gratifies it in another For in making the Apostle to say that the saving Grace of God hath appeared unto all men they suppose him to be of their Judgment who conceive the Gospel and the saving Grace thereof to be discovered and preached by God unto men not only by the Ministry of Men or by the Letter of the Gospel it self but by the Works of Creation also and the gracious Government of the World For certain it is that the saving Grace of God of which the Apostle here speaks had not at this time appeared unto all men upon any other terms But this by the way Our former Translators dealt much more fairly with the Holy Ghost at this place rendering and pointing the words thus For that Grace of God that bringeth Salvation unto all men hath appeared The Grace of God in Christ is here said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salvifical unto all men not because it is such to all sorts or ranks of men only or to some men of all sorts and degrees as some not fearing to destroy the clear sence of the Holy Ghost to salve their own interpret but because it is such to all men simply and without exception of any This Exposition is confirmed 1. From the Context in the words immediately following wherein the proper end or ducture of this saving Grace of God now discovered is declared thus Teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world If then this saving Grace of God teacheth i. e. be apt to teach perswade and lead all men without exception as well one as another to a denyal of all ungodliness and to live soberly then must it needs be alike saving unto all For if this teaching property in it flows from the savingness of it which the Apostle here clearly supposeth then must the savingness of it necessarily be of equal extent with that property An Act of Grace Love or Bounty inviteth obligeth no more unto thankfulness then those to whom it is meant and intended Now certain it is that the saving Grace of God held forth and profered unto all men in the Gospel teacheth inviteth perswadeth obligeth all mâ—n without exception as well one as another to deny ungodliness c. to live soberly c. Otherwise we must say that there are some men who ought not who are no ways bound to learn any of these things from the Gospel nor to practise them upon any accompt of Grace or love â—endered herein from God unto them which I suppose is a saying too hard for any considering man to digest 2. The words themselves in their Grammatical native and proper signification give out the sence and Exposition specified The Grace of God here spoken of is expresly said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. saving or salvisical unto or apt to save all men And of what dangerous consequence it is to turn the words of the Holy Ghost out of their proper and best known significations into any by devious and qualified sence when there is no necessity of doing it hath been once and again admonished and declared in the Premisses a Cap. 5. Sect. 35. Cap. 6. §. 2 3 4 c. 3. The Exposition given fairly accordeth the passage in hand with many other its fellow-Scriptures as where God is said to have prepared His Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the face of ALL People b Luke 2. 30. to be willing to have ALL Men saved and to come to the knowledg of the Truth c 1 Tim. 2. 4. So again to have NONE perish but to have ALL MEN come to Repentance d 2 Pet. 3. 9. And again where Christ is said through the Grace of God to have tasted death for EVERY MAN e Heb. 2. 9. to omit several others which we have demonstratively proved to be of one mind and one heart with the said passage so understood as now interpreted 4. And lastly The Exposition given is attested by Orthodox Interpreters so owned and acknowledged by our Adversaries By name saith Pelican he testifieth the Grace of God to be COMMON TO THE UNIVERSE OF MEN or to men universally because of Servants of whom he had spoken And presently after But we are ALL one in Christ we are ALL UNIVERSALLY called to the Kingdom of God we were ALL after the offence given to be reconciled unto our Father f Nominatim universiis communem esse gratiam Dei testatur propter servos de quibus locutus erat sed cuncti in Christo unum sumus universi ad regnum Dei vocamur omnes post offensam Patri nostro reâ—onciliandi suimus Aretius upon the place affirmeth That the Gospel offers the Grace of God unto ALL MEN and hereupon infers that therefore it concerns ALL MEN to adorn the Doctrine hereof with their lives and manners g Prima ratio est Evangelium omnibus hominibus offert gratiam Dâ—i Ergo omnium interest hanc Doctrinam ornare vita moribus If the Gospel offers the saving Grace of God unto all men and all men upon this account stand bound to adorn the Doctrine thereof then must this Grace in the offer of it and so in the intention of him who offers it in the Gospel be saving i. e. of a saving tendency and import unto all men Yea if all men stand alike bound in respect of the alike offer of it respectively unto them neither of which alikeness can reasonably be denyed or indeed questioned it is a plain case that the savingness of it and Salvation by it is by God alike intended unto all men But from the Universal Offer of Grace unto men in the Gospel we have formerly argued and evicted real intentions in God of Salvation by Christ unto all men without exception h Cap. 7. Sect. 2. 3. c. As for those trivial evasions from this and such-like Scriptures as viz. that by all men may be meant either great numbers of men or all sorts or some of all sorts and ranks of men or Jews and Gentiles and so again that the Grace of God may be said to be saving unto all men because there is a sufficiency of merit in Christ to save all men though the Salvation of all men by him be not intended by God c. These I say with the like put-offs we have already upon like occasions frequently occurring detected of vanity and shewed their clear inconsistency with the principles as well of that Wisdom which is revealed from Heaven in the Scriptures as of that reason and understanding which are naturally ingrafted in men If any mans judgment be yet tempted with a face of any seeming beauty or strength in any of them he may I presume be delivered from further inconvenience in this kind by a second review of the sixth Chapter of this Discourse at least if he shall diligently consider what is to be seen
import they speak only of Faith of the second degree i. e. of such Faith which is not only justifying and saving in respect of the nature of it but which actually saveth and in places of the latter import that they speak only of Faith of the third and highest degree i. e. of a perfect solid rooted and groundâ—â— Faith For the Readers better satisfaction I shall exhib 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 hors own words at large This nevertheless is to be taken intâ—â—pecial consideration that when the Illud interim maximoperé in considerationem venit quòd cum Patres fidem posse amitti eóque ex Fide haut rectè aeternaÌ„ electionem colligi posse contendunt non omnes de quacunque Fidei mensur âloquuntur cum plurimi eoruÌ„ distinguant tres Fidei gradus Quorum primus dat Fidei essentiam secundum quam justificat dicitur Fides viva atque oppositam habet Fidem mortuam ac putatitiam qualis hypocritarum Alter gradus addit durationem quâ ratione salvificat sibique oppositam habet Fidem ut vulgò loquimur quod de hominibus dicit Scriptura Fidei eorum per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tribuentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive temporariam qualis est Apostatarum Tertius gradus superaddit soliditatem dicitur perfecta solida radicata quae quocunque vitae tempore certificat hoc est ut Gregorii Magni verbis utar sic confirmat ut quis ulteriùs caedere non possit hoc de sese certissimé sciat Cui gradui opponitur Fides debilis qualis etiam multorum est Electorum Patrum loca quibus dicunt Fidem veram quidem amitti posse sed nunquam non reparari semper loquuntur de secundo Fidei gradu At illa quibus ajunt neutiquam posse amitti omninò intelligi debent de gradu tertio Cum quibus mininè pugnat quòd universi alià s dicunt multos per defectionem à Fide aeternùm perire Nam intelligunt Fidem primi gradus hoc est formaliter sive essentialiter veram sive quod idem est justificam etsi non salvificam sed justificam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per quam quis in praesentiâ est justus non justificam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaendo si veritatem finis spectemus vere justifica non est quae aliquando desinit justificare quia non alia habet promissionem vitae aeternae quam quae perseverat Gerard. Joh. Voss Hist Pelag. lib. 6. Thes 13. Fathers affirm that Faith may be lost and 〈…〉 fore that eternal Election cannot rightly be inferred from Faith they do not all speak of any measure or degree of Faith whatsoever since many of them distinguish three several degrees of Faith The first of which gives Essence or Truth of Being unto Faith in respect whereof it justifieth and is called a lively Faith opposite hereunto is a dead and putatitious i. e. an imaginary Faith which is proper to Hypocrites The next degree adds Duration or Perseverance in respect whereof it saveth i. e. becomes actually saving Opposite to this Faith is that which we commonly call Temporary attributing that unproperly unto mens Faith which the Scripture attributes to men themselves which is the Faith of Apostates The third and last degree superaddeth Solidity this Faith is termed perfect solid rooted which at any time of a mans life gives him assurance i. e. to use the words of Gregory the Great doth so confirm or strengthen that a man cannot fall afterwards and knoweth this most certainly of himself To this degree of Faith a weak Faith is opposed which is the Faith of many of the Elect. Those passages of the Fathers wherein they say That true Faith may be lost but is always recovered again always speak of the second degree of Faith But those where they say That such Faith cannot be lost must necessarily be understood of the third and highest degree of Faith Between which expressions and what they generally teach otherwise viz. That many perish eternally through a falling away from their Faith there is no repugnance For in such assertions as this they understand Faith of the first degree i. e. such a Faith which is formally and essentially true or which is the same which is justifying though not actually or in the event saving but justifying in the essence or substance of it in respect whereof a man is at present righteous or just not justifying in respect of continuance since if we consider the Truth of the end that Faith is not truly justifying which at any time ceaseth to justifie because no other Faith hath the promise of eternal life but only that which persevereth By the express tenor of these things it fully appears that the uniform and §. 5. constant opinion of all Orthodox Antiquity was that true Faith true Grace true Justification and forgiveness of sins may by security carelessness ungodliness and profaneness of life and conversation be totally and finally lost and the persons in whom they were sometimes found eternally perish As for that which some of them teach concerning the inamissibility or infallible Perseverance of such a Faith which is perfected and radicated in the Soul so throughly and to such a degree as we have heard expressed were it granted that they speak of a simple and absolute inamissibility in this kind and that their meaning is that there is an utter impossibility and not a great difficulty or improbability only that such a Faith should miscarry or no instance producible to prove that such a Faith ever did miscarry it no ways rebuketh the confidence of that Assertion which we have in this present Chapter and elsewhere in the Discourse formerly avouched viz. That a possibility of the falling away of true Saints and true Beleevers and that both totally and finally was the general and joynt Doctrine of the Primitive Christians for several ages together after Christ. The consideration whereof is abundantly sufficient to stop the mouth of that undue pretext which presumeth to say and that with confidence That the best and most conscientious men were always of this Judgment that true Grace is imperishable and true Beleevers under no possibility of miscarrying finally But of this we spake more at large in the nineth Chapter I here only add That when any of the ancient Fathers or Councils express themselves in words of any such import as this that there is or may be a Faith so raised rooted or strongly built that it cannot either totally or finally miscarry it is no ways probable that their meaning should be that there is an utter simple or logical impossibility that such a Faith should be wholy lost but that they rather speak rhetorically and would be understood of a kind of moral impossibility only which imports a great difficulty improbability or rareness of an event in which sence or notion the Scriptures themselves as knowledg hath been given elsewhere d Cap. 10. §. 28.
suppose the act of believing could be divided into a thousand parts or degrees nine hundred ninety and nine of them are to be ascribed unto the free Grace of God and onely the one remaining unto man Yea this one degree of the action is no otherwise neither to be ascribed unto man then as graciously supported strengthened and assisted by the free Grace of God The Reader will finde none of these Positions contradicted by any thing affirmed or denyed in the Discourse I attribute as much as possibly can be attributed to the free Grace of God in and about the Act of Believing salving the attributableness of the Action unto man himself in the lowest and most diminutive sence that can well be conceived For certain it is that it is the Creature Man not God or the Spirit of God that believeth and therefore of necessity there must so much or such a degree of Efficiency about it be left unto man which may with truth give it the denomination of being his And they that go about to interess the free Grace of God in or about the act of Believing upon any other terms or so that the act it self cannot truly be called the Act of the Creature or of Man are injurious in the highest maner to the Grace of God at this main turn rendering it altogether unprofitable to the poor Creature who by the verdict of such a Notion should be left in his sins and never come to be justified For the Law of Justification is expresly this He that believeth shall be justified Therefore if it be not man himself who believeth it is unpossible that he should be justified He that shall ingenuously and unpartially compare the Doctrine of our Adversaries touching the Grace of God with that the substance whereof hath been expressed in the nine Positions lately exhibited will clearly find that this Grace is by many degrees more highly and with another manner of an Heavenly Magnificence advanced by the tenor and import of this Doctrine then of the other yea and that Nature is far more depressed and abased in the latter then in the former But 3. Some pretend that the Doctrines and Opinions maintained in such Discourses as this are only old rotten Errors rejected and thrown out of the Church by Orthodox men in all Ages But they who hedg up the way of men with such thorns as these to keep them from reading such Books as we speak of cannot but scratch yea rend and tear their Consciences with them Concerning the two Doctrines more largely handled in the following Discourse I prove upon a most pregnant account in the fifteenth Chapter for the one and in the nineteenth for the other besides many other places in the body of the Discourse that they were never rejected or cast out of the Church by any Council or Synod reputed Orthodox at least until the late Synod of Dort but were constantly taught by all Orthodox Antiquity are at this day more generally taught by the Lutheran Party of the Reformed Churches yea and have many full and clear Testimonies of their Truth from the Pen of Calvin himself and many others that are counted Pillars on his side 4. Some are brought out of Love with such Discourses as this by being informed that they are full of nice subtil and curious speculations and that the secrets of God are too narrowly and presumptuously pried into by the Authors of them To this I answer 1. If any man whether in the handling of the Doctrines we now speak of or of any other advanceth himself into the things which he hath not seen or above the proportion of his Faith let him suffer as a Transgressor of the Law of Sobriety I shall not be his Advocate For the Discussions managed in the Treatise ensuing I go no further then I feel the ground firm under me Or if at any time I come to a place that is soft and tender I tread light and charge no great matter of weight upon it Yet 2. Not to go up to the Mount when God calleth and offereth the kisses of his mouth unto us there under a pretence of danger in climbing is to reject the bounty of Heaven and to betray our richest opportunities for the making of our selves Excellent and Great in the sight of God and Angels and Men. 3. Things revealed in the Scriptures as well those of the most spiritual and sublime consideration which our Saviour calls Heavenly a John 3. 12 and the Apostle Paul sometimes the deep things of God b 1 Cor. 2. 10 sometimes strong meat c Heb. 5. 14 as well as things of a more obvious and facile import belong unto us and our children i. e. are our spiritual Patrimony which God our Father hath given us to maintain our selves honorably as viz. in Faith and Holiness in the World Every inch of such an Inheritance is worth the standing upon and contending for 4. Aristotle in his Moral Discourses somewhere observes that persons who are vicious or tardy in either of the extreams frequently censure him that is truly vertuous and steers a middle course between them as if he were an Offender in that extream which is opposite to the other extream wherein themselves are Delinquent So it is to be feared that many who complain of curiosity in speculation and of prying into the secrets of God are themselves dull of hearing of remiss and un-engaged spirits in the things of God and therefore call the most substantial and solid Discourses if they be of any considerable elevation and worthy those who are spiritual and men in Understanding by the unworthy name of nice and curious speculations 5. And lastly for this I confess that the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation and so of the extent of the efficacy of the Death of Christ and of the Interest of the Spirit of God in the Work of Conversion might have been managed and carried with far less appearance of curiosity had not the Controverters of the one side forsaken the solid Grounds and Principles of Reason in their Expositions of the Scriptures and obtruded upon the World such notions and conceits under a pretence of Scripture Authority because of an appearance of some words and phrases comporting with them the vanity and unsoundness whereof could not be sufficiently detected but by the light of some such strains of Reason which the minds and thoughts of men being not accustomed unto may at first very probably censure as more curious then safe more subtle then sound But the saying of Basil is worthy consideration at this Point Truth saith he is hard to be taken by hunting and must be found out by a narrow observing of her footsteps on every side d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And more especially the discovery of the Truth in the Controversies we speak of mainly depending upon the knowledg of the Nature of God and of the manner of his Actings which are matters of a very
in the constant Faith and Holinesse of these and at last triumphed gloriously in their Salvation Whereby it came to passe that these only seemed to have been Redeemed amongst Men all others miscarrying as if they had not been Redeemed So that there is nothing at all scarce so much as an appearance of any thing in this Scripture against that Interpretation of the other for the establishing of which way hath been made through the fall of many others And doubtlesse he that shall attentively and with consideration Reade §. 43. what Calvin himselfe hath commented upon the place must needs judge him very compliant with the said Interpretation Although saith he Christ may be denied severall wayes yet in my judgement Peter means that which is expressed in Jude viz. when the Grace of God is turn'd into wantonnesse For Christ hath Redeemed us that He might have a People separated from all the defilements of the World addicting it self unto holinesse and innocency Wherefore THEY WHO SHAKING OFF THE BRIDLE CAST THEMSELVES FORVVARD INTO ALL MANNER OF LICENTIOVSNESSE ARE NOT WITHOVT CAVSE SAID TO DENY CHRIST BY WHOM THEY WERE REDEEMED So then that the Doctrine of the Gospell may abide with us safe and sound let this be alwayes fixed in our minds that we are Redeemed by Christ that He may be the Lord both of our Lives and Deaths a Tametsi variis modis abnâ—gatur Christus eum tamen â—îc meo judicio attingit Petrus qui exprimitur apud Judam nempe cum gratia Dei in laesciviam convertitur Redemit enim nos Christus ut populum habere segregatuÌ„ ab omnibus mundi inquinamentis addictum Sanctitati innocentiae Qui igitur excusso fraeno in omnem licentiam se proiiciunt non immerito dicuntur Christum abnegare à quo Redempti sunt Proinde ut salva integra Evangelij Doctrina apud nos maneat hoc animis nostrie infixum sit Redemptos esse nos à Christo ut vitae simul mortis nostrae sit Dominus c. In this piece of Commentary there are severall passages which plainely declare the Authors judgement to have been at least when He wrote these things that those are and may be said to be redeemed by Christ and that after the same manner that the Saints themselves are redeemed who yet may in the end perish For 1. in saying Christ hath redeemed us questionlesse he includes Himselfe and all the godly at least that heard Him or shall read these things Now if He should meane that either Himself or other godly ones were Redeemed with any other kinde of Redemption then that spoken of in the Text before Him viz. wherewith the false Teachers there mentioned were Redeemed his Commentaries should be quite besides the Text. 2. He saith Expresly that they who shaking off the Bridle cast themselves forward or head long into all manner of licentiousnesse are not without cause said to deny Christ by whom they were Redeemed Now who are they that bring swift destruction upon themselves but such as he here describes and whom he supposeth to have been Redeemed by Christ and that with the same Redemption whereof He had spoken immediately before viz. wherewith Himselfe and other godly ones had been Redeemed For to make him speake of two severall kinds of Redemption specifically distinct in one and the same Passage without giving the least notice of any distinction or difference at all between them is to suppose Him to equivocate and to make Him a Transgressor of the knowne Principles and Rules of Writing 3. And lastly when He exhorts let this alwayes be fixed in our minds that we are Redeemed by Christ that He may be the Lord of c. He cannot be supposed to addresse or speake only to those that were or are truly godly but to all those at least who judge themselves such yea clear it is that He speaks to all Persons professing Christianity without exception Nor can he be supposed to invite or perswade any Man to fix that in his mind which is every whit as likely if not much more likely to be false then true but only that which is most certainly and unquestionably true Therefore he clearly supposeth that all Persons who upon any terms or grounds whatsoever judge themselves godly yea that all Professors of Christianity without exception are Redeemed by Christ and consequently that as well those who Perish as those that are saved are Redeemed by Him there being nothing more certaine then that many who professe Christianity yea and who call themselves godly will Perish From henceforth then let no Man put the Doctrine maintained in this Discourse §. 44. to any such rebuke as this that it was never held or countenanced by any Divine of the Order sirnamed Orthodox we finde the Principall of this Order Calvin himself I mean besides many others of Name and Note amongst them once and againe yea seven times over very freely giving the right hand of fellowship unto it We have been somewhat long in our vindication of the Scripture last argued but the restlesse and endlesse importunity of Men in perswading the Scriptures to entreate their Darling error kindly together with the difficulty of the Scriptures to be so perswaded hath compelled us But it is very incident to Men to doe by the Scriptures as they do by themselves God saith Solomon hath made Man upright but they have sought out many inventions a Eccles 7. 29 So may it be truly said that God hath made many Scriptures upright plain clear obvious for sence and meaning but Men are wont to seek out many inventions to perplex or misfigure this meaning that it may not be known to oppose their fond Conceits and Imaginations The next Scripture of the Consort designed for this Chapter was 2 Pet. §. 45. 2. 20. For if after they have escaped the pollution of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are 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 Here likewise it is most irrefragably and cleerly supposed that Men who have been truly sanctified and regenerated and consequently Redeemed by Christ may yet decline so as to Perish in the end For to deny that that expression of escaping the pollution of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ doth import true Sanctification or Regeneration is to deny that the Sun is up at Noon-day For if the Persons here said to have escaped the pollutions of the World through c. shall not be supposed truly and inwardly Sanctified c. but only superficially and externally they must be supposed withall 1. To have been all this while in the midst of that greatest pollution of the World and
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
yea though he should intice you away from God by the allurements of the World and intangle you with them againe yea and should cause you to run and rush headlong against the light of your own judgements and consciences into all manner of horrid sins and abominations yet shall all his attempts and assaults upon you in every kinde be in vaine you shall be in never the more danger or possibility of perishing unto you I say attend and consider how sore and dangerous a combate you are like to sustaine for you are to wrastâ—e not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers the Governors of this World and spirituall wickednesses against that old Serpent the Devill that great red Dragon who was a murtherer from the beginning and who still goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure who will set himself with all his might to thrust you headlong into all manner of sins and so to separate betweene God and you for ever and truly I am afraid lest as the Serpent by his subâ—ilty deceived Eve so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus lest the Tempter should any wayes tempt you and my labour about you be in vaine Therefore watch pray and resist him stedfast in the Faith take unto you the whole Armour of God that you may be able to resist in an evill day and having done all things stand fast stand having your loynes girt with the girdle of truth and the brest-Plate of Righteousnesse upon you c. Would such an Oration or speech as this be any wayes worthy the infinite Wisdome of the Holy Ghost Or is it not the part of a very weak and simple person to admonish a Man and that in a most serious and solemn manner of a danger threatning him or hanging over his head and withall to instruct and teach him with a great variety of Rules Precepts and Cautions how to escape this danger when as both himself knows and the person admonished likewise knoweth and this with the knowledge also of the Admonisher that it is a thing altogether unpossible that ever the danger should befall him or the evill against which he is so solemnly cautioned come upon him Therefore they who make the Holy Ghost to have part and fellowship in such weaknesse as this are most insufferably injurious unto him And whereas they still plead or pretend rather that such admonitions §. 38. as those lately specified may well stand with an unconditioned promise of Perseverance we have formerly shewed a See from Sect 4. of this Chapter to the end of Sect. 16. that they are not able to make good this Plea nor to give any reasonable account of it Whereas they adde that their Sence or Opinion is not that it is a thing absolutely or every wayes impossible for true Believers to fall away totally or finally from their Faith but that they willingly grant that even true Believers what through their own weaknesse and what through the subtil baits and temptations of Satan may so fall away c. I answer that this is but a Fig-leafe sought out to cover the nakednesse of their Opinion which hath no strength at all nor wear in it For what though it were in a thousand other respects never so possible for true Believers to perish yet if it be altogether unpossible in such a respect which over rules all those other and which will and of necessity must hinder the coming of it to passe all those other notwithstanding it is to bee judged simply and absolutely impossible and all those respects wherein it is pretended possible are not to be brought into account in such a case The Rule in the Civill Law and in Reason is Omnia invalida nihilo sunt aequiparanda i. e. All things which together are invalid are to be judged as none at all Yea the Scripture it self when it speakes of any thing which God hath promised or ingaged Himselfe to bring to passe though there be never so many second causes and these never so potent in their kinde to oppose it it nullifies the validity of all these and asserts the certaine futurity of the effect upon such termes as if in no respect whatsoever it were impossible or obnoxious to a non being or non-comming to pass If God BE FOR US saith Paul who can be against us a clearely b Rom. 8. 31. implying that no enmity no opposition or interposition of things or persons whatsoever against our Comfort and Peace are of any consideration at all when we have the Power of God ingaged for our security And is there not altogether the same reason of the Perseverance of the Saints in case God hath made an absolute Promise hereof unto them Or is it reasonable or any wayes considerable to say that in this respect or in that respect or in a third respect they may possibly not Persevere in case it be supposed that God hath absolutely peremptorily and irreversibly against all possible Interveniences whatsoever Decreed their Perseverance Whereas some pretend that Christ Himselfe was tempted who yet §. 39. was in no danger of sinning or of perishing the answer is that this indeed is a truth but palpably irrelative to the cause in hand It would have parallel'd in case the Holy Ghost should have applied Himself unto Christ in such admonitions detections of Satans malice and methods against him exhortations to be watchfull to pray to stand fast and resist him with professing himself afraid lest Satan should circumvent him c. as those wherein we heard he addresseth himself unto Believers but there being no such applications as these made unto him by the Holy Ghost the case is altogether different It is true Christ as Man was subject to the whole Law of God and to every branch and particular Precept thereof so far as it concerned him i. e. so far as it concerned Men considered simply as Men or as righteous and good Men but as it relates unto Men considered as subject to morall weaknesses and infirmities or as in a capacity of being over-grown and overcome with sinfull corruptions and so liable unto perishing he was not in subjection to it Neverthelesse it is not to be denied but that even Christ Himself considered simply as Man had upon him the image and superscription of a Creature or finite Being I meane mutability yet so that all potentiality in him in this kinde was abundantly balanced over-balanced by the hypostaticall union and the unmeasureablenesse of that Grace which flowed from this Spring upon and into his humanity by means whereof there is an impossibility though neither meerly Logicall or Naturall nor yet meerly Morall but compounded and as it were mixed of both such as hath no place in the condition of any meere Creature whatsoever that he should be actually changed to the dayes of eternity So that in respect of the personall union with the God-head
Forgiveness of His sins past through the Grace of the Clemency of God shall become so notoriously ingrateful and neglective of His own Salvation as like unto a Dog returning to His vomit to break off the course of His Repentance and shall plainly shew that He more despiseth then feareth God He declareth Himself absolutely worthy to bear or suffer the punishment due to those former sins from which He had been absolved And to this sence speak the two places which I lately cited from Ezekiel Besides if He who through Mercy hath obtained the Forgiveness of a thousand Talents shall refuse to forgive His Brother an Hundred pence that is if He who hath obtained the Remission of all His sins from God shall refuse to forgive His Brother upon His request made unto Him in that behalf a Trespass or Offence committed against Him is there any ground or cause why we should ask why such a man should be deprived of all that Remission of sins which He had obtained and be called to suffer the punishment which He had deserved It being most equal that what we desire should be done unto our selves we also should do unto others or if we shall deny or refuse to do this that we should be deprived of that Favor which we deny unto others In this case then it may come to pass and justly happeneth that Grace once received should be made vain or frustrate But this is not to be imputed to any instability of the Divine Clemency which in God hath no place but unto our wickedness In which respect the Apostle not without good ground intreats and warns us 2 Cor. 6. that we receive not the Grace of God in vain a Si quis igitur prâ—teritorum peccatorum coÌ„donationem per gratiam Dei clementiae coÌ„sequutus usque adeò ingratus ac salutis suae negligens evaserit vt instar canis ad vomitum reversus coeptam resipiscentiam rumpat palámque ostendat Deum se contemnere magis quà m timere plané dignum se esse declarat à quo praeteritorum peccatorum à quibus fuerat absolutus poenae exigantur Et huc pertinent duo loci Ezekielis quos suprà citavimus Adhuc si quis mille Talentorum condonationem miserecorditer adeptus centum denarios fratri suo remittere detrectaverit hoc est si quis omniuÌ„ peccatoruÌ„ suoruÌ„ remissioneÌ„ à Deo consequutus fratri in se peccanti ac veniaÌ„ posteá oranti offensam remittere noluerit debemusnè quarere quâ—re omni peccatorum suoruÌ„ remissione quaÌ„ nactus fuerat privetur ad meritas poenas luendâ—â— revocetur AequissimuÌ„ prorsus est vt quod nobis ipsis contingere cupimus faciamus ipsi aliis vel si id detrectemus eâ— privemur gratiâ quaÌ„ aliis negamus Hactenùs igitur fieri potest meritò accidit vt semel accepta gratia reddatur irrita VeruÌ„ non debetur hoc divinae clementiae instabilitati quae locuÌ„ in Deo non habet sed nostrae pravitati Quare praeter rationeÌ„ non est quòd Apostolus 2 Cor. 6. obsecrat monet ne gratiaÌ„ Dei in vacuuÌ„ recipiamus Musc in Loc. de Remiss Peccat Sect. 6. The same Author elsewhere doth not onely declare His Judgment simply and positively for the Doctrine asserted by us but with a plain intimation also of his dissent herein from others Some dispute saith he whether it may not so come to pass that such a sin which was venial may not by circumstances become mortal as in case Drunkenness should be much frequented and become customary and Anger by being long retained become strengthened My sence is that even here also the quality of the Offender ought to be considered But if He who was made Partaker of the Divine Grace or Favor shall FALL FROM THIS GRACE AND OF A PERSON JVST Religious Faithful and fearing God SHALL BECOME UNIVST impious unbeleeving and a contemner of God as this mans Conscience by losing the purity of Faith becomes liable unto death so likewise all those Sins of His which whilest He was in Grace were venial are now turned into mortal Thus we read Ezek. 18. When the righteous shall forsake his righteousness and shall commit iniquities He shall dye in them And again all his righteousness shall not be remembred Now what else can follow but that if a good tree be corrupted the fruits which were good must become evil They who from the Principles or beginnings of Faith and of the good Spirit degenerate into perfidiousness or Unbelief render the whole course of their lives which was partaker of Grace culpable of death Such as these are they who with the Galatians begin indeed in the spirit but end in the flesh They are liable unto condemnation and their Sins are no longer venial but mortal unless they repent and return to the Grace of the Blood of Christ from which they are fallen if yet they be fallen upon no worse terms then that they are in a capacity of returning unto Grace Some I know are otherwise-minded in this point but I freely declare mine own judgment without any injury done to them b Disputant de eo fierinè possit vt quod veniale peccatuÌ„ erat propter quasdam circuÌ„stantias fiat mortale vtsi ebrietas frequeÌ„tetur in consuetudineÌ„ ducatur ira diutiù◠reteÌ„ta corroboretur Nos sentimus hîc quoque qualitatem delinquentis esse considerandaÌ„ Quòdsi is qui coelestis Gratiae fuerat particeps factus ab eâ gratiâ exciderit ex homine justo pio fideli ac Dei timente factus fuerit injustus impius infidelis ac conteÌ„ptor Dei queÌ„admodoÌ„ hujus conscientia puritate Fidei amissâ Morti facta est obnoxia ita omnia illius peccata quae duÌ„ in gratiâ erat venialia fuerant in mortalia convertuntur Sic Ezek. 18. legimus QuuÌ„ recesseriâ— Justus à Justiciâ suâ fâ—ceritque iniquitates morietur in â—is IteÌ„ omnes Justiciae ejus oblivioni tradentur Quid auteÌ„ aliud consequi poterit si arbor bona pervertatur in malaÌ„ quà m vt ipsi fructus è bonis fiant mali Qui à principiis Fidei ac spiritus boni ad perfidiaÌ„ degenerant omneÌ„ suaÌ„ vitaÌ„ quae veniae particeps erat mortaleÌ„ constituunt qualeâ— illi sunt qui cuÌ„ Galatis spiritu quideÌ„ incipiunt tandeÌ„ verò carne desinunt Illi condemnationi sunt obnoxij eoruÌ„ peccata non ampliùs venialia sunt sed mortalia nisi resipiscant ad gratiaÌ„ sanguinis Christi unde prolapsi sunt revertantur si tamen ità prolapsi sunt vt resipiscentiae ac redeundi ad gratiaÌ„ locus esse possit Scio hîc á nonnullis aliter sentiri verùm quid mihi videatur absque illoruÌ„ injuriâ liberè dico Musc Loc. de Peccat Sect. 5. These last words Some I know are otherwise-minded c. plainly shew 1. That the deliberate and resolved
body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ i. e. so also is it with Beleevers who in respect of their spiritual Being are from Christ meaning that though they be many personally distinct yet they make one spiritual or mystical body with Christ their Head Now when the Promises are said to be made to Abraham and his spiritual seed Beleevers the meaning is not as if they were so or upon such terms made to them that none but they had any right to receive them or beleeve them for then it must follow that men must or ought to be Beleevers before they receive or beleeve the Promises which is impossible But the Promises are made to Abraham and his seed i. e. the great Inheritance of Life and Salvation promised by God is promised as touching the actual exhibition or collation of it unto Beleevers onely such as Abraham himself was and such as those who desire to be accounted his seed must be But this supposeth not but that the said Promises are in this sence made to Adam and his seed i. e. to all Mankinde viz. that all and every Person of Mankinde as well as Adam yea or Abraham himself have a right to beleeve them so that in case they should beleeve them they should do no unjust or unrighteous thing Nay they have not onely a right but a grand necessity likewise lying upon them to beleeve them as well in respect of the Commandment of God who commands no unjust or unrighteous thing as of their own eternal Peace and Safety whereof they will certainly make shipwrack unless they do beleeve them A second Demonstration whereby Christ dying for all Men is euinced §. 4. Argum. 2. is this If Christ dyed not for all Men without exception then He dyed for the Elect onely But He dyed not for the Elect onely Therefore for all Mâ—n without exception I presume the former Proposition will be granted without further Proof because they who deny that Christ dyed for all generally suppose and grant that He dyed for some and by Name for the Elect and indeed for these onely So that if it be proved either that He dyed not for the Elect at all or not for the Elect onely then according to their own Principles and grounds it follows that He dyed for all Now then that He dyed not for the Elect and much more not for the Elect onely which was the Minor Proposition appears thus If the state and condition of the Elect were such that Christ needed no more to dye for them then He needed to dye for the Holy and Elect Angels then Christ dyed not for these much less for these onely But the state and condition of the Elect was such that there was no more need that Christ should dye for them then for the Elect Angels Ergo. In this Argument I reason I confess upon my Adversaries grounds not mine own concerning Election but howsoever such a process of arguing as this is very serviceable for the confirmation of a Truth in opposition to an Error and the Apostie Paul himself sometimes 1 Cor. 15. 29 useth it in a like case as 1 Cor. 15. 29. The Major Proposition in this last Argument standeth upon this ground that there was no need that Christ should dye for the Holy or Elect Angels I suppose this will not be denyed or doubted of by any but however it is clearly enough asserted by the Apostle in that saying of his Gal. 2. 21 I do not frustrate the Grace of God Gal. 2. 21. for if Righteousness i. e. Justification come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain i. e. without any necessity or reasonable cause moving thereunto But now if there had been a necessity that Christ should have dyed for the Elect Angels it would not have followed that His Death had been in vain though men might have been justified by the Law Therefore if there were no more reason no more need why Christ should dye for the Elect of Men then for the Elect Angels certainly He did not dye for them much less for them onely But now that there was no more reason no more need why Christ should dye for the Elect of Men then for the Elect Angels which was the substance of the Minor Proposition appears by this double consideration 1. Because God loved the Elect I mean the Elect of Men and that as such as Elect without any consideration had of Christs dying for them with as great a love as He did the Elect Angels yea with as great as it was possible for him to bear to them 2. Because Salvation and Eternal Glory were decreed and adjudged to them and consequently were made truly and properly theirs in and by Gods Purpose in Electing them God in Electing them without any consideration or respect had unto Jesus Christ dying or to dye for them or unto their beleeving in him did irreversibly appropriate and consign over unto them Eternal Life From these two grounds it follows undeniably that there was no more need for Christ to dye for the Elect of Mankinde then for the Elect Angels For 1. If God loved the Elect of Men with as great a love as He loves the Elect Angels or as He is capable of bearing towards them what occasion what necessity was there that Christ should dye for the one more then for the other The same Love affords the same Favors the same Priviledges without any mediation to equalize it in this kinde If God loved the Elect of Men as much as intensely as the Holy Angels considered onely as Elect or before their Election for this is the notion and sence of our Adversaries in the Point in hand then the offence and distance occasioned by sin between him and them was wholly ceased and taken out of the way before the Blood of the Covenant was sprinkled on them before the Attonement came at them as the Hebrew women in the story were delivered of their Exod. 1. 19. children before the midwives came at them And if so if the offence and distance caused between God and his Elect by means of sin was swallowed up in the Love of Election so that he loved them now considered onely as Elect or to be Elected as much as He did or could do upon their actual ingraffing into Christ and participation of His Death to what purpose should Christ dye for them or what profit is there in the Blood of Christ as to them God thought every whit as well of them loved them as much intended to do as much for them yea irreversibly decreed adjudged as great things unto them before and without all consideration had of the Death of Christ as He did or could do upon the consideration of it 2. God out of His Love of Election as the Doctrine of Election is commonly taught and received amongst us did in the very
Act or Decree of His Election freely and of His meer good will and pleasure irrevocably assign adjudg make over and give to His Elect Justification Salvation Glorification and what not in this kinde And if so Christ could not dye to purchase or procure these things for them because they were truly properly and by right of free donation theirs before It were ridiculous for any friend of mine to go and lay down a great sum of money to purchase or procure that on my behalf which I have already assured unto me by the free and stable and irrevocable gift and donation of him that hath a full right and power to give it unto me Therefore whereas many amongst us cry out of Socinianism as a most dangerous Heresie and the great abomination of their Souls the truth is that themselves teach and hold as rank and right-down Socinianism in their Opinion about Election as the greatest Socinians themselves can do For what is the master-veyn in the body of this Heresie but to deny that Christ truly satisfied or made any attonement for sin and that upon this ground because God freely and of His meer grace gives forgiveness of sins unto men without any satisfaction And how little doth this differ from that Doctrine of Election which passeth for currant amongst us teaching that forgiveness of sins and all the great things depending hereon are assigned and decreed unto men in their Election without any consideration had of Christs dying for them or their beleeving in him If it be here said that they who hold Election in the most absolute and §. 5. peremptory way do not say or hold that God intends actually to confer Remission of sins or eternal Life upon the Elect otherwise then for and through the satisfaction made by Christ for them in His Death though they hold that He intends without any respect had to the consideration of Christs Death actually to confer them upon them They exclude the satisfaction of Christ from having any thing to do in Gods Purpose of Election not from having any thing to do in the execution of this His Purpose here they acknowledg it to have much to do to be upon the matter all in all To this we answer That this Distinction or Explication of the Opinion doth no ways relieve it but rather burthens it more and more For 1. Certain it is that God doth not purpose or project one way and act or execute in another but His executions do exactly answer the tenor purport and form of His Purposes or Intentions Men who are subject to oversights and consequently to repentance may and many times do vary from their model or platform when they come to action because some better thing it may be hath come in their way then they thought upon in the first projection of their work But nothing can come in Gods way either more satisfactory or better pleasing unto Him then what was present with Him in the first contrivance or projection of His affairs Therefore if in point of execution He actually confers Remission of sinâ— and Salvation upon men because of and with respect unto the Death and Satisfaction of Christ it is a certain sign that He purposed this collation of them in His Purpose of Election upon no other terms and consequently that in Gods very Purpose of Electing men unto Salvation He had respect unto the Death of Christ yea and to their ingraffing into Him by beleeving and that He never purposed Salvation unto any without interâ—ssing the Death of Christ in His Intentions in this kinde as well as in His Executions of what He thus intâ—â—ds 2. If God might intend and purpose Salvation unto men without the consideration of the Death of Christ certainly He may as well actually confer and give this Salvation without any respect had thereunto For this is a general and plain Rule that whaâ— a man may lawfully will or intend to do without such or such a consideration he may as lawfully act or do it without this consideration For there iâ— every whit as much required to justifie a man in his will or purpose of doing a thing as to justifie him in his act or deed according to this will Certainly that which a man may lawfully will or purpose he may lawfully do In like manner iâ— God might lawfully I mean with the consistence of His Wisdom and Justice purpose will or decree Forgiveness of sins and Salvation unto men without considering them as Beleevers in Christ He â—ay as well actually confeâ— these things upon them without any such consideration and if so the Death of Christ is no ways necessary either to justifie oâ— commâ—nd either the Justice or the Wisdom of God in the actual Justification or Salvation of Men. So that evident it is that the Doctrine of Election as it is ordinarily entertain'd amongst us doth abrogate the Grace of God in Christ and makes His Death to be in vain But the Scripture teacheth this Doctrine upon other terms and maketh Christ i. e. the consideration of Christ and of Faith in Him the foundation of Election and that upon which God raised as it were and built it Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ saith the Apostle who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly pâ—aces or things in Christ according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy a Eph. 1. 3 4. c. Observe these words according as He hath chosen us in Him Here are two things very considerable as to our purpose in these words The first lies in that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as or even as Who hath blessed us i. e. actually and de facto blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as or even as He hath châ—sen us this clearly shews that Gods actings His actual and present Dispensations are adequately and exactly conformable unto His Purposes or Projections God saith the Apostle to them in effect in all that He hath done for us by the Gospel and by Christ as in the enlightening of us in sanctifying of us in justifying of us in comforting of us c. hath but acted that which He had model'd and form'd out for us in His Purpose or Counsel of Election before the World began The second thing to be observed in the words is that God is here said to have chosen us in Him i. e. in Christ before the foundation of the world How or in what sence is God here said to have-elected or chosen us in Christ First I suppose the Apostle here speakâ— not of the Act buâ— of the Purpose or Decree of Election or chusing So the sence oâ— the words according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world is this according to that Model Platform or Purpose of Election which upon the happy advantage or opportunity
any probable ground whereon to judg that he is Elected If it be objected Yes an unregenerate Person hath the Command of God to beleeve or depend on Christ for Salvation and this is a sufficient ground in Reason for him to do accordingly To this I answer by granting the whole Argument but retrench that if unregenerate Persons have the Command of God to depend on him for Salvation it is upon the ground lately evinced u Sect. 22. of this Chap. above all contradiction viz. that there is Salvation in Him for them and consequently purchased by him for them by his Death For He hath Salvation for no man upon any other account Joh. 12. 24. So that this Objection rather strengtheneth then weakeneth the Doctrine we maintain The Minor Proposition in the Argument last advanced by us which onely affirmeth as to the exigency of our cause that many unregenerate Persons stand bound in duty to beleeve on Christ for Salvation is too rich in evidence to stand in need of Proof For 1. The Scripture saith expresly that God now commandeth all men every where and therefore unregenerate men as well as others to repent x Acts 17. 30 if to repent then to beleeve also in as much as there can be no sound Repentance such as God commandeth without Faith And if so be men yet unregenerate stand not bound in duty or conscience to beleeve on Christ then is it no matter of sin in them to make God a lyar For He that beleeveth not God maketh Him a lyar because he beleeveth not the record God gave of His Son y 1 John 5. 10 meaning that whosoever justifieth or beleeveth God in the record he hath given of his Son must needs beleeve on him viz. because the Tenor of this Record is that whosoever beleeveth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life Now he that beleeveth this can no more refuse or forbear to beleeve on Christ then he can be content eternally to perish or refuse everlasting life as not worthy his beleeving for the obtaining of it But doubtless it is sinful in any man to make God a lyar i. e. either to do or to neglect to do any act by the doing or neglect whereof God is any ways represented as untrue of his Word as he is by any mans non-beleeving on Christ and consequently every man except the before excepted stands bound in duty and conscience to beleeve on Christ. Again secondly If no unregenerate men had any band of Duty or Precept from God lying upon them to beleeve on Christ whosoever of this sort of men should at any time beleeve on Him should super-erogate and do more then what he is by God commanded to do and consequently all Beleevers without exception should be Super-erogators in their first act of Beleeving because until now they were unregenerate Persons But the Proof of this Proposition is I suppose super-erogatory and more then any darkness or doubtfulness in it yea and haply more then our Adversaries themselves require Therefore we pass on to another Argument If God intended not the Death of Christ for all Men and that in order to their §. 27. Argum. 10. Salvation then have not all Men a sufficiency of means vouchsafed â—nto them whereby to be saved But all Men have a sufficiency of means in this kinde vouchsafed unto them Ergo. The Consequence in the former Proposition is pregnant without Proof For it is greater then contradiction that they who have no Propitiatory Sacrifice offered up for them nor Attonement made for their Sins have no sufficiency of means for Salvation So that if God intended no such Oblation no such Attonement for any man or number of men most certain it is that such men are in no capacity of Salvation and consequently can have no sufficiency of means whereby to be saved The truth of the Minor Proposition which avoucheth a sufficiency of means vouchsafed by God unto all Men whereby to be saved might be evidenced by sundry Demonstrations But because the compleat and full Demonstration of this Proposition is one of the most considerable atchievements to be undertaken and managed in the second Part of the Work in hand I shall for the present onely propose some few Considerations for the proof of it respiting the through-arguing of them until that opportunity First then If all Men have not a sufficiency of Means vouchsafed unto them whereby to be saved then God dealeth with men far more districtly and with greater severity in the new Covenant the Covenant of Grace then He did in the first Covenant which was a Covenant of Works The Reason hereof is because in or under the Covenant of Works Men were invested by God with sufficient Means for the performance of that Covenant and so for the obtaining of the great Reward promised or covenanted therein which was no less then eternal Life though possibly not a life so rich in Blessedness as that Covenanted with men in the Covenant of Grace That all Men without exception had a sufficiency of Means in Adam to have persisted in Innocency and to perform all the Articles and Terms required of them in that Covenant which was made with them in Him is the sence of all men learned in the Scriptures as well Modern as Ancient that yet I have heard of nor will it I suppose be denyed by our Adversaries themselves If it should there is proof upon proof at hand to make it good but what needs a levy of men to gain that by force which is voluntarily offered Now then it being far greater rigor and severity to impose such terms or conditions upon a man in order to the saving of his life or for the obtaining of any desirable good which are of an impossible performance unto him then to impose onely such which he hath competent abilities to perform evident it is that God must needs be more â—igorous and hard unto men in the Covenant of Grace made with them in and by Christ then He was in the Covenant of Works made with them in Adam in case it be supposed that He required unpossible Conditions of them in the former and onely such which were possible in the latter But that God dealeth more graciously and bountifully with Men in the second Covenant made with them in Christ then He did in the first which was made with them in Adam is the pregnant result of all things in a manner that God hath spoken unto the World by His Son in the Gospel Nor can our Adversaries themselves deny it without the loud reclamation of Evidence and Truth To pretend that God dealeth more graciously and bountifully with His Elect in the Covenant of Grace then He did in the Covenant of Works but not with the generality of Men is but a slim evasion and supposeth either that the Covenant of Grace is not made with the generality of Men which is a notorious untruth and hath been detected
observation ever and anon finde them borrowing this Principle of their Adversaries that Christ dyed for all Men to support and strengthen their buildings being indeed a Principle so necessary that in many cases men can make no tolerable work without it I may I suppose without prejudice or loss in the least to the cause we have undertaken supersede the multiplication of Instances from other Authors of the same perswasion and repute with those last named whereby it would appear as clear as the light at Noon-day that there are few of them if any but that now and then do Homage with their Pen to that Great and Soveraign Truth of Universal Attonement by Christ I shall therefore conclude with some single Testimonies from several men leaving the Reader to pursue his satisfaction concerning the rest by his own reading Pareus writing upon that of the Apostle That He through the Grace of God should taste of Death for every man saith that whereas He saith for every Man it respecteth the amplification or extent of the Death of Christ HE DYED NOT FOR SOME FEVV THE EFFICACY or vertue OF IT APPERTAINS UNTO ALL. Therefore there is Life prepared in the Death of Christ for ALL afflicted Consciences r Quod dicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad frucâ—um Mortis Christi amplificandum pertinet Non pro paucis aliquibus mortuus est sed ad omnes efficacia ejus pertinet Omnibus igitur afflictis conscientiis in Morte Christi Vita parata est c. Pareus ad Heb. 2. 9. Gualter preaching upon Joh. 3. 16. and speaking of Christ saith that He being to name those whom God so loved doth not mention Abraham Isaac or Jacob Moses David the Prophets the Virgin Mary the Apostles or Holy Martyrs but THE WORLD WHICH our Evangelist affirmeth to LIE WHOLLY IN WICKEDNESS and OF WHICH Christ Himself more then once affirmeth the DEVIL TO BE PRINCE s Et hoc quidem clariùs exprimit quando eos nominaturus quos ita dilexerit Deus non Abrahami aut Isaaci aut Jacobi Mosis Davidis Prophetarum Mariae Virginis Apostolorum denique Sanctorum Martyrum meminit sed Mundi quem totum in Malo jacere Evangelista noster testatur cujus Principem esse Diabolum ipse Christus non uno loco affirmat Gualter Hom. 20. in Johan Hemmingius in his Book of Christian Institution hath this saying amongst many others of like import There is no reason why any man should think that the Son of God was sent into the World that He might or should REDEEM SOME CERTAIN SELECT PERSONS out of Mankinde but rather that He should take away THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD t Neque est quod quisquaÌ„ existimet missum esse Filium in Mundum vt quosdaÌ„ selectos tantuÌ„ de genere humano redimeret sed potius vt totius Mundi peccata tolleret Hemming De Institut Christianâ Ursine in his Catechetical Explications discourseth thus As then Christ §. 24. dyed for all Men in respect of the sufficiency of His Ransom in respect of the efficiency of it onely for those that beleeve so also He was willing to dye for ALL MEN IN COMMON as to the sufficiency of His Merit that is HIS WILL WAS TO MERIT by His Death and this most sufficiently i. e. abundantly GRACE RIGHTEOUSNESS LIFE FOR ALL MEN because He would have nothing wanting in Him or in His Merit that should render wicked men who perish inexcusable u Vt igitur est mortuus pro omnibus sufficientia sui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro solis credentibus efficaciâ ejusdem sic etiam voluit mori pro omnibus communiter quoad sufficientiam sui Meriti hoc est voluit Morte suâ mereri Gratiaem Justiciam VitaÌ„ sufficientissime pro omnibus quia nihil voluit in se suo Merito desiderari vt omnes impii pereuntes essent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ursin Catech. Part. 2. quest 11. We formerly proved that if Christ dyed sufficiently for all Men that He dyed intentionally also for all x Cap. 5. Sect. 39 40 c. upon which account amongst all our Opposers we found onely Piscator and Beza true to their Principles who as well deny that Christ dyed sufficiently as efficaciously or intentionally for all Men y Cap. 5. Sect. 44. But if Christ merited i. e. purchased or procured by His Death Grace Righteousness Life most sufficiently for all Men and this so or with such an intent that nothing might be wanting in His Merit to make those that perish inexcusable doubtless He merited as much for those who perish as for those that are saved and consequently dyed as efficaciously for the one as for the other For what did he or could he merit more for those who come to be saved then Grace Righteousness Life and this most sufficiently Nor could He merit less for those who perish to make them inexcusable then such a sufficiency of Grace by the co-operation and assistance whereof they might have beleeved as was sufficiently proved in the next preceding Chapter Aretius upon Vers 15. of the second Chapter to the Hebrews willeth us to observe to whom the fruit or benefit of the Death of Christ belongeth and in what the Deliverance which the Apostle speaks of consists This Deliverance saith he appertains unto all that were subject unto bondage in this life Now we were all thus subject therefore THE DELIVERANCE APPERTAINS UNTO ALL. The Deliverance is said to be general or appertaining unto all Men because IT APPERTAINS UNTO ALL or whole MANKINDE although all do not acknowledg the benefit nor receive it with a thankful minde Thus it comes to pass that the said Deliverance comes to be eventually efficacious in Beleevers onely z Observa hîc primum ad quos spectet Mortis Christi fructus deinde in quibus consistat liberatio illa Spectat ad omnes illa liberatio quicunque erant obnoxij servituti iâ— hâc vitâ Eramus autem omnes igitur ad omnes spectabat haec liberatio Generalis auteÌ„ dicitur liberatio vel ad omnes pertinens quia ad totuÌ„ genus humanuÌ„ pertinebat quaÌ„vis non omnes illud beneficiuÌ„ agnoscant nec grato animo accipiant Ita fit vt tantuÌ„ in fidelibus sit efficax illa liberatio Aretius ad Heb. 2. J. Fox our Countryman in his Meditations upon the Apocalyps hath this Passage amongst many others of a concurrent sence and notion The Lord Christ then came into the World being sent by His Father And wherefore was He senâ— That He might repair the losses which NATURE he means the Nature of Man had sustained For the Lord seeing the miserable and lost condition of our infirmity so prone unto evil by an innate frailty so loved THE WORLD that of His own accord He bestowed His onely begotten Son upon it who might relieve the frailty thereof change or turn Death into Salvation pacifie the