knowledge shall he perish c. But he nevea saith destroy not him or by thy knowledge shall he perish whom God hath Elected but contrarily Christ saith if it were possible they would deceive the very Elect. 6. We find them that fall away described to be such as were sanctified by the blood of the Covenant but never to be such as were Elected to Salvation And their Sin is aggravated as being a treading under foot the Son of God and putting him to open shame but not as treading under foot Gods Election And their misery is in this that there is no more Sacrifice for Sin but a fearful looking for of Judgment and Fire c. But not that there is no more Election 7. Men are warned to see that they refuse not Christ that speaketh and threatned that they shall not escape if they neglect so great Salvation and they shall speed worse at Judgment than Sodom and Gomorrhah But none are so threatned for sinning against Election nor are they warned to take heed of rejecting it nor is it said how shall we escape if we neglect so great a mercy as Election Also men that unworthily receive the Sacrament are said to eat and drink damnation to themselves and to be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord But no Man that is not Elect is said either to be the cause of his own Non Election or to be guilty of abusing or rejecting his Election 8. Also I find men warned on pain of Damnation to receive Christ as their Redeemer Be they never so wicked it is our office to perswade them to this and therefore to preach the Gospel to every Creature But we are not to command men to take God for their Elector I may not go to all the ignorant prophane men men in the Countrey and charge them to take God for their Elector 9. We must command all men to love Christ as their Redeemer and be thankful to him and in thankfulness to obey him and we may say to them You are not your own you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God with your Bodies and Spirits for they are his But we cannot perswade all men to love God as their Elector or to be thankful to him for Election or to obey God because he hath chosen them 10. We find Scripture telling us how hardly flesh and blood will digest the Doctrine of predestination and how they will quarrel at Gods chosing one and not another and how God stops their mouths with an answer drawn from his absolute Lordship and Propriety over them as the Potter over the clay he may make them vessels of honour or dishonour and do with his own as he list But we never find any murmurrings of Flesh and Blood that Christ should die for one man and not for another Nor do we find God ever acknowledging any such thing much less giving them a reason from his Absolute Dominion 11. Besides we find God useth to give the reason why men be not saved by Christ from their own wilfulness and rebellious rejecting him This is the cause given why his blood is not applyed to them But when it comes matter of Election or Non-Election the Answer is Oh Man Who art thou that disputest against God So that all these things laid together and considered it seems to me clear that Redemption is a Universal Cause as Creation is and not a thing proper to the Elect only as Gods Election is and that on this Universal Ground of Redemption Christ is entitled the Redeemer of the World and hath founded his jus Dominii imperii his right of Propriety and Government over all even those That will not that he should Reign over them as God was called the Creator of the World because he Created them and on that ground did found his first Title of Dominion and Empire over all the World And that Redemption hath no more an infallible connexion to the Salvation of all the Redeemed as subsequent than Creation hath with the Salvation of all the Created But both Creation and Redemption as they are the means between Election and its End have an infallible connexion with the consequent of the Salvation of the Elect. 2. It is a rule of great use and approved generally by Divines that when texts seem contradictory one to another or several interpretations and opinions are contradictory indeed that we must ever reduce uncertainties to certainties and not contrarily certainties to uncertainties and we must interpret obscure texts by reducing them to the plain ones and not the plain ones by reducing them to the obscure This rule Dr. Sanderson presseth well And Augustine said excellently Shall we deny that which is plain because we cannot comprehend that which is hid and secret Shall we say that is not so which we see to be so because we cannot find why it is so Aug. l. de bono persever c. 14 O that this rule were better observed When God telleth us as plain as can be spoken that Christ died for and tasted death for every man men will deny it and to that end subvert the plain sense of the words meerly because they cannot see how this can stand with Christs damning men and with his special Love to his chosen It is not hard to see the fair and harmonious consistency But what if you cannot see how two plain Truths of the Gospel should agree Will you therefore deny one of them when both are plain Is not that in high pride to prefer your own understandings before the wisdom of the Spirit of God who indicted the Scriptures Should not a humble man rather say doubtless both are true though I cannot reconcile them So others will deny these plain truths because they think that All that Christ died for are certainly Justified and Saved For whomsoever he died and satisfied Justice for them he procured Faith to Believe in him God cannot justly punish those whom Christ hath satisfied for c. But doth the Scripture speak all these or any of these opinions of theirs as plainly as it saith that Christ died for all and every man Doth it say as plainly any where that he died not for all Doth it any where except any one man and say Christ died not for him Doth it say any where that he died only for his Sheep or his Elect and exclude the Non-Elect There is no such word in all the Bible Should not then the certain truths and the plain texts be the Standard to the uncertain points and obscure texts Also Divines generally make it a rule for the Interpretation of Scripture that we must not leave the most obvious plain sense of the words without necessity and clear compelling evidence Now then let them be viewed by any unprejudiced man and let him tell us what is the plain and obvious sense of these foresaid words And for my part I see no necessity of going from that plain sense Some here
who are true spiritual Members of the same as to be Saints Elect Redeemed c. Answ 1. All professed Christians are Saints by separation from the World to the Church Visible and Elect or chosen to that Condition 2. Scripture speaks thus of none but those that seem to be such the Penmen of Scripture therein speaking of men that knew not the heart 3. But when by denying Christ they manifest the contrary doth the Scripture say yet that they were Elect Saints c. or rather that they were before of old ordained to this Condemnation 4. Why else may not we still use this Language if it be true that it is the perpetual course of Scripture Be not then offended with us if we write and say that Christ redeemed by his blood all professed Christians Nay then we might say Julian was a Saint Elect and so was Judas c. 5. I would our Brethren of the separation would speak in the same Language when they are judging of Church-Members and Communicants as they do when they use these Arguments against Christs Universal Ransom or at least come near to this charitable vein laying by the delusory part 2. But the great prop of this Cause is that they will prove from other Texts that the Scripture speaketh thus And three Texts I find urged and I may safely say sadly abused The first is Mat. 27. 53. Hierusalem is called the Holy City because it was so in esteem and appearance saith my Author Answ Must we needs take his bare word for this when we know it was Holy by Gods own separation of it from the rest of the World for the principal place of his publick Worship and residence of his Church and Priests and so denominated by himself What Man then will believe that it was called Holy meerly from the Peoples professing to be Holy The Second Text is John 5. 18. It is said of Christ that he had broken the Sabbath which he only did in the corrupt Opinion of the blinded Pharisees Answ 1. The words seem to speak only of the Jews accusation of him i. e. what they charged him to have done and not what he did therefore they sought to lay hands on him not only because he had broken the Sabbath c. 2. Distinguish between breaking the rest of the Sabbath naturally by Natural actions contrary to rest but without sin and breaking it morally by sin The former way Christ did break the Sabbath the latter he did not take this distinction from Christ himself who tells you that the Priests in the Temple brake the Sabbath viz. the external rest of it by labour and are blameless and therefore broke it not morally But the Text that I find alledged most frequently and confidently by very many Learned Men is 2 Chron. 28. 23. and I desire God to forgive me that in my ignorance I have oft so abused it my self The words are these For he Sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus that smote him and he said because the Gods of the King of Syria help them therefore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me The last words are confess'd to be the false words of the deluded Idolater Ahaz but all the question is of the former words which are the words of the Holy Ghost He Sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus that smote him where by supine oversight Men have taken it as if the Text made this smiting the act of the Gods whereas it makes it the act of Damascus or the Men of Damascus It was Damascus that smote him and not the Gods of Damascus according to the Text. Tremelius and Junius render it thus plainly Sacrificavit enim Diis Damascenorum percutientium ipsum not Diis Damascenorum percutientientibus ipsum And would one think now that so great a stress should be laid by prudent sober men on such an oversight Darmesek being a collective the Cities name put for the Peoples than which nothing more usual when there is mention of the acts of Cities and Countries did truly smite Ahaz As England did smite Scotland Or Rome conquered so much of the World And Venice holds War with the Turk 2. What if it had been otherwise May not God give power to those Devils which were the Gods of Damascus really to smite Ahaz As well as he gave the Devil power to smite Job a better man 3. And what if all that they supposed of this Text had been true If God had spoke in so strange a language once in all the Bible If we shall thence take liberty to interpret him so elsewhere without proving this to be the sense we may then indeed make any thing of the Scripture And though I doubt not but God in mercy will bear with the weakness of good men that by the power of prejudice do run on such expositions having a zeal for God though not according to knowledge and supposing themselves necessitated to it yet certainly the proper natural tendency of such violent dealing with Scripture is to infidelity it self and the questioning of the truth of Scripture and if we escape that we lie fair open to the invasion of Popery to conceit a necessity of an Earthly final Judge of the sense of Scripture as being insufficient to manifest its own sense In the mean time how do we gratifie Papists and Scepticks by this dealing But inded the Text is plain though I confess the Septuagint and some Translators might give occasion to some of this common mistake The sixth Text that I shall alledge is Heb. 6. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once inlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again to Repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame Here these Apostates are said to crucifie the Son of God afresh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not barely to crucifie Christ again but to crucifie him to themselves again That is either finaliter as some expound it or efficienter as others which way soever it be it is not efficaciter but quantum in se 1. If it be the first then the meaning is this If such be saved then it must be by a new Sacrifice and so they bring themselves into that case that Christs Death on the terms that first it was accepted will not serve to save them because he died not to satisfie for that sin So Paraeus expoundeth it sed quomodo hoc faciendo Christum denuò crucifigunt sibimetipsis Quia filium Dei semel crucifixum abnegando nolunt salvari ejus morte ex qua sola dependet resipiscentia salus Si igitur resipiscere servari deberent denuò crucifigendus esset eis Christus quod est impossibile quia amplius mori non potest Sic infra
all which yet quoad substantiâ poenae as he calls it had none of that which the Law required and was necessary for the Sponsor to undergo And thus I think with that added which is said before it is evident that none have ground to rest on Christs Blood to justifie them or on Christ to justifie them by his Blood till they know that his Blood was shed for them seeing it is sufficient for no more But no Man before justifying Faith knows that Christs Blood was shed for him any more then for others that shall never be justified by it therefore no Man hath ground thus to believe And for the intellectual Act of Faith if it be that which Maccovius saith it is ibid. disput 3. § 17. Fides in Christum quae requiritur a nobis ad nostri justificationem est ut credamus pro redemptionem sanguinem nos justificari salvari then most Men are bound to believe an untruth if they are bound to believe to justification If it be said that it 〈…〉 believe that Christs Death is sufficient to pardon him if he believe I answer that no Man can truly believe that neither but he that first knows that he died for him which none can do but he that knows that he died for all I marvail how such Divines as Twiss and Maccovius who hold the main Antimonian Principles who say that Faith justifieth only as we are ascertained or receive the knowledg of justification already past at Christs death can tell how to Salve this How can they choose but say that either God doth not command all where the Gospel comes to believe to justification or else that he commands most Men to believe a falshood Or else that all Men are justified by Christs death Let me add here for I will not make another Argument of it being built on the same grounds with the former that if Christ died not for all then not only all Men at their first invitation but even all true believers whenever they loose the fight of their evidences that is of their own Faith and other Graces have no ground left them to renew an Act of justifying Faith nor to cast their Souls with any confidence on Christ For as long as he knows not himself to be Elect and a true believer he cannot tell whether Christ died for him and consequently he knows not whether he may rest on him as a sufficient Redeemer as not knowing whether he satisfied for him or not If any say he must believe that he may know I answer 1. It must be a revealed truth before it is believed 2. Believing will not make it true if it were not true before We are not to believe that Christ may die for us but to believe that he did die for us Hear Maccovius his confession of that also Ibid disp 9. § 16. At toto caelo errat Haereticus Socinus Neque enim fidem requiri ad hoc dicimus ut pro nobis satisfiat sed ut pro fidem satisfactio ista Christi quae perac to est ante fidem nobis innotescat so that when God commandeth Men to believe he commandeth them to take knowledg of Christs satisfaction for them before made And surely men cannot know that which is not true unless it be to know it to be false And thus it seems plain to me that many if not most true believers will be left without any sufficient ground to believe through a great part of their lives For I think assurance is not so common a thing as some imagine nor so constant with them that have it Though Maccovius saith as one Error draws on another Ibid. disp 9. § 11. Respondeo salvo aliorum judicio negando sensum illum qui in nobis oritur ex agnitione nostrae Iustificationis aliquando tolli penitus in homine Our Divines that teach poor Souls to use their Faith of Adherence when they want evidence do go another way to work and suppose an Universal promise and before that an Universal satisfaction Or else Adherence without evidence hath no sufficient object or ground and then farewel the Christians most constant stay Arg. 15. Ab ordine credendi perverso If Christ satisfied not for all then the knowledg or assurance that we have justifying Faith must go before justifying Faith But that is impossible as being a contradiction Ergo c. The reason of the consequence is plain in what was said on the last argument For no Man can believe to justification but by believing that Christ is a sufficient Redeemer and hath made sufficient satisfaction for his Sins and by accepting him as offered to apply the fruits of that satisfaction to us and by resting on him for those fruits Now all this hath no ground till a Man knows that Christ hath already died and satisfied for him And that cannot be known if Christ died not for all till Men first know themselves to be Elect and believers and that cannot be known till after we do believe For if the thing to be believed is that Christ died for believers and for me if I believe I must know that I believe before I can know that he died for me and yet I must know that he hath died and satisfied for me before I can believe to Justification See what contradictions are here and how Men are put upon impossibilities I know the necessity of believing that Christ hath satisfied for me is denied but I have proved it before Arg. 16. A peccatorum aggravatione If it be the great aggravation of all Mens Sins committed against that mercy which tendeth to their Recovery that they are against the Lord that died for them then Christ did die for all such Men But the Antecedent is true Ergo c. Only the Antecedent requires proof That wicked Men do partake of Mercy tending towards their recovery as to the nature of the mercy and in Gods legal Ordination I think I need not prove among Christians And that they Sin against such mercy is a thing that needs as little proof The main proof of the Antecedent that these mens Sins are aggravated in that they are against Christ that died for them will be from several Texts of Scripture which do thus aggravate such Mens Sin which because I intend to handle particularly I will refer you thereto and now pass them by Further 1. It is confessed that these Mens Sin is aggravated in that they are against the Blood of Christ as offered to them in its Fruits and as against Christ himself offered to them as Crucified and as Redeemer and as against the offers of pardon Adoption and Salvation which are all Fruits of Christs satisfaction But all these imply satisfaction for them to whom they are offered as is proved already Ergo c. Many of our Divines as Perkins Reform Cathol of Justif and others say that in this we differ from the Papists that they make Christs satisfaction
but those for whom he purchased it But if you can believe it will be a sign to you ab effectu that Christ died for you Sinner Alas Then all that are not redeemed and I if I be one of them are far worse then hopeless and remediless For they have neither any price paid for them nor any one hath redeemed them nor are they able nor can be able to believe and yet their torment must be multiplied for ever because they did not believe and take him for their redeemer that never paid one farthing of their debt But what is it that you would have me believe Min. That Christ hath died for all that will believe Sinner Will that justifie When the Devils believe that Min. That Christs Death is sufficient to pardon all if they would believe Sinner Then I should believe an untruth for â—is all should believe it is not sufficient to pardon them because it was not suffered for them Besides the Devils do believe the sufficiency of Christs Death as far as it is true Min. But they believe not that it is sufficient for themselves Sinner Nor can I except I knew that it was suffered for me Min. But you must rest on Christ as a sufficient Redeemer and then by reflecting on that Act you may know as by a certain sign that he redeemed you Sinner Then I must believe a Proposition of uncertain truth that I may know it to be true and rest on an uncertain ground of trust that I may have a Sign of its certainty And so my first faith must be groundless and uncertain But as it is not in my power of my self to believe so I have long been endeavouring to believe and trying my Faith and though I find I have some Faith and so had many that perish yet I cannot find whether it be sincere and saving And I know many yea most that seem godly that never are sure all their life time that their Faith is that which is justifying and proper to the Elect and more then the unrooted Faith of temperaries How shall I then or any that are uncertain of the truth of their Faith know that Christ died for them Min. You must labour for assurance of the Truth of your Faith that you may know that Christ died for you Sinner I no where find the Scripture using that motive to perswade Men to believe or to get assurance But what must I do in the mean time and all such as I that never come to assurance Min. Adhere to Christ as thy Redeemer sufficient and willing to save Sinner But I have no knowledg whether he be either my Redeemer or sufficient or willing And must I still continue that groundless Act and that meerly to get a Sign when yet it will be no sign till I attain assurance of the truth of my Faith And must I never love Christ as my Redeemer nor be thankful to him nor praise him for it till I have assurance Respondeat qui potest Arg. 22. A differenti statu hâ—minum non-electorum Daemonum If Christ died only for the Elect. then all the rest have no more remedy provided for their misery then the Devils nor are in any more capacity or possibility of Salvation But the Consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent Only the Minor requires proof for the consequence of the Major is evident For he that hath no expiatory Sacrifice or satisfaction made for his Sin is left utterly remediless To say he is not remediless because Christ is offered him is but to deride him while they say withal that he is offered only an interest in the satisfaction that was never made for him that so by not believing as by a sign he might manifest that it was not made for him and so that Christ did not purchase him Faith And can the Devils be left worse then remediless Now that Christ hath not left the Non-Elect as remediless as the Devils appears 1. Christ speaketh of his coming into the World and executing his office as having such ends to all Men as they had not to the Devils as he was the 2d Adam and took on him our nature and not the nature of Angels so he never saith that he came into the World to save Devils but he saith that he came into the World not to judg the World but to save the World of whom he expresseth unbelievers to be part Joh. 12. 47. 48. And God sent his Son into the World not to judg the World but that the World by him might be saved Even that World which in the next verse is distinguished into believers and unbelievers Joh. 3. 16 17 18. It is never said that God sent his Jesus to bless the Devils in turning every one of them from their iniquities But it is said so of every one of the Jews Elect or not to whom the Apostle spake Act 3 last unbelievers perish not for want of an expiatory Sacrifice but for rejecting it not for want of a Jesus but for want of Faith But it cannot be said so of the Devils God sendeth Men in his stead to beseech unbelievers to be reconciled to God upon supposition of the payment of the price of Reconciliation by Christ to the Father But he doth not so to the Devils All say Christs Death is sufficient to pardon all Men if they will believe Ames cont Belâ—ar saith we never doubted of it Sadeel cont human satisfact saith let him be blotted out from among the number of Christians that denieth it But I know none that dare say â—o of the Devils To unbelievers is given Christ himself and all his benefits by Gods Act and Deed on condition they will receive him But who can shew such a deed of gift to the Devils Giving Christ though but on condition of acceptance to any one implieth and presupposeth giving him on the Cross for them God entreateth wicked Men daily to accept of Christ that they may live but he never did so by the Devils The Spirit of Christ convinceth and soliciteth some of the Non-elect to believe and striveth with them till they grieve and quench it But so he doth not by the Devils All Men in the Church Elect and Non-Elect are called on to take heed lest a promise being left them of entering into rest any of them should prove to come short of it through unbelief Heb. 4. 1. The wicked are condemned and everlastingly punished for refusing a Redeemer and not coming in to the â—east when all things were ready and for neglecting so great Salvation and treading under Foot the Blood of the Covenant and because they would not have Christ to Raign over them But it is far otherwise with the Devils the wicked will be left unexcusable at the Redeemers Bar when they are judged according to the New Law for refusing Christ that bought them But the Devils would have excuse enough if they were judged on those Terms So that I may
pardoned and saved the efficacy of Christ's satisfaction is before all possibility of any power or snccess of Man's Faith So in those that perish if they had no price of satisfaction paid for them the want of a Redeemer would be the first want concluding their damnation and non-deliverance from former misery and the want of Faith could be but the secondary consequential want which Faith if it were present would not satisfie or save no more than believing now would save the Devils And thus it is evident that on the grounds opposed the Gospel would causally per â—e unavoidably be the greatest plague on earth to all where it comes except the Elect and not only accidentally by their own Sin Now for the Minor that the Gospel is not so I prove from Scripture it is called the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God Luke 8. 1. Before men are Converted the Apostles say we declare unto you glad tidings Acts 13. 32. 33. The Preachers of it bring glad tidings of good things preaching the Gospel of peace Rom. 10. 15. even the unsanctified receive the word with joy Mat. 13. 20. and not so great joy as they had cause so Mark 4. 16. it is called the Gospel of the grace of God Acts 20. 24. it is a Wedding-Feast even ready for those that would not come to it who are therefore said to be unworthy of it and so it was to him that came without the Wedding garment Mat. 22. if it were not a mercy then Men did not sin against mercy in rejecting it which who dare say It gives men promises of entring into rest who yet by wilful unbelief may come short of it Heb. 4. 1 2 3 c. See 1 Cor. 10. to the 13th God sent Jesus to bless the Jews more than Elect in turning every one of them from his Iniquity Acts 3. last The unthankful Servant had his debt freely pardoned him and that was a mercy who after took his fellow by the throat and by ingratitude lost that pardon which he had It declareth God's tender Mercies over all his works and such mercies as are to lead all men to Repentance Psal 145. 9. Rom. 2. It is good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Acts 2. 10. It freely giveth to all the water of life if they refuse not the gift Rev. 22. It is the Gospel that bringeth Salvation to all men Tit. 12. 11. A hundred Texts might be brought to prove how great a blessing of it self the Gospel is to that People to whom it is given and if it be turned to a Judgment and hurt them it is meerly accidentally through their wilful rejecting it or turning the grace of God into wantonness or sinning because Grace hath abounded and not from any thing in it nor for want of a reality in the benefit which it offereth Arg. 25. A differentiâ status damnatorum viatorum If Christ dyed not for all men then the state of most men all that he dyed not for were as deplorate and remediless as the State of the Damned But the consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent The Consequence of the Major proposition is plain in that the state of all men that Christ dyed not for must needs be utterly hopeless and remediless for there is no other satisfaction to be hoped for besides that made by the blood of Jesus and that is nothing to them nor is there any hope or possibility that ever they should have part in a satisfaction that is no satisfaction for them without blood there is no remission If they should believe and repent and pray for mercy night and day it would be but as the Rich Epicure in Hell pray'd for a drop of water all in vain for betwixt God and them is so great a gulf or distance by sin that nothing without a Redeemer can do them any good as to the least hope of Salvation If you say it is not to be supposed that they can believe repent and pray I answer that is in your own sense because it is supposed they are not redeemed and the impossibility of their not repenting and believing shews the more fully the impossibility of their Salvation And the reason why they do not actually despair is not because they have any more remedy than the Damned or cause to hope but only because they are yet ignorant of the hopelesness of their own Condition and as soon as they know the truth they will fully despair So that there is no more possibility that a Man for whom Christ dyed not should be pardoned or saved than that the Damned should for both are equally impossible If any say that God can find out another remedy besides and without Christs satisfaction though he will not and therefore it is not impossible I will not examine the truth of that now but if it be true of them on Earth why not also of them in Hell When once Men are in that state that there is no Sacrifice for their sin then there remaineth nothing but the fearful expectation of Judgment and Fire that shall devour the Adverâ—ary Object But doth not God's foreknowledge and decree make mens Salvation impossible as well as Christs not Dying for them and so your argument is as much against them Answ No They do nihil ponere in Objecto nor are the removal or denyal of any efficient cause of Salvation they infer only Necessitatem Consequentiae they make no Mans Salvation impossible but only prove it not future And as it is not omne Possible that is futurum so neither omne non futurum that is Impossibile And it is agreed that foreknowledge presupposeth the futurition or non futurition of the thing foreknown But there is much more necessary to be said to resolve this doubt which I may not now insist on only I add that the matter of God's Decrees and the futurition of things as depending thereon are so high and so far above us that it becomes us not to be too inquisitive into them much less so peremptorily to determine of them as some do and least of all to try plainer Cases by such determinations and reduce certainties to uncertainties when we should tather reduce uncertainties to certainties And for the Minor that the state of most men even in the Church is not so hopeless deplorate and remediless as is the case of the Damned I prove it thus They might be saved who are yet on Earth if they would but receive the love of the truth 2 Thes 2. 9 10. If they would believe they might all be justified and should not perish but have everlasting life whoever of them will may have the water of Life freely and it is offered them and they intreated to take it and if they have it not it is because they will not and not because there was no object or ground for their willing or no Sacrifice for their sin God offers them pardon and
non invenient ullam Marlorat adds talibus ergo contemptoribus nulla sâ—es veniae relinquitur So that they had a Sacrifice for sin till they Apostatised So Dickson also in loc Piscator and many more for I will name none but who are known to be against universal Redemption lest their exposition be rejected To all this I find no more objections of our opponents but to the first argument which we draw hence they return many words Which was both from all those benefits which here Apostates are said to partake of which only Christs Blood hath procured them and specially in that they are expresly ascribed to Christs Blood for they are said to have been sanctified by the Blood of the Covenant Now to this they say to give you the Sense briefly For if I should recite and answer the maze of words which some here use I should provoke the Reader to throw away all in weariness or loathing 1. This speaks only of some that were professors of the Faith of the Gospel separated from the World brought into the Church c. but these are not all Men. Answ Grant that it is some Non-Elect and it is as much as I desire from this Text. And if that be granted I think there is few would question but that it is for all the Non-Elect in the Church that Christ died And for those that never heard of him though I am past doubt that Christ satisfied for the sins of all Mankind yet the use of the point is so small that I will not contend much about it with any 2. They say the Apostle doth neither declare what hath been nor assert what may be but only adds a commination upon a supposition of a thing c. Ans This I answered before I 'll stand to the Judgment of almost any learned Expositor on this Text though against Universal Redemption See Calvin Beza Paraeus Piscator Perkins Dickson Bullinger c. 3. They say It is certain that these Men made profession of all these things c. and therefore the open renouncing them was a sin so hainous as deserved all this Commination though the Apostates themselves had never interest in Christs Blood Answ What 's this to the point The Text saith they were sanctified by the Blood of the Covenant and not only they professed that they were 4. They say it was the manner of the Saints and Apostles themselves to esteem of all baptised initiated persons ingrafted into the Church as sanctified persons So that speaking of Backsliders he could not make mention of them any otherwise than as they were commonly esteemed to be and at that time in the Judgment of charity were to be considered c. Answ 1. How much doth it differ from the language of Men when they are pleading for Separation Then they cannot endure to hear that all the baptised are called Saints by the Apostles and Churches 2. Indeed only those are so called that seem probably to be so 3. And therefore what is this to them that by Apostacy into a remediless misery shew themselves not to be so The Apostles will not encourage known falshood in the Speeches or Opinions of others much less be the Authors of it and lead them into it doth the Apostle here pronounce their Case hopeless and remediless and tell them there is no Sacrifice for their sin but a fearful looking for of Judgment c and doth he at the same time perswade People to believe that they were sanctified by the Blood of the Covenant c. if it were not true Even then when it openly discovereth it self false or is supposed so to do 5. They say if the Text be interpreted positively and according to the truth of the thing it self in both parts thereof viz. 1. That these of whom the Apostle speaketh were truly sanctified 2. That such may totally perish then these two things will follow 1. That faith and Sanctification is not the Fruit of Election 2. That Believers may fall finally from Christ Answ 1. These were truly sanctified though not with that Sanctification which is proper to the Elect and saved 2. No doubt such may and do fall away and perish He that denieth this must deny to believe Christ who hath expresly affirmed it in Mat. 13. That they in whom the Word is not deeply rooted do believe for a while and in the time of temptation or persecution fall away What else is our distinction between Temporary Faith and saving 3. When common Faith and Sanctification is antecedent to special Faith and Sanctification and so found in the Elect it is then a Fruit of Election But when it is found in others it is no Fruit of Election And why should they wonder at that who deny it to be a Fruit of Satisfaction or Ransom which is a more Universal cause then Election is 6. They further say there is nothing in the Text to perswade that the Persons here spoken of must needs be truly justified and regenerated Believers much less that Christ died for them c. Answ 1. That they were illuminated and partakers of the Holy Ghost and sanctified by Christs Blood the Text speaks without strained consequence with Heb. 6. 6. But that they had true special saving Faith Regeneration or Sanctification I affirm not Yet was it true 2. Is it a strained consequence to conclude 1. That he who by Apostacy is fallen into that misery which he was never in before and other sinners are not in that now there is no more Sacrifice for his sin had before a Sacrifice And so have other sinners that be not fallen so far as he is 2. Or that he who is sanctified by the Blood of the Covenant was one whose sins caused that Blood and for whom it was shed If you had proved that it sanctifieth those for whom it was never shed then you had done something so much for this Text. I had thought to have answered all the objections of the contrary-minded which the Books at hand afford but I shall do far less than I thought to do in it as finding that they are so disordered wordy and weak in many that I shall but fill Paper with needless Lines and be tedious and ungrateful to the judicious Readers The 8th Text which I will insist on is Matth. 22. 2 3 4 12 13. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain King which made a Marriage for his Son and sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would not come And he sent forth other Servants saying Tell them that were bidden saying Behold I have prepared my Dinner My Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are ready Come unto the Marriage c. Then said he to his Servants the Wedding is ready but they which were bidden were not worthy So 12. 13. Here it is agreed on that God is the King The Wedding feast is Christ and the benefits of his
And 1. I argue thus If it be no injustice in God to oblige men to punishment for all Christs satisfaction then it is no injustice actually to punish men for all Christs satisfaction But the former is true therefore so is the latter First I will prove the consequence of the Major Proposition thus from the essential offices of the Law 1. The Law is Juris constitutiva vel saltem declarativa It constituteth Right or at least declareth right I put in the latter declareth not as my own sense but to prevent the quarrel of any that may think this or any Right was constituted from Eternity before there was any Law or at least before that which we say obligeth sinners to punishment Though indeed the Law doth constitute before it declare And so the Law is Regula jussitiâ— vel saltem regula justa And if so then to execute such a Law can be no injustice 2. The Law is Norma judicii that 's past question I speak of a Law in force and as to the subjects to whom it is in force And if so then it can be no injustice to execute it But I think few sober men will deny the Major and therefore I leave that And one would think none should doubt of the Minor Whether it be any injustice in God by his Law to oblige to punishment those that Christ Died for But because the Antinomians deny it let us prove it If God do de facto oblige to punishment those for whom Christ Died then it is no injustice so to do But God doth so actually Ergo c. I hope if we prove that God doth it none dare say it is unjust If he be not Just he is not God And that God doth it I prove thus 1. Those that God Hateth and are Children of Wrath and without Hope and without God in the World and Strangers to the Covenant of Promises and Aliens to the Common-Wealth of Israel c. are certainly obliged to punishment But such many have been and still are for whom Christ Died Ergo c. God hateth all the workers of Iniquity and they are all by Nature Children of Wrath c. But many that Christ Died for are before Regeneration workers of Iniquity Ergo c. 2. All that are under the Curse of the Law are obliged to punishment But many that Christ Died for were under the Curse of the Law since his Death undertaken when his satisfaction was in force yea since his actual suffering Ergo. c. Many Scriptures shew both that we were under the Curse of the Law when Christ actually suffered and that all the Elect are under it still as well as others till their conversion I am loth to trouble the Reader in heaping up Testimonies 3. All that are condemned already and the Wrath of God abideth on them are doubtless obliged to punishment But such are many for whom Christ Died even all the Elect as well as others while they are unbelievers John 3. 18. 4. All that are guilty are obliged to punishment Proved Reatus est obligatio ad poenam they are all one thing But some that Christ Died for are Guilty Ergo c. Even all before pardon and that is all before Conversion are guilty 5. All those whose sins Christ doth pardon were first guilty or obliged to punishment But some that Christ Died for have their sins pardoned Ergo c. The Major is proved beyond all doubt from the formal Nature of Pardon which is the Remitting of Guilt or the Dissolving of an Obligation to punishment therefore where is no such obligation there can be no Dissolution of it For that which is not cannot be dissolved And so there is no capacity for pardon no more than a living man can be raised from the Dead or a Man cured of a Disease which he never had The like may be said of Justification also Our Divines have fully proved against the Antinomians that we are unpardoned and unjustified till we believe We are Justified by Faith and therefore were unjustified before Faith 6. If none be obliged to punishment for whom Christ Died then none such may pray for Pardon nor confess that they need any Pardon from Christ For Pardon being the dissolving of an obligation to punishment there can be no pardon where there is no obligation and therefore no need of it nor of prayer for it But the consequent is very wicked We must daily pray Forgive us our Debts and Trespasses Ergo c. The Second Argument is this If God do actually punish those for whom Christ Died then he may justly punish them But God doth actually punish such Ergo c. The Major is unquestionable The Minor is fully proved thus 1. The express words of Scripture shew it Lev. 26. 41 43. Lam. 3 39. and 4. 6 22. Amos 1. 3 6 9 11 13. and 2. 1 4 6. 2 Cor. 2. 6. 1 Pet. 2. 14. Jer. 44. 13. Ezra 9. 13. Hos 4. 9 15. Jer. 9 25. Read the places 2. The execution of that sentence Gen. 3. 16 17 18 19. is certainly punishment I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy Conception in sorrow thou shalt bring forth Children c. Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy Life c. Dust thou art and to Dust shalt thou return But this sentence is executed on those that Christ Died for Ergo c. 3. Those whom God chastiseth he punisheth But he chastiseth those whom Christ Died for Ergo c. The Major is undeniable to all that know what chastisement and punishment is Punishment is the Genus being a Natural Evil or the privation of a Natural Good inflicted for a Moral Evil the privation of a Moral Good Rigorous vindictive Punishment tending most to the ruine of the Sinner is one species of it Chastisement is another species which by the hurt of a sinner tendeth to his good And though this be called Paternal yet 1. Chastisement is not the proper act of Parents Masters may Chastise Servants and Princes their Subjects 2. It is Metaphorically called Paternal in one respect as God exerciseth it when yet in other respects it is the act of God as Rector per Legâ—s for so all Gods Chastisements are according to his Laws Object All shall work together for good to them that Love God to the Called c. therefore nothing is Punishment Answ 1. The best Interpreters according to the plain truth expound that Text of Affliction only and most of such Affliction as is suffered for Christs cause or at least not for hainous sinning against God And it is unlikely it should be otherwise 1. Because the defect of Love to God seems excepted in limiting it to them that love God But one that Christ Died for may be defective in love to God therefore that is not promised to work for good 2. Every Man dieth in some sin and how that