This false foundation being laid, he proceeds to build upon it; and, suitably thereunto, feigns the apostle to speak what never entered into his heart, and unto that whereof he had no occasion adminis- tered : —
" To this,'' saith he, " the apostle answereth partly by concession,
602 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
partly by exception. First, by concession, in these words, ' They went out from us;' which words do not so much import their utter dechning or forsaking the apostles' communion, as the advantage or opportunity whicli they had to gain credit and respect both to their doctrine and persons among professors of Christianity in the world, inasmuch as they came forth from the apostles themselves, as men sent and commissioned by them to teach. The same phrase is used in this sense, and with the same import, where the apostles write thus to the brethren of the Gentiles : Acts xv. 24, ' Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment.' So that in this clause, * They went out from us,' the apostle grants, first, That those antichristian teachers had indeed for a time held communion with them; and secondli/, That hereby they had the greater opportunity of doing harm in the world by their false doc- trines. But secondly, he answers farther by way of exception, ' But they were not of us;' — 'Whilst yet they conversed with us, they were not men of the same spirit and principles with us. We walked in the pi'ofession of the gospel with single and upright hearts, not aim- ing at any singular greatness or worldly accommodations in one kind or other; these men loved this present world, and when they found the simplicity of the gospel would not accommodate them to their minds, they brake with us and with the truth of the gospel itself at once.
Ans. 1. I suppose it is evident, at the first view, that this new gloss on the apostle's words is inconsistent with that which was pro- posed for the occasion of them in the words foregoing. There, an aspersion is said to be cast upon the churches and societies whereof the apostle speaks, from the departure of these seducers from them, as though they were not sound in faith or manners; here, an insinua- tion quite of another tendency is suggested, — as though these persons found countenance in their teachings and seductions from the society and communion which they had had with the apostles, — as though they had pretended to come from them by commission, and so, in- stead of casting reproach upon them by their departure, did assume authority to themselves by their having been with them. But to the thing itself I say, —
2. That the apostle is not answering any objection, but describing the state and condition of the antichrists and seducers, concerning whom and their seduction he cautioneth believers, hath been for- merly, beyond contradiction, manifested and maintained. That ex- pression, then, " They went out from us," is not an answer, " by concession," to an objection, but a description of seducers by their apostasy; which words, also, in their regard to the persons as before
XVI.] NO CONSOLATION IN THE OPPOSITE DOCTRINE. 603
by liim described, do manifest their utter declining and forsaking the communion of the saints, they so going from them as also to go into an opposition to the doctrine of the gospel.
3. That the apostle here insinuates an advantage these antichrists had to seduce, from their former communion with him (a thing not in the least suggested, as was observed, in the occasion of the words as laid down by Mr Goodwin himself), is proved from the use of the words, "They went out from us," Acts xv. 24; whence this undeniable argument may be educed, "Some who went out from the apostles had repute and authority in their preaching thereby ; these antichrists went out from the apostle : therefoi'e they had re- pute and authority thereby ! " Younger men than either Mr Goodwin or myself know well enough what to make of this argument. Be- sides, though there be an agreement in that one expression, all tlie neighbouring parts of the description manifest that in the things themselves there and here pointed at there is no affinity. Those in the Acts pretended to abide still in the " communion and faith of the apostles;" these here expressly departed both from the one and the other, to an opposition of them both. The former seemed to have pretended a commission from the apostles; these, according to Mr Goodwin himself, did so far declare against them that it was " a scandal to some, fearing that all had not been well among the apostles."
4. That which is called "an answer by way of exception," as it lies, the expression of it so used upon the matter is as much as we urge from these words. The import of them is said to be, " ' They were not of us.' Though they were with us, yet they were not such as we are, did not walk in that uprightness of heart as we do ; they were not men of the same principles and spirit with us;" — that is, they were not true, thorough, sincere, and sound believers at all, no, not while they conversed with the apostle. Now, evident it is that in those words, — as is manifest by the resuming of them again for the use of an inference ensuing, " For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us," — the apostle yields a reason and account how they came to apostatize and fall to the opposition of the gospel from the profession wherein they walked; it was because they were not men of thorough and sound principles, true believers: and con- sequently he supposeth and implieth that if they had been so, they would not, they could not, have so apostatized ; for if they might, there had been no weight in the account given of the reason of their revolt.