I suppose I shall not need to put myself to the labour to prove or evince the ground of our charitable procedure, in our thoughts of men professing the ways of God, though their hearts are not upright with him. But says Mr Goodwin, " To say that whilst they stood men were indeed bound to judge them believers, but by their declin- ing they discover themselves not to have been the men, is but to beg the question, and that upon very ill terms to obtain it."
Ans. For my part, I find not in this answer to that objection (" But they had the lineaments of true believers, and therefore we were bound to judge them so"), that this did not at all prove them to be so, any begging of the question, but rather a fair answer given to their importune request, that the " appearance of the face, as far as the eyes of men can pierce," 1 Sam. xvi. 7, must needs conclude them in the eyes of God to answer that appearance in the inward and hidden man of the heart.
But Mr Goodwin farther pursues his design in hand from the words of our Saviour, Matt. vii. 20, " By their fruits ye shall know them." " Ifj" saith he, " this rule be authentical, we do not only
I.] THE JUDGMENT OF CHARITY AND ITS RULE. " 93
stand bound by the law of charity, but by the law of righteous or strict judgment itself, to judge the persons we speak of true be- lievers, whilst they adorn the gospel with such fruits of righteousness as were mentioned ; for our Saviour doth not say, ' By their fruits ye shall have grounds to conceive or conjecture them such or such, or to judge them in charity such or such,' but, 'Ye shall know them/ Now, what a man knows he is not bound to conjecture, or to judge in a way of charity to be that which he knoweth it to be, but posi- tively to judge and conclude of it accordingly. If, then, it be pos- sible for men, by any such fruits, works, or expressions, to know true believers, the persons we speak of may be known to have been such."
Ans. Though the words of our Saviour principally lie on the other side of the way, giving a rule for a condemnatory judgment of men whose evil fruits declare the root to be no better, — wherein we can- not well be deceived, " the works of the flesh being manifest," Gal. V. 19, and he that worketh wickedness ojienly, and brings forth the effects of sin visibly in a course, as a tree doth its fruit, Rom. vi. 16, may safely be concluded, whatsoever pretence in words he makes, to be a false, corrupt hypocrite, — yet, by the way of analogy and proportion, it is a rule also whereby our Saviour will have us make a judgment of those professors and teachers with whom we have to do, as to our reception and approbation of them. He bids his disciples taste and try the fruit that such persons bear, and ac- cording to that (not any specious pretences they make, or innocent appearances which for a season they show themselves in) let their estimation of them be. Yea, but says Mr Goodwin, " We do not only stand bound by the law of charity, but by the law of a righteous and strict judgment itself, to judge such persons believers." This dis- tinction between the law of charity and the law of a righteous judg- ment I understand not. Though charity be the principle exerted eminently in such dijudications of men, yet doubtless it proceeds by the rules of righteous judgment. When we speak of the judgment of charity, we intend not a loose conjecture, much less a judgment contradistinct from that which is righteous, but a righteous and strict judgment, according to the exactest rules whatsoever that we have to judge by, free from evil surmises, and such like vices of the mind as are opposed to the grace of love. By saying it is of charity, we are not absolved from the most exact procedure, according to the rules of judging given unto us, but only bound up from indulging to any envy, malice, or such like works of the flesh, which are opiDO- site to charity in the subject wherein it is. Charity in this assertion denotes only a gracious qualification in the subject, and not any con- descension from the rule; and therefore I something wonder that Mr Goodwin should make a judgment of charity (as afterward) a
94 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
mere conjecture, and allow beyond it a righteous and strict judg- ment, which amounts to knowledge.
It is true, our Saviour tells us that " by their fruits we shall know them ;" but what knowledge is it that he intendeth? Is it a certain knowledge by demonstration of it? or an infallible assui'ance by re- velation? I am confident Mr Goodwin will not say it is either of these, but only such a persuasion as is the result of our thoughts concerning them, upon the profession they make and the works they do; upon which we may (according to the mind of Christ, who bare with them whom he knew to be no believers, having taken on them the profession of the faith) know how to demean our- selves towards them. So far we may know them by their fruits and judge of them; other knowledge our Saviour intendeth not, nor I believe does Mr Goodwin pretend unto. Now, notwithstanding all this, even on this account and by this rule, it is very possible, yea very easy, and practically proved true in all places and at all times, that we may judge, yea, so far know men to be or not to be seducers by their fruits, as to be able to order aright our demeanour towards them, according to the will of Christ, and yet be mistaken (though not in the performance of our duty in walking regularly ac- cording to the lines drawn out for our paths) in the persons concern- ing whom our judgment is; the knowledge of them being neither by demonstration nor from revelation, such as " cui non potest subesse falsum," we may be deceived.