SCRIPTURE Redemption Restrayned and Limitted OR An Antidote against Vniversal Redemption in ten Reasons or Arguments deduced from plain SCRIPTURE Briefly propounded in a Sermon at the Lecture in Mountsorrel in Leicestershire March 3. 1651 2. Now contracted and published for strengthning the weak and reducing misled souls who attend not the publike Ministry in those parts Whereunto is added The Saints Declining State under Gospel Administrations c. Worthy the reading and study of all Christians By William Troughton Minister of the Gospel at Onlepp in Leicestershire Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth Gal. 4.16 LONDON Printed by J. M. for L. Chapman at the Crown in Popes head Alley 1652. The EPISTLE To the READER ALL that I desire of thee Christian Reader is that thou wouldest diligently weigh the Arguments and Scriptures alledged in this little Treatise which are more fully handled in greater Books on this Subject together with the ensuing Catalogue and withal consider with me how derogatory the Doctrine of general Redemption is to the free Grace and Love of God yea I may truly say to all his glorious Attributes The sad concomitants and effects of this Doctrine in this divided distracted Nation as not long since in the Low Countries whence it was transferred hither How inconsistent it is with God's free and absolute Election with special Adoption and Justification with peculiar effectual grace in Conversion Sanctification Union and Perseverance Truth is but one and harmonious but Error is a Hydra with many heads It is the property of Errors to jar and be at variance but as for down Truth all the parts and branches thereof do mutually accord and convay mutual light and assistance to each other Alas What sad times are we fallen upon when manifest errors long since confuted and suppressed shall be revived and carried on with a high hand when the faithful Ministers of Christ who open the covenant of Grace to the people and the special Priviledges flowing from Redemption by Christ's blood shall be openly reviled and oppugned and that in their publike Exercises by men of Jesuitical and Antichristian Principles and Practises who boldly and daringly tell the people that we delude them and are open enemies to God and godliness yea that we preach Blasphemy in asserting that Christ shed his blood only for his Sheep That it lies not in the power of the creature to believe That the Spirit of God works irresistably upon the Elect in their conversion That such as are one Spirit with Christ cannot finally apostatize from him and lastly That visible Title to and interest in the Covenant of Grace consisting in a serious profession of the Christian faith accompanied with a sutable conversation is that which constitutes a member of the visible Church of Christ Surely though men should be silent and Christ should have but a few to contend for his Truth yet the Lord God will not long suffer these things Mal. 3.2 3. 1 Cor. 3.13 c. but will shortly come as Refiners fire and burn up this dross and stubble which cannot stand before the Jealous God In the mean while let us believe and wait and pray and tremble in the flesh Yet a little while He that hath promised to come Heb. 10.37 will come and will not tarry Blessed are they that love his appearance and shall have their garments pure and unspotted in that day W. T. The Introduction I Shall here present the Reader with a brief Catalogue of the Principles and Practises of those men whom I chiefly oppose in this Treatise whereof I my self have had some experience in my converse with them Let any godly sober Christian judge upon reading what follows if it be not high time for us to appear against this Mysterie of Antichrist which diffuseth and spreadeth it self in City Army and Country I held my peace till God made me deeply sensible of the evil and danger that surroundeth us But then I could no longer refrain with a good Conscience but must give my publique Testimony against these Doctrines and works of darkness 1. They cry down Infant-Baptisme as an Antichristian Idol and exclude all our little ones from visible Interest in the Covenant of Grace and membership of Christ's visible Church 2. They hold none to be visible Saints Disciples or Believers but only grown persons that are rebaptised at yeers 3. They baptise people into this faith namely that Christ died for all the sons and daughters of the first Adam and are not free to joyn in Worship with any sober Anabaptist who is not of this opinion witness their separating themselves not only from us but from the Churches and Societies where M. Jessey M. Kiffin M. Patience c. are Teachers 4. They own such as Christ's Disciples who are baptized into their opinion though never so ignorant formal and vain unchurching all such as differ from them though never so spiritual heavenly experienced Christians 5. They refuse to hear the ablest and most approved Ministers of the Gospel unless it be to cavil against them not only rayling against such as were ordained by the Prelates and promiscuously administer the Sacraments but also against others that go in a stricter way and are reputed by godly souls to be the most spiritual laborious and conscientious Preachers whom they shamelesly Nickname Antichristian Priests and Persecutors Witness the sermons and discourses of Master Oats M. James Brown Everard Prior c. and open enemies to the Lord Jesus yea they do with open mouth revile these faithful Ministers of Christ who are really affected and exceeding serviceable in their places to the present Government incomparably more then the worst of scandalous Ministers 6. They declare us Antichristian Persecutors of the Saints if we humbly desire the Civil Magistrate but to keep outward order and peace in the Congregation M. Marloe M. Brown and their tumultuous followers at Odeby neer I eicester while we are exercised in the publike worship of God and to prevent tumults and combustions and so by this means they utterly overthrow the office and power of the Magistrate who must neither meddle with matters of Religion relating to the Conscience or inward man nor with external order and Civil Government 7. They hold and accordingly it is practised that any of their fellow Disciples if he can but multiply words though God knows he be ignorant of the first Principles and rudiments of Christian Religion may both publikely preach and administer the Seals Witness their approbation of Rob Fielding Kendall and other their ignorant Teachers and Administrators in Leicestershire Docent priusquam discant and that these poor ignorant souls are rather Christ's faithful Ministers then our most reverend Brethren that are in Office either in the Classical or Congregational way 8. They hold that there is no true and lawful Minister of Christ in England gifted and called according to the rule of the New
efficacie in Christs blood for thee to comfort pacifie and save thy soul then for others that are damned That which a flords real comfort and peace is distinguishing grace and love and I pray you what distinguishing grace is there to one more then another according to the doctrine of Universal Grace and Redemption What peace joy comfort What ground of assurance can a poor soul draw from this Doctrine Herein I shall appeal to a wounded spirit a broken heart that will with meekness hearken to good counsel but as for such as go on in a way of pride and carnal presumption as I cannot but pity them so I shall not wonder though they scoff at the Doctrine of special and effectual grace and redemption special grace will not be prized by men that are full of self confidence but by the self denying soul Lastly The vigorous promoting this doctrine of universal redemption in City Country Army is a ready way to reconcile us to Rome oh what an introduction it makes what an inlet it opens to the worst of popish opinions as conditional elections See Eph. 1.4 5 9 11. 2 Tim. 1 9 Rom 9.11 1 Cor 2.14 Eph 2.1 Phil 2.13 Eph 1.18 19 Ioh 5.25 Rom 8.7 Iohn 7.44 45. Ioh 3.6 Rom 5.12 14 Psal 5.5 that somthing in the creature or done by the creature in time is the cause or condition of Gods decree in predestination That the natural man hath free will and power of himself without spiritual grace to believe in Christ to eternal life if the word of faith be morally propounded to him in the external ministry That there is no such thing as original sin and that all infants dying in infancy are saved not only the infants of believers but of Jews Turks Heathens Atheists How inconsistent this is with Antipaedo-baptisme I shall not now dispute but I suppose the most sober and rational of that judgement will easily apprehend that these two cannot hang together namely that all infants are in a covenant of grace and in a state of salvation and yet that the outward visible seale belongs not to them This opinion of universal redemption is accompanyed with that sad black See Rom 8 38 39 Ier 31.3 Ioh 13.1 Heb 8 12 Iohn 10 27 1 Iohn 5 12 1 Ioh 3 9 dismal and uncomfortable doctrine that a man may finally apostatise and fall away from a state of grace and salvation he may be a true believer a member of Christ in a state of grace and justification to day and yet a limbe of Satan and in a state of wrath and condemnation to morrow Oh how sad and uncomfortable is this to a poor soul what sad discouragements an dispondencies of spirit may this expose a broken heart unto Hence also it is that the Scriptures are debased and vilified For if Christ as mediator be savingly revealed in and by the inanimal creatures the Sun Moon Stars and fruitful seasons as one of the ablest and most daring of that way publikely affirmed in a dispute in London Mr John Goodwin in a dispute with Mr Sym now printed Is not this a ready way to render the glorious word of the Gospel contemptible and may it not well harden the Jews Turkes and Heathens and keep them off from hearing the Gospel preached to tell them that Christ dyed for every man and that salvation through Christ is revealed by Sun Moon and Stars though they have not the written words Here is a doctrine indeed that will please the papist well and therefore we need not wonder that the late innovators a As Dr Laud Mountag Cozens Pockling Heyling did contend so furiously for universal redemption freewill apostacy from grace and other points of Arminianisme and that they preserred such as incline thereunto discountenancing the most faithful and Orthodox ministers of the contrary judgement for they knew that these points would be as so many fit expedients to bring us over and reconcile us to the papacy But as this doctrine was promoted and propagated by formall superstitious men who were enemies to the power and spirit and life of godliness and the preachers and professors thereof so it was much opposed and the contrary asserted by the most reverend ministers of Christ * Preston Sibbs Bayne Hooker Twisse Pemble Ames Cotten Who have left behind them a sweet savor many of them being at rest with the Lord and for whom the whole Church of Christ have and will ever have cause to bless his name But if Christ did not dy for every man and woman in the world Object then I have no ground to believe that he dyed for me This is but a meer fiction Answer for first It is no where said in Scripture that Christ dyed for thee by name John Thomas Robert c. there is no such particular personall scripture revelation and therefore that cannot be the ground of thy faith but that which thou art bound to believe and to rest upon is that Christ dyed for all those sinners that shall truly believe on him whether Jews or Gentiles and if thou believe on him and accept him for thy Saviour Husband Lord and King and resigne up thy seif to him thou mayst then conclude to the comfort of thy soule that Christ dyed for thee and that thou shalt be saved The argument lies thus whosoever believeth on Christ shall be saved But I believe in Christ therefore I shall be saved God so loved the world Ioh. 3.16 18. that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life 1 Tim. 1.15 He that believeth on him is not condemned he that hath the Son hath life This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners By him all that believe are justified from all things Acts 13.39 from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Secondly It belongs to the Will of God's purpose and good pleasure and is a secret voluntas propositi aut beneplaciti whom Christ dyed for in particular neither canst thou comfortably know it as to thy owne soule till thou hast a particular faith of assurance and therefore you are not to fetch the ground of your faith from thence but you are to look to the will of Gods precept commanding and incouraging you to believe they are to obey the command of God to have a respect to the generality of the offer of Grace and to this call and invitation of God in the ministry of the word Come unto me all ye that are weary and I will give you rest Mat. 11.28 Rev. 22.27 Whoever will let him take of the water of life freely This is open and revealed the other is secret and hid nor caâ—t thou have a particular evidence of Christ dying for thee til the spirit of God come work special faith in thy heart and
as for God's command to thee to use the means that thou mayst believe and repent it is not grounded upon Christ's dying for thee in particular but on the connexion and harmony which is between the mean and the end faith and salvation Thirdly there are thousands of precious Saints some alive and some at rest with the Lord who have and had true faith and peace of Conscience and joy in the holy Ghost and yet were meer strangers to the Doctrine of Vntversal Redemption Fourthly I would gladly be resolved in this what more ground of believing to salvation there is from the universality of Redemption then from the universality of the offer of Christ in the minstry of the word unless men will hold an Vniversal Salvation for seeing Christ died for many thousands that shall be damned may not I question whether I be not one of that number and whether Christ died for me so as that I should in the event believe to salvation The Unive salists will not acknowledge that Christ hath merited and procured faith for all them whom he died for This must needs be uncomfortable to a poor soul that finds it impossible to believe from creature strength and ability but blessed be the Lord who puts it out of doubt in his word that Christ hath merited faith for us and that we have faith through him and for his sake 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Christ To you it is given for Christ's sake Phil. 1.29 Rom. 8.32 not only to believe on him but to suffer for him He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shal he not with him freely give us all things Faith and repentance and a new heart I hope are good things here we have an argument from the greater to the lesser If God hath given Christ which is the great gift for poor sinners he will then freely give to them a spirit of faith and repentance Let me ask our adversaries this question what men are bound to believe for the peace of their Consciences when they take it for granted already that Christ died for them being comprehended in the world of mankinde To conclude this smal Tract which I desire the good Lord to bless to the Reader we declare unto you in our Ministry that Christ died for all for the world for every man and woman that shall believe on him and accept him and close with him upon the terms of the Gospel and is not here incouragement to poor sinners be their sins never so great Thou art not excluded by name why shouldst thou exclude thy self through unbelief Suppose a company of passengers be ready to sink and a rope is let down from the ship will they stand to question whether the rope was let down with a purpose to save them from drowning wil they not rather strive who shal be most forward to take hold of it and come up by it If a pardon be published that whoever will accept of it be his rebellion and treason never so hainous he shall find mercy is not here incouragement to the worst of rebels to come in and accept of pardon and not question the secret intention of the magistrate whether he propound the pardon in general terms only for tryal conviction or for their actual deliverance There is not any one sin except the sin against the holy Ghost which is therefore unpardonable because they that commit it have not grace to repent but some that have been guilty of that sin and have committed it have found mercy Paul Mary Magdalen Peter Manasseh Sampson Solomon Zacheus c. are now glorious Saints in heaven And is not here ground and incouragement for thee to believe If the Lord give thee a heart to believe for it is his gift By grace are ye saved through faith Eph. 2.8 and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Doubtless there are many precious saints that can witness to this Truth tell you by experience that God gives true faith peace of conscience in such a ministry as this breathing by his spirit thereon for the Spirit breaths where it pleaseth as the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou knowest not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit Now the Lord lead his people into truth and by the light of his Countenance and the brightness of his glorious appearance let error and darkness be dispelled and all Antichristian Doctrines and opinions suppressed certainly as the glorious God hath in a great measure already so he will much more ere it be long vindicate his own spirit his Sons Blood his Truth his Ministry his Ordinances his Saintes his own great and glorious Name and testifie more clearly and convincingly against the mysterie of Antichrist which now worketh in this Nation under another vizard and by other Instruments then formerly it hath wrought but shall have no better success then it formerly had FINIS
Testament Doubtless this is a principle that tends much to division and confusion and so we have found it in the places where it hath been received 9. They usually publish and promote their corrupt opinions and doctrines in places where the Saints abide So did M Brown both at Mountsorrel and Odeby wittness that profane carriage of M. Brown and his followers at Mount sorrel And at Odeby and in contempt of the publike faithful Ministry they will prepossess and invdde the Pulpit though they know beforehand that others are appointed to preach 10. They do ordinarily disturbe and interrupt the faithful Ministers of Christ in publike preaching and prayer putting on their hats in prayer time and laughing in the faces one of another and withal procuring some of the M. Marloe and M. Brown with their followers common Souldiery to guard them with their swords in their hands 11. They daringly challenge the Ministry of Christ to dispute with them and yet will observe no Order nor keep to any rules of Disputation no nor so much as agree on the terms of the propositions to be disputed upon much less will they yeild that there shall be a Moderator for they are altogether for popular irregular confused Disputes that they may make a noise and amuse the people and gain applause to themselves as men of great gifts and excellent parts 12. They quarrel with us for our praying before and after Sermon telling us that there is no precept nor example for it in all the New Testament nor will they enter a dispute with us on these terms M. Brown and his followers in Leicestershire that one of us seek the Face of God by Prayer for direction before and after the Dispute 13. They absolutely deny that there is any Original sin or corruption of Nature they scoff at God's absolute Decree from eternity and openly preach 〈◊〉 Free-will and for total and final Apostacie from Grace and the worst of Pelagian heresies and Popish opinions the very naming whereof was formerly odious to godly Christians 14. They bring their followers into miserable Soul bondage and slavery as the Jesuits and Popish Priests do with their Proselytes not suffering them to be present at our Meetings and Exercises lest they should be acquainted with Gospel priviledges and Christian Liberty and so renounce their Antichristian enslaving doctrines 15. They give out threatning language telling us Witnes M Browns carriage words at Mount sorrel that we dare not shew our faces where they have appeared and endeavouring by all sinister means to render our Persons and Ministry odious to the People as if the despising and hating their faithful Ministers were a ready way and a fit means to make them Christs true disciples If this generation of men should sit at the stern as I hope they never shall for my part I could expect but little Freedom or protection from them either for my self or any godly man that opposes their fancies 16. If we fight against their opinions with Scripture weapons and Arguments and warn the People in the name of Christ to take heed of their Errors In this case they are ready to make an Insurrection upon us yea some of them have beaten some of our hearers With these and such like carnal weapons do they maintain their cause party and kingdom 17. Their great designe where-ever they come is to pull down the powerful Ministry of Christ as that which stands in their light and hinders the building of their Babel and the setting up of their Kingdom 18. They hold that we cannot have true peace of Conscience nor comfortably conclude that Christ dyed for us in particular unless we believe that he dyed for every man in the world and so for Cain Judas Pharaoh c. Thus have I given you a taste from my own experience of their opinions and practises much more might be added but I affect brevity and enough hath been said if God give a blessing to make humble souls beware of them AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST Universal Redemption In X. Arguments IT should not seeme strange to us that there are so many heretical and corrupt opinions broched in these dayes for the Church and faithful servants of God have been from time to time sharply exercised with error and false doctrine and besides do not we find it prophesied and foretold Matth. 7.15 that wolves shall come in sheeps Mat. 24.23.24 1 Ioh. 4.1 1 Cor. 11.19 clothing and shall say los◠here is Christ and there is Christ But we are not to believe them but try the spirits and search the scriptures and again is it not said that there must be heresies even for this end that they which are approved may be made manifest Times wherein errors abound are times of Tryal many professors will stoutly hold out in other stormes and tempests who yet will be born downe and overwhelmed with this storme and make shipwrack of the faith which they once professed 2 Tim. 3.1 2 Tim. 4.3 4. The last times will be perillous times men will not indure sound doctrine but having itching ears will heape up Teachers like themselves and though we may well hope that there are many poor misled souls whom God will in mercy reduce and bring back to the acknowledgment and love of his truth yet for the seducers themselves they do for the most part grow worse 2 Tim. 3.13 and worse and run from error to error it being the just judgement of God upon them 2 Thess 2 10 11. that they should be given up to strong delusions to beleeve lyes who have not received the truth in the love of it that they should be filled with darkness and error who have not spiritually improved that light which they once had It is not in mans power to inlighten the understanding convince the conscience and informe the judgment of an erroneous person we can only morally propound truth to the understanding and the spirit of God must make the understanding yea the heart one with truth otherwise it cannot be effected We often wonder that people should not readily receive and imbrace truth when it is so clearly and plainly held forth and propounded in the word of truth but why should we wonder at it Considering that it is but given to a few savingly to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven Mar 13.13 c. 1 Cor. 2.4 1 Thess 1.5 and though the word and Gospel of Christ come to many in the letter yet but to few in the Evidence Power and demonstration of the holy Ghost Truly my soul mourns in secret to see the holy word of God so wretchedly abused misapplyed and wrested a nose of waxe to serve mens fancies whereas we ought to have a reverend and high esteem of the Majesty and authority of God's holy word by which we must be judged we ought I say to fall under it to submit humbly to it and to frame our heads