the Appellation of God put upon them His Conclusion then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is groundless By that rule 1 Joh. 5.19 and Rom. 3.19 which he forgot should signifie the whole Catholike Church lies in wickedness and is guilty before God c. 2. He says All Flesh All Nations All Men c. are as large as the whole world I Answer In themselves they are but they may be otherwise used This is to fly from the terms not to explain them to tell us what other words signifie not that that 's spoken to and yet in his Instances of the use of those words in the Prophesies there is this disparity which he considers not viz. That the whole world is spoken of as a distinct party from and a party reaching beyond those that are clearly spoken of as believers beyond the we that walk in the light confess our sins that have an Advocate c. But in those Instances That All flesh shall see the salvation of God All the ends of the earth shall remember and to turn to God He will pour out his Spirit upon All flesh c. There is in none of them places such a distinction as speaking of a party at present existing beyond those that are believers To say nothing that those are Prophesies not affirmed of people in all times but onely fully to be fulfilled in the last times in which all flesh good and bad then living shall see God saving his people and every eye shall see Christ the salvation of God coming in the clouds of heaven and all in the last dayes shall remember and turn to the Lord so that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters shall cover the sea and the Lord shall be one and his name one in all the earth Though I believe all of them shall not be through with Christ and his people for after a thousand years Satan shall deceive many multitudes of them Rev. 20.8 9. Yea then also shall the Spirit be poured upon all flesh the power and breath of God shall in abundance be upon it to abase and confound it not to make all flesh grow and be admired or prophesie and do wonders but then shall the sons and daughters of Sion prophesie It shall be a spirit of Prophesie upon them but he says not so to all flesh upon whom it s poured So that those may be taken in the fullest latitude of those times and of those ages pointed at chiefly without any error I conceive The Spirit of the Lord shall breathe upon all flesh and make it wither as in Isai 40.6 7. And in the children of Sion it shall be a spirit of Prophesie Now whereas it s said that that was fulfilled in the day of Pentecost Acts 2. I answer Prophesies of that nature have a twofold fulfilling 1. In a first-fruits so it was then and since in its measure in the Churches 2. Fully in the full accomplishment of them and then it shall have its latitude and extent Again 2. When it s said This is that spoken of by such a Prophet it s not always meant this is the full accomplishment of that or the thing primely pointed at there but this is of the nature of that as in Matth. 2.17 The weeping of the Bethlemitish mothers for their children kill'd by Herod was as that spoken of by Jeremy Chap. 31. There was then such a weeping as was there spoken of But yet to any Reader its evident that the Prophet Jeremy aimed not primely at that but at the carrying away of the Ephramites descended of Joseph and so of Rachel Thence that promise in the next verse They shall come again from the land of the Enemy So that in Acts 2. was a pouring out of the Spirit to abase the flesh and a giving them to Prophesie as was spoken of in Joel though Joels eye pierced further then that very pouring it out upon those persons in that manner and those present insuing effects That All the Nations shall be believers I grant and then the whole world ye all that believe shall have little difference and so much those places and that of Isai 2.2 will hold forth But that the whole world now or in Johns time were so or that the words whole world distinguished from believers who have Christ a propitiation signifies onely believers I deny the former as evidently false and the latter as a groundless conceit 3. He reasons thus The words whole world signifies sometimes the worser part of the world and why may it not then the better To which I answer that the word world hath reason when distinguished from men called out of the world and opposed to them to signifie the worser part because distinguished from the better But why when distinguished from the better it should signifie the better I know none I ask him why in that case it must not signifie the worse too Now here it s manifestly extended beyond the better part Us that have an Advocate and not for us onely but for the whole world If he could finde me any place where it s distinguished from a bad party as bad as any can be there we might allow it happily so to signifie rather then here After these considerations and from them he mentions some small reasons which are all spoken to in what is said already except the first viz. That he speaks not of Impetration but of Application but none ever said that the Application of the death of Christ is universal To which I answer That what ever it speaks of its Vniversal we must not square the Scripture to our speakings but our speakings to the Scriptures 2. It s not spoken here of the application of Christs Death by Faith but of what Christs death doth with God for All men or rather what Christ is with God for them by vertue of it not what Christ doth in men nor the fruits that follow upon this Propitiation believed in by men as Rom. 3.25 doth This Scripture 1 Joh. 2.2 tells us what Christ is with God for All the world that in Rom. 3.25 tells us how God propounds him to men in the Gospel and what he is to become to them by Faith and what benefit they shall receive There is the mercy Seat here the atoning Sacrifice as here considered he keeps off many a blow from All as there propounded and received by Faith he brings to us remission of all c. His other Reasons and Reasonings being fore-spoken to I pass He is out again about 2 Cor. 5.19 when he tells us That the world that God was reconciling ver 19. was the Us that he reconciled and put the word of Reconciliation into the hearts of ver 18. that is indeed the Apostles and Preachers of the Gospel onely which is so evidently false that it needs no other answer then the noting of it For why doth the Apostle
see no one place that proves that His answer then is still as unsatisfactory as if to this who shall rise again I should answer they are many that sleep in the dust of the earth Dan. 12.3 and then quote that in 1 Cor. 15.27 first Christ then they that are Christs at his coming and that Rom. 8.11 if the spirit of Christ dwell in you he that raised up Jesus will also quicken our mortal bodies and 1 Cor. 6.14 He hath raised up the Lord and will also raise Vs up by his power and then say that these are a description of those many that shall rise again should I be thought substantially to prove that Many limited only to them And yet if such an answer would not be fair then neither is his If it be Objected That other Scriptures say that some shall rise to condemnation I answer that other scriptures suppose a possibility of his perishing for whom Christ died 1 Cor. 8.11 and say that the false Teachers were bought by the Lord and yet pull upon themselves swift destruction for denying him that bought them 2 Pet. 2.1 so that the arguments are alike as is evident to any judicious impartial reader We have nothing but Master Owens word that those forecited epithites and sentences are the full description of that Many for whom Christ gave himself a ransome and that 's too weak a ground to build our faith upon That they are included in that Many we grant that they are all that Many that he died for we deny and he hath not proved Now not to recriminate and fling back upon himself that froth of wit which in his coming to answer what is objected to his argument from the word Many he casts upon a godly though less learned writer I shall view his confirmations of his argument or evasions from objections made against it The Objection mainly insisted on is that the word Many is used for All and aequivalently to All as in Dan. 12.3 compared with John 5.29 and Rom. 5.19 To which he sayes 1. That if the proof was taken from the word Many meerly and not from the description of those Many annexed with a presupposed distinction of all men into several sorts by the purpose of God that exception would bear some colour So that he leans more upon his description then upon the word Many but now that description being a partial description and no where in Scripture averred to be the adaequate description of those Many for whom Christ dyed this argument will ex confesso fall to nothing with a following simile which runs not parallel with the argument for that distinction of men into several sorts that he mentions here we shall view it hereafter 2. To Dan. 12.3 he sayes that there a distribution of the word to the several parts of it must be allowed as thus the dead shall rise Many to life and Many to shame which is a meer evasion crossing the text for the word Many is the Totum congregatum and there are distributive particles of that whole following in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these to life and those to shame or some to life and some to shame besides which he adds a gross mistake of the Apostle as if it might be said Many shall rise because the Apostle sayes All shall not dye Whereas the Apostle no where hath such a saying It s not all shall not dye but all shall not sleep which signifies a resting in death not a dying simply in that sudden change opposed to sleeping there is a death and resurrection though not a sleeping in death and resurrection from the grave Besides though that were granted that All dye not yet I hope the Many that sleep in the grave that shall thence rise Iohn 5.29 are the same with All that are in their graves shall come forth All that are in their graves have dyed and all them are called Dan. 12.2 Many that sleep in the dust 3 To that in Rom. 5.19 he sayes Many seems there to be all but not spoken with an intent to denote all with an amplification because no comparison there instituted between the numbers c. But neither is there any strength in that for 1. though here he mince the matter with seems to be All yet p. 77. he confesseth the word Many to be placed absolutely for All and instances this place and that 's enough to my purpose 2. It s plain that a comparison is there instituted between Number and Number thus far that both numbers are Many yea and verse 18. the Apostle is as strict in the words of number as in any thing else As by one offence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so by one obedience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All men to all men and so in verse 19. Many to many the comparison is in this that both have their effects upon many as well as in the effects themselves Yea and the word Many is clearly a word of amplification of both parts The All made sinners are truly Many exceeding Many and that Many All for producing other places in which the word Many is All though it be a trivial business in which only the Author that he bends himself against is challenged yet because he is confident that there is no other I shall with the Authors leave and his propound one or two to consideration as that in Numb 6.36 Return O Lord to the many thousands in Israel is to All the thousands of Israel and not to many of those thousands only so Mic. 4.4 He shall Judg among many Nations is among all Nations for other Scriptures say The Lord shall be one and his name one in All the earth and he shall judge the World in Righteousnes and All Nation shall glorify him But to return to the first Chapter in which those expressions of the end of Christs coming that is to save sinners c. are good and approved by us as the word of God But how he understands this word Saved or how this phrase of Coming to save he doth not fully express to supply which defect I shall consider them a little And 1. For the word Save it s of a large signification in Scripture when it s attributed to God and Christ as 1. It signifies to preserve or keep life yea when it is forfeited by our sin and God might justly deprive us of it to keep out of perishing as in Luke 9.56 The Son of Man came not to destroy mens lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to save them Truly I conceive that in the day that Adam sinned he forfeited his soul or life and in his own ours also who were vertually in him and had God strictly taken the forfeiture of him He and we all in him had in that very day forthwith perished but Christ who was fore ordained to this business stept in between God and man and by way of ingagement became the dead Man the Lamb slain for us
part of this distinction as The ungodly Rom. 5.6 8. The unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 The world 2 Cor. 5 19. 1 Joh. 2.2 False teachers that bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2.1 So that his Minor is evidently false If it be Objected That its never said He died for the Reprobate I answer No more have we this expression He died for the Elect. If that its never said For the vessels of Wrath so it is never said For the vessels of Mercy c. I say these expressions are not in the Scriptures And indeed there is good reason it should not be said for Reprobates Goats vessels of Wrath c. because God gave not Christ for them as such no more then it s said He created Reprobates Devils ungodly Men because they were not such as created by him but they after declined from him and were rejected by him So we say Christ dyed not for men as Reprobates Goats appointed to wrath for they were the objects of these Decrees as viewed in an after-condition as neglecting refusing and rejecting the goodness of God and grace afforded through Christs mediation for that he says in answer to our exception that it s no where us only sheep only c. we have taken it off before Creation and preservation and resurrection and judgment are also spoken of and applyed to Israel and believers when they are spoken of with some distinction from opposition to others and yet in none of them are those expressions sufficient to prove that they are applicable to them only One instance for Creation we gave in Isa 43.14 15. there is another like it in Isa 64.8 We are the clay thou art the potter and yet the whole precedent part of the Chap. with the latter end of the former speaks in a distinguishing way between the people of God their adversaries So for preservation The Lord preserveth the faithful Psal 31.23 and the Lord preserveth all them that love him and yet there are oppositions between them and others so for judgement Deut. 32.36 The Lord shall judg his people and they distinguished from their enemies So for Resurrection Rom. 8.9 11. there is an opposition of them that have not the Spirit of Christ in them and them that have and it s said If the Spirit of Christ dwell in you he shall quicken your mortal bodies Whether from those and the like expressions its safe to say God created and preserveth none but his people Israel the righteous c. will quicken the bodies of and judg none but his people and such as have Christs spirit dwelling in them I leave to any rational man to judg And whereas he says By the same reason in other places when it s said Christ is the the way the life the resurrection It pleased God that in him should all fulness dwell We might except too and say it s not said It s he only and in him only I answer the case is unlike For if the Scriptures say so in other places or extend it not in any other place to others its boldness to extend it but if the Scripture in other places affirms it of others we may then well speak against the putting in an only to limit other Scriptures The first is the case of those places the latter of this in controversie so that this exception is very answerable as for his confidence that It may be further urged when and where it is so I hope I shall further answer it In the mean time I have said enough to shew the vanity of this Argument 5. His fifth Argument is Argu. 5 That the Scripture no where says Christ dyed for all men which is vain and evidently false as was shewed lib. 2. chap. 3. The expression is plain the righteousness of one which I think all must grant to be his obedience to the Death to All men to justification of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So he is the propitiation for the whole Worlds sins Joh. 2.2 So the expression in 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 2 Cor. 5.14 15. are equivalent to an expresse mention of All men as hath been shewed And it s against reason to say as Mr. Owen intimates that the Apostle there means all his Elect his Church children seeing in those places where those expressions are there is no mention of Election or Elect Church or Believers to which the words may rationally be joyned and it s against reason to think that the Apostle in his writing should more respect other writings other Books or Chapters to refer his Adjectives to some words in them or to some following verses in the same Chapters then to such substantives as he in the scope drift of those Scriptures in which those Adjectives are and in the preceding verses of it was manifestly speaking about which in those places its manifest are Men. Besides we might retort and let Mr. Owen minde it that no Scripture says in terminis Christ dyed for his Church Children Elect no one such expression that in John 11.52 which he points to is not He dyed for the children of God but that he might gather into one the children of God In Eph. 5.26 27. his other proof its He gave himself for his Church which might be in exchange thus He gave himself to her to be hers that she might be his holy to him So Acts 20.28 He purchased the Church by his blood that is by the preaching and presentation of his blood foreshed with the benefits thereby ratified to all that believe and so gathered in or acquired and obtained as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly them to be his Church So that we might as colourably deny those sayings as he That Christ dyed for All men to be the Scriptures expressions But enough hath been said to this fore-answered vain and false Argument CHAP. III. An Answer to his third Chapter containing two other Arguments HIs sixth Argument is That for whom Christ dyed he dyed as a Sponsor in their stead But he dyed not so for all c. How much he puts into the word Sponsor I know not well but in their stead he dyed I grant though his proofs might be questioned whether they will evince it A man may dy for another that is for his sake to do him good when the other man perhaps should not have dyed had not he dyed and so not in a way of commutation and if he might in any way dye for all and not so for all then his major is invalid but yet I say I will grant that and deny his minor but then he saith it will follow That 1. He freed them all from the anger and wrath of God and guilt of death which he underwent for them To which I say that will not follow It will follow then that he freed them from the death they should have dyed but not from all the anger or displeasure that occasioned him to