Section 9.
SECTION 9.
Displaying the most wonderful work of free grace, the general redemption of the lost world of the ungodly by Jesus Christ: and the most astonishing work of free will, the obstinate neglect of that redemption, by those who do despite to the Spirit of grace.
HONESTUS has such high thoughts of his uprightness and good works, that he sometimes doubts if he is a lost sinner by nature, and if the virtue of Christ’s blood is absolutely necessary to his justification. And the mind of Zelotes is so full of absolute election and reprobating partiality, that he thinks the sacrifice of Christ was confined to the little part of mankind which he calls “the Church, the pleasant children, Israel, Jacob, Ephraim, God’s people, the elect, the little flock,” &c. Those happy souls, if you believe him, are loved with an everlasting love, and all the rest of mankind are hated with an everlasting hate. Christ never bled, never died for these.
God purposely let them fall in the first Adam, and absolutely denied them all interest in Christ the second Adam, that they might necessarily be wicked and infallibly be damned, “to illustrate his glory by their destruction.”
To rectify those mistakes; to show Honestus that all men, without exception, are so wicked by nature as to stand in need of Christ’s atoning blood; and to convince Zelotes that Christ was so good as to shed it for all men, without exception; I throw into my Scales some of the weights stamped with general redemption: I say some, because others have already been produced in the third section.
HOW ALL men are temporally redeemed by Christ’s blood.
THE WEIGHTS OF FREE GRACE.
NOTE. General redemption by price and free grace cannot fail, because it is entirely the work of CHRIST, who does all things well.
We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels [i.e. was made man] for the suffering of death, &c, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man, Hebrews 2:9 Hebrews Why some men are not eternally redeemed by Christ’s Spirit.
THE WEIGHTS OF FREE WILL.
NOTE. General redemption by power and free will can and does fall, because many refuse to the last, subordinately “to work out their own salvation.”
As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; — turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of 2:9.
When we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly, Romans 5:6. The Son of man is come to save that which is lost, Luke 19:10. Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, John 1:29. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, &c, that the world through him might be saved [upon Gospel terms,] John 3:16, 17. This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world, John 4:42. We have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, 1 John 4:14. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born, &c, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, Luke 2:10, 11.
Christ is our peace, who hath made both [Jews and Gentiles] one, &c, that he might [on his part] reconcile both unto God by the cross, Ephesians 2:14, 16. [Now Jews and Gentiles are equivalent to the world.] God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, [when they believe,] 2 Corinthians 5:10.
It pleased the Father, &c, having made peace by the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, &c, hath he reconciled, &c, through death, to present you holy, &c, if ye continue in the faith, &c, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, &c, which is preached to every creature that is under heaven, Colossians 1:19, 23.
We trust in the living God, Who is the Israel? Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11.
And now, &c, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now I will, &c, lay it waste, &c, I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry, Isaiah 5:3, 7. They have turned unto me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising early, Jeremiah 32:33.
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early, and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore, &c, I will cast you out of my sight, &c; therefore pray not for this people, &c, for I will not hear thee, Jeremiah 7:13, 15, 16.
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my Father, &c? Hast thou Seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? &c. And I said, after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me; [return unto me, for I have redeemed thee, Isaiah 44:72,] but she returned not. And, &c, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also, Jeremiah 3:4-8.
If thou wilt receive my words, &c, so that thou incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding, &c, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord; and find the knowledge of Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe: [because such obediently submit to the terms of eternal salvation; for initial salvation depends on no terms on our part,] 1 Timothy 4:10.
The philanthropy [or] kindness of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Titus 3:4. The bread of God giveth life unto the world: the bread that I will give for the life of the world, John 6:33, 51.
Jesus said, I am the light of the world. I came, &c, to save the world, John 8:12; 12:47. That the world may believe thou hast sent me, John 17:21. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, [or, of all men to be received] that Christ came into the world to save f10 sinners, of whom I am chief, 1 Timothy 1:15.
I exhort, that first of all supplications, &c, and giving of thanks be made for all men, &c, for this is good and acceptable, [not in the sight of Zelotes,] but in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is, &c, one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ, who gave himself a ransom for all, &c. I will, therefore, that men pray every where, &c, without doubting, 1 Timothy 2:1, &c. Mine eyes have seen [Christ] thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel, [i.e. the Jews,] Luke ii, &c. It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, [i.e. the Jews,] &c. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth, God, Proverbs 2:1, &c. As the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave to me the whole house of Israel, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, &c. but they would not hear. Therefore &c, I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them, Jeremiah 13:11, 12, 14.
This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that [actually] does evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth, cometh to the light, John 3:19, &c. Jeshurun, [i.e. the righteous,] waxed fat and kicked, &c. He forsook God, &c, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation, &c. They sacrificed to devils, &c. And, when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons and daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, &c, for a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell, &c. I will spend mine arrows upon them, Deuteronomy 32:15, 23.
Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will mock when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer, &c; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, &c, Proverbs 1:24, &c. If ye walk contrary to me, &c, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, &c. And if ye will not be reformed by these things, I will punish you yet Isaiah 49:6. God, &c, preached before the Gospel to Abraham, saying, In thee, [i.e. thy seed, which is Christ] shall all nations [yea] all families of the earth be blessed, Galatians 3:8, 16; Genesis 12:3.
In him [the Word made flesh] was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shineth [even] in the darkness, &c, [that] comprehended it not. John came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through it [di’ autou fw/ov] might believe, &c. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, John 1:4, &c. seven times, &c. And if ye will not for all this hearken to me, &c, I will cast down your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, &c, and my soul shall abhor you, Leviticus 26:21-30.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit [during the day of salvation] he taketh away, &c, and it is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned, John 15:2-6.
Ye shall bow down to the slaughter, because when I called ye did not answer, Isaiah 65:12.
From the preceding scriptures it appears, that as in a vine some branches are nearer the root than others; so among mankind some men have a stronger and more immediate union with Christ than others; but, so long as their day of salvation lasts, all men have some interest in him; there being as many ways of being in Christ, as there are dispensations of Gospel grace. That infants are interested in him, seems evident from Romans 5:18, and Mark 10:14: and that Cornelius, for example, was in Christ as a just heathen, before he was in him as a Jewish proselyte, much more before he was in him as a Christian believer, is not less evident from Matthew 25:29; Psalm 50:23; Luke 16:10, 11. But when the expression, being in Christ, is taken in its most confined sense, as it is in some of the epistles, it means a being so fully acquainted with, and so intimately united to Christ, as to enjoy the privileges peculiar to the Christian dispensation, like Cornelius, when he had believed the Gospel of Christ, and was baptized with the Holy Ghost. To say that he was in every respect without Christ before, is to strike a blow at the root: it is to suppose that a man can be accepted out of the Beloved, work righteousness without Christ’s assistance, and “bring forth fruits meet for repentance,” in a total separation from the vine. Thus it is, however, that the Solifidianism of Zelotes meets with the Pharisaism of Honestus.
I.
All men should honour the Son [by believing on him,] John 5:28. I will draw all men to me, John 12:32. The free gift came upon all men, Romans 5:18. The saving grace of God hath appeared unto all men, Titus 2:11. God giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, James 1:5. The Lord is good to all [or loving to every man] and his tender mercies are over all his works, Psalm 145:9. If one died for all, then were all dead. He died for all, that they which live, should, &c, live to him who died for them, 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15.
He is despised and rejected of men, &c. We [men] esteemed him not, &c. Surely he was wounded for our transgressions, &c, and with his stripes we are [initially, and his seed, persevering believers, completely] healed. All we [men] like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, &c. He poured out his soul unto death, &c; he bore the sin [µybr] of the f11 multitudes, and made intercession for the transgressors, Isaiah 53:3-6, 12. If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, 1 John 2:1, 2.
GENERAL REDEMPTION and FREE GRACE are the gracious spring whence flow the general, sincere, and rational missions, Gospel calls, commands, exhortations, and expostulations which follow.
God hath reconciled us to himself by II.
I have purged thee [I have done the part of a Saviour] and thou wast not purged: [thou hast not done the part of a penitent sinner,] Ezekiel 24:13. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door [by the obedience of faith] I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me, Revelation 3:20.
Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, Acts 10:34. If ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, James 2:9. It is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear; forasmuch as ye know that ye were redeemed, &c, with the precious blood of Christ, 1 Peter 1:17, 18. [How different is this Gospel from the Gospel of the day] And if to elect and to reprobate is to judge that myriads of unborn people shall be eternally loved or hated without any respect to their tempers and actions, what can we say of doctrines, which fix upon God the spot that Solomon describes in the following words?] It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. He that says to the wicked, Thou art righteous, [or he that says to what is not, Thou art wicked, and I unconditionally appoint thee for eternal destruction,] him shall the people curse: nations shall abhor him, Proverbs 24:23, 24.
Through the LIBERTY OF OUR WILL we may IMPROVE or NEGLECT so great redemption; we may make, or refuse to make our sincere election and rational calling sure; as appears from the following scriptures: — We pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God, 2 Corinthians 5:20.
Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:18.
Him [Christ] God hath exalted to give repentance to Israel — [and] to the Gentiles, [i.e. to all mankind, who are made up of Jews and Gentiles,] Acts 5:31; 11:18. [Hence it is that] God now commandeth all men every where to repent; because he will judge the world in righteousness, Acts 17:30, 31.
Thou [Paul] shalt be his [Christ’s] witness unto all men. To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery [of redeeming and sanctifying love,] Acts 22:15; Ephesians 3:9.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, Isaiah 45:22.
Come unto me, all ye that travel [with sin] and are heavy laden [with troubles] and I will give you rest, Matthew 11:28.
Jesus spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven, and in earth, go ye therefore and teach [proselyte] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [A sure proof this that the Son has redeemed all nations, and purchased for them the influences of the Holy Ghost; Matthew 28:18, 19.]
Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature, &c, and they went forth preaching every where, Mark 16:15, 20. Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely, Revelation 22:17. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Peter 3:9.
Come now [ye rulers of Sodom, ye people of Gomorrah] and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse, &c. I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come, &c. Then the master of the house being angry said, &c, None of those men, who were bidden [or called, and refused to make their calling and election sure] shall taste of my supper, Luke 17:18.
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in scorning? and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, Proverbs 1:22, 23.
I am the Lord thy God, &c, open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me, Psalm 81:10, 11.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, Deuteronomy 30:19. Mary hath chosen the good part, Luke 10:42.
Choose you this day whom ye will serve, &c, but as for me, and my house, [we have made our choice] we will serve the Lord, Joshua 24:15.
He that rejecteth me, &c, hath one that judgeth him. The word [of the Gospel] that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day, John 12:48. We will not have this man to reign over us. Those, &c, who would not that I should reign over them, slay them before me, Luke 19:14, 27.
If ye be willing and obedient, &c. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, verses 19, 20.
Thus spake the Lord of hosts, &c. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, &c. Ye shall eat the good of the land, Isaiah 1:10, 18, 19.
Ho, every one that thirsteth [for life and happiness] come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Incline f12 your ear, hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David, &c. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; and call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, &c, and return unto the Lord, for he will abundantly pardon, Isaiah 55:1-7.
Wisdom standeth in the top of high places: she crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, &c, Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men, &c. Hear, for I will speak excellent things, &c. Receive my instruction, rather than choice gold, &c. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light, Proverbs 8:2, &c; Matthew 11:29, 30.
All the people [of bloody devoted Jerusalem] ran together unto them [Peter and John:] and when Peter saw it, he answered, Ye [all the people] are the children of the covenant, which God made, saying to Abraham, “And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” Unto you [all the people] first [as being Jews] God, &c, sent his Son Jesus to bless you [all the people] by turning away every one of you from his iniquities, Acts 3:9, 11, 12, 25, 26.
hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his Spirit, &c. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts, Zechariah 7:8, 13.
I also will choose their delusions, &c, because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear; but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not, Isaiah 66:4.
The Jews were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul; contradicting and blaspheming.
Then Paul waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God [the Gospel of Christ] should first have been spoken to you: but, seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles: for so hath the Lord commanded, Acts 13:45, 46. [Query. How could it be necessary “that the Gospel should first be spoken to those Jews,” if God had eternally fixed, that there should be no Gospel, — no Saviour, for them?]
Them that perish because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, &c, that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thessalonians 2:10, &c. O Jerusalem, &c, how often would I have gathered together thy children [among whom were the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees] as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not?
Luke 13:34. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will bring upon this city, &c, all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have hardened their necks that they might not hear my To whom [the Gentiles] I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in me, Acts 26:17, 18.
Behold, NOW is the accepted time!
behold, NOW is the day of salvation, 2 Corinthians 6:2. Wherefore, beloved, account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also hath written to you [in the next passage,] 2 Peter 3:9, 15. Despisest thou the riches of God’s goodness, and forbearance, and long suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, and of consequence to eternal salvation?
words, Jeremiah 19:15. The Lord is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, &c, when your fathers saw my works. Forty years long I was grieved with that generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their hearts, &c. — To whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest, Psalm 45:7, &c This is one of the “clouds of Scripture witnesses,” which we produce in favour of redeeming free grace and electing free will. To some people this cloud appears so big with evidence, and so luminous, that they think Honestus and Zelotes, with all the admirers of Socinus and Calvin, can never raise dust enough to involve it in darkness, at least before those who have not yet permitted prejudice to put out both their eyes. It is worth notice, that Honestus has not one Scripture to prove that any man can be saved without the Redeemer’s atonement. On the contrary, we read that there is salvation “in no other;” that there is “no other name,” or person, “whereby we must be saved;” and that “no man cometh to the Father but by him — the light of the world, and the light of men.” And it is remarkable, that although the peculiar gospel of Zelotes is founded upon the doctrine of a partial atonement, there is not in all the Bible one passage that represents “the world” as being made up of the elect only; not one text which asserts that Christ made an atonement for one part of the world exclusively of the other; no, nor one word which, being candidly understood according to the context, cuts off either man, woman, or child from the benefit of Christ’s redemption; at least so long as the day of grace and initial salvation lasteth. Nay, the very reverse is directly or indirectly asserted: for our Lord threatened his very apostles with a hell, “where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,” if they did not “pluck out the offending eye.” St. Peter speaks of those who “bring swift destruction upon themselves by denying the Lord that bought them.” And St. Paul mentions “destruction of a brother for whom Christ died;” yea, and the “much sorer punishment of him who had trodden under foot the Son of God, had counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, [and consequently redeemed,] an unholy thing, and had done despite to the Spirit of grace,” by which Spirit he and other apostates “were once enlightened, and had tasted the heavenly gift — the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,” Hebrews 10:29; 6:4.
Hence it appears, that of all the unscriptural doctrines which prejudiced divines have imposed upon the simple, none is more directly contrary to Scripture than the doctrine of Christ’s particular atonement. — An Arian can produce, “My Father is greater than I;” and a Papist, “This is my body,” in support of their error; but a Calvinist cannot produce one word that excludes even Cain and Judas from the temporary interest in Christ’s atonement, whereby they had “the day of initial salvation,” which they once enjoyed and abused.
The tide of Scripture evidence in favour of general redemption is so strong, that at times it carries away both St. Augustine and Calvin, notwithstanding their particular resistance. The former says, Ægrotat humanum genus, non morbis corporis, sed peccatis. Jacet toto orbe terrarum ab oriente usque ad occidentem grandis ægrotus. Ad sanandum grandem ægrotum descendit omnipotens Medicus. (AUG. De Verbis Domini, Sermon 59.) “MANKIND is sick, not with bodily diseases, but with sins. The HUGE PATIENT lies ALL THE WORLD over, stretched from east to west. To heal the huge patient, the omnipotent Physician descends from heaven.” As for Calvin, in a happy moment, he does not scruple to say: Se TOTI MUNDO propitium ostendit, cum sine exceptione omnes ad Christi fidem vocat, quæ nihil aliud est quam ingressus in vitam. (CAL. in Job, 3:15, 16.) “God shows himself propitious to ALL THE WORLD, when he, without exception, invites ALL MEN to believe in Christ; faith being the entrance into life.” Agreeable to this, when he comments upon these words of St. Paul, “There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ,” he says with great truth: Cum itaque COMMUNE mortis suæ beneficium OMNIBUS esse velit, injuriam illi faciunt, qui opinione sua quempiam arcent a spe salutis. (CALV. in 1 Timothy 2:5.) “Since therefore Christ is willing that the benefit of his death should be COMMON TO ALL MEN; they do him an injury, who, by their opinion, debar any one from the hope of salvation.” If, Calvin himself being judge, “they do Christ an injury, who by their opinion debar ANY ONE from the hope of salvation,” how great, how multiplied an injury does Zelotes do to the Redeemer, by his opinion of particular redemption; an opinion this, which effectually debars all the unredeemed from the least well grounded hope of ever escaping the damnation of hell, be their endeavours after salvation ever so strong and ever so many.
As I set my seal with fuller confidence to the doctrine of our Lord’s Divine carriage upon the cross, when I hear the centurion who headed his executioners cry out, “Truly this was the Son of God:” so I embrace the doctrine of general redemption with a fuller persuasion of its truth, when I hear Calvin himself say, “Forasmuch as the upshot of a happy life consists in the knowledge of God, lest the door of happiness should be shut against any man, God has not only implanted in the minds of men, that which we call THE SEED OF RELIGION; but he has likewise so manifested himself in all the fabric of the world, and presents himself daily to them in so plain a manner, that they cannot open their eyes, but they must needs discover him.” His own words are: Quia ultimus beatæ vitæ finis in Dei cognitione positus est, ne cui præclusus esset ad felicitatem aditus, non solum hominum mentibus indidit illud, quod dicimus RELIGIONIS SEMEN; sed ita se patefecit in toto mundi opificio, ac se quotidie palam offert, ut aperire oculos nequeant quin eum aspicere cogantur. (Inst. lib. i, cap. 5, sec. 1.)
Happy would it have been for us, if Calvin the Calvinist had been of one mind with Calvin the reformer. Had this been the case, he would never have encouraged those who are called by his name to despise “THE SEED OF RELIGION which God has implanted in the minds of men, lest the door of happiness should be shut against any one.” Nor would he inconsistently have taught his admirers to do Christ, and desponding souls, that very “injury,” against which he justly bears his testimony in one of the preceding quotations.
Although Zelotes has a peculiar veneration for Austin and Calvin, yet when they speak of redemption as the oracles of God, he begs leave to dissent from them both.
To maintain, therefore, even against them, his favourite doctrine of absolute election and preterition, he advances some objections, three or four of which deserve our attention, not so much indeed on account of their weight, as on account of the great stress which he lays upon them.
OBJECTION FIRST. “You assert,” says he, “that the doctrine of general redemption is Scriptural, and that no man is absolutely reprobated: but I can produce a text strong enough to convince you of your error. If the majority of mankind were not unconditionally reprobated, our Lord would at least have prayed for them: but this he expressly refused to do in these words, “I pray for them [my disciples:] I pray not for the world,” John 17:9. Here the world is evidently excluded from all interest in our Lord’s praying breath; and how much more from all interest in his atoning blood?”
ANSWER. I have already touched upon this objection, (Third Check, vol. first.) To what I have said there, I now add the following fuller reply: — Our Lord never excluded “the world” from all share in his intercession.
When he said, “I pray for them, I pray not for the world;” it is just as if he had said, “The blessing which I now ask for my believing disciples, I do not ask ‘for the world;’ not because I have absolutely reprobated the world, but because the world is not in a capacity of receiving this peculiar blessing.” Therefore; to take occasion from that expression to traduce Christ as a reprobating respecter of persons, is as ungenerous as to affirm that the master of a grammar school is a partial, capricious man, who pays no attention to the greatest part of his scholars, because, when he made critical remarks upon Homer, he once said, “My lecture is for the Greek class, and not the Latin.”
That this is the easy, natural sense of our Lord’s words, will appear by the following observations.
(1.) Does he not just after (verse 11) mention the favour which he did not ask for the world? “Holy Father, keep, through thy name, those whom thou hast given me, [by the decree of faith,] that they may be one as we are.”
(2.) Would it not have been absurd in Christ to pray the Father to keep “a world” of unbelievers, and to make them one?
(3.) Though our Lord prayed at first for his disciples alone, did he not, before he concluded his prayer, (verse 2,) pray for future believers? And then giving the utmost latitude to his charitable wishes, did he not pray (verse 21) “that the world might believe” — and (verse 23) “that the world might know that God had sent him?”
(4.) Was not this praying that the world might be made partakers of the very blessing which his disciples then enjoyed: witness these words, (ver.
24, 25,) “O righteous Father, the world has not known thee: but I have known thee, and these [believers] have known that thou hast sent me?”
(5.) “The world hateth me,” said our Lord. Now if he “never prayed for the world,” how could he be said to have loved and prayed for his enemies?
How badly will Zelotes be off, if he stands only in the imputed righteousness of a man, who would never pray for the bulk of his enemies or neighbours? But this is not all; for (6.) If our Lord “never prayed for the world,” he acted the part of those wicked Pharisees who “laid upon other people’s shoulders heavy burthens which they took care not to touch with one of their fingers;” for he said to his followers, “Pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you,” [that is, pray for the world,] Matthew 5:44. But if we believe Zelotes, “he said and did not:” like some implacable preachers who recommend a forgiving temper, he gave good precepts and set a bad example.
I ask Candidus’ pardon for detaining him so long about so frivolous an argument: but as it is that which Zelotes most frequently produces in favour of particular redemption, and the absolute reprobation of the world, I thought it my duty to expose his well meant mistake, and to wipe off the blot which his opinion (not he) fixes upon our Lord’s character; — an opinion this, which represents Christ’s prayer, “Father, forgive them,” to be all of a piece with Judas’ kiss. For, if Christ prayed with his lips, that his worldly murderers might be forgiven, while in his heart he absolutely excluded them from all interest in his intercession, and in the blood, by which alone they could be forgiven; might he not as well have said, My praying lips salute, but my reprobating heart betrays you: hail reprobates and be damned?
OBJECTION SECOND. “All your carnal reasonings and logical subtleties can never overthrow the plain word of God. The Scriptures cannot be broken, and they expressly mention particular redemption. Revelation 5:8, 9, we read that ‘four-and-twenty elders having harps, sung a new song, saying, &c, Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.’ Again, Revelation 14:1, &c, we read of one hundred and forty-four thousand ‘harpers that stood with the Lamb on Mount Sion, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads, &c, singing as it were a new song which no man could learn but the one hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth, &c; these were redeemed from among men.’ Now if all men were redeemed, would not St. John speak nonsense if he said that the elect were redeemed from among men? But as he positively says so, it follows that the generality of men are passed by, or left in a reprobate state absolutely unredeemed.”
ANSWER. There is a redemption by power distinct from, though connected with our redemption by price. That redemption is in many things particular; consisting chiefly in the actual bestowing of the temporal, spiritual, or eternal deliverances and blessings which the atoning blood has peculiarly merited for believers; “Christ being the Saviour of all men, but especially of them that believe.” Various degrees of that redemption are pointed out in the following scriptures, as well as in the passages which you quote out of the book of Revelation. “The angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. The Lord hath redeemed you from the hand of Pharaoh.
When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, for your redemption draweth nigh. Ye are sealed, &c, until the redemption of the purchased possession. We ourselves groan, waiting for the redemption of our body.” When therefore some eminent saints sing, “Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood [sprinkled upon our consciences through faith] out of every kindred,” &c, it is not because Christ shed more blood upon the cross for them than for other people; but because, through the faithful improvement of the five talents, which sovereign, distinguishing grace had entrusted them with, they excelled in virtue, and “overcame the accuser of the brethren by the blood of the Lamb,” more gloriously than the generality of their fellow believers do.
One or two arguments will, I hope, convince the reader that Zelotes has no right to press into the service of free wrath the texts produced in his objection; as he certainly does, when he applies them to a particular redemption by price.
(1.) God promised to Abraham, that “all the nations, yea, all the kindreds of the earth should be blessed in his seed, that is, in Christ, the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.” And our Lord commands, accordingly, that his redeeming work be preached to “every creature among all nations:” but if there be no redemption but that of those elders and saints mentioned Revelation 5:8, 9, and said to be “redeemed to God, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, it follows, that every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,” is left unredeemed in flat contradiction to God’s promise, as well as to the general tenor of the Scriptures.
(2.) The number of the saved is greater than that of the redeemed. For St. John, Revelation 7:9, describes the saved as “a great multitude which no man could number.” But the persons “redeemed from the earth and redeemed from among men,” are said to be just one hundred and forty-four thousand: whence it follows, either that an “innumerable multitude” of men will sing “salvation to the Lamb,” without having been redeemed; or that one hundred and forty-four thousand souls are “a multitude which no man can number;” and that as the number of these “redeemed from the earth and from among men,” is already completed, all the rest of mankind are consigned over to inevitable, finished damnation. Thus, according to the objection which I answer, Zelotes himself is passed by, as well as “every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” O ye kindreds and tongues, ye people and nations, — ye English and Welsh, ye Scotch and Irish, awake to your native good sense; nor dignify any longer with the name of “doctrines of grace,” inconsistent tenets imported from Geneva, — barbarous tenets that rob you nationally of the inestimable jewel of redemption, and leave you nationally in the lurch with Cain and Judas — with wretches whose reprobation (if we believe Zelotes) was absolutely insured before your happy islands emerged out of the sea, and the sea out of the chaos.
OBJECTION THIRD, But we are pressed with rational, as well as Scriptural arguments. To show that Christ, who was lavish of his tears over justly reprobated Jerusalem, was so sparing of his blood, that he would not shed one drop of it for the world, and for the reprobated nations therein, much less for the arch reprobate, Judas: to show this, I say, Zelotes asks, “How could Christ redeem Judas? Was not Judas’ soul actually in hell, beyond the reach of redemption, when Christ bled upon the cross?”
ANSWER. The fallacy of this argument will be sufficiently pointed out by retorting it thus: — “How could Christ redeem David? Was not David’s soul actually in heaven, beyond the need of redemption, when Christ bled upon the ignominious tree?” The truth is, from the foundation of the world Christ intentionally shed his blood, to procure a temporary salvation for all men, and an “eternal salvation for them that obey him, and work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” With respect to David and Judas, “in the day of their visitation,” through Christ’s intended sacrifice, they had both an “accepted time;” and, while the one by penitential faith secured eternal salvation, the other by obstinate unbelief totally fell from initial salvation, and by his own sin “went to his own,” and not to Adam’s “place.”
OBJECTION FORTH. As to the difficulty which Zelotes raises from a supposed “defect in Divine wisdom, if Christ offered for all a sacrifice which he foresaw many would not be benefited by:” I once more observe that all men universally are benefited by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
For all men enjoy a day of initial and temporary salvation, in consequence of Christ’s mediation: and if many do not improve their redemption so as to be eternally benefited thereby, their madness is no more a reflection upon God’s wisdom, than the folly of those angels who did not improve their creation. Again: this objection, taken from Divine wisdom, and levelled at our doctrine, is so much the more extraordinary, as, upon the plan of particular redemption, Divine wisdom (to say nothing of Divine veracity, impartiality, and mercy) receives an eternal blot. For how can “God judge the world in wisdom according to the Gospel?” Romans 2:16. How can he wisely upbraid men with their impenitency, and condemn them because “they have not believed in the name of his only begotten Son,” John 3:18, if there never was for them a Gospel to embrace, repentance to exercise, and an only begotten Son of God to believe in?
And now, reader, sum up the evidence arising from the scriptures balanced, the arguments proposed, and the objections answered in this section; and say whether the doctrines of bound will and curtailed redemption, or, which is all one, the doctrines of necessary sin, and absolute, personal, yea, national reprobation, can, with any propriety, be called either sweet “doctrines of grace,” or Scriptural doctrines of wisdom.