there is that corruption in which men lived before their converfion. In this regard St. John might fay to thofe he writes to, who were new converted Chriftians, that they were all finners, meaning, that they had all been fo; for indeed both Gentiles and Jews had been extreamly corrupt. Secondly, There are fins, into which thofe whofe regeneration is not yet perfect, may fall; as there are infirmities from which the most regenerate men, are not free. In this fenfe all men are finners, and the Chriftians to whom St. John directs his epiftle, were all finners alfo, tho' already converted. But the question is, Whether a true Chriftian fins like other men, and whether he who is a finner, taking that word according to the ordinary ufe of Scripture, that is to fay, one in whom fin reigns, is a true Chriftian? That can never be faid. To this purpofe we may hear St. John himself in the III chapter of the fame epiftle; where he exprefly tells us, That he who is born of God does not commit fin, that whoever finneth is of the Devil, and that by this we may know the children of God and the children of the Devil. Are not thefe words very plain? Who can have the confidence after this, to excufe corruption by faying, we are all finners? But yet it is not only faid that we are all finners by thefe men, but befides, that we are all great wretched and abominable finners. It is no wonder that men who have fuch fentiments, should be fo corrupt.

4. But to this, there is a reply at hand, to fhew that the juftest men are guilty of very frequent fins, and it is taken from these words, The just man fins feven times a day. I might let this alone, because I am engaged only to answer thofe places of Scripture which are wrefted into an ill fenfe about this matter. And this, that the juft man fins feven times a day, is no where to be found in the Bible. Thofe who quote these words as if they were Scripture; will pretend no doubt, that they are contained in Prov. xxiv. 16. But there is nothing like this in the facred text. Thefe are the words of Solomon, A juft man falleth seven times, and rifeth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Solomon fpeaks of the frequent afflictions of good men, and particularly of the ill ufage they meet with from wicked men. In the 15 verfe he addreffes himself to the wicked, and tells them, that it is in vain for them, to lay wait for, and to perfecute the juft, for, adds he, a juft man falleth feven times, and rifeth up again, but the wicked fhall fall into mischief and perish. The meaning is, that God takes care of the juft, and that if he permits that they should fall into many calamities, he does likewife deliver them. This is aflerted almoft in the fame words, Pfal. xxxvii. 24. Though the juft fall he shall not be utterly caft down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his band. To the fame purpose we are told, Job v. 19. He shall deliver thee in fix troubles, yea in feven there fhall no evil touch thee: this admits of no difficulty, and all interpreters are agreed about it. And yet for all that, as men are apt to entertain every thing which excufes corruption; this proverb, That the just man fins feven times a day, prevails and paffes for an article of faith. Is it not a lamentable thing, that men should be thus obftinately bent to wreft the Scripture, into a fenfe favourable to corruption, and that they fhould dare to falfify it at this rate?

There are many falfifyings in the way of citing this paffage. 1. Whereas Solomon fays only the juft, he is made to fay the jufteft man, to

!

give the greater force and extent to this fentence, to debase piety the more, and to infinuate, that the best and holieft men are great finners. 2. Solomon is made to fay, that the juft fins, but he does not fay that, he fays only that the just falls. I know that to fall, fignifies fometimes to fin, but falling denotes likewife very frequently, to be afflicted, and a man is blind who does not fee, that in this text, the word fall is ufed in this fecond fenfe. The 17 verfe which comes immediately after that which we are now examining, proves it beyond exception, Rejoyce not when thy enemy falleth, &c. Befides thofe who are acquainted with the facred ftyle, know, that it does not usually exprefs the fins of infirmity, to which the just are fubject, by the word fall, that word importing commonly, the fall of wicked men 3. Solomon is made to fay, That the jufteft man fins feven times a day. This is another falfifying, an addition to the text, which is of no fmall confequence. Seven times a day, is not in the text, there is only feven times. Every body knows that seven times fignifies, many And fo the meaning would be, that the juft do nothing else but tranfgrefs; that many times a day he falls into fin. But who does not fee, that this would be the defcription of a man in whom fin reigns, and who is habitually engaged in it, and not the character of a good man? I do not fay, but that juft men have their weak fides, and fall fometimes into fin; this happens more or less according to the degree of their regeneration; but it is impious to fay, that their life is fpent in continual fins, and that they offend God at every foot; and yet this is what men would establish from this maxim, That the jufteft man fins feven times a day. Those who have a mind to quote the Scripture, fhould neither add to, nor diminish from it; they fhould not alter the words, nor divide fentences from what goes before and what follows; for otherwife there is no abfurdity nor impiety, which may not be proved from the word of God.

5. But our adverfaries will fay, Whether that place is alledged right or wrong, it does not matter much, fince there are others which fay the fame thing in stronger expreffions. Does not St. Paul fay, Rom. vii. * I am carnal, fold under fin, for in me dwelleth no good thing: for that which I do, I allow not: and what I would, that do I not; but what I hate that do I. I fee a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of fin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who fhall deliver me from the body of this death! If St. Paul himself speaks after this manner, who can deny, that the greatest faints fall into very heinous fins, and have still a large stock of corruption in them? Thofe who draw this inference from the words of St. Paul, make him fpeak that which is quite contrary to his thoughts. He is fo far from faying any thing that favours the caufe of finners; that on the contrary his defign is to prove, the neceffity of a good life, and to make men fenfible of the efficacy of the Gofpel in reference to fanctification. He had this in his view, in the vii chapter to the Romans, where he represents the difference between a corrupt and a regenerated man, and between the condition of man under the law, and his ftate under the Gospel. So that all he fays of the carnal man fold under fin, &c. is to be understood of a corrupt man, living under the law.

* Rom. vii. 14, 15, &c.

I am

I am not ignorant that divines, otherwife able and pious men, have thought that St. Paul speaks of himself in this chapter, and that he reprefents there, what pafles within a regenerate man; but I know likewife that a great many orthodox divines have rejected that expofition, as contrary to the fcope of the apoftle, to the conftant doctrine of the New Teftament, and to the fpirit of the Chriftian religion. It is a fad thing that when a place is capable of two fenfes, men fhould pitch upon that, which comes nearer to the pretenfions of finners. I do not intend here to enter into a difpute, nor to offend thofe of a contrary opinion; I am perfuaded that they have no design to countenance corruption; but as in all things we ought to seek the truth, and as the truth here is of great. confequence for the promoting of piety, fo I entreat those who might have fcruples concerning those words, to make these following reflections.

1. Let them seriously and impartially confider, Whether it may be faid, that St. Paul was a carnal man fold under fin, a man who did no good but evil, and a man involved in death; these are the strongest expreffions which can be ufed, and which the Scripture ufes to give as the character of wicked and impious men? To believe this of St. Paul, is fo very hard, that a man must be able to digest any thing, who is not startled at it.

2. I defire them to attend to the drift of St. Paul; he had undertaken to fhew, that the doctrine of juftification by faith, did not introduce licentioufnefs; this he had proved in the whole vi chapter, as may appear by the reading it. Is it likely that in the vii chapter, he fhould overturn all that he had established in the preceding, and fay, that the holieft men are captivated to the law of fin? If this be St. Paul's doctrine, what becomes of the efficacy of faith to produce holiness, and how could be have anfwered that objection which he proposes to himself, chap. vi. 1. and 15. Shall we continue in fin, fhall we fin, we that are under grace? St. Paul ought to have granted this objection, if it be true, that the most regenerate, are fold to fin. But it is plain, that in the vii chapter he goes on to prove what he had laid down already, to wit, that the Gospel fanctifies men, and not only this, but that the Gospel alone can fanctify men, and that the law could not. This is the fcope of the whole chapter.

In the very first four verses, he fhews that Chriftians are no longer under the law, nor confequently under fin, and that they are dead to the law, that they may bring forth fruits unto God. He expreffes himself more clearly yet in the 5th verfe, where he fays, that there is a confiderable difference between those who are under the law, and those who are in Jesus Christ. He plainly distinguishes thefe two ftates, and the time paft from the prefent. When we were in the flesh, fays he, the motions of fin which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruits unto death, but now we are delivered from the law, that we thould ferve in newness of spirit. Thefe are the two ftates; the ftate paft was a state of corruption, the prefent ftate is a ftate of holiness. But as it might have been inferred from thence, that the law was the cause of fin, the apoftle refutes that imagination, from the 7th to the 14th verfe.

After this, he defcribes the miferable condition of a man who is not regenerated by grace, and who ftill is under the law. He begins to do

am

this from the 14th verfe, by faying, the law is fpiritual, but I am carnal, fold under fin, &c. And here no doubt it will be faid, that St. Paul speaks of himself, and not of those who are under the law; for fays he, I carnal, &c. But one may eafily fee that the Apoftle ufes here a way of fpeaking which is very ordinary in difcourfe, and by which he that speaks puts himself in the room of those he speaks of. And St. Paul had the more reafon to exprefs himself after this manner, because he had been himself under the law, before he was converted to Christianity. There are many inftances in Scripture of this way of speaking, and we find one in this very chapter which is beyond exception. St. Paul fays in the 9th verfe, I was alive without the law once, &c. If we do not admit here a figurative expreffion, or if these words are strictly taken; then we must fay, that there was a time when this apoftle was without law, which is both falfe and ridiculous. As therefore it is plain, that when he fays, verfe 9. I was without law, he speaks of the state of those men to whom the law was not given; fo it is unquestionable, that when he fays, I am, carnal, &c. he defcribes the ftate of a corrupt man living under the law, and not his own. This is the key which lets us into the meaning of his. difcourfe, in which the law is mentioned, almost in every verse.

3. Laftly, That which makes it as clear as the fun, that this is his true fenfe, is, that when the apostle confiders and speaks of himself as a Chriftian, he ufes quite another language. To be fatisfy'd of this we need but run over this chapter, and compare it with other places in his epiftles.. If he says here, verfe 7, 8. That concupifcence is felt and reigns within a man who is under the law; he declares, Gal. v. 24. That Chriftians have crucified the flesh with the lufts of it. If he fays, verfe 9, 10. That fin lives within him, and that he is dead; he had faid, chap. vi. 2, 11. That he was. dead unto fin, and living unto God through Jefus Christ. If he fays, verse 14. That he is carnal and fold under fin, it is apparent that he does not fpeak of himself, fince chap. viii. 1, and 8. he tells us, That those who are in Chrift Jefus are not in the flesh, and that those who are in the flesh cannot please God, and have not his Spirit. If he fays here, verfe 19. I know that in me dwelleth no good thing; he declares, Eph. iii. 17. That Chrift dwells in our hearts by faith. If he fays, verfe 19. The good that I would, I do not, and the evil which I hate that I do; he teftifies in many places, That the faithful do that which is good, and abstain from evil. If he complains, verse 21, 22, 23. of his being captivated to the law of fin; he teaches, chap. vi. 17, 22. That Chriftians are no longer the fervants of fin, that they are freed from it, and become the fervants of righteousness. If he crys out, ver. 24. O wretched man that l'am, who fhall deliver me from the body of this death! it is manifeft, that these are not the expreffions of a man regenerated by Jefus Chrift; for he adds immediately, I thank God through Jefus Christ our Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Chrift Fefus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the spirit of life which is in Chrift Jefus, has made me free from the law of fin and death, chap. viii. 12.

Now let any body judge, whether what is faid in this chapter, can be applied to St. Paul, confidered as a regenerated Chriftian? Can it be faid, that concupifcence reigns in him who has crucify'd it? That fin lives in him who is dead to fin? That he who is not in the flesh, is a

carnal

carnal man? That he who is freed from fin, is fold to fin? That no good thing dwells in those in whom Christ dwells? That a man is at the fame time miferable and happy, a flave, and yet delivered by Jefus Christ, dead and alive? To fay this, is it not to call good evil, and evil good; to put darkness for light, and light for darknefs? Is it not to admit downright contradictions in Scripture? But efpecially, is it not to open a door to licentioufnefs, and to give us a ftrange notion of a regenerate man?

By all that has been faid, I do not mean that there are no remnants of corruption, in thofe who are regenerated. Neither do I deny, but that in those whofe regeneration is but begun, there is fome fuch ftruggle as that which is defcribed in this chapter. This is Mufculus's notion, in his Commentary upon the Romans. But that this chapter fhould be the picture of a regenerate man, and of a true member of Christ, is a thing fo contrary to the Gospel, and to all the ideas of religion, that one can hardly imagine, how there could ever be men, who believed it.

III. But that which corrupt Chriftians endeavour to prove by those paffages I have mentioned, they think to put out of all queftion, by the examples of thofe faints whofe fins are recorded in holy Writ. To this purpose they alledge Noah, Lot, Abraham, Sampson, David, Solomon, St. Paul, St. Peter, &c. and from thefe inftances they conclude, that fince thofe great faints fell into fuch heavy fins; fin is no obstacle to falvation, and that it is not inconfiftent with piety.

If we did make a right ufe of the word of God, we would draw a quite contrary inference from thefe inftances; and confider that it is abfurd to plead precedents against an exprefs law. If we muft needs be governed by examples; we ought certainly to chufe the good, and not the bad ones; to imitate what is praife-worthy in the faints, and not what deferves blame; their faults being like fo many beacons, fet up to keep us from striking upon the fame rocks.

But to answer directly; I fay firft, that we are a little too apt to rank among faints, fome illuftrious perfons mentioned in the facred hiftory; who perhaps were nothing less than holy men, and who it may be did perith in their fins, 'tho' God thought fit to make use of them, to carry on the defigns of his Providence, and to deliver his people. It would be a rafh thing to pronounce upon any man's falvation, or to speak irreverently of those great men; but the inftance of Solomon, whofe falvation has been at all times queftioned by divines, fhould teach us, not to be fo hafty, in placing thofe among faints, of whom the Scripture fpeaks with fome honour, and in fheltering our felves under their examples.

As to those who by the teftimony of the Scripture it felf, did truly fear God; I might obferve that they fell but once into thofe fins related in the facred hiftory; which would by no means favour impenitent and habitual finners. But this anfwer does not fully fatisfie; for befides that it fuppofes a thing which in refpect of feveral perfons cannot certainly be known; there are fome fins which are fo black, fuch as adultery and apoftacy, that a man can hardly commit them more than once, except he is altogether fold to fin, and further, any one of thofe fins is incompatible with a state of regeneration.

* Page 118.

We