XV.] THE SINS OF BELIEVERS CONSIDERED. 673
not SO sin as to apostatize or fall totally from God ; but that such is the nature of regeneration, whereby any one is born of God, the Holy Ghost here declareth, for he denieth apostasy upon the account of regeneration, " He cannot sin, because he is born of God;" which is that which we intended to demonstrate from this text of Scripture.
To evade the force of this argument, Mr Goodwin, as hath been declared, undertaketh to give an exposition of this place of Scrip- ture, turning every stone, and labouring to wrest every word in it. The several significations of the words in other places are set out, and suppositions made of taking them this way or that way ; but in what sense the scope of the matter treated on, and the most usual, known, common acceptations, call for their use in this place, nothing is spoken, neither is any clear answer once attempted to be given to the words of the text, speaking out and home to the conclusion we intend, or to the argument thence deduced. What I can gather up from sect. 81 and forwards, that may obstruct the thoughts of any in closing with the interpretation given, I shall consider and remove out of the way : — First, then, he giveth you this interpretation of these words, " Sinneth not," or " Cannot sin :" " ' Every one that hath been born of God sinneth not ; ' that is, whosoever hath, by the word and Spirit of God, been made partaker of the divine nature, so as to re- semble God in the frame and constitution of his heart and soul, doth not, under such a frame or change of heart as this, make a trade or practice of sinning, or of walking in any course of inordinateness in the world. Yea, saith he, in the latter proposition, ' Every such person doth not only or simply refrain sinning in such a sense, but he can- not sin ; ' that is, he hath a strong and potent disposition in him which carrieth him another way, for he hath a strong antipathy or averseness of heart and soul against all sin, especially all such kind of sinning."
Ans. 1. What is meant by being " born of God," the way whereby any come so to be, the universality of the expression, requiring a necessary cause of its verity, with the like attendancies of the pro- position, have been before declared.
2. What Mr Goodwin intendeth by such a " frame and constitution of heart and soul as may resemble God," with his denial of the be- stowing on us from God of a vital principle of grace, wherein the re- novation in us of his image should consist, hath in part also been already discovered, and will yet farther be so, in our consideration of his rare notion of regeneration, and its consisting in a man's re- turn to the innocent and harmless estate wherein he was born.
3. That " Sinneth not" is " Sinneth not that sin," or " So sinneth not as to break his relation to God as a child," hath been already also manifested, and the reader is not to be burdened with repetitions.
4. In the interpretation given of the latter phrase, " He cannot
674 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
sin/' I cannot so sin against the light of the text as to join with Mr Goodwin in it. It is not the " antipathy of his heart to sin," but the course of his walking with God in respect of sin, that the apostle treateth on. His internal principling against sin he hath from being " bom of God " and the " abiding of his seed in him ;" of which this, that " he cannot sin," is asserted as the effect. " He cannot sin," — that is, he cannot so sin upon the account of his being " born of God" (thence, indeed, he hath not only " a potent disposition another way and antipathy to evil," but a vital principle with an everlasting- enmity and repugnancy to and inconsistency with any such sin or sin- ning as is intimated) ; and that he cannot sin is the consequent and effect thereof, and is so affirmed to be by the Holy Ghost.
Nextly, Mr Goodwin giveth you the reason of this assertion used by the apostle, why such an one as of whom he speaketh sinneth not, and cannot sin: " 'Now the reason,' saith the apostle, ' why such a person committeth not sin in the sense explained is, because his seed, the seed of God, by whom and of which he was born of him, remaineth in him ; ' that is, is, or hath an actual and present being or residence, in him. And that in this place it doth not signify any perpetual abiding, or any abiding in relation to the future, is evident, because the abiding of the seed here spoken of is given as the reason why he that is bom of God doth not commit sin; that is, doth not frequently walk in any course of known sin. Now, nothing in re- spect of any future permanency or continuance of being can be looked upon as the cause of an effect, but only in respect of the present being or residence of it. The reason why the soul moveth to-day is not because it will move or act the body to-morrow, or because it is in the body to-day upon such terms that it will be in to-moiTow also, much less because it is an immortal substance, but simply be- cause it is now or this day in the body. So the reason why angels at this day do the will of God is not because they have such a prin- ciple of holiness or obedience in them which they cannot put off or lose to eternity, but because of such a principle as we speak of residing in them at present. Therefore, when John assigneth the remaining of the seed of God in him that is born of him for the reason why he doth not commit sin, certain it is that by this remaining of the seed he meaneth nothing else but the present residence or abode thereof in this person ; and if his intent had been either to assert or imply a per- petual residence of this seed in him that is born of God, it had been much more proper for him to have saved it for a reason of the latter proposition, ' He that is born of God cannot sin,' than to have sub- joined it as a reason of the former; for though the future continuance of the thing in being can be no reason of the effect present, yet it will be a ground or reason of the continuance of a present effect."