C. XV. The fallaciousground of this Argument ofM,Gs. 33o into they may fall, that finnefhould reigne in them : nothinggives Sinne a Reigne and dominion, but a totali deft& ofall true gracewhatever, not only as to the exertingit (elfe, but as toanyhabituall reli&s of it; It may be over wbelmed fomettmes with Temptations and corruptions, but it is Grace Rill, as the lestl fparkeof fire is fire', though it fhould be covered with never fo great an heape ofafhes, and it reignes then. A i3 Thirdly, That Regenerate perlonsfinne not with their whole andfull con- fent, Confent maybe taken two wayes; Firft Morally, for approbation ofthe thing done; fo the Apoftle faies,that in theinward man, he did confent to the Law, that it wangood. Rotn.7. I6. that is, he did approve it as fuch,like it, delight in it as good; and thus aRegenerate man never contents to finne; no nor un- regenerate perfons neither, unleffe they are fuch as being "päiÏfeeling are given up towork withgreedineffe; a Regenerate perfon is fo farre from thus contentingto finne, that before it, in it, after it,he utterly condemnes,dif= allowes, hates it as in himfelfe, andby himfelfe committed. Secondly, Con- Pent may be taken in a Phyficall fence, for the concurrenceof the command- ing, and aCtingprinciples ofthe fouleunto itsoperations: and in this fence an unregenerate man finnes with hisfullconfent, andhis whole will; a Regene- rate man doth not, cannot doe fo', For though there is not in that confent to thine, which hiswill, inclined by the remainingdifpofition of finne in it, doth give,an a&uall fenfible Rea&ion of the other principle , yet there is an ex- preffenot contenting; and by the power that it hath in the foule, ( for habits have power in, and over the Subje&s wherein the are) it preferves it from being wholly ingaged into finne; and this is the great intendment ofthe Apo- . ít1e, Rom.7. rg 20.2T 22. From what bathbeen fpokenwill eafily appeare what Anfwer may be gi- ß. 14; ven to the former Argument, to wit, That notwithflanding any finnes that either the Scripture or the experienceofthen, do evince that the Saints may fall int6, yet that they never finne or perpetrate finne with theirfuUan. whole confent, whereby they fhould be lookt upon, in and under their alines, in the fame fïate and condition with unregenerate perfons, in whom finne reigneth, committing the fame finne,and how infufficient any thing produced byMr Goodwin in defence ofthe argument layd downe at the entrance of this Chapter, is to remove the Anfwer given unto it from Believers notfin- ingwith their whole confent may eafily be demonft.tated; This he thuspro- pofeth. Some to mainetaine thispofition, That all theflanes of trueRelievers are finnes 0.55. ofinfrmity, lay hold on thisfliield,fuch wen, theyfay never finnewith their whole wills, or with fullconfent, therefore they never finne but through infirmity, that they neverfinnewithfull confent, they conceive they prove fu ffrcientlyfrom that of the APofile, for the good that Iwould Idonot, but the evil! that Iwould not that I. do, Now ifI do that I would not it is no more I that do it, butfinne that dwelleth in me. I Anfwer, firft that the Saints cannotfinite but with their whole wills orfull contents is undeniably proved by this confideration; viz. Recaufeo- therwifethere jisouldbe not only a plurality ordiverfity, but alp a contrarietyof wills in thefameperf8,at one& thefame inftant oftime,viz. when thefisppofedadt ofevill isproduced, now it is an impoffibilityofthefrrft evidence that therefhould bea plurality ofads & there contraryone to the other in thefamefisbjedor agent, at one or thefame iuffant oftime;it i.r true between thefr/tmovings of thefief') in a: mantowards thecommittingofthefinne, and the compleatisig ofthefinale by an AtluallandExternall patration ofit, there may be fuccevely in him noi" only a plurality but even acontrariety ofVolitions or Motions of thewill according to what the scripturefpeal¿eth concerningtheflefb Fulling againji the Spirit, and the spirit
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