these are given according to the Law of Works If not then it must be according to the Law of Grace and the New Covenant or according to no Law If the former then none will question I think but it must come from Christs Blood For the New Law and Testament is founded in his Blood and Sealed by it If the later then at least the Law of Works must be first relaxed and they so far pardoned seeing according to that Law they should have lived not among these mercies but in misery And Scripture assures us that it was the Blood of Christ that delivered us from the Curse of the Law and that on the Cross he took down the hand writing that was against us c. And without his suffering there is no Relaxation of the Laws obligation They that set open so wide a door of mercy to all the World beside Jesus Christ do not lightly wrong him and do dangerously deceive themselves and others I am sure Christ will expect repentance thanks and obedience for these mercies and condemn Men for not improving these Talents which he committed to them however Men may now tell Sinners that all comes but from common providence and not by the Blood of Christ 3. Yea that which they call common providence is the disposal of things by the Redeemer For all things are delivered to him of the Father and all power given him and to that end he died rose and revived that he might be Lord of the Dead and Living And therefore if Men have any mercy now it must come through the Redeemers Hands and consequently is a fruit of his Blood But this will yet further be proved in the next which is 3. That it is Christs dying for those same persons to whom he gives these mercies that is the ground of them And this further is proved thus 1. Some of the mercies given are such as could no other way be procured and given as is ordinarily granted Such as are the Universal Remission Justification Adoption and gift of Christ himself on condition that Men will accept them Christ given as Redeemer supposeth his Redemption as to paying of the price to be past Without Blood there is no Remission neither conditional not absolute as is proved in the first Argument But a conditional Remission to all is given in the New Testament Ergo c. The Remission also of their punishment for the time of this Life or at least of so much of it is actual though not plenary Remission and wicked Men partake of that Of one of these two Christs speaks in the parable of the ungrateful unmerciful Servant Mat. 18. 27. 32. 35. The Lord of that Servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt c. His Lord said O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that debt c. So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also by you if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses But of this Text more hereafter So that God doth remit to the Non-Elect most of the temporal punishment of their Sin actually and all the Eternal punishment conditionally That he remitteth the temporal punishment is further proved Psal 78. 38. But he being full of compassion for gave their iniquity and destroyed them not Yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath He that reads out the rest of the Psalm will not believe that all these dissembling Israelites were Elect. So for the legal forgiveness of Sin upon the use of Ceremonies See Lev. 4. 26 31 35. and 5. 10 13 16 18. and 6. 7 and 19 22. Numb 15. 25 26 28. It shall be forgiven all the Congregation of the Children of Israel and the Stranger that sojourneth among them seeing all the People were in ignorance but all Israel were not Elect Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this People according to the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven this People from Egypt even until now 20. And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy Word Dev. 21. 8. Psal 85. 2. Isa 40. 2. So the Example of Ahab the Ninevites c. Shew clearly For that which God did in mercy in respect to their humiliation was some kind of Remission 2. And further I prove it as by these express Texts of Scripture so by this Scripture reason Either God remitteth much of the temporal punishment or else he shews them no mercy And consequently they are not beholden to him nor owe him any thanks but God doth shew them mercy Ergo c. He that remitteth none of the punishment due sheweth no mercy in this case And he that sheweth mercy remitteth part of the punishment for it was part of the punishment to be deprived of the mercies which wicked Men enjoy Who dare once imagine that Health Strength Friends Liberty Peace Riches Honour Food Raiment Houses Accommodations Cattel all Creatnres to serve us Publick Peace Sun Rain Fruits of the Earth prospering of our Labours c. Knowledg Parts Motions of the Spirit excellent means and offers of Grace Godly society and Examples Admonitions Tast of the good word of God and the powers of the World co come Illumination Partaking of the Holy Ghost working Miracles casting out Devils hearing the word with joy believing for a time clean escaping the pollutions of the World by the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to be sanctified with the blood of the Covenant to be loved of Christ as the man was Mar. 10. 21. to have the easiest place in Hell c. who dare say that none of all these are Mercies Or that the enjoyment of these may stand with the full execution of the sentence of the Law If the Curse lay in the deprivation of these then the enjoyment of them is a remission of that curse or Penalty But c. Ergo c. read Deut. 28. Now that this Remission is granted to none but by virtue of Christs dying for him I will now but refer you to the whole multitude of Reformed Divines in their Writings against the Papists about Purgatory Indulgences and Humane Satisfactions where they argue with greatest Zeal and many Arguments that temporal punishments are remitted only for Christ's Satisfaction even the same men that deny Universal Satisfaction not remembring how this overthroweth their own cause The reason I conceive is that here the evidence of truth constraineth them but in the denial of Universal Redemption they constrain themselves to it meerly because they have not found out the way of reconciling Universal Satisfaction with Special Predestination and therefore think they are necessitated to deny the former though against the clear light of many express Texts of Scripture for fear of contradicting the later 1. Amesius saith Bellarm. Enervat To. 2. li. 5. c. 2. p. mihi 158. Christus per spiritum suum nihil in nobis operatur
Men from the Accusation of the guilt of these Sins at the Bar of Christ and dare any that now boldly maintain this cause in dispute undertake to justifie and vindicate them at Judgment and prove that it was never their duty to love Christ or be thankful to him for Redeeming them and therefore that it was not their Sin that they did it not This will be a harder task then it is now to find a flourish of words which seem to prove it 6. And worse then all this They will condemn Christ for condemning them for these Sins When he hath sentenced them Go you cursed For not loving him and shewing it to his Members Mat. 25. And pronounced that Man Anathema Maranatha that loves not the Lord Jesus if these Men can prove that it was none of their duty then they must accuse Christ and his Law of injustice and condemn his condemnatory sentence 2. And as they owe Christ this Love and Gratitude so the thing that they owe it for is his Redeeming them or dying in their stead or satisfying for their Sin For 1. It is doubtless that they owe it him not only as Creator but as Redeemer and if so it is either for Redeeming others or themselves Not only for Redeeming others For 1. The nature of gratitude is to respect some benefits that our selves receive either in our own Persons or in those whose welfare is part of ours And 2. Man is naturally so near to himself and the love of himself so deeply rooted by God in his nature that he naturally looks at himself before others and values things as they respect himself 3. Others good is no mercy to us further then we participate with them in the benefit Yea Divines generally conclude that it will be so far from comforting the damned to see that the Godly are in Heaven that it will encrease their torment 4. Else it would lay no greater an obligation on these Men to love Christ and be thankful to him than it doth on the Devils that Men are redeemed or than they owe God that the good Angels are preserved while themselves are condemned 5. Scripture not only alloweth Men to love and be thankful in reference to our selves even for that which is good to us but shews it to be our duty and the nature of those affections and that for our own mercies received we are obliged hereto 2 Thes 2. 10 Men are forsaken and damned for not receiving the love of the Truth that they might be saved How oft are the Israelites all of them Commanded to love the Lord with all their Hearts as their Redeemer from Egypt which was both an effect and Type of Christs work of Redemption Deut. 6. 5. and 10. 12. and 11. 1 13 22. and 19. 9. and 30. 16. 20. Yea all Gods mercies as well as this deliverance from Egypt is made in divers of these Texts the motive that should provoke them to love and thankfulness And doubtless these are all effects of the Death of Christ for them To love for love and for benefits is that which Sinners do Luk. 6. 32. Not as Sinners but from the common humanity that is left in them We love him because he first loved us 1 Job 4. 19. This because is not meant only Effectivè but also objectivè as to Gods love The first love of the Soul to Christ cannot be moved from the knowledg of Christs special love to the Soul For 1. Love accompanieth justifying Faith in the same moment And indeed in some Sense is part of it And doth not stay till the Soul discern his own believing and thence discern Gods special love 2. There is a love of desire which goes before the knowledg of Gods special love 3. Many a poor Christian loves Christ long before they know the special love of Christ And therefore this first sincere love must needs be raised from the apprehension of Christs excellency as to us and his general love to mankind Which can be no other then that which is manifested in their Redemption Object Wicked Men are bound first to believe and thtn to love when they know by their believing that Christ died for them Ans They are bound immediately in the same instant to love Christ as to believe and not to delay their love till they try their Faith or by discerning it get assurance of Gods favour They are bound to accept Christ as good for them when he is offered them And that acceptance is essentially love as it is said to be in the rational appetite He that loveth not truly believeth not truly And how can any Man prove Gods special love by the evidence of a false Faith Must Men first believe without love that by the Mark of such a Faith they may have ground for love That will be a deceitful ground as it is a deceitfull Mark Object At least Men are bound to be humbled first and believe that there is no other name under Heaven but Christs by which they can be saved and then to rest on him and love him Ans This is answered before If the humiliation and Assent that they mention be proper to the Regenerate and so be a true note of Gods special love 1. Then it will follow that other Graces go before that Faith which unites us to Christ Which few will grant 2. Then Men must find special Marks Antecedent to Faith that from thence they may gather a warrant to believe Which is false Doctrine I think in the judgment of all 2. But if these Antecedent Acts be common and such as reprobates also may perform then either every Man that performs them is bound to love Christ as his Redeemer And to rest on him for pardon Or only some If every Man then some reprobates are bound to love Christ as their Redeemer And to rest on him for pardon by his Blood-shed for them And to be thankful for his satisfaction And then certainly Christ did Redeem them by satisfying for them If but some then how shall any Man know that he is one of them So that I think I may conclude that they that deny universal satisfaction by Christs bloodshed do leave Men no ground for their first special love to Christ as Redeemer For that first love must be raised upon the knowledg of Christs general love and mercy or be groundless Seeing there is no knowledg of special love and Mercy Antecedent Object But how can the knowledg of Christs common love cause in us a special love to him Then we must love him first with a special love Ans Christ hath a special love to us before we have a special love to him But we cannot know it and therefore cannot love him for it His special love is the efficient cause of our love to him but not the objective or moving cause of our first love The love of Christ is not the less because its manifestation is general And therefore that glorious mercy of general
equally and not the punishment due only to some and so dyed Loco omnium aequaliter in regard of his suffering and their sin the cause Prop. XVI The purchasing meritorious Virtue of Christs Death and all the rest of the effects which follow thereupon do presuppose the satisfactory Virtue as the very ground of all and without which Christs Death would have been unacceptable to God as having only Rationem mali or at least would have been but a pattern of Patience as suffered from men Prop. XVII Christ did not purchase further benefits Loco nostro though he suffered Punishment Loco nostro Prop. XVIII God was not well pleased with Man no not the Elect nor did he acquit or justifie them when he proclaimeth himself well-pleased in and with his Son as being a perfect accomplisher of his will and when he did acquit and justifie him Prop. XIX All Mankind immediately upon Christs satisfaction are redeemed and Delivered from that Legal necessity of Perishing which they were under not by remitting Sin or Punishment directly to them but by giving up Gods Ius puniendi into the hands of the Redeemer nor by giving any Right directly to them but per meram resultantiam this happy change is made for them in their Relation upon the said remitting of Gods Right and Advantage of Justice against them and they are given up to the Redeemer as their owner and ruler to be dealt with upon terms of mercy which have a tendency to their recovery Prop. XX. In Law-sence or in respect to the Legislative will of God Christ Dyed for all men This will be explained in the following Propositions Prop. XXI Neither the Law whose curse Christ bore nor God as the Legislator to be satisfied did distinguish between men as Elect and Reprobate or as Believers and Unbelievers de presenti vel de futuro and so impose on Christ or require from him satisfaction for the Sins of one sort more than of another but for Mankind in general Prop. XXII Christ hath made satisfaction to God as Legislator and accordingly his Legal Rigorous Justice is satisfied for the Sins of all mankind as they are condemned and were to be judged directly primarily simply by that Law and hath not satisfied the Legislators Justice for some men only as Elect or for one more than another but equally for all Prop. XXIII Christ hath by his Redemption of all obtained a Novum jus Imperii over all and is Rector derivativè Supremus Prop. XXIV As those those that know not God nor his Creation are yet Gods Subjects as Creator and he their Lord So those that know not Christ nor his Redemption are yet his Redeemed and his Subjects as Redeemed and he their Lord-Reedeemer as to his Right and Law and their Obligation Prop. XXV God the Father and Christ the Mediator now dealeth with no man upon the meer rigorous terms of the first Law Obey perfectly and Live else thou shalt Die But giveth to all much Mercy which according to the tenor of that violated Law they could not receive and calleth them to repentance in order to their receiving further mercy offered them And accordingly he will not judge any at last according to the meer Law of works but as they have obeyed or not obeyed his conditions or terms of Grace Prop. XXVI Though God hath been pleased less clearly to acquaint us on what terms he dealeth with those that hear not of Christ yet it being most clear and certain that he dealeth with them on terms of Grace and not on the terms of the rigorous Law of works this general may evince them to be the Mediators Subjects and Redeemed Prop. XXVII The Law of Nature since the fall is part of the Mediators Law by which in part he governeth For it with all things is deliverto him Prop. XXVIII Man without Scripture may find that he is a Sinner and that Sin deserveth Gods wrath and his destruction and in the Creatures and Providences providing for him preserving maintaining delivering him he may find abundance of Mercy which being given to one that deserveth misery must needs evince that it comes from a most gracious disposer and tends to recovery and to further mercy Prop. XXIX Hence all Nations of the World have known themselves Sinners and all Nations have had a Hope of obtaining mercy in the pardon of their sins and thence it is that all who acknowledge a God have had some kind of Religion and expressed it in Sacrifices or Prayers for pardon and mercy which could never have been without the said Hope Prop. XXX Though it be very difficult and not very necessary to know what is the condition prescribed to them that hear not of Christ or on what terms Christ will judge them yet to me it seems to be the Covenant made with Adam Gen. 3. 15. which they are under requiring their taking God to be their only God and Redeemer and so expecting mercy from him and loving him above all as their end and chief good and repenting of Sin and Sincere Obedience according to the Laws promulgate to them to lead them further Prop. XXXI As the rigorous Law of works is so far taken down to all men that they are no longer under its imposed necessity of perfect obedience to salvation so the Mosaical Ceremonial Law is Abrogated totally and so the Obligation destroyed for all that were under it without difference of Elect or Non-Elect Prop. XXXII God the Father and Christ the Mediator hath freely without any prerequisite condition on mans part enacted a Law of Grace of Universal extent in regard of its tenor by which he giveth as by a Deed of Gift Christ himself with all his following benefits which he bestoweth as Benefactor and Legislator and this to all alike without excluding any upon condition they Believe and Accept the Offer Prop. XXXIII By this Law Testament or Covenant All men are Conditionally Pardoned Justified and Reconciled to God already and no man Absolutely nor doth it make a difference nor take notice of any till mens performance or non-peformance of the condition make a difference Prop. XXXIV This Law or Covenant Christ ordaineth Heraulds to Publish and commandeth them to Preach it to every Creature and commandeth every man in his place to publish it without excepting or excluding any from the Priviledge of receiving it Prop. XXXV As a Sovereign is not bound to cause every particular man infallibly to hear of his Laws so he maketh a convenient publick Declaration of them so Christ as Legislator is not bound to provide that every man hear of his Law whom it doth concern Men that by Nature may be convinced that there is a God and how necessary it is to know him and their Duty concerning him and how little they do know of him are bound to make all possible enquiry after the further Revelation of his will though it were by travelling into other Countries Prop. XXXVI When we say God
and the Mediator give pardon and Salvation to all men conditionally we do not mean that there is any condition of his Making the Grant but of his performing it or of our receiving the thing promised He absolutely maketh a conditional Deed of Gift He makes the Deed and we are conditionally pardoned whether we believe or not But we shall not be actually pardoned till we belive Prop XXXVII The condition of this La Grant is nothing unreasonable nor of Natural proper impossibility it is an Easie Yoake and Commands that are not grievous it being not the least repensum price or requital but only the Hearty Acceptance of the offered Benefit according to its Nature and use It is therefore proper enough to say as Scripture doth that all men are reconciled the Worlds sins taken away and they forgiven though yet none of this is Actually done nor ever shall be to the final Rejecters because in a moral sence that is said to be done which being highly beneficial and necessary may be done if we will all the other impediments being removed and nothing but the refusal can deprive Men of the benefit the Law supposing that he that is compos mentis will accept so great an offered benefit Christ having done all his part or quantum in se as satisfier and Legislator and given himself with his benefits to every man that will accept him so that nothing but their own wilful refusal can deprive them of them in Law sence he may well be said not only to Die for them but to have procured them Pardon Justification and Life Whereas if the condition had either been a thing of proper Natural Impossibility or unreasonable or unhonest or if it were long of Christ that it is not performed than it were improper to say that Christ and Life is given them or that Christ Dyed for them to procure this gift Prop. XXXVIII Christ hath given Faith to none by his Law or Testament though he hath revealed that to some he will as Benefactor and Dominus Absolutus give that Grace which shall infallibly produce it And God hath given some to Christ that he might prevail with them accordingly Yet this is no giving it to the Person nor hath he in himself ever the more Title to it nor can any lay claim to it as their due Prop. XXXIX It belongeth not to Christ as satisfier nor yet as Legislator to make wicked refusers to become willing and receive him and the benefits which he offers therefore he may do all for them that is fore-expressed though he cure not their unbelief Prop. XL. Faith is a fruit of the Death of Christ and so is all the good which we do enjoy But not directly as it is satisfaction to justice but only Remotely as it proceedeth from that â—us Dominii which Christ hath received to send the Spirit in what measure and to whom he will and to succeed it accordingly and as it is necessary to the attainment of the further ends of his Death in the certain gathering and saving of the Elecâ— So that most directly it floweth from the good pleasure of God and the Redeemer which we call Praedestination So that it is an unmeet Speech and such as Scripture never useth to say that Christ dyed to purchase us Faith though it be a Fruit of his Purchase As if a Prince should Ransome or Buy a condemned Malefactor agreeing and resolving that yet he shall not be saved if he will spit in his Redeemers Face and refuse him and his kindness And if it be known that this Malefactor is so desperately wicked that he will thus reject and abuse his Redeemer and refuse his kindness except the Prince send a bosom Friend to perswade him who is the most powerful unresistable Orator in the World If the Prince because he is resolved neither to lose the Man nor his Price of Ransom doth send this Orator with a Charge that he shall take no denial nor cease till he have procured the Malefactors consent is it a convenient Speech to say that he gave his Ransom Mony to purchase the Malefactors consent to be delivered Or to cure his wicked nature No Yet it is true that his Price was a ground-work and Preparative to this effect so is it in our present Case Prop. XLI The Resurrection of the Bodies of all Men is a Benefit procured by the death and Resurrection of Christ For though the Soul it self should everlastingly have suffered yet the Body should have remained in its state of dissolution if Christ had not restored it which Resurrection in it self is a mercy to all and it is a means to Gods further Glory by his Creature though the wicked turn it to be the enterance of unspeakable misery to themselves Prop. XLII There is no mercy which any Man enjoyeth by Right of Law from God but it is from the Covenant or Law of Grace and so from the Blood of that Covenant For from the old riolated rigorous Law it cannot be therefore it must be from the Law of Grace Prop. XLIII Christ by his Law of Grace hath made it every Mans duty that hears it to believe in him and accept him as our Saviour that hath made satisfaction for their Sins and so dyed for them and is their Redeemer And to be highly thankful to him for this his Mercy Prop. XLIV Christ by his Law hath made a far sorer punishment than before belonged to them to be due to all those that believe not in him as one that hath so satisfied and are not thankfull for it and do not take him for their Redeemer And for refusing their Lord-Redeemer shall they be condemned Prop. XLV The consciences of the damned in Hell which will be Gods executioners will everlastingly torment them for refusing that Pardon and Salvation that was so dearly purchased for them and that Redeemer that expressed so much Love to them and for not performing so reasonable and easie a condition as Faith They shall not then have the discovery of an impossibility in the condition or that Christ never died for them and never was their Redeemer and consequently that it was no Sin of theirs to refuse a Redeemer that was not their Redeemer and satisfaction that was none for them I say they shall not have such discoveries to ease their consciences and lessen their torments and make Hell as no Hell to them Prop. XLVI A Christ-Redeemer that hath satisfied justice is the object of Commanded Faith and presupposed to it Annd he that commandeth all Men to believe in Christ a one that hath redeemed them or satisfied for their Sins doth hereby assert the truth of this supposition Prop. XLVII The constitution of Christs Kingdom containeth many great universal mercies Antecedent to those that are given conditionally by his Covenant or Law of Grace Such as are the giving of the Covenant it self and the Institution of Sacraments Ordinances Officers c. Therefore as to
satisfaction was made to God as Legislator and Rector Supremus and not â—as Dominus absolutus or meer Proprietary Prop. XIII Christ did neither Obey nor Suffer in any Mans stead by a strict proper Representation of his Person in point of Law so as that the Law should take it as done or suffered by the party himself But only as a third person as a Mediator he voluntarily bore what else the Sinner should have born To assert the contrary specially as to particular persons considered in actual Sin is to overthrow all Scripture Theology and to introduce all Antinomianism to overthrow all possibility of pardon and assert Justification before we Sinned or were Born and to make our selves to have satisfied God Therefore we must not say that Christ dyed nostro loco so as to personate us or Represent our Persons in Law Sence but only to bear what else we must have born Prop. XIV Christ by his Death and so satisfaction to Justice hath purchased to himself a full Propriety in all the Creatures which were under the Curse and so is become Dominus Absolutus of all on a new Title of Redemption as God was before on the Title of Creation Prop. XV. Christ hath hereby purchased also a Supream Rectorship so far as a Derived Power may be called Supream and God as he is Redeemer is properly Supream grounded on his Absolute propriety even as Gods Rectorship as Creator was grounded on his Absolute Propriety as Creator Every man may rule his own according to its Nature and Capacity Prop. XVI Hereupon by actual Rendition all things are Delivered up to Christ both as Proprietary and Rector Prop. XVII As Proprietary or Dominus Christ over-ruleth the World and disposeth of all Events and Beings Naturally as most conduceth to his Redemption Ends. Prop. XVIII As Plenipotent Rector he now Ruleth all inferior Rational Creatures by his Laws as the Universal Lord-Redeemer Prop. XIX Seeing both the Rational Creature and the visible frame of the Creation are delivered up to Christ the Redeemer it must needs follow that the very Law of Nature whether it be in Natura rerum ut signum or in mente humanâ ut principia Cognita is Christs Law And so that those that are ruled by the meer Law of Nature are ruled by Christ so far as they do well Prop. XX. As God is the Ruler as to Title and some Legislation and Judgment of those very Pagans who know him not but deny a Godhead so Christ is so the Ruler of those very Infidels who know him not but deny the Mediator Prop. XXI In giving up all Propriety and Rule to Christ God has not divested himself of any thing save only a Right or as it were an Obligation to punish the pardoned For as Christ is God himself so the Father still Possesseth and Ruleth by the Redeemer As he hath still the Title of Creator so is he in the Son God-Redeemer Prop. XXII Seeing no Man can fulfill the First Law or Covenant and no Man can be saved by a Covenant not kept and Christ Redeemed not Man into absolute liberty to be from under Law and Rule which were Misery to him and not liberty Therefore it hath pleased the Father and Mediator to make to Man a New Law and Covenant suited to his present State of Misery Prop. XXIII The Tenor of this Law is that whosoever will Repent Thankfully and heartily accept Jesus Christ to be his Saviour Teacher King and Head believing him to be the Redeemer and will Love him and God in him above all and obey him sincerely to the Death shall upon his first acceptance be Justified and Adopted and upon his perseverance be justified at Judgment saved from Hell and Glorified And whosoever rejecteth him shall bear the Guilt and punishment of all his Sins against the Law and for his refusal be far sorelier punished Prop. XXIV By this New Law or Covenant Christ hath brought all Men where it is Promulgate under the Duty of receiving him and Life in him And under a Promise of Life if they do receive him and a Threatning of Death if they reject him Prep XXV The tenour of this New Law in all these Parts is Universal extending to all No Man is excepted out of Precept Promise or Threatning whether the Promulgation be Universal or not Prop. XXVI It can hardly be proved that there is any great Part of the World that have not heard of Christ or had some means to have come neerer to the knowledg of him Prop. XXVII All those that have not heard of Christ have yet much Mercy which they receive from him and is the Fruit of his Death According to the well or ill using whereof it seems probable that God will judg them Prop. XXVIII But it is safest to leave the Case of those that never heard of Christ and their Infants as a thing unrevealed or so darkly revealed that God would not have us know any more of it than that our condition is far better than theirs that so we may be thankful Prop. XXIX It is a course to blind and not to inform Men to lay the main stress in the Doctrine of Redemption upon our uncertain conclusions of Gods dealing with such as never heard of Christ Seeing all proof is per notiora And we must reduce points uncertain to the certain and not the certain to the uncertain in our Trial. Prop. XXX Christ may be Ruler de jure and in Part de facto where yet Satan prevaileth and the Sinner shall perish for Rebellion Prop. XXXI In the New Law Christ hath truly given himself with a Conditional Pardon Justification and Conditional Right to Salvation to all Men in the World without Exception Prop. XXXII This Law giveth Christ to no Man in the World by name now nor more then other antecedently to their believing But to all if they will believe Prop. XXXIII It is therefore a proper and true Speech to say that Christ dyed for all especially all that ever heard his Gospel Seeing that in Law sence he did Dye for them in all the forementioned respects As the nature of the Law is to constitute Debitum Dueness so it constitutes to all Men 1. The Dueness of Obedience that they accept Christ offered them 2. The Dueness of the Benefit if they accept him a conditional due 3. And the Dueness of the punishment if they reject him So that in Law Sense Christ dyed for all Prop. XXXIV If Christ were not their Redeemer and his Satisfaction had been no way for them nor a Mercy to them then the Damned should not perish for rejecting their Redeemer nor for refusing the mercy of Redemption Nor their consciences accuse them for it But undoubtedly for this will be their destruction and for this their consciences will accuse them Prop. XXXV It being not the satisfaction it self that is tendered to Sinners but the Fruit of it It cannot by any Minister nor will not
to desert And of those that hear the Gospel this is undenyable and I think it is certainly true of all others So that it is perishing in reference to a Gospel Judgment at the Mediators Bar that we mean and specicially in a comparative sence And by cause I mean the Reason of their perishing to be alledged So that if you ask seeing all are equally condemned by the Law of works and mercy hath found out a Remedy what is the reason that this man is condemned at the Redeemers Bar when that is acquit Or that this Man Judas is not delivered and saved as well as that Peter Is it because Christ Dyed only for one or that one only believed and the other refused Christ Here according to the Doctrine which denyeth Universal Satisfaction it must be said that either the only or the principal reason that men perish when others are saved is for want of an expiatory sacrifice or satisfaction for their Sin i. e. because they had no Redeemer when others had or no Christ to Die for them But this is contrary to the Scripture The consequence is evident that it is more principally the want of a Saviour or satisfaction then the want of Faith that is the reason of their perishing if Christ satisfied not for them 1. Because satisfaction is prerequisite to the efficacy or usefulness of Faith Sed non è contra 2. Satisfaction hath the greatest work to do and is the greatest cause And faith hath a far and a lower work and is a lesser cause or indeed no cause at all but a meer condition 3. God could not fitly save Sinners without satisfaction But he could if he had pleased have saved them for that satisfaction without a personal Faith as he doth Infants and as he saved the Church before Christs Incarnation without that Faith which now justifieth viz. Believing that this Jesus is the Christ and without believing in any Articles of our Creed If two Men be mortally sick and one be healed and the other not because one had a costly Cordial and the other had none prepared for him but only a nonimal offer without the thing though this Man refuse that nominal or feigned offer yet the chief cause why he was not healed was the want of the medicament rather then his refusal And for the Minor its plain through the whole New Testament that the cause of Mens perishing is not for want of an expiatory Sacrifice but for want of Faith to receive the Redeemer and his benefits Mat. 23. 37. How oft would I have gathered thee c. ye would not Isa 5. 4. What could have been done more to my Vineyard c. Mat. 24. 4. 5. Tell them which are bidden behold I have prepared my dinner My Oxen and Fatlings are killed and all things are ready Come unto the Marriage But they made light of it c. verse 8. The Wedding is ready but they which were bidden were not worthy i. e. There is no want on Christs Part his Sacrifice and satisfaction is sufficient But they lost the benefits for want of believing Mat. 25. 1. 2. All the Virgins might have been accepted at the Marriage if their own sloath had not shut out the foolish verse 14. All the Servants had Talents mercies purchased by Christs Death but it was not well using them that condemned one Men treade under Foot the Blood of the Covenant wherewith they were sanctified And deny the Lord that bought them Mens destruction is of themselves But in God through Christ is their help All the Scripture shews this that Men perish for their rejecting a Redeemer and not for want of the Price of Redemption For quoad pretium Christ hath taken away the Sins of the World Arg. 9th A Sufficientià pretii pro omnibus If Christ died for all Men quoad sufficientiam pretii then he hath satisfied for all But he died for all Men quoad sufficientiam pretii Ergo c. The Minor is maintained by the generality of our Ancienter Protestant Divines who use ordinarily this distinction to solve the doubt whether Christ died for all viz. he died for all sufficiently and for the Elect only effectually And indeed this one distinction rightly understood and this answer thence fitted is most full and apt for the resolution of the question The Schoolmen go the same way The consequence of the Major proposition is acknowledged by our late most rigid Anti-Arminians who on that reason do deny the Minor For our new Divines have utterly forsaken the old common opinion and in stead of saying that Christ died for all Men sufficienter They will not so much as say that His Death was sufficiens pretium pro omnibus But only that It is sufficient to have been a price for all For all our former Divines and the most of these times so far as I can discern who acknowledg that Christ died for all Men quoad sufficientiam pretii and for the Elect quoad efficaciam they say the same and as much as I and therefore I need not say much more to them For Christ cannot dye for Men sufficienter and yet not die for them at all or not satisfie for them I may well take up with this one argument If Christs Death be a sufficient price for all then it is a Price for all But Christs Death is by their confession a sufficient Price for all Therefore it is a Price for all Here understand that it is first in order of nature a Sacrifice expiatory or a satisfaction before it is meritorious of further benefits or is a Price for them Had it not been to satisfie Justice God would have been so far from taking his Sons Death for meritorious that he would have been utterly displeased in it For he delighteth not in the Death of him that dieth how much less of the innocent and lest of all of his only Son Note here also in what sence we say Christs Death is sufficient and in what sence it is called effectual There is a double effect of Christs Death and so a double efficacy and so a double sufficiency to those effects The first effect is to be a satisfaction to the offended Justice of God and a demonstration of his legal Justice The sufficiency to this effect was in the dignity of the Person and greatness of the suffering supposing Gods voluntary Acceptation of it instead of the Sinners own suffering The efficacy immediately followed the suffering Yea it went long before it upon the undertaking and the acceptation as in Moral Causes it is not unusual The 2d sort of effects are more remote even the actual good of the Sinner Of these some are general and common as the freeing of all Men from that necessity of perishing which lay on them by the Curse of the first Law as it stood without remedy c. And so Christs Death is sufficient for all and effectual too Some fruits of his Death are
the Salvation of Believers Obj. Then it may be said that Christ Redeemed Unbelievers to the day of evil for it is said God made the wicked Man for the Day of evil Prov. 16. 4. Ans In the same Sence as one is spoken the other may be spoken truly For if it be spoken of Gods Legislative Will or legal ordination then as it is true that God by his Law hath made the day of evil that is of punishment for wicked Men or that God when he had Created Man ordained by his Law that the wicked should be punished so the same may be said of the Redeemed When he had Redeemed all Men he ordained that all that reject so great Salvation shall undergo a far sorer punishment or if the meaning be of Gods Decretive will de eventu God when he made Man did intend to destroy the Non-Elect for their wickedness so it is as true of Redeemed ones God Redeemer when he Redeemed Man did intend to destroy the Non-Elect for their rejecting of his mercy But as it is not the meaning of the Text that Mens damnation was Gods end in creating them as Twiss hath fully proved so is it not true that Mens damnation was Christs end in Redeeming It is no effect therefore of Redemption but an accidental consequent And therefore Christ saith he came not into the World to condemn the World but that the World though him might be saved that is the Salvation of all was 1. The end of Christs Legislative will that is the end propounded to Man 2. And Redemption hath the nature of a means sufficient in suo genere for all Mens Salvation and so God might be said not to Create the World that he might condemn it but that the World through him might be saved Though yet eventually they are not saved Christ intended in suffering for Mans Sin that his satisfaction should remove that great impediment of their Salvation viz. The dissatisfaction of the offended Creator as he was Rector according to the first Law And that it should be the ground of his New Law whereby he gives freely Remission and Salvation to all Men on condition they will accept himself and his benefits with him So that as it would be intollerable delusion of Mens Souls for any Preacher to tell Men that all that are Created shall be saved so is it to tell them that are Redeemed as to the price and satisfaction made shall be saved For then when they find in Scripture that Christ died for all and is a propitiation for the Sins of the whole World they will conclude that they shall certainly be saved Thus much I thought meet to say for the ground work of my Argumentation by way of explication because I find that Truth is sometimes better let in by the clear unfolding of it then driven in by force of arguing To proceed to the Argument It must be understood that we speak not here of the old right of Dominion and Government which Christ as God Creator and one with the Father had before the Sin of Man And then that which I have to prove is 1. That Christ hath a new right of Dominion and Government and that over all Men whatsoever 2. Yet this right is founded in his work of redemption and the Fathers delivering all to him as in the relation of Redeemer 3. That his right to Dominion and rule over all is not meerly from Redemption of the Elect but of all even of each person to whom he hath this right As for the first I hope few Christians will deny it if any do I prove it thus 1. If Christ have not as Redeemer a right to govern all then he may not make Universal Laws for the Government of all But Christ hath made such Universal Laws Ergo c. His Laws command all Men every where to repent and all that hear the Gospel to believe And promise and threaten accordingly Obj. The Indians never heard his Laws Ans 1. That restriction is ex parte promulgantis for want of publication but not ex parte legem ferentis for want of Enacting a Universal Law The Law excludes none in the tenor of it but commands all to believe without exception 2. The Officers or Heralds of Christ have authority to publish it to all the World 3. Christ hath more Laws then the written or published Gospel in fulness The dispensation of all things by providential disposal are Christs Law that is they are the signs and discoveries of mercy and Mans duty They shew the World 1. That they are not left under that helpless remediless case that they were in by the desert of their own Sin For the rigid Law of works never allowed to them that had violated it and were cursed by it so great mercies as all Men now enjoy and daily find flowing in upon them â Deo Miserecorde and that to such ends as their repentance and recovery 2. These mercies and other works of Christ do shew the World the duty of repenting Paul saith that the mercies of God lead them to repentance Now repentance is not here taken for hellish despairing repentance as the Text plainly shews But for that which hath a tendency to recovery and is joyned with such a hope as excludeth utter despair and may encourage to the use of means as means and that which thus revealeth Christs mercy and Mans duty and means is sure Christs Law 2. Arg. If Christ as Redeemer hath not a right to Govern all Men then he may not command his Messengers to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature But he hath so commanded them Mat. 16. 15 16. Where Christ hath not Authority to Rule there he hath not Authority to bid his Messenger Rule under him or publish his Laws or command Men to obey him 3. Arg. If Christ as Redeemer have not Authority to rule all to whom the Gospel comes then all such are not bound to take him for their King and Lord But all such are bound to take him as their King and Lord Ergo c. 4. If Christ as Redeemer have not right of governing all that hear the Gospel then there are no Rebels for Rebellion is only against a rightful Power nor do they Sin in actual disobeying him when he commands as Redeemer But the consequents are wicked and intollerable Ergo c. Luke 19. 27. Those mine Enemies that would not I should Reign over them bring hither and slay them before me 5. If Christ have not this right over all the World then all the World is not guilty of Sinning against him But all the World is guilty of Sinning against the Redeemers Laws Ergo c. They Sin against those mercies which lead to repentance 6. A multitude of plain Texts prove Christs Universal Dominion and Empire Mat. 28. 19. All power is given to me in Heaven and Earth Joh. 13. 3. All things are delivered unto him of the
proper Empire or Rectorship over Bruits For they are not capable of being Subjects of a Kingdom 2. His Dominion over them is but as they are subservient to his ends for Man and as they are Mans Servants and Utensils 3. Christ hath not that I can find in Scripture any novum jus Dominii any new propriety as Redeemer in Devils or in good Angels But having an ancient propriety in them as being their Creator he useth them accordingly for his Redemption ends 4. Nor do I find that he hath purchased any new proper absolute jus imperii or Rectorship over them but only a power of using them for his Church and for service about Man he shall send them on 5. And therefore I say the Empire of Christ over Angels is not of the same kind with that which he hath over Men and which we use in the Argument to prove that he died for Men. if both should be called by the same title of a novum jus imperii yet the difference of the Subjects sufficeth to shew the different Sence of the same attribute as severally applied I find not that Christ any where proclaims himself the King of Devils or Angels nor requires them to take him for their King nor hath made any new Laws to govern them by as he hath done for Men nor hath restored any forfeited mercy to them nor offers them pardon of any Sin upon condition of repentance nor will judg them on such terms So that if it should be proved that the good Angels are part of his Kingdom as Redeemer yet it would be but as their confirmer and not as a Redeemer of them For he is never offered to them as a Redeemer nor did they need any for ought I know He took not on him the nature of Angels but of the Seed of Abraham He is Head over all things to his Church Eph. 1. 22. That is He is superior to Angels and all things and hath the disposal of them for his Churches use but he is only Head of his Church de facto as to proper Kingly Rule and of the rest of the World de jure who shall suffer as Rebels for not acknowledging his Title and because they would not that he should reign over them Luke 39. 27. But so shall not Bruits or Devils So that the Argument will hold good â— jure novo Dominii Imperii from Christs new propriety in and Rectorship over Men to his Redeeming them by his Blood But so it will not from that kind of Dominion which Christ hath over Bruits or that kind of Rule that he hath over Angels or Devils to his Redemption of them And yet for Bruits as they suffered for the sake of Man and as they shall be restored from their suffering for the use and sake of Man so the same Blood which purchased Mans Restoration did remotely and collaterally purchase theirs Let us illustrate all by a similitude as near resembling the present case as we can imagine Suppose when King James Raigned in England that Ireland had all fallen into Rebellion and so open bloody and malicious that the King were resolved not a Man of them should be pardoned or escape Hereupon in the height of their malice they intice all Scotland into Rebellion also But because they are but deluded into it by the Irish and not maliciously bent against him as they or because being his Countrimâ—â— he hath a special respect to them it is concluded betwixt him and his only Son that his Son shall pay their ransome or by some publickly shameful suffering shall make that satisfaction to the Law and that Reparation to the King which may suffice to deter all others from Rebellion and openly in his suffering shall publish This I 〈◊〉 willingly for the offence of my Rebellions 〈◊〉 to procure them mercy Hereupon by agreement the Prince is to undertake it as his further business to use means for the bringing them all back to their allegiance To which end the whole Kingdom of Scotland is given up to him as King upon his satisfaction and Ramsome and he is to make a General pardon or Act of Oblivion to all so be it they do by such a day come in and lay down Arms and return to their Allegiance and acknowledg the Kings Grace and the Princes singular favour in Ransoming them and will take him for their King upon this Ransome And for those that will not accept this offer the Prince is to subdue them by force and destroy them that they shall have no benefit of the Ransome And for all the Irish which he finds among them seducing them he is to destroy them or use them to what servitude in the mean time he please Also he is to make use of any of the Kings Servants or Subjects of England to send on his Message to summon them to come in Now I demand 1. Hath not the Prince here Ransomed all the Scots over whom he hath his Jus Dominii Imperii That is absolutely all 2. Doth it follow that therefore he hath Ransomed the Irish because he hath power to judg and destroy them or use them in servitude 3. Or doth it follow that he hath Ransomed the Trees Beasts and Lands of the Country because he hath a propriety in them as the Goods or Utensils of them whom he Ransomed 4. Or did he Ransome any of the Kings Servants or English because he hath power to send them on his message or command them on his Service into Scotland If one argue thus with a Scot the Prince hath a new Title of Dominion and Empire over all you Scotsmen as ransomer therefore he ransomed you all this is no unsound arguing And would you confute it bâ— saying that then he ransomed the English and Irish too yea the Lands and Trees and Beasts By the Scots I mean mankind By the Irish the Devils by the Kings Servants or English the Angels And by the Lands Trees c. I mean all the creatures on Earth as Servants of Man A Man would think that those Men that do so vehemently contend that Christ is the Head of the visible Church and the King of this visible Kingdom which comprehendeth good and bad should easily yield to this Argument If Christ be the Head or King of all the visible Church and consequently of more than the Elect then did he die for the visible Church and so for more than the Elect But the Antecedent is maintained stifly by themselves Ergo c. When they have voluminously pleaded for the Honours and Priviledges of the Church visible viz. That even the unregenerate part of it are Disciples Christians 〈◊〉 Believers Adopted in Covenant c. And that Christ is their Master King and Head will they say that yet for all this Christ did not die for them Why hereby they incur these intollerable inconveniences 1. That such excellent gifts and Gospel Priviledges should flow from any other fountain than the
pardoned and saved the efficacy of Christ's satisfaction is before all possibility of any power or snccess of Man's Faith So in those that perish if they had no price of satisfaction paid for them the want of a Redeemer would be the first want concluding their damnation and non-deliverance from former misery and the want of Faith could be but the secondary consequential want which Faith if it were present would not satisfie or save no more than believing now would save the Devils And thus it is evident that on the grounds opposed the Gospel would causally per â—e unavoidably be the greatest plague on earth to all where it comes except the Elect and not only accidentally by their own Sin Now for the Minor that the Gospel is not so I prove from Scripture it is called the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God Luke 8. 1. Before men are Converted the Apostles say we declare unto you glad tidings Acts 13. 32. 33. The Preachers of it bring glad tidings of good things preaching the Gospel of peace Rom. 10. 15. even the unsanctified receive the word with joy Mat. 13. 20. and not so great joy as they had cause so Mark 4. 16. it is called the Gospel of the grace of God Acts 20. 24. it is a Wedding-Feast even ready for those that would not come to it who are therefore said to be unworthy of it and so it was to him that came without the Wedding garment Mat. 22. if it were not a mercy then Men did not sin against mercy in rejecting it which who dare say It gives men promises of entring into rest who yet by wilful unbelief may come short of it Heb. 4. 1 2 3 c. See 1 Cor. 10. to the 13th God sent Jesus to bless the Jews more than Elect in turning every one of them from his Iniquity Acts 3. last The unthankful Servant had his debt freely pardoned him and that was a mercy who after took his fellow by the throat and by ingratitude lost that pardon which he had It declareth God's tender Mercies over all his works and such mercies as are to lead all men to Repentance Psal 145. 9. Rom. 2. It is good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Acts 2. 10. It freely giveth to all the water of life if they refuse not the gift Rev. 22. It is the Gospel that bringeth Salvation to all men Tit. 12. 11. A hundred Texts might be brought to prove how great a blessing of it self the Gospel is to that People to whom it is given and if it be turned to a Judgment and hurt them it is meerly accidentally through their wilful rejecting it or turning the grace of God into wantonness or sinning because Grace hath abounded and not from any thing in it nor for want of a reality in the benefit which it offereth Arg. 25. A differentiâ status damnatorum viatorum If Christ dyed not for all men then the state of most men all that he dyed not for were as deplorate and remediless as the State of the Damned But the consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent The Consequence of the Major proposition is plain in that the state of all men that Christ dyed not for must needs be utterly hopeless and remediless for there is no other satisfaction to be hoped for besides that made by the blood of Jesus and that is nothing to them nor is there any hope or possibility that ever they should have part in a satisfaction that is no satisfaction for them without blood there is no remission If they should believe and repent and pray for mercy night and day it would be but as the Rich Epicure in Hell pray'd for a drop of water all in vain for betwixt God and them is so great a gulf or distance by sin that nothing without a Redeemer can do them any good as to the least hope of Salvation If you say it is not to be supposed that they can believe repent and pray I answer that is in your own sense because it is supposed they are not redeemed and the impossibility of their not repenting and believing shews the more fully the impossibility of their Salvation And the reason why they do not actually despair is not because they have any more remedy than the Damned or cause to hope but only because they are yet ignorant of the hopelesness of their own Condition and as soon as they know the truth they will fully despair So that there is no more possibility that a Man for whom Christ dyed not should be pardoned or saved than that the Damned should for both are equally impossible If any say that God can find out another remedy besides and without Christs satisfaction though he will not and therefore it is not impossible I will not examine the truth of that now but if it be true of them on Earth why not also of them in Hell When once Men are in that state that there is no Sacrifice for their sin then there remaineth nothing but the fearful expectation of Judgment and Fire that shall devour the Adverâ—ary Object But doth not God's foreknowledge and decree make mens Salvation impossible as well as Christs not Dying for them and so your argument is as much against them Answ No They do nihil ponere in Objecto nor are the removal or denyal of any efficient cause of Salvation they infer only Necessitatem Consequentiae they make no Mans Salvation impossible but only prove it not future And as it is not omne Possible that is futurum so neither omne non futurum that is Impossibile And it is agreed that foreknowledge presupposeth the futurition or non futurition of the thing foreknown But there is much more necessary to be said to resolve this doubt which I may not now insist on only I add that the matter of God's Decrees and the futurition of things as depending thereon are so high and so far above us that it becomes us not to be too inquisitive into them much less so peremptorily to determine of them as some do and least of all to try plainer Cases by such determinations and reduce certainties to uncertainties when we should tather reduce uncertainties to certainties And for the Minor that the state of most men even in the Church is not so hopeless deplorate and remediless as is the case of the Damned I prove it thus They might be saved who are yet on Earth if they would but receive the love of the truth 2 Thes 2. 9 10. If they would believe they might all be justified and should not perish but have everlasting life whoever of them will may have the water of Life freely and it is offered them and they intreated to take it and if they have it not it is because they will not and not because there was no object or ground for their willing or no Sacrifice for their sin God offers them pardon and
that he might be Lord of the Dead and Living Matth. 28. 19. John 5. 22. Rom 14. 9. 2. It is sufficient if here it be evident that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is applied to Christ seeing there is no disswading reason can be brought from the word It is undoubtedly true of the reign of the Mediator in the largest sense now all power is given to him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is said of God Psal 103. 19. by the Sept. Erasmus saith siquid interest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privati juris nomen est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honoris authoritatis And then we may see that both both belong to Christ and yet no wonder if he be more often called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. If it were God the Father that is here called Lord yet all is one to the main point for he â— Deus Redemptor and he bought them by the blood of his Son but that 's the next Question 2. They say it is uncertain that by buying is meant purchasing with the ransom of his blood Answ 1. What other price than Christs blood doth God buy men with 2. I have proved it before that it was purchasing with Christ's blood both in that Jude mentioneth the Lord Jesus Christ and some think that the former Title the only Lord God is given of Christ too and the place invincible to prove Christs Godhead and in that the benefits received by them could come no other way But let us see their Reasons 1. They say the Apostle insisteth on a Comparison with the times of the Old Testament and the False Prophets that were then among the People Answ What of that 1. Is not the Comparison clear as those false Prophets were part of the Typical Redeemed People so are these of the truly Redeemed 2. That Typical Redemption out of Egypt was not only a Type but also a Fruit of Christs Redemption in its moral being considered 1. They say the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth primarily the buying of things translatitiously the Redemption of Persons Answ 1. It signifies any buying in the Market for a price whether thing or person And what other buying with a price can you here devise 2. It 's well known the Holy Ghost useth it to signifie Christ's purchasing of us by his blood what means it Rev. 5. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Rev. 14. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 1 Cor. 6. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 14. 4. with many the like 2. They say Here is no mention of blood death price or offering of Jesus Christ as in other places where proper Redemption is treated on Answ 1. As if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did not alone signifie to buy with a price 2. Hath every place that treats of proper Redemption such an addition View those before cited and be convinced of the contrary what 's added Rev. 14. 3. The third Reason is that the Apostle affirms their deliverance to consist in the escaping of the pollution of the World as Idolatry false Worship and the like by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ plainly declaring that their buying was only in respect of the enjoyment of the knowledge of the truth but of the washing in the blood of the Lamb he is wholly silent Answ The question is of the satisfaction by Sacrifice whether Christ bought them thereby This Reason is from the effects and application if they had not so much as escaped this pollution of the World it would not follow that Christ did not buye them by his satisfaction but only that they received not this benefit of it 2. It is easier beg'd than prov'd that Christ satisfied for none but those that are washed by his blood 3. If it had been said that they were washed in the blood of the Lamb had it not been easie for the same wit to have found another interpretation and to have said it was spoken but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they professed it to be so 4. He that will well prove that God can and doth so far relax his Law as to give all these mercies without Christ's satisfying for them to whom they are given viz. washing escaping the Worlds pollutions by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour yea clean escaping from them who live in errour ver 18. c. will do the Socinians a greater pleasure and say more against the necessity of Christ's satisfaction than ever I saw yet done by any And here I would have one strange passage observed in very many Divines that it may appear how prejudice studium partium prevails in Mens Studies and how much the Will can command the Understanding When we plead that God doth in pardoning Sin for Christ's Sacrifice relax his Law or dispence with it and not properly execute it according to its sense they stifly deny it and say that it is but an interpreting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to its reserved exception and that Christ's suffering was the proper fulfilling of the Law and the Reason they give is because they think it of flat necessity that the Law be executed according to its sense or else it should not be true or at least God should not be just even Essenius himself forsakes Grotius in this point and yet these same Men will maintain either that God doth without any satisfaction at all so far relax the same Law to wicked men as to give them all the mercies which they enjoy viz. illumination a tast of the good word of God and the powers of the World to come to be made partakers of the Holy Ghost and believe for a time and be sanctified by the blood of the Covenant and loved of Christ and clean escape from them that live in errour and to escape the World's pollutions and be washed c. or else that God doth this without relaxing his Law and so that by the rigorous Law of Works Sinners are not deprived of these Mercies To the Non-Elect God relaxeth that Law without satisfaction which to the Elect he doth not yea cannot relax upon satisfaction These things are harder to me than to be well digested Before I come to their last Reason I will give you the Judgment of some Orthodox Interpreters on this Text that you may see whether it be the Mediator Christ or the Father only whom they are here said to deny and whether it be meant of proper Redeeming or some mercy which they had without Christ's dying for them 1. And the first shall be Calvin whom I hope in this Controversie none will except against his words are these in loc Etiam Dominum qui illos redemit Tameâ—si variis modis abnegatur Christus eum tamen hic meo judicio attingit Petrus qui extrimitur apud Judam nempe dum Gratia Dâ—i in lâ—sciviam convertitur Redemit enim nos Christus ut populum haberet segregatum ab omnibus mundi inquinamentis addictum
receives to him he delivereth But Christ seeth it meet to give it out to us on Conditions and by Degrees and we are not at the highest Degree 'till the end of all at Judgment even the Remission it self and not only the manifestation is thus given by Degrees And so it may be longer coming to us and be still passively imperfect through our incapacity As a King receiving a Ransom for a Prisoner may agree when all the Ransom is paid that yet he shall be delivered but by Degrees or upon Conditions Concl. 13. Yet some and many Degrees of the foresaid Corrective Temporal Punishment are remissible and Christ hath Conditionally promised to remit them in this Life He having now the inflicting of all Punishment committed to him John 5. 22. hath threatned more in his new Law to some yet disobedient than to others and promised more forbearance and tender dealing to some than to others Concl. 14. But this is not by so Universal and unreserved a promise as the Remission of Destructive punishment and as Salvation is given by But it is by a Promise with Exception or Reserve As if Christ should say Ordinarily you may expect to smart most when you sin most and to be remitted and eased most Consideratis Considerandis taking one thing with another when you please me best But yet I reserve my Jus Dominii yea and power of punishing even the best as shall seem meet to my wisdom for publick good or prevention of Sin not yet committed or manifesting my Wisdom or Power or Goodness c. So that mark here 1. That still this is punishment and for Sin if we had nothing but Original Sin when it is absolutely considered why God punisheth the best it is for sin But when it is asked comparatively why he punisheth Job more than another it is not for Sin and therefore in the Comparative Sense that is oft rather to be called Affliction Persecution as from Men Tribulation c. which in the Absolute sense must still be called Chastisement or Punishment 2. Mark that this Gospel Promise of Mercy and remission of Temporal Corrective Punishment in part is properly a Conditional Promise as it respecteth God's ordinary dealing with Men but it is not an infallible ascertaining Promise as to this or that particular Person though they do perform the Condition because as is said it hath besides the Condition on our part certain Exceptions and Reserves on Christ's part from hence you may see how to answer the Question whether we must pray for temporal Deliverances Absolutely or Conditionally Concl. 15. As all Punishments on the Elect before Conversion while yet God hateth them as Workers of Iniquity and they are Children of wrath are not of the first sort in demonstration of prevailing Rigorous Justice but most commonly Merciful Chastisements for they are oft the happy occasions of their Conversion yea powerful means thereto So the like must be said of the Non-Elect themselves who are but in the same state even they are the subjects of tender Chastisement and in a gracious sense God is oft called their Father in Scripture tho' not in that special strictest sense as he is the Father of the Adopted as not giving them that special Grace but common only The Reason is because though God have unequal Intentions de eventu in Chastising the Elect and the Non-Elect yet 1. He doth demonstrate more Mercy than Rigorous Vindictive Justice even in the punishments of the Non-Elect and therefore their Punishments are such Chastisements Proved 1. Else they should not be guilty and accusable for losing the Fruit of merciful Corrections when indeed it is a main mercy that they shall perish for not improving 2. Else God would not make it the matter of a threatning to correct them or smite them no more that is in that sort because they revolt more and more which yet he doth Ergo c. 2. Punishment being the Action of a Rector as such and not of Dominus Absolutus an Owner as such and so not formally and directly the act of God as determining of events by his secret Decrees therefore they are to be specified and denominated from Rectoral ends which I call the ends of God's Legislative Will rather than from the ends of God's Secret Decrees de rerum eventu Concl. 16. Hence it follows that God may and doth remit much Temporal Punishment both destructive and corrective even to the unregenerate both Elect and Non-Elect taking an easier way to give the same mercy which else he might have given in a sharper way and so far he may be said to remit or forgive their sins Though yet the Destructive Eternal Punishment being not forgiven it is not fit in ordinary Speech to say that such mens Sins are forgiven without a limiting restrictive explication because they are forgiven only secundum quid and in the weakest Sense I have on occasion of this Text run quite beyond my first intentions in opening the nature and sorts of remission but yet I hope not unprofitably From all this now it may appear that as there are several sorts of Remission so divers of them are Reversible and common to those that perish for ever And now to the Text in hand 1. It is apparent that this Text speaks of some of these sorts of Remission 2. And that it speaks of a Remission reversible or which may be conferr'd on those that afterward perish And though I presume not to determine which of them it is that is here meant yet 3. It is certain that which ever it be it is the fruit of Christs blood shed for them to whom it is given for without blood there is no Remission The Law of Works remitteth not for it relaxeth not its own obligation And God relaxeth it not but upon satisfaction as a valuable Consideration And therefore it is relaxed by the New Testament in the blood of Christ for that Testament is founded in his blood But for the sense of the Text I judge that the Forgiveness there mentioned is the second and third sort that is the Conditional Universal Grant of Pardon by the New Covenant for the Covenant is the same in its Tenour to Unbelievers and Believers there is no real change in it when men believe only the same instrument doth then morally act that is actually remit sin which before it did not because it was suspended on a Condition which was not performed But Christ hath done his part as Testator Donor and Legislator before in making the Grant And so it is applicable differently to different Persons To those that have only the Conditional Remission and have not yet performed the Condition it tells them eventually what shall be their miserable case if they do not perform it which too oft comes to pass To them that do believe and so are inceptively Justified and Pardoned Christ speaks as a Legislator and Teacher supposing the possibility oâ— their not performing the
attainment of it in vain for his attaining Life after by Christ is nothing against his losing it in the first way Most certainly those that see not the glory of Christs new Administration in the Government of the World in general in Title and so legislation judgment and execution as it differs from the Administration of the former Government they do rob God of a very great part of the glory of the work of Redemption and if they overlook so glorious an effect of this work which should be part of the matter of their weekly solemn Praises on the Lords days in the Church Assemblies for which the day was translated from the seventh which was for the commemoration of the Creation as the cause of our being and ground of the former Government no wonder if they speak and write again Universal Redemption The whole World is now governed by Christ and so by God as he is God Redeemer And it is no small flaw or errour in their Theology that deny the Foundation of the whole Government and then cry out that we make Christ to dye in vain if he bring not all infallibly to Heaven that he dyed for 5. And also he hath in subordination hereto attained this by his death that he hath power to abrogate or alter the Law that was against us And that men before their believing are now his Prisoners and not the Fathers as Rector according to the first Law unremedied and so they are Prisoners of hope and not of despair 6. He giveth them under his hand a Conditional Remission and grant of Salvation If they will have him and Life with him they may For this is the Record which men perish for not believing that God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son for all that gift hath not Life 1 John 5. 10 11 12. This end Christ attained and therefore dyed not in vain 7. He putteth men in a way towards recovery appointing them some means to be used thereto and giving them sufficient grace or help to that use of those means which he first requireth of them 8. These men do actually partake of a multitude of mercies in this Life besides the forementioned They enjoy a comfortable healthful Life with the supply of their wants being provided for with necessaries and usually with delightful abundance having the service and use of all the Creatures They are kept from all cause of desparation and the self-tormentings of Conscience which are its inseperable concommitants and which those that feel do often call the torments of Hell within them They are not only kept out of Hell it self but as is said have a possibility of everlasting escaping it and if they will not reject it they shall certainly enjoy Eternal Life All the mercies in one word which ever they receive are from the Blood of Christ and therefore as to them he Died not in vain Their Lives indeed might have been continued according to the tenour of the first violated Law but it would only have been as a fit subject of misery It would not have been such a Life of Hope Delights and Abundant Mercies 9. They shall all have their Bodies raised up at the Resurrection Day and that by the power of Christ as the Redeemer 10. They shall all be judged by Christ as their Lord-Redeemer and so acknowledge him before all the World 11. They shall be judged according to the Talents of Mercy which they abused and the Grace which they rejected after the tenour of the Redeemers Law and not according to the unremedied Law of works And so shall be left without all just excuse even at the bar of Grace To their greater shame and the Redeemers greater glory than if they had been judged according to the meer Law of works by God-Creator as the Legislator of that Law 12. Lastly They shall in their just everlasting Damnation bring double Glory to Gods Justice as Belilevers in their Salvation shall bring a double Glory to his Mercy As in our Salvation God will not be honoured only as Creator and Rector according to the first Law but also as Redeemer and Rector according to the New Law So in the Damnation of Unbelievers it is not only the Justice of God as Creator and Rector according to the first Law but it is specially the supereminent Justice of Christ and God as Redeemer and Rector according to the new Law which will be everlastingly glorified on the rejectors of Grace They will then fully acknowledge that Christ died for them and Redeemed them and that in mercy and that for the undervaluing and rejecting of that mercy they do justly suffer So that here will be a more glorious advantage for the demonstration of Gods Justice than ever could have been according to the tenour of the first Law and without Christs satisfaction for the Sinners And I think if Christ attain his own and his Fathers Glory he Dieth not in vain and loseth not the fruits of his Blood-shed He knows how to manage the business so as that he shall be no loser let men prove as ungrateful and obstinate as they please All these ends Christ actually obtains for they are ends fully intended by himself But then the very Salvation of all men is finis prescriptus propositus propounded to man to be intended and Christs satisfaction is made a sufficient means thereto in suo genere and so this may be called the end of Gods Legislative will though he attain it not as is said before Argument the Fifth against Universal Satisfaction 5. All those for whom Christ Died or satisfied have the Gospel Preached to them But all men have not the Gospel Preached to them Therefore Christ Died not for all men The Major is proved thus 1. Christs Dying for men would be in vain if it should never be revealed to them that they might believe But Christ doth not Die for any in vain Ergo c. 2. For whomsoever Christ Died for them did he procure Remission Salvation and all means necessary thereto But the Preaching of the Gospel is a means necessary thereto Ergo c. Proved in that the Preaching of the Gospel is a necessary means to believing and Faith is a necessary means of Remission and Salvation The Minor of the main Argument is proved by experience Answ 1. Let it be observed that this Argument makes nothing against the Redemption of all men that hear the Gospel Elect and Non-Elect but only of those Pagans or others that never hear it And if they grant that Christ satisfied for all that hear the Gospel few will contend much with them about others as judging it partly so far beyond us and partly so little to concern us as not to be worth much contention Yet for my part I think the Argument weak and the Conclusion untrue 2. Davenant in his Dissertation of Universal
or offered to them nor any satisfaction ever made for them by Christ then should they escape all the sorer punishment of the new Law and never suffer at all for Abuse of that mercy or rejecting a Redeemer or any fruit of his satisfaction which he made for them And this would be an easie Hell in comparison of theirs that refuse Christ offered them Prop. XXVIII We must in all our Controversies try the Minus nota pro notiora minus certa per certiora non contra We must reduce uncertainties to certainties and dark points to clear ones and not certainties to uncertainties Seeing therefore it hath pleased God to leave his final dealing with Pagans that hear not the Gospel Ideots and Infants so uncertain and dark the Controversy of Universal Redemption is not to be tryed hereby nor all the plain Scripture for it to be reduced to the uncertainties herein So much to this Argument Let the Reader note that since the writing of this I am clearer than I was then in the assurance of this Truth that the Covenant or Law of Grace as it is the Rule of Duty and Retribution was made with all Mankind in the first Edition in Adam and Noah and is not repealed to any that have not the second Edition in the Gospel but the rest of the World are still under it When I had gone thus far Dalleus's Defence of Universal Redemption and Grace came out with Blondels Preface where are so great a number of Witnesses cited of all Ages that I not only stopt my work but cast away a multitude of Testimonies which I had collected even of English Anti-Arminians such as Davenant Ward Hall Carlton Rob. Abbots Bishop of Salisbury Dr. Preston Whately Will. Fenner Ezek. Culverwel and many such DISPUTATION OF Special Redemption Whether Christ Died with a Special Intention of bringing Infallibly Immutably and Insuperably certain Chosen Persons to Saving Faith Justification and Salvation THE Question is so cautelously and clearly expressed that I need not say much for the explication of it but shall directly determine it Affirmatively only in brief take notice of these things as the Reasons of the Terms First We mean here the Intention of Christ as God for so he knew all things and Willed all the Good which he knew But whether as Man he that knew not the day nor hour of his own coming to Judgment did know the number and names of his own Elect that ever were and should be and consequently whether he had a special Intention concerning the Salvation of each of them in particular this I shall purposely leave undetermined Secondly It is therefore implied by us that the Father and Holy Ghost had the same Intention which we affirm Christ to have had Thirdly By the word Intention we mean that Act of Christ's Will which is resembled by Intention in mere man and so is Analogically called Intention And we confine it not to the Will alone but take it as comprehending that Counsel of the Understanding or that simple Knowledge which the act of the Will supposeth Nor do we take it in the strict sense as it is terminated only on the End and so Intentio Finis is distinct from Election of the means but more largely as it may comprehend either of these for that which we commonly call a Purpose or Resolution Fourthly We call it a Special Intention because it is about a Special Object and is not General or Common to all Fifthly We call it an Intention of Bringing men to Faith c. because it is Christ's own Work to give these things which he Intendeth and so we difference it both from his Intention to Permit if such there be in case of Sin and from that imagined Intention of a Partial Causation of a Concurse determinable by the Will of Man But tho' it be an intention of Effecting that we mention yet the Manner of this effecting or bringing men to Believe we here meddle not with Sixthly It is an Infallible effecting of this that we mention thereby differencing it from a mere Velleity or a conditional willing so as that the very act of willing should depend upon some uncertain condition as distinct from this we may call it Absolute And in the word Infallible which respecteth the act of the Divine Understanding we imply also Immutable which respecteth Gods Will and Invincible as to his operation and had we one word that comprehended these it would contain our full sense It is the same thing which our Divines mean by the word Irresistible or Insuperable Seventhly It is Certain Persons or Individuals that are the objects of this Purpose which we mention as against the Arminian Conceit that it is only Believers in General or All men Conditionally if they will Believe that Christ Decreed to Justifie and Save without determining infallibly of any certain Individuals till he foresaw that themselves would make the difference by Believing Eighthly We call them Chosen Persons not a Posteriore upon the foresight of their Faith but a priore before and without any moving cause or condition in themselves It is the same act which we here call Chusing as considered in Eternity determining of the future difference of Persons and which we before call Special Intention there considering it as respecting the time of Christ's Death Ninthly The Intended effect is 1. Saving Faith such as is not common to the Unjustified This we express against the Pelagian Conceit that giveth Justification and Salvation on condition of Faith but not Faith it self or at least not Certainly and Infallibly to any we say both that God Decreeth us to Faith as well as to Salvation by Faith and that Christ dying did purpose Infallibly to bring his chosen to Believe and this as a fruit of his Death 2. When we speak of Justification as the second Intended effect we take it in Connexion with the foregoing Faith and subsequent Salvation meaning that all the Elect that are at Age and Believe and they only have that Justification which follows their personal Faith We own not their opinion that think that many persons that were never Elected to Salvation were yet Elected to Faith and Justification and do fall from these at last and perish Tho' yet we reverence many that have maintained or owned this opinion as precious Servants of God and think not so hardly of their opinion as of their's who maintain the Apostacy of the Elect if now there be any such Austin himself seems fully to go that way who yet maintaineth the perseverance of all the Elect And so doth Musculus and some others among the Reformed Divines called Calvinists But for the Justification of Infants which hath no such connexion to a personal Faith of their own whether it may cease when they come to the use of Reason for want of personal faith to continue it which was the Judgment of Davenant Dr. Ward Amyraldus and many of our own this
acknowledged or pray'd for Remission of such a Guilt nor any Ministers that ever acquainted them with it yet Ursine and some few I find make it doubtful yet here is no ground for their objection who say that then for the Sin of Cain or Cham God may destroy all their present Posterity To which I Answer 1. According to the Law of Works he may 2. According to the Law of Grace if there have been no Godly intermediate Progenitors which is false or improbable 3. Or if the Children prove wicked and rebellious themselves God may bring on that Generation the Evlis deserved by the foregoing Yet is there a great difference in degree between guilt from Progenitors and guilt from our own Personal voluntary Actions and therefore God never imputeth the former where men are personally obedient and penitent but lays it as an addition to their personal guilt on the Impenitent and Disobedient Prop. XX. I cannot find in Scripture where it is clearly revealed to us on what terms God will Judge those that heard not of Christ In general we find that he will judge them according to their usage of the Talents of Mercy received and not according to the rigour of the Law of works as it stands alone but particularly how God will proceed with them or whether any Heathen be ever saved I cannot find that he hath revealed For indeed it doth not concern us to know it I dare not say that any of them Socrates Seneca Plato c. are saved Nor dare I say that I am certain they are not They that are certain let them be thankful for their knowledge and not be angry with me for confessing my Ignorance And I hope they will distinguish between Ignorance and Error and therefore not charge me with Error in this It seems to me that these men being not under any conditional Promise of Life for Faith is the condition therefore they cannot lay claim to Salvation by the Tenour of the Covenant Though some think that the Promise of Pardon and Life to them that Repent may give them an interest But yet God is not engaged to the contrary but dealeth Arbitrarily with them and therefore we cannot know his dealings particularly and fully herein Prop. XXI Those Scriptures that speak of the necessity of Christ to mans Salvation for satisfying Justice do plainly extend it to all men in the World but those that speak of the necessity of believing seem to limit it to them that hear the Gospel or might have heard it but for their own fault It is true of all men that there is no other name given under Heaven by which they can be saved but the Name of Jesus There is no Remission but by his Blood nor Acceptance with God but for the sake of his Satisfaction and Merits But it may be observed from the Context that when it is said He that believeth not shall be Damned it is plainly fore-implyed that they are such as are called to believe It hath the Nature of a threatning and therefore presupposeth the sin of Unbelief and that it be not meer Negative Unbelief but Privative and that supposeth the duty of believing and that supposeth the command constituting the Duty and that supposeth Natural Power in Man though not Moral and the Natural possibility of obeying Peruse each particular Text of this Nature and you will find this true Prop. XXII Personal Believing was never commanded to Infants or Ideots nor required as necessary to their Salvation Prop. XXIII The same Faith which is now among us of absolute necessity to our Justification and Salvation was not so to those before Christ therefore it is not per se of absolute necessity to Justification by Christ Therefore if God so please those that hear not the Gospel may be Justified without that Faith which to us is necessary If we believe not that Jesus is the Christ we shall Die in our sins But this was not necessary to the Jews before Christs coming Nay it appears by divers passages in the Gospel that Christs own Twelve Apostles after they had long heard his Teaching and seen his Miracles did not believe that Christ should be put to Death and be made a Sacrifice for Sin much less his Resurrection c. And how unlikely is it then that all the true believers of the World long before should believe this However some Prophets might discern much of it Do but well peruse every example of believing in Heb. 11. and see what Faith it was that then saved them Yet to think that the same would save us now were a desperate mistake Prop. XXIV God can if he please pardon and save men for the sake of Christs satisfaction without letting them once know that Christ satisfied for them else he cannot save an Infant or an Ideot Some Divines as Twisse c. are so bold as to say that God could have pardoned Sin without Christs satisfaction I dare not say so But methinks the same men should never make mans knowledge or belief of Christs satisfaction to be absolutely necessary to Salvation if the satisfaction it self be not Dare any say My own Faith was more necessary than Christs Death I could have been saved without Christ but not without Faith God could have forgiven men absolutely if he would or else have made some other condition when once his Justice was satisfied And therefore we cannot conclude that this is the condition to any further than Scripture saith so Prop. XXV Yet is Repentance Belief in God Love to him and sincere Obedience of Natural necessity For God cannot be enjoyed in Glory but by these Graces nor as a Just Rector can he save them that love him not and that Rebel against him Prop. XXVI Those who think it possible for a Socrates Seneca c. to be saved or one that never heard the Gospel do not hereby equal Heathenism with Christianity nor make our Religion needless For they 1. Make their Salvation less certain and ours most certain 2. And their Salvation most difficult as for a man to hit a narrow way in the dark and ours incomparably more easie as for a man to hit the right way by day-light 3. And that therefore they are very few of them that are Saved but Multitudes with us 4. That their Glory shall be lesser as his that improved the two Talents and ours greater as his that improved the ten Besides many more differences Prop. XXVII If all the Heathen be Damned though their loss will be materially equal with ours yet formally as a privation for they were never in our capacity of Glory and their poena sensus will not be near equal to ours either materially or formally For their Consciences will never torment them for the refusal of Christ revealed and Heaven offered to them or any other sins which they were not capable of committing Nay if it were true that some teach that they had no Gospel Mercy or Grace given