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
neither can sin made use of in both Propositions First by sinneth not may be meant committeth no act of sin sinneth not at all In this sence of the Phrase the Minor is absolutely untrue For he that is borne of God certainely sinneth in a sence i. e. committeth acts yea many acts of sin In many things saith James we offend all b James 3. 2. meaning even the holiest and most regenerate of all Secondly by sinneth not may be meant say some doth not perpetrate or commit sin with delight But this sence I am confident cannot be justified either from the Scripture nor yet upon any competent ground of â—eason Not to sin doth no where in Scripture signifie not to sin with delight I acknowledge that Words and Phrases are sometimes in Scripture used emphatically in which cases over and besides their Proper significations they consignifie some Peculiarity of manner or some speciall circumstance relating to the thing or action expressed But what they signifie in this kinde I mean over and besides their strict and Proper significations is not arbitrary or left for Men to make what they please but is to be estimated by the scope of the place and Nature of the matter in hand I easily grant that the words under debate sinneth not or doth not commit sin are emphaticall in the Scripture before us But that the emphasis lieth in any such modification which should give them this sence sinneth not with delight hath no good accord with reason or with truth For there are many borne of God who do Commit sin with delight yea the delight or pleasure which they take in many sins committed by them is the chiefe if not the only reason why they commit them Yea it is a question whether any man commits any sin whatsoever without delight in one kinde or other Thirdly by sinneth not is meant say others sinneth not deliberately §. 26. or without inward reluctation in the act of sinning But neither hath this sence any better bottome then conjecture and this obnoxious enough to him that will chew and not swallow For 1. What necessity is there that when John saith he that is borne of God doth not commit sin he should mean committeth it not with deliberation or premeditation or without reluctance why may not his meaning as well be doth not commit sin unto Death or customarily as other Men doe or the like 2. Certaine it is that he that is borne of God doth at least sometimes commit Sin with deliberation yea and in the Apostles expression makes provision for the flesh a Rom. 13. 14 i. e. Plots and Projects Means and Opportunities for the committing of it and digests it as it were into method before hand that he may commit it the more artificially as well as wicked men witnesse David in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah b 2 Sam. 11. witnesse the two Patriarches Simeon and Levi in the matter of the Sichemites c Gen. 34. besides examples in this kinde which every day almost brings forth 3. Neither is it true that every one that is borne of God Sinneth alwayes when he doth Sin with inward reluctancy Doubtlesse David was not divided in himself suffered no inward conflict about the committing of those sins lately intimated considering that according to the generall opinion of our best Protestant Expositors and Divines he remained for about the space of an whole yeere after the committing of these sins without any sence of or remorse for them And if the Lord had not sent his Prophet Nathan unto him to awaken him who knows but that he might have slept in his guilt even unto Death Besides as concerning sins quotidiani incursus or sins of infirmity as they are commonly called which are incident to those that are borne of God as well as unto others the case is yet more evident viz. that these at least many of them are committed by them without any such inward reluctancy as the Exposition now opposed suggesteth and particularly those of which they have no knowledge or sence when they commit them 4. And lastly to this suppose it were granted that Men borne of God doe not Sin but with inward reluctancy yet that this is not the sence wherein the Apostle ascribes a non-Sinning unto them is evident from hence viz. because certaine it is that the non-Sinning here intended by him to be ascribed unto them is such which is appropriate to them and not communicable to wicked or unregenerate Men. But that Men unregenerate sin and that frequently with inward reluctancy is the frequent acknowledgement of these Men themselves and besides is of easie Deduction and Observation from Romans 1. 32. Romans 2. 1. 5. c. Nor is it nor can it reasonably be denied by our Adversaries themselves 4. When the Apostle saith that he that is borne of God doth not commit §. 27. Sin some understand it of committing Sin unto death or with finall impenitency This Exposition indeed if it could be made to stand upright would beare the weight of the controversie depending alone But it argues much weaknesse for a Man in an Exposition of Scripture to determine for his own sence in a controversie or question without giving a very substantiall reason of such his Exposition Now I can meet with no reason at all from the Assertors of this Exposition for the confirmation of it But reasons against it there are these three at hand and many more in comeing 1. The Grammar or Letter of the Phrase breatheth not the least aire of such a sence 2. The Phrase of committing Sin is no where in Scripture found in such a sence I meane to sin with finall impenitency or unto death The Authors of the Exposition have not yet shewed it nor I believe ever will 3. Nor doth the Context or Scope of the place any wayes invite much lesse inforce such an Exposition The intent and drift of the Apostle from ver 3. even to the end of the Chapter as he that doth but run the Context over may read is not to shew or argue whether the Sons of God may possibly in time so degenerate as to live sinfully and die impenitently but to evince this that those who claime the great Honour and Priviledge of being the children of God cannot justifie or make good this claime neither unto others nor to themselves but by an holy and Christian life and conversation Now it is one thing to argue or prove who are the Sons of God at present another whether they who are such at present must of necessity alwayes so continue The former is the Apostles Theme in the Context the latter he is wholly silent unto So then if by not Sinning the Argument which we have now upon answer understands the non-committing of any of these foure kinds of sin or a non-Sinning upon any of the terms explained the minor proposition is denied which saith that whosoever is borne of God
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
Pardon of His Sins Therefore Justification or Pardon of Sin may according to the Doctrine of this Father be lost yea so lost as never to be found again The same Author elsewhere saith That Solomon and Saul and many others had power were able to retain the Grace that had been given them whilest they walked in the ways of the Lord but when the Instruction or Discipline of God departed from them His Grace departed also Therefore it stands us in hand to hold out in the strait and narrow way of praise and glory c Solomon denique Saul caeteri multi quamdtù viis Domini ambulaverunt datam sibi gratiam tenere potuerunt recedente ab ipsis disciplinâ divinâ recessit gratia Perseverandum nobis est in arcto in angusto itinere laudis gloriae Idem Ep. 7. ad Rogat caeteros confess c. c. Yet again The very same spiritual Grace which in Baptism is equally received by those that believe is afterwards in our conversation and acting either diminished or increased as in the Gospel the seed whereof our Saviour speaketh is equally sown but according to the diversity of the ground part of it is consumed or comes to nothing another part of it bringeth forth fruit in abundance yet in a different proportion some thirty some sixty some an hundred fold c Planè eadem gratia spiritalis quae aequaliter à credentibus in Baptismo sumitur in conversatione atque actu nostro postmodùm vel minuitur vel augetur ut in Evangelio dominicum semen equaliter seminatur sed pro varietate terrae aliud absumitur aliud in multiformem copiam vel tricesimi vel sexagesimi vel centesimi numeri fructu exuberante cumulatur Idem Epist 76. ad Magnum A little after Oft-times it comes to pass that some of those who are spiritually sound when baptized if afterwards they fall to sin are shaken with the unclean spirit returning unto them so that manifest it is that the Devil is by the Faith of the Believer excluded in Baptism and that in case this Faith of his afterwards fails that he returneth d Et contrà saepé nonnulli de illiâ— qui sani baptizantur si postmodùm peccare coeperint spiritu immundo redeunte quatiuntur ut manifestum sit Diabolum in Baptismo Fide credentis excludi si Fides postmodùm defecerit regredi Ibid. Chromatius who according to some Writers had his time of mortality §. 12. allotted unto him about the year 350. though others bring it down much lower having upon those words Mat. 6. 12. And forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors affirmed That unless we forgive our debtors we make our selves guilty of eternal death before God with our own words subjoyneth a little after thus This the Lord Himself elsewhere doth most plainly make manifest producing the example of the Servant who had been a Debtor to whom though he ought much yet upon his intreaty his Lord forgave him the whole This servant after his debt had been freely remitted unto him denying the like favour in a smaller matter to his fellow-servant was cast into prison and condemâ—ed to punishment e Hoc autem alio in loco ipse dominus apertissimé manifestat proferens servi illius debitoris exemplum cui plurimum debenti rogatus Dominus debitum omne concesserat qui cum post indultum debitum conservo suo debenti sibi nollet ipse dimittere in carcerâ—m traditus damnatus in poenâ est Chromatius in Mat. 5. 6. Macarius who lived about the year 370. is a diligent and frequent Assertor of the Doctrine maintained in our present Digression in his Writings After the same manner saith he the Spirit admonisheth the Soul which by grace knoweth God and is purified from her former sins and is endowed with the ornaments of the Holy Ghost and hath tasted the divine and heavenly meat or nourishment yet because she doth not walk in this knowledg with that diligence which is meeâ— nor preserveth that good affection and love which she oweth to her heavenly Husband Christ as becometh her she IS CAST OFF AND DRIVEN AVVAY FROM THAT LIFE OF WHICH SHE DID PARTAKE Not long after Wherefore we must strive and take heed with the greatest wisdom that we work out our Salvation with fear as it is written Whosoever therefore of you are made partakers of the Spirit of Christ see that in nothing neither small nor great you behave your selves carelesly nor reproach the Spirit of Grace LEST YOV BE BANISHED FROM THAT LIFE WHICH YOV HAVE NOVV OBTAINED f Eodem modo etiam Spiritus admâ—net animam quae per gratiam cognoscit DeuÌ„ purificata est à pristinis peccatis ac ornamentis spiritús sancti dotata et prâ—gustavit divinuÌ„ ac coelosteÌ„ cibuÌ„ ob id tamen quòd non sicuti decebat deligenter in eâ noticiâ versata est nec decenter bene volentiaÌ„ ac dilectioneÌ„ Christo Sponso coelesti debitaÌ„ conservavit projicitur expellitur à vitâ cujus erat facta particeps Macar Hom. 15. Et paulò post Quapropter certanduÌ„ est suÌ„ma prudentiâ nobiâ— cavenduÌ„ ut cuÌ„ timore saluteÌ„ nostraÌ„ operemini operemur sicut scriptuÌ„ est Quicunque ergo participeâ— facti estis Spiritus Christi in nullo pusillo vel magno contemptim vos geratis neque gratiam spiritus contumeliâ assiciatis ne exuletis à vitâ quam jam adepti estis c. Yet again a little after But when the Soul hath obtained Grace now is there need of much understanding and perspicacity in discerning which things themselves God also gives unto the Soul asking them of Him that so this Soul may serve Him in that Spirit which she hath received with all acceptation and in nothing be overcome of evil or deceived through ignorance turning aside through rashness and sloth and falling to do all things besides or contrary unto the comely Order of the Divine Will For PVNISHMENT DEATH AND MOVRNING ABIDE SVCH A SOVL which in effect the divine Apostle Himself also saith lest when I have preached unto others I my self should be a castaway You see after what manner or at how great a rate He feared notwithstanding He was an Apostle of God The same Father in the same place speaketh words to this effect For man is of that nature or frame that though He be fallen into a deep gulf of vice and is become the Servant of Sin yet He may be converted or turned to that which is good and on the contrary being the bond-man of the Holy Ghost and overcome with the drunkenness of spiritual and Heavenly things He may be turned back to that which is evil g Et paulò post Caeterum ubi anima gratiam est adepta tuÌ„ intellectu multo atque perspicatiâ opus est quae etiaÌ„ ipsa largitur Deus animae ab eo
Men. 2. By Nature cannot signifie by natural Birth nor by communion in the humane Nature nor by descent from Adam or the like because then it would follow that all Children whatsoever dying Infants or Children should perish everlastingly at least if by children of wrath be meant in an estate of Condemnation or under the actual displeasure of God because all partake alike of the natural Birth of the Nature of Man are of a like descent from Adam c. 3. Some ancient Expositors interpreted the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Nature prorsus i. e. utterly or altogether Theophylact and Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verè seu germane i. e. truly or indeed 4. Chrysostoms Interpretation of the Place is of much affinity with that first mentioned The Apostle saith he saith we have provoked God and made Him wroth that is we were wrath and nothing else For as he that is the childe of a man is by nature a man even so we also were children of wrath even as others that is none was free but we all did things deserving wrath o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. And lastly By children of wrath the Apostle may very probably mean Persons that had been lost and were worthy wrath or deserving death And thus Calvin interprets By children of wrath saith he understand simply such as were lost and worthy of eternal death p Per filios irae simpliciter intellige perditos ac morte aeternâ dignos According to the import of this Interpretation of the phrase children of wrath all Men may truly be said to be by nature i. e. by natural Propagation or by their descent from Adam children of wrath and yet be born in an estate of Justification or in an actual and immediate capacity of Salvation by Christ. As it is with those who having arrived at years of discretion and actually beleeve they carry original defilement still about with them they were in respect of what was derived unto them from Adam in their natural conception and birth wholly lost and are still notwithstanding their Faith in the rigor and strictness of Justice worthy of eternal death and yet by means of their Faith and the gracious Compact and Covenant which God hath made with those that beleeve they are not in an estate of Condemnation or liable to eternal Death In like manner Children may possibly be conceived and so born into the world with original sin and yet not with or under the guilt of it this may be dissolved and taken away by the superabounding Grace of God vouchsafed unto the World by Jesus Christ though the sin it self remaineth So again Children as soon as conceived or born may be and are in strictness of account worthy of eternal Death by Reason of that communion they had in Adams sin being in his loyns when he sinned and yet this worthiness may not be imputed unto them or charged upon them being as we suppose it clear from the Scriptures expiated or attoned by the great Sacrifice of Christ in His Death This Interpretation of the Apostles saying We were by nature children of wrath even as others is I conceive of all the rest least liable to any material exception But we have gone beyond the line of our late intentions in following this chase We retire with a purpose to conclude this Chapter with the addition onely of one Argument more for the confirmation of our main Doctrine Therefore In the thirteenth and last place The Universality of Redemption purchased §. 41. Argum. 13. by Christ I further argue and demonstrate from the consideration of some of the Principal Types under the Law by which the compass and unlimited extent of it was prefigured I shall insist onely upon two the Brazen Serpent and the Feast of Jubilee First Concerning the Brazen Serpent our Saviour himself owneth and asserteth a typical correspondency in the erection and usefulness hereof with himself in respect of that great and gracious Design and Purpose of God in sending Him unto the World And as Moses saith He lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up That whosoever beleeveth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life q Ioh. 3 14 15 A Type being a kinde of Similitude and the property or condition of this not being in the Proverbial expression to run on all four i. e. to answer or hold proportion in all Particulars indeed many times not in more then one onely therefore our Saviour to prevent all misunderstanding in the interpretation or application of the Type mentioned particularizeth that very respect or consideration in himself and his sending into the World which was prefigured and expressed in the Type alledged by him in these words That whosoever beleeveth in Him should not perish c. To understand clearly what there was in the Type answering in a way of pre-signification that consideration in Christs coming or sending into the World which himself here insists upon as presignified hereby we must have recourse to the History concerning the erection of the Brazen Serpent unto which also himself sendeth us in that Particle of comparison or resemblance As As Moses lifted up c. The original of this Brazen Serpent together with the Counsel and Intention of God in his Erection Moses recordeth thus Make thee saith He to Moses a fiery Serpent viz. in similitude or form and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that EVERY ONE THAT IS BITTEN when He looketh upon it shall live r Numb 21 8 From which words it is most evident that this fiery Serpent in form as Christ came in the similitude of that sinful flesh whose sting is so mortal to the World was not intended by God as a means of healing or preservation to a certain definite or determinate number of Persons or that such and such by Name and no other should look upon it in order to their healing or that whosoever in the event did look upon it and no other but these should be healed by it but that whosoever would might look upon it for which end also Moses was commanded to set it up on high upon a pole where it might be readily visible unto all and that whosoever should or did look upon it being bitten or stung with any fiery Serpent might be healed thereby Now all Men without exception being as we all know and confess stung and that mortally with the fiery Serpent Sin unless Christ should be lifted up upon the Cross i. e. suffer Death with an Intent on Gods part 1. That every man if he pleased might beleeve in Him And 2. That every man that should beleeve in Him should be saved by Him He should altogether dis-answer that famous Type we speak of and that in that very consideration and respect wherein He pleads a special conformity to it If it be replyed The correspondency between Christ and the Brazen
He Acta Synodi Dordr part 2 p. 120 doth not withall give them Faith in His Son But certain it is 1. That all Men come not to be saved and 2. That the great Love of God in the gift of his Son doth not vanish in unprofitableness Ergo. A like Argument is fram'd upon the account of the great Love of the Son Himself towards those for whom He dyed Christ saith the Argument so loved us that whilest we were Enemies He dyed for us Is it now credible that He should not apply a benefit merited or procured with so much sweat and with such precious Blood unto those for whom He merited it These Arguments with some Texts of Scripture not here mentioned cited to prove some of the Particulars together with some few Sayings from the Fathers both which we intend to take and give knowledg of upon occasion were in a manner the whole strength wherein the Synod of Dort so much magnified themselves against their Adversaries the Remonstrants in the traverse of the second Head of Matters Controversal between them which concerned the Intentions of God in and about the Death of Christ as far as I am able to observe from the Records of this Synod Concerning which Arguments I shall say no more at present but onely these two things 1. That though they be somewhat numerous yet there is none of them but lieth very opportune and fair for Answer and 2. That some of them if not the greater part stand bent against such an Opinion which I beleeve their Antagonists did not hold certain I am they do not oppugn that Doctrine of Redemption which is maintained in this Book Nevertheless because they may possibly be conceived by some less considerate to rise up with much strength against it we shall take them into consideration respectively in their places I will not say that there have been sufficient grounds layd yea and sufficiently proved in the Premisses of our present Discourse whereon to frame satisfactory Answers even to those that are counted Pillars amongst them but shall leave the consideration hereof to the intelligent and unpartial Reader and to the Disquisitions about them intended in the second Part of this Work I do not meet with any thing of moment in any other Author to infringe §. 7. the credit of the Doctrine of General Redemption which doth not make one spirit with one or other of the Arguments levyed as we have heard by the said Synod This which I shall presently recite from the Collocutors of the Contra-Remonstrancy at the Conference at the Hague Ann. 1613. is but the same in effect with the first and fifth of those used by the Synod For whom soever Christ dyed and obtained Remission of sins and Reconciliation with God for these also He obtained by his Death Deliverance from the bondage of sin and the spirit of Regeneration for Newness of life But Christ did not obtain Deliverance from the bondage of sin or the spirit of Regeneration for all Men. Ergo. If any man conceives there is somewhat more in this Argument of the said Collocutors which I shall next transcribe then in any of the former I am content that it shall stand as additional unto them I finde it in this form All they for whom Christ dyed can freely say Who is he that condemneth 20 Reason It is Christ that dyed for us Rom. 8. 34. But they are onely Beleevers and the Elect that can speak thus Vers 33. not Unbeleevers Mark 16. 16. Ergo. The Minor is further strengthened by this consideration The Consolation raised from the consideration of the Death of Christ which the Apostle here Rom. 8. 32 33 c. administreth unto the Saints or Beleevers would have little solidity or worth in it in case Reprobates and Unbeleevers could as truly say that Christ dyed for them also This Argument likewise from the same Authors is vertually contained in that already mentioned in the fifteenth place Yet let it have the Honor of an Argument by it self If Reconciliation with God and Remission of sins be obtained for all and 21 Reason every man none excepted then should or ought the Word of this Reconciliation i. e. the Gospel be preached or declared and this continually to all and every man But the Word of Reconciliation is not thus preached to all and every man Ergo. The Reason of the Consequence is because they for whom Reconciliation is obtained not being capable of enjoying it but by Faith and Faith not being to be obtained but by hearing the Word of this their Reconciliation it seems contrary to all Reason that they should be deprived of the means of beleeving The learned Chamier advanceth this Argument against us the strength 22 Reason Chamier Panstrat â—om 3. lib. 9. c. 13. Sect. 19 whereof the observant Reader will finde lodged in the nineteenth Reason already propounded To all those for whom Christ truly dyed the Death of Christ is profitable But this Death of his is not profitable unto all Men. Ergo. The Major he proves 1. From the proper import of the Particle for which saith he always notes some benefit accruing to him for whom any thing is said to be done 2. From the state of the Controversie 3. And lastly From the Scriptures as where it is said He gave himself for us that he might redeem us c. Tit. 2. So again from Matt. 26. 28. Rom. 5. 8 9. The Minor he proveth 1. From the Concession or his Adversaries themselves the Papists concerning Infants who dye unbaptized all which they exclude from Salvation and consequently from all benefit by the Death of Christ. 2. From the Concession almost of all concerning persons of years of Matury viz. that very many of these perish everlastingly and so never come to receive any benefit by the Death of Christ. In the same place the same Author subjoyneth this Argument the same in 23 Reason substance with the former If Christ dyed for all Men then all Men are saved or shall be saved But this is not so Ergo. The Minor which needs no proof he proves from Joh. 3. 36. Rom. 2. 8. For the Consequence in the Major Proposition he cites the Apostles Discourse Rom. 5. 8 9 10. under the Notion of an express Probation of it But God commendeth his love towards us c. The Scriptures and Arguments now propounded are the effect and substance §. 8. of all that I can readily finde or call to minde pleaded and argued against the Doctrine of General Redemption as it hath been stated and asserted in our present Discourse excepting onely some quotations from the Fathers If any thing of moment upon the same account shall further occur or be offered unto me either before or under my examination of these I shall not conceal it but shall as in the presence of God and without the least touch or tincture of prejudice or partiality acknowledg strength in any thing