_Therefore_, &c.
[Sidenote: Remonstrants _Opinion strengthens the precise Decree of
Reprobation_.] Of this Argument the other Party deny the Assumption,
saying; That _they who never heard of Christ, are not obliged to
believe in him_; _and seeing the Remonstrants _(as they are commonly
called)_ do generally themselves acknowledge, that without the outward
Knowledge of Christ there is no Salvation_, that gives the other Party
yet a stronger Argument for their precise Decree of Reprobation. _For,
_say they,_ seeing we all see really, and in effect, that God hath
with-held from many Generations, and yet from Nations, that Knowledge
which is absolutely needful to Salvation, and so hath rendered it
simply impossible unto them; Why may he not as well with-hold the
Grace necessary to make a saving Application of that Knowledge,
where it is preached? For there is no Ground to say, That this were
Injustice in God, or Partiality, more than his leaving those others in
utter Ignorance; the one being but a with-holding Grace to apprehend
the Object of Faith, the other a withdrawing the Object itself._
For answer to this, they are forced to draw a Conclusion from their
former _Hypothesis_ of Christ’s dying for all, and God’s Mercy and
Justice, saying, That _if these _Heathens,_ who live in those remote
Places, where the outward Knowledge of Christ is not, did improve that
common Knowledge they have, to whom the outward Creation is for an
Object of Faith, by which they may gather that there is a God, then
the Lord would by some Providence, either send an Angel to tell them
of Christ, or convey the Scriptures to them, or bring them some Way
an Opportunity to meet with such as might inform them._ Which, as it
gives always too much to the Power and Strength of Man’s Will and
Nature, and favours a little of _Socinianism_ and _Pelagianism_, or at
least of _Semi-Pelagianism_, so, since it is only built upon probable
Conjectures, neither hath it Evidence enough to convince any strongly
tainted with the other Doctrine; nor yet doth it make the Equity and
wonderful Harmony of God’s Mercy and Justice towards _ALL_ so manifest
to the Understanding. So that I have often observed, that these
Assertors of Universal Grace did far more pithily and strongly overturn
the false Doctrine of their Adversaries, than they did establish and
confirm the Truth and Certainty of their own. [Sidenote: _None, by an
irrevocable Decree, excluded from Salvation._] And though they have
Proof sufficient from the Holy Scriptures to confirm the Universality
of Christ’s Death, and that none are precisely, by any irrevocable
Decree, excluded from Salvation, yet I find when they are pressed in
the Respects above-mentioned, to shew how God hath so far equally
extended the Capacity to partake of the Benefit of Christ’s Death unto
all, as to communicate unto them a sufficient Way of so doing, they are
somewhat in a Strait, and are put more to give us their Conjectures
from the Certainty of the former pre-supposed Truth, to wit, that
because Christ hath certainly died for all, and God hath not rendered
Salvation impossible to any, therefore there must be some Way or other
by which they may be saved; which must be by improving some common
Grace, or by gathering from the Works of Creation and Providence, than
by really demonstrating, by convincing and spiritual Arguments, what
that Way is.
§. X. It falls out then, that as Darkness, and the great Apostasy,
came not upon the Christian World all at once, but by several Degrees,
one Thing making way for another; until that thick and gross Veil
came to be overspread, wherewith the Nations were so blindly covered,
from the _seventh_ and _eighth_, until the _sixteenth Century_; even
as the Darkness of the Night comes not upon the outward Creation at
once, but by Degrees, according as the Sun declines in each Horizon;
so neither did that full and clear Light and Knowledge of the glorious
Dispensation of the Gospel of Christ appear all at once; the Work of
the first Witnesses being more to testify against and discover the
Abuses of the Apostasy, than to establish the Truth in Purity. He that
comes to build a new City, must first remove the old Rubbish, before he
can see to lay a new Foundation; and he that comes to an House greatly
polluted and full of Dirt, will first sweep away and remove the Filth,
before he put up his own good and new Furniture. The dawning of the
Day dispels the Darkness, and makes us see the Things that are most
conspicuous: But the distinct discovering and discerning of Things,
so as to make a certain and perfect Observation, is reserved for the
arising of the Sun, and its shining in full Brightness. And we can,
from a certain Experience, boldly affirm, that the not waiting for
this, but building among, yea, and with, the _Old Popish Rubbish_,
and setting up before a full Purgation, hath been to most Protestants
the Foundation of many a Mistake, and an Occasion of unspeakable Hurt.
[Sidenote: _The more full Discovery of the Gospel reserved to this our
Age._] Therefore the Lord God, who as he seeth meet doth communicate
and make known to Man the more full, evident, and perfect Knowledge
of his everlasting Truth, hath been pleased to reserve the more full
Discovery of this Glorious and Evangelical Dispensation to this our
Age; albeit divers Testimonies have thereunto been borne by some noted
Men in several Ages, as shall hereafter appear. And for the greater
Augmentation of the Glory of his Grace, that no Man might have whereof
to boast, he hath raised up a few _despicable and illiterate Men_,
and for the most Part _Mechanicks_, to be the Dispensers of it; by
which Gospel all the Scruples, Doubts, Hesitations and Objections
above-mentioned are easily and evidently answered, and the Justice as
well as Mercy of God, according to their divine and heavenly Harmony,
are exhibited, established, and confirmed. According to which certain
Light and Gospel, as the Knowledge thereof has been manifested to us by
the Revelation of Jesus Christ _in us_, fortified by our own sensible
Experience, and sealed by the Testimony of the Spirit in our Hearts, we
can confidently affirm, and clearly evince, according to the Testimony
of the Holy Scriptures, the following Points:
§. XI. [Sidenote: Prop. I.] First, _That God_, who out of his infinite
Love sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the World, [Sidenote:
_A day of Visitation to all._] who tasted Death for every Man, _hath
given to every Man_, whether _Jew_ or _Gentile_, _Turk_ or _Scythian_,
_Indian_ or _Barbarian_, of whatsoever Nation, Country, or Place, _a
certain Day or Time of Visitation; during which Day or Time it is
possible for them to be saved, and to partake of the Fruit of Christ’s
Death_.
[Sidenote: Prop. II.] [Sidenote: _A Measure of Light in all._]
Secondly, _That for this End God hath communicated and given unto every
Man a Measure of the Light of his own Son, a Measure of Grace, or a
Measure of the Spirit_, which the Scripture expresses by several Names,
as sometimes of the _Seed of the Kingdom_, Mat. xiii. 18, 19. _the
Light that makes all Things manifest_, Ephes. v. 13. _the Word of God_,
Rom. x. 17. or _Manifestation of the Spirit given to profit withal_, 1
Cor. xii. 7. _A Talent_, Mat. xxv. 15. _A little Leaven_, Mat. xiii.
33. the _Gospel preached in every Creature_, Col. i. 23.
[Sidenote: Prop. III.] Thirdly, _That God, in and by this Light and
Seed, invites, calls, exhorts, and strives with every Man, in order
to save him_; [Sidenote: _God’s Salvation wrought by the Light in
all._] which, as it is received and not resisted, works the Salvation
of _all_, even of those who are ignorant of the Death and Sufferings
of Christ, and of _Adam_’s Fall, both by bringing them to a Sense of
their own _Misery_, and to be Sharers in the Sufferings of Christ
inwardly, and by making them Partakers of his Resurrection, in becoming
Holy, Pure, and Righteous, and recovered out of their Sins. By which
also are saved they that have the Knowledge of Christ outwardly, in
that it opens their Understanding rightly to use and apply the Things
delivered in the Scriptures, and to receive the saving Use of them: But
_that this may be resisted and rejected in both, in which then God is
said to be resisted and pressed down, and Christ to be again crucified,
and put to open Shame in and among Men_. And to those who thus resist
and refuse him, he becomes their Condemnation.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 1._] First then, According to this Doctrine
_the Mercy of God is excellently well exhibited_, in that none are
necessarily shut out from Salvation; and his Justice is demonstrated,
in that he condemns none but such to whom he really made offer of
Salvation, affording them the Means sufficient thereunto.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 2._] Secondly, This Doctrine, if well weighed,
will be found to be the _Foundation of Christianity, Salvation, and
Assurance._
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 3._] Thirdly, It agrees and answers _with the whole
Tenor of the Gospel Promises and Threats, and with the Nature of the
Ministry of Christ_; according to which, the Gospel, Salvation, and
Repentance are commanded to be preached to every Creature, without
Respect of Nations, Kindred, Families or Tongues.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 4._] Fourthly, _It magnifies and commends the
Merits and Death of Christ_, in that it not only accounts them
sufficient to save all, but declares them to be brought so nigh unto
all, as thereby to be put into the nearest Capacity of Salvation.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 5._] Fifthly, _It exalts above all the Grace of
God_, to which it attributeth all Good, even the least and smallest
Actions that are so; ascribing thereunto not only the first Beginnings
and Motions of Good, but also the whole Conversion and Salvation of the
Soul.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 6._] Sixthly, _It contradicts, overturns, and
enervates the false Doctrine of the_ Pelagians, Semi-Pelagians,
Socinians, _and others_, who exalt the Light of Nature, the Liberty
of Man’s Will, in that it wholly excludes the natural Man from having
any Place or Portion in his own Salvation, by any acting, moving,
or working of his own, until he be first quickened, raised up, and
actuated by God’s Spirit.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 7._] Seventhly, _As it makes the whole Salvation of
Man solely and alone to depend upon God, so it makes his Condemnation
wholly and in every Respect to be of himself_, in that he refused and
resisted somewhat that from God wrestled and strove in his Heart,
and forces him to acknowledge God’s just judgment in rejecting and
forsaking of him.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 8._] Eighthly, _It takes away all Ground of
Despair_, in that it gives every one Cause of Hope and certain
Assurance that they may be saved; _neither doth feed any in Security_,
in that none are certain how soon their Day may expire: And therefore
it is a constant Incitement and Provocation, and lively Encouragement
to every Man, to forsake Evil, and close with that which is Good.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 9._] Ninthly, _It wonderfully commends as well the
Certainty of the Christian Religion among _Infidels_, as it manifests
its own Verity to all_, in that it is confirmed and established by the
Experience of all Men; seeing there was never yet a Man found in any
Place of the Earth, however barbarous and wild, but hath acknowledged
that at some Time or other, less or more, he hath found _somewhat_
in his Heart reproving him for some Things evil which he hath done,
threatening a certain Horror if he continued in them, as also promising
and communicating a certain Peace and Sweetness, as he has given Way to
it, and not resisted it.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 10._] Tenthly, _It wonderfully sheweth the
excellent Wisdom of God_, by which he hath made the Means of Salvation
so universal and comprehensive, that it is not needful to recur to
those miraculous and strange Ways; seeing, according to this most true
Doctrine, the Gospel reacheth all, of whatsoever Condition, Age, or
Nation.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 11._] Eleventhly, _It is really and effectively,
_though not in so many Words, yet by Deeds,_ established and confirmed
by all the Preachers, Promulgators, and Doctors of the _Christian
Religion_ that ever were, or now are, even by those that otherways in
their Judgment oppose this Doctrine_, in that they all, whatever they
have been or are, or whatsoever People, Place, or Country they come
to, do preach to the People, and to every Individual among them, that
they may be saved; intreating and desiring them to believe in Christ,
who hath died for them. So that what they deny in the general, they
acknowledge of every Particular; there being no Man to whom they do not
preach in order to Salvation, telling him _Jesus Christ calls and wills
him to believe and be saved_; and that if he refuse, he shall therefore
be condemned, and that his Condemnation is of himself. Such is the
Evidence and Virtue of Truth, that it constrains its Adversaries, even
against their Wills, to plead for it.
[Sidenote: _Conseq. 12._] Lastly, According to this Doctrine the former
Argument used by the _Arminians_, and evited by the _Calvinists_,
concerning every Man’s being bound to believe that _Christ died for
him_, is, by altering the Assumption, _rendered invincible_; thus,
_That which every Man is bound to believe, is true_:
_But every man is bound to believe that God is merciful unto him_:
_Therefore_, &c.
This Assumption no Man can deny, seeing _his Mercies_ are said to be
_over all his Works_. And herein the Scripture every Way declares
the _Mercy of God_ to be, in that he invites and calls Sinners to
Repentance, and hath opened a Way of Salvation for them: So that
though those Men be not bound to believe the _History of Christ’s
Death and Passion_ who never came to know of it, yet they are bound to
believe that God will be merciful to them, if they follow his Ways,
and that he is merciful unto them, in that he reproves them for Evil,
and encourages them to Good. [Sidenote: _Our Adversaries unmerciful
Assertion of God._] Neither ought any Man to believe that God is
unmerciful to him, or that he hath from the Beginning, ordained him to
come into the World that he might be left to his own evil Inclinations,
and so do wickedly as a Means appointed by God to bring him to eternal
Damnation; which, were it true, as our Adversaries affirm it to be
of many Thousands, I see no Reason why a Man might not believe; for
certainly a Man may believe the Truth.
As it manifestly appears from the Thing itself, that these good and
excellent Consequences follow from the Belief of this Doctrine, so
from the Proof of them it will yet more evidently appear; to which
before I come, it is requisite to speak somewhat concerning the State
of the Controversy, which will bring great Light to the Matter: For
from the not right understanding of a Matter under Debate, sometimes
both Arguments on the one Hand, and Objections on the other, are
brought, which do no Way hit the Case; and hereby also our Sense and
Judgment therein will be more fully understood and opened.
§. XII. [Sidenote: Quest. 1.] [Sidenote: _The stating of the
Question._] First then, by this _Day and Time of Visitation_, which
we say God gives unto all, during which they may be saved, _we do not
understand the whole Time of every Man’s Life_; though to some it may
be extended even to the very Hour of Death, as we see in the Example
of the Thief converted upon the Cross: But _such a Season at least as
sufficiently exonerateth God of every Man’s Condemnation_, which to
some may be sooner, and to others later, according as the Lord in his
Wisdom sees meet. [Sidenote: _That many may out-live the Day of God’s
Visitation._] So that many Men may out-live this Day, after which there
may be no Possibility of Salvation to them, and God justly suffers them
to be hardened, as a just Punishment of their Unbelief, and even raises
them up as Instruments of Wrath, and makes them a Scourge one against
another. Whence to Men in this Condition may be fitly applied those
Scriptures which are abused to prove _that God incites Men necessarily
to sin_: This is notably expressed by the Apostle, _Rom._ i. from Ver.
17. to the End, but especially Ver. 28. _And even as they did not like
to retain God in their Knowledge, God gave them up to a Reprobate Mind,
to do those Things which are not convenient._ That many may out-live
this Day of God’s gracious Visitation unto them, is shewn by the
Example of _Esau_, _Heb._ xii. 16, 17. who _sold his Birthright_ So he
had it once, and was capable to have kept it; but afterwards when he
would have inherited the Blessing, he was rejected. This appears also
by Christ’s weeping over _Jerusalem_, _Luke_ xix. 42. saying, _If thou
hadst known in this thy Day the Things that belong unto thy Peace; but
now they are hid from thine Eyes_. Which plainly imports a Time when
they might have known them, which now was removed from them, though
they were yet alive; but of this more shall be said hereafter.
§. XIII. [Sidenote: Quest. 2.] Secondly, _By this Seed, Grace, and
Word of God, and Light wherewith, _we say,_ every one is enlightened_,
and hath a Measure of it, which strives with him in order to save him,
and which may, by the Stubbornness and Wickedness of Man’s Will, be
quenched, bruised, wounded, pressed down, slain and crucified, _we
understand not the proper Essence and Nature of God precisely taken,
which is not divisible into Parts and Measures, _as being a_ most pure,
simple Being, void of all Composition or Division_, and therefore can
neither be resisted, hurt, wounded, crucified, or slain by all the
Efforts and Strength of Men; [Sidenote: _The Light what it is, and its
Properties described._] _but we understand a spiritual, heavenly, and
invisible Principle, in which God, as Father, Son, and Spirit, dwells_;
a Measure of which divine and glorious Life is _in all Men, _as a_
Seed_, [66]which of its own Nature draws, invites, and inclines to God;
and this some call _Vehiculum Dei_, or the _spiritual Body of Christ,
the Flesh and Blood of Christ, which came down from Heaven_, of which
all the Saints do feed, and are thereby nourished unto eternal Life.
And as every unrighteous Action is witnessed against and reproved by
this _Light_ and _Seed_, so by such Actions it is hurt, wounded, and
slain, and flees from them even as the Flesh of Man flees from that
which is of a contrary Nature to it. Now because it is never separated
from God nor Christ, [67]but wherever it is, God and Christ are as
wrapped up therein, therefore and in that Respect as it is resisted,
God is said to be resisted; and where it is borne down, God is said
to be pressed _as a Cart under Sheaves_, and Christ is said to be
slain and crucified. And on the contrary, as this Seed is received in
the Heart, and suffered to bring forth its natural and proper Effect,
Christ comes to be formed and raised, of which the Scripture makes
so much Mention, calling it _the new Man_, _Christ within, the Hope
of Glory_. This is that _Christ within_, which we are heard so much
to speak and declare of, every where preaching him up, and exhorting
People to believe in the _Light_, and obey it, that they may come to
know _Christ in them_, to deliver them from all Sin.
[66] _Cant. 3. 9._
[67] 1 Tim. vi. 16.
But by this, as we do not at all intend to _equal ourselves_ to that
Holy Man the _Lord Jesus Christ_, who was born of the Virgin _Mary_, in
whom all the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, [Sidenote: _That the
Fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily_, &c.] so neither do we
_destroy the Reality of his present Existence_, as some have falsely
calumniated us. For though we affirm that Christ dwells in us, yet not
immediately, but mediately as he is in that _Seed_ which is _in us_;
whereas he, to wit, the _Eternal Word_, which was with God, and was
God, dwelt immediately in that Holy Man. He then is as the Head, and
we as the Members; he the Vine, and we the Branches. Now as the Soul
of Man dwells otherwise and in a far more immediate Manner in the Head
and in the Heart than in the Hands or Legs, and as the Sap, Virtue,
and Life of the Vine lodgeth far otherwise in the Stock and Root than
in the Branches, so God dwelleth otherwise in the Man _Jesus_ than in
us. We also freely reject the Heresy of _Apollinarius_, who denied him
to have any Soul, but said the Body was only actuated by the Godhead.
As also the Error of _Eutyches_, who made the Manhood to be wholly
swallowed up of the Godhead. Wherefore, as we believe he was a true and
real Man, so we also believe that he continues so to be glorified in
the Heavens in Soul and Body, by whom God shall judge the World, in the
great and general Day of Judgment.
§. XIV. [Sidenote: Quest. 3.] [Sidenote: _That the Light is a Spiritual
Substance, which may be felt in the Soul and apprehended._] Thirdly,
_We understand not this Seed, Light, or Grace to be an Accident, as
most Men ignorantly do, but a real spiritual Substance_, which the
Soul of Man is capable to feel and apprehend, from which that real,
spiritual, inward Birth in Believers arises, called _the New Creature_,
the _New Man in the Heart_. This seems strange to Carnal-minded Men,
because they are not acquainted with it; but we know it, and are
sensible of it, by a true and certain Experience. Though it be hard for
Man in his natural Wisdom to comprehend it until he come to feel it in
himself, and if he should, holding it in the mere Notion it would avail
him little, yet we are able to make it appear to be true, and that our
Faith concerning it is not without a solid Ground: For it is in and by
this inward and substantial Seed in our Hearts as it comes to receive
Nourishment, and to have a Birth or Geniture _in_ us, that we come to
have those spiritual Senses raised by which we are made capable of
_tasting_, _smelling_, _seeing_, and _handling_ the Things of God: For
a Man cannot reach unto those Things by his natural Spirit and Senses,
as is above declared.
Next, We know it to be a _Substance_, because it subsists _in_ the
Hearts of wicked Men, even while they are in their Wickedness, as
shall be hereafter proved more at large. Now no _Accident_ can be in a
_Subject_ without it give the Subject its own Denomination; as where
_Whiteness_ is in a Subject, there the Subject is called _White_.
[Sidenote: _The Degrees of its Operation in the Soul of Man._] So
we distinguish betwixt _Holiness_, as it is an _Accident_, which
denominates Man so, as the Seed receives a Place _in him_, and betwixt
the _holy substantial Seed_, which many Times lies _in Man’s Heart_
as a naked Grain in the stony Ground. So also as we may distinguish
betwixt _Health_ and _Medicine_; _Health_ cannot be in a Body without
the Body be called _Healthful_, because _Health_ is an Accident; but
_Medicine_ may be in a Body that is most unhealthful, for that it is
a Substance. And as when a _Medicine_ begins to work, the Body may in
some Respect be called _Healthful_, and in some Respect _Unhealthful_,
so we acknowledge as this _divine Medicine_ receives Place in _Man’s
Heart_, it may denominate him in some Part Holy and Good, though there
remain yet a corrupted unmortified Part, or some Part of the evil
Humours unpurged out; for where two contrary Accidents are in one
Subject, as _Health_ and _Sickness_ in a Body, the Subject receives its
Denomination from the Accident which prevails most. So many Men are
called Saints, good and holy Men, and that truly, when this holy Seed
hath wrought _in them_ in a good Measure, and hath somewhat leavened
them into its Nature, though they may be yet liable to many Infirmities
and Weaknesses, yea, and to some Iniquities; for as the Seed of Sin and
Ground of Corruption, yea, and the Capacity of yielding thereunto, and
sometimes actually falling, doth not denominate a good and holy Man
_impious_; so neither doth the Seed of Righteousness in evil Men, and
the Possibility of their becoming one with it, denominate them _good_
or _holy_.