That which looketh towards the argument under consideration appeareth first in sect. 31, which he thus proposeth: "If the said argument understandeth the phrase ' Cannot sin,' according to the fifth and last import mentioned of the word ' cannot/ wherein it soundeth an utter and absolute incapacity and impossibility, then in this sense the major proposition is gTanted, namely, ' He that doth not nor can sin cannot fall away from his faith.' Yet the minor is tardy, which saith, ' Whosoever is born of God sinneth not, neither can sin : ' for he that is born of God is in no such incapacity of sinning; of sinning, I mean, in the sense formerly asserted to the scripture in hand, which amounteth to an absolute impossibility for him so to sin."
Ans. Because this seemeth to be the sense intended in the argu- ment, and the minor proposition in this sense to be built upon the scripture in hand, let us consider whether the reason which is as- signed for the said assertion doth necessarily enforce such a sense thereon. What we understand by this phrase, both as to that sin that is here intended, and that impossibility of committing it, or fall- ing into it often, in that expression " cannot," hath been before dis- covered. An impossibility it is of the event, from the causes above mentioned, that the Holy Ghost intendeth. An utter and absolute incapacity to sin on any account we assert not; an impossibility of so sinning, in respect of the event, for the reasons and from the causes above mentioned, the Holy Ghost averreth. In this sense the first proposition is granted : " He that doth not commit sin, nor can sin, cannot fall away from his faith, or can [not] utterly lose it." The minor, which is the express language of the Holy Ghost, is questioned, and found tardy; that is, as I suppose, false. And the reason is added, namely, " That he that is born of God is in no such incapacity of sinning;" that is, of sinning in that kind of sinning which is here intended, which amounteth to an impossibility for him so to sin. Not to play fast and loose, under these ambiguous expressions of " In- capacity" and "Absolute impossibility," the event is positively denied upon the account of the prohibiting causes of it ; and the incapacity asserted relateth not to the internal frame and principle only, but respecteth also other considerations. Whether these are such as to bear the weight of this exposition, is that which cometh nextly to be discussed; namely, the causes of this state and condition of those who are thus born of God, and the reasons investing that universal pro- position, " Every one that is born of God cannot sin," with a neces- sary truth.
670 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERAA^CE. [CHAP.
In the reasons added of the former affirmation, there is an em- phatical distribution of the two parts of the predicate of the former proposition, by the way of ascending to a more vehement confirma- tion of them: " He that is born of God sinneth not." But why so? "His seed remaineth; neither can be sin." Why so? " Because he is born of God." It is an expressive pursuit of the same thing, and not a redoubling of the proposition ; and this contexture of the words is so emphatically significant that it seemeth strange how any head of opposition can be made against it. There is no reason, then, to resolve the words into two propositions of distinct considera- tion each from other, it being one and the same thing that the apostle Intendeth to express, though proceeding to heighten the certainty of the thing in the minds of them to whom he delivered it by the contexture of the words which he maketli use of. What is meant or intended by the "seed of God" we need not dispute. The argument of the apostle lieth not in the words " seed of God," nor in the word " abideth," but in the whole, " The seed of God abideth;" and therefore it were to no purpose at all to follow Mr Goodwin in his consideration of the word " seed," and then of the [words] " seed of God," and then of the word " abideth," divided one from another. The sum of his long answer is, "The word 'seed' doth not 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 confirm the former assertion of the not sinning of the persons spoken of, there is nothing spoken at all. I shall therefore briefly confirm 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 in- sisted on. That " He that sinneth not, neither can sin," in the sense explained, shall never fall away totally or finally from God, is granted. That believers sin not, nor can sin so, or in the manner mentioned, besides the testimony of the Holy Ghost, worthy of all acceptation, in the clear assertion of it, we have the reasons thereof manifested in the discovery of the causes of its truth. The first reason is, " Be- cause the seed of God abideth in them." A tacit grant seemeth to be made that fruit sometimes may not visibly appear 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 itself in bearing any such actual fruit as may be ordinarily visible. The word of God is sometimes called " incorruptible seed," — seed causatively, as being an instrument in the hand of God whereby he planteth the seed of life and holiness 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