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CHAPTER 4
ANSWER TO THE SECOND GENERAL ARGUMENT FOR THE UNIVERSALITY OF REDEMPTION.
II.
THE second argument, wherewith our adversaries make no less
flourish than with the former, is raised from those places of
Scripture where there is mention made of all men and every
man, in the business of redemption. With these bare and naked
words, attended with swelling, vain expressions of their own,
they commonly rather proclaim a victory than study how to
prevail. Their argument needs not to be drawn to any head or
form, seeing they pretend to plead from express words of
Scripture. Wherefore we shall only consider the several places by
them in this kind usually produced, with such enforcements of
their sense from them as by the ablest of that persuasion have
been used. The chief places insisted on are, 1 Timothy 2:4, 6; 2
Peter 3:9; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15; 1 Corinthians
15:22; Romans 5:18.
For
the use and signification of the word all in Scripture, so
much hath been said already by many that it were needless for me
to insist upon it. Something also to this purpose hath been
spoken before, and that abundantly sufficient to manifest that no
strength of argument can be taken from the word itself; wherefore
I shall apply myself only to the examination of the particular
places urged, and the objections from them raised: —
1.
The first and chief place is, 1 Timothy 2:4, 6,
“God will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth...... Christ gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
Hence
they draw this argument, Rem. Act. Synod: — “If God
will have all men to be saved, then Christ died for all; but God
will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the
truth: therefore, Christ died for all men.”
Ans.
The whole strength of this argument lies in the ambiguity of
the word all, which being of various significations, and
to be interpreted suitably to the matter in hand and the things
and persons whereof it is spoken, the whole may be granted, or
several propositions denied, according as the acceptation of the
word is enforced on us. That all or all men do not
always comprehend all and every man that were, are, or shall be,
may be made apparent by near five hundred instances from the
Scripture. Taking, then, all and all men
distributively, for some of all sorts, we grant the whole;
taking them collectively, for all of all sorts, we deny
the minor, — namely, that God will have them all to be
saved. To make our denial of this appear to be an evident truth,
and agreeable to the mind of the Holy Ghost in this place, two
things must be considered: —
1.
What is that will of God here mentioned, whereby he willeth
all to be saved.
2.
Who are the all of whom the apostle is in this place
treating.
1.
The will of God is usually distinguished into his will
intending and his will commanding; or rather, that
word is used in reference unto God in this twofold notion, —
(1.)
For his purpose, what he will do;
(2.)
For his approbation of what we do, with his command thereof.
Let now our opposers take their option in whether signification
the will of God shall be here understood, or how he willeth the
salvation of all.
First,
If they say he doth it “voluntate signi,” with his will
commanding, requiring, approving, then the sense of the words is
this: — “God commandeth all men to use the means
whereby they may obtain the end, or salvation, the performance
whereof is acceptable to God in any or all;” and so it is
the same with that of the apostle in another place, “God
commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” Now, if this be
the way whereby God willeth the salvation of all here mentioned,
then certainly those all can possibly be no more than to
whom he granteth and revealeth the means of grace; which are
indeed a great many, but yet not the one hundredth part of the
posterity of Adam. Besides, taking God’s willing the
salvation of men in this sense, we deny the sequel of the
first proposition, — namely, that Christ died for as many as
God thus willeth should be saved. The foundation of God’s
command unto men to use the means granted them is not
Christ’s dying for them in particular, but the connection
which himself, by his decree, hath fixed between these two
things, faith and salvation; the death of Christ being abundantly
sufficient for the holding out of that connection unto
all, there being enough in it to save all believers.
Secondly,
If the will of God be taken for his efficacious will, the will of
his purpose and good pleasure (as truly to me it seems
exceedingly evident that that is here intended, because the will
of God is made the ground and bottom of our supplications; as if
in these our prayers we should say only, “Thy will be
done,” — which is to have them all to be saved: now, we
have a promise to receive of God “whatsoever we ask
according to his will,” 1 John 3:22, 5:14; and therefore
this will of God, which is here proposed as the ground of our
prayers, must needs be his effectual or rather efficacious will,
which is always accomplished); — if it be, I say, thus
taken, then certainly it must be fulfilled, and all those saved
whom he would have saved; for whatsoever God can do and will do,
that shall certainly come to pass and be effected. That God can
save all (not considering his decree) none doubts; and that he
will save all it is here affirmed: therefore, if these all here
be all and everyone, all and everyone shall certainly be saved.
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.”
“Who hath resisted God’s will?” Romans 9:19.
“He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased,” Psalm 115:3.
“He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth,” Daniel 4:35. If all,
then, here be to be understood of all men universally, one of
these two things must of necessity follow: — either that God
faileth of his purpose and intention, or else that all men
universally shall be saved; which puts us upon the second thing
considerable in the words, namely, who are meant by all men in
this place.
2.
By all men the apostle here intendeth all sorts of men
indefinitely living under the gospel, or in these latter times,
under the enlarged dispensation of the means of grace. That men
of these times only are intended is the acknowledgment of
Arminius himself, treating with Perkins about this place. The
scope of the apostle, treating of the amplitude, enlargement, and
extent of grace, in the outward administration thereof, under the
gospel, will not suffer it to be denied. This he lays down as a
foundation of our praying for all, — because the means of
grace and the habitation of the church is now no longer confined
to the narrow bounds of one nation, but promiscuously and
indefinitely extended unto all people, tongues, and languages;
and to all sorts of men amongst them, high and low, rich and
poor, one with another. We say, then, that by the words all
men are here intended only of all sorts of men, suitable to
the purpose of the apostle, which was to show that all external
difference between the sons of men is now taken away; which ex
abundanti we farther confirm by these following reasons:
—
First,
The word all being in the Scripture most commonly used in
this sense (that is, for many of all sorts), and there being
nothing in the subject-matter of which it is here affirmed that
should in the least measure impel to another acceptation of the
word, especially for a universal collection of every individual,
we hold it safe to cleave to the most usual sense and meaning of
it. Thus, our Savior is said to cure all diseases, and the
Pharisees to tithe pa~n la>canon, Luke 11:42.
Secondly,
Paul himself plainly leadeth us to this interpretation of it; for
after he hath enjoined us to pray for all, because the Lord will
have all to be saved, he expressly intimates that by all men he
understandeth men of all sorts, ranks, conditions, and orders, by
distributing those all into several kinds, expressly
mentioning some of them, as “kings and all in
authority.” Not unlike that expression we have, Jeremiah
29:1, 2,
“Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the people captive to Babylon, Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the carpenters, and the smiths;”
where
all the people is interpreted to be some of all sorts, by
a distribution of them into the several orders, classes, and
conditions whereof they were. No otherwise doth the apostle
interpret the all men by him mentioned, in giving us the
names of some of those orders and conditions whom he intendeth.
“Pray for all men,” saith he; that is, all sorts of
men, as magistrates, all that are in authority, the time being
now come wherein, without such distinctions as formerly have been
observed, the Lord will save some of all sorts and nations.
Thirdly,
We are bound to pray for all whom God would have to be saved.
Now, we ought not to pray for all and everyone, as knowing that
some are reprobates and sin unto death; concerning whom we have
an express caution not to pray for them.
Fourthly,
All shall be saved whom God will have to be saved; this we dare
not deny, for “who hath resisted his will?” Seeing,
then, it is most certain that all shall not be saved (for some
shall stand on the left hand), it cannot be that the universality
of men should be intended in this place. Fifthly, God would have
no more to be “saved” than he would have “come to
the knowledge of the truth.” These two things are of equal
latitude, and conjoined in the text. But it is not the will of
the Lord that all and everyone, in all ages, should come to the
knowledge of the truth. Of old,
“he showed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them,” Psalm 147:19, 20.
If
he would have had them all come to the knowledge of the truth,
why did he show his word to some and not to others, without which
they could not attain thereunto? “He suffered all
nations” in former ages “to walk in their own
ways,” Acts 14:16, and “winked at the time of this
ignorance,” Acts 17:30, hiding the mystery of salvation from
those former ages, Colossians 1:26, continuing the same
dispensation even until this day in respect of some; and that
because “so it seemeth good in his sight,” Matthew
11:25, 26. It is, then, evident that God doth not will that all
and everyone in the world, of all ages and times, should come to
the knowledge of the truth, but only all sorts of men without
difference; and, therefore, they only are here intended.
These,
and the like reasons, which compel us to understand by all
men, verse 4, whom God would have to be saved, men of all
sorts, do also prevail for the same acceptation of the word all,
verse 6, where Christ is said to give himself “a ransom
for all;” whereunto you may also add all those whereby we
before declared that it was of absolute necessity and just equity
that all they for whom a ransom was paid should have a part and
portion in that ransom, and, if that be accepted as sufficient,
be set at liberty. Paying and accepting of a ransom intimate a
commutation and setting free of all them for whom the ransom is
paid and accepted. By all, then, can none be understood
but the redeemed, ransomed ones of Jesus Christ, — such as,
for him and by virtue of the price of his blood, are vindicated
into the glorious liberty of the children of God; which, as some
of all sorts are expressly said to be, Revelation 5:9 (which
place is interpretative of this), so that all in the world
universally are so is confessedly false.
Having
thus made evident the meaning of the words, our answer to the
objection (whose strength is a mere fallacy, from the ambiguous
sense of the word all) is easy and facile. For if by all
men, you mean the all in the text, that is, all sorts
of men, we grant the whole, — namely, that Christ died for all;
but if by all men, you mean all universally, we
absolutely deny the minor, or assumption, having sufficiently
proved that there is no such all in the text.
The
enforcing of an objection from this place, Thomas More, in his
“Universality of Free Grace,” makes the subject of one
whole chapter. It is also one of the two places which he
lays for the bottom and foundation of the whole building, and
whereunto at a dead lift he always retires. Wherefore, I thought
to have considered that chapter of his at large; but, upon second
considerations, have laid aside that resolution, and that for
three reasons: —
First,
Because I desired not actum agere, to do that which hath
already been done, especially the thing itself being such as
scarce deserveth to be meddled with at all. Now, much about the
time that I was proceeding in this particular, the learned work
of Mr. Rutherford, about the death of Christ, and the drawing of
sinners thereby, came to my hand; wherein he hath fully answered
that chapter of Mr. More’s book; whither I remit the reader.
Secondly,
I find that he hath not once attempted to meddle with any of
those reasons and arguments whereby we confirm our answer to the
objection from the place, and prove undeniably that by all men
is meant only men of all sorts.
Thirdly,
Because, setting aside those bare naked assertions of his own,
whereby he seeks to strengthen his argument from and
interpretation of this place, the residue wherewith he
flourisheth is a poor fallacy running through the whole; the
strength of all his argumentations consisting in this, that by
the all we are to pray for are not meant only all who are
at present believers; which as no man in his right wits will
affirm, so he that will conclude from thence, that because they
are not only all present believers, therefore they are all the
individuals of mankind, is not to be esteemed very sober. Proceed
we, then, to the next place urged for the general ransom, from
the word all, which is, —
2.
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.” “The will of God,” say some,
“for the salvation of all, is here set down both negatively,
that he would not have any perish, and positively, that
he would have all come to repentance; now, seeing there is no
coming to repentance nor escaping destruction, but only by the
blood of Christ, it is manifest that that blood was shed for all.”
Ans.
Many words need not be spent in answer to this objection,
wrested from the misunderstanding and palpable corrupting of the
sense of these words of the apostle. That indefinite and general
expressions are to be interpreted in an answerable proportion to
the things whereof they are affirmed, is a rule in the opening of
the Scripture. See, then, of whom the apostle is here speaking.
“The Lord,” saith he, “is long-suffering to
us-ward, not willing that any should perish.” Will not
common sense teach us that us is to be repeated in both
the following clauses, to make them up complete and full, —
namely, “Not willing that any of us should perish,
but that all of us should come to repentance?” Now,
who are these of whom the apostle speaks, to whom he writes? Such
as had received “great and precious promises,” 2 Peter
1:4, whom he calls “beloved,” 2 Peter 3:1; whom he
opposeth to the “scoffers” of the “last
days,” 2 Peter 3:3; to whom the Lord hath respect in the
disposal of these days; who are said to be “elect,”
Matthew 24:22. Now, truly, to argue that because God would have
none of those to perish, but all of them to come to repentance,
therefore he hath the same will and mind towards all and everyone
in the world (even those to whom he never makes known his will,
nor ever calls to repentance, if they never once hear of his way
of salvation), comes not much short of extreme madness and folly.
Neither is it of any weight to the contrary, that they were not
all elect to whom Peter wrote: for in the judgment of charity he
esteemed them so, desiring them “to give all diligence to
make their calling and election sure,” 2 Peter 1:10; even as
he expressly calleth those to whom he wrote his former epistle,
“elect,” 2 Peter 1:2, and a “chosen
generation,” as well as a “purchased people,” 2
Peter 2:9. I shall not need add anything concerning the
contradictions and inextricable difficulties wherewith the
opposite interpretation is accompanied (as, that God should will
such to come to repentance as he cuts off in their infancy out of
the covenant, such as he hateth from eternity, from whom he
hideth the means of grace, to whom he will not give repentance,
and yet knoweth that it is utterly impossible they should have it
without his bestowing). The text is clear, that it is all and
only the elect whom he would not have to perish. A place supposed
parallel to this we have in Ezekiel 18:23, 32, which shall be
afterward considered. The next is, —
3.
Hebrews 2:9, “That he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man.”
Ans.
That uJpe<r ppanto>v, “for every one,” is
here used for uJpe<r pa>ntwn, “for all,” by an
enallage of the number, is by all acknowledged.
The
whole question is, who these all are, whether all men
universally, or only all those of whom the apostle there
treateth. That this expression, every man, is commonly in
the Scripture used to signify men under some restriction, cannot
be denied. So in that of the apostle, “Warning every man,
and teaching every man,” Colossians 1:28; that is, all those
to whom he preached the gospel, of whom he is there speaking.
“The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,” 1 Corinthians 12:7;
namely,
to all and everyone of those who were endued with the gifts there
mentioned, whether in the church at Corinth or elsewhere. The
present place I have frequently met withal produced in the behalf
of universal redemption, but never once had the happiness to find
any endeavor to prove from the text, or any other way, that all
here is to be taken for all and everyone, although they
cannot but know that the usual acceptation of the word is against
their purpose. Mr. More spends a whole chapter about this place;
which I seriously considered, to see if I could pick out anything
which might seem in the least measure to tend that way, —
namely, to the proving that all and everyone are in that place by
the apostle intended, — but concerning any such endeavor you
have deep silence. So that, with abundance of smooth words, he
doth nothing in that chapter but humbly and heartily beg the
thing in question; unto which his petition, though he be
exceeding earnest, we cannot consent, and that because of these
following reasons: —
First,
To taste death, being to drink up the cup due to
sinners, certainly for whomsoever our Savior did taste of it, he
left not one drop for them to drink after him; he tasted or
underwent death in their stead, that the cup might pass from them
which passed not from him. Now, the cup of death passeth only
from the elect, from believers; for whomsoever our Savior tasted
death, he swallowed it up into victory.
Secondly,
We see an evident appearing cause that should move the apostle
here to call those for whom Christ died all, — namely,
because he wrote to the Hebrews, who were deeply tainted with an
erroneous persuasion that all the benefits purchased by Messiah
belonged alone to men of their nation, excluding all others; to
root out which pernicious opinion, it behoved the apostle to
mention the extent of free grace under the gospel, and to hold
out a universality of God’s elect throughout the world.
Thirdly, The present description of the all for whom
Christ tasted death by the grace of God will not suit to all and
everyone, or any but only the elect of God. For, Hebrews 2:10,
they are called, “many sons to be brought to glory;”
Hebrews 2:11, those that are “sanctified,” his
“brethren;” Hebrews 2:13, the “children that God
gave him;” Hebrews 2:15, those that are “delivered from
the bondage of death;” — none of which can be affirmed
of them who are born, live, and die the “children of the
wicked one.” Christ is not a captain of salvation, as he is
here styled, to any but those that “obey him,” Hebrews
5:9; righteousness coming by him “unto all and upon all them
that believe,” Romans 3:22. For these and the like reasons
we cannot be induced to hearken to our adversaries’
petition, being fully persuaded that by every one here is
meant all and only God’s elect, in whose stead Christ, by
the grace of God, tasted death.
4.
Another place is 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15,
“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them.”
“Here,”
say they, “verse 14, you have two alls, which must be
both of an equal extent. If all were dead, then Christ
died for all, — that is, for as many as were dead.
Again; he died for all that must live unto him; but that is the
duty of every one in the world: and therefore he died for them
all. Farther; that all are all individuals is clear from
verse 10, where they are affirmed to be all that must
‘appear before the judgment-seat of Christ;’ from which
appearance not any shall be exempted.”
Ans.
1. Taking the words, as to this particular, in the sense of
some of our adversaries, yet it doth not appear from the texture
of the apostle’s arguing that the two alls of 2
Corinthians 5:14 are of equal extent. He doth not say that Christ
died for all that were dead; but only, that all were dead which
Christ died for: which proves no more than this, that all they
for whom Christ died for were dead, with that kind of death of
which he speaks. The extent of the words is to be taken from the
first all, and not the latter. The apostle affirms so many
to be dead as Christ died for; not that Christ died for so many
as were dead. This the words plainly teach us: “If he died
for all, then were all dead,” — that is, all he died
for; so that the all that were dead can give no light to
the extent of the all that Christ died for, being merely
regulated by this.
2.
That all and everyone are morally bound to live unto
Christ, virtute praecepti, we deny; only they are
bound to live to him to whom he is revealed, — indeed only
they who live by him, that have a spiritual life in and with him:
all others are under previous obligations.
3.
It is true, all and everyone must appear before the
judgment-seat of Christ, — he is ordained to be judge of the
world; but that they are intended, 2 Corinthians 5:10 of this
chapter, is not true. The apostle speaks of us all, all
believers, especially all preachers of the gospel; neither of
which all men are. Notwithstanding, then, anything that hath been
said, it no way appears that by all here is meant any but
the elect of God, all believers; and that they only are
intended I prove by these following reasons, drawn from the text:
—
First,
The resurrection of Christ is here conjoined with his death:
“He died for them, and rose again.” Now, for whomsoever
Christ riseth, he riseth for their “justification,”
Romans 4:25; and they must be justified, Romans 8:34. Yea, our
adversaries themselves have always confessed that the fruits of
the resurrection of Christ are peculiar to believers.
Secondly,
He speaks only of those who, by virtue of the death of Christ,
“live unto him,” 2 Corinthians 5:15; who are “new
creatures,” 2 Corinthians 5:17; “to whom the Lord
imputeth not their trespasses,” 2 Corinthians 5:19; who
“become the righteousness of God in Christ,” 2
Corinthians 5:21; — which are only believers. All do not
attain hereunto.
Thirdly,
The article oiJ joined with pa>ntev evidently restraineth that
all to all of some sort. “Then were they all”
(or rather all these) “dead.” These all;
— what all? Even all those believers of whom he treats,
as above.
Fourthly,
All those of whom the apostle treats are proved to be dead,
because Christ died for them: “If one died for all, then
were all dead.” What death is it which here is spoken of?
Not a death natural, but spiritual; and of deaths which come
under that name, not that which is in sin, but that which
is unto sin. For, — First, The greatest
champions of the Arminian cause, as Vorstius and Grotius (on the
place), convinced by the evidence of truth, acknowledge that it
is a death unto sin, by virtue of the death of Christ, that is
here spoken of; and accordingly held out that for the sense of
the place. Secondly, It is apparent from the text; the
intention of the apostle being to prove that those for whom
Christ died are so dead to sin, that henceforth they should live
no more thereunto, but to him that died for them. The subject he
hath in hand is the same with that he handleth more at large,
Romans 6:5-8, where we are said to be “dead unto sin,”
by being “planted together in the likeness of the death of
Christ;” from whence, there as here, he presseth them
to “newness of life.” These words, then, “If
Christ died for all, then were all dead,” are concerning the
death of them unto sin for whom Christ died, at least of those
concerning whom he there speaketh; and what is this to the
general ransom?
Fifthly,
The apostle speaks of the death of Christ in respect of
application. The effectualness thereof towards those for whom he
died, to cause them to live unto him, is insisted on. That Christ
died for all in respect of application hath not yet by any been
affirmed. Then must all live unto him, yea, live with him
forevermore, if there be any virtue or efficacy in his applied
oblation for that end. In sum, here is no mention of
Christ’s dying for any, but those that are dead to sin and
live to him.
5.
A fifth place urged to prove universal redemption from the
word all, is 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Ans.
There being another place, hereafter to be considered,
wherein the whole strength of the argument usually drawn from
these words is contained, I shall not need to speak much to this,
neither will I at all turn from the common exposition of the
place. Those concerning whom Paul speaketh in this chapter are in
this verse called all. Those are they who are implanted
into Christ, joined to him, as the members to the head, receiving
a glorious resurrection by virtue of his; thus are they by the
apostle described. That Paul, in this whole chapter, discourseth
of the resurrection of believers is manifest from the arguments
which he bringeth to confirm it, being such as are of force only
with believers. Taken they are from the resurrection of Christ,
the hope, faith, customs, and expected rewards of Christians; all
which, as they are of unconquerable power to confirm and
establish believers in the faith of the resurrection, so they
would have been, all and every one of them, exceedingly
ridiculous had they been held out to the men of the world to
prove the resurrection of the dead in general. Farther; the very
word zwopoihqh>sontai denotes such a living again as is to a
good life and glory, a blessed resurrection; and not the
quickening of them who are raised to a second death. The Son is
said zwopoiei~n, John 5:21, to “quicken” and
make alive (not all, but) “whom he will.” So he useth
the word again, John 6:63, “It is the Spirit, to<
zwopoiou~n, that” (thus) “quickeneth;” in like
manner, Romans 4:17.
And
not anywhere is it used to show forth that common resurrection
which all shall have at the last day. All, then, who by
virtue of the resurrection of Christ shall be made alive, are all
those who are partakers of the nature of Christ; who, Romans
4:23, are expressly called “they that are
Christ’s,” and of whom, Romans 4:20, Christ is said to
be the “first-fruits;” and certainly Christ is not the
first-fruits of the damned. Yea, though it be true that all and
every one died in Adam, yet that it is here asserted (the apostle
speaking of none but believers) is not true; and yet, if it were
so to be taken here, it could not prove the thing intended,
because of the express limitation of the sense in the clause
following. Lastly; granting all that can be desired, —
namely, the universality of the word all in both places,
— yet I am no way able to discern a medium that may serve
for an argument to prove the general ransom.
6.
Romans 5:18 is the last place urged in this kind, and by some
most insisted on: “As by the offense of one judgment came
upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”
It might suffice us briefly to declare that by all men in
the latter place can none be understood but those whom the free
gift actually comes upon unto justification of life; who are
said, Romans 5:17, to “receive abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness,” and so to “reign in life by
one, Jesus Christ;” and by his obedience to be “made
righteous,” Romans 5:19; which certainly, if anything be
true and certain in the truth of God, all are not. Some believe
not, — “all men have not faith;” on some “the
wrath of God abideth,” John 3:36; upon whom, surely, grace
doth not reign through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus
Christ, as it doth upon all those on whom the free gift comes to
justification, Romans 5:17. We might, I say, thus answer only;
but seeing some, contrary to the clear, manifest intention of the
apostle, comparing Adam and Christ, in the efficacy of the sin of
the one unto condemnation, and of the righteousness of the other
unto justification and life, in respect of those who are the
natural seed of the one by propagation, and the spiritual seed of
the other by regeneration, have labored to wrest this place to
the maintenance of the error we oppose with more than ordinary
endeavors and confidence of success, it may not be unnecessary to
consider what is brought by them to this end and purpose: —
Romans
5:14. Adam is called tu>pov, the type and “figure of him
that was to come;” not that he was an instituted type, ordained
for that only end and purpose, but only that in what he was, and
what he did, with what followed thereupon, there was a resemblance
between him and Jesus Christ. Hence by him and what he did,
by reason of the resemblance, many things, by way of opposition,
concerning the obedience of Christ and the efficacy of his death,
may be well represented. That which the apostle here prosecuteth
this resemblance in (with the showing of many diversities, in all
which he exalteth Christ above his type) is this, that an alike
though not an equal efficacy (for there is more merit and
efficacy required to save one than to lose ten thousand) of the
demerit, sin, disobedience, guilt, transgression of the one, to
condemn, or bring the guilt of condemnation upon all them in
whose room he was a public person (being the head and natural
fountain of them all, they all being wrapped up in the same
condition with him by divine institution), and the righteousness,
obedience, and death of the other, for the absolution,
justification, and salvation of all them to whom he was a
spiritual head by divine institution, and in whose room he was a
public person, is by him in divers particulars asserted. That
these last were all and every one of the first, there is not the
least mention. The comparison is solely to be considered
intensively, in respect of efficacy, not extensively, in respect
of object; though the all of Adam be called his many, and
the many of Christ be called his all, as indeed
they are, even all the seed which is given unto him.
Thomas
More, in his “Universality of Free Grace,” chap. 8, p.
41, lays down this comparison, instituted by the apostle, between
Adam and Christ, as one of the main foundations of his universal
redemption; and this (after some strange mixtures of truth and
errors premised, which, to avoid tediousness, we let pass) he
affirmeth to consist in four things: — First, “That
Adam, in his first sin and transgression, was a public person, in
the room and place of all mankind, by virtue of the covenant
between God and him; so that whatever he did therein, all were
alike sharers with him. So also was Christ a public person in his
obedience and death, in the room and place of all mankind,
represented by him, even every one of the posterity of
Adam.”
Ans.
To that which concerneth Adam, we grant he was a public
person in respect of all his that were to proceed from him by
natural propagation; that Christ also was a public person in the
room of his, and herein prefigured by Adam. But that Christ, in
his obedience, death, and sacrifice, was a public person, and
stood in the room and stead of all and everyone in the world, of
all ages and times (that is, not only of his elect and those who
were given unto him of God, but also of reprobate persons, hated
of God from eternity; of those whom he never knew, concerning
whom, in the days of his flesh, he thanked his Father that he had
hid from them the mysteries of salvation; whom he refused to pray
for; who were, the greatest part of them, already damned in hell,
and irrevocably gone beyond the limits of redemption, before he
actually yielded any obedience), is to us such a monstrous
assertion as cannot once be apprehended or thought on without
horror or detestation. That any should perish in whose room or
stead the Son of God appeared before his Father with his perfect
obedience; that any of those for whom he is a mediator and
advocate, to whom he is a king, priest, and prophet (for all
these he is, as he was a public person, a sponsor, a surety, and
undertaker for them), should be taken from him, plucked out of
his arms, his satisfaction and advocation in their behalf being
refused; — I suppose is a doctrine that will scarce be owned
among those who strive to preserve the witness and testimony of
the Lord Jesus.
But
let us a little consider the reasons whereby Mr. More undertakes
to maintain this strange assertion; which, as far as I can
gather, are these, page 44: — First, He stood not in the
room only of the elect, because Adam lost not election, being not
intrusted with it. Secondly, If he stood not in the room of all,
then he had come short of his figure. Thirdly, It is said he was
to restore all men, lost by Adam, Hebrews 2:9. Fourthly, He took
flesh, was subjected to mortality, became under the law, and bare
the sins of mankind. Fifthly, He did it in the room of all
mankind, once given unto him, Romans 14:9; Philippians 2:8-11.
Sixthly, Because he is called the “last Adam;” —
and, Seventhly, Is said to be a public person, in the room of
all, ever since the “first Adam,” 1 Corinthians 15:45,
47; 1 Timothy 2:5; Romans 5.
Ans.
Never, surely, was a rotten conclusion bottomed upon more
loose and tottering principles, nor the word of God more boldly
corrupted for the maintenance of any error, since the name of
Christian was known. A man would think it quite lost, but that it
is so very easy a labor to remove such hay and stubble. I
answer, then, to the first, that though Adam lost not election,
and the eternal decrees of the Almighty are not committed to the
keeping of the sons of men, yet in him all the elect were lost,
whom Christ came to seek, whom he found, — in whose room he
was a public person. To the second, Christ is nowhere compared to
Adam in respect of the extent of the object of his death,
but only of the efficacy of his obedience. The third is a
false assertion; — see our foregoing consideration of
Hebrews 2:9. Fourthly, For his taking of flesh, etc., it was
necessary he should do all this for the saving of his elect. He
took flesh and blood because the children were partakers of the
same. Fifthly, No such thing is once affirmed in the whole book
of God, that all the sons of men were given unto Christ to
redeem, so that he should be a public person in their room. Nay,
himself plainly affirms the contrary, John 17:6, 9. Some only are
given him out of the world, and those he saved; not one of them
perisheth. The places urged hold out no such thing, nor anything
like it.
They
will also afterward come under farther consideration. Sixthly, He
is called the “last Adam” in respect of the efficacy of
his death unto the justification of the seed promised and given
unto him, as the sin of the “first Adam” was effectual
to bring the guilt of condemnation on the seed propagated from
him; which proves not at all that he stood in the room of all
those to whom his death was never known, nor any ways profitable.
Seventhly, That he was a public person is confessed: that he was
so in the room of all is not proved, neither by what hath been
already said, nor by the texts, that there follow, alleged, all
which have been considered. This being all that is produced by
Mr. More to justify his assertion, it may be an instance what
weighty inferences he usually asserts from such weak, invalid
premises. We cannot also but take notice, by the way, of one or
two strange passages which he inserts into this discourse;
whereof the first is, that Christ by his death brought all men
out of that death whereinto they were fallen by Adam. Now, the
death whereinto all fell in Adam being a death in sin, Ephesians
2:1-3, and the guilt of condemnation thereupon, if Christ freed
all from this death, then must all and everyone be made alive
with life spiritual, which only is to be had and obtained by
Jesus Christ; which, whether that be so or not, whether to live
by Christ be not the peculiar privilege of believers, the gospel
hath already declared, and God will one day determine. Another
strange assertion is, his affirming the end of the death of
Christ to be his presenting himself alive and just before his
Father; as though it were the ultimate thing by him intended, the
Holy Ghost expressly affirming that
“he loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,” Ephesians 5:25-27.
The
following parallels, which he instituted between Adam and Christ,
have nothing of proof in them to the business in hand, —
namely, that Christ was a public person, standing, in his
obedience, in the room of all and everyone that were concerned in
the disobedience of Adam. There is, I say, nothing at all of
proof in them, being a confused medley of some truths and divers
unsavory heresies. I shall only give the reader a taste of some
of them, whereby he may judge of the rest, not troubling myself
or others with the transcribing and reading of such empty
vanities as no way relate to the business in hand.
First,
then, In the second part of his parallel he affirms, “That
when Christ finished his obedience, in dying and rising, and
offering himself a sacrifice, and making satisfaction, it was, by
virtue of the account of God in Christ, and for Christ with God
(that is, accepted with God for Christ’s sake), the death,
resurrection, the sacrifice and satisfaction, and the redemption
of all, — that is, all and every one;” and therein he
compares Christ to Adam in the performance of the business by him
undertaken. Now, but that I cannot but with trembling consider
what the apostle affirms, 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12, I should be
exceedingly-amazed that any man in the world should be so far
forsaken of sense, reason, faith, and all reverence of God and
man, as to publish, maintain, and seek to propagate, such
abominable, blasphemous, senseless, contradictious errors. That
the death of Christ should be accepted of and accounted before
God as the death of all, and yet the greatest part of these all
be adjudged to eternal death in their own persons by the same
righteous God; that all and everyone should arise in and with
Jesus Christ, and yet most of them continue dead in their sins,
and die for sin eternally; that satisfaction should be made and
accepted for them who are never spared, nor shall be, one
farthing of their debt; that atonement should be made by
sacrifice for such as ever lie undelivered under wrath; that all
the reprobates, Cain, Pharaoh, Ahab, and the rest, who were
actually damned in hell, and under death and torments, then when
Christ died, suffered, made satisfaction, and rose again, should
be esteemed with God to have died, suffered, made satisfaction,
and risen again with Christ; — that, I say, such senseless
contradictions, horrid errors, and abominable assertions, should
be thus nakedly thrust upon Christians, without the least color,
pretense, or show of proof, but the naked authority of him who
hath already embraced such things as these, were enough to make
any man admire and be amazed, but that we know the judgments of
God are ofttimes hid, and far above out of our sights.
Secondly,
In the third of his parallels he goeth one step higher, comparing
Christ with Adam in respect of the efficacy, effect, and fruit of
his obedience. He affirms, “That as by the sin of Adam all
his posterity were deprived of life, and fell under sin and
death, whence judgment and condemnation passed upon all, though
this be done secretly and invisibly, and in some sort
inexpressibly” (what he means by secretly and invisibly, well
I know not, — surely he doth not suppose that these things
might possibly be made the objects of our senses; and for inexpressibly,
how that is, let Romans 5:12, with other places, where all
this and more is clearly, plainly, and fully expressed, be judge
whether it be so or no);” so,” saith he, “by the
efficacy of the obedience of Christ, all men without exception
are redeemed, restored, made righteous, justified freely by the
grace of Christ, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ,
the ‘righteousness that is by the faith of Jesus
Christ’ being ‘unto all,’ Romans 3:22,”
(where the impostor wickedly corrupteth the word of God, like the
devil, Matthew 4, by cutting off the following words, “and
upon all that believe,” both alls answering to
believers). “What remains now but that all also should be
saved? the Holy Ghost expressly affirming that those ‘whom
God justifieth, he also glorifieth,’” Romans 8:30.
“Solvite mortales animas, curisque levate.” Such
assertions as these, without any color of proof, doth this author
labor to obtrude upon us. Now, that men should be restored, and
yet continue lost; that they should be made righteous, and yet
remain detestably wicked, and wholly abominable; that they should
be justified freely by the grace of God, and yet always lie under
the condemning sentence of the law of God; that the righteousness
of God by the faith of Jesus Christ should be upon all
unbelievers, — are not only things exceedingly opposite to
the gospel of Jesus Christ, but so absolutely at variance and
distance one with another, that the poor salve of Mr. More’s
following cautions will not serve to heal their mutual wounds. I
cannot but fear that it would be tedious and offensive to rake
any longer in such a dunghill. Let them that have a mind to be
captivated to error and falsehood by corruption of Scripture and
denial of common sense and reason, because they cannot receive
the truth in the love thereof, delight themselves with such husks
as these. What weaker arguments we have had, to maintain that
Christ, in his obedience to the death, was a public person in the
room of all and everyone, hath been already demonstrated. I shall
now, by the reader’s leave, a little transgress the rule of
disputation, and, taking up the opposite part of the arguments,
produce some few reasons and testimonies to demonstrate that our
Savior Christ, in his obedience unto death, in the redemption which
he wrought, and satisfaction which he made, and sacrifice
which he offered, was not a public person in the room of all
and every man in the world, elect and reprobate, believers
and infidels, or unbelievers; which are briefly these: —
First,
The seed of the woman was not to be a public person in the
place, stead, and room of the seed of the serpent. Jesus
Christ is the seed of the woman kat ejxoch>n, all the
reprobates, as was before proved, are the seed of the serpent:
therefore, Jesus Christ was not, in his oblation and suffering,
when he brake the head of the father of the seed, a public person
in their room.
Secondly,
Christ, as a public person, representeth only them for whose sake
he set himself apart to that office and employment wherein he was
such a representative; but upon his own testimony, which
we have, John 17:19, he set himself apart to the service and
employment wherein he was a public person for the sakes only of
some that were given him out of the world, and not of all and
everyone: therefore, he was not a public person in the room of
all.
Thirdly,
Christ was a “surety,” as he was a public person,
Hebrews 7:22; but he was not a surety for all, — for, first,
All are not taken into that covenant whereof he was a surety,
whose conditions are effected in all the covenantees, as before;
secondly, None can perish for whom Christ is a surety, unless he
be not able to pay the debt: — therefore, he was not a
public person in the room of all.
Fourthly,
For whom he was a public person, in their rooms he suffered, and
for them he made satisfaction, Isaiah 53:5, 6; but he suffered
not in the stead of all, nor made satisfaction for all, —
for, first, Some must suffer themselves, which makes it evident
that Christ did not suffer for them, Romans 8:33, 34; and,
secondly, The justice of God requireth satisfaction from
themselves, to the payment of the utmost farthing.
Fifthly,
Jesus Christ, as a public person, did nothing in vain in respect
of any for whom he was a public person; but many things which
Christ, as a public person, did perform were altogether in vain
and fruitless, in respect of the greatest part of the sons of men
being under an incapability of receiving any good by anything he
did, — to wit, all that then were actually damned, in
respect of whom, redemption, reconciliation, satisfaction, and
the like, could possibly be no other than empty names. Sixthly,
If God were well pleased with his Son in what he did, as a public
person, in his representation of others (as he was, Ephesians
5:2), then must he also be well pleased with them whom he did
represent, either absolutely or conditionally; but with many of
the sons of men God, in the representation of his Son, was not
well pleased, neither absolutely nor conditionally, to wit, with
Cain, Pharaoh, Saul, Ahab, and others, dead and damned before:
therefore, Christ did not, as a public person, represent all.
Seventhly, For testimonies, see John 17:9; Matthew 20:28,
26:26-28; Mark 10:45; Hebrews 6:20; Isaiah 53:12; John 10:15;
Hebrews 13:20; Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 2:17; John 11:51, 52; Acts
20:28; Ephesians 5:2, 23-25; Romans 8:33, 34.