natural suffering nor ever was to be punished meerly on the old score that is meerly for violating and incuring the penalty of the first Law by God as Rector according to that Law God might have refused to accept Christs Sufferings as a Satisfaction for Sinners much more to have freely provided it out of his own Treasure as it were when God therefore did freely himself provide a Satisfaction and freely Accept it He did both only on these terms that as Legislator of the strict Law of Works as standing without remedy he would punish no Man but yet he would not actually and absolutely discharge them for they are still his Subjects and now by a double right and bond viz both of Creation and Redemption and therefore must still be governed by him and therefore must still be Governed by Laws and therefore must still be under Precepts Prohibitions Promises and Threatnings which are the Parts of the Law For the Nature of Man is such as that it must be governed not meerly by Commanding but also per Praemia Poenas Experience tells us that of the best Men on Earth as propounded to them therefore God in mercy would make a New Law commanding all men to repent and that hear the Gospel to Believe and giving to the Redeemed the actual pardon of all their Sins on these Conditions making Christ the Fountain of our Life and Head of all that shall be Saved and Ordaining that Christ and with him Pardon and Adoption and the Spirit for further Sanctification and Salvation shall be given to all that will take Christ and that those that refuse him shall be unpardoned for all his Sacrifice and Satisfaction and shall moreover incur a far sorer punishment These are the terms on which God took Christ's Sufferings as satisfactory to his Justice which terms are well pleasing to the Son himself nor did he ever desire to ransom them on other terms or to bring them into any other Condition than under this his own Government and Laws nor to convey Pardon and Glory the Fruits of his Death to any that refused him still supposing his Everlasting secret Decree of procuring his chosen infallibly to perform the Conditions and partake of the benefits which belongs to another part of Theology Also it must be well observed as the very Principal Point for avoiding the common Errours in this business that the satisfaction is made to God as Legislator and so Rector per Leges and so hath its main direct respect to his Legislative Will His Will de Eventu is naturally Antecedent to it and the Cause of it as Event But his Law was the cause or occasion of it as due or morally necessary and also there are no Acts of his Decretive Will de Eventu caused by it but there are Acts of his Laws and so as to our manner of conceiving of his Will de Debito caused by it and so it was not for Christ's Death that God decreed to give Faith to any and consequently to give actual Pardon and Glory But God Decreed to give these for Christ's death when he so gives them And it is because of Christs death that they are due though not immediately from his death but mediante donatione Testamenti vel faderis Christ's death is the Cause of Faith but not of the Decree to give it Again it must be understood that it is not God as Legislator of the New Law that is satisfied for Sin by Christ's death that were to dye to satisfie himself the Mediator for the Non execution of his own remedying Law But it is God as Legislator of the Law of Works constituting Everlasting Death the due Penalty of every Sin Or if any had rather say that it is not formally the Law of Works which is now in force conjunct with the Law of Grace but it is become part of the Law of Grace the matter comes all to one sense though we change the words There is one Law that saith He that Sinneth shall dye call it what you will this Law as to the end Christ hath satisfied i. e. he hath properly satisfied the Law-giver There is another Law or as they call it the peremptory part of the New Law which saith He that believeth shall be Saved and he that believeth not shall be Damned Christ hath not satisfied the Justice of this Law by his Sufferings The sense of the Commination is He that in the time of this Life believeth not shall be Damned This Law is ever executed on all that are guilty and by it obliged to Everlasting Death that is on those that in their life time here do not Repent and Believe For the violation of the precept of this Law as it requires Belief or other Duty at the present time Christ did dye but not for the non-performance of the Condition which Death is threatned to Lastly It is therefore certain that Christ dyed not for the Sin of Final Impenitency in a prevalent degree and unbelief or Final Rebellion against himself or his Father And therefore when I said before that he satisfyed God as Legislator of the Law of works for sin as sin it is to be understood of the Law of Works as contradistinct from the Law of Grace and so all the sins peremptorily Condemned by the Law of Grace are excepted from the satisfaction Not only nor at all because they are the sins of such Persons but because they are such excepted sins who ever the person be Now therefore to the Argument and first to the Major I deny it and never saw any fair colour of proof of it and therefore having full plain Scripture to the contrary do confidently believe that all those are not Saved that Christ satisfied for and to the Proof brought I answer 1. It is untrue that Christ satisfied for every sin of every Man for whom he satisfied and it will never be proved He hath excepted all those Sins which are comprized in the final non-performance of the Condition of Salvation Object None that he satisfied for are ever guilty of that and that 's the Reason why he may not be said to dye for such Sins Answ That 's denyed and to be better proved before it can be received by Sober Men. I have already proved that he dyed and satisfied for those that are final Unbelievers or Apostates and so perish And I now prove that the Reason why Christ satisfied not for such sins as final Impenitency Infidelity or Rebellion is not accidental from the state of the Redeemed viz. because none of them are guilty of such but it is directly from the Nature of the sin without respect to this person more than that If Christ have expresly excepted the final non-performance of the Gospel Conditions from among the number of those sins which he hath satisfied for and that even in the New Law which he hath enacted for all Elect or Non-Elect then it is not only accidentally or because it
in our dispute yet with those that are contentious and will needs insist on the supposed advantage which the state of Indians and other Pagans and their Infants do afford them I shall though unwillingly proceed further rather than prejudice the Truth But the greatest Ambiguity in our Question is in the term For. This proposition here may admit of divers Senses Sometime Christ is said to Die For our Sins Sometimes To Die For us When he is said to Die For our Sins it may be understood 1. Either for our Sins as the pro Meritorious procuring Cause of his Suffering through his own undertaking to bear what they deserved Or if any think it fitter to call them the Occasion than the Meritorious Cause they may And so to Die For our Sins is to Die through the Desert of our Sins 2. Or else he may be said to Die For our Sins Finalitèr as Sin is part of the Evil which he intended through death to free us from And so to Die For Sin is To Die against Sin As when we say This Medicine is good For such a Disease we mean it is good against it When Christ is said to Die For us it may be meant either 1. Subjectivè that he Died Loco nosiro of which more anon 2. Or Finaliter And that two ways 1. Either as we are to be his own in propriety and so 1. To be a means to his own glory 2. Or his Propriety a means to our further good And thus he dyeth For Men by way of purchase as a Man gives a Price For a Slave or Condemned Malefactor for I will not say as we buy a Beast in the Market seeing that is only for our selves and not for the good of the Beast 2. Or else more directly as we are the Finis Cui of those benefits which by his Death he procureth And so Dying For us is either taken generally respecting our selves generally considered as the Objects of his love As one Friend or Lover is said to Die for the sake of another in several Cases as in fighting for him or other way of signifying or testifying Love So generally considered Christ Died nostri gratiâ 2. Or in reference to the special Benefits which by his Death he procured for us Which Benefits might be variously considered either 1. As to be offered or to be enjoyed 2. Either quoad possibilitatem vel quoad futuritionem possessionis 3. Quoad rem ipsam vel quoad Jus ad rem with divers other Considerations which I will pass by lest by needless distinguishing I should rather obscure the point than clear it Only before I can go any farther I must needs lay down a few Distinctions which are of great moment and necessity for the right understanding of this matter 1. And first and above all we must both distinguish between the divers Effects or Ends of Christs Death and rightly consider the Reason and the Order of each of them For to know only in general that Christ dyed for us is so far from being a sufficient knowledge for a Divine that it is not sufficient to denominate a man a Christian seeing it saith no more of Christ than may be said of Stephen Peter Paul or one another For we must if called to it die for one another saith John 1 Epist 3. 16. Yet I confess the right ordering of this whole work in our Conceivings is a matter of great difficulty though of great moment At the present time will permit me only to give you this brief Account of my thoughts herein I Consider 1. What Christ did 2. Why he did it 1. That which he did was 1. In sensu Naturali to Suffer and Die 2. In sensu Legali vel Morali It was 1. In General to be Punished 2. In Special it was A voluntary bearing in the person of a Mediator in the stead of fallen Mankind that punishment in weight which for their Sin the Law of works Obliged them to bear Or to speak in the Scripture phrase which it were well if men had been contented with it is the offering himself a Sacrifice for Sin and so to take them away as a Ransom for Attonement and Propitiation 2. Why Christ did this must be answered from the Efficient and Final Causes In general Gods will is the Principal Efficient and Ultimate Final Cause of this and all things More particularly 1. God was the Author or first Cause in committing this work to his Son and sending him to do it 2. Gods Mercy and Compassion speaking after the manner of Men was the Impulsive Cause 3. Mans misery was the Occasion 4. Mans sin was another occasion as being loco Causae Meritoriae for properly there was no Meritorious Cause 5. The Laws Curse or Obligation was another occasion as being Miseriae Causa removenda 6. Christs Voluntary Sponsion or Consent was the Moral Obliging Cause supplying the place both of a Meritorious and of a Legal Obliging Cause 7. Christ himself was the Voluntary Patient 8. God himself was the Principal moral Efficient so far as it had rationem boni For he cannot be a morally deficient Cause nor an Efficient of Punishment so far as it hath in it rationem veri mali 9. Satan was the Principal Author of it as it was Evil. 10. Wicked men were the Instruments 2. And for the Ends there is two ways of discerning and expressing them The 1. is according to Gods order of Intention The 2. accordding to His Order of Attainment and Execution 1. The former is less fit for our observation both because we are utterly uncertain whether it be fully and wholly revealed seeing God may have End◠which he judgeth not fit to communicate to us and where it is not revealed either 1. By Scripture or 2. By Event it is impossible we should know it 2. And because when we do see Events yet we are so vastly distant from God and exceeding strange to his unconceivable unexpressible Nature that we know not what hath the place of an End and what of a means in the Divine Intention farther than He hath told us Nor know what Gods intention is the term being properly appliable only to Creatures and no term of Human Language in strict propriety appliable to the Nature of God But this much the Scripture Revealeth to us 1. That in the sense as God may be said to have an end Gods proper ultimate end is himself He made all things for himself and can have no lower end than himself But how himself is his end is hard to open If we say his Being as such is his End or that his Essential Glory is his End we do but darken the matter and lose our selves For neither Redemption nor any other work can either cause conserve or add to that Being and Glory If we say His Glory in the Esteem of the Creature is his utmost End we suppose him to have an End Infinitely below himself If you say that
the same Again that this sorrow of his is joy and rejoycing to thee if thou wilt believe in him When thou readest that in the Garden he prayed lying grovling on his Face sweating Water and Blood begin to think seriously what an unspeakable measure of Gods wrath was upon thy blessed Saviour that did prostrate his Body upon the Earth and cause the Blood to follow and think that thy Sins must needs be most hainous that brought such bloody and grievous pains upon him Also think it is a shame for thee to carry thy Head to Heaven with haughty looks to wallow in thy pleasures and to draw the innocent Blood of thy poor brethren by oppression and deceit for whom Christ Sweat Water and Blood and take an occasion from Christs agony to lay aside the pride of thy Heart yea even to bleed for thy own offences c. When thou readest that Christ was taken and bound think that thy very Sins brought him into the power of his Enemies and were the very bonds wherewith he was tied Think that thou shouldst have been bound in the very same manner unless he had been a surety and pledg for thee Think also that thou in the same manner art bound and tied with the Chains of thy own Sins c. Lastly think and believe that the bonds of Christ serve to purchase thy liberty from Hell death and damnation When thou hearest that he was brought before Annas and Caiphas think it was meet that thy surety and pledg who was to suffer the Condemnation due to thee should by the High Priest as by the Mouth of God be condemned And wonder at this that the very Coessential and Eternal Son of God even the Soveraign judg of the World stands to be judged and that by wicked Men perswading thy self that this so great confusion comes of thy Sins Whereupon being further amazed at thy fearful state humble thy self in dust and ashes and pray God to soften thy stony Heart that thou maist turn to him and by true Faith lay hold on Christ c. When thou readest that Barrabas the murderer was preferred before Christ c. Thy very Sins pulled on him that shameful reproach and in that for thy cause he was esteemed worse than Barrabas c. When thou readest that he was openly and judicially condemned to the cursed death of the Cross consider what is the wrath and fury of God against Sin and how great is his mercy to Sinners and in this Spectacle look on thy self and with groans of Heart say O good God what settest thou before mine Eyes I even I have sinned I am guilty and worthy of damnation Whence comes this change that thy blessed Son is in my room but of thy unspeakable mercy Wretch that I am How have I forgotten my self and thee my God O Son of God how low hast thou abased thy self for me Therefore give me grace O God that beholding my own Estate in the person of my Saviour thus condemned I may detest my Sins that were the cause thereof and by a lively Faith embrace that absolution which thou offerest me in him who was condemned in my stead and room O Lord Jesus Saviour of the World give me that Holy Spirit that I may judg my self and be as vile in my own Eyes as thou wast vile before the Jews Unite me unto thee by the same Spirit that in thee I may be as worthy to be accepted before God as I am worthy in my self to be detested for my Sins c. When thou readest that he was script of his cloathing think it was that he being naked might bear thy shame ou the Cross c. When thou readest of the complaint of Christ that he was forsaken of his Father consider how he suffered the pangs and torments of Hell as thy Pledge and Surety c When thou readest of his Death consider that thy Sins were the cause of it c. Thus far Mr. Perkins whose words I have thus largely set doown both as a pattern for Ministers how to Preach the Doctrine of Redemption and to shew the necessity there is that Ministers and People do see and discover to others their Sin in this great aggravation as they were the crucifiers of Christ and to shew you what English Ministers Preach to the People whatever they speak in Disputes and what kind of Preaching it is which hath succeeded so in England for the conversion of Souls If this be not a plain Preaching of Universal Redemption or Satitfaction as to all that hear the Gospel whom he requires so oft to consider that Their sins crucified Christ then I know not what is And if any quirke may be produced to wrest so plain words to a contrary sense I am sure the poor sinners to whom it is Preached know not ordinarily those evasions but receive it in the plain sense I could fill a Volume with the like passages as this out of our most powerful and successful Preachers Here then are two distinct aggravations of sin both necessarr to every penitent Soul both which are denyed by the denyal of Universal satisfaction The first is that our sins killed Christ as being the cause of his Death Is not a man bound to mourn over him whom his sins have pierced before he knoweth himself to be Elect How few then of the Elect themselves should do it 2. The second aggravation is that all our sins against recovering mercies are committed against him that Died for us He that denyeth both these aggravations of sin doth not a little wrong Christ and mens Souls Lastly I argue thus If without those forementioned aggravations of sin no man can truly and savingly Repent then all men are bound thus to aggravate their sins in their self accusations But without these there can be no saving Repentance Ergo c. The consequence of the Major is proved in that all men are bound truly to Repentance even with that which is called Repentance unto Life The Antecedent or Minor is proved 1. In that else it can be but a Legal Repentance and not an Evangelical if it be not for sin as the crucifier of Christ and for sin as against our Redeemer 2. From the description of true Gospel Repentance Zech. 12. 10. They shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn over him c. Or if it were proved that there is besides this a true Repentance foregoing yet it is but part of that great work seeing this Evangelical Repentance must go close with it And if any say tha tmen are bound first to believe before they are bound to this evangelical repentance for sinning against the blood of Christ I answer 1. They are bound to both at once and the Apostles prest both at once on men To Repent and Believe 2. Most Divines make Repentance with Faith to go before Justification 3. Some have writ whole Volumes to prove that it goes before Faith it self 4. All acknowledge
Non-Elect to use no means at all for their Recovery and Salvation or else to have appointed them means which are all utterly useless and insufficient for want of a prerequisite cause without them yea which imply a contradiction 7. It maketh the True and Righteous God to make promises of Pardon and Salvation to all men on condition of believing which he neither would nor could perform for want of such satisfaction to his Justice if they did believe 8. It denieth the true sufficiency of Christs Death for the pardoning and saving of all men if they did believe 9. It makes the cause of mens Damnation to be principally for want of an expiatory Sacrifice and of a Saviour and not of believing 10. It maketh Christ to have suffered much in vain enduring as much for the sins of the Elect only as if the sins of all men had layen on him 11. Or else it dangerously extenuateth and denieth the sufferings of Christ as if he did not suffer as much as was due for the sins of all and it extenuateth his love as if he took on him only the sins of the Elect. 12. It either denieth that any but the Elect should love Christ or be thankful to him as their Redeemer yea or any Elect that have not the knowledg of their Election and so should not repent of the want of this love and thankfulness or else that they should love him and be thankful for that which never was true and never was done for them or given them 13. It maketh God to have inflicted more on Christ then was due even as much for the Sins of the Elect only as was due for the Sins of all the World 14. It leaveth all the World Elect as well as others without any ground and object for their first justifying Faith and in an utter uncertainty whether they may believe to justification or not 15. It maketh the knowledg that we have justifying Faith to go before the having of that Faith 16. It denieth the most necessary humbling aggravation of Mens Sins so that neither the Minister can tell wicked Men that they have sinned against him that bought them nor can any wicked Man so accuse himself no nor any Man that doth not know himself to be Elect They cannot say my Sins put Christ to Death and were the Cause of his sufferings Nay a Minister cannot tell any Man in the World certainly thy Sins put Christ to death because he is not certain who is Elect or sincere in the Faith 17. It subverteth Christs new Dominion and Government of the World and his general legislation and Judgment according to his Law which is now founded in his Title of Redemption as the first Dominion and Government was on the Title of Creation 18. It maketh all the benefits that the Non-Elect receive whether Spiritual or corporal and so even the relaxation of the curse of the Law without which relaxation no Man could have such mercies to befall Men without the satisfaction of Christ and so either make satisfaction as to all those mercies needless or else must find another Satisfier 19. It maketh the Law of Grace to contain far harder terms then the Law of Works did in its utmost rigor 20. It maketh the Law of Moses either to bind all the Non-Elect still to all Ceremonies and bondage-ordinances and so sets up judaism or else to be abrogated and taken down and Men delivered from it without Christs suffering for them 21. It destroys almost the whole work of the Ministry disabling Ministers either to humble Men by the chiefest aggravations of their Sins and to convince them of ingratitude and unkind dealing with Christ or to shew them any hopes to draw them to repentance or any love and mercy tending to Salvation to melt and win them to the Love of Christ or any sufficient object for their Faith and affiance or any means to be used for pardon or Salvation or any promise to encourage them to come in or any threatening to deter them 22. It makes God and the Redeemer to have done no more for the remedying of the misery of most of faln mankind then for the Devils nor to have put them into any more possibility of pardon or Salvation 23. Nay it makes God to have dealt far hardlier with most Men then with the Devils making them a Law which requireth their believing in one that never died for them and taking him for their Redeemer that never redeemed them and that on the meer foresight that they would not believe it or decree that they should not and so to create by that Law a necessity of their far sorer punishment without procuring them any possibility of avoiding it 24. It makes the Gospel of its own Nature to be the greatest Plague and Judgment to most of Men that receive it that ever God sendeth to Men on Earth by binding them over to a greater punishment and aggravating their Sin without giving them any possibility of remedy 25. It maketh the case of all the World except the Elect as deplorate remediless and hopeless as the Case of the damned and so denieth them to have any day of Grace Visitation or Salvation or any price for happiness put into their Hands 26. It maketh Christ to condemn Men to Hell Fire for not receiving him for their Redeemer that never redeemed them and for not resting on him for Salvation by his Blood which was never shed for them and for not repenting unto life when they had no hope of mercy and Faith and repentance could not have saved them 27. It putteth sufficient excuses into the Mouths of the condemned 28. It maketh the torments of conscience in Hell to be none at all and teacheth the damned to put away all their sorrows and self accusations 29. It denieth all the privative part of those torments which Men are obliged to suffer by the obligation of Christs Law and so maketh Hell either no Hell at all or next to none 30. And I shall anon shew how it leads to Infidelity and other Sins And after this what Face of Religion is left unsubverted Not that I charge those that deny Universal satisfaction with holding all these abominations but their Doctrin of introducing them by necessary consequence It is the opinion and not the Men that I accuse 2. Next let me give you some express Texts of Scripture which I shall anon run over more fully and vindicate and see which opinion is the truth of God Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life 2 Pet. 2. 1 20 21. But there were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction 20. 21. And as Jude hath it 4. There are certain Men crept
may see my whole sence of the point in hand and all the distinctions are here couched which I intend to make use of or at least implyed Yet because some of them need a fuller explication I will next proceed to that CHAP. II. Some further necessary Distinction 1. IN the next place as I told you that it was Essential to Christs Punishment in Specie that he suffered nostro loco so because here lies the first and greatest point of the Controversie in hand quorum loco in whose stead Christ suffered and whose sin or guilt did lie upon him And also because the right or wrong understanding of this point hath so great an influence into most of the consequent points in the Body of Divinity as either much to help us or quite to overturn all I think it exceeding necessary that we here carefully distinguish of the Phrase Nostro loco or in our stead Understand therefore that a thing may be said to be done or suffered In our stead in these two sences 1. When he that doth or suffereth it doth therein Legally Personate us or Represent our Persons or do it in our Name so far that though Naturally the Agent or Patient be another person yet Legally Morally or Civiliter he is not another Thus a Deputy Delegate or Vicarius whom I send in my Name to pay a Debt is herein Legally my self What he payeth I pay Civiliter or in Law sence I shall shew you when I come to my Propositions how intollerable and desperate an Error it is overthrowing the very frame of Christianity to affirm that Christ did thus Die or Satisfie Nostro loco in our stead or any Mans stead 2. Or one is said to Do or Suffer Loco alterius in anothers stead when it is done to save another from doing it that was obliged to do it or that suffered that which another was obliged to suffer toward the freeing him from it being materially the same but not formally from the same Obligation but from the Obligation of a voluntary Sponsion and being not done or suffered in the Name or in Representation of the Person of the other But in a Third Person viz. in the Person of a Mediator Redeemer or Friend I say when a Mediator or Sponsor consenteth to bear the Punishment deserved by the Offendor and so far to have his faults imputed to him this is to suffer in his stead And thus I shall anon prove that Christ suffered in the stead of all Mankind having that Punishment on him which all mens sins deserved 2. We must also distinguish between Christs Dying Loco nostro in the foresaid sence and his Dying In nostrum Beneficium Or between his Dying for us Subrogative and Effective The former being the presupposed ground of the latter Christ is considerable first as Dying for our Sins as the pro-causa Meritoria before he is considerable as Dying for our Benefit In regard of the order of Execution as the Efficient Cause is before the end obtained I shall after shew that he Dyeth Loco omnium aequaliter all mens Sins except the after excepted being equally the Cause of his Sufferings but not In omnium Bonum aequaliter not to procure equal Benefits for all or for ought we can prove for any two 3. We must distinguish between the Sins whose Guilt Christ took upon him and bore on the Cross and those which he never took upon him or bore That is the final non-performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant 4. And so we must distinguish between 1. That Law whose Curse Christ took upon him and bore that he might deliver men from it who were obnoxious to it and obliged to bear it that is the first Law of Works And 2. That Law whose Curse he never took upon him nor bore nor ever freeth any man from who is once properly Actually and I eremptorily obliged to bear it or whom it doth actually condemn as guilty of the threatned Penalty That is the Law of Grace which is his own New Law condemning the finally Impenitent 5. We must also distinguish betwixt the fulfilling of the Law which is when it attaineth its most immediate or nearest Ends And the satisfaction to the Law-maker for not fulfilling it It is fulfilled either 1. In respect of the Precept and that is only by Perfect Obedience 2. Or in respect of the Thâ—eatning which is fulfilled only per supplicium delinquentis and not in anothers suffering For if it never threatned another then the threatning is not fulfilled in anothers suffering You must distinguish also between satisfaction to the Law and Satisfaction to the Lawgiver The fulfilling of the threatning may be called satisfaction to the Law for the not fulfilling of the Precept I shall shew you that Christ did not this but that he satisfied only the Lawgiver and not properly the Law seeing the Law cannot relax it self and therefore cannot accept of satisfaction in stead of fulfilling Yet improperly it may be said to be satisfied in that its pricipal ends are obtained though not its nearest But we must not use improper speeches without necessity 6. We must distinguish between the satisfying of God as Rector per leges and the satisfying him as Dominus absolutus Christ did not satisfie God properly as Dominus absolutus but as Rector per Legem yea as Rector per hanc Legem â—pâ—â—â—m and so satisfied him by doing and suffering that by which the chief ends of that Law may be attained Much less did God require satisfaction strictly and properly as a Creditor for a Debt Though Metaphorically our Sins and our Punishment are called Debt and so we are called Debtors and God the Creditor And so satisfaction is the Redditio equivalentis vel Tantidem non Ejusdem Yet without a metaphor punishment may be called Debitum Due But it is Due to us from God and not properly to God from us much less due to God as a Debt to a Creditor or Goods and Possessions to a Proprietary 7 We must distinguish betwixt suffering ex obligatione Legis merito peccati as we should have done if we had suffered our selves and suffering ex obligatione solius sponsionis propriae as Christ did without any Merit or Legal obligation His own Sponsion being instead of both and our Sin and Obligation being but the Occasion or Loco Causae meritoriae Obligatoriae These Distinctions are chiefly to shew what Christ did which must be known before we can clearly discern for whom The use will be after manifest More Distinctions are necessary especially about his Obedience or Fulfilling the Preceptive part of the Law and not the commination and that in his own person as obligatory to himself for the Precept obliged him though the threatning did not and not in Personâ nostrâ or as obliging us But I will proceed to those Distinctions which concern the Effects 8. We must further distinguish between Christs Death as satisfactory to
Law But c. Ergo c. Prob. Min. that the Law knoweth no other satisfaction but fulfilling Argu. 1. Satisfaction strictly as distinct from fulfilling is Redditio aequivalentis But the Law as continuing the same cannot commute or substitute the aequivalens vel tantundem for the Idem or proper Debt 2. It is essential to the Law to constitute the Debitum vel officij vel Poenae But it constitutes not the Debitum alterius speciei vel tantidem else it should confound the ipsum debitum with the aequivalens The Law never imposed it on Christ to satisfie for our sins This was the obligation of his own Sponsion 3. Satisfaction which is the giving of the value for the proper Debt implyeth a relaxation of the Law to its acceptance But the Law cannot relax it self Ergo c. 4. To admit of satisfaction is the Act of the Lawgiver or Rector as he is above Law therefore it is no act of the Law As to make a Law to pardon an Offender to abrogate a Law c. are acts of one above the Law so is the relaxing of the Law in pardoning the Sinner and taking Christs sufferings for ours Can any obligation dissolve or remit it self 5. If the Law did neither threaten Christ in the first enacting of it nor hath power to change it self since by assuming another sense then Christs sufferings were neither a fulfilling nor satisfaction to the Law At verum prius Ergâ— If the name of Christ were put into the threatning after the Law was made then the Law was changed and so is not the same and it could not change it self Indeed if another for you pay a Debt the Bond is satisfied because it was the ipsum debitum But if another will bear the Death that you deserve the Law that threatens you is not satisfied nor fulfilled But the Law-giver is satisfied and the ends of the Law attained But here note that this relaxation and non fulfilling of the Law is not total and absolute nor such as derogateth at all from the honour of the Law or Lawgiver but it is a relaxation upon such terms as preserve both fully the full weight of the threatned Punishment being born or undertaken by the Son of God before God would relax his Law 6. To this and the two former together I add If the Laws Commination be fulfilled or if Christ suffered the same that was threatned or if we satisfied fully in Christ then we are not by that Law obliged to obedience during this Life But the consequent is false Ergo c. The reason of the consequence is this The Law obligeth aut ad obedientiam aut ad poenam disjunctively pro eodem tempore and not ad obedientiam ad poenam Now Christ hath satisfied for our sin not only against the Law of Works by Adam but against all Laws of Nature or Grace since except the non performance of the condition of the new Covenant and this to our Death So that if we have in Christ fully satisfied the threatning for all sin in this Life then we cannot be bound by the Precept after such satisfaction till after this Life be ended To say we are not obliged to the same Ends is no answer For that Law can oblige us to no ends which is fulfilled already and which did never oblige but aut ad obedientiam aut poenam propter obedientiae defectum CHAP. VII Prop. IV. It was not only the Sins of the Elect but of all even Elect and Non-elect which were the pro-causa meritoria of Christs sufferings Or it was not only the Sufferings Due to the Sins of the Elect but of all which Christ did undergo And accordingly hath made satisfaction for all IT is necessary that we speak of the efficient Causes of Christs Death before we handle the Effects And therefore we must consider quorum loco he Dyed before we consider how far they shall partake of the Benefits Here it must be remembred that we have already proved that Christ did not represent our Persons in satisfying but yet he bore our sins that is the penalty due to them and so did in a larger sence suffer nostro loco or nostri loco not as our Delegate or proper â—â—carius but as a voluntary Sponsor and so substitute in suffering Also understand that Christs sufferings had no real proper meritorious Cause But yet Mans sins were the pro-causa meritoria He undertook to bear that suffering which for them was due to us not to him And therefore when I say he bore the sufferings due to us I mean it materialiter only such sufferings for kind and weight he bore but his obligation to bear them was only from his own Sponsion and not the Law The Law by constituting the Dueness of punishment to us was the occasion of his suffering it but not the obliging cause I add that accordingly he hath satisfied for all For this will not be denyed if the first be proved For he satisfied by suffering what the Sinner deserved And in whose stead soever he suffered for them he satisfied Now I shall think it meet to stand the longer on this point because the decision of the main Question Whether Christ dyed for all men dependeth mainly on it For the strictest sence in which he is said to die for men is to die in their stead or to Die for their Sins as the procuring Cause on his own undertaking Yield this once and we shall much easilier agree on the second Part Pro quorum beneficio or what the benefits be which Christ hath procured to all At least no man will think it unmeet to say that Christ died for all men if we can prove that he dyed for the sins and in the stead of all and satisfied Gods Justice for all And if he dyed for them it is certain that he satisfied for them as is said because God doth neither require nor accept the Death of his Righteous Son but as it is necssary to the satisfaction of his justice for Sin Lastly remember that I put the word all as contradistinct from the Elect pleading specially against them that would confine Christs satisfaction only to the Elect Not that I doubt of Christs sufferings for all in the utmost universality but I think it far safer to dispute it as to all that hear the Gospel For God hath plainlier shewed us how he dealeth with these than the rest and it is not fair nor profitable to carry the disputation into the obscurest part to lose it rather than determine it And if any agree with me in this that I prove That Christ satisfied for all that hear the Gospel I will not trouble them with disputing it about the rest but willingly let them enjoy their opinion though contrary to mine as judging it to be to us of far lesser moment My Arguments shall be first from the scope of Scripture Doctrine and 2. From some particular Texts
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
God and that he is the governor of the World true Just Merciful c. That we owe him perfect obedience that Sin deserves his wrath By experience they may easily know that they are Sinners and so liable to misery By Gods Judgments Sickness Death c. they may know that God will punish That the Soul is immortal and punishments and rewards are specially in the Life to come most Pagans do acknowledg Gods abundant Mercies to them may acquaint them that he deals not with them in rigorous severity and on terms of meer justice but in mercy And his not executing his Judgments on them according to desert but shewing so much mercy to them is some kind of pardoning them Hence they may see that some way God hath for shewing mercy to the undeserving and for pardoning Sinners without any wrong to the Honour of his Justice and Holiness or to the ends of his Government And hence they may see that they are not certainly help less and remediless nor their condition desperate Though they discover not the meritorious cause they may discern Gods mercy the principal Efficient moving cause Natural self-love bindeth Men in misery to seek out after remedy and to discover what it is and how they may attain it All this the Heathens have manifested to us undeniably in that all ages and Countries of them have confessed Gods being and Soveraignty the Duty of our obeying him and that they were Sinners and deserved his Wrath in this Life and that to come especially for greater Sins and that their condition was not hopeless but Gods mercy had a way to help them and therefore they plyed him with their Prayers and Sacrifices Arg. 1. If those that never heard of Christ are bound to take their case for desperate then they are bound to believe an untruth for Christ may be discovered to them and they saved But c. Ergo c. 2. If they are bound to judge their case remediless then they are bound to contradict the experience of Gods merciful dealing with them which are an actual remedy to part of their misery and may give them hope of more from the same cause if they will seek it But c. Ergo c 3. If they are bound to judge their case remediless or not to judge that there is some remedy then they should not be bound to use any means Praying Repenting sending abroad to enquire after the Remedy in more knowing Countries c. for the attaining Remedy But the consequent is false Ergo c. If a Star appearing brought the wise men so far to seek Christ and if men will travail all over the World for Riches by way of Merchandize How diligently should men that find themselves miserable enquire far and near for a remedy And if it were not their duty to use means for recovery then it is not their Sin that they do not use them But he that dare tell them so let him for I dare not but the contrary I dare tell them 4. If all such men are not bound to judge their case remediable and cureable but hopeless then God should lose all that common honour and service that he hath from them and the World would be as Hell full of nothing but hatred of God and blaspheming him and sinning to the utmost without any self-restraint For he that hath no hope will use no means nor forbear any evil but hate God as his Enemy 5. The Ninevites discerned a remedy and some hope and Repentance and Humiliation was Gods means by which they were actually recovered I am sure from under some of Gods wrath which else would have broke out on them whether from eternal wrath I know not but it s most probable For they believed God Jonah 3. 5. and Repented Mat. 12. 41. Luke 11. 32. Yet there is no intimation that Jonah Preached Christ to them or that they ever heard of him Men therefore that hear not of Christ are bound to use means for remedy And indeed the satisfaction of Christ is of greater necessity to mans Salvation than our knowledge of Christ or Faith in him God can save them that never knew Christ if he will witness the case of Infants and else there were but few saved before Christs coming but morally we may say he cannot save them without Christs satisfaction for their Sin 6. Acts 17. 27. It is the duty of all Pagans To seek the Lord if happly they might feel after him and find him And doubtless this is to seek the recovery of his favour and not to seek it in despair as the Devils 7. Acts 14. 17. Gods giving rain and fruitful seasons and filling mens hearts with food and gladness and doing them good is his witness among them And sure it witnesseth his mercy to them and consequently their duty 8. Rom. 2. 4. The Holy Ghost expresly telleth us that men should know that the forbearance long-suffering and goodness of God leadeth to Repentance that is is a help thereto and manifesteth it to be their duty to Repent And doubtless this Repentance is not a hellish despairing Repentance for Judgments are fitter to move to that than Mercy but a Repentance which is to be used as a means to recovery 9. It is the description of wicked men that they seek not after God Rom. 3. 11. Psal 14. 2 God looks to see if there be any that seeks him 10. Many Texts in the Prophets shew it to be all mens duty to seek the Lord in order to their finding mercy and to deny it is to turn out the remnants of obedience or all seeds of Religion from the World And that God calls them all to Repentance and to that end that they may not Die but escape his wrath and be recovered And that he hath sworn That he hath no pleasure in the Death of him that Dieth but rather that he Repent and Live So that I think it is clear that God appointed even to those that hear not the Gospel certain means toward their Recovery Much more evident is it of all those where the Gospel is preached I say not that he commandeth all the former or any directly to believe in Christ but it must be understood that all men are many degrees distant from Christ before he draweth them effectually to himself Now the Pagans are more degrees from him than professed Christians mostly It is not Christs way to bring men to himself per saltum but by those Degrees of Recovery which are the particular cure of their degrees of distance One wicked man knows of Christ and doth half entertain him but sticks at some pleasing Sin Another knows not that he is miserable by sin nor ever considered how to be recovered nor ever prayed God to shew him a way to escape his wrath nor ever heard of Christ This latter must receive much of Christs mercy before he be brought so near to Christ as the former Christ loved one wicked man
therefore should be saved Ans The Persons are determined of long ago for whom Christ satisfied Either he hath satisfied for me or he hath not before my Faith If he have not then my Faith will not cause him to satisfie for me either by suffering again or by making that satisfaction to have been paid for me which was not Object But it is a thing that never will be for one to believe for whom Christ did not satisfie And therefore it is a thing not to be supposed Ans 1. Things may and must be supposed in dispute that never will be That the Elect should have the desert of their Sin or be unredeemed or be forsaken of God or deprived of any mercy which God will give them are all things that never will be And yet a Christian may argue on supposition they had been or should be to raise his thankfulness What if God should have denied me his Grace Or his Redemption Or let me perish in my Sin and State of nature What a Case would my Sin have brought me under 2. If it be a thing not to be supposed in dispute that a Man should believe for whom Christ satisfied not then it is because it implieth a contradiction Else it may be supposed But it implieth no contradiction Ergo c. Object It is a contradiction Because Christ purchased Faith for all those for whom he satisfied and therefore for a Man to believe for whom Christ purchased not Faith is a contradiction Ans 1. I shall take it as a groundless fancy till it be proved that Christ purchased Faith to be eventually certainly given to all those for whom he satisfied 2. If he had this argument is not from satisfaction as such but as it is meritorious of Faith 3. still it is no contradiction because it implyeth no contradiction for a man to believe without that Grace which Christ hath purchased though it be a thing that will never be done 4. They that will still affirm the contrary do the more destroy their own Cause For they then assert that all Gods commands by his Laws and Ministers to the unredeemed as they suppose them for believing in Christ do require meer impossibilities and such contradictions as are not to be so much as supposed in dispute which I think few sober men will grant but rather avoid that opinion that is the ground of such an assertion 5. And which is more the same absurdity will follow as to all other means whatsoever as well as Faith which God hath prescribed to such men for pardon and salvation as they are means and so bring this reproach on the whole New Law as made to all such Men. Object But the same may be said against Gods Foreknowledge or Decree For if God Fore-know or Decree that men shall certainly perish then it may as well be said that though they should believe God neither would nor could save them Answ 1. As to the Power of God it is not straitened by his Decree It follows not God will not do such a thing therefore he cannot The same Divines whom I now argue against use to argue thus about Physical Predetermination God 's Determination of his own will destroyeth not his Power or liberty to the contrary act therefore his determination of our wills destroyeth not our Power or Liberty to the contrary acts whereby they grant that God can save those that he decreeth not to save and so can give them Faith c. and that he is still free to do it or not do it Object If he should believe and be saved whom God hath foreknow nor decreed to be condemned for Unbelief then God should be deceived or change But it is impossible for God to be deceived or change therefore it is impossible for him to believe and be saved whom God hath foreknown or decreed to condemn for unbelief Answ It is a vicious Argument There 's more in the conclusion than in the premises No more will follow but this therefore he will not believe and be saved whom God c. not it is impossible for God never foreknew or decreed that it should be impossible for him to believe and be saved but only that he would not eventually believe and be saved 2. When I speak before in the Argument of Gods will it is not of his will of Decree but of his will as he is in the relation of Rector per Leges and so giveth that Salvation as executor of his Laws and Sentence which by his Laws he first gave Right to God as Rector and Legislator neither will nor can give Salvation to any that Christ dyed not for if they should believe But God as Legislator or Rector would give salvation to all that Christ Dyed for if they believe though it were supposed that he had foreknown or decreed that such men would not believe Only it would follow that God was mistaken And therefore such a thing will never come to pass for God will not be mistaken It is God as â—egislator to whom it belongs to be true in making good his promises which is the thing in Question 3. The want of an expiatory sacrifice doth morally necessitate the Damnation of Man though he should believe both in respect of the Law of works as â—hrists Death is Causa necessaria liberationis as want of a Ransome may be said to necessitate a Captives perishing and properly in respect to the new Law whose Penalty is 1. Non-liberation 2. And a sorer punishment For the chief cause of that Non-liberation or Non-salvation must needs be the defect of that which should be the chief cause of Deliverance and Salvation rather than the defect of Faith a subservieâ— cause or condition which ever supposeth thâ— former cause If two men at Christs bar be â—â—â—leaded as lyable to Damnation and it be â—â—â—d to one Thou hast no Right to Salvation for Christ never Dyed for thee and to the other thou hast no right because thou didst not believe is not the former more valid then the latter or as valid But to say Thou hast no right because God did decree the contrary is not right arguing 4. We must not argue a minus notis as the Decrees are as shall be shewed Arg. 8th A Causa pereundi negativè If Christ hath not satisfied for all men then the cause of mens perishing is for want of an expiatory sâ—criâ—iâ—e But the want of an expiatory 〈◊〉 is not the cause of mens 〈◊〉 therefore Christ hath satisfied for all By 〈◊〉 cause I mean not the meritorious cause for that no doubt must be some sin of Man And I suppose that Unbelievers are not condemned according to the first Law of works as standing without Remedy that is not meerly because they did not perfectly obey but at the Redeemers bar because they believed not and would not have Christ to Reign over them or because they improved not their Talents of Grace that is of mercy given contrary
Men from the Accusation of the guilt of these Sins at the Bar of Christ and dare any that now boldly maintain this cause in dispute undertake to justifie and vindicate them at Judgment and prove that it was never their duty to love Christ or be thankful to him for Redeeming them and therefore that it was not their Sin that they did it not This will be a harder task then it is now to find a flourish of words which seem to prove it 6. And worse then all this They will condemn Christ for condemning them for these Sins When he hath sentenced them Go you cursed For not loving him and shewing it to his Members Mat. 25. And pronounced that Man Anathema Maranatha that loves not the Lord Jesus if these Men can prove that it was none of their duty then they must accuse Christ and his Law of injustice and condemn his condemnatory sentence 2. And as they owe Christ this Love and Gratitude so the thing that they owe it for is his Redeeming them or dying in their stead or satisfying for their Sin For 1. It is doubtless that they owe it him not only as Creator but as Redeemer and if so it is either for Redeeming others or themselves Not only for Redeeming others For 1. The nature of gratitude is to respect some benefits that our selves receive either in our own Persons or in those whose welfare is part of ours And 2. Man is naturally so near to himself and the love of himself so deeply rooted by God in his nature that he naturally looks at himself before others and values things as they respect himself 3. Others good is no mercy to us further then we participate with them in the benefit Yea Divines generally conclude that it will be so far from comforting the damned to see that the Godly are in Heaven that it will encrease their torment 4. Else it would lay no greater an obligation on these Men to love Christ and be thankful to him than it doth on the Devils that Men are redeemed or than they owe God that the good Angels are preserved while themselves are condemned 5. Scripture not only alloweth Men to love and be thankful in reference to our selves even for that which is good to us but shews it to be our duty and the nature of those affections and that for our own mercies received we are obliged hereto 2 Thes 2. 10 Men are forsaken and damned for not receiving the love of the Truth that they might be saved How oft are the Israelites all of them Commanded to love the Lord with all their Hearts as their Redeemer from Egypt which was both an effect and Type of Christs work of Redemption Deut. 6. 5. and 10. 12. and 11. 1 13 22. and 19. 9. and 30. 16. 20. Yea all Gods mercies as well as this deliverance from Egypt is made in divers of these Texts the motive that should provoke them to love and thankfulness And doubtless these are all effects of the Death of Christ for them To love for love and for benefits is that which Sinners do Luk. 6. 32. Not as Sinners but from the common humanity that is left in them We love him because he first loved us 1 Job 4. 19. This because is not meant only Effectivè but also objectivè as to Gods love The first love of the Soul to Christ cannot be moved from the knowledg of Christs special love to the Soul For 1. Love accompanieth justifying Faith in the same moment And indeed in some Sense is part of it And doth not stay till the Soul discern his own believing and thence discern Gods special love 2. There is a love of desire which goes before the knowledg of Gods special love 3. Many a poor Christian loves Christ long before they know the special love of Christ And therefore this first sincere love must needs be raised from the apprehension of Christs excellency as to us and his general love to mankind Which can be no other then that which is manifested in their Redemption Object Wicked Men are bound first to believe and thtn to love when they know by their believing that Christ died for them Ans They are bound immediately in the same instant to love Christ as to believe and not to delay their love till they try their Faith or by discerning it get assurance of Gods favour They are bound to accept Christ as good for them when he is offered them And that acceptance is essentially love as it is said to be in the rational appetite He that loveth not truly believeth not truly And how can any Man prove Gods special love by the evidence of a false Faith Must Men first believe without love that by the Mark of such a Faith they may have ground for love That will be a deceitful ground as it is a deceitfull Mark Object At least Men are bound to be humbled first and believe that there is no other name under Heaven but Christs by which they can be saved and then to rest on him and love him Ans This is answered before If the humiliation and Assent that they mention be proper to the Regenerate and so be a true note of Gods special love 1. Then it will follow that other Graces go before that Faith which unites us to Christ Which few will grant 2. Then Men must find special Marks Antecedent to Faith that from thence they may gather a warrant to believe Which is false Doctrine I think in the judgment of all 2. But if these Antecedent Acts be common and such as reprobates also may perform then either every Man that performs them is bound to love Christ as his Redeemer And to rest on him for pardon Or only some If every Man then some reprobates are bound to love Christ as their Redeemer And to rest on him for pardon by his Blood-shed for them And to be thankful for his satisfaction And then certainly Christ did Redeem them by satisfying for them If but some then how shall any Man know that he is one of them So that I think I may conclude that they that deny universal satisfaction by Christs bloodshed do leave Men no ground for their first special love to Christ as Redeemer For that first love must be raised upon the knowledg of Christs general love and mercy or be groundless Seeing there is no knowledg of special love and Mercy Antecedent Object But how can the knowledg of Christs common love cause in us a special love to him Then we must love him first with a special love Ans Christ hath a special love to us before we have a special love to him But we cannot know it and therefore cannot love him for it His special love is the efficient cause of our love to him but not the objective or moving cause of our first love The love of Christ is not the less because its manifestation is general And therefore that glorious mercy of general
Heaven when he said unto them ye have Crucified the Lord of glory So that at the same time 3000 Men were pricked in their Hearts and said Act. 2. 37. Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved Again if Christ for our Sins shed his Heart Blood and if our Sins made him sweat water and Blood O then why should not we our selves shed bitter tears and why should not our Hearts bleed for them He that finds himself so dull and hardened that the Passion of Christ doth not humble him is in a lamentable ease for there is no Faith in the Death of Christ effectual in him as yet These words shew that Perkins speaks not this only to believers 2. The meditation of the passion of Christ is a most notable means to breed repentance and reformation of Life in time to come For when we begin to think that Christ Crucified by suffering the first and 2d Death hath procured to us remission of all our Sins past and freed us from Hell Death and damnation then if there be but a spark of Grace in us we begin to be of another mind and to reason thus with our selves what hath the Lord been thus merciful to me that am of my self but a firebrand of Hell as to free me from deserved destruction and to receive me to favour in Christ Yea no doubt he hath His name be blessed therefore I will not therefore Sin any more as I have done but rather endeavour hereafter to keep my self from every evil way 3. The right knowledg of our selves ariseth from the knowledg of Christ Crucified in whom and by whom we come to know five special things of our selves The first how grievous our Sins are and therefore how miserable we are in regard of them If we consider our offences in themselves and as they are in us we may soon be deceived c. But if Sin be considered in the Death and passion of Christ whereof it was the cause and the vileness thereof measured by the unspeakable torments endured by the Son of God and if the greatness of the offence of Man be esteemed by the endless satisfaction made to the justice of God the least Sin that is will appear to be a Sin indeed and that most grievous and ugly Therefore Christ Crucified must be used by us as a mirror or Looking-Glass in which we may fully take a view of our wretchedness c. And before and for our Neighbors those specially that are of Christs Church they are to be known of us on this manner When we are to do any duty to them we must not barely respect their Persons but Christ Crucified in them and them in Christ And Page 631. The 5th point is that we owe to Christ an endless debt for he was Crucified only as our surety and pledg and in that Spectacle of his passion we must consider our selves as the chief debtors and that the very discharge of our debt that is the Sins which are inherent in us were the proper cause of all the endless pains and torments that Christ endured that he might set us most miserable Bankrupts at liberty from Hell Death and damnation For this his unspeakable goodness if we do but once think of it seriously we must needs confess that we owe our selves our Souls and Bodies and all that we have as a debt due unto him And so soon as any Man begins to know Christ Crucified he knows his own debt and thinks of the payment of it And that you may be sure that Perkins speaks not only of the Elect see Page 631. Col. 2. The common Protestant likewise cometh short herein for 3 Causes 1. Whereas in word they acknowledg him to be their Saviour this he blameth not in them that hath redeemed them from their evil Conversation yet indeed they make him a patron of their Sins The Thief makes him the receiver The Murderer makes him his refuge The Adulterer be it spoken with reverence to his Majesty makes him the Bawd c. Thus Christ that came to abolish Sin is made a maintainer thereof and the common Packhorle of the World to bear every Mans burden 2. Men are content to take knowledg of the merit of Christs passion for the remission of their Sins but in the mean season the virtue of Christs Death for the mortifying of Sin is little regarded c. 3. Men usually content themselves generally and confusedly to know Christ to be their Redeemer it seems then that it is true never once seeking in every particular Estate and condition of Life and in every particular blessing of God to feel the benefit of his passion What is the cause that almost all the World live in security never almost touched for their horrible Sins Surely the reason is because they did never yet seriously consider that Christ in the Garden lay grouling upon the Earth sweating Water and Blood for their offences Can a Man speak plainer for Christs dying for all Again all such as by fraud and oppression or any kind of hard dealing suck the Blood of poor Men never yet knew that their Sins drew out the Heart Blood of Christ And proud Men and Women that are puffed up by reason of their attire which is the badg of their shame and never cease hunting after strange fashions consider not that Christ was not Crucified in gay attire but naked that he might bear the whole shame and curse of the Law for us These and such like whatsoever they say in word are flat Enemies of the Cross of Christ and tread his precious Blood under their Feet Now then considering this so weighty and special a point of Religion is so much neglected O Man or Woman high or low young or old if thou have been wanting this way begin for very shame to learn and learning to know Christ Crucified That thou mayest attain to this behold him often c. 1. Look on him as a glass or spectacle in which thou shalt see Gods Glory greater in thy Redemption then in thy Creation c. 2. Thou must behold him as the full price of thy Redemption and perfect Reconciliation with God And pray earnestly to God that he would Seal up the same in thy conscience by his Spirit 3. Thou must behold Christ as an example to whom thou must conform thy self by Regeneration c. Read the History of Christs passion Observe all the parts and circumstances thereof and apply them to thy self for thy full Conversion When thou readest that Christ went to the Garden as his custom was where the Jews might soon attack him consider that he went to the death of the Cross for thy Sins willingly and not of constraint and that therefore thou for thy part shouldest do him all service freely Psal 110. 3. When thou hearest that in his agony his Soul was heavy unto death know it was for thy Sins and thou shouldest much more conceive heaviness of Heart for
well conclude that the Doctrin is not sound which makes Christ to have died no more to expiate the Sins of the Non-Elect then of the Devils but left them equally remediless But such is the Doctrin now opposed Ergo c. Argum. 23d A statu hominum saltem non pejore statu Daemonum If Christ Died not for all that hear the Gospel then Gods dealing with the Non-elect part of fallen Man is much harder than his dealing with the Devils but the Consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent The Minor I think I need not prove all acknowledge it that ever I heard or read on this subject If they should think that God dealt alike with the Non-elect and the Devils yet sure none will say that he deals far hardlier with the Non-elect Hell is prepared for the Devil and his Angels they are reserved in Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the great Day till then they believe and tremble and look for the time of their full torment without any hope of escape Compare with this but what I have before proved to be Gods dealing with men even them that perish and you will see that their case is not worse than the Devils And for the Consequence of the Major Proposition I prove it thus by comparing both together When the Devils had fallen from their first estate God leaves them without remedy or hope of recovery But when man is fallen according to the Doctrine which I oppose God doth not only leave him remediless but also makes a new Law that shall oblige him to suffer a far sorer punishment except he will believe in a Redeemer that is not his Redeemer and trust for salvation to that Blood that was never shed for him and accept the benefits of a satisfaction that was never made for him even effects without a cause Yea and causeth his Son to make a satisfaction materially sufficient for the sins of all and yet had rather it were superfluous and vain and meerly lost then that it should be paid for him As if he would rather when three Men owe 100 l. a piece pay 300 l. for one of the three than the other 200 l. should be tendred for the rest And when he knows that Christ never satisfied for any of the Non-elect yet doth he follow them with daily sollicitations by his Word Spirit and Embassadors beseeching them to come in and accept of Christ ordaining and resolving that all these beseechings shall harden them or at least aggravate their sin and and misery that it may be easier with Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than with them that refuse these Offers And thus Christ shall necessitate them causally by his Law to a far greater torment as if their misery were not sad enough before without procuring them any possibility of escape for there is no such possibility without satisfaction to God's justice If God should make a Law that the Devils who are miserable already should have â—ar sorer punishment if they would not believe in Christ as their Redeemer who never redeemed them would not this be harder dealing than now God useth toward them when all the offer is on supposition that they cannot and therefore will not believe and if it were possible to believe it would do them no good If then this would be harder dealing with them than those are hardlier used than the Devils with whom God so deals and therefore he dealeth so with none Arg. 24. A beneficâ Naturâ Evangelii If Christ died only for the Elect then should the Gospel to most men where it comes be of it self directly one of the greatest plagues and signs of God's wrath that ever he sendeth on a People on earth but the Gospel is no such Curse but a great blessing Ergo c. The Consequence is thus proved That which brings an unavoidable obligation to a far sorer punishment without giving any possiblity either of escaping former misery or this additional misery must needs be one of the greatest Curses and Plagues in the World and so the sign of Gods greatest wrath but such were the Gospel or new Law to most men where it comes if the opposed Doctrine were true Ergo c. Let him that denys the Major shew me a sorer Plague that ever God inflicted on any man on Earth if he can Object Is not the Gospel the savour of death to some and Christ a stumbling stone and Rock of offence Answ That is not of his own nature nor of the nature of the Gospel nor yet as a proper Cause per se but as an occasion and by accident through Mans own wickedness and wilful rejection and abuse A Man may burn himself with the fire that should warm him or choak himself with the food that should nourish him Object But doth not God decree it Answ His decree causeth not the thing any more than his foreknowledge having no influence into the Object as our Divines actus immanens nihil ponit in objectio Predestinatio â—iâ—â—l ponit in praedestinato It imposeth no causal necessity as all confess only as foreknowledge so decree hath a Logical necessity in ordine argumentandi called Necessitas Consequentiae Twisse himself saith there is no more and the Schoolmen are of his mind in that and affirm no more And for the minor its evident in each part 1. The new Law obligeth all that believe not to damnation because they believe not and to a far sorer punishment than before was due to them Heb. 10. 29. Mar. 16. 16. Joh. 3. 18 19. Mat. 25. last 2. And that it is an unavoidable obligation appears 1 In that God made the Law whether Man will or not Man could not hinder that 2. And it is an impossibility which the Law is feigned to require To accept a Redeemer that never Redeemed them to rest on a satisfaction for their justification and pardon which is no satisfaction for as to them it is none It being maintain'd by them whom I oppose that it is none and that it is only materially sufficient that is matter of suffering sufficient to have made a satisfaction if God would but not formally sufficient that is indeed it is no price or satisfaction as to their debt at all for if my Neighbour and I owe each of us 20 l. he that pays his debt though he over-pay doth no more thereby to the discharge of mine than if he had done nothing at all I have proved before that here is no sufficient ground for that faith supposing Christ satisfied not for the Believer And even those whom I argue against will not endure to have it supposed that any Man should believe for whom Christ dyed not Or if they will let us sppose such a thing then it is undeniable that such a Man would be never the more pardoned or saved because there is no Salvation withont a Saviour and no Remission without satisfaction And as in those that are
fruit in all the World but that it is come into all the World and bringeth forth Fruit viz. in some where it comes 2. But suppose it were otherwise doth not Christ say that the Gospel doth bring forth fruit in more than the Elect viz. in many that fall away when Persecution ariseth Mat. 13. And in whom the cares of the World do choak that Fruit. 3. Were these Colos all Elect to whom Paul speaks 4. It is a known truth that the Gospel comes to more than the Elect for many are called but few chosen next they alledge 2 Cor. 5. 19. which makes sufficiently against their whole cause as shall be shewen anon when we come to it Another place cited by them is 1 Joh. 2. 2. Christ is the propitiation of the sins of the whole World Ans If they may thus beg the question all Texts shall mean as they would have them Of this anon Another place cited is Psal 22. 27. All the ends of the World remember and turn unto the Lord And all the Kindreds of the Nations shall worship before thee For the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is the Governour among the Nations Ans 1. All the ends of the World is not so large as all the World 2. It is plain that this Text speaks of the establishment of Christs visible Kingdom which contains more than the Elect. The Net of the Gospel brings Fishes good and bad The Heathen Countries that have turned to the Lord from Paganism and Infidelity have not all believed to Salvation The Kingdoms of the World shall become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ But they are not all Elect. These are all the Texts that I find urged to to prove that by the World is signified only the Elect. 2. And what if it were so in some places 1. It follows not that it is so here 2. The usual Sense must not be forsaken without cause Nor is it sufficient that unusually it is otherwise taken 3. The conjoyned words will shew the necessity of a restrained Sense where such a Sense is necessary to be received but so they do not here but contrarily as hath been shewed Their 4th Reason to prove that by the World is here meant the Elect only is this If every one in the World be intended why doth not the Lord in the pursuit of this Love reveal Christ to all so loved Ans This is to be fully answered anon among the main Objections by it self Lastly they say else all these will follow 1. That some are beloved and hated also from Eternity 2. That God's Love towards innumerable is fruitless and vain 3. That the Son of God is given to them that never hear word of him and have no power granted to believe in him 4. That God is mutable in his Love or else he still loveth those that be in Hell 5. That he gives not all things to them to whom he gives his Son 6. That he knows not certainly before who shall believe and be saved Ans To the first I thought no Antiarminian Divine ever denied it God hateth all the Workers of iniquity Psal 5. 5. You will not say that he hated them not from Eternity Many of the Workers of iniquity are Elect and so loved from Eternity God's Love is spoken say Divines ab effectu potius quam ab affectu God from Eternity so loved Men not Elect as to give them on Creation Everlasting Life in Adam on condition of fulfilling the first Covenant and to give them everlasting life in Christ on condition of believing according to the second Covenant And yet he decreed not to give any Men Grace to perform the condition of the first covenant nor to give all men Grace to perform the condition of the second To the 2d Consequence I shall answer fully by it self anon among the contrary Arguments To the 3d. also I shall there answer To the 4th I say for it is not worth a fuller answer 1. All Divines that I know say that God loveth those in Hell as his Creatures and as Men Aquinas and the rest of the Schoolmen have it frequently Yea Ursine Rob. Baronius and many of our Protestant Divines say that he punisheth those in Hell short of their deserving and so sheweth some mercy there that I will not meddle with 2. If you speak of God's Love as it is in effectu and not in affectu then it is certainly mutable He gives Men those mercies which for their â—buse he removeth or turneth to judgments He gives to all a conditional Pardon and Life And after condemneth most to Death for not performing the condition To the Elect themselves these Effects are changeable 3. If you say God's Love is but his Velle bonum alicui and therefore he cannot be said now Men are in Hell to continue to will them a conditional Pardon and Life Therefore God's Love must be mutable I answer Let those Owls that love to blind themselves by gazing on the Sun of God's undiscernable Infiniteness undertake to tell what God's Love is and what his Will is and how he Wills that which is past c. For my part I pretend not to a capacity of discerning any such things 2. You may enforce your objection as strongly concerning God's Love to the Elect He once willed their Creation then he willed to redeem them by Christ then he willed to call them and to give them their first justification to deliver them from this sickness and that danger then he willed that they should die and then that they should rise again If you will tell me how God after the Resurrection will continue to all Eternity to will to create Man to redeem him to call him justifie him deliver him raise him c. then I will tell you how God will Eternally will the giving Christ Pardon and Salvation conditionally to all If you say he Wills them as preterita and not as presentia vel futura you may say so by this If you say that there is no preteritum vel futurum with God but all present and therefore he willeth them as preterita sic dicta quoad hominem vel fidem mensuram humanam sed ut presentia quoad Deum the like you may say here also To the 5th Consequence I must answer anon by it self when we speak of their Argument from Rom. 8. 32. To the 6th It is a naked affirmation as easily denied Dare Men say that it was no mercy or love of God to give mankind in Adam Eternal Life on condition of keeping his Law because God foreknew or foredecreed they would not or should not keep it And so not attain the fruit of that Govenant thereby Dare these Men pretending to preach the Gospel tell their hearers that to all of them except the Elect the preaching the Gospel and therein the offer and conditional gift of Christ Pardon Justification and Salvation is no mercy nor from any love of God to
your cannot and will-not is all one As for those men that open their mouths against the most High and say that if God give not willingness and faith to men he doth but delude them to tell them that Christ died for them and to give them Christ if they will I intreat them to consider 1. God hath laid the cause of mens perdition on their own will still in his word and will do at Judgment 2. God hath taught all men naturally to accuse themselves when their wilfulness was the cause 3. The light of Nature teacheth all Nations under Heaven to lay the blame on the wilful and to make all their Laws and execute all their Judgments on that ground acquitting men so far as they can be discovered to have been forced and involuntary excusing him that can say I did it against my Will condemning those that did it willingly Deny this therefore and you deny 1. The Law of God in Scripture 2. The Law of natural Conscience 3. And overthrow all Laws of Nature and Nations and all Churches and Commonwealths Did ever any sober Prince say I will not condemn a man for wilful Murther because he hath not free-will nor power to forbear it except God give it him Or did ever wise Judge absolve an offender on that ground If a VVhore-monger or Drunkard so accustom themselves to those sins that they have contracted a habit and cannot forbear them did ever any Law-giver Judge or Wise man take that for an excuse Or rather for the most hainous aggravation of his fault God and Nature hath taught all men in their enquiries after the cause of sin to stop at mans Will and lay the blame there In intreat wise godly men therefore that they would not shut the very eyes of Nature it self and overthrow all order of things for their by-conceits and when they have done to fly in Gods Face with such horrid desperate unreverence and presumption as to say God deceives and deludes men if he give a Ransom for them and give them Christ and Pardon on condition of their willingness except he also make them willing I have before shewed it without any participation with Pelagius that all men that perish do suffer for abuse of Grace sufficient to its immediate use and end and if God will not suffer all so to perish but compel some to come in when he doth but invite others our Eye must not be evil because he is good He deals mercifully with all but more mercifully with some those therefore shall for ever glorifie his Mercy and the rest be left without all just excuse and be speechless The 9th Text is Mat. 18. 27 32 34 35. Then the Lord of that Servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the Debt c. Then his Lord after that he had called him said unto him O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow Servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also to you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his Brother their trespasses Here it 's plainly said by Christ himself that the debt was forgiven him who afterward perished Whence I argue ab offectu ad causam therefore Christ died for him For without Blood there is no remission Two things are said against this 1. That Theologia parabolica non est Argumentativâ— Ans And I am sure that Christ's Theology is not delusory or false If he taught by Parables then his Parables were and are teaching and if teaching then we may argue from them But consider though it 's certain that nothing in Parables is to be stretched beyond the intent yet this is the plain sense and intent Christ shewing that those that have received mercy for their own sins must forgive others or else they shall perish as ungrateful for what they had received and as unmerciful to others 1. It is twice over expresly said that he forgave him the Debt 2. The effect followed he loosed him viz. from Prison 3. It is the aggravation of his following sin to be ungrateful for his own pardon and there is no ingratitude possible if it had not been true that he received that mercy himself 4. Christ expresly openeth and applieth all this to his own Disciples saying so also will my Heavenly Father do to you if you from your Hearts forgive not c. so that it is past doubt that this forgiveness was real 2. The other objection is this Those that are forgiven never fall away or perish and therefore this parable is not so to be understood Ans The text saith plainly the debt was forgiven and therefore it is certainly true There is a fourfold forgiveness of sin which I desire may be well observed First upon Christs undertaking to suffer and so his moral satisfying God the Father as the offended Legislator of the Law of Nature remitted his right of punishing and advantage of honouring his Justice meerly on that ground and in that Relation suspending the obligation of that Law and delivering up the sinner and all his Debts into the full power or hands of him that Redeemed him giving him authority to give remission to whom he pleased on terms of Grace so that as Christ and not man did satisfie Justice so it seemed most meet to the Wisdom of God that Christ and not man himself should be the first receiver of the pardon and other benefits but with this difference 1. Christ receiveth them eminenter in potestate conferendi as he hath power to confer them on the Redeemed But we receive them from Christ formaliter in themselves 2. Christ receiveth them for our good It is not the pardon of any sins of his own that he receiveth But we receive them for our own good So that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son and he that hath the Son hath life God hath put a Pardon for us into Christs hands in giving him this Power and Christ must be the conveyer to us in the exercise of his Power For as the Father Judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son so he Absolveth no man but hath committed all Absolution to the Son For Absolution is one half of Judgment That is God as the Rector according to the meer Law of Nature and as meer Creator on the first ground judgeth no man But now he judgeth all as Redeemer on terms of Mercy by him that Redeemed us and so Absolveth So then the first pardon of sin was in Potentia Remittendi virtual put into the hand of Christ only for his Sacrifice and Satisfaction and not to the sinner immediately himself 2. The second Pardon is by Christ thus Authorized and it is by him as
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