An Apology for the True Christian Divinity / Being an explanation and vindication of the principles and doctrines of the people called Quakers

by Robert Barclay

§. VI.

§. VII.

[77] Prov. 17. 15.

§. VIII.

Proof 2.The Possibility of it. Secondly, It is possible, because we receive the Gospel and Law thereof for that Effect; and it is expresly promised to us, as we are under Grace, as appears by these Scriptures, Rom. iv. 14. Sin shall not have Dominion over you; for ye are not under the Law, but under Grace: And Rom. viii. 3. For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the Flesh, God sending his own Son, &c. that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, &c. The Difference of the Law and Gospel.For if this were not a Condition both requisite, necessary, and attainable under the Gospel, there were no Difference betwixt the Bringing in of a better Hope, and the Law which made nothing perfect; neither betwixt those which are under the Gospel, or who under the Law enjoyed and walked in the Life of the Gospel and mere Legalists. Whereas the Apostle, throughout the whole Sixth to the Romans, argues not only the Possibility but the Necessity of being free from Sin, from their being under the Gospel, and under Grace, and not under the Law; and therefore states himself and those to whom he wrote in that Condition in these Verses, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and therefore in the 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18 Verses, he argues both the Possibility and Necessity of this Freedom from Sin almost in the same Manner we did a little before; and in the 22d he declares them in Measure to have attained this Condition in these Words, But now being made free from Sin, and become Servants to God, ye have your Fruit unto Holiness, and the End everlasting Life. Perfection and Freedom from Sin attained and made possible by the Gospel.And as this Perfection or Freedom from Sin is attained and made possible where the Gospel and inward Law of the Spirit is received and known, so the Ignorance hereof has been and is an Occasion of opposing this Truth. For Man not minding the Light or Law within his Heart, which not only discovers Sin, but leads out of it, and so being a Stranger to the new Life and Birth that is born of God, which naturally does his Will, and cannot of its own Nature transgress the Commandments of God, doth, I say, in his natural State look at the Commandments as they are without him in the Letter; The Letter kills, and maketh not alive.and finding himself reproved and convicted, is by the Letter killed, but not made alive. So Man, finding himself wounded, and not applying himself inwardly to that which can heal, labours in his own Will after a Conformity to the Law as it is without him, which he can never obtain, but finds the more he wrestles, the more he falleth short. So this is the Jew still in Effect, with his carnal Commandment, with the Law without, in the first Covenant State, which makes not the Comers thereunto perfect, as pertaining to the Conscience, Heb. ix. 9. though they may have here a Notion of Christianity, and an external Faith in Christ. This has made them strain and wrest the Scriptures for an imputative Righteousness wholly without them, to cover their Impurities; and this hath made them imagine an Acceptance with God possible, though they suppose it impossible ever to obey Christ’s Commands. But alas! O deceived Souls! that will not avail in the Day wherein God will judge every Man according to his Work, whether good or bad. It will not save thee to say, it was necessary for thee to sin daily in Thought, Word, and Deed; for such as do so have certainly obeyed Unrighteousness: And what is provided for such but Tribulation and Anguish, Indignation and Wrath; even as Glory, Honour, and Peace, Immortality and eternal Life to such as have done Good, and patiently continued in Well-doing. So then, if thou desirest to know this Perfection and Freedom from Sin possible for thee, turn thy Mind to the Light and spiritual Law of Christ in the Heart, and suffer the Reproofs thereof; bear the Judgment and Indignation of God upon the unrighteous Part in thee as therein is revealed, which Christ hath made tolerable for thee, and so suffer Judgment in thee to be brought forth into Victory, and thus come to partake of the Fellowship of Christ’s Sufferings, and be made conformable unto his Death, How we partake of Christ’s Sufferings, and are made conformable unto his Death.that thou mayest feel thyself crucified with him to the World by the Power of his Cross in thee; so that that Life that sometimes was alive in thee to this World, and the Love and Lusts thereof, may die, and a new Life be raised, by which thou mayest live henceforward to God, and not to or for thyself; and with the Apostle thou mayest say, Gal. ii. 20. It is no more I, but Christ alive in me; and then thou wilt be a Christian indeed, and not in Name only, as too many are; then thou wilt know what it is to have put off the old Man with his Deeds, who indeed sins daily in Thought, Word, and Deed; and to have put on the new Man, that it renewed in Holiness, after the Image of him that hath created him, Ephes. iv. 24. and thou wilt witness thyself to be [78]God’s Workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good Works, and so not to sin always. And to this new Man Christ’s Yoke is easy, and his Burden is light; though it be heavy to the old Adam; yea, the Commandments of God are not unto this Man grievous; for it is his Meat and Drink to be found fulfilling the Will of God.

[78] Matt. xi. 30. 1 John v. 3.

Proof 3.Many have attained Perfection. Lastly, This Perfection or Freedom from Sin is possible, because many have attained it, according to the express Testimony of the Scripture; some before the Law, and some under the Law, through witnessing and partaking of the Benefit and Effect of the Gospel, and much more many under the Gospel. Enoch walked with God, and was perfect.As first, It is written of Enoch, Gen. v. 22, 24. that he walked with God, which no Man while sinning can; nor doth the Scripture record any Failing of his. It is said of Noah, Gen. vi. 9. and of Job i. 8. and of Zacharias and Elizabeth, Luke i. 6. that they were perfect; but under the Gospel, besides that of the Romans above-mentioned, see what the Apostle saith of many Saints in general, Ephes. ii. 4, 5, 6. But God, who is rich in Mercy, for his great Love wherewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead in Sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by Grace ye are saved; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly Places in Christ Jesus &c. I judge while they were sitting in these heavenly Places, they could not be daily sinning in Thought, Word, and Deed; neither were all their Works which they did there as filthy Rags, or as a menstruous Garment. See what is further said to the Hebrews, xii. 22, 23. Spirits of just Men made perfect. And to conclude, let that of the Revelations, xiv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. be considered, where though their being found without Fault be spoken in the present Time, yet it is not without Respect to their Innocency while upon Earth; and their being redeemed from among Men, and no Guile found in their Mouth, is expresly mentioned in the Time past. Sect III.But I shall proceed now, in the Third Place, to answer the Objections, which indeed are the Arguments of our Opposers.

§. IX.

Answ. 1.But is it not strange to see Men so blinded with Partiality? How many Scriptures tenfold more plain do they reject, and yet stick so tenaciously to this, that can receive so many Answers? As First, [If we say we have no Sin, &c.] will not import the Apostle himself to be included. If we say we have no Sin, &c. objected.Sometimes the Scripture useth this Manner of Expression when the Person speaking cannot be included; which Manner of Speech the Grammarians call Metaschematismus. Thus James iii. 9, 10. speaking of the Tongue, saith, Therewith bless we God, and therewith curse we Men; adding, These Things ought not so to be. Who from this will conclude that the Apostle was one of those Cursers? Answ. 2.But Secondly, This Objection hitteth not the Matter; he saith not, We sin daily in Thought, Word, and Deed; far less that the very good Works which God works in us by his Spirit are Sin: Yea, the very next Verse clearly shews, that upon Confession and Repentance we are not only forgiven, but also cleansed; He is faithful to forgive us our Sins, and to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness. Here is both a Forgiveness and Removing of the Guilt, and a Cleansing or Removing of the Filth; for to make Forgiveness and Cleansing to belong both to the Removing of the Guilt, as there is no Reason for it from the Text, so it were a most violent forcing of the Words, and would imply a needless Tautology. The Apostle having shewn how that not the Guilt only, but even the Filth also of Sin is removed, subsumes his Words in the Time past in the 10th Verse, If we say we have not sinned, we make him a Liar. Answ. 3.Thirdly, As Augustine well observed, in his Exposition upon the Epistle to the Galatians, It is one Thing not to sin, and another Thing not to have Sin. It is one Thing, not to sin, and another Thing not to have Sin.The Apostle’s Words are not, If we say we sin not, or commit not Sin daily, but if we say we have no Sin: And betwixt these two there is a manifest Difference; for in respect all have sinned, as we freely acknowledge, all may be said in a Sense to have Sin. Again, Sin may be taken for the Seed of Sin, which may be in those that are redeemed from actual Sinning; but as to the Temptations and Provocations proceeding from it being resisted by the Servants of God, and not yielded to, they are the Devil’s Sin that tempteth, not the Man’s that is preserved. Answ. 4.Fourthly, This being considered, as also how positive and plain once and again the same Apostle is in that very Epistle, as in divers Places above cited, is it equal or rational to strain this one Place, presently after so qualified and subsumed in the Time past, to contradict not only other positive Expressions of his, but the whole Tendency of his Epistle, and of the rest of the holy Commands and Precepts of the Scripture?

Obj. 2.Secondly, Their second Objection is from two Places of Scripture, much of one Signification: The one is, 1 Kings viii. 46. For there is no Man that sinneth not. The other is, Eccles. vii. 20. For there is not a just Man upon Earth, that doeth Good, and sinneth not.