in its due time This is easily Affirmed and therefore Eadem Facilitate is Denyed I have no fancy to strive to carry the Bell and to be accounted a Divine indeed by attempting at this time a right Stating of and Answer to this Question Proposed I am not altogether ignorant of the endeavour of others even as to this Particular and have formerly spoken somthing that way my self Mr Baxter seems here to understand by this Question viz. What is the immediate Effect of the Death of Christ what is the first benefit which from the Death of Christ accreweth unto them for whom he died Not what is the first thing that every particular person is actually in his own Person in his own time made partaker of but a Benefit Generally established and in being upon the designment of the work of Redemption which every one for whom Christ died hath a share of And of this he Positively Affirms That the suspending of the rigorous execution of the Sentence of the Law is the most observable immediate Effect of the Death of Christ and so deserves the Title of a Divine indeed Now truly though not to contend for the Bell with Mr Baxter whereof I confess my self utterly unworthy and willingly for many commendable Parts ascribe it unto him I cannot close with him nor Assent unto that Assertion Very gladly would I see Mr Baxters Arguments for this but those as in most other Controverted things in this Book he is pleased to Conceal and therefore though it might suffice me to give in my Dissent and so wait for further Proof yet that it may be apparent That I do not Deny this meerly because its said not Proved which in things not cleer in themselves is a Provocation so to do I shall oppose One or Two ARGVMENTS unto it All the Effects of the Death of Christ are peculiar only to the Elect to some the suspension of the rigorous execution of the Law is not so Ergo The Minor is apparent The Major proved by all the Arguments against Vniversal Redemption used in my former Treatise 2 All the Effects of the Death of Christ are Spiritual distinguishing and saving to the praise of Gods free Grace The suspending of the vigorous Execution of the Law is not so Ergo The Assumption is manifest 't is only a not immediate casting into Hell which is not a spiritual distinguishing Mercy but in respect to many tends to the manifestation of Gods Justice Rom. 9. 22. The Proposition is evident The Promises made unto Christ upon his undertaking this Work doubtless do hold out all that he Effected by his Death Of what Nature they are and what is the main tendance of them I have elsewhere discovered from the first to the last they are restrained to distinguishing Mercies see Isa. 49. 6 7 8 9 10. Chap. 53. 10 11 12. Isa. 61. 1 2. and no less is positively affirmed Eph. 1. 4. Rev. 1. 5 6. If Mr Baxter say that his meaning in this is That if Christ had not undertaken the Work of Redemption and Satisfaction then the Law must have had rigorous Execution upon all and therefore this being suspended upon his undertaking of it is the first fruit of the Death of Christ Notwithstanding this yet that suspension which in respect of the different Persons towards whom it is actually exercised hath different ends is not a Fruit nor Effect of the Death of Christ but a free Issue of the same eternally wise Providence Sovereignty and Grace as the Death of Christ himself is If then by the rigorous Execution of the Law you intend the immediate Execution of the Law in all its rigour and punishments this if it had been effected could in your own Judgment have reached Adam and Eve and no more and would have so reached them as to cut off the Generation of Mankind in that Root If so and this be the Fruit of Christs Death Why do you not reckon the Procreation of humane race among those Fruits also for had it not been for this suspension that also had failed which is as good a Causative Connection as that between the Death of Christ and this Suspension had not he undertaken the Work of Redemption it had not been If by a rigorous Execution you intend the Penalty of the Law inflicted in that way which hath pleased the Will of the Law-giver by several parts and degrees from conception through birth life death to Eternity the Curse of it being wholly incumbent in respect of desert and making out it self according to Gods appointment then the suspension thereof is not the immediate Effect of the Death of Christ which opposing the first Arguments to the former acceptation I further prove If those for whom Christ died do lie under this rigorous Execution of the Law that is the Curse of it until some other Effect of Christs Death be wrought upon them then that is not the first Effect of the Death of Christ but that supposal is true Joh. 3. 36. Ephes. 2. 3. therefore so also the Inference 2 In a word Take the suspending of the rigorous execution of the Law for the Purpose of God and his acting accordingly not to leave his Elect under the actual Curse of it so it is no Fruit of the Death of Christ but an Issue of the same Grace from whence also the Death of Christ proceeds Take it for an actual freeing of their Persons from the Breach of it and its Curse and so it differs not from Justification and is not the immediate effect of Christs Death in Mr Baxters Judgment Take it for the not immediately executing of the Law upon the first offence and I can as well say Christ died because the Law was suspended as you that the Law was suspended because Christ died had not either been the other had not been Take it for the actual forbearance of God towards all the World and so it falls under my Two first Arguments Take it thus that God for the Death of Christ will deal with all men upon a new Law freeing all from the Guilt of the first broken Law and Covenant So it is non Ens. If you mean by it Gods entring into a New way of Salvation with those for whom Christ died this on the part of God is antecedaneous to the Consideration of the Death of Christ and of the same free Grace with it self For the Question it self as I said before I shall not here in Terms take it up the following Discourse will give Light into it I have also spoken largely to it in another place and that distinctly The Sum is I conceive that all the intermediate Effects of the Death of Christ tending to its ultimate Procurement of the Glory of God are all in respect of his death immediate that is with such an immediation as attends Moral Causes Now these concerning them for whom he died as they are not immediatly bestowed on them the ultimate Attingency of
Faith Object But if God account Christ unto and bestow him upon a Sinner before Beleeving and upon that Account absolve him from the Obligation unto Death and Hell which for sin he lies under what wants this of compleat Justification Answ. Much every way 1 It wants that Act of pardoning Mercy on the part of God which is to be terminated and compleated in the Conscience of the Sinner this lies in the Promise 2 It wants the Hearts perswasion concerning the Truth and Goodness of the Promise and the Mercy held out in the Promise 3 It wants the Souls rolling it self upon Christ and receiving of Christ as the Author and Finisher of that Mercy an Al-sufficient Saviour to them that beleeve So that by Faith alone we obtain and receive the forgiveness of sin for notwithstanding any antecedent Act of God concerning us in and for Christ we do not actually receive a compleat Soul-freeing discharge until we beleeve And thus the Lord Christ hath the preheminence in all things He is the Author and finisher of our Faith This then is that which here we assign unto the Lord Upon the Accomplishment of the appointed Season for the making out the fruits of the Death of Christ unto them for whom he died he loves them freely sayes to them Live gives them his Son with and for him all things bringing forth the choicest Issue of his being reconciled in the bloud of Jesus whilest we are Enemies and totally alimated from him It will not be requisite at all as to our purpose in hand to make particular enquiry into the State and Condition of them towards whom such are the Actings of God as we before described What it is that gives them the first real alteration of Condition and distinguishment from others I have now no occasion to handle So far as Advantage hath been offered I have laboured to distinguish aright those things whose Confusion and mis-apprehension lies at the bottome of very many dangerous Mistakes How the forgoing Discourse may be accommodated and improved for the Removeal of those Mistakes I shall leave to the Consideration of others CAP. XIII The Removal of sundry Objections to some things formerly taught about the Death of Christ Vpon the Principles now delivered HAving fully declared not only what was my Intendment in the Expressions so exceedingly mistaken by Mr Baxter as hath in part already been made manifest and will instantly more fully appear I shall now take a view of what is Imposed on me as my Judgement and the Opposition made thereunto so far as may be needful for the cleering of the One and removing of the Other at least in what they may really concern what I did deliver in the Treatise impugned In Page 146 of his Apendix Mr Baxter endeavours to vindicate a Thesis of his from some Exceptions that he was by his friend pointed to unto which it seemed liable and Obnoxious The Thesis he layes down is That no man is actually and absolutly Justified upon the meer payment of the debt by Christ till they become beleevers Against this Article as he calls it he produceth some Objections of Maccovius censuring his Assertions to be senseless his Positions strange and abhored his Arguments weak and ineffectual with some other Expressions to the same purpose 1 I am now by the Providence of God in a Condition of Separation from my own small Library neither can I here attain the sight of Maccovius Disputations so that I shall not at all interpose my self in this Contest only I must needs say 1 I did not formerly account Maccovius to be so senseless and weak a Disputant as here he is represented to be 2 That for Mr Baxters Answer to that Argument where the Debt is paid there Discharge must follow by Asserting the Payment made by Christ to be refusable and the Interest of sinners in that Payment to be purely upon the performance of a Condition I have fully before in both parts of it Demonstrated to be weak and inconsistent with it self and Truth That the Interesting of Sinners in the Payment made by Christ at such and such a Season is from the Sovereignty of God and his free Engagement sub Termino for this End hath been also fully manifested But Secondly Mr Baxter Affirms That to these Arguments of Maccovius Mr Owen addes some in the place against Grotius whereunto he was referred To what End you will say doth Mr Owen adde these Arguments Why to prove that men are actually and absolutly Justified upon the meer Payment of the Debt by Christ before beleeving But Fidem tuam Is there any one Argument in my whole Book used to any such purpose Do I labour to prove that which I never Affirmed never thought never beleeved In what Sense I Affirmed that by the Death of Christ we are actually and ipso facto delivered from Death that is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} we have in due time the time appointed free and full Deliverance thereby without the Intervention of any Condition on our part not absolutly procured for us by his Death I have before declared How much this comes short of actual and absolute Justification I need not now mention I shall therefore only so far Consider the Answers given by Mr Baxter as they may seem to impair or entrench upon the main Truth I Assert and that in the Order by him laid down These saith he Mr Owen layeth down 1 By Death he delivereth us from Death Answ. Not immediatly nor absolutly nor by his Death alone but by that as a Price supposing other Causes on his part and Conditions on ours to concur before the actual Deliverance Reply 1 To what End I mention that place of the Apostle was before declared 2 By the Death of Christ we are immediatly delivered from Death with that Immediation which is proper to the Efficiency of Causes which produce their Effects by the way of Moral procurement that is certainly without the Intervention of any other Cause of the like kind And 3 Absolutly no Condition being interposed between the Cause and the Effect Christs Death and our total Deliverance but such as is part of our Deliverance and solely procured by that Death Though that Death of Christ be not considered as alone that is separated from his Obedience Resurrection and Intercession when the Work of Redemption is assigned to it in the Scripture 4 By the Death of Christ as a Price I suppose you understand his Purchase as well as his Payment his Merit as well as his Satisfaction or else this is a false Notion of the Death of CHRIST as the Cause of our Deliverance 5 All other Causes concurring on the Part of Christ for our Deliverance are 1 Either not of the same kind with his Death Or 2 Bottomed on his Death and flowing from thence so that summarily all may be resolved therinto 6 The Conditions on our Part in the Sense intended are often
the Position it self I maintain and so no going back from it So that as to this I may passe as a Christian 2 He saith ads he it was a full valuable Compensation therefore not of the same 1 This Inference would trouble Mr B. to prove 2 Therefore not made by the same nor by any of the Debtors appointment will follow perhaps but no more 3 That by Reason of the Obligation upon us we our selves were bound to undergo the punishment Therefore Christs punishment was not in the Obligation but only ours and so the Law was not fully Executed but Relaxed 1 This is my Thesis fully the Law was Executed as to its Penalty relaxed as to the Person suffering 2 The Punishment that Christ under-went was in the Obligation though threatned to us 4 He saith he meaneth not that Christ bore the same punishment due to us in all Accidents of Duration and the like but the same in weight and preasure therfore not the same in the Obligation because not fully the same Act The Accidents I mention follow and attend the Person suffering and not the Penalty it self All Evils in any suffering as far as they are sinful attend the Condition of the Parties that Suffer Every thing usually recounted by those who make this and the like Exceptions as far as they are purely penal were on Christ 5 He saith God had power so far to relax his own LAW as to have the name of a Surety put into the Obligation which before was not there and then to require the whole debt of that Surety And what saith Grotius more then this If the same things in the Obligation be paid then the Law is Executed and if Executed then not Relaxed Here he confesseth That the Sureties name was not in the Obligation and that God Relaxed the Law to put it in Now the main businesse that Grotius drives at there is to prove this Relaxation of the Law and the non-Execution of it on the Offenders threatned Thus far Mr Baxter 1 All this proves not at all the things intended neither doth any Concession here mentioned in the least take off from the main Assertion I maintain as is apparent any at first view 2 Grotius is so far from saying more then I do that he sayes not so much 3 This Paralogisme if the Law be Executed then not Relaxed and on the contrary ariseth-meerly from a non-Consideration of the nature of Contradictories The Opposition fancied here is not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as is required of Contradictions 4 The Observation that Crown main business is other discovereth the Bottom of M. B. his mistake Even a supposal that I should oppose Grotius in his main Intendment in the place Considered which was not once in my thoughts It was meerly about the nature of the Penalty that Christ underwent that I Discoursed How the Relaxation of the Law as to the Commutation of Persons may be Established whether we affirm Christ to have paid the Idem or Tantundem And that Mr B. affirms the same with me I can prove by twenty Instances The Reader if he please may consult Pag. 18. 25. 33 34 35. 42. 48. and in plain terms Pag. 81. In respect of punishment abstracting from Persons the Law was not dispensed withal as to Christ And what said I more And so much if not too much to Mr Baxters Exceptions which of what weight and force they are I leave to others to judge That which I maintain as to this Point in Difference I have also made apparent It is wholly comprized under these Two Heads 1 Christ suffered the same Penalty which was in the Obligation 2 To do so is to make Payment ejusdem and not tantidem The REASONS of both I shall briefly subjoyne And as to the FIRST they are these following 1 The Scripture hath expresly revealed the Translation of Punishment in respect of the Subjects suffering it but hath not spoken one word of the change of the kind of Punishment but rather the contrary is affirmed Rom. 8. 32. He spared not his own SON but delivered him up for us all 2 All the Punishment due to us was contained in the Curse and Sanction of the Law That is the Penalty of the Obligation whereof we spake but this was undergon by the Lord Christ For he hath REDEEMED us from the Curse of the LAW being made a Curse for us Gall 3. 13. 3 Where God condemneth sin there he condems it in that very Punishment which is due unto it in the Sinner or rather to the Sinner for it He hath revealed but one Rule of his proceeding in this case How he condemned sin in the flesh of Christ or in him sent in the likenesse of sinful flesh Rom. 8. 30. God sending his own Son in the likenesse of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemned sin in the flesh The condemning of Sin is the infliction of Punishment due to Sin 4 The whole Penalty of Sin is Death Gen. 2. 11. This Christ underwent for us Heb. 2. 14. He tasted Death And to die for another is to undergo that Death which that other should have undergone 2 Sam. 18. 33. It is true this Death may be considered either in Respect of its Essence if I may be allowed so to speak which is called the pains of Hell which Christ underwent Psal. 18. 6. and 22. 1. Luke 22. 44. or of its Attendencies as Duration and the like which he could not undergo Psal. 16. 20. Acts 2. So that whereas Eternal Death may be considered Two wayes either as such in potentia and in its own nature or as actually So our Saviour underwent it not in the latter but first sense Heb. 2. 9. 14. which by the Dignity of his Person 1 Pet. 3. 18. Heb. 9. 26. 28. Rom. 5. 9. which raises the Estimation of Punishment is aequipotent to the other There is a sameness in Christs sufferings with that in the Obligation in respect of Essence and equivalency in respect of Attendencies 5 The meeting of our Iniquities upon Christ Isa. 53. 6. and his being thereby made sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. lay the very Punishment of our Sin as to us threatned upon him 6 Consider the Scriptural Descriptions you have of his Perpessions and see if they do not plainly hold out the utmost that ever was threatned to sin There is the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Isa. 53. 5. Peters {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 1 Pet. 2. 24. the liver nibex wound stripe that in our stead was so on him that thereby we are healed Those Expressions of the Condition of his Soul in his sufferings whereby he is said {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Mat. 26. 34. Mark 14. 33. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Luke 22. 44. Sadness unto death Mat. 26. 38. That dreadful cry Why hast thou forsaken me Those cryes out of the deep and
CONDITION to be by them performed not absolutly procured for them thereby whereby they became to have a Right unto the GOOD THINGS by him Purchased to be in due time Possessed according to Gods Way Method and Appointment From a faithful adherence unto this Perswasion I see nothing as yet of the least Efficacy or force to disswade me and am bold to tell these concerned therein That their Conditional Satisfaction or their suspending the Fruits of the Death of Christ upon Conditions as though the Lord should give him to die for us upon Condition of such and such things is a vain Figment contrary to the Scriptures inconsistent in it self and destructive of the true value and vertue of the Death of Christ which by the Lords Assistance I shall be ready at any time to Demonstrate My Intention in the place Excepted against being cleered I shall now tender my Thoughts to these Two things 1 The distinct Consideration of the Acts of the Will of God before and after the Satisfaction of Christ as also before and after our Believing towards us as unto Justification 2 The distinct Estate of the Sinner upon that Consideration with what is the Right to the Fruits of the Death of Christ which the Elect of God have before Believing CAP. VI Of the Acts of Gods Will towards Sinners Antecedent and Consequent to the Satisfaction of Christ Of Grotius Judgment herein THE distinct Consideration of the Acts of Gods Will in reference to the Satisfaction of Christ and our believing according to the former Proposal is the First thing to be Considered Grotius who with many and in an especial manner with Mr Baxter is of very great account and that in Theologie distinguisheth as himself calls them with a School term 3 Moments or Instances of the Divine Will a 1 Before the Death of Christ either actually accomplished or in the purpose and fore-knowledge of God in this instant he saith God is Angry with the Sinner but so as that he is not averse from all Wayes of laying down his Anger b 2 Upon the Death of Christ or that being suppos'd wherein God not only Purposeth but also Promiseth to lay aside his Anger c 3 When a man by true Faith believeth in Christ and Christ according to the Tenure of the Covenant commendeth him to God here now God layes aside his Anger and receiveth man into Favour Thus far he Amongst all the attempts of distinguishing the Acts of Gods Will in reference unto Christ and Sinners what ever I considered I never found any more slight Atheological and discrepant from the Truth then this of Grotius d To measure the Almighty by the Standard of a man and to frame in the mind a mutable Idol instead of the Eternal Unchangeable God is a Thing that the fleshly Reasonings of dark understandings are prone unto Feigns the Lord in one Instant Angry afterwards promising to cease to be so then in another instant laying down his Anger and taking up a contrary affection and you seem to me to do no less What it may be esteemed in Law which was that Authors faculty I know not but suppose in Divinity that notwithstanding the manifold Attempts of some {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in most heads of Religion e the ascribing unto the most holy things alien and opposite unto his glorious nature is by common consent accounted no less then f blasphemy whither this be here don or no may easily appear I hope then without the offence of any I may be allowed to call those Dictates of Grotius to the Rule and Measure of Truth 1 Before the fore-sight of the Death of Christ saith he God is angry with Sinners but not wholly averse from all wayes of laying aside that Anger Answ. 1 That God should be conceived angry after the manner of men or with any such kind of Passion is grosse Anthropomorphisme as bad if not worse then the assigning of him a bodily shape g The Anger of God is a pure Act of his Will whereby he will effect and inflict the Effects of Anger Now what is before the fore-sight of the Death of Christ is certainly from Eternity Gods Anger must respect either the purpose of God or the Effects of it The latter it cannot be for they are undoubtedly all temporal It must be then his purpose from Eternity to inflict punishment that is the Effect of Anger This then is the First thing in the business of Redemption assigned by Grotius unto the Lord viz. He purposed from Eternity to inflict punishment on Sinners and on what sinners even those for whom he gives Christ to die and afterwards receives into favour as he expresseth himself Behold here a Mystery of Vorstian Theology God changing his eternal purposes h This Arminius at first could not down withal inferring from hence That the Will of God differ'd not from his Essence that every act thereof is 1 Most Simple 2 Infinite 3 Eternal 4 Immutable 5 Holy Reason it self would fain speak in this Cause but that the Scriptures do so abound many places are noted in the Margin Ja. 1. 17. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Ps. 33. 9 10 11. Acts. 15. 18. c. may be added A mutable god is of the dunghil 2 That the Death of Christ is not compriz'd in the first consideration of Gods Mind and act of his Will towards Sinners to be saved is assumed gratis 3 He is not saith he averse from all wayes of laying down this Anger This Schem Grotius placeth as is evident in God as the foundation and bottom of sending Christ for our Redemption This he immediatly subjoyns without the least intimation of any further inclination in God towards Sinners for whom he gives his Son But 1 This is a meer negation of inflicting Anger for the present or a suspension of that affection from working according to its Qualitie which how it can be ascribed to the pure and active i Will of God I know not Yea it is above disproved 2 Such a kind of Frame as it is injurious to God so to be held out as the fountain of his sending Christ to die for us is I am perswaded an Abhorrency to Christians And 3 Whether this Answer that which the Scripture holds out as the most intense distinguishing love Joh. 3. 16. Rom. 5. 8. Chap. 8. 32. 1 Joh. 4. 9 10. is easily discernable A natural velleity to the good of the Creature is the thing here couched but was never proved In the second Instance God saith he the Death of Christ being suppos'd not only determineth but also promiseth to lay aside his anger 1 What terms can be invented to hold out more expresly a Change and Alteration in the Unchangable God then these here used I know not 2 That the Will or Mind of God is altered from one respect towards us to another by the Consideration of the Death
of Christ is a low carnal Conception The Will of God is not moved by any thing without it self k Alterations are in the things altered not in the Will of God concerning them 3 To make this the whole Effect of the Death of Christ that God should determine and promise to lay aside his wrath is l no Scripture discovery either as to Name or Thing 4 The Purposes of God which are all Eternal and the Promises of God which are all made in time are very inconveniently ranged in the same Series 5 That by the Death of Christ Attonement is made everlasting Redemption purchased that God is Reconciled a Right unto Freedom obtained for those for whom he died shall be afterwards declared 6 If God doth only Purpose and Promise to lay aside his Anger upon the Death of Christ but doth it not until our actual believing then 1 our Faith is the proper procuring cause of Reconciliation the Death of Christ but a Requisite Antecedent which is not the Scripture Phrase Rom. 5. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 18. Eph. 2. 16. Col. 1. 20 21. Dan. 9. 24. Heb. 2. 17. Eph. 1. 7. Heb. 9. 12. 2 How comes the Sinner by Faith if it is the Gift of God It must be an Issue of Anger and Enmity for that Schem only is actually ascribed to him before our enjoyment of it Strange that God should be so far reconciled as to give us Faith that we may be reconciled to him that thereupon he may be reconciled to us 3 For the Third Instance of Gods receiving the sinner into love and favour upon his beleeving quite laying aside his anger I Answer To wave the Anthropomorphisme wherwith this Assertion is tainted as the former If by receiving into favour he intend absolute compleat pactional Justification being an Act of favour quitting the sinner from the guilt of sin charged by the Accusation of the Law terminated on the Conscience of a sinner I confess it in order of nature to follow our beleiving I might Consider further the Attempts of others for the right sttating of this business but it would draw me beyond my Intention His failings herein who is so often mentioned and so much used by him who gives occasion to this rescript I could not but remark What are my own Thoughts and Apprehensions of the whole I shall in the next place briefly impart Now to make way hereunto some things I must suppose which though some of them otherwhere controverted yet not at all in reference to the present business and they are these 1 That Christ died only for the Elect or God gave his Son to die only for those whom he chuseth to life and salvation for the praise of his glorious Grace This is granted by Mr Baxter where he affirms That Christ bare not punishment for them who must bear punishment themselves in eternal fire Thes. 33. p. 162. And again Christ died not for final Vnbelief Thes. 32. p. 159. therefore not for them who are finally Unbelievers as all non-Elected are and shall be For what Sinners he died he died for all their sins Rom. 5. 6 7 8. 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Joh. 1. 7. If any shall say That as he died not for the final Unbelief of others so not for the final Unbelief of the Elect and so not for final Unbelief at all I Answer First If by final Unbelief you mean that which is actually so Christ satisfied not for it His satisfaction cannot be extended to those things whose Existence is prevented by his Merit The Omission of this in the consideration of the Death Christ lies at the bottom of many mistakes Merit and Satisfaction are of equal Extent as to their Objects both also tend to the same End but in sundry respects Secondly If by final Vnbelief you understand that which would be so notwithstanding all means and remedies were it not for the Death of Christ so he did satisfie for it It's Existens being prevented by his Merit So then if Christ died not for final Unbelief he died not for the finally Unbeleeving Though the Satisfaction of his Death hath not paid for it the Merit of his Death would remove it Thirdly I Suppose That the Means as well as the Ends Grace as Glory are the Purchase and procurement of Jesus Christ See this proved in my Treatise of Redemption Lib. 3. Cap. 4. c. Fourthly That God is absolutely immutable unchangable in all his Attributes Neither doth his Will admit of any alteration This proved above Fifthly That the Will of God is not moved properly by any external Cause whatsoever unto any of its Acts whether imminent or transient For 1 m By a moving Cause we understand a Cause Morally Efficient and if any thing were so properly in respect of any Act of Gods Will then the Act which is the Will of God Acting must in some respect viz. As it is an Effect be less worthy and inferiour to the Cause for so is every Effect in respect of it's Cause And 2 Every Effect produced proceedeth from a Passive possibility unto the Effect which can no way be assigned unto God besides it must be temporarie for nothing that is Eternal can have dependance upon that whose Rise is in Time and such are all things external to the Will of God even the Merit of Christ himself 3 I cannot imagine how there can be any other Cause why God Willeth any thing then why he not Willeth or Willeth not other things which for any to Assign will be found Difficult Mat. 11. 25. Chap. 20. 15. So then when God Willeth one thing for another as our Salvation for the Death of Christ the one is the Cause of the other neither moveth the Will of God Hence Sixthly All Alterations are in the things concerning which the Acts of the Will of God are none in the Will of God its self These things being premised what was before proposed I shall now in order make out beginning with the Eternal Acts of the Will of God towards us antecedent to all or any Consideration of the DEATH of CHRIST CAP. VII In particular of the Will of God towards them for whom Christ died and their state and Condition as Considered Antecedanous to the Death of Christ and all Efficiency thereof FIRST then the Habitude of God towards man Antecedent to all fore-sight of the Death of Christ is an Act of Supream Soveraignty and Dominion appointing them by means suited to the manifestation of his Glorious Properties according to his Infinitely Wise and Free Disposal to Eternal Life and Salvation for the praise of his glorious Grace That this Salvation was never but one or of one kind consisting in the same kind of Happiness in reference unto Gods appointment needs not much proving To think that God appointed one kind of Condition for man if he had continued in Innocency and another upon his Recovery from the Fall is to think That
intended or the actual taking of Sinners into Covenant by working an acceptance of it upon their Spirits and obedience to the Condition of it in their hearts then though the satisfaction of Christ be antecedent here unto yet it is not thence antecedent to the new Covenant For the new Covenant and taking into Covenant are distinct This then being assigned unto God after our manner of Apprehension the next Enquiry is into the State and Condition of those Persons who are the peculiar Object of the act of Gods Will before described in reference thereunto antecedaneous to all Consideration of the Death of Christ and all Efficacy thereof The Scripture speaking of them in this Condition saith That they are beloved Rom. 9. 13. Rom. 11. 28. Elected Eph. 14. Ordained unto eternal life Acts 13. 48. 2 Thess. 2 13. Whether only the Eternal Actings of the Will of God towards them or also their own change either Actual in respect of real State and Condition or Relative in reference to the Purpose of GOD is not certainly evident Hereunto then I Propose these Two Things 1 By the Eternal Love Purpose and Act of Gods Will towards them that shall be saved who are so from thence they are not actually changed from that Condition which is common to them with all the Sons of men after the fall 2 By vertue of that Love alone they have not so much as Personal Right unto any of those things which are the proper Effects of that LOVE and which it produceth in due season beseemingly to the Wisdome and Justice of God Either of these ASSERTIONS shall be briefly proved For the First it is manifest 1 From that Act of Gods Will which to this Love is Contradistinct What change is wrought in the Loved or Elected by the Purpose of God according to Election an answerable Change must be wrought in the hated and appointed to condemnation by the Decree of Reprobation Now that this should really alter the Condition of men and actually dispose them under the Consequences of that Purpose cannot be granted 2 Anallogie from other Eternal Purposes of God gives a Demonstration hereof The Eternal Purposes of the divine Will for the Creation of the World out of Nothing left that Nothing as very nothing as ever until an Act of Almighty Power gave in the beginning Existence and Being to the things that are seen Things have their certain Fructurition not instant actual Existence from the Eternal Purposes of God concerning them 3 The Scripture plainly placeth all men in the same State and Condition before Conversion and Reconciliation We have proved That Jews and Gentiles are all under sin Rom. 3. 9 10. So every mouth is stopped and all the World is become guilty before God verse 19. All being by nature Children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. The Condition of all in Vnregeneracy is really one and the same Those who think it is a mistaken Apprehension in the Elect to think so are certainly too much mistaken in that Apprehension He that believeth not the Son the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3. 36. If the mis-apprehension be as as they say it is Unbelief it leaves them in whom it is under the wrath of God He that would see this further cleered and confirmed may consult my Treatise of REDEMPTION Lib. 3. Cap. 8. where it is purposely and expresly handled at large Hence Mr Baxter may have some directions how to dispose of that Censure concerning me which yet he is pleased to say That he suspendeth page 158. viz. That I should affirm Justification to be nothing but the manifestation of Eternal Love which I have more then in one place or two Expresly opposed That any one should but here and there consult a few Lines or Leaves of my Treatise I no way blame In such things we all use our Liberty but that upon so sleight a view as cannot possibly represent the Frame Structure and Coherence of my Judgment in any particular to undertake a Confutation and Censure of it cannot well be done without some regreet to candid Ingenuity For the Second Assertion laid down which goeth somthing farther then the former it is easily deduced from the same Principles therewithal I shall therefore adde only one ARGUMENT for the Confirmation thereof God having appointed that his Eternal Love in the Fruits thereof should be no otherwayes Communicated but only in and by Christ all right thereunto must of necessity be of his procurement and Purchasing Yea the End of the Mediation of the Lord Jesus is To give Right Title and Possession in their several Order and seasons unto and in all the Fruits Issues and Tendency's of that Love unto them whose Mediator he is appointed to be Thus far then all is seated in the bosome of the Almighty All differencing Acts of Grace flowing from hence being to be made out as seems Good unto him in his Infinite wise Sovereignty from whence alone is the disposal of all these things as to that Order which may most conduce to his Glory And this also writes vanity upon the Objection insisted on by Mr Baxter page 157. that when we have a Right we must presently have a Possession All these things being to be moderated according to his free Sovereign disposal And this concerneth the FIRST INSTANT proposed CAP. VIII Of the Will of God in Reference to them for whom Christ died immediately upon the Consideration of his Death and their State and Condition before actual Believing in Relation thereunto THE Second Instant Proposed to be Considered is In the immediate Issue of the Death of Christ as Purposed and accomplished Purpose and Accomplishment are indeed different but their Effects in respect of God are the same In reference to us also the Death of Christ hath the same Efficacy as promised and as performed What Acts the Scripture ascribes unto God antecedent unto any Consideration of the Death of Christ or at least such as are absolutely free and of Sovereignty without any influence of causality from thence we saw before for as for the order of Gods Decrees compared among themselves I will not with any one Contend Here we enquire what it holdeth out of him that being in all its Efficacy supposed And we Affirme 1 That the Will of God is not moved to any thing thereby nor changed into any other Respect towards those for whom Christ died then what it had before This was formerly proved and must again be touched on But 2 The Death of Christ purposed and accounted effectual as before God can agreeable to his infinite Justice Wisdome Truth and appointment make out unto sinners for whom Christ died or was to die all those good things which he before purposed and Willed by such means to them those things being purchased and procured and all hinderances of bestowing them being removed by that Satisfaction and Merit which by free Compact he Agreed and Consented should be in that Death of Christ
spiritual Blessings soever are bestowed on any Soul I mean peculiarly distinguishing Mercies and Graces they are all bestowed and collated for Christs sake That is They are purchased by his Merit and procured by his Intercession thereupon That supernatural Graces cannot be traduced from any natural Faculty or attained by the utmost Endeavour of Nature howsoever affected with outward advantages I now take for granted These things I looked upon as the free-gifts of Love So the Scripture Joh. 15. 5. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Eph. 2. 8. 1 Cor. 4. 7. Eph. 2. 10. Mat. 11. 25 26. Act. 16. 14. c. Now the Dispensation of all these as it is through Christ so they are for Christ On whomsoever they are bestowed it is for Christs sake For Instance Peter and Judas are Unbeleevers Faith is given for Faith is given to Peter not to Judas Whence is this difference Presupposing Gods Sovereign discriminating Purpose the immediate procuring Cause of Faith for Peter is the Merit of Christ To us it is given on the behalf of Christ to beleeve on him Phil. 1. 20. We are blessed with all spiritual Blessings in him Eph. 1. 3. Whatsoever is in the Promise of the Covenant is certainly of his procurement for therefore he is the Surety Heb. 7. 22. And his Bloud the Ransome he paid is the Bloud of the Covevenant Mat. 26. 28. Whereby all the Promises thereof become in him Yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. And whether Faith be of the Blessings of the Covenant and Conclude in the Promise thereof or no let the Scripture be Judge Jer. 31. 31 32. Ezek. 36. 26. Heb. 8. 9 10 11. Furthermore What we have through him we have so him All these things being made out on this Condition that he should make his Soul an Offering for sin Isa. 53. 10 3 That all the procurements of the Death of Christ in the behalf of his are to be made out by vertue of a Stipulation sub termino or in respect of their actual collation and bestowing they are to be made out in the season limited and appointed by the Will of the Father Of this before 4 No Blessing can be given us for Christs sake unless in Order of Nature CHRIST be first reckoned unto us Here I must do two things 1 Declare what I mean by reckoning Christ unto us And then 2 Prove the Assertion as laid down Gods reckoning Christ in our present sense is the imputing of Christ unto ungodly unbeleeving Sinners for whom he died so far as to account him theirs to bestow Faith and Grace upon them for his sake This then I say at the Accomplishment of the appointed time the Lord reckons and accounts and makes out his Son Christ to such and such Sinners and for his sake gives them Faith c. Exercising of Love actually in the bestowing of Grace upon any particular soul in a distinguishing manner for Christs sake doth suppose this accounting of Christ to be his and from thence he is so indeed which is the present Thesis and may be proved For 1 Why doth the Lord bestow Faith on Peter not on Judas Because Christ Dying for Peter and purchasing for him the Grace of the Covenant he had a Right unto it and God according to his Promise bestowed it With Judas it was not so But then Why doth the Lord bestow Faith on Peter at the 40th yeer of his Age and not before or after Because then the Term is expired which upon the Purchase was by the Counsel of Gods Will prefixed to the giving in the beginning of the thing Purchased unto him What then doth the Lord do when he thus bestoweth Faith on him For Christs sake his Death procuring the Gift not moving the Will of the Giver he creates Faith in him by the way and means snited to such a work Eph. 1. 18 19. Chap. 2. 1 c. If then this be done for Christs sake then is Christ made ours before we beleeve Else Why is Faith given him at this instant for Christs sake and not to another for whom also he died That it is done then is because the appointed time is come that it is done then for Christ is because Christ is first given to him I cannot conceive how any thing should be made out to me for Christ and Christ himself not be given to me he being made unto us of God Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. 2 The Apostle holds out this very Method of the Dispensation of Grace Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his Son but delivered him up to Death for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things First Christ is given for us then to us then with him he having the preheminence in all things all things and this being also for him Phil. 1. 29. he is certainly in the Order of Nature given in the first place He being made ours we receive the Atonement by him Rom. 5. 11. How Christ is said to be received by Faith if he be ours before Beleeving is easily resolved Christ is ours before and after Beleeving in a different sense He who is made ours in an Act of Gods Love that for him we may have Faith may be found and made ours in a Promise of Reconciliation by Beleeving I offer also Whether Absolution from the guilt of sin and obligation unto death though not as terminated in the Conscience for compleat Iustification do not proceed our actual Beleeving For What is that Love of God which through Christ is effectual to bestow Faith upon the Unbeleeving And how can so great Love in the actual exercise of it producing the most distinguishing Mercies consist with any such Act of Gods Will as at the same instant should bind that Person under the Guilt of sin Perhaps also this may be the Iustification of the ungodly mentioned Rom. 4. Gods absolving a Sinner in Heaven by accounting Christ unto him and then bestowing him upon him and for his sake enduing him with Faith to beleeve That we should be blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ and yet Christ not ours in a peculiar manner before the bestowing of those blessings on us is somwhat strange Yea he must be our Christ before it is given to us for him to beleeve Why else is it not given to all others so to do I speak not of the supream distinguishing Cause Mat. 11. 25 26. but of the proximate procuring Cause which is the bloud of Christ Neither yet do I hence assert compleat Justification to be before beleeving Absolution in Heaven and Justification differ as part and whole Again Absolution may be considered either as a pure Act of the Will of God in it self or as it is received beleeved apprehended in and by the soul of the Guilty For Absolution in the first sense it is evident it must proceed beleeving as a discharge from the Effects of Anger naturally proceeds all Collation of any fruits of Love such as is
mentioned never proved nor I am perswaded will never be But he Addes 2 He saith the Elect are said to die and rise with Christ Answ. 1 Not in respect of time as if we died and rose at the same time either really or in Gods esteem 2 Not that we died in his Dying and rose in his Rising But 3 It is spoken of the distant mediate Effects of his Death and the immediate Effects of his Spirit on us Rising by Regeneration to Union and Communion with Christ So he Reply 1 I pass the 1 and 2 Exceptions notwithstanding that of Gods not esteeming of us as in Christ upon his Performance of the Acts of his Mediation for us might admit of some consideration 2 The Inference here couched That these things are the immediate Effects of Christs Spirit on us therefore the distant and mediate Effects of his death for us is very weak and unconcluding The death of Christ procureth these things as a Cause Moral and Impelling the Spirit worketh as an Efficient and therefore the same thing may be the immediate Effect of them both according to their several kinds of Efficacy And so indeed they are Our actual Conversion the Efficient whereof is the Spirit is the immediate procurement of the Merit of Christ see this at large in my Treatise opposed I know not any man that hath run out into more wide mistakes about the immediate Effects of the death of Christ than Mr Baxter who pretends to so much Accurateness in this Particular 3 He saith ads Mr Baxter Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse being made a Curse for us Answ. I explained before how far we are freed by Redemption He hath restored us that is paid the price but with no intent that we should by that Redemption be immediately or absolutely freed Yet when we are freed it is to be ascribed to his death as the Meritorious Cause but not as the Only Cause Reply 1 A being freed so FAR or so far by Redemption and not wholly fully or compleatly what ever men may explain the Scripture is wholly silent of 2 That Christ in paying a price had no intent that those he paid it for should be immediatly or absolutely freed is crudely enough asserted 1 Of the immediateness of their Delivery I have spoken already It hath as strict an Immediation as the Nature of such Causes and Effects will bear 2 If he intended not that those for whom he died should be absolutly freed then either he intended not their freedom at all and so the Negation is upon the term freed or the Negation of his Intention is only as to the qualification absolutly and so his Intention to free them is Asserted and the Affection of absolutness in that Intention only denyed If the First be meant 1 It is contrary to innumerable express Testimonies of Scriptures 2 It renders the Son of God dying with no determinate End or designed Purpose at all in Reference to them for whom he dyed A thing we would not ascribe to a Wise man in a far more easie Undertaking If the Second 1 I desire to know What is this Intention here assigned to our Saviour He payd a Price or Ransom for us he bought and purchased us by his blood to be a peculiar People to himself he redeemed us from the Curse and Wrath due to us that we may be conditionally freed All things intended under Condition are as to their Accomplishment uncertain The Condition may be fulfilled or it may not be fulfilled and therefore the thing intended thereon can have no certainty as to its Accomplishment in the mind of the Intender This then is That which is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Making his Soul an Offering for sin laying down his Life a ransom for Mercy and tasting Death to free the Children given him from Death praying together that those for whom he died might be partakers of his Glory yet was altogether uncertain whether ever any one of them should at all partake of the Good things which in his whole undertaking of Mediation he aimed at Thus is he made a Surety of an uncertain Covenant a Purchaser of an Inheritance perhaps never to be enjoyed a Priest Sanctifying none by his Sacrifice c. 2 Is the Accomplishment of this Condition upon which freedom depends in the Intention of Christ certain in his mind under that Intention I ask then Whence that Assurance doth accrew Is it from his foresight of their good using their Abilities to fulfil the Condition to them prescribed See then whither you have rolled this stone The Folly and Absurdity of this hath been long since sufficiently discovered But is it from hence because by his Death he Purchaseth for them the compleating of that Condition in them Thus he payes a Price with Intention that those for whom he payes it shall be freed by enjoying that freedom under such a Condition as he procures for them and thereupon knows That at the appointed time it shall be wrought in them What differs this in the Close from absolute freedom Further Feign some of them for whom Christ died to fulfil this Condition others not and it will be more evident That the greatest uncertainty possible as to the Issues of his Death must be assigned to him in his dying The pretence of an effectual discriminating purpose of free Grace following the Purpose of giving Christ promisuously for all will not salve the Contradictions of this Assertion But the Truth is This whole figment of Conditional freedom is every way unsavoury That very thing which is assigned for the Condition of our freedom being it self the chiefest part of it the whole indeed as here begun Potential Conditional not actual not absolute Issues and Effects of the Death of Christ have been abundantly disproved already That which follows in Mr Baxter from Page 152 unto page 155. Chap. 19. belongs not to me being only a Declaration of his own Judgement about the things in hand wherein although many things are not only incommodiously expressed to suit the un-Scriptural Method of these Mysteris which he hath framed in his mind but also directly opposite to the Truth yet I shall not here meddle with it refering them who desire Satisfaction in this Business to a serious Consideration of what I have above-written to this purpose Page 155. C. 20. he returns to the Consideration of My Assertion concerning our Deliverance ipso facto by the bloud of Christ And tells you I do not understand Mr Owen his meaning for he saith That Christ did actually and ipso facto deliver us from the Curse and Obligation yet we do not instantly apprehend and perceive it nor yet possess it but only we have actual Right to all the Fruits of his Death c. So he Answ. The things of that Treatise were written with the Pen of a vulgar Scribe that every one might run and read whence then it should be That so learned a man should not