but in order 3. Repentance is a change of the Mind from Sin to God and duty To repent or to turn from unbelief is the same thing with Faith 4. If this repentance which he saith goes before Faith be sincere and saving then sure it is not in an unbeliever and unjustified Man if not how comes it to give them a peculiar Right and occasion their peculiar duty of resting on Christ 5. I shall shew anon that even repentance can be no duty tending to pardon if Christ hath not satisfied for them 3. Others with great confidence say that this is it that all are to believe that there is no other name under Heaven whereby Men must be saved but only by the name of Christ made known in the Gospel and Men perish for not believing the necessity of a Redeemer and that Jesus is the Redeemer Or more fully 1. Men are to repent and believe the Gospel to be the word of God to contain his Will and that Jesus Christ therein revealed is the Wisdom and power of God to Salvation 2. That there is an inseparable connexion between Faith and Salvation by Gods appointment Gospel faith carrying a Sinner quite out of himself and from off his own Righteousness 3. That there be a particular conviction by the Spirit of the necessity of a Redeemer to their Souls in particular whereby they become weary heavy laden and burdened 4. A serious full recumbency and rolling of the Soul upon Christ in the promise of the Gospel as an al-sufficient Saviour able to deliver and save to the utmost them that come to God by him ready able and willing through the pretiousness of his Blood and sufficiency of his Ransome to save every Soul that shall freely give up themselves to him for that end amongst whom he is resolved to be so Mr. Owen Page 304. 305. Sure it is many Acts that are expressed in all these words But 1. As I have said every Man that hears the Gospel is obliged to all these though to be performed in order and not all at once 2. A Judas may believe the necessity of a Redeemer 3. And that Jesus is the Redeemer 4. That there is no other is an exclusion which is necessary to the Faith which justifieth but will not justify it self 5. As to that of repentance I have answered before 6. The Devils believe that Christ is the Wisdom and Power of God to Salvation No Man can believe that Christ hath Power to save him that first believeth not that he hath satisfied for him 7. The Devils may believe truly that there is an inseparable connexion between Faith and Salvation But this is too general a Speech It must be known in what respect and to what use Faith is so connexed to Salvation And what Faith it is No Faith is by God annexed to Salvation but that which supposeth Christ to have satisfied for the believer 8. Judas was convinced of the necessity of a Redeemer and was weary and heavy laden If it be special godly sorrow and hatred of Sin that is meant then such are justified already and therefore were before obliged to believe to justification 9. The recumbency mentioned is an Act of the Will of which we shall speak anon 10. The promise is made to none that Christ died not for For it is a promise of the benefits of his Death 11. Christ is a sufficient Saviour able and willing to save only those that he died for Supposing that he satisfied not for any Man he is not sufficient or willing to save that Man though he should believe How can it be said that by the sufficiency of his Ransome he is able to save them for whom it is no Ransome Indeed the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction is one principal object of that part of Faith which consisteth in Assent But I shall shew anon that if any Man be bound to believe Christs satisfaction sufficient to justifie him for whom it was never paid he is bound to believe an untruth 2. But the main answer given by Dr. Twiss and others is that the object of justifying Faith is not true but good It is Christ whom they are bound to rest upon for Justification and Salvation The truth is here are several Acts of the will requisite The first is consent Christ is offered to all where the Gospel is published and it is their duty to consent to the Offer Now if they should consent it would be an Act meerly frivolous supposing Christ had not satisfied for them For it is certain that he consents not to be the Head and Saviour of any such And Mans consent without Christs would do no good They are commanded therefore according to this Doctrine to do that which if it were done would do no good 2. The next Act is that Affiance which some make the only justifying Act. Now according to this Doctrine this would be to many a vain Act To rest upon Christ to save Men by his Blood which was never shed for them is to rest on an insufficient Ground which would deceive them But according to this Doctrine Men are bound to rest on Christ to save them by his Blood which was never shed for them Therefore according to this Doctrine Men are bound to rest on an insufficient Ground which would deceive them Let none say God knows they will not rest on Christ For we are speaking now but of the Duty God will never make it any Mans duty to rest for Salvation on that Blood that was never shed for him or that satisfaction which was never made for him But because this reacheth but to those that have heard the Gospel the next argument shall reach further Arg. 6th Ab aequitate legis cum sufficientia mediorum in suo genere If Christ hath not satisfied for all then God hath appointed Men to use those means for their recovery and Salvation which would do nothing to recover and save them if they were used But God hath not appointed Men to use such vain and delusory means Ergo c. Here I suppose that God hath appointed to all the World some means which they are to use for their recovery I avoid the Remonstrants extream I say not that all have sufficient means or Grace to believe or to Salvation And I avoid that fouler extream which saith that Heathens are under the meer Law of works as it stands without remedy and have no Means appointed them or helps afforded them towards their recovery I shall after prove that they have much mercy from Christs Blood But now I am to prove that God hath not so left them remediless but that he hath appointed to all Men some means of their recovery And 1. It is apparent they have much of the Light and Law of Nature They have the Book of the Creatures wherein they may read much of God 2. They have teaching providences Mercies and Judgments By these they may know that there is a
Workmanship But he loveth man after his Faith and Love to him as Rector per Leges as putting on the resemblance of goodness and justice in civil Sense and as he now stands in that Relation to them in which he is by his own Law as it were obliged to do them good Note this difference of Christs love Prov. 8. 17. I love those that love me and those that seek me early shall find me So ver 21. Luke 7. 47. Many sins are forgiven for she loved much If it be meant therefore she loved much yet it would not make against this From John 3. 19. I argue thus If men are condemned for loving darkness rather than Light and Christ is this Light then they were obliged to love Christ the Light But c. Ergo c. And I have shewed it is as Redeemer that he must be loved For to Love Christ as an excellent Prophet only that a Turk may do for Mahomet so confesseth him to be Mat. 10. 37. It is Christs condition propounded to all That if they love not him better than Father Mother House Land or Life they cannot be his Disciples So that those that are not yet his Disciples are obliged at once to love him above all and become his Disciples 1 Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha And then more specially for Gratitude because I have hitherto insisted on the other species Love there are many Parables in the Gospel that shew that wicked men are condemned for ingratitude to their Redeemer Mat. 21. 37 40. c. Christ convinceth his Auditors that those unthankful Husband-men that refused to pay the Fruits and killed the Son that was sent to them he was sent to be entertained as Redeemer would deservedly be destroyed with a miserable destruction and the Vineyard let out to others i. e. that the Kingdom of God should be taken from them and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof And what is that Kingdom here meant but the Gospel The proclaiming and offer of Christ as Redeemer and of mercy in and with him Mat. 22. 8. It is unthankful refusal of the feast prepared when all things were ready and they invited which was the unworthiness that there is mentioned which shut out those Guests Mat. 18. 32. Unthankfulness is intimamated as part of the Sin of that wicked Servant who took his fellow Servant by the throat for 100. Pence when himself had been forgiven 10000 Talents I forgave thee all the debt signifieth such a mercy as Men may have that perish as is plain verse 34. 35. and yet certainly presupposeth Christs dying for them and obligeth them to thankfulness If any ask the sense of the Text I shall give it after by it self more fitly Let me therefore conclude thus That Doccrin which subverteth a very great part of Religion is not of God But so doth this which denieth Universal satisfaction Therefore it is not of God The Minor is proved from what is said It destroyeth the ground of all Mens first love to Christ for Redeeming them It justifieth all the Non-Elect in their ingratitude and not loving Christ as their Redeemer Besides what was said before of its destroying the use of repentance and all Means But we shall recollect more of these consequences in the end and shew you more fully the face of the Doctrin which I dispute against I have proved that all Men that hear the Gospel owe Christ love and thankfulness for Redeeming them by dying for them I should next shew that all Men in the World do owe God love and thankfulness for those mercies which are the effects of Christs satisfaction But especially those within the Church who have in the New Covenant made over to them a conditional remission of their Sins and adoption and everlasting life viz. If they will accept Christ with his benefits Those that are sanctified with the Blood of the Covenant and are made partakers of the Holy Ghost and were escaped from the pollutions of the World through the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and and have tasted the good word of God and the Powers of the World to come c. Certainly these have received the fruits of Christs satisfaction for which they were bound to be thankful But of those more particularly in their place Arg. 14th Acertitudine fidei possibilitate rectè credendi If Christ hath not satisfied for the Sins of all then no Man hath a sufficient ground for his first justifying Faith All Men are left at an utter uncomfortable uncertainty whether they may believe to Justification or not But the consequent is false Therefore so is the Antecedent That which is said before doth shew so much of the grounds of this Argument that I shall be the shorter in it now All the doubt is of the consequence of the Major and to clear that I suppose it is granted that all firm sufficient Faith for justification must not only have a command to warrant it but also a fit object about which it must be exercised God commandeth no Man to believe a falshood to make it become true by believing it nor to trust to a person or promise that is not to be trusted as being not only fallible but certainly will deceive As for the Act of affiance or recumbency commonly called the justifying Act no Man can groundedly or comfortably rest on Christ for justification by his Blood who doth not first know that his Blood was shed for him and hath satisfied for him Else he must rest on that which he knows not to be sufficient for him to rest upon For it hath been proved that Christs death is not sufficient to justifie any for whom it was not suffered though they should believe He suffered not superfluously as I have shewed Take the confession of a Divine that for fear of Arminianism joyned Hands with the Antimonians Maccovius colleg disp de justif disp 5. § 22. Quoad substantiam poenae nihil olus perpessus est Christus quam per legem debebatur Neque enim vel Amor Patris vel etiam justitia permittere potuit plura ut filio imponerentur quam quae illi necessariò tanquam sponsori ferenda erant Quoad circumstantias autem patientis personam patiendi causam passionis efficaciam plusquam sufficiens satisfactio Christi Neque enim lex requirebat ut Deus moreretur neque ut sine peccato proprio quis moreretur neque morstalis quae suffecisset pro peccatis totius mundi sive pro omnibus singulis hominibus Here he confesseth that Christ suffered no more than was due by Law and than was necessary for him to suffer as Sponsor And yet that his Death was sufficient for the Sins of all the World even for all Men and every Man And if so then either he suffered as Sponsor for all Or else circumstances did make that Death sufficient for
all which yet quoad substantiâ poenae as he calls it had none of that which the Law required and was necessary for the Sponsor to undergo And thus I think with that added which is said before it is evident that none have ground to rest on Christs Blood to justifie them or on Christ to justifie them by his Blood till they know that his Blood was shed for them seeing it is sufficient for no more But no Man before justifying Faith knows that Christs Blood was shed for him any more then for others that shall never be justified by it therefore no Man hath ground thus to believe And for the intellectual Act of Faith if it be that which Maccovius saith it is ibid. disput 3. § 17. Fides in Christum quae requiritur a nobis ad nostri justificationem est ut credamus pro redemptionem sanguinem nos justificari salvari then most Men are bound to believe an untruth if they are bound to believe to justification If it be said that it 〈…〉 believe that Christs Death is sufficient to pardon him if he believe I answer that no Man can truly believe that neither but he that first knows that he died for him which none can do but he that knows that he died for all I marvail how such Divines as Twiss and Maccovius who hold the main Antimonian Principles who say that Faith justifieth only as we are ascertained or receive the knowledg of justification already past at Christs death can tell how to Salve this How can they choose but say that either God doth not command all where the Gospel comes to believe to justification or else that he commands most Men to believe a falshood Or else that all Men are justified by Christs death Let me add here for I will not make another Argument of it being built on the same grounds with the former that if Christ died not for all then not only all Men at their first invitation but even all true believers whenever they loose the fight of their evidences that is of their own Faith and other Graces have no ground left them to renew an Act of justifying Faith nor to cast their Souls with any confidence on Christ For as long as he knows not himself to be Elect and a true believer he cannot tell whether Christ died for him and consequently he knows not whether he may rest on him as a sufficient Redeemer as not knowing whether he satisfied for him or not If any say he must believe that he may know I answer 1. It must be a revealed truth before it is believed 2. Believing will not make it true if it were not true before We are not to believe that Christ may die for us but to believe that he did die for us Hear Maccovius his confession of that also Ibid disp 9. § 16. At toto caelo errat Haereticus Socinus Neque enim fidem requiri ad hoc dicimus ut pro nobis satisfiat sed ut pro fidem satisfactio ista Christi quae perac to est ante fidem nobis innotescat so that when God commandeth Men to believe he commandeth them to take knowledg of Christs satisfaction for them before made And surely men cannot know that which is not true unless it be to know it to be false And thus it seems plain to me that many if not most true believers will be left without any sufficient ground to believe through a great part of their lives For I think assurance is not so common a thing as some imagine nor so constant with them that have it Though Maccovius saith as one Error draws on another Ibid. disp 9. § 11. Respondeo salvo aliorum judicio negando sensum illum qui in nobis oritur ex agnitione nostrae Iustificationis aliquando tolli penitus in homine Our Divines that teach poor Souls to use their Faith of Adherence when they want evidence do go another way to work and suppose an Universal promise and before that an Universal satisfaction Or else Adherence without evidence hath no sufficient object or ground and then farewel the Christians most constant stay Arg. 15. Ab ordine credendi perverso If Christ satisfied not for all then the knowledg or assurance that we have justifying Faith must go before justifying Faith But that is impossible as being a contradiction Ergo c. The reason of the consequence is plain in what was said on the last argument For no Man can believe to justification but by believing that Christ is a sufficient Redeemer and hath made sufficient satisfaction for his Sins and by accepting him as offered to apply the fruits of that satisfaction to us and by resting on him for those fruits Now all this hath no ground till a Man knows that Christ hath already died and satisfied for him And that cannot be known if Christ died not for all till Men first know themselves to be Elect and believers and that cannot be known till after we do believe For if the thing to be believed is that Christ died for believers and for me if I believe I must know that I believe before I can know that he died for me and yet I must know that he hath died and satisfied for me before I can believe to Justification See what contradictions are here and how Men are put upon impossibilities I know the necessity of believing that Christ hath satisfied for me is denied but I have proved it before Arg. 16. A peccatorum aggravatione If it be the great aggravation of all Mens Sins committed against that mercy which tendeth to their Recovery that they are against the Lord that died for them then Christ did die for all such Men But the Antecedent is true Ergo c. Only the Antecedent requires proof That wicked Men do partake of Mercy tending towards their recovery as to the nature of the mercy and in Gods legal Ordination I think I need not prove among Christians And that they Sin against such mercy is a thing that needs as little proof The main proof of the Antecedent that these mens Sins are aggravated in that they are against Christ that died for them will be from several Texts of Scripture which do thus aggravate such Mens Sin which because I intend to handle particularly I will refer you thereto and now pass them by Further 1. It is confessed that these Mens Sin is aggravated in that they are against the Blood of Christ as offered to them in its Fruits and as against Christ himself offered to them as Crucified and as Redeemer and as against the offers of pardon Adoption and Salvation which are all Fruits of Christs satisfaction But all these imply satisfaction for them to whom they are offered as is proved already Ergo c. Many of our Divines as Perkins Reform Cathol of Justif and others say that in this we differ from the Papists that they make Christs satisfaction
or offered to them nor any satisfaction ever made for them by Christ then should they escape all the sorer punishment of the new Law and never suffer at all for Abuse of that mercy or rejecting a Redeemer or any fruit of his satisfaction which he made for them And this would be an easie Hell in comparison of theirs that refuse Christ offered them Prop. XXVIII We must in all our Controversies try the Minus nota pro notiora minus certa per certiora non contra We must reduce uncertainties to certainties and dark points to clear ones and not certainties to uncertainties Seeing therefore it hath pleased God to leave his final dealing with Pagans that hear not the Gospel Ideots and Infants so uncertain and dark the Controversy of Universal Redemption is not to be tryed hereby nor all the plain Scripture for it to be reduced to the uncertainties herein So much to this Argument Let the Reader note that since the writing of this I am clearer than I was then in the assurance of this Truth that the Covenant or Law of Grace as it is the Rule of Duty and Retribution was made with all Mankind in the first Edition in Adam and Noah and is not repealed to any that have not the second Edition in the Gospel but the rest of the World are still under it When I had gone thus far Dalleus's Defence of Universal Redemption and Grace came out with Blondels Preface where are so great a number of Witnesses cited of all Ages that I not only stopt my work but cast away a multitude of Testimonies which I had collected even of English Anti-Arminians such as Davenant Ward Hall Carlton Rob. Abbots Bishop of Salisbury Dr. Preston Whately Will. Fenner Ezek. Culverwel and many such DISPUTATION OF Special Redemption Whether Christ Died with a Special Intention of bringing Infallibly Immutably and Insuperably certain Chosen Persons to Saving Faith Justification and Salvation THE Question is so cautelously and clearly expressed that I need not say much for the explication of it but shall directly determine it Affirmatively only in brief take notice of these things as the Reasons of the Terms First We mean here the Intention of Christ as God for so he knew all things and Willed all the Good which he knew But whether as Man he that knew not the day nor hour of his own coming to Judgment did know the number and names of his own Elect that ever were and should be and consequently whether he had a special Intention concerning the Salvation of each of them in particular this I shall purposely leave undetermined Secondly It is therefore implied by us that the Father and Holy Ghost had the same Intention which we affirm Christ to have had Thirdly By the word Intention we mean that Act of Christ's Will which is resembled by Intention in mere man and so is Analogically called Intention And we confine it not to the Will alone but take it as comprehending that Counsel of the Understanding or that simple Knowledge which the act of the Will supposeth Nor do we take it in the strict sense as it is terminated only on the End and so Intentio Finis is distinct from Election of the means but more largely as it may comprehend either of these for that which we commonly call a Purpose or Resolution Fourthly We call it a Special Intention because it is about a Special Object and is not General or Common to all Fifthly We call it an Intention of Bringing men to Faith c. because it is Christ's own Work to give these things which he Intendeth and so we difference it both from his Intention to Permit if such there be in case of Sin and from that imagined Intention of a Partial Causation of a Concurse determinable by the Will of Man But tho' it be an intention of Effecting that we mention yet the Manner of this effecting or bringing men to Believe we here meddle not with Sixthly It is an Infallible effecting of this that we mention thereby differencing it from a mere Velleity or a conditional willing so as that the very act of willing should depend upon some uncertain condition as distinct from this we may call it Absolute And in the word Infallible which respecteth the act of the Divine Understanding we imply also Immutable which respecteth Gods Will and Invincible as to his operation and had we one word that comprehended these it would contain our full sense It is the same thing which our Divines mean by the word Irresistible or Insuperable Seventhly It is Certain Persons or Individuals that are the objects of this Purpose which we mention as against the Arminian Conceit that it is only Believers in General or All men Conditionally if they will Believe that Christ Decreed to Justifie and Save without determining infallibly of any certain Individuals till he foresaw that themselves would make the difference by Believing Eighthly We call them Chosen Persons not a Posteriore upon the foresight of their Faith but a priore before and without any moving cause or condition in themselves It is the same act which we here call Chusing as considered in Eternity determining of the future difference of Persons and which we before call Special Intention there considering it as respecting the time of Christ's Death Ninthly The Intended effect is 1. Saving Faith such as is not common to the Unjustified This we express against the Pelagian Conceit that giveth Justification and Salvation on condition of Faith but not Faith it self or at least not Certainly and Infallibly to any we say both that God Decreeth us to Faith as well as to Salvation by Faith and that Christ dying did purpose Infallibly to bring his chosen to Believe and this as a fruit of his Death 2. When we speak of Justification as the second Intended effect we take it in Connexion with the foregoing Faith and subsequent Salvation meaning that all the Elect that are at Age and Believe and they only have that Justification which follows their personal Faith We own not their opinion that think that many persons that were never Elected to Salvation were yet Elected to Faith and Justification and do fall from these at last and perish Tho' yet we reverence many that have maintained or owned this opinion as precious Servants of God and think not so hardly of their opinion as of their's who maintain the Apostacy of the Elect if now there be any such Austin himself seems fully to go that way who yet maintaineth the perseverance of all the Elect And so doth Musculus and some others among the Reformed Divines called Calvinists But for the Justification of Infants which hath no such connexion to a personal Faith of their own whether it may cease when they come to the use of Reason for want of personal faith to continue it which was the Judgment of Davenant Dr. Ward Amyraldus and many of our own this
with some For they deny that Christ is given conditionally to any Unbeliever Elect or not Elect but only is decreed for the Elect before time and given to Believers in time The Sence is that there is no conditional promise or deed of Gift but all absolute For if it be made only to Men that do believe their first believing cannot be the condition and if it be made on condtion of First believing it is made to Men that do not yet believe But the main Scope of the Gospel proves the Minor by proving the conditional Gift or promise As the Texts even now cited among others Where note to put it out of doubt 1. That the time of Gods enacting this Law or making this Testament Gift or promise was before we were born and therefore before we believed 2. that in its nature it first speaks to unbelievers as its Subject For who will offer a gift to us to be accepted that it may be ours if we have accepted it already Nay how can it be accepted before it is offered And how can we consent to have Christ and so be united to him except he first give himself to us on condition that we will consent 3. Note that the promise is made in most proper conditional terms If thou confess with thy Mouth and believe in thy heart Rom. 10. That whosoever believeth should not perish c. 4. And also note that faith hath here the Definition of a condition agreeing to it i. e. It is an Arbitrary act on which the free Donour hath suspended the efficacy of his Testament or Deed of Gift It is Arbitrary conditions that we have here to speak of which some call Potestative And not casual or mixt So to suspend the effect of the Instrument that hoc posito efficiet donec ponatur non efficiet that upon the doing or not doing the Effect shall follow or not follow and this by the Positive ordination of the Donor is the very essence of a Condition in Law-sence And such â—s Faith And what Divine except Antinomians doth deny Faith to be the Condition And if it be so then the Promise or Conditional Gift must needs be made to Unbelievers that it may become effectual when they believe For it can be no condition in this proper sence if it be past already And therefore it must needs be made to all Unbelievers seeing Scripture limitteth it not to any but speaketh universally Inded it is a very hard questionhow far the promulgation may be said to be Universal and how far not But that is nothing against the Universality of the Tenor of the Law or Gift And the command to the Promulgators is Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature Next let us prove the consequence of the Major Proposition and that thus The thing conditionally given is Pardon purchased by Christs Blood shed for the Sinner to whom it is Given Therefore the gift presupposeth the shedding of his Blood for that Sinner The Antecedent hath two branches to be proved 1. That the Pardon conditionally given to all is a pardon purchased by Christs Blood 2. That it is by Christs blood as shed for him to whom that pardon is given For the first there is no Pardon given any other way but by Christs blood shed therefore this is from his Bloodshed 1. If there be Remission which is not purchased by Christs blood shed then there are two distinct ways of Remission one by his blood and another without But the consequent is false Ergo c. 2. If there be a remission without Christs bloodshed then all remission might have been without it But the consequent is false else Christ Dyed needlesly 3. Heb. 9. 22. Without shedding of Blood there is no Remission 4. Heb. 9. 16. For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the Death of the Testator But this conditional Gift is Christs Testament So ver 15. For this cause he is the Mediator of the new Testament that by means of Death for the Redemption of the Transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of Eternal Inheritants viz. all that are externalâ—y called receive the conditional Promise and Believers the thing promised 5. Luke 24. 46 47. It behoved Christ to â—uffer and Rise from the Dead the third day and â—hat Repentance and Remission of Sins should be reached in his name among all Nations c. â—o that even Remission Preached that is offered â—n condition of repentance and Faith presupposeth Christs Death as the Cause 6. In the Institution of his Supper he calleth â—e Cup the New Testament in his Blood that this signifieth my Blood which procureth the â—ew Testament Now none sure dare say that the â—â—omise of Pardon and Life on condition of Beâ—â—ving is not the New Testament either whole or â—â—t 7. And therefore it is called the Blood of the â—venant even to them that tread it under â—â—â—t Heb. 10. 29. and 13. 20. Zech. 9. 11. 8. Justification is by Christs Blood Rom. 5. 9. Being Justified by his Blood But Justification is the Effect of this Conditional Covenant or Gift when the Condition is performed therefore the effect of this Covenant is from Christs blood and consequently the Covenant it self which is an intermediate cause Though there be other sorts of Justification yet that this is one and the first is undenyable 9. Actual Remission to Believers is from Christs Blood Eph. 1. 7. In whom we have Redemption through his Blood the remission of Sins Col. 1. 14. therefore conditional remission to unbelievers is from his Blood The reason of the consequence is that Christ procureth the Effect of Justification or Remission not immediately by his Blood as shed but by procuring the Covenant or Promise as the immediate Cause and the effect by that Cause and it is the same Gift oâ— Covenant which conditionally Justifieth all and actually Justifieth Believers and that without any other â—â—tervening act of God When the condition is performed whose Nature is to suspend the Effect then the effect resulteth from thaâ— same Promise which before did not effect Indeed Christ giveth his Spirit to causé his Own tâ— perform the condition but still the justifying aâ— is by the conditional Covenant If therefore iâ— be the same promise which effectually justifieâ— the Elect and only conditionally justifieth otheâ— and Christs Blood causeth that promise which eâ— fectually justifieth the Elect then his Bloâ—â— caused that promise which conditionally justifieâ— all John 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gâ— his only begotten Son 1. For men on the Crâ—â— 2. To men by the promise that whosoever believe c. So that this conditional grant of Life comes from the giving of Christ to Death And for the second part of the Antecedent viz. That it is from Christs Blood as shed for him to whom the Promise is made And 1. Ab â—nefficacia
under the meer Law of Works as remediless Men are not then examined meerly whether ever they Sinned nor accused meerly as Sinners But the Question will be of that Sin in Specie which consisteth in refusing to repent or believe or abusing that mercy which should have led them to repentance Mat. 25. It is for not improving their Talents which is not the legal reason as the Law of Works is alone or for not loving and cherishing Christ Jesus in his Members It is for not knowing God nor obeying the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ It is true that all their Sins also against the Law shall cause their condemnation for they were never pardoned But that is consequentially because they abused the Grace that should have recovered them and so the Wrath of God abideth on them that would not yield to his means for removing it I no where read that God will make this Rigorous Law alone the Norma Judicii and pass sentence on any meerly on these terms If thou have never Sinned thou shalt be saved else thou shalt be condemned so that if we have no discovery what way or on what terms in special God will judg them that hear not of Christ yet we have a plain discovery of the Negative that he will not deal with them on the forementioned terms of the sole Covenant of Works And consequently for the affirmative we are sure in general that he deals with them upon terms of Grace i. e. Mercy contrary to their desert More of this may be added anon Arg. 5. Ab aequitate novae Legis Credendi Debitum Constituentis The Faith which God requireth of Men to their Justification hath not a feigned or deceiving object But it should have such an object if Christ have not satisfied for all who are commanded to belieâ— ergo c. Or tâ—â—s if Christ have not satisfied for all who are commanded to believe in him to Justification then the Faith commanded them should have a feigned or deceiving object But the Faith commanded them hath not a feigned or deceiving object ergo c. All the proof requisite is of the consequence of the Major Proposition And here we must first know what the justifying Act of Faith is and then what the object must be and then the consequence will manifest it self Divines are not agreed what the justifying Act of Faith is some think it must be but one Act and therefore it must be placed but in one faculty Of these some place it only in the understanding as Camero and many others Some only in the Will as Amesius and some few with him Some and most place it in both faculties and so in divers Acts and that rightly And inded it hath divers Acts in each faculty For as it is more then one particular Truth or exunciation which is the object of Assent and therefore must have divers Acts of Assent so it is in more then one shape and profitable respect that the Goodness of the object is presented to the Will and therefore it must there have several Acts as consent affiance c. Now let us first enquire after the Acts of the understanding where I will meddle with none but what is ordinarily by Divines asserted to be justifying or prerequisite thereto And 1. I will let that pass which Dr. Twiss makes the first Act viz. To believe Gods word to be true For if it be not known what that word is here is no material object of Faith but the formal object alone 2. I will pass over the duty of repenting which Dr. Twiss saith is next required contrary to the usual Doctrine though it is manifest that repentance it self as a means to remission cannot be required but on supposition of satisfaction for Sin The common answer to the Arminians Quicquid tenemur credere verum est c. Is We are all bound to believe that Christ died for all that will believe in him See what Twiss saith against this Answer in Piscator Vindic. de promiss lib. 2. Part 2. Sect. 20. Page 475. Vol. Parv. 1. Men are not supposed first to be believers and then Christ to dye for them nor hath died at random without determining in quorum Loco in whose stead and left it to their Faith to determine afterwards He hath not said either if thou believe I will die for thee Or if thou believe that Death which I have undergone shall be tui loco in thy stead or for thy Sins Mans Sin being the loco causae meritoriae of Christs sufferings it must be determined whose Sins he should suffer for before he suffer For the meritorious cause is before the effect And therefore Christ died for them before they are believers for else how did he procure them grace to believe Not only Davenant hath well cleared this in his dissert de redempt but Twiss ubi super P. 474. could say Neque enim hujus propositionis veritas Christus est Redemptor Noster est veritas consequens fidem nostram Nec ejus falsitas est falsitas consequens infidelitatem nostram sed antecedens Antecedens inquam natura in genere causae moralis nempe meritoriae non autem in genere causae Physicae Quod eo tantum addo quoniam quod est prius natura in genere causae Physicae impossibile est ut sit posterius tempore eo quo prius est natura At quod est prius natura in genere causae moralis meritoriae presertim ex libera Dei constitutione proficiscens potest esse posterius tempore etiam eo quod est prius naturâ 2. There must therefore be some former consideration of those for whom Christ died Antecedent Moraliter to his Death And that can be nothing but for Sinners as such It is therefore for all Sinners or only for some And the Doctrine of those that contradict me is that it was not indeterminately for all that will believe but determinately to these particular Elect Persons that they may believe for whom Christ satisfied Now then according to this Doctrine all Men where the Gospel is preached are bound to believe that Christ satisfied for the Elect to procure them Faith and consequently justification that by so believing themselves may be justified But if they should so believe this Faith would not justifie them for whom Christ Died not so that here is a justifying Faith Commanded without a justifying object as I shall fullier shew anon 2. And whereas Dr. Twiss saith It is only the penitent that are commanded to believe on Christ for justification I Answer 1. Then the Impenitent shall not be condemned for not believing in Christ for justification which is false for the omission is not so much as a Sin much less damning if faith be not commanded them 2. It is nevertheless their duty because other duties as suppose repentance are first to be performed God may constitute many duties at once though they are not to be performed at once
Will de eventu and of God as absolute Lord above Laws without them disposing of his own The prediction of Events doth collaterally and secundum quid belong to his Law But not per se and directly And 6. Consider that if it be never so much denied that God hath properly a conditional Will de rerum eventu yet it is beyond all question true that he hath a conditional Will de debito officii Praemii Poenae and so his Law is contidional most commonly He hath constituted the Debitum praemii the dueness of Salvation on condition of believing loving and sincerely obeying Christ And therefore they must not deny conditional promises and threatnings though they deny conditional decrees This I add because I know they here usually answer that God intendeth no end conditionally but where he intendeth also the condition it self that so it may be equivalent to absolute But he intendeth as Legislator that Faith shall be the prescribed means to Glory and Glory the end promised to all that perform that condition and so conditionally giveth it 7. Consider also that even in regard of Gods Will de Eventu our Divines generally with the Schoolmen confess and maintain that God hath a conditional Will in this Sense That is that he willeth such a thing shall be a condition of the accomplishing giving or event of another thing and so that he willeth Faith shall be a condition of Salvation Though nothing be the condition of Gods Act of Willing So that ex parte voliti it is conditional though not ex parte actus volentis This Dr. Twiss saith oâ—t consid of Tilenus Sinod of Dort and Arlis reduced Page 61. He saith Ger. Vossius interpreteth the Will of God touching the Salvation of all of a conditional Will thus God will have all to be saved to wit in case they believe Which conditional Will in this Sense neither Austin did nor we do deny And Page 143 144. I willingly profess that Christ died for all in respect of procuring the benefit of Pardon and Salvation conditionally on condition of their Faith and against Cotton p. 74 Still you prove that which no man denieth viz. that God purposed Life to the World upon condition of Obedience and Repentance provided that you understand it right viz. that Obedience and Repentance is ordained of God as a condition of Life not of Gods purpose 8. And lastly Let it be considered that Christ being man we may the better speak after the manner of man concerning him and so ascribe to him a Velleity or a VVill which attains not the thing willed in a sense beyond all those senses before mentioned All this I have laid here together that it may serve when the like question or text falls again in our way and so I must take leave to refer you hither And by this may very many Scriptures be interpreted which ascribe such Velleities and Unaccomplished willings to God Yea were these few lines given in answer to this question well weighed if through partiality I over-value them not I think they might give much light to shew the true mean in the greatest of the Arminian Controversies The second Reason they give that it is the Elect only that are here meant by the VVorld is because the most of men were at that instant actually damned Did he send his Son that they might be saved Ans This is anon to be answered by it self as a great argument against Universal Redemption and I am loath to repeat one thing oftener than needs I must Only I say when Christ died Millions of Men were actually saved Did God send his Son to save them that were saved already yes no doubt even to do that which he had undertaken to do presently on the fall to pay a sufficient satisfaction for the sins of all whether since that undertaking they be saved or damned Thirdly They say Christ was appointed for the fall of some therefore not that all and every one might be saved Luke 2. 34. Ans Themselves will fasten no other sense on that of Luke but this God hath decreed to permit many through their own wilfulness to stumble and fall on Christ and so he shall by accident or as an occasion be their ruine Now this is no whit inconsistent with Gods ordaining him to be per se and directly a means for all mens Salvation in the sense before fully opened 4. They say the end of God in sending Christ was not contrary to any of Gods Decrees which were eternally fixed concerning the condemnation of some for their sins Did he send his Son to Save such Ans 1. As it is no contradiction for God to command an action and to decree the non-futurition of that action so it is no contradiction for God as Legislator by his Law or Testament to ordain that Salvation shall be to every man the end prescribed him when he is commanded to believe and faith a means to that end and to give him Salvation under his hand in his Testament on condition of believing and to purpose accordingly that he shall be saved if he will believe and yet at the same time either not to Decree to give him Faith or to Decree not to give him Faith and consequently not actually de eventu to save him 2. Do not these men know that they vent all these confident zealous insultings directly against the Scripture expressions as well as against ours Doth not Christ say to Hierusalem How oft would I have gathered thee as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings and ye would not yet did not God decree their not being so gathered Are you sure that all those Jews were Elected and Saved to whom Peter saith Act. 3. last To you first God sent his Son Jesus to bless you in turning every one of you from his Iniquities Or rather is it not spoken of the end of Gods Legislative Will and so is meant of a conditional gift God will so bless you if you are willing or reject it not For by turning from Iniquity there is meant the work of Sanctification following the first act of Faith and perhaps of Justification too Multitudes of such expressions may be found in the Scripture which I am loath needlesly to tire my self and the Reader with the recital of The third Text which I shall alledge is that of the same importance with both the former John 12. 47 48. And if any man hear my words and believe not I judge him not for I came not to judge the World but to save the World He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken that same shall Judge him at the last day An ordinary wit would think that Christ had spoken here so plain and full as to stop the passage against all sober exceptions For 1. In the 46 verse Christ saith I am come a Light into the World thereby shewing that he is
Donor Testator or Legislator of the new Law and it is A Grant of Remission of sins to All men on condition they will accept him and pardon with him so that this is Christs first pardoning act and this is but a conditional pardon and therefore is not yet full and actual 3. The third Pardon of sin Is Christs actual Pardon upon the performance of the condition which is not by any new physical act but by a new moral act of the former Law or Grant which till now was suspended upon the non-performance of the condition it being the Will of the Legislator or Donor that his Instrument should not act or remit sin till men believe 4 The fourth Pardon and most full is that by the absolving Sentence at Judgment by Christ as Judge when our sins shall be blotted out when that time of refreshing comes as the Apostle speaks Act. 3. These four are several acts tending to the full perfecting of our Pardon and Justification and are all called Pardon and must all proceed in this order one after another Moreover the third of these or the properest remission in this life is of divers sorts or degrees according to the Termini à quibus the divers sins or penalties Remitted As is the second also From thence therefore we must next distinguish of Remission as we did before from the nature of the remitting act For the word Remission of sin signifieth the Dissolution of the Obligation to Punishment and so doth constitutive Justification too But the term Justification respecteth more strongly the obligation dissolved and the word Remission more strongly respecteth the Punishment to which we were obliged not that Remission doth only respect the Punishment as some mistake and not the obligation at all but it chiefly respecteth the Punishment And therefore it is both Obligationis Relaxatio vel Remissio Poenae Remissio but most properly and principally the last And therefore it is a right distribution of Remission which is taken from the diversity of the Penalties remitted Let us therefore First distinguish of Punishment that we may the better distinguish of Remission And before that let us define Punishment Punishment Actually taken Punitio is The Action of a Governour depriving an Inferiour of some natural good because of some fault by him committed or because of some Moral Evil. Punishment Passively taken Poena is a privavation of some natural good Inflicted for the desert of some Moral Evil. The Matter of Punishment is Natural Evil and therefore the first thing intended by the Inflicter is ut noceat patienti that it may hurt the Sufferer and so may have the Matter of Punishment The form is its Relation to a fault viz. that it be because of some Moral Evil The end is the demonstration of Justice this end enters the difinition of Punishment in General and is common to all Punishment The other ends proper to each Species are to be fetcht from the definition of that Species And first quoad Materiam Punishment is of two sorts 1. Some Punishment is destructive to the sinner and some is lesser consisting in the removal of such good whose loss is tolerable 2. Quoad finem some punishment is for the Demonstration of Justice most eminently and principally and that is either 1. When there is all Justice inâ—utmost Rigour and no remitting mercy 2. Or when the remitting mercy is small comparatively and Justice is most eminently demonstrated 2. Some Punishment is for the demonstration of Justice conjunct with a far greater and more eminent demonstration of Mercy This is commonly called Chastisement yea Paternal Chastisement because of tenderness and Love that accompanieth it though indeed it is common to a Master a Prince or any Rector to Chastise as well as a Father God punisheth in this sort I. Rebels or Unbelievers 1. To Restrain them 2. To Reclaim them 1. From Total Rebellion 2. From a seeming Religiousness or half Christianity to Sincerity 3. From particular Sins II. True Believers his Adopted Sons 1. To weaken their Corrupt Inclinations and strengthen their Holy Inclinations 2. To raise them from particular falls and excite particular Graces into lively exercise 3. Remotely 1. To fit them for great Works 2. To fit them for greater Glory hereafter 3. To Glorifie his Power and Grace in their sustentation and deliverance 4. But still the end of Punishment as such or of the Evil that is in it is the demonstration of Justice in some measure however moderated and prevailed over by Mercy even Fathers Chastise their Children in Paternal Justice but with a prevailing Love and Vindictive it is though not in that rigorous Sense as the first mentioned sort of punishment is Vindictive And as Remission must be distinguished according to the diversity of the penalty remitted so also in respect of the sins remitted Though to remit Sin and to remit punishment is all one for it is 1. Either the whole general Mass of Sin past and present habitual and actual besides Original imputed Sin which is remitted at once which is at our first Repenting and Believing sincerely This is called Universal Remission or Justification Or else 2. It is particular sins of Act Omission or Habit that are remitted to one who had all the sins of his Unregenerate State pardoned before and was disposed to this Actual as being Habitually Penitent and Believing This is commonly called Particular Remission or Justification Also in regard of the obligation dissolved remission must be distinguished For it is either the penalty of the Law of Works which is remitted to all Believers 2. Or the Penalty of the Law of Christ which it obligeth men to for non-performance of the Conditions of the Law which is remitted to no man some who say the Law of works is totally abrogated do call this last the peremptory sentence of Christ's Law as distinct from the former which they call the remissible sentence of Christ's Law but all comes to one in sense Moreover Remission must be distinguished quoad jus ipsum or its very form Into 1. Inceptive or Remission given at first 2. And Continuate or Remission confirmed and continued which requireth a continued moral action of the remitting Law or Grant and more than the continuance of our Faith which was the Condition of inceptive Remission viz. The addition of sincere obedience and the continuance thereof By all this it may appear that remission of sin is variously distinguishable and not to be taken in one and the same sense wherever we find the word in Scripture And because I have run so far in distinguishing I will add some Conclusions in application of them Conclus 1. In the first remitting act wherein God so far remitteth sin as to let go his Jus Puniendi as Rector secundum legem operum meerly and giveth up all into the hands of the Redeemer to give out remission as he please on terms of Grace in this act I say God doth remit all the
suffer injustly He doth what he doth of this kind for unbelievers arbitrarily Let any Man shew where God is engaged by any Covenant to save unbelievers from bodily dangers But their Souls he hath redeemed by Christ and so saved them quoad pretium And he hath made a Deed of Gift of Christ and Eternal Life to all on condition they refuse it not So that he may in respect of his Covenant and so in a fuller Sense be called their Saviour in Spiritual respects than in temporal for all that they are not eventually saved The word Saviour here implies such a Relation as God hath undertaken and that Men may assure themselves he will perform all that belongs to it Or else it could not be the ground of our confidence But wicked Men have no promise for or assurance of an hours Life or any outward deliverance whatsoever no not though it were never so good for them For God will not be in Covenant with them for common things till they first accept of his Covenant of Grace in Christ But for Salvation he hath made them a conditional promise as aforesaid 3. And it is less probable that the Apostle calls God a Saviour here so equivocally as not to mean in the same kind of Salvation when yet he intimateth no difference in the Text. 4. But let us suppose all this were as the opponents would have it yet for ought I can see the Text will fully prove the point in question For even in temporal respects God is the Saviour of no Man but those whom Christ died for For all Men have forfeited all his Salvation and are under his Curse And he can be no Saviour to them according to the tenor of that cursing violated Law It must be therefore according to the New Law or Covenant or not at all And the New Law is founded in the Blood of Christ shed for those to whom it is made Indeed according to the first Law he may uphold the Life and Being of Sinners But it is only as he doth the Devils to make them capable of punishment But neither do we for that call him the Saviour of the Devils nor would it be any such great encouragement to Paul and all Christians in labour and sufferings for godliness sake So that even this Temporal Salvation doth presuppose the Relaxation or Non Execution Plenary of the Law of Works And that is done only by the remitting Law of Grace and that presupposeth Christs Blood shed or undertaken to beshed for the sinners I know nothing more that needs to be spoken to for vindicating this Text. The 11th Text shall be 1 Joh. 5. 9 10. 11 For this is the witness which he hath testified of his Son He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself He that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son And this is the Record that God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life Hence I thus argue If Eternal Life in Christ be given to unbelievers who make God a Lyar and have not Christ or Life then Christ was first given on the Cross as a Sacrifice for those unbelievers But the Antecedent is true Therefore so is the Consequent And consequently Christ died for more than the Elect and therefore for all 1. I Suppose none that is not willing to be deceived will maintain that it is only such unbelievers as afterward shall be converted and are Elect who are here said to make God a Lyar For the Record which they are condemned here for not believing is the object propounded to Elect and not Elect without such Distinction as they are all considered in number of sinful Mankind 2. As for the Minor or Antecedent of the Major proposition it is very plain in the Text. If all men should believe who hear the Gospel that Eternal Life in Christ is given them and those that believe it not do make God a Lyar then it 's certain that Eternal Life in Christ is given to them all But c. Ergo c. There is nothing here to be questioned but only who are meant in the term Us when it is said God hath given Us Eternal Life And it is plain that it is the same persons included with others who are charged with making God a Lyar. 1. Else their Unbelief should consist only in not believing that Life is given to other men and consequently the Faith required of them should consist only in believing that God hath given Life in Christ to others without any inclusion of themselves But that is not true Ergo c. The falshood of this consequent is proved thus 1. True saving Faith is of a Receiving or Applying nature as it is the act of the Will and it is introductory thereto as it is the act of the Understanding But believing that God hath given Life in Christ to other men is not receptive nor applicatory nor introductory thereto Ergo c. All our Divines against the Papists do fully maintain the Major 2. The Devils and the most despairing men have not saving Faith But the Devils and Despairing men do believe that God hath given Eternal Life to others therefore to believe that God doth give that Life to others is not saving Faith 3. True saving Faith is of greatest concernment to the Believer as to the object of it as being the means of his Salvation But the believing meerly what God giveth to other men is of no such concernment to any Ergo c. Obj. It is not Saving Faith that is here mentioned nor any act that is proper to a true Believer nor is it the want of that which is here condemned But it is the not believing the Truth of the Gospel which is only a preparatory act and which the Devils themselves may have who believe and tremble For though this meer assent will not save yet the want of it will condemn Answ 1. Saving Faith hath two parts according to the Souls faculties which have each their several Offices about this saving object the one is the assent of the Understanding the other is the consent of the Will and affiance thence following when ever Justifying Faith is mentioned in the Scripture it is usually by one of these acts alone sometime one and sometime another And when one only is expressed the other is still implied And so it is in this Text. 2. Assent is true saving Faith though not the whole of saving Faith 3. It is not meerly assent to this proposition in general the Gospel is true that is here made the Record of God and object of Faith nor yet assent to this Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour of Believers But it is this God hath given us Eternal Life and this life is in his Son so that it
I intend not here to determine or meddle with 3. We anumerate Salvation that is Glorification to these intended effects of Christ's Death for his chosen this being the End of all the former and therefore we imply that Perseverance in Faith and a State of Justification was intended infallibly and certainly to be given them Tenthly Observe that we do not here enquire after the present immediate effects of Christ's Death as a satisfaction to Justice For I doubt not but the sins of the Non-Elect did lye upon him as the pro meritorious Cause of his Suffering as well as the sins of the Elect and consequently that he made Satisfaction for them to God and purchased them by his Blood Eleventh and Lastly Observe that in affirming this Infallible Immutable purpose of God to save his Elect and them only we do not deny his Purpose of giving Pardon and Life in Christ Conditionally to those that are not Elect For that which he hath done in Time he Purposed before Time and so did Christ at his Death But in Time he hath made such a general Conditional Grant or Gift of Christ and Life as is legible in the Gospel beyond all exceptions Ergo c. And therefore according to his Legislative Will antecedently God would have all men to be saved tho' consequently considering many as finally Impenitent Unbelievers he Wills as a Righteous Judge their Damnation Nor will I dispute whether as we ascribe a Volition to God as the cause of his Effectual Grace so we may ascribe a Velleity to him as Lud. Crocius and other of our Divines do as the cause of that Grace which proveth not-effectual in both speaking of him from the manner of man Upon this very cursory explication I proceed to prove the Thesis thus Argum. I. If Christ Died with a Special Intention to bring his chosen Infallibly to Believe and to give them Justification and Glorification on condition of believing then he died with a special Intention of bringing infallibly certain chosen persons to Faith Justification and Salvation But the Antecedent is true therefore so is the consequent That which we have to prove therefore is that he had a Special Intent to give Faith to some Infallibly and then there will be no more question of Justification and Glorification And that I prove thus Whatever Grace Christ giveth absolutely and infallibly that he purposed before to give absolutely and infallibly But Christ giveth the Grace of Faith and Repentance to his chosen and them only absolutely and infallibly Ergo c. By giving in this Argument I mean the actual Causation or Collation of faith it self and not merely a Legal giving a right to it of which anon The Major I think no sober Christian will deny For how can the Omniscient Immutable God be suddenly surprized with a new purpose which never came into his mind before our being Believers The Minor is proved 1. From the visible Event 2. From Scripture 1. We see undâ—niably that some men have Faith and others have not therefore we know that God giveth it absolutely and infallibly to those only Obj God gave it to all alike but the rest refused it Answ I. If that were true of God's Moral Civil way of giving yet it cannot be true of his Physical gift or operation which we now speak of for that giving is ever connexed with receiving As God never giveth a Soul to any Body nor health to any Sick man but those that receive them so he never thus gives Faith Repentance a New-heart to any but those that receive them Obj. He offereth Christ and Grace to believe in him to All and offering is conditional giving and he doth no more to any but on supposition of their Reception or performance of the Condition Answ I. It 's false that he actually offers Christ to all tho' as to the tenour of the Gift he doth which without the Promulgation which extends not to Millions of Heathens is no actual offer II. Much less or as little doth he offer them Faith III. It 's false that he doth no more but offer Faith conditionally to his chosen For he effecteth it absolutely To offer Conditionally is a Civil act and we are speaking of a Physical Causing This objection therefore flatly denieth that God is the Author of any man's Faith We therefore prove it out of Scripture Eph. 2. 8. By Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God The Expositors that are most against the Doctrine which I defend do confess that it is Faith and not Salvatiin only that is here called the Gift of God but they say God giveth it by giving the object Christ and the Gospel Answ That is somewhat towards the giving of Faith but that is not the giving of Faith if there be no more Do these men think that the unrenewed faculty hath need of no Grace but an object or perswasion from without to cause it to believe Many have the Gospel that have not Faith therefore God hath not caused such to believe 1 Pet. 1. 5. Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation God's Power is exercised in keeping us in Faith as the means to Salvation the end And he that by his mighty Power keeps us in Faith no doubt did cause it 2 Pet. 1. 3. According as his Divine Power hath given to us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and Virtue If he give us all things pertaining to Life then he gives us Faith Obj. Faith is expresly excepted in the Words through the knowledge of him that hath called us that is through our own believing Answ I. It is distinguished from the rest as a Gift which is a means to the other gifts but not excepted II. Our following acts of Faith seem to be included in the All things here mentioned viz. Through our first believing God giveth us Christ the Spirit and all following Grace And if the following acts of Faith are the gifts of God then no doubt the first was so which was required of us when we were less able of our selves to perform it then when we are Sanctified Heb. 12. 2. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our Faith Obj. That 's meant of the Doctrine of our belief and Objects of Faith the Christian Religion Answ I. Then to be the Finisher and to be the Author would be all one For as soon as Christ was the Author of Christian Doctrine he was the Finisher but not so about our own Faith II. If it were so yet may it be meant of Faith as it contains both even the whole work of our Christianity and Salvation Phil. 1. 29. For to you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake From this Text Grotius himself confesseth that it is proved that Faith is the
Revelation of his will 2. This Revelation of Gods will de Debito we call his Law This therefore is the second thing which I call Gods will de debito or his Legislative will that is the Law as it is signum voluntatis Divinae that is formally as a Law This I call Gods will de Debito only Metonymically as it is the sign of his will before expressed If the proper will of God were separated from this it would then be no producer of Dueness or Right at all for it would be no Law no signum it would lose its Nature as Abrogated Laws do Also observe that you must here carefully distinguish between Gods Act in making a Law and the Moral Act of that Law or of his will by that Law when it is made I call not Legislation it self God 's will de Debito or his Legislative will His ordaining the sign it self or making the Law which is his instrument is an Act of his will de rerum Eventu vel Naturae For it only maketh that instrument or sign by which Right shall be after produced but doth not directly thereby produce that Right But it is the signification and Moral Act of that Law which floweth from its Nature which doth produce Right and which we here intend The Scribe that writes a Statute and the Sovereign himself in composing the Matter Order and Terms doth but make that Signum or Instrument which being made doth therefore Institute Right because it signifieth the Sovereigns will to institute it So much for the explication of my meaning in this Distinction 2. Next I shall say somewhat to prove the soundness of it which is therefore necessary because some ignorant persons laugh at it as if we feigned two wills in God and one of them contrary to the other Otherwise to men of understanding it is not very needful And therefore I shall say but this briefly It is not two Wills in God as two distinct Essences or Faculties that I assert but only two distinct Acts Distinct I say in regard of their distinct products or Effects and so to mans apprehension though in God we say there is no diversity or distinction Yet as we cannot hansomely conceive of his will to save Peter and his will to damn Judas as one act having such different Effects so it is here Who knows not that Naturality and Morality Physicks and Ethicks Event and Right are different things and consequently we may and must distinguish of Gods willing them accordingly When a Man saith You shall do this preceptively he doth only say It shall be your duty to do it but saith not that eventually you shall do it Nor are his words false if you never do it He that saith prophetically or by prognostication you shall do this means that it shall so come to pass and if it do not his words are false But he doth not say It is or shall be your Duty 12. Accordingly we must distinguish between the antecedent and consequent Acts and Will of Christ as Ruler of Mankind For the understanding of which and avoiding mistakes observe 1. That we speak not now of Eternal Decrees but of the will of Christ in this Relation as he is the Ruler of the World and Church and as he is the conveyer of his mercies according to and by his Covenant and as he judgeth the World according thereunto 2. That by his Antecedent will and acts we mean only that which in his Government is Antecedent to Mans Obedience or Disobedience which is principally Legislation and and making his new Covenant and also the giving of Preachers and other acts which are the first part of his Administration And by his consequent Acts and Will we mean only that second part of Government which findeth Man Obedient or Disobedient and is commonly called Judgment and Execution And when we say that by his Antecedent Acts and Will Christ giveth Pardon Justification and Right to Glory equally to all we mean that as Legislator and Promiser he hath antecedently made an Universal Act of Oblivion or Deed of Gift Conditionally Pardoning c. all and no farther than Conditionally Pardoning any And when we say that he consequently justifieth and saveth none but true Christians and in that Sence dyed for no other according to his consequent will we mean that as Judge of Mankind he will give Justification and Salvation to Believers and to no others nor ever intended to do otherwise Let the Reader know that the foresaid Scheme of the Effects of Christs Death is more accurately and yet more briefly done in my Methodus Theologiae And therefore let him that disliketh the Number or Order of Distributions pass it by But I have not time to reform it here CHAP. III. Explicatory Conclusions Proposition I. CHRIST Died nullius loco so as strictly and properly and fully to represent Mens Persons as if in sensu Legali vel Civili they themselves did suffer and satisfie Prop. II. Christ Died loco nostro so as to bear that Suffering partly for kind and wholly for weight which our sins deserved and we should have born Prop. III. Christ's Dying in our stead is in order of Nature before his procuring us Benefits by his Death as the means necessary thereto Prop. IV. Christ dyed not for any Mans final non-performance of the conditions of the Law of Grace Prop. V. Christ did not bear for any the proper punishment threatned by the New Law as such nor taketh off its Actual proper obligation from any Prop. VI. Christs Obedience was a perfect fulfilling of the preceptive part of that Law whose actual obligation he submitted himself to Prop. VII Christs sufferings were not a fulfilling of the Laws commination as obliging us nor was it fulfilled but relaxed to us by a pardon Prop. VIII Christs sufferings were a satisfaction or Redditio aequivalentis non ejusdem for our not fulfilling the Precept and the Fathers not fulfilling the Threatning upon us or our not bearing the penalty Prop. IX Christs satisfaction was not made to the Law properly but to the Law-giver for the transgression of the Law Prop. X. The Law as binding us was the great Occasion of Christs Death and Loco-causa Obligatoriae But not the Obligatory Cause it self Prop. XI Christs own Sponsion and his Fathers will were the only proper obligations Prop. XII Christ satisfied God most properly as Legislator or Rector per legem operum and not without respect to his Law His satisfaction was for the obtaining the principal ends of the Law Prop. XIII Christ suffered in our stead that we might not suffer but he did not in proper sence obey in our stead that we might not obey but for our sakes and benefit and that we might obey Prop. XIV All mens sins equally were the occasion or Loco causae meritoriae of Christs sufferings except the fore excepted sins Prop. XV. Christ in suffering bore the punishment antecedently due to all Mankind
by Christ be offer'd in those Fruits to Men if it were not first given and accepted for them as well as others in Law Sence by God from the Redeemer The Rector or Creditor must first receive the satisfaction before a discharge can be offered to the offendor or Debtor on consideration of that satisfaction made and accepted Much more before Men can be condemned justly for refusing it If the satisfaction were given and accepted for the Elect only it could not in the Benefits which wholly presuppose it be so offered to the Non-Elect and they judged for refusing the benefit of a satisfaction never made for them Prop. XXXVI Christs dying for Men is Antecedent to their believing in him Their believing presupposeth his dying for them His Death saveth them because they believe but he did not die for them because they believe but they must believe because he dyed for them The Act both as performed and commanded here presupposeth the Object The Command therefore of believing presupposeth that Christdyed for Men. Prop. XXXVII No Mans name or Description so as to difference him from others being in the offer and promise conditional but it being made alike to all it will follow that no Man could have any true ground to believe or accept Christ if he knew not that he is one of those to whom he is universally offered and conditionally given and consequently for whom he satisfied Prop. XXXVIII If the condition on which Christ is given to all and Life in him were something of natural proper impossibility or unreasonable or if it were long of Christ that the condition is not performed by them then it were less proper to say that Christ is given them or that he dyed for them in respect to this conditional gift But seeing the condition is nothing of natural proper impossibility nor unreasonable being but their hearty acceptance of Christ as he is offered them and not the least Repensum requital price or repayment and nothing but their own wicked disposition and obstinacy can cause their non-performance so that they may have Christ and Life if they will therefore it is proper to say that Christ is given them and conditional Pardon and Life in him and that Christ therefore dyed for them Prop. XXXIX It is Gods Law or Covenants which constitute the Right or Dueness of obedience rewards and punishments and it is not Election or the meer Decree of God that doth any of these We have no Right to Christ upon Election till the Covenant or Law give us Right Prop. XL. Elect and Non-Elect therefore have equal Right to Christ till believing difference them That is all have a conditional Right and none an actual and absolute Prop. XLI The Covenant berween the Father and Mediator commonly so called gave Christ a full Power to confer pardon and Life but gave not to Men any Right ot Title to the benefits Prop. XLII Nor did that Covenant or promise which God made to fallen mankind of sending a Saviour to Redeem them give this Right actually to these benefits Prop. XLIII Nor doth that promise or Covenant which God hath made of giving a new and soft Heart to the Elect give any Man an actual Right to Remission Justification or Glory No nor to renewing Grace it being but a prediction what God resolveth to do for the saving of some known only to himself and so a discovery of his purpose and not a conferring of Right Or if it were a Promissum vel Donatio in diem sine conditione as some would make it yet it would not give actual Title till the time come Non daâ—â—r actio ante diem in talibus promissis inter homines It is the nature of such gifts that upon the Donors will the Right should be as it were in passing from the Donour to the receiver till that day Et si cessit dies saltem non venit It is not ours in Title till the Day But indeed here is no prefixed day nor proper Gift Prop. XLIV We Must therefore carefully distinguish between these three forementioned Covenants and that universal Law or conditional Covenant of Grace made to all mankind which is it by which Christ ruleth and will judge us And which is his Instrument of conferring Right and so of pardoning Justifying and Adopting us Prop. XLV Christ hath a threefold Kingdom Of one all the World are Subjects these he over-ruleth and partly ruleth to restraint at least by the Law of Nature Of the other the visible Church all professed Christians are members These he ruleth by his Law of Grace and Spirit but differently Of the third which is the Souls of believers only true believers are members These only Christ ruleth to Salvation but the rest also as Redeemer Prop. XLVI When the Schoolmen and our own Divines say that Christ dyed for all quoad sufficientiam pretii but not quoad efficientiam they cannot without absurdity be interpreted to mean that his Death is sufficient for all if it had been a Price for them and not a sufficient Price for them For that were to contradict themselves And so Christ could not be said to dye for Men quoad sufficientiam pretii For it is neither for them nor a Price so considered Prop. XLVII It seems an injurious feigning of Christ to suffer much in vain to say that he paid a Price sufficient for all the World when yet it shall be no way efficient Unless they think that Christs sufferings are no greater for all Men than if he had suffered but for one or few and that minima guttula sanguinis Christ i sufficit ad redimendum mille mundos which our Divines disclaim as a dangerous Error They therefore that think it a making Christ to suffer in vain to say He dyed for some that perish do themselves make him much more to suffer in vain in saying he paid a Price for some which was sufficient for all but shall be no way efficient for them Prop. XLVIII Christs Death is a sufficient Price and satisfaction to God for the Sins of all Mankind The Efficiency of satisfaction passive is it wherein the sufficiency to further uses doth consist But it effecteth actual Remission Justification Adoption Salvation only for Believers This is the plain truth and the Sense of Divines in saying that Christ dyed for all quoad sufficientiam pretii non quoad Efficientiam Prop. XLIX It hath not so much as a shew of Injustice or wrong to any for God to punish unbelievers for the same Sins that Christ died for if we do but understand 1. The difference between suffering by our selves or our delegate substitute or Vicar and a Mediator suffering for us 2. And between solutio ejusdem satisfactio which is Redditio equivalentis and so 3. Between a refusable suffering or payment as the last is which doth acquit but on what terms the accepter pleaseth and not ipso facto and a not refusable payment such
but those for whom he purchased it But if you can believe it will be a sign to you ab effectu that Christ died for you Sinner Alas Then all that are not redeemed and I if I be one of them are far worse then hopeless and remediless For they have neither any price paid for them nor any one hath redeemed them nor are they able nor can be able to believe and yet their torment must be multiplied for ever because they did not believe and take him for their redeemer that never paid one farthing of their debt But what is it that you would have me believe Min. That Christ hath died for all that will believe Sinner Will that justifie When the Devils believe that Min. That Christs Death is sufficient to pardon all if they would believe Sinner Then I should believe an untruth for â—is all should believe it is not sufficient to pardon them because it was not suffered for them Besides the Devils do believe the sufficiency of Christs Death as far as it is true Min. But they believe not that it is sufficient for themselves Sinner Nor can I except I knew that it was suffered for me Min. But you must rest on Christ as a sufficient Redeemer and then by reflecting on that Act you may know as by a certain sign that he redeemed you Sinner Then I must believe a Proposition of uncertain truth that I may know it to be true and rest on an uncertain ground of trust that I may have a Sign of its certainty And so my first faith must be groundless and uncertain But as it is not in my power of my self to believe so I have long been endeavouring to believe and trying my Faith and though I find I have some Faith and so had many that perish yet I cannot find whether it be sincere and saving And I know many yea most that seem godly that never are sure all their life time that their Faith is that which is justifying and proper to the Elect and more then the unrooted Faith of temperaries How shall I then or any that are uncertain of the truth of their Faith know that Christ died for them Min. You must labour for assurance of the Truth of your Faith that you may know that Christ died for you Sinner I no where find the Scripture using that motive to perswade Men to believe or to get assurance But what must I do in the mean time and all such as I that never come to assurance Min. Adhere to Christ as thy Redeemer sufficient and willing to save Sinner But I have no knowledg whether he be either my Redeemer or sufficient or willing And must I still continue that groundless Act and that meerly to get a Sign when yet it will be no sign till I attain assurance of the truth of my Faith And must I never love Christ as my Redeemer nor be thankful to him nor praise him for it till I have assurance Respondeat qui potest Arg. 22. A differenti statu hâ—minum non-electorum Daemonum If Christ died only for the Elect. then all the rest have no more remedy provided for their misery then the Devils nor are in any more capacity or possibility of Salvation But the Consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent Only the Minor requires proof for the consequence of the Major is evident For he that hath no expiatory Sacrifice or satisfaction made for his Sin is left utterly remediless To say he is not remediless because Christ is offered him is but to deride him while they say withal that he is offered only an interest in the satisfaction that was never made for him that so by not believing as by a sign he might manifest that it was not made for him and so that Christ did not purchase him Faith And can the Devils be left worse then remediless Now that Christ hath not left the Non-Elect as remediless as the Devils appears 1. Christ speaketh of his coming into the World and executing his office as having such ends to all Men as they had not to the Devils as he was the 2d Adam and took on him our nature and not the nature of Angels so he never saith that he came into the World to save Devils but he saith that he came into the World not to judg the World but to save the World of whom he expresseth unbelievers to be part Joh. 12. 47. 48. And God sent his Son into the World not to judg the World but that the World by him might be saved Even that World which in the next verse is distinguished into believers and unbelievers Joh. 3. 16 17 18. It is never said that God sent his Jesus to bless the Devils in turning every one of them from their iniquities But it is said so of every one of the Jews Elect or not to whom the Apostle spake Act 3 last unbelievers perish not for want of an expiatory Sacrifice but for rejecting it not for want of a Jesus but for want of Faith But it cannot be said so of the Devils God sendeth Men in his stead to beseech unbelievers to be reconciled to God upon supposition of the payment of the price of Reconciliation by Christ to the Father But he doth not so to the Devils All say Christs Death is sufficient to pardon all Men if they will believe Ames cont Belâ—ar saith we never doubted of it Sadeel cont human satisfact saith let him be blotted out from among the number of Christians that denieth it But I know none that dare say â—o of the Devils To unbelievers is given Christ himself and all his benefits by Gods Act and Deed on condition they will receive him But who can shew such a deed of gift to the Devils Giving Christ though but on condition of acceptance to any one implieth and presupposeth giving him on the Cross for them God entreateth wicked Men daily to accept of Christ that they may live but he never did so by the Devils The Spirit of Christ convinceth and soliciteth some of the Non-elect to believe and striveth with them till they grieve and quench it But so he doth not by the Devils All Men in the Church Elect and Non-Elect are called on to take heed lest a promise being left them of entering into rest any of them should prove to come short of it through unbelief Heb. 4. 1. The wicked are condemned and everlastingly punished for refusing a Redeemer and not coming in to the â—east when all things were ready and for neglecting so great Salvation and treading under Foot the Blood of the Covenant and because they would not have Christ to Raign over them But it is far otherwise with the Devils the wicked will be left unexcusable at the Redeemers Bar when they are judged according to the New Law for refusing Christ that bought them But the Devils would have excuse enough if they were judged on those Terms So that I may
of our recovery as all Gospel Repentance is And it was not in our power to give hope to our selves by causing Christs blood to be shed for us had we been never so willing 4. How could we love God as merciful in Redeeming us or love Christ as our Redeemer when we knew him not to be our Redeemer and it now appears he never was our Redeemer 5. How could we love the Brethren as our members of the same body and our fellow-redeemed ones which is the new commandment when they were none of our Brethren in that sense nor could we prove that they should be so 6. Why should we be thankful to Christ for Redeeming us when he did not at all redeem us Should we be thankful for nothing 7. How could we obey Christ as our Lord-redeemer who was not our Lord-redeemer How could we hear him as such and call on him as such or trust him as such If his offices are all of equal extent and it be certain that he was no Priest to us as not offering himself a sacrifice for us at all then he could be no King or Prophet to us And why then should we obey a King that is not our King Or Why then should we hear that Prophet who was no Prophet to us 3. And then as to the last accusation if men be accused as being lyable or obliged to the penalty for non-performance of the condition or for want of a Saviour Every true Believer hath two things to answer for his full Justification 1. That Christ hath satisfied for him and therefore the Laws obligation is justly dissolved 2. That he hath himself performed the condition of the new Covenant and therefore hath part in Christs satisfaction and is not to be condemned as an Unbeliever or ungrateful Rebel and therefore ought not to be deprived of the reward or benefit given which is deliverance from the Curse of the Law and the guilt of sin and deserved punishment together with a greater superadded glory Nor yet to suffer the positive penalty which is both the Non-liberation from the foresaid misery and the greater torment threatned to unbelievers Now the unredeemed may all plead that the said penalties are not due to them 1. Because no redeemer did ever satisfie for them and they could not satisfie for themselves nor cause Christ to satisfie for them which is ever presupposed to their own believing seeing believing is but to give them a right to the satisfaction and benefits of Christ and not to be our righteousness as of worth in it self now all the believing in the World would not make that satisfaction to be for me which was never made for me but only for another no more than believing that another man hath paid my debt would make it true or make a payment to be for me which was only for another As Mr. Perkins saith and least any should imagine that the very act of Faith in apprehending Christ justifieth we are to understand that Faith doth not apprehend by power from it self but by virtue of the Covenant If a man believe the Kingdom of France to be his it is not therefore his Yet if he believe Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven by Christ to be his it is his indeed Not simply because he believes but because he believes upon promise and commandment for in the tenor of the covenant God promiseth to impute the obedience of Christ to us if we believe Vol. 1. True Gain page 662. So that the unbeliever hath this excuse that his believing supposed the Gift and Promise and he could not by believing have made satisfaction to Gods Justice Faith having no such worth nor being ordained to that end nor yet could he get interest in a satisfaction never made for him Nor would God have imputed such a satisfaction or obedience to him had he never so much believed Indeed he deserves the misery threatned by the first Law for sin against the Creator or for sin as sin but not the penalty proper to the new Law either privative consisting in non-liberation or positive as in sorer punishment 2. Besides he is excused by the former reasons which excuse him for non-performance of the conditions for then he cannot be punished for that non-performance If the Devils were accused for not believing in Christ as their Redeemer and consequently being obliged to the penalties of the new Covenant would not they have all this excuse Argum. 28th A natura poenae infernalis positivae If Christ Died not for all but only the Elect then Conscience will not torment the Damned for rejecting Christ their Lord-Redeemer or the fruits of his Redemption But Conscience will torment them for so rejecting Christ and his benefits and thereby wilfully procuring that destruction which else they might have avoided Ergo c. The Argument seems to me so clear that I need not say much in confirmation of any part of it 1. For the Minor it is generally granted 1. That the Torment of Hell lieth much in the Horrors and Accusations of Conscience 2. And that this is a right judging and not an erring Conscience It is not melancholy mistakes that torment poor Souls in Hell as to think they have sinned when they have not but the apprehensions of real evils in and upon them 3. Conscience will never torment men for that which never was in their power to avoid directly or indirectly in it self or in the means though he had been never so willing Did you ever see a rational man wounded in Conscience for not being an Angel or not seeing God face to face or not redeeming his own Soul But it is for wilful sinning that mens Consciences scourge them When there was a possibility of being saved yea a probability put into our hands yea a certainty if we would yield to Christs conditions and yet men did negligently and wilfully slight all this will wound them everlastingly This will feed the never-dying Worm and make them cry out against themselves for ever O what a fool what a wilful wicked self-hater was I that had a price in my hands but had not a heart to improve it That had a Redeemer offered me that suffered for my sins and had not a heart to receive him That had his blood tendered me for the washing of my Soul and the healing of my Wounds and had not a will to accept it That might have had Christ and Pardon and Adoption and Salvation and would not I thought my pleasures and profits better than Christ and Glory I chose dung and dross before the Crown of Life How justly am I now excluded from that blessedness which I set so light by and endure that misery which I wilfully run into See more of this in the Third Part of my Book of Rest in the aggravations of the Damneds Torments But if the damned should then truly know that there was never any possibility of their recovery and that Christ never died at
is to believe that God hath made such a Deed of Gift of Christ to us that is to Mankind including our selves Now no Devils do believe this nor can say God hath given us Eternal Life 3. And where it may be said that Wicked men may believe it I Answer It is true but not with that deep intense effectual operative Belief which is savingly sincere when the Scripture requireth believing and condemneth for want of it it always implieth the necessary modification even that the Act be in some measure answerable to the nature of its object It still means sincere cordial believing though it do not alway express it nor were it convenient so to do And so undeniably doth this Text. And this Assent no wicked man can have 4. The Text plainly evinceth the falshood of the objection and shews that it is a saving Faith that is here mentioned and is opposed to the Unbelief here condemned For it saith He that Believeth hath the witness in himself which beyond dispute is the Holy Ghost which is Christs great witness in the World especially in the Souls of Believers And it is the Holy Ghost in such a kind as is common to all true Believers or else the proposition were not universally true And this must needs be if not only yet chiefly the Holy Ghost illuminating and sanctifying And to this is the condemned Unbelief directly opposed in the next words He that Believeth not God hath made him a Lyar. Here Amyraldus and Dallaeus coming forth stopt me CHAP. VIII Arguments against Universal Satisfaction answered Argum. I. ALL those are certainly saved for whom Christ Satisfied But all men are not Saved Therefore Christ Satisfied not for all men The Major is proved thus It will not stand with Gods Justice to punish one sin twice or to punish twice for one sin the first punishment being a full satisfaction for that sin God can require no more But Christs sufferings were a full satisfaction for every sin of those persons for whom he suffered Ergo c. The Satisfaction was full 1. In respect of the sins of the person there being none unsatisfied for 2. As to God who was offended he being fully reconciled or well-pleased with the Sinners for whom the Satisfaction was made and not only conditionally or in part Answ This is the main Argument urged by Dr. Twiss and most others against Universal Satisfaction and which prevaileth most with those of that way so far as I can find But it is grounded on an unhappy ignorance of the Nature of Satisfaction and a confounding of satisfaction and solution of the proper Debt and a sore mistake about Christ's undertaking and performance Solutio ipsius debiti strictè sic dicta the proper discharge of what was due was supplicium ipsius Delinquentis and of any other in his stead as I have proved before The Law did neither Threaten the Innocent nor make any mention of a Surety And therefore Christ did not fulfill the Law in Suffering as he did in Obeying or the Law was not properly fulfilled on Christ in his Suffering Satisfaction is taken sometime generally for the fulfilling of anothers desire and so a Believing Repenting Obedient person may be truly said to satisfie God himself But this is not all the sense of the word as it 's now in question with us in the present case 2. Sometimes it is taken specially for a debtors satisfying his Creditor not by submission and deprecation but by such a sufficient way as that the Creditor shall be no loser by him From a Creditor and Debtor it is by translation applied to a Rector and Delinquent In this special sense Satisfaction is taken 1. Sometime more loosely and largely for the Payment of the proper Debt the same with Solutio ipsius Debiti Or 2. More strictly and properly For the Satisfying the Creditor by giving him as good a thing or taking such a course as that he shall be no loser though the Debt be not paid And in this sense is the word Satisfaction ordinarily used as its proper strict sense the former sense being one of them too general and the other improper and loose And so Satisfaction is commonly by Lawyers and Schoolmen defined to be Redditio aequivalentis alias indebiti or solutio vel Redditio tantidem and it is contradistinguished from solutio strictè sumpta which is ejusdem quod debetur And so in Criminal Cases the Punishment of the Offender is the Ipsum Debitum and not properly satisfaction to the Comminatory part of the Law though all Punishment may be called a satisfaction as to the Preceptive part of the Law because it is not the ipsum quod debetur as to the Precept but something to provide that the Law and Lawgiver lose not by the delinquent But if any other sufficient means be found which without the Punishment of the offender may provide for the Indemnity of the Law-giver and the publick good and this both for what is past by reparation and for time to come by Prevention that so the main ends of the violated Law may yet be attained this is satisfaction to the Lawgiver Satisfaction alway supposeth the non-payment of the Debt And in Criminal Cases as ours is satisfaction still supposeth the Duty or Punishment or both to be overpassed which the Law required The Punishment of the Delinquent himself which may be called a satisfaction to the Law supposeth that the Precept was violated by Omission or Commission The punishing of another for us or any other such Satisfaction supposeth the Delinquent himself not to be punished So that it must needs be remembred by all true Christians that Christ did not only satisfie for our not obeying but for our not suffering the Punishment threatened by the Law and so due to us for our disobedience yea most directly did he Suffer for our not Suffering and so secondarily for our Sinning Further it must be remembred that satisfactio est solutio Recusabilis sed solutio ejusdem est non recusabilis The Creditor or Rector may chuse to take satisfaction by receiving the value in another kind But he cannot refuse the proper Debt unless by remitting it freely He can require nothing else but the Debt Moreover satisfaction being a refusable payment the Creditor may take it on his own terms and there must intercede a New Agreement for the accepting of it and if the Satisfier will not come to the Creditors terms he may refuse it as no satisfaction whereas if the Debt it self be paid he must ipso facto acknowledge the Debtor acquit and to be no longer a Debtor The like may be said in the Punishment of a Delinquent To apply all to the case in hand Christ was not the offender therefore Christs Sufferings as is said before were not the fulfillin of the Law but satisfaction to the Law-giver His Satisfaction supposeth that no man was himself Punished when Christ satisfied morally by undertaking his
commands men to Repent and Believe and giveth them his foresaid Benefits on condition they perform this laying a kind of engagement or obligation upon himself which he cannot break For God cannot lye and shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Righteously How else should God judge the World And God in the relation of a Righteous Judge will give the Crown of Righteousness at that day to all them that love his appearing Now I conceive that in a full proper sense none that hear not the Gospel i. e. that have not some Revelation of Christ Crucified are in this Covenant nor God in Covenant thus with them For the Preceptive part of the New Law doth not actually oblige them to the performance of the full condition of Believing in Jesus Christ Crucified nor doth the promisory part oblige Christ to give them the benefit in so full a sense as to those that have this Covenant revealed to them nor can Christ be said conditionally to give it them in so full a sense because the Law or Deed of Gift is not Promulgate fully to them as it is to others I shall open this more in the following conclusions 2. The Covenant of Christ is taken also for this same forementioned Covenant when it is accepted by Believing and so become a Mutual Covenant when men engage themselves to Christ as Christ first doth to them and so the Promise comes into force for the actual conveying of Right to the thing promised This is the fullest sense in which it is called a Covenant according to our common custom of speech and the first is most properly called a Law Testament Disposition c. yet is the word Covenant in Scripture used oftest in this less proper sense Now it is only Believers and their Seed that are in this mutual full Covenant with Christ But this belongs not so nearly to our present enquiry about the state of the Heathens as the former doth Prop. IV. The New Law Testament Promise or Gift which saith Whosoever Repenteth and Believeth shall be saved and whoever doth not shall be Damned doth as to its Tenour or extent of the sense of the words belong to all men in the World even those that never heard the Gospel This is so ordinarily acknowledged that I need not prove it Nor doth it need any other proof than the recital of the Covenant-terms The Promise is universal and no man on Earth is excepted or excluded so that Christ may be said to have 1. Obliged All men to Believe 2. And constituted Faith a condition of Salvation to all men 3. And obliged himself to give them Remission and Salvation if they do Believe quantum attinet ad merum Legislatorem as far as belongs to him as mere Legislator or as to the meer enacting of his new Law Grant Testament which is constituted and perfected with his Fiat And of the three forementioned Acts the last which is the obligation on Christ's part is most full and irreversible For though there goes yet more to the actual obliging of the Subject to perform the condition and of Christ to give the benefit when the condition is performed yet to the first conditional Obligation of Christ to give it there is no more requisite to make it real and irreversible than this enacting so that the New Law or Covenant extendeth to all the World as to its sense or tenour Prop. V. This New Law or Covenant doth not actually oblige men for all the enacting of it till it be Promulgate that is a rational sufficient publication of it made to the World It belongeth to the Rector after the enacting of his Law to promulgate it And though promulgation be not in the strictest sense I think a part of Legislation though many think otherwise I confess yet it is a necessarily subsequent act of the Rector without which his Law cannot actually oblige even as Revelation is a natural requisite of our actual Believing any Truth of God tho' not as I think the ipsum formale objectum fidei sed potius quod dicitur vinculum inter formale materiale For it is the Sense and Will of the Legislator that his enacted Law do oblige those and only those to whom it is promulgate else it should be apparently unjust as obliging to natural Impossibilities And it cannot oblige beyond his Sense and Will And therefore though the Tenour of the New Law extend to all men in the World yet it cannot be said that any man is by it obliged to Believe in Jesus Christ Crucified further than this Law hath been published or promulgate to him with a Rational sufficiency It is therefore a vain objection that one makes J. G. against Mr. Barlow p. 47. that if men be not obliged before the revelation of the Gospel then either they must remain disobliged when it is revealed or else God must make a new Law for them or be changeable that is his sense For it is sufficient that he make a Promulgation of that Law which before he had enacted and which was before an Instrument fit to oblige but wanted the application by a Promulgation without which it could not actually oblige By all this it appears that if the Heathens may be said to be not-obliged to Believe or to be not under the New Law or Covenant it must be only for want of a sufficient Promulgation of that Law and not for want of an Universal Tenour or from any exceptions against them in the Law it self Let us therefore next see how far the New Law is Promulgate to them Prop. VI. The Lord Jesus having enacted his New Law did purposely ordain Universal Officers to Promulgate his Universal Law giving them this Commission and Command Go ye into all the World Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be Saved and he that Believeth not shall be Damned So that Christ hath not been wanting quoad actus morales as to the moral part which consisteth in commanding and authorizing his Officers for the Universal Promulgation of his New Law Yea for my part I doubt not but this work of publishing the Gospel to all Nations and so carrying it to them that have not heard it doth lye on some men to this day and God would have such Universal Ministers yet in the World and so far the Apostolical Work is not ceased And I believe it is a most hainous sin of Christian Princes and States that they procure not able Ministers to be sent into all the Heathenish parts of the World as far as possibly they can and that it is the sin of those Ministers who have ability fitness and opportunity for this Work that they do not how hazardous and painful and chargeable soever set themselves resolvedly to it So that if Christs Laws were well obeyed there is no likelihood that there would be any known part of the World where the Gospel would not be published Prop. VII So