_Pleading for Sin for Term of Life_ absurd._] _First_ then, This
Doctrine, _viz._ That the _Saints nor can nor ever will be free of
sinning in this Life_, is inconsistent with the Wisdom of God, and
with his glorious Power and Majesty, _who is of purer Eyes than to
behold Iniquity_[76]; who having purposed in himself to gather to him
that should worship him, and be Witnesses for him on Earth, a _chosen
People_, doth also no Doubt sanctify and purify them. For God hath no
Delight in Iniquity, but abhors Transgression; and though he regard
Man in Transgression so far as to pity him, and afford him Means to
come out of it; yet he loves him not, neither delights in him, as he is
joined thereunto. Wherefore if Man must be always joined to Sin, then
God would always be at a Distance with him; as it is written, _Isa._
lix. 2. _Your Iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your Sins have hid his Face from you_; whereas on the contrary,
the _Saints_ are said to _partake_, even while here, _of the divine
Nature_, 1 Pet. i. 4. and to be _one Spirit with the Lord_, 1 Cor.
vi. 17. Now no unclean Thing can be so. It is expresly written, _That
there is no Communion betwixt Light and Darkness_, 2 Cor. vi. 14. But
_God_ is _Light_, and _every Sin is Darkness_ in a Measure: [Sidenote:
_Hath _God’s Wisdom_ been wanting to prepare a _Means_ to serve and
worship him _perfectly_?_] What greater _Stain_ then can there be than
this upon _God’s Wisdom_, as if he had been wanting to prepare a Means
whereby his Children might perfectly serve and worship him, or had not
provided a Way whereby they might serve him in any Thing, but that they
must withal still serve the Devil no less, yea, more than himself? For
_he that sinneth is the Servant of Sin_, Rom. vi. 16. and every Sin is
an Act of Service and Obedience to the Devil. So then if the Saints
sin daily in _Thought_, _Word_, and _Deed_, yea, if the very _Service_
they offer to God be Sin, surely they serve the Devil more than they do
God: For besides that they give the Devil many intire Services, without
Mixture of the least Grain to God, they give God not the least Service
in which the Devil hath not a large Share: And if their Prayers and all
their spiritual Performances be sinful, the Devil is as much served by
them in these as God, and in most of them much more, since they confess
that many of them are performed without the Leadings and Influence of
God’s Spirit. Now who would not account him a foolish Master among Men,
who being able to do it, and also desirous it might be so, yet would
not provide a Way whereby his Children and Servants might serve him
more intirely than his avowed Enemy, or would not guard against their
serving of him, but be so imprudent and unadvised in his Contrivance,
that whatever Way his Servants and Children served him, they should no
less, yea, often much more, serve his Enemy? What may we then think of
that Doctrine that would infer this Folly upon the _Omnipotent_ and
_Only Wise God_?
[76] Hab. 1. 13.
§. IV. [Sidenote: Proof 2. _Its Inconsistency with the _Justice of_
God._] Secondly, _It is inconsistent with the Justice of God_. For
since he requires Purity from his Children, and commands them to
abstain from every Iniquity, so frequently and precisely as shall
hereafter appear, and since his _Wrath is revealed against all
Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men_, it must needs follow, that
he hath capacitated Man to answer his Will, or else that he requires
more than he has given Power to perform; which is to declare him openly
_unjust_, and with the slothful Servant to be an _hard Master_. We have
elsewhere spoken of the _Injustice_ these Men ascribe to God, in making
him to _damn the Wicked_, _to whom_ they allege _he never afforded any
Means of being good_; but this is yet an Aggravation more irrational
and inconsistent, to say, _That God will not afford to those, whom he
hath chosen to be his own _(whom they confess he loveth)_ the Means to
please him_. What can follow then from so strange a Doctrine?
This _Imperfection_ in the Saints either proceeds from God or from
themselves: If it proceeds from them, it must be because they are short
in improving or making use of the Power given them, whereby they are
capable to obey; and so it is a Thing possible to them, as indeed it is
by the Help of that Power: But this our Adversaries deny: They are then
not to be blamed for their Imperfection and continuing in Sin, since it
is not possible for them to do otherwise. If it be not of themselves,
it must be of God, who hath not seen meet to allow them Grace in that
Degree to produce that Effect: And what is this but to attribute to
God the Height of Injustice, to make him require his Children to
forsake Sin, and yet not to afford them sufficient Means for so doing?
[Sidenote: _Who will give their Children a Stone instead of Bread?_]
Surely this makes God more unrighteous than wicked Men, _who if_ (as
Christ saith) _their Children require Bread of them, will not give
them a Stone; or instead of a Fish, a Serpent_. But these Men confess
we ought to seek of God Power to redeem us from Sin, and yet believe
they are never to receive such a Power; such Prayers then cannot be
in Faith, but are all vain. Is not this to make God as unjust to his
Children as _Pharaoh_ was to the _Israelites_, in requiring Brick
and not giving them Straw? But blessed be God, he deals not so with
those that truly trust in him, and wait upon him, as these Men vainly
imagine; for such faithful Ones find of a Truth that _his Grace is
sufficient for them_, and know how by his Power and Spirit to overcome
the evil One.
§. V. [Sidenote: Proof 3. _The great and principal End of Christ’s
Coming and Appearance was for the Removing of _Sin_, and to redeem
us from all _Iniquity.] _Thirdly_, This evil Doctrine is _highly
injurious to Jesus Christ, and greatly derogates from the Power and
Virtue of his Sacrifice, and renders his Coming and Ministry_, as to
the great End of it, _ineffectual_. For Christ, as for other Ends, so
principally he appeared for the Removing of Sin, for the gathering a
righteous Generation, that might serve the Lord in Purity of Mind, and
walk before him in Fear, and to bring in everlasting Righteousness,
and that evangelical Perfection which the Law could not do. Hence he
is said, _Tit._ ii. 14. _to have given himself for us, that he might
redeem us from all Iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar People,
zealous of good Works_. This is certainly spoken of the Saints while
upon Earth; but, contrary thereunto, these Men affirm, That _we are
never redeemed from all Iniquity_, and so make Christ’s giving of
himself for us void and ineffectual, and give the Apostle _Paul_ the
Lie plainly, by denying that _Christ purifieth to himself a peculiar
People, zealous of good Works_. How are they _zealous of good Works_,
who are ever committing evil ones? How are they a _purified People_,
that are still in Impurity, as they are that daily Sin, unless Sin be
accounted no Impurity? Moreover it is said expresly, 1 _John_ iii.
5. 8. That _for this Purpose the Son of God was manifested, that
he might destroy the Works of the Devil; and ye know that he was
manifested to take away our Sins_. But these Men make this Purpose of
none Effect; for they will not have the Son of God to _destroy the
Works of the Devil in his Children_ in this World, neither will they
at all believe that he was manifest to take away our Sins, seeing
they plead a Necessity of always living in them. And lest any should
wrest this Place of the Apostle, as if it were spoken only of taking
away the Guilt of Sin, as if it related not to this Life, the Apostle,
as if of Purpose to obviate such an Objection, adds in the following
Verses, _Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not_, &c. I hope then they
sin not daily in Thought, Word, and Deed. _Let no Man deceive you; he
that doth Righteousness, is righteous, even as he is righteous; he
that committeth Sin, is of the Devil_; but he that sinneth daily in
Thought, Word, and Deed, committeth Sin; how comes such an one then to
be the Child of God? And if Christ was manifest to take away Sin, how
strangely do they overturn the Doctrine of Christ who deny that it is
ever taken away here? And how injurious are they to the Efficacy and
Power of Christ’s Appearance? Came not Christ to gather a People out
of Sin into Righteousness; from the Kingdom of Satan into the _Kingdom
of the dear Son of God_? And are not they that are thus gathered by
him his Servants, his Children, his Brethren, his Friends? _who as he
was, so are they to be in this World, holy, pure, and undefiled_. And
doth not Christ still watch over them, stand by them, pray for them,
and preserve them by his Power and Spirit, walk in them, and dwell
among them; [Sidenote: _The Devil dwells among the _Reprobates.]
even as the Devil, on the other Hand, doth among the reprobate ones?
How comes it then that the Servants of Christ are less his Servants
than the Devil’s are his? Or is Christ unwilling to have his Servants
throughly pure? Which were gross Blasphemy to assert, contrary to many
Scriptures. Or is he not able by his Power to preserve and enable his
Children to serve him? Which were no less blasphemous to affirm of him,
concerning whom the Scriptures declare, That he has _overcome Sin,
Death, Hell, and the Grave, and triumphed over them openly, and that
all Power in Heaven and Earth is given to him_. But certainly if the
Saints sin daily in Thought, Word, and Deed, as these Men assert, they
serve the Devil daily, and are subject to his Power; and so he prevails
more than Christ doth, and holds the Servants of Christ in Bondage,
whether Christ will or not. But how greatly then doth it contradict
the End of Christ’s Coming? as it is expressed by the Apostle, _Ephes._
v. 25, 26, 27. _Even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself
for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the Washing of Water
by the Word: That he might present it to himself a glorious Church,
not having Spot or Wrinkle_, or any such Thing, _but that it should be
holy, and without Blemish_. Now if Christ hath really thus answered
the Thing he came for, then the Members of this Church are not always
sinning in Thought, Word, and Deed, or there is no Difference betwixt
being sanctified and unsanctified, clean and unclean, holy and unholy,
being daily blemished with Sin, and being without Blemish.
§. VI. [Sidenote: Proof 4.] [Sidenote: Pastors, Teachers_, and_
Scriptures _are given for perfecting of the Saints._] Fourthly, This
Doctrine renders _the Work of the Ministry_, _the Preaching of the
Word_, _the Writing of the Scripture_, _and the Prayers of holy Men_,
_altogether useless and ineffectual_. As to the first, _Ephes._ iv. 11.
_Pastors_ and _Teachers_ are said to be _given for the Perfection of
the Saints_, &c. _until we all come in the Unity of the Faith, and of
the Knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man, unto a Measure of
the Stature of the Fulness of Christ_. Now if there be a Necessity of
sinning daily, and in all Things, then there can be no Perfection; for
such as do so cannot be esteemed perfect. And if for effectuating this
Perfection in the Saints the Ministry be appointed and disposed of God,
do not such as deny the Possibility hereof render the Ministry useless
and of no Profit? Seeing there can be no other true Use assigned, but
to lead People out of Sin into Righteousness. If so be these Ministers
assure us that we need never expect to be delivered from it, do not
they render their own Work needless? What needs Preaching against
Sin, for the reproving of which all Preaching is, if it can never be
forsaken? Our Adversaries are Exalters of the Scriptures in Words, much
crying up their Usefulness and Perfection: Now the Apostle tells us,
2 _Tim._ iii. 17. That the _Scriptures are for making the Man of God
perfect_; and if this be denied to be attainable in this Life, then the
Scriptures are of no Profit; for in the other Life we shall not have
use for them. It renders the Prayers of the Saints altogether useless,
seeing themselves do confess they ought to pray daily _that God would
deliver them from Evil, and free them from Sin, by the Help of his
Spirit and Grace, while in this World_. But though we might suppose
this Absurdity to follow, _that their Prayers are without Faith_, yet
were not that so much, if it did not infer the like upon the holy
Apostles, who prayed earnestly for this End, and therefore no Doubt
believed it attainable, _Col._ iv. 12. _Labouring fervently for you in
Prayers, that ye may stand perfect_, &c. 1 Thess. iii. 13. and v. 23,
_&c._
§. VII. [Sidenote: Proof 5.] [Sidenote: Darkness _and_ Light, Sin
_and_ Righteousness_, inconsistent together._] But _Fifthly_, This
Doctrine is _contrary to common Reason and Sense_. For the two opposite
_Principles_, whereof the one rules in the Children of _Darkness_,
the other in the Children of _Light_, are _Sin_ and _Righteousness_;
and as they are respectively leavened and actuated by them, so
they are accounted either as reprobated or justified, seeing it is
[77]_Abomination in the Sight of God, either to justify the Wicked, or
condemn the Just_. Now to say that Men cannot be so leavened by the one
as to be delivered from the other, is in plain Words to affirm, that
_Sin_ and _Righteousness_ are consistent; and that a Man may be truly
termed _righteous_, though he be daily _sinning_ in every Thing he
doth; and then what Difference betwixt _Good_ and _Evil_? Is not this
to fall into that great Abomination of putting _Light_ for _Darkness_?
and calling _Good Evil_, and _Evil Good_? Since they say _the very best
Actions of God’s Children are defiled and polluted, and that those
that sin daily in Thought, Word, and Deed are good Men and Women, the
Saints and holy Servants of the holy pure God_. Can there be any Thing
more repugnant than this to common Reason? Since the _Subject_ is
still denominated from that _Accident_ that doth most influence it; as
a Wall is called _White_ when there is much _Whiteness_, and _Black_
when there is much _Blackness_, and such like; but when there is more
Unrighteousness in a Man than Righteousness, that Man ought rather to
be denominated unrighteous than righteous. [Sidenote: _If all _daily
sin_, where is the _righteous Man_ then spoken of in Scripture?_] Then
surely if every Man sin daily in Thought, Word, and Deed, and that in
his Sins there is no Righteousness at all, and that all his righteous
Actions are polluted and mixed with Sin, then there is in every Man
more Unrighteousness than Righteousness; and so no Man ought to be
called _righteous_, no Man can be said to be _sanctified_ or _washed_.
_Where are then the Children of God? Where are the purified Ones?
Where are they who were sometimes unholy, but now holy; that sometimes
were Darkness, but now are Light in the Lord?_ There can none such
be found then at this Rate, except that Unrighteousness be esteemed
so: And is not this to fall into that Abomination above-mentioned of
_justifying the Ungodly_? [Sidenote: _The Blasphemy of the_ Ranters _or_
Libertines.] This certainly lands in that horrid Blasphemy of the
_Ranters_, that affirm _there is no Difference betwixt Good and Evil,
and that all is one in the Sight of God_. I could shew many more gross
Absurdities, evil Consequences, and manifest Contradictions implied
in this _sinful Doctrine_; but this may suffice at present, by which
also in a good Measure the Proof of the Truth we affirm is advanced.
Yet nevertheless, for the further evidencing of it, I shall proceed to
the second Thing proposed by me, to wit, to prove this from several
Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures.
[77] Prov. 17. 15.
§. VIII. [Sidenote: Sect. II.] [Sidenote: Proof 1.] And _First_, I
prove it from the peremptory positive Command of _Christ_ and the
_Apostles_, seeing this is a Maxim engraven in every Man’s Heart
naturally, _That no Man is bound to do that which is impossible_: Since
then _Christ_ and his _Apostles_ have commanded us to keep all the
_Commandments_, and to be perfect in this Respect, it is possible for
us so to do. [Sidenote: _Be ye perfect, _&c._ Keep my Commandments._]
Now that this is thus commanded without any Commentary or Consequence,
is evidently apparent from these plain Testimonies, _Matt._ v. 48, and
vii. 21. _John_ xiii. 17. 1 _Cor._ vii. 19. 2 _Cor._ xiii. 11. 1 _John_
ii. 3, 4, 5, 6. and iii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. These Scriptures
intimate a positive Command for it; they declare the absolute Necessity
of it; and therefore, as if they had purposely been written to answer
the Objections of our _Opposers_, they shew the Folly of those that
will esteem themselves _Children_ or _Friends_ of _God_, while they do
otherwise.
[Sidenote: Proof 2.] [Sidenote: _The Possibility of it._] _Secondly_,
It is possible, because we receive the Gospel and Law thereof for that
Effect; and it is expresly promised to us, as we are under Grace,
as appears by these Scriptures, _Rom._ iv. 14. _Sin shall not have
Dominion over you; for ye are not under the Law, but under Grace_:
And _Rom._ viii. 3. _For what the Law could not do, in that it was
weak through the Flesh, God sending his own Son_, &c. _that the
Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us_, &c. [Sidenote: _The
Difference of the_ Law _and_ Gospel.] For if this were not a Condition
both requisite, necessary, and attainable under the Gospel, there were
no Difference betwixt the _Bringing in of a better Hope_, and the _Law
which made nothing perfect_; neither betwixt those which are under
the _Gospel_, or who under the _Law_ enjoyed and walked in the Life
of the Gospel and mere _Legalists_. Whereas the Apostle, throughout
the whole _Sixth_ to the _Romans_, argues not only the _Possibility_
but the _Necessity_ of being free from Sin, from their being under the
_Gospel_, and under _Grace_, and not under the _Law_; and therefore
states himself and those to whom he wrote in that Condition in these
_Verses_, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and therefore in the 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18
_Verses_, he argues both the Possibility and Necessity of this _Freedom
from Sin_ almost in the same Manner we did a little before; and in the
22d he declares them in Measure to have attained this Condition in
these Words, _But now being made free from Sin, and become Servants
to God, ye have your Fruit unto Holiness, and the End everlasting
Life_. [Sidenote: Perfection _and_ Freedom _from_ Sin _attained and
made possible by the Gospel._] And as this Perfection or Freedom from
Sin is attained and made possible where the Gospel and inward Law of
the Spirit is received and known, so the Ignorance hereof has been
and is an Occasion of opposing this Truth. For Man not minding the
_Light_ or _Law within his Heart_, which not only discovers Sin, but
leads out of it, and so being a Stranger to the new Life and Birth
that is born of God, which naturally does his Will, and cannot of its
own Nature transgress the Commandments of God, doth, I say, in his
natural State look at the Commandments as they are without him in the
Letter; [Sidenote: _The Letter _kills_, and maketh not _alive.] and
finding himself reproved and convicted, is by the Letter killed, but
not made alive. So Man, finding himself wounded, and not applying
himself inwardly to that which can heal, labours in his own Will after
a Conformity to the Law as it is without him, which he can never
obtain, but finds the more he wrestles, the more he falleth short. So
this is the _Jew_ still in Effect, with his carnal Commandment, with
the _Law_ without, in the _first Covenant State_, which _makes not
the Comers thereunto perfect, as pertaining to the Conscience_, Heb.
ix. 9. though they may have here a Notion of _Christianity_, and an
external Faith in _Christ_. This has made them strain and wrest the
Scriptures for an _imputative Righteousness_ wholly without them, to
cover their Impurities; and this hath made them imagine an Acceptance
with God possible, though they suppose it impossible ever to obey
Christ’s Commands. But alas! O deceived Souls! that will not avail
in the Day wherein _God will judge every Man according to his Work,
whether good or bad_. It will not save thee to say, it was necessary
for thee to sin daily in Thought, Word, and Deed; for such as do so
have certainly obeyed Unrighteousness: And what is provided for such
but _Tribulation and Anguish_, _Indignation and Wrath_; even as _Glory,
Honour, and Peace, Immortality and eternal Life to such as have done
Good, and patiently continued in Well-doing_. So then, if thou desirest
to know this Perfection and Freedom from Sin possible for thee, turn
thy Mind to the _Light and spiritual Law of Christ in the Heart_, and
suffer the Reproofs thereof; bear the Judgment and Indignation of
God upon the unrighteous Part in thee as therein is revealed, which
Christ hath made tolerable for thee, and so suffer _Judgment in thee_
to be _brought forth into Victory_, and thus come to partake of the
_Fellowship_ of _Christ’s Sufferings_, and be made _conformable unto
his Death_, [Sidenote: _How we partake of Christ’s Sufferings, and
are made conformable unto his Death._] that thou mayest feel thyself
_crucified with him to the_ World _by the Power of his Cross in thee_;
so that that Life that sometimes was alive in thee to this World, and
the Love and Lusts thereof, may die, and a new Life be raised, by which
thou mayest live henceforward to God, and not to or for thyself; and
with the Apostle thou mayest say, _Gal._ ii. 20. _It is no more I,
but Christ alive in me_; and then thou wilt be a _Christian indeed_,
and not in _Name_ only, as too many are; then thou wilt know what
it is to have _put off the old Man with his Deeds_, who indeed sins
daily in Thought, Word, and Deed; and to have _put on the new Man,
that it renewed in Holiness, after the Image of him that hath created
him_, Ephes. iv. 24. and thou wilt witness thyself to be [78]_God’s
Workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good Works_, and so not to
sin always. And to this new Man _Christ’s Yoke is easy, and his Burden
is light_; though it be heavy to the _old Adam_; yea, the _Commandments
of God_ are not unto this Man _grievous_; for it is his _Meat and
Drink_ to be found _fulfilling the Will of God_.
[78] Matt. xi. 30. 1 John v. 3.
[Sidenote: Proof 3.] [Sidenote: _Many have attained Perfection._]
_Lastly_, This Perfection or Freedom from Sin is possible, because many
have attained it, according to the express Testimony of the Scripture;
some before the Law, and some under the Law, through witnessing and
partaking of the Benefit and Effect of the Gospel, and much more many
under the Gospel. [Sidenote: Enoch _walked with God, and was_ perfect.]
As _first_, It is written of _Enoch_, _Gen._ v. 22, 24. that he _walked
with God_, which no Man while sinning can; nor doth the Scripture
record any Failing of his. It is said of _Noah_, _Gen._ vi. 9. and
of _Job_ i. 8. and of _Zacharias_ and _Elizabeth_, _Luke_ i. 6. that
_they were perfect_; but under the Gospel, besides that of the _Romans_
above-mentioned, see what the Apostle saith of many Saints in general,
_Ephes._ ii. 4, 5, 6. _But God, who is rich in Mercy, for his great
Love wherewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead in Sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, by Grace ye are saved; and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly Places in
Christ Jesus_ &c. I judge while they were sitting in these _heavenly
Places_, they could not be daily sinning in Thought, Word, and Deed;
neither were all their Works which they did there as _filthy Rags_, or
as a _menstruous Garment_. See what is further said to the _Hebrews_,
xii. 22, 23. _Spirits of just Men made perfect_. And to conclude, let
that of the _Revelations_, xiv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. be considered, where
though their being _found without Fault_ be spoken in the present
Time, yet it is not without Respect to their Innocency while upon
Earth; and their being _redeemed from among Men, and no Guile found in
their Mouth_, is expresly mentioned in the Time past. [Sidenote: Sect
III.] But I shall proceed now, in the _Third Place_, to answer the
_Objections_, which indeed are the Arguments of our Opposers.
§. IX. [Sidenote: Obj. 1.] I shall begin with their chief and great
Argument, which is the Words of the Apostle, 1 John i. 8. _If we say
that we have no Sin_, _we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in
us_. This they think invincible.