But secondly, saith he, "The phrase of 'committing sin' is nowhere in the Scripture found in such a sense as to sin with final impeni- tency, or to sin to death."
A71S. The contrary hath been demonstrated. The same phrase necessarily importeth no less, verse 8 of this chapter; and an equiva- lent expression, beyond all contradiction, intendeth the same, chap. V. 17, 18, Besides, a phrase may be so circumstantiated as to be in one only place restrained to a sense which it doth not elsewhere necessarily import. So that, notwithstanding these exceptions, the exposition of the words is clear as before given in. And yet this is all Mr Goodwin produceth as his ground and foundation whereon to stand in denying this proposition, " He that is born of God sinneth not ;" — that is, falleth not under the power of reigning sin, sinneth not to death, as the children of the wicked one do : which I shall leave under that consideration wherewith it is educed from the scope of the text, and the parallel place of chap. v. 17, 18. The truth is, there is not much need to contend about this expression, Mr. Goodwin grant-
566 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
ing that the intendment of it is, "That such as are born of God do not walk ordinarily and customarily in any ways of known sin/' sect. 28 ; " which," as he saith, " is the import of that phrase, -ttohTv a/iapr/a/' (the contrary whereof might yet be easily evinced), — " he maketh no trade or occupation of sinning; that is, he doth not sin in an inconsist- ency of communion with God in the covenant of his grace." Now, in this sense he granteth his proposition, "He that is born of God sinneth not," — that is, ordinarily or customarily; that is, so as not to be ac- cepted of God ; that is, no believer sinneth at such a rate as not to be accepted with God. Add now hereunto the ground and reason of this assertion, namely, his being born of God, and the abiding of the seed in him, and we have obtained all that we desire to evince from this place. Because such an one is born of God (which is a rea- son which holdeth good to eternity, being an act irrevocably past), and because the seed abideth in him, he cannot sin ordinarily or customarily; which kind of sinning alone (as is supposed) can eject the abiding seed ; — that is, he sinneth not beyond the rate of sins of infirmity, nor in any such way as should render him incapable of communion or acceptance with God.
The apostle nextly advanceth farther with his design, and saith, "He that is born of God cannot sin;" that is, that sin which he sinneth not he cannot sin; he cannot fall under the power of reigning sin unto death. I confess the words "can" and "cannot" are variously used in the Scriptures; some kind of impossibility, in one respect or other (for things may be in some regard impossible that are not so absolutely), it always denoteth. The whole of the variety in this kind may be referred to two heads: —
1. That which is morally impossible. Of that it is said that it cannot be done, 2 Cor. xiii. 8, saith Paul, " We can do nothing against the truth;" and Acts iv. 20, say the apostles, " We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard." It was morally impossible that ever any thing should have been done by Paul against the truth ; or that the apostles, having received the Spirit, should not speak what they had seen and heard of Christ. And of many things that are thus morally impossible, there are most certain and determinate causes as to make the things so impossible as, in respect of the event, to be absolutely impossible. It is morally impossible that the devil should do that which is spuitually good, and yet absolutely impos- sible. There is more in many a thing that is morally impossible than a mere ojaposition to justice; as we say, " Illud possumus quod jure possumus." The causes of moral impossibility may be such as to tie up the thing which it relateth unto in an everlasting nou- futurition. There is also, —
2. An impossibility that is physical, from the nature of the things themselves. So Jer. xiii 23, " Can the Ethiopian change his skin?"
XV.] THE SINS OF BELIEVERS CONSIDERED. 567
— that Is, lie cannot. Matt. vii. 18, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit ;"" — that is, nothing can act contrary to its own natural principles. And, as we shall see afterward, there is this impossibility in the " cannot" here mentioned. They cannot do it, upon the account of the new spiri- tual nature wherewith they are endued.
Now, there may be a third kind of impossibility in spiritual things arising from both these, which one hath not ineptly called the ethico- physical or morally-natural, partaking of the nature of both the others. It is moral, because it relateth to duty, what is to be done or not to be done ; and it is physical, because it relateth to a cause or principle that can or cannot produce the effect. So our Saviour telleth the Pharisees, "How can ye, being evil, speak good things?" or, "ye cannot," Matt, xii. 34, "Ye. cannot hear my word," John viii. 43. It was morally impossible they should either speak or hear, — that is, either do or believe that which is spiritually good, — having no principle that should enable them thereunto, having no root that should bear up unto fruit, being evil trees in themselves, and having a principle, a root, continually, universally, uninterruptedly, inclining and disposing them another way, to acts of a quite contrary nature. Of this kind is that impossibility here intimated. The effect denied is morally impossible, upon the account of the internal physical cause hindering of it.