed he saith I will doe this 1. By shewing my selfe Just and Righteous unto them in keeping my Promise concerning their deliverance out of captivity at the end of 70 years So then in this new Paraphrase I will Betroth thee that is the Election of Jewes and Gentiles to my selfe for ever in Righteousnesse is I will essay to get their affections by shewing my selfe Righteous in the Promise of bringing the Jewes out of captivity That this Promise is not made
thing that is free noble ingenuous filiall and of an heavenly descent in the Saints of God thus 1. It strengthens their Faith in God and in Jesus Christ which is the bottome of all acceptable Obedience whatsoever All that which proceedeth from any other Roote being but a product of labouring in the fire which in the end will consume both Root and Branch That which prevailes upon and drawes out the soule to Faith and believing I meane as it is peculiar to the Gospell and Justifying that is as it is in God as a Father and in the Lord Christ as a Mediator is the discovery of the good will of God to the soule in Christ and his designe to advance his Glory thereby I speake not of the formall cause of Faith in generall but the peculiar motive to Faith and Believing in the sence before mentioned So our Saviour giving the command in generall to his Disciples Ioh. 14 1. ye believe in God believe also in mee in the whole ensuing Chapter provokes them to it with gratious discoveries of the good will of God his Fathers and his own good will towards them And indeed propose what other considerations ye will provoke the soule by all the feare and dread of Hell and the most dismall representation of the wrath to come untill it be convinced of this it will never take one steppe towards God in Christ Now our Adversaries themselves being Judges the Doctrine we have had under consideration abounds above all others with the discoveries of the good will and kindnesse of God to poore sinners yea the great crime that is laid to the charge of it is that it extends it too farre it doth not only assert that God freely beginnes the good worke in them but that he will also powerfully perfect it to the day of Jesus Christ It assures the soules of the poore Saints of God that he who lookt upon them in their bloud and said unto them Live when no eye pittied them who quickned them when they were dead in trespasses and in sinnes begetting them of his own will by the word of Truth that they should be a kind of first fruits to himselfe wasting them in the bloud of his Sonne and delivering them from the old Tyrant Satan that he will not now leave them to themselves and to the Counsell of their own hands to stand or fall according as they shall of themselves and by themselves be able to withstand opposition and seduction but that he will keep them in his own hand giving them such constant supplies of his Grace and Spirit as that in the use of meanes they shall waite upon him to the end And that howsoever or whensoever by the power of Temptation and surprisalls of corruptions they are carried aside from him he will heale their back-slidings and receive them freely and though they change every day yet he changeth not and therefore they are not consumed And hereby I say it confirmes and strengthens their Faith in God as a Father in Jesus Christ taking everlasting care of them 2. Of their Love there is the same reason Gods love to us is of his free Grace he loves us because so it seemes good to him Our Love to him is purely ingenerated by his Love to us and carried on and increased by farther Revelations of his desireablenesse and excellency to our soules Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us first There is no Creature in the least guilty of sinne that can put forth any acceptable Act of Love towards God but what is purely drawn out upon the Apprehension of his Love and lovelinesse in his Grace and mercy A man I confesse may love God when he hath no sence of his Love to him in particular but it must all be built upon an apprehension of his Love to sinners though he may come short in the Application it is the terrour of the Lord that causes us to perswade others but it is the Love of Christ that constraineth us to live to him Shee loved much to whom much was forgiven Looke then the more abundant discoveries are made of the lovelinesse and desirablenesse in the riches of his Grace the more effectuall is the sole and only motive we have to love him with that fiâ—iall chast Holy Love that he requires For the Love of God to his Saints our Doctrine of their Perseverance sets it forth with the greatest Advantage for the indearement of their soules to draw out their streames of Love to God especially doth it give it its Glory in three things 1. In its freedome It setts forth the Love of God to his Saints as that which they have no way in the least deserved as hath been manifested from Isa. 48. 8 9 11. chap. 54. 9 10. As he first loved them not because they were better then others being by nature Children of wrath and lying in their Blood when he said to them Live quickning them when they were dead in trespasses and sinnes So he doth not continue his love to them nor purpose so to do because he fore sees that they will so so walke with him in Holinesse uprightnesse for he â—oresees no such thing in them but what he himselfe purposeth effectually to worke upon the account of his loving them but he resolves to do it meerely upon the account of his owne Grace He neither resolves to continue his Love to them on Condition that they be so and so holy at randome and with uncertainty of the Event but freely that they may and shall be so Eph. 1. 4. And this is the Glory of Love the most Orient pearl in the Crowne of it 'T is not mercenary nor selfe-ended nor deserved but as a Spring and fountaine freely vents and powers out it selfe upon its owne account And what ingenuous truly noble Heavenly descended heart can hold out against the power of this Love It is effectually constraining to all manner of sutable returnes let the soule but put it selfe in to the actuall Contemplation of the Love of God as it lyes represented in this property of it every way free undeserved the great Love of God to a poore worme a sinner a nothing and it cannot but be wrought to a serious Admiration of it delight in it and be pained and straitned untill it make some suitable Returnes of Love and Obedience unto God If not it may well doubt it never tasted of that Love or enjoyed any fruits of it 2. It gives the Love of God the Glory of its Constancy and Unchangeablenesse This is another Starre of an eminent Magnitude in the Heaven of Love It is not a fading a wavering an altering thing but abides for ever God rests in his Love Zeph. 3. 17. It is a great thing indeed to apprehend that the great God should fixe his Love upon a poore Creature But adde hereunto that he may love them one day and hate them the next embrace them
and all the wayes of it and all the fruits thereof and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh with all its wayes and fruits Fourthly it appeares then that this being the description of a Regenerate man which the Apostle gives as to indwelling sinne and all the fruits thereof that it is most ridiculous to exempt his frame in respect of such sinnes as they may fall into by surprisalls of temptations from this description of him and so to frame this distinction to the Apostles generall Rule that it holds in cases ordinary but not in extraordinary when nothing in the whole Context gives the least allowance or continuance to such a limitation It appears then notwithstanding any thing offered here to the contrary upon due consideration of it that Believers sinne not with their whole wills and full consents at any time §. 26. nor under the power of what temptation soever they may fall for a season and that because of the Residence of this principle of a contrary tendency unto sinne in their wills which is allwayes acting either directly in inclining unto good or in taking off or making remisse the consent of the will to sinne not withstanding the prevalency of the principle opposite thereunto by its committing of sinne And hence have we sufficient Light for the weakning of the Argument proposed in the beginning of this Chap. §. 27. For though it is weak in its Foundation as shall be shewed concluding to what the Saints may do from what is forbiddē them to do that prohibition being the Ordinance of God certainly to preserve thē from it yet taking it for granted that they may fall into the sin intimated yet seeing they do it not customarily not maliciously not with the full and whole consent of their wills that there is a principle in them still opposing sin though at any time weakened by sinne and the conclusion of that Argument concernes them not I say then First to the Major proposition they who are in a capacity and possibility that is an universall possibility not only in respect of an internall principle but of all outward prohibiting causes as the purpose and Promise of God of perpetrating the workes of the flesh not of bringing forth any fruits of the lusting of the flesh which are in the best willingly and ordinarily with the full and whole consent of their wills in which sence alone such workes of the flesh are absolutely exclusive from the Kingdome of Heaven they may posibly fall out of the favour of God and into destruction This proposition being thus limited and the termes of it cleared for to cause it to passe I absolutely deny the minor that true Believers do or can so sinne that is so bring forth the workes of the flesh as to leave no roome for the continuance of Mercy to them according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace But now frame the Proposition so as the Assumption may comprise Believers we shall quickly know what to judge of it Those who are in a capacity or possibility of falling into such sinnes as deserve rejection from God or of perpetrating workes of the flesh though they do so overborne by the power of temptation nilling the things they do not abiding in their sinnes may fall totally and finally from God but Believers may so do As the matter is thus stated the Assumption may be allowed to passe upon Believers but we absolutely deny the Major Proposition in the sence wherein it is urged I shall only adde that when we deny that Believers can possibly fall away it is not any absolute impossibility we intend nor an impossibility with respect to any principle in them only that in and from it selfe is not perishable nor an impossibility in respect of the manner of their acting but such an one as principally respecting the outward removing cause of such an actuall defection will infallibly prevent the event of it And thus is the cloud raised by this fifth Argument dispelled and scattered by the light of the very first consideration of the difference in sinning that is between Regenerate and unregenerate men so that it will be an easy thing to remove take a way what afterwards is insisted on for the reinforcement and confirmation of the severall Propositions of it The Major Proposition he confirmes from Gal. §. 28. 5. 21. Eph. 5. 5 6. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. All affirming that neither whoremongers nor adulterers nor idolaters nor the like have any inheritance in the Kingdome of God or can be Saved That the intendment of the Apostle is concerning them who live in a course of such sinnes who sinne with their whole wills and from an evill roote with whose sappe they are wholly leavened tainted throughout not them who through the strength of temptation and the surprisalls of it not without the renitency in their wills unto all sin any sin the sinne wherewith they are overtaken may possibly fall into any such sinne as did David and Peter was before declared and in that sence we grant the Proposition For the proofe of the Minor Proposition which should be that Believers may perpetrate the Workes of the flesh in the sence intended in the places of Scripture before mentioned he insists on two things First the direction of those Scriptures unto Believers Secondly the Experience of the wayes of such persons that is of Believers The Apostle tells Believers that they who commit such and such things with such and such circumstances in their commitment cannot be saved therefore Believers may commit those sinnes in the manner intended What hath been said before of the use of threatnings and denunciations of judgements on impenitent sinners in respect of Believers will give a sufficient account if there be need of any for our deniall of this consequence and for the Second that the experience of such mens waies and walking evinceth it it is a plaine begging of the thing under debate and an assuming of that which was proposed to be proved a thing unjustly charged by him on his Adversaries as though they should confesse that Believers might sinne to the extent of the lines drawn out in the places of Scripture mentioned and yet not loose their faith when because they cannot loose their Faith they deny that they can sinne to that compasse of excesse and riot intimated I cannot see then §. 29. to what end and purpose the whole ensuing discourse from the beginning of this Argument to the end of the 21. Sect. is It is acknowledged that all those places doe concerne Believers The intendment of the Holy Ghost in them being to discover to them the nature of the sinne specified and the end of the committing of them in the way intended and that God purposes to proceed according to the importance of what is threatned to those sinnes so committed with all that doe them that so they may walk watchfully and carefully avoiding not only those things
§ 35. If Lust be thus weakned in Believers more than in others how comes it to passe that they do at any time fall into such great and hainous sinnes as sometimes they doe and have done Will not this argue them to be even worse than unregenerate persons seeing they fall into sinne upon easier termes and with lesse violence of impulse from Indwelling sinne than they Ans. First The examples of Believers falling into great sinnes are rare and such as by no meanes are to be accommodated to their state in their ordinary walking with God 't is true there are examples of such falls recorded in the Scripture that they might lye as bwoys to all generations to caution men of their danger when the waves of Temptation arise to shew what is in man in the best of men to keepe all the Saints of God humble selfe-empty and in a continuall dependance on him in whom are all their springs from whom are all their supplies but as they are mostly all Old-Testament examples before grace for grace was given out by Jesus Christ so they are by no meanes farther to be urged nor are but only to shew that it is possible that God can keep alive the root when the tree is cut downe to the ground and cause it to budde againe by the sent of the water of his Spirit flowing towards it Secondly That Believers fall not into great sinnes at any time by the meere strength of Indwelling sinne unlesse it be in conjunction with some violent outward Temptation exceedingly surprizing them either by weakning all wayes and meanes whereby the principle of Grace should exert it selfe as in the case of Peter or by sudden heightning of their corruption by some over-powring objects attended with all circumstances of Prevalency not without Gods with-holding his speciall grace in an eminent manner for ends best known to himselfe as in the case of David Hence t is that even in such sins we say they sinne out of infirmity that is not out of propense deliberation as to sinne not out of malice not out of Love to or delight in sinne but meerely through want of strength when overborne by the power of Temptations This Mr Goodwin frames as an Objection to himselfe §. 36. in the pursuit of the vindication of the Argument under consideration Sect. 23. Others plead that there 's no reason to conceive that true Believers though they perpetrate the workes of the flesh should be excluded from the Kingdome of heaven upon this account because when they sinne in this kind they sinne out of Infirmity and not out of malice Ans. I was not to choose what Objections M. Goodwin should answer nor had the framing of them which he chose to deale withall and therefore must be contented with them as he is pleased to afford them to us Only if I may be allowed to speake in this case and I know I have the consent of many concern'd in it I should somewhat otherwise frame this Objection or Answer being partly perswaded that M. Goodwin did not find it but framed it himselfe into the shape wherein it here appears I say then that the Saints of God sin out of Infirmity only not malitiously nor dedita opera in coole bloud nor with their whole hearts but purely upon the account of the weakenesse of their graces being overpowred by the strength of Temptation and therefore cannot so perpetrate the workes of the flesh and in such a way as must according to the tenour of the Covenant wherein they walke with God not only deserve rejection and damnation but also be Absolutely and Indispensably exclusive of them from the Kingdome of God What Mr Goodwin hath drawne forth to take off in any measure the Truth of this Assertion shall be considered He sayes then To say that true Believers or any other men do perpetrate the workes of the flesh out of infirmity involves a contradiction For to do the workes of the flesh implyes the dominion of the Flesh in the doers of them which in sinnes of infirmity hath no place the Apostle clearely insinuates the nature of sins of infirmity in that to the Galatians Beloved if any man be overtaken with a fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be prevented or taken at unawares when a mans foot is taken in the snare of a temptation only through a defect of that spirituall watchfulnes over himselfe his wayes which he ought to keepe constantly and so sinneth contrary to the habituall standing frame of his heart this man sinneth out of iufirmity but he that thus sinneth cannot in Scripture phrase be said either to walke or to live according to the Flesh or to do the workes of the Flesh or to do the Lusts or desires of the Flesh because none of these are any where ascribed unto or charged upon true Believers but only upon such persons who are enemies unto God and Children of death Ans. This being the substance of all that is spoken to the businesse in hand I have transcribed it at large that with its Answer it may at once lye under the Readers view I say then First we give this reason that Believers cannot perpetrate the workes of the flesh in the sence contended about because they sinne out of insirmity and do not say that they so perpetrate the workes of the flesh out of infirmity But if by perpetrating the workes of the flesh you intend only the bringing forth at any time or under any Temptation whatsoever any fruits of the flesh such as every sinne is that this may not be done out of infirmity or that it involves a contradiction to say so is indeed not to know what you say to contradict your selfe and to deny that there be any sinnes of infirmity at all which that there are you granted in the words foregoing and describe the nature of it in the words following They doubtlesse in whom the Flesh alwayes lusteth against the Spirit are sometimes lead a way and inticed by their owne Lusts so as to bring forth the fruits of it Secondly If to do the workes of the flesh imports with you as indeed in it selfe it doth the predominancy and dominion of the flesh in them that doe the workes thereof we wholly deny that Believers can so do the workes of the flesh as upon other Reasons so partly because they sinne out of infirmity which sufficiently argues that the Flesh hath not the dominion in them for then they should not through Infirmity be captivated to it but should willingly yeild up their members as instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sinne Thirdly The description you give of a sinne of infirmity from Gal 6. 1. Is that alone which we acknowledge may befall Believers though it hath sometimes befallen them in greater sinnes It is evident from hence that a sinne becometh asinne of infirmity not from the nature of it but from the manner of mens falling into it The greatest actuall sinne may be a