goodness to render that being capable of enjoying the natural desires he hath implanted in it, or at least not to make it so as that it should be better it had never been, or that it unavoidably should be subject to such miseries as render its condition worse than not being. And (2.) that if he would make a creature under an obligation to serve him, he must prescribe laws by which he will be served, and annex rewards to his obedience, and penalties to his refusal of obedience to them, according to those words of the apostie, he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that. he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' For what engagement, what motive can he have to serve him, who neither can expect advantage by his obedience, or disadvantage by neglecting it? And certain it is, that God never made any man otherwise; God therefore is so much a debtor to his own wisdom, justice, and goodness, that we may be sure he never could make any man to be inevitably miserable, or under a worse state than non-existence; and never made a man to serve him without ability, or a sufficient motive so to do.-Now the

COROLLARIES or inferences, which follow necessarily from this doctrine are TWO,

XII. FIRST. That God hath passed no absolute decree of reprobation upon the greatest part of mankind; that is, he hath not absolutely decreed to exclude the greatest part of them from saving mercy; and then, by an immediate consequence, it follows, that there is no absolute decree of election of a certain number of particular persons to salvation; for as Tertullian truly saith prælatio unius sine alterius contumeliâ esse non potest, nec ulla electio non reprobatione componitur, there can be no election of some, without the preterition of the rest.'

SECOND. That he hath not made it absolutely necessary to the salvation of all men to do those things which they, without the assistance of his special grace, can never do, and yet hath peremptorily determined not to vouchsafe that grace to many of them: this being in effect an absolute decree of reprobation, or that which leaves these men under an absolute exclusion from salvation, and so under a sad necessity of suffering the wrath to come. And can any reasonable man imagine, that God should be unwilling

any man should perish; yea, that he should send his Son into the world, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish;' and yet himself decree, that they should perish, or be eternally excluded from his saving mercy? That he should truly be desirous that "all should come unto repentance," and not be willing to vouchsafe that grace without which they cannot repent? After those solemn declarations God hath made, that he would not the death of him that dies, but would have all men to be saved;' after his sacred oath by his own life, that he delights not in the death of sinners, but would they should return and live;' after all his serious commands, his frequent calls and invitations of all men to repentance that they may not perish; after his enquiries and expostulations, "why will you die, will you not be made clean, when shall it once be?" and his complaints of the impenitent, "that they would not turn and seek God; they would not come to him that they might have life;" after such pathetical desires as these, "Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me always! Oh that they had known the things which did belong to their peace!" after he hath declared to all his readiness to pardon, his delight in shewing mercy, and that the riches of his goodness and long suffering is designed to lead them to repentance; after his frequent declarations that "he would have gathered them who would not be gathered," he would have purged them who were not purged, and that he had done all that could be reasonably expected from him for that end; after his express declaration, that "he sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved:"—I say, after all these things, to dream of any absolute decree of God excluding most of them he speaks of, or thus addresses himself to, from a possibility of repenting that they might be saved, or doubt his willingness to afford them grace sufficient to perform this duty,-is to cast a horrible reproach upon the truth and the sincerity of God, and in effect to say, "He only tenders salvation to the most upon impossible conditions, and only doth delude them with vain hopes."

XIII. I should now proceed to the confirmation of this doctrine from the suffrage of all antiquity; but this is sufficiently

g Jeremiah xiii. 27.

h

done, First, by Vossius, in his Historia Pelagiana, where he asserts and proves,

1. That Veteris hæc ecclesia sententia fuit, velle Deum conversionem et salutem omnium; the doctrine of the ancient church was this, that God would have all men to be converted and saved.' 2. That Veteris ecclesia judicium fuit, Christum pro culpâ universali hominibus providisse et remedio universali, solvendo kúrpov infiniti pretii, ne ejus defectu periret quisquam; this was the judgment of the ancient church, that Christ had provided for the fault of all men by an universal remedy, viz. by paying a price of infinite value, lest any one should perish through the defect of it.'

Secondly. This is more copiously done by Mr. Dally," by producing the testimonies of the ancients from the first to the twelfth century, and concluding thus, Certè qui Christum pro solis electis mortuum absolutè dixerit octo prioribus christianismi seculis invenio neminem; Certainly I find not one man who, during the eight first ages of christianity, ever said expressly, that Christ died only for the elect,'

CHAP. VII.

I PROCEED, LASTLY, to consider the objections made from rational accounts against this doctrine, viz.

I. OBJECTION FIRST. "It is not reasonable to believe, that Christ should die in vain with respect to any; whereas if he had died for all, he must have died in vain with respect to the greatest part of mankind.”

ANSWER. To this the answer is apparent, it being evident that all those acts of divine grace whose effect depends upon the will of man, or which are offered to him upon conditions which he may perform or not, are, through man's wickedness, too oft done and offered in vain, as that imports their being done and offered without any benefit man receiveth by them: for instance, how do both Moses and the Psalmist magnify the divine goodness in giving

h Lib. 7. Thes. ii. from p. 633 to p. 656. Apol. from p. 753 to 944.

i L. 7. Th. 3. a p. 656 ad p. 670. a Deuteronomy iv. 6, 7, 8. b Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20.

his word, and making known his statutes and his ordinances to Israel? And yet the prophet Jeremy introduceth God complaining thus of them who knew not the judgments and the law of the Lord, 'in vain hath he made it, the pen of the scribe is in vain.' Again, are not God's fatherly corrections designed for the good of his children, to teach them wisdom by the rod,' and obedience by the things they suffer, and make them say, "I have born correction, I will not offend any more?" And yet when they had lost this good effect upon them, doth not God say 'in vain have I smitten them, they have refused to receive correction? Was not the publication of the gospel to the gentiles the greatest blessing that ever God vouchsafed to them? And yet doth not the apostle of the Gentiles say to the Galatians thus, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain? Does he not write to the Thessalonians thus, 'I sent to know your state, lest the tempter should have tempted you, and our labour be in vain? Does he not exhort the Philippians to hold fast the word of life, that he might rejoice that he had not run in vain, nor laboured in vain? What an infinite mercy was it that "the grace of God which brings salvation had appeared to all men!" And yet doth not the apostle earnestly beseech the Corinthians that they would not receive this grace of God in vain ?* And doth not this signify his fears they might do so? And to come to the instance of this objection, when the evangelical prophet foretells of Christ's being sent to the stubborn Jews, doth he not introduce him thus complaining, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength in vain?" Doth not St. Paul declare to his Galatians, that if they yet sought to be justified by the law, 'Christ should profit them nothing; he was become of none effect to them, and so, as to them, he was dead in vain? To say indeed "Christ died to no purpose, or to no good end," is a great absurdity; but to say "he died in vain, eventually, for them who will not repent or believe in him," is none at all.

e

II. OBJECTION SECOND. It is objected that "a general. will that all men should be saved, carries some marks of imper

e Jeremiah viii. 8.

g Galatians iv. 11.

d Proverbs xxvi. 19. Micah vi. 9. e Job xxxiv. 31. f Jeremiah ii, 30.
h 1 Thessalonians ii. 5. i Philippians ii. 16. k 2 Corinthians vi. 1.
Isaiah xlix. 4.
m Galatians v. 2, 3.

fection in it, as representing God wishing somewhat which he would not accomplish; whereas infinite "perfection can wish nothing but what it can execute, and if it be fit for him to wish it, it it must be fit for him to execute it."

ANSWER. This objection advances a metaphysical nicety against the clearest revelations of the holy scripture; for if God wills, or, in the scripture import, wisheth nothing but what he also doth think fit to execute, what is the meaning of all these passionate expressions?— Oh that my people had hearkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways! even that Israel, whom, for rejecting me, I have now given up to her own heart's lusts? ‘O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments; Oh that they were wise, that they would consider their latter end,' saith God to the same obstinate revolting people. And after such serious wishes, can any one be tempted to believe, God did not seriously desire it should be otherwise with them, and even do all that it was fit for him to do, in order that it might be otherwise? Why else doth he enquire, 'What could I have done more to make my vineyard fruitful? When our Saviour speaks thus to the Jews, How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!' and says, 'Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that do belong to thy peace,' weeping at her neglect to do so; can we reasonably doubt the truth or the sincerity of his desire for their good, though through their infidelity and perverseness he did not procure it? Or will any body say, “he did not all that on his part was fitting to be done towards their reformation?"

2. Let us consider the dreadful consequences of this assertion, that "God wills not what he sees not fit to execute,"-they being plainly these; that God is not willing any should obey his will. who doth not obey it; that he is not unwilling any one should sin, whom he restrains not from it; and that he is not willing any one should repent, who doth not repent; that when they still continue, and even die in their impenitency, they do nothing contrary 'to the will of God, because they do nothing he saw fit to hinder: And can there be any force in an objection of which these are the plain but dreadful consequences? Like to this,

o Psalm Ixxxi. 12, 13. ? Isaiah xlvin, 18.

Deuteronomy xxxii. 29.

Isaiah v. 4.