he ever will his Will is regulated and is acted forth agreeable to his Wisdom Righteousness and Justice and according to his Divine Nature and as God hath made Man a rational Creature so he very seldom forceth Man to repentance against his will yet is the Lord pleased so to will the Salvation of all yea with such an effectual Will that he doth that which is of a proper tendency and sufficient thereunto that unless they wickedly and wilfully oppose the Means they should be saved yea so far as is any ways meet for him to act or assist towards their Salvation Isa 5. 4. What could I have done more that is tho God could have done more than he did yet it was not consistent to that method and stated order of things but more of this hereafter Mar. No Text of Scripture must be understood as to make God Impotent instead of Omnipotent or in the least reflect upon the Soveraignty Immutability and Omnipotency of God as if he could be disappointed in bringing to pass what he hath purposed and intends to do Philad Nor no Scripture must be so interpreted as to disparage or undervalue the Love and Bounty of God to all Men the general tenour of them representing in the highest degree the Goodness of God and as God is perfect in Power perfect in Wisdom so also perfect in Goodness yea Perfection it self any Defect is inconsistent with a perfect Being and above all a Defect in Goodness which gives a Value to the other Attributes of God If therefore some things in Providence or some Passages appear in Scripture that we cannot exactly reconcile but that they seemingly oppose this Point we ought to impute that to our deficiency in understanding and to try if they may not reasonably bear another sense or reserve them to be understood hereafter than to adhere to them in contradiction to the general Tenour of Scripture and the Light of Nature and Reason seeing nothing can be alledged which with that same clearness oppugns the perfection of Goodness in God as others may which assert it And seeing the Nature of Goodness consists in the taking a pleasure in the Happiness of others and in promoting it We must conclude from hence that God hates no Man but loves and desires the Happiness of all Men and that for his Will-sake he reprobates none either from Eternity or in Time to think otherwise greatly opposes God in all his Attributes it opposes his Mercy God is in Scripture declared to be a merciful God Exod. 34. 6. 1 John 4. 16. God is Love yea called the Father of Mercy and God of all Consolation yea rich in Mercy Ephes 2. 4. abundant in Mercy Pray see Psal 33. 5. He loveth Righteousness and Judgment the World is full of the Goodness of the Lord And Mica 7. 18. He retains not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy And Psal 145. 9. the tender Mercies of God are over all his Works But how God could delight in Mercy and how his tender Mercies are over all his Works I do not understand What doth God delight in Mercy when he hath made such a Decree which sheweth more Severity towards poor Man than Mercy Are his tender Mercies over all his Works when for one only Sin and that once committed and that not in their own Persons he hath shut the greatest part of Mankind up under invincible Sin and Damnation not affording them a Mediator which was the greatest and most choice Act and Manifestation of God's Mercy that he could bless the World withal Now all the Attributes of God must take place upon Man And I beseech you tell me where the tender Mercy of God takes place upon those for whom Christ did not die for you will own there is Mercy in God as well as Justice do you not Philet Yea I do and God by his Decree doth fully manifest both Mercy and Justice his Justice to the Reprobate and his Mercy to the Elect. Philat Well but do you think that one Attribute of God destroys another Doth Justice in God wholly devour and eat up his Mercy leaving no room to take place upon some Persons Philet God who is the Supreme Lord of all may do what he will with his own when Man had sinned he was at perfect liberty whether he would shew Mercy to any or not and if he had made no provision at all for any of fallen Man it could not be termed an Act of Unmercifulness Philad I did not ask you what an Almighty God can or might do but I ask you how or wherein the Goodness and Love of God is manifested to those for whom Christ did not die Or how God who is the Perfection of all Goodness Mercy and Bowels of Pity can be said to bear any Love Good-will or Affection unto those before any personal or actual Sins by them committed upon whose ruin he was so bent that he hath wholly left them without all possibility of escaping Eternal Misery and Torment How can Mercy stand with such a Decree Doth not the Apostle Paul Tit. 3. 4. speak of the appearance of the Love of God our Saviour toward all Men But can there be any appearance of Love and Kindness to those for whom Christ did not die and whom God was resolved from Eternity to exclude from all parts and fellowship in Eternal Life Was not there as much Mercy Kindness and Good-will shewed to the very Devils as to such Men Nay Mr. Keach tells us That if Christ did not die for all God deals more severely with many of Adam's Off-spring than he dealt with the Devils because they were excluded from all terms of Reconciliation for their own actual Disobedience but Mankind only for the Sins of Adam made theirs by Imputation and as they partake of the same Nature Neither is their Condemnation aggravated by Christ's coming as those Persons are for whom Christ did not die Youth 's Celestial Guide Much to the same purpose you may see God's Love to Mankind pag. 136 137 138. That altho the Devils are set forth in Scripture for the greatest Spectacles of God's ireful Severity yet is God more merciful to them than to such Men and though they are both sure to be damned yet in three things Man is in a far worse condition by such a Decree 1. In their appointment to Hell not for their own personal Sins for which only the Devils are damned but for the Sin of another that lived and sinned long before they were born 2. In their unavoidable destination to endless Misery under a colour of the contrary the Devils as they are decreed to Damnation so they know it and look for no other But Men that are appointed to Wrath are yet fed up with hopes of Salvation and made to believe that if they perish 't is not because God would not have Mercy upon them but because they will not be saved when indeed there is no such
of Grace made with Adam till they come to abuse the Grace of the Covenant For God hates none till they first hate him leaves none till they first forsake him makes none Partakers of Everlasting Burning till they kindle his Wrath by their actual Sins for he doth not so delight in the Blood of Souls as by his pure and naked Will to decree Man to Eternal Death before they enjoy any Life or commit the least Sin Infants are accounted Innocent and our Saviour tells us 't is not the Will of his Father that any of those little ones perish Philet This is a strange assertion to say That all Infants come into World in a state of Innocency and that if they die in Infancy they die in a state of Innocency Alas there is a universal depravedness in the Soul of an Infant which if it live to express it will discover it self A young Cub of a Fox or Wolf doth not presently discover its ravenous nature but it is inherent in it bred with it and Men kill those young Cubs though they never did any mischief because it is their natures to be ravenous and mischievous So an Infant hath the Seed of all Sin a corrupt Nature though it doth not act as it doth when Age comes on and I say God may for the guilt of Adam's sin and because there is such Rebellion and Wickness in Man's nature against him glorifie his Justice upon them though they should die in their Infancy they are far from dying in Innocency Philad It seems by what you hold because Man may slaughter Beasts of Prey without any cruelty or injustice therefore God may as well nay more appoint as many of poor Infants to the Torments of Hell if he pleaseth and yet be just and good notwithstanding May we not as well reason thus God without any injustice appointed brute Creatures to be slain for Man's use therefore he may ordain Men to be cast into Hell Torments for ever Though God permitteth nay appointeth Man to slaughter Beasts that they might be Meat for his use and so giveth him power to kill them yet it would be look'd upon barbarous injustice and cruelty to prolong the Life of a Beast to vex and torture it to shew what Power and Sovereignty he hath over it So I do not doubt but God may when he pleases take away the Life of an Infant or Man yea resolve them to nothing without any cruelty or injustice Yet he cannot without both these decree to keep them alive in Hell there to torment them without end to shew his Sovereignty without just cause in the Creature Some poor Infants never so much as saw the Light of this World or receiv'd the least Good and yet must be punished with Devils to Eternity O wretched Doctrine Philet I do not think God would have destroy'd the Old World and called them the World of ungodly and destroy'd Sodom and Gomorrah and made them suffer the vengeance of eternal Fire amongst whom no doubt were many Infants if all Infants were innocent I will not meddle to determine the eternal State of those that die in Infancy to be sure you go too far to assert what you do you are not the Sovereign and Judg of all Philad All Infants through the Grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ are discharged from the condemning Power of Original sin and they having no actual sins 't is not the infirmity of their Nature shall damn any neither can it I hope enter into the heart of a Christian to believe that God should create any Infants on purpose to damn them and though it be true that Original sin is come upon Infants and Death by sin yet this is as true that Original Sin was not committed against the Covenant of Grace and seeing that you cannot prove any Infant hath sinned against the Covenant of Grace they cannot come into Condemnation of Hell Torments for our Gracious God will condemn none but those that first destroy themselves by sinful courses though 't is true they many times suffer the first Death for the sins of others as those you mention Mar. All Infants are under a Sentence of eternal Damnation only such Infants that are elected and have the Principles of Grace infused in them shall be sav'd Philad What then is become of that Gracious Speech of the Almighty God Ps 145. His tender mercy is over all his works sure damned Infants have no share in hs Mercy no not so much as a Toad by a thousand degrees And thus by your Doctrine you not only most dreadfully preach Millions of poor harmless Souls to Hell but also represent the Father of Mercy and God of Goodness more like a Tyrant that destroys his Subjects for will and pleasure though they never provok'd him by breaking the least Law in their own Persons only to shew his Power over them Would not such dealing be look'd upon amongst Men meer Cruelty when acted by bare Prerogative and Power not being attended with Equity Justice and Mercy Would this be Cruelty in Man and shall we think that the Infinite God who is Goodness and Truth it self will harbour it or that he will proceed with Man according to his Absolute Power and Sovereignty without being accompany'd with Justice and tender Mercy Or do we think the Lord will fall below man and suffer himself to be out-done in Justice Mercy and Goodness by any of his Creatures Surely no so though the Nature of man is too sadly depraved by the sin of our first Parents yet it must needs be a contradiction to the Divine Goodness Mercy and Justice of God to say that any suffer for their Fathers sins Mar. You talk of God's Justice as if God could not punish one for the fault of another and yet be Just you do not know what you talk of I 'll give you an instance to the contrary 't is that of Saul utterly destroying of the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15. 2 3. he was to slay both man and woman Infants and Sucklings and the reason was because Amalek laid wait for Israel when he came up from Egypt ver 1. Exod. 17. 8. But now what had this People done that was so many Generations remov'd from Israel coming out of Egypt Or what had the poor Infants and Sucklings done Or how can it stand with Justice that the Fathers committed the fault and the Children are punished for it Philad This was only to a Temporal Death I hope you will not say that it was the Decree of God after Saul had destroy'd those Infants and Sucklings Bodies that he would send their Souls to Hell for their Fathers faults sure it was not the sin of Infants that caused the Lord to plead in such wrath with them no more than the Cattle which was to be destroy'd as well as they Was God offended with the Beasts of the Field But come I believe it was no unjust thing in God to take away by
and not as Believers or as their being in Christ by Faith then for God to love a Person to Day and hate him to Morrow would evidently shew a change in his Affection according to the change made in the Creature And I must needs tell you I like this plain dealing the best you are herein truer to your Principles than many of your Brethren that hold this Point of personal Election But for my part I believe that God loveth and accepts more of Actions that are good than of mere Persons and contrary to what you say that such and such Actions do therefore please him because the Person pleaseth him but rather because their Actions please him therefore their Persons please him tho God hates all the Workers of Iniquity Psal 5. 5. yet said he to Cain Gen. 4. 7. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and Heb. 11. 5 6. Before his Transgression he had this Testimony that he pleased God but without Faith he could not Read John 14. 23. and 15. 14. and 16. 27. These are those that he will love yet may those that were once beloved of God by reason of Sin come to be the object of his hatred Isa 63. 9 10. But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their Enemy and fought against them Now you that say that where once God loves he must never cease to love Pray you what think you of the Angels that fell Do you think God did not love them while they stood in that pure and holy State in which they were created and if he did do you think that he loves them now in their Apostacy So God is said to love Jacob and Israel yet at another time he is said to hate Israel Jer. 12. 7 8. Amos 6. 8. yet is this taken off again Isa 60. 15. whereas they were hated God loved them again So that God may love at one time and hate at another without the least change in him in respect of Love or Hatred because no Person of Man is supposed to be the Object of elective Love but only as Righteous nor any Person the Object of Reprobation but only as Wicked so that the Love of God being set upon such kind of Persons as are true Believers those who have Christ formed in them whose Souls are regenerated and formed into the Image of Jesus and Partakers of the heavenly and divine Nature having received that heavenly and divine Anointing by virtue of which they become Christians 1 Cor. 6. 17. John 15. being wrought into a Conformity to Jesus this is that State in which the true Election stands Christ being the elected Root and Believers the elected Branches These are those whom God doth justify and will glorify these are those whom the Lord hath set apart for himself Psal 4. 3. These are those whom the Lord hath chosen from the rest of the World to be his own peculiar Favourites upon whom he intends to bestow an heavenly Inheritance and as Persons decline from Christ living in a State of Unbelief and Impenitency being Strangers to the Life of God disobedient and to every good Work reprobate they remaining such are in that state in which Reprobation stands not being brought over to Christ in whom the Father is well pleased So that I conceive that Unchangeableness which the Scripture asserts of God is to be considered with respect to his Essence Attributes and Decrees and not in his constant loving the same Persons how wicked soever they prove For suppose God should dearly love a Person while he is faithful to him and in case this Person should apostatize and die in a state of Impenitency and he should destroy him with eternal Death this doth not shew the least Alteration in any of the Lord's Attributes either of Love Goodness Mercy Justice c. And suppose a Man passeth from a State of Sin wherein he lived to the Displeasure of the Lord to a State of Faith and Holiness and in this Condition comes to injoy the Love and Favour of God yet his Love and Hatred cannot be said to be changed tho the Persons of Men change never so often from Good to Evil or from Evil to Good This shews indeed a change in Man but no change at all in the Lord he still loves and hates but what he loved and hated before Pray consider Ezek. 18. at what Instant I spake c. if it doth Evil I will repent Here you see God is said to repent so he is said to repent that he made Man upon the Earth Gen. 6. 6. he is said to repent that he made Saul King 1 Sam. 15. 11. And yet the Scriptures cannot be broken which testify that with God is no Repentance or shadow of change 1 Sam. 15. 29. Num. 23. 19. James 1. 17. Mal. 3. 6. Psal 102. 25. yet here is no real Contradiction And as I said before in respect of his Essence Attributes and Decrees God cannot repent yet after the manner of Men he is said to repent in respect of his Works for as Men when they repent alter their Works so when God alters his Work he is said to repent as in Gen. 6. 6. I will saith God destroy Man from the Earth for it repents me c. God made Man to dwell upon the Face of the Earth but now coming to destroy Man from off the Earth seems to repent and so concerning Saul I repent that I have made Saul King that is I have determined to depose him and to prefer another And so concerning Ely c. Delawn Sacr. p. 50. So that no such Conclusion can reasonably be drawn from God's once loving he must for ever love how wicked soever the Person proves afterwards or else be mutable for I do not find in Scripture that God hateth any of the Works of his Hands as they are his Creatures nor any thing but Sin and Sinners for the cause of Sin and there is the same Consideration or the like Reason of his Election being placed upon Faith and obedient Persons or Persons really brought over to Christ Philet The Elect are justified in the Eternal purpose of God and tho the Elect do sin yet the Lord sees it not so as to condemn them for it neither can it do them any hurt or make them less lovely in the sight of God Philad Hold one word before you go any farther you seem to say God was never an Enemy to the Elect Do you not by this make the Fall of Adam in whom the Elect were included a mere Fiction and the whole Story of the Gospel concerning Christ's Suffering a Fable and the Passion of Christ if you grant he suffered for the Elect a mere Vanity more than needs to die to reconcile and bring those into Friendship with God which were never out of his Love nor with whom he was never offended Philet I say all the Sins of the Elect both past present and
his Spirit to assist them in the performance of their Duties and when the Creatures have done the best they can nay when they have the assistance of the Spirit What all no better than Abomination Ah! what pity is it that Men to hold up a fond Opinion should have such unworthy thoughts of God What said David Ps 141. 2. Let my Prayers be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hand as the evening Sacrifice and said the Angel to Cornelius Acts 10. 4. Thy Prayers and thy Alms-deeds are come up for a memorial before God they were acceptable in the sight of God and the Lord was well pleased with them as Heb. 13. 16. but to do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased and so Phil. 4. 18. An odour of sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God Read Prov. 12. 22. Psal 147. 11. Act. 10. 35. Mal. 3. 4. In all which you may see That as they are commanded of the Lord and the Creatures Duty they are acceptable to him Mar. If of Works then not of Grace there 's no Reward belongs to any good Works Heaven and Eternal Salvation is the free Gift of God And I must tell you that all such as you are stand condemned and accursed by the Apostle Paul that set up the Golden Calf of your own Sanctification Philad What is it not possible for free Gift and Reward to stand together nor for Gospel-Dutys and a heavenly Reward to be linked and joyned together or is it a Dishonour to God to say he rewards his own Grace What are you such a Stranger to the Scripture that you have not read of Recompence or Reward which God will bestow upon those that are faithful not for the desert of the Work or Worker but for the Faithfulness of the Promiser which God who cannot lie hath promised Pray read Prov. 19. 17. Blessed is he that hath Mercy upon the Poor the Lord will recompence that which he hath given him And saith our Saviour a Cup of cold Water shall not lose its Reward Matt. 10. 24. Mat. 20. 34. Rev. 22. 12. Psal 19. But it seems you would put it out of all doubt that you pretend to depend upon your own Righteousness and that the Almighty by his Bounty and Grace having elected you he cannot expect any Duty from you You must as Cliford in the New Covenant p. 197. saith Have a cheap Religion Faith without Works pardon without trouble of Repentance and Heaven without Holiness and free Grace to save you without Obedience or you are undone to Eternity Indeed if any shall believe that their own Obedience to any Precept of the Lord justly merits Heaven then they might dance about their Duties as the Israelites about their Golden Calf but I hold no such thing but do believe that we are far from meriting any thing at the Hand of God for he that merits must do these three things 1st He must do the Work of himself without the Help and Assistance of another for if he doth it by the Help and Assistance of another the other merits both the Praise and Reward Now where is the Man that can come forth and say that what good he doth he doth it without the assisting Grace of God and if he cannot say so then the Thanks and Praise is due to God alone 2dly He must do it of mere good Will and not of Duty that which is of Duty cannot merit because a Man is bound to do it so that if Men could love the Lord with all their Hearts Strength and Soul and their Neighbours as themselves which is a thing no Man can do yet is it far from meriting because it is but their Duty and but a reasonable Service that they should honour the Lord with that which they receive from him as holy David said 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. and so on the more we do the more we stand indebted to Divine Grace for enabling us to do it what have any that have not received it first from God 1 Cor. 4. 7. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Eph. 2. 8. 3dly The Work done to merit must be proportionable to the Reward or there can be no Merit but alas what 's the best of Performance which is performed by infirm Man can it have that Worth and Dignity in them as to oblige the Lord to give unto them eternal Life by way of Retribution If God should reward us according to our Works miserable would be our Case so that unless it can be proved that our present Work is comparable to the Glory which is to be revealed there can be no Merit 't is a free Gift 't is Bounty for suppose I should set any Man to work to mow in my Field and for that Labour give him a Shilling or Fourteen or Sixteen Pence here 's only Equity and Justice the Man's Labour really deserved it but if for this one days faithful Labour according to his Strength I shou'd give him a Thousand Pounds this is Bounty so that no finite Creature or Worker can merit an infinite Reward or a finite Act cannot merit of an Infinite God an Infinite Reward Philet Therefore you that preach and press to Duty are but legal Preachers and such as would lead Men to Popery and into a dead Faith for it much derogates from the free Grace of God and lessens the alsufficiency of Christ's Merits and at best makes but moral Christians Philad Is there any such thing as Holiness and Duty to be observed if there be may they not be preached and urged or how can any of you that own the Scriptures scorn or disallow it seeing it calls the Saints not only to the Study and Practice of Holiness but also to grow and increase in it 1 Thess 4. 16. 1 Pet. 1. 15. 2 Pet. 3. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Tho we cannot merit Heaven yet 't is our Obedience both in Heart and Life makes us capable of injoying Heaven through the Redemption of our Saviour we must be Workers or Labourers not Loyterers St. Paul exhorts the Christians of his time to be working out their Salvation with fear and trembling It seems the Christians are to do something towards their own Salvation Phil. 4. 17. In 2 Cor. 9. 6. Paul speaking of Charity shews it to be a means not a merit to conduce to a plentiful increase and 2 Pet. 1. 11. tells us that Grace exercised is a means to farther our Salvation But it seems we must not acknowledg God a Rewarder of his own Grace or any good Duty which he enables his People to perform but straight we preach Popery how then can any desire to be good or do good Philet For all the pressing us to Duty yet we do not build the Hopes of our Salvation upon so sandy a Foundation as our own Righteousness our hopes are in the Lord we put our trust in Christ and hope to be
Fate which I could not withstand and if I have done amiss I deserve pity from you rather than blame tho I know if your Doctrine be true neither your Pity nor Prayers will do me any good unless they were able to make a change in God's absolute Decree for there cannot one Soul be saved which is ordained to Hell nor one Soul be cast away which is appointed to Heaven and so your Pity and Prayers may as well be spared as spent to no puroose And Reader if thou beest one that art learned 't is likely thou wilt think this Discourse is a home-spun Piece Why truly I am just of your mind I think the same and so there is no danger we should fall out and by this let thee know it was designed for them that love to have it so and written for the use of those that neither could nor did expect any Rhetorical Flourishes or School-Distinctions from me but only plain Truths They knew that as I was ignorant of School Phrases so I was clogged with worldly Business and had neither learning nor time to dress up my Lines with Wit and Eloquence neither doth Truth stand in need of gingling Flourishes or outward Bedaubing to make it more renowned in the World it being best seen in its naked plainness And Reader if thou art a Critick as this is a peevish and critical Age or so highly conceited that thou disdainest to look any farther all that I shall say to thee is this It will not hurt you if you can but let it alone I never commanded you neither do I care whether you read it or not and if you read it and think your time and pains ill bestowed blame your self for meddling with that you had nothing to do with I know that all courteous and impartial Readers and especially those that have desired this will esteem it as much as I desire they should Reader I will keep thee out no longer pray walk in and if you like your poor entertainment you are heartily welcome fall to and much good may it do you Vale. June 30. 1700. ZACH. STANTON NB. Pray correct the following Fault with thy Pen before thou goest on Page 35. line 12. Philadelphus is to begin with these words What God foresees c. The last line but one of the same page blot out Phil. The Love of God to all Mankind Asserted and Vindicated By way of Dialogue between Martha and Philadelphus c. Martha WEll met Philadelphus you are walking and viewing the Fields Philadelphus Yes and the more I view the more my heart is drawn forth to bless and admire our good and gracious God who hath not left himself without witness filling our hearts with joy and gladness and though we have almost spent the Fruits of the last year yet is the Lord preparing for us against another how doth the Hills and Vallies abound with Corn and Grass burdned Ears with plenty They rejoyce and clap their hands and loudly proclaim that the Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works Mar. Why is your heart so affected with the Creature or any goodness that is in them Phil. No not so much as with the good God that sends them yet I cannot but admire that the glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth should have any regard to us worthless Worms thus to mind us with the Eyes of his Providence when we are unmindful of him Mar. Why doubtless it is for the sake of his Elect People that the Nation injoys such Mercies otherwise the Lord would quickly turn this fruitful Land into barrenness yea overthrow it as once he did Sodom and Gomorrah Phil. Although I do not question but next unto Jesus who is said to bear up the Pillars of the Earth the Godly are the Pillars of a Nation they stay just deserved Judgments God Almighty would make short work in the World bring all to its first Nothing if it was not for the Godly which as you say are as so many Lots in Sodom that preserve from such an overthrow yet surely God hath some gracious ends and design in giving such Temporal Mercies to the worst of Men even that his Goodness and Mercy might lead them to Repentance Mar. Truly all these outward and temporal Mercies and Blessings which the worst of Men injoy are but like Crumbs which the Master of a Family throws to the Dogs or given with no other intent than Men give good Pasture to their Cattel to fit them the sooner for Slaughter The prosperity of fools destroy them says Solomon that is it shall be the means of heightning their Lusts and thereby fitting them for Destruction Phil. As is your Name so are you Martha is your Name and bitter are your words Come sit you down here by me under this Shade and let us spend one hour in Discourse together if your occasion will permit Mar. I am content Phil. Truly I did not think till I heard it out of your own Mouth that any could entertain such harsh and unworthy suspicions of the God of Love as if his Mercies to any were designed on purpose to multiply their guilt or to heighten their eternal Damnation No Martha God hath more noble and worthy Ends and Designs than such you spake of God is Love and he hath no pleasure in the ruin of his Creatures If their Prosperity destroy them if his Mercies which should lead them to Repentance and have been a powerful means to ingage their hearts to love the Lord any ways heighten their guilt and thereby fit them for Destruction 't is not the effect of God's goodness but rather of their obstinate wickedness their abusing his Goodness and turning his Grace into Wantonness and not into Thankfulness this is that which kindles the wrath of God as 2 Chron. 32. 25. But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the Mercies c therefore wrath was upon him c. and for this cause was it that the Heathens were given up to vile affections But pray tell me do not all Men in the World stand bound to be thankful to God for outward Mercies Mar. Yes doubtless they do Phil. But how can any Man look upon himself any ways obliged to be thankful to God for good things given with such hard intentions even to make his Condemnation so much the greater Had Amasa any cause to thank Joab for taking him friendly by the Beard to kiss him when his intent was to stab him to the heart And as little cause have any to be thankful to God for Temporal Injoyments when all is made as a Gin and a Trap for their Souls and God intends nothing but evil to them and a fuller Cup of wrath to come If this be a truth how can the bountifulness and long-suffering of God be said to lead Men to Repentance which is the Apostle's Doctrine Rom. 2. 4 Nothing can properly be said to lead Men any ways but that which
is proper to perswade or invite them to it Mar. Well for all you think these words of mine are such hard sayings yet I do farther affirm that all Men that are not by true Faith grafted into Christ but remain in an unconverted state all their Mercies are cursed to them yea they are cursed in every thing in their Name in their Estate in their Food for if they receive Food they are Usurpers of that which is none of their own if they receive no Food they are self-Murderers yea their Prayers the Word and Sacraments are cursed to them Phil. The Psalmist saith Ps 145. 9. That the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Martha God is good to all during the day of our Patience and long-Sufferance and what Mercy he affords to them may be called tender Mercy considering their sinfulness who deserve every moment to be cast into Hell But how the tender Mercy of God can be said to be over those when whatsoever God doth for them in a providential way he doth all with an intent to harden them that so he might bring destruction with the more severity and terror in the end will Men or can they call Health Peace Liberty Food Raiment given with an intent to become a Snare unto them and to bring unavoidable damnation upon them the tender Mercies of God Doth the Lord cause the Sun to rise upon the bad as well as upon the good and send Rain upon the Unjust as well as upon the Just in wrath and with a curse What can infinite Goodness and Perfection be implacable to his Creatures God forbid Ah Martha What would have become of you and I long before this time if God had not sought the good of his Creatures Consider we are all called the Lord's Off-spring Acts 17. All his Children by Creation Mar. What by that What would you prove from thence Phil. What Why then I think that the Lord must needs have a very tender regard to all as they are his Creatures the workmanship of his hands and is not implacable to them in this World Why may not God deal with his Off-spring as we deal by ours Goodman's Parable of the Prodigal Son which of us that have Children tho' they should prove very undutiful to us and we could not love them with the love of delight as we do those that are very dutiful and are good and vertuous yet at the worst we cannot chuse but pity them and heap favours upon them Why thus doth the Lord to the Sons and Daughters of Men though his delight is with them that fear him yet those that are the worst he pities And how can you think otherwise when there is not one Soul but is dearer to him than the whole World Neither did he count the Blood of his own Son too great a price for their Redemption but I doubt you are one of those that hold that God did from all Eternity fore ordain the greatest part of Adam's Off spring to everlasting destruction Mar. What if it was the Pleasure of God to make a thousand Worlds and then destroy them all Is it meet for Man to say unto God Why hast thou made me thus or what dost thou For he might glorify his Justice in the Damnation of all for their Sins who shall question God about this Phil. I say that God is so far from destroying one whole World that he is not willing that so much as one Soul should perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. and indeed who can think that our good and gracious God whose Name and Nature is Love should provide means of Life and Nourishment for Man in his Mother's Womb when he could neither breath nor eat should after he is born not provide as sufficient Means to nourish his Soul and Body to eternal Life I may say in this case as the Apostle in another doth God take care for Oxen hath God such a tender regard for the Bodies of Men and hath he none for the Soul surely he is every way as desirous of the welfare of the Soul as the Body and hath declared by Oath that he takes no pleasure in the Destruction of any Ezek. 33. 11 12. Who then is he that dare charge the God of Love with so much Cruelty as to expose his own Children at least by Creation to be a prey to the Devil What saith our Saviour Luke 11. 11. which of you having Children if they ask Bread will you give them a Stone c. Can we that are evil have Compassion upon our Children and will God harden himself as an Ostrich against his Off-spring Job 39. 16. Doth God condemn Cruelty in others and can we think he will harbour it in himself No the Scripture of Truth doth every where abound in giving Testimony of the Love Goodness and Bountifulness of God to all his Creatures and to Mankind above all other Works of his Hands in this lower World in so much as our blessed Saviour recommends him in his Carriage towards the worst and most unworthy of Men as an absolute Pattern for us to imitate in doing Good and shewing Mercy even to our Enemies Matt. 5. 44 45. Be ye therefore perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect that is be you true Imitators of the Lord Followers of God as dear Children in these works of Mercy and Kindness Now Martha pray you observe this if we should suppose that God hath irreversibly from Eternity doomed to everlasting Destruction and without any respect to their Sin those unjust ones upon whom he causeth the Sun to rise c. it must necessarily follow that while he did these good things to them he intended the greatest Evil that can be inflicted or imagined even the Vengeance of Eternal Fire which if so then must those that imitate him in such ways be the most accursed Hypocrites and Dissemblers under Heaven making shews of Love and Kindness while War and Blood are in their Hearts and so by this a Man may be most unjust unmerciful full of Dissimulation hating most Men without any Cause and yet be most like God O horrid and most unworthy a true Christian Believer Mar. What will you deny God to be omnipotent hath not he an absolute Soveraignty and Lordship over his Creatures with full Power to dispose of them as he pleaseth and you that contend with God about his Soveraignty unless you repent Phil. It cannot be denied but that God hath an absolute Soveraignty and Lordship over his Creatures that is a lawful Power to dispose of them as he pleaseth yet it is a horrible Indignity put upon him and a great Injury done to the Goodness Mercy and fatherly Compassion of our good and gracious God to affirm that he exerciseth this his Power upon the hardest Terms and the most grievous unto his Creatures that is or can be imagined and that which no ways is conducing to his own Honour and Glory nay
Apostle asserts an unwillingness in Christ that any Person of Mankind whatsoever should perish and therefore delayeth his promised coming and exercises much patience and long-sufference his will and desire being that no Person whatsoever should perish but that all might by his patience and long-sufferance be led to Repentance which if it be a Truth then doubtless we must here understand all Men and not restrain it to the Elect only for the Lord is not here said to be not willing that any of his Elect should perish but that all these should come to Repentance but not willing that any universally should perish but that all should come to Repentance viz. as they are Men while they are capable of Repentance that so they may be saved Philet This Text also must be restrained to the Elect therefore saith the Apostle The Lord is long-suffering to us-wards not willing that any of the Elect or true Believers should perish c. and if you mind this Epistle is writ to the Elect to those that had obtained like precious Faith with God's Elect. Philad But the contrary will appear if you consider the Persons here mentioned are those towards whom the Lord exercised much patience and long-suffering what are they the Elect with whom the Lord is not angry therefore no need of patience for there is no room for patience to take place but only in such cases where a Person is apt to be stirred up and provoked but now God was never offended with the Elect but loveth them with the greatest love that can be neither according to your Principles were they in any danger or possibility of perishing therefore could not the patience and long-suffering of God have any reference to any such End either of Salvation or Condemnation they having Salvation infallibly assured to them by the irrevocable Decree of God So that let Christ's coming be long or speedy or should they die the first moment they breath in this World or live after never so many Sins committed yet their Salvation being decreed of God and that Decree irresistible must needs produce their Salvation Besides if we should understand it of the Elect then we may without wrong to the Apostle bring him in speaking thus God is patient to the Elect not willing that any of his Elect should perish but that all the Elect should come to repentance therefore we must needs understand that the patience and long-sufferance of God is exercised toward those that contemn his Grace yea such as go on in Sin treasuring up Wrath to themselves against the day of Wrath yet the Lord exerciseth his goodness and forbearance and long-sufferance that so his Goodness might lead them to repentance Rom 2. 3 4. yea those that the Apostle calls Vessels of Wrath fitted for destruction are yet endured with much long-suffering There is nothing that makes the Lord withhold his hand of indignation against the Wicked but the tender Compassion that is in him through Christ and therefore is the long-suffering of God said to be Salvation this is the main End and Design of God's Patience and affording Sinners a Day of Grace that so Grace and Mercy might be obtained and his Goodness and Mercy leads them to repentance and so long as God exerciseth his long-suffering towards any they are under a possibility of Repentance 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. We read that the patience and long-sufferance of God waited upon Sinners in the days of Noah and all those 120 Years he afforded them means of Repentance by Noah who was a Preacher of Righteousness to them this shews that they were not under an absolute Decree of Reprobation but rather God would have none of them to perish if they do perish it is through their own fault and folly Now this is very consistent with the Will of God and the Mind of the Holy Ghost in other Scriptures as Ezek. 18. 30 32. and 33. 11. we find this People was ready to affront and cavil with the most High much after that rude manner as in Paul's time in the 9th of the Romans and as you and many others in these our days who say that Children are made liable to Eternal Death by their Parents Transgression before they had any Sin of their own notwithstanding God hath said nay sworn the contrary Is it not strange to think how you complement nay dissemble with God when you pray unto him you tell him how merciful and bountiful he is to all and when you have turn'd your backs represent him as a hard Master making us pay for that which we never tasted and punishing us for that fault which he knows others had committed with such like injurious Imputations and horrid Blasphemies so here these fly in the Face of God and charge the Death of the Wicked upon him and boldly lay the blame at his Door and say The Ways of the Lord were not equal tho when the Lord comes to judg every one according to their Work the inequallity will be found on their side not on God's for Psal 145. 17. 25. 10. hereupon the Lord proceeds to vindicate his most righteous proceedings with the Sons of Men and shews that the Son should not bear the iniquity of the Father nor the Father the Son 's but the Soul that sins should die and therefore calls upon them to repent Where now is the Man that dares charge the God of Heaven with his Destruction Surely as God delights not in the Sin of any so neither doth he in their Death but if you do not believe the Lord upon his bare Word you have his Oath Ezek. 33. 11. As I live saith the Lord c. I will not your Destruction if you perish and die in your Sins 't is because you * Baxter's Call to the Vnconverted p. 152 153 170. chuse Destruction your own Will is the cause of your Wo The Lord which cannot lie Tit. 1. 2. saith so nay he that cannot be perjur'd As I live he swears saith Dr. Homes by the choicest of Attributes his Life which is the Root of all others and the excellency of his Being and therefore carrys a great weight with it that he is in good earnest and most cordially desires they would not perish or die eternally God will not eat his Word or be forsworn 1 Sam. 15. 29. Rom. 3. 4. Tit. 1. 2. Mar. You need cite no more Scriptures I know and believe the Scripture stands full of Exhortations and many Promises c. in his Revealed Will but he hath a Secret Will contrary to his Revealed Will relating to the same People and Object So God would have all Men to be saved and none to perish by his Revealed Will yet by his Secret Will he would have Millions to be damned and tho it be his Revealed Will that all Men should believe in his Son and all should as you say repent and turn to God yet his Secret Will is they shall neither do the one
matter 3. In their Obligation to believe and the aggravation of their Misery by not believing The Devils because they must be damned are not commanded to believe in Christ nor is their punishment heightned by their not believing but miserable Men who by this Decree have no more liberty to escape Hell than the Devil must yet be tied to believe in Christ and have their Torments increased if they believe not May we not say Where was the sounding of the Lord's Bowels and his Mercy Were they not restrained Isa 63. 15. Now tho I grant you that God's Mercy is his own and he might give it to whom he please I do also grant that when Man had sinned God was not obliged but was absolutely free and at perfect liberty whether he would shew Mercy to any or not The Love of God in Christ was undeserved undesired and every way free indeed neither had it been unmerciful if God had made no provision for fallen Man But now seeing he was pleased to enter into a Covenant of Peace with Man tho under no constraint or Obligation and to give his Son a Ransom not for a few but all as a means whereby his poor Creatures might be saved and hath promised Mercy without exception should be vouchsafed to all that believe in his Son and hath bound it with an Oath that he desireth not the death of a Sinner that no cruelty is in him but that he is a God gracious and merciful thereby to beget in us such amiable thoughts of himself as might incline us to love him with all our heart and strength and without the least scruple resign up our selves to his Will Now I say since God who was absolutely free hath made such Promises of Mercy to all that believe in his Son this his Promise binds him to perform it he cannot deny himself he 's not like unto frail Man he will not eat his own words so that now he is not at liberty to deny Mercy to those to whom he in his Word hath promised to shew Mercy neither can he do it for we may modestly affirm there are some things God cannot do God cannot lie he cannot deny himself neither can he deal unfaithfully and unjustly in his Promises nor go contrary to his Will revealed in his Word so till you prove by the Word of God that he hath made no provision for the Salvation of all Men by the death of Christ all you say proves nothing neither do you yet shew me where the great Attribute of God's Mercy takes place upon those for whom Christ did not die Philet Doth not the Mercy of God wonderfully appear in this that when Man had sinned and thereby run himself so far in debt beyond any possibility to pay but was liable to have been eternally a Prisoner without any redemption from thence till he had paid the utmost Farthing neither Men nor Angels being able to make God amends for the wrong Man had done him Psal 49. 7 8. And whereas God being the most Soveraign Lord and no ways a Debter to any of his Creatures being not constrained by any inward Necessity or outward Force to shew mercy to any being wholly at his own choice whether he would shew Mercy to any having cause enough to cast off Man for his disobedience as he did the fallen Angels doth it not argue and prove more abundantly the rich Grace and Goodness of God in providing for the Salvation of a few than in making no provision for any but leaving them to perish in their Sins Philad 'T is true 't is an act of Grace and Mercy for God to make provision for the Salvation of any by Christ and to cast his Love upon any of the degenerate Sons of Adam when he passed by the Apostate Angels being invested with a power to shew Mercy to whom he please But certainly if to shew Mercy to a few amongst the many millions of millions of poor perishing Creatures renders God gracious and merciful how prevailing must that Love be which hath made such rich and full provision for the Salvation of all Men who unless they wilfully neglect so great Salvation shall most certainly be saved for if the providing for the Salvation of a few out of many renders him most gracious and lovely then if he had refused to make provision for any certainly the greater the number for whom this provision was made is the more lovely and gracious doth God appear Pray take heed you do not bring your Soul under guilt by denying Christ's Death for all which is the greatest illustration of his Love and Mercy to Sinners for in my understanding 't is a great injury done to the Goodness and Mercy of God to affirm that he hath eternally decreed the reprobation of all mankind except a very few in comparison of the rest Mar. None can be damned but those whose damnation God wills to glorify his Justice for God wills the Salvation of all that are saved and he wills the Damnation of all that are damned and tho it is certain that the Lord is gracious and full of compassion and of great mercy yet he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Rom. 9. 18. It 's true there is such infinite Mercy in God that he could have pardoned all the Angels that sinned and could have saved all Adam's Posterity if he had pleased there might have been no Hell no place of Torment for Devils or Men if he had pleased there might have been no place but Heaven for all the Angels and all the Children of Men to sing Hallelujahs to Eternity but we must not order what God shall do how he shall exert and put forth his Mercy but let his Grace and Mercy be adored for ever in that he saves any that have sinned and his holy Justice ador'd in punishing so many with Eternal Damnation for Sin And God hath his Glory not only from them that are saved but also from them that perish in the one the Glory of his Grace in the other the Glory of his Justice Philad Who questions these things but you still avoid the Question so often urged viz. Wherein the great Attribute of God's Mercy takes place upon those for whom Christ did not die Philet You asked me if I thought one Attribute of God eat up another And I may ask you this Question whether you think God is made up of Mercy without any Justice Philad No I do not think so I believe that Justice and Mercy were essentially in God before all time and both beloved and favoured by him and to maintain the favour and love God bore to Justice he hath caused whole Nations to drink of the Cup of his Wrath in this he threw the sinful down from Heaven drowned the old World rained Fire and Brimstone out of Heaven upon Sodom c. yea such love doth God bear to Justice that not only Men and Angels Citys
and Nations but Heaven and Earth and all shall fall rather than God will not observe Rectitude and Justice in giving to every one his due yea so just is God that he would not spare his best beloved Son yea and God is glorified by Justice as well as by Mercy and should there be any jarring and disagreeing in the Divine Being all would run into confusion yea Heaven and Earth would be a Chaos but certainly there is nothing more lovely than when Justice and Mercy do imbrace and kiss each other God hath promised in Judgment to remember Mercy and that he doth not willingly afflict and grieve the Children of Men the Divine Goodness is such that he always pities where he must punish Lam. 3. 33. and is very unwilling to strike but from mere necessity he seldom or never makes any Patterns of his Wrath but such as are despisers of his Mercy and forgetters of his Favours yea and after a long time of forbearance Isa 65. 2. So tho God hath a respect to Justice as well as Mercy and one is as much beloved as the other yet in the expressions of his Love to the Sons of Men 't is said to be above all his Works But where hath Mercy any place upon those that are made the butts of God's Displeasure yea view but the Scriptures wherein the Mercy and Goodness of God are legible to all and you will find that his love to sinful Man is truly inconsistent with the Nature of those absolute Decrees you speak of see Hos 11. 8. How shall I give thee up O Ephraim c. Here the Lord speaks as if to punish a sinful and disobedient People went to his very heart yea he is so unwilling to inflict Punishment that his very Bowels are moved as is intimated by turning within him Consider the case of Sodom when upon Abraham's earnest expostulation with the Almighty the Divine Bounty rose so high that had there been in those Five great Cities but Ten righteous the effectual Prayers of a righteous Man carry such a kind of Omnipotency a long with them that they tie as 't were God's hands from Judgments and open them to Mercy Let me alone said God to Moses nay it may be conjectured that not only Ten but Five or less might have prevailed for the saving those Citys Consider the Case of Nineveh Jona 1. likewise Mat. 23. 37. O Jerusalem c. Certainly this Scripture doth highly speak forth God and Christ's great Love to Mankind Sorrow mixt with Love and Pity and you shall find few or none commenting upon this text but say Christ shewed abundance of Love to these poor Jerusalemites Mr. Keach in his Scripture Tropes having shewed the compassion of Christ to Sinners under the similitude of a Hen saith that Jesus Christ was moved with the greatest compassion imaginable to wards the poor Jews and Jerusalemites whom he was first sent to and came to-seek and save this is signified by that wonderful passion that seized upon his Spirit c. And having shewed with what a mournful Voice the Hen calls her Chickens to her when there is danger saith so Christ calls to poor helpless and impenitent Sinners very often with a mournful Voice and tears in his eyes Luke 19. 42. And from thence doth infer it to be no better than presumption for any to dare to charge their eternal ruin upon God And a little after Who will pity Sinners if they perish at last and be damned when all is from their own vile stubborness And in his Youth's Guide he says That God's commiserating the sad estate of perishing Sinners argues there was once Mercy extended to them which could not be if Christ died not for all And in God's Love to mankind page 132. St. Austin saith Our Lord did compare himself to a Hen rather than to any other creature because of her singular expression of Love to them when out of sight Mar. But here 's a distinction which you either do not understand or have not considered as touching our Lord Jesus for he hath a Will distinct from his Will as God Now as Jesus Christ was Man he wept and as he was Man he willed Jerusalem Salvation but as he was God he wills it not for it was his determinate Will that Jerusalem should be destroyed as an effect of their Sins therefore tho Christ did weep for Jerusalem nay had he prayed for them God's unchangeable Will must take place Tho Moses and Samuel stood before me c. Jer. 15. 1. Philad I grant tho as I said before that faithful Prayer greatly prevails with God yet in some cases the most importunate Prayer of the most upright will not become effectual where Inquity is grown up to that height of malignity and desperate sinfulness that should not God punish it he would deny himself and cease to be God as he saith in Ezek 14. 14. that tho these three Men Noah Daniel and Job stand before me and would intercede their intercession for others will become fruitless where Justice calls for a cutting off but your distinction about a twofold Will in Christ I look upon to be but barely notional and nothing but to gratify Peoples pregnant fancies to say no worse and I doubt such sancies may prove of dangerous consequence for by this Christ in the Flesh had one End in his weeping and endeavouring to gather Jerusalem and in his Spirit another Christ as he was Man would have saved Jerusalem but as he was God he wills their destruction Christ as he was Man was filled with bowels of pity to their Souls and Bodys and would have gathered them under the Wings of his Grace and would have blessed them by turning them every one from their Iniquities Acts 3. ult but as he was God he had no more love for them than for Wolves and Tygers Christ as he was Man wept for the Bodys of those that should be destroyed by the Romans but as he was God he had decreed the Romans should destroy their Bodys and the Devil should have their Souls to Hell Christ in the Flesh is good and gracious seeking the Salvation of all but as God he hath consigned millions of Men Women and Children to perpetual Torments for Adam's single transgression What is Christ divided is not Christ in the Flesh and in the Spirit the same yesterday to day and for ever Was not the Word made Flesh and was it not united to the Divine Nature and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure and did not he satisfy and bear our Sins as he was Man in our Nature did not he die as Man and rise in our Nature and hath he not carried our Nature into Heaven And from this full Christ in Flesh and Spirit God-man we receive Grace for Grace Leave off such things and draw not People into a Labyrinth of Errors by such trifling Distinctions lest you draw some to account the Blood of the Covenant wherewith they
are sanctified an unholy thing and make all the Precepts of the Gospel uncertain whether they be the Will of God or not or whether Christ when he prayed to his Father for his People or for Sinners prayed as a Mediator or as Man only yea give footing to that Opinion which begins to evidence it self too much in many even denying the personal Union of God and Man in Jesus Christ in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Col. 2. 9. which did influence and give a value and worth to all things done for us by the Manhood and therefore his Righteousness and his Blood was called the Righteousness and Blood of God Acts 20. 28. 1 John 3. 16. Rom. 10. 3. Christ as he was God-Man and our Mediator what he did upon this account in the Flesh he did in the Spirit also Now in this place where Christ bewailed Jerusalem's state with tears either they flowed from true inward compassion or they did not if the first then Christ in the Flesh and in the Spirit willed one and the same thing and had no distinct Will for Jerusalem's Salvation as Man different from his Will as God but if the second then his tears were only feigned and his bewailing nothing but dissimulation which is a capital Sin to affirm And tho the Lord was resolved to bring Jerusalem to desolation by delivering them into the hands of their Enemies yet as you say and say truly it was an effect of their Sins the neglect of the Day of their Visitation mocking his Messengers and stoning them that were sent to her to have drawn her from the evil of her ways and for crucifying the Lord of Life thereby filling up the measure of her Iniquity So tho the Lord brought her to desolation yet Punishment is rather his refuge than his choice and his defence against Sin than the hurt of his Creatures and the Sinner with his own hands most cruelly pulleth down punishment upon his own head for the evil of Sin and the evil of Suffering are Twins or rather Sin gives birth and being to the other God never inflicted the least punishment on any merely as Men but as workers of Evil as continuing sinful and disobedient So that it was Jerusalem's actual Sins and her refusing to be healed that brought her to ruin and not any irresistible Decree of the Almighty for you may as well deny the Being of a God as entertain a belief that he takes pleasure in the death and destruction of his Creatures His Nature is perfect Goodness and he is a stranger to Cruelty and all the expressions of Love and Good-will in Christ to poor Sinners are such that they neither admit nor are consistent with fraud or falshood so that yet you have not told me where the Attribute of God merely takes place upon those that God is resolved against all means possible to be used to punish by his Decree as you use to say But before I leave this let me ask you one Question more which is this Ought not or do not all Men stand ingaged to love God Philet To love God yea who should they love if they do not love God Philad Ay but I ask you for what Reason Mar. There may be many Reasons given the receiving the good things of this Life may engage all Men to love God Philad Yea but you will not own that God gives the good things of this Life with any good intention to the greatest number but rather gives them to them to heighten their misery doth God intend any good to the Souls of such by what he gives Mar. No yet are they to be accountable for the abuse of them Philad But you hold that God did decree they should abuse them accordingly and for that end were they given to them that so the abuse of them might heighten their misery this is but like the Proverb Give a Man Roastmeat and beat him with the Spit Can any Man become grateful or be tied in the Bonds of Love and Gratitude to such a Man that should feast him for a while yet after condemn him to Death and Destruction Philet The Apostle saith 1 John 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us but this is meant of the Elect only Philad Why should you go about to confine the Lor'd Mercy which is altogether Infinite and as incomprehensible as his Divine Essence why should you thus contract the Divine Goodness whose Mercies are not only exalted above our Conceptions but also above and over all his Works Therefore do not presume to measure the Lord 's Mercys by your narrow conceit nor labour to make it run into a lesser Channel than the Lord intended But God's great Love to all Men in giving his Son to die for them is the ground and cause of their Love to God again True love must first spring from the knowledg of God's Love to them neither can I think that any Men in the World will ever heartily and cordially love God unless they believe that God Almighty had designs of Love to them yea so far loved them as to send his Son to die for them otherwise instead of loving and living to God it would tend to a most horrid and desperate alienation of the Hearts of poor Creatures from their dear and ever-blessed Creator For how is it possible that the poor Creature should devest himself of those Delights and Pleasures of this Life and intirely love and delight himself in God and his blessed Will if he knew or had strong grounds of fear that before he made him or without respect to his Sins or unworthy carriage in the least he so far hated him as to resolve against all Mediation whatsoever to cast him out of his sight and to doom him to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire You may preach up God's Sovereignty pronounce Justice and Judgment as some have done till they have brought Despair and Hell into the Souls of many and beget more Fear than Love make God feared as a Tyrant but 't is the making known Christ's meek Condescension Long-suffering and the superexcellent Amiableness of free Love and tender Mercy that soonest and most effectually works in us Repentance of our Sins and inclines us to love him that first loved us Wither's Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer Who is able to perswade Men by Arguments or move them by Threatnings to love God whose love to them in particular is doubtful Do you think it can or ever will be a motive for Persons to love God to tell them That before all Worlds or before they were born or there were any possibility of offending him in any manner it was decreed that the greatest number of Adam's Off-spring should be eternally reprobated and damned And tho he had provided means whereby Man might have been saved and that the worth and value was so great that it was sufficient for the Redemption of thousands of Worlds yet then it was
4. Neither must we think that Men stumbling at Christ and being disobedient to the Word to which they were appointed to learn their Duty is the Result of fatal Necessity But prethee Philetus tell me whether you be of Moderatus's mind that Christ died so far for all that the Gospel which is glad tidings should be preached to all and whether the Lord by the preaching of the Gospel doth not call all Men to Faith and Repentance promising Salvation to all that do believe Philet I know Faith and Repentance are required of all and God by the Gospel invites all Men to believe in him promising Salvation to all that do so believe yet only those will believe for whom Christ died to purchase these things for them and to purchase their Salvation Ye believe not because you are not of my Sheep John 10. 26. Philad That is I suppose you mean because they were not elected and because Christ did not die for them to purchase a Power to believe and therefore they could not believe because God had decreed their unbelief this is plainly to charge all the unbelief of Men upon the Lord but saith Christ They believe not because they were not of his Sheep And who those are he tells you in the next verse They are such as hearing his Voice follow him Such fallacious reasoning strikes at the Root of the Gospel of Grace and free Love of God and frees the Devil and wicked Men from bringing destruction on themselves for by such Doctrine God Almighty is the sole cause of all the incredulity in the World and tho he offers and invites all Men to partake of Grace yet he doth it not really and in good earnest and while your Ministers call upon Persons to believe and seem to wonder that they do not believe and yet hold that God hath decreed they shall never believe their Sermons are mere dissimulations and nonsense What would they bind Men to believe that which is untrue and charge them to take and receive Christ as tendred to them in the Gospel and to believe there is remission of Sins in Christ's Blood for them when he never shed it for them and so to lay hold upon that which they had no kind of interest in This not only makes your Ministers false Witnesses to offer Salvation to those whose Damnation is absolutely determined but also makes God a mere deluder of miserable Man whom he calleth by the preaching of the Gospel to partake of Salvation by his Son and yet fully before intended their ruin Is not this as much as in you lyeth to make God a lier as 1 Joh. 5. 10. for they that believe not God make him a lier because they believe not the Record God gave of his Son and what is that namely That whosoever believe on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life not that any Man can possibly make God a Lier no let God be True and all Men Liers but Men by their not believing on Christ do represent God as untrue in his Word because they reject that as a Fable which hath been spoken by the Lord himself for a Truth and those that preach the glad-tidings of Grace and Peace to all Men and every Creature sin in preaching in that they preach Lies to most Men yea and require Men to believe Lies May we not easily see that all your Exhortations Chidings your whining and seemingly bemoaning the state of poor Sinners is but a dissembling Art Mar. O what pangs are faithful Ministers in lest poor Souls should perish Philad Yea true Gospel-Ministers may but what Pangs your Ministers are in that hold Reprobation without respect to actual Sins part of their Creed I know not is commiseration in you a Virtue and is not all Good originally in God and can I take your Ministers to be filled with more compassion than the God of Love or to be better than they represent God to be For do they not hold that notwithstanding all the passionate wishes of the Lord his Exhortations and Perswasions Reprovings Expostulations mourning over the perishing state of poor Sinners yea tho he useth Promises to allure them and Threatnings to deter them and calls all Men by the Gospel to believe on his Son that they may live through him and swears that he wills not their Death yet hath he by an eternal and uncontrolable Decree shut up the greatest part of those to whom these Tenders are made under Sin and Misery that they shall never repent and be saved Christ never died intentionally nor really to save them they have thereby no more interest in him than the fallen Angels and therefore there is no more reason why the Gospel should be preached to the one more than the other whereby it must needs follow that many Men by the Gospel are bound in Conscience to believe that which is untrue and by your Ministers pressed and charged to receive that which they have nothing to do with by this you make the Lord guilty of the deepest dissimulation in his Promises and tenders of Grace to all And pray what are your Ministers but false Witnesses if they promise Salvation for all Men when they believe there is no Salvation for far the greatest part of Men whom Christ never purchased by his Blood If they exhort Sinners to turn from their Sins to the Lord and promise them that if they do so they shall live and tell all Men that God would not have one of them die in their Sins but rather turn and live is not this according to your Notion Lying And do not they promise and undertake more in the behalf of God than God himself is willing to perform What a bustle do your Ministers keep and to what purpose unless to get Money seeing the most powerful Ministers and Sermons cannot in the least alter the Intention of the Lord about the Salvation or Damnation of one Soul Man's final and eternal State being fixed in Heaven And thus do you give the Truth of God the lie and highly impeach the glorious Gospel and make your Ministers teach nothing but absurdities nay more than this it overthrows not only his Goodness and Mercy but also his Justice that Men before they partake of the Breath of Life or are any ways guilty of actual Sins should be so rigidly condemned to perpetual Misery yea appointed to receive the Wages of Sin before they committed any this is inconsistent with common Justice and Equity amongst Men and Shall not the Judg of all the World do right said good Abraham to God Gen. 18. 25. And saith Job shall mortal Man be more just than God and so our Apostle Is there unrighteousness with God how then shall God judg the World Doth it not wrong the pure Justice of God to hold that he will judg and condemn Men for ever to lie under his Wrath for doing that which he himself decreed them to do or that God Almighty should behold
6. and when they assayed to go into Bithynia the Spirit suffered them not ver 7. Philad For what reason God would not that the Gospel should at that time be preached by Paul and Timothy in Asia is hid from us he might have many either that he would make use of their Ministry somewhere else or that he had appointed some others to the Work whatsoever it was certainly the Reason is not to be brought from God's absolute Decree of Reprobation as Calvin upon this place doth for it is certain that the Gospel was at least soon after preached and that in this place by Paul himself so that Demetrius the Siver-smith did greatly lament the admirable progress of the Gospel in Asia Acts 19. 26. And in the 10th Verse you may see that Paul continued for the space of two years at Ephesus which was the Metropolis of Asia insomuch that it was said That all they that dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks Mar. But all Men have not the Gospel preached to them nor the same Light and Means to know the Lord and so come to believe in him and surely if Christ died for all Men for the whole World he would have sent amongst them the Word of Life and removed out of the way all those things which he knew would have hindered their Salvation and therefore I cannot think but all those Nations which the Gospel is not sent to are left by the Lord in the Fall and reserved for Eternal Punishment Philad As it was in Paul's time so it is now the Jews prided themselves against the Gentiles as being the only Elect People and the Gentiles but Reprobates and Cast-aways and so do such as you are at this day by the Nations which have not the Gospel-light as I have often heard to my great grief even damn them by whole-sale looking upon them little better than Devils What tho the Lord according to his manifold Wisdom is pleased to vouchsafe a greater sufficiency of means to know the Lord and to know what God hath done for them and by the Gospel reveals those things which otherwise in an ordinary way could not be known to one Nation or one Age and Generation of Men more than another yet knowing and by daily experience finding God to be infinite in Goodness and Mercy I cannot but believe he hath effectually provided for their Salvation as well as ours tho the ordinary means is wanting as at this day in many parts of the World for tho Faith is not now begotten in them by preaching and hearing as with us at this day yet God hath many ways to instruct and communicate his Will to Man Job 33. yea to reveal Christ in such manner and ways as may be available for Jesus Christ who took Man's Nature upon him and who hath taken away their original Guilt and who enlightens every Man that comes into the World may by the Operation of his Spirit how and when he pleaseth so help them to improve their single Talent of Reason and the Light set up in their Consciences which may so perfect what is wanting of the ordinary means that many thousands according to our Saviour's words Mat. 8. 11. shall come from the East and the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven when the Children of the Visible Kingdom or Church who judged themselves the sole Inheritors of it and all the rest of the World but Castaways shall be shut out and if you look Psal 87. you may see that those that had their natural Birth in Rahab Tyre Ethiopia Philistia Babylon shall be accounted as born in the Spiritual Zion or Church of God And tho the Lord in his Wisdom and Mercy is pleased to vouchsafe a greater measure of Grace Light and Knowledg and of Salvation unto us than unto them yet hath not God left himself without Witness all the common Providences of God being given to direct Men to seek the Lord. In Rom. 2. 14 15. we read that the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things c. That Law which was given in two Tables of Stone was that which was purely moral and imprinted in their Hearts namely that God is to be worshipped that Parents should be honoured and in a word to do to all as they would be done to These were Duties written in he very Book of Nature and tho they have not the Evangelical Law in the preaching of the Gospel as we have become a Law to themselves and by observing the Dictates of that Light living up to a true informed Conscience and to that Law which warreth against the rebellious Lusts in their Members have gradually so prevailed with them as to bring them to a good measure of conformity to the Will of God and have quite outdone many Christians in their practices Mar. What tho yet if Christ as Mediator be not some-way made known to Men they are lost for ever He that believeth on the Son hath Life and he that believeth not on the Son hath not Life But you seem to hold that it is not absolutely necessary to Salvation to know Christ and him crucified as Mediator but to live up to that which God hath manifested to them and to have some Notions of Unisersal Grace and Mercy in the Divine Essence But I must tell you all that ever were saved before Christ came were saved not by living up to that Light which God had given to all Men or by living up to a true conformity to the Law planted in their Hearts or by believing God was merciful and gracious but by believing on Christ who was to come to be a Sacrifice for their Sins and all that are saved since our Saviour's coming do in some measure know and believe in Jesus Christ that died without the Gates of Jerusalem Philad Have you forgot that you told me that I went too far to assert the Salvation of all those that died in Infancy I not being the Sovereign Lord and Judg of all and now are you not guilty of the same thus to determine the final State of all Men both before and since Christ's coming in the Flesh as if none were saved but only such as distinctly knew Jesus Christ the Seed of the Woman that was to break the Serpent's Head as he that was to offer himself a Sacrifice for Sin seeing I believe neither you nor any other is able to prove that no Heathen wanting the Letter of the Gospel and the Oral Ministry of it which is the ordinary Means to beget Faith never yet believed on God to Justification or were accepted with him And whereas you say none can be saved who diligently frame their Lives according to the Light God hath given them or live in a true conformity to the Law written in their Hearts This is but your presumption for if God hath given them no other Law or Light