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
special and follow the performance of the condition imposed on us Faith and Repentance such are Pardon Justification Adoption Sanctification Glorification These being the main effects of Christs Death which Scripture most frequently mentioneth and to which the rest are but general preparatives therefore our Divines use to call these peculiarly Redemption and the Effects of Christ Death and they say his Death is effectual when these effects are produced And so I conclude that as to the first effect of satisfaction to God Christs Death is both sufficient and effectual for all Or else he could not be said to die for all quoad sufficienciam pretii For it is impossible that Christ should intend it as a Price and make it a sufficient Price and yet that God should not accept it as such Seeing Christ is God and the will of the Father and the Son is one And the like I say of the General Common benefits And as for the great particular special benefits of Pardon and Sanctification and Glory I say Christs Death is sufficient for all but effectual only for the Elect. And this must needs be the meaning of our forementioned Divines For the sufficiency to Justification and Salvation containeth the efficacy and effect in point of satisfaction But our new more rigid Divines will make me more work And therefore to them I must forme my Argument otherwise or else they will say I beg the question With them therefore I argue thus If Christs Death be sufficient for all then Christ satisfied for all But Christs Death is sufficient for all Ergo c. In these terms they use to acknowledg the Minor proposition themselves And as to the several effects 1. They frequently say that Christs Death is sufficient for the Pardon and Salvation of all Men in the World if they will believe Where the Words if they will believe must needs be referred to the effect Pardon and Salvation and not to sufficient For Mans belief addeth not to the sufficiency of Christs Death Nor will Faith make it sufficient if it were not so before The sufficiency goes before Faith But that which is sufficient to justifie men shall not actually do it till Men believe 2. They say that Christs Death is sufficient ut esset pretium pro omnibus to have been a Price for all But then they say that it is not sufficiens pretium a sufficient price for all because no price for all Now I shall prove that both their concessions do warrant my consequence and 1. That If Christs Death be sufficient for the Pardon of all if they would believe then he hath satisfied for all and it was all Mens Sins that procured his punishment and which he bore on the Cross Or that Christs Death is insufficient to the Pardon of any one for whom he hath not satisfied 1. That which hath not satisfied offended Majesty is not sufficient to the pardon of Mans Sin though he should believe But Christs Death As these Men say Hath not satisfied the offended Majestie Therefore it is not sufficient c. He that denieth the consequence must hold that Sin may be pardoned without Christs satisfaction 2. That which leaveth the great impediment of Mens Remission unremoved and not removeable by Faith is not sufficient to the Pardon of Men though they should believe But Christs Death if it be not suffered for Men oâ— have not satisfied for their Sin doth leave the great impediment of remission unremoved and not removable by Faith Therefore it is not sufficient to the pardon of these Men though they should believe The impediment I mean is in a word all that which did necessitate or require satisfaction That Faith cannot satisfie God instead of Christs Death is undeniable Nor yet can it make that satisfaction or be mine that was never made for me There is neither in the nature of Faith nor in the Office which God hath appointed it any sufficiency to be instead of a Redeemer or satisfaction And therefore it is not merely nor chiefly for want of faith that such would perish but through the insufficiency of Christs Death If they shall still say that it is not to be supposed that the Non-redeemed should believe I Answer Do not they suppose it themselves when they say that the Death of Christ is sufficient for the Pardon and Salvation of all Men if they would believe 3. That which leaveth the strongest Faith supposing it were both without ground and use or profit is not sufficient to remission or Salvation though Men should believe But so doth Christs Death if it be not suffered for Men and have not satisfied for them Ergo c. 1. If all the Faith in Christ that is in all Men in the World were confined to one Man it would not do the least good to his Justification or Salvation if Christ have not satisfied for him as is already proved 2. Nay indeed such a Faith would be but an ungrounded fancy or presumption To expect pardon from a satisfaction that was never made for me is a vain expectation 4. If Christs Death have no more conducibility or virtue for any Mens remission and Salvation then if he had never died at all then it is not sufficient to Pardon those Men if they will believe But if Christ hath not satisfied for Men his Death hath no more conducibility or vertue for the Remission of those Mens Sins or for their Salvation then if he had never died at all Therefore his Death is not sufficient to the Pardon or Salvation of those Men though they should believe The Major is clear The Minor is proved in that satisfaction is the first and great effect of Christs Death and where that is not made there is nothing done by it that can any way Conduce to the Remission of Sin And if that satisfaction be not already made it never will be for there is no more Sacrifice for Sin So that methinks I may confidently conclude that they deny the Sufficiency of Christs Death for the Pardon of all Mens Sins though they should believe who say he did not suffer and satisfie for all And that this is unsound Doctrine I will now prove only by their Judgments who are the owners of it 1. Mr. Owen of Redemption Lib. 4. c. 1. Page 173. saith The maintaining and declaring of this dignity worth preciousness and infinite value of the Blood and Death of Jesus Christ is doubtless especially to be considered And every opinion that doth but seemingly clash against it is exceedingly prejudiced at least deservedly suspected yea presently to be rejected by Christians if upon search it be found so do â—â— really and indeed as that which is injurious and Derogatory to the merit and honour of Jesus Christ The Scripture also to this purpose is exceeding full and frequent in setting forth the Excellency and Dignity of his Death and Sacrifice c. And Page 174. But its true worth consists in the immediate
Men from the Accusation of the guilt of these Sins at the Bar of Christ and dare any that now boldly maintain this cause in dispute undertake to justifie and vindicate them at Judgment and prove that it was never their duty to love Christ or be thankful to him for Redeeming them and therefore that it was not their Sin that they did it not This will be a harder task then it is now to find a flourish of words which seem to prove it 6. And worse then all this They will condemn Christ for condemning them for these Sins When he hath sentenced them Go you cursed For not loving him and shewing it to his Members Mat. 25. And pronounced that Man Anathema Maranatha that loves not the Lord Jesus if these Men can prove that it was none of their duty then they must accuse Christ and his Law of injustice and condemn his condemnatory sentence 2. And as they owe Christ this Love and Gratitude so the thing that they owe it for is his Redeeming them or dying in their stead or satisfying for their Sin For 1. It is doubtless that they owe it him not only as Creator but as Redeemer and if so it is either for Redeeming others or themselves Not only for Redeeming others For 1. The nature of gratitude is to respect some benefits that our selves receive either in our own Persons or in those whose welfare is part of ours And 2. Man is naturally so near to himself and the love of himself so deeply rooted by God in his nature that he naturally looks at himself before others and values things as they respect himself 3. Others good is no mercy to us further then we participate with them in the benefit Yea Divines generally conclude that it will be so far from comforting the damned to see that the Godly are in Heaven that it will encrease their torment 4. Else it would lay no greater an obligation on these Men to love Christ and be thankful to him than it doth on the Devils that Men are redeemed or than they owe God that the good Angels are preserved while themselves are condemned 5. Scripture not only alloweth Men to love and be thankful in reference to our selves even for that which is good to us but shews it to be our duty and the nature of those affections and that for our own mercies received we are obliged hereto 2 Thes 2. 10 Men are forsaken and damned for not receiving the love of the Truth that they might be saved How oft are the Israelites all of them Commanded to love the Lord with all their Hearts as their Redeemer from Egypt which was both an effect and Type of Christs work of Redemption Deut. 6. 5. and 10. 12. and 11. 1 13 22. and 19. 9. and 30. 16. 20. Yea all Gods mercies as well as this deliverance from Egypt is made in divers of these Texts the motive that should provoke them to love and thankfulness And doubtless these are all effects of the Death of Christ for them To love for love and for benefits is that which Sinners do Luk. 6. 32. Not as Sinners but from the common humanity that is left in them We love him because he first loved us 1 Job 4. 19. This because is not meant only Effectivè but also objectivè as to Gods love The first love of the Soul to Christ cannot be moved from the knowledg of Christs special love to the Soul For 1. Love accompanieth justifying Faith in the same moment And indeed in some Sense is part of it And doth not stay till the Soul discern his own believing and thence discern Gods special love 2. There is a love of desire which goes before the knowledg of Gods special love 3. Many a poor Christian loves Christ long before they know the special love of Christ And therefore this first sincere love must needs be raised from the apprehension of Christs excellency as to us and his general love to mankind Which can be no other then that which is manifested in their Redemption Object Wicked Men are bound first to believe and thtn to love when they know by their believing that Christ died for them Ans They are bound immediately in the same instant to love Christ as to believe and not to delay their love till they try their Faith or by discerning it get assurance of Gods favour They are bound to accept Christ as good for them when he is offered them And that acceptance is essentially love as it is said to be in the rational appetite He that loveth not truly believeth not truly And how can any Man prove Gods special love by the evidence of a false Faith Must Men first believe without love that by the Mark of such a Faith they may have ground for love That will be a deceitful ground as it is a deceitfull Mark Object At least Men are bound to be humbled first and believe that there is no other name under Heaven but Christs by which they can be saved and then to rest on him and love him Ans This is answered before If the humiliation and Assent that they mention be proper to the Regenerate and so be a true note of Gods special love 1. Then it will follow that other Graces go before that Faith which unites us to Christ Which few will grant 2. Then Men must find special Marks Antecedent to Faith that from thence they may gather a warrant to believe Which is false Doctrine I think in the judgment of all 2. But if these Antecedent Acts be common and such as reprobates also may perform then either every Man that performs them is bound to love Christ as his Redeemer And to rest on him for pardon Or only some If every Man then some reprobates are bound to love Christ as their Redeemer And to rest on him for pardon by his Blood-shed for them And to be thankful for his satisfaction And then certainly Christ did Redeem them by satisfying for them If but some then how shall any Man know that he is one of them So that I think I may conclude that they that deny universal satisfaction by Christs bloodshed do leave Men no ground for their first special love to Christ as Redeemer For that first love must be raised upon the knowledg of Christs general love and mercy or be groundless Seeing there is no knowledg of special love and Mercy Antecedent Object But how can the knowledg of Christs common love cause in us a special love to him Then we must love him first with a special love Ans Christ hath a special love to us before we have a special love to him But we cannot know it and therefore cannot love him for it His special love is the efficient cause of our love to him but not the objective or moving cause of our first love The love of Christ is not the less because its manifestation is general And therefore that glorious mercy of general
Workmanship But he loveth man after his Faith and Love to him as Rector per Leges as putting on the resemblance of goodness and justice in civil Sense and as he now stands in that Relation to them in which he is by his own Law as it were obliged to do them good Note this difference of Christs love Prov. 8. 17. I love those that love me and those that seek me early shall find me So ver 21. Luke 7. 47. Many sins are forgiven for she loved much If it be meant therefore she loved much yet it would not make against this From John 3. 19. I argue thus If men are condemned for loving darkness rather than Light and Christ is this Light then they were obliged to love Christ the Light But c. Ergo c. And I have shewed it is as Redeemer that he must be loved For to Love Christ as an excellent Prophet only that a Turk may do for Mahomet so confesseth him to be Mat. 10. 37. It is Christs condition propounded to all That if they love not him better than Father Mother House Land or Life they cannot be his Disciples So that those that are not yet his Disciples are obliged at once to love him above all and become his Disciples 1 Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha And then more specially for Gratitude because I have hitherto insisted on the other species Love there are many Parables in the Gospel that shew that wicked men are condemned for ingratitude to their Redeemer Mat. 21. 37 40. c. Christ convinceth his Auditors that those unthankful Husband-men that refused to pay the Fruits and killed the Son that was sent to them he was sent to be entertained as Redeemer would deservedly be destroyed with a miserable destruction and the Vineyard let out to others i. e. that the Kingdom of God should be taken from them and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof And what is that Kingdom here meant but the Gospel The proclaiming and offer of Christ as Redeemer and of mercy in and with him Mat. 22. 8. It is unthankful refusal of the feast prepared when all things were ready and they invited which was the unworthiness that there is mentioned which shut out those Guests Mat. 18. 32. Unthankfulness is intimamated as part of the Sin of that wicked Servant who took his fellow Servant by the throat for 100. Pence when himself had been forgiven 10000 Talents I forgave thee all the debt signifieth such a mercy as Men may have that perish as is plain verse 34. 35. and yet certainly presupposeth Christs dying for them and obligeth them to thankfulness If any ask the sense of the Text I shall give it after by it self more fitly Let me therefore conclude thus That Doccrin which subverteth a very great part of Religion is not of God But so doth this which denieth Universal satisfaction Therefore it is not of God The Minor is proved from what is said It destroyeth the ground of all Mens first love to Christ for Redeeming them It justifieth all the Non-Elect in their ingratitude and not loving Christ as their Redeemer Besides what was said before of its destroying the use of repentance and all Means But we shall recollect more of these consequences in the end and shew you more fully the face of the Doctrin which I dispute against I have proved that all Men that hear the Gospel owe Christ love and thankfulness for Redeeming them by dying for them I should next shew that all Men in the World do owe God love and thankfulness for those mercies which are the effects of Christs satisfaction But especially those within the Church who have in the New Covenant made over to them a conditional remission of their Sins and adoption and everlasting life viz. If they will accept Christ with his benefits Those that are sanctified with the Blood of the Covenant and are made partakers of the Holy Ghost and were escaped from the pollutions of the World through the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and and have tasted the good word of God and the Powers of the World to come c. Certainly these have received the fruits of Christs satisfaction for which they were bound to be thankful But of those more particularly in their place Arg. 14th Acertitudine fidei possibilitate rectè credendi If Christ hath not satisfied for the Sins of all then no Man hath a sufficient ground for his first justifying Faith All Men are left at an utter uncomfortable uncertainty whether they may believe to Justification or not But the consequent is false Therefore so is the Antecedent That which is said before doth shew so much of the grounds of this Argument that I shall be the shorter in it now All the doubt is of the consequence of the Major and to clear that I suppose it is granted that all firm sufficient Faith for justification must not only have a command to warrant it but also a fit object about which it must be exercised God commandeth no Man to believe a falshood to make it become true by believing it nor to trust to a person or promise that is not to be trusted as being not only fallible but certainly will deceive As for the Act of affiance or recumbency commonly called the justifying Act no Man can groundedly or comfortably rest on Christ for justification by his Blood who doth not first know that his Blood was shed for him and hath satisfied for him Else he must rest on that which he knows not to be sufficient for him to rest upon For it hath been proved that Christs death is not sufficient to justifie any for whom it was not suffered though they should believe He suffered not superfluously as I have shewed Take the confession of a Divine that for fear of Arminianism joyned Hands with the Antimonians Maccovius colleg disp de justif disp 5. § 22. Quoad substantiam poenae nihil olus perpessus est Christus quam per legem debebatur Neque enim vel Amor Patris vel etiam justitia permittere potuit plura ut filio imponerentur quam quae illi necessariò tanquam sponsori ferenda erant Quoad circumstantias autem patientis personam patiendi causam passionis efficaciam plusquam sufficiens satisfactio Christi Neque enim lex requirebat ut Deus moreretur neque ut sine peccato proprio quis moreretur neque morstalis quae suffecisset pro peccatis totius mundi sive pro omnibus singulis hominibus Here he confesseth that Christ suffered no more than was due by Law and than was necessary for him to suffer as Sponsor And yet that his Death was sufficient for the Sins of all the World even for all Men and every Man And if so then either he suffered as Sponsor for all Or else circumstances did make that Death sufficient for
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
by Christ be offer'd in those Fruits to Men if it were not first given and accepted for them as well as others in Law Sence by God from the Redeemer The Rector or Creditor must first receive the satisfaction before a discharge can be offered to the offendor or Debtor on consideration of that satisfaction made and accepted Much more before Men can be condemned justly for refusing it If the satisfaction were given and accepted for the Elect only it could not in the Benefits which wholly presuppose it be so offered to the Non-Elect and they judged for refusing the benefit of a satisfaction never made for them Prop. XXXVI Christs dying for Men is Antecedent to their believing in him Their believing presupposeth his dying for them His Death saveth them because they believe but he did not die for them because they believe but they must believe because he dyed for them The Act both as performed and commanded here presupposeth the Object The Command therefore of believing presupposeth that Christdyed for Men. Prop. XXXVII No Mans name or Description so as to difference him from others being in the offer and promise conditional but it being made alike to all it will follow that no Man could have any true ground to believe or accept Christ if he knew not that he is one of those to whom he is universally offered and conditionally given and consequently for whom he satisfied Prop. XXXVIII If the condition on which Christ is given to all and Life in him were something of natural proper impossibility or unreasonable or if it were long of Christ that the condition is not performed by them then it were less proper to say that Christ is given them or that he dyed for them in respect to this conditional gift But seeing the condition is nothing of natural proper impossibility nor unreasonable being but their hearty acceptance of Christ as he is offered them and not the least Repensum requital price or repayment and nothing but their own wicked disposition and obstinacy can cause their non-performance so that they may have Christ and Life if they will therefore it is proper to say that Christ is given them and conditional Pardon and Life in him and that Christ therefore dyed for them Prop. XXXIX It is Gods Law or Covenants which constitute the Right or Dueness of obedience rewards and punishments and it is not Election or the meer Decree of God that doth any of these We have no Right to Christ upon Election till the Covenant or Law give us Right Prop. XL. Elect and Non-Elect therefore have equal Right to Christ till believing difference them That is all have a conditional Right and none an actual and absolute Prop. XLI The Covenant berween the Father and Mediator commonly so called gave Christ a full Power to confer pardon and Life but gave not to Men any Right ot Title to the benefits Prop. XLII Nor did that Covenant or promise which God made to fallen mankind of sending a Saviour to Redeem them give this Right actually to these benefits Prop. XLIII Nor doth that promise or Covenant which God hath made of giving a new and soft Heart to the Elect give any Man an actual Right to Remission Justification or Glory No nor to renewing Grace it being but a prediction what God resolveth to do for the saving of some known only to himself and so a discovery of his purpose and not a conferring of Right Or if it were a Promissum vel Donatio in diem sine conditione as some would make it yet it would not give actual Title till the time come Non daâ—â—r actio ante diem in talibus promissis inter homines It is the nature of such gifts that upon the Donors will the Right should be as it were in passing from the Donour to the receiver till that day Et si cessit dies saltem non venit It is not ours in Title till the Day But indeed here is no prefixed day nor proper Gift Prop. XLIV We Must therefore carefully distinguish between these three forementioned Covenants and that universal Law or conditional Covenant of Grace made to all mankind which is it by which Christ ruleth and will judge us And which is his Instrument of conferring Right and so of pardoning Justifying and Adopting us Prop. XLV Christ hath a threefold Kingdom Of one all the World are Subjects these he over-ruleth and partly ruleth to restraint at least by the Law of Nature Of the other the visible Church all professed Christians are members These he ruleth by his Law of Grace and Spirit but differently Of the third which is the Souls of believers only true believers are members These only Christ ruleth to Salvation but the rest also as Redeemer Prop. XLVI When the Schoolmen and our own Divines say that Christ dyed for all quoad sufficientiam pretii but not quoad efficientiam they cannot without absurdity be interpreted to mean that his Death is sufficient for all if it had been a Price for them and not a sufficient Price for them For that were to contradict themselves And so Christ could not be said to dye for Men quoad sufficientiam pretii For it is neither for them nor a Price so considered Prop. XLVII It seems an injurious feigning of Christ to suffer much in vain to say that he paid a Price sufficient for all the World when yet it shall be no way efficient Unless they think that Christs sufferings are no greater for all Men than if he had suffered but for one or few and that minima guttula sanguinis Christ i sufficit ad redimendum mille mundos which our Divines disclaim as a dangerous Error They therefore that think it a making Christ to suffer in vain to say He dyed for some that perish do themselves make him much more to suffer in vain in saying he paid a Price for some which was sufficient for all but shall be no way efficient for them Prop. XLVIII Christs Death is a sufficient Price and satisfaction to God for the Sins of all Mankind The Efficiency of satisfaction passive is it wherein the sufficiency to further uses doth consist But it effecteth actual Remission Justification Adoption Salvation only for Believers This is the plain truth and the Sense of Divines in saying that Christ dyed for all quoad sufficientiam pretii non quoad Efficientiam Prop. XLIX It hath not so much as a shew of Injustice or wrong to any for God to punish unbelievers for the same Sins that Christ died for if we do but understand 1. The difference between suffering by our selves or our delegate substitute or Vicar and a Mediator suffering for us 2. And between solutio ejusdem satisfactio which is Redditio equivalentis and so 3. Between a refusable suffering or payment as the last is which doth acquit but on what terms the accepter pleaseth and not ipso facto and a not refusable payment such
that were not so yet remember that the same Men that object this do teach also that Christ did as strictly represent us in obeying and that in him we fulfilled the Law 4. If that were not so yet it crosseth the Scripture to call the wicked Righteous in the first Sence i. e. non reos poenae Pprob Minor They say all the elect have satisfied in Christ But multitudes of the Elect are wicked Therefore c. Prob. Minor He he that doth wickedness is wicked and is of the Devil saith the Apostle But such are many of the Elect before Conversion Therefore c. This argument is in sence but the same with the 7th but that the terms differ John saith He that doth Righteousness is Righteous and this Doctrine saith consequentially He that never did Righteousness is Righteous Paul saith His Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of Sin unto death or of obedience unto Righteousness But this Doctrine saith consequently His friends ye are whom you never obeyed and that the Elect before conversion who obey the Devil and so are his Servants and never had obedience unto Righteousness are yet Righteous as having paid all their debt 10 Arg. That Doctrine which denieth Christs Satisfaction for us in strict Sence is not of God But such is this opposed Therefore c. The Major is plain Prob. Minor That Doctrine which affirmeth Christs sufferings to have been the Idem which was required by the Law and not the Tantundem doth deny satisfaction in strict Sence But so doth this opposed Therefore c. The Major is proved by the definition of satisfaction which strictly taken is Redditio aequi valentis as Scotus and other Schoolmen and Amesius contra Bellar from them approving it or it is solutio tantidem as Grotius and others and is distinct from solutio ejusdem which is solutio strictè sic dicta Minor Prob. They that affirm us to have suffered all that the Law required do affirm us consequently to have suffered the Idem and not meerly the tantundem But so do they that teach that we suffered in Christ c. Therefore c. More of this anon 11. Arg. Christ suffered and satisfied in the Person of Mediator therefore not in the Person of the Elect or Offender Because a mediator is a middle person and Christ sustained not two persons as a sufferer 12. Arg. The Scripture oft speaks of Christs taking on him our nature and our Sins but not in suffering our person Therefore it is not to be affirmed Isa 53. c. 13. Arg. That Doctrine is not tollerable which makes Man his own Redeemer or to have satisfied or suffered for his own Sins But such this seems therefore c. For if the Law say that we satisfied in Christ then in Law Sence we satisfied for own Sins and consequently redeemed our selves As for their Objection that no other way but representing our persons could suffice to save us by the satisfaction of another it is a gross mistake and naked affirmation without proof And for them that say Christ suffered in persona nostrâ but not satisfied or merited so I answer They speak inconsistencies Satisfaction and Merit are necessary results from the nature of the suffering considered with the Dignity of the Person and the Divine acceptance Now if Christ suffered not in his own person whose dignity was to communicate a value to his sufferings then his sufferings are defective in their value And if we did in Christ or by him suffer all that was due it is impossible but God should take that suffering for satisfactory in the larger Sence it being solutio ipsius debiti in strict Sence So that if the Law or Law-giver say the Elect suffered in Christ they must needs say the elect satisfied in Christ or rather paid the debt of the due punishment And this God could not but accept consequenter ad Leges For who can refuse the proper debt Or deny an acquittance to him that dischargeth it But from a sponsor he might have refused it I might add many more Arguments were it needful As from the dishonour that this will cast on Gods Law in threatning those that have satisfied it already in offering pardon and justification on conditions to those that were justified without pardon 1600. years ago For a condition suspendeth the benefit till it be performed But no justice can suspend his justification who hath discharged all the debt What can be required more then all Also that the Covenant or Testament should be Gods Deed of Gift or Instrument of conveying Right to that which is our own already 1600. years ago Also the Gospel saith our Life is in the Son and all is delivered into his Hands but this putteth our Rights in our own Hands even when we have no being Also according to this Doctrine Men were justified before they were Men and acquitted from all Sin before they were born or had committed Sin And so Sinners that were no Men and consequently no Sinners were acquitted from Sin that was not and consequently was no Sin CHAP. V. Prop. 2. Christs sufferings for Mans Sins were not the Idem the same thing which the Law threatned to us Or the fulfilling of the threatening and discharge of the debt it self in kind But the Aequivalens or Value freely paid by him obliged only by his own sponsion and accepted by God for our not fulfilling the Law as to its Precept and Commination SOme think this Question whether Christ paid the Idem or Tantundem To be not Tantidem not worth the disputing Mr. O against me seems stifly to maintain it to be the Idem but yielding it to be not per eundem and the Law to be Relaxed so far doth yield as much as I need and gives up the whole cause and made me think it a useless labour to reply to him As small as this Question seems I think the main Body of Divinity stands or falls according to the Resolution of it For understanding the meaning of it you must know 1. That it is not of the quality of the suffering that we enquire Whether Christ suffered the same kind of pain or loss that we should have suffered Nor of the quantity of Torment for intension or duration For I am willing to believe as much identity in these as I can see any ground but of probability to encourage me Though yet I know how hard it is for them that say by Death in the threatning was meant Death Temporal Spiritual and Eternal to prove that the loss of Gnds Image was none of the penalty for I hope none will say that Christ lost Gods Image or that Christs temporary sufferings were the Idem with our Eternal quoad quantitatem and not the want of duration made up by the intension or dignity of the person as being Aequivalent Which is our ordinary Doctrine and I think sound Or yet that the Eternity of the punishment was not in the
therefore should be saved Ans The Persons are determined of long ago for whom Christ satisfied Either he hath satisfied for me or he hath not before my Faith If he have not then my Faith will not cause him to satisfie for me either by suffering again or by making that satisfaction to have been paid for me which was not Object But it is a thing that never will be for one to believe for whom Christ did not satisfie And therefore it is a thing not to be supposed Ans 1. Things may and must be supposed in dispute that never will be That the Elect should have the desert of their Sin or be unredeemed or be forsaken of God or deprived of any mercy which God will give them are all things that never will be And yet a Christian may argue on supposition they had been or should be to raise his thankfulness What if God should have denied me his Grace Or his Redemption Or let me perish in my Sin and State of nature What a Case would my Sin have brought me under 2. If it be a thing not to be supposed in dispute that a Man should believe for whom Christ satisfied not then it is because it implieth a contradiction Else it may be supposed But it implieth no contradiction Ergo c. Object It is a contradiction Because Christ purchased Faith for all those for whom he satisfied and therefore for a Man to believe for whom Christ purchased not Faith is a contradiction Ans 1. I shall take it as a groundless fancy till it be proved that Christ purchased Faith to be eventually certainly given to all those for whom he satisfied 2. If he had this argument is not from satisfaction as such but as it is meritorious of Faith 3. still it is no contradiction because it implyeth no contradiction for a man to believe without that Grace which Christ hath purchased though it be a thing that will never be done 4. They that will still affirm the contrary do the more destroy their own Cause For they then assert that all Gods commands by his Laws and Ministers to the unredeemed as they suppose them for believing in Christ do require meer impossibilities and such contradictions as are not to be so much as supposed in dispute which I think few sober men will grant but rather avoid that opinion that is the ground of such an assertion 5. And which is more the same absurdity will follow as to all other means whatsoever as well as Faith which God hath prescribed to such men for pardon and salvation as they are means and so bring this reproach on the whole New Law as made to all such Men. Object But the same may be said against Gods Foreknowledge or Decree For if God Fore-know or Decree that men shall certainly perish then it may as well be said that though they should believe God neither would nor could save them Answ 1. As to the Power of God it is not straitened by his Decree It follows not God will not do such a thing therefore he cannot The same Divines whom I now argue against use to argue thus about Physical Predetermination God 's Determination of his own will destroyeth not his Power or liberty to the contrary act therefore his determination of our wills destroyeth not our Power or Liberty to the contrary acts whereby they grant that God can save those that he decreeth not to save and so can give them Faith c. and that he is still free to do it or not do it Object If he should believe and be saved whom God hath foreknow nor decreed to be condemned for Unbelief then God should be deceived or change But it is impossible for God to be deceived or change therefore it is impossible for him to believe and be saved whom God hath foreknown or decreed to condemn for unbelief Answ It is a vicious Argument There 's more in the conclusion than in the premises No more will follow but this therefore he will not believe and be saved whom God c. not it is impossible for God never foreknew or decreed that it should be impossible for him to believe and be saved but only that he would not eventually believe and be saved 2. When I speak before in the Argument of Gods will it is not of his will of Decree but of his will as he is in the relation of Rector per Leges and so giveth that Salvation as executor of his Laws and Sentence which by his Laws he first gave Right to God as Rector and Legislator neither will nor can give Salvation to any that Christ dyed not for if they should believe But God as Legislator or Rector would give salvation to all that Christ Dyed for if they believe though it were supposed that he had foreknown or decreed that such men would not believe Only it would follow that God was mistaken And therefore such a thing will never come to pass for God will not be mistaken It is God as â—egislator to whom it belongs to be true in making good his promises which is the thing in Question 3. The want of an expiatory sacrifice doth morally necessitate the Damnation of Man though he should believe both in respect of the Law of works as â—hrists Death is Causa necessaria liberationis as want of a Ransome may be said to necessitate a Captives perishing and properly in respect to the new Law whose Penalty is 1. Non-liberation 2. And a sorer punishment For the chief cause of that Non-liberation or Non-salvation must needs be the defect of that which should be the chief cause of Deliverance and Salvation rather than the defect of Faith a subservieâ— cause or condition which ever supposeth thâ— former cause If two men at Christs bar be â—â—â—leaded as lyable to Damnation and it be â—â—â—d to one Thou hast no Right to Salvation for Christ never Dyed for thee and to the other thou hast no right because thou didst not believe is not the former more valid then the latter or as valid But to say Thou hast no right because God did decree the contrary is not right arguing 4. We must not argue a minus notis as the Decrees are as shall be shewed Arg. 8th A Causa pereundi negativè If Christ hath not satisfied for all men then the cause of mens perishing is for want of an expiatory sâ—criâ—iâ—e But the want of an expiatory 〈◊〉 is not the cause of mens 〈◊〉 therefore Christ hath satisfied for all By 〈◊〉 cause I mean not the meritorious cause for that no doubt must be some sin of Man And I suppose that Unbelievers are not condemned according to the first Law of works as standing without Remedy that is not meerly because they did not perfectly obey but at the Redeemers bar because they believed not and would not have Christ to Reign over them or because they improved not their Talents of Grace that is of mercy given contrary
effects products and Issues of it with what in its own nature it is fit and able to do Is it not therefore strange that this Author should Page 175. 176 say 1. That this fulness and sufficiency of the merit of the Death of Christ is a foundation for the general publishing of the Gospel to all Nations with the right that it hath to be preached to every creature because the way of Salvation which it declares is wide enough for all to walk in There is enough in the remedy it brings to light to heal all their diseases to deliver them from all their evils If there were 1000 Worlds the Gospel of Christ might on this ground be Preached to them all there being enough in Christ for the Salvation of them all if so be they will derive vertue from him by touching him by Faith the only way to draw refreshment from this Fountain of Salvation 2. That the Teachers of the Gospel in their particular Congregations c. may from hence justifiably call upon every Man to believe with assurance of Salvation to every Man in particular upon his doing knowing and being fully perswaded of this that there is enough in the death of Christ to save every one that shall so do To all which I briefly reply 1. I have disproved this in what is said before and shewed that Christs death cannot be affirmed sufficient for any Mans Salvation for whom it never satisfied though he should believe 2. How can he say there is sufficient merit where there is no merit at all The Death of Christ hath no merit as to the Pardon of Devils or any for whom it was never suffered 3. How can he call any thing a way of Salvation wide enough which presupposeth not Christs satisfaction for the person Can Men walk to Heaven by Faith without a Redeemer Or is there such a true Faith 4. How can he truely say there is enough in the remedy Which is as to them no Remedy Is there enough in that remedy to heal the Devils if they believed 5. How can there be enough in it or how can it be any remedy to heal all diseases and deliver from all evils before it have made satisfaction Must it not do that before it can heal any other disease 6. How can he say There is enough in Christ for the Salvation of them all if so be they will derive virtue from him by touching him by Faith Must not the application be first to God by satisfying him before it can be made to Man by believing Is not the Salvation of Men the Fruit of Christs dying for them And can there be the effect without the cause Hath Christ virtue to be derived for the saving of any that he died not for Will believing make Christ to die for them that he hath not died for already 7. In plain truth your ground of preaching Christ to all is your foreknowledge that only the Elect will believe and not the sufficiency of Christs Death knowing that there is nothing in Christs Death to save any man that he did not Die and Satisfie for though he should believe never so strongly 2. But let us come to the first effect of Christs Death and see whether it were sufficient to that viz. to be a satisfaction for the Sins of all And here they do maintain that it is only materially or aptitudinally sufficient as the money which my rich neighbour hath in his purse is sufficient to pay my debt which he resolveth never to pay Or as the Ransome paid for one man was enough to have redeemed another also if it had been paid for him And what the better is he for whom it was never paid And what difference as to their ransome between most men and Devils For the form of a satisfaction or Price for all they affirm that Christs Death hath it not sufficiently or at all These men must once more therefore new moddel their Doctrine or reform their expressions and give over saying that Christs death is sufficient for the pardon of all if they would believe for that is notoriously false according to them seeing the effecting of satisfaction is that wherein the sufficiency of it lyes as to remission But they must hereafter say only that Christs Death was sufficient to have procured pardon for all men if he would have suffered it for all And I will give them this encouragement so far to innovate viz. Though they speak not only against Scripture and the Primitive Fathers and the Church of Christ in all Ages and the generallity of our most severe Protestant Divines yet because 1. It is against Arminius an adversary 2. And tendeth to extreams 3. And so is agreeable to Nature they shall perhaps with applause at least with far less wounding of their Reputation raise up these novelties than a Sober Moderate Judicious Divine shall beat them down again or revive any one Truth which extreams have clouded laid by and trodden under foot But I will not stay here to shew the absurdity of mens so confident asserting Christs death to be aptitudinally sufficient for so many for whom it was never suffered seeing I shall deal on this purposely in the next Argument But how useless this sufficiency is and no foundation at all for our general offer of Christ and mercy to all if they will believe may be seen in what is said before And how useless and insufficient it is to encourage any man to believe we shall yet further have occasion to shew anon In the mean time I think the unsoundness of their Doctrine who deny Universal Satisfaction is manifest hence in that it fully overthrows the sufficiency of Christs Death for the pardon of all mens sins if they should believe which yet the generality of our Divines do maintain Arg. 10th Ab absurdo injurià coutrariae Doctrinae in Christum If Christ have paid a Price of satisfaction sufficient for the sins of all the World and yet paid it not for all the World then he suffered much in vain But he suffered not any thing in vain Ergo c. The Minor none will deny that is a Christian The consequence of the Major is proved ad hominem by the concessions of them of the contrary Opinion For 1. No Reformed Divine doth deny but that as one part of the value of Christs sufferings was from the Dignity of the person so the other and a necessary part was from the greatness of his sufferings 2. And all conclude that there was more suffering necessary for the expiation of the sins of all the World than for one particular sin or then for one mans sins and so more necessary to expiate the sins of all men then of the few only that are chosen And consequently if Christ suffered no more than was sufficient for the Redemption of the Elect then it was not sufficient for the Redemption of all And if it were sufficient for the Redemption of
satisfaction though common not only may be but is the ground or motive of our first special love if it be orderly and rightly raised though Christs special love be the efficient Object Then none do love God a right at first but those that hold Universal Redemption Ans 1. Yet they may love him sincerely though they are brought to it through the fault of their Teachers in a disadvantageous and disorderly way 2. Young Converts are not used so soon to be troubled with the Controversy of Universal Redemption 3. I have known few in my observation but at their first closing with Christ they have had the same judgment of the Universality of Christs satisfaction so as to be sufficient for all Sinners and wanting only their own Faith to make it effectual to Remission which I plead for 4. It is the usual way of Preachers in their popular Sermons to speak far more soundly in these points then in their disputations And indeed their way of Preaching for the Conversion of Sinners doth plainly intimate Universal satisfaction For they use to lay all the blame on the Wills of Sinners and justly as that only which can deprive them of the benefits of Christs sufferings and to urge them to accept him and to let them know that their case is not left remediless and desperate Yea and to tell them plainly that Christs Death is sufficient for all to pardon all their Sins be they never so many or great and if they will believe they shall have the Fruits of it Which is in other words to say Christ hath satisfied for all So that upon these right grounds they use to bring Men to believe and love Christ at the first and then they must have some longer time before they can pervert them again by working out these apprehensions and acquainting them that Christ hath not satisfied for all but for the Elect only Object Mens first love to Christ is not to him for what he hath done but for what he can do for us and as he is to us a desirable good because it is but Amor Concupiscentiae Ans It is also a love of gratitude And all the good that we can expect from him for the future or desire him for is but the fruit of what he hath done for us already and therefore presupposeth it And he that looketh for Mercy from Christ as not procured by his satisfactory sufferings knows not the Gospel nor what he expecteth The Gospel at its first Preaching is glad tidings and brings news first of what Christ hath done for Men and next of what he will further do Object But it is not for Dying for me in particular that I am first obliged to love Christ but for paying a sufficient price Ans 1. If by For me in particular you mean more for me then others I grant it But it is for dying and satisfying for fallen Mankind in general of whom I am a Member 2. I have shewed that according to this New Doctrin Christs Death is not sufficient to pardon all if they did repent nor formally a sufficient price but only materially or Aptitudinally sufficient to have been a price Now that this can engage any to love or thankfulness is past my reach to apprehend For it is not a benefit to such as for whom it was no price If 100 Men lie in Prison for debt and one shall pay as much for the debt and discharge often of them as was sufficient to have satisfied for the debts of them all and yet would not pay it for them but rather give it superfluously then that they should have any benefit by it how doth this oblige these Prisoners to love and thankfulness to this Man At least not as any Redeemer or Friend of theirs Rather they will think him envious and an Enemy to them that would rather cast away his Mony Giving for one that which was sufficient for all then they should have any benefit by it Object But it is not for his Death that Men are bound at first to love Christ and be thankful but for the free and general offer of himself and his benesits to them in the Gospel Ans 1. The negative is wicked and Unchristian 2. The part affirmed is a contradiction to their denial of Universal satisfaction For Christ is offered to Men as their Redeemer only And the Word Redeemer signifies 1. One that hath paid a price for them already 2. One that will recover them by the effectual conveyance of his benefits if they accept his offer And the later always implies the former The effect cannot be without its cause He is no Redeemer to them for whom he suffered not And he cannot be a Redeemer to them by Pardon and Salvation for whom he hath not been already a Redeemer by satisfaction And he doth not offer to satisfie for them de futuro a new and therefore the offer certainly proves a general satisfaction as is shewed before 3. And if Christ offer himself to any Men as their Redeemer whom he never did Redeem no nor can Redeem by Remission and Salvation because he hath not first Redeemed them by price and satisfaction charging the refusal upon them to their deep damnation doth this oblige Men to love and gratitude If he procure by his Death no possibility of their Salvation but induce a necessity of their deep condemnation If he offer them the benefits of a death never suffered for them that is effects without their cause and which he cannot give them and destroy them for not receiving them Is this all the obligation Object But it is the Law of God that obligeth them to love and gratitude And therefore they are obliged though Christ be none of their Redeemer and though his Death were not a benefit to them Ans 1. These are duties that result ex natura rei viz. boni oblati beneficii â—ollati and so from the Law of nature and not from a meer positive Law Love and gratitude are not ceremonies and therefore where the nature of the thing obligeth not there is no obligation 2. There must be an objective cause of love and gratitude as well as an efficient and exemplary cause And therefore our question is only of the objective cause God doth not alter the nature of love and gratitude by commanding them He doth not command love that hath not good for its object for there is no such thing in rerum natura nor doth he command a gratitude that is not for a benefit Object But it is unknown to them whether Christ died for them or not For ought they know he did And therefore they are bound to love and gratitude Ans 1. An unknown benefit bindeth not to love and thankfulness 2. It is Real favours and not feigned that Christ obligeth Men by As it is real love and thanks and not feigned that he expecteth from them 3. Else that common love and thankfulness which the Non-elect
the Moral Law as part of Moses Law be abrogate But as long as we acknowledge 1. That the same Moral Law standeth as it was part of Christ's New Law which most confess 2. And also as part of the Law of Works or Nature given to Adam as most think we need not much matter the former Though I think that all Moses Law is Abrogated 1. Because the Matter cannot stand as part of that Law when the Form ceaseth for with the form the essence and name is gone and most if not all confess that the form of Moses Law as it is specifically distinct from the Law of Grace is abrogated 2. The Apostle expresly saith 2 Cor. 3. 7 11. that The Ministration of death written and engraven in Stones was glorious and that was only the Decalogue so that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the Face of Moses for the glory of his Countenance which was to be done away For if that which is done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious some say it was the Glory and not the Law that was done away but it was not the glorious which ver 11. is called glorious but the Law from the manner of delivery and therefore it was not the Glory only but the Law that is done away Obj. But it was only the manner of delivery then that is done away and not the Law Answ That was a transient act and ceased at the time and was not done away by Christ The Moral Law therefore as part of Moses Law is abrogated because it is impossible the matter should remain without the Form as part of that Compositum But the same Moral Law is in force as much as ever as it is the matter of another Compositum viz. the Law of Christ proper to the Gospel times The Law is in force still quae fuit materia Legis Mosaicae sed non quâ materia Legis Mosaicae But for this if any think otherwise I will not contend with them It sufficeth to my present purpose that it is granted that the Law of Ceremonies is abrogated And that this Law was a burden and bondage is plain even such as the Church was not able to bear Act. 15. 10. see Gal. 3. 23. 21. 4. 21. 5. 3. c. 2. And that it was Christs dying for men that freed them from the Law is proved Gal. 4. 3 4 5. When we were Children we were in bondage under the Elements of the World but when the fulness of the time was come God sent his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law c. Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Col. 2. 14. Blotting out the hand writing of Ordinances which was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross see ver 20 21. Ephes 2. 13 14 15 16. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ for he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle Wall of Partition between us having abolished in his Flesh the enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new man so making Peace And that he might reconcile both unto God in one Body by the Cross having slain the Enmity thereby 3. And for the 3d. point that Christ hath abrogated Moses Law to all Elect and Non-Elect without difference is evident in that all are forbidden to keep it And that which is abrogated is abrogate to all because the Word signifieth the total nulling of it and destroying of its Essence and that which is not doth not bind 1. Else the Non-Elect Jews at least should still be bound to offer all the Sacrifices and use all the Ceremonies prescribed by the Law But I never yet heard or read any Divine Preaching such Doctrin and I hope never shall do He that reads Act. 15. and the Epist to the Gal. and Heb. sure will not believe it to be true Doctrin if he understand what he readeth 2. Nay the very curse is so far taken away for all that it now lyeth not on them as the unremedied curse of the Law but is put into the power of the Lord-Redeemer who hath by the tenour of his Testament or New Law taken it away from all Men on condition they will accept him And this may be said also of the Law of Works as given to Adam So that he that saith Christ died only for the Elect must needs say I think if he will not contradict himself that all the Non Elect must turn Jews and be circumcised and keep all the Law of Moses And consequently that all the Elect themselves must do so till God assure them that they are Elect and so that Christ died for them Because they cannot avoid the duty upon a ground that is wholly to them unknown Arg. 21. Ab officio praedicantium Doctrinam Evangelii If the whole or main work of the Preachers of the Gospel do suppose Christs Universal satisfaction as its ground then Christ hath satisfied for all But the Antecedent is true therefore so is the consequent It is only the Antecedent of the Major proposition that requires proof To which end let us enumerate the parts of the Work of Preaching And the enumeration is to be taken from the enumeration of the parts of the New Law for that is the subject which we must preach of Now the Law is first a Declaration of the Occasion or Narration of the matter of Fact as an Introduction to the more essential parts 2. Those parts themselves which are 1. The precept constituting duty To which I joyn the prohibition as one part of it being but preceptum de non agendo 2. The constitution of the debitum premii vel beneficii 1. By an absolute promise 2. By a conditional promise or gift 3. The constitution of the condition as such 4. The constitution of the debitum Poenae by the threatning This much quoad materiam And then quoad finem the Preacher must manage all these 1. To the glorifying of God for the great work of Redemption 2. For the winning of Souls to Christ and confirming them in the Faith This is the Ministerial Work Now. 1. For the Narration or Declarative part of the Gospel which is matter of Assent I have already shewed that if his Universal satisfaction be not declared the main part is left out that should honour the Redeemer and there is nothing declared that can groundedly encourage a Sinner to believe and rest on Christ as a sufficient Saviour 2. The precept is that Men believe in Christ and rest on him as their Redeemer for justification by his Blood And the contrary unbelief and distrust is forbidden Now what ground can a Minister have to press
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
your cannot and will-not is all one As for those men that open their mouths against the most High and say that if God give not willingness and faith to men he doth but delude them to tell them that Christ died for them and to give them Christ if they will I intreat them to consider 1. God hath laid the cause of mens perdition on their own will still in his word and will do at Judgment 2. God hath taught all men naturally to accuse themselves when their wilfulness was the cause 3. The light of Nature teacheth all Nations under Heaven to lay the blame on the wilful and to make all their Laws and execute all their Judgments on that ground acquitting men so far as they can be discovered to have been forced and involuntary excusing him that can say I did it against my Will condemning those that did it willingly Deny this therefore and you deny 1. The Law of God in Scripture 2. The Law of natural Conscience 3. And overthrow all Laws of Nature and Nations and all Churches and Commonwealths Did ever any sober Prince say I will not condemn a man for wilful Murther because he hath not free-will nor power to forbear it except God give it him Or did ever wise Judge absolve an offender on that ground If a VVhore-monger or Drunkard so accustom themselves to those sins that they have contracted a habit and cannot forbear them did ever any Law-giver Judge or Wise man take that for an excuse Or rather for the most hainous aggravation of his fault God and Nature hath taught all men in their enquiries after the cause of sin to stop at mans Will and lay the blame there In intreat wise godly men therefore that they would not shut the very eyes of Nature it self and overthrow all order of things for their by-conceits and when they have done to fly in Gods Face with such horrid desperate unreverence and presumption as to say God deceives and deludes men if he give a Ransom for them and give them Christ and Pardon on condition of their willingness except he also make them willing I have before shewed it without any participation with Pelagius that all men that perish do suffer for abuse of Grace sufficient to its immediate use and end and if God will not suffer all so to perish but compel some to come in when he doth but invite others our Eye must not be evil because he is good He deals mercifully with all but more mercifully with some those therefore shall for ever glorifie his Mercy and the rest be left without all just excuse and be speechless The 9th Text is Mat. 18. 27 32 34 35. Then the Lord of that Servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the Debt c. Then his Lord after that he had called him said unto him O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow Servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also to you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his Brother their trespasses Here it 's plainly said by Christ himself that the debt was forgiven him who afterward perished Whence I argue ab offectu ad causam therefore Christ died for him For without Blood there is no remission Two things are said against this 1. That Theologia parabolica non est Argumentativâ— Ans And I am sure that Christ's Theology is not delusory or false If he taught by Parables then his Parables were and are teaching and if teaching then we may argue from them But consider though it 's certain that nothing in Parables is to be stretched beyond the intent yet this is the plain sense and intent Christ shewing that those that have received mercy for their own sins must forgive others or else they shall perish as ungrateful for what they had received and as unmerciful to others 1. It is twice over expresly said that he forgave him the Debt 2. The effect followed he loosed him viz. from Prison 3. It is the aggravation of his following sin to be ungrateful for his own pardon and there is no ingratitude possible if it had not been true that he received that mercy himself 4. Christ expresly openeth and applieth all this to his own Disciples saying so also will my Heavenly Father do to you if you from your Hearts forgive not c. so that it is past doubt that this forgiveness was real 2. The other objection is this Those that are forgiven never fall away or perish and therefore this parable is not so to be understood Ans The text saith plainly the debt was forgiven and therefore it is certainly true There is a fourfold forgiveness of sin which I desire may be well observed First upon Christs undertaking to suffer and so his moral satisfying God the Father as the offended Legislator of the Law of Nature remitted his right of punishing and advantage of honouring his Justice meerly on that ground and in that Relation suspending the obligation of that Law and delivering up the sinner and all his Debts into the full power or hands of him that Redeemed him giving him authority to give remission to whom he pleased on terms of Grace so that as Christ and not man did satisfie Justice so it seemed most meet to the Wisdom of God that Christ and not man himself should be the first receiver of the pardon and other benefits but with this difference 1. Christ receiveth them eminenter in potestate conferendi as he hath power to confer them on the Redeemed But we receive them from Christ formaliter in themselves 2. Christ receiveth them for our good It is not the pardon of any sins of his own that he receiveth But we receive them for our own good So that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son and he that hath the Son hath life God hath put a Pardon for us into Christs hands in giving him this Power and Christ must be the conveyer to us in the exercise of his Power For as the Father Judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son so he Absolveth no man but hath committed all Absolution to the Son For Absolution is one half of Judgment That is God as the Rector according to the meer Law of Nature and as meer Creator on the first ground judgeth no man But now he judgeth all as Redeemer on terms of Mercy by him that Redeemed us and so Absolveth So then the first pardon of sin was in Potentia Remittendi virtual put into the hand of Christ only for his Sacrifice and Satisfaction and not to the sinner immediately himself 2. The second Pardon is by Christ thus Authorized and it is by him as