goodnesse of God as a Creator towards his Creatures The Lord saith David is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works * Psal 145 9. erga omnia opera ejus as Piscator i. e. are extended and shewen unto all his Creatures But had he intended from eternity to abandon the far greatest part of the best of his works Men to the vengeance of eternall Fire could his tender mercies in any tolerable sence be said to be over these Especially can those men justifie David in such a saying as this who conceive and teach that whatsoever God doth in a providentiall way for such Men so abandoned as in causing his Sun to rise or his Raine to fall upon them in filling their hearts with food and gladnesse in giving them Health Wealth Liberty Peace c. he doth all with an intent to harden them and so to bring that heavy destruction upon them with the more severity and terror in the end whereunto they were predestinated and appointed from the beginning Will Men call Health Peace Liberty Meats Drinks c. given with an intent to become snares unto Men and to bring inevitable damnation upon them the tender Mercies of God The holy Man Job being conscious to himself of no signall departure from God by unrighteousnesse in any kinde looked upon that dispensation of God in so severely afflicting him as very strange and that only upon this account that he was his Creator Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about meaning that he was the sole Author of Being unto him yet thou dost destroy me Remember I beseech thee that thou hast MADE me as the Clay and wilt thou bring me into the dust againe a Job 10. 8. 9. If Job thought it strange that God being the Author of Life and Being unto him should without any grand offence or provocation given him handle him with so much severity as he conceived in the outer Man how incredible would the Doctrine of those Men have been unto him who teach that God from eternity hath irreversibly consigned over to the mercilesse torments of Hell fire millions of millions of Men who never offended or provoked him in the least The same Author doth elsewhere also notably assert the universall Love Care and Respects of God as a Creator towards men alledging the consideration of these as a grand ingagement upon him to deale justly and equally with his Servants If I did despise the cause of my man servant or of my maid servant when they contended with me what then shall I doe when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Did not he that made me in the womb make him and did not one fashion us in the womb b Job 31. 13 14 15. Cleerly intimating a tender care and regard in God towards Men even the poorest and least considerable of them After the same manner Elihu also advanceth the poore into equall respects with Princes before God viz. because they as well as these are the works of his hands How much lesse to him who accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poore FOR THEY ARE ALL THE WORK OF HIS HANDS a Job 34. 19. cleerly implying that that relation wherein every Man standeth towards God as his Creature is a pledge of security unto him that God tenderly Loveth and Respecteth him excepting only the case before excepted From the Scriptures lately produced unto which double their number confederate in the same Truth with them might be added it manifestly appeares that such an hatred or rejection of the Creature by God from eternity as is commonly taught and received amongst us is broadly and wholly inconsistent with that Love Tendernesse and Respect which the Relation of a Creator to a Creature every where imports and consequently is not to be looked upon as any Prerogative worthy of him CHAP. V. Foure severall Veynes or Correspondencies of Scriptures Propounded holding forth the Death of CHRIST for all Men without exception of any The first of these Argued THe Premises considered me thinks it is one of the strangest and most §. 1. importune sayings that to my remembrance I ever met with from the Pen of a learned and considerate Man which I finde in the Writings of a late Opposer of Universall Attonement I know saith he no Article of the M. S. R. Gospell which this new and wicked Religion of Universall attonement doth not contradict That which he calls a new and wicked Religion the Doctrine of Universall Attonement I shall God assisting and granting life and health for the finishing of this Present Discourse evince both from the maine and cleer current of the Scriptures themselves as likewise by many impregnable undeniable Demonstrations and Grounds of Reason to be a most ancient and Divine truth yea to be none other but the Heart and Soul the Spirit and Life the strength and substance and brief sum of the glorious Gospell it self Yea I shall make it appeare from ancient Records of best credit and from the confessions of moderne Divines themselves of best account adversaries in the point that Universall Attonement by Christ was a Doctrine generally taught and held in the Churches of Christ for three hundred yeares together next after the Apostles And if I conceived it worth the undertaking or were minded to turne the streame of my Discourse that way I question not but I could make it as cleer as the Sun shining in his might that there is no Article of the Gospell as this Mans dialect is I mean no great or weighty point of the Christian Faith can stand with a rationall consistency unlesse the Doctrine of Universall Attonement be admitted for a Truth Yea upon a diligent and strict iniquiry it will be found that if any Man holds such a limited Râ—demption as is commonly taught and believed amongst us and yet withall â—â—â—es holily and like a Christian he acts in full contradiction to such a Principle and happily denies that in practice which erroneously he holds in judgement God in such cases as these makes Grapes to grow on Thornes and Figgs on Thistles nor doth there want any thing but Sence and Visibility of the disproportion between the cause and the effect to make the lives and wayes of such persons miraculous Neither doth any thing nor all things that I could ever yet meet with either from the Tongues or Pens of the greatest Patrons of particular Redemption deliver me from under much admiration that consciencious and learned Men professing subjection of judgement to the Scriptures should either deny universall or assert particular Redemption considering that the Scriptures in particularity plainnesse and expresness of words phrase do more then ten times over deliver the former whereas the latter is no where asserted by them but only stands upon certaine venturous consequences and deductions which the weake judgements of Men so much
by all Divines That God willeth nothing in time b Deus potest nihil velle in tempore Deus non potest non habere volitionem quam habet Non potest habere volitionem quam non habet Daven Animadversions c. p. 484 but all things in or from Eternity Now there is the same reason or consideration of His Foreknowledg which there is of His Will As He willeth nothing in time so neither doth He foreknow or foresee any thing in time His foreseeing of things being nothing really but Himself as all His Actions are it must needs be as ancient as Himself and co-eternal with Himself So likewise that Act of His whereby He gives or imparts any thing unto men though the gift it self given by it doth not come to the hands of men or to be received by men until such or such a time yet this Act it self of His was from Eternity c See this argued at large fully cleared Cap. 4. Sec. 14 15 c. and consequently is not capable of being foreseen by God because it was as ancient as any foresight or foreknowledg in God yea as God Himself And for the sad event or consequent of this action or gift of His unto men though He may in a sence formerly declared d Cap. 2. Sect. 2. 6. be said to foresee it because it hapneth in time yet in as much as that act passed from Him from Eternity and so was from Eternity irreversible by which the gift or gifts sorting to so sad an event in the Receiver were conferred upon Him in time there is no Reason nor colour of Reason why He should be thought to give such gifts being in themselves good and worthy His infinite goodness out of any whit the less love grace or mercy towards Him who receiveth them because He foresaw after His manner of foreseeing that they would be abused by Him to His harm especially considering that it was not in his Power I mean in the Power of God to have done more towards the preventing of such an abuse of them by such a man then He did It cannot be thought but that God did foresee that the Jews of old would mock His Messengers and despise His Words and mis-use His Prophets until His Wrath arose against them and till there was no remedy yet the vouchsafement of these means of Grace and of Repentance the sending of his Messengers Words and Prophets unto them is expresly attributed unto his Compassion i. e. his love of pity or benevolousness of affection towards them And the Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by His Messengers rising up betimes and sending BECAVSE HE HAD COMPASSION ON HIS PEOPLE and on His dwelling place 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. In like manner our Saviour certainly foresaw that Jerusalem afterwards would not understand or accept of the things of Her peace the means of her safety and preservation yet he ascribes the vouchsafement of them unto her unto a genuine tenderness of love and care in him towards her and her children O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together as an Hen gathereth Her Chickens under Her wing and ye would not Mat. 23. 37. But is it not it is like you will demand in the Power of God absolutely §. 15. to prevent the abuse of those good gifts of his we speak of by the Receivers and consequently to do more towards the preventing of this abuse then he doth I answer No both Reason and Religion which yet is nothing but Reason in her exaltation teach us to judg and say that it is not in the Power of God to prevent the abuse of those good gifts we speak of in the Receivers otherwise then now he doth prevent it viz. by affording sufficient means unto them for the prevention of it this I say neither was nor is according to the sound Principles both of Reason and Religion any whit more in the Power of God to do then it is in his Power to lye deceive oppress or do any other thing most unworthy of him For he that is Omnipotent must needs be Omniprudent also and he that is Omniprudent cannot do any thing in the least degree repugnant to the most rigid and district Principles of the most perfect Wisdom and Prudence that is We see it amongst men that the wiser any man is in reality and truth so much the less liberty or Power he hath to do any thing contrary to the Laws and Dictates of true Wisdom and the weaker and more defective any man is in this Wisdom the more liberty and Power he hath to do foolishly or uncomely What was it that made Joseph unable to commit that great wickedness whereunto he was sollicited by his Mistress How CAN I do this great wickedness saith he a Gen. 39. 9. meaning that he COVLD not do it whereas doubtless there were men enough in the World that both could and would have done such a thing as that though he COVLD not So what was it that made Paul unable to do any thing against the Truth and able onely to act for the Truth For we saith he can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth b 2 Cor. 13. 8 Whereas there were and are at this day thousands in the World able i. e. at liberty in their Wills and Consciences to act ten times more against the Truth then for the Truth The true Reason why neither of these men had any Power were not able to do those unworthy things which a thousand other men had Power enough to do was because they had so much true Wisdom in them above other men which would not suffer them to do such unseemly and unworthy things And generally we finde it that the more knowingly and prudently consciencious men or women are the more they are bound up in themselves and have so much the less liberty or Power to do things that are uncomely then other men So then God being infinitely more wise and that with the truest and best Wisdom that can be imagined then the wisest of men must needs in a way of Reason be conceived to be more bound up in Himself to have less liberty or Power to do any thing contrary to any Rule Dictate or Principle of the most exquisite Wisdom that is then any creature whatsoever whether Men or Angels The Apostle as is well known breaks forth in an holy kinde of astonishment upon his Contemplation of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God O the depths of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! How unsearchable are His Judgments meaning that for matter of Wisdom and Knowledg by which they are ordered managed and administred they are unsearchable viz. to the bottom or in respect of all the strains or variety of Wisdom that are in them and his ways in respect of the numberless
God Himself as it was might very well had they not been negligent or willingly blind have been apprehended and submitted unto by them as a way and means of Justification far more rationall more full of Wisdom and Equity and every wayes more honourable unto and better becoming God then that way and Method of their imagination I mean by the observation of Moses Law 3. Though it be not to be denied but that God hath an absolute Sovereignty §. 37. and Lordship over his Creature i. e. a lawfull power to dispose of it as he pleaseth yet it is an horrible indignity and affront put upon him and no lesse then a constructive deniall of his Infinite Grace Goodnesse Mercy Bounty Love c. to affirm that he exerciseth or administreth this Soveraignty and Power upon the hardest terms and most grievous unto his Creature that can lighâ—â—y be imagined yea and no wayes conducing unto his own glory which notwithstanding they affirm in effect who maintain that from eternity He left or purposed to leave the far greatest part of his most excellent Creaturâ—â— Men to everlasting Misery and Ruine without any possibility of making an escape therefrom Suppose that God should grant an absolute Power unto Parents over their Children as that if they pleas'd they might slay them or dispose of them to be stain which some learned Men are not far from supposing that God did grant unto Parents under the Law a Vi. Ludov. Cappell de voto Jepthae Diatrib or else to expose them to the wide World as soon as they are borne to suffer all the extremities that are incident to flesh and blood can it be imagined that persons of loving kinde and â—ender disposâ—tions by Nature would ever marry out of a desire to have Children that they might shew their Prerogative or absolute Power over them either in disposing of them unto death or exposing them unto misery as soon as they should be borne Or are such Intentions or Desires as these any wayes consistent with sweetnesse goodnesse and tendernesse of disposition How prodigiously then and portentuously inconsistent must it needs be with the Grace Goodnesse Mercy Bounty Love of God which are all Infinite to create millions of Men-creatures with a desire or intention to declare his Prerogative over them in leaving them irrecoverably irrevocably unavoydably to the â—aslesse endlesse torments of Hell 4. Suppose such a Preterition or Dereliction of the Creature as this §. 38. could be reconciled or argued into some tolerable consistency with the Grace Goodnesse Sweetnesse Love Bounty and Mercy of God yet the Wisdom of God will not bear them as being most disadvantagious unto him in point of glory or at least comparaâ—ively disadvantagious I mean in respect of that other most wise just and equall disposition of them wherein and according unto which he is asserted to have predestinated or purposed so many of them be they fewer or be they more as should truly believe unto life and glory and the residue be they fewer or be they more viz. all those who should not believe being capable through years of believing and otherwise competently rationall unto destruction Such a Predestination of men from eternity as this the Scriptures cleerly and frequently hold forth yea those that are contrary minded in the present controversies subscribe hereunto and without controversie such a Predestination as this is fairly and fully consistent with the glory of his Wisdom and highly commends and magnifies either all or the greatest part of his Attributes without the least disparagement or obscuration unto any Whereas that doom-full preterition that blood which many wring out of the Scriptures in stead of Milke hath no rationall or intelligible comport at all with any of them but casts a kinde of spirit of obscurity and contristation upon them all Nor did any of those I verily believe who have been the rigidest and most confident assertors of it ever so much as undertake to shew how or wherein it gratifieth or complieth with any of them no nor have they all been able with any tolerable satisfaction to Men of unpartiall and free judgements to discharge it of those imputations of Malignancy against the glory of the Divine Attributes which the Dis-assertors of it have charged upon it 5. And lastly the Scriptures are so far from countenancing or asserting §. 39. any such exercise of prerogative in God over his Creature which consists in a most severe and dreadfull dereliction of them from eternity to unavoydable and endlesse misery that they still present Him as a Creator of far another Spirit yea of a Spirit directly contrary to that which such a dereliction notoriously imports These frequently commend Him as a Creator very Gracious Loving Mercifull and Bountifull towards all the works of his hands and towards Men above all in so much that our Saviour himself recommends him unto his Saints in his deportments even towards the worst and most unworthy of Men as an absolute pattern for them to imitate in doing good and shewing mercy even to their enemies But I say unto you love your enemies blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you That yee may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evill and on the good and sendeth raine on the just and on the unjust a Mat. 5. 44. 45. If it shall be supposed that God from eternity hath irreversibly doomed to eternall destruction those evill and unjust ones on whom he maketh his Sun to rise and sendeth Raine it must be supposed withall that he intends the greatest evill unto them that can be imagined even whilest he doth these good things unto them If so then must they who imitate him in such wayes be the most accursed Hypocrites and Dissemblers under Heaven making shew of Love and Kindnesse in their outward deportments whilest War and Blood are in their hearts towards men yea and doing good unto them with a purpose and desire of bringing so much the greater evill and destruction upon them thereby But the Scripture every where abounds in giving testimony to the Love and Goodnesse of God towards all his Creatures The Apostle Peter styleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Faithfull Creator â— Pet. 4. ult and willeth Christians to commit their Soules unto him in well doing upon that account viz. as one or as a God that would faithfully perform and discharge the Relation of a Creator unto them In calling him a Faithfull Creator he cleerly intimates that there is a kinde of naturall tie or ingagement upon every Author of Being whether unto persons or things which promiseth unto those who receive Being from them in any kinde a regular and due care in them for their preservation and good The relation of a Parent Father or Mother promiseth unto the Child a regular care
are needless where Primitives are at hand According to this kinde of expression God may be said to give men one heart and one way that c. and so to put his fear into their hearts that c. when he vouchsafeth and exhibiteth such motives means and opportunities unto them which are efficacious and proper to work them to such a frame and disposition of Heart and Soul out of which men are wont firmly to resolve to love serve and obey him for ever whether they be actually wrought or brought hereunto or no. In this sence it is easie to conceive when and how the said Promises were performed or fulfilled as viz. to a good degree in upon and soon after that famous Deliverance out of their seventy years Captivity God hereby as by many other signal mercies vouchsafed unto them soon after their return about the repairing of their City and Temple as likewise by the effectual Ministry of several great Prophets raised up amongst them from time to time mightily engaging them all to devote themselves unto him and his service for ever But more fully and gloriously when the great Messiah was sent unto them in the flesh by whose unparallel'd â—olinesse in Life and Conversation together with His frequent and wonderfull miracles and especially by His Doctrine so full of Heavenly Authority Light and Power they were only not compelled into such an heart and such a way wherewith and wherein to have feared i. e. to have religiously served and obeyed Him for ever In so much that proving such Apostates as they wilfully became under such transcendent means as they had to have rendered them the best and most faithfull People under Heaven unto their God they declared themselves to be the most stiff-necked and rebellious Generation of Men in all the World and were judged by God accordingly Take any other sence of the Promises or words now in question especially that which is so much contended for and which imports a finall Perseverance in grace to be wrought in this People by the irresistible Hand of God and it will be impossible for any Man to finde so much as by probable conjecture when or how they should ever be fulfilled To say that they might even in that sence which I so much oppose be fulfilled constantly in the Elect of this People is to say that which reason will gainesay For 1. An absolute or un-conditioned Promise made to a great number of Men cannot be said to be fulfilled when the thing promised is exhibited only to some few of them Now the Promises under debate were cleerly made to the whole body or nation of the Jews as we have formerly proved from the expresse Context and not to the Elect only amongst them 2. According to their judgments who plead the fulfilling of them in this sence the Persons for whose sakes and comfort they were made the Elect might yea must needs have had every whit as much comfort without them as they could have with or by them For they knew before the making of any of these Promises to them that being Elect and once in an estate of grace they should persevere therein unto the end And thus these great and signall Promises of God shall be rendred voyd and meere impertinencies unto those for whose sake only they are supposed to have been made 3. And lastly to say they were fulfilled in the Elect in the sence gainesaid is to begg the question instead of digging for it 2. The Scriptures many times assert the futurity or comming to passe §. 56. of things not yet in being not only when the comming of them to passe is certaine or certainly known unto God but upon a probability only or likelyhood of their comming to passe in respect of means used or to be used for the bringing of them to passe Upon this account God Himself is represented by our Saviour in his parable of the Vineyard as speaking thus in the person of the Lord of the Vinâ—yard They will reverence my Son a Mar. 12. 6. in case I shall vouchsafe to send Him unto them And yet the event shewed that they were so far from reverencing Him that when He came to them they tooke Him and slew Him and cast Him out of the Vineyard So when He saith upon occasion of the punishment which he commandeth to be inflicted upon the Man that should doe presumptuously that all the People shall heare and feare and doe no more presumptuously b Deut. 17. 1â— 13. He doth not speak it out of any certainty of knowledge in Him that it would or should actually so come to passe for many doubtlesse of this People did not so feare as to forbeare doing presumptuously notwithstanding the exemplarinesse of such a punishment but because the severe and thorough execution of Justice in this kinde was a proper and probable means to restraine all sorts of persons amongst them from the like sins See Sect. 50. of this Chapter In this notion and idiome of Scripture also God may say I will give them one Heart and one way that they may feare Me for ever not out of a certainty of knowledge or determination in Himself that any such Heart or Way should actually and with effect be given unto them which would infallibly produce such an effect in them as is here specified but because he was purposed so to intreat them and to afford such excellent administrations of His Grace and Spirit unto them which should be very Pregnant Proper and Efficacious to create such an Heart in them and to put them into such a Way that they should never have declined from His Worship and Service whilest the Sun and Moone endure This answer I acknowledge is of much affinity with the former Therefore 3. And lastly that no such sence was intended by God in the Words or Promises yet under consideration which imports any certainty of a finall perseverance in Grace in those to whom they are spoken and made fully appeares from all those propheticall passages and predictions in the old Testament which are many in number and very plaine and pregnant in import wherein that sad breach which afterwards happened between God and this People to whom these Promises were made and which amounted even to a rejection of them from being any longer a People unto Him is foretold by Him For that God should absolutely promise such an Heart unto a People which should infallibly cause them to feare Him for ever and not to depart from him and yet withall prophecy the great and generall Apostasie of this People from him and their rejection upon that account by him doubtlesse lieth not within the verge of any Mans belief who takes any competent care what he believeth I trust the Scripture now last Opened will from henceforth be put to no more trouble about any Contribution of aid towards the maintenance of the Doctrine of absolute perseverance Some other Scriptures possibly there may
Election of Men as hath been mentioned as held by him which was the occasion or ground of his Opinion that such could not fall away finally or to perdition we shall have opportunity in the latter part of this Discourse to enquire God sparing life health and liberty for the composure of it In the mean time we have yet a further account of the Judgment of this Father touching the possibility of the total and final defection of many true Beleevers in the Citation following Many are called and yet are not of those of whom it is said that few are chosen Yet who can deny them to be elect or chosen when as THEY BELEEVE and are baptized AND LIVE ACCORDING UNTO GOD They are plainly termed Elect by those who are ignorant what they will prove afterwards but not by Him who knoweth that they have not Perseverance which bringeth the Elect to Life eternal and that they so stand that He foreknoweth they will fall In this case if the question be put to me why God doth not give Perseverance unto those to whom he hath given the Grace of Love by which they live Christianly I must answer that I am ignorant d Multi vocati non in eis de quibus dictuÌ„ est Pauci verò electi Et tameÌ„ quis negeâ— eos Electos cuÌ„ credunt baptizaÌ„tur secundum Deum vivunt Plané dicuntur Electi à nescieÌ„tibus quid futuri sint non ab illo qui eos novit non habere PerseverantiaÌ„ quae ad beatam vitam perducit Electos scitque illos ita stare vt praesciat esse casuros Hic si à me quaeratur cur eis Deus PerseverantiaÌ„ noÌ„ dederit quia eaÌ„ quâ Christianè viverent dilectioneÌ„ dedit me ignorare respoÌ„deo Aug. de Corr. Grat. c. 7. 8. If all this be not sufficient to satisfie the Reader that this great and learned Defender of the Christian Faith whose sence in the Point in hand we are now enquiring after was of the same Judgment with us herein let him feed further upon what yet remaineth Having asserted a beneficial necessity even to the Elect or Predestinate ones themselves to be kept in ignorance by God of their Predestination or Election in this life He subjoyns words of this import So then for the beneficialness of this secret it is to be beleeved that some of the Children of Perdition who receive not the gift of Persevering unto the end yet begin to live in such a FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE yea and live for a time faithfully and justly and afterwards fall away nor are they taken away by death before this happeneth to them a Propter utilitatem ergo hujus secreti credendum est quosdam dâ— Filiis Perditionis non accepto dono Perseverandi usque in Finem in Fide quae per Dilectionem operatur incipere vivere aliquamdiù fideliter ac justé vivere postea cadere neque de hâc vitâ priusquam hoc eis contingat auferri Ibidem Cap. 13. Doubtless there is no Faith at all either justifying or saying but that which worketh by Love and yet we clearly see that Augustin's Opinion was that the Children of Perdition i. e. such who perish eternally are very capable of such a Faith and consequently may yea and sometimes do fall away both totally and finally from it The same Father in another Tract discovereth his sence in the point queried in these words That of two both being GODLY Perseverance unto the end should be given unto the one and NOT GIVEN UNTO THE OTHER belongs to the unsearchable Judgments of God b Ex duobus autem piis cur huic donetur Perseverantia usque in FineÌ„ illi autem noÌ„ donetur inscrutabilia sunt Judicia Dei Aug. de Bono Persev c. 8. That in this sentence He speaks of persons truly godly and not seemingly onely besides the exigency of the Passage it self to make the sence of it regular as well that which goeth a little before as what followeth after maketh manifest The words a little before are these For of Him they receive this power viz. of being made the sons of God who giveth pious cogitations to the heart of man by which He cometh to have Faith which worketh by Love c Ab eo quippâ— accipiunt eam qui dat cordi humano cogitationes pias per quas habeat FideÌ„ quae operetur per dilectionem The words a little after these To conclude Were they not both called and BOTH FOLLOVVED HIM THAT CALLED THEM Were they not BOTH of Sinners made righteous or JVSTIFYED and both RENEVVED BY the Laver of REGENERATION d Nonne postremò utrique vocati fuerant vocantâ—m seâ— cuti utrique ex impiis justificati per Lavacrum Regenerationis utrique renovati Afterwards in the same Treatise He cites with approbation the Judgment of an Orthodox man of good repute in his days to whom also He gives the testimony of learning and much acuteness concerning the Reason which moved Christ not to work those mighty works among the men of Tyre and Sidon which He wrought in Capernaum although He knew that they would have beleeved and repented upon the sight of them The Lord Christ saith this Author as the Father records His gloss foresaw that the men of Tyre and Sidon would afterwards have apostatized from their Faith in case they had been brought over to beleeve by such Miracles wrought amongst them in which respect it was out of mercy that He forbare the working of them there because they had been liable to a much greater punishment in case they should have turned their backs upon the Faith which they had once received then if they had never received it e Quidam Disputator catholicus non ignobilis hunc Evangelij locum sic exposuit vt diceret praescisse Dominum Tyrios Sidonios à Fide fuisse posteà recessuros cum factis apud se Miraculis credidissent misericordiâ potiùs non eum illic ista fecisse quoniam graviori poenae obnoxii fierent si Fidem quam tenuerant reliquissent quà m si eam nullo tempore tenuissent Ibid. c. 10. In process of the same Discourse He hath words to this effect That of Regenerate men some dye persevering unto the end others are detained in life until they fall away who certainly had not fallen away in case they had dyed before they so fell and again that some who thus fall pass not out of this life until they return or rise again who certainly should have perished had they dyed before their return a Ipsos quóque regeneratos alios perseverantes usque in FineÌ„ hînc abire alios quibusque decidant hic teneri qui utique non decidissent si antequam laberentur hînc issent rursus quosdaÌ„ lapsos quousque redeant non exire de hâc vitâ qui utique perireÌ„t si antequam redirent exirent Ibid. cap.
of such things which are simply and absolutely necessary to the effecting of any such end which He desireth especially when His desire in this kinde is raised and built upon foundations of Righteousness and sound Wisdom which is not questionable in or about any the desires of God Now then if God intends He must needs also desire the increase of guilt and punishment upon wicked men or the generality of men if He desires this He hath no cause to be offended with these men for their unthankfulness or for any such abuse of His Mercies or good things conferred upon them without which it was unpossible for Him to attain His desired end viz. an increase of guilt and condemnation upon them as was asserted The Reason is because according to our late asserted principle no man hath cause to be offended with another for doing that which is directly and absolutely necessary for the bringing to pass of any such end which is maturely and according to sound Principles of Wisdom and Righteousness projected and desired by Him Nor is there the least question to be made but that if God intends and consequently desires the increase of guilt and condemnation upon the generality of men both His Intentions and Desires in this kinde are most regular in respect of all regularity that either Wisdom or Righteousness can give unto them Not will it much if any thing at all here help to say that though God §. 6. doth not intend the Salvation of the generality of men in giving unto them the good things of this life to enjoy so abundantly as for the most part he doth but the increase of their guilt condemnation yet in as much as no particular man knoweth but that God may intend His spiritual good and Salvation in such Dispensations all aâ—e bound to conceive this Hope of themselves and consequently every man standâ— bound to be thankful unto God for what He receiveth from Him in this kinde and to seek more after Him And if any man shall be found neglective of what is His duty herein or shall turn the Gâ—ace of God towards Him even in these outward things into wantonness and not into thankfulness He deserveâ— to be punished so much the more severely for it For to this I answer No man stands bound to beleeve that or to conceive Hope of that which He hath no sufficient ground of belâ—eving or why He should beleeve it much less to beleeve that which He hath much more Reason to question or doubt of then to beleeve Solomon informeth us that it is the property of a fool to beleeve every thing or every word a Prov. 14. 15. viz. as well that which He hath no ground or reason to beleeve as that which He hath And it is commonly said and taught amongst us that in matters of Religion and of Salvation nothing ought to be beleeved by any man but what He hath a sufficient ground in or from the Word of God to beleeve If so if no man ought to beleeve in matters appertaining to Salvation but what He hath a ground or warrant in the Word of God to beleeve much less ought He to beleeve any such thing the truth whereof the Word of God administers much more ground to doubt question and suspect then to beleeve So that if this be a Truth revealed in the Woâ—d of God That God doth not intend the spiritual good of the generality or of far the greatest part of men in their outward mercies and good things but the contrary certain it is that every particular man at least that hath no sufficient proof of His Regeneration hath ten twenty if not an hundred times more reason to doubt and question whether His spiritual good be intended by God or no in the things we speak of then to beleeve that it is intended As in the business of a lottery where there are fourty it may be an hundred blanks for one prize no man hath so much reason or ground to hope that He shall draw a prize in case He should adventure his money this way as that He shall draw a blank And upon this account lotteries have still been accounted little better then cheats or unworthy devices contrived gin wise to catch the money of simple and inconsiderate people men of understanding easily discerning the fraud and so keeping their foot out of the snare And whether that Doctrine which teacheth that God intendeth onely the Salvation of a few but the condemnation of many and yet commandeth all to beleeve that they may be saved doth not make the glorious Gospel of God like unto one of such lotteries I leave to all understanding and unprejudiced men to consider In the mean time evident it is that this Opinion that Christ dyed not for all men but for some few onely is as it were calculated and the face of it bent and set to make the distance between Heaven and Earth between God and His creature Man greater and wider then yet it is to multiply jealousies and hard thoughts in the hearts and mindes of men and women concerning God where they are more then apt enough to engender and multiply without the irritation of such a Doctrine Yea whereas God hath put Himself into His Christ God was in Christ saith the Apostle as we heard formerly a Cap. 5. sect 28. reconciling the World unto Himself that by the means of Him and by the Tender and Promise of Forgiveness of sins unto men through Him upon the gracious terms of beleeving He might prevail with the World to love Him to think well and honorably of Him this Doctrine seeks to put Him out of His Christ again at least in reference to any such glorious design as that of reconciling the World unto Him yea and saith in effect unto the World it self Beleeve Him not though He speaketh never so graciously unto you when He promiseth you Life and Salvation upon the fairest and freest terms He hath War in His Heart against you and intendeth to destroy you If it be yet objected that upon the same ground no particular Person §. 7. should have any sufficient ground or Reason to beleeve that He is one of those that shall be saved in as much as the number of those that shall be saved is affirmed to be but small I answer True it is no man is bound to beleeve simply and absolutely that He is one of those that shall be saved but conditionally onely viz. in case He shall beleeve and persevere beleeving unto the end All that a man is bound to beleeve in this kinde positively is that He is one of those that may be saved and the Doctrine asserted by us viz. that Christ dyed for all men without exception administreth a fair ground and full footing for such a Faith as this unto every man Whereas the Doctrine opposite hereunto which affirmeth that Christ dyed for the Elect onely leaveth no foundation or ground
ever will be proved that no Heathen wanting the letter of the Gospel and the Oral Ministry of it ever yet beleeved on God to Justification or was accepted with Him yet would it be no sufficient proof that therefore they had â—o power thus to beleeve on Him or to do that upon the doing whereof they should have been accepted with Him But that the Heathen had and have power vouchsafed unto them by God whereby to repent and to beleeve if their Will were answerable to their Power in this kinde might be yet further evidenced by a far greater Vote from the Scriptures but that in levying this here we should anticipate a considerable part of our Intentions relating to the second part of this Work And besides three of the most considerable Passages a Rom. 10. 18 Acts 14. 16 17 Rom. 2. 4 pregnant with the Truth we now contend for have I remember been largely opened and argued by us upon the same account elsewhere b Divine Author of the Scriptures asserted p. 183 184 185 c. I shall at the present conclude the Point in hand with a parcel of Discourse from the Writings of Mr Calvin who in an Epistle shewing how Christ is the end of the Law prefixed before the French New Testament discourseth to this effect After that Adam was left in such confusion he was fruitful in his cursed seed to bring forth a generation like unto him that is to say Adam apres avoir esté deietté en telle confusion il a esté second en sa maudite semence pour enger dier generation semblable a luy cest a dire vicieuse perverse corrompue vuide despourveue de tout bien riche abondante en mal Toutesfois le Seigneur de misericorde qui n'aâ—me pas seulement mais luy mesme est amour charité voulant encores par sa bonté infinie aimer ce qui n'est digne d'aimer n'a pas du tout dissipé perdu abysmé les hommes comme leur iniquité le requeroit mais les a soustenus supportés en douceur patience leur donnant terme loisir de se retourner a lui se r'adresser a l'obeissance de laquelle ils s'estoyent destournés Et combien que dissimulast se teust comme s'il se'ust voulu cacher d'eux les laissant aller apres les desirs souhaits de leur concupiscence sans loix sans regime sans correction queleonque de sa Parole neantmoins il leur a baillé assez d'advertissements qui les devoyent inciter a le cercher taster trouuer pour le cognoistre honnorer comme il appartenoit Car il a eslevé par tour en tous lieux en toutes choses ses enseignes armoiries voire sous blasons de si claire intelligence que ni avoit celui qui peust pretendre ignorance de ne cognoistre vn si souverain Seigneur qui avoit si amplement exalté sa magnificence Ce'st quand en toutes les parties du monde au ciel â—â— en la terre il a eserit quasi engravé la gloire de sa puissance bonté sapience eternité Sainct Paul donc a dic bien vray Que le Seigneur ne s'estoit iamais laissé sans tesmoignage mesme envers ceux ausquels il n'a envoyé aucune cognoissance de la Parole Veu que toutes les creatures depuis le firmament iusqu'au centre de la terre pouvoyent estre tesmoigns messagers de sa gloire a tous hommes pour les attirer a le cercher apres l'avoir trouué lui faire recueil hommage selon la dignité dun Seigneur si bon si puissant si sage eternel mesmes aidoyent chacune en son endrâ—it a ceste queste Car les oiselets chantans chantoyent Dieu les bestes le reclamoyent les eslemens le redoutoyent les montagnes le raisonnoyent les fleuues fontaines lui â—ettoyent ceilladâ—s les herbes sleurs luy riovent Combien que veritablement il ne feust pas mestier de le cercher fort loin Veu que chacun le pouvoâ—t trouuer en soi mesme entant que nous sommâ—s tous substantes conserves de sa vertu habâ—tante en nous Cependant encore pour plus amplement manifester sa bonte clemence infinie entre les hommes il na pas este content de les instruite tous par tels enseignements qua'vons declaire mais il a specialement fait entendre sa voix a vn certain Peuple c. vicious perverse corrupted voyd and destitute of all good rich and abounding in evil Nevertheless the Lord of his Mercy who doth not onely love but is Himself Love and Charity being yet willing by his infinite goodness to love that which is not worthy of love hath not altogether dissipated lost and overwhelmed men as their sin did require but hath sustained and supported them in sweetness and patience giving them time and leasure to return unto Him and set themselves to that Obedience from which they had strayed And though He did dissemble and was silent as if He would hide himself from them suffering them to go after the desires and wishes of their lust without Laws without Government without any correction by his Word yet he hath given them warnings enough which might have incited them to seek taste and finde him for to know and honor him as it behoved them For he hath lifted up every where and in all places and things his Ensigns and Arms yea so clearly and intelligibly imblazoned that there was no one could pretend ignorance of the Knowledg of so soveraign a Lord who had in so ample a manner exalted his magnificence viz. That in all parts of the World in Heaven and in Earth he hath written and even engraven the Glory of his Might Goodness Wisdom and Eternity Saint Paul therefore saith very true That the Lord never left himself without witness even towards them unto whom he hath not sent any knowledg of his Word For as much as all the Creatures from the Firmament to the center of the Earth might be witnesses and messengers of his glory unto all Men to draw them to seek him and after having found him to welcom him and do him homage according to the dignity of a Lord so good so powerful so wise and eternal And also did help each one in its place to this quest For the Birds singing sung God Beasts cryed aloud unto him the Elements stood in fear of him Mountains reasoned with him Rivers and Fountains cast their eyes upon him Herbs and Flowers smiled on him Although that indeed there was no necessity to seek him very far by reason that each one might finde him in his own self being that we are all kept up and preserved by his vertue dwelling in us In the mean while for to manifest more
desire and endevour in the Parent for the comfort and well being of it By vertue of this Promise it is that as the Apostle inform us Parents stand bound to provide and lay up for their Children b 2 Cor. 12. 14. And Parents who do carefully perform such ingagements as these unto their Children may well and properly be called Faithfull Parents So the Relation of a Mother promiseth unto the Infant born of her and that with much asseveration and naturall solemnity of protest all care and tendernesse for the well being of it In respect of this solemn promise it is that God himself demandeth Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that shee should not have compassion on the Sonne of her Womb c Esa 49. 15. implying that such Women are very unnaturall and unfaithfull that can Yea God himself speaking thus of the Ostrich shee is hardened against her young ones as if they were not hers Job 39. 16. cleerly implies that this Creature only excepted there is an universall tendernesse and care in all others towards their young ones In like manner every Creature hath a very great and rich assurance from that very relation wherein it stands unto God as a Creator that upon a regular deportment of it self towards him and such as any wayes becomes a Creature towards the Creator or Maker of it it shall receive protection preservation and every good thing from him Yea the Scripture plainly implieth that there must be a very great breach on the Creatures part in point of degeneration and unworthinesse before God lookes upon himself as discharged from that care for the preservation and well being of it which he promised as it were unto it in his being the Author of Being unto it Consider that passage in the Prophet Esay For it is a People of no understanding therefore he that MADE them will not have mercy on them and HE THAT FORMED THEM will shew THEM NO FAVOVR a Esa 27. 11. Doth not this cleerly imply that had not this People been very enormously and intolerably corrupted and degenerated as it were into the spirit and actions of bruite beasts suffering the glory of the Work of God in their Creation utterly to sink within them had they but quitted themselves like a People of any competent reason or understanding the relation of a Creator in God towards them would have wrought so effectually in him on their behalf that he would have shewed them mercy and favour in delivering them The Creature must depart and go astray very far from the Creator and grow in a manner quite out of kinde before the Creator will or can cease to know love and respect it as his Creature Hence it is that we finde God himself so frequently mentioning and insisting upon his Relation of a Creator unto his People when he seekes to satisfie and comfort them as touching his love towards them and care over them Thus saith the Lord that MADE thee and that FORMED thee from the womb which will help thee Feare not O Jacob my Servant b Esa 44. 2. c. So again Hearken unto me O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel which are borne by me from the belly which are carried from the womb And even to your old Age I am He and even to hoare haires will I carry you I have MADE and I will beare even I will carry and will deliver you c Esa 46. 3 4. Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel and HIS MAKER d Esa 45. 11. c. Once more to passe by many other places of like import But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay and thou our Potter and we are all the work of thy Hand e Esa 64. 8. As in the former passages God strengthened the Faith of this People by remembring them that he was their Creator and Maker and consequently bare the affection and love of a Creator towards them So in this last they themselves declare how effectually that consideration viz. of the Relation of a Creator in God towards them had wrought upon them to the strengthening of their Faith in his Love towards them and care over them and accordingly plead the same in their requests to him Nor is it prejudiciall in the least to that demonstration which we intend §. 40. to make from the said passages with their fellowes viz. of the love and care of God as a Creator to all the Works of his Hands to pretend that in these places and the like God speaks only to his Church and his Elect ones For 1. The Relation of a Creator in God is uniform one and the same towards the Elect Believers and towards Reprobates or Unbelievers the one being the workmanship of his hands as well as the other and therefore as promising to the one as to the other if they understood or considered the voyce of this promise 2. If God notwithstanding the Relation of a Creator in him were likely to have reprobated his Creatures from eternity especially had this people believed that he had de facto so reprobated millions of them it had been a very slender support and incouragement to their Faith that he should remember them of his relation unto them as their Creator For might not they upon such a supposition as this have replied unto him Lord why dost thou so much inculcate into us the consideration of thy Being our Maker and Creator as if there were any thing in this to comfort us or to relieve our Faith concerning thy love to us or care for us Do we not know that thou art a Creator to many thousand thousands in the World whom notwithstanding thou hatest and casted'st out of thy Love without any cause given on their parts from eternity Therefore what assurance of grace and favour with thee can we receive upon any such account as this that thou art our Maker and Creator So that evident it is that God himself doth acknowledge a gracious tie and ingagement upon him as a Creator to love respect and take care for his Creatures untill they voluntarily renounce and disclaime their relation unto him as his Creatures by walking rebelliously against him or suffering the God of this World to deface the glory of his workmanship in them And whereas he compareth himself in tendernesse and care over his Creature unto an Hen which gathereth her Chickens under her wings they who make him like unto the Ostrich which leaveth her Eggs in the Earth and forgetteth that the foote may crush them or that the wilde Beasts may break them and is hardened against her young Iob 39. 14 15. ones as if they were not hers which astorgy God himself imputeth to want of wisdome and understanding in her have the greater sin representing him altogether unlike unto himself Other Scriptures there are exceeding many which testifie aloud the grace §. 41. and love and