was against his will, as a renewed man; with his flesh he served the law of sin, but with his mind the law of God; which proves, that he speaks of himself as regenerate: for his character as unregenerate was, that he was serving, that is, readily, cheerfully, and willingly, divers lusts and pleasures. Besides, the apostle is to be understood of his other I, which was carnal, of the flesh, or old man, which was under sin; and not of the new man, which is not under the law of sin, but under grace, as a reigning, governing principle.

3. "He is said not to do the good he would, but the evil which he would not, ver. 15*, whereas it is said of regenerate persons, that they work out their salvation with fear and trembling, God working in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure; that they walk in newness of life, and after the Spirit, and not after the flesh, Phil. ii. 12, 13; Rom. vi. 4, and viii. 1." To which I reply, that though regenerate ones do that which is good, yet not always, there is not a just man on earth, that doth good and sinneth nott; nor does God always work in them to will and to do, but when he pleases, of his own good pleasure. Besides, the good this person did not, he willed it, he desired it; whereas a carnal man wills, desires, and savours the things of the flesh, and them only, and not the things of the Spirit; and also hated the evil he did; whereas an unregenerate man chooses his own ways, and his soul delights in his abominations: so that this character proves the person to be a regenerate, and not an unregenerate man.

4. "It is said of this person, that sin dwelleth in him, ver. 17, 20‡, but regenerate ones are dead to sin and alive to God, and the Spirit of Christ, and Christ himself dwells in them, Rom. vi. 11 and viii. 11, Gal. ii. 20." To this may be replied, that though the saints are dead to sin, being justified from it by the righteousness of Christ, and freed from the dominion of it by the power of divine grace, yet they are not delivered from the being of it; sin is in them, dwells in them, lives in them, though they do not live in sin, and sometimes very strongly works in them; all which is no contradiction to the inhabitation of Christ, and his Spirit in them. These dwell under the same roof with sin, but not in the same apartment; sin dwells in the flesh, in the old man, in the unrenewed self, in which dwells no good thing; Christ and the Spirit dwell in the new man, in the new heart, in the renewed self. Moreover, the saints in all ages have found, and have complained of sin dwelling in them, as Job, David, Solomon, the church in Isaiah's time, and the beloved disciple John §. This character therefore agrees with a regenerate man.

5. "This person affirms of himself that no good thing dwelt in him, ver. 18, whereas there are many good things dwell in regenerate ones. This is very true, there are many good things in the saints; as the good work of grace and the good word of God, the good Spirit of Christ, and Christ himself, yea, God the Father dwells in them, and makes his abode with them. But then let it be observed, how cautiously and with what limitation the apostle expresses himself: In me, + Limborch, ibid.

that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. Now had he spoken of himself as unregenerate, or in the person of an unregenerate man, he had no need to have used this restrictive clause; for who knows not, that in an unregenerate man dwells no good thing?

6. "This man is said to will but not to perform that which is good, ver. 18, whereas * regenerate men are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, and God works in them both to will and to do." What has been said in answer to the third objection may be sufficient to remove this; for though the saints do that which is good, yet not always, nor does God always work in them to do, when they have a will to that which is good. Besides, in unregenerate persons, there is no will present with them to that which is good; they desire not the knowledge of God's ways; their carnal minds are enmity against God, and are not subject to the law of God; nor can they be subject to it, without the grace of God.

7. "This person complains that he was a captive of the law of sin, ver. 23, whereas regenerate persons are freed from the law of sin and death, Rom. vii. 2." But though they are freed from condemnation by sin, which is what is meant in the place referred to, as appears from the context, and from the dominion of sin, yet not from the being of it, nor altogether from the power of it; for it sometimes brings into captivity, though even then it has not the dominion; a man may be taken prisoner, and carried captive, and yet remain a subject of his lawful prince; so the saints may be brought into captivity to the law of sin, and yet not be under the dominion of it, but continue under the reign of grace, and in the kingdom of God's dear Son.

8. "This same person bitterly complains of a body of death, and desires to be delivered from it; which shows that he was detained by it, and under it." I reply, that the desire of deliverance from the body of death shows that it was distressing, uneasy, and uncomfortable to him, but not that it had the dominion over him; he was delivered from condemnation by it, and from the government of it, and was very desirous of being freed from the very being of it, which was so great a clog and incumbrance to him; and this none but a regenerate person truly desires, as none but such an one knows from whence a deliverance of this kind comes, which proves the person speaking to be a renewed man, since he adds, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ

our Lord.

9. "The apostle § elsewhere speaks of himself in a different manner, as one that walked worthy of the gospel, to be imitated by others, and who was able to do all things through the grace of God, 1 Cor. xi. 1; Phil. iii. 17, and iv. 13." But then this does not contradict what he here says in this chapter, which perfectly agrees with other passages of his, in which he owns his sinfulness and weakness, and ascribes all he did to the grace of God, see 1 Tim. i. 15; 2 Cor. xii. 10; 1 Cor. xv. 10. It is evident, from all his epistles, that this great man of God lived under a continual sense of the corruption of his nature, his own unworthiness and inability.

10. "Origen, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and others, interpret * these words of men under the thraldom and dominion of sin, through a long use and custom." This interpretation of the words was indeed first given by Origen, was greedily catched at by Pelagius, revived by Socinus and his followers, and some popish writers, and at last adopted by the Arminians. But Methodius †, a martyr, whose judgment Dr. Whitby seems fond of, first in the words of one Procius, and then in his own, delivers the sense of them agreeable to ours, understanding them of a regenerate man. Wherefore what Vorstius affirms is false, that all the ancients before Austin interpreted these words of unregenerate men. I shall now,

4thly. Subjoin some arguments, proving that this part of the chapter, from ver. 14 to the end of it, is spoken by the apostle of himself, and of himself as regenerate.

1. The apostle all along speaks of himself in the first person: That which I do I allow not; what I hate that I do; I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing; I delight in the law of God; I find a law in my members; yea, says he, With the mind I myself, αὐτὸς ἐγῶ, serve the law of God; which can never be understood in a figurative sense as personating another; nor do the passages usually alleged prove such a way of speaking common, as 1 Cor. vi. 12, and x. 23, and xiii. 1-3; Gal. ii. 18, 20.

2. When he speaks of his unregenerate state, and the first convictions of sin, he speaks of them as things past: When we were in the flesh; I had not known sin, but by the law; Sin taking occasion by the law wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, deceived me, and by it slew me; I was alive without the law once, &c. But from ver. 14 to the end of the chapter, he speaks in the present tense, of what he then was, and found: Iam carnal, I do what I would not, I consent to the law that it is good, I delight in the law of God, &c.

3. The several things which are said of this person, cannot agree with the apostle, nor with any other, but as regenerate; such only hute evil, delight in the law of God, and serve it with their mind.

4. The distinction of flesh and spirit, the inward and outward man, is not applicable to any other but a regenerate man; for the spirit, and inward man, is not the soul, opposed to the body, but the spiritual man, the new man, the hidden man of the heart, the truth of grace, in opposition to the flesh, the old man, or corrupt nature. Now only the latter, and not the former, is to be found in an unregenerate man.

5. The struggle between flesh and spirit, between the law in the members and the law of the mind, proves that these words can belong to no other than a regenerate person; with which agrees Gal. v. 17. Only in the Shulamite true believers are to be seen, as it were the company of two companies, flesh and spirit, sin and grace, warring against each other.

6. The thanksgiving for deliverance from sin through Christ, towards the close of the chapter, can only come from a believer; none but a regenerate man knows any thing of the nature of it, from whence it is, and can only be thankful for it.

SECTION VI

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the

1

law of God, neither indeed can be; so then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.-Rom. viii. 7, 8.

THE carnal mind, or τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς, which may be rendered the wisdom of the flesh, signifies the wisest and best part of man, the soul, with all its powers and faculties; and this being carnal is a strong proof of the wretched corruption of human nature. Besides, this carnal mind is not only an enemy to, but enmity itself against that God who made it, upholds it in life, and loads it with benefits; and therefore is not subject to the law of God, which is holy, just, and good; nor indeed can it be, considering its state and circumstances, without the powerful and efficacious grace of God; wherefore the apostle's conclusion is exceeding just, so then they that are in the flesh, that is, in an unregenerate state, and are wholly carnal and corrupt, cannot please God; that is, do those things which are pleasing to him. To which is objected,

1. That "this text* with the preceding one, were abused by the ancient heretics, to prove that the flesh, or body of man is, by nature, evil; and they that are in the body of flesh, cannot be subject to the law, or please God." But what is this to us, who by the flesh in both places, understand not the body, to which wisdom does not belong, and in which men may please God, and be subject to his law, but the corrupt nature of man, or men, in an unregenerate estate; who, whilst such, are enemies to God, unsubjected to his law, and cannot please him?

2. It is owned†, that "the apostle doth indeed say, that they who thus mind carnal things, while they continue so to do, cannot please God, or live in subjection to his laws; but does not say, that they cannot be made good; for by his frequent exhortations to these carnal men, to crucify and mortify the flesh, to put off the old man with his deeds, joined with threats and promises, plainly shows, that men may cease to live according to the flesh, and may obtain that assistance of the Spirit by which they shall mortify the deeds of the flesh, and live after the Spirit." Upon which I observe, that all that are after the flesh, or in an unrenewed state, mind carnal things; and since it is allowed, that while they continue so to do, as they will, so long as they remain unconverted, they cannot please God; the words prove what we produce them for, namely, the corruption of man's nature, and his disability to do that which is spiritually good. But it is observed, that the apostle does not say such cannot be made good: nor do we say so, but we affirm, that they cannot make themselves good, and that they cannot be made good but by the grace of God; and that until they are made so, they cannot do that which is spiritually good, no more than an evil tree can bring forth good fruit. And as for the exhortations † Ibid. p. 333, 334; ed. 2. 275, 325.

to crucify and mortify the flesh, and to put off the old man, the passages in Rom. viii. 13. Gal. v. 24, referred to, are not properly exhortations; and neither they, nor the other, belong to carnal men, but to believers in Christ, who were Christ's and had the spirit of Christ already; and were debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, but to the Spirit, to live after the Spirit; and therefore fall short of proving that carnal men may make themselves good, or of themselves cease to live after the flesh.

CHAPTER VI.

OF PERSEVERANCE.

I Now proceed to consider Dr. Whitby's discourse on the perseverance of the saints. His first chapter is taken up in premising that which is granted on both sides, for the better stating of the question between us. For his own side he grants, that they, who are preserved to salvation, are so preserved by the power of God through faith; that God has engaged his faithfulness, that all, who do not wickedly depart from him, shall never be forced from him by the power of any adversaries; and that God has promised perseverance in the ways of righteousness to the end, to those who constantly and conscientiously use the means prescribed by him for that end: but utterly denies, that God has promised to keep them by his power from making shipwreck of faith, and from falling into those sins he cautions them to avoid; or to interpose his power unfrustrably to engage all true believers to use the means prescribed by him. He goes on to observe, that the assertors of the doctrine of the saints' final perseverance hold, that the foundation of it is the absolute election of persons to salvation, and to the means which shall unfrustrably conclude in it; that they grant that it is not from the strength, steadiness, and immutability of the new nature, renewed mind, will and affections, but purely from the promise of God, that true believers cannot fall away; and that though they cannot fall totally and finally, yet may fall into horrid sins; such as may at present unfit them for heaven, require a renewal of grace; and by the guilt of which they stand condemned till they are renewed by faith and repentance. I own, that election is a foundation of the saints' final perseverance, but it is not the only thing on which it is founded; nor does this shew the inconsistency of two of our arguments for perseverance, taken from the prayers of the saints, and the intercession of Christ, as is intimated; since the saints may pray, as Christ did, John xvii. 1, 5, for that which God has absolutely decreed, from all eternity, shall come to pass. And though we grant that it is from the promise, yet not purely from the promise of God, that true believers cannot fall away; for though we own that the new creature is imperfect yet affirm that such is the nature, strength, and firmness of true grace, that it can Lever perish. Wherefore our arguments, taken from the

R