The severals of the text come nextly under consideration, and amongst them, first, the subject spoken of (that we may take the words in some order, Mr Goodwin having roved up and down, back- wards and forwards, from one end of the text to the other, without any at all), and this is, "A righteous man;" that is, such an one as is described, verses 5-9, " But if a man," etc. ; that is, such an one as walks up to the judgments, and statutes, and ordinances of God, so far as they were of him required in the covenant of the land of Canaan, and according to the tenor of it, whereby they held their pos- session therein, and whereby heavenly things were also shadowed out. That this is the person intended, this his righteousness, and this the matter upon which he is here tried, is clear in the contexts beyond all possible contradiction; so that all farther inquiries into what righte- ousness is intended is altogether needless. What with any colour of probability can be pretended from hence as to the matter in hand arises from the analogy of God's dealings with men in the tenor of the covenant of grace and the covenant of the land of Israel ; which yet are eminently distinguished in the very foundation of them, the one being built upon this bottom, " The soul that sinneth, it shall die," the other upon a dispensation of another import, as has been declared. We do, then, plainly supererogate as to the cause in hand, by the confutation of the answers which Mr Goodwin farther attempts to remove, and his endeavour therein ; which yet shall not be declined.
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Sect. 8. One exposition, by some insisted on, of this term "A righte- ous man," is thus proposed by Mr Goodwin: "Notwithstanding, some formerly, it seems, in favour of the doctrine, attempted an escape from that sword of Ezekiel lately drawn against it, by pretending that by the ' righteous man' mentioned in the passage in hand is not meant a person truly and really righteous, but a kind of formal hypo- crite, or outside professor of righteousness."
Those who insist on this interpretation of the place tell you that in the commands of God there is the mere end of them considerable, and not the manner of their performance, which is as the life and power of the obedience of them, which is acceptable to God ; farther, that many persons, wrought upon by the power of conviction from the law of God, and enabled in some measure with common gifts and graces, do go forth in such a way to the performance of the com- mands of God, as to the substance and matter of them (wherein also they are not hypocritical, in the strict sense of the word, but sincere), and so are called and counted righteous, comparatively so, in respect of those who live in open rebellion against the Lord and his ways. And such as these, they say, as they are oftentimes useful in their generations, and bring glory to God by their j^rofession, so (especially under the old legal dispensation of the covenant) they are rewarded in a plentiful manner of God in this life, in the enjoyment of the abundance of all things in peace and quietness. Of this sort of men, — that is, men upright and righteous in their dealings with men and in the world, conscientious in their trust, yielding professed subjec- tion to the judgments and institutions of God, performing outwardly all known duties of religious men, — they say, that after they have made a profession of some good continuance, having never attained union with God in Christ, nor being built on the rock, many do fall into all manner of sjDiritual and sensual abominations, exposing them- selves to all the judgments and vengeance of God in this life, which also under the old testament generally overtook them, God being (as here he pleads) righteous herein. In this description of the righteous person here intended, there is no occasion in the least ad- ministered to Mr Goodwin to relieve himself against it by that which, in the close of tliis section, he borrows from Dr Prideaux, — namely, " That if the righteous man should turn himself away from his counterfeit and hypocritical righteousness, he should rather live than die;" for they say not that this righteousness is hypocritical or coun- terfeit, but true and sincere in its kind, only the person himself is supposed not to be partaker of the righteousness of God in Christ and of a principle of life from him, which should alter his obedience, and render it spiritual and acceptable to God in the Son of his love.
What more says Mr Goodwin unto this exposition of the words? With many scornful expressions cast both upon it (as by himself
622 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
stated and laid down) and tlie synod of Dort, he tells you it was re- jected by the synod. That some in the synod, looking on it perhaps under such a sense and apprehension as Mr Goodwin proposeth it in, did not see cause to close with it, may be true; yet that it was rejected by the synod Mr Goodwin can by no means prove, whatever he is pleased to say, and to insult thereon upon the judgments of very learned men, whom he hath no reason upon any account in the world to despise, the labours of very many of them praising them in the gates of Zion, exceedingly above the cry and clamour of all reproaches whatever mustered to their dishonour. But to let pass those poor, contemptible wretches, let us see how this master in our Israel in his indignation deals with this silly shift, whereby poor men strive to avoid his fury. Says he, then, —