that my people had bin thus and thus or would be thus and thus Thou art a gracious God and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evill And why may we not frame our notion of God from such texts of Scripture as these as well as from others and rather than from the definition of the Schools Especially if we can make God more lovely to our selves more adorable than by their conceptions There is nothing that God does will now but what he did decree always And why so Because the Schools say there will else be composition in God the composition of an essence and accident and God is a pure act ens simplicissimum But what if the Conceptions of those holy men who would have God like to man in regard of the Scripture expressions wherein they were so zealous as we have a famous Ecclesiastical story about it should not be so injurious on one hand to the Almighty as such Conceptions as these on the other which do quite puzzle our Intellectuals and leave us without any quick sense at all of him It is certain that God is Good Righteous Vnchangeable but we must have a Conception of goodness righteousness and unchangeableness and that which is agreeable to that herein which we esteem perfections in our selves before we attribute them to him When we make God then to be always gracious to those that do well and displeased with evil and so brings or determines to bring a Judgment on one and bestows a Blessing on another according as he sees at the present the Provocation of the one and Obedience of the other without any other determination before besides that of his Law why is not this an Vnchangeableness more worthy the Divine Excellence than that by which he being conceived a pure act must be made never to will any thing else than what he wills at once from all Eternity Upon the like Hypothesis as this one may also propose a sutable notion of Praedestination To wit that the Scripture being skanned to the bottom Election perhaps may be found indeed nothing else but Gods determination to save Men and Women by the Covenant of Grace and not by the Covenant of our Greation or by the Righteousness of God declared in the Gospel and not by the Righteousness of Works This definition should be founded on such Texts where the purpose of God according to Election is said to be not of Works but of him that calleth And He hath called us not according to our works but according to his purpose and Grace It should be founded also on the instances of Isaack and Jacob in whom the Children of the Promise are Elected in opposition to the Children of the flesh that is those that look for Justification by the deeds of the Law And thus have we the example of the Jews rejection upon that account And thus when a Pharisee hath lived so Righteously that as to the whole Law he is blameless and so trusts to his Righteousness shall say And why am I rejected for all this and such a Publican onely for his repenting and trusting on the mercy of God through Christ is accepted it may be answered the reason is plain because it is God that makes the difference by decreeing and appointing what terms he pleases upon which one shall be saved and not another Hath not the Potter power over his Clay of what sort he will to make Vessels of honour and dishonour so that it is not of him that Willeth or Runneth it is not upon such terms as a man himself sets or would set of works but it is of Grace of him that sheweth mercy Well! But what would be the Consequent of such Doctrine as this Why the Consequent no doubt must be the same in effect with the Pelagian which is Vniversal Grace and Free will to purpose But I confess my self to have imbibed the Doctrine of St Augustine from my younger years that I am convinced by it believing that nothing can be set up against it with any strength which is short of Vorstius while Pelagius and Vorstius both are names we know that do so male audire Are of such ill report in the Church as the Arminians themselves will not bear For our apprehensions then of God according to the Schools it must be acknowledged that he is said in holy Scripture to dwell in the Clouds and thick darkness and into such darkness or those Clouds will I account indeed that he is put while he is made to be actus purus and wrapt in their notions which if they served no other they do yet serve this end even most reverendly and exceedingly to hide him from us and render him thereby but as he is very truly incomprehensible to us To reflect then back on the difficulty before as to the Consequent of Election our way if any say they are not satisfied with what I have said because a power never produced into act is as good as none I answer if I propose that which they would have and it be all can be had there is a measure in things which when we have set in any point so as the Determination cannot be passed but we shall run into the extreams on one side or the other which we seek to avoid we ought to be satisfied Especially when such a power alone as this which in the effect without Grace is none will do our work If we allow not a power to man how shall God be just how shall God condemn any which is that lyes at bottome still of of what is said for not doing that which was not in his power or which was not possible If when a man hath Power he does also exert that power and wills of himself how shall such Scriptures be true which have been urged It is God that makes us to differ Of him we have the Will and the Deed Nay such Texts more especially as speak expresly of a Cannot when the true intent and meaning of them is this that we do not and never will as I have had it before till God prevents us by his effectual Grace Without Christ we can do nothing All our sufficiency is of God No man can come to him unless he be drawen Si non est liberum arbitrium quomodo Deus judicabit mundum Si est liberum arbitrium quomodo salvabit mundum If man have not Free-will how shall God judg him If he have how shall he save him This is the difficulty of the Father If then there be such a liberum arbitrium to be found out which quodam modo is sine libero arbitrio such a power as in the effect is no power that is such as without Grace which also is efficacious comes to nothing then can we decide this business for him Suppose a Magistrate for some fault shall cut off a Malefactors hands and then command him to write and promise him great
appears a Truth as it seems at least very agreeable to my Reason and will be found as Consonant perhaps to the Judicious with the Scripture that the Merit or Purchase of Christ's Death or the Price he laid down for our Redemption was not offered to the Father to procure of Him that he should give Faith and Repentance to any but that he should give Remission to those that Repent and Salvation to those that believe on him I humbly offer you these Reasons 1. The holding otherwise than thus does make Christ's Redemption a double thing one thing for one man and another thing for another If shall be procuring Salvation for Judas if he repent and it shall be the procuring Repentance for Peter that he may be saved 2. It goes quite against the hair to reason that Christ should procure the Benefit upon Condition and only on Condition and not otherwise and yet that he should procure also the Performance To what purpose do we make such a Labour about as this Why do you not say He purchased the Benefit rather free altogether without condition 3. If our Believing and Repenting be also purchased then is there nothing in Man's Salvation but of Purchase and we shall be beholding to Christ for all and to God for nothing But if we are beholding to Christ for his Purchase that Salvation may be had if we repent and to God for this Repenting then do we see how highly Both are to be magnified for the Contrivance 4. The Death and Redemption of Christ is for All for every man for our sins for the world 's Distinctions to answer this are but Evasions But if Faith and Repentance be the purchase of Christs Death or Redemption then cannot his Death and Redemption be universal according to so many Scriptures Let me double this and add also that the Purchase or Redemption of Christ being universal certainly as it is in Scripture if by his Death he had procured the Condition as well as the Covenant and abatement of Terms then must all Men Actually have been saved I have one Reason yet more to offer which is That the want of knowing this is I take it the great Stumbling-block or Temptation to our Divines in the receiving universal Grace to cast special Grace quite off when they should learn the true Mediocrity of reconciling both these together according to the Scriptures When the Arminian then argues here Christ hath died for All and Every man and that is not to be put off with the genera singulorum or the Gentiles as well as the Jewes therefore the grace of God is universal for all and every one to repent and beleeve that they may be saved I answer this is manifestly inconsequent because it is true that what Christ hath done by way of Redemption is universal and belongs to all the World and every man alike which is terminated in procuring these terms to be offered to the World for salvation But as for mans belief repentance sincere obedience which are the terms they come directly and immediately otherwise not from the grace of Redemption nor from the fountain of mans free will with them but from the grace of Election God gives us his Son and he gives us his Spirit His sending his Son is one thing and his sending his Spirit another The work of drawing persons to Christ I do observe is attributed to the Father and the Spirit because this is Peculiar when the work which is attributed to Christ in distinction to them is Generall to all mankind He sent his Son to purchase salvation if we Beleeve he sends his Spirit to work that faith and repentance in us that we may be saved In the one does lye the mystery of our Redemption in the other I say the mystery of Election Let it be true on one hand that Christ by his Redemption hath indeed procured no more for Paul and Peter than for Judas and the reprobate and so the honour of his Redemption be kept up with the Arminian to the height they contend for it Yet may it be true I hope likewise on the other hand that the grace of God towards Peter and Paul was more in giving them saving faith and repentance than to Judas or the reprobate and so the doctrine of Speciall Grace and Election need not neither be discarded For caution There is the Direct and Collateral issue if I may so speak of Christs merit purchase or death It is certain that the Lord Jesus may be said by his death and merit to have procured his own exaltation and as he is become thereby the Dispensatour of those treasures that are in his Fathers Eection so repentance or faith in a collateral way may be accounted to issue from thence Whom God hath exalted to be a Prince to give repentance as well as be a Saviour to procure remission to Israel But repentance faith perseverance or the condition which God requires of us and not of Christ in the business of our salvation does not flow to us directly from or is no direct and immediate fruit of his Death or Redemption I know moreover the Scripture tells us that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in him But that may be true I hope though some of those blessings only are the purchase of his death and others the effect of his Intercession or some the fruit of his Purchasing others the effect of his Administring of the new Covenant This is certain the Spirit is the Authour of our faith repentance all grace but the Spirit is obtained by vertue of Christs intercession I will pray the Father and he will send the Comforter I offer you one argument The Spirit proceeds not from the Son alone but from the Father and Son The mission or giving of the Spirit therefore cannot be the effect of our Redemption which is peculiar to the Son and belongs to all the World but is the fruit or off spring of our Election It is true we come in the name of Christ to ask his Spirit and grace that is we ask it through Christs merits but there is the merits of his Person as well as the merits of his Death it is one thing to be the Propitiation for our sins and another to be also our Advocate with the Father This is that I will pitch upon that we are not so to attribute all things to his Oblation as to make any other part or parts of his Mediator-ship more then needs There is a distinction the Scripture makes of Christ in the Flesh and in the Spirit He was of the seed of David according to the the flesh and declared to be the son of God according to the Spirit in his Resurrection from the dead and in his living ever to make intercession for us What he did for man in the flesh I account he did for all mankind for he took not on him the flesh of David onely and the elect but of all
man-kind or of human nature but what he does in the Spirit that may be peculiar in some points at least onely to his elect Hence it is that when he tells us he Laid down his life for the World yet I pray sayes he not for the World but for those thou hast given me out of the World The prayer of Christ is a part of his intercession which is Distinct from his oblation and it is no argument from his not Praying for the World that therefore he Died not for it If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give his holy Spirit to them that ask him God hath given his Son to those that never ask him even to the whole World but he gives the Spirit of the Son only to his Children even to such as can cry Abba Father when they have received it I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive When he prayes not for the world that he prayes for is the Spirit and the Spirit which works grace in the heart whereby we are sanctified and perseverance to bring us to glory is peculiar to those whom God does give to Christ and of whom Christ can say For they are thine and all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them You may say on the one hand If it be no more which Christ hath purchased for Peter then for all then Peter might perish for all Christs Purhcase I answer you may say so and without ignominy to his Redemption provided you know also that the Election of God and Christs Prayer will provided for Peter that further which it provides not for all and Jesus Christ when he hath made his purchase is the Executor of Gods Election On the other hand it may be said But to what purpose is this Redemption universal when none but those that perform the condition are saved I answer it is therefore universal that none of those who performe the condition may misse of Salvation As also that though it be all one to him that does not perform the same in regard of the event as if he was not all Redeemed Yet it is not all one as to God and the Verity of Scripture and his Judgment according to it The Scripture sayes often Christ Dyed for All and that God will Judge the World according to this Gospel He that belives shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned the Foundation whereof is Christs Death which must reach so far as to make this good And who knows not that the very business of our whole Religion does depend upon the Establishment of the Verity of the Holy Scriptures I must confess I should most willingly hearken to any that could make Christs Death more Advantagious and when his purchase hath procured Faith and Repentance to no body but Remission and Salvation to All upon their Faith and Repentance if they are willing to say that there is sufficient Grace also purchased for the World that all and every one should Repent and Believe and apply that Redemption I am indifferent to the use of their Thoughts But if when I rather grant a universal Power arising from Christs purchase not as a direct fruite of his Death but as a consequential Event N.B. from the Abatement only of the terms that God is not wanting to any in necessariis and consequently that all men have sufficient Light Spirit Grace or Power to be saved if they will Yet so long as we cannot deny him but he may abound in gratuitis and to give the Will and Deed it self is more than to give Power as to have given to Adam the Ipsum velle had been more and a gratuitum wherein he might have abounded if he had pleased than in giving him only Posse velle I cannot see by any means but when Christs Death is made universal the Fathers Election must be left still Per modum decreti efficaciter operantis By way of a decree effectually operating free and absoute in regard to the condition of it's Application If all men have alike the Posse velle The Power to will and no more then must the reason Why one man Repents and is Saved and not another be resolved into his own self only and so may and must he say it is I I my self have made the difference when the Scripture does say Who is it O man that hath made thee to differ But if we allow as Redemption to be universal so a Posse velle from general I say not a Posse velle as to the Covenant of our Creation but as to the Terms of the Gospel And to the Elect the Ipsum velle from special Grace we shall neither have any thing to charge God nor give occasion to Mans boasting Neither shall the condition be held impossible nor when we have performed it shall we rob God of his Glory It is pleaded That unless Faith and Repentance does lie in every Man 's own Breast Christ's purchase of Pardon upon that Condition is but a Mock I answer To deny that to Believe and to Repent does lye in our Power were indeed to evacuate Christ's Death to All besides the Elect But to say that Faith and Repentance therefore does flow from our own Wills is another matter I must offer moreover If Christ had purchased Faith and Repentance for some which All have not the Reprobate might here have something to say That the Reason why he Repented not as the Elect did was because Christ purchased Repentance for the One and not for the Other But if Christ hath purchased nothing for One but what he hath purchased for All which directly is true then cannot the purchase of Christ be a Mock to any seeing some do reap a real Benefit by it and if others do not it must be their Own fault Indeed those Divines who confound the Blessings we have in Christ so as to make them All alike the direct Fruits of his Death with no difference must be under some manifest Prejudice here against St. Augushine and his Doctrine It stands not with reason that any thing which is part of Christ's Purchase should be peculiar for how then hath Christ dyed for All That which is of meer Favour is fit for the Elect that which is of Purchase should be universal or for All Mankind If that Grace then whereby we Believe and Repent is a Fruit flowing from Christ's Death no otherwise than the Covenant it self does these Divines alone must speak agreeably who will allow no other but that which they call sufficient putting all men into an aequi librium or equal Ballance between Choosing and Refusing and so leaving it upon their own Wills to make the Difference Who are saved and who are not saved But to what little purpose such Grace as this is distinguished at all from
intend in that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as much as to say The Law in that through the weakness of the flesh none is able to perform it cannot possibly justifie any The impossibility lying on us in regard to the performance not in it True it were possible through such an extraordinary measure of the Spirit as the Man-Christ had not to leave Augustine quite but that measure being not to be given to any body else it is best said to be Impossible even by the strength of Nature by Grace according to its ordinary measure on Earth Impossible when yet as for the terms of the Law of Faith I hold it fit still to say they are Possible to all though there is none do perform them but by Grace Upon this there is one thing needs must yet be spoken to for it hath stuck some time upon my self It is this when Augustine is telling us that Faith is in our power he offers us this Reason Because a man may believe or not believe he accounts what he will Hoc quisque in potestate habere dicitur quod si vult facit si non vult non facit Vide nunc utrum quisquam credat si noluerit aut non credat si voluerit That every man is said to have in his power which if he will he does and if he will not he does not Consider now whether there be any that believe if they will not or do not believe if they will The contrary to this I judg is certain that there are some things I cannot believe though I would and some things that I cannot but believe though I would not never so fain From whence I should oppose therefore that Faith then whatsoever else is cannot be in mans Power no more than it is of his own Will For satisfaction to which I acknowledg that there are Doctrines or Propositions which are true that many a man cannot believe if he will nay perhaps some Articles that the Ancients have imposed as necessary to Salvation I say I acknowledg that a man cannot make himself to believe what he will nor otherwise than he does believe nevertheless I do apprehend that that-Faith which is the condition of the covenant of grace is indeed in mans power I apprehend that whereas the conditions of the Covenant of grace are and must be such as are possible there is no man who believes as much as he can but his will shall be accepted for whatsoever is required more which he cannot and which is not given Or else we had a good have bin left still to the covenant of works The condition then of the Covenant of grace or those â—erms which remain of necessity of salvation does not lye in an assent to every doctrine and article which is true in the Christian religion but to so much as serves to bring a man unto Christ or unto God Without faith it is impossible to please God for he that comes unto him must beleeve that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him And such a faith as this will the light of Nature instruct every man to Though where the Gospel is preached the beliefe of Christ also in his person offices word and works will and must necessarily follow seeing To whom much is given of him shall much be required Ye beleeve in God beleeve also in mee Vnless ye beleeve I am he ye shall dye in your sins Now let us bring that faith a man has to the test If my beleeving of God or Christ that he will be good to me if I repent does produce this repentance then is my faith saving and effectual if it do not then is the fault in my will When it lyes on my will then it is in my power yet if I will I must hold it to be still of the grace of God Huc valere debet tota Dei notitia sayes Calvin ut omne bonum ab illo petere illi acceptum ferre discamus To this purpose does the whole knowledge of God which is taught us in Scripture conduce that we should learne to seek all our good at his hands and live in the return of our thank-fulness to him When God made man he must know the end of his work He must foresee what man will do what his posterity will do all that they will do the end of all When God foresees the actions of man it must be conceived in the order of nature that they will be before he foresees them and if they will be they must have some cause and that cause must depend on the first Cause and so all be resolved into God's will It is true that he foresees also what is possible as well as future but a thing is possible only because he will it not future because he wills it I say not that this inferrs a Physical determinate influx into every act of man which proceeding from his free will is sometimes good and sometimes evill it is sufficient that there is such a complexion of circumstances provided as that a vaga moralis infallibilitas a morall indetermined certainty as to the event shall arise out of the whole together according to his eternal counsel As for sin or evill it is a defect of Entity or good a privative no positive thing and so is of our selves and not of Him as Augustine against the Manichees and the Schools after him have it What followes now upon this but that there is not an act of a mans whole life or will so farre as either sub genere Entis or sub genere Morum it is good but it must be of God And what then is there to mate that Father's doctrine of Election as it is laid on this fonndation Let us give the mind its greatest liberty One may think As there are some things which are not possible it is no derogation to Gods power to say he cannot do them so may there be some things non scibilia not knowable it shall not derogate from his Omnisciency to say he foreknows not them Such things as are left altogether to the will of a free agent may be thought such There are some things depend on mans will which God determines and here hee foreknows mens wills because he knowes as well as does whatsoever he will and there are some things depend on mans will which we are to conceive that he determines not but will have contingent and here to make God such a one as that he must foresee every thing whether he will or no and that a contingent to him shall be impossible though he would have a contingent does seem to be an affront to his Majestie rather than a perfection To this purpose we read that when God saw that the thoughts of mans heart were evill continually it is said it repented him that he made man And we have many expressions of the like import O
Nature or Covenant of Works and in Christs redeeming the Jewes from it as given by Moses he does redeem the World from that covenant which it represented and there I say does lye the cheif point of our Redemption That very thing then or that great immediate effect or benefit which accrewes to man from Christs dying for him is his having other terms procured upon which he may be justified and saved than those which by the Covenant of nature were due from him to obtain that end For God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life What is the immediate end here of God's giving his Son That must be the Immediate fruit of Christs coming dying and redeeming the World And what is that but that Whosoever beleeveth in him may not perish That is The delivery of him from the law of Works and bringing him under the Covenant or law of Faith that upon the performance only hereof who could not have it else without perfect doing he may obtain everlasting life And whether this favour of Christs procuring new terms upon which man may be saved does belong to the Elect only or to all the world there will need no more but to ask To whom the Gospel is to be preached to decide that question It is true that the freedom of the Jewes from the Mosaical law the breaking down the partition-wall thereby for the Gentiles to be incorporated into one Church visible and a power in Christ himself to dispense all assistances necessary to both for their obedience to the Gospel as also a discharge of mankind from damnation for Adams sin onely are fruits of Christs death which may be said too immediate and universal but the great benefit which indeed comprehends these and the like in it and appeares so notorious in the whole New Testament is The reconciliation of the world unto God by his death or Redemption And what else such a reconciliation can eminently consistin but that I have named I leave to the understanding to give judgment Neither are we to forget that our Redemption in Scripture is said to be from Sin and the Devil as well as from the Law for the one is the Foundation of the other When man fell from God the Devil obtained a right and dominion over him This was not a right as Lord and Proprietour but as Goaler and Executioner that is by vertue of that sentence which the Law as the Covenant of works passed on him When Christ then by his Satisfaction to the Justice of God did put an end to that Covenant this Right which the Devil held thereby must cease with it In the Cessation of this Right As the Slave who is redeemed from his slavery is redeemed also from the work which he lives in as a Slave So must all Mankind be redeemed from sin only this Redemption must be distinguished in regard of Title and in regard of Possession It follows not because the World lies in Wickedness and the Prince of the Air still rules in the Children of Disobedience that Christ hath not done His part in their Redemption No while the Law which held them under an impossible Duty that is the Law of Sin and Condemnation is taken off and the New Law is such as every one is capable to perform the Terms of it if he will It is not for want of Right to come out of this slavery it is not for want of Power but it is because they are not willing to come out of it because they love their sins that the Devil keeps them still in Possession Even as the Hebrew Servant when the Jubile came if he said he loved his Master and would not go out free he was to have his Ears boared to the Door-posts of the House and remain his Slave for ever There is a double work therefore Christ has to do as our Lord-Redeemer The one is to procure Deliverance if we are willing that is our Redemption in regard of Title And the other is To make us Willing which is to put us also in Possession The one of these is that which is properly the work of our Redemption and Universal The other is peculiar to the Elect and hath another name in Scripture that is our Vocation Effectual Calling or Conversion Unless when this Possession comes to be perfectly compleat that is at Death and then it is again called the Day of Redemption Whom he did predestinate saith the Apostle them he also called and whom he called them he also justified And whom he justified them he also glorified If Redemption were not of a larger extent than Election Vocation Justification and Glory then would the Apostle have said Whom he did predestinate he redeemed And whom he redeemed he called But when we find no such Link in this Chain it is a convincing Argument to my understanding for the Vniversalitie of Redemption It is said of Christ that he is the Saviour of the world especially of his own body In that Sentence we have both universal and special Grace together and the one is Applicatory not Destructive to the other The Redemption of Christ is universal The Grace whereby a Man savingly believes and repents and so becomes one of his Body is special and belongs to Election The Death of Christ may be considered as it redounds to the purchasing Remission of Sin and Salvation upon condition or as it redounds to the purchasing the Condition for Remission and Salvation In the first sense Christs Redemption and Grace of the Gospel is universal Doctor Twisse and the like Divines will say twenty times over In the second sense they will have it for his Elect only For my own part I must go from them here and account That the work of Christs Redemption and whole Mediation upon Earth does terminate in the former consideration The business of a Mediatour between parties does lie in this To bring them to some New terms wherein they may be agreed when they were at odds before The business of Christs Mediation Redemption Reconciliation Propitiation Satisfaction or whatsoever word out of Scripture or Orthodox Writers is used does lie I account in this altogether That he hath taken that course with the Father that he shall not deal with the world according to the Covenant of our Creation which requires such terms as no Man now thereby can be justified or saved but according to the Covenant of Grace which is such that whosoever he be that trusting in his Mercy and Goodness through Christ does repent and walk sincerely before him though imperfectly shall be Pardoned Accepted and Saved and yet he be Righteous in so doing This I say is the res ipsa as I take it the thing it self intended in all these sorts of words with the connotations only of the modus also the mode or qualification thereof according to such several Expressions Here then