before Him carried the Apostles meaning in the words the same way as they are cited and owned in their respective Interpretations by Musculus upon the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tollens taking saith He is so expounded by Jerom as that it is declared by the Apostle that those Bodies which are made the Members of an Harlot are taken away and cut off from or out of the Body of Christ He takes saith He the Members of Christ i. e. He cuts Himself off from the Body of Christ who is joyned unto an Harlot Ambrose avoucheth the same when he saith He meaning the Apostle saith thus because such Members which adhere unto an Harlot cease to be the Members of Christ. Certainly it cannot be that a Member of Christ should be a Member also of an Harlot a Tollens ità exponitur à Hierōut indicetur ea corpora quae scorti Membra fiunt sublata esse abscissa è corpore Christi Tollit inquit membra Christi i. e. abscindit se à corpore Christi qui junctus est meretrici Idem ponit Ambr. cum dicit Ait quia meretrici adhaerentia membra desinunt esse membra Christi Certè non potest fieri ut membrum Christi sit membrum scorti c. c. And if it be no dishonour unto Christ to admit and take in such who have been the foulest and most deformed Members of the Devil upon their Repentance for Members of His Body which is nothing but what He doth dayly why should it be any disparagement unto Him to reject such from being Members of this His Body who by their wicked and abominable ways render themselves altogether unworthy the great dignity of such a Relation 3. And lastly for the frequent repetition of Regeneration it is of the same §. 29. consideration with the two former Particulars there is no inconvenience nothing unworthy God or of Christ in it and for men it is of a most happy and blessed accommodation unto them When the Scripture speaks of an impossibility of renewing some by Repentance in case they fall away b Heb. 6. 6. it plainly supposeth that there is such a thing incident unto men or whereof some men are capable as renewing again by Repentance And what is Regeneration being interpreted but a renewing again by Repentance And if men may dye twice spiritually as Jude speaketh of some that were twice dead Vers 12. why may they not live twice or twice receive the life of grace opposite hereunto As it is agreeable to the Righteousness and Holiness of God to denounce the sentence of exclusion from his Kingdom against men whoever they be or have been when they turn Adulterers Fornicators Idolaters c. yea and to execute this sentence accordingly in case they return not from these sins by Repentance before they dye and so to leave them no footing or foundation for their Faith I mean to beleeve or to expect Salvation by Jesus Christ but onely upon their Repentance so is it no less agreeable to the Mercy Patience and goodness of God to promise unto backsliding sinners a re-injoyment of his Favor and Love which is in Christ Jesus upon condition of their renewing again by Repentance and to exhibit unto them accordingly the full fruits thereof in the Salvation of their Souls if they persevere in a course of Repentance unto the end And how sad and deplorable above measure would the condition of many thousands of Saints be in case there were no reiteration of Regeneration I mean of all such who at any time fall into such ways and practises of sin which according to what we have lately heard from the Scriptures exclude from the Kingdom of God! Doubtless there is no more inconvenience for the same person to be twice regenerate then it was or would have been under the Law for the same man to have taken Sanctuary the second time in case He had the second time miscarried in slaying a man at unawares And for Regeneration it self according to the Grammatical and proper signification of the word it imports a reiteration or repetition of some generation or other It cannot import a repetition of the natural generation of men the sence of Nicodemus in John 3. 4. this point was orthodox who judged such a thing impossible therefore it must import a repetition of a spiritual generation unless we shall say which I know is the road Opinion that it signifies onely the spiritual generation with a kinde of reference unto or reflexion upon the birth natural But it is the common sence of Divines that the two generations mentioned the natural and spiritual are membra dividentia and contradistinguished the one unto the other and so the Apostle Peter seems to state represent them a 1 Pet. 1. 23. as also our Saviour Himself Joh. 3. 6. Now I suppose there can hardly any instance be given where the introducing of one contrary form or quality into the subject is termed a reiteration or repetition of the other Calefaction for example is never termed a repetition of frigefaction nor is albi-faction called a reiteration of nigri-faction nor when a regenerate or mortified man dyeth His natural death is He said to reiterate or repeat His spiritual death Therefore I rather conceive that Regeneration which the Scripture makes appropriable onely unto persons living to years of discretion who generally in the days of their youth degenerate from the innocency of their childhood and younger years and corrupt themselves with the Principles and ways of the world relates not unto the natural generation as such I mean as natural but unto the spiritual estate and condition of men in respect of their Natural generation and birth in and upon which they are if not simply and absolutely yet comparatively innocent harmless free from pride malice c. and in respect of these qualifications in grace and favor with God upon the account of the death and sufferings of Christ for them as we shall God willing prove more at large in the second part of this Discourse In the mean time what we now offer as most probable touching the Reason of the name and relation of Regeneration I conceive our Saviour Himself implieth in that Passage of His with His Disciples At the same time came the Disciples unto Jesus saying who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven And Jesus called a little childe unto Him and set Him in the midst of them and said Verily I say unto you except ye be CONVERTED AND BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven b Mat. 18. 1 2 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except ye be turned back as Calvin interpreteth i. e. unless ye recover and re-instate your selves in that estate or interest in the love and favor of God which you are in danger of losing by your ambition by returning to such an humility innocency and simplicity wherein whilest
Acâ— 27. 31. whereas upon their staying in the ship it so came to passe that they came all safe to land c Vâ—s 44. The Lord Christ himselfe by the care and faithfulnefs of Joseph in conveying him being yet an Infant into Egypt according to the charge of the Angel which appeared unto him came to see many more days in the flesh then he was like to have done in case he had bin found in Bethlehem or near to it when Herods bloudy Inquisition came forth against him For this is the reason which the Angell gave unto Joseph why he was injoyned by God to remove the child Jesus into a place of safety Herod saith he will seeke the young child to destroy him which supposeth not only a possibility but a probability at least if not a certainty That if the child had remained in or about Bethlehem Herod both would have found him out and also destroyed him So afterwards we read Luke 4. and elsewhere That Christ by declining the present rage and bloody intentions of the Jewes from time to time drew out the days of his mortall Pilgrimage to that just period and â—our wherein according to his ever-blessed good pleasure he had appointed that happy meeting between his own death and the life and salvation of the World True it is the days of humane subsistence and continuance on Earth are §. 4. in the generall but finite yea and few yet if we speake of particulars they are not properly determinate or set down as so many and no more by any decree of God It is indeed appointed by God unto men once to dye d Heb. 9 27. yea as Job calculateth within a short time Man saith he that is born of a woman is of few days e Iob 14. 1. But I do not find it said of particular persons that it is appointed unto them to dye precisely at such or such a time day or year of their lives or that they shall neither dye sooner nor live longer I deny not but that there are some few examples in Scripture of persons the precise number of whose days seemeth to have been fixed by God His gracious Message to King Hezekiah being now sick unto death was That he would adde unto his days fifteen yeares a King 20. 6. Yet this expression doth not necessarily imply that they should be adequately and precisely so many and no more Nor when Job in passion reasoneth thus with God as our last Translation rendreth his words Seeing his days are determined and the number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot passe turne from him that he may rest b Job 14 6 7. c. doth he suppose that the bounds and limits of all mens lives are so rigidly or immoveably pitched by any decree of God that they must of necessity live home to them and cannot possibly live beyond them but only this that if God will at any time interpose by his power to cut off the life of any man he may determine and put a period to it without being resisted or hindred by any According to the exigency of this sence both Tremellius and Beza translate that clause and the number of his moneths are with thee out of the Originall thus Numerus mensium ejus penâ—â— te est i. e. the number of his moneths is in thy power meaning that thou mayst make them fewer or more if and thou pleasest Doubtlesse if either David or Hezekiah had conceived the date and period of their lives to have been irreversibly concluded by any precedaneous decree of God they would not have interceded with that affectionate importunity which is found in their Prayers for a prorogation of them I said saith David O my God take me not away in the midst of my days c Psal 102. 4 And again O spare mee that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more d Psal 39. â— These expressions clearly imply That David apprehended as well a liberty in God as an executive power either presently to take away or else to continue his life and being in the world for a longer time For who will sollicite a man to do that for him which he apprehends him in no capacity or possibility to do or for that which hee conceives him whom he requesteth absolutely engaged and necessitated to do for him whether he requesteth it or no Now such a liberty in God as we speak of and as David supposeth was wholy inconsistent with such a peremptory and irreversible decree concerning the punctuall extent and duration of his life which some imagine So when he fasted and wept for the life of his child being sick he neither supposed God bound by any unchangeable decree either to continue or presently to take away the life of it but at liberty to do either In the Prayer of Hezekiah though there be no expresse Petition found for the enlargement of his life yet there are grounds laid down which are proper to inforce such a Petition upon and by the tender whereof unto God it is evident that he did sollicite for a reprieve which is yet more apparant from that gracious return which God made unto him of this his Prayer by the Prophet Isaiah Go saith God unto him and say unto Hezekiah Thus saith the Lord God of David thy Father I have heard thy Prayer and seen thy Tears behold I will adde unto thy days fifteen years e Isai 38. 5. Therefore doubtlesse when Job saith as we heard That the days of man are determined or paecisi i. e. cut short as Junius and Tremellius render it and that God hath appointed his bounds that he cannot passe he doth not speake of any determinate number of days or years set out by any decree of his unto particular Persons for life which by no interveniency of means or occasions on either hand can either be diminished or protracted but of that generall councell purpose or decree of his by which he hath reduced and contracted the mortall Pilgrimage of man on Earth to a very short and inconsiderable space of time Nor doth it follow from any the Premisses but that God doth frequently §. 5. interpose and that after a very speciall and remarkable manner sometimes for the preservation other-while for the abbreviation and cutting off the lives of Particular men When God will undertake and resolvedly engage to stand by the life of man as now and then he doth at least for a time a thousand shall fall at his side and ten thousand at his right hand and the danger not come nigh him i. e. he shall remain as safe and as free from evill as if all danger of evill were far from him He shall not be afraid i. e. such a man needeth not to be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darknesse nor for
accustomed to error and mistake presume to levy from them together with such arguments and grounds which upon examination will be found either to have no consistency with the sound Principles either of Reason or Religion or else no legitimate coherence with the cause which they pretend unto Let us first hearken unto the Scriptures lifting up their voyces together for the Redemption of all Men by Christ without exception we shall afterwards in due processe of Discourse give a faire consideration to those inferences and consequences of Men wherein the strength of their Scripture Proofes standeth for the support of the contrary Opinion And first it is considerable that the Scriptures doe not only speak to the §. 2. heart of the Doctrine asserted in great variety of Texts and Places but also in great Veyns and Correspondencies or Consorts of Texts each Consort consisting of severall particulars of like Notion and Phrase I shall recommend only foure of these companies unto the Reader which when we shall have pondered in some or all the particulars respectively relating unto them we shall add to make full measure the contributions of some single Texts besides The first Division or Squadron of Scriptures which speak aloud the universality §. 3. of Redemption by Christ are such which present the gift and Sacrifice of Christ as relating indifferently unto the World The name of this kinde of Scriptures for the number of them may be Legion for they are many Some of the principall and best known of them are these So God loved THE WORLD that he gave his only begotten c. Joh. 3. 16. That THE WORLD through him should be saved vers 17. This is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of THE WORLD Joh. 1. 29. My flesh which I will give for the life of the World Joh. 6. 51. And he is the propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours only but also for the sinnes of the WHOLE WORLD 1 Joh. 22. And we have seene and doe testifie that the Father sent the Sonne to be the Saviour of the WORLD 1 Joh. 4. 14. For I came not to judge the WORLD but to save the WORLD Joh. 12. 48. For God was in Christ reconciling the WORLD unto Himself c. 2 Cor. 5. 19. To omit many others The second post of Scriptures standing up to maintaine the same Doctrine §. 4. with uniformity of expressions amongst themselves are such which insure the Ransome of Christ and the Will or Desire of God for matters of salvation unto ALL MEN and EVERY MAN Some of these are who gave Himself a Ransome for ALL. 1 Tim. 2. 6. Because we thus judge that if one died for ALL then were all dead and that he died FOR ALL that they who live c. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. that he by the Grace of God should taste of Death FOR EVERY MAN Heb. 2. 9. who will have AL◠MEN to be saved c. 1 Tim. 2. 4. not willing that ANY should perish but that ALL should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. Therefore as by the offence of one the judgement came upon all Men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all Men to the justification of life Rom. 5. 18. with some others A third sort or party of Scriptures confederate with the former for substance §. 5. of import and between themselves for matter of expression are such which hold forth and promise salvation indifferently to Him and to whosoever will or shall believe Of this sort are these with their fellowes and HIM that commeth unto me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 6. 37. HE that believeth in me shall never thirst vers 35. HE that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Mar. 16. 16. That WHOSOEVER believeth in Him should not perish c. Joh. 3. 16. That through his Name WHOSOEVER believeth in Him shall receive remission of sinnes Acts 10. 43. Even the Righteousnesse of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ UNTO ALL and upon all that believe For all have sinned Rom. 3. 22 23. It were easie to make this pile also much greater A fourth association of Scriptures all pregnant with the Doctrine we §. 6. assert consists of such places where Christ is said to have died for those who yet may perish yea and actually do perish and again where such Men are said to have been bought by him and to have been sanctified by his blood who yet through their own negligence and wilfulnesse in sinning bring destruction upon themselves and perish everlastingly Places of this kinde are famously known Destroy not Him with thy meat FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED Rom. 14. 15. And through thy knowledge shall the weak BROTHER PERISH FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED 1 Cor. 8. 11. even denying the Lord that BOVGHT them and bring upon themselves swift DESTRVCTION 2 Pet 2. 1. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them then the beginning 2 Pet. 2. 20. Of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall He be thought worthy who hath troden under foote the Sonne of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10. 29. Then his Lord after he had called him said unto him O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me Should not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him So likewise shall my Heavenly Father doe also unto you if yee from your Heart forgive not every one his Brother their trespasses Mat. 18. 32. 33 c. Let us begin with the Texts of the first of the foure Orders mentioned §. 7. where the Death of Christ is presented as relating unto the World From the tenor and import of all the Scriptures of this Denomination and Tribe it will be made evident that Christ died for all Men without exception of any the word World in these places being necessarily to be understood in the proper and comprehensive signification of it I mean for all Men and Women in the World in and according to their successive generations and not for any lesser or smaller number as for some of all sorts for the Elect for those that shall believe or the like We shall for brevity sake argue only some of these places and leave the light of their interpretations for a discovery of the sence and meaning of the rest The first proposed of these was that place of Renowne Joh. 3. 16. So §. 8. God loved the World that He gave c. Evident it is from hence that Christ was given viz. unto Death for them or for
more of them Therefore universality of Redemption by Christ is the most unquestionable Doctrine of the Apostle in this Scripture The next specified in the said Catalogue or Inventory was Because we thus §. 2. judge that if one died for ALL then were ALL dead and that he died for ALL that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him who died for them and rose againe a 2 Cor. 5. 14. 15. We see the Apostles judgement here is very cleer that Christ died for ALL he once cleerly supposeth it if one died for ALL. i. e. since one died for ALL the Particle if being racionantis not dubitantis as in twenty places besides meaning Christ and once plainly asserteth it and that he died for ALL i. e. We also judge that he died for ALL. That which is commonly given in by way of answer to this and other Scriptures both of the former and latter import by those who looke another way in the controversie in hand is not much considerable But that which it is is this they pretend that both the word World and such terms of universality as these All All Men every Man c. are in many places of Scripture used and accordingly are to be taken and understood in a restrained signification as sometimes for many or greater numbers of Men sometimes for some of all sorts sometimes for Jewes and Gentiles or the like From whence they would infer that therefore such Terms and Expressions as these are in the Scripture in hand and in the others formerly cited for our purpose to be taken in some of these limited significations and not in the rigor or extent of what they properly signifie as viz. for an absolute and unlimited universality of men For to this we answer 1. By way of Concession most true it is that these Notes or Terms of universality All All Men every Man c. are in many places of Scripture necessarily to be taken in some such limited and restrained signification as is affirmed But then 2. I answer further by way of exception foure things First that neither §. 3. the terms we speak of nor any other words or expressions in Scripture are in any other case or upon any other pretence whatsoever to be taken out of their proper and best known significations but only when the tenor of the Context or some circumstance of the place doth necessitate and inforce such a construction of them Now evident it is by what hath been formerly argued upon the Scriptures alledged that there is no necessity at all in respect of any the respective Contexts nor of any circumstance in any of them to understand the said terms of Universality any otherwise then in their most proper i. e. in their most extensive and comprehensive significations 2. That which is more then this we have evidently proved that the very tenor of the severall Contexts wherein the aforesaid places are found doth absolutely enforce and necessitate us unto such a proper and comprehensive signification of the said terms of universality as hath been contended for so that there can be no Reasonable Regular or Grammaticall sence or construction made of those Places unlesse such a sence of these terms be admitted 3. To reason thus these or these Words or Terms are to be taken in §. 4. this or in that sence in such and such places of Scripture Therefore they must or they may be taken in the same sence in such and such other places of Scripture is to reason our selves into a thousand errors and absurdities As for example evident it is that in that Scripture Joh. 18. 16. where it is said that Peter stood at the doore by the word doore is meant a doore of wood or some such materiall But would it not be ridiculously erroneous to infer from hence that therefore it is to be taken or may be taken in the same sence Joh. 10. 9. where Christ saith I am the Doore So again when Paul saith that Christ sent him to the Gentiles to open their eyes Acts 26. 18. evident it is that by the word eyes he means their inward eyes their Minds Judgements and Understandings but from hence to conclude that therefore when David saith that the Idols which Men make have eyes Psal 116. 5. the word eyes is to be understood or may be understood here also in the same sence is to conclude that which common sence it self abhorreth So that the weaknesse of all such arguings or pleadings as this the words All All Men every Man are in these and these places of Scripture to be taken in a limited sence for some of All sorts of Men for Jewes and Gentiles or the like therefore they are to be taken in the same sence in all others where they are found is notorious and most unworthy considering men Though whilest a man is a Prisoner he cannot goe whither he desires but must be content with the narrow bounds of his Prison it doth not follow from hence that therefore when he is discharged and set at liberty he must needs continue in his Prison still especially when his necessary occasions call him to another place whither also he hath a desire otherwise to goe * See more upon this account in the preceding Chapter Sect. 35. 36. and likewise Sect. 19 of this We have as concerning the former Scripture evidently proved that the §. 5. terms ALL Men must of necessity be taken in their most proper free and unlimited significations and shall God assisting demonstrate the same in those yet remaining Let us at present because the place in hand is pregnant and full to our purpose evince above all contradiction that the word ALL or ALL Men in it cannot with the honour of St. Pauls intellectualls be understood otherwise Because we thus judge saith he that if one died for ALL then were ALL dead and that he died for ALL that they who live c. Observe that clause of distribution that they who live we judge that Christ died for ALL that they who live i. e. That all they without exception who recover and are or shall be delivered from this death by Christ for them should not live c. So then if by the word ALL or ALL Men for whom the Apostle here judgeth or concludeth that Christ died we shall understand the universality of the Elect only for ALL Men i. e. for All the Elect and for these only we shall grievously misfigure the faire face of a worthy sentence and render it incongruous and inconsistent with all Rules and Principles of Discourse For then the tenor of it must rise and run thus we judge that Christ died for all the Elect that all the Elect who shall live and be recovered from death by Christ should not live c. Doth not the eare of every mans reason yea of common sence it self taste an uncouthnesse and unsavourinesse of sound in such a
Texture of words as this Yea doth not such a carriage of the place cleerly imply that there are or may be some of the Elect themselves who shall not live or be restored from death by Christ and consequently shall not be bound upon any such ingagement to live unto him Doubtlesse if by the word ALL the Apostle had meant ALL the Elect and these only he would not have added that they who live but rather that they or these might live For these words that they who live cleerly import a possibility at least yea a futurity also i. e. That it would so come to passe that some of those ALL for whom Christ died would not live and consequently would be in no capacity of living from themselves to live unto him The uncouthnesse and sencelessnesse of such interpretations as these was somewhat more at large argued in the next preceding Chapter Sect. 12. 13 c. But now let us take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ALL in the proper and due signification of it viz. for the generality or universality of men the sence will run cleer and have a savoury and sweet relish with it Because we thus judge i. e. upon cleer Grounds and Principles of reason argue and conclude that if one died for All Men then were All Men dead i. e. Obnoxious unto death dead in Law as good as dead otherwise they should not have had any need that another should die for their preservation and that he died for All Men i. e. we further also judge and conclude that he died for All Men with this intent or for this end amongst others that they who live i. e. That whosoever of those for whom he thus died shall be saved by this death of his for them should in consideration of and by way of signall thankfulnesse for such a Salvation not live unto themselves i. e. only or chiefly minde themselves whilest they live in the World in their carnall and Worldly interests but unto him who died for them and rose again i. e. Promote his interest and affaires in the World who so notably ingaged them hereunto by dying for them and by resuming his Life and Being after his Death is become capable of their love and service to him in this kinde In such a carriage of the place as this there is spirit and life evidence of Reason Commodiousnesse of Sence Regularnesse of Construction no forcing or straining of Words or Phrases or the like whereas in any such exposition which contracts the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ALL Men either to the Elect or to any lesser number of Men then ALL there will be found an universall disturbance in the sentence nothing orderly smooth or clear By the way the Apostle in saying that Christ died for All Men that they §. 6. who live should not live unto themselves c. doth not intend to confine the duty of thankfulnesse for Christs Death only unto the Saints or those that are put into an estate of Salvation by it as if wicked Men and Unbelievers ought him no service at all upon that account but only shewes that Christ expects or lookes for no such deniall of themselves for his sake at the hands of any but of theirs only who come actually to taste and partake of the great benefit and blessing of his death Thus then we see that the word ALL or ALL Men though in some place or places it may yea of necessity must signifie only some men or some parts of all men yet in others and particularly in those two lately insisted upon it must with the like necessity signifie ALL Men without exception 4. And lastly for the word World which was the terme of contention in the former head of Scriptures though I deny not but that in some places it signifies only some part of men in the World and not the intire universality of Men as Luke 2. 1. Acts 19. 27. and frequently elsewhere yet that it any where signifies precisely that part of the World which the Scripture calls the Elect I absolutely deny neither hath it yet been nor I believe ever will be proved and the rather because the Holy Ghost delights still as some instances have been given a Cap. 5. Sect. 10. and more might be added without number to expresse that part or party of men in the World which is contrary unto the Saints and which are strangers and enemies unto God by the World This by way of answer to that exception or pretence against the exposition given of the Scriptures alledged viz. that the word World and those generall terms ALL and every Man are sometimes used in a restrained signification Concerning the exposition given of the Scripture last argued were it not §. 7. clear and pregnant enough by the light wherein it hath been presented further countenance might be given unto it by shewing what friends it hath amongst our best and most approved Authors Among the Ancients Chrysostome is generally esteemed and that worthily the best Interpreter of the Scriptures His sence of the place under debate is plainly enough the same with ours For saith he writing upon the place He meaning Christ had not died or would not have died for All had not All died or been dead In which words he cleerly supposeth that Christ died for as many as were dead and consequently for ALL without exception in as much as ALL without exception or difference were dead A little after thus For it argueth an excesse of much love both to die for SO GREAT A WORLD and to die for it being so affected or disposed as it was b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amongst our later Divines Musculus is not the least if not equall to the greatest Yet he also gives the right hand of fellowship to the interpretation given upon the place But Christ saith he died not only for his friends but for his enemies also NOT FOR SOME MEN ONELY BVT FOR ALL without exception This is the unmeasurable or vast extent of the love of God a Christus verò non pro amicis tantum sed inimici◠non pro quibusdam tantùm sed pro omnibus Mortuus est Haec est immensa Divinae dilectionis amplitudo But the cause we plead needs no such Advocates as these being potent enough with its own evidence and equity and therefore we shall retaine no more of them A third Text of Scripture presented upon the same account with the former §. 8. was that he by the Grace of God should taste death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for every Man b Heb. 2. 9. This clause importeth that universality of attonement made by the Death of Christ which we maintaine more significantly if more may be and with lesse liablenesse to any evasion or shift then any of the former places ingaged in the warfare To shew that the Lord Christ though cloathed with a body of flesh
and all other reasonings and demands of like import with them I Answer 1. To be in danger of falling away and to be under a Possibility of falling away are two very different things at least if we take the word danger in the common which yet is the Proper Notion and signification of it viz. as it imports a Probability or likelyhood of evill to befall those that are said to be in danger A man that is in danger Properly so called of suffering evill if the evill be great cannot well injoy himself with much Comfort or Peace whilest the danger continues But he that is only in a possibility of suffering evill especially being sufficiently Provided of meanes whereby to prevent the comming of the evill upon him if he please is fully capable of injoying himself upon the richest and best terms of security that are competiable to a Creature Nor are men wont to be troubled with the lightest grudgings of feare in respect of such an evill though very grievous in the Kinde and Nature of it which may very possibly befall them in case they may with ordinary care keep themselves from it Men may very possibly fall into the fire and be burnt into the water and be drowned from the tops of Houses or Steeples and be dash'd in peeces yet no man lives ever a whit the more uncomfortably or under any kinde of feare because they live under a Possibility of suffering these great evills The reason of their security in this kinde is because they know that God hath given them reason and understanding sufficient to preserve themselves from them In like manner God having vouchsafed unto the Saints meanes abundantly sufficient to preserve themselves from Apostasie and consequently from Perishing so that they need not either Apostatize or Perish except themselves please there is no occasion at all much lesse any necessity why they should live any whit the more uncomfortably or abate so much as the least haire of their Head in confidence of being saved only because they are under a Possibility of Declining and so of Perishing The Apostle Paul acknowledgeth himself to have been under a Possibility of being made a Reprobate or cast-away lest saith he having Preached unto others I my self should prove or become a cast-away a 1 Cor. 9. 27 yet at what an excellent rate and height of comfort yea of joy unspeakeable and glorious did he live I am perswaded saith he that neither Death nor Life nor Angells nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shalâ— be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord b Rom. 8. 38 39. That which ministred unto him the ground-worke of this most raised and blessed confidence notwithstanding the Possibility he was under of being made a cast-away was partly that cleare and certaine knowledge which he had of the unchangeable Purpose of God to give Salvation unto all those who should Persevere in Faith and Holinesse unto the end parâ—ly also the like knowledge of the bounty of God towards all His Saints in vouchsafing unto them so rich and full a Proportion of meanes as he doth whereby to Persevere accordingly Thus then we see that the Doctrine of falling away teaching only a Possibility hereof and so of Perishing is no Doctrine of uncomfortableness nor necessarily occasioneth the least fear in men of falling away or of Perishing 2. Suppose for Argument sake the Doctrine of Perseverance should §. 22. be subscribed unto and that absolute assurance of Salvation granted unto Believers which this Doctrine pretends to give unto them yet will not that conditionall assurance which the other Dostrine affords unto them fall much short of it yea in most respects some whereof have been already touched it will be found in order to their Comfort and Peace greater then it Put case I were a man who very much desired to live long in the World and God should please to grant me a Lease or Assurance of my life for a thousand years only upon condition that I should not willfully destroy myself as either by thrusting a Sword through my own bowels or by casting my self headlong from some high Tower or by taking Poyson known to me for such before hand with the like would I not upon the matter be as well satisfied with such a conditionall Lease or Grant as this as with one that should be absolute and wherein my life should be assured unto me against all possible attempts to be made by my self to destroy it Doubtless if it were simply long life which I desired the former grant would be as satisfactory unto me as the latter Indeed if besides the security of my life and of the continuance of it for such a terme I should wantonly or vaine gloriously desire to shew desperate tricks without fear or danger as to take Lyons by the beards or Beares by the pawes to treade upon Cockatrices to wash in cauldrons of boyling Lead or the like then the latter grant would accommodate me better then the former In like manner if it be simply and singly the Salvation of my soule which I desire and the certainty or assurance hereof such a conditionall Promise made unto me by God as this that saved I shall certainly be if I will but quit my self like a Man abstaine from foolish lusts and not with the Dog returne againe to my vomit or with the Swine that hath been washed to my wallowing in the mire such a Promise I say as this is security in abundance unto me in that behalf But if my desire be over and above the saving of my soule to live loosely and prophanly to disport my self in all manner of sin and wickedness to affront the Heavens and bid defiance to the Almighty and laugh Jesus Christ and His Gospell in the face to scorne or the like without running the hazard of losing my soule then I confesse only such a Grant or Promise of Salvation from God as the Doctrine of absolute Perseverance demands would satisfie and content me and furnish me with that assurance which I desire So that the most express and evident truth is that there is nothing more in that assurance of Salvation which the Doctrine of absolute Perseverance pretends unto then in that which the Doctrine of falling away or of conditionall Perseverance indulgeth unto the Saints but only a liberty or fearlesseness of sinning And whether men may not be of a free ingenuous and Son-like spirit without a liberty or boldness of sinning yea whether such a liberty as this will consist with that spirit I freely refer to the Determination of any man who hath been never so little baptised into the spirit whereby the Saints cry Abba Father 3. That Doctrine which is efficacious and proper to cut off and prevent §. 23. all those occasions and miscarriages from which troubles of Conscience doubtings
need to be of destroying their Naturall Lives upon the same terms I answer 1. There is nothing which indangereth the Salvation of the Soule but sin yea there is nothing that causeth this danger to any much considerable or formidable degree but only such sins which are notoriously manifest unto the Saints if not by the light of Nature yet by the light of Grace and of the Scriptures manifest I meane not only or simply as or that they are sins but manifest also according to that Relation wherein we now speak of them i. e. as and that they are sins threatning as it were with a loud voyce destruction to the Soule So that in the first place God hath vouchsafed unto the Saints means fully sufficient to informe them of whatsoever is imminently or apparantly destructive to their Soules 2. He hath given them Eyes wherewith and light whereby cleerly and §. 33. evidently to see and know that it is not more Rationall or Man-like for Men to refraine all such actions which they know they cannot performe but to the present and unavoideable destruction of their Naturall Lives then it is to forbear all sinfull acts whatsoever and especially all such which are apparantly destructive to their Soules 3. God hath not only given them the Eyes and the light we speake of §. 34. wherewith and whereby cleerly to see and understand the things mentioned but hath further endued them with a faculty of consideration wherewith to reflect upon and review to weigh and ponder as oft as they please what they see understand and know in this kinde Now whatsoever a Man is capable 1. Of Seeing and Knowing 2. of Pondering and Considering he is capable of raising or working an inclination in Himself towards it answerable in Strength Vigor and Power to any degree of goodnesse or desireablenesse which he is able to apprehend therein For what is an inclination towards any thing as suppose towards an act or course and frequency of actions but a propension and leaning as it were of the Heart and Soule towards it And how comes the Heart or Soule of a Man to propend or leane towards any thing but by apprehending and considering somewhat that is seemingly at least if not really also good for him therein And the greater the good is that is apprehended herein and the cleerer the more raised and multiplied the apprehension is the greater proportionably the fuller of Strength Vigour and Power must the Propension and inclination of the Heart and Soule needs be thereunto So that if 1. There be worth and goodnesse sufficient in any object whatsoever to beare it and 2. If a Man be in a capacity of discovering and apprehending this good cleerly and 3. Be in a like capacity of revising or considering this his vision as oft as he pleaseth certainly he is in a capacity and at liberty to work himself to what strength or degree of desire and inclination towards it he pleaseth Now evident and certaine it is to every Man or else easily may be 1. That there is more good in abstaining from things either eminently dangerous or apparantly destructive to his Soule then in forbearing things apparantly destructive to his Naturall Being 2. As evident it is that every Man is capable of attaining or comming to the certaine knowledge of and of cleerly apprehending this excesse of good to him in the former above the latter 3. Neither is it a thing lesse evident then either of the former that every Man is as capable of Ruminating or Re-apprehending the said excesse of good as much and as oft as he pleaseth as he is simply of apprehending it All which supposed as undeniably true it followes with an high hand and above all contradiction that the Saints may and have meanes and opportunities faire and full for the purpose Plant an inclination or disposition in themselves to refrain all manner of sins apparantly dangerous and destructive to the safety of their Soules fuller of Energy Vigour Life Strength Power then that Naturall inclination in them which teacheth them to refrain all actions which they know must needs be accompanied with the destruction of their Naturall Beings Therefore if they be more yea or so much afraid of destroying their Lives voluntarily and knowingly as by casting themselves into the Fire or the Water or the like then they are of falling away through sin the Fault or Reason hereof is not at all in that Doctrine which affirm's and inform's them that there is a Possibility that they may fall away but in themselves and in their own voluntary negligence they have meanes and opportunities as we have Proved in abundance to render themselves every whit as secure yea and more secure touching the latter as they are or reasonably can be concerning the former The Possibility they live under of destroying their Naturall Lives with their own hands doth not occasion the least trouble or fear of death in them in such a way Nor needs the Possibility they lie under of falling away being grounded only upon a Possibility of their own voluntary actings occasion the least disturbance uncomfortableness or fear in their spirits that they shall fall away Therefore 2. To the maine objection in hand I answer further concerning the §. 35. manifold weaknesses of the Saints their aptnesse to sin c. these indeed are sufficient and Proper to cause them to fear but nor the fear of falling away from God or from his Grace but that fear which the Scripture is wont to oppose to high mindednesse Be not high minded but feare a Rom. 11. 20 This fear is nothing else but an humble reflection upon a Man 's own weakenesse and insufficiency to stand by his own strength which necessarily draweth along with it an humble dependance upon God for strength whereby to stand together with an acknowledgement of strength received from him when and whilest he doth stand This is evident from that of the Apostle worke out your own Salvation with feare and trembling i. e. with humility with a sence and acknowledgement of no sufficiency as from your selves for so important a work for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to doe of His good Pleasure a Phili 2. 12. 13. i. e. you are debtors unto him both for every disposition you finde in your selves to act and likewise for every action wherein you doe act in order to your Salvation But of this Passage of Scripture more hereafter God willing In the meane time certaine it is that the infirmities and weaknesses of the Saints through â—hich they are apt to sin doe not require any such Decree in God which â—ncludeth in it an impossibility of their falling away to render them secure from or against such falling For as the lighter crosses and discontents which men daily meet with in their houshold affaires conversings with Men and dealings in the World bring them into no danger or feare of
whatsoever opposeth the happiness of it being so built and adhering constantly and perseveringly unto him For the Pronounce Relative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it doth not Relate to the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will build but to the Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Church 2. Whereas in the said Proposition Christs building of His Church is expounded by the constant adhering of this Church unto him that which is the Principall thing in question is taken for granted which is very in-argumentative For the matter in question is whether the Church of Christ in all the members of it once built upon the Rock must or doth necessarily so adhere to him 3. And lastly the said exposition renders a sence very preposterous and importune For upon this account Christ should speak at no better Rate of of Reason then thus The Gates of Hell shall not prevaile i. e. the Subtilty Policy and Machinations of Satan shall not be able to seduce those that are built upon the Rock i. e. that constantly adhere unto Christ Which amounts to no more then if he should have said the Devill shall not be able to make those inconstant who shall be and remaine constant or to cause those who shall firmly adhere unto Christ not to adhere firmly to him Which strain of discourse whether it becomes him who spake as never man spake I leave unto sober men to judg Another Argument urged by some against the interpretation given is §. 8. this If by the prevailing of the Gates of Hell be meant nothing else but the eternall condemnation of or perpetuall prevailing of Death against the Church then Christ here promiseth nothing but only in the behalf of those that are Dead and consequently nothing but what may stand with a totall defection of his Church on Earth But this seems to be contrary to his intention in the place Ergo. I answer 1. It is no inconvenience to suppose or grant that Christ in this place and in the Promise here mentioned doth not insure the perpetuall continuance or Residence of a Church on Earth no more then he doth in many other Promises which yet are of very high and blessed importance in their Respective kinds In that great Evangelicall Promise whosoever believes shall be saved there is nothing but what may possibly stand with an universall defection of a Church on earth yet is the Promise great and Precious It were easie to instance many others of like nature But 2. As in the Promise last mentioned though there be nothing which necessarily includes an un-interrupted succession of Believers in the World yet is there that which exceeding much conduceth towards the propagation and raising of such a succession as viz. a promissory proposall of the greatest reward that is unto whosoever shall believe even no lesse then that of eternall life so may it be said concerning this Promise of Christ And the Gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it Here is enough said if Men would but consider and quit themselves like Men to replenish the Earth with a Generation of Believers like unto the Waters of a River which fayle not Therefore 3. And lastly It is not truly said that this Promise And the Gates of Hell shall not c. in the sence asserted relates only to those that are dead The truth is that if we speak properly neither this nor any other promise whatsoever relates only if at all unto the dead or is made only on the behalf of the Dead the Dead in propriety of Speech are utterly uncapable of Promises though not of performances of Promises But cleerly this and all other Promises are made to the living and for their accommodation and comfort though for the letter and reality of the performance of them they are not to be partakers hereof untill they have undergone the state and condition of Death It is just matter of joy unspeakeable and glorious to him that is yet living to know and consider that though he dieth yet death shall not have any such dominion over him but what he shall shake off and that with a blessed advantage and conquest in due time But this exception against the exposition asserted is but like a moat in the Sun which darkeneth not at all the Rayes or light thereof but only gaines by being here a discovery of it felf to be a thing inconsiderable and next to nothing Another passage of Scripture compell'd to bear the Crosse of the same service §. 9. with the former is that Mat. 24. 24. For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible they shall or should deceive the very elect From hence it is inferr'd that the deceiving or seducement of those who truly believe is a thing impossible But whether the drawing of such conclusions as this from such Scriptures as that be not a drawing of darkness out of light the considerations ensuing will be competent enough to determine 1. In their Notion who trie to fetch the Water of Perseverance out of the Flint of the Scripture mentioned the word Elect doth not signifie Saints or true Believers but such as they suppose to have been in a personall consideration chosen by God from eternity out of the great body of mankinde with an intent to save them against all possible interveniencies or oppositions whatsoever Now that such as these at least before their calling are as liable to be deceived or seduced as other Men is their own confession without feare And the Apostle Paul to whom questionlesse they will not deny the grace of their Election acknowledgeth himself with Titus to have sometimes been foolish disobedient and DECEIVED a T it 3. 3. Yea 2. It is frequently confessed by the same party that such Elect as they meane and we lately described may even after they are called and have believed by the Just and Wise sufferance of God fall into Heresie and this in fundamentall Points yea and into that fearfull sin of an abnegation and abjuration of Christ and Christian Religion If so then certainly there is no impossibility of their seduction Yea the great Patrons of the Doctrine of Perseverance which managed the Conference at the Hague about these Questions Anno. 1611. acknowledged that even true Believers may fall so far as that the Church according to the command of Christ shall be compelled to testifie against them that they cannot beare or tolerate them in their outward communion and that they shall have no part in the Kingdome of Christ except they repent or be converted b Dâ—inde respondemus ad minorem fieri posse ut vere fideles eo prolabantur ut Ecclesia ex mandato Christi cogatur pronunciare se in externa sua communione tolerare non posse neque cos partem in regno Christi habituros nist resipiscant Collat. Hag. p. 399. Doubtlesse they who having once truly believed become
deliberate or elective Act of the will of man cannot be said to be positively peremptorily or absolutely Decreed by God nor is it any other in the Nature and Condition of it then what may very possibly not be Now certaine it is that the use of means to prevent seduction in the Elect is such an Act or series of Actions which depends upon the deliberate Act of their will at least so far that it can never take place or be without a deliberate concurrency hereof If it be yet further said Though the use of means to prevent seduction in §. 17. the Elect depends upon the deliberate motions and actings of their wills thus far that it cannot take place or be performed without them yet may it have such a relation unto or dependance upon the absolute will or decree of God which shall give certainty and infallibility of being unto it notwithstanding For God is able so to interpose by His excellency of Power in all the deliberations of Men as to carry and fix the issues and determinations of them which way and upon what He pleaseth To this I answer that the Question is not what God is able by the excellency of His Power to doe in this kinde but what He is pleased to doe or what He hath decreed to doe out of the Counsell and Liberty of His Will And that which we affirme and plead in the cause depending is not that God is not able to determine the wills of the Elect to the use of means proper and sufficient to prevent their being deceived but that He hath no where declared Himself willing oâ— resolved to doe it and consequently that it is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conceit above what is written to think that He doth it Therefore untill it be proved either from the Scriptures or by the light of some solid demonstration otherwise that God hath absolutely Decreed the non-seduction of the Elect we still speak of a seduction to destruction or which is the same upon our Adversaries Grant and Plea lately mentioned the determination of their wills to the use of means necessary to secure them against seduction we judge our selves free in Conscience to deny the pretended impossibility of the Saints deception or seduction Another Scripture much discoursed in the behalf of the common Doctrine §. 18. of Perseverance is 1 Pet. 1. 5. who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation From hence it is frequently concluded that they who once truly believe and are regenerate Verse 3. are kept by the ingagement of the Mighty Power of God from falling away to destruction I Answer 1. That it is not here said that regenerate Men are kept simply and absolutely by the Power of God unto Salvation but that they are kept by the Power of God THROVGH FAITH unto Salvation Which plainly implieth that the Power of God here spoken of ingageth for no Mans preservation or safeguarding unto Salvation but by the mediation of Faith or any whit longer then their Faith shall continue Now here being nothing said or implied touching the certainty of the continuance of the Faith of the Saints unto the end nor concerning any ingagement of the Power of God for the Perpetuation thereof evident it is that nothing can be concluded from hence for the establishment of the said Doctrine of Perseverance But 2. For the cleer sence and importance of the place it is this that Men once begotten by God to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Have or may Have the greatest security which the infinite Power of God can afford that persevering in that Faith from whence this hope issueth unto the end they shall be saved The place according to this interpretation runs parallel in sence and import with these and their fellowes But he that shall endure to the end shall be saved a Mat. 24. 13 viz. against all opposition nnd contradiction of impediments whatsoever Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life b Revel 2. 10 So with that lately opened upon this Rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it c Mat. 16. 18 to which you may add Joh. 10. 18 19. Eph. 1. 19. with many others This exposition perfectly accords with Bullingers Commentary upon the place In the meane time saith He let this suffice us that eternall happinesse is in safety for us or to us which no either Man or Devill can intercept or deprive us of unlesse Faith failes us wherewith neglecting the things which mortall Men so much seek after let us wholly depend upon Heaven d Nobis interim sit satis quôd aeterna faeâ—icitas nobis est in tuto quam nullus hominum aut daemonum possit intercipere modò ne eos nos deficiat fides quâ neglectis rebus mortalium totipendeamus à coelo In the clause modo ne nos deficiat fides so that Faith faile â—â— not He clearly supposeth 1. A possibility that our present Faith may faile us 2. That in case it shall faile us we may perish notwithstanding any thing here delivered by the Apostle concerning our being kept by the Power of God unto Salvation If against this Interpretation it shall be objected that it greatly depresseth §. 19. and in a manner quencheth the spirit of the consolation clearly intended by the Holy Ghost to be administred unto the Saints in the words and that it makes very little for their comfort to hear of their being kept unto Salvation by God or by His Power in case this keeping depends upon their continuance in Faith especially if this also be uncertain and depending upon themselves their diligence and care to procure it I answer 1. That the Heart of this Objection was broken in the former Chapter a Sect. 21. 22. where we shewed that in matters of greatest consequence and most desireable in things appertaining to this life yea as to life it self the most timorous and cautious Men neither wish nor desire any greater security then to have what they desire assured unto them upon their own willingnesse and care either for the procurement or the continued injoyment of it The most impotent lover of life under Heaven and He that lives in the greatest bondage in the World through feare of Death would both of them be highly satisfied if God would but vouchsafe such a promise as this unto them that so long as they should desire the continuance of their lives and take heed of destroying them themselves by unnaturall or desperate courses as by casting themselves into the Fire into the Water down from high Towers c. He would secure them against all other interveniences or means of dissolution whatsoever In like manner it is and ought to be so esteemed by the Saints a consolation rich and glorious that God hath undertaken and ingaged Himself by the
other ways and means likely to endear my self unto them and to assure them and their affections unto my self for ever I will really and effectually essay and try to doe it An aire of this Interpretation of the place breaths in the Annotations of our English Divines themselves upon it who Paraphrase it thus I will betroth thee I will re-establish my Covenant of Grace with thee not only to observe that Faith which is required in all Covenants but also to forgive thee thy sins and not to take notice of thy unworthinesse But according to the Sence and Exposition of the place given which cannot reasonably be gainesaid the Promise therein is not absolute as to the effect of such a desponsation of this People which should stand for ever but only as to the means yet these very efficacious and proper to be used by God for the producing such an effect And thus Tarnovius a late and learned Expositor of the Reformed Religion understands it I will betroth thee unto me whom saith he thou formerly despised'st and shamefully forsookest and AS MVCH AS IN ME LIETH whose gifts are without Repentance Rom. 11. 29. this betrothing shall stand firme for ever nor shall this spiritual conjunction between us ever be dissolved as formerly i Desponsabo te mihi quem antea spretum turpiter dereliquisti Et quod ad me cujus dona sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11. 29 desponsatio illa durabit in seculum ut nunquam desinat haec spiritualis conjunctio quemadmodum antâ—a conferre Ezek. 16. 8 c. c. Those words quod ad me i. e. as far as in me lieth or as far as concerneth me plainly shew that this Author looked upon the Promise of Betrothing especially as to the perpetuity of it but as conditional and such which through the unfaithfulness unworthiness of the party to be Betrothed might possibly never bring forth such a betrothment We have once and again if not a third time also given notice formerly that the using of means endevors or attempts to bring things to passe are very commonly in Scripture expressed by the effects themselves k Cap 10. sect 20 55 c. So that all things considered it is a little strange to me that learned and sober Men should ever be tempted to build the Doctrine of Perseverance as they forme and teach it upon such Scriptures as this and those lately opened But besides places of this imprese and those dismissed in the former §. 9. Chapter they insist upon others to prove that God hath made an absolute promise of finall perseverance unto all true Believers Let us then briefly try the spirit of these for if we can sinde so much as any one promise from God of such an import in all the Scriptures all opposition must keep silence for ever Some suppose they descry such a promise as we speak of in that of David They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever a Psal 125. 1. I answer here is no promise that they that trust in the Lord shall abide trusting in the Lord for ever or that they shall not be removed from this trusting in Him for ever but only that trusting in Him and abiding so trusting they shall never be removed viz. from an estate or condition of peace and happinesse into an estate of trouble or misery For it is a stability of happinesse or safety not of Faith that is here promised unto those that trust in the Lord. If it be objected that even a stability in happinesse supposeth or includeth a stability in Faith in as much as no Man can make shipwrack of his Faith but his happinesse is wracked by it I answer that the meaning of the promise in hand is not that they who at present trust in the Lord let them at any time herafter trust or distrust Him shall yet be unremoveably happy nor to imply that they who once or at any time trust in the Lord shall be necessitated by him to trust in Him for ever but only to shew that those that â—â—st in the Lord are as such and whilest such of that kinde of persons for wâ—â—se preservation and safety from evill the mighty Power of God Himself staâ—deth ingaged and whom He will protect from evill As when the Apostle said to the Corinthians that they were in his Heart to die and live together with them b 2 Cor. 7. 3. His meaning was nor that they were so in his Heart to die c. that what manner of persons soever they should prove afterwards though they should apostatize to Idolatry Blasphemy Heathenisme or the like He could notwithstanding be well content to live and die with them but thus they were in His heart c. i. e. they were for the present such persons whom he singularly affected and with whom he could be well content to hold Communion both in death and life We have given notice formerly more then once c Cap. 10. Sect. 43. and Sect 51. Sect. 54 Sect. 1. of this Chapter that the Promises of God made unto Men with respect to such and such speciall qualifications are to be understood with such an Explication or Caution wherewith His threatnings against such and such particular sins are to be interpreted As for example when God threatneth that unrighteous persons shall not inherit the Kingdome of God d 1 Cor 6. 9. and John Baptist that he that believeth not the Son shall not see life e Joh. 3. 36. c. the meaning is not that they that are now unrighteous or unbelieving though they should repent and believe hereafter should yet be excluded from the Kingdome of God but that unlesse they shall repent of their sins they should for them be excluded In like manner when God Promiseth stability of condition safety salvation or the like unto those that believe and trust in Him He intends no obligation hereby to these persons otherwise then upon their abiding such in those qualifications as of Faith and trusting in Him in regard whereof the said Promises were made to them God Himself leadeth us as it were by the hand to such an interpretation as this as well of His Promises as of His Threatnings Such I meane of both kinds as those specified At what instant saith He I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdome to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whâ—m I have pronounced turne from their evill I will repent me of the evill that I thought to doe unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdome to build and to plant it i. e. shall promise to build or to plant either the one or the other if it doe evill in my sight that it obey not my voyce then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit
any respect to their continuance or non continuance in his words for the future is evident from the words immediately preceding in the same Verse Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him Therefore being such who believed on him they were His true Disciples though they had not had opportunity as yet to approve themselves His Disciples indeed i. e. so as to obtaine eternall happinesse by their Discipleship in this kinde 2. For those words Heb. 3. 6. whose house are we if we hold fast the §. 49. confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end together with those of like character Verse 14. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end there is much the same consideration of them with the former The meaning is not as the rigor of the letter seems to hold forth as if their being the House of God or partakers of Christ at present depended upon their future being of what for the present they were things that are are what they are so or so such or such determinately whatsoever followes or not followes in the future no nor yet as if their future Perseverance would declare that their present estates or standing in the Faith was good for they whose Faith for the present is weak and not able to justifie them may notwithstanding insensibly both to themselves and others grow up in time to such a Faith which is justifying and may persevere in it accordingly but only to shew that their being the House of God for the present and so their being partakers of Christ for the present would stand them in little stead would in the end and upshort of all be as if they had not been yea and of a worse consequence too then so unlesse they persevered in the same Faith and Profession unto the end This Exposition of the places is fully consistent with the maine drift and scope of the Epistle which was not to teach the Hebrews to know whether they were true Believers or no at present much lesse to teach them this knowledge by what they should approve themselve◠to be to the day of their death which had been to give Men darknesse to see by but to animate incourage urge and presse them to continue constant in that Faith which at present they had imbraced and made profession of unto the end 3. And lastly as to those words 1 Ioh. 2. 19. They went out from us §. 50. but they were not of us For if they had been of us c. we gave a large account in the preceding Chapter a Cap. 10. Sect. 21 22 c. where we gave evidence upon evidence that there is no such thing so much as supposed or insinuated in them as that they who once truly believe must of necessity alwayes persevere believing The cleere scope and drift of the Context carries them quite another way I shall here only adde this that the Apostles scope being as is evident from that verse and the words next preceding to caution them against those Anti-Christian Teachers that were abroad in the World lest they should be seduced by them it had been very incongruous and enough to blunt if not quite to take off the edge of such a caution so imediately to subjoyne such a Doctrine from whence they might conclude that it was a thing unpossible for them to be seduced at least to the making shipwrack of their Faith Besides that it was not unpossible for them to be thus seduced is fully evident from Verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you which yee have heard from the beginning if that which you have heard from the beginning shall remaine in you yee also shall continue in the Son and in the Father If there had been an impossibility either that the word which they heard from the beginning should not have remained in them to the end or that they should not have continued in the Son doubtlesse the Apostle would never have subjected the former unto question nor suspended the latter upon the taking place of it both which are manifestly done by Him in the said words No Man speaks at so poore a rate of reason and sence as this If the light makes things visible then may an Horse or a Man be seen by it Another Argument calculated for the support of the received Doctrine §. 51. of Perseverance pretends regulation by many pregnant places of Scripture which beare that true Believers who are partakers of the quickning Spirit of Christ and of Regeneration cannot either totally or finally lose them or fall away from them The places levied upon this account are Rom. 6. 2. Verse 8 9 10 11. 1 Joh. 3. 9. 1 Joh. 5 4. 18. Jude Ver. 3. Apoc. 20. 6. To this I answer That upon due examination none of these places will be found guilty of any such Doctrine as they stand charged with in this Argument We have at large in the former Chapter cleared the innocency of one of them viz. 1 Joh. 3. 9. which bears the greatest heat and burthen of the charge to the rest we answer in course Rom. 6. 2. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein These words import no impossibility of their returning unto sin who are dead to it at least who by the tenor and band of their Christian Profession are dead to it for of this kinde of death to sin the Apostle seemes here to speak but only a great and signall unworthinesse in them so to doe So that the interrogative particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how carries some such sence with it as this with what face or with what conscience or with what comfort peace or the like HOVV then saith Ioseph to His Mistresse can I doe this great wickednesse and sin against God a Gen. 39. 9. HOVV can I doe it doth not here imply an impossibility for Ioseph to have committed the sin but only a great unseemlinesse or unworthinesse See also Mat. 6. 4. Gal. 4. 9. c. Calvin Himself stretcheth the same line of interpretation over the Scripture in hand which we have done affirming that Paul here discourseth what manner of persons it becommeth us to be when God hath shewed mercy to us and adopted us freely and by an Adverb of the Future-tense sheweth what kind of change ought to follow our justification a Porrò memoriâ tenendum est quod nuper attigi Paulum non hic tractare quales nos Deus inveniat dum vocat in societatem Filii sui sed quales nos esse deceat postquam nostri misertus gratis nos adoptavit Adverbio enim futuri temporis qualis justiciam sequi debeat mutatio ostendit Calvin Rom. 6. 2. The Contents of Verse 8. 9 10 11. of the same Chapter are of the same §. 52. import and interpretation with the former Now if we be dead with Christ we believe
that we shall also live with Him Knowing that Christ being raised againe from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over Him For in that He died He died unto sin once but in that He liveth He liveth unto God Likewise reckon yee also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin c. The intent of the Apostle in these passages is nothing lesse then to teach or insinuate a non-possibility of their returning or living againe unto sin who at present are dead unto it such a supposall as this is diametrally inconsistent with the emphaticall energy of His exhortation Verse 12. Let not sin therefore reigne in your mortall bodies as likewise with many other pregnant Scriptures which shall be consulted with in due time but to set forth the spirituall condition of the Children of God partly in respect of what it is partly in respect of what it should or ought to be by a metaphor or similitude borrowed from what happened unto Christ corporally or literally after this manner As Christ died once corporally for the abolishing or taking away of the sins of Men but now liveth and acteth for the advancement of the Glory of God and is not obnoxious unto any more dyings in that kinde in like manner they who are his or desire or professe themselves to be His ought to be conformable to Him in these things in a spirituall way as viz. by dying unto sin i. e. by endvouring to destroy and work out all sinfull dispositions from within them and by ceasing from all Sinfull actions and wayes and againe by living unto God i. e. Righteously Holily and so that God may be glorified in the World by the excellency of their conversations and by persevering and continuing in this course of living unto God without relapsing into that death in sin which is opposite hereunto even as Christ liveth unto God so as never to cease thus living unto Him Therefore all that can be inferr'd from this contexture of Scripture is the duty of Perseverance in Faith and Holinesse or necessity of it in respect of the great obligation to it that lieth upon the Saints and that professe interest in Christ and expect Salvation by Him not any absolute not any such necessity of it which is unavoideable or undeclineable by the Saints For to what purpose should they be so solemnly so seriously cautioned against that whereby they were not in any possibility of suffering inconvenience If it were impossible that sin should reigne in their mortall bodies after they were once dead to it needlesse and vaine had that exhortation been Let not sin reigne in your mortall bodies The common maxime among Divines and interpreters of Scriptures is that Similitudes or Metaphors doe not run on all foure meaning that they are not to be extended or applied to the spirituall thing intended to be illustrated by them in all the properties or relations which are found in those things from which they are taken but in respect of that only which suits naturally with the scope of the place where they are used From the consideration of Christs death once suffered by him without being liable to die the second time and so of His living unto God without danger of ever having this life extinguished or taken from Him cannot be proved either that Men who are once dead unto sin can no more live to it or that Men once alive unto God cannot possibly suffer any interruption or losse of this life Because these particulars are not mentioned or insisted upon by the Apostle to prove the absolute but only an Hypotheticall or conditionall necessity of the Saints conforming themselves spiritually unto them or unto Christ Himself in respect of them viz. if they meane to answer the tenor and import of their holy Profession or to obtaine Life and Salvation herein in the end Nor doe these words 1 Joh. 5. 4. For whatsoever is borne of God overcometh §. 53. the World and this is the victory i. e. the means of the victory or that victorious thing that overcometh the World even our Faith imply any absolute necessity that he that is borne of God or that truly believeth viz. at the present and in this respect is victorious over the World must alwayes retaine the strength and vigor of His new Birth or true Faith and so be victorious alwayes and to the end All that can be reasonably and according to the usuall import of such Scripture expressions concluded from this place is 1. That all the true-borne Sons and Daughters of God by means of that Spirit of Faith which works in them in this estate of Regeneration are for the present above the temptations and allurements of the World wherewith others are overcome and hereby remaine in imminent danger of perishing 2. That they are likewise in such a posture or condition by means of their Faith that if they shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle Pauls word is quit themselves like Men and act their Faith or with their Faith according to the vertue vigor and usefulnesse of it they may make good the ground or standing which they have gained and maintaine their present victory or conquest over the World unto the end But here is not the least or lightest intimation given but that those who are at present victorious over the World by the aid and working of their Faith may through carelesnesse security and inconsideratenesse suffer the World to recover her former advantage and so far to insinuate with them as to cause them to let fall the Shield of Faith out of their hand before they be aware of it See more to this point Sect. 9. of this Chapter Nor is there any whit more reliefe for the cause now in distresse in that §. 54. other place Ver. 18. of this Chapter We know that whosoever is borne of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth Himself and that wicked one toucheth Him not For that which is here asserted and held forth by the Holy Ghost is only this that the naturall genius or property of a true-borne In Scriptura saepe ea facta vel futura dicuntur quae fieri â—ecâ—t aut debent sive quâ— ut fiant honestas rerum natura postulat vel quibus ut sâ—ant justa gravisque causa datur Cornel. Lap. in Zachar. 13. 12. Child of God as such and whilest such is to refraine from wayes or customary practises of sin and to set a guard as it were of holy and potent considerations and resolutions about his Heart that the Devill may have no entrance or accesse thither by the mediation of any temptation whatsoever Not that such vigilancy and care as this are always perform'd and taken by Him the contrary hereunto is too much experimented but that there is a certaine propensnesse in that Divine nature wherein He partakes by being borne of God that inclines Him hereunto Men are often in Scripture Dialect
they keepe possession of what they have at present unto the end Some learned and grave Authors by the first Resurrection in this passage understand not a spirituall or metaphoricall but a literall and proper Resurrection which shall take place and be effected by God in the beginning and as it were in the morning of the great day of Judgement as they conceive another far greater then it to follow after it in the close or evening of this day b Mede Comment Apocalyp p. 277. This interpretation of the first Resurrection is marvellously probable from the Context it self For Iohn having Ver. 4. described the happy condition of those who had borne the heat and burthen of the day of Anti-Christ without fainting in this that they sate upon thornes and had judgement i. e. power of judging the World given unto them and that they reigned with Christ a thousand years He adds Ver. 5. This is the first Resurrection where likewise He saith that the rest of the dead lived not againe untill the thousand years were finished Much more might be argued for this Exposition but our present engagement craveth it not 2. Nor doth the sence contended for of the Resurrection any wayes opitulate the cause in distresse For in case it should be said that the second death shall have no Power on those that are Regenerate it must according to the constant Rule formerly delivered c Sect. 9. Sect. 44. of this Chap. Cap. 10. Sect. 43 for the interpretation of such like passages be understood with this Proviso or Explication viz. if they continue Regenerate or be found in the estate of Regeneration at their death Which condition is expressed and insisted upon in severall places and particularly Rev. 2. 11. where ou◠Saviour Himself in His Epistle to the Church of Revel 2. 11. Smyrna promiseth exemption from harme by the second death only upon condition of victory i. e. of such a victory which imports a standing fast and faithfull unto Christ in the Profession of the Gospell against all temptations allurements persecutions and whatsoever should attempt their loyalty and faithfulnesse in this kinde unto the end He that overcommeth shall not be hurt of the second Death The sence now given of these words is fully confirmed by those in the Verse immediately preceding be thou faithfull UNTO DEATH and I will give thee a Crown of life as also by other passages from the same blessed Hand to other Churches And He that overcometh saith He to the Church of Thyatira and keepeth my words UNTO THE END to Him will I give power over the Nations a Revel 2. 26. So to the Church of Sardis Behold I come quickly HOLD that FAST which thou hast that no Man take thy Crown b Revel 3. 11. To which many others of like character might be added from other places but this hath been done already in part and remaines to be done more fully in place more convenient In the meane time we cleerly see that however the received Doctrine of Perseverance saith unto the Scriptures Scriptures Scriptures yet these make no other answer but Depart from us we know you not you are a Doctrine that gather not with us but scatter what we gather CHAP. XII The former Digression yet further prosecuted and a Possibility of Defection in the Saints or true Believers and this unto Death Cleerly Demonstrated from the Scriptures IT is the saying as I remember of Quintilian Many men might have §. 1. Multi ad Sapientiam pervenire potuissent nisi se jam pervenisse putassent been wise had they not prevented themselves with an Opinion of being wise before they came to it Nor is there much Question to be made but that many have miscarried and doe miscarry daily in the great and important affaire of their everlasting Peace out of a presumption or conceit that they are under no danger in no Possibility of any such miscarrying whose most deplorable and irremediable diaster and losse in this kinde might otherwise have been prevented and their Persons Crowned with eternall glory which now are like to suffer the vengeance of eternall Fire Of so dismall a consequence it is to misunderstand pervert or wrest the Scriptures especially in order to the gratifying of the flesh or to the occasioning or incouragement of Men to turne the Grace of God in the Gospell into wantonnesse The truth is that the Scriptures seeme in many Points and matters of question to speak very doubtfully and to deliver such things in severall places and sometimes in the same which Men of contrary judgements may very plausibly interpret into a compliance with them in their respective Opinions though the unquestionable truth be that even in such cases as these they love the one Opinion and hate the other It is no part of our present ingagement to prescribe any perfect or compleat method or rule how to discover which way the Heart of the Scripture leaneth when the Tongue or Mouth of it seems to be cloven or divided between two inconsistent Opinions I shall only by the way make my Reader so far of my counsell in the businesse as to give him to know that when the letter of the Scripture hath for a time left me in a great straite and exigency of thoughts between contrary Opinions a condition that hath more then once befallen me that brief Periphrasis or Description of the Gospell which the Apostle delivers calling it the Truth which is according unto godlinesse a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1. 1. hath upon serious consideration oft delivered me yea and brought me to such a cleer understanding of the letter it self wherein before I was intangled that I evidently and with the greatest satisfaction I could desire discerned the minde of God therein and that with full consonancy to the ordinary Phrase and Manner of speaking in the Scripture upon a like occasion For having this touchstone by an unerring hand given unto me that the Gospell is a Truth according unto Godlinesse i. e. a Systeme or Body of Truth calculated and framed by God in all the veyns and parts of it for the exaltation of godlinesse in the World I was directed hereby in the case of Doctrines and Opinions incompatible between themselvs to own and cleave unto that as the truth and comporting with the Gospell the face whereof was in the clearest and directest manner set for the Promotion and Advancement of Godliness amongst Men and to refuse that which stood in opposition hereunto Nor did I finde it any matter of much difficulty or doubtfulnesse of dispute within my self especially in such cases and between such Opinions wherein I most desired satisfaction to decide and determine which of the two Opinions competitors for my consent was the greater friend unto Godlinesse That competent knowledge which God had given me of the generall course of the Scriptures together with the experimentall knowledge I had of mine
suffer Persecution a while before â—heir Faith expired So that the Faith of those who in the Parable are called Temporaries can by no argument or allegation be â—victed of any degenerateness or unsoundnesse in kinde but onely of a deficiency in point of rooting or firme fixation in the Soul Nor doth our Saviour any wayes blame or reprove it but upon this account onely Yea in blaming it upon this account onely and reproving those who had it for being no more diligent and carefull in the use of means for confirming and establishing themselves better in it He plainely gives testimony unto it in Point of truth and soundness in as much as no Man deserveth blame for not consulting or endevouring the Perpetuation of an Hypocriticall Faith in his Soul or such which though Persevered in would yet have left Him in the hand of eternall Death These Considerations and Discussions are so full of Light Evidence and Power that were not the foot of our Adversaries held in this snare to judg of the truth and Soundness and so of the Hollowness and Unsoundness of Faith by the issue and event of it as viz. the Perseverance or non-Perseverance of it unto the end they could not lightly stand in the way of their present judgements before them And yet this Rule or Method of judging is not of any good accord with their own Principles otherwise Concerning those helps or assistances of grace say our English Divines present in the Synod of Dort which are afforded by God unto Men we are to judge of them meaning in point of sufficiency or efficaciousness by the nature of the benefit offered as attainable by them and by the most manifest Word of God NOT BY THE EVENT or abuse of them a Ex naturâ benefiâ—ij oblatâ— verbo Dei â—pertissimo iudicandum est dâ— illis Gratiae auxilijs quae hominibus suppeditantur non autem ex eventu aut abusu Synod Dordr Act. Pag. 128. The last proof from the Scriptures which we shall at present insist §. 39. upon and urge for the confirmation of the Doctrine under Protection shall be that passage which holds forth these things unto us For when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonnesse those who were CLEANE ESCAPED from those who live in error While they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a Man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are againe intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them then the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousnesse then after they have known it to turne from the holy Commandement delivered unto them But it is happened unto them according to the true Proverbe the Dogg is turned to his own vomit againe and the Sow that was washed to his wallowing in the mire b Pet. â— 18 19 c. The Possibility of a totall and finall defection in true Believers lieth as large and full in these quarters as truth lightly can be lodged in words the Holy Ghost here plainely supposing that which is clearly consistent with yea and equipollent thereunto viz. that they who by the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ have cleane or truly or really 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 escaped the pollutions of the World being againe intangled therewith may be overcome so as that their spirituall state and condition will be worse at the last then it was at the first or before they believed What is this being interpreted but that true Saints or Believers may possibly apostatize from their believing condition so as to perish everlastingly But here also our Adversaries attempt to hide the Truth shining in the recited §. 40. passage under that old covering or veyle which hath been rent in twaine already both in this Chapter and elsewhere Thâ—se expressions say they who were clean escaped from those who live in error who have escaped the pollutions of the World through the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ to have known the way of righteousnesse c. doe not suppose the Persons spoken of to have had true Faith nor import any thiâ—â— but what may very possibly be found in Hypocrites But with how little truth yea or semblance of truth these things are asserted hath been already exposed to open view when we traversed the Scripture in hand upon another occasion a Cap. 8. Sect. 4 5 46 c. Neverthelesse we here add 1. If the said expressions import nothing but what Hypocrites and that in sensu composito i. e. whilest Hypocrites are capable of theâ— may those be Hypocrites who are separated from Men that live in error 〈◊〉 from the pollutions of the World and that through the knowledge of Jesus C 〈…〉 and on the other hand those may be Saints and sound Believers who wallow in all manner of filthiness and defile themselves daily with the pollutions of the World This consequence according to the Principles and known Tenets of our Adversaries is legitimate and true in as much as they hold that true Believers may fall so foule and so far that the Church according to Christs institution may be constrained to testifie that they cannot bear them in their outward communion and that they shall have no part in the Kingdome of Christ except they repent b Repondemus posse quidem verè credentes eousque prolabi ut Ecclesia juxtà constitutionem Christi cogatur â—esta 〈…〉 ipsos in externâ ipsorum communione non posse tolerare neque habituros partem ullam in regnâ— Christâ— nisi convertantur Contr-Remonstr in Coll. Hag. p. 399. c. But whether this be wholesoâ—â—â—nd sound Divinity or no to teach that they who are separate from sinnâ—â— and live holily and blamelesly in this present World and this by means of the knowledge of Jesus Christ may be Hypocrites and children of perdition and they on the other hand who are companions with Theeves Murtherers Adulterers c. Saints and sound Believers I leave to Men whose judgements are not turn'd upside down with prejudice to determine 2. The Persons here spoken of are said to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly or really escaped from those who live in error Doubtlesse an Hypocrite cannot be said truly or really but in shew or appearance at most to have made such an escape I mean from Men who live in error considering that for matter of reality and truth remaining in Hypocrisie he lives in one of the greatest and foulest errors that is 3. An Hypocrite whose foot is already in the snare of Death cannot upon any tolerable account either of reason or common sence be said to be allured i. e. by allurements to be deceived or overcome by the pollutions of the World
Election of Men as hath been mentioned as held by him which was the occasion or ground of his Opinion that such could not fall away finally or to perdition we shall have opportunity in the latter part of this Discourse to enquire God sparing life health and liberty for the composure of it In the mean time we have yet a further account of the Judgment of this Father touching the possibility of the total and final defection of many true Beleevers in the Citation following Many are called and yet are not of those of whom it is said that few are chosen Yet who can deny them to be elect or chosen when as THEY BELEEVE and are baptized AND LIVE ACCORDING UNTO GOD They are plainly termed Elect by those who are ignorant what they will prove afterwards but not by Him who knoweth that they have not Perseverance which bringeth the Elect to Life eternal and that they so stand that He foreknoweth they will fall In this case if the question be put to me why God doth not give Perseverance unto those to whom he hath given the Grace of Love by which they live Christianly I must answer that I am ignorant d Multi vocati non in eis de quibus dictuÌ„ est Pauci verò electi Et tameÌ„ quis negeâ— eos Electos cuÌ„ credunt baptizaÌ„tur secundum Deum vivunt Plané dicuntur Electi à nescieÌ„tibus quid futuri sint non ab illo qui eos novit non habere PerseverantiaÌ„ quae ad beatam vitam perducit Electos scitque illos ita stare vt praesciat esse casuros Hic si à me quaeratur cur eis Deus PerseverantiaÌ„ noÌ„ dederit quia eaÌ„ quâ Christianè viverent dilectioneÌ„ dedit me ignorare respoÌ„deo Aug. de Corr. Grat. c. 7. 8. If all this be not sufficient to satisfie the Reader that this great and learned Defender of the Christian Faith whose sence in the Point in hand we are now enquiring after was of the same Judgment with us herein let him feed further upon what yet remaineth Having asserted a beneficial necessity even to the Elect or Predestinate ones themselves to be kept in ignorance by God of their Predestination or Election in this life He subjoyns words of this import So then for the beneficialness of this secret it is to be beleeved that some of the Children of Perdition who receive not the gift of Persevering unto the end yet begin to live in such a FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE yea and live for a time faithfully and justly and afterwards fall away nor are they taken away by death before this happeneth to them a Propter utilitatem ergo hujus secreti credendum est quosdam dâ— Filiis Perditionis non accepto dono Perseverandi usque in Finem in Fide quae per Dilectionem operatur incipere vivere aliquamdiù fideliter ac justé vivere postea cadere neque de hâc vitâ priusquam hoc eis contingat auferri Ibidem Cap. 13. Doubtless there is no Faith at all either justifying or saying but that which worketh by Love and yet we clearly see that Augustin's Opinion was that the Children of Perdition i. e. such who perish eternally are very capable of such a Faith and consequently may yea and sometimes do fall away both totally and finally from it The same Father in another Tract discovereth his sence in the point queried in these words That of two both being GODLY Perseverance unto the end should be given unto the one and NOT GIVEN UNTO THE OTHER belongs to the unsearchable Judgments of God b Ex duobus autem piis cur huic donetur Perseverantia usque in FineÌ„ illi autem noÌ„ donetur inscrutabilia sunt Judicia Dei Aug. de Bono Persev c. 8. That in this sentence He speaks of persons truly godly and not seemingly onely besides the exigency of the Passage it self to make the sence of it regular as well that which goeth a little before as what followeth after maketh manifest The words a little before are these For of Him they receive this power viz. of being made the sons of God who giveth pious cogitations to the heart of man by which He cometh to have Faith which worketh by Love c Ab eo quippâ— accipiunt eam qui dat cordi humano cogitationes pias per quas habeat FideÌ„ quae operetur per dilectionem The words a little after these To conclude Were they not both called and BOTH FOLLOVVED HIM THAT CALLED THEM Were they not BOTH of Sinners made righteous or JVSTIFYED and both RENEVVED BY the Laver of REGENERATION d Nonne postremò utrique vocati fuerant vocantâ—m seâ— cuti utrique ex impiis justificati per Lavacrum Regenerationis utrique renovati Afterwards in the same Treatise He cites with approbation the Judgment of an Orthodox man of good repute in his days to whom also He gives the testimony of learning and much acuteness concerning the Reason which moved Christ not to work those mighty works among the men of Tyre and Sidon which He wrought in Capernaum although He knew that they would have beleeved and repented upon the sight of them The Lord Christ saith this Author as the Father records His gloss foresaw that the men of Tyre and Sidon would afterwards have apostatized from their Faith in case they had been brought over to beleeve by such Miracles wrought amongst them in which respect it was out of mercy that He forbare the working of them there because they had been liable to a much greater punishment in case they should have turned their backs upon the Faith which they had once received then if they had never received it e Quidam Disputator catholicus non ignobilis hunc Evangelij locum sic exposuit vt diceret praescisse Dominum Tyrios Sidonios à Fide fuisse posteà recessuros cum factis apud se Miraculis credidissent misericordiâ potiùs non eum illic ista fecisse quoniam graviori poenae obnoxii fierent si Fidem quam tenuerant reliquissent quà m si eam nullo tempore tenuissent Ibid. c. 10. In process of the same Discourse He hath words to this effect That of Regenerate men some dye persevering unto the end others are detained in life until they fall away who certainly had not fallen away in case they had dyed before they so fell and again that some who thus fall pass not out of this life until they return or rise again who certainly should have perished had they dyed before their return a Ipsos quóque regeneratos alios perseverantes usque in FineÌ„ hînc abire alios quibusque decidant hic teneri qui utique non decidissent si antequam laberentur hînc issent rursus quosdaÌ„ lapsos quousque redeant non exire de hâc vitâ qui utique perireÌ„t si antequam redirent exirent Ibid. cap.
by a Physician in order to his health as to call it His LIFE or the emphatical means of his preservation in case his life would certainly have been preserved without it So neither have the Elect any competent reason or ground to call or count the long-suffering of the Lord towards them SALVATION i. e. a signal means or opportunity of Salvation to them in case this their Salvation might and certainly should have been obtained by them or conferred on them whether any such long-suffering had been vouchsafed unto them or no. If it be said That as the Salvation of the Saints is infallibly decreed so is it with the like infallibility decreed to be effected by the long-sufferance of God towards them as the means and opportunity thereof and in this respect they may properly enough be required to count or esteem the long-suffering of God towards them Salvation I answer If the Decree of God concerning the Salvation of the Saints be absolute and infallible in the sence asserted and contended for by our Opposers then cannot the execution of this Decree the actual saving of the Saints be suspended upon any fallible or contingent condition such as is the Saints accounting the long-sufferance of God to be Salvation to them or their managing this long-suffering of his in due order to their Salvation no more then the standing or continuance of an house that is well and strongly built upon a rock depends upon those weak or rotten shores or props which are applyed unto it to support it Nor can God be said absolutely and infallibly to decree the coming to pass of such things which are essentially in themselves and in their own Natures contingent it being a Maxim generally granted by our Adversaries themselves That the Decrees of God have no real influence upon their objects or things decreed at least no such which altereth their Natures or essential properties of their Beings It is a common saying amongst them that Praedestinatio nihil ponit in praedestinato i. e. Predestination putteth nothing in or into either the thing or person predestinated And if Predestination putteth nothing in or into the things or persons predestinated there is no reason to judg that any other of his Decrees doth any whit more And if the Decrees of God relating unto contingent events should have any such influx upon them which alters their Natures and changeth the fundamental Laws of their Beings transforming them into things absolutely necessary or necessary with any such necessity which is unavoydable contingency would be onely a name or matter of meer speculation God having with the same infallibility and absoluteness of Decree as say our Adversaries decreed things contingent and things necessary and consequently made all things as to matter of event and coming to pass necessary So that the Salvation of the Saints is not absolutely decreed by God to be effected by His long-suffering towards them Nor could this long-suffering be reasonably by them accounted Salvation in case their Salvation were so absolutely decreed unto them as our contrary-minded Brethren suppose Therefore 6. And lastly when the Apostle saith that the Lord is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all c. his meaning must needs be that he is long-suffering towards men simply and indefinitely considered or towards mankinde and that this long-suffering of his towards them proceeds out of a gracious and merciful disposition in him which inclineth him not to will or desire the destruction of any Person or Soul of them but that they may generally one and other by the advantage and opportunity of his goodness and long-sufferance towards them be so overcome as to repent unfeignedly of their sins and turn unto him that they may be saved This Interpretation 1. Perfectly accords with the words in their genuine proper and best-known §. 12. significations whereas the other as we lately proved requires such a sence and signification of the two Particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any and all wherein they are not to be found throughout the Scriptures 2. The series and story of the Context falls in much more genuinely and fairly with this then with that other interpretation the scope of the words being as we formerly likewise shewed to vindicate the delay which the Lord Christ maketh in not performing His Promise of coming to Judgment with so much celerity and expedition as some conceive it meet that He should perform it from any Pretence or Plea that can in a way of Reason render it offensive unto any man Now look out of how much the greater richer and larger mercy and goodness towards the poor children of men this Delay of His shall be found to proceed and by how much greater the number of those are whose benefit and blessedness shall appeaâ— to be intended by it and concerned in it it must needs be conceived to be proportionably so much the further off from being any just matter of offence unto any man then it would be in case it should be occasioned by any straitness of bowels or the good intended by it be conceived to relate onely to a few 3. The sence of the words and place which this Interpretation exhibiteth is more clearly parallel and consistent with the minde of the Holy Ghost in other Scriptures then that which is issued by the other The Scripture no where at least no where so much commendeth the Patience or long-sufferance of God determinately towards his Elect or towards Beleevers in reference to their Repentance or Salvation as towards the generality of men and more especially towards those that are wicked and ungodly But we are sure saith the Apostle Paul that the Judgment of God is according to Truth against them which commit such things And thinkest thou this O man that judgâ—st them which do such things and dost the same that thou shalt escape the Judgment of God Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth THEE to Repentance But THOV a Rom. 2. 2 3 4. c. And God Himself by His Prophet Ezekiel speaketh thus to the wicked and stiff-necked Jews in general Turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine And further For why will ye dye O House of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of Him that dyeth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live ye b Ezek. 18. 30 32. And elsewhere by the same Prophet Say unto them As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his ways and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O House of Israel c Ezek. 33. 11 Our Apostle himself speaking of the wicked generation of the old world and of Gods Patience towards them saith thus Which sometimes
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Every thing meaning every Person of Mankinde which my Father giveth unto me q John 6. 37 c. So presently after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every thing which He hath given me r Verse 39 c. So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the foolish things and the weak things of the world s 1 Cor. 1. 27. for foolish men and weak men so esteemed See also 1 Joh. 5. 4. Revel 21. 27 c. The note of universality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is better limited to that kinde of subject which is properly capable of being Headed by Christ as viz. Men and Angels then extended to all things simply and whatsoever though such a sence as this be passable enough and is embraced by some When the Apostle saith that Gods Project or Design was to recapitulate or recollect or gather all things into or unto an Head by Christ both Angels and Men He supposeth 1. That both stood in need of an Head i. e. of one set in place of Power and Authority over them who should be both able and willing to govern order protect and direct them so or upon such terms that they might not with any tolerable care over themselves miscarry in point of greatest Happiness as the one of them Men had generally done already and the other Angels were liable to do as many of their kinde and of the same creation and nature with them had done as Calvin well observes upon the place affirming That as Men were lâ—st so were the Angels not out of danger of losing t Quis ergo neget tam Aâ—gelos quam hâ—mines in firmum ordinem Christ â—ratia fuisse redâ—ctâ—s Homines enim pâ—rditi erant Angeli vero non erant extra periculum 2. He supposeth further that God did not intend the effecting of this his Design by meer Power or Prerogative-wise I mean so as to thrust or force Christ for an Head either upon Men or Angels nor yet to propound or offer Him unto either for an Head in his meer Naturals if I may so speak unwrought or uncontrived but as a Person orderly and duly fitted and prepared for such a relation partly by assuming the Humane Nature or a body of flesh partly by suffering Death the Death of the Cross in this body and by his rising again from the dead For by suffering Death especially the Death of the Cross in the Humane Nature 1. He made Peace as the Apostle expresseth it in the latter of the Passages i. e. He did that which was proper and effectual to reconcile Men unto himself and consequently unto Angels also who were an enmity with them be-because of their enmity against God yea and unto and amongst themselves also The Death of Christ in the Humane Nature was upon this account a proper means to reconcile Men unto God i. e. to cause Men to think holily and reverently of him to love him delight in him c. who by reason of the guilt of sin cleaving to them were apt before to hate him as Malefactors do their Judg viz. because God the sins of Men being perfectly expiated and attoned thereby freely offereth them and upon their Repentance assureth them the Pardon and Forgiveness of their Sins See to this purpose 2 Cor. 5. 19. largely opened by us formerly u Cap. 5. Sect. 28 29 c. So then the Death of Christ being a proper means as hath been shewed for the reconciling of Men unto God it must needs be a means semblably and by way of consequence of reconciling them unto Angels also who had no other quarrel against them but onely for their hatred and enmity against God Now this Reconciliation between Men and Angels when actually effected putteth them into a capacity of being fellow-members in one and the same body and so of uniting mutually under one and the same Head For as two cannot walk together except they be agreed so neither can a plurality of Persons kindly and to the contentment either of themselves mutually or of their Head incorporate into one and the same community or walk in subjection under the same Head In which respect the reconcilement of Men also to and amongst themselves as viz. of Jews unto Gentiles and Gentiles unto Jews who through diversity of Religions Opinions and outward Forms of worshiping God were at enmity the one against the other and there is the same reason of other men distanced in affection whether upon the like occasions or otherwile was as necessary as that of Men unto Angels in order to the accomplishment of the said great Design of God Now Christ by His Death and by the general Promulgation of the Gospel throughout the World which depended thereon and was a fruit thereof both took away the Ceremonial Observations of the Jews with their Notions and Opinions hanging thereon as also the Idolatrous and Superstitious Rites and Observations of the Gentiles with such conceits as they built hereon which together made as it were a double partition wall between them thus endevoring with an high Hand of Grace to reduce both the one and the other of them into one and the same way of worshipping God viz. that prescribed in the Gospel as also both to think and speak the same things concerning God and so to cause the enmity and alienation of minde between them to cease that by this means they might be prepared and fit to make as fellow-members one body See the Apostles Discourse to this point Eph. 2. 11 12 13 14 15 16. The same or the like course he hath taken also by his Death and the Publication of His Gospel thereupon to reconcile all other Persons of Mankinde among themselves viz. by calling them into communion in one Spirit in one Faith in one Hope in one Baptism in one God in one Saviour c. that so there might be no occasion of any such differences or distastes between them but that they might be every ways meet to associate in one and the same spiritual Body and live sweetly together under one and the same Head Jesus Christ. This then is one consideration wherein the Death of Christ was necessary for the bringing about the glorious Projection of God I mean the gathering of all things whether in Heaven or on Earth under or into an Head the same Head Christ. Secondly This Death of Christ did accommodate the same Design of God in another respect also viz. as his voluntary subjection hereunto was an equitable foundation or consideration whereon God might as He did exalt Him to the the transcendent Honor of that Glorious Headship and Principality Wherefore saith the Apostle meaning because being in the form of God an estate wherein He counted it no robbery as he had no reason to do to be equal with God He made Himself of no reputation but humbled Himself and became obedient unto the Death even the Death of the Cross in consideration of this
lives of the generality or far greatest part of them rather represent him to their mindes as a man of rigor and extremity against those that provoke him Much more should these men and all others have just ground to judg this Prince to be a Person of an hard spirit addicted unto cruelties and blood in case they should know especially from himself and by his own profession that long before any of the said Persons were touched with the least guilt yea or thought of Treason he was peremptorily resolved to have the blood and lives of them all one or two onely excepted And as for his granting Pardon unto this one or two there being no ground in Reason or Equity why he should respect these more then the other may it not seem rather the working of a meer humor or a conceited and groundless action then any fruit of an habitual goodness or clemency of disposition or of any mature or considerate deliberation And doth not the Doctrine which we condemn for that capital crime of denying that Christ dyed for all Men draw the portraicture of God resembling in all the lineaments of his face the hard favor'dness of such a Prince First It represents him as engaged and this against all possibility of relenting yea and this to the days of Eternity in Counsels and Purposes of Blood yea of the Blood of the precious Souls of Men. Secondly It presenteth him as thus engaged against millions of millions of these Souls yea against the whole mass or element of Mankinde a small remnant comparatively onely excepted and these for a long time if not during the whole term of their Mortality undiscernable from the rest within the compass of which term notwithstanding they must be prevailed with to love God or else they are lost for Eternity Thirdly The said Doctrine portraitureth him engaged as aforesaid before and without any consideration or respect had to any the future sins impenitency unbelief or any other of those against whom it supposeth him so implacably and unmercifully engaged Fourthly and lastly It holdeth Him forth unto the World as purposing and intending without any reasonable or equitable cause onely upon his peremptory and meer Will to make that vast difference between that small remnant of men mentioned and the numberless multitudes of them besides which consists in the unmeasurable blessedness of the former and the unconceivable misery and torment of the latter Now whether this be to form the most Blessed God in the Mindes Judgments Souls and Consciences of Men as amiable and lovely as attractive of their hearts and affections as worthy to be delighted in to be depended on by all Persons of Mankinde without exception of any for all and all manner of good temporal spiritual eternal I am not much afraid to make it the arbitrement of those that dare so much as pretend to ingenuity fairness and freedom of spirit amongst our Adversaries themselves If it be here replyed and said that our Doctrine also representeth God as §. 14. Object 1. irreversibly engaged and this from Eternity upon the same destruction or punishment and this of the same numbers of men with the other in as much as it granteth or supposeth that God from Eternity unchangeably purposed the eternal Destruction of all those without exception that shall remain finally impenitent and unbeleeving which are the same men both for numbers and personality which the other Doctrine so much opposed by us presenteth as the Objects of those unalterable reprobating Purposes or Intendments of His from Eternity and consequently that the one Doctrine representeth God as little lovely or desirable unto his Creature as the other To this I answer 1. Though the Doctrine asserted by us supposeth such a Decree in God Answ from Eternity whereby all Persons that should remain finally impenitent and unbeleeving are decreed or adjudged unto the vengeance of eternal fire yet doth it not adjudg to this account any such who either through defect of years as Children dying Infants or defectiveness in discretion otherwise are not capable of Faith or Repentance of which we have already in part given an account a Cap. 6. Sect. 18 19 c. and shall God willing account more fully in the latter part of this Discourse Whereas the Doctrine impugned by us includeth as well Infants of days as Defectives of years especially the former in that Decree of Reprobation which it notioneth in God So that this Doctrine doth at no hand engage God so deep in the Blood of Mankinde as the other and consequently in this respect rendereth Him unto His Creature far more gracious lovely and desirable then the other 2. The Doctrine we plead though it sets the face of Gods Reprobating Decree against all finally impenitent and unbeleeving and so materially and in a consequential way against the same Persons capable of impenitency which the other Doctrine subjecteth unto it Yet 1. It subjecteth no Person of Mankinde as such or by Name unto it but supposeth all Men as Men in a capacity and under a fair possibility of being Elected this Decree of Reprobation notwithstanding though it concludeth from many Prophetical Scriptures otherwise that a very great number of Men will in time be Reprobated for their Wickedness and Unbelief whereas the Doctrine opposed bends this Decree against the Persons of Men personally considered and so leaveth such and such Men from first to last irrecoverably doomed to destruction 2. The Doctrine asserted by us presenteth God in His Decree of Reprobation as truly and really intending the Salvation of Men as in His Decree of Election it self Yea and questioneth not but that His Decree of Reprobation according to His gracious Purpose and Intendment therein hath occasioned and doth occasion dayly the Salvation of many The principal Intent of the Law threatening such and such Malefactors as Traytors Murtherers c. with Death is not to take away the lives of such Persons who shall commit these foul crimes and misdemeanors by Death this is but the subordinate intention or end of it but to prevent the perpetration of these crimes in all that live under this Law and consequently their suffering of Death for them Much less is it any part of the Intent of such a Law to make any Person or Persons by Name Traytors Murtherers or the like that so they may be cut off by Death In like manner we judg and teach that the soveraign and primary Intent of this Decree of God He i. e. whosoever beleeveth not shall be damned b Mark 16. 16 besides which in respect of the substance and import of it which may be expressed in other terms we finde no Decree of Reprobation in God mentioned no nor yet so much as intimated in the Scriptures is not to bring Damnation upon those who shall not beleeve much less to expose any man or numbers of men to an unavoydable necessity of a non-beleeving that so they may be damned
own hands if so then the perfect workmanship of his own hands must be the object of his Reprobation and consequently that which is good For God saw every thing that He had made and behold it was very good g Gen. 1. 31 But unpossible it is that that which is good especially very good should be the object of Gods Reprobation Again if that sinfulness wherein it is pretended that God looked upon men when He Reprobated them was any ground or cause of such his Reprobation then was it a ground or cause morally moving him hereunto for other influence or efficiency upon him it could have none If so then 1. The Will of God may have a Cause superior to it and productive of it which is generally taken for an impossibility 2. If the sinfulness of men foreseen moved God morally to conceive or make a Decree of Reprobation against them then was this Decree made by him in a way of Justice and Equity yea upon such terms that had He not made or passed such a Decree upon the grounds and reasons that were before him He had been unjust If so there being the same Reason why He should pass a like Decree against those men also who are now called his Elect in as much as a like sinfulness in them was foreseen likewise by him from Eternity He must be unjust because He hath not passed a like Decree against these The truth is that such a Decree of Reprobation as men commonly notion in God involves so many inextricable difficulties palpable absurdities that I say not intolerable Blasphemies also that my hope is it will shortly mole mali sui ruere fall and sink with the insupportable weight of its own evil in the mindes and judgments of men As for those places of Scripture with the Arguments commonly drawn from them which are counted the Pillars of such a Reprobation we shall in due time the inflexible hand of Death or some other grand diversion not preventing us by the gracious assistance of the Spirit of Truth clearly answer and disengage from that service In the mean time we shall further countenaâ—ce the Doctrine in hand with this Demonstration If Christ dyed not for all Men without exception then is the Sin of Adam §. 39. Argum. 12. more extensive or extensive unto more in a way of Condemnation and Death then the Death of Christ and the Grace given by Him unto the World is in a way of Justification and of Life The Reason of this Consequence is apparant viz. because the Sin of Adam extended unto all Men without exception in a way of Condemnation Therefore I assume But the Sin of Adam is not extensive unto more in a way of Condemnation then the Grace given by Christ is in a way of Justification Ergo. This latter Proposition is clearly enough asserted by the Apostle and this over and over But not as the offence so also is the free gift i. e. the free gift of Grace by Christ unto the World meaning that the offence or sin of Adam did not operate so forcibly or with so high an hand towards or to the Condemnation of Men as the Grace given by Christ operateth towards or to the Justification or Salvation of Men. For thus he explains himself in the words following For if through the offence of one many be dead i. e. obnoxious or liable unto death much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many h Rom. 5. 15 As if he should have said there is great Reason to conceive and judg that the grace of God and the gift of Jesus Christ thereby should be much more effectual to procure the Justification and Salvation of many then the offence of one the Condemnation of many partly because the offence of one wrought onely in its own strength and native tendency in bringing Condemnation and Death upon many having onely the permissive Will of God not his operative or designing Will for or towards the Production of such an effect whereas the operative and projecting or designing Will of God interposed went along with yea and magnified it self in the gracious gift by Jesus Christ in order to the bringing of the Justification of Life upon or unto many partly also because Jesus Christ being the eternal Son of God consecrated and given by the Father for this end and purpose viz. to bring the Justification of Life unto or upon many i. e. to put many into such an estate of Justification wherein continuing they should live or be saved was a far more likely Person to carry on and make good his engagement for the Justification of many then Adam being a weak Creature and of an earthy frame was to bring the Condemnation of Death upon many Now to say that by the offence of one a far greater number of men incomparably more are made dead brought into an estate of Condemnation and Death then by the Grace of God and by the gift of Jesus Christ through this Grace are brought into an estate of Justification is quite to alter the Property of the Apostles arguing in this place and to invert the express tendency of it For whereas his intent clearly is to assert a far more emphatical likelyhood or rationality that the Grace of God in the gift of Jesus Christ should operate and prevail to the Justification of many and that accordingly it doth thus operate and prevail then the Sin of Adam to the Condemnation of many such an assertion as that mentioned makes him to say or at least it self saith that whether there be more likelyhood or rationality or no that the Grace of God by Christ should justifie many then that the Sin of Adam should condemn many yet for matter of fact it is otherwise and that the grace of God by Christ justifies a few onely in comparison whereas the sin of Adam condemns all without exception To affirm for the strengthening of the Faith of Beleevers upon which account questionless the Apostle here speaketh it that there is a far greater probability that many should be justified by Christ then that many should be condemned by Adam and yet to affirm withall that this probability notwithstanding many yea all without exception are condemned by Adam and but a very few comparatively justified by Christ is to blow hot and cold with the same breath and to pull down with the one hand what a man builds up with the other The commensurableness or coextensiveness of the Grace of God in Christ in order to the Justification of Men with the Sin of Adam in respect of the Condemnation of Men is very pregnantly avouched the second and third time also by the same Apostle in these subsequent Passages of the same contexture Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all men to Condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
in the preceding Chapters of this Book managed I trust to the satisfaction of all such who count it more safe to stand upon a rock alone or with a few then upon a quagmire or quicksand with a greater company But because all Men have not this Faith I shall shew unto those that want it a cloud of as honorable Persons I suppose even in their own eyes as any that have inhabited Mortality since the Apostles days standing upon the Rock of that Doctrine which hath been asserted and recommended in our former Discussions For who within that compass of time we speak of have had a spirit of greater glory resting on them then those that sate in the Apostles Chairs next after them and were Pillars of light and fire in the Christian Church in her Primitive and purest days And that these in their respective stations and successive generations were not onely Partakers but Defenders and Assertors of the same Faith with us in the Doctrine of Redemption hitherto maintained is legible enough in the next ensuing Testimonies after which we shall shew how fluctuating and inconsistent with themselves the Judgments of later Writers have been about the said Doctrine and how unpossible it is for any man to be of an established Conscience therein that shall build himself upon their Authority We shall begin with Augustin the first born amongst the Fathers though not in time yet in worth and Name and from him proceed first unto those that lived before him by a gradual ascent and then to those that succeeded him by a descent answerable That Austin's Doctrine concerning the Intentions of God about the extent of the Death of Christ was the same with that asserted by us for orthodox and sound in our present Discourse needeth I suppose no greater proof then an unpartial and due consideration of these and such like sayings scattered up and down his Writings from place to place upon occasion In that Discourse wherein He makes answer ad Articulos sibi falso impositos to certain Articles falsly fathered upon Him He insisteth upon this in the first place as layd to his charge that he should hold That our Lord Iesus Christ did not suffer for the Redemption of all Men a Quod Dominus nostâ—â— Iesus Christus non â—â—o omnium hominum redemptione sit passus The second He mentioneth is this That God should not be willing to save all Men though all Men were willing to be saved b Quod Deus omnes nolit servaâ—e etiamsi omnes salvari vâ—lint In purging himself upon the former of these He writeth thus Against the wound of original sin wherewith in Adam the Nature of all Men was corrupted and become dead and from whence the disease of all manner of concupiscence groweth the Death of the Son of God our Lord Iesus Christ is a true potent and the singular Remedy who being not liable to the debt of Death and the onely Person without sin dyed for those that were sinners and debtors in this kinde Therefore as to the greatness and potency of the price and as far as concerns one and the same cause of Mankinde the Blood of Christ is the REDEMPTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD But they who pass through this world without the Faith of Christ and the Sacrament or sacred work of Regeneration are strangers to or estranged from this Redemption Therefore whereas by reason of one and the same Nature of all Men and by one and the same cause of all Men truly undertaken by our Lord all Men may truly be said to be redeemed yet all Men are not actually brought or delivered out of captivity The propriety i. e. the actual possession and enjoyment of Redemption is doubtless with them out of whom the Prince of this World is cast forth and who are now not Vessels of the Devil but Members of Christ Whose Death is not so bestowed upon Mankinde that they who never come to be regenerate should belong to the Redemption thereof i. e. should actâ—ally partake of this Redemption but so that what by one onely Example or exemplary Act was done for all Men together or at once might be celebrated in all particular persons by a particular Sacrament i. e. might by a particular administration of the Sacrament of this Redemption meaning I suppose Baptism to each particular man be plainly declared to relate unto or to concern all particulars For that cup or potion of immortality which was tempered and made of our infirmity and the Divine Power or Vertue hath in it wherewith to profit all Men but it profiteth no man unless He drinketh it c Contrà vulnus originalis peccati quo in Adam omnium hominuÌ„ corrupta mortificata est Natura unde omnium concupiscentiaruÌ„ morbus inolevit verum potens singulare remedium est mors filii Dei Domini nostri Iesu Christi qui liber à mortis debito solus absque peccato pro peccatoribus debitoribus mortuus est Quòd ergo ad magnitudinem potentiam precij quod ad unam pertinet causam generis humani sanguis Christi Redemptio est totius Mundi Sed qui hoc saecuium sine fide Christi sine Regenerationis Sacramento pertranseunt Redemptionis alieni sunt Cùm itaque per unam omnium naturam omnium causam à Domino nostro in veritate susceptam Redempti omnes recté dicantur non tamen omnes captivitate sunt eruti Redemptionis proprietas haud dubium penes illos est de quibus Princeps hujus Mundi missus est foras jam non vasa Diabolt sed membra Christi Cujus Mors non impensa est humano generi vt ad Redemptionem ejus etiam qui regenerandi non erant pertinerent sed ita quod per unicum exemplum gestum est pro universis per singulare Sacramentum celebraretur in singuilis Poculum quippe Immortalitatis quod confectum est de infirmitate nostrâ virtute divinâ habet quidem in se vt omnibus prosit sed si non bibitur non proficit What Testimony from a man concerning his Judgment in any Point can be imagined more pregnant satisfactory and clear then such wherein He expresly complains of being falsly charged with the contrary and vindicates and explains himself accordingly Beza because of this Testimony so full and particular against his Opinion of limited Redemption and being loth to have this his Opinion â—â—cumbred with the opposite Authority of this Father dischargeth it of the burthen by pretending that the Book or Tract wherein it standeth is supposititious and not Augustins But besides the genius phrase and stilâ— every ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resembling the Author whose Name it beareth Calvin who of the two was a man of greater discerning abilities acknowledgeth it accordingly d De occultâ Dei Provid in Respons ad Praefat. Opusc p. 851. Nor is there any piece in all those