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For that which is here asserted and held forth by the Holy Ghost, is only this, that the natural genius or property of a true-born child of God, as such, and whilst such, is to refrain from ways or customary practices of sin, and to set a guard (as it were) of holy and potent considerations, and resolutions, about his heart, that the devil may have no entrance or access thither, by the mediation of any temptation whatsoever. Not that such vigilance and care as this are always performed and taken by him, (the contrary hereunto is too much experimented,) but that there is a certain propenseness in that divine nature, wherein he partakes by being born of God, that inclines him hereunto. Men are often in Scripture dialect said to do that, not which they always do, but which they are apt and likely to do, and which very frequently, or customarily they do, (indeed,) and sometimes that which is their duty to do. In this dialect our Saviour speaketh, when he saith, If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not," (i. e. he is not apt to stumble, or, he doth not ordinarily stumble,) "because he seeth the light of the sun. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth," (i. e., he is apt to stumble, or he often stumbleth) because there is no light in him, "John xi. 9, 10. So likewise the apostle Paul: "He that is unmarried, careth for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;" (i. e. frequently he doth so, or he hath an opportunity, which the married hath not, to do it: for otherwise we know, that many unmarried persons are far from caring for the things of the Lord;)" but he that is married, careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife," 1 Cor. vii. 32, 33. His meaning is not, that the married, always, and without exception of any one in that condition, thus miscarrieth; there are some married persons, that tread lighter on the earth, I mean, that are less addicted to the world, than many that are unmarried. But only that persons so engaged and related, have a temptation upon them, more than the unmarried, and so are apt to turn aside on that hand, yea, and frequently do so. That which followeth is of the same character. "There is a difference also between a wife, and a virgin: the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit: but she that is married, careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband." The book of the Proverbs aboundeth with such veins of expression as these, viz., where men of such or such a qualification, or relation, are simply said to do so or so, according to the nature and genius of either, not because they do always and universally so, but because they are disposed, apt, and likely, by reason of such a qualification, or relation, to do it, and accordingly, often do it. Thus it is said, "a man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety for his neighbour," Prov. xvii. 18, i. e. He is apt to do it: men weak in

In Scripturâ, sæpe ea facta, vel futura dicuntur, quæ fieri decet, aut debent, sive quæ ut fiant, honestas et rerum natura postulat, vel quibus ut fiant, justa gravisque causa datur.— Cornel. Lap. in Zech, xiii. 12.

understanding and less considerate, often bring themselves into this snare; not that they always do it, or that every man thus weak doth it. So again: "The poor useth entreaties," i. e. Poverty ministereth occasion unto men thus to do, and poor men ordinarily do it: yet some poor there are, who are so far from using entreaties, that they are more surly and rough in their answers, than many that are rich; though it follows, "but the rich answereth roughly," Prov. xviii. 23. Meaning only, that they are apt to do it, and do it frequently. Other instances of like interpretation, are obvious in this book. See cap. xviii. 11; xv. 18; xvi. 17, 28, &c. Therefore when John saith, "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not:" and, that "he that is begotten of God keepeth himself," &c. nothing can be concluded from such sayings, but only that men regenerate have a principle within them, disposing and inclining them unto ways of righteousness, and to vigilancy over themselves; or that regenerate men do frequently abstain from the customary ways of sinning in the world, and watch over themselves not, that every regenerate man, without exception, doth these things.

2. Some understand the words, "whosoever is born of God, sinneth not, but keepeth himself," &c., in a declarative sense, thus: Whosoever desireth to approve himself, whether to himself, or others upon any sufficient ground, for a man regenerate, or born of God, he must abstain from ways of sin, and watch narrowly and carefully over himself, that the devil may not do him the least hurt: (as our English annotators interpret the phrase, "toucheth him not":) This interpretation reduceth the place to a like sense and notion with that in the same epistle, (formerly opened,) "little children, let no man deceive you: He that doth righteousness, is righteous," 1 John iii. 7; meaning, that no man hath any sufficient ground, either to judge himself a righteous person, or to expect to be so judged by others unless he doth righteousness, i. e. lives holily, and in a conscientious observance of the commandments of God, See Chap. ix. page 232. There are many assertions and sayings in Scripture of like consideration with this. Now this interpretation doth not find in the words any impossibility for the regenerate man to sin, or any absolute necessity that he must so keep himself, that the evil one shall not touch him; but only a necessity for him to refrain the one, and to practise the other, if he desires upon good and sufficient grounds, either the comfort within, or the honour without, of being born of God.

As for that argument, which some build upon the metaphor or similitude of the natural birth or generation, viz., that as men are capable only of being once born, and cannot lose the substance of that nature wherein they were born, or change their species afterwards; so neither are men capable of being born of God more than once, or of losing the substance or nature of this birth, being once made partakers of it; this argument, I say, is built upon one of the lame feet of the similitude, upon which it neither runs nor

stands. For it cannot be proved from the Scriptures, that the similitude of the natural generation or birth, is borrowed or used by the Holy Ghost, to signify, teach, or import any such thing, as this; but only to show, either, 1. That men have no being, no complete, perfect, or desirable being, till they be spiritually born of God, in which respect they are said to be nothing, who are not regenerate, or born of him, Gal. vi. 3: or else, 2. To show, that as no man comes to partake of the nature, or natural properties or endowments of men, but by a suitable generation, i. e. by a generation or propagation from man, so neither do or can men partake of the Divine nature, or true holiness, but by a proportionable descent from God: or, 3. To show, that as men, in, and by means of their natural generation and birth, come to partake of the same properties, principles, and propensions, which are natural to their parents who beget them, and act according to the genius of such properties, principles, and propensions; so do they, who are spiritually propagated by God, in, and by means of this propagation, receive such principles and impressions, which are in God himself, and withal act and move in the world, according to the heavenly genius, ducture, bent, and tendency of these: or else, perhaps, 4, and lastly, To show, that as the effect of natural generation, i. e. the conception of the person generated in the womb, is secret and unseen, and for the manner of it, in a great measure unknown unto men, as thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child," Eccl. xi. 5; so is the manner of God's dealing with the heart, soul, and conscience of a man, in and about the act of regeneration, of a very abstruse consideration, and remote from the apprehensions and understandings of men, according to that of our Saviour, "The wind bloweth where it listeth; and thou hearest the sound thereof: but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit," John iii. 8. That these particulars are, or may be, imported in the metaphor or resemblance of the natural generation, may be proved from the Scriptures. But that the impossibility for a man to pass from that species, wherein he was born, into another, which attendeth the birth natural, was intended to signify a correspondent impossibility in the birth spiritual, can no more be proved, than that this generation or birth consists in a change of essentials, and not of qualities only, or that it is a generation of a corporeal substance, because both these are found in the natural generation. And who knows not, that by straining and stretching similitudes beyond their staple, I mean, beyond what is intended to be signified by them, an endless generation of absurd, incoherent, and monstrous conceits may be produced? But,

2. The Scriptures do not only nowhere countenance any such deduction from the said simile, but plainly enough assert the contrary, viz., that men may pass from one spiritual species into another, and repass into the former again. "My little children," saith Paul to the Galatians, "of whom I travail in birth again until

Christ be formed in you," Gal. iv. 19. And again, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you, that you should not obey the truth?" Gal. v. 7. Yet again, "Christ is become of none effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law: ye are fallen from grace," Gal. v. 4. So when the apostle affirms it to "be impossible to renew those by repentance, who have once been enlightened," &c., in case "they fall away," Heb. vi. 4, 6, he clearly supposeth, 1. That some men may fall away, who may be renewed by repentance, i. e. restored to their former species in faith and holiness, from which they had been transformed by sin. 2. That others may fall away, and be trans-speciated upon such terms, that they are incapable of such restoration. But of these passages more hereafter.

Nor doth that of Paul to the Corinthians, "Though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel," 1 Cor. iv. 15, import the contrary. For, 1. He doth not say, that it was not possible for them to have many fathers, but only that de præsenti, they had not many. This implies, that Paul was the instrument of God, for and in their conversion to the faith at the beginning; and withal, that they at present persisted in that faith, or species of believers, whereunto, or wherein, he had begotten them. But it no ways supposeth, or implies, either that they were unchangeable in that Divine nature, wherein he had begotten them; or incapable of being begotten the second time, in case they had been actually changed. 2. Our English divines, in their annotations upon the place, by "fathers," understand such as were tender over them, and free in their teachings; as by instructors, raidaywyous, schoolmasters, who are imperious in their teachings, and teach for hire. 3, and lastly, In saying that they had not many fathers, he doth not necessarily imply, that they had no more but one father; but, possibly, that they had but very few. For many is not always, nay, seldom, opposed to one; but sometimes, and more frequently, unto few.

The next Scripture attempted in favour of the said argument, is that wherein the saints are exhorted to "contend earnestly for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints," Jude 3. But neither doth this place, so much as in face, look like pillar or prop of the doctrine we oppose. For,

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1. By faith, is not here meant the grace of faith, or justifying faith, but, (by a metonymy, either of the efficient for the effect, or of the object for the faculty,) as in twenty places besides, the doctrine, or word of faith. Faith," say our English annotators upon the place, "is not here taken for faithfulness, nor for credulity, nor for confidence, nor for faith of miracles, but for the doctrine of the Gospel, which is to be believed. So hope is taken for the thing hoped for," Rom. viii. 24; Col. i. 5. This exposition of the word faith, is confirmed by the apostle himself, affirming it to have been ἅπαξ παραδοθεῖσαν, once delivered," not once given, "to the saints; or rather to holy men. It is very improper to say of the grace or

habit of faith, that this was delivered, but most proper of the doctrine of faith. This doctrine is said to have been once delivered to holy men, to imply either that it hath been delivered by God so, that he intends never to make any change or alteration of it, or addition to it, which implies the perfection of it, or else that he intends to reveal or deliver it no more, in case the saints who are, and ought to be the guardians and keepers of it, should suffer it to be cashiered, or wholly extinguished in the world. See the aforesaid annotations upon this clause. In saying that it was delivered to holy men, or saints, he intends to lay so much the greater and more effectual obligation upon this generation, to contend earnestly for it, i. e. for the maintenance and preservation of it, in its purity of being.

2. If the place should be understood of the grace of justifying faith, nothing could be inferenced from it, but only that they, who are once possessed of such a faith, shall keep and make good this their possession, if they quit themselves like men, and shall strive in good earnest to effect it. This is nothing but what is fully consonant with the doctrine asserted by us.

Neither hath the last Scripture mentioned any right hand of fellowship to give unto the doctrine now gainsaid. For the Holy Ghost pronouncing, "Blessed and holy is he, that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power," Rev. xx. 6, doth not, by the first resurrection necessarily mean regeneration, or renovation by faith: or if this should be granted, doth he necessarily suppose that the second death shall have no power on those who have part in regeneration, unless they keep possession of what they have at present unto the end. Some learned and grave authors by the first resurrection, in this passage, understand not a spiritual or metaphorical, but a literal and proper resurrection, which shall take place and be effected by God, in the beginning, and, as it were, in the morning of the great day of judgment; as they conceive another, far greater than it, to follow after it, in the close or evening of this day. This interpretation of the first resurrection is marvellously probable from the context itself. For John having, verse 4, described the happy condition of those, who had borne the heat and burden of the day of antichrist, without fainting, in this, "that they sat upon thrones, and had judgment (i. e. power of judging the world) given unto them," and that "they reigned with Christ a thousand years," he adds, verse 5, "This is the first resurrection:" where likewise he saith, "That the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Much more might be argued for this exposition: but our present engagement craveth it not.

2. Nor doth the sense contended for of the resurrection, any ways opitulate the cause in distress. For in case it should be said, that the second death shall have no power on those that are rege

* Mede, Comment. Apocalyp. p. 277.