Now, it is most clear, from the Scripture and experience of all ages, both under the old dispensation of the covenant and the new, that in- numerable men, whole nations, for a long season, are passed by in the declaration of this mystery. The Lord doth not procure that it shall, by any means, in the least measure be made out to all ; they hear not so much as a rumour or report of any such thing. Under the Old Testament, " In Judah was God known, and his name was great in Israel ; in Salem was his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion,'' Ps. Ixxvi. 1, 2. "He showed his word unto Jacob, and 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," Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. Whence those appellations of the heathen, and imprecations also : as Jer. X. 25, " Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not upon thy name ; " of whom you have a full description, Eph. ii. 12, "Without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." And under the New Testament, thoush the church have " lengthened her
240 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [BOOK III.
cords, and strengthened her stakes," and " many nations are come up to the mountain of the Lord," — so many as to be called " all people," " all nations," yea, the " world," the " whole world," in comparison of the small precinct of the church of the Jews, — yet now also Scrip- ture and experience do make it clear that many are passed by, yea, millions of souls, that never hear a word of Christ, nor of reconciliation by him ; of which we can give no other reason, but, " Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight," Matt. xi. 26. For the Scripture, ye have the Holy Ghost expressly forbidding the apostles to go to sundry places with the word, but sending them another way, Acts xvi. 6, 7, 9, 10; answerable to the former dispensation in some parti- culars, wherein "he suffered all nations to walk in their own ways," chap. xiv. 16. And for experience, not to multiply particulars, do but ask any of our brethren who have been but any time in the Indies, and they will easily resolve you in the truth thereof.
The exceptions against this argument are poor and frivolous, which we reserve for reply. In brief; how is it revealed to those thousands of the offspring of infidels, whom the Lord cuts off in their infancy, that they may not pester the world, persecute his church, nor disturb human society? how to their parents, of whom Paul affirms, that by the works of God they might be led to the know^- ledge of his eternal power and Godhead, but that they should know auy thing of redemption or a Redeemer was utterly impossible ?
CHAPTER IL
Containing three other arguments.
Arg. III. If Jesus Christ died for all men, — that is, purchased and procured for them, according to the mind and will of God, all those things which we recounted, and the Scripture setteth forth, to be the effects and fruits of his death, which may be summed up in this one phrase, " eternal redemption," — then he did this, and that according to the purpose of God, either absolutely or upon some con- dition by them to be fulfilled. If absolutely, then ought all and every one, absolutely and infallibly, to be made actual partakers of that eternal redemption so purchased ; for what, I pray, should hinder the enjoyment of that to any which God absolutely intended, and Christ absolutely purchased for them? If upon condition, then he did either procure this condition for them, or he did not? If he did procure this condition for them, — that is, that it should be bestowed on them and wrought within them, — then he did it cither absolutely again, or upon a condition. If absolutely, then are we as we were before ; for to procure auy thing for another, to be conferred on him
ARGUMENTS AGAINST UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION. 241
upon such a condition, and withal to procure that condition ab- solutely to be bestowed on him, is equivalent to the absolute pro- curing of the thing itself. For so we affirm, in this very business : Christ procured salvation for us, to be bestowed conditionally, if we do believe; but faith itself, that he hath absolutely procured, without prescribino- of any condition. Whence we affirm, that the purchasing of salva^ tion for us is equivalent to what it would have been if it had been so purchased as to have been absolutely bestowed, in respect of the event and issue. So that thus also must all be absolutely saved. But if this condition be procured upon condition, let that be assigned, and we will renew our qucere concerning the procuring of that, whether it were absolute or conditional, and so never rest until they come to fix somewhere, or still run into a circle.
But, on the other side, is not this condition procured by him on whose performance all the good things purchased by him are to be actually enjoyed? Then, first. This condition must be made known to all, as Arg. ii. Secondly, All men are able of themselves to per- form this condition, or they are not. If they are, then, seeing that condition is faith in the promises, as is on all sides confessed, are all men of themselves, by the power of their own free-will, able to believe; which is contrary to the Scriptures, as, by the Lord's assistance, shall be declared. If they cannot, but that this faith must be bestowed on them and wrought within them by the free grace of God, then when God gave his Son to die for them, to pro- cure eternal redemption for them all, upon condition that they did believe, he either purposed to work faith in them all by his grace, that they might believe, or he did not? If he did, why doth not he actually perform it, seeing "he is of one mind, and who can turn him?" why do not all believe? why have not all men faith? Or doth he fail of his purpose? If he did not purpose to bestow raith on them all, or (which is all one) if he purposed' not to bestow faith on all (for the will of God doth not consist in a pure negation of any thing,— what he doth not will that it should be, he wills that it should not be), then the sum of it comes to this:— That God gave Christ to die for all men, but upon this condition, that they perform that which of themselves without him they cannot perform, and purposed that, for his part, he would not accomplish it in them.