The Account Audited and Discounted, Exercitation 2 · Section 31
Sect. 31. The like may be anſwered for the other inſtance, he might (ſays he) have abſtained from going up to Jeruſalem, &c.
BEfore I conſider his anſwer, I think it not amiſs to conſider again my own words: [The like may be anſwered, &c.] Like to what? like as I anſwered to the former inſtance; [That it is not in a matter of Worſhip, but of common life;] and ſo not to the purpoſe, which of Worſhip: which the Doctor clearly waves, to take notice of. But I ſhall adde, what I now conſider better of, that Pauls going up to Jeruſalem, at that time, was not arbitrary, but neceſſary, and ſo a debt; for which conſult the former chap. Act. 20.20. [And now behold, I go bound in the ſpirit unto Jeruſalem, not knowing the things that ſhall befal me there: ſave that the holy Ghoſt witneſſeth in every city, ſaying, that bonds and afflictions abide me.] This was told him again by a Prophet, cap. 21.11. at Ceſarea: when he was upon his journey to Jeruſalem, bound before by the Spirit: whereupon carnal friends diſwade his going up: This he couragiouſly refuſes to hearken to: [What mean you to weep, &c. I am ready not to be bound onelyonly, which he was told of before; but to die, &c.] I ask now, might Paul thus bound, lawfully have avoided that danger? would, Matth. 10.23. have juſtified this? If not, (as is now plain) Paul had he refuſed to go up, had ſinned againſt an obligation upon his Spirit, by the Spirit of God; and then this could be no Free-will-offering. And now I ſhall briefly conſider, what he ſays to my other anſwer; p. 188. n. 2.[By the general allowance, he might have fled; yet if he ſhould have refuſed to ſuffer, with retarding of the Goſpel, he had ſurely ſinned.] Can the Doctor deny this, that it is a ſin to retard the Goſpel? No, he cannot; and therefore anſwers two wayes, firſt, [His not going, when he knows, he ſhall ſuffer, is no refuſing to ſuffer, but a diverting onelyonly at that time.] True indeed, if at that time he had not a ſpecial call to ſuffer; which he had, as was ſaid afore; and was ſuppoſed in my anſwer; then he had refuſed to ſuffer, n. 5.and ſurely ſinned againſt that Rule of his Lord. [Let him (when called) take up his Croſs.] 2. [His not going up (ſays he) was no way the retarding of the Goſpel; onelyonly a reſerving of himſelf for more ſervice, &c.] What it was, we enquire not, but what it might have been, if in ſome caſes he ſhould have refuſed to ſuffer; and in this caſe, when he was not onelyonly bound in ſpirit to go up, but told by a Prophet, [Thus ſhall the Jews binde this man at Jeruſalem, and ſhall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles,] which preſuppoſes a tie of going up. Now for Paul, in ſuch a concourſe of people to ſeem but to be unwilling to ſuffer, might have been a diſcouragement to the Diſciples; which would have been a retarding of the Goſpel: And therefore he both ſhakes off the temptation of his friend, (as Chriſt did that of Peter, maſter favour thy ſelf) and alſo profeſſes his willingneſs to ſuffer more, then they feared; [I am ready to die for the name, &c.] Which would put much life and ſpirit into his followers. As for Chriſts, and Pauls diverſions of dangers, and reſerving themſelves, for further ſervice, and a fitter time, it was according to Rule, when they had no call to ſuffer, and it is as much againſt Rule, to detract or refuſe to ſuffer, when there is a ſpecial call. The onelyonly objection that I can perceive, is that in the fourth verſe. where ſome [ſaid to him, through the ſpirit, that he ſhould not go up to Jeruſalem,] Which may ſeem a countermand to that, Cha. 20.20. Where Paul was bound in the Spirit to go up to Jeruſalem. The beſt reſolution of this ſeeming contradiction I can meet with, is, either that of reverend Beza, on the fourth verſe, [They foretold by the ſpirit, what dangers awaited him, as Prophets, and by their humane affections deterred him from going up,] as thoſe did alſo, verſe 12. Or that of the Doctor himſelf, numb. 5. [Not that I think, the Spirit, either by them (in the fourth) or by Agabus, (in the eleventh,) diſwaded his going; for then it had been an act of obedience to the Spirit, and ſo of duty, not to go; but that the Spirit made known his hazard, &c.] This is ſomething near to Beza's Interpretation. But when he addes, [Leaving it free for him to go or not to go,] and the reſt that followes, I ſhall not conſent unto it: Sure I am he was bound in the Spirit, to go up; and the Doctor ſayes, He does not think, the Spirit did diſwade his going up, ver. 4, or 11. and then Paul was bound to go up, and ſo no Free-will-offering. And ſo much for the third inſtance.