very injurious to his Goodness yet directly and immediately opposite to his very Nature which is meer Goodness and Happiness and hath no Affinity with Rigour Cruelty or Misery Read Psal 34. 6. Psal 86. 5. Joel 2. 13. Jonah 4. 2. Micah 7. 18. If God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men without just cause Lam. 3. 33. how can we in reason think that God in his eternal Purpose and absolute Pleasure should affect the extream Misery of any of his Creatures for the shewing of the absolute Soveraignty he hath over them If so he may as well damn them as create them How can we think that he should send them one after another into this World to enjoy some of the good things of this Life and after this short Life is over to torment them with Devils and damn'd Spirits for ever to shew his Power over them without just cause in the Creature What saith Abraham Gen. 18. 25. when he was interceding with God for Sodom with respect to a temporal Judgment Wilt thou destroy the Righteous with the Wicked that be far from thee Shall not the Judg of all the World do right If to destroy the Righteous with the Wicked was far from God in Temporals shall we think that God resolved to punish the Innocent in Hell with wicked Spirits For pray you observe if God hath from Eternity reprobated the greatest part of Mankind it must be understood that he look'd on them as Persons that would in time prove sinful or else he reprobated them simply as Men. If the first then was their Sinfulness wherein he beheld them the cause of their Rejection if the second then the pure and perfect Workmanship of his Hands yea that which was very good Gen. 1. 31. must be the Object of his Reprobation which cannot be it was a saying of one of the Ancients Aug. Lib. 3. Cont. Julian Cap. 31. Pag. 164. God is Good and God is Just he may without any desert free Men from Punishment because he is Good but he cannot without Evil desert and condemn any Man because he 's just And again Aug. Epist 106. ad Bonifac. If God be believed to damn any man that by Sin deserveth it not he is not to be believed to be free from Injustice And therefore for any to say that God hath irrevocably reprobated the greatest part of the World to eternal Misery before they had a being in this World or any possibility of doing Good or Evil he speaks more like a Mahumetan than a Christian however more harsh of the God of Love than he ought to speak and reflects dishonour upon him making him to be the Prime Principal and Irresistable Cause of the Damnation of Millions of Souls appointing them to Destruction of his own voluntary Will antecedent to any desert in them No Martha there is nothing can proceed from the God of Love that is unjust nothing unequal nothing hard nothing that any ways inclineth to the hurt of any of his Creatures considered as innocent and therefore no irreversible decreeing or ordaining of Men to everlasting Destruction as you pretend Mar. But doth not the Apostle Rom. 9. 20. 21. shew 't is no unrighteous thing no unequal or hard thing in God to reprobate or predestinate to Destruction which or how many of his Creatures he pleaseth 'T is his lawful and just Prerogative as he is absolute Lord of all Who art thou that repliest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over his Clay to make one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour Phil. I know this 9th Chapter to the Romans is the great Magazine and Fortress wherein all your imaginary Strength lieth and those Verses are the Weapons which you draw to silence those that question your horrid Notions about Personal Election and Reprobation Pray do you think that Paul was about to prove personal Election and Reprobation in these Verses Mar. Yes what else but to prove that God hath Power to create and appoint Vessels of Honour and Dishonour and consequently of Wrath as the Potter hath to make Vessels at his Pleasure without contradiction of the same Lump of Clay Phil. You are under a great mistake the great Controversy lay about the Terms of Justification whether by the Law or Faith and not about personal Election and Reprobation so that the Prerogative which the Lord claims to himself as a Royalty annexed to the Crown of Heaven and Earth in this 9th of the Romans or elsewhere in respect to the Condemnation and Eternal Destruction of his Creatures stands not in leaving what Persons he pleaseth to eternal ruin but in making the condition of Life and Death Salvation and Damnation as he pleaseth according to the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1. 1. Now the Apostle was shewing the Way and Method that God will take in saving Sinners and that it is not the purpose of God that men should be justified by the Law but by Grace and through Faith and tho the Jews much boasted of their being Abraham's Seed and Moses's Disciples and their observing of the Law and judged it an equal thing that God should make that Law to be the Law of Life and Salvation to Men and the neglect of it the Law of Death and Damnation yet it being the good Pleasure of God to do otherwise and to ordain Faith in his Son Christ Jesus to be the way of Justification and Life and Unbelief the way to Condemnation and Death this Choice or Election shall stand whatever Men may think meet and fitting for him to do Therefore saith he Verse 15. I will have Mercy upon whom I will have Mercy and I will have Compassion upon whom I will have Compassion Men shall not prescribe unto me Laws or Terms of shewing Mercy my Will shall not be bounded by Man's Will neither will I be obliged by them what manner of Persons or how qualified I shall justify and save I mean to keep close to the Counsel of my own Will in that which concerns the Life and Death the Salvation or Destruction of my Creatures and so in this 21st Verse Hath not the Potter power over his Clay c. meaning that God Almighty hath the like Power over the whole Lump of Mankind in Adam to make what Laws of Life and Death he pleased and to appoint what manner of Persons should be saved or condemned which the Potter hath over the Lump of Clay to make what Vessel he pleaseth for Honour or Dishonour Now at best this Scripture is but an Allusion and should we suppose that the Apostle doth compare the Lord to a Potter as we often in Scripture find him compared to Persons and Things and human Actions Affections and Members of a Man attributed to God and divine Things because God in his Word descends as it were to our Capacities expressing heavenly Matters after
Christ died for all so that all should injoy all these equally alike but that God did really truly and cordially intend the Salvation of one Man as well as another considered as Men in and by Christ's Death What tho there be great disparity of Means and of Grace also according to the Divine Will yet sufficient Grace is afforded to all both to those that do not actually believe nor are really converted as well as those that are Ezek. 18. Pro. 1. 24. Mat. 23. 37. Luke 8. 12. for whomsoever God calleth to Faith and Salvation he doth it sincerely and with unfeigned Intentions of saving them John 5. 34. and 10. 20. Tit. 2. 11 12. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 20. and 6. 1. From all I conclude that Christ in dying for Man intended nothing but that which was real and saving in the proper nature and tendency of it But as to your third Moderatus you say Christ died for all Men so far that the Gospel might be preached unto all Now if you mean that in the Gospel terms of Reconciliation are offered to all poor Sinners and that the Word preached is by the Lord appointed an instrumental means to make Men new Creatures and that the Lord by sending the Gospel and his Ministers upon the Gospel errand doth not thereby intend the Obduration and Destruction of any but the Conversion and Salvation of all if this be your meaning I and you are no more two but one and I will say in the words of Abraham to Lot Let there be no strife between thee and me for we are brethren But if with Calvin in his Institut Lib. 3. Chap. 24. you say that God sendeth his Word to Reprobates that they may be made more deaf he setteth a Light to some Men that they may be so much the more blind and offers them Instruction that they may be the more ignorant and he useth a Remedy but to the end they may not be healed Or what Maccour in his disputation 14. Page 11 12. That Christ knocketh at the heart of Reprobates who he knoweth neither can nor will open unto him not that he may enter in but that he might upbraid them for their Impotency and increase their Damnation c. therefore did God speak to them by his Son that by the contempt and hatred of his Son they might procure the greater damnation If this be your Opinion produce some word to evince such a Decree and I 'll cease contending with you Philet Do not the Scriptures say Mat. 13. 13 14. and John 12. 39 40. in both places you have it expresly said that they could not believe because that Esaias said he hath blinded their Eyes c. and Deut. 29. 4. And doth not Simeon say of Christ Luke 2. 34. that he was set for the rising and falling of many in Israel 2 Cor. 2. 16. Christ is there said to be the savour of Death to some as well as of Life to others And our Saviour in John 9. 39. expresly saith That for Judgment am I come into the World that they that see not might see and those that see might be made blind Do not these Scriptures shew that tho the Gospel is preached to all yet for the blinding the Eyes and hardning the Hearts of those that believe not Philad Do not we look upon the Gospel the greatest Blessing next to Christ that we can injoy or receive But if the choicest Blessings are intended as Snares to intrap our Souls we have little cause to be thankful to God for them These Scriptures speak not of the primary and direct Intention of God in sending Christ into the World but of the Event and that which many times is effected by it through Mens voluntary Rebellion Christ was not sent into the World with any intent on God's part nor came with any intention of his own to make those that see to become blind but with an intent to heal the blindness of all to their Peace and Glory so that if any be blind ignorant and foolish 't is merely accidental and tho the glorious Light of the Gospel should equally shine on all Men as the natural Sun doth diffuse his Beams to all Places yet it hath not an equal effect on all alike for the same Beams that cause the Flowers to smell make the Dunghils stink yet this is but accidentally as it finds matter to work on no fault being in the Sun so in Mat. 13. we read of several effects the Word hath not from any defect in the Seed sown the Seed being one and the same but from the badness or goodness of the Soil it shews that some hearers of the Gospel would hear so that their hearing would turn to a blessed account others would hear without reaping any Soul benefit thereby So that these Scriptures speak not any thing of God's intention of sending Christ and so the Gospel into the World but they shew how unworthily some Men will behave themselves towards Christ and the tenders of Salvation by the Gospel and what will be the end and effects the Gospel will have upon those that despise and reject it for it is with the Gospel preached and the Gifts of Nature and Grace also as it is with the good things of this Life which are by the Lord given to the Children of Men that so his bountifulness and goodness might lead them to repentance but if their Table be a Snare and their Prosperity their Ruin 't is through their own perversness and horrid impieties so if the Gospel hardens or blinds any 't is through the ill temper of Mens Hearts and their desperate obstinacy to refuse such means of Salvation and the severity of God who giveth up obstinate Men to their own hearts lust and in his just Judgment permits them to dash against Christ and other means of Salvation What saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid 't is hid to them that are lost whom the God of the World hath blinded their Eyes that are alienated from the Life of God through the ignorance that is in them and so give up themselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness and despise the Light of the Gospel cavil and quarrel at it no wonder then that God withdraws his Spirit from striving with them and gives them up to their own hearts lust and if ever the Lord restrains the heavenly Influences of his Spirit and withdraws his Blessing that usually accompanies the faithful and sincere preaching of the Gospel a stupid blindness must needs follow so tho there be Preaching and Prayer and other Ordinances yet when the presence of God is not with them there is no Milk in the Breast and to such 't is all one as if there was none nay as some the Gospel enlightens these it smites with blindness as it softens some so it hardens these as Isa 6. 10. Acts 28. 26. make the Hearts of this People
Fate which I could not withstand and if I have done amiss I deserve pity from you rather than blame tho I know if your Doctrine be true neither your Pity nor Prayers will do me any good unless they were able to make a change in God's absolute Decree for there cannot one Soul be saved which is ordained to Hell nor one Soul be cast away which is appointed to Heaven and so your Pity and Prayers may as well be spared as spent to no puroose And Reader if thou beest one that art learned 't is likely thou wilt think this Discourse is a home-spun Piece Why truly I am just of your mind I think the same and so there is no danger we should fall out and by this let thee know it was designed for them that love to have it so and written for the use of those that neither could nor did expect any Rhetorical Flourishes or School-Distinctions from me but only plain Truths They knew that as I was ignorant of School Phrases so I was clogged with worldly Business and had neither learning nor time to dress up my Lines with Wit and Eloquence neither doth Truth stand in need of gingling Flourishes or outward Bedaubing to make it more renowned in the World it being best seen in its naked plainness And Reader if thou art a Critick as this is a peevish and critical Age or so highly conceited that thou disdainest to look any farther all that I shall say to thee is this It will not hurt you if you can but let it alone I never commanded you neither do I care whether you read it or not and if you read it and think your time and pains ill bestowed blame your self for meddling with that you had nothing to do with I know that all courteous and impartial Readers and especially those that have desired this will esteem it as much as I desire they should Reader I will keep thee out no longer pray walk in and if you like your poor entertainment you are heartily welcome fall to and much good may it do you Vale. June 30. 1700. ZACH. STANTON NB. Pray correct the following Fault with thy Pen before thou goest on Page 35. line 12. Philadelphus is to begin with these words What God foresees c. The last line but one of the same page blot out Phil. The Love of God to all Mankind Asserted and Vindicated By way of Dialogue between Martha and Philadelphus c. Martha WEll met Philadelphus you are walking and viewing the Fields Philadelphus Yes and the more I view the more my heart is drawn forth to bless and admire our good and gracious God who hath not left himself without witness filling our hearts with joy and gladness and though we have almost spent the Fruits of the last year yet is the Lord preparing for us against another how doth the Hills and Vallies abound with Corn and Grass burdned Ears with plenty They rejoyce and clap their hands and loudly proclaim that the Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works Mar. Why is your heart so affected with the Creature or any goodness that is in them Phil. No not so much as with the good God that sends them yet I cannot but admire that the glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth should have any regard to us worthless Worms thus to mind us with the Eyes of his Providence when we are unmindful of him Mar. Why doubtless it is for the sake of his Elect People that the Nation injoys such Mercies otherwise the Lord would quickly turn this fruitful Land into barrenness yea overthrow it as once he did Sodom and Gomorrah Phil. Although I do not question but next unto Jesus who is said to bear up the Pillars of the Earth the Godly are the Pillars of a Nation they stay just deserved Judgments God Almighty would make short work in the World bring all to its first Nothing if it was not for the Godly which as you say are as so many Lots in Sodom that preserve from such an overthrow yet surely God hath some gracious ends and design in giving such Temporal Mercies to the worst of Men even that his Goodness and Mercy might lead them to Repentance Mar. Truly all these outward and temporal Mercies and Blessings which the worst of Men injoy are but like Crumbs which the Master of a Family throws to the Dogs or given with no other intent than Men give good Pasture to their Cattel to fit them the sooner for Slaughter The prosperity of fools destroy them says Solomon that is it shall be the means of heightning their Lusts and thereby fitting them for Destruction Phil. As is your Name so are you Martha is your Name and bitter are your words Come sit you down here by me under this Shade and let us spend one hour in Discourse together if your occasion will permit Mar. I am content Phil. Truly I did not think till I heard it out of your own Mouth that any could entertain such harsh and unworthy suspicions of the God of Love as if his Mercies to any were designed on purpose to multiply their guilt or to heighten their eternal Damnation No Martha God hath more noble and worthy Ends and Designs than such you spake of God is Love and he hath no pleasure in the ruin of his Creatures If their Prosperity destroy them if his Mercies which should lead them to Repentance and have been a powerful means to ingage their hearts to love the Lord any ways heighten their guilt and thereby fit them for Destruction 't is not the effect of God's goodness but rather of their obstinate wickedness their abusing his Goodness and turning his Grace into Wantonness and not into Thankfulness this is that which kindles the wrath of God as 2 Chron. 32. 25. But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the Mercies c therefore wrath was upon him c. and for this cause was it that the Heathens were given up to vile affections But pray tell me do not all Men in the World stand bound to be thankful to God for outward Mercies Mar. Yes doubtless they do Phil. But how can any Man look upon himself any ways obliged to be thankful to God for good things given with such hard intentions even to make his Condemnation so much the greater Had Amasa any cause to thank Joab for taking him friendly by the Beard to kiss him when his intent was to stab him to the heart And as little cause have any to be thankful to God for Temporal Injoyments when all is made as a Gin and a Trap for their Souls and God intends nothing but evil to them and a fuller Cup of wrath to come If this be a truth how can the bountifulness and long-suffering of God be said to lead Men to Repentance which is the Apostle's Doctrine Rom. 2. 4 Nothing can properly be said to lead Men any ways but that which
are sanctified an unholy thing and make all the Precepts of the Gospel uncertain whether they be the Will of God or not or whether Christ when he prayed to his Father for his People or for Sinners prayed as a Mediator or as Man only yea give footing to that Opinion which begins to evidence it self too much in many even denying the personal Union of God and Man in Jesus Christ in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Col. 2. 9. which did influence and give a value and worth to all things done for us by the Manhood and therefore his Righteousness and his Blood was called the Righteousness and Blood of God Acts 20. 28. 1 John 3. 16. Rom. 10. 3. Christ as he was God-Man and our Mediator what he did upon this account in the Flesh he did in the Spirit also Now in this place where Christ bewailed Jerusalem's state with tears either they flowed from true inward compassion or they did not if the first then Christ in the Flesh and in the Spirit willed one and the same thing and had no distinct Will for Jerusalem's Salvation as Man different from his Will as God but if the second then his tears were only feigned and his bewailing nothing but dissimulation which is a capital Sin to affirm And tho the Lord was resolved to bring Jerusalem to desolation by delivering them into the hands of their Enemies yet as you say and say truly it was an effect of their Sins the neglect of the Day of their Visitation mocking his Messengers and stoning them that were sent to her to have drawn her from the evil of her ways and for crucifying the Lord of Life thereby filling up the measure of her Iniquity So tho the Lord brought her to desolation yet Punishment is rather his refuge than his choice and his defence against Sin than the hurt of his Creatures and the Sinner with his own hands most cruelly pulleth down punishment upon his own head for the evil of Sin and the evil of Suffering are Twins or rather Sin gives birth and being to the other God never inflicted the least punishment on any merely as Men but as workers of Evil as continuing sinful and disobedient So that it was Jerusalem's actual Sins and her refusing to be healed that brought her to ruin and not any irresistible Decree of the Almighty for you may as well deny the Being of a God as entertain a belief that he takes pleasure in the death and destruction of his Creatures His Nature is perfect Goodness and he is a stranger to Cruelty and all the expressions of Love and Good-will in Christ to poor Sinners are such that they neither admit nor are consistent with fraud or falshood so that yet you have not told me where the Attribute of God merely takes place upon those that God is resolved against all means possible to be used to punish by his Decree as you use to say But before I leave this let me ask you one Question more which is this Ought not or do not all Men stand ingaged to love God Philet To love God yea who should they love if they do not love God Philad Ay but I ask you for what Reason Mar. There may be many Reasons given the receiving the good things of this Life may engage all Men to love God Philad Yea but you will not own that God gives the good things of this Life with any good intention to the greatest number but rather gives them to them to heighten their misery doth God intend any good to the Souls of such by what he gives Mar. No yet are they to be accountable for the abuse of them Philad But you hold that God did decree they should abuse them accordingly and for that end were they given to them that so the abuse of them might heighten their misery this is but like the Proverb Give a Man Roastmeat and beat him with the Spit Can any Man become grateful or be tied in the Bonds of Love and Gratitude to such a Man that should feast him for a while yet after condemn him to Death and Destruction Philet The Apostle saith 1 John 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us but this is meant of the Elect only Philad Why should you go about to confine the Lor'd Mercy which is altogether Infinite and as incomprehensible as his Divine Essence why should you thus contract the Divine Goodness whose Mercies are not only exalted above our Conceptions but also above and over all his Works Therefore do not presume to measure the Lord 's Mercys by your narrow conceit nor labour to make it run into a lesser Channel than the Lord intended But God's great Love to all Men in giving his Son to die for them is the ground and cause of their Love to God again True love must first spring from the knowledg of God's Love to them neither can I think that any Men in the World will ever heartily and cordially love God unless they believe that God Almighty had designs of Love to them yea so far loved them as to send his Son to die for them otherwise instead of loving and living to God it would tend to a most horrid and desperate alienation of the Hearts of poor Creatures from their dear and ever-blessed Creator For how is it possible that the poor Creature should devest himself of those Delights and Pleasures of this Life and intirely love and delight himself in God and his blessed Will if he knew or had strong grounds of fear that before he made him or without respect to his Sins or unworthy carriage in the least he so far hated him as to resolve against all Mediation whatsoever to cast him out of his sight and to doom him to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire You may preach up God's Sovereignty pronounce Justice and Judgment as some have done till they have brought Despair and Hell into the Souls of many and beget more Fear than Love make God feared as a Tyrant but 't is the making known Christ's meek Condescension Long-suffering and the superexcellent Amiableness of free Love and tender Mercy that soonest and most effectually works in us Repentance of our Sins and inclines us to love him that first loved us Wither's Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Who is able to perswade Men by Arguments or move them by Threatnings to love God whose love to them in particular is doubtful Do you think it can or ever will be a motive for Persons to love God to tell them That before all Worlds or before they were born or there were any possibility of offending him in any manner it was decreed that the greatest number of Adam's Off-spring should be eternally reprobated and damned And tho he had provided means whereby Man might have been saved and that the worth and value was so great that it was sufficient for the Redemption of thousands of Worlds yet then it was
The Love of God To all Mankind In the Glorious Work of their Redemption by Jesus Christ Asserted and Vindicated With a plain and sober Discussion of those Controversies which are the constant Concomitants of it viz. Election and Reprobation God's Foreknowledg his Nature Attributes and Decrees the sufficiency of Means vouchsafed to all Men to believe the use of the Law to Believers under the Gospel Also concerning Original Sin Free-Will and falling from Grace All fitted to the meanest Capacity in a way of Dialogue By ZACHARY STANTON LONDON Printed and sold by M. Fabian at Mercers Chappel in Cheapside 1700. TO THE READER Courteous and Impartial Reader I Should not have troubled thee with any Preface were it not to comply with the desire of some Friends and the Mode of the Times This Treatise which I have adventured to expose to publick view and censure of all I desire thee to take notice is much of it a Collection gathered from the Words and Writings of Persons concerned in this Controversy methodized and reduced to Form and Order as my slender Knowledg and Leisure gave me leave for the benefit of all well-disposed People that have a desire to look into the things controverted in this Point and either could not reach the Price or procure those large Volumes wherein this Subject is largely handled by Men of piercing Judgments and known Abilities here they may see the Substance of all the Controversy compendiously in a little room and with that plainness and brevity that the meanest Capacity may reach it as well with their Vnderstanding as their Purses I know that those who live at ease and have none to disturb the Peace of their Church and the Prosperity of the Gospel by sowing Tares in the Lord's Field may think it strange in this Day wherein there should be rather a healing of Breaches and a closing up the old Wounds than a heightning and increasing of them to see any appear in print upon this Subject nor have I done this as if I could be a Means to bring any new Matter which by former Worthys had not been said before but for the settling and establishment of those to whom I belong some of them looking that way that so Satan might not beguile them to draw them from the simplicity and purity of that Doctrine revealed in the Word of God and that I might prevent others from falling into error through the studious Labours of many of corrupt Judgments who to our great sorrow we have found care not how they stumble the weak or what Divisions they make in the House of God so they can but proselite a Party to carry on their uncouth Notions and preposterous Opinions and whose heady Zeal hath brought this forth Tho at first it was written for the Information of a few private Friends yet without any design for the Press and hath been kept from it this two or three years till of late this Opinion hath held up its head in our Parts which tho it hath formerly and of late been often encountered by the Sword of the Spirit yet like the Monster Hydra having one Head chop'd off two grew again So this Error seems to spread and grow faster than of late and tho they have left off openly to assert tho owned in private many of those frightful Sayings and horrible Blasphemies found in many Authors which are enough to make a godly Man's heart to bleed yet now they with open face maintain and by secret ways labour to undermine the Divine Foundation and by crying up Grace and the unconditionality of the Gospel-Covenant and descrying all Inducements to Dutys and Obedience as legal Preaching with the terrible noise of Free-willers Arminians Popery many well-meaning Christians by such subtile Wiles and secret Insinuations are wounded and deceived through the cunning pretence of some that pretend to a more than ordinary pitch of Holiness and Purity who to carry on their Design labour to work upon the Affections and to gain upon the Hearts of thâ—se that are ready to entertain as Gospel any Errors because of the affection to the Person that broach'd them and when once the Judgment is distempered by Affection all things are carried according to the pleasure of it The vilest Deformitys if they are Affection's Darlings shall be accounted comely Ornaments Let God and Man say what they will 't is all in vain when their Vnderstanding is captivated and lull'd asleep by their Dalilah then Judgment and right Reason must truckle and those dark and mysterious Sayings in the Scripture must be made to speak according as they fancy while wholesome Truths are distastful and will not go down by reason of some Prejudice conceived against the Author And therefore I am not without a foresight that both my Person and this my good Meaning will be made the Butt at which will be shot all those sharp Arrows that Wit Pride and Envy can invent But I am content to receive a Scratch that others may scape a Wound and to be accounted as the Filth and Off-scouring of all things that those who are intangled in Errors might learn the Truth and therefore if I be reproached for it notwithstanding all the care taken I am content to suffer Reproach for the Cause of Christ and do count it a very small thing to be judged of Man's Judgment And Reader I do assure thee in the words of a Christian that it is neither Profit nor Credit nor Thanks that I expect for my pains but rather the contrary I by experience find Persons are too apt to be offended with Truth and Plainness yea many mens Spirits are so exasperated against such as hold forth the Grace of God to all which is the Subject of this Book that if it were in their power they would convince us we were in the wrong by Fire and Faggot so distastful are either the Sayings or Writings of those that would take their Diana that is their Opinion from them and when they cannot ward off the down-right stroke of Truth they will then set themselves to censure slight and revile those that speak for Truth But great is Truth and it will prevail in spight of the Sharp Tongues or Iron Teeth of those that oppose it And now Reader if thou beest a Reprobatarian I do not know what cause thou hast to dislike me or this Book if thou wilt be true to thy Principles that God from all Eternity freely and unchangeably ordain'd whatsoever comes to pass and that God hath precisely decreed what Good and Evil shall be done that all things happen not only by God's Prescience but by his express Order and positive Decree and that Man doth that which is not lawful for him to do by the just impulse of God If this be so then surely all that I have done in this case is but the necessary Issue of the Divine Decrees having done nothing but what was not only natural but necessary being over-born by
Men Psal 139. Let us then here learn to become Fools that we may be wise and leave prying into those things which are beyond our human Reason to conceive and let us keep close to God's revealed Will which is our Duty for the want of this hath filled Professors Heads with Fancies and so they have been smiting one another and weakning the Hands of each others in the Lords Work while Piety Virtue the Love and Fear of God the true Spiritual Substance of all Religion is too too much neglected So that what if God did foreknow all the wicked Actions of Men before they came to pass yet might not God as well foreknow that if they had but improved those Means which he through his Grace had afforded them they might not have come to pass for the fore-knowledg in God of what Men will do doth not imply any absolute necessity of their doing of it neither have they any less Power to refrain doing of it because of God's fore-knowing that they will do it Whilst it remained saith Peter to Ananias touching his Possession was it not thy own i.e. wert thou not at full liberty to have kept it for thy own private use and when it was sold was it not in thy Power viz. whether thou wouldst part with thy Money or not Doubtless God foreknew what Ananias would do yet this did not take away the Liberty or Freedom of his Will to dispose of it as he pleased otherwise God's Foreknowledg should necessitate him to sell the Possession and to keep back part of the Mony and lie against the Holy Ghost by saying there was all when there was not this Act must be looked upon not the Act of Ananias but of God himself for whatsoever a Man is necessitated to do by an unresistable Power out of himself is the Act of the Necessitator not his As the Apostle saith Rom. 7. 20. If I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but Sin that dwells in me I would not have you admit into your thoughts that God is any ways Author of the wicked Actions of Men or that he decrees any thing that is an Infringement to his Justice or his Mercy in the least Mar. I am against those that hold that God works Sin by an operative Decree as Mr. Perkins in his Commentary upon Heb. 11. 40. who saith that under the large extent of God's Decree we must include the sinful Actions of Men for God doth not barely foresee them but decrees the being of them and so wills them after a sort tho not to be done by himself yet by others And so upon Jude ver 4. that nothing comes to pass without the Decree of God no not the wicked Actions of Men which God not only foreseeth but decreeth Now it is true which you have said if God should be operative in the working of Sin then he would be the Author of Sin yet that all Sin comes to pass by the permissive decree of God is a thing I hope you will not deny Phil. I see you can play fast and loose with your Opinion sometimes you say that God did from Eternity freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass and when by this Doctrine you find that Man is laid under a necessity of sinning and consequently God becomes the Author of all the wicked Actions of Men then you would help your self by saying Though Man sin not by the operative decree of God yet he doth by the permissive decree This is no more indeed than what we find and hear in the Sermons of all those of your way when they preach on this Subject the Doctrinal part of their Sermons countenance one thing and the Applicatory part that which is contrary unto it labouring to beget such a Faith in their Auditors as would destroy the Faith of their Doctrine What wooing and beseeching doth your Ministers make for Sinners to close with Christ to repent believe and obey the Lord and not to withstand the Day of Grace when yet notwithstanding all this they believe there is no Grace nor Mercy but for very few before them and that their strongest Endeavours to repent c. effect just nothing but the over-ruling Decree of God doth all and so they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other And the Truth is this Doctrine of God's eternal decreeing the greatest part of Adam's Offspring to Sin and Damnation includes in it so many Absurdities horrible Blasphemies undermining the very Foundation of all Religion and Piety that my Hopes are that it will shortly fall with the unsupportable weight of its own Evil. Yea were it not for so many Volumes written to uphold it I should hope it would appear so wicked that all good Christians e're long would be ashamed to own it and God's Love to all would be exalted in the Hearts Tongues and Writings of all Men. One thing I perceive is the cause why this Doctrine doth so flourish and lift up its Head in this Day is an over-much confiding in Persons of whose Learning and Piety they have had a high Opinion This draws many ignorant tho well-meaning Hearers to be zealous in what they teach be it right or wrong and to follow Persons reputed Godly and Learned more than the pure unerring Word of God Alas all good and pious Men have Errors and Fits of Distempers thro human Frailty and we ought not to take their Words upon trust but upon trial and in those things that appertain to Salvation bring them to the Law and Testimony and to suspect that for Truth where the Word of God administers much more Ground to doubt and question than believe as this Doctrine of personal and respective Reprobation doth But a word to the permissive Decree of God If by the permissive Decree of God you mean that God permitting or suffering such or such a thing to be done or come to pass supposeth a necessity of the coming of it to pass This I deny for if it be true that a Sparrow falls not to the Ground without his Permission yet hath not he decreed eternally that it shall be at such or such a time or in any cruel way as it often falls out directly contrary to his Will Deut. 22. 6. and though it be a Truth God hath decreed to suffer Sin otherwise there could be none yet it is also a great Truth that this permissive Decree of God is no cause of Sin God doth permit one Man to take away the Life of another but it doth not follow that therefore he did appoint or ordain them to such wicked Actions No Decree of God that is purely and barely permissive either induceth or supposeth any necessity of the coming to pass what is so decreed no more than a Capital Law necessitates to Murder Permission supposeth a Possibility of sinning or not sinning in the Party permitted From whence I conclude there is no damning to Misery
of his Free Grace Isa 43. 25. Jer. 31. 3. Hos 14. 4. Rom. 5. 8 9. Eph. 1. 5 6. 1 John 4. 10. did enter into a Covenant of Grace with Adam and all Mankind in him in the promised Seed Gen. 3. 15. in which he took all Men to Grace and Favour for surely we were as much in Adam when he was restored as when he fell and as much Partakers of his Mercy from God as we were of his Sins And I suppose you will not say but God pardoned this Sin in Adam upon the account of Christ and if he pardon him who freely acted it in his own Person do you think he will send others to Hell for it God forbid Philet How then must Justice be satisfied Philad Have not I told you often that it was by Christ He poor was made that he our Debts might pay He base became to take our Shame away He entred Bond our Freedom to procure He Dangers try'd our Safeties to assure He scorned was our Honour to advance He seem'd a Fool to help our Ignorance He Sin was made our Errours to conceal He wounded was that he our Minds might heal He thirsted that our Thirst might have an end He wept that Joy our Sorrow might attend He lost his Blood that we our Blood might save He died that we Eternal Life might have Here is the Lamb of God that hath taken away the damning Guilt of Adam's Sin Philet But doth not the Apostle positively say Eph. 2. 3. that we are all by Nature the Children of Wrath by Nature that is by our Nativity or Birth Philad What did not Christ take away the original Guilt from none What the the Elect which were taken into the Love and Favour of God before the Foundation of the World yet Children of Wrath by Birth What did not Christ take it away from them Pray take heed you charge not the human Nature with a Sin where God hath not under pretence of doing him the greater Honour thereby tho in the main it layeth to the Lord's charge the chief Cause of all Evils Surely by Nature here cannot be meant our Descent from Adam by partaking of the human Nature For where do you find that the Wrath of God is entailed upon Adam's Posterity as they are Men but as they are vitious and sinful Eph. 5. 6. by reason of their actual Sins comes the Wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience You never find the Judgments of God threatned to any for Adam's Sin nor against the human Nature as if the very Essence and Being of a Man was the Object of God's Reprobation Now as our National Laws lay no Penalty upon a Child that is gotten in Adultery because it partakes of the Nature of a Man in this case the Child is by all acquitted as innocent not worthy of any Punishment it being a thing quite out of its Power to help and so quite out of the reach of Penal Laws which are inflicted upon those that are Criminals and so it is in Divine I will give you three Reasons why I cannot take this Scripture in your sense 1st Because we do not find that the word Nature in Scripture signifies Conception or natural Birth neither is it mentioned as a thing that is sinful in it self in being born 2dly If by Nature be meant our Descent from Adam and by Wrath be meant to be so under the Displeasure of God as to deserve Hell notwithstanding what Christ hath done for them then I cannot see but all dying Infants must perish eternally for they cannot be born again by Faith in Christ and yet they must have Salvation by him or not at all and how they should have it by him but as he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin of the World I do not know for surely Christ hath brought a greater Advantage to human Nature than the Loss it sustained by Adam's Sin 3dly If Nature was so vile a thing as you would have it Christ would never have taken our Nature upon him for he was in all Points like unto us Sin only excepted Now if all that are conceived and born be by their Birth Children of Wrath then why was not Christ under it also for his Flesh was the same with ours Philet But he was conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in a wonderful manner without the help of Man had he taken Flesh by a carnal Generation he had been polluted with Sin as well as others Philad What tho he was formed in the Womb of the Virgin so as to be without carnal Generation yet it was not without her Conception Luk. 1. 31. I hope I need not tell you how dangerous it is to believe that Christ passed through the Virgin as Water through a Spout without partaking of her Substance But surely he took Flesh not only in but of the Virgin and was as really David's Son and his Offspring as he was David's Root and David's Lord. So that I think it 's no more Sin in us in being conceived and born of our Mothers Substance than it was for Christ to be formed of his Mother's Substance And I suppose that what was Adam's personal Sin was not the Affection of an universal Nature nor can you prove there was the consent of human Nature to it but meerly of Adam Now where there is no consent or acting there could be no Transgression Transgression is the Breach of a Law of which Nature may not be guilty when Persons are Philet But Adam's Sin became ours because we were then all in his Loins and he was the common Root or Stock from which we all should come so that hereby we came to be included and involved in the Sin of Adam Philad Why then are we not guilty of all other Sins which Adam committed after as well as the first yea of all the Sins of our Progenitors since we were in their Loins as well as in Adam's So that yet this Scripture doth not prove what you bring it for it doth not prove that any deserves Hell and Damnation by Birth nor can it favour or support that horrible Doctrine of God's positive and absolute Rejection of Men for Adam's Sin but this Scripture is better understood of those that sin against the Law of Nature which the God of Nature according to his divine Will hath placed in them Rom. 1. 26. Rom. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 11. 14. which Light discovers Sin reproves yea judges and condemns for Sin If our Hearts condemn us c. and tho the Light set up in them the Law written in their Hearts did flash Wrath in their Faces their Consciences accusing them Rom. 2. 15. yet they abused the Light or Law of Nature living in Sin and Disobedience and so were by Nature the Children of Wrath c. and so are all that come to act Sin but no Persons by Birth are thus the Children of Wrath nor none out of the Covenant
of Grace made with Adam till they come to abuse the Grace of the Covenant For God hates none till they first hate him leaves none till they first forsake him makes none Partakers of Everlasting Burning till they kindle his Wrath by their actual Sins for he doth not so delight in the Blood of Souls as by his pure and naked Will to decree Man to Eternal Death before they enjoy any Life or commit the least Sin Infants are accounted Innocent and our Saviour tells us 't is not the Will of his Father that any of those little ones perish Philet This is a strange assertion to say That all Infants come into World in a state of Innocency and that if they die in Infancy they die in a state of Innocency Alas there is a universal depravedness in the Soul of an Infant which if it live to express it will discover it self A young Cub of a Fox or Wolf doth not presently discover its ravenous nature but it is inherent in it bred with it and Men kill those young Cubs though they never did any mischief because it is their natures to be ravenous and mischievous So an Infant hath the Seed of all Sin a corrupt Nature though it doth not act as it doth when Age comes on and I say God may for the guilt of Adam's sin and because there is such Rebellion and Wickness in Man's nature against him glorifie his Justice upon them though they should die in their Infancy they are far from dying in Innocency Philad It seems by what you hold because Man may slaughter Beasts of Prey without any cruelty or injustice therefore God may as well nay more appoint as many of poor Infants to the Torments of Hell if he pleaseth and yet be just and good notwithstanding May we not as well reason thus God without any injustice appointed brute Creatures to be slain for Man's use therefore he may ordain Men to be cast into Hell Torments for ever Though God permitteth nay appointeth Man to slaughter Beasts that they might be Meat for his use and so giveth him power to kill them yet it would be look'd upon barbarous injustice and cruelty to prolong the Life of a Beast to vex and torture it to shew what Power and Sovereignty he hath over it So I do not doubt but God may when he pleases take away the Life of an Infant or Man yea resolve them to nothing without any cruelty or injustice Yet he cannot without both these decree to keep them alive in Hell there to torment them without end to shew his Sovereignty without just cause in the Creature Some poor Infants never so much as saw the Light of this World or receiv'd the least Good and yet must be punished with Devils to Eternity O wretched Doctrine Philet I do not think God would have destroy'd the Old World and called them the World of ungodly and destroy'd Sodom and Gomorrah and made them suffer the vengeance of eternal Fire amongst whom no doubt were many Infants if all Infants were innocent I will not meddle to determine the eternal State of those that die in Infancy to be sure you go too far to assert what you do you are not the Sovereign and Judg of all Philad All Infants through the Grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ are discharged from the condemning Power of Original sin and they having no actual sins 't is not the infirmity of their Nature shall damn any neither can it I hope enter into the heart of a Christian to believe that God should create any Infants on purpose to damn them and though it be true that Original sin is come upon Infants and Death by sin yet this is as true that Original Sin was not committed against the Covenant of Grace and seeing that you cannot prove any Infant hath sinned against the Covenant of Grace they cannot come into Condemnation of Hell Torments for our Gracious God will condemn none but those that first destroy themselves by sinful courses though 't is true they many times suffer the first Death for the sins of others as those you mention Mar. All Infants are under a Sentence of eternal Damnation only such Infants that are elected and have the Principles of Grace infused in them shall be sav'd Philad What then is become of that Gracious Speech of the Almighty God Ps 145. His tender mercy is over all his works sure damned Infants have no share in hs Mercy no not so much as a Toad by a thousand degrees And thus by your Doctrine you not only most dreadfully preach Millions of poor harmless Souls to Hell but also represent the Father of Mercy and God of Goodness more like a Tyrant that destroys his Subjects for will and pleasure though they never provok'd him by breaking the least Law in their own Persons only to shew his Power over them Would not such dealing be look'd upon amongst Men meer Cruelty when acted by bare Prerogative and Power not being attended with Equity Justice and Mercy Would this be Cruelty in Man and shall we think that the Infinite God who is Goodness and Truth it self will harbour it or that he will proceed with Man according to his Absolute Power and Sovereignty without being accompany'd with Justice and tender Mercy Or do we think the Lord will fall below man and suffer himself to be out-done in Justice Mercy and Goodness by any of his Creatures Surely no so though the Nature of man is too sadly depraved by the sin of our first Parents yet it must needs be a contradiction to the Divine Goodness Mercy and Justice of God to say that any suffer for their Fathers sins Mar. You talk of God's Justice as if God could not punish one for the fault of another and yet be Just you do not know what you talk of I 'll give you an instance to the contrary 't is that of Saul utterly destroying of the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15. 2 3. he was to slay both man and woman Infants and Sucklings and the reason was because Amalek laid wait for Israel when he came up from Egypt ver 1. Exod. 17. 8. But now what had this People done that was so many Generations remov'd from Israel coming out of Egypt Or what had the poor Infants and Sucklings done Or how can it stand with Justice that the Fathers committed the fault and the Children are punished for it Philad This was only to a Temporal Death I hope you will not say that it was the Decree of God after Saul had destroy'd those Infants and Sucklings Bodies that he would send their Souls to Hell for their Fathers faults sure it was not the sin of Infants that caused the Lord to plead in such wrath with them no more than the Cattle which was to be destroy'd as well as they Was God offended with the Beasts of the Field But come I believe it was no unjust thing in God to take away by
17. John 15. 19. but if by the World be meant the Elect only then it will follow that God gave his Son to dye for those that stood in no need of him for God by Virtue of his Absolute Prerogative might pardon Sinners without the Death of his Son Now for you that hold there was an absolute Election and an absolute Reprobation consider'd under the Fall and that without respect to Faith in Christ on the one hand or disobedience on the other what do you do but overthrow the Truth and real Expiation of their Sins by the Death of Christ for them For if God in his Elective Love did in the very Act of Election freely and of his meer good Will and Pleasure irrevocably assign and give to his Elect Justification and Salvation then Christ could not die to purchase these things for them because they were theirs truly and of right before and so he needed not die to bring those into Covenant with God and to make them near by his Blood and to make them dear Children to God who were all this before for those that were Elected unto Life upon the account of their being absolutely Elected to Salvation they are likewise upon the same account in actual favour with God and already beloved of him with the highest Love and such as is peculiar to those that are the Sons of God But again if by the word World be understood the Elect only then this word whosoever must needs imply that some of the Elect might possibly not believe and so Christ must be supposed to speak at no better a rate of Wisdom and Sense than thus God so loved the world of Believers that whosoever of the world of Believers believe on him shall not perish Nay further if there be Salvation in Christ for none but the Elect in your sense then it is not true that whosoever believes in him shall be saved But that it cannot be meant of the Elect only read the two preceding Verses 14 15. with this whole Verse and the words following for as Moses lifted up the Serpent c. and Ver. 17. for God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World If then we must understand the Elect here by the World then we may read the words thus God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the Elect but that the Elect should be saved this was to affirm that which none was likely to deny or ever trouble themselves or the World about But again if by the World we must needs understand the Elect only then will the Parallel between Moses's lifting up the Serpent in the Wilderness and Christ's being lifted up upon the Cross run very lame for Moses did not lift up the Serpent with an intent that none should look upon it and receive healing by it save a small parcel but that whosoever was stung might look upon it and that whosoever did look upon it should receive healing thereby Numb 21. 8. Now you will hold that all without exception are stung with Sin will you not Philet Yea I do Philad Very well then unless Christ be lifted up with an intent that every Man might believe on him and every one that should believe on him should be saved by him he could not be said to be lifted up for the universal benefit of all those that were stung with Sin as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness for the benefit of all that were stung with the fiery Serpent Thus you may see that by the World must needs be meant the whole Lump of Mankind and those that take it otherwise do greatly eclipse the Mercy Love and Goodness of God to all his Creatures Very well Musculus upon this place John 3. 15 16. by World understands the Universe of Mankind so that here his love of the World and his love of Man is the same After the same manner it is in this Redemption of Mankind whereof we spake that Reprobates and desperately wicked Men partake not of it 'T is not through any defect of the Grace of God nor is it meet for the sake of the Sons of Perdition it should lose the Glory and Title of a Universal Redemption since it is prepared for all and all are called to it De Redemption Gen. humani Yea Calvin himself upon this place with other more antient and modern Expositors take this word World in a universal sense But take another Scripture 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself Philet Well pray read out the whole Verse and you may see cause to believe that by the World is there meant the Elect because he says not imputing their Trespasses Now it is plain he doth impute the Sins of all Men to them but the Elect only but unto them he doth not impute Sin therefore he reconciles unto himself none other but those he doth not impute Sin to which are the Elect. Besides the word World signifieth only some part of Men in the World and not the intire Universality of Men as Luke 2. 1. Acts 19. 27. Rev. 13. 3. Yea World is put sometimes for those that believe and are converted The Bread of God is he that cometh down from Heaven and giveth Life to the World that is to the Elect to Believers of all ranks throughout the whole World and no more is intended in any such-like Expressions Again John 14. 31. That the World may know that I love the Father And John 17. 21. That the World may believe that thou hast sent me By the World here we are to understand such as shall be saved Philad I know the word World signifies only some part of the World but where do you find the Elect called the World in opposition to those that are Enemies and Strangers unto God but it is rather put for the Wicked who are the greatest part of the World as John 1. 10. and 7. 7. 14. 17. 15. 19. 16. 20. 17. 9 14. 1 Cor. 11. 32. 1 John 3. 1. 4. 5. 5. 4 5. Hence the Devil is called the Prince of the World John 12. 31. 14. 30. 16. 11. But that this 2 Cor. 5. 19. cannot be meant only of the Elect may be proved from the word reconciling Reconciliation signifieth a making those Friends that were before at variance Now how can it be said That God was in Christ reconciling to himself those with whom he is not nor ever was offended Nay he was so far from being offended with them that he loved them with such a Love that he did absolutely purpose from the Fall which was long before the coming of Christ in the Flesh to confer Eternal Life upon them Besides the Apostle is not there speaking of any inward Act of God upon the Souls of Persons whereby they are brought to believe in Christ whereby they come to witness their Peace with God Being justified by Faith we have Peace with
decreed that very few should have any benefit thereby when they had done their utmost they could do to obtain it Is it possible that Men should truly love God while they apprehend him as an Enemy bent in an unappeasable manner to destroy them and that to Eternity can any thus be induced to love him or live to him Thus your Doctrine cuts asunder the very Sinews of Religion discourageth Holiness and encourageth Profaneness for by your Opinion Heaven shall unavoidably be obtained by those that are elected and Hell must be as certainly endured by those that are reprobated and a Man may as well stop the Sun in its course and mete out the Heaven with a Span as force the Lord to revoke his Decree Truly if poor Man lies under such a rigid Fate all that he can do for the obtaining Heaven or avoiding Hell is but a piece of industrious Folly Why should we take upon us a strict course of Life why should we submit to Divine Precepts or address our selves to God by Prayer and like good Jacob wrestle with him for a Blessing to what purpose should we maintain a warfare against Satan Sin and all Vice when the greatest industry in the use of means to obtain them signifies nothing if not decreed to it May not this cause Persons to be swelled up with sorrow and destroy the chiefest inducements to Holiness when they shall seriously reflect upon all they had done to be purely in vain And again if Persons be absolutely appointed by the immutable and irreversible Decree of the Almighty to destruction 't is not all their hearing reading praying Works of Charity nor all mourning for Sin nor believing neither that can possibly procure their Salvation damned they must be And on the other side if Persons be absolutely ordained to Salvation their open contempt and neglect of all Holy Duties their living in pleasure and walking in ungodly courses cannot bring Damnation upon them they must be saved See God's Love to Mankind What Man rightly master of his own Reason will ever trouble himself about such impossible or unavoidable things 't is in vain to repent fruitless to weep yea madness to add to my own Infelicities by denying my self of any Pleasure or Profit which I might enjoy by closing with the World and in gratifying the sensitive Part Or why should we take upon us a strict course of Life endeavouring to keep God's Commandments and fighting with the Temptations of the Devil and keep them under our Bodies and bring under subjection when all we effect by it is an honourable Nothing What compass we by striving therewithal Why spend we time in rising up to fall Why linger we to act so many Crimes To suffer over Grief so many times And live so many several Deaths to taste To be no worse nor better at the last Or wherefore have we prayed since we know What must be must be tho we pray not so Wither's Britain's Rememb p. 54. So that your Doctrine makes all Endeavours and Undertakings of Persons in order to the attaining Heaven and Eternal Felicities fruitless and highly gratifies the Devil's Interest such an Opinion frames and fits a Soul for the Suggestions of Satan by which he draws Souls with more ease into Eternal Misery for will not Persons be ready to say I am one of those that are absolutely elected to Grace and Glory one of those that Christ died for or I am ablolutely cast away and left in the Fall to die and perish without a power to believe or a Christ to believe in If I lie under a necessity of either why should I trouble my self about Means or Ends since if I perish by my Sins I did but what was natural for me to do and which I was compelled to by an overpowring necessity and therefore I 'll take my ease and swim down the Stream of all Delights so that your Opinion overthrows the very Foundation of all true Piety and gives Persons the greatest discouragement to Duties and quite breaks the Anchor of the Soul that it cannot fix it self upon any Offers of Grace and Invitation nor stay it self upon any Promise of Heaven upon their repenting believing or obeying the Lord. Hope stirs up Men to begin and to continue in well-doing Hope is a patient and well-grounded Expectation of the fulfilling of whatsoever God hath promised But how is the Anchor well-grounded when notwithstanding the Promises of Heaven to all those that by patient continuance in well-doing seek for it Men by the most vigorous undertaking for Heaven shall be rewarded with the Wages of Death and crowned with eternal Shame for all they have done in their Christian Progress Is not this enough to shipwrack the Soul upon despair Yea I dare say This is the nearest and the straitest way To all Profaneness if the Bridle gives To Carnal Liberties and makes the Lives And Hearts of many Men so void of care From hence Distractions hence Despairings are Hence Mischiefs hence Self-murders do arise Hence is it that such multitudes despise Good Discipline yea this contemned makes The Life of Faith if once it rooting takes Disableth pious Practices out-right And where it roots destroys Religion quite Britain's Remembrancer p. 56. Which I could prove by many Instances from the Writings of others and the known Experiences of our Age one in my knowledg when reprov'd for his wicked loose Life would answer God might have made him better And in God's Love to Mankind pag. 204. we have it recorded concerning the Landgrave of Thuring who being reproved for his debauched Life and warned of the dangerous consequence thereof that so it might move upon him to consider his miserable condition and return gave this Answer If I am absolutely predestinated to Heaven the committing of the vilest Crimes will never exclude me And if I be reprobated let me manage my Life never so carefully let me steer my course never so prudently and piously I shall never arrive at Heaven and Happiness Philet But our Doctrine is not as you say a hinderance to Piety and a godly Life for those that hold it are Men of singular Piety indued with a Spirit of Prayer and live according to the strictest Rules of Holiness far beyond any that hold the contrary who are a company of loose livers Philad I know there are many of your opinion of late flown very high in their own conceit and condemn others we are apt on all hands according to the old Proverb to count our own Geese for Swans and every Fowl thinks its own Bird the fairest yet I doubt not if Persons of the one Judgment and the other were but truly compared together and an estimation made of the religious worth and holiness of each those that own General Redemption need not count it robbery to make themselves every way equal with their Opposers General Redemption having been not only avouched by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles but also owned
of Sins because most Offenders do not take out nor plead their Pardon as they ought to do And pag. 15. That the Lamb of God offering up himself clothed with humane Nature a Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World intended by giving satisfaction sufficiently to God's Justice c. to prepare a Sovereign Medicine for the Sins of the whole World which should be denied to none that were minded to take the Benefit thereof howsoever he intended not by applying this Alsufficient Sacrifice to every one in particular to make it effectual unto the Salvation of all or to procure thereby at the hands of his Father actual Pardon for the Sins of the whole World he applys this only effectually to them who make claim to the Satisfaction by promise suing for the Spirit and Faith upon other Promises in Prayer waiting for a gracious answer till they have it c. So in respect of his Merit he may be accounted a kind of universal Cause of restoring our Nature as Adam was of the depraving of it Much of the same nature and almost word for word is that of Bishop Vsher quoted by Mr. Grantham in his Dialogue pag. 22. And saith Hockin on God's Decree pag. 45 46. We need not refer the deplorable misery of the Sons of Adam to the Divine Will as Mr. Calvin is pleased to do Instit lib. 18. cap. 1. but the horrid perversness of our own Wills for the highest Act of Divine Intention is to save Men if they do not by the wickedness of their own perverse Will frustrate the same by refusing the gracious Offers of Salvation by Christ and not observing the real Conditions upon which the Proposals of Mercy are made for the Lord doth solemnly prove that he is not willing that any should perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. Therefore we cannot lay the blame upon God in any thing but wholly upon Man who doth voluntarily bring Death and Misery upon himself Nay Calvin himself upon John 3. 16. saith That Faith in Christ is of a saving Nature to all and that Christ brought Life because his Heavenly Father would not have Mankind to perish which he loved c. For tho there will be nothing in the World found worthy of the Favour of God yet he sheweth himself favourable unto the whole World in that he calls all Men without exception to believe in Christ Here you may see that in the Eyes of these God may intend the Salvation of all Men by Jesus Christ and yet all Men may not be saved without any prejudice in the least either to the Grace and Goodness of God or to his power of working in this behalf Mar. But Philadelphus pray consider with respect to Christ's dying for all that when our Saviour died as a Mediator it was near 2000 Years from the Creation and there were multitudes then in the Prison of Hell from whence there is no redemption and do you think that Christ died upon the Cross and bore such unutterable Dolours for them to redeem them that were there There was need indeed that Christ should die for those Saints that were in Heaven before he died because they were saved upon the account of his having undertaken as a Surety for them to make Satisfaction to the Justice of God for their Sins but surely it will sound very harshly in the Ears of all Christians that Christ should sweat drops of Blood and bear the Curse of the Law for them who were then in Hell when he died 1 Pet. 3. 18 19 20. Philad The 1 Pet. 3. 18 19 20. is of doubtful interpretation and by your own grant the doubtful ought to be expounded and tried by the Light and Testimony of such as are more clear and evident Now in this Text the Apostle sheweth the great patience of God toward that wicked Generation and that he strove with them by his Spirit and gave unto them a Preacher of Righteousness and a hundred years space to repent in and doubtless the patience of God towards them was for this end to allure and draw them to Repentance But it seems you would not have any believe that Christ died for any of those that before his coming in the Flesh had withstood the Day of Grace and sinned beyond the reach of Mercy But there was need for him to die for those that were in Heaven before he died because they were saved upon the account of his dying for them Now I might shew you from your own sense of Election being from Eternity without any consideration of Faith in Christ how you abrogate the Grace of God in Christ and make his Death to be in vain seeing that God loved them every whit as well and intended to do as much for them before Christ died for them or before their ingrafting into Christ by Faith yea before the Blood of the Covenant was sprinkled upon them as after and therefore there was no reason that Christ should shed his Blood to procure those things for the Elect which were truly and properly theirs before in and by God's purpose in electing of them yea and that without any consideration of Christ's dying for them or their believing in him Philet Nay hold we do not say that God intends actually to confer Remission of Sins or Eternal Life upon the Elect otherwise than through the Satisfaction made by Christ for them in his Death and tho God might intend and purpose Salvation to the Elect without the consideration of the Death of Christ yet in the execution of this his purpose the Death of Christ is all in all and you ought to distinguish between God's Decrees and the execution of them Philad If it was consistent with the Wisdom and Justice of God to decree forgiveness of Sins and Salvation unto Men without consideration of the Death of Christ or their believing in him he may as well confer these things upon them without any such consideration and then to what purpose should Christ die But Philetus were those that were in Heaven before Christ's coming saved without Faith in him that was to come Philet No all that were saved before Christ's coming were saved by believing and imbracing him that was to come and to be a Sacrifice for their Sins in the belief of which they offered Sacrifices and through which they looked at Jesus who was to come Philad Then it is sufficient to tell you that the want of that Faith in the Christ to come and obedience to his Will was the cause of their destruction Besides consider Christ was the Lamb slain virtually in the Decree or Purpose of God from the Foundation of the World and it was on the account of Christ's taking humane Nature upon him that Man was preserved in the World from returning to the Dust from whence he was taken for all Men live and move and have a being here by virtue of the Lord Jesus the Seed of the Woman and Believers did before Christ's coming in
4. Neither must we think that Men stumbling at Christ and being disobedient to the Word to which they were appointed to learn their Duty is the Result of fatal Necessity But prethee Philetus tell me whether you be of Moderatus's mind that Christ died so far for all that the Gospel which is glad tidings should be preached to all and whether the Lord by the preaching of the Gospel doth not call all Men to Faith and Repentance promising Salvation to all that do believe Philet I know Faith and Repentance are required of all and God by the Gospel invites all Men to believe in him promising Salvation to all that do so believe yet only those will believe for whom Christ died to purchase these things for them and to purchase their Salvation Ye believe not because you are not of my Sheep John 10. 26. Philad That is I suppose you mean because they were not elected and because Christ did not die for them to purchase a Power to believe and therefore they could not believe because God had decreed their unbelief this is plainly to charge all the unbelief of Men upon the Lord but saith Christ They believe not because they were not of his Sheep And who those are he tells you in the next verse They are such as hearing his Voice follow him Such fallacious reasoning strikes at the Root of the Gospel of Grace and free Love of God and frees the Devil and wicked Men from bringing destruction on themselves for by such Doctrine God Almighty is the sole cause of all the incredulity in the World and tho he offers and invites all Men to partake of Grace yet he doth it not really and in good earnest and while your Ministers call upon Persons to believe and seem to wonder that they do not believe and yet hold that God hath decreed they shall never believe their Sermons are mere dissimulations and nonsense What would they bind Men to believe that which is untrue and charge them to take and receive Christ as tendred to them in the Gospel and to believe there is remission of Sins in Christ's Blood for them when he never shed it for them and so to lay hold upon that which they had no kind of interest in This not only makes your Ministers false Witnesses to offer Salvation to those whose Damnation is absolutely determined but also makes God a mere deluder of miserable Man whom he calleth by the preaching of the Gospel to partake of Salvation by his Son and yet fully before intended their ruin Is not this as much as in you lyeth to make God a lier as 1 Joh. 5. 10. for they that believe not God make him a lier because they believe not the Record God gave of his Son and what is that namely That whosoever believe on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life not that any Man can possibly make God a Lier no let God be True and all Men Liers but Men by their not believing on Christ do represent God as untrue in his Word because they reject that as a Fable which hath been spoken by the Lord himself for a Truth and those that preach the glad-tidings of Grace and Peace to all Men and every Creature sin in preaching in that they preach Lies to most Men yea and require Men to believe Lies May we not easily see that all your Exhortations Chidings your whining and seemingly bemoaning the state of poor Sinners is but a dissembling Art Mar. O what pangs are faithful Ministers in lest poor Souls should perish Philad Yea true Gospel-Ministers may but what Pangs your Ministers are in that hold Reprobation without respect to actual Sins part of their Creed I know not is commiseration in you a Virtue and is not all Good originally in God and can I take your Ministers to be filled with more compassion than the God of Love or to be better than they represent God to be For do they not hold that notwithstanding all the passionate wishes of the Lord his Exhortations and Perswasions Reprovings Expostulations mourning over the perishing state of poor Sinners yea tho he useth Promises to allure them and Threatnings to deter them and calls all Men by the Gospel to believe on his Son that they may live through him and swears that he wills not their Death yet hath he by an eternal and uncontrolable Decree shut up the greatest part of those to whom these Tenders are made under Sin and Misery that they shall never repent and be saved Christ never died intentionally nor really to save them they have thereby no more interest in him than the fallen Angels and therefore there is no more reason why the Gospel should be preached to the one more than the other whereby it must needs follow that many Men by the Gospel are bound in Conscience to believe that which is untrue and by your Ministers pressed and charged to receive that which they have nothing to do with by this you make the Lord guilty of the deepest dissimulation in his Promises and tenders of Grace to all And pray what are your Ministers but false Witnesses if they promise Salvation for all Men when they believe there is no Salvation for far the greatest part of Men whom Christ never purchased by his Blood If they exhort Sinners to turn from their Sins to the Lord and promise them that if they do so they shall live and tell all Men that God would not have one of them die in their Sins but rather turn and live is not this according to your Notion Lying And do not they promise and undertake more in the behalf of God than God himself is willing to perform What a bustle do your Ministers keep and to what purpose unless to get Money seeing the most powerful Ministers and Sermons cannot in the least alter the Intention of the Lord about the Salvation or Damnation of one Soul Man's final and eternal State being fixed in Heaven And thus do you give the Truth of God the lie and highly impeach the glorious Gospel and make your Ministers teach nothing but absurdities nay more than this it overthrows not only his Goodness and Mercy but also his Justice that Men before they partake of the Breath of Life or are any ways guilty of actual Sins should be so rigidly condemned to perpetual Misery yea appointed to receive the Wages of Sin before they committed any this is inconsistent with common Justice and Equity amongst Men and Shall not the Judg of all the World do right said good Abraham to God Gen. 18. 25. And saith Job shall mortal Man be more just than God and so our Apostle Is there unrighteousness with God how then shall God judg the World Doth it not wrong the pure Justice of God to hold that he will judg and condemn Men for ever to lie under his Wrath for doing that which he himself decreed them to do or that God Almighty should behold