cannot sin because he is born of God FOR the right understanding of these Words it will be necessary to enquire first what is here meant by committing Sin secondly what is meant by being born of God thirdly in what sense he that is born of God cannot commit sin First what is here meant by committing sin I answer that this Phrase in the Writings of this our Apostle hath a special Energy and doth not denote the simple doing of any sinful Action tho' it be out of Ignorance Incogitance or Frailty nor doth it only denote an habitual Course and Custom of sinning wilfully but primarily the doing of any sinful Action whatsoever deliberately wilfully and presumptuously For as for the first it is not true that he that is born of God doth commit no sin at all seeing the best of God's Children are liable to be surpriz'd into evil Actions through their Weakness Ignorance or Inadvertency of all which there are some Remains even in the most purified Natures And as for the second viz. the habit of sinning wilfully tho' that in the Apostles Sense is not only to commit sin but to commit it in the most eminent Degree yet it is plain that it is the deliberate Acts of Sin that he here primarily intends for so Verse the 4th he that committeth sin transgresseth the Law for Sin is a Transgression of the Law which is plainly meant of every single Act of wilful Sin So ver 8. he that committeth sin is of the Devil that is he is therein an Imitator of the Devil which is true of every deliberate Act as well as of the Habit of Sin So here in the Text he that is born of God doth not commit sin that is understanding him still in the same Sense he doth not commit any wilful and deliberate Act of Sin 2. Our next Enquiry is what is here meant by being born of God To which I answer that to be born of another denotes in general our receiving the Beginning and Principle of our Life and Motion from him and consequently to be born of God is to receive from him through the Operation of his Grace and Spirit the Beginning and Principle of our spiritual Life and Motion viz. a considerate universal prevailing Resolution to obey God proceeding from our Belief of the Christian Religion When therefore God by the Influence of his Grace and Spirit hath wrought our Minds into such a Resolution then are we truly born of him as having herein received from him the Principle of a new Life and Motion And this the Apostle expresses by being transformed by the renewing of our mind Rom. 12. 2. i. e. having a new practical Judgment and Resolution of Soul begotten in us and this he elsewhere calls the renewing of the holy Ghost T it 3. 5. Upon which account we may very well be said to be born of God because it is from his blessed Spirit that we derive this Renewing which is the Principle of our spiritual Life and Motion Our last Enquiry is in what Sense this Assertion of the Apostle holds viz. That he who is thus born of God cannot sin To which I answer That this Expression he cannot relates to the state he is now in he cannot as he is one that is born of God and while he doth continue so for so the Phrase is frequently used in Scripture So Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind cannot be subject to God not but the Mind which is now carnal may hereafter be subject unto God viz. when it is renewed and changed but it cannot be so while it continues carnal And in the same Sense he tells us in the next Verse that it cannot please God So Matth. 7. 18. a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit neither can a corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruit which can import no more than this that whilst the good Tree continues good it cannot bring forth evil Fruits nor the corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruits whilst it continues corrupt not but that one may hereafter become evil and bring forth evil Fruits as well as the other may become a good Tree and bring forth good Fruits So that the meaning of he cannot sin is no more than this it is so utterly inconsistent with the State of one that is born of God to sin wilfully and deliberately that when ever he doth so he actually falls from that blessed State and for the time ceases to be born of God And hence the Reason assigned why a Man cannot sin wilfully and be born of God at the same Time is for his Seed remaineth in him that is because that Principle of new Life and Motion which the divine Spirit hath produced in him and which is nothing else but an universal prevailing Resolution of obeying God remains within his Breast and for a Man to be universally and prevalently resolved to obey God and at the same Time to sin wilfully is a Contradiction in Terms because whenever he sins wilfully he is prevalently resolved to disobey him And therefore seeing in every wilful Sin we are prevalently resolved to disobey God while we are so our Resolution to obey him which is the Seed and Principle of our divine Life must necessarily be extinguished and consequently till such time as by our Repentance we have revived and recovered it we must cease to be born of God He therefore who is born of God cannot sin wilfully because while he continues in this State his Seed remains in him which is no more reconcilable to our sinning wilfully than contraries are in the same Degree And therefore he adds he cannot sin because he is born of God that is his State is such as will no more admit him wilfully to disobey God than to be dead and alive in the same Moment But in pursuance of this Argument it will be necessary yet further to enquire what those wilful Sins are which the Apostle here declares to be inconsistent with a good State or which is the same thing with our being born of God the Resolution of which is of absolute necessity to enable Men to make a true Judgment of their own State whether it be good or bad And in order hereunto it will be necessary to premise the following Particulars 1. That by wilful Sin I mean the Acts as well as the Habits of Sin 2. That by wilful Habits of Sin I mean such as are contracted by wilful Acts and are wilfully retained and indulged 3. That by wilful Acts of Sin I do not mean all evil Actions which have any Degree of Will in them but only such as are deliberately chosen 4. That the same Actions may be Sins of Weakness and Sins of Wilfulness in the same or different Persons under different Circumstances 1. That by wilful Sins I mean the wilful Acts as well as Habits of Sin To be sure there is no Sin can be consistent with our being born of God for which the Gospel binds us over to
eternal Condemnation for while we thus stand bound we are Children of Wrath and so cannot be Children of God at the same time Now the Law of Christ condemns us for all wilful Sins whatsoever whether they be single Acts or Habits and every single wilful Act is as much a Transgression of the Law which threatens Condemnation as any wilful Habit whatsoever The Law which forbids wilful Lying under the Penalty of eternal Death doth as well forbid the single Act as the Habit of wilful Lying and therefore must forbid them both under the same Penalty and indeed if it did not there are some of the most heinous sins would escape For there are some Sins which when Men have once committed they never have Opportunity to repeat being prevented either for want of a new Occasion or by just Sentence of Law such as Rape and Theft and Murther and others which can never pass beyond a single Act such as Parricide and Self-murther and so can never grow into an Habit and yet I think there is no Man can doubt but that even the single Acts of these Sins supposing them wilful do put a Man into a state of Condemnation I know it is usually said that such horrible Sins as these indeed do so because the Mischief of them is so great and the Malice so heinous that it renders them equivalent to an Habit of any other Sin To which I answer the Law of Christ condemns these Sins not as they are greater than others but as they are Transgressions for which it threatens Condemnation Indeed the greatness of the Sin doth increase the Condemnation but yet the Law which condemns us for a lesser Sin doth as certainly condemn us as that which condemns us for a greater As for Instance the Law of Christ as well condemns us for Drunkenness Adultery Lying and Malice as for Murther And as every wilful Act of unjust Killing is Murther so every wilful Act of Adultery and Malice is Adultery and Malice and therefore the Law of Christ condemns to far greater Pains for the one than for the others yet still it condemns us for both for that Law which forbids any wilful Sin indifferently under the Penalty of Condemnation forbids every Act of it under the same Penalty because every Act of it is the Sin so forbidden and therefore we may as well say that the Law of Christ doth not condemn us for Parricide and Self-murther because these are only single Acts of Murther as that it doth not condemn us for any other single Act of any other wilful Sin For every single Act of wilful Intemperance and Incontinency are as truly Sins against the Law which forbids them under the Penalty of eternal Condemnation as those single Acts of Murther are against the Law which forbids Murther under the same Penalty and consequently do as well put us into a State of Condemnation and to be sure while we are in this state we cannot pretend to be born of God 2. I premise that by wilful Habits of sin are meant such as are contracted by wilful Acts and are wilfully retained and indulged For if you take Habits of Sin in the largest Sense as they signifie a forward Propensity Promptness and Readiness to do Evil there is no doubt but there may be sinful Habits in Men which never were contracted by wilful Acts as on the contrary there may be sinful Habits contracted by wilful Acts which tho' not utterly extirpated may yet cease to be wilful As for instance a Man may be prompted to unreasonable Anger or excessive Lust even from the natural Temper and Constitution of his Body without the Concurrence of any wilful Acts of his own and tho' he may be much more disposed to be angry or lustful than another of a cooler Constitution yet he may be much farther removed from any wilful Habit of Anger and Lust because the latter perhaps contracted them by his own wilful Acts and by his repeated Practice of them doth still cherish and indulge them whereas the former had no more hand in contracting them than he had in the moulding of of his own Constitution and is so far from cherishing them by any wilful Acts of his own that it is the main endeavour of his Life to oppose and vanquish them And so on the other hand a Man that by frequent wilful Acts of Sin hath contracted wilful Habits may afterwards heartily repent and take up a prevailing Resolution of Amendment and yet still the evil Habit the Promptness or Propensity to his Sin may be more or less remaining in him but this is now so far from being wilful that the prevailing Bent and Current of his Will is against it and tho' still his evil Inclinations are ready to take fire upon every Spark of Temptation that falls upon them and to blaze out into evil Actions yet by the Strength of his Resolution he so keeps it under that it cannot break forth but upon a surprize and even that Surprize will render him more watchful and vigilant to suppress it for the future But now when evil Habits do not only exist in us but are also cherished and indulged by us and do ordinarily influence and govern our Practice they are then not only wilful Sins but a fixt and settled State of wilful Sin and are pregnant with a distinct Guilt and Venom from those Acts of wilful Sin that begot them And hence in Scripture you find them markt with the blackest Characters they are called the Root of bitterness the evil Heart the Concupiscence wrought by Sin the Law in the Members which those who are carnal and sold under Sin do obey the carnal Mind the Flesh in which dwells no good and enmity to God by all which they are sufficiently pronounced inconsistent with our being born of God 3. I must premise that by wilful Acts of Sin I do not mean all wilful Actions which have any Degree of Will in them but only such as are deliberately chosen and consented to Every sin is so far voluntary as that when we choose it we are free to refuse it otherwise it is necessary and what is necessary is no Fault nor can be justly liable to Reward or Punishment Those evil Actions therefore which for Distinction sake are called sins of Infirmity are no farther Sins than as they are chosen and have some Intermixture of Will in them for if they have none they have only the Matter of Sin in them but not the Form But we are seldom so surprized with any Temptation to Evil but that it is possible for us to deliberate upon it and thereupon to resolve against it and many Times by our Care and Watchfulness we do prevent those Evils which when we are more remiss do steal upon us unawares and we that can prevent them this Moment can prevent them the next too and so the next and so for ever But then considering the Weakness and Imperfection of our Natures how
us as we would escape that dismal Ruine which for several years hath hung over our Heads and hath been pouring it self upon the Heads of several neighbouring Countreys and Nations betake our selves to a deep Humiliation for and hearty Repentance of our Sins which threaten us more than all the Powers of our most powerful Enemies We are now ingaged in a War against a great Prince who hath not only by a most salvage and barbarous Persecution of his own Subjects proclaimed himself a mortal Enemy to our Religion but also by his perfidious Violations of the Laws of Nations his Infractions of the most sacred Ties and Obligations and his unparallel'd Cruelties towards all that have fall'n within the Reach of his Power hath rendred himself the common Enemy of Mankind and seems to have been raised up on purpose by God to be the Plague and Scourge of a wicked World his Power having for several years hung over all Christendom like a dismal Cloud charged with Thunder and Lightning and having discharged it self upon several Countries and Nations in such prodigrous Showers of Blood and Tempests of Ruine and Devastation as scarce any History can paralel against this mischievous Power that glories in nothing but Outrage and triumphs upon the Ruines of Mankind we are now engaged in conjunction with almost all the Christian World in a common Defence there being no remedy left us but either to repel and vanquish it or to lie at its feet and tamely submit our selves to be trampled into Destruction by it nor is there any Nation under the Cope of Heaven that hath greater advantages of curbing it in its Career than our own if our own Sins and intestine Divisions do not spoil all Wherefore as we hope to succeed in this our necessary Defence of our Religion and our native Country let us every one in our places indeavour by laying aside all our Malice and Revenge our Pride and Faction to cement those unhappy Breaches that are among our selves and all betake our selves to a serious and hearty Repentance for our own Sins that thereby we may reconcile our selves to God and engage his Almighty Power to fight for us And thus I have done with the first Proposition contain'd in these Words Repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions so Iniquity shall not be your ruine That the Iniquity of any People or Nation tends directly to their Ruine And shall now proceed to the second viz. That true Repentance and Amendment is the most effectual way to prevent that Ruine which our Iniquities do so naturally bring upon us This it is upon a twofold Influence it hath 1. Upon God 2. Upon our Selves 1. It hath a powerful Influence upon God who is the Soveraign Arbitrator of the Fate of Nations and doth dispose of their Ruine and Happiness as he pleases For he being the soveraign Lord of the World and supream Moderator of all Issues and Events there is no particular Kingdom or Nation that is exempt from his Iurisdiction and Disposal and 't is in his Power alone to determine of every one of them whether they shall be happy or miserable It is the Lord that killeth and that maketh alive that bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up the Lord that maketh poor and maketh rich that bringeth low and lifteth up 1 Sam. ii 6 7. And as he thus disposes of the Fate of particular Persons so he doth much more of the Fate of particular Nations for 't is he that encreaseth the Nations and destroyeth them he that enlargeth the Nations and streightneth them Iob xii 23. And Dan. iv 17. it is said that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will And in 2 Kings xix 15. Hezekiah thus addresses to him Thou art the God even thou alone of all the Kingdoms of the earth And if the Government and Disposal of Nations be in Gods hand as you see it is then whatsoever hath an Influence upon God to oblige and indear him to a Nation must needs effectually conduce to its Recovery and Welfare because it makes Him its Friend who alone can make it happy and miserable and that which indears God to us who alone hath Power to rescue and recover us must needs effectually conduce to our Recovery Now that Repentance hath such an Influence upon God will evidently appear whether we consider it 1. As an Act of natural Iustice and Rectitude or 2. As the primary End and Design of Punishment or 3. As the best Reparation we can make him for our Rebellions against him or 4. As the Condition upon which he hath voluntarily obliged himself to be reconciled unto us 1. Consider it as an Act of natural Iustice and Rectitude and as such it must needs have a powerful Influence upon God for Iustice or Rectitude of Choice and Action are everlastingly founded in the Nature of God to whom it is as natural to govern himself and all his Actions by the best and purest Reason as it is to exist or live So that whatsoever hath natural Rectitude in it and is squared and regulated by right Reason must needs be harmonious to the Nature of God and consequently doth as naturally please and gratify Him as a musical Note doth a musical Ear for every Nature hath a delightful Gust and Relish of that which is agreeable to it self and therefore since it is natural to God himself to act according to the eternal Reasons of things to see others act so too must needs be grateful to his Nature but to repent is the most reasonable Action that sinful Creatures can perform For if it be best and most reasonable not to do amiss at all then doubtless when we have done amiss the next most reasonable is to resolve to do so no more there being the same Reason why he that hath sinned should sin no more as why he that hath not should not sin at all And therefore I cannot but wonder at the wild Assertion of some of our Philosophical Sinners that to repent is an Argument of Meanness of Spirit and discovers in us a weak and irresolute Mind as if because I have plaid the Fool I must resolve to be a Fool for ever for fear of being accounted weak and irresolute as if to change a mean and base Resolution were a piece of Meanness and Baseness Indeed to enter into base Resolutions argues a base or inconsiderate Spirit but to revoke them is so far from being base or mean that it is highly rational and generous there being the same Reason for the revoking a bad Resolution as there is against the making it and next to not yielding to an unreasonable Motion the highest Bravery in a reasonable Nature is not to persist in it For if we are reasonable Beings our Strength and Bravery must consist in being constant to our Reason but to be constant against it is to be constant Fools or constant Knaves or