Mr Goodwin tells us, indeed, " That the word aUy.iimg is in the writings of the apostle constantly translated " reprobate," as Rom. i. 28, 2 Cor. xiii. 5-7, 2 Tim. iii. 8, Tit. i. 1 6, or is expressed by a word equivalent, as Heb. vi. 8." How rightly this is done, in his judg- ment, he tells us not; that it is so done serves his turn, and he hath no cause farther to trouble himself about it. The truth is, in most of the places intimated, the word is so restrained, either from the causes of the thing expressed, as Rom. i. 28, or the conditions of the persons of whom it is affirmed, with some adjunct in the use of it, as 2 Tim. iii. 8, Tit. i. 1 6, that it necessarily imports a disallow-
G36 DOCTillNE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CIIAP.
ance or rejection of God as to the whole state and condition wherein they are of whom it is asserted, joined with a profligate disposition to farther abominations in themselves; but that in any place it imports what Mr Goodwin would wrest it here unto, " a man finally rejected of God," — whatever may be the thought of others, he will not assert. And whatever the translation be, I would know of him whether, in any place where the word is used, he doth indeed understand it in any other sense than that which here he opposes : only with this dif- ference, that in other places it regards the general condition and state of them concerning whom it is affirmed ; here, only the condition of a man, restrained to the particular case of labouring in the ministry, which is under consideration. 2 Cor. xiii. 5-7, the word cannot be extended any farther than to signify a condition of men when they are not accepted nor approved ; Avhich is the sense of the word con- tended for: nor yet Heb. vi. 8, though it be attended with those several qualifications of " nigh unto cursing," etc. The apostle, as- cending by degrees in the description of the state of the unfruitful, barren land, says first it is adoxi/j^og, or disallowed by the husband- man, as that which he hath spent his cost and labour about in vain; so that not only the original, first signification of the word (as is known) stands for the sense contended for, but it is also evidently restrained to that sense by the context, design, and scope of the place, with the intendment of the apostle therein, the word being the same that [is used] in all other places of the writings of the same apostle, unless where it is measured as to its extent and compass by some adjoined expression, which is interpretive of it as to the particular place, being still of the same signification.
Mr Goodwin's ensuing discourse is concerning the judgment of expositors upon the place, particularly naming Chrysostom, Calvin, Musculus, Diodati, the English annotators; of whom, notwithstand- ing, not any one doth appear for him, so unhappy is he in his quo- tations, though sundry of good note (and amongst them Piscator himself) do interpret the word in the sense by him contended for, knowing full well that it may be allowed in its utmost significancy without the least prejudice to the doctrine of the saints' persever- ance, as hath been manifested. Of those mentioned by Mr Goodwin, there is not any one, from first to last, but restrained the word to the reproachableness or irreproachableness of the apostle in the dis- charge of the work of the ministry; the sense of it which we also insist upon. To spend time and labour in searching the expressions of particular men, weighing and considering the coherences, design, and circumstances of their writings, is beside my intention. The judgment of what hath been affirmed is left to the intelligent reader who supposeth it of his concernment to inquire particularly into it.
What is added of the scope of the place, sect. 15, p. 280,
XVII.] CERTAIN PASSAGES IN SCRIPTURE CONSIDERED. 637
alone requires any farther consideration. Tliis, then, he thus pro- poseth:^ —
" 5. The scope of the place, from verse 23, evinceth the legitimacy of such a sense in both above all contradiction ; for the apostle, hav- ing asserted this for the reason, motive, and end, why he had made himself a servant to all men, in bearing with all men's humours and weaknesses in the course of his ministry, namely, that he might be partaker of the gospel (that is, of the saving benefit or blessing of the gospel) with them, verse 23, and again, that what he did he did to obtain an incorruptible crown, verse 25, plainly showeth that that which he sought to prevent, by running and fighting at such a high rate as he did, was not the blame and disparagement of some such misbehaviour, under which, notwithstanding, he might retain the saving love of God, but the loss of his part and portion in the gospel, and of that incorruptible crown which he sought, by that severe hand which he still held over himself, to obtain."
Ans. The scope of the place was ])efore manifested, in answer to its dependence on the whole discourse foregoing, from verse 15, where the apostle enters upon the relation of his deportment in the work and service of the gospel, with a particular eye to his carriage therein as to his use or forbearance of the allowance of temporal things from them to whom he preached ; which was due to him by all the right whereby any claim in any kind whatever may be pursued, together with the express institution of the Lord Jesus Christ, by him before laid down. In this course he behaved himself with wis- dom, zeal, and diligence, having many glorious aims in his eye, as also being full of a sense of the duty incumbent on him, verse 16; to whose performance he was constrained by the law of Jesus Christ, as he also here expresses. Among other things that provoked him to and supported him in his hard labour and travail, was the love he bare to the gospel, and that he might have fellowship with others in the propagation and declaration of the glorious message thereof. This is his intendment, verse 23, rouro di, etc. For the gospel's sake, or the love he bare to it, he desired with others to be partaker of it; — that is, of the excellent work of preaching of it; for of the benefit of the gospel he might have been partaker with other believers, though he had never been set apart to its promulgation. In his whole dis- course he still speaks accommodately to his business in hand, for the describing of his work of apostleship in preaching the glorious gos- jDcl of Jesus Christ ; and as to the end of this work, he acquaints us that there was proposed before him the incorruptible crown of his Master's approbation (upon his lawful running and striving in the way of the ministry whereto he was called), — the peculiar glory of them whom he is pleased to employ in his service. And though the cause of his fighting at that rate as he did was not wholly the fear of