PROPOSITIONS V. & VI.

[54]God, out of his Infinite Love, who delighteth not in the Death of a Sinner, but that all should live and be saved, hath so loved the World, that he hath given his only Son a Light, that whosoever believeth in him shall be saved, John iii. 16. Who enlighteneth EVERY Man that cometh into the World, John i. 9. And maketh manifest all Things that are reproveable, Ephes. v. 13. And teacheth all Temperance, Righteousness, and Godliness; and this Light enlighteneth the Hearts of all, for a Time, in order to Salvation; and this is it which reproves the Sin of all Individuals, and would work out the Salvation of all, if not resisted. Nor is it less Universal than the Seed of Sin, being the Purchase of his Death, who tasted Death for every Man. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, 1 Cor. xv. 22.

PROPOSITION VI.

According to which Principle, or Hypothesis, all the Objections against the Universality of Christ’s Death are easily solved; neither is it needful to recur to the Ministry of Angels, and those other Miraculous Means which they say God useth to manifest the Doctrine and History of Christ’s Passion unto such, who, living in Parts of the World where the outward Preaching of the Gospel is unknown, have well improved the first and common Grace. For as hence it well follows, that some of the Old Philosophers might have been saved, so also may some, who by Providence are cast into those remote Parts of the World where the Knowledge of the History is wanting, be made Partakers of the Divine Mystery, if they receive, and resist not that Grace, [55]A Manifestation whereof is given to every Man to profit withal. This most certain Doctrine being then received, that there is an Evangelical and Saving Light and Grace in all, the Universality of the Love and Mercy of God towards Mankind, both in the Death of his Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Manifestation of the Light in the Heart, is established and confirmed, against all the Objections of such as deny it. Therefore [56]Christ hath tasted Death for every Man; not only for all Kinds of Men, as some vainly talk, but for every Man of all Kinds: The Benefit of whose Offering is not only extended to such who have the distinct outward Knowledge of his Death and Sufferings, as the same is declared in the Scriptures, but even unto those who are necessarily excluded from the Benefit of this Knowledge by some inevitable Accident; which Knowledge we willingly confess to be very Profitable and Comfortable, but not absolutely Needful unto such from whom God himself hath with-held it; yet they may be made Partakers of the Mystery of his Death, though ignorant of the History, if they suffer his Seed and Light, enlightening their Hearts, to take Place; in which Light Communion with the Father and the Son is enjoyed; so as of wicked Men to become holy, and Lovers of that Power, by whose inward and secret Touches they feel themselves turned from the Evil to the Good, and learn to do to others as they would be done by, in which Christ himself affirms all to be included. As They have then falsely and erroneously Taught, who have denied Christ to have died for all Men; so neither have They sufficiently taught the Truth, who affirming him to have died for all, have added the absolute Necessity of the outward Knowledge thereof, in order to obtain its saving Effect. Among whom the Remonstrants of Holland have been chiefly wanting, and many other Assertors of Universal Redemption, in that they have not placed the Extent of this Salvation in that Divine and Evangelical Principle of Light and Life wherewith Christ hath enlightened every Man that cometh into the World; which is excellently and evidently held forth in these Scriptures, Gen. vi. 3. Deut. xxx. 14. John i. 7, 8, 9, 16. Rom. x. 8. Titus ii. 11.

Absolute Reprobation, that horrible and blasphemous Doctrine, described.Hitherto we have considered Man’s fallen, lost, corrupted, and degenerated Condition. Now it is fit to enquire, How and by what Means he may come to be freed out of this miserable and depraved Condition, which in these two Propositions is declared and demonstrated; which I thought meet to place together because of their Affinity, the one being as it were an Explanation of the other.

As for that Doctrine which these Propositions chiefly strike at, to wit, absolute Reprobation, according to which some are not afraid to assert, “That God, by an Eternal and Immutable Decree, hath Predestinated to Eternal Damnation the far greater Part of Mankind, not considered as made, much less as fallen, without any Respect to their Disobedience or Sin, but only for the demonstrating of the Glory of his Justice; and that for the bringing this about, he hath appointed these miserable Souls necessarily to walk in their wicked Ways, that so his Justice may lay hold on them: And that God doth therefore not only suffer them to be liable to this Misery in many Parts of the World, by with-holding from them the Preaching of the Gospel and the Knowledge of Christ, but even in those Places where the Gospel is preached, and Salvation by Christ is offered; whom though he publickly invite them, yet he justly condemns for Disobedience, albeit he hath with-held from them all Grace by which they could have laid hold of the Gospel, viz. Because he hath, by a secret Will unknown to all Men, ordained and decreed (without any Respect had to their Obedience or Sin) that they shall not obey, and that the Offer of the Gospel shall never prove effectual for their Salvation, but only serve to aggravate and occasion their greater Condemnation.”

I say, as to this horrible and blasphemous Doctrine, our Cause is common with many others, who have both wisely and learnedly, according to Scripture, Reason, and Antiquity, refuted it. Seeing then that so much is said already and so well against this Doctrine, that little can be superadded, except what hath been said already, I shall be short in this Respect; yet, because it lies so in Opposition to my Way, I cannot let it altogether pass.

If these Sayings do not plainly and evidently import, that God is the Author of Sin, we must not then seek these Men’s Opinions from their Words, but some Way else. It seems as if they had assumed to themselves that monstrous and twofold Will they feigned of God; one by which they declare their Minds openly, and another more secret and hidden, which is quite contrary to the other. Nor doth it at all help them to say, That Man sins willingly, since that Willingness, Proclivity, and Propensity to Evil is, according to their Judgment, so necessarily imposed upon him, that he cannot but be willing, because God hath willed and decreed him to be so. Which shift is just as if I should take a Child uncapable to resist me, and throw it down from a great Precipice; the Weight of the Child’s Body indeed makes it go readily down, and the Violence of the Fall upon some Rock or Stone beats out its Brains and kills it. Now then, I pray, though the Body of the Child goes willingly down (for I suppose it as to its Mind uncapable of any Will) and the Weight of its Body, and not any immediate Stroke of my Hand, who perhaps am at a great Distance, makes it die, whether is the Child or I the proper Cause of its Death? Let any Man of Reason judge, if God’s Part be, with them, as great, yea, more immediate, in the Sins of Men, as by the Testimonies above brought doth appear, whether doth not this make him not only the Author of Sin, but more unjust than the unjustest of Men?

4. It makes the Gospel a Mock.Fourthly, It makes the Preaching of the Gospel a mere Mock and Illusion, if many of these, to whom it is preached, be by any irrevocable Decree excluded from being benefited by it; it wholly makes useless the Preaching of Faith and Repentance, and the whole Tenor of the Gospel-promises and Threatenings, as being all relative to a former Decree and Means before appointed to such; which, because they cannot fail, Man needs do nothing but wait for that irresistible Juncture, which will come, though it be but at the last Hour of his Life, if he be in the Decree of Election; and be his Diligence and Waiting what it can, he shall never attain it, if he belong to the Decree of Reprobation.

5. It makes the Coming of Christ an Act of Wrath.Fifthly, It makes the Coming of Christ, and his Propitiatory Sacrifice, which the Scripture affirms to have been the Fruit of God’s Love to the World, and transacted for the Sins and Salvation of all Men, to have been rather a Testimony of God’s Wrath to the World, and one of the greatest Judgments, and severest Acts of God’s Indignation towards Mankind, it being only ordained to save a very few, and for the hardening, and augmenting the Condemnation of the far greater Number of Men, because they believe not truly in it; the Cause of which Unbelief again, as the Divines [so called] above assert, is the hidden Counsel of God: Certainly the Coming of Christ was never to them a Testimony of God’s Love, but rather of his implacable Wrath: And if the World may be taken for the far greater Number of such as live in it, God never loved the World, according to this Doctrine, but rather hated it greatly, in sending his Son to be crucified in it.

Having thus briefly removed this false Doctrine which stood in my Way, because they that are desirous may see it both learnedly and piously refuted by many others, I come to the Matter of our Proposition, which is, That God out of his infinite Love, who delighteth not in the Death of a Sinner, but that all should live and be saved, hath sent his only begotten Son into the World, that whosoever believeth in him might be saved; which also is again affirmed in the sixth Proposition, in these Words, Christ tasted Death for every Man.Christ then tasted Death for every Man, of all Kinds. Such is the Evidence of this Truth, delivered almost wholly in the express Words of Scripture, that it will not need much Probation. Also, because our Assertion herein is common with many others, who have both earnestly and soundly, according to the Scripture, pleaded for this universal Redemption, I shall be the more brief in it, that I may come to that which may seem more singularly and peculiarly ours.

Arg. 1.For whomsoever it is lawful to pray, to them Salvation is possible:

But it is lawful to pray for every individual Man in the whole World:

Therefore Salvation is possible unto them.

I prove the Major Proposition thus;

Arg. 2.No Man is bound to pray for that which is impossible to be attained:

But every Man is bound and commanded to pray for all Men:

Therefore it is not impossible to be obtained.

I prove also this Proposition further, thus;

Arg. 3.No Man is bound to pray, but in Faith:

But he that prayeth for that, which he judges simply impossible to be obtained, cannot pray in Faith:

Therefore, &c.

Again,

Arg. 4.That which God willeth is not impossible:

But God willeth all Men to be saved:

Therefore it is not impossible.

And Lastly;

Arg. 5.Those for whom our Saviour gave himself a Ransom, to such Salvation is possible:

But our Saviour gave himself a Ransom for all:

Therefore Salvation is possible.

Proof 3.Thirdly, This Doctrine is abundantly confirmed by that of the Apostle, 1 John ii. 1, 2. And if any Man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And he is the Propitiation for our Sins; and not for ours only, but also for the Sins of the whole World. Adversaries comment on the Words the whole World. The Way which our Adversaries take to evite this Testimony, is most foolish and ridiculous: The [World] here, say they, is the World of Believers: For this Commentary we have nothing but their own Assertion, and so while it manifestly destroys the Text, may be justly rejected. For, First, let them shew me, if they can, in all the Scripture, where the [whole World] is taken for Believers only; I shall shew them where it is many Times taken for the quite Contrary; as, The World knows me not: The World receives me not, I am not of this World: Besides all these Scriptures, Psalm xvii. 14. Isai. xiii. 11. Mat. xviii. 7. John vii. 7. and viii. 26. and xii. 19. and xiv. 17. and xv. 18, 19. and xvii. 14. and xviii. 20. 1 Cor. i. 21. and ii. 12. and vi. 2. Gal. vi. 14. James i. 27. 2 Pet. ii. 20. 1 John ii. 15. and iii. 1. and iv. 4, 5, and many more. Secondly, The Apostle in this very Place contra-distinguished the World from the Saints thus; And not for ours only, but for the Sins of the whole World: What means the Apostle by [Ours] here? Is not that the Sins of Believers? Was not he one of those Believers? And was not this an universal Epistle, written to all the Saints that then were? So that according to these Men’s Comment, there should be a very unnecessary and foolish Redundancy in the Apostle’s Words; as if he had said, He is a Propitiation not only for the Sins of all Believers, but for the Sins of all Believers: Is not this to make the Apostle’s Words void of good Sense? Let them shew us wherever there is such a Manner of speaking in all the Scripture, where any of the Penmen first name the Believers in Concreto with themselves, and then contra-distinguish them from some other whole World of Believers? That [whole World] if it be of Believers, must not be the World we live in. But we need no better Interpreter for the Apostle than himself, who uses the very same Expression and Phrase in the same Epistle, Ch. v. 19. saying, We know that we are of God, and the whole World lieth in Wickedness. There cannot be found in all the Scripture two Places which run more parallel; seeing in both the same Apostle, in the same Epistle to the same Persons, contra-distinguisheth himself, and the Saints to whom he writes, from the whole World; which, according to these Men’s Commentary, ought to be understood of Believers: As if John had said, We know particular Believers are of God; but the whole World of Believers lieth in Wickedness. What absurd wresting of Scripture were this? And yet it may be as well pleaded for as the other; for they differ not at all. Seeing then that the Apostle John tells us plainly, That Christ not only died for him, and for the Saints and Members of the Church of God, to whom he wrote, but for the whole World, let us then hold it for a certain and undoubted Truth, notwithstanding the Cavils of such as oppose.

This might also be proved from many more Scripture-Testimonies, if it were at this Season needful. All the Fathers, so called, and Doctors of the Church, for the first four Centuries, preached this Doctrine; according to which they boldly held forth the Gospel of Christ, and Efficacy of his Death; The Heathens invited to Salvation; none predestinated to Damnation.inviting and intreating the Heathens to come and be Partakers of the Benefits of it, shewing them how there was a Door open for them all to be saved through Jesus Christ; not telling them that God had predestinated any of them to Damnation, or had made Salvation impossible to them, by with-holding Power and Grace, necessary to believe, from them. But of many of their Sayings, which might be alleged, I shall only instance a few.

Proof 4. The Testimonies of the Doctors and Fathers of the first Church, that Christ died for all.Augustine on the xcvth Psalm saith, “The Blood of Christ is of so great Worth, that it is of no less Value than the whole World.” Prosper ad Gall. c. 9. “The Redeemer of the World gave his Blood for the World, and the World would not be Redeemed, because the Darkness did not receive the Light. He that saith, the Saviour was not crucified for the Redemption of the whole World, looks not to the Virtue of the Sacrament, but to the Part of Infidels; since the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Price of the whole World; from which Redemption they are Strangers, who either delighting in their Captivity would not be Redeemed, or after they were Redeemed returned to the same Servitude.”

The same Prosper, in his Answer to Vincentius’s first Objection: “Seeing therefore because of one common Nature and Cause in Truth, undertaken by our Lord, all are rightly said to be Redeemed, and nevertheless all are not brought out of Captivity; the Property of Redemption without doubt belongeth to those from whom the Prince of this World is shut out, and now are not Vessels of the Devil, but Members of Christ; whole Death was so bestowed upon Mankind, that it belonged to the Redemption of such who were not to be regenerated. But so, that that which was done by the Example of one for all, might, by a singular Mystery, be celebrated in every one. For the Cup of Immortality, which is made up of our Infirmity and the Divine Power, hath indeed that in it which may Profit all; but if it be not drank, it doth not heal.”

The Author de Vocat. Gentium, Lib. 11. Cap. 6. “There is no Cause to doubt but that our Lord Jesus Christ died for Sinners and wicked Men. And if there can be any found, who may be said not to be of this Number, Christ hath not died for all; he made himself a Redeemer for the whole World.”

Chrysostom on John i. “If he enlightens every Man coming into the World, how comes it that so many Men remain without Light? For all do not so much as acknowledge Christ. How then doth he enlighten every Man? He illuminates indeed so far as in him is; but if any of their own accord, closing the Eyes of their Mind, will not direct their Eyes unto the Beams of this Light,The Cause they remain in Darkness. the Cause that they remain in Darkness is not from the Nature of the Light, but through their own Malignity, who willingly have rendered themselves unworthy of so great a Gift. But why believed they not? Because they would not: Christ did his Part.”

The Arelatensian Synod, held about the Year 490, “Pronounced him accursed, who should say that Christ hath not died for all, or that he would not have all Men to be saved.”

Ambr. on Psalm cxviii. Serm. 8. “The mystical Sun of Righteousness is arisen to all; he came to all; he suffered for all; and rose again for all: And therefore he suffered, that he might take away the Sin of the World. But if any one believe not in Christ, he robs himself of this general Benefit,The Sun-Beams shut out, heat not. even as if one by closing the Windows should hold out the Sun-Beams. The Sun is not therefore not arisen to all, because such an one hath so robbed himself of its Heat: But the Sun keeps its Prerogative; it is such an one’s Imprudence that he shuts himself out from the common Benefit of the Light.”

The same Man, in his 11th Book of Cain and Abel, Cap. 13. saith, “Therefore he brought unto all the Means of Health, that whosoever should perish, may ascribe to himself the Causes of his Death, who would not be cured when he had the Remedy by which he might have escaped.”

Extremes fallen into by some, making God the Author of Sin.This gave Augustine, Prosper, and some others Occasion, labouring, in Opposition to these Opinions, to magnify the Grace of God, and paint out the Corruptions of Man’s Nature (as the Proverb is of those that seek to make straight a crooked Stick) to incline to the other Extreme. So also the Reformers, Luther and others, finding among other Errors the strange Expressions used by some of the Popish Scholasticks concerning Free-Will, and how much the Tendency of their Principles is to exalt Man’s Nature and lessen God’s Grace, having all those Sayings of Augustine and others for a Pattern, through the like Mistake run upon the same Extreme: Though afterwards the Lutherans, seeing how far Calvin and his Followers drove this Matter, (who, as a Man of subtle and profound judgment, foreseeing where it would land, resolved above-board to assert that God had decreed the Means as well as the End, and therefore had ordained Men to sin, and excites them thereto, which he labours earnestly to defend) and that there was no avoiding the making of God the Author of Sin, thereby received Occasion to discern the Falsity of this Doctrine, and disclaimed it, as appears by the latter Writings of Melancthon, and the Mompelgartensian Conference, [65]where Lucas Osiander, one of the Collocutors, terms it Impious; calls it a making God the Author of Sin, and an horrid and horrible Blasphemy. Yet because none of those who have asserted this universal Redemption since the Reformation have given a clear, distinct, and satisfactory Testimony how it is communicated to all, and so have fallen short of fully declaring the Perfection of the Gospel Dispensation, others have been thereby the more strengthened in their Errors; which I shall illustrate by one singular Example.