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A90278 Of the death of Christ, the price he paid, and the purchase he made. Or, the satisfaction, and merit of the death of Christ cleered, the universality of redemption thereby oppugned: and the doctrine concerning these things formerly delivered in a treatise against universal redemption vindicated from the exceptions, and objections of Mr Baxter. / By J. Owen, minister of the gospel. Owen, John, 1616-1683. 1650 (1650) Wing O783; Thomason E614_2; ESTC R206527 67,152 109

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as the meritorious cause of Pardon So that this is Pura Ignoratio Elenchi 2 Take Pardon in the large sense I intimated and so the Death of Christ is not the meritorious cause of the whole but only of that particular in it wherein it is commonly supposed solely to Consist of which before But In what sense and upon what grounds I extended gracious Condonation of sin unto that Compasse here mentioned I have now expressed Let it stand or fall as it sutes the Judgement of the Reader the weight of my Answer depends not on it at all My Second Answer to that Objection I gave in these words That Remission Grace and Pardon which is in God for Sinners is not oppossed to Christs Merits and Satisfaction but ours He pardoneth all to us but he spared not his only Son he bated him not one farthing To this Mr B thus expressing it But it is of Grace to us though not to Christ Answereth Doth not that cleerly intimate That Christ was not in the Obligation That the Law doth threaten every man personally or else it had been no favour to accept it of another It is marvelous to me That a Learned man should voluntarily chuse an Adversary to himself and yet Consider the very leaves which he undertakes to Confute with so much Contempt or Oscitancy as to labour to prove against him what he possitively Asserts terminis terminantibus That Christ was not in the Obligation that he was put in as a Surety by his own Consent God by his Soveraignty dispensing with the Law as to that yet as a Creditor exacting of him the due Debt of the Law is the maine Intendment of the place Mr Baxter here Considereth 2 Grant All that here is said how doth it prove that Christ underwent not the very Penalty of the Law Is it because he was not Primarily in the Obligation He was put in as a Surety to be the Object of it's Execution Is it because the Law doth threaten every man Personally Christ underwent Really what was threatned to others as shall be proved but it is not then of favour to accept it but this is the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And thus to set it down is but a Petition {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 3 How doth this Elude the force of my Answer I see it not at all After this I give a Third Answer to the former Objection manifesting how the FREEDOM of Pardon may Consist with Christ Satisfaction in these words The Freedom then of Pardon hath not its foundation in any defect of the Merit or Satisfaction of Christ but in Three other things 1 The Will of God freely appointing the Satisfaction of Christ Joh. 3. 16. Rom. 5. 8. 1 Joh. 4. 9. 2 In a Gracious Acceptation of that decreed Satisfaction in our steads so many no more 3 In a free Application of the Death of Christ unto us Remission then excludes not a full Satisfaction by the solution of the very thing in the Obligation but only the Solution or Satisfaction of him to whom Pardon and Remission is granted It being the Freedom of Pardon that is denied Upon the supposals of such a Satisfaction as I Assert I Demonstrate from whence that Freedom doth accrew unto it notwithstanding a supposal of such a Satisfaction not that Pardon consisteth in the Three things there recounted but that it hath its Freedom from them That is Supposing those Three things notwithstanding the Intervention of Payment made by Christ it cannot be but Remission of Sin unto us must be a free and gracious Act To all this Mr B. opposeth divers things For 1 Imputation of righteousness saith he is not any part of Pardon but a necessary Antecedent 2 The same may be said of Gods Acceptation 3 Its Application is a large Phrase and may be meant of several Acts but of which here I know not In a word this mistake is very great I affirm the Freedom of Pardon to depend on those things he Answereth That Pardon doth not consist in these things It is the Freedom of Pardon whence it is not the Nature of Pardon wherein it is that we have under Consideration But saith he how can he call it a gracious Acceptation a gracious Imputation a free Application if it were the same thing the Law requireth that was paid To pay all according to the full exaction of the Obligation needeth no favour to procure Acceptance Imputation or Application Can Justice refuse to accept of such a payment or can it require any more Though I know not directly what it is he means by saying I call it yet I passe it over 2 If all this were done by the Persons themselves or any one in their stead procured and appointed by themselves then were there some difficulty in these Questions but this being otherwise there is none at all as hath been declared 3 How the Payment made by Christ was of Grace yet in respect of the Obligation of the Law needed no favour nor was refusable by Justice supposing its free Constitution shall be afterwards declared To me the Author seems not to have his wonted cleerness in this whole Section which might administer occasion of further Enquiry and Exceptions but I forbear And thus much be spoken for the cleering and vindicating my Answer to the Arguments of Grotius against Christs paying the Idem of the Obligation The next shall further confirme the Truth CAP. IV. Further of the matter of the Satisfaction of Christ wherein is proved That it was the same that was in the Obligation IT being supposed not to be sufficient to have shewed the weakness of my Endeavour to Assert and Vindicate from Opposition what I had undertaken Mr Baxter addeth That I give up the Cause about which I contend as having indeed not understood him whom I undertook to Oppose in these words Mr Owen giveth up the Cause at last and saith as Grotius having not understood Grotius his meaning as appeareth Pag. 141 142 143. Whether I understand Grotius or no will by and by appear Whether Mr B. understandeth Me or the Controversie by me handled you shall have now a TRYAL The Assertion which alone I seek to Maintain is this That the Punishment which our Saviour under-went was the same that the Law required of us God relaxing his Law as to the Person suffering but not as to the Penalty suffered Now if from this I draw back in any of the Concessions following collected from pag. 141 142 143. I depracate not the Censure of giving up the Cause I contended for If otherwise there is a great mistake in some body of the whole businesse Of the things then Observe according to Mr B. his Order I shall take a brief account 1 He acknowledgeth saith he That the Payment is not made by the Party to whom Remission is granted and so saith every man that is a Christian This is a part of
contended for and asserted from the Word of Truth in the like publick way wherein it is opposed It hath been the constant practise of all Persons in all Ages who have made it their Design to beget and propagate a Belief of any Doctrine contrary to the form of wholsome words to begin with and insist mainly upon those Parts of their beloved Conception and Off spring which seem to be most beautiful and taking for the turning aside of poor weak unlearned and unstable Souls knowing full well That their Judgements and Assertions being once engaged such is the frame of mens Spirits under Delusion that they will chuse rather to swallow down all that follows then to discharge themselves of what they have already received Upon this Account those who of late dayes have themselves drank large Draughts of the very dregs of Pelagianisme do hold out at first only a desire to be pledged in a taste of the Vniversalitie of the Merit of Christ for the Redemption or rather something else well I wote not what of all and everie man finding this rendred plausible from some general Expressions in the Word seeming to cast an Eye of favour that way in the Light wherin they stand as also to be a fit subject for them to varnish over and deck up with Loose Ambiguous Rhetorical Expressions they attempt with all their might to get entertainment for it knowing that those who shal receive it may well call it Gad being sent before only to take up Quarters for the Troop that follows To obviate this Evil which being thus planted and watered through other subtilties and Advantages hath received no small Increase I have once and again cast in my Mite into the Treasury of that rich Provision which the Lord hath inabled many men of Eminent Learning and Pietie to draw forth from the inexhaustible store-house of Divine Truth and to prepare it for the use of the Saints In one of those Treatises having at large handled the several Concernments of the Death of Christ as to the Satisfaction and Merit thereof in their Nature and tendency as well as their Object and Extent and finding some Opposition made to sundry Truths therein delivered I have attemp●ed through the Assistance of Grace to Vindicate them from that opposition in this Ensuing Discourse as also taken Occasion to hold forth sundry other things of weight and importance of all which you have an Accoun● given in the first Chapters thereof whither I remit the Reader For the present there are some few things which Christian Reader I desire to acquaint thee withal in particular which something neerly concern the businesse we have in hand Since not only the compleat finishing of this Treatise under my hand which is now about 5 Months ago but also the Printing of some Part of it the Two Dissertatious of Dr Davenant of the Death of Christ and of Predestination and Reprobation were setforth in both which especially the former there are sundry Assertions Positions and Thesis differing from what is delivered in the ensuing Treatise and as I suppose repugnant unto Truth it self The whole of that Perswasion I confesse which he endeavoureth in them to maintain is suited to the Expressions of sundry Learned men as Austine Hillary Fulgentius Prosper who in their Generations deserved exceeding well or the Church of God But that it is free from Opposition to the Scripture or indeed self-Contradiction is not so apparant Yea through the Patience and Goodnesse of God I undertake to demonstrate That the main Foundation of his whole Dissertation about the Death of Christ with many Inferences from thence are neither found in nor founded on the Word but that the several Parts therof are mutually Conflicting and destructive of each other to the great prejudice of the Truth therein contained It is a thing of the saddest Consideration possible That Wise and Learned men should once suppose by tempering the Truths of God so that they may be suited to the self-Indulgency of unsubdued Carnal Affections to give any Lustre to them or in the least to remove that Scandal and Offence which the f●eshlie minded doth take continually at those Wayes of God which are far above out of its sight That this is the grand design of such undertakings as that of the Learned Bishop now mentioned even to force the Mysteries of the Gospel to a Condescention and sutablnesse unto the unpurged Relicks of the Wisdom of Nature when all our thoughts ought to be captivated to the obedience thereof is to me most apparent Whence else should it proceed that so many unscriptural Distinctions of the various Intentions of God in the business of Redemption with the holding out for the Confirmation of one part of their Opinion viz. That Christ died for all and every one in such a sense those very Arguments which the most that own the Truth of their Inferences do imploy meerly against the latter part of their Opinion viz In some sense he died only for the Elect with sundry inextricable Intanglements should fill up both the Pages of their Discourses It is no way cleer to me what Glory redoundeth to the Grace of God what Exaltation is given to the Death of Christ what Encouragement to sinners in the things of God by maintaining That our Saviour in the Intention and from the Designment of his Father died for the Redemption of Millions for whom he purchased not one dram of saving Grace and concerning whom it was the Purpose of God from Eternity not to make out unto them effectually any of those means for a participation in the fruits of his Death without which it is impossible but it should be useless and unprofitable unto them and yet this is the main Design of that Dissertation concerning the Death of Christ What in that and the ensuing Discourse is argued and contended for according to the mind of God we thankfully accept and had it not been condited with the unsavory salt of human wisdom it had been exceeding acceptable especially at this time For 2 That there are some more than ordinary Endeavors for the Supportment and Re-inforcing of the almost conclamated Cause of Arminianisme ready to be handed unto publick view is commonly reported and believed concerning which also many swelling words of which there lies great abundance on every side are daily vented as of some unparalelled product of Truth and Industry as though Nil oriturum alias nil ortum tale for the most part by such as are utterly ignorant how far these Controversies have been sifted and to what Issue they have been driven long ago For my part as I have not as yet of late heard or read any thing of this kind either from Publick Disputes or in Printed Sheets but only long since exploded Sophismes inconsequent Consequencies weak Objections fully soundly Answered many a day since nor by the Taste which I have already received have
mighty supplications under his fear Heb. 5. 7. that were upon him do all make out That the bitterness of the Death due to Sin was fully upon his Soul Sum all his outward appearing Preasures Mocks Scoffs Scorns Cross Wounds Death c. And what do some of their afflictions who have suffered for his Name come short of it And yet how far were they above those dreadful expressions of anguish which we find upon the fellow of the Lord of Hosts the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah who received not the Spirit by measure but was anoynted with the Oyle of Gladness above his Fellows Certainly his un-conceivable sufferings were in an other kind and such as set no example to any of his to suffer in after him It was no less then the weight of the wrath of God and the whole punishment due to sin that he wrestled under 2 The Second Part of my Position is to me confirmed by these and the like Arguments That there is a Distinction to be allowed between the Penalty and the Person suffering is a common apprehension especially when the nature of the Penalty is only enquired after If a man that had but one Eye were Censured to have an Eye put out and a dear Friend pitying his deplorable Condition knowing that by undergoing the Punishment decreed he must be left to utter blindness should upon the allowance of Commutation as in Zaleucus case submit to have one of his own Eyes put out and so satisfie the Sentence given though by having two Eyes he avoid himself the misery that would have attended the others suffering who had but one If I say in this Case any should ask Whether he underwent the idem the other should have done or tantundem I suppose the Answer would be easie In things Real it is unquestionable and in things Personally I shall pursue it no further lest it should prove a strife of words And thus far of the suffering of Christ in a way of Controversie what follows will be more Positive CAP. V. The Second Head about JVSTIFICATION before Believing THE next thing I am called into Question about is Concerning actual and absolute Justification before Believing this Mr Baxter speaks to page 146 and so forwards and First Answers the Arguments of Maccovius for such Justification and then page 151 Applyes himself to remove such further Arguments and places of Scripture as are by me Produced for the Confirmation of that Assertion Here perhaps I could have desired a little more Candor To have an Opinionion fastened on me which I never once received nor intimated the least Thought of in that whole Treatise or any other of Mine and then my Arguments Answered as to such an end and purpose as I not once intended to promote by them is a little to harsh Dealing It is a facile thing to Render any mans Reasonings exceedingly weak and rediculous if we may impose upon them such and such things to be proved by them which their Author never once intended For Partional Justification Evangelical Justification whereby a Sinner is compleatly Justified that it should preceed Believing I have not only not Asserted but Positively Denyed and disproved by many Arguments To be now traduced as a Patron of that Opinion and my Reasons for it Publickly Answered seems to me something Uncouth However I am Resolved not to interpose in other mens Disputes and Differencies yet lest I should be again and further mistaken in this I shall briefly give in my Thoughts to the whole Difficulty after I have discovered and discussed the Ground and Occasion of this mistake In an Answer to an Argument of Grotius about the Satisfaction of Christ denying that by it we are ipso facto delivered from the Penalty due to Sin I Affirmed that by his Death Christ did actually or ipso facto deliver us from the Curse by being made a Curse for us and this is that which gave occasion to that Imputation before mentioned To cleer my mind in this I must desire the Reader to consider That my Answer is but a Denial of Grotius his Assertions In what kind and respect Grotius doth there deny that we are ipso facto delivered by the Satisfaction of Christ in that sense and that only do I affirm that we are so otherwise there were no Contradictions between his Assertion and mine not speaking ad idem and eodem respectu The truth is Grotius doth not in that place whence this Argument is taken fully or cleerly manifest what he intends by a deliverance which is not actual or ipso facto and therefore I made bold to Interpret his Mind by the Analogie of that Opinion wherewith he was throughly infected about the Death of Christ According to that Christ delivering us by his Satisfaction not actually nor ipso facto is so to make Satisfaction for us as that we shal have no Benefit by his Death but upon the performance of a Condition which himself by that Death of his did not absolutely procure This was that which I opposed and therefore affirmed That Christ by his Death did actually or ipso facto deliver us Let the Reader then here Observe 1 That our Deliverance is to be referred to the Death of Christ according to its own Causality that is as a Cause Meritorious Now such Causes do actually and ipso facto produce all those Effects which immediatly slow from them not in an immediation of Time but Causality Look then what Effects do follow or what things soever are procured by them without the interposition of any other Cause in the same kind they are said to be procured by them actually or ipso facto 2 That I have abundantly proved in the Treatise mentioned That if the Fruits of the Death of Christ be to be communicated unto us upon Condition and that Condition to be among those Fruits and be it self to be absolutely communicated upon no Condition then all the Fruits of the Death of Christ are as absolutely procured for them for whom he Died as if no Condition had been prescribed for these things come all to one 3 I have proved in the same Place That Faith which is this Condition is it self procured by the Death of Christ for them for whom he Died to be freely bestowed on them without the prescription of any such Condition as on whose fulfilling the Collation of it should depend These things being considered as I hoped they would have been by every one that should undertake to Censure any thing as to this Business in that Treatise they being there all handled at large it is apparent what I intended by this actual Deliverance viz. That the Lord Jesus by the Satisfaction Merit of his Death Obligation made for all only his Elect hath actually absolutly purchased procured for them all Spiritual Blessings of Grace Glory to be made out unto them and bestowed upon them in Gods way and Time without dependance on any