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CHAPTER 11
THE LAST GENERAL ARGUMENT.
Arg.
16. Our next argument is taken from some particular places of
Scripture, clearly and distinctly in themselves holding out the
truth of what we do affirm. Out of the great number of them I
shall take a few to insist upon, and therewith to close our
arguments.
1.
The first that I shall begin withal is the first mentioning
of Jesus Christ, and the first revelation of the mind of God
concerning a discrimination between the people of Christ and his
enemies: Genesis 3:15,
“I will put enmity between thee” (the serpent) “and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed,”
By
the seed of the woman is meant the whole body of the elect,
Christ in the first place as the head, and all the rest as his
members; by the seed of the serpent, the devil, with all the
whole multitude of reprobates, making up the malignant state, in
opposition to the kingdom and body of Jesus Christ.
That
by the first part, or the seed of the woman, is meant Christ with
all the elect, is most apparent; for they in whom an the things
that are here foretold of the seed of the woman do concur, are
the seed of the woman (for the properties of any thing do prove
the thing itself.) But now in the elect, believers in and through
Christ, are to be found all the properties of the seed of the
woman; for, for them, in them, and by them, is the head of the
serpent broken, and Satan trodden down under their feet, and the
devil disappointed in his temptations, and the devil’s
agents frustrated in their undertakings. Principally and
especially, this is spoken of Christ himself, collectively of his
whole body, which beareth a continual hatred to the serpent and
his seed.
Secondly,
By the seed of the serpent is meant all the reprobate, men of the
world, impenitent, unbelievers. For,
First,
The enmity of the serpent lives and exerciseth itself in them.
They hate and oppose the seed of the woman; they have a perpetual
enmity with it; and every thing that is said of the seed of the
serpent belongs properly to them.
Secondly,
They are often so called in the Scripture: Matthew 3:7, “O
generation of vipers,” or seed of the serpent; so also
Matthew 23:33. So Christ telleth the reprobate Pharisees,
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do,” John 8:44. So again, “Child of the
devil,” Acts 13:10, — that is, the seed of the serpent;
for “he that committeth sin is of the devil,” 1 John
3:8.
These
things being undeniable, we thus proceed: — Christ died for
no more than God promised unto him that be should die for. But
God did not promise him to all, as that he should die for them;
for he did not promise the seed of the woman to the seed of the
serpent, Christ to reprobates, but in the first word of him he
promiseth an enmity against them. In sum, the seed of the woman
died not for the seed of the serpent.
2.
Matthew 7:23, “I will profess unto them, I never knew
you” Christ at the last day professeth to some he never knew
them. Christ saith directly that he knoweth his own, whom he
layeth down his life for, John 10:14-17. And surely he knows whom
and what he hath bought. Were it not strange that Christ should
die for them, and buy them that he will not own, but profess he
never knew them? If they are “bought with a price,”
surely they are his own? 1 Corinthians 6:20. If Christ did so buy
them, and lay out the price of his precious blood for them, and
then at last deny that he ever knew them, might they not well
reply, “Ah, Lord! was not thy soul heavy unto death for our
sakes? Didst thou not for us undergo that wrath that made thee
sweat drops of blood? Didst thou not bathe thyself in thine own
blood, that our blood might be spared? Didst thou not sanctify
thyself to be an offering for us as well as for any of thy
apostles? Was not thy precious blood, by stripes, by sweat, by
nails, by thorns, by spear, poured out for us? Didst thou not
remember us when thou hungest upon the cross? And now dost thou
say, thou never knewest us? Good Lord, though we be unworthy
sinners, yet thine own blood hath not deserved to be despised.
Why is it that none can lay any thing to the charge of God’s
elect? Is it not because thou diets for them? And didst thou not
do the same for us? Why, then, are we thus charged, thus
rejected? Could not thy blood satisfy thy Father, but we
ourselves must be punished? Could not justice content itself with
that sacrifice, but we must now hear, “Depart, I never knew
you?” What can be answered to this plea, upon the granting
of the general ransom, I know not.
3.
Matthew 11:25, 26,
“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.”
Those
men from whom God in his sovereignty, as Lord of heaven and
earth, of his own good pleasure, hideth the gospel, either in
respect of the outward preaching of it, or the inward revelation
of the power of it in their hearts, those certainly Christ died
not for; for to what end should the Father send his only Son to
die for the redemption of those whom he, for his own good
pleasure, had determined should be everlasting strangers from it,
and never so much as hear of it in the power thereof revealed to
them? Now, that such there are our Savior here affirms; and he
thanks his Father for that dispensation at which so many do at
this day repine.
4.
John 10:11, 15, 16, 27, 28. This clear place, which of itself
is sufficient to evert the general ransom, hath been a little
considered before, and, therefore, I shall pass it over the more
briefly. First, That all men are not the sheep of Christ is most
apparent; for, — First, He himself saith so, John 10:26,
“Ye are not of my sheep.” Secondly, The distinction at
the last day will make it evident, when the sheep and the goats
shall be separated. Thirdly, The properties of the sheep are,
that they hear the voice of Christ, that they know him; and the
like are not in all. Secondly, That the sheep here mentioned are
all his elect, as well those that were to be called as those that
were then already called.
John
10:16, Some were not as yet of his fold of called ones; so that
they are sheep by election, and not believing. Thirdly, That
Christ so says that he laid down his life for his sheep, that
plainly he excludes all others; for, — First, He lays down
his life for them as sheep. Now, that which belongs to them as
such belong only to such. If he lays down his life for sheep, as
sheep, certainly be doth it not for goats, and wolves, and dogs.
Secondly, He lays down his life as a shepherd, John 11:11;
therefore, for them as the sheep. What hath the shepherd to do
with the wolves, unless it be to destroy them? Thirdly, Dividing
all into sheep and others, John 10:26, he saith he lays down his
life for his sheep; which is all one as if he had said he did it
for them only.
Fourthly,
He describes them for whom he died by this, “My Father gave
them me,” John 10:29; as also John 17:6, “Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me:” which are not all; for
“all that the Father giveth him shall come to him,”
John 6:37, and he “giveth unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish,” John 10:28. Let but the sheep of Christ
keep close to this evidence, and all the world shall never
deprive them of their inheritance. Farther to confirm this place,
add Matthew 20:28; John 11:52.
5.
Romans 8:32-34. The intention of the apostle in this place
is, to hold out consolation to believers in affliction or under
any distress; which he doth, Romans 8:31, in general, from the
assurance of the presence of God with them, and his assistance at
all times, enough to conquer all oppositions, and to make all
difficulty indeed contemptible, by the assurance of his loving
kindness, which is better than life itself. “If God be for
us, who can be against us?” To manifest this his presence
and kindness, the apostle minds them of that most excellent,
transcendent, and singular act of love towards them, in sending
his Son to die for them, not sparing him, but requiring their
debt at his hand; whereupon he argues from the greater to the
less, — that if he have done that for us, surely he will do
everything else that shall be requisite. If he did the greater,
will he not do the less? If he give his Son to death, will he not
also freely give us all things? Whence we may observe, —
First, That the greatest and most eximious expression of the love
of God towards believers is in sending his Son to die for them,
not sparing him for their sake; this is made the chief of all.
Now, if God sent his Son to die for all, he had [done] as great
an act of love, and hath made as great a manifestation of it, to
them that perish as to those that are saved. Secondly, That for
whomsoever he hath given and not spared his Son, unto them he
will assuredly freely give all things; but now he doth not give
all things that are good for them unto all, as faith, grace, and
glory: from whence we conclude that Christ died not for all.
Again,
Romans 8:33, he gives us a description of those that have a share
in the consolation here intended, for whom God gave his Son, to
whom he freely gives all things; and that is, that they are his
“elect,” — not all, but only those whom he hath
chosen before the foundation of the world, that they should be
holy; which gives another confirmation of the restraint of the
death of Christ to them alone: which he yet farther confirms,
Romans 8:34, by declaring that those of whom he speaks shall be
freely justified and freed from condemnation; whereof he gives
two reasons, — first, Because Christ died for them;
secondly, Because he is risen, and makes intercession for them
for whom he died: affording us two invincible arguments to the
business in hand. The first, taken from the infallible effects of
the death of Christ: Who shall lay anything to their charge? who
shall condemn them? Why, what reason is given? “It is Christ
that died.” So that his death doth infallibly free all them
from condemnation for whom he died. The second, from the
connection that the apostle here makes between the death and
intercession of Jesus Christ: For whom he died, for them he makes
intercession; but he saveth to the utmost them for whom he
intercedeth, Hebrews 7:25. From all which it is undeniably
apparent that the death of Christ, with the fruits and benefits
thereof, belongeth only to the elect of God.
6.
Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption.” If his
blood was shed for all, then all must have a share in those
things that are to be had in his blood. Now, amongst these is
that redemption that consists in the forgiveness of sins; which
certainly all have not, for they that have are
“blessed,” Romans 4:7, and shall be blessed
forevermore: which blessing comes not upon all, but upon the seed
of righteous Abraham, Romans 4:16.
7.
2 Corinthians 5:21, “He hath made him to be sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” It
was in his death that Christ was made sin, or an offering for it.
Now, for whomsoever he was made sin, they are made the
righteousness of God in him: “By his stripes we are
healed,” Isaiah 53:5; John 15:13,
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Then,
to intercede is not of greater love than to die, nor anything
else that he doth for his elect. If, then, he laid down his life
for all, which is the greatest, why doth he not also the rest for
them, and save them to the uttermost?
8.
John 17:9,
“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”
And
John 17:19, “For their sakes I sanctify myself.”
9.
Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” as
[also] Acts 20:28. The object of Christ’s love and his death
is here asserted to be his bride, his church; and that as
properly as a man’s own wife is the only allowed object of
his conjugal affections. And if Christ had a love to others so as
to die for them, then is there in the exhortation a latitude left
unto men, in conjugal affections, for other women besides their
wives.
I
thought to have added other arguments, as intending a clear
discussing of the whole controversy; but, upon a review of what
hath been said, I do with confidence take up and conclude that
those which have been already urged will be enough to satisfy
them who will be satisfied with anything, and those that are
obstinate will not be satisfied with more. So of our arguments
here shall be an end.