This place, I say, the Universalists exceedingly boast in ; for which we are persuaded they have so little cause, that we doubt not but, with the Lord's assistance, to demonstrate that it is destructive to their whole defence : to which end I will give you, in brief, a double paraphrase of the words, the first containing their sense, the latter ours. Thus, then, our adversaries explain these words: — " 'God so loved,' had such a natural inclination, velleity, and propensity to the good of ' the ivorld,' Adam, with all and every one of his posterity,
320 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [BOOK IV.
of all ages, times, and conditions (whereof some were in heaven, some in hell long before), ' that he gave his only-begotten Son,' causing him to be incarnate in the fulness of time, to die, not with a purpose and resolution to save any, but ' that whosoever,' what persons so- ever of those which he had propensity unto, ' helieveth in hi^n should not perish, hut have everlasting life,' should have this fruit and issue, that he should escape death and hell, and live eternally." In which explication of the sense of the place these things are to be ob- served:—
First, What is that love which was the cause of the sending or giv- ing of Christ ; which they make to be a natural i^ropensity to the good of all. Secondly, Who are the objects of this love ; all and every man of all generations. Thirdly, Wherein this giving consisteth ; of which I cannot find whether they mean by it the appointment of Christ to be a recoverer, or his actual exhibition in the flesh for the accom- plishment of his ministration. Fourthly, Whosoever, they make dis- tributive of the i^ersons in the world, and so not restrictive in the in- tention to some. Fifthly, That life eternal is the fruit obtained by believers, but not the end intended by God.
Now, look a little, in the second place, at what we conceive to be the mind of God in those words; whose aim we take to be the ad- vancement and setting forth of the free love of God to lost sinners, in sending Christ to procure for them eternal redemption, as may ap- pear in this following paraphrase : —
" ' God' the Father ' so loved,' had such a peculiar, transcendent love, being an unchangeable purpose and act of his will concerning their salvation, towards ' the world,' miserable, sinful, lost men of all sorts, not only Jews but Gentiles also, which he peculiarly loved, ' that,' intending their salvation, as in the last words, for the praise of his glorious grace, ' he gave,' he prepared a way to prevent their everlasting destruction, by appointing and sending ' his only-begotten Son' to be an all-sufficient Saviour to all that look up unto him, 'that whosoever believeth in him,' all believers whatsoever, and only they, ' sliould not 2'>6rish, hut have everlasting life,' and so effectually be brought to the obtaining of those glorious things through him wdiich the Lord in his free love had designed for them."
In which enlargement of the words, for the setting forth of what we conceive to be the mind of the Holy Ghost in them, these things are to be observed : —
First, What we understand by the " love" of God, even that act of his will which was the cause of sending his Son Jesus Clirist, being the most eminent act of love aud favour to the creature ; for love is velle alicui bonuni, " to will good to any." And never did God will greater good to the creature than in appointing his Son for their re- demption. Notwithstanding, I would have it observed that I do not
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make the j)urpose of sending or giving Christ to be absolutely sub- ordinate to God's love to his elect, as though that were the end of the other absolutely, but rather that they are both co-ordinate to the same supreme end, or the manifestation of God's glory by the way of mercy tempered with justice ; but in respect of our appre- hension, that is the relation wherein they stand one to another. Now, this love we say to be that, greater than which there is Qone.
Secondly, By the " world" we understand the elect of God only, though not considered in this place as such, but under such a notion as, being true of them, serves for the farther exaltation of God's love towards them, which is the end here designed; and this is, as they are poor, miserable, lost creatures in the world, of the world, scattered abroad in all places of the world, not tied to Jews or Greeks, but dispersed in any nation, kindred, and language under heaven.
Thirdly, "im •rag 6 -Trianxjuv, is to us, " that every heliever," and is declarative of the intention of God in sending or giving his Son, con- taining no distribution of the world beloved, but a direction to the persons whose good was intended, that love being an unchangeable intention of the chiefest good.
Fourthly, "Should not perish, but have life everlasting," contains an expression of the particular aim and inteution of God in this busi- ness ; which is, the certain salvation of believers by Christ. And this, in general, is the interpretation of the words which we adhere unto, which will yield us sundry arguments, sufficient each of them to evert the general ransom ; which, that they may be the better bottomed, and the more clearly convincing, we will lay down and compare the several words and expressions of this place, about whose interpreta- tion we differ, with the reason of our rejecting the one sense and embracing the other : —