temporarinesse of it was occasioned or caused by a means accidentall and extrinsecall to it viz. the want of a thoroughnesse or cordialness of affection to the Gospell by which the faith or belief of it now sprung in Soule should have been fed nourished and maintained against all attempts made by persecution to destroy it If it be demanded but why are true and sound Believers compared to the §. 36. good ground if they also were true Believers who are resembled by the stony ground I answer the reason hereof is plaine viz. not because the Faith in the Persons signified by these different grounds was different in the nature or kinde of it but because the issue or event of their respective Faiths differ and this by way of similitude to the different successe or event of the same Corne for kinde growing in stony ground and in good or fruitfull ground If it be objected that the Faith of the stony ground is said to have no root whereas it is evident that the Faith of the good ground which persevered had roote And doth not this argue a specificall or essentiall difference between them I answer when the Faith of the stony ground is said not to have roote the meaning cannot be that it had no root at all for then it could not have sprouted or sprung up as it did but that it had no considerable roote no sufficient rooting to carry it through unto the Harvest or no roote comparatively viz. in respect of the Faith of the good ground The seed that is sown in stony ground though it wants depth of Earth and so must needs want depth of rooting yet it hath some kinde of rooting proportionable to the Earth which it hath as well as that which is sown in the best and fruitfulest soile that is So that as a sprout or blade of Wheat sown in stony ground doth not differ specifically from a blade of the same graine growing in good ground though this hath by the opportunity of the soyle the better rooting in like manner the Faith of Him that believeth onely for a time and afterwards declineth may be essentially and for nature the same Faith with His who persevereth unto the end If difference in rooting should cause or prove a specificall difference between blade and blade of the same graine it is like that every blade though growing in the same field or ground would differ specie from all its fellowes in as much as it is no wayes probable but that there constantly is some difference more or lesse between the respective rootings of every particular Corne that is sown in the same Field Yea there is little question to be made but that some individualls of the same seed sown in the same ground suppose the best and richest ground of all may have yea and have commonly so slight and faint a rooting that heat and drought will cause it to wither away before the Harvest Therefore no specificall difference can be inferred between Faith and Faith from a graduall difference in their rootings If it be yet further objected The Faith of the stony ground yeilded no §. 37. fruit whereas the Faith of the good ground is said to bring forth fruit with patience Doth not this argue a specificall difference between them I answer neither yea those very words with patience which are distinguishing clearly imply that the Faith of the stony ground did bring forth fruit also and that it came short of the good ground onely in this that this brought forth fruit with patience i. e. the fruitfulnesse of it was not extinguished by any persecutions or sufferings from the World whereas the fruitfulness of the other gave up the ghost through feare of sufferings And indeed had not this stony ground been some wayes fruitfull and made such a Profession of the Gospell which rendreth Men obnoxious to persecution from the World there had been no cause why it should either have suffered or feared Persecution Besides fruitfulnesse and unfruitfulnesse make no specificall or essentiall difference between subject and subject more then strength and weaknesse speech and silence argue one Man to differ specie from another If they did the same Tree that beareth fruit one year and is barren another should differ specie from it self yea and the Faith of true Believers themselves who according to the known sence of our Adversarâ—es themselves may goâ— astray like lest Sheepe and live for a long time together in wayes of the greatest unworthinesse without Repentance all which time their Faith must needs be unfruitfull should come in time to differ specie from it self The last Objection which I think knows how to appeare against the Truth §. 38. of the Faith of the stony ground or Temporaries in the Parable is this true Faith such as was found in those resembled by the good â—round alwayes includes a purpose of heart to beare the crosse of Christ and suffer persecution But the Faith of the Temporaries wanted this property Therefore it was not true Faith but another kinde of Faith essentially distinct from it To this also we answer 1. That true Faith doth not in the precise or formall conception of it include such a purpose of heart as the Objection speaks of nâ—r can such a thing be proved either from the Scriptures or from any sound Principle of reason That such a purpose is seminally or vertually included in true Faith may be granted But 2. That such a purpose of heart was not in those that are called Temporaries in the Parable cannot be proved there is no word or clause herein that doth import it That they did not take up the Crosse of Christ when it lay in their way nor endure persecution for the Gospell doth not at all prove that there was no reall purpose in them of doing either The Apostle Paul said of Himself to will i. e. to purpose or intend is present with me but how to perform that which is good I finde not a Rom. 7. 1â— 3. And lastly evident it is from other Scriptures and in part from the Parable it self in hand that such Believers who proved temporaries did yet endure persecution for a time Which plainely proves that they had a true pâ—rpose of heart to indure it Yea and probably that they had a purpose of heart to indure it unto the end Have yee suffered so many things in vaine saith Paul to the Galathians if yet it be in vaine b Gal. 3. 4. That these Galathians to whom he beares witnesse that they had suffered many things for the Gospell were Temporaries appeares from those words I marvell that yee are so soone removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospell c Gal. 1. 6. And as the seed that sprang up in the stoney ground indured the scorching heat of the Sun for a time before it withered away by means of it So did the Believers portraitured hereby
viz. when the race is not to the swift nor the battell to the strong c. Eccles 9. 11. Eccles 9. 11. §. 9. If it be here demanded In as much as second Causes and created Principles especially in men act notwithstanding such a substraction of the Divine Presence from them as hath been declared though not according to the perfection of their natures but in a troubled and miscarrying manner the eyes of the two Disciples we spake of though they were so held that they knew not Christ viz. to be the person which he was yet they represented him unto them as a man c. Whether do such actings as these proceed from their Principles without any such presence of the first Cause with them as that which we have asserted to be simply necessary for and with second Causes whensoever they go forth into action Or what manner of presence of this first Cause or how differing from that which is constant and more agreeable to their natures shall we suppose they have with them when they act irregularly or deficiently To this I answer 1. Whensoever second Causes move into action whether they act congruously to their respective natures and kinds or whether defectively they still have and must have a presence of the first Cause with them as hath beene already argued But 2. When they faile or faulter in their motions or actings if their motions be such which are not morall or commanded by the will of which kind the mis representation of the person of Christ by the eyes or visive faculty of the two Apostles was I conceive that the presence or concourse of the first cause with them is attempered and proportioned in order to the deficiency of the action I mean as well to the degree as kind of this deficiency and is not the same with it selfe in the ordinary and proper actings of these faculties The reason hereof is because faculties meerly naturall act determinately and uniformly after one and the same manner unlesse they be troubled and put out of their way by a superior power But in morall actions and such whose deficiency proceedeth from the wills of men or other creatures indued with the Whether or how the concurrence of God with the wils of men in good actions dister from that which is afforded unto them in evill actions shall God willing be taken into consideration in the second part of this work same faculty the presence and concourse of the first Cause with the Principles producing them is not at least ordinarily different from that which is naturall and proper to them and by vertue whereof at other times they act regularly or at least may The Reason hereof is because the nature and intrinsecall frame and constitution of the will importeth a liberty or freedom of chusing its own motions or acts this being the essentiall and characteristicall property of it whereby it is distinguished from causes meerly naturall Now then if this faculty when it moves or acts inordinately should be so influenced by the first Cause as hereby to be determined or necessitated to the inordinacy of its actings 1. That distinguishing property we speak of should be dissolved or destroyed and the will it selfe hereby reduced to the Order and Laws of Causes meerly naturall 2. The inordinatenesse or sinfulnesse of the motions and actings of it could not be resolved into it selfe or its own corruption but into that over ruling and necessitating influence of the first Cause upon it which it was not able to withstand nor to act besides or contrary unto the determinating exigency thereof And thus God shall be made the Author of Sin which is the first born of abominations even in the eye of Reason and Nature it selfe But of these things more hereafter Though all the motions and actings of the creature and created Principles §. 10. or faculties are absolutely suspended upon the association of the first Cause with them in their actings yet do they very seldom suffer any detriment or actuall suspension of their motions or actings hereby God never denying suspending or withdrawing that concurrence or conjunction of himself with them without which they cannot act but only upon some speciall design as for example now and then to be a Remembrancer unto the world that Nature and Second Causes are not autocratoricall i. e. do not perform what ordinarily they do perform independently and of themselves but that he is the soveraign Lord of them and hath all the strength and operations of them in his hand The battell commonly is to the strong and the race ordinarily to the swift and bread most frequently to men of understanding c. But more of this also in the following Chapter The Apostle affirming That in God we live and move in the sence declared §. 11. passeth the sentence of condemnation against two opinions which yet condemn one the other also being two extreams leaving the Truth between them in the middle The former denies all co-operation of the first Cause with the second affirming That God only communicateth that operating virtue unto them which they respectively exert and put forth and preserveth it but doth not at all co-operate with it The latter affirmeth That it is God only who acteth or worketh at the presence of Second Causes and that these do nothing but stand by act not at all The former of these opinions wâ—â— held by Durandus the Schoolman and by some others far more ancient then he against whom Augustin disputeth Lib. 5. dâ— Geâ— ad lit c. 20. The latteâ— by Gabriel Biel a School man also and some others of that Learning The Apostles assertion That we move in God in the sence asserted is visibly attended with these two consequentiall Truths 1. That God doth associate himselfe and communicate with Second Causes and all created Principles in their respective motions and operations and consequently contributes more towards their motions and operations then only by a collation and conservation of a sufficient strength or virtue in their respective causes to produce them 2. That the ordinary effects acts and operations produced in these sublunary parts are not so or upon any such terms attributable unto God but that they have their Second Causes also respectively producing them whereunto they may as truly and perhaps more properly be ascribed as unto God CHAP. II. Though there be as absolute and essential a Dependance of Second Causes upon the first in point of motion action and operation as of simple Existence or Being yet are not the motions actions or operations of Second Causes at least ordinarily so immediately or precisely determined by that Dependance which they have upon the first Cause as their respective Beings are THe simple Existences or Beings of things may be said to be determined §. 1. by God the first Cause three ways 1. In respect of their Natures or constituting Principles of their respective Beings 2. In respect of their
production into Being 3. And lastly In respect of their permanency or continuance in and with these Natures and Beings In the first consideration they are absolutely and in every respect determined by God neither themselves nor any other contributing any thing at all towards their Natures or Beings in that sence nor being in any capacity to withstand or make any resistance against that hand of Pleasure and Power which made them so or so and imparted such and such a nature or frame determinately unto them But secondly In respect of their respective actuall productions into Being they are not at least a great part of them are not so determined by God as in the former consideration Men may sow more or less grain or corn in their fields as they please and so likewise herbs in their gardens Yea the ordinary course and assistance of Providence only supposed they have power to multiply individuals in some species of animal creatures and however to restrain such a multiplication Yea doubtless many Persons both of men and women have been propagated and born into the World whose Parents were not determined or necessitated to their generation In the third and last consideration though things cannot at least all things cannot be said to be absolutely positively or irresistibly determined by God as in the first yet doth his will and pleasure for the most part interpose effectually though by the mediation of Causes either naturall or morall or both for a determination in this kinde also The continuance of Herbs Plants and Trees in their vegetative lives or Beings in respect of their species or kindes respectively is determined by God but by the intervention of their severall natures temperatures constitutions or the like So that those Herbs Plants or Trees more generally and in respect of their kindes are longer liv'd whose tempers and complexions are more healthfull and strong and so better provided to resist and defend themselves against such inconveniences which endanger and are destructive unto the lives and beings of such creatures as they The continuance of individuals or particulars in each kinde of these vegetative creatures in their respective Natures or Beings is not so determined by God but that they are obnoxious at least many of them to the hand and will of man who may at pleasure serve himselfe of which and of how many of them he pleaseth being within the reach of his arme and under his power A man may cut down and suffer still to grow which and how many of the Trees growing in his own ground he pleaseth Thus may he do also by the Herbs in his garden There is the same consideration in all respects of sensitive creatures also The lives of many of these are subjected to the wills and pleasures of men Concerning the Naturall Lives and Beings of men in the World neither §. 2. is the continuance of these so absolutely or peremptorily fixed or determined by God but that either themselves or others may either abbreviate and contract them or else enlarge and protract them to a longer period by means proportionable unto either By excess in sinning and so by defect in caution and use of means for their preservation men may draw the evill day of death neerer to them as by righteousness and a prudent circumspection to prevent dangers and things destructive unto life they may put it further from them But thou O God saith David shalt bring them downe into the pit of destruction bloody and deceitfull men shall not live out halfe their days a Psa 55. 23. e. i. the half of those days which according to the course of Nature and Providence and Will of God otherwise they might have done To like purpose Eliphaz in Job speaking of a wicked man who stretcheth out his hand against God and strengtheneth himselfe againct the Almighty i. e. who sinneth at more then an ordinary rate of provocation His branch saith he shall not be green but shall be cut of before his day God shall destroy him as the vine his sowre grape and shall cast him off as the Olive doth his flower b Job 15. 32 33. And againe afterwards Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have troden who were cut down out of time whose foundation was overflown with a flood c Job 22. 15 16 It is probable he here speaks of the old World who because of that redundancy of wickedness which was amongst them were destroyed by a deluge of waters which otherwise they might have escaped according to what our Saviour speaketh to Capernaum concerning Sodom If the mighty workes which have been done in thee had beene done in Sodom it would have remained unto this day d Mat. 11. 23. And whereas God threateneth Ephraim meaning the ten Tribes that within threescore and five years Ephraim should be broken that he be not a People e Isai 7. 8. this judgement according to Musculus his computation was put in execution within twenty years after this Prophecy and that propter enormitatem maliciae as he faith i. e. for the enormous heinousnesse of their wickednesse So then as God hath by no decree determined that men shall be wicked especially not outragiously wicked which we shall further demonstrate afterwards so neither hath he determined that abbreviation of the lives of particular men which their voluntary excesse in wickednesse brings upon them He hath indeed determined indefinitely and in the generall That bloody and deceitfull men shall not live out halfe their days but if we speake of any particular persons who being bloody and deceitfull came thereby to an untimely end neither their sin nor their suffering by an untimely end was determined by God Againe That men by a prudentiall and providentiall care in preventing §. 3. dangers sicknesses and such inconveniences which are of a known malignity to the life of man may advance their days to a greater number then under a contrary neglect especially as the neglect for degree might have been they would or could in reason have amounted unto is evident God himselfe informed David That if he stay'd in Keilah till Saul should come thither to demand him which he was now ready to do the Lords of this City would deliver him up unto him a Sam. 23. 12. in which case he had been but a dead man Therefore David by departing from Keilah before Sauls comming downe to demand him added many days unto his life above what their number would have been had he neglected the Divine Oracle and by staying in Keilah fallen into the hand of Saul The men that were with Paul in the ship by hearkning unto his counsell for causing the Mariners to abide in the Ship got enlargement of quarter for their lives which upon their leaving of the ship had certainly been denyed unto them For Paul said unto the Centurion and the Souldiers Except these abide in the ship yee cannot be saved b
which He was borne of Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remaineth in Him i. e. according to the frequent signification of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to abide or remaine in the Writings of this Apostle is or hath an actuall and present being or residence in Him And that in this place it doth not signifie any perpetuall remaining or abiding no nor any abiding with relation to the future is evident because the abiding of the seed here spoken of is given as the reason why He that is borne of God doth not commit sin i. e. doth not at present walke in any course of known sin Now nothing in respect of any future Permanency or continuance of being can be looked upon as a cause of any present effect but only in respect of the present being or residence of it The reason why the Soul moves and acts the Body to day is not because it will move or act it to morrow or because it is in the Body to day upon such terms that it will be in it to morrow also much lesse because it is an immortall substance or the like but simply because it is now or this day in the Body So the reason why the Angells at this day doe the Will of God is not because they have such a Principle of Holinesse or Obedience vested in them which they cannot put off or lose to Eternity but because they have such a Principle as we speak of of Holinesse and Obedience residing in them at the present Therefore when John assignes the remaining of the seed of God in Him that is borne of him for the reason why He doth not commit sin certaine it is that by this remaining of the seed He means nothing else but the present residence or abode thereof in this Person And if his intent had been either to assert or imply a perpetuall residence of this seed in Him that is borne of God it had been much more proper for Him to have reserved it for a reason of the latter Proposition viz. why He that is borne of God cannot sin especially according to their sence who by cannot sin understand can never sin then to subjoyne it as a reason of the former For though the future continuance of a thing in being can be no reason as hath been said of a present effect yet may it well be a Ground or Reason of the continuance of a present effect Now that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to remaine or abide frequently signifieth especially in the Writings of this Apostle only a present residence or being §. 32. whether of a Person or Thing without any reference unto or implication of a future appeares by many instances But yee know him saith our Saviour to his Disciples speaking of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i e. because he remaineth or abideth with you and shall be in you Here the latter clause and shall be in you will be found a meere tautology if the other Phrase abiding with them imports a perpetuall residence or inbeing In the same Chapter Verse 25. where the originall hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. remaining or abiding with you our English Translation renders it being yet PRESENT with you So where this Apostle saith that he that loveth not his Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abideth in death a 1 Ioh. 3 14 the meaning is that such a Man is in an estate of Death or condemnation not that he will much lesse of necessity must abide for any space of time after least of all for ever in that estate For then it would follow that whoever at any time did not truly love his Brother never after became a Child of God Which saying how insupportable it is to the greatest part of those who say they believe yea and doe believe indeed any mans first thoughts may sufficiently determine It is familiar with John saith a late Writer from Cameron and Hugo Grotius to use the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth to remaine for the Verb Substantive to be b Familiare Johanni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ponere simpliciter pro esse ut Ioh. 5. 38 15. 11. 1 Ep. 2. 6. 10. cap. 3. 15. 2. Ep. 2. Et alibi Edward Leigh Critic Sacra p. 259. in verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides that in the place in hand it must needs signifie only a present abode or being not a future or perpetuall is evident from hence because such a signification of it would render a sence altogether inconsistent with the plaine scope of the Apostle in the Context which is to exhort Christians unto Righteousnesse and love of the Brethren Now it is contrary to all reason yea to common sence it self to signifie unto those whom we admonish exhort and perswade to any duty any such thing which imports an ablolute certainty or necessity of their doing it whether they take care or use any meanes for the doing it or no. And a cleare case it is that the certainty of a perpetuall remaining of the seed of God in those that are borne of him imports a like certainty of their perpetuall performance of the duties whereunto they exhorted If it be here objected and said yea but the seed of which those that are §. 33. borne of God are begotten is said to be an immortall or incorruptible seed a 1 Pet. 1. 23 and therefore cannot perish or decay in those who are begotten of it or in whom it ever takes place I answer 1. That seed which the Holy Ghost affirms to be not corruptible but incorruptible is expresly said to be the Word of God b Ibidem Now certaine it is that the Word of God is not therefore said to be immortall or incorruptible because it cannot be lost by those who once receive it or in whose Heart it hath been once sown but partly because it is in the Nature and Essence of it incorruptible in respect whereof though all the World who are now partakers of it should reject and cast it out of their Hearts so that it were no where to be found under Heaven yet it would be in the Nature and Essence of it every wayes the same and suffer no alteration or change hereby at all partly also because it is endued with such an excellent vertue or property that it is able to derive and confer immortality and incorruption upon those who are begotten of it yea and will actually derive and confer these glorious Priviledges upon them if they suffer not the spirit of this Heavenly Birth to be extinguished and quench'd in them before the season of the actuall collation thereof comes For as that seed which is corruptible is not therefore termed corruptible because it may be transferr'd or removed from the subject or soyle wherein it remaines at present but because according to the Nature and Elementary constitution of it it may be corrupted and suffer a change
of God in such a sence as that wherein we have now interpreted it is not material By that inhibition which was served upon him by the Angel to surcease all further Proceedings in and about the offering up of his Son by death before he was thus offered he clearly enough understood that to have been the sence and minde of God in the said Command which we have asserted So that 6. And lastly It is a clear case that the Explication and account given formerly in this Treatise concerning the Intentions of God or rather concerning the Ground and Reason why Intentions are attributed unto Him is no ways incumbred or disabled by the Instance of Gods Command given unto Abraham concerning the offering up of Isaac notwithstanding Isaac's non-oblation by death There is nothing in this Example to prove that God doth at any time vouchsafe means competent and proper for the bringing of any thing to pass especially when he commands that these means be used accordingly but that he truly and really intends as he is capable of intending any thing the coming to pass thereof Nor can it here with any face of Reason be replyed that by such a construction as we have put upon the words of God in His Command unto Abraham concerning the offering up of his Son when He vouchsafeth means of Salvation unto Men and commandeth them to use them accordingly it cannot be concluded from thence that therefore He really intendeth the Salvation of Men but onely that they should use the said Means to obtain Salvation Because though God in Abrahams case did in His Intentions separate the Means of offering up Isaac from the actual Oblation of Him this not being the end of His Command given unto Him as was said yet He did not separate between the said Means and that which was His true end in the Command which was the Tryal of Abrahams Faith and for the effecting whereof the said Command and all that which was meant thereby was as natural and proper a means as it was for the actual oblation of Isaac by death In like manner when He vouchsafeth Means of Salvation unto Men and commandeth the use of them accordingly He cannot be supposed to divide or separate in His Intentions between the use of these Means and their proper end Salvation there being no other end proper to be effected by the use of the Means of Salvation but Salvation it self or at least none but in conjunction with Salvation And certain it is that there is no man of wisdom who intends the use of such Means which are determinately appropriate to the production of one end and no more or however of no more but onely by and through the production of that one but that He intends the production of this end peculiarly How God may intend the Salvation of Men and yet Men never come to be saved hath been already explained t Cap. 3. Sect. 7 17. and that as I remember more then once and may be yet further opened upon occasion CHAP. XVIII Exhibiteth several Grounds and Reasons whereby the Vniversality of Redemption by Christ or Christs dying for All Men without Exception is Demonstratively evicted ALthough Scripture-Authority be greater then all Demonstration otherwise §. 1. for the Eviction and Confirmation of any Doctrine or Tenet in matter of Religion as simply and in it self so also with those whose Faith mainly or solely beareth upon the foundations of the Scriptures yet have Arguments and Grounds of Reason if they be pregnant and clear a very acceptable influence upon the Judgments and Consciences of Men when they are levyed and drawn up in the nature of Seconds or Assistants to the Scriptures and plead the same cause with them For when a Doctrine or Opinion is held forth as the Minde of God in the Scriptures and Scripture-Authority produced and insisted upon either singly or in consort for the proof thereof in case this Doctrine shall be found to have a fair and clear consistence with the unquestionable Principles of sound Reason there remains no place in the Consciences of Men for fear or jealousie concerning the Truth thereof God Himself being the Author of those noble endowments in Men Reason and Understanding must needs be conceived the Author also of whatsoever truly consorteth with them But in case the Authority of the Scriptures shall be urged and pressed upon the Consciences of Men in defence of such a Doctrine which grates or bears hard upon the common and clear Dictates of that Light which God hath planted in the Souls of Men it is unpossible but that a considering Man should much question such a sence or interpretation which is put upon the Scriptures in such a case The Reason hereof hath been given elsewhere a Epist to the Reader The Premisses considered I judg it a matter of signal consequence in order to the securing the Judgments and Consciences of Men about the truth of the main Doctrine maintained in this Discourse to demonstrate the perfect and clear consistency of it with Grounds of Reason though substantially proved already from the Scriptures yea and satisfactorily also I trust unto those who so understand the Scriptures as not to make either the Wisdom or Justice of God Sufferers by them My Reasons then for the Universality of Redemption by Jesus Christ in reference unto Men are these following If Christ dyed not for all Men without exception in the sence formerly declared §. 2. Argum. 1. then is that Great Covenant of Grace which God hath made with the World and ratified in His Blood made with unknown Persons and such who are no ways exprest in this Covenant neither by Name nor by any other Character or qualification by which they may at least for a long time be known or distinguished But this Great Covenant we speak of is not struck or made with unknown Persons I mean with such who for a long time if ever neither can tell themselves whether they be the Covenanted ones or no nor are capable of any reasonable information hereof by others Therefore Christ dyed for all men without exception The Reason of the former Proposition and the Consequence therein is this because the Elect so called in the common Notion of Election with whom onely this Covenant of Grace is pretended to be made and for whom onely Christ is supposed to have dyed are Persons no ways distinguishable from others neither before at all and very hardly if at all after their Regeneration and Conversion unto God That they are not at all discernable from others before Conversion is evident from several places For we our selves saith the Apostle to Titus meaning who are now so much altered and changed by a work of Grace and Regeneration in us were sometimes viz. before our Conversion foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another b Tit. 3. 3. Certainly these are no
yea and some of our late Protestant Writers themselves and these of eminent worth and note See Cap. 13. Sect. 29. especially when men have no better or more satisfactory grounds for their Opinion then have yet been produced against the lawfulness of Infant-Baptism But this by the way Clemens of Alexandria another famous Champion of Christianity about §. 7. these times was of the same Faith in the Point in hand with his Fellows In one place He demands How is He speaking of Christ a Saviour and Lord if He be not the SAVIOVR and Lord OF ALL In another He termeth Christ the Disposer or Administrator of all things according to His Fathers Will governing or taking order for the SALVATION OF ALL MEN. Elsewhere he argueth thus Either the Lord doth not take care for all Men and this either because He is not able which is not right to suppose or because though able enough yet He will not but this is not incident to Him that is good nor is He backward or indisposed hereunto through voluptuousness in as much as for our sakes He assumed flesh exposed to sufferings Or else He doth take CARE OF ALL which indeed becometh Him that is made the Lord of all For He is a SAVIOVR NOT OF SOME AND NOT OF OTHERS q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et postea Christum vocat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Non longè antè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clem. Alexand. Strom. l. 7. c. In an Oration to the Gentiles He calls unto them thus Hear ye that are afar off and harken you that are neer the Word is not hid or concealed from any the light thereof is common it SHINETH UNTO ALL MEN r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexandr in Orat. â—d Gentes c. Justin Martyr whose Writings amongst those that treat of Christian Religion and are judged authentique and not spurious are the most ancient that I know since the days of the Apostles giveth frequent Testimony to the Truth of the same Doctrine In one place He presenteth the Saints as knowing or acknowledging that He that hath wrought that Great Salvation FOR MANKINDE is praise worthy greatly to be feared and the Maker or Creator of Heaven and Earth s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Just Martyr in Dialogo cum Tryph. p. 300 Edit Morel In another speaking of Christ He saith that now through the Will of God being made Man for THE SAKE OF MANKINDE He submitted Himself to suffer whatsoever the inconsiderate Jews were inspired by the Devils to inflict upon Him t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Apol. 2. pro Christianis In a third He saith that Christ neither submitted Himself to be born nor yet to be crucified as if He needed these things for Himself but for that kinde or generation of men which in or by Adam was fallen under Death and the deceit of the Serpent u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem in Dial. p. 316. By Mankinde or the kinde of Men He cannot mean a few a circumscribed number a small parcel of men as the Elect so called are known to be these in no propriety of speech can be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE generation or kinde of man or if in one place He should have meant the Elect by such an expression it is no ways like but that in some other He would have expressed himself more plainly But what He means by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that genus or general kinde of men appears evidently enough by this descriptive character which he gives of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. which from Adam or through Adam was fallen under Death This we know is the adequate and appropriate character not of some men but of all Mankinde without exception But the Sun is visible enough without a Candle Ireneus not long after the former avouched the Doctrine of our Contest §. 8. over and over As Eve saith he becoming disobedient became hereby the cause of death both to her self and to the Universe of Mankinde So Mary having the Man predestinated by God meaning Christ notwithstanding Her being involved in the Death brought upon all Mankinde by Eve yet becoming an obedient Virgin she proved the cause or means of Salvation UNTO THE UNIVERSE OF MEN x Sicut Eva inobaudiens facta sibi universo generi humano causa facta est Mortâ— sic Maria â—abens praedestinatum virum tamen Virgâ— obaudiens sibi universo generi humano causa facta est salutis Iren. lib. 3. adversus Haeres cap. 33. His meaning is that by submitting unto the Pleasure of God signified unto Her by the Angel concerning the bearing and bringing forth of His Son Jesus Christ in the flesh She had the Grace accordingly vouchsafed unto Her to bear and bring Him forth who was the Author or cause of Salvation to universal Mankinde by which submission and service she in a sence became the cause or means also of this Salvation Elsewhere the same Father saith that Christ recapitulated or gathered into one in Himself ALL NATIONS dispersed up and down the World even from Adam ALL TONGVES AND EVERY GENERATION OF MEN together with the person of Adam Himself y Significans quoniam ipse qui omnes gentes exinde ab Adam dispersas universâ—s linguas generationem hominum cum ipso Adam in semetipso recapitulans c. Iren. adversus Hae. es l. 3. c. 33. In another place He gives this Reason why Paul saith that we are reconciled through the body of His flesh viz. because His righteous or just flesh reconciled THAT FLESH WHICH WAS DETAINED IN SIN and brought it into favor or friendship with God z in corpore ait Paulus reconciliati carnis ejus id est quia justa caro reconciliavit eam carnem quae in peccato detinebatur in amicitiam adduxit Deo Idem lib. 5. c. 16. Now that flesh which was detained in sin was not the flesh onely of the Predestinate or Elect but of all Mankinde without exception These are the Principal Fathers and Writers of the Primitive Times and before Augustin that are now extant or known and all these with one mouth as we have heard and with a Nemine contradicente give Testimony to the Truth of that Great Doctrine which hath been avouched in this Discourse viz. that the Redemption purchased by the Death of Christ was for all Men considered as men respectively and not for the Elect onely or those that shall actually partake of it and be saved The Writers of best note and repute since Austin until these later times §. 9. of Reformation and from whose Writings the best and stediest Informations are to be had what Doctrines or Opinions ruled in the Churches of Christ and amongst those Christians that were judged orthodox and sound in the Faith in their days are these Prosper Cyril of Alexandria