9. “But are there not assertions in scripture which prove the same thing, if it cannot be inferred from those examples? Does not the scripture say expresly, _Even a just man sinneth seven times a day_?” I answer, No. The scripture says no such thing. There is no such text in all the bible. That which seems to be intended is the sixteenth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of _the Proverbs_: the words of which are these, _A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again_. But this is quite another thing. For, _first_, the words _a day_, are not in the text. So that if a just man falls seven times in his life, it is as much as is affirmed here. _Secondly_, here is no mention of _falling into sin_ at all; what is here mentioned is, _falling into temporal affliction_. This plainly appears from the verse before, the words of which are these: _Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting-place_. It follows, _For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief_. As if he had said, “God will deliver him out of his trouble. But when thou fallest, there shall be none to deliver thee.”
10. But however in other places, continue the objectors, _Solomon_ does assert plainly, _There is no man that sinneth not_ (1 _Kings_ viii. 46. 2 _Chron._ vi. 36.) yea, _there is not a just man upon earth that doth good, and sinneth not_ (Eccles. vii. 20.) I answer, without doubt, thus it was, in the days of _Solomon_. Yea, thus it was, from _Adam_ to _Moses_, from _Moses_ to _Solomon_, and from _Solomon_ to Christ. There was _then_ no man that sinned not. Even from the day that sin entered into the world, there was not a just man upon earth that did good, and sinned not, _until the_ Son of God was manifested _to take away our sins_. It is unquestionably true, that _the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant_. And that _even so_ they (all the holy men of old, who were under the _Jewish_ dispensation) _were_ during that infant-state of the church, _in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons_; that they might receive that _grace which is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light thro’ the gospel_, (2 Tim. i. 10.) Now therefore they _are no more servants, but sons_. So that whatsoever was the case of those under the law, we may safely affirm with St. _John_, that since the gospel was given, _He that is born of God, sinneth not_.
11. It is of great importance to observe, and that more carefully than is commonly done, the wide difference there is between the _Jewish_ and the _Christian_ dispensation: and that ground of it which the same apostle assigns in the seventh chapter of his gospel, verse 38, &c. After he had there related those words of our blessed Lord, _He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water_, he immediately subjoins, _This spake he of the spirit_, οὗ ἔμελλον ♦λαμβάνειν οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς αὐτόν, _which they who should believe on him, were afterwards to receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified._ Now the apostle cannot mean here (as some have taught) that the miracle-working power of the Holy Ghost was not yet given. For this was given; our Lord had given it to all his apostles, when he first sent them forth to preach the gospel. He then gave them _power over unclean spirits to cast them out_; power _to heal the sick_, yea, _to raise the dead_. But the Holy Ghost was not yet given in his sanctifying graces, as he was after Jesus was glorified. It was then when _he ascended up on high and led captivity captive_, that he _received those gifts for men, yea, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them_. And _when the day of Pentecost was fully come_, then first it was, that they who _waited for the promise of the Father_, were made more than conquerors over sin, by the Holy Ghost given unto them.