with Partiality? How many Scriptures tenfold more plain do they
reject, and yet stick so tenaciously to this, that can receive so many
Answers? As First, [_If we say we have no Sin_, &c.] will not import
the Apostle himself to be included. [Sidenote: _If we say we have no
Sin_, &c. objected.] Sometimes the Scripture useth this Manner of
Expression when the Person speaking cannot be included; which Manner
of Speech the _Grammarians_ call _Metaschematismus_. Thus _James_ iii.
9, 10. speaking of the _Tongue_, saith, _Therewith bless we God, and
therewith curse we Men_; adding, _These Things ought not so to be_.
Who from this will conclude that the Apostle was one of those Cursers?
[Sidenote: _Answ. 2._] But _Secondly_, This Objection hitteth not the
Matter; he saith not, _We sin daily in Thought, Word, and Deed_; far
less that the _very good Works which God works in us by his Spirit are
Sin_: Yea, the very next Verse clearly shews, that upon _Confession_
and _Repentance_ we are not only _forgiven_, but also _cleansed_;
_He is faithful to forgive us our Sins, and to cleanse us from all
Unrighteousness_. Here is both a Forgiveness and Removing of the Guilt,
and a Cleansing or Removing of the Filth; for to make _Forgiveness_ and
_Cleansing_ to belong both to the Removing of the _Guilt_, as there is
no Reason for it from the Text, so it were a most violent forcing of
the Words, and would imply a needless Tautology. The Apostle having
shewn how that not the Guilt only, but even the Filth also of Sin is
removed, subsumes his Words in the Time past in the 10th Verse, _If we
say we have not sinned, we make him a Liar_. [Sidenote: _Answ. 3._]
_Thirdly_, As _Augustine_ well observed, in his Exposition upon the
Epistle to the _Galatians_, _It is one Thing not to sin, and another
Thing not to have Sin_. [Sidenote: _It is one Thing_, not to sin, _and
another Thing_ not to have Sin.] The Apostle’s Words are not, _If we
say we sin not, or commit not Sin daily, _but_ if we say we have no
Sin_: And betwixt these two there is a manifest Difference; for in
respect all have _sinned_, as we freely acknowledge, all may be said
in a Sense to have _Sin_. Again, _Sin_ may be taken for the _Seed of
Sin_, which may be in those that are redeemed from _actual Sinning_;
but as to the Temptations and Provocations proceeding from it being
resisted by the Servants of God, and not yielded to, they are the
Devil’s Sin that tempteth, not the Man’s that is preserved. [Sidenote:
_Answ. 4._] _Fourthly_, This being considered, as also how positive and
plain once and again the same Apostle is in that very Epistle, as in
divers Places above cited, is it equal or rational to strain this one
Place, presently after so qualified and subsumed in the _Time past_, to
contradict not only other positive Expressions of his, but the whole
Tendency of his Epistle, and of the rest of the holy Commands and
Precepts of the Scripture?
[Sidenote: Obj. 2.] _Secondly_, Their second Objection is from two
Places of Scripture, much of one Signification: The one is, 1 _Kings_
viii. 46. _For there is no Man that sinneth not_. The other is,
_Eccles._ vii. 20. _For there is not a just Man upon Earth, that doeth
Good, and sinneth not_.
[Sidenote: _Answ._] I answer, _First_, These affirm nothing of a daily
and continual _Sinning_, so as never to be redeemed from it; but only
that all have _sinned_, or that there is none that doth not _sin_,
though not always, so as never to cease to _sin_; and in this lies the
Question. Yea, in that Place of the _Kings_ he speaks within two Verses
of the returning of such _with all their Souls and Hearts_; which
implies a Possibility of leaving off Sin. [Sidenote: _Diversity of
Seasons and Dispensations_ respected.] _Secondly_, There is a Respect
to be had to the Seasons and Dispensations; for if it should be granted
that in _Solomon_’s Time there were none that _sinned not_, it will
not follow that there are none such now, or that it is a Thing not
now attainable by the Grace of God under the Gospel: For _A non esse
ad non posse non valet sequela_. And _Lastly_, This whole Objection
hangs upon a false Interpretation; for the Hebrew Word [Hebrew: ycht':
יחטא] may be read in the _Potential Mood_, thus, _There is no Man who
may not sin_, as well as in the _Indicative_: So both the old Latin,
_Junius_ and _Tremellius_, and _Vatablus_ have it; and the same Word is
so used, _Psalm_ cxix. 11. _I have hid thy Word in my Heart_, [Hebrew:
lt'z l' 'cht' lk: לטעז לא אחטא לך׃] that is to say, _That I may not sin
against thee_, in the _Potential Mood_, and not in the _Indicative_;
which being more answerable to the universal Scope of the Scriptures,
the Testimony of the Truth, and the Sense almost of all Interpreters,
doubtless ought to be so understood, and the other _Interpretation_
rejected as _spurious_.
[Sidenote: Obj. 3.] _Thirdly_, They object some Expressions of the
Apostle _Paul_, Rom. viii. 19. _For the Good that I would, I do not;
but the Evil which I would not, that I do_. And Ver. 24. _O wretched
Man that I am! who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death?_
[Sidenote: _Answ._] I answer, This Place infers nothing, unless it were
apparent that the Apostle here were speaking of his own Condition, and
not rather in the Person of others, or what he himself had sometimes
borne; which is frequent in Scripture, as in the Case of cursing,
in _James_ before mentioned. But there is nothing in the Text that
doth clearly signify the Apostle to be speaking of himself, or of
a Condition he was then under, or was always to be under; yea, on
the Contrary, in the former Chapter, as afore is at large shewn, he
declares, they were _dead to Sin_; demanding _how such should yet live
any longer therein_? [Sidenote: Paul _personates the _Wretched Man_,
to shew them the_ Redeemer.] _Secondly_, It appears that the Apostle
personated one not yet come to a spiritual Condition, in that he saith,
Ver. 14. _But I am carnal, sold under Sin._ Now is it to be imagined,
that the Apostle _Paul_, as to his own proper Condition, when he wrote
that _Epistle_, was a _carnal Man_, who in _Chap._ i. testifies of
himself, That he was _separated to be an Apostle, capable to impart to
the _Romans_ spiritual Gifts_; and Chap. viii. Ver. 2. That _the Law
of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus had made him free from the Law
of Sin and Death_? So then he was not _carnal_. And seeing there are
spiritual Men in this Life, as our Adversaries will not deny, and is
intimated through the whole viiith Chapter to the _Romans_, it will
not be denied but the Apostle was one of them: So then as his calling
himself _carnal_ in Chap. vii. cannot be understood of his own proper
State, neither can the rest of what he speaks there of that Kind be
so understood: Yea after, Ver. 24. where he makes that Exclamation,
he adds in the next Verse, _I thank God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord_; signifying that by him he witnessed Deliverance; and so goeth
on, shewing how he had obtained it in the next Chapter, _viz._ viii.
Ver. 35. _Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?_ And Ver.
37. _But in all these Things we are more than Conquerors_: And in the
last Verse, _Nothing shall be able to separate us_, &c. But wherever
there is a continuing in Sin, there is a Separation in some Degree,
seeing every _Sin is contrary to God_, and [Greek: anomia: ανομια], i.
e. _a Transgression of the Law_, 1 John iii. 4. [Sidenote: _Whom Sin
has conquered, he is no Conqueror._] and whoever committeth the least
Sin, is overcome of it, and so in that Respect is not a Conqueror, but
conquered. This Condition then, which the Apostle plainly testified
he with some others had obtained, could not consist with continual
remaining and abiding in Sin.
[Sidenote: Obj. 4.] _Fourthly_, They object the _Faults and Sins of
several eminent Saints, as _Noah_, _David_, &c._
[Sidenote: _Answ._] I answer, That doth not at all prove the Case: For
the Question is not, _Whether good Men may not fall into Sin_, which
is not denied; but _whether it be not possible for them not to sin_?
[Sidenote: _Can they that _sin_, be never freed from _Sin.] It will
not follow because these Men _sinned_, that therefore they were never
_free of Sin_, but always _sinned_: For at this Rate of arguing, it
might be urged, according to this Rule (_Contrariorum par ratio_, i.
e. _The Reason of Contraries is alike_) that if, because a good Man
hath sinned once or twice, he can never be free from Sin, but must
always be daily and continually a Sinner all his Life long; then by the
Rule of _Contraries_, if a wicked Man have done Good once or twice, he
can never be free from Righteousness, but must always be a righteous
Man all his Life-time: Which as it is most absurd in itself, so it is
contrary to the plain Testimony of the Scripture, _Ezek._ xxxiii. 12.
to 18.
[Sidenote: Obj.] _Lastly_, They object, _That if Perfection or Freedom
from Sin be attainable, this will render Mortification of Sin useless,
and make the Blood of Christ of no Service to us, neither need we any
more pray for Forgiveness of Sins_.
[Sidenote: _Answ._] I answer, I had almost omitted this _Objection_,
because of the manifest Absurdity of it: For can Mortification of
Sin be useless, where the End of it is obtained? Seeing there is no
attaining of this Perfection but by Mortification. [Sidenote: _Who
fights and not in Hopes to overcome his_ Foe?] Doth the Hope and
Belief of overcoming render the Fight unnecessary? Let rational Men
judge which hath most Sense in it, to say as our Adversaries do, _It
is necessary that we fight and wrestle, but we must never think of
overcoming, we must resolve still to be overcome_; or to say, _Let us
fight, because we may overcome_? Whether do such as believe they may
be cleansed by it, or those that believe they can never be cleansed
by it, render the _Blood of Christ_ most effectual? If two Men were
both grievously diseased, and applied themselves to a Physician for
Remedy, which of those do most commend the Physician and his Cure, he
that believeth he may be cured by him, and as he feels himself cured,
confesseth that he is so, and so can say this is a skilful Physician,
this is a good Medicine, behold I am made whole by it; or he that never
is cured, nor ever believes that he can so long as he lives? [Sidenote:
_Praying for_ Forgiveness of Sins.] As for praying for _Forgiveness_,
we deny it not; for that _all have sinned_, and therefore all need to
pray that their _Sins past_ may be blotted out, and that they may be
daily preserved from sinning. And if hoping or believing to be made
_free from Sin_ hinders praying for _Forgiveness of Sin_, it would
follow by the same Inference that Men ought not to forsake Murder,
Adultery, or any of these gross Evils, seeing the more Men are sinful,
the more plentiful Occasion there would be of asking Forgiveness
of Sin, and the more Work for Mortification. But the Apostle had
sufficiently refuted such sin-pleasing Cavils in these Words, _Rom._
vi. 1, 2. _Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound? God forbid._
But _Lastly_, It may be easily answered, by a Retortion to those that
press this from the Words of the Lord’s Prayer, _forgive us our Debts_,
that this militates no less against perfect Justification than against
perfect Sanctification: For if all the Saints, the least as well as the
greatest, be perfectly justified in that very Hour wherein they are
converted, as our Adversaries will have it, then they have Remission of
Sins long before they die. May it not then be said to them, What Need
have ye to pray for Remission of Sin, who are already justified, whose
Sins are long ago forgiven, both past and to come?
§. X. [Sidenote: _Testimonies of the Fathers, concerning _Perfection_,
or _Freedom from Sin.] But this may suffice: Concerning this
Possibility _Jerome_ speaks clearly enough, _Lib. 3. adver. Pelagium_,
“This we also say, that a Man may not sin, if he will, for a Time
and Place, according to his bodily Weakness, so long as his Mind is
intent, so long as the Cords of the _Cithara_ relax not by any Vice;”
[Sidenote: Jerome.] and again in the same Book, “Which is that that
I said, that it is put in our Power (to wit, being helped by the
Grace of God) either to sin or not to sin.” For this was the Error of
_Pelagius_, which we indeed reject and abhor, and which the _Fathers_
deservedly withstood, “That Man by his natural Strength, without the
Help of God’s Grace, could attain to that State so as not to sin.”
[Sidenote: Augustine.] And _Augustine_ himself, a great Opposer of
the _Pelagian_ Heresy, did not deny this Possibility as attainable by
the Help of God’s Grace, as in his Book de _Spiritu & Literâ_, Cap.
2. and his Book _de Naturâ & Gratiâ_ against _Pelagius_, Cap. 42,
50, 60, and 63. _de Gestis Concilii Palæstini_, Cap. 7. & 2. and _de
Peccato Originali_, Lib. 2. Cap. 2. [Sidenote: Gelasius.] _Gelasius_
also, in his Disputation against _Pelagius_, saith, “But if any affirm
that this may be given to some Saints in this Life, not by the Power
of Man’s Strength, but by the Grace of God, he doth well to think
so confidently, and hope it faithfully; for by this Gift of God all
Things are possible.” [Sidenote: _That by the _Gift of God_ all Things
are possible._] That this was the common Opinion of the _Fathers_,
appears from the Words of the _Aszansic Council_, Canon the last, “We
believe also this according to the _Catholick Faith_, that all who are
baptized through Grace by Baptism received, and Christ helping them,
and co-working, may and ought to do whatsoever belongs to Salvation, if
they will faithfully labour.”
§. XI. [Sidenote: Conclusion.] Blessed then are they that believe in
him, who is both able and willing to deliver as many as come to him
through true Repentance from all Sin, and do not resolve, as these Men
do, to be the Devil’s Servants all their Life-time, but daily go on
forsaking [Sidenote: Phil. 3. 14. _Press forward to the Mark, for the
_Prize_, and Overcoming._] Unrighteousness, and forgetting those Things
that are behind, _press forward toward the Mark, for the Prize of the
high Calling of God in Christ Jesus_; such shall not find their Faith
and Confidence to be in vain, but in due Time shall be made Conquerors
through him in whom they have believed; and so overcoming, _shall be
established as Pillars in the House of God, so as they shall go no more
out_, Rev. iii. 12.
PROPOSITION IX.
Concerning PERSEVERANCE, and the Possibility of FALLING from GRACE.
_Although this Gift and inward Grace of God be sufficient to work out
Salvation, yet in those in whom it is resisted it both may and
doth become their Condemnation. Moreover they in whose Hearts it
hath wrought in Part to purify and sanctify them in order to their
further Perfection, may, by Disobedience, fall from it, _turn
it to Wantonness_, Jude 4. _make Shipwreck of Faith_, _1_ Tim.
_i. 19. and after having tasted the heavenly Gift, and been made
Partakers of the Holy Ghost, again fall away_, Heb. _vi. 4, 5, 6._
yet such an Increase and Stability in the Truth may in this Life be
attained, from which there can be no total Apostasy._
§. I. The first Sentence of this Proposition hath already been treated
of in the _fifth_ and _sixth Propositions_, where it hath been shewn
that that _Light_ which is given for _Life_ and _Salvation_ becomes the
Condemnation of those that refuse it, and therefore is already proved
in those Places, where I did demonstrate the Possibility of Man’s
resisting the Grace and Spirit of God; and indeed it is so apparent in
the Scriptures, that it cannot be denied by such as will but seriously
consider these Testimonies, _Prov._ i. 24, 25, 26. _John_ iii. 18, 19.
2 _Thess._ ii. 11, 12. _Acts_ vii. 51. & xiii. 46. _Rom._ i. 18. As for
the other Part of it, that _they in whom this Grace may have wrought in
a good Measure in order to purify and sanctify them, tending to their
further Perfection, may afterwards, through Disobedience, fall away_,
&c. The Testimonies of the Scripture included in the Proposition itself
are sufficient to prove it to Men of unbiassed Judgment; but because as
to this Part our Cause is common with many other _Protestants_, I shall
be the more brief in it: For it is not my Design to do that which is
done already, neither do I covet to appear _knowing_ by writing much;
but simply purpose to present to the World a faithful Account of our
Principles, and briefly to let them understand what we have to say for
ourselves.
§. II. [Sidenote: I. _A Falling from Grace by Disobedience_ evinced.]
From these Scriptures then included in the Proposition, not to mention
many more which might be urged, I argue thus:
[Sidenote: Arg. 1.] _If Men may turn the _Grace of God_ into
Wantonness, then they must once have had it_:
But the First is true: Therefore also the Second.
[Sidenote: Arg. 2.] _If Men may make _Shipwreck of Faith_, they must
once have had it; Neither could they ever have had true_ Faith _without
the Grace of God_:
But the First is true: Therefore also the Last.
[Sidenote: Arg. 3.] _If Men may have tasted of the _heavenly Gift_, and
been made Partakers of the _Holy Spirit_, and afterwards _fall away_,
they must needs have known in Measure the Operation of God’s saving
Grace and Spirit, without which no Man could taste the heavenly Gift,
nor yet partake of the Holy Spirit_:
But the First is true: Therefore also the Last.
[Sidenote: II. _The Doctrine of _Election_ and _Reprobation_ is
inconsistent with Preaching, and daily Exhortation._] _Secondly_,
Seeing the contrary Doctrine is built upon this false Hypothesis,
That _Grace is not given for Salvation to any, but to a certain elect
Number, which cannot lose it, and that all the rest of Mankind, by
an _absolute Decree,_ are debarred from Grace and Salvation_; that
being destroyed, this falls to the Ground. Now as that Doctrine of
theirs is wholly inconsistent with the daily Practice of those that
preach it, in that they exhort People to believe and be saved, while
in the mean Time, if they belong to the Decree of Reprobation, it
is simply impossible for them so to do; and if to the Decree of
Election, it is needless, seeing it is as impossible to them to miss
of it, as hath been before demonstrated. So also in this Matter of
_Perseverance_, their Practice and Principle are no less inconsistent
and contradictory. For while they daily exhort People to be _faithful
to the End_, shewing them if they continue not, they shall be _cut
off_, and fall short of the _Reward_; which is very true, but no less
inconsistent with that Doctrine that affirms _there is no Hazard,
because no Possibility of departing from the least Measure of true
Grace_; which if true, it is to no Purpose to beseech them to _stand_,
to whom God hath made it impossible to _fall_. I shall not longer
insist upon the Probation of this, seeing what is said may suffice to
answer my Design; and that the Thing is also abundantly proved by many
of the same Judgment. That this was the Doctrine of the _primitive
Protestants_ thence appears, that the _Augustine Confession_ condemns
it as an _Error_ of the _Anabaptists_, to say, _That they who once are
justified, cannot lose the Holy Spirit_. Many such like Sayings are to
be found in the common Places of _Philip Melancthon_. [Sidenote: _The
Opinion of the _Fathers_ concerning _falling from Grace.] _Vossius_,
in his _Pelagian_ History, Lib. 6. testifies, _That this was the common
Opinion of the Fathers_. In the Confirmation of the _twelfth Thesis_,
Page 587. he hath these Words: “That this which we have said was the
common Sentiment of Antiquity, those at present can only deny, who
otherwise perhaps are Men not unlearned, but nevertheless in Antiquity
altogether Strangers, _&c._” These Things thus observed, I come to the
_Objections_ of our Opposers.
§. III. [Sidenote: Obj. 1.] _First_, They allege, _That those Places
mentioned of making _Shipwreck of Faith_, are only to be understood of
seeming Faith, and not of a real true Faith_.
[Sidenote: _Answ._] [Sidenote: _A good and evil Conscience._] This
_Objection_ is very weak, and apparently contrary to the Text, 1 _Tim._
i. 19. where the Apostle addeth to _Faith_ a _good Conscience_, by
way of Complaint; whereas if their _Faith_ had been only seeming and
hypocritical, the Men had been better without it than with it; neither
had they been worthy of Blame for losing that which in itself was Evil.
But the Apostle expresly adds [_and of a good Conscience_,] which shews
it was real; neither can it be supposed that Men could truly attain a
_good Conscience_ without the Operation of _God’s saving Grace_; far
less that a _good Conscience_ doth consist with a seeming false and
hypocritical Faith. Again, these Places of the Apostle being spoken by
way of Regret, clearly import that these Attainments they had fallen
from were good and real, not false and deceitful, else he would not
have regretted their falling from them; and so he saith positively,
_They tasted of the heavenly Gift, and were made Partakers of the
Holy Ghost_, &c. not that they seemed to be so, which sheweth this
_Objection_ is very frivolous.
[Sidenote: Obj. 2.] _Secondly_, They allege, _Phil._ i. 6. _Being
confident of this very Thing, that he which hath begun a good Work in
you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ_, &c. and 1 _Pet._ i.
5. _Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation._
[Sidenote: _Answ._] These Scriptures, as they do not affirm any Thing
positively contrary to us, so they cannot be understood otherwise than
as the Condition is performed upon our Part, [Sidenote: Salvation
_is proposed upon certain Conditions by us to be performed._] seeing
_Salvation_ is no otherways proposed there but upon certain necessary
Conditions to be performed by us, as hath been above proved, and as
our Adversaries also acknowledge, as _Rom._ viii. 13. _For if ye live
after the Flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify
the Deeds of the Body, ye shall live_. And _Heb._ iii. 14. _We are
made Partakers of Christ, if we hold the Beginning of our Confidence
stedfast unto the End_. For if these Places of the Scripture upon
which they build their Objections were to be admitted without these
Conditions, it would manifestly overturn the whole Tenor of their
Exhortations throughout all their Writings. Some other _Objections_
there are of the same Nature, which are solved by the same Answers,
which also, because largely treated of by others, I omit, to come to
that Testimony of the Truth which is more especially ours in this
Matter, and is contained in the latter Part of the Proposition in these
Words: _Yet such an Increase and Stability in the Truth may in this
Life be attained, from which there cannot be a total Apostasy_.
§. IV. As in the Explanation of the _fifth_ and _sixth Proposition_ I
observed, that some that had denied the Errors of others concerning
_Reprobation_, and affirmed the _Universality of Christ’s Death_, did
notwithstanding fall short in sufficiently holding forth the Truth, and
so gave the contrary Party Occasion by their Defects to be strengthened
in their Errors, so it may be said in this Case. [Sidenote: _The two
Extremes some run into, by asserting a final_ Falling _or_ not Falling
_from Grace impossible._] As upon the one Hand they err who affirm,
_That the least Degree of true and saving Grace cannot be fallen from_,
so do they err upon the other Hand that deny any such _Stability_ to be
attained _from which there cannot be a total and final Apostasy_. And
betwixt these two extremes lieth the Truth apparent in the Scriptures,
which God hath revealed unto us by the Testimony of his Spirit, and
which also we are made sensible of by our own Experience. And even as
in the former Controversy was observed, so also in this, the Defence of
Truth will readily appear to such as seriously weigh the Matter; for
the Arguments upon both Hands, rightly applied, will as to this hold
good; and the Objections, which are strong as they are respectively
urged against the two opposite _false Opinions_, are here easily
solved, by the Establishing of this _Truth_. For all the Arguments
which these allege that affirm, _There can be no falling away_, may
well be received upon the one Part, as of those who have attained
to this Stability and Establishment, and their Objections solved
by this Confession; so upon the other Hand, the Arguments alleged
from Scripture Testimonies by those that affirm _the Possibility of
falling away_ may well be received of such as are not come to this
Establishment, though having attained a Measure of true Grace. Thus
then the contrary Batterings of Our Adversaries, who miss the Truth,
do concur the more strongly to establish it, while they are destroying
each other. But lest this may not seem to suffice to satisfy such as
judge it _always possible for the best of Men before they die to fall
away_, I shall add, for the Proof of it, some brief Considerations from
some few Testimonies of the Scripture.