hath been granted all along in the traverse of the Scripture in hand, how is it possible that such a man should fall away, especially totally and finally, from his faith? It is no ways reasonable to suppose, that it is possible for a man so to fall away from his faith without sinning, no, nor yet without sinning very grievously; nor is it much more reasonable, if not as unreasonable altogether, to suppose that a man may sin, and that grievously, who hath the greatest and strongest antipathy against sin, the deepest alienation and abhorrency of mind and will from sin, that lightly can be conceived; therefore, how is it possible for him that cannot sin, even in this sense, to fall away totally or finally? I answer,

He that hath the greatest and strongest antipathy against sin that flesh and blood is capable of, yet retains that essential character or property of a creature, mutability, which supposeth a possibility, at least, of sinning; if not in sensu composito, i. e. whilst such an antipathy remains in its full vigour and strength, yet in sensu diviso, i. e. in case or when this antipathy shall abate and decline. As, though water made hot to the highest degree of heat whereof the nature of it is capable, cannot possibly cool any thing whilst it remains under such a degree of heat, yet this hinders not but that it may in time, its present heat notwithstanding, return to its natural coldness, and then cool other things: in like manner, a man may, by the spirit of grace and regeneration, be carried up to a very effectual and potent antipathy of mind and will against sin, by means whereof he is in no capacity or possibility of sinning, in the sense formerly declared, whilst it continues thus effectual and potent; but the present effectualness or potency of it, in a subject that is mutable, and successively capable of both contraries, is no sufficient argument to prove that therefore it must needs always continue effectual or potent in the same degree: and if it may abate or fall one degree, why not another? and if two, why not all, considering that all and every degree hereof is but of one and the same nature?

If it be here said, Yea, but such a strong antipathy against sin as you suppose and grant in regenerate men, is inconsistent with any such abatement or declining, and cannot reasonably be looked upon as capable of any falling, sinking, or losing so much as one degree of its strength, inasmuch as such a falling or losing as this cannot be without sin; and till there be such a declining as this in that holy principle we speak of, the person is supposed to be full of the hatred and abomination of sin. Therefore, unless he shall be supposed capable of sinning even in sensu composito, i. e. whilst he is yet under the greatest and most perfect hatred and abhorrency of sin, (which seems to be dura suppositio, and to need good proof) he must be supposed incapable of any declining at all in such his principle, and consequently much more incapable of falling away, either totally or finally. To this I answer,

1. That according to the known sense and principles of our adversaries themselves in the cause depending, faith in men regene

rate, or the grace of regeneration itself, to what degree or perfection soever raised or advanced in the subject, may, notwithstanding, very possibly decay or decline, though not totally, or in all the parts or degrees of it, yet in some, yea, in many; yea, so far, that in appearance it may seem utterly and totally lost. If so, then every particular grace in such a person may possibly abate in the strength, and fall from the height of it; and consequently, that antipathy or hatred against sin, which is in him, how perfect soever it be, may lose ground also, and abate of its perfection. Therefore,

2. When we suppose or grant a strong antipathy against sin in those that are born of God, we do not suppose withal, either this antipathy to be unimpairable, or any such principle, which cannot decline in the strength and power of it; or that it can be impaired or decline without sin in him who suffers an impairment of it to be made in him. When we suppose the greatest antipathy against sin in a man that flesh and blood is lightly capable of, we do not hereby suppose him without the reach of temptation, or a man not subject to incogitancies, forgetfulness, and other human frailties. We may very well, and ought to, suppose Solomon to have been the wisest of men, and yet suppose him withal, even in the height and excellency of his wisdom, to have been a man capable, or under a possibility, of doing weakly or foolishly. Nemo omnibus horis sapit. There is no acquired habit or created principle whatsoever seated in the heart or soul of a man, that doth at any time act him or cause him to act congruously to it without the actual intention of the mind upon, and the like concurrence of the will with, the action. Again, 2. Most certain it is, that the mind of a man, being a finite faculty, cannot intend plurality of objects, actions, or occasions at once, or at one and the same time. 3. As certain it is as either of the former, that neither the mind nor will of a man are compelled or necessitated by any habit, inclination, or disposition whatsoever, always, or indeed at any time, to intend them or their motions and actings, or to concur with them herein; but are in some degree, at least, of liberty and power to turn aside from them to several other objects and occasions as they please. It is true, habits and inclinations, especially when they are much grown and rooted in the soul by frequent and long-continued actions, have a great power over men to entice and draw them into a frequent repetition of the same kind of action by which they were first introduced, and whereunto they have so long prevailed with such men to accustom themselves; and in respect of this power it is that the Scripture so frequently ascribes a kind of moral impotency unto men to act contrary to the tenor of such actions whereunto they have much accustomed themselves, yea, or to suspend or forbear them upon opportunities; and, upon the same account, represents persons as servants, as in subjection and bondage to those respective kinds of actions or courses whereunto they have voluntarily inured themselves for any considerable time.

Of this notion are such passages and sayings as these: " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that whosoever committeth sin," i. e., frequently and customarily, as we formerly interpreted the import of the phrase in the writings of the apostle John, chap. ix., "is the servant of sin," John viii. 34. So again, "Know ye not that to whomsoever ye give yourselves as servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey, whether it be," &c., Rom. vi. 16. So also, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil," Jer. xiii. 23. Of like consideration is that also of our Saviour, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit: neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit," Matt. vii. 18; to omit many others. But, 4, and lastly, When the Scripture supposeth or asserts a moral impotency in men, as in the passages now cited, with their fellows, either wholly to cease from their long-accustomed actions, or to act contrary to them, it neither supposeth nor asserts a natural, simple, or absolute impotency in respect of either: for it is the nature, property, and condition of all habits or created principles in men whatsoever, by discontinuance or long suspension of their appropriate actions, to languish and abate of their wonted strength and vigour, and in time wholly to expire. So then, it remaining still in the power of the mind and will of a man, even under the greatest captivity or subjection unto any habit, disposition, or principle whatsoever, whether sinful or holy, to suspend and discontinue, as hath been proved, their proper actings respectively by denying or withholding their concurrence with them in order towards such actions, evident it is that they have power, and may shake and weaken every such habit, disposition, or principle in themselves to what degree they desire, yea, and in time wholly enervate, dissipate, and expel them: therefore it is no dura suppositio, no hard supposition, to suppose that a person invested with the strongest antipathy against sin whereof he is capable, especially in the state and condition of morality, may, notwithstanding, even in sensu composito, i. e. this antipathy standing, either do that which is sinful, but especially omit or neglect the doing of that which is his duty, yea, and of great concernment likewise unto him to do.

Thus we have at last fully and clearly, we suppose, acquitted that Scripture, 1 John iii. 9, more vehemently suspected and charged than all his fellows with confederacy against that doctrine which affirms a possibility of a total and final defection in the saints.

Another Scripture hath the same imputation cast upon it for speaking only thus: "My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to take them out of my Father's hand," John x. 29. From hence it is argued and conceived, that God engageth himself with his omnipotency to preserve the saints, or sheep of Christ, from either total or final apostasy, and consequently that it is impossible but that they should be preserved.

But to this place of Scripture a sufficient answer hath been given already in this chapter; where we showed, that the engagement of the mighty power of God for the protection and safeguarding of the saints, as such, or remaining such, against all adverse power whatsoever, is frequently asserted in Scripture, but no where for the compelling or necessitating of them to persevere or continue such. Nor is there the least intimation of any such thing in the text before us. And yet here I shall further add in reference unto it, That by the tenor and carriage of the context it appears, 1, That that security for which our Saviour engageth the greatness of his Father's power unto his sheep, is promised or ascertained unto them, not in order to the effecting or procuring their final perseverance, but rather by way of reward to it. 2. That this promise of eternal safety made by Christ unto his sheep, doth not relate to their estate or condition in this present world, but to that of the world to come. "My sheep," saith he, ver. 27, "hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." In which expressions of "hearing his voice," and "following him," he intimates or includes their perseverance, as appears by the words immediately following, ver. 28, " And I give unto them eternal life." This gift of his presupposeth the final perseverance of those to whom it is given. It follows," and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." In these words he seems further to explain how and in what sense he calls that "life eternal" which he promiseth to confer upon them, as, viz. that by the eternalness of it, he doth not only mean such a constitution or condition of it which secureth it from perishing or dissolving, in respect or by means of any intrinsical cause, upon which account the lives they live in the flesh are perishable, but which secureth it likewise against all external means or power that may seem to threaten or endanger it. And for a further confirmation that the life which he promiseth unto his sheep, hearing his voice and following him, (viz. as was said, perseveringly,) is eternal, in the best, largest, most comprehensive, most desirable sense of the word, he subjoins the words in hand, ver. 29, "My Father which gave them me is greater," viz. in power, "than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand;" as if he should have said, God himself, by whose grace they became my sheep and followed me, and whose power is abundantly sufficient for the work, will maintain and make good unto them to the uttermost that life which I shall give unto them, against all dangers, all enemies, all adversary powers whatsoever. This being the natural and clear disposition of the context, it is a plain case that here is not the least air or breathing of any engagement of the great power of God to bring about the perseverance of the saints upon those terms of infallibility or necessity which are so much contended for.

Another Scripture much entreated in the behalf of the doctrine

* Intellige autem loqui Christum de ovibus, qua tales sunt ac manent.-Hug. Grot, in locum.

of perseverance, is that of the evangelist John, concerning our Saviour: "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end," John xiii. 1. Out of this light some draw this darkness: Therefore, whom Christ once loves, he loves always, or unto the end. Which inference, they suppose, is further strengthened by that of the prophet: "For I am the Lord; I change not," Mal. iii. 6. I answer,

1. From the passage in John there can nothing more be concluded, in reference to the question in hand, than, by way of immediate deduction, the greatness and constancy of Christ's love towards such of his disciples who continued in their obedience and faithfulness unto him; for the evangelist, I suppose, did not intend Judas amongst those whom Christ loved unto the end; and, 2, by way of proportion, or rational consequence from this deduction, that the love of Christ is great and constant towards all those who persevere in love and faithfulness unto him. This is the constant doctrine of the Scriptures, but no ways concerns the present dispute. Yet for the passage itself, if it hath any aspect at all upon it, it is rather by way of favour and countenance to that side against which, than to that for which, it is commonly alleged. For if the love of Christ towards his disciples unto the end, necessarily supposeth or requireth the concurrent continuance of the same affection in them towards him, it plainly follows, that if men shall draw back from him, his soul will have no further pleasure or delight in them. And this indeed was the express doctrine of that man of God, who was sent to meet king Asa, and the people with him, upon the late presence of God with them against their enemies: "O Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, hear ye me: the Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you." 2 Chron. xv. 2. Which clearly supposeth, 1, a possibility of their forsaking God, who for a time are truly and really with him; 2, a certainty of God's forsaking those who forsake him.

2. It is not here said, that Christ, "having loved his own, loved them unto the end" of their lives, or days, but "to the end," viz. of his life and abode in the world; the emphatical and clear meaning of the place being thus, that to declare the exceeding greatness and marvellous constancy of his affection towards his disciples, and that whilst they were yet in the world, (and so subject to many weaknesses and infirmities, which might seem to render them less lovely unto him than those that were "made perfect," Heb. xii. 23, as the apostle speaks, through death,) he did not cease to manifest his care and love towards them, no not at such a time or season wherein the most affectionate and tender parents are wont to forget and lay aside the care and thoughts of their dearest children, as, viz. when he knew and was very sensible of a most hideous and grievous storm and tempest of death hanging over his head, and even now ready to fall upon him. At such a time as this he expressed his love to them, and care over them, as appeareth partly by that con