The glorious Truth of Redemption BY Jesus Christ Rescued out of the Hand of UNRIGHTEOUSNES OR The Doctrine of Redemption rightly stated WHEREIN 1. All Arminian and Pelagian glosses and absurdities are resuted 2. All carnal allegations and reasonings silenc'd 3. All concern'd Scriptures scemingly discording reconcil'd 4. The Doctrine of Redemption clearly held forth according to the harmony of Scripture and Analogie of Faith By W. L. Rom. 1. 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men which with-hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness Gal. 1 7. Which is not another Gospel but there are some which trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ 2 Pet. 3. 16. Among which some things are hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do other Scriptures to their own destruction LONDON Printed for the Author 1653. To the Worshipful Henry Langley Dr of Divinity Canon of Christ-church and Principal of Pembrook Colledge in Oxford SIR THat undeserved respect those worthless Papers of mine which came to your hand received hath emboldned me to come now a begging to the University Although it's sad to have the Father to seek when the Child is come into the World especially to a poor mother Yet this is the condition of this poor Infant which however by Divine Providence having received a Being yet is both naked and bare and unless countenanc'd cover'd and nourish'd by your care and charity it must needs remain despicable and cast out to common odium Shall I therefore commend and commit the care thereof or rather freely bestow it on you This I am sure of it will be well provided for if once under your Roof and if you as willingly entertain it as I beg However let it receive such accomodation as seems best in the eys of so skilful a Nurse I know the Herods of our times will be hunting after it but my care is over when once under yours Sir To deal plainly this poor Paper I know will meet with much opposition therefore I as boldly as humbly tender it to your protection and as I do it out of that due Respect I owe to your self so I also aim by this broken and patch'd piece to prompt and provoke some of the able Champions of the Truths of Christ to set upon a more learned and perfect Vindication of that precious Truth of Redemption so much prevaricated and adulterated in our days And give me leave to give you a little encouragement to own it although a Mephibosheth yet it 's of the Royal Race nobly descended as legitimate as any begotten by the immortal seed of holy Scripture able to derive its Pedigree from and before Adam was Therefore setting aside all excuses I once more entreat its entertainment or else I must shamelesly leave it at your Dore to the mercy of the wide world yet comforted that there cannot be less pity harboured in your heart then was found in Pharaoh's Daughter I crave leave to pay that old debt due ever since I knew you viz. William Levitt The glorious Truth of Redemption By Jesus Christ Rescued out of the Hand of UNRIGHTEOUSNES 1 COR. 15. 22. For as in Adam all dy even so in Christ shall all be made alive ROM 5. 18. Likewise as by the offence of one the fault came on all men to condemnation so by the justifying of one the benefit abounded to all men to the justification of life FRom these and such like Scriptures men of corrupt and unstable minds with Pelâ—gius Armiâ—ius and others in all Ages have drawn corrupt and unsouâ—d conclusions so that that grand Gospel Truth of Redemption by Jesus Christ as held forth in the holy Scriptures wherein the honour of God and comfort of his Saints are priâ—cipally concerned is so exceedingly prevaricated that little of either appeareth For the removal of which evils take notice of the fond conceits of some yea too many in our times wrested from such Scriptures 1. Some hence affirm and that boldly that Jesus Christ came to save all men with an eternal salvation 2. Others there are conclude hence that Jesus Christ by his death freed all men from the guilt of Adam's transgression and consequently from the punishment due thereunto which as they say is only temporal from Gen. 3. 19. Dust thou art and to the dust thou shalt return 3. A third sort there are and of these although very many yet more skilful to deceive who hence publikely teach that Jesus Christ by his death hath discharged all mankinde from the eternal condemnation due to Adam's transgression yea and many of them although of as strong abilities as plausible conversations yet make it their study to maintain this Brat of their own breeding although they stretch both their brains as well as the Scriptures upon the Tenters of their opinion till they rend both asunder The unsoundness of all which opinions with their several absurdities are clearly manifested in the ensuing discourse and the doctrine of Redemption rightly held forth as founded upon the holy Scriptures both Prophets and Apostles nay Christ himself all agreeing in this necessary truth that neither the Death Resurrection Ascension or Intercession of Christ ever was or shall be beneficial to any but such as lay hold upon him by a true and lively faith according to John 3. 15 16. So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Where we see 1. The moving cause God's love 2. That Jesus Christ was the Father's free gift 3. The extent of God's love to the world terminated in the Believers who only have benefit by Christ Yea and this an act of free grace when he might justly have sent all to hell Come we now to the opinions themselves For the first That Jesus Christ came to save all men with an eternal salvation as well from actual as original sin This is so point blank against the very current of Scripture that few or none in their right senses dare owne it the Authors thereof being for the most part either ignorant or profane men not at all acquainted with the holy Scriptures which speak a clean contrary language as John 5. 29. And they shall come forth that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation So also Matth. 25. 34. Then shall the King say to them on the right hand Come ye blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world c. v. 41. Then shall he say to them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire c. So also Mark 16. 16. and hundreds of Scriptures more But this not worth time Come to the second That Jesus Christ by his death hath freed all men from the guilt of Adam's transgression which they say procured
doctrines out of these and such like Scriptures although to the destruction of themselves and many others and yet have divers Scriptures seemingly to father their fallacies upon meerly for want of humble and holy hearts unbyassed spirits to compare one Scripture with another For want whereof men of corrupt minds by their private interpretations of some and wresting of other Scriptures make the everlasting Gospel of Peace the unerring Word of God the very foundation of fallacy and cause of all heresie contradiction and contention destroying not only that holy harmony that is in the word but seducing thousands weak Christians yea much impeding obstructing and disturbing the very elect both in their comfort and confidence Blessed be God who hath laid an impossibility upon their being totally traduc'd Therefore it concerns all that truly fear God not to believe every Spirit but to try them whether they be of God or no not to be suddenly moved with every winde of Doctrine but like noble Boereans compare Scripture with Scripture one Prophet and one Apostle with another and with humble holy and self-denying hearts crave God the Author of Truth to give more and more of his Spirit that so they may be directed into all Truth and preserved from the errors of the wicked Now that we may plainly see the danger of private Interpretations and as avoid that so take notice of the exceeding benefit and necessity of comparing Scripture with Scripture I have collected divers Texts seemingly opposite and speaking quite contrary one to the other being literally and particularly interpreted and yet compared with one another and other Scriptures most sweetly evangelically and harmoniously accord and as parallel as the streightest lines By which few it may easily be discerned how all other may be rightly reconciled and the Truths of God preserved and vindicated against all heresie and errors whatsoever and certainly it were a most desireable work worth the pains of the most judicious and godly learned and exceedingly beneficial to the Church of God tending much to its peace and edification to the overthrow of the kingdom of Sathan and Antichrist the advance of Truth Throne Scepter and Kingdom of Christ to endeavour the reconciliation of all Scriptures seemingly contradicting and to publish it for common benefit although it should cost the labours of a whole life I know the Lord hath many worthies able champions men valiant for the truth and I hope will stir up some of them in this needful time wherein his Truth meets with so many adversaries As for those few Scriptures I shall speak to I intend not to enter into a full disquisition of each particular Text but only in general give the sense and meaning of the holy Ghost as they are joyntly and comparatively confidered The Scriptures seemingly contradidictory reconcil'd as followeth Rev. 22. 11. He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us clense our selves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit James 1. 21. Wherefore laying apart all filthyness c. Eph. 4. 28. Let him that stole steal no more Rom. 13. 12. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness c. Shall any man from Rev. 22. 11. take encouragement to continue in any ungodly practise No God forbid God is not the Author of sin and other Scriptures we see speak a clean contrary language The holy Ghost here by way of Irony threats wicked men as in Eccles 11. 9. Rejoyce thou young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth but know for all this the Lord will bring thee to judgement A place parallel to this only in the one the penalty is express'd in the other implyed It 's a Judicial menace as a father having two sons the one obedient the other rebellious bids the one go on in his disobedience take his course and take what follows being tyred with his lewd courses having used all means to reclaim him now gives him over while he encourages the other to continue well-doing from the benefit accruing Or Let him be filthy still may be a severe and judicial sentence of reprobation and rejection when the Lord affords means and opportunities of grace and men will follow their lusts will be unclean unholy God may and doth justly give them over saying to them as to the barren Fig-tree never fruit grow on thee more while the Saints are encouraged to go on in all waies of righteousness bringing forth fruit more and more to the honour of God and their everlasting comfort Matth. 6 25. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for the body what ye shall put on Is not the life more then meat and the body then rayment 26. Behold the Fowls of the Ayr c. 28. Consider the Lillies of the field they neither toyl neither do they spin and yet c. 34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient to the day is the evil thereof Prov. 6. 6 8. Go the to Ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise She provideth her meat in the Summer and gathereth her food in the harvest 1 Tim. 5. 8. But if any provide not for his own and especially for them of his own house he hath denyed the faith and is worse then an Infidel 2 Thes 3. 10. For even when we were with you this we commanded you That if any would not work neither should he eat 1 Cor. 7. 32. He that 's unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing 1 Pet. 5. 7. Cast your care upon him for he careth for you 1 Cor. 7. 32. But I would have you without carefulness v. 33. But he that 's married careth for the things of this life how he may please his wife Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread Eccles 10. 18. By slothfulness the roâ—f of the house goeth to decay and by the idleness of the hands the house droppeth down Some there are that vainly conclude from Matth. 6. 25 26 28 34. and from Phil. 4. 6. c. that they need take no care for any thing in this life but either Camelion-like expect to live by the Ayr or else in the utter neglect of their callings while they pretend relyance upon Providence turn meer tempters of God wanderers up and down busie bodies medlers with other mens matters idle persons living upon the labours and industries of other men not at all considering what the Apostle saith in 2 Thes 3. 10. that if any would not labour they should not eat the intent of the Spirit of God and of the Lord
be saved or destroyed but as all men do not dy eternally in Adam so all men live not eternally by Christ God having chosen only a certain number to himself on whom he declares the riches of his grace while he rejects others upon whom he makes known his wrath and power The words all and world being in Scripture often put for many or a considerable part as in Luke 2. 1. John 12. 19. John 4. 43. and divers other places before mentioned And if those two words be thus interpreted the harmony of Scripture will be maintain'd even in those that seem most contradictory for no Scripture certainly intends such a sense as that all reprobates unbelievers and ungodly wretches or any of them should equally share with the Saints and peculiar people of God of whose redemption the blood of Christ is the only price He gave himself What to redeem a people from Adam's guilt and to suffer them to perish in their actual sins No God forbid Whom he pardons he puâ—ifies whom he justifies he sanctifies and them brings to glory He laid down his life to purchase a people to himself and to purifie them as well as purchase them Therefore we may safely conclude from all that hath been said that whom he brings not to glory he never sanctifies and whom he sanctifies not them he never justifies and whom he justifies not he sheds not his blood for If dogs may not partake of childrens-bread if ungodly men may not partake in external priviledges how much less in the eternal inheritance of the Saints Shall men pre-ordainâ—d to destruction partake of the portion of God's elect God forbid It 's true wicked men may and do partake of common favours the sun-shine the rain c. and in this sense the Lord Christ may be said to be the Saviour of the world as 1 Tim. 4. 10. where the Apostle saith He is the Saviour of all men but especially of those that believe he hath special favours to visit them withal So that we see how easie it is by private interpretation of Scripture to maintain the most horrid heresie while by an humble holy impartial comparing of Scriptures one with another the Truths of God are clearly held forth and all error and heresie trodden under foot I should here speak somthing in answer to those Scriptures that seemingly plead for free-will as Prov. 1. 29. For that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. Mat. 23. 27. Oh Jerusalem c. how often would I have gathered thee together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not Although in the preceding discourse I have answered all objections of this nature yet I add that it 's true all men have power and free will by nature to do that that is sinful and evil but by reason of our depravity we have no power or will at all to do good me-thinks that natural proueness in children and youth to sin assoon as capable nay sooner capable to sin then almost any thing else that day lie experience the best men have of the remains of corruption in themselves the old man not quite destroyed when I hear that blessed Apostle Paul crying out of that body of sin and death he carryed about with him holy David confessing and lamenting the very sins of his conception nativity innocent Job telling us it 's impossible for him that 's born of a woman to be clean I cannot but wonder why men should be so destitute of common sense as to say we are all by the death of Christ put into a state of innocency Again when I hear the Scripture say we are not able to think a good thought of our selves that the best men cannot do the things they would that it 's not in him that wills nor in him that runs but in God that shews mercy Rom. 9. 16. that it's God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 15. that by nature we are all children of wrath dead in trespasses and sins that faith is the gift of God c. I am forbidden to give any further answer to our free-willers till they answer those Scriptures and by that time I think silence will satisfie mean while I entreat them to consider 1. How strongly they strike at God's omnipotence and consequently at his essence when they tell us that thousands perish that God would save as if God were not able to save whomsoever he pleaseth 2. How they as much as in them lies trample under foot the eternal decree of God and deny his soveraignty over the creature 3. How by their advance of free will they usher in a Law of works and so derogate from the doctrine of free grace within one step to that popish tenent of merit that while they profess themselves Protestants they are strongly pleading not only the cause of Papists but of Atheists of the highest magnitude ten degrees beyond and above him mentioned Psalm 14. 1. Object If temporal death and all outward calamity as pain in child-bearing c. be effects of original guilt and that Christ as all confess dyed to deliver all Believers from all both original and actual Transgressions what 's the reason the godly as well as the wicked dy that believers as well as unbelievers suffer like pain Answ It 's very true the wise man saith Eccl. 9. 1 2. that all things come alike to all and the same condition is to the just and unjust to the pure and to the poluted and herein as in all other the works of God appears his wonderful wisdom and goodness that while the greatest miseries of this life befal the godly they are fatherly castigations and preparations for glory he chastens them that they might not perish with the world they having this promise that all things shall work together for the best to them that even death it self is so far from being a punishment to them that it 's only a bridge or passage to convey them to Canaan the promised land of their heavenly inheritance all things and all conditions being sanctified to them and the sting of all outward visitations and strokes taken away while every sickness pain calamity or distress to the wicked is but the yernest of that eternal torment of which they are heirs apparent and death it self the terrible sergeant that hurries and hales them nill they will they to the place of execution And now having shown the several absurdities and dangerous errors that are formed in the bowels of this monstrous doctrine of universal redemption I shall conclude all with a few directions to weak Christians who by woful experience we see so apt dayiie to be seduced to their utter undoing 1. Take heed of being moved with every wind of doctrine according to the advice of the Apostle Eph. 4. 14. Try the spirits whether they be of God yea or no 1 Joh. 4. 1. and if an Angel