Enemies that rebelled and rejected him 2. And in the Blessedness and Glory of his Saints who are his Body and in the pleasing of God in all Thus much of what Christ was to receive to himself 2. That which Mankind was to receive for whom he satisfied was 1. Immediately in the change of his Condition where is Considerable 1. The Terminus à quo which was A Legal necessity of Destruction or Damnation which consisteth in this that now the Lawgiver God-Creator being satisfied he is no longer necessitated or obliged as we may speak to destroy the Sinner tho' yet the Law is not wholly Abrogate nor its Obligation of the Sinner to Duty or Punishment dissolved but the Sinner is Delivered from that Law as it stands alone without a Remedy seeing a sufficient Remedy is provided and the Law it self is now at the pleasure and dispose of the Redeemer who will Judge no Man by this Law alone or principally So that the Sinner who before was not pardonable but in potentiâ remotiore nor at all quoad Potentiam Dei ordinatam in his former state without this change is now become pardonable in Potentiâ propriore quoad Potentiam Deiordinatam in his present state 2. The Terminus ad quem or state to which he is Delivered is 1. To the Redeemer as Proprietary he being his Own 2. To the Redeemer as Rector to be dealt with on terms of Grace and in order to Recovery from his Misery 3. And in both these to the Redeemer as our grand Benefactor and Saviour whose Office is to lead us to God by the winning demonstration of his Love Mans state having this immediate change of Relation 2. The Benefits Consequential to these which he receiveth are Either 1. From Christ as Rector Or 2. As Dominus absolutus Proprietary 3. And as a free Benefactor doing as he list with his own benefits 1. As Rector Christ is as is said 1. Legislator 2. And seeth to the Execution As Legislator 1. He taketh down the old Law both 1. That of works as it is a proper covenant and means of Life and so freeth man from the necessity of perfect obeying for salvation though yet he destroy not its being or obligation to perfect obedience 2. And he freeth those that were under it from the Mosaical Law of Rites and that by Abrogating it But this was not till the fulness of time but the other was presently upon the beginning of Restauration 2. He 1. Maketh 2. Promulgateth a New Law of Grace containing 1. Essentials 2. Accidentals By the Essentials of the Law 1. He prescribeth to men a sweet and easie Course of Duty and giveth them commands that are not grievious which 1. In some respects he maketh meer Duties and Means 2. And in other respects Conditions of their receiving farther benefits 2. He determineth of what shall be Due to man as by way of Penalty if they Rebel so 1. By conferring farther benefits on men Which are Considerable 1. In themselves 2. In the way of Collation 1. The Benefits given by the new Law or Covenant are 1. Right to relative Benefits or new Relations 2. Or Right to real Benefits The former are 1. Principal and Radical that is Membership of Christ or Union with him 2. Or Consequential Which are 1. The fruits of satisfaction properly as satisfaction that is The Restoring us from the misery we fell into by freeing us from Guilt or Obligation to punishment by pardoning our Sin and Justifying us so far 2. Those that are Consequential to satisfaction not meerly as satisfaction but as a Price Purchasing or Meriting farther good and so are consequents of his Meritorious Works also And that is his bringing us to a higher and better state of Relation than that which was lost which is in 1. Adoption to Sonship 2. Membership of the Church of the Redeemed and Called 2. The real Benefits which the Covenant giveth us right to are 1. Such as are to be received in this Life As 1. The Spirit to be 1. Our further Sanctifier 2. And Comforter 2. And all other things to work for our good and promote our Recovery and Happiness 2. Or such as are to be received in the Life to come Either at the Entrance as 1. Felicity of the Soul first and then Resurrection from the Dead 2. And Justification by sentence and adjudication of Eternal Glory 2. Or in the state thereof which is our Perfect Blessedness in Enjoying God and being perfectly acceptable to him in our Persons and Praises We speak not now of these real benefits as Conferred in themselves but in the Right we have to them before hand All which Right is given by the New Law or Covenant as Gods Instrument 2. And as the benefits given so the manner of the Laws giving must needs be observed Which is 1. By imperfect Collation not ipso facto presently making the thing our own which is 1. When the gift is conditional suspended on some Condition And only thus doth the Law or Covenant give Pardon Justification Adoption with all that Right to real Mercy before mentioned to all men Elect or not Elect before they believe 2. Or when the thing is given only in Diem And so Right to a Resurrection is given to all 2. Or else the Law makes a perfect Collation and that is 1. When it gives the Benefit absolutely and presently So that Christ freed men from the Law of Works and Ceremonies so far as is before expressed 2. Or when it actually confers that Benefit after the performance of the Condition which before was but Conditionally Given For it was the will of the Legislator that the actual Gift should be suspended on that Condition and therefore though the Nature of the Law change not upon that performance of the Condition yet it then begins Moraliter Efficariter agere which it did not before And thus the Law of Grace gives actual Pardon Adoption and Right to glory to men as soon as they sincerely believe And here begin the Effects of Christs death in Law sence to be peculiar to some when they perform the conditions which others do not which condition Christ giveth not as Legislator All that we have spoke till now was common to Non-elect Thus we have shewed what the Law gives by its Essentials 2. By the Integrals or Accidentals which you will call them of this new Law for Laws use to have Preambles Narratives c. to inform men of the ground occasion and end of them Christ doth 1. Give all men that hear it information or objective discovery of whatsoever is necessary to be known for attaining the foresaid benefits As of God Christ his Nature Office Works c. 2. He giveth them potent Reasons Motives Perswasions Exhortations Threatnings c. to work upon their Wills And both these are Grace and sufficient in suo genere Having shewed what Christ giveth as Legislator it followeth 2. That we shew what he giveth
when man is already condemned the Law of Grace say that he shall undergo a far sorer punishment and it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than him except he will do these impossibilities this is still harder It is not all the believing in the World supposing it were performed that would make Christs Death which is past to be suffered for those that it was not suffered for This makes Christ to come into the World to condemn the World and that to a far sorer punishment than the Law of Works did oblige them to without procuring them any possibility of escaping For there 's no possibility of that mans escape for whom no price of Redemption is paid Nay it lays an absolute necessity ab extra and unavoidable on men of perishing under this double damnation For he that before I am born makes a Law that I shall dye except I have part in a payment that was made 1000 years ago and that only for others and not at all for me he doth necessitate my Death by that Law For it is impossible that I should ever have part in it if it were not paid for me Now I know our Divines speak of Gods necessitating mans Damnation by Foreknowledge and Decree which they call only Necessitas Antecedentis non Causae But who ever affirmed that Christ in giving the New Law He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned did necessitate and that Causally and that Antecedenter ad Culpam the far greater damnation of miserable wretches that were condemned already And that the Gospel is not so much harder than the Law I prove Mat. 11. 27 28 30. My Yoak is easie and my Burden is light Heb. 8. 6. Jesus is the Mediator of a better Covenant stablished on better promises Heb. 7. 22. And the Author of a better Testament Rom. 5. 14 15 20. Where sin abounded Grace much more abounded John 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave c. Eph. 3. 19 20. Heb. 11. 40. His service is a reasonable service His Commandments are not grievous His tender mercy is over all his Works He is kind to the unthankful and unjust His mercies lead men to Repentance He delighteth not in the death of him that dyeth but rather that he Repent and Live He calleth all men every where to repent and seek after God All the day long doth he stretch out his hand to a froward and gain-saying generation He dealeth not with us after our sins He inviteth the Non Elect to the Wedding Feast and telleth them that all things are ready and some of them he compelleth to come in as he did him that had not on the Wedding Garment he chargeth his Messengers to beseech men in his stead to be reconciled unto God He would gather under his Wings even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens those that Will not be gathered All these with a multitude the like are the Scripture expressions of Gods gentle and merciful dealing with men under the Law of Grace And so much of the execution as we see is answerable He offers mercy to all in the Church and confers much Mercy on every man in the World He dealeth with no man according to the strict rigour of the unremedied Curse of the Law of Works Abuse of the Talents of undeserved Mercy is the thing that men must be condemned and perish for No one sinner on Earth is excepted or excluded by him out of his Offer and Promise of Mercy so be it they will themselves consent whoever Will may have the Living Waters freely without Money and without Price and if their sins be as red as Scarlet he offers to make them as white as Snow and to cast them all behind his back and bury them in the depths of the Sea He calls to them return why will ye dye How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and ye scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you Prov. 1. 22 23. He hath received Gifts for men even for the Rebellious that the Lord may dwell among them God hath sent his Son Jesus to you saith the Apostle Act. 3. last to bless you in turning every one of you from his iniquities And when men will not hear he saith O that my People had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my mays Psal 81. 13. O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and their Children for ever Deut. 5. 29. Can any man then believe that the tenour of the new Law or Covenant is so much harder than ever was the Law of Works as is before expressed As for them that say the New Covenant is no Law and Wicked men or the Non-Elect are not under it they manifest so great ignorance and go against so full light of express Scripture that I think them not worthy a confutation Only I would have the Lutheran Divines remember that near to the Apostles times it was not only an unquestioned truth but also was part of the Christian Creed Christum predicasse Novam legem novam promissionem Regni Caelorum Tertullian de Prescription cap. Arg. 20. A Legis Mosaicae Abrogatione If all men that were any way under it are freed by the blood of Christ from the Bondage of the Mosaical Law of Ceremonies then Christ died for All such and consequently not only for the Elect But the Antecedent is certain Ergo c. Some Divines say that All the World were thus far subject to the Jewish Law that they could not be saved without knowing it and submitting to it in obedience because God had then no other Church nor stablished way of Worship If this be true then all the World hath a deliverance in the Abrogation of that Law Others say that it obliged only the Jews and Proselites and that others at the remotest distance should not have been obliged by that Law if they had known it If that be so then it was only the Jews and Proselytes such as had opportunity to incorporate with them or joyn to them that had this deliverence However it is evident it was to all the Jews and so to more than the Elect and then almost all the Arguments against Universal Satisfaction are hereby overthrown for they are built on this that Christ died only for the Elect. Here I must prove 1. That Moses Ceremonial Law is abrogate 2. That it was done by the shedding of Christ's Blood for those that were under it 3. That it is abrogated to All. 1. And for the first it is so generally acknowledged and the Scripture so express in it specially Act. 15. and all the Epistle to the Galatians that I may spare that labour only some doubt whether
to be but the meritorious cause of our Righteousness but not our Righteousness it self as we affirm it I do not now judg of these words but if Christs satisfaction be our very Righteousness or any part of it then certainly Christ satisfied for all to whom he offers his Righteousness But that he offers his Righteousness to all without exception is beyond doubt And he would never offer them a Non-ens that which is not He doth not offer to one Man the satisfaction made only for another and not for him for that would be no Righteousness for him But it is Righteousness that Christ offers and therefore it is satisfaction for that sinner himself which is offered to that sinner to be his Righteousness Now the offer supposeth the being of the thing offered except it were only an offer to do or give something hereafter which is not the case here And for them that say Christ is only offered to Men if they will receive him or believe it is idle For Christ is offered to Men whether they will receive him or not but none but receivers do enjoy him God doth not make our receiving the condition of his offering as to say I will offer thee Christs satisfaction if thou wilt receive it but he makes it the condition of our attaining the good offered q. d Christ with his benefits offered to thee shall be thine if thou wilt receive him 2. If it be only the Blood of Christ shed for others and not for them which unbelievers sin against then the sin of Devils might as to this respect be as well aggravated from the Blood of Christ sinned against as theirs But the consequence is palpably absurd Ergo c. 3. Consider what hainous consequents will follow if you deny this aggravation of the Sins of unbelievers 1. You harden them in the most desperate impenitency For they cannot repent of that which they know not to be a Sin and they cannot know that they have sinned against him that dyed for them till they know that he did die for them and who dare say to all the World that yet know not that they are true believers you ought not to repent for any Sin as being committed against him that died for you Perkins Treat of repentance and multitudes of our godly English Writers when they press Men to repentance do use this as the greatest motive to consider what our Sins did cost the Lord Jesus They cost him Blood and should they not cost us tears and should we make light of that which lay so heavy on him Such arguings are common in almost all Writers and Preachers Now if Christ did not bear all Mens Sins and if all Mens Sins did not cost Christ so dear then this Argument or Motive to repentance can be used to no Man nor by any Man but only those that have got assurance of a special interest in Christ 2. Hereby you deny that God may justly aggravate Mens Sins or condemn Men for Sinning against Christ that died for them 3. Hereby you perswade Men that their consciences shall not thus agravate them in Hell nor torment them for Sinning against him that suffered for them all which I shall shew anon to be false 4. Hereby you forbid Ministers from thus aggravating their Peoples Sins and so from using the most effectual motive to draw them to repentance And hereby you condemn almost all the most powerful Preachers in England who generally take this course And you reject the most powerful Books and Sermons which God hath blest to the Conversion of many Souls I mention this the rather because some still object that those who are against Universal Redemption succeed as much in their Ministry to the Conversion of Souls as those that are for it The reason is because they commonly Preach for it or on grounds that suppose it in their practical Sermons when in their disputes they speak against it That you may see I wrong them not I will instance in one learned Holy Perkins who hath writ more confidently against Universal Redemption then he And when he comes to win Men to Repentance and to Christ see how he Writes in particular in that excellent short Treatise the choicest piece I think that ever he wrote I am sure a piece that hath long agoe workt more on my own Heart then most if not then any that ever I read and which I have cause to thank God that ever I saw I mean his Treat of the Right Knowledg of Christ Crucified in the first Vol. of his Works Page 626 c. I will transcribe some passages Page 626. When he hath shewed that we must feel the need of Christ and desire him he adds The ad Part of knowledg is Application every Man is bound to apply Christ whereby thou must know and believe not only that Christ was Crucified but that he was Crucified for thee for thee I say in particular Here two rules must be remembred and practised one that Christ on the Cross was thy pledg and surety in particular that he stood there in the very room and place in which thou thy self in thy own person shouldest have stood That thy very personal and particular Sins were imputed and applied to him That he stood guilty as a Malefactor for them and suffered the very Pangs of Hell And that his sufferings are as much in acceptation with God as if thou hadst born the curse of the Law in thy own person eternally The holding and believing of this point is the very foundation of Religion as also of the Church of God c. The 2d Rule is that Christ Crucified is thine being really given thee of God the Father even as truly as Houses and Lands are given of Earthly Fathers to their Children And hence it is that the benefits of Christ are before God ours indeed for our justification and Salvation and Page 630. First of all the serious consideration of this that the very Son of God himself suffered all the pains and torments of Hell on the Cross for our Sins is the proper and most effectual means to stir up our Hearts to a godly sorrow for them And that this thing may come to pass every Man must be setled without doubt that he was the Man that Crucified Christ that he is to be blamed as well as Judas Herod Pilate or the Jews and that his Sins should be the Nails the Spears and the Thorns that pierced him When this meditation begins to take place bitterness of Spirit with Wailing and Mourning takes place in like manner Zach 12. 10. And they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall lament for him as one lamenteth for his only Son What a Doctrin then is it that teacheth us that none but they that know themselves to be Elect should once accuse themselves of this that their Sins did Crucifie Christ Peter in his first Sermon struck the Jews as with a Thunder-clap from
Salvation but God offers no other Pardon or Salvation but what is purchased by Christ's Blood He that tells us there neither is nor can be any other Remission or Salvation but what Christ purchaseth will not offer any other to men and urge them to accept it yea Pardon and Life as purchased by Christ are in Gods deed of gift together with Christ himself conditionally bestowed on all even if they will have them a Condition which among men is seldom thought worthy the name of a Condition it being supposed in nature that every man is willing of his own good and so of all excellent advantages thereto Is all this so with those in Hell Christ is neither given nor Pardon and Life offered to them they are not commanded to repent and believe to this end that they may be justified and saved But those on Earth are and therefore their Pardon and Salvation is possible for God will not command them to seek or to accept of an impossibility and then Condemn them for not seeking and not accepting it If the Damned could repent or believe it would not save them but it would save them on Earth Nor is their belief it self such an impossibility as is the Damneds believing Moreover Christ saith now how oft would I have gathered you But he would not gather the Damned God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth but he saith not that he would have the Damned to be saved This Life is called the day of their Visitation the day of grace the acceptable time the day of Salvation and they are called on to hear the voice of God to day while it is called to day and not to harden their hearts least he swear in his wrath that they shall not enter into his rest that is least their case become desperate and their Salvation impossible therefore it was not so before They are warned to take heed least sinning wilfully after the knowledge of the truth there remain no more Sacrifice for Sin c. Implying that before there is a Sacrifice for their sin it is said that it is impossible to renew them by repentance who tread under foot the blood of the Covenant and do despight to the Spirit of Grace implying that before it was not impossible and also that they might have had if they had not a share in that blood and that Spirit They have a promise left them of entring into his rest Heb. 4 1. and a Salvation proclaimed to them and if they perish it will be for neglecting so great Salvation Heb. 3. 2. They are invited to come in because all things are ready they are commanded to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near None of this is so with the Damned God is not near them nor may be found of them nor have they any day of Grace Visitation or Salvation where the word is preached it is that they might be saved 1 Thes 2. 16. Paul sought the profit of many and to please all men that they might be saved 1 Cor. 10. 33. Even when men are delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh it is that the Spirit might be saved 1 Cor. 5. 5. yea God sent his Son into the World that the World thro him might be saved that World which consisteth of Believers and Unbelievers Joh. 3. 16. 17. when Jesus was proving his Mediatorship to the Jews he saith These things I say that ye might be saved Joh. 5. 34. so that Mens Salvation is possible while they are on Earth till they have sinned against the Holy Ghost or totally Apostatiz'd by abrenunciation of Christ else what business have Preachers with them Why do we intreat them to be reconciled to God Do we not tell them daily and truly that yet there is time yet there is hope and advise them to take time while they have it and let not slip the Day of Grace and Salvation 2 Cor. 6. 1 2. We beseech them that they receive not the Grace of God in vain for behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of Salvation And Christ saith weeping over Jerusalem If thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy Peace but now they are hid from thine eyes c. Because thou knewest not the time of thy Visitation Luk. 19. 41 42 43 44. An hundred places more might be produced to prove that men on Earth are not left as desperate deplorate or remediles as those in Hell which yet they must be if they had no Redeemer or no Sacrifice for their sin Arg. 26. A processu Judiciali causa condemnationis If Christ himself shall therefore condemn men in Judgment because they received him not as their Lord-Redeemer or because they abused the fruits of his Death suffered for them then he died for All men But Christ will condemn men in Judgment because they received him not as their Lord-Redeemer or because they abused the said fruits of his Death Therefore he died for All-men That he will condemn all the Unbelievers that heard his Gospel because they did not believe in him nor receive him for their Redeemer and Saviour and Lord to Reign over them nor rest on him for Salvation is confessed by all and past dispute Luke 21. 27. Joh. 1. 10 11 12 3. 18. 1 Joh. 5. 11. 2 Thes 1. 8. 2. 10 11 12 Mar. 16. 16. Job 5. 22. Mat. 25. per totum That all men shall be judged according to their well or ill usage of the Talents of Mercy bestowed on them and repenting or not repenting in the day of Grace is plain in Mat. 25. in the Parable of the ten Virgins and of the Talents I have proved before that these Talents are Grace i. e. Miserecordiae contra meritum effectus and procured by Christs satisfaction and not given without Christs satisfaction The consequence therefore of the Major proposition is evident For shall any man dare without better proof to affirm that Christ will sit as Lord-Redeemer in Judgment and condemn most of the World to everlasting flames for refusing a Redeemer that was not their Redeemer and for not believing in him to save them by his death who never died for them and for not resting for Salvation on him that never made the least satisfaction for them and therefore was not a sufficient stay to rest on and for not believing where if they had believed Faith would do no good And where it is objected as before they should have believed that it might have been a sign to them that Christ died for them I answer besides what I answered before 1. It being first granted that Christ did not dye for them then if they had believed it would have been no sign that he died for them for it cannot be a sign of that which was not And Christs dying or not dying for them
for it cannot be a sign of that which was not 2. Never Judge did pass sentence upon a sign instead of a cause or make the want of a sign to be the cause of condemnation Then the principal cause should be non Redimi that Christ died not for us and the signal which is our not believing must be the less principal And so the Sentence should pass thus I adjudge thee to Hell Fire for not being redeemed by my blood and consequently for not having that faith which might have been a sign that I redeemed thee But who dare feign Christ Jesus to pass such a Sentence Saith Abraham far be it from thee to destroy the Righteous with the Wicked shall not the Judge of all the World do righteously Also how could Christ condemn Pagans or any for not improving his Talents of Mercy if they had none And if Christ died not for them they had none For I have proved it could not come any other way Grace as I said proper to the Gospel is Mercy contrary to Merit as Grace to the first man new created was Mercy without Merit now common or special Gospel Grace contrary to merit comes all from Christs Blood and can come no otherwise The Law came by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ of his fulness we all receive and Grace for Grace All the gifts in the Church of Tongues Miracles casting out Devils Healing Prophesying all which those may have that shall perish are yet from one and the same Spirit even the Spirit of the Son procured by his Blood In him it is that God blesseth us with all spiritual blessings common or special Now if men have none of the Talents which Christ's Death hath purchased them how can he condemn them for abusing that which they had not I know some reply that God may condemn and torment his Creature without any fault if he please and that justly because his Will is the rule of Justice To which I answer as he is Dominus Absolutus he may do with his own as he please and therefore may torment the Creature as he please at least he might have done before he undertook to dispose of them as Rector according to his Laws but as he is Ruler of the Rational Creature he will not and therefore cannot condemn or punish any but for sin seeing every punishment is essential for a fault And therefore if God should torment the undeserving Creature it would be but an Affliction or meer Suffering which is the matter of Punishment without the form but no punishment And therefore it would be neither just nor unjust being not capable of either Title But to say that God as Judge can condemn or punish a man without desert is plain Blasphemy Arg. 27. A condemnandorum inexcusabilitate If Christ died not for all then the condemned would not be left without any just excuse But the condemned shall be left without a just excuse therefore Christ died for All. The Minor is plain in Scripture All mouths shall be stopped and all the World be guilty before God Rom. 3. 19. And Christ saith They have no Cloak for their sin See Rom. 1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 c. And for the consequence of the Major there is enough said to prove it before And further let me add for explication a few words Excuse is contrary to Accusation As there are therefore divers sorts of Accusation so is there of Excusation Men may be Accused at the Bar of God 1. Upon the grounds afforded in the Law of Works 2. Or according to the Mediators new Law or the Law of Grace According to the Law of Works men may be accused 1. Of violating the Precept 2. Of being liable to the penalty For the first of these no man on Earth hath any just excuse for all have sinned and must confess it and he that saith he hath no sin is a lyer 2. If any man be accused of being liable to penalty according to the tenour of the Law of Works this also must be confessed and hath no excuse no not for them that Christ died for in the strictest sense or that are Justified 2. And for Accusation in the reference to the Law of Grace either men will be accused 1. Of not performing the duties of that Law as commanded 2. Or of not performing the condition of it as it is a condition 3. Or of being liable to the penalty 1. Privative 2. Positive 1. For the first all men must confess that they are guilty For though in the Law of Nature the Duty commanded and the condition were the same yet in the Law of Grace the Duty commanded is of larger extent than the condition For perfect obedience is commanded though only faith and sincere obedience be the condition Only the Duty commanded is the matter about which sincere obedience which is part of the condition is exercised Now here no man can excuse himself by saying that he hath done all that Christ commanded him But the non-redeemed may excuse themselves for not doing it For against every part of the Precepts proper to the Gospel they have excuse as will appear anon when we speak of the conditions 2. The condition of the new Law or Covenant is Faith working by Love Repentance Thankfulness and sincere Obedience He that performeth not these must perish Now if an unredeemed person shall be accused for not performing these though he must confess the non-performance yet he hath these reasons to give for his excuse 1. Where there is no gift there can be no condition in proper sense of obtaining But Christs blood was not given to us and consequently not the proper fruits of it Therefore 2. How could we believe in or receive Christ as our Redeemer who never Redeemed us Or trust to his Blood for Justification which was never shed for us And therefore would not have been sufficient to save us had it been possible for us to have believed in it or had we actually believed Moreover believing to Justification is but the accepting or receiving Christ as an offered Saviour and Head or as conditionally given us viz. if we will receive him this is commonly confest now how can there be a receiving or accepting without a giving Is there any contradiction more palpable We therefore to whom Christ was not given could not receive him and if he were not given for us he could not be given to us seeing the latter doth presuppose the former 3. Repentance to Life presupposeth some hope of Life given I mean spem possibilitatis probabilitatis si non spem certitudinis But there is no hope given to any but in and by the blood of Jesus Christ shed for them for there is no other name by which they can be saved without this hope we might have an Infernal despairing tormenting Repentance but could not possibly have a Repentance unto Life or such as could be to us any means
to an Angel not to be Redeemed nor to the Devils not to be partakers of Christ and of Pardon and Salvation by him Now its true the Pardon of the Damned and their Salvation was not actually effected but the meritorious cause was full and perfect in Christs satisfaction and moral causes go long before the effects sometimes and may do all their part and yet the effect not follow through the defect of some other and the effects were conditionally given or produced by the New Covenant and thereby become not only possible and probable but certain if the condition were performed So that here is a proper privation and not a bare Negation Nor is it the meer matter of such effects that men are deprived of but formally as they were effects conditionally granted and were to have been effects actually of the death of Christ They should have been such effects if they had done their part to procure them by performing the condition as Christ did in the Cause for he required not them to effect it as concauses but only suspended the effects of his own full sufficient but Moral cause on their condition which all Lawyers and all that know what a Moral Cause is or what a proper condition is know to be most usual Now if you suppose that Christ died not and satisfied not for these men then the loss of Pardon Adoption Membership of Christ final Absolution Salvation besides all the greater Glory and all the Spirits Graces and Workings in this life cannot possibly be punishments to them for they cannot be Privations For there was never any cause to procure them and therefore they were never possible much less due and Mans Faith was not required by God to be the meritorious cause or to satisfie Gods Justice nor yet to procure Christ or any other to satisfie it nor yet to make that satisfaction to be now for us which was made for others and not for us to none of these ends was Faith required but only to be the condition of our enjoying Christ and the fruits of his satisfaction on performance whereof the Moral Cause which was long before in full being should produce its effect or else not as to us so that satisfaction as the Cause is necessarily supposed to Faith as the condition seeing the office of the condition is that on it the effect of the cause be suspended till that condition be performed And therefore there can be no condition where there is not first the Moral Cause I mean there can neither be condition constituted by Law Testament Deed of Gift or Covenant nor yet condition performed for it cannot have the form of a condition Or if that be disputable as to any other case I am sure it is not in the case in hand No man will say that the non-remission non-salvation of the Devils by the Blood of Christ is a Punishment to them Object That is because it was never offered or conditionally given them by Covenant as it was to the Unbelievers Answ Nor could it have been given so to Unbelievers if Christ had not died for them Could God give them Christ as a Satisfier and Redeemer who never had satisfied for them or redeemed Or could he make over to them effects which had no Cause viz. the effects of his dying for them when he did not dye for them Would the New Covenant serve to pardon men without Christs Sacrifice and Satisfaction Nay is it not beyond all doubt that this which I call the New Covenant or Testament He that believeth shall be saved c. is the Redeemers Law and Testament and presupposeth his Death and Satisfaction in esse Morali at least It is the New Testament in his Blood he first buyeth men to be his own by satisfaction and then dealeth with them as his own by Promise and Legislation Only the Promise of God to give Christ for a Redeemer to the World and his Prophesies of him therein are in order of nature before the Moral being of Christs death but so is not the Law of Grace I know nothing that hath any great shew of Reason that can be said against this Argument which so clearly evinceth the truth of Universal Redemption and for vain objections I will not trouble my self and the Reader with them Arg. 30. A Comparatione doctrinae universalem satisfactionem affirmantis cum doctrinâ— eandem negante If they who assert Universal Redemption quoad satisfactionem pretium have all these forementioned Arguments from Scripture for their cause and a multitude of express Texts and no one ill consequence following their doctrine nor one sound Reason nor one text of Scripture against them And if the deniers of Universal Satisfaction have all the contrary disadvantages then they that affirm Universal Satisfaction are in the right and they that deny it do err But the antecedent is true Ergo. c. Here I will 1. Look over these Arguments again and from thence shew you the face of the consequents of the denial of Universal Satisfaction 2. I will lay you down together the express Texts that are for Universal Satisfaction 3. And also the Texts that are brought against it 4. And then the particular search of those texts on both sides and the answer to all the Arguments that are usually brought against Universal Satisfaction I intend shall follow afterward in their own places more fully The Doctrine which denyeth Universal Satisfaction hath all these inconveniences and absurd consequents following therefore it is not of God nor true 1. It either denieth the Universal Promise or Conditional Gift of Pardon and Life to all men if they will believe and then it overturneth the substance of Christs Law and Gospel promise or else it maketh God to give conditionally to all men a Pardon and Salvation which Christ never purchased and without his dying for men 2. It maketh God either not to offer the effects of Christs satisfaction Pardon and Life to all but only to the Elect or else to offer that which is not and which he cannot give 3. It denieth the direct object of Faith and of Gods offer that is Christum qui satisfecit a Christ that hath satisfied 4. It either denieth the Non-Elects deliverance from that flat necessity of perishing which came on man for sinning against the first Law by its remediless unsuspended obligation and so neither Christ Gospel or Mercy had ever any nature of a remedy to them nor any more done toward their deliverance then towards the deliverance of the Devils Or else it maketh this deliverance and remedy to be without satisfaction by Christ for them 5. It either denieth that God commandeth all to believe but only the Elect Or else maketh God to assign them a deceiving Object for their Faith commanding them to believe in that which never was and to trust that which would deceive them if they did trust it 6. It maketh God either to have appointed and commanded the
natural suffering nor ever was to be punished meerly on the old score that is meerly for violating and incuring the penalty of the first Law by God as Rector according to that Law God might have refused to accept Christs Sufferings as a Satisfaction for Sinners much more to have freely provided it out of his own Treasure as it were when God therefore did freely himself provide a Satisfaction and freely Accept it He did both only on these terms that as Legislator of the strict Law of Works as standing without remedy he would punish no Man but yet he would not actually and absolutely discharge them for they are still his Subjects and now by a double right and bond viz both of Creation and Redemption and therefore must still be governed by him and therefore must still be Governed by Laws and therefore must still be under Precepts Prohibitions Promises and Threatnings which are the Parts of the Law For the Nature of Man is such as that it must be governed not meerly by Commanding but also per Praemia Poenas Experience tells us that of the best Men on Earth as propounded to them therefore God in mercy would make a New Law commanding all men to repent and that hear the Gospel to Believe and giving to the Redeemed the actual pardon of all their Sins on these Conditions making Christ the Fountain of our Life and Head of all that shall be Saved and Ordaining that Christ and with him Pardon and Adoption and the Spirit for further Sanctification and Salvation shall be given to all that will take Christ and that those that refuse him shall be unpardoned for all his Sacrifice and Satisfaction and shall moreover incur a far sorer punishment These are the terms on which God took Christ's Sufferings as satisfactory to his Justice which terms are well pleasing to the Son himself nor did he ever desire to ransom them on other terms or to bring them into any other Condition than under this his own Government and Laws nor to convey Pardon and Glory the Fruits of his Death to any that refused him still supposing his Everlasting secret Decree of procuring his chosen infallibly to perform the Conditions and partake of the benefits which belongs to another part of Theology Also it must be well observed as the very Principal Point for avoiding the common Errours in this business that the satisfaction is made to God as Legislator and so Rector per Leges and so hath its main direct respect to his Legislative Will His Will de Eventu is naturally Antecedent to it and the Cause of it as Event But his Law was the cause or occasion of it as due or morally necessary and also there are no Acts of his Decretive Will de Eventu caused by it but there are Acts of his Laws and so as to our manner of conceiving of his Will de Debito caused by it and so it was not for Christ's Death that God decreed to give Faith to any and consequently to give actual Pardon and Glory But God Decreed to give these for Christ's death when he so gives them And it is because of Christs death that they are due though not immediately from his death but mediante donatione Testamenti vel faderis Christ's death is the Cause of Faith but not of the Decree to give it Again it must be understood that it is not God as Legislator of the New Law that is satisfied for Sin by Christ's death that were to dye to satisfie himself the Mediator for the Non execution of his own remedying Law But it is God as Legislator of the Law of Works constituting Everlasting Death the due Penalty of every Sin Or if any had rather say that it is not formally the Law of Works which is now in force conjunct with the Law of Grace but it is become part of the Law of Grace the matter comes all to one sense though we change the words There is one Law that saith He that Sinneth shall dye call it what you will this Law as to the end Christ hath satisfied i. e. he hath properly satisfied the Law-giver There is another Law or as they call it the peremptory part of the New Law which saith He that believeth shall be Saved and he that believeth not shall be Damned Christ hath not satisfied the Justice of this Law by his Sufferings The sense of the Commination is He that in the time of this Life believeth not shall be Damned This Law is ever executed on all that are guilty and by it obliged to Everlasting Death that is on those that in their life time here do not Repent and Believe For the violation of the precept of this Law as it requires Belief or other Duty at the present time Christ did dye but not for the non-performance of the Condition which Death is threatned to Lastly It is therefore certain that Christ dyed not for the Sin of Final Impenitency in a prevalent degree and unbelief or Final Rebellion against himself or his Father And therefore when I said before that he satisfyed God as Legislator of the Law of works for sin as sin it is to be understood of the Law of Works as contradistinct from the Law of Grace and so all the sins peremptorily Condemned by the Law of Grace are excepted from the satisfaction Not only nor at all because they are the sins of such Persons but because they are such excepted sins who ever the person be Now therefore to the Argument and first to the Major I deny it and never saw any fair colour of proof of it and therefore having full plain Scripture to the contrary do confidently believe that all those are not Saved that Christ satisfied for and to the Proof brought I answer 1. It is untrue that Christ satisfied for every sin of every Man for whom he satisfied and it will never be proved He hath excepted all those Sins which are comprized in the final non-performance of the Condition of Salvation Object None that he satisfied for are ever guilty of that and that 's the Reason why he may not be said to dye for such Sins Answ That 's denyed and to be better proved before it can be received by Sober Men. I have already proved that he dyed and satisfied for those that are final Unbelievers or Apostates and so perish And I now prove that the Reason why Christ satisfied not for such sins as final Impenitency Infidelity or Rebellion is not accidental from the state of the Redeemed viz. because none of them are guilty of such but it is directly from the Nature of the sin without respect to this person more than that If Christ have expresly excepted the final non-performance of the Gospel Conditions from among the number of those sins which he hath satisfied for and that even in the New Law which he hath enacted for all Elect or Non-Elect then it is not only accidentally or because it
but no doubt it is mediante Sanguine Christi and in a remote sense are fruits of Christ's death By what hath been said it may appear that Faith is not the proper effect of satisfaction as satisfaction nor is it any neer or inseparable effect of satisfaction as it is meritorious God did not give Christ Faith for his bloodshed in exchange the thing that God was to give the Son for his satisfaction was Dominion and Rule of the Redeemed Creature and power therein to use what means he saw fit for the bringing in of Souls to himself even to send forth so much of his word and Spirit as he pleased both the Father and Son resolving from Eternity to prevail infallibly with all the Elect. But never did Christ desire at his Fathers hands that all whom he satisfied for should be infallibly and irrisistibly brought to believe nor did God ever grant or promise any such thing Jesus Christ as a Ransom dyed for all and as Rector per Leges or Legislator he hath conveyed the Fruits of his death to all that is those Fruits which it appertained to him as Legislator to convey which is right to what his New Law or Covenant doth promise But those Mercies which he gives as Dominus Absolutus arbitrarily besides or above his engagement he neither gives nor ever intended to give to all that he dyed for no nor to all his Elect doth he give all those fruits of his death nor for ought I know to any in the same degree for these are but remotely the Fruits of Christ's death and not constant nor inseparable Fruits Peruse the foresaid Table of the Fruits of Christs death and it will shew you which the mercies be that Christ gives by Law and which arbitrarily as besides his engagement Is it not manifest then that it is a desperate charge against the Lord Christ to say that he is an imperfect Saviour if he do not perfectly save all that he Died for or convey to them all the fruits of his Death The Preaching of the Gospel expresly is a fruit of Christs Death Some have this in great power clearness and constancy some but weakly darkly or seldom and some not at all Shall they that have been at one or two dark Sermons of Christ in all their Lives say That either Christ Died not for them or else was an imperfect Saviour Some are endowed with the gift of Prophecy Tongues Miracles as fruits of Christs Death shall all that receive not these say that Christ is an imperfect Saviour because he gave them none of these fruits of his Death Some are made Kings and Rulers and some Apostles Evangelists Pastors Teachers c. and all are fruits of Christs Death Yet all are not Apostles Pastors Teachers c Some have Learning and some none Some have good Parents and good Education and some bad Some of the Elect have Health of Body and Helps Opportunities and Advantages to to serve God which others want Some are permitted to live long in sin as Manasses And others converted in the morning of their Days Some are preserved in a more even and comfortable walking with God And some are permitted to fall into most hainous scandalous sins to the great dishonour of God and their Profession and to walk sadly for it all their Days Nay some to suffer Death by the hands of publick justice Shall all these say Christ is an imperfect Saviour to them Some are kept in vigor and growth in grace and some remain Infants and some lose their first degree of Love and grow more luke-warm and Die in a very low ebb of Grace Comfort and Assurance Some enjoy much fellowship with the Father and Son in the Spirit And others are almost wholly strangers to it Some are made instruments of doing God abundance of service and the Church much good and bringing home or building up many Souls and that to the end of their Lives Others are kept without parts and gifts next to useless if not burdensome Some Distracted and after a Godly Life fall into stark madness and so spend their days as being uncapable of making use of their Affliction or of any Mercy And some are cut off in Infancy or in the Womb before they did ever believe or love God or do him any service And is Christ an imperfect Saviour to all these Nay and he hath revealed to us that according to this diversity here in degrees of Grace Holiness and Obedience so will be the diversity in the degrees of glory One shall be Ruler of ten Cities and another but of two For he will reward every Man according to his works How vast a difference then is there like to be between the Glory of an Infant that being born of a weak believer Died from the Womb and the Glory of Peter John Paul or those to whom it shall be given to sit on Christs Right Hand and Left Hand in his Kingdom And yet all these are Elect. Where is it then that the force of the Argument lyeth that would prove that all must needs have Faith for whom Christ Died If he be an imperfect Saviour except he save all alike or give to all that he Died for all the fruits of his Death then such a charge might as truly be grounded on his dealings with the Elect themselves as with others Object But he saveth all the Elect though not all alike He bringeth them all safe to Heaven at last but so he doth not others Answ That 's true But then 1. It 's yielded that it belongs not to the perfection of Christs Office or Work to give all the fruits of his Death quoad speciem to all that he Died for 2. It belongs as truly to his office of saving to save men from sin and to give them a full degree of Grace and Glory as to give men Faith And yet it belongs not to his office necessarily to give these to all that he Died for No doubt a greater measure of Glory is a greater good than that small measure which some enjoy Specially if the joy of some saved Infants were no greater than Nazianzene Orat. 40. and other antients did think the pain of some condemned Infants would be 3. Some of these parts of Salvation which the Elect themselves do come short of are penally denied them and so are given by Christ as Legislator being propounded on a condition and they not performing the condition to the performance whereof Grace was necessary to assist them If then Christ may give good things by a conditional grant as Legislator to his Elect and yet not give them that Grace which may cause them infallibly to perform the condition and so deny them the benefit conditionally given for want of that performance what reason can be given why he may not do so by the Non-Elect in respect of Salvation and Faith and Repentance the Conditions thereof So that all the weight of their Argument lyeth on this