then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 Jno. i. 5, 6, 7.) Not will cleanse us when we die, or some time hereafter; it is the present tense; as it is written again: "How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein." (Rom. vi. 2.) This, then, is the character of the true Church; they have fellowship with God, fellowship with one another, and commit no sin. "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." But, “He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he [the Son of God] is righteous." And, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." (1 Jno. iii. 10, 7, and ii. 10.)

CHAPTER V.

SOME OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE SINLESS LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN ANSWERED, AND THE POINT CONFIRMED.

THE thought of God's having a people on earth, in whom he dwells as his holy temple, and who do not commit sin, is so far out of the sight and remembrance of professors, that the very idea will appear to many of them romantic; and the most explicit declarations of Scripture appear to have lost their edge, and a few undefined old phrases to which they have been accustomed, partly scriptural and partly not, seem sufficient, in their view, to counterbalance all the testimony of Christ and his apostles. Some also, who possess a respectable degree of honesty and feeling, may, through the influence of prepossession and the deficiency of information, be not altogether clear in their judgment. We shall therefore take notice of some of the most plausible objections.

The apostle John has written: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Hence it is argued that no man can be free from sin; for if any man should say, I have no sin, or I am saved from all sin by the blood of Christ, this text, say they, would prove that he is deceived, and the truth not in him; for the Apostle said we, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; and surely, if any man could become free from sin, it would be an apostle, and if any amongst them, the beloved disciple John. To a man unacquainted with the nature of language, this is a considerably specious objection: I have therefore stated it in as strong terms as I could, that it may be effectually removed.

us."

The Apostle had just stated the condition of those who walk in the light, as he (the Son of God) is in the light, that the blood of Christ cleanseth them from all sin. But he well knew the enmity of the Jews and others against Christ, and the doctrine of his blood as saving them, as well as their pride in presuming they were not sinners, and therefore had no need of being cleansed. He therefore adds: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in If we, or any of us, or any man, [let it go to the full extent,] should say we have no sin, and therefore have no need of Christ, he deceives himself. That this is the purport of the Apostle's statement, is sufficiently plain, if we attend to the following words: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And then the matter is changed from the present to the past: "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." But no more talk of being deceived, by saying we have no sin, after the confession, forgiveness and cleansing. It would nevertheless be false to say we had not sinned; for one who is saved from sin ever so completely, cannot say but that he has sinned, because all have sinned. The Apostle, therefore, by saying, in such a connection, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves," no more proves that to be the case with Christians, than he proves that if a man is once a sinner he must so remain but Christ is manifested to take away our sins. Besides ; to understand this passage as proving that Christians commit sin, excludes the Apostle's testimony on this subject, by exposing him to a contradiction; because he has boldly asserted that, "He that committeth sin is of the devil ;" and "Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not." (1 Jno. iii. 8, 6.)

As to his saying we, it is no more than a familiar mode of speaking common to the apostles. Thus James, speaking of the tongue, says: "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." Likely none will insist that the apostle James was one of those who took part in such cursing, and yet he says we, in as pointed terms as John.

Another portion of Scripture, which many ply with great confidence to maintain that Christians commit sin, or live in it, is that of Paul, where he says: "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin," and more to the same purport. (Rom. vii. 14, &c.) This, however, is a disputed text among the denominations of professors; so that their own testimony on this point does not agree.

John Wesley and his followers have maintained vigorously, that the Apostle did not there speak of himself, nor describe the Christian, but the convinced sinner.

Doctor Philip Doddridge, notwithstanding he was possessed of the common error, that Christians commit sin, though unwillingly, in his notes on the Scripture under consideration, observes that, "The Apostle here, by a very dexterous turn, changes the person and speaks as of himself. This he elsewhere does, when he is only personating another character. And the character here assumed is that of a man

first ignorant of the law, then under it, and sincerely desiring to please God, but finding, to his sorrow, the weakness of the motives it suggested, and the sad discouragement under which it left him; and last of all, with transport discovering the Gospel, and gaining pardon and strength, peace and joy by it. But to suppose (continues the Doctor) he speaks all these things of himself, as the confirmed Christian that he really was when he wrote this epistle, is not only foreign, but contrary to the whole scope of his discourse, as well as to what is expressly asserted in chapter viii. 2."

Osterwald says: "This is a chapter which ought to be well understood, and which must not be misapplied. For this purpose it must be observed, that the Apostle represents in his own person, in a figurative way of speaking very usual with him, the condition of a man who is under the law, and who, not having faith and the Spirit of Christ, is a slave to his passions." Thus this Scripture is judiciously taken out of the hands of the abettors of the doctrine that Christians are not free from sin, by men of their own faith.

It is indeed inconsistent, that any one of understanding should build with any confidence on the Apostle's expressing himself after that manner, in a figure so common to him as well as others. As thus: "For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie to his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) let us do evil that good may come." (Rom. iii. 7, 8.) This is the language of others whom he personates, whose damnation is just, and yet he says, my lie, and why am I judged as a sinner, as though it were his own.

In the chapter before, the Apostle had shown, at length, that they, Christians, were dead to sin, and could not live any longer therein; free from sin and servants of righteousness; and it is worthy of particular consideration, that he finds, knows, or admits no middle station between being servants of sin and servants of righteousness. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." This shows the event of what had taken place in them to be an effectual change from bondage to liberty, from the service of sin to the service of righteousness, as above: "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." And again: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. And all these things are of God." (Chap. vi. 18; 2 Cor. v. 17, 18.)

The Apostle next proceeds to show that the law is not sin, neither the proper cause of death; but that it discovered sin, or excited it; for without the law, sin was dead; and that sin works death by that which is good, which is the law: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good." He herein also shows the workings of the mind in one under the law; and among other things,

says,

"For I was alive without the law once." This cannot apply to the Apostle, who was not only trained up in the law from his infancy, long before he could have any understanding of the life of which he here speaks, and which he lost by the law and the reviving of sin, but was so exceedingly zealous of the law, long before his conviction and conversion, that in the Spirit of inspiration, after he became a Christian, he could refer back to those times and say, Touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless :” he therefore was not without the law.

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But as all this is in the past tense, and therefore cannot, with any plausibility, be considered as Paul's own exercise, except at some former period, when he might be supposed to be in convictions, I shall proceed to the passage where he commences in the present tense: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal sold under sin." Now if this be true of one born of God, then the following consequences are true: First. That Christ and sin are one; for no man can serve two masters, but this character serves sin. Secondly. That to be carnally minded is not death; for sin has no mechanical or coercive power, but can only prevail by influencing the mind, therefore this person's mind has yielded to the power of sin, and yet he is esteemed as alive in Christ. Thirdly. That to be carnally minded, and to be spiritually minded, imply no important distinction; for this character is both; therefore the Apostle is wrong in saying, "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Fourthly. That a slave to sin can be a free-born son of God at the same time; "For if the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed." But this character is made free by the Son, and yet sold under sin now one sold under another against his will, is what common language calls a slave. So it is with this character, "For that which I do I allow not; for what I would, I do not; but what I hate, that do I." "If then I do that which I would not, I consent to the law that it is good." Like the impious heathen, Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor. I see better things and approve them, but pursue the more pernicious. Then out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knowest thy Lord's will, and approvest it, but dost not perform it: thou shalt be beaten with many stripes. And yet this character is called a Christian. But if a slave to sin be a Christian who is not?

But hear his reasoning. "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." This man then is the temple and agent of sin; it dwells in him and he acts it out. But Christians are the temple of the living God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in them; and if any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy. (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.) This person therefore is not a Christian, but an assumed character under the power of sin, convicted, but not acquainted with. Christ.

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The next verses are only a kind of repetition of the same workings, expressing the man's anxiety about his condition. But he adds, I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. This is counted an infallible proof that this whole description applies to the Christian, not considering the essential deficiency which would

"If a

tach itself to this verse with all the rest—that of not doing. man love me, he will [unexceptionably] keep my words;" (not he would if he could;) and "He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings." (Jno. xiv. 23,24.) This is the test of the Christian; and in vain does any man presume to be a Christian without it. Christ makes no apology for those who are not able; neither do his apostles; that is, where the Gospel is heard and known. If many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able, he has no more compassion on them than on those who do not seek at all. And why should he, seeing no man will ever experience the fatal calamity, except those who waste their day and strength in pursuing unjustifiable ways, and reject the only true way and time of entrance?

Who, therefore, is to believe that a man has the inside of his cup and platter clean, unless the outside be clean also? Who is to believe that there is a good and pure fountain within, unless the stream be also clean and pure? Who is to believe that any man delights in the law of God in the inward man, and yet walks, or at all acts contrary to it in his life, on any other principle, than that he is merely a natural man, having never known the power of Christ? It is a most audacious impeachment of the character of Christ, for any man to say, that he, or any other, has received Christ, has submitted to his instructions, and has not received power to overcome sin. Or are these sayings true or false?" He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning ;" and "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." I say, are these sayings true or false? And is it true or false, that "to as many as receive him, to them he giveth power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his name?" (Jno. i. 12.)

People who pretend to be Christians on the presumption that they delight in the law of God after the inward man, while they find such a law, that when they would do good evil is present, and they do not keep the law of God, are little, if at all, superior to the heathen before mentioned, or those mistaken Jews whom Paul describes, Who approve the things which are more excellent, and yet the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through them. (Rom. ii. 18, 24.) Multitudes of such people profess the name of Christ, and in works deny him, neglecting the Christian signal, "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity, (2 Tim. ii. 19;) and by so doing, bear the boldest testimony they can readily do, to support infidelity, and prove the Gospel a blank, and their profession of it a farce. "Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it." (Luke xi. 28.)

Much stress seems to be placed on the phrase, inward man, as if this character had some new or distinct part, or faculty, some physical, moral, or intellectual power, distinct from other men, which must constitute him a Christian; so that his delighting in the law of God, after the inward man, must prove him to be a Christian, let him be ever so unable to do what he ought. Thus I remember to have heard a preacher of considerable rank, when preaching expressly on