and thus he cannot sin not through any Natural but Moral impossibility I say he Morally cannot do so the powers of his Soul being acted and inflamed by such a Divine Principle of Grace and goodness as will not suffer him to live in any known sin whatsoever If he does he falls from that Holiness and forfeits the Divine relation and can no longer be said to be born of God no more than he that has carried the repute of an honest man can after wilful breaches of Justice and Honesty challenge that worthy Title Who can be so confident to say that he is free from all the Infirmities of his Nature Who dare say that he never speaks thinks or acts amiss he that saith he cannot fall by Errour is already faln by pride and he that saith he cannot sin sins even in saying so it 's true a good man makes not sin his work and he sins not so as to be lyable to that dismal sentence Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Mat. 7. 23. Par. But the Quakers will tell you that denying perfection in their notion of it you give incouragement to sin Min. If you examine the case truly you will find the quite contrary that the charge will fall upon themselves Pray who is your Friend he that saith you have no Enemy or he that informs you where he lurks when the Devil perswades man that he is clean and free a considerable part of his work is done there is small hopes of that mans conversion who thinks himself well enough already it 's one step to conversion to see our selves unconverted and one step to happiness to perceive that we are miserable nay even miserable sinners he is besotted with his condition that mistakes his Prison for a Palace I need not guard my House when I am sure that no Thieves can enter in it 's vain to offer him Physick who concludes himself well or to sue for redemption when free from thraldom Math. 9. 12. But if on the other hand I find my self weak then I lay hold on him that is strong from a sense of my infirmities I seek after help If I find many Enemies I prepare against them If I be throughly convinc't that I am beset round with temptations and such stratagems as are under the conduct of such a powerful and Politick Enemy as the Devil is without me and to compleat my misery that I have a false and treacherous heart within me being in those sad circumstances I see the necessity of a Saviour set my watch and fly from the confidence of flesh to the protection of an Almighty arm Par. I shall not yield the cause till you have more fully clear'd the point consult Eph. 5. 5. Rev. 21. 27 from whence we may learn that no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven which implies a necessity of an unsinning state even in this life that in order to our happiness in the next Min. I shall not need to spend much time in refutation of your mistakes in these Scriptures do but duly consult them and the best commentators on them and you will find they import no more than that no unregenerate and unsanctified person shall have any share in bliss and happiness Par. I will give you one Argument more for perfection as it is taught by the Quakers and then I have named all I have that are of any moment by denying perfection a fundamental in Divinity is overthrown viz. that the second Adam has gain'd what the first Adam lost Min. You cannot think that the first Adam had a state of such perfection as to make it impossible for him to sin for you know he did actually fall such a perfection he never lost nor did Christ gain such a state for us in this World We are indeed by Christ and the grace of God put into such a State as that we may perform that which is necessary to our Salvation under the Covenant of Grace even that which God will accept of through his mercy that is we may please God considering what he now expects and accepts through Christ as well as Adam could considering what God required then But if you will stretch this sentence to be meant of an equal perfection to Adam's in this life you discover gross Ignorance in the mis-timeing that fundamental of yours which you are not to apply to this present mortal state but to the life to come here we have but the earnest and first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 5. 23. 2 Cor. 1. 22. Eph. 1. 14 therefore it is that here we know but in part and Prophesy but in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. The state of Grace here is gradual We grow by little and little but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away ver 10. Then mind ver 12. For now that is in this life we see through a glass darkly but then that is in the life to come face to face Seeing God face to face cannot be here for we cannot see the face of God and live Exod. 33. 20. for here we walk by faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. and it 's only in the life to come that we must expect the fruition of the beatifical vision 1 Joh. 3. 2. But that I may bring this subject to a conclusion give me leave to add that to argue a state here free from sin is to argue against matter of fact and the clearest conviction and experience for we read of failings in the best of men and have not such their shares of troubles and vexations in this life They suffer hunger and cold needs and necessities the tormenting diseases and anguishes of the body and at last yield up the Ghost to Death it self Par. What do you infer from hence Min. That Christians are not reinstated in this life in the outward part or appendages of that perfection which Adam lost that is not in a painless secure immortal state All the miseries we suffer here are but the dire effects and consequents of sin will you say then that the cause is taken away and the effects remain This impleads the Divine justice that some should feel the punishment of sin whilst they are not concerned in the guilt of it And shall not the judg of all the earth do right Par. If to be acquainted with sorrow grief sickness diseases and death be nothing but the effects of sin how shall our Saviour who suffered them all be himself free from the imputation of it Min. Those sorrows were the effects of our sins which he in compassion to us took voluntarily upon himself it was our sins which he bare upon his own body And taking upon himself our sorrows and infirmities he thereby became a more merciful high Priest For death entred by sin so consequently no sin no death nor any of its sad attendants We free Christ from the commission
is necessarily implyed for how can he be said to be perfect who is subject to sin Min. Now I will shew you from this very instance which the Quakers use to prove perfection by according to their notion of it that it overthrows the tenent which they think to establish by it and that by comparing it with Gen. 9. 20 21. where we read that Noah was drunk uncovered in his Tent. It may be added that some of great note do expound perfect in his generation to be meant comparatively that is in respect of the men of that Age. A generation like that in which St. Salvian lived wherein it was accounted a great degree of holiness to be less vitious Your next instance is of Job of whom the Scripture saith that he was perfect and upright and that he feared God and eschewed evil Job 1. 1. Uprightness there explains perfection a perfect man he was that is upright sincere a fearer of God and lover of him Yet notwithstanding this character that was given he had his failings accordingly he makes consession Chap. 7. 20. I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men See also Chap. 4. 34. and 42. 6. And Job answered the Lord and said behold I am vile And for your last instance of David you cannot be ignorant though he was a man after Gods own heart that he fell into the hainous sins of Adultery and Murder and besides the 51 Psalm which he composed upon that sad occasion he penned other penitential Psalms and Prayers for the pardon of his sins which would be strange to ask if he were altogether free from them So that the Quakers might as well write against those Psalms as against the confession in our Service Book Par. If perfection signify not such a state as supposeth us absolutely free from all sin what then doth it signify Min. As perfection is attributed to the Saints in this life it generally signifies no more than sincerity and uprightness a serving God with a single heart without Hypocrisie and Guile and this you will find in such Bibles as have Marginal notes in them perfect in Gen. 6. 9. is noted upright and in Gen. 17 1. upright and sincere and by observation you may find the like in more places for the word in the Original might as well be translated upright as perfect See Davids last advice to his Son 1 Chror 28. 9. And thou Solomon my son know thou the God of thy Fathers and serve him with a perfect heart That sincerity is there meant by a perfect heart will appear in the following words for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts that is he sees into the bottom of our hearts whether they be sincere or no. Par. But what do you say to this text Phil. 3. 15. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded Min. Compare it with the 12th verse where it is said Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect Make a right inference from the Text compared and you will find the mistake Par. Do you suppose the Apostle contradicts himself Min. The Apostles words are justifiable from any contradiction allowing the right construction which ought to be put upon them by perfect in the Text objected he means no more than sincerity in his Christian course by perfect in the 12 verse a fulness of Grace together with the reward of it which is not to be had but in a state of Glory and Immortality Par. How doth that appear to be his sense Min. Very plainly from the 11 verse if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead then follows not as though I had attained either were already perfect intimating that he could not be fully perfect till he had attained the Refurrection of the dead where you may observe that the sense we give of perfection is agreable to St. Pauls sense of it but yours contradictory to it Par. If these Scriptures already named do not prove an unsinning perfection yet that of 1 Joh. 5. 18. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not will put this question out of all doubt Min. That the Quakers have a wrong notion of this Scripture I hope to make evident to the meanest capacity but before I proceed will you allow me this fundamental truth that the Holy Scriptures do no where contradict themselves Par. God forbid that such a thought should enter into me that the infallible Spirit by which the Scriptures were written can contradict himself Min. This being granted the Text under our debate cannot be interpreted to signify that any in this life hath gotten an absolute conquest over all sin and that for two reasons First because St. John here would contradict other plain Texts as 1 Kings 8. 46 for there is no man that sinneth not Prov. 20. 9 who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Rom. 3. 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God See Ezek. 18. 24. Eccl. 7. 20. 2 Chron. 6. 36. Job 9. 20. Jam 3. 2. Gal. 3. 22. Secondly because St. John would not only contradict others but himself also having plainly said 1 Joh. 1. 8. if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us to all which let me add that it would be otherwise strange that our Lord should teach his Disciples to pray as often for the forgiveness of their sins as for their daily bread whilst that we must suppose that when they so prayed they had no Trespasses to forgive which very instance being inconsistent is enough to answer the objection Par. What then do these words really mean Min. The meaning of the words is this 1. he sinneth not that sin unto death ver 16. by some expounded to be the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost Nor 2. doth he live in a wilful course and trade of sin 1 Joh. 3. 9. he makes not sin his business he works not in it as a man doth in his trade which is the true sense of the Greek word in the Text and that is the reason why wicked men are called in Scripture workers of iniquity because they do follow it as their business while sins of weakness and Infirmity which he daily strives and prays against are notwithstanding consistent with a regenerate Estate Par. But is there not one clause in the Text you mentioned which contradicts the sense you have given of it wherein we read that he that is born of God cannot sin whereof you have this reason given because he is born of God Min. The objection will soon be answered by considering what the Apostle means by the seed of God which is a new firm Principle of Grace and Holiness wrought in him by the Spirit of God by which he is kept from habits of wilful and deliberate sins
of sin not from the imputation of it and we confess sin was the occasion of our Saviours sufferings but it was our sin not his own He offered himself to suffer all the miseries of life and death which we had deserved and it was as just in God to inflict them on him as it is in a Creditor to make the Bonds-man who is able and willing to pay the debt of an indigent Bankrupt And thus Christs sufferings do still more strongly prove they are the just desert of sin since even a surety for sinners cannot escape them Par. The satisfaction which you have given me invites me to give you some further trouble in the resolution of my remaining doubts You cannot be ignorant how the Quakers fasten the charge of Pbarisaism upon the Clergy in having their Pulpits exalted and do they not herein manifest an horrible pride and come within the lash of that reproof of our Saviour Mark 12. 38 39. Beware of the Scribes which love to go in long cloathing and love Salutations in the Market-places and the chief Seats in the Synagogues Min. What our Lord condemned in the Scribes and Pharisees was their pride in chusing the high places in the Synagogues in a vain presumption that they exceeded all men in Learning and Holiness herein the Quakers discover not our pride but their own Ignorance for it is not for preeminence that we use our Pulpits but for convenience not that our persons but that our voices may be exalted and herein we aim not at glory to our selves but edification to our People and this is according to the example of Ezra Neh. 8. 4. who did erect a Pulpit of wood not in obedience to the Ceremonial Law because it was no where commanded by it but that he might stand above the People that he might be the better heard while he interpreted the Law to them But I beseech you let us not so far humour the Quakers as to take notice of all their idle impertinencies and cavils but if you have any thing of moment to object against us I am ready to give a reply to it and further to engage you to give credit and attention to what I say I profess to you that I have not spoke any thing hitherto but what I am perswaded in my Conscience is agreeable to sacred truth and I hope you will believe me without an Oath Par. An Oath would be so far from giving me any assurance of your sincerity that I should for that be the rather moved to question it for what more expresly forbidden than swearing what so contradictory to that sacred truth you profess to own I have not much convers'd with Books but I have heard that the primitive Christians whose Piety was approv'd as Gold in the Furnace of a dreadful persecution practis'd such an honest and ingenuous simplicity to that exactness and accuracy that they accounted it a disparagement to be put to an Oath But seeing you hold the lawfulness of it I hope you will prove it out of Scripture and if you can make it in any case a Duty and an act of Religion I shall then change my Opinion of this generation which I esteemed most impious and on the contrary think it very Religious through the multitude of Oaths that are so frequently in it Min. Pray tell me how the Quakers instruct you concerning an Oath Par. That I shall do presently out of a Book I lately met with intitl'd Antichristianism reproved written by Rich. Hubberthorn in answer to a Book of Mr. Tombs who it seems did vindicate the lawfulness of an Oath lawfully administred wherein Hubberthorn endeavours to make it out that all Oaths are utterly unlawful by Christ's command and therefore all such as do vindicate them are guilty of the charge of Antichristianism Min. Before I proceed in this Controversy you must tell me whether or no Oaths were ever lawful Par. Hubberthorn will answer you for his words imply that they were Therefore he tells Mr. Tombs that he failed in his instances of Abraham Isaac David and others swearing for they lived under the first Covenant Min. If Hubberthorn by the first Covenant means the Covenant of works he shews a great deal of Ignorance and folly in saying that Abraham and others after him lived under that Covenant And therefore before I proceed any further upon this discourse concerning Oaths I shall make a digression to unfold this necessary point of Religion about the nature of the two Covenants wherein as in many other things the Quakers are grosly Ignorant and Erroneous You must know then that there is a twofold Covenant which God out of his gracious condescension hath vouchsafed to enter into with man according to the different state and condition he found him in The first was made with Adam for himself and his posterity whilst he remained in the state of Innocency And this by Divines is called the Covenant of works because an exact obedience was required from him and a reward promised him upon that obedience Adam violating that Covenant and thereby falling from his Original happy state he and all mankind are made utterly uncapable of receiving any benefit thereby And now we are to consider man in another state viz. of sin and misery And Gods compassion was such that he was pleased to enter into a second Covenant with him according to the degenerate estate he was faln into and this is usually called a Covenant of Grace because a more superabundant measure of grace is seen and infinitely more favour shown in Gods entrance into Covenant with Man in his lapsed condition for his restitution and reconciliation than in his state of Integrity for his preservation This latter Covenant God made with Adam soon after his fall in these words The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. that is God shall send his Son Jesus who shall be born of the seed of the Woman and he shall destroy the power and dominion of the Divel And this afterwards he plainly repeated to Abraham Gen. 22. 17 18. And entails this promised seed to his Loyns But his Son Isaac that Type of this promised seed God commands him to offer up on Mount Moriab which command when he was about to execute a countermand stays his hand and a Ram is by Gods good Providence provided for a Sacrifice to intimate to us that the promised seed was not then to be offer'd up but should be suspended for a time and that in the mean time God would accept the Sacrifices of Rams Bulls Goats c. as Types and Figures that the promised seed should in due time offer up himself a full propitiatory Sacrifice Oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole World Now to say that Abraham Moses and David were under the first of these Covenants viz. the Covenant of works is notoriously false for that Covenant was but a small time in force and after Adam's fall