which is their Master Argument may as well say that God is an imperfect Creator because he maketh not Worms to be Men or that he is an imperfect Conservator because he preserved not man from Mortality Damnation and Antecedent Calamities especially from Sin Or that he is imperfectly Merciful because he permitteth Men to sin and Condemneth them Or that Christ is an Imperfect Redeemer of the Elect because he suffereth them after his Redemption to Sin Suffer and Die Or that the Holy Ghost is an imperfect Sanctifier and Caller because many wicked Men are Sanctifyed and Believe imperfectly so as will not suffice to Salvation and because they resist and quench the Spirit and fall from that Faith and Sanctification which they had Or that the Spirit is an imperfect Comforter because so many Saints Live and Die in such unconformitable sadness Or that Scripture is an imperfect means because the Effect is so imperfect In a word they may as well say that where God doth not overcome mens wicked dispositions he is an imperfect God to them in regard of his Mercies All which beseem not the Tongue of a Christian Prop. LX. That Argument commonly brought against Universal Redemption that where Christ doth the work of a Mediator for any man in one of his Offices he doth it in all is undeniably destructive to the cause it is brought for For it is undeniable that Christ as Prophet and King Teacheth Calleth Illuminateth many Non-elect giveth some Faith some Taste of his word and the powers of the World to come sanctifyeth them by the Blood of the Covenant and washeth them from their former pollutions Mat. 13. Heb. 6. and 10. â—2 Pet. 2. 20. Therefore in his Priestly Office he must at least be as far their Mediator CHAP. IV. The First Proposition Asserted Prop. I. CHRIST in Sufâ—ering did not strictly and properly bear and represent the person of the Sinner so as Civiliter Moraliter Legaliâ—er it might be said that we either satisfied or sufferâ—d in or by Christ Explic. I am not willing to make the meer â—ords here any matter of quarrel If any dislike â—ny term of mine or like his own let him apâ—ly himself to the matter in Question and let â—…e words pass 1. I deny not that Christ Sufâ—ered nostro loco in our place or stead suffering â—…at which we deserved and should else have unâ—voidably suffered 2. I acknowledge and mainâ—â—in that our Sins were the quasi Causa Meritoria 〈…〉 loco causae meritoriae of his sufferings and that 〈…〉 became Sin for us that is a Curse for Sin â—…at is he made himself by his own Sponsion obâ—â—xious to the Curse and Punishment due to us for 〈…〉 Sin And so far Sin was imputed to him But Christ was neither really a Sinner nor eâ—â—eemed of God so to be and in that sence sin â—as not imputed to him 4. All know that 〈…〉 Physico Christ did not bear our persons Some will needs extend the phrase of bearâ—â—g or representing the person of another civiliter so far as if it were applicable to every sponser surety or one that alterius vice loco doth do or suffer any thing And so they say Christ bore our Person But as I think they abuse the phrase by extending it so far so I am content they use their liberty to express themselves as they please only I intreat them that they misunderstand not me but know that my meaning is that the Law doth not look on any Man no not the Elect as having either satisfyed or suffered in or by Christ nor doth the Law-giver and judge so look on him And so Christ did not strictly in Law-Sense bear the person of any Man in suffering so as that person might be said to have in him suffered 6. Some think Christ in suffering the penalty as penalty did strictly bear our persons as Sinners but not as this suffering was a satisfaction to Gods Justice which is the effect of it much less as it was meritorious of further Grace and Salvation The Authors or owners of this opinion of whom Arminiâ—â— himself seems one discerned the inconveniences that would follow the opinion of strict Representation but while they discerned not the right way of avoiding them and feared lest they should swarve by a full denial of it they seem to me to fall into the same place from which they leaped Though I confess that at the first view I began to incline to this opinion as most moderate which now I see to be unsafe The most of my Arguments are drawn from those intollerable consequences of the Doctrine which I oppose as being such as overthrow the very substance of the Gospel Though to the inconsiderate it may seem a small matter 1. Argument That Doctrine which consequentially denyeth all Pardon of Sin is not of God But such is the Doctrine which I here oppose Therefore c. The Minor only requires proof Where the proper debt is discharged or penalty undergone in Law-Sence by the person himself who was obnoxious there is no room for Pardon to such a Person But according to the Doctrine which I oppose the proper debt is discharged or the penalty undergone in Law-Sence by the Person himself who was obnoxious Therefore according to that Doctrine there is no place for Pardon to such The Minor needs no proof it being the express terms of the assertion which I deny that Christ so represented our Persons in suffering or â—atisfying as that Legaliter vel Civiliter we may properly be said to have suffered or satisfied in â—im so that though it was Christs Person naturally yet it was ours Legally Morally or Impuâ—â—tively The major I prove thus He that oweth nothing or to whom no penalty is due can have â—one forgiven him But he that hath paid all the â—ebt or undergone all the punishment that was â—â—e by himself or another that in Law-Sence is himself doth owe nothing or to him no penalty â— due Therefore he can have none forgiven him â—ob Major Remissio est Debiti Remissio Thereâ—â—re where there is no due there can be no reâ—â—ssion Prob. Minor To have paid or suffered all 〈◊〉 to owe some are contradictory and inconstent Therefore he that hath paid all owes noâ—â—ing The Antimonians Answer is this It is true that no punishment is due to the Elect and none is properly forgiven them now since Christs Death But Christs assuming their Persons in satisfying was a Remission to them Or God did in one instant remit it to them and transfer it on Christ Reply 1. Christs assuming our Persons is not remission of Sin 2. If God did remit it to us when he transferred it on Christ and yet we Legaliter suffered in Christ then God did both remit the whole debt to us and receive satisfaction in Law-Sence from us at the same time But that is a contradiction Therefore c. From hence I may therefore further argue 2. Arg. That Doctrine
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
effects products and Issues of it with what in its own nature it is fit and able to do Is it not therefore strange that this Author should Page 175. 176 say 1. That this fulness and sufficiency of the merit of the Death of Christ is a foundation for the general publishing of the Gospel to all Nations with the right that it hath to be preached to every creature because the way of Salvation which it declares is wide enough for all to walk in There is enough in the remedy it brings to light to heal all their diseases to deliver them from all their evils If there were 1000 Worlds the Gospel of Christ might on this ground be Preached to them all there being enough in Christ for the Salvation of them all if so be they will derive vertue from him by touching him by Faith the only way to draw refreshment from this Fountain of Salvation 2. That the Teachers of the Gospel in their particular Congregations c. may from hence justifiably call upon every Man to believe with assurance of Salvation to every Man in particular upon his doing knowing and being fully perswaded of this that there is enough in the death of Christ to save every one that shall so do To all which I briefly reply 1. I have disproved this in what is said before and shewed that Christs death cannot be affirmed sufficient for any Mans Salvation for whom it never satisfied though he should believe 2. How can he say there is sufficient merit where there is no merit at all The Death of Christ hath no merit as to the Pardon of Devils or any for whom it was never suffered 3. How can he call any thing a way of Salvation wide enough which presupposeth not Christs satisfaction for the person Can Men walk to Heaven by Faith without a Redeemer Or is there such a true Faith 4. How can he truely say there is enough in the remedy Which is as to them no Remedy Is there enough in that remedy to heal the Devils if they believed 5. How can there be enough in it or how can it be any remedy to heal all diseases and deliver from all evils before it have made satisfaction Must it not do that before it can heal any other disease 6. How can he say There is enough in Christ for the Salvation of them all if so be they will derive virtue from him by touching him by Faith Must not the application be first to God by satisfying him before it can be made to Man by believing Is not the Salvation of Men the Fruit of Christs dying for them And can there be the effect without the cause Hath Christ virtue to be derived for the saving of any that he died not for Will believing make Christ to die for them that he hath not died for already 7. In plain truth your ground of preaching Christ to all is your foreknowledge that only the Elect will believe and not the sufficiency of Christs Death knowing that there is nothing in Christs Death to save any man that he did not Die and Satisfie for though he should believe never so strongly 2. But let us come to the first effect of Christs Death and see whether it were sufficient to that viz. to be a satisfaction for the Sins of all And here they do maintain that it is only materially or aptitudinally sufficient as the money which my rich neighbour hath in his purse is sufficient to pay my debt which he resolveth never to pay Or as the Ransome paid for one man was enough to have redeemed another also if it had been paid for him And what the better is he for whom it was never paid And what difference as to their ransome between most men and Devils For the form of a satisfaction or Price for all they affirm that Christs Death hath it not sufficiently or at all These men must once more therefore new moddel their Doctrine or reform their expressions and give over saying that Christs death is sufficient for the pardon of all if they would believe for that is notoriously false according to them seeing the effecting of satisfaction is that wherein the sufficiency of it lyes as to remission But they must hereafter say only that Christs Death was sufficient to have procured pardon for all men if he would have suffered it for all And I will give them this encouragement so far to innovate viz. Though they speak not only against Scripture and the Primitive Fathers and the Church of Christ in all Ages and the generallity of our most severe Protestant Divines yet because 1. It is against Arminius an adversary 2. And tendeth to extreams 3. And so is agreeable to Nature they shall perhaps with applause at least with far less wounding of their Reputation raise up these novelties than a Sober Moderate Judicious Divine shall beat them down again or revive any one Truth which extreams have clouded laid by and trodden under foot But I will not stay here to shew the absurdity of mens so confident asserting Christs death to be aptitudinally sufficient for so many for whom it was never suffered seeing I shall deal on this purposely in the next Argument But how useless this sufficiency is and no foundation at all for our general offer of Christ and mercy to all if they will believe may be seen in what is said before And how useless and insufficient it is to encourage any man to believe we shall yet further have occasion to shew anon In the mean time I think the unsoundness of their Doctrine who deny Universal Satisfaction is manifest hence in that it fully overthrows the sufficiency of Christs Death for the pardon of all mens sins if they should believe which yet the generality of our Divines do maintain Arg. 10th Ab absurdo injurià coutrariae Doctrinae in Christum If Christ have paid a Price of satisfaction sufficient for the sins of all the World and yet paid it not for all the World then he suffered much in vain But he suffered not any thing in vain Ergo c. The Minor none will deny that is a Christian The consequence of the Major is proved ad hominem by the concessions of them of the contrary Opinion For 1. No Reformed Divine doth deny but that as one part of the value of Christs sufferings was from the Dignity of the person so the other and a necessary part was from the greatness of his sufferings 2. And all conclude that there was more suffering necessary for the expiation of the sins of all the World than for one particular sin or then for one mans sins and so more necessary to expiate the sins of all men then of the few only that are chosen And consequently if Christ suffered no more than was sufficient for the Redemption of the Elect then it was not sufficient for the Redemption of all And if it were sufficient for the Redemption of
Young Converts that hold not Universal Satisfaction may be sincere though not rightly ordered grounded or raised Answ True for if one should conceit that Christ Dyed but for Englishmen or for a very few at least and that he is one of those few he might truly love Christ for dying for him though yet he grounded his apprehension amiss of his interest in Christ But still here is no certainty of Faith without certainty of Love Nor certainty or any knowledge of Election without the knowledge of both Faith and Love Object Then a Socinian can have no â—ertainty of Election For he that believeth not Christs Satisfaction can have no Love or Thankfulness for it Answ No wonder if he have no certainty of Election who can have no grounded hope of Salvation If it be not only some circumstances or Terms or Law-notions but the substance of this Doctrine which any Man shall deny viz. That Christ hath taken away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself and having made Purgation of our sins is ascended c. And hath by one Sacrifice perfected for ever them that are sanctified and became a Curse for us to free us from the Curse and so hath taken away the Sins of the World quoad pretium And hath born our transgressions that we might be healed by his stripes and hath Dyed for us the just for the unjust so that now we must be justified by his Blood I say he that believeth not this I think is no Christian See 1 Cor. 5. 7. Heb. 9. 26. and 10. 1 2. c. and 1. 3. and 10. 14. Gal. 3. 13. Isa 53. 4 5. John 1. 29. 1 Pet. 3. 18. Eph. 1. 17. Rom. 3. 25. and 5. 9. Col. 1. 20. Heb. 9. 22. and 13. 12. 1. Pet. 1. 2. 19. I know nothing more of moment that can be here objected and therefore will go to the next Reply 2. Which was that men may know their Election by the Testimony of the Spirit To which I answer 1. The Spirit sheweth to us the things given of God of which Love to Christ is a principal 2. The Spirit witnesseth our Election mediately and not immediately that I know of 1. By giving those graces that will prove it and do flow from it 2. By exciting them 3. By illuminating us to see them and try by them 4. Filling the Soul with those sweet affections which are a kind of tast of the Love of God But all affections are raised mediante intellectu and therefore knowledge goes before them Who can know that he rejoyceth Spiritually and that his Joy is a fruit of Election that knoweth not why he rejoiceth 3. However it is desperate Doctrine to teach poor Christians that they have no ground to Love or Thank Christ for Redeeming them till the Spirit have without any signs revealed their Election to them which I think it never doth Lastly The Spirit witnesseth with our Spirit Now our Spirit witnesseth only from evidence that we are Gods Children and not without and therefore whether the Spirit be a concurring witness in the same Testimony or its Testimony be a concomitant Testimony distinct from though conjunct with that of our Conscience I think the former yet all 's one to the point in hand seeing they witness together So much for the Minor viz. that the Elect are bound to love and thankfulness for Redemption before they know themselves Elect. Now for the consequence of the Major it it clear from what is said that the Elect could not be bound to this except the Non-Elect are also Because as is proved no Man can know whether he be Elect or not before he know himself so much as obliged to love and gratitude for Redemption For Elect and Non-Elect are not to to be discerned till Faith and love do put a difference And therefore methinks I may conclude confidently that the Non-Elect are bound to love and thankfulness for Redemption or satisfaction and therefore they are redeemed or satisfyed for If any shall make the common objection viz. The Non-elect or the Elect not yet converted are bound to love and gratitude to Christ for satisfying for all that will believe I have answered this oft already 1. The Doctrine which I oppose is that Christ hath not only died for Men if they will believe but died only for the Elect that they might believe so that it is determined by name for whom he Died and the rest he Died not for at all and therefore his Dying for another is not that which obligeth a man to Thankfulness And their Ignorance that they are excluded I have shewed can add no obligation 2. Mens believing will not cause Christ to Die for them nor is it a condition of it as if Christ would Die for Men if they will believe Believing presupposeth Christs Dying for us and what then can be their meaning that say Christ Died and Satisfied for all men if they will Believe When they say absolutely withal that he Died not for all at all but only for the Elect that they might believe Will they say that he Died for the Non-elect if they will believe Then either they must mean that he underwent the Penalty and left it undetermined quorum loco in whose stead and for whose sins it should be till their believing determine it But 1. This is as much denyed by those whom I oppose as by me 2. And it is a contradiction For it is Essential to Punishment to be propter peccatum that Relation is its formal Nature as it differs from Affliction in general And therefore Christ suffered no Punishment if it were not determinately for Sin And the meritorious cause is considered as before the effect and not after it Or else if they speak of Believing not as any condition on mans part but a Divinely-infused Character of those for whom Christ Died then the sence of their words is but this Christ Died for the Non-elect if they be Elect or Christ satisfied for all men if all men be Elect or Christ Died in stead of all if he will give Faith to all And who sees not that these words are a plain Negation and all one with these Christ satisfied not for all q. d. I leave in my Will such a Legacy to Titus if Titus be not Titus but Sempronius what Lawyer knows not that is a denyal or an illusory nothing And how then can this bind men to Love and Gratitude If I could bethink me of any other considerable Objection I would answer it But I cannot Furthermore for the Antecedency of the obligation to love mark how Christ maketh it a condition to his own Love and his Fathers as in a greater degree and as manifested Joh. 14. 21. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Christ Loveth Men before they Love as he is Dominus Absolutus and a free Benefactor and as a Natural Lover of his own
all may accept it if they will and then there would be no distribution But because all will not and this is foreknown therefore consequently it is distributive So here and that it is distributive is from the will of Man and the event and other exteriour differencing Causes but not properly from the promise or deed of gift at all except by accident 3. The next words shew what World it is that is here spoken of viz. That which comprizeth men that believe and so are not Condemned and those that believe not which Consideration is consequential and not antecedent to Christ's dying for them and so are Condemned already because they have not believed c. v. 18. They that will affirm a greater restriction in the sense of the word must prove it For though I have proved here the larger sense yet indeed it belongs to them to prove their assertion who recede from the commoner and more extensive sense I shall briefly examine what they say to that end Only I must intreat the Reader that if they compare my Writings with any Book which contains the Reasons which I confute that you would not expect that I should take any notice of any of those strangely-confident Juvenile Triumphant Expressions which some do abound with but that I draw out only the pith of their Arguments and set Reason against Reason and let the heaps of Worldly Rhetorical Gloryings alone Much more must I expect that you will not take me to be engaged to defend any Arminian misinterpretations and weaknesses and to confute what any man saith against them but only that which seems of force against the interpretations or assertions that I my self do maintain The first Reason they give for proving that it is only the Elect that here are called the World is drawn from the Love which is here said to have the World for its object which cannot be common to all but is proper to the Elect. This we deny and they attempt to prove by these five Reasons 1. Say they it is the most transcendent and remarkable Love and therefore proper to the Elect. I must desire the Reader to see this answered afterward in my answer to their interpretation of John 2. It is an Eternal act of God's will Answ But what that is to the purpose I know not 3. It was the cause of sending Christ Answ That 's true it was one cause but how follows the consequence 4. They say that Love which is the cause of giving Christ is always the cause of bestowing all other good things Answ That Love which caused the giving of Christ for the Elect is the cause of giving them all things with him but that love which caused the giving of Christ for all shall not eventually give them all things I refer you to what I shall say anon to Rom. 8. 32. for the full answer to this 5. They say this Love is an assured Fountain of Salvation to all that are beloved with it Answ I deny it if they mean by assured such as shall eventually be saved but say they the issue of this Love being not perishing but obtaining Eternal Life happens only to the Elect Ergo c. Answ The Text speaks of no other effect of this Love but the giving of Christ and the giving of Eternal Life on Condition of believing Now for the former there is a twofold giving of Christ First giving him on the Cross for us Secondly Giving him in the word of Promise to us The Text seems to comprehend both He is given on the Cross for all he is given in the word conditionally to all and so is Eternal Life with him Now though the actual right to Eternal Life and fruition of it be not the portion of all yet that makes no alteration or differencing nature in this Universal Conditional promise it is because one believed and another did not The Promise antecedently to the performance or non-performance of the Condition gave Christ alike to the Elect and non-Elect and Life with him But that some believed rather than others was not from the gift of this Universal Conditional Promise but from another cause even Gods secret decree of Election Their second Reason for proving that by the World is meant only the Elect is because it is the same World that Christ came to save ver 17. but that is only the Elect else God should fail of his intention Answ This is to pervert one Text by perverting another as I shall shew anon when we come to that Text. Their Third Reason is that its usual to call the Elect the World Answ It was a very Pious Judicious Grave Divine that said I profess I cannot find any one clear place where the World must of necessity be taken for the Elect only Ezek. Culverwell in his Answer to Objections against his Treaty of Faith They alledge for what they say these Texts John 4. 42. where Christ is called the Saviour of the World a Saviour of Men not saved is strange Answ So are all things strange to Men till they understand them It 's no more strange than that God Created all Men to Life that Happiness which the first Covenant promised who yet did dye for Sin The Second is John 6. 33 57. which shall be vindicated anon The Third is Rom. 4. 13. Abraham is said by Faith to be Heir of the World which ver 11. is called to be the Father of the Faithful Answ A bold interpretation but here 's no proof nor appearance of any that the Father of the faithful is all one with Heir of the World is too unlikely a thing to be received on a Mans bare word Especially considering that it is proper to Abraham to be Father of all them that believe verse 11. But to be Heir of the World verse 13. is not proper to him For it is said the promise that he should be Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his Seed through the Law I never read where Abraham is called Heir of the Faithful nor can he so be conveniently called But he is called Heir of the World Therefore by the World is not meant only the Faithful The Next is Rom. 11. 12. If the fall of them be the Riches of the World and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles c. Ans It is more than the Elect Gentiles that shall be and are enricht by Christ though not as the Elect others are enriched with that Church state visible which Paul here speaks that the Jews were broken off from As also with the Gospel and ordinances and conditional gift of Christ and justification and glory besides many other mercies The next Text cited to prove that the World is put only for the Elect is Col. 1. 6. Which Gospel is come unto you as it is in all the World and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you c. Ans 1. It is not said that it bringeth forth
or offered to them nor any satisfaction ever made for them by Christ then should they escape all the sorer punishment of the new Law and never suffer at all for Abuse of that mercy or rejecting a Redeemer or any fruit of his satisfaction which he made for them And this would be an easie Hell in comparison of theirs that refuse Christ offered them Prop. XXVIII We must in all our Controversies try the Minus nota pro notiora minus certa per certiora non contra We must reduce uncertainties to certainties and dark points to clear ones and not certainties to uncertainties Seeing therefore it hath pleased God to leave his final dealing with Pagans that hear not the Gospel Ideots and Infants so uncertain and dark the Controversy of Universal Redemption is not to be tryed hereby nor all the plain Scripture for it to be reduced to the uncertainties herein So much to this Argument Let the Reader note that since the writing of this I am clearer than I was then in the assurance of this Truth that the Covenant or Law of Grace as it is the Rule of Duty and Retribution was made with all Mankind in the first Edition in Adam and Noah and is not repealed to any that have not the second Edition in the Gospel but the rest of the World are still under it When I had gone thus far Dalleus's Defence of Universal Redemption and Grace came out with Blondels Preface where are so great a number of Witnesses cited of all Ages that I not only stopt my work but cast away a multitude of Testimonies which I had collected even of English Anti-Arminians such as Davenant Ward Hall Carlton Rob. Abbots Bishop of Salisbury Dr. Preston Whately Will. Fenner Ezek. Culverwel and many such DISPUTATION OF Special Redemption Whether Christ Died with a Special Intention of bringing Infallibly Immutably and Insuperably certain Chosen Persons to Saving Faith Justification and Salvation THE Question is so cautelously and clearly expressed that I need not say much for the explication of it but shall directly determine it Affirmatively only in brief take notice of these things as the Reasons of the Terms First We mean here the Intention of Christ as God for so he knew all things and Willed all the Good which he knew But whether as Man he that knew not the day nor hour of his own coming to Judgment did know the number and names of his own Elect that ever were and should be and consequently whether he had a special Intention concerning the Salvation of each of them in particular this I shall purposely leave undetermined Secondly It is therefore implied by us that the Father and Holy Ghost had the same Intention which we affirm Christ to have had Thirdly By the word Intention we mean that Act of Christ's Will which is resembled by Intention in mere man and so is Analogically called Intention And we confine it not to the Will alone but take it as comprehending that Counsel of the Understanding or that simple Knowledge which the act of the Will supposeth Nor do we take it in the strict sense as it is terminated only on the End and so Intentio Finis is distinct from Election of the means but more largely as it may comprehend either of these for that which we commonly call a Purpose or Resolution Fourthly We call it a Special Intention because it is about a Special Object and is not General or Common to all Fifthly We call it an Intention of Bringing men to Faith c. because it is Christ's own Work to give these things which he Intendeth and so we difference it both from his Intention to Permit if such there be in case of Sin and from that imagined Intention of a Partial Causation of a Concurse determinable by the Will of Man But tho' it be an intention of Effecting that we mention yet the Manner of this effecting or bringing men to Believe we here meddle not with Sixthly It is an Infallible effecting of this that we mention thereby differencing it from a mere Velleity or a conditional willing so as that the very act of willing should depend upon some uncertain condition as distinct from this we may call it Absolute And in the word Infallible which respecteth the act of the Divine Understanding we imply also Immutable which respecteth Gods Will and Invincible as to his operation and had we one word that comprehended these it would contain our full sense It is the same thing which our Divines mean by the word Irresistible or Insuperable Seventhly It is Certain Persons or Individuals that are the objects of this Purpose which we mention as against the Arminian Conceit that it is only Believers in General or All men Conditionally if they will Believe that Christ Decreed to Justifie and Save without determining infallibly of any certain Individuals till he foresaw that themselves would make the difference by Believing Eighthly We call them Chosen Persons not a Posteriore upon the foresight of their Faith but a priore before and without any moving cause or condition in themselves It is the same act which we here call Chusing as considered in Eternity determining of the future difference of Persons and which we before call Special Intention there considering it as respecting the time of Christ's Death Ninthly The Intended effect is 1. Saving Faith such as is not common to the Unjustified This we express against the Pelagian Conceit that giveth Justification and Salvation on condition of Faith but not Faith it self or at least not Certainly and Infallibly to any we say both that God Decreeth us to Faith as well as to Salvation by Faith and that Christ dying did purpose Infallibly to bring his chosen to Believe and this as a fruit of his Death 2. When we speak of Justification as the second Intended effect we take it in Connexion with the foregoing Faith and subsequent Salvation meaning that all the Elect that are at Age and Believe and they only have that Justification which follows their personal Faith We own not their opinion that think that many persons that were never Elected to Salvation were yet Elected to Faith and Justification and do fall from these at last and perish Tho' yet we reverence many that have maintained or owned this opinion as precious Servants of God and think not so hardly of their opinion as of their's who maintain the Apostacy of the Elect if now there be any such Austin himself seems fully to go that way who yet maintaineth the perseverance of all the Elect And so doth Musculus and some others among the Reformed Divines called Calvinists But for the Justification of Infants which hath no such connexion to a personal Faith of their own whether it may cease when they come to the use of Reason for want of personal faith to continue it which was the Judgment of Davenant Dr. Ward Amyraldus and many of our own this
Universal Redemption OF Mankind BY THE Lord Jesus Christ Stated and Cleared by the late Learned Mr. Richard Baxter Whereunto is added a short Account of Special Redemption by the same Author 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and â—ose again Mors Christi in Sacra Scripturâ— proponitur ut Universale remedium omnibus singulis hominibus exordinatione Dei naturà rei ad salutem applicabile Davenant de morte Christi LONDON Printed for John Salusbury at the Rising-Sun in Cornhill 1694. THE Epistle Dedicatory To the Honoured Thomas Foley Paul Foley Phillip Foley and William Jolliff Esquires Worthy Sirs MY particular Relation to your Honoured Father my Worthy Patron and Benefactor as also to Mr. Baxter the Author of these ensuing Disputations whom I cannot but own as a Spiritual Father to me and the best Friend I had in the World gives me occasion to prefix your Names to this Book Not to flatter you though I truly honour you for your Faithfulness Courage and Constancy in asserting the Rights of Religion and Property in opposition to the prophane and mercenary designs of such as appeared against them but that by their Example I may invite you to go on in filling up the measure of your Fathers Vertues and in following the Counsels of such a Minister of Christ whose gifts and graces gave him the preeminence amongst his Suffering Brethren and made him more than a Bishop even of the first Magnitude to the Inferiour Clergy Your Father is dead long since and Mr. Baxter is dead also But the Memory of the Just is blessed whereas the name of the Wicked shall rot The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance We cannot easily forget such Persons whose good works and great labours for publick good have left them a Name better than of Sons and Daughters A numerous Posterity is a great Blessing a Holy Seed much greater that the Blessing upon both accounts may be entailed upon you and yours to many Generations is the hearty desire of Yours in the Service of Christ JOSEPH READ READER June 27. 1694. HAving been assured from Mr. Baxter himself both by word and writeing that he had given this his Treatise in Manuscript of Universal Redemption c. to Mr. Joseph Read the now Publisher thereof and having seen some of the Manuscript it self whilst it was printing off and knowing it to be Mr. Baxter's own hand writing I do at Mr. Read's request assure thee that this is the Treatise upon that Subject which hath been so long desired and expected by the World from the Author thereof Mr. R. B. And I cannot doubt but that an Impartial and observant Reading thereof will quickly discover that acumen of judgment which will evince it to be his Thine in the best of Bonds and Services MAT. SYLVESTER To the READER IT is necessary that I give some Account how these Disputations with many others came to my hands and of their Publication Being sent to Cambridge by Mr. Baxter be was pleased at my return from thence to receive me into his Family and to make use of me as his Assistant at my first entrance into the Ministry Anno 1657. in Kidderminster the place of my Birth Some of the first work he put me upon was to transcribe these Papers of Redemption which he designed for the Press The Ministers of Worcestershire and Neighbourhood thereabouts who usually attended on his Thursday Lecture and heard these Disputations at their Monthly Meeting were generally desirous to have them Printed Mr. B. had long since raised their expectation thereof by declaring his intention of it in Print At last though long first viz. July 17. 1691. he gave them to me signifying his willingness to have them Printed If any Person question whether he wrote and fitted these Sheets for the Press I shall readily satisfie him by producing the Original of his own hand writing as well as the Copy thereof wrote by me at least 38 years since If these Disputations of Redemption find acceptance which I see no cause to doubt of I shall be thereby incouraged to Print the rest or such of them as may be thought most useful It was a great word of Bishop Wilkins that Mr. Baxter had cultivated every Subject he handled read this Subject of Redemption and judge whether there be not cause to say so of it if he had lived in the Primitive times he had been one of the Fathers of the Church And again It was enough saith he for one Age to produce such a Person as Mr. Baxter But his works praise him much more than the Tongues or Pens of the greatest Doctors or best of Men can do There is therefore no need of Letters of Recommendation to set forth the excellence of this Work or the Praises of the Author thereof Let it suffice to assure the Reader that this Disputation of Universal Redemption was composed by him in the strength of his day about the 40th year of his Age when the opposition of the Learned of differing Opinions had sharpen'd his Pen and made him critically exact in considering what he intended for the Press That which I earnestly desire is that young Ministers and especially all Candidates for the Ministry would put on humbleness of mind and set themselves at the feet of this Great Man as Learners and then through the Divine Blessing I doubt not but their profiting will appear unto all men And let those of different Judgment from him but remember that Mr. Baxter now dead is as much above their clamorous censures as while living he was their Superiour in his Gifts and Graces Had the one or the other but known Mr. Baxter as well as others of his familiar Friends his Works would be highly valued by them or at least his unspotted Holiness and great Charity would so far have conciliated their minds and engaged their affections as to love and honour his memory and imitate his Life which we impatiently wait for an account of from another band being now ready for the Press May every Minister but have that Book when Printed and lay aside prejudice so far at least as calmly to read it and then I may with confidence expect not only that humble Learners but the greatest Scholars will be as desirous of acquaintance with his Works as ever Usher Gataker Vines and many others of the best of men were admirers of his Personal worth and desirous of his Converse and Company If any shall be so far dissatisfied with the Title and Subject of the Book as to throw it aside I only desire they would seriously think of those words p. 286. When God saith so expresly that Christ dyed for all and tasted death for every man and is the Ransom
under the meer Law of Works as remediless Men are not then examined meerly whether ever they Sinned nor accused meerly as Sinners But the Question will be of that Sin in Specie which consisteth in refusing to repent or believe or abusing that mercy which should have led them to repentance Mat. 25. It is for not improving their Talents which is not the legal reason as the Law of Works is alone or for not loving and cherishing Christ Jesus in his Members It is for not knowing God nor obeying the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ It is true that all their Sins also against the Law shall cause their condemnation for they were never pardoned But that is consequentially because they abused the Grace that should have recovered them and so the Wrath of God abideth on them that would not yield to his means for removing it I no where read that God will make this Rigorous Law alone the Norma Judicii and pass sentence on any meerly on these terms If thou have never Sinned thou shalt be saved else thou shalt be condemned so that if we have no discovery what way or on what terms in special God will judg them that hear not of Christ yet we have a plain discovery of the Negative that he will not deal with them on the forementioned terms of the sole Covenant of Works And consequently for the affirmative we are sure in general that he deals with them upon terms of Grace i. e. Mercy contrary to their desert More of this may be added anon Arg. 5. Ab aequitate novae Legis Credendi Debitum Constituentis The Faith which God requireth of Men to their Justification hath not a feigned or deceiving object But it should have such an object if Christ have not satisfied for all who are commanded to belieâ— ergo c. Or tâ—â—s if Christ have not satisfied for all who are commanded to believe in him to Justification then the Faith commanded them should have a feigned or deceiving object But the Faith commanded them hath not a feigned or deceiving object ergo c. All the proof requisite is of the consequence of the Major Proposition And here we must first know what the justifying Act of Faith is and then what the object must be and then the consequence will manifest it self Divines are not agreed what the justifying Act of Faith is some think it must be but one Act and therefore it must be placed but in one faculty Of these some place it only in the understanding as Camero and many others Some only in the Will as Amesius and some few with him Some and most place it in both faculties and so in divers Acts and that rightly And inded it hath divers Acts in each faculty For as it is more then one particular Truth or exunciation which is the object of Assent and therefore must have divers Acts of Assent so it is in more then one shape and profitable respect that the Goodness of the object is presented to the Will and therefore it must there have several Acts as consent affiance c. Now let us first enquire after the Acts of the understanding where I will meddle with none but what is ordinarily by Divines asserted to be justifying or prerequisite thereto And 1. I will let that pass which Dr. Twiss makes the first Act viz. To believe Gods word to be true For if it be not known what that word is here is no material object of Faith but the formal object alone 2. I will pass over the duty of repenting which Dr. Twiss saith is next required contrary to the usual Doctrine though it is manifest that repentance it self as a means to remission cannot be required but on supposition of satisfaction for Sin The common answer to the Arminians Quicquid tenemur credere verum est c. Is We are all bound to believe that Christ died for all that will believe in him See what Twiss saith against this Answer in Piscator Vindic. de promiss lib. 2. Part 2. Sect. 20. Page 475. Vol. Parv. 1. Men are not supposed first to be believers and then Christ to dye for them nor hath died at random without determining in quorum Loco in whose stead and left it to their Faith to determine afterwards He hath not said either if thou believe I will die for thee Or if thou believe that Death which I have undergone shall be tui loco in thy stead or for thy Sins Mans Sin being the loco causae meritoriae of Christs sufferings it must be determined whose Sins he should suffer for before he suffer For the meritorious cause is before the effect And therefore Christ died for them before they are believers for else how did he procure them grace to believe Not only Davenant hath well cleared this in his dissert de redempt but Twiss ubi super P. 474. could say Neque enim hujus propositionis veritas Christus est Redemptor Noster est veritas consequens fidem nostram Nec ejus falsitas est falsitas consequens infidelitatem nostram sed antecedens Antecedens inquam natura in genere causae moralis nempe meritoriae non autem in genere causae Physicae Quod eo tantum addo quoniam quod est prius natura in genere causae Physicae impossibile est ut sit posterius tempore eo quo prius est natura At quod est prius natura in genere causae moralis meritoriae presertim ex libera Dei constitutione proficiscens potest esse posterius tempore etiam eo quod est prius naturâ 2. There must therefore be some former consideration of those for whom Christ died Antecedent Moraliter to his Death And that can be nothing but for Sinners as such It is therefore for all Sinners or only for some And the Doctrine of those that contradict me is that it was not indeterminately for all that will believe but determinately to these particular Elect Persons that they may believe for whom Christ satisfied Now then according to this Doctrine all Men where the Gospel is preached are bound to believe that Christ satisfied for the Elect to procure them Faith and consequently justification that by so believing themselves may be justified But if they should so believe this Faith would not justifie them for whom Christ Died not so that here is a justifying Faith Commanded without a justifying object as I shall fullier shew anon 2. And whereas Dr. Twiss saith It is only the penitent that are commanded to believe on Christ for justification I Answer 1. Then the Impenitent shall not be condemned for not believing in Christ for justification which is false for the omission is not so much as a Sin much less damning if faith be not commanded them 2. It is nevertheless their duty because other duties as suppose repentance are first to be performed God may constitute many duties at once though they are not to be performed at once
to be but the meritorious cause of our Righteousness but not our Righteousness it self as we affirm it I do not now judg of these words but if Christs satisfaction be our very Righteousness or any part of it then certainly Christ satisfied for all to whom he offers his Righteousness But that he offers his Righteousness to all without exception is beyond doubt And he would never offer them a Non-ens that which is not He doth not offer to one Man the satisfaction made only for another and not for him for that would be no Righteousness for him But it is Righteousness that Christ offers and therefore it is satisfaction for that sinner himself which is offered to that sinner to be his Righteousness Now the offer supposeth the being of the thing offered except it were only an offer to do or give something hereafter which is not the case here And for them that say Christ is only offered to Men if they will receive him or believe it is idle For Christ is offered to Men whether they will receive him or not but none but receivers do enjoy him God doth not make our receiving the condition of his offering as to say I will offer thee Christs satisfaction if thou wilt receive it but he makes it the condition of our attaining the good offered q. d Christ with his benefits offered to thee shall be thine if thou wilt receive him 2. If it be only the Blood of Christ shed for others and not for them which unbelievers sin against then the sin of Devils might as to this respect be as well aggravated from the Blood of Christ sinned against as theirs But the consequence is palpably absurd Ergo c. 3. Consider what hainous consequents will follow if you deny this aggravation of the Sins of unbelievers 1. You harden them in the most desperate impenitency For they cannot repent of that which they know not to be a Sin and they cannot know that they have sinned against him that dyed for them till they know that he did die for them and who dare say to all the World that yet know not that they are true believers you ought not to repent for any Sin as being committed against him that died for you Perkins Treat of repentance and multitudes of our godly English Writers when they press Men to repentance do use this as the greatest motive to consider what our Sins did cost the Lord Jesus They cost him Blood and should they not cost us tears and should we make light of that which lay so heavy on him Such arguings are common in almost all Writers and Preachers Now if Christ did not bear all Mens Sins and if all Mens Sins did not cost Christ so dear then this Argument or Motive to repentance can be used to no Man nor by any Man but only those that have got assurance of a special interest in Christ 2. Hereby you deny that God may justly aggravate Mens Sins or condemn Men for Sinning against Christ that died for them 3. Hereby you perswade Men that their consciences shall not thus agravate them in Hell nor torment them for Sinning against him that suffered for them all which I shall shew anon to be false 4. Hereby you forbid Ministers from thus aggravating their Peoples Sins and so from using the most effectual motive to draw them to repentance And hereby you condemn almost all the most powerful Preachers in England who generally take this course And you reject the most powerful Books and Sermons which God hath blest to the Conversion of many Souls I mention this the rather because some still object that those who are against Universal Redemption succeed as much in their Ministry to the Conversion of Souls as those that are for it The reason is because they commonly Preach for it or on grounds that suppose it in their practical Sermons when in their disputes they speak against it That you may see I wrong them not I will instance in one learned Holy Perkins who hath writ more confidently against Universal Redemption then he And when he comes to win Men to Repentance and to Christ see how he Writes in particular in that excellent short Treatise the choicest piece I think that ever he wrote I am sure a piece that hath long agoe workt more on my own Heart then most if not then any that ever I read and which I have cause to thank God that ever I saw I mean his Treat of the Right Knowledg of Christ Crucified in the first Vol. of his Works Page 626 c. I will transcribe some passages Page 626. When he hath shewed that we must feel the need of Christ and desire him he adds The ad Part of knowledg is Application every Man is bound to apply Christ whereby thou must know and believe not only that Christ was Crucified but that he was Crucified for thee for thee I say in particular Here two rules must be remembred and practised one that Christ on the Cross was thy pledg and surety in particular that he stood there in the very room and place in which thou thy self in thy own person shouldest have stood That thy very personal and particular Sins were imputed and applied to him That he stood guilty as a Malefactor for them and suffered the very Pangs of Hell And that his sufferings are as much in acceptation with God as if thou hadst born the curse of the Law in thy own person eternally The holding and believing of this point is the very foundation of Religion as also of the Church of God c. The 2d Rule is that Christ Crucified is thine being really given thee of God the Father even as truly as Houses and Lands are given of Earthly Fathers to their Children And hence it is that the benefits of Christ are before God ours indeed for our justification and Salvation and Page 630. First of all the serious consideration of this that the very Son of God himself suffered all the pains and torments of Hell on the Cross for our Sins is the proper and most effectual means to stir up our Hearts to a godly sorrow for them And that this thing may come to pass every Man must be setled without doubt that he was the Man that Crucified Christ that he is to be blamed as well as Judas Herod Pilate or the Jews and that his Sins should be the Nails the Spears and the Thorns that pierced him When this meditation begins to take place bitterness of Spirit with Wailing and Mourning takes place in like manner Zach 12. 10. And they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall lament for him as one lamenteth for his only Son What a Doctrin then is it that teacheth us that none but they that know themselves to be Elect should once accuse themselves of this that their Sins did Crucifie Christ Peter in his first Sermon struck the Jews as with a Thunder-clap from
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
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
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
pardoned and saved the efficacy of Christ's satisfaction is before all possibility of any power or snccess of Man's Faith So in those that perish if they had no price of satisfaction paid for them the want of a Redeemer would be the first want concluding their damnation and non-deliverance from former misery and the want of Faith could be but the secondary consequential want which Faith if it were present would not satisfie or save no more than believing now would save the Devils And thus it is evident that on the grounds opposed the Gospel would causally per â—e unavoidably be the greatest plague on earth to all where it comes except the Elect and not only accidentally by their own Sin Now for the Minor that the Gospel is not so I prove from Scripture it is called the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God Luke 8. 1. Before men are Converted the Apostles say we declare unto you glad tidings Acts 13. 32. 33. The Preachers of it bring glad tidings of good things preaching the Gospel of peace Rom. 10. 15. even the unsanctified receive the word with joy Mat. 13. 20. and not so great joy as they had cause so Mark 4. 16. it is called the Gospel of the grace of God Acts 20. 24. it is a Wedding-Feast even ready for those that would not come to it who are therefore said to be unworthy of it and so it was to him that came without the Wedding garment Mat. 22. if it were not a mercy then Men did not sin against mercy in rejecting it which who dare say It gives men promises of entring into rest who yet by wilful unbelief may come short of it Heb. 4. 1 2 3 c. See 1 Cor. 10. to the 13th God sent Jesus to bless the Jews more than Elect in turning every one of them from his Iniquity Acts 3. last The unthankful Servant had his debt freely pardoned him and that was a mercy who after took his fellow by the throat and by ingratitude lost that pardon which he had It declareth God's tender Mercies over all his works and such mercies as are to lead all men to Repentance Psal 145. 9. Rom. 2. It is good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Acts 2. 10. It freely giveth to all the water of life if they refuse not the gift Rev. 22. It is the Gospel that bringeth Salvation to all men Tit. 12. 11. A hundred Texts might be brought to prove how great a blessing of it self the Gospel is to that People to whom it is given and if it be turned to a Judgment and hurt them it is meerly accidentally through their wilful rejecting it or turning the grace of God into wantonness or sinning because Grace hath abounded and not from any thing in it nor for want of a reality in the benefit which it offereth Arg. 25. A differentiâ status damnatorum viatorum If Christ dyed not for all men then the state of most men all that he dyed not for were as deplorate and remediless as the State of the Damned But the consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent The Consequence of the Major proposition is plain in that the state of all men that Christ dyed not for must needs be utterly hopeless and remediless for there is no other satisfaction to be hoped for besides that made by the blood of Jesus and that is nothing to them nor is there any hope or possibility that ever they should have part in a satisfaction that is no satisfaction for them without blood there is no remission If they should believe and repent and pray for mercy night and day it would be but as the Rich Epicure in Hell pray'd for a drop of water all in vain for betwixt God and them is so great a gulf or distance by sin that nothing without a Redeemer can do them any good as to the least hope of Salvation If you say it is not to be supposed that they can believe repent and pray I answer that is in your own sense because it is supposed they are not redeemed and the impossibility of their not repenting and believing shews the more fully the impossibility of their Salvation And the reason why they do not actually despair is not because they have any more remedy than the Damned or cause to hope but only because they are yet ignorant of the hopelesness of their own Condition and as soon as they know the truth they will fully despair So that there is no more possibility that a Man for whom Christ dyed not should be pardoned or saved than that the Damned should for both are equally impossible If any say that God can find out another remedy besides and without Christs satisfaction though he will not and therefore it is not impossible I will not examine the truth of that now but if it be true of them on Earth why not also of them in Hell When once Men are in that state that there is no Sacrifice for their sin then there remaineth nothing but the fearful expectation of Judgment and Fire that shall devour the Adverâ—ary Object But doth not God's foreknowledge and decree make mens Salvation impossible as well as Christs not Dying for them and so your argument is as much against them Answ No They do nihil ponere in Objecto nor are the removal or denyal of any efficient cause of Salvation they infer only Necessitatem Consequentiae they make no Mans Salvation impossible but only prove it not future And as it is not omne Possible that is futurum so neither omne non futurum that is Impossibile And it is agreed that foreknowledge presupposeth the futurition or non futurition of the thing foreknown But there is much more necessary to be said to resolve this doubt which I may not now insist on only I add that the matter of God's Decrees and the futurition of things as depending thereon are so high and so far above us that it becomes us not to be too inquisitive into them much less so peremptorily to determine of them as some do and least of all to try plainer Cases by such determinations and reduce certainties to uncertainties when we should tather reduce uncertainties to certainties And for the Minor that the state of most men even in the Church is not so hopeless deplorate and remediless as is the case of the Damned I prove it thus They might be saved who are yet on Earth if they would but receive the love of the truth 2 Thes 2. 9 10. If they would believe they might all be justified and should not perish but have everlasting life whoever of them will may have the water of Life freely and it is offered them and they intreated to take it and if they have it not it is because they will not and not because there was no object or ground for their willing or no Sacrifice for their sin God offers them pardon and
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
efficax esse redimendis electis alias enim frustra fuissent constituti ad obtinendam salutem per Jesum Christum si salutem per Christum non fuissent assecuturi His hunc in modum constitutis apparet fieri posse ut quaedam loca Scripturae de Christo mediatore tractent quoad pretii ipsius sufficientiam alia vero quoad mortis ejus efficaciam Locum autem hunc de quo agimus existimo significare tantum pretii ipsius sufficientiam Ratio est quia agit non de efficacia Spiritus sancti in danda hominibus fide sed de modo quo fides dari solet nempe per predicationem Evangelii Generalem omnium invitationem ad fidem in hanc formam Quisquis credit in Christum non peribit sed habet vitam aeternam Hujus autem invitationis Generalis fundamentum est pretii a Christo soluti sufficientia Atque hic rursus sese in gerit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiaris divinae clementiae propensio in genus humanum quod scilicet pro peccatis humani generis pretium sufficiens solutum iri voluit non autem pro peccatis Angelorum For the better understanding of this it must be remembred that there is a double efficacy of Christs death 1. It s satisfying God's Justice for the Sins which Christ bore 2. The effecting of Pardon Justification Sanctification and Salvation of Sinners It is only of this latter that solid Divines speak when they distinguish the efficacy of Christ's death from its sufficiency But the former the effecting of satisfaction is presupposed to the sufficiency as being the proper immediate end of Christ's death for there is a double sufficiency First a sufficiency material antecedent to satisfaction passive as we may call it by which it is said to be sufficient to satisfie God for all Men. Secondly A sufficiency of this price and satisfaction so made for the pardoning and saving of all that will believe It is the latter sufficiency which is to be distinguish'd from the latter efficiency and that implies some efficiency as necessary to that sufficiency viz. The efficiency of satisfaction And the Doctor can be understood no otherwise here than according to this interpretation 1. Because he makes it the necessary ground of the general promise without which it could have no place Now leave out the efficiency of satisfaction to Justice from Christ's death and it is no more a ground for an Universal promise than if he had not paid a satisfaction materially sufficient at all For it is not sufficient to pardon all men if they did believe except Justice be first satisfied for them 2. He expresly makes it to be sufficientia pretii and not ut sit pretium though I know elsewhere he contradicts that 3. He makes it the interpretation of those Scriptures that speak of Christs dying for all which cannot be if he satisfy'd not for all 4. He makes a general promise and invitation to be grounded on it But surely Christ is not with his Salvation given so much as conditionally to any but whom by satisfying for them he hath purchased that mercy to 5. Yea he expresly in his Reason shews that by the efficacy of Christs death he means that which consisteth in the Spirits efficacy in working Faith Others say that by the World is meant only the Elect but not as Elect but as they are Gentiles who are called the World in contradistinction to the Jews This cannot be true for First Then no Elect Jews should be included but it should run thus God so loved the Gentiles that he gave his only Son c. whereas Christ was sent to Jews as well as Gentiles and that first in some respects Secondly This way crosseth themselves also for the Gentiles consist of Elect and non-Elect and therefore according to their Doctrine it should only run thus God so loved part of the World if the Gentiles be the World or else they must say that by the World is meant the Elect part of the Gentiles But I shall prove further that this is false by proving that it includeth the Non-Elect also By the World it is evident is not meant the containing World the Air Earth c. Nor Angels or unknown Superiour Creatures nor yet brute Beasts but the Men living on Earth It is granted that the usual obvious sense of words is not to be denied without evident cause and when there is cause of denying that sense we must go but to the next obvious and usual sense and not to a remote unusual improbable one Now it is known that the word World used for Men doth most directly and obviously signifie Mankind in general without excluding any Next to that it signifieth the greater part or common sort of the World Next that it signifieth the generality or greater part of some Country where the speaker then is not to speak of more remote significations If therefore we be forced to forsake the first signification it must be proved that we are also forced from the second before we must take the third and both second and third must be disproved before we can take the World for the Elect only 2. The effects of that love and giving of Christ here mentioned are undoubtedly such as are given to all and not only to the Elect as to the Tenor of the Law or Deed of Gift they are given to all Mankind and as to the promulgation they are given to all those that hear the Gospel Therefore the World here mentioned is all and not only the Elect. I think none will deny the Consequence and for the Antecedent it is evident through all the Scripture as well as this Text. The effect of the giving of Christ here expressed is the conditional gift of Salvation But the conditional gift of Salvation is to all and not only to the Elect Ergo c. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish is a plain giving of Salvation on condition of believing it being usual in Scripture and common speech to make whosoever will and if you will equally conditionally Whosoever will let him take the water of Life freely is equivalent to this it shall be yours if you will take it If you beat up the Drum for Souldiers you proclaim whosoever will come to such a place and list himself under such a Commander shall have Entertainment and Pay here whosoever will come and list himself is equivalent to if any or all of you will come and list your selves So that where they put the question whether the word whosoever be distributive I answer no not directly it is but the universal extension of the Conditional Promise with an expression of the conditionality but consequently it is distributive though Antecedently and directly it be not As in the former Comparison when you say whosoever will list himself c the word whosoever is not directly distributive for you offer all that hear you that priviledge and
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
that did his best in the use of these means and lost his labour So that if all men have not Faith it is their own fault not only as Originally Sinners but as rejecting sufficient Grace to have brought them nearer Christ than they were for which it is that they justly perish as is more fully opened in the Dispute of sufficient Grace I think now I may fafely conclude that there is no proof yet brought that Christ will give Faith to all that he dyed for but the contrary I have proved Argument 3. Against Universal Satisfaction Christ dyed not for those who were in Hell at the time of his Death therefore he dyed not for all Answ I cannot discern any strong appearance of proof that can be brought for the Antecedent however it take with very many as I confess in the time of my ignorance it did with me 1. Jesus Christ satisfied God's Justice 1. Morally at his first undertaking interposing or engagement according to our apprehension presently upon mans fall 2. By that Natural Suffering which he had before undertaken and this was in the fulness of time It is usual for moral effects to go before the natural part of the Cause but the Cause is in esse morali in moral being Many a man upon his word to pay so much money such a day or upon earnest given hath the thing bought delivered to him tho' he pay not the price till long after So may a man redeem Slaves by such an undertaking So did Christ undertake to bear the punishment due to the Sins of all and this undertaking satisfied God not without his suffering but by its respect to his future suffering giving it a moral Being before hand so that when Christs satisfaction was in its first moral being no man of this World was in Heaven or in Hell 2. It was necessary for Christ having undertaken to suffer the punishment due to their sins before they were Condemned to perform his undertaking after they are Condemned If you give earnest for the buying of Beasts or Slaves and take them into your possession and promise such a day to make payment though they dye the while you must pay the price 3. Christ had as much of his ends obtained in those that perished by Rejecting Grace before his death as he hath for those that perish for the same cause since 4. The Wicked that perished before Christ's death had the same benefits by it as those that perish after his death allowing the difference that the clear discovery of the mystery of Salvation now doth cause they had mercy offered them and Remission and Salvation given them on Condition of repenting and believing and sufficient grace to have brought them nearer God than they were which if they had obeyed they had a high probability of having more added 5. All this presupposeth Christ then a sufficient Object for their Faith that is Christ who had satisfied for them as to his Undertaking and must and would do it afterwards in performance was then the Object propounded for them to believe in and therefore their Unbelief was Consequential and not Antecedent to Christ's moral satisfaction and suffering for them even as the Faith of the Godly also was 6. It is as good arguing to say some were in Heaven when Christ dyed therefore he dyed not for them as to say some were in Hell therefore he dyed not for them For it may as wisely be said those in Heaven were past all need of satisfaction as that those in Hell were past all hope and remedy The time was when they had hope from that satisfaction set before them and when it was a sufficient remedy for them and wanted nothing but their own consent to make it fully effectual As the time was when those now in Heaven had need of it and did accept it offered them Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoyced and Moses counted the reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt But the impenitent then refused Christ and his Government and therefore were justly denied his further Mercies 7. Only this much may be concluded by this arguing that Christ at the time of his dying did not intend the Saving of those that were then in Hell and so it is as true that Christ at his death did not intend for the future to give Regeneration the first Reconciliation Pardon Adoption Union with him or Glory to those in Heaven for they had received them all long before as the Damned had lost them all before by their Rejection But it follows not hence that therefore Christ bore not the punishment of all mens sins according to his first undertaking I know great dissimilitudes are pretended between the Cases of the Saved and the Damned when Christ dyed as to this Argument but they are but pretended and none is shewed and I think it needless to strive against meer words But a fore-mentioned Disputer undertaketh to shew that the Answer drawn from the state of them that were Saved when Christ dyed will not hold and why 1. He saith Those that were saved were saved on this ground that Christ should certainly suffer for them in due time which suffering was as effectual in the purpose and promise as in the execution and accomplishment c. Answ 1. And those that were Damned had Pardon and Salvation given them freely if they would have accepted them on God's terms and this was on the same consideration of Christ's future dying for them 2. And consequently they who were then Damned for unbelief were Damned for rejecting a Christ that had undertaken to dye for them and the mercy purchased by his undertaken death 2. This Author produceth such a Simile as I mentioned even now of one that undertaketh the ransom of Prisoners and sendeth to them thereupon to come forth for he that detaineth them taketh his word Now if some come forth and the rest refuse and be dead in Prison and others hear not of that and that according to his appointment and were dead long since when the Ransomer comes to pay the Debt or Ransom doth he intend it for them that dyed obstinately in Prison or only for those that came forth doubtless only for these last Answ 1. To answer as confidently doubtless it is the Debt and Ransom undertaken for all and paid according to the undertaking 2. Bring home the Similitude nearer the case from payment of money to suffering of the punishment which they should have suffered or some other ad fines Rectoris equivalent and doubtless then he suffered Loco omnium instead even of those that are dead in Prison or else he is not a man of his word if his action answer not his undertaking But he did not at his actual suffering intend it for the further good of the dead not in bonum ulterius omnium supposing what good they had before received by it and might have received a full deliverance if they would And to make them
gift of God Joh. 3. 27. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven If nothing then not Faith If they say they received it not the Apostles question may shame them What hast thou which thou hast not received Obj. That 's meant of gifts that were for Edification Answ I. Much more of Faith which is a special Grace II. It is General implying that we have nothing that we received not that thence he might conclude Therefore not such Gifts Joh. 6. 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him ver 65. Therefore said I unto you No man can come unto me except it were given to him of my Father Obj. God drawing Morally those that will not follow him Answ I. The Drawing here mentioned is the same with giving to come to him II. It is given as the Reason why some Believed not because none can come except it be given them and they be drawn Those that believed not had your Moral drawing which was uneffectual but it is evident they had not the drawing which Christ mentioneth Luk. 17. 5. Lord increase our Faith Therefore he must give it Obj. That is a Faith of Miracles Answ Saving Faith is as much Gods Gift as that and the Soul as unapt to it till he give it Mark 9. 24. Lord I believe help thou mine Unbelief He that must Help our Unbelief that is give us more Faith must help our total Unbelief by giving us our first Faith which we are most unable to perform of our selves Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the Spirit is Love Faith c. Obj. That 's meant of Fidelity Answ I. That 's unproved that it 's only meant of that II. If common fidelity must be wrought by the Spirit much more Saving Faith in Christ To all these it 's further objected that God giveth Faith equally to All that is his help to Believe but it is only the Materia Disposita that receiveth it and the reason why some have it not is because they are not disposed or prepared Ans 1. If this be so that this is the Reason of his denying faith to some yet the contrary disposition is not the Reason of his giving faith to others And therefore the Undisposedness is only a Reason sufficient to Justifie God's denial of Grace but not Disabling him to give it or necessitating him to deny it Else all men should perish who are undisposed unless they dispose themselves And this is plain Semi-Polagianism that Grace is tyed to such Dispositions of our own 2. Prove if you can that ever God hath made a Promise of Faith to men on condition of any prerequisite Dispositions I find no such thing in the Word 3. Are those Dispositions Gods Gifts or not If not then all is ultimately resolved into mans will and we have something that we have not received If they be then they are given Absolutely or Conditionally If Absolutely then they are not so given to All else All should have them and so Believe If Conditionally 1. What is the Condition They say our Non-resistance But our Resistance is either Habitual or Actual The Actual is our Actual Niâ—ing The Habitual is our Habitual Unwillingness Deadness c. Must we cure all this of our selves before God will give us Faith I will not say as Dr. Twisse that Non-resistance is Credere that is Faith it self that is the contrary to this Resistance or Unwillingness because you may tell me that to be unwilling of Christ as offered and to be Unwilling that God should make me willing of Christ or give me Faith by the means of my hearing is not all one But this I say that the best did resist and were unwilling both of Christ and Faith till God did overcome their Resistance And that God hath not promised Faith on condition of mans Non-resistance that I know of 2. Is this Non-resistance or Willingness to Believe the Gift of God or not If not then we have somewhat which we did not receive and then all Grace still is ultimately resolved with the Pelagians into mans will and man makes himself to differ which I disproved in the last days Exercise If it be Gods Gift then either Absolute and so proper to some Or Conditional and then that must have a Condition and so in infinitum till you stop in some Absolute Gift not common to all Object God is not the total but partial Cause and therefore he doth quantum in se give Faith to all and that some are yet without it is long of themselves Answ I. I confess that it is long of themselves that any are Unbelievers II. Though man believe yet it seems to me that God is not to be called Causa partialis but totalis in that Supream Causality which he exerciseth III. That God doth quantum in se give all men Faith may be understood either 1. Quantum in se quoad potentiam as much as â—e can But that 's Blasphemy 2. Quantum in se quoad Decentiam as much as is meet for him to do But who dare say that it is unmeet for God to give men such effectual grace as shall Infallibly cause them to Believe He giveth such to his Elect and therein doth not any thing that is unmeet 3. Or else it is meant that God giveth so much help to unbelievers as leaves all the blame of their unbelief upon themselves and justifieth him from being the culpable deficient or efficient Cause And this I grant but this is no advantage to the Adversary But I have been too long on this first Argument Arg. II. Jesus Christ dying intended the Infallible Glorification of Gods free grace in the certain Regeneration Justification and Glorification of certain men therefore he intended the infallible certain Regeneration or Faith and Justification and Glorification of those men That Christ came into the World with a certain intention to accomplish the glorifying of God as his end is undoubted For to say either that he undertook so great a work without an end or that the glory of Gods grace and love was not that end are both impious And as certain is it that it was the glory of Gods grace in the certain Salvation of some men that was intended For as there is no other way of this full glorification of Gods grace manifested to us but only by mans Salvation so the Scripture most frequently tells us that this is the way and this was God's design and therefore Christ is stiled the Saviour which certainly implyeth that he hath some infallibly to save and that he came to seek and to save that which was lost And if it were not the Salvation of Determinate Persons that God intended to glorify himself in then was it not in the Salvation of any man at all for all Salvation is some ones Salvation Accidents exist not without a Subject And if it were not a certain obtaining of this end by