For what he mentions in the last place, of the "light of reason and understanding" which he hath, I do not only grant him to have it "in
XVII.] CERTAIN PASSAGES IN SCRIPTURE CONSIDERED. 613
common/' as he saith, "with other men/'' for the kind of it, but also, as to the degrees of it, to be much advanced therein above the generality of men; yet I must needs tell him, in the close, that all these helps and advantages, seeming to be drawn forth and advanced in opposi- tion to that one great assistance, which we enjoy by promise of Clirist, of his Spirit leading us into all truth, and teaching us from God by his own anointing, are to me "hay and stubble,'' yea, "loss and dung,'" — of no value or esteem. Had we not other ways and means, helps and advantages, to come to the knowledge of the truth, than these here unfolded and spread forth by Mr Goodwin, actum esset, we should never perceive the things that are of God. The fox was acquainted with many wiles and devices; the cat knew unum magnum, wherein she found safety. Attendance to the word, according to the direc- tion of the usual known rules and helps agreed on for the interpre- tation of it, with humble dependence on God; waiting for the guid- ance of his Spirit, according to the promise of his dear Son ; asking him of him continually, that he may dwell with us, anoint, and lead us into all truth ; with an utter abrenunciation of all our skill, abili- ties, wisdom, and any resting on them, knowing that it is God alone that gives us understanding, — is the course that hitherto hath been used in our inquiry after the mind of God in the doctrine under con- sideration, and which, the Lord assisting, shall be heeded and kept close unto in that discussion of the texts of Scripture wrested by Mr Goodwin, as by others before him, to give countenance to his oppo- sition to the truth hitherto uttered, confirmed, and vindicated from his contradictions thereunto.
The place of Scripture first insisted on, and on the account whereof he triumphs with the greatest confidence of success, is that of Ezek. xviii. 24, 25; unto which words he subjoins a triumjDhant, exulting exclamation : —
" What more," saith he, "can the understanding, judgment, soul, and conscience of a man reasonably desire, for the establishment in any truth whatsoever, than is delivered by God himself in this pas- sage, to evince the possibility of a righteous man's declining from his righteousness, and that unto death?''
The counsel given of old to the king may not be unseasonable to Mr Goodwin, in that dominion which he exerciseth in his own thoughts in this work of his, " Let not him that putteth on his ar- mour boast like him that putteth it off" You have but newly entered the lists, and that with all 'pressed soldiers, unwilling so much as once to appear in that service they are forced to. If you will but suspend your triumph until we have made a little trial of your forceSj and your skill in managing of them to the battle, per- haps you may be a little taken off from this confidence of success. Notwithstanding the forcing of this scripture upon the truth, being
614 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
cut off and taken away from that coherence, and connection, and station, wherein it is placed of God (which is not in the least inquired into), it will be found in the issue to hear it no ill-will at all, as will also be manifested by the light of the ensuing considerations : —
1. The matter under inquiry, and into a disquisition of whose state we have hitherto been engaged, is the condition of the saints of God, and his dealing with them in and under the covenant of grace in general. For our guidance and direction herein, a text of Scripture, evincing the righteousness of God's dealings with a number of persons, in a peculiar case which was under debate, is produced ; and by the tenor of this, and according to the tenor of the reasonings therein, must all the promises of God in the covenant of grace, made and ratified by the blood of Christ, be regulated and interpreted ! We have been told, by as learned a man as Mr Goodwin, "That promises made to the people of the Jews peculiarly, and suited to the peculiar state and condition wherein they were, do not concern the people of God in general;" and why may not the same be the condition of threatenings given out upon a parallel account? " Compedes quas fecit ipse ut ferat ajquum est.''
2. That it is the determination and stating of a particular contro- versy between God and the people of the Jews, suited to a peculiar dispensation of his providence towards them, which is here proposed, is evident from the occasion of the words, laid down verses 2, 3, " What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge ? As I live, saith the Lord GoD," etc. It is the use of a proverb concerning the land of Israel that God is decrying, and disproving the truth of the proverb itself under consideration ; and that this should be the standard and rule of God's proceeding with his people in the covenant of mercy, no man that seems to have either understanding, judgment, or conscience, can reasonably imagine.