opened our Mind and Judgment in this Matter, as divers Objections are
hereby prevented, so will it make our Proof both the easier and the
shorter.
[Sidenote: Prop. I.] [Sidenote: _Proved._] The first Thing to be proved
is, _That God hath given to every Man a Day or Time of Visitation,
wherein it is possible for him to be saved_. If we can prove that there
is a Day and Time given, in which those might have been saved that
actually perish, the Matter is done: For none deny but those that are
saved have a Day of Visitation. [Sidenote: Proof I.] This then appears
by the Regrets and Complaints which the Spirit of God throughout the
whole Scriptures makes, even to those that did perish; [Sidenote:
_Those that perish, had a Day of Mercy offered them._] sharply
reproving them, for that they did not accept of, nor close with God’s
Visitation and Offer of Mercy to them. Thus the Lord expresses himself
then first of all to _Cain_, Gen. iv. 6, 7. [Sidenote: _Instances._ 1.
Cain.] _And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is
thy Countenance fallen? If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted?
If thou dost not well, Sin lieth at the Door._ This was said to _Cain_
before he slew his Brother _Abel_, when the evil Seed began to tempt
him, and work in his Heart; we see how God gave Warning to _Cain_ in
Season, and in the Day of his Visitation towards him, Acceptance and
Remission if he did well: For this Interrogation, _Shalt thou not be
accepted?_ imports an Affirmative, _Thou shalt be accepted, if thou
dost well_. So that if we may trust God Almighty, the Fountain of all
Truth and Equity, it was possible in a Day, even for _Cain_ to be
accepted. Neither could God have proposed the doing of _Good_ as a
Condition, if he had not given _Cain_ sufficient Strength, whereby he
was capable to do _Good_. This the Lord himself also shews, even that
he gave a Day of Visitation to the Old World, [Sidenote: _The_ Old
World.] _Gen._ vi. 3. _And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always
strive in Man_; for so it ought to be translated. This manifestly
implies, that his Spirit did strive with Man, and doth strive with
him for a Season, which Season expiring, God ceaseth to strive with
him, in order to save him: For the Spirit of God cannot be said to
strive with Man after the Day of his Visitation is expired; seeing it
naturally, and without any Resistance, works its Effect then, to wit,
continually to judge and condemn him. From this _Day of Visitation_,
that God hath given to every One, is it, that he is said to _wait to
be gracious_, Isa. xxx. 18. [Sidenote: _God is Long-suffering, and
long waiting to be gracious unto all_.--] And to be _Long-suffering_,
Exod. xxxiv. 6. Numb. xiv. 18. Psal. lxxxvi. 15. Jer. xv. 15. Here the
Prophet _Jeremy_, in his Prayer, lays hold upon the _Long-suffering of
God_; and in his expostulating with God, he shuts out the Objection of
our Adversaries in the 18th Verse; _Why is my Pain perpetual, and my
Wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? Wilt thou altogether be
unto me as a Liar, and as Waters that fail?_ Whereas, according to our
Adversaries Opinion, the Pain of the most Part of Men is perpetual, and
their Wound altogether incurable; yea, the Offer of the Gospel, and
of Salvation unto them, is as a Lie, and as Waters that fail, being
never intended to be of any Effect unto them. The Apostle _Peter_
says expresly, that this _Long-suffering of God waited in the Days
of _Noah_ for those of the Old World_, 1 Pet. iii. 20. which, being
compared with that of _Gen._ vi. 3. before-mentioned, doth sufficiently
hold forth our Proposition. And that none may object that this
_Long-suffering_ or _Striving of the Lord_ was not in order to save
them, the same Apostle saith expresly, 2 _Pet._ iii. 15. [Sidenote:
_In order to save them._] _That the Long-suffering of God is to be
accounted Salvation_; and with this _Long-suffering_, a little before
in the 9th Verse, he couples, _That God is not willing that any should
perish_. Where, taking him to be his own Interpreter (as he is most
fit) he holdeth forth, That those to whom the Lord is _Long-suffering_,
(which he declareth he was to the Wicked of the Old World, and is now
to all, _not willing that any should perish_) they are _to account
this Long-suffering of God to them Salvation_. Now, how or in what
respect can they account it _Salvation_, if there be not so much as a
_Possibility_ of _Salvation_ conveyed to them therein? For it were not
_Salvation_ to them, if they could not be saved by it. In this Matter
_Peter_ further refers to the Writings of _Paul_, holding forth this to
have been the universal Doctrine. Where it is observable what he adds
upon this Occasion, [Sidenote: _Some Things in _Paul_’s Epistles hard
to be understood._] how _there are some Things in _Paul_’s Epistles
hard to be understood, which the Unstable and Unlearned wrest to
their own Destruction_; insinuating plainly this of those Expressions
in _Paul_’s Epistles, as _Rom._ ix. _&c._ which some, _unlearned_
in spiritual Things, did make to contradict the Truth of _God’s
Long-suffering towards all_, in which he willeth not any of them should
perish, and in which they all may be saved. Would to God many had taken
more Heed than they have done to this Advertisement! That Place of the
Apostle _Paul_, which _Peter_ seems here most particularly to hint at,
doth much contribute also to clear the Matter, _Rom._ ii. 4. _Despisest
thou the Riches of his Goodness, and Forbearance, and Long-suffering,
not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance?_
_Paul_ speaketh here to the Unregenerate, and to the Wicked, who (in
the following _Verse_ he saith) _Treasure up Wrath unto the Day of
Wrath_; and to such he commends the Riches of the Forbearance and
Long-suffering of God; shewing that the Tendency of God’s Goodness
leadeth to Repentance. How could it necessarily tend to _lead them to
Repentance_, how could it be called _Riches_ or _Goodness_ to them, if
there were not a Time wherein they might repent by it, and come to be
Sharers of the Riches exhibited in it? From all which I thus argue.
[Sidenote: Arg.] [Sidenote: _God’s Spirit strives in the Wicked._]
If God plead with the Wicked, from the Possibility of their being
accepted; if God’s Spirit strive in them for a Season, in order to
save them, who afterwards perish; if he wait to be gracious unto them;
if he be Long-suffering towards them; and if this Long-suffering be
Salvation to them while it endureth, during which Time God willeth
them not to perish, but exhibiteth to them the Riches of his Goodness
and Forbearance to lead them to Repentance; then there is a Day of
Visitation wherein such might have been, or some such now may be saved,
who have perished; and may perish, if they repent not:
But the first is true: Therefore also the last.
§. XX. [Sidenote: _Proof 2._] _Secondly_, This appeareth from the
Prophet _Isaiah_ v. 4. [Sidenote: _The Vineyard planted brought forth
wild Grapes._] _What could I have done more to my Vineyard?_ For in
Ver. 2. he saith; _He had fenced it, and gathered out the Stones
thereof, and planted it with the choicest Vine: And yet _(saith he)_
when I looked it should have brought forth Grapes, it brought forth
wild Grapes_. Wherefore he calleth the Inhabitants of _Jerusalem_, and
Men of _Judah_, to judge betwixt him and his Vineyard, saying; _What
could I have done more to my Vineyard, than I have done in it? and
yet _(as is said)_ it brought forth wild Grapes_: Which was applied
to many in _Israel_, who refused God’s Mercy. The same Example is
used by Christ, _Matth._ xxi. 33. _Mark_ xii. 1. _Luke_ xx. 9. where
_Jesus_ shews, how to some _a Vineyard was planted_, and all Things
given necessary for them, to get them Fruit to pay or restore to their
Master; and how the Master many Times waited to be merciful to them, in
sending Servants after Servants, and passing by many Offences, before
he determined to destroy and cast them out. _First_ then, this cannot
be understood of the Saints, or of such as repent and are saved; for it
is said expresly, _He will destroy them_. Neither would the Parable any
ways have answered the End for which it is alleged, if these Men had
not been in a Capacity to have done Good; yea, such was their Capacity,
that Christ saith in the Prophet, _What could have I done more?_ So
that it is more than manifest, that by this Parable, repeated in three
sundry _Evangelists_, Christ holds forth his Long-suffering towards
Men, and their Wickedness, to whom Means of Salvation being afforded,
do nevertheless resist, to their own Condemnation. To these also are
parallel these Scriptures, _Prov._ i. 24, 25, 26. _Jer._ xviii. 9, 10.
_Matth._ xviii. 32, 33, 34. _Acts_ xiii. 46.
[Sidenote: _Proof 3._] _Lastly_, That there is a Day of Visitation
given to the Wicked, wherein they might have been saved, and which
being expired, they are shut out from Salvation, [Sidenote: _Christ’s
Lamentation over_ Jerusalem.] appears evidently by Christ’s Lamentation
over _Jerusalem_, expressed in three sundry Places, _Matth._ xxiii.
37. _Luke_ xiii. 34. and xix. 41, 42. _And when he was come near, he
beheld the City, and wept over it, saying; If thou hadst known, even
thou, at least in this thy Day, the Things that belong to thy Peace;
but now they are hid from thine Eyes!_ Than which nothing can be said
more evident to prove our Doctrine. For, _First_, he insinuates that
there was a Day wherein the Inhabitants of _Jerusalem_ might have
known those Things that belonged to their Peace. _Secondly_, That
during that Day he was willing to have gathered them, even as an _Hen
gathereth her Chickens_. A familiar Example, yet very significative in
this Case; which shews that the Offer of Salvation made unto them was
not in vain on his Part, but as really, and with as great Chearfulness
and Willingness, as an _Hen gathereth her Chickens_. Such as is the
Love and Care of the Hen toward her Brood, such is the Care of Christ
to gather lost Men and Women, to redeem them out of their corrupt and
degenerate State. _Thirdly_, That because they refused, the Things
belonging to their _Peace were hid from their Eyes_. Why were they hid?
Because ye would not suffer me to _gather you_; ye would not see those
Things that were _good for you_, in the Season of God’s Love towards
you; and therefore _now_, that Day being expired, _ye cannot see them_:
And, for a farther judgment, God suffers you to be hardened in Unbelief.
[Sidenote: _God hardens, when._] So it is, after real Offers of Mercy
and Salvation rejected, that Men’s Hearts are hardened, and not before.
Thus that Saying is verified, _To him that hath, shall be given; and
from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath._
This may seem a Riddle, yet it is according to this Doctrine easily
solved. He hath not, because he hath lost the Season of using it,
and so to him it is now as nothing; for Christ uses this Expression,
_Matth._ xxv. 26. [Sidenote: _The one Talent was sufficient._] upon the
Occasion of the taking the _one Talent_ from the _slothful Servant_,
and giving it to him that was diligent; which _Talent_ was no ways
insufficient of itself, but of the same Nature with those given to the
others; and therefore the Lord had Reason to exact the Profit of it
proportionably, as well as from the rest: So, I say, it is after the
rejecting of the Day of Visitation, that the Judgment of Obduration is
inflicted upon Men and Women, as Christ pronounceth it upon the _Jews_
out of _Isa._ vi. 9. which all the four _Evangelists_ make Mention of,
_Matth._ xiii. 14. _Mark_ iv. 12. _Luke_ viii. 10. _John_ xii. 40. and
last of all the Apostle _Paul_, after he had made Offer of the Gospel
of Salvation to the _Jews_ at _Rome_, pronounceth the same, _Acts_
xxviii. 26. after that some believed not; _Well spake the Holy Ghost,
by _Isaiah_ the Prophet, unto our Fathers, saying, Go unto this People,
and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing
ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For the Heart of this People is
waxed gross, and their Ears are dull of hearing, and their Eyes have
they closed; lest they should see with their Eyes, and hear with their
Ears, and understand with their Hearts, and should be converted, and
I should heal them._ So it appears, that God would have them to see,
but they closed their Eyes; and therefore they are justly hardened.
[Sidenote: Cyril. Alex.] Of this Matter _Cyrillus Alexandrinus_ upon
_John_, Lib. 6. Cap. 21. speaks well, answering to this Objection. _But
some may say, If Christ be come into the World, that those that see may
be blinded, their Blindness is not imputed unto them; but it rather
seems that Christ is the Cause of their Blindness, who saith_, He is
come into the World, that those that see may be blinded. _But, _saith
he,_ they speak not rationally, who object these Things unto God, and
are not afraid to call him the Author of Evil. For, as the sensible Sun
is carried upon our Horizon, that it may communicate the Gift of its
Clearness unto all, and make its Light shine upon all_; [Sidenote:
_The Cause of Man’s remaining in Darkness, the closing of his Eyes._]
_yet if any one close his Eye-lids, or willingly turn himself from the
Sun, refusing the Benefit of its Light, he wants its Illumination, and
remains in Darkness, not through the Defect of the Sun, but through
his own Fault. So that the true Sun, who came to enlighten those that
sat in Darkness, and in the Region of the Shadow of Death, visited
the Earth for this Cause, that he might communicate unto all the Gift
of Knowledge and Grace, and illuminate the inward Eyes of all by a
spiritual Splendor: But many reject the Gift of this heavenly Light
freely given to them, and have closed the Eyes of their Minds, lest so
excellent an Illumination or Irradiation of the eternal Light should
shine unto them. It is not then through Defect of the true Sun that
they are blinded, but only through their own Iniquity and Hardness_;
for, _as the wise Man saith, Wisdom_ ii. Their Wickedness hath blinded
them.
From all which I thus argue:
[Sidenote: _The obstinate _Jews_ had a Day._] If there was a Day
wherein the obstinate _Jews_ might have known the Things that _belonged
to their Peace_, which, because they rejected it, _was hid from their
Eyes_; if there was a Time wherein Christ would have gathered them,
who, because they refused, could not be gathered; then such as might
have been saved do actually perish, that slighted the Day of God’s
Visitation towards them, wherein they might have been converted and
saved.
But the first is true: Therefore also the last.
§. XXI. [Sidenote: Prop. II.] [Sidenote: _Proved._] _Secondly_,
That which comes in the second Place to be proved is, _That whereby
God offers to work this Salvation during the Day of every Man’s
Visitation_; and that is, _That he hath given to every Man a Measure
of saving, sufficient, and supernatural Light and Grace_. This I shall
do, by God’s Assistance, by some plain and clear Testimonies of the
Scripture.
[Sidenote: _Proof 1._] _First_, From that of _John_ i. 9. _That was
the true Light, which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World_.
[Sidenote: _The Light enlightening every Man_, &c.--] This Place doth
so clearly favour us, that by some it is called the _Quakers Text_; for
it doth evidently demonstrate our Assertion; so that it scarce needs
either Consequence or Deduction, seeing itself is a Consequence of two
Propositions asserted in the former Verses, from which it followeth
as a Conclusion in the very Terms of our Faith. The first of these
Propositions is, _The Life that is in him is the Light of Men_: The
second, _The Light shineth in the Darkness_; And from these two he
infers, and _He is the true Light, which lighteth every Man that cometh
into the World_.
[Sidenote: Obs. 1.] From whence I do in short observe, That this divine
Apostle calls _Christ the Light of Men_, and giveth us this as one
of the chief Properties, at least considerably and especially to be
observed by us; seeing hereby, as he is the _Light_, and as we walk
with him in that _Light_ which he communicates to us, we come to have
Fellowship and Communion with him; as the same Apostle saith elsewhere,
1 _John_ i. 7. _Secondly_, That _this Light shineth in Darkness, though
the Darkness comprehend it not_. [Sidenote:--_Not to a certain Number
of Men, but every Man._] _Thirdly_, That _this true Light enlighteneth
every Man that cometh into the World_. Where the Apostle, being
directed by God’s Spirit, hath carefully avoided their Captiousness,
that would have restricted this to any certain Number: Where every
one is, there is none excluded. Next, should they be so obstinate, as
sometimes they are, as to say that this [_every Man_] is only every
one of the Elect; these Words following, _every Man that cometh into
the World_, would obviate that Objection. So that it is plain there
comes no Man into the World, whom Christ hath not _enlightened_ in some
Measure, and in whose dark Heart this _Light_ doth not shine; though
the _Darkness comprehend it not_, yet it shineth there; and the Nature
thereof is to dispel the Darkness where Men shut not their Eyes upon
it. [Sidenote: _The Light dispelling Darkness begets Faith._] Now for
what End this _Light_ is given, is expressed, Ver. 7. where _John_ is
said to come for a _Witness, to bear Witness to the Light, that all
Men through it might believe_; to wit, through the _Light_, [Greek:
di autou: δι αυτου], which doth very well agree with [Greek: phôtos:
φωτος], as being the nearest Antecedent, though most Translators have
(to make it suit with their own Doctrine) made it relate to _John_,
as if all Men were to believe through _John_. For which, as there is
nothing directly in the Text, so it is contrary to the very Strain
of the Context. For, seeing Christ hath _lighted every Man_ with
this _Light_, Is it not that they may come to believe through it?
All could not believe through _John_, because all Men could not know
of _John_’s Testimony; whereas every Man being lighted by this, may
come therethrough to believe. _John_ shined not in _Darkness_; but
this _Light_ shineth in the _Darkness_, that having dispelled the
_Darkness_, it may produce and beget Faith. And, _Lastly_, We must
believe through that, and become Believers through that, by walking
in which, Fellowship with God is known and enjoyed; but, as hath
been above-observed, it is by walking in this _Light_ that we have
this Communion and Fellowship; not by walking in _John_, which were
Nonsense. So that this Relative [Greek: di autou: δι αυτου], must needs
be referred to the _Light_, whereof _John_ bears Witness, that through
that _Light_, wherewith Christ hath _lighted every Man_, all Men might
come to believe. Seeing then this _Light_ is the _Light_ of Jesus
Christ, and the _Light_ through which Men come to believe, I think it
needs not to be doubted, but that it is a supernatural, saving, and
sufficient _Light_. [Sidenote: _The Light is supernatural, saving, and
sufficient._] If it were not supernatural, it could not be properly
called the _Light_ of Jesus; for though all Things be his, and of him,
and from him; yet those Things which are common and peculiar to our
Nature, as being a Part of it, we are not said in so special a Manner
to have from Christ. Moreover, the Evangelist is holding out to us here
the Office of Christ as Mediator, and the Benefits which from him as
such do redound unto us.
[Sidenote: Obser. 2.] _Secondly_, It cannot be any of the natural Gifts
or Faculties of our Soul, whereby we are said here to be enlightened,
because this Light is said to _shine in the Darkness_, and cannot be
comprehended by it. [Sidenote: _The Darkness is Man’s natural State and
Condition._] Now this Darkness is no other but Man’s natural Condition
and State; in which natural State he can easily comprehend, and doth
comprehend, those Things that are peculiar and common to him as such.
That Man in his natural Condition is called _Darkness_, see _Eph._ v.
8. _For ye were sometimes Darkness, but now are ye Light in the Lord._
And in other Places, as _Acts_ xxvi. 18. _Col._ i. 3. 1 _Thess._ v. 5.
where the Condition of Man in his natural State, is termed _Darkness_:
Therefore, I say, this _Light_ cannot be any natural Property or
Faculty of Man’s Soul, but a supernatural Gift and Grace of Christ.
[Sidenote: Obser. 3.] _Thirdly_, It is sufficient and saving.
[Sidenote: Arg. 1.] That which is given, _That all Men through it
may believe_, must needs be saving and sufficient: That, by walking
in which, Fellowship with the Saints and the Blood of Christ, _Which
cleanseth from all Sin_, is possessed, must be sufficient:
But such is the LIGHT, 1 _John_ i. 7.
Therefore, _&c._
Moreover;
[Sidenote: Arg. 2.] That which we are commanded to believe in, _That
we may become the Children of the Light_, must be a supernatural,
sufficient and saving Principle:
But we are commanded to _believe in this Light_:
Therefore, _&c._
The _Proposition_ cannot be denied. The _Assumption_ is Christ’s own
Words, _John_ xii. 36. _While ye have the Light, believe in the Light,
that ye may be the Children of the Light._
[Sidenote: Object.] To this they object, _That by _[Light]_ here is
understood Christ’s outward Person, in whom he would have them believe._
[Sidenote: _Answ._] That they ought to have believed in Christ, that
is, that he was the MESSIAH that was to come, is not denied; [Sidenote:
_Whether Christ’s outward Person was the Light?_] but how they evince
that Christ intended _that_ here, I see not: Nay, the Place itself
shews the Contrary, by these Words, _While ye have the Light_; and by
the Verse going before, _Walk while ye have the Light, lest Darkness
come upon you_: Which Words import, That when that Light in which
they were to believe was removed, then they should lose the Capacity
or Season of believing. Now this could not be understood of Christ’s
Person, else the _Jews_ might have believed in him; and many did
savingly believe in him, as all Christians do at this Day, when the
Person, to wit, his bodily Presence, or outward Man, is far removed
from them. [Sidenote: _The Light of Christ is not Christ’s outward Man
or Person._] So that this Light in which they were commanded to believe
must be that inward spiritual Light that shines in their Hearts for
a Season, even during the Day of Man’s Visitation; which, while it
continueth to call, invite, and exhort, Men are said to have it, and
may believe in it; but when Men refuse to believe in it, and reject
it, then it ceaseth to be a Light to shew them the Way; but leaves the
Sense of their Unfaithfulness as a Sting in their Conscience, which is
a Terror and Darkness unto them, and upon them, in which they cannot
know where to go, neither can work any Ways profitably in order to
their Salvation. And therefore to such rebellious Ones the Day of the
Lord is said to be _Darkness_, and not _Light_, Amos v. 18.