be a subject is Antecedent to the being of an Obedient or a Rewarded Subject so Christs Antecedent mercies of Redemption extend to more than his consequent mercies do which suppose the performance of the conditions of his Covenant Prop. XLVIII The foundations of Christs Kingdom being first laid in his undertaking Performances Death Resurrection and Legislation or Covenant-making so there are three distinct states of his subjects 1. The Antecedent state Antecedent to any act of their own is to be subditi obligati obliged subjects 2. The mediate state is to be consenting obedient subjects or rebellious and disobedient 3. The consequent state is to be justified rewarded subjects or Condemned Subjects And it will not follow that Christ never brought men into the first condition because he never brought them into the last Prop. XLIX Accordingly the Kingdom of Christ the Mediator in its largest extent containeth all Mankind as redeemed and made his obliged Subjects though most prove Rebells But in a limited sense it containeth only the faithful obedient and justified part of the universal Kingdom Prop. L. It is this second consenting Part of his subjects only who are his Church and are by Baptism engaged to him So that the Kingdom of Christ as Redeemer is larger than his Church and they are not words of the same signification unless when the word Kingdom is taken in the narrow sense Prop. LI. God hath not divided the World into two Parts and put one Part only under the Government of Christ and Governeth the other immediately himself only as meer Creator But Christ is Administrator General over all Mankind Prop. LII They that say that God giveth all the mercies which the ungodly have according to the first Covenant of Innocency must make that Covenant another thing than indeed it was Prop. LIII They that feign God to continue the Covenant of Innocency as to the Promissory Part and to Covern those that are born in sin and misery by that Law which saith Be Innocent and Live do expose Gods Government falsly to reproach Prop. LIV. They that hold that Heathens and Hypocrites are under no Covenant or Law that hath conditional promises do deny a great Part of Gods Government of Mankind and give them more excuse for their neglect of all means for their Salvation than is true or than God will allow of Prop. LV. They that say that all the mercies bestowed on Heathens or Hypocrites are given them without the purchase of Christ by the meer will of God not respecting any reconciler or Propitiation do Sin against the Scripture reasons of Christs Office and undertaking and do open a Gap for the reasonings of them who plead against the necessity of Christs death for the Elect. Prop. LVI Though Christs Dominion over inanimates and Bruits do not prove that he dyed for them Yet his dying for Mankind in general procured his Dominion over them which is joyned with his Empire over the same Persons which he exerciseth by such Laws as have a tendency to their repentance Pardon and Salvation Prop. LVII All this considered It is de nomine a proper Speech much used in Scripture to say that Christ dyed for all Men and is the Saviour of the World and is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World and is a propitiation for the Sins of the whole World and tasted Death for every man and that if one Died for all then were all Dead c. Seeing all the foresaid Benefits of his Death are actually given them Some Expository Thesis about the Effects of the Death of Christ Proposition I. THE First and most Immediate Use and Effect of Christs Death was the satisfaction of Gods Justice for mans Violation of his Law Prop. II. It was not the Law it self that Christ satisfied if we speak properly but the Law-giver Though improperly the Law it self may be said to be satisfied when its Ends are attained that is the Ends of the Legislator in giving the Law The Law knows no proper satisfaction To admit of satisfaction instead of fulfilling and execution is beyond the power of the Law and is the act of the Legislator as he is above the Law Prop. III. Christ did not suffer from the Obligation of the Law but from the Obligation of his own Sponsion on occasion of the Laws obliging us to suffer The Law never obliged Christ to Suffer though it did to obedience Prop. IV. Christs sufferings were not a fulfilling of the Laws Threatning though he bore its Curse Materially but a satisfaction for our not fulfilling the Precept and to prevent Gods fulfilling the Threatning on us Prop. V. Christ paid not therefore the Idem but the Tantundem or aequivalens not the very Debt which we owed and the Law required but the Value Else it were not strictly satisfaction which is Redditio aequivalentis And it being improperly called the Paying of a Debt but properly A suffering for the Guilty the Idem is nothing but Supplicium Delinquentis In Criminals Dum alius solvit simul aliud solvitur The Law knoweth no Vicarius Poenae though the Lawmaker may admit it as he is above Law Else there were no place for Pardon if the proper Debt be Paid and the Law not Relaxed but Fulfilled Prop. VI. The Meriting and Purchasing of further Benefits is consequential to the satisfactoriness of Christs Death It would be so far from meriting as it is his meer hurt were it not first necessary for satisfaction that it would be displeasing to God who is merciful and delighteth not in the Blood of the Just Prop. VII Though Christs Death be first satisfactory and next Meritorious of further good Yet hic Obedience is first Meritorious and afterward Satisfactory For it could not Satisfie but by Meriting Prop. VIII Because Punishment is not a Thing Commanded by the Law but Threatued therefore all Obedience properly is active for suspensive is by act of will and the distinction between Christs Active and Passive Obedience must be carefully understood or else it will tend to confound Obedience and Punishment His Passive Obedience is but his Obeying in Submission to suffering where the Consent or Submission is the direct matter of Obedience and not the suffering it self submitted to Prop. IX Christ did Give his Satisfaction directly and strictly not to Man for whom he suffered but to God whom he satisfied Prop. X. Yet he may be said to Give it to men especially in their Union with him and Justification in that he gives them the fruits of it As a Father is said to give his Son a thousand pound that layeth it out in Lands for him Though properly the Seller hath the Mony and the Son the Lands only Prop. XI It was not the Sins of the Elect only but of all Mankind fallen which lay upon Christ satisfying And to assert the contrary injuriously diminisheth the Honour of his Sufferings and hath other desperate ill consequences Prop. XII Christs
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
proper Empire or Rectorship over Bruits For they are not capable of being Subjects of a Kingdom 2. His Dominion over them is but as they are subservient to his ends for Man and as they are Mans Servants and Utensils 3. Christ hath not that I can find in Scripture any novum jus Dominii any new propriety as Redeemer in Devils or in good Angels But having an ancient propriety in them as being their Creator he useth them accordingly for his Redemption ends 4. Nor do I find that he hath purchased any new proper absolute jus imperii or Rectorship over them but only a power of using them for his Church and for service about Man he shall send them on 5. And therefore I say the Empire of Christ over Angels is not of the same kind with that which he hath over Men and which we use in the Argument to prove that he died for Men. if both should be called by the same title of a novum jus imperii yet the difference of the Subjects sufficeth to shew the different Sence of the same attribute as severally applied I find not that Christ any where proclaims himself the King of Devils or Angels nor requires them to take him for their King nor hath made any new Laws to govern them by as he hath done for Men nor hath restored any forfeited mercy to them nor offers them pardon of any Sin upon condition of repentance nor will judg them on such terms So that if it should be proved that the good Angels are part of his Kingdom as Redeemer yet it would be but as their confirmer and not as a Redeemer of them For he is never offered to them as a Redeemer nor did they need any for ought I know He took not on him the nature of Angels but of the Seed of Abraham He is Head over all things to his Church Eph. 1. 22. That is He is superior to Angels and all things and hath the disposal of them for his Churches use but he is only Head of his Church de facto as to proper Kingly Rule and of the rest of the World de jure who shall suffer as Rebels for not acknowledging his Title and because they would not that he should reign over them Luke 39. 27. But so shall not Bruits or Devils So that the Argument will hold good â— jure novo Dominii Imperii from Christs new propriety in and Rectorship over Men to his Redeeming them by his Blood But so it will not from that kind of Dominion which Christ hath over Bruits or that kind of Rule that he hath over Angels or Devils to his Redemption of them And yet for Bruits as they suffered for the sake of Man and as they shall be restored from their suffering for the use and sake of Man so the same Blood which purchased Mans Restoration did remotely and collaterally purchase theirs Let us illustrate all by a similitude as near resembling the present case as we can imagine Suppose when King James Raigned in England that Ireland had all fallen into Rebellion and so open bloody and malicious that the King were resolved not a Man of them should be pardoned or escape Hereupon in the height of their malice they intice all Scotland into Rebellion also But because they are but deluded into it by the Irish and not maliciously bent against him as they or because being his Countrimâ—â— he hath a special respect to them it is concluded betwixt him and his only Son that his Son shall pay their ransome or by some publickly shameful suffering shall make that satisfaction to the Law and that Reparation to the King which may suffice to deter all others from Rebellion and openly in his suffering shall publish This I 〈◊〉 willingly for the offence of my Rebellions 〈◊〉 to procure them mercy Hereupon by agreement the Prince is to undertake it as his further business to use means for the bringing them all back to their allegiance To which end the whole Kingdom of Scotland is given up to him as King upon his satisfaction and Ramsome and he is to make a General pardon or Act of Oblivion to all so be it they do by such a day come in and lay down Arms and return to their Allegiance and acknowledg the Kings Grace and the Princes singular favour in Ransoming them and will take him for their King upon this Ransome And for those that will not accept this offer the Prince is to subdue them by force and destroy them that they shall have no benefit of the Ransome And for all the Irish which he finds among them seducing them he is to destroy them or use them to what servitude in the mean time he please Also he is to make use of any of the Kings Servants or Subjects of England to send on his Message to summon them to come in Now I demand 1. Hath not the Prince here Ransomed all the Scots over whom he hath his Jus Dominii Imperii That is absolutely all 2. Doth it follow that therefore he hath Ransomed the Irish because he hath power to judg and destroy them or use them in servitude 3. Or doth it follow that he hath Ransomed the Trees Beasts and Lands of the Country because he hath a propriety in them as the Goods or Utensils of them whom he Ransomed 4. Or did he Ransome any of the Kings Servants or English because he hath power to send them on his message or command them on his Service into Scotland If one argue thus with a Scot the Prince hath a new Title of Dominion and Empire over all you Scotsmen as ransomer therefore he ransomed you all this is no unsound arguing And would you confute it bâ— saying that then he ransomed the English and Irish too yea the Lands and Trees and Beasts By the Scots I mean mankind By the Irish the Devils by the Kings Servants or English the Angels And by the Lands Trees c. I mean all the creatures on Earth as Servants of Man A Man would think that those Men that do so vehemently contend that Christ is the Head of the visible Church and the King of this visible Kingdom which comprehendeth good and bad should easily yield to this Argument If Christ be the Head or King of all the visible Church and consequently of more than the Elect then did he die for the visible Church and so for more than the Elect But the Antecedent is maintained stifly by themselves Ergo c. When they have voluminously pleaded for the Honours and Priviledges of the Church visible viz. That even the unregenerate part of it are Disciples Christians 〈◊〉 Believers Adopted in Covenant c. And that Christ is their Master King and Head will they say that yet for all this Christ did not die for them Why hereby they incur these intollerable inconveniences 1. That such excellent gifts and Gospel Priviledges should flow from any other fountain than the
fruit in all the World but that it is come into all the World and bringeth forth Fruit viz. in some where it comes 2. But suppose it were otherwise doth not Christ say that the Gospel doth bring forth fruit in more than the Elect viz. in many that fall away when Persecution ariseth Mat. 13. And in whom the cares of the World do choak that Fruit. 3. Were these Colos all Elect to whom Paul speaks 4. It is a known truth that the Gospel comes to more than the Elect for many are called but few chosen next they alledge 2 Cor. 5. 19. which makes sufficiently against their whole cause as shall be shewen anon when we come to it Another place cited by them is 1 Joh. 2. 2. Christ is the propitiation of the sins of the whole World Ans If they may thus beg the question all Texts shall mean as they would have them Of this anon Another place cited is Psal 22. 27. All the ends of the World remember and turn unto the Lord And all the Kindreds of the Nations shall worship before thee For the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is the Governour among the Nations Ans 1. All the ends of the World is not so large as all the World 2. It is plain that this Text speaks of the establishment of Christs visible Kingdom which contains more than the Elect. The Net of the Gospel brings Fishes good and bad The Heathen Countries that have turned to the Lord from Paganism and Infidelity have not all believed to Salvation The Kingdoms of the World shall become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ But they are not all Elect. These are all the Texts that I find urged to to prove that by the World is signified only the Elect. 2. And what if it were so in some places 1. It follows not that it is so here 2. The usual Sense must not be forsaken without cause Nor is it sufficient that unusually it is otherwise taken 3. The conjoyned words will shew the necessity of a restrained Sense where such a Sense is necessary to be received but so they do not here but contrarily as hath been shewed Their 4th Reason to prove that by the World is here meant the Elect only is this If every one in the World be intended why doth not the Lord in the pursuit of this Love reveal Christ to all so loved Ans This is to be fully answered anon among the main Objections by it self Lastly they say else all these will follow 1. That some are beloved and hated also from Eternity 2. That God's Love towards innumerable is fruitless and vain 3. That the Son of God is given to them that never hear word of him and have no power granted to believe in him 4. That God is mutable in his Love or else he still loveth those that be in Hell 5. That he gives not all things to them to whom he gives his Son 6. That he knows not certainly before who shall believe and be saved Ans To the first I thought no Antiarminian Divine ever denied it God hateth all the Workers of iniquity Psal 5. 5. You will not say that he hated them not from Eternity Many of the Workers of iniquity are Elect and so loved from Eternity God's Love is spoken say Divines ab effectu potius quam ab affectu God from Eternity so loved Men not Elect as to give them on Creation Everlasting Life in Adam on condition of fulfilling the first Covenant and to give them everlasting life in Christ on condition of believing according to the second Covenant And yet he decreed not to give any Men Grace to perform the condition of the first covenant nor to give all men Grace to perform the condition of the second To the 2d Consequence I shall answer fully by it self anon among the contrary Arguments To the 3d. also I shall there answer To the 4th I say for it is not worth a fuller answer 1. All Divines that I know say that God loveth those in Hell as his Creatures and as Men Aquinas and the rest of the Schoolmen have it frequently Yea Ursine Rob. Baronius and many of our Protestant Divines say that he punisheth those in Hell short of their deserving and so sheweth some mercy there that I will not meddle with 2. If you speak of God's Love as it is in effectu and not in affectu then it is certainly mutable He gives Men those mercies which for their â—buse he removeth or turneth to judgments He gives to all a conditional Pardon and Life And after condemneth most to Death for not performing the condition To the Elect themselves these Effects are changeable 3. If you say God's Love is but his Velle bonum alicui and therefore he cannot be said now Men are in Hell to continue to will them a conditional Pardon and Life Therefore God's Love must be mutable I answer Let those Owls that love to blind themselves by gazing on the Sun of God's undiscernable Infiniteness undertake to tell what God's Love is and what his Will is and how he Wills that which is past c. For my part I pretend not to a capacity of discerning any such things 2. You may enforce your objection as strongly concerning God's Love to the Elect He once willed their Creation then he willed to redeem them by Christ then he willed to call them and to give them their first justification to deliver them from this sickness and that danger then he willed that they should die and then that they should rise again If you will tell me how God after the Resurrection will continue to all Eternity to will to create Man to redeem him to call him justifie him deliver him raise him c. then I will tell you how God will Eternally will the giving Christ Pardon and Salvation conditionally to all If you say he Wills them as preterita and not as presentia vel futura you may say so by this If you say that there is no preteritum vel futurum with God but all present and therefore he willeth them as preterita sic dicta quoad hominem vel fidem mensuram humanam sed ut presentia quoad Deum the like you may say here also To the 5th Consequence I must answer anon by it self when we speak of their Argument from Rom. 8. 32. To the 6th It is a naked affirmation as easily denied Dare Men say that it was no mercy or love of God to give mankind in Adam Eternal Life on condition of keeping his Law because God foreknew or foredecreed they would not or should not keep it And so not attain the fruit of that Govenant thereby Dare these Men pretending to preach the Gospel tell their hearers that to all of them except the Elect the preaching the Gospel and therein the offer and conditional gift of Christ Pardon Justification and Salvation is no mercy nor from any love of God to