Ans. I have thus at large transcribed this discourse, because it is
XV.] THE SINS OF BELIEVERS CONSIDERED. 575
the sum of what Mr Goodwin hath to offer for the weakening of our argument from this place. Of what weight this is will quickly ap- pear; for, —
1. This reason, " The seed abideth in him," though brought in illa- tively, in respect of what was said before, " He doth not commit sin/' yet hath its causal influence chiefly into that which followeth, " He cannot sin." To make good what was first spoken of his not com- mitting sin that is born of God, the apostle discovereth the cause of it; which so far secureth the truth of that expression as that it causeth it to ascend, and calls him up higher, to a certain impossi- bility of doing of that which was only at first simply denied. Neither is this assertion, " The seed of God abideth in him," any otherwise a reason of the first assertion, " He committeth not sin," than as it is the cause of the latter, " He cannot sin." Now, Mr Goodwin grant- eth, in the close of his discourse, that " the future continuance of a thing in being is, or may be, the cause of the continuance of an effect which at present it produceth;" — and what[ever] Mr Goodwin may more curiously discover of the intent of the apostle, his words plainly assert the continuance and abode of the seed of God in them in whom it is ; and using it as he doth, for a reason of the latter clause of that proposition, " He cannot sin," he speak eth properly enough, so great a master (of one language at least) as Mr Goodwin being judge.
2. The reason insisted on by the apostle is neither from the word *' seed," nor from the word " abideth," nor from the nature of the seed simply considered, nor from its permanency and continuance, "The seed abideth;" so that it is no exception to the intendment of the apostle to assert the abiding of the seed not to be a sufficient cause of the proposition, because its abiding or permanency is not a cause of present not sinning, for it is not asserted that it is. His present not sinning in whom it is, is from God, his being born of God by the seed ; his continuance and estate of not sinning (both which are intended) is from the abiding of the seed. The whole condition of the person, that " He sinneth not, neither can sin" (which terms re- gard his continued estate), is from the whole proposition, " The seed of God abideth in him." Separate the permanency of the seed, which is asserted, in the consideration of it, and it respects only and solely the continuance of the effect which is produced by it as seed, or of the estate wherein any one is placed by being born of God. All that Mr Goodwin hath to offer in this case is, that the abidinof of the seed is so asserted to be the reason of that part of the proposi- tion, " He committeth not sin," as not to be the cause r^g axj^yismg, "He cannot sin;" when the abiding of the seed, singly considered, is not used as any reason at all of the first, nor in the proposition as it lieth, " The seed abideth," any otherwise but as it is the cause of the latter, " He cannot sin."
576 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
3. Even the expression, *' He committeth not sin," denoteth not only the present actual frame and walking of him of whom it is spoken, but his estate and condition. Being once born of God, he committeth not sin. No one that is so born of God doth. IS! one in the state and condition of a regenerate person doth so; that is, in his course and walking to the end. And this is argued not so much distinctly to the permanency of the seed, as from the seed with such an adjunct.
4. Mr Goodwin's allusions to the soul and the obedience of angels are of little use, or none at all, to the illustration of the business in hand; for though the reason why the soul moveth the body to-day is not because it will move it to-morrow, yet the reason why the body moveth, and cannot but do so, is because it hath the soul abid- ing in it, and he that shall say, " He that liveth moveth, for he hath a soul abiding in him and cannot but move," shall speak properly enough. And the reason why the angels do the will of God in hea- ven,— that is, actually continue in so doing, — is, because they have such a confirmed and uncontrollable principle of obedience. So that all these exceptions amount not to the least weakening of the apostle's arguments.
Sect. 32. Our author giveth two instances to prove that the word //,£!/£/ in the Scripture signifieth sometimes only " to be," and not " to abide," and they are, the one, John xiv. 17, and the other, 1 John iii. 14; and one argument to manifest that in the place under consi- deration it must needs signify a present abode and being, and not a continuance, etc.